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COLLECTIONS 


MINNESOTA 


HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


VOLUME  XV. 


ST.  PAUL,  MINN. 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SOCIETY. 

May,  1915. 


PRINTED  AND  BOUND  BY 

THE  VOLKSZBITUNG  COMPANY, 

ST.  PAUL,  MINN. 


F 

601 

V.I  5" 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

Charles  P.  Noyes,       ------        President. 

Gideon  S.  Ives,    -----        First  Vice-President. 

Frederic  A.  Fogg,   -        -        -        .        Second  Vice-President. 
Solon  J.  Buck,    -        -        -        -        -        -      ,  -        Secretary. 

Everett  H.  Bailey,     ------         Treasurer 

EXECUTIVE  committee. 
The  President,  the  Secretary,  the  Treasurer,  and  two 

APPOINTED  MEMBERS,  FrEDERIC  A.  FoGG  AND  FREDERICK  G.  InGER- 
SOLL. 

The  former  Committee  on  Publications,  appointed  in  1912, 
under  whose  direction  the  papers  of  this  volume  were  accepted 
and  edited,  were  the  following  members  of  the  Executive  Council : 
William  G.  White,  Chairman,  Charles  W.  Ames,  Gen.  James 
H.  Baker,  Harold  Harris,  and  Henry  S.  Fairchild. 

Warren  Upham,  the  former  Secretary  until  November, 
1914,  under  whose  editorial  care  this  volume  is  published, 
succeeds  the  late  Professor  Newton  H.  Winchell  as  Arch- 
aeologist. 


PREFACE. 


The  papers  and  addresses  presented  before  this  Society  dur- 
ing the  last  six  years  are  published  in  this  volume,  with  memo- 
rials of  deceased  members. 

It  has  been  found  impracticable,  however,  to  include  here 
several  valuable  papers  of  this  series,  on  account  of  lack  of 
space  in  the  present  volume. 

One  of  these  papers,  ''The  Discovery  of  the  Site  of  Veren- 
drye's  Fort  St.  Charles,  on  the  Minnesota  Area  west  of  the  Lake 
of  the  Woods,"  by  Prof.  Francis  J.  Schaefer,  Rector  of  the  St. 
Paul  Seminary,  read  November  9,  1908,  has  been  published 
under  the  title  of  ''Fort  St.  Charles,  the  Massacre  in  the  Lake 
of  the  Woods,  and  the  Discoveries  connected  therewith,"  in 
Acta  et  Dicta,  the  publication  of  the  Catholic  Historical  Society 
of  St.  Paul,  Volume  II,  pages  114-133,  July,  1909,  with  two  maps 
between  pages  240,  241,  in  the  same  volume. 

Other  papers,  which  are  reserved  in  the  manuscript  collec- 
tions of  the  Library,  received  during  the  period  covered  by  this 
volume,  are  as  follows :  • 

"The  Journal  of  a  Pioneer  in  Winona  County,"  by  Hon. 
Edward  B.  Drew,  read  May  10,  1909 ;  125  manuscript  pages. 

"The  Beginnings  of  St.  Anthony,  Minneapolis,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota, ' '  by  Daniel  S.  B.  Johnston,  read  February 
14,  1910 ;  24  manuscript  pages. 

St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  as  seen  Sixty  Years  ago,"  by  Marcus 
P.  Nichols,  read  December  12,  1910 ;   6  manuscript  pages'. 

"Minnesota  in  Panorama;  Address  of  the  Soldier's  Statue 
in  "Summit  Park,  St.  Paul,"  a  poem  by  John  Talman,  read  Oc- 
tober 10,  1910 ;  18  manuscript  pages. 

"William  Windom,  1827-1890,  His  Public  Services,"  a  Thesis 
by  Grace  Anne  Wright,  of  Duluth,  Minn*.,  submitted  for  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  University  of  Wisconsin,  1911 ;  pre- 
sented to  this  Historical  Society,  November  15,  1911 ;  80  man- 
uscript pages. 


CONTENTS. 


Railroad  Legislation  in  Minnesota,  1849  to  1875,  by  Rasmus 

S.  Saby 1-188 

I.  Territorial  railroad  legislation,  1849-1857 1 

II.  A  comparative  study  of  the  territorial  charters 10 

III.  The  railroad  bond  issue  and  the  general  railroad  incor- 

poration law  of  1858 30 

IV.  The  eventual  adjustment  of  the  state  railroad  bonds..  38 
V.  The  land  grant  railroads,  1861-1864 49 

VI.  Aid  to  railroads,  1864-1870 57 

VII.  Attepipts  at  railroad  control,  1861-1870 61 

VIII.  The  Grangers   70 

IX.  The  campaign  for  railroad  legislation  in  1870 86 

X.  Restrictive  railroad  legislation  in  1,871 95 

XI.  Railroad  legislation  in  1872  and  1873 Ill 

XII.  The  Granger  movement  in  1873 120 

XIII.  The  Granger  legislation  of  1874 135 

XIV.  The    situation   in    1874    after    the    enactment    of    the 

Granger  laws  151 

XV.  The  Granger  laws  repealed  and  a  new  railroad  law 

enacted  in  1875 164 

XVI.  The  significance  of  the  Granger  movement 176 

Bibliography   183 

The  Five  Million  Loan,  by  William  Watts  Folwell .189-214 

The  Beginning  of  Railroad  Building  in  Minnesota,  by  John  H. 

Randall 215-220 

The  Kensington  Rune  Stone;    Preliminary  Report  to  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  by  its  Museum  Committee, 221-286 

The  discovery   221 

The  inscription  226 

References  to  the  topography  of  the  region 227 

Where  was  Vinland? 230 

The  slight  weathering  of  the  rune  stone 233 

Discussion  of  the  authenticity  of  the  rune  record 237 

Other  rumors  concerning  Mr.  Ohman 240 

The  tree  that  grew  on  the  rune  stone 245 

Review  of  the  finding  of  the  rune  stone 246 

Notes  on  the  record  given  by  the  inscription 249 


yiii  CONTENTS. 

Linguistic  objections  

Collateral  evidence ^^^ 

Resolutions  adopted  by  the  Museum  Committee 267 

Appendix. 

Professor  Flom's  Investigation 270 

Pronunciation  and  spelling 270 

Inflexions    271 

Meaning  of  certain  words 271 

The  runes ^^^ 

Discussion  of  these  Objections 272 

Investigation  of  the  Rumor  relating  to  Sven  Fogelblad 277 

Bibliography    281 

Note  added  for  this  Volume  XV 286 

The  Public  Lands  and  School  Fund  of  Minnesota,  by  Hon. 

Samuel  G.  Iverson,  State  Auditor 287-314 

Foundation  of  the  school  fund  by  Governor  Ramsey 288 

Debates  in  the  Constitutional  Convention 292 

Grants  of  land  by  Congress 293 

Laws  of  Minnesota  relating  to  the  school  fund 294 

Iron  ore  lands 297 

Investment  of  money  received 299 

Statistics  of  land  grants,  sales,  and  resulting  fund. 300 

Internal  improvement  lands 304 

Public  building  lands 305 

Agricultural  College  lands 306 

Swamp  lands  307 

Future  receipts  310 

Suggested  changes  in  the  state  land  laws. 312 

Summary  of  the  school  system  of  Minnesota '. . .  313 

Eably  Dakota  Trails  and  Settlements  at  Centerville.  Minn.. 
by  Albert  M.  ,  Goodrich 315-322 

Reminiscences  of  the  Little  Crow  Uprising,  by  Dr.  Asa  W. 
Daniels 323-336 

Boyhood  Remembrances  of  Life  among  the  Dakotas  and  the 
Massacre  in  1862,  by  John  Ames  Humphrey 337-348 

Narratives  of  the  Sioux  War,  by  Marion  P.  Satterlee .349-370 

The  Acton  Murders,  beginning  the  Massacre 349 

The  Battle  of  Acton  or  Kelly's  Bluff *  355 

Roster  of  Captain  Strout's  Colmpany  at  Acton 365 

The  Killing  of  Chief  Little  Crow ' .'  366 

Historical  Notes  of  Grey  Cloud  Island  and  its  Vicinity    by 
JOHN  H.  CASE ;... 371-378 


CONTENTS.  ix 


■ 

|V  Northern  Minnesota  BouxnARY  Surveys  in  1822  to  1826,  under 

I  B'  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  by  Hon.  William  E.  Culkin 379-392 

^B  References  to  Sources  consulted  ^or  this  Paper 390 

\^m  The  Sale  of  Fort  Snelling,  1857,  by  William  Watts  Folwell.  .393-410 

\^M  A  Red  River  Townsite  Speculation  in  1857,  by  Daniel  S..  B. 

V  Johnston 411-434 

The  company  and  the  plans  and  outfit 411 

Beginning  the  tramp 412 

Wounding  two  buffaloes,  and  snowed  under 415 

Killing  my  first  buffalo 417 

An  all  night  drive < 418 

A  buffalo  herd  on  the  Breckenridge  townsite     419 

Surveying  this  townsite  and  killing  another  buffalo 421 

Moulton  returns  to  St.  Paul 422 

Men  on  short  rations  and  cattle  starving 423 

A  March  flood 424 

April  blizzards 426 

A  trying  relief  experience 427 

Two  other  townsites  below  Breckenridge 428 

My  second  buffalo  and  how  we  got  him 429 

Millions  in  it 430 

Afterward   433 

Experiences  in  Southwestern  Minnesota,  1859  to  1867,  by  Hon, 
.LoRiN  Cray 435-454 

Memories  of  the  Early  Life  and  Development  of  Minnesota,  by 
Thomas  B.  Walker 455-478 

Reminiscences  of  the  Early  Days  of  Minnesota,  1851  to  1861, 

Rev.  Frank  C.  Coolbaugh,  S.  T.  D 479-496 

Early  Days  in  Minneapolis,  by  Dr.  William  E.  Leonard 497-514 

A  Sheaf  of  Remembrances,  by  Mrs.  Rebecca  Marshall  Cath- 

CART   I , 515-552 

Reminiscences  of  Minnesota  Politics,  by  Henry  A.  Castle 553-598 

History  of  the  Parks  and  Public  Grounds  of  Minneapolis,  by 

Charles  M.  Loring 599-608 

Postscript,  in  accordance  with  request  of  the  Council,  by 
William  W.  Folwell  607 

History  of  the  Parks  and  Public  Grounds  of  St.  Paul,   by 

Lloyd  Peabody 609-630 

The  Old  System ;    public  squares 610 

Court  House  Square  610 

Rice  Park  611 


X 


CONTENTS. 


Irvine  Park ^^^ 

Smith  Park •  •    •  •  ^^^ 

Summit  Park  ^^^ 

Central  Park  >• ^^^ 

Lafayette  Square ^^^ 

The  New  System  of  Parks 614 

Como  Park ^1* 

Phalen  Park  619 

Indian  Mounds  Park  620 

Harriet  Island  621 

Linwood  Park  622 

Parkways  and  Boulevards 622 

Mississippi  River  Boulevard 623 

Wheelock  Parkway  624 

Lexington  Parkway 625 

Como  Avenue  Parkway •  ■ 625 

Como  Avenue  Boulevard  626 

Cherokee  Heights  and  the  West  Side  Boulevard 626 

Midway  Parkway 627 

Playgrounds  627 

Streets  under  the  Care  of  the  Park  Board 628 

Parks  and  Parkways  in  Prospect 628 

Nathaniel  Pitt  Laxgford,  the  Vigilante,  the  Explorer,  the 
Expounder  and  First  Superintendent  of  the  Yellow^stone 
Park,  by  Olin  D.  Wheeler 631-668 

Biographic  Memorial  of  Dr.  Charles  N.  Hewitt,  by  William 
Watts  Folwell   ' 669-686 

Biographic  Memorial  dOF  Frederick  Driscoll,  by  Henry  A.  Cas- 
tle     687-710 

General  James  Shields,  Soldier,  Orator,  Statesman,  by  Henry 
A.  Castle   711-730 

Address  at  the  Unveiling  of  the  Statue  of  General  Shields, 
IN  the  Capitol  of  Minnesota,  October  20,  1914,  by  Archbishop 
John  Ireland 731-740 

Addresses  on  the  Presentation  of  the  Portrait  of  Professor 

Jabez  Brooks  741-748 

By  JuixjE  Hascal  R.  Brill,  of  St.  Paul. 741 

By  Gen.  Lucius  F.  Hubbard,  of  St.  Paul 743 

By  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  of  Minneapolis 744 

By  Db.  William  W.  Folwell,  University  of  Minnesota 746 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Governor  Johnson,  by  Justice 
Thomas  D.  O'Brien 749-751 


r^                                                                CONTENTS.  Xi 

The  Statue  of  Governor  Johnson  at  the  State  Capitol 752 
Me 
Me 


Memorial    Addresses    in    Honor    of    General    James    Heaton 

Baker 753-757 

By  Judge  Lorin  Cray,  of  Mankato 753 

By  Thomas  Hughes,  of  Mankato 754 

By  Governor  Van  Sant,  of  Minneapolis 755 

By  Hon.  Hanford  L.  Gordon,  of  Los  Angeles,  California 756 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Judge  Loren  Warren  Collins, 
by  Hon.  Colin  F.  Macdonald,  of  St.  Cloud 757-762 


Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Judge  Francis  Marion  Crosby, 
by  Edward  C.  Stringer,  of  St.  Paul i 762-764 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Clarence  Christopher  Dinehart, 
State  Treasurer,  by  Hon.  Julius  A.  Schmahl,  Secretary  of 
State  764-765 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  William  Hood  Dunwoody,  by  Dr. 
Cyrus  Northrop,  University  of  Minnesota 765-773 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Professor  Samuel  Bowdlear 
Green,  by  Cyrus  Northrop 774-776 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Governor  Lucius  Frederick  Hub- 
bard, by  the  Secretary,  Warren  Upham 776-778 

Memorial  Addresses  in  Honor  of  David  Lansing  Kingsbury 778-780 

By  Warren  Upham  778 

By  Justice  Loren  W.  Collins 779 

Memorial  Addresses   in  Honor  of  Nathaniel  Pitt  Langford, 

President  of  this  Society 780-789 

By  Rev.  David  R.  Breed,  D.  D.,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa 780 

By  Gen.  William  G.  Le  Due,  of  Hastings 782 

By  Henry  S.  Fairchild,  of  St.  Paul 783 

By  Warren  Upham,  Secretary 786 

Memorial  Addresses  in  Honor  of  Rev.  Aaibrose  McNulty 789-793 

By  Father  Francis  J.  Schaefer,  Rector  of  the  St.  Paul  Sem- 
inary          789 

By  Rt.  Rev.  John  J.  Lawler,  Auxiliary  Bishop  of  St.  Paul . .        791 

Memorial  Addresses  in  Honor  of  Rev.  Edward  Craig  Mitchell.  .793-800 

By  Rev.  Francis  J.  Schaefer,  of  St.  Paul 793 

By  Professor  N.  H.  Winchell,  of  Minneapolis 795 

By  Rev.  Maurice  D.  Edwards,  D.  D.,  of  St.  Paul 797 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  William  Pitt  Murray,  by  Henry 

S.  Fairchild 800-802 


Xli  CONTENTS. 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Channing  Seabury,  by  Everett 
H.  BAILEY 802-804 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Samuel  Richard  Thayer,  by  Wil- 
liam H.  Hinkle 804-805 

Memorial  Addresses  in  Honor  of  Henry  Pratt  Upham,  Treas- 
urer of  this  Society  806-813 

By  William  H.  Lightner,  of  St.  Paul 806 

By  Everett  H.  Bailey,  of  St.  Paul 810 

By  Hon.  John  B.  Gilfillan,  of  Minneapolis 811 

By  Hon.  Channing  Seabury,  of  St.  Paul 812 

By  Rev.  John  Wright,  of  St.  Paul 812 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Henry  Chester  Waite,  by  Hon. 
Colin  F.  Macdonald  813-816 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Senator  William  Drew  Wash- 

BURN,  by  Warren  Upham 816-817 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Frederick  Weyerhaeuser,  by 
Newel  H.  Clapp 817-824 

Memorial  Addresses  in  Honor  o^  Professor  Newton  Horace 

WiNCHELL 824-830 

By  Warren  Upham,  Secretary  824 

By  Dr.  William  W.  Folwell,  University  of  Minnesota 829 

By  Colonel  James  Hamilton  Davidson,  of  St.  Paul 830 

Memorials  of  Other  Deceased  Members,  1909-14,  by  Warren 

Upham    831-848 

Samuel  Emery  Adams , .  831 

Charles  Edwin  Allen  ' 831 

Charles  Gordon  Ames 831 

Arthur  Converse  Anderso'n 831 

Daniel  A.  J.  Baker 832 

Adolph  Francis  Alphonse  Bandelier 832 

George  Washington  Batchelder 832 

Albert  Stillman  Batchellor 832 

John  Edson  Bell 833 

Peter  Berkey 833 

Charles  Henry  Bigelow  . . .  .* 833 

Clara  Wooster  Abbie  Blackman 833 

Julian  Clarence  Bryant 833 

Augustus  R.  Capehart g34 

Theodore  G.  Carter §34 

James  Erwin  Child  034 

Simeon  P.  Child "    * g34 

Francis  Byron  Clarke 835 


CONTENTS.  Xiii 

Eugene  B,  Crane 835 

Frank  Bertine  Daugherty 835 

Thomas  Hunter  Dickson 835 

Reuben  Thomas  Durrett 835 

Richmond  Pearl  Everett 835 

Henry  Shields  Fairchild 836 

George  R.  Finch  836 

Alcee  Fortier  836 

Henry    Gannett    836 

Charles  Benajah  Gilbert   837 

Joseph   Alexander   GUfillan    837 

Earle  S.  Goodrich   837 

Halsey  R.  W.  Hall   837 

Osee  Matson  Hall 838 

Herbert  Leslie  Hayden   838 

Henry   Williamson   Haynes 838 

Isaac  V.  D.  Heard  838 

Rev.  J.  C.  Herdman 838 

Sheldon  Jackson    839 

Edwin  Ames   Jaggard    839 

Daniel  S.  B.  Johnston   839 

William  Harris  Laird    839 

Joseph  Lockey    840 

Thomas    Lowry    840 

Alfred   Thayer  Mahan    840 

Robert   Laird    McCormick    841 

Charles   Jairus    Martin    841 

George  Washington  Martin 841 

William  Worrall   Mayo 841 

Francis  Davis   Millet 842 

William  A.  Morin 842 

Clinton    Morrison    842 

John   Muir 842 

Marcus  Philip  Nichols   , .  843 

John  D.  O'Brien   843 

George  Wright  Peavey   843 

Curtis  Hussey  Pettit 843 

David    Ramaley 843 

Henry  Clay  Ranney 844 

Leonard  August  Rosing 844 

Theodore  Leopold  Schurmeier    844 

Dolson  Bush  Searle  844 

Timothy  J,  Sheehan   844 

Thomas   Henry    Shevlin    845 

Goldwin  Smith 845 

Robert  Armstrong  Smith    845 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

Truman  M.  Smith  845 

Samuel   C.   Staples    845 

H.  Ward  Stone 846 

Reuben  Gold  Thwaites   846 

James  Beach  Wakefield   847 

George    Welsh 847 

Milo  White    847 

Oric  Ogilvie  Whited 848 

William  Chapman  Williston   848 

Thomas  Wilson    848 

I'^'DEX    849-872 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


r 


IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

Figure  1. 


Page 

Map  of  the  Railroads  of  Minnesota  in  1875 1 

The  Kensington  Rune  Stone,  Edge  View  and  Face  View  221 
Map  of  the  Vicinity  of  Kensington  and  Pelican  Lake, 

and  of  the  Farm  where  the  Rune  Stone  was  found  221 
Sections  of  Poplar  Trees,  showing  the  estimated  size 

and  age  of  the  tree  growing  above  the  Rune  Stone  225 
Sections  of  Poplar  Trees  of  a  stunted  growth,  similar 

to  the  trees  growing  above  the  Rune  Stone 229 

Smith's  Chart  of  the  Northmen's  Routes 233 

Portrait  of  Dr.  Asa  W.  Daniels 323 

Portraits  of  Jesse  V.  Branham,  Jr.,  Thomas  G.  Holmes, 
Albert  H.  Sperry,  Chauncey  Lamson,  Nathan  Lam- 
son,  and  James  Birney  Lamson. — People  escaping 
from  the  Sioux  Massacre,  in  1862,  under  guidance 

of  John  Other  Day,  at  dinner  on  a  prairie 349 

Northern  Boundary,  as  shown  on  a  Map  by  John  Mitch- 
ell, 1755 379 

Portrait  of  Dr.  William  W.  Folwell 393 

Portrait  of  Judge  Lorin  Cray 435 

Portrait  of  Thomas  B.  Walker -. 455 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Rebecca  Marshall  Cathcart 515 

Portrait  of  Nathaniel  P.  Langford 631 

Portrait  of  Dr.  Charles  N.  Hewitt 669 

Portrait  of  Frederick  Driscoll 687 

Portrait  of  General  James  Shields 711 

Portrait  of  Professor  Jabez  Brooks 741 

Portrait  of  William  H.  Dun  woody 765 

Portrait  of  Henry  Pratt  Upham 807 

Portrait  of  Professor  Newton  Horace  Winchell 825 

The  Poplar  Tree  and  the  Rune  Stone 245 


:^5# f 


»«. 


> 


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m£. 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 


Vol.  XY.     Plate  I. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA, 

1849  to  1875.* 


BY  RASMUS  S.  SABY. 


CHAPTER  I. 
TERRITORIAL  RAILROAD  LEGISLATION,  1849-1857. 

The  Territory  of  Minnesota  was  organized  by  an  act  of  Con- 
gress approved  March  3,  1849.  It  comprised  all  of  what  is 
now  the  state  of  Minnesota  and  the  portions  of  the  Dakotas 
east  of  the  Missouri  and  White  Earth  rivers.  The  legislative 
power  of  the  territory  was  vested  in  a  governor  and  a  legisla- 
tive assembly  consisting  of  a  Council  and  a  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. The  laws  in  force  in  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  at 
the  date  of  its  admission  into  the  Union  continued  valid  and 
operative  in  the  Territory  of  Minnesota  as  far  as  applicable, 
but  were  subject  to  change  by  legislative  enactment.  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  of  Pennsylvania  was  appointed  governor  of  the 
new  territory. 

There  were  in  1849  only  a  few  straggling  settlements  along 
the  principal  rivers.  According  to  the  territorial  census  taken 
that  year,  the  population  numbered  4,680.^  The  assessable 
property  amounted  to  only  $414,936.     The  Sioux  Indians  still 


*A  Thesis  submitted  to  tiie  Faculty  of  the  Graduate  School  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Requirements 
for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy;  partly  read  at  the  monthly 
meeting-  of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society, 
November  13,  1911.  Chapters  I  and  II  of  this  Thesis  were  published 
nearly  as  here  in  the  Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Minnesota  Academy  of  Social  Sciences  (Volume  II,  1909, 
pages  127-166). 

After  graduation  at  the  University  of  Minnesota  in  1907,  Mr.  Saby 
took  a  further  course  of  studies  there,  later  was  Harrison  Fellow  in 
Political  Science  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  now  is  an 
instructor  in  political  economy  and  politics  at  Cornell  University.  A 
great  part  of  his  research  on  this  subject  was  carried  forw^ard  in  the 
Library  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  and  in  the  Minnesota  State 
Library,  consulting  the  state  and  federal  reports,  legislative  journals 
and  laws,  other  books,  pamphlets,  and  files  of  newspapers,  which  are 
cited  in  the  footnotes  of  this  work  and  listed  in  its  Bibliography. 

1.     House  Journal   (Minn.),  1849,  p.  214. 
1 


2  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

occupied  the  land  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  Minnesota  on 
the  whole  was  ''unsettled  and  unsurveyed,"  ^ 

But  the  pioneers  had  an  unbounded  faith  in  the  future. 
Governor  Ramsey,  in  his  first  message  to  the  legislative  assem- 
bly, said:  ''No  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  perhaps  com- 
bines so  many  favorable  features  for  the  settler  as  this  terri- 
tory. *  *  *  The  immigrant  and  the  capitalist  need  but 
perceive  these  sources  of  prosperity  and  wealth  to  hasten  to 
seize  upon  them  by  settling  among  us.  *  *  *  *  It  may 
not  be  long  ere  we  may  with  truth  be  recognized  throughout 
the  political  and  moral  world,  as  indeed  the  'polar  star'  of  the 
Republican  Galaxy. ' '  ^ 

But  though  the  early  settlers  saw  visions  of  future  great- 
ness and  wealth,  their  present  condition  was  not  so  ideal.  The 
eastern  markets  on  which  they  were  largely  dependent  were 
distant  and  not  easily  accessible,  and  the  different  settlements 
were  in  poor  and  primitive  communication  with  each  other. 
There  was  but  one  mail  route  leading  into  the  territory,  on 
which  was  transmitted  a  weekly  mail  from  Prairie  du  Chien, 
Wisconsin,  during  the  season  of  navigation,  and  a  semi-monthly 
mail  from  the  same  place  during  the  winter  season.*  Many 
new  roads  were  needed,  and  some  of  the  existing  roads  were 
so  bad  that  at  times  many  settlers  were  prevented  from  pro- 
curing even  the  most  necessary  supplies.^  Nine  memorials  con- 
cerning roads  and  mail  routes  were  sent  to  Congress  in  1849,^ 
and  to  all  these  Congress  "responded  in  the  affirmative  and 
made  the  necessary  appropriations."^  The  governor  reported 
in  his  message  to  the  legislature  in  1853  that  work  was  pro- 
gressing satisfactorily  on  both  old  and  new  roads.^ 

Wagon  and  military  roads  were  necessary  and  answered 
their  purposes,  but  other  means  of  transportation  were  fully 
as  essential  to  the  growth  and  development  of  the  new  terri- 

2.  Council  Journal   (Minn.),  1849,  p.   187.  « 

3.  Council  Journal,  1849,  p.  7. 

4.  From  Memorial  to  Congress,  Laws  of  Minn.,   1849,   p.   171. 

5.  Laws  of  Minn.,  1849,  Memorial,  p.  172. 

6.  Laws  of  Minn.,  1849,  Memorials  Nos.  1,   3,  4,   6,  9,   10,   11,   13,   14. 

7.  House  Journal,  1851,  p.   22. 

8.  Council  Journal,   1853,   p.   32. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  d 

tory.  The  magnificent  river  systems  seemed  to  afford  an  ad- 
mirable means  of  connecting  the  different  parts  of  the  terri- 
tory with  each  other,  and  the  whole  with  the  outside  world. 
Congress  had  provided  for  roads,  why  should  it  not  also  open 
these  natural  highways  of  commerce  ?  The  improvement  of 
the  ''majestic  Mississippi,"  with  its  gigantic  trade  affecting 
the  interests  of  so  many  states,  seemed  logically  an  object  of 
national  magnitude  and  national  importance. 

It  was  urged  that  the  improvement  of  the  rivers  would 
expedite  the  sale  and  facilitate  the  settlement  of  the  public 
lands  through  which  they  flowed.  And  besides,  had  not  the 
federal  government  assumed  special  jurisdiction  over  all  nav- 
igable streams?^  Congress,  however,  was  not  disposed  to  un- 
dertake any  such  "internal  improvements."  Its  activity  in 
this  line  had  ceased  back  in  President  Jackson's  administra- 
tion. 

By  this  time  railroad  construction  had  made  great  progress 
in  many  of  the  older  states.  Wisconsin  territory,  of  which 
Minnesota  territory  had  been  a  part,  had  incorporated  a  num- 
ber of  railroad  companies,  two  of  them  as  early  as  1836;^^  but 
naturally,  what  later  came  to  be  Minnesota  was  not  much  af- 
fected either  by  the  agitation  or  by  the  projects  at  this  time. 

Minnesota  territory  soon  saw  the  advantages  and  possi- 
bilities of  the  railroad.  Already  in  1851,  its  legislative  assem- 
bly memorialized  Congress  for  a  "liberal  donation  and  appro- 
priation" in  aid  of  railroads.^ ^  A  bill  to  incorporate  a  rail- 
road company  passed  the  house  of  this  assembly,  but  was  neg- 
atived in  the  council.^ ^  In  1852  an  attempt  was  made  to  in- 
corporate another  railroad  company,  but  the  bill  failed  to  pass 
the  house  in  which  it  originated.^^ 

By  1853  the  transportation  problem  assumed  a  different 
phase.  The  boasted  river  systems  were  seen  to  be  inadequate, 
even  though  they  were    extensively  improved.     They  would 


9.     House  Journal,  1851,  p.  16. 

10.  Laws  of  Wisconsin,    1836,    pp.   33   and   54. 

11.  Laws  of  Minn.,   1851,   Memorial  No.   4. 

12.  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony  Ry.  Co.,  H.  F.  No.  15;  House  Journal, 
1851,   pp.   127,   150. 

13.  Lake  Sup.  and  Miss.  Ry.  Co.,  H.  F.  No.  46.     House  Journal,  1852, 
p.  184. 


4  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

have  to  be  supplemented  by  railroads,  if  the  territory  were  to 
enjoy  proper  transportation  facilities.  A  railroad  would  be 
needed  to  connect  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and 
of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  and  another  to  connect  the  Mis- 
sissippi with  Lake  Superior.^*  The  arguments  which  had  been 
used  to  urge  Congress  to  build  roads  and  improve  rivers  were 
now  used  in  favor  of  federal  aid  in  railroad  construction. 
Land  grants  had  been  made  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  canals 
in  a  number  of  states;  but  attempts  to  secure  land  grants  for 
railroads  for  a  long  time  proved  futile,  even  though  the  trans- 
fer of  the  grant  for  the  Illinois  and  IMichigan  canal  to  a  rail- 
road company  as  early  as  1838  might  easily  have  been  taken 
as  a  precedent.^"' 

Through  the  repeated  efforts  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and 
others,  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  received  a  federal  land 
grant  in  1850.  In  supporting  the  measure  Mr.  Douglas  argued : 
"It  is  following  the  same  system  that  was  adopted  in  refer- 
ence to  improvements  of  a  similar  character  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Alabama,  AVisconsin,  and  Illinois  in  reference  to  her  canal.  It 
is  simply  carrying  out  a  principle  which  has  been  acted  upon 
for  thirty  years,  by  which  you  cede  each  alternate  section  of 
land  and  double  the  price  of  the  alternate  sections  not  ceded, 

so  that  the  same  price  is  received  for  the  whole It 

is  an  old  practice  long  continued  by  the  government."  '" 

In  1853  Governor  Ramsey  recommended  that  the  legislative 
assembly  memorialize  Congress  for  similar  grants  in  aid  of 
Minnesota  railroads.' '  The  sentiment  was  strong  that  public 
lands  ought  to  be  so  managed  as  to  secure  their  speedy  settle- 
ment. Besides  getting  aid  for  their  railroads,  the  territory 
would  through  such  grants  secure  the  extinction  of  the  federal 
title  to  the  land,  wliich  many  considered  only  secondary  in 
importance  to  the  extinction  of  the  Indian  title.' ^  The  gov- 
ernor outlined  quite  definitely  what  soon  came  to  be  the  settled 
railroad  construction  policy  of  the  territory,  namely,  through 

14.  Message  of  Gov.  Ramsey,  Council  Journal,   1853,  p.  30. 

15.  4  U.   S.   statutes.   662. 

16.  Congressional  Globe,   1850,   p.   845. 

17.  Council  Journal,   1853,   p.  30. 

18.  Ibid.,  p.  31. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  0 

federal  aid,  in  the  form  of  land  grants,  to  build  railroads  in 
advance  of  actual  business  needs  to  settle  the  country  and  de- 
velop its  resources.  But  the  legislative  assembl}^  evidently  did 
not  support  the  governor's  plan  by  acclamation.  Three  memo- 
rials to  Congress  concerning  railroads  and  railroad  grants  were 
drawn  up,  but  they  all  failed  to  pass.^^  Seven  bills  to  incor- 
porate railroad  companies  were  introduced  at  this  session,  of 
which  five  passed  after  discussion  and  amendment. -°  Only  two 
of  these  charters  make  any  mention  of  probable  federal  or  state 
land  grants.-^ 

In  1854,  the  IMinnesota  and  Northwestern  Railroad  Com- 
pany was  incorporated,  and  by  its  charter  any  future  federal 
land  grant  Avas  made  over  to  it  in  fee  simple  ''without  any 
further  deed  and  action."  The  same  assembly  memorialized 
Congress  for  a  grant  of  lands.-"  Congress  complied,  but  pro- 
vided that  the  land  should  not  accrue  to  any  railroad  company 
already  "constituted  or  organized."-"*  Friends  of  the  Minne- 
sota and  Northwestern,  however,  managed  to  get  this  provi- 
sion enrolled  as  ' '  constituted  and  organized. ' '  -*  Since  the 
company,  though  incorporated,  was  not  yet  definitely  organ- 
ized, this  change  would  give  the  company  a  technical  claim  to 
the  land.  But  the  change  was  discovered,  and  an  investigation 
followed.  The  result  was  a  repeal  of  the  land  grant  act  about 
a  month  after  its  enactment. ^^  The  right  of  Congress  to  repeal 
the  act  was  contested,  but  after  a  long  process  of  litigation  the 
repeal  was  held  valid  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. ^" 

A  tremendous  spirit  of  opposition  was  aroused  on  the  char- 
tering of  this  company.  It  was  claimed  that  the  legislature 
had  acted  without  sufficient  consideration;  that  the  territory 
had  secured  no  "resulting  interest"  in  the  land  grant;  and 


19.  Council   Journal,    1853,   p.    29.   H.   F.   No.    1;   House   Journal,    1853, 
pp.   108  and   198;   C.   F.  Nos.   2   and   3. 

20.  See  House  Journal,  1853,  Index.     C.  F.  Nos.  2,  6,  7,  16,  21,  passed; 
C.  F.  No.   11  and  H.  F.  No.  4  did  not  pass. 

21.  Laws  of  Minn.,   1853,  ch.  10,  sect.  18;  ch.   16,  sect.  14. 

22.  Laws   of  Minn.,    1854,   p.    159. 

23.  10  U.   S.   Stat.,   302. 

24.  Council  Journal,    1855,   App.   p.    5 

25.  10  U.  S.   Stat.,   575. 

26.  Rice  vs.  Minn,  and  N.  W.  R.  R.  Co. 


6  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

that,  as  there  was  no  provision  in  the  charter  authorizing  its 
amendment,  the  company  had  been  placed  beyond  the  reach  of 
future  legislative  action.  The  agitation  did  not  diminish  when 
it  became  known  that  the  eastern  financier  on  whose  means 
the  company  had  mainly  depended  for  the  construction  of  the 
railroad  had  disappeared  and  ''become  a  fugitive  from  the 
justice  of  the  community  he  had  basely  swindled."-^  The 
people  were  all  anxious  to  get  railroads,  for  they  appreciated 
their  vital  importance  for  the  future  development  of  the  ter- 
ritory; but  for  this  very  reason  many  were  unwilling  to  give 
private  corporations  full  control  of  these  quasi-public  agencies. 
They  wanted  to  keep  them  under  effective  public  control. 

When  an  amendment  to  the  charter  was  proposed  in  1855, 
Governor  Gorman,^®  in*a  special  message  concerning  the  Min- 
nesota and  Northwestern  railroad  company,  asserted  that  the 
purpose  of  this  amendment  was  evidently  to  cure  all  failures 
and  defalcations  of  the  company.  He  urged  the  assembly  to 
do  what  it  could  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  charter  by  Con- 
gress.-" On  the  other  hand,  the  assembly  received  numerous 
petitions  from  interested  districts  expressing  full  confidence  in 
the  railroad  company.^''^  The  contested  amendment  was  passed 
by  a  large  majority,-''^  and  when  it  failed  to  get  the  signature 
of  the  governor  it  was  without  difficulty  passed  over  his  veto.'^ 
Other  amendments  to  this  charter  were  made  during  this  ses- 
sion, apparently  on  the  assumption  that  the  company  had  a 
legal  right  to  the  land  grant. 

In  his  message  to  the  legislative  assembly  the  next  year, 
1856,  the  governor  reported  that  the  Minnesota  and  North- 
western railroad  company  had  not  made  the  $150,000  guar- 
antee deposit  required  of  it,  the  amendments  to  its  charter  had 
not  been  accepted,  and  no  money  had  been  expended  in  the 
construction  of  the  railroad.^-^ 


27.  House  Journal,  1855,  App.  p.  44. 

28.  Succeeded  Gov.  Ramsey,  May  15,   1853. 

29.  Council  Journal,   1855.  App.  p.  73. 

30.  House  Journal,  1855,  see  App. 

31.  Council   Journal,   1855,   p.   142. 

32.  House  Journal,  1855.  App.  p.  143. 

33.  ibid.,  1855,  App.  p.  6. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


Many  railroads  had  been  incorporated  since  1853,  but  none 
of  them  proved  very  active.  In  the  meantime  the  territory  was 
growing  rapidly  in  population  and  in  wealth.  By  1857  Minne- 
sota had  over  150,000  inhabitants  and  taxable  property  amount- 
ing to  nearly  $50,000,000.^*  The  need  of  railroads  was  felt 
more  keenly  than  ever.  Said  Governor  Gorman:  ''I  should 
be  glad  to  see  an  outlet  by  railroad  from  our  winter  home  at 
any  sacrifice  of  individual  opinion  as  to  policy,  and  indeed  any 
other  reasonable  sacrifice,  save  the  honor  of  the  territory  and 
the  enthrallment  of  those  who  take  our  places. ' '  ^^ 

It  was  long  believed  that,  though  formidable  objections 
might  exist  to  granting  land  to  states  for  railroad  purposes, 
such  objections  could  not  be  raised  against  grants  to  terri- 
tories under  the  quasi-guardianship  of  the  general  govern- 
ment."'^ But  it  was  now  realized  that  the  same  objections  ap- 
plied, and  that  a  territory  did  not  occupy  such  an  enviable 
position  after  all. 

It  was  also  of  vital  importance  to  Minnesota  at  this  time 
that  ''she  be  a  state  and  fully  represented"  at  AVashington, 
because  of  a  projected  railroad  to  the  Pacific.  The  newly 
organized  Republican  party  and  the  Democratic  party  both 
asserted  in  their  platforms  of  1856  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
federal  government  to  aid  such  a  road.^^  It  was  firmly  be- 
lieved that  the  final  location  of  this  road  would  determine 
whether  Minnesota  was  to  become  the  ''wealthiest  of  states" 
or  a  "mere  feeder."  ^^  The  gravity  of  the  situation  awakened 
a  sense  of  responsibility,  and  the  territory  became  eager  to 
step  out  from  the  dependent  position  and  to  assume  the  duties 
and  privileges  of  statehood. 

Minnesota  territory  had  reason  to  be  grateful  to  the  twenty- 
fourth  Congress.  The  Minnesota  enabling  act  was  passed 
February  26,  1857,^^  and  one  week  later  extensive  land  grants 

34.  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Com.   of    Statistics  for  1860-61,  p. 
121. 

35.  House  Journal,   1855,  App.   p.   7. 

36.  Council  Journal,  1855,  p.  39. 

37.  McKee,   The  National  Convention  and   Platform   of  all   Political 
Parties    (1789-1900),   pp.   99  and   94,  resp. 

38.  House  Journal,   1857,  p.  43. 

39.  11  U.  S.  Stat.,   166. 


8  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

were  made  to  aid  the  construction  of  Minnesota  railroads.*"  A 
special  session  of  the  legislative  assembly  was  convened  to  con- 
sider these  acts.  IMinnesota  was  now  free  to  "organize  her 
own  institutions  in  her  own  way,"  and  the  land  grants  were 
hailed  as  inaugurating  a  new  era  in  the  progress  of  her  people.*^ 
The  legislative  assembly  accepted  the  land  grants  in  trust 
and  granted  them  conditionally  to  four  railroad  companies, 
three  of  which  had  been  previously  incorporated.  These  have 
become  known  as  the  land  grant  companies.  With  St.  Paul 
and  Minneapolis  as  a  center,  they  were  planned  primarily  to 
market  the  grain  raised  in  the  Mississippi  and  tributary  river 
valleys  in  Minnesota  and  in  the  great  Red  river  valley  in  the 
Northwest. 

1.  The  Minnesota  &  Pacific  Railroad  Company  was  incor- 
porated at  this  session  and  authorized  to  build  a  railroad  from 
Stillwater  by  way  of  St.  Paul,  St.  Anthony  and  Minneapolis, 
to  Breckenridge,  with  a  branch  from  St.  Anthony  to  St.  Vin- 
cent.*^ 

2.  The  Transit  Railroad  Company  was  to  build  a  line  from 
Winona  by  way  of  St.  Peter  to  the  Big  Sioux  river  south  of 
the  45th  parallel  of  north  latitude.*' 

3.  The  Root  River  and  Southern  Minnesota  Railroad  Com- 
pany was  to  build  one  railroad  from  La  Crescent  via  Target 
lake  up  the  valley  of  the  Root  river  to  Rochester,  and  another 
railroad  from  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony,  via  Minneapolis,  Shak- 
opee  City,  Mankato  and  other  cities,  to  the  Iowa  line  "in  the 
direction  of  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Sioux  river."** 

4.  The  Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  Railroad  Company 
was  to  build  a  railroad  from  Minneapolis  to  the  south  line  of 
Minnesota  west  of  range  sixteen.** 

In  consideration  of  the  lands  granted  and  the  charter  privi- 
leges given,  these  companies  were  to  pay  into  the  state  treas- 
ury annually  three  per  cent  of  their  gross  earnings  in  lieu  of 
all  other  taxes,  and  their  lands  were  to  be  exempt  from  taxa- 
tion  till  sold  or  conveyed. 

40.  11  U.  S.  Stat.,   195. 

41.  Council  Journal.   1857.   Ex.   Session,   p.   6. 

42.  Laws  of  Minnesota.   1857.  Extra  Session,   p    4 

43.  Ibid.,  p.  16. 

44.  Ibid.,  pp.  18  and  20. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  9 

The  constitutional  convention  met  in  St.  Paul  tlie  second 
Monday  in  July,  as  provided  for  in  the  enabling  act  ^"'  and 
according  to  an  act  passed  by  the  territorial  legislature  in  its 
special  session.*®  To  be  more  exact,  two  conventions  met,  for 
the  Republican  and  the  Democratic  delegates  met  separately. 
Owing  to  irregularities  at  the  election,  there  were  many  dis- 
puted seats  and  both  parties  planned  to  capture  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  convention.  As  a  result  both  factions  organized 
independently.  Neither  recognized  the  existence  of  the  other, 
and  the  two  are  reported  separately.*'  But  unofficially  they 
compared  notes  as  they  proceeded,  and  finally,  through  ap- 
pointed conferees,  they  agreed  on  the  same  constitution,  word 
for  word.*^  The  constitution,  emanating  as  it  did  from  both 
conventions  and  duly  signed  and  certified  by  each,  was  ratified 
almost  unanimously  by  the  people. 

The  main  provisions  of  the  constitution  limiting  the  powers 
of  the  legislature  in  its  relations  with  private  corporations  are 
the  following:  First,  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  extraor- 
dinary expenses  the  state  may  contract  public  debts  not  ex- 
ceeding $250,000,  except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  houses, 
yeas  and  nays  recorded;*^  second,  the  state  should  never  con- 
tract any  debts  for  works  of  public  improvement,  or  be  a  party 
in  carrying  on  such  works,  except  as  a  trustee  in  cases  where 
land  or  other  grants  have  been  made  specifically  for  such  pur- 
poses;^*' third,  the  credit  of  the  state  was  never  to  be  given  or 
loaned  in  aid  of  any  individual  association  or  corporation;^^ 
fourth,  no  corporation  was  to  be  formed  under  special  act,  ex- 
cept for  municipal  purposes;''^  each  stockholder  in  any  cor- 


45.  Passed  Feb.  26,   1857. 

46.  Laws  of  Minn.,   1857,   Extra  Session,   ch.   99. 

47.  The  Debates  and  Proceedings  of  the  Minnesota  Constitutional 
Convention,  officially  reported  by  Francis  H.  Smith  (Dem.); 
Debates  and  Proceedings  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  for 
the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  T.  F.  Andrews,  official  reporter  to 
the  Convention   (Rep.) 

48.  Folwell,   Minnesota,    p.    141. 

49.  Const,  of  Minn.,   Art.   9,   sec.   5. 

50.  Ibid.,  sec.  5. 

51.  Ibid.,   sec.   10. 

52.  Art.   10,  sec.  2. 


10  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

poration  was  to  be  liable  to  the  amount  of  stock  lield;^"^  and 
common  carriers  enjoying  right  of  way  privileges  were  to  be 
bound  to  carry  mineral,  agricultural  and  other  productions,  or 
manufactures,  on  equal  and  reasonable  terms."^ 

These  are  vital  provisions.  The  first  two  show  that  the 
delegates  at  the  conventions  wished  Minnesota  to  profit  by  the 
example  of  other  states,  which  by  aiding  and  carrying  out  in- 
ternal improvements  had  brought  themselves  to  the  verge  of 
bankruptcy  and  in  some  cases  to  actual  repudiation.^"  Incor- 
poration of  companies  by  special  act  was  forbidden,  to  do  away 
with  the  practice  of  granting  special  privileges  to  railroad  and 
other  companies.^*  The  clause  was  not  passed  without  oppo- 
sition, for  it  was  firmly  believed  by  many  that  railroad  cor- 
porations necessarily  required  special  privilege,  and  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  frame  a  general  law  applicable  to  all.^^ 

The  clause  fixing  the  liability  of  stockholders  was  inserted 
to  insure  a  greater  degree  of  responsibility  in  all  commercial 
and  industrial  ventures,  including  railroads  and  railroad  con- 
struction. The  most  advanced  provision  is  that  which  by  im- 
plication declares  railroads  to  be  common  carriers  and  attempts 
to  secure  the  various  industries  of  the  state  against  unjust  dis- 
criminations by  obliging  them  to  carry  the  different  products 
at  equal  and  reasonable  terms. 

CHAPTER  II. 
A  COMPARATIVE  STUDY  OF  THE  TERRITORIAL  CHARTERS. 
The  territorial  legislature  of  Minnesota  incorporated  twen- 
ty-seven railroad  companies.  AVith  the  ''Act  to  provide  for 
the  incorporation  and  regulation  of  railroad  companies," 
passed  by  the  first  state  legislature  in  pursuance  of  article  10, 
section  2,  of  the  constitution,  grants  of  special  railroad  charters 
ceased,  at  any  rate  formally.  Old  charters  were,  however,  fre- 
quently ''revived  and  continued"  and  answered  the  purpose  of 
new  special  charters. 

53.  Ibid.,  sec.  3. 

54.  Art.  10,  sec.  4. 

55.  For  instances  see  Scott,  Repudiation  of  State  Debts. 

Ml"".,".H?"''"",'i°''^^  Debates.  F.   H.   Smith,   reporter;   Speech   of 
Mr.  Sibley,  p.  121. 

57.     Ibid.,  see  pp.  124-177. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


11 


March 

2,1853 

1853,  Ch. 

12 

March 

3,1853 

1853,  Ch. 

10. 

March 

5,1853 

1853,  Ch. 

6 

March 

5, 1853 

1853,  Ch. 

15 

March 

5,1853 

1853,  Ch. 

16 

March 

4, 1854 

1854,  Ch. 

47 

March    4,1854        1854,  Ch. 


RA.ILROAD  Charters  Granted  by  the  Territory. 

Citation,   Session 
No.       Name  of  Company.  Date.  Laws  of  Minn. 

1.  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony 

Falls, 

2.  Minnesota   Western, 

3.  Louisiana  and  Minnesota, 

4.  Mississippi  and  Lake  Su- 

perior, 

5.  Lake  Sup.,  Puget  Sound 

and    Pacific, 

6.  Minn,  and  Northwestern, 
Transit      (not     accepted 
by    company), 

7.  Root  R.  Valley  and  South- 
ern Minn., 

8.  Transit, 

9.  Winona  and  LaCrosse, 

10.  Minneapolis  and  St.  Cloud, 

11.  Minneapolis     and     Cedar 

Valley, 

12.  Lake    Sup.    and    Northern 

Pacific, 

13.  Mississippi  and  Missouri, 

14.  Northern  Pacific, 

15.  Lake    Superior    and    Cen- 

tral Minn., 

16.  Hastings,    Minn.    R.    and 

Red  R.  of  the  North, 

17.  Nininger,    St.    Peter    and 

Western, 

18.  Minn.,  and  Dakota, 

19.  St.  Paul  and  Taylor's  Falls, 

20.  Minn.  Air  Line, 

21.  Minn,  and  Pacific, 

22.  Mississippi   Valley, 

23.  Lake  Sup.  and  Crow  Wing, 

24.  Mississippi    R.    Branch, 

25.  Minn,    and    Northwestern, 

26.  Minn.   Central, 

27.  Neb.   and   Lake    Superior, 
(Minn.   Improvement  Co., 

authorized    to    build    a 
railroad). 


March 
March 
Feb. 

2,1855 

3. 1855 

5. 1856 

1855,  Ch.    24. 

1855,  Ch.    27. 

1856,  Ch.  159. 

March 

1,1856 

1856,  Ch.  160. 

March 

1, 1856 

1856,  Ch.  166. 

March 

1, 1856 

1856,  Ch.  158,* 

p. 

301. 

March 

1,1856 

1856,  Ch.  163. 

March 

1,1856 

1856,  Ch.  165. 

March 

1, 1856 

1856,  Ch.  158,* 

p. 

280. 

Feb. 

20, 1857 

1857,  Ch.    39. 

March 

4, 1857 

1857,  Ch.      7. 

March 

4, 1857 

1857,  Ch.    24. 

March 

7, 1857 

1857,  Ch.    17. 

May 

22, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

7L 

May 

22, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

1. 

May 

22, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

27 

May 

23, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

74 

May 

23,1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

53 

May 

23, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

49 

May 

23, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

2 

May 

23,1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

93 

May 

23, 1857 

1857,  Ex.  Ses., 

Ch. 

56 

*  Two  chapters  are  numbered   the  same. 


12  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

For  convenience  in  reference,  these  charters  are  numbered 
in  the  order  of  their  approval.  Where  several  charters  were 
granted  the  same  day  the  order  is  arbitrary. 

Number  27  is  not  included  in  the  list  of  railroad  companies 
chartered  by  the  territorial  legislature,  given  by  the  railroad 
commissioner  in  his  report  in  1871.'**  But  as  it  was  accepted 
by  the  company  ^^  and  later  "amended  and  continued,"""  there 
is  no  reason  for  excluding  it. 

These  territorial  charters  form  an  interesting  comparative 
study.  A  uniform  incorporation  law  would  have  worked  no 
hardship  on  any  of  the  companies  incorporated,  for  all  were  to 
be  built  and  operated  under  very  similar  conditions;  and 
though  conditions  may  have  been  somewhat  different,  an  ex- 
amination of  the  charters  will  reveal  few  variations  which  can 
})e  traced  to  any  such  legislative  forethought.  The  form  of  the 
charter,  as  well  as  its  contents,  was  in  the  main  determined  by 
the  railroad  promoter,  for  whom  the  varied  charters  of  the 
other  states  served  as  models,  and  not  by  the  legislature.  The 
charter  proposed  by  the  promoter,  sometimes  amended  to  be 
sure,  became  the  charter  of  the  railroad  company.  For  this 
reason  we  find  tliat  charters  passed  during  the  same  session, 
and  often  on  the  same  day,  are  quite  dissimilar. 

Though  very  dissimilar  in  many  respects,  the  general  plan 
of  the  charters  is  much  the  same  in  all.  In  all  but  two  "^  the 
named  incorporators,  and  their  successors  and  assigns,  are  de- 
clared to  be  a  body  corporate  with  usual  corporate  powers.  A 
part  or  all  of  these  incorporators  are  to  constitute  a  board  of 
commissioners,  under  whose  direction  subscriptions  may  be  re- 
ceived after  due  announcements.  A  certain  amount  of  cash  is 
to  be  paid  down  on  each  share  subscribed  for,  and,  after  a 
specified  amount  of  stock  is  subscribed  and  cash  paid  in,  the 
commissioners  are  to  call  a  meeting  of  stockholders  for  the 
purpose  of  organizing.  A  board  of  directors  is  to  be  elected. 
Every  share  entitles  its  holder  to  one  vote,  and  stockholders 
may  vote  by  proxy.     The  directors  are,  as  a  rule,  given  quite 


58.  Report  of  the  Railroad  Com.   (Minn.)   for  tlie  year  1871    p    5 

59.  Record .s   in   the   office  of  the   Secretary   of  State. 

60.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,  1861,  Ch.   1. 

61.  Nos.  18  and  23. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  13 

unrestricted  powers.  Tliey  are  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
company  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations;  but  the 
provision,  ''not  inconsistent  with  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  or  with  the  laws  of  this  territory,"  is  frequently  added. 
The  directors  are  authorized  to  make  "calls"  on  unpaid  sub- 
scriptions, within  a  maximum  amount  usually  stated;  and  non- 
compliance, in  all  but  three  cases,  involves  forfeiture.  The 
amount  of  capital  stock  is  fixed,  but  generally  an  upper  limit 
is  mentioned  to  which  it  may  be  raised  by  the  directors  with 
the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the  stock. 

Right  of  way  is  given  through  private  and  public  property 
and  across  streams,  public  and  private  roads,  and  highways. 
Additional  lands  may  also  be  acquired  when  necessary  for  rail- 
road purposes.  In  cases  of  expropriation,  methods  of  settle- 
ment are  in  all  cases  designated.  The  usefulness  of  roads  and 
streams  is  not  to  be  essentially  impaired. 

Nearly  all  the  charters  provide  for  connecting  and  uniting, 
and  some  also  for  consolidation,  with  otlier  railroad  companies. 
The  power  to  borrow  money,  give  security,  and  issue  bonds,  is 
quite  generally  given.  Penalties  are  imposed  for  damaging  or 
obstructing  the  railroads.  There  is  always  a  time  limit  set  for 
completing  at  least  a  part  of  the  projected  railroad,  and  often 
also  for  organizing  the  company  and  beginning  work.  More 
than  half  of  the  charters  are  declared  to  be  public  acts,  and  in 
most  of  them  provisions  are  made  for  amendment  by  the  legis- 
lature. 

This  is  in  short  the  outline  of  the  normal  Minnesota  railroad 
charter.  The  plank  road  and  canal  charters  follow  much  the 
same  plan.  But  the  provisions  in  respect  to  these  different 
general  features  vary  considerably,  ])oth  as  to  wording  and 
content,  while  numerous  special  features  are  brought  in.  Some, 
however,  have  many  provisions  in  common,  with  many  sections 
verbatim  alike,  and  in  a  few  instances  whole  charters  are  al- 
most identical.  AVith  few  exceptions,  the  charters  may  be 
placed  in  groups,  but  within  these  groups  again  some  may  in 
turn  resemble  each  other  more  closely  than  others. 

Numbers  5,  IT,  20,  24,  and  25,  may  be  said  to  constitute  one 
such  group.  Number  5  differs  from  the  others  mainly  in  pro- 
viding different  expropriation  proceedings.     Sections  6  to  15, 


14  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

inclusive,  of  number  11,  are  "adapted  and  enacted  as  parts" 
of  number  24,  "to  be  known  and  numbered  as  therein  known 
and  numbered."  Numbers  5  and  11  name  the  commissioners 
who  are  to  open  books,  while  the  others  make  this  the  duty  of 
the  incorporators  or  a  part  of  them.  The  general  trend  of  these 
charters  is  like  some  of  those  granted  by  Wisconsin.  The  right 
of  way  proceedings  of  all  but  number  5  are  verbatim  like  those 
found  in  an  amendment  to  the  Madison  and  Beloit  railroad 
charter.®^  The  provision  as  to  borrowing  money  and  issuing 
bonds,  which  may  be  exchanged  for  stock  as  the  directors  may 
provide,  is  much  like  section  16  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
railroad  charter  of  Illinois;  and  numbers  11,  24,  and  25,  have 
similar  provisions  also  as  to  uniting  and  connecting  with  other 
roads.®^ 

Numbers  18  and  23  are  very  similar,  and  with  these  might 
be  placed  the  railroad  franchises  given  the  Minnesota  Improve- 
ment Company,  but  these  do  not  appear  to  have  been  made  use 
of.  These  two  charters  appoint  the  named  persons  commis- 
sioners, under  the  majority  of  whom  subscriptions  may  be  re- 
ceived; when  the  stockholders  organize,  they  are  to  become  a 
body  corporate.  These  charters  can  easily  be  traced  to  Wis- 
consin. Most  of  their  provisions  may  be  found  almost  ver- 
batim in  such  charters  as  those  of  the  Lake  Michigan  and  IMis- 
sissippi,''*  Madison  and  Swan  Lake,^^  La  Crosse  and  Milwau- 
kee,««  Racine,  Janesville  and  Mississippi,^^  railroad  companies, 
incorporated  by  that  state.  The  fifty-year  corporation  life 
limit  is,  however,  not  found  in  the  Wisconsin  charters.  The 
first  plank  road  charter  granted  in  Minnesota  °^  may  also  be 
traced  to  the  same  source. 

Another  group  is  numbers  12, 14,  and  15 ;  and  with  these  may 
also  be  placed  numbers  2  and  4.  Number  2  is  very  similar  to 
the  Beloit  and  Madison  railroad  charter.««  Number  4  is  almost 
verbatim  like  that  of  the  New  Haven  and  IMonroeville  railroad 

62.  Laws  of  Wisconsin,   1851,  p.  203. 

63.  Private  Laws  of  Illinois,  1851,  p.   89. 

64.  Laws  of  Wis.,  1847,  p,   72. 

65.  Laws  of  Wis.,  1851,  p.  172. 

66.  Laws  of  Wis.,   1852,  p.  325. 

67.  Laws  of  Wis.,   1852,  p.  591. 

68.  Laws  of  Minn.,   1849,  p.   91. 

69.  Laws  of  the  State  of  Wis.,   1848,   p.  161 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  15 

company,  chartered  by  Ohio.'^^  The  provision  limiting  the  bond 
issue  to  three-fourths  of  the  amount  actually  expended  may 
be  traced  to  an  amendment  of  the  Beloit  and  Madison  charter.'^^ 
The  right  to  reciprocal  use  of  railroads  at  connecting  points 
is  like  section  23  of  the  Northwestern  charter.^^  Judging  from 
internal  evidence,  it  would  seem  that  number  4  came  directly 
from  Ohio,  while  the  others  came  by  way  of  Wisconsin. 

The  largest  group  is  that  which  comprises  numbers  7,  8,  9, 
10,  13,  16,  19,  26,  27,  and  perhaps  also  numbers  6  and  17.  The 
Transit  charter  of  1854,  which  was  not  accepted,  would  have 
belonged  to  this "  group.  Number  6  is  derived  quite  directly 
from  the  Illinois  Central  charter.^^  Governor  Gorman  char- 
acterized it  as  substantially  like  the  Illinois  Central,  except 
that  it  left  out  nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  the  guards  and  securi- 
ties expressly  provided  for  in  the  Illinois  charter.'^*  Jn  the 
effort  to  float  capital  into  the  country  to  undertake  railroad 
construction  in  advance  of  the  economic  needs,  frontier  railroad 
legislation  almost  always  had  a  tendency  to  be  very  liberal. 
The  provisions  of  the  charters  of  this  group  may  nearly  all  be 
derived  from  Illinois  charters,  especially  from  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral. The  provisions  concerning  bell  or  whistle,  railroad  cross- 
ing signs,  badges  to  be  worn  by  trainmen,  and  fencing,  are 
similar  to  those  found  in  Illinois,  which  had  been  derived  from 
New  York  charters.  Such  regulations  were  not  so  frequent  in 
Wisconsin  and  Ohio  charters.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note 
that  the  charter  incorporating  the  Minnesota  Point  Ship  Canal 
Company  ^^  betrays  a  common  origin  with  this  group. 

Numbers  1,  3,  21,  and  22,  do  not  resemble  each  other  par- 
ticularly, nor  do  they  fit  into  any  of  the  foregoing  groups. 
Number  1  is  in  many  respects  very  similar  to  the  Wellsville 
and  Pittsburgh  railway  charter  granted  by  Ohio,'^^  and  also 
to  the  Dayton  and  A¥estern  charter  of  the  same  state. '^^  The 
provision  authorizing  the  borrowing  of  money  resembles  an  act 


70.  Local  Laws  of  Ohio,   1836,  p.   357. 

71.  Laws  of  Wis.,   1851,  p.   203. 

72.  Laws  of  Wis.,   1852,  p.   646. 

73.  Private  Laws  of  Ills.,  1851,  p.  61. 

74.  Council  Journal,   1855,  p.  122. 

75.  Laws  of  Minn.,   Ex.   Ses.,   1857,   Ch.   75. 

76.  Local  Laws  of  Ohio,   1846-7,   p.  183. 

77.  Ibid.,  p.  93. 


16  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

authorizing  the  Mad  River  and  Lake  Erie  railroad  company 
to  borrow  money/* 

In  number  3  we  find  the  first  twelve  sections  practically 
verbatim  like  those  of  the  charter  of  the  Alton  and  Springfield 
railroad/^  granted  by  the  Illinois  legislature  in  1847,  and  some 
of  tlie  remaining  sections  are  also  similar.  One  peculiarity  of 
this  charter  is  that  it  provides  that  in  expropriation  land  shall 
be  taken  *'as  provided  by  the  act  [of  Congress]  concerning 
right  of  way  approved  March  3,  1845."  The  words  '*of  Con- 
gress" were  inserted  in  brackets  by  way  of  explanation,  but 
are  misleading.  Congress  passed  no  such  act  on  that  day.  The 
act  cited  is  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  Illinois,^^  and  was  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Illinois  charter;  this  provision  was  copied  in 
the  i\Iinnesota  charter  together  with  the  rest. 

Number  22  may  be  traced  to  Wisconsin.  It  bears  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  Northwestern®^  and  the  Beloit  and  IMadi- 
son  ^^  charters  of  that  state. 

The  provisions  of  number  21  are  mostly  derived  from  Wis- 
consin. The  first  part  resembles  some  Illinois  charters;*^  but 
the  main  provisions  may  be  found  in  the  Arena  and  Dubuque 
charter  ®*  and  the  land  grant  charters  and  enactments  of  Wis- 
consin in  1856.*'  Likewise  the  other  land  grant  enactments  of 
Minnesota  in  1857  may  be  traced  directly  to  this  source.  The 
general  railroad  incorporation  law  of  1858  is  from  beginning 
to  end  almost  verbatim  like  that  of  Ohio.*^ 

It  would  be  difficult  in  most  instances  to  point  out  with  any 
degree  of  certainty  the  exact  charters  which  served  as  models 
for  those  of  JVIinnesota.  The  similarity  may  in  some  cases 
merely  indicate  a  common  origin.  I  think  it  quite  safe  to  say 
that  Minnesota  got  nearly  all  her  charter  provisions  from  Ohio, 
Wisconsin,  and  Illinois,  especially  from  the  two  latter.    A  few 


78.  Local  Laws  of  Ohio,   1846,  p.   27. 

79.  Private  Laws  of  lUs.,  1847,  p.  144. 

80.  General   Laws   of  Ills..    1845.   Ch.    92,   p.   478;   approved   March    3, 

81.  Laws  of  Wisconsin,    1852,  p.   646 

82.  Ibid.,  p.  55. 

83.  Private  Laws  of  Ills..   1849,  p.   78;   1851,   p.   61 

84.  Gen.  Laws  of  Wis.,  1856,  p.  680. 

85.  Ibid.,  p.  239,  Ch.   137;  p.   217,  Ch.   122. 

86.  Revised  Laws  of  Ohio,   1854,  Ch.  29,  p.  191 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  17 

scattered  provisions  may  have  been  taken  directly  from  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  or  New  England  charters.  It  is  but  nat- 
ural that  railroad  promoters  in  a  frontier  territory  like  Min- 
nesota should  look  to  the  neighboring  states,  in  which  railroads 
were  developing  under  very  much  the  same  conditions,  for 
charter  models. 

The  length  of  the  charters  varies  from  twelve  to  thirty- 
three  sections,  the  maximum  being  in  numbers  17  and  22, 
which  were  passed  in  different  sessions  of  the  same  year.  The 
number  of  incorporators  varies  from  eight  to  twenty-six  (the 
maximum  in  numbers  8  and  27).  The  number  of  incorpora- 
tors, however,  plays  no  important  part.  W.  A.  Gorman,  on 
the  floor  of  the  constitutional  convention  in  1857,  said  that 
many  were  included  merely  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  the 
company  and  never  owned  any  stock  at  all.*^  Mr.  Meeker 
added  that  probably  one-half  the  names  mentioned  in  the  acts 
granting  charters  are  of  persons  who  are  not  even  aware  that 
such  charters  are  in  existence. ^^  In  1853,  when  the  bill  to  in- 
corporate the  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony  Railroad  Company  (C. 
F.  No.  7)  was  before  the  house,  it  was  moved  in  the  committee 
of  the  whole  to  amend  the  bill  by  adding  to  the  list  of  incor- 
porators four  new  names  and  the  names  of  the  members  of  the 
legislative  assembly.^^  This  amendment,  however,  was  not 
accepted  by  the  council.  But  seven  new  incorporators  were 
inserted  by  the  house  in  the  bill  to  incorporate  the  Louisiana 
and  Minnesota  (C.  F.  No.  6),  and  the  council  accepted  the 
amendment.''^  In  the  Minnesota  and  Northwestern  charter  the 
names  of  Governor  Gorman  and  Secretary  Rosser  ''were  in- 
serted without  being  consulted  on  the  subject,  and  both  gen- 
tlemen were  desirous  that  their  names  should  not  be  used  in 
connection  with  any  act  of  the  legislature  of  this  character."  ^^ 
This  is  indicative  of  the  loose  methods  of  legislation  in  vogue 
at  the  time.  The  incorporators  were  in  no  way  responsible  for 
the  debts  incurred.  The  system  was  vicious  and  would  not  be 
tolerated  anywhere  but  in  a  frontier  settlement. 

87.  Const.   Debates,   Reported   by   Francis   H.   Smith,   p.    225. 

88.  Ibid.,  p.   225. 

89.  House  Journal,  1853,  p.  138. 

90.  Ibid.,  p.  137. 

91.  Council  Journal,   1855,  p.   212. 
2 


18  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  number  to  constitute  the  board  of  commissioners  va- 
ries, and  is  often  quite  indefinite.  In  some  cases  all  the  incor- 
porators or  a  majority  of  them  are  authorized  to  open  books. 
In  two  charters  (numbers  5  and  11)  certain  of  the  incorpora- 
tors are  named  as  commissioners.  The  method  most  frequently 
provided  is  for  the  incorporators  to  appoint  three  of  their 
number  to  serve  in  this  capacity.  Two  charters  (numbers  18 
and  23)  began  by  naming  the  commissioners,  "under  a  ma- 
jority of  whom  subscriptions  may  be  received  to  the  capital 
stock  of  the  railroad  company  hereby  incorporated."  Ten 
charters  ^-  provide  for  the  meeting  and  acceptance  of  the  char- 
ters on  the  part  of  the  incorporators. 

The  amount  of  capital  stock  varies  greatly,  and  not  entirely 
with  the  length  of  the  road  proposed.  The  lowest  is  $40,000 ; 
and  the  highest  $50,000,000,  with  the  privilege  of  raising  it  to 
$100,000,000.  The  last  is  quite  remarkable  for  a  territory  hav- 
ing taxable  property  listed  at  less  than  two  and  a  half  million 
dollars.  The  legislators  seem  to  have  been  guided  by  no 
economic  principle  as  to  stock  issue.  It  appears  that  neither 
they  nor  the  promoters  had  any  definite  idea  of  the  amount 
of  capital  necessary  to  carry  out  the  enterprise,  but  some  and 
generally  an  ample  amount  was  allowed  as  a  matter  of  course 
to  get  the  work  started.  The  charter  of  the  Minnesota  and 
Northwestern®^  was,  however,  an  exception.  It  provided  that 
the  capital  stock  of  that  corporation  should  be  $10,000,000, 
which  might  be  increased  from  time  to  time  to  any  sum  not 
exceeding  the  entire  amount  expended  on  the  road.  This  is  an 
approach  to  capital  stock  regulation,  but  would  most  likely 
not  be  very  effective  in  practice.  Too  much  depended  on  the 
mere  assertion  of  the  company.  Mr.  A.  J.  Edgerton,  the  rail- 
road commissioner,  in  his  report  for  the  year  1873,  said  :  ' '  The 
stock  in  nearly  all  the  companies  has  been  issued  as  a  matter 
of  accommodation  either  connected  with  transfers  or  in  nego- 
tiating bonds.  In  only  a  very  few  companies  does  capital  stock 
represent  any  money  paid  into  the  company.  In  some  instances 
the  original  projectors,  or  localities  interested,  subscribed  and 
paid  for  a  certain  amount  of  stock,  but  generally  this  stock 

92.  Nos.   6,   7,   8,  9,   13,   16,   19,   22,   26,   27. 

93.  No.  6. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


19 


was  wiped  out  by  subsequent  purchases  of  the  road  by  issuing 
another  class  of  stock.  The  complaint  against  watering  stock 
hardly  applies  to  railroads  in  this  state  from  the  fact  that,  in 
most  instances,  stock  was  issued  without  any  cash  equivalent, 
and  representing  no  material  assets,  and  consequently  was 
hardly  susceptible  of  dilution.  The  volume  might  be  increased 
from  time  to  time,  but  the  consistency  remained  the  same."^^ 
Legislation  regarding  capitalization  was  lax  in  territorial  days 
and  from  the  above  report  it  would  seem  that  it  continued  lax 
for  some  time  after.  AVith  two  exceptions  (numbers  7  and  13), 
shares  of  the  capital  stock  were  one  hundred  dollars  each. 
Two  charters  (numbers  11  and  24)  authorized  counties,  cities, 
and  towns,  along  railroad  lines  to  buy  stock  and  issue  bonds 
in  payment,  wiien  so  decided  by  majority  vote. 

We  find  eleven  charters  ^•'  which  contain  the  provision  that 
shares  shall  be  deemed  personal  property.  This  was  common 
in  railroad  charters  and  in  general  incorporation  laws  of  the 
time.  The  provision  was  found  in  an  amendment  to  a  turnpike 
charter  in  ^Massachusetts  as  early  as  1796."*^  It  had  been  incor- 
porated into  the  ]\Iinnesota  and  Northwestern  charter  (No.  6), 
and  when  this  charter  was  exposed  to  its  fiery  ordeal,  this 
point  was  taken  up  for  discussion.  It  was  objected  to  because 
if  shares  were  deemed  personal  property  the  stock  could  only 
be  taxed  where  the  owners  resided.  When  Governor  Gorman 
vetoed  an  act  to  amend  the  charter  (No.  5,  H.  F.),  he  stated  in 
his  objections :  ' '  It  is  clear  that  this  provision  was  to  avoid 
taxation  in  Minnesota.  I  cannot  therefore  let  go  our  right  to 
tax  their  capital  stock  and  all  their  property,  real  and  per- 
sonal. "^^  This  and  other  objections  were  given,  but  they 
seemed  to  have  little  weight  as  far  as  this  bill  w^as  concerned, 
for  it  passed  both  houses  easily  by  the  required  two-thirds 
majority,  and  became  a  law.^^  But  two  new  charters  granted 
this  year  (numbers  7  and  8)  had  both  been  amended  by  strik- 
ing out  this  clause.^^ 


94.  Ex.  Docs.,   1873,  Vol.   II,   p.   132. 

95.  Nos.   5,   6,    10,   11,    13,   19,   20,   21,    24,    25,   27. 

96.  Laws  of  Mass.,   1796,  Ch.  5,   p.  8. 

97.  Council  Journal,    1855,    p.    126. 

98.  Ibid.,  p.  133. 

99.  House  Journal,   1855,  No.   48,   H.  F.,  p.   298;   No.  5,  C.  F.,   p.   296. 


20  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  amount  of  capital  stock  which  must  be  subscribed  be- 
fore the  stockholders  could  meet  and  organize  varies  greatly, 
not  only  in  amount,  but  also  in  per  cent  of  the  total  capital 
stock.  One  charter  (number  17)  provides  that  $500,000  must 
be  subscribed,  and  five  per  cent  paid  down  in  cash ;  the  amount 
of  capital  stock  is  to  be  $2,000,000.  Another  charter  (number 
20),  granted  at  an  extra  session  the  same  year,  only  requires 
that  ''a  sum  not  more  than  $50,000  shall  have  been  subscribed 
to  the  capital  stock,"  which  in  this  case  is  to  be  $5,000,000. 
This  last  was  indeed  a  chance  for  the  railroad  promoter  to 
begin  work  with  little  capital. 

The  maximum  ''call"  for  payment  on  capital  ,etock  is  in 
three  charters  (numbers  1,  6,  21)  placed  at  the  discretion  of 
the  directors;  two  charters  (numbers  3  and  17)  have  no  provi- 
sions at  all  concerning  this  matter;  in  one  (number  20)  the 
maximum  call  is  five  per  cent  per  month.  From  five  to  twenty 
per  cent,  ten  per  cent  and  ten  dollars  per  share,  in  each  case 
at  the  discretion  of  the  directors  but  on  at  least  thirty  days 
notice,  are  the  more  common  provisions.  In  three  charters 
(numbers  1,  6,  21)  it  is  provided  that  when  installments  are 
not  paid,  stock  may  be  sold  at  auction,  and  the  balance  which 
may  be  left  shall  be  paid  over  to  the  owner.  The  other  char- 
ters all  provide  for  forfeiture  of  stock  on  non-payment,  due 
notice  to  be  given  in  all  cases. 

Each  share  entitled  the  owner  to  one  vote,  which  he  might 
exercise  in  person  or  by  proxy.  In  some  cases  it  is  provided 
that  only  shares  with  paid-up  installments  entitle  the  holder 
to  votes.  The  directors  are  to  be  elected  by  majority  vote.  In 
only  one  charter  (number  22)  is  there  any  irregularity  in  these 
respects.  By  this  charter  the  land  grant  companies  are  author- 
ized to  subscribe  to  the  capital  stock  in  proportion  to  the 
length  and  cost  of  the  roads  built  by  each.  The  directors  of 
the  new  company  are  to  be  elected  from  the  different  com- 
panies which  are  stockholders  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
stock  held;  but  whenever  individual  subscriptions  amount  to 
$200,000,  such  stockholders  shall  be  entitled  to  one  director, 
and  on  larger  subscriptions  in  like  proportion. 

The  number  of  directors  varies  from  five  to  fifteen ;  and  in 
some  cases  where  the  companies  are  authorized  to  consolidate. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  21 

the  new  board  of  directors  is  not  to  exceed  twenty-one.  Twelve 
and  nine  are  the  most  common  numbers.  Seven  charters  ^^" 
provide  for  a  board  of  twelve  directors  Avho  are  to  be  divided 
into  three  classes,  each  class  holding  office  for  one,  two,  and 
three  years,  respectively.  After  the  first  election  four  new 
directors  are  to  be  elected  annually  for  a  term  of  three  years. 
In  other  charters  all  the  directors  are  elected  annually.  Direc- 
tors are  to  be  chosen  from  the  stockholders.  One  charter 
(number  6)  provides  that  all  must  be  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  three  of  them  residents  of  Minnesota;  another 
(number  14),  that  one  must  be  a  resident  of  Minnesota;  a  third 
(number  27),  that  three  must  be  residents  of  Minnesota;  and 
a  fourth  (number  21),  that  a  majority  of  the  board  of  directors 
must  be  citizens  of  Minnesota.  One  charter  (number  7)  does 
not  mention  the  election  of  directors  at  all. 

Nearly  all  the  charters  provide  that  the  directors  may  estab- 
lish and  collect  such  ''tolls"  or  rates  as  they  may  deem  rea- 
sonable. One  charter  (number  5),  however,  sets  the  maximum 
passenger  rate  at  four  cents  per  mile.  An  amendment  to  an- 
other ^*^^  sets  the  maximum  rate  at  ten  per  cent  above  the  rate 
charged  by  the  Illinois  Central.  Rates  were  what  would  induce 
capital  to  build  and  invest,  and  it  was  but  natural  that  the 
legislature  at  the  time  should  be  liberal. 

The  right  of  way  is  in  all  cases  granted  the  railroad  com- 
panies. The  width  of  the  right  of  way  varies.  Out  of  the 
twenty-seven  charters,  eight  ^^^  provide  that  land  may  be  taken, 
not  exceeding  one  hundred  feet  in  width;  one  (number  2).  sets 
the  maximum  at  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  except  where 
more  is  necessary  for  turnouts,  buildings  and  the  like ;  another 
(number  17),  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  In  two  charters 
there  is  no  definite  limit  set,  one  (number  1)  authorizing  the 
company  to  "enter  upon  any  land,  to  survey,  construct  and  lay 
down  said  road, "  not  mentioning  width  at  all,  the  other  (num- 
ber 3)  authorizing  the  company  to  lay  out  their  road  wide 
enough  for  a  double  track.  The  remaining  fifteen  provide  that 
the  companies  may  appropriate  to  their  own  use  and  control, 


100.  Nos.   6,   8,   9,   10,   13,   16,   19. 

101.  To  No.  6;  Laws  of  Minn.,  1855,  p.  67. 

102.  Nos.   4,   12,   14,   15,   18,   22,   23,   25. 


22  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

for  the  purpose  of  the  railroad  and  its  appurtenances,  land  not 
exceeding  two  hundred  feet  in  width.  In  the  second  report 
of  the  industrial  commission  it  is  stated,  "In  C^alifornia  the 
unusual  liberty  of  laying  out  its  road  not  exceeding  nine  rods 
wide  is  given  the  company."  ^'^^^  In  Minnesota  it  was  quite 
usual  to  authorize  two  hundred  feet,  or  over  twelve  rods.  Pre- 
vious to  1855  the  territory  had  no  authority  to  grant  right  of 
way  through  public  domain.  Governor  Gorman  called  atten- 
tion to  this  fact  in  his  message  that  year,^^''  just  before  Con- 
gress extended  this  right,  which  had  for  some  time  been  en- 
joyed by  states,^''-''  also  to  territories.^"^ 

The  method  of  effecting  a  settlement  for  lands  taken  for 
right  of  way  or  for  other  *' necessary  purposes,"  where  the 
owner  was  absent,  incapable  of  conveying,  or  unwilling  to 
agree,  varied  considerably.  One  charter  (number  5)  provided 
that  in  such  cases  a  jury  of  twelve  men  should  be  summoned 
and  sworn  by  a  justice  of  the  peace  to  ascertain  the  value  of 
the  land  taken.  Another  (number  1)  provided  that  the  dis- 
trict judge,  or  two  justices  of  the  peace,  were  to  issue  warrants 
to  the  sheriff  or  marshal  of  the  county  to  summon  three  dis- 
interested freeholders  to  arbitrate  for  the  compensation  to  be 
awarded.  In  four  charters  (numbers  4,  12,  14,  15)  the  com- 
pany and  the  landowners  or  their  representatives  are  each  to 
appoint  an  arbitrator,  and  these  in  turn  to  appoint  a  third,  and 
then  to  proceed  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  property  taken  or 
the  amount  of  damages  sustained.  But  if  owners  do  not  agree 
to  arbitrate  (not  in  number  4),  the  company  may  petition  the 
circuit  court,  or  the  district  or  county  court,  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  these  commissioners.  The  remaining  charters  provide 
for  the  appointment  of  three  commissioners  by  some  court  or 
judge.  In  seven  ^"^  the  appointment  is  to  take  place  on  the 
application  of  the  railroad  company;  in  one  (number  22),  on 
application  of  either  dissatisfied  party.  One  charter  (number 
3)  provides  for  such  appointment  only  in  cases  where  owners 
are  absentees  or  incapable  of  conveying  their  lands,  ''accord- 

103.  House  Docs.,   57th  Cong..   1st   Session,  Vol.   72,   p.    896. 

104.  Council  Journal,   1855,  p.  125. 

105.  10  U.  S.  Stat.,  28. 

106.  10  U.  S.  Stat.,  683. 

107.  Nos.   1,  2,   11,   20,  21,   24,  25. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  23 

ing  to  act  [of  Congress]  concerning  right  of  way  approved 
March  3,  1845."     (See  foregoing  page  16.) 

In  the  remaining  charters  ^'^^  the  three  commissioners  are  to 
be  appointed  on  a  signed  petition  of  the  company,  definitely 
stating  what  lands  are  to  he  taken,  and  after  publishing  the 
fact  for  a  certain  length  of  time.  The  commissioners  appointed 
are  to  be  from  the  county  in  which  the  property  lies.  In  nearly 
all  charters  it  is  provided  that  in  estimating  the  value  of  the 
land  taken  and  the  damages  sustained,  the  advantages  as  well 
as  disadvantages  to  the  owners  are  to  be  taken  into  account; 
and  some  as  a  precaution  add  that  in  no  case  shall  a  balance 
be  awarded  the  company. 

Most  of  the  charters  provide,  among  the  enumerated  cor- 
porate rights,  that  the  company  may  acquire,  convey,  and  pos- 
sess such  real  and  personal  property  as  may  be  necessary  to 
carry  on  its  business.  The  charters  seem  to  imply  that  an 
effort  shall  first  be  made  to  acquire  the  right  of  way  and  other 
necessary  lands  by  purchase  or  otherwise  before  resorting  to 
expropriation.     Number  21  is  an  exception. 

Some  charters  state  definitely  that  only  an  easement  is 
acquired  on  expropriation.  In  one  charter  (number  3,  section 
7),  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  intention  was  to 
convey  in  fee  simple.  In  another  (number  21,  section  13)  the 
idea  seems  to  be  the  same :  ' '  and  whenever  the  amount  of  such 
award  or  judgment  shall  be  tendered  or  deposited  as  afore- 
said, an  absolute  estate  in  fee  simple  in  such  lands  shall  be  and 
become  vested  in  said  company."  A  third  (number  5,  section 
10)  provides  that  on  expropriation  and  settlement  the  company 
shall  have  the  ''same  right  to  take,  own  and  possess  said  lands 
and  material  as  fully  and  absolutely  as  if  the  same  had  been 
granted  and  conveyed  to  said  company  by  deed." 

In  other  charters  the  wording  is  more  indefinite.  Number 
7  (section  7)  provides  that  "the  said  corporation  shall  upon 
payment  to  each  party  interested  *  *  *  *  become  in- 
vested and  seized  of  the  title  of  the  lands  or  real  estate  *  *  *  * 
and  entitled  to  the  full,  free  and  perfect  use  and  occupation  of 
the  same  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  which  are,  for  all  the  ob- 
jects  of   this    act,  hereby  declared   to    be    public    purposes." 

108.      Nos.   6,   7,   8,   9,    10,    13,   16,    17,   18,    19,   23,   26,   27. 


24  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Thirteen  charters  ^°^  give  free  right  of  way  through  territorial 
or  future  state  lands  'Ho  be  held  and  possessed  so  long  as  the 
same  shall  be  used  for  such  purposes."  All  but  three  of  these 
(numbers  6,  19,  21)  expressly  exempt  free  right  of  way 
through  school  lands.  Sections  16  and  36  of  every  township 
had  been  reserved  for  school  purposes  by  the  act  of  Congress 
organizing  the  territory.  For  right  of  way  through  these  lands 
the  company  must  pay  not  less  than  one  dollar  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  acre  as  determined  by  the  legislature,  the  proceeds 
going  to  the  school  fund. 

Federal  land  grants  figured  largely  in  the  hopes  of  the  ter- 
ritory in  securing  railroads.  The  population  and  wealth  of 
the  territory  did  not  warrant  railroad  construction  on  any 
large  scale,  and  railroad  systems  were  deemed  to  be  essential 
to  the  development  of  the  natural  resources.  One  of  the  first 
charters  (number  2,  section  18)  provided  that  the  ''fee  simple 
of  all  lands  granted  along  the  said  railroad  or  otherwise  by  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  said 
road,  may  be  directly  granted  to  said  company  and  shall  be 
vested  in  or  transferred  to  said  company."  Four  other  char- 
ters (numbers  12,  14,  15,  16)  have  like  provisions.  The  charter 
granted  to  the  Minnesota  and  Northwestern  (number  16) 
makes  the  provision  stronger.  The  future  land  grants  ''are 
hereby  granted  in  fee  simple,  absolute  and  without  any  further 
act  or  deed."  Number  5  is  authorized  to  "accept  and  hold  to 
its  use  any  grant,  gift,  loan  or  power  of  franchise,  which  may 
be  granted  to  or  conferred  upon  said  company  by  the  laws  of 
any  state  or  of  the  United  States,  or  by  any  person  or  persons, 
upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  may  be  imposed." 

The  Minnesota  and  Pacific  (number  21)  was  given  a  part 
of  the  federal  land  grant  of  1857  ^^«  in  its  original  charter. 
Three  others  (numbers  7,  8,  and  11)  by  special  enactments  also 
received  parts  of  this  same  grant.  No  mention  of  land  grants 
had  been  made  in  their  original  charters.  These  grants  were 
to  accrue  to  the  companies  proportionately  on  the  completion 
of  every  twenty  miles  of  railroad. 

^Q^^  °^  the  charters  provide  for  connecting,  while  many 

109.  Nos.   6,   7.   8,   9,   U,   16,   17,   18,   19.   21,   23     26    27 

110.  11  U.  S.  Stats.,  195. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


25 


provide  for  leasing,  purchase,  and  reciprocal  use  at  connecting 
points,  or  for  consolidation.  The  charters  do  not  indicate  any 
general  fear  of  monopoly.  One  of  the  last  special  charters 
granted  (number  25)  provides  that  the  company  ''shall  have 
the  power  to  unite  its  railway  with  any  other  railway  now  con- 
structed or  which  may  hereafter  be  constructed  in  this  terri- 
tory or  adjoining  states  or  territories,  upon  such  terms  as  are 
mutually  satisfactory  between  the  companies  connecting  *  *  * 
and  shall  have  the  power  to  consolidate  its  stock  with  any  other 
company  or  companies." 

Six  charters  ^'^  provided  for  ''reciprocal  use  of  said  re- 
spective roads,"  where  the  roads  connect;  and  in  case  of  dis- 
agreement as  to  terms  either  party  might  appeal  to  the  su- 
preme court  of  the  territory,  "whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  fix 
such  terms  for  the  respective  parties  as  may  be  equitable." 
Others  simply  provide  for  mutual  agreement.  Five  charters  ^^^ 
authorized  the  consolidation  of  stock,  change  of  name,  and  new 
joint  board  of  directors  not  to  exceed  twenty-one  in  number. 
In  some  charters  consolidation  or  connection  with  certain 
named  companies  is  authorized. 

Only  a  few  charters  contain  any  provisions  concerning  tax- 
ation. Where  no  special  mention  or  exemption  was  made,  they 
would  be  taxed  as  other  corporations  on  their  capital  stock  and 
all  their  property  both  real  and  personal. ^^^  A  special  form 
of  taxation,  however,  grew  up  in  connection  with  federal  land 
grants  in  aid  of  railroads.  The  Illinois  Central  was  paying 
seven  per  cent  of  its  gross  income  into  the  state  treasury.  It 
was  believed  in  Minnesota  also  that  the  territory  ought  to 
secure  a  "fair  resulting  interest"  before  she  parted  with  the 
federal  grants.  They  might  "secure  sufficient  interest  to  pay 
all  the  taxes  of  the  territory  or  future  state,  if  that  direction 
be  advisable,  for  half  a  century  or  more  to  come."  ^^*  All  that 
the  charter  of  the  Minnesota  and  Northwestern  secured,  how- 
ever, was  seven  per  cent  of  the  net  earnings  to  be  paid  in  semi- 
annually after  the  company  cleared  twenty  per  cent.    If  num- 


111.  Nos.   2,    12,    14,    15,    22,    27. 

112.  Nos.    12,   14,    15,   22,   27. 

113.  Council  Journal,   1855,   p.   126. 

114.  Council  Journal,   1855,  p.   36. 


26  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ber  12  got  land  aid,  the  territory  or  future  state  was  to  have 
a  ''suitable  resulting  interest"  in  the  lands  and  one  per  cent 
annually  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  road.  Numbers  14,  15,  and 
16,  simply  provide  for  a  ''suitable  resulting  interest,"  in  pro- 
portion to  the  quantity  of  land  granted  and  the  length  of  the 
road  in  the  territory  or  future  state.  Number  21,  and  enact- 
ments giving  land  grants  to  numbers  7,  8,  and  11,  provide  that 
in  consideration  of  grants,  privileges  and  franchises  granted, 
the  companies  shall  pay  three  per  cent  of  their  gross  earnings 
annually  in  lieu  of  all  taxes  and  assessments  whatever,  and  the 
lands  granted  are  to  be  exempt  from  taxation  till  sold  or  con- 
veyed. 

Charters  and  enactments  having  provisions  concerning  fed- 
eral lands  grants  usually  provide  for  carrying  United  States 
mail  and  such  freight  and  passengers  as  may  be  offered  by 
the  government.  This  was  in  accordance  with  conditions  im- 
posed in  the  federal  land  grant  acts.  Two  charters  (numbers 
17  and  22)  have  such  provisions  though  no  promise  is  made 
of  land  grants. 

Some  charters  provide  for  publicit}^  of  accounts.  Numbers 
6,  11,  20,  and  24,  demand  that  full  and  correct  accounts  of  the 
financial  condition  of  the  companies  be  published  annually. 
Number  6  provided  that  the  charter  would  be  null  and  void  if 
this  annual  report  were  not  made  to  the  governor.  The  others 
had  no  provisions  to  enforce  such  publicity.  With  the  land 
grant  and  gross  income  per  centum  enactments  of  1857,^^'^  pro- 
visions were  made  to  secure  the  territory  its  dues.  The  gov- 
ernor, or  other  duly  appointed  person,  was  authorized  to  in- 
spect the  books  and  papers  of  the  companies,  and  to  examine 
their  officers,  agents  and  employees  under  oath  to  ascertain 
the  truth  of  their  accounts. 

Powers  granted  to  borrow  money  and  issue  bonds  are  very 
liberal.  The  minimum  bond  denomination  is  usually  set  at  five 
hundred  dollars.  This  was  no  doubt  to  insure  against  railroad 
bonds  being  issued  and  used  as  currency.  Number  6  provides, 
as  so  many  charters  of  other  states  had  done,  that  "no  banking 
privileges  are  hereby  granted  said  company." 


115.     Laws  of  Minn.,  1857,  Ex.  Ses.,  Ch.  1. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


27 


The  first  charter  granted  (number  1)  authorized  the  com- 
pany to  borrow  any  amount  of  money  not  exceeding  $200,000, 
and  to  issue  bonds  in  convenient  amounts  not  less  than  one 
hundred  dollars  each.  Seven  charters  ^^^^  limit  the  bond  issue 
to  three-fourths  of  the  whole  amount  actually  expended  on 
the  ''road  and  its  appendages"  at  the  time  of  its  completion. 
Several  charters  authorize  the  companies  to  borrow  on  such 
terms  and  rates  of  interest  as  they  can.  Number  21  expressly 
provides  "any  law  on  the  subject  of  usury  in  this  territory  or 
future  state,  or  any  state  where  such  transaction  may  be  made, 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. ' ' 

All  the  charters,  excepting  numbers  12,  14,  and  15,  pro- 
vided penalties  for  damaging  and  obstructing  the  railroads. 
If  these  provisions  had  all  been  carried  out,  similar  offences 
would  have  been  punishable  in  many  different  ways.  To  illus- 
trate, if  the  damage  were  done  to  the  ^linnesota  Western 
(number  2),  the  guilty  person  would  be  liable  to  treble  the 
damages  to  be  recovered  in  civil  action;  but  if  done  to  the 
Louisiana  and  Minnesota  (number  3),  chartered  two  days  later, 
he  must  forfeit  treble  damages  and  is  furthermore  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  on  indictment  and  conviction  is  liable  to  a 
fine  not  exceeding  $5,000,  for  the  use  of  the  county.  If  the 
damage  were  done  to  the  Minnesota  and  NorthAvestern  (num- 
ber 6),  he  must  pay  treble  damages  to  the  company  and  "shall 
be  imprisoned  until  payment  thereof,  unless  sooner  discharged 
by  due  proceedings  of  law;"  he  is  further  subject  to  indict- 
ment, and  may  be  fined  from  $30  to  $1,000,  "to  the  use  of  the 
territory  or  future  state,"  or  may  be  "imprisoned  in  the  pen- 
itentiary or  jail  for  a  term  not  exceeding  five  years,"  in  the 
discretion  of  the  court.  The  St.  Paul  and  Taylor's  Falls  char- 
ter (number  19)  provides  for  double  damages  to  be  paid  to  the 
company;  the  offender  is  furthermore  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor 
and  on  conviction  must  serve  from  five  to  ten  years  in  the  ter- 
ritorial prison,  and  in  case  of  death  resulting  from  his  misdeed 
he  is  to  be  held  guilty  of  murder  in  the  second  degree.  These 
are  a  few  of  the  many  different  provisions.  This  great  discrep- 
ancy is  due  almost  entirely  to  the  use  of  different  models  in 
drawing  up  the  charters. 

116.      Nos.   2,   10,   12,    14,   15,   16,   27. 


28  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

There  are  time  limits  set  in  all  the  charters.  The  time  for 
beginning  work  ranges  from  two  to  five  years.  Number  9  sets 
the  time  at  ten  years,  but  from  the  context  this  must  be  a  mis- 
print. Five  charters"^  provide  for  completion  in  ten  years, 
^lost  of  them  provide  for  the  building  of  certain  of  the  more 
important  parts  within  a  specified  time.  Two  companies  (num- 
bers 2  and  10)  are  permitted  to  build  their  roads  in  sections. 
Some  of  the  charters  provide  that  the  grants  and  franchises 
are  null  and  void  if  the  companies  do  not  comply  with  the  time 
requirements.  Number  13  provides  that  a  failure  to  comply 
with  any  of  the  requirements  of  that  charter  shall  forfeit  all 
the  charter  rights  and  privileges.  Similarly  numbers  12,  14, 
and  15,  make  compliance  with  all  terms  and  conditions,  the  con- 
ditions of  the  charter  remaining  in  force  "for  the  full  term  of 
fifty  years."  These  are  the  only  companies  whose  charters  are 
not  perpetual,  and  this  provision  is  not  found  in  the  models 
from  which  they  were  drawn  up.  In  1853  we  find  that  the  com- 
mittee on  internal  improvements  recommended  that  the  charter 
privileges  asked  for  the  Mississippi  and  Lake  Superior  (num- 
ber 4)  be  granted  for  the  period  of  fifty  years,^^^  but  this  re- 
commendation was  not  acted  upon.  In  a  message  to  the  legis- 
lature in  1855  the  governor  said:  "The  modern  doctrine  is 
now  well  understood  among  public  men,  that  no  corporation 
for  the  concentration  of  large  capital  should  have  perpetual 
and  unalterable  charters,  and  in  most  New  England  states  this 
guard  is  reserved  to  the  people  as  it  rightfully  ought  to  be.*' 
The  three  charters  out  of  the  seven  granted  the  following  year 
were  thus  limited. 

Fourteen  charters  ^^»  provide  for  amendment.  The  charters 
granted  in  1853  provide  that  the  legislature  may  alter  or 
amend,  or  alter,  amend  or  repeal.  Number  7  provides  that  any 
subsequent  legislature  may  amend  "in  any  manner,"  The 
Transit  (number  8)  is  the  first  one  that  provides  that  the 
amendment  is  not  to  "destroy  or  impair  vested  rights,"  and 
this  provision  is  found  in  all  charters  following  that  make  any 
mention  of  amendment  at  all 


117.  No.s.   4,   5,   9,   20,   21. 

118.  Council  Journal.  1853.  p.  4?,. 

119.  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  -4,  7,  8,   9.  10,  11.   U,   19,   25,   26,   27. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA. 


29 


The  house  amended  the  hill  to  charter  the  Transit  Railroad 
Company  by  striking  out  this  clause,^^"  but  the  council  did  not 
concur  and  the  provision  remained.  Number  6  made  no  men- 
tion of  amendment,  but  in  the  amendment  to  this  charter  the 
following  year  it  was  specified  that  the  ''legislature  may  re- 
peal, amend  or  modify,  after  the  expiration  of  twenty  years, 
provided  that  compensation  be  made  said  company  for  all  dam- 
ages sustained  thereby." 

A  number  of  the  charters  contain  general  provisions.  In 
the  Minnesota  and  Pacific  charter  (number  21)  section  27  es- 
tablishes a  uniform  gauge  of  four  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches 
for  all  railroads  in  the  territory.  In  the  Minnesota  and  North- 
western it  was  provided  that  if  the  charters  were  not  accepted 
by  the  named  incorporators  any  other  company  approved  by 
the  governor  and  treasurer  of  the  territory  might  accept  and 
be  vested  with  their  rights  and  subject  to  the  liabilities  set 
forth  in  the  charter.  In  a  rider  to  number  7  a  county  is  organ- 
ized and  its  government  provided  for  and  the  county  seat  of 
another  county  is  fixed.  Reciprocal  rights  with  connecting 
roads  are  provided  for  in  some  charters. 

Fifteen  ^-^  of  the  charters  provide  that  "this  act  is  hereby 
declared  to  be  a  public  act."  It  is  a  question  whether  this  Avas 
done  consciously  to  secure  the  right  to  amend.  It  was  most 
likely  done  merely  in  imitation  of  railroad  charters  of  other 
states.  Though  declared  a  "public  act,"  the  Louisiana  and 
Minnesota  charter  (number  8)  is  found  with  the  other  railroad 
charters,  not  so  declared,  among  the  private  acts  in  the  col- 
lated statutes  of  Minnesota,  1858. 

The  charters  were  all  very  liberal  to  the  corporations,  as 
the  earlier  charters  of  other  states  had  been.  The  later  expe- 
rience of  neighboring  states,  though  at  times  made  use  of,  was 
not  thoroughly  incorporated  into  the  charters.  Many  restric- 
tive provisions  are  found,  but  the  means  of  enforcing  them  are 
generally  quite  wanting.  Railroad  problems  were  not  under- 
stood in  advance  of  actual  experience. 


120.     House  Journal,   1855,   p.   297. 
121.      Nos.   3,   6,   7,   8,   9,   10,   11,   13,   19,   21,   22,   23,   25,   26,   27. 


30  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

CHAPTER  Til. 

THE   RAILROAD   BOND   ISSUE   AND    THE    GENERAL    RAILROAD 
INCORPORATION  LAW  OF  1858. 

After  the  treaties  of  1851  with  the  Indians  at  Traverse  des 
Sioux  and  Mendota,  which  were  ratified  later  by  the  Senate 
and  were  proclaimed  by  President  Fillmore  in  1853,  the  ter- 
ritory west  of  the  Mississippi  was  thrown  open  to  settlement, 
and  the  population  of  the  territory  increased  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  Prior  to  1855  only  a  little  over  half  a  million  acres 
of  public  land  had  been  sold  in  Minnesota.  In  1855  over  a  mil- 
lion acres  were  transferred  to  settlers,  and  in  1856  nearly  two 
and  a  half  million  acres.^-- 

Only  a  relatively  small  area  was  under  cultivation ;  but  the 
territorial  newspapers  and  the  prospectuses,  handbooks  and 
other  literature  scattered  broadcast  at  the  time,  picture  the 
agricultural  possibilities  in  the  most  glowing  terms.  Lumber- 
ing was  one  of  the  chief  industries  and  the  rivers  began  to 
teem  with  logs.  Villages  sprang  up  as  if  by  magic,  often  in 
anticipation  of  rural  settlement  and  of  industrial  and  commer- 
cial enterprise.  Sawmills  were  run  to  their  full  capacity,  fre- 
quently night  and  day,  to  supply  the  enormous  demand  for 
building  materials.  Land  offices,  hotels,  and  livery  stables,  did 
a  flourishing  business  everywhere. 

Speculation  was  rife  on  all  sides.  Unimproved  lands, 
bought  for  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre  in  the  winter  of 
1856,  were  surveyed  and  city  lots  recorded.  In  1857  many  of 
these  lots  were  sold  to  eager  buyers  at  fifty  dollars  an  acre, 
even  though  there  was  not  even  a  log  cabin  in  sight. ^-'  Such 
paper  towns  were  at  times  laid  out  within  a  mile  of  each 
other.  In  older  settlements  city  lots  bought  for  five  hundred 
dollars  in  the  morning  might  sell  for  a  thousand  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  same  day.^24  r^^ie  value  .of  corner  lots,  factory 
sites,  and  water  power  privileges,  was  largely  speculative,  de- 


122.  Parker,   Handbook  for  Minnesota,   1856-7,   p.   112. 

123.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Report,  1863,' p.  36;  Letter  of  O.  H. 
Kelley,  Itasca. 

124.  Parker,  Minn.  Handbook  for  1856-7,  p.  20;  one  .such  sale  in  Red 
Wing-  described. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  31 

pending  to  a  great  extent  on  the  final  location  of  the  proposed 
railroads.  Property  values  in  general  were  abnormally  high. 
These  "wild  riots  of  financial  adventure"  came  to  an  ab- 
rupt close.  The  Ohio  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Company  of 
New  York  failed  before  the  Minnesota  constitutional  conven- 
tion adjourned.  Other  large  eastern  corporations  followed 
suit,  and  the  panic  of  1857  was  precipitated.  AVhen  the  news 
reached  Minnesota,  cash  and  credit  disappeared,  and  likewise 
thousands  of  speculators  who  had  been  caught  unawares. 
Paper  city  lots  lost  their  charms,  land  agencies  closed  their 
doors,  factories  and  mills  soon  came  to  a  standstill.  For  a 
time  it  seemed  as  though  the  tide  of  immigration  had  turned, 
and  that  Minnesota  was  about  to  be  depopulated.  The  taxable 
property  of  the  state  had  increased  one  hundred  and  two  per 
cent  in  1857.  In  the  two  following  years  there  was  an  actual 
decrease  of  about  thirty  per  cent  in  valuation.^^^  The  follow- 
ing table  shows  the  number  and  area  of  town  plats  recorded 
from  1853  to  1859  in  eighteen  counties  with  forty-seven  per 
cent  of  the  population  of  the  state : 


No.  of  town 

sites. 

No.  of  lots. 

No.  of  acres. 

1853 

3 

1,567 

657 

1854 

30 

8,354 

2,719 

1855 

44 

20,944 

5,196 

1856 

107 

39,683 

13,966 

1857 

182 

90,584 

20,855 

1858 

50 

18,076 

4,689 

1859 

12 

4,932 

1,462 

The  state  commissioner  of  statistics,  in  his  report  for  the 
year  ending  January  1,  1860,  estimated  the  total  area  occupied 
by  town  lots  at  over  100,000  acres,  or  twenty-two  per  cent  of 
the  cultivated  area  of  the  state.  Of  the  estimated  374,000  city 
lots,  362,000  were  unoccupied  and  unimproved.^ -^  Judging 
from  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  votes  cast,  and  from  re- 
ports of  a  number  of  towns  and  cities,  the  commissioner  con- 
cluded that  the  urban  population  had  decreased  twenty  per 
cent  since  1857.  St.  Paul,  the  capital  and  largest  city,  is  said 
to  have  lost  half  its  population  during  the  panic.  This  pop- 
ulation was  in  the  main  transferred  to  agricultural  pursuits, 

125.  Commissioner  of  Statistics,  Minn.,  First  annual  report,   for  the 
year  ending  Jan.  1,  1860,   p.   147. 

126.  Ibid.,   pp.   148-9. 


32  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

and  as  a  consequence  the  cultivated  area  was  more  than 
doubled  in  1858  and  in  some  counties  more  than  quadrupled, 
while  the  population  of  the  state  as  a  whole  increased  only 
6,000  as  compared  with  an  increase  of  about  50,000  in  the  pre- 
vious year. 

Prior  to  1857  agriculture  had  not  been  materially  devel- 
oped in  Minnesota.  Speculation  in  city  lots  had  proved  more 
fascinating  than  wheat  raising.  Many  of  those  who  had  tried 
farming  had  not  met  with  the  best  of  success.  The  army 
worm  paid  a  visit  in  1855,  and  grasshopper  raids  followed  in 
1856  and  1857.^^^  When  the  panic  and  hard  times  came,  the 
farmer  suffered  with  the  rest. 

On  receiving  the  federal  land  grants,  Minnesota  had  felt 
assured  of  railroads  in  the  immediate  future ;  but  the  panic 
nipped  the  promising  railroad  construction  in  the  bud,  and  the 
people  began  to  fear  that  the  land  grants  would  eventually  re- 
vert to  the  government  on  account  of  the  inability  of  the  rail- 
road companies  to  meet  the  time  requirements  specified  in  the 
grants. 

"When  the  legislature  convened  in  December,  1857,  it  im- 
mediately set  about  to  devise  some  plan  whereby  it  might 
relieve  the  financial  situation  and  help  the  railroads.  It  was 
hampered  by  the  constitutional  provision  forbidding  the  gift 
or  loan  of  state  credit  to  any  individual  association  or  cor- 
poration.^28  Accordingly  a  constitutional  amendment  was  pro- 
posed ^^^  which  authorized  the  issue  of  state  bonds  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $1,250,000  to  each  of  the  four  land  grant  railroad  com- 
panies. The  bonds  were  to  be  issued  and  delivered  at  the  rate 
of  $100,000  for  every  ten  miles  of  road  ready  for  superstruc- 
ture and  another  $100,000  for  every  ten  miles  ''actually  com- 
pleted and  cars  running  thereon." 

The  railroads  were  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  state  bonds 
and  all  expenses  connected  with  their  issue.  The  net  profits 
of  the  companies  were  pledged  for  the  payment  of  the  interest. 
The  first  two  hundred  and  forty  sections  of  land  accruing  to 


127.  Department   of   AgricuUure,    Report    for    1863,    p.    36     letter   bv 
O.  H.  Kelley. 

128.  Const,  of  Minn.,  Art.  IX,  sec.  10. 

129.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1858,  ch.  1. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  33 

each  company  were  to  be  placed  by  deed  trust  at  the  disposal 
of  the  governor  and  secretary  of  state.  As  further  security  the 
railroads  were  to  give  first  mortgage  bonds  on  their  roads,  lands, 
and  franchises,  to  the  full  value  of  the  bonds  received  from 
the  state.  Each  railroad  comj^any  was  placed  under  obliga- 
tion to  complete  fifty  miles  of  its  road  before  the  close  of  the 
year  1861,  one  hundred  miles  by  the  close  of  1864,  and  four- 
fifths  of  its  road  by  1866. 

The  constitution  made  necessary  the  enactment  of  several 
general  incorporation  laws,  for  the  incorporation  of  some  kinds 
of  corporations  was  not  provided  for  in  the  general  incorpora- 
tion laws  in  force  at  the  time.^^°  Accordingly  the  legislature 
passed  a  number  of  new  incorporation  laws,^^^  among  them 
''An  act  to  provide  for  the  incorporation  and  regulation  of 
railroad  companies."  ^^^ 

The  law  is  almost  verbatim  like  that  enacted  in  Ohio  in 
1852.^^^  Its  provisions  in  the  main  do  not  differ  materially 
from  those  found  in  various  special  charters  of  the  time,  but 
the  fact  that  all  future  railroad  companies  were  to  be  subject 
to  the  same  laws  was  in  itself  a  decided  step  in  advance;  for 
the  evident  inconsistency  and  unnecessary  confusion,  if  not 
actual  injustice,  of  incorporating  similar  companies  under  dif- 
ferent laws  would  be  done  away  with. 

According  to  the  new  law  any  number  of  persons  not  less 
than  five  might  incorporate  a  railroad  company  by  filing  with 
the  secretary  of  state  a  sworn  certified  statement  specifying 
the  name  of  the  company,  the  name  and  residence  of  each  of 
the  persons  forming  the  association,  the  termini  of  the  pro- 
posed road  and  the  county  or  counties  through  which  it  would 
pass,  and  lastly  the  amount  of  capital  necessary  to  construct 
the  road.^^* 

The  state  attempted  no  direct  control  of  stock  issue. 
Though  limited  in  the  first  instance  to  the  amount  of  capital 


130.  Statutes  of  Minn.,   1851,   chs.   36-42,   incl. 

131.  See   Statutes    of   Minn.,    1849-1858,    ch.   XVII,    pp.    274-337;    Cor- 
porations,  their  formation   and  regulation. 

132.  General  Laws   of  Minn.,    1858,    ch.    70. 

133.  Laws  of  Ohio,  Vol.  50,  p.  274;  Act  approved  May  1,  1852. 

134.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1858,  ch.  70,  sec.   1. 
3 


34  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

declared  necessary  for  the  construction  of  the  road,  the  amount 
of  capital  stock  might  later  be  increased  by  the  directors  if 
they  deemed  it  necessary  and  secured  the  consent  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  stock  already  issued/^^  The  borrowing  power  of 
the  railroad  company  was  limited  to  an  amount  not  exceeding 
its  authorized  capital  stock.  The  bonds  and  promissory  notes 
issued  might  be  secured  by  pledging  property  and  income,  but 
were  not  to  bear  more  than  eight  per  cent  interest.^''" 

Railroad  companies  were  permitted  to  consolidate  when- 
ever any  portion  of  their  lines  was  so  constructed  as  to  admit 
of  continuous  passage.  One  railroad  company  might  aid  other 
companies  in  bringing  about  such  connection  by  subscription 
of  capital  stock  or  otherwise  and  was  authorized,  after  con- 
nection had  been  made,  to  buy  or  lease  these  lines,  or  to  make 
such  ''arrangements  for  their  common  benefit"  as  might  be 
agreed  upon.^^^  There  was  no  mention  made  of  parallel  and 
competing  lines,  of  which  so  much  is  heard  later. 

Every  railroad  company  incorporated  under  the  new  law 
was  required  to  make  a  full  annual  report  to  the  state  auditor. 
This  report  was  to  give  the  amount  of  capital  stock  of  the 
company,  the  gross  receipts  for  the  year,  the  cost  of  repairs 
and  incidental  expenses,  the  net  amount  of  profits  and  the  divi- 
dends made,  with  such  other  facts  as  might  be  necessary  to 
show  the  condition  of  its  affairs.  The  auditor  was  to  transmit 
an  abstract  of  such  reports  to  the  legislature.^ ^^  No  authority 
was  given,  however,  to  investigate  the  accuracy  of  the  reports, 
and  no  penalties  were  provided  for  in  case  the  companies  neg- 
lected or  refused  to  report. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  the  law  from  the  point  of 
view  of  state  regulation  is  the  fixing  of  maximum  rates  of 
freight  and  fare.  No  railroad  incorporated  under  the  law  was 
permitted  to  demand  or  receive  for  the  transportation  of  pas- 
sengers more  than  three  cents  per  mile,  nor  more  than  five 
cents  per  ton-mile  for  the  transportation  of  property  when 
transported  thirty  miles  or  more,  but  if  transported  less  than 


135.  Ibid.,  sec.  7. 

136.  Ibid.,  sec.  13. 

137.  Ibid.,  sec.  24. 

138.  Ibid.,  sec.  18. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  35 

thirty  miles  such  reasonable  rates  might  be  charged  as  were 
fixed  by  the  company  or  prescribed  by  law.^^^ 

The  special  charters  had  nearly  all  given  over  to  the  com- 
panies the  right  to  fix  their  own  rates,  but  the  state  legisla- 
ture of  1858,  in  following  the  lead  of  Ohio,  asserted  its  right 
to  regulate  rates  on  roads  thereafter  incorporated.  In  the 
general  incorporation  act  for  plank  road  and  turnpike  com- 
panies enacted  in  1851,  the  legislature  had  expressly  reserved 
its  right  to  regulate  the  rates  of  toll/^*^  This  law  was  still  in 
force  and  the  same  principle  was  now  applied  to  railroads. 

But  though  the  legislature  fixed  maximum  rates  of  charges, 
it  provided  no  means  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  and  at- 
tached no  penalties  for  its  violation.  The  companies  were  evi- 
dently supposed  to  comply  with  this  and  other  requirements  of 
their  own  free  will. 

The  legislature  of  1858  had  planned,  by  its  proposed  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  approved  by  the  governor  ^larch  9,  to 
expedite  the  construction  of  railroads,  save  the  land  grants, 
and  secure  a  safe  currency  for  the  people. ^*^  The  electors  rat- 
ified the  amendment  by  an  ''overwhelming  majority  of  votes" 
the  following  April. ^*- 

But  this  specious  financial  scheme  proved  a  dismal  failure 
in  every  way.  The  railroad  companies  did  not  proceed  accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  of  the  amendment.  They  refused  to  give  ex- 
clusive first  mortgage  to  the  state,  and  won  out  against  the 
governor  in  the  courts.^^'^  On  the  other  hand  the  people  never 
regarded  the  bonds  as  state  obligations  at  all.  Sixty-seven 
members  of  the  legislature,  who  had  voted  for  the  bond  issue, 
publicly  pledged  themselves  never  to  vote  for  a  tax  to  pay 
them.  The  bonds,  which  at  first  were  eagerly  bought  at  par, 
could  not  be  disposed  of  at  any  reasonable  price  despite  the 
best  efforts  of  the  governor  and  of  the  companies.^** 

139.  Ibid.,  sec.   12.     (Verbatim  from  the  Ohio  Law,  sec.  13.) 

140.  Statutes   of  Minn.,    1851,   ch.    39,   sec.   55. 

141.  House  Journal,  1859-60,  p.  389  ff.;  Report  of  a  special  com- 
mittee on  railroads,  railroad  grants,  and  Minnesota  railroad 
bonds.  General  laws,  1858,  chs.  32  and  33;  Banking'  act  and 
an  amendment  to  the  same. 

142.  Ibid.,   p.   15. 

143.  2  Minn.,  13;  application  of  Minn,  and  Pac.  for  a  mandamus 
against  Governor  Sibley   upheld. 

144.  House   Journal,    1859-60,    p.    15;   Governor's    Message. 


36  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

For  a  while  the  work  of  the  construction  companies  was 
carried  on  with  rapidity,  if  not  thoroughness,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  bonds  were  issued  according  to  the  agreement,  which 
was  construed  liberally  for  the  railroad  companies.  These 
bonds  were  sold  and  hypothecated  at  a  ruinous  discount,  mostly, 
it  was  believed,  to  speculators.  Before  long  construction  oper- 
ations had  to  cease  for  lack  of  funds.  The  companies  had  no 
capital  or  credit  of  their  own  and  had  depended  almost  en- 
tirely on  the  proceeds  from  the  state  bonds.  When  the  rail- 
roads realized  their  mistake,  they  offered  to  submit  to  the  con- 
ditions originally  imposed  by  the  governor,  namely,  to  issue 
exclusive  first  mortgage  bonds  to  the  state,^*^  but  their  sub- 
mission came  too  late.  They  were  by  this  time  entirely  dis- 
credited.^^« 

In  all,  $2,275,000  in  bonds  were  issued.  All  tliat  could  be 
shown  for  this  large  sum  was  two  hundred  and  forty  miles  of 
**  incomplete,  fragmentary  and  disjointed  portions  of  grad- 
ing," which  had  cost  on  the  average  less  than  $3,000  per  mile. 
Only  fifty  miles  of  well-built  superstructure  was  ready  for  the 
rail.i^^ 

When  the  legislature  met  in  December,  1859,  Governor 
Ramsey  in  his  message  admitted  the  folly  of  attempting  to 
loan  the  state  credit  to  the  land  grant  railroad  companies. 
He  recommended  their  dispossession  and  the  transfer  of  their 
interests  to  more  responsible  hands.  He  counselled  strongly 
against  any  form  of  repudiation,  but  recommended  that,  since 
the  outstanding  bonds  could  at  the  time  be  secured  on  favor- 
able terms,  thej^  ought  to  be  bought  in  and  withdrawn  imme- 
diately and  new  bonds  issued  instead. 

The  legislature  could  hardly  be  expected  to  follow  this  last 
recommendation.  Its  members  reflected  the  sentiment  preval- 
ent throughout  the  state.  Tlie  great  majority  of  the  people 
absolutely  disowned  the  "swindling  bonds,"  as  they  were 
called,  and  claimed  that  those  who  held  the  bonds  had  bought 


145.  Tenth   Census   Report.   \  ol.   VII,   pp.    632-634,    gives   an   account 
of  Minnesota's  bonded  debt. 

146.  House  Journal,   1859-60,  p.   15. 

147.  House  Journal,   1859-60,  p.  390;  Report  of  the  concurrent  com- 
mittees on  railroads,  railroad  grants,  and  Minn,  railroad  bonds. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


37 


them  on  speculation  at  a  large  discount,  fully  realizing  the  risk 
they  were  taking. 

A  joint  committee  on  railroads,  railroad  grants,  and  Min- 
nesota railroad  bonds,  was  appointed.  This  committee  con- 
ducted an  extensive  investigation  of  the  controverted  question 
and  made  several  reports.  Heated  discussions  were  carried  on 
in  both  Houses,  but  it  proved  hard  to  come  to  any  satisfactory 
conclusion. 

Early  in  the  session  the  governor  was  directed  by  a  joint 
resolution  to  destroy  the  blank  and  unissued  Minnesota  state 
railroad  bonds  in  the  presence  of  a  joint  legislative  commit- 
tee.^''^ They  would  at  any  rate  make  sure  that  no  more  were 
issued. 

The  railroad  companies  having  defaulted  in  the  payment  of 
interest  on  the  bonds  issued  by  them  and  held  by  the  state, 
it  was  the  duty  of  the  governor  to  foreclose  the  deeds  of  trust 
held  for  the  state. ^''^  This  the  retiring  governor  had  not  done. 
By  an  act  passed  toward  the  close  of  the  session,  it  was  made 
the  duty  of  the  governor  to  foreclose  the  deeds  of  trust  if  in 
his  opinion  the  public  interest  required  it.  He  was  further- 
more authorized  at  his  discretion  to  bid  in  for  the  state  the. 
property,  rights,  and  franchises  of  the  companies  at  such  sale.^''*^ 

A  few  days  later  two  amendments  to  the  constitution  were 
proposed  by  a  concurrent  resolution.^ "'^  According  to  the  first 
no  law  levying  a  tax  or  making  other  provision  for  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  or  principal  of  the  Minnesota  state  railroad 
bonds  was  to  be  effective  before  ratified  by  a  majority  vote  of 
the  electors  of  the  state.  The  second  amendment  forbade  the 
further  issue  of  bonds  under  what  '^  purports  to  be  an  amend- 
ment to  section  ten  of  article  nine  of  the  constitution,"  and 
expunged  this  amendment  from  the  constitution,  reserving  to 
the  state,  nevertheless,  all  rights,  remedies,  and  forfeitures 
accruing  under  it. 

This  resolution  secured  the  approval  of  Governor  Ramsey 


148.  General  Laws,   1860,   p.   303;  Joint  Resolutions,  No.   4,  approved 
Jan.   13. 

149.  Cf.   General   Laws,    1860,   ch.    88,    sec.    1,    with   General   Laws   of 
1858,  ch.   1,  sec.  1,  p.   11. 

150.  General   Laws,   1860,   ch,    88,   approved   March    6. 

151.  Ibid.,  p.  297;  Concurrent  Resolution,  No.  1,  approved  March  10. 


38  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  at  the  following  November  election  the  amendments  were 
ratified  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote  of  the  electors.  The  peo- 
ple believed  the  state  had  been  hoodwinked  by  designing  poli- 
ticians and  railroad  men  in  the  first  instance,  and  they  con- 
strued proposals  of  settlement  or  adjustment  as  indications 
of  further  corruption.  If  refusing  to  acknowledge  the  validity 
of  these  state  bonds  was  repudiation,  they  were  quite  willing 
to  bear  the  odium.  They  rather  looked  upon  such  repudiation 
as  a  vindication  of  their  honor. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EVENTUAL  ADJUSTMENT  OF  THE   STATE  RAILROAD 
BONDS. 

The  people  of  the  state  would  gladly  have  consigned  the 
repudiated  Minnesota  State  Railroad  Bonds  to  oblivion,  but 
those  who  held  the  bonds  were  not  so  ready  to  forget.  Bonds 
with  a  par  value  of  $2,275,000  ^''-  and  their  coupons  attached 
were  not  to  be  given  up  without  a  struggle.  The  state  not 
being  suable,  the  case  had  to  be  fought  out  with  the  legisla- 
ture and  with  the  people  who  had  voted  the  repudiation. 

Nothing  was  done  by  the  legislature  before  1866,  when  it 
passed  an  ''act  for  the  equitable  adjustment  of  the  state  rail- 
road bonds."  This  act  provided  for  the  appointment  by  the 
governor  of  a  committee  of  three  to  investigate  who  the  hold- 
ers of  the  railroad  bonds  were  and  what  the  bona  fide  holders 
had  paid.  They  were  authorized  to  receive  bids,  and  all  claims 
not  presented  before  January  1,  1867,  were  to  be  forever 
barred.^'^^  This  attempt  at  securing  an  equitable  adjustment 
proved  futile. 

Early  in  1866  it  was  discovered  that  Minnesota  had  a  claim 
to  500,000  acres  of  internal  improvement  lands  under  an  act 
of  Congress  approved  September  4,  1841.^'''*     These  lands  were 

152.  Railroad  Company.  Bonds  issued.  Amount  of  grading. 
Minn,  and  Pac,  $600,000  62  mi.,  3,213  ft. 
Mpls.  and  Cedar  Valley,  600,000  69^4  mi. 
Transit,  500,000  50  mi. 
Southern    Minn.,                       575,000     Minn.  Valley,  371^  mi.;  Root 

R.    Branch.    20   mi.,    1,004    ft. 

153.  General  Laws,  1866,  ch.  5,  p.  9. 

154.  5  U.  S.  Stat.,   453,  ch.   16,  sec.   8. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  39 

to  have  accrued  to  the  state  on  her  admission  into  the  Union 
in  1858,  but,  perhaps  on  account  of  the  large  land  grants  of 
1857,  the  older  general  grant  was  overlooked.  When  Governor 
Marshall  had  his  attention  called  to  this  claim  by  Mr.  Drake, 
later  president  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  railroad  com- 
pany, he  immediately  had  the  matter  investigated,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  conceded  the  claim  to 
the  state.^^^ 

The  governor  now  thought  that  he  saw  a  practicable  solu- 
tion to  the  state  bond  difficulties.  The  bonds  had  been  issued 
to  secure  internal  improvements ;  these  lands  were  given  to  the 
state  for  this  same  purpose.  He  therefore  believed  that  the 
lands  might  properly  be  given  to  settle  the  outstanding  bonds. 
In  this  way  the  stigma  of  repudiation  could  be  removed  from 
the  state  without  subjecting  the  people  to  taxation.  He  brings 
out  these  points  strongly  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  in 
1867,  and  appeals  to  their  sense  of  honor  and  their  state  pride. 
He  assumes  that  the  people  generally  believe  something  is  due 
on  the  bonds  and  that  they  intend  to  pay  whatever  is  justly 
due.  He  suggests  two  ways  of  disposing  of  the  lands  with  this 
object  in  view.  Either  the  proceeds  of  this  sale  may  be  set 
apart  as  a  sinking  fund  to  pay  whatever  ultimately  is  due  to 
the  bondholders,  or  the  bondholders  may  be  given  the  lands 
in  exchange  for  their  bonds.' ^^ 

The  legislature  followed  the  recommendation  of  the  gov-/ 
ernor.  It  passed  an  act  providing  that  the  proceeds  to  the 
state  from  the  federal  land  grant  of  1841  and  the  gross  income 
percentage  paid  in  by  the  railroads  after  the  passage  of  this 
act  were  to  be  set  aside  as  a  sinking  fund  for  the  adjustment 
of  the  Minnesota  State  Railroad  Bonds.^"  Certain  judgments 
recovered  in  the  district  court  of  Ramsey  county  against  the 
Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  railroad  company  for  construc- 
tion work  were  recognized  by  the  legislature  and  placed  for 
payment  on  the  same  footing  with  its  state  railroad  bonds.^^^ 

The  people,  however,  were  not  yet  ready  for  any  such  set- 


155.  Exec,   docs.,   1866,   p.   18;    1867,   p.   23. 

156.  Ibid.,   1866,   pp.   18-20;   Governor's  Message,   Jan.   10,   11 

157.  General  Laws,  1867,  ch.  53. 

158.  Special  Laws,  1867,   ch.   152. 


40  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

tlement;  and  when  the  act  was  submitted  to  the  electors,  ac- 
cording to  the  constitutional  amendment  of  1860,  it  was  re- 
jected by  a  vote  of  49,763  to  l,935/=« 

When  the  next  legislature  met  in  1868  Governor  Marshall's 
position  was  unchanged,  but  the  legislature  was  not  prepared 
to  take  any  definite  action  in  view  of  the  recent  second  repu- 
diation by  the  people.'^*^  The  people  had  no  intention  of  pay- 
ing the  "swindling  bonds  of  '58,"  and  suspected  those  who 
worked  for  an  adjustment  of  collusion  with  the  bondholders. 
The  committee  appointed  by  the  governor  the  previous  year 
reported  to  the  legislature  the  results  of  its  investigations.  Ac- 
cording to  this  report  the  holder  of  the  largest  amount  of  rail- 
road bonds  was  Mr.  Selah  Chamberlain,  a  railroad  contractor. 
He  claimed  that  his  bonds  had  cost  him  above  par  in  work  and 
material  furnished.  The  committee  had  employed  an  experi- 
enced engineer  to  examine  the  work  done,  and  he  reported  that 
the  grading  had  only  cost  $2,843.42  per  mile,  instead  of  $9,500 
as  alleged  by  Mr.  Chamberlain.  Some  holders  had  admitted 
paying  as  low  as  seventeen  and  a  half  cents  on  the  dollar  for 
their  bonds.  The  report  of  this  committee  naturally  confirmed 
the  people  of  the  state  in  their  belief  that  they  were  not  deal- 
ing with  honest  creditors  with  just  claims.^*'^ 

An  amendment  to  the  constitution  was  proposed  by  the  leg- 
islature, providing  that  no  law  disposing  of  the  internal  im- 
provement lands  or  of  the  proceeds  from  them  was  to  be  oper- 
ative until  it  had  been  ratified  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  elec- 
tors. The  legislature,  however,  might,  without  such  vote,  pro- 
vide for  the  appraisal  and  sale  of  the  lands  and  the  investment 
of  the  proceeds  in  state  or  national  securities.^^^  If  this  amend- 
ment were  ratified,  what  would  prevent  the  legislature  from 
investing  such  proceeds  in  Minnesota  state  railroad  bonds? 
The  people  refused  to  take  any  such  chances  and  the  amend- 
ment was  lost.^*'-'* 

In  1869  Governor  Marshall  sent  a  special  message  to  the 

159.  A.    J,    Edgerton,    Compilation    of    the    railroad    laws    of    Minn. 
(1872),  p.  43,  footnote. 

160.  Red   Wing-  Argtis,  Jan,  23,   1868. 

161.  Folvvell,  Minnesota,  p.  327. 

162.  General  laws,   1868,  ch.   108. 

163.  Edgerton,   op,  cit.,  p,  44, 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


41 


legislature,  in  which  he  discussed  the  Minnesota  State  Railroad 
Bonds  at  length  and  urged  the  wisdom  and  propriety  of  meet- 
ing an  obligation  which  would  have  to  be  met  sooner  or  later. 
A  number  of  memorials  from  aggrieved  bondholders  were  pre- 
sented to  the  legislature.  These  demanded  settlement  on  vari- 
ous pleas.  One  stated  that  he,  a  resident  of  New  York,  had 
been  induced  by  the  governor  of  Minnesota  personally  to  pur- 
chase the  bonds  held  by  him.^^*  Several  New  York  bankers 
claimed  to  be  innocent  holders  and  demanded  the  protection 
of  the  state  against  the  acts  of  her  own  officers  appointed  by 
herself.^^^  Another  memorial  was  presented  hy  an  executor 
in  New  York  in  behalf  of  a  deceased  bondholder's  widow  and 
orphans.^^® 

The  state  press  was  in  favor  of  Governor  Marshall's  recom- 
mendation. The  St.  Paul  Press  claimed  that  only  two  news- 
papers in  the  state  opposed  hira.^^^  The  legislature  proceeded 
to  enact  what  became  known  as  the  Delano  bill.  This  bill  gave 
Mr.  Delano  thirteen  j^ears  in  which  to  buy  up  the  disputed 
bonds  at  practically  his  own  price,  in  return  for  which  he  was 
to  receive  the  entire  internal  improvement  land  grant.  He 
was  in  no  way  made  responsible  for  carrying  out  his  trust,  nor 
for  the  manner  in  which  it  was  done.^®*  This  measure  was  not 
at  all  satisfactory  to  the  governor  and  he  promptly  vetoed  it. 

In  1870  the  legislature  passed  another  bill  to  bring  about  a 
settlement.  This  bill  provided  for  the  surrender  of  all  out- 
standing railroad  bonds  with  attached  coupons  in  exchange 
at  par  value,  but  with  no  interest  allowed,  for  internal  im- 
provement lands  at  prices  to  be  determined  at  public  auction 
in  St.  Paul  the  following  September.  The  lands  were  to  be 
exempt  from  taxation  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  but  the  mini- 
mum price  was  fixed  at  $8.70  per  acre,^^^  which  was  several 


164.  The  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  Feb.  2,  1869,  p.  2;  Memorial  of  J.  D. 
Souter,   New  York,   Jan.   13,    1869. 

165.  Ibid.,  memorial   addressed   to   the   governor  and   dated   Jan.    19, 
1869. 

166.  Ibid.,  dated  Jan.  25,  1869. 

167.  Ibid.,  Feb.    9,    1869.      The   papers   referred    to   are   the   Hastings 
Gazette  and  St.  Cloud  Journal. 

168.  Ibid.,  March  11,  1869,  p.  1,  and  the  bill  given  in  full,  pp.  2  and 
3-5. 

169.  General  laws,   1870,  ch.   13,  p.  18. 


42  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

times  the  market  value  of  unimproved  land  in  those  regions. 
This  act  was  signed  by  the  governor,  and  was  approved  by 
the  people  at  a  special  election  held  the  following  May;  but 
the  bondholders  did  not  wish  for  settlement  on  these  terms, 
and  the  required  number  of  bonds  were  not  deposited  for  the 
act  to  become  operative. 

In  his  message  to  the  legislature  in  1871,  Governor  Marshall 
again  urged  the  use  of  the  internal  improvement  lands  'Ho 
save  the  honor  of  the  state  and  save  the  people  from  taxa- 
tion. "^^*^  Other  plans,  however,  were  more  interesting  to  the 
legislature  at  this  time.  Railroad  companies  had  long  looked 
with  longing  eyes  on  this  desirable  land  grant,  and  the  people 
in  frontier  settlements  were  clamoring  for  its  distribution  in 
aid  of  new  railroad  projects.  The  Sauk  Rapids  Sentinel  ex- 
pressed the  sentiments  of  many  when  it  said:  ''We  sincerely 
hope  our  legislature  will  this  winter  finally  dispose  of  these 
lands  and  thereby  get  rid  of  a  matter  which  has  become  almost 
as  annoying  and  vexatious  as  the  bonded  debt  itself.  Divide 
up  the  land,  gentlemen,  as  quickly  as  possible,  but  don't  forget 
to  give  us  a  share  up  this  way."^^^ 

A  number  of  such  division  schemes  were  proposed  and  met 
with  no  particular  objection  in  the  press.  After  much  log-roll- 
ing and  lobbying,  a  bill  was  finally  passed  which  divided  all 
the  lands  among  several  railroad  companies.  The  bill  in  its 
final  form  was  rushed  through  without  a  hitch  and  received 
the  support  of  men  of  both  political  parties.  The  fate  of  the 
internal  improvement  lands  seemed  settled,  when  the  unex- 
pected happened,  the  governor  vetoed  the  bill.  He  gave  as  his 
reasons  that  the  bill  did  not  have  the  free  and  voluntary  con- 
sent of  the  majority  of  both  Houses  of  the  legislature,  and 
that  they  were  not  authorized  to  dispose  of  the  lands  in  this 
manner. 

The  veto  came  as  a  surprise  to  the  members  of  the  legis- 
lature as  well  as  to  the  people.  It  met  with  various  receptions 
in  different  parts  of  the  state.  Rochester,  though  in  the  anti- 
monopoly  storm  center,  felt  keenly  disappointed.  The  Federal 
Union,  a  Rochester  paper,  said :    "This  is  sad  news,  and  it  will 

170.  Minn.    Exec.   Docs.,    1870,   p.    7. 

171.  Sauk  Rapids  Sentinel,  Jan.  27,   1871. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  43 

tend  to  retard  greatly  the  prosperity  of  this  portion  of  the 
state.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  St.  Paul  papers."  ^^-  The 
Rochester  Post  commented:  ''St.  Peter  glorified  and  jollified 
over  Governor  Austin's  veto  of  the  land  division  bill  with 
bonfires,  cannon  firing,  and  band  playing.  Rochester  did  none 
of  these  things.  St.  Peter  was  not  a  point  in  the  land  divide. 
Rochester  was  a  point  in  the  land  divide.  This  makes  a  great 
difference  between  St.  Peter  and  Rochester."  ^^^  In  an  edi- 
torial of  the  same  issue,  however,  was  stated:  ''While  we  in 
this  vicinity,  as  residents  of  a  locality  which  the  bill  proposed 
to  benefit,  may  regret  the  loss  of  the  new  roads  which  were 
promised  through  its  operation,  we  cannot  but  respect  the  gov- 
ernor for  his  action." 

On  the  whole,  Governor  Austin  received  the  hearty  sup- 
port of  the  press,  and  he  gained  the  respect  of  the  people  for 
his  high  motives  and  fearless  action.^ ^*  Politicians  and  those 
personally  interested  in  the  "land  grab"  swore  vengeance  and 
tried  to  bring  about  his  political  destruction.  These  virulent 
attacks  Avere  promptly  met  in  the  courts  and  the  governor  was 
vindicated.  The  Republican  state  central  committee  issued  a 
circular  in  defence  of  the  governor,  and  characterized  the 
work  of  his  enemies  as  an  iniquitous  conspiracy  against  the 
people  of  Minnesota.^ ^■'^  The  people  had  faith  in  Governor 
Austin,  and  there  was  from  this  time,  as  Professor  Folwell 
says,  no  question  of  his  re-election,  should  he  desire  it.^^® 

The  internal  improvement  lands  continued  to  weigh  heavily 
on  the  hands  of  the  state,  and  the  governor,  fearing  with  good 
reason  that  they  might  be  misapplied,  recommended  to  the  leg- 
islature of  1872  that  they  be  sold  in  the  same  manner  that 
school  lands  were,  and  that  the  proceeds  be  held  as  an  internal 
improvement  fund  subject  only  to  the  vote  of  the  people.^^^ 
The  legislature  accordingly  proposed  this  as  an  amendment  to 
the    state    constitution,    providing    further   that   the   proceeds 


172.  Federal  Union,  March  11,  1871. 

173.  Rochester   Post,   March    11,    1871. 

174.  Ibid.,  March  11,  1871  (editorial);  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  March  14, 
1871;  New  York  Times  editorial  quoted  in  St.  Paul  Dispatch, 
March   14,   1871. 

175.  Published  in  Minneapolis  Tribune,  Nov.  3,  1871,  and  elsewhere. 

176.  Folwell,    Minnesota,    p.    269. 

177.  Exec.  Docs.,   1871,  Governor's  Message,  .Jan.,   1872. 


44  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

from  these  land  sales  were  to  be  invested  in  United  States 
bonds  or  in  Minnesota  State  bonds  issued  since  1860/'^  This 
constitutional  amendment,  which  was  ratified  at  the  next  gen- 
eral election,^  "^  made  any  adjustment  of  the  railroad  bonds  in 
the  near  future  highly  improbable.  The  people  would  not  sub- 
mit to  taxation  to  pay  the  repudiated  bonds,  nor  were  they 
very  likely  to  vote  for  tlie  application  of  the  internal  improve- 
ment fund  to  this  purpose. 

The  bondholders  were  unable  to  pursue  any  remedies  at 
law  against  the  state  on  her  bonds,  and  when  it  became  appar- 
ent that  no  legislative  relief  was  forthcoming,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, who  held  state  railroad  bonds  amounting  to  over  half  a 
million  dollars,  which  he  had  received  for  construction  work 
from  the  Southern  Minnesota,  brought  suit  against  its  succes- 
sors, the  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  and  the  Southern  Minnesota 
railroad  companies,  seeking  to  charge  with  the  payment  of  the 
bonds  the  two  hundred  and  forty  sections  mortgaged  by  the 
original  company  under  the  amendment  of  1858  and  purchased 
by  the  state  under  the  foreclosure  of  this  mortgage  and  now 
held  by  the  defendant  railroad  companies.  He  contended  that 
the  position  of  the  state  in  relation  to  the  bonds  was  simply 
that  of  a  surety,  the  principal  debtor  being  the  original  South- 
ern Minnesota  railroad  company,  whose  president  had  endorsed 
and  transferred  to  him  the  bonds,  and  that  therefore  the  con- 
veyance by  that  company  of  its  land  grant  to  the  state  to  in- 
demnify the  state  created  a  trust  in  favor  of  the  holder  of  the 
bonds.  His  claims  were  not  sustained  in  the  federal  circuit 
court,  and  the  supreme  court  likewise  in  its  October  session 
in  1875  held  that  the  bondholders  had  no  equity  for  the  appli- 
cation of  the  land  to  payment  of  their  bonds.'^'^  As  to  the 
validity  of  the  bonds  themselves.  Justice  Field  in  his  state- 
ment of  the  case  said:  ''The  bonds  issued  are  legal  obliga- 
tions. The  state  is  bound  by  every  consideration  of  honor  and 
good  faith  to  pay  them.  Were  she  amenable  to  the  tribunals 
of  the  country  as  private  individuals  are,  no  court  of  justice 

178.  General   laws,    1872,   ch.    14. 

179.  Exec.  Docs.,  1872,  Governor's  Message,  Jan.,   1873. 

180.  92  Otto,   299,  Chamberlain  v.  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  Railroad 
Company    et  al. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  45 

would  withhold  its  jvidgiiient  against  her  in  an  action  for  their 
enforcement."^®^ 

The  supreme  court  had  earlier  in  the  same  session  reviewed 
the  claims  of  Mr.  Farnsworth  and  others  against  the  St.  Paul 
and  Pacific  for  tlie  payment  of  bonds  issued  by  its  defaulted 
predecessor,  the  Minnesota  and  Pacific. ^^^  It  was  held  that  the 
original  company  had  forfeited  its  franchises  and  all  interest 
in  the  land  grant,  and  tliat  its  successor  iiad  secured  title  free 
from  any  lien.  The  right  of  the  state  to  foreclose  the  trust- 
deeds  was  sustained,  but  obiter  dicta  it  was  said  that  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitutional  amendment  of  November,  1860,  cer- 
tainly had  the  effect  to  impair  tlie  value  of  the  bonds  of  the 
state,  and  that  the  holders  of  tlie  bonds  were  injuriously  af- 
fected by  the  amendment.^^^  Such  statements,  coming  from 
the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  tlie  nation,  were  far  from  grat- 
ifying to  those  who  took  a  pride  in  the  good  name  of  the  state 
of  Minnesota. 

Governor  Davis,  in  his  parting  message  to  the  legislature 
in  January,  1876,  discussed  at  length  the  history  of  the  bonds 
and  the  moral  obligations  of  the  state,  and  strongly  recom- 
mended the  appointment  of  an  impartial  commission  to  adjust 
the  claims.^^*  Governor  Pillsbury,  in  his  inaugural  address  to 
the  same  legislature,  likewise  devoted  much  time  to  the  same 
question.^®^  He  believed  that  the  bond  issue  was  premature 
and  unwise,  but  since  the  state  had  in  1860  obtained  by  fore- 
closure the  security  for  the  bonds,  he  thought  it  evinced  a 
childish,  ignoble  disposition  to  repudiate  the  results  of  an  act 
of  folly  deliberately  committed  by  themselves.  The  earnest 
pleas  for  the  vindication  of  the  honor  of  the  state  were  of  little 
avail,  except  to  keep  up  the  agitation  in  the  legislature  and 
throughout  the  state. 

The  next  year  Governor  Pillsbury  again  took  up  the  ques- 
tion for  discussion  in  his  message  and  affirmed  the  validity  of 


181.  Ibid.,  p.  304. 

182.  92     Otto,    49,    Farnsworth     et     al.,    trustees,    v.    Minnesota     and 
Pacific   Railroad   Company   et   al. 

183.  Ibid.,  p.  71. 

184.  Exec,   Docs.,    1875,   vol.   I,   p.   35   ff.;   Gov.   Davis'   message,   Jan., 
1876. 

185.  Ibid.,  Inaugural  address  of  Gov.   Pillsl)ur>-,   Jan.,   1876. 


46  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  ''dishonored  bonds"  in  no  uncertain  language.^^^  This 
year  the  legislature  passed  an  act  constituting  the  governor, 
the  secretary  of  state,  and  the  attorney  general,  commissioners 
of  the  public  debt  of  Minnesota.  These  commissioners  were 
authorized  to  prepare  Minnesota  six  per  cent  thirty-year  bonds, 
redeemable  after  twenty  years,  and  to  issue  these  at  the  rate 
of  $1,750  for  each  outstanding  state  railroad  bond  with  cou- 
pons attached.  The  judgments  against  the  Minneapolis  and 
Cedar  Valley  railroad  company  for  construction  work,  which 
the  legislature  in  1867  had  recognized,^*^  were  to  be  liquidated 
as  though  state  railroad  bonds  had  been  issued.^^^  This  act 
was  passed  in  pursuance  to  an  understanding  with  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain and  other  bondholders,  and  was  considered  equitable 
by  them.^^^  An  amendment  to  the  state  constitution  was  pro- 
posed, which  was  to  authorize  the  legislature  at  its  discretion 
to  apply  the  internal  improvement  lands  and  the  proceeds  from 
them  to  the  redemption  of  the  principal  of  the  bonds  that 
might  be  issued  in  settlement  of  the  Minnesota  state  railroad 
bonds.^»°  When  these  measures  came  before  the  electors  of  the 
state  they  were  rejected  by  a  large  majority.  The  time  for  ad- 
justment had  not  yet  come. 

The  governor  in  his  next  message  deplored  the  rejection  of 
what  he  believed  to  be  liberal  terms  which  the  bondholders 
had  offered,  and  again  made  his  recommendations  under  the 
heading,  ''Dishonored  Bonds."  The  legislature  at  this  ses- 
sion (1878)  proposed  to  exchange  the  internal  improvement 
lands  for  the  "outstanding  documents  known  as  the  Minne- 
sota state  railroad  bonds,  the  validity  of  which  the  people  of 
Minnesota  do  not  recognize,  but  which  it  is  desirable  to  be  re- 
covered and  destroyed.  "^9^  All  bondholders  depositing  their 
bonds  before  the  first  Monday  in  July,  1879,  were  to  have,  as 
far  as  possible,  an  equal  chance.  The  choice  of  land  was  to  be 
given  in  the  order  of  the  deposit  of  the  bonds  after  that  date.^^- 

186.  Exec,  docs.,   1876,  Governor's  message,  Jan.,   1877. 

187.  Special  laws,   1867,  ch.   152. 

188.  General  laws  1877,  ch.   92,  sec.  6. 

189.  Ibid.,   introduction   to  enactment. 

190.  General    laws,    1877,    ch.    5;    proposed    amend,    to    Art.    IV,    sec. 
32,   6. 

Ill'     ?v,^.^^'*^^  ^^'^•''  ^^'^'  ^^'-  ^^'  introduction  to  enactment. 
192.     Ibid.,  ch.   85, 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  47 

This  measure  fared  no  better  at  the  polls  than  did  those  of  the 
year  before. 

Governor  Pillsbury  continued  his  pleas  for  the  vindication 
of  the  honor  of  the  state  and  for  the  redemption  of  the  ''dis- 
honored bonds"  in  his  messages  to  the  legislatures  in  1879 
and  1881,  the  sessions  at  this  time  having  been  made  biennial. 
The  bondholders  were  getting  impatient,  and  Mr.  Chamberlain 
and  others  again  proposed  a  compromise.  It  was  realized  that 
no  settlement  could  be  made  which  the  people  would  accept. 
In  1881  the  legislature  authorized  and  required  the  judges  of 
the  state  supreme  court  to  determine  the  constitutionality  of 
issuing  bonds  to  settle  the  vexatious  claims  without  submit- 
ting the  question  to  the  vote  of  the  people  as  required  by  the 
amendment  of  18G0.  In  case  any  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
court  did  not  qualify  to  serve,  the  governor  was  authorized  to 
appoint  district  judges  to  fill  such  vacancies.  If  this  tribunal 
decided  that  submission  to  the  people  Avas  not  necessary,  new 
bonds  were  to  be  issued  immediately  to  pay  fifty  per  cent  of 
the  principal  and  interest  of  all  outstanding  claims,  connected 
with  the  defaulting  land  grant  companies  in  which  the  state 
had  an  interest;  otherwise  the  act  was  to  be  submitted  to  the 
electors.  The  governor,  auditor,  and  attorney  general,  were 
designated  a  board  of  commissioners  to  carry  out  the  provi- 
sions of  the  act.^^"^  Another  act  was  passed,  providing  that 
the  proceeds  from  the  internal  improvement  lands  were  to  be 
applied  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  x)roposed  Minnesota 
state  adjustment  bonds  and  to  form  a  sinking  fund  for  their 
payment  at  maturity.  According  to  the  constitutional  amend- 
ment of  1873,  this  act  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the 
electors.^''^ 

The  judges  of  the  supreme  court  refused  to  serve,  and  the 
governor  accordingly  appointed  five  district  judges  to  con- 
stitute the  tribunal.  A  writ  of  prohibition  was  served  upon 
them,  and  when  the  case  came  before  the  supreme  court  the 
attorney  general  argued  that  the  legislature  did  not  have  the 
authority  to  set  up  this  tribunal,  and  that  the  act  was  repug- 


193.  'General  laws,   1874.  ch.   104. 

194.  92  Otto,  49  and  299. 


48  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

nant  to  the  amendment  of  1860.  The  supreme  court  decided  ^»^ 
that  the  amendment  of  1860  was  repugnant  to  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  because  it  ''impaired  the  obligation  of 
contracts,"  '»*  and  further,  that  the  act  of  the  legislature  dele- 
gating legislative  power  to  state  judges  was  also  void.  The 
federal  supreme  court  had  already  expressed  itself,  obUer 
dicta,   to  the  same  effect  '^*  and  the  case  was  not  appealed. 

The  ''dishonored  bonds"  could  now  be  redeemed  without 
the  support  of  a  popular  vote.  Governor  Pillsbury  immedi- 
ately called  an  extra  legislative  session  in  October,  1881.  An 
act  was  passed  providing  for  the  issue  of  Minnesota  state  ad- 
justment bonds  which  were  to  replace  the  former  bonds  and 
claims  at  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar,  as  had  been  agreed  to  by  the 
claimants.^ ^'^  An  internal  improvement  land  fund  bill  was 
passed,  which  was  virtually  that  of  the  previous  regular  ses- 
sion re-enacted.^®^  The  title  was  changed  from  "An  act  for 
the  adjustment  of  Minnesota  state  railroad  bonds"  to  "An  act 
providing  for  the  adjustment  of  certain  alleged  claims  against 
the  state."  This  change  was  perhaps  intended  to  make  it  more 
palatable  to  the  people  when  they  came  to  vote  on  its  adop- 
tion. The  act  was  submitted  to  the  electors  and  was  ratified. 
The  issue  of  adjustment  bonds  having  been  voted  by  the  leg- 
islature, they  chose  to  meet  the  obligations  of  these  new  bonds 
with  the  proceeds. of  the  internal  improvement  lands  rather 
than  submit  to  taxation. 

The  adjustment  bonds  were  to  be  prepared  by  the  governor 
and  auditor  and  dated  January  1,  1881.  They  were  thirty-year 
bonds  bearing  five  per  cent  interest  after  January  1,  1884,  and 
were  payable  at  the  option  of  the  state  after  ten  years.  The 
state,  however,  reserved  the  right  to  pay  cash  on  selling  the 
bonds  if  it  could  secure  money  at  less  than  five  per  cent  in- 
terest.^^^ 

A  writ  of  injunction  was  served  upon  the  governor,  re- 
straining him  from  signing  or  issuing  the  adjustment  bonds. 
He  disregarded  the  writ,  however,  and  the  bonds  were  duly 


195.  2y  Minn.,  474;  State  vs.  Young,  decided  September 

196.  General  laws,   1881,  special  session,   ch.   1. 

197.  Ibid.,  ch.   71. 

198.  General  laws,  1881,  special  session,  ch.  1,  sec.  2, 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  49 

signed,  countersigned,  and  delivered.  AVhen  the  state  treas- 
urer, Mr.  Kittelson,  was  about  to  pay  interest  on  the  new 
bonds,  an  action  was  brought  in  the  Hennepin  County  district 
court  to  restrain  him  from  doing  so,  on  the  ground  that  the 
constitutional  amendment  of  1858  authorizing  the  issue  of  the 
original  state  railroad  bonds  was  void,  that  the  act  of  1881 
authorizing  the  issue  of  the  new  bonds  was  void,  and,  further, 
that  the  new  bonds  had  been  signed  and  issued  in  violation 
of  a  writ  of  injunction.  The  district  court  denied  the  petition 
and  was  sustained  by  the  supreme  court,  which  decided  against 
the  plaintiff  on  all  points.^ °^ 

No  further  legal  difficulty  was  encountered.  The  credit  of 
the  state  was  good,  and  by  November  30,  1882,  new  bonds  at 
four  and  a  half  per  cent  could  be  issued  to  retire  the  adjust- 
ment bonds.^°^  After  a  long  struggle  and  much  difficulty,  ad- 
justment was  thus  finally  substituted  for  repudiation,  much  to 
the  satisfaction  of  Governor  Pillsbury. 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  LAND  GRANT  RAILROADS,  1861-1864. 

The  legislature  which  met  in  January,  1861,  was  nominally 
free  to  carry  out  any  policy  that  might  be  deemed  conducive 
to  early  railroad  construction  and  favorable  to  the  interests  of 
the  state.  The  land  grant  companies,  of  which  the  state 
through  foreclosure  and  purchase  noAV  had  possession,  repre- 
sented the  more  important  projected  railroads;  and  in  connec- 
tion with  them  were  the  immense  federal  land  grants  which 
would  accrue  as  fast  as  the  railroads  were  built.  Railroad 
construction  so  heavily  subsidized  ought  to  be  assured  of  suc- 
cess if  properly  managed,  now  that  the  state  and  nation  were 
recovering  from  the  effects  of  the  panic.  But  there  was  no 
inclination  or  ability  on  the  part  of  the  state  to  build  the  roads 
herself.    The  corporate  interests  were  merel}^  held  temporarily 


199.  29  Minn.,  555;  Secombe  vs.  Kittelson.  (FuU  account  of  facts 
given.) 

200.  Eleventh  Census,  Report  on  Wealth,  Debt,  and  Taxation. 
Part  I,  p.  106;  Account  of  new  issue:  $4,253,000.  See  also 
Tenth  Census  Report,  Vol.  VII,  p.   634. 


50  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  without  merger  or  extinguishment.^"^  If  construction 
were  delayed,  the  federal  land  grants  would  be  lost,  for  they 
were  contingent  on  the  fulfillment  of  definite  time  require- 
ments. 

Some  immediate  action  was  deemed  necessary  and  the  sim- 
plest course  was  taken.  The  Minnesota  and  Pacific  railroad 
company  was  regranted  freely  its  former  road,  lands,  proper- 
ties, privileges  and  immunities,  free  from  all  liens  and  claims 
held  by  the  state.^"^  The  property  and  franchises  of  the 
other  three  companies  were  likewise  "continued,  granted  and 
transferred"  to  different  groups  of  persons  named  in  the  en- 
actments.^"^ 

According  to  these  enactments  the  Minneapolis  and  Cedar 
Valley  and  the  Southern  Minnesota  companies  were  to  be  tem- 
porarily favored  with  a  more  lenient  rate  of  taxation.  During 
the  first  three  years  they  were  to  pay  one  per  cent  of  their 
gross  earnings,  the  next  seven  years  two  per  cent,  and  after 
ten  years  the  full  three  per  cent  as  required  in  the  original  en- 
actments of  1857.  These  companies  were,  however,  required  to 
keep  an  accurate  account  of  their  gross  earnings,  and  to  trans- 
mit abstracts  of  these  accounts  certified  under  oath  to  the  state 
treasurer  annually;  and  the  governor,  or  any  other  person  ap- 
pointed by  law,  w^as  given  plenary  powers  to  ascertain  the 
truth  of  the  affidavits  and  the  correctness  of  the  abstracts.  In 
collecting  her  percentum  the  state  was  given  a  prior  claim 
over  all  other  creditors. 

The  Minnesota  and  Pacific  had  these  restrictive  provisions 
in  its  original  charter  granted  in  1857,-"*  and  did  not  get  the 
benefit  of  the  lower  tax  rate.  The  Transit  also  continued  lia- 
ble to  the  full  three  per  cent  gross  income  tax,  but  was  now 
the  only  land  grant  company  not  subject  to  the  stricter  reg- 
ulations as  to  reports  and  investigation. 

No  mention  was  made  of  the  state  railroad  bonds,  for  they 
had  been  virtually  repudiated  the  year  before.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  bring  the  charter  rights  of  these  companies  into 


201.  So  held  later  in  Ry.  Co.  vs.  Pascher,   14  Minn.,  297. 

202.  Special  laws,   1861,  ch.   5. 

203.  Ibid.,  chs.   2,   3.  and   4. 

204.  Session  laws,   1857,   extra  session,   ch.   1,   sec.   18. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  51 

harmony  with  the  provisions  of  the  general  incorporation  law 
enacted  in  1858.  The  main  interest  quite  apparently  centered 
on  getting  railroad  construction  resumed  and  the  roads  com- 
pleted. The  most  important  condition  which  the  legislature 
in  each  case  imposed  was  that  a  certain  number  of  miles  of 
railroad  must  be  built  within  stated  periods  of  time,  to  entitle 
the  companies  to  the  regrant  of  property  and  franchises.  Each 
company  was  required  to  deposit  $10,000  with  the  governor  as 
a  guarantee  of  good  faith,  to  be  forfeited  if  their  obligations 
were  not  fulfilled. 

Governor  Ramsey  had  pointed  out  in  his  message  to  the  leg- 
islature the  importance  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  a  rail- 
road communication  between  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  especially  if  in  the 
"precipitate  madness  of  sectional  excitement"  the  free  nav- 
igation of  the  Mississippi  should  be  obstructed.  The  federal 
land  grant  of  1857  had  not  provided  aid  for  such  a  railroad. 
The  governor,  therefore,  recommended  that  this  work  be  aided 
as  far  as  possible  by  favorable  legislation  without  "pecuniary 
involvement"  on  the  part  of  the  state,  and  suggested  the  dona- 
tion of  swamp  lands  along  the  line  of  such  road,  if  it  would 
not  become  a  precedent  which  would  divert  the  remainder  of 
these  lands  from  "other  and  more  legitimate  purposes. " -^^ 

The  legislature  accordingly  amended  and  continued  the 
Nebraska  and  Lake  Superior  charter  of  1857  by  giving  a  new 
set  of  incorporators  under  a  new  name,  the  Lake  Superior  and 
Mississippi  railroad  company,  a  new  special  charter  which  gave 
this  company  the  state  swamp  lands  for  seven  miles  on  either 
side  of  the  proposed  road.-''^  The  original  had  been  accepted 
by  the  incorporators,  but,  as  the  corporation  had  not  been  dis- 
solved by  judicial  decree  for  non-user  of  its  charter  rights  and 
non-compliance  with  the  conditions  on  which  these  were  grant- 
ed, the  charter  was  technically  operative  ^"'  and  as  such  sub- 
ject to  legislative  amendment.  It  was  evidently  deemed  ex- 
pedient to  depart  from  the  spirit  if  not  the  letter  of  the  clause 


205.  Exec,  docs.,   1860,  p.   12.     Governor's  Message,  .Tan.   9,   1861. 

206.  Special  laws,   1861,   ch.   1;   the  amended  act  was  ch.   93   of  1857 
extra  session  laws. 

207.  Records  in  office  of  the  secretary  of  state. 


52  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

of  the  constitution  forbidding  the  incorporation  of  other  than 
municipal  incorporations  by  special  act.-^«  The  legislature 
could  have  brought  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  railroad 
company,  as  well  as  the  land  grant  companies,  under  the  gen- 
eral railroad  laws,  had  they  so  desired ;  but  to  satisfy  the  rail- 
road interests,  and  thereby  to  promote  and  facilitate  an  early 
completion  of  these  very  important  roads,  the  old  regime  of 
special  railroad  legislation  was  continued. 

The  regrant  of  property  and  franchises  of  the  land  grant 
companies  made  in  1861  brought  no  results.  The  people  had 
looked  forward  to  rapid  railroad  construction  to  meet  the  de- 
mand for  improved  transportation  facilities  which  increased 
with  the  rapidly  growing  population,  but  with  the  approach 
of  the  Civil  War  construction  plans  had  to  be  postponed.  The 
Minnesota  and  Pacific  had  to  be  postponed.  The  Minnesota 
and  Pacific  was  the  only  land  grant  company  that  complied 
with  the  enactments  of  1861  by  paying  the  costs  of  the  fore- 
closure and  depositing  $10,000  as  a  guarantee  of  good  faith. 
But  the  security  and  all  charter  rights  and  privileges  were  for- 
feited because  the  company  failed  to  construct  a  railroad  from 
St.  Paul  to  St.  Anthony,  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  by  January 
1,  1862,  as  required.^"^  The  state  remained  in  possession  of 
the  land  grant  ''railroads."  There  was  as  yet  not  one  mile  of 
completed  railroad  in  the  state. 

Governor  Ramsey  recommended  to  the  next  legislature  the 
passage  of  a  general  law  authorizing  any  company,  on  making 
a  proper  guarantee  deposit,  to  exercise  the  forfeited  rights  of 
the  defaulted  companies.  Since  there  was  no  ability  on  the 
part  of  the  state  to  construct  these  roads,  and  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  grants  would  otherwise  soon  be  lost,  he  believed 
that  no  obstacle  should  be  placed  in  the  way  of  those  whose 
far-seeing  enterprise  might  induce  them  to  undertake  even  a 
small  part  of  these  improvements  immediately.^^^ 

The  legislature,  however,  made  another  regrant  of  the  char- 
ter rights  of  the  land  grant  companies  to  different  companies 
as  had  been  done  the  year  before.    An  act  was  passed  creating 


208.  See   93   Wise,   604,   and   cases   there   cited. 

209.  Art.  10,  sec.   2. 

210.  Exec,  docs.,   1861,  p.   21;  Governor's  Message,   Jan.,    li 


I 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  53 

the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  company.  To  this  company 
was  granted,  free  and  clear  of  all  claims,  all  the  franchises  and 
interests  of  the  Minnesota  and  Pacific  which  had  been  acquired 
by  the  state,  and  also  all  rights,  lands  and  property,  granted 
to  the  company  by  the  act  of  May  22,  1857.  These  grants  were 
made  on  the  condition  that  certain  parts  of  the  projected  road 
were  completed  within  specified  times.  The  company  was  re- 
quired to  deposit  with  the  governor  $10,000  to  be  forfeited  to 
the  state  if  it  failed  to  complete  the  portion  of  its  road  be- 
tween St.  Anthony  and  Anoka  by  January  1,  1864.  The  de- 
posit might  be  made  in  money  or  bonds  of  the  United  States, 
or  of  the  state  of  Minnesota  or  any  state  of  the  Union  in  good 
credit.^^^ 

The  charter  and  land  grant  rights  of  the  Minneapolis  and 
Cedar  Valley  were  vested  in  a  new  group  of  men  and  their  suc- 
cessors, who  were  to  retain  the  old  corporate  name.  This  com- 
pany was  to  deposit  $10,000  as  evidence  of  good  faith,  if  any 
other  nine  men  were  willing  to  deposit  that  amount  as  a  guar- 
antee that  they  would  build  the  railroad  and  comply  with  the 
enactment.-^ ^  There  is  no  mention  of  deposits  in  the  regrants 
of  the  property  and  franchises  of  the  other  two  land  grant  com- 
panies, the  Root  River  Valley  and  Southern  Minnesota  and  the 
Transit.  The  name  of  the  latter  company  was  changed  to 
Winona  and  St.  Peter.-^"^  The  Root  River  Valley  and  Southern 
Minnesota  enactment  is  interesting,  for  in  this  the  grantees  are 
expressly  created  a  body  corporate  under  the  name  and  style 
of  the  former  company.^^'^  In  the  other  enactments,  and  in 
three  of  the  regrants  of  1861,  new  companies  were  evidently 
created,  for  charter  rights  were  given  to  the  grantees,  their 
associates  and  successors.^^"' 

The  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  accepted  the  legislative  grant,  and 
immediately  prepared  to  take  up  its  work.  As  a  deposit  it 
offered  $10,000  in  Minnesota  state  railroad  bonds,  but  the  gov- 
ernor refused  to  accept  these  bonds  as  good  security.-^^     In 


211. 

Special  laws,   1862,  ch.   20. 

212. 

Ibid.,  ch.   17. 

213. 

Ibid.,  ch.  19. 

214. 

Ibid.,  ch.  18,  sec.   1. 

215. 

Ibid.,   1861,  chs.   2,  3,  and  4 

216. 

Exec,  docs.,   1862,   p.   22. 

54  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  summer  of  1862  ten  miles  of  railroad  were  built  to  con- 
nect St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony.  The  Winona  and  St.  Peter 
was  organized,  and,  beginning  their  construction  work  at  Wi- 
nona, the  company  worked  westward.  According  to  Governor 
Ramsey,  it  had  ten  miles  completed,  with  cars  running,  when 
he  sent  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  in  January,  1863.-^^ 

The  other  two  companies  did  not  even  organize,  and  the 
next  legislature,  without  any  further  action,  gave  the  same 
rights  and  privileges  to  new  companies  in  the  hope  that  the 
work  would  be  taken  up.  The  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  was  author- 
ized to  build  two  branch  lines,  one  from  some  point  on  its  line 
near  St.  Cloud  to  Duluth,^^^  and  another  from  St.  Paul  to  Wi- 
nona.2^^  In  the  connection  with  the  former  were  congressional 
land  grants  ;22*^  the  latter  was  to  be  subsidized  by  a  grant  of 
all  state  swamp  lands  within  the  limits  of  seven  miles  on  either 
side  of  the  branch. 

The  Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  organized  and  began 
its  work.  By  the  close  of  the  year  it  had  connected  Mendota 
and  Northfield  by  rail.  The  Winona  and  St.  Peter  extended 
its  line  as  far  as  St.  Charles,  making  a  total  of  twenty-nine 
miles.  The  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  fulfilled  its  obligations  by  com- 
pleting its  line  between  St.  Anthony  and  Anoka. ^-^ 

The  people  were  encouraged  by  the  sight  of  railroad  con- 
struction, but  neither  they  nor  the  companies  were  satisfied 
with  the  slow  rate  of  progress  toward  the  realization  of  their 
great  hopes  for  the  future.  They  were  anxious  to  get  railroads 
to  Lake  Superior,  that  Duluth  might  rival  and  eventually 
eclipse  Chicago.  With  St.  Paul  in  railroad  communication 
with  the  British  northwest,  St.  Anthony  with  Iowa,  Winona 
connected  with  railroads  in  the  Minnesota  Valley,  and  the 
Minnesota  railroads  a  link  in  the  chain  of  Pacific  and  Atlantic 
railroad  communications,  many  felt  convinced  that  Minnesota 
would  soon  become  the  great  railroad  and  commercial  center 
of  the  United  States.  Governor  Swift  believed  that  the  aid  of 
Congress  and  encouragement  by  the  state  legislature  would 

217.  Ibid.,  p.  22. 

218.  Special  laws,  1863,  ch.  3. 

219.  Ibid.,  ch.  4. 

220.  12  U.  S.  Stat.,   624;  Joint  Resolution  approved   July   12,    1862. 

221.  Exec,  docs.,   1863;  Governor's  Message,  Jan.,   1864. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  55 

be  necessary,  if  Minnesota  were  to  complete  the  work  assigned 
to  her  in  this  continental  program,  and  he  warned  the  legis- 
lature against  ill-advised  economy.^-^ 

The  Root  River  Valley  and  Southern  Minnesota  did  not  be- 
gin work  on  its  lines  and  in  1864  its  forfeited  property,  fran- 
chises, and  land  grant  rights,  were  given  to  two  new,  inde- 
pendent companies,  namely,  the  Minnesota  Valley  railroad 
company,  which  was  to  build  its  main  line  from  St.  Paul,  St. 
Anthony,  and  Minneapolis  along  the  Minnesota  river  to  South 
Bend,  and  from  there  on  in  a  southwesterly  direction  to  the 
state  line;  and  the  Southern  Minnesota,  which  was  to  build  a 
railroad  from  La  Crescent  to  Rochester,  and  a  "branch"  ex- 
tending across  the  state  through  its  southern  tier  of  coun- 
ties.^^^  These  companies  immediately  organized  and  began 
their  work. 

The  name  of  the  Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  was  changed 
to  Minnesota  Central  and  its  ''charter"  of  1862  was  amended 
by  materially  changing  one  section  and  adding  nine  new  sec- 
tions.^^*  This  left  but  little  intact  of  the  original  charter  of 
1856,  of  which  the  later  acts  were  amendatory. 

To  secure  the  more  speedy  construction  of  the  St.  Paul  and 
Pacific,  this  company  was  permitted  to  form  division  compa- 
nies to  undertake  the  construction  and  management  of  definite 
parts  of  its  rather  indefinite  projected  lines.  This  was  in- 
tended to  attract  foreign  capitalists,  who,  while  they  might 
readily  be  induced  to  finance  railroads  within  the  borders  of 
a  rapidly  growing  state,  were  somewhat  reluctant  about  fur- 
nishing capital  to  a  company  planning  to  build  a  railroad  from 
St.  Paul  across  the  great  Western  wilderness  to  the  Pacific. 

The  first  division  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  com- 
pany was  accordingly  organized  without  delay.  The  St.  Paul 
and  Pacific  by  contract  gave  this  division  company  its  rights 
and  interests  pertaining  to  the  part  of  its  line  extending  from 
St.  Paul  to  Watab,  and  also  of  the  line  from  St.  Anthony  to 
a  point  between  the  Big  Stone  lake  and  the  mouth  of  the  Sioux 


222.  Ibid.,  1863,  p.  5;  Inaugural  Address. 

223.  Special  Laws,   1864,  Ch.  I,  chs.   1  and   2, 

224.  Special  Laws,   1862,  ch.   17,   which   had   been    "amended   to   read 
as"  sees.   1-14  of  Special  Laws,  1863,  ch.  2. 


56  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Wood  river.225  Foreign  capital,  especially  from  Holland, 
flowed  freely,  and,  as  later  investigations  showed,  was  spent 
freely.  Much  more  money  was  expended  than  honest  con- 
struction, mostly  on  level  prairie,  could  demand  ;^^*  but  rail- 
roads were  being  built,  and  that  was  the  main  consideration 
at  that  time. 

The  organization  of  the  holders  of  special  and  preferred 
stock,  under  the  name  of  the  First  Division  of  the  St.  Paul  and 
Pacific,  was  formally  recognized  by  the  legislature  in  1866;^-^ 
and  a  further  subdivision  was  authorized,  giving  to  the  holders 
of  stock  issued  on  the  line  from  St.  Anthony  westward  an  in- 
dependent corporate  existence  under  the  name  of  the  Great 
Western  Railway  of  Minnesota.-^^  By  this  system  of  division 
and  subdivision,  an  indefinite  number  of  corporations  could 
have  come  into  existence,  all  enjoying  special  charter  privi- 
leges and  independent  of  the  p^eneral  railroad  laws.  For  the 
purpose  of  financing  construction,  the  tendency  toward  decen- 
tralization was  marked.  The  construction  of  parts  of  the  main 
line  and  of  the  branches  was  generally  contracted  for  sepa- 
rately. When  each  division  thus  built  was  pledged  as  security 
separate  from  the  rest,  it  formed  a  tangible  asset,  and  those 
who  held  bonds  secured  by  one  division  were  not  materially 
affected  by  the  issue  of  bonds  secured  by  other  divisions.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  solvency  of  the  company  as  a  whole  would 
not  be  imperiled  through  failure  to  meet  obligations  on  one  of 
its  parts.  In  1864  both  the  Southern  Minnesota  and  the  Minne- 
sota Valley  were  authorized  to  issue  special  stock  on  any  part 
of  their  railroad  or  branches,  and  to  pledge  the  net  receipts  of 
the  different  divisions  toward  the  payment  of  dividends  on 
such  special  stock.^^^  In  the  ease  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific, 
this  idea  of  division  was  carried  to  the  extreme,  in  that  this 
company  under  legislative  sanction  could  virtually  give  to  the 
stockholders  of  each  of  its  divisions  a  separate  corporate  ex- 


225.  See  Special  Laws,  1866,  ch.  1,  sec.  1. 

226.  Exec.  Docs.,   1873,  p.   7;   Governor  Austin's  Messag-e. 

227.  Special  Laws,   1866,  ch.   1. 

228.  Special  Laws.   1866,  ch.   2. 
Special   Laws,    1864,   Ch.   I,    chs.    1    and    2;    General   Laws,    1864, 
ch.    55    provides    for    the    registry    of    such    organizations    and 
agreements. 


229. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  57 


P 

H  istence.  This  decentralizing  tendency,  however,  was  only  tem- 
B,  porary,  its  purpose  being  merely  to  facilitate  railroad  con- 
H  struction.  When  the  railroads  were  built  and  put  into  serv- 
es ice,  the  tendency  toward  consolidation  immediately  began. 

W        h< 


CHAPTER  VI. 
AID  TO  RAILROADS,  1864-1870. 


The  national  government  did  not  disappoint  the  state  in  her 
hopes  for  further  aid  in  railroad  construction.  On  May  5,  1864, 
Minnesota  was  given  five  alternate  sections  on  each  side  of  the 
proposed  line  from  St.  Paul  to  Lake  Superior.^"*'  A  week  later 
four  additional  alternate  sections  per  mile  were  given  to  aid 
the  already  subsidized  line  projected  from  St.  Paul,  St.  An- 
thony and  Minneapolis,  southwestward  to  the  state  line.^"^ 
These  grants  were  accepted  by  the  state  legislature  in  1865, 
and  were  given  to  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  ^^^-  and 
the  Minnesota  Valley  ^"^  railroad  companies  respectively.  A 
discussion  arose  in  the  state  senate  as  to  whether  the  Lake  Su- 
perior and  Mississippi  could  be  given  the  grant.  In  answer  to 
one  of  a  series  of  resolutions  submitted  to  him,  the  attorney 
general  gave  as  his  opinion  that  since  the  amendatory  act  of 
1861,  on  which  the  existing  company  based  its  corporate  rights, 
had  in  fact  created  new  and  distinct  corporate  franchises  in 
aid  of  a  different  enterprise,  to  the  destruction  of  the  original 
franchise,  this  act  was  repugnant  to  the  clause  of  the  consti- 
tution prohibiting  the  formation  of  corporations  by  special 
acts.-"*  His  opinion,  however,  was  disregarded  by  the  legis- 
lature, and  the  act  was  passed  granting  the  land  and  recogniz- 
ing as  valid  the  amendments  of  1861  and  1863.^"^ 

In  March,  1865,  Congress  extended  the  time  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroads  of  the  land  grant  companies,  and  in- 
creased the  land  grants  of  1857  to  ten  sections  per  mile  for 


230.  13  U.  S.  Stat.,   64. 

231.  13  U.  S.  Stat.   74. 

232.  Special  Laws,   1865,   ch.  2. 

233.  General  Laws,   1865,  ch.  15. 

234.  Opinions  of  tlie  Attorney  General   (Minn.),   1858-1885;  his  opin- 
ion was  given  Jan.  31,  1865;  the  act  was  approved  Feb,  23,  1865. 

235.  Special  Laws,   1861,  ch.   1;   1863,  ch.  5. 


58  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

each  of  the  railroad  lines  and  branches.^'^  In  the  following 
session  Minnesota  was  given  five  alternate  sections  per  mile  on 
each  side  of  the  proposed  line  from  Houston  to  the  western 
state  boundary  in  aid  of  this  road,^"  and  another  similar  grant 
to  aid  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  Hastings  to  the  Avest- 
ern  boundary.-'^^  The  former  grant  was  given  to  the  South- 
ern Minnesota.2^9  The  latter  was  given  to  the  Hastings,  Min- 
nesota and  Red  River  of  the  North  railroad  company.^^"  This 
corporation  had  been  created  the  previous  year  by  an  act 
amendatory  to  the  charter  of  a  company  of  the  same  name 
granted  by  the  territorial  legislature  in  1857.^*^  In  all,  about 
twelve  million  acres,^*-  or  very  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  total 
land  area  of  Minnesota,  was  given  by  the  federal  government 
to  aid  the  construction  of  her  railroads. 

Railroad  Co.  Date  of  Grant.  Amount. 

1st  Div.,  St.  Paul  and  Pac,  Mch.  3, 1857,  and  Mch.  3, 1865.  .1,248,450  ac 

Minn.  Western,  Mch.  3,  1857,  and  Mch.  3,  1865 815,000 

Minn.  Central,  Mch.  3,  1857,  and  Mch.  3,  1865 180,000 

Winona  and  St.  Peter,  Mch.  3,  1857,  and  Mch.  3,  1865 1,670,000 

St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City,  Mch.  3,  1857,  and  May  12,  1865.  .1,205,000 

Lake  Superior  and  Miss.,  May  5,  1863 862,000 

Southern  Minn.,  July  5,  1866 500,000 

Hastings  and  Dakota,  July  5,  1866 350,000 

St.  Vincent  (St.  P.  and  Pac),  Mch.  3,  1871 1,500,000 

Northern  Pacific  (in  Minn.),  July  2,  1864 3,392,000 

Besides  these  congressional  land  grants,  there  were  also 
land  grants  made  from  the  state  swamp  lands  held  under  acts 
of  Congress  passed  in  1851  and  1860.-*^  As  we  have  already 
seen,  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  in  1861  received  a 
grant  of  the  swamp  lands  within  seven  miles  of  each  side  of 
its  railroad.2^^  In  1863  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  received  from 
the  state  a  grant  of  all  the  swamp  lands  lying  within  the  limits 
of  seven  miles  on  each  side  of  a  proposed  branch  road  from  St. 
Paul  to  Winona  in  aid  of  this  branch.^*^    In  1865  certain  swamp 


236.  13  U.  S.  Stat.,  526,   act  approved   March   3,   1865. 

237.  14.  U.  S.  Stat.,  87,  act  approved   July   4,    1866. 

238.  14  U.   S.  Stat.,   87,  act    approved    July    4,    1866. 

239.  Special  Laws,  1867,  ch.  6. 

240.  Ibid.,  ch.   12. 

241.  Session  Laws,  1857,  ch.  39. 

242.  Donaldson,   The   Public  Domain,   Its   History   and   Statistics. 

243.  Acts  approved  Sept.  28,  1851,  and  March  12,  1860. 

244.  Special  Laws,  1861.  ch.  1. 

245.  Special  Laws,  1863,  ch.  4. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  59 

lands  were  set  apart  and  granted  to  the  Southern  Minnesota 
and  the  Minneapolis  and  St.  Cloud  railroad  companies,  to  ac- 
crue at  the  rate  of  four  sections  of  land  for  each  mile  of  cer- 
tain parts  of  their  railroads  completed  within  specified  time 
limits.^''*  In  1864  a  new  group  of  incorporators  had  been  given 
the  charter  of  the  old  Minneapolis  and  St.  Cloud  railroad  com- 
pany incorporated  in  1856.^^^  Fortunately  the  new  corpora- 
tion did  not  organize  within  six  months  as  required,  for  the  old 
company  had  organized  and  kept  up  its  corporate  existence 
and  was  not  willing  to  see  its  valuable  franchises  turned  over 
to  others.-"**  The  legislature,  therefore,  repealed  the  sections 
of  the  act  of  the  previous  year  which  conflicted  with  the  rights 
of  the  old  corporation. 

The  national  and  state  governments  were  not  the  only 
sources  of  beneficent  aid;  the  local  governments  were,  accord- 
ing to  ability,  even  more  liberal.  In  1864  St.  Paul  was  author- 
ized to  provide  for  the  purchase  of  depot  grounds  and  right 
of  way  for  the  use  of  the  Minnesota  Central,-*^  and  the  action 
of  its  city  council  in  voting  the  issue  of  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $250,000  was  legalized  and  confirmed  by  the  state  legisla- 
ture.^''" According  to  the  general  statutes  of  1866  it  was  un- 
lawful for  the  corporate  officials  of  any  county,  township,  city, 
town  or  village,  unless  specially  and  expressly  authorized  by 
law,  to  incur  any  liability  for  the  payment  of  either  tlie  prin- 
cipal or  interest  for  which  it  would  be  necessary  to  levy  more 
than  a  fixed  maximum  rate  during  the  current  year  or  any 
subsequent  year.  The  oflftcials  were  made  personally  liable  for 
all  contracts  made  in  contravention  of  these  provisions.-"^^  This 
practically  meant  that  municipal  aid  to  railroads  could  only 
be  given  by  special  legislative  consent;  but,  judging  from  the 
increasing  number  of  enactments  from  1866  and  on,  which  au- 
thorized such  aid  by  counties,  towns,  cities  and  villages 
throughout  the  state,  such  consent  must  have  been  readily 
obtained. 


246.  Ibid.,   1865.   chs.    1    and    3. 

247.  Ibid.,   1864,  ch.   5,  amending  Session  Laws,   1856,  ch,  160. 

248.  Ibid,,   1865,  ch.  4,  sec.   1,   summarizes   the  facts   of  the  case. 

249.  Special  Laws,  1864,  ch.  37. 

250.  Ibid.,   ch.   49. 

251.  General  statutes,  1866,  ch.  11,  sees.  78-80. 


60  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

When  a  municipal  bond  issue  was  authorized,  the  legisla- 
ture, as  a  rule,  limited  the  amount  which  might  be  issued  and 
fixed  a  maximum  rate  of  interest  and  also  a  certain  time  within 
which  the  bonds  were  to  be  made  payable.  In  each  case  the 
question  of  bond  issue  was  to  be  referred  to  the  voters  of  the 
territorial  unit  concerned,  and  the  bonds  were  not  to  be  deliv- 
ered until  the  railroad  companj^  had  fulfilled  its  part  of  the 
agreement.  Taxation  to  meet  the  obligations  of  the  bonds  was 
generally  expressly  authorized,  and  tlie  levy  and  collection  of 
taxes  for  this  purpose  were  made  the  duty  of  the  local  officials. 

Beginning  in  1869,  the  legislature  frequently  fixed  the 
maximum  total  indebtedness  which  might  be  incurred  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  railroads  as  a  fixed  per  cent  of  the  assessed 
valuation  of  the  taxable  property,  generally  ten  per  cent.  In 
November,  1872,  this  per  cent  was  fixed  as  the  maximum  for 
all  counties,  towns,  cities  and  villages  within  the  state,  by  the 
adoption  of  an  amendment  to  the  state  constitution.- '^  An  act 
of  1871  provided  for  the  registration  of  all  municipal  bonds  at 
the  office  of  the  state  auditor.  The  auditor  was  required  to 
ascertain  annually  the  amount  of  interest  due  and  accrued  on 
such  bonds  in  each  county,  and  to  transmit  statements  of  the 
amount  due  to  each  county  auditor.  The  county  auditor  in 
turn  was  required  to  levy  sufficient  taxes  in  each  of  the  local 
units  to  pay  the  interest  on  its  bonds.  These  taxes  were  to  be 
collected  along  with  the  state  taxes  and  according  to  the  same 
laws.^^^ 

The  different  localities  had  been  willing,  and  many  others 
were  still  willing,  to  vote  almost  any  bonus  demanded  by  the 
railroad  companies;  but  experience  had  already  shoAvn  that 
when  the  burden  began  to  be  felt,  and  when  the  railroads 
failed  to  fulfill  all  their  expectations,  they  were  not  all  willing 
to  meet  their  obligations.  A  centralized  administration  of 
these  taxes  became  necessary  to  insure  their  levy  and  prompt 
collection  and  disbursement. 


252.  General  Laws,   1872,  ch.   13,    ratified   at   the   November   election. 

253.  General  Laws,  1871,  ch.  17. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  61 

CHAPTER  VII. 
ATTEMPTS  AT  RAILROAD  CONTROL,  1861-1870. 

Special  railroad  legislation  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
state  legislature  a  great  deal  of  the  time  during  the  sixties.  It 
is  evident  that  the  idea  of  legislating  railroads  into  existence 
had  not  yet  been  abandoned.  Land  grants  were  invariably 
given  to  companies  not  under  the  general  railroad  law,  and  as 
long  as  the  legislature  had  federal  and  state  lands  at  its  dis- 
posal; and  later,  wlien  the  time  limits  set  for  the  completion 
of  the  railroads  were  about  to  expire,  it  tried  in  each  instance 
to  drive  the  best  bargain  possible  through  special  legislation. 
At  first  the  main  consideration  was  the  early  completion  of  the 
roads,  but  soon  various  kinds  of  control  and  regulation  became 
common  stipulations.  The  railroad  companies  looked  upon 
their  charters  as  contracts  which  the  state  could  not  materially 
alter  without  their  consent.  They  would  accept  or  disregard 
the  legislative  enactments  at  their  pleasure.  If  a  company 
could  not  get  Avhat  it  wanted  from  one  legislature,  it  would 
wait  and  try  to  get  it  from  the  next.  In  the  meantime  the 
demand  for  its  railroad  would  be  constantly  increasing,  and  a 
popular  clamor  would  support  its  demands. 

In  the  year  1862  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  built  ten  miles 
of  railroad  and  trains  began  to  run  between  St.  Paul  and  St. 
Anthony.  By  the  end  of  1865,  notwithstanding  the  Civil  War, 
which  had  just  been  concluded,  and  the  Sioux  Indian  mas- 
sacres of  1862,  which  had  cast  gloom  and  discouragement  over 
the  state,  there  were  two  hundred  and  ten  miles  of  railroad  in 
Minnesota,  of  which  over  half  had  been  built  in  that  one  year. 
In  the  four  following  years  one  hundred  and  five,  one  hundred 
and  fourteen,  one  hundred  and  thirty-one,  and  two  hundred 
and  ten  miles,  respectively,  were  built.  The  year  1870  added 
three  hundred  and  twenty-two  and  a  half  miles,  making  a  total 
mileage  of  one  thousand  ninety-two  and  a  half,  with  gross  re- 
ceipts amounting  to  nearly  three  million  dollars  in  that  year.^^* 

In  spite  of  the  impatient  struggle  for  railroads  in  evidence 
in  all  parts  of  the  state  before  railroads  were  built,  we  find 


254.     Report  of  Railroad  Commissioner,  1871,  p.  42,  and  table  insert- 
ed opposite  p.  40. 


62  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

that  no  sooner  had  they  been  built  than  an  equally  impatient 
struggle  with  the  railroads  began.  The  railroads  were  charged 
with  discrimination  and  extortion,  and  the  power  of  the  state 
control  became  a  subject  for  heated  discussion.  Throughout 
the  confusing  mass  of  special  legislation  intended  mainly  to 
facilitate  railroad  construction,  we  find,  strangely  enough,  a 
marked  tendency  toward  state  control. 

The  old  territorial  charters  had,  as  a  rule,  authorized  the 
railroad  companies  to  fix  their  own  rates ;  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  number  of  these  charters  were  from  time  to  time  revived  and 
continued.  As  long  as  the  different  railroads  remained  inde- 
pendent, it  was  often  difficult  to  get  them  to  make  proper  con- 
nections; and,  connections  having  been  made,  each  would 
through  its  rate-making  powers  try  to  get  the  lion's  share  of 
the  profit  on  the  joint  traffic.  It  was  not  long  before  some  sort 
of  government  regulation  was  found  to  be  necessary.  In  the 
years  1862-65  the  legislature  in  amending  the  territorial  char- 
ters frequently  inserted  the.  provision  that  the  railroads  were 
to  transport  all  passengers  and  freight  delivered  to  them  by 
any  connecting  line  on  the  same  terms  and  at  no  higher  rate 
for  the  same  service  than  was  at  the  time  charged  patrons  liv- 
ing on  their  own  lines,  and  the  connecting  lines  were  to  be 
governed  by  the  same  rule.^^^ 

From  1866  to  1870  a  number  of  the  special  railroad  laws 
contained  the  provision  that  the  railroad  company  should  be 
bound  to  carry  freight  and  passengers  at  reasonable  rates. 
Two  companies  were  authorized  to  build  branch  roads  condi- 
tional on  compliance  with  this  provision.^^**  Four  enactments 
authorized  the  construction  of  branches  with  this  provision 
applicable  to  the  branches.^"  In  two  of  the  revived  charters 
this  provision  was  incorporated  as  an  amendment.-'^  One  com- 
pany was  authorized  to  withdraw  a  $20,000  guarantee  deposit, 
provided  it  submitted  to  this  exaction.-^^  The  evident  object 
of  this  provision  was  to  make  the  railroads  possessing  special 

255.  Special  Laws,  1862,  chs.  17,  19.  20;  1863,  chs.  1  and  2;   1864,  ch. 
I,  chs.   1  and  2;   1865,  ch.  2. 

256.  Ibid.,  1866,  chs.  4  and  p. 

257.  Ibid.,  1867,  ch.  18;  1868,  ch.  9;  1890,  chs.  59  and  60. 

258.  Ibid.,  1867,  ch.  11;  1870,  ch.  57. 

259.  Ibid.,  1866,  ch.  6. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  63 

rate-making  powers  subject  to  the  common  law  rule  that  com- 
mon carriers  may  only  charge  uniform  and  reasonable  rates. 
If  railroads  were  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  other  common 
carriers,  the  question  of  reasonableness  would,  in  the  absence 
of  legislative  enactment,  be  determined  in  court.  The  right 
of  the  legislature  to  fix  rates  for  turnpike,  canal,  and  plank- 
road  companies,  had  been  generally  accepted,  and  maximum 
rates  were  frequently  fixed  in  the  charters.  Until  the  Dart- 
mouth College  decision,^®"  the  state  legislatures  could  estab- 
lish or  change  rates  for  common  carriers  at  any  time.  After 
this  decision  they  would  have  the  same  right  unless  "con- 
tracted away"  in  the  charters.  As  a  result  of  this  series  of 
enactments,  the  principal  lines  of  the  state  were  legally  bound 
to  carry  passengers  and  freight  at  reasonable  rates.  Later  the 
legislature  tried  to  determine  what  the  maximum  of  reason- 
able rates  was. 

In  1866  the  legislature  authorized  the  construction  of  two 
branch  roads,  expressly  reserving  in  each  case  the  right  to 
regulate  the  price  of  freight  and  fare  on  the  proposed  branch.^®^ 
A  similar  reservation  was  made  in  an  act  authorizing  an  Iowa 
company  to  build  a  railroad  connecting  its  line  in  Iowa  with 
the  Minnesota  Central  at  Austin,  Minnesota.^^-  In  1867  the 
congressional  land  grant  of  the  previous  year  was  given  to  the 
Southern  Minnesota,  "provided,  that  the  legislature  shall  have 
the  right  to  fix  and  regulate  from  time  to  time  the  rates  of 
freight  and  passenger  tariffs  on  said  railway,  or  on  any  branch 
or  division  thereof. "  ^^^  A  discussion  arose  in  this  legislature 
as  to  whether  it  had  the  constitutional  power  to  fix  and  reg- 
ulate freight  and  passenger  rates,  and  particularly  whether  the 
exercise  of  such  power  would  be  in  conflict  with  the  judicial 
power.  These  questions  were  referred  to  the  attorney  general, 
who  gave  as  his  opinion  that  "as  the  courts  must  decide  from 
the  evidence  in  each  case  as  it  arises,  whether  such  rates  are 
equal  and  reasonable,  therefore,  legislative  enactment  to  fix  or 
establish  such  rates  specifically  would,  unless  accepted  by  the 


260.  4  Wheaton,  518,  February  Term,  1819. 

261.  Ibid.,  1866,  chs.   7  and  11. 

262.  Ibid.,   1866,  ch.  8. 

263.  Ibid.,   1867,  ch.  6. 


64  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

company,  be  in  derogation  of  the  judicial  powers,  and  of  no 
binding  force  or  validity."^®*  As  a  result  of  this  opinion,  no 
more  laws  asserting  the  right  of  the  legislature  to  make  any 
such  regulation  were  passed  for  several  years.  The  offending 
provision  in  the  Southern  Minnesota  enactment  -®^  w^as  imme- 
diately repealed,  and  the  company  announced  in  a  prospectus 
issued  some  time  later  that  the  state  had  ''disclaimed  all  right 
to  interfere  by  legislation  with  the  rates  of  freight  and  pas- 
sage over  the  road,  no  such  right  having  been  reserved  by  the 
charter."^®*' 

The  general  incorporation  law  of  1858  had  fixed  a  maximum 
rate  of  three  cents  per  passenger  mile,  and  five  cents  per  ton 
mile,  for  companies  organized  under  this  act.  In  the  general 
statutes  of  1866  this  provision  remained  unchanged.  The  leg- 
islature had  not  succeeded  in  fixing  maximum  rates  for  the 
companies  not  under  the  general  law,  and  the  question  came 
up  for  discussion  why  unaided  railroads  under  the  general  law 
should  not  be  allowed  to  charge  as  much  for  their  services  as 
the  companies  who  had  been  heavily  subsidized  with  land 
grants.-®^  A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  legislature  of  1869,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  bring  all  the  railroads  of  the  state  un- 
der the  same  general  law  respecting  rates.^®^  This  bill  was 
defeated,  and  another  bill  passed,  which  authorized  any  rail- 
road company  organized  under  the  general  law  to  charge  such 
reasonable  rate  for  freight  and  passengers  as  might  be  fixed 
by  the  corporation  or  prescribed  by  law.'-®^ 

The  territorial  charters  had  in  most  cases  provided  differ- 
ent penalties  for  damaging  or  obstructing  trains,  or  endan- 
gering the  lives  of  passengers,  on  the  different  railroads.  This 
lack  of  uniformity  was  remedied  by  a  general  law  enacted  in 
1868,  wliich  was  made  applicable  to  all  the  railroads  of  the 
state.2'0    The  legislature  did  not  find  it  necessary  in  this  case 


264.  Opinions   of  tlie   Attorney   General    (1858-1884),    pp.    237-8,   Feb. 
20,   1867. 

265.  Special  Laws,   1867,  ch.  7. 

266.  Prospectus  of  Southern  Minn.  Railroad  Company,   1869,  p.  10. 

267.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,   Feb.  18,   1869,  p.   1    c.  2 

268.  Ibid.,   Feb.   14,    1869. 

269.  General  Laws,   1869,  ch.   78,  sec.  2. 

270.  General  Laws,   1868,  ch.   57. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  65 

to  make  an  amendment  to  each  of  the  several  territorial  char- 
ters in  force  at  the  time. 

From  the  first  the  gross  income  tax  was  invariably  asso- 
ciated with  federal  land  grants.  This  idea  seems  to  have  orig- 
inated in  Illinois,  in  connection  with  the  Illinois  Central,  the 
pioneer  land  grant  railroad  company.^^^  In  1854  Wisconsin 
made  a  gross  income  tax  of  one  per  cent,  in  lieu  of  all  other 
taxes,  applicable  to  all  her  railroads.^^^  The  constitution  of 
the  state  of  Minnesota  provided  that  ''all  taxes  to  be  raised  in 
this  state  shall  be  as  nearly  equal  as  may  be,  and  all  property 
on  which  taxes  are  to  be  levied  shall  have  a  cash  valuation  and 
be  equalized  and  uniform  throughout  the  state."  ^^^  When 
state  lands  were  given,  no  mention  was  made  of  the  gross  in- 
come tax ;  for  instance,  when  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi 
was  given  state  swamp  lands  in  1861.^^*  But  when  the  same 
company  four  years  later  was  given  a  federal  land  grant,  a 
gross  income  tax  was  imposed  on  the  company  in  lieu  of  all 
other  taxes,  state  and  local. -^^  In  the  former  case  a  gross  in- 
come tax  would  have  been  clearly  unconstitutional,  but  in  the 
latter  the  state,  as  a  trustee  of  the  federal  government,  could 
dispose  of  the  lands  under  such  conditions  as  it  might  see  fit 
to  impose,  being  responsible  only  to  Congress  for  the  manner 
in  which  the  trust  was  executed.  This  form  of  taxation  was 
believed  to  be  less  burdensome  and  vexatious  to  the  railroads, 
especially  in  their  infancy,  and  ultimately  more  advantageous 
and  productive  to  the  state.^^^ 

Three  per  cent  was  at  first  the  usual  rate  required;  but,  as 
an  added  inducement  to  an  early  construction  of  the  projected 
lines,  the  burden  was  temporarily  made  lighter.  By  special 
enactments  in  each  case,  every  company  having  claims  to  fed- 
eral land  grants  was,  by  1865,  required  to  pay  only  one  per 
cent  of  its  gross  receipts  annually  for  the  first  three  years  after 
the  first  thirty  miles  of  railroad  had  been  completed,  two  per 
cent  for  the  next  seven  years,  and  after  ten  years  the  full  three 


271.  Private  Laws  of  lU.,   1851,  p.  61. 

272.  General  Laws  of  Wis.,   1854,   ch.   74. 

273.  Art.  p.,  sec.  1. 

274.  Special  Laws,   1861,  ch.   1. 

275.  Ibid.,  1865,  ch.   2;  Land  grant   of  May  5,   1864. 

276.  St.  Paul  vs.  Ry.  Co.,  23  Minn.,   469. 
5 


66  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

per  cent.  Later  land  grants  contained  similar  provisions.  In 
1870  the  nine  railroad  companies  paying  gross  income  taxes 
paid  according  to  this  plan.^^^ 

The  companies  favored  this  form  of  taxation,  for  it  relieved 
them  of  all  local  taxation.  They  seem  to  have  regarded  the 
temporary  reduction  as  a  very  substantial  aid."^  The  people 
as  a  rule  were  satisfied  with  this  method  of  taxing  the  rail- 
roads, for,  while  the  companies  were  exempt  from  local  tax- 
ation, the  state  as  a  whole  would  be  benefited  by  this  substan- 
tial source  of  income  to  the  state  treasury. 

In  connection  with  the  collection  of  the  gross  income  tax 
came  a  certain  amount  of  supervision  of  accounts.  This  was 
expressly  provided  for  in  the  enactments.  The  governor,  or 
any  other  person  legally  appointed,  was  given  authority  to 
inspect  the  books  and  papers  of  the  railroad  companies  and  to 
examine  their  officers,  agents  and  servants  under  oath,  to  as- 
certain the  truth  of  their  reports. 

According  to  the  original  enactments  the  land  grants  held 
by  the  railroads  were  exempt  from  taxation  until  sold  and 
conveyed.  Interpreting  this  provision  liberally,  the  railroad 
companies  rented  out  land  on  long  time  leases  and  delayed  in 
formally  conveying  much  land  actually  sold,  thus  withholding 
such  land  from  the  operation  of  the  tax  laws.  Since  the  rail- 
roads were  not  subject  to  general  law,  the  legislature  tried  to 
remedy  the  evil  by  passing  a  series  of  special  enactments,  pro- 
viding that  land  was  to  be  sold,  conveyed,  or  leased;  but,  in 
case  of  delinquent  taxes  on  such  land,  the  title  or  interest  of 
the  railroad  company  or  of  any  trustee  or  mortgagee  was  not 
to  be  impaired,  only  the  improvements  and  interests  of  the  pur- 
chaser or  lessee  being  liable  to  forced  sale.-^^  It  was  optional 
with  the  companies  in  each  case,  however,  to  accept  these  en- 
actments or  not,  as  they  chose.  The  revived  charters  of  the 
Hastings,  Minnesota  and  Red  River  of  the  North  and  of  the 
Minnesota  Central  also  contain  these  provisions.^^^  The  right 
of  the  state  legislature  to.  exempt  the  lands  from  taxation,  con- 
ditioned on  the  payment  of  a  percentage  of  the  annual  gross 

277.  Report  of  the  Railroad  Commission,   1871,  table  opposite  p.  40. 

278.  Prospectus  of  Southern  Minn.  Ry.  Co.,   1865,   p.  9;   1869,  p.   14. 

279.  General  Laws,  1865,  ch.  15;  Special  Laws,  1865,  chs.  5,  7,  8,  9,  10. 

280.  Special  Laws,  1866,  ch.  12,  sec.  19;  1867,  ch.  11,  sec.  19. 


i 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  67 

earnings  of  the  companies,  was  not  seriously  questioned  for 
over  thirty  years.  The  gross  income  tax  itself  was  clearly  rec- 
ognized in  a  constitutional  amendment  ratified  in  1871.^®^ 
When  in  1895  the  state  legislature  tried  to  subject  to  taxation 
the  land  grants  still  held  by  the  railroads,  this  act,  though  up- 
held by  the  state  supreme  court,  was  declared  unconstitutional 
by  the  federal  supreme  court  because  it  impaired  the  obliga- 
tion of  contracts  made  by  the  state  with  the  railroad  compa- 
nies.-^- The  state  supreme  court  had  up  to  this  time  (1898) 
consistently  upheld  the  gross  income  tax  and  the  exemption 
from  other  forms  of  taxation  of  railroad  franchises  and  prop- 
erty, including  the  land  grants  received  from  the  federal  gov- 
ernment.^^^ 

In  1871  the  railroad  commissioner  estimated  the  total  land 
grants  to  railroads  in  Minnesota  at  12,222,780  acres,  "an  area 
larger  than  the  whole  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Con- 
necticut, and  one-half  of  New  Hampshire,  embracing  much  of 
the  finest  wheat  land  in  America. ' '  ^***  Up  to  the  close  of  the 
year  1870  municipal  aid  to  these  railroads  had  been  voted  to 
the  sum  of  $1,751,000,  of  which  $888,000  had  been  received.-^-^ 
In  his  discussion  of  the  aid  given  the  first  division  of  the  St. 
Paul  and  Pacific,  the  commissioner  concludes:  "It  appears 
then  that  the  public  has  granted  for  its  construction  $43,452 
per  mile  for  the  length  of  the  road."^^®  Other  railroad  com- 
panies had  received,  in  lands  and  municipal  aid,  from  $8,400  to 
$29,000  per  mile,  according  to  his  estimation.-^'  Six  years  be- 
fore the  Southern  i\Iinnesota  railroad  company,  to  which  the 
state  had  given  about  half  of  the  property  and  interests  of  one 
of  the  original  land  grant  companies,  estimated  the  value  of  its 
share  of  the  roadway,  grading  and  bridging  of  its  defaulted 
predecessor  at  over  $200,000.    It  valued  fifty  thousand  acres  of 


281.  General   Laws.   1871,   ch.    18. 

282.  Stearns  vs.  Minn.,  179  U.  S.,  223;  reversing  72  Minn.,  200   (1898). 

283.  Ry.  Co.  vs.  Parcher,  14  Minn.,  297;  Minn.  vs.  Ry.  Co.,  21  Minn., 
315  and  472;  Ry.  Co.  vs.  St.  Paul,  21  Minn.,  526;  Ramsey  County 
vs.  Ry.  Co.,  33  Minn.,  537;  Todd  County  vs.  Ry.  Co.,  38  Minn., 
163;  St.  Paul  vs.  Ry.  Co.,  39  Minn.,  112;  State  vs.  Luther,  56 
Minn.,   156. 

284.  Report  of  the  Railroad  Commissioner,  1871,  p.  12. 

285.  Ibid.,   p.   50,   table   10. 

286.  Ibid.,   p.   13. 

287.  Ibid.,  p.  12,  ff. 


68  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

its  federal  land  grant  at  about  $300,000,  and  its  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  state  swamp  lands  at  $375,000,  with 
prospects  of  immediate  increase  and  both  grants  exempt  from 
taxation  till  sold  by  the  company.-^"^  These  figures  are  not 
much  below  those  of  the  railroad  commissioner.  The  people 
had  not  forgotten  these  grants  and  they  naturally  looked  for 
corresponding  benefits. 

The  state  had  heavily  subsidized  these  railroads,  and  as  a 
result  9931/2  miles,  out  of  a  total  mileage  of  1,0921/2,  were  oper- 
ated by  land  grant  companies,  although  thirty-nine  other  com- 
panies had  been  incorporated  under  the  general  incorporation 
law  during  the  years  1858  to  1870.-^^  We  find,  then,  that  over 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  mileage  was  governed  by  special  law 
and  subject  to  an  extra-constitutional  system  of  taxation.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Dartmouth  College  decision,  these  companies 
were  virtually  beyond  the  control  of  the  state  whose  legisla- 
ture had  originally  created  them. 

The  main  railroad  problem  had  at  first  been  how  to  get  rail- 
roads constructed.  When  the  railroads  actually  began  oper- 
ation, new  problems  arose  which  proved  fully  as  difficult. 
Railroads  were  being  built  in  advance  of  the  business  needs 
of  the  country,  and  competition  for  larger  shares  of  the  meager 
business  soon  led  to  discrimination.  The  companies  tried  at 
non-competitive  points  to  make  up  for  their  low  rates  at  com- 
petitive points.  Farmers  at  some  places  had  to  haul  their 
wheat  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  beyond  their  nearest  market,  to 
get  the  benefit  of  more  favorable  rates.  Between  certain 
points  freight  charges  were  so  high  that  farm  products  and 
merchandise  could  be  hauled  more  cheaply  by  team.-^"  The 
success  of  individual  shippers,  as  well  as  the  prosperity  of 
entire  communities,  depended  largely  on  the  good  will  of  the 
railroad  companies.^^^  In  order  to  secure  elevators  and  proper 
facilities  for  handling  grain  along  their  lines,  some  railroads 
had  guaranteed  to  certain  grain-dealers  special  reduced  rates 
and  rebates.    This  resulted  in  a  virtual  monopoly  of  the  local 

288.  Prospectus  of  Southern  Minnesota  Railroad  Company,  1865,  p.  5. 

289.  Report  of  the  Railroad  Commissioner,   1871;  see  list  in  appen- 
dix, p.  93,  tt. 

290.  Ibid.,  p.  17. 

291.  Stickney,  the  Railway  Problem,  ch.   4. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  69 

grain  markets,  and  frequently  led  to  gross  abuses  which  the 
state  had  no  power  to  remedy  under  the  existing  interpretation 
of  the  law.  Other  railroad  companies  had  built  their  own  ele- 
vators and  bought  the  grain  themselves.  Competitors  were 
generally  denied  access  to  the  railroads,  and  those  who  se- 
cured access  were  unable  to  compete  because  of  the  higher 
rates  charged  them.  AVhen  farmers  decided  to  ship  the  grain 
themselves,  they  almost  universally  found  it  an  unprofitable 
undertaking.-^-  Loud  and  frequent  complaints  of  extortion, 
and  of  unjust  and  burdensome  discrimination,  were  heard 
along  the  different  lines  right  from  the  start.  The  farmers 
especially  believed  themselves  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  "cor- 
porations." The  situation  was  all  the  more  exasperating  be- 
cause the  railroads  operating  at  the  time  had  been  so  heavily 
subsidized  by  the  state.  In  1865  the  directors  of  a  land  grant 
company  had  looked  upon  their  enterprise  as  a  ''trust  liberally 
bestowed  upon  them  by  the  state  to  be  carried  out  faithfully 
and  honestly,  but  also  for  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  state,  and  as  a  part  of  its  well-devised  system  of  im- 
provements. ' '  ^^^  The  public  in  general  was  not  very  well  sat- 
isfied with  the  manner  in  which  the  companies  had  carried  out 
their  trusts. 

The  state  had  given  the  railroad  companies  appropriation 
rights  which  could  legally  be  exercised  only  for  public  pur- 
poses. These  rights  had  been  freely  made  use  of.  From  this 
it  was  argued  that  the  railroads  were  public  highways,  and 
that  all  had  an  equal  right  to  their  use.^^^  The  courts  had  held 
the  railroads  to  be  common  carriers.  As  such  they  would, 
under  the  common  law,  be  bound  to  serve  the  public  at  equal 
and  reasonable  rates  without  discrimination.  This  restriction 
had,  according  to  the  Dartmouth  College  decision,  been  con- 
tracted away  in  the  case  of  the  special  charter  companies.  The 
vested  rights  of  the  companies  were  upheld  by  the  courts,  but 
now  the  people  began  to  believe  that  they,  too,  had  certain 


292.  Ibid.,  ch.  3. 

293.  Prospectus  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  Railroad  Company,  1865, 
p.   12. 

294.  For  instance,  in  a  letter  read  at  the  Minn.,  State  Grange, 
June,  1870,  and  ordered  printed  for  circulation.  O.  H.  Kelley, 
ratrons  of  Husbandry,   pp.   256-259. 


70  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

''vested  rights,"  and  they  meant  to  assert  them.  This  struggle 
on  the  part  of  the  people  to  maintain  its  common  law  right  of 
control  over  railroads  as  common  carriers  has  become  known 
as  the  Granger  Movement. 


CHAPTER  VIIT. 
TKi^  GRANGERS. 

The  Granger  ^lovement  derives  its  name  from  the  Gran- 
gers, a  term  popularly  applied  to  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  a 
secret  agricultural  order  whose  lodges  are  known  as  granges. 
The  so-called  granger  or  anti-railroad  movement,  which  re- 
sulted in  restrictive  legislation,  aiming  to  control  railroad  rates, 
in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin,  was  only  a  com- 
paratively local  manifestation  of  a  general  farmers'  move- 
ment, which  had  for  some  time  been  gaining  momentum  both 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  In  the  United  States  the  Na- 
tional Order  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  proved  one  of  the 
most  efficient  organizations  for  this  general  movement,  which 
resulted  in  a  very  marked  advance  in  the  social,  economic,  and 
political  position  of  the  American  farmer.  The  membership 
of  the  order  had  a  phenomenal  increase  among  the  farmers  of 
the  country  at  the  time  when  the  farmers,  especially  in  the 
middle  west,  were  in  the  midst  of  their  revolt  against  what 
they  termed  railroad  oppression ;  and  the  popular  name  of  the 
members  of  the  order  immediately  became  associated  with  the 
anti-railroad  agitation  in  a  few  states,  rather  than  with  the 
more  general  movement. 

The  two  decades  preceding  1870  had  been  a  period  of  or- 
ganization among  the  farmers.  Societies  for  the  promotion  of 
agriculture  had  been  organized  in  this  country  as  early  as 
1785,  and  for  many  years  a  number  of  these  societies  did  much 
good  in  encouraging  this  industry  by  holding  fairs  and  award- 
ing prizes  for  the  best  cattle,  sheep,  farm  produce,  and  farm 
implements,  exhibited.  They  also  awarded  prizes  for  essays 
on  agriculture,  and  distributed  these  essays  and  other  agricul- 
tural literature  among  the  farmers.  The  proceedings  of  their 
meetings  were  generally  published  in  the  local  papers,  and  in 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


71 


this  way  some  came  to  exert  a  wide  influence.  The  members  of 
these  societies,  however,  were  not  the  average  farmers  of  the 
community,  but  were  in  the  main  ''gentlemen,  merchants,  and 
landowners,"  who  from  philanthropic  and  patriotic  motives 
wished  to  foster  and  develop  the  agriculture  of  the  country.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  farmers  at  the  time  looked  upon  their 
occupation  as  mean  and  servile,  and  comparatively  few  took 
any  pride  in  their  work. 

A  number  of  county  and  state  agricultural  societies  were 
formed  in  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century;  but  the 
main  incentive  to  an  active  interest  in  such  organizations  came 
in  the  year  1837-8,  when  food  products  had  to  be  imported  to 
the  amount  of  several  million  dollars.  Congress  in  1839  appro- 
priated $1,000  ''for  the  collection  of  agricultural  statistics  and 
investigations  for  promoting  agriculture  and  rural  economy 
and  the  procurement  of  cuttings  and  seeds  for  gratuitous  dis- 
tribution among  the  farmers."  This  appropriation  was  made 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  commissioner  of  patents.  After  1847 
appropriations  became  regular  and  were  constantly  increased 
in  amount,  so  as  to  be  more  commensurate  with  the  end  in 
view.  The  first  United  States  Agricultural  Report  was  made 
by  the  patent  office  in  1839.  This  office  through  its  agricul- 
tural division  did  much  for  the  advancement  of  agriculture, 
and  demonstrated  the  need  of  a  separate  department  of  agri- 
culture. 

As  early  as  1841  an  attempt  was  made  to  organize  a  na- 
tional agricultural  society,  but  without  success.  In  1852  twelve 
state  agricultural  societies  called  a  national  convention,  which 
met  at  Washington,  D.  C,  June  14,  1852.  Twenty-three  states 
and  territories  were  represented,  and  the  United  States  Agri- 
cultural Society  was  organized.  This  society  met  annually  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  held  successful  agricultural  exhibitions 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  every  year  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War. 

In  an  address  published  in  the  agricultural  report  of  1852, 
the  number  of  agricultural  societies  in  the  United  States  was 
said  to  be  three  hundred. ^^^    Five  years  later  the  commission- 


295.     Agricultural    Report, 
of  Patents. 


1852,    p.   22;    Report   of   the   Commissioner 


72  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

er  of  patents  named  twenty-one  states  in  which  state  agricul- 
tural societies  had  been  incorporated,  and  estimated  the  total 
number  of  agricultural  societies  at  eight  hundred.-^®  The 
commissioner  of  patents,  and  later  the  commissioner  of  agri- 
culture, encouraged  the  formation  of  such  societies  in  every 
part  of  the  country,  and  advocated  a  more  intimate  union  and 
a  more  decided  co-operation  on  their  part  with  the  general 
government  in  the  great  work  of  agricultural  improvement. 
The  government  was  especially  interested  in  efficient  local  or- 
ganizations which  could  furnish  agricultural  statistics.^'^^  In 
1867  there  were  1,367  agricultural  societies  recorded  on  the 
books  of  the  department  of  agriculture.  Most  of  the  county 
societies  had  been  organized  between  1850  and  1860,  while  the 
greater  number  of  the  more  numerous  township  societies  and 
farmers'  clubs  had  been  started  after  1860.-^^  In  some  states 
many  more  were  organized  between  1867  and  1870.^^^ 

The  state,  county,  and  township  societies  were  in  various 
ways  encouraged  and  subsidized  by  the  state  and  national  gov- 
ernments. In  most  cases  their  main  function  seems  to  have 
been  to  hold  annual  fairs  and  exhibits,  or  to  assist  in  such 
undertakings.  These  fairs  were  of  great  educational  value  to 
the  farmers,  and  did  much  to  encourage  invention  and  im- 
proved agricultural  methods.  At  first  the  work  was  unjustly 
criticized  and  ridiculed  by  those  whom  it  was  intended  to  ben- 
efit, but  later  the  farmer  came  to  see  that  he  actually  could 
learn  something  new  about  farming.  But  when  the  farmers 
themselves  became  interested,  they  were  not  content  with  an- 
nual meetings,  fairs  and  exhibitions,  and  the  voluminous  lit- 
erature distributed  among  them.  They  proceeded  to  organize 
farmers'  clubs,  which  met  frequently  for  social  intercourse  and 
mutual  aid  in  solving  practical  every-day  problems.  As  early 
as  1846  the  Monthly  Journal  of  Agriculture  published  a  set  of 


296.  Ibid.,  1857,  p.   13. 

297.  Ibid.,  1860,  pp.  20-22;  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agricul- 
ture,  1863,  p.   9. 

298.  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  1867,  pp.  364-403. 
List  of  agricultural  societies,  their  officers,  date  of  organiza- 
tion, etc. 

299.  List  of  agricultural  and  pomological  societies,  farmers'  clubs, 
etc.,  on  the  books  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  July  1, 
1870,  47  pp. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  73 

rules  for  the  organization  and  government  of  farmers'  clubs, 
and  urged  the  farmers  to  unite  and  look  iafter  their  own  wel- 
fare as  the  other  classes  were  doing.''°°  Agricultural  papers 
frequently  published  such  constitutions,  and  the  call  to  unite 
became  more  urgent  as  time  went  on  and  the  practicability 
of  such  organizations  became  more  apparent.  Most  of  the 
township  organizations  in  the  lists  of  agricultural  societies  pub- 
lished by  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  in  1867  and  in  1870 
were  farmers'  clubs.  This  movement  was  general,  and  we  find 
these  clubs  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  the  order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  gave  this  general  movement  an  efficient  centralized  organi- 
zation. 

The  idea  of  a  national  agricultural  order  originated  with 
Mr.  Oliver  H.  Kellej^  a  native  of  Boston,  who  moved  to  Min- 
nesota in  1849,  settling  on  a  farm  near  Itasca,  Sherburne 
county.  He  spent  the  winter  of  1864  in  Washington,  receiv- 
ing a  clerkship  in  the  department  of  agriculture  by  the  friendly 
aid  of  Senator  Ramsey  of  Minnesota.  He  returned  to  Minne- 
sota in  the  spring  of  1865.  On  January  1,  1866,  he  received  a 
commission  as  special  agent  of  the  agricultural  department  to 
investigate  the  agricultural  and  mineral  resources  of  the  South. 
As  a  government  official  he  did  not  expect  a  very  friendly  re- 
ception, but,  being  a  freemason  of  good  standing  and  a  man  of 
tact  and  pleasing  address,  he  travelled  through  all  the  states 
east  of  the  Mississippi  without  any  unpleasant  experiences, 
returning  to  Washington,  April  21,  1866.  The  war  had  just 
closed,  and  the  work  of  material  recuperation  had  scarcely 
begun.  Mr.  Kelley  became  convinced  that  there  was  need  of  a 
fraternal  organization  of  all  the  farmers  in  both  North  and 
South,  to  obliterate  sectionalism  and  to  elevate  the  farmers  as 
a  class  to  a  position  of  dignity  and  power.  Agricultural  clubs 
were  numerous,  but  they  were  neither  permanent  nor  effective. 
He  conceived  the  idea  of  a  union  of  agricultural  societies  for 
practical  co-operation  in  the  promotion  of  their  common  inter- 
ests, a  masonry  of  farmers. 

Mr.  Kelley  spent  the  summer  of  1866  at  work  on  his  farm 
in    Minnesota,    but    returned    to    Washington    in    November. 

300.     Monthly  Journal  of  Agriculture    (New  York),   vol.   II,  p.   241. 


74  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Early  in  January,  1867,  he  secured  an  appointment  in  the  post 
office  department.  In  the  summer  of  1867  he  succeeded  in  in- 
teresting a  small  select  group  of  men,  most  of  whom  were 
clerks  in  various  departments.-^"^  After  much  work  and  care- 
ful deliberation  they  completed  a  scheme  of  organization,  and 
on  December  4th  they  constituted  themselves  the  National 
Grange  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  As  modified  the  follow- 
ing January,  the  plan  of  organization  was  as  follows : 

Subordinate  Granges. 
1st  degree.  Laborer  (male)  or  Maid  (female)  ; 
2nd  degree.  Cultivator  or  Shepherdess ; 
3rd  degree.  Harvester  or  Gleaner; 
4th  degree,  Husbandman  or  Matron. 

State  Grange. 
5th  degree,  Pomona  (Hope).    All  masters  and  past  masters 
of  subordinate  granges  are  entitled  to  this  degree  ex  officio. 

National  Grange. 

6th  degree.  Flora  (Charity).  All  masters  and  past  mas- 
ters of  state  granges  are  ex  officio  entitled  to  this  degree. 
Those  of  the  sixth  degree  constitute  the  national  council  and 
meet  annually. 

7th  degree,  Ceres  (Faith).  All  who  have  served  one  year 
in  the  national  council  are  eligible  and  on  attaining  the  degree 
become  members  of  the  senate.  All  acts  and  resolutions  origi- 
nate in  the  council,  but  are  subject  to  the  approval  or  rejec- 
tion of  the  senate. 

The  order  was  designed  to  include  on  equal  terms  all  men 
and  women  interested  in  agriculture.  The  first  officers  were 
to  serve  five  years,  so  as  to  secure  the  control  of  the  order  in 
the  hands  of  the  founders  during  its  formative  period.  A  cir- 
cular was  published  in  February,  setting  forth  the  educational 
and  social  advantages  offered  by  the  new  order  which  by  the 
charm  of  secrecy  would  tend  to  insure  permanence.    Mr.  Kelley 

301.  W.  M.  Ireland,  chief  clerk  in  Finance  Office  of  Post  Office 
Dept.;  Wm.  Saunders,  superintendent  of  tlie  garden  and 
grounds  of  the  Agricultural  Dept.;  Rev.  A.  B.  Grosh,  clerk  in 
the  Agricultural  Dept.;  Rev.  John  Trimble,  clerk  in  the  Treas- 
ury Dept.;  J.  R,  Thompson,  clerk  in  the  Treasury  Dept.;  F.  M. 
McDowell,  vineyardist  at  Wayne,  N.  Y. 


I 


r 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  75 

had  advocated  the  insertion  of  a  few  words  relative  to  co-oper- 
ation in  protecting  the  members  from  imposition  and  fraud,  for 
he  was  satisfied  that  such  a  feature  would  be  necessary  to  make 
the  order  popular.  Others,  however,  were  of  a  different  opin- 
ion, and  it  was  not  incorporated. 

Mr.  Keliey  resigned  his  clerkship  in  February,  1868,  that 
he  might  devote  his  entire  time  to  the  promotion  of  the  order. 
A  trial  grange  was  organized,  and  the  ritual  was  practiced  and 
perfected;  and  soon  a  regular  subordinate  grange,  which  was 
given  the  name  Harvest  Grange,  was  established  in  Washing- 
ton. Keliey  now  decided  to  leave  for  Minnesota  to  begin  work 
among  tlie  farmers  there.  Before  he  left,  the  National  Grange 
met  (six  in  all)  and  authorized  him  to  visit  the  different  states 
to  organize  the  order,  and  generously  voted  him  an  annual 
salary  of  two  thousand  dollars  and  necessary  travelling  ex- 
penses, "the  same  to  be  collected  by  him  from  receipts  from 
subordinate  granges. ' ' 

On  April  3,  1868,  ^Tr.  Keliey  left  Washington,  determined 
to  work  his  way  to  Minnesota  by  organizing  granges.  He  had 
a  remarkable  faith  in  the  project,  and  believed  that  the  order 
could  and  should  pay  its  own  expenses.  He  attempted  to  or- 
ganize a  grange  in  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  but  did  not  suc- 
ceed. At  Penn  Yan,  N.  Y.,  he  met  with  cheering  words  from 
a  brother  Mason  and  Patron,  Mr.  McDowell,  who  had  for  some 
time  been  interested  in  the  order,  but  he  failed  in  his  attempt 
to  establish  a  grange.  At  Fredonia,  N.  Y.,  however,  he  met 
with  success,  and  the  first  regularly  organized  grange  of  the 
order  was  there  established.  Mr.  Keliey  next  had  an  agree- 
able visit  with  a  friend  of  the  order  in  Spencer,  Ohio,  Mr.  Bart- 
lett,  whom  he  instructed  in  the  work  of  organization  and  au- 
thorized to  introduce  the  order  in  that  part  of  the  state.  In 
Chicago  he  found  a  club  ready  to  be  organized  into  a  grange. 
This  was  encouraging  at  the  time,  but  the  grange  did  not  ma- 
terialize. His  next  visit  was  to  Madison,  Wisconsin,  where  he 
had  hoped  for  much,  but  met  with  complete  failure.  He 
reached  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  May  1.  On  the  way  from  Washington 
he  had  received  dispensation  or  charter  fees  at  Harrisburg, 
Fredonia,  Columbus,  and  Chicago.  He  now  received  by  mail 
an  application  for  a  dispensation  from  Newton,  Iowa,  enclos- 


76  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing  the  required  fee  of  fifteen  dollars.  These  receipts  paid  the 
expenses  of  his  trip,  but  the  prospects  of  the  order  were  not 
the  brightest. 

The  farmers  of  Minnesota  were  at  this  time  far  more  in- 
terested in  protection  against  middlemen,  corporations  and 
monopolies,  than  in  any  plan  for  social  or  educational  improve- 
ment. They  had  lost  interest  in  the  old  agricultural  societies 
and  were  ready  for  something  new.  The  Farmers'  Union,  an 
agricultural  monthly,  which  was  started  in  Minneapolis  in 
August,  1867,  with  a  claimed  circulation  of  ten  thousand,  im- 
mediately took  up  the  farmers'  cause.  It  recommended  month- 
ly township  fairs,  where  farmers  could  meet  to  buy  and  sell 
to  each  other  directly,  without  the  aid  of  middlemen.^"-  It 
planned  to  protect  the  farmer  against  unscrupulous  agents  who 
practiced  fraud  and  deception,  and  urged  all  who  had  been 
swindled  to  give  information.'''*'^  The  editor,  Mr.  Nimocks,  was 
secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Farmers'  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Association,  and  he  made  effective  use  of  the  columns  of  his 
paper  in  advertising  the  "Farmers'  Association."  He  gives 
the  following  account  of  its  origin:  "On  the  15th  of  July, 
1865,  a  number  of  farmers  of  this  state  assembled  at  Minne- 
apolis and  organized  a  club  or  association  for  the  purpose  of 
assisting  one  another  when  fires  occur,  or,  in  other  words,  do 
their  own  insuring  and  save  a  large  amount  of  money  and  thus 
avoid  being  swindled  by  irresponsible  insurance  companies. 
.  .  .  Each  farmer  insured  is  a  member,  and  has  a  voice  in 
its  affairs  and  a  vote  in  the  election  of  officers. "  ^"* 

In  November,  1867,  the  Farmers'  Union  began  an  active 
campaign  for  the  organization  of  social  farmers'  clubs.  It 
proposed  to  have  in  the  field  an  able  corps  of  associate  editors 
and  traveling  correspondents,  to  assist  in  the  establishment 
of  such  clubs  in  every  neighborhood  in  the  state  for  the  bene- 
fit of  farmers,  their  wives,  and  families.''*^''  This  plan  was  car- 
ried out  during  the  winter,  and,  judging  from  the  letters  from 
farmers'  clubs  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  the  farmers  must 
have  taken  considerable  interest  in  the  work. 

302.  The  Farmers'   Uriion,   Aug-.,    1867    (Vol.   I,   No.   1). 

303.  Ibid.,  Sept.,    1867. 

304.  Ibid.,  Aug.,   1867. 

305.  Ibid.,  Nov.,   1867;  Jan.,   1868. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  77 

When  Mr.  Kelley,  on  his  return  from  Washington  in  May, 
1868,  began  to  work  for  his  order,  the  Fanners'  Union  pro- 
nounced his  plan  of  organization  the  most  perfect  that  liad  ever 
been  introduced,  and  recommended  it  -heartily  to  the  farmers 
of  the  state.  It  continued,  however,  for  some  time  to  work  for 
the  establishment  of  farmers'  clubs  as  before.  One  effective 
argument  for  organization  was  the  co-operative  feature,  where- 
by farmers  w^ould  be  ena])led  to  purchase  machinery,  nursery 
stock,  groceries,  and  other  necessities,  without  the  expensive 
services  of  retailers  and  commission  men,  who  frequently  were 
guilty  of  charging  exorbitant  prices.  The  success  of  the  Farm- 
ers' Association  in  the  field  of  insurance  was  [)ointed  out  as  a 
proof  of  the  practicability  of  co-operation,  and  the  farmers 
were  urged  to  apply  this  principle  of  co-operation  in  other 
fields. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  Farmers'  Union  was  the 
cause  of  this  great  agitation  among  the  farmers  of  Minnesota 
at  this  time.  It  merely  offered  the  farmers  a  formula  accord- 
ing to  which  it  was  believed  they  w^ould  be  enabled  in  a  large 
measure  to  improve  their  condition.  The  times  w^ere  hard  and 
the  discontent  was  general  throughout  the  state.  This  discon- 
tent was  due  partly  to  local  conditions  and  partly  to  general 
causes.  A  general  movement  toward  improved  farming  and 
improved  farmers  had  been  in  progress  for  several  decades  in 
this  country  and  in  Europe.  Where  any  material  advance  was 
made,  a  period  of  social  and  political  re-adjustment,  with  its 
struggle  and  its  discontent,  necessarily  followed. 

The  immediate  causes  for  discontent,  however,  were  more 
concrete.  The  farmers  of  the  state  blamed  the  railroads  and 
the  middlemen  for  the  hard  times,  and  later  they  added  high 
taxes,  high  protective  tariff,  and  bad  currency,  to  their  list  of 
grievances.  Retailers  and  agents,  as  a  rule,  fixed  a  large  mar- 
gin of  profit  on  goods  sold.  This  practice  was  to  some  extent 
justified  by  the  risk  involved,  for  the  farmers  at  that  time 
seldom  paid  cash,  and  many  of  them  were  notoriously  slow 
payers.  Large  profits  on  cash  sales,  and  good  accounts,  made 
up  for  possible  losses  on  doubtful  accounts.  But  wdien  the 
farmers  realized  that  high  prices  were  in  a  large  measure  due 
to  these  large  profits,  they  felt  swindled    and    their    ire  was 


78  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

aroused.     Many  irresponsible  men  did  swindle  them  outright, 
thus  adding  fuel  to  the  flame. 

With  the  rapid  extension  of  interstate  railroad  systems,  the 
question  of  railroad  regulation  and  railroad  control  had  al- 
ready in  1868  ceased  to  be  merely  a  matter  of  local  concern. 
In  the  second  session  of  the  fortieth  Congress,  the  committee 
on  roads  and  canals  was  instructed  by  the  House  to  investi- 
gate whether  Congress  had  the  power,  under  the  constitution, 
to  provide  by  law  for  the  regulation  and  control  of  railroads, 
especially  those  extending  through  the  several  states,  so  as  to 
secure,  first,  the  safety  of  the  passengers ;  second,  uniform  and 
equitable  rates  of  fare;  third,  uniform  and  equitable  charges 
for  the  transportation  of  freight;  fourth,  proper  connections 
with  each  other  in  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight ; 
and  if,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee.  Congress  possessed 
such  powers,  it  was  to  report  a  bill  which  would  secure  these 
objects.^"*^  The  committee  reported  that  in  its  judgment  Con- 
gress had  such  power  over  railroads  connecting  two  or  more 
states,  but  that  it  had  no  constitutional  power  to  legislate  in 
relation  to  railroads  which  do  not  form  parts  of  continuous 
lines  extending  from  one  state  to  another.  The  committee  did 
not  report  any  bill,  for  they  were  not  in  possession  of  much 
necessary  information.^"^  Two  members  of  the  committee  sub- 
mitted a  vigorous  minority  report.^*^^ 

The  need  of  railroad  regulation  was  general,  but  the  situa- 
tion became  most  acute  in  the  frontier  states  where  imports 
and  exports  had  to  be  transported  great  distances,  and  where 
discrimination  seems  to  have  been  most  flagrant.  Communities 
and  individuals  discriminated  against  could  justly  complain  of 
unreasonable  charges,  and  when  the  railroads  insolently  main- 
tained their  vested  rights  to  fix  charges  to  suit  themselves  the 
people  did  not  find  the  ''oppression"  more  tolerable. 

Mr.  Kelley  immediately  began  his  campaign  for  the  new 
order.  Believing  thoroughly  in  publicity,  he  lost  no  time  in 
enlisting  the  services  of  the  press.  The  order  was  advertised 
as  a  national  organization,  making  rapid  progress  in  a  num.ber 

306.  Congressional  Globe,   1867-8,  part  3,  p.  2331. 

307.  40th  Cong.,   2d   Session,   House   of   Representatives,    Report   No. 
47,  pp.   1-8. 

308.  Ibid.,   pp.   8-20. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  79 

of  states,  and  now  being  introduced  in  Minnesota  as  a  protec- 
tive organization  which  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  its  mem- 
jjgpg  309  rpj^g  headquarters  of  the  order  were  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  its  nine  officers  were  from  seven  different  states  and 
the  District  of  Columbia.^^*'  The  constitution  of  the  order  and 
its  circulars  were  printed  in  the  various  newspapers  of  the 
state.  In  his  monthly  report  to  the  National  Grange,  made 
August  1,  1868,  Mr.  Kelley  says:  ''I  can  now  report  to  you 
the  friendly  aid  of  five  agricultural  papers,  whose  columns  are 
open  to  our  cause,  viz. :  The  Prairie  Farmer,  Chicago :  Farm- 
ers' Chronicle,  Columbus,  Ohio;  Ohio  Farmer,  Cleveland;  Rural 
World,  St.  Louis;  Farmers'  Union,  Minneapolis.  Besides  these 
the  various  daily  and  weekly  papers  in  the  state  will  publish 
any  matter  to  advance  our  interests."  "^^^ 

Mr.  Kelley  availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  bring 
the  order  before  the  farmers.  He  attended  a  meeting  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  held  in 
June,  1868,  and  seems  to  have  received  encouragement  from 
its  members.'^^^  He  attended  a  horticultural  fair  in  Minne- 
apolis the  first  week  in  July  and  met  many  farmers.  In  a  re- 
port of  this  fair  which  he  sent  to  the  Sauk  Kapids  Sentinel,  he 
expresses  his  pleasure  because  of  the  interest  which  the  offi- 
cers of  the  state  and  county  agricultural  societies  in  Minnesota 
were  taking  in  the  new  order.  He  optimistically  estimated 
that  according  to  present  prospects  at  least  fifty  granges  would 
be  represented  at  the  coming  State  Fair.^^^  The  editor  of  the 
Sauk  Rapids  Sentinel  congratulated  the  Patrons  upon  the  in- 
crease of  their  number  since  the  first  grange  was  organized  in 
the  state,  and  added:  ''They  may  well  feel  encouraged.  The 
order  is  endorsed  by  the  executive  committee  of  our  state  agri- 
cultural society  and  by  all  the  leading  farmers  who  have  be- 
come familiar  with  the  order."  ^^^  A  month  later  he  reported: 
''Granges  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  are  springing  up  in  all 


309.  Sauk   Rapids   Sentinel,   June   19,   1868. 

310.  Ibid.,  June   19,  1868. 

311.  Kelley,  Origin   and  Progress  of  the  Order  of  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry in   the  United  States,  p.   117. 

312.  Ibid.,   p.   110. 

313.  Sauk  Rapids  Sentinel,  July  10,   1868. 

314.  Ibid.,    July    17,    1868. 


80  MINNESOTA   HISTORiCAU   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

parts  of  the  state.  The  farmers  are  looking  after  their  inter- 
ests, and  every  town  should  have  a  branch  of  this  order."  ^^^ 

This  was  no  doubt  what  Mr.  Kelley  wanted,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  the  order  was  at  the  time  meeting  a  rather  cool  recep- 
tion. The  farmers  were  not  ready  to  join  a  secret  society  whose 
objects  and  purposes  they  were  not  familiar  with.  The  cir- 
cular did  not  give  them  sufficient  definite  information.  They 
considered  it  too  flowery  and  ambiguous.  They  had  no  need 
of  a  "mutual  admiration  society,"  but  wanted  an  association 
that  would  aid  and  protect  them.^^^ 

In  a  letter  to  the  officers  of  the  National  Grange,  dated 
July  12,  1868,  Mr.  Kelley  writes:  ''In  the  country  the  farmers 
ask,  'What  pecuniary  benefit  are  we  to  gain  by  supporting 
the  organization?'  Let  the  National  Grange  point  it  out,  let 
it  show  that  each  Grange  is  of  itself  a  Board  of  Trade,  and  by 
the  system  of  communication  between  subordinate,  state,  and 
National  granges  they  can  market  their  produce  independent 
of  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Millers'  and  Wool  Growers'  As- 
sociations, which  are  gotten  up  to  control  the  market 

Ask  them  this  question,  'Why  not  the  producer  establish  the 
price  of  his  products  as  well  as  the  manufacturer?'  Not  to 
secure  exorbitant  demands,  but  to  get  a  fair  profit  over  the 
cost  of  raising  the  crops.  No  man  can  accumulate  money  who 
sells  below  cost.     If  you  hit  this  point  right,  you  will  sweep 

the  West Mark  my  word,  there  is  a  revolution 

going  on  among  the  people,  and  if  you  strike  the  right  chord 
in  a  new  circular  letter,  you  will  soon  see  the  Patrons  will  be 
a  power,  and  yourselves  at  the  head  of  it."  "^^ 

During  the  summer  two  abortive  attempts  had  been  made 
at  establishing  subordinate  granges.  The  first  active  grange 
in  Minnesota  was  the  North  Star  Grange  which  was  organized 
in  St.  Paul,  September  2.  Col.  D.  A.  Robertson,  the  leader  in 
this  grange,  immediately  set  to  work  and  revised  the  circular 
of  the  order,  with  the  hearty  approval  of  Mr.  Kelley.  The  new 
circular  was  issued  over  the  signature  of  0.  H.  Kelley,  Secre- 
tary of  the  National  Grange,  and  under  the  date,  "National 

315.  Ibid.,  Aug.   21,   1868. 

316.  Kelley,  op.  cit.,  p.  110. 

317.  Ibid.,   pp.   113-114. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  81 

Grange,  Washington,  D.  C,  Sept.,  1868."  According  to  its 
statement,  the  objects  of  the  order  were  to  advance  educa- 
tion, to  elevate  and  dignify  the  occupation  of  the  farmer,  and 
to  protect  its  members  against  the  numerous  combinations  by 
which  their  interests  are  injuriously  affected  by  means  of  com- 
bined co-operative  association.  The  order  was  to  provide  sys- 
tematic arrangements  for  procuring  and  disseminating  infor- 
mation relative  to  crops,  demand  and  supply,  prices,  markets 
and  transportation  throughout  the  countrj^,  and  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  depots  for  the  sale  of  products  in  the  cities;  also 
for  the  purchase  and  exchange  of  stock  and  seeds,  for  employ- 
ment bureaus,  for  ascertaining  the  merits  of  newly  invented 
farm  implements,  and  for  detecting  and  exposing  those  that 
were  unworthy,  and  for  protecting,  by  all  available  means,  the 
farming  interests  from  fraud  and  deception  of  every  kind.^^^ 
On  the  new  circular,  embodying  these  with  the  former  provi- 
sions, was  based  the  real  foundation  of  the  order.^^^ 

But  even  though  the  order  trimmed  its  sails  to  the  agita- 
tion among  the  farmers,  its  progress  continued  far  from  sat- 
isfactory. By  the  close  of  1868  only  four  granges  in  Minne- 
sota had  paid  their  dispensation  fees,  and  a  fifth  had  been 
organized  gratuitously.  But  Mr.  Kelley  continued  the  strug- 
gle, though  at  times  "almost  against  hope."  ^^^ 

Beginning  with  the  new  year,  prospects  brightened.  By 
February  20,  six  new  granges  had  been  added  to  the  list,  and 
on  February  23,  1869,  the  Minnesota  State  Grange  was  duly 
organized,^^^  and  continued  its  session  two  days.  It  was  here 
suggested  that  the  different  subordinate  granges  should  lease 
flouring  mills  in  their  respective  localities  and  appoint  a  busi- 
ness agent  at  St.  Paul,  who  was  to  receive  the  flour  and  ship 
it  to  New  York,  where  it  would  be  sold  on  commission.^^^  The 
executive  committee  accordingly  appointed  Mr.  Prescott  state 
agent.  Mr.  Kelley  approved  of  this  business  feature,  and  be- 
gan to  look  around  for  men  of  means  to  support  the  enterprise. 
The  National  Grange  held  its  first  annual  session  in  "Washing- 


sis.  Ibid.,  pp.   125-130;  Sauk  Rapids  Sentinel,  Oct.   2,   1868. 

319.  Kelley,  op.  cit.,  p.  130. 

320.  Ibid.,   p.   151. 

321.  Ibid.,  p.  165. 

322.  Ibid.,  p.  168;  Letter  from  O.  H.  K.  to  McDowell,  March  1,  11 
6 


82  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ton,  April  13.  They  here  discarded  the  Minnesota  state  agency 
as  premature.^"  Every  subordinate  grange  in  Minnesota,  how- 
ever, approved  of  the  plan,  but  held  it  to  be  a  local  matter 
which  did  not  necessarily  involve  the  order.  Their  immediate 
concern  seems  to  have  been  to  secure  farm  machinery  at  re- 
duced rates.  Mr.  Kelley  was  glad  to  see  something  started, 
for,  if  the  farmers  could  be  brought  to  fight  the  retail  dealers 
through  the  order,  the  order  would  be  advertised  throughout 
the  state  and  nation.  If  the  agency  proved  a  success,  the  Na- 
tional Grange  could  adopt  the  plan.  If  it  failed,  all  official 
connection  with  it  could  be  disclaimed.^^*  At  the  meeting  of 
the  National  Grange  held  in  Washington,  January  25,  1870, 
Mr.  Kelley  could  report  a  total  of  forty-nine  granges,  forty  of 
which  were  in  Minnesota.  Iowa  had  three  granges;  Illinois 
had  three ;  and  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York,  each  one.^-^ 
So  far  the  Grange  Patrons  had  been  mainly  interested  in 
their  fight  with  the  middlemen.  Many  communities  through- 
out the  state  were  still  without  railroads,  and  w^ere  anxious  to 
secure  them  at  any  cost.  The  agitation  against  railroad  abuses 
had  not  yet  taken  any  definite  form.  In  Illinois  the  situation 
was  different.  The  main  railroad  lines  had  already  been  built. 
Corn,  their  chief  farm  product,  could  not  bear  heavy  trans- 
portation charges  and  discriminatory  rates  would  be  particu- 
larly oppressive.  Hence  it  was  not  long  before  the  farmers 
were  engaged  in  a  lively  struggle  with  the  railroads.  The 
Prairie  Farmer  was  instrumental  in  calling  a  convention  of 
producers,  to  meet  at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  April  20,  for  the 
purpose  "of  devising  means  to  combat  the  vast  railroad  mo- 
nopolies that  threaten  to  overwhelm  the  country. "  ^^-®  Mr, 
Corbett,  the  editor  of  this  paper,  considered  this  the  best  op- 
portunity that  had  ever  been  offered  for  the  order  of  Patrons 
of  Husbandry  to  make  itself  felt  among  the  farmers,  and  there- 
fore wrote  to  Mr.  Kelley,  inviting  him  to  attend  the  conven- 
tion and  bring  the  order  before  them.  He  closed  his  letter 
with  the  following  words:     ''You  must  be  present  fully  pre- 


323.  Ibid.,  p.  180;  Letter  from  O.  H.  K.  to  McDowell,  April  17,  1869. 

324.  Ibid.,  pp.  186-7;  Letter  from  O.  H.  K.  to  McDowell,  May  4,  1869. 

325.  Ibid.,  p.  219;  second  Annual  Report. 

326.  Ibid.,    p.    245;    cf.    Periam,    A   History    of    the    Origin,    Aim   and 
Progress  of  the  Farmers'  Movement,  p.  225. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  83 

pared  to  make  a  telling  appeal  for  the  cause  through  the  or- 
ganization to  which  you  have  already  devoted  so  much  time 
and  labor.  You  can  do  more  for  it  here  in  a  single  day  than 
in  months  in  the  usual  manner.  Please  let  me  hear  that  you 
will  be  present."  ^^^ 

Mr.  Kelley  does  not  seem  to  have  been  prepared  to  incor- 
porate anti-railroad  agitation  in  the  program  of  the  order,  and 
did  not  accept  the  invitation.  The  convention  was  attended 
by  a  large  number  of  leading  farmers  from  different  parts  of 
Illinois.  Governor  John  M.  Palmer  sent  a  letter  in  which  he 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  convention  would  assert  and  pre- 
pare to  maintain  that  there  is  no  interest  in  this  country  that 
is  or  can  be  beyond  the  control  of  the  law.^^^  A  series  of  eight 
resolutions  were  drawn  up  in  which  it  was  declared:  ''First, 
that  the  present  rates  of  taxation  and  transportation  are  un- 
reasonable and  oppressive  and  ought  to  be  reduced;  second 
that  our  legal  rights  to  transportation  and  market  ought  to  be 
clearly  set  forth  and  defined.  "^-^ 

On  the  thirteenth  of  May,  1870,  a  constitutional  conven- 
tion adopted  a  new  constitution  for  the  state  of  Illinois  which 
was  subsequently  ratified  by  the  people.  This  constitution 
reflects  the  influence  of  the  farmers  of  the  state  by  devoting 
seven  sections  to  railroads,"'"^  and  another  seven  to  ware- 
houses.^*^^  Railroads  were  declared  public  highways,  and  it 
was  made  the  duty  of  the  general  assembly,  from  time  to  time, 
to  pass  laws  establishing  reasonable  maximum  rates  of  charges 
for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight  on  the  dif- 
ferent railroads  of  the  state, ^^-  and  to  pass  laws  to  correct 
abuses  and  prevent  unjust  discrimination  and  extortion  in 
rates  on  the  different  railroads,  and  to  enforce  such  laws  by 
adequate  penalties.^^-''  These  provisions  led  directly  to  the  en- 
actment of  the  so-called  Granger  laws  of  1871  and  1874.  When 
the  constitutional  convention  met  in  May,  1870,  there  were 
two  subordinate  granges  in  the  state,  and  when  the  legislature 

327.  Kelley,  op.  cit.,  p.  245-6;  W.  W.  Corbett  to  Kelley,  April  11,  1870. 

328.  Periam,   op.  cit.,  p.  228. 

329.  Ibid.,  p.  229. 

330.  Const,  of  111.,  1870,  Art.  II,  sees.  9-15. 

331.  Ibid.,Art.   13. 

332.  Ibid.,  Art.  II,  sec.    12. 

333.  Kelley,  op.  cit.,  p.  269  and  271. 


84  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

met  in  January,  1871,  only  one  more  had  been  organized.  As 
an  advertisement  for  the  order,  a  temporary  state  grange  was 
organized  in  Chicago  in  July,  1870  ;^'^*  but  it  did  not  prove 
active  and  had  to  be  reorganized  in  1872,  v\^hen  granges  began 
to  get  numerous. 

On  May  20,  1870,  Mr.  Corbett  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Kelley, 
in  which  he  expressed  his  firm  conviction  that  the  order  had  a 
work  to  perform  in  the  war  that  was  about  to  be  waged  by 
the  people  against  the  monstrous  monopolies.  Said  he  :  ' '  Rail- 
road Companies,  AVarehouse  and  Telegraph  Companies,  are 
crushing  the  life  out  of  the  producing  classes.  *  *  *  * 
AVe  know  the  claims  of  vested  rights  that  Railroad  Companies, 
in  the  West  especially,  lay  claim  to.  A  corporation  on  the 
plea  of  public  interests,  gets  the  right  of  way,  condemns  prop- 
erty— our  very  homesteads,  perhaps ;  to  do  this  they  are  public 
corporations,  acting  for  the  public  good.  The  charter  and  right 
of  way  once  gained,  this  public  character  ceases,  and  railroad 
companies  are  private  institutions  not  amenable  to  Legislatures 
or  Courts,  because  the  legislature  has  given  away  its  power  to 
regulate  them.  They  can  extort,  oppress,  rob.  They  can  dis- 
criminate in  favor  of  certain  localities  and  individuals;  they 
can  combine  with  owners  of  warehouses,  or  build  warehouses 
of  their  own,  and  force  shippers  to  pay  toll  on  every  bushel 
of  grain  that  passes  over  their  road ;  they  can  and  do  refuse 
to  deliver  grain  or  other  produce,  except  to  such  persons  or 
companies  as  may  pay  into  their  own  coffers.  ***** 
We,  as  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  have  united  for  common  good 
and  for  common  protection.  *  *  *  *  ^Ve  must  not  be 
political  in  the  common  acceptance  of  the  term,  only  so  far 
as  to  control  politicians  and  office-holders,  to  make  them  talk, 
legislate,  and  decide  on  the  side  of  the  people  all  the  time, 
^  *  *  *  whichever  party  will  declare  itself  to  stand  on 
our  platform,  and  whichever  candidate  will  unqualifiedly 
pledge  himself  to  carry  out  the  reforms  we  demand,  such  party 
and  such  candidates  should  receive  our  votes.  ***** 
Opposition  to  monopolies  seems  to  me  to  be  entirely  consistent 
with  the  design  of  our  Order;  with  it  as  one  of  the  watch- 
words, I  believe  we  have  the  opportunity  of    extending    our 

334.     Kelley,  op.  cit.,  pp.  269  and  271. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  85 

Granges  indefinitely  throughout  all  these  North- Western 
States. """" 

This  letter  was  read  before  the  ^linnesota  state  grange 
which  met  June  22,  1870,  and  it  gave  such  general  satisfaction 
that  it  was  ordered  printed  for  circulation.^^^  Mr.  Kelley  had 
some  misgivings  as  to  the  result  of  such  a  war,  but  looked  upon 
the  publication  of  the  letter  as  another  way  of  bringing  the 
order  more  prominently  before  the  public^'''''  Definite  expres- 
sion was  here  given  to  the  farmer  for  his  grievances  against 
the  railroads.  The  agitation  against  railroads  soon  became  as 
lively  in  Minnesota  as  in  Illinois. 

When  the  IMinnesota  state  grange  met  in  June,  1870,  there 
were  sixty-six  subordinate  granges  in  the  United  States,  of 
which  fifty  were  in  IMinnesota.  The  order  had  been  advertised 
as  national,  and  ^Ir.  Kelley  was  anxious  to  make  it  such  in 
fact  as  well  as  in  name.  The  other  officers  of  the  National 
Grange  had  disappointed  him  by  their  inactivity.  He  decided 
to  move  to  Washington  and  make  that  city  his  headquarters, 
believing  that  he  could  in  this  way  exert  a  wider  influence. "^^^^ 

The  services  of  a  number  of  good  men  were  enlisted  in  a 
number  of  states,  and  the  order  began  to  make  a  remarkable 
progress  throughout  the  country.  "Co-operation,"  and  '^down 
with  the  monopolies,"  were  proving  popular  catchwords.  The 
growth  of  the  order  for  several  years  \yas  unprecedented.  The 
number  of  granges  organized  each  year  for  1868  to  1874,  in- 
clusive, was  as  follows  :^^^ 


State  granges. 

Subordinate  granges. 

Granges 

in  Minn, 

(Total  No.) 

1868 

0 

10 

5 

1869 

1 

38 

33 

1870 

2 

36 

19 

1871 

2 

130 

1872 

8 

1,105 

1873 

22 

8,868 

358 

1874 

4 

11,941 

It  was  with  these  figures  in  mind  that  Mr.  Aitkin,  an  old 
Granger,  said  in  an  address  before  a  convention  of  agricul- 


335.  Kelley,  op.  cit.,  pp.  256-259;  W.  W.  Corbett  to  Kelley. 

336.  Ibid.,  p.   256. 

337.  Ibid.,  p.  259. 

338.  Ibid.,  passim. 

339.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Special  Report  No.  2    (1883),   p.   63. 


86  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

turists  held  at  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  January, 
1883:  ''From  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande,  from  the  Golden 
State  to  the  Hudson,  and  even  into  the  pineries  of  Maine,  and 
across  the  border,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  farmers  fairly  leaped,  as  with  one  pre- 
concerted bound,  to  the  upholding  of  the  Grange  standard." 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  FOR  RAILROAD  REGULATION  IN  1870. 

The  discontent  among  the  farmers  of  Minnesota  was  con- 
stantly increasing  during  the  later  sixties.  They  were  not 
enjoying  the  prosperity  they  had  looked  for,  and  as  the  hard 
times  continued  they  became  more  and  more  convinced  that 
they  were  being  exploited.  In  general  they  attributed  their 
sorry  plight  to  three  main  factors:  the  exorbitant  charges  of 
the  middlemen,  the  financial  policy  of  the  national  government, 
and  the  increasing  power  of  corporations  and  monopolies,  es- 
pecially of  the  railroad  companies. 

When  the  legislature  convened  in  1870,  Governor  Austin  in 
his  inaugural  address  ^^*^  took  occasion  to  examine  the  popular 
complaints  against  the  management  of  the  railroads  within 
the  state,  and  also  to  present  as  fairly  as  possible  the  rail- 
roads' side  of  the  case.  Realizing  that  the  charges  made  by 
either  side  against  the  other  might  be  neither  wholly  true  nor 
wholly  false,  he  advised  that  a  commission  be  created  to  make 
full  inquiry  into  the  alleged  abuses  and  to  present  some  plan 
remedying  the  difficulties,  if  abuses  be  found  to  exist.  He  did 
not  question  the  constitutional  right  of  the  legislature  to  reg- 
ulate freight  and  passenger  tariffs,  nor  doubt  the  necessity 
of  so  doing,  but  he  desired  regulation  based  on  accurate  knowl- 
edge gained  by  careful  investigation.  ''If  the  people  are 
wronged,"  he  said,  "it  would  be  a  short-sighted  policy  on  the 
part  of  the  companies  to  strive  to  perpetuate  the  wrong;  for 
when  the  people  can  bear  it  no  longer,  they  will  arise  in  their 
might  and  find  some  means  of  redressing  their  grievances,  and 
then  there  will  be  danger  of  injustice  on  the  other  side.     If 

340.     Minn.  Exec.  Docs.,   1869,   Inaugural  Address    (25   pp.),   Corpora- 
tions, pp.  6-14. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  87 

tlie  popular  complaints  are  not  well  founded,  a  full  impartial 
investigation  will  establish  the  fact,  vindicate  the  corporations, 
and  put  the  question  forever  at  rest, — a  result  much  to  the 
advantage  of  all  concerned.""'*^ 

The  governor's  recommendation  met  with  general  approval 
among  the  people.  A  bill  embodying  its  main  features  was  in- 
troduced in  the  Senate  and  passed,  but  when  the  bill  reached 
the  House  it  was  permitted  to  die  of  neglect.^*^ 

The  question  of  railroad  regulation  had  not  figured  promi- 
nently in  the  preceding  campaign,  but  in  the  campaign  of  1870 
it  sprang  into  prominence  in  different  parts  of  the  state.  The 
farmers  in  particular  were  aroused.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  was  proposed  to  them  as  a 
means  of  self-protection  against  railroads  and  monopolies,  but 
its  growth  at  this  time  was  slow.  It  was  not  yet  strong  enough 
to  exert  the  influence  its  friends  expected  of  it.^*^ 

The  anti-railroad  sentiment  was  especially  marked  in  the 
first  congressional  district,  where  the  "Winona  and  St.  Peter 
railroad  was  very  unpopular  at  the  time.  In  the  Republican 
convention  of  this  district,  held  in  Owatonna  July  6,  emphatic 
protests  were  made  against  railroad  extortions,  and  the  fol- 
lowing declaration  was  embodied  in  their  platform  :  * '  *  *  * 
the  tendency  toward  consolidation  of  parallel  or  competing 
lines  of  roads,  and  of  roads  without  competition  from  other 
roads  or  lines  of  water  transportation,  to  exact  extortionate 
rates  of  tariff  for  the  transportation  of  freight,  and  to  operate 
the  corporations  in  the  interests  of  jobbers,  speculators  and 
monopolies,  without  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  is 
dangerous  to  the  commerce  and  industries  of  the  country,  and 
should  be  restrained  and  suppressed  by  the  exercise  of  all  pow- 
ers over  the  subject  delegated  to  Congress  or  retained  to  the 
state.  "^''^  In  support  of  this  plank  in  the  platform.  Governor 
Austin  said  in  the  convention:  ''I  believe  the  masses  of  our 
state  are  beginning  to  suffer  from  the  extortions  and  burdens 

341.  Ibid.,  p.  14. 

342.  Ibid.,  1870,   Governor's   Message,   pp.   38-39. 

343.  See  Wabasha  Weekly  Herald,  Sept.  15,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  3:  "Now 
why  don't  this  Order  come  up  to  its  pretentions?  *  *  *  It 
is  time  the  Patrons  showed  themselves  equal  to  their  under- 
taking." 

344.  Minneapolis  Daily  Tribune,  July  7,  1870,   p.   1,  c.  4. 


88  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

imposed  by  merciless,  greedy  monopolies  and  soulless  corpora- 
tions, to  an  extent  hardly  equalled  from  all  the  taxes  imposed 
by  the  combined  general  and  state  governments.  To  relieve 
them  from  these  burdens  will  test  the  powers  and  resources  of 
politicians  and  statesmen  more  severely  than  the  old  well-worn 
issues  of  the  past.  The  wrongs  aimed  at  in  the  resolution  have 
rapidly  grown  in  great  proportions,  and  if  necessary  in  order 
to  correct  them,  we  should  seize  them  by  the  foretop  and  shake 
them  over  hell  till  they  get  a  smell  of  their  manifest  des- 
tiny. "^*^ 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  this  was  primarily 
an  anti-railroad  convention.  The  delegates  were  fully  as  in- 
terested in  the  tariff,  and  it  must  be  considered  a  notable 
achievement  that  the  discordant  elements  managed  to  agree  on 
resolutions  heartily  endorsing  President  Grant  and  Congress, 
and  at  the  same  time  urging  the  reduction  of  the  tariff  to  a 
revenue  standard."^^**  Mark  H.  Dunnell  was  nominated  for  Con- 
gress, pledged  to  corporation  control  and  tariff  for  revenue 
only.  Republican  county  and  senatorial  district  conventions 
endorsed  this  platform,  and  quite  generally  passed  resolutions 
in  favor  of  legislative  railroad  regulation.-^''' 

The  Democrats  of  the  first  congressional  district  met  in  con- 
vention at  Owatonna,  September  15.  Some  of  the  county  dele- 
gations were  decidedly  mixed.  In  Fillmore  county,  for  in- 
stance, the  delegates  had  been  chosen  in  a  ''people's  conven- 
tion," without  regard  to  former  political  affiliation. ^^^  There 
were  quite  a  number  who  had  hitherto  regularly  affiliated  with 
the  Republican  party,  who  now  refused  to  support  Mr.  Dun- 
nell, contending  that  he  was  a  monopolist  and  a  politician. 

Though  evidently  many  had  looked  for  this  to  be  distinctly 
an  anti-monopoly  convention,  resolutions  offered  against  mo- 
nopolies and  railroads  were  voted  down  and  not  included  in 


345.  St.  Peter  Tribune,  Oct.  26,   1870,  p.  2,  c.  2. 

346.  Minneapolis  Daily  Tribune,  July  7,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  4,  for  party 
platform.  See  also  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  July  7,  1870,  p.  1, 
c.  4;  July  9,  p.   1,  c.  1. 

347.  See  Wabasha  County  Republican  platform,  Wabasha  Weekly 
Herald,  Oct.  6,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  4;  20th  senatorial  district  Republi- 
can platform,  The  Wells  Atlas  (Faribault  Co.),  Oct.  14,  1870, 
p.  1,  c.  3. 

348.  Federal  Union  (Rochester),  Sept.  17,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  3. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  89 

the  platform.'"*^  This  may  have  been  done  to  gain  votes  for 
their  congressional  candidate,  Mr.  Buck,  in  frontier  counties 
where  the  people  were  still  clamoring  for  railroads  and  favor- 
able railroad  legislation. 

The  Olmsted  county  Democratic  convention,  which  met  at 
Rochester,  September  10,  had  shown  itself  more  militant.  A 
call  had  been  issued  to  ''all  men,  irrespective  of  past  party 
associations,  who  are  in  favor  of  taking  the  robbers  by  the 
throat. ' '  ^-'^  While  nominally  a  Democratic  convention,  it  was 
in  reality  a  joint  convention  of  Democrats,  anti-monopolists, 
and  "  anti-tariffites. "  It  was  here  resolved  that  the  state  leg- 
islature had  the  power  and  ought  to  fix  the  maximum  rate  of 
charges  on  all  .transportation  lines  in  the  state,  and  to  regulate 
and  control  the  consolidation  of  transportation  companies. 
They  agreed  not  to  support  any  man  for  office  who  would  not 
pledge  himself  to  work  faithfully  for  these  principles  and  to 
bring  about  at  once  ''such  legislation  as  will  protect  farmers, 
merchants,  tradesmen,  and  all  other  citizens  of  the  state,  from 
a  repetition  of  intolerable  and  heartless  swindles  like  those 
that  have  been  and  are  now  being  perpetrated  upon  them  by 
the  management  of  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad. ' '  ^" 
All  the  candidates  nominated  in  this  convention,  excepting  one, 
were  farmers,  men  who  had  "consistently  opposed  monopolies 
and  protective  tariffs  for  years. ' '  "'^- 

On  September  12  a  call  was  issued  for  an  indignation  meet- 
ing against  the  abuses  of  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad 
company,  and  for  considering  the  "propriety  of  contesting  the 
legality  of  the  present  rates  of  tariffs  in  freights  or  securing 
some  other  relief  from  the  oppression. " '^^^  The  meeting  was 
to  be  held  at  Rochester,  September  16.  This  call  was  signed 
by  thirty-seven  men,  of  whom  only  six  were  Democrats.  The 
Democrats  felt  aggrieved  at  this,  and  decided  to  capture  the 
meeting.'^^^     They  thought  it  a  device  of  the  managers  of  the 


349.  Rochester  Post,  Nov.  5,  1870,  p.  2,  c.  3;  for  platform  see  also 
Federal  Union,  Sept.  24,  1870,  p.  4,  c.  3;  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer, 
Sept.  16,  p.  4,  c,  2;  and  Sept.  17,  p.   1,  c.  2, 

350.  Federal  Union   (Rochester),  Sept.  17,   1870,  p.  4,  c.  3-7. 

351.  Ibid.,    Sept.    17,    1870,    p.    1,   c.    4. 

352.  Ibid. 

353.  Ibid.,  Sept.   24,   1870,  p.   4,  c.   4. 

354.  Ibid.,  Sept.  24,   1870,   p.   1,  c.   3. 


90  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Republican  party  for  making  political  capital  out  of  the  anti- 
railroad  sentiment  of  the  community.''"^  When  the  Republi- 
cans found  the  Democrats  ready  to  join  them  they  held  back. 
A  Democrat  was  elected  chairman  and  another  secretary.  The 
committee  of  five  on  resolutions  was  mainly  Democratic.  The 
resolutions  offered  and  accepted  at  the  meeting  had  been  pre- 
pared beforehand  by  Mr.  Jones,  a  Democratic  candidate  for 
state  representative.  These  resolutions  denounced  the  wheat 
rings  and  the  excessive  transportation  charges,  and  demanded 
redress  by  the  railroad  company  and  the  enactment  of  state 
laws  to  afford  the  people  ample  protection  in  the  future. •'^'*^ 

Little  or  nothing  came  of  this  indignation  meeting.  One 
member  of  the  committee  appointed  to  report  to  the  railroad 
company  believed  that  the  company  had  been  punished  enough 
already,  and  feared  that  the  stirring  up  of  popular  feeling 
would  lead  to  the  destruction  of  property  if  not  of  life.^^^ 

A  dispute  arose  as  to  which  party  was  entitled  to  credit 
for  leadership  in  the  anti-railroad  crusade.  The  Democrats 
blamed  the  Republican  party  for  the  existence  of  the  vexing 
problem,  it  having  been  in  power  continuously  for  ten  years. 
The  Republicans  in  turn  pointed  to  the  first  congressional  dis- 
trict platforms,  in  which  they  were  openly  pledged  to  railroad 
control,  while  the  Democrats  were  not.^"^^  They  could  also 
refer  back  to  territorial  days,  when  Democratic  legislatures 
had  granted  the  charters  on  which  the  railroad  companies 
based  their  rights  to  manage  their  business  in  their  own  way 
without  state  interference. 

In  the  first  congressional  district  the  anti-railroad  senti- 
ment ran  high,  but  in  the  second  it  was  not  so  marked.  There 
the  tariff  question  was  of  greater  interest.  For  a  long  time 
it  seemed  as  though  the  Republicans  would  be  hopelessly  di- 
vided, but  when  they  finally  met  in  convention  in  St.  Paul, 
September  1,  they  agreed  on  a  platform  in  which  they,  like  the 
first  district  Republicans,  endorsed  President  Grant  and  Con- 


355.  Rochester  Post,  Sept.  24,  1870,  p.  3,  c.  4. 

356.  Federal  Union,  Sept.   24,   1870,  p.  4,  c.  4. 

357.  Ibid.,  Dec.  10,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  3. 
See  Address  of  the  Rep.  Congressional  Committee  to  the  voters 
of  the  First  District,  St.  Charles  Herald,   Oct.   21,  1870,   p.   2,   c. 
1-3. 


358 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  91 

gress,  and  pledged  themselves  to  the  "sound  and  incontro- 
vertible doctrine  of  tariff  for  revenue  only. ' '  ^°^  The  platform 
does  not  mention  the 'railroads  at  all,  save  to  commend  the 
Northern  Pacific  and  to  recommend  liberal  national  aid  in  its 
favor.     General  John  T.  Averill  was  nominated  for  Congress. 

Many  Republicans  of  the  second  district  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  results  of  the  convention,  being  pleased  with  neither 
candidate  nor»  platform.  Consequently  a  number  of  them, 
twenty-five  hundred  according  to  the  St.  Paul  Pioneer,  joined 
in  signing  a  petition  requesting  Ignatius  Donnelly  to  run  as  an 
independent  candidate  on  a  low  tariff,  labor  and  economy  plat- 
£qj,^  3C0  rpjjg  Democratic  district  convention,  which  met  in 
St.  Paul,  September  15,  endorsed  his  candidacy  and  platform.^^^ 
No  definite  stand  was  taken  on  the  railroad  question. 

In  the  November  election  the  Republicans  elected  both  con- 
gressmen, though  by  a  reduced  majority,  and  made  gains  in 
the  lower  house  of  the  state  legislature.  They  elected  thirty- 
three  representatives,  the  Democrats  twelve,  and  two  were 
elected  on  independent  tickets.  The  preceding  House  had  con- 
tained twenty-eight  Republicans  and  nineteen  Democrats.  The 
1871  Senate,  however,  would  contain  twelve  Republicans,  eight 
Democrats,  and  two  Independents,  as  against  fourteen  Republi- 
cans and  eight  Democrats  in  1870.'^®^ 

The  Federal  Union  of  Rochester  announced  the  results  of 
the  election  under  the  following  headlines:  ''The  People  Vic- 
torious! Monopolists  Sentenced!  Our  Railroads  must  be 
managed  in  the  interests  of  the  Whole  People,  instead  of  being 
run  to  enrich  Wheat  Rings  and  other  Speculators.  The  People 
have  spoken!  Their  will  must  be  obeyed!  Death  to  all  who 
dare  betray  them."^^^  In  that  part  of  the  state  two  anti- 
monopoly  parties  had  been  in  the  field,  and  the  results  of  the 
election  in  many  cases  merely  determined  what  men  were  to 
be  permitted  to  carry  out  almost  identical  anti-monopoly 
pledges. 


359.  Minneapolis   Daily   Tribune,   Sept.   2,    1870,   p.   1,   c.   1;   platform, 
p.   2,  c.   2  and  3. 

360.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,   Sept.   14,   1870,  p.   1,  c.   2. 

361.  Ibid.,   Sept.   16,    1870,   p.   1,  c.   1,  and  P.   4,  c.   2. 

362.  Minneapolis   Daily   Tribune,   Nov.    12,    1870,   p.    1,   c.    3. 

363.  Federal  Union,  Nov.  12,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  3. 


92  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

Popular  interest  in  the  railroad  issue  did  not  subside  with 
the  election.  On  November  12  the  Federal  Union  issued  a  call 
for  a  convention:  ''To  the  people  of  the  first  congressional 
district,  to  those  who  are  being  fleeced  annually  by  the  extor- 
tions of  the  railroad  monopolists  and  rings  of  speculators,  to 
those  who  are  willing  to  do  their  duty  as  citizens  by  lending 
their  assistance  and  influence  in  honorable  and  proper  efforts 
to  procure  the  repeal  of  such  legislation  as  is  prejudicial  to  the 
public  interests,  and  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  will  protect 
the  people  against  the  extortion  of  railroad  companies  and  all 
other  monopolies,  including  wheat  rings.  ""^^  The  convention 
was  to  be  held  in  Rochester,  December  1.  The  people  of  the 
second  congressional  district  were  urged  to  hold  a  similar  con- 
vention, and  to  co-operate  in  bringing  to  bear  upon  the  state 
legislators  ''a  force  they  cannot  resist,  and  which  will 
strengthen  them  in  their  efforts  to  carry  out  the  objects  we 
have  in  view. ""''^  Editors  "without  regard  to  partisan  pro- 
clivities" were  called  upon  to  help  advance  the  movement. 
State  senator-elect  Hodge  (Dem.)  issued  a  fiery  appeal  to  the 
people  of  Olmsted  county:  "*  *  *  and  now,  without  dis- 
tinction of  party,  let  us  organize  our  forces  for  the  contest.  A 
call  has  been  made  to  meet  in  convention  *  *  »  f^j.  ^^le 
purpose  of  taking  counsel  together  and  of  devising  ways  and 
means  whereby  we  may  effectually,  thoroughly  and  forever 
emancipate  ourselves  from  a  system  of  railway  extortions  that 
have  become  too  galling  and  oppressive  for  a  free  people  to 
endure. ' '  ^^^ 

At  this  convention  the  committee  on  resolutions  presented 
the  following  grievances: 

1.  Railroad  charges  were  exorbitant,  and  places  were  dis- 
criminated against.  They  showed  that  the  Winona  and  St. 
Peter  railroad  company  made  the  following  charges  for  the 
transportation  of  wheat: 

From  Eyota  to  Winona,  38  miles. 15c.  per  bushel. 

From  Rochester  to  Winona,  45  miles ....15c.  per  bushel. 

From  Kasson  to  Winona,  58  miles 17c.  per  bushel. 

From  Owatonna  to  Winona,  92  miles 10c.  per  bushel 

From  Mankato  to  Winona,  150  miles 13c.  per  bushel. 

364.  Ibid.,  p.  1,  c.  7. 

365.  Ibid.,  p.  1,  c.  7. 

366.  Ibid.,  Nov.  19,  1870,  p.  4,  c.  5;  Letter  dated  Nov.  15,  1870. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  93 

They  contended  that  if  the  rates  from  the  two  latter  places 
to  Winona  were  reasonable,  the  other  rates  must  be  exorbitant. 
They  believed  that  the  transportation  charges  should  be  re- 
duced from  twenty  to  fifty  per  cent  or  more. 

2.  The  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  company  discrim- 
inated in  favor  of  certain  associations  or  ^' rings,"  to  the  ruin 
of  local  business  men.  , 

3,  The  railroad  company  had  assumed  authority  to  grade 
the  grain  and  had  permitted  its  employees  to  favor  its  ''ring" 
patrons. 

The  convention  passed  resolutions  calling  for  reasonable 
rates  with  no  discrimination,  and  for  a  satisfactory  elevator 
system  not  owned  or  controlled  by  the  railroads.  A  committee 
of  seven  was  constituted  a  permanent  executive  committee.  A 
memorial  to  the  state  legislature  was  drawn  up,  urging  the 
enactment  of  laws  (1)  compelling  the  railroads  of  the  state  to 
carry  freight  and  passengers  at  fair,  equitable,  and  reasonable 
rates;  (2)  to  make  unfair  or  partial  discriminations  by  means 
of  lower  rates,  drawbacks  or  rebates,  criminal  offences;  (3)  to 
forbid  the  railroad  companies  to  own  or  operate  elevators  or 
to  purchase  grain  for  speculation."^^ 

The  farmers  had  at  first  been  anxious  to  get  elevators  and 
warehouses  on  almost  any  terms.  With  a  fluctuating  market 
the  storing  of  grain  might  not  always  prove  profitable,  and 
besides  it  was  perhaps  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  farm- 
ers would  build  granaries  and  store  their  own  grain. ''"^  In 
order  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  farmers,  the  railroad  com- 
panies frequently  made  arrangements  with  certain  persons  or 
companies,  who  furnished  facilities  for  receiving  and  storing 
grain  and  were  given  a  certain  "toll"  on  every  bushel  shipped 
at  their  station,  or  in  other  cases  rebates,  large  enough  to  cover 
market  fluctuations  and  ward  off  competition.^^'^ 

To  pay  such  tolls  or  rebates  and  still  get  a  good  price  for 
transporting  the  grain,  the  railroad  companies  were  practically 


367.  Ibid.,  Dec.  3,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  4-8;  Proceedings  of  tlie  Anti-Monop- 
oly convention. 

368.  Stickney,   The  Railway  Problem,   p.   22. 

369.  For  contracts  of  this  kind  see  Report  of  the  Senate  Committee 
to  investigate  the  elevator  monopoly  on  the  St.  Paul  and  Pac- 
ific in  1874,  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  Feb.  14,  1874.  See  also  Roches- 
ter Post.  Feb.   11,   1871. 


94  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

forced  to  make  the  regular  rates  quite  high.  These  high  trans- 
portation charges  tended  to  lower  the  prices  of  farm  products, 
and  the  farmers  soon  began  to  denounce  the  "wheat  ring"  in 
no  uncertain  terms.^^° 

The  farmer  fared  little  better  when  the  elevators  were 
owned  and  operated  by  the  railroad  companies.  The  farmer 
then  felt  himself  at  their  mercy,  both  as  to  grading  and  trans- 
portation charges,  and  independent  buyers  were  as  effectually 
barred  out  as  under  the  other  system.  The  Winona  and  St. 
Peter  railroad  company  in  the  summer  of  1870  forced  the 
farmers  at  Rochester  to*  sell  their  wheat  stored  in  the  com- 
pany's elevators  at  what  was  generally  considered  an  unfavor- 
able price.  Under  the  pretext  of  having  to  rebuild  and  repair 
the  elevators  in  Rochester,  the  company  set  a  date  at  which 
the  grain  must  be  sold,  or  twelve  cents  a  bushel  per  month 
storage,  without  responsibility  for  safekeeping,  would  be 
charged.^^^ 

The  railroad  companies  also  frequently  gave  a  monopoly  of 
the  wood  and  coal  supply  in  towns  and  cities  to  certain  favored 
individuals  or  corporations.  While  this  originally  may  have 
been  intended  to  simplify  a  crude  industry  and  to  give  better 
service  to  the  consumer,  the  system  soon  proved  oppressive 
and  aroused  the  antagonism  of  many  town  people,  enlisting 
their  sympathies  with  the  farmer.  At  times  those  who  enjoyed 
these  monopoly  rights  in  hauling  grain  and  fuel — in  common 
parlance,  the  ''rings" — became  so  powerful  that  instead  of 
continuing  to  receive  rebates  as  a  favor,  they  practically  con- 
trolled the  railroads  and  fixed  their  own  rates  by  playing  off 
one  railroad  against  another. "^ 

The  executive  committee  provided  for  in  the  Rochester  con- 
vention, December  1,  issued  a  call  for  a  state  convention  to  be 
held  in  St.  Paul  the  first  week  of  the  following  January.  This 
convention  did  not  prove  a  success.  Farmers  in  different  parts 
of  the  state  had  called  meetings  to  elect  delegates,^^^  but  there 
seemed  to  be  a  general  suspicion,  based  on  certain  develop- 

370.  Stickney,  The  Railway  Problem,  p.  22. 

371.  Federal  Union,  Sept.  24,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  3. 

372.  Stickney,  The  Railway  Problem,   p.   23. 

373.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Dec.  27,  1870,  p.   1,  c.  1,  quoting-  Man- 
kato  Union. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  95 

merits  at  the  Rochester  convention,  that  certain  played-out 
politicians  were  trying  to  mount  the  reform  wave  and  get  back 
into  political  power.^^*  The  regular  Republicans  opposed  the 
convention  strongly,  and  the  Republican  press  gave  it  little  or 
no  support.  Both  Republicans  and  Democrats  regarded  it  as 
a  scheme  for  organizing  a  new  independent  Anti-Monopoly 
party.^^^ 

The  first  session  was  adjourned  to  the  following  evening 
without  any  action  or  speeches,  because  of  the  small  number 
present."'^®  At  the  regular  session  Mr.  Donnelly  made  the  prin- 
cipal address.  He  complimented  Governor  Austin  on  the  fear- 
less way  in  which  he  handled  the  railroads,  but  expressed  lack 
of  confidence  in  the  legislature  which  had  just  convened.  He 
did  not  believe  that  it  would  do  anything  to  ''relieve  the  peo- 
ple of  the  master  monopoly  that  was  closing  its  monster  meshes 
around  them."  ^^^ 

The  convention  adopted  a  series  of  anti-railroad  resolutions, 
and  authorized  its  president  to  appoint  a  committee  of  seven 
to  call  future  conventions  and  to  urge  further  organization 
throughout  the  state. ''^^  This  plan,  which  would  inevitably 
have  led  to  the  organization  of  a  new  political  party  within 
the  state,  met  with  no  popular  favor  and  was  for  the  time  being 
abandoned. 


CHAPTER  X. 

RESTRICTIVE  RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  1871. 

When  the  legislature  met  in  January,  1871,  the  people  of 
the  state  began  to  look  with  keen  interest  for  the  fulfillment 
of  campaign  pledges.  "We  wonder,"  said  the  St.  Paul  Dis- 
patch, ''whether  the  blandishment  of  railroads,  operating  in 
the  shape  of  passes,  upon  the  members  of  the  present  legis- 
lature, will  lead  them  to  forget  their  first  love,  and  the  prom- 
ises made  the  people  during  the  late  campaign.    We  shall  look 


374.  Ibid.,  Jan.  5,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  1. 

375.  Federal  Union,  Jan.  7,   1871,  p.  1,  c.  4;  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch, 
Jan.  5,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  1;  Jan.  6,  p.  1,  c.  1. 

376.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatcli,  Jan.  5,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  1. 

377.  Ibid.,   Jan.  6,  1871,  p.  4,  c.  1  and  2. 

378.  Ibid.,  p.  4,  c.  2. 


96  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

with  anxiety  for  a  notice  of  the  fact  that  the  honorable  mem- 
ber from has  introduced  a  bill  regulating  the  rate  of 

charges  by  railroad  companies  for  passage  and  transporta- 
tion. ""^ 

Governor  Austin  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  again 
took  up  the  railroad  question  and  discussed  it  at  length. "'^^ 
Since  his  inaugural  address  his  ideas  concerning  railroad  regu- 
lation had  become  more  definite.  After  further  investigation 
he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  system  of  freight  tariffs 
and  elevator  charges  practised  by  some  of  the  railroads  was 
unjustifiable,  extortionate  and  oppressive  to  the  last  degree. 
They  destroyed  wholesome  competition  (1)  by  their  discrim- 
ination in  favor  of  particular  markets  and  lines  of  transpor- 
tation, against  private  warehouses  and  buyers  and  shippers 
not  in  the  "ring;"  (2)  by  drawbacks  and  rebates,  which  en- 
abled the  favored  speculator  to  manipulate  to  market  to  the 
injury  of  both  consumer  and  producer;  (3)  by  the  establish- 
ment of  arbitrary  grades  of  grain  and  classes  of  freight."'*^ 

To  remedy  these  evils  the  governor  recommended  that  the 
following  measures  be  adopted  by  constitutional  enactment 
and  appropriate  legislation:"^^ 

1.  All  existing  special  railroad  charters  not  in  operation 
within  a  specified  time  were  to  be  declared  void."^^ 

2.  Every  railroad  company  doing  business  within  the  state 
to  maintain  an  office  in  the  state,  where  certain  records  were 
to  be  kept  for  public  inspection.^^* 

3.  No  parallel  or  competing  lines  of  railroad  to  be  per- 
mitted to  consolidate. "^^^ 

4.  All  railroads  to  be  declared  public  highways  free  to  all 
for  transportation  under  regulations  prescribed  by  law,  includ- 
ing maximum  reasonable  charges.-^^" 

5.  No  stocks  or  bonds  to  be  issued  except  for  money,  labor. 


379. 

St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.  9,   1871. 

380. 

Minn.   Exec.   Docs.,   1870,   Governor's   Message,   pp.   38-55. 

381. 

Ibid.,  p.  39. 

382. 

Ibid.,   pp.  53-55. 

383. 

Cf.    Const,    of   111.    (adopted    in    convention   May    13,    1870), 
XI,  sec.  2. 

Art. 

384. 

Ibid.,  sec.   9. 

385. 

Ibid.,  sec.   11. 

386. 

Ibid.,  sec.   12. 

I 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


97 


or  property  actually  received  and  applied  to  the  purpose  for 
which  the  corporation  was  created;  all  fictitious  increase  of 
capital  stock  or  indebtedness  void.^^^ 

6.  The  state's  right  of  eminent  domain  to  apply  to  rail- 
road property  and  franchises  in  the  same  way  as  to  other  prop- 
erty.^^^ 

7.  Laws  for  the  correction  of  abuses  and  the  prevention 
of  unjust  discrimination  and  extortion  to  be  enforced  by  ade- 
quate penalties,  involving,  if  necessary,  forfeiture  of  property 
and  franchises.^^^  Public  warehouses  were  also  to  be  defined 
and  similar  provisions  applied  to  them.^^" 

These  seven  propositions  were  taken  almost  verbatim  from 
the  constitution  of  Illinois  adopted  May  13,  1870. 

Among  the  legislators  many  were  "breathing  dire  threat- 
enings"  against  the  railroads.  One  of  the  leading  newspapers 
of  the  time  says:  ''Almost  every  other  member  has  a  bill  or 
resolution  or  scheme  to  launch  upon  the  subject,  and  it  prom- 
ises to  be  one  of  the  leading  topics  this  winter."  ^^^  The  Roch- 
ester Board  of  Trade  presented  to  the  legislature  a  memorial 
relating  to  alleged  extortionate  freight  charges  of  the  Winona 
and  St.  Peter  railroad  company.^°^  Two  thousand  citizens  of 
Olmsted,  Winona  and  Fillmore  counties  petitioned  for  the  en- 
actment of  a  law  compelling  the  railroad  companies  of  the 
state  to  carry  freight  and  passengers  at  equitable  and  reason- 
able rates.^^^ 

The  anti-monopoly  element  was  strong  within  the  legisla- 
ture, and  strong  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  from  the  out- 
side. But  it  is  quite  apparent  that  the  railroad  interests  were 
not  without  representation  and  influence.  A  bill  which  pro- 
vided for  the  apportionment  of  the  internal  improvement  lands 
of  the  state  among  the  different  railroad  companies  was  skil- 
fully engineered  through  both  houses  of  the  legislature,  meet- 
ing practically  no  opposition.     This  "Land  Grab"  bill  failed 


387. 
388. 
389. 


392. 
393. 

7 


Ibid.,  sec.  13. 

Ibid.,  sec.  14. 

Ibid.,  sec.   15. 

Ibid.,  Art.   XIII; 


Warehouses. 


391.     St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.   18,   18  71,  P.   2,  c.   1. 


House  Journal,  1871,  p.  52. 
Ibid.,  p.  52. 


98  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

to  become  a  law  only  because  of  the  governor's  veto  and  his 
unsparing  exposure  of  its  questionable  character.^®* 

Early  in  the  session  the  Hastings  and  Dakota  railroad  com- 
pany applied  for  an  extension  of  time  for  the  completion  of  its 
road  and  soon  found  itself  in  hot  water.^^^  It  was  charged 
that  the  large  stockholders  had  gobbled  up  the  smaller  ones 
and  issued  to  themselves  preferred  stock  which  rendered  ut- 
terly worthless  the  common  stock  held  hy  the  original  Hast- 
ings stockholders.^^"  The  city  of  Hastings  had  given  a  liberal 
bonus  to  the  railroad  company,  but  found  itself  discriminated 
against.  Shakopee  also  was  in  arms.  The  legislature  had  re- 
quired the  company  to  run  its  line  of  road  through  Shakopee ; 
but  as  there  was  a  township  as  well  as  a  city  named  Shakopee, 
the  railroad  company  insisted  that  it  could  satisfy  the  legal 
requirements  by  passing  through  Shakopee  township.  Senator 
MacDonald,  however,  managed  to  introduce  and  rush  through 
both  houses  of  the  legislature  a  bill  changing  the  name  of 
Shakopee  township  to  Jackson.^^^  It  was  believed  that  this 
measure  would  compel  the  company  to  pass  its  line  through 
the  city  of  Shakopee. 

The  railroad  company  found  it  expedient  to  make  conces- 
sions. Arrangements  were  made  whereby  its  old  stock  was 
placed  upon  an  equality  with  the  new  preferred  stock.  Prac- 
tically all  opposition  now  vanished,  and  a  bill  was  passed  grant- 
ing the  desired  time  extension.^^^ 

In  the  later  sixties  a  number  of  railroad  enactments  had 
reserved  to  the  legislature  the  ''right  to  regulate  the  price  of 
freight  and  fare."  When  a  similar  provision  was  inserted  in 
a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Minnesota  Western  charter,  it 
was  violently  attacked  by  some  of  the  anti-monopolists.  Mr. 
Jones  of  Olmsted  county  strongly  insisted  that  this  right  ex- 
isted independently  of  such  express  provision,  and  contended 
that  if  inserted  it  would  virtually  concede  that  the  right  de- 
pended on  its  insertion  and  would  thus  place  the  friends  of 


394.  See  foregoing  Chapter  IV,  p.  42. 

395.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.  24,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  2. 

396.  Ibid.,  Jan.  20,  1871,  p.  4,  c.  1. 

397.  Ibid.,  Jan.  24,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  2;  Special  Laws,  1871,  ch.  91,  p.  395. 

398.  Special  Laws,  ch.  63, 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  \3\) 

legislative  control  in  a  false  light.^®®  The  provision  was  finally 
omitted.*'^®  Formerly  it  had  been  regarded  as  a  safeguard  of 
the  rights  of  the  people,  but  in  this  session  it  was  characterized 
as  stale,  flat  and  unprofitable,  ancient  and  worn  out. 

But,  strangely  enough,  the  legislature  made  use  of  another 
provision  to  secure  reasonable  rates  and  service  without  dis- 
crimination. A  number  of  enactments  gave  certain  railroad 
companies  special  privileges  or  grants  on  the  express  condition 
that  proper  connections  should  be  made  at  points  of  intersec- 
tion with  other  railroads,  and  that  freight  should  be  received 
at  such  junctions  and  transported  at  rates  not  exceeding  the 
lowest  rates  charged  on  any  portion  of  their  lines  for  corre- 
sponding distances,  and  not  to  exceed  the  lowest  average  rate 
of  the  railroads  of  the  state  for  similar  distances;  cars  of  con- 
necting railroads  were  to  be  transported  at  rates  allowed  by 
common  usage  for  exchange  of  car  service  from  time  to  time; 
no  discrimination  was  to  be  made  in  favor  of  or  against  any 
locality,  person,  or  connecting  railroad.^°^  One  would  have 
expected  this  legislature  to  pass  a  general  law  to  this  effect, 
rather  than  to  revert  to  the  old  practioe  of  attempted  general 
legislation  by  uniform  special  enactments. 

Formerly  territorial  charters  had  at  times  been  revived  and 
continued  in  an  amended  form,  thus  evading  the  general  in- 
corporation law.  The  legislature  of  1871  passed  a  similar  act, 
but  it  was  promptly  vetoed  bj^  the  governor,  who  refused  to 
sanction  the  revival  of  an  old  territorial  charter  *°^  under  which 
the  incorporators  could  claim  exemption  from  effective  state 
control.''*'^ 

Governor  Austin  was  fearless  in  his  use  of  the  veto  power, 
and  proved  himself  faithful  to  his  campaign  pledges.  Though 
the  legislature  might  Avaver  and  pass  laws  under  questionable 
influence,  the  people  found  that  they  could  depend  on  their 
governor  to  do  what  he  believed  to  be  right. 


399.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Feb.  1,  1871,  p.  4,  c.  5;  practically  so 
held  later  (1876)  in  Winona  and  St.  Peter  Railroad  Company 
vs.  Blake,   94  U.  S.,   180. 

400.  See  Special  Laws,  1871,  ch.  71,  p.  278. 

401.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,  1871,  ch.  63,  sec.  3;  ch.  64,  sec.  3;  ch. 
66,  sec.  5;  ch.  67,  sec.  2;  ch.  70,  sec.  2;  ch.  71,  sec.  2. 

402.  That  of  No.  9,  Special  Laws,  1856,  ch.  159. 

408.     St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  March  7,  1871,  p.   4,  c.   6. 


100  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

It  was  not  until  the  legislature  had  been  in  session  for  some 
time  that  the  Senate  proposed  a  joint  committee  to  investigate 
the  alleged  railroad  abuses.  By  joint  resolution  this  commit- 
tee, to  be  composed  of  three  members  from  the  Senate  and  five 
from  the  House,  was  to  investigate  and  report  to  the  legis- 
lature then  in  session  on  the  following  points : 

1.  The  amount  and  probable  value  of  lands  held  by  the 
railroads  for  other  than  railroad  purposes. 

2.  The  amount  and  probable  value  of  all  other  real  prop- 
erty so  held. 

3.  The  amount  and  probable  value  of  all  personal  prop- 
erty so  held. 

4.  The  annual  gross  earnings  and  necessary  operating 
expenses. 

5.  The  rates  charged  for  freight,  passenger,  and  elevator 
service. 

6.  The  number  of  acres  sold  or  contracted  to  be  sold,  and 
the  average  price  per  acre. 

7.  The  cost  per  mile  of  construction  and  maintenance  of 
railroads. 

8.  AVhether  there  is  any  discrimination  against  individuals 
or  localities. 

9.  All  other  facts  the  committee  may  deem  proper  and 
necessary  information  for  the  legislature. 

In  making  its  investigations  the  committee  was  given  full 
power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers.^°^ 

It  was  impossible  for  them  to  investigate  and  report  on 
the  whole  field  assigned  them  in  so  short  a  time ;  and  so,  con- 
trary to  the  expectation  of  those  who  did  not  wisli  for  any 
particular  results,  they  devoted  most  of  their  time  to  hearing 
the  testimony  of  those  who  claimed  to  have  suffered  wrongs, 
and  instituted  an  investigation  for  their  benefit.  Six  railroad 
companies  were  investigated.*"^ 

The  testimony  taken  in  regard  to  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter 
railroad  company  went  to  show  that  there  were  discriminations 
in  favor  of  individuals  and  of  certain  points  along  the  line,  and 

404.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  Feb.  16,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  1;  Committee  Report, 

405.  Namely,  St.  Paul  and  Pacific,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul,  Lake 
Superior  and  Mississippi,  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City,  Winona  and 
St.  Peter,  and  Southern  Minnesota  railroad  companies. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  101 

that  the  management  of  its  railroads  was  exasperating  to  the 
farmers  and  ruinous  to  independent  wheat  dealers.  The 
"rings"  were  given  special  rebates.  One  member  of  such  a 
''ring"  testified  that  he  was  charged  a  net  twelve  cents  per 
bushel  when  the  regular  rate  was  fifteen  cents,  but  he  tried  to 
justify  the  system  by  claiming  that  he  gave  the  farmers  the 
benefit  of  the  rebate.  A  miller  and  buyer  likewise  testified 
that  the  policy  was  injurious  to  the  other  buyers  but  was  a 
benefit  to  the  producers.  The  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad 
company  owned  most  of  the  elevators  along  its  lines. 

Several  witnesses  were  examined  with  reference  to  the  St. 
Paul  and  Sioux  City  railroad  company,  but  nothing  was  elicited 
to  sustain  any  charges  of  discrimination  in  rates  or  of  unfair 
management  of  its  elevators.  The  company  owned  and  con- 
trolled the  elevators  along  its  line  and  made  no  elevator 
charges. 

On  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  the  elevators  were  owned  by 
individuals  or  corporations  with  whom  the  railroad  company 
had  special  contracts,  giving  them  exclusive  rights  and  allow- 
ing them  from  two  to  three  cents  a  bushel  for  handling  the 
grain.  This  railroad  company  also  carried  wood  much  cheaper 
for  parties  with  whom  they  had  special  contracts,  which  vir- 
tually prevented  others  from  shipping  wood  over  their  lines. 
There  were  also  complaints  against  the  freight  charges  of  this 
railroad  company.  One  man  testified  that  he  found  it  cheaper 
to  haul  his  flour  from  Minnetonka  City  to  Minneapolis  in  win- 
ter than  to  ship  it  by  rail.  A  merchant  in  Anoka  testified  that 
he  hauled  his  goods  from  Minneapolis  by  team  when  pur- 
chased in  considerable   quantities. 

The  committee  agreed  with  Governor  Austin  in  regarding 
competition  an  insufficient  remedy  for  railroad  abuses.  In  the 
first  place  only  points  of  intersection  and  places  near  by  would 
be  benefited,  and  secondly  the  ''tendency  toward  consolidation 
and  confederation  is  almost  sure  to  bring  lines  built  as  com- 
peting under  one  management  or  an  agreed  uniform  scale  of 
rates,  that  extinguishes  all  competition  and  in  the  long  run 
compels  the  people  to  expend  in  overcharges  all  and  more  than 
has  been  saved  from  cheap  rates  in  times  of  the  most  active 
rivalry. ' ' 


102  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  committee  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  was 
no  longer  in  any  one  state  an  independent  railroad  system. 
Minnesota  farmers  were  vitally  affected  by  the  combination 
of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  railroads  that  had  previously 
been  competitors.*"^  ''It  is  clear,"  says  the  committee  in  its 
report,  "that  state  lines  have  been  obliterated  by  this  process, 
that  in  very  many  instances  the  power  which  it  is  desired  to 
control  exists  and  operates  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
state."  The  committee  had  realized  this  quite  forcibly  when 
they  came  to  investigate  the  Minnesota  Central,  for  they  found 
that  it  had  passed  under  the  control  of  a  Wisconsin  corpora- 
tion, and  its  officers  were  therefore  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
state  and  not  subject  to  their  subpoena. 

The  committee  had  found  a  disposition  among  many  to 
believe  that  the  railroad  problem  could  only  be  solved  by  the 
federal  government  in  the  exercise  of  its  constitutional  power 
to  regulate  commerce  among  tlie  different  states.*"^  This  had 
been  proposed  repeatedly  in  the  preceding  campaign,  espe- 
cially by  speakers  on  the  Republican  stump.*"^  The  committee, 
however,  regarded  this  as  a  source  of  relief  which  should  not 
be  sought  until  all  other  means  were  exhausted. 

As  a  partial  remedy  for  the  grievances  complained  of,  and, 
if  possible,  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  grievances,  the 
committee  recommended  that  a  railroad  commissioner  be  ap- 
pointed; and  they  reported  favorably  on  a  Senate  bill  provid- 
ing for  the  appointment  of  such  a  commissioner  and  prescrib- 
ing his  duties.  They  further  recommended  the  enactment  of 
a  law  regulating  the  freight  and  passenger  tariffs  on  all  the 
railroads  of  the  state.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  laid 
before  the  senate  February  15 ;  and  five  thousand  copies  of  the 
report,  including  all  evidence  and  statistics  gathered,  were 
ordered  printed  for  the  use  of  the  legislature.*"^ 

The  St.  Paul  Daily  Press  comments  on  this  report :     ' '  The 

406.  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  Dec.  22,  1870,  p.  1,  c.  4,  and  Dec.  29,  1870,  p. 
4,  c.  5,  ten  of  pools  formed  by  Eastern  trunk  lines,  after  which 
rates  on  Western  bound  freights  were  raised  ten  per  cent. 

407.  See  Winona  county  Republican  platform,  St.  Charles  Herald, 
Oct.   21,   1870,   p.   2,  c.   1. 

408.  For  instance,  Mr.  Stearns;  Rochester  Post,  Nov.  5,  1870,  p.  2, 
c.  3. 

409.  House  Journal,  1871,  p.  166. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  103 

report  is  rather  a  statement  of  facts,  or  rather  of  the  testi- 
mony elicited  by  the  investigation,  than  of  conclusions  founded 
upon  evidence,  which  in  fact  formed  no  part  of  the  duties  of 
the  committee. "  ^^^  The  Minneapolis  Tribune  did  not  consider 
the  report  worth  the  paper  on  which  it  was  written,  because 
too  little  time  had  been  given  for  a  thorough  investigation,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  legislature  would  not  stultify  itself 
by  attempting  to  pass  such  a  bill  during  the  short  remnant  of 
that  session,  because  both  time  and  material  were  wanting  and 
any  hasty  legislation  on  such  an  important  and  intricate  mat- 
ter would  be  sure  to  be  many  times  worse  than  nothing.*^ ^ 

Many  who  sincerely  favored  a  thorough-going  reform  real- 
ized the  need  of  more  time  in  which  to  grapple  with  the  com- 
plicated problem.  A  number  were  in  favor  of  appointing  a 
temporary  board  of  railroad  commissioners  to  continue  inves- 
tigations and  report  their  conclusions  to  the  next  legislature. 
Others,  however,  were  anxious  for  immediate  action.  Their 
constituents  were  clamoring  for  legislation.  To  them  this  pro- 
crastination was  a  clear  indication  that  their  representatives 
were  being  won  over  by  the  ''monopolists."  Said  the  Owa- 
tonna  Journal:  ''Do  those  legislators  who  left  the  people  brim 
full  of  virtuous  indignation  at  these  things,  who  went  breath- 
ing out  'threatenings  and  slaughter'  against  the  perpetrators 
of  the  wrongs  they  suffer,  whose  indignation  has  been  turned 
to  reconciliation  and  whose  threatenings  have  been  changed 
to  gentle  cooing  of  sucking  doves,  hope  to  come  back  to  their 
constituents  with  honeyed  words  and  ingeniously  constructed 
lies,  to  palliate  this  offense  of  confidence  violated,  sacred  trust 
betrayed  and  hope  deferred,  while  aiding  the  riveting  still 
tighter  the  chains  and  adding  to  the  power  by  which  they  are 
held  in  bondage  to  these  corporations  which  are  sapping  the 
life-blood  of  the  people  to  enrich  themselves?" '^^^ 

The  legislature  finally  passed  an  act  creating  the  office  of 
railroad  commissioner.*^^  This  commissioner  was  authorized  to 
investigate  railroads  and  their  operations,  their  pecuniary  con- 
dition and  financial  management,  and  to  report  annually  to 

410.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  Feb.  16,  1871,  p.  1,  c.  3. 

411.  Minneapolis  Daily  Tribune,  Feb.  17,  1871,  p.  1,  e.  2. 

412.  Owatonna  Journal,  Feb.  9,  1871,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

413.  General  Laws,  1871,  ch.  22;  approved  Mch.  4,   1871. 


104  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  legislature.  That  the  commissioner  might  be  enabled  to 
perform  these  duties,  it  was  made  a  felony  for  officers  of  rail- 
road companies  to  neglect  sending  in  annual  reports  in  such 
form  and  at  such  a  time  as  the  commissioner  might  prescribe. 
It  was  likewise  made  a  felony  for  any  one  to  wilfully  obstruct, 
hinder  and  impede  the  commissioner  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties.  He  was  empowered  to  issue  subpoenas,  administer 
oaths  and  compel  obedience  in  the  same  manner  as  would  a 
court  of  law.  All  the  books,  papers  and  documents  of  railroad 
companies  were  to  be  open  to  his  inspection. 

This  act  can  hardly  be  called  a  Granger  law.  The  railroad 
commission  or  commissioner  idea  did  not  originate  in  the  so- 
called  Granger  states.  It  had  been  adopted  in  a  number  of 
states  for  different  purposes. 

The  general  assembly  in  Rhode  Island  in  1839  passed  an  act 
to  establish  railroad  commissioners."^'*  According  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act,  the  general  assembly  was  to  appoint  a  board 
of  railroad  commissioners  consisting  of  not  less  than  three 
members.  It  Avas  the  duty  of  this  board  upon  complaint  or 
otherwise  to  examine  into  the  transactions  and  proceedings  of 
any  railroad  corporation  in  order  to  secure  to  all  citizens  of  the 
state  the  full  and  equal  privileges  of  the  transportation  of  per- 
sons and  property  at  all  times,  that  might  be  granted  directly 
or  indirectly  by  any  such  corporation  to  the  citizens  of  other 
states,  and  "ratiably  in  proportion  to  the  distance  any  such 
persons  or  property  may  be  transported  on  any  railroad  as 
aforesaid."  The  board  was  given  full  power  to  send  for  per- 
sons and  papers  and  to  examine  under  oath.  It  was  required 
to  report  as  often  as  twice  a  year  to  the  general  assembly  on 
such  matters  as  public  interest  might  require. 

In  1844  New  Hampshire  passed  "An  act  to  render  railroad 
corporations  public  in  certain  cases  and  constituting  a  board 
of  Railroad  Commissioners. ' '  This  commission  was  authorized 
to  investigate  and  report  on  the  public  utility  of  proposed  rail- 
roads. Where  expropriation  rights  were  granted,  the  com- 
mission, in  conjunction  with  the   road  commissioners  in  the 


Public  Laws  of  Rhode  Island,   1839-40,   p.    1087;   act   of  June   14. 
1839. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  105 

different  counties,  would  assess  the  damage  done  to  private 
property.*^^ 

In  1853  the  Connecticut  legislature  passed  an  act  ''to  pre- 
vent injuries  and  the  destruction  of  life  upon  railroads  and 
railroad  trains,"  which  provided  for  an  appointive  railroad 
commission.  This  commission  was  given  only  investigating 
and  advisory  powers. ^^'^ 

Two  years  later  New  York  established  a  board  of  three  rail- 
road commissioners  to  consist  of  the  state  engineer  and  sur- 
veyor, ex  officio,  one  person  to  be  selected  by  the  stock  and 
bondholders  of  all  the  railroads,  and  the  third  to  be  appointed 
by  the  governor.  The  board  was  authorized  to  report  to  the 
attorney  general  illegal  acts  and  irregularities  on  the  part  of 
the  railroad  corporations.  In  their  regular  reports  to  the  leg- 
islature, they  were  to  suggest  additional  legislation  to  secure 
to  the  public  greater  safety  and  benefit  in  the  use  of  the  rail- 
roads.^^ ^ 

In  1858  Maine  enacted  a  law  ''to  secure  the  safety  and  con- 
venience of  travelers  on  railroads."  An  appointive  railroad 
commission  was  established,  whose  main  duty  was  to  examine 
into  the  condition  of  the  railroads,  their  rolling  stock,  speed 
of  trains,  time  tables,  rates,  and  connections.*^^ 

Ohio  had  all  along  been  taking  an  advanced  position  in  the 
line  of  railroad  regulation.  In  1867  the  legislature  of  Ohio 
passed  an  act  "to  provide  for  the  appointment  of  a  commis- 
sioner of  railroads  and  telegraphs,  and  to  prescribe  his  du- 
ties." *^^  The  commissioner  was  authorized  to  investigate  com- 
plaints and  prosecute  all  violations  of  any  of  the  laws  relating 
to  railways,  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  railroads,  and 
to  order  repairs  when  necessary.  Detailed  reports  were  re- 
quired of  the  railroad  companies,  and  the  commissioner  in  turn 
was  directed  to  report  annually  to  the  governor. 

In  1869  INIassachusetts  established  an  appointive  board  of 
railroad  commissioners  to  have  general  supervision  of  all  rail- 
roads within  the  state.     Their  powers  were  in  the  main  ad- 

415.  Laws   of   N.   H.,   Nov.    session,    1844,    ch.    128. 

416.  Public  Laws  of  Conn.,  1853,  ch.  74. 

417.  Laws  of  N.  Y.,   1855,  ch.   526. 

418.  Public  Laws  of  Maine,    1858,   ch.    36. 

419.  Laws  of  Ohio,  vol.   64,   1867,  p.   111. 


106  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

visory,'^2°  Section  twelve  of  the  Minnesota  act  requiring  the 
investigation  of  accidents  resulting  in  personal  injury  or  loss 
of  life  is  verbatim  like  section  fourteen  of  the  Massachusetts 
law. 

The  law  which  evidently  served  as  a  model  for  the  Minne- 
sota act,  however,  was  that  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Ver- 
mont in  1855,"^^^  most  of  it  being  verbatim  the  same.  The  chief 
differences  are  that  in  Vermont  the  railroad  commissioner  was 
to  be  appointed  by  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  while  in 
Minnesota  he  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor.  In  both 
cases  the  salary  was  to  be  paid  out  of  the  state  treasury,  but  in 
Vermont  the  salary  and  expenses  were  to  be  apportioned  among 
the  railroad  companies  in  proportion  to  the  expense  incurred 
and  the  time  spent  on  each.  The  penalties  provided  for  in  the 
Minnesota  act  are  more  stringent  than  those  of  its  model. 

The  real  Granger  law  of  this  session  was  passed  shortly 
before  adjournment, — the  so-called  Jones  Railroad  Bill.'*^^ 
This  was  an  act  to  regulate  the  carrying  of  freight  and  pas- 
sengers on  all  railroads  in  Minnesota,  and  it  passed  both 
Houses  by  a  large  majority.  In  the  Senate  only  four  voted 
against  it.^^^  By  this  act  freight  was  classified,  and  maximum 
legal  freight  charges  were  fixed  as  follows  :*-* 

CL....S0PFK.,«HT,  ^-fjl--         »50ml,«.  ^™         °Sf    .^SSYoL 

1     All  kinds  of  grain,    6c  per  ton  mile,      5c  per  ton       4c  per  ton  3!^c  per  ton  20%  more, 
potatoes,  flour,  meal,       car  load  lots.         per  mile.  per  mile,      per  mile, 

beef,  pork,  and  meats 
of  all  kinds. 

2.  Sawed  timber,  lura-    $10  per  car  load    18c  extra  per     13c  extra,     lie  extra.    20<g  more, 
ber,  lath,  shingles,       of  20,000  lbs.       car  load  per 

coal,  and  salt.  mile. 

3.  Dry  goods  and  other 

mdse.,  usually  called     25%  more  than  Class  1. 
first  class. 

4.  S  u  g  a  r  in  barrels     Same  rates  as  Class  1. 
and   fourth  class 

freight. 

5.  Wood,  less  than  35  miles,  $9.00  per  car  load  of  not  less  than  6  cords. 

35-60  miles,  18c  extra  per  cur  load  per  mile. 

60  miles  and  over,  13c  extra  per  car  load  per  mile. 

The  railroad  companies  were  authorized  to  charge  five  cents 


420.  Laws  of  Mass.,   1869,  ch.  408. 

421.  Public  Acts  of  Vermont,   1855,  No.   26. 

422.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1871,  ch,   24,  approved  March  6,  1871. 

423.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  March  2,  1871,  p.  1.  c.  1. 

424.  General   Laws    of   Minn.,    1871,    ch.    24,    sec.    1,    summarized    and 
tabulated. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  107 

a  mile  for  carrying  passengers.'^-^  These  charges  for  freight 
and  passenger  service  were  declared  to  be  the  maximum  of 
reasonable  rates.^^*' 

Under  the  general  railroad  incorporation  law  of  1858  *^^  and 
the  General  Statutes  of  1866,^^^  railroads  were  permitted  to 
charge  only  a  maximum  of  three  cents  a  mile  for  passengers, 
and  five  cents  per  ton-mile  for  freight  transported  thirty  miles 
or  more.  These  provisions  had  been  repealed  in  1869,  and  rail- 
roads incorporated  under  the  general  law  were  permitted  to 
charge  such  reasonable  rates  as  might  from  time  to  time  be 
fixed  by  the  corporation  or  prescribed  by  law.*-^ 

All  railroads  in  the  state  without  exception  were  by  the 
new  law  declared  to  be  public  highways,  and  therefore  all  per- 
sons had  the  right  to  service  at  reasonable  rates/'^^  No  addi- 
tional charges  were  allowed  for  handling,  transferring  or  stor- 
ing freight,  excepting  a  reasonable  storage  charge  on  all 
freights  kept  for  a  longer  period  than  two  days  after  notice 
had  been  given  the  consignee.^^^  When  freight  was  carried 
over  two  or  more  lines,  the  rates  were  to  be  the  same  as  would 

have  been  charged  if  the  goods  were  carried  over  only  one 
line.''^^ 

It  was  made  the  duty  of  all  railroad  companies  in  the  state 
to  receive  all  kinds  of  freight  at  any  depot  or  station,  what- 
ever brought  for  transportation,  and  to  provide  suitable  places 
for  the  reception  and  storage  of  such  freight.'*^^  Equal  facili- 
ties for  shipment  were  to  be  furnished  all  shippers,^^*  and  all 
freight  to  be  transported  without  discrimination  within  a  rea- 
sonable time  and  in  the  order  received.*^^  No  discrimination 
in  favor  of  any  warehouse  or  elevator  was  allowed  ;^''^  and  if 
freight  were  carried  for  any  one  at  less  than  the  maximum 


425.  Ibid.,   sec.   2. 

426.  Ibid.,  sec.   9. 

427.  General     Laws  of  Minn.,   1858,  ch,   70,   sec.   12, 

428.  General  Statutes  of  Minn.,  Revision,  1866,  ch.  34,  title  I,  sec.  35. 

429.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1869,   ch.   78,  sees.   2  and   3. 

430.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1871,  ch,  24,   sec.  8. 

431.  Ibid.,  sec.   8. 

432.  Ibid.,  sec.  6, 

433.  Ibid.,  sec.   4. 

434.  Ibid.,   sec.   4, 

435.  Ibid.,   sec.   7. 

436.  Ibid,,  sec.   4. 


108  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

legal  rates,  the  railroad  company  was  obliged  to  transport 
freights  of  the  same  description  for  all  other  persons  at  the 
same  reduced  rates  during  the  time  such  discrimination  was  in 
force.*" 

If  any  railroad  company  failed  to  comply  with  any  of  the 
requirements  of  this  act,  the  aggrieved  party  was  entitled  to 
one  thousand  dollars  damages  to  be  recovered  in  civil  action, 
the  company  paying  the  costs/^^  Besides  this,  demanding  or 
receiving  higher  rates  than  the  legal  maximum  rates  was  to  be 
deemed  a  misuser  of  charter  powers ;  and,  on  receiving  proper 
evidence,  the  attorney  general  must  proceed  against  the  rail- 
road company  for  the  forfeiture  of  its  charter  and  franchises, 
or  for  the  collection  of  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dol- 
lars for  each  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  act,  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  court  trying  the  case.*'^^ 

The  evident  intent  of  the  act  was  to  prevent  discrimination 
of  all  kinds  against  which  the  people  had  risen  in  revolt.  If 
all  railroads  were  public  highways  and  all  railroad  companies 
common  carriers,  it  followed  as  a  corollary,  in  the  minds  of  the 
legislators,  that  they  had  a  legal  right  to  i)rescribe  rates  for 
all.  Disregarding  the  Dartmouth  College  decision,  the  legis- 
lature asserted  its  authority  to  determine  what  was  the  max- 
imum of  legal  rates  for  all  railroads,  without  making  any  dis- 
tinction between  those  organized  under  special  law  and  those 
incorporated  under  the  general  incorporation  law.  This  is 
the  radical  departure  from  previous  legislation,  and  it  stamps 
the  act  under  discussion  as  a  Granger  law. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  main  provision  concern- 
ing railroads  embodied  in  the  Illinois  constitution  of  1870.  It 
had  there  been  considered  necessary,  or  at  least  expedient,  to 
authorize  the  legislature  to  fix  maximum  legal  rates  for  all 
railroads.''**^  Michigan  had  in  the  same  year  amended  its  con- 
stitution **^  so  as  to  give  its  legislature   this   power  *^-    and   to 


437.  Ibid.,  sec.  7. 

438.  Ibid.,  sec.  8. 

439.  Ibid.,  sec.   9. 

440.  Const,   of  Ills.    (1870),   Art.   XI,    sec.    12. 

441.  Laws  of  Mich.,   1870,   Extra  session.  Joint  Res.  No.   1,   proposed 
amends. 

442.  Const,   of  Mich.,   Art.    19A,   Of   Railroads,   sec.    1. 


I 


J 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA,  109 

prohibit  the  consolidation  of  parallel  and  competing  lines/^'* 
Governor  Austin,  as  we  have  seen,  recommended  "constitu- 
tional enactment  and  appropriate  legislation"  to  the  legisla- 
ture of  Minnesota,  but  this  body  was  convinced  of  its  powers 
to  regulate  railroad  rates  on  common  law  principles,  without 
express  constitutional  authority.  In  this  respect  it  was  more 
radical  than  the  Grangers  of  Illinois  and  Michigan. 

The  people  of  Minnesota  had  failed  in  their  attempt  to  leg- 
islate railroads  into  existence,  and  they  likewise  encountered 
difficulty  in  legislating  them  into  submission.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances, a  law  satisfactory  to  all  parties  would  have  been 
inconceivable.  Before  the  passage  of  the  Jones  Railroad  Bill, 
the  Owatonna  Journal  characterized  it  as  an  incongruous, 
blundering  affair,  which  looked  very  much  as  though  some 
one  other  than  a  friend  of  real  progress  had  figured  in  its  con- 
struction.^^* On  the  other  hand,  the  Federal  Union  (Roch- 
ester), another  railroad  reform  paper,  expressed  confidence  in 
the  new  law  and  considered  its  enactment  the  fulfilment  of  the 
pledge  of  the  democracy  of  Olmsted  county.''*"'  The  St.  Paul 
Daily  Pioneer  commented  on  the  enactment  of  the  new  law  in 
the  following  words:  ''The  bill  known  as  the  Jones  Railroad 
Bill  to  regulate  the  rates  for  carrying  freight  and  passengers 
by  railroads  in  this  state  went  through  the  senate  with  a  rush, 
only  four  senators  having  the  nerve  to  vote  against  it."***^ 
As  a  rule,  the  newspapers  of  the  state  had  very  little  to  say 
about  the  new  law. 

In  his  first  communication  to  the  legislature,  the  railroad 
commissioner,  A.  J.  Edgerton,  reported  that  the  railroads  with- 
out exception  had  refused  to  comply  with  the  law,**^  but  con- 
tended that  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  legislation  had 
been  beneficial,  because,  directly  or  indirectly,  it  had  caused  a 
great  reduction  in  the  price  of  transportation.**^ 

It  was  not  long  before  a  case  was  brought  before  the  courts 
to  test  the  constitutionalitv  of  the  law.     John  D.  Blake  and 


443.  Ibid.,   sec.   2. 

444.  Owatonna  Journal,  March   2,   1871,   p.  2,  c.   2. 

445.  F'ederal  Union,   March    11,   1871,   p.   5,   c.   3. 

446.  St.   Paul  Daily   Pioneer,   March   2,   1871,   p.    1,   c 

447.  Railroad   Commissioner's   Report,    1871,   p.    10. 

448.  Ibid.,  p.  28. 


110  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

others  brought  action  against  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  rail- 
road company  in  the  district  court  for  Olmsted  county,  for 
refusal  on  the  part  of  the  defendant  to  deliver  certain  freight 
on  tender  of  payment  according  to  rates  fixed  by  law.  The 
court  decided  in  favor  of  the  defendant,  holding  that  the  leg- 
islature had  no  constitutional  power  to  fix  rates.^^^ 

The  case  was  appealed  to  the  state  supreme  court,  which 
reversed  the  decision  of  the  lower  court,  holding  that  the  act 
of  1871  was  valid,  operative,  and  applicable  to  the  defendant 
in  this  case.  In  the  first  place,  the  law  did  not  impair  the 
obligation  of  a  contract  with  the  defendant,  for  the  state  had 
never  expressly  granted  to  the  defendant  the  right  to  charge 
any  toll  for  freight  or  passengers  carried  over  its  road,  and 
its  right  to  demand  compensation  would  depend  upon  the  lan- 
guage of  its  charter,  and  not  upon  the  rules  of  common  law. 
The  court,  assuming  that  the  right  to  take  some  toll  existed 
by  necessary  implication,  believed  that  this  right  could  be  ex- 
ercised to  its  full  extent  under  a  law  fixing  a  maximum  rate. 
Secondly,  the  law  in  question  was  not  a  usurpation  of  judicial 
authority  by  the  legislature,  for  while  the  legislature  repre- 
sents the  sovereign  as  a  party  contracting  with  the  defendant, 
it  also,  in  the  capacity  of  sole  law-making  power,  acts  for  the 
sovereign  in  exercising  the  sovereign  right  of  control  over 
franchises  in  the  hands  of  the  subject.*"^" 

The  railroad  company  appealed  to  the  federal  supreme 
court,  and  the  case  was  numbered  among  the  Granger  cases.'*^^ 
This  court  did  not  base  its  decision  on  a  strict  construction  of 
the  charter  rights  of  the  company,  as  had  the  state  supreme 
court;  but,  following  the  principles  laid  down  in  Munn  vs. 
Illinois,  held  that  state  legislatures  had  the  right  under  the 
constitution  to  regulate  intra-state  railroad  rates,  and  to  pro- 
vide penalties  for  violations.  This  decision  was  rendered  in 
1876,  some  time  after  the  Granger  movement  had  subsided. 
The  state  had  not  pressed  its  claims  against  any  of  the  other 

449.  See  Blake  et  al.  vs.  The  Winona  and  St.  Peter  Railroad  Com- 
pany,   19   Minn.,   41S,   419,   and  420. 

450.  19  Minn.,  418,  (October  term,  1872);  note  pp.  428  and  429  in 
particular;  see  also  State  vs.  Railroad  Company,  19  Minn.,  434; 
Nation,   vol.   17,   p.   266. 

451.  94  U.  S.,  180;  Winona  and  St,  Peter  Railroad  Company  vs. 
Blake, 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  Ill 

railroads ;  and  when  the  final  verdict  was  given  Minnesota  had 
already  changed  her  railroad  laws  twice  since  the  enactment 
of  the  law  of  1871,  the  constitutionality  of  which  was  upheld. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  1872  AND  1873. 

In  his  message  to  the  legislature  which  met  in  January, 
1872,  Governor  Austin  characterized  the  law  prescribing  max- 
imum legal  freight  and  passenger  rates  as  crude  and  ill-con- 
sidered in  many  of  its  provisions,  affording  but  little  protec- 
tion to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  state.  He  recom- 
mended a  careful  revision.  But  notwithstanding  its  imperfec- 
tions and  the  fact  that  the  railroad  companies  had  professed 
to  disregard  it,  he  felt  convinced  that  it  had,  in  no  small  de- 
gree, modified  their  charges  and  thus  saved  to  the  people  no 
inconsiderable  sum.    He  commended  the  work  of  the  railroad 

commissioner  very  highly,  and  approved  of  his  recommenda- 
tions.''^^ 

The  legislature  of  1871,  as  we  have  seen,  created  the  office 
of  railroad  commissioner,  but  it  had  neglected  to  make  appro- 
priations for  his  salary  and  necessary  expenses.  It  was  feared 
at  the  time  by  many  friends  of  reform  that  the  act  might  for 
this  reason  fail  to  become  operative.''^^  But  General  Edgerton, 
Governor  Austin's  appointee,  immediately  entered  upon  his 
duties  and  the  following  legislature  made  the  expected  appro- 
priation *^^  and  provided  him  with  a  contingent  fund  for  the 
year  1872.*^^     The  office  was  not  to  perish  for  want  of  funds. 

The  report  of  the  railroad  commissioner,  made  directly  to 
the  legislature  as  required  by  law,  shows  plainly  that  he  real- 
ized the  responsibility  of  his  position,  and  that,  while  thor- 
oughly in  sympathy  with  the  movement  for  railroad  regula- 
tion, he  wished  to  conduct  his  investigations  impartially  and 
reach  conclusions  supported  by  facts. 

As  to  infringement  of  the  laws,  he  reported,  as  we  already 

452.  Minn.   Exec.  Docs.,   1871,  vol.  I,   pp.   17  and  18. 

453.  Rochester  Post,  March   11,   1871,  p.  2,  c.   4. 

454.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1872,  ch.  110.     See  Governor's  Message, 
p.   18,  Minn.  Exec.  Docs.,   1871,  vol.  I. 

455.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1872,  ch.  100. 


112  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

have  noted,  that  the  railroads  had  all  refused  to  conform  to  the 
maximum  freight  and  passenger  rates  prescribed  by  the  new 
railroad  law,  and  that  the  attorney  general  had  commenced 
action  to  test  the  validity  of  this  form  of  legislation.*^*^ 

He  had  not  yet  had  time  to  make  a  thorough  inspection  of 
the  different  roads,  as  was  contemplated  by  the  law,  but  from 
what  he  had  learned  he  could  report  that  the  different  railroads 
were  very  generally  improving  the  condition  of  their  roads.'*" 

In  discussing  land  grants  made  to  railroads,  he  takes  up 
different  companies  and  estimates  the  value  of  the  land  grants 
and  the  local  aid  rendered  them.*^^  He  reaches  the  conclusion 
that  the  different  railroads  of  the  state  had  received  from  the 
public  no  less  than  fifty  or  sixty  million  dollars,  which  he  re- 
gards as  given  in  trust  that  the  state  may  be  developed  and 
that  its  mineral,  agricultural  and  other  productions  and  man- 
ufactures may  be  transported  to  market  on  equal  and  reason- 
able terms.*^^ 

Great  complaint  had  been  made  against  the  AVinona  and 
St.  Peter  railroad  company  for  making  unjust  discriminations 
against  certain  places."^*^  The  commissioner  entertained  seri- 
ous doubts  as  to  the  effectiveness  of  unregulated  competition 
as  a  remedy  for  such  abuses.  He  believed  that  fair  and  just 
rates  from  all  places  should  be  established  by  law.  Then, 
whenever  the  railroads  cut  rates  to  break  down  competition, 
they  would  have  to  do  so  at  their  own  expense  and  not  at  the 
expense  of  producers  residing  at  a  distance  from  the  com- 
petitive points.'**'^  He  was  not  prepared  to  subscribe  to  the 
radical  position  taken  by  certain  members  of  the  Illinois  con- 
stitutional convention  that  the  ''right  to  regulate  and  prescribe 
the  terms  of  the  use  of  that  which  has  been  taken  and  is  held 
for  the  public  use"  can  never  be  irrevocably  surrendered  by 
the  legislature  to  any  board  of  directors,  but  he  presented 
their  arguments  and  admitted  that  they  had  much  force.**'- 
He  believed,  however,  that  the  time  would  soon  come  when  the 


456. 

Ry.  Commissioner's  Report,  1871,  pp.  10  and  11, 

457. 

Ibid.,  pp.   11  and  12. 

458. 

Ibid.,  pp.   12-16. 

459. 

Ibid.,   p.   39;   see  Const,    of  Minn.,   Art.   X,   sec.   4 

460. 

Ibid.,  p.   17. 

461. 

Ibid.,  p.   20. 

462. 

Ibid.,  pp.   32-36. 

RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  113 

principle  would  be  recognized  that  the  public  as  well  as  the 
railroad  corporations  have  ''vested  rights;"  and  that,  if  such 
unreasonable  rates  are  charged,  or  such  discriminations  made, 
as  would  obstruct  the  necessary  commerce,  or  paralyze  the 
various  industries  of  the  state,  it  is  as  much  the  duty  of  the 
legislature  to  interfere  and  remove  such  unjust  obstructions 
as  it  is  the  duty  of  a  court  to  abate  a  nuisance.*^^ 

There  was  some  doubt  as  to  the  power  of  the  legislature  to 
prescribe  rates  for  all  the  railroads  of  the  state  until  the  courts 
had  decided  certain  pending  cases.  But  four  of  the  principal 
railroads  had  charters  which  expressly  provided  that  freight 
and  passengers  should  be  transported  at  reasonable  rates.  The 
commissioner  believed  that,  if  the  legislature  amended  the  char- 
ters of  these  roads  and  placed  them  under  just  and  whole- 
some restrictions,  of  which  there  could  be  no  doubt  it  had  the 
power,  the  whole  question  would  be  settled;  for,  when  these 
roads  were  compelled  to  adopt  reasonable  rates  and  cease  un- 
just discriminations,  the  other  roads  would  have  to  fall  in 
line.'^^* 

Railroad  lands  were  exempt  from  taxation  until  sold  or 
contracted  to  be  sold.  Tn  many  counties  the  amount  of  land 
thus  held  by  the  railroads  was  very  large,  and  consequently 
the  burden  of  taxation  fell  heavily  on  the  settlers  and  became 
the  cause  of  much  complaint  and  ill-feeling.  The  commis- 
sioner found  that  in  a  number  of  cases  much  railroad  land  had 
been  contracted  away,  but  on  such  terms  that  the  title  re- 
mained with  the  railroad  company.  These  lands,  therefore, 
were  not  listed  for  taxation.  One  company  had  sold  its  road- 
bed and  equipments,  but  kept  its  land  grant  and  claimed  ex- 
emption from  taxation.  The  commissioner  recommended  that 
every  means  should  be  used  to  make  these  lands  subject  to  tax- 
ation as  soon  as  contemplated  by  the  laws  exempting  them.*®^ 

Railroad  companies  were  to  pay  a  certain  annual  tax  or 
per  centum  of  their  gross  earnings.  In  the  past  no  direct  pro- 
vision had  been  made  for  an  examination  into  the  correctness 
of  the  returns  sent  in  by  the  companies.     The  commissioner 


463.  Ibid.,  pp.   39-40. 

464.  Ibid.,  pp.  36-37. 

465.  Ibid.,  pp.  21-25. 


114  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

therefore  recommended  that  the  companies  be  required  to  send 
in  monthly  statements  of  their  gross  earnings,  and  that  the 
commissioner  should  at  least  once  a  year  make  a  personal  in- 
vestigation to  ascertain  the  correctness  of  their  returns.^^® 

Since  the  authority  of  the  legislature  over  special  charter 
railroads  had  not  yet  been  judicially  determined,  it  was  not  to 
be  expected  that  any  important  railroad  legislation  would  be 
enacted  during  the  session.  Governor  Austin  had  been  nom- 
inated by  acclamation  as  a  candidate  to  succeed  himself,  and 
was  re-elected  by  a  large  majority  in  Noveraber.*^^  The  Dem- 
ocrats, during  the  campaign,  had  denounced  the  Republican 
administration  for  its  utter  failure  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the 
state  relating  to  corporations,**^''  but  the  voters  remained  loyal 
to  the  party  in  power.  The  legislature  was  strongly  Republi- 
can and  the  grangers  remained  in  the  ascendancy.  Thirteen 
of  the  forty-one  senators,  and  fifty-three  of  the  one  hundred 
and  six  representatives,  are  listed  as  farmers  in  the  legislative 
handbook  of  1872.*«9 

Few  general  railroad  laws  were  enacted  during  this  ses- 
sion. The  railroad  commissioner  was  required  to  examine  the 
books  and  accounts  of  the  railroad  companies  at  least  once  a 
year  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  gross  earnings  of  each  road. 
An  act  was  passed  to  compel  the  railroads  of  the  state  to  build 
and  maintain  proper  cattle-guards  and  fences  along  their 
line.''^^  Their  failure  to  do  this  in  the  past  had  been  a  source 
of  great  annoyance  and  loss  to  the  farmers,  and  a  law  to  this 
effect  had  been  strongly  urged  by  the  railroad  commissioner  in 
his  report.*^^ 

But  quite  a  number  of  special  railroad  laws  were  enacted. 
Three  acts  were  passed  giving  companies  the  privilege  of  build- 
ing branch  lines,  with  provision  for  securing  proper  connec- 
tions with  intersecting  roads  and  reasonable  rates  and  services 
without  discrimination.*^^    These  provisions  were  identical  with 

466.  Ibid.,  pp.  25-26. 

467.  World  Almanac,   1872,  p.  69:     Austin,  46,415;  Young,  31,441. 

468.  St.   Paul   Daily   Pioneer,    Sept.    14,    1871,    p.    4,   c.    2;   Dem.   party 
platform. 

469.  Legislative  Manual  of  the  state  of  Minn.,  1872,  pp.  146-153. 

470.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1872,  oh.   26. 

471.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,  1871,  pp.   16-17. 

472.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,   1872,   chs.   96,   122,   and   124. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  115 

those  which  we  noted  as  inserted  in  a  number  of  special  acts 
by  the  legislature  in  the  winter  of  1871.*^^ 

Two  other  acts  confer  special  legislative  benefits  on  the 
express  condition  that  the  companies  shall  at  all  times  carry 
freight  and  passengers  at  reasonable  rates/^^  while  a  third 
makes  it  a  condition  that  the  railroad  shall  be  subject  to  all 
laws  of  the  state  which  are  general  in  their  nature.*^^  An  Iowa 
corporation  was  permitted  to  extend  its  line  into  the  state  on 
condition  that  it  paid  a  three  per  cent  gross  income  tax  to  the 
state  and  charged  such  reasonable  rates  for  the  transportation 
of  passengers  and  freight  within  the  state  as  might  be  fixed 
by  the  company  or  prescribed  by  general  law.*^^  The  First 
Division  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  was  authorized  to  build  a 
branch  line  on  condition  that  it  would  carry  freight  and  pas- 
sengers on  this  branch  at  such  reasonable  rates  as  might  from 
time  to  time  be  prescribed  by  law.'*^^ 

These  enactments  show  the  determination  of  the  legislature 
to  bring  the  railroads  operating  with  special  charters  under 
legislative  control  by  special  agreements,  since  there  was  some 
doubt  as  yet  as  to  their  amenability  to  the  general  law. 

Two  acts  passed  by  this  legislature  very  liberally  left  blank 
the  maximum  amount  of  common  and  preferred  stock  which 
might  be  issued  in  connection  with  branch  lines.^^^  What 
would  seem  to  be  another  step  backward  in  railroad  legisla- 
tion was  the  revival  of  two  territorial  charters.  The  charter 
of  the  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony  railroad  company  ^^^  had  been 
revived  and  amended  for  the  St.  Paul  street  railway  company 
in  1868.  This  amended  charter  was  now  revived  and  further 
amended  by  the  legislature  in  1872.*®°  The  Winona  and  La 
Crosse  railroad  charter,  granted  in  1856,'"^^  was  rcAdved  and 
continued  for  a  new  set  of  incorporators."®-     The  new  corpo- 


473.  Ibid.,   1871,   chs.   63,   64,  66,   67,   70,  and   71. 

474.  Ibid.,  1872,  ch.   93,  sec.   3;  ch.   119,  sec.  2. 

475.  Ibid.,  ch.  100,  sec.  2. 

476.  Ibid.,  ch.   95,   sec.   2. 

477.  Ibid.,   ch.   120,  sec.  1. 

478.  Ibid.,  ch.   96,   sec.   1;  ch.   124,   sec.   2. 

479.  Session  Laws  of  Minn.,  1853,  ch.  12. 

480.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,   1872,  ch.  112. 

481.  Session  Laws  of  Minn.,   1856,  ch.   159. 

482.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,   1872,   ch.   101. 


116  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ration  was  to  carry  freight  and  passengers  over  its  road  at  just 
and  reasonable  rates.*^^ 

At  this  session  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  was  pro- 
posed, providing  that  the  legislature  should  not  authorize  any 
municipal  corporation  to  aid  a  railroad  to  an  amount  exceed- 
ing ten  per  cent  of  the  assessed  value  of  the  property  within 
its  boundaries.^^'^  This  proposed  amendment  was  ratified  by 
popular  vote  in  the  November  following.''^'* 

During  the  summer  of  1872  the  presidential  campaign  and 
national  issues  were  of  primary  interest  throughout  the  state. 
At  this  time  there  was  in  some  states  considerable  disagree- 
ment in  the  Republican  ranks  with  reference  to  the  tariff,  the 
civil  service,  and  the  administration  reconstruction  policies. 
In  Missouri  the  dissenting  element,  or  Liberal  Republicans, 
gained  control  in  January,  1872.  They  called  a  national  con- 
vention which  met  in  Cincinnati  in  May,  nominated  candi- 
dates for  president  and  vice-president,  and  drew  up  a  plat- 
form embodying  their  main  tenets.  The  Democrats  met  in 
national  convention  in  Baltimore,  July  9,  and  adopted  the  Lib- 
eral Republican  platform  and  candidates.  By  making  this 
coalition  they  hoped  to  defeat  the  administration  Republicans 
in  November. 

In  Minnesota  the  defection  within  the  Republican  party 
was  not  particularly  strong.  The  Republican  state  convention 
met  May  8,  and  in  its  platform  expressed  its  confidence  in  the 
national  administration  and  heartily  endorsed  President  Grant 
for  a  second  term.*^^  The  three  congressional  district  conven- 
tions followed  suit.*"  In  none  of  these  platforms  was  any 
specific  mention  made  of  railroads.  The  St.  Paul  Dispatch  was 
the  only  prominent  Republican  paper  in  INTinnesota  to  espouse 
the  Liberal  Republican  cause,*^^  althougli  their  presidential 
candidate,  Horace  Greeley,  had  been  quite  popular  in  the  state. 

The  opposition  element  in  the  state  united  as  in  the  previ- 


483.  Ibid.,  ch.   101,  sec.   9. 

484.  General   Laws   of  Minn.,    1872,    eh.    13;   Const,    of   Minn.,    Art.    9, 
sec.   14. 

485.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,   1872,   p.   39. 

486.  St.   Paul   Daily  Press,  May   9,    1872,   p.   4,   c.   2-3. 

487.  Ibid.,    July    12,    1872,    p.    2,    c.    3,    First   dist.;    July    17,    p.    4,    c.    2, 
Second  dist.;   July   19,   p.   4,   c.   1,  Third  dist. 

488.  Smalley,  The  History  of  the  Republican  Party,   p.   193. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  117 

ous  campaign  ^^^  and  presented  platforms  denouncing  the  na- 
tional and  state  administration  and  demanding  reform.  They 
caused  quite  a  stir  in  many  parts  of  the  state  but  the  adminis- 
tration Eepublicans  came  out  victorious  in  the  November  elec- 
tion. Grant  received  55,708  votes;  Greeley,  35,211.*^'^  The 
Liberals  were  defeated  by  a  large  majority  in  all  three  con- 
gressional districts,  ^^^  making  a  good  showing  in  only  a  very 
few  counties.  In  the  state  legislature  the  Republicans  made 
gains  over  the  preceding  year,  having  thirty  members  to  the 
opposition's  eleven  in  the  Senate,  and  seventy-eight  to  the  op- 
position's twenty-eight  in  the  House.'^"-  In  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1872  the  papers  had  very  little  to  say  about  railroad 
abuses.  There  seems  to  have  been  comparatively  little  agita- 
tion, yet  we  find  that  about  as  large  a  proportion  of  farmers 
were  elected  to  the  legislature  as  in  1871.*^'^ 

The  St.  Paul  and  Pacific,  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  and 
the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  had  a  Railroad  Building  at  the 
State  Fair  in  November,  1872,  and  gave  an  exhibit  of  what 
had  been  raised  on  lands  lying  within  the  limits  of  their  land 
grants.  A  special  committee  appointed  by  the  state  agricul- 
tural society  gave  an  eight  column  report  of  this  exhibit  in  the 
Farmers'  Union,  and  commended  the  railroads  very  highly  on 
their  liberality  and  enterprise  in  bringing  to  public  notice  the 
productiveness  of  their  lands.  In  the  opinion  of  this  commit- 
tee thousands  of  settlers  would  be  attracted  to  the  state,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  be  invested,  as  a  direct  result 
of  this  exhibition,  which  it  was  hoped  would  become  one  of 
the  prominent  features  of  future  state  fairs.^^"* 

When  the  legislature  met  in  January,  1873,  there  seemed 
to  be  no  measures  of  exciting  interest  demanding  action.''^^ 


489.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  June  16,  1872,  p.  4,  c.  1;  July  11,  p.  2, 
c.  1;  July  20,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

490.  Smalley,   op.  cit.,  p.   194. 

491.  The  Tribune  Almanac  and  Political  Register,  1873;  First  dist., 
20,371  to  10,841;  Second  dist.,  15,257  to  10,832;  Third  dist.,  19,182 
to   12,609. 

492.  The  World  Almanac,  1873,  p.  42. 

493.  Legislative  Manual  of  the  State  of  Minn.,  1873,  pp.  166-171,  12 
farmers  in  the  Senate  and  52  farmers  in  the  House;  St.  Paul 
Daily  Pioneer,   Jan.   10,   1873,   p.   4,  c.   2. 

494.  Farmers'  Union,  Nov.  7,  1872,  pp.  2-3. 

495.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Jan.  7,  1873,  p.  2.  c.  1. 


118  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  railroad  cases  were  still  pending,  and  it  was  generally 
understood  that  appeal  would  be  made  to  the  federal  supreme 
court,  if  the  railroads  lost  out  in  the  state  courts.  Under  the 
circumstances  the  prospects  for  immediate  railroad  reform  were 
not  promising. 

The  governor  in  his  message  informed  the  legislature  that 
all  the  companies,  local  and  non-resident,  operating  within  the 
state,  continued  to  disregard  the  maximum  rate  law.*^*  As  an 
intelligent  basis  for  judicious  legislation,  he  recommended  the 
appointment  of  an  able  committee  to  make  a  searching  and  far 
reaching  investigation.^^'  He  favored  making  conspiracy 
against  trade,  or  the  entering  into  a  combination  to  prevent 
competition,  an  indictable  offense  punishable  by  fine  and  im- 
prisonment ;  and  in  case  directors  or  managing  officers  were 
convicted,  such  conviction  should  work  the  forfeiture  of  the 
franchises  of  the  corporation.'^^^  In  addition  to  necessary  state 
legislation,  he  recommended  that  Congress  be  memorialized  to 
exercise  its  constitutional  prerogative  to  regulate  commerce 
among  the  several  states,  and  by  an  act  embracing  the  entire 
system  of  the  Union  to  accomplish  what  the  several  states  by 
their  discordant  legislation,  their  deficient  legislation,  and  their 
non-legislation,  could  never  accomplish. ^^'^  The  governor  re- 
commended that  Congress  be  further  memorialized  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  canals  to  give  continuous  water  communica- 
tion from  the  Mississippi  river  and  its  tributaries  to  the  sea- 
board. He  believed  that  this  was  fully  as  important  to  the 
people  of  the  West  as  the  correction  of  railroad  abuses."*"'^  He 
urged  the  farmers  especially  to  profit  by  the  experience  of  the 
trades  unions  and  the  protective  and  co-operative  societies  of 
other  trades  and  calling,  and  to  organize  for  securing  economic 
independence.^"^ 

The  railroad  commissioner  in  his  report  to  the  legislature 
gave  a  short  summary  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  each  road 


496.  St.    Paul   Daily   Pioneer,    Jan.    ]0,    1873,    p.    2,    c.    2;   Minn.    Exec. 
Docs.,   1872,   vol,   1,   Governor's  Message,   p.   5. 

497.  Ibid.,  p.  8. 

498.  Ibid.,   p.   8. 

499.  Ibid.,  p.   8. 

500.  Ibid.,   p.   8. 

501.  Ibid.,  p.  10. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  llO 

already  constructed  or  in  the  process  of  constrnction.^"^  He 
again  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  much  railroad  land  was 
escaping  just  taxation,  and  urged  the  legislature  to  take  appro- 
priate action. 

As  a  remedy  for  discrimination  against  places  he  recom- 
mended the  enactment  of  a  pro  rata  law  similar  to  that  pro- 
posed by  the  Massachusetts  Commissioners  in  their  report  for 
1870.^°-^  The  commissioner  was  convinced  that  discrimina- 
tions, both  against  persons  and  localities,  were  opposed  to  the 
well-defined  principles  of  common  law,  and  claimed  for  the 
state  an  inalienable  police  power  to  prevent  and  restrain  such 
infringement  on  the  rights  of  the  public.^"* 

The  commissioner  reported  in  the  main  favorably  on  the 
physical  condition  of  the  roads,  and  was  enthusiastic  over  their 
rapid  extension  throughout  the  state.  He  commended  the 
practice  of  building  railroads  in  advance  of  actual  business 
needs,  asserting  that  Minnesota  was  twenty-five  years  in  ad- 
vance of  what  she  would  have  been  if  the  "timidly  conserva- 
tive ideas  of  the  past"  had  prevailed.^''^ 

If  the  legislature  had  carried  out  the  recommendations  of 
the  governor  and  railroad  commissioner,  much  of  its  time 
would  have  been  occupied  with  important  remedial  railroad 
legislation.    As  it  turned  out,  comparatively  little  was  done. 

An  act  was  passed  making  the  state  treasurer  collector  of 
railroad  taxes  and  providing  more  adequate  means  for  their 
collection.^*^^  This  act  did  not  go  as  far  as  desired  by  the  rail- 
road commissioner.  Any  railroad  company  organized  under 
the  laws  of  Iowa  was  authorized  to  extend  its  lines  into  Min- 
nesota, and,  as  to  these  extensions,  was  to  possess  all  the  pow- 
ers, franchises,  and  privileges,  and  be  subject  to  the  same  lia- 
bilities, as  railroad  companies  organized  under  the  general  laws 
of  the  state. 

During  this  session  a  large  number  of  counties,  towns,  cities 
and  villages  were  authorized  by  special  law  to  issue  bonds  fo 

502.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,   1872,  pp.   5-22. 

503.  Ibid.,  p.  45,  See  Railroad  Commissioners'  Report  (Mass.),  1870, 
p.  ex.  The  Mass.  Commissioners  in  turn  copied  the  Mich,  law 
of  1869,  No.   109,   sec.   17,   cl.   9. 

504.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,   1872,   p.   46. 

505.  Ibid.,   p.  50. 

506.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1873,  ch.   114, 


120  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

aid  in  railroad  construction.^^^  An  act  was  passed  which  on 
the  face  of  it  would  seem  to  amount  to  partial  repudiation. 
The  city  of  Hastings  was  authorized  to  adjust  and  compromise 
its  outstanding  bonded  railway  indebtedness  at  a  rate  not  to 
exceed  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar,  new  bonds  to  replace  the  old.°^^ 
As  in  1872,  attempts  were  made  to  bargain  with  railroad 
companies  as  to  rates  through  special  legislation.  The  Mil- 
waukee and  St.  Paul  railroad  company  was  authorized  to  build 
a  bridge  across  the  Mississippi  river  from  La  Crosse  on  con- 
dition that  it  would  carry  freight  and  passengers  on  equal  and 
reasonable  terms  f^^  and  on  this  same  condition  the  legislature 
extended  the  time  for  the  completion  of  certain  branch  lines 
of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  company.'''^ °  Many  gran- 
gers throughout  the  state  must  have  thought  this  provision 
rather  superfluous. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  GRANGER  MOVEMENT  IN  1873. 

In  the  winter  of  1873  the  agitation  against  railroad  abuses 
was  resumed,  and  before  long  it  surpassed  in  intensity  the 
railroad  war  of  1870.  In  this  renewed  contest  the  grangers  of 
the  Order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  figured  prominently.  The 
farmers  had  learned  to  recognize  the  need  of  efficient  organiza- 
tion, and  as  the  purposes  of  the  grange  were  frequently  inter- 
preted to  meet  the  particular  needs  of  different  localities  and 
the  grange  everywhere  was  proclaimed  the  farmer's  best  means 
of  self-protection  against  all  oppression,  granges  began  to 
spring  up  on  all  sides.  Soon  many  unauthorized  organizers 
were  in  the  field,  making  the  best  of  the  movement  for  their 
personal  interests,  political  or  financial,  and  the  Worthy  Mas- 
ter of  the  National  Grange  found  it  necessary  to  give  notice 
to  the  effect  that  no  dispensations  would  be  issued  in  Minne- 
sota on  the  application  of  any  person  except  deputies  ap- 
pointed by  the  Master  of  the  State  Grange.^^^ 

507.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,   1873,   chs.   152,   153,   and   156-166. 

508.  Ibid.,  ch.  151. 

509.  Ibid.,  ch.   106. 

510.  Ibid.,  ch.  107. 

511.  Farmers'  Union,  March  29,  1873,  p.  102,  c.  3;  notice  dated  Wash- 
ington,  D.  C,  March   18,   1873. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  121 

The  constitution  of  the  Order  forbade  the  discussion  of 
political  questions  in  the  meetings  of  its  granges.  But  how 
could  a  constitutional  provision  prevent  the  discussion  of  rail- 
roads, monopolies,  middlemen,  and  the  tariff,  when  the  mem- 
bers of  the  grange  had  in  many  cases  united  for  the  express 
purpose  of  discussing  these  questions  and  planning  concerted 
action?  And  even  if  such  discussion  had  no  recognized  place 
in  the  grange  meeting  proper,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  an 
informal  discussion  before  or  after  the  regular  program.  At 
this  time  these  questions  were  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  everywhere. 

The  Minnesota  State  Grange  held  a  large  and  enthusiastic 
meeting  at  Lake  City  in  February. '''^^  In  his  address  to  the 
State  Grange  the  Lecturer,  Mr.  D.  C.  Cummins,  proclaimed  as 
the  highest  ambition  of  the  Order  the  elevation  of  the  ' '  family 
of  husbandmen  from  their  present  ignoble  position  to  that 
exalted  station  in  society  and  government  which  the  contem- 
plation and  imitation  of  nature's  works,  associated  with  in- 
telligence, is  calculated  to  do."'*^''  It  is  difficult  to  see  how 
the  Order  could  accomplish  such  purposes  without  taking  part 
in  the  political  activities  of  the  day. 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  ban  placed  on  the  discussion 
of  the  railroad  problem  at  this  meeting.  The  Grange  even 
went  so  far  as  to  pass  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  State  Grange  request  our 
representatives  in  the  legislature  of  the  present  session  to  use  their 
influence  to  pass  a  bill  in  eitect  to  appropriate  a  sum  of  money  suffi- 
cient to  employ  the  necessary  legal  council  to  test  the  validity  of  the 
present  law  on  our  statutes,  defining  the  charges  of  railroads  for 
freight  and  passenger  tariffs  over  their  respective  roads.'''i4 

By  this  resolution  the  Grange  officially  showed  its  interest 
in  existing  reform  laws.  It  was  not  inclined,  however,  to  pro- 
pose definite  plans  for  further  reform. 

During  the  months  of  March,  April,  May  and  June,  Ignatius 
Donnelly  made  a  series  of  addresses  before  the  granges  in 
Dakota,  Rice,  Goodhue,  Fillmore,  Mower,  Olmsted,  Winona 
and  Washington  counties.    These  addresses  were  on  live  ques- 


512.  Farmers'  Union,  March  1,  1873,  p.  67,  c.  4. 

513.  Ibid.,  May  3,   1873,   p.   140,   c.   4. 

514.  Ibid.,  March  15,  1873,  p.  83,  c.  5. 


122  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

tions  of  the  day,  such  as  ' '  The  necessity  for  co-operation  among 
farmers ;  Patent  laws  against  them ;  Railroad  legislation  against 
them ;  The  robberies  of  high  tariff  against  them ;  The  evil  of 
paper  currency  against  them;  Their  remedies:  Cheap  trans- 
portation, ship  canals,  specie  payment,  and  low  tariff."  Ex- 
tracts from  his  speeches  were  published  in  pamphlet  form  and 
widely  circulated.^^^  Mr.  Donnelly  was  very  popular  as  a 
speaker,  and  by  his  brilliant  wit  and  his  spontaneous  eloquence 
he  could  hold  the  attention  and  win  the  applause  of  an  audi- 
ence on  any  subject,  whether  thej^-  were  convinced  by  his  argu- 
ments or  not. 

Mr.  Donnelly  gave  the  Patrons  credit  for  having  revolu- 
tionized the  interpretation  of  the  laws  concerning  railroads  in 
bringing  them  under  the  control  of  the  state  legislature.  To 
him  the  Order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  meant  reform,  revolu- 
tion; it  was  the  fulcrum  Archimedes  wished,  from  which  to 
move  the  world.  He  believed  it  to  be  'Hhe  foundation  of  an 
universal  party,  the  party  of  the  people — the  party  of  the  farm- 
ers of  the  West,  the  planters  of  the  South,  and  the  poor  men 
of  the  whole  nation  *  *  *  *  it  will  name  the  next  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  !"^^^  It  is  very  probable  that  Mr. 
Donnelly  was  far  more  interested  in  the  foundation  of  such  a 
new  political  party  than  he  was  in  the  Order  itself.  He  was 
mainly  interested  in  the  Order  as  a  means  to  this  end. 

In  the  "P.  of  H."  column  of  the  Farmers'  Union,  May  10, 
1873,  appeared  some  fiery  "declarations  of  principles  and 
rights."  A  series  of  resolutions  had  been  adopted  at  Fari- 
bault which  were  endorsed  as  the  "true  ringing  declaration 
of  a  determined  class  of  men  to  change  the  order  of  railroad 
government  and  extortion."  These  resolutions  demanded  im- 
mediate legislation,  state  and  national,  to  protect  labor  against 
the  encroachment  of  capital,  to  prohibit  the  consolidation  of 
parallel  railroad  lines,  to  fix  the  maximum  of  railroad  charges, 
and  to  prevent  unjust  and  oppressive  discrimination  between 
local  and  through  freight.  They  maintained  that  the  inherent 
power  of  the  people  over  the  railroads  had  never  been  for- 

515.  I.  Donnelly,  Facts  for  the  Granges  (21  pages).  The  subjects 
of  his  speeches  cited  above  are  those  given  on  the  title  page 
of  this  pamphlet. 

516.  Ibid.,  p.   10. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  123 

felted,  and  protested  against  the  subterfuges  of  the  legisla- 
ture in  avoiding  the  enactment  of  necessary  laws.  The  farm- 
ing community  was  described  as  being  in  an  embarrassed  and 
prostrated  condition,  and  a  general  bankruptcy  of  the  farmers 
of  the  state  was  declared  inevitable  if  the  law-making  powers 
did  not  come  to  their  aid  in  this  great  emergency/"^^^ 

A  lively  discussion  arose  among  the  grangers  of  the  state 
as  to  what  discussions  were  political  and  therefore  barred 
from  the  granges.  One  Patron  in  a  letter  to  the  Farmers' 
Union,  the  official  organ  of  the  State  Grange,  calls  the  outcry 
against  the  grangers'  dabbling  in  politics  senseless,  and  con- 
tends that  it  is  the  "imperative  duty  of  the  friends  of  morality 
and  good  government  to  combine  their  influence  in  the  main- 
tenance of  pure  political  action."  He  says  further:  ''The 
Order  of  P.  of  H.  has  undertaken  one  of  the  greatest  moral 
reforms  that  ever  blessed  an  oppressed  people,  and  they  are 
fully  competent  to  complete  the  task  so  well  begun.  Party 
ties  should  no  longer  be  heeded,  unless  parties  present  men 
for  the  suffrage  who  are  known  to  be  paramountly  favorable 
to  the  agricultural  and  other  industrial  interests  of  the  coun- 
try. "^^^ 

Another  Patron  says:  "Let  us  throw  politics  away  and 
elect  good,  honest,  intelligent  farmers  for  every  office  in  the 
State  except  our  legislature.  Some  might  think  we  were  a 
little  piggish  if  we  wanted  that  body  composed  wholly  of 
farmers.  *  #  *  Patrons,  this  is  a  point  worth  looking 
after.  Let  us  think  of  it  at  election  time."^^^  A  little  later 
this  Patron  writes :  ' '  Let  us  inform  our  next  legislators  that 
they  shall  have  our  votes  with  the  understanding  that  they 
will  work  for  the  interests  of  the  farmer  and  pass  a  law  fixing 
reasonable  rates  of  transportation  and  compelling  railroad 
companies  to  carry  our  produce  to  market  in  reasonable  time 
and  be  responsible  for  the  safe  delivery  at  any  desired  mar- 
ket; and  they  should  be  informed  that  if  they  break  the  con- 
tract and  vote  in  favor  of  the  railroad  monoplies,  they  should 
be  subject  to  the  decision  of  Judge  Lynch  and  close  confine- 


517.  Farmers'  Union,   May   10,   1873,  p.   148;  c.   1. 

518.  Ibid.,  May  3,  1873,  p.  140,  c.  1;  Letter  of  Wm.  Close. 

519.  Ibid.,  March  22,  1873,  p.  93,  c.  4;  Letter  of  Geo.  E.  Hopkins. 


124  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ment  under  a  white  oak  limb  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  five 
minutes  nor  more  than  fifteen. '  '^^^ 

"Bro."  J.  S.  Denman  wrote:  ''And  now,  brothers,  as  elec- 
tion draws  near  and  our  town  caucuses  and  county  conventions 
are  at  hand,  we  must  be  up  and  doing.  *  *  *  If  we  are 
going  to  bring  about  a  reform  in  politics,  every  man  in  every 
town  wants  to  attend  the  caucus  and  see  that  the  right  kind 
of  men  go  to  the  county  convention."  -'-'^ 

The  question  occupying  the  minds  of  a  great  number  of 
grangers  was  what  action  they  should  take  in  the  coming  cam- 
paign. They  had  common  interests,  and  it  seemed  absurd  for 
one  to  go  to  the  polls  and  vote  one  ticket  while  his  neighbor 
voted  another.^-^  The  local  grangers  were  hampered  in  giving 
formal  expression  to  their  political  views  by  the  constitutional 
provision  already  referred  to.  But  in  many  counties  there  was 
a  County  Council  composed  of  representatives  from  the  dif- 
ferent subordinate  granges  in  the  county.  These  Councils  were 
extraneous  to  the  constitutional  plan  of  the  Order,  and  were 
therefore  not  considered  bound  by  the  constitution  as  were  the 
national,  state,  and  subordinate  granges.  Mr.  Donnelly  and 
others  for  this  reason  urged  the  formation  of  County  Councils 
in  all  counties  and  encouraged  political  discussion  and  political 
action  by  them.^'-"' 

The  Steele  County  Council  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  met 
at  Owatonna  in  the  first  part  of  June,  1873,  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion drew  up  a  very  vigorous  set  of  resolutions.  They 
agreed  that  the  railroad  companies  must  be  radically  reformed 
and  controlled  by  the  strong  hand  of  law.  The  aid  of  every 
Patron  and  of  every  fair-minded  man  was  invoked  to  secure 
legislation  fixing  maximum  charges,  preventing  watered  stock, 
and  prohibiting  the  consolidation  of  competing  lines.  Rail- 
roads were  to  be  compelled  to  assume  all  the  duties  of  common 
carriers,  and  particularly  to  receive  and  transmit  freight  with- 
out discrimination  or  favoritism.  They  resolved  finally,  ''That 
we  recognize  the  fact  that  to  secure  and  enforce  these  enact- 


520.  Ibid.,  May  10,  1873,  p.  148,  c.  2. 

521.  Ibid.,  July  5,  1873,  p.  211,  c.  2. 

522.  Ibid.,  June  21,  1873;  Letter  of  Wm.  N.  Plymat,  p.  197,  c.  3. 

523.  Donnelly,  Facts  for  the  Granges,  p.  19. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  125 

ments  our  votes  must  enforce  our  wishes  and  our  action  must 
be  strongly  political,  though  not  partisan  in  its  bearings. "  ^^* 

Other  County  Councils  met  and  adopted  similar  resolu- 
tions.^^"' 

Another  plan  frequently  adopted  by  the  Grangers  to  secure 
concerted  political  action  was  to  call  meetings  of  the  members 
of  the  different  subordinate  granges  in  a  county,  who  were  to 
act  ''not  as  grangers  but  as  citizens. "  ^-*^  Such  a  meeting  was 
held  in  Brownsdale,  Mower  county,  July  26,  1873.  The  grangers 
here  issued  a  call  for  a  county  convention  to  organize  a  new 
political  party  and  to  issue  a  call  for  a  state  convention.^-^ 
Mr.  J.  J.  Hunt,  Master  of  the  Brownsdale  Grange,  presided, 
and  Mr.  Donnelly  delivered  the  principal  address.^^^  The  con- 
vention drew  up  a  series  of  resolutions.  They  expressed  a  lack 
of  confidence  in  both  existing  political  parties,  and  condemned 
the  present  management  of  railroads  whereby  monopolies  and 
rings  secured  special  advantages.  They  considered  it  the  duty 
of  the  attorney  general  to  enforce  the  law  of  1871,  and  de- 
manded an  amendment  of  this  law  so  as  to  make  its  provisions 
more  fair  and  equitable  to  the  people.  They  called  for  a  county 
convention  of  farmers  and  laborers  to  meet  at  Brownsdale, 
September  25,  to  nominate  candidates  for  county  offices. 
Finally  an  invitation  was  extended  to  all  who  agreed  with 
them  in  these  declarations  of  principles  to  meet  in  mass  con- 
vention at  Owatonna,  September  2.^*-^ 

The  people  throughout  the  state  were  thoroughly  aroused, 
and  many  were  beginning  to  believe  with  Mr.  Donnelly  that  the 
time  had  come  for  the  organization  of  a  new  political  party  to 
carry  out  the  proposed  reform.  As  in  1870,  the  Republican 
party  aligned  itself  against  ''railroads  and  monopolies,"  and 
appealed  for  the  support  of  all  who  favored  reform."^  In  its 
state  convention  held  in  St.  Paul,  July  16,  they  adopted  in  their 

524.  Farmers'  Union,  Jan.  28,   1873,  p.  205,  c.  2. 

525.  For  instance,  Le  Sueur  County  Council,  Oct.  7,  Farmers'  Union, 
Oct.  18,  1873,  p.  333,  c.  1;  Olmsted  Countj'  Council,  Oct.  17,  The 
Minn.  Record    (Rochester),  Oct.   25,  1873. 

526.  Donnelly,  Facts  for  the  Granges,  p.  19. 

527.  Ibid.,  p.  19;  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  July  27,  1873,  p.  1,  c.  2. 

528.  Farmers'  Union,  Aug.  9,  1873,  p.  252,  c.  1-4.  The  address  is 
given  in  Donnelly,  Facts  for  the  Granges. 

529.  Ibid.,  Aug.  9,  1873,  p.  252,  c.  4. 

530.  See  Duluth  Minnesotian,  Nov.   1,   1873. 


126  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

platform  resolutions  to  the  effect  that  no  rights  should  be 
vested  in  railroad  corporations  beyond  the  control  of  future 
legislation,  and  that  the  legislature  should  attach  such  condi- 
tions to  all  new  grants,  and  to  amendments  and  extensions  of 
old  charters,  as  would  place  the  rights  of  legislative  control 
over  such  corporations  beyond  question.  They  pledged  them- 
selves in  favor  of  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  would  limit  to 
just  and  reasonable  rates  all  tolls,  tariffs,  and  charges  of  rail- 
road and  transportation  companies.'^"^ 

There  was  a  hard  fight  in  the  convention  between  the  old 
*' Ramsey  dynasty"  and  the  ''young  Republicans"  over  the 
candidate  for  governor.  Mr.  Washburn,  the  Ramsey  aspirant, 
had  a  strong  political  backing  and  was  considered  by  many  a 
worthy  favorite ;  but,  after  a  series  of  ballots,  the  choice  fell 
on  C.  K.  Davis,  a  St.  Paul  attorney,  whose  lecture  on  ''Modern 
Feudalism"  had  made  him  popular  with  those  who  favored  a 
more  stringent  corporation  control.  Mr.  Davis  was  nominated 
on  a  very  narrow  margin,  and  was  not  very  enthusiastically 
supported  during  the  following  campaign  by  some  of  the  old 
party  leaders ;  but  as  he  had  been  a  pioneer  in  the  anti-monop- 
oly movement,  his  nomination  was  quite  generally  looked  upon 
by  the  people  as  an  overthrow  of  the  "politicians."  ^^^ 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  Mr.  Washburn 
was  opposed  to  reform.  He  had  been  actively  interested  in  the 
enactment  of  the  law  of  1871,  and  in  the  campaign  of  1873  he 
spoke  strongly  in  favor  of  railroad  regulation,  state  and  na- 
tional.^^^  Throughout  the  state  most  of  the  Republican  can- 
didates pledged  themselves  to  support  the  farmers'  movement. 

The  Democrats  co-operated  with  the  new  Anti-monopoly 
party  during  this  campaign.  They  postponed  holding  their 
state  convention  till  after  the  Owatonna  Anti-monopoly  con- 
vention, having  made  up  their  minds  to  support  its  candidates, 
provided  they  and  the  platform  adopted  were  acceptable. 
They  contended  that  the  new  movement  was  fully  in  accord 

531.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  July  17,  1873,  p.  4,  c.  2;  Federal  Union, 
July  25,  1873,  p.  2,  c.  4. 

532.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Oct.  11,  1873,  p.  2.  c.  1;  St.  Paul  Daily 
Press,  July  17,  1873,  p.  1,  c.  1;  July  20,  1873,  p.  2,  c.  6,  quotes 
nine  papers  endorsing  Mr.  Davis. 

533.  Farmers'  Union,  Nov.  1,  1873,  p.  349;  speech  before  Dodge 
Courity  Agricultural   Society,   Sept.   26,   1873. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  127 

with  Democratic  principles  and  deserved  Democratic  sup- 
port.^^* 

Some  subordinate  granges  had  met  and  appointed  delegates 
to  the  convention  to  be  held  in  Owatonna,  September  2,  and 
other  granges  were  considering  what  action  to  take,  when 
State  Master  Geo.  I.  Parsons  issued  a  notice  giving  it  as  his 
opinion  that  not  only  was  such  action  unwise  but  also  in  direct 
violation  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  Order,  and  that  it 
subjected  the  granges  so  doing  to  the  danger  of  a  revocation 
of  their  charters.  He  expressed  profound  regret  and  mortifica- 
tion at  having  witnessed  a  departure  from  the  cherished  prin- 
ciples of  the  Order.^^^ 

This  move  on  the  part  of  the  State  Master  was  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  original  aims  of  the  Order  and  was  heartily 
endorsed  by  many  of  the  Patrons,'^^^  but  it  proved  an  effective 
check  on  organized  political  action  by  the  granges,  much  to  the 
chagrin  of  the  Anti-monopolists.  It  was  frequently  interpreted 
as  being  in  itself  partisan,  because  it  influenced  so  many  to  act 
through  the  regular  Republican  party  organization  who  other- 
wise would  have  joined  the  new  movement.  Mr.  Donnelly  was 
unsparing  in  his  criticism  of  State  Master  Parsons,  who,  he 
said,  would  vote  for  the  devil  himself  if  he  were  regularly 
nominated  by  the  Republican  party.^^^ 

But  the  anti-railroad  agitation  was  by  no  means  checked. 
It  continued  as  lively  as  before  among  the  grangers,  and  gran- 
gers had  by  this  time  come  to  mean  all  those  who  sympathized 
with  the  farmers'  movement,  whether  they  belonged  to  the 
Order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  or  not.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
in  many  localities  most  of  the  farmers  did  belong  to  granges. 
The  regular  agricultural  societies  of  the  time  took  no  part  in 
the  movement.  The  hitherto  numerous  farmers'  clubs  and  so- 
cieties, other  than  granges,  had  nearly  all  suspended  opera- 
tion, or  had  been  transformed  bodily  into  granges.  The  grange 
was  practically  the  only  vital  farmers'  organization  during  this 


534.  St.  Paul  DaUy  Pioneer,  Sept.  2,  1873,  p.  2,  c.  1;  St.  Paul  Daily 
Press,  Aug.  19,  1873,  p.  1,  c.  1. 

535.  Farmers'  Union,  Aug.  16,  1873,  p.  261,  c.  2. 

536.  For  example,  North  Star  Grange   (St.  Paul)   by  unanimous  res- 
olution; Farmers'  Union,  Aug.   23,    1873,   p.   269,   c.   1. 

537.  See  Anti-Monopolist,  July  16,  1874. 


128  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

period.  Though  the  granges  could  take  no  active  part  in 
politics  officially,  yet  they  continued  as  before  to  afford  a  com- 
mon meeting  place  where  farmers  could  discuss  more  or  less 
formally  the  questions  in  which  they  were  so  vitally  interested 
and  come  to  an  informal  understanding  on  issues  and  candi- 
dates. 

The  Owatonna  convention  was  not  so  well  attended  as  many 
had  hoped  for,  although  twenty-three  counties  were  repre- 
sented.^^^  A  long  series  of  resolutions  was  drawn  up  and 
adopted,  which  was  to  serve  as  the  platform  of  the  new  Anti- 
monopoly  party.  They  pledged  themselves  to  recognize  no 
political  party  or  candidate  as  worthy  of  support  which  did 
not  declare  that  the  government  cannot  alienate  its  sovereignty, 
either  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  any  person,  association,  or  cor- 
poration, for  any  purpose  whatever.  They  would  support  no 
candidate  who  objected  to  the  exercise  by  the  legislature  of  its 
power  to  reverse  or  annul  at  any  time  the  chartered  privilege, 
or  "so-called  vested  rights"  when  exercised  by  the  corporation 
to  the  detriment  of  public  welfare.  They  also  condemned  pro- 
tective tariff,  high  official  and  congressional  salaries,  and  ''back 
pay."  They  condemned  the  wood  and  coal  rings  which  mo- 
nopolized the  fuel  supply  in  the  cities.  They  favored  free 
water  communication  with  the  ocean.  They  held  that  the  state 
ought  to  bear  the  cost  of  suits  against  railroad  companies,  and 
commended  the  state  supreme  court  on  its  decision  in  the  case 
of  Blake  vs.  The  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  company. 
Farmers  and  laborers  were  advised  to  choose  and  elect  their 
own  candidates  in  the  coming  elections,  independent  of  the 
action  of  all  other  political  organizations.'*''^ 

The  convention  nominated  candidates  for  all  state  offices, 
and  urged  the  minor  political  subdivisions  of  the  state  likewise 
to  present  complete  tickets  at  the  coming  election. 

During  the  campaign  on  the  stump  and  through  the  press, 
the  Republicans  showed  that  the  law  of  1871  had  been  enacted 
by  a  Republican  legislature  and  had  been  upheld  by  Repub- 
lican judges.     They  claimed  that  they  continued  to  support 

538.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Sept.  3,  1873,  p.  1,  c.  1. 

539.  Ibid.,  Sept.  3,  1873,  p.  1.  c.  2;  Farmers'  Union,  Sept.  6,  1873,  p. 
285,  c.  1-3.  The  resolutions  are  also  given  in  full  in  Martin, 
History  of  the  Grange  Movement,  p.  510. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  129 

the  reform  movement,  and  that  they  were  pledged  to  further 
reform  legislation.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Anti-monopolists 
insisted  that  the  law  of  1871  had  never  been  enforced  by  the 
Republican  officials,  the  railroads  having  disregarded  it  from 
the  start.  They  contended  that  the  pledges  of  the  Republican 
platform  referred  only  to  future  roads  and  further  grants  to 
existing  roads,  and  that  they  seemed  to  imply  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  vested  rights  in  former  grants.^^^ 

The  railroads  were  by  no  means  disinterested  observers 
during  this  campaign.  They  realized  that  much  was  at  stake 
and  made  free  use  of  passes  and  other  valuable  considerations 
which  they  were  in  a  position  to  offer.^*^ 

During  the  years  1872  and  1873  a  fierce  railroad  war  was 
waged,  in  which  Minnesota  was  vitally  interested.  The  people 
of  the  state  had  long  been  looking  for  the  completion  of  a  rail- 
road connecting  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  with  Duluth,  to 
bring  into  competition  with  the  all-railroad  route  to  Chicago 
a  cheaper  route  eastward  via  the  great  lakes,  and  thus  to  re- 
duce rates  on  products  sold  and  on  goods  shipped  in.  And 
low  rates  came  almost  immediately  on  the  opening  of  the  new 
road.  The  distance  from  the  Twin  Cities  to  Duluth  is  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-six  miles,  while  the  distance  to  Chicago  is  four 
hundred  miles.  The  promoters  of  the  Lake  Superior  and  Mis- 
sissippi railroad  company  figured  on  doing  most  of  the  carry- 
ing trade,  during  the  season  of  lake  navigation,  for  the  entire 
section  of  the  country  comprising  all  of  Minnesota  and  the  Da- 
kotas  and  the  parts  of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  nearer  Duluth  than 
Chicago.  But  President  Mitchell  of  the  Milwaukee  and  St. 
Paul  railroad  issued  a  decree  '^ making  every  station  on  its  road 
as  near  Chicago  on  Lake  Michigan  as  Duluth  on  Lake  Supe- 
rior," and  though  the  actual  difference  in  distance  in  many 
cases  was  fully  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  this  difference  was 
to  be  ignored  in  fixing  freight  charges.^^^ 

Rates  were  fixed  in  such  a  way  that  cities  and  towns  within 
fifty  miles  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  were  practically  com- 
pelled to  sell  their  produce  and  buy  their  goods  in  Chicago. 


540.  Federal  Union,  July  25,  1873,  p.   2,   c.   4. 

541.  Stickney,  The  Railway   Problem,  p.   100. 

542.  Ibid.,   p.   98. 
9 


130  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

While  this  rate  war  was  on,  the  farmers  in  many  districts  en- 
joyed extremely  low  transportation  rates,  but  the  railroads 
had  to  recoup  themselves  the  best  they  could  during  seasons 
of  closed  navigation  and  in  districts  where  competition  was  not 
strong.  It  was  claimed  that  districts  in  Wisconsin  had  to  pay 
a  considerable  part  of  the  expense  of  the  transportation  of 
favored  sections  in  Minnesota  during  this  rate  war,^*^  and  this 
may  account  to  some  extent  for  the  strength  of  the  granger 
movement  in  Wisconsin  at  this  time. 

There  was  little  or  no  anti-railroad  agitation  in  Minnesota 
in  1872.  It  may  be  that  the  people  were  waiting  to  see  what 
the  results  of  the  legislation  enacted  in  1871  would  be,  and  of 
the  contest  between  the  railroads.  But  in  1873,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  anti-railroad  sentiment  in  this  state  was  not  to  be 
ignored — a  sentiment  shared,  however,  by  many  other  states.'^** 

In  September,  1873,  the  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railroad 
joined  with  the  West  Wisconsin  and  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter 
railroads  in  raising  the  rate  on  w^heat  to  Chicago  three  cents  a 
bushel.'^*^  The  Northern  Pacific,  which  had  control  of  the  Lake 
Superior  and  Mississippi  railroad  and  connections,^^*  did  not 
make  any  advance  in  rates  and  was  highly  commended  by 
many  for  its  action.^*'  The  concerted  increase  of  railroad  rates 
called  forth  a  storm  of  indignation  and  gave  new  impetus  to 
the  granger  movement.^^^ 

In  the  midst  of  this  intense  agitation  came  the  panic  of 
1873.     This  financial  crisis  was  the  inevitable  conclusion  of 

543.  Ibid.,  p.  112. 

544.  Railway  Gazette,  Dec.  27,  1873,  'The  Railroad  Year."  Under 
this  caption  the  paper  says  the  year  has  been  distinguished  by 
the  growth  of  distrust  and  jealousy  of  railroads,  and  gives  in- 
stances from  a  number  of  states  not  usually  classed  as  granger 
states,   namely,  Wisconsin,   Illinois,  Iowa,   and  Minnesota. 

545.  Duluth  Weekly  Tribune,  Sept,  18,   1873. 

546.  To  make  connections  with  the  Twin  Cities  from  Duluth,  the 
Northern  Pacific  leased  three  connecting  lines:  the  Lake  Supe- 
rior and  Mississippi,  May  1,  1872;  the  Minneapolis  and  Duluth, 
Sept.  1,  1871;  and  the  Stillwater  and  St.  Paul,  Nov.  1,  1870.  See 
Railroad  Commissioner's  Reports  for  1871,  p.  40,  app.,  and  1873, 
p.  163  app. 

547.  Duluth  Minnesotian,  Sept.  20,  1873;  Nov.  1,  1873,  from  the  St. 
Paul  Press,  Oct.  29. 

548.  Duluth  Weekly  Tribune,  Sept.  18,  1873,  "The  Three  Cent  Ex- 
tortion" (from  St.  Paul  Press);  Duluth  Minnesotian,  Sept.  20, 
1873,  "Increase  of  Railroad  Charges;"  Farmer^'  Union,  Sept.  27, 
J873,  p.  308,  c.  2,  "A  Protest," 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  131 

an  era  of  over-speculation  and  misdirected  production,  and  it 
was  national  and  international  in  its  scope.  In  this  country 
money  had  been  scarce  and  the  rate  of  interest  high  at  dif- 
ferent times  during  the  two  preceding  years.  The  crisis  was 
precipitated  September  18,  by  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke,  who 
had  been  unable  to  float  a  large  issue  of  Northern  Pacific 
bonds.  The  news  of  this  failure  shattered  all  confidence,  and  a 
general  panic  ensued  on  Wall  street,  thence  spreading  over 
the  whole  country. 

Minnesota  had  also  had  her  share  of  speculation.  Railroads 
had  been  pushed  as  never  before,  and  almost  altogether  on 
borrowed  capital,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  different  railroad 
companies  had  been  showing  deficits  at  the  end  of  each  year.'^*^ 
As  in  the  other  Granger  states,  railroads  were  built  far  beyond 
present  business  demands.  Enormous  sums  of  capital  were 
tied  up  for  the  time  unproductively,  and  in  such  amounts  per 
railroad  mile  as  to  offer  little  hope  for  remunerative  returns 
for  some  time  to  come.  Business  enterprises  of  all  kinds  were 
undertaken  with  frontier  optimism,  and  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent on  borrowed  capital,  for  money  at  the  time  was  plentiful. 

But  when  the  crash  came  ready  cash  disappeared  and  busi- 
ness operations  were  suspended.  Even  the  farmer  found  it 
nearly  impossible  to  dispose  of  his  products.^^^  Fortunately 
Minnesota  had  comparatively  few  business  failures,^^^  and,  as 
the  crops  that  summer  had  been  reasonably  good  in  spite  of 
local  devastation  by  the  grasshoppers,^^^  the  people  of  the  state 
looked  upon  the  depression  as  merely  temporary. 

The  railroads  suffered  severely,  it  is  true,  but  their  '' ab- 
sentee owners,"  who  were  popularly  ranked  with  tyrants  and 
oppressors,  did  not  get  much  sympathy.  The  farmers  through- 
out the  middle  west  had  been  in  arms  against  ''railroads  and 
monopolies"  for  several  years,  and  now  it  was  freely  charged 


549.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,  1871,  appendix:  1872,  app.,  p. 
207;  1873,  app.,  p.  231;  Railroad  Gazette,  Oct.  11,  1873,  p.  414; 
Poor's  Manual  of  the  Railroads  of  the  United  States,  for  1872-3, 
pp.  xlii  and  xliii;  for  1873-4,  pp.  xl  and  xli. 

550.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Sept.  19,  1873,  p.  4,  c.  2,  "The  Sense- 
less Panic." 

551.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Sept.  20,  1873,  p.  4,  c.  2;  St.  Paul  Daily 
Dispatch,  Sept.  19,  1873,  p.  4,  c.  2;  Oct.  10,  1873,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

552.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,   Sept.  20,   1873,  p.   2,  c.   1. 


132  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

that  they  had  thereby  shaken  public  confidence  in  railroad  in- 
vestments and  brought  ruin  to  the  country.  The  grangers  in 
-turn  pointed  to  the  recent  disclosures  of  immense  frauds  in 
connection  with  several  of  the  larger  railroads  and  particu- 
larly to  the  Credit  Mobilier,^^^  and  saw  in  this  a  sufficient  rea- 
son for  a  shaken  faith  in  railroads  as  operated  at  the  time. 
Some  might  admit  that  their  warfare  had  precipitated  an  un- 
avoidable catastrophe,  but  they  denied  being  in  any  way  its 
cause.  They  believed  for  a  while  that  after  all  the  panic  was 
only  a  flurry  in  the  fictitious  values  in  which  the  speculators 
had  been  interested,  and  that  good  honest  industry,  the  eco- 
nomic ''bone  and  sinew"  of  the  country,  would  not  be  mate- 
rially affected.*^^* 

The  grangers  remained  firm  in  their  conviction  that  their 
cause  was  just  and  continued  their  fight  for  railroad  regula- 
tion. The  campaign  seemed  in  the  main  unafi'ected  by  the 
panic. 

The  Olmsted  County  Council  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry  met 
October  17.  They  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  state  and  general  government  to  establish  rea- 
sonable maximum  rates  of  freight  upon  railroads.  The  Coun- 
cil submitted  twenty-five  questions  to  the  subordinate  granges 
of  the  county  for  discussion.  None  of  these  referred  to  the 
railroad  or  monopoly  problems  of  the  time.  This  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  they  intended  to  live  up  to  the  letter  of  the  law  and 
not  formally  discuss  political  questions  in  the  granges.^"*^ 

The  Democrats  and  Liberal  Republicans  met  in  state  con- 
vention at  St.  Paul  on  September  24  and  formally  endorsed  the 

553.  See  House  of  Representatives,  42d  Congress,  3d  session,  Report 
No.  77,  Credit  Mobilier  Investigation,  Feb.  18,  1873  (pp.  xix. 
523);  Report  No.  78,  Affairs  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany, Feb.  20,  1873  (pp.  xxvi,  770);  Report  No.  78,  part  2;  Re- 
ports No.  81,  82,  and  95;  Senate  Report  No.  519,  42d  Congress, 
3d  session,  Feb.  27,  1873  (pp.  xxxvi,  162);  J.  E.  Stevenson, 
Speeches  in   the  House  of  Representatives,  Feb.   26   and   March 

1,  1873,  and  Exhibit  of  Credit  Mobilier  Legislation  and  Oper- 
ations (Wash.,  1873);  J.  B.  Crawford,  The  Credit  Mobilier  of 
America,  its  Origin  and  History;  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Oct. 
3,  1873,  p.  2,  c.  1;  Farmers'  Union,  Oct.  4,  1873,  p.  308,  c.  3;  The 
Duluth  Minnesotian,  Sept.  27,  1873;  Cultivator  and  Country 
Gentleman,   Oct.   23,   1873,  XXXVIII,   683,  "Cause  of  the  Panic." 

554.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Oct.   23,   1873,  p.   2,  c.   1;  Nov.  1,  1873,   p. 

2,  c.  2;  Nov.  9,  1873. 

555.  The  Minnesota  Record   (Rochester),  Oct.   25,   1873. 


i 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  133 

platform  and  candidates  presented  by  the  Anti-Monopolists  at 
Owatonna/'^^  It  was  believed  that  concerted  action  on  the 
part  of  all  the  opposition  forces  would  inevitably  lead  to  a 
Republican  defeat  at  the  polls  in  November. 

The  unusual  interest  taken  in  this  off-year  election  is  shown 
by  the  comparativelj^  heavy  vote  cast  throughout  the  state  on 
election  day.  The  voting  was  frequently  for  men  rather  than 
parties.  The  number  of  votes  received  by  different  men  on 
the  same  ticket  varied  considerably.  Of  the  state  offices,  the 
most  lively  contest  was  for  the  office  of  state  treasurer.  Dur- 
ing the  legislative  session  of  the  previous  winter  the  treasurer 
had  been  accused  of  placing  state  money  at  the  disposal  of  a 
''gang  of  St.  Paul  politicians"  without  securing  to  the  state 
any  compensation  for  its  use.^"''  An  investigation  followed 
which  disclosed  a  number  of  irregularities.  The  state  treas- 
urer was  receiving  a  comparatively  small  salary,  but  through  a 
secret,  well-established  practice  of  depositing  the  state  money 
judiciously  the  party  in  power  was  enabled  to  strengthen  its 
organization  and  the  treasurer  could  add  materially  to  his 
rather  meager  income.  When  these  facts  became  known  a  gen- 
eral hue  and  cry  for  reform  was  raised,  and  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1873  great  political  capital  was  made  of  this  example 
of  "Republican  corruption  and  mismanagement." 

The  Republican  convention  had  made  a  tactical  mistake  in 
not  nominating  for  state  treasurer  Mr.  E.  W.  Dyke,  whom 
Governor  Austin  had  appointed  to  fill  the  resigned  treasurer's 
place,  and  who  had  filled  this  position,  creditably.  The  oppo- 
sition element  saw  in  this  another  flagrant  example  of  "ring" 
rule  within  the  Republican  ranks,  and  the  Anti-monopolists, 
seizing  their  opportunity,  nominated  Mr.  Dyke  as  their  candi- 
date for  this  office. 

In  the  November  election  the  Republicans  were  victorious.. 
They  elected  the  entire  state  ticket,  with  the  exception  of 
treasurer.  To  this  position  Mr.  Dyke  was. elected  by  a  good 
majority.  i 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  six  representatives,  the  Republi-. 

556.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Sept.  25,  p.  2,  c.  1;  Duluth  Minnesotian. 
Sept.   27,   1873,   "The  Demo-Liberal   Convention.'^ 

557.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Oct.  20,  1873,  p.  2,  c.  1;  Oct.  27,  p.  2,  c. 
1;  Nov.  1,  p.  2,  c.  1. 


134  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

cans  elected  seventy-eight.  Of  twenty  senators  to  be  chosen 
at  this  election,  the  Republicans  elected  a  sufficient  number  to 
give  them  thirty  out  of  a  total  of  forty-one  members  of  the 
Senate.^^^  This  was  an  increase  in  the  Republican  member- 
ship in  both  the  House  and  Senate  over  the  preceding  year.^^^ 
The  defeat  of  the  opposition  was  variously  explained.  The  St. 
Paul  Pioneer  claimed  that  it  was  due  to  lack  of  efficient  cam- 
paign organization,  asserting  that  the  Democratic  state  central 
committee  had  never  met,  and  that  the  Anti-monopoly  com- 
mittee had  likewise  done  absolutely  nothing  to  keep  able  men 
in  the  field.^«« 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  defeat  of  the  Anti-mo- 
nopoly party  and  its  allies  did  not  mean  the  overthrow  of  the 
farmers'  movement.  By  nominating  C.  K.  Davis,  a  known 
sympathizer  with  the  grangers,  for  governor,  the  Republican 
party  practically  adopted  this  movement  as  its  own,  and  seri- 
ously interfered  with  the  plans  of  Mr.  Donnelly  and  others  to 
identify  the  anti-monopoly  movement  with  a  new  political 
party. '^^^  A  letter  which  Mr.  Davis  published  shortly  after  his 
nomination  was  instrumental  in  reassuring  many  whose  faith 
in  the  party  was  wavering.^*^  Had  Mr.  Dyke  been  nominated 
state  treasurer  by  the  Republicans,  the  opposition  party  would 
have  made  a  sorry  showing.  All  Republicans  were  by  no 
means  in  accord  with  the  granger  ideas  of  their  gubernatorial 
candidate.  This  was  evident  at  the  state  convention,  and  later 
throughout  the  campaign.  But  under  his  leadership  the  gran- 
ger element  remained  in  the  ascendency  and  the  party  gained 
a  decisive  victory  at  the  polls. 

The  interest  in  the  railroad  question  did  not  subside  after 
election.  Although  the  railroads  were  about  to  go  into  the 
hands  of  receivers,  the  people  remained  determined  that  they 
should  be  compelled  to  submit  to  law. 

During  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Grange  held  in 
Faribault  in  December,  the  State  Master  delivered  an  address 


558.  World  Almanac,  1873,  p.  42. 

559.  Cf.  World  Almanac.   1872,  p.  69. 

560.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Nov.  12,   1873,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

561.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  July  17,   1873,  p.  1,  c.  1;  Aug.   19.   1873,   p. 
1,  c.  1. 

562.  Smalley,   The  History  of  the   Republican   Party,  p.    196. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  135 

on  transportation.  Although  he  had  opposed  political  action 
on  the  part  of  subordinate  granges,  his  speech  was  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  the  farmers  in  their  complaints  of  exorbitant 
and  unjust  tariffs  and  in  their  demands  for  reduced  rates.  He 
held  that  since  the  railroads  of  the  state  had  been  largely  built 
by  the  people  through  land  grants  and  bonuses,  it  was  unjust 
for  them  to  earn  dividends  on  other  than  their  actual  invest- 
ments and  thus  make  the  people  pay  dividends  on  their  own 
donations.  He  therefore  recommended  that  the  State  Grange 
send  a  select  committee  to  the  next  legislature  to  assist  in  the 
framing  of  a  law  looking  to  the  correction  of  the  evils  of  the 
existing  system  of  transportation.  He  also  recommended  that 
assessments  be  levied  on  the  granges  for  carrying  on  any  suit 
in  which  the  validity  of  such  a  law  might  be  contested.^®^ 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  Mr.  Parsons  could  con- 
strue such  action  on  the  part  of  the  State  Grange  to  be  any- 
thing but  political  in  its  nature.  Later  in  the  session  a  motion 
to  provide  for  such  a  ''lobbying"  committee  as  recommended 
by  the  State  Master  was  voted  down  because  of  the  expense 
involved,  and  especially  because  many  deemed  the  plan  dis- 
creditable to  the  Order.^^* 

CHAPTER  XIII.  ' 

THE  GRANGER  LEGISLATION  OF  1874. 

During  the  campaign  of  1873,  as  we  have  seen,  the  railroad 
question  was  the  most  vital  issue  in  most  parts  of  the  state. 
The  widespread  dissatisfaction  with  the  railroad  management 
of  the  time  found  expression  through  caucuses  and  conven- 
tions, in  party  platforms,  and  in  campaign  speeches,  and  was 
voiced  in  no  uncertain  tone  on  election  day.  In  the  legislature 
which  met  in  January,  1874,  a  large  majority,  regardless  of 
party  affiliations,  had  been  pledged  to  railroad  regulation.  Of 
the  one  hundred  and  six  members  of  the  House  sixty-four  were 
farmers,  and  there  was  also  a  good  sprinkling  of  farmers  in 
the  Senate.^^^     Most  of  these  were  Patrons  and  came  as  ''ex- 


563.  Farmers'  Union,  Dec.  27,  1873,  p.  412,  c.  4-7. 

564.  Ibid.,  March  7,  1894,  p.  68,  c.  1. 

565.  Minn.    Legislative    Manual,    1874,    pp.    148-153;    Farmers'   Union, 
July   18,   1874,   p.   220,  c.   1. 


136  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

press  representatives  of  the  Grange  movement. ' '  ^®^  There 
seems  to  have  been  a  general  feeling  of  confidence  in  these 
legislators.  Most  of  them  v^ere  believed  to  be  men  who  had 
the  ''moral  courage  to  attack  iniquity  in  its  very  citadel. "^^^ 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  the  more  radical  element  tried 
to  unite  all  those  who  were  pledged  to  reform  and  thus  cap- 
ture the  organization  of  the  House.  All  "anti-monopolists," 
without  regard  to  former  party  ties,  were  invited  to  meet  in 
a  caucus  to  nominate  candidates  for  the  elective  House 
offices.^^^  Their  candidate  for  speaker,  a  member  of  the 
grange,  lost  out  by  only  three  votes.  Many  felt  this  defeat 
keenly  and  took  it  as  an  indication  that  the  cause  was  lost  for 
the  time  being.^^^  The  Pioneer,  in  commenting  on  the  organ- 
ization of  the  House,  expressed  itself  as  follows  :^^*^  ' '  It  was  to 
their  credit  that  a  few  members  of  the  House  elected  on  the 
Republican  ticket  came  here  with  an  honest  purpose  to  aid 
reform.  It  was  to  their  discredit  that  the  ring-master,  with 
whip  and  club,  drove  them  into  the  monopoly  trap,  by  which 
the  organization  of  the  legislature  Avill  be  handed  over  in  all 
its  parts  to  those  corrupt  and  venal  few  who  have  so  long 
preyed  on  the  vitals  of  the  state.  *  *  *  The  party  of 
monopoly  and  corruption  is  still  in  the  ascendant  in  Minne- 
sota." 

Mr.  Donnelly,  who  had  been  elected  senator,  immediately 
expressed  lack  of  faith  in  the  legislature  and  began  prepara- 
tions for  a  new  campaign.  He  was  appointed  to  serve  on  the 
Senate  railroad  committee,  but  refused  to  meet  with  the  other 
members  because  he  did  not  believe  they  were  in  sympathy 
with  the  people."^ 

Governor  Austin,  in  his  final  message  to  the  legislature, 
reviewed  the  railroad  situation  at  length.  It  is  evident,  from 
his  recommendations  and  remarks,  that  his  position  in  regard 
to  railroad  regulation  remained  unchanged.  The  state  supreme 
court  had  upheld  the  constitutionality  of  the  law  of  1871  in 

566.  Farmers'  Union,  .July  18,  1874,  p.  220,  c.  1;   "Mr.  Donnelly  once 
more." 

567.  St.  Paul  Weekly  Pioneer,   Feb.   20,    1874. 

568.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,   Jan.   5,   1874. 

569.  Ibid.,  Jan.  7,  1874;  "Defeated  by  Treachery." 

570.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Jan.  4,  1874. 

571.  Farmers'  Union,  Feb.  21,   1874,  p.  52,   c.   2. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  137 

the  Blake  cases,  but  the  railroad  company  had  appealed  to  the 
federal  supreme  court.  The  governor  deemed  it  advisable  to 
make  it  the  duty  of  the  attorney  general,  or  of  the  railroad 
commissioner,  hereafter  to  prosecute  suits  of  this  nature  at  the 
public  expense. ^^^  He  believed  that  the  law  of  1871,  if  main- 
tained, would  be  found  too  arbitratry  and  inelastic,  especially 
because  all  railroads  could  not  justly  be  required  to  carry 
freight  and  passengers  at  the  same  rates.^^^  He  recommended 
that  complaints  against  railroad  companies  should  be  heard 
and  determined  by  a  board  to  consist  of  the  railroad  commis- 
sioner and  a  number  of  efficient  men  appointed  to  serve  with 
him.^^"*  He  approved  of  adopting  in  the  main  the  French  plan 
of  strict  government  inspection  and  supervision  of  all  roads, 
the  regulation  of  their  charges,  and  allowing  no  tariff  ad- 
vances without  showing  good  cause  and  obtaining  leave. "^^^ 
He  believed  as  before,  however,  that  cheap  transportation  could 
only  be  secured  by  improving  and  extending  the  waterways. 

He  urged  a  considerate  attention  to  the  claims  of  foreign 
creditors  at  this  time  of  financial  depression.  The  railroads  of 
the  state  had  been  built  largely  by  foreign  capital,  the  St.  Paul 
and  Pacific  alone  having  twenty-six  million  dollars  in  bonds  held 
in  Holland.  Though  the  money  had  in  many  cases  not  been 
honestly  applied,  he  considered  the  claims  just  and  worthy  of 
consideration.^^® 

The  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  company  stood  in  need 
of  legislative  confirmation  of  its  claims  to  certain  lands.  The 
governor  suggested  that  in  this,  as  in  other  cases  where  rem- 
edial legislation  was  sought,  it  should  be  given  with  such  con- 
ditions as  would  expressly  secure  the  company's  submission 
to  the  general  laws  and  regulations  of  the  state.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  legislature  had  frequently  embodied  special  provi- 
sions as  to  reasonable  rates  in  such  enactments,  but  these  had 
not  gone  to  the  extent  of  requiring  a  full  surrender  of  their 
special  privileges.  Since  all  the  special  charter  railroads  had 
not  come  before  the  legislature  at  the  same  time  for  relief,  it 


572.  Minn.  Exec.  Docs.,  1873,  vol.   1,  Governor's  Message,  p.  16, 

573.  Ibid.,  p.   18. 

574.  Ibid.,  p.   19. 

575.  Ibid.,   p.   20. 

576.  Ibid.,   pp.  11-12.  ' 


138  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

had  been  repeatedly  argued  with  effect  that  such  a  provision 
in  an  individual  instance  would  be  an  "unfriendly  and  unjust 
discrimination. ' '  ^" 

Governor  Davis,  in  his  inaugural  address,  showed  himself 
equally  interested  in  securing  reform.  He  was  not  certain  that 
the  law  of  1871  would  be  binding  on  other  railroad  companies, 
even  though  it  were  held  applicable  to  the  Winona  and  St. 
Peter.^^^  He  considered  the  claims  of  the  special  charter  rail- 
roads, if  upheld,  a  standing  menace  to  the  state.  He  proposed 
two  remedies.  First,  the  state 's  right  of  eminent  domain  might 
be  applied  to  the  railroads  in  such  a  way  that  the  state  on 
payment  of  just  compensation  could  acquire  the  right  to  pre- 
scribe rates.  The  measure  of  such  compensation  could  not  be 
what  abuse  and  extortion  on  the  part  of  the  companies  would 
yield  if  permitted  to  continue  forever,  but  would  have  a  more 
reasonable  standard.^^®  Second,  he  recommended  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  prescribing  that  when  any  statute  is  enacted 
in  favor  of  or  for  the  benefit  of  a  company  at  its  instance,  the 
company  should  by  the  mere  force  of  the  beneficial  enactment 
be  subject  to  such  duties  and  control  by  the  state  as  the  amend- 
ment might  propose.  Since  railroad  companies  were  frequently 
in  need  of  such  favorable  and  enabling  legislation,  he  believed 
such  a  policy  would  soon  annihilate  the  claims  of  the  special 
charter  companies  to  self-regulation. ^®°  The  new  constitution 
of  Pennsylvania,  adopted  in  1873,  contained  such  a  provi- 
sion.^^^  As  we  have  seen  the  retiring  governor  recommended 
a  similar  plan,  but  not  so  fully  developed. 

The  railroad  commissioner,  in  his  annual  report,  complained 
that  his  powers  were  too  limited  to  remedy  the  railroad  abuses. 
He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  could  not  commence 
suits  against  railroad  companies  and  had  no  power  to  prevent 
extortions,  his  duties  being  mainly  limited  by  the  law  to  the 
collection  of  facts  and  statistics  for  the  information  of  the  leg- 
islature.^^^    He  made  no  recommendations  in  this  regard,  but 


577.  Ibid.,  pp.  13-14. 

578.  Ibid,,  Inaugural  Address,  p.  12. 

579.  Ibid.,  p.  13. 

580.  Ibid.,  pp.  13-14. 

581.  Const,  of  Penn.    (operative  Jan.   1,   1874),   Art.   17,   sec.   10. 

582.  Railroad  Commissioner's   Report,    1873,   pp.   v  and   vi. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  139 

left  it  to  the  legislature  to  determine  whether  an  extension  of 
powers  would  be  advisable. 

The  commissioner  had  continued  his  investigation  of  rail- 
road lands  which  were  legally  subject  to  taxation,  and  re- 
ported new  cases  of  evasion."'^'^  Most  of  the  companies  paid 
their  gross  income  tax  promptly,  but  where  the  companies  neg- 
lected or  refused  to  make  returns  of  their  gross  earnings  there 
was  no  proper  method  provided  by  law  for  its  collection.  He 
recommended  legislation  to  remedy  this  defect.^'®'* 

Various  remedies  against  unreasonable  rates  are  discussed. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  most  of  the  railroads  of  the  state  were 
bound  by  their  charters  to  transport  freight  at  reasonable 
rates,  and  since  proofs  as  to  reasonableness  or  unreasonable- 
ness were  mostly  in  the  exclusive  possession  of  the  railroad 
companies,  he  contended  that  the  burden  of  proof  ought  to  be 
shifted  from  the  shipper  to  the  companj^,  and  that  the  legisla- 
ture should  establish  certain  rates  to  be  prima  facie  reasonable. 
The  railroads  would  be  permitted  to  bring  forward  proofs  to 
rebut  this  assumption  of  reasonableness."'*-^ 

The  railroads  continued  to  insist  on  their  'S^ested  rights" 
and  immunity  from  the  general  laws  and  regulations.  Dis- 
criminations continued  to  be  the  rule,  rather  than  the  excep- 
tion. The  commissioner  believed  that  as  long  as  the  railroads 
insisted  on  these  wrongs,  so  long  would  the  revolt  against  them 
assume  greater  and  greater  magnitude. ^^"^  He  again  reviewed 
the  federal,  state,  and  municipal  aid  to  the  railroads  of  the 
state,  and  contended  that  the  people  had  not  shown  themselves 
unfriendly  to  the  railroads  as  often  charged.  They  had  been 
liberally  dealt  with  in  franchises,  land  grants,  bonuses,  and 
right-of-way  donations;  and  all  that  the  people  ask  for  these 
prodigal  gifts,  said  he,  is  security  from  extortion  and  freedom 
from  unjust  discrimination.^*^ 

The  great  question  before  the  legislature  of  1874  was  the 
solution  of  the  perplexing  railroad  problem.  All  agreed  that 
something  must  be  done,  but  there  was  a  great  variety  of  opin- 


583. 

Ibid., 

pp.  vi-xi. 

584. 

Ibid., 

p.  xiv. 

585. 

Ibid., 

pp.  xlv-xlvi 

586. 

Ibid., 

p.   Ixiii. 

587. 

Ibid. 

p.  Ixiii. 

140  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ions  in  the  legislature  and  throughout  the  state,  as  to  what 
should  be  done.  Many  held  that  nothing  short  of  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  defining  clearly  the  power  of  the  state  over 
railroads  would  suffice.  St.  Julien  Cox  proposed  in  the  Senate 
to  add  an  article  of  ten  sections  to  the  constitution.^'^^  These 
sections  embodied  the  main  provisions  of  the  recent  Illinois 
and  Pennsylvania  constitutions  relating  to  railroads.  -'^^  This 
proposed  amendment  was  received  with  favor  by  many  anti- 
monopolists  in  both  houses,  but  its  consideration  was  indefi- 
nitely postponed  by  a  vote  of  eighteen  to  thirteen."'^"  One  pro- 
vision of  this  proposed  amendment  for])idding  the  consolida- 
tion of  parallel  lines  was  later  in  the  session  enacted  as  a  law.^°^ 
It  is  verbatim  from  the  Pennsylvania  constitution,  except  that 
it  applies  to  railroads  only  and  not  to  railroads  and  canals. ^^- 

At  its  annual  meeting  in  December  the  State  Grange  had 
decided  against  maintaining  a  ''lo])bying  committee  at  the 
capital  during  the  legislative  session. •'^'■^'  But  when  the  legis- 
lature met  the  executive  committee  of  the  State  Grange,  at  the 
request  of  a  number  of  legislators,  appointed  a  committee  to 
confer  with  them  as  to  what  legislation  was  desired  by  the 
Patrons  and  farmers  of  the  state. "'"^  Its  members  were  given 
seats  in  the  Senate,  with  the  understanding  that  they  w^ere  to 
look  after  matters  of  interest  to  the  farmers."'^''  In  certain 
quarters  much  was  expected  of  this  committee, •'^^'''  but  little  was 
accomplished  beyond  stirring  up  considerable  ill-feeling  in 
many  of  the  granges  because  it  had  been  appointed  against 
the  express  wishes  of  the  State  Grange. "'^^ 

At  first  the  farmer  element  in  the  legislature  had  a  feeling 
of  distrust  and  jealousy  toward  the  other  members,  which 
threatened  to  interfere  seriously  with  the  legislative  work,  but 

588.  St.  Paul  Evening  Journal,  Jan.  9,  1874;  An  address  to  the  Anti- 
monopoly  Party   in  Minn.,    1874,   p.    9. 

589.  Const,   of  Ills.,   Art.   XI,    sees.    9-15;   Const,    of   Penn.,   Art.   XVII, 
sees.   1-12. 

590.  An  address  to   the  Anti-monopoly  Party   in   Minn.,   1874,   p.   9. 

591.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1874,   ch.   29. 

592.  See  Const,  of  Penn.,  Art.  XVII,  sec.  4. 

593.  Farmers'  Union,  Mch.   7,   1874. 

594.  Ibid.,  March   28,    1874. 

595.  Ibid.,  Feb.  21,   1874,  p.  52,  c.   2. 

596.  Ibid.,   p.  52,  c.  2. 

597.  Ibid.,  March  7,   1874,  p.   68,  c.   1;  March   21,   1874,   p.   84;  Apr.   11, 
1874,  p.   108. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


141 


this  soon  passed  away.'"^**  The  reformers  were  divided  into  two 
main  factions.  The  more  radical  wislied  to  follow  up  the  state 
supreme  court  decision  in  the  Blake  case,  and  advocated  laws 
fixing  the  rates  of  charges  arbitrarily  on  the  plan  of  the  law  of 
1871.  Others  favored  the  enactment  of  a  new  law  framed  on 
the  theory  that  the  railroad  corporations  should  each  be  al- 
lowed to  charge  a  reasonable  toll,  after  taking  into  account  the 
benefits  they  had  received  from  the  people. "''''' 

A  bill  establishing  maximum  reasonable  rates  and  p)rovid- 
ing  stringent  penalties  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  but  met 
the  same  fate  as  the  proposed  constitutional  amendment, — it 
was  indefinitely  postponed.  All  the  six  who  voted  against 
postponement  were  anti-monopolists.  One  had  been  elected  as 
an  independent,  and  five  as  Republicans;  of  tliese  five,  three 
were  grangers.*'"" 

State  senator  Donnelly  introduced  a  bill  based  on  the  law 
of  1871.  Its  main  feature  was  a  provision  that  whenever  any 
railroad  company  refused  to  obey  the  law,  it  should  at  once  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  receivers.  Railroad  companies  were  in 
this  way  to  be  compelled  to  obey  the  law  while  litigation  was 
going  on.  They  were  not  to  have  the  privilege  of  refusing 
obedience  until  the  law  had  been  sustained  in  the  highest 
courts.''"^ 

In  the  House  a  bill  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Crandall,  and 
was  favorably  reported  by  the  committee  of  the  whole.""-  This 
bill  was  in  the  main  like  the  Illinois  railroad  law,  but  it  in- 
cluded a  maximum  rate  above  which  the  railroad  commission- 
ers were  not  to  go  in  fixing  rates.  The  railroads  Avere  to  be 
divided  into  classes  according  to  the  amount  of  business  done, 
and  rates  were  to  be  prescribed  for  each  separately.""^  This 
bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  sixty-five  to  twenty-nine,""'' 
but  came  only  as  far  as  the  second  reading  in  the  Senate.""^ 

598.  Ibid.,  Feb.  14,   1874,  p.   44,  c.   2. 

599.  Owatonna  Journal,   Apr.    9,   1874;   Speech   by  Hon.  Amos  Coggs- 
well. 

600.  An  Address   to   the  Anti-Monopoly   Party   in   Minn.,   1874,   p.   10. 

601.  Ibid.,  p.  10. 

602.  House  Journal,   1874,  p.   185;  H.  F.  No.  36. 

603.  Farmers'   Union,    Feb.   14,    1874,   p.   44;   see  also   Feb.   21  and   28. 

604.  House  Journal,   1874,   p.   217;   H.  F.  No.   36. 

605.  Senate  Journal,   1874;  see  Index,  p.  622,  Bills  of  the  House,  No. 


142  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  House  indefinitely  postponed  a  bill  to  provide  for  the 
appointment  of  a  board  of  railroad  commissioner s,'''^''  but  passed 
a  bill  creating  the  office  of  assistant  railroad  commissioner.^"^ 
A  number  of  bills  were  also  under  consideration  in  the  Sen- 
ate, when  its  Railroad  Committee  introduced  a  substitute  bill 
for  all  pending  railroad  bills,  including  those  passed  by  the 
House. ®"^  This  bill  passed  the  Senate,*"^^  but  did  not  prove 
stringent  enough  to  suit  the  House.  First  the  committee  on 
railroads,  to  which  it  was  referred,  reported  back  a  substi- 
tute,^^^  but  on  recommitment  they  reported  it  back  with  amend- 
ments and  recommended  its  passage.®^^  Two  successive  con- 
ference committees  were  appointed  before  the  bill  as  amended 
by  the  House  with  some  further  amendments  was  acceptable 
to  both  houses.*'^-  The  House  for  a  long  time  insisted  that  a 
maximum  rate  should  be  fixed  above  which  the  commissioners 
were  not  to  be  allowed  to  go,  but  was  at  last  forced  to  yield.*'^'^ 
The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  eighty-three  to  tliree.*'^* 
In  the  Senate  only  two  votes  were  cast  against  the  bill,  those 
of  Donnelly  and  Drake,^^^  one  the  leader  of  the  new  Anti- 
monopoly  party,  and  the  other  the  president  of  the  Southern 
Minnesota  railroad  and  Republican  leader  in  the  Senate.**'^ 
Donnelly  objected  to  the  bill  because  it  gave  a  commission  of 
three  appointed  by  one  man,  the  governor,  the  power  to  fix 
rates  without  any  limits  whatever.  "The  people  elected  a  leg- 
islature to  regulate  railroads,"  said  he,  ''and  after  sixty  days 
session  the  Republican  majority  discard  all  the  bills  proposed 
by  the  Anti-monopolists,  and  coolly  tell  the  people,  '  You  picked 
the  wrong  men;  we  know  nothing  about  railroads,  we  are  too 
ignorant  and  incapable  to  fix  a  schedule  of  charges.'  '"^^^ 

606.  House  Journal,   1874,   p.   185;  H.  F.  No.  4. 

607.  Ibid.,  p.  235;  H.  F.  No.   86,  here  by   misprint  No.   36. 

608.  Senate  Journal.  1874,  p.  291;  S.  F.  No.  271.  See  Farmers'  Union, 
Feb.   28,   1874. 

609.  Ibid.,  p.  344.     The  vote  stood   29   to  7. 

610.  House  Journal,   1874,   p.   424. 

611.  Ibid.,   p.   463. 

612.  Ibid.,  pp.  498,  550,  and  562.  See  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  March 
6,  1874.  p.  2,  c.  2;  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  March  6,  1874, 
p.  4,  c.   2. 

613.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  March   6,   1874,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

614.  House  Journal,   1874,  p.   563. 

615.  Senate  Journal,    1874,    p.  482. 

616.  Rochester  Post,  March  14,  1874. 

617.  An   Address   to   the   Anti-Monopoly   Party,   1874,   p.    12. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  143 

This  railroad  law  of  1874  ®^^  created  a  board  of  three  rail- 
road commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor,  with  the 
consent  of  the  Senate,  for  a  term  of  two  years.  No  stockhold- 
er, trustee,  assignee,  lessee,  agent  or  employee  of  any  railroad 
corporation  was  to  be  eligible  to  this  office.  The  commission- 
ers were  severally  required  to  give  bonds  with  security  in  the 
sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  the  faithful  performance 
of  their  duties.  The  governor  was  given  authority  to  remove 
any  member  when  convinced  that  he  was  guilty  of  malfeasance 
or  non-feasance  of  official  duties."^ ^  The  salary  of  each  was 
fixed  at  three  thousand  dollars  per  annum  and  necessary  ex- 
penses.*-*^ 

They  were  to  be  in  session  at  all  times  for  the  performance 
of  their  duties,  and  were  required  to  keep  a  record  of  all  their 
proceedings  and  to  make  an  annual  report  to  the  governor, 
containing  such  information  as  would  disclose  the  actual  work- 
ings of  the  system  of  railroad  transportation  in  its  bearings 
upon  the  business  of  the  state  and  such  suggestions  as  they 
might  deem  appropriate.  The  governor  might  also  direct  them 
to  make  special  investigations  and  reports.*^^  They  were  given 
plenary  powers  of  investigation,  and  were  authorized  to  em- 
ploy experts  when  they  deemed  it  necessary.®^^ 

The  commissioners  were  directed  to  make  a  schedule  of 
maximum  legal  rates  of  charges  for  each  of  the  railroads  doing 
business  within  the  state.®^^  Special  charter  railroads  were  not 
excepted.  The  law  fixed  no  maximum  rates  whatever  except 
for  terminal  charges.*-* 

The  published  schedules  were  to  be  deemed  prima  facie 
evidence  of  what  were  reasonable  rates  at  any  given  time.  The 
commissioners  had  authority  to  revise  the  schedules  as  often 
as  circumstances  might  require,  and  the  changes  were  binding 
after  publication  for  three  successive  weeks  in  two  weekly  St. 
Paul  newspapers.*-^    The  act  forbade  unjust  discrimination  of 


618. 

General  Laws  of  Minn. 

1874, 

ch.  26 

619. 

Ibid.,  sec.  1. 

620. 

Ibid.,  sec.  2. 

621. 

Ibid.,  sec.  3. 

-  622. 

Ibid.,  sec.  4. 

623. 

Ibid.,  sec.  5. 

624. 

Ibid.,  sec.  9. 

625. 

Ibid,,  sees.  6  and  7, 

144  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

all  kinds  and  virtually  enforced  flat  pro  rata  transportation 
charges.  Different  companies  might  charge  different  rates,  but 
each  company  was  obliged  to  charge  the  same  rates  at  differ- 
ent points  for  transportation  in  the  same  direction  on  all  parts 
of  its  main  lines,  its  branches,  and  on  other  roads  which  it  used 
or  operated.  All  variations  in  charges  for  services  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances,  directly  or  by  means  of  rebates  or  draw- 
backs, were  made  prima  facie  evidence  of  janjust  discrimina- 
tion, and  competition  with  another  railroad  at  any  point  could 
not  be  proffered  as  a  sufficient  excuse  or  justification.  Com- 
mutation, excursion,  and  thousand  mile  tickets  might  be  issued 
as  before.  Otherwise  there  were  onlj^  two  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule:  Agricultural  products  might  be  shipped  from 
outside  the  state  to  points  within  the  state  at  uniform  rates, 
less  than  the  established  local  rates;  and  lumber  might  be 
transported  to  points  at  least  twenty-five  miles  outside  the 
state  at  special  rates.®-^ 

Railroad  companies  were  required  to  furnish  cars  for  the 
transportation  of  freight  when  requested  to  do  so,  and  to  re- 
ceive all  freight  offered  and  transport  it  with  reasonable  dis- 
patch.*^-^  At  all  points  within  the  state  where  two  or  more 
railroads  intersected,  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  railroads  to 
provide  for  the  convenient  transfer  of  cars  and  freight  from 
one  line  to  another  without  unreasonable  or  unnecessary  de- 
lay.«28 

All  who  owned  coal,  wood,  or  lumber  yards,  elevators,  ware- 
houses, mills  or  factories,  at  or  near  any  railroad,  were  given 
right  of  access  to  the  railroad  tracks  for  necessary  connec- 
tions at  a  reasonable  annual  rental,  which  was  to  be  determined 
by  the  railroad  commissioners  where  the  parties  could  not 
agree.'^® 

If  any  railroad  company  charged  unreasonable  rates  or 
unjustly  discriminated  against  any  person  or  corporation, 
town,  village  or  city,  the  aggrieved  party  had  a  right  to  re- 
cover in  a  civil  action  treble  damages,  together  with  costs  and 


626.  Ibid.,  sec.   9. 

627.  Ibid.,  sec.   10. 

628.  Ibid.,  sees.  11  and  12. 

629.  Ibid.,  sec.  13. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


145 


a  reasonable  attorney's  fee.*'^"  Any  company  guilty  of  violat- 
ing any  provision  of  this  act  was  liable  to  a  fine  of  one  thousand 
dollars  for  the  first  offense,  and  from  two  to  five  thousand  dol- 
lars for  the  second  and  subsequent  offenses.  In  all  cases  aris- 
ing under  the  act,  either  party  had  the  right  to  trial  by  jury.®^^ 
Whenever  final  judgment  was  rendered  against  a  railroad  for 
the  recovery  of  a  penalty  prescribed  by  this  act,  it  became  the 
duty  of  the  railroad  commission  to  institute  quo  warranto  pro- 
ceedings to  procure  the  vacation  of  the  company's  charter  and 
the  extinguishment  of  its  franchises;  and  if  the  company  con- 
tinued to  violate  the  act  while  this  case  was  pending,  the  judge 
before  whom  sueh  proceedings  w^ere  instituted  was  authorized 
to  appoint  receivers  for  the  company.®^^ 

Any  resident  of  the  state  feeling  himself  aggrieved  because 
of  the  violation  of  any  provision  of  this  act  had  the  privilege 
of  making  a  complaint  in  writing  and  under  oath  to  the  board 
of  railroad  commissioners.  If  the  commissioners  on  inquiry 
deemed  it  proper,  they  could  require  the  attorney  general  or 
the  proper  county  attorney  to  bring  suit  against  the  com- 
pany.^^^  Employees  and  agents  of  railroad  companies  were 
made  personally  liable  for  willfully  aiding  in  the  violation  of 
the  law  in  the  same  manner  as  the  railroad  companies  them- 
selves.^^* 

The  act  was  not  to  be  construed  as  repealing  the  common 
law  remedies  against  railroad  abuses,  but  expressly  provided 
that  its  remedies  were  cumulative.  Actions  brought  under  its 
provisions  were  given  precedence  over  ail  other  business  in  the 
courts  of  the  state,  excepting  criminal  business  f^''  and  no  such 
action  commenced  on  behalf  of  the  state  might  be  dismissed 
unless  the  reason  for  dismissal  were  recorded.*'^® 

The  board  of  railroad  commissioners  was  to  possess  the 
powers  and  perform  the  duties  given  the  railroad  commis- 
sioner under  the  law  of  1871,  except  as  changed  in  this  act.®" 


630. 

~Ibid., 

sec. 

15. 

631. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

16. 

632. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

17. 

633. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

19. 

634. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

23. 

635. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

18. 

636. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

22. 

637. 

Ibid., 

sec. 

24. 

10 

146  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  remainder  of  that  law  was  repealed,  as  was  also  the  max- 
imum rate  law  of  that  year,  but  the  repeal  was  not  to  affect 
suits  brought  under  it.®^^ 

The  provisions  of  this  law  were  drawn  freely  from  two  laws 
passed  by  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  namely,  the  act  creating 
a  board  of  railroad  and  warehouse  commissioners,  enacted  in 
237]^  639  ^jj^  g^jj  g^Q^  ^Q  prevent  extortion  and  unjust  discrimi- 
nation, enacted  in  1873.^^^ 

While  competition  alone  was  no  longer  relied  upon  as  an 
efficient  safeguard  against  railroad  extortion  and  abuses,  the 
sentiment  remained  strong  that  competition  must  be  main- 
tained as  far  as  possible.  The  legislature  therefore  passed  an 
act  to  prevent  the  consolidation  of  the  stock,  property,  or 
franchises  of  parallel  or  competing  companies  by  purchase  or 
lease,  nor  were  their  interests  to  be  merged  by  means  of  com- 
mon officers.  The  question  whether  railroads  were  parallel  or 
competing  was  to  be  decided  by  jury  as  in  other  civil  cases.^^^ 

An  act  was  passed  making  railroad  companies  liable  for 
fires  along  their  lines,  such  fires  being  made  prima  facie  evi- 
dence of  carelessness  or  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  company.®^^ 

Another  act  relative  to  proceedings  in  expropriation  for 
railroad  purposes  was  made  applicable  to  all  railroads  whether 
incorporated  under  the  general  law  or  by  special  charter.^^^ 
This  last  feature  virtually  repealed  a  great  amount  of  special 
law,  for  such  provisions  -were  found  in  all  special  charters. 

The  senate  appointed  a  committee  early  in  the  session  to 
investigate  ''elevator  monopoly"  along  the  lines  of  the  St.  Paul 
and  Pacific.^**  On  February  12  this  committee  reported  that 
they  had  conclusively  established  the  fact  that  a  small  group 
of  men  had  enjoyed  a  complete  monopoly  of  handling,  storing, 
and  forwarding  grain  on  the  main  line  of  the  St.  Paul  and 
Pacific  railroad  ever  since  it  was  built.  Written  contracts  had 
been  found  which  gave  them  these  exclusive  privileges.  The 
committee  held  that  a  railroad  is  a  common  carrier  and  as  such 

638.  Ibid.,  sec.  25. 

639.  Revised   Statutes   of  Illinois,    1874,   p.    828. 

640.  Ibid.,  p.  816. 

641.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1874,  ch.  29. 

642.  Ibid.,  ch.   30. 

643.  Ibid.,  ch.   28. 

644.  Senate  Journal,  1874,  p.  86. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  147 

has  no  right  to  establish  a  monopoly  of  the  storage  or  commis- 
sion business,  but  should  be  compelled  to  furnish  facilities  to 
all  who  desired  to  build  warehouses  and  handle  grain.  As  a 
remedy  for  the  evils  complained  of  by  the  farmers  along  the 
line,  the  enactment  and  rigid  enforcement  of  a  suitable  ware- 
house law  was  recommended.  As  a  further  remedy,  an  action 
might  be  brought  against  the  railroad  company  to  vacate  its 
charter  for  the  long  continued  exercise  of  ultra  vires  powers 
to  the  detriment  of  the  people.^''^ 

The  legislature  acted  upon  the  recommendations  of  this 
special  committee.*'^®  A  law  was  enacted  declaring  all  ele- 
vators and  warehouses  situated  on  any  railroad  within  the 
state  to  be  personal  property  and  subject  to  taxation  as  such.^*^ 
By  joint  resolution  the  attorney  general  was  instructed  to  im- 
mediately commence  judicial  proceedings  to  vacate  the  charter 
of  the  First  Division  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad,  or  to 
take  other  action  as  might  be  proper  to  remedy  the  alleged 
abuses.^^^ 

Complaints  with  reference  to  the  handling  of  grain  were 
not  confined  to  any  one  railroad.  They  were  quite  general. 
The  farmers  believed  that  they  were  exploited  both  as  to  grade 
and  weight.  When  they  shipped  their  own  grain  to  market 
the  loss  of  weight  en  route  was  frequently  such  as  to  discour- 
age similar  independent  shipments  in  the  future.  Various 
measures  were  proposed  to  afford  relief.  A  bill  to  revive  the 
common  law  responsibility  of  common  carriers  passed  the  Sen- 
ate but  failed  in  the  House. •^'^^  Another  bill  to  remedy  the  evil 
of  ''shortage  and  stealage"  in  the  transportation  of  grain  by 
requiring  certified  weight  at  the  shipping  point  also  failed.®''^ 
A  bill  was  passed,  however,  which  fixed  the  maximum  charge 
of  two  cents  per  bushel  for  receiving,  elevating,  handling  and 
delivering  grain,  and  provided  that  the  grain  inspector  must 
in  no  way  be  interested  in  the  purchase  and  shipping  of  grain. 


645.  Ibid.,    pp.    231-234;    Report   of   the   special   committee   on   ware- 
houses and  elevators  on  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific. 

646.  See  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Feb.  14,   1874,  p.  2,  c.  2,  "Elevator 
Monopoly." 

647.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,    1874,   ch.   32. 

648.  Ibid.,  p.  310;  Joint  Res.  No.   30. 

649.  An  Address  to  the  Anti-Monopoly  Party,   1874,   p.   10. 

650.  Ibid.,   p.    10. 


148  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

If  a  railroad  company  refused  to  handle  grain  at  the  prescribed 
rate,  any  person  would,  on  demand,  have  the  privilege  of  build- 
ing and  maintaining  a  warehouse  or  elevator  at  the  station, 
without  payment  of  any  compensation  to  the  railroad  com- 
pany. Violations  of  this  act  involved  the  penalty  of  a  fine  of 
from  one  hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars.^'*^ 

Since  the  legislature  had  so  strongly  asserted  its  authority 
over  all  railroads,  one  would  hardly  expect  it  to  make  special 
agreements  with  railroads  for  the  express  surrender  of  their 
rate-making  power.  This  course  of  action  had,  as  we  have 
seen,  been  recommended  by  Governors  Austin  and  Davis  and 
by  the  railroad  commissioner,  and  it  was  considered  expedient 
because  the  federal  supreme  court  might  yet  decide  against  the 
.rate-making  powers  of  the  legislature  in  the  case  of  special 
charter  corporations. 

The  time  limit  for  the  completion  of  branch  lines  of  the 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  railroad  company  was  extended  for 
a  period  of  five  years  on  condition  that  "passengers  and  freight 
shall  always  be  carried  on  said  lines  of  railroad  at  such  rea- 
sonable and  equitable  rates  as  may  be  from  time  to  time  fixed 
by  law.  "®"^  This  was  also  one  of  the  conditions  upon  which 
time  extension  was  granted  to  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  rail- 
road company.^-^^ 

The  Green  Bay  and  Minnesota  railroad  company,  a  Wis- 
consin corporation,  was  permitted  to  extend  its  line  into  the 
city  of  Winona  with  the  privileges  and  liabilities  of  railroad 
companies  organized  under  the  general  law  and  subject  to  the 
laws  regulating  the  "rate  of  taxation  or  rates  of  freight  and 
passenger  traffic"  as  pertaining  to  the  operation  and  use  of  its 
railroad  in  Winona.^"'* 

There  were  considerable  sums  due  for  materials  and  serv- 
ices in  connection  with  the  construction  of  certain  lines  of 
road  of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific.  The  legislature  passed  a  law 
making  the  railroad  company  liable  for  all  these  debts  and 
providing  that  no  lands  accruing  to  the  company  were  to  be 
transferred  by  the  state  till  all  debts  due  to  citizens  of  the  state 

651.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1874,  ch.  31. 

652.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,   1874,   ch.   103. 

653.  Ibid.,  ch.  106,  sec.  2. 

654.  Ibid.,   ch.   100. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION   IN  MINNESOTA.  149 

were  paid,  and  if  these  debts  were  not  paid  within  six  months 
the  governor  was  authorized  and  directed  to  sell  public  lands 
held  for  the  company  to  pay  the  debts  to  pay  these  claim- 
ants.*^^^  We  have  here  reflected  the  very  prevalent  hostile  sen- 
timent toward  absentee  claimants.  The  law  was  later  declared 
unconstitutional.^^^ 

Owing  to  the  financial  stringency  following  the  panic  of 
1873  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  had  been  unable  to  complete  two 
of  their  lines  in  the  northern  and  western  part  of  the  state 
within  the  time  specified  by  .the  act  of  Congress  granting  the 
company  lands.  The  legislature  urgently  requested  Congress 
to  continue  the  land  grants  to  the  state  but  directed  the  Min- 
nesota senators  and  representatives  in  Congress  not  to  permit 
the  passage  of  any  act  of  time  extension  which  did  not  grant 
the  lands  in  question  directly  to  the  state  of  Minnesota  for  her 
to  grant  to  any  company  or  companies  on  such  conditions  as 
experience  had  shown  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 
people. ^"'^ 

The  development  of  water  transportation  had  been  a  sub- 
ject of  special  interest  in  Minnesota  from  the  earliest  terri- 
torial days  but  during  the  farmers'  movement  during  the  early 
seventies  the  question  was  discussed  with  particular  enthu- 
siasm. Some  doubted  that  railroads  could  ever  transport 
bulky  freight,  such  as  grain,  great  distances  at  a  rate  reason- 
able to  the  farmers.  Many  grangers  believed  that  the  only 
way  to  bring  railroads  to  terms  was  to  bring  them  into  direct 
competition  with  water  transportation  wherever  possible. 
Newspapers  published  all  sorts  of  projects,  as  editorials  and 
in  their  correspondence  columns.  The  legislature  of  1874  re- 
flected the  public  opinion  of  the  time  by  its  unusually  large 
number  of  memorials  to  Congress  bearing  on  this  subject. 

One  joint  resolution  memorialized  Congress  to  cause  a  sur- 
vey to  be  made  of  the  water  routes  between  the  navigable 
waters  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  the  Red  river  of  the  North 
to  ascertain  the  feasibility  of  connecting  the  two  by  canal.*^® 


655.  Ibid.,   ch.   105. 

656.  Minn.  Exec.  Docs.,   1876,  vol.   2,  p..  621. 

657.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1874,  p.  305,  Joint  Res.  No.  24. 

658.  Ibid.,   p.   291,   Joint  Res.  No.  7. 


150  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

In  another  they  asked  for  an  appropriation  for  improving  the 
navigation  of  the  river  and  lake  of  St.  Croix."^^  A  third  re- 
quested Congress  to  make  appropriations  for  the  improvement 
of  the  harbor  of  Duluth  to  keep  it  up  to  the  growing  necessi- 
ties of  the  Northwest.^®*^  In  other  resolutions  they  requested 
their  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress  to  use  their  in- 
fluence to  secure  the  improvement  of  navigation  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi river®°^  and  on  the  Minnesota  river"°^  and  the  con- 
nection of  St.  Croix  river  with  Lake  Superior  by  canal,  locks 
and  dams.^'''^ 

It  was  believed  that  by  connecting  the  river  systems  of 
Minnesota  with  each  other  and  with  Lake  Superior  nearly  all 
parts  of  the  state  would  haA^e  the  benefits  of  cheap  water 
transportation  and  of  reduced  rates  on  the  railroads  which 
were  in  competition.  Navigable  rivers  and  lakes  were  by  act 
of  Congress  under  the  direct  control  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment and  free  to  all,  hence  no  private  individual  could  mo- 
nopolize their  use.  The  case  of  canals  was  different  and  in  the 
last  mentioned  resolution  it  was  stipulated  as  a  condition  that 
the  proposed  canal  and  improved  water  courses  should  for- 
ever remain  under  control  of  the  United  States  government. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  this  agitation  in  favor  of 
water  transportation  was  confined  to  Minnesota  and  that  it 
was  only  of  local  interest.  President  Grant  in  his  fourth  an- 
nual message  to  Congress,  December  2,  1872,  called  attention 
to  three  proposed  waterways  to  connect  the  West  and  the 
South  with  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  recommended  that  a 
committee  or  commission  be  appointed  to  consider  the  whole 
question  of  cheap  transportation.^®*  The  Senate  appointed  a 
select  committee  "to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  subject 
of  transportation  between  the  interior  and  the  seaboard."  This 
committee  spent  a  good  portion  of  the  year  1873  in  investigat- 
ing the  subject  of  transportation  and  in  its  report,  submitted 
to  the  Senate  in  the  spring  of  1874  it  discusses  at  length  a  num- 

659.  Ibid.,  p.   307,  No.   26. 

660.  Ibid.,  p.   302,  No.  19. 

661.  Ibid.,  p.   294,  No.   12. 

662.  Ibid.,   p.   297,  No.   15. 

663.  Ibid.,   p.   299,  No.   17. 

664.  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,   1789-1897, 
vol.  VII,  p.  195. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


151 


ber  of  proposed  improved  waterways  and  canals  "''^  and  unani- 
mously recommends  four  water  routes  as  particularly  feasi- 
ble.''^^  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  the  chairman  of  this 
committee  was  Mr.  Windom,  senator  from  Minnesota.  He  does 
not  seem,  however,  to  have  taken  any  active  part  in  the  gran- 
ger movement  in  this  state. 

A  great  number  of  municipal  corporations  had  been  author- 
ized to  issue  bonds  in  aid  of  railroad  construction  by  the  leg- 
islature in  1873.  Many  more  desired  the  same  privilege  in 
1874.  New  Ulm  had  by  a  four-fifths  majority  voted  to  give 
the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  a  right  of  way  through  that  city  and 
was  authorized  to  issue  bonds  for  this  purpose."^^  The  city 
council  of  Winona  had  resolved  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  aid  of  the  Green  Bay  and  Minne- 
sota railroad  company  when  authorized  by  the  legislature  to 
do  so.  The  legislature  gave  the  desired  consent.*'®^  Other  vil- 
lages, towns  and  counties  were  authorized  to  give  aid  to  rail- 
roads ^^^  and  from  the  reports  of  the  railroad  commissioner  we 
learn  that  the  aid  given  was  considerable. 

War  was  being  waged,  not  against  railroads  but  against  rail- 
road management  and  railroad  claims  based  on  the  Dartmouth 
College  decision.®^®  The  farmers  were  not  enemies  of  the  rail- 
roads but  they  were  determined  to  assert  the  supremacy  of 
the  people  over  everything  within  the  state,  including  railroads. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  SITUATION  IN  1874  AFTER  THE  ENACTMENT  OF  THE 
GRANGER  LAWS. 

The  new  railroad  law  was  variously  received  by  the  press 
of  the  state.     The  St.  Paul  Press  told  of  its  enactment  under 


665. 


667. 


670. 


Senate  Report  30  7,  Part  I,  43d  Congrress,  1st  Session;  Report  of 
the  Select  Committee  on  Transportation  Routes  to  the  Sea- 
board, pp.   161-240. 

Ibid.,  pp.  243-254;  see  also  Senate  Misc.  Doc.  No.   104,  43d  Con- 
gress,  1st  Session;   Mr.  Windom's  Resolution. 
Special  Laws  of  Minn.,  1874,  ch.  54. 
Ibid.,  ch.  57. 
Ibid.,   chs.  59,   61. 

See  Chas.  Francis  Adams,  Jr.,  Railroads,  their  Origin  and 
Problems,  pp.  126-8;  E.  W.  Martin,  History  of  the  Grange  Move- 
ment, p.  335;  The  American  Law  Review,  .Tan.,  1874,  "The  Dart- 
mouth College  Case;"  and  the  following  Ch.  XVI. 


152  MINNESOTA  HISTORlCAl^   (SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  headlines,  "The  People's  Triumph,  The  New  Railroad 
Law."  It  claimed  that  the  representation  of  the  railroads  in 
the  legislature  had  been  so  small  that  they  had  had  nothing 
to  say  in  its  enaetment.^^^  The  Minneapolis  Tribune  did  not 
consider  the  problem  solved,  but  believed  the  law  the  best  that 
could  have  been  devised  under  the  circumstances.  The  legis- 
lature had  not  *' killed  the  iron  horse  to  gratify  the  insane 
caprices  and  spleen  of  some  fanatics  and  demagogues,"  but 
''had  at  least  put  a  snaffle  on  him  and  a  curb  bit  to  hold  his 
rebellious  nose  in  subjection."  "^^ 

The  Rochester  Post,  under  the  heading,  ''Donnelly  and  the 
Railroad  Bill,"  would  not  claim  perfection  for  the  bill  in  all 
its  details,  but  gave  it  credit  for  incorporating  the  wisest  and 
most  judicious  thoughts,  deductions,  and  decisions,  of  the  best 
brains  and  the  clearest  heads  of  that  legislature.*'" 

The  Record  and  Union  (Rochester)  conservatively  ex- 
.  pressed  its  belief  that  while  the  new  bill  was  an  advance  on 
that  of  1871,  it  would  not  prove  "adequate  to  the  consumma- 
tion desired."  ^^* 

On  the  other  hand,  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch  regarded  the  bill 
as  a  triumph  of  the  railroad  companies  and  objected  forcibly 
.to  the  plenary  powers,  ministerial  and  judicial,  executive  and 
legislative,  which  had  been  granted  to  the  commission,  and 
considered  its  appointment  by  the  governor  as  a  dangerous 
grant  of  power  to  the  executive.^^^ 

Among  the  people  likewise  there  was  a  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  new  law.  The  more  radical  Anti- 
monopolists  attacked  it  violently.  Amos  Coggswell,  an  Anti- 
monopolist  member  of  the  legislature,  in  a  speech  before  the. 
Turtle  Creek  grange  in  Steele  county,  expressed  his  convic- 
tion that  the  law  would  be  a  complete  failure.  In  the  first  place 
it  was  unconstitutional  because  it  embraced  more  than  one 
subject  in  one  act,  besides  not  having  sections  ten  to  four- 
teen, referred  to  in  the  title.  In  the  second  place,  it  would 
afford  no  real  remedies.    He  did  not  believe  the  railroads  would 


671.  St.  Paul  £)aily  Press,  March  7,  1874,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

672.  Minneapolis  Daily  Tribune,  March  7,  1874,  p.  2,  c. 

673.  Rochester  Post,  March  14,  1874. 

674.  Record  and  Union,  March  13,  1874. 

675.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  March  6,  1874,  p.  4,  c.  2.' 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATIOPs    IN  MINNESOTA.  153 

pay  any  attention  to  the  commission  if  it  should  attempt  to 
reduce  rates.'^^^  A  more  general  sentiment  in  regard  to  the 
new  law  seems  to  have  been  that  while  it  would  not  cure  all 
the  evils  of  which  complaint  had  been  made,  still  it  would 
check  the  more  flagrant  wrongs,  such  as  discrimination  against 
persons  and  places.®" 

As  members  of  the  new  board  of  railroad  commissioners, 
the  governor  appointed  ex-governor  Wm.  R.  Marshall,  John 
J.  Randall,  and  A.  J.  Edgerton,  who  had  served  as  railroad 
commissioner  since  1871.  Though  some  were  disappointed  to 
.find  that  the  Grange  was  not  represented  on  the  board,**^^  the 
appointees  seem  on  the  whole  to  have  been  quite  acceptable  to 
the  people. 

This  commission  had  been  created  to  bring  the  railroads 
into  subjection  to  the  law,  but  the  times  were  particularly  un- 
favorable for  carrying  out  any  disciplinary  measures.  The 
financial  stringency  following  the  panic  of  1873  had  increased 
rather  than  abated.  The  railroads  of  the  state  were  on  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy.  Money  was  very  scarce  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  and  bankrupt  railroads  under  the 
ban  of  the  law  could  offer  no  alluring  inducements  to  men  with 
capital.  Naturally  enough,  men  in  railroad  circles  believed 
that  this  ban  must  be  removed.  State  Senator  Drake,  presi- 
dent of  the  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  railroad  company,  in  a 
letter  to  J.  A.  Kiester,  said:  *'It  may  as  well  be  laid  down 
at  once  as  a  maxim,  that  no  money  will  be  furnished  by  capi- 
talists from  abroad  or  at  home,  to  build  roads,  until  by  judicial 
decisions  or  otherwise  the  absolute  control  of  roads  when  built 
will  belong  to  those  who  built  them."®^^ 

The  railroads  felt  themselves  aggrieved.  There  was  little 
or  no  business,  and  they  were  in  no  mood  for  reducing  rates. 
In  Wisconsin  a  new  railroad  law  became  operative  by  publica- 
tion April  28.  President  Mitchell,  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
and  St.  Paul  railroad,  immediately  notified  the  governor  of 
that  state  that  the  board  of  directors  on  the  advice  of  able 


676.  Owatonna  Journal,  Apr;  9,  1874. 

677.  See  Farmers'  Union,  Apr.  11,   1874,   p.   109,  c.   3;   Resolutions  of 
Dodge  County  Council. 

678.  Anti-Monopolist,  Dec.  24,  1874;  Mr.  Parsons'  Address. 

679.  Anti-Monopolist,  July  23,  1874;  Mr.  Drake  on  Railroads. 


154  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

counsel,  and  after  due  deliberation,  believed  it  their  duty  to 
disregard  so  much  of  the  law  as  attempted  arbitrarily  to  fix 
rates  of  compensation  for  freight  and  passengers/'^"  AVhen 
this  became  known,  it  was  quite  generally  believed  that  the 
railroads  in  Minnesota  would  do  likewise,  and  the  people  did 
not  like  the  prospects  of  lengthy  and  expensive  litigation  which 
eventually  might  bring  no  relief.®^^ 

The  commissioners  published  their  schedule  of  maximum 
legal  rates  in  August.  In  preparing  this  schedule  they  could 
not  be  guided  by  any  rule  of  remunerative  interest  or  divi- 
dend on  legitimate  cost  and  operating  expenses,  for,  excepting 
the  River  Division  of  the  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul,  the  rail- 
roads were  not  earning  remunerative  revenues.  Two  rail- 
roads were  in  the  hands  of  the  receiver,  three  had  defaulted  in 
interest  of  debts,  and  others  maintained  credit  by  assessment 
on  stockholders.^^2  But,  though  operating  at  a  loss,  they  were 
guilty  of  unjust  discrimination  and  of  excessive  charges  at 
non-competing  points.  The  commissioners  tried  to  interfere 
as  little  with  the  control  and  regulation  of  the  roads  by  their 
owners  as  was  consistent  with  the  prevention  and  correction  of 
such  abuses. 

The  schedule  published  by  the  railroad  commissioners  di- 
vided freight  into  four  main  classes  and  ten  special  classes. 
Articles  of  freight  were  arranged  alphabetically  under  each, 
and  following  this  list  of  freights  came  a  statement  of  what 
each  road  might  charge  for  each  class  according  to  the  dis- 
tance transported.  Rates  were  somewhat  different  on  different 
roads,  but  the  same  rates  were  applicable  on  all  parts  of  the 
same  road.*^^ 

The  avowed  aim  of  the  commissioners  was  not  to  reduce 
rates  but  to  remedy  abuses.  According  to  the  law  of  1874, 
competition  at  a  certain  point  did  not  constitute  a  valid  ex- 
cuse for  lowering  rates  to  and  from  that  place.  If  the  sched- 
ule of  the  commission  had  been  rigidly  enforced,  rates  would 


680.  Wisconsin  Railroad  Commission  Report,   1874,  app.,   pp.   1-4. 

681.  MinneapoHs  Daily  Tribune,   July  16,   1874. 

682.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,   1874,   p.   6. 

683.  St.  Paul  Weekly  Pioneer  Press,  Aug.  6,  1874,  Supplement,  gives 
official  publication  of  schedules. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  155 

have  been  raised  at  the  so-called  competitive  points  and  low- 
ered at  the  intervening  points. 

The  competing  points  were  as  a  rule  centers  of  popula- 
tion and  of  industry.  To  a  large  extent  they  had  been  made 
so  through  railroad  discrimination.  Any  increase  in  rates 
would  naturally  meet  with  protest  at  such  places. 

The  railroad  companies  in  Minnesota,  unlike  those  in  Wis- 
consin, did  not  openly  refuse  to  comply  with  the  new  sched- 
ule. As  stated  in  New  York  Tribune  editorials,  the  railroads 
rather  expressed  their  intention  of  trying  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  the  new  rates.^^*  When  the  schedule  went  into 
effect  legally,  the  railroad  companies  actually  raised  rates  at 
a  number  of  places,  and  the  opponents  of  the  new  law  attacked 
it  violently.  The  Anti-Monopolist  called  it  a  fizzle  and  a  fraud, 
and  held  it  to  be  quite  natural  that  the  railroads  should  accept 
the  schedule  of  the  commission.®^"'  The  St.  Paul  Dispatch  said 
the  ''Grange  ironclad  railroad  law"  worked  reform  with  a 
vengeance,  and  went  on  to  show  how  rates  had  been  raised  on 
the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific.®^® 

The  reduction  of  rates  at  non-competing  points  was  slight 
and  was  no  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  the  farmers.  Any 
reduction  made  at  such  places  was  more  than  counterbalanced 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  by  raised  rates  at  other  points. 
Where  the  traffic  was  small  and  the  rates  were  lowered,  the 
railroad  companies  gave  slower  and  inferior  service,  besides 
withdrawing  from  service  as  many  trains  as  they  possibly 
could.  They  informed  their  patrons  that  they  were  losing 
money  as  it  was  and  consequently  had  to  reduce  expenses  in 
all  ways  possible.  The  St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  threatened  to 
withdraw  a  passenger  train  on  their  line  unless  they  were  per- 
mitted to  charge  five  cents  per  passenger  mile.  The  people 
along  the  road  petitioned  the  railroad  commission  to  permit 
this  charge,  and  the  commission  complied  with  their  request. 
The  Owatonna  Journal  in  commenting  on  this  incident  says: 


684.  New  York  Daily  Tribune,  Aug.  5,  1874,  p.  4,  c.  4,  "The  Railway 
Problem  in  Minnesota;"  Aug.  10,  1874.  p.  4,  c.  3,  "Minding 
Other  People's  Business."  See  also  The  Railroad  Gazette,  Aug. 
15,  1874,  p.  314;  Anti-Monopolist,  Aug.   13,   1874. 

685.  Anti-Monopolist,  Aug.   13,   1874. 

686.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Aug.  6,  1874. 


156  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

''Tally  one  for  the  company.  What  company  will  next  threaten 
to  withdraw  a  train?"  ^^^ 

The  railroad  commissioners  had  to  deal  gently  with  the 
bankrupt  companies  and  this  attitude  was  frequently  inter- 
preted as  an  indication  that  they  were  in  "cahoots  with  the 
railroads."  The  commission  cost  the  state  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars a  year.  This  was  a  material  increase  in  state  expenses, 
and  it  was  feared  that  expensive  litigation  would  add  to  the 
burden.  The  grangers  did  not  work  in  harmony,  and  this  in- 
ternal discord  had  a  deadening  effect. 

Besides  appointing  the  so-called  lobbying  committee,  which 
met  with  so  much  disfavor,  the  State  Grange  executive  com- 
mittee also  appointed  a  special  committee  to  investigate  and 
report  on  the  ]\linnesota  Farmers'  ^lutual  Fire  Insurance 
Association,  popularly  called  the  Farmers'  Association.®^^ 
This  organization  had  started  in  1865  as  a  farmers'  association 
for  mutual  aid  in  case  of  fire,  and  was  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  state  in  1867.*''*"  It  was  extensively  advertised  in 
the  Farmers'  Union,  which  began  publication  as  a  monthly  in 
August,  1867.  Mr.  W.  A.  Nimocks,  the  editor  of  this  Minne- 
apolis farm  paper,  was  secretary  of  the  association.  In  1869 
its  membership  numbered  over  four  thousand,'^''^  and  it  claimed 
to  insure  at  the  rate  of  seventeen  cents  per  thousand  dollars.*'*'^ 
In  1873  the  State  Grange  took  preliminary  steps  towards  ab- 
sorbing the  association,  and  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
State  Grange  to  investigate  made  a  very  favorable  report  to 
the  state  convention  in  December.  They  reported  fifteen  thou- 
sand farmers  insured,  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  paid  out 
in  losses,  and  insurance  at  one-third  the  usual  cost.®*^^ 

But  the  committee  appointed  by  tlie  executive  committee 
presented  a  far  different  report.  The  company  was  declared 
unsound.  Tliey  claimed  that  there  was  only  $50,762.15  on  hand 
to  meet  the  liabilities  of  12,752  policies  covering  $9,622,084, 


687.  Owatonna  Journal,  Dec.  3,   1874. 

688.  Farmers'  Union,  March  7  ,1874. 

689.  Ibid.,  Aug.,   1867,  Vol.   1,  No.   1. 

690.  Ibid.,  Aug.,   1869. 

691.  Ibid.,  April,  1869. 

692.  Ibid.,  Dec.   27.   1873. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  157 

and  condemned  the  business  management  of  the  enterprise.^^^ 
This  adverse  report  greatly  exasperated  the  grangers.  They 
believed  that  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Sherwood, 
had  for  personal  reasons  tried  to  discredit  the  association.^^* 
Its  officers  immediately  published  a  lengthy  reply  to  this  re- 
port and  assured  the  public  that  the  association  was  sound  to 
the  core,''^''  and  it  seems  that  they  were  given  greater  credence 
than  Mr.  Sherwood's  committee. 

The  Patrons  had  from  the  beginning  been  interested  in 
co-operation.  They  had  frequently  tried  to  unite  and  elimi- 
nate the  ''middleman's  profit,"  and  while  many  of  their  ven- 
tures were  not  particularly  successful  it  was  generally  believed 
that  their  activities  had  forced  retailers  to  reduce  their  prices 
materially.  In  1873  the  executive  committee  of  the  State 
Grange  had  appointed  a  state  agent  to  carry  out  co-operative 
plans.  The  agent,  Mr.  J.  S.  Denman,  on  his  own  responsibility 
organized  a  Patrons'  Co-operative  Society  and  incorporated  it. 
He  made  the  headquarters  of  the  society  at  Winona,  but 
planned  to  establish  sub-agencies  in  the  different  counties. 
No  distinction  was  made  among  those  who  dealt  with  the  so- 
ciety, a  small  commission  being  charged  of  all  whether  patrons 
or  not.«^« 

Mr.  Denman 's  announcement  of  his  plans  created  a  great 
stir.  He  was  denounced  as  a  middleman  because  he  charged 
a  regular  commission.  He  was  accused  of  having  acted  with- 
out authority  in  incorporating  the  state  agency.  His  action 
was  officially  investigated  and  declared  illegal.  The  State 
Grange,  at  its  meeting  in  December,  1878,  Avould  not  recognize 
him  as  its  agent  nor  sanction  any  of  his  acts."'^^  Nevertheless 
the  grange  proceeded  to  create  the  office  of  state  agent,  at- 
taching a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  unanimously 
elected  Mr.  Denman  to  this  position.*''^^  But  though  the  lead- 
ers tried  to  smooth  over  the  difficulty,  the  mistrust  and  ill  feel- 


693.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Feb.  25,  1874;  Farmers'  Insurance  Com- 
pany (a  four  column  report). 

694.  Farmers'  Union,  March  7,  1874. 

695.  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  March  3,   1874,  "The  Other  Side." 

696.  Farmers'  Union,  Nov.  22,  1873,  "The  'fifth  wheel'  in  the  Grange;" 
Dec.   13,   1873,   "What  is  it?"  Dec.   20,   1873. 

697.  Ibid.,   Dec.   27,   1873;   "The  Duty  of  the  Patrons." 

698.  Ibid. 


158  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing  was  not  altogether  swept  away.  Many  who  had  been  at- 
tracted to  the  order  because  of  its  co-operative  features  were 
disappointed  and  lost  interest  in  the  grange  work. 

State  Master  Parsons  had  in  a  large  measure  checked  the 
formal  participation  of  grangers  in  the  campaign  of  1873. 
Mr.  Donnelly's  plan  to  create  a  new  granger  party  had  mis- 
carried, but  nevertheless  the  granges  had  been  an  important 
factor  at  the  polls  and  in  the  legislature. 

In  the  winter  of  1874  Mr.  Donnelly  resumed  his  efforts  to 
organize  an  independent  anti-monopoly  party.  The  anti-mo- 
nopolist members  of  the  legislature  met  while  the  legislature 
still  was  in  session,  and  a  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to 
prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  state.^^^  The  address 
aimed  to  show  that  what  good  had  been  accomplished  by  the 
legislature  was  to  the  credit  of  the  anti-monopolists,  and  that 
the  best  measures  and  real  reform  had  been  blocked  by  the 
Republican  majority.  All  friends  of  reform  were  invited  to 
meet  in  every  township  of  the  state  June  27  to  elect  delegates 
to  county  conventions.'^^*'  There  were  at  the  time  over  three 
hundred  active  granges  in  the  state.  William  Paist,  secretary 
of  the  State  Grange,  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which 
prepared  the  anti-monopolist  address.  Nominally  through  him, 
the  anti-monopolist  address  and  circulars  were  sent  to  all  the 
granges  of  the  state  to  be  read  at  their  meetings.^^^  Later  Mr. 
Donnelly  assumed  all  responsibility.^*'^  This  irregular  proced- 
ure met  with  the  approval  of  some  grangers,^**"  but  on  the 
whole  it  seems  to  have  been  strongly  resented.  For  instance, 
the  Lone  Cedar  Grange,  in  a  spirited  reply  to  the  request  to 
have  the  anti-monopolist  circulars  presented  to  the  grange  by 
its  officers,  treated  this  request  as  an  insult,  because  grange 
officers  were  under  solemn  obligation  not  to  use  their  position 
to  influence  any  member  in  matters  of  politics  or  religion.^*'* 

A  prominent  Patron  of  Hennepin  county  sent  in  a  com- 
plaint to  Grand  Master  Adams  of  tlie  National  Grange,  and^ 

699.  Address  of  the  Anti-Monopolist  Party,   1874. 

700.  Farmers'  Union,  March  14,  1874.     See  also  Address  of  the  Anti- 
Monopolist  Party,  1874. 

701.  Farmers'  Union,  March  21,  1874. 

702.  Ibid.,  May  30,   1874. 

703     Ibid.,  March  21,   1874;  letter  from  "A  Burns  Granger." 
704.      Ibid.,  June  13,  1874. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  159 

received  the  following  reply :  ' '  I  have  no  doubt  but  the  Mas- 
ter of  your  State  Grange  will  promptly  apply  the  correction 
to  any  subordinate  grange  that  will  so  far  forget  its  constitu- 
tional obligations  as  to  take  part  in  partisan  politics.  I  fully 
agree  with  you  that  our  Order  must  not,  as  such,  become  a 
political  organization ;  but  I  most  earnestly  hope  that  our  mem- 
bers will  be  true  to  their  duty  as  American  citizens  and  take 
an  active  and  prominent  part  in  moulding  the  institutions  and 
laws  of  our  country. ' '  ''^^ 

State  Master  Parsons  then  published  the  following  notice, 
dated  July  11,  1874:  ''Upon  any  complaint  made  to  me  that 
any  Grange  in  this  jiirisdiction  has  violated  article  XIII  of  the 
constitution  of  the  National  Grange  [prohibiting  political 
activity],  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  suspend  that  Grange  and  ask 
the  Worthy  Master  of  the  National  Grange  to  revoke  its  char- 
ter upon  proof  of  guilt  after  hearing. "  ^°« 

Mr.  Donnelly  immediately  began  an  attack  on  Mr.  Par- 
sons for  this  action,  accusing  him  of  having  issued  the  notice 
for  partisan  purposes,  namely,  as  in  1873,  to  save  the  Repub- 
lican party  from  disruption.  Again  a  lively  discussion  was 
evoked.  Those  who  had  joined  the  order  to  secure  legislative 
reform  were  not  content  ''to  amuse  themselves  with  running 
little  parlor  machines  while  others  ran  the  government. ' '  ^*^^ 
The  more  radical  members  looked  upon  Mr.  Parsons'  action  as 
despotic,  and  became  thoroughly  dissatisfied  with  the  order. 

Men  of  all  sorts  of  opinions  had  joined  the  grange,  and 
often  for  widely  differing  purposes.  In  the  enthusiasm  of  or- 
ganization each  one  confidently  looked  to  the  order  for  the 
realization  of  his  ideals.  The  work  of  organization  continued 
to  flourish  and  the  number  of  granges  was  greatly  increased,^"® 
but  misunderstandings  and  disputes  are  fatal  in  any  fraternal 
order.  While  the  growth  of  the  order  was  at  its  height,  re- 
ports began  to  spread  that  it  was  dying.    As  early  as  January, 


705.  Anti-Monopolist,  July  30,   1874. 

706.  Ibid.,July  30,   1874. 

707.  Ibid.,  July  16,  1874;  letter  from  Lewis  Porter,  a  Patron,  to  the 
Rochester  Record  and  Herald, 

708.  Grange  Advance,  Dec.  22,  1874,  Meeting  of  Minnesota  State 
Grange.  State  Master  Parsons  reported  the  organization  of 
142  granges  in  Minnesota,  and  12,000  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  during  the  year  1874. 


160  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

1874,  while  granger  legislatures  were  in  session  in  several 
states,  The  Nation  had  almost  prophetically  said:  "The  farm- 
ers' movement,  politically  considered,  has  indeed  passed  in  the 
last  few  months  through  the  various  stages  of  progress  from 
birth  to  decay  and  dissolution,  to  which  all  movements  of  the 
sort  seem  nowadays  to  be  destined. "  ^^^  This  publication  was 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  farmers'  movement,""  and  was  not 
blinded  by  enthusiasm  for  its  progress. 

The  Grange,  however,  protested  life  and  vitality.  In  De- 
cember the  Grange  Advance  gives  as  a  news  item  that  there 
were  at  that  time  21,472  organized  granges  in  the  United 
States,  an  increase  of  364  during  the  last  month.  It  then  asks, 
Does  this  look  much  like  dying?  But  the  item  is  immediately 
followed  by  this  comment:  "Patrons  who  are  now  will- 
ing to  desert  the  field  on  account  of  some  little  neighborhood 
troubles  or  personal  differences  are  like  men  who  have  plowed 
the  ground,  obtained  and  sowed  the  seed,  and  watched  the 
crop  to  maturity,  refusing  to  harvest  because  neighbor  Jones, 
or  Smith,  or  Jenkins,  have  killed  their  bull  pup.""^  It  is 
evident  that  the  patrons  themselves  recognized  signs  of  dis- 
loyalty and  indifference  within  their  ranks. 

The  campaign  conducted  in  Minnesota  in  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1874  was  not  very  exciting.  Hard  times  dampened  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  people.  Mr.  Donnelly  failed  to  arouse  the 
interest  of  the  farmers  in  his  Anti-Monopoly  party,  and  the 
grangers  seem  to  have  taken  no  active  part  in  the  campaign  in 
any  way.^^^  The  question  of  railroads  and  monopolies  did  not 
come  up  for  serious  discussion.  At  the  election  the  Republi- 
cans elected  twenty- four  state  senators,  and  the  Democrats 
seventeen.  Sixty  Republicans  and  forty-six  Democrats  were 
elected  members  of  the  lower  house. 

The  State  Grange  met  in  Mankato  December  15,  1874.    In 

709.  The  Nation,  vol.   18,  p.   55,   "The  Farmers'  Future." 

710.  Ibid.,  vol.  16,  see  Index,  under  The  Week,  "Railroad  excite- 
ment in  Illinois;"  p.  249,  "The  Farmers*  Clubs,  and  the  Rail- 
roads;" p.  329,  "The  Latest  Reform  Movement;"  p.  397,  "The 
Grangers  and  the  Judges;"  vol.  17,  see  Index  under  The  Week, 
"Farmers'  Fallacy,"  etc.;  vol.  18,  pp.  55,  325,  340,  294,  "The 
Cheap  Transportation  Report;"  vol.  19,  p.  36,  "The  Granger 
Method  of  Reform;"   p.   199,   "The  Right  to  Confiscate." 

711.  Grange  Advance,  Dec.  22,  1874,  P.  of  H.  column. 

712.  Record  and  Union,  Dec.  11,  1874. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  161 

his  opening  address  State  Master  Parsons  strongly  condemned 
the  new  railroad  law,  asserting  that  the  operation  of  that  law 
as  executed  was  an  actual  aggravation  of  the  evil.  He  be- 
lieved, however,  that  one  end  had  been  gained,  namely,  that 
"We  hear  no  more  of  chartered  rights  above  and  beyond  the 
power  of  the  legislature  to  restrict.  For  reasons  obvious  to 
the  dullest  understanding,  the  corporations  affected,  with  one 
accord,  make  haste  to  yield  a  ready  obedience  to  the  behest 
of  the  Commissioners.  The  fault  of  this  condition  of  things  is 
not  to  be  found  in  the  provisions  of  the  law  itself,  but  in  the 
execution  of  those  provisions.  The  measure  which  we  had 
fondly  hoped  would  afford  a  relief  from  our  burdens,  has  been 
turned  against  us  and  made  an  agent  of  still  greater  oppres- 
sion.""^ 

He  reported  some  progress  during  the  past  year  by  way  of 
securing  competition  among  sellers  and  thereby  reducing  the 
prices  of  all  goods  bought  by  the  farmer.  He  believed  that 
cheaper  transportation  could  be  secured  on  the  same  principle 
by  bringing  water  transportation  into  competition  with  the 
railroads."* 

At  this  convention  the  following  resolutions  were  drawn  up 
and  were  adopted,  it  is  said,  with  enthusiasm : 

Whereas,  One  of  the  greatest  causes  of  the  general  industrial  de- 
pression is  the  want  of  cheap  means  of  transportation  to  the  sea- 
board; and 

Whereas,  This  result  can  only  be  obtained  by  competition,  secured 
by  the  opening  of  water  channels  between  the  Mississippi  and  the 
ocean  by  way  of  our  lakes  and  rivers;   therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  cordially  endorse  the  report  of  the  select  com- 
mittee on  transportation  submitted  to  the  Senate  during  the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  Congress.     *     *     *     * 

Resolved,  That  the  present  state  law  for  the  regulation  of  rail- 
roads is  expensive  and  useless  to  the  people  and  vexatious  to  the 
roads,  and  we  demand  its  repeal,  and  in  the  name  of  20,000  voters  we 
demand  the  passage  of  a  law  that  shall  guarantee  cheap  transporta- 
tion for  the  productions  of  the  farm,  especially  wheat. 

Resolved,  That  we  propose  to  exercise  our  right  of  franchise  in 
defence  of  our  own  interests,  and  we  promise  to  act  unitedly  at  the 


713.  Anti-Monopolist,   Dec.   24,   1874;   Grange  Advance,   Dec.   22,   IJ 

714.  Ibid. 
11 


162  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ballot  box  against  those  who  prove  themselves  hostile  or  indifferent 
to  our  welfare. 

Resolved,  That  while  religion  or  politics  should  not  be  discussed 
in  the  work  of  the  Order,  we  hold  that  each  Grange  has  a  right,  and 
that  it  is  a  duty,  to  discuss  and  understand  all  the  great  economic 
questions  of  taxation,  which  underlie  our  prosperity  as  a  people,  and 
that  we  propose  to  exercise  that  right,  regardless  of  its  effects  upon 
political  parties  or  politicians. 

Resolved,  That  Minnesota's  true  outlet  for  her  production  to 
Eastern  markets  is  via  Lake  Superior,  and  we  call  upon  the  legisla- 
ture of  the  state  at  its  coming  session  to  make  an  appropriation  for 
a  survey  of  the  watershed  between  the  St.  Croix  and  Lake  Superior 
to  ascertain  the  best  route  and  the  lowest  cost  of  a  canal  between 
them.715 

The  Grange  also  endorsed  the  project  of  opening  the  Fox 
and  Wisconsin  rivers  that  the  people  of  the  Northwest  might 
have  another  opening  by  water  to  the  Great  Lakes. 

These  resolutions  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  grangers 
still  had  an  interest  in  politics.  They  here  proposed  a  defi- 
nite legislative  program,  and  while  they  did  not  come  out  as 
a  new  political  organization  they  did  pledge  themselves  to  act 
unitedly  at  the  ballot  box  against  candidates  who  were  hos- 
tile or  indifferent  to  their  plans.  They  tried  to  make  a  distinc- 
tion between  politics  and  partisan  politics,  which  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  made  clear  to  anyone.  As  was  said  in  a  letter 
to  the  Anti-Monopolist :  ' '  The  great  question  is  settled  at  last. 
The  Grangers  can  discuss  whatever  they  please  except  partisan 
politics.  As  no  one  has  ever  even  wanted  to  discuss  partisan 
politics,  not  even  Donnelly,  I  suppose  those  little  creatures  who 
were  in  favor  of  the  'hush  up  policy'  will  hide  their  heads  in 
shame  and  silence.  If  State  Master  Parsons  had  said  'partisan 
politics'  there  would  have  been  no  controversy  about  the  mat- 
ter." "« 

Col.  Samuel  E.  Adams  was  elected  State  Master  to  suc- 
ceed Mr.  Parsons.  Mr.  Donnelly  tried  to  make  political  capital 
out  of  this  fact,  construing  it  as  a  disapproval  of  Mr.  Parsons' 
action  in  forbidding  political  activity  on  the  part  of  granges. 
In  the  Anti-Monopolist  he  said:    "The  State  Grange  draws  a 


715.  Anti-Monopolist,  Dec.  24,  1874. 

716.  Ibid.,  Aiigr.  13,   1874. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  163 

long  breath  of  relief.  The  old  man  of  the  mountain  who  had 
so  long  ridden  it  is  no  more.  Parsons  is  dropped  out  of  sight 
deeper  than  plummet  ever  sounded.  *  *  *  He  preserved 
the  Republican  party  in  power  at  the  expense  of  the  Patrons 
of  Husbandry.  He  tried  to  emasculate  the  Order  and  to  reduce 
its  members  to  silence  and  nothingness.  But  for  his  presence 
we  should  today  have  one  thousand  subordinate  Granges  in 
Minnesota,  instead  of  five  hundred."  ^^^ 

With  a  new  state  master  and  a  set  of  resolutions  so  strongly 
tinged  with  politics,  the  State  Grange  to  all  appearances  was 
about  to  enter  the  political  arena.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, the  grange  masters  in  convention  did  not  by  these  reso- 
lutions truly  express  the  sentiments  of  their  subordinate 
granges.  The  resolutions  were  not  the  spontaneous  product  of 
grange  enthusiasm.  They  not  only  failed  to  arouse  enthusiasm, 
but  in  many  instances  they  met  with  determined  opposition. 
Several  subordinate  granges  passed  resolutions  protesting 
against  the  demanded  repeal  of  the  railroad  laws.^^^  The 
grangers  were  not  prepared  to  take  any  united  action  at  the 
ballot  box  at  this  time.  Many  believed  that  Mr.  Donnelly  was 
back  of  this  movement,  and  later  in  a  speech  in  the  state  senate 
he  acknowledged  his  authorship  of  the  resolutions.'^" 

i\Ir.  Parsons  was  not  re-elected  state  master,  but  to  con- 
strue this  as  a  disavowal  of  his  policy  of  keeping  the  grange 
out  of  politics  does  not  seem  to  be  warranted.  Mr.  Donnelly, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  Mr.  Parsons  person- 
ally, and  undoubtedly  had  influence  in  bringing  about  his  de- 
feat. But  Colonel  Adams,  a  war  Democrat,  who  was  elected 
to  succeed  him,  was  in  favor  of  the  same  general  policy  as  Mr. 
Parsons,  and  he  says  that  this  question  did  not  come  up  as  an 
issue  in  the  election. '^'^ 


717.  Ibid.,  Dec.  24,  1874. 

718.  Rochester  Post,  March  6,   1875. 

719.  Owatonna  Journal,  March  4,  1875. 

720.  In  an  interview  at  his  home  in  Minneapolis.  July  27,   1909. 


164  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  GRANGER  LAWS  REPEALED  AND  A  NEW  RAILROAD  LAW 
ENACTED  IN  1875. 

The  railroad  law  of  1874  had  proved  disappointing.  It  was 
enacted  to  curb  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  railroads  and  to 
make  them  amenable  to  state  control;  but,  owing  to  the  finan- 
cial stringency  following  the  panic  of  1873,  it  had  been  im- 
possible to  give  it  what  its  friends  would  call  a  fair  trial. 
Business  was  at  a  stand-still,  and  the  railroads  were  unable  to 
meet  their  obligations  incurred  in  times  of  optimism  and  pros- 
perity. At  the  State  Grange  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  re- 
vive interest  in  further  railroad  regulation,  but  it  met  with  no 
hearty  response.  By  the  winter  of  1875  the  state  press  had 
come  to  an  almost  unanimous  decision  in  favor  of  an  about- 
face  in  the  railroad  policy  of  the  state. 

The  St.  Paul  Press  considered  the  practical  results  of  the 
law  ''mischievous  in  the  extreme,"  and  believed  it  "univer- 
sally demonstrated,  because  experience  has  painfully  admitted, 
that  the  experimental  legislation  of  last  winter  in  this  state 
was  a  disastrous  mistake,"  though  administered  leniently.'^^^ 

The  Minneapolis  Tribune  characterized  the  farmers'  move- 
ment as  a  senseless  railroad  war.  In  its  judgment  "ten  years 
will  not  suffice  to  repair  the  injury  to  the  state  which  the  law 
has  inflicted.  *  *  *  The  railroad  war  of  the  West  is  re- 
sponsible to  a  great  degree  for  the  hard  times  of  which  we 
have  been  complaining  so  much  recently."  ^^^ 

The  St.  Paul  Dispatch  said:  "The  mistake  wiiich  has  been 
made  in  this  war  upon  railroads  is  now  very  generally  con- 
ceded, and  few  have  the  temerity  to  longer  attempt  to  ride 
upon  the  commune  sentiment  as  a  political  hobby."  ^-'^  And 
again :  ' '  The  comments  of  the  Stillwater  Messenger,  reprinted 
elsewhere,  reflect  the  sentiment  of  nine-tenths  of  the  people  of 


721.  The  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,  Feb.  26,  1875,  p.  2,  c.   1;   "Pvepeal  of 
the   Railroad   Law." 

722.  The  Minneapolis   Tribune,  March   5,   1875,  p.   2,   c.    1 ;   "The  New 
Railroad  Law." 

723.  St.   Paul   Daily   Dispatch,  Jan.   21,   1875.   p.    2.   c.    2;    'Paralyzing 
Business." 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  165 

Minnesota.  We  can  call  to  mind  but  three  newspapers  ^-*  of 
the  state,  which  have  given  expressions  to  opinions  in  favor 
of  the  present  law  or  any  law  regulating  railroads.  We  know 
the  business  portion  of  the  community  desire  to  see  the  rail- 
road restriction  removed.""^ 

The  St.  Cloud  Press  observed:  ''Never  before  in  this  coun- 
try have  the  railroad  interests  felt  the  result  of  unjust  laws 
more  than  now.  Never  before  have  the  people  felt  the  result 
of  these  laws  with  the  same  bitterness  as  now.'^^^ 

The  Grange  Advance,  a  grange  organ,  in  discussing  the  law 
of  1874,  said:  ''It  was  an  illy  advised  law  gotten  up  in  a 
hurry  near  the  close  of  the  session  as  an  excuse  for  not  doing 
anything  else,  providing  for  three  commissioners  who  should 
stand  between  the  people  and  the  legislature  and  bear  the 
odium  of  the  failure.  "^^^ 

The  Wisconsin  State  Grange  in  its  annual  meeting,  Jan- 
uary 14,  1875,  in  speeches  and  by  resolutions,  called  for  modifi- 
cations in  their  granger  laws.^^^  The  Wisconsin  railroad  com- 
missioners reported  that  the  Potter  law  had  proved  a  failure/^^ 
Governor  Taylor  likewise  frankly  admitted  that  railroad  reg- 
ulation in  Wisconsin  had  not  been  a  success.^"*'  News  of  this 
kind  was  circulated  freely  by  the  press  in  Minnesota.  When 
the  state  legislature  convened  in  St.  Paul  in  1875,  it  seemed 
that  the  "country  press  joined  with  the  city  press  in  demand- 
ing such  modifications  in  the  legislation  as  will  enable  railroads 
to  operate  at  a  fair  profit."  ^"^ 

Mr.  Edgerton,  one  of  the  railroad  commissioners,  made  a 


724.  These  probably  were  the  Rochester  Post  (see  Feb.  27,  1875), 
Owatonna  Journal  (see  March  4,  1875),  and  Record  and  Union 
(see  Feb.  5,  1875).  I  found  no  other  papers  that  stood  by  rail- 
road control,  and   these  recognized   the  sentiment  against  it. 

725.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Feb.  9,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  1;  "A  very  gen- 
eral  sentiment." 

726.  Reprinted  in  the  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.  19,  1875,  p.  3, 
c.   1. 

727.  Grange  Advance,  March  2,  1875. 

728.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.   19,   1875. 

729.  Ibid.,  Jan.  9,  1875,  p.  3,  c.  1;  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Feb.  17, 
1875,   p.   2,  c.   1;   "The  Potter  Law." 

730.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Jan.  21,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  2;  "Paralyzing 
Business." 

731.  Minneapolis  Tribune,  Jan.  16,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  1;  "Steps  that 
should  be  retraced;"  reprinted  in  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch, 
Jan.   21,   1875,   p.  2,  c.   2. 


166  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

speech  at  Mantorville  which  became  generally  known  as  the 
"confiscation  speech."  The  St.  Paul  Pioneer  in  commenting 
on  the  address  said:  '*He  shows  that  he  has  compelled  the 
Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  to  run  at  a  cost  of  $30,000  a 
year  beyond  their  receipts,  and  then  he  asks :  Now  let  me  ask 
any  responsible  man  if  he  would  advise  any  greater  reduction 
on  this  road  till  the  results  of  a  few  months  would  demonstrate 
its  possibility.  In  other  words  he  says.  Can  we  put  our  hands 
deeper  into  the  pockets  of  the  owners  of  this  road,  until  we 
find  whether,  after  the  end  of  a  few  months,  they  have  any 
more  money  left  for  us  to  take."  The  paper  goes  on  to  char- 
acterize the  plan  of  the  railroad  commission  as  a  cool  and  de- 
liberate scheme  of  legalized  plunder."^"^ 

The  Owatonna  Press  declared:  "A  gang  of  highway  rob- 
bers would  not  improve  this  statement.  Not  content  with  tak- 
ing away  all  the  profits  of  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  road,  the 
owners  are  compelled  to  lose  over  $30,000  yearly.  *  *  * 
Is  there  any  wonder  there  is  'hard  times?'  Let  justice  be 
done  though  the  heavens  fall. ' '  '  ^^  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
the  Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  company,  which  had  been 
the  main  factor  in  exciting  the  railroad  war  in  1870,  and  which 
again  in  1873  had  been  the  chief  object  of  attack,  was  now 
pictured  as  suffering  injustice  at  the  hands  of  men  who  had 
been  appointed  to  bring  relief  to  an  oppressed  people. 

The  general  belief  seems  to  have  been  that  the  granger 
movement  was  more  or  less  directly  the  cause  of  the  financial 
depression.  The  railroad  law  and  the  panic  became  associated 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  cause  and  effect, — they  were  now 
suffering  the  ''quick  return  which  communism  always  reaps 
for  aggressive  assaults  upon  the  bulwarks  of  national  exist- 
ence.""* 

It  may  be  true,  as  Governor  Davis  said  in  his  message  to 
the  legislature  in  1875,  that  Minnesota  was  not  so  badly  af- 
fected by  the  panic  as  other  states,  but,  after  all,  this  was  poor 
consolation.    The  commercial  and  industrial  interests,  and  par- 


732.  St.   Paul  Daily  Pioneer,   Jan.   16,   1875,   pp.   2,   c.   1;   "A  Railroad 
Commissioner's   Boast   and    Petition." 

733.  St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer,  Jan.  16,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  3;  "Another  Opin- 
ion  upon   Commissioner   Edgerton's   Confiscation    Speecii." 

734.  Ibid.,  Feb.  26,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  1;  "The  People  and  the  Railroads." 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  167 

ticularly  the  railroads/^^  were  the  first  to  suffer,  but  the  ef- 
fects of  the  panic  were  soon  shared  by  the  farmer  as  well.  The 
grangers  had  looked  to  the  legislature  for  relief  from  railroad 
oppression,  and  the  granger  laws  had  been  enacted  for  their 
benefit.  The  railroads  now  complained  that  these  laws  were 
oppressive  and  confiscatory,  and  that  they  would  never  regain 
credit  while  such  laws  were  in  force.  Railroads,  ''reduced  to 
penury  and  starvation"  and  compelled  by  law  to  serve  the 
public  at  rates  "far  below  cost,"  were  no  longer  oppressors, 
but  victims  of  oppression.  The  idea  became  more  and  more 
prevalent  that  something  must  be  done  to  help  the  prostrate 
railroads  and  to  restore  prosperity.  The  grangers  had  never 
planned  to  cripple  the  railroad  industry.  They  had  meant  to 
control  the  roads  for  the  public  interest.  Though  no  longer 
militant,  they  had  no  inclination  to  give  up  their  contention 
that  the  state  had  the  right  to  control  railroads.  Some  change 
in  policy  seemed  necessary,  but  many  were  reluctant  about  ac- 
cepting radical  changes. 

When  the  legislature  met  in  January,  1875,  the  senatorial 
election  appeared  to  be  of  greater  interest  to  the  people  and 
to  the  legislators  than  railroad  legislation.  No  one  seemed  to 
have  very  definite  ideas  as  to  just  what  should  be  done,  and 
no  one  seemed  anxious  to  commit  himself  on  the  railroad  ques- 
tion.^^« 

The  governor  in  his  message  characterized  the  railroad  law 
of  1871  as  crude  in  its  conception,  harsh  towards  the  people  it 
intended  to  benefit,  and  unjust  to  the  weaker  railroads,  its  sole 
value  lying  in  the  fact  that  it  asserted  the  right  of  the  legisla- 
ture to  protect  the  people  against  excessive  rates  and  unjust 
discriminations,  and  that  it  had  been  upheld  by  the  courts. 
But  on  the  whole  he  favored  the  law  of  1874.  ''Statutes,"  said 
he,  "are  generally  vindicated  or  condemned  by  their  results. 
The  statute  has  resulted  in  the  substantial  abolition  of  local 
discrimination. "  ^^^ 

The  railroad  commission  could  not  present  a  very  gratify- 


735.  The    Railroad    Gazette,    Sept.    27.     1873;     "The    Railroads    First 
Affected    by    the    Financial    Crisis." 

736.  St.   Paul   Daily   Dispatch,   Jan.    28,    1875;    "Where   are   the   Gran- 
gers?" 

737.  Minn.   Exec.   Docs.,    1874;   Governor's   Messag'e. 


168  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing  report.  Two  railroad  companies  were  in  the  hands  of  re- 
ceivers, three  had  defaulted  in  interest  of  debts,  and  the  others 
had  maintained  their  credit  only  by  levying  assessments  on 
their  stockholders.^^®  They  had  interfered  as  little  with  the 
railroads  as  was  consistent  with  the  prevention  and  correction 
of  abuses.  The  commission  believed  that  the  main  benefit  of 
the  law  was  that  it  at  an  early  stage  asserted  the  right  of  the 
state  'Ho  so  far  regulate  and  control  these  indispensable  and 
beneficent  agencies  of  material  and  social  development  as  to 
protect  the  people  from  evils  and  oppressions  that  are  felt  in 
older  communities,"  and  that  ''the  certain  effect  will  be  to 
check  and  repress  the  growth  of  evils  that  have  scarcely  any 
present  existence  here,  but  which  the  experience  of  older  states 
demonstrates  are  sure  in  time  to  develop."  ^^^ 

In  actual  operation  they  had  found  the  pro  rata  principle 
too  inflexible,  and  recommended  changes  looking  toward  flex- 
ibility, that  "the  rates  may  be  varied  to  equitably  adapt  them 
to  the  circumstances  affecting  cost  and  profit  of  service  on 
different  parts  of  the  same  road."^''*^ 

AVhen  the  railroad  question  finally  was  taken  up  for  discus- 
sion, little  enthusiasm  was  shown  one  waj^  or  another.  Mr. 
Morse  of  Minneapolis  introduced  a  bill  in  the  House,  which 
substituted  a  single  advisory  commissioner  for  the  strong  rail- 
road commission  under  the  law  of  1874.  This  bill  was  favor- 
ably acted  upon  without  any  particular  discussion  in  the  com- 
mittee of  the  whole,  but  w^hen  it  came  up  for  the  final  reading 
in  the  House,  Mr.  Brown,  who  opposed  the  bill,  protested  that 
it  was  being  rushed  through  without  due  consideration.  He 
admitted  that  a  reaction  had  taken  place  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  making  them  more  favorable  to  the  railroads  than  be- 
fore, but  he  objected  to  creating  the  office  of  railroad  com- 
missioner with  merely  the  clerical  powers  of  gathering  sta- 
tistics and  reporting  to  the  governor.'^*^  Mr.  Egan,  in  support 
of  the  bill,  tried  to  show  that  the  evils  to  be  remedied  were 
future  rather  than  present  evils,  as  indicated  in  the  railroad 
commissioner's  report,   and  therefore   he  thought  the   Morse 


738.  Minn.  Railroad  Commissioner's  Report,   1874,  p.   6. 

739.  Ibid.,  p.  9. 

740.  Ibid.,  p.   8. 

741.  Record  and  Union.  Marcli  6,   1875;   "Tlie  Legislature." 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  169 

bill  sufficient  under  present  circumstances.  Mr.  listoe,  another 
representative,  said  on  the  floor  of  the  House  that  some  farm- 
ers howled  for  railroads,  and  some  against  them.  His  people 
howled  for  them,  and  hence  he  would  encourage  them  by  vot- 
ing for  the  bill.^^2 

The  Morse  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  large  majority,  but 
met  with  greater  opposition  in  the  Senate.  The  Senate  com- 
mittee on  railroads  reported  against  a  repeal  of  the  existing 
law,^**  but  later  a  joint  committee  on  railroads  agreed  to  re- 
port favorably  on  the  hew  bill.^**  The  reports  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts railroad  commissioner,  Mr.  Adams,  seem  to  have  ex- 
erted a  considerable  influence  at  this  time.  Mr.  Adams'  opin- 
ion was  that  "the  only  effective  restraint  upon  railroad  cor- 
porations, consistent  with  the  freedom  of  action  absolutely 
necessary  to  successful  management  of  their  complicated  busi- 
ness, is  the  moral  one  of  public  opinion.  *  *  *  He  says  in 
substance  that  experience  has  demonstrated  that  no  railroad 
company  will  persist  in  palpable  abuses  in  the  face  of  official 
exposure,  backed  as  it  is  sure  to  be  by  public  opinion.  "^*^ 
Arguments  of  this  nature  gave  the  bill  under  consideration  a 
strong  theoretical  justification.  It  was  not  to  be  considered  a 
mere  repeal  of  the  old  law,  but  rather  a  positive  measure  based 
on  good  sound  principles. 

The  bill  did  not  pass  the  Senate  without  a  struggle.  A 
number  of  the  Anti-Monopolists  of  the  previous  year  rallied  to 
the  support  of  the  law  of  1874,  which  was  about  to  be  repealed. 
While  they  did  not  favor  some  of  its  details,  they  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  principle  of  state  control  underlying  it. 
Senator  Coggswell,  one  of  their  number,  denied  that  the  law 
had  injured  the  railroads.  He  attributed  the  cessation  of  rail- 
road construction  to  want  of  capital  seeking  investment,  to  the 
absence  of  land  grants,  and  to  the  general  lack  of  confidence 
among  capitalists  in  railroads  and  business  management.'^*^ 
Senator  Westfall  disowned  the  law  of  1874  as  the  offspring 


742.  Ibid. 

743.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  Feb.  12,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  2;  "The  Railroad 
Law." 

744.  St.  Paul  Daily  Press,   Feb.   26,    1875,   p.   2,   c.    1;    "Repeal   of  the 
Railroad  Law." 

745.  Ibid. 

746.  St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch.  March   3,   1875.   p.   2. 


170 


MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


of  the  grange  movement,  considering  it  merely  a  compromise 
measure.  He  proposed,  however,  "to  hold  and  stand  on  the 
ground  already  taken, — that  the  people  have  a  right  to  reg- 
ulate freights  and  tariffs.  "^^^  Senator  Donnelly  also  spoke 
vigorously  against  the  bill.  He  had  voted  against  the  law  of 
1874  at  the  time  of  its  enactment,  but  he  ''preferred  it  to  no 
law  at  all."^*« 

Those  who  favored  the  bill  did  so  for  various  reasons.  Sen- 
ator Graves  "voted  for  the  bill  only  out  of  consideration  for 
the  impoverished  condition  of  the  railroads ;"  ^^'^  Senator 
Doughty  because  there  was  nothing  to  the  bill  but  repeal. '^^° 
Senator  Knute  Nelson  favored  a  simple  repeal  instead  of  this 
"sugar-coated"  bill.  He  "preferred  to  take  his  medicine 
straight,  but  was  compelled  to  take  it  as  it  was  offered."  His 
constituency  were  anxious  to  secure  railroads  and  were  of  the 
opinion  that  the  existing  law  kept  capital  out  of  the  state. '^^^ 
There  was  little  enthusiasm  for  the  Morse  bill  as  a  positive 
measure.  It  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  twenty-eight  to 
thirteen,  and  was  approved  by  the  governor.^''^ 

The  new  law  ^"^  provided  for  one  railroad  commissioner,  to 
be  elected  at  the  general  election  for  a  term  of  two  years.  He 
was  required  to  give  ten  thousand  dollar  bonds,  approved  by 
the  governor,  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties.^^*  His 
salary  was  fixed  at  three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  provi- 
sion was  made  for  a  secretary  at  a  salary  of  twelve  hundred 
dollars.'^^^ 

It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  commissioner  to  inquire  into 
the  neglect  or  violation  of  the  laws  by  the  railroad  companies 
or  by  their  employees  and  officers,  to  inspect  each  railroad  and 
its  equipment  with  special  reference  to  public  safety  and  con- 
venience, and  to  investigate  as  to  financial  condition  and  man- 

Railroad 


747. 

Rochester     Post,    March    6,    1875;    "Westfall     on     the 

Law." 

748. 

St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch,  March  3,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  4. 

749. 

Ibid.,  March  4,   1875,  p.  2;  Morse  Bill  passed.  28   to  13, 

750. 

Ibid. 

751. 

Ibid. 

752. 

Ibid. 

753. 

General  Laws  of  Minn.,   1875,   ch.   103. 

754. 

Ibid.,  sec.   1. 

755. 

Ibid.,  sec.  2. 

RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  171 

agement.'^®  He  was  to  report  annually  to  the  governor,  and 
to  make  such  suggestions  and  recommendations  as  he  deemed 
advisable/^^  The  president  or  managing  officer  of  each  rail- 
road company  was  required  to  report  under  oath  to  the  rail- 
road commissioner  annually,  on  or  before  October  1/^^  The 
commissioner  was  empowered  to  investigate  books  and  papers, 
and  to  examine  officers  or  employees  under  oath  or  otherwise. 
He  was  given  power  to  issue  subpoenas  and  to  compel  obedi- 
ence in  these  matters,  in  the  same  manner  as  regular  courts  of 
law.  Wilful  obstruction  or  refusal  to  give  testimony  was  made 
a  misdemeanor  punishable  by  a  fine  of  not  over  one  thousand 
dollars.^^9 

Railroad  companies  were'prohibited  from  charging  one  per- 
son or  corporation  more  than  another  "for  a  like  service  from 
the  same  place,  and  upon  like  conditions  and  upon  similar  cir- 
cumstances;" and  all  concessions  of  rates,  drawbacks,  and 
contracts  for  special  rates,  were  to  be  "open  to  all  persons, 
companies,  and  corporations,  alike  under  similar  circumstan- 
ces." ^^*^  Unreasonable  charges  for  any  privilege  or  service  on 
the  part  of  railroad  companies  was  likewise  prohibited.'^^^ 

It  was  made  the  duty  of  railroads,  "when  within  their 
power  to  do  so,  and  upon  reasonable  notice,"  to  furnish  suit- 
able cars  to  all  who  applied,  and  to  "receive  and  transport 
such  freight  with  all  reasonable  dispatch,"  and  to  provide 
"suitable  facilities  for  receiving  the  same  at  any  depot"  on 
their  lines.^''- 

Any  railroad  company  which  violated  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  as  to  "extortion  or  unjust  discrimination,"  was  to  forfeit 
treble  damages  and  costs  to  the  aggrieved  party.  The  railroad 
law  of  the  previous  year  was  repealed,  but  the  repeal  was  not 
to  affect  any  pending  action.'^®^ 

The  enactment  of  this  law  meant  a  definite  change  of  policy 


756.  Ibid.,  sec.  3. 

757.  Ibid.,  sec.  4. 

758.  Ibid.,  sec.  5. 

759.  Ibid.,  sec.  6. 

760.  Ibid.,  sec.  7. 

761.  Ibid.,  sec.  8. 

762.  Ibid.,  sec.  9. 

763.  Ibid.,  sec.  10. 


172  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

in  regard  to  railroad  control/^''  The  railroad  commissioner 
was  given  plenary  powers  to  investigate  and  report,  but  had 
no  power  to  prevent  or  correct  abuses.  Unreasonable  charges, 
as  we  noted,  were  forbidden,  but  were  in  no  way  defined. 
Discriminations  were  likewise  prohibited,  but  in  such  guarded 
terms  that  little  substantial  protection  was  afforded.  The  ag- 
grieved party  would  have  to  bring  civil  action  against  the 
railroad  company  and  prove  that  different  charges  had  been 
made  for  "like  services  from  the  same  place  and  upon  like 
conditions  and  similar  circumstances,"  or  must  show  in  court 
that  the  charges  were  unreasonable,  or  that  cars  had  not  been 
furnished  upon  reasonable  notice,  when  it  was  in  the  power  of 
the  railroad  companies  to  do  so.  Discriminations  and  extor- 
tions were  no  longer  offences  against  the  state  and  punishable 
as  such.  They  were  again  placed  within  the  domain  of  private 
law,  and  the  individual  aggrieved  must  himself  bring  action, 
and  must  stand  the  cost  in  case  of  an  adverse  decision. 

The  legislature  also  passed  "An  act  for  the  protection  of 
exporters  of  grain  from  this  state."  ^®^  According  to  this  law, 
"common  carriers"  doing  business  within  the  state  and  en- 
gaged in  the  transportation  of  grain,  were  required  to  give  a 
receipt  for  the  amount  of  grain  received  and  were  bound  to 
deliver  the  same  amount  to  the  destination,  allowing  a  max- 
imum of  forty-five  pounds  loss  per  carload  during  transporta- 
tion. Refusal  to  give  such  a  receipt  when  demanded  made 
the  company  liable  to  a  fine  of  from  ten  to  fifty  dollars.  In 
case  of  refusal  or  neglect  to  deliver  the  amount  of  grain  so 
receipted,  the  common  carrier  was  made  liable  for  all  loss  be- 
yond the  legal  maximum,  and  was  subjected  to  a  fine  of  fifty 
to  one  hundred  dollars  for  each  offence.  All  prosecutions  un- 
der this  act  were  to  be  made  in  the  name  of  the  state,  under 
the  direction  of  the  attorney  general.'^"*' 

The  purpose  of  this  law  was  to  remedy  the  "shortage  and 
stealage"  abuse  against  which  the  farmers  and  independent 
shippers  had  so  long  contended.  The  railroads  were  here  called 
common   carriers   and  the  legislature   undertook  to   regulate 

764.  See    the   Railroad    Gazette,   March    13,    1875,    p.    109,    "Minnesota 
Railroad  Laws;"  The  Nation,  vol.   20,   p.  183. 

765.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1875,  ch.  88. 

766.  Ibid.,  sec.  3. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  173 

them  in  their  transportation  of  grain.  The  penalties  under 
the  law  were  not  severe,  but  the  manner  of  enforcing  them  was 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  weak  provisions  of  the  act  cal- 
culated to  prevent  discriminations  and  extortions. 

These  were  the  important  general  laws  passed  at  this  ses- 
sion. Numerous  special  laws  were  passed  authorizing  cities, 
counties  and  towns  to  issue  bonds  in  aid  of  railroads.^''^  This 
shows  that  the  people  in  different  parts  of  the  state  were 
anxious  to  see  railroad  construction  resumed.  A  number  of 
special  laws  were  passed  by  the  legislature  to  aid  railroads. 
Two  railroads  were  given  state  swamp  lands.^^^  The  St.  Paul 
and  Pacific  railroad  company  had  its  time  limit  for  completion 
extended,  but  was  bound  to  charge  only  just  and  reasonable 
rates  and  to  make  no  unjust  and  unreasonable  discrimina- 
tions.^^^ The  Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  railroad  company  was 
authorized  to  extend  a  branch  line,  and  its  charter  rights  were 
made  applicable  to  this  branch,  provided  passengers  and  freight 
were  carried  over  the  lines,  "at  such  equitable  and  reasonable 
rates  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  fixed  by  law.""'*  These 
acts  are  a  reversion  to  the  previous  type  of  railroad  regulation. 
Direct  legislative  control  of  railroad  rates,  as  contemplated  by 
the  granger  laws,  had  been  given  up  as  inexpedient,  but  the 
legislature  promptly  resumed  the  plan  of  regulation  by  special 
law  wherever  possible. 

The  granger  legislature  of  1874  had  passed  laws  to  control 
railroad  rates  and  railroad  management,  but,  as  we  have  seen, 
they  also  memorialized  Congress  for  river  improvements  and 
canals,  in  order  to  bring  a  cheaper  means  of  transportation  into 
competition  with  the  railroads.  The  legislature  of  1875,  which 
repealed  the  granger  laws  and  by  joint  resolution  directed  the 
attorney  general  to  discontinue  the  suit  pending  by  express 
order  of  the  preceding  legislature  against  a  railroad  company 
to  have  its  charter  declared  forfeited,"^  continued  the  agita- 


767.  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,  1875,  chs.  126,  127,  129,  130,  131,  132. 

768.  Ibid.,  chs.  51  and  54,  the  Taylor's  Falls  and  Lake  Superior  and 
the  Duluth  and  Iron  Rang'e  railroad  companies,  resp. 

769.  Ibid.,  ch.  49. 

770.  Ibid.,  ch.   63.     Other  special  acts  were  chs.   50,   52,   57,   58,   64. 

771.  General  Laws  of  Minn.,  1875,  p.  218;  Joint  Resolution  No.  19. 
Suit  had  been  brought  against  the  First  Division  of  the  St. 
Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  company. 


174  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

tion  for  extended  and  improved  water  transportation.  By- 
joint  resolution  Congress  was  requested,  verbatim  as  in  1874, 
to  make  a  survey  of  the  ''water  routes  between  the  navigable 
waters  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  the  Red  river  of  the  North, ' ' 
to  ascertain  the  feasibility  of  a  canal  connection  between  the 
two.  Surveys  had  been  made  of  the  two  rivers  and  measures 
were  progressing  for  improving  the  navigation  on  the  rivers, 
it  is  stated  in  the  resolution,  but  the  surveys  were  not  being 
made  with  the  idea  of  connecting  the  rivers  and  making  them 
a  continuous  navigation  system.^^^ 

Congress  was  in  like  manner  ''requested"  to  survey  the 
Red  or  Otter  Tail  river  to  ascertain  the  feasibility  of  improv- 
ing that  river  from  Fergus  Falls  upward  to  where  the  North- 
ern Pacific  crossed  it  near  Perham.'^''^  The  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  state  in  Congress  were  urged  to  use  their  in- 
fluence to  secure  the  improvement  of  the  Red  river  between 
Breckenridge  and  Manitoba,"''  of  the  Mississippi  river  at  St. 
Paul,"^  and  of  the  Minnesota  river.  "®  It  was  believed  that 
navigable  streams  and  canals  under  the  control  of  the  federal 
government  would  forever  remain  in  competition  with  rail- 
roads and  tend  to  keep  do^^n  their  rates. 

The  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  papers  quite  generally  en- 
dorsed the  new  railroad  law.  The  St.  Paul  Dispatch  had  advo- 
cated the  Morse  bill  from  the  time  it  was  introduced."^  The 
St.  Paul  Pioneer  heartily  commended  it,  and  congratulated  the 
state  upon  its  passage;  for,  "While  the  new  measure  in  no 
respect  abates  the  principle  of  state  control,  it  substitutes  for 
the  heavy  hand  of  iron-clad  tariffs  a  system  which  will  accom- 
plish every  just  reform  and  at  the  same  time  secure  capital 
against  the  arbitrary  persecution  which  has  resulted  in  blight- 
ing railroad  interests  all  over  the  West.  By  the  new  bill  the 
interests  of  the  people  are  amply  guarded,  while  those  of  the 

p.   213;  Joint  Resolution  No,  10. 

p.   207;  Joint  Resolution  No.   1. 

p.  208;  Joint  Resolution  No.   2. 

p.  210;  Joint  Resolution  No.  5. 

p.  210;  Joint  Resolution  No.  6. 
St.   Paul   Daily   Dispatch,   Feb.   23,   1875,   p.   2,   c.    1,    "A   Sensible 
Bill;"    Feb.    26,    1875,    p.    2,    c.    1,    "The   Pending   Railroad    Bill;" 
March    1,    1875,    p.    2,    c.    1,    "A    Political    Movement;"    March    2, 
1875,  p.  2,  0.  1,  "The  New  Railroad  Law." 


772. 

Ibid. 

773. 

Ibid. 

774. 

Ibid. 

775. 

Ibid. 

776. 

Ibid. 

777. 

St.   1 

RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  175 

railroads  are  secured  against  violent  and  communistic  confis- 
cation. "^^« 

The  Minneapolis  Tribune  said:  "The  Morse  bill  virtually 
restores  to  the  railroad  companies  the  right  to  manage  and 
control  their  own  property,  which  right  was  taken  away  from 
them  last  winter.  =*  *  *  Thus  has  our  state  at  last  taken 
a  step  calculated  in  the  end  to  repair  the  injury  inflicted  upon 
her  by  the  senseless  railroad  war."  "^ 

The  press  outside  the  Twin  Cities  was  not  so  unanimous  in 
its  approval.  The  Grange  Advance  said:  ''A  number  of  our 
exchanges  are  amusing  themselves  by  miscellaneously  pitching 
into  the  new  railroad  laAV.  *  *  *  While  we  do  not  think 
it  perfect,  we  cannot  agree  with  the  broad  assertions  that  are 
being  constantly  paraded  before  the  public  in  the  following 
style :  The  Minnesota  legislature  at  its  recent  session  virtually 
sold  out  to  the  railroads  and  repealed  all  the  legislation  of 
1874,  and  left  the  people  at  the  mercy  of  the  corporations."  ''^^ 

The  Owatonna  Journal  was  one  of  the  papers  here  referred 
to.  It  came  out  strongly  against  the  bill  and  ''asserted  un- 
hesitatingly that  all  the  railroad  lawyers  this  side  of  perdition 
could  not  have  framed  a  clause  to  expressly  grant  the  right  of 
discrimination  in  better  terms  or  more  effectively. ' '  ^^^  Ex- 
governor  Austin  wrote  to  the  Journal  a  letter  commending  it 
on  its  attitude  and  characterizing  the  repeal  of  the  law  of  1874, 
without  enacting  a  better  substitute,  as  a  "criminal  piece  of 
stupidity  and  folly."  He  predicted  an  early  repeal  of  the 
"Morse  fraud. "^^^  rpj^^  Monticello  Times  agreed  with  Mr. 
Austin  that  the  law  of  1874  had  not  been  given  a  fair  trial.'^^^ 

The  Rochester  Post  considered  the  enactment  of  the  law  an 
"acknowledgment  by  the  legislature  that  the  attempt  to  fix 
rates  of  compensation  for  transportation  services  by  a  differ- 
ent system  from  that  by  which  other  values  are  fixed  has 
proved  a  failure. ' '  ^^*     Its  tone  is  quite  moderate  considering 


778.  St.    Paul    Daily    Pioneer,    March    4,    1875,    p.    2,    c.    1,    "The   New- 
Railroad  Bill." 

779.  Minneapolis  Daily  Tribune,  March  5,  1875,  p.  2,  c.  1. 

780.  Grange  Advance,  March  2,   1875. 

781.  Owatonna  Journal,   March   4,   1&75. 

782.  Ibid.,  March  25,  1875. 

783.  Anti-Monopolist,  Apr.  15,  1875.^ 

784.  Rochester  Post. 


176  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

its  previous  stand.  The  Windom  Reporter  called  the  railroad 
law  a  farce,  and  continued:  ''Common  law  guarantees  as 
much  protection,  and  the  penalties  of  the  new  law  will  have 
no  effect  in  frightening  the  railroads  to  adopt  a  reasonable 
tariff. "^«^  The  Winona  Republican  said:  ''The  bill  prac- 
tically amounts  to  a  total  surrender  on  the  part  of  the  state 
of  the  right  to  regulate  railroads  *  *  *  it  would  be  better 
to  have  no  railroad  law  at  all  and  save  the  useless  clerk 
hire."^s« 

The  Anti-Monopolist  perhaps  came  out  the  very  strongest 
against  the  repeal  of  the  former  law.  It  called  the  new  law  a 
"sham,  a  mockery,  a  delusion,  and  a  snare. "^^^  It  quoted  the 
Chisago  County  Post  as  saying:  "The  new  railroad  law  is  not 
well  thought  of  by  the  state  press;  in  fact,  there  are  few  papers 
in  the  state  that  do  not  denounce  the  law  as  a  sham  conveying 
no  meaning  whatever. "  ^^^  This  last  statement  is  too  sweep- 
ing, but  enough  quotations  have  been  given  to  show  that  the 
new  law  was  not  favorably  received  by  all.  There  were  many 
throughout  the  state  who  were  disappointed  because  the  gran- 
ger law  of  1874  was  not  given  a  longer  trial. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  GRANGER  MOVEMENT. 

The  repeal  of  the  granger  laws  in  Minnesota  and  the  neigh- 
boring granger  states,  following  the  sudden  decline  in  granger 
activity,  was  taken  by  many  as  an  indication  that  the  granger 
movement  had  spent  its  force  and  accomplished  nothing.  But 
such  was  hardly  the  case.  The  grangers  did  not  succeed  in 
solving  the  railroad  problem,  but  as  a  direct  result  of  their 
revolt  against  the  railroad  abuses  of  their  day  the  fact  came 
to  be  generally  recognized  that  the  people  as  well  as  the  rail- 
road corporations  have  "vested  rights,"  and  this  was  no  mean 
contribution  toward  its  solution. 


785.  Anti-Monopolist,    March    18.    1875,    "The    Railroad    Law;"    Win- 
dom Reporter  quoted. 

786.  Ibid.,   March   11,   1875,   "The  New  Railroad  Law;"     The  Winona 
Republican  quoted. 

787.  Ibid.,  March  18,   1875. 

788.  Ibid.,  March   25,   1875, 


\ 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA. 


177 


Whenever  attempts  were  made  to  subject  the  railroads  to 
regulation  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  they  sought  refuge 
behind  the  Dartmouth  College  decision.  In  this  case  the 
United  States  supreme  court  had  held  that  the  original  charter 
of  Dartmouth  College  constituted  a  contract  between  the 
Crown  and  the  trustees  of  the  college,  which  was  not  dissolved 
by  the  Revolution,  and  that  an  act  passed  by  the  state  legis- 
lature of  New  Hampshire  altering  this  charter  without  the 
consent  of  the  corporation  impaired  the  obligation  of  the  con- 
tract and  was  therefore  null  and  void.^^^  All  rights  once 
legally  vested  in  corporations  were  thus  placed  beyond  the 
reach  of  subsequent  state  legislation.  ''This  decision,"  said 
Chancellor  Kent  approvingly,  ''did  more  than  any  other  sin- 
gle act  proceeding  from  the  authority  of  the  United  States  to 
throw  an  impregnable  barrier  around  all  rights  and  franchises 
derived  from  the  government ;  to  give  solidity  and  inviolability 
to  the  literary,  charitable,  religious  and  commercial  interests 
of  the  country.  "^^°  This  statement,  made  in  1826,  seems  al- 
most prophetic  in  the  light  of  later  developments.  The  growth 
of  corporate  enterprise  and  the  part  this  decision  was  to  play 
could  not  be  foreseen,  even  by  such  far-sighted  men  as  Mar- 
shall and  Kent.  The  doctrine  laid  down  in  this  decision  was 
followed  in  later  cases  in  federal  and  state  courts,  and  it  soon 
came  to  be  regarded  as  a  settled  principle  of  American  consti- 
tutional law  that  charters  of  private  corporations  were  invio- 
lable contracts  between  the  legislature  and  the  corporators,  and 
that  the  subsequent  power  of  the  legislature  was  restrained  by 
their  terms.'^^^ 

This  decision  did  not  lead  to  an  amendment  of  the  federal 
constitution  calling  for  a  different  interpretation  of  the  provi- 
sion in  question,  as  did  the  decision  in  Chisholm  vs.  Georgia  •''^- 
but  the  different  states  began  almost  immediately  to  guard 
against  the  interpretation  of  future  charters  as  inviolable  con- 
tracts by  expressly  reserving  to  the  state  legislature  the  right 


789. 

790. 
791. 
792. 

12 


The  Trustees  of  Dartmouth  College  vs.  Woodward,  4  Wheaton, 
518;  decided  1819. 

1  Kent's  Com.,  392;  First  edition,  1826. 

See   94  U.   S.,   185,   Stone  vs.   Wisconsin,   dissenting  opinion. 

2  Dallas,  419;  decided  1793.     The  eleventh  amendment  was  pro- 
posed in  1794. 


178  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

to  alter,  amend,  or  repeal  acts  incorporating  private  corpora- 
tions/^^ The  first  plan  was  to  insert  a  provision  to  this  effect 
in  the  charter  when  granted, ^^'^  and  soon  became  quite  general. 
Another  plan  was  to  make  the  reservation  of  legislative  power 
of  amendment  or  repeal  applicable  by  general  law  to  all  fu- 
ture charters.^^"'  A  third  plan  was  to  insert  this  reservation 
of  power  in  the  state  constitution.  Beginning  with  the  Dela- 
ware constitution  as  amended  by  a  constitutional  convention 
in  1831,  we  find  that  by  1866  this  provision  is  to  be  found  in 
the  constitution  of  at  least  fifteen  different  states.'^^^ 

From  the  great  amount  of  legislation  and  constitutional 
enactment  which  it  provoked,  it  is  evident  that  the  doctrine 
promulgated  in  the  Dartmouth  College  decision  was  regarded 
as  new  and  not  altogether  acceptable  by  the  different  states. 
And  as  time  went  on  and  railroads  were  built  and  railroad  cor- 
porations grew  in  power,  the  situation  became  more  and  more 
serious ;  for  the  new  corporations,  though  controlling  an  essen- 
tial factor  in  the  economic  life  of  the  country,  claimed  exemp- 
tion from  state  regulation  in  the  interests  of  the  public  they 
were  serving  as  common  carriers,  because  their  charter  rights 
were  constitutionally  beyond  legislative  interference.  Even 
where  reservation  had  been  made  that  charters  might  be  al- 
tered or  repealed,  it  was  a  matter  of  grave  doubt  in  some  quar- 
ters whether,  after  all,  this  reservation  was  not  an  empty  for- 
mula.'^^^     If    a    company  had  vested  rights  in  the  franchises 


793.  10  Barbour,  260,  New  York  Supreme  Court,  1851;  Amer,  Law 
Review,  vol  VIII,  p.  189  (Jan.,  1874),  "The  Dartmouth  College 
Case." 

794.  For  instance.  Laws  of  New  York,  1819,  ch.  110,  sec.  3;  Laws  of 
New  Hampshire,  1820,  ch.  34,  sec.  10.  The  provision  may  be 
found   later   In   charters   of   most    of   the   states. 

795.  1  New  York  Revised  Statutes  (1829),  600,  sec.  8, — this  provision 
dates  from  Dec,  1827;  Session  Laws  of  Mass.,  1830,  ch.  81;  3 
Public  Laws  of  Maine,  ch.   503,  approved  March   17,   1831. 

796.  Del.,  Const,  of  1831,  art.  2,  sec.  17. 

N.  Y.,  1846,  art.  8,  sec.  1.       Penn.,  amend.,  1857,  art.  1,  sec.  26. 

Wis.,  1848,  art.  11,  sec.  1.      Kan.,  1859,  art.  12,  sec.  1. 

Cal.,  1849,  art.  4,  sec.  31.        W.  Va.,  1861,  art.  11,  sec.  5. 

Mich.,  1850,  art.  15,  sec.  1.    Nev.,  1864,  art.  8,  sec.  1. 

Ohio,  1851,  art.  13,  sec.  2.      Md.,  1864,  art.  3,  sec.  51. 

Ore..  1857,  art.   11,  sec.  2.      Mo.,   1865,  art.  8,  sec.  4. 

Towa,   1857,   art.   8,   sec.   2.     Tex.,  1866,  art.  7,  sec.   31. 

797.  1  Amer.  Law  Rev.,  451,  456,  ft.  (Apr.,  1867);  "Legislative  Con- 
trol  over   Railway   Charters." 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  179 

granted,  to  what  extent  would  the  legislature  be  authorized  to 
interfere  materially  with  these  property  rights?  And  the 
United  States  supreme  court  later  did  decide  that  the  reserved 
power  of  alteration  and  amendment  was  not  without  limit,  but 
that  "the  alterations  must  be  reasonable,  they  must  be  made 
in  good  faith,  and  be  consistent  with  tlie  scope  and  object  of 
the  act  of  incorporation."'"^ 

The  right  of  the  legislature  to  control  its  own  creatures, 
the  corporations,  was  at  the  time  of  the  granger  movement  no 
longer  an  academic  question  of  political  and  legal  theory;  it 
was  a  vital  question  in  the  economic  life  of  the  country,  and  it 
had  to  be  faced  squarely.  Thomas  M.  Cooley,  the  eminent 
jurist,  expressed  his  opinion  of  the  situation  in  1873  as  follows: 
"It  is  under  the  protection  of  the  decision  in  the  Dartmouth 
College  case  that  the  most  enormous  and  threatening  powers 
in  our  country  have  been  created;  some  of  the  great  and 
wealthy  corporations  actually  having  greater  influence  in  the 
country  at  large,  and  upon  the  legislation  of  the  country,  than 
the  States  to  which  they  owe  their  corporate  existence.  Every 
privilege  granted  or  right  conferred — no  matter  by  what  means 
or  on  what  pretence — being  made  inviolable  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, the  government  is  frequently  found  stripped  of  its  au- 
thority in  very  important  particulars  by  unwise,  careless,  or 
corrupt  legislation;  and  a  clause  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
whose  purpose  was  to  preclude  the  repudiation  of  debts  and 
just  contracts,  protects  and  perpetuates  the  evil."^"" 

In  an  address  in  1873  James  A.  Garfield  criticised  the  judi- 
cial application  of  the  Dartmouth  College  case,  and  ventured 
the  opinion  that  some  feature  of  that  opinion  as  applied  to  the 
railway  and  similar  corporations  must  give  way  under  the  new 
elements  which  time  had  added  to  the  problem,  and  said  fur- 
ther :  "It  will  be  a  disgrace  to  our  age  and  to  us  if  we  do  not 
discover  some  method  by  which  the  public  functions  of  these 
organizations  may  be  brought  into  full  subordination,  and  that 


798.  95   U.    S.,    319,    324;    Shields   vs.    Ohio. 

799.  Cooley,  Constitutional  Limitations,  Third  ed.,  1874  (preface 
dated  Dec,  1873),  pp.  279,  280  note.  This  statement  is  not 
found  in  the  first  edition,  published  in  1867,  before  the  granger 
movement  had  brought  the  question   into  prominence. 


180  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

too  without  violence  and  without  unjust  interference  with  the 
rights  of  private  individuals. ' '  ^"^ 

Railroads  had  from  their  first  appearance  been  considered 
common  carriers,  both  in  England  and  in  the  United  States  j^*'^ 
and,  this  being  the  case,  many  failed  to  see  why  railroads 
should  not,  like  other  common  carriers,  be  subject  to  legis- 
lative regulation.  That  railroads,  though  constructed  by  pri- 
vate corporations  and  owned  by  them,  were  public  highways, 
had  been  the  doctrine  of  nearly  all  the  courts  since  the  ear- 
liest days  of  railroad  construction.^"-  Because  they  were  pub- 
lic highways  for  the  public  benefit,  the  right  of  eminent  do- 
main had  always  been  given  to  them;^"^  and  courts  had  fre- 
quently held  that  the  public  had  an  interest  in  such  roads, 
whether  they  were  owned  and  operated  by  a  private  corpora- 
tion or  not.^°^  Because  railroads  performed  public  duties  and 
functions  and  were  indispensable  to  the  public  interests,  the 
state  legislature  could  rightfully  tax  or  authorize  taxation  for 
the  purpose  of  aiding  railroads.®^''  The  United  States  supreme 
court  in  1872  expressed  this  doctrine  in  the  following  words: 
''A  railroad  built  by  a  state  no  one  claims  would  be  anything 
else  than  a  public  highway,  justifying  taxation  for  its  con- 
struction and  maintenance,  though  it  could  be  no  more  open 
to  public  use  than  is  a  road  built  and  owned  by  a  corporation. 
Yet  it  is  the  purpose  and  the  uses  of  a  work  which  determine 
its  character."  ^^^ 

The  railroads  reaped  all  the  benefits  of  their  quasi-public 
character,  but  in  the  matter  of  business  management  they 
claimed  to  be  private  corporations  subject  only  to  such  provi- 
sions as  were  to  be  found  in  their  charters.  The  railroads  may 
have  had  some  reason  to  fear  the  legislatures  of  the  time.    On 


800.  James  A.   Garfield,   "The   Future   of  the   Republic,   its  Dangers 
and  its  Hopes;"  5  Legal  Gazette   (Phila.),  408-9,  Dec.  19,  1873. 

801.  See  Redfield   on  Carriers  and  other  Bailees    (Cambridge,   1869), 
ch.  3,  "Railroads  Common  Carriers,"  and  cases  there  cited. 

802.  Alcott  vs.  The  Supervisors,   16  Wall.,  678. 

803.  Sharpless  vs.   The  Mayor   of  Philadelphia,   21   Penn.   State   Re- 
ports,  147,   169-170;  decided   1853. 

804.  Ibid.,   169;   2  Mich.,   427;   18  Minn.,   482;   56  111.,   377-379;  see  also 
3  Wall.,  654,  663,  and  cases  there  cited. 

805.  21  Penn.  State  Reports,  147;  2  Mich.,  427;  3  Wall.,  654  r  for  argu- 
ments contra,   see   20  Mich.,   462. 

806.  Alcott  vs.  The  Supervisors,  16  Wall.,  678,  696. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  181 

the  other  hand,  the  people  had  grievances  against  the  rail- 
roads, some  imaginary  and  unfounded,  perhaps,  but  many  were 
very  real  and  substantial,  and  particularly  in  the  western 
states  the  people  were  in  no  mood  to  permit  court  decisions 
of  the  past  to  stand  in  the  way  of  redressing  existing  wrongs. 
Lawyers  who  had  not  forgotten  the  Dartmouth  College  deci- 
sion began  in  some  places  to  find  themselves  ineligible  to  the 
elective  judiciary.^^^  The  courts  had  always  in  the  past  been 
ready  to  protect  the  corporations  in  their  chartered  rights,  but 
the  people  now  began  to  demand  that  the  courts  should  be 
equally  ready  to  insist  that  they  perform  faithfully  to  the  pub- 
lic those  duties  which  were  the  objects  of  their  chartered 
powers.^"^ 

The  granger  movement  was  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
people  to  secure  control  over  railroad  corporations  and  to  pre- 
vent extortionate  and  discriminating  rates  by  legislation, 
which,  according  to  the  usually  accepted  understanding  of  the 
Dartmouth  College  decision,  would  be  unconstitutional.  The 
granger  states  were  those  whose  legislatures  enacted  such  laws 
and  provided  means  for  their  enforcement.  Cases  involving 
the  constitutional  rights  of  state  legislatures  to  regulate  rail- 
road rates  soon  came  before  the  United  States  supreme  court 
from  three  of  the  four  granger  states,  namely,  Iowa,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Minnesota.^"^  The  railroads  contended  that  state  laws 
fixing  maximum  rates,  or  authorizing  railroad  commissions  to 
do  so,  were  unconstitutional,  because  they  impaired  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  charter  contract,  because  they  virtually  deprived 
the  corporations  of  property  without  due  process  of  law,  and, 
finally,  because  such  laws  were  a  regulation  of  inter-state  com- 
merce over  which  Congress  had  been  given  exclusive  jurisdic- 
tion.^^*' The  constitution  of  the  state  of  Wisconsin  reserved 
to  the  legislature  the  right  to  amend  or  repeal  charters.®^^  The 
railroad  corporations  here  argued  that  this  reservation  clause 
must  be  construed  in  connection  with  the  fourteenth  amend- 


so?.     Martin,  History  of  the  Grange  Movement  (1873),  p.  335. 

808.  See  56  111.,  365,  379. 

809.  From   Iowa,    94   U.    S.,    155;   from    Wisconsin,    94   U.    S.,    164,    179, 
and   181;   from  Minnesota,   94  U.   S.,   180  and   181,   note. 

810.  The    Chicago,    Burlington    and    Quincy    Railroad    Company    vs. 
Iowa,  94  U.  S.,  155,  158,  ff. 

811.  Const,  of  Wis.,  Art.   11,  sec.   1. 


182  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ment  of  the  federal  constitution,  for  the  right  to  a  reasonable 
compensation  for  their  services  was  not  a  franchise  or  privi- 
lege granted  by  the  state,  but  an  inherent  right  which  could 
not  be  abridged  or  impaired  by  the  state, — the  question  of  rea- 
sonableness was  not  for  legislative  but  for  judicial  determina- 
tion.^^- 

The  supreme  court,  however,  followed  the  decision  it  had 
just  rendered  in  the  case  of  Munn  vs.  lUinois.^^^  In  this  case 
it  had  held  constitutional  an  Illinois  statute  which  fixed  the 
maximum  charges  for  the  storage  of  grain  in  warehouses  at 
Chicago  and  other  places  in  the  state  having  not  less  than 
one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  court  asserted  that, 
under  the  powers  inherent  in  every  sovereignty,  a  government 
may  regulate  the  conduct  of  its  citizens  toward  each  other,  and, 
when  necessary  for  the  public  good,  the  manner  in  which  each 
shall  use  his  property;  when  the  owner  of  property  devotes  it 
to  a  use  in  which  the  public  has  an  interest,  he  in  effect  grants 
to  the  public  an  interest  in  such  use,  and  must,  to  the  extent 
of  such  interest,  submit  to  be  controlled  by  the  public  for  the 
common  good  as  long  as  he  maintains  the  use ;  of  the  propriety 
of  legislative  interference  within  the  scope  of  legislative  power, 
the  legislature  is  the  exclusive  judge.^^^ 

In  applying  the  principle  of  this  decision  in  the  railroad 
cases  the  court  disappointed  the  railroads,  for  they  had  relied 
on  the  Dartmouth  College  decision  as  a  precedent.  It  had  been 
so  long  judicially  declared  that  it  was  supposed  to  be  no  longer 
open  to  discussion,  that  charters  of  private  corporations  were 
inviolable  contracts,  protected  by  constitutional  guarantees 
against  legislative  interference. '^^^  The  decisions  in  the  gran- 
ger eases  did  not  overrule  the  Dartmouth  College  decision,  but 
they  did  assert  the  general  principle  that  a  legislature  has  a 
right  to  regulate  the  compensation  for  the  use  of  all  property 
and  for  services  in  connection  with  it,  the  use  of  which  affects 
the  community  at  large,  even  though  the  charter  of  a  company 
confers  upon  it  the  right  to  charge  reasonable  rates.^^®     The 


812.  Peck  vs.  Railroad  Company,   94  U.   S.,   164,   167. 

813.  94  U.  S.,   113;  decided   1876. 

814.  Ibid.,  see  summary. 

815.  See   Stone   vs.   Wisconsin,   94   U.   S.,    185,   dissenting   opinion. 

816.  Ibid.,  186. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  183 

railroads  could  no  longer  seek  refuge  behind  the  ''impregna- 
ble barrier  thrown  around  all  rights  and  franchises  derived 
from  the  government"  by  the  Dartmouth  College  decision.^^^ 
As  public  highways  and  common  carriers,  they  were  held  sub- 
ject to  state  regulation,  and  thus  were  ''practically  placed  at 
the  mercy  of  the  legislature  of  every  state."  ^^^ 

Later  decisions  have  modified  to  some  extent  the  principles 
laid  down  in  the  granger  cases,  and  afford  the  railroads  ample 
protection  by  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment, which  makes  the  federal  judiciary  the  final  judge  as  to 
the  reasonableness  of  rates  prescribed  according  to  state  law.^^^ 
But  since  the  granger  movement  in  the  early  seventies  and  the 
decisions  handed  down  by  the  federal  supreme  court  in  the 
granger  cases  in  1876,  the  railroad  corporations  have  not  laid 
claim  to  vested  rights  beyond  reasonable  legislative  control. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

The  following  publications  have  been  examined  in  the  prep- 
aration of  this  thesis,  many  of  them  being  cited  in  its  foot- 
notes. 

Acts,  Joint  Resolutions  and  Memorials  passed  by  the  First  Leg- 
islative Assembly  of  the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  1849.  Republication 
of  Important  General  Laws  of  Wisconsin  now  in  force  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  Minnesota,  by  Provision  of  the  Organic  Act,  1849.  (These  are 
published  together,  and  the  chapters  are  numbered  consecutively 
throughout  the  volume.) 

Session  Laws  of  the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  1850-1857.  (Pub- 
lished annually;  extra  session  in  1857.) 

Collated  Statutes  of  the  Territory  of  Minnesota  and  Decisions  of- 
the  Supreme  Court;  collated  pursuant  to  a  Resolution  of  March  5, 
1853.     St.  Paul,  1853. 

Public  Statutes  of  the  State  of  Minnesota,  1849-58. 

General  and  Special  Laws  of  Minnesota,  1858-1875.  (Annual  ses- 
sions; no  session  in  1859;  extra  session  in  1862.) 

The  General  Statutes  of  the  State  of  Minnesota,  1866. 


817.  1  Kent's  Com.,   392,  first  edition. 

818.  94  U.  S.,  185.  See  C.  F.  Adams,  Railroads,  their  Origin  and 
Problems,   pp.   127,    129,    147. 

819.  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railroad  Company  vs.  Minne- 
sota, 134  U.  S.,  418,  decided  March  24,  1890;  see  dissent  by  Jus- 
tice Bradley,  p.  461,  ff.  Reagan  vs.  Farmers'  Loan  and  Trust 
Company,  154  U.  S.,  362.     Smyth  vs.  Ames,  169  U.  S.,  466. 


184  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

An  Analytical  Index  to  the  General  and  Special  Laws  of  the  Ter- 
ritory and  State  of  Minnesota  from  1849  to  1875.  By  John  C.  Shaw 
and  John  B.  West.    St.  Paul,  1876. 

Journals  of  the  Council  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  Territory  of  Minnesota.  (The  Legislative  Assembly  met  annually 
from  1849  to  1857,  with  an  extra  session  in  1857.  The  Governors'  Mes- 
sages are  found  in  these  Journals.) 

Journals  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  State  of  Minnesota,  from  1858  to  1875.     No  session  in  1859. 

Debates  and  Proceedings  of  the  Minnesota  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion; Officially  Reported  by  Francis  H.  Smith.  [Democratic.*]  St. 
Paul,  1857. 

Debates  and  Proceedings  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  for  the 
Territory  of  Minnesota;  T.  F.  Andrews,  Official  Reporter  to  the  Con- 
vention.    [Republican.*]     St.  Paul,  1858. 

Minnesota  Executive  Documents,  1860-1875.  (These  contain  the 
governors'  messages,   auditors'  reports,  treasurers'  reports,  etc.) 

Reports  of  the  Railroad  Commissioner  for  the  years  1871  to  1873, 
inclusive;  annual. 

Report  of  the  Railroad  Commissioners  for  the  year  1874.  (Under 
the  law  of  1874  a  board  of  three  commissioners  was  appointed,  and 
served  until  the  repeal  of  this  law  the  following  year.  From  1875  to 
1884,  inclusive,  a  single  railroad  commissioner  served  and  presented 
annual  reports.  The  present  Railroad  and  Warehouse  Commission 
dates  from  1885.) 

Reports  of  Railroad  Commissions  or  Commissioners  of  other  states, 
particularly  of  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  [of 
Massachusetts].     Boston;    1854,  and  onward. 

A.  J.  Edgerton  [Minnesota  Railroad  Commissioner],  Compilation 
of  the  Railroad  Laws  of  Minnesota;   St.  Paul,  1872. 

Original  Records  in  the  Office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  Min- 
nesota, in  St.  Paul. 

Minnesota:  Its  Place  among  the  States;  being  the  First  Annual 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Statistics,  for  the  Year  ending  January 
1st,  1860.     Hartford,  Conn.  1860. 

Second  Annual  Report  of  the  [Minnesota]  Commissioner  of  Sta- 
tistics, for  the  years  1860  and  1861.     St.  Paul,  1862. 

Legislative  Manuals  of  the  State  of  Minnesota. 


♦  Two  constitutional  conventions  convened  independently  of  each 
other  in  St.  Paul;  for  both  Democrats  and  Republicans  claimed  victory 
at  the  polls.  Neither  convention  recognized  the  other,  but  unofficially 
they  compared  work  as  they  proceeded  and  finally  agreed  upon  the  same 
constitution,  word  for  word.  The  constitution  was  accepted  almost 
unanimously  by  the  people.  The  enrolled  copy  of  the  Democrats  was 
sent  to  Washington.  The  other  is  preserved  in  the  Library  of  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  in  the  capitol  at  St.  Paul.  See  Neill's  History 
of  Minnesota,  1858,  pp.  627-8. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  185 

Opinions  of  the  Attorneys  General  of  tlie  State  of  Minnesota, 
1858-1884;  St.  Paul,  1884. 

Session  Laws  and  Revised  Statutes  of  the  following  states: 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Con- 
necticut, New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Oregon. 
(In  tracing  the  origin  of  the  Minnesota  territorial  railroad  charters, 
special  attention  was  given  to  the  turnpike,  canal,  plank  road,  and 
early  railroad  charters  of  these  states..  See  Chapter  II.) 

State  Constitutions   and  the  Federal  Constitution. 

State  Court  Reports  of  Minnesota,  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Penn- 
sylvania, cited  in  this  work. 

The  following  are  important  Minnesota  Supreme  Court  cases  deal- 
ing with  the  railroad  gross  income  tax  and  railroad  land  grants: 

Railway  Co.  v.  Parcher,  14  Minn.,  297. 

Minnesota  v.  Railway  Co.,  21  Minn.,  315;  472. 

Railway  Co.  v.  St.  Paul,  21  Minn.,  526. 

Ramsey  County  v.  Railway  Co.,  33  Minn.,  537. 

Todd  County  v.  Railway  Co.,  38  Minn.,  163. 

St.  Paul  V.  Railway  Co.,  39  Minn.,  112. 

State  V.  Luther,  56  Minn.,  156. 

Minnesota  v.  Fred.  Stearns,  72  Minn.,  200. 

(Reversed  Stearns  v.  Minn.,  179  U.  S.,  223.) 

United  States  Supreme  Court  Reports. 

United  States  Statutes  at  Large. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  United  States  Statutes  concerning  land 
grants  to  Minnesota: 

Act  of  June  29,  1854,  10  U.  S.  Statutes,  302,  Land  grant. 

Act  of  Aug.  4,  1854,  10  U.  S.  Statutes,  575,  above  grant  repealed. 

Act  of  March  3,  1857,  11  U.  S.  Statutes,  195,  Land  grant. 

Act  of  March  12,  1860,  12  U.  S.  Statutes,  3,  Swamp  lands  granted. 

Act  of  July  12,  1862,  12  U.  S.  Statutes,  624,  Route  changed  and 
land  grant. 

Act  of  May  5,  1864,  13  U.  S.  Statutes,  64,  Land  grant. 

Act  of  May  12,  1864,  13  U.  S.  Statutes,  72,  Land  grant. 

Act  of  July  2,  1864,  13  U.  S.  Statutes,  365,  Northern  Pacific  grant. 

Act  of  March  3,  1865,  13  U.  S.  Statutes,  526,  Grant  of  1857  in- 
creased. 

Act  of  July  4,  1866,  14  U.  S.  Statutes,  87,  Land  grant. 

Act  of  July  13,  1866,  14  U.  S.  Statutes,  93,  makes  up  probable  defi- 
ciencies. 

Act  of  July  13,  1866,  14  U.  S.  Statutes,  97,  relating  to  choice  of 
lands. 


186  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Public  Lands:  Local  and  Temporary  Laws.  Revised  Edition, 
1882.     Government  Printing  Office,  1883. 

Senate  Reports. 

House  of  Representatives  Reports. 

Congressional  Globe. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  (on  Agriculture), 
1837-1861,  incl. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  1862-1888,  incl. 

Department  of  Agriculture;   Special  Report,  No.  2,  1883. 

List  of  Agricultural  and  Pomological  Societies,  Farmers'  Clubs, 
etc.,  on  the  books  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  July  1,  1870.  (47 
pages.)     Washington,  1870. 

Tenth  Census  of  the  United  States;  Report,  Volume  VII. 

Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States;  Report  on  Wealth,  Debt, 
and  Taxation. 

Adams,  Charles  Fkancis,  Jr.  Railroads,  their  Origin  and  prob- 
lems; Revised  Edition,  New  York,  1878.  The  Granger  Movement;  120 
N  A.  Review,  394. 

An  Address  of  the  Anti-Monopoly  Party  of  Minnesota  to  their 
Constituents.  A  Review  of  the  Legislation  of  1874.  (Prepared  by  a 
committee,  Ignatius  Donnelly,  chairman.)     St.  Paul,  1874. 

CooLEY,  T.  M.  A  Treatise  on  the  Constitutional  Limitations  which 
rest  upon  the  Legislative  Power  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union. 
First  edition,  Boston,  1868;  third  edition,  Boston,  1873. 

Crawford,  J,  B.  The  Credit  Mobilier  of  America,  its  Origin  and 
its  History.    Boston,  1880. 

Darrow,  J.  W.  Origin  and  Early  History  of  the  Order  of  Patrons 
of  Husbandry.  Chatham,  N.  Y.,  1904.  (This  pamphlet  is  based  on  O. 
H,  Kelley's  book  on  this  subject.) 

Donaldson,  Thomas.  The  Public  Domain,  its  History  and  Sta- 
tistics.    Government  Printing  Office,  1884. 

Donnelly,  Ignatius.  Facts  for  the  Grangers.  (A  pamphlet  of  21 
pages.)     St.  Paul,  1873. 

FoLWELL,  William  Watts.  Minnesota,  the  North  Star  State.  In 
American  Commonwealths  series:     Boston  and  New  York,  1908. 

Gabfield,  James  A.  The  Future  of  the  Republic:  Its  Dangers  and 
its  Hopes.  (An  address  delivered  in  1873.)  Reported  in  Legal  Ga- 
zette, Philadelphia,  Dec.  19,  1873. 

Goodwin,  T.  S.  [Nom  de  plume,  Gracchus  Americanus.]  The 
Grange,  a  Study  in  the  Science  of  Society.    G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1874. 

Gordon,  J.  H.  Illinois  Railway  Legislation  and  Commission  Con- 
trol since  1870.     Illinois  University  Studies,  vol.  I. 


RAILROAD  LEGISLATION  IN  MINNESOTA.  187 

Kelley,  Oliver  H.  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Order  of  Patrons 
of  Husbandry  in  the  United  States;  A  History  from  1866  to  1873. 
Philadelphia,  1875. 

Kent,  James.  Commentaries  on  American  Law.  4  volumes;  New 
York,  1826. 

Laerabee,  William.     The  Railroad   Question.     Chicago,  1893. 

McKee,  T.  H.  The  National  Conventions  and  Platforms  of  All 
Political  Parties,  1789-1900.     Third  edition,  Baltimore,  1900. 

Martix,  E.  W.  History  of  the  Grange  Movement,  or  The  Farmers* 
War  against  Monopolies.     Philadelphia,  1873. 

Meyer,  Balthasar  H.  A  History  of  Early  Railroad  Legislation  in 
Wisconsin.  Wis.  Historical  Society  Collections,  vol.  XIV,  pages  206- 
300;  Madison,  Wis.,  1898. 

Million,  John  W.    Aid  to  Railways  in  Missouri.    Chicago,  1896. 

Neill,  Edward  D.  The  History  of  Minnesota  from  the  Earliest 
French  Exploration  to  the  Present  Time  [1858].  J.  B.  Lippincott  and 
Co.,  Philadelphia,  1858. 

Paine,  A.  E.  The  Granger  Movement  in  Illinois.  Illinois  Univer- 
sity Studies,  vol.  I. 

Parker,  N.  H.     The  Minnesota  Handbook  for  1856-7.     Boston,  1857. 

Periam,  Jonathan.  A  History  of  the  Origin,  Aims  and  Progress  of 
the  Farmers'  Movement.     Chicago,  1874. 

Poor,  Henry  V.  Manual  of  the  Railroads  of  the  United  States. 
New  York,  1868,  and  onward. 

Prospectus  of  the  Southern  Minnesota  Railroad  Company,  1865; 
Ibid.,  1869. 

Redfield,  I.  F.  The  Law  of  Carriers  of  Goods  and  Passengers, 
Private  and  Public,  Inland  and  Foreign,  by  Railway,  Steamboat,  and 
Other  Modes  of  Transportation.     Cambridge,  Mass.,  1869. 

Richardson,  James  D.  A  Compilation  of  the  Messages  and  Papers 
of  the  Presidents,  1789-1897.  Ten  volumes.  Government  Printing 
Office,  Washington,  1896-99. 

Sanborn,  J.  B.  Congressional  Grants  of  Land  in  Aid  of  Railways. 
Madison,  Wis.,  1899. 

Scott,  W.  A.  Repudiation  of  State  Debts,  New  York  and  Boston, 
1893. 

Smalley,  E.  V.  The  History  of  the  Republican  Party  from  its 
Organization  to  the  Present  Time,  to  which  is  added  a  Political  His- 
tory of  Minnesota  from  a  Republican  Point  of  View.     St.  Paul,  1896. 

Smith,  Stephe.  Grains  for  Grangers,  Discussing  all  Points  bearing 
upon  the  Farmers'  Movement  for  the  Emancipation  of  White  Slaves 
from  the  Slave  Power  of  Monopoly.  Union  Pub.  Co.,  Chicago,  Cincin- 
nati, San  Francisco,  1873. 


188 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


Stickney,  a.   B.     The   Railway   Problem,  with   Many   Illustrative 
Diagrams.     St.  Paul,  1891. 

Tribune  Almanac  and  Political  Register.    New  York. 
World  Almanac.     New  York. 

The  following  Minnesota  newspapers  have  been  quoted  or 
directly  referred  to  in  this  Avork: 


Anti-Monopolist,   St.   Paul. 
Duluth  Minnesotian. 
Duluth  Weekly  Tribune. 
Farmers'  Union,  Minneapolis. 
Federal  Union,  Rochester. 
Grange  Advance,  Red  Wing  and 

St.  Paul. 
Hastings  Gazette. 
Minnesota  Record,  Rocliester. 
Minneapolis  Daily  Tribune, 
Monticello  Times. 
Owatonna  Journal. 
Owatonna  Press. 
Record  and  Union,  Rochester. 
Red  Wing  Argus. 
Rochester  Post. 


Sauk  Rapids  Sentinel. 

St.  Charles  Herald. 

St.  Cloud  Journal. 

St.  Cloud  Press. 

St.  Paul  Daily  Dispatch. 

St.  Paul  Evening  Journal. 

St.  Paul  Daily  Pioneer. 

St.  Paul  Weekly   Pioneer. 

St.  Paul  Weekly  Pioneer  Press. 

St.  Peter  Tribune. 

Stillwater  Messenger. 

Wabasha  Weekly  Herald. 

Wells  Atlas  (Faribault  County), 

Windom  Reporter. 

Winona  Republican. 


The  following  out-of-state  newspapers  and  periodicals  have 
been  quoted  or  referred  to : 


American  Law  Review,  Boston. 

Cultivator  and  Country  Gentle- 
man, Albany,  N.  Y. 

Harper's  Weekly,  New  York. 

Legal  Gazette,  Philadelphia. 

Monthly  Journal  of  Agriculture; 
New  York.  1846-48. 


Nation,  New  York. 

New  York  Daily  Tribune. 

North    American    Review,    New 

York  (Boston  till  1877). 
Railroad  Gazette,  New  York. 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


BY  WILLIAM  WATTS  FOLWELL, 

Professor  Emeritus  of  the  University  of  Minnesota. 


The  granting  of  public  lands  by  the  national  government  to 
aid  in  the  construction  of  railroads,  beginning  in  1850,  did  not 
become  an  established  policy  till  1856.  In  the  congressional 
session  of  that  year,  after  elaborate  debate,  thirty  grants  carry- 
ing some  15,000,000  acres  were  made,  about  equally  divided 
between  the  South  and  the  AVest. 

When  Minnesota  appeared  as  an  applicant  for  admission 
to  the  Union  as  a  state  a  year  later,  the  moment  was  naturally 
regarded  as  an  appropriate  one  to  renew  her  request  for  a  rail- 
road grant.  The  fact  that  the  territory  had  been  deprived  of 
a  generous  benefaction  three  years  before,  through  no  fault  of 
her  own,  but  by  the  mistake  or  misconduct  of  persons  tamper- 
ing with  the  bill  of  June  29,  1854,  aroused  a  degree  of  prej- 
udice in  favor  of  her  renewed  claim.  It  was  true  that  the  Min- 
nesota and  Northwestern  Railroad  Company  was  still  contest- 
ing the  right  of  Congress  to  repeal  the  grant;  but  Congress, 
having  passed  the  act  of  repeal,  could  not  charge  the  grant 
against  Minnesota. 

It  did  not  require  extraordinary  effort  to  secure  the  pas- 
sage on  March  3,  1857,  of  a  bill  carrying  a  generous  land  grant 
for  Minnesota  railroads.  The  bill  was  peculiar  in  that  it  did 
not  make  a  grant  to  the  state  (then  territory)  of  Minnesota, 
to  be  disposed  of  freely  by  her  legislature,  but  designated  in  a 
general  way  the  routes  of  the  roads  to  be  built,  and  constituted 
the  territory  and  future  state  the  trustee  and  agent  for  the 
government  for  its  purposes.  It  provided  that  the  lands,  being 
''every  alternate  section,  designated  by  odd  numbers,  for  six 
sections  in  width  on  each  side  of  the  roads,"  could  be  sold  only 
in  batches  of  sections,  as  building  progressed,  and  that  all  lands 


*  Read  at   the  Annual   Meeting   of  the  Minnesota   Historical   Society, 
January  16,  1911. 


190  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

not  sold  for  the  purposes  of  the  act  within  ten  years  should 
revert  to  the  United  States. 

If  the  reader  will  be  at  the  trouble  of  tracing  on  a  map  of 
Minnesota  the  routes  named  in  this  act,  he  will  perceive  that 
taken  together  they  formed  a  well-devised  scheme  for  a  pri- 
mary system  of  Minnesota  railroads.  He  will  remember  that 
northern  Minnesota  was  to  remain  for  many  years  a  wilderness. 
The  system  comprised  four  elements :  first,  the  line  of  the  Great 
Northern  railway,  crossing  the  state  westwardly,  and  its  great- 
er branch  to  St.  Vincent  on  the  Ked  river  and  international 
boundary;  second,  that  from  St.  Paul  up  the  Minnesota  river 
to  continue  southwest  to  the  Missouri  river,  with  a  branch  via 
Faribault  to  the  Iowa  line;  third,  a  route  from  Winona  to  St. 
Peter,  thence  pointing  westward;  and  fourth,  a  portion  of  the 
well-known  line  of  the  Southern  Minnesota. 

The  scheme  was  an  ambitious  one,  in  marked  contrast  with 
the  more  reasonable  counsel  of  Governor  Gorman,  that  the  first 
effort  be  to  secure  a  single  road  connecting  with  the  outside 
world.  But  it  was  struck  out  in  the  boom  period  preceding  the 
panic  which  came  on  in  the  late  summer  of  the  same  year.  It 
was  no  time  for  timidity  nor  even  moderation  in  business  ven- 
tures. 

There  had  been  chartered  by  special  legislation,  previous  to 
1857,  fifteen  railroad  companies;  and  nearly  as  man^^  more 
were  incorporated  in  that  year.  Had  all  built  their  contem- 
plated roads,  the  state  would  have  been  thoroughly  ''grid- 
ironed."  Probably  all  the  companies  had  hopes  and  some  ex- 
pectation of  being  aided  by  land  grants.  That  all  would  be, 
was  of  course  impossible.  To  establish  a  condition  under  which 
the  fittest  might  survive  and  flourish,  the  leading  spirits  of 
four  interests  "got  together,"  and  worked  out  a  plan  for  a 
railroad  system  which  would  reach  all  the  principal  centers  of 
business,  concentrate  the  largest  possible  amount  of  interest, 
and  elminate  much  undesirable  competition,  political  as  well 
as  commercial. 

Of  this  ''combine"  of  corporations,  three  existing  and  one 
inchoate,  the  Honorable  Edmund  Rice  of  St.  Paul,  brother  of 
the  Minnesota  delegate,  was  the  leader.  The  incorporators 
were  mostly  Minnesota  men,  among  them  the  head  men  of  both 


THE   FIVE   MILLION  LOAN. 


191 


political  parties  and  representatives  of  the  largest  towns.  The 
few  names  of  eastern  gentlemen  indicated  the  expectation  that 
fiscal  co-operation  would  be  needed  from  that  quarter.  It  was 
the  belief  of  Minnesota  people  that  the  system  of  roads  was 
to  be  so  greatly  under  home  control  that  no  clique  of  outside 
investors  could  dominate  it.  The  united  interests  were  so  in- 
fluential at  Washington  that  they  easily  dispersed  the  slight 
and  disunited  opposition  and  triumphantly  carried  through  the 
just  mentioned  bill,  virtually  conveying  to  themselves  near  six 
million  acres  of  public  lands. 

Governor  Gorman,  in  the  last  days  of  his  service,  called  an  ex- 
tra session  of  the  legislature  of  1857  to  meet  on  April  27.  From 
the  opening  hour  all  interest  centered  on  three  railroad  bills, 
which  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  skillful  attorneys  of  the  par- 
ties chiefly  interested.  Governor  Medary  embodied  the  text  of 
the  act  of  Congress  of  IMarch  3,  granting  the  lands,  in  a  spe- 
cial message,  and  counseled  strict  conformity  to  its  provisions 
and  careful  protection  of  the  public  interest.  A  bill  accepting 
the  trust  of  the  general  government  was  promptly  passed.  The 
conditions  of  this  trust  were  such  that  small  discretion  was  left 
to  the  Minnesota  legislature.  There  was  some  skirmishing  in 
the  chambers  to  secure  additional  branches  and  locations  of 
routes  so  as  to  pass  through  certain  towns,  which  was  quite  in- 
effective. After  suflicient  delay  to  allow  opposition  to  expend 
itself  in  unwelcome  amendments,  the  three  bills  were  passed  in 
a  bunch  about  the  middle  of  May,  by  votes  practically  unani- 
mous. The  newspapers  of  St.  Paul  abound  in  allusions  to  the 
presence  of  crowds  of  outside  speculators,  "moneyed  vul- 
tures," keen  for  plunder,  but  their  efforts  seem  to  have  been 
confined  to  looking  out  for  townsite  interests,  and  for  railroad 
connections  eastward.  Congress  had  put  the  division  of  the 
land  beyond  their  power. 

A  proposition  submitted  to  the  House  early  in  the  session 
for  a  consolidated  bill  had  been  lost  by  the  odd  vote.  No 
sooner,  however,  had  the  separate  bills  been  carried  through  to 
third  reading  than  there  was  a  general  desire  to  have  them 
merged  to  one  "omnibus"  bill.  The  House  had  passed  a  bill 
to  encourage  the  destruction  of  gophers  and  blackbirds  and 
sent  it  to  the  Council  for  concurrence.     The  latter  body,  in 


192 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


committee  of  the  whole,  made  merry  with  the  measure  by 
amending  the  title  to  include  the  ' '  Sioux  Indians, ' '  and  Rolette 
moved  its  reference  to  the  military  committee.  On  May  20,  the 
Council  went  into  committee  of  the  whole  for  the  further  con- 
sideration of  this  bill,  and  after  some  time  spent  therein  re- 
ported an  amendment,  striking  out  all  after  the  enacting 
clause,  and  inserting  an  omnibus  railroad  bill  vesting  the  land 
grant  in  four  corporations.  The  amendment  was  agreed  to  and 
the  title  changed  to  correspond.  The  next  day  the  message  of 
the  Council  announcing  its  concurrence  in  the  House  bill  to 
encourage  the  destruction  of  gophers  and  blackbirds,  with  an 
amendment,  was  received  by  the  House.  A  ruling  of  Speaker 
Furber  that  the  so-called  amendment  was  not  truly  such,  but 
was  entire  new  matter,  was  appealed  from  effectively,  by  a 
vote  of  28  to  8.  There  were  but  three  negative  votes  on  con- 
currence. The  act  thus  passed  and  promptly  approved,  forms 
chapter  I  of  the  Session  Laws  of  1857,  entitled  ''An  Act  to 
execute  the  trust  created  by  an  Act  of  Congress  *  *  *  and 
granting  certain  Lands  to  Railroad  Companies  therein  named." 

The  division  into  three  sub-chapters  indicates  the  make-up 
of  the  act  by  simple  assemblage.  The  first  of  them  incorpo- 
rates the  Minnesota  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  and  em- 
powers it  to  build  from  Stillwater  via  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony 
to  Breckenridge  on  the  Sioux  Wood  river,  with  a  branch  from 
St.  Anthony  via  Anoka,  St.  Cloud  and  Crow  Wing  to  St.  Vin- 
cent, near  the  mouth  of  the  Pembina  river. 

The  second  sub-chapter  authorizes  the  existing  Transit 
Company  to  build  from  Winona  via  St.  Peter  to  the  Big  Sioux 
river  south  of  the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  north  latitude. 

The  last  of  the  three  subdivisions  embraces  two  companies : 
(1)  the  Root  River  Valley  and  Southern  Minnesota  Railroad 
Company,  empowered  to  construct  a  railroad  from  La  Cres- 
cent up  the  Root  river  valley  to  a  point  of  junction  at  Roch- 
ester with  the  Winona  and  St.  Peter,  also  another  line  from 
St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony,  via  Minneapolis,  up  the  valley  of 
the  Minnesota  river;  (2)  the  Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley 
Railroad  Company,  authorized  to  build  from  Minneapolis  via 
Mendota  and  Faribault  to  the  south  boundary  of  Minnesota, 
west  of  range  sixteen. 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


193 


To  each  of  the  companies  severally  the  act  assigns  all  the 
estate  and  interest  of  Minnesota  in  the  lands  granted  by  Con- 
gress in  aid  of  railroad  construction  for  its  particular  route 
or  routes,  under  certain  conditions.  So  soon  as  any  of  them 
shall  have  located  its  line,  it  is  to  have  absolute  title  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  sections,  and  thereafter  to  a  like  amount 
whenever  twenty  continuous  miles  shall  have  been  completed, 
to  be  free  of  taxes  so  long  as  they  remain  in  the  possession 
of  the  companies;  and  in  consideration  of  the  grants,  privi- 
leges and  franchises  conferred,  the  companies  are  required  to 
pay  annually  into  the  state  treasury  three  per  centum  of  their 
gross  earnings  in  lieu  of  all  taxes  and  assessment  whatever. 

When  the  legislature  of  1857  broke  up  on  the  15th  of  May, 
the  members  dispersed  to  their  homes  to  congratulate  their 
constituents  upon  the  prospect  of  the  immediate  beginning  of 
railroad  building  and  tlie  ensured  development  of  a  great  sys- 
tem of  a  thousand  miles  or  more  in  the  course  of  a  few  years. 

A  cloud  was  soon  to  cover  this  bright  prospect.  The  panic 
of  1857  struck  the  country  late  in  August.  It  fell  upon  the 
West  with  extreme  violence.  Not  one  dollar  could  these  four 
Minnesota  railroad  companies  raise.  Their  interests  in  the 
lands  were  only  expectant.  They  must  each  survey  and  locate 
at  least  twenty  miles  before  title  could  pass  to  a  first  batch  of 
120  sections.  At  five  dollars  per  acre  these  would  be  worth 
$384,000.  It  would  require  great  faith  in  a  capitalist  to  lend 
more  than  half  this  sum  on  wild  lands  in  good  times.  With 
millions  of  acres  of  railroad  lands  offering  in  the  market  in 
other  states  and  territories,  neither  large  nor  rapid  sales  could 
be  expected.  The  Transit  Company  offered  all  its  lands  be- 
tween Winona  and  Waseca,  some  500,000  acres,  at  one  dollar 
an  acre,  and  found  no  buyers. 

If  the  stockholders  had  been  disposed  to  pay  in  a  large  per 
cent  of  the  face  value  of  their  shares,  the  slump  in  business 
made  it  impossible  for  them.  Many  of  them  could  not  save 
their  private  fortunes  from  the  wreck.  The  people  of  Minne- 
sota felt  sorry  for  themselves,  and  extended  their  sympathy 
to  the  members  of  the  corporations  which  had  planned  gen- 
erously for  the  public  advantage  and  their  own. 

During  the  fall  months  of  1857,  the  people  were  occupied 


194  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

with  the  question  of  ratifying  their  new  constitution,  with  the 
election  of  representatives  to  Congress,  and  with  the  choice  of 
a  legislature,  which  would  have  the  selection  of  two  United 
States  senators.  The  railroad  interests  were  naturally  alert 
to  discover  any  possible  escape  from  the  mire  into  which  they 
had  sunk.  They  of  course  had  no  money.  There  was  almost 
none  in  the  Territory.  The  military  and  Indian  disbursements 
furnished  the  little  in  sight.  Could  the  companies  but  survey 
and  locate  each  a  twenty-mile  section  of  road  they  would  re- 
ceive each  76,800  acres  of  land,  which  could  be  sold  or  hypoth- 
ecated. Could  they  build  and  set  in  operation  twenty  miles, 
as  many  more  acres  would  fall  in,  and  the  business  begun 
would  yield  an  income.  Population  would  flow  in,  cultivation 
extend,  towns  develop,  and  land  values,  especially  those  of 
railroad  lands,  would  mount.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years 
Minnesota  would  have  a  great  railroad  system  worth  millions 
which  had  not  cost  her  a  cent. 

All  that  these  companies  lacked  was  a  start,  just  a  little 
sum  to  locate  and  build,  say,  fifty  miles  apiece.  The  whole  state 
was  interested;  why  should  not  the  state,  following  the  exam- 
ple of  the  national  government,  assist  these  worthy  enterprises, 
of  so  much  account  to  her?  Other  states,  as  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri, had  rendered  such  assistance  to  railroad  construction. 
The  proposition  was  not  novel. 

But  there  was  the  state  constitution,  forbidding  the  legis- 
lature to  contract  a  debt  in  excess  of  $250,000,  and  requiring 
that,  in  case  a  debt  were  made,  the  legislature  should  in  the 
same  act  provide  for  a  tax  sufficient  to  cancel  it  within  ten 
years.    A  loan  of  money  by  the  state  was  out  of  the  question. 

The  framers  of  the  constitution  had  borrowed  from  that  of 
Wisconsin  a  paragraph  reading  "The  credit  of  the  state  shall 
never  be  given  or  loaned  to  any  individual,  association,  or  cor- 
poration." This  prohibitory  provision  furnished  a  clue.  It 
appeared  to  suggest  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  loaning 
''credit,"  without  incurring  liability  for  ultimate  payment 
and  thus  making  a  debt.  The  case  of  an  indorser  protected  by 
ample  collateral,  duly  assigned,  was  quoted.  Could  not  the 
state  take  some  such  part?  And  a  scheme  was  worked  out,  by 
which  the  state  was  to  furnish  her  promissory  obligations  to 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


196 


the  railroad  companies,  who  should  obligate  themselves  to  pay- 
principal  and  interest  and  to  secure  the  state  against  possible 
responsibility.  The  state  was  merely  to  furnish  ''accommoda- 
tion papers"  to  wealthy  corporations  in  a  pinch  for  ready  cash, 
taking  ample  security. 

The  ''Five  Million  Loan  bill"  in  the  eighth  Legislative 
Council,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1858,  met  with  no  opposition ; 
and  it  was  passed  by  that  body  on  March  2,  by  a  vote  of  24  to 
7.  Three  days  later  the  House  of  Representatives  concurred 
by  a  vote  of  47  to  24.  Some  opposition  was  made,  but  a  favor- 
able report  from  a  select  committee  of  nine  secured  the  pas- 
sage. Objection  was  made  to  such  hasty  action,  one  member 
declaring  that  the  legislature  had  given  more  time  to  changing 
the  county  seat  of  Dodge  county  than  to  this  important  bill. 
There  were  then,  and  later,  insinuations,  even  open  assertions, 
that  the  legislative  bodies  had  been  corrupted.  The  proof 
thereof  is  yet  to  be  revealed.  It  was  not  necessary  to  bribe  a 
body  of  men  so  willing  to  believe  in  a  plausible  scheme  for 
which  their  constituents  were  clamoring. 

The  bill,  thus  passed,  proposed  the  adoption  of  an  amend- 
ment to  the  constitution  of  the  state,  still  awaiting  the  ap- 
proval of  Congress.  The  essential  portion  of  this  amendment, 
only,  need  be  given.  It  was  proposed  to  add  to  the  paragraph 
above  quoted,  "The  credit  of  the  state  shall  never  be  given 
or  loaned,  etc.,"  for  substance,  an  exception,  that  to  aid  the 
four  companies  in  the  construction  of  their  roads,  special  bonds 
bearing  seven  per  cent  interest  semi-annually  shall  be  "issued 
and  delivered"  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  five  millions  of 
dollars,  as  a  "loan  of  public  credit."  These  bonds  were  to  be 
denominated  "Minnesota  State  Railroad  bonds,"  and  the  faith 
and  credit  of  the  state  were  to  be  pledged  to  the  payment  of  the 
interest,  and  to  redemption  of  the  principal  thereof.  The 
bonds  were  to  be  issued  in  batches  as  construction  progressed. 

The  amendment  further  provided  that  upon  the  completion 
of  "any  ten  miles"  of  road,  ready  for  ties,  the  governor  on  sat- 
isfactory evidence  thereof,  was  to  issue  and  deliver  to  the  prop- 
er company  bonds  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars; and  a  like  amount  when  "any  ten  miles"  of  road  should 
be  actually  completed,  with  cars  running  thereon;  and  so  on, 


196  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

for  further  ten  mile  sections..   The  state  was  thus  "to  loan  its 
credit,"  and  see  the  good  work  go  on  without  further  concern. 

As  an  assurance  that  no  claim  could  ever  arise  against  the 
state,  the  companies  were  bound,  if  they  accepted  the  condi- 
tions of  the  act,  to  make  provision  for  paying  the  special  state  ^ 
bonds,  interest  and  principal,  when  due.  As  security  for  faith- 
ful performance,  they  were  to  execute  proper  assignments  of 
their  net  profits  of  operation,  to  pay  interest  as  it  should  ac- 
crue ;  they  were  each  to  execute  and  deliver  to  the  governor  a 
deed  of  trust  to  the  state  of  the  first  240  sections  (153,600  acres) 
of  their  lands,  free  from  incumbrances ;  and  the  proceeds  of  all 
sales  of  these  lands  were  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  in- 
terest and  principal,  if  defaulted,  and  to  form  a  sinking  fund 
to  meet  future  defaults.  Finally,  "as  a  further  security,"  each 
company  was  required  to  transfer  to  the  treasurer  of  the  state 
an  amount  of  its  own  first  mortgage  bonds,  corresponding  to 
the  special  bonds  issued  to  it.  These  corporation  bonds  the 
governor  was  authorized  to  sell,  in  case  of  default  by  the  com- 
panies; and  he  might  also  foreclose  the  mortgages  in  payment 
of  interest  on  the  special  state  bonds. 

This  elaborate  amendment  to  section  10  of  article  9  of  the 
state  constitution  was  submitted  to  the  electors  of  the  state  on 
the  15th  of  April,  1858.  For  the  six  weeks  intervening,  the 
Loan  Bill  was  the  uppermost  topic  of  public  and  private  dis- 
cussion. There  was  a  remnant  of  conservative  men  who  did 
not  lose  their  heads,  and  they  pointed  out  with  unerring  fore- 
sight the  weaknesses  and  vices  of  the  bill,  which  experience 
later  revealed  to  the  mass  of  voters.  The  legislature  had  not 
mistaken  the  sentiment  of  their  constituents,  which  had  been 
voiced  in  numerous  public  meetings.  The  greatest  effort  made 
by  those  chiefly  interested  in  ratification  was  to  assure  the  peo- 
ple that  in  no  conceivably  probable  event  could  the  state  have 
to  come  in  and  pay  those  bonds.  Sixty-seven  members  of  the 
two  houses  united  in  a  published  statement,  pledging  them- 
selves individually  and  collectively  to  vote  against  any  prop- 
osition to  levy  a  tax  either  for  the  interest  or  principal  of  the 
proposed  loans  of  public  credit.  "We  claim,"  they  add,  "to 
have  removed  all  probable  chance  of  taxation  ....  and 
we  shall  resist,  as  one  man,  any  proposition  of  the  kind." 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


197 


Senator  Rice  and  thirty-eight  Democratic  leaders,  includ- 
ing Joseph  E.  Brown  and  Franklin  Steele,  published  a  letter 
strongly  urging  ratification;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 
measure  was  Democratic.  Gorman  opposed  it  vigorously,  and 
D.  A.  Robertson  contributed  to  newspapers  a  series  of  strong 
and  clear  critical  articles.  A  correspondent  writes  to  Governor 
Ramsey,  ''Judge  Cooper  is  raising  the  devil  and  making  every 
possible  effort  to  defeat  the  loan."  Mr.  Sibley  and  Mr.  Ram- 
sey were  both  on  the  directorates  of  one  or  more  companies  and 
remained  silent.  The  former  certainly  voted  in  the  negative. 
The  Pioneer  and  Democrat  of  ^t.  Paul  refrained  from  com- 
ment during  the  pendency  of  the  bill  in  tRe  legislature,  but  be- 
fore the  election  advocated  ratification  in  a  series  of  editorial 
articles,  reprinted  in  pamphlet  form.  The  Republican  organ 
at  the  capital.  The  Minnesotian,  opposed  the  loan  consistently 
from  the  earliest  proposal,  but  the  Republican  party  did  not 
take  ground  against  it. 

The  election  was  held  as  appointed.  Few  expected  any  such 
majority  of  votes  for  the  loan  as  was  shown  by  the  official  can- 
vass, published  on  the  6th  of  May,  being  yeas  25,023;  nays, 
6,733.  Only  in  a  few  rural  counties  were  the  nays  the  more 
numerous.  The  cities  and  towns,  large  and  small,  gave  large 
majorities  for  the  loan.  In  the  city  of  Winona,  out  of  1,103 
votes  only  one  was  cast  in  the  negative,  that  of  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Wilson,  later  chief  justice  of  Minnesota. 

All  the  people  wanted  railroads,  for  the  best  of  reasons. 
These  25,000  who  voted  for  the  "loan  of  credit,"  misled  by  pub- 
lic men  who  ought  to  have  known  better,  deceived  themselves 
into  the  belief  that  a  loan  of  credit  by  the  isue  of  bonds  did 
not  create  a  debt,  unless  in  empty  form.  If  the  companies 
should  ever  default  in  payment  of  the  state  bonds,  and  their 
assigned  ''collateral"  should  prove  insufficient,  their  confis- 
cable property  and  franchises  would  certainly  protect  the  state 
against  ultimate  loss. 

The  four  corporations  promptly  accepted  the  conditions  of 
the  amendments,  and  immediately  there  was  a  great  show  of 
activity.  By  midsummer  contracts  were  let  and  construction 
begun.  On  the  4th  of  August,  Governor  Sibley,  who  had  prom- 
ised in  his  inaugural  message  to  hold  the  railroad  companies 


198  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

to  a  strict  and  yet  reasonable  compliance  with  law,  gave  them 
a  formal  notice  to  that  effect,  reciting  the  conditions  of  the 
loan  of  credit  substantially  as  expressed  in  the  constitutional 
amendment,  with  one  deviation  of  importance.  This  was,  that 
the  first  mortgage  bonds  of  the  companies,  to  be  transferred 
to  the  state  treasurer  in  exchange  for  the  special  state  bonds, 
should  have  priority  of  lien  over  all  other  bonds  which  the 
companies  might  issue.  The  talk  was  that  they  would  be  likely 
to  issue  some  $20,000,000. 

Two  days  later  the  senate  by  resolution  called  on  the  judges 
of  the  supreme  court  for  their  opinion  on  the  state  of  the  law 
in  this  regard.  Justice  Flandrau,  for  the  court,  declined  to 
depart  from  the  traditional  usage  of  deciding  cases  only  as 
they  arise  in  actual  litigation.  The  Minnesota  and  Pacific 
railroad  company  by  its  attorney  thereupon  moved  in  the  su- 
preme court  of  the  state  that  a  mandamus  issue  commanding 
Governor  Henry  H.  Sibley  to  accept  its  bonds  in  their  usual 
form  without  stipulation  of  priority  of  lien.  Counsel  having 
been  heard,  the  court  on  November  10th  ordered  that  the  man- 
damus issue,  finding  in  the  terms  of  the  amendment  no  war- 
rant for  the  demand  of  the  governor.  The  bill  had  been  pur- 
posely and  most  adroitly  drawn  so  as  to  exclude  such  priority. 
The  journals  of  the  houses  show  that  propositions  to  secure 
priority  to  the  state  had  been  voted  down.  The  state's  bonds 
were  ''special  bonds,"  those  of  the  company  were  not.  It  was 
merely  obligated  to  transfer  to  the  state  an  undistributed 
amount  of  first  mortgage  bonds,  that  is,  as  the  court  held,  a 
bunch  separated  out  of  whatever  mass  of  first  mortgage  bonds 
a  company  might  issue  in  the  course  of  its  enterprises. 

Governor  Sibley,  as  advised  by  the  attorney  general,  obeyed 
the  order  of  the  court,  and  presently  issued  and  delivered  to 
the  plaintiff  company  state  bonds  to  the  amount  then  earned. 
He  was  counseled  by  friends  to  ignore  the  action  of  the  court 
and  assert  the  right  of  the  executive,  as  a  co-ordinate  branch 
of  the  government,  to  act  according  to  his  own  best  judgment 
and  discretion.  Mr.  Sibley  was  capable  of  such  independ- 
ence, but  he  doubtless  decided  to  conform,  not  because  the 
court  had  commanded,  but  because  he  was  convinced  that  it  had 
properly  construed  the  law.     He  was  severely  criticised,  both 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN.  IQQ 


rfor  taking  the  position  lie  did  and  for  yielding  to  the  court. 
Governor  Sibley  got  little  credit  with  political  opponents, 
whose  principal  organ,  The  Minnesotian,  charged  that,  inter- 
ested as  he  was  in  the  Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  road,  he 
was  at  least  desirous  to  accept  the  bonds  of  the  companies  as 
offered,  and  therefore  welcomed  the  mandamus.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  this  was  but  one  of  a  long  and  continuous  series  of 
defamatory  exercises  in  which  that  newspaper  delighted. 
It  may  be  added  that,  but  for  the  action  of  the  Minnesota 
and  Pacific  Company,  the  other  three  companies  would  have 
acceded  to  the  executive  demands  and  made  their  bonds  ex- 
changed with  the  state  a  prior  lien.  In  fact,  some  issues  had 
already  been  made  in  exchange  for  companies'  bonds  conced- 
ing the  state's  prior  lien,  though  under  protest.  Had  the  com-, 
panics  conformed  to  Governor  Sibley's  demand  and  transferred 
to  the  state  bonds  securing  to  the  state  an  exclusive  prior  lien, 
it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  outcome  would  have  been 
materially  changed.  The  mischief  which  resulted  was  not 
caused  by  any  depreciation  of  the  companies'  bonds.  They 
were  never  worth  anything,  and  could  not  be  in  fact  a  "fur- 
ther security." 

The  beginnings  of  construction  in  the  late  summer  and  fall 
of  1858  were  continued  in  the  following  season,  the  contractors 
accepting  from  the  companies  the  state  bonds  at  a  figure  agreed 
upon,  doubtless  much  below  par.  The  decision  of  the  supreme 
court  had  not  contributed  to  maintain  their  value.  About  July 
1,  1859,  all  the  companies  were  in  extremities.  The  special 
state  bonds,  their  only  resource,  had  sunk  to  such  a  figure  as 
to  be  of  no  further  use  as  collateral.  They  therefore  advised 
their  contractors  to  cease  work,  which  they  did. 

The  next  six  months  was  a  period  of  dejection  in  Minne- 
sota. The  railroad  system  which  in  April,  1858,  the  people 
believed  themselves  to  be  calling  into  being  by  the  magic  loan 
of  the  state's  credit,  had  appeared  only  to  sink  into  chaos. 
Many  persons  who  had  performed  labor,  supplied  subsistence, 
and  furnished  tools  and  materials  for  railroad  construction, 
were  unpaid,  or  were  possessors  of  state  bonds  of  uncertain 
and  declining  value.  The  distress  caused  by  the  continued 
scarcity  of  real  money  was  much  aggravated  by  considerable 


200  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

issues  of  circulating  notes  by  state  banks,  based  on  deposits  of 
the  special  railroad  bonds. 

The  first  state  legislature,  which  did  not  close  its  adjourned 
session  till  the  middle  of  August,  1858,  provided  by  law  that 
there  should  be  no  further  session  till  the  first  Wednesday  in 
December,  1859,  unless  sooner  convened  by  the  governor.  No 
extra  session  was  called,  and  the  second  state  legislature  con- 
vened on  the  date  prescribed.  Its  proceedings  were  looked  for- 
ward to  wfth  great  interest  and  some  apprehension.  Governor 
Sibley  was  still  in  office,  and  delivered  his  farewell  message  in 
person  to  the  houses  in  joint  convention. 

The  railroad  bonds  were  of  course  the  uppermost  topic. 
The  governor  recited  the  issue  and  delivery  of  these  bonds,  in 
conformity  to  the  constitutional  amendment  as  judicially  in- 
terpreted; their  failure  to  acquire  a  market  value,  which  he 
attributed  to  'Hhe  determined  and  mischievous  efforts"  of 
Minnesota  citizens;  the  default  of  the  companies  to  meet  the 
interest  as  stipulated;  and  the  suspension  of  work.  He  in- 
formed the  legislature  that  the  companies  had  graded  in  all 
239  miles  and  1,893  feet,  not  very  unequally  divided,  and  that 
there  had  been  delivered  to  them  2,275  one  thousand  dollar 
special  bonds.  These  he  declared  to  be  a  state  obligation,  vol- 
untarily assumed.  ''Minnesota,"  he  said,  "will  not  for  a  mo- 
ment tolerate  repudiation.  Better,  far  better,  that  we  be  vis- 
ited by  pestilence  or  famine,  for  these  are  the  instruments  of 
God,  for  which  we  are  not  responsible."  Governor  Sibley's 
simple,  high-minded  counsel  was,  immediately  to  acknowledge 
indebtedness,  and  emphatically  to  assure  the  holders  of  these 
bonds  that  the  state  would  pay  in  full  so  soon  as  in  condition 
to  do  so. 

On  January  1,  1860,  Mr.  Sibley  was  succeeded  in  office  by 
Alexander  Ramsey,  who  had  been  elected  in  the  previous  Oc- 
tober over  George  L.  Becker.  In  his  message  the  matter  of 
''transcendent  importance"  was  the  special  state  railroad 
bonds,  which  he  declared  ought  to  be  "rightly  adjusted  and 
settled  satisfactorily  to  all  parties,  upon  principles  of  justice, 
equity  and  honor."  He  submitted  a  plan  for  adjustment.  As- 
suming that  the  state  would  acquire  by  foreclosure  the  prop- 
erties and  franchises  of  the  four  companies,  he  proposed  that 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


201 


new  charters  of  liberal  character  be  granted  to  parties  who 
would  undertake  to  build  thoroughly  and  substantially  250 
miles  of  road,  the  state  agreeing  to  grant  a  bonus  of  $10,000  a 
mile  in  general  state  seven  per  cent  bonds,  always  upon  con- 
dition that  an  equal  amount  of  special  Minnesota  railroad 
bonds  be  returned  to  the  treasury  for  cancellation.  The  gov- 
ernor was  informed  that  the  greater  part  of  these  latter  bonds 
were  still  in  the  possession  or  control  of  the  companies,  or  of 
"their  immediate  representatives,"  the  contractors.  His  ex- 
pectation was  that  their  stockholders  would  immediately  and 
eagerly  accept  the  new  charters  and  resume  work.  The  great- 
er proportion  of  the  old  bonds  would  thus  be  provided  for. 
As  for  the  small  remainder,  his  proposition  was  to  retire  them 
by  issuing  to  holders  other  general  bonds,  at  a  rate  to  be  ascer- 
tained by  the  legislature.  The  constitution  should  be  amended 
so  as  to  reduce  the  amount  of  bonds  for  railroad  purposes  from 
five  millions  to  two  and  a  half  millions. 

With  characteristic  intuition,  Governor  Ramsey  proposed 
this  plan  not  as  ideal,  but  as  one  which  could  be  worked.  His 
chief  concern  was  to  secure  an  immediate  settlement.  Next  to 
that  he  desired  the  immediate  building  of  the  railroads.  He 
warned  the  legislature  and  the  people,  that  if  this  vexed  ques- 
tion were  not  settled,  it  would  remain  to  disturb  politics,  di- 
vide the  people,  and  occasion  annual  corruption  in  legislative 
halls.  The  end  he  declared  would  be  as  in  other  states;  bond- 
holders, who  had  bought  for  a  few  cents  on  the  dollar,  would 
subsidize  the  press,  raise  the  cry  of  repudiation,  and  knock 
year  after  year  at  the  doors  of  the  legislature,  which  ,at  length 
worn  out  by  importunity,  would  vote  them  great  fortunes. 
"Now,"  said  he,  "now  is  the  very  time  to  settle,  arrange  and 
adjust  these  unfortunate  and  deplorable  railroad  and  loan  com- 
plications.".  This  man  of  common  sense,  amounting  almost  to 
genius,  never  counseled  more  wisely. 

The  legislature  thus  addressed,  composed  in  great  part  of 
inexperienced  men,  was  too  completely  saturated  with  an  ex- 
isting public  sentiment,  regarding  these  bonds,  to  give  much 
heed  to  sound  business  counsel.  The  public  had  been  assured, 
by  none  more  emphatically  than  by  the  agents  of  the  four  com- 
panies, that  the  state  railroad  bonds  were  really  evidences  of 


202  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

company  debt,  amply  covered  by  company  securities.  The  peo- 
ple took  them  at  their  word,  and  held  them  to  the  faith  thus  in- 
culcated. The  bonds  were  special  bonds,  known  so  to  be  by 
all  takers,  who  took  risks.  They,  the  takers,  were  perfectly 
aware  of  this  understanding  on  the  part  of  the  people,  who 
had  given  expression  to  it  at  the  election  of  April,  1858. 

The  Minnesota  people  of  1859,  believing  that  they  had  been 
tricked  by  the  companies  into  voting  for  an  ambiguous  con- 
stitutional amendment,  could  easily  suspect  that  they  never 
intended  to  build  the  roads,  but  only  to  do  grading  enough  to 
secure  $10,000  of  bonds  per  mile.  The  report  was  widely  spread 
that  the  grading  done  was  in  detached  portions  where  work 
was  light,  that  lines  were  excessively  crooked,  and  grades 
much  too  steep,  that  the  tracks  were  in  places  below  high  water 
mark;  in  short,  that  they  were  generally  skimped  and  totally 
unfit  for  superstructure.  In  some  places  even  the  right  of  way 
had  not  been  legally  acquired.  It  was  believed  that  certain 
experienced  contractors  had  worked  their  will  with  the  in- 
competent officials  of  the  companies.  Over  all  was  the  bald 
truth  that  all  the  state  had  to  show  for  two  and  a  quarter  mil- 
lions of  special  bonds,  to  say  nothing  of  the  land  grant,  was 
240  miles  of  discontinuous,  ill-executed  grading. 

Imbued  with  this  sentiment  and  sharing  in  it,  the  legis- 
lature appointed  a  joint  committee  of  sixteen  to  consider  and 
report  on  railroads,  railroad  grants,  and  Minnesota  state  rail- 
road bonds.  This  committee  was  unable  to  come  to  any  agree- 
ment. Six  reports  were  submitted,  each  accompanied  by  a 
proposed  constitutional  amendment.  One  member.  Senator 
Mackubin,  alone  proposed  a  full  payment  of  principal  and 
interest,  but  with  an  apparatus  of  redemption  much  too  com- 
plicated to  be  comprehended  by  the  wayfaring  man.  All  other 
propositions  contemplated  "adjustment"  and  scaling  down. 

If  the  best  heads  of  the  two  houses  for  such  a  business  could 
come  to  no  agreement,  the  members  at  large  were  less  likely 
to,  and  they  did  not.  Weeks  passed  in  unprofitable  discourses 
and  projects.  There  was  but  one  thing  which  that  legislature 
could  at  length  agree  upon  touching  these  bonds.  It  could,  in 
sea  phrase,  simply  "clap  a  stopper"  on  the  whole  proceeding, 
and  leave  successors  to  wrestle  with  the  problem,  which  it  had 


J 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


203 


vainly  essayed  to  solve.  It  took  two  amendments  to  article 
10  of  the  state  constitution  to  effect  this.  The  one  was  to  ex- 
punge from  the  constitution  the  amendment  of  1858,  author- 
izing the  loan  of  public  credit  by  means  of  special  bonds;  the 
other  was  an  addition  to  section  5  of  the  same  article,  declar- 
ing that  any  law  to  levy  any  tax  or  make  provision  for  pay- 
ing the  special  bonds  should  have  no  effect  until  adopted  by 
a  majority  of  electors  voting  thereon.  Both  these  amendments 
were  ratified  November  6,  1860,  the  former  by  a  vote  of  19,308 
to  710,  the  latter  differing  but  slightly. 

At  this  point  mention  must  be  made,  and  that  only,  of  a 
series  of  events  closely  related  to  the  Five  Million  Loan. 

In  the  summer  of  1860,  Governor  Ramsey  foreclosed  the 
mortgages  of  the  defaulting  railroad  companies,  and  at  the 
public  sales  bought  all  the  properties  and  franchises  of  each 
for  the  sum  of  $1,000. 

The  legislature  of  1861  generously  restored  them  all  to  the 
same  companies,  requiring  each  to  deposit  with  the  state  treas- 
urer the  sum  of  $10,000  as  a  guarantee  fund. 

One  company,  the  Minnesota  and  Pacific  (predecessor  of 
the  Great  Northern  Railway)  put  up  the  money  and  built 
fourteen  hundred  feet  of  track,  over  which  it  ran  its  first 
locomotive  to  a  shed  for  storage.  All  the  old  companies  now 
gave  up.  In  the  winter  of  1861-62  four  new  companies  were 
organized,  and  to  them  the  legislature  turned  over  the  land 
grants  under  liberal  conditions.  These  companies  in  the  course 
of  time  built  the  contemplated  roads. 

The  vote  on  the  expunging  and  referendum  amendments  to 
the  constitution  was  notice  to  all  the  world  that  the  people  of 
Minnesota  would  at  least  take  time  to  consider  on  the  pay- 
ment of  the  bonds,  in  which  they  felt  there  was  no  equity. 
They  numbered  less  than  175,000,  but  there  was  indignation 
enough  for  a  million  at  the  fraud  which  had  been  practiced 
on  them. 

The  war  of  the  slaveholders'  rebellion  came  on,  and  during 
its  continuance  no  claimant  was  absurd  enough  to  waste  effort 
in  futile  appeals.  But  no  sooner  was  that  struggle  over  and 
past,  than  the  legislature  began  to  be  bombarded,  as  Governor 
Ramsey  had  predicted.    In  the  session  of  1866  bills  were  intro- 


204  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

dueed  in  both  houses  for  the  payment  in  full  of  the  bonds.  In 
the  same  winter  an  act  was  passed  creating  a  commission  to 
ascertain  and  report  to  the  legislature  the  names  of  the  bond- 
holders, the  amounts  held  by  each,  and  their  cost  to  the  then 
present  bona  fide  owners.  The  commission  was  also  author- 
ized to  receive  proposals  for  adjustment. 

It  was  in  the  same  year  that  the  discovery  was  made  that 
there  were  coming  to  the  state  500,000  acres  of  public  land, 
granted  by  a  forgotten  act  of  Congress  in  1841  for  internal  im- 
provements. No  sooner  was  the  favorable  action  of  the  gen- 
eral land  office  made  known,  than  suggestions  came  from  many 
quarters  to  devote  these  lands  to  paying  off  the  old  bonds. 
Governor  Marshall  in  his  message  of  January,  1867,  voiced  the 
proposal,  and  urged  the  legislature  to  pay  whatever  might 
justly  be  due,  by  using  the  lands  "providentially"  placed  at 
their  disposal.  They  willingly  responded  by  the  passage  of 
an  act  creating  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  those  lands 
a  ''state  railroad  bond  sinking  fund."  Whenever  a  sum  of 
$20,000  should  from  time  to  time  be  accumulated,  bondholders 
might  bid  for  this  cash,  those  taking  who  offered  the  most 
bonds  for  the  least  money. 

Under  the  amendment  of  1860  that  act  was  referred  to  the 
people,  who  rejected  it  by  a  decisive  vote.  They  did  not  feel 
sure  that  Divine  Providence  had  destined  those  lands  to  pay- 
ing for  dead  horses.  It  is  highly  probable  that  they  were 
moved  upon  by  the  report  of  the  state  commission.  That  body 
listed  1,840  of  the  2,275  bonds  as  reported  to  them  by  106 
holders,  who,  some  under  oath,  and  some  not,  gave  the  cost 
to  themselves  at  prices  ranging  from  "more  than  par"  down 
to  171/^  cents  on  the  dollar.  Thirteen  persons  or  corporations 
held  1,414  bonds,  and  three  persons  1,142. 

The  largest  holder  was  Mr.  Selah  Chamberlain  of  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  an  important  figure  in  the  railroad  history  of  the 
state.  He  held  967  bonds,  which  he  averred  had  cost  him 
"more  than  par  value"  in  expenses  of  construction.  A  ques- 
tion being  raised  whether  he  had  not  been  paid,  by  the  three 
companies  with  whom  he  had  contracted,  excessive  prices  for 
work  done,  the  commissioners  employed  a  capable  engineer  to 
survey  the  120  miles  of  grading  done  by  him  and  estimate  the 


J 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN.  205 

true  cost  at  the  time.  The  estimate  of  the  expert  showed  the 
true  cost  at  the  time  to  have  been  $341,211,  equal  to  $2,843.42 
per  mile.  Mr.  Chamberlain's  bonds  therefore  appeared  to  have 
cost  him  a  fraction  over  30  per  cent  of  their  par  value  in  work 
performed. 

This  revelation  did  not  assure  the  people  of  honest  admin- 
istration of  the  credit  they  had  generously  loaned.  The  pro- 
posals for  adjustment  by  holders  were  exceedingly  variant; 
some  demanded  all  that  was  ''nominated  in  the  bond,"  others 
a  certain  per  cent,  and  a  few  were  willing  to  take  whatever 
might  be  allowed  to  the  most  favored  owners. 

The  winter  of  1868  passed  without  legislative  action,  but 
the  session  of  1869  was  much  occupied  with  a  scheme  of  set- 
tlement embodied  in  the  so-called  "Delano  bill,"  which,  hav- 
ing passed  both  houses,  was  presented  to  the  governor  on  the 
last  day  of  the  session.  Governor  Marshall  declined  to  give 
the  bill  his  approval,  doubtless  for  the  reason  that  it  proposed 
to  turn  over  the  500,000  acres  of  internal  improvement  lands 
to  the  one  person  for  whom  the  bill  had  been  named,  and  to 
give  him  thirteen  years  in  which  to  buy  up  the  bonds  at  his 
own  prices. 

Governor  Marshall  in  a  special  message  again  urged  the 
legislature  to  devote  "the  lands"  to  the  payment  of  "the 
bonds."  Again  he  suggested  that  "providentially  the  state 
had  in  her  hands  the  means  of  providing  for  whatever  was 
justly  due  the  holders."  Michigan  had  adjusted  a  railroad 
debt  of  twice  the  amount,  and  Illinois  one  six  times  as  great. 
The  regents  of  the  State  University  had  paid  off  a  debt  of 
$125,000  with  14,000  acres  of  land,  an  encouraging  example. 
He  appealed  to  a  great  party  pledged  to  equity  and  justice, 
to  add  to  its  proud  record.  In  his  last  message,  delivered  to 
the  legislature  of  1870,  the  same  high-minded  executive  re- 
peated the  substance  of  the  special  message  of  the  previous 
winter,  again  expressing  his  conviction  that  "the  lands"  had 
been  "providentially"  reserved  to  pay  off  these  bonds. 

The  legislative  bodies  appear  to  have  been  moved  by  the 
executive  appeals,  and  set  about  framing  an  act  for  the  pur- 
pose. When  passed,  it  provided  for  the  virtual  exchange  of 
bonds,  at  par  value,  for  land  at  $8.70  per  acre.    The  500,000 


206  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

acres  at  that  price  would  yield  $4,250,000,  just  about  enough 
to  redeem  the  bonds.  The  lands  turned  over  were  to  remain 
free  from  taxes  for  ten  years,  if  left  wild  so  long.  This  act, 
as  required  by  the  amendment  of  1860,  was  referred  to  the 
people,  and  was  ratified  by  a  vote  of  18,257  to  12,489. 

But  again,  the  bondholders,  the  high-minded  governor,  and 
many  citizens,  were  disappointed.  It  was  a  condition  of  the 
act  that  it  should  not  go  into  operation  unless  at  least  2,000 
bonds  should  be  deposited  for  exchange.  Only  1,032  bonds, 
including  those  of  Mr.  Chamberlain,  were  turned  in.  At  a 
meeting  held  in  New  York,  September  1,  1870,  the  holders  of 
1,080  bonds  resolved  'Ho  respectfully  decline  an  offer  of  less 
than  25  per  cent  of  their  just  claims  against  a  debtor  able  to 
pay  in  full." 

A  year  passed  and  Governor  Austin,  fresh  from  the  people, 
expressed  for  them,  in  his  first  message,  their  surprise  at  the 
refusal  of  the  bondholders  to  accept  ''so  fair  and  equitable  a 
compromise."  "The  bonds,"  he  said,  "are  of  questionable 
validity,  and,  if  not  actually  fraudulent,  are  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  what  the  great  majority  of  the  people  believe  to 
have  been  a  fraud  upon  the  state,  as  to  make  them  odious. 
.  .  .  A  large  proportion  of  the  bonds  cost  their  present 
owners  but  171/2  to  50  per  cent  of  their  face." 

The  legislature  of  1871,  however,  was  not  indifferent  to  the 
clamors  of  the  bondholders  and  the  demands  of  citizens  for 
some  kind  of  settlement.  A  bill  known  as  "the  Chamberlain 
bill"  was  brought  forward,  and  in  spite  of  the  absorbing  in- 
terest of  that  legislature  in  the  "land-grab"  measure  for  divid- 
ing the  500,000  acres  among  certain  railroad  companies,  which 
Governor  Austin  put  to  sleep  by  his  famous  veto,  the  Cham- 
berlain bill  was  hospitably  treated,  amply  discussed,  and  finally 
enacted. 

The  leading  part  in  the  debate  was  taken  by  General  Sib- 
ley who  had  consented  to  leave  his  retirement  to  throw  his 
influence  and  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  some 
reasonable  plan  of  settling  the  bond  question.  His  speech  was 
prepared  with  care,  both  in  English  and  French,  and  was  re- 
duced to  the  smallest  compass  consistent  with  clearness.  He 
related  the  story  of  the  issue  of  the  bonds,  and  the  great  pains 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


207 


he  had  taken,  as  governor  at  the  time,  to  require  exact  and  full 
compliance  by  the  railroad  companies  with  all  lawful  condi- 
tions. He  had  waived  his  executive  prerogative  and  obeyed 
the  mandamus  of  the  supreme  court.  The  bonds  when  issued 
were  rendered  valueless  by  the  unholy  warfare  waged  upon 
them  by  citizens  of  the  state.  The  state  ought  to  pay  ''every 
cent"  of  principal  and  interest.  In  his  peroration  General  Sib- 
ley declared  that  but  for  his  abiding  faith  that  Minnesota 
would  acquit  herself  in  the  premises,  he  would  transfer  him- 
self to  some  community  where  he  would  not  be  subjected  to 
the  ''intolerable  humiliation"  of  citizenship  in  a  "repudiating 
state  frowned  upon  by  a  just  and  righteous  God,  and  abhorred 
by  man."  Although  a  member  of  the  minority,  Sibley's  influ- 
ence overcame  opposition,  and  assured  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

The  act  as  approved  was  prefaced  by  a  preamble  assert- 
ing that  doubts  prevail  whether  the  state  railroad  bonds  are  a 
"just  and  valid  debt  of  the  state,"  and  that  the  purpose  is  to 
determine  that  question  and  adjust  existing  claims.  The  gov- 
ernor was  authorized  to  appoint  three  lawyers  as  commission- 
ers, having  the  powers  of  referees  in  equity  procedure.  The 
first  duty  of  the  commission  was  to  determine  whether  the 
bonds  deposited  Avere  "a  legal  and  equitable  obligation  against 
the  state."  Should  they  decide  in  the  affirmative,  they  were 
thereupon  to  award  the  amount  due  each  bondholder  on  the 
basis  of  their  cost  to  him.  The  act  provided  for  the  issue  of 
new  30-year  bonds,  with  additions  of.  principal  so  figured  in 
as  to  make  the  interest  seven  per  cent,  and  appropriated  all 
railroad  taxes  to  the  payment  of  such  interest,  any  surplus 
thereof  to  form  a  sinking  fund  for  the  extinguishment  of  the 
principal.  It  may  be  surmised  that  some  votes  were  cast  for 
this  law  by  members  who,  without  any  gift  of  prophecy,  could 
foresee  what  fate  would  meet  it  at  the  polls.  The  Minnesota 
electors  in  November,  1871,  declared  their  unalterable  resolu- 
tion not  to  be  taxed  for  the  bonds. 

The  legislature  now  had  rest  for  about  five  years  from 
wrestling  with  the  bond  question.  At  the  annual  election  of 
1872,  according  to  Governor  Austin's  urgent  recommendation, 
the  voters  ratified  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  forbid- 
ding the  appropriation  of  the  proceeds  of  sales  of  the  500,000 
acres  of  internal  improvement  lands  for  any  purpose  until  after 


208  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

an  affirmative  majority  vote  of  electors  upon  any  enactment 
therefor,  the  people  thus  reserving  to  themselves  the  privilege 
of  deciding  upon  the  destination  by  Providence  or  otherwise 
of  that  grant. 

In  the  meantime  the  matter  was  taken  into  the  courts.  In 
1873,  Mr.  Selah  Chamberlain  brought  suit  in  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court  for  the  district  of  Minnesota  against  the  St.  Paul 
and  Sioux  City  Railroad  Company  and  others,  demanding  a 
decree  in  equity  that  the  company  should  redeem  the  state 
bonds  held  by  him,  because  it  had  come  into  possession,  by  gift 
of  the  state,  of  a  portion  of  the  land  grant  of  1857.  It  was 
contended  that  where  the  state  acquired  title  and  possession 
by  foreclosure  in  1860,  she  took  the  lands  and  property  of  the 
railroad  companies  with  all  their  incumbrances.  As  assets, 
they  were  affected  by  all  lawful  liabilities.  After  trial,  Jus- 
tice Dillon  dismissed  the  suit.  The  companies,  he  held,  re- 
ceived the  lands  from  the  state  free  and  clear  from  all  incum- 
brances. The  state  was  not  a  surety  for  the  companies,  but 
an  original  obligee. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  lost  his  suit,  but  the  court  vouchsafed  him 
a  sweet  morsel  of  consolation  in  an  obiter  dictum.  The  bonds, 
said  Justice  Dillon,  ''are  the  legal  obligation  of  the  State 
.  .  .  .  they  were  issued  for  work  actually  done  upon  the 
the  roads  at  the  rate  specified  in  the  constitutional  amendment. 
.  .  .  .  If  the  state  were  liable  in  the  courts  ....  the 
bonds  would  be  legally  enforceable  against  it.  Justice  and 
honor  alike  require  the  court  to  recognize  these  bonds  as  bind- 
ing against  it." 

Believing  doubtless  that  he  could  fare  no  worse  in  the  court 
above,  Mr.  Chamberlain  appealed  his  suit  to  the  supreme  court 
of  the  United  States,  which  in  October,  1875,  affirming  the  de- 
cision of  the  court  below,  followed  its  example  in  administer- 
ing like  words  of  comfort.  ''The  bonds  issued,"  said  Justice 
Field  for  the  court,  "are  legal  obligations;  the  state  is  bound 
by  every  consideration  of  honor  and  good  faith  to  pay  them. 
Were  she  amenable  to  the  tribunals  of  the  country,  as  private 
individuals  are,  no  court  of  justice  would  withhold  its  judg- 
ment in  an  action  for  enforcement." 

It  is  believed  that  Mr.  Chamberlain's  capable  attorneys  got 
all  they  really  hoped  for  in  their  suit.     These  casual  remarks 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN.  209 

of  the  courts  were  not  decisions.  The  state  was  no  party  to 
the  suit,  and  was  not  heard.  These  obiter  dicta  had  their  ef- 
fect. The  state  of  Minnesota  was  branded  by  the  supreme  judi- 
cial authority  of  the  nation  as  a  repudiator  and  defaulter.  She 
had  not  done  what  honor  and  justice  alike  required  her  to  do. 
The  effect  on  the  public  men  of  the  state  was  notable.  With- 
out distinction  of  party,  they  rapidly  drifted  to  the  position 
that  Minnesota  could  not  afford  to  wear  that  brand  of  infamy. 
The  mass  of  the  people,  however,  still  hung  doggedly  to  their 
ancient  grudge  against  the  conspirators,  who,  as  they  believed, 
had  deceived  and  defrauded  them. 

Governor  Davis  was  closing  his  term  of  office  with  the  year 
1875,  a  few  weeks  after  the  publication  of  the  dicta  of  the 
courts.  In  his  final  message  to  the  legislature  of  1876,  after 
sketching  the  history  of  the  bonds,  he  recommended  the  crea- 
tion of  a  board  of  commissioners  to  hear  and  determine  the 
claims  of  the  bondholders,  and  expressed  the  belief  that  the 
people  would  stand  by  the  awards.  States,  as  well  as  men, 
ought  to  do  justice,  and  it  was  no  derogation  of  sovereignty 
to  submit  claims  against  them  to  arbitration.  The  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  had  composed  the  Alabama  claims 
that  way. 

According  to  Minnesota  custom,  Governor  Pillsbury  deliv- 
ered his  inaugural  address  on  the  same  occasion,  and  the  bur- 
den of  it  was  the  extinguishment  of  the  state  railroad  bonds. 
The  bonds  were  issued  deliberately  in  due  form  in  obedience 
to  a  mandate  of  the  people.  The  state  had  acquired  the  fran- 
chises and  assets  of  the  defaulting  companies  and  had  them 
under  her  control.  She  is  now  able  to  pay,  and  the  only  ques- 
tion is.  Will  she  pay  an  honest  debt?  His  practical  suggestion 
was  to  exchange  new  bonds  for  the  old  ones,  and  to  devote  the 
internal  improvement  lands  (which,  he  adds,  have  been  ''pro- 
videntially" received  and  kept  for  the  express  purpose)  to 
form  a  sinking  fund  for  the  ultimate  liquidation  of  the  new 
obligations.  There  was  no  suggestion  of  compromise  or  scal- 
ing down  the  bonds. 

The  legislators,  who  listened  to  these  recommendations, 
gave  them  not  the  least  regard.  They  evidently  did  not  feel 
sure  that  Providence  had  invited  them  to  dispose  of  the  inter- 
nal improvement  lands  in  this  particular  manner.     Not  a  sin- 

14 


210  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

gle  bill,  resolution,  or  report  relating  to  the  bonds,  is  recorded 
in  their  journals. 

In  his  message  to  the  legislature  of  1877,  Governor  Pills- 
bury  returned  to  the  charge  with  vigor.  Under  the  heading 
"Dishonored  Bonds,"  he  recapitulated  the  arguments,  all  now 
familiar,  for  the  settlement  of  the  old  bonds.  Again  he  put 
the  question,  ''Is  Minnesota  willing  to  pay  an  honest  debt?" 

On  February  10,  1877,  Mr.  Selah  Chamberlain  presented  to 
the  houses  a  memorial  reciting  the  history  of  his  claim,  quot- 
ing the  opinions  of  judges  upon  its  validity,  and  offering  to 
scale  it  down.  He  figured  the  nominal  value  of  each  of  his 
bonds  on  June  1,  of  that  year,  to  be  $3,110.85  (interest  evi- 
dently compounded)  ;  and,  doubtless  acting  for  other  bond- 
holders as  well  as  for  himself,  he  made  the  offer  to  accept  for 
each  the  sum  of  $1,550  in  six  per  cent  bonds  to  be  issued  of 
that  date.  Before  the  close  of  the  month  a  bill  was  passed 
agreeing  to  this  proposition,  by  a  senate  vote  practically  unani- 
mous and  a  house  majority  of  more  than  two-thirds.  A  com- 
panion bill  devoting  the  internal  improvement  lands  to  the 
payment  of  the  proposed  new  bonds  became  a  law.  Both  acts 
had  of  course  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  a  popular  vote ;  and  both 
were  mercilessly  slaughtered  at  the  polls. 

The  legislature  of  1878  listened  patiently  to  Governor  Pills- 
bury 's  paragraphs  on  ''Dishonored  Bonds."  He  deeply  de- 
plored the  rejection  of  the  proposition  of  the  bondholders,  and 
exhorted  to  further  effort.  Repudiation,  he  assured  them,  was 
far  more  damaging  to  the  state  than  the  grasshopper.  "With 
little  hope  of  its  ratification  the  houses  passed  a  bill  to  ex- 
change "the  lands  for  the  bonds,"  differing  only  in  details 
from  the  act  of  1877.  It  shared  the  fate  of  that  act  on  refer- 
endum. 

In  his  message  of  1879,  Governor  Pillsbury  could  only  ex- 
press his  deep  regret  at  the  unreadiness  of  the  people  to  pay 
an  honest  debt,  and  made  no  definite  proposition.  There  was 
no  session  in  1880,  the  act  for  biennial  sessions  having  gone 
into  effect.  The  year  1881  was  the  last  of  Mr.  Pillsbury 's  third 
term,  and  he  resolved  to  signalize  it  with  a  final  effort  to  rouse 
the  people  and  their  representatives  to  their  duty.  Again  un- 
der the  caption  "Dishonored  Bonds,"  he  marshaled  all  the 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


211 


considerations  which  should  impel  them  to  payment  of  their 
honest  debt.  He  implored  the  legislative  body  to  apply  itself 
to  the  adjustment  of  the  bonds  as  its  solemn  duty,  and  sug- 
gested that  in  the  preservation  of  the  half  million  acres  of  land, 
it  seemed  as  if  Fortune  (not  Providence)  herself  would  lure 
the  state  from  dishonor.  The  executive  appeal  had  its  effect 
upon  the  houses  which  presently  got  to  work  on  the  necessary 
bills. 

The  principal  act,  passed  by  a  two-thirds  vote  in  the  senate 
and  a  three-fourths  vote  in  the  house,  is  a  curiosity  in  legisla- 
tion. It  started  out  with  a  preamble  reciting  that  there  were 
controverted  claims  outstanding  against  the  state,  that  these 
deserved  fair  treatment  and  settlement,  and  that  claimants  had 
submitted  propositions  for  adjustment.  A  "tribunal"  con- 
sisting of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  was  created,  the 
original  duty  of  which  should  be  to  decide  whether  the  legis- 
lature had  power  to  adjust  and  pay  the  bonds  without  the  ref- 
erendum provided  for  in  the  repudiating  constitutional  amend- 
ment of  1860.  If  any  judge  of  the  supreme  court  should  be 
disqualified  or  should  decline,  the  governor  was  authorized  to 
fill  the  vacancy  by  appointing  one  of  the  district  judges  of 
the  state.  In  the  event  that  the  tribunal  should  decide  against 
the  validity  of  the  repudiating  amendment  of  1860,  it  should 
proceed  to  exchange  new  bonds,  styled  ''Minnesota  Railroad 
Adjustment  bonds,"  for  those  outstanding,  at  50  per  cent  of 
the  amount  due  on  the  latter,  the  bondholders  each  to  execute 
a  proper  release.  If,  however,  the  decision  should  be  that  the 
question  of  paying  the  old  bonds  must  be  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple, the  act  was  to  be  so  submitted  at  the  next  general  election. 
If  adopted  by  a  majority  of  electors,  then  the  exchange  of  new 
for  old  bonds  would  follow. 

Not  one  of  the  five  judges  of  the  supreme  court  was  willing 
to  serve  on  this  amphibious  tribunal.  As  the  law  provided, 
the  governor  therefore  appointed  five  judges  of  the  district 
court  in  their  places.  It  was  the  26th  day  of  July  when  five 
district  judges,  willing  to  serve  and  supposed  to  be  individually 
favorable  to  sustaining  the  act,  met  at  the  capitol  to  organize 
as  a  tribunal. 

The  bondholders  appeared  by  counsel,  and  Attorney  Gen- 
eral Hahn  for  the  state.    The  latter  at  once  filed  an  objection 


212  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

against  the  competency  of  the  tribunal.  At  the  same  moment 
the  members  were  served  with  an  order  from  the  State  Su- 
preme Court  to  show  cause  why  a  writ  of  prohibition  should 
not  issue.  This  order  had  been  made  upon  information  of  a 
distinguished  attorney,  Mr.  David  Secombe,  alleging  that  the 
act  of  the  legislature  pretending  to  constitute  such  a  tribunal 
was  unconstitutional.  The  attorney  general  was  allowed  to 
control  the  procedure,  and  to  amend  the  petition  for  the  writ, 
by  adding  an  allegation  that  the  act  was  repugnant  to  the  con- 
stitutional amendment  of  1860  forbidding  payment  of  the  bonds 
unless  after  an  affirmative  vote  of  the  people.  Under  the  title 
of  ''State  vs.  Young,"  the  proceedings  in  the  supreme  court 
occupy  121  pages  of  the  29th  volume  of  the  Minnesota  reports. 
The  court  in  its  opinion,  written  by  Chief  Justice  James  Gil- 
fillan,  acknowledged  the  signal  assistance  of  counsel  on  both 
sides,  declaring  that  "it  has  rarely  been  the  good  fortune  of 
any  court  to  have  a  cause  before  it  so  ably  and  exhaustively  pre- 
sented by  counsel." 

This  is  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  of  all  cases  which  had 
up  to  this  time  come  before  the  court  and  probably  will  long 
remain  so.  It  is  not  difficult  for  the  careful  reader  to  get  at 
the  meat  of  this  decision.  The  act  of  1881,  it  was  held,  was 
not  unconstitutional  because  in  conflict  with  the  repudiating 
amendment  of  1860,  for  that  repudiation  itself  was  void. 
When  the  state  contracted  with  the  bond-buyers  in  1858,  the 
right  of  petition  to  the  legislature  existed,  and  the  legislature 
was  at  liberty  and  indeed  was  bound  to  provide  for  the  pay- 
ment of  any  obligations  already  incurred.  By  depriving  the 
legislature  of  this  power,  the  putative  amendment  of  1860  ''im- 
paired the  obligation"  of  the  contracts,  a  thing  forbidden  to 
the  states  by  the  national  constitution.  This  conclusion,  seri- 
ously questioned  by  able  lawyers,  was  most  welcome  to  all  who 
desired  the  payment  of  the  old  bonds  without  appeal  to  pop- 
ular vote. 

The  court,  taking  up  the  contention  that  the  act  in  issue 
was  unconstitutional  because  devolving  judicial  functions  on 
a  non-judicial  tribunal,  promptly  decided  in  the  affirmative, 
and  issued  the  writ  of  prohibition. 

The  roadway  was  clear  for  legislative  action  on  the  bonds 
without  referendum.    Believing  that  the  legislature  would  be 


THE  FIVE  MILLION  LOAN. 


213 


in  the  right  frame  of  mind,  Governor  Pillsbury  called  it  to  meet 
in  extra  session  on  October  11.  In  this  expectation  he  was  not 
disappointed,  and  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  approving  a  bill 
passed  by  very  large  majorities,  after  a  little  filibustering  by 
the  dwindling  minorities.  It  would  be  well  for  the  fair  fame 
of  Minnesota  if  it  could  be  truthfully  recorded  that  this  leg- 
islation did  not  cost  bondholders  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 

The  act  was  entitled  '^An  act  to  provide  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  certain  alleged  claims  against  the  state,"  as  if  it  were 
to  be  understood  that  the  propositions  of  compromise,  volun- 
tarily made  by  the  bondholders,  did  not  rise  to  the  dignity  of 
''claims"  pure  and  simple.  The  now  customary  preamble  in- 
troduced the  act,  which  briefly  provided  for  the  delivery  to  any 
of  the  bondholders  new  ten  to  thirty-year  four  and  a  half  per 
cent  bonds,  called  "Minnesota  State  Railway  Adjustment 
Bonds,"  at  50  per  cent  of  the  nominal  value  of  the  old  bonds. 
A  companion  bill,  devoting  the  proceeds  of  sales  of  the  ''prov- 
idential" internal  improvement  lands  to  the  liquidation  of 
the  new  bonds,  met  with  but  slight  opposition.  When  voted 
upon  at  a  subsequent  general  election,  the  two  acts  were  rati- 
fied by  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  electors,  which  indicates  a 
change  of  heart  among  the  people.  The  signing  of  the  new 
bonds  occupied  the  last  days  of  Mr.  Pillsbury 's  governorship, 
a  duty  he  performed  with  greater  satisfaction  than  any  other 
in  his  long  period  of  executive  service. 

The  passage  of  the  two  bills,  however,  did  not  conclude  the 
long  struggle  over  the  bonds.  There  were  citizens  then,  as 
now,  who  believed  that  the  bonds,  no  matter  with  what  regu- 
larity and  solemnity  issued,  never  created  a  valid  obligation 
against  the  state  in  equity,  and  never  ought  to  have  been  rec- 
ognized nor  adjusted.  One  of  these,  Mr.  David  Secombe,  sued 
out  an  injunction  from  a  court  commissioner  to  restrain  the 
governor  from  signing  the  new  bonds,  to  which  the  latter  gave 
no  heed.  The  same  plaintiff  later  played  a  last  card  by  bring- 
ing an  action  in  the  Hennepin  county  district  court  to  restrain 
the  state  treasurer  from  paying  interest  on  the  new  bonds. 
The  ground  of  the  action  was  the  allegation  that  the  constitu- 
tional amendment  of  1858  purporting  to  authorize  the  original 
issue  was  void  because  not  adopted  by  the  people  according  to 
the  provisions  of  the  state  constitution  regarding  amendments. 


214  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

The  pretended  amendment  was  proposed,  voted  on,  and  pro- 
claimed as  adopted,  before  the  admission  of  the  territory  of 
Minnesota  to  the  Union,  and  while  such  admission  was  pend- 
ing in  Congress.  The  territory  of  Minnesota,  it  was  contended, 
could  not  amend  a  state  constitution,  which  had  not  been  ac- 
cepted and  ratified  by  Congress. 

Justice  Mitchell,  for  the  court,  made  short  work  of  resolv- 
ing this  puzzle,  by  citing  the  peculiar  language  of  the  Minne- 
sota enabling  act,  authorizing  the  people  ''to  form  a  constitu- 
tion and  state  government,"  and  "to  come  into  the  Union." 
The  court  observed  that  it  was  the  accepted  theory  of  the  time, 
that  Minnesota  became  a  state  when  she  ratified  her  constitu- 
tion in  October,  1857,  and  that  the  legislature  then  elected  was 
a  state  legislature.  The  court,  however,  did  not  care  for  any 
theory  of  the  matter.  The  government  organized  in  the  De- 
cember of  1857  was  in  fact  a  state  government,  by  the  consent 
and  understanding  of  the  people,  and  technical  inquiries  re- 
garding irregularities  were  not,  under  the  circumstances,  to  be 
tolerated.  Finally  it  was  held  that  all  irregularities  had  been 
healed  by  the  Congressional  act  of  admission.  This  same  de- 
cision vindicated  the  legitimacy  of  the  laws  (some  ninety  in 
number)  passed  by  the  legislature  of  1857-8  at  its  first  session. 

During  the  twenty-three  years  between  the  issue  and  adjust- 
ment of  the  state  railroad  bonds  few  citizens  of  Minnesota  lost 
sleep  because  of  guilty  consciences,  and  the  financial  credit  of 
the  state  was  not  below  that  of  any  of  her  neighbors.  Within 
a  year  from  the  passage  of  the  adjustment  act,  all  but  forty- 
three  of  the  old  bonds  had  been  surrendered,  of  which  number 
fifteen  had  long  been  in  the  treasury.  The  value  of  the  new 
bonds  issued  was  $4,255,000.  A  large  block  of  these  was  pur- 
chased for  the  school  and  university  funds,  and  the  cash  paid 
to  claimants.  Mr.  Selah  Chamberlain  took  out  $1,992,053.70; 
three  others,  $715,000;  and  the  remainder  was  distributed  to 
175  parties. 

On  December  8,  1910,  the  last  Minnesota  Refunding  Bonds, 
successors  to  the  Redemption  Bonds  of  1881,  to  the  amount  of 
$180,000,  were  solemnly  burned  in  the  engine  house  of  the  State 
Capitol.  AVith  that  ceremony  closed  the  last  chapter  of  the 
''Five  Million  Loan." 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RAILROAD  BUILDING 
IN  MINNESOTA.* 


BY  JOHN  H.  RANDALL,  ST.  PAUL. 


The  Territory  of  Minnesota  had  a  very  sparse  settlement 
north  of  Saint  Paul  in  1856.  The  Chippewa  and  Sioux  tribes 
occupied  the  greater  part  of  that  section  of  the  Territory.  The 
majority  of  the  white  settlers  were  south  of  Saint  Paul  and 
along  the  Mississippi  river. 

It  was  not  thought  there  was  anything  north  of  Saint  Cloud 
worth  going  after,  save  the  pine  lumber.  The  lumbermen  at 
Saint  Anthony  bought  large  stretches  of  this  timbered  land 
from  the  government  at  $1.25  an  acre,  and  after  stripping  the 
timber  from  the  land,  leaving  what  they  considered  only  sand 
barrens,  they  refused  to  pay  the  taxes  and  these  lands  reverted 
to  the  State.  The  result  is  that  the  State  sees,  in  the  not  very 
distant  future,  a  school  fund  of  some  $100,000,000  from  royal- 
ties from  the  iron  ore  discovered  a  few  years  ago  underlying 
this  section,  making  Minnesota  one  of  the  richest  states  in  the 
Union. 

When  I  came  into  the  Territory  in  1856,  the  nearest  railroad 
to  Saint  Paul  was  at  Galena,  Illinois. 

March  3,  1857,  Congress  passed  an  act  to  aid  in  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads  in  the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  making  a  grant 
of  the  right  of  way  and  of  the  odd-numbered  sections  of  the 
public  lands  within  six  miles  on  each  side  of  the  located  lines 
of  road.  One  of  these  railroads  was  to  commence  at  Stillwater 
and  run  via  Saint  Paul  and  Saint  Anthony  to  the  foot  of  Big 
Stone  lake  and  the  mouth  of  the  Sioux  river,  on  the  western 
boundary  of  the  Territory,  with  a  branch  from  Saint  Anthony 
via  Saint  Cloud  to  the  Red  river  of  the  North. 

On  May  22,  1857,  by  act  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  the 
Minnesota  and  Pacific  railroad  company  was  incorporated  and 

♦Accepted  by  the  Publication  Committee,  November  11.  1912. 


216  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

given  this  grant,  with  all  the  rights  and  franchises  that  had 
been  conveyed  to  the  Territory  by  the  government. 

During  1857  the  engineers  located  the  line  west  to  Big  Stone 
lake  and  north  to  Crow  Wing,  finishing  the  location  surveys  on 
November  22,  1857,  and  turning  in  their  maps  to  the  governor 
of  the  Territory  and  also  filing  a  duplicate  copy  with  the  Gen- 
eral Land  Offices  at  Washington,  D.  C,  December  5,  1857. 

In  July,  1857,  Edmund  Rice,  president  of  the  Minnesota  and 
Pacific  railroad  company,  entered  into  a  contract  with  Selah 
Chamberlain,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  to  build  the  road  from  Still- 
water to  Crow  Wing.  He  was  to  begin  work  October  1,  1857, 
and  to  complete  the  same  by  September  1,  1859.  The  part  of 
the  road  between  Saint  Paul  and  Saint  Anthony  was  to  be 
ready  for  the  cars  October  1,  1858.  Work  was  carried  on  for 
thirty  days  and  then  stopped. 

In  September,  1857,  the  Ohio  Trust  Company,  of  Cincinnati, 
failed,  and  the  result  of  that  failure  was  the  terrible  panic  of 
1857,  which  ended  all  work  requiring  money,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific.  At  that  time  there  were  no  banks  in  Saint  Paul, 
but  there  were  nine  broker  firms  that  were  doing  a  banking 
business.  Most  of  them  succumbed  to  the  pressure  and  went 
out  of  business,  as  there  was  no  money  to  be  had.  You  could 
not  give  away  a  corner  lot  at  that  time,  as  no  one  would  as- 
sume the  taxes  on  any  property,  and  some  of  us  had  to  go 
ninety  days  or  more  without  seeing  as  much  as  a  five-cent 
piece;  but  there  was  a  disposition  to  stand  by  each  other,  so 
we  had  our  three  meals  a  day  and  a  place  in  which  to  sleep. 

A  new  contract  was  entered  into  with  Mr.  Chamberlain  in 
April,  1858.  He  commenced  work  again  and  graded  the  road 
from  Saint  Paul  up  the  river  to  about  opposite  Clear  Lake,  some 
sixty-two  miles,  when  again  he  stopped,  and  as  a  result  the  state 
foreclosed  and  took  over  all  the  property  of  the  Minnesota  and 
Pacific  company.  From  1858  to  1861  the  property  was  held  by 
the  state.  To  get  the  road  constructed,  the  state  by  act  of  the 
Legislature  turned  back  the  lands  and  franchises  to  the  Min- 
nesota and  Pacific  company  on  March  8,  1861,  upon  the  com- 
pany depositing  ten  thousand  dollars  as  a  guarantee  of  good 
faith  that  work  should  be  commenced  at  once  and  be  finished 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RAILROAD  BUILDING.  217 

between  Saint  Paul  and  Saint  Anthony  by  the  first  day  of  Jan- 
uary, 1862. 

A  contract  was  entered  into  at  once  with  the  banking  house 
of  Winters  and  Harshman,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  to  build  this  piece 
of  road  between  Saint  Paul  and  Saint  Anthony.  Messrs.  Win- 
ters and  Harshman  associated  with  themselves  Mr.  Elias  F. 
Drake,  a  lawyer  in  Dayton,  and  the  president  of  a  small  rail- 
road running  between  Dayton  and  Cincinnati,  and  sent  him  to 
Saint  Paul  to  care  for  their  interest  in  the  construction  of  this 
ten  miles  of  road. 

Mr.  Drake  brought  the  first  locomotive,  the  William  Crooks, 
into  the  state,  with  other  construction  material,  and  laid  a 
piece  of  track  fourteen  hundred  feet  long,  from  the  river  up 
on  the  bank  that  had  been  graded  by  Mr.  Chamberlain,  and 
then  failed  to  meet  the  conditions  fixed  by  the  state  for  the 
construction  of  the  ten  miles,  and  again  the  property  was 
taken  over  by  the  state. 

March  10,  1862,  the  Legislature  made  another  effort  to  get 
the  road  under  way,  passing  another  act,  which  turned  the 
property  over  to  the  same  organization,  called  by  another 
name,  the  Saint  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  company.  The  con- 
tract was  renewed  with  the  Dayton  firm  and  the  work  was  com- 
pleted, and  the  company  commenced  its  regular  business  by 
putting  on  its  train  July  2,  1862,  starting  from  its  little  depot, 
of  seven  by  nine  feet,  situated  on  the  railroad  bank  down  near 
the  mouth  of  Phalen  creek,  and  terminating  on  the  prairie 
back  of  the  old  University  building  in  Saint  Anthony. 

The  conditions  as  to  the  lay  of  the  land  here  at  Saint  Paul 
will  account  for  starting  the  road  where  they  did.  A  bluff 
some  ninety  feet  in  height  at  its  highest  point,  thence  sloping 
west  toward  Jackson  street  and  east  toward  Trout  brook,  was 
on  the  north  side  of  what  was  known  as  the  Government  road 
from  Point  Douglas  to  Fort  Snelling,  now  Fourth  street,  and 
from  this  road  the  land  dipped  into  what  was  called  the  river 
bottom.  Third  Street  was  laid  out  on  the  map  as  running 
across  this  low  land.  The  valleys  between  this  bluff  and  Day- 
ton's bluff  on  the  east  were  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
wide,  the  banks  on  each  side  being  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  high. 
Trout  brook  (the  valley  down  which  the  main  line  of  the  North- 


218  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ern  Pacific  railroad  comes  into  the  city)  and  Plialen  creek  (the 
valley  down  which  the  Duluth  branch  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
comes)  ran  down  these  two  valleys.  The  embankment  of  the 
road,  from  the  river  up  these  valleys,  was  about  fifteen  feet 
high.  Fourth  street  was  graded  to  cross  this  fill,  and  the  next 
crossing  was  what  is  now  known  as  Lafayette  avenue. 

Kittson's  Addition,  and  other  additions  laying  out  this  sec- 
tion of  the  city  east  of  Broadway,  were  simply  on  paper;  the 
streets  were  not  graded,  and  only  here  and  there  was  a  shanty 
to  be  seen.  For  nearly  twelve  months  the  passengers  had  to 
go  to  the  little  depot  down  on  Phalen  creek  to  take  the  cars  for 
Saint  Anthony. 

Early  in  1863  a  contract  was  made  for  the  construction  of 
a  trestle  some  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long,  from  the  levee 
at  the  foot  of  Sibley  street  to  the  railroad  embankment  at  the 
crossing  of  Fourth  street.  The  trestle  was  from  four  feet  high 
at  Sibley  street  to  twenty-two  feet  high  where  it  crossed  the 
creek.    It  was  used  by  the  trains  from  1863  till  after  1868. 

The  owners  of  the  bluff  north  of  Fourth  street  commenced 
grading  their  property  about  this  time,  and  the  company 
bought  all  of  the  dirt  they  could,  paying  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  per  cubic  yard,  a  like  sum  being  paid  by  the  owners  to 
the  contractors.  This  dirt  was  in  part  hauled  onto  the  rail- 
road grounds  at  the  west  end  of  the  bluff,  while  the  company 
was  grading  their  property  up  to  Pennsylvania  avenue  and 
hauling  the  other  part  by  cars  to  fill  the  trestle  at  its  east  end. 

In  1864  Mr.  Edmund  Rice  retired  from  the  presidency  of 
the  road,  and  Mr.  George  L.  Becker  succeeded  him  in  that 
office. 

The  company  was  buying,  in  the  late  sixties  and  early  sev- 
enties, the  lots  lying  south  of  the  alley  of  the  blocks  between 
Third  street,  as  laid  out,  and  the  river,  when  the  president  re- 
ceived a  communication  from  the  stockholders  of  the  company, 
saying,  ''You  are  a  fit  subject  for  an  insane  asylum,  Mr.  Beck- 
er, to  ever  think  Saint  Paul  will  be  large  enough  to  require  a 
railroad  yard  of  the  size  you  are  building."  We  were  paying 
laborers  at  that  time  eighty  cents  a  day,  and  they  were  laying 
up  money  on  that  wage. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  RAILROAD  BUILDING.  219 

In  1862  a  contract  had  been  made  with  Mr.  E.  B.  Litch- 
field, of  New  York  City,  to  build  the  branch  line  from  Saint 
Anthony  to  Crow  Wing  and  the  main  line  from  Minneapolis 
to  Big  Stone  lake. 

The  iron  for  the  road  under  the  Litchfield  contract  was  all 
purchased  in  England,  unloaded  at  New  York,  railroaded  to 
Chicago  and  unloaded  there,  reloaded  and  railroaded  to  Prairie 
du  Chien,  which  was  the  nearest  railroad  point  to  Saint  Paul 
on  the  river  up  to  the  late  sixties,  there  loaded  on  barges  and 
brought  to  Saint  Paul,  and  there  loaded  on  cars  at  the  bank 
and  hauled  to  its  final  destination. 

I  began  service  with  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  company  the 
2nd  of  July,  1862.  There  were  three  officials  in  the  office,  pres- 
ident, secretary,  and  chief  engineer.  The  treasurer  was  an 
official  of  the  First  National  Bank.  My  official  position  was 
general  ticket  agent,  chief  accountant,  chief  clerk  in  the  en- 
gineering department,  and  paymaster.  The  outside  employees 
were  one  conductor,  one  engineer,  one  fireman,  and  one  bag- 
gageman, with  one  or  two  men  at  the  roundhouse.  When 
either  the  conductor  or  the  baggageman  was  sick  or  away,  the 
general  ticket  agent  ran  in  their  stead  on  the  road. 

In  September,  1862,  settlement  was  made  by  the  engineer- 
ing department  with  Mr.  Drake,  for  the  Dayton  bankers,  for 
the  construction  of  the  ten  miles  of  road  between  Saint  Paul 
and  Saint  Anthony ;  and  the  same  month  Mr.  William  Crooks, 
the  chief  engineer  of  the  company,  was  accepted  by  the  gov- 
ernment as  colonel  of  one  of  the  Minnesota  regiments  that  went 
south. 

Hard  times  came  on  as  the  result  of  the  war,  and  the  work 
under  the  Litchfield  contract  was  very  slow.  It  took  two  years 
to  build  from  Saint  Anthony  to  Anoka,  a  distance  of  seventeen 
miles,  then  another  year  to  reach  Elk  River,  and  still  another 
year  before  the  road  was  completed  to  Saint  Cloud,  which  was 
in  the  fall  of  1866,  taking  four  years  to  construct  sixty-five 
miles  of  road. 

In  1866  a  contract  was  made  with  De  Graff  and  Company 
for  the  construction  of  the  main  line  from  Saint  Anthony  to 
Big  Stone  lake.  During  1866  the  slough  on  the  Saint  Anthony 
side  was  bridged,  crossing  to  Nicollet  island  at  its  northwest 


220  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

end,  and  in  1867  the  main  channel  of  the  Mississippi  river  was 
bridged  from  the  island  to  the  shore  on  the  Minneapolis  side. 
The  location  was  changed  and  the  end  of  the  road  was  at  Breck- 
enridge,  which  point  was  reached  in  1871,  taking  four  years 
more. 

This  was  about  the  first  railroad  company  in  the  country  to 
construct  its  line  ahead  of  settlement.  Between  Minneapolis 
and  the  prairie  west  of  the  Big  Woods  there  were  only  two  or 
three  small  settlements  with  less  than  a  dozen  houses  in  either. 
There  were  no  settlers  between  the  Big  Woods  and  the  Red 
river  of  the  North.  The  first  buildings  in  any  of  the  towns  west 
of  the  Big  Woods  were  the  depots.  Litchfield,  the  first  town 
on  the  prairie,  was  largely  made  up  the  first  winter  by  moving 
the  houses  on  runners  from  a  settlement  six  miles  north  on 
Crow  river. 

During  these  early  years  other  roads  were  being  built  in 
the  parts  of  the  state  lying  south  and  southwest  of  St.  Paul; 
but  the  first  ten  miles,  from  St.  Paul  to  St.  Anthony,  of  the  old 
Saint  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad,  now  the  Great  Northern  rail- 
way, was  the  first  railroad  in  this  great  Northwest.  In  this 
imperfect  way  I  have  sketched  the  beginnings  of  this  great 
railway  system,  and  hope  I  have  given  some  faint  idea  of  what 
it  was  to  build  a  railroad  in  the  early  days. 


U.V^^t,*.-A 


y>' 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 


Vol.  XY.     Plate  III. 


A-^'.  Ice-formed  Boulder  Beach 
B-B.  Ancient  Boulder  Beach 

C.  Lagoon, 

D.  Sand  Spit, 


Iake 


Olof  OAman's  Farm  (BS Acres) 


^ 


^,^^f(^ 


i 


-   ^-^^n-^.       ^<t^^  44 Feet    ..^ 


-\- 


^:^^ 


"^ 


-^^ 


iiii'jiW*^      cjj$: 


^I'^^^A^^^^i^^f^^^ 


I 


MAP  OF  THE  VICINITY  OF   KENSINGTON   AND   PELICAN    LAKE,  AND 
OF  THE  FARM  WHERE  THE  RUNE  STONE  WAS  FOUND. 


THE  KENSINGTON  RUNE  STONE. 


Preliminary  Report  to  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
BY  its  Museum  Committee.* 


As  the  Museum  Committee  is  charged  with  the  responsi- 
bility of  making  a  recommendation  to  the  Society  respecting 
the  authenticity  or  the  fraudulent  origin  of  the  Kensington 
Rune  Stone  and  its  inscription,  it  is  thought  best  to  review 
somewhat  carefully  the  facts  as  to  the  discovery  of  the  stone. 
For  this  purpose  the  results  of  the  three  visits  made  to  that 
locality  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  investigating  the  subject  for 
this  Committee,  will  here  be  cast  into  one  statement. 

The  Discovery. 

The  stone  was  found  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Olof  Ohman  on 
the  southeast  quarter  of  section  14,  Solem  township,  Douglas 
county,  about  three  miles  northeast  from  Kensington  station  on 
the  ''Soo  Line,"  on  November  8,  1898.  The  owner  of  the  farm 
was  having  a  patch  of  land  cleared  of  timber  preparatory  to 
plowing,  and  his  men  were  grubbing  out  the  stumps.  There 
were  present  at  the  finding,  or  immediately  thereafter,  the  fol- 
lowing persons:  Olof  Ohman,  his  sons,  Olof  Emil  Ohman,  12 
years  of  age,  and  Edward  Ohman,  10  years  of  age,  and  Nils 
Olof  Flaaten,  owner  of  the  adjoining  farm. 

The  exact  location  was  on  the  southern  slope  of  one  of  two 
knolls  which  together  form  the  higher  part  of  what  has  been 
called  an  *' island,"  because  formerly  surrounded  by  a  lake  and 
now  surrounded  by  a  grassy  marsh.  These  knolls  have  an 
extreme  height,  above  the  surface  of  the  marsh,  of  fifty-five 
feet,  the  smaller  knoll  rising  about  fifty  feet.  The  stone  lay 
forty-four  feet  above  the  marsh.     (See  the  map,  Plate  IH.) 

When  the  stone  was  found,  its  inscribed  side  was  down,  and 
about  six  inches  of  soil  covered  it.     A  poplar  or  aspen  tree 

*  Presented  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  May  9,  1910;  published  in 
advance  of  this  volume,  December,  1910. 


222  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

grew  above  it,  and  spread  its  principal  roots  about  it,  running 
into  the  ground  on  opposite  sides.  On  being  cut  away  the 
stump  carrying  the  roots  lay  adjacent  for  some  weeks  and  was 
seen  and  noted  by  several  visitors.  Estimates  as  to  the  size 
and  oge  of  the  tree  vary  somewhat,  some  stating  that  it  was  at 
least  ten  years  old  and  others  that  it  was  from  twenty  to  thirty 
years  old,  and  one  estimating  it  as  probably  forty  years  old. 
According  to  Mr.  Sam  Olson,  of  Kensington,  this  tree  was  about 
four  or  five  inches  in  diameter  at  about  fifteen  inches  above  the 
stone,  and  about  ten  inches  in  diameter  at  six  or  eight  inches 
above  the  stone.  The  roots  of  the  tree,  especially  the  largest 
one  which  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  stone,  were  flattened 
by  contact  with  the  stone  during  the  period  of  their  growth. 
The  flattening  of  the  roots  is  an  important  feature,  as  it  denotes 
that  the  tree  had  been  in  contact  with  the  stone  during  the 
whole  time  of  the  life  of  the  tree. 

In  the  spring  subsequent  to  the  finding  of  the  stone  Mr. 
Samuel  Olson  and  a  party  visited  the  place  and  made  some 
excavations  where  the  stone  was  found,  having  the  idea  that 
the  men  who  were  massacred  had  been  buried  there,  and  that 
the  stone  was  designed  to  mark  their  burial  place.  He  saw,, 
and  all  his  party  saw,  the  stump  of  the  tree  that  grew  on  the 
stone.  The  members  of  this  party,  besides  Mr.  Olson,  were  the 
following:  Cleve  Van  Dyke,  executive  clerk  to  the  late  Gov- 
ernor Johnson,  then  superintendent  of  schools  of  Douglas 
county;  J.  P.  Hedberg,  now  at  Warroad;  John  M.  Olson,  who 
furnished  a  team,  now  at  Alexandria;  Albert  Larson,  now  in 
Canada;  John  E.  eTohnson,  of  Kensington;  Emil  Johnson,  now 
at  "Warroad;  Gulick  Landsvark,  living  two  miles  east  of  Ken- 
sington; and  Lars  Goldberg,  now  at  Bowbells,  N,  D. 

Mr.  Samuel  Olson  and  Mr.  John  E.  Johnson  signed  a  joint 
statement  that  the  tree  must  have  been  at  least  ten  years 
old,  and  more  likely  twenty  or  thirty  years  old.  The  rest  of 
the  party  have  not  been  consulted,*  but  Mr.  Joseph  Hotvedt 


♦Letters  were  written  later  to  each  of  those  named.  Answers  were 
received  from  several  of  the  party,  all  of  them  confirming  the  descrip- 
tion of  Mr.  Olson.  Letters  to  others  were  not  answered,  or  were  re- 
turned unopened. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE. 


223 


stated  that  he  saw  the  roots  and  verified  the  description  of  their 
flatness,  "such  as  would  be  caused  by  lying  against  a  stone.*' 

Mr.  Olson  made  a  drawing  to  show  the  appearance  of  this 
stump  when  in  contact  with  the  stone.  He  thinks  the  largest 
root  ran  over  and  across  the  stone,  but  Mr.  Olof  Ohman  was 
positive  that  the  largest  root  ran  down  into  the  ground  at  the 
edge  of  the  stone,  and  that  a  smaller  root  ran  across  the  upper 
face  of  the  stone.  This  smaller  root  he  thought  was  about 
three  inches  in  diameter. 

For  the  purpose  of  ocular  illustration  Mr.  Holand  later 
procured  on  the  spot  from  Mr.  Ohman  four  sections  cut  across 
some  poplar  trees  growing  on  Mr.  Ohman 's  farm,  viz.,  sections 
shown  in  Plates  IV  and  V,  marked  a,  b,  c,  d.  The  certificates 
of  Olof  Ohman  and  of  his  son  Edward,  as  well  as  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Olson,  are  given  also.  The  annual  rings  of  growth  on  these 
sections  can  be  counted  as  follows:  On  a,  37  annual  rings; 
on  b,  42  annual  rings;  on  c,  38  annual  rings;  on  d,  31  annual 
rings.  From  three  to  five  years  should  be  added  for  the  de- 
cayed centers. 

According  to  Mr.  Ohman  the  tree  had  the  appearance  and 
rough  bark  of  a  stunted  growth,  illustrated  by  sections  c  and  d, 
■  on  which  are  about  as  many  growth  rings  as  on  the  larger  sec- 
tions a  and  6.  If  these  sections  a  and  &  fairly  represent  the  size 
of  the  tree,  and  if  it  still  had  an  annual  growth  illustrated  by 
c  and  d,  which  certainly  were  from  stunted  trees,  the  age  of 
the   tree   was   probably   nearer   fifty  years   than   ten   years. 


Statement  of  Olof  Ohman. 
[Translation.] 

Kensington,  Minn.,  July  16,  1910. 
The  sections  a,  h,  c,  d,  were  all  cut  on  my  property  in  the  vicinity 
of  where  the  rune  stone  was  found,  undor  the  same  timber  conditions. 
The  section  a  is  of  the  same  size  as  the  tree  which  grew  over  the 
stone;  but  both  a  and  h  are  from  much  more  luxuriant  trees  than  that 
which  stood  over  the  stone.  Sections  c  and  d  are  from  a  tree  which  in 
its  growth  is  more  comparable  with  the  rune  stone  tree,  but  are  about 
three  inches  less  in  diameter  than  that. 

Olop  Ohman. 


224  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Statement  of  Edward  Ohman. 

July  16,  1910. 

The  section  marked  a  is  of  exactly  the  same  size,  as  far  as  I  can 
remember,  as  the  tree  under  which  the  rune  stone  was  found. 

Edward  Ohman. 

State^nent  of  Samuel  Olson 

Kensington,  Minn.,  July  18,  1910. 

Having  seen  the  four  sections  cut  by  Olof  Ohman  to  show  the 
size  of  the  tree  under  which  the  rune  stone  was  found,  my  impression 
is  that  the  rune  stone  tree  at  its  base  was  a  little  longer  in  its  oval 
diameter  than  section  b,  and  that  it  tapered  so  as  to  have  about  18 
inches  above  the  base  a  diameter  a  little  larger  than  section  c. 

S.  Olson. 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  Professor  Flom's  account  of 
his  interview  with  Mr.  Olson  carries  a  misapprehension  of  what 
Mr.  Olson  said  as  to  the  size  of  the  tree.  Mr.  Olson  says  that 
he  said  that  the  tree  tapered  so  that  at  15  or  18  inches  above 
the  stone  it  was  about  four  or  five  inches  in  diameter. 

The  topography  of  Mr.  Ohman 's  farm  and  the  adjoining 
counlry  is  morainic,  the  elevations  rising  sometimes  somewhat 
abruj)tly  to  the  height  of  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet,  or  even  a 
hundred  feet,  above  the  adjoining  lowlands.  The  material  of 
the  drift  is  clay  of  a  limonitic  yellow  color,  but  at  a  depth  of 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  this  clay  is  blue.  There  are  very  few 
boulders  in  the  clay,  yet  on  the  tops  of  some  of  the  drift  hills 
granitic  and  other  boulders  are  numerous,  and  sometimes  they 
are  found  in  numbers  near  the  bases  of  the  hills  and  in  the 
swamps.  They  are  sometimes  large  and  conspicuous,  and  fre- 
quently have  been  gathered  into  heaps  in  the  fields.  About 
seventy-five  in  a  hundred  of  the  boulders  are  of  granite ;  about 
five  in  a  hundred  are  of  limestone;  about  five  in  a  hundred 
are  of  gabbro  or  of  gabbroid  rocks;  five  in  a  hundred  are  of 
Keewatin  greenstone,  including  Ogishke  conglomerate;  about 
five  in  a  hundred  are  of  dark  nondescript  rock,  sometimes 
quartzpse;  and  the  other  five  in  a  hundred  may  be  compared 
with  the  rock  of  the  rune  stone,  being  some  of  the  various 
forms  of  graywacke. 


V. 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 


Vol.  XV.     Plate  IV 


)    SIZE    ANn    AfiP    r>c   TUir    TDcc    norwA/iKirt    Aork\/c    -tljc:    diimet    e-rr\Mtr 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  225 

The  extreme  length  of  the  Eune  Stone  is  36  inches,  the 
width  across  the  face  15  inches,  the  thickness  51/2  inches,  and 
its  weight  is  about  230  pounds.  It  is  of  graywacke,  but  its 
shape  and  dark  color  suggest  that  it  is  trap.  Its  flat  surfaces 
and  angular  jointage  are  due  apparently  to  long  continued 
heating  and  slow  cooling  in  contact,  or  near  contact,  with 
igneous  rocks.  On  its  inscribed  face  is  a  layer  of  calcite  cov- 
ering a  part  of  the  area  in  which  the  inscription  was  engraved. 
This  calcite  was  deposited  in  a  jointage-opening,  probably 
when  the  rock  was  in  its  native  place ;  and  it  has  been  revealed 
by  the  removal  of  an  adjoining  parallel  mass,  the  joint  plane 
itself  causing  the  even  face  on  which  the  engraving  was  made. 
The  reverse  of  the  inscribed  side  is  not  so  regular  and  has  evi- 
dently been  through  the  rough  experiences  of  glacial  action, 
since  it  bears  a  number  of  distinct  glacial  striae. 

The  men  who  found  the  stone  are  plain  and  simple  farmers, 
working  hard  to  derive  a  subsistence  for  themselves  and  fam- 
ilies from  their  land.  The  honesty  and  candor  of  Mr.  Olof 
Ohman  become  evident  to  anyone  who  converses  with  him.* 
He  does  not  speak  English  readily,  but  seems  to  understand 
English  when  he  hears  it  spoken  in  common  conversation.  He 
states  that  his  education  comprised  six  terms  of  school  in 
Sweden,  of  six  weeks  each,  in  an  elementary  country  school, 
where  the  children  gathered  for  instruction,  first  at  one  farm 
house  for  a  week  and  then  at  another,  six  weeks  in  all  mak- 
ing one  term.  I  was  told  that  Mr.  Ohman  came  to  his  farm  in 
1890,  and  on  consulting  the  register  of  deeds  at  Alexandria  I 
found  lands  deeded  at  four  different  dates,  now  constituting 
the  Ohman  farm,  from  1890  to  1898,  from  Halvor  Stenson,  Ole 
Amundson,  and  E.  J.  Moen. 

After  finding  the  stone,  it  was  exhibited  for  a  time  in  the 
drug  store  at  Kensington.  It  was  later  sent  to  Minneapolis 
and  was  examined  by  Prof.  0.  J.  Breda,  also  to  Evanston,  111., 
and  was  examined  by  Prof.  George  0.  Curme.  As  they  pro- 
nounced it  fraudulent,  it  was  returned  to  the  finder  in  March, 


♦Not  one  of  aU  who  have  interviewed  Mr.  Ohman,  whether  believers 
or   non-believers    in    the    authenticity    of    the    inscription,    has    seen    any 
reason  to  question  his  veracity. 
15 


226  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

1899,  who  placed  it  carelessly  in  his  yard,  where  it  served  as 
a  stepping  stone  near  his  granary  for  eight  years,  without  fur- 
ther notice.  In  1907  Mr.  Hjalmar  Rued  Holand  obtained  it  of 
Mr.  Ohman,  and  has  brought  it  again  to  notice  and  wider 
study.  By  Mr.  Holand  it  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society ;  and  the  Museum  Committee  was 
directed  to  investigate  its  authentic  or  fraudulent  record,  and 
to  report  their  recommendation  to  the  Executive  Council.  Mr. 
Holand  has  since  exhibited  it  in  Chicago,  111.,  Madison,  "Wis., 
and  Northfield,  Minn.,  giving  in  each  place  a  lecture.  This 
has  brought  out  various  criticisms,  pro  and  con,  and  the  bur- 
den resting  on  the  committee  has  considerably  increased. 

The  members  of  this  committee  appreciate  the  great  im- 
portance of  the  question  which  is  in  their  hands,  and  they 
know,  collectively  and  individually,  that  it  is  due  to  American 
history,  before  they  stamp  the  stone  with  their  approval  or 
their  rejection,  to  make  an  exhaustive  investigation  and  an 
impartial  discussion  of  all  the  circumstances. 

The  Inscription. 

The  runic  inscription,  shown  by  Plate  II,  has  been  translated 
as  below  and  published  by  Mr.  Holand  in  Harper's  Weekly, 
October  9,  1909. 

On  the  face  of  the  stone : 

8  goter  ok  22  norrmen  po  opdhagelse  fardh  fro  Vinland  of 
vest  vi  hadhe  laeger  vedh  2  skjar  en  dags  rise  norr  fro  dheno 
sten  vi  var  ok  fiske  en  dhagh  aeptir  vi  kom  hem  fan  10  man 
rodhe  af  blodh  og  dhedh  A  V  M  fraelse  af  illy 

On  the  edge  of  the  stone: 

har  10  mans  ve(d)  havet  at  se  aeptir  vore  skip  14  [?]  dhagh 
rise  from  dheno  oh  ahr  1362 

No  one  has  called  in  question  the  correctness  of  this  trans- 
lation. In  explanation  of  the  transliteration  Mr.  Holand 
writes:  "The  runic  alphabet  had  only  one  character,  \),  to 
indicate  three,  or  what  became  three,  different  sounds,  th,  dh, 
and  d.  Out  of  2,000  runic  inscriptions  we  find  only  about  a 
half  dozen  having  a  separate  sign,  ^,  for  d.  This  character, 
t>,  was  later  supplemented  by  6,  which  was  used  medially  arid 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  227 

finally.  This  however  was  used  only  in  the  literature  written 
in  Roman  characters,  and  was  never  used  in  runic  inscriptions. 
In  most  cases  this  \>  has  now  been  superseded  by  d,  but 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  it  had 
a  soft  sound.     I  have  therefore  translated  it  with  dh. ' ' 

The  English  translation  is  as  follows: 

"Eight  Goths  [Swedes]  and  twenty-two  Norwegians  upon 
a  journey  of  discovery  from  Vinland  westward.  We  had  a 
camp  by  two  skerries  one  day's  journey  north  from  this  stone. 
We  were  out  fishing  one  day.  When  we  returned  home  we 
found  ten  men  red  with  blood  and  dead.  A  V  M  [Ave,  Virgo 
Maria],  save  us  from  evil. 

[We]  have  ten  men  by  the  sea  to  look  after  our  vessel  four- 
teen [or  forty-one?]  days'  journey  from  this  island.  Year 
1362." 

REFERENCES   TO    THE   TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    REGION. 

There  are  two  or  three  references  to  natural  objects  to 
which  we  should  give  special  attention: 

(a)  Their  camp  was  near  two  rocks  in  the  water  (skerries), 
one  day's  journey  north  from  the  stone; 

(b)  The  location  of  the  stone  was  on  an  island; 

(c)  The  sea  was  fourteen  days'  journey  from  the  stone 
(doubtfully  forty-one). 

(a)  Professor  Fossum  and  Mr.  Holand  searched  about  lake 
Christina,  Pelican  lake,  and  other  lakes,  lying  about  one  day's 
journey  (twenty  miles)  toward  the  north.  The  former  found 
no  rocks  about  the  shores  which  could  be  accepted  as  the  rocks 
mentioned  in  the  inscription.  Mr.  Holand,  guided  by  Rev.  0. 
A.  Norman  of  Ashby,  found  several  large  boulders  standing 
in  the  water  about  300  or  400  feet  from  a  sharp  point  on  the 
southwest  shore  of  Pelican  lake,  which  seemed  to  him  to  an- 
swer the  description.  There  are  twelve  or  thirteen  of  them 
and  hence  they  are  too  numerous,  and  for  the  purpose  of  locat- 
ing a  camping-place  they  would  hardly  be  referred  to,  and 
certainly  would  not  be  at  all  in  accord  with  the  number  ''two." 
Mr.  Norman  remarked,  on  occasion  of  a  late  interview,  that 
the  term  "skerry"  is  applicable  to  one  rock  or  a  series  of  rocks, 
and  that  there  are  two  lines  or  series  of  boulders  which  run 


228  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

not  exactly  parallel,  and  that  those  lines  might  be  called  the 
skerries  referred  to  in  the  inscription;  but  such  lines  are  not 
distinguishable  from  the  land. 

There  are,  however,  on  the  point  itself,  at  the  water's  edge 
and  at  the  extremity  of  the  point,  two  enormous  boulders.  One 
is  of  red  porphyritic  granite,  cut  by  a  coarser  red  dike,  three 
inches  wide,  with  dimensions  of  6  feet  by  4  feet  by  3^^  feet, 
with  rounded  contours.  The  other  is  of  gray  gneiss,  banded 
with  light  reddish  laminae,  6  feet  by  4i/^  feet  by  4  feet,  irreg- 
ularly and  bluntly  angular,  showing  some  brecciation  and  a 
pegmatyte  vein  about  an  inch  wide.  These  boulders  are  in  the 
most  exposed  position,  and  are  very  conspicuous  objects  to 
anyone  standing  on  the  land  a  few  rods  farther  back.  Some 
small  boulders  and  sand  form  the  immediate  breakwater  of 
the  beach,  and  also  compose  the  point  itself  for  some  distance 
inland  from  the  boulders. 

This  part  of  the  point  is  liable  to  destruction  by  ice  and  by 
waves  and  winds  of  every  season.  That  it  is  transitory  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  roots  of  a  small  oak  are  uncovered 
to  the  height  of  fourteen  inches  above  the  present  surface,  and 
this  oak  must  have  started  to  grow  when  the  surface  on  which 
it  sprouted  was  so  much  higher  than  now.  Under  such  condi- 
tions, at  times  when  the  adjoining  beach  may  have  been 
washed  away,  the  large  boulders  would  be  surrounded  by 
water.  It  is  also  very  certain  that  548  years  ago  the  lake  level 
was  somewhat  higher  than  it  is  now,  and  that  circumstance 
alone,  without  the  removal  of  the  stones  and  sand  lying  now 
about  the  big  boulders,  would  have  brought  these  stones  into 
the  water,  and  would  give  them  exactly  the  characters  required 
to  comply  with  the  inscription.  The  present  beach  line  is 
parallelled,  on  either  side  of  the  point,  by  a  higher  beach  com- 
posed of  boulders,  gravel,  and  sand,  which  could  have  been 
formed  only  when  the  lake  was  about  two  feet  higher  than 
now.  This  upper  beach  fades  away  into  the  mainland  of  the 
point,  but  between  its  arms  embraces  a  small  lagoon.  If  the 
explorers'  camp  was  on  this  point,  near  its  extremity,  the  two 
big  boulders  would  be  chosen  very  naturally  as  reference 
points  in  the  inscription. 


I 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 


SECTIONS  OF  POPLAR  TREES  OF 
THE  TREE  GROWING  > 
SECTION  C. 


Vol.  XV.     Plate  V. 


UNTED  GROWTH,  SIMILAR  TO 
THE   RUNE  STONE. 

SECTION  D. 


\ 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  229 

(b)  The  stone  is  said  to  have  been  located  on  an  island, 
but  when  found  it  was  not  on  an  island.  It  was  on  a  morainic 
hill  which  is  now  surrounded  by  a  grassy  marsh,  and  which 
may  have  been  an  island  in  a  small  lake  prior  to  the  desicca- 
tion of  the  country  which  has  converted  many  lakes  into 
marshes  and  many  marshes  into  meadows.  This  gradual  dry- 
ing up  of  the  country  is  a  well-known  feature  throughout 
the  western  part  of  the  state.  It  has  been  known  and  many 
times  noted  during  the  last  fifty  years  throughout  the  North- 
west. If  the  stone  be  genuine,  therefore,  the  present  disagree- 
ment with  the  facts,  as  with  the  skerries,  is  due  to  physical 
change  in  the  surface  of  the  country. 

(c)  The  stone  was  fourteen  days'  journey  from  the  sea. 
At  no  place  could  the  sea  be  reached  in  that  space  of  time, 
with  their  means  of  travel,  other  than  Hudson  bay.  There 
is  some  doubt  whether  this  figure  should  be  14  or  41,  and  if 
it  be  41  it  would  allow  the  supposition  that  the  party  pene- 
trated the  country  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes.  There  are, 
however,  insuperable  objections  to  such  an  idea.  It  is  a  very 
improbable  suggestion  that  from  any  place  which  may  have 
had  the  name  of  Vinland  a  party  would  penetrate  North 
America  by  that  route,  by  sail  and  by  foot,  to  encounter  the 
natives  in  a  tragic  death  only  in  western  Minnesota.  That 
suggestion  need  not  be  further  considered;  and  the  more  so, 
since  the  route  of  possible  travel,  or  at  least  most  probable,  as 
shown  by  the  accompanying  map  (Plate  VI)  of  the  regions 
north  to  Hudson  bay  and  of  the  proximity  of  Minnesota 
through  a  well  known  water  route,  would  have  been  from 
Vinland  to  Hudson  bay,  and  to  lake  Winnipeg  via  Nelson 
river,  and  thence  up  the  Eed  river  of  the  North.  This  map 
is  based  on  the  chart  of  J.  T.  Smith,  published  in  1839  at  Lon- 
don, in  a  work  entitled  "The  Discovery  of  America  by  the 
Northmen  in  the  Tenth  Century."  By  this  map  it  appears 
that  the  entrance  to  Hudson  bay  is  directly  west  from  West- 
bygd  and  Eastbygd,  the  chief  settlements  of  Greenland,  and 
could  hardly  fail  of  being  well  known.  It  is  the  route  which 
the  ships  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  followed  for  about 


230  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL.  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

three  hundred  years  in  reaching  the  region  of  furs  tributary 
to  Hudson  bay. 

WHERE   WAS   VINLAND? 

It  will  be  noted  that,  according  to  Smith's  map,  Vinland 
was  eastern  Massachusetts;  and  it  is  customary,  in  writings 
dealing  with  the  Northmen's  discoveries,  to  mention  three 
parts  of  the  coast  of  North  America,  namely,  Helluland,  Mark- 
land,  and  Vinland,  the  last  being  farthest  soath.  But  that 
there  was  confusion  in  the  application  of  these  geographic 
terms  there  seems  no  room  to  question.  It  seems  to  be  a  mere 
assumption  that  Helluland  was  north  of  Markland,  for  it  is 
sometimes  said  to  be  northeast  of  Greenland,  and  even  to  be 
duplicated,  one  to  the  northeast  and  one  to  the  southwest, 
while  Eafn  has  placed  one  at  Labrador  and  one  at  Newfound- 
land. This  last  made  it  reasonable  to  place  Vinland  much 
further  south  (Nova  Scotia). 

That  Vinland  was  not  exclusively  Nova  Scotia,  but  still  less 
exclusively  Massachusetts,  is  evident  from  Joseph  Fischer's 
work,  ''The  Discoveries  of  the  Norsemen  in  America"  (St. 
Louis,  1903),  at  page  3,  when,  in  quoting  from  Adam  of  Bre- 
men's oldest  work,  Fischer  states  that  the  objections  to  Adam's 
tales  consisted  mainly  in  a  statement  like  the  following: 

"After  Wineland  there  is  no  habitable  land  in  that  ocean,  but  all 
that  emerges  is  icebound  and  wrapped  in  impenetrable  mist," 

Adam  was  the  earliest,  according  to  Fischer,  who  called 
attention  to  the  arctic  and  North  American  discoveries  of  the 
Northmen,  having  written  in  A.  D.  1067.  Perhaps  the  objec- 
tion to  Adam's  account  of  Vinland  was  based  by  Fischer  on 
an  idea  of  Vinland  which  grew  up  afterward  without  suffi- 
cient warrant,  and  it  is  necessary  to  inquire  to  what  land 
Adam's  original  description  was  intended  to  be  applied.  It 
could  not  apply  to  the  region  south  of  Labrador,  but  it  is  ap- 
plicable to  the  country  north  and  west,  i.  e.,  adjoining  Hudson 
strait  and  extending  into  Hudson  bay ;  and  it  seems  to  indicate 
that  from  the  first  the  Northmen  knew  something  of  the  rug- 
gedness  and  inhospitable  nature  of  at  least  the  northern  part 
of  Hudson  bay.    It  is  perhaps  reasonable  to  presume  that  at  the 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  231 

first  the  term  Vinland  was  applied  to  the  whole  known  coast 
of  North  America,  and  that  it  was  only  at  a  later  epoch  that 
it  was  localized  and  restricted  to  Nova  Scotia  or  to  Massachu- 
setts. But  that  would  discredit  the  story  of  the  discovery  of 
grapes  by  the  enthusiastic  German,  unless  it  can  be  shown 
that  grapes  grew  spontaneously  as  far  north  as  Labrador. 

Note. — Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  important 
researches  of  Prof.  M.  L.  Fernald  on  the  ''Plants  of  Wineland 
the  Good"  have  been  printed  (Rhodora,  February,  1910),  which 
show  conclusively  that  the  ''grapes"  referred  to  by  the  trans- 
lators of  the  sagas,  were  not  the  fruit  of  the  grape  vine  (Vitis), 
but  some  form  of  currant  (Ribes),  or  the  wine-berry  of  north- 
ern Europe  (Vaccinium  Vitis-Idaea),  and  that  the  last  named 
species  is  common  in  northern  Labrador.  As  the  so-called 
"grai)es"  were  gathered  so  abundantly  as  to  fill  their  after- 
boat  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  it  seems  certain  that  the  fruit 
so  gathered  was  that  which  is  now  well  known  as  wine-berry 
(Vaccinium  Vitis-Idaea),  which  is  so  abundant  in  the*  spring 
as  to  constitute  the  food  supply  for  birds  when  they  return 
from  the  south.  Professor  Fernald  also  shows  that  the  "self- 
planted  wheat,"  mentioned  as  one  of  the  products  of  Vinland, 
was  the  strand  wheat  (Elymus  arenarius),  having  a  similar 
northern  distribution.  The  tree  which  the  Norsemen  pro- 
cured in  Vinland,  as  identified  by  Fernald,  was  not  maple,  but 
some  form  of  curly  birch,  probably  the  canoe  birch  (Betula 
papyracea).  These  researches  not  only  confirm  the  descrip- 
tion of  Adam  of  Bremen,  but  render  it  probable  that  the  people 
of  Vinland  were  acquainted  with  more  or  less  of  Hudson  bay. 
It  is  well  known  that  students  of  Norse  records  have  found 
difficulty  in  reconciling  the  statements  respecting  Vinland,  not 
only  as  to  the  name  of  the  discoverer,  but  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  country  and  its  products.  It  occurs  to  this  Committee  that 
possibly  these  discrepancies  can  be  reconciled  by  the  supposi- 
tion that  two  different  eastward-facing  coasts  have  been  con- 
founded and  considered  as  one.  The  earliest  accoants  are  per- 
fectly applicable  to  the  west  coast  of  Hudson  bay.  The  Flatey 
book  states  that  in  Vinland  were  glaciers,  and  these  are  well 
known  about  the  northwestern  confines  of  Hudson  Bay,  but  are 


232  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

not  found  in  Nova  Scotia  nor  in  Massachusetts,  and  only 
scantily  in  Labrador.  The  description  by  Adam  of  Bremen,  and 
the  earlier  dates  given  by  the  Flatey  book,  giving  Bjarne  as 
the  discoverer  of  Vinland,  seem  to  point  to  the  west  coast  of 
Hudson  bay.  After  the  lapse  of  about  fifteen  years  (985  to 
1000)  Leif 's  accidental  voyage  to  Vinland  took  place,  and  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  he  and  his  successors  visited  points 
on  the  Atlantic  side  of  North  America,  but  supposed  they  had 
visited  the  country  which  had  already  been  named  Vinland. 
From  his  and  Karlsefne's  sagas,  there  rose  the  geographic  dis- 
tinctions of  Helluland,  Markland,  and  Vinland,  so  much  spoken 
of  by  all  later  accounts.  The  Committee  has  not  taken  the  time 
necessary  to  verify  or  to  disprove  this  hypothesis,  and  desires 
merely  to  call  attention  to  it  as  a  possible  solution  of  contra- 
dictions that  appear  in  the  historic  records,  avoiding  the  neces- 
sity of  rejecting  either  as  untrustworthy. 

Dr.  Henrik  Nissen,  of  Minneapolis,  has  called  attention 
to  *' characters "  described  as  engraved  on  the  rocks  of  the 
shore  of  Hudson  bay,  not  far  from  Fort  George,  and  suggests 
that  they  may  be  runes  made  by  the  Norsemen. 

There  certainly  was  no  permanent  colonization  of  Vinland, 
and  according  to  Fischer  all  arguments  hitherto  brought  for- 
ward to  support  the  idea  of  colonization  by  the  Norse  have 
proved  to  be  fallacious.  The  definite  history  of  the  voyages 
to  Vinland  ends  at  A.  D.  1121,  but  there  is  sufficient  account  to 
show  that  until  the  year  1362  voyages  from  the  Scandinavian 
settlements  in  Western  Greenland  were  occasionally  made  to 
Vinland.  The  western  settlement  in  Greenland  was  about  that 
time  attacked  by  Eskimo  and  destroyed,  and  probably  within 
a  half  century  later  the  eastern  settlement  suffered  a  similar 
stroke.  The  year  A.  D.  1406  is  the  last  date  given  in  the  Ice- 
landic annals  for  the  arrival  of  a  foreign  vessel  in  Greenland. 
A  colony  in  Vinland,  if  it  existed,  therefore  must  have  perished 
about  the  same  time  as  the  destruction  of  the  Greenland  colo- 
nies. In  the  absence  of  other  evidence,  the  statement  of  th« 
Kensington  Rune  Stone,  that  a  party  of  thirty  men  started 
from  Vinland  on  an  exploring  tour  westward,  may  be  under- 
stood to  refer  merely  to  a  winter  spent  by  the  party  in  Vin- 


miuMi 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 


60 


50 


40 


SNITHS  CHART 

or    THE 

NORTHMEN'S    ROUTES 

WITH  REFERENCE  TO  THE  LOCATION 

OF     THE 

KENSINGTON  RUNE  STONE 


Track  of  Na  ddodd  i&ei)  =  =  ^  = = = 

•'  EireH  the  Red  (982) ^ 

"Biarni/JerizcZ/sonOes) 

-LeiJEireJison  ^ooo) 

"  Thor  vald(£002) 

"Thorstein  Uoos)- . 

"ThojfinnKarrsefTtif^OO?)'"'-'^  >J^ 
'BiornAsbrand6on(99d)''"^-^       O 

'Gudlei/Gudluugr(i028) -^ 

Ken  o/Nordiseta  US66)  =-==  r^ 

Adelbrand&ThorvaldClZe^-^^^   •^ 


-qS- 


I 


Vol.  XV.      Plate  VI. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE. 


233 


land,  or  even  to  a  temporary  landing  there,  rather  than  to  any 
l)reviously  existing  settlement  or  colony. 

According  to  Storm's  ''Studier  over  Vinlandsreiserne " 
(pages  76,  77),  an  expedition  was  sent  by  King  Magnus  from 
Bergen  in  1355,  under  the  command  of  Paul  Knutson,  into 
American  waters,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  defend  the 
Greenland  settlements  against  the  Eskimo.  It  has  been  sup- 
posed that  this  expedition,  or  a  part  of  it,  returned  in  1364. 


THE    SLIGHT   WEATHERING    OF   THE   RUNE    STONE. 

It  may  be  assumed  that,  if  this  stone  was  erected,  as  it 
claims,  by  explorers  in  1362,  it  was  set  up  on  end,  and  that  the 
lower  end,  where  no  runes  are  engraved,  was  buried  in  the 
ground.  When  it  was  found,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  Ohman,  its  inscribed  face  was  downward.  Now  the  lower 
end  of  the  stone  is  not  cut  off  squarely,  but  is  roughly  beveled 
on  one  side.  Gravitation  alone  acting  on  a  beveled  stone 
would  cause  the  base  to  be  diverted  to  one  side,  in  the  same 
manner  as  a  single-beveled  stake  when  driven  into  the  ground. 
In  settling  into  the  ground,  owing  to  the  direction  of  the  bevel, 
this  stone  naturally  would  fall  with  its  face  side  upward.  Its 
position  therefore  was  determined  by  some  other  force  than 
gravitation.  Either  it  was  purposely  placed  with  the  rune  in- 
scription down,  which  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose,  whatever 
its  age,  or  it  was  acted  on  by  some  other  force  which  caused  it 
to  fall  over  forward.  We  cannot  of  course  state  how  many 
forests  have  grown  and  been  thrown  down  by  tornadoes  within 
the  548  years  through  which  it  may  have  been  in  the  spot;  nor 
how  many  forest  fires  have  devastated  the  region;  nor  how 
many  buffaloes  have  rubbed  against  it;  nor,  finally,  to  what 
acts  of  violence  the  native  Indians  may  have  resorted  to  coun- 
teract its  evil  influences.  Numerous  works  of  the  mound-build- 
ing Indians  are  known  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  and 
Ihey  certainly  would  have  discovered  the  monument.  If  they 
participated  in  the  massacre  of  the  ten  men  at  the  camp,  they 
would  quite  certainly  look  upon  the  stone  as  a  retributive 
threatening  reminder  of  their  pale-face  victims. 


234  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS.. 

The  interior  of  the  stone  is  dark  or  dark  gray.  On  close 
inspection  it  can  be  seen  to  contain  many  grains  of  quartz 
which  are  roundish,  showing  a  sedimentary  detrital  origin.  In 
a  thin-section,  prepared  for  microscopic  examination,  it  shows 
not  only  rounded  quartz  grains  but  also  feldspar  grains,  and  a 
finer  matrix  consisting  chiefly  of  quartz  and  biotite.  The  dark 
color  of  the  stone  is  due  to  much  biotite,  mainly,  but  also  to  an 
isotropic  green  mineral  (chlorite?),  magnetite,  and  hematite. 
The  quartz  has  become  mainly  re-formed  by  secondary  growths. 
There  is  a  crypto-gneissic  elongation  prevalent  in  the  mica, 
and  also  to  some  extent  in  the  larger  quartzes. 

The  weathered  surface  is  somewhat  lighter,  and  yet  it  is  firm 
and  wholly  intact.  It  is  evident  that  the  surface  color  has  been 
acquired  since  the  Glacial  period,  and  therefore  that  some  7,000 
or  8,000  years  may  have  elapsed  since  its  face  was  first  exposed 
to  the  elements.  The  rcA^erse  of  the  inscribed  side  is  more 
altered  by  weathering  and  carries  evident  older  glacial  stria- 
tions. 

The  first  impression  derived  from  the  inscription  is  that  it 
is  of  recent  date,  and  not  548  years  old.  The  edges  and  angles 
of  the  chiseling  are  sharp,  and  show  no  apparent  alteration  by 
weathering.  The  powder  of  the  stone  when  crushed  is  nearly 
white.  None  of  this  powder  is  preserved  in  the  runes  on  the 
face  of  the  stone,  and  it  is  necessary  therefore  to  allow  it  some 
years  of  age,  but  it  is  quite  impossible  to  draw  a  decisive  infer- 
ence of  the  age  of  the  inscription  from  that  alone.  The  edge 
of  the  stone  differs  in  this  respect  from  the  face,  since  most  of 
the  rune  letters  show  the  white  powder  formed  by  crushing 
the  stone.  This  difference  was  said  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  runes  on  the  edge  had  been  filled  with  mud  and  had  been 
cleaned  out  by  scraping  them  with  an  iron  nail.  Indeed  in  the 
runes  in  some  places  on  the  edge  can  be  seen  with  a  pocket 
magnifier  small  quantities  of  fresh  metallic  iron  evidently 
derived  from  that  process. 

The  freedom  of  the  face  of  the  stone  from  glacial  marking 
is  to  be  noted.  It  seems  probable  that  the  smooth  jointage  sur- 
face on  which  the  inscription  is  made  was  of  more  recent  date 
than  7,000  or  8,000  years.     It  is  plain  that  the  calcite  deposit 


THE  KENSINGTON  RUNE   STONE. 


235 


that  covers  a  part  of  it  was  formed  in  a  joint-opening  before 
the  stone  was  separated  from  its  neighbor,  and  that  it  has  had 
approximately  as  long  direct  exposure  to  the  elements  as  the 
rest  of  that  surface.  The  well  preserved  condition  of  this  cal- 
cite,  as  a  whole,  no  less  than  the  non-glaciation  of  the  face  of 
the  stone,  indicates  a  period  of  exposure  less  than  7,000  or  8,000 
years.  Marble  slabs  in  graveyards  in  New  England  are  more 
deeply  disintegrated  than  this  calcite,  when  they  stand  above 
the  surface  of  the  ground. 

The  immediate  surface  of  the  calcite,  especially  the  edges 
formed  by  cutting  the  runes,  is  smoothed  by  a  recent  friction  of 
some  kind,  much  more  than  the  surface  of  the  graywacke ;  and 
this  is  attributable  to  wearing  away  when  the  stone  served  as 
a  stepping-stone  at  the  granary. 

If  the  engraved  face  of  this  stone  was  separated  from  its 
neighbor  since  the  Glacial  age,  as  seems  certain,  it  must  have 
been  in  some  way  protected  from  the  action  of  the  elements; 
and  consequently  the  calcite  is  comparable  with  the  white,  fine- 
grained limestone  boulders  and  pebbles  that  are  common  in  the 
body  of  the  drift  in  that  part  of  the  state.  Such  boulders  when 
freshly  taken  from  the  till  in  deep  excavations  are  not  rotted, 
but  are  fresh  and  firm  and  smooth  as  marbles,  and  show  dis- 
tinctly the  fine  glacial  scratches  which  they  received  during  the 
Ice  age,  which  ended  about  7,000  or  8,000  years  ago.  When,  how- 
ever, they  are  found  exposed  at  the  surface  of  the  ground,  they 
have  lost  this  smoothness  and  all  the  glacial  marking,  and  their 
surfaces  afford  a  fine  white  powder  of  natural  disintegration. 
As  there  is  nothing  of  this  on  this  calcite  (which  is  also  the 
principal  ingredient  of  the  limestone  boulders),  it  is  evident 
that  either  the  calcite  has  but  recently  been  exposed  or  has 
been  protected  from  the  weather.  If  the  slab  was  separated 
from  its  neighbor  548  years  ago,  it  must  have  lain  with  its  face 
side  down  during  the  most  of  that  period,  and  if  separated 
earlier  it  must  have  been  covered  by  drift  clay.  If  it  was  so 
separated  fifteen  or  thirty  years  ago,  it  may  have  lain  with  its 
face  side  up  and  probably  would  show  no  more  weathering  than 
it  now  evinces.  In  short,  there  is  no  possible  natural  way  to 
preserve  that  calcite  scale  from  general  disintegration  for  548 


236  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

years  except  to  bury  it  beneath  the  surface.  If  it  were  not 
thus  buried  and  still  is  intact,  it  must  have  been  exposed  and 
the  inscription  must  have  been  made  less  than  a  hundred  years 
ago,  and  probably  less  than  thirty  years  ago. 

The  general  ''mellow"  color  of  the  face  of  the  graywacke, 
and  of  the  whole  surface  of  the  stone,  is  also  to  be  noted.  This 
is  the  first  apparent  effect  of  weathering.  Graywacke  may  be 
estimated  to  be  fifty  to  a  hundred  times  more  durable  in  the 
weather  than  calcite,  some  graywackes  being  more  resistant 
than  others. 

There  are  six  stages  of  the  weathering  of  graywacke  which 
are  exhibited  by  the  stone,  and  they  may  be  arranged  approxi- 
mately in  a  scale  as  follows : 

1.  A  fresh  break  or  cut        -        .        .         .        .  0 

2.  Break  or  cut  shown  by  the  runes  of  the  face     -  5 

3.  Edge-face,  which  has  not  been  engraved,  but  was 

apparently  dressed  by  a  rough  bush-hammering  5 

4.  The  inscribed  face  of  the  stone          .        _        -  10 

5.  The  finely  glaciated  and  polished  back  side  and 

the  non-hammered  portion  of  the  edge    -         -  80 

6.  The  coarse  gouging  and  the  general  beveling  and 

deepest  weathering  of  the  back  side       -         -     250  or  500 

These  figures  are  but  rough  estimates  and  are  intended  to 
express  the  grand  epochs  of  time  through  which  the  stone  has 
passed  since  it  started  from  the  solid  rock  of  which  it  formed 
a  part  prior  to  the  Glacial  period ;  and  to  a  certain  degree  they 
are  subject  to  the  errors  of  the  personal  equation  of  the  person 
who  gives  them.  Prof.  W,  0.  Hotchkiss,  state  geologist  of 
Wisconsin,  estimated  that  the  time  since  the  runes  were  in- 
scribed is  "at  least  50  to  100  years."  If  the  figures  in  the  fore- 
going series  be  all  multiplied  by  100,  they  would  stand : 

(1)       (2)       (3)         (4)         (5)  (6) 

000:     500:     500:     1,000:     8,000:     25,000  or  50,000 

Since  8,000  years  is  approximately  the  date  of  the  end  of  the 
latest  glaciation  (5),  the  numbers  may  all  be  accepted  as  the 
approximate  number  of  years  required  for  the  various  stages 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


237 


of  weathering.    Hence  stages  (2)  and  (3)  may  have  required 
each  about  500  years. 

The  composition  of  the  stone  makes  it  one  of  the  most  dur- 
able in  nature,  equalling  granite,  and  almost  equalling  the  dense 
quartzyte  of  the  pipestone  quarry  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
Minnesota.  On  the  surface  of  this  quartzyte,  even  where 
exposed  to  the  weather  since  they  were  formed,  the  fine  glacial 
scratches  and  polishing  are  well  preserved,  and  when  covered 
by  drift  clay  they  seem  not  to  have  been  changed  at  all. 


Discussion  of  the  Authenticity  of  the  Rune  Record. 

Owing  to  the  existence  of  the  belief  with  some  that  the  in- 
scription was  made  by  Mr.  Ohman,  and  the  rumors  that  seemed 
to  confirm  that  suspicion,  a  member  of  the  Committee  has  made 
three  separate  visits  to  the  locality,  and  has  examined  into  all 
the  facts  that  have  a  bearing  on  such  supposed  origin  of  the 
stone.  There  is  no  need  to  rehearse  the  details  of  this  search. 
A  summary  review,  however,  seems  to  be  called  for  in  order 
that  the  result  reached  by  the  Committee  may  be  seen  to  be 
based  on  a  thorough  investigation. 

There  was  a  rumor  that  a  man  of  the  name  of  Ohman  had 
taken  part,  about  fifteen  years  ago,  in  the  exploitation  of  a  so- 
called  '^fossil  man"  found  in  Marshall  county,  in  the  Red  river 
valley.  As  the  owners  of  this  wonderful  specimen  disagreed 
and  went  into  court  to  settle  their  dispute,  the  facts  were  made 
a  matter  of  record.  On  consulting  Judges  Andrew  Grindeland, 
of  Warren,  and  William  Watts,  of  Crookston,  it  was  found  that 
one  of  the  parties  was  named  O'Brien,  and  that  his  name  had 
been  confounded  with  Ohman. 

It  was  rumored  that  Mr.  Ohman  had  rune  books,  was  fam- 
iliar with  rune  characters,  made  runes  on  the  sidewalk,  on  win- 
dow casings  and  granaries,  and  was  generally  regarded  as  a 
"queer  genius,"  resembling  Uriah  Heap,  of  Dickens.  These 
rumors  came  to  the  committee  in  letters  from  different  direc- 
tions, and  on  occasion  of  the  third  trip  to  Douglas  county  were 
met  with  not  only  at  Kensington,  but  also  at  Elbow  Lake,  at 
Brandon,  Evansville,  Moe,  and  sometimes  at  intervening  farm- 
houses.    In  order  to  find  the  truth  of  these  rumors  the  whole 


238  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

region  was  pretty  thoroughly  canvassed,  and  a  record  was 
made  of  all  information  obtained.  These  rumors  will  be 
treated  of  separately. 

Rune  Books.  It  was  found  that  Mr.  Ohman  had  a  Swed- 
ish grammar,  published  in  1840,  the  author  of  which  was 
C.  J.  L.  Almquist,  issued  at  Stockholm.  This  rumor  was  en- 
countered by  Mr.  Holand,  when  he  was  in  the  neighborhood 
in  1907,  when  he  procured  the  stone  of  Mr.  Ohman.  He  saw 
the  book,  when  Mr.  Ohman  was  absent,  as  he  asked  Mrs. 
Ohman  the  privilege  of  examining  Mr.  Oilman's  *  library." 
He  considered  that  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  rune  stone 
and  discredited  the  rumor.  When,  more  recently,  interest  in 
the  stone  became  more  active  and  the  rumor  became  wide- 
spread, it  was  thought  necessary  to  procure  this  ''library," 
or  at  least  to  get  the  historical  facts  about  the  "rune  book." 
It  was  purchased  from  Mr.  Ohman  for  fifty  cents,  although  he 
reluctantly  parted  with  it,  and  would  be  glad  to  have  it  re- 
turned to  him.     On  the  front  fly-leaf  is  written 

Sv.  Fogelhlad^ 
Stockholm,  d.  16  Nov.  1868. 

It  is  a  duodecimo  volume,  and  has  472  pages.  On  pages 
117  and  118  are  shown  sixteen  rune  characters  in  vertical 
column,  with  their  corresponding  names  and  Roman  equiv- 
alents. 

Mr.  Ohman,  when  asked  where  and  when  he  obtained  this 
book,  stated  that  he  got  it  from  Mr.  Anderson,  who  obtained 
it  from  a  preacher.  This  was  on  the  occasion  of  our  second 
visit  to  Mr.  Ohman 's  house.  On  occasion  of  our  third  visit  he 
also  stated  that,  after  the  rune  stone  was  found,  Mr.  Anderson 
had  suggested  that  he  should  take  it  home  for  the  purpose  of 
reading  the  rune  record  by  means  of  the  rune  alphabet  con- 
tained in  it ;  that  he  did  so,  but  found  more  characters  on  the 
stone  than  in  the  book,  and  could  not  translate  the  record,  and 
that  he  had  not  returned  the  book.  It  transpired  later  that 
Mrs.  Anderson  and  Mrs.  Ohman  are  cousins. 

Sven  Fogelhlad.  When  asked  about  the  name  on  the  fly- 
leaf at  the  front  of  the  book,  Mr.  Ohman  said  that  it  was  that 
of  a  broken-down  preacher  who  used  to  be  at  Anderson's  farm- 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


239 


house,  and  who  was  then  well  known  in  the  surrounding  region, 
as  he  got  a  precarious  living  amongst  the  farmers,  partly  by- 
teaching  their  children  in  little  school-gatherings,  by  binding 
books,  and  by  little  light  jobs,  but  principally  by  charity.  He 
was  always  poor,  by  reason  of  his  fondness  for  intoxicating  liq- 
uor. He  had  his  home,  so  far  as  he  could  claim  one,  at  Mr. 
Anderson's  farmhouse,  and  when  he  died,  which  was  at  the 
age  of  about  seventy  years,  in  1895  or  1896,  his  books  were 
left  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Anderson.  Mr.  Samuel  Olson,  of 
Kensington,  said  he  never  saw  Mr.  Fogelblad,  and  is  of  the 
opinion  that  he  died  prior  to  his  going  there  fifteen  years  ago. 
These  points  were  verified  by  others.  They  were  carefully  fol- 
lowed up,  because  it  had  been  intimated  by  some  that  Mr. 
Fogelblad  may  have  traced  out  the  runes  for  Mr.  Ohman  to 
carve  on  the  stone,  and  that  the  "rune  book"  formerly 
owned  by  Mr.  Fogelblad  had  been  the  source  of  the  necessary 
knowledge.  (See  the  Appendix  for  more  concerning  Mr.  Fo- 
gelblad.) 

Mr.  John  A.  Holvik,  a  student  of  the  United  Church  Semi- 
nary, St.  Anthony  Park,  St.  Paul,  had  begun  a  search  for  the 
book  which  Fogelblad  left  at  Mr.  Anderson's  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  said  to  have  been  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Ohman  and  to 
have  given  aid  to  the  engraving  of  the  rune  inscription.  After 
the  book  was  obtained  in  the  investigation  by  this  Committee, 
he  examined  it  at  leisure  for  two  or  three  days,  and  wrote  the 
following  letter  concerning  it. 


Leiter  of  John  A.  Holvik. 

St.  Anthony  Park,  Minn.,  April  20th,  1910. 
Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  St.  Paul, 
Dear  Sir: 

After  comparing  in  detail  the  Kensington  inscription  with  the  book 
bearing  the  name  of  Sv.  Fogelblad,  I  am  prepared  to  make  the  follow- 
ing statements. 

1.  The  book  is  a  grammar  of  modern  Swedish,  published  in  1840. 

2.  It  contains  some  material  on  the  development  of  the  language: 

(a)  A  system  of  runes; 

(b)  Noun  declensions  of  Old  and  Middle  Swedish: 

(c)  Verb  conjugations  of  Old  and  Middle  Swedish; 


240  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

(d)  Short  selections  to  illustrate  the  language  at  different  periods 
from  A.  D,  1200  to  the  present  time. 

(e)  Selections  to  illustrate  different  dialects. 

3.  The  rune  system  is  the  Futhork  of  sixteen  characters.  The 
runes  of  the  inscription  are  the  later  "punctuated"  (stungne)  runes. 

4.  The  declensions  give  the  four  cases  for  nouns  in  Old  and  Mid- 
dle Swedish.  The  inscription  has  only  nominative  and  genitive  forms. 
Furthermore,  the  word  for  ship,  used  as  a  type  word  in  the  fifth  de- 
clension, is  spelled  skep  in  Middle  Swedish.  The  inscription  has 
skip. 

5.  The  conjugation  gives  plural  inflection  for  all  verbs  in  Old  and 
Middle  Swedish.  The  inscription  uses  singular  verb  forms  with  plural 
subjects. 

6.  A  selection  from  the  fifteenth  century  gives  the  constructions: 
"wi  ware     ....     wi  hafwe     "    The  inscription  has  "vi  var 

.....    vi  har." 

7.  A  selection  frpm  the  year  1370  gives  the  preposition  "a."  The 
inscription  uses  the  proposition  "po"  (which  is  objected  to  by  some 
linguists). 

8.  Some  of  the  rune  characters  indicate  (according  to  some  runol- 
ogists)  that  the  author  of  the  inscription  must  be  from  Dalarne  in 
Sweden.  A  selection  in  the  book  shows  the  characteristic  diphthongs 
of  the  dialect  of  Dalarne;  but  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  inscrip- 
tion is  the  lack  of  diphthongs. 

To  summarize:  the  difference  in  rune  systems,  and  the  so-called 
"errors"  in  the  inscription,  with  some  parallel  correct  forms  in  the 
book,  make  it  evident  that  there  is  no  connection  between  the  inscrip- 
tion on  the  Kensington  Rune  Stone  and  the  book  bearing  the  name  Sv. 
Fogelblad. 

Yours  truly, 

J.    A.    HOLVIK. 

OTHER   RUMORS   CONCERNING    MR.    OHMAN. 

It  was  rumored  that  Mr.  Ohman  was  a  stone  mason,  and 
hence  that  he  might  be  skillful  in  cutting  rune  letters.  There 
seems  to  be  no  truth  nor  basis  for  this  rumor,  other  than  the 
natural  desire  to  explain  a  puzzle.  It  may  have  been  suggest- 
ed by  some  one,  asked  by  another  whether  true  or  not,  inti- 
mated by  another,  and  affirmed  by  the  fourth.  Once  stated 
as  a  fact,  it  was  hence  additional  evidence,  united  with  the  pos- 
session of  the  rune  stone  and  the  alleged  possession  of  "rune 
books,"  that  Mr.  Ohman  made  the  inscription  on  the  stone. 
Mr.  Ohman  is  a  carpenter.  No  one  was  found  who  knew  of 
his  working  as  a  stone  mason,  though  several  were  asked. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


241 


The  rumor  that  Mr.  Ohman  made  rune  characters  on  the 
sidewalks,  on  fences,  and  on  granaries,  asking  people  if  they 
could  read  them,*  was  apparently  a  very  easy  one  to  verify 
or  disprove.  And  so  it  proved  to  be.  Everywhere,  whenever 
this  statement  was  made,  the  question  was  asked  whether  the 
person  making  it  ever  knew  of  Mr.  Ohman 's  making  rune 
characters.  The  answer  was,  "No,  but  Mr.  So-and-So  can  give 
you  the  facts.  He  lives  at  Brandon,  or  near  Brandon."  On 
arriving  at  Brandon,  where  the  rumor  was  prevalent,  I  was 

directed  to  Mr.  0 ,  who  was  said  to  know  more  of  the 

peculiar  mental  processes  of  Mr.  Ohman  "than  any  man  on 
earth.''  He  at  once  declared  that  Mr.  Ohman  was  in  the  habit 
of  making  rune  characters,  as  a  joke,  and  "knew  all  about 
runes."  Asked  to  state  whether  he  himself  ever  saw  Mr. 
Ohman  make  runes  at  any  time,  disregarding  the  rumor,  Mr. 
0.  said  he  never  had  himself  known  of  his  making  runes,  but 
that  Mr.  Gunder  Johnson,  about  four  miles  farther  south,  had 
known  of  his  making  runes.  We  drove  then  directly  to  Mr. 
Gunder  Johnson's  farm.  The  following  is  copied  from  our 
note  book,  written  at  the  time  of  the  interview : 

"Mr.  Gunder  Johnson  says  his  little  testimony  is  not  worth  any- 
thing one  way  or  the  other.  He  knew  Mr.  Ohman,  who  built  his  house, 
about  26  or  27  years  ago.  Mr.  Ohman  and  he  were  talking  about  old 
Norsk  one  day,  and  Ohman  said  there  were  old  letters  which  were 
called  runes,  and  Mr.  Ohman  took  a  pencil  and  made  some  on  a  board, 
saying  they  were  runes.  Mr.  Johnson  never  knew  of  his  making  runes 
at  any  other  time,  nor  of  any  preacher  living  with  Ohman  who  made 
runes,  nor  any  living  in  this  country  who  could  make  them,  nor  any- 
one passing  through  here  who  could  make  them." 

Later,  when  Mr.  Ohman  was  told  that  people  said  he  made 
runes  on  sidewalks  and  on  granaries,  etc.,  he  indignantly  de- 
manded. "Who  said  it?"  When  he  was  told  that  Mr.  Gunder 
Johnson  stated  that  he  had  made  them  on  a  board  when  he 
worked  for  Mr.  Johnson  26  or  27  years  ago,  he  denied  it,  but 
add^d  that  he  "could  not  recall  any  conversation  with  Mr. 
Johnson  about  runes,"  and  that  if  at  any  time  he  had  said 


♦According  to  Professor  Flom,  it  was  Mr.  Fogelblad  who  thus  amused 
himself,  and  he  mentioned  also  evidence  thait  Mr.  Ohman  thus  carved 
runes.     He  expresses  his  confidence  in  Mr.  Ohman's  veracity. 


242  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

anything  to  Mr.  Johnson  about  runes,  ''It  was  because  he  had 
learned  it  in  school  in  Sweden.  Every  school  boy,  and  every 
Swede  and  Norwegian,  knows  something  about  runes,  but  not 
so  as  to  use  them." 

So  far  as  we  can  see,  therefore,  the  common  rumor  that  Mr. 
Ohman  made  rune  characters  on  the  sidewalks  and  on  fences, 
in  hours  of  idleness,  and  was  familiar  with  runic  literature,  was 
derived  from  the  simple  fact  that  26  or  27  years  ago,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Gunder  Johnson,  though  forgotten  by  Mr.  Ohman, 
he  had  made  some  rune  characters  for  Mr.  Johnson  with  a 
pencil  on  a  board  when  he  was  working  on  Mr.  Johnson's  house 
as  a  carpenter,  in  order  to  show  him  the  kind  of  letters  form- 
erly used  by  the  Scandinavians.  The  following  is  also  ex- 
tracted from  our  field  book,  bearing  on  the  existence  of  this 
rumor. 

"I  found  Mr.  Gunder  Johnson  a  very  talkative  man.  I  recall  it 
now,  and  record  it  for  its  bearing  on  the  existence  and  spread  of  the 
idea  that  Mr.  Ohman  knew  runes  long  ago,  had  a  number  of  books 
on  runes,  and  made  runic  characters  on  the  walks,  window  casings, 
and  the  granary  doors  about  the  country.  I  have  traced  up,  under 
the  direction  of  those  who  believed  and  repeated  this  story,  all  the 
promising  lines  of  evidence,  and  I  have  found  the  report  especially 
prevalent  and  detailed  about  Brandon,  where  Mr.  Ohman  lived  26 
or  27  years  ago.  I  have  asked,  not  for  the.  story,  but  for  positive  state- 
ments as  to  whether  the  parties  affirming  the  story  actually  knew  of 
Mr.  Ohman's  making  runes.  They  said  they  did  not,  except  Mr. 
Gunder  .Johnson,  and  some  of  them  said  they  knew  nothing  about  it 
except  what  emanated  either  from  Mr.  O.  of  Brandon  oi  Mr.  Gunder 
Johnson. 

"The  incident  which  seems  to  have  given  origin  to  the  rumor  was 
probably  dormant  until  Prof.  Breda  and  Prof.  Curme  pronounced  the 
stone  a  fraud,  and  the  stone  had  been  returned  to  Ohman's  farm. 
Then  all  the  people  began  to  speculate  as  to  how  the  stone  was  in- 
scribed. All  minds  turned  to  Mr.  Ohman.  Eight  years  passed.  The 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Gunder  Johnson  about  Mr.  Ohman's  making  runes, 
and  the  fact  that  he  retained  the  fraudulent  stone,  were  coupled 
together  and  seemed  to  explain  each  other,  springing  at  once  Into 
importance,  I  have  no  doubt,  through  Mr.  Johnson.  The  'idea  was, 
very  naturally,  given  broadcast.  There  was  no  other  possible  ex- 
planation of  a  fraudulent  rune  stone  found  on  Mr,  Ohman's  farm  and 
kept  by  him,  however  indifferently. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


243 


'Mr.  Ohman  is  a  rather  taciturn  man,  and  he  toolc  no  pains  to  coun- 
teract the  report  that  he  was  the  impostor.  One  man  said  that  if 
the  rune  inscription  were  genuine,  it  was  a  very  valuable  historic 
document,  and  any  man  would  have  made  it  well  known  as  a  valuable 
possession,  the  inference  being  that,  as  Mr.  Ohman  did  not  make  it 
notorious,  he  must  have  known  it  was  fraudulent.  His  neighbors 
made  sport  of  him  for  keeping,  or  even  for  having  made,  a  fake  in- 
scription. Mr.  Gunder  Johnson's  knowledge  was  amplified,  as  such 
rumors  grow  in  a  farming  community,  and  some  intimated  that,  as 
Fogelblad  was  a  scholar,  he  was  the  man  who  traced  out  the  runes 
for  Mr,  Ohman  to  cut  on  the  stone. 

"More  lately,  as  it  became  known  that  Mr.  Ohman  had  "rune 
books,"  the  story  was  credited  by  many  who  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  case  nor  any  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Ohman;  and  during 
the  last  few  years,  when  the  recent  renewal  of  inquiry  about  the 
stone, became  known  by  the  people  of  this  region,  of  course  all  the 
rumors,  however  increased  in  detail,  were  revived  also,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  some  have  innocently  spread  the  story,  on  the  assump- 
tion that  what  was  reported  and  was  not  denied  must  be  true.  In  its 
exaggerated  form  it  was  sent  in  letters  to  members  of  this  Committee, 
and  these  letters  prompted  this  thorough  investigation."* 


*The  following-  correspondence,  received  after  this  Report  was  first 
written,  bears  upon  the  recollection  of  Mr.  Gunder  Johnson  as  to  Ohman's 
writing-  runes  for  him. 

Clipping  from  the  "■Deconili  Post." 

Rumor  relates  that  Mr.  Olof  Ohman  was  accustomed  to  9,muse  him- 
self with  scratching  runes.  It  happened  that  Prof.  Winchell  found  the 
originator  of  this  rumor  in  Gunder  Johnson,  of  Brandon.  Ohman  main- 
tained that  he  knew  nothing  about  runes;  but  Gunder  Johnson  related 
that  when  Ohman,  26  or  27  years  ago,  built  a  house  for  him,  he  made 
some  runes  on  a  piece  of  wood  to  show  what  kind  of  writing  was  used 
In  the  old  days  in  the  Scandinavian  lands.  Ohman  would  not  maintain 
that  he  had  not  done  this,  but  said  that  he  could  not  remember  it. 


Letter  fro?n  Hans  Voigt,  Mcintosh,  Polk  County,  Minn. 
[Translation.] 
Mr.  Olof  Ohman:  16  May,   1910. 

I  clip  this  from  the  Decorah  Post,  and  send  it  with  the  following 
remarks.  Is  the  Gunder  Johnson,  in  Brandon,  who  has  started  this 
rumor,  that  you  used  to  amuse  yourself  with  writing  runes,  the  same 
as  the  Gunder  Johnson,  Hojbergsner,  from  the  town  of  Mo?  If  so^  then 
the  house  referred  to  was  built  for  him  by  you  in  1882,  and  I  was  there 
and  painted  it;  and  if  this  is  so,  then  I  believe  you  remember  me.  I 
had,  in  fact,  a  wedding  down  there,  and  you  were  present.  At  that  time 
I  made  on  a  piece  of  wood  some  marks  which  were,  after  a  fashion,  to 
represent  runes,  as  he  says.  So  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  this  incident 
which  has  popped  up  in  Mr.  Johnson's  memory.  If  this  is  right,  then 
let  me  hear  from  you.     I  had  a  long  time  ago  forgotten  your  name. 

Hans  Voigt. 


244  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Ohmau  is  not  a  thrifty  farmer.  His  premises  are  in  disor- 
der. His  cattle,  pigs,  chickens,  and  his  children,  have  a  com- 
mon way  of  approach  to  his  front  door,  and  when  it  is  muddy 
the  floor  of  his  house  is  also  muddy.  There  is  no  grading,  no 
sidewalk,  no  fence,  to  make  his  home  pleasant;  and  it  is  plain 
that  the  farm  is  not  at  its  best.  This  listlessness  has  its  influ- 
ence in  estimating  the  causes  of  the  apparent  neglect  of  Mr. 
Ohman  to  make  the  most  of  his  discovery.  After  the  rune 
stone  had  been  pronounced  a  fraud  by  two  professors  (Breda 
and  Curme),  his  interest  in  it  extended  no  further  than  to  in- 
sist on  its  return  to  him.  A  Swede  farmer,  in  ignorance  of  the 
ways  and  means  to  have  the  inscription  further  investigated, 
not  fully  knowing  the  English  language,  and  having  no  spare 
money  to  use  in  a  doubtful  quest,  he  was  obliged  to  let  the 
stone  rest  in  his  yard  uncared  for. 

It  should  not  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  discussion  of 
"rumors,"  as  to  Mr.  Ohm  an 's  agency  in  fabricating  the  rune 
inscription,  that  there  is  a  prevalent  opinion  connecting  him 
with  it.  Most  of  the  people,  and  especially  his  neighbors,  be- 
lieve that  these  rumors  are  baseless,  and  affirm  their  confidence 
in  Mr.  Ohman  as  well  as  in  the  genuineness  of  the  rune  stone. 
It  is  chiefly  at  a  distance  from  Ohman 's  farm,  and  among 
strangers,  that  these  rumors  are  sustained  by  those  who  have 
curiosity  enough  to  form  opinions  about  the  discovery.  The 
pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Saethre,  of  the  church  where  Mr.  Ohman 's 
children  were  confirmed,  said  that  Mr.  Ohman  came  to  that 
vicinity,  to  his  knowledge,  later  than  himself,  which  was 
twenty-five  years  ago.    He  is  confident  that  Mr.  Ohman,  whom 


Letter  from  Olof  Ohman. 

[Translation.] 

Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  St.  Paul: 

Today  I  received  a  letter  from  northern  Minnesota,  which  in  part 
clears  up  the  reported  rune  scratches  that  I  have  been  said  to  have  made 
at  Gunnar  Johnson's  when  I  built  his  house.  I  do  not  remember  that  I 
wrote  any  runes,  either  there  or  anywhere  else.  And  as  to  Gunnar 
Johnson  saying  I  know  Old  Norse,  he  is  mistaken.  I  have  never  learnt 
the  Icelandic  language.     Sincerely, 

Olop  Ohman. 

This  shows  that  Mr.  Johnson's  recollection  is  at  fault,  rather  than 
Mr.  Ohman's. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


245 


he  has  known  ever  since  he  came  to  his  farm,  **is  utterly  in- 
capoMe  of  making  the  inscription."  He  has  never  heard  that 
Mr.  Ohman  traveled  about  and  made  runes  on  the  sidewalks  and 
granaries  in  idle  hours,  nor  has  he  ever  heard  of  a  clergyman 
in  that  region  who  did  so. 


THE  TREE  THAT  GREW  ON  THE  RUNE  STONE. 

As  it  is  well  established  that  a  poplar  tree  grew  in  the  soil 
above  the  stone,  it  is  plain  that  the  size  of  the  tree  has  a  direct 
bearing  on  the  possible  fabrication  of  the  inscription  by  Mr. 
Ohman,  or  by  any  person  since  Mr.  Ohman  located  on  the  farm. 
Mr.  Samuel  Olson,  of  Kensington,  who  was  of  the  party  that 
excavated  in  the  earth  where  the  stone  was  found,  in  the 
spring  of  1899,  expecting  to  find  the  remains  of  those  who 
were  massacred,  made  from  memory  a  pencil  sketch  of  the 
stump  and  roots  of  the  tree  as  they  appeared  at  that  time,  which 
is  reproduced  below. 


Fig.  1.     The  Poplar  Tree  and  the  Rune  Stone. 


a,      the  largest  root;  b,  the  smaller  roots  that  went  down  perpendic- 
ular;   c,   en^  of  the  stone;  d,    the  tree  4  or  5  Inches  in  diameter; 
the  foot  of  the  tree,  10  inches  in  diameter. 

Note. — Mr.  Ohman  and  his  boy  said  that  the  main  root  went  down 
the  side  instead  of  over  the  top. 

No  one  was  found  who  questioned  the  existence  of  this  tree, 
nor  the  flatness  of  the  roots  caused  by  long  contact  on  the 
stone.  Indeed,  one  man  who  regarded  Mr.  Ohman  as  the  pos- 
sible maker  of  the  inscription  stated  that  he  saw  the  roots 
and  that  they  were  flattened  on  one  side. 


246  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

The  shortest  time  that  has  been  assigned  to  the  growth  of 
the  tree  is  ten  years.  Mr.  Ohman  took  the  first  part  of  his 
farm  in  1890.  The  stone  was  found  in  the  fall  of  1898  on  that 
portion  of  his  farm  which  was  the  earliest  deeded  to  him,  and 
which  he  received  by  warranty  deed  from  Halvor  Stenson. 
If  Mr.  Ohman  is  responsible  for  the  stone,  he  must  have  buried 
it  with  its  face  downward  in  sufficient  soil  at  once  to  support 
a  young  tree,  and  the  tree  would  have  had  the  period  of  eight 
years  to  attain  the  size  which  it  had  in  1898;  and  if  the  tree 
were  as  large  as  most  of  those  who  saw  it  have  testified  to, 
its  growth  in  eight  years  is  put  entirely  outside  of  possibility. 
It  would  then  be  possible  still  to  presume  that  the  stone  was 
put  there  during  the  ownership  of  the  land  by  Mr.  Stenson. 
The  Committee  has  taken  no  steps  to  ascertain  the  truth  that 
might  be  in  such  a  hypothesis,  nor  to  learn  anything  of  the 
antecedents  of  the  land  earlier  than  the  record  of  the  deeds  to 
Mr,  Ohman. 

Review  of  the  Finding  of  the  Rune  Stone. 

The  foregoing  sketch  of  the  facts  of  the  finding  of  the  stone, 
and  of  the  attendant  conditions,  embraces  everything  of  im- 
portance that  has  come  within  the  scope  of  our  inquiry.  It 
may  be  well,  before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject,  to  call  at- 
tention to  some  obvious  inferences  which  bear  on  the  question 
of  the  authenticity  of  the  stone. 

1.  The  inscription  was  made  upon  a  boulder  of  graywacke 
found  in  the  near  vicinity. 

2.  The  inscribed  face  of  the  stone  has  not  passed  through 
even  the  latest  glaciation,  but  the  opposite  side  shows  such 
glaciation  that  it  may  have  witnessed  two  ice-epochs.  The 
boulder  had  been  split  along  an  old  jointage  plane,  and  the 
inscription  is  mainly  on  the  resultant  even  face.  The  inscribed 
edge  was  also,  doubtless,  caused  by  a  jointage  plane,  but  ap- 
pears to  have  been  shaped  by  hammering. 

3.  The  inscribed  face  appears  weathered  so  as  to  indicate 
that  it  was  separated  from  its  companion  piece  perhaps  sev- 
eral thousand  years  ago  (but  has  not  been  glaciated),  or  was 
affected  by  water  that  entered  along  the  joint-opening  for  a 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


247 


long  time  before  such  separation.  The  preservation  of  the  cal- 
cite  scale  shows  that  since  its  separation  it  has  been  protected 
from  the  weather. 

4.  Two  remarkable  boulders  are  at  the  end  of  a  sharp 
point,  at  the  southwestern  side  of  Pelican  lake,*  and  though 
they  are  not  now  surrounded  by  water,  they  probably  were  so 
548  years  ago,  and  may  stand  for  the  '^ skerries"  referred  to 
in  the  inscription.  If  the  inscription  is  modern,  the  engraver 
could  hardly  refer  to  these  boulders  as  ''skerries."  They  are 
about  twenty  miles  north  of  the  place  where  the  stone  was 
found. 

5.  The  stone  was  found  on  an  elevation  surrounded  with 
a  swamp,  and  it  is  in  keeping  with  a  slow  known  physical 
change  to  suppose  that  the  elevation  was  formerly  surrounded 
by  water,  and  that  the  term  ''island"  was  applicable.  If  the 
inscription  is  modern,  the  engraver  must  have  known  that  548 
years  ago  this  elevation  was  an  island. 

6.  The  sea  was  said  to  be  fourteen  days'  journey  distant 
from  the  place  of  the  stone. t     The  sea  at  Hudson  bay  is  about 


♦Professor  Flom  has  carelessly  adopted  a  "Pelican  lake"  which  lies 
in  northern  Otter  Tail  county,  about  48  miles  farther  toward  the  north- 
west. 

fit  has  been  suggested  by  Mr.  Holand  that  the  inscription  should  be 
translated  "forty-one  days"  instead  of  fourteen  days;  but  such  a  use 
of  the  characters  for  1  and  4  would  require  a  similar  use  of  the  charac- 
ters for  1  and  3    in  the  final  date  (1362),  which  would  be  impossible. 

Keating  says  that  the  journey  from  Fort  Douglas,  which  was  one 
mile  north  of  Fort  Garry  (now  Winnipeg),  to  York  Factory,  required  for 
canoes  loaded  with  furs,  15  to  20  days,  and  in  returning  with  supplies 
30  to  35  days.  Unloaded  canoes  usually  traveled  much  faster,  and  prob- 
ably made  the  journey  In  about  half  that  time.  Long's  Expedition,  Vol. 
II,  p.  79. 

Oliphant  says  (Minnesota  and  the  Far  West,  p.  223)  that  he  made 
80  miles  per  day  in  descending  the  Mississippi  river  from  Fort  Ripley 
to  Fort  Snelling,  and  that  in  higher  water  100  miles  have  been  passed 
over  in  8  hours. 

Hennepin,  in  defending  his  asserted  voyage  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  in  1680,  says  it  was  not  impracticable,  that  he  had  time 
enough  and  to  spare,  since  canoes  have  been  known  to  go  90  miles  a  day 
upstream. 

Duluth,  when  he  rescued  Hennepin,  declared  that  he  travelled  80 
leagues,  or  about  240  miles  in  two  days  and  two  nights  and  till  the 
next  day  at  ten  o'clock  A.  M.,  which  was  somewhat  more  than  100  miles 
per  day.  (Shea's  Translation  of  Hennepin's  Description  of  Louisiana, 
Appendix.) 

Prof.    Andrew    Fossum    first    suggested    the    route    from    Hudson    bay. 


248  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

that  distance  from  Douglas  county,  for  a  canoe  party  descend- 
ing the  Nelson  river.  If  parties  reached  Minnesota  by  that 
route  they  must  have  brought  boats  with  them  by  way  of  lake 
Winnipeg  and  the  Red  river  of  the  North.  It  is  not  easy  to 
see  any  reason  for  their  leaving  the  regular  watercourse  and 
taking  their  boats  across  the  country  to  Pelican  lake,  but  if 
they  were  fishing  on  Pelican  lake  they  must  have  had  boats. 
At  Pelican  lake  they  would  have  been  about  twenty-five  miles 
from  the  nearest  point  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North. 

7.  When  found,  the  face  of  the  stone  was  down.  On  any 
supposition  as  to  the  maker  of  the  inscription  it  seems  to  be 
necessary  to  assume  that  it  was  not  originally  placed  in  that 
position.  Owing  to  the  easy  disintegration  of  calcite  in  the 
weather,  it  is  evident  that  the  inscription  is  either  recent  or 
the  stone  was  so  placed  (or  was  overturned)  as  to  protect 
the  inscription  from  the  weather. 

8.  The  age  of  the  tree  which  was  growing  on  the  stone 
seems  to  show  that  the  inscription  was  made  prior  to  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  farm  by  Mr.  Ohman. 

9.  Mr.  Fogelblad,  whom  rumor  has  associated  with  the 
stone,  died  in  1895,  three  years  prior  to  the  finding  of  the  stone. 
The  tree  must  have  started  to  grow  on  the  stone  at  least  as 
early  as  1888,  according  to  the  shortest  estimate  of  its  age. 
The  committee  has  not  learned  the  date  of  Mr.  Fogelblad  s 
coming  to  the  region,  not  deeming  it  important.  The  relation 
of  the  rune  stone  to  the  Swedish  grammar  owned  by  Mr.  ii^ogel- 
blad  at  the  time  of  his  death  is  expressed  by  Mr.  Holvik.  Ac- 
cording to  his  opinion,  the  book  could  not  have  been  the  source 
of  the  information  necessary  to  construct  the  inscription. 

and  calculated  that  the  downward  trip  could  be  made  in  about  fourteen 
days.  For  the  purpose  of  reaching  more  definite  data  the  Committee  has 
measured,  on  maps,  the  route  in  question,  with  the  following'  result: 

From  Pelican  lake  to  Pembina  3514  townships,  right  line         -  213  miles. 

Pembina  to  lake  Winnipeg,   li^   deg.  lat.     -----  103  miles. 

Across    lake    Winnipeg,    1    2/3    deg.    lat.     -----  115  miles. 

Lake  Winnipeg  to  York  Factory,   41^   deg.  lat.     -     -     -  311  miles. 

Add  for  crookedness     ------------  200  miles. 

Total   traveled   distance        - ---942  miles. 

The  trip  therefore  could  be  made  in  canoes  in  14  days  by  travelling  at 
the  rate  of  about  67  miles  per  day. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


24^ 


10.  If  the  stone  is  fraudulent,  it  seems  necessary  to  ex- 
onerate both  Mr.  Fogelblad  and  Mr.  Ohman  from  the  imposi- 
tion.    (See  the  Appendix.) 

Notes  on  the  Record  given  by  the  Inscription. 
The  inscription  has  been  acceptably  translated  as  below : 

Eight  Goths  and  twenty-two  Norwegians  upon  a  journey  of 
discovery  from  Vinland  westward.  We  had  a  camp  by  two  sker- 
ries one  day's  journey  north  from  this  stone.  We  were  out  fish- 
ing one  day.  When  we  returned  home,  we  found  ten  men  red 
with  blood  and  dead.     A.  V.  M.,  save  us  from  evil. 

Have  ten  men  by  the  sea  to  look  after  our  vessels  fourteen  days' 
Journey  from  this  island.     Year  1362. 

Without  reference  at  this  time  to  the  language  used,  and 
not  considering  the  peculiarities  of  the  grammatical  inflections, 
it  may  be  worth  while  to  take  a  general  view  of  the  record. 

One  is  struck  first  with  the  simplicity  of  the  statements  and 
the  omission  of  non-important  details.  This  simplicity,  unfor- 
tunately for  the  historical  value  of  the  record,  goes  so  far  as  to 
omit  the  name  of  the  leader  of  the  party,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
patron  or  king  who  may  have  sent  it  out. 

It  is  a  mixed  party,  of  Swedes  and  Norwegians.  By  reason 
of  the  order  in  which  these  are  mentioned  it  is  probable  that 
the  scribe  was  a  Swede,  since  he  names  them  first,  although 
composing  only  about  one  quarter  of  the  whole  party. 

The  party  started  from  Vinland,  a  very  remarkable  state- 
ment in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  it  is  not  known,  even  at  this 
day,  that  a  permanent  or  even  a  temporary  colony  was  estab- 
lished in  Vinland.  The  expression  '  *  from  Vinland ' '  may  mean 
in  a  direction  westward  from  Vinland.  In  the  light  of  the 
results  of  Professor  Fernald's  studies  on  the  ''Plants  of  Wine- 
land  the  Good,"  it  is  remarkable,  if  the  stone  is  fraudulent, 
that  the  location  of  Vinland,  by  the  statements  of  the  record, 
should  agree  with  the  location  of  that  country  by  Fernald, 
since  all  modern  (and  even  earlier)  descriptions  of  Vinland 
have  placed  Vinland  either  in  Nova  Scotia  or  in  Massachusetts. 
Could  it  have  been  a  random  and  accidental  coincidence,  that  a 
fraudulent  record  should  correct  the  current  historical  belief 


250  minn:e}sota  historical  society  collections. 

of  the  times?  How  could  an  impostor  come  to  the  knowledge 
that  Vinland  was  nowhere  except  in  Labrador  or  at  least  in 
the  region  about  the  entrance  to  Hudson  strait?  What  credit 
could  be  given  to  his  record  by  going  counter  to  the  accepted 
history  of  his  time?  This  agreement  with  the  latest  research 
as  to  the  location  of  Vinland  is  a  very  suggestive  fact. 

They  went  "westward"  from  Vinland,  and  they  had  their 
ships  till  within  fourteen  days'  journey  of  the  end  of  their 
exploration,  when  they  left  them  ''at  the  sea,"  with  ten  men 
to  guard  them.  If  the  record  be  fraudulent,  what  reason  could 
there  be  for  saying  that  their  camp  was  fourteen  days'  journey 
from  the  sea?  How  much  more  probable  it  would  be  to  say 
that  their  camp  was  forty  days  or  even  two  months'  journey 
from  the  sea,  especially  if  Vinland  was  where  it  has  been 
thought  to  be ;  and  how  much  more  probable  that  an  impostor 
would  not  attempt  to  make  a  definite  statement.  If  the  record 
is  fraudulent,  the  impostor  was  very  foolish  not  only  in  giving 
the  distance  of  their  camp  from  the  sea,  but  also  in  saying  how 
far  it  was  north  from  the  stone.  Not  only  so,  but  he  attempted, 
more  foolishly,  to  give  guides  to  the  exact  location  of  the  camp 
by  saying  it  was  "near  two  skerries."  If  the  stone  had  been 
noticeably  more  than  one  day's  march  from  those  skerries,  or 
if  the  camp  had  been  noticeably  nearer  or  more  distant  than 
fourteen  days'  journey  from  "the  sea,"  there  would  be  much 
doubt  thrown  upon  the  record  by  such  a  discrepancy. 

The  exactness  with  which  the  location  of  the  camp  is  de- 
scribed can  be  attributed  to  the  probable  burial  of  the  ten 
men  at  the  camp,  and  the  natural  desire  to  describe  geograph- 
ically the  place  of  the  bloody  massacre  of  ten  of  their  com- 
rades; while  the  agreement  of  this  exactness  with  the  facts  in 
nature  shows  how  improbable  it  was  for  a  faker  runologist  to 
have  made  the  inscription.  If  the  record  be  fraudulent,  it  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  those  two  skerries  exist,  and  at  the  right 
distance,  and  that  there  are  no  others.* 

It  is  still  more  remarkable,  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  stone 


♦other  lakes  in  the  vicinity,  within  a  possible  range  of  twenty  miles, 
have  been  searched  over  by  Prof.  Fossum,  Rev.  O.  A.  Norman,  and  Mr. 
H.  R.  Holand,  without  finding  anything  that  could  be  called  "two 
skerries." 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


251 


is  fraudulent,  that  within  modern  times  they  could  not  be 
called  skerries,  as  they  are  not  now  surrounded  by  water. 
Hence  the  impostor-scribe  was  not  only  a  runologist,  but  he  was 
able  to  look  backward  through  the  physical  change  that  has 
come  over  the  region,  and  to  describe  those  boulders  as  they 
were  548  years  ago,  when  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  water  of 
the  lake  was  so  high  as  to  surround  them  and  thus  warrant  the 
description  which  he  made  of  them.  He  must  have  been  a 
geologist. 

H  the  record  is  fraudulent,  it  is  also  remarkable  that  the 
impostor  could  see  that  548  years  ago  the  hill  on  which  the 
stone  was  placed  was  surrounded  by  water  so  as  to  warrant 
the  application  of  the  term  ''island."  He  must  have  known, 
and  must  have  made  allowance  for  the  fact,  that  within  recent 
time  the  country  has  dried  up  considerably,  and  that  what 
are  now  marshes  were  then  lakes. 

If  the  stone  be  fraudulent,  it  is  singular  that  the  impostor 
ran  the  risk  of  all  these  details  and  violated  none  of  them.  A 
well  considered  fraud  is  usually  characterized  by  the  omission 
of  details.  Here  was  a  recklessness  and  a  fearlessness  amongst 
details  which  betoken  honesty  and  truth.  The  very  discre- 
pancies, where  the  details  diverge  from  present  geographic 
knowledge,  when  correctly  understood  are  turned  to  so  many 
points  of  confirmation. 

'*We  were  out  fishing  one  day."  That  is  a  remarkable 
and  rather  singular  statement,  especially  if  the  stone  be  fraud- 
ulent, since  the  fishing  was  on  a  lake  twenty  miles  distant 
from  the  place  at  which  the  inscription  was  made.  Again,  they 
must  have  had  boats.  There  is  no  reference  to  them.  Where 
could  they  have  got  boats  ?  Not  a  word  is  said  as  to  how  they 
reached  the  place  where  they  were  encamped,  nor  as  to  the 
direction  to  the  sea.  Such  links  as  are  necessary  to  make  a 
connected  and  reasonble  story  would  certainly  be  given  by  an 
impostor.  But  here  the  briefest  statement  is  made  of  the  lead- 
ing facts,  and  the  reader  is  left  to  connect  them  as  best  he  can. 
We  are  not  at  a  loss  to  supply  the  links.  The  boats  must  have 
been  birch  bark   canoes,  used  to  this  day  by  the  northern 


252  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Indians,  easy  to  propel  in  the  water  and  easy  to  "portage" 
over  the  land. 

"We  found  ten  men  red  with  blood  and  dead."  That  is  a 
remarkable  statement.  Why  should  the  fact  of  the  gory  ap- 
pearance of  the  dead  men  be  stated  at  all?  and  especially  why 
should  it  be  stated  before  stating  the  fact  of  death?  The  mur- 
derers are  not  mentioned  nor  indicated.  These  peculiarities  in 
the  record  may  be  explained  by  attributing  the  massacre  to 
Indians,  with  whom  they  may  have  had  some  dealing.  The 
appearance  of  the  bloody  corpses  implies  the  scalping  knife. 
The  appearance  of  the  bodies  is  stated  before  the  fact  of  their 
death,  and  must  have  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  explorers, 
although  it  is  probable  that  the  men  were  dead  before  they 
were  scalped.  If  the  stone  is  fraudulent,  it  is  singular  that, 
within  modern  times,  when  the  scalping  of  white  men  by  In- 
dians is  a  familiar  fact,  the  massacre  should  be  described  in 
that  manner.  An  impostor  would  hardly  observe  the  nicety 
of  the  significance  in  inverting  the  terms  of  description,  or 
that  of  mentioning  the  bloody  appearance  of  the  dead  at  all. 

Then  comes  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  this  remark- 
able inscription,  "A.  V.  M. "  Hail,  Virgin  Mary !  or  Ave  Maria. 
This  is  a  distinctly  Catholic  expression.  According  to  Arch- 
bishop Ireland,  no  modern  Scandinavian  would  utter  it,  as  they 
are  Lutherans.  It  would  be  strictly  appropriate  in  1362.  If 
the  stone  be  fraudulent,  the  impostor  artfully  employed  a  term 
suitable  to  the  date  of  the  inscription;  but  we  would  hardly 
expect  an  impostor,  such  as  this  man  must  have  been,  to  be  so 
religious  as  to  call  on  Mary,  or  on  any  of  the  gods  of  the 
Vikings,  or  on  any  of  the  saints  of  Christianity.  On  the  sup- 
position that  the  stone  is  fraudulent,  this  is  a  decided  ana- 
chronism and  would  hardly  be  introduced  by  an  impostor. 

If  the  stone  is  fraudulent,  the  base  perpetrator  was  artful 
enough  to  make  use  of  rune  characters  appropriate  to  the  date 
1362.  The  ancient  runes  are  sixteen  in  number,  according  to 
the  grammar  of  Almquist.  The  inscription  contains  several 
characters  not  found  in  the  old  runic  alphabet,  and  some  that 
are  peculiar  to  itself  or  to  some  locality. 

Rev.  0.  A.  Norman,  of  Ashby,  called  our  attention  to  a  sin- 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE. 


253 


gular  coincidence,  viz.,  the  frequency  of  the  expression  calling 
upon  Mary,  in  Scandinavia,  at  the  time  of  the  "black  death," 
which  prevailed  in  the  fourteenth  century.  A  poem  or  song, 
entitled  ''Fornesbronen,"  was  recited  at  the  burials  of  the 
many  dead,  and  appears  to  have  become  well  known.  It  was 
lately  reprinted  in  a  brochure  at  Fergus  Falls,  Minn.,  entitled 
"Telesoga."  Each  verse  ends  with  an  appeal  to  Mary  to  grant 
help  and  freedom  from  evil.  The  sudden  and  bloody  death  of 
ten  of  their  comrades  seems  to  have  impressed  the  living  in  a 
manner  similar  to  the  mysterious  death  of  the  black  plague. 
If  the  stone  be  fraudulent,  the  impostor  seems  to  have  been 
aware  of  the  prevalence  of  that  prayer  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  very  shrewdly  appended  it  at  the  proper  place  in  this 
inscription. 

It  appears,  from  several  considerations,  that  the  scribe  was 
a  rather  illiterate  Swede.  If  the  ston«  be  fraudulent,  it  is 
singular  that  such  a  man  should  prove  himself  capable  of  such 
literary  and  historical  knowledge,  and  of  such  artful  cunning. 
If  the  stone  be  fraudulent,  it  seems  necessary  to  suppose  that 
a  non-educated  Swede  should  be  able  to  make  the  inscription 
and  to  accomplish  the  following : 

1.  A  simple,  straightforward  record. 

2.  Correct  the  prevalent  notion  as  to  the  whereabouts  of 
Vinland. 

3.  Refer  to  two  skerries,  which  could  not  have  existed 
when  the  record  was  made  but  did  exist  548  years  ago. 

4.  Refer  to  an  island,  which  was  not  an  island  when  the 
stonu  was  inscribed,  but  was  so  548  years  ago. 

5.  Define  exactly  the  location  of  the  camp  with  reference 
to  the  seaside  and  with  reference  to  the  stone. 

6.  Describe  the  massacre  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  that 
the  men  were  scalped  by  Indians,  although  no  mention  is  made 
of  Indians. 

7.  Make  the  prayer  to  the  Virgin  Mary  common  in  Scan- 
dinavia in  1362,  but  anachronistic  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

8.  As  an  impostor,  utter  the  common  prayer  of  a  devout 
Catholic  of  the  fourteenth  century. 


254  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

9.  Use  in  part  some  ancient  runic  characters  instead  of 
those  common  in  later  centuries. 

10.  All  this  deceit  and  laborious  cunning,  without  any 
ascertainable  motive,  perpetrated  in  an  unpopulated,  or  at  most 
only  a  sparsely  inhabited,  region  amongst  a  wilderness  of 
forests. 

Linguistic  Objections. 

Notwithstanding  these  considerations,  which  point  toward 
the  genuineness  of  the  Kensington  Rune  Stone,  there  are  lin- 
guistic objections,  which,  it  is  claimed,  are  insurmountable.  It 
is  claimed  by  those  who  are  expert  in  the  Scandinavian  lan- 
guages, and  who  present  those  difficulties,  that  linguistic  evi- 
dence is  paramount  in  importance,  and  that  other  considera- 
tions are  pertinent  only  after  the  linguistic  objections  are  re- 
moved. 

A  summary  statement  of  these  objections  is  about  as  fol- 
lows: 

Cei*tain  words  not  in  use  in  Sweden  at  the  date  given  the 
inscription,  viz. : 

opdagelse.  It  is  pointed  out  that  this  word  is  not  in  Soder- 
vall's  dictionary,  nor  in  that  of  Kalkar,  the  latter  being  a  dic- 
tionary of  the  old  Danish  (and  Swedish)  language  covering  the 
years  1300  to  1700,  and  that  in  modern  Swedish  the  word 
opdage  is  uppdaga;  that  ^ ' opdagelse^ ^  is  made  by  adding  to  the 
root  the  suffix  else,  which  in  the  form  ilsi  is  not  found  in  Swe- 
dish or  Danish  prior  to  1300;  that  ^' opdage^ ^  itself  is  a  bor- 
rowed word,  allied  to  the  Dutch  opdagen  and  the  German  ent- 
decken;  and  that,  if  it  had  existed  in  1362,  its  only  meaning 
could  have  been  dawning. 

po,  which  appears  twice  in  the  inscription.  This  word, 
derived  from  upp  a  becomes  pa  and  paa,  and  in  Sodervall's 
dictionary  is  said  to  date  from  about  1400,  and  to  have,  in  the 
older  Swedish,  only  the  active  sense,  ''to  designate  an  action 
by  some  one,  or  a  condition  or  state  of  a  person,"  which  is  not 
the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  here. 

laeger  is  objected  to  as  a  word  in  Swedish  at  the  date  of 
1362,  on  the  ground  that  it  shows  a  Germanic  influence,  dating 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE. 


255 


from  the  sixteenth  century  or  later,  its  earliest  date  in  Kalkar 
being  1534. 

dag  is,  on  the  stone,  thag  (or  dliag),  meaning  day,  but  in 
1362  d  had  supplanted  dli  and  should  have  been  used.  The 
use  of  ''the  thorn"  (the  rune  \i  for  dli  or  th  or  d)  indicated  a 
modern  Swede  runologist.  The  same  objection  lies  against  dh 
in  opdagelse,  Vinland,  and  ded,  and  other  words. 

vore  skip  should  have  been  written  vorum  skipum,  to  agree 
with  the  language  of  Sweden  in  1362. 

har,  var,  kom,  and  fan,  are  first  person  plurals,  as  used,  and 
should  have  the  ending  om,  viz.,  hafthom  (or  hathom),  varom, 
komom,  and  funnom.  These  would  have  been  found  in  the 
"  Mariaklagan, "  had  any  first  person  plurals  been  used  in  the 
part  with  which  comparison  is  made,  since  in  the  third  person 
plurals  found  in  it  the  full  inflectional  endings  are  used. 

ded  (or  theth,  or  dhedh)  should  have  been  d0dh,  and  is 
apparently  a  reflection  of  the  English  word  ' '  dead. ' ' 

from  is  English. 

mans  is  an  incorrect  plural  English  Avord  for  men. 

0  is  written  with  e  rune  inside  an  o.  o  appears  for  the  first 
time  in  Swedish  in  1495. 

In  short,  the  language  of  the  stone,  it  is  claimed,  is  a  mix- 
ture of  modern  Swedish,  Norwegian,  and  English. 

It  is  fortunate  f^r  the  cause  of  historic  truth,  no  less  than 
for  linguistic  criticism  applicable  to  the  inscription  of  this 
stone,  that  quite  a  number  of  American  as  well  as  some  Euro- 
pean experts  in  runes  and  in  Scandinavian  literature  have 
given  close  attention  to  this  stone,  and  have  afforded  their 
aid  to  the  Committee  in  their  eft'orts  to  reach  a  warrantable 
conclusion  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  record  for  the  date 
which  it  claims.  The  Committee  has  also  taken  advantage  of 
the  published  opinions  of  others,  so  far  as  we  have  learned  of 
them,  whenever  such  opinions  have  been  based  on  specific  and 
critical  linguistic  points.  A  mere  "opinion,"  pro  or  con,  has 
been  passed  by  without  consideration;  for  it  is  plain  that  not 
only  the  labor  would  be  practically  endless  should  the  Com- 
mittee entertain  unsupported  opinions,  but  that  in  the  end  the 
result  would  be  based  on  others'  opinions  and  would  not  be  a 


256  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

creditable  and    judicial    consideration  of    the  problems  with 
which  the  Committe  is  charged. 

The  following  eminent  and  critical  scholars  have  aided  the 
Committee,  and  to  them  the  thanks  of  the  Historical  Society- 
are  due : 

Helge  Gjessing,  University  of  Christiania,  Norway; 

Hjalmar  Rued  Holand,  Ephraim,  Wis. ; 

0.  J.  Breda,  Christiania,  Norway,  formerly  of  the  University 
of  Minnesota ; 

George  0.  Curme,  Northwestern  Universitj^  Evanston,  111. ; 

Chester  N.  Gould,  University  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111. ; 

Rasmus  B.  Anderson,  Madison,  Wis. ; 

Dr.  Knut  Hoegh,  Minneapolis,  Minn. ; 

Gisle  Bothne,  University  of  Minnesota,  Minneapolis; 

John  0.  Evjen,  Augsburg  Seminary,  Minneapolis; 

Andrew  Fossum,  St.  Olaf  College,  Northfield,  Minn. ; 

P.  P.  Iverslie,  Minneapolis,  Minn. ; 

George  T.  Flom,  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111. ; 

Julius  E.  Olson,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis. ; 

J.  A.  Holvik,  United  Church  Seminary,  St.  Anthony  Park, 
St.  Paul,  Minn. ; 

Olaf  Huseby,   Norwegian   journalist   and    author,   Fosston, 
Minn. ; 

J.  J.  Skordalsvold,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  formerly  professor 
of  Norwegian  Literature  in  Augsburg  Seminary; 

0.  E.  Hagen,  Meridian,  Wis.,  formerly  professor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  South  Dakota,  Vermilion,  S.  D. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  among  these  there  is  divergence 
of  testimony,  and  sometimes  contrariety,  not  only  in  the  re- 
sults which  they  have  reached,  but  sometimes  in  their  esti- 
mates of  the  value  of  the  linguistic  peculiarities  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  inscription. 

With  one  exception,  the  members  of  the  Committee  are  all 
linguistic  scholars  and  are  capable  of  judging  the  force  of 
linguistic  arguments,  pro  or  con,  and  we  have  attempted  to 
compare  judicially  the  evidence  that  has  been  adduced. 

It  should  be  remarked  at  the  outset  that  the  argument 
against  the  rune  inscription  is  like  this :    As  the  translation  of 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE. 


257 


the  Bible  in  King  James'  version  does  not  employ  the  words 
hoy  or  girl,  but  instead  uses  lad  and  damsel,  if  a  book  pur- 
porting to  be  a  copy  of  the  King  James  version  were  found  to 
contain  the  words  hoy  and  girl,  it  would  at  once  be  classed  as 
fraudulent.  Likewise  if  words  are  found  in  the  Kensington 
rune  stone  inscription  which  were  not  in  use  in  1362,  the  in- 
scription is  fraudulent.  But  it  is  evident  at  once  that  such  a 
comparison  of  these  cases  involves  a  possible  error.  Two  books 
actually  in  print  can  be  compared  with  preciseness,  and  one 
can  be  pronounced  a  fraud  with  positiveness  when  it  does 
not  agree  with  its  prototype.  In  the  case  of  this  stone,  a 
definite  inscription  is  to  be  compared  with  a  ''usage,"  and  it  is 
the  wide  uncertainty  of  that  usage  that  gives  rise  to  the  vari- 
ety of  evidence  and  opinion. 

It  should  be  remarked  also  that  the  usage  with  which 
the  stone  may  be  compared  may  be  that  of  a  considerable 
period  of  time,  say  a  whole  century;  it  may  be  that  of  high- 
class-  and  dignified  literature,  or  that  of  common  or  ordinary 
writing,  or  that  even  of  everyday  speech.  It  is  plain  therefore 
that  it  is  important  to  determine  the  standard  to  which  the 
inscription  ought  to  show  a  conformity.  It  should  also  be  re- 
membered that,  as  in  English,  these  standards  change  from  one 
into  the  other  with  lapse  of  time.  A  usage  which  was  preva- 
lent only  in  common  speech,  say  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
might  be  found  in  literature  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  in 
the  more  dignified  language  of  legal  documents  not  till  the 
sixteenth  century.  As  our  slang  words  creep  slowly  into  litera- 
ture, and  finally  are  recognized  in  the  standard  dictionaries, 
so  the  colloquial  terms  and  usage  of  the  Swedish  gradually 
came  into  use  in  the  higher  type  of  literature. 

It  is  agreed  by  all,  so  far  as  we  have  learned,  that  the 
inscription,  whether  false  or  genuine,  was  made  by  a  Swede 
and  a  rather  unlettered  man,  a  good  mechanic,  and  probably 
from  ancient  Gothland,  now  the  south  part  of  Sweden,  or  from 
Visby,  on  the  island  of  Gothland,  where  foreigners  were  numer- 


258  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ous  from  all  commercial  points  in  Europe.*  In  such  a  city  the 
influence  of  foreign  languages  would  be  apparent  and  more 
pronounced  than  in  any  other  part  of  Sweden,  except  perhaps 
Stockholm.  If  the  engraver  of  the  inscription  were  an  unlet- 
tered Swede,  it  appears  that  the  standard  with  which  it  should 
be  compared  is  not  that  of  high-class  standard  literature, 
whether  legal  documents,  educational  treatises,  or  poems,  but 
more  reasonably  the  colloquial  vernacular  of  Gothland.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  allow  for  some  effect  of  German  and 
perhaps  English  contiguity.  Hence,  as  the  stone  claims  to  date 
from  the  fourteenth  century,  it  is  reasonable  to  compare  it 
with  the  colloquial  usage  of  that  century. 

Here  arises  another  important  consideration,  viz.,  the  four- 
teenth century  was  a  period  of  change  and  confusion,  arising 
from  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  Here  was  in  full  swing 
the  transition  to  the  modern  forms  and  usages.  Indeed  the 
language  of  Sweden  and  Denmark  in  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  "was  much  like  that  of  the  present. "t  and, 
"to  that  degree  agrees  with  the  new  that  nothing  except  an 
occasional  business  or  law  expression  will  stop  a  reader  of  the 
present. "J  This  change  was  not  accomplished  without  much 
irregularity,  and  perhaps  this  is  most  apparent  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  The  German  language  made  a  powerful  im- 
press on  the  Swedish.  Dahlerup  declares,  "Never  has  our  lan- 
guage received  so  great  influence  from  abroad  (especially  Mid- 
dle Low  German)  as  it  received  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries."  II  Those  irregularities  consisted  in  a  more  or  less 
prevalent  dropping  of  case  endings,  disregard  of  grammatical 
agreements,  especially  in  common  speech,  and  differences  of 
spelling. 


*The  present  city  of  Goteborg  was  founded  in  1619.  An  earlier  town 
of  the  same  name,  on  the  island  of  Hisingen,  not  far  from  the  present 
site,  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Danes  during-  the  Calmar  war  (Enc. 
Brit.);  but  as  that  had  been  founded  within  twenty  years  before  the 
new  town  (History  of  Sweden,  by  Victor  Nilsson,  1899,  pp.  188,  189),  it 
appears  reasonable  to  consider  the  scribe  to  have  been  a  native  of  Visby 
on  the  large  island  of  Gothland,  which  was  an  important  commercial 
city  from  the  twelfth  century  to  the  seventeenth. 

tDahlerup,  Det  Danske  Sprogs  Historic,  1896,  p.  31. 

JKalkar,  Ordbog,  p.  xxxii;  also  f.  n.  to  p.  xxxi, 

llOp.  cit.,  p.   26. 


TPIE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  259 

With  these  facts  in  mind,  we  will  examine  in  succession 
the  difficult  linguistic  points  which  we  have  already  mentioned. 

opdagelse  is  claimed  to  be  a  modern  word.  It  is  a  serious 
objection  to  this  word  that  it  is  not  found  in  two  standard 
dictionaries,  Sodervall's  and  especially  Kalkar's,  the  latter  pur- 
porting to  be  a  dictionary  of  the  old  Danish  (and  Swedish) 
language,  covering  the  years  1300  to  1700.  The  root  of  the 
word  was  known,  also  the  prefix  op  {upp),  and  the  suffix  else 
{Use).  It  was  a  neuter  verb,  signifying  to  appear,  to  daivn. 
In  the  inscription  it  has  an  active  signification,  to  discover. 
Yet  Kalkar  gives  a  quotation  dating  from  1634  in  which  this 
word  appears  in  its  active  sense,  viz.,  "Et  skib  med  rofoere  for 
landit  var  opdageV^  (A  vessel  with  pirates  icas  discovered  off 
shore).  The  fact  that  the  date  of  this  quotation  is  1634  does 
not  sJiOW  that  this  signification  of  this  word  was  not  in  earlier 
use,  lor  Kalkar  gives  numerous  other  quotations  with  dates 
showing  similar  German  influence,  dated  later  than  their 
known  earliest  use,  as  follows : 

understanda  is  dated  1610,  but  is  found  in  Den  Jydske 
Lov  of  1241.  (Brandt,  Gammeldansk  Lasebog,  1856,  p.  29,  line 
15.) 

ophange  in  dated  1575,  used  in  a  provision  of  Waldemar 
Seier  of  1250  (ditto,  41,  3,  as  uphengia). 

opladhu,  dated  by  Kalkar  1550,  used  in  a  diploma  of 
1329  (ditto,  77,  5,  as  tiplader)  ;  and  numerous  others. 

Kalkar's  dictionary  was  not  complete.  He  is  now  com- 
piling a  supplement,  which  will  contain  hundreds  of  words 
missed  by  him  in  his  first  edition.  The  following,  similar  to 
opdagelse,  may  be  mentioned,  in  use  about  1400,  which  were 
omitted  by  Kalkar:  opfostre,  upfodde,  ophrande,  opraet- 
tilsae,  forymmels,  paamindelse  (ditto,  98,  line  23;  169,  8;  168, 
6).  This  shows  simply  that  opdagelse  may  have  been  one  of 
the  common  words  omitted  by  Kalkar,  and  therefore  that  the 
absence  of  this  word  in  Kalkar's  Danish  dictionary  is  not  cer- 
tain evidence  that  it  was  not  in  use  in  Gothland  in  1362,  at 
least  in  common  speech;  for,  as  has  been  remarked  already, 
the  standard  dictionaries  of  any  language  are  the  last  to  rec- 


260  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ognize  innovations,  such  as  this  appears  to  have  been,  from 
other  languages. 

We  fail  to  see  the  force  of  the  objections  to  opdagelse  in 
the  fact  that  the  modern  Swedish  for  opdage  is  uppdaga. 
The  use  of  the  older  word  seems  to  us  rather  to  be  a  difficulty 
in  assigning  the  inscription  to  modern  invention. 

The  difficulty  with  po  in  the  inscription  consists  of  two 
parts:  (1)  It  is  used  earlier  than  is  recognized  by  Sodervall's 
dictionary;  and  (2)  it  is  used  correctly  to  designate  ''an  ac- 
tion by  some  one,  or  a  condition  or  state  of  a  person,"  which  is 
thought  to  be  not  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  here. 

The  fact  that  Sodervall's  dictionary  assigns  this  word  to 
"about  1400"  is  in  some  degree  an  objection  to  its  use  in  1362; 
yet,  if  it  be  recalled  that  in  common  speech  many  words  are 
in  use  long  before  they  are  recognized  in  standard  literature 
and  in  dictionaries,  and  that  the  difference  of  time  here 
amounts  to  only  thirty-eight  years,  it  appears  to  the  Commit- 
tee that  the  word  po  was  more  likely  than  not  to  have  been 
known  and  used  at  the  date  assigned  to  the  rune  stone.  In 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  moreover,  we  find  pa, 
po,  and  upa,  used  side  by  side. 

As  to  the  significance  of  the  word  po  (on),  used  as  a  prepo- 
sition before  the  word  opdagelse,  its  force,  as  defined  by  the 
objectors,  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  connection.  ''On  a  jour- 
ney of  discovery"  implies  a  verb  such  as  going,  and  if  that 
be  supplied  the  phrase  reads  "going  on  a  journey  of  discov- 
ery," which  gives  the  preposition  exactly  the  sense  required. 

Again,  it  is  quite  likely  that  in  pronunciation  pa,  the  orig- 
inal word  which  became  paa,  was  sounded  so  nearly  like  po 
that  the  unlettered  scribe  preferred  po  to  any  other  spelling. 
Further,  as  there  was  no  rune  character  for  aa,  this  sound 
was  commonly  expressed  by  the  rune  for  o. 

laeger.  The  original  Norse  form  was  legr,  but  in  Swedish 
the  e  became  a,  and  under  the  influence  of  German  contact  the 
word  took  the  form  of  laeger,  or  lager.  It  is  assumed  by  the 
objectors  that  this  final  form  was  due  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury and  hence  could  not  have  been  used  in  1362 ;  but  Falk  and 
Torp  state  that  in  Swedish-Danish  the  transition  from  e  to  a 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  261 

took  place  about  1200  (Lydhistorie,  Kristiania,  1898,  page  11, 
No.  2). 

It  is  further  objected  to  this  word  that  in  the  sense  here 
employed  (camp)  it  was  not  employed  in  1362,  but  meant  bur- 
ial place  or  lying  together;  yet  Kalkar  illustrates  it  in  the 
sense  used  in  the  inscription,  viz.,  ''The  angels  of  the  Lord  built 
their  camp  round  about  them :  Herrins  engel  slaar  I'dgre 
omkring  thennom"  (date  of  this  writing,  1524?).  This  diction- 
ary covers  the  period  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  seventeenth 
century. 

dhag,  opdhagelse,  Yinlandh,  dhed,  and  other  words  in  the 
inscription,  are  spelled  with  the  rune  character  [>  (called 
thorn).  It  is  claimed  that  the  more  modern  character  for  d 
(f )  had  supplanted  the  "thorn"  in  1362,  and  ought  to  have  been 
used.  The  thorn  was  usually  used  at  this  time  for  both  th  and 
dh;  but  it  appears  that  t  was  gradually  supplanting  th,  and  d 
was  taking  the  place  of  dh.  It  is  plain  from  all  sides  that  the 
thorn  ([j),  used  exclusively  on  the  inscription,  was  warrant- 
able as  a  character  either  for  that  dental  which  was  sounded 
th,  or  for  that  which  was  sounded  by  dli.  At  the  same  time, 
so  far  as  we  can  learn,  the  distinct  character  for  d  {'\)  had  a 
recognized  existence ;  but  whether  there  was  any  rule  or  regu- 
lated practice,  in  1362,  as  to  the  use  of  f  for  d,  we  have  been 
unable  to  find  out.  No  one  has  referred  to  any  regulated  prac- 
tice, and  it  seems  to  us  that  any  criticism  demanding  the  ex- 
clusive use  of  the  character  for  d  {'])  in  1362  where  the  in- 
scription shows  dh,  should  be  supported  by  such  a  rule.  There 
is  not  a  word  in  the  inscription  which  calls  for  the  dental 
sound  th,  and  it  is  hence  plain  that  where  the  thorn  sign  ((j) 
is  used  it  was  intended  to  take  the  place  of  the  sign  for  dh 
(or  for  d). 

Further,  while  the  character  ^  was  used  at  the  time,  it  occurs 
so  rarely  that  it  seems  most  runesmiths  were  ignorant  of  its 
existence  or  ignored  it.  For  instance,  it  does  not  occur  a  single 
time  in  the  twenty-six  Swedish  and  Danish  runic  inscriptions 
from  the  middle  period  quoted  by  Vigfussen  on  pages  447-449 
of  his  "Icelandic  Reader  and  Grammar."  The  thorn  however 
occurs  142  times  in  these  same  inscriptions.     It  appears  also 


262  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

that  there  was  great  latitude  in  the  use  of  this  character  p,  in 
that  it  not  only  commonly  represented  th  and  dh,  but  also  fre- 
quently d,  and  even  t.  In  inscription  No.  4,  on  page  448,  we 
find  ristu  spelled  with  |d  instead  of  the  t.  Therefore,  while 
f  (or  d)  might  have  been  accessible  in  elementary  text-books, 
the  writer  of  the  inscription  has  shown  a  close  agreement  even 
with  written  usage  in  Sweden  in  the  middle  ages^  by  using  \} 
exclusively.  Had  "]  only  been  used,  that  character,  as  it  seems 
to  the  Committee,  would  have  constituted  a  greater  objection 
than  the  exclusive  use  of  p. 

hadhe,  har,  var,  horn,  and  fan.  These  are  unquestionably 
verb  forms  of  the  first  person  plural,  past  tense  {har  is  pres- 
ent), used  by  the  rune-maker,  and  purporting  to  be  from  the 
date  of  1362.  The  validity  of  these  forms  is  questionable.  It 
is  evident  that  if  fraudulent  these  abbreviated  terms  might  be 
those  which  the  inscriber  of  the  stone  would  employ  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  Committee  are  of  the  opinion  that 
if  these  five  verb  forms  cannot  be  satisfactorily  explained,  the 
stone  will  be  suspected  as  a  forgery.  They  have  therefore 
given  particular  attention  to  the  question  whether  such  abbre- 
viations were  warrantable  in  the  year  1362. 

The  statement  has  been  made  already,  in  general  terms, 
that  this  was  a  period  in  the  history  of  the  Danish-Swedish  and 
Danish-Norse  languages  when  great  confusion  prevailed,  be- 
cause of  a  tendency  toward  the  modern  usages,  and  it  would 
be  possible  to  assign  such  verb  changes  to  that  general  state- 
ment. The  Committee,  however,  have  thought  that,  owing  to 
the  sweeping  character  of  this  difficulty,  it  would  be  well  to 
disregard  the  general  principle,  and  to  find,  if  possible,  exam- 
ples in  practice  dating  from  the  fourteenth  century,  of  such 
verb  changes  as  are  here  shown  by  the  rune  stone. 

Dahlerup,  commenting  on  this  period,  says:  ''Numerous 
verb  forms,  especially  in  documents  showing  Jutland  influ- 
ences, show  that  the  speech  undoubtedly  in  many  parts  [of  the 
country]  had  given  up  the  logical  use  of  the  plural  forms" 
(Det  Danske  Sprogs  Historic,  p.  33).  As  an  example  of  this 
he  quotes:  ^^Alle  fugle  som  hedder  volucres  pa  Latin,^'  "tlie 
faar,''  "the  gik,''  "the  kan,"  "I  seer,''  etc.     In  all  these  illus- 


THE   KENSINGTON    RUNE    STONE.  263 

trations  we  find  singular  verbs  with  plural  subjects.  We  have 
other  examples  of  this,  as  in  a  letter  of  1340,  which  begins, 
"Allae  men  thettae  href  ser  eller  7t0r"  (Brandt's  Lasebog, 
p.  79,  line  1).  Similarly  a  letter  of  1329  begins,  Allae  maen 
thettae  href  ser  aeldaer  h0raer  (ditto,  77,  1).  This  shows  at  least 
that  the  old  classic  rule,  that  the  inflectional  ending  of  the  verb 
must  agree  with  its  subject,  was  not  maintained  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  The  third  person  plural  preterite  for  hafa  is 
hofdu;  but  as  early  as  1200  we  find  Witherlax  men  hawdhe 
honum  uraet  giorf  (Kong  Knuts  Viderlagsret  in  Brandt's 
Lasebog,  p.  39,  line  1).  Gamle  Kong  Eriks  Kronike,  written 
about  1320,  says,  "The  hado  updtith  therra  maaV  (Svenska 
Medeltidens  Rim-Kronikor,  G.  E.  Klemmings's  edition,  Stock- 
holm, 1865,  first  part,  line  1514;  see  also  line  2581).  Upsala 
Kronike,  of  the  fourteenth  century,  reads,  "hadae  m0ss  [plural] 
aedet  opp  0xen  som  var  af  osth  giord  (Hunde  Kongen  og 
Snio  in  Hallenberg,  No.  51,  also  quoted  in  Brandt's  Lasebog, 
p.  72,  line  1).  In  Mandevilles  Reiser,  of  about  1400,  we  simi- 
larly find  hadhe:  "ikcae  hadhae  vy .  . .  .frem  kommiV  (Brandt's 
Lasebog,  123,  10);  ^^ta  wy  hadae  gongit  hoos  tho  milae,'^  etc. 
(ditto,  122,  16).  See  also  the  frequent  use  of  "the  hade,'' 
they  had,  in  Svenske  Medeltidens  Rim-Kronikor. 

As  to  the  form  har,  here  used  in  place  of  the  regular  full 
inflectional  haffvom,  we  find  that  in  many,  perhaps  in  most, 
writings  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  termination  of  the  first 
person  plural,  vom,  had  largely  disappeared.  It  is  retained, 
however,  in  an  important  work  dating  from  1320,  Gamle  Eriks 
Kronike,  where  also  nearly  all  the  old  endings  are  preserved. 
Instead  of  haffvom,  we  find  the  modern  forms  have  on'  haver; 
but,  according  to  Falk  and  Torp,  for  a  long  time  the  v  was 
elided  in  pronunciation,  making  ha  and  har,  or  was  replaced, 
even  in  the  fourteenth  century,  by  u,  the  following  e  being 
dropped.  Thus:  "lak  haur  af  herrana  horV  (Gamle  Eriks 
Kronike,  1320,  Klemming's  ed.,  line  4404)  ;  "Thet  haur  konung 
Bierge  giort"  (ditto,  line  4480).  The  rhythm  also  shows  that 
it  was  pronounced  as  a  single  syllable.  Similarly  in  a  diploma 
of  1386  we  read,  "Wi  haive  unt  oc  lathet  wore  kerae  hymdn 
(Brandt's  Lasebog,  p.  79,  line  18).     In  a  letter  of  Queen  Mar- 


264  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

garet,  of  1393,  we  read:  ^'3Ieth  al  thene  rat  som  han  og  honnes 
fatkir  ther  til  hawe  haft  og  hatce.''  In  the  last  two  instances 
u  (or  t?)  is  IV,  which  also  illustrates  the  confusion  which  has, 
in  aJl  modern  languages,  attended  those  half  consonants.  In 
the  next,  u  is  plainly  and  simply  used  for  v.  In  a  book  of 
remedies,  about  1360,  we  read  ''Wi  haua  nu  talet  ok  sagt  oc 
screicdt  thet  som  tharflekt  ar^'  (Molbech's  Ordbog,  xlix)  ;  also, 
"Thorn  ther  hauer  howeth  ivdrJc,'^  etc.  (ditto,  xlix). 
Summarizing  our  inquiry  on  this  word,  we  find : 

(a)  that  the  plural  hafvom  had  been  largely  dropped  in 
the  fourteenth  century ; 

(b)  that  the  singular  for  haver  had  largely  superseded  it; 

(c)  that  according  to  Falk  and  Torp,  eminent  philologists, 
this  V  has  long  been  dropped  phonetically; 

(d)  that  haur,  the  immediate  phonetic  predecessor  of  har, 
occurs  sporadically  in  Gamle  Eriks  Kronike,  the  ablest  literary 
work  of  the  times,  written  in  1320. 

If  we  add  to  this  a  probable  advance  in  phonetic  and  gram- 
matic  development  in  the  region  of  Gothland,  there  seems  to 
be  no  longer  remaining  any  valid  objection  to  the  use  of  the 
spelling  seen  on  the  stone. 

It  should  further  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  author  of  this 
inscription,  if  it  be  genuine,  would  be  extremely  unlikely  to  be 
an  educated  literary  man,  but  rather  a  plain  man  of  action. 
As  such  he  would  write  as  he  spoke.  On  the  contrary  an  im- 
postor of  today,  trying  to  reproduce  the  language  of  an  ancient 
period,  could  only  be  a  philologist,  and  would  try  to  follow  the 
literary  usage  of  the  time,  instead  of  employing  forms  adapted 
to  his  own  day.  The  apparently  modern,  but  defensible,  use 
of  the  word  har,  is  therefore,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Committee, 
good  evidence  of  the  phonetic  authorship  of  the  record  in  the- 
fourteenth  century. 

var  is  the  first  person  plural,  used  for  the  old  and  reg- 
ular form  varum.  The  discussion  of  har  applies  largely  to 
this  word.  In  the  fourteenth  century  it  was  the  common  form. 
In  the  chronicle  of  the  Danish  kings,  written  about  1250  and 
1300,  we  find  the  singular  and  plural  forms  struggling  side 
by  side.     In  line  12  we  read,  Hialti  ok  Birghi  var  i  hans  tima.^^ 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  265 

while  in  line  15  we  read,  '^Slenge  ok  Vege  varu  i  hans  tima.'' 
After  this  time  the  singular  var  is  dominant.  Many  illustra- 
tions could  be  given  of  plural  subjects  used  with  the  sin- 
gular var.  Var  is  frequently  seen  in  the  form  vare,  as  'Hha 
varc  wi  aey  fraelste  aff  helvedis  nodh"  (devotional  poem  from 
about  1425,  Brandt's  Lasebog,  p.  262,  8). 

kom  is  used  for  komom,  the  plural  ending,  like  others  al- 
ready discussed,  having  been  dropped  off  in  the  period  under 
discussion. 

fan.  This  form,  although  we  have  no  examples  to  quote, 
may  be  assumed  to  have  been  used  for  the  old  plural  form, 
analogous  to  kom,  var,  and  liar. 

dhedh  (or  dedh).  The  use  of  e  for  0  or  ae,  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  or  vice  versa,  was  frequent.  Hence  the  un- 
critical maker  of  the  inscription  did  not  pass  beyond  the  war- 
rant of  his  time.  The  Danish  dialect  had  ded  in  1390.  It  is 
evident  that  the  thorn  (|d)  must  have  been  intended  here  to 
express  the  symbol  dh  (th  as  in  /7m, and  not  th  as  in  thistle), 
which  in  English  found  its  equivalent  in  d,  and  in  German  in 
the  word  todt.  The  spelling  of  this  word  may  have  been  in- 
fluenced somewhat  by  a  knowledge  of  the  English  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  same  word,  and  by  the  Danish  ded. 

from  in  its  form  is  English.  It  is  given,  however,  by  Falk 
and  Torp's  Etymologisk  Ordbog,  as  occurring  sporadically  in 
the  old  Swedish,  meaning  from.  The  easy  phonetic  substitu- 
tion of  0  for  long  a  or  aa  is  so  apparent  in  this  word  that  it 
needs  no  effort  at  explanation.  The  letter  m,  however,  is  in 
this  place  quite  antique,  unless  it  is  adopted  directly  from  the 
English,  and  seems  to  furnish  an  argument  for  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  stone  rather  than  against  it. 

In  the  old  Aurland's  church  in  Sogn,  Norway,  completed 
in  the  Catholic  time,  about  1300,  there  was  a  pair  of  very  small 
panes  of  glass.  The  two  panes  were  a  present  to  the  church 
''from"  so-and-so.  When  the  church  was  razed,  the  panes 
were  bought  by  an  enlightened  gentleman  in  the  district,  and 
they  may  be  found  safely  treasured  there  yet. 

The  work  entitled  ''Gamle  Eriks  Kronike"  was  the  product 
of  some  writer  living  in  that  part  of  Sweden  known  as  Vest- 


266  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

gotland,  written  about  1320.  This  work  contains  a  great  many 
of  the  words  of  the  inscription,  used  in  the  same  meaning. 
This  was  perhaps  the  home  of  the  Goter  mentioned  in  the  in- 
scription. 

This  inquiry  might  be  extended  so  as  to  include  several 
other  words  that  have  been  criticised,  but  as  we  have  brought 
under  review  the  chief  of  the  objections  from  a  linguistic  point 
of  view,  we  deem  it  unnecessary  to  go  further  into  details. 

From  the  examination  of  the  language  of  the  stone  the 
Committee  think  that  they  are  warranted  in  making  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions : 

1.  It  cannot  be  the  work  of  some  unlettered  amateur  of 
the  present  day. 

2.  It  is  either  the  uncritical  record  of  an  exploration  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  or  the  fabrication  of  a  consummate 
philologist  familiar  with  the  dialect  of  Vestgotland  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  which  was  essentially  the  Dalske  dialect  of 
Dalarne  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

3  No  expert  philologist  would  make  the  blunder  of  writ- 
ing ded  for  dod.  A  modern  philologist  familiar  with  the  evolu- 
tion of  0  from  au  would  hardly  make  such  an  error,  but  such 
phonetic  mistakes  were  common  among  the  uncritical  people 
of  the  fourteenth  century. 

4.  The  peculiarity  of  spelling  ''and"  as  both  ok  and  og 
is  abhorrent  to  the  scientific  precision  of  a  modern  philologist, 
but  was  very  natural  in  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the 
sounds  of  k,  t,  and  p,  were  frequently  confounded  with  those 
of  g,  d,  and  6. 

5.  The  use  of  the  phrase,  " vi  var  ok  fiske,''  belongs  in 
the  same  class  of  colloquialisms  as  skullen  for  skiilde  hart, 
haden  for  havde  han,  etc.  These  phrases  are  all  on  the  lips 
of  the  people  in  common  speech,  but  no  well  informed  person 
would  suffer  them  to  appear  in  a  serious  narrative  in  writing. 
But  m  the  fourteenth  century,  with  its  greater  phonetic  free- 
dom, they  were  all  common. 

6.  Several  obsolete  words,  which  were  in  use  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  such  as  lacger,  rise,  skjar,  af  illy,  and  from, 
as  well  as  the  peculiar  numeral  characters,  strongly  indicate 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  267 

that  no  modern  impostor  made  the  inscription,  as  the  works  of 
scholars  proving  that  they  were  in  use  at  that  time  have  mainly- 
been  published  since  the  stone  was  found. 

7.  The  linguistic  internal  evidences  of  the  genuineness  of 
the  stone  coincide  with  and  confirm  the  indications  that  come 
from  the  finding  of  the  stone  and  its  attendant  condition. 

8.  The  numeral  which  expresses  the  number  of  days'  jour- 
ney distant  from  the  seashore  is  more  probably  meant  for 
fourteen  than  forty-one. 

COLLATEKAL    EVIDENCE. 

Attention  should  be  called  again  to  the  stone  found  by 
Verendrye  and  sent  by  him  to  Paris  in  1737-40.  The  charac- 
ters could  not  be  read  by  any  parties  in  Quebec,  but  were  be- 
lieved to  be  of  Tartarean  origin,  there  being  then  a  belief  en- 
tertained by  many  scholars  and  archeologists  that  America 
was  peopled  by  Asiatics.  The  particulars  of  this  finding,  so 
far  as  they  are  known,  are  given  by  the  Swedish  botanist 
Kalm,  who  traveled  in  America  in  1748-51. 

Again,  there  was  evidently  European  blood  in  the  Mandan 
Indians.  All  travelers  who  visited  them  reported  instances 
of  light-colored  hair  and  skin,  and  blue  eyes.  Catlin  presumed 
that  the  party  of  Madoc,  a  Welsh  prince,  had  reached  them, 
and  that  their  descendants  would  account  for  the  remarkable 
physiognomy.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  that  the  mixing  of  the 
dark  Iberian  complexion  of  the  Welsh  with  that  of  the  Indians 
would  ever  produce  blue  eyes,  while  it  seems  certain  that  the 
blond  complexion  of  the  Northmen  of  Europe  would  produce 
them. 

These  facts  constitute  an  a  priori  affirmative  case  indicating 
that  people  from  northern  Europe  mingled  with  the  Mandan 
Indians. 

Resolutions  Adopted  by  the  Museum  Committee. 
The  following  resolutions,  wiiich  were  adopted  unanimously 
by  this  Committee  April  21,  1910,  are  not  expected  to  terminate 
the  investigation,  but  to  show  the  present  belief  of  its  members. 


268  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  this  Committee  renders  a  favorable  opinion  of 
the  authenticity  of  the  Kensington  rune  stone,  provided,  that 
the  references  to  Scandinavian  literature  given  in  this  Com- 
mittee's written  report  and  accompanying  papers  be  verified 
by  a  competent  specialist  in  the  Scandinavian  languages,  to  be 
selected  by  this  Committee,  and  that  he  approve  the  conclusions 
of  this  report. 

Resolved,  that  this  action  of  the  Committee  be  reported  to  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  and  that  Mr.  Holand  be 
so  informed. 

E.  C.  Mitchell,  Chairman. 

F.  J.    SCHAEFER, 

O.  D.  Wheeler, 

N.  H.  Winchell, 

Warren  Upham,  Secretary. 

In  the  next  monthly  Council  Meeting,  May  9,  1910,  this  sub- 
ject was  introduced  by  Rev.  Edward  C.  Mitchell,  chairman  of 
the  Committee,  and  large  parts  of  this  Report  were  read  by 
Professor  Winchell,  followed  by  his  presentation,  for  the  Com- 
mittee, of  these  Resolutions.  After  much  discussion  by  the 
President  and  several  members  of  the  Council  and  others  of 
the  Society,  the  Council  voted  that  the  Report  and  Resolutions 
of  the  Museum  Committee  be  received  and  printed,  with  a  state- 
ment that  the  Council  and  Society  reserve  their  conclusion  until 
more  agreement  of  opinions  for  or  against  the  rune  inscription 
may  be  attained. 

Subsequently  Professor  Bothne,  having  been  selected  by 
the  Museum  Committee,  in  accordance  with  its  resolutions,  for 
verification  of  references  and  a  statement  of  his  opinion,  sent 
to  the  committee  the  following  letter. 

The  University  of  Minnesota, 
Minneapolis,  July  19,  1910. 
Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell, 

Dear  Sir:     I  am  going  away  tomorrow,  and  cannot  attend 
your  meeting  next  Saturday.     I  have  examined  your  report 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  269 

carefully,  have  visited  Kensington  and  neighborhood,  and  have 
read  most  of  the  papers  and  articles  relating  to  the  rune  stone. 

I  have  always  believed  with  the  great  authorities  of  Nor- 
way and  Sweden,  Magnus  Olsen,  Moltke  Moe,  M.  Hogstad, 
Bugge,  Noreen,  Schriek,  Montelius,  that  the  language  is  too 
modern,  besides  being  faulty ;  and  a  more  careful  study  of  the 
words  has  not  changed  my  opinion.  In  some  places  where  the 
rune  \)  (thorn)  is  used,  it  is  not  used  properly.  But  I  shall  not 
enter  into  details  at  this  time. 

That  the  Norwegians  discovered  Vinland  is  a  fact.  That  they, 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  may  have  penetrated  into  the  coun- 
try as  far  as  the  present  Kensington,  is  possible.  But  what 
has  been  testified  to  about  the  finding  of  the  stone  is  not  con- 
vincing, and  I  do  not  consider  the  Kensington  stone  authentic. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  stone  should  be  brought  to  Norway 
to  be  examined  by  expert  runologists,  and,  in  my  opinion, 
nothing  else  will  dispose  of  the  matter. 

Yours  respectfully, 

GiSLE    BOTHNE. 


270  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


APPENDIX. 


Professor  Flom's  Investigation. 


Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  a  learned  contribution  has 
been  made  to  the  subject  by  an  eminent  philologist,  Prof. 
George  T.  Flom,  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  who  reaches  an  ad- 
verse decision.  This  was  courteously  furnished  to  the  Com- 
mittee in  manuscript,  but  has  since  been  revised  and  pub- 
lished in  June,  1910,  by  the  Illinois  Historical  Society,  entitled, 
''The  Kensington  Rune  Stone,  a  Modern  Inscription  from 
Douglas  County,  Minnesota."  His  objections  can  be  classified 
as  follows: 

PRONUNCIATION  AND   SPELLING. 

1.  hadhe.  hafthe  should  have  been  used;  that  is,  the  dis- 
appearance of  f  or  17  before  a  consonant  had  not  yet  taken 
place. 

2.  t)edh  should  be  vidh.  The  change  to  e  begins  about  1400. 
VG,  in  the  third  line  from  the  end,  is  an  attempt  to  use  the  mod- 
ern Swedish-Norwegian  ve. 

3.  fro  should  be  fra,  as  fro  and  fram  never  occur  in  Middle 
Swedish. 

4.  of  cannot  be  compared  with  the  sense  ''too,"  which 
would  be  beside  the  point;  and  of  vest  is  as  impossible  as  "too 
west ' '  in  English. 

5.  oh  would  have  been  in  Middle  Swedish,  in  the  regular 
way,  do. 

6.  ahr.  The  same  error  occurs  here  as  in  oh.  These  spell- 
ings belong  to  a  much  later  time. 

7.  dhag,  opdhagelse,  landh,  dhedh.  There  was  no  need  for 
the  Swedish  scribe  to  employ  the  rune  |d  for  d,  as  well  as  for  dh 
and  th;  for  d  then  had  its  own  symbol  {']). 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  27l 

INFLEXIONS. 

8.  var,  kom,  fan,  har.  The  transference  of  the  singular 
form  to  the  plural  is  comparatively  recent. 

9.  mail,  as  plural,  is  irregular. 

10.  vi  hadhe.  The  modern  scribe  here  employed  his  own 
speech,  with  an  antiquarian  effort  shown  in  introducing  h  after 
the  dental. 

11.  fra  dheno  sten  should  be  fra  paessom  stcn  (variant  of 
f^aemma  stcn)  ;  '4ater  fra  may  also  govern  the  accusative,  which 
would  give  the  form  fra  paenna  sten. ' ' 

12.  at  se  aeptir  vore  skip  should  be,  regularly,  at  se  aeptir 
varom  skipum.  The  rune  stone's  inscription  is  that  of  present 
speech,  Norwegian  rather  than  Swedish,  except  for  the  word 
aeptir. 

13.  from  dheno  oh.  oh  is  feminine  in  Old  Swedish,  and  the 
feminine  form  of  dheno  should  have  been  used,  i.  e.,  fra  paenna 
0.     (Compare  fi^a  dheno  sten  above.) 

MEANING    OF    CERTAIN   WORDS. 

14.  po,  then  just  forming  from  upp  a,  up  pa,  could  not  be 
used  in  this  way  (i.  e.,  with  an  activity) ,  but  only  as  a  preposi- 
tion meaning  upon.  The  use  here  is  modern  (in  Swedish  com- 
paratively recent). 

15.  opdhagelse  must  have  dated  from  after  the  Refor- 
mation. It  is  Dutch,  and  its  meaning  as  here  employed  is  from 
High  German  entdecken. 

16.  laeger  is  a  loan  from  the  German.  The  Old  Swedish 
word  was  laegher,  which  also  was  used  differently. 

17.  rise  should  be  in  Old  Swedish  resa,  which  came  into 
Swedish  from  German  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

18.  Two  quotations  are  given,  from  the  fourteenth  century 
and  the  fifteenth  century,  to  show  how  consistent  the  language 
was  at  that  time.  One  is  from  Sjalinne  Throst,  1370,  MS.  1430, 
the  other  from  Margaret's  Chronicle,  late  fifteenth  century, 
MS.  1514-1525. 


272  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

THE   RUNES. 

19.  Examination  shows  that  the  runes  employed  are  not 
those  of  the  Mariaklagan,  Middle  Swedish  of  about  1400,  which 
are  the  same  as  in  the  Scanian  Law  (1300).  The  Kensington 
scribe  therefore  did  not  use  the  regular  Norwegian  and  Middle 
Swedish  runic  alphabet,  but  employed  characters  either  in- 
vented by  himself  or  from  some  other  dialect,  ''a  different 
alphabet." 

20.  This  paper  shows  use  and  knowledge  of  runes  "until 
the  last  century."  Hence  there  is  some  likelihood  of  some- 
one having  skill  enough  to  write  runes  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

21.  It  finds  that  the  particular  alphabet  of  the  Kensington 
stone  was  in  use  in  the  sixteenth  century  in  Elfdalen;  and  it 
infers  that  the  sixteenth  century  is  ** modern,"  yet  in  important 
respects  quite  different.  For  instance,  the  thorn,  \>,  was  used 
by  the  Kensington  scribe  for  th,  dh,  and  d,  whereas  at  the  date 
claimed  for  the  stone  d  had  its  own  character,"^.  He  must 
therefore  either  have  been  ignorant  of  ^,  or,  in  modern  style, 
used  \y  for  d. 

Discussion  of  these  Objections. 

Most  of  these  critical  objections  have  been  presented  by 
others,  and  are  referred  to  in  the  body  of  the  foregoing  report. 
There  are  21  items,  as  numbered,  and  they  will  be  reviewed 
here  in  numerical  order.  Numbers  1,  3,  7,  8,  10,  14,  15,  and  16, 
have  been  shown  to  be  either  invalid  or  at  least  of  questionable 
character  adverse  to  the  record. 

No.  2.  ve  is  undoubtedly  the  phonetic  for  vedh,  which  is 
spelled  in  full  (vedh)  in  the  fourth  line,  but  probably  pro- 
nounced as  spelled  here  (ve).  If  the  rune  scribe  were  perpe- 
trating a  fraudulent  record  of  1362,  and  was  acquainted  with 
the  word  vedh,  he  would  scarcely  introduce  a  modern  spelling 
of  that  word  (ve). 

No.  4.  The  translation  far  to  the  loestward  is  not  required. 
The  use  of  of  for  af  is  an  instance  of  the  phonetic  confounding 
of  a,  aa,  with  o. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  273 

No.  5.  oh.  The  difference  in  sound  between  this  word  and 
do  was  so  slight  that  the  rune  scribe  was  phonetically  at  liberty 
to  use  either. 

No.  6.  ahr.  Dahlerup  says  that  ''as  early  as  in  Old  Danish 
[1050-1350],  the  original  long  a  had  begun  to  approach  the 
sound  of  aa"  (Det  Danske  Sprogs  Historic,  p.  31).  This  in- 
creased length  of  sound  was  indicated  also  by  the  spelling  ahr. 

No.  9.  man.  The  common  form  for  the  plural  was  menn, 
or  man.  The  form  here  used  is  irregular  for  any  date  and  can 
hardly  be  justified,  although  in  Gamle  Eriks  Kronike  (1320)  is 
the  expression  ''10,000  man  them  forslo"  (Klemming's  edi- 
tion, 326). 

No.  10.  vi  hadhe.  If  the  faker  scribe  knew  the  antiquarian 
style,  it  is  hard  to  explain  why  he  used  his  own  speech  at  all. 
(Compare  No.  2.) 

No.  11.  fra  dhcno  sten.  The  error  of  not  distinguishing  the 
gender  of  nouns  in  the  application  of  the  demonstratives  was, 
and  is,  common.  The  final  letter  (o)  was  frequently  substi- 
tuted for  a;  but  as  sten  is  masculine,  this  form  of  the  adjective 
is  quite  allowable.  The  final  letter  o,  being  unaccented,  was 
frequently  substituted  for  a,  and  vice  versa. 

No.  12.  at  se  dptir  vore  skip.  This  illustrates  the  con- 
fusion of  inflexional  usage  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Ac- 
cording to  Falk  and  Torp,  about  this  period  e  was  changed  to  a 
in  the  word  cptir  and  others  in  the  Swedish  language ;  but  the 
change  was  not  permanent,  the  letter  e  being  restored,  and  a 
century  later  we  find  dptir,  eptir,  and  dffthir,  and  eftir,  used  side 
by  side  (Svenska  Medeltidens,  Rim-Kronikor,  third  part). 
As  the  scribe  employed  dptir,  it  seems  that,  unless  he  was  a 
learned  linguist,  he  must  have  been  contemporary  with  this 
temporary  change. 

Professor  Flom  contends  that  a  writer  of  the  fourteenth 
century  would  have  written  varom  sMpum.  We  find  however 
that  case  endings  were  not  so  invariably  respected  as  is  com- 
monly supposed.  Even  in  the  Icelandic  sagas,  which  show  a 
far  more  precise  literary  practice  than  the  Swedish  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  case  endings  are  sometimes  violated. 
For  instance,  in  the  Vinland  saga  (A.  M.  552)  we  read:    "Lata 

18 


274  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

their  i  haf  fram  tvenmim  skipum  tJicgar  their  eru  hunir"  (Vig 
fusson's  Grammar,  p.  123,  line  23).  haf  is  there  nominative 
and  should  be  dative,  while  tvennnm  sJcipum  is  dative  and 
should  be  accusative. 

Such  disregard  and  confusion  of  case  endings  is  still  more 
common  in  the  Swedish  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Molbech 
says  of  this  period:  ''The  old  mother  tongue's  declensions 
and  endings,  which  in  the  fourteenth  century  but  meagerly 
remained,  almost  completely  disappeared  at  the  close  of  the 
century"  (Molbech 's  Ordbog,  p.  xlvii).  We  find  therefore  that 
the  expression  in  the  inscription  is  not  out  of  harmony  with 
fourteenth  century  usage. 

No.  13.  This  shows  the  same  irregularity  of  declension 
as  we  find  above  to  be  characteristic  of  the  period. 

No.  17.  rise.  Kalkar  gives  this  spelling  as  an  Old  Swed- 
ish noun  (meaning  journey)  of  the  middle  ages.  The  modern 
form,  reise  or  reysa,  occurs  more  commonly  in  the  literature 
of  that  period. 

No.  18.  These  quotations  from  the  standard  literature  ex- 
hibit the  usage  of  scholars,  among  whom  there  was  great 
dissimilarity  of  standards.  The  Kensington  stone  shows  rather 
the  usage  of  the  common  people,  and,  as  already  stated,  the 
two  cannot  be  expected  to  agree  in  detail. 

No.  19.  The  runes  used  are  not  precisely  like  those  com- 
mon in  1362,  as  illustrated  by  the  Mariaklagan  and  the  Scanian 
Law,  these  being  of  about  that  date,  but  embrace  novel  char- 
acters, thirteen  in  number  (including  punctuations).  It  can- 
not be  understood  why  an  unlettered  Swede  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  attempting  a  fraud  of  1362,  should  invent,  or  import, 
thirteen  characters  not  in  common  use;  since  this  variation 
from  the  common  use  would  hardly  be  expected  to  further  the 
acceptance  of  the  fraud.  The  proper  comparison  would  be 
with  other  inscriptions  of  West  Gothland,  which  the  two  runic 
documents  referred  to  are  not. 

No.  20.  It  is  certainly  true  that  a  scant  and  waning  knowl- 
edge of  runes  continued  till  the  nineteenth  century. 

No.  21.  This  particular  alphabet,  according  to  Professor 
Flom,  appears  to  have  been  in  use  in  the  sixteenth  century  in 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  275 

Elfdalen,  in  central  Sweden,  though  with  some  divergences. 
How  much  earlier  it  was  used,  we  do  not  know ;  but  as  people 
from  Gothland  (''8  Goths")  were  of  this  party  and  also  used 
this  alphabet,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  used  in  Gothland  or  West 
Gothland. 

This  energetic  discussion  brings  out  important  new  facts 
which  every  one  who  is  seeking  only  the  truth  will  welcome; 
but  every  one  will  be  at  liberty  still  to  make  such  application 
of  the  facts  as  his  own  judgment  dictates.  There  are  curious 
anomalies  in  the  arguments  of  the  author,  such  that  the  facts 
presented  seem  not  to  be  used  in  their  logical  sequence,  nor  in 
the  bearing  which  they  have  on  each  other  and  on  the  main 
issue. 

The  rune  character  |d  (thorn)  is  confounded  by  Flom  with 
a  similar  character  having  the  upper  and  lower  ends  of  its 
semicircle  continued  somewhat  to  the  left  of  the  vertical  bar. 
This  form  is  said  to  have  taken  the  place,  in  part,  of  |d  in  the 
modern  Dalecarlian  runic  alphabet,  when,  on  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  sounds  dh  and  th,  a  special  character  was  required 
to  represent  the  sound  of  d,  which  grew  into  prominence  and 
persisted.  The  character  thus  used  does  not  appear  on  the 
Kensington  stone,  but  \>  only;  and  hence  only  the  sounds  that 
\)  represented  can  be  fairly  ascribed  to  the  stone.  Professor 
Flom's  new  transcription,  on  pages  25-26  of  his  address,  seems 
to  be  based  wholly  on  his  confusion  of  these  rune  forms.  In 
1362  the  thorn  {\))  must  also  have  represented  the  sound  of  (/ 
in  those  cases  where  the  d  sound  in  spoken  language  had  sup- 
planted dh  or  til,  though  it  had  not  yet  been  given  a  special 
character  in  written  language.  The  modern  runic  alphabet, 
according  to  Flom,  employs  only  the  new  form  which  repre- 
sents the  sound  d. 

On  the  stone  the  rune  \i  occurs  fourteen  times,  distinctly 
cut,  without  any  suggestion  of  the  modern  rune  character  rep- 
resenting d.  Yet  notwithstanding  this  the  author  assumes 
that  the  scribe,  a  man  of  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, as  he  supposes,  and  hence  familiar  with  that  modern 
rune  for  the  sound  of  d,  ignorantly  inscribed  J3  (the  thorn)  in 
these  fourteen  places.     It  is  not  intimated  that  the  use  of  the 


276  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

old  character  was  due  to  the  scribe's  cleverness,  to  make  the 
inscription  seem  ancient,  although  that  would  be  a  consistent 
view  for  Professor  Flom  to  take,  but  he  says  distinctly  that 
the  scribe  was  ignorant  of  the  character  used  for  d.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  modern  sound  of  d  was  only  beginning  to  be 
used  in  spoken  language  in  1362,  and  was  very  rarely  recog- 
nized then  in  runic  script  by  f,  the  character  for  t  punc- 
tuated and  thus  changed  to  indicate  the  d  sound. 

Professor  Flom  shows  that  a  rune  system  was  used  in  Da- 
larne  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  later  (page  24),  but  fails 
to  show  how  much  earlier.  Doubtless  runes  were  well  known 
there  in  1362,  since  their  use  seems  to  have  prevailed  through- 
out Scandinavia  from  a  much  earlier  time.  To  except  Dalarne 
would  be  without  reason,  unless  some  special  conditions  can 
be  shown  to  have  operated  against  runes  in  that  district.  The 
inference  therefore  is  that  they  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Da- 
larne system  of  1600.  It  remains  to  ascertain  how  the  ancient 
runes  used  there  differed  from  those  of  1600  or  those  of  more 
recent  time,  and  whether  they  manifested  those  characters  that 
do  not  agree  with  the  modern  Dalarne  system,  nor  exactly 
with  that  of  the  Scanian  Law\  Finding  important  divergences 
of  the  Kensington  stone  from  modern  runes,  Flom  abruptly 
attributes  them  sometimes  to  the  ingenuity  and  sometimes  to 
the  ignorance  of  the  scribe,  not  even  considering  the  possibility 
of  their  being  due  to  their  archaic  date. 

It  is  unlikely  that  a  faker  with  the  keenness  necessary  to 
guide  him  in  injecting  into  the  inscription  certain  ancient 
forms  of  language  should  so  far  forget  himself  as  to  leave  off 
the  old  inflections  of  the  verbs  (om,  um,  etc),  thus  giving  his 
work  a  decidedly  modern  look.  It  is  more  probable  that  in 
1362  those  endings  had  already  been  dropped  in  speech,  but 
that  a  skillful  impostor,  familiar  with  ancient  literature,  would 
retain  them  in  his  inscription. 

The  conclusions  of  the  appendix  (page  43)  seem  not  to  be 
based  on  the  facts  brought  out  by  Professor  Flom's  address. 
No.  1  is  deficient  because  his  address  does  not  treat  of  ''the 
language  as  spoken  at  the  time."  He  only  discusses  it  as  writ- 
ten and  especially  its  inflexions,  which  were  dropped  much 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  277 

later  in  the  written  than  in  the  spoken  language.  No.  2  is 
faulty,  for  he  does  not  at  all  discuss  "the  runic  series  of  the 
time'*  (1362).  He  finds  that  the  Kensington  inscription  agrees 
substantially  with  the  recent  Dalecarlian  system,  and  where  it 
shows  discrepancies  (which  may  arise  from  greater  age)  he 
regards  them  as  evidences  of  forgery  by  the  scribe.  No.  2  is 
further  faulty  because  of  the  uncertain  significance  of  the  word 
"modern."  Some  things  that  are  modern,  say  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  began  to  exist  in  the  fourteenth,  but  are  still 
"modern,"  which  indeed  may  be  the  case  of  the  Dalecarlian 
rune  system  as  a  whole.  The  verdict  of  the  committee  who 
reviewed  Flom's  arguments,  being  founded  on  evidence  not 
proven,  or  only  assumed,  is  therefore  not  conclusive. 

The  genuineness  of  the  Kensington  rune  stone  must  be  de- 
termined, if  Professor  Flom's  identifications  be  accepted,  by  an 
investigation  directed  to  the  question  whether  the  Dalecarlian 
system  of  runes  existed  at  the  date  1362 ;  for  the  linguistic  ob- 
jections are  largely  swept  away,  and  the  runic  objections 
appear  to  be  turned  into  probable  evidence  in  favor  of  the 
stone. 


Investigation  of  the  Rumor  relating  to  Sven  Fogelblad. 


The  following  article,  reporting  an  investigation  of  an 
alleged  forgery  of  the  Kensington  Rune  Stone,  contributed  by 
Mr.  H.  R.  Holand,  is  reprinted  from  the  Minneapolis  Journal, 
in  which  it  was  published  August  9,  1910. 

Since  the  famous  rune  stone  of  1362  was  found  near  Kensington, 
Minn.,  twelve  years  ago,  it  has  been  subject  to  a  close  scrutiny,  and 
many  persons  have  been  accused  of  having  forged  it.  These  have, 
however,  been  acquitted  one  after  another  until  now  only  one  remains. 
This  man  is  one  Fogelblad,  who  was  formerly  a  Swedish  Lutheran  pas- 
tor. 

According  to  the  statements  of  Professors  R.  B.  Anderson  and  G.  T. 
Flom,  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  against  the  genuineness  of  the  in- 
scription, Fogelblad  was  a  Lutheran  clergyman  who  later  was  deposed. 
He  is  said  to  have  turned  against  his  former  faith  and  written  books 


278  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

against  Christianity,  among  which  was  one  entitled  "Age  of  Reason." 
He  made  his  home  at  Kensington,  where  he  is  reported  to  have  carved 
runes  on  window  casings  and  doors,  etc.  One  of  his  favorite  subjects 
of  discourse  was  a  strange  narrative  of  how  "Scandinavian  explorers 
had  visited  that  region  (around  Kensington)  hundreds  of  years  ago." 
When  he  suddenly  died,  "Fryxell's  famous  book  on  the  Runes  of  East 
Gothland"  was  found  in  his  trunk.  This  book  was  later  given  by  one 
Andrew  Anderson,  in  whose  home  Fogelblad  died,  to  Olof  Ohman,  the 
finder  of  the  stone.  According  to  Flom  and  R.  B.  Anderson  this  book 
is  a  complete  commentary  on  the  inscription  of  the  stone. 

Such  is  the  rumor  published  in  several  newspapers,  and  now  latest 
in  a  pamphlet  published  by  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society.  It 
must  be  admitted  that,  if  this  is  true,  it  is  serious  circumstantial  evi- 
dence against  the  truth  of  the  inscription. 

Although  I  have  made  four  or  five  earlier  trips  to  Kensington  and 
vicinity,  I  had  not  heard  this  rumor,  and  I  have  therefore  just  made  a 
special  trip  thither  to  see  what  could  be  learned  of  this  man's  life  and 
character. 

I  have  spent  a  week  in  following  the  trail  through  Douglas,  Grant, 
Pope,  Meeker  and  Carver  counties.  I  have  talked  with  persons  who 
knew  him  in  Sweden,  with  farmers  who  entertained  him  for  years, 
with  men  and  women  whose  entire  schooling  has  been  received  from 
him,  and,  finally,  with  those  who  were  with  him  when  he  died.  Al- 
though I  have  interviewed  more  than  a  hundred  persons,  there  has 
been  perfect  harmony  in  all  their  accounts,  especially  concerning  his 
character. 

The  following  is  a' summary: 
Sven  Fogelblad  was  born  about  1820-25  in  Sweden.  He  studied 
theology  and  the  necessary  classic  studies  that  went  with  it  in  Upsala. 
His  first  public  appearance  is  some  time  before  1860  when  we  find 
him  as  a  jolly  curate  under  Rev.  Mr.  Rolander  in  Tomberg  parish  in 
Westgothland. 

He  resigned  his  pastorate  and  came  to  America.  Here  he  was  al- 
most persuaded  to  re-enter  the  ministry  as  pastor  of  a  Swedish  con- 
gregation at  Litchfield.  But  at  the  critical  time  his  old  enemy,  drink, 
tripped  him  up. 

He  made  his  first  appearance  around  Kensington  about  1885-90.  He 
is  described  as  a  short,  thickset  man  of  about  70  years  of  age,  always 
cheerful  and  neat.  He  must  have  overcome  his  drink  habit,  for  none 
of  the  people  around  Hoffman  and  Kensington  ever  saw  him  drink  or 
under  the  influence  of  drink.  He  had  no  permanent  home  here,  but  as 
itinerant  schoolmaster  used  to  sojourn  for  a  few  weeks  at  different 
farmhouses,  getting  50  cents  per  month  for  each  child  taught.  His 
classes  used  to  number  six  to  eight  pupils,  giving  him  an  income  of 
$3  to  $4  per  month,  which  was  all  he  needed  for  clothes.     When  the 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  279 

times  and  the  seasons  were  inconvenient  for  schooling  he  used  to  quar- 
ter himself  upon  a  farmer.  He  was  extremely  lazy,  and  was  never 
known  to  have  assisted  in  the  harvest  or  carried  in  a  pail  of  water 
or  an  armful  of  wood.  He  preferred  to  repair  old  pipes,  bind  books, 
make  kitchen  knick  knacks,  etc. 

In  spite  of  his  laziness  the  farmers  were  always  glad  to  see  him 
because  of  his  wealth  of  local  news.  He  knew  of  births  and  deaths  and 
other  doings  far  and  wide,  and  was  the  forerunner  of  the  village  news- 
paper. Moreover  he  was  always  absolutely  reliable  in  all  his  gossip, 
conscientious  and  kindhearted  in  all  his  narratives,  and  clean  and 
agreeable  in  person.  He  was  without  any  ambition  and  never  studied. 
He  wrote  neither  books  nor  pamphlets,  his  literary  efforts  consisting 
of  humble  doggerels,  which  rarely  if  ever  were  printed.  He,  however, 
boasted  to  several  that  upon  one  illustrious  occasion  long  ago  In  Swe- 
den he  had  written  an  article  for  which  a  paper  had  paid  him  ten 
kroner  (about  $2.50). 

Although  he  always  seemed  contented,  there  was  an  undercurrent 
of  melancholy  in  him,  and  those  who  know  him  best  say  he  was  never 
happy  after  he  left  college.  Those  days  evoked  his  liveliest  memories, 
and  his  eyes  always  overflowed  with  tears  when  he  told  of  the  times 
when  he  with  300  or  400  other  students  used  to  sing  the  stirring  Swed- 
ish songs.  On  the  whole,  he  appears  to  have  been  a  tenderhearted, 
superficial  person  in  general,  with  a  deep  conscientiousness  which  pre- 
vented him  from  squaring  his  creed  with  the  doctrine  of  the  church, 
wearing  his  sorrows  as  well  as  his  joys  upon  his  sleeve,  inspiring  con- 
fidence in  all  by  his  openhearted  ways. 

He  had  been  visiting  for  a  year  with  a  nephew  in  Scott  county, 
when  he  in  1895  returned  to  Kensington  to  visit  friends.  On  approach- 
ing the  house  of  one  Andrew  Anderson,  he  suddenly  felt  ill,  where- 
upon he  went  in  there  and  died  after  a  three  days'  attack  of  an  un- 
known malady. 

Those  who  knew  him  best  in  Grant  and  Douglas  counties  are  Messrs, 
Oslund,  Thompson  and  Simonson  of  Red  Rock  Lake,  Hendrickson  of 
Hoffman,  Ekberg  of  Herman,  and  Moen,  Carlson,  Benson,  Ohman  and 
Oberg  of  Kensington,  all  among  the  most  respected  farmers  of  that 
section.  To  these  persons  and  many  others  I  put  the  following  ques- 
tions: 

Did  you  ever  see  or  hear  of  Fogelblad  making  runes  on  window 
casings,  doors,  or  elsewhere?  Did  he  ever  speak  of  American  discovery 
or  of  Scandinavians  having  visited  this  section  long  ago?  Do  you  be- 
lieve he  could  have  had  a  hand  in  making  the  Kensington  inscription? 

To  all  of  these  questions  I  received  an  invariable  and  unequivocal 
"no."  Not  one  had  seen  him  make  runes,  not  one  had  heard  him  speak 
of  Scandinavian  explorers  in  Minnesota,  not  one  believed  he  could  pos- 
sibly have  had  anything  to  do  with  the  Kensington  stone.     Many  of 


280  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

these  persons  doubted  the  stone's  genuineness,  but,  no  matter  who 
had  chiseled  it,  they  said,  they  were  sure  Fogelblad  was  innocent.  He 
was,  they  said,  too  honest  and  conscientious  to  have  perpetrated  such 
a  fraud;  he  had  no  aptitude  whatever  for  practical  jokes  and  decep- 
tions; he  was  too  lazy  to  have  executed  it,  and  too  garrulous  to  have 
concealed  it  if  he  had.  Furthermore,  it  is  plain  from  the  limitations 
of  his  early  training  and  later  opportunities  that  he  was  entirely  igno- 
rant of  the  fine  runological  and  linguistic  points  involved  in  this  in- 
scription. Finally,  he  did  not  make  his  appearance  around  Kensington 
until  many  years  after  the  tree  above  the  stone  had  wound  its  roots 
around  it. 

As  to  "Fryxell's  famous  book  on  the  Runes  of  East  Gothland," 
which,  according  to  Professors  Flom  and  Anderson,  contains  all  the 
material  for  this  inscription,  I  assert  Fogelblad  never  possessed  or  saw 
this  book,  for  one  excellent  reason — such  a  book  never  existed  except 
in  the  overwrought  minds  of  these  gentlemen  of  imaginary  rune  lore. 
Fryxell  never  wrote  any  book  whatsoever  on  runes.  For  information 
on  this,  see  every  Swedish  encyclopedia.  The  only  nut  of  truth  in  this 
entire  bag  of  husks  is  that  Andrew  Anderson  in  whose  house  Fogelblad 
died,  found  an  old  Swedish  grammar  (by  Almquist)  among  his  books. 
On  page  34  are  two  lines  of  runes  to  illustrate  the  development  of  the 
language.  This  book  he  gave  to  Olof  Ohman,  the  finder  of  the  stone, 
who  by  its  help  tried  to  make  out  the  inscriptions,  but  without  suc- 
cess. Three  years  ago  I  looked  over  Ohman's  books  in  his  absence  and 
found  this  work,  but  saw  at  once  that  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  in- 
scription, as  the  runes  are  different.  Last  spring  this  book  was  again 
brought  into  the  discussion  by  suspicious  persons,  and  I  then  asked 
Professor  Winchell,  the  state  archaeologist,  to  send  for  the  book,  which 
he  did.  He  then  laid  it  before  Norse  scholars,  who  said  it  would  be 
quite  impossible  to  have  constructed  the  inscription  from  this  alphabet. 

The  small  collection  of  books  left  by  Mr.  Sven  Fogelblad 
at  his  death,  at  the  home  of  Mr.  Andrew  Anderson,  was  found, 
on  inquiry  by  the  Museum  Committee,  to  have  been  disposed 
of  in  part  to  Rev.  M.  A.  Nordstroem,  of  Riverside,  California. 
In  order  to  push  the  investigation  of  this  question  still  further, 
inquiry  was  made  of  Mr.  Nordstroem  as  to  the  existence  of 
any  works  on  runes,  and  especially  by  Fryxell  on  runes,  in  the 
collection  owned  by  Fogelblad.  Mr.  Nordstroem  replied,  after 
some  delay  due  to  change  of  residence,  that  the  books  got 
by  him  were  on  philosophy,  that  Fogelblad  had  no  work  by 
Fryxell,  and  added  that,  in  his  opinion,  Fogelblad  could  not 
have  made  the  inscription. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  281 

Bibliography. 


The  chronologic  order  is  followed,  as  showing  best  the  devel- 
opment of  discussion  of  this  subject.  The  time  included  ex- 
tends to  September,  1910,  giving  a  considerable  number  of 
references  later  than  the  date  of  this  Report  by  the  Museum 
Committee,  but  preceding  its  publication.  Many  minor  articles 
and  comments  in  magazines  and  newspapers  are  omitted. 


Breda,  Prof.  O.  J.  An  interview  giving  an  account  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Rune  Stone.     Minneapolis  Journal,  Feb.  22,  1899. 

News  Report,  the  first  announcement  of  this  discovery  published  in 
the  Norwegian  press,  Skandinaven,  Chicago,  Feb.  22,  1899. 

Aaberg,  E.  E.  Further  account  of  the  discovery,  written  by  a 
local  resident  acquainted  with  its  details.  Skandinaven  (semi-weekly), 
Chicago,  March  1,  1899. 

Curme,  Prof.  G.  O.  Interview  presenting  in  a  brief  paragraph 
his  objection  to  the  use  of  the  decimal  system  in  the  inscription. 
Skandinaven,  March  1,  1899. 

Kirkeberg,  Rev.  O.  L.  An  able  translation  of  the  inscription, 
with  argument  in  favor  of  the  genuineness  of  the  stone.  Skandinaven, 
March  1,  1899. 

Curme,  Prof.  G.  0.  A  lengthy  interview,  favoring  the  genuineness 
of  the  inscription,  but  object;ng  to  the  apparently  English  word  from. 
Skandinaven,  March  3,  1899. 

CoNRADi,  P.  A.  Detailed  discussion  of  the  inscription,  presenting 
arguments  for  and  against  its  genuineness.  Skandinaven,  March  10, 
1899. 

Editorial  Article  in  Skandinaven,  March  15,  1899,  summarizing 
the  objections  of  Prof.  Oluf  Rygh  as  published  in  Morgenbladet,  Chris- 
tiania,  Norway.  These  are  the  supposed  English  words,  from,  of,  ded, 
and  unusual  runic  characters. 

Flom,  p.  L.  Communication  showing  that  from  was  in  use  in  Nor- 
way in  the  middle  ages.     Skandinaven,  March  24,  1899. 

Breda,  Prof.  0.  J.  Interview  giving  a  cablegram  from  professors 
of  Christiania  University,  discrediting  the  inscription  chiefly  because 
of  its  numerous  supposed  English  words.  Minneapolis  Tribune,  April 
16,  1899. 

This  opinion  silenced  all  who  had  been  interested  in  the  Rune  Stone, 
and  we  find  nothing  further  printed  about  it  until  1908. 

Holand,  Hjalmar  Rued.  First  account  of  the  stone  in  the 
revival  of  the  discussion,  containing  a  detailed  defense  of  its  genuine- 


282  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ness  and  a  full  translation.     Skandinaven,  Jan.  17,  1908;   printed  also 
in  several  other  Scandinavian  newspapers. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  The  second  chapter,  pages  8-22,  in  his  "De  Norske 
Settlementers  Historic"  (Ephraim,  Wis.,  1908),  gives  an  account  of 
the  visits  to  America  by  the  early  Norsemen  between  the  years  1000 
and  1362,  and  concludes  with  a  description  of  the  Kensington  Rune 
Stone.  A  view  of  the  stone  is  presented  from  a  photograph,  and  its 
inscription  is  printed  in  the  rune  characters,  with  a  manuscript  trans- 
literation. 

■  HoLAND,  H.  R.  Notes  of  correspondence  with  Prof.  Magnus  Olsen 
and  Helge  Gjessing,  of  Christiania  University,  giving  Mr.  Gjessing's 
objections  to  the  inscription  and  answers  to  them.  Decorah  Posten, 
Decorah,  Iowa,  May  14,  1909. 

Gjessing^  Helge,  Runestenen  fra  Kensington.  The  full  publica- 
tion of  his  objections,  in  Symra,  Decorah,  Iowa,  Vol.  5,  No.  3,  pp.  113- 
126,  Sept.,  1909. 

IvERSLiE,  P.  P.  Kensingtonstenen.  An  able  support  of  Mr.  Hol- 
and's  arguments  in  favor  of  the  stone  and  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Gjess- 
ing's conclusions.    Kvartalskrift,  Eau  Claire,  Wis.,  July,  1909,  pp.  13-21. 

Editorial  Article  in  La  Nature,  Paris,  France,  Aug.  14,  1909, 
giving  the  history  of  the  discovery  of  the  stone  and  discussions  of  it, 
and  presenting  the  probability  of  its  genuineness. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "An  Explorer's  Stone  Record  which  antedates 
Columbus:  a  Tragic  Inscription  unearthed  in  Minnesota,  recording 
the  Fate  of  a  Band  of  Scandinavian  Adventurers."  Harper's  Weekly, 
Oct.  9,  1909,  p.  15. 

FossuM,  Prof.  Andrew.  "Hudson  Bay  Route  to  Solve  Prob- 
lem." A  defense  of  the  inscription  by  an  able  presentation  of  the 
feasibility  of  the  explorers'  route  by  the  way  of  Hudson  bay,  the 
Nelson  river,  lake  Winnipeg,  and  the  Red  river.  Norwegian  American, 
Northfield,  Minn.,  Oct.  22,  1909.  This  article  was  printed  also  in  Nor- 
wegian in  Skandinaven,  Oct.  26. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "The  Skerries  Discovered."  An  account  of  the 
author's  discovery  of  the  skerries  mentioned  in  the  inscription.  Nor- 
wegian American,  Nov.  19,  1909.  The  same  account  in  Norwegian, 
accompanied  by  a  map  of  Pelican  lake,  showing  the  position  of  the 
skerries  and  probable  location  of  the  camp  of  the  explorers,  was 
published  in  Skandinaven,  Nov.  29. 

Odland,  M.  W.  "The  Kensington  Rune  Stone  is  Genuine."  Min- 
neapolis Journal,  Nov.  29,  1909. 

Norman,    Rev.    O.    A.      "More  about  the  Rune  Stone, by 

one   who  was  associated   in  the  Discovery  of  the  Skerries."     Ashby 
(Minn.)  Post,  Dec.  3,  1909. 

News  Report  of  a  meeting  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society, 
Dec  13,  1909,  giving  synopses  of  addresses  by  H.  R.  Holand,  Prof.  N. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE   STONE.  288 

H.  Winchell,  Prof.  Andrew  Possum,  and  Dr.  Knut  Hoegh,  all  in  defense 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  inscription.  Pioneer  Press,  St.  Paul,  Minn., 
Dec.  14,  1909. 

News  Report,  noting  resolutions  by  the  Council  of  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society,  requesting  the  Governor  of  Minnesota  to  institute 
a  search  in  Paris  for  a  supposed  rune  stone  found  in  the  Northwest  by 
Verendrye  in  his  expeditions  of  1738-43,  related  by  Peter  Kalm 
in  his  "Travels  into  North  America"  (London  edition,  1771, 
Vol.  Ill,  pp.  124-128).     The  Dispatch,  St.  Paul,  Dec.  14,  1909. 

News  Reports,  more  detailed,  of  the  addresses  on  Dec.  13,  in  the 
meeting  of  this  Historical  Society,  including  nearly  all  of  Professor 
Winchell's  address.     Norwegian  American,  Dec.  17,  1909. 

Hoegh,  Dr.  Knut.  Report  by  the  chairman  of  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  Norwegian  Society  of  Minneapolis  to  investigate  the 
discovery  of  the  stone.  The  report  shows  that  it  had  lain  where  it 
was  found  since  about  1860,  at  least,  and  strongly  favors  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  inscription.     Symra,  Vol.  5,  No.  4,  pp.  178-189,  Dec,  1909. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  A  reply  in  Symra,  Vol.  5,  No.  4,  pp.  209-213,  to  the 
arguments  of  Mr.  Gjessing  in  its  preceding  number  as  before  cited. 

Upham,  Warren.  "The  Kensington  Rune  Stone,  its  Discovery, 
its  Inscriptions,  and  Opinions  concerning  them."  Records  of  the  Past, 
Washington,  D.  C,  Vol.  IX,  Part  1,  pp.  3-7,  Jan.-Feb.,  1910;  with  prints 
from  photographs  showing  the  inscriptions  on  the  face  and  edge  of 
the  stone. 

Daae,  Dr.  Anders.  Concise  summary  of  the  discussion  up  to 
date,  concluding  that  the  opponents  of  the  stone  have  not  properly 
investigated  the  subject  before  forming  their  conclusions.  Aften- 
posten,  Christiania,  Norway,  Jan.  18,  1910. 

News  Report  of  a  meeting  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society, 
Feb.  3,  1910,  in  which  an  address  relating  to  the  probable  genuineness 
of  this  Rune  Stone  was  delivered  by  H.  R.  Holand,  followed  by  argu- 
ments of  Dr.  Chester  N.  Gould,  of  Chicago  University,  and  Prof. 
George  T.  Flom,  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  against  it.  Skandinaven, 
Feb.  5,  1910. 

Anderson,  Prof.  Rasmus  B.  "Prof.  Anderson  calls  it  a  Fraud," 
a  sharp  attack  on  the  Rune  Stone  and  Mr.  Holand's  integrity.  Wis- 
consin State  Journal,  Madison,  Wis.,  Feb.  7,  1910. 

Holand,  H.  R.  Rebuttal  of  the  arguments  presented  in  the  pre- 
ceding article.    Wisconsin  State  Journal,  Feb.  8,  1910. 

Holand,  H.  R.  An  interview  entitled  "Wed  with  Indians,"  present- 
ing the  probability  that  the  blue-eyed  Mandan  Indians  are  the  result  of 
intermarriage  of  the  explorers  of  1362  with  the  Indians  of  that  region. 
Pioneer  Press,  Feb.  15,  1910. 

Anderson,  Prof.  R.  B.  Editorial  attacks  against  the  Kensington 
stone   and   Mr.   Holand.     Amerika,   Madison,   Wis.,  Feb.   18,   1910.     In 


284  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

the  next  issue  of  Amerika,  Feb.  25,  are  a  letter  by  Warren  Upham, 
Secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  concerning  that  society's 
investigation  of  the  stone  and  its  inscriptions,  and  Professor  Ander- 
son's editorial  reply. 

Gates,  Rev.  Horatio.  A  summary  of  the  discovery  and  discus- 
sion, with  numerous  references  supporting  the  genuineness  of  the 
inscriptions.     Republican   Gazette,  Willmar,  Minn.,  March  24,  1910.. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "A  Fourteenth-Century  Columbus,"  noting  that  a 
Norse  expedition  under  the  command  of  Paul  Knutson  sailed  from 
Bergen  to  Greenland  in  1355  and  returned  in  1364,  and  that  probably 
they  went  into  Hudson  bay  and  thence  advanced  inland  to  the  site  of 
the  Kensington  stone.     Harper's  Weekly,  March  26,  1910. 

Hagen,  Prof,  O.  E.  "Ad  Utrumque  Parati  Simus."  An  interesting 
discussion  of  the  credentials  of  this  Rune  Stone,  with  the  conclusion 
that  the  runes  and  the  language  of  the  inscription  will  yield  "its  own 
vindication  or  condemnation."     Amerika,  April  1,  1910. 

Huseby,  Olaf.  a  defense  of  the  language  of  the  stone,  particu- 
larly of  the  word  from.    Skandinaven,  April  9,  1910. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  A  reply  to  Professor  Flom's  objections  to  the 
inscription,  as  presented  by  him  at  the  meeting,  Feb.  3,  of  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society.     Skandinaven,  April  21,  1910. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "The  Oldest  Native  Document  in  America;"  the 
address  delivered  before  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  as  before 
noted,  Dec.  13,  1909,  giving  a  narration  of  the  finding  of  the  Rune 
Stone,  with  affidavits  relating  thereto,  and  a  full  statement  of  the 
arguments,  general,  runic,  and  linguistic,  on  both  sides  of  the  contro- 
versy, showing  the  probable  reliability  of  the  inscription  as  a  his- 
torical record.  Journal  of  American  History,  Vol.  IV,  No.  2,  pp.  1G5- 
184,  April,  1910. 

Breda,  Prof.  O.  J.  "Rundt  Kensington-stenen."  A  satirical  arti- 
cle, noting  the  improbabilities  of  an  exploration  so  far  inland,  and 
reminding  the  reader  of  the  adverse  opinions  uttered  by  Norse  scholars 
when  the  stone  was  found.     Symra,  Vol.  6,  No.  2,  pp.  65-80,  May,  1910. 

Dieserud,  Juul.  "Holand  og  Kensingtonspogen."  Detailed  objec- 
tions against  the  language  of  the  inscription.  Skandinaven,  May  4, 
and  Amerika,  May  13,  1910. 

WiNCHELL,  Prof.  N.  H.  News  report  entitled  "I  believe  the  Stone 
is  Genuine."  Norwegian  American,  Northfield,  Minn.,  May  13,  1910. 
This  article  and  others  in  the  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  newspapers. 
May  10-12,  contain  extracts  from  the  Report  of  the  Museum  Committee 
of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  read  by  Professor  Winchell  at  the 
society's  monthly  meeting,  May  9. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "Kensington-stenen."  Lengthy  replies  to  Mr.  Dies- 
erud's  objections  stated  in  the  foregoing  article.  Skandinaven,  May 
18  and  23,  1910. 


THE   KENSINGTON   RUNE    STONE.  285 

Anderson,  Prof,  R.  B.  "The  Kensington  Rune  Stone  once 
more:  Draw  your  own  Conclusions."  This  article  claims  that  one 
Andrew  Anderson  practically  admitted  to  the  writer  that  he  and  Olof 
Ohman,  the  finder  of  the  stone,  assisted  a  former  preacher  named 
Fogelblad  in  forging  the  inscription.  Amerika,  May  27,  1910;  reprinted 
also  in  the  Democrat,  Madison,  Wis.,  of  the  same  date. 

WiNCHELL,  Prof.  N.  H.  "Letters  from  Rune  Suspects."  Letters 
of  Andrew  Anderson  and  Olof  Ohman,  denying  and  disproving  the 
preceding  accusation,  and  showing  the  impossibility  of  any  collusion 
between  them.     Norwegian  American,  June  10,  1910. 

Anderson,  Prof.  R.  B.,  and  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell.  "Opinions 
differ  on  Rune  Stone."  An  interview  with  the  former,  accusing  Rev. 
Sven  Fogelblad  of  making  the  inscription,  and  letters  from  the  latter 
and  from  Andrew  Anderson,  refuting  that  statement.  Minneapolis 
Journal,  June  10,'  1910. 

IvERSLiE,  P.  P.  Rebuttal  of  the  arguments  against  the  inscription 
presented  by  Mr.  Dieserud  as  before  noted.  Amerika,  June  10,  17,  and 
24,  1910. 

Daae,  Dr.  Anders.  "Var  Normandene  i  Amerika  i  1362?"  Re- 
view of  recent  developments  in  the  discussion,  including  a  signed  invi- 
tation from  professors  at  Christiania  University  that  the  stone  be 
brought  there  for  renewed  investigation.  Aftenposten,  Christiania, 
Norway,  June  12,  1910. 

Flom,  Prof.  Gp:orge  T.  "The  Kensington  Rune  Stone;  a  Mod- 
ern Inscription  from  Douglas  County,  Minnesota."  This  address, 
delivered  to  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Sociefy  at  its  Annual  Meet- 
ing, May  5-6,  1910,  is  a  very  elaborate  array  of  arguments,  from  many 
points  of  view,  against  the  genuineness  of  this  rune  inscription,  with 
intimation  that  Mr.  Fogelblad  may  have  been  its  author.  Publication 
of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Library,  No.  15,  June,  1910;  43  pages, 
with  a  large  plate  view  of  the  rune  stone,  showing  separately  the 
records  on  its  face  and  edge,  and  a  plate  of  the  runic  alphabets  used 
in  the  Scanian  Law,  the  Lament  of  the  Virgin,  and  this  Kensington 
inscription. 

ScHAEFER,  Rev.  Francis  J.  "The  Kensington  Rune  Stone." 
Narration  of  the  discovery,  description  of  the  stone,  with  a  plate  from 
photographs,  and  discussion  of  the  inscription,  concluding  that  it 
probably  is  genuine.  Acta  et  Dicta  (published  by  the  St.  Paul  Catholic 
Historical  Society),  Vol.  II,  No.  2,  pp.  206-210,  July,  1910. 

Dieserud,  Juul.  Restatement  of  his  arguments  against  the 
stone.     Skandinaven,  July  11,  1910. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  Reply  to  the  article  last  cited.  Skandinaven,  July 
29,  1910. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  Report  of  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  rumor 
relating  to  Sven  Fogelblad,  entirely  exonerating  him  from  complicity 


286  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

in  authorship  of  the  inscription.  Skandinaven,  Aug.  4,  and  the  Min- 
neapolis Journal,  Aug.  9,  1910;   reprinted  in  the  preceding  pages    57-60. 

IVERSLiE,  P.  P.  "Comments  on  the  Rune  Stone,"  in  support  of  its 
genuineness.     Norwegian  American,  Aug.  12,  1910. 

Grevstad,  N.  a.  Editorial  review  of  Professor  Flom's  address, 
before  noted,  the  reviewer's  conclusion  being  that  the  arguments  in 
favor  of  the  stone  are  stronger  than  its  opponents  admit.  Skandi- 
naven, Sept.  5,  1910. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "Mere  om  Kensington  Stenen."  Statement  of  the 
geological  features  of  the  stone,  and  notes  of  the  opinions  of  experts 
concerning  the  antiquity  of  the  inscription.  Skandinaven,  Sept.  17, 
1910. 

Petterson,  a.  E.  An  interesting  summary  of  Icelandic  traditions 
of  late  voyages  to  Vinland,  supporting  the  genuineness  of  the  stone. 
Skandinaven,  Sept.  24,  1910. 

HoLAND,  H.  R.  "Are  there  English  Words  on  the  Kensington  Rune 
Stone?"  An  investigation  of  the  supposed  English  words  (the  most 
common  objection),  showing  them  to  be  of  ancient  Norse  usage, 
exhibiting  philological  features  practically  impossible  for  a  forger. 
Records  of  the  Past,  Vol.  IX,  Part  V,  pp.  240-245,  Sept.-Oct.,  1910. 


Note  Added  for  this  Volume  XV. 

In  accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  Professor  Bothne 
(page  269),  this  Rune  Stone,  which  had  been  on  exhibition 
about  a  year  in  this  Society's  Museum,  was  taken  by  Mr. 
Holand  in  May,  1911,  for  exhibition  at  the  Norman  Millennial 
Celebration  in  June  at  Rouen,  France,  where  he  gave  an  ad- 
dress on  this  subject. 

Later  in  the  summer,  Mr.  Holand  traveled  with  this  stone 
to  Sweden  and  Norway,  and  it  was  examined  by  expert  Scan- 
dinavian runologists  and  linguists,  especially  at  the  University 
of  Christiania.  Their  criticisms,  and  the  theory  of  Professor 
Flom,  that  the  inscription  has  modern  forms  of  runes  and  of 
words  peculiar  to  the  district  of  Dalarme,  are  reviewed  by 
Holand  in  an  article  entitled  "The  Kensington  Rune  Stone 
Abroad,"  in  Records  of  the  Past  (Vol.  X,  Part  V,  pages  260- 
271,  Sept.-Oct.,  1911). 

After  carefully  considering  all  the  opposing  arguments,  the 
Museum  Committee  of  this  Society,  and  Mr.  Holand,  owner  of 
the  stone,  believe  its  inscription  is  a  true  historic  record. 


THE  PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND 
OF  MINNESOTA.* 


BY  HON.  SAMUEL  G.  IVERSON,  STATE  AUDITOR. 


An  Address  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  the  Minnesota 

Historical  Society,  in  the  Hall  of  the  House 

of  Representatives,  February  13,  1911. 


Mr.  President  and  Members  of  the  Historical  Society : 

It  is  with  a  sincere  appreciation  of  the  honor  conferred 
upon  me  that  I  accept  the  invitation  of  your  officers  to  pre- 
sent a  paper  on  the  "Public  Lands  and  School  Fund  of  Minne- 
sota." It  is  eminently  proper  that  a  narrative  of  this  nature 
should  be  found  among  your  files,  for  this  honorable  society 
and  its  membership  have  been  intimately  associated  with  the 
established  State  School  Land  policies  and  the  resulting  school 
fund  since  1849. 

It  has  been  the  settled  policy  of  the  United  States  since  the 
Republic  was  formed,  to  assist  new  Territories  and  States  by 
grants  of  land  for  common  schools,  a  university,  public  build- 
ings, charitable  institutions,  and  other  purposes.  The  manner 
of  handling  or  disposing  of  the  lands  was  left  with  the  people 
of  the  several  states.  The  Federal  Congress  has  up  to  the 
present  time  regarded  the  Public  Domain  as  belonging  to  the 
people  in  general,  and  its  laws  have  been  framed  so  as  to  en- 
courage the  settlement  and  development  of  the  country.  Pub- 
lic lands  have  never  been  regarded  by  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment as  a  source  of  revenue  or  profit.  Most  of  the  states 
admitted  into  the  Union  before  Minnesota  followed  the  gen- 
eral policy  of  the  Federal  Government  to  a  large  extent,  and 
made  liberal  prices  and  terms  on  their  school  and  other  public 
lands,  to  encourage  settlers  and  develop  their  states.  Minne- 
sota early  adopted  a  conservation  policy,  which  should  aid  the 
state's  development  and  also  insure  the  enjoyment  of  our  rich 

♦Published  in  advance  of  this  volume,  February,  1911. 


288  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

natural  resources  by  the  citizens  of  coming  generations.  It 
will  be  the  aim  of  this  paper  to  tell  how  the  people  of  Minne- 
sota have  handled  the  liberal  gifts  of  land  received  from  the 
United  States  Government. 

Our  achievements  in  this  regard  are  sources  of  wonder- 
ment among  people  in  older  states  of  the  Union,  and  of  emula- 
tion by  the  citizens  of  those  states  which  have  been  admitted 
in  recent  years.  The  results  have  not  been  due  to  automatic 
operations,  but  to  determined  and  intelligent  work  on  the  part 
of  the  splendid  men  and  women  of  territorial  days.  Neigh- 
boring states,  as  well  located  geographically,  of  equally  favor- 
able climatic  conditions,  received  about  the  same,  or  even 
larger,  grants  of  land  from  Congress;  they  also  had  vast 
tracts  of  rich  agricultural  lands,  majestic  forests  of  valuable 
timber  and  immense  deposits  of  iron  and  other  minerals.  The 
Minnesota  School  Fund  will,  however,  receive  more  money 
from  one  section  of  school  land,  the  Hill  Iron  Mine,  than  the 
states  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  combined  have  re- 
ceived, or  will  ever  receive,  from  all  the  lands  granted  to  them 
by  Congress.  It  will  be  my  endeavor  to  present  as  briefly  as 
possible  those  facts  in  our  history  which  have  been  largely 
instrumental  in  shaping  the  land  laws,  which  have  proven  so 
beneficial  to  our  citizens,  and  even  to  the  people  of  other  states. 
The  discussion  will  contain  no  reference  to  Government  and 
Indian  lands,  or  to  any  part  of  the  public  domain,  but  be  con- 
fined wholly  to  lands  granted  by  Congress  directly  to  the  terri- 
tory or  state  for  the  welfare  of  the  people. 

FOUNDATION  OF  THE  SCHOOL  FUND  BY  GOVERNOR  RAMSEY. 

On  January  9,  1861,  Governor  Ramsey  delivered  a  remark- 
able message  to  the  Legislature.  Among  other  public  matters 
discussed,  he  therein  stated  that  he  believed  in  fifty  years  from 
that  time  the  three  million  acres  of  school  land,  when  sold, 
would  yield  an  annual  revenue  which  would  raise  our  educa- 
tional system  above  the  level  of  that  of  any  other  state  in  the 
Union.  Of  the  remaining  lands  granted  by  Congress  to  the 
state  government,  including  swamp  lands,  he  stated  they  might 
realize  seven  million  dollars,  the  income  from  which  would 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     289 

endow  the  University  and  Normal  Schools,  pay  off  the  public 
debt,  and  aid  in  establishing  a  system  of  broad,  public  chari- 
ties. The  old  saying,  ^' Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way,'* 
has  been  well  illustrated  in  this  connection.  Under  right  guid- 
ance our  early  legislators  were  saved  from  the  errors  that  be- 
fell neighboring  states.  They  builded  wiser  than  they  knew. 
Our  great  War  Governor  spoke  with  almost  prophetic  fore- 
sight. His  dream,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  of  a  great  school 
fund  has  become  a  reality.  The  half  century  period  has  just 
been  passed  and  our  school  fund  alone,  in  actual,  interest- 
bearing  securities,  amounts  to  Twenty-one  Million  Five  Hun- 
dred Thousand  Dollars,  and  we  still  have  more  than  a  million 
acres  of  school  land  alone  unsold.  The  lands  in  the  other  funds 
have  produced  more  than  Six  Million  Dollars,  and  there  are 
now  about  two  million  acres  unsold. 

The  school  fund  is  not,  and  perhaps  never  will  be,  large 
enough  to  wholly  support  our  public  schools,  but  it  now  is  and 
will  always  be  a  great  help  to  the  tax-payer  and  a  guaranty  of 
free  common  schools.  The  lands  of  the  other  funds  have  been 
largely  devoted  to  the  purposes  indicated  in  that  message. 
Our  people  of  today  speak  of  our  school  fund  with  feelings  of 
pride,  and  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  before  another 
fifty-year  period  has  passed  our  State  Trust  Funds  will  have 
reached  the  Two  Hundred  Million  Dollar  mark.  These  are 
marvellous  figures.  The  business  of  caring  for  the  sale  or  leas- 
ing of  land  is  not  an  ordinary  function  of  state  government. 
During  all  these  years  the  State  has  occupied  the  position  of 
trustee  or  guardian.  Therefore  the  story  of  our  "State  Lands 
and  the  School  Fund  of  Minnesota"  is  of  unusual  interest,  as 
it  is  intimately  related  to  the  entire  romantic  history  of  the 
State.  It  is  interesting  to  recall  some  of  the  early  incidents 
which  led  up  to  the  adoption  of  sound  policies  for  the  care 
and  control  of  these  lands. 

The  assets  of  a  State  or  Nation  may  be  placed  in  three 
divisions,  the  natural  resources  or  endowment  from  an  All- Wise 
Creator,  its  citizenship,  and  its  government  and  laws.  These 
are  the  essentials.  There  can  be  no  organized,  successful  com- 
munity without  harmonious  union  of  these  three  indispensable 


290  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

factors  in  nation  building.  The  intelligence,  happiness,  and 
prosperity  of  a  people,  to  a  large  extent,  may  be  measured  by 
those  standards. 

In  natural'  resources  Minnesota  was  highly  favored.  No 
like  area  on  the  North  American  continent  was  more  lavishly 
endowed  with  fertile  lands,  forests,  mines,  lakes,  rivers,  and 
salubrious  climate.  Here  was  indeed  a  land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey,  where  untold  treasure  merely  awaited  the  oncom- 
ing pioneer.  The  fame  of  these  glittering  opportunities  spread 
abroad  and  attracted  many  brave  men  and  women  who  were 
willing  to  grapple  with  strenuous  frontier  life.  Ohio,  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  York,  and  the  New  England  states,  contributed 
most  of  the  earliest  arrivals,  and  soon  afterward  came  the 
sturdy  immigrants  from  Canada  and  Europe.  No  Territory 
was  more  fortunate  in  its  pioneers.  The  organization  of  the 
Territorial  and  State  governments  brought  the  ablest  men  of 
the  Territory  together.  A  sound  provisional  government  was 
launched,  with  wholesome  and  practical  laws.  The  foundation 
or  groundwork  of  any  structure  is  exceedingly  important,  and 
none  more  so  than  one  upon  which  is  to  be  erected  a  political 
structure  dedicated  to  civilization  and  humanity's  inherent 
rights.    Here  again  was  Minnesota  highly  favored. 

President  Taylor  sent  a  Governor  to  the  Territory  who  was 
a  diplomat,  a  master  in  statecraft  and  with  wide  experience 
in  public  affairs.  Above  all  else  he  was  honest,  patriotic,  and 
carried  a  level  head  on  a  pair  of  broad  shoulders.  Alexander 
Ramsey  was  a  giant  among  big  men  who  were  his  co-laborers. 
He  was  pre-eminently  ''the  Man  of  the  Hour."  He  wove  into 
the  basic  political  structure  of  Minnesota  the  same  elements  of 
strength  that  Washington  and  Lincoln  gave  to  the  Republic, — 
wisdom  and  true  patriotism.  Ramsey  was  in  truth  the  founder 
of  our  great  commonwealth  and  the  father  of  the  Minnesota 
School  Fund. 

The  act  of  Congress  authorizing  a  Territorial  Government 
for  Minnesota  was  approved  March  3,  1849.  Among  other 
things  it  provided  that  when  the  lands  in  the  Territory  should 
be  surveyed,  sections  16  and  36  in  each  township  were  reserved 
for  the  purpose  of  schools  in  the  Territory  or  State  which 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     291 

would  follow.  Prior  to  that  time  Congress  had  only  granted 
one  section  (16)  in  each  township  to  a  new  territory  or  state. 
Minnesota,  therefore,  was  tt  e  first  to  receive  this  double  allow- 
ance for  schools.  In  the  same  year  a  census  was  taken,  which 
showeii  the  total  population  to  be  4,940.  The  value  of  all  prop- 
erty, both  real  and  personal,  was  assessed  for  taxation  pur- 
poses, and  amounted  to  $806,437.48.  During  the  first  year  of 
the  Territory's  existence  the  total  amount  of  warrants  drawn 
on  the  Treasury  was  $1,030.50,  truly  a  modest  beginning. 

Governor  Ramsey  reached  the  Territory  in  May,  1849.  The 
following  September  the  first  session  of  the  Legislative  As- 
sembly of  the  Territory  was  held  in  St.  Paul.  The  joint  session 
was  held  in  the  dining  room  of  a  hotel  built  of  logs,  situated 
on  Third  street.  Among  the  sound  words  in  his  first  message 
to  the  Legislative  Assembly  were : 

Nature  has  done  much  for  us.  Our  productive  soil  and  salubrious 
climate  will  bring  thousands  of  immigrants  within  our  borders;  it  is 
of  the  utmost  moment  that  the  foundations  of  our  legislation  should 

be  healthful  and  solid Thus  you  will  see,  gentlemen,  that  yours 

is  a  most  interesting  and  responsible  position,  and  that  in  your  hands, 
more  than  in  that  of  any  future  Legislative  Assembly,  will  be  the 
"destinies  of  Minnesota."  ...  No  portion  of  the  earth's  surface, 
perhaps,  combines  so  many  favorable  features  for  the  settler  as  this 
Territory. 

In  the  introductory  part  of  this  memorable  message  the 
Governor  displayed  that  breadth  of  vision  which  marks  him 
as  a  constructive  statesman.  With  rare  wisdom  he  compre- 
hended the  seriousness  and  the  importance  of  the  work  they 
were  about  to  undertake  as  it  might  affect  the  welfare  of  the 
future  commonwealth.    I  quote  the  following: 

To  this  distant  land,  so  recently  a  wilderness,  the  Congress  and 
Executive  of  the  Nation  have  just  given  a  name,  an  organized  govern- 
ment, and  boundaries  of  the  most  extended  character.  These  have 
been  given  us,  that  we  may  in  the  future  bear  a  distinctive  part  in  that 
common  destiny  of  progress  by  which  the  American  name  and  Amer- 
ican institutions  are,  by  superior  intelligence,  labor  and  energy,  con- 
tinually borne  peacefully  onward,  to  occupy  distant  regions  with  civil- 
ization and  cultivated  happiness. 

That  our  part  is  sustained  in  a  manner  in  consonance  with  the 
national   character — that  the  footsteps   of   our   infant  commonwealth 


292  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

are  guided  and  the  twig  bent,  while  it  is  yet  young,  in  the  true  direc- 
tion of  political  and  moral  greatness— depends,  in  a  vast  degree,  upon 
the  earlier  legislation  of  the  Territory.  Whilst  this  legislation  should 
be  politically  wise,  it  should  likewise  indicate,  as  it  can  measurably 
create,  that  high  moral  tone  which  will  ever  attract  us  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  people  who  rightly  deem  a  regard  for  an  eternal  future  as 
a  consideration  not  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  the  selection  of  a  location 
for  the  pursuit  of  temporal  happiness  or  wealth. 

The  establishment  of  a  public  school  system,  as  well  as  the 
handling  of  the  school  lands,  received  careful  thought  and  at- 
tention. Our  pioneers  believed  in  the  profound  doctrine  laid 
down  in  the  great  Ordinance  of  1787,  that  ' '  Religion,  morality, 
and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good  government,  schools 
and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged. ' '  They 
proceeded  slowly  and  cautiously  in  the  organization  of  the 
public  school  system.  As  early  as  February,  1851,  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature  passed  an  act  creating  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  and  adopted  a  memorial  to  Congress  asking  for  a 
grant  of  one  hundred  thousand  acres  as  an  endowment  for  its 
support.  Congress  the  same  year  did  make  the  grant  of  two 
townships,  or  about  44,000  acres,  for  that  purpose.  The  lands 
were  to  be  set  apart  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

DEBATES   IN   THE   CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION. 

The  members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  which  met 
in  1857,  had  an  extensive  debate  on  the  manner  of  handling 
the  school  lands  and  school  funds.  It  was  proposed  and 
strongly  supported,  that  each  county  organization  should  have 
complete  control  over  the  school  lands  within  its  borders ;  that 
the  sale  should  be  conducted  by  and  through  the  county  com- 
missioners; and  that  the  money  collected  should  be  received, 
cared  for,  invested,  and  apportioned,  by  the  county  authorities. 
It  was  urged  that  as  the  funds  would  some  day  be  very  large, 
it  would  be  dangerous  to  trust  so  much  wealth  to  the  care  and 
control  of  any  single  state  officer,  or  of  a  central  board,  com- 
posed of  several  state  officers.  The  questions  were  debated 
with  fervency  and  zeal.  The  printed  debates  record  that  the 
experiences  of  the  neighboring  states  were  frequently  referred 
to,  and  the  members  were  warned  to  avoid  those  methods 
which  had  produced  such  unfortunate  results. 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     293 

Thomas  Wilson,  of  Winona,  Thomas  J.  Galbraith,  of  Shak- 
opee,  and  others,  spoke  against  the  county  plan,  advocating  one 
permanent  central  fund,  the  income  from  which  should  be  di- 
vided equally  among  all  the  school  children  of  the  entire  state, 
treating  them  all  alike.  It  was  pointed  out  that  in  certain 
counties  where  the  school  population  might  be  numerous,  and 
in  need  of  large  amounts  to  help  support  the  schools,  the  in- 
come from  the  school  fund  would  be  small  because  of  the  small 
acreage  and  inferior  quality  of  the  land  .  On  the  other  hand  in 
certain  counties  of  more  extensive  areas,  but  more  sparsely  set- 
tled and  having  fewer  school  children,  the  school  fund  might 
be  greater,  owing  to  the  larger  acreage  of  land,  which  might 
include  tracts  of  valuable  pine  timber.  Under  the  State  Per- 
manent Fund  proposition,  all  the  school  children  of  the  state, 
in  city,  village  or  country,  in  densely  or  sparsely  settled  coun- 
ties, were  placed  on  an  absolute  equality,  and  each  should 
share  alike  in  the  division  of  the  income  from  this  fund.  It 
was  also  maintained  that  this  was  in  harmony  with  the  terms 
of  the  Act  of  Congress  making  the  grant,  as  it  was  a  grant  to 
the  State  of  Minnesota  for  the  use  of  schools,  and  not  a  grant 
to  the  county. 

It  was  finally  decided  that  the  school  lands  should  be  sold 
at  public  sale,  the  principal  to  be  forever  preserved  inviolate, 
and  undiminished  as  a  perpetual  school  fund  of  the  state,  and 
that  the  income  arising  from  such  fund  should  be  distributed 
to  the  townships  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  scholars  be- 
tween the  ages  of  five  and  twenty-one  years.  The  Legislature 
was  given  authority  over  the  investment  of  the  funds.  The 
debate  showed  a  wide  range  of  opinion  among  the  members, 
but  the  sentiment  seemed  to  crystallize,  as  the  several  argu- 
ments were  made,  in  favor  of  one  central  fund.  When  it  came 
to  a  vote  there  were  only  five  votes  in  favor  of  the  county  plan 
and  thirty-nine  in  favor  of  the  state-wide  consolidated  plan. 

GRANTS   OF   LAND    BY   CONGRESS. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  actual  establishment  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment, several  grants  of  land  had  been  made  by  Congress 
for  the  various  uses  of  the  state. 


294  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Under  Sections  8  and  9  of  Chapter  16  of  an  Act  of  Congress 
approved  September  4,  1841,  a  grant  of  five  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  was  made  to  the  several  states  then  in  existence, 
and  further  grants  of  a  like  acreage  to  each  new  state  there- 
after admitted  into  the  Union.  The  act  further  provided  that 
the  land  so  granted  should  not  be  disposed  of  at  a  price  less 
than  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  and  that  the  net 
proceeds  from  the  sale  of  said  land  should  be  faithfuly  applied 
to  internal  improvements,  namely,  ''roads,  railways,  bridges, 
canals  and  improved  water  courses  and  draining  of  swamps, 
and  such  roads,  railways,  canals,  bridges,  and  water  courses, 
when  drained,  or  improved,  to  be  free  for  the  transportation 
of  United  States  mail,  munitions  of  war,  passage  of  troops, 
without  payment  of  any  toll  whatever."  The  Act  of  Congress 
authorizing  a  State  government,  approved  February  26,  1857, 
carried  with  it  several  specific  grants  to  the  State :  first,  sec- 
tions 16  and  36,  or  1,280  acres,  in  each  township  for  the  use 
of  schools;  second,  seventy-two  sections  for  a  University,  to  be 
selected  by  the  Governor  (additional  to  the  grant  made  in 
1851) ;  third,  ten  sections,  or  6,400  acres,  to  be  selected  by  the 
Governor,  for  piiUic  huildings;  fourth,  all  salt  springs  within 
the  state,  not  exceeding  twelve  in  number,  with  six  sections 
of  land  adjoining,  or  contiguous  as  may  be,  to  be  selected  by 
the  Governor,  to  be  used  or  disposed  of  as  the  Legislature  shall 
direct.  On  March  12,  1860,  Congress  passed  an  Act  granting 
to  Minnesota  all  the  swamp  and  overflowed  lands  within  our 
borders,  which  had  not  been  previously  reserved  or  conveyed. 

LAWS   OF   MINNESOTA   RELATING   TO   THE    SCHOOL   FUND. 

In  his  second  message  to  the  State  Legislature,  delivered 
in  January,  1861,  Governor  Ramsey  minutely  discussed  the 
need  of  a  careful  management  of  our  school  lands,  and  again 
reminded  the  Legislature  of  its  responsibilities  to  future  gen- 
erations.   He  said : 

Of  this  magnificent  grant,  the  great  gift  of  the  nation  to  all  the  mil- 
lions who  are  to  inhabit  the  soil  of  Minnesota,  you  are  stewards  in 
their  behalf,  and  it  devolves  upon  you  to  see  that  the  sacred  trusts 
involved  are  faithfully  executed 

The  precedent  which  you  shall  establish  will  go  far  to  shape  the 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     295 

future  policy  of  the  State  in  this  regard,  and  therefore  upon  you  will 
depend,  in  a  great  measure,  whether  these  vast  estates,  consecrated  to 
the  noblest  aspirations  of  a  free  people,— to  Education,  which  is  the 
root  of  liberty,  and  to  Charity,  which  is  its  fruit,— shall  be  husbanded 
with  a  wise  and  statesmanlike  economy,  or  squandered  with  a  blind 
improvidence, — whether  the  institutions  to  be  built  upon  these  ample 
foundations  shall  be  forecast  to  the  broad  measure  of  our  destiny,  or 
stunted  in  their  germ  by  a  selfish  eagerness  for  premature  results.  .  .  . 
Looking,  then,  at  the  ultimate  fund  to  be  derived  from  the  school 
lands  as  a  permanent  resource  of  education  for  all  time  to  come,  it  is 
for  you  to  decide  what  this  magnificent  endowment  is  to  be  worth  as 
an  instrument  of  social  development  to  the  unborn  millions  of  the 
future.  The  estimate  now  placed  upon  it  will  be  the  witness  to  pos- 
terity of  the  loftiness  or  the  meanness  of  the  views  which  actuate  us. 
This  estimate  will  be  expressed  first  of  all  in  the  minimum  price 
which  you  shall  affix  to  the  lands.  The  question  of  a  minimum,  you 
will  perceive,  is  in  fact  the  cardinal  point  to  be  established. 

Here,  again  were  the  business  sagacity  and  foresight  of 
Governor  Ramsey  visible.  The  United  States  government,  un- 
der its  cash  entry  and  pre-emption  laws,  was  selling  the  public 
domain  at  a  fixed  price  of  $1.25  per  acre.  To  a  large  extent 
that  established  the  price  for  all  lands.  It  was  urged  by  many 
that  if  the  State  should  offer  its  lands  at  the  government  price 
it  would  encourage  settlement.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was 
claimed  that  the  State  should  adopt  a  much  higher  price,  say 
ten  or  twelve  dollars  per  acre,  in  the  interest  of  a  larger  school 
fund.  The  Governor  advocated  a  middle  ground,  stating  that 
to  fix  a  very  high  price  would  retard  settlement  and  place  the 
state  in  the  position  of  the  speculator,  as  it  could  hold  its  lands 
for  an  indefinite  term  without  paying  taxes,  relying  upon  fu- 
ture settlements  and  population  to  bring  a  higher  price;  and 
that  if  the  state  should  sell  at  the  low  price,  the  same  as  was 
done  in  neighboring  states,  the  lands  would  soon  all  be  gone 
and  a  comparatively  small  fund  would  be  realized.  The  out- 
come of  the  discussion  was  fortunate,  a  conservative  policy  was 
established. 

The  first  result  was  that  the  Legislature  of  1861  (Chapter 
14,  G.  L.  1861)  created  a  Board,  consisting  of  the  Governor, 
Attorney  General,  and  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
to  have  the  general  care  and  supervision  of  all  state  lands. 


296  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

The  State  Auditor  was  named  ' '  Register, ' '  and  the  State  Treas- 
urer was  designated  ''Receiver,"  of  said  Board.  The  minimum 
price  was  the  amount  fixed  by  the  regular  board  of  appraisers, 
which  in  no  case  should  be  less  than  $7.00  per  acre,  and  25  per 
cent  of  the  purchase  price  was  to  be  paid  on  the  day  of  the 
public  sale,  the  remainder  to  run  twenty  years  at  six  per  cent. 
On  the  lands  that  were  chiefly  valuable  for  timber,  75  per  cent 
of  the  purchase  price  was  to  be  paid  in  cash,  or  secured  in  a 
satisfactory  manner.  The  same  Act  provided  that  the  funds 
arising  from  such  sales  should  from  time  to  time  be  invested  in 
United  States  bonds  or  bonds  of  the  State  of  Minnesota. 

In  1862  (Chapter  52,  G.  L.  1862)  this  law  was  changed, 
making  the  State  Auditor  ex-officio  Commissioner  of  the  Land 
Office,  and  fixing  the  minimum  price  at  $5  per  acre,  and  pro- 
viding that  15  per  cent  of  the  purchase  price  should  be  paid 
at  the  time  of  the  sale  on  agricultural  lands,  and  on  timber 
lands  75  per  cent,  and  the  remainder  to  run  twenty  years  at 
the  rate  of  seven  per  cent,  payable  in  advance. 

In  1863  (Chapter  12,  G.  L.  1863)  the  Legislature  again 
changed  the  law,  particularly  as  to  timber  lands,  authorizing 
the  Commissioner  of  the  State  Land  Office  to  sell  pine  timber 
at  public  sale  by  the  thousand  feet,  after  the  same  had  been 
duly  appraised,  payment  to  be  made  upon  a  survey  or  scale  of 
the  amount  of  timber  cut  by  the  Surveyor  General  of  Logs  and 
Lumber,  in  the  district  where  the  timber  was  situated.  Land 
classified  as  "Pine  Land"  was  not  to  be  offered  for  sale  until 
the  timber  had  been  sold.  With  the  exception  of  a  reduction 
in  the  rate  of  interest  from  seven  to  five  per  cent,  and  later  to 
four  per  cent,  and  the  extension  of  time  of  payments  on  the 
remainder  to  forty  years,  and  increasing  the  kinds  of  securities 
in  which  school  funds  may  be  invested,  the  law  of  1863  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  the  one  under  which  we  are  operating 
at  the  present  time. 

In  1885  the  Legislature  (Chapter  269,  G.  L.  1885)  expressly 
provided  that  no  timber  on  state  lands  should  be  sold  under 
any  conditions,  unless  such  sale  was  necessary  to  protect  the 
state  from  loss.  Such  liability  of  loss  or  damage  could  be  by 
fire,  windfalls,  or  from  any  other  cause,  which,  in  the  opinion 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     297 

of  the  Governor,  State  Treasurer,  and  Commissioner  of  the 
State  Land  Office,  would  be  deemed  sufficient.  This  provision 
has  continued.  During  these  years  the  State  has  only  sold  its 
pine  timber  when  the  land  examiners  reported  that  it  was  in 
danger  of  waste  or  destruction. 

Another  very  important  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature 
of  1901  (Chapter  104,  G.  L.  1901),  reserving  to  the  State  all 
minerals  on  lands  owned  or  that  might  thereafter  accrue  to  the 
State. 

IRON    ORE   LANDS. 

During  many  years  there  had  been  explorations  for  min- 
erals in  the  northeastern  part  of  Minnesota,  particularly  for 
the  precious  metals,  gold  and  silver,  and  several  mining  camps 
flourished.  During  the  early  seventies  iron  ore  was  found  in 
the  vicinity  of  Vermillion  lake,  and  in  1875  a  grant  of  swamp 
land  was  made  to  a  railroad  company  to  aid  in  developing  the 
iron  mines.  This  became  the  Duluth  and  Iron  Range  Railroad 
Company,  which  has  been  a  prominent  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  iron  ore  industry  in  Minnesota.  In  the  eighties 
there  were  rumors  of  iron  ore  discoveries  southwest  of  Vermil- 
lion lake,  on  what  has  since  been  known  as  the  Mesaba  Range. 
Up  to  that  time  there  had  been  no  thought  of  withholding  the 
state  lands  from  sale  on  account  of  the  iron  ore  or  other  min- 
erals. After  the  timber  had  been  regularly  sold,  the  lands 
were  then  subject  to  sale  for  agricultural  purposes  at  the  min- 
imum price  of  $5.00  per  acre.  The  timber  on  a  great  many 
of  the  lands  in  that  region  had  been  sold  and  the  land  was  sub- 
ject to  sale,  and  no  doubt  many  were  anxious  to  purchase  them. 
This  is  apparent  from  a  report  made  by  Capt.  William  W. 
Braden,  who  was  State  Auditor  from  1882  to  1891.  In  this  re- 
port to  the  State  Legislature,  covering  the  two  years  ending 
July  31,  1888,  Auditor  Braden  stated  under  the  head  of  ''Min- 
eral lands:" 

I  have  refused  to  sell  lands  in  the  "Iron  Range"  of  St.  Louis,  Lake  and 
Cook  Counties,  believing  that  the  law  authorizing  sales,  especially  in 
the  above  named  counties,  should  first  be  amended  so  as  to  reserve 
to  the  state  all  the  mineral  rights.  Without  doubt,  valuable  deposits 
of  iron  ore  will  be  found  on  state  lands.     Such  lands  should  not,  in 


298  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

my  judgment,  be  sold  by  the  acre.  Suitable  laws  should  be  passed 
allowing  them  to  be  leased  for  a  long  term  of  years,  the  lessee  paying 
to  the  State  a  stated  price  per  ton  for  the  ore  mined,  as  a  royalty. 

Had  Auditor  Braden  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  those  who 
wanted  him  to  sell  the  lands  outright,  which  he  could  have 
lawfully  done,  we  would  not  today  be  talking  of  a  two  hundred 
million  dollar  school  fund.  Through  his  refusal  to  sell,  the 
State  retained  the  fee  title  in  those  valuable  tracts  of  cut-over 
lands,  which  have  since  shown  up  countless  millions  of  tons  of 
iron  ore.  Mr.  Braden  arbitrarily,  and  without  express  author- 
ity of  law,  reserved  the  mineral  on  certain  state  lands  which 
he  sold  in  the  vicinity  of  Grand  Rapids  in  1890.  That  was  in 
a  country  far  removed  from  any  known  iron  discoveries.  Since 
that  time  iron  has  been  discovered  even  to  the  westward  of 
Grand  Rapids.  In  the  Legislature  of  1889  a  bill  drawn  by  Mr. 
Braden  was  enacted  into  a  law,  permitting  the  leasing  of  state 
lands  for  iron  mining  purposes. 

At  this  point  your  attention  is  called  to  the  law  passed  by 
the  Legislature  of  1863,  directing  that  the  state  lands  should 
be  classified,  and  that  those  known  as  ''pine  timber  lands" 
should  not  be  sold  outright  until  the  pine  had  been  sold  at  pub- 
lic sale  and  the  timber  accounted  for  according  to  a  surveyor 
general's  scale.  That  Act  reserved  the  fee  in  the  State,  until 
such  time  as  the  land  should  be  wanted  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses. Thus  it  happened  that  when  iron  was  discovered  the 
State  found  itself  the  owner  in  fee  of  about  40,000  acres  of 
lands  situated  squarely  on  the  narrow  belt  of  land  extending 
from  Mesaba  station  on  the  Duluth  and  Iron  Range  Railroad 
southwest  to  Grand  Rapids.  If  the  State  had  offered  its  lands 
with  standing  timber  for  sale,  the  chances  are  that  nearly  all 
would  have  been  sold,  perhaps  for  a  high  price  per  acre,  in 
which  event  the  iron  deposits  would  of  course  have  fallen  to  the 
several  buyers.  The  most  valuable  iron  mines  on  the  range 
were  obtained  from  the  government,  under  the  Federal  land 
laws,  without  any  regard  to  the  fabulous  wealth  that  lay 
beneath  the  surface.  The  classification  of  the  lands  in  the 
early  days  was  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  to  the  State  a  fair 
return  for  the  value  of  the  timber,  because  it  was  reasoned  out 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     299 

that  land  carrying  timber  varied  greatly  in  value,  according  to 
the  quality  and  quantity. 

There  is  a  suggestion  of  luck  in  the  finding  of  these  large 
iron  mines  on  state  lands.  The  State's  good  fortune  has  come 
as  a  blessing  to  us  and  to  millions  of  Minnesota's  future  citi- 
zens, because  at  critical  times  in  the  affairs  of  the  State  her 
servants  acted  with  wisdom  and  devotion  to  the  public  welfare. 
The  range  of  iron  ore  bearing  lands  has  been  extended  into 
other  counties,  far  removed  from  the  original  discoveries,  and 
large  deposits  have  been  found.  There  appears  no  limit  to  the 
future  possibilities.  The  law  of  1901,  reserving  all  mineral 
on  state  lands  for  the  exclusive  use  and  benefit  of  the  school 
and  other  trust  funds  to  which  the  lands  belong,  insures  large 
returns  from  future  discoveries. 

INVESTMENT   OF    MONEY   RECEIVED. 

Under  the  constitution  adopted  in  1857,  the  Legislature  was 
given  full  authority  to  prescribe  the  method  of  handling  the 
funds  and  to  specify  the  kinds  of  securities.  It  has  always 
been  a  matter  of  great  concern  to  find  safe  investments  for  the 
moneys  received  from  the  sale  of  lands,  timber,  and  minerals. 
Permanency  and  security  for  the  funds,  rather  than  high  rates 
of  interest,  have  been  the  things  sought  for.  The  first  law  on 
the  subject  limited  the  investments  to  bonds  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  State  of  Minnesota.  A  few  years  later  a 
Board  of  Investment  was  created  consisting  of  the  Governor, 
State  Treasurer,  State  Auditor,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Regents  of  the  State  University,  and  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  court;  and  the  bonds  of  several  other  states  of  the 
Union  were  added  to  the  list  of  permissible  investments.  Some- 
time thereafter  the  bonds  of  all  the  states  of  the  Union  were 
recognized. 

In  1886  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  was  adopted  by 
the  people,  authorizing  the  investment  of  these  funds  in  school 
district  bonds  within  the  State  at  five  per  cent  interest,  limiting 
the  amount  that  could  be  loaned  to  three  per  cent  of  the  as- 
sessed value  of  the  real  property,  and  creating  a  smaller  Board 
of  Investment  to  conduct  this  business,  consisting  of  the  Gov- 


300  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ernor,  State  Treasurer,  and  State  Auditor.  This  last  method 
has  been  amended  from  time  to  time,  until  now  the  loans  can  be 
made  to  all  the  municipalities  of  the  State,  such  as  counties, 
townships,  cities,  villages,  school  districts,  and  county  ditch 
bonds,  all  at  a  uniform  rate  of  four  per  cent  interest;  and 
the  maximum  amount  that  can  be  loaned  has  been  increased 
to  15  per  cent  of  the  assessed  real  property  valuation. 

Under  this  system  the  State  Auditor  makes  a  levy  upon 
all  the  taxable  property  within  the  municipal  corporation  for 
both  principal  and  interest  as  the  bonds  become  due,  and 
the  amount  is  paid  to  the  County  Treasurer  by  the  property 
owners  with  their  general  taxes.  At  the  proper  time  the  State 
Auditor  makes  a  draft  on  the  county  treasurers  for  the  princi- 
pal and  interest  due,  which  is  paid  into  the  State  Treasury  in 
the  same  manner  as  all  other  demands  of  the  State.  It  is  a 
gratifying  fact,  and  a  tribute  to  the  business  judgment  of  both 
the  Legislators  and  the  Board  of  Investment,  to  be  able  to  state 
that  from  the  beginning  of  the  State  government  to  the  present 
time  not  one  dollar  has  ever  been  lost  on  the  investments  of 
moneys  belonging  to  the  school  and  other  trust  funds.  The 
income  derived  from  the  investments  in  the  permanent  school 
fund  alone,  has  increased  from  $70,016.45  in  1864  to  $807,164.11 
in  191*0. 

The  distribution  is  made  in  March  and  October  yearly  on 
the  order  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
This  now  produces  about  two  dollars  a  year  for  each  pupil  in 
our  public  schools.  The  total  income  since  the  organization  of 
the  State,  which  has  been  apportioned  twice  a  year  for  the  ben- 
isfit  of  the  public  schools,  reaches  the  enormous  sum  of  $18,020,- 
173.47.  In  other  words,  that  is  the  amount  actually  received 
as  the  income  from  our  permanent  school  fund;  and  we  have 
the  principal  intact,  amounting  to  twenty-one  and  a  half  mil- 
lion dollars,  and  now  increasing  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a 
million  dollars  a  year. 

STATISTICS   OF   LAND   GRANTS,    SALES,    AND    RESULTING   FUND. 

A  historical  review  of  this  kind  would  be  incomplete  with- 
out showing  in  detail  the  total  acreages  actually  acquired  by 


PUBLIC   LANDS   AND   SCHOOL   FUND   OF   MINNESOTA.  301 

the  State  under  the  various  congressional  grants,  the  amounts 
conveyed  by  sale  or  otherwise,  the  proceeds  resulting  from 
sales  of  land,  timber,  or  minerals,  and  the  securities  in  which 
the  trust  funds  are  invested.  The  acreage  granted  and  ap- 
proved to  the  State  up  to  the  present  time  under  the  several 
acts  of  Congress  are : 

School   lands    2,955,902.80  acres. 

Internal  Improvement  lands  499,286.50  " 

Public  Building  lands 6,395.12  " 

Agricultural   College   lands 94,439.28  " 

State  University  lands 91,524.99  " 

Salt  Spring  lands   44,917.69  " 

Swamp  lands 4,461,157.14  " 

Total    8,153,623.52  acres. 

By  an  Act  of  the  State  Legislature  (Chapter  133,  G.  L. 
1873),  the  Salt  Spring  lands  were  transferred  to  the  custody 
and  control  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  State  University  of 
Minnesota,  to  be  sold  in  such  manner  or  in  such  amounts  as 
they  may  see  fit,  devoting  the  proceeds  for  a  geological  and 
natural  history  survey  of  the  State.  The  law  provided  that  the 
Board  of  Regents  shall  make  a  full  statement  of  the  sales  of 
the  Salt  Spring  lands,  together  with  the  moneys  received,  when 
the  geological  and  natural  history  survey  of  the  State  shall 
have  been  completed.  In  recent  years  the  amounts  collected 
from  the  sale  of  the  lands  and  interest  on  land  contracts  have 
been  regularly  paid  into  the  State  Treasury  and  paid  out  again 
on  the  requisition  of  the  Board  of  Regents  for  the  natural  his- 
tory and  geological  surveys.  No  permanent  fund  was  ever 
created  from  the  Salt  Spring  lands.  The  total  amount  ob- 
tained to  date  and  expended  on  the  geological  and  natural  his- 
tory survey  is  about  $315,000,  which  presumably  is  about  the 
sum  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  lands,  both  principal  and  in- 
terest. AA^ith  the  exception  of  the  Salt  Spring  lands  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  first  grant  to  the  State  University,  all  the  lands 
granted  by  Congress  to  the  State  of  Minnesota  have  been  han- 
dled and  managed  by  the  State  Auditor's  Department. 

The  following  is  the  acreage  of  the  lands  granted  or  con- 


302  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

veyed  by  acts  of  the  State  Legislature  or  sold  under  the  State 
land  laws : 

School  lands : . . . 2,015,332.26  acres. 

Internal  Improvement  lands 491,528.79 

Public  Building  lands   6,395.12 

Agricultural   College   lands 94,439.28 

University  lands   69,354.04 

Salt  Spring  lands 44,917.69 

Swamp  lands   2,945,251.00 


Total    5,667,218.18  acres. 

The  acreages  of  unsold  and  unconveyed  lands  at  this  time, 
which  have  been  patented  to  the  State,  are : 

School  lands  940,570.54  acres. 

University  lands   22,170.95      " 

Internal  Improvement  lands 7,757.71       " 

Swamp  lands    1,515,906.14      " 


Total 2,486,405.34  acres. 

The  following  statements  show  the  total  accumulations  from 
all  sources,  credited  to  the  several  funds,  and  the  securities 
owned  by  the  respective  funds,  up  to  and  including  August  1, 
1910.  The  receipts  from  the  Agricultural  College  lands  are 
included  in  the  University  Fund. 

Permanent  School  Fund. 

Accumulations. 

Sales   of  lands $12,725,306.42 

Amounts  paid  on  forfeitures,  right  of  way,  etc 193,120.65 

Sales  of  timber 6,053,690.73 

Mineral  permits  and  leases 277,050.77 

Royalty  on  iron  ore 1,391,832.86 

Profits  on  sales  of  bonds 361,569.94 

Total $21,002,571.37 

Investments. 

Cash  in  State  Treasury $100,462.81 

Unpaid  principal  on  land  contracts 5,953,905.95 

Bonds  as  follows: 


PUBLIC   LANDS   AND   SCHOOL   FUND   OF   MINNESOTA.  303 

Alabama  ($143,000)  5  per  cent 140,755.00 

Delaware,  at  3  per  cent 4,000.00 

Louisiana,  at  4  per  cent 150,000.00 

Massachusetts,  at  3  per  cent 2,595,000.00 

Massachusetts,  31/2  per  cent 300,000.00 

Minnesota  Capitol  certificates,  3  and  3i^  per  cent 1,900,000.00 

Minnesota    cities,    counties,    townships,    and    school 

districts 8,037,017.61 

Tennessee,  4i^  per  cent 270,000.00 

Utah,  314  per  cent 100,000.00 

Virginia  ($1,635,000),  3  per  cent 1,451,430.00 

Total    $21,002,571.37 

Permanent  University  Fund. 
Accumulations. 

Sales  of  lands  $831,341.57 

Amount  paid  on  forfeitures,  right  of  way,  etc 15,540.81 

Sales  of  timber 500,441.21 

Mineral  permits  and  leases 70,803.00 

Royalty  on  iron  ore 22,329.65 

Transfer  from  State  Institutions    Fund 7,292.73 

Transfer  from  Internal  Improvement  Land  Fund 150.00 

Profits  on  sales  of  bonds 900.00 

Total $1,448,798.97 

Investments. 

Cash  in  State  Treasury $17,924.98 

Unpaid  principal  on  land  contracts 283,384.94 

Bonds  as  follows: 

Delaware,  3  per  cent 131,000.00 

Minnesota  cities,  vilages,  etc.,  4  per  cent 539,244.00 

Massachusetts,  3  per  cent 130,000.00 

Tennesee,  4%  per  cent 80,000.00 

Virginia  ($355,000),  3  per  cent 267,245.05 

Total $1,448,798.97 

hiternal  Improvement  Land  Fund. 
Accumulations. 

Sales  of  lands  $2,808,549.38 

Amount  paid  on  forfeitures,  right  of  way,  etc 21,008.05 

Sales  of  timber 114,190.44 

Mineral  permits  and  leases 850.00 

Total    $2,944,597.87 


304  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Investments. 

Cash  in  State  Treasury $8,573.77 

Unpaid  principal  on  land  contracts 277,930.35 

Louisiana  bonds,  4  per  cent 23,000.00 

Virginia  bonds  ($55,000),  3  per  cent 52,093.75 

Railroad  adjustment  bonds,  destroyed 2,533,000.00 

Prison  Building  certificates  of  indebtedness,  4  per  cent . . .  50,000.00 

Total    $2,944,597.87 

Deducting  $2,533,000,  Railroad  Bonds,  leaves  $411,597.87  actually  in 
the  fund. 

Swamp  Land  Fund. 

Accumulations. 

Sales  of  lands  $971,428.51 

Amount  paid  on  forfeitures,  right  of  way 9,265.69 

Sales  of  timber 460,672.17 

Mineral  permits  and  leases 65,137.00 

Royalty  on  iron  ore 74,751.83 

Total    $1,581,255.20 

Investments. 

Cash  in  State  Treasury $9,087.62 

Unpaid  principal  on  land  contracts 770,493.58 

Louisiana  bonds,  4  per  cent   (transferred  from  State  In- 

titutions  Fund)   38,000.00 

Minnesota  Capitol  certificates,  3  per  cent 200,000.00 

Minnesota  school  districts,  cities,  counties,  etc 466,694.00 

Virginia  bonds  ($100,000),  3  per  cent. 96,980.00 

Total    $1,581,255.20 

Total  Amount  received  for  all  the  Funds. 

Permanent  School  Fund $21,002,571.37 

Permanent  University  Fund 1,448,798.97 

Internal  Improvement  Land  Fund 2,944,597.87 

Swamp  Land  Fund  1,581,255.20 

Total    $26,977,223.41 

INTERNAL    IMPROVEMENT   LANDS. 

The  500,000  acres  of  Internal  Improvements  Lands,  granted 
in   1841,   have   had   a   somewhat   meteoric   career.     They   lay 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     305 

dormant  until  1872,  when  by  constitutional  enactment  a  per- 
manent fund  was  created.  In  1881  the  Legislature  (Chapter 
104,  G.  L.  1881)  passed  an  Act  to  apply  the  moneys  of  this  fund 
to  the  payment  of  the  railroad  adjustment  bonds  of  1881.  These 
bonds  were  issued  as  a  compromise  in  the  settlement  between 
the  State  and  the  holders  of  the  old  State  Railroad  Bonds  of 
1858.  By  a  substantial  vote  the  people  appropriated  these  fine 
farming  lands  toward  the  extinguishment  of  the  folly  of  the 
Legislature  of  1858. 

In  1891,  when  the  bonds  of  1881  were  subject  to  call,  a  re- 
funding act  was  passed  (Chapter  31,  G.  L.  1891)  to  refund  at 
a  lower  rate  an  amount  of  bonds  which,  with  the  proceeds  of 
the  Internal  Improvement  Fund,  would  provide  for  the  entire 
bond  issue  of  1881.  The  amount  of  the  fund  thus  used  for  the 
purchase  of  the  bonds  of  1881  was  $2,533,000,  which  were  duly 
destroyed.  The  last  of  the  issue  of  1891  which  refunded  the 
remainder,  was  paid  by  the  State  in  July  of  1910.  Thus,  after 
a  lapse  of  52  years  and  the  payment  of  millions  of  money,  did 
the  people  maintain  the  honor  and  credit  of  the  State. 

In  1896  the  people  voted  to  devote  the  remainder  of  these 
lands  for  the  purpose  originally  intended,  namely,  for  good 
roads,  bridges,  and  highways  in  general.  The  fund  now  holds 
over  $400,000  in  securities,  and  the  remaining  lands  should  . 
bring  this  up  to  a  half  million,  which  will  no  doubt  forever 
remain  as  an  endowment  for  better  roads  and  bridges  in  the 
State. 

PUBLIC   BUILDING   LANDS. 

The  ten  sections  of  lands  given  to  the  State  in  the  Enabling 
Act  for  Public  Buildings  were  selected  in  the  County  of  Kan- 
diyohi, and  they  remained  undisturbed  until  the  Legislature 
of  1901  (Chapter  177,  G.  L.  1901)  passed  an  act  directing  the 
State  Auditor  to  sell  the  lands  and  to  credit  the  proceeds  to 
the  Revenue  Fund  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  State  Cap- 
itol Building.  The  total  amount  realized  from  the  6,395  acres 
was  $125,482.00.  The  sales  were  made  under  the  same  condi- 
tions as  other  state  lands. 


306  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

AGRICULTURAL   COLLEGE   LANDS. 

In  an  Act  approved  July  2,  1862,  Congress  made  a  grant  of 
lands  amounting  to  30,000  acres  for  each  senator  and  repre- 
sentative in  Congress,  under  the  apportionment  of  1860,  as  an 
endowment  for  the  support  of  a  college  where  the  leading  ob- 
ject shall  be  "to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related 
to  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts."  Under  that  grant  the  State 
was  entitled  to  120,000  acres.  The  act  provided  that  if  double 
minimum  lands  were  selected,  that  is,  lands  within  the  limits  of 
a  railroad  grant,  then  the  State  should  be  charged  double  for 
each  acre  so  selected  (page  243,  Vol.  5,  U.  S.  Land  Decisions). 
The  State  Auditor  in  1867  selected  25,511  acres  of  such  lands 
which  counted  double  on  the  grant.  Therefore  the  State 
actually  received  on  this  grant  94,439.28  acres  only,  but  it  was 
a  complete  satisfaction  of  the  terms  of  the  granting  act.  These 
selections  were  very  choice  agricultural  lands  and  were  all 
sold  many  years  ago. 

The  Legislature  of  1865  (Chapter  7,  G.  L.  1865)  passed  an 
Act  to  establish  an  Agricultural  College  and  Experimental 
Farm.  It  was  located  on  Section  16,  Township  115,  Range  28, 
which  is  near  Glencoe  in  McLeod  county.  The  act  created  a 
board  to  be  known  as  ''The  Agricultural  College  Board/'  to 
consist  of  the  Governor,  Secretary  of  State,  and  President  of 
the  State  Agricultural  Society,  as  ex-officio  members,  and  four 
members  to  be  elected  by  the  Legislature.  The  Board  was 
given  full  care  and  management  of  the  College  and  farm  and 
the  disposition  of  the  lands  and  funds  donated.  All  the  swamp 
lands  in  McLeod  county  were  donated  to  that  college,  and  the 
interest  from  the  proceeds  from  sales  of  the  lands  granted  by 
Congress  was  applied  and  appropriated  annually  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Agricultural  College.  By  Chapter  9,  G.  L.  1865, 
the  Legislature  in  effect  amended  the  former  act  by  providing 
that  the  lands  granted  by  Congress  should  be  appraised  and 
sold  and  the  moneys  handled  in  the  same  manner  as  school 
lands,  that  is,  creating  a  Permanent  Fund  as  an  endowment 
for  the  Agricultural  College.  The  act  further  provided  that  if 
any  part  of  the  moneys  invested  should  be  lost,  through  any 


PUBLIC   LANDS  AND   SCHOOL   FUND  OP  MINNESOTA.  307 

cause,  the  loss  should  be  replaced  by  the  State,  so  that  the  fund 
should  forever  remain  undiminished. 

In  Chapter  1,  G.  L.  1868,  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  to 
reorganize  the  University  of  Minnesota,  and  to  establish  an 
Agricultural  College  therein.  This  repealed  the  Act  establish- 
ing the  Agricultural  College  in  McLeod  county;  and  by  Chap- 
ter 55,  G.  L.  1868,  the  lands  granted  by  Congress  as  an  endow- 
ment for  a  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts  were  to 
be  sold  in  the  same  manner  as  school  and  other  state  lands,  and 
the  proceeds  to  be  credited  to  the  Permanent  University  Fund, 
the  same  as  other  lands  granted  by  Congress  for  University 
purposes.  Therefore  the  proceeds  from  the  sales  of  the  Agri- 
cultural College  lands  and  the  University  lands  became  merged 
in  the  Permanent  University  Fund,  and  the  income  from  the 
investments  was  appropriated  for  support  of  the  University. 

SWAMP   LANDS. 

By  an  Act  approved  September  28,  1850,  Congress  granted 
to  the  State  of  Arkansas  all  the  swamp  and  overflowed  lands 
unfit  for  cultivation,  to  enable  that  state  to  construct  the  nec- 
essary levees  and  drains  to  reclaim  them.  In  an  Act  approved 
March  12,  1860,  Congress  extended  the  provisions  of  that  act  to 
Minnesota  and  Oregon.  The  manner  of  selecting  these  lands  was 
largely  left  discretionary  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

After  some  correspondence  between  the  Governor  and  the 
Interior  Department  two  propositions  were  submitted  to  the 
State,  first,  whether  the  State  would  be  willing  to  abide  by 
the  field  notes  of  the  surveys  as  designating  the  lands,  or,  sec- 
ond, whether  in  the  absence  of  their  non-acceptance  of  these 
notes  as  a  basis,  the  State  would  furnish  evidence  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  lands  from  an  actual  survey  in  the  field.  The  first 
plan  suggested  would  cause  no  expense  whatever  to  the  State. 
As  a  consequence  the  Legislature  in  1862  (Section  48,  Chap- 
ter 62,  G.  L.  1862)  passed  a  law  to  the  effect  ''that  the  sur- 
veys on  file  in  the  Surveyor  General's  office  are  hereby  adopted 
as  the  basis  upon  which  will  be  accepted  the  swamp  lands 
granted  to  the  State  by  the  Act  of  Congress  of  March  12, 
1860."  That  was  the  rule  by  which  swamp  lands  were  selected 
for  the  State  until  1886,  when  the  Department  of  the  Interior 
made  the  field  notes  of  survey  simply  prima  facie  evidence  of 


308  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

the  character  of  the  lands,  subjecting  them  to  contest  and  com- 
pelling the  State  to  defend  its  title  by  competent  proof.  This 
rule  prevailed  until  1903,  when  the  Interior  Department,  in  a 
large  measure,  reinstated  the  rule  of  accepting  field  notes  of 
the  surveys,  and  with  slight  modifications  that  method  con- 
trols the  selecting  at  the  present  time. 

The  actual  character  of  the  swamp  lands  at  the  time  of 
making  the  grant  was  largely  unknown,  beyond  the  fact  that 
they  were  generally  low  and  fiat,  open  meadows  or  bogs,  and 
some  covered  with  timber,  as  is  usually  found  on  such  lands. 
The  question  of  their  disposition  received  considerable  thought 
and  attention.  By  some  it  was  contended  that  the  proceeds 
from  sales  should  be  devoted  to  the  purpose  of  draining  and 
improving  them,  as  the  terms  of  the  granting  act  implied. 
On  the  other  hand  it  was  urged  that  Congress  had  specified 
no  method  by  which  this  should  be  done;  and  in  other  states, 
which  had  received  similar  grants  and  had  devoted  all  or  a 
part  to  the  reclamation  of  the  land,  the  results  had  not  proven 
satisfactory.  The  lands  were  considered  of  little  value,  which? 
was  shown  by  the  very  liberal  grants  made  by  the  early  legis- 
lators in  aid  of  railroad  construction. 

It  is  exceedingly  fortunate  that  the  lands  were  not  all  given 
away,  because  on  three  contiguous  forty  acre  swamp  tracts, 
which  the  State  has  received,  the  trust  funds  will  be  enriched 
by  nearly  ten  million  dollars  from  the  iron  ore  contained 
therein.  This  is  the  well  known  Scranton  mine  near  Hibbing. 
Instead  of  creating  a  fund  from  the  sale  of  these  lands  and 
using  the  proceeds  for  the  reclamation  of  them,  our  early  leg- 
islators apparently  preferred  to  give  them  to  railroads  or  other 
corporations,  so  that  they  would  in  that  way  come  into  the 
possession  of  private  parties  who  would  have  an  interest  in 
draining  or  making  them  fit  for  use  and  occupancy. 

In  1881  the  people  adopted  an  amendment  to  the  State 
Constitution  (Section  2,  Article  8),  providing  that  all  the 
swamp  lands  owned  by  the  State,  or  that  would  thereafter 
accrue  to  the  State,  should  be  in  all  respects  treated  and  sold 
in  the  same  manner  as  school  lands,  and  that  the  principal 
derived  from  such  sales  should  become  a  permanent  fund,  one- 
half  of  the  proceeds  therefrom  to  be  apportioned  to  the  com- 


PUBLIC   LANDS   AND   SCHOOL   FUND   OF  MINNESOTA.  309 

mon  school  fund  of  the  State,  and  the  remaining  half  to  the 
educational  institutions  in  the  relative  ratio  of  the  cost  of  the 
support  of  said  institutions.  That  amendment  was  in  effect  a 
repeal  of  a  grant  of  525,000  acres  made  by  the  Legislature  in 
1865  to  several  State  institutions.  In  1907  (Chapter  385,  G.  L. 
1907)  the  Legislature  made  the  provisions  of  the  constitution 
effective  by  directing  the  disposition  of  the  funds  as  was 
therein  specified. 

No  doubt  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  that  amendment 
to  the  constitution  was  to  forever  prohibit  further  grants  of 
lands  to  railroads  or  other  corporations,  and  saving  the  re- 
mainder to  our  school  fund  and  to  aid  in  maintaining  our 
other  institutions.  As  a  result  of  that  very  wise  provision,  we 
have  saved  approximately  two  million  acres  of  the  swamp  land 
grant,  many  of  them  exceedingly  valuable.  The  total  acre- 
age of  swamp  lands  that  have  been  patented  to  the  State  up 
to  the  first  of  August,  1910,  was  4,461,157.14  acres.  From 
these  lands  2,885,635.63  acres  have  been  conveyed  by  the 
State  to  railroads  and  other  corporations  under  acts  of  the 
Legislature,  and  150,954.79  acres  have  been  sold  under  state 
laws,  leaving  at  this  time  1,424,566.72  acres  unsold.  All  the 
railroad  grants  have  now  been  filled,  excepting  that  of  the 
Duluth  and  Iron  Range  railroad,  which  is  still  entitled  to 
6,505  acres.  An  additional  600,000  acres  of  swamp  lands  are 
now  in  process  of  being  selected  and  approved,  for  which  the 
state  will  at  no  distant  day  receive  patents. 

The  following  statement  shows  in  detail  the  dates  of  the 
legislative  granting  acts  and  the  names  of  the  companies  and 
the  number  of  acres  of  swamp  land  received  by  each.  It  is 
good  evidence  of  the  desire  of  the  people  to  encourage  rail- 
road and  other  transportation  facilities  fifty  years  ago. 

Swamp  Land  Grants  to  Companies  by  Acts  of  the  Legislature. 

Date  of  Act.  Grantee,  No.  of  Acres 

March         8,  1861,  Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi   (now 

St.  Paul  and  Duluth)  R.  R.  Co 694,399.17 

March         8,  1861,  Taylors     Falls     and     Lake     Superior 

(now  St.  Paul  and  Duluth)  R.  R.  Co.  91,829.96 


310  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

March  12,  1861,  County  Commissioners  of  McLeod 
county,  as  Trustees  of  Stevens 
Seminary    4,684.17 

March         7,  1862,  Madelia     and     Sioux     Falls     Wagon 

Road     4,683.71 

March         5,  1863,  St.  Paul  and  Chicago   (now  Chicago, 

Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul)  R.  R.  Co.  462,336.00 

February  11,  1865,  Minneapolis     and     St.     Cloud     (now 

Great   Northern)    R.    R.    Co 425,664.00 

February  16,  1865,  Southern  Minnesota  Railroad  Co 36,777.84 

March         2,  1865,  Minnesota   Central    (now   Wisconsin, 

Minnesota  &  Pacific)   R.  R.  Co...  275,000.00 

March  2,  1865,  Cannon  River  Manufacturing  Asso- 
ciation     24,190.45 

March         9,  1875,  Duluth  and  Iron  Range  R.  R.  Co....  600,214.33 

March         3,  1881,  Little  Falls  and  Dakota  R.  R.  Co...  265,856.00 


Total    2,885,635.63 

FUTURE    RECEIPTS. 

Of  the  $27,000,000  received  and  credited  to  all  the  funds, 
$7,128,994.55  represents  sales  of  timber,  and  $1,902,755.11  from 
iron-bearing  lands.  There  are  about  three  million  acres  un- 
sold. Much  of  this  land  carries  pine  or  other  timber  of  com- 
mercial value.  It  is  safe  to  estimate  that  $7,000,000  more  will 
be  realized  from  future  timber  sales.  Of  iron-bearing  lands 
the  State  is  the  largest  single  fee  owne*.  We  do  not  own  the 
largest  mines,  but  we  do  actually  own  more  in  the  aggregate 
than  any  individual  or  private  corporation. 

The  acreage  held  under  the  State  Mineral  Law  at  this 
time  is : 

School  lands  20,368.80 

University  lands   3,931.28 

Swamp  lands   5,017.82 

Total  acres  29,317.90 

Under  these  contracts  the  lessees  agree  to  pay  all  general 
taxes  on  the  land,  and  a  royalty  of  25  cents  a  ton.  The  min- 
imum output  is  5,000  tons  a  year  after  a  railroad  reaches 
within  one  mile  of  the  land.  Before  that  time  an  annual  fee 
of  one  hundred  dollars  is  paid.     In  1910,  for  taxation  pur- 


PUBLIC   LANDS   AND   SCHOOL   FUND   OF   MINNESOTA.  311 

poses,  the  State  Tax  Commission  assessed  certain  state  lands 
as  active  mines  and  fixed  the  tonnage  as  follows: 

2,330  acres  School  land 105,294.969 

440  acres   Swamp   land 31,059,977 

520  acres  University  land    8,844,871 

Total    tons    145,199,817 

The  money  valuation  placed  on  this  tonnage  for  taxation 
is  $17,035,312.00.  That  represents  a  little  more  than  one-tenth 
of  the  acreage  now  under  contracts  with  the  State.  These 
lands  show  up  an  average  of  about  1,750,000  tons  per  forty. 
This  is  probably  somewhat  higher  than  the  entire  acreage  will 
produce,  but  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  estimate  an  average  of 
one  million  tons  per  forty  for  all  the  lands  under  lease.  This 
will  produce  750,000,000  tons  of  iron,  which  at  25  cents  per 
ton  will  make  the  splendid  sum  of  $187,500,000.  This  added 
to  our  present  funds  and  other  receipts  will  bring  the  total  to 
something  more  than  $200,000,000. 

These  are  very  large,  almost  startling  figures,  but  from 
information  even  now  obtainable,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe 
that  this  enormous  sum  will  be  realized  from  those  lands  now 
under  contract  within  the  coming  forty-five  years.  As  an  addi- 
tional source  of  future  income,  we  have  the  very  large  acreage 
of  state  lands  scattered  over  northern  Minnesota,  in  many  of 
which  iron  ore  has  been  developed  in  paying  quantities.  An- 
other fact  to  be  considered  in  this  connection  is  that  the  min- 
eral law  of  1889  was  repealed  in  1907,  and  it  is  expected  that 
when  a  new  law  is  enacted  it  will  provide  for  a  higher  roy- 
alty per  ton  and  a  much  larger  minimum  output.  This  will 
in  no  small  degree  enhance  the  future  prospects  from  the  iron 
on  state  school  lands. 

The  lands  too  wet  for  cultivation  are  being  drained.  The 
Legislature  has  appropriated  $100,000  a  year  for  several  years 
for  that  purpose.  It  is  therefore  fair  to  assume  that  the  re- 
maining three  million  acres,  when  sold  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses, will  yield  the  minimum  price  of  $5.00  per  acre,  or  $15,- 
000,000. 

The  State  Government  has  never  undertaken  the  actual 
development  of  school  and  other  state  lands.    No  attempt  has 


312  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ever  been  made  to  clear  or  fit  agricultural  lands  for  farming 
purposes,  to  cut  the  timber  and  sell  the  logs  or  other  forest 
products;  neither  has  the  State  ever  attempted  to  explore  or 
develop  those  lands  which  are  situated  in  the  iron  district. 
Exploring  and  developing  iron  is  very  expensive  and  some- 
what uncertain,  and  the  State  has  contented  itself  with 
merely  being  a  lessor,  giving  options  or  contracts  to  those  who 
were  willing  to  spend  their  money  in  explorations.  Parties 
dealing  with  the  State  in  this  matter  were  protected  in  their 
expenditures,  because,  under  the  law,  if  ore  was  found  they 
could  obtain  a  binding  contract  good  for  fifty  years. 

SUGGESTED   CHANGES   IN   THE   STATE   LAND   LAWS. 

The  policy  adopted  by  our  pioneers  for  the  care  and  sale 
of  our  school  and  other  state  lands,  and  the  laws  regulating 
the  same,  have  received  a  great  deal  of  comment  in  news- 
papers and  otherwise  in  the  last  few  years,  and  in  many  in- 
stances both  policy  and  laws  have  been  criticised.  The  main 
reason  for  such  contention  is  that  the  laws  are  regarded  as  not 
elastic  enough  to  permit  easy  acquirement  of  both  timber  and 
land  by  those  who  intend  to  settle  upon  and  cultivate  the  land. 

While  it  must  be  admitted  that  our  laws  are  far  from  per- 
fect, the  size  of  the  existing  funds  should  not  be  forgotten. 
The  results  have  been  most  favorably  commented  upon  by 
magazine  and  newspaper  writers  throughout  the  country. 
The  State's  good  fortune  is  due  to  the  fact  that  nearly  fifty 
years  ago  our  legislators  and  executive  officers  acted  with 
almost  prophetic  wisdom.  The  achievements  under  these  land- 
marks of  the  State,  even  though  they  now  appear  ultra-con- 
servative, should  cause  them  to  be  gratefully  remembered. 

Time,  however,  has  brought  about  many  changes  in  condi- 
tions. In  justice  both  to  the  interests  of  the  State  at  large 
and  to  the  citizens  who  live  in  the  counties  where  state  lands 
are  largely  located,  certain  modifications  of  our  laws  should 
be  made. 

Roads  should  be  built  under  the  supervision  of  the  State 
Highway  Commission,  the  cost  thereof  to  be  assessed  against 
all  the  adjoining  land  that  may  be  benefited.  In  that  way 
school  and  other  state  lands  can  be  made  to  contribute  directly 


PUBLIC  LANDS  AND  SCHOOL  FUND  OF  MINNESOTA.     313 

to  the  building  of  roads,  and  the  Legislature  may  provide  for 
the  same  by  an  adequate  appropriation.  The  reclamation  of 
the  wet  lands  by  drainage  should  continue;  a  complete  and 
comprehensive  fire  protection  organization  should  be  installed, 
covering  the  entire  district  from  Cook  county  nearly  to  the 
Red  river  of  the  North ;  common  schools  should  be  assisted  in 
frontier  communities  not  able  to  support  them.  The  Legisla- 
ture could  make  an  appropriation  which  may  be  distributed 
by  the  local  and  state  authorities,  within  reasonable  safe- 
guards. Land  not  suited  for  agriculture  should  be  kept  for 
forestry  purposes,  thus  insuring  a  continuous  timber  supply. 

The  building  of  roads,  drainage,  forest  fire  protection,  and 
schools,  are  undertakings  of  such  a  magnitude  that  private 
enterprises  should  not  be  called  upon  to  undertake  them.  The 
enactment  of  laws  along  the  lines  suggested  above  may  not 
entirely  satisfy  all  critics,  but  I  believe  they  will  be  valuable 
aids,  to  the  sale  of  lands,  and  to  the  settlement  and  develop- 
ment of  those  districts  where  the  State  Trust  Fund  lands  are 
largely  located. 

SUMMARY   OF   THE    SCHOOL    SYSTEM    OF    MINNESOTA. 

It  has  been  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  present  a  fairly 
accurate  historical  review  of  the  various  land  grants  made  by 
Congress  to  the  State,  and  the  disposition  of  the  proceeds  from 
such  lands.  Some  space  has  been  profitably  devoted  to  public 
events  in  the  early  history  of  the  Territory  and  State,  which 
have  had  a  marked  bearing  upon  the  laws  by  which  these  mag- 
nificent inheritances  have  been  conserved.  We  have  seen  the 
funds  grow  year  by  year,  and  the  moneys  securely  invested, 
and  we  now  talk  of  hundreds  of  milJions  in  the  future. 

Our  schools  of  learning  command  the  admiration  of  the 
country.  Our  great  State  University,  with  five  thousand  stu- 
dents, we  confidently  believe  will  receive  an  endowment  from 
these  lands  of  twenty-five  million  dollars,  insuring  a  perpetual 
income  of  one  million  dollars  a  year.  This  will  indeed  be  a 
princely  income,  and  it  gives  positive  assurance  that  higher 
and  professional  branches  of  education  will  be  forever  among 
the  opportunities  open  to  ambitious  young  men  and  women. 


314  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

The  five  normal  schools  are  models  of  their  kind.  There  are 
at  this  time  207  high  schools,  each  receiving  $1,750  of  direct 
aid  for  maintenance  from  the  Legislature,  which  is  additional 
to  the  school  fund  distribution;  173  graded  schools  receive 
$600  each;  400  semi-graded  schools  receive  $300  each;-  1,860 
rural  schools  of  the  first  class  receive  $150  each,  and  1,127 
rural  schools  of  the  second  class  receive  $100  each.  The  Legis- 
lature has  set  aside  about  $850,000  a  year  from  the  General 
Revenue  Fund,  to  aid  the  schools  named.  The  total  number  of 
pupils  attending  public  schools  in  1910  was  440,083 ;  the  gross 
sum  expended  in  the  year  for  teachers'  wages  and  all  other 
expenses  was  $13,724,437.48;  the  teachers  number  15,157; 
there  are  8,609  schoolhouses,  of  the  value  of  $28,506,866 ;  libra- 
ries costing  $735,702  are  found  in  6,566  of  the  schoolhouses. 

As  we  review  the  educational  developments  of  the  past  few 
years  and  contemplate  the  unbounded  possibilities  of  the  years 
to  come,  our  thoughts  are  filled  with  deepest  gratitude  to  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  and  his  compatriots  of  pioneer  days.  The  foot- 
steps of  the  infant  commonwealth  were  guided  rightly;  the 
young  twig  was  bent  in  the  true  direction.  Honesty,  fidelity 
and  devotion  to  the  common  welfare,  were  among  the  materials 
used  in  building  the  foundation  of  the  Permanent  School  Fund. 

The  influence  of  such  work  upon  succeeding  legislation  is 
very  apparent.  The  great  heritage  received  from  a  generous 
parent  government  has  been  sacredly  preserved  and  conse- 
crated to  the  noblest  aspirations  of  a  free  people,  education 
and  charity.  "We  of  a  younger  generation  are  enjoying  mani- 
fold blessings  and  opportunities.  Free  popular  education  is 
the  unerring  equalizer  of  human  conditions,  and  this  has  been 
guaranteed  to  all  coming  generations.  The  wealth  of  these 
great  funds  must  be  guarded  by  legislators  and  state  officials, 
with  never-ending  vigilance.  The  old  landmarks  were  firm, 
safe,  and  sensible,  and  they  should  be  stoutly  supported.  In 
due  time  a  magnificent,  perpetual  institution  for  good,  the 
great  school  fund  will  be  completed.  It  will  brighten  the  lives 
of  all  our  future  citizens,  and  will  stand  as  an  enduring  monu- 
ment to  the  public  and  private  virtues  of  the  founders  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Minnesota. 


EARLY  DAKOTA  TRAILS  AND  SETTLEMENTS  AT 
CENTERVILLE,  MINN.* 


BY  ALBERT  M.  GOODRICH. 


In  the  southeastern  corner  of  Anoka  county  in  this  state  is 
the  township  of  Centerville.  In  this  township  is  a  cluster  of 
five  or  six  small  lakes,  the  outlet  of  which  is  Rice  creek,  which 
flows  thence  southwesterly  into  the  Mississippi  river,  just  north 
of  the  city  limits  of  Minneapolis.  From  these  lakes  the  city  of 
St.  Paul  receives  in  part  its  water  supply  at  the  present  time. 
In  some  places  these  lakes  are  very  close  together,  only  a  few 
yards  of  solid  ground  intervening.  Some  six  miles  farther 
north  is  another  lake  about  a  mile  in  diameter,  called  Howard 
lake,  which  is  also  drained  by  Rice  creek.  Not  many  years  ago 
these  lakes  were  frequented  by  thousands  of  wild  ducks  and 
geese,  and  I  believe  that  to  a  very  large  extent  this  is  still  true. 
Howard  lake  and  several  of  the  Centerville  lakes  are  very  shal- 
low, and  wild  rice  grows  in  them  to  such  an  extent  that  in  the 
late  summer  the  water  is  entirely  obscured  and  they  look  like 
green  meadows.  The  waterfowl  feed  upon  the  rice,  and  late 
in  the  fall,  when  the  stalks  have  bent  over  and  fallen  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  water,  they  dive  after  the  rice,  refusing  to 
leave  this  feeding  ground  until  the  last  open  space  has  frozen 
across.  In  the  spring  they  are  back  again  as  soon  as  there  is  a 
crack  in  the  ice  big  enough  to  hold  them,  much  thinner  in  body, 
and  ravenous  for  another  taste  of  their  favorite  food. 

A  short  distance  westward  from  the  Centerville  lakes  is  a 
tract  of  marsh  land,  which  stretches  northeasterly  almost  to 
the  northern  boundary  of  Anoka  county.  Much  of  this  marsh 
land  has  now  been  drained,  but  it  originally  covered  probably 
seventy  or  eighty  square  miles,  and  early  settlers  tell  of  a  time 
when  they  could  go  the  entire  distance  from  Centerville  to  Lin- 
wood  in  boats.     Much  of  the  country  surrounding  Centerville 


♦Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council.  April  12,  15 


316  MINi>fESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

is  well  wooded,  and  wild  game  abounded  in  the  vicinity  long 
after  it  had  disappeared  from  other  parts  of  the  state.  For 
illustration,  about  1856  a  hunter  who  had  gone  into  this  region 
drove  into  St.  Paul  with  a  four-ox  team  and  a  load  of  forty 
buck  deer. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Indians  had  overlooked 
this  ideal  location  for  one  of  their  settlements ;  and  I  believe  it 
can  be  shown  that,  except  for  a  few  years  when  the  war  be- 
tween the  Dakotas  and  the  Ojibways  was  at  its  height,  there 
has  been  no  time  during  the  past  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
when  there  has  not  been  an  Indian  village  or  a  cluster  of  Indian 
villages  in  the  vicinity  of  these  lakes.  Indeed,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  present  inhabitants  of  Centerville  township  have  an 
admixture  of  Indian  blood;  and  to  this  day  the  language  of 
the  Canadian  French  traders  and  bushrangers,  who  intermar- 
ried with  the  Ojibways,  is  quite  as  familiar  there  as  English. 

I  shall  call  as  my  first  witness  Nicholas  Perrot.  Perrot  was 
credited  with  a  better  understanding  of  the  mode  of  life  and 
habits  of  thought  of  the  western  Indians  than  any  other  man 
of  his  time.  He  was  not  exactly  an  explorer.  He  was  content 
to  be  years  behind  other  white  men  in  his  first  sight  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  but  he  made  himself  familiar  with  the  geog- 
raphy and  history  of  the  region  by  questioning  the  best  in- 
formed among  the  Indians.  I  quote  from  Perrot 's  Memoir  as 
translated  for  the  Collections  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of 
Wisconsin,  Volume  XVI,  pages  16-19 : 

The  Outaouas  finally  decided  to  select  the  island  called  Pelee 
[Prairie  island]  as  the  place  of  their  settlement,  and  they  spent  sev- 
eral years  there  in  peace,  often  receiving  visits  from  the  Scioux.  But 
on  one  occasion  it  happened  that  a  hunting-party  of  Hurons  encoun- 
tered and  slew  some  Scioux.  The  Scioux,  missing  their  people,  did  not 
know  what  had  become  of  them;  but  after  a  few  days  they  found  their 
corpses,  from  which  the  heads  had  been  severed.  Hastily  returning 
to  their  village,  to  carry  this  sad  news,  they  met  on  the  way  some 
Hurons,  whom  they  made  prisoners;  but  when  they  reached  home  the 
chiefs  liberated  the  captives  and  sent  them  back  to  their  own  people. 
The  Hurons,  so  rash  as  to  imagine  that  the  Scioux  were  incapable  of 
resisting  them  without  iron  weapons  and  firearms,  conspired  with  the 
Outaouas  to  undertake  a  war  against  them,  purposing  to  drive  them 


EARLY    DAKOTA    SETTLEMENTS    AT    CENTERVILLE.  317 


W 

»      from  their  own  country  in  order  that  they  themselves  might  thus  se- 

H      cure  a  greater  territory  in  which  to  seek  their  living.     The  Outaouas 

^      and  Hurons  accordingly  united  their  forces  and  marched  against  the 

Scioux.    They  believed  that  as  soon  as  they  appeared  the  latter  would 

flee,  but  they  were  greatly  deceived;   for  the  Scioux  sustained  their 

attack,  and  even  repulsed  them,  and,  if  they  had  not  retreated,  they 

i  would  have  been  utterly  routed  by  the  great  number  of  men  who  came 
from  other  villages  to  the  aid  of  their  allies.  The  Outaouas  were  pur- 
sued even  to  their  settlement,  where  they  were  obliged  to  erect  a 
wretched  fort;  this,  however,  was  sufficient  to  compel  the  Scioux  to 
retire,  as  they  did  not  dare  to  attack  it. 
The  continual  incursions  made  by  the  Scioux  forced  the  Outaouas 
to  flee.  They  had  become  acquainted  with  a  river,  which  is  called 
Black;  they  entered  its  waters  and,  ascending  to  its  source,  the  Hurons 
found  there  a  place  suitable  for  fortifying  themselves  and  establishing 
their  village.  The  Outaouas  pushed  farther  on,  and  proceeded  as  far 
as  Lake  Superior,  where  they  flxed  their  abode  at  Chagouamikon 
[Chequamegon].  The  Scioux,  seeing  that  their  enemies  had  departed, 
remained  quietly,  without  pursuing  them  farther;  but  the  Hurons  were 
not  willing  to  keep  the  peace,  and  sent  out  several  hostile  bands  against 
the  Scioux.  These  expeditions  had  very  little  success;  and,  moreover, 
drew  upon  them  frequent  raids  from  the  Scioux,  which  compelled  them 
to  abandon  their  fort,  with  great  loss  of  their  men,  and  go  to  join  the 
Outaouas  at  Chagouamikon.  As  soon  as  they  arrived  there,  they 
planned  to  form  a  war-party  of  a  hundred  men,  to  march  against  the 
Scioux  and  avenge  themselves.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  country 
where  they  roam  is  nothing  but  lakes  and  marshes,  full  of  wild  rice; 
these  are  separated  from  one  another  by  narrow  tongues  of  land, 
which  extend  from  one  lake  to  another  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty 
paces,  and  sometimes  no  more  than  five  or  six.  These  lakes  and 
marshes  form  a  tract  more  than  fifty  leagues  square,  and  are  trav- 
ersed by  no  river  save  that  of  Louisianna  [the  Mississippi] ;  its  course 
lies  through  the  midst  of  them,  and  part  of  their  waters  discharge  into 
it.  Other  waters  fall  into  the  Ste.  Croix  River,  which  is  situated  north- 
east of  them,  at  no  great  distance.  Still  other  marshes  and  lakes  are 
situated  to  the  west  of  the  St.  Peter  River,  into  which  their  waters 
flow.  Consequently,  the  Scioux  are  inaccessible  in  so  swampy  a  coun- 
try, and  cannot  be  destroyed  by  enemies  who  have  not  canoes,  as  they 
have,  with  which  to  pursue  them.  Moreover,  in  those  quarters  only 
five  or  six  families  live  together  as  one  body,  forming  a  small  village; 
and  all  the  others  are  removed  from  one  another  at  certain  distances, 
in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  lend  a  helping  hand  at  the  first  alarm. 
If  any  one  of  these  little  villages  be  attacked,  the  enemy  can  inflict 
very  little  damage  upon  it,  for  all  its  neighbors  promptly  assemble, 
and  give  prompt  aid  wherever  it  is  needed.  Their  method  of  naviga- 
tion in  lakes  of  this  kind  is,  to  push  through  the  wild  rice  with  their 


31B  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

canoes,  and,  carrying  these  from  lake  to  lake,  compel  the  fleeing  enemy 
to  turn  about,  and  thus  bewilder  him;  they,  meanwhile,  pass  from  one 
lake  to  another  until  they  thread  those  mazes  and  reach  the  firm 
ground. 

The  hundred  Hurons  became  involved  among  these  swamps  and 
without  canoes;  they  were  discovered  by  some  Scioux,  who  hastened 
to  spread  the  alarm  everywhere.  That  was  a  populous  nation,  scat- 
tered along  the  circumference  of  the  marshes,  in  which  they  gathered 
abundance  of  wild  rice;  this  grain  is  the  food  of  those  people,  and 
tastes  better  than  does  rice.  More  than  3,000  Scioux  came  together 
from  every  side,  and  besieged  the  Hurons.  The  loud  noise,  the  clamor, 
and  the  yells  with  which  the  air  resounded  showed  them  that  they 
were  surrounded  on  all  sides,  and  that  their  only  resource  was  to  make 
head  against  the  Scioux  (who  were  eagerly  striving  to  discover  their 
location),  unless  they  could  find  some  place  by  which  they  could  re- 
treat. In  this  straitened  condition,  they  concluded  that  they  could  not 
do  better  than  to  hide  among  the  wild  rice,  where  the  water  and  mud 
reached  almost  to  their  chins.  Accordingly,  they  dispersed  in  various 
directions,  taking  great  pains  to  avoid  noise  in  their  progress.  The 
Scioux,  who  were  sharply  searching  for  them,  and  desired  only  to  meet 
them  in  battle,  found  very  few  of  them,  and  were  fully  persuaded  that 
the  Hurons  were  hidden  in  the  wild  rice;  but  they  were  greatly  aston- 
ished at  seeing  only  the  trail  made  in  entering  the  lake,  and  no  trace 
of  the  Hurons'  departure.  They  bethought  them  of  this  device:  they 
stretched  across  the  narrow  strips  of  land  between  the  lakes  the  nets 
used  in  capturing  beavers;  and  to  these  they  attached  small  bells, 
which  they  had  obtained  from  the  Outaouas  and  their  allies  in  the 
visits  which  they  had  made  to  those  tribes,  as  above  related.  They 
divided  their  forces  into  numerous  detachments,  in  order  to  guard  all 
the  passages,  and  watched  by  day  and  night,  supposing  that  the  Hurons 
would  take  the  first  opportunity  to  escape  from  the  danger  which 
threatened  them.  This  scheme  indeed  succeeded;  for  the  Hurons 
slipped  out  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  creeping  on  all  fours,  not  sus- 
pecting this  sort  of  ambuscade;  they  struck  their  heads  against  the 
nets,  which  they  could  not  escape,  and  thus  set  the  bells  to  ringing. 
The  Scioux,  lying  in  ambush,  made  prisoners  of  them  as  soon  as  they 
stepped  on  land.  Thus  from  all  that  band  but  one  man  escaped;  he 
was  called  in  his  own  language  Le  Froid  ["he  who  is  cold"].  This 
same  man  died  not  a  long  time  ago. 

In  regard  to  the  location  of  these  Dakota  settlements  among 
the  rice  lakes,  Perrot  says  that  the  St.  Croix  river  ''is  situated 
northeast  of  them,  at  no  great  distance."  If  he  means  this  to 
apply  to  the  Mille  Lacs  region,  it  is  simply  not  true.  But  it  is 
true  of  the  little  cluster  of  rice  lakes  at  Centerville.  More- 
over, Rice  creek,  which  runs  through  these  Centerville  lakes. 


EARLY   DAKOTA    SETTLEMENTS    AT    CENTERVILLE.  319 

may  be  traced  by  traveling  in  a  northeasterly  direction  to  a 
point  a  mile  or  two  beyond  Howard  lake,  until  one  comes  to 
its  source  in  a  small  lake  within  half  a  mile  of  Forest  lake  in 
the  northern  part  of  Washington  county.  The  outlet  of  Forest 
lake  is  the  South  branch  of  Sunrise  river,  which  runs  north- 
easterly throughout  its  course  and  joins  the  St.  Croix  river, 
agreeably  to  Perrot's  statement  that  from  these  lakes  and 
marshes  "other  waters  fall  into  the  St.  Croix  river."  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  in  this  portion  of  his  statement  Perrot 
is  not  describing  the  general  location  of  the  Dakota  settle- 
ments, which  he  says  ''form  a  tract  more  than  fifty  leagues 
square,"  but  the  particular  place  where  this  battle  occurred. 

Again,  he  describes  the  character  of  the  country  as  con- 
sisting of  ' '  lakes  and  marshes,  full  of  wild  rice ;  these  are  sep- 
arated from  one  another  by  narrow  tongues  of  land,  which 
extend  from  one  lake  to  another  not  more  than  thirty  or  forty 
paces,  and  sometimes  no  more  than  five  or  six."  This  would 
certainly  not  be  true  of  the  entire  Dakota  country.  But  it  is 
eminently  true  of  the  Centerville  lakes,  as  any  duck  hunter 
who  has  stood  on  the  narrow  runways  between  these  lakes  will 
testify. 

It  seems  probable  that  Perrot  was  writing  from  descriptions 
given  him  by  Indians  who  took  part  in  the  battle,  and  not  from 
personal  observation.  This  battle  appears  to  have  taken  place 
in  the  autumn  of  1661,  and  Perrot  did  not  visit  the  Dakota 
country  until  about  1683,  more  than  twenty  years  later,  al- 
though he  was  living  among  the  Wisconsin  Indians  before  1671. 

The  ingenuity  of  the  Dakotas  in  setting  their  trap  for  the 
Hurons  will  occasion  less  surprise  when  it  is  remembered  that 
this  identical  device  was  practised  by  Radisson  to  guard  the 
entrance  to  his  fort  at  Chequamegon  bay  two  years  previous,* 
and  that  these  little  bells  were  among  the  tools  and  trinkets 
which  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  sold  to  the  Dakotas  at  the  time 
of  the  grand  council  at  Knife  lake.  The  Hurons  undoubtedly 
became  familiar  with  the  Dakota  settlements  at  Centerville 
during  the  time  of  their  residence  on  Prairie  island.  The  war 
upon  the  Dakotas  was  evidently  the  result  of  their  knowledge 
of  the  easy  indolence  with  which  the  Dakotas  lived  in  this  land 


■Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  vol.  X,  Part  II,  p.  485. 


320  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

of  plenty,  while  they  themselves  and  their  Ottawa  allies  were 
enduring  the  horrors  of  the  famine  of  1659-60  ;t  and  they  be- 
lieved that  the  Dakotas  with  nothing  but  stone  weapons  to 
bring  to  the  defense,  could  never  stand  against  a  determined 
attack  with  powder  and  ball. 

My  second  witness  is  Father  Hennepin.  It  seems  tolerably 
certain  that  there  were  Dakota  villages  at  Centerville  in  Hen- 
nepin's time.  His  statement  of  the  matter  is  not  clear,  but  his 
language  seems  to  imply  that  on  his  overland  trip,  after  arriv- 
ing at  the  first  Dakota  villages  (presumably  those  at  Center- 
ville), he  traveled  five  days  in  order  to  reach  Mille  Lacs.  After 
telling  of  the  arrival  in  the  vicinity  of  the  site  of  St.  Paul  of 
himself  and  his  two  companions,  with  the  Dakotas  who  had 
captured  them,  Hennepin  says  (A  New  Discovery,  original  Eng- 
lish edition,  page  163;  edition  edited  by  R.  G.  Thwaites,  page 
247)  : 

Here  the  Barbarians  order'd  us  to  land  in  a  Creek  of  the  River 
Meschasipi;  after  which,  they  held  an  Assembly,  to  consult  what  they 
were  tq  do  with  us.  In  short,  they  separated,  and  gave  us  to  three 
of  their  Chiefs,  instead  of  their  Sons  which  had  been  kill'd  in  the  War: 
Then  they  seiz'd  our  Canou,  and  took  away  all  our  Equipage.  The 
Canou  they  pull'd  to  pieces,  for  fear  it  might  assist  us  to  return  to 
their  Enemies:  Their  own  they  hid  amongst  the  Alders,  to  use  again 
when  they  should  have  occasion  to  hunt  that  way.  So  that  tho'  we 
might  have  gone  conveniently  enough  quite  up  into  their  Country  by 
Water,  yet  were  we  oblig'd,  by  their  Conduct,  to  travel  no  less  than 
sixty  Leagues  a-foot. 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  this  conduct  of  the  Indians  except 
on  the  theory  that  many  of  them  lived  at  Centerville,  which 
could  not  be  reached  by  way  of  Rum  river. 

My  third  witness  is  Jonathan  Carver,  who  visited  what  is 
now  Minnesota  in  1766-67.  In  the  book  entitled  Kathio,  by  the 
late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower,  attention  is  called,  on  page  92,  to  the 
fact  that  Carver's  map  shows  Dakota  villages  near  Centerville 
and  Howard  lake. 

My  fourth  witness  is  the  ill-fated  James  W.  Lynd,  who  was 
the  first  to  fall  in  the  Sioux  massacre  of  1862.  Fortunately  the 
manuscript  for  the  book  on  the  Dakotas  which  he  had  in  prep- 
aration was  found  after  his  death,  although  in  a  mutilated  con- 

flbid.,  pp.  487-492. 


EARLY    DAKOTA   SETTLEMENTS   AT    CENTERVILLE.  321 

dition,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Minnesota  Historical 
Society.  A  portion  of  this  manuscript  was  published  in  Volume 
II  of  this  Society's  Historical  Collections.  My  quotation  is 
from  an  unpublished  portion  of  this  manuscript  (page  18), 
Lynd  says: 

They  [the  Mdewakantonwan  tribe]  were  at  one  period  split  up 
into  two  bodies,  one  called  Ma-tantonwan,  and  the  other  Wakpa-aton- 
wedan.  The  signification  of  the  former  is  unknown;  the  latter  means 
Those- Who-Dwell-on-the-Creek,  because  they  had  their  village  on  Rice 
creek,  a  stream  which  empties  into  the  Mississippi  seven  miles  above 
the  falls  of  St.  Anthony. 

Both  these  names  given  by  Lynd  may  be  recognized  in  the 
list  of  the  bands  of  the  "Scioux  of  the  East,"  given  in  Le 
Sueur's  journal.  * ' Mantantons, "  Le  Sueur  says,  means  "Vil- 
lage of  the  Great  Lake  which  empties  into  a  small  one;"  and 
''Ouadebatons"  he  translates  as  'Hhe  River  Village,"  showing 
apparently  that  in  the  year  1700  there  was  a  village  on  Rice 
creek. 

The  Dakotas  appear  to  have  abandoned  their  settlement  at 
Centerville  about  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  Mde- 
wakantonwans  had  been  driven  from  Mille  Lacs*  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  century  by  the  invading  Ojibways,  and  now  found  it 
necessary  to  make  a  further  retreat.  Their  settlements  at  Ka- 
posia,  on  the  Mississippi  just  below  St.  Paul,  and  at  Lake  Cal- 
houn, now  became  their  outposts  on  the  side  exposed  to  Ojib- 
way  attack.  But  they  still  made  annual  visits  to  Centerville 
for  the  purpose  of  gathering  the  wild  rice.  Lieutenant  Z,  M. 
Pike  wrote  in  his  journal  under  date  of  Sept.  21,  1805  (edition 
edited  by  Elliott  Coues,  Vol.  I,  pages  74-76)  : 

Embarked  at  a  seasonable  hour;  breakfasted  at  the  Sioux  village 
on  the  east  side  [Kaposia].  It  consists  of  eleven  lodges,  and  is  sit- 
uated at  the  head  of  an  island  just  below  a  ledge  of  rocks.  The  vil- 
lage was  evacuated  at  this  time,  all  the  Indians  having  gone  out  to 
the  lands  to  gather  fols  avoin  [wild  rice]. 

Centerville  appears  to  have  been  without  permanent  inhab- 
itants from  this  time  until  white  people  had  made  settlements 
at  St.  Paul  and  in  the  St.  Croix  valley,  soon  after  which  a  few 
mixed  bloods  and  Ojibways  took  up  their  abode  there  and  fur- 
nished the  nucleus  for  the  present  village. 

21 


322  EARLY    DAKOTA   SETTLEMENTS    AT    CENTERVILLE. 

From  my  History  of  Anoka  County,  320  pages,  published  in 
1905,  the  following  notes  are  added,  relating  to  the  first  white 
settlements  in  this  township. 

The  lakes  of  Centerville  had  long  been  a  paradise  for  hunt- 
ers and  trappers,  but  no  permanent  dwelling  was  erected  until 
the  arrival  of  F.  W.  Traves  in  1850.  In  the  spring  of  1852, 
Francis  Lamotte  came,  and  in  the  fall  Charles  Peltier,  Peter 
Cardinal,  and  F.  X.  Lavallee.  These  four  settled  in  section  23. 
Joseph  Houle  lived  there  during  the  same  year,  but  did  not 
make  a  claim  until  some  years  later.  During  the  winter  Oliver 
Dupre  arrived,  and  the  next  year  came  Paul  and  Oliver  Peltier. 

In  1854  Charles  Peltier  built  a  sawmill,  and  in  company 
with  F.  X.  Lavallee  and  Francis  Lamotte  platted  the  village 
of  Centerville.  The  settlers  in  the  village  and  vicinity  were 
mostly  French,  and  this  came  to  be  known  as  the  French  set- 
tlement. 

Meanwhile  German  settlers  had  been  making  claims  near 
the  home  of  Mr.  Traves  in  the  western  part  of  the  town,  among 
them  Henry  Wenzel,  who  came  in  1855,  and  this  place  was 
known  as  the  German  settlement. 

The  town  of  Centerville  was  organized  August  11,  1857. 

The  first  religious  service  was  at  the  residence  of  Francis 
Lamotte,  where  mass  was  said  by  Father  Kaller  in  1854,  who 
continued  to  visit  the  place  occasionally  for  several  years.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Father  Robert,  and  in  1861  by  Rev.  Joseph 
Goiffon.  The  Church  of  St.  Genevieve  of  Paris  was  erected  in 
1859.   • 


CL.    lAj .   PHw-^-^eiuJ 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  VII. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  LITTLE  CROW  UPRISING.^ 


BY  DR.  ASA  W.  DANIELS. 


Considering  the  two  thousand  lives  involved,  largely  women 
and  children,  the  successful  defense  of  New  Ulm  was  the  most 
momentous  event  of  the  Indian  war  of  1862-3.  From  that  de- 
feat the  Indians  turned  westward  and  abandoned  further  com- 
bined raids  upon  the  settlements.  The  active  part  taken  by 
the  citizens  of  St.  Peter  will  ever  be  an  impressive  chapter  in 
the  eventful  history  of  that  city.  Her  immediate  and  generous 
response  with  volunteers,  and  their  long  and  hurried  march, 
enabled  them  to  join  in  defending  New  Ulm  in  the  afternoon, 
and  later  to  participate  in  the  uncertain  issue  of  battle  that 
held  the  beseiged  in  its  grasp  for  a  whole  day.  The  command 
of  General  Sibley  would  have  reached  the  city  too  late  to  save 
it  from  savage  fury,  and  had  not  the  response  been  immediate 
from  St.  Peter,  Le  Sueur,  and  Mankato,  its  fate  must  have  been 
too  horrible  to  contemplate. 

Some  of  the  events  of  that  battle  have  never  been  fully 
stated  in  the  official  reports,  and  others  not  mentioned  came 
under  the  observation  of  the  writer.  Therefore  it  will  be  of 
interest  to  learn,  from  one  who  had  superior  opportunities,  the 
particulars  of  the  battle  as  seen  by  him. 

The  news  of  the  Indian  outbreak  reached  St.  Peter  during 
the  night  of  Monday,  the  18th  of  August,  1862,  it  having  com- 
menced at  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency  at  seven  o  'clock  that  morn- 
ing. Major  Galbraith,  who  had  reached  St.  Peter  in  the  even- 
ing before,  on  his  way  to  Fort  Snelling  with  a  company  of 
recruits,  learning  of  the  situation,  at  daylight  started  on  his 
return  to  Fort  Ridgely,  which  he  reached  in  time  to  participate 
in  its  defense. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Tuesday  the  writer  was 
notified  of  the  outbreak  and  was  asked  by  Captain  Dodd  to  go 


•Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  November 
14.  1910. 


32-4  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

to  the  Rounseville  and  Briggs  neighborhood,  six  miles  to  the 
northwest,  and  notify  the  settlers,  and  he  informed  me  at  the 
time  that  messengers  had  already  been  dispatched  in  other 
directions.  I  was  soon  on  the  way,  going  from  house  to  house, 
spreading  the  alarm,  and  sending  others  to  more  distant  loca- 
tions. On  my  return  the  refugees  were  already  pouring  in, 
and  by  noon  the  village  became  crowded  with  men,  women,  and 
children.  Some  had  been  attacked  on  the  way,  and  bore  their 
wounded  with  them.  All  were  in  most  pitiable  condition,  hav- 
ing in  their  fright  and  haste  taken  little  clothing  and  no  pro- 
visions, reaching  their  destination  completely  destitute.  Every 
house  was  sympathetically  thrown  open  to  the  refugees,  and 
was  soon  filled  from  cellar  to  garret.  The  vacant  Ewing  House, 
a  hotel  of  fifty  rooms  or  more,  and  an  uncompleted  store  build- 
ing, were  soon  filled,  and  being  of  stone  afforded  safety  and 
comparative  comfort;  but  many  were  compelled  to  resort  to 
sheds  and  barns,  or  to  remain  unsheltered  for  some  nights,  until 
better  provided. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  before  the  outbreak  I  had  located 
in  St.  Peter,  having  left  the  Government  service  at  the  Lower 
Agency  as  physician  and  surgeon  to  the  Sioux  Indians,  after  a 
service  of  more  than  seven  years.  I  had  visited  them  a  month 
before  and  heard  from  them  many  complaints,  principally 
against  their  physician.  Dr.  Humphrey.  My  long  service  among 
them  had  been  satisfactory  to  myself  and  the  Indians,  and  I 
had  made  many  warm  friends  in  every  band,  among  them  be- 
ing Little  Crow,  and  I  may  say  most  of  the  other  chiefs.  There- 
fore, when  the  news  of  the  outbreak  came,  I  was  in  great  doubt 
in  regard  to  its  being  general,  but  thought  it  confined  to  a  sin- 
gle band,  and  that  the  outrages  had  occurred  when  they  were 
under  the  influence  of  whiskey  sold  them  by  the  whites.  But 
within  twenty-four  hours  my  confidence  in  my  old  friends  was 
rudely  shattered,  and  I  came  to  realize,  on  seeing  the  dead  and 
wounded,  that  the  outbreak  was  general  and  of  the  most  bar- 
barous character. 

As  a  government  officer,  I  had  observed  for  more  than  two 
years  the  close  intimacy  that  was  growing  up  between  the 
Sioux  and  Winnebagoes.     This  was  apparent  from  frequent 


1 


REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   LITTLE  CROW   UPRISING.  B^S 

visits  of  large  parties  of  Winnebagoes  to  the  Agency,  inter- 
marriages that  took  place,  uniting  in  games,  and  tribal  pledges 
of  friendship.  No  doubt  some  of  the  Winnebagoes  participated 
in  the  battles  that  took  place,  but  were  too  discreet  to  have  it 
known.  Had  success  attended  the  Sioux  at  Fort  Ridgely  and 
New  Ulm,  there  is  little  doubt  there  would  have  been  a  union 
of  the  tribes  against  the  whites. 

My  brother,  Dr.  J.  W.  Daniels,  had  served  for  five  years  as 
physician  to  the  Upper  Sioux,  at  Yellow  Medicine,  thirty  miles 
west  of  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency,  and  resigned  at  the  same  time 
that  I  did,  both  of  us  expecting  appointments  in  some  of  the 
regiments  going  south.  A  few  months  later  he  was  commis- 
sioned as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  Sixth  Minnesota  Regiment, 
and  soon  afterward  he  was  promoted  to  be  surgeon  in  the  First 
Cavalry.  I  received  an  appointment,  but  from  domestic  condi- 
tions was  compelled  to  resign. 

At  St.  Peter,  to  which  we  return  after  this  slight  digres- 
sion. Captain  Dodd  and  Major  Flandrau  had  enlisted  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  men  to  march  at  once  to  the  defense  of  New 
Ulm.  Many  of  these  volunteers  fled  from  their  country  homes 
in  the  morning,  hurriedly  disposed  of  their  families,  and  bravely 
responded  to  the  call  for  a  thirty  miles  march  before  the  close 
of  their  eventful  day. 

I  joined  them  as  the  surgeon  of  the  command,  and  we  were 
on  our  way  about  midday.  The  men  were  armed  with  double- 
barrelled  shot  guns,  a  few  rifles,  and  some  other  arms  of  un- 
certain efficiency.  Some  were  on  horseback,  and  a  few  in  bug- 
gies; having  to  carry  my  surgical  and  medical  cases,  I  availed 
myself  of  the  latter  conveyance.  On  reaching  Courtland, 
twenty  miles,  a  heavy  shower  drenched  the  command,  but  the 
march  was  continued,  all  being  enthusiastic  to  reach  New  Ulm, 
where,  refugees  informed  me,  there  was  a  battle  going  for- 
ward and  much  of  the  town  burned.  We  reached  Redstone, 
two  miles  from  the  village,  just  as  it  was  getting  dark,  and 
from  that  distance  it  did  look  as  if  the  whole  town  was  on  fire ; 
but,  crossing  the  ferry,  we  pushed  on  and  reached  the  vicinity 
of  the  Dacotah  House  about  ten  o'clock  at  night. 

As  we  were  leaving  St.  Peter  we  were  joined  by  a  command 
under  Captain  Tousley,  of  Le  Sueur,  of  nearly  one  hundred 


326  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

men,  who  continued  with  us  on  the  march  to  New  Ulm.  With 
them  as  surgeons  were  Dr.  Otis  Ayers  and  Dr.  William  W. 
Mayo,  father  of  the  two  distinguished  surgeons  at  Rochester. 
It  was  midnight  before  we  found  quarters  for  the  night,  and 
then  I  shared  my  bed  with  Dr.  Ayers,  passing  a  comfortable 
night  after  a  long  and  strenuous  day. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday  we  were  looking  over 
the  situation  as  left  from  the  engagement  the  afternoon  before. 
On  a  vacant  lot  near  the  center  of  the  town  lay  six  dead, 
brought  in  from  the  scene  of  the  engagement,  and  others  had 
been  cared  for  by  their  families.  The  physicians  then  visited 
the  wounded  and  cared  for  them,  and  for  some  of  the  refugees 
who  were  ill  from  fright  and  anxiety. 

During  the  forenoon  of  Wednesday,  Captain  Bierbauer  came 
in  with  nearly  a  hundred  men  from  Mankato,  and  a  few  men 
came  from  Nicollet,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Samuel 
Coffin.  An  organization  was  formed  on  that  day  by  the  mili- 
tary, who  selected  Major  Flandrau  as  commander.  Captain 
Dodd  as  lieutenant,  and  S.  A.  Buell  as  provost  marshal.  Pick- 
ets were  established  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  guard 
duty  for  the  night.  During  the  day  quarters  and  the  commis- 
sary departments  were  established  for  the  different  commands. 

A  company  of  sixteen  mounted  men  from  St.  Peter,  among 
whom  were  Henry  A.  Swift  and  Horace  Austin,  afterward  gov- 
ernors of  the  state,  had  started  to  the  front  some  hours  before 
the  command  under  Flandrau  was  ready  to  leave,  and  had 
reached  New  Ulm  in  time  to  participate  in  the  battle  of  Tues- 
day afternoon. 

Thursday  morning,  after  guard  mount  and  after  a  com- 
pany had  been  selected  to  dig  rifle-pits,  a  company  of  a  hun- 
dred men,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Dodd,  was  ordered 
to  go  to  the  Little  Cottonwood  settlement,  six  miles  south,  to 
bury  the  dead  and  rescue  any  that  might  be  hiding  or  wounded. 
Dr.  Ayers  and  myself  were  detailed  to  accompany  the  com- 
mand. The  doctor  invited  me  to  have  a  seat  with  him  on  his 
buck-board,  which  I  thankfully  accepted.  The  command  had 
hardly  made  half  the  distance  to  the  settlement  before  they 
were  fired  upon  from  ambush,  but  none  were  wounded,  and. 


REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   LITTLE   CROW   UPRISING.  327 

after  returning  a  volley,  we  continued  our  march.  Three 
mounted  Indians  soon  showed  themselves,  but  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance, observing  our  course,  and  in  derision  waving  their 
blankets,  keeping  in  sight  most  of  the  time  during  the  march. 
On  reaching  the  settlement,  the  saddest  scene  presented 
itself  that  humanity  is  ever  called  to  witness.  The  massacre 
had  probably  taken  place  on  the  Monday  before,  and  the  dead 
were  lying  in  all  directions  about  the  farm  houses, — in  bed,  in 
different  rooms  of  the  house,  in  the  yard,  near  the  grain  stacks, 
and  on  the  lawn.  During  the  three  days  that  the  remains  had 
been  exposed  the  flies  had  done  their  work,  and  as  a  result  the 
faces  of  the  dead  presented  a  revolting  spectacle.  Trenches 
were  dug,  and  the  bodies  were  gathered  together  and  laid  with- 
in, blankets  were  spread  over  them,  and  a  prayer  was  offered ; 
then  earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes;  and  the  command  turned 
sadly  away,  having  witnessed  a  burial  scene  that  could  never 
be  forgotten.  On  our  return  we  reached  New  Ulm  late  in  th^ 
afternoon. 

By  the  military  the  day  had  been  passed  in  strengthening 
the  defenses  of  the  town,  providing  themselves  with  ammuni- 
tion, and  fixing  upon  positions  of  advantage  in  case  of  an 
attack. 

News  came  in  during  the  day,  of  fighting  at  Fort  Ridgely, 
and  of  Captain  Marsh's  defeat  at  the  Agency,  and  many  other 
alarming  accounts  from  refugees. 

The  principal  event  of  Friday  was  the  detailing  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  men,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Tous- 
ley,  to  go  to  Leavenworth,  west  and  south  of  Fort  Ridgely, 
expecting  to  find  persons  there  unable  to  escape  and  that  might 
be  rescued,  but  nothing  definite  was  known  in  regard  to  the 
situation  there.  Drs.  Ayers,  Mayo,  and  myself  joined  the  com- 
mand,— I  again  having  a  seat  with  Dr.  Ayers.  The  route  was 
across  an  open  prairie,  and  we  had  not  proceeded  far  before 
we  discovered  three  mounted  Indian  scouts  to  the  north  keep- 
ing in  line  with  us  and  watching  our  course.  Late  in  the  after- 
noon we  reached  the  vicinity  south  of  Fort  Ridgely  and  for 
the  first  time  heard  cannonading  going  on  there,  the  sounds 
reaching  us  at  short  and  regular  intervals.     After  its  signifi- 


328  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

cance  had  fully  impressed  me,  I  said  to  Dr.  Ayers  that  the  In- 
dians had  attacked  the  fort  in  great  force,  and  that,  as  scouts 
had  been  watching  our  course,  in  case  we  continued  our  march 
to  Leavenworth  they  certainly  would  withdraw  from  the  fort 
during  the  afternoon  or  in  the  morning  and  cut  us  off.  We 
had  expected  to  remain  at  Leavenworth  during  the  night,  re- 
turning the  next  day.  Dr.  Ayers  agreed  with  me  fully,  and 
rode  forward  and  consulted  with  Captain  Tousley,  who  called 
a  halt  and  gave  his  reasons  for  doing  so,  asking  of  the  com- 
mand to  express  their  wishes  by  a  showing  of  their  hands.  It 
was  carried  by  those  in  favor  of  going  forward  by  two  or  three 
votes. 

We  continued  our  march  for  another  hour,  the  warning 
notes  of  the  cannon  coming  to  us  regularly ;  the  sun  was  nearly 
setting,  night  coming  on,  and  fatigue  was  telling  upon  the 
command,  when  a  second  halt  was  called  and  another  vote 
taken,  which  resulted  in  an  order  to  return  to  New  Ulm.  We 
reached  our  return  destination  after  midnight,  thoroughly 
worn  out  and  disgusted  from  this  long  and  useless  march, 
which  might  have  resulted  not  only  in  the  destruction  of  the 
command,  but  perhaps  in  the  capture  of  New  Ulm. 

The  morning  of  Saturday  was  warm  and  fair,  and  at  first 
we  hopefully  looked  forward  to  an  uneventful  day.  Much 
time  had  been  taken  in  preparing  for  an  attack,  by  burning 
outer  buildings,  digging  rifle-pits,  and  loop-holing  such  walls 
as  might  be  made  serviceable.  On  that  morning  Colonel  Flan- 
drau  gave  me  a  dozen  men  and  I  barricaded  the  avenue  a  little 
west  of  the  Gross  hotel. 

From  the  roof  of  the  Erd  building,  a  central  business  block, 
with  a  glass  an  extensive  view  was  had  of  the  surrounding 
country,  and  at  this  point  of  observation  a  watchman  was  on 
duty  during  the  day. 

The  first  surprise  and  alarm  of  the  morning  came  when  at 
guard  mount,  west  of  the  town.  Lieutenant  Edwards  was  in- 
stantly killed  by  an  Indian  so  concealed  in  the  grass  that  dan- 
ger was  unsuspected. 

About  eight  o'clock  a.  m.  the  watchman  from  the  roof  saw 
Indians  collecting  some  two  miles  west  of  the  town,  and  signal 


REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   LITTLE   CROW   UPRISING.  329 

'smokes  from  the  northwest.  His  observations  were  confirmed 
by  officers  and  others. 

The  certainty  of  a  deadly  conflict  with  a  barbarous  foe,  when 
no  quarter  is  expected,  is  a  most  trying  test  of  courage,  but, 
with  few  exceptions,  the  situation  was  heroically  accepted. 
The  women  and  children  were  hurried  to  places  of  safety,  the 
command  was  got  under  arms,  and  the  physicians  selected 
rooms  for  receiving  the  wounded,  Drs.  Mayo  and  McMahon  in 
the  Dacotah  House,  and  Dr.  Ayers  and  myself  in  a  store  room 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  avenue. 

Within  one  hour  the  large  body  of  Indians  who  had  been 
forming  on  the  west,  were  seen  to  be  moving  rapidly  upon  the 
town.  The  signals  indicated  a  like  approach  from  the  north. 
When  aware  of  their  approach,  Colonel  Flandrau  posted  his 
men  upon  the  slope  of  one  of  the  terraces  on  the  west,  with  a 
line  of  skirmishers  in  front.  Little  Crow  was  mounted  and  led 
his  warriors,  who  were  on  foot.  In  a  long  line  with  flanks 
curved  forward,  they  approached  in  silence  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  of  the  defenders,  when  they  gave  a  terrific  war-cry 
and  rushed  forward  upon  a  run,  holding  their  fire  until  they 
had  received  that  of  our  men,  and  then  delivering  an  effective 
volley  at  close  range.  The  defenders  fell  back  in  a  panic  and 
the  whole  line  retreated  to  the  barricades.  The  assault  was 
well  executed,  and  had  it  been  pushed  to  its  limit  might  have 
resulted  in  the  capture  of  the  town.  But  our  men  soon  rallied 
behind  the  barricades  and  buildings,  which  arrested  the  on- 
ward rush  of  the  Indians  and  compelled  them  to  seek  protec- 
tion of  the  outer  buildings. 

Lieutenant  Huey,  with  seventy-five  men,  was  ordered  to  the 
ferry  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  crossing  from  the  north  side. 
Either  from  a  misunderstanding  or  over-confidence,  he  crossed 
his  command  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  there  meeting  a 
large  body  of  the  enemy,  retreated  to  Nicollet,  and  was  not 
seen  again  until  the  following  day.  This  unfortunate  event 
was  a  serious  loss  to  the  defense. 

The  firing  from  both  sides  became  rapid,  sharp  and  gen- 
eral, the  Indians  gradually  pushing  their  way  in  surrounding 


330  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  town,  which  they  accomplished  before  midday.  They 
fought  with  the  utmost  boldness  and  ferocity,  and  with  the 
utmost  skill  and  caution  from  every  hollow  and  grass  patch, 
and  from  behind  every  house  and  hillock  or  log. 

The  crisis  came  at  two  p.  m.,  when  the  Indians  fired  build- 
ings on  both  sides  of  the  avenue  in  the  lower  part  of  the  town. 
A  strong  wind  was  blowing  from  the  east,  and  the  conflagra- 
tion threatened  the  destruction  of  our  only  defense.  Colonel 
Flandrau  rallied  a  sufficient  force,  and  charging  down  the 
street,  drove  the  enemy  from  the  avenue.  But  just  at  this 
critical  time  the  wind  changed  to  the  opposite  direction,  and 
clouds,  which  had  been  gathering  for  hours,  shed  upon  our 
threatened  locality  a  sufficient  shower  of  rain  to  prevent  the 
further  extending  of  the  flames. 

The  unfortunate  incident  in  the  dny's  battle  that  led  to  the 
death  of  Captain  Dodd  has  never  been  correctly  reported.  In 
justice  to  the  brave  men  that  participated  in  that  critical  move- 
ment, a  correct  understanding  should  be  had  of  the  reasons 
that,  at  the  time,  seemed  to  make  the  undertaking  imperative. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Lieutenant  Huey  had  retreated 
toward  Nicollet  in  the  morning,  and  all  through  the  day  we 
looked  for  his  return  with  reinforcements,  which  really  took 
place  the  following  day. 

About  five  p.  m.  there  appeared  beyond  the  Indian  outer 
line,  at  the  east,  some  forty  or  fifty  men,  marching  in  single 
file,  under  the  command  of  an  officer,  carrying  an  American 
flag.  They  were  dressed  in  citizens'  clothing,  and  had  all  the 
appearance  of  the  reinforcement  so  anxiously  expected. 

The  Indians  had  again  gained  possession  of  buildings  on 
the  avenue  east,  perhaps  five  blocks  from  the  Dacotah  House, 
and  from  that  position  were  delivering  a  galling  fire  upon  our 
line. 

Immediately,  on  discovering  what  all  thought  to  be  our 
reinforcements,  Captain  Dodd,  in  a  short,  impassioned  speech, 
volunteered  to  lead  any  that  would  follow,  to  the  clearing  of 
the  avenue  of  Indians  and  joining  our  reinforcements  beyond. 
Rev.  Father  Sunrisen  and  Dr.  Mayo  both  made  brief  speeches, 
urging  all  to  unite  in  support  of  Dodd.    Some  twenty  men  fell 


REMINISCENCES   OP  THE  LITTLE   CROW  UPRISING.  331 

into  line,  Dodd  and  Shoemaker  being  mounted,  and  proceeded 
down  the  avenue.  It  was  a  movement  of  only  a  few  minutes 
consideration,  and  seemed  to  promise  an  important  result. 
Captain  Dodd  leading,  the  small  volunteer  force  rushed  for- 
ward with  a  cheer,  hardly  coming  within  the  Indian  lines  be- 
fore receiving  a  deadly  volley,  which  hurriedly  sent  them  back 
to  positions  of  safety.  Captain  Dodd  wheeled  his  horse  and 
reached  a  log  blacksmith's  shop,  when  the  horse  plunged  for- 
ward and  fell.  Partially  supporting  himself,  with  others  as- 
sisting, the  fatally  wounded  leader  was  taken  into  the  build- 
ing. A  temporary  cot  was  provided,  where  he  was  made  as 
comfortable  as  possible.  The  building  was  loop-holed  and  a 
half  dozen  were  firing  from  it,  as  it  was  one  of  the  important 
positions  on  our  outer  line.  Dodd  had  received  three  mortal 
wounds,  two  other  slight  wounds,  and  the  horses  ridden  by 
Dodd  and  Shoemaker  were  both  killed.  The  writer  had  wit- 
nessed from  our  hospital  the  whole  movement,  saw  Dodd  fall, 
and  hurried  to  his  assistance.  There  was  little  that  could  be 
done,  as  he  was  in  a  dying  condition,  surviving  only  about  one 
hour.  He  appreciated  his  condition,  and  met  it  courageously, 
giving  me  messages  to  his  wife  and  to  Bishop  Whipple,  with 
the  utmost  coolness  and  consideration.  Thus  passed  a  cour- 
ageous and  heroic  spirit,  a  man  of  large  mental  endowments, 
and  one  whose  life  had  been  full  of  stirring  incidents. 

William  B.  Dodd  deserves  more  than  passing  notice,  as  he 
was  one  of  the  most  energetic,  fearless  and  reliant,  among  the 
early  pioneers  of  southern  Minnesota.  He  contributed  largely 
to  the  settlement  and  development  of  that  part  of  the  state. 
**Lest  we  forget,"  it  may  be  well  to  remind  the  present  gen- 
eration of  some  of  the  services  he  rendered  the  state  and  his 
home  town. 

He  was  largely  instrumental  in  securing  from  the  govern- 
ment the  appropriation  for  the  building  of  the  Dodd  road, 
from  St.  Peter  to  Mendota.  He  superintended  its  laying  out 
and  construction.  He  located  the  townsite  of  St.  Peter,  and 
from  the  first  had  the  most  supreme  confidence  in  its  future. 
He  lived  to  see  his  wilderness  claim  develop  into  a  thriving 
city,  and  he  would  have  succeeded  in  making  it  the  capital 


332  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

city  of  the  state  had  not  his  enemies  resorted  to  the  most  in- 
famous methods.  He  led  two  volunteer  companies  against  the 
Indians,  the  first  in  pursuit  of  Inkpaduta  after  the  Spirit  Lake 
massacre.  During  the  years  of  1853-4  he  was  at  times  acting 
United  States  marshal.  He  volunteered  for  service  in  the  south 
during  the  civil  war,  but  was  rejected  on  account  of  impaired 
sight.  He  was  one  of  the  delegates  to  Washington  that  suc- 
ceeded in  making  his  city  a  chartered  point  on  the  Winona  and 
St.  Peter  railroad.  He  was  a  ready  and  impressive  speaker, 
and  had  held  several  positions  of  trust  from  the  state. 

The  party  we  had  supposed  to  be  reinforcements,  upon  the 
volley  from  the  Indians  and  our  men  falling  back,  suddenly 
disappeared,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  stratagem  to  draw  out  some 
of  our  men  and  cut  them  off.  Had  the  Indians  in  the  buildings 
held  their  fire  until  they  had  advanced  a  half  block  farther,  it 
would  have  been  successful. 

In  explanation  of  how  the  Indians  became  possessed  of  so 
many  suits  of  citizens'  clothing,  it  may  be  said  that  twenty- 
two  months  before  one  hundred  and  fifty  suits  were  issued  to 
them  by  the  government,  under  the  pledge  of  becoming  farm- 
ers, much  of  this  clothing  having  never  been  worn  more  than 
a  few  days. 

The  assault,  commencing  in  the  morning  at  9  :30,  was  kept 
up  without  interruption  until  dark,  when  the  Indians  with- 
drew in  the  direction  of  Port  Ridgely.  During  the  evening  all 
buildings  outside  of  our  barricades  were  burned.  By  ourselves 
and  the  Indians  one  hundred  and  ninety  buildings  were  de- 
stroyed. We  lost  ten  killed  and  fifty  wounded,  the  small  loss 
being  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  we  were  fighting  from 
loop-holed  buildings  and  barricades.  The  Indian  loss  has 
never  been  known.  Both  hospitals  received  and  dressed  the 
wounded,  providing  temporary  cots  for  them.  Some  that  were 
only  slightly  wounded  returned  and  continued  in  the  fight  dur- 
ing the  day. 

Saturday  night  was  anxious  and  disturbed  with  desultory 
firing  by  our  guards,  and  perhaps  by  the  Indians.  Sunday 
morning  it  seemed  from  heavy  firing  that  the  assault  was  to 
be  renewed,  but  it  gradually  lessened  and  by  noon  it  ceased 


REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   LITTLE   CROW   UPRISING.  333 


IP 

I  B       entirely.    About  noon  Captain  E.  St.  Julien  Cox  arrived  with 

II  about  fifty  men,  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Huey  with  part 
1 1        of  his  detachment,  who  had  been  cut  off  the  day  before. 

11  During  Sunday  afternoon  search  was  made  for  the  recov- 

|B  ery  of  the  dead.  Three  or  four  were  found  that  had  fallen  so 
IH  far  out  as  to  be  exposed  to  any  indignity  that  the  Indians 
IH  might  offer,  but  none  were  scalped  or  otherwise  mutilated. 
I^K  Jerry  Quane,  a  St.  Peter  volunteer,  had  the  totem  of  Little 
IB  Crow  attached  to  the  clothing  over  his  breast.  The  totem  was 
"™^  the  skin  of  a  crow,  preserved  in  its  natural  form,  symbolic  of 
his  family  name.  The  parting  with  such  a  treasured  emblem 
was  to  boastfully  inform  us  from  whom  the  brave  defender 
had  met  his  death. 

Early  on  Monday  morning  the  order  was  issued  for  the 
evacuation  of  the  village.  Colonel  Flandrau  must  have  been 
wholly  responsible  for  this  move,  as  I  am  sure  the  medical 
officers  were  not  consulted  and  were  entirely  ignorant  of  it 
until  a  short  time  before  the  movement  commenced.  "We  had 
received  reinforcements  the  day  before,  our  position  was 
stronger  than  ever,  the  sanitary  condition  did  not  necessitate 
great  urgency  in  moving,  and  the  volunteers  would  have  loy- 
ally remained.  General  Sibley  was  at  St.  Peter,  and  would 
have  arrived  within  a  very  few  days,  therefore  it  was  a  mis- 
take to  retreat  from  New  Ulm  until-  relieved  by  him.  The 
route  was  a  part  of  the  way  through  a  forest,  and  had  a  few 
Indians  attacked,  a  panic  and  massacre  would  have  followed. 
It  is  an  ungracious  and  unwelcome  task  to  criticise  the  colonel, 
but  a  truthful  statement  seems  to  demand  that  it  should  be 
done,  in  this  respect  at  least.  Nearly  two  thousand  men,  wo- 
men, and  children,  took  up  the  march  for  Mankato,  thirty  miles 
distant,  bearing  the  wounded  in  conveyances.  Fortunately  the 
long  march  was  uneventful  and  we  reached  our  destination 
late  in  the  evening,  where  we  received  a  generous  reception. 
On  Tuesday  the  volunteers  from  St.  Peter  reached  home 
and  disbanded.  The  writer  brought  with  him  Rev.  Mr.  Saun- 
ders, severely  wounded,  who  had  volunteered  with  the  Le 
Sueur  company. 


334  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Some  of  the  wounded  were  left  at  Mankato,  but  most  of 
them  came  to  St.  Peter,  and  their  care  became  most  urgent. 
My  brother,  assistant  surgeon  with  Gen.  Sibley's  command, 
assisting,  we  established  a  hospital  in  the  court  room  of  the 
court  house.  The  room  was  large,  well  ventilated,  and  afforded 
space  for  twenty  beds,  sufficient  for  the  most  serious  cases. 
The  care  of  the  hospital  devolved  upon  me,  as  my  brother  left 
with  his  command  two  or  three  days  later. 

Of  the  cases  that  came  under  my  care,  the  most  serious  were 
as  follows :  Mr.  Summers,  of  Nicollet,  shot  through  the  spinal 
column,  died.  Rufus  Huggins  was  shot  through  the  knee  joint, 
and,  refusing  amputation,  died.  A  New  Ulm  volunteer,  hav- 
ing a  shot  through  the  mouth,  severing  the  tongue,  recovered. 
A  Sibley  county  volunteer,  with  a  compound  comminuted  frac- 
ture of  the  arm  bone  near  the  shoulder  joint,  had  amputation 
and  recovery.  Rev.  Mr.  Saunders,  with  an  abdominal  wound, 
recovered.  Mr.  Bean,  a  St.  Peter  volunteer,  with  a  shot 
through  the  face,  fracturing  his  lower  jaw,  recovered.  A  St. 
Paul  volunteer,  with  a  penetrating  gunshot  wound  of  the  brain, 
lived  two  or  three  years  and  died  insane  at  St.  Peter. 

From  the  time  the  news  of  the  outbreak  was  received,  the 
citizens  of  St.  Peter  were  active  in  providing  for  the  refugees 
and  the  protection  of  the  city.  They  organized  committees  for 
the  various  duties,  as  care  of  the  sick,  supplying  food  and 
clothing,  and  fortifying.  Night  and  day  guard  duty  was  kept 
up,  earth-works  were  thrown  up,  rifle  pits  dug,  and  barricades 
erected. 

In  the  early  fall  the  hospital  was  removed  from  the  court 
house  to  the  Ewing  House,  a  hotel  building  that  had  ^been 
vacant  for  some  time  until  occupied  temporarily  by  the  refu- 
gees. In  January,  1863,  I  was  succeeded  in  charge  by  Dr. 
Charles  W.  Le  Boutillier,  who  was  assistant  surgeon  of  the 
First  Regiment,  and  was  captured  at  the  first  battle  of  Bull 
Run  and  paroled  on  condition  of  not  again  serving  against  the 
South.  He  died  suddenly  while  occupying  this  position  April 
3,  1863. 

During  the  fall  and  winter  of  1862-3,  St.  Peter  was  garri- 
soned by  two  companies  of  the  Sixth  Regiment,  and  Kasota  by 


I 


REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   LITTLE   CROW   UPRISING.  335 

'a  cavalry  company.  This  period  was  marked  by  the  unusual 
amount  of  sickness.  A  few  cases  of  smallpox  occurred,  first 
at  Kasota,  and  afterward  in  the  hospital ;  and  cases  of  typhoid 
fever,  diphtheria,  measles,  and  scarlet  fever,  were  frequent. 
Much  of  the  disease  was  the  result  of  the  overcrowded  condi- 
tion of  the  city  and  the  lack  of  sanitary  conditions. 

Through  the  next  winter,  of  1863-4,  St.  Peter  was  the  regi- 
mental headquarters  of  the  Sixth  Regiment,  under  command 
of  Colonel  Crooks.  This  added  to  the  already  crowded  con- 
dition of  the  city  and  was  a  source  of  increased  unsalutary 
conditions.  The  quarters  were  without  proper  conveniences 
for  personal  cleanliness,  crowded,  badly  ventilated,  and  with- 
out sewerage.  The  water  supply  was  from  shallow  wells  and 
soon  became  polluted.  The  result  was  that  typhoid  fever, 
cerebro-spinal  meningitis,  measles,  diphtheria,  and  smallpox, 
soon  became  epidemic,  all  taking  on  a  most  malignant  type. 
Dr.  Alfred  Wharton,  surgeon  of  the  Sixth  Regiment,  had 
charge  of  the  hospital,  assisted  by  Dr.  Potter.  They  faithfully 
and  efficiently  performed  their  duties  under  the  very  trying 
and  adverse  conditions  that  existed.  Nine  deaths  occurred 
from  smallpox,  with  a  sad  mortality  from  other  diseases. 

These  diseases  were  not  confined  to  the  military  by  any 
means  but  involved  the  whole  city,  resulting  in  many  families 
being  stricken,  the  cloud  of  disease  and  death  hanging  like  a 
pall  over  many  households. 

The  loss  of  life  in  the  Sioux  massacre,  according  to  an 
estimate  by  Agent  Galbraith,  which  was  made  with  delibera- 
tion and  may  be  accepted  as  conservative,  was  654. 

The  additional  loss  of  life  that  was  caused  directly  and 
indirectly  by  the  outbreak,  in  the  many  settlements  across  the 
extensive  frontier,  has  never  been  known,  but  must  have  been 
very  large.  From  a  somewhat  careful  observation,  and  from 
consultation  with  parties  who  had  good  means  of  judging,  the 
writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  loss  from  disease  and  battle, 
and  that  in  the  frontier  settlements  resulting  from  the  out- 
break, must  have  been  as  large  as  that  suffered  directly  from 
the  hands  of  the  Indians  in  the  massacre. 


336  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

In  closing  this  paper  the  writer,  who  was  so  long  and  inti- 
mately associated  with  the  Indians  as  a  government  official, 
desires  to  say  that  he  found  this  people  possessed  of  many  of 
the  virtues  common  to  the  human  family,  and  that  socially  and 
morally  their  lives  were  of  a  standard  quite  as  high  as  among 
many  of  the  civilized  races.  The  outbreak  was  induced  by 
long-continued  violation  of  treaty  obligations  on  the  part  of 
the  government,  inflicting  upon  these  unfortunate  wards  un- 
told want  and  suffering.  Like  violent  acts  of  mobs  among 
civilized  communities,  the  massacre  was  a  barbarous  and  un- 
reasoning protest  against  injustice.  Had  the  government  faith- 
fully carried  out  the  treaty  obligations  and  dealt  with  the 
Sioux  justly  and  humanely,  the  outbreak  would  not  have  oc- 
curred. 


;OYHOOD  REMEMBRANCES  OF  LIFE  AMONG  THE 
DAKOTAS  AND  THE  MASSACRE  IN  1862.* 


BY  JOHN  AMES  HUMPHREY. 


My  father,  Dr.  Philander  P.  Humphrey,  was  born  in  Tor- 
ringford,  Connecticut,  on  the  26th  day  of  February,  1823.  My 
mother,  Susan  Angier  Ames,  was  born  July  8th,  1829,  and  was 
the  only  daughter  of  Horatio  Ames,  who  carried  on  a  large  iron 
manufacturing  business  in  Falls  Village,  Connecticut.  She  was 
a  granddaughter  of  Oliver  Ames  of  North  Easton,  Massachu- 
setts, who  founded  the  celebrated  shovel  manufacturing  busi- 
ness located  in  that  town  for  many  years,  and  whi^h  is  still 
carried  on  by  the  Ames  family. 

I  was  born  in  Falls  Village,  June  15th,  1850,  and  about  two 
years  later  my  parents  brought  me  with  them  to  Minnesota. 
They  eventually  settled  at  Kasota,  near  which  then  promising 
village  my  father  pre-empted  a  good  farm  of  160  acres.  In 
1857  he  was  a  member  of  the  Council  in  the  Minnesota  Terri- 
torial Legislature.  My  brother.  Jay  Phelps,  eight  years  younger 
than  myself,  was  born  in  Kasota. 

Subsequently  my  parents  determined,  inasmuch  as  the 
growth  of  Kasota  had  not  fulfilled  anticipations,  to  move  to 
St.  Peter,  which  then  seemed  certain  soon  to  be  made  the  state 
capital  and  to  become  a  large  city.  A  comfortable  house  was 
built  therefore  in  St.  Peter  (only  the  ground  floor  was  actually 
finished  inside)  ;  and  I  well  remember  the  day  when  it  dawned 
upon  my  childish  mind  what  a  struggle  my  parents  had  made 
to  clear  the  home  from  debt  before  they  moved  into  It. 
Watches,  chains,  and  about  everything  they  possessed  of  mer- 
chantable value,  had  been  sold  to  make  payment  for  the  house 
in  full.  At  that  period  actual  money  was  scarce  and  difficult 
to  obtain,  while  land  could  scarcely  be  realized  upon.  How  my 
parents  managed  in  those  days  to  secure  food  sufficient  for 
healthful  existence,  is  a  problem  which  I  have  never  been  quite 

♦Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  March  14,  1910. 


388  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

able  to  solve.  Certainly  existence  is  the  right  word  for  express- 
ing what  we  went  through.  Gertrude,  the  youngest  child  of 
my  parents,  a  sweet  baby  very  much  like  mother,  was  born  in 
St.  Peter. 

My  father  was  educated  at  Oberlin  College,  and  became  by 
profession  a  homoeopathic  physician.  Homoeopathy  was  not 
the  fashion  then,  and  for  that  reason  the  money  returns  from 
his  practice  were  not  what  they  should  have  been.  As  a  mere 
boy,  much  too  young  to  understand  the  reason  why,  I  remem- 
ber harboring  almost  murderous  feelings  toward  Dr.  Catlin, 
who  practiced  allopathy  and  appeared  to  be  always  on  the  go. 
He  kept  two  horses;  my  father  J^ept  one.  But  for  Dr.  Catlin 's 
son,  about  my  own  age  and  a  schoolmate  at  the  local  district 
school,  my  affection  was  unbounded,  and  we  were  fast  friends. 
It  may  be  added,  however,  that  it  seemed  that  the  harder  a 
doctor  worked  the  poorer  he  became,  for  people  really  had  not 
money  to  pay  even  modest  bills. 

In  1860,  through  the  split  in  the  Democratic  party  and  its 
putting  two  candidates  in  the  field  for  president  of  the  United 
States,  the  election  by  the  Republicans  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
that  office  was  accomplished.  It  followed  that  Democratic 
government  officers  were  turned  out  of  their  comfortable  berths 
(which  they  had  by  long  years  holding  become  accustomed  to 
look  upon  as  theirs  by  right),  and  Republicans  were  appointed 
in  their  places.  My  father  by  this  time  had  acquired  real  es- 
state  of  prospective  value,  but  was  without  what  may  be  termed 
working  capital.  He  therefore  applied  for  the  position  of  gov- 
ernment physician  at  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency,  twelve  miles 
above  Fort  Ridgely,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Minnesota  river. 
This  he  obtained  in  due  course,  and  thereby  became  the  re- 
cipient of  the  munificent  salary  of  $1,000  per  annum,  with  a 
comfortable  house  to  live  in,  besides  some  very  small  perqui- 
sites. For  example,  he  was  the  postmaster,  'and  in  that  way 
increased  his  income  by  a  few  dollars.  He  removed  his  family 
in  1861  from  St.  Peter  to  the  Lower  Sioux  Agency.  There  we 
lived  in  comparative  peace  and  comfort  for  a  little  more  than 
a  year. 

Social  life,  one  might  say,  there  was  none.  My  father,  un- 
fortunately for  himself,  was  not  a  sportsman;  he  had  no  taste 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  DAKOTAS  AND  THE  MASSACRE.  339 

for  fishing,  shooting,  boating,  cards,  or  horses;  he  even  could 
not  swim.  He  took  an  exceptional  interest  in  politics,  and  held 
such  pronounced  abolitionist  views  regarding  African  slavery, 
when  these  views  were  decidedly  unpopular  even  in  the  Re- 
publican party,  that,  although  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church,  he  ceased  to  affiliate  with  any  religious  organization, 
because  they  would  not  take  action  on  this  burning  question. 
He  was,  however,  a  religious  man  to  the  point  that  by  precept 
and  example  he  condemned  the  sale  of,  and  indulgence  in,  alco- 
holic liquor  of  all  kinds,  and  also  of  tobacco.  He  defended 
earnestly  Christian  doctrine  in  argument  with  German  and 
other  infidels  and  agnostics  of  his  time.  His  moral  tone  was 
elevated,  and  his  example  was  helpful  in  the  community. 

He  had  a  hasty  temper,  and  I,  his  eldest  son,  suffered  the 
most  from  it,  especially  during  those  months  at  the  Lower 
Sioux  Agency,  probably  owing  to  the  fact  that  there  was  no 
suitable  school  for  white  children,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to 
study  at  home  and  recite  lessons  to  my  parents,  etc.  Parents 
often  know  more  about  bringing  up  children  when  their  first- 
born arrives,  than  after  they  have  tried  to  bring  up  a  number. 
It  is  a  dreadful  thing  to  be  the  firstborn  of  the  family.  Per- 
fection is  expected  from  them. 

My  mother,  by  temperament,  accomplishments,  and  the  pos- 
session of  exceptional  personal  beauty,  was  qualified  to  grace 
any  position  in  society.  Instead,  however,  of  seeking  by  mar- 
riage the  position  in  life  which  reasonable  ambition  would  seem 
naturally  to  prompt,  she  chose  for  her  husband  the  man  she 
loved,  poor  in  this  world's  goods,  but  rich  in  high  principle  and 
sound  education.  She  entrusted  to  him  her  future  happiness, 
and  hoped  to  assist  him  to  secure  an  independence  for  them 
both.  Her  father,  rich  at  that  time,  practically  disinherited  her 
for  doing  so.  She  become  a  loyal  self-sacrificing  wife  and 
mother,  and  spent  her  too  short  life  solely  for  husband  and 
children. 

The  atheist,  the  agnostic,  or  the  nominal  Christian,  can  give 
no  reasonable  explanation  for  the  fate  that  befell  this  Christian 
woman,  and  indeed  the  entire  family,  excepting  one;  and  it 
would  be  equally  impossible  for  such  persons  to  give  any  suffi- 
cient reason  why  the  eldest  boy  escaped  with  his  life. 


340  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

My  father  read  his  books  and  newspapers ;  discussed  politics, 
religion,  and  philosophy,  that  is,  when  anybody  came  along  to 
argue  with  him ;  listened  to  my  recitations ;  and  prescribed  for 
and  gave  medicine  to  the  Indians,  and  visited  them  in  illness 
when  called  upon.  It  was  true,  however,  of  the  Indians  that 
when  they  were  seriously  ill,  that  is,  near  death's  door,  they 
chose  the  incantations  and  doses  of  their  own  medicine  men. 

I  went  to  some  of  their  "medicine  dances"  (so  called), 
where  I  suppose  their  most  sacred  rites  were  practiced ;  and  it 
was  a  pitiful  sight  to  see  those  dying  from  consumption  and 
other  ailments  brought  and  placed  in  a  certain  location,  set 
apart,  supposed  to  be  consecrated  and  thereby  made  efficacious. 
Unwittingly  upon  one  occasion  I  stumbled  into  this  enclosure, 
and  I  believe  that  only  my  youth  saved  me  from  instant  death. 
I  was  very  roughly  handled,  and  the  expressions  on  the  faces 
of  the  Indians,  together  with  the  deathlike  stillness  that  fell 
upon  the  scene,  unmistakably  told  me  that  I  was  in  great  dan- 
ger. I  visited  their  villages  fearlessly,  picked  up  much  of  their 
language,  was  invariably  treated  kindly  by  them,  and  they 
called  me  the  *' little  medicine  man."  I  can  pronounce  the 
equivalent  words  in  the  Sioux  language,  but  cannot  write  them 
properly. 

My  mother  was  fully  occupied  with  household  duties  and 
care  of  the  children.  She  even  had  to  make  my  suits  of  clothes. 
A  servant  was  quite  out  of  the  question  in  that  wilderness,  even 
if  one  could  have  been  afforded.  I  had  to  be  nurse  for  my  little 
brother  and  sister,  and  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  sometimes  re- 
belled. This  was  because  after  I  had  studied  lessons  and  re- 
cited them,  sawed  and  split  all  the  firewood  (no  coal  in  those 
days),  looked  up  the  cows  (there  were  no  fences),  milked  them, 
taken  care  of  the  horses,  carried  all  the  water,  built  the  fires, 
etc.,  I  felt  somehow  entitled  to  a  little  play.  But  I  seldom  got 
it. 

Sundays  I  often  attended  services  at  the  Episcopal  mission 
close  by.  Rev.  Mr.  Hinman,  the  clergyman  in  charge,  con- 
ducted the  service  with  the  help  of  his  housekeeper  who  made 
all  the  responses.  Mr.  Hinman  was  married,  but  his  wife  was 
an  invalid  and  could  give  him  little  assistance.  He  was  a  pro- 
tege of  Bishop  Whipple,  who  took  great  interest  in  the  enter- 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  DAKOTAS  AND  THE  MASSACRE. 


341 


prise  and  visited  it.  The  many  years  of  patient,  self-sacri- 
ficing labors  of  other  missionaries,  like  Dr.  Riggs  and  Dr.  Wil- 
liamson and  their  families,  were  rewarded  with  better  results. 
They  gathered  together  a  few  genuine  converts,  who  stood  the 
test  when  the  days  of  trial  came.  But  these  missionaries  were 
overzealous  in  defense  of  the  Indians  subsequent  to  the  awful 
massacre  of  1862. 

As  a  race,  I  maintain  that  the  Sioux  Indians  are  cruel, 
crafty,  and  treacherous,  and  utterly  wanting  in  sense  of  grati- 
tude for  favors  rendered  to  them.  They  would  beg  for  and 
accept  help  from  white  people,  and  would  sneak  back  later,  not 
only  to  murder  but  to  torture  the  generous  donors  and  their 
helpless  women  and  children.  It  is  idle  to  attempt  to  prove 
that  they  were  not  responsible  for  their  dreadful  deeds.  They 
were  quite  intelligent  enough  to  discriminate  between  white 
men  who  had  misused  them  and  helpless  women  and  children, 
who  were  physically  and  morally  incapable  of  doing  so.  The 
simple  fact  that  their  defenders  were  willing  to  trust  their  own 
lives,  and  the  lives  of  those  dearest  to  them,  in  their  power,  is 
quite  good  enough  proof  for  me  that  in  their  opinion  the  Sioux 
Indian  was  responsible  for  his  acts.  Granting  that  he  had  been 
badly  treated  by  some  palefaces,  he  knew  that  he  was  not  jus- 
tified in  committing  murder,  and  especially  in  outraging  and 
torturing  them  as  well. 

If  the  red  Indian  is  a  human  being  capable  of  understand- 
ing the  teaching  of  Christian  missionaries,  he  must  possess  a 
soul  and  the  power  of  choosing  good  or  evil.  There  has  been 
implanted  in  him  belief  in  the  existence  of  ''the  Great  Spirit," 
desire  to  worship  him,  and  sense  of  dependence  upon  and  ac- 
countability to  him.  I  quite  believe  that  the  Sioux  Indians  of 
the  period  we  are  writing  about  knew  beyond  question  that 
killing  human  beings  was  looked  upon  by  the  Great  Spirit  as 
the  equivalent  of  what  the  word  murder  expresses  to  white  men. 

I  knew  the  notorious  Little  Crow.  He  had  the  face  of  a 
fanatic,  the  voice  of  a  hypocrite  (its  quality  was  insincere), 
and  the  bearing  of  a  leader,  but  he  did  not  impress  one  as  being 
the  possessor  of  sound  judgment.  He  was  a  dreamer  and  a 
schemer.  He  overestimated  his  own  ability  and  misled  his  peo- 
ple.   He  had  been  given  exceptional  opportunities  for  acquir- 


342  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing  some  adequate  estimate  of  the  relative  strength  of  the  In- 
dians and  the  whites,  but  he  utterly  failed.  He  gave  his  people 
oratory,  but  could  not  give  them  wisdom.  Neither  was  he  any 
braver  than  the  average  of  his  race.  He  would  not  stand  up 
to  an  open  fight,  even  when  the  chances  were  tremendously  in 
his  favor.  He  ought  to  have  easily  captured  Fort  Ridgely,  with 
its  decimated  garrison  and  filled  with  refugees ;  but  his  tactics 
of  dodging  behind  trees  and  crawling  in  the  grass,  instead  of 
walking  right  in  with  the  loss  of  a  few  of  his  braves,  withheld 
from  him  the  prize  and  the  prestige.  I  was  there,  and  am  quite 
able  to  form  an  opinion. 

There  was  freedom,  and  even  grandeur,  about  my  boyhood 
life  at  the  Sioux  Agency.  It  was  perfectly  natural  and  health- 
ful; body  and  mind  were  sound.  The  atmosphere  of  unselfish 
mother  love  surrounded  me  at  home;  and  when  I  walked,  or 
rode  abroad  astride  a  noble  horse,  nature  soothed  and  satisfied 
me.  The  God  of  my  boyhood  was  exacting  and  despotic,  and 
fear  of  the  consequences  of  sin  was  always  in  my  mind.  How 
much  more  delightful  would  have  been  this  life,  if  his  infinite 
love  and  care  for  me  had  been  taught  me  as  well!  My  condi- 
tion would  then  have  been  ideal.  To  know  that  punishment  is 
remedial  and  not  vindictive,  think  you  it  would  have  made  any 
difference  ?  0,  the  comfort  of  existence  in  this  world  in  the 
conscious  presence  of  a  personal  God  of  love !  Such  relation- 
ship was  intended  for  the  child,  and  for  him  when  grown  up, 
too. 

At  length,  after  a  bright,  restful  Sabbath,  tht5  fateful  Mon- 
day, the  18th  of  August,  1862,  arrived.  My  mother  was  ill  in 
bed,  but  had  nearly  recovered.  I  slept  with  my  dear  little 
brother  in  an  upper  room.  In  the  small  hours  of  that  morning 
I  could  not  sleep  soundly;  like  a  nightmare,  apprehension  of 
impending  disaster  settled  down.  Shake  it  off  I  could  not,  until 
in  desperation  I  dressed  and  went  downstairs.  Talking  about 
premonition,  I  quite  understand  what  the  word  means.  Appar- 
ently nobody  else  in  the  house  was  awake.  I  took  the  water 
pails,  and,  quietly  leaving  the  house,  went  a  short  distance  to  a 
spring,  with  the  intention  of  making  journeys  enough  back  and 
forth  to  fill  the  tubs  for  the  weekly  washing.  The  weight  of 
my  foreboding  was  so  heavy  upon  me  that  I  walked  slowly  and 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  DAKOTAS  AND  THE  MASSACRE. 


343 


lingered  when  I  got  to  the  spring,  expecting  every  instant  to 
see  or  hear  something  horrible.  Leaving  the  spring  and  reach- 
ing the  top  of  the  hill,  I  saw  Indians  in  parties  of  three  or  four 
hurrying  into  our  small  village  from  the  direction  of  the  en- 
campment of  Little  Crow  and  other  chiefs.  These  took  up  con- 
venient points  for  observation  at  first.  Soon  I  saw  a  teamster 
approach  a  wagon,  with  his  pair  of  horses.  Then  one  party  of 
Indians  ran  to  him  and  demanded  them.  He  refused  the  re- 
quest, when  one  of  them  emptied  the  contents  of  his  gun  into 
his  abdomen.  His  suffering  was  so  dreadful  to  witness  that 
another  Indian  soon  quieted  him  with  the  butt  end  of  a  gun. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  outbreak  at  the  Lower  Sioux 
Agency. 

I  immediately  ran,  as  fast  as  my  bare  feet  would  carry  me, 
to  our  house.  By  this  time  father  had  dressed  and  was  in  the 
surgery,  and  I  said  to  him,  ''Father,  something  awful  is  going 
to  happen."  He  replied,  "Nonsense,"  and  kept  on  with  his 
work.  I  then  begged  him  to  step  outside  the  house  and  look 
for  himself.  He  would  not  move.  I  then  told  him  what  I  had 
seen;  not  before  would  he  move  and  show  any  interest.  After 
a  good  look  outside,  without  saying  a  word  he  walked  into  the 
house  hurriedly  and  assisted  mother  to  get  up  and  dress.  I 
meantime  looked  after  the  children,  and  then  we  all  walked  out 
by  the  back  door,  leaving  everything  behind.  We  started 
toward  the  ferry,  with  intention  of  crossing  and  making  our 
way  to  Fort  Ridgely.  But  father  had  been  too  slow.  Those 
precious  minutes  through  his  blind  sense  of  security  cost  the 
lives  of  himself,  wife,  and  two  of  their  three  children. 

When  we  reached  the  ferry,  it  was  to  find  the  ferryman 
gone  and  the  then  typical  western  flat-bottomed  boat,  which 
was  propelled  across  the  stream  by  means  of  a  rope  and  pulleys, 
on  the  opposite  bank.  All  the  small  canoes  and  row-boats  were 
there  as  well.  Hopelessness  was  depicted  in  father's  face,  for 
he  could  not  swim ;  and  he  had  threatened  me  with  punishment 
such  as  I  had  never  experienced  (which  was  saying  a  great 
deal),  if  he  ever  found  that  I  had  ''been  iur  swimming."  Oc- 
casionally when  my  guilty  eyes  had  noticed  a  searching  glance 
of  his  shot  at  me,  I  had  felt  that  I  wilted ;  but  congratulate  me, 
my  hair  was  dry,  and  punishment  was  postponed.    I  had  learned 


344  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

to  swim.  There  had  been  nobody  to  ''give  me  away,"  for  I  al- 
ways sneaked  off  alone;  and  I  did  nearly  drown  once,  but  the 
fascination  was  upon  me  and  I  persisted.  I  now  boldly  plunged 
into  the  river,  swam  to  the  other  side,  secured  a  small  boat  and 
rowed  back  to  them,  and  we  all  crossed  in  silence.  Looking 
back,  I  somehow  feel  that,  after  this  exhibition  of  my  skill,  all 
should  have  been  allowed  to  escape.  Had  we  been  only  those 
few  minutes  earlier,  all  our  lives  would  have  been  saved,  for  a 
number  of  our  neighbors  who  were  ahead  of  us  at  the  ferry 
escaped  to  Fort  Ridgely  by  wagon  conveyance. 

We  were  toe  late  and  therefore  now  plodded  on  foot  along 
the  main  road  toward  the  fort.  The  sun's  rays  soon  beat  down 
upon  us  with  such  power  that  they  began  to  affect  my  mother, 
while  the  small  children  were  unable  to  walk  rapidly.  When 
we  had  covered  probably  two  and  a  half  miles,  we  stopped,  for 
by  that  time  mother  had  become  actually  faint.  We  had  no 
breakfast,  not  even  a  cup  of  tea  before  starting.  We  then  dis- 
covered a  path  and  at  the  end  of  it,  only  a  few  yards  distant,  a 
cabin,  which  we  reached  to  find  it  vacant,  as  its  occupants  had 
fled.  Until  then  we  had  neither  seen  nor  heard  Indians,  and 
prospects  for  escaping  seemed  to  brighten.  My  father  took 
down  a  pail,  and  directed  me  to  follow  a  footpath  till  I  should 
find  the  spring  and  to  return  with  water.  I  secured  water, 
down  in  a  ravine  which  proved  to  be  well  wooded,  as  was  also 
the  pathway  leading  to  the  spring. 

Returning  a  little  more  than  half  the  distance,  I  heard  the 
crack  of  a  rifle  and  listening  presently  heard  the  sound  of 
voices,  both  from  the  direction  of  the  cabin.  I  knew  we  had 
been  overtaken,  and  debated  whether  or  not  I  should  complete 
the  return  and  try  to  help.  Quickly  I  decided  that  my  pres- 
ence would  be  useless.  Then  I  deposited  the  full  pail  a  few 
yards  from  the  path,  ran  back  to  the  spring,  and  from  it  ran 
along  the  ravine.  There  I  was  hidden  from  sight,  and  could 
make  plans  in  comparative  safety.  I  must  have  been  alone  an 
hour  or  two,  when  I  decided  that  the  Indians  would  not  have 
waited  longer  in  the  expectation  that  I  would  return  to  the 
family.  Then  I  decided  to  carefully  seek  the  open  road  toward 
Fort  Ridgely  and  below  the  cabin.  In  doing  so  I  met  the  owner 
of  the  cabin,  Magner  by  name,  who,  accompanied  by  another 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  DAKOTAS  AND  THE  MASSACRE. 


345 


man,  was  sheltering  as  I  had  been.  I  joined  them,  and  before 
long  we  venteured  to  the  main  road. 

Looking  down  the  road,  we  discovered  men  coming  toward 
us,  who  proved  to  be  Captain  Marsh  with  about  fifty  soldiers, 
hastening  to  the  Agency  to  quell  the  disturbance  there,  which 
had  been  reported  early  in  the  forenoon  by  the  first  refugees 
who  had  fled  to  the  fort.  Magner  and  his  companion  imparted 
to  Captain  Marsh  what  information  they  had,  and  we  all  joined 
the  expedition. 

This  to  me  was  a  return  journey,  but  I  knew  it  was  the 
safest  way  to  get  a  look  at  that  cabin  and  learn  the  fate  of  our 
family.  To  go  there  was  the  matter  of  only  a  few  minutes. 
The  little  force  halted  when  the  footpath  was  reached,  and, 
with  Magner  and  a  few  soldiers  detailed  for  the  purpose,  I  ap- 
proached the  spot  where  the  building  had  been.  The  murderers 
had  set  fire  to  it,  and  the  smouldering  ruins  which  had  fallen 
into  the  cellar  contained  the  mortal  remains  of  my  mother  and 
brother  and  sister.  That  was  the  first  suggestion,  as  we  all 
stood  there,  and  subsequent  investigation  (made  a  few  days 
later)  proved  that  it  was  correct.  My  father's  body  lay  a  few 
feet  away.  A  bullet  had  pierced  the  center  of  his  forehead, 
and  the  fiends  had  cut  his  throat.  His  axe,  a  poor  weapon  for 
such  conditions  but  the  only  one  he  possessed,  lay  near  him, 
showing  that  he  went  outside  the  cabin  and  met  them  like  a 
brave  man.  How  long  I  stood  there,  I  do  not  know ;  the  shock 
was  so  great  that  I  became  momentarily  insensible  to  material 
siirroundings  and  saw  only  in  spirit  the  scene  of  death, — truly 
I  was  alone  with  my  dead. 

When  I  came  to  my  normal  self,  every  living  person  had 
vanished,  and  I  ran  fast  up  the  road  to  overtake  the  soldiers. 
This  had  been  their  first  introduction  into  the  land  of  desola- 
tion, which  was  extending  rapidly.  Soon  the  road  descended 
along  the  valley  bluff  which  follows  the  north  side  of  the  Min- 
nesota river.  The  sight  of  dead  men,  women,  and  children,  now 
became  frequent  all  the  way  to  the  ferry  which  we  had  crossed 
a  few  hours  before.  The  effect  was  depressing,  and  the  few 
words  spoken  were  in  undertone.  Those  poor  souls  fleeing  for 
their  lives  had  been  shot  down  from  the  cover  of  underbrush 
and  tall  coarse  grass  which  grow  rankly  in  these  western  river 
valleys. 


346  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  ferry  boat  had  been  left  temptingly  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river,  and  Indians  were  in  plain  sight  on  the  opposite 
side,  on  the  bluff  which  rises  abruptly  to  the  Agency.  A  parley 
took  place,  through  interpreter  Quinn,  between  Captain  Marsh 
and  the  Indian  leader.  It  is  now  apparent  that  the  object  of 
the  Indians  was  to  induce  Captain  Marsh  to  send  his  force 
across,  and  when  the  boat  was  in  midstream  to  pick  his  men  off 
from  both  banks.  Probably  not  a  man  would  have  escaped, 
and,  had  the  Indians  who  were  hidden  in  the  tall  grass  on  the 
side  where  we  were  not  been  too  impulsive,  I  believe  that  their 
plan  would  have  succeeded.  There  was  not  a  suspicion  that 
we  were  surrounded  by  them  until  they  rose  suddenly  and 
poured  their  fire  across  into  us.  More  than  half  of  our  men 
fell,  and  it  seems  a  miracle  that  a  single  man  escaped.  But  the 
grass  that  had  hidden  them  hid  us,  and  those  who  lived  were 
led  by  Providence  out  of  the  ambuscade  to  a  point  not  far  down 
the  river.  Captain  Marsh  was  unhurt  and  escaped  with  a  small 
party  of  survivors.  During  the  firing  I  had  sat  in  an  army 
wagon  on  top  of  a  barrel  of  provisions.  When  I  saw  the  im- 
mediate effect  of  the  fire  from  the  Indians  and  realized  the  po- 
sition, I  joined  the  survivors  and  made  it  a  point  to  keep  about 
in  the  middle  of  them  so  that  I  should  not  fail  to  keep  up.  Sev- 
eral soldiers  did  become  separated  from  us  in  the  confusion  and 
excitement. 

Captain  Marsh  insisted  upon  crossing  the  river  at  the  point 
just  mentioned,  in  opposition  to  the  judgment  of  his  men.  He 
was  in  command,  however,  and  would  have  had  his  way  had 
he  not  entered  the  water  first,  considerably  in  advance  of  his 
men,  and  drowned  in  midstream  in  sight  of  all.  He  could  not 
swim,  and  help  did  not  reach  him. 

How  it  came  about  I  do  not  know,  but  the  party  I  was  with 
had  now  dwindled  to  perhaps  ten  or  twelve  men.  We  kept  on 
down  the  river,  still  on  the  north  side,  and  about  dark  filed  up 
onto  the  bluff  into  the  Fort  Ridgely  road.  I  think  Magner  was 
with  us.  The  poor  fellows  were  tired,  and  having,  as  it  seemed 
to  them,  escaped  from  the  jaws  of  certain  death,  became  a  bit 
demoralized  and  relaxed  their  vigilance.  Two  of  them  dropped 
their  muskets,  and  were  going  on  without  them ;  I  picked  them 
up,  and  was  trudging  along,  having  a  strong  feeling  within  me 


LIFE  AMONG  THE  DAKOTAS  AND  THE  MASSACRE.  347 

that  they  might  be  wanted,  when  they  took  them  from  me  with- 
out saying  a  word.  We  reached  the  fort  about  midnight,  and 
then  ended  a  long  and  eventful  day. 

I  stayed  during  the  siege,  but  will  not  give  my  experience 
of  it,  as  many  others  have  written  faithful  and  graphic  ac- 
counts. Final  relief  came  when  General  Sibley  arrived  with 
men  and  a  long  line  of  wagons  loaded  with  provisions  for  the 
besieged.  This  was  a  happy  day  for  everybody.  The  wagons 
were  soon  unloaded  and  filled  up  again  with  several  hundred 
refugees,  who,  in  care  of  Mr.  B.  W.  Smith,  of  St.  Paul,  with  a 
very  small  escort,  started  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  on 
the  return  journey  to  St.  Peter.  I  climbed  in  somewhere,  and 
reached  St.  Peter  in  due  course  unharmed,  I  went  to  the  home 
of  Governor  Swift,  who  lived  across  the  street  from  my  father's 
house,  where  I  was  kindly  received.  "While  there  I  struggled 
hard  with  soap  and  water  to  get  rid  of  some  of  the  outside  dirt, 
but  it  was  grimed  in  too  deep  to  come  off  with  one  operation. 

Leaving  St.  Peter,  I  walked  to  Traverse  des  Sioux  and 
stopped  a  night  with  the  Mclntyres,  who  were  old  friends  of 
our  family.  The  following  morning  one  of  them  walked  with 
me  to  a  spot  where  the  stage  coach  for  Shakopee  passed,  gave 
me  $1.50,  and  with  his  blessing  boosted  me  up  to  the  front  seat 
witli  the  driver,  at  the  same  time  telling  him  briefly  who  I  was 
and  something  of  my  recent  experience.  A  boy  soon  gains  the 
good  will  of  a  man  who  lives  with  horses,  and  we  got  on  to- 
gether famously  all  day. 

When  we  came  to  the  point  where  fares  were  collected,  mat- 
ters were  put  right  for  me  by  the  stage  driver  and  payment  was 
not  pressed.  But  when  we  stopped  at  the  hotel  at  noon  for 
lunch  and  I  had  partaken  heartily  along  with  the  other  pas- 
sengers, I  was  stopped  on  the  way  out  and  payment  was  de- 
manded. Having  only  $1.50  and  a  long  journey  before  me,  I 
was  economical  of  the  truth  and  told  the  collector  that  I  could 
not  pay  him.  When  he  had  about  exhausted  his  vocabulary  of 
profanity,  he  asked  my  name.  This  I  was  willing  enough  to 
give  him,  and  a  gentleman  who  had  been  listening  to  the  one- 
sided argument  ordered  him  to  allow  me  to  pass,  stating  that 
he  knew  my  father  well,  etc.    I  never  learned  the  name  of  this 


348  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

kind  man,  but  I  was  glad  to  get  up  on  the  coach  again  with  my 
capital  still  intact. 

We  reached  Shakopee  about  sunset  and  drove  to  a  hotel, 
where  all  alighted  and  passengers  for  St.  Paul  were  obliged  to 
stop  for  the  night,  as  the  steamboat  to  complete  the  journey 
did  not  leave  until  the  following  morning.  I  walked  to  the 
hotel  counter,  and  when  my  turn  came  was  asked  what  I 
wanted.  *'A  bedroom,"  I  replied.  Again  I  was  in  trouble;  I 
wonder  that  the  man  stopped  to  ask  my  name,  when  my  style 
of  dress  is  considered,  and  that  I  did  not  carry  even  a  small 
parcel.  But  he  did,  and  God  had  sent  another  gentleman  to 
stand  there  at  that  special  time  to  hear  it,  and  to  explain  that 
my  father  was  a  personal  friend  and  business  customer  of  his. 
His  name  was  Mr.  Howe,  and  his  firm  supplied  my  father  with 
drugs.  So  I  was  made  comfortable,  and  when  I  left  that  hotel 
in  the  morning  the  $1.50  still  traveled  with  me.  But  I  parted 
with  some  of  it  for  steamboat  fare,  for  I  knew  that  when  I 
reached-  William  L.  Ames,  my  uncle,  in  St.  Paul,  I  should  be 
looked  after  and  not  need  it. 

You  shall  now  hear  what  I  wore  when  I  presented  myself 
at  my  uncle's  in  St.  Paul:  a  man's  black  soft  hat  (expecting  to 
swim  the  river,  I  had  left  my  own  hat  and  coat  at  the  river 
bank  where  Captain  Marsh  was  drowned,  and  had  replaced 
both  at  the  fort)  ;  a  man's  linen  duster,  which  nearly  swept  the 
ground;  trousers  (worse  for  wear,  of  course);  a  very  dirty 
shirt ;  and  a  flannel  band  which  my  mother  had  fastened  around 
my  neck  for  sore  throat  a  day  or  two  before  the  massacre.  I 
had  one  brace  to  hold  up  my  trousers,  possibly  two ;  but  I  cer- 
tainly had  no  other  clothing  nor  luggage  on  that  day  when  I 
entered  the  confines  of  civilization. 


Minnesota  Historical  Society.  Vol.  XV.     Plate  VIII. 


Jesse  V.  Branham,  Jr.    Thomas  G.  Holmes.      Albert  H.  Sperry. 


m^.. 


—wl^ 


People  escaping  from  the  Sioux  Massacre,  in  1862,  under  guidance 
OF  John  Other  Day,  at  dinner  on  a  prairie. 


Chauncey  Lamson.     Nathan  Lamson.    James  Birney  Lamson. 


NARRATIVES  OF  THE  SIOUX  WAR.* 


BY  MARION  P.  SATTERLEE. 


The;  Acton  Murde;rs,  beginning  the  Massacre). 


In  recounting  the  occurrences  of  the  Indian  Massacre,  the 
necessity  of  differing  with  the  statements  and  opinions  of  emi- 
nent writers  produces  an  embarrassment,  only  relieved  by  the 
fact  that  they  could  not  have  witnessed  all  the  incidents,  being 
dependent  upon  others  mostly  for  their  information.  Further, 
the  tales  here  recounted  are  given  but  slight  courtesy  by  mili- 
tary historians,  and  we  shall  not  trespass  upon  the  military 
field,  which  has  been  so  copiously  covered  by  able  authorities. 

To  those  not  familiar  with  events  leading  up  to  the  Sioux 
Massacre  of  1862,  it  may  be  briefly  stated  that  in  1851  a  treaty 
was  made  with  the  Sioux  tribes  by  which  they  released  some 
24,000,000  acres  of  land  for  a  total  consideration  of  $2,075,000. 
This  was  to  be  paid,  a  part  down  and  the  balance  in  annuities. 
The  sum  of  $495,000  was  to  be  ''paid  to  the  chiefs  in  such 
manner  as  they  hereafter  in  open  council  shall  request."  In- 
stead, the  Indians  were  forced  by  the  authorities  to  pay  traders' 
debts  to  the  amount  of  $220,000,  or  go  without  their  money. 
The  payment  of  1862  was  held  back  at  least  two  months  while 
the  Indians  were  on  the  verge  of  starvation.  It  is  the  old,  old 
story  of  our  Indian  policy.  The  Indians  could  not  enforce  the 
treaties  made,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  they  were  competent  to  buy 
a  sack  of  flour,  especially  if  a  bottle  of  ''firewater"  was  in  the 
deal.  The  whole  treaty  and  style  of  procedure  was  as  farcial 
as  the  negro  vote  in  Mississippi  after  the  war.  Missionaries  and 
officials  talked  wisely  about  the  "Father  at  Washington"  and 
the  "Great  Spirit,"  but  the  effective  work  was  done  by  unprin- 
cipled traders,  agents,  and  the  "liquid  spirit"  which  steals 
away  the  brains  of  men,  especially  Indians.    Trite  as  their  say- 


♦Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,   September 
11,  1911. 


350  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing,  "We  need  the  money,"  was  the  demand,  "We  want  the 
land;"  and  a  few  reckless  promises,  more  or  less,  given  to  In- 
dians made  no  difference — few  were  recorded. 

Lest  this  appear  pessimistic,  it  is  well  to  explain  that  it  was 
hard  to  deal  reasonably  with  these  strange  people  who  claimed 
the  land.  As  said  by  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Pond,  "They  were  not 
models  for  imitation,  neither  were  they  properly  objects  of  con- 
tempt." Those  who  care  to  investigate  will  find  many  reasons 
for  the  outbreak  of  1862,  but  the  essential  facts  are,  that  the 
Indians  were  obnoxious  to  and  in  the  way  of  the  whites,  were 
preyed  upon  by  conscienceless  traders  and  boot-legging  liquor- 
sellers,  and  were  neglected  by  the  government  and  its  agents, 
till  at  last  long  smothered  anger  and  acute  hunger  produced  a 
storm  that  broke  in  fury,  the  opening  event  of  which  was  the 
murders  at  Acton  on  Sunday,  the  17th  day  of  August,  1862. 

In  Acton  township,  Meeker  county,  on  section  21,  lived  Rob- 
inson Jones,  postmaster,  Indian  trader,  and  farmer.  He  was 
married  to  Mrs.  Ann  Baker  the  previous  year,  on  January  14 ; 
but  through  some  error  her  name  appears  as  Ann  Baker  on  the 
monument  erected  over  the  remains  of  the  victims  at  Ness 
Cemetery.  Living  with  them  was  Jones'  niece,  Clara  D.  Wil- 
son, aged  fifteen  years,  and  her  half  brother,  eight  months  old. 
The  house  was  a  two-story  log  building  overlooking  a  marshy 
lake  on  the  south,  and  was  surrounded  by  heavy  timber  known 
as  the  Acton  Woods,  a  part  of  the  once  famous  "Big  Woods." 
The  Pembina-Henderson  trail  passed  at  the  back  of  the  house 
and  along  the  west  side. 

About  a  half  mile  southeast  of  this  place  was  a  cabin  of 
small  size  occupied  by  Howard  Baker,  a  son  of  Mrs.  Jones  by 
a  former  marriage.  His  family  consisted  of  a  wife  and  two 
small  children,  and  stopping  with  them  on  this  day  were  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Viranus  Webster,  who  had  a  day  or  two  before  come 
from  Wisconsin  and  were  looking  for  a  homestead.  The  house 
faced  south  and  was  surrounded  by  timber,  and  the  above  men- 
tioned trail  ran  a  few  feet  in  front  of  the  house  from  east  to 
west.  A  monument,  commemorating  the  "First  Bloodshed  of 
the  Massacre,"  was  erected  in  1909  on  the  site  of  this  cabin. 

On  the  10th  of  August,  twenty  Indians  of  the  Shokpay 
(Shakopee)  band  left  the  Lower  Agency  on  the  Minnesota  river 


NARRATIVES  OP  THE  SIOUX  WAR. 


351 


to  hunt  in  the  Big  Woods  and  were  divided  into  several  par- 
ties. About  nine  o'clock  on  this  Sunday  morning,  six  of  these 
Indians  appeared  at  the  Jones  residence  and  made  the  usual 
demands  for  something  to  eat,  and  no  doubt  wanted  whiskey  in 
addition,  as  they  knew  that  Jones  kept  it  for  sale.  Chief  Big 
Eagle,  in  an  account  given  in  Volume  VI  of  this  Society's  Col- 
lections, names  four  of  these  Indians,  as  follows :  Sungigidan 
(Brown  Wing),  Ka-om-de-i-ye-ye-dan  (Breaking  up),  Nagi-wi- 
eak-te  (Killing  Ghost),  and  Pa-zo-i-yo-pa  (Runs  against  some- 
thing when  crawling).  Rev.  S.  W.  Pond  names  two  more; 
Hdinapi  and  Wam-du-pi-dan,  as  taking  part.  This  treacherous 
pair  had  married  into  the  Shokpay  band.  All  of  the  six  claimed 
the  distinction  of  doing  the  killing,  and  all  probably  did  shed 
blood,  as  five  people  were  shot  down,  four  of  them  within  a  few 
seconds  of  time.  With  the  honor  goes  the  disgrace  of  causing 
the  loss  of  lands  and  money  of  all  the  Sioux  in  the  state  of 
Minnesota,  and  the  massacre  of  about  a  thousand  innocent 
people. 

One  of  these  Indians  had  borrowed  a  gun  from  Jones  the 
preceding  spring,  and  had  not  returned  it  as  agreed.  This  act 
might  now  be  deemed  a  trivial  matter,  but  it  was  not  so  when 
people  lived  largely  by  hunting  and  guns  were  not  on  sale. 
Jones  was  a  stalwart  man  and  had  no  fear  of,  or  regard  for, 
the  Indians.  He  refused  to  give  them  anything,  and  entered 
into  an  altercation  with  them  over  the  borrowed  gun.  The 
Indians  became  angry  and  left,  going  toward  the  cabin  where 
the  Baker  and  Webster  families  were  living.  Knowing  that 
the  newcomers  would  be  alarmed  at  the  appearance  of  the 
Indians,  Jones  locked  up  the  house,  leaving  the  niece  and  her 
brother  inside,  and,  taking  his  gun,  went  over  to  the  Baker 
cabin,  his  wife  accompanying  him. 

The  Indians  had  made  no  demonstration  when  they  arrived. 
Baker's  little  son  had  given  them  water,  and  the  men  had  fur- 
nished them  with  tobacco ;  but,  when  Jones  came  up,  the  quar- 
rel over  the  gun  was  renewed  and  the  Indians  became  very 
sullen.  Finally,  they  wanted  to  trade  guns,  and  incidentally 
to  shoot  at  a  mark.  One  of  the  Indians  and  Baker  traded  guns, 
the  Indian  paying  three  dollars  boot  in  the  trade.  A  target 
was  fixed  on  an  oak  tree  some  six  rods  from  the  cabin,  and  a 


352  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

trial  of  guns  was  made.  Afterward  all  returned  to  the  house, 
the  Indians  immediately  reloading  as  if  they  were  going  on 
hunting.  Mrs.  Jones  and  Mrs.  Baker,  with  the  two  children, 
were  in  the  house,  and  Baker,  after  hanging  up  his  unloaded 
gun,  stood  in  the  doorway,  leaning  against  the  casing.  Mrs. 
Webster  was  in  the  wagon  near  by,  getting  out  some  articles 
wanted,  and  Mr.  Webster,  who  had  not  been  shooting  with  the 
rest,  was  carrying  the  things  to  the  house  from  the  wagon. 
Jones,  evidently  suspicious  of  trouble,  had  stepped  around  th* 
corner  of  the  house  to  reload  his  gun.  One  of  the  Indians 
walked  a  distance  on  the  road  toward  the  Jones  place,  and 
the  others  were  about  the  cabin  door.  Suddenly  one  of  them, 
carrying  his  gun  across  his  elbow  and  standing  near  Mr.  Baker 
at  the  door,  shot  him  through  without  lifting  the  gun  from  his 
arm.  Immediately  the  shooting  was  participated  in  by  all  the 
Indians.  Mrs.  Jones  was  shot  while  sitting  just  inside  the  door, 
Mr.  Webster  in  the  dooryard,  and  Jones,  who  ran  toward  the 
woods,  endeavoring  to  load  his  gun  as  he  went,  was  shot  down 
near  a  corncrib  about  three  rods  from  the  house.  Mrs.  Baker 
had  her  youngest  child  in  her  arms  and  was  either  pushed  or 
fell  into  the  cellar  thrjough  an  open  trap  door,  where  she 
stayed  until  the  Indians  left.  Mrs.  Webster  in  her  fright  fell 
down  in  the  covered  wagon  and  was  not  molested,  nor  was  the 
oldest  child  who  lay  on  the  bed  in  the  cabin.  After  the  shoot- 
ing the  Indians  went  north  on  the  trail,  and,  in  passing  the 
house  of  Jones,  caught  sight  of  Clara  Wilson,  shot  her  to  death 
through  a  window  in  the  pantry,  and  then  continued  on  out 
of  the  woods.  There  were  left  alive,  of  the  three  families,  Mrs. 
Baker  and  two  children,  Mrs.  Webster,  and  the  baby  boy  at 
the  Jones  place. 

Contrary  to  all  succeeding  events  of  this  kind,  they  did  not 
mutilate  the  dead,  nor  steal  or  burn  property,  which  leads  to 
the  conclusion  that  enmity  toward  Jones  and  his  family  was 
the  real  motive  of  the  murders.  They  did  not  get  any  liquor 
at  the  Jones  place,  and  liquor  cannot  be  blamed  for  the  tragedy, 
for  the  settlers  found  afterward  that  the  house  was  not  en- 
tered, nor  the  liquor  kept  there  disturbed.  The  fact  that  Jones 
kept  liquor  and  sold  it  to  the  Indians,  led  many  of  the  set- 
tlers to  think  that  the  murders  were  simply  the  outcome  of  a 


NARRATIVES   OF  THE   SIOUX  WAR.  353 

drunken  brawl,  but  that  there  was  no  outbreak  of  a  general 
nature,  and  some  were  probably  killed  while  delaying  flight  on 
this  theory.  There  are  many  stories  of  Indians  appearing  at 
different  places  in  the  neighborhood  during  the  same  after- 
noon, and  probably  some  of  the  band  of  twenty  hunters  did 
appear;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  six  who  did  the  killing  were 
the  ones  who  soon  after  made  a  show  of  arms  and  stole  a  team 
of  horses,  with  which  they  carried  the  news  of  the  murders 
to  Little  Crow  at  the  Lower  Agency  that  night.  The  war  for 
the  extermination  of  the  whites  commenced  at  daybreak  next 
morning. 

Four  Indians  came  to  the  residence  of  Peter  Wicklund,  at 
Lake  Elizabeth,  a  few  miles  from  the  Baker  place,  while  the 
families  of  A.  M.  Ecklund,  P.  M.  Johnson  and  Jonas  Peterson 
were  at  dinner  with  the  Wicklunds.  Two  came  to  a  window 
and  two  at  the  door,  and  pointed  their  guns  threateningly  at 
the  people.  Mrs.  Ecklund  got  up  from  the  table  and  went  to 
them,  and,  pushing  their  guns  aside,  demanded  to  know  what 
they*wanted.  They  told  the  men  to  come  out  as  they  wanted 
to  talk  with  them.  The  men,  four  in  number,  went  out  with 
them  a  few  rods  from  the  house  and  were  told  that  the  Chip- 
pewa (Ojibway)  Indians  had  murdered  the  Jones  and  Baker 
families  at  Acton.  The  settlers  did  not  believe  them  and  went 
back  to  the  house,  and  the  Indians  went  away.  On  going  to 
feed  the  stock  that  night,  it  was  found  that  the  team  of  Mr. 
Ecklund  had  been  stolen.  Indians  riding  double  on  two  horses, 
with  a  third  holding  to  each  horse's  tail  and  running,  were 
seen  that  afternoon  going  toward  the  Agency. 

After  the  shooting  at  the  Baker  place,  the  women  finally 
came  from  their  places  of  concealment  and  cared  for  Jones, 
who  lived  for  some  time  in  such  terrible  agony  that  he  tore 
up  the  ground  in  his  death  writhings.  They  took  the  two  chil- 
dren and  went  to  the  residence  of  John  Blackwell,  about  four 
miles  west  of  the  present  Litchfield;  but  not  finding  anyone 
there,  went  to  the  home  of  Nels  Olson  and  told  their  pitiful 
story.  Ole  Ingeman  was  at  once  sent  as  a  messenger  to  Forest 
City,  the  county  seat,  with  the  news,  and  the  settlers  organized 
a  party  to  go  to  the  scene  of  the  tragedy. 

23 


854  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  party  started  from  the  Tver  Jackson  place,  eleven  in 
number,  and,  approaching  the  house  from  the  east,  they  went 
up  cautiously  and  called,  if  any  were  there  alive,  to  ' '  cry  out, ' ' 
but  received  no  response.  It  was  about  nine  in  the  evening 
and  the  moon  was  shining,  but  it  was  dark  in  the  woods. 
After  a  time  they  went  into  the  house  and  lit  a  lamp,  with 
which  they  found  the  bodies.  They  covered  the  body  of  Jones, 
which  lay  outside,  with  a  wagon  box  to  keep  off  animals,  closed 
the  door  of  the  cabin  where  the  other  bodies  were,  and  then 
debated  the  safety  of  going  to  the  Jones  place,  where  the  chil- 
dren had  been  left,  fearing  that  the  Indians  were  there  in  a 
drunken  carousal.  They  decided  that  it  would  not  be  advis- 
able to  go,  and  had  started  to  return,  when  they  were  joined 
by  another  party  of  six,  and  as  they  were  now  seventeen,  they 
determined  to  go. 

On  arriving  at  the  Jones  place  all  was  still,  and  entering 
the  house,  with  the  lamp  which  they  had  brought,  they  found 
Clara  Wilson  dead  on  the  pantry  floor,  where  she  lay  in  a  pool 
of  blood.  On  their  opening  the  door  into  a  bedroom,  the  httle 
boy  got  up  from  the  bed  and  began  to  cry.  The  slug  which 
killed  the  girl  was  found  and  kept  for  a  number  of  years  by 
Evan  Evanson,  a  member  of  the  party.  Taking  the  boy,  they 
returned  to  the  Iver  Jackson  place,  where  the  neighbors  had 
assembled. 

The  next  morning  settlers  from  all  parts  of  the  surround- 
ing country  gathered  at  the  Baker  place  to  bury  the  dead,  and 
to  consider  this  act  of  the  Indians,  whether  it  was  mere  mur- 
der, or  if  the  long  threatened  outbreak  had  indeed  begun. 
Rough  boxes  were  made  for  the  five  bodies,  and  as  they  were 
about  ready  at  noon  to  start  for  the  Ness  settlement,  eleven 
mounted  Indians  appeared  over  the  hill  about  forty  rods  to 
the  southeast,  coming  toward  the  cabin,  who  on  seeing  the 
gathering  stopped.  Some  of  the  men  hailed  them  and  started 
toward  them,  but  apparently  scenting  danger  they  turned  and 
fled  to  the  south.  They  were  followed  to  a  marshy  run  which 
they  rode  through  but  the  settlers  could  not  cross.  A  party 
was  then  made  up,  among  whom  were  J.  B.  Atkinson,  A.  H. 
DeLong,  and  James  McGraw,  who  followed  the  Indians  for 
several  miles  but  could  not  overtake  them. 


NARRATIVES   OF  THE   SIOUX  WAR. 


355 


The  bodies  were  then  taken  to  the  Ness  settlement  ceme- 
tery and  buried,  and  the  graves  are  now  marked  by  a  mon- 
ument placed  by  the  State.  The  day  following  the  burial,  the 
news  of  the  massacre  reached  most  of  the  settlers  by  means  of 
a  party  escaping  from  the  Agency,  conducted  by  John  Other 
Day,  a  friendly  Indian,  and  the  settlers  gathered  at  Forest 
City,  where  a  stockade  was  erected  and  a  home  guard  com- 
pany organized  under  Capt.  George  C.  Whitcomb.  However, 
many  settlers  in  the  county  of  Monongalia  (the  north  half  of 
the  present  Kandiyohi  county)  did  not  hear  the  news  in  time 
to  escape,  and  nearly  a  hundred  were  killed  by  the  Indians. 


The  BATTLit  OF  Acton  or  Kelly's  Bluff. 

An  English  soldier  said  that  ''the  glory  of  war,  for  the 
private,  consists  in  getting  killed  in  battle  and  having  your 
name  misspelled  in  the  army  reports."  This  was  much  the  case 
of  the  Minnesota  settler  who  fought  off  the  Indians,  either 
alone  or  in  assisting  army  troops.  Perhaps  had  the  civil  war 
been  off  the  map  of  events,  history  might  have  been  more  kind. 
It  was  not  for  grand  parade  that  citizens  were  asked  to  leave 
their  families  and  go  into  the  unknown  districts  to  rescue 
friends  and  relatives  from  savages;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  to 
encounter  certain  hardship  and  suffering,  and  perhaps  death 
in  a  terrible  form.  Neither  was  there  then,  as  now,  a  floating 
population  ready  to  enter  the  work  from  the  love  of  excite- 
ment. These  men  were  from  the  leading  business  houses  and 
homes  of  Minneapolis,  and  they  responded  to  the  call  of  hu- 
manity in  the  same  spirit  as  the  ''Boys  of  '76,"  when  danger 
threatened  their  homes.  They  went  out  to  meet  a  foe  that 
knew  no  rules  of  war  and  gave  no  quarter  in  victory.  We 
know  now,  that  had  Fort  Ridgely  fallen,  every  Indian  tribe  in 
the  state  would  have  been  in  war-paint  and  there  would  have 
been  a  question  if  the  streets  of  our  Twin  Cities  might  not  have 
flowed  with  blood  as  did  those  of  New  Ulm.  While  St.  Paul's 
contingent  went  forth,  led  by  the  Indian  fighter.  General  H. 
H.  Sibley,  the  Minneapolis  men  were  raw  recruits,  led  by  an 
inexperienced  leader.  It  was  a  body  of  men  to  be  proud  of, 
who  consented  to  face  these  conditions,  stayed  the  tide  of  mur- 


356  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

der,  and  stopped  the  rush  of  settlers  from  the  state.  The  band 
known  as  Strout's  Company,  including  a  part  of  his  Company 
B,  Ninth  Minnesota  Regiment,  were  about  one  third  volunteer 
soldiers  and  two  thirds  citizens  in  and  about  Minneapolis. 

In  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  times  a  song  was  written, 
commencing  thus: 

"Brave  Captain  Strout  and  Company  B, 

They  will  make  the  redskins  flee. 

And  drive  them  west  into  the  sea. 

And  stop  the  warwhoop  forever. 

Chorus:     The  Union  forever,  hurrah,  boys,  hurrah, 
Kill  every  Indian,  papoose  and  squaw; 
The  Indians  must  be  slain  or  driven  to  the  plain 
And  silence  the  warwhoop  forever." 

While  the  meter  and  rhyme  are  somewhat  irregular,  the 
emotion  is  too  plainly  expressed  to  be  mistaken,  and  the  In- 
dian warwhoop  was  ''silenced  forever,"  so  far  as  Minnesota  is 
concerned.  It  is  endeavored  here  to  collect  the  full  data  of 
this  campaign  of  Indian  fighters,  and  no  pains  have  been  spared 
to  get  the  names,  routes,  camping  spots,  and  dates,  to  a  nicety, 
and  accurate  beyond  dispute. 

General  history  is  very  mute  regarding  Captain  Richard 
Strout  and  his  men  who  fought  off  the  Sioux  Indians  at  Acton 
on  September  3,  1862,  for  three  reasons: 

First,  the  petty  jealousy  in  public  work,  among  leaders,  in- 
cluding the  printed  abuse  of  a  former  Land  Office  appointee, 
who  at  the  time  pretty  nearly  directed  the  Indian  war, — if  you 
let  him  tell  it. 

Second,  the  company  was  composed  of  citizens  who  went 
forth  of  their  own  accord,  virtually  a  sheriff's  posse,  such  as 
might  be  picked  up  now  to  arrest  robbers.  About  twenty  were 
newly  enlisted,  undrilled  soldiers,  and  the  rest  civilians.  This 
fact  has  kept  the  company  out  of  military  history,  or,  worse, 
"damned  it  with  faint  praise." 

Third,  the  'Hee-hee"  crowd,  who  saw  an  excruciatingly 
funny  side  to  the  Indian  war,  made  these  citizen  soldiers  the 
butt  of  much  ridicule,  despite  the  fact  that,  outnumbered  more 
than  four  times,  they  beat  off  a  savage  foe,  who  later  annihi- 
lated the  idolized  Custer  and  his  unexcelled  Indian-fighting 
soldiers.    Add  to  this  the  efforts  of  misinformed  writers,  who, 


NARRATIVES   OF  THE   SIOUX  WAR. 


357 


having  no  knowledge  of  the  times,  Indians,  or  pioneer  condi- 
tions, have  elaborated  or  twisted  the  story  until  a  participant, 
as  Private  DeWitt  C.  Handy  says,  "has  to  scratch  his  head  to 
remember  if  he  was  in  the  battle." 

It  is  true  that  these  men  were  not  soldiers,  and  many  were 
like  A.  H.  Rose,  who  says,  ''I  had  never  fired  a  gun  before  the 
battle,  but  they  showed  me  how  to  load,  and  I  pointed  my  gun 
at  the  Indians,  shut  my  eyes,  and  pulled  the  trigger." 

These  are  the  chief  reasons  that  Captain  Strout  and  Com- 
pany B  are  almost  unknown  in  their  home  city.  Many  parties 
are  now  dead,  and  harsh  language  is  unbecoming ;  but  only  the 
tongue  of  slander  can  tell  other  than  this:  "Strout  and  his 
men  went  forth  in  good  faith,  and  performed  their  duty  boldly 
and  without  wavering,  so  far  as  they  were  able."  For  defense 
of  this  position  read  the  story. 

On  Sunday,  August  17,  1862,  five  persons  were  massacred 
by  Sioux  Indians  at  Acton,  in  Meeker  county.  This  outrage 
precipitated  the  celebrated  Minnesota  Sioux  Indian  War  of 
that  year.  Word  was  received  in  Minneapolis  the  19th,  and 
following  this  came  tidings  from  the  Lower  Agency  that  every 
person  there  had  been  killed,  that  Company  B,  of  the  Fifth 
Minnesota,  under  Captain  Marsh,  had  been  ambushed  and 
nearly  all  slaughtered,  and  that  the  Indians  had  commenced 
the  long  threatened  ' '  war  of  extermination. ' '  By  the  next  day 
the  refugees  from  near  settlements  came  pouring  through  the 
city  in  mortal  fear  of  Indians,  panic-stricken,  deserting  every- 
thing and  fleeing  for  life.  Fears  for  the  safety  of  relatives  and 
friends  on  the  frontier,  and  anger  at  the  horrible  outrages 
committed,  created  intense  excitement.  Sunday,  the  24th,  was 
a  memorable  time  at  the  churches  and  public  gatherings.  It 
was  decided  that  the  state  and  citizens  must  act  at  once,  and 
not  wait  for  the  slow  moving  general  government,  or  the  state 
would  be  depopulated  and  ruined. 

Leading  in  the  earnest  movement,  Captain  Strout,  who  was 
organizing  a  company  for  the  Ninth  Minnesota  volunteers,  w^as 
ordered  to  gather  what  he  could  of  his  company  (the  men  were 
on  leave  preparatory  to  enter  the  service),  enlist  citizens  for 
short  term  service,  and  report  at  Glencoe,  McLeod  county.  On 
Tuesday  the  26th,  at  noon,  the  company  assembled  at  Bridge 


358  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Square,  on  Nicollet  avenue  and  Second  street,  about  sixty  men 
strong,  not  including  teamsters.  They  were  equipped  with 
discarded  smooth-bore  Austrian  muskets,  no  uniforms,  nor 
sufficient  wagon  train,  but  the  captain  had  authority  to  impress 
teams  as  he  might  need  them.  Each  member  was  given  his 
complement  of  ball  cartridge,  and  they  marched  away  up  the 
river,  and  camped  in  the  northern  part  of  Brooklyn  township 
that  night. 

The  next  morning  a  team  owned  by  Andrew  Smith  was  im- 
pressed from  D.  B.  Thayer's  threshing  crew,  at  Osseo,  and 
others  were  secured  along  the  route  till  a  good  part  of  the  men 
could  ride.  Wednesday  night  they  camped  at  Monticello  in 
Wright  county,  after  a  hard  march.  Thursday  they  made  a 
fifteen-mile  march,  camping  at  night  in  Clearwater.  Friday  a 
march  of  thirty-five  miles  to  Forest  City  ended  at  dusk.  Sat- 
urday they  went  by  way  of  Greenleaf  and  Cedar  Mills  to 
Hutchinson,  where  they  camped  about  the  church.  On  the 
day's  march  they  found  one  place  where  the  people  had  fled 
leaving  the  table  spread  for  a  meal,  at  another  the  beds  were 
thrown  open  as  if  flight  had  commenced  in  the  night.  But 
they  saw  no  Indians,  nor  further  signs. 

Sunday  morning,  August  31,  they  marched  to  Glencoe,  their 
objective  point,  and  arrived  in  time  for  the  church  meeting. 
As  matters  were  reported  serious  at  the  settlements  lying  to 
the  northwest,  it  was  decided  to  return  to  Forest  City,  so  on 
Monday  they  marched  back  to  Cedar  Mills,  where  camp  was 
pitched.  On  Tuesday  they  went  leisurely  to  Acton,  and  con- 
siderable time  was  spent  in  repairing  a  bad  slough  crossing,  a 
fortunate  job.  On  that  afternoon  they  entered  the  Acton 
wo'ods  from  the  east,  and  after  inspecting  the  Baker  place, 
where  four  persons  had  been  murdered,  they  marched  on  to 
the  Jones  place  and  pitched  their  camp.  The  place  was  sur- 
rounded by  timber,  and  the  tents  were  set  in  the  yard  about 
the  house. 

Captain  Strout  has  been  criticized  for  camping  in  these 
woods,  despite  the  fact  that  no  damage  resulted  from  the  act. 
In  reply  to  his  critics,  let  us  note  that  the  Sioux  were  prairie 
Indians,  and  there  is  no  record  of  their  selecting  a  battle 
ground  in  timber.    Birch  Coulie  and  Wood  Lake  were  fought 


NARRATIVES  OP  THE   SIOUX  WAR. 


359 


on  the  prairie;  Custer's  command  was  slaughtered  in  the  open. 
The  two  latter  fields  were  selected  for  battle  by  the  Indians. 
At  Acton  the  Indians  had  the  command  surrounded  in  the 
dense  timber,  and  could  have  forced  battle  had  they  so  de- 
sired. The  opening  tragedy  of  Birch  Coulie  is  a  sample  of 
what  Strout  might  have  met  had  he  camped  in  the  open  prairie. 

The  Sioux  strong  point  in  fighting  was  to  make  themselves 
invisible  by  covering  their  heads  and  bodies  with  prairie  grass, 
which  practice  has  caused  men  time  and  again  to  testify  that 
*Hhe  Indians  seemed  to  rise  out  of  the  ground."  Furthermore, 
the  attack  was  not  made  next  morning  until  the  company  was 
a  long  mile  from  the  woods,  though  Indians  were  in  the  timber 
at  the  time.  It  is  not  known  that  Captain  Strout  considered 
the  question,  but  his  judgment  is  not  censurable  if  he  did. 

On  this  Tuesday,  September  2,  Captain  George  C.  Whit- 
comb  and  a  squad  of  the  Forest  City  Home  Guards  were  at 
Hokan  Peterson's  place,  about  twelve  miles  from  Forest  City. 
He  was  watching  Indians  at  the  Acton  woods,  some  three  or 
four  miles  off,  when  suddenly  about  150  Indians  rose  from  the 
grass  a  few  rods  away.  The  squad  escaped  in  short  order  but 
lost  a  wagon  which  stuck  in  a  miry  place.  On  arriving  at  For- 
est City,  Captain  Whitcomb  found  Strout 's  messenger,  saying 
that  his  company  would  camp  at  Acton  that  night.  From  what 
he  had  seen,  Whitcomb  knew  that  the  Indians  were  preparing 
to  entrap  Strout 's  command.  He  at  once  called  for  volunteer 
scouts  to  warn  Strout  of  his  danger  and  tell  him  to  examine  his 
ammunition.  Three  brave  fellows,  Jesse  V.  Branham,  Jr., 
Thomas  G.  Holmes,  and  Albert  H.  Sperry,  stepped  forward. 

A  digression  here  is  needed  for  the  benefit  of  the  present 
generation,  regarding  conditions  of  those  days.  Sioux  Indians 
on  the  prairie  were  as  treacherous  as  snakes  in  grass.  They 
were  absolutely  noiseless  in  action,  would  crawl  as  fast  as  white 
men  walk,  and  were  nearly  as  fleet  of  foot  as  a  horse.  There 
were  no  roads,  as  we  know  them  now;  such  as  there  were  con- 
sisted of  trails  following  the  high  ground  to  avoid  the  marshes, 
and  leading  to  the  best  places  to  cross  prairie  streams,  which 
often  made  long  detours  necessary.  Every  Indian  knew  them, 
foot  by  foot,  and  also  knew  every  short  cut  which  might  be 
traveled  under  favorable  conditions  of  weather  or  season. 


360  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

It  was  the  duty  of  these  men  to  find  a  roundabout  way  to 
get  to  Acton,  to  avoid  usual  crossings  where  they  might  be 
waylaid,  keep  away  from  the  prairie  groves  where  they  might 
be  ambushed  by  straggling  parties,  discover  any  Indians .  en- 
deavoring to  cut  them  off  on  the  prairies,  and  lastly  to  dis- 
cover and  approach  Strout's  camp  wherever  he  might  be  by 
breaking  through  the  Indian  lines,  which  they  knew  were 
drawn  about  him  waiting  only  for  daylight  to  give  battle. 
Those  who  appreciate  the  conditions  will  wonder  that  men 
would  dare  to  undertake  it.  The  squad  was  placed  in  charge 
of  Branham,  a  man  of  undoubted  ability  and  courage.  Cap- 
tain Whitcomb  wrote  later,  ''I  feared  I  would  never  see  them 
again."  They  went  east  several  miles  passing  between  Litch- 
field and  Darwin,  as  now  known,  then  southwest  passing  be- 
tween Round  and  Minnie  Belle  lakes,  far  down  into  Greenleaf 
township,  thence  northwest  by  Evanson  lake,  where  they  struck 
the  Henderson-Pembina  trail.  At  the  outlet  of  the  lake  they 
hunted  on  hands  and  knees,  in  the  mud,  till  they  found  evi- 
dence that  Strout's  train  had  passed  and  was  following  the 
trail  toward  Acton. 

Nearly  the  entire  time  they  traveled  on  the  grass  outside 
the  road  to  deaden  the  sound  of  the  horses'  hoofs.  Finally 
they  approached  the  Acton  woods  after  passing  Kelly's  Bluff. 
All  was  deathly  still  about  them  until  as  they  reached  the 
Baker  cabin  the  dogs  rushed  out  barking  loudly,  no  doubt 
revealing  their  presence  to  the  Indians,  but  not  to  the  sleeping 
company.  There  is  little  question,  judging  from  developments 
and  Indian  tales,  that  a  score  of  warriors  slunk  from  the  road 
and  permitted  the  scouts  to  pass  in,  believing  their  prey  would 
be  increased  just  that  much.  After  the  noise  and  alarm  they 
felt  their  way  more  cautiously  than  ever.  Branham  put  his 
hand  on  Holmes'  shoulder,  as  they  reached  the  Jones  place, 
and  asked  if  he  could  not  see  the  white  tents  in  the  yard. 
Holmes  assented,  they  hailed  the  guard  and  were  admitted, 
where  they  delivered  to  Captain  Strout  their  message.  Captain 
Whitcomb  writes: 

It  has  been  shown  beyond  the  shadow  of  doubt  that  when  Bran- 
ham, Sperry  and  Holmes  were  within  six  rods  of  Strout's  camp,  a  head 
warrior,   brother-in-law  of  Little   Six    (Shok-pay),   with   his   warriors 


NARRATIVES   OF  THE   SIOUX  WAR. 


361 


stood  on  the  road,  and  at  their  approach  eleven  on  each  side  stepped 
back,  allowing  them  to  pass  in.  Red  Dog  was  to  lead  the  attack  on 
the  north,  Mic-aw-pan-eta  on  the  east,  Little  Six  on  the  south,  and 
Bald  Eagle,  a  renegade  chief  of  the  Standing  Buffalo  band,  on  the  west. 
Signals  were  to  be  given  by  hooting,  in  imitation  of  an  owl  from  tree 
tops,  to  show  the  location  of  the  leaders.  Little  Crow  had  the  super- 
vision of  the  attack.  At  3  a.  m.  the  final  signal  was  to  be  given  and 
the  harvest  of  death  to  begin,  but  the  awful  consequences  were  averted 
by  the  timely  message  carried  by  these  three  brave  men  who  proved 
themselves  the  bravest  of  the  brave. 

A  council  was  called,  and  a  detail  was  set  at  pounding 
down  the  large  caliber  bullets  to  fit  the  guns.  After  consulta- 
tion it  was  decided  not  to  break  camp  till  daylight,  though 
some  favored  an  immediate  retreat  to  the  open  prairie.  In- 
structions were  given,  in  case  of  attack,  'Ho  hug  the  ground 
and  fight,  each  for  himself."  There  is  some  criticism  placed 
on  Captain  Strout  for  this  misfit  in  ammunition.  The  facts 
are,  that  the  state  had  a  number  of  Austrian  and  Belgian 
muskets,  bored  62  and  59  (lOOths  inch)  caliber,  and  ammuni- 
tion to  fit.  Criminal  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  issuing 
officer  transposed  the  sizes.  Captain  Grant  and  Company  A  of 
the  Sixth  Minnesota  were  confronted  with  'the  same  mistake, 
and  this  in  the  midst  of  the  bloody  battle  of  Birch  Coulie.  The 
proper  cartridges  for  these  guns  were  sent  to  Fort  Abercrom- 
bie,  where  they  were  too  small  to  be  of  service,  and  the  bullets 
flew  wild  from  the  guns.  The  first  lot  issued  by  Strout  was 
right,  and  he  had  no  reason  to  suspect  that  the  rest  was  dif- 
ferent. That  night  each  man  had  twenty  rounds  perfect,  the 
reserve  was  all  wrong. 

Camp  was  broken  early  in  the  morning,  and  Branham,  on 
Strout 's  advice,  was  to  lead  them  out  without  a  battle  if  pos- 
sible, on  account  of  the  poor  arms  and  ammunition.  He  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  mounted  men,  consisting  of  his  detail 
and  scout  A.  H.  DeLong,  and  led  the  way  some  distance  in 
advance.  Branham  intended  to  go  to  Forest  City  by  the  route 
the  scouts  had  taken.  The  command  left  the  woods  and  pro- 
ceeded on  the  trail  across  a  rolling  prairie,  with  Long  lake  on 
their  left.  Passing  through  a  swale  and  while  ascending  to 
higher  ground,  the  scouts  saw  a  peculiar  glisten  in  the  morn- 
ing sunlight  and  soon  became  convinced  that  it  was  caused  by 


362  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

guns  in  the  hands  of  Indians,  who  were  skulking  along  a  fence 
in  a  wheat  field  near  Kelly's  Bluff.  It  was  afterward  found 
that  these  guns  were  Springfields  from  Captain  Marsh's  com- 
pany, massacred  at  Redwood  Ferry  August  18th.  Word  was 
sent  back  to  Strout  to  prepare  to  fight,  and  to  spread  his  men 
in  wide  open  order.    The  scouts  and  Indians  exchanged  shots. 

Indian  signals,  waving  blankets  and  yelling,  were  com- 
menced ahead ;  and  soon  a  large  body  of  mounted  Indians,  from 
the  woods,  charged  the  rear.  Sergeant  Kenna  was  ordered  to 
charge  them  with  a  squad  of  twenty  men ;  as  he  did  so  the  In- 
dians spread  out  from  the  trail  and  came  up  on  each  rear 
flank,  trying  to  encircle  the  command.  At  this  point  the  com- 
pany were  on  very  low  ground,  and  the  losses  were  severe. 
Privates  George  W.  Gideon  and  Alva  Getchell  were  killed,  sev- 
eral others  were  wounded,  and  for  a  short  time  there  was  con- 
fusion of  both  men  and  teams.  Scout  Branham  was  shot 
through  the  lungs  and  thus  a  valuable  aid  was  put  out  of  the 
fight.  In  a  few  moments  Strout  had  matters  in  hand.  The 
company  was  divided  into  four  squads,  under  Lieutenant  Clark 
and  Sergeants  Getchell  and  Kenna,  and  placed  at  the  front, 
rear,  right  and  left  of  the  wagon  train,  and  they  soon  spread 
out,  driving  the  redskins  back,  at  the  same  time  making  less 
of  a  target  of  themselves.  By  strenuous  fighting  the  left  squad 
kept  the  Indians  from  getting  between  them  and  the  lake, 
while  the  others,  by  driving  them  back,  permitted  the  wagons 
to  reach  the  higher  and  more  advantageous  ground.  It  was 
good  maneuvering,  and  most  gallantly  performed.  Reaching 
the  base  of  Kelly's  Bluff,  it  was  debated  whether  to  entrench 
or  to  retreat  toward  Hutchinson,  and  it  was  decided  to  go  to 
that  point.  Scout  DeLong  had  already  gone  through  the  In- 
dian lines  for  reinforcements  from  Captain  Harrington  at 
Hutchinson. 

Along  Kelly's  Bluff  Private  Edwin  Stone  was  killed  and 
several  more  wounded.  The  dead  were  left  behind  and  their 
bodies  were  horribly  mutilated,  when  buried  by  a  detachment 
from  the  Third  Minnesota  a  few  days  later.  Every  wounded 
man  was  placed  in  the  wagons,  and  the  retreating  fight  was 
continued  to  Cedar  Mills.  At  the  marshy  crossing  repaired 
the  previous  day,  the  Indians  pressed  them  hard  and  captured 


NARRATIVES    OF   THE    SIOUX'  WAR. 


363 


one  team  and  two  wagons.  In  fact  they  had  calculated  to  cap- 
ture or  kill  the  whole  outfit  at  this  point,  and  would  have  suc- 
ceeded if  those  repairs  had  not  been  made.  Everything  that 
could  be  spared  was  thrown  from  the  wagons,  and  the  way 
the  Indians  fought  each  other  for  the  food  was  amusing  even 
in  battle.  About  fifty  noble  warriors  on  hands  and  knees  fought 
for  a  half  barrel  of  sugar  like  pigs,  and  the  pursuit  lagged. 
Scout  DeLong  with  reinforcements  met  the  company  a  short 
way  out  of  Hutchinson.  On  that  night  the  wounded  were 
placed  in  a  hotel,  just  outside  the  stockade,  and  at  daylight 
next  morning  the  Indians  attacked  the  town  and  their  quar- 
ters were  riddled  with  bullets,  but  all  were  safely  taken  into 
the  stockade. 

The  losses  of  the  company  in  the  battle  were  three  killed, 
eighteen  wounded,  nine  horses,  two  wagons,  and  all  commis- 
sary supplies.  The  battle  was  the  fiery  baptism  of  a  number 
of  good  soldiers  of  the  civil  war,  some  of  whom  fell  in  battle, 
some  perished  in  Andersonville,  and  some,  thank  God,  still  live. 
The  result  of  the  campaign  was  the  discouragement  of  Little 
Crow  and  his  followers.  This  was  the  fourth  and  last  battle 
which  he  personally  conducted  in  the  massacre  war  of  1862. 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  fortune  was  kind  to  Strout  and 
his  men,  but  none  the  less  must  we  commend  the  noble  inten- 
tions and  acts  of  those  heroic  citizens  who  placed  their  lives  in 
jeopardy  for  the  stricken,  outraged  settlers.  The  savage 
hordes  have  gone;  the  commander  and  most  of  his  company 
are  beyond  the  veil  of  death ;  and  glorious  Minnesota  has  risen 
from  an  unknown  wilderness  to  a  peerage  among  the  States. 

This  account  is  as  accurate  as  can  be  given  at  this  time, 
and  is  verified  by  several  members  of  that  gallant  body  of  home 
defenders.  On  the  21st  of  August,  1909,  a  monument  was 
placed  at  Acton,  at  the  Baker  place,  by  the  state,  marking  the 
site  of  the  ''First  Bloodshed."  There  were  present,  of  the  sur- 
vivors of  this  battle,  A.  H.  Rose,  DeWitt  C.  Handy,  Milton  C. 
Stubbs,  James  Marshall,  Scouts  Jesse  V.  Branham,  Albert 
Sperry,  and  A.  H.  DeLong;  of  people  interested  in  the  event, 
Evan  Evanson,  who  accompanied  the  party  to  the  Jones  house 
after  the  murders  of  the  17th,  Nathan  Butler,  who  built  the 
Baker  house  in  1857,  Hon.  G,  A.  Glader,  who  assisted  in  bury- 


364  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing  the  bodies  of  Stone,  Getchell,  and  Gideon,  a  few  days  after 
the  battle,  and  Mrs.  Ellen,  widow  of  Capt.  Lewis  Harrington, 
of  the  Hutchinson  Home  Guards.  To  all  of  these  thanks  are 
due  for  the  details  of  this  account.  The  exercises  were  under 
the  supervision  of  Senator  J.  W.  Wright  of  Litchfield,  and 
were  participated  in  by  several  thousand  citizens. 

About  a  year  after  the  foregoing  narrative  was  read  in  the 
meeting  of  this  Society,  a  banquet  was  given  at  the  Nicollet 
House  in  Minneapolis,  on  the  evening  of  November  20,  1912, 
to  commemorate  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Battle  of 
Acton  and  to  honor  its  survivors. 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  tables  were  filled  by  groups  of 
men  whose  past  career  or  present  relations  made  them  con- 
genial company,  and  not  the  least  in  the  pleasures  of  the  even- 
ing were  the  visits  of  friends  recounting  the  events  of  a  half 
century  ago.  After  the  repast,  which  was  accompanied  with 
patriotic  selections  by  veteran  Charles  H.  Freeman's  orchestra. 
President  Anton  Knoblauch  opened  the  meeting  with  the  fol- 
lowing words: 

"Friends  and  Members:  We  are  guests  of  the  Center  Improvement 
Association,  whose  object  is  not  only  that  which  its  name  implies,  but 
also  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  the  history,  traditions,  and  landmarks 
of  this  section  of  our  city.  We  are  here  this  evening  to  honor  Captain 
Strout's  Company  of  citizen  soldiers,  partially  made  up  of  business 
men  from  this  part  of  the  city,  who  in  September,  1862,  went  to  battle 
at  Acton  and  Hutchinson  against  the  Sioux  Indians,  so  that  the  set- 
tlers might  pursue  the  tilling  of  their  lands  unmolested." 

Mr.  Knoblauch  then  introduced  Marion  P.  Satterlee  as  mas- 
ter of  ceremonies  for  the  evening,  who,  by  the  aid  of  Edward 
A.  Bromley's  stereopticon  views,  told  of  the  upbuilding  of  the 
Association  district  since  1858.  Then  followed  a  description 
of  the  organization  of  Strout's  Company,  during  the  excite- 
ment of  the  massacre  tidings  of  murder  and  destruction;  of 
the  sacrifices  of  these  men,  who  left  their  families  and  homes  to 
fight  the  savages.  A  detailed  statement  of  their  marches  and 
the  battles  was  given,  also  an  account  of  the  killing  of  Chief 
Little  Crow  by  Nathan  Lamson  and  his  son  Chauncey,  near 
Hutchinson,  on  July  3,  1863. 


NARRATIVES   OF  THE   SIOUX  WAR. 


365 


A  most  able  address  was  given  by  Ex-President  William  W. 
Folwell  of  the  State  University,  on  ' '  The  Causes  leading  to  the 
Massacre  of  1862." 

The  roll  of  the  men  composing  the  Company  was  then 
called;  ten  responded  to  their  names,  eleven  were  reported 
absent,  27  were  reported  dead,  and  for  22  no  report  was  made. 

In  response  to  the  toast,  "To  the  Dead,"  Ex-Governor 
Samuel  R.  Van  Sant  gave  a  fine  eulogy  of  the  men  who  died 
for  their  country  fighting  rebellion  in  the  South  or  the  Indians 
at  home.  He  declared  that  the  present  generation  is  receiving 
the  benefits  of  the  deeds  of  patriots.  Union,  Confederate,  and 
civilian  soldiers,  whose  work  lives  after  them. 

To  the  toast,  ''To  the  Absent,"  Edward  A.  Bromley  re- 
sponded, comparing  the  sad  absence  long  ago  of  loved  ones 
"gone  to  the  war"  with  our  regrets  for  those  absent  from  this 
reunion. 

The  toast,  "To  those  Present,"  was  responded  to  by  J.  H. 
Crandall,  a  member  of  Strout's  Company,  who  encouraged  all 
to  show  their  appreciation  of  our  triumphal  progress  as  a 
nation,  in  war  and  in  peace,  by  true  manhood  and  right  living. 

At  the  call  for  soldiers  of  the  Sioux  War  present,  twelve 
men  who  fought  at  Birch  Coulie,  and  four  or  five  each  from 
Fort  Ridgely,  New  Ulm,  Forest  City  and  Wood  Lake  battles, 
responded  by  rising  and  were  heartily  cheered. 

Roster  of  Captain  Strout's  Company  at  Acton. 
At  the  Roll  Call  after  the  banquet  those  present  responded 
to  their  names ;  for  the  dead  and  the  absent,  response  was  made 
by  members  of  the  Company. 

Corratt,  C,  no  report. 
Crandall,  James  H.,  present. 
Gushing,  M.,  no  report. 
Day,  J.  W.,  in  California. 


Adkins,  F.,  dead. 

Allan,  William  C,  present. 

Ames,  James  A.,  dead. 

Beadle,  Frank,  sergeant,  dead. 

Bennett,  Abner  C,  died  of  wounds. Doherty,  A.,  in  city. 


Blondo,  Lyman,  dead. 

Bostwick,  R.  C,  dead. 

Brown,  W.,  quartermaster  sergt., 

dead. 
Carr,  Ezra  T.,  sergeant,  dead. 
Chambers,  Thomas,  dead. 
Clark,  W.  A.,  lieutenant,  dead. 


Douglass,  C.  H.,  no  report. 
Florida,  Joel,  dead. 
Friederich,  A.  A.,  present. 
Gemasche,  George,  no  report. 
Getchell,  Alva,  killed  at  Acton. 
Getchell,  D.  W.,  sergeant,  in  city. 
Gideon,  George  W.,  killed  at  Acton. 


366 


MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


Green,  John,  dead. 
Ham,  C.  D.,  no  report. 
Handy,  DeWitt  C,  present. 
Handy,  Joel,  dead. 
Hanscomb,  A.  B.,  no  report. 
Hawkins,  D.  C,  no  report. 
Hart,  Joseph,  no  report. 
Higgins,  Judson  C,  in  city. 
Hoag,  A.,  no  report. 
Hubbard,  R.  R.,  no  report. 
Huckins,  J.  W.,  Northfleld. 
Hunter,  William,  no  report. 
Jacques,  Winter,  in  city. 
Johnson,  C,  in  city. 
Kenna,  Michael,  sergeant,  dead. 
Kirtz,  Fred,  no  report. 
Laraway,  Albert,  dead. 
Larkins,  J.  K.,  no  report. 
Little,  George  W.,  no  report. 
McConnell,  J.  C.,  no  report. 
McNeill,  Neill,  dead. 
Marshall,  James,  present. 
Marshall,  Thomas,  dead. 
Mayer,  Robert,  no  report. 
Merritt,  L.  W.,  in  city. 
Morrison,  George  H.,  dead. 
Muir,  Robert,  no  report. 


Murch,  J.  P.,  no  report. 
Murray,  John  W.,  present. 
Perkins,  J,  H.,  dead. 
Rose,  Anson  H.,  present. 
Smith,  H.  A.,  no  report. 
Snell,  S.  D.,  no  report. 
Stone,  Edwin,  killed  at  Acton. 
Strout,  Richard,  captain,  dead. 
Stubbs,  Milton  C,  present. 
Sweeney,  James,  Robbinsdale. 
Sweesing,  Fred,  present. 
Thompson,  N.  R.,  dead. 
Tippin,  F.,  no  report. 
Weeks,  N.  R.,  died  of  wounds. 
Wise,  A.  H.,  no  report. 
Wolverton,  J.  A.,  dead. 
Worthingham,  Emory,  dead. 

Scouts. 

Jesse  V.  Branham,  Jr.,  Fargo, 

Thomas  G.  Holmes,  Long  Beach, 
Cal., 

Albert  H.  Sperry,  present,  these  be- 
ing of  Captain  Whitcomb's  Com- 
pany, Forest  City.     » 

Albert  H.  DeLong,  Forest  City, 
Citizen  guide  for  Captain  Strout. 


The  Killing  o?  Chiee  Little  Crow. 

Tay-o-ah-ta-doo-tah  (His  Scarlet  People)  was  the  third 
chief  of  the  Kaposia  band  of  Medawakantonwan  Dakotas 
(Sioux)  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  "Little  Crow."  This 
tribe  was  divided  into  eight  bands.  The  lower  band,  called 
Kiuska,  lived  where  Winona  now  stands;  the  Kaposia  band, 
just  below  St.  Paul;  Black  Dog,  just  above  Fort  Snelling; 
Pinisha,  at  Nine  Mile  creek  on  the  Minnesota  river;  Reyata 
Otonwa,  at  Lake  Calhoun;  Tewapa,  at  Eagle  creek;  and  the 
Tintatonwan,  at  Shakopee,  the  largest  village  of  the  tribe. 
Little  Crow  had  six  wives  and  at  least  twenty-two  children. 
He  put  away  his  first  two  wives  when  he  married  the  third  one. 
His  mother  was  named  Minne-okha-da-win  (musical  sound  of 
water  running  under  the  ice).    His  family  history  was  one  of 


NARRATIVES  OF  THE  SIOUX  WAR. 


367 


tragedy.  His  father  was  accidentally  shot  while  pulling  his 
gun  from  a  wagon,  and  died  of  the  wounds.  Two  brothers 
were  killed  by  the  Chippewas,  and  two  sisters  committed  sui- 
cide. Little  Crow's  braves  killed  two  of  his  brothers  in  a  bat- 
tle for  the  chieftainship,  and  he  was  shot  through  both  wrists 
in  the  fight.  Army  surgeons  would  cut  off  the  maimed  wrists, 
but  it  was  refused  and  the  Indian  medicine  man  proved  his 
superiority  by  saving  his  patient  and  both  wrists.  The  wounds 
were  disfiguring  and  were  always  concealed  by  bands  of  skunk- 
skin,  as  degrading  to  a  chief. 

Little  Crow  is  the  reputed  leader  in  the  Massacre  of  1862, 
though  he  was  only  a  minor  chief  in  the  Sioux  tribe.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  was  defied  by  a  large  number  of  friendly 
(or  at  least  neutral)  Indians,  who  threatened  several  times  to 
take  his  captive  whites  from  him,  and  who  saved  many  white 
people  from  being  murdered.  Little  Crow  had  more  credit 
than  was  his  due,  and  investigation  will  show  that  the  mas- 
sacre was  chiefly  the  work  of  a  disorganized  gang  of  cut- 
throats whom  no  one  could  call  warriors  in  a  true  sense.  After 
the  crushing  defeat  at  Wood  Lake  by  Gen.  H.  H.  Sibley,  Little 
Crow  fled  into  Dakota,  from  whence  he  returned  the  follow- 
ing summer  (1863),  for  the  purpose  of  stealing  horses  and 
provisions  from  the  Minnesota  settlers.  His  companions  were 
his  son,  Wo-wi-napa  (One  who  appeareth),  Hi-u-ka,  a  son-in- 
law,  and  a  number  of  others.  They  committed  a  number  of 
depredations,  among  others  killing  James  McGannon  in  Wright 
county.  The  story  of  the  shooting  here  given  is  related  by  J. 
B.  Lamson  (called  Birney),  of  Annandale,  Minn.,  the  brother 
of  Chauncey,  and  son  of  Nathan,  who  jointly  killed  Little  Crow 
on  July  3,  1863. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1863  (following  the  massacre,  which  com- 
menced August  17,  1862),  most  of  the  neighboring  settlers  at  Hutch- 
inson were  gathered  at  the  village  so  as  to  be  near  the  stockade, 
which  was  guarded  by  soldiers  and  civilians,  in  expectation  of  attack 
by  the  Indians  who  had  been  on  the  warpath  since  the  outbreak,  and 
who  had  previously  attacked  the  town  in  September,  1862.  Some  of 
the  settlers  were  trying  to  raise  a  little  crop  for  food,  on  their  farms, 
and  the  work  was  done  by  a  part  of  the  family  while  others  were 
scouting  for  Indians.  I  had  spent  most  of  the  spring  on  our  home- 
stead, about  six  miles  directly  north  of  the  village,   caring  for  the 


368  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

stock  and  crops,  which  though  small  were  very  valuable  to  the  set- 
tlers who  were  defying  the  savages  and  holding  to  their  homesteads. 
On  the  3rd  of  July  I  had  gone  to  the  village  to  spend  the  Fourth, 
and  father  and  my  brother  Chauncey  had  taken  my  place  at  the  farm 
and  on  that  evening  were  out  hunting  for  deer.  About  an  hour  be- 
fore sundown  they  were  a  strong  two  miles  northwest  from  the  farm, 
on  a  road  running  by  a  marshy  lake  (there  were  a  number  of  such 
marshes  or  lakes  called  by  the  Indians  "Scattered  lake") ;  and  at  the 
point  described  there  was  a  low  place  where  the  water  crossed  the 
road  in  the  spring,  and  just  beyond  the  ground  rose  again.  Farther 
on  was  a  bend  where  the  road  bore  away  to  the  right  to  pass  around 
the  lake,  and  at  the  opposite  side  from  the  marsh  there  was  a  black- 
berry patch  of  considerable  size.  Where  the  road  ran  out  into  the 
clearing,  it  was  some  distance  of  open  brush  to  the  dry  run.  Father 
and  Chauncey  walked  into  this  open  space  for  several  rods  in  plain 
sight  of  the  patch,  when  suddenly  they  observed  an  Indian  jump  on 
his  pony  and  then  off  on  the  other  side  from  them.  Providentially, 
the  Indian  had  not  observed  them,  and  they  immediately  sought  cover 
in  the  brush  and  laid  their  plans;  for  to  see  an  Indian  meant  death 
to  him  or  his  white  enemy  in  those  days. 

Father  was  past  sixty-three  years  old,  but  he  was  a  true  frontiers- 
man, andi  brother  Chauncey  was  not  behind  in  frontier  training.  They 
had  hurriedly  noticed  that  there  were  two  Indians  and  did  not  know 
but  that  there  were  more.  After  consultation  Chauncey  took  a  posi- 
tion which  covered  the  road  between  them  and  the  Indians,  Kneeling 
on  one  kfiee,  with  his  rifle  cocked,  he  held  his  position  while  father 
crept  forward  and  to  the  left  till  he  got  a  poplar  tree  in  the  black- 
berry patch  in  direct  line  between  him  and  the  Indians.  He  then 
went  forward  to  the  poplar  which  was  covered  with  vines,  and  from 
this  vantage  point,  at  a  distance  of  about  thirty-five  feet,  he  shot  the 
larger  one  of  the  two  Indians  (Little  Crow),  the  ball  entering  the  left 
groin.  Both  Indians  and  father  went  to  the  ground  at  the  shot,  and 
all  was  quiet  as  death,  while  each  was  trying  to  locate  the  other. 
Father  was  armed  with  a  Colt  revolver  and  thought  he  would  try 
another  shot  at  them  with  this,  but  he  was  not  expert  in  its  use  and 
concluded  to  keep  it  for  close  quarters,  if  necessary. 

The  Indians  seemed  unable  to  locate  the  spot  from  which  the  shot 
had  come,  but  father  knew  that  the  smoke  from  the  black  powder 
would  soon  rise  from  the  tree  and  realized  that  he  must  get  away 
from  there.  He  had  crawled  ba'ck  in  his  own  path  for  about  two  rods 
when  they  riddled  the  tree  with  shot.  It  was  afterward  found  that 
one  slug  and  thirteen  buckshot  had  struck  it.  One  buckshot  struck 
father  on  the  left  shoulder,  as  he  was  crawling  away  on  hands  and 
knees,  which  made  a  slight  flesh  wound  about  four  inches  in  length; 
this  caused  him  to  change  his  course  and  get  out  of  the  line  of  fire. 
He  turned  squarely  to  the  right  and  went  a  few  feet,  and  then  he 


NARRATIVES  OF  THE   SIOUX  WAR.  369 

tried  to  load  his  rifle  but  got  a  bullet  several  bores  too  large  for  the 
gun;  it  stuck  about  five  inches  from  the  muzzle,  and  he  could  not 
force  it  home.  Being  afraid  that  his  white  shirt  would  be  seen  by  the 
Indians,  he  took  it  off  and  tucked  it  inside  his  trousers  from  where 
he  subsequently  lost  it.  Crawling  to  the  road,  he  crossed  it  and  con- 
cealed himself  in  a  clump  of  hazel  brush  about  sixteen  feet  across. 
He  determined  to  stay  there  and  to  use  his  revolver  if  discovered. 

Little  Crow  skulked  round  the  raspberry  patch,  following  the  road, 
and  as  he  came  in  range  Chauncey  saw  him  and  rose  to  his  feet  to 
shoot.  Both  fired,  and  so  close  were  the  reports  together  that  the 
roar  of  Little  Crow's  shotgun  drowned  the  crack  of  Chauncey's  rifle 
to  father.  Little  Crow  was  skulking  in  the  Indian  istyle,  leaning  far 
forward,  his  gun  extended,  with  the  butt  almost  at  his  shoulder,  so 
as  to  get  instant  aim.  He  shot  from  the  left  shoulder,  but  evidently 
he  did  not  get  his  gun  to  the  shoulder  before  flring,  as  Chauncey's 
bullet  struck  the  stock  of  his  gun  and  then  entered  the  left  breast. 
Passing  well  through  his  stooping  body,  it  stopped  just  inside  the  skin 
of  his  back,  only  a  few  inches  from  where  father's  bullet  had  come 
out.  A  slug  from  Litle  Crow's  shotgun  grazed  Chauncey's  head.  Both 
went  to  the  ground,  and  Chauncey  commenced  to  reload  his  rifle,  when 
he  discovered  that  he  had  no  bullets,  and  then  he  remembered  that  on 
leaving  the  house  father  had  taken  all  the  bullets  from  the  table  and 
slipped  them  into  his  pocket.  This  also  accounts  for  father  getting  a 
bullet  too  large  for  his  gun,  as  the  rifles  were  of  different  caliber  or 
bore. 

Being  thus  unarmed,  and  not  daring  to  approach  the  brush  where 
he  had  seen  father  go,  Chauncey  determined  on  a  ruse  to  draw  the 
Indians  away  from  him,  if  possible.  He  crept  away  a  fed  rods,  then 
boldly  rose  up  in  plain  sight  and  started  on  a  run  for  Hutchinson. 
Father  could  not  see  this  from  his  place  of  concealment,  nor  did  he 
know  the  effect  of  Little  Crow's  shot.  He  did  know  that  the  Indian 
had  fallen  not  ten  feet  from  where  he  lay,  and  he  could  hear  his  groans 
of  anguish,  and  he  lay  perfectly  still  waiting  events.  After  a  time  the 
son  Wo-wi-napa  came  up  to  his  father,  and  they  talked  for  nearly  an 
hour  before  the  chief  died.  Father,  not  understanding  the  Sioux  lan- 
guage, could  not  know  what  was  said,  but  he  heard  the  son  mount  the 
pony  and  ride  away.  He  had  placed  a  new  pair  of  moccasins  on  his 
father's  feet,  and  on  leaving  threw  away  his  own  single-barreled  shot- 
gun and  took  the  double-barreled  gun  of  his  father.  The  single-barrel 
gun  was  afterward  found  by  scouts. 

After  all  sounds  had  died  out  father  crept  away,  and  he  finally 
reached  Hutchinson  about  four  o'clock  the  next  morning.  In  the  mean- 
time, Chauncey  had  reached  town  about  ten  o'clock  at  night,  and  on 
hearing  the  news  a  party  of  thirteen  soldiers  and  five  civilians  was 
organized  to  go  to  the  scene  of  trouble.  I  accompanied  them  out  to 
our  homestead,  where  we  waited  till  nearly  daybreak  and  then  went 
on  to  the  place  of  the  shooting.  As  I  was  familiar  with  every  foot  of 
24 


370  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  ground,  from  having  hunted  over  it  time  and  again,  I  was  slightly 
in  advance,  leading  the  party. 

On  arriving  at  the  turn  in  the  road  I  saw  a  body  lying  at  my  feet 
in  the  dull  light  of  morning,  and  I  was  terror-stricken  with  the  thought 
that  it  was  father,  but  it  flashed  through  my  mind  that  the  bare  breast 
was  copper-colored  and  not  that  of  a  white  man,  and  without  a  second 
glance  I  shouted,  "Here  he  is,  boys."  We  soon  found  the  shirt  which 
father  had  lost,  and  some  thought  he  had  been  killed,  but  from  the 
bullet  holes  in  the  shirt  I  knew  that  wound  had  been  a  slight  one, 
though  I  could  not  know  but  that  he  had  been  killed  later.  We  could 
not  find  him  nor  any  more  Indians,  so  we  took  up  the  trail  of  the  pony. 
Before  we  had  gone  a  great  way  we  were  overtaken  by  a  troop  of 
soldiers  scouting  for  Indians,  and  they  kept  on  the  trail  while  we 
returned  to  town.  While  we  were  gone,  father  had  returned  from 
town  to  the  place  of  shooting,  with  a  neighbor  and  his  team  to  take 
the  body  into  town.  When  he  arrived  at  the  body  he  found  that  the 
troop  in  passing  had  taken  the  pains  to  scalp  the  Indian,  probably  to 
get  the  reward  offered  by  the  state  at  that  time  for  Indian  scalps. 
They  placed  the  body  in  the  wagon  and  drove  back  to  Hutchinson,  all 
unaware  that  the  corpse  was  that  of  the  hated  Little  Crow. 

The  fact  that  there  was  one  more  "good  Indian"  was  enough  to  add 
to  the  joy  of  the  celebration  of  the  "Fourth."  Among  those  in  attend- 
ance was  Hiram  Cummins,  a  private  of  Company  E,  Ninth  Minnesota 
Volunteers,  who  at  once  declared  that  the  body  was  that  of  Little 
Crow.  Many  treated  his  statement  as  a  joke,  but  he  said,  "There  is 
no  doubt  about  it.  Here  are  marks  that  no  man  could  mistake.  He 
has  a  row  of  double  teeth  all  the  way  around,  and  both  his  wrists  are 
broken  and  ill  set."  On  pulling  up  the  skunk  skins  from  the  wrists 
the  truth  was  apparent,  though  hard  to  think  true. 

Little  Crow's  son,  after  leaving  his  father,  went  northwest- 
ward to  Devil's  lake  in  Dakota,  where  he  was  captured  later 
in  a  starving  condition  by  General  Sibley's  troops.  "When 
killed  Little  Crow  had  on  a  coat  which  the  son  says  was  given 
him  by  Hi-u-ka,  the  son-in-law.  This  coat  was  taken  from 
James  McGannon,  whom  they  murdered  on  the  Kingston  road 
in  Wright  county.  The  bones  of  one  arm  and  the  skull  and 
scalp  of  Little  Crow  are  in  the  Museum  of  this  Historical  So- 
ciety. The  remainder  of  his  body  was  taken  by  the  medical 
fraternity  and  treated  with  their  usual  courtesies  in  such  cases. 


HISTORICAL  NOTES  OF  GREY  CLOUD  ISLAND  AND  ITS 
VICINITY.* 


BY  JOHN  H.  CASE. 


Grey  Cloud  island,  about  five  miles  long  and  one  to  two 
miles  wide,  is  situated  in  the  south  end  of  Washington  county, 
Minnesota,  between  St.  Paul  and  Hastings.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  west  end  and  south  side  by  the  Mississippi  river,  and  on 
the  north  side  and  east  end  by  the  Grey  Cloud  creek  or  slough. 

The  name  Grey  Cloud  in  the  Dakota  or  Sioux  language  is 
Mar-pi-ya-ro-to,  with  the  addition  of  one  more  syllable,  win, 
meaning  woman.  It  was  the  Sioux  name  of  both  the  wife  and 
the  daughter  of  James  Aird,  an  Indian  trader.  The  wife,  first 
bearing  this  name,  was  a  sister  of  the  Sioux  Chief  Wabasha 
who  took  part  in  the  war  between  the  United  States  and  Eng- 
land in  1812,  and  her  father's  name  also  was  Wabasha.  She 
was  born  at  her  father's  village,  where  the  city  of  Winona  now 
stands,  and  died  in  1844  at  Black  Dog's  village,  sometimes 
called  Grey  Iron's  village,  about  six  miles  southwest  of  Men- 
dota,  on  the  Minnesota  river  in  what  is  now  Eagan  township, 
Dakota  county.  She  was  buried  in  one  of  the  Indian  burial 
grounds  near  their  village.  Her  marriage  to  Aird  was  in  1783 
or  soon  afterward,  and  they  had  one  child,  a  girl  named  Mar- 
garet. 

James  Aird  was  a  Scotchman,  born  in  Ayrshire,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  a  cousin  of  Robert  Burns,  the  poet.  He  came  to 
America  about  1783,  landing  at  Quebec,  and  probably  in  that 
year  came  to  Wabasha's  village  as  a  trader  in  the  employ  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  He  afterward  went  to  Prairie  du 
Chien  for  the  same  company,  where  Joseph  Rolette,  Sr.,  was 
at  the  head  of  the  company's  trading  post.  Aird  died  at  Prairie 
du  Chien  in  the  fall  of  1819  or  1820.    Hazen  Mooers,  the  well 


*Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  May  13,  1912. 


372  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

known  trader  among  the  Sioux,  who  came  to  what  is  now  Min- 
nesota in  1819,  and  Aird's  granddaughter,  Jane  Anderson, 
were  present  when  he  died.  A  part  of  this  information  was 
obtained  from  this  Jane  Anderson,  afterward  Mrs.  Andrew 
Robertson,  who  died  at  the  Sisseton  Agency  in  South  Dakota, 
or  at  Brown's  Valley,  Minn.,  in  the  fall  of  1905. 

Margaret  Aird  was  married  to  Captain  Thomas  Anderson 
about  1805  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  British 
army,  and  took  part  in  the  capture  of  Fort  McKay  at  that  place 
in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  born  at  Cornwall,  Canada,  in  Jan- 
uary, 1778,  and  died  at  Port  Hope,  Canada,  in  1874.  They  had 
three  children,  Mary,  Angus  M.  (an  early  Indian  trader  in 
Minnesota),  and  Jane,  who  married  Andrew  Robertson,  head 
farmer  for  the  government  at  the  Yellow  Medicine  Agency,  and 
afterward  superintendent  of  Indian  schools  on  the  reserva- 
tion, from  about  1854  to  1858. 

In  the  Dakota  language  Margaret  Aird  was  named  Mar-pi- 
ya-ro-to-win,  the  same  as  her  mother.  She  separated  from 
Captain  Anderson  after  they  had  been  married  about  eight 
years,  and  later  married  Hazen  Mooers,  who  was  the  first  agent 
or  trader  for  the  American  Fur  Company  at  Lake  Traverse, 
Minnesota,  building  the  trading  post  at  that  place.  Margaret 
was  with  him  there,  and  also  at  the  next  post  where  he  was 
stationed,  called  Little  Rock,  in  the  west  part  of  the  present 
Nicollet  county,  on  the  Minnesota  river.  Mooers  and  his  fam- 
ily removed  in  1838  from  Little  Rock  to  what  is  now  called 
Grey  Cloud  island.  They  were  accompanied  by  Andrew  Rob- 
ertson and  family,  and  also  by  Joseph  R.  Brown,  who  was  well 
known  to  nearly  all  the  pioneers  and  traders  of  those  early 
times.    They  all  came  there  together  on  the  same  day. 

Mooers  and  Robertson  took  possession  of  three  large  bark 
lodges  on  the  west  end  of  the  island,  which  had  been  vacated 
in  the  preceding  autumn  by  Medicine  Bottle's  band  of  Sioux, 
when  they  moved  across  the  river  to  their  new  village  at  Pine 
Bend,  in  Dakota  county.  Brown  built  a  log  house  farther  east 
or  down  the  river.  It  was  while  living  on  this  island,  from 
1838  to  1847,  that  Andrew  Robertson  named  it  Grey  Cloud 
island,  after  his  mother-in-law,  Margaret  Aird  Mooers,  whose 


GREY  CLOUD  ISLAND  AND  ITS  VICINITY.  373 

name,  in  its  English  translation,  like  that  of  her  mother,  was 
Grey  Cloud.  Margaret  died  at  Black  Dog's  village  in  1850, 
and  was  buried  there. 

The  band  of  which  Medicine  Bottle  was  chief  had  its  origin 
through  the  dissatisfaction  of  some  members  of  the  band  of 
Big  Thunder  and  of  Little  Crow,  father  of  the  chief  of  that 
name  who  led  the  Sioux  massacre  in  1862.  Previous  to  the 
treaty  of  1837,  their  village  was  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  about  two  miles  below  the  present  city  of  St. 
Paul.  After  this  treaty,  by  which  the  Sioux  ceded  their  lands 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  they  removed  the  village  to  the  west 
bank  of  the  river,  where  it  was  known  to  the  early  settlers  as 
Kaposia,  on  the  site  of  South  Park,  near  the  South  St.  Paul 
stock  yards.  A  few  families  of  that  band  left  the  old  village 
on  the  east  side  and  chose  as  their  leader  a  noted  counselor  and 
medicine  man  named  AVaukan-ojan-jan,  meaning  Spirit  Light 
or  Holy  Light,  as  translated  into  English  by  his  daughter,  but 
called  Medicine  Bottle  by  the  early  fur  traders  and  pioneers. 

They  went  down  the  river  about  eight  miles  and  built  some 
large  bark  and  willow  lodges  on  the  northwest  end  of  Grey 
Cloud  island,  where  they  lived  and  had  their  fields  and  gardens 
until  the  autumn  of  1837.  Two  of  their  vacated  lodges  were 
occupied  the  next  year,  as  before  noted,  by  Mooers  and  Rob- 
ertson with  their  families,  and  the  third  one  was  used  by  them 
as  a  storehouse.  In  May,  1839,  these  men  built  two  log  houses, 
with  stone  chimneys,  near  the  river,  and  they  farmed  a  part 
of  the  gardens  and  cornfields  formerly  cultivated  by  the  In- 
dians. That  year  they  raised  potatoes,  corn,  and  garden  truck, 
some  of  which  they  sold  at  Fort  Snelling  for  the  use  of  the 
ofiicers  and  troops ;  and  in  1840  they  raised  some  grain  on  these 
fields  and  sold  a  part  of  it  at  the  fort.  These  notes  of  early 
farming  on  Grey  Cloud  island  were  told  to  me  by  Mrs.  Mary 
Brown,  a  daughter  of  Hazen  Mooers,  wife  of  John  W.  Brown, 
who  was  a  half  brother  of  the  distinguished  Joseph  E.  Brown. 
Their  marriage  was  on  this  island,  on  New  Year's  day  in  1846. 

In  the  fall  of  1837  or  the  spring  of  1838,  Medicine  Bottle 
and  his  band  moved  across  the  Mississippi  to  the  west  bank  a 
short  distance  farther  south,  at  the  place  called  by  the  early 
French  and  Canadian  voyageurs  Pin  de  Tour,  now  known  as 


gy^  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

Pine  Bend.  The  meaning  of  both  these  names  is  ''The  bend 
in  the  river  where  the  pine  trees  are."  Some  of  these  white 
pines  are  still  standing  there  on  the  side  of  the  bluff,  being  con- 
spicuously seen  from  the  decks  of  passing  steamboats.  A  large 
village  of  bark  and  willow  houses  or  lodges  was  built  at  this 
place,  and  sometimes  beside  the  permanent  lodges  there  were 
many  tepees  of  poles  and  skins  during  the  spring  and  fall  hunt- 
ing seasons. 

The  situation  of  this  village  was  a  fine  one  for  the  Indians. 
The  marshes  and  heavy  timber  on  the  bottomlands  around 
Spring  lake  and  Belanger  island,  east  of  them,  in  what  is  now 
Nininger  township,  were  full  of  small  game,  such  as  geese, 
ducks,  muskrats  and  mink;  and  on  the  high  land  were  found 
the  prairie  chicken,  foxes,  partridges  and  quail,  and  pigeons 
by  the  thousands  that  sometimes  nested  and  roosted  in  the 
heavy  timber  on  Belanger  island.  The  timber  consisted  of 
soft  maple,  cottonwood,  elm,  hackberry,  and  ash,  most  of  which 
was  still  standing  in  1856  when  I  came  to  Nininger.  The  wild 
pigeons  had  their  roosts  and  nests  on  this  island  in  1859.  The 
last  that  I  saw  of  their  great  flocks,  which  were  sometimes  one 
to  two  miles  long,  transverse  to  their  course  of  flight,  but 
usually  not  more  than  fifty  feet  wide,  was  in  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1871.  Flock  after  flock  followed  each  other,  at 
short  intervals,  sometimes  for  several  days. 

Spring  lake,  southeast  of  this  village  a  short  distance,  was 
alive  with  large  fish,  among  which  were  catfish,  buffalo,  pike, 
and  pickerel,  also  sunfish  and  other  small  kinds.  In  the  win- 
ter of  1856-57  our  people  went  up  to  the  primitive  sawmill  near 
the  junction  of  Spring  lake  and  Belanger  sloughs,  shut  down 
the  gates  to  the  flume,  and  threw  out  so  many  of  these  large 
fish  as  to  fill  half  a  wagon  box. 

The  land  on  which  this  Sioux  village  stood,  together  with 
their  gardens  and  cornfields,  was  afterward  pre-empted  by 
William  A:  Bissell,  the  first  white  settler  at  Pine  Bend,  in  the 
present  Inver  Grove  township,  Dakota  county.  The  village 
was  near  the  river  under  the  bluffs,  on  government  lot  10, 
section  35;  and  the  gardens  and  cornfields  were  on  the  hill, 
on  the  south  half  of  the  southeast  quarter  and  on  the  southeast 
quarter  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  34,  Inver  Grove. 


GREY  CLOUD  ISLAND  AND  ITS  VICINITY.  375 

Bissell  first  visited  Medicine  Bottle's  village  in  1849  or 
1850;  and  in  1851  Medicine  Bottle  allowed  him  to  put  up  a 
small  log  shack  under  and  near  the  bluff,  perhaps  a  quarter  or 
half  a  mile  north  or  northwest  of  their  village.  He  moved  his 
family  down  from  Red  Rock  with  a  span  of  horses  and  sled, 
on  the  ice  late  in  the  fall  of  1851,  and  occupied  this  shack. 
The  family  had  been  living  with  some  of  the  early  settlers  and 
missionaries  at  Red  Rock,  among  whom  were  John  A.  Ford, 
Mr.  Irish,  Mr.  Holton,  and  others.  In  1852  Bissell  built  a 
hewed  log  house,  covering  it  with  shingles  split  mostly  from 
oak  logs ;  and  the  same  year  he  raised  some  potatoes,  corn,  and 
garden  stuff.  He  paid  for  this  land  August  6,  1855,  and  his 
receipt  was  signed  by  the  government  receiver,  R.  P.  Russell, 
of  Minneapolis. 

The  old  Indian  trail  from  Wabasha's  village,  on  the  site  of 
Winona,  to  Little  Crow's  village,  at  Kaposia,  or  a  branch  of 
this  trail,  ran  into  Medicine  Bottle's  village  and  out  again 
through  what  was  afterward  known  as  Bissell's  coulie.  Also 
a  branch  from  this  trail  went  to  Fort  Snelling.  Captain  John 
Tapper,  the  first  ferryman  at  Minneapolis,  who  died  in  1909, 
told  me  that  he  came  over  this  trail  in  the  fall  of  1844  from 
Lake  Pepin  to  Mendota.  He  said  that  it  was  nearly  dark  when 
he  and  his  companions  arrived  at  Medicine  Bottle's  village, 
and  they  stayed  there  all  night.  The  chief  entertained  them 
as  well  as  circumstances  would  permit,  and  the  next  morning 
they  followed  the  trail  to  Mendota  and  were  ferried  across  the 
Minnesota  river  to  Fort  Snelling. 

In  1853  William  Strathern  of  Rich  Valley,  Dakota  county, 
and  William  Senescall,  took  claims  within  a  mile  or  two  of 
Bissell.  These  two  men  in  the  spring  of  that  year  ploughed  a 
part  of  the  Indian  cornfield  for  Bissell,  and  he  put  it  into 
wheat.  This  wheat  was  cut  with  a  cradle  and  threshed  with 
a  flail  by  Walter  Strathern,  a  brother  of  William,  later  in  the 
fall  or  winter.  Walter  is  now  living  on  his  original  pre-emp- 
tion claim  taken  in  1853  at  Rich  Valley.  A  part  of  this  wheat 
was  hauled  by  William  Strathern  around  by  the  way  of  St. 
Paul  and  Cottage  Grove  to  the  grist  mill  of  Lemuel  Bolles  in 
Afton,  where  it  was  made  into  flour.     William  Senescall  was 


376  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

living  at  Stewart  or  Glencoe,  Minn.,  a  few  years  ago;  he  was 
a  member  of  Company  F,  Hatch's  Battalion. 

Medicine  Bottle  and  his  band  lived  at  Pine  Bend  fifteen 
years,  leaving  there  for  the  new  Sioux  Reservation  on  the  up- 
per Minnesota  river  in  the  fall  of  1852.  Both  the  chief  and  his 
wife  were  true  friends  and  neighbors  of  the  Bissell  family,  and 
just  before  they  left  for  their  new  home  they  came  to  the  Bis- 
sell home  to  bid  them  good-bye.  They  had  their  faces  painted 
and  ran  out  of  the  house,  threw  themselves  on  the  ground,  and 
carried  on  their  lamentations  after  the  Indian  fashion  of  ex- 
pressing sorrow  at  the  loss  of  friends  or  relatives.  They  felt 
very  badly  on  account  of  having  to  leave  the  Bissells  and  their 
old  home  and  hunting  grounds.  Mr.  Bissell  died  at  Sauk  Cen- 
ter in  December,  1871,  and  was  buried  there. 

The  third  and  last  village  of  Medicine  Bottle  and  his  band 
in  Minnesota  was  one  mile  west  of  the  government  buildings 
at  the  Redwood  or  Lower  Sioux  Agency.  He  was  accidentally 
killed  near  his  lodge  or  house  in  this  village  before  the  out- 
break of  1862.  Outside  of  his  house  he  had  a  scaffold  erected 
for  drying  corn,  and  hanging  from  the  rafters  was  an  iron 
chain  with  a  sharp  hook  on  the  lower  end.  Some  of  his  family 
were  cleaning  or  cutting  up  a  wild  duck,  and  he  was  feeding 
his  chickens,  when  one  of  them  ran  off  with  a  piece  of  the  duck. 
The  chief  ran  to  catch  it  but  stumbled,  and  in  falling  the  sharp 
hook  caught  him  in  the  mouth,  penetrating  his  brain.  He  ex- 
pired in  a  few  minutes  from  hemorrhage.  He  was  attended  by 
Dr.  Asa  W.  Daniels,  the  government  physician  at  the  Redwood 
Agency,  now  living  in  Pomona,  California,  who  has  supplied 
this  account  of  his  death.    Dr.  Daniels  further  writes : 

We  looked  upon  Medicine  Bottle  as  a  civilized  Indian.  He  lived 
in  a  frame  house,  cultivated  a  plot  of  ground,  did  not  believe  in  con- 
juration nor  practice  it,  but  possessed  considerable  knowledge  in  bleed- 
ing, cupping,  and  the  hot  steam  bath,  and  kept  medicinal  barks,  roots, 
and  herbs,  which  he  used  in  cases  of  sickness.  He  was  an  Indian  of 
much  ability,  honest,  truthful,  and  bore  the  duties  of  life  faithfully, 
and  always  gave  good  advice  and  worthy  example  to  the  others  of  his 
people. 

Another  Sioux  whose  name  in  English  was  Medicine  Bottle, 
also  called  Grizzly  Bear,  a  nephew  of  this  chief  and  son  of  Grey 


GREY  CLOUD  ISLAND  AND  ITS  VICINITY.  377 

Iron,  took  part  in  the  massacre,  for  which  he  and  the  young 
chief  Shakopee,  called  Little  Six,  having  been  captured  in  1864, 
were  tried  by  a  military  commission  at  Fort  Snelling  and  were 
hung  there  November  11,  1865. 

The  site  of  the  city  of  Hastings  was  earlier  called  Oliver's 
Grove,  after  Lieut.  William  G.  Oliver,  who  was  ascending  the 
Mississippi  with  one  or  more  keel  boats  late  in  the  autumn  of 

1819,  but  was  prevented  from  going  farther  by  a  gorge  of  ice 
in  the  bend  of  the  river  opposite  to  this  city.  The  boat  or  boats 
were  probably  run  up  to  the  outlet  of  Lake  Rebecca,  to  be  out 
of  the  way  of  the  ice  when  the  river  broke  up  in  the  spring  of 

1820.  Lieutenant  Oliver  was  on  his  way  from  Fort  Crawford 
at  Prairie  du  Chien  with  supplies  for  the  soldiers  at  St.  Peter's 
camp,  now  Fort  Snelling,  among  whom  was  the  first  settler  of 
Hastings,  Joe  Brown,  the  drummer  boy,  then  about  fourteen 
years  of  age. 

Oliver  passed  the  winter  here  with  some  soldiers  guarding 
these  supplies.  I  imagine  that  he  put  up  a  log  camp  on  the 
bottomland  near  where  his  boats  were  tied,  as  it  was  covered 
with  very  large  elm  and  maple  trees,  which  with  the  smaller 
growth  of  willows  and  maples  along  the  riverside  would  pro- 
tect the  camp  from  the  northwest  wind  and  also  furnish  plenty 
of  fuel. 

"When  I  first  saw  the  bottomlands  on  the  long  island  ad- 
joining Lake  Rebecca,  between  Nininger  and  Hastings,  they 
were  covered  with  heavy  timber,  soft  maple,  white  and  black 
ash,  elm,  cottonwood,  and  hackberry;  and  on  the  lower  end  of 
the  island,  next  to  the  river  for  half  a  mile,  was  a  dense  grove 
of  willows  and  small  maples  so  close  together  in  some  places 
that  one  could  not  get  through  them.  I  was  quite  familiar  with 
these  woods  and  also  Oliver's  Grove  when  I  was  young,  be- 
cause my  father's  stock  at  Nininger  was  pastured  on  these 
bottoms  and  I  had  to  drive  the  cows  home  at  night  during  the 
summer  months,  sometimes  finding  them  as  far  down  the  river 
as  Oliver's  Grove. 

After  leaving  the  army,  Joseph  R.  Brown  commenced  to 
trade  with  the  Indians  about  the  year  1826.  He  had  a  trad- 
ing post  in  1832  at  St.  Croix  Falls,  Wisconsin,  which  he  left 


378  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

in  a  boat  or  canoe  on  one  of  the  last  days  of  July  in  that  year, 
coming  down  the  St.  Croix  to  its  mouth  and  thence  up  the 
Mississippi  to  Oliver's  Grove.  Here  he  built  a  one-story  log 
house  on  what  was  afterward  platted  as  Lot  1,  Block  12,  of  the 
original  townsite  of  Hastings,  at  the  southwest  corner  of 
Second  and  Vermillion  streets.  This  house  stood  in  a  beauti- 
ful grove  of  white  and  bur  oaks.  An  extensive  belt  of  oak 
woods,  including  white,  bur,  black,  and  red  oaks,  continued 
thence  three  miles  northwest  along  the  bank  of  Lake  Rebecca 
and  on  the  second  plateau  above  the  river,  to  the  home  of  my 
father,  James  R.  Case,  in  section  18,  Nininger.  The  grove  in 
Hastings  extended  south  as  far  as  to  the  site  of  Hon.  Albert 
Schaller's  home,  on  Fifth  street,  where  some  of  its  large  trees 
yet  remain. 


^1 

II 


NORTHERN  MINNESOTA  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS  IN  1822 
TO  1826,  UNDER  THE  TREATY  OF  GHENT.* 


BY  HON.  WILLIAM  E.  CULKIN. 


At  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  signed 
December  24,  1814,  at  the  Netherland  city  of  that  name,  set- 
tled the  terms  of  peace,  but  said  nothing  about  the  real  con- 
troversy which  precipitated  the  struggle.  The  war  had  been 
brought  about  by  the  conduct  of  the  British  in  holding  up 
American  ships  on  the  high  seas  and  taking  from  them  men 
whom  they  claimed  as  owing  service  to  Great  Britain.  The 
war  being  ended,  Britain  was  ready  to  give  up  the  practice  of 
search  of  American  ships  and  seizure  of  American  men,  but 
she  was  by  far  too  proud  to  say  so.  The  practice  would  be 
abandoned,  but  Britain  would  give  no  promise  on  compulsion 
exerted  by  the  colonists,  who  themselves,  in  British  eyes,  were 
disloyal  servants  of  the  crown.  The  British  retained  the  rights 
to  pretend  that  the  concession  of  freedom  of  the  sea  to  the  new 
republic  was  due  to  the  forbearance  and  toleration  of  the 
mother  country,  not  to  valor  of  the  Americans  on  land  and  sea. 

But  there  were  minor  matters  of  controversy  between  the 
countries,  and,  as  a  treaty  of  peace  had  to  be  made,  it  was 
advisable  to  adjust  these  quarrels.  One  dispute  related  to  the 
boundary  between  the  American  possessions  and  the  remain- 
ing British  areas  on  the  north.  The  boundary  had  been  set 
forth  in  the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1783,  but  had  never  been  marked 
on  the  ground,  and  the  language  of  the  treaty  in  some  in- 
stances was  indefinite  and  difficult  to  determine  its  intent. 

The  treaty  of  Ghent  provided  for  the  settlement  of  the 
boundary  by  arbitration.  In  this  discussion  we  have  to  do 
only  with  the  seventh  article,  which  deals  with  the  boundary 
from  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and 
therefore  is  relevant  to  Minnesota  history.     It  provided  that 

♦Read  at  the  monthly  meeting'  of  the  Executive  Council,  September 
8,  1913;  previously  published  in  the  Duluth  News  Tribune,  July  27,  1913. 


380  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  two  commissioners,  one  from  each  side,  who  were  to 
be  appointed  to  settle  the  boundary  from  Lake  Erie  to  the 
Straits  of  Mackinaw  under  other  provisions  of  the  treaty,  after 
having  finished  that  work,  were 

"authorized  upon  their  oaths  impartially  to  fix  and  determine,  accord- 
ing to  the  true  intent  of  the  said  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  that  part  of 
the  boundary  between  the  dominions  of  the  two  powers  which  extends 
from  the  water  communication  between  Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Supe- 
rior to  the  most  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods;  to 
decide  to  which  of  the  two  parties  the  several  islands  lying  in  the 
lakes,  water  communications  and  rivers  forming  the  said  boundary 
do  respectively  belong,  in  conformity  with  the  true  intent  of  the  said 
treaty  of  peace  of  1783;  and  to  cause  such  parts  of  the  said  boundary 
as  require  it  to  be  surveyed  and  marked." 

We  thus  see  the  magnates  of  the  two  powers  sitting  in  coun- 
cil among  the  spires  and  palaces  of  ancient  Ghent  dealing  with 
the  boundary  of  the  far-off  wilderness,  now  the  home  of  many. 

The  American  commissioner  was  Peter  B.  Porter  of  Niagara 
county,  New  York,  himself  a  borderman,  with  a  just  sense  of 
his  personal  dignity,  the  importance  of  his  commission,  and 
the  future  of  the  country.  The  British  representative  on  the 
Lake  Superior  line  was  Anthony  Barclay  of  Nova  Scotia,  who 
had  succeeded  John  Ogilvy,  who  had  died  of  fever  contracted 
on  the  St.  Clair  flats  while  working  in  the  open  air  in  the  line 
of  duty.  Everything  indicates  that  Mr.  Barclay,  like  his  co- 
commissioner,  was  an  extremist  on  his  side.  The  two  com- 
missioners met  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  on  June  18,  1822,  and  issued 
orders  for  a  survey  of  the  line  between  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie 
and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  They  did  not  accompany  the  sur- 
veyors and  agents  who  went  into  the  field. 

During  the  summers  of  1822  and  1823  the  surveyors  went 
over  the  ground  from  the  starting  point  to  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods.  Evidently  considering  the  Grand  Portage  line  as  the 
course  of  the  boundary,  they  surveyed  that  line  only.  They 
reported  to  the  commission  at  a  meeting  held  at  Albany,  N.  Y., 
in  February,  1824.  Everything  indicated  the  acceptance  of 
the  Grand  Portage  route,  the  present  boundary.  But  a  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Montreal  in  October,  1824,  and  here  contro- 
versy arose.     The  British  commissioner,  Mr.  Barclay,  ordered 


NORTHERN  MINNESOTA  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS.       381 

a  survey  of  the  route  from  Lake  Superior  to  Rainy  lake  and 
the  west  by  way  of  the  St.  Louis  river,  or,  as  it  was  some- 
times called,  the  Fond  du  Lac  river. 

Mr.  Porter  demanded  a  survey  of  the  route  via  the  Kamin- 
istiquia  river,  which,  lying  northeast  of  Pigeon  river,  was  more 
favorable  to  the  United  States. 

Under  these  orders  surveys  were  made,  and  thus  the  first 
survey  of  the  Duluth  harbor  was  made  in  1825  by  the  interna- 
tional surveyors  under  the  British  claim  that  the  true  bound- 
ary was  through  the  main  channel  of  the  St.  Louis  to  the  Em- 
barrass river,  up  that  stream  to  the  head  of  canoe  navigation, 
across  a  portage  to  the  Lesser  Vermilion,  now  the  Pike  river, 
down  the  Pike  to  Lake  Vermilion,  across  that  lake  to  the 
Greater  Vermilion,  and  down  that  river  and  through  the  con- 
necting waters  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

The  language  of  the  treaty  of  1783  describing  the  boundary 
through  Lake  Superior  and  on  to  the  west  is  as  follows: 

"Through  Lake  Superior  northward  of  the  Isles  Royale  and  Pheli- 
peaux,  to  the  Long  lake;  thence  through  the  middle  of  the  said  Long 
lake  and  the  water  communication  between  it  and  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  to  the  said  Lake  of  the  Woods;  thence  through  the  said  lake 
to  the  most  northwestern  point  thereof." 

This  language  seems  plain  enough,  but  the  fact  is  that  when 
this  survey  was  made  no  one  could  find  Isle  Phelipeaux,  and 
no  one  could  say  what  body  of  water  it  was  that  Benjamin 
Franklin  and  his  associates  in  the  treaty  of  1783  meant  by  the 
words  "the  Long  Lake."  There  were  long  lakes  in  plenty, 
but  which  lake  and  how  long?  As  to  Isle  Phelipeaux,  that, 
alas,  had  entirely  disappeared.  No  trace  of  it  could  be  found. 
Neither  Indian  nor  trapper  could  conjecture  its  whereabouts. 
Here  controversy  arose. 

The  commissioners,  their  agents,  and  the  surveyors,  prob- 
ably knew  from  the  beginning  of  the  faxilty  Mitchell  map  used 
and  followed  by  the  negotiators  of  1783;  but  if  they  did,  they 
ignored  or  obscured  the  fact  for  diplomatic  purposes.  Isle 
Phelipeaux  and  Long  lake  were  clearly  delineated  on  that  map. 
Long  lake  was  merely  a  bay  at  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  river,  and 
Isle  Phelipeaux  a  clearly  defined  island  on  the  map  south  of 


382  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Isle  Royale,  which,  in  fact,  never  existed.  But  as  the  line  had 
to  pass  north  of  Isle  Royale  by  that  map  and  as  it  shows  Isle 
Phelipeaux  south  of  Isle  Royale,  using  the  Mitchell  map,  the 
reference  to  Isle  Phelipeaux  became  wholly  unimportant.  But 
the  commissioners  did  not  have  the  Mitchell  map,  or  they  chose 
to  ignore  it,  in  the  beginning.  Reading  the  treaty  of  1783  with 
the  Mitchell  map  in  hand  made  it  clear  where  the  boundary 
was  to  be.  We  know  that  toward  the  end  the  Mitchell  map 
was  before  the  commissioners. 

There  was  one  other  circumstance  tending  to  determine  the 
actual  course  of  the  boundary,  and  around  this  the  quarrel 
raged.  The  language  of  the  treaty  indicated  that  the  line  was 
to  follow  ''the  water  communication  between  it  [Lake  Supe- 
rior] and  the  Lake  of  the  "Woods."  That,  of  course,  could 
mean  nothing  else  but  that  the  old  traveled  water  and  canoe 
route  was  intended  by  these  negotiators  in  1783  to  be  the 
boundary. 

Unfortunately,  there  were  at  least  three  water  routes  lead- 
ing from  Lake  Superior  to  Rainy  lake. 

One  of  these,  starting  near  where  Fort  William  now  is, 
followed  in  general  the  course  of  the  Kaministiquia  river  and 
arrived  at  length  at  the  Rainy  lake,  and  thence  continued 
down  the  Rainy  river  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

The  second  route  was  the  old,  well  known  Grand  Portage 
route,  which  eventually  became  the  boundary,  following  up 
the  course  of  the  Pigeon  river  to  its  source,  crossing  the  height 
of  land  to  those  rivers  and  lakes  which  flow  into  the  Rainy  lake 
and  river,  and  continuing  thence  to  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

Finally,  the  third  route  passed  through  the  Duluth  harbor, 
up  the  St.  Louis  river,  across  the  height  of  land  into  the  Pike 
river,  and  thence  across  Vermilion  lake  to  Rainy  lake. 

There  was  no  dispute  as  to  the  boundary  from  the  Lac  la 
Pluie  (Rainy  lake)  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  in  the  nature 
of  things  there  could  be  none,  as  the  Rainy  river  was  the  only 
possible  route  westerly  in  its  neighborhood,  whereas  easterly 
from  where  the  Rainy  river  flows  from  Rainy  lake,  Lake  Supe- 
rior might  be  reached  at  least  in  the  three  ways  that  have  been 


NORTHERN  MINNESOTA  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS. 


383 


just  described.  Here  was  the  crux  of  the  problem,  Which 
water  route  was  the  true  line? 

The  American  commissioner,  Porter,  coming  from  a  mili- 
tant border  family  of  Americans  residing  near  Niagara  Falls, 
seeing  that  an  agreement  was  not  immediately  available  on 
the  Grand  Portage  route,  declared  that  he  stood  for  the  route 
by  the  Kaministiquia.  Barclay,  the  British  commissioner,  a 
Canadian,  then  advanced  the  extreme  claim  that  the  true,  an- 
cient traveled  route  to  the  north  was  via  the  St.  Louis  river. 
Each  could  at  least  argue  that  the  course  claimed  by  him  was 
a  traveled  route,  although  both  had  to  admit  that  the  Pigeon 
river  route  was,  in  recent  days  at  least,  of  far  greater  impor- 
tance than  any  other. 

Let  us  state  the  arguments  advanced  by  Mr.  Barclay  in 
support  of  his  contention  that  the  true  boundary  was  through 
the  line  of  the  St.  Louis  river.  He  advanced  five  separate  rea- 
sons. The  first  was  that  ''the  St.  Louis  river  answered  the 
description  in  the  treaty,  since  after  expanding  into  a  lake 
(St.  Louis  bay)  it  discharged  itself  into  the  lake  [Superior] 
not  by  a  bay,  as  did  Pigeon  river,  nor  by  a  narrow  stream,  as 
the  Kaministiquia,  but  by  a  narrow  mouth  made  by  two 
points."  It  is  difficult  to  see  very  much  in  this  argument  or 
even  to  understand  it,  but  Mr.  Barclay  insisted  upon  it. 

His  second  reason  was  that  the  St.  Louis  river  was  an  an- 
cient commercial  route  to  the  north.  This  argument  could  not 
be  denied,  but  at  the  same  time  this  qualification  was  pos- 
sessed by  the  Pigeon  and  the  Kaministiquia  river  routes  as 
well.  He  correctly  argued  also  that  the  St.  Louis  route  was 
more  ancient  than  the  Kaministiquia  route,  but  here  again  the 
Pigeon  river  route  might  claim  great  antiquity. 

The  third  reason  the  commissioner  offered  was  that  the  St. 
Louis  river  route  was  the  true  one  because  it  was  the  most 
easily  navigable,  being  interrupted  by  the  fewest  portages. 
This  claim  could  not  be  disputed. 

Fourth,  he  argued  that  the  old  name  of  the  St.  Louis  river 
was  the  Lake  river,  meaning  the  largest  tributary  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  that  the  term  ''Long  lake"  was  intended  to 
mean  Long  Lake  river  or  Big  Lake  river.    As  a  matter  of  fact 


384  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  Ojibway  name  of  the  St.  Louis  river  was  and  now  is  Big 
Lake  river,  Kitchigami-zibi,  that  is,  Lake  Superior  river. 

Fifth,  he  argued  that  the  language  of  the  treaty  implied 
that  the  boundary  west  of  Isle  Royale  should  run  to  the  south- 
west. This  inference  was  insisted  upon  because  the  treaty 
said  that  the  boundary  was  to  run  north  of  Isle  Royale,  and, 
said  Mr.  Barclay,  if  they  intended  the  boundary  to  go  to  a 
point  north  of  Isle  Royale,  it  would  have  been  easy  to  say  that 
the  boundary  should  go  to  that  precise  point  without  mention- 
ing Isle  Royale.  But  because  the  treaty  said  that  the  boundary 
should  pass  north  of  Isle  Royale,  it  was  argued  by  him  that  it 
was  intended  after  having  passed  Isle  Royale  it  should  go 
south.  It  was  unnecessary  to  say  that  it  should  go  north  of 
Isle  Royale  if  the  line  had  to  pass  thence  north  to  go  to  the 
Kaministiquia  or  the  Pigeon  river. 

The  American  commissioner  took,  of  course,  precisely  op- 
posite grounds,  arguing  that  if  the  St.  Louis  river  was  meant 
it  was  ridiculous  to  go  north  of  Isle  Royale  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  the  United  States  an  apparently  worthless 
island.  He  said  that  while  the  St.  Louis  route  was  no  doubt  a 
commercial  route,  it  was  a  very  obscure  one,  and  that  it  was 
the  manifest  intention  of  the  treaty  makers  to  follow  routes 
which  were  known  at  the  time  when  the  treaty  was  made. 

In  any  event,  the  persistent  Barclay  had  forced  a  survey  of 
the  western  end  of  Lake  Superior,  the  Duluth  harbor,  the  St. 
Louis  river,  the  Embarrass  river.  Lake  Vermilion,  and  the 
waters  connecting  it  on  its  northern  side  with  the  present 
boundary  waters. 

It  is  likely  that  this  survey,  the  first  made  of  the  route  de- 
scribed, was  the  best  and  most  accurate.  It  was  made  in  the 
summer  of  1825.  The  surveyors,  fully  equipped  with  every 
instrument  known  to  their  science,  reached  the  harbor  of  Du- 
luth in  June.  It  must  have  been  a  considerable  party  with 
their  assistants,  canoe  men,  ax  men,  chain  bearers,  guides,  and 
commissary.  The  maps  which  they  made,  showing  their  sur- 
veys, prove  the  high  character  of  their  work.  These  excellent 
surveyors  did  not  appear  to  be  much  concerned  in  the  contro- 
versy as  to  the  boundary,  as  their  work  bears  no  evidence 


NORTHERN  MINNESOTA  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS.       385 

whatever  of  partisanship.  Their  concern  was  merely  to  make 
a  true  survey.  Barclay's  object  was  to  prove  that  there  was 
a  waterway  for  canoes  via  the  St.  Louis  to  the  north. 

It  is  true  that  this  work  done  by  these  men  was  the  first 
scientific  survey  made  in  the  North  Star  State.  St.  Louis 
county  may  then  claim  the  honor  which  arises  from  the  fact 
that  it  was  within  her  borders  that  the  first  scientific  work  was 
done  in  Minnesota. 

The  maps  showing  this  survey  bear  the  certificate  of  the 
two  commissioners  and  of  David  Thompson,  surveyor,  to  the 
effect  that  they  are  true  maps  of  the  survey  made  under  the 
seventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  by  order  of  the  commis- 
sioners. 

They  show  that  at  the  exit  from  St.  Paul  bay  to  the  lake 
the  natural  mouth  of  the  river  was  in  a  very  swampy  condi- 
tion, and  this  condition  covered  a  large  portion  of  Allouez  bay. 
Almost  facing  the  natural  exit,  on  the  opposite  shore,  is  shown 
the  mouth  of  Left  Hand  river.  This  is  now  known  as  the 
Nemadji  river.  About  half  way  up  the  bay  on  the  Superior 
shore  is  a  notation  showing  the  site  of  the  old  Northwest  Fur 
Company's  factory.  There  is  a  small  square  indicating  the 
site  of  the  building.  This  is  about  opposite  Oatka  beach.  Here 
for  a  long  time  the  Montreal  fur  traders  had  a  post,  probably 
dependent  on  the  one  at  Fond  du  Lac. 

The  surveyors  numbered  the  prominent  poiirts  of  land  and 
islands  as  they  appear  in  their  plats  from  1  to  53  in  the  dis- 
tance from  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  to  the  place  where  the 
Embarrass  river  flows  into  the  St.  Louis.  Thence  they  start 
again  at  one,  and  on  reaching  Vermilion  lake  they  again  fall 
back  to  one.  These  numbers  on  the  plats  refer  to  field  notes 
which  are  in  the  archives  at  Washington  and  London,  which 
give  more  specific  information  of  the  places  referred  to.  Num- 
ber 1  on  the  surveyor's  plat  is  the  extreme  tip  of  Minnesota 
Point.  Number  2  is  a  marshy  islet  not  far  from  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  where  the  water  flows  into  the  lake  from  the  bay. 
Numbers  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  and  8,  are  very  small  islets  in  the 
north  part  of  the  bay.  All  of  these  appear  in  the  outside  har- 
bor not  far  from  Rice's  and  Connor's  Points.    They  have  long 

25 


386  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

since  disappeared,  undermined  by  the  floods  whose  force  and 
direction  were  changed  by  the  harbor  improvements  and  the 
digging  of  the  Duluth  canal.  The  point  of  land  in  Superior 
known  as  Connor's  Point  is  marked  Bear's  Passage  in  the  sur- 
vey. It  is  likely,  however,  that  this  name  was  intended  not  to 
be  applied  to  the  point,  but  to  the  strait  between  the  inner  and 
outer  harbor  now  spanned  by  the  Interstate  bridge.  The  origin 
of  the  name  can  only  be  conjectured. 

The  bends  in  the  river,  with  its  numerous  islands  and  bays, 
from  the  Interstate  bridge  to  Fond  du  Lac  are  shown  as  in 
modern  maps,  although  some  details  are  lacking.  More  swamp 
is  shown  in  the  old  survey  than  in  recent  ones.  Nature  was 
not  at  that  time  aided  by  the  huge  dredges  which  have  dug 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  rock  and  dirt  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  river.  Above  the  upper  harbor  shown  in  the  map 
there  is  a  bay  marked  Pekagumew.  On  modern  maps  this  ap- 
pears as  Pokegama  bay. 

Going  up  the  river  we  come  to  the  trading  post  marked 
''American  Factory,"  showing  four  buildings  on  the  site  of 
the  present  village  of  Fond  du  Lac.  The  island  in  the  river  at 
that  place  is  well  shown.  Passing  a  little  above  Fond  du  Lac, 
we  reach  the  Grand  Portage,  11,915  yards  in  length,  a  distance 
of  nearly  seven  miles,  over  which  the  travelers  were  obliged  to 
carry  their  boats  and  their  goods.  The  river  was  not  surveyed 
parallel  to  the  portage  trail,  but  its  exis1:ence  is  indicated  by 
dotted  lines.  At  the  western  end  of  the  long  portage  the  sur- 
vey of  the  river  is  resumed.  A  short  distance  from  where  the 
Grand  Portage  reaches  the  river,  another  portage  is  found  of 
2,029  yards,  more  than  a  mile.  The  canoeing  is  comparatively 
good  from  this  place  up  the  St.  Louis  river  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Embarrass  river,  which  on  the  old  map  is  the  ' '  Riviere  aux 
Embaras."  The  extraordinary  convolutions  of  the  St.  Louis 
just  west  of  Forbes  station  on  the  line  of  the  Mesaba  railroad 
are  perfectly  shown  on  the  old  map.  At  this  place  the  river 
seemed  to  be  undecided  whether  to  go  north  or  south,  but  it 
finally  decided  to  cast  its  lot  with  Lake  Superior.  The  height 
of  land  is  reached  in  the  vicinity  of  the  villages  of  McKinley 
and  Biwabik. 


NORTHERN  MINNESOTA  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS.       387 

Near  the  headwaters  of  the  Embarrass  river  there  is  a 
portage  of  6,270  yards,  about  three  miles  and  a  half,  across 
the  height  of  land  to  the  lesser  Vermilion,  now  called  the  Pike 
river,  and  with  a  few  portages  the  route  enters  Vermilion  lake. 
The  waters  of  the  Pike  river  and  of  Vermilion  lake  flow  toward 
the  north  and  eventually  reach  Hudson  bay.  The  survey  of 
Vermilion  lake  was  conscientiously  and  carefully  made.  Every 
island  is  delineated  and  numbered.  The  indentations  of  the 
shore  are  laid  down  with  care  and  skill.  The  course  of  the  old 
route  is  farther  shown  across  the  lake  into  the  greater  Ver- 
milion river,  which  flows  rapidly  to  the  north.  No  survey 
since  that  time  was  made  with  greater  care  or  more  conscien- 
tious fidelity. 

This  body  of  men,  perhaps  fifty  in  number,  including  the 
various  laborers,  and  the  agents  of  the  respective  governments, 
with  the  secretaries,  the  chainmen,  the  cooks,  and  camp  serv- 
ants, must  have  startled  the  denizens  of  the  wilderness,  human 
and  otherwise.  It  must  have  suggested  to  the  Indians  what 
was  behind.  Up  to  this  time  the  natives  had  met  the  mission- 
ary and  the  trader,  the  first  seeking  his  salvation  and  the 
second  seeking  his  furs;  but  these  two  did  not  greatly  inter- 
rupt the  ordinary  current  of  Indian  life.  There  was  a  greater 
menace  to  the  natives'  mode  of  life  in  the  clink  of  the  survey- 
ors' chain  than  in  the  exhortations  of  the  missionary  or  the 
intrigues  of  the  trader.  By  this  time  the  redskin  had,  in  a 
manner,  adjusted  himself  to  the  views  of  the  man  of  prayer 
and  the  man  of  trade;  but  how  was  he  to  square  himself  with 
this  inexorable  organization  coming  up  behind? 

This  party,  following  this  old  trail  through  St.  Louis 
county,  startled  the  deer  and  the  moose,  the  bear  and  the 
beaver,  as  never  before.  The  waters  of  the  bay  and  river  be- 
fore that  time  had  been  disturbed  for  a  century  and  a  half 
only  by  the  casual  and  infrequent  trader,  and  for  a  short  dis- 
tance by  an  expedition  of  American  observers  in  the  year  1820. 
But  we  may  leave  this  subject  as  it  is.  Enough  has  been  shown 
to  justify  the  statement  that  northeastern  Minnesota,  now  tak- 
ing a  prominent  part  and  place  in  every  field  of  modern  de- 
velopment, first  in  many  things  and  second  but  in  few,  is  enti- 


388  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

tied  to  the  first  place  and  first  mention  when  the  history  of 
Minnesota  is  finally  written.  This  is  the  old  and  not  the  new 
part  of  this  state. 

The  commissioners  at  their  meeting  in  1827  had  the  whole 
matter  on  the  table  and  sought  to  reach  an  agreement.  At  this 
time  Mitchell's  map  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Porter,  and  he 
offered  to  give  up  his  claim  to  the  route  of  the  Kaministiquia 
river,  provided  the  British  commissioner  would  accept  a  line 
in  the  center  of  Pigeon  river,  known  as  Riviere  aux  Tourtes, 
and  thence  by  the  ordinary  route  to  Rainy  lake.  Then  the 
British  commissioner  offered  to  surrender  his  claim  to  the  St. 
Louis  river  route,  if  Mr.  Porter  would  accept  a  boundary  along 
the  course  of  the  Grand  Portage,  the  line  to  commence  thus 
where  the  village  of  Grand  Portage  now  is,  about  ten  miles 
southwest  of  the  mouth  of  Pigeon  bay.  This  suggests  that  Mr. 
Barclay  was  seeking  to  preserve  to  the  British  the  posts  of  the 
Northwestern  Fur  Company,  which  would  stand  on  American 
soil  if  the  center  of  the  Pigeon  bay  and  river  was  made  the 
boundary. 

There  was  no  difference  finally  between  the  commissioners, 
except  as  to  that  strip  of  land  between  the  Pigeon  river  and 
the  old  existing  portage  route  called  the  ''Grand  Portage"  at 
that  point,  an  insignificant  area.  But  they  could  not  agree, 
and  they  reported  their  disagreement  as  to  this  matter  and 
others  to  their  respective  governments.  They  agreed  as  to  the 
line  west  of  Rainy  lake. 

After  the  report  of  the  commissioners  nothing  was  done  for 
a  period  of  about  fifteen  years,  and  the  differences  were  not 
settled  until  1842,  when  matters  were  compromised  in  what  is 
known  as  the  Webster-Ashburton  treaty.  By  that  treaty  the 
Pigeon  river  boundary  was  settled  on,  although  a  right  was 
reserved  to  the  British  to  use  the  portages  on  the  American 
side  of  the  river. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
in  submitting  the  Webster-Ashburton  treaty  to  the  senate,  said 
that  the  region  between  the  Pigeon  river  and  the  St.  Louis 
river  was  considered  valuable  as  a  mineral  region,  showing 
that  even  in  that  early  day,  long  before  any  mineral  wealth 


NORTHERN  MINNESOTA  BOUNDARY  SURVEYS.       389 

was  discovered  north  of  Lake  Superior,  its  existence  was  sus- 
pected. 

The  map  by  John  Mitchell,  dated  in  1755,  forming  Plate  IX 
at  the  beginning  of  this  paper,  which  makes  frequent  refer- 
ences to  it,  was  evidently  compiled  to  a  great  extent  from  hear- 
say ;  but  it  was  used  as  supposedly  the  best  map  then  available, 
for  the  country  north  and  west  of  Lake  Superior,  by  the  pleni- 
potentiaries who  framed  the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1783  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  It  has  three  radical  er- 
rors which  had  an  important  effect  on  the  settlement  of  the 
boundary. 

It  erroneously  indicates  that  the  main  thread  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  river  system  extends  up  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
and  that  the  waters  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  flow  into  Lake 
Superior.  Therefore  the  treaty  makers  fixed  the  boundary  at 
Pigeon  river  on  the  theory  that  the  river  was  the  main  exten- 
sion of  the  St.  Lawrence  system  of  waters.  The  fact  is  that  the 
Pigeon  river  extends  only  about  thirty  miles  from  the  lake. 
At  that  point  rises  the  height  of  land,  and  all  waters  west  of 
it  go  to  the  Hudson  bay.  Had  the  diplomats  not  been  misled 
by  this  map,  and  had  they  known  the  truth,  they  would  have 
used  the  St.  Louis  as  the  boundary  and  Duluth  would  be  in 
Canada. 

There  is  no  such  lake  as  the  Long  lake  shown  on  the  map. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Pigeon  river  there  is  a  bay  six  or  eight 
miles  in  length.  The  delineation  and  name  given  by  Mitchell 
were  undoubtedly  derived  from  the  ''Lac  Long"  on  the  map 
drawn  by  the  Assiniboine  chief,  Ochagach,  with  others,  for 
Verendrye  in  1728,  which  map  aided  for  a  map  by  Buache,  the 
French  geographer,  in  1754. 

Mitchell's  map  shows  Isle  Phelipeaux,  but  there  never  was 
any  such  island.  The  nearest  land  southeast  of  Isle  Royale  is 
the  Keweenaw  peninsula.  Possibly  the  map  maker  had  heard 
that  the  point  of  the  peninsula  was  cut  off  from  the  main  land 
by  streams,  lakes  and  marshes,  used  as  a  canoe  route  with 
portages,  in  the  course  of  the  present  canal,  so  that  he  intended 
to  show  that  point  as  an  island. 

The  fanciful  nature  of  the  map  is  also  shown  by  the  Apostle 


390  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

islands.  Mitchell  made  exactly  twelve  of  them,  in  order  to 
conform  with  scripture.  There  are  in  fact  a  larger  number  of 
islands  in  the  group. 

The  map  does  not  show  Minnesota  Point  nor  the  Duluth 
harbor.  Manifestly  it  was  carelessly  made  from  hearsay,  and 
other  maps  in  existence  at  the  time  were  overlooked  or  ignored. 
This  was,  however,  the  official  British  map.  Its  errors  gave 
rise  to  much  controversy. 

John  Mitchell  was  a  botanist  and  an  author  of  numerous 
works  in  the  natural  and  physical  sciences  and  in  history.  He 
was  born  in  England,  and  had  his  university  education  there ; 
came  over  to  America  about  1700,  and  lived  in  Virginia  forty- 
seven  years,  writing  and  publishing  botanical  works;  and  re- 
turned in  1747  or  1748  to  England,  where  in  1755  he  published 
this  map  of  the  British  colonies  in  North  America.  The  next 
year  another  edition  of  his  map  was  published  in  Paris,  and  a 
second  English  edition  appeared  in  1757,  which  was  reprinted 
in  1782.  There  are  copies  of  all  these  maps  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum Library. 

David  Thompson,  who  had  charge  of  the  surveys  of  the  St. 
Louis  and  Vermilion  route,  and  of  the  Pigeon  river  route, 
which  latter  was  accepted  as  the  international  boundary,  was 
born  in  Westminster,  now  a  part  of  London,  England,  in  1770 ; 
and  died  near  Montreal,  Canada,  in  1857.  He  was  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  eight  years,  1789-1797,  and 
of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company  the  next  eighteen  years.  He 
was  the  earliest  professional  surveyor  and  geographer  in  Min- 
nesota, coming  in  1798  from  the  Red  river  valley  to  Red  lake, 
and  thence  to  Turtle  lake  on  the  most  northern  tributary  of 
the  Mississippi  river,  mapping  these  lakes  and  streams  for  their 
insertion  on  a  large  manuscript  map  of  Canada  which  he  pre- 
pared for  the  Northwest  Company. 

Refe:rEnces  to  Source:s  consulted  FOR  THIS  Paper. 

History  and  Digest  of  the  International  Arbitrations  to  which  the 
United  States  has  been  a  Party,  by  Prof.  John  Bassett  Moore,  53d 
Congress,  Second  Session,  House  of  Representatives,  Miscellaneous 
Documents,  No.  212,  in  six  volumes,  1898;  Vol.  I,  Chapter  VI,  "Bound- 
ary from  Lake  Huron  to  the  most  Northwestern  Point  of  the  Lake  of 


NORTHERN    MINNESOTA    BOUNDARY    SURVEYS. 


391 


the  Woods:  Commission  under  Article  VII  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent," 
pp.  171-195,  with  the  part  of  Mitchell's  map  northwest  of  Lake  Superior 
at  page  180;  Vol.  VI,  Maps  under  Articles  VI  and  VII  of  the  Treaty 
of  Ghent. 

Numbers  36  to  39  in  this  series  of  maps  present  the  survey  of  the 
west  end  of  Lake  Superior,  the  harbor  of  Duluth  and  Superior,  and 
the  proposed  boundary  by  way  of  the  St.  Louis  and  Embarrass  rivers 
to  Vermilion  lake;  and  numbers  40  to  55  are  plats  of  the  survey  on 
the  route  accepted  as  the  international  boundary,  from  Pigeon  bay 
and  river  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

Six  topographic  sheets  are  added,  numbered  56  to  61,  which  show 
the  land  relief  or  contour  of  Isle  Royale,  the  contiguous  northwest 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  and  the  routes  surveyed  along  the  Pigeon  and 
Arrow  rivers  and  onward  to  the  east  end  of  Namekan  lake,  near  Rainy 
lake. 

The  History  of  Minnesota,  by  Rev.  Edward  D.  Neill,  fourth  edition, 
1882,  with  several  maps;  especially  Appendix  A,  "Early  Charts  of 
Lake  Superior  and  Upper  Mississippi,"  pp.  797-802,  containing  Ocha- 
gach's  map  at  page  800. 

The  Geology  of  Minnesota,  Final  Report,  in  six  volumes,  1884-1901; 
Vol.  I,  Chapter  I,  "Historical  Sketch  of  Explorations  and  Surveys  id 
Minnesota,"  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  pp.  1-110,  with  maps,  including 
the  map  of  Ochagach  on  page  19. 

The  Aborigines  of  Minnesota,  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  1911;  Chap- 
ter II,  "Aboriginal  Geography  of  Minnesota — Old  Maps,"  pp.  24-62. 

Travels  and  Adventures  in  Canada  and  the  Indian  Territories,  be- 
tween the  Years  1760  and  1776,  by  Alexander  Henry,  published  in 
1809,  pp.  236-246. 

Voyages  from  Montreal  ...  in  the  Years  1789  and  1793,  by 
Alexander  Mackenzie,  published  in  1801;  first  part,  "A  General  His- 
tory of  the  Fur  Trade  from  Canada  to  the  Northwest,"  pages  i-cxxxii, 
with  a  map. 

Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Source  of  St.  Peter's  River,  Lake 
Winnepeek,  Lake  of  the  Woods,  etc.,  performed  in  the  Year  1823, 
.  .  .  under  the  Command  of  Stephen  H.  Long,  compiled  by  Prof. 
William  H.  Keating,  in  two  volumes,  Philadelphia,  1824,  and  London, 
1825,  with  a  map. 

Report  intended  to  illustrate  a  Map  of  the  Hydrographical  Basin 
of  the  Upper  Mississippi  River,  by  J.  N.  Nicollet,  1843,  170  pages, 
with  a  large  and  most  admirable  map. 


392  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Minnesota  in  Three  Centuries,  1655-1908,  four  volumes,  published 
in  1908;  Vol.  I,  by  Warren  Upham,  pp.  267-278,  287-9,  and  295-313, 
quoting  much  from  the  works  of  Henry  and  Mackenzie,  before  cited. 

Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  Vol.  VII,  The  Mississippi 
River,  and  its  Source,  by  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower,  1893,  360  pages;  Appen- 
dix, "How  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  became 
instrumental  in  the  Establishment  of  the  Northwestern  Boundary  of 
the  United  States,"  by  Alfred  J.  Hill,  pp.  305-352. 

M.  H.  S.  Collections,  Vol.  VIII,  1898;  "The  International  Boundary 
between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,"  by  Dr.  Ulysses 
Sherman  Grant,  pp.  1-10,  with  a  map;  "Minnesota's  Northern  Bound- 
ary," by  Prof.  Alexander  N.  Winchell,  pp.  185-212;  "Route  of  the 
Fur  Trade  along  the  Northern  Boundary  of  Minnesota,"  by  Captain 
Russell  Blakeley,  pp.  362-372,  containing  extracts  from  Henry  and 
Mackenzie. 

The  Public  Statutes  at  Large  of  the  United  States  of  America,  Vol. 
VIII,  1848,  "Treaties  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  For- 
eign Nations,  from  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  United 
States  to  1845,  with  Notes,"  edited  by  Richard  Peters,  617  pages. 

Public  Treaties  of  the  United  States,  in  force  on  the  first  day  of 
December,  1873,  edited  and  published  under  the  direction  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  1875,  902  pages. 


I 


^c^U^^<*^  ^^t^^,^^ 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  X. 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857.* 


BY  WILLIAM  WATTS  FOLWELL. 


When  Major  General  James  AVilkinson,  commanding  at  St. 
Louis,  issued  his  order  of  July  30,  1805,  to  First  Lieutenant 
Zebulon  Montgomery  Pike,  to  proceed  up  the  Mississippi  river 
with  all  possible  diligence,  he  added  the  postscript,  "You  will 
be  pleased  to  obtain  permission  from  the  Indians  who  claim 
the  ground,  for  the  erection  of  military  posts  and  trading 
houses  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Pierre,  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
and  every  other  critical  place  which  may  fall  under  your  ob- 
servation. ' ' 

It  was  not  till  the  21st  of  September  that  Pike  and  his  de- 
tachment made  camp  on  "the  northeast  point  of  the  big  island 
opposite  St.  Peter's,"  which  still  bears  his  name.  The  next 
day  a  war  party  of  Sioux,  some  150  strong,  returning  from  a 
futile  raid  on  the  Chippewas,  arrived  in  the  neighborhood. 
The  leader  was  Little  Crow,  grandfather  of  the  chief  of  the 
same  name  who  headed  the  outbreak  of  1862.  After  a  coun- 
cil, held  on  the  23d,  a  formal  treaty  drawn  by  Pike  was  signed 
by  him  and  two  Sioux  chiefs. 

This  document  purported  to  grant  to  the  United  States 
two  tracts  of  Indian  lands,  one  being  "nine  miles  square  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,"  the  other  being  "from  below  the 
confluence  of  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Peter's  up  the  Mississippi 
to  include  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  extending  nine  miles  on 
each  side  of  the  river. ' '  It  stipulated  that  ' '  in  consideration  of 
the  above  grants,  the  United  States  shall  pay  [filled  up  by  the 
senate  with  2,000  dollars]."  Pike  had  previously  crossed  the 
hands  of  the  two  chiefs,  who  made  their  marks,  with  $50  apiece. 
He  now  distributed  presents  prized  by  Indians,  to  the  value 
of  $200,  and  concluded  the  solemnities  with  a  gift  of  sixty 
gallons  of  liquor.  The  area  of  the  tract  thus  indefinitely  de- 
scribed was  over  100,000  acres. 

*Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  Sept.  9,  1912. 


394  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

It  was  doubtless  at  the  instance  of  the  American  Fur  Com- 
pany that  after  1816  the  government  was  moved  to  extend  its 
authority  to  the  territory  about  the  upper  Mississippi.  Early 
in  1819,  John  C.  Calhoun,  who  was  Secretary  of  War  under 
Monroe,  ordered  a  detachment  of  troops  to  occupy  the  tract 
bargained  for  by  Pike.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Henry  Leavenworth 
arrived  there  with  a  small  command  on  the  23rd  of  August. 
Traces  of  the  cantonment  erected  can  still  be  found  near  the 
southern  end  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  railroad 
bridge.  The  government  had  never  paid  any  part  of  the  un- 
named consideration  of  Pike's  treaty,  and  it  was  thought 
proper  that  payment  should  precede  occupation.  Accordingly 
Major  Thomas  Forsyth  was  sent  up  from  St.  Louis  with  $2,000 
worth  of  presents  to  be  distributed  among  the  Sioux  chiefs 
supposed  to  have  an  interest  and  a  right  to  convey.  Major 
Forsyth  joined  Colonel  Leavenworth  at  Prairie  du  Chien  and 
accompanied  him  up  river.  On  his  arrival  he  held  interviews 
with  Wabashaw,  Little  Crow,  and  other  lower  chiefs.  To  all 
he  made  handsome  presents  of  blankets,  tobacco,  powder,  etc. 
By  means  of  these,  and  by  judicious  use  of  the  ''milk"  he 
had  brought  along,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  parole  quitclaims 
which  were  regarded  as  sufficient  to  clear  the  title  to  the  grant. 
See  Forsyth's  journal  and  narrative,  published  in  the  third 
volume  of  this  Society's  Historical  Collections,  pages  139-167. 

No  action  seems  to  have  been  taken  toward  a  survey  and 
delimitation  of  the  military  reservation  of  Fort  Snelling  till 
about  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  1837.  By  that  time  squatters, 
— ex-soldiers,  engages  of  the  Fur  Company,  and  principally 
refugees  from  the  Selkirk  settlements, — had  multiplied.  A 
count  made  that  year  gives  the  number  as  150,  with  200  horses 
and  cattle.  These  squatters  were  cutting  the  timber  and  wood, 
using  up  the  pasturage  and  meadows  needed  for  the  garrison, 
and,  what  was  the  greatest  nuisance,  some  of  their  number 
would  at  times  furnish  illicit  liquor  to  thirsty  soldiers.  Upon 
representation  of  commandants,  the  government  decided  to 
have  them  all  cleared  off  the  reservation.  This  could  not  be 
done  till  boundaries  were  established. 

In  the  fall  of  1837  a  survey  was  made  under  orders  of 
Major  Plympton  by  Lieutenant  E.  K.  Smith.    Two  years  later 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857. 


395 


this  survey  was  revised  by  Lieutenant  Thompson.  The  area 
reserved  for  military  purposes  did  not,  of  course,  embrace  the 
whole  of  the  Pike  concession.  The  main  body  lay  in  the  angle 
of  the  two  rivers  with  its  most  northerly  point  near  the  mouth 
of  Bassett's  creek  in  Minneapolis.  The  line  did  not  cross  the 
Mississippi  there,  but  followed  that  stream  down  to  near  Des- 
noyer's,  where  it  struck  eastward  and  southeastward  to  the 
''Seven  Corners"  in  St.  Paul,  thus  enclosing  some  4,500  acres 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  There  was  a  still  smaller  portion  south 
of  the  Minnesota  river.  In  all  there  were  about  38,000  acres. 
The  reason  for  that  jog  in  the  east  line  is  not  hard  to  guess. 
This  tract  of  land  at  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Mississippi, 
tri-sected  by  two  rivers,  known  to  be  in  part,  at  least,  exceed- 
ingly fertile,  was  eagerly  coveted  by  early  settlers. 

When  the  territory  was  created  in  1849,  it  was  taken  for 
granted  in  Minnesota,  that,  so  soon  as  the  expected  treaties 
with  the  Sioux  could  be  concluded  and  the  Indians  removed 
westward.  Fort  Snelling  would  lose  its  importance  as  a  mili- 
tary post  and  would  be  abandoned.  When  Mr.  Sibley  went  to 
Washington  as  a  delegate  to  the  31st  Congress,  he  was  ex- 
pected to  secure  two  things :  one,  the  Sioux  treaties ;  the  other, 
the  opening  of  the  Reserve  to  settlement.  Early  in  the  winter 
of  1850,  inquiries  from  constituents  about  ''reduction,"  and 
with  them  suggestions  that  "old  friends"  be  favored  with 
prompt  information  of  action  to  be  taken,  were  frequent. 
Meanwhile  those  old  friends  were  not  waiting  for  Congress  to 
act,  but  were  selecting  their  favorite  locations  on  the  Reserve. 
The  whole  tract  was  marked  off  for  claims.  "Every  inch," 
writes  one,  "is  taken  on  both  sides  of  the  river."  Some  citi- 
zens "went  over  and  marked  their  names  on  trees,  and  stuck 
up  pieces  of  board  in  the  sand."  Neither  of  the  desired  ob- 
jects was  accomplished  in  1850.  Both,  it  was  believed  in  Min- 
nesota, would  be  reached  in  the  next  session. 

In  the  session  of  1851,  Mr.  Sibley  received  numerous  re- 
minders of  what  was  expected  of  him  as  to  the  Reserve.  Gov- 
ernor Ramsey  and  others  sent  a  petition  asking  that  100,000 
acres  of  public  lands,  including  the  Fort  Snelling  reservation, 
be  set  apart  by  Congress  for  the  endowment  of  a  university. 
The  Territorial  Legislature  on  February  19  memorialized  Con- 


396  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

gress  to  the  same  effect.  Judge  B.  B.  Meeker,  of  the  Terri- 
torial Supreme  Court,  urged  Mr.  Sibley,  in  a  letter  of  Decem- 
ber 11,  1850,  ''to  be  on  the  lookout"  for  a  certain  military  man 
who  was  endeavoring  to  have  the  pre-emption  laws  extended 
over  the  reservation.  He  would  have  the  tract  sold  to  the  high- 
est bidder,  and  the  money  appropriated  to  endow  a  university. 
''Could  you,"  writes  he,  "carry  a  bill  through  for  that  pur- 
pose, you  would  do  more  for  the  present  and  future  genera- 
tions, more  for  the  Territory,  and  more  for  yourself  politically, 
than  all  you  have  yet  done  or  can  do." 

Sibley  was  not  indifferent  to  these  suggestions,  with  which 
he  doubtless  sympathized.  Early  in  the  session  of  1851,  he 
prepared  a  bill  providing  for  the  reduction  of  the  reservation 
to  an  area  of  one  mile  square,  lying  in  the  forks  of  the  two 
rivers,  and  for  opening  the  excluded  portion  to  settlement  with 
recognition  of  pre-emption  rights.  The  bill  was  introduced 
into  the  Senate  by  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  passed  by  a  unani- 
mous vote.  When  it  came  up  in  regular  course  in  the  House, 
upon  a  favorable  report  of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  objec- 
tions were  raised.  Fort  Snelling,  it  was  urged,  was  one  of  the 
most  important  military  stations  on  the  continent.  The  bill 
ought  not  to  pass  till  after  the  military  authorities  should  be 
consulted  and  their  favorable  judgment  had.  Mr.  Sibley  was 
himself  constrained  to  move  a  reference  to  the  committee  on 
military  affairs.  On  the  last  day  of  the  session,  that  commit- 
tee made  an  adverse  report,  which  was  agreed  to  by  the  House. 
His  enterprising  got  no  sanction  for  the  premature  location  of 
claims. 

In  the  following  summer.  Colonel  Francis  Lee  was  called 
upon  for  his  opinion  in  regard  to  reducing  the  reservation.  In 
his  report  he  protested  that  one  square  mile  was  not  to  be  con- 
sidered. It  was  his  judgment,  however,  that  the  portions  east 
of  the  Mississippi  and  south  of  the  Minnesota  might  be  re- 
leased, and  that  the  north  and  west  boundaries  might  be  drawn 
in.  Congress  by  an  act  passed  August  26,  1852,  adopted  this 
officer's  recommendation,  and  ordered  the  excluded  lands  to 
be  surveyed  and  sold  at  public  auction.  Two  years  ran  by 
while  the  surveys  were  going  on.  The  boundaries  of  the  re- 
duced reservation,  thus  determined,  were  as  follows: 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857.  397 

Beginning  at  the  middle  of  the  channel  of  the  Mississippi  river 
below  Pike's  island;  thence  ascending  along  the  channel  of  said  river 
in  such  a  direction  as  to  include  all  the  islands  of  the  river  to  the 
mouth  of  Brown's  [now  Minnehaha]  creek;  thence  up  said  creek  to 
Rice  lake;  thence  through  the  middle  of  Rice  lake  to  the  outlet  of 
Lake  Amelia:  thence  through  said  outlet  and  the  middle  of  Lake 
Amelia,  to  the  outlet  of  Mother  lake;  thence  through  said  outlet  and 
the  middle  of  Mother  lake,  to  the  outlet  of  Duck  lake;  thence  through 
said  outlet  and  the  middle  of  Duck  lake,  to  the  southern  extremity  of 
Duck  lake;  thence  in  a  line  due  south  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  of 
the  St.  Peter's  river;  thence  down  said  river  so  as  to  include  all  the 
islands  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  of  the  Mississippi  river;  reserv- 
ing further,  for  military  purposes,  a  quarter  section  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  St.  Peter's  river  at  the  present  ferry,  and  also  a  quarter  section 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi  river  at  the  present  ferry  across 
that  stream. 

The  routine  proceedings  of  the  general  land  office  having 
been  completed,  the  reserve  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  were 
offered  for  sale  on  the  11th  of  September,  1854,  at  the  Still- 
water land  office.  According  to  tradition  and  expectation  and 
the  ''ethics  of  the  border,"  the  squatters  had  organized  a  claim 
association  and  appointed  Mr.  William  R.  Marshall  to  do  the 
bidding  in  a  manner  to  save  time  and  prevent  confusion.  A 
sufficient  number  of  the  members  were  present  to  obviate  the 
approach  and  interference  of  undesired  competitors.  As  each 
parcel  of  land  was  offered,  a  bid  of  one  dollar  and  a  quarter 
an  acre  was  made,  and  that  was  invariably  the  highest  bid.  In 
total,  4,523.47  acres  were  sold  for  $5,654.28. 

The  claimants  on  the  excluded  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi 
had  also  formed  their  ''Equal  Rights  and  Impartial  Claim  Pro- 
tective Association,"  and  had  used  it  effectively  to  discourage 
claim  jumping  by  tardy  landseekers ;  but  they  were  not  obliged 
to  resort  to  the  same  method  of  acquiring  titles  as  that  just 
described.  Through  the  interposition  of  Hon.  Henry  M.  Rice, 
the  Minnesota  delegate,  an  act  of  Congress  was  secured  early 
in  the  winter  of  1855,  extending  the  right  of  pre-emption  to 
occupants  of  this  part  of  the  reserve.  Under  this  act,  19,733.87 
acres  were  bought  from  the  government  for  $24,668.37,  less 
the  costs  of  survey  and  sale.  On  the  lands  thus  disposed  of 
the  city  of  Minneapolis  has  been  mainly  built. 

A  few  warrant  locations  and  private  entries  brought  the 


398  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

entire  area  of  the  reductions  to  25,184.58  acres,  and  the  total 
receipts  therefor  to  $31,643.97. 

There  remained,  after  these  reductions,  the  tract  in  the 
fork  of  the  rivers  and  including  Fort  Snelling,  variously  esti- 
mated to  contain  seven  to  eleven  thousand  acres.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  no  long  time  could  elapse  before  this  tract  would 
be  offered  to  settlers.  The  time  and  the  manner  were  subjects 
of  interested  curiosity. 

Among  those  interested  there  was  no  one  who  had  better 
reason  than  Mr.  Franklin  Steele,  sutler  at  the  Fort  for  many 
years,  who  had  been  in  the  Territory  since  1837.  He  had  been 
a  large  and  skillful  operator  in  lands,  lumbering,  and  merchan- 
dising, and  had  already,  as  was  believed,  accumulated  a  great 
fortune.  By  permission  of  the  military  authority,  he  had 
erected  a  fine  dwelling,  a  storehouse,  and  other  buildings  near 
the  fort.  "While  these  improvements  gave  Mr.  Steele  technic- 
ally no  pre-emption  right,  the  sentiment  of  the  frontier  would 
have  held  infamous  any  competition  for  the  purchase  of  the 
quarter  section  surrounding  them.  On  what  ground  may  have 
rested  the  presumption  that  this  residue  might  be  disposed  of 
at  private  sale,  is  not  known ;  but  Mr.  Steele  on  April  24,  1856, 
through  Delegate  Rice,  made  a  proposal  to  buy  the  whole  tract, 
estimating  its  area  at  5,000  acres,  for  $75,000,  cash  down.  The 
Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  secretary  of  war,  on  May  6  replied  to 
Mr.  Rice,  that  the  reservation  was  still  needed  for  military  pur- 
poses, so  that  Mr.  Steele's  offer  could  not  be  entertained.  The 
quartermaster  general,  Thomas  S.  Jesup,  had  advised  the  sec- 
retary that  the  offer,  though  far  below  the  value  of  the  lands, 
was  more  than  they  would  bring  at  a  public  sale,  on  account 
of  the  banding  together  of  speculators.  If  sold,  he  added,  150 
acres  should  be  retained. 

The  authority  for  a  private  sale  was  believed  to  issue  from 
the  act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1819,  empowering  the  secre- 
tary of  war  to  sell  all  such  military  sites  as  ''may  have  been 
found  or  may  become  useless  for  military  purposes."  A  ques- 
tion was  raised  as  to  the  applicability  of  this  remote  statute. 
The  attorney  general  ruled  that  its  efficacy  had  been  long  ex- 
hausted. It  was  thereupon  seen  to  be  desirable  that  there 
should  be  new  legislation  to  cover  the  sale  of  reservations  later 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNBLLING,  1857.  399 

to  be  found  unnecessary.  Rice  undertook  the  task,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  having  inserted  in  the  army  appropriation  bill  of 
March  3,  1857,  a  brief  paragraph  extending  the  provision  of 
1819  to  ''all  military  sites  which  are  or  may  become  useless  for 
military  purposes."  Very  few  persons,  in  Congress  or  out, 
could  have  known  the  immediate  purpose  of  this  unnoticed 
amendment.  It  was  not  long  before  those  who  did  know,  or 
who  presently  learned,  began  a  series  of  exceedingly  interest- 
ing movements. 

Hon.  John  B.  Floyd,  former  governor  of  Virginia,  had  been 
appointed  secretary  of  war  by  President  Buchanan,  soon  after 
his  inauguration  on  March  3.  On  the  7th  of  April,  Delegate 
Rice  addressed  to  the  new  secretary  a  letter,  in  which  he  rec- 
ommended the  sale  of  the  Fort  Snelling  reservation,  except, 
say,  40  acres  for  a  depot  of  supplies.  He  advised  a  survey  into 
lots  not  exceeding  160  acres,  sale  at  public  auction  at  or  above 
a  minimum  price,  and  that  the  equities  of  occupants  be  re- 
spected. Two  days  previously  Mr.  Rice  had  written  to  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  from  Washington:  ''I  now  think  I  shall  get 
an  order  issued  for  sale  of  the  Snelling  and  Ripley  reserva- 
tions, but  this  for  your  ear  alone." 

Early  in  April,  Dr.  Archibald  Graham  of  Lexington,  Vir- 
ginia, visiting  in  Washington,  called  on  the  secretary  of  war 
to  pay  his  respects  to  him  as  a  Virginian.  In  the  conversation, 
Dr.  Graham  remarked  that  he  was  going  to  Minnesota  to  make 
some  investments,  and  inquired  whether  the  secretary  might 
not  have  some  public  business  that  way  which  would  pay  his 
expenses.  That  official  replied  that  he  had  nothing  unless  it 
was  an  agency  for  selling  some  old  forts,  mentioning  Fort 
Snelling.  The  dutiful  citizen  had  been  in  Minnesota  three 
years  before  and  had  learned  something  of  the  value  of  the 
Snelling  lands  and  adjacent  property.  He  would  consider  the 
matter.  The  secretary's  offer  was,  however,  declined  after  a 
few  days  taken  for  respectful  deliberation.  If  the  purpose  of 
the  call  was  to  ascertain  the  secretary's  intentions,  that  pur- 
pose was  fulfilled. 

John  C.  Mather,  a  member  of  the  senate  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  had  seen  a  copy  of  the  army  appropriation  bill,  and 
had  observed  the  provision  for  the  sale  of  some  military  reser- 


400  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

vations.  By  chance  the  two  gentlemen  just  named  met  in 
Brown's  Hotel,  and  fell  into  conversation  about  investments  in 
western  lands.  It  would  seem  that  the  Virginian  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  New  York  statesman,  and  a  tentative  agree- 
ment was  there  made  towards  an  operation  in  the  Snelling 
reserve. 

Mr.  Mather  of  New  York  had  a  neighbor,  another  state 
senator,  Mr.  Richard  Schell,  ' '  a  regular  speculator, ' '  in  his  own 
phrase,  who  had  learned  from  the  newspapers  that  some  forts 
would  be  sold.  Upon  the  matter  being  opened  to  him,  he  was 
disposed  to  invest  some  of  his  wife's  money,  if  Mather,  whom 
he  trusted  absolutely,  should  assure  him  that  all  was  right. 
As  the  result  of  a  conference  between  Graham,  Mather,  and 
Schell,  in  New  York  or  Washington,  ''The  New  York  Com- 
pany" was  formed  in  April.  Toward  the  end  of  April,  Dr. 
Graham  traveled  to  Minnesota  where  he  saw  Mr.  Franklin 
Steele.  On  his  return  his  report  was  so  satisfactory  that  ''the 
combination"  decided  to  proceed. 

The  Secretary  of  "War  evidently  considered  it  his  duty  to 
sell  the  Snelling  reservation  under  the  late  legislation.  In 
April  he  gave  Major  Seth  Eastman,  U.  S.  A.,  verbal  instruc- 
tions to  proceed  to  that  post  and  make  a  survey  of  the  place. 
He  was  instructed  to  ascertain  the  area,  and  to  subdivide  it 
into  forty-acre  lots.  He  was  informed  by  the  secretary  that 
when  the  survey  was  completed  he  would  send  an  agent  to  sell. 
This  information  the  major  considered  as  confidential  and  kept 
to  himself. 

Mr.  William  King  Heiskell,  a  fellow  townsman  of  the  secre- 
tary, now  comes  into  the  play.  This  gentleman  was  a  farmer, 
had  served  in  the  Virginia  legislature,  had  been  a  third  cor- 
poral in  the  militia  and  a  deputy  sheriff.  As  a  hard  student  of 
neyrspapers  he  professed  himself  generally  well  informed.  Un- 
able to  bestow  on  this  crony  a  four  or  five  thousand  dollar  place 
as  desired,  the  secretary  called  Mr.  Heiskell  to  Washington, 
and  offered  to  him  the  business  of  selling  the  Fort  Snelling 
reservation.  Although  the  pay  allowed  by  law  was  but  eight 
dollars  a  day  and  expenses,  instead  of  a  five  per  cent  commis- 
sion, the  agency  was  accepted.  On  May  25,  Mr.  Heiskell  was 
duly  commissioned,  and  was  entrusted  with  the   delivery  to 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857.  401 

Major  Eastman  of  a  commission  to  act  as  his  colleague.  On 
the  same  day  he  was  furnished  with  the  instructions  of  the 
department.  The  commissioners  were  first  to  ascertain  wheth- 
er any  bona  fide  settlers  had  established  just  claims  to  any  por- 
tions of  the  reserve ;  next,  to  sell  all  the  lands  embraced,  except 
portions  justly  claimed  by  settlers,  if  any,  either  at  public 
auction  or  at  private  sale,  in  forty-acre  lots,  or  in  whole,  ac- 
cording to  their  best  judgment,  but  in  neither  case  to  sell  for 
less  than  $7.50  per  acre.  Further,  and  as  if  an  afterthought, 
the  commissioners  were  to  examine  the  fort  with  reference  to 
military  uses,  and,  if  their  judgment  so  dictated,  to  reserve 
from  sale  the  existing  buildings  and  surrounding  lands  not  less 
than  forty  acres. 

On  delivering  his  commission  to  Mr.  Heiskell,  the  secretary 
said  to  him:  ''Old  fellow,  I  want  you  to  do  the  best  you  can 
for  the  government.  I  want  that  sale  to  be  the  best  ever  made 
in  the  United  States.  Keep  your  eyes  skinned;  you  are  going 
among  a  parcel  of  sharpers  and  speculators." 

While  awaiting  his  commission  and  instructions  in  Wash- 
ington, Mr.  Heiskell  fell  in  with  Dr.  Graham  of  Virginia,  ''it 
Height  have  been  upon  the  streets,  in  the  capitol  grounds,  or 
anywhere  else."  The  latter  (Graham)  testified  that  he  had 
never  seen  the  commissioner  before.  Mr.  Heiskell,  in  his  tes- 
timony, claimed  an  acquaintance  with  the  medical  man  of  five 
or  six  years  standing.  Whether  by  accident  or  arrangement, 
these  two  gentlemen  were  soon  traveling  together  to  Saint 
Paul,  where  they  arrived  on  the  31st  of  May. 

On  the  journey  the  commissioner  revealed  the  general,  but 
not  the  particular,  object  of  his  business,  for  that  he  "com- 
municated to  nobody."  It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that 
Mr.  John  C.  Mather  arrived  on  the  same  Sunday  morning  and 
accompanied  Mr.  Heiskell  to  church.  This  gentleman  was  not 
traveling  at  his  own  expense.  On  May  26  the  Secretary  of 
War  had  commissioned  him  an  agent  to  examine  the  Fort  Rip- 
ley reservation  near  the  mouth  of  the  Crow  Wing  river,  with 
a  view  to  its  sale.  There  is  a  mystery  about  this  appointment. 
The  appointee,  when  questioned,  less  than  a  year  after,  could  not 
tell  how  he  happened  to  be  appointed,  nor  how  he  learned  of 
his  appointment,  nor  whether  he  had  any  interview  with  the 

26 


402  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

secretary  on  the  subject.  He  had  not  asked  for  the  appoint- 
ment. 

Commissioner  Heiskell  arrived  in  Saint  Paul  on  Sunday; 
Monday  was  election  day ;  Tuesday  he  did  not  find  Major  East- 
man; Wednesday  is  not  accounted  for;  Thursday  he  went  to 
Stillwater;  and  on  Friday,  the  5th  of  June,  he  found  Major 
Eastman  at  the  Fort, 

On  Saturday  the  two  ''got  to  talking."  It  did  not  take 
them  long  to  agree  that  the  whole  reservation  ought  to  be  sold, 
and  at  private  sale;  that  $90,000  would  be  a  fair  price;  and 
that  the  refusal  ought  to  be  offered  to  Mr.  Franklin  Steele. 
Before  noon  they  made  inquiry  of  Mr.  Steele  in  writing,  as  to 
what  sum  he  would  be  willing  to  pay  for  the  whole  tract,  and 
received  the  reply  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  pay  the  sum 
offered  by  him  the  year  before,  $75,000. 

This  offer  the  commissioners  promptly  declined,  and  in- 
quired if  he  would  not  raise  his  bid  to  $90,000.  To  this  prop- 
osition he  assented.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  a  con- 
tract was  drawn  up  and  signed.  The  document  was  drafted 
by  Mr.  John  C  Mather,  who  had  returned  from  a  rapid  jour- 
ney to  Fort  Ripley.  The  draft  was  not  materially  modified  by 
the  commissioners  and  the  purchaser.  It  should,  however,  be 
related  that  Mr.  Heiskell  testified  that  two  or  three  days  were 
spent  by  himself  in  writing  out  the  agreement,  and  that  he  had 
exhausted  nearly  a  quire  of  paper  before  getting  a  draft  to 
suit. 

The  contract,  which  is  of  course  of  record,  was  terse  and 
simple.  The  commissioners,  acting  on  behalf  of  the  United 
States,  sell  the  tract  of  land  described  to  Franklin  Steele,  who 
binds  himself  and  assigns  to  pay  the  sum  of  $90,000,  one-third 
on  July  10  proximo,  and  the  residue  in  two  annual  payments 
thereafter.  A  deed  will  be  delivered  so  soon  as  the  grantee 
shall  have  made  his  first  payment,  and  possession  will  be  given 
so  soon  as  the  government  can  dispense  with  the  property. 
Major  Eastman  not  having  completed  his  survey,  the  area  was 
stated  to  be  ''about  seven  thousand  acres." 

The  commissioners  could  not  have  examined  the  law  gov- 
erning sales  of  government  property,  or  they  would  have  dis- 
covered that  they  had  no  right  to  sell  on  credit;  and  it  never 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857. 


403 


occurred  to  them  to  exact  interest  on  the  deferred  payments, 
nor  a  mortgage  to  secure  them.  The  rate  on  current  loans  at 
the  time  was  two  and  a  half  per  cent  a  month  or  more.  It  was 
understood  that  Mr.  Steele  would  waive  all  claims  to  pre-emp- 
tions on  his  own  account,  and  that  he  would  satisfy  other 
claimants. 

On  the  second  of  July,  Commissioner  Heiskell  submitted  his 
report  to  Secretary  Floyd,  who  secured  the  approval  of  the 
President  the  same  day.  On  that  day  Hon.  Robert  Smith,  the 
pioneer  concessionary  at  the  Falls,  called  in  person  at  the  War 
Department  to  ascertain  why  no  reply  had  been  made  to  his 
letter  of  inquiry  about  a  rumored  sale  of  the  Snelling  reserva- 
tion. If  it  was  to  be  sold,  he  desired  to  know  when  and  in 
what  manner.  Being  informed  that  the  sale  had  already  taken 
place,  he  assured  the  person  who  so  informed  him  that  he  must 
certainly  be  in  error.  He  and  other  inquirers  had  to  be  con- 
tent with  the  courteous  regrets  of  the  secretary,  that  letters 
he  had  ordered  written  had  not  been  received. 

Mr.  Smith  had  been  in  Minnesota  in  the  first  half  of  June, 
and  had  inquired  of  everybody,  including  the  surveyor  gen- 
eral, but  could  not  learn  that  any  action  had  been  taken  with 
reference  to  the  sale.  Not  the  slightest  reference  to  the  trans- 
action can  be  found  in  the  Saint  Paul  newspapers,  absorbed  as 
they  were  in  the  roaring  farce  of  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion,— with  possibly  a  single  exception.  No  military  officer  at 
Fort  Snelling  had  been  taken  into  the  secret,  except  Major 
Eastman,  who  had  his  reasons  for  silence. 

Colonel  Lorenzo  Thomas,  senior  staff  officer  on  the  staff  of 
Lieutenant  General  Winfield  Scott,  commanding  the  army,  ar- 
rived in  Saint  Paul  on  the  first  day  of  August  to  learn  that  the 
reservation  might  have  been  sold,  and,  if  not,  that  it  would 
probably  soon  be  sold.  Major  Eastman  so  informed  him.  In 
a  report  to  his  chief.  Colonel  Thomas  ventured  to  say,  ''I  do 
not  know  under  what  circumstances  the  post  of  Fort  Snelling 
was  sold,  but  am  perfectly  certain  that  no  military  man  on 
the  spot,  at  all  acquainted  with  the  state  of  affairs,  would  have 
recommended  the  measure."  This  report  was  submitted  to  the 
secretary  of  war  on  August  28,  On  the  day  following  that 
minister  put  on  it  an  endorsement,  not  calculated  to  cheer  the 


404  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

heart  of  the  staff  officer  or  his  general.  "The  dissertation 
about  Fort  Snelling,"  said  the  secretary,  "its  sale,  and  the 
importance  of  it  for  a  military  depot,  is  a  gratuitous  inter- 
meddling in  a  matter  already  disposed  of  by  competent  au- 
thority. When  this  department  is  required  to  report  to  sub- 
ordinates under  what  circumstances  the  post  of  Fort  Snelling 
was  sold,  or  any  other  act  was  done,  the  duty  shall  be  per- 
formed; but  until  then  a  'military  man'  will  probably  under- 
stand that  a  superior  in  authority  is  not  to  be  called  on  for  an 
explanation  of  any  order." 

The  sale  was  confirmed  on  July  2,  and  the  first  payment  of 
$30,000  was  made,  after  some  delay,  on  July  25.  That  sum  was 
made  up  of  $10,000  contributed  by  Mr.  Steele,  $13,000  by  Mr. 
Schell,  and  the  remaining  $7,000  by  Mr.  Mather.  Dr.  Graham 
paid  in  no  money,  but  obligated  himself  to  compensate  the 
company  for  an  undivided  third  of  the  purchased  property  by 
services  as  manager  at  a  salary  of  $5,000  a  year.  On  July  19 
the  assistant  quartermaster  at  the  Fort  turned  over  the  prop- 
erty to  Mr.  Steele  and  took  his  receipt. 

The  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  through  the  adjutant 
general's  office,  dated  July  31,  excepted  the  post  proper  and 
the  buildings  required  for  the  use  of  troops,  and  directed  the 
maintenance  of  the  military  post  till  further  orders.  The  flag 
was  hauled  down  and  the  garrison  marched  out  June  1,  1858. 

In  the  autumn  of  1857,  Secretary  Floyd  bethought  him  of 
a  proceeding  which  he  might  properly  have  instituted  before 
the  sale.  He  appointed  a  board  of  military  officers,  of  which 
General  Harney  was  president,  to  meet  at  Fort  Snelling,  ex- 
amine the  post  and  all  its  circumstances,  and  give  their  opinion 
of  its  abandonment.  The  report  submitted  was  in  such  terms 
as  to  assure  the  secretary  that  he  had  not  erred  in  confirming 
the  sale.  Of  this  report  it  was  said,  by  political  antagonists, 
that  it  conformed  to  expectations. 

The  mystery  and  silence  that  brooded  over  the  sale  of  the 
Snelling  Reserve  were  not  to  be  prolonged  indefinitely.  On 
January  4,  1858,  the  Hon.  Robert  Smith  moved  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  for  a  select  committee  to  investigate  the 
transaction.  The  committee  was  appointed,  proceeded  to  their 
duty,  and  on  April  27  submitted  their  report.    When  printed. 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857. 


405 


together  with  the  findings  of  the  minority,  the  testimony  of 
witnesses,  and  documents,  it  forms  an  octavo  volume  of  456 
pages.  It  is  H.  R.  Report  No.  351,  Thirty-fifth  Congress,  first 
session.  The  expenses  for  witnesses,  fifty  in  number,  were 
$14,830.25 ;  and  the  whole  cost  of  the  investigation  was  placed 
above-  $20,000. 

The  testimony  was  conflicting,  even  bewildering.  One 
group  of  army  officers  testified  that  Fort  Snelling  was  neces- 
sary for  military  purposes,  and  should  have  been  retained  in- 
definitely ;  another,  that  it  was  either  wholly  useless,  or  of  so 
little  use  that  a  small  remnant  would  be  sufficient.  As  to  the 
value  of  the  property,  opinions  were  equally  diverse.  Robert 
Smith  produced  a  copy  of  his  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  August 
12,  1857,  in  which  he  had  declared  that  if  the  land  had  been 
properly  sold  it  would  have  brought  four  times  the  price  esti- 
mated. Hon.  Henry  M.  Rice,  whose  experience  in  handling 
real  estate  in  the  Territory  had  been  extensive,  would  not  have 
given  fifty  cents  an  acre  for  townsite  purposes,  if  compelled  to 
grade  the  streets ;  but  for  agricultural  purposes  the  land  was 
in  his  judgment  worth  three  or  four  dollars  an  acre.  Charles 
H.  Oakes,  the  Saint  Paul  banker,  laughed  at  Steele  for  paying 
the  price  he  did.  Great  pains  was  taken  to  impress  on  the 
committee  the  fact  that  had  the  sale  not  been  made  in  the 
manner  it  was,  but  at  public  auction,  a  combination  of  buyers 
would  have  held  the  price  down  to  $1.25  an  acre,  quoting  the 
example  of  the  previous  sales  above  mentioned.  Of  this  dan- 
ger it  appears  that  the  two  commissioners  were  both  in  great 
dread,  but  each  seems  to  have  caught  it  from  the  other.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  shown  to  the  committee  that  when  Fort 
Dearborn,  at  Chicago,  was  sold  in  1840,  after  advertisement 
for  sealed  bids  above  a  minimum,  fifty-two  and  three-fourths 
acres  had  brought  $105,000  and  a  fraction.  One  witness  swore 
that  a  proposition  had  been  made  to  him  to  let  him  have  one 
twenty-seventh  interest  in  the  venture  for  $25,000.  Mr.  Steele 
deposed  that  he  had  actually  sold  that  same  fractional  interest 
for  $6,666. 

The  committee  recommended  the  passage  of  five  resolu- 
tions, for  substance  as  follows: 

1.  That  the  sale  of  Fort  Snelling  was  without  authority  of 
law: 


406  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

2.  That  the  action  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  disposing 
of  the  post  without  the  knowledge  or  opinion  of  any 
military  officer,  was  a  grave  fault; 

3.  That  the  agents  appointed  were  "unqualified,  inexpe- 
rienced, and  incompetent  men;" 

4.  That  the  management  of  the  sale  induced  a  combina- 
tion against  the  government; 

5.  That  John  C.  Mather,  a  government  employee,  violated 
his  duty  in  participating  in  the  transaction;  that 
Steele,  Graham,  and  Schell  were  aware  of  such  ille- 
gality; and  that  therefore  the  sale  was  and  continued 
to  be  void. 

The  recommendation  of  the  minority  was  to  substitute  for 
the  resolutions  proposed  by  the  committee  a  single  resolution, 
declaring  that  the  evidence  had  failed  to  impeach  the  fairness 
of  the  officers  and  agents  concerned,  or  to  furnish  reasons  for 
further  action  by  the  House. 

The  report  came  up  for  consideration  on  June  1.  On  that 
day  and  the  next  day  eighteen  elaborate  speeches  were  deliv- 
ered, which  occupy  125  columns  of  the  Congressional  Globe, 
First  session.  Thirty-fifth  Congress.  It  was  a  partisan  debate. 
The  Republican  orators  did  not  conceal  their  elation  over  the 
opportunity  of  smirching  the  administration.  Democratic  mem- 
bers found  in  the  evidence  sufficient  foundation  for  extensive 
and  dignified  apologies. 

A  New  York  representative  at  length  came  forward  with  a 
proposition  of  compromise  embodied  in  four  resolutions,  in 
brief : 

1.  That  the  investigation  had  disclosed  nothing  derogatory 
to  the  Secretary  of  War ; 

2.  That  the  sale,  however,  was  injudiciously  made ; 

3.  That  the  House  disapproves  of  its  terms ; 

4.  That  the  papers  be  referred  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  for 
such  action  as  he,  with  the  advice  of  the  attorney  gen- 
eral, might  deem  proper.  This  proposition  pointed 
of  course  to  an  expectation  that  should  the  matter  be  so 
referred  by  Congress,  the  secretary  would  retain  the 
reservation  and  adjust  the  equities  of  Mr.  Steele  and  his 
friends. 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  lg'57.  407 

The  whitewashing  proposition  of  the  minority  was  immedi- 
ately rejected  by  a  vote  of  yeas  116,  nays  86.  The  compromise 
resolutions  were  severally  adopted,  the  test  vote  being  yeas  133, 
nays  60.  On  the  question  to  substitute  them  for  the  resolutions 
of  the  committee,  the  vote  stood  yeas  88,  nays  108.  The  resolu- 
tions of  the  committee  then  coming  up,  the  first,  declaring  that 
the  sale  was  unlawful,  because  Fort  Snelling  was  at  the  time 
and  ever  since  necessary  for  miltary  purposes,  was  voted  down, 
yeas  81,  nays  86.  Thereupon  a  motion  to  lay  the  whole  matter 
on  the  table  prevailed,  yeas  83,  nays  76. 

The  long  sequel  must  be  summarized.  In  the  ambiguous 
situation  in  which  the  matter  was  left  by  Congress,  Mr.  Steele 
and  his  friends  were  unwilling  to  make  the  deferred  payments 
and  defaulted.  In  1860  the  Government  brought  suit,  which 
was  continued  from  term  to  term,  and  discontinued  in  1865. 
On  the  outbreak  of  the  Slaveholders'  Rebellion,  Fort  Snelling 
was  reoccupied  as  a  recruiting  and  outfitting  station,  and  has 
ever  since  been  in  military  use.  In  1868  Mr.  Steele  filed  a 
formal  claim  against  the  United  States  for  $162,000,  being  the 
amount  of  rentals  due  him,  at  the  rate  of  $2,000  a  month,  from 
April  23,  1861,  and  proposed  an  offset  against  his  dues  to  the 
government. 

On  April  23,  1868,  Lieutenant  General  Grant,  in  a  com- 
munication to  the  adjutant  general  of  the  army,  expressed  his 
judgment  that  Fort  Snelling  ''should  be  held  by  the  United 
States  forever."  The  sale,  he  added,  to  Mr.  Franklin  Steele 
was  either  in  fraud  or  in  ignorance  of  its  military  importance ; 
but,  said  he,  ''Mr.  Steele  is  not  in  my  judgment  a  party  to  the 
fraud."  The  general's  recommendation  was  to  sell  the  two 
fractions  reserved  beyond  the  rivers  for  ferry  control,  and  to 
satisfy  Mr.  Steele  with  the  proceeds. 

On  November  10,  1870,  a  board  of  officers,  appointed  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  recommended  that  the  government  transfer 
to  Mr.  Steele  the  main  body  of  the  tract,  6,394.80  acres,  in  sat- 
isfaction of  his  adjusted  account,  and  retain  the  remaining  por- 
tion, 1,521.20  acres,  as  a  permanent  military  reservation.  A 
joint  resolution  of  Congress  of  May  7,  1871,  ratified  this  set- 
tlement. 

In  a  later  year  the  government  repurchased  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  land  alienated  to  Mr.  Steele.   - 


408  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

It  was  not  an  absurd  expectation  in  1857  that  the  Snelling 
reservation  would  be  abandoned  and  later  disposed  of.  In 
1853  Fort  Ridgely  had  been  built,  and  not  long  afterward  Fort 
Abercrombie.  "With  sufficient  armaments  and  garrisons  they 
could  hold  the  Sioux  in  order,  and  Fort  Ripley  would  protect 
the  agent  and  traders  among  the  peaceable  Chippewas.  Fort 
Snelling  had  already  become  nothing  more  than  a  place  for 
receiving  and  forwarding  supplies  to  those  advanced  posts. 
No  reserve  of  twelve  square  miles  was  needed  for  this  purpose. 
Forty  acres  would  be  quite  sufficient.  The  garrison  had  been 
reduced  to  a  mere  guard  for  the  quartermaster  and  his  store- 
houses. The  probability  therefore  that  the  reserve  would  be 
soon  in  the  market  was  no  secret.  It  was  in  the  minds  of  many 
persons  operating  in  northwestern  lands.  Robert  Smith,  as 
indicated  above,  had  his  eye  on  it. 

Since  the  foregoing  account  was  written,  a  certain  letter, 
found  among  the  papers  left  by  Mr.  Franklin  Steele,  has 
turned  up,  which  seems  to  suggest  the  origin  of  the  particular 
operation  which  resulted  in  the  clandestine  sale  of  1857. 

Major  Samuel  Woods  was  stationed  at  various  northwest- 
ern posts  in  the  late  '40 's  and  early  '50 's.  He  led  the  expedi- 
tion from  Fort  Snelling  to  Pembina  in  the  summer  of  1849, 
and  was  in  command  of  Fort  Snelling  in  1848  and  '49,  and 
again  in  1850.  He  was  at  Fort  Ridgely  in  1853.  He  had  a 
taste  for  land  speculation,  and  at  one  time  had  lands  on  Grey 
Cloud  island,  and  at  Little  Falls;  and  he  also  owned  lots  in 
Minneapolis  and  in  Traverse  des  Sioux,  which  he  valued  at 
$25,000.  Writing  from  San  Francisco  on  the  9th  of  October, 
1857,  to  Steele,  Major  Woods  used  these  words,  "I  think  you 
and  Rice  ought  to  have  let  me  in  to  that  Fort  Snelling  game, 
as  we  started  the  game  together. ' ' 

Mr.  Steele  of  course  was  in  a  position  to  be  best  informed 
in  regard  to  the  policy  of  the  War  Department,  and  to  have 
the  greatest  interest  in  a  possible  sale  of  the  Reserve.  He  was 
within  his  rights  in  planning  to  become  a  purchaser,  and  even 
a  preferred  purchaser. 

Mr.  Rice 's  part  may  have  rested  on  purely  political  grounds. 
He  and  Steele  were  of  the  same  party,  and  at  the  time  were 
actively  co-operating   in   politics.     But   it   may  be   remarked 


THE  SALE  OF  FORT  SNELLING,  1857.  409 

that  Rice  gave  himself  an  amount  of  trouble  which  a  mere 
political  friend  would  hardly  have  a  right  to  exact.  It  was 
Rice  who  presented  Steele's  proposition  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment in  April,  1856,  to  pay  $15  an  acre  for  the  land,  with 
recommendation  for  its  acceptance.  It  was  Rice  who  secured 
the  adoption  of  the  amendment  to  the  army  appropriation  bill 
of  March  3,  1857,  authorizing  the  sale  of  military  sites  ''which 
might  become  useless  for  military  purposes."  On  April  7  he 
advised  the  Secretary  of  War  to  sell  the  reservation,  except 
perhaps  forty  acres  for  a  depot  of  supplies.  About  the  same 
time  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Ramsey,  ' '  for  his  own  ear  alone, ' '  that  he 
expected  to  get  an  order  issued  for  the  sale  of  the  Fort  Snell- 
ing  and  Ripley  reservations. 

It  ought  to  be  added  that  Delegate  Rice  was  an  indefatiga- 
ble worker  for  the  Territory,  and  that  he  laid  great  numbers  of 
constituents  under  obligations  for  services  in  their  behalf.  He 
was  in  that  year  an  aspirant  for  the  position  of  United  States 
senator,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  December,  1857.  Steele 
expected  the  second  senatorship,  and  attributed  his  failure  to 
obtain  it  to  Rice's  ineffective  support.  Rice  said  afterward 
that  Steele  did  not  fight  hard  enough. 

Major  Woods,  who  had  left  the  country,  naturally  dropped 
out  of  the  ''game." 

From  what  is  now  known,  a  conjectural  rationale  of  the 
operation  may  be  ventured.  The  game  originated  not  far  from 
the  junction  of  the  Minnesota  and  Mississippi  rivers.  The 
Minnesota  delegate  undertook  to  obtain  the  necessary  legisla- 
tion in  Congress,  and  to  use  his  well-known  influence  with 
Southern  statesmen  in  moving  the  War  Department  to  prompt 
action.  The  money  to  "finance  the  deal"  had  to  come  from 
the  East,  since  all  northwestern  funds  were  already  pledged 
to  cover  the  margins  of  local  speculation.  The  gentleman  from 
Virginia,  Dr.  Graham,  who  had  been  in  Minnesota,  undertook 
the  double  task  of  sounding  the  new  secretary  of  war,  and  of 
finding  parties  who  would  put  up  hard  money  for  an  operation 
promising  early  and  satisfactory  returns. 

There  is  more  reason  to  believe  that  Floyd  was  pleased  to 
accommodate  friends  in  a  little  deal  in  a  remote  region  of 
which  he  had  no  knowledge,  than  that  he  expected  to  share  in 


410  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

possible  profits.  His  action  bears  the  appearance  of  perfunc- 
toriness  under  direction  of  some  managing  agent. 

The  expectation  of  all  concerned  evidently  was  that  the 
deal  would  require  only  a  small  sum  of  ready  money,  that  sales 
of  the  surveyed  property  would  be  promptly  made,  that  the 
proceeds  of  these  sales  would  realize  enough  to  pay  off  the 
assumed  debt,  and  that  the  proprietors  would  then  be  able  to 
handle  the  remaining  parcels  of  the  land  at  their  comfortable 
convenience.     One  such  sale  was  arranged. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten,  finally,  that  this  operation,  which 
seemed  gigantic  in  its  day,  was  engineered  in  the  months  when 
the  boom  that  had  prevailed  in  the  Territory  for  some  years 
was  at  its  highwater  mark.  Fletcher  Williams,  in  his  History 
of  Saint  Paul  (Volume  IV,  this  Society's  Historical  Collections), 
says  on  page  380,  ' '  Perhaps  in  no  city  in  America  was  the  real 
estate  mania,  and  reckless  trading  and  speculation,  so  wild  and 
extravagant  as  in  St.  Paul."  The  sale  of  the  reserve  was 
barely  consummated  before  the  great  financial  panic,  which  fell 
on  the  country  at  large,  smote  Minnesota  with  a  violence  pro- 
portioned to  the  recklessness  of  speculation  which  had  pre- 
vailed here.  With  no  market  for  real  estate,  the  reserve  lots 
could  not  be  sold,  nor  even  given  away.  No  investors  could 
be  found  to  throw  good  money  after  bad,  in  meeting  the  de- 
ferred payments  to  the  government.  The  original  investors 
charged  off  their  losses,  and  a  lively  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Fort  Snelling  was  closed. 

NoTi:s. 

For  documents  relating  to  Fort  Snelling,  from  the  time  of  Pike's 
expedition  to  December,  1868,  see  House  Executive  Document  No.  9, 
Fortieth  Congress,  third  session,  entitled  "Sale  of  Fort  Snelling  Res- 
ervation," 107  pages,  with  a  map,  in  No.  1372,  Congressional  Series. 

On  June  17,  1857,  Commissioner  Heiskell  wrote  to  Secretary  Floyd: 
"The  best  and  most  respectable  persons  will  unite  to  prevent  the  sale 
over  $1.25  per  acre.  .  .  .  We  consider  this  the  best  sale  that  has 
ever  been  made,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  records."  He  refers  to  a 
combination  of  disappointed  persons  in  a  scheme  of  obtaining  the 
property  for  much  less  than  its  value. 

The  House  Committee  of  Investigation,  appointed  under  the  reso- 
lution of  Hon.  Robert  Smith,  January  4,  1858,  were  Burnett  of  Ken- 
tucky, Faulkner  of  Virginia,  Morrill  of  Vermont,  Morris  of  Illinois,  and 
Pettit  of  Indiana.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  signed  by  Morrill, 
Morris,  and  Pettit. 


A  EED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.* 


BY  DANIEL  S.  B.  JOHNSTON. 


From  the  age  of  seventeen,  in  1849,  to  my  arrival  in  St.  Paul, 
July  21,  1855,  I  was  a  school  teacher  during  winters,  and  part 
of  the  time  during  summers.  My  district  school  pay  ran  from 
twelve  to  sixteen  dollars  a  month  and  boarding  round  fare. 
Naturally,  when  I  got  to  St.  Paul  I  set  about  trying  to  better 
myself  financially,  as  I  owed  fifty  dollars  and  had  only  four 
cents  to  pay  it  with. 

A  chance  was  offered  me  in  November,  1856,  to  become  one 
of  a  company  of  five  to  make  townsites  along  the  Red  river  of 
the  North,  with  a  fifth  interest  and  all  expenses  paid,  if  I  would 
help  hold  the  towns  by  occupation,  I  thought  opportunity  had 
knocked  at  my  door  and  I  said  yes,  promptly.  My  journal  of 
this  expedition  supplies  the  following  narrative. 

the:  company  and  the:  plans  and  outfit. 

George  F.  Brott  of  St.  Cloud,  E.  Demortimer  and  J.  "W, 
Prentiss  of  St.  Paul,  and  J.  C.  Moulton  and  I  of  St.  Anthony, 
made  the  company.  Brott  and  Demortimer  were  the  financial 
backers  of  the  concern,  Moulton  its  travelling  superintendent, 
and  Prentiss  and  I  were  to  be  the  resident  townsite  managers. 
Moulton,  Prentiss  and  I,  English  Bill,  our  cook,  two  guides,  and 
four  ox  team  drivers,  were  to  go  on  the  trip,  in  total  ten  men. 
Two  sleds  were  built  for  rough  usage.  One  was  to  be  loaded 
with  corn  and  cob  ground  feed  for  our  five  yoke  of  oxen.  The 
other  sled  was  to  carry  provisions  for  ten  men  and  our  garden 
and  farm  tools.  Six  of  the  ten  men  were  to  remain  on  the  Red 
river  during  the  winter.  Our  two  guides  were  French  and 
Chippewa  half-breeds  named  Pierre  and  Charlie  Bottineau 
(pronounced  Birchineau).  The  distance  we  had  to  travel  was 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  in  a  westerly  direc- 

*Kead  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  May  13,  1913. 


412  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

tion  from  St.  Cloud,  Minnesota,  to  the  junction  of  the  Bois  des 
Sioux  and  Otter  Tail  rivers  where  they  head  the  Red  river  of 
the  North. 

Our  expedition  began  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1856,  in 
one  of  the  severest  winters  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  North- 
west had  yet  seen.  ,  We  started  at  that  time  because  we  had 
heard  that  other  parties  were  planning  to  get  out  ahead  of  us, 
and  there  was  no  "get  left"  in  any  of  our  party  that  I  had 
ever  heard  of. 

It  was  intended  at  first  to  make  a  canoe  trip  up  the  Minne- 
sota river  and  down  the  Bois  des  Sioux  in  October,  1856 ;  but 
a  freeze  up  somewhere  en  route  was  feared,  so  that  it  was  de- 
cided to  wait  until  we  could  get  ready  for  a  winter  trip  with 
ox  teams,  lumber  woods  fashion. 

My  outfit  garments  were  three  thick  woolen  shirts,  three 
pairs  of  heavy  woolen  drawers,  three  pairs  of  woolen  stock- 
ings with  a  pair  of  Indian  moccasins  drawn  over  them,  and  a 
pair  of  thick  elk  skin  overshoes  laced  high  on  my  ankles.  Then 
came  a  pair  of  Canada  gray  trousers  and  leggings  to  button 
down  on  the  overshoes  to  keep  the  snow  out  when  we  had  to 
break  roads.  A  short  coat  of  Kentucky  jeans,  and  a  lamb  skin 
cap,  wool  inside  and  made  to  come  down  over  my  neck,  with 
side  flaps  to  tie  with  strings  over  my  nose  to  keep  it  from 
freezing,  and  a  pair  of  fur  gauntlets,  completed  my  garment 
outfit.  I  was  not  pretty,  but  even  in  forty  below  zero  weather 
I  was  comfortable.  I  had  no  colds,  nor  did  I  freeze  any  part 
of  my  body  during  all  the  terrible  exposure  of  that  terrible 
winter  of  1857. 

When  we  struck  unburned  prairie,  we  had  to  break  our 
roads  through  snow  a  foot  to  eighteen  inches  deep  and  often 
drifted  from  four  to  eight  feet  deep.  These  drifts  were  some- 
times ten  to  fifteen  rods  wide,  and  all  had  to  be  shoveled 
through,  often  with  temperature  ten  to  thirty  degrees  below 
zero.  On  the  burned  prairie  the  snow  was  usually  blown  down 
to  a  three  to  four-inch  icy  crust,  which  cut  the  fetlocks  of  our 
cattle  unmercifully. 

BEGINNING   the:   TRAMP. 

Wednesday,  December  31,  1856,  Moulton  and  Prentiss 
started  from  St.  Paul  with  the  loaded  teams.     I  followed  on 


A  RED  PaVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  413 


r  Friday,  January  2,  1857,  in  a  blinding  snow  storm,  picking  up 
on  my  way  Pierre  Bottineau  and  his  brother  from  their  home 
in  St.  Anthony.  I  had  a  span  of  horses  and  driver  and  intended 
to  overtake  Moulton  and  the  teams  about  the  time  they  reached 
St.  Cloud.  Before  we  got  out  of  St.  Anthony  our  sleigh  tipped 
over  in  a  snow  drift.  We  righted  without  breaking  anything 
and  went  on  to  Elk  River,  where  we  stopped  for  the  night. 
The  next  morning  we  started  for  St.  Cloud  at  daylight.  It 
was  very  cold.  As  the  ox  teams  had  broken  the  roads  in  fair 
shape,  we  made  good  time  reaching  Boyington's  tavern,  about 
fifteen  miles  from  St.  Cloud,  in  time  for  dinner.  There  we 
overtook  Moulton.  I  got  out  and  assumed  charge  of  the  teams, 
and  Moulton  and  Prentiss  went  on  with  Bottineau  and  brother 
to  St.  Cloud.  I  got  to  Colonel  Emerson's  stopping  place  oppo- 
site lower  St.  Cloud  at  half  past  six,  pretty  tired,  as  I  had  to 
walk  most  of  the  way  over  not  the  best  of  roads.  At  Emer- 
son's we  put  up  for  the  night. 

Monday,  January  5th,  we  moved  up  the  Mississippi  and 
crossed  at  the  upper  ferry,  headed  by  the  guides,  and  started 
across  the  prairie  in  the  direction  of  St.  Joe.  The  guides  went 
ahead  on  snow  shoes.  Prentiss  and  I  followed.  Between  the 
four  of  us  we  made  a  road  that  our  teams  followed  with  more 
or  less  difficulty,  for  the  snow  was  about  eighteen  inches  deep 
and  what  track  there  had  been  was  drifted  full.  We  made 
eight  miles  to  St.  Joe  by  night. 

The  necks  of  three  of  our  cattle  had  begun  to  gall.  We 
changed  the  bows  and  wrapped  them  with  soft  cloths.  The 
next  day  we  reached  Cold  Spring,  ten  miles  farther  on.  The 
7th  we  go  to  Richardson's,  seven  miles  from  Cold  Spring.  The 
8th,  which  was  Thursday,  we  made  only  five  miles,  as  we  had 
to  cross  snow  drifts  three  to  four  feet  deep  with  not  a  sign  of 
a  road  anywhere.  Up  to  this  time  roofs  had  sheltered  us  and 
our  cattle  at  night.  There  was  only  one  spare  bed  in  any  of 
the  settlers'  houses,  and  usually  none  at  all.  Then  all  of  us 
had  to  sleep  on  the  floor  under  a  comforter  about  fifteen  feet 
long,  eight  feet  wide,  and  three  inches  thick,  quilted  with  cot- 
ton batting  and  made  specially  for  the  trip. 

Friday,  the  9th  of  January,  we  started  at  daylight,  again 
a  very  hard  day.     On  the  unburned  prairie  snow  drifts  were 


414  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

crossed,  which  the  guides  on  their  snow  shoes  beat  down  for 
the  teams  the  best  they  could.  Progress  was  slow,  but  we 
made  ten  miles  and  camped  under  our  tent  for  the  first  time, 
with  our  feet  to  a  rousing  hot  wood  fire.  We  slept  comfortably 
and  soundly. 

Saturday,  the  10th,  we  crossed  a  grassy  lake  near  which 
we  had  camped  the  night  before.  It  was  very  bad  getting  on 
and  off  the  lake.  We  teamed  only  about  seven  miles  that  day, 
and  camped  on  the  shore  of  a  beautiful  lake  that  Bottineau 
called  Lake  Henry. 

The  11th  was  Sunday,  and,  tired  out,  we  rested.  A  Dutch- 
man had  built  a  house  about  half  a  mile  away  from  our  camp. 
It  was  about  a  third  of  the  way  to  our  destination  from  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  last  house  between  us  and  the  Pacific  coast, 
so  far  as  we  knew. 

Just  after  we  had  breakfasted,  a  boy  about  twelve  years  old 
sauntered  up  opposite  our  fire  to  investigate.  I  was  sitting  on 
our  bedding  next  to  Pierre  Bottineau,  our  main  guide.  '^See 
me  scare  that  boy,"  said  he  in  a  low  voice.  Suddenly  grab- 
bing his  hunting  knife  in  his  right  hand  and  letting  out  a  wild 
Indian  yell  that  made  the  woods  ring,  he  went  over  the  top 
of  the  log  fire  after  the  boy.  Didn't  that  boy  run?  Well,  he 
did. 

Our  preparations  for  camping  consisted  in  finding  timber 
and  water.  The  lakes  and  ponds  were  only  five  to  ten  miles 
apart  and  usuallj^  wooded  on  one  side  or  two  sides,  so  this  was 
not  a  difficult  thing  to  do.  For  our  bedding  we  usually  found 
swamp  reeds  or  prairie  grass.  On  this  we  spread  our  unlined 
buffalo  skin  overcoats  and  waterproofs.  Over  us  we  had  our 
comforter  of  wool,  padded  with  cotton  batting,  about  three 
inches  thick  and  firmly  quilted.  This  covered  ten  men  and  was 
about  fifteen  feet  long,  as  I  have  stated.  We  slept  with  all  our 
clothes  on,  and  there  was  no  chance  to  change  or  wash  any  of 
them  short  of  the  end  of  our  journey.  We  slept  spoon  fashion, 
and  when  one  wanted  to  turn  the  rest  of  us  had  to  turn  also. 
Sometimes  my  hips  got  pretty  cold  on  the  frozen  ground  when 
the  under-bedding  happened  to  be  thin. 

Monday,  tbe  12th.  we  found  trouble  again  from  the  galled 
shoulders  of  our  cattle.     This  time  we  changed  the  off  ox  to 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  415 

^the  near  side  and  wrapped  the  bows  with  more  soft  cloth.  On 
this  day  we  crossed  elk  tracks.  The  guides  went  after  them, 
but  unsuccessfully. 

From  the  12th  to  the  23rd  the  days  were  much  alike  in 
travel  experiences.  There  was  heavy  pulling  for  the  cattle  and 
shoveling  across  strips  of  unburned  prairie  for  us,  and  con- 
siderable flinching  of  our  cattle  as  the  icy  crusts  cut  their 
ankles  where  fires  of  the  summer  and  fall  had  burned  the 
prairie  grass.    Brilliant  sun  dogs  predicted  stormy  weather. 

WOUNDING  TWO   BUFFALO^S^   AND   SNOWED   UNDER. 

On  Friday,  the  23rd,  we  crossed  the  last  of  a  chain  of  lakes 
near  their  head.  They  were  about  three  miles  long.  As  our 
teams  were  crossing  we  saw  two  buffaloes  feeding  on  the 
swamp  grass,  about  two  miles  away.  We  stopped  the  teams 
and  sent  them  off  under  Prentiss  to  a  patch  of  woods  bordering 
the  lake,  to  find  a  camping  place.  The  guides,  followed  by 
Moulton,  English  Bill  (our  cook),  and  myself,  started  to  circle 
around  the  meadow  where  the  buffaloes  had  been  feeding. 
About  two  miles  farther  away  we  found  where  the  animals, 
evidently  frightened,  had  gone  out  to  the  prairie  on  the  jump. 
The  guides  took  the  pony  and  started  on  the  trail,  and  the 
rest  of  us  returned  to  camp,  and  none  too  soon. 

A  lively  blizzard  was  sweeping  down.  All  hands  cut  and 
dragged  the  dryest  wood  we  could  find  while  the  snow  drove  in 
great  blanket  sheets  fiercely  upon  us.  Gradually  it  put  out  our 
fire,  and  wet  and  exhausted,  our  tent  blown  down,  we  were 
doubtful  what  to  do.  At  this  juncture  the  guides  returned. 
*' Spread  out  the  bed  and  get  into  it  as  quick  as  you  can," 
shouted  Pierre,  and  we  obeyed.  It  seemed  to  me  there  was  an 
inch  of  drifted  snow  on  the  buffalo  skins  when  we  got  in  and 
covered  up  head  and  ears.  How  the  wind  howled  through  the 
creaking  tree  tops  overhead,  and  how  we  shivered  in  our  wet 
clothing!  It  was  pretty  cold  for  a  while,  but  gradually  we 
steamed  up  and  went  to  sleep.  Through  the  night  the  wind 
drifted  from  four  to  six  inches  of  snow  upon  us.  Pierre  said 
that  the  snow,  covering  us  as  it  did,  probably  kept  us  from 
freezing  to  death,  as  the  wind  changed  in  the  night  and  the  air 
became  intensely  cold. 


416  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Pierre  waked  me  about  three  in  the  morning,  trying  to  start 
up  the  fire  from  a  few  coals  that  were  still  alive  under  the  logs 
of  the  afternoon  fire.  He  was  singing  in  Chippewa.  I  pulled 
the  bed  clothes  down  a  little  and  a  chunk  of  snow  rolled  in, 
nearly  as  big  as  my  head.  I  asked  Bottineau  to  turn  his  Chip- 
pewa jargon  into  English,  and  he  said  it  was  to  give  us  en- 
couragement. Crawling  out  of  that  steaming  bed  into  down 
below  zero  air,  to  try  to  dry  our  wet  clothes,  as  we  had  to  do 
that  morning,  certainly  needed  encouragement.  The  guides 
had  overtaken  the  two  buffaloes  and  put  four  shot-gun  bullets 
into  them.  They  evidently  were  severely  wounded,  but  had  to 
be  left  because  of  the  rapidly  approaching  blizzard.  Our  cat- 
tle and  pony,  partially  sheltered  from  the  wind,  among  the 
trees  and  back  of  broken  bluffs,  were  less  exposed  than  we 
were  and  fared  comfortably  well. 

As  our  guides  predicted  another  storm,  we  moved  our  camp 
to  a  less  exposed  place  near  our  cattle,  and  laid  over  on  Sat- 
urday, the  24th.  When  the  sun  arose,  a  brilliant  sun  dog  ap- 
peared on  each  side  of  it,  and  a  bright  crescent  swung  down 
above  it.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight  but  portentous.  Hardly  had 
we  got  settled  when  the  storm  burst  again  with  renewed  fury. 
We  could  not  see,  even  hazily,  ten  rods  before  us  in  any  direc- 
tion. Toward  evening  the  wind  slackened,  and  we  dug  our 
bed  clothes  out  of  the  snow  and  dried  them  before  the  fire  the 
best  we  could  in  preparation  for  a  night  of  doubt.  We  slept 
safe  and  warm,  however. 

Sunday,  the  25th,  dawned  clear  but  intensely  cold.  Usually 
we  did  not  travel  on  Sunday,  but  today,  in  this  time  of  sudden 
storms,  we  felt  called  to  push  on.  Our  cattle  also  were  grow- 
ing weak,  and  the  ankles  of  some  of  them  were  swelled  as  large 
as  tea  kettles,  having  been  cut  by  sharp  snow  crusts  and  in- 
flamed by  freezing.  They  stained  the  snow  with  gushing  blood 
at  nearly  every  step  they  took.  Besides,  we  were  some  thirty- 
five  miles  from  our  destination  on  the  Red  river,  and  there  was 
only  one  reliable  patch  of  timber  on  the  way.  This  was  at 
Lightning  lake.  We  were  ten  miles  distant  from  that  lake,  and 
we  did  not  know  what  deep  drifts  of  snow  might  obstruct  our 
way.    A  few  small  groups  of  poplar  trees,  two  or  three  inches 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  417 


f 

■  in  diameter,  were  strung  far  apart  along  the  Otter  Tail  river, 
H  but  they  were  miles  from  the  route  we  were  to  follow  on  our 
H  way  to  the  Red  river.  The  guides  said  our  safety  lay  in  push- 
B  ing  on  as  fast  and  direct  as  we  were  able.  After  we  had  gone 
B  about  five  miles,  Moulton  and  Charlie  Bottineau  concluded  to 
H  go  after  the  wounded  buffalo.  About  that  time  one  of  our 
B  oxen  fell,  and  it  seemed  as  if  we  could  not  get  the  discouraged 
H  animal  on  his  feet  again.  We  still  had  five  miles  to  go  to  reach 
H  the  woods  of  Lightning  lake,  and  night  was  near.  We  finally 
H  got  through,  however,  and  selected  a  place  for  our  camp  on  the 
south  side  of  the  lake  under  a  high  bluff.  Moulton  and  Charlie 
returned  without  seeing  the  buffalo. 

The  wind  changed  during  the  night,  and  on  Monday  it 
began  to  blow  again.  Pierre,  our  head  guide,  vetoed  all  at- 
tempts of  our  anxious  men  to  make  a  start  across  that  treeless 
twenty-five  mile  prairie  to  the  Bois  des  Sioux  river. 

Tuesday,  the  27th,  started  in  clear  and  cold.  The  Leaf 
mountains  on  our  right,  twenty  to  thirty  miles  away,  and  the 
Coteau  des  Prairies  ahead  and  toward  the  left,  about  sixty 
miles  distant,  loomed  white  and  cold  in  the  bracing  morning 
air.  According  to  Bottineau,  Lightning  lake  took  its  name 
from  a  man  in  a  former  expedition  being  struck  by  lightning 
and  killed,  a  few  rods  back  of  where  we  camped. 

l_i.  '■     ^  KILLING  MY  FIRST  BUFFALO. 

Shortly  after  we  started,  we  saw  two  buffalo  off  to  the  left. 
Pierre  and  Moulton  started  after  them.  Charlie  and  I  went  on 
ahead  of  our  teams.  We  were  soon  met  by  Pierre  with  the  in- 
formation that  one  of  the  animals  that  he  and  Charlie  had 
wounded  was  near.  Charlie  and  I  started  on  a  trot  in  the 
direction  Pierre  pointed.  The  snow  was  more  than  a  foot  deep, 
with  a  crust  on  top,  through  which  we  broke  about  every  fifth 
step.  In  that  way  we  ran  over  a  mile.  On  reaching  his  trail 
we  followed  it  in  nearly  the  direction  the  teams  were  pointing. 

At  the  last  bench  of  land  before  coming  to  the  wide  level 
prairie  east  of  the  Bois  des  Sioux  river,  we  crawled  carefully 
up  to  the  summit  of  the  bench.  About  forty  rods  away  we 
saw  the  buffalo  lying  in  the  snow.    He  saw  us  as  goon  as  we 


418  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

saw  him.  I  said  to  Charlie,  ''We  must  run  him  down,"  and  we 
started  as  fast  as  we  could  in  the  pursuit.  The  buffalo  dragged 
himself  on  three  legs  about  twenty  rods  farther,  and  then  gave 
up.  Charlie  reached  him  first  and  emptied  both  barrels  of  his 
gun  into  him  without  bringing  him  down.  I  had  a  breech-load- 
ing Sharp's  rifle,  with  caps  on  a  tape  which  ran  out  one  at  a 
time  as  I  cocked  the  gun.  Nearly  breathless  from  wallowing 
through  the  snow,  I  reached  the  buffalo  just  as  Charlie  fired 
his  second  shot.  My  first  shot  went  wild,  but  I  had  a  cartridge 
in  before  Charlie  could  get  a  ball  down  one  barrel.  We  tried 
to  get  around  to  his  side,  but  snorting,  with  his  bead-like  eyes 
glowing  like  coals  of  fire  through  the  shaggy  hair  of  his  fore- 
head, the  buffalo  swung  on  his  crippled  hips  and  faced  me.  I 
told  Charlie  to  attract  his  attention  in  front  and  keep  on  load- 
ing his  gun.  I  stepped  around  to  his  left  side  and  put  a  bullet 
in  his  heart,  which  killed  him. 

Hearing  the  sound  of  our  firing,  Moulton  soon  brought  the 
teams  around,  and  we  were  all  highly  pleased  that  we  would 
not  have  to  eat  pork  for  supper.  Unhitching  our  teams,  we 
fed  them  from  our  rapidly  diminishing  store  of  cattle  feed. 
Then  kindling  a  fire  with  the  dry  poplar  poles  that  we  had 
loaded  on  our  sleds  at  Lightning  lake  for  that  purpose,  we 
cooked  our  first  meal  of  buffalo  meat,  which,  with  our  starved 
cattle,  was  soon  to  be  our  only  food  until  new  supplies  could 
be  sent  to  us  from  St.  Paul. 

AN  ALL  NIGHT  DRIV^. 

As  there  was  no  sheltered  place  to  camp  and  Pierre  was 
anxious  to  get  ahead  for  fear  of  another  snow  storm,  we  de- 
cided to  keep  going  through  the  night.  The  guides  traveled 
by  the  North  star,  and  when  that  was  clouded  over  by  the 
below  zero  fog  that  swept  over  us  every  few  minutes,  we  had 
to  stop  and  wait  for  the  air  to  clear.  As  soon  as  our  cattle 
stopped,  the  drivers  dropped  on  the  snow  and  into  a  sleepy 
drowse  from  which  we  had  to  arouse  them  in  some  cases  by  a 
vigorous  shake.  It  was  easy  to  freeze  to  death  in  the  temper- 
ature of  that  night.  Fortunately  nearly  all  the  prairie  had  been 
burned  over,  else  probably  our  cattle  would  not  have  lasted 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN   1857.  419 

through.  As  it  was,  they  staggered  as  they  slowly  walked. 
Constantly  in  fear  of  the  wind  rising  on  that  twenty-five  mile 
prairie  in  the  moonless  night  of  the  27th  and  sunless  day  of 
the  28th  until  four  in  the  afternoon,  while  I  followed  our  stag- 
gering men  and  cattle,  it  was  anything  but  a  play  spell. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  place  where  we  killed  the  buffalo,  we 
found  a  huge  drift  where  we  had  to  shovel  our  way  nearly 
thirty  rods.  It  was  a  slow,  hard  job,  but  we  finally  got  the 
teams  through.  It  delayed  us  so  much  that  by  daylight  fully 
twelve  miles  of  the  twenty-five  remained  to  be  crossed.  Dur- 
ing the  day  and  night  of  the  27th  we  had  traveled  only  about 
thirteen  miles.  About  daylight  of  the  28th  our  teams  refused 
to  go  any  farther.  I  had  wet  my  feet  running  down  the  buffalo, 
and  though  I  kicked  and  threshed  the  best  I  could,  they  were 
now  nearly  frozen.  We  stopped  and  kindled  a  fire  with  our 
dry  poplar  poles,  and  I  changed  my  stockings  for  dry  ones. 
After  feeding  our  teams  and  eating  a  hasty  breakfast,  we  went 
slowly  on  again  toward  a  patch  of  timber  about  four  miles  up 
the  Bois  des  Sioux  river.  There  was  only  one  place  on  the  28th 
where  we  had  to  shovel  the  road  and  that  we  soon  got  over. 
When  we  reached  the  Bois  des  Sioux  late  in  the  afternoon,  we 
were  about  as  happy  a  bunch  of  men  as  you  often  see. 

A  BUFFALO  HE^RD  ON  THF  BRKCKKNRIDGe:  TOWNSITF. 

Thursday  the  29th  we  started  for  the  junction  of  the  Bois 
des  Sioux  and  Otter  Tail  rivers,  where  we  were  to  make  our 
first  town,  called  Breckenridge.  The  guides  and  Moulton  and 
I  went  ahead  of  the  teams  that  were  coming  down  along  the 
right  bank  of  the  river  under  Prentiss.  Near  the  junction  of 
the  two  rivers  to  form  the  Red  river  of  the  North  we  saw  fresh 
buffalo  tracks.  We  followed  them  to  the  mouth  of  the  Bois 
des  Sioux,  when  the  guides  left  us  with  instructions  to  keep 
down  by  the  river  out  of  sight  and  to  keep  quiet  while  they 
went  after  the  buffalo,  which  evidently  were  quite  numerous. 
In  about  an  hour  we  went  down  the  bed  of  the  Red  river  about 
a  half  mile  to  where  the  banks  were  high.  Climbing  to  the  top, 
we  saw  a  herd  of  fully  eighty  buffalo  basking  on  the  prairie 
east  of  the  river  and  the  guides  crawling  through  the  snow  to 


420  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

get  up  to  them.  They  were  in  a  bend  of  the  Otter  Tail  and 
only  about  eighty  rods  from  the  Red  river. 

Moulton  and  I  at  once  started  up  the  river  on  the  run  wal- 
lowing through  four  foot  drifts  to  stop  the  teams,  which  were 
not  more  than  three  quarters  of  a  mile  away  and  in  a  direct 
line  with  the  buffalo.  I  led  the  teams  down  out  of  sight  toward 
a  point  of  timber  opposite  where  the  city  of  Wahpeton  now 
stands.  Here  we  prepared  to  camp  with  as  little  noise  as 
possible. 

The  guides  crawled  through  the  snow  which  was  about 
eighteen  inches  deep,  breaking  the  crust  from  underneath. 
The  animals  had  their  heads  down  below  the  surface  of  the 
snow,  where  they  had  pawed  it  away  to  get  at  the  dry  grass. 
The  bulls  fed  outside  and  the  cows  and  calves  in  the  center, 
so  as  to  be  protected  from  the  wolves  which  hovered  around 
the  herd.  When  all  was  quiet  the  guides  would  crawl  up  to  the 
cordon  of  bulls.  As  they  slowly  approached,  the  bulls  would 
come  up,  smell  their  wolf-skin  caps  and  snort  a  little.  The 
guides  would  lie  perfectly  quiet.  The  bulls,  evidently  believ- 
ing the  caps  were  dead  wolves,  would  go  on  pawing  and  feed- 
ing. As  the  guides  got  up  near  a  cow  or  calf  they  would  fire 
and  drop  their  guns  in  the  snow  and  hold  their  wolf-skin  gaunt- 
lets over  the  gun  locks  to  keep  them  dry.  The  startled  buffalo 
would  jump  away  a  few  rods  and  turn  around  to  see  what  had 
made  the  noise.  Seeing  nothing  moving  but  themselves,  they 
would  paw  the  snow  and  go  to  eating  again.  In  this  way  they 
killed  a  cow  and  two  calves,  and  wounded  two  cows  that  they 
could  not  get,  owing  to  the  approach  of  night.  They  then  tied 
a  red  handkerchief  to  a  ramrod  and  stuck  the  rod  in  the  snow 
to  keep  the  wolves  away,  and  left  the  carcasses  to  freeze. 

On  Friday  the  30th,  Moulton  and  I  tried  to  survey  some  of 
the  townsite,  but  the  wind  blew  so  hard  that  we  could  not 
straighten  our  tape  line  chain,  and  we  had  to  abandon  the 
effort.  A  double  team  started  under  the  lead  of  Prentiss  and 
Charlie  Bottineau  to  bring  in  the  dead  buffalo.  It  was  a  very 
severe  day,  and  when  night  came  the  teams  had  not  returned. 
We  in  camp  became  very  uneasy.  As  it  began  to  grow  dark 
some  one  shouted  "Whoa!"  down  on  the  river.    Pierre  sprang 


I 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  421 

to  his  feet  with  the  exclamation,  ''They've  come !  0,  God,  I'm 
so  glad ! ' '  Soon  Prentiss  came  into  camp  nearly  exhausted  and 
called  for  hot  tea.  He  emptied  cup  after  cup  in  quick  succes- 
sion until  he  got  warm.  They  had  been  compelled  to  abandon 
one  of  our  best  oxen  about  four  miles  up  the  Otter  Tail,  and 
had  lost  their  way  and  wandered  fully  eight  miles  without 
finding  the  dead  buffalo.  A  terrible  night  of  storm  followed, 
which  we  were  long  to  remember. 

Saturday  the  31st  opened  clear  and  cold.  We  had  been 
twenty-nine  days  traveling  to  the  town  we  were  to  make  at 
the  head  of  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  and  in  many  ways  had 
gained  a  memorable  experience.  But  we  were  after  money, 
and  the  glamour  of  the  ' '  million  in  it "  brightened  all  the  diffi- 
cult ways  we  had  come  since  leaving  St.  Paul. 

SURVEYING  THIS  TOWNSITE)  AND  KILLING  ANOTHER  BUFFALO. 

The  morning  of  the  31st,  Pierre  Bottineau  started  with  the 
teams  to  see  if  he  could  find  the  dead  buffalo,  while  Moulton 
and  I  began  to  survey  the  Breckenridge  townsite.  As  we  had 
only  a  hand  compass  and  an  ordinary  tape  line,  and  a  very 
crooked  stream  to  meander,  it  was  slow  work.  All  we  expected 
to  do,  however,  was  to  block  out  the  site  and  leave  the  filling 
in  to  be  done  in  St.  Paul.  We  were  not  very  particular  as  to 
the  absolute  accuracy  of  such  doings  in  those  days.  About  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  had  the  main  lines  completed. 

We  climbed  the  river  bank  to  return  to  the  camp,  when  we 
saw  the  team  halted,  that  Pierre  had  taken  out  in  the  morning. 
Hastening  up  to  solve  the  trouble,  we  heard  the  report  of  two 
guns  in  quick  succession  on  the  low  ground  bordering  the  river. 
Then  a  huge  buffalo  bull,  weighing  probably  a  ton,  lurched  into 
sight  through  the  snow  at  the  base  of  a  sharp  rise  from  a  marsh 
fronting  me.  I  was  alone,  having  got  some  distance  ahead  of 
Moulton.  When  I  saw  the  bull  he  was  about  thirty  rods  away, 
coming  directly  toward  me  and  rounding  the  inner  edge  of  the 
deep  drifted  bluff  that  evidently  he  could  not  break  through. 
On  the  river  side  of  the  marsh  the  guides  ran  back  and  forth 
to  keep  him  from  crossing.  As  the  buffalo  passed  them  they 
would  pump  balls  into  him  from  their  double-barrelled  shot 


422  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

guns.  Seeing  me  on  the  bank,  the  bull  turned  and  raced  back 
in  front  of  the  guides.  Four  bullets  again  struck  him.  He 
then  made  three  convulsive  leaps  forward,  the  last  clearing 
fully  fifteen  feet.  Then  his  legs  sprawled  out  and  he  went 
down  and  soon  was  dead. 

The  team,  having  on  the  sled  the  cow  and  two  calves  and 
part  of  the  ox  (evidently  he  had  died  shortly  after  Charlie  left 
him  the  evening  before),  went  on  to  camp,  headed  by  Pierre, 
while  Moulton  and  I  helped  Charlie  dress  the  buffalo  just 
killed.  It  was  near  sundown  and  too  late  for  the  teams  to 
return,  so  Charlie  fixed  his  red  handkerchief  in  a  split  stick 
and  stuck  it  in  the  snow  by  the  carcass  to  keep  the  wolves  away, 
and  we  walked  up  the  river  bank  to  the  camp  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Bois  des  Sioux,  which  we  reached  about  dusk. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  February  1st.  We  hauled  in  the 
buffalo  body  and  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  writing  to  friends 
at  home,  for  Moulton  and  the  guides  and  Billy,  their  cook,  were 
to  return  soon  to  St.  Paul.  Having  now  about  a  ton  of  buffalo 
meat  on  hand,  we  packed  it  in  ice  the  best  we  could,  and  felt 
that  we  were  safe  from  starvation  until  supplies  could  reach 
us  in  the  spring,  unless  a  warm  spell  should  set  in  early  in  the 
spring,  a  thing  that  exactly  did  happen. 

Moulton  had  brought  a  tough,  wiry  Indian  pony  through  to 
the  Bois  des  Sioux,  to  draw  back  the  necessary  supplies  for 
himself  and  our  guides.  The  guides  and  Barrett,  one  of  the 
teamsters,  had  been  rigging  a  jumper  and  had  it  nearly  com- 
pleted ready  to  load  on  Monday,  the  2nd.  Moulton  and  I  had 
completed  the  townsite  survey,  and  all  was  ready  except  the 
harness  for  the  pony,  to  be  made  of  raw  buffalo  hide.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  front  shoulder  piece,  and  two  hide  traces  all  in  one 
strip  and  held  in  place  by  an  equally  broad  back  band.  Mean- 
time two  of  our  men  had  been  felling  trees  to  enclose  a  yard  for 
our  cattle. 

MOULTON  RETURNS  TO  ST.  PAUL. 

February  3rd,  Moulton  and  the  two  guides  and  the  cook 
left  the  Red  river  camp  to  return  to  St.  Paul,  expecting  to  reach 
our  Bois  des  Sioux  camp  about  four  miles  up  the  river  about 
dark.    From  there  they  were  to  take  the  first  good  chance  to  . 


1 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  423 

cross  the  twenty-five  mile  wide  prairie  to  Lightning  lake  in 
daylight  and  before  storms  would  rise  again. 

Wednesday,  February  4th,  all  went  to  work  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Bois  des  Sioux  cutting  logs  for  our  shanty,  as  we  had 
only  a  tent  for  shelter. 

MSN  ON  SHORT  RATIONS  AND  CATTLE  STARVING. 

"We  started  from  St.  Paul  with  only  a  barrel  of  flour,  and 
as  we  gave  Moulton  part  of  that,  there  was  but  little  left. 
Nothing  could  be  done  but  to  take  the  remainder  of  the  corn 
and  cob  meal  away  from  the  cattle  and  put  them  on  elm  tree 
browse,  using  the  meal  for  ourselves.  It  was  tough  business 
for  both  sides,  but  there  was  no  other  way.  There  was  only  a 
little  more  than  a  two  bushel  and  a  half  bagful  of  it  left.  This 
we  divided  on  the  second  of  February  in  daily  portions  to  last 
till  April  1st,  the  date  we  expected  Moulton  back  with  supplies 
for  our  relief. 

The  division  gave,  for  each  of  the  six  men  who  remained, 
enough  of  this  coarse  mixture,  when  wet  in  water  and  baked 
in  our  old-fashioned  tin  oven  before  the  fire,  to  supply  a  cake 
roughly  measuring  six  inches  in  length,  three  inches  in  width, 
and  a  half  an  inch  in  thickness,  at  night  and  morning.  At  noon 
we  had  buffalo  meat  chopped  up,  and  a  slice  of  pork  cut  from 
about  fifty  pounds  that  was  left  of  a  150-pound  hog  we  started 
with  from  St.  Paul.  This  was  boiled  into  a  soft,  thick  concoc- 
tion that  Bottineau  called  "boo-yeh."  We  also  had  about  a 
peck  of  beans  left.  On  such  living  bowel  trouble  soon  started. 
I  was  the  first  victim.  We  had  a  case  of  drug  remedies,  and  by 
their  aid  we  kept  ourselves  fairly  well  patched  up  during  the 
remainder  of  the  winter. 

Soon  our  cattle  began  to  weaken.  Our  second  ox  was  found 
in  a  few  days,  unable  to  get  on  his  feet.  We  shot  him,  buried 
his  quarters  in  snow  and  ice,  and  hauled  the  body  a  few  rods 
away  from  the  stable  and  left  it  for  the  wolves  to  quarrel  over. 
The  stable  we  fastened  tight  at  night,  and  we  soon  became 
used  to  the  howls  and  fighting  yelps  and  snarls  of  these  animal 
devils  of  the  woods  and  prairies. 

On  Thursday,  the  19th  of  February,  we  finished  mud-chink- 
ing between  the  logs  of  the  shanty  we  had  built,  and  moved 


424  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

into  it  from  the  tent  that  for  six  weeks  had  been  our  home. 
Our  bed  was  made  of  poplar  poles  covered  with  willows  and 
weeds.  On  this  foundation  we  spread  out  buffalo  skins  and 
waterproofs  and  the  few  blankets  we  had.  Our  thickly  padded 
bed  comforter  covered  us.  We  still  slept  with  all  our  day 
clothes  on.  At  first  we  had  neither  door  nor  window.  We  used 
our  tent  over  these  openings  to  block  out  the  cold  the  best  we 
could.  We  had  a  rip  saw,  and  with  that  we  soon  made  rough 
basswood  boards  for  door  and  window  casings,  and  with  cracks 
battened  got  along  quite  comfortably.  The  roof  was  made  of 
20-inch  shake  shingles,  split  from  sawed-off  oak  logs. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  the  25th,  a  third  ox  could  not  get 
up  and  Prentiss  shot  him.  We  saved  the  quarters  and  hauled 
the  body  out  to  the  wolves.  That  night  a  strong  southeast  wind 
drove  snow  an  inch  deep  upon  our  bed  clothes.  All  hands 
turned  out  in  the  morning  and  calked  the  cracks  of  the  roof 
with  dry  grass  that  we  found  under  the  snow  out  on  the  prairie. 
At  the  time  we  built  our  shanty  house  the  point  where  the  Otter 
Tail  river  joins  the  Red  was  covered  west  of  the  bluff  with  a 
thick  growth  of  elm,  oak,  and  basswood  trees.  We  built  our 
house  at  the  north  end  of  this  grove,  and  the  stable  for  our  cat- 
tle on  the  fifteen-foot  rise  a  few  rods  off  and  nearly  fronting 
the  house,  which  faced  the  bluff.  South  of  the  house,  near  the 
point,  was  where  we  cut  down  trees  for  a  cattle  fence  and 
where  our  cattle  were  herded,  except  in  extreme  dry  weather 
and  cold  nights,  and  also  where  we  fed  them  their  meals  of 
elm  browse. 

On  Wednesday,  March  4th,  we  divided  what  salt  we  had 
left,  confining  us  to  about  a  pint  a  week  until  April  1st.  On 
the  6th  we  divided  our  beans,  limiting  us  to  less  than  a  quart 
a  week  for  the  same  time.  We  tried  to  help  out  our  food  sup- 
ply by  shooting  prairie  chickens  and  rabbits  in  the  patches  of 
wood  along  the  river,  but  the  weather  was  so  severe  and  the 
snow  so  deep  that  we  were  not  very  successful. 

A   MARCH   FLOOD. 

Sunday,  March  15th,  the  weather  suddenly  turned  warm, 
and  the  snow  began  to  melt.  No  effective  work  could  be  done 
by  any  of  us  on  account  of  bowel  trouble.    Tuesday,  the  17th, 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857. 


425 


we  had  to  kill  another  of  our  cattle,  very  poor ;  the  only  parts 
worth  saving  were  the  hams,  heart  and  tongue.  As  the  buf- 
falo cow  had  thawed  we  skinned  her  and  found  the  flesh  spoiled, 
so  we  dragged  her  down  on  the  ice  for  the  wolves  to  eat.  Our 
meat  supply  was  now  nearly  gone,  only  the  hams  of  one  ox 
and  half  of  a  buffalo  calf  remained.  On  Saturday  we  divided 
the  last  of  our  corn  and  cob  meal.  Some  discouragement  pre- 
vailed as  the  snow  melted  and  the  river  rose  above  its  banks 
during  this  unseasonably  warm  spell,  and  the  worst  of  it  was 
that  we  feared  its  effect  on  the  supply  teams  then  on  the  way 
to  relieve  us.  That  we  had  reason  to  fear  was  fully  known 
later. 

On  the  morning  of  Friday,  April  3rd,  the  water  from  the 
river  began  to  come  into  the  house,  the  level  of  the  house  foun- 
dation being  only  about  four  feet  above  the  summer  stage  of 
water  in  the  river.  The  only  thing  to  do  was  to  pile  our  things 
on  the  bed  and  let  it  come.  It  rose  about  eight  inches  more 
and  then  came  to  a  stand. 

Our  fire  place  was  built  under  the  ridgepole  of  the  house, 
and  was  well  mudded  with  clay  about  eighteen  inches  above 
the  earth  floor.  The  smoke  went  through  the  roof.  The  fire- 
place was  built  of  logs  and  was  about  four  feet  square.  We 
had  received  fair  warning  of  what  was  to  come  later  on,  so 
we  began  to  build  a  temporary  shed,  about  twelve  feet  square, 
farther  back  Avhere  the  ground  was  some  fifteen  feet  higher. 
In  our  feeble  condition  this  was  slow  work.  Though  the  air 
had  turned  cold,  the  water  rose  more  than  a  foot  higher  in  the 
house  that  afternoon.  We  cut  and  dragged  in  elm  logs  and 
built  up  the  floor  and  fire  bed  so  that  our  feet  and  fire  would 
be  above  water.  Then  we  went  to  bed  with  our  bed  poles  only 
about  a  foot  above  the  flood. 

Sunday,  the  5th,  was  clear  and  intensely  cold.  Ice  had 
frozen  during  the  night  thick  enough  to  bear  an  ox.  There 
was  no  chance  to  rest  that  day,  for  the  weather  might  turn 
warmer  on  short  notice.  So  we  cut  and  backed  logs  up  the 
fifteen  foot  bank  through  water  knee  deep,  the  remainder  of 
our  oxen  being  so  weak  we  could  not  use  them.  Six  of  the 
oxen  had  died,  and  we  had  eaten  all  that  was  eatable  of  three 
of  them,  and  God  only  knew  when  Moulton  could  come  to  our 
relief. 


426  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Thursday,  April  9th,  I  shot  a  large  otter  in  the  last  bend 
the  Otter  Tail  river  makes  before  uniting  with  the  Bois  des 
Sioux  to  form  the  Red  river.  I  skinned  the  otter,  and  stuffed 
the  skin;  then,  in  order  to  promote  variety  in  our  cooking,  we 
set  Prentiss  at  work  roasting  it  without  parboiling,  which  we 
should  have  done.  As  our  salt  was  gone,  there  was  no  season- 
ing to  temper  the  intense  oily,  fishy  condition  of  the  meat.  We 
thought  it  would  taste  better  cold,  so  we  laid  it  by  for  break- 
fast on  the  10th,  but  the  taste  was  so  strong  that  we  had  to 
throw  it  out  for  the  wolves  to  eat. 

Ed  Dunn,  one  of  our  men,  started  for  St.  Paul  afoot  and 
alone  on  the  morning  of  the  10th,  with  eight  days'  supply  of 
meat  from  our  cattle  that  had  starved  to  death.  We  could  not 
spare  him  either  a  gun  or  an  axe.  All  the  weapon  we  could  let 
him  have  was  a  butcher  knife,  and  the  only  covering  a  heavy 
Mackinaw  blanket.  Months  afterwards  we  heard  he  had  got 
off  the  road  going  toward  St.  Cloud,  and  wandered  away  west- 
ward across  the  prairie  that  Bottineau  was  so  careful  to  shun 
through  fear  of  storms.  He  reached  a  settler's  house  on  the 
Minnesota  river  at  last,  with  both  feet  frozen  so  badly  that  his 
toes  had  to  be  amputated.  He  said,  before  starting,  that  we 
were  all  bound  to  die  anyway,  and  he  preferred  to  make  at  least 
one  desperate  struggle  for  his  life. 

APRIL   BLIZZARDS. 

Sunday,  the  12th  of  April,  our  beds  were  drifted  over  with 
fine  snow  that  had  sifted  through  the  roof  in  a  blizzard  during 
the  night.  The  storm  was  even  worse  than  the  one  which 
snowed  us  under  at  Lightning  lake.  It  brought  a  hard  outlook 
for  Ed  Dunn,  we  thought,  unless  he  could  have  reached  a  patch 
of  timber  somewhere. 

After  Dunn  left  us  on  the  10th,  we  poured  water  into  our 
molasses  keg,  shook  it  up,  and  afterward  doled  it  out  carefully 
until  the  14th,  when  we  saw  the  last  of  it.  Sweets  and  salt 
were  now  gone  for  good.  There  was  nothing  to  keep  the  four 
of  our  remaining  cattle  alive  but  elm  buds,  and  nothing  for 
us  but  the  quarters  of  three  of  our  starved  cattle,  for  our  buf- 
falo meat  was  gone.  Then  the  sky  promised  still  another  snow 
storm.     It  came,  and  Tuesday  the  14th  was  another  terrible 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  427 

"day.  "Where  was  Moulton  and  his  relief  teams?  They  ought 
to  have  been  through  to  us  by  April  1st.  We  feared  something 
had  happened.  As  subsequent  events  proved,  something  had 
happened. 

Wednesday  the  15th  was  intensely  cold  for  April,  with 
cloudless  sky  and  freezing  fast  all  day.  Ice  that  opened  on  the 
river  during  the  thaw,  now  closed  so  as  to  bear  loaded  teams. 
Only  two  places  where  the  water  ran  rapidly  were  now  open, 
and  they  were  closing.  We  felt  much  regret  for  loss  of  our 
thermometer.  Crows  for  several  days  had  become  very  tame. 
We  could  get  within  four  or  five  rods  of  them  before  they  would 
fly.    The  cold  continued  on  the  16th  and  17th. 

A  TRYING  re:ue:^  kxpe:rie:nce:. 

On  the  17th  of  April  Moulton  came  through  to  us  with  three 
men,  and  told  of  a  hard  time  trying  to  come  to  our  relief.  The 
party  bringing  supplies  started  from  St.  Paul  on  the  9th  of 
March.  The  warm  wave  struck  them  on  the  15th  of  March. 
They  kept  on  over  the  fast  melting  snow  until  they  reached 
Lake  Pomme  de  Terre,  and  then,  thoroughly  frightened,  sev- 
eral of  the  men  threw  off  their  loads  and  turned  back,  despite 
all  Moulton  could  say  or  do.  At  once  Moulton  and  three  of 
his  men  loaded  their  packs  with  biscuits  and  started  for  us, 
though  we  were  fifty  miles  distant  and  the  prairies  were  swim- 
ming with  water. 

They  finally  came  to  the  swamps  at  the  head  of  Mustinka 
river,  some  fifteen  miles  from  us,  and  found  them  deep  under 
water.  They  waded  in  snow  and  slush  nearly  an  hour  until, 
hip  deep,  and  no  hope  ahead,  and  night  coming  on,  they  had  to 
retreat.  Chilled  to  the  bone,  they  made  their  way  back  to  a 
small  patch  of  woods,  built  a  fire,  dried  their  wet  clothes  as 
best  they  could,  and  went  back  to  Lake  Pomme  de  Terre,  put 
up  a  shelter  shanty,  and  two  weeks  later  they  crossed  those 
swamps  to  us  on  the  ice.  I  got  half  a  biscuit  from  what  they 
had  left  when  they  reached  us. 

The  men  of  those  days  were  here  mainly  for  what  they 
could  make,  and  were  willing  to  take  chances  to  get  what  they 
were  after.    We,  of  this  Red  river  venture,  were  built  that  way. 


428  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

We  thought  we  saw  Opportunity  at  the  door,  we  locked  arms 
with  her,  but  found  on  this  trip  that  it  was  not  Opportunity 
at  all. 

TWO  OTHER  T0WNSITE:S  BELOW  BRECKINRIDGE. 

On  the  morning  of  April  the  19th,  Moulton  and  his  men  and 
I  started  down  the  river  to  make  more  towns,  our  only  depend- 
ence for  food  being  our  guns  and  a  seven  and  a  half  pound  can 
of  meat  biscuit.  This  meat  biscuit  was  made  of  beef  boiled  soft 
and  the  fat  poured  over  it  while  hot,  the  whole  being  pow- 
dered when  cold.    It  made  a  nourishing  soup. 

Our  first  stopping  place  was  to  be  Graham's  Point,  near 
where  Fort  Abercrombie  was  afterward  built,  about  twelve 
miles  below  Breckenridge.  Here  the  first  town  below  Breck- 
enridge  was  to  be  started.  English  Billy,  our  cook,  who  was 
one  of  Moulton 's  men,  and  I,  were  to  hold  it,  our  only  depend- 
ence for  food  being  our  guns  and  the  fish  in  the  river,  with  no 
salt. 

Prentiss,  Barrett,  teamster  Bill,  and  Bob,  were  to  remain  in 
Breckenridge  to  hold  that  site.  Mark  Leadbeater  and  John 
Hunt  were  to  go  downstream  with  Moulton  to  start  a  third  town 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Sheyenne  river,  where  we  hoped  the  North- 
ern Pacific  railroad  would  cross  the  Ked  river  into  Dakota. 

As  there  were  no  more  provisions  at  Breckenridge,  the  last 
ox  of  our  faithful  ten  had  to  be  killed  on  the  morning  of  the 
20th,  about  the  time  we  were  eating  our  meal  of  meat  biscuit 
soup  at  Graham's  Point.  After  that  meal  I  was  to  go  out  on 
the  prairie  to  see  if  I  could  find  game.  Moulton  and  his  two 
men  went  on  down  the  river  with  their  guns  and  what  was  left 
of  the  meat  biscuit,  and  he  promised  to  keep  out  of  sight  on 
the  river  ice  while  I  hunted  for  something  for  Billy  and  me 
to  eat. 

Walking  up  the  bank  from  the  lower  level  where  we  had 
put  up  our  tent,  I  saw  what  looked  like  four  buffaloes  feeding 
on  bare  spots  of  the  prairie  about  three  miles  away  and  some- 
thing like  a  mile  from  the  river.  I  began  to  stalk  them,  as  we 
say  in  hunting  parlance.  Soon  they  swung  around  and  fed  on 
the  bare  places  toward  the  head  of  what  used  to  be  called 
Whiskey  creek.    I  followed  them  as  carefully  as  I  could  until 


i 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  429 

I  came  within  about  a  mile  of  them,  when  they  moved  to  a 
lower  level  out  of  sight.  I  then  started  on  a  trot  and  had  come 
considerably  nearer  to  where  they  went  out  of  sight,  when  they 
slowly  went  up  the  bank  where  the  drifted  snow  was  lightest, 
and  disappeared.  I  took  their  trail  up  to  the  foot  of  a  rise 
which  was  about  fifteen  feet  high.  All  was  silent  as  a  grave- 
yard. I  began  to  climb,  half  expecting  to  sight  the  buffaloes  a 
mile  away.  As  I  poked  my  black  sheep-skin  cap  above  the  rise 
I  saw  four  bulls,  weighing  I  should  say  a  ton  each,  standing 
in  a  huddle  and  evidently  considering  in  their  animal  minds 
what  to  do  next.  Instantly  four  buffalo  tails  flashed  into  the 
air  and  away  all  went  across  the  country  toward  Breckenridge. 
It  was  useless  to  shoot  and  perhaps  scare  some  other  game,  so, 
shouldering  my  gun,  I  walked  down  toward  the  bed  of  the 
creek  out  of  sight,  as  the  snow  had  begun  to  fly  and  I  had  no 
intention  of  losing  my  way,  for  I  knew  that  the  creek  at  flood 
time  emptied  into  the  Red  river  about  a  mile  to  the  westward. 

MY  SECOND  BUFl^ALO  AND  HOW   WE^  GOT   HIM. 

As  I  walked  along,  looking  for  small  game,  I  saw  just  ahead 
of  me  a  buffalo  lying  on  a  point  of  land  where  the  snow  had 
been  blown  away.  I  tried  to  edge  around  out  of  sight  till  I  could 
get  a  fair  shot,  when  I  heard  a  cap  crack,  then  another,  and 
another,  in  quick  succession.  The  buffalo  rose  to  his  feet  with- 
out seeming  to  be  in  any  hurry,  and  moved  off  on  the  prairie 
and  out  of  sight.  I  hurried  down  around  the  point.  There 
stood  John  Hunt,  back  towards  me,  and  holding  his  gun  by 
the  muzzle  end  of  the  barrel  with  breech  upraised  above  his 
head  as  if  about  to  smash  it  down  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree  just 
in  front  of  him.  ''I'll  break  it !  Damned  if  I  don't  break  it," 
he  muttered.  "Better  think  four  times,  before  you  do  that, 
John;  extra  guns  are  not  very  plentiful  out  here,"  I  said. 
''Where  did  you  come  from,"  be  blurted,  as  he  plumped  the 
butt  of  his  gun  down  into  the  snow  at  his  feet.  "No  matter, 
now,  you've  got  your  priming  wet.  Reload,  and  we'll  get  that 
buffalo  yet, ' '  I  said.  * '  Get  that  buffalo, ' '  John  replied,  disdain- 
fully ;  "  He 's  half  way  to  Pembina  by  this  time. "  "  Don 't  waste 
time  talking,"  I  said;  "snow  out  there  on  the  prairie  is  knee 


480  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

deep,  and  that  buffalo  poor,  and  not  frightened.  He  '11  be  com- 
ing back  to  the  shelter  of  this  coulee  in  a  few  minutes  if  let 
alone.  Reprime  your  gun  and  we'll  crawl  up  the  bank  and  see 
about  it." 

John  did  as  I  directed.  As  we  got  to  the  top  of  the  bank, 
we  saw  the  buffalo  standing  about  fifteen  rods  away,  looking 
northward  and  evidently  considering  what  he  had  better  do 
next.  Then,  as  I  expected,  he  turned  around  and  came  back 
toward  the  bare  grassy  spot  he  had  just  left  on  the  slope  of 
the  bluff.  "We  were  lying  in  a  place  where  the  bull  could  not 
see  us.  He  came  a  few  steps  directly  toward  us  and  then  turned 
sidewise,  as  if  making  for  a  bare  spot  a  little  farther  eastward 
on  the  bank  of  the  creek.  I  said  to 'John,  "When  he  stops  will 
be  our  chance.  We  will  aim  at  his  heart.  I  will  count  one,  two, 
three,  and  when  I  say  three,  let  both  guns  crack."  The  buffalo 
waded  slowly  two  or  three  rods  through  the  snow  and  stopped. 
I  counted  three.  Both  guns  sounded  as  one.  The  buffalo  made 
a  tremendous  bound,  followed  by  two  more,  and  then,  all 
sprawled  Out,  he  went  down,  and  before  we  got  to  him  he  was 
dead.  I  could  put  three  of  my  fingers  into  the  hole  our  balls 
made  through  his  heart. 

Snow  was  falling,  fresh  meat  tempting.  Moulton  and  Mark 
came  up  and  raised  a  tent.  Meantime  the  buffalo  was  cut  open, 
the  liver  taken  out,  and  we  were  roasting  strips  of  it  on  the  end 
of  sharpened  sticks  in  the  fire.  There  may  have  been  sweeter 
meals  for  me.  If  so,  I  could  not  remember  them.  Having 
skinned  the  buffalo  and  dried  the  skin  stretched  on  stakes  back 
of  the  fire,  we  spliced  it  with  my  oilcloth  blanket,  and  this  in- 
creased our  overhead  shelter  from  the  snow.  The  storm  soon 
ceased  and  it  turned  colder.  We  continued  to  cut  thin  strips 
of  all  that  was  eatable  of  the  buffalo,  and  jerked  it  by  drying 
on  poles  before  the  fire.  Billy,  my  cook,  and  I,  then  went  into 
permanent  camp  in  the  woods  opposite  Graham's  Point,  while 
Moulton,  having  been  crippled  by  tipping  over  a  cup  of  hot  tea 
upon  one  of  his  feet,  had  to  wait  over  until  the  river  cleared  of 
ice  so  that  he  could  go  down  by  canoe. 

MILLIONS   IN   IT. 

Tuesday,  the  21st  of  April,  Theodore  H.  Barrett  of  St. 
Cloud,  a  surveyor  whom  Moulton  brought  to  plat  our  Brecken- 


I 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  431 

ridge  and  Graham's  Point  townsites,  arrived  at  the  point,  and 
meandered  the  town  that  was  to  be.  On  the  22nd  he  finished 
his  Graham's  Point  plat,  and  on  the  23rd  went  to  Breckenridge 
and  completed  that  survey  in  the  rough,  nearly  as  Moulton  and 
I  had  already  meandered  it.  Most  of  the  day,  in  correcting  this 
work  ready  for  the  plat,  we  had  to  wade  through  prairie  ponds, 
and  some  of  them  nearly  knee  deep.  But  what  of  that?  There 
were  still  millions  in  it. 

About  noon  I  saw  five  buffalo  cows  and  four  calves  on  the 
bank  of  the  Bois  des  Sioux  river  just  above  its  mouth,  where 
part  of  Wahpeton  now  stands.  I  wounded  three  of  the  cows, 
but  they  got  away  so  far  toward  the  Wild  Rice  river,  to  the 
westward,  that  I  thought  it  would  not  pay  to  follow  them. 

Friday,  the  24th,  we  surveyed  two  claims  bordering  the 
townsite  of  Breckenridge.  It  rained  all  night.  The  river  rose 
so  fast  that  we  had  to  move  our  things  and  camp  in  the  shanty 
on  top  of  the  bluff  to  the  southward.  On  the  25th  we  also  had 
to  move  our  Graham's  Point  camp  to  higher  ground. 

Sunday,  the  26th,  we  spent  in  camp  at  Graham's  Point. 
Monday,  the  27th,  Billy  and  I  began  on  our  cabin.  Again  we 
had  to  move  camp  on  account  of  the  rising  water,  moving  twice, 
and  one  of  our  removals  was  in  the  night.  On  the  28th,  the 
next  day,  we  continued  the  cutting  and  carrying  of  logs  for 
the  cabin.  Barrett,  the  surveyor,  helped  us  with  the  heaviest 
logs.  "We  could  not  roll  some  of  them  up  more  than  half  way 
on  the  skids  without  sitting  down  to  rest,  being  so  weak;  but 
this  was  no  wonder,  as  we  had  nothing  to  eat  but  stewed  buf- 
falo meat  and  tea  and  boiled  cat  fish  without  salt. 

John  and  Mark  started  on  the  28th  to  fix  a  crossing  of  the 
Otter  Tail  river,  as  we  intended  to  send  John  and  Barrett  to 
St.  Cloud  to  hurry  supplies  and  breaking  teams.  We  also 
planned  to  have  some  ox  meat  brought  down  to  the  point  on 
a  raft  from  Breckenridge.  The  current  of  the  high  water  was 
so  swift,  however,  that  a  raft  could  not  safely  come.  So  Pren- 
tiss and  John  Hunt  came  down  on  foot.  At  Breckenridge  the 
men  had  killed  a  buffalo  the  week  before.  The  water  on  the 
30th  was  about  eighteen  feet  above  low  water  mark. 

On  May  1st  the  river  was  falling  rapidly.     Barrett,  John 


432  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  Prentiss  started  from  Breckenridge  for  St.  Cloud  the  morn- 
ing of  the  second.  Barrett  was  to  stop  at  Lake  Pomme  de  Terre 
and  bring  back  Harris  to  superintend  at  Breckenridge,  bring- 
ing along  some  temporary  food  supplies  to  help  out  the  buffalo 
meat.  Sunday,  May  3rd,  Moulton  came  down  to  Graham's 
Point  from  Breckenridge  in  a  canoe  with  an  Indian  and  went 
down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Sheyenne  river  to  make  another 
town  there.  The  Indian  said  he  passed  men  with  boats  some 
distance  up  the  Otter  Tail,  who  were  coming  down  the  river. 

Monday,  May  4th,  Joe  Whitford,  who  was  afterward  killed 
by  the  Indians  in  1862,  came  with  a  Frenchman  and  an  ox  and 
cart,  expecting  to  appropriate  the  townsite  we  were  on;  but, 
finding  it  occupied,  he  went  across  the  river  and  camped  where 
Graham  formerly  had  his  camp,  from  which  this  point  received 
his  name.  All  of  Dakota  was  Indian  territory,  and  he  was  lia- 
ble to  be  driven  off  at  any  time.  Whitford  was  sent  by  a  Little 
Falls  company  and  was  a  welcome  arrival  to  us,  for  we  had 
been  living  on  tea  and  boiled  catfish  without  salt  for  several 
days.  They  had  flour.  It  was  the  first  I  had  tasted  since  Jan- 
uary, and  like  a  fool  I  filled  my  stomach  with  pancakes  and 
syrup.  After  supper  I  went  down  in  the  woods  and  rolled  in 
agony  behind  a  log  until  vomiting  relieved  me. 

Friday,  the  8th,  teams  and  supplies  came  to  Breckenridge. 
Saturday,  the  9th,  I  went  down  with  Bill  Simpson  toward  Whis- 
key creek  to  pick  out  a  claim  for  him.  Mark  went  down  to  the 
Sheyenne  about  noon.  Harris  and  Barrett  remained  at  the 
Point.  Sunday,  the  10th,  we  rested  in  camp.  Monday,  the 
11th,  supplies  came  down  to  the  Point  from  Breckenridge,  a 
welcome  arrival.  May  12th  I  went  up  to  Breckenridge  to  see 
to  things  there,  both  Prentiss  and  Moulton  being  gone. 

Wednesday,  the  13th,  McDonald  and  his  men  came  down 
the  Otter  Tail  in  boats.  They  were  seven  days  coming  from 
Otter  Tail  lake.  They  started  by  way  of  Crow  Wing  before 
we  started  from  St.  Paul,  and  got  frozen  into  Otter  Tail  lake 
and  had  to  winter  there.  Tom  Patmore  and  Bob  went  down  to 
the  Point  ahead  of  them,  to  look  after  our  claims.  They  re- 
turned on  Friday,  the  15th,  and  reported  that  two  of  Becker 
and  HoUinshead 's  men,  who  had  located  about  six  miles  south 


A  RED  RIVER  TOWNSITE  SPECULATION  IN  1857.  433 

of  the  mouth  of  the  Wild  Rice  river,  had  been  up  begging  pro- 
visions to  keep  them  from  starving. 

Saturday,  the  16th,  Harris  and  Barrett,  one  of  our  team- 
sters, started  from  the  Point  to  Sheyenne.  George  and  Sweet- 
ser  followed  about  noon  to  help  hold  that  site  against  McDon- 
ald's men,  if  they  acted  ugly.  A  few  days  later  Moulton  re- 
turned with  the  men  who  had  wintered  at  Sheyenne,  and  hur- 
ried them,  half  starved,  through  to  St.  Cloud  to  receive  pay  for 
vacating  the  townsite.  It  was  a  waste  of  money.  That  Shey- 
enne townsite  is  now  a  farm,  and  we  never  entered  a  foot  of  it. 

In  those  days  the  Red  river  of  the  North  was  to  be  the  com- 
ing steamboat  avenue  of  travel  between  the  United  States  and 
Manitoba,  besides  being  the  main  outlet  of  a  rich  farming  re- 
gion. This  came  true  for  a  few  years  between  Fargo  and  the 
border.  Above  Fargo  the  river  was  at  all  seasons,  except  flood 
time,  not  much  better  than  a  good  sized  creek,  and  so  crooked 
that  its  chief  ambition  seemed  to  be  to  tie  itself  into  all  kinds 
of  bow  knots.  From  May  17th  until  I  started  to  St.  Paul  in 
the  latter  part  of  June,  I  Was  chiefly  engaged  in  directing  gar- 
den and  farming  operations. 

AFTERWARD. 

In  August,  1857,  I  went  back  to  editing  the  St.  Anthony 
Express.  The  financial  panic  of  that  year  having  begun,  I  took 
no  further  interest  in  Red  river  townsites.  The  indomitable 
Brott,  however,  persevered.  He  started  a  building  at  Brecken- 
ridge  to  be  a  steam  saw  mill  of  150  horse  power,  and  had  mill 
machinery  strung  along  all  the  way  from  St.  Paul  to  the  Red 
river,  when  he  did  not  know  that  a  single  saw  log,  so  large  as 
sixteen  feet  long  and  a  foot  through,  could  be  floated  down 
the  crooked  shallow  Otter  Tail  river,  even  in  a  June  freshet, 
without  snagging. 

"When  the  Civil  War  began,  Brott 's  men  enlisted.  Barrett, 
the  surveyor  of  our  townsites,  became  the  colonel  of  a  colored 
regiment,  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general,  re- 
turned to  Minnesota  and  for  many  years  owned  a  large  farm  in 
Grant  and  Stevens  counties,  where  he  died  about  a  dozen  years 
ago. 

In  1862  the  Indian  war  began.    Whitford  was  killed  by  the 


434  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Indians,  and  the  Breckenridge  mill  building  was  burned.     Of 
course,  all  we  had  done  up  there  fell  into  ruins. 

Brott  went  east  before  the  end  of  the  Civil  War,  loaded  a 
steamer  with  supplies  for  the  South,  steamed  around  to  New 
Orleans,  and  there  patched  up  his  shattered  fortunes.  He  died 
about  ten  years  ago  in  the  city  of  Washington.  Endowed  with 
tireless  energy,  no  amount  of  unfortunate  circumstances  seemed 
to  discourage  him.  Continually  under  the  harrow  of  debt,  its 
teeth,  however  sharp,  seemed  only  to  wound  him  slightly  be- 
fore he  was  up  and  getting  ready  to  go  under  again. 

The  Graham's  Point  and  Sheyenne  enterprises  were  aban- 
doned. At  Breckenridge  I  selected  two  hundred  lots  as  my 
share,  and  they  were  deeded  to  me  by  Henry  T.  Welles,  who 
had  become  the  proprietor  of  the  town.  The  railroad  built  the 
town  so  far  away  from  them,  however,  that  they  became  worth- 
less even  for  tax  purposes.  What  has  become  of  them  I  have 
not  heard,  and  I  have  not  seen  a  foot  of  that  country  since 
June,  1857.  The  medicine  I  took  during  six  months  of  that 
year  cured  me  of  the  townsite  speculation  fever  so  completely 
that  I  have  never  felt  a  touch  of  it  since. 


i 


I 


j^^^-/'i^(^>rc^^ 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XT. 


1 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINNESOTA, 
1859  TO  1867.* 


BY  HON.  LORIN  CRAY. 


I  am  neither  one  of  the  very  early  pioneers  of  Minnesota, 
nor  yet  a  historian.  In  early  life  my  horizon  was  very  narrow. 
Yet  I  saw  and  experienced  a  few  of  the  realities  of  frontier  life, 
of  which  some  of  you  saw  and  experienced  many. 

Recounting  events  which  have  occurred  in  our  immediate 
neighborhood  is  to  us  the  most  interesting  of  all  history.  We 
are  familiar  with  localities,  and  are  much  more  impressed  with 
the  facts.  Our  imagination  helps  us  to  see  the  Indian  canoe  on 
our  rivers  and  lakes,  and  the  tepee  upon  the  banks ;  and  later, 
our  memory  recalls  the  log  cabins  and  rude  surroundings  of 
the  pioneers,  followed  still  later  by  beautiful  farms  and  bright 
cities  and  villages. 

The  lives  and  experiences  of  some  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Minnesota  are  household  words  in  this  state,  but  of  the  history 
and  experiences  of  many  others  little  is  known,  and  what  is 
being  handed  down  is  passed  along  by  just  such  gatherings  as 
we  have  here. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1859  my  father  and  brother-in-law 
started  with  teams  of  oxen  and  covered  wagons  from  our  home 
near  Oshkosh,  Wisconsin,  to  seek  a  location  in  the  West,  where 
homes  could  be  gotten  without  money  and  without  price.  It 
was  not  definitely  determined  where  they  would  go,  but  it  was 
to  be  somewhere  in  the  great  n^w  state  of  Minnesota,  to  us  an 
unknown  region. 

Pioneer  emigration  by  the  then  only  method  known  to  us, 
the  covered  wagon  drawn  by  oxen,  was  quite  brisk  that  year, 
and  inquiry  made  by  father  of  explorers  returning  for  their 
families,  influenced  them  to  go  to  the  western  part  of  Blue 
Earth  county. 


'Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  March  13,  1911. 


436  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

In  October  of  the  same  year  all  the  earthly  belongings  of 
my  father,  being  my  mother,  seven  children,  and  a  handful  of 
household  goods,  were  loaded  into  a  wagon  drawn  by  a  pair  of 
unbroken  steers,  and  we  were  ready  to  start  for  our  new  home. 
The  two  cows  which  we  had  were  to  be  driven  behind  the 
wagon.  My  elder  brother  drove  the  steers  attached  to  the 
wagon,  and  we,  the  younger  children,  drove  the  cows.  In  the 
short  period  of  precisely  thirty  days  we  reached  our  new  home 
near  the  southwestern  corner  of  Blue  Earth  county.  Now  we 
make  the  trip  in  twelve  hours. 

The  year  had  been  a  peculiar  one  in  Wisconsin.  There  had 
been  severe  frost  at  some  time  in  every  month  during  the  en- 
tire summer.  Corn  and  other  produce  was  badly  frostbitten, 
and  by  October  first  all  vegetation  was  brown  and  dead. 

But  there  had  been  much  rain  in  Minnesota,  evidently  pre- 
venting frosts;  and  when  we  crossed  the  great  "Father  of 
Waters"  at  La  Crosse,  much  swollen  and  turbid,  we  were 
greeted  by  green  foliage,  and  the  freshness  of  spring.  Vege- 
tation was  rank,  grass  tender,  crops  good,  foliage  magnificent ; 
and,  boy-like,  I  at  once  fell  in  love  with  Minnesota.  At  that 
time  the  southern  part  of  Waseca  and  Blue  Earth  counties  was 
almost  wholly  uncultivated,  producing  a  wonderful  growth  of 
wild  grasses. 

We  crossed  the  Blue  Earth  river  about  thirty  miles  north  of 
the  Iowa  line,  and  it  then  seemed  that  we  had  reached  the  very 
limit  of  civilization.  One  could  look  from  the  river  west,  south- 
west, and  northwest,  and  except  a  few  settlers'  cabins  near 
the  river,  not  a  sign  of  human  life  or  habitation  could  be  seen. 
In  fact,  the  western  part  of  Blue  Earth,  Faribault  and  Brown 
counties,  and  all  of  Martin,  Jackson,  Watonwan,  Cottonwood, 
Eock,  Nobles,  Murray,  and  Pipestone,  Redwood,  Lyon  and  Lin- 
coln counties,  were  entirely  unsettled,  save  for  a  few  settlers 
along  the  Minnesota,  Blue  Earth,  Watonwan,  Des  Moines  and 
Rock  rivers,  and  around  the  Chain  lakes  and  lake  Shetek. 

Our  first  impression  was  that  we  were  entirely  without 
neighbors.  The  nearest  settlers  were  a  mile  distant,  and  there 
w^ere  only  four  or  five  families  nearer  than  four  miles  away. 
But  we  soon  learned  that  we  had  neighbors,  even  though  the 
distance  was  considerable. 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67.  437 

Frst  one  neighbor  and  then  another  would  extend  to  every 
family  in  the  vicinity  an  invitation  to  spend  an  afternoon  or  an 
evening.  Someone  would  hitch  his  oxen  to  his  wagon  or  sled, 
and,  going  from  house  to  house,  gather  up  a  full  load,  and  then, 
at  the  usual  gait  for  such  conveyances,  we  rode  and  visited 
until  we  reached  the  appointed  place,  where  perhaps  eight,  ten 
or  a  dozen  persons  spent  the  afternoon  or  evening  in  the  one 
little  room  where  the  meal  was  being  prepared  and  the  table 
spread.  In  this  way  many  warm  friendships  were  formed, 
never  to  be  broken.  Such  neighbors  are,  as  a  rule,  neighbors 
in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name. 

A  man  was  asked,  "Why  did  you  return  to  the  west,  after 
having  gone  back  to  New  York,  and  having  spent  two  years 
there?"  His  answer  was,  ''Neighbors!  Would  you  want  to 
spend  your  life  where  the  people  twenty  feet  away  do  not  know 
your  name,  or  care  whether  you  live  or  die  ?  We  used  to  have 
neighbors  in  the  west,  but  when  our  baby  died  in  New  York 
not  a  person  came  near  us,  and  we  went  to  the  cemetery  alone. 
We  thought  we  would  come  back  home." 

How  very  many  have  had  nearly  the  same  experience !  On 
the  frontier  a  settler  becomes  ill,  and  his  grain  is  sown,  other 
crops  are  planted,  and  the  harvest  is  gathered.  A  widow  buries 
her  husband,  and  her  experience  is  the  same.  Why  is  this? 
Because  they  have  neighbors.  It  is  no  light  thing  for  one  to 
leave  his  harvest  and  go  miles  to  save  the  crop  of  another,  but 
it  has  been  done  times  without  number;  and  the  neighborly 
sentiment,  which  prompts  such  kindly  acts,  counts  for  some- 
thing in  making  up  the  sum  total  of  human  happiness  in  this 
short  life  of  ours. 

What  did  we  have  to  eat  that  year?  Potatoes  and  corn,  no 
flour,  no  meat,  some  milk.  I  doubt  whether  there  was  a  barrel 
of  flour  within  three  miles  of  our  home.  No  wheat  had  been 
raised,  no  hogs  had  been  fattened ;  corn  and  potatoes  were  the 
only  food. 

In  1859,  1860,  and  1861,  the  Blue  Earth  valley  was  supplied 
with  mail  by  a  weekly  stage  route  from  Mankato  to  Garden 
City,  Vernon,  Shelbyville,  Winnebago,  and  Blue  Earth  City. 
The  post  office  for  our  country  for  miles  around  was  Shelby- 


438  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

ville,  then  quite  a  promising  village  about  two  miles  south  of 
the  present  village  of  Amboy. 

"We  were  five  miles  from  Shelbyville,  and  to  get  our  mail 
we  must  go  this  distance  and  cross  the  Blue  Earth  river,  either 
in  a  canoe  or  by  fording.  I  remember  one  occasion  in  the  very 
early  spring,  when  the  river  was  scarcely  free  from  ice  and 
was  much  swollen,  filling  its  banks.  Five  or  six  of  us,  neigh- 
bors, started  for  Shelbyville  to  get  our  mail,  and  to  hear  the 
postmaster  read  the  news  from  a  weekly  St.  Paul  paper  which 
came  to  him,  there  being  at  that  time,  I  think,  no  newspaper 
taken  west  of  the  river.  We  reached  the  river,  the  ice  had 
gone  out,  and  the  canoe  was  on  the  other  side.  We  agreed  to 
draw  cuts  and  decide  who  should  swim  the  river  and  get  the 
canoe.  The  lot  fell  upon  Jonah,  and  I  have  had  chills  ever 
since.  I  am  not  quite  certain  that  the  cuts  were  fairly  held. 
Shelbyville  is  dead,  very  dead,  and  it  is  deserving  of  a  parting 
tear. 

The  first  religious  service  in  our  neighborhood  was  con- 
ducted in  a  little  log  school  house  near  our  home  in  the  early 
summer  of  1860,  and  was  attended  by  very  nearly  the  entire 
settlement.  The  men  were  nearly  all  in  bare  feet;  the  women 
were  dressed  in  drills  and  denims ;  the  children  were  compelled 
to  stand  for  want  of  seats. 

In  the  autumn  of  1860  large  flocks  of  blackbirds,  such  as  I 
think  were  never  since  seen  in  this  country,  attacked  the  corn 
crops  and  destroyed  much  corn.  This  was  general  over  all 
southwestern  Minnesota.  It  is  no  exaggeration  whatever,  when 
I  say  that  dense  flocks  would  consume  an  entire  day  and  even 
longer  in  flying  over  a  given  point.  The  state  offered  forty 
cents  per  hundred  for  their  heads,  many  were  poisoned,  but 
apparently  no  benefit  was  accomplished. 

The  same  year  sandhill  cranes  were  so  numerous,  voracious, 
and  bold,  that  they  could  scarcely  be  driven  from  the  fields. 

The  following  spring  of  1861,  the  water  in  the  Blue  Earth 
river  rose  twenty-six  feet  in  forty-eight  hours,  breaking  the 
record,  I  believe,  for  that  eccentric  stream,  flooding  the  bot- 
toms, floating  away  much  wood  and  fencing  material  gotten 
out  by  the  farmers,  and  drowning  several  persons.    One  family 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67. 


439 


living  on  the  bottomland,  whose  shanty  was  surrounded  by 
water  in  the  night,  lost  several  children. 

Soon  came  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  My  older  brother  at 
once  returned  to  Wisconsin  and  enlisted  in  the  Third  Wiscon- 
sin Volunteers. 

In  1861  a  state  war  tax  of  one  dollar  for  each  legal  voter 
was  levied.  My  father  was  a  voter.  It  was  not  a  very  heavy 
emergency  tax,  to  be  sure,  but  my  brother-in-law  and  myself 
worked  an  entire  day  and  late  into  the  night,  with  two  teams  of 
oxen,  cutting  a  large  saw  log  and  hauling  it  to  the  mill  at  Shel- 
byville,  which  log  we  sold  for  a  dollar  in  order  to  pay  this  tax. 

I  enlisted  on  August  17,  1862,  and  on  August  18  the  Sioux 
Indian  troubles  began.  There  were  no  railroads,  telegraph  or 
telephone  lines,  but  one  stage  line,  and  I  could  never  under- 
stand how  the  reports  of  these  troubles  spread  as  rapidly  as 
they  did.  Although  the  massacre  began  about  sixty  miles  from 
us,  yet  on  the  19th  of  August  our  whole  country  had  reason- 
ably reliable  information  of  the  uprising.  A  neighbor  came  to 
our  house  in  the  night,  neighbor  went  to  neighbor,  and  so  the 
news  travelled.  The  men  were  in  a  fury  of  excitement  and 
anxiety;  the  women  and  children  were  quaking  with  fear. 

Wagons  were  hastily  loaded  with  women  and  children  and 
a  little  food,  animals  were  turned  loose  to  provide  themselves 
with  food,  houses  were  left  unlocked,  oxen  were  hitched  to  the 
wagons,  and  a  general  stampede  was  started  toward  the  east, 
with  all  eyes  turned  toward  the  west.  No  one  knew  whither 
they  were  going;  they  only  knew  that  they  dare  not  stay. 

A  halt  was  made  at  Shelbyville,  the  strongest  buildings 
were  selected  for  occupancy,  the  women  and  children  were 
placed  inside,  and  the  men  acted  as  pickets.  In  the  whole 
country  there  were  scarcely  a  dozen  guns. 

Reports  came  worse  and  worse.  New  Ulm,  twenty-five 
miles  away,  was  attacked,  and  another  stampede  began  for  the 
east;  some  stopped  at  Wilton,  Owatonna,  and  Rochester,  and 
some,  so  far  as  was  ever  heard,  are  going  yet.  After  waiting 
two  or  three  weeks  and  hearing  encouraging  reports,  some  of 
the  more  venturesome  returned  to  their  homes  with  their  fam- 
ilies, only  to  remain  a  few  days,  and  were  again  driven  away 


440  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

by  the  near  proximity  of  the  Indians  and  the  sickening  re- 
ports of  their  murders.  What  was  true  of  our  neighborhood 
was  true  of  every  settlement  in  all  southwestern  Minnesota. 

When  the  stampede  from  our  neighborhood  started,  my 
father  drove  our  oxen  with  my  mother  and  five  children  in  the 
wagon.  On  reaching  the  Blue  Earth  river  about  four  miles 
away,  one  of  the  oxen  was  taken  sick,  and  could  be  driven  no 
farther;  he  lay  down  and  died.  Here  was  a  somewhat  un- 
pleasant dilemma,  but  a  swarthy  young  man  in  the  caravan 
went  into  the  woods  and,  as  he  put  it,  ^'fiscated"  a  young  un- 
broken steer,  put  him  into  the  yoke,  and  make  him  work. 
When  they  returned  several  weeks  afterward,  the  steer  was 
turned  loose  where  he  was  found,  and  we  have  not  yet  ascer- 
tained whose  property  he  was. 

The  unsettled  and  terrifying  conditions  then  existing  con- 
tinued until  late  in  the  fall,  when,  under  the  general  belief  that 
the  Indians  would  not  move  on  the  war  path  in  the  winter,  the 
greater  number  of  the  settlers  returned  to  their  homes  to  save 
what  they  could  of  their  nearly  destroyed  and  wasted  crops. 
Some  of  them,  indeed  quite  many,  never  returned.  With  feel- 
ings of  partial  security,  and  encouraged  by  their  escape  from 
slaughter  thus  far,  the  settlers  remained  at  their  homes,  under 
an  intense  strain  of  anxiety  but  nearly  undisturbed,  until  1864, 
when  rumors  of  Indian  troubles  were  again  heard ;  but  the  set- 
tlers were  not  so  easily  terrified  as  before,  and  held  their 
ground. 

Many  a  day  during  this  time  my  younger  brothers  and  sis- 
ters sat  upon  the  roof  of  our  straw-covered  cattle  shed  and 
watched  for  Indians,  while  father  worked  in  the  field.  Little 
wonder,  if  some  of  the  children  of  pioneer  days  became  pre- 
maturely old  and  thoughtful. 

On  the  11th  day  of  August,  1864,  after  quite  a  long  period 
of  freedom  from  Indian  disturbances,  a  party  of  eight  or  ten 
Indians  suddenly  appeared  in  the  edge  of  the  timber  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  between  Shelbyville  and 
Vernon,  and,  taking  wholly  by  surprise  Mr.  Noble  G.  Root  and 
his  two  sons,  who  were  stacking  grain,  shot  and  killed  Mr.  Root 
and  seriously  wounded  one,  and,  as  I  think,  both  of  his  sons.  ■ 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67.  441 

The  Indians  then  crossed  the  river  in  a  westerly  direction, 
reaching  the  open  country  where  the  Willow  Creek  cemetery 
now  is.  On  that  day,  Mr.  Charles  Mack  of.Willow  Creek,  with 
his  team  and  mower,  had  gone  to  the  farm  of  Mr.  Hindman,  a 
near  neighbor  of  ours  a  short  distance  from  Willow  Creek  to 
mow  hay  for  Mr.  Hindman,  who  in  exchange  had  gone  to  the 
farm  of  Mr.  Mack  to  assist  Mr.  Jesse  Mack  in  stacking  grain. 
They  were  loading  grain  directly  across  the  road  from  the 
cemetery,  when,  on  looking  toward  the  road,  but  a  few  rods 
away,  they  saw  these  Indians  coming  directly  toward  them. 
They  both  hastily  got  upon  the  load,  and  Mr.  Mack  whipped 
his  horses  into  a  run,  when,  in  crossing  a  dead  furrow,  Mr. 
Hindman  was  thrown  from  the  load,  pitchfork  in  hand,  strik- 
ing upon  his  face  in  the  stubble  and  dirt.  Eubbing  the  dirt 
from  his  eyes  as  best  he  could,  he  started  to  run,  and  as  soon 
as  he  was  able  to  open  his  eyes  and  see,  he  discovered  that  he 
was  running  directly  toward  the  Indians.  He  reversed  the  en- 
gine somewhat  suddenly,  put  on  a  little  more  steam,  and  made 
splendid  time  in  the  other  direction  toward  the  creek  bed,  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  miFe  away. 

Once  in  the  creek,  the  water  in  which  was  very  low  at  that 
time,  he  followed  the  bed  of  the  creek  for  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  mile,  and  then  stopped  to  rest  and  to  wash  the  dirt  and  blood 
from  his  face.  He  then  left  the  stream  and  started  up  the  bluff 
on  the  opposite  side,  which  was  quite  steep  and  covered  thickly 
with  timber  and  brush.  Nearly  at  the  top  of  the  bluff  he  came 
to  a  little  opening  in  the  brush,  and  looking  around  about  a 
hundred  feet,  he  saw  those  Indians  deliberately  watching  his 
approach.  Utterly  exhausted  and  unnerved,  he  dared  not  run ; 
he  paused,  and  in  a  moment  one  of  the  Indians  drew  a  large 
knife  and  started  directly  toward  him.  Concluding  that  his 
day  of  reckoning  had  come,  he  took  the  position  of  a  soldier 
with  his  pitchfork  at  "charge  bayonets"  and  awaited  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Indian,  who  came  within  a  very  few  feet  of  him 
and  stopped.  Each  stood,  looked,  and  waited  for  the  other  to 
open  the  meeting;  finally  the  Indian  turned  as  if  to  retreat, 
and  Mr.  Hindman  turned  again  toward  the  creek.  He  reached 
it.     There  was  no  official  time-keeper,  and  the  exact  time  is 


442  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

not  recorded.  He  then  followed  the  creek  bed  down  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Mack,  where  he  found  a  pony  belonging  to  him- 
self, which  he  had  ridden  there  that  morning,  and  started  with 
all  speed  toward  his  own  home,  where  he  arrived  just  before 
dark. 

His  children  were  gone,  his  house  ransacked,  nearly  every- 
thing broken  or  destroyed,  and  in  the  meadow  a  short  distance 
from  the  house  was  the  dead  body  of  Mr.  Charles  Mack.  By 
this  time  darkness  had  set  in.  His  wife  had  gone  that  day 
about  two  miles  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Jesse  Thomas  to  attend  a 
neighborhood  quilting.  He  again  mounted  his  pony  and 
started  across  the  prairie  for  that  place.  When  about  half  the 
distance  had  been  made,  the  pony  looked  sharply  to  one  side 
and  neighed  loudly.  Mr.  Hindman  looked  through  the  semi- 
darkness  in  the  direction  indicated,  and  there,  about  two  or 
three  hundred  feet  away,  were  the  Indians ;  four  of  them  were 
mounted,  the  others  on  foot.  Mr.  Hindman  put  whip  and  spur 
to  his  pony  and  ran  him  for  nearly  a  mile,  then  he  stopped  in  a 
valley  to  listen  for  the  Indians;  he  did  not  hear  them,  and  he 
has  always  insisted  that  he  has  never  seen  them  since. 

On  arriving  at  the  home  of  Jesse  Thomas  he  found  it  de- 
serted, ransacked,  and  nearly  everything  destroyed. 

It  was  later  learned  that  his  children  saw  the  Indians  at- 
tack Mr.  Mack,  that  they  ran  from  the  house  and  secreted 
themselves  in  the  very  tall  grass  of  the  slough  in  which  Mr. 
Mack  was  mowing,  and  escaped  with  their  lives. 

The  ladies  at  the  quilting  had  a  visit  from  the  Indians ;  they 
saw  them  approaching  from  a  belt  of  timber  but  a  few  rods 
away,  and,  escaping  by  a  back  door  to  the  cornfield  which  came 
quite  up  to  the  -house,  all  their  lives  were  saved. 

No  more  honest,  kindhearted  and  generous  neighbors  ever 
gave  their  lives  in  defense  of  their  property  and  their  families, 
than  were  Charles  Mack  and  Noble  G.  Root. 

I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  furor  of  alarm  which  this  Indian 
raid  again  caused  in  that  settlement,  and  indeed  all  over  south- 
western Minnesota.  Many  settlers  again  seriously  contem- 
plated finally  abandoning  their  homes  and  property  and  flee- 
ing for  their  lives ;  they  had  nearly  lost  all  faith  in  the  assur- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67.  443 

ances  of  protection  by  the  public  authorities.  But  squads  of 
armed  men  were  organized,  the  country  was  scoured,  pickets 
were  put  out,  the  women  and  children  were  corralled  as  well  as 
possible,  and  after  a  while  confidence  was  again  partially  re- 
stored. 

This  was  the  last  Indian  raid  into  southwestern  Minnesota, 
save  the  raid  into  Blue  Earth  county  on  the  2nd  day  of  May, 
1865,  in  which  the  Jewett  family  in  Rapidan  were  murdered, 
with  the  circumstances  of  which  all  are  familiar. 

It  has  been  written  that  the  half-breed  Campbell,  who  was 
hanged  in  Mankato  for  participation  in  this  murder,  ''was  cap- 
tured by  an  armed  citizen  by  the  name  of  Dodge,  and  taken  to 
Mankato."  This  is  not  correct.  This  man  Dodge,  whom  I  well 
knew,  and  who  signed  for  enlistment  in  my  company,  was 
walking  along  a  public  road  near  Jones'  Ford,  going  toward 
Mankato  about  three  miles  away,  when  he  fell  in  with  Camp- 
bell going  in  the  same  direction.  Nothing  was  said  or  done  in 
the  way  of  a  capture,  but  Campbell's  actions  and  talk  were 
such  as  to  create  suspicion  that  he  knew  of  the  killing  of  the 
Jewett  family.  On  arriving  at  Mankato,  Dodge  related  his  ex- 
perience and  suspicions,  and  Campbell  was  then  taken  into  cus- 
tody. Campbell  was  on  his  way  to  Kasota  at  the  time,  where 
his  mother  then  lived.  He  was  tried  a  few  days  after  this  mur- 
der on  the  Court  House  lawn  in  Mankato,  by  a  sort  of  drum- 
head court-martial,  and  then  and  there  was  executed  by  being 
hanged  to  a  tree. 

William  J.  Jewett,  who  was  a  baby  in  arms  when  this  fam- 
ily was  murdered,  and  who  was  struck  upon  the  head  and  left 
for  dead,  but  who  of  the  entire  family  survived,  was  this  last 
summer  killed  in  an  automobile  accident  in  the  suburbs  of 
Mankato. 

I  have  said  that  I  enlisted  on  August  17,  1862.  We  were 
mustered  on  the  19th  and  assigned  as  Company  D  of  the  Ninth 
Minnesota,  but  we  did  not  meet  the  other  companies  of  our 
regiment  for  more  than  a  year  thereafter.  On  the  very  day  of 
our  muster  we  learned  of  the  Indian  outbreak  at  the  Lower 
Agency,  and  our  company  was  ordered  to  march  at  once  to  St. 
Peter. 


444  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Company  D  was  made  up  very  largely  of  farmer  boys  right 
from  the  harvest  fields,  dressed  in  denims  and  straw  hats,  some 
in  bare  feet,  and  we  were  not  in  first  class  marching  order,  nor 
very  presentable.  Uniforms  and  Government  clothing  could 
not  be  had,  and,  more  than  this,  the  only  arms  with  which  we 
could  then  be  furnished  were  old  Austrian  and  Belgian  mus- 
kets, which  had  been  stored  and  poorly  cared  for  since  the  war 
of  1812.  Very  many  of  the  muskets  were  utterly  useless  as  fire- 
arms. 

Notwithstanding  these  little  deficiencies  in  our  make-up,  we 
made  a  forced  march  to  St.  Peter,  looking  more  like  a  squad  of 
Missouri  bushwackers  than  Union  soldiers.  On  our  arrival  at 
St.  Peter  we  at  once  dug  a  line  of  rifle  pits  along  the  crown  of 
the  bluffs,  extending  from  the  present  location  of  the  Insane 
Hospital  on  the  south  to  the  Minnesota  river  on  the  north ;  and 
we  spent  the  fall  and  winter  in  drilling,  picketing  in  the  rifle 
pits,  and  scouting  the  country  toward  New  Ulm  and  Fort 
Ridgely  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Swan  lake.  I  well  remember 
that  there  were  brought  into  St.  Peter  a  woman  and  children 
who  had  been  found  hiding  in  the  tall  grass  and  rushes  near 
their  house  which  was  yet  burning,  the  husband  and  father  hav- 
ing been  killed. 

After  the  second  battle  at  New  Ulm,  and  when  that  city 
was  evacuated,  there  came  over  the  hill  on  the  New  Ulm  road 
and  into  St.  Peter,  very  early  one  morning,  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  men,  women  and  children,  with  horse  teams,  or  oxen,  on 
horseback  and  on  foot,  a  veritable  mob  or  rabble  which  had 
been  on  the  road  all  night  coming  from  New  Ulm  to  St.  Peter, 
in  imminent  peril  of  their  lives.  Two  large  stone  warehouses 
stood  on  the  river  front  at  St.  Peter,  and  these  were  hastily 
converted  into  barracks  and  what  we  then  called  ''soup 
houses"  for  these  refugees,  where  they  remained  a  long  time. 
We  so  called  these  quarters  because  for  want  of  sufficient  ra- 
tions, on  which  to  feed  these  people,  they  were  fed  largely  on 
soup  made  in  great  kettles  as  the  cheapest  food  and  that  which 
would  make  the  food  supply  go  farthest.  The  old  Court  House, 
a  frame  building  not  far  from  the  Episcopal  church,  was  con- 
verted into  a  hospital  for  the  sick  and  wounded,  of  which  there 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67.  445 

were  many,  the  patients  lying  upon  the  floors  for  want  of  beds 
or  cots. 

We  were  diligently  and  persistently  drilled  in  military  ma- 
neuvers through  the  entire  winter,  and  became  quite  proficient. 
While  as  a  steady  diet  we  did  not  enjoy  these  drills,  there  were 
some  amusing  experiences.  A  company  of  German  cavalry  was 
there,  and  their  orders  on  drill  were  given  in  German.  Our 
infantry  company  and  the  German  cavalry  company  would  fre- 
quently have  a  sham  battle.  The  infantry  would  advance,  de- 
ploy as  skirmishers,  and  the  cavalry  would  charge  us  with  their 
horses  on  the  run.  The  infantry  would  rally  on  the  center,  and, 
as  the  cavalry  came  near,  fire  with  blank  cartridges;  then  the 
horses  would  throw  their  riders  and  run  away.  This  was  too 
strenuous  work  for  the  cavalry  and  we  discontinued  it.  The 
hospital  was  fast  filling  with  injured  cavalry  men,  and  the 
horses  were  not  at  all  schooled  to  their  work  by  this  manner 
of  drill. 

A  little  incident  illustrates  the  freight  problem  then  and 
now.  I  was  at  a  ford  on  the  Minnesota  river,  A  man  came 
along  with  a  team  of  oxen  and  a  wagon  loaded  with  cook 
stoves.  He  crossed  the  river  and  in  going  up  a  sharp  hill  the 
chain  broke,  the  wagon  ran  back,  tipped  over  upon  the  stones, 
and  every  stove  was  broken.  The  man  was  about  ready  to 
have  a  nervous  collapse.  He  said  that  he  had  gone  from  Man- 
kato  to  St.  Paul  for  this  load  of  stoves  for  a  Mankato  dealer, 
had  been  on  the  road  two  weeks,  that  he  was  perfectly  willing 
to  lose  his  time  and  expenses,  and  to  ask  no  compensation,  but 
that  if  he  should  be  required  to  pay  for  the  stoves,  it  would 
take  all  the  property  he  had  on  earth.  I  hope  that  he  was  not 
required  to  pay  for  the  stoves. 

While  at  St.  Peter,  in  the  early  part  of  December,  1862,  a 
few  of  us  learned,  by  grapevine  telegraph,  late  one  afternoon, 
that  an  effort  was  to  be  made  the  following  evening  by  the 
citizens  of  Mankato,  New  Ulm,  and  vicinity,  to  kill  the  Indian 
prisoners,  three  hundred  and  more,  then  in  camp  at  Mankato 
near  the  present  site  of  Sibley  Park.  As  no  admission  fee  was 
to  be  charged,  the  select  few  determined  to  attend  the  enter- 
tainment.   After  dark  we  corrupted  a  wagon-master,  secured 


446  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

a  team  of  Government  mules  and  a  wagon,  and  started  for  Man- 
kato,  where  we  arrived  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  I 
have  never  seen  a  correct  history  of  this  fiasco  in  print. 

The  headquarters  of  the  blood-thirsty  citizens  was  the  old 
Mankato  House,  located  where  the  National  Citizens'  Bank 
now  stands,  and  liquid  refreshments  were  being  served  liber- 
ally, without  money  and  without  price,  A  very  large  crowd 
had  gathered,  but  there  seemed  to  be  no  great  haste  to  march 
on  the  Indian  camp.  Several  times  a  start  was  made  by  a 
squad  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  persons,  who  would  proceed  for  a 
few  hundred  feet  and  then  halt,  finally  returning  for  more 
refreshments. 

Nearly  at  midnight  the  supply  of  refreshments  must  have 
become  exhausted,  for  the  army  moved.  Several  hundred  of 
the  citizens  started  south  along  Front  Street  for  the  Indian 
camp,  straggling  along  a  distance  of  several  blocks.  When  the 
head  of  the  column  reached  West  Mankato,  it  halted  until  the 
rear  came  up,  and  while  a  rambling  discussion  was  going  on  as 
to  just  what  they  should  do,  and  how  they  should  do  it.  Cap- 
tain (since  Governor)  Austin  and  his  company  of  cavalry  sur- 
rounded the  whole  squad  and  ordered  them  to  move  on  toward 
Colonel  (since  Governor)  Miller's  headquarters,  right  at  the 
Indian  camp,  where  now  they  seemed  reluctant  to  go  and  re- 
fused to  move. 

Captain  Austin  ordered  his  men  to  close  in,  which  they  did, 
crowding  the  citizens,  and  yet  they  refused  to  move.  Finally 
he  gave  the  command  ''Draw  sabers,"  and  when  a  hundred 
sabers  came  out  in  one  movement,  the  army  again  moved  on 
Colonel  Miller's  headquarters  at  the  Indian  camp. 

The  scene  there  was  supremely  ridiculous.  Colonel  Miller 
came  out  from  his  tent  and  spoke  kindly  to  the  citizens,  and 
asked  why  they  had  congregated  in  such  large  numbers. 
Every  one  who  answered  at  all  insisted  that  their  mission  was 
wholly  peaceful,  being  utterly  ignorant  of  any  evil  designs, 
and  finally  the  Colonel  ordered  their  release  and  suggested 
that  they  go  home,  which  they  hastened  to  do. 

The  next  morning  these  Indians  were  removed,  under  guard 
of  all  the  troops  in  the  city,  to  log  barracks  which  had  been 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67.  447 


^g-  built  for  them  on  Front  street,  diagonally  across  the  street 
H  from  where  the  Saulpaugh  Hotel  now  stands.  The  removal 
H  was  accomplished  without  incident,  except  that  occasionally 
^m  an  epithet  was  hurled  at  the  soldiers  for  being  engaged  in 
H       guarding  and  protecting  the  Indians. 

^m  These  barracks  were  -occupied  by  the  Indians  only  about 

^1  two  weeks.  They  had  been  there  little  more  than  a  week,  when 
^B  the  officer  of  the  day,  making  his  morning  inspection,  which 
^m  was  very  formal,  thought  that  he  saw  a  hatchet  or  a  knife  un- 
^"  der  the  blanket  of  one  of  the  Indians.  Without  a  change  of 
countenance  or  a  suspicious  movement  he  proceeded  in  the  in- 
spection until  it  was  completed,  retired  from  the  barracks,  and 
at  once  caused  to  be  quietly  mustered  around  the  barracks 
every  soldier  in  the  city  with  loaded  guns  and  fixed  bayonets. 
Then  with  a  squad  of  soldiers  he  entered  the  barracks,  and, 
searching  every  Indian,  secured  a  large  number  of  hatchets, 
knives,  clubs,  and  other  weapons.  These  weapons,  it  was 
learned,  had  been  gotten  at  the  Winnebago  Agency,  about 
twelves  miles  from  Mankato,  by  several  squaws  who  prepared 
food  for  these  Indians,  and  who  were  allowed  to  go  to  the 
woods  to  gather  fuel  for  their  fires. 

Immediately  after  this  discovery  the  Indians  who  were  un- 
der sentence  of  death  were  removed  to  a  stone  building  but  a 
few  feet  distant,  where  they  were  kept  under  heavy  guard. 
The  guard  which  had  been  kept  around  the  barracks  had  been 
comparatively  light,  and  had  the  Indians  moved  in  the  night 
time  before  their  plans  were  discovered,  they  would  probably 
have  escaped. 

A  few  days  after  this  incident,  my  company  came  from  St. 
Peter  to  Mankato  on  December  26,  1862,  to  act  as  a  guard  on 
one  side  of  the  scaffold  at  the  execution  of  the  thirty-eight 
Indians  who  were  then  hanged,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  northerly  from  the  location  of  the  Saulpaugh  Hotel,  and 
between  Front  street  and  the  river,  of\ which  execution  so 
much  has  been  written  and  said. 

In  the  very  early  spring  of  1863  my  company  was  ordered 
from  St.  Peter  to  Judson  on  the  southwest  side  of  the  Minne- 
sota river,  very  near  where  Judson  station  now  is,  about  mid- 


448  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

way  between  Mankato  and  New  Ulm.  There  we  built  a  sod 
fort  about  150  feet  square  and  about  ten  feet  high,  making  an 
excellent  fort  for  resisting  Indian  attacks,  and  we  there  re- 
mained until  May  of  that  year,  scouting  the  prairies  and  tim- 
ber lands,  and  bearing  dispatches  between  New  Ulm,  St.  Peter, 
South  Bend,  and  Mankato.  The  remains  of  the  fort  can  still 
be  seen,  and  an  engineer's  draft  of  it  is  in  the  files  of  this  His- 
torical Society. 

While  in  this  fort  I  was  on  one  occasion  ordered  to  go  to 
the  stables,  saddle  the  fleetest  mule,  and  carry  certain  impor- 
tant dispatches  to  Mankato.  Riding  mules  was  not  my  long 
suit,  but  I  obeyed.  I  had  proceeded  about  two  miles,  when  I 
came  to  a  narrow  bridge  which  my  mule  refused  to  cross.  We 
fought  it  out  and  the  mule  conquered.  I  succeeded  in  getting 
him  so  unmanagable  that  he  turned  and  ran  back  to  Judson 
with  me,  in  spite  of  all  that  I  could  do.  I  was  so  mortified  that, 
rather  than  go  to  the  fort,  I  let  him  go  direct  to  the  stables, 
where  I  dismounted  and  secured  a  driver's  ''black  snake." 
Remounting,  I  applied  it  so  vigorously  that  when  we  reached 
the  bridge  the  second  time,  neither  of  us  knew  it.  I  was  com- 
plimented for  making  such  excellent  time. 

In  early  May,  1863,  one  platoon  of  our  company  was  or- 
dered to  Fairmont  in  Martin  county,  and  the  other  platoon  to 
a  small  prairie  lake  in  the  same  county,  then  called  Chanyaska 
lake,  about  eleven  miles  northwest  from  Fairmont  and  a  short 
distance  north  of  Elm  creek. 

I  was  with  the  platoon  under  Captain  Skaro,  which  was 
ordered  to  Fairmont.  We  marched  from  Judson  by  the  way 
of  Garden  City,  Vernon  Center,  and  Shelbyville  to  Winnebago 
City,  and  from  there  we  marched  across  the  prairie  as  nearly 
in  a  direct  line  as  possible  to  Fairmont.  If  there  were  any 
roads,  we  did  not  see  them ;  our  course  the  whole  distance  was 
through  prairie  grass. 

We  approached  Fairmont  from  a  northeasterly  direction. 
Halting  on  a  hill  or  elevation  a  short  distance  from  there,  we 
caught  the  first  sight  of  our  destination.  From  this  standpoint 
the  landscape  was  most  beautiful  and  attractive. 

To  the  east  from  whence  we  came  could  be  seen  a  sea  of 
rolling  prairie,  with  the  timber  on  the  Blue  Earth  river  eigh- 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,  1859-67.  449 

teen  or  twenty  miles  away,  and  extending  from  the  Blue  Earth 
county  line  southerly  to  Blue  Earth  City  and  beyond.  To  the 
south  our  vision  extended  across  the  prairies  to  the  Iowa  line, 
with  the  timber  of  East  Chain  lakes  as  the  only  obstruction  to 
our  vi^w.  To  the  north  was  Elm  creek,  which  could  be  traced 
by  the  skirting  trees  from  a  distance  west  of  the  Central  Chain 
lakes  in  an  easterly  direction  to  the  Blue  Earth  river,  with  the 
mounds  in  Blue  Earth  county,  near  which  I  lived,  plainly  visi- 
ble beyond  the  valley  of  Elm  creek,  twenty  miles  away.  To 
the  west,  as  placid  as  molten  silver,  were  seen  the  waters  of 
two  of  the  Central  Chain  lakes,  and  the  timber  skirting  two 
or  three  more,  beyond  which  was  an  endless  sea  of  rolling 
prairie. 

Immediately  in  our  front,  sleepy  and  quiet,  was  the  little 
log  fort  which  we  were  to  occupy.  The  few  little  homes  upon 
the  lakes  then  occupied,  were  hidden  in  the  woods,  and  the  lit- 
tle fort  was  the  only  visible  evidence  of  the  handiwork  of  man. 

The  fort  was  located  just  southerly  from  the  present  beau- 
tiful Court  House,  the  westerly  wall  running  about  parallel 
with  the  high  bluff  of  the  lake  shore,  and  about  fifty  feet  from 
where  the  bluff  begins  to  descend  toward  the  lake.  It  was 
constructed  of  large,  long  logs,  and  was  about  eight  feet  high 
and  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  square ;  it  enclosed  the  first  Mar- 
tin county  court  house,  which  was  used  by  us  as  a  mess  room. 
This  Court  House  was  about  18  by  24  feet,  built  of  boards,  one 
story  high,  and  is  there  yet,  just  to  the  south  of  the  Court 
House  grounds,  and  should  be  preserved. 

This  fort  had  just  been  vacated  by  a  company  of  "Wisconsin 
cavalry  in  anticipation  of  our  arrival.  A  draft  of  this  fort 
made  by  government  engineers  is  now  in  the  files  of  this  So- 
ciety. 

We  found  on  investigation  that  we  had  inherited  from  the 
cavalry  company  two  canoes  and  a  small  flat  boat,  which  were 
lying  at  what  is  now  the  boat  landing  on  Sisseton  lake.  These 
boats  furnished  us  with  very  much  amusement.  It  was  a  fa- 
vorite pastime  to  engage  in  naval  battles,  the  two  canoes 
against  the  flat  boat,  and  more  than  once  I  found  myself  and 
canoe  tipped  over  in  the  middle  of  the  lake,  my  paddle  cap- 
tured, and  I  left  to  ^et  ashore  as  best  I  could. 

29 


450  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  platoon  ordered  to  Chanyaska  lake,  under  command  of 
Lieutenant  Patton,  arrived  there  about  the  time  that  we 
reached  Fairmont.  This  was  a  shallow  prairie  lake,  with 
heavy  marsh  grass  all  around  it,  and  was  literally  alive  with 
geese,  brant,  and  ducks,  and  quite  frequently  large  swans  could 
be  seen  upon  its  waters.  This  platoon  constructed  a  sod  fort 
near  the  shore  of  the  lake  much  like  the  fort  we  had  built  at 
Judson. 

About  once  in  each  month  our  platoons  changed  locations, 
so  that  each  platoon  was  in  each  fort  about  an  equal  length  of 
time.  Our  duties  consisted  of  scouting  the  prairies  to  the  west 
of  us  for  Indians,  but  not  one  was  seen  by  us  that  summer. 

A  line  of  forts  was  constructed  and  occupied  that  sum- 
mer, extending  from  the  Iowa  boundary  northerly  to  Fort 
Abercrombie,  and  cavalry  scouts  frequently  passed  along  this 
line,  carrying  our  mails,  and  keeping  us  posted  as  to  Indian 
disturbances. 

Captain  McLeod,  General  Sibley's  chief  of  scouts,  a  very 
congenial  man,  frequently  visited  us. 

We  had  a  few  good  musicians  in  our  company  and  we  de- 
termined to  have  a  celebration  at  Fairmont  on  July  fourth, 
and  a  dance  in  the  evening.  We  invited  our  friends  and  rela- 
tives all  along  the  line  from  Blue  Earth  City  to  St.  Peter,  and 
I  think  that  about  every  one  came.  Our  barracks,  which  we 
surrendered  to  the  ladies,  were  filled  to  overflowing.  We  sol- 
diers slept  upon  the  stable  roofs,  the  ground,  in  our  boats, 
everywhere  and  anywhere ;  but,  because  of  the  mosquitoes,  the 
most  of  us  slept  nowhere.  The  platoon  from  Chanyaska  came 
over  and  we  had  a  royal  time,  rounded  out  with  an  all-night 
dance. 

The  day  before  the  4th,  six  of  us  went  out  on  lake  Sisseton 
and  lake  George  with  our  three  boats  and  killed  thirty-six 
geese ;  another  detail  of  men  caught  fish  in  abundance ;  and  on 
the  fourth  our  meals  were  mostly  fish  and  goose,  goose  and  fish, 
boiled,  fried,  baked,  stewed,  and  broiled. 

The  unusual  movement  of  Indians  and  troops  on  the  west- 
ern plains  that  summer  seemed  to  disturb  and  break  up  the 
usually  large  herds  of  buffaloes  which  roamed  there,  dividing 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,   1859-67.  451 

them  into  smaller  herds  which  wandered  in  many  directions. 
On  two  occasions  in  the  early  morning  our  pickets  discovered 
buffaloes  across  Sisseton  lake  to  the  west  of  us,  on  one  occasion 
two,  and  on  another  three.  We  immediately  organized  hunt- 
ing paties,  succeeded  in  killing  all  of  them,  and  enjoyed  the 
novelty  of  buffalo  steak  very  much. 

We  had  one  horse  which  belonged  to  one  of  our  officers, 
and  on  one  of  these  occasions  there  was  a  peddler  at  our  fort 
who  drove  an  old  and  somewhat  crippled  horse.  These  horses 
were  both  taken  by  the  soldiers  on  the  buffalo  hunt.  The  man 
riding  the  peddler's  horse  approached  quite  near  a  buffalo 
after  we  had  surrounded  him,  and  fired,  wounding  the  buf- 
falo, which  quickly  lowered  his  head  and  charged  directly  at 
him.  It  was  with  the  greatest  effort  that  this  man  succeeded 
in  getting  the  machinery  of  that  horse  in  motion  quick  enough 
to  escape  being  caught;  both  man  and  horse  then  and  there 
retired  from  the  field. 

We  succeeded,  at  both  of  our  forts,  in  catching  alive  foxes, 
prairie  chickens,  quails,  cranes,  geese,  and  an  endless  variety 
of. ducks,  making  really  an  interesting  collection,  which  we 
kept  in  cages  and  pens,  cared  for  and  fed,  until  we  turned 
them  over  to  our  successors.  We  also  had  a  tame  hawk  at  each 
fort,  wings  entirely  uncut,  at  liberty  to  come  and  go  as  they 
would,  but  they  were  the  most  tame  of  any  of  our  collection, 
and  came  long  distances  to  answer  the  bugle  call  for  meals. 

At  our  fort  at  Fairmont  we  learned  a  lesson  in  order  which 
I  think  none  of  us  have  ever  quite  forgotten.  One  dark  night 
after  midnight  the  drum  sounded  the  long  roll,  which  means 
''An  attack,  get  into  line  quick!"  Things  had  been  going 
smooth,  and  we  had  gotten  extremely  careless  in  the  location 
of  our  clothing  on  retiring  to  bed,  and  such  confusion  as  this 
call  caused  can  hardly  be  imagined.  I  jumped  from  the  upper 
bunk  which  I  occupied,  and  fell  straddle  of  the  neck  of  an 
occupant  of  the  lower  bunk,  who  was  trying  to  get  on  one  of 
my  shoes;  the  other  one  I  could  not  find.  In  fifteen  minutes 
from  the  first  tap  of  the  drum  we  were  in  line,  some  without 
shoes,  some  without  hats,  several  without  guns,  nearly  all  in  a 
partial  state  of  undress,  only  to  receive  a  well  deserved  scold- 
ing for  our  utter  disorder. 


452  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

After  two  more  similar  experiments,  we  could,  in  utter 
darkness,  get  into  line  of  battle,  fully  equipped,  in  three  min- 
utes from  the  first  tap  of  the  drum.  I  am  still  inclined  to  prac- 
tice the  lesson  I  then  learned. 

About  the  first  of  October  we  were  relieved  by  a  company 
of  Minnesota  cavalry,  and  were  ordered  to  join  our  regiment 
at  Fort  Snelling  and  go  south. 

On  the  8th  day  of  October,  1863,  there  stood  upon  the  hur- 
ricane deck  of  a  steamer  gently  steaming  down  the  Mississippi 
river  past  Lake  City,  where  the  present  generation  of  soldier 
boys  are  wont  to  camp,  and  toward  the  Sunny  Southland  then 
grim  with  the  smoke  of  battle,  eight  healthy,  cheerful  and  light- 
hearted  soldier  boys,  discussing  the  question  whether  we,  and 
how  many  of  us,  would  ever  see  Fairmont  again. 

One  lies  buried  at  Benton  Barracks,  Missouri ;  one  sleeps  in 
the  Soldiers'  Cemetery  at  Memphis,  with  seventy-two  thou- 
sand loyal  comrades;  five  went  to  a  soldier's  death  under  the 
scorching  sun,  within  the  prison  stockade  at  Andersonville.  I 
alone,  of  all  these,  was  privileged  to  look  again  upon  Fairmont 
and  those  beautiful  lakes. 

About  the  time  of  the  close  of  the  war,  immigration  became 
brisk,  many  new  settlers  came  into  southwestern  Minnesota, 
and  signs  of  -thrift  and  prosperity  were  for  the  first  time  mani- 
fest in  all  directions.  In  the  years  1866  and  1867  there  was  a 
veritable  farmers'  boom  throughout  all  the  country;  much  new 
land  was  broken  and  much  building  done.  All  of  the  grain 
crop  seemed  to  be  needed  for  bread,  seed,  and  feed  for  the 
newcomers.  There  was  no  occasion  to  haul  produce  to  market. 
It  was  all  eagerly  taken  at  the  farm. 

There  was  in  1866  a  splendid  crop  of  everything.  Wheat 
sold  at  the  farm  in  the  spring  of  1867  at  $2.00  to  $3.00  per 
bushel;  oats  at  50  to  75  cents;  potatoes  at  $1.00  and  upward, 
and  everything  else  accordingly.  This  caused  a  great  increase 
in  acreage  of  producing  ground,  which  was  increased  many- 
fold.    Some  said  that  wheat  would  never  go  below  $2.00  again. 

How  about  the  result  of  all  this?  The  crop  of  1867  was  a 
very  bountiful  one.  Farmers  were  compelled  to  pay  from  $3.00 
to  $3.50  per  day  each  for  six  or  seven  harvest  hands  to  follow 


EXPERIENCES  IN  SOUTHWESTERN  MINN.,  1859-67. 


453 


the  old  hand  rake  or  self  rake  reapers,  and  the  wheat  crop  sold 
at  35  to  55  cents  per  bushel.  Debts  had  been  created  for  new 
machinery  at  high  prices  and  high  rates  of  interest.  Low 
prices  of  produce  prevailed  for  many  years,  and  the  result  was 
an  extended  period  of  great  depression  and  very  hard  times. 
Many  farms  were  lost  under  mortgages,  and  many  of  the  early 
settlers  were  compelled  to  go  elsewhere  and  start  again. 

A  true  pioneer  is  very  seldom  fitted  to  compete  with  the 
more  shrewd  and  experienced  man  of  the  world.  He  is  as  a 
rule  quite  unable  to  reason  from  cause  to  effect,  or  to  foresee 
approaching  conditions  and  profit  thereby.  He  is  quite  incom- 
petent to  deal  with  the  average  business  man  at  arm's  length, 
and  the  result  is  inevitably  ''the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  as 
has  been  very  heartlessly  said.  He  suffers  hardship  and  priva- 
tion, sometimes  starvation  and  death,  to  open  and  develop 
some  garden  spot  on  this  earth,  only  to  be  crowded  out  by  his 
more  shrewd  successor,  who  lives  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  toil. 

In  this  day  and  age  of  great  and  rapid  transitions,  of  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  war,  wonderful  inventions  and  intense 
life,  when  the  industrial,  commercial  and  social  world  is  going 
at  such  a  furious  pace,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  pioneers  of  all 
this  country,  both  east  and  west,  made  all  this  possible;  yes 
indeed,  made  this  country.  They  are  the  people  who  made 
this  great  state,  and  who  are  entitled  to  the  credit  for  pretty 
nearly  all  that  is  good  and  worthy  in  it. 

They  came  in  the  days  when  men  across  the  great  river 
hitched  oxen  to  covered  wagons,  and  with  their  families  and 
household  goods  drove  over  corduroy  roads,  through  sloughs 
and  sand,  through  forests  and  over  prairies,  across  half  a  con- 
tinent to  the  frontier  beyond.  Mere  girls  and  boys  driving 
teams  and  following  cows,  as  joyous  as  if  life  was  one  long 
holiday;  tired  women,  gazing  from  under  the  canvas  tops, 
wondering  whither  bound;  children  as  ruddy  as  cherries, 
first  riding  and  then  running  alongside, — all  were  chasing  the 
setting  sun. 

Stories  of  trampling  of  fighters  on  the  march  and  in  the 
clash  of  arms,  there  are  in  plenty,  surrounded  by  all  the  ro- 
mance and  glamour  of  which  poets  love  to  sing;  but  because 


454  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

these  heroes  and  heroines  of  pioneer  days  went  forth  from  our 
own  borders,  because  they  shed  a  martyr's  blood  without  a 
martyr's  prayer  or  a  martyr's  whine,  because,  when  they  won 
the  game  of  life's  battle,  they  were  dust  grimed,  ragged  vic- 
tors, because  they  were  heroes  and  heroines  of  the  common- 
place, their  history  is  largely  unwritten. 

It  is  easier  to  be  a  hero  of  the  regiment,  marching  in  uni- 
form and  pomp  to  the  music  of  the  trombone  and  tuba,  than  a 
hero  of  the  spade  and  the  axe,  the  milk-pail  and  the  frying-pan. 
Yet  the  conquest  of  the  frontier  was  wrought  by  the  heroes 
and  heroines  of  the  homespun,  by  the  men  and  women,  too, 
with  rifle  in  one  hand,  and  the  implements  of  toil  in  the  other. 

Of  no  class  is  this  more  true  than  of  the  early  settlers  of 
southwestern  Minnesota,  men  and  women  with  muscles  of  iron 
and  nerves  of  steel. 

"He  is  swart  from  the  glow  of  the  merciless  sun, 
And  his  muscles  are  sore  from  the  work  he  has  done; 
He  has  builded  his  home  where  the  prairie  wolves  roam; 
He's  the  hewer,  the  blazer  of  trails. 

He  is  crude  with  the  strength  of  the  seeker  of  toil, 
From  the  hot  barren  wastes  he  is  gathering  spoil. 
For  a  nation  that  lives  from  the  bounty  he  gives; 
He's  the  builder,  the  winner  of  ways. 

Where  the  silent  wastes  bake  in  the  summer's  hot  glow. 
Where  the  forests  are  choked  in  the  shroud  of  the  snow, 
By  his  brain  and  his  brawn  a  new  nation  is  born; 
He  goes  forward  to  conquer  new  realms. 

And  the  world  has  its  heroes  of  lace  and  gold  braid, 

That  are  honored  and  wined  for  the  waste  they  have  made; 

But  the  world  little  knows  of  the  debt  that  it  owes 

To  the  hewer,  the  blazer  of  trails." 


"ffUAMUil^^ 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XII. 


MEMORIES  OF  THE  EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT 
OF  MINNESOTA.* 


BY  THOMAS  B.  WALKER. 


When  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  and  the  greatest  war  of 
history  was  launched  by  the  Southern  Confederacy,  it  aroused 
determined  opposition  over  the  northern  states  and  created  a 
patriotic  warlike  feeling  that  perhaps  has  never  been  equalled 
in  history,  for  defense  of  the  American  Republic  against  im- 
pending division  and  destruction.  At  the  same  time,  it  created 
also  a  feeling  of  depression  and  disappointment  that  might  be 
likened  to  the  appearance  of  the  sun  in  time  of  a  total  eclipse. 

As  the  war  progressed  and  vast  armies  were  called  out  on 
both  sides,  nearly  every  family  in  the  north  was  filled  with 
apprehension  as  to  some  member  of  the  family  or  relatives  or 
friends  that  were  in  the  army  and  subject  to  more  than  even 
chances  of  being  killed  or  severely  wounded.  It  clouded  every 
household.  The  wheels  of  industry,  trade  and  commerce,  in 
fact  all  occupations,  seemed  almost  entirely  to  stand  still,  ex- 
cepting the  routine  work  of  the  farmer.  The  call  for  75,000 
men  brought  out  one  or  two  hundred  thousand  volunteers  more 
than  were  called  for;  and  it  took  so  many  men  from  the  col- 
leges of  the  country,  and  caused  so  much  discouragement,  that 
some  of  the  colleges  were  closed. 

I  joined  two  Ohio  military  companies,  and,  as  a  represent- 
ative of  them,  used  up  a  month  or  two  trying  to  get  either  one 
of  them  into  camp  at  Cleveland.  But  all  the  time,  when  prom- 
ised the  next  vacancy,  companies  would  come  in  from  different 
parts  of  the  state  without  permission  and  would  more  than  fill 
all  vacant  quarters. 

I  had  shipped  to  Grand  Rapids  and  Chicago  several  car- 
loads of  grindstones,  which  constituted  all  the  capital  that  I 

*Read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  this  Society,  January  12,  1914. 


456  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

possessed,  mostly  earned  by  work  in  the  hardwood  forests  of 
northeastern  Ohio.  Finding  that  the  feeling  of  disappointment 
and  destruction  of  trade,  during  the  first  year  of  the  war,  had 
led  those  to  whom  the  grindstones  were  sold  to  refuse  to  take 
them,  I  started  West  to  look  after  them.  First  I  went^to  Mich- 
igan, and  finding  that  the  men  who  had  bought  the  grindstones 
at  Grand  Eapids  would  not  receive  them,  and  that  no  others 
would  take  them  at  any  price,  I  was  compelled  to  retail  them 
to  the  farmers  through  western  and  central  Michigan,  taking 
them  by  team  through  the  country  and  selling  them  singly  at 
reduced  prices.  Then  going  westward  to  Chicago,  I  found  it 
impossible  to  sell  the  grindstones  there,  located  on  the  wharf, 
to  anyone  at  any  price,  so  I  went  to  Milwaukee,  hoping  that 
the  big  firm  of  Nazro  would  purchase  them.  But  neither  he 
nor  any  other  hardware  dealer  could  see  any  object  in  pur- 
chasing them,  as  trade  was  almost  entirely  dead.  I  then  went 
westward  to  Madison,  and  found  it  as  impossible  there  to  sell 
as  it  had  been  in  the  other  places;  and  as  I  could  not  sell  the 
grindstones,  it  became  necessary  to  seek  employment  to  gain  a 
livelihood. 

Having  spent  a  number  of  years  in  the  study  of  the  sciences, 
particularly  of  mathematics,  mostly  outside  of  school  but  car- 
ried on  to  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  branches,  I  thought  teach- 
ing along  that  line  would  be  of  interest  to  me,  both  in  pursu- 
ing my  studies  further  and  in  securing  a  livelihood.  I  therefore 
went  to  the  home  of  the  president  of  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin and  called  to  see  him.  His  very  pleasant  and  queenly 
appearing  wife  told  me  to  be  seated  in  the  library  and  she 
would  bring  the  president  from  down  in  the  grove,  in  which 
the  house  was  situated.  He  had  quite  a  considerable  collec- 
tion of  books  on  his  library  shelves,  and  among  them  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  Newton's  Principia,  which  I  had  never  found  in 
any  library  before,  with  one  exception.  I  had  taken  down  this 
book  and  was  looking  it  over,  when  the  president  came  in,  in 
his  slippers  and  dressing  gown,  and  without  my  knowing  of 
his  coming.  He  looked  over  my  shoulder  and  saw  the  book  I 
had  in  my  hand,  and  wanted  to  know  what  I  was  doing  with 
that.    I  said  to  him  that  I  wanted  to  find  out  if  he  had  studied 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OP  MINNESOTA.  457 

it,  and  how  far  he  had  succeeded  in  getting.  Having  told  me 
how  far  he  had  gone,  he  questioned  me  about  a  problem  or 
scholium  that  he,  and  even  those  who  had  for  several  years 
studied  the  Principia  in  Yale  or  Harvard;  had  never  been  able 
to  solve.  Upon  my  showing  him  that  I  had  succeeded  and  had 
proved  it  to  Professor  Schuyler  of  Baldwin  University,  he  then 
inquired  what  I  knew  about  Schuyler.  I  told  him  that  I  was 
from  Berea,  where  Dr.  Schuyler  was  professor  of  mathematics 
in  Baldwin  University.  To  this  he  said  that  Professor  Schuyler 
had  written  a  very  admirable  series  of  textbooks  on  mathe- 
matics. 

When  I  told  him  that  I  would  like  a  position  to  teach  mathe- 
matics, it  struck  him  more  than  favorably,  as  he  said  that  that 
was  his  line  of  work,  and  that  it  did  not  give  him  any  time  to 
run  the  university  and  he  wanted  some  one  to  handle  the 
classes.  We  went  around  with  his  horse  and  buggy  among  the 
members  of  the  Board,  and  I  found  that  the  general  scare 
which  everywhere  existed  made  them  hesitate  about  making 
any  arrangements  for  the  future  running  of  the  school,  not 
knowing  whether  or  not  it  would  ever  open  again.  The  presi- 
dent, whose  name  I  have  forgotten,  said  that  when  school 
would  open  again,  which  he  hoped  would  be  in  the  fall,  he  felt 
quite  certain  that  I  would  be  offered  a  position  as  assistant 
teacher  in  mathematics.  A  majority  of  the  board  were  really 
in  favor  of  engaging  me,  and  the  other  members  were  not  op- 
posed, excepting  only  their  apprehension  as  to  future  pros- 
pects of  the  university  in  such  calamitous  times.  This  came  to 
pass  in  the  fall,  when  I  was  on  the  government  surveys  in  the 
northern  part  of  Minnesota  and  could  not  accept.  If  this  open- 
ing had  occurred  or  had  been  decided  upon  before  I  came  to 
this  state,  it  would  without  doubt  have  changed  the  course  of 
my  whole  life. 

I  then  went  westward  to  McGregor  Landing.  On  the  way 
I  stopped  at  several  places,  but  could  find  no  market  for  my 
grindstones  as  far  as  Prairie  du  Chien.  As  McGregor  was  the 
liveliest  little  town  in  the  West,  the  farmers  coming  in  for  fifty 
or  a  hundred  miles  with  their  grain  and  to  buy  their  goods,  I 
went  there  with  more  hope  of  selling.  I  stayed  there  one  day 
but  could  sell  no  grindstones. 


458  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

In  the  evening,  in  front  of  the  hotel,  a  very  plain  but 
friendly  appearing  man  sat  down  beside  me  and  explained  that 
he  was  in  charge  of  lumber  rafts,  coming  down  the  river  from 
the  city  of  Minneapolis.  Upon  inquiring  of  him  where  Min- 
neapolis was,  he  was  perfectly  astonished  that  I,  an  American 
citizen,  did  not  know  where  the  great  town  of  Minneapolis  was 
located.  But  after  excusing  and  explaining,  I  learned  a  great 
many  other  things  of  importance  pertaining  to  this  Northwest 
and  particularly  Minneapolis.  I  learned  that  Mr.  George  B. 
Wright,  the  principal  government  surveyor  of  this  region,  was 
going  with  a  party  to  survey  a  large  tract  of  land  for  the  gov- 
ernment. Upon  inquiring  about  it,  I  concluded  to  go  to  Min- 
neapolis to  see  him,  as  my  health  was  somewhat  out  and  I  was 
in  need  of  employment,  particularly  because  I  could  not  sell 
my  grindstones  that  were  piled  up  in  Chicago.  Upon  learning 
from  the  landlord,  who  sat  on  the  other  side  of  me,  that  the 
steamer,  ''Diamond  Joe,"  the  best  steamer  on  the  river,  was 
due  about  this  time,  on  the  way  to  St.  Paul,  and  hearing,  while 
he  was  explaining  this,  the  old  bull  whistle  of  Diamond  Joe, 
that  rolled  up  and  down  the  river  for  thirty  miles  in  favorable 
weather,  begin  bellowing  about  five  miles  below,  and  upon  be- 
ing informed  that  the  boat  sometimes  did  not  even  throw  the 
gangplank  unless  passengers  or  freight  appeared  on  the  dock, 
I  settled  with  the  landlord  for  my  hotel  bill,  for  which  I  had 
previously  arranged  rates,  and  when  the  boat  landed,  which  it 
did  for  an  hour  or  so,  I  secured  my  passage  in  a  good,  airy, 
pleasant  state  room.  On  the  upper  deck  I  found  a  very  capa- 
ble business  man  going  through  to  Minnesota,  with  whom  I 
had  a  very  pleasant  acquaintance  and  from  whom  I  gained 
many  points  of  interest  and  value  in  practical  life. 

In  St.  Paul  I  tried  again  to  sell  my  grindstones.  I  then 
went  to  Minneapolis,  and  not  wishing  to  get  rid  of  the  extra 
quarter  of  bus  fare,  I  carried  my  satchel  from  the  east  side 
station  over  to  Minneapolis,  across  the  suspension  bridge,  for 
which  I  had  to  pay  five  cents  toll.  I  tried  there  to  sell  the 
grindstones,  but  none  were  wanted.  Mr.  Curtis  H.  Pettit,  who 
kept  the  hardware  store  nearest  to  the  bridge,  remembers  my 
coming  and  often  speaks  of  it,  as  I  carried  my  hand  satchel 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OP  MINNESOTA.  459 

with  me  and  presented  myself  to  him  at  his  front  door,  where 
he  was  standing  without  a  single  customer  in  his  store,  and 
perhaps  not  one  had  been  there  that  day. 

The  war  had  paralyzed  everything  in  the  way  of  business 
and  industry,  except  that  of  the  farmer,  who  used  his  old  tools 
and  machinery  without  purchasing  anything  more  to  work 
with.  I  arranged  with  ]\Ir.  Wright  to  go  on  the  surveys  with 
him,  and  then  having  made  a  sale,  deal  or  trade  with  D.  C. 
Jones,  the  agricultural  dealer  of  St.  Paul,  for  the  two  carloads 
of  grindstones  in  Chicago,  I  went  back  to  arrange  for  this  ship- 
ment and  to  arrange  some  matters  in  Michigan,  and  came  back 
to  Minnesota  in  time  to  deliver  and  settle  for  the  grindstones 
before  the  surveying  party  was  to  start. 

When  my  stock  of  grindstones,  which  I  had  sold  or  traded 
to  Mr.  Jones,  arrived  at  the  wharf  in  St.  Paul,  I  was  present, 
and  Mr.  Jones  brought  his  contract  to  the  wharf  and  directed 
the  clerk  to  supervise  the  handling  of  the  grindstones  and  to 
take  out  of  the  lot  the  nicked  and  spalled  ones.  When  they 
were  being  unloaded  I  was  there  and  met  the  clerk,  who  seemed 
to  be  a  very  pleasant,  capable  and  straightforward  young  man, 
who  showed  me  his  directions  for  sorting  out  the  nicked  and 
spalled  ones.  After  he  got  through  with  the  sorting  and  had 
not  had  occasion  to  take  out  any  of  them  on  account  of  their 
being  damaged,  he  said  that  several  had  some  little  nicks  but 
not  one  was  damaged  so  much  that  it  was  not  worth  more  than 
any  other  grindstones  of  their  size  which  he  had  ever  seen  come 
into  St.  Paul ;  and  hence  there  was  no  dockage,  as  he  said  the 
lot  was  freer  from  shot  or  hard  spots  than  any  he  had  ever 
seen.  I  was  somewhat  interested  in  his  frank  appearance,  ac- 
tivity, and  apparent  ability,  and  asked  him  what  wages  he  was 
receiving.  He  informed  me  that  he  was  getting  $75  a  month, 
and  upon  inquiry  as  to  whether  that  represented  the  current 
wages  here,  he  informed  me  that  it  was  not  by  any  means  the 
case,  but  that  when  he  came  three  years  before,  he  worked  for 
only  $20  a  month  to  begin  with,  and  that  they  had  granted 
freely  an  advance  to  this  point,  and  he  explained  that  it  was 
because  he  had  made  himself  so  useful  that  they  could  not  get 
along  without  him.    Upon  my  wanting  to  get  more  of  his  name 


460  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

than  *'Jim,"  I  was  informed  that  the  more  complete  title  that 
he  was  known  by  was  Jim  Hill, 

Twenty-eight  years  afterwards,  I  went  with  Bierstadt,  the 
painter,  at  the  time  of  the  exposition  in  Minneapolis,  to  see 
Mr.  Hill's  art  gallery.  He  took  us  in  person  up  to  his  house, 
and  went  so  far  as  to  give  us  prices  and  history  of  the  pictures ; 
and  at  lunch,  which  we  took  at  his  house,  he  asked  me  if  I 
remembered  the  circumstances  of  our  first  meeting  down  on 
the  wharf,  when  he  was  clerk  for  Bcjrup  &  Oakes,  and  when  I 
shipped  those  grindstones  that  he  was  assigned  to  sort  out.  I 
told  him  I  certainly  did,  and  he  thereupon  said  that  it  was  the 
finest  lot  of  grindstones,  the  freest  from  nicks  and  spalls,  the 
best  in  shape,  freest  from  shot,  with  the  truest  eyes  and  smooth- 
est surfaces,  that  he  had  ever  seen,  and  told  me  who  had  pur- 
chased them. 

The  explanation  to  his  key  to  success,  expressed  by  making 
himself  so  useful  that  they  could  not  get  along  without  him, 
represents  characteristic  features,  which,  added  to  his  com- 
manding abilities  and  matchless  energy,  have  made  his  life- 
work  most  useful  and  helpful,  from  a  material,  industrial,  and 
economic  point  of  view,  and  quite  comparable  to  that  of  any 
person  in  this  country. 

Sir  William  Van  Home,  the  American-born  citizen,  who 
performed  valuable  services  in  building  railways  in  Canada, 
for  which  he  was  honored  and  credited  for  services  to  his  coun- 
try, which  were  much  less  than  Mr.  James  J.  Hill's  contribu- 
tion to  this  country,  said  to  me  a  couple  of  years  ago  in  New 
York  city,  and  repeated  subsequently  the  same  last  year  here 
at  my  home,  that  Mr.  Hill's  services  in  the  development  and 
settlement  of  the  Northwest  are  not  to  any  worthy  extent  ap- 
preciated and  cannot  be  estimated,  that  his  integrity  and  re- 
liability as  to  all  trusts  and  confidence  placed  in  his  hands  cause 
him  to  be  more  relied  upon  than  anyone  with  whom  he  ever 
became  sufficiently  acquainted  to  make  a  definite  comparison. 

He  said,  ''Perhaps  you  are  better  acquainted  with  Mr.  Hill 
and  know  his  character  and  history  better,  and  he  has  per- 
haps more  confidence  and  good  will  toward  you  than  to  any 
of  us,  yet  I  know  him  from  a  railroad  and  transportation  point 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  461 

of  view  better  than  anyone  else."  He  illustrated  his  views  by 
saying,  ''If  I  were  suddenly  called  upon  to  select  an  adminis- 
trator, and  Hill  were  present,  and  I  should  ask  him  to  act  for 
my  estate,  he  would  not  care  to  undertake  that  additional  trust, 
but  would  do  so  if  I  asked  him ;  and  when  he  had  accepted,  I 
will  say  that  there  would  not  be  the  slightest  scruple  about 
leaving  my  affairs  in  his  hands.  I  should  know  that  even  the 
benefit  of  doubts  would  go  to  my  estate,  and  that  a  complete 
and  satisfactory  business  method  would  be  used  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  all  affairs.  All  the  millions  of  money  that  have  been 
placed  in  his  hands  to  build  railways  with  have  been  most 
faithfully  and  conscientiously  used  to  carry  forward  to  a  suc- 
cessful termination  the  object  in  view.  In  pursuing  his  rail- 
way affairs,  whoever  or  whatever  gets  in  his  way  must  get  out. 
If  he  comes  to  mountains,  he  goes  around  them,  over  them,  or 
through  them,  the  best  way  to  get  there.  His  life-work  in  this 
Northwest  has  been  invaluable  to  the  people,  far  beyond  their 
appreciation  of  his  services."  But  Sir  William  Van  Home  fur- 
ther said,  "When  it  comes  to  competition  with  Mr.  Hill  in  the 
railway  business,  well,  the  last  time  I  met  him  in  New  York 
city,  on  Wall  Street,  we  took  luncheon  together  and  we  passed 
a  very  pleasant  hour  of  time ;  but,  I  pledge  you,  we  never 
passed  a  word  regarding  railroads,  or  traffic  arrangements,  or 
anything  pertaining  to  them." 

On  the  15th  of  August,  1862,  I  was  in  Minneapolis  and 
helped  Mr.  Wright  in  his  outfitting,  and  started  on  the  20th 
of  August  for  the  government  surveys.  We  were  met,  just  as 
we  arrived  opposite  St.  Cloud,  with  the  news  of  the  fearful  out- 
break of  the  Sioux  Indians  and  the  murder  and  massacre  of  so 
many  of  the  settlers,  which  was  even  exaggerated  beyond  its 
actual  and  fearful  proportions.  We  continued  on  our  journey 
to  Fort  Ripley  and  stayed  there,  standing  guard  with  a  view 
to  defend  the  fort  against  an  army  of  Sioux  that  were  reported 
coming  from  the  New  Ulra  country,  the  region  of  the  outbreak, 
and  also  against  an  additional  force  of  Chippewas  who  were 
reported  as  coming  down  from  Leech  lake  to  attack  the  fort. 

On  our  way  from  St.  Cloud  to  Little  Falls,  we  met  the  Chip- 
pewa agent,  Lucius  C.  Walker,  coming  down  in  a  buggy  with 


462  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

his  driver,  and  he  seemed  not  so  much  excited  as  instead  to 
have  a  rather  apprehensive  look,  saying  that  the  Indians  were 
trailing  him  down  and  were  then  going  down  parallel  to  the 
road  that  we  were  on,  but  two  or  three  miles  farther  east,  on 
the  old  Indian  trail  from  Crow  Wing  to  St.  Cloud.  He  waited 
a  little  and  told  us  about  this,  and  then  proceeded  on  to  St. 
Cloud,  where  he  left  his  buggy  and  took  a  saddle  horse,  and, 
with  his  revolver  for  defense,  continued  his  travel  down  the 
road.  About  three  miles  below  Big  Lake,  his  body  was  after- 
ward found  by  the  roadside,  with  a  bullet  through  his  head 
and  from  such  direction  and  evident  distance  that  John  Arm- 
strong, the  wood  dealer,  who  found  him,  said  the  shot  came 
from  a  more  distant  place  than  would  be  possible  if  he  had  shot 
himself. 

The  real  facts  of  the  death  of  Agent  Walker  were  never 
definitely  known,  but  there  were  two  theories,  one  that  he  shot 
himself,  as  one  barrel  of  his  revolver  was  emptied,  and  from  a 
reported  bad  record  in  his  Indian  Agency  affairs.  This  record 
was  afterward  found  to  be  perfectly  straight,  and  no  reason 
whatever  was  found  in  his  family  or  business  affairs  that  would 
have  the  slightest  tendency  to  lead  him  to  commit  suicide.  The 
other  theory  was  that  the  Indians  killed  him. 

After  our  surveying  crew  had  remained  at  Fort  Ripley  for 
some  time,  we  came  away  and  the  party  disbanded.  George  B. 
Wright  and  myself  took  the  job  of  examining  land  grants  for 
the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  company,  north  of  Minne- 
apolis and  St.  Paul  and  extending  above  St.  Cloud  on  the  east 
and  west  side  of  the  river. 

After  returning  from  the  work  on  the  railway  lands,  I  went 
into  the  office  of  Levi  M.  Stewart,  in  the  Dayton  Block,  on 
Washington  avenue  and  Helen  street  (now  Second  avenue 
south),  to  continue  my  studies  that  I  had  been  pursuing  during 
my  spare  time  for  three  or  four  years.  While  there,  I  became 
acquainted  with  W.  S.  Chapman  and  Henry  T.  Welles,  the  two 
most  prominent  capitalists  and  business  men  then  in  Minne- 
apolis. Mr.  Stewart  was  attorney  for  Mr.  Chapman,  who  came 
there  almost  every  day  about  land  matters,  and  I  became  quite 
well  acquainted  with  him,  and  having  heard  considerable  about 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  463 

the  pine  timber,  although  I  had  not  seen  any  of  it,  I  advised 
him  to  secure  land  scrip  and  let  me  locate  timber  on  joint  ac- 
count, with  payments  of  principal  and  interest  on  my  part  to 
be  made  from  the  sale  of  the  timber  or  logs.  Mr.  Chapman 
readily  agreed  to  this,  and  he  began  purchasing  Sioux  half- 
breed  scrip,  which  he  was  obtaining  at  the  very  modest  price 
of  50  cents  to  75  cents  an  acre.  Thereupon  I  prevailed  on  Mr. 
George  B.  Wright  to  go  into  the  woods  in  the  winter  to  carry 
on  the  government  surveys  in  the  timber,  with  the  intention 
on  my  part  to  keep  records  of  the  best  tracts  of  pine  timber 
for  location  with  Mr.  Chapman.  Although  Mr.  Wright  said  it 
was  unprecedented  and  impractical  to  work  in  northern  Min- 
nesota woods  in  the  winter,  yet  I  persuaded  him  that  it  could 
be  done  and  got  him  to  outfit  and  start  for  the  country  north- 
east of  the  site  of  Brainerd,  which  town  did  not  exist  for  a 
number  of  years  later,  and  to  survey  several  townships  in  which 
was  some  good  pine  timber.  When  we  left  Crow  Wing  on  our 
way,  it  was  22  degrees  below  zero,^-cold,  clear  weather,  with 
about  one  foot  of  snow.  The  snow  got  to  be  two  or  three  feet 
deep  before  we  got  through^  but  we  surveyed  two  townships 
and  a  portion  of  a  third  one,  when  the  ugly  appearance  of  the 
Indians,  who  had  not  quieted  down  since  the  Indian  war  had 
begun,  induced  us  to  leave  a  little  earlier  than  we  should  have 
done  otherwise. 

While  I  was  at  work,  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Chap- 
man, asking  me  to  come  to  Minneapolis  and  go  with  him  to 
California,  where  he  said  the  Sioux  scrip  was  worth  from  $5 
to  $10  an  acre  to  locate  on  redwood  timber,  which  was  very 
valuable  and  the  land  enormously  heavily  timbered.  I  could 
not  leave,  so  he  went  without  me,  taking  with  him  the  scrip. 
This  made  my  extra  efforts  to  secure  timber  land  notes  fruit- 
less, and  so  I  turned  them  over  to  Mr.  Wright,  and  he  got  some 
profit  from  them  through  lumbermen  who  located  claims  on 
some  of  the  lands. 

The  next  year  I  went  with  Mr.  Wright  and  finished  up  his 
quite  large  contract  of  surveying.  The  next  year  after  that,  I 
went  on  the  St.  Paul  and  Duluth  railroad  survey,  and  remained 
during  the   early  part   of  the  year   in  laying   out  the   road 


464  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ready  for  grading,  from  St.  Paul  up  to  Wyoming;  and  then 
moved  on  up  to  Duluth,  to  begin  a  return  survey  to  meet  the 
one  running  up  from  St.  Paul.  At  Duluth,  Mr.  Dayton,  presi- 
dent of  the  road,  Mr.  Banning,  Mr.  Saxton,  and  two  others  of 
the  directors,  came  there  to  look  over  the  situation,  and  as  far 
as  they  could  see  following  up  the  river  where  the  road  was 
to  run,  to  the  Falls  of  the  St.  Louis. 

While  at  Duluth,  Mr.  Thornton,  the  chief  assistant,  and 
Mr.  Gates  A.  Johnson,  the  chief  engineer,  were  trying  to  locate 
a  true  meridian  line  by  means  of  a  solar  compass,  when  they 
found  themselves  unable  to  secure  the  declination  of  the.  sun. 
They  had  the  latitude  exactly  marked  where  Minnesota  Point 
joins  the  main  land,  and  where  General  Meade  had  laid  off  the 
four-mile  base  and  built  a  level  table  the  whole  length  in  order 
to  secure  an  accurate  base  to  work  from.  He  had  it  measured 
about  a  hundred  times  with  rods  adjusted  to  temperature,  and 
took  the  average  of  all  the  nearest  measures.  From  this  base 
line  he  had  measured  the -shores  of  the  whole  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior by  trigonometric  surveys,  without  laying  out  any  other 
base.  Having  found  a  Tribune  Almanac,  giving  the  length  of 
the  day,  they  wondered  whether  or  not  I  could  find  the  decli- 
nation from  those  figures.  I  was  catching  trout  a  couple  of 
miles  farther  up  the  shore,  there  being  nothing  for  me  to  do 
in  the  work  of  laying  out  a  meridian,  as  my  instrument  was 
only  the  level.  Having  been  summoned,  I  had  to  leave  two 
large  trout  that  I  had  not  been  able  to  catch,  for  they  would 
not  look  at  my  bait  nor  condescend  even  to  smell  of  it. 

I  went  back  to  the  U.  S.  district  land  office,  where  the  di- 
rectors and  officials  were  located,  and  found  a  formula,  which, 
as  I  remember  it  now,  was  that  the  sine  of  the  ascensional  dif- 
ference is  equal  to  the  tangent  of  the  latitude  into  the  tangent 
of  the  declination  of  the  sun,  from  which,  having  the  latitude 
and  the  ascensional  difference,  or  the  difference  between  six 
o'clock  and  the  time  of  the  setting  of  the  sun,  it  is  sufficient 
to  find  the  declination.  From  this  I  made  a  table  of  hourly 
difference,  and  gave  it  to  them  about  ten  o'clock.  They  had 
secured  a  solar  compass  from  Mr.  George  R.  Stuntz,  the  gov- 
ernment surveyor  at  Superior  City,  and,  having  made  use  of 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  465 

my  table,  tliey  laid  out  a  line  at  that  hour  through  the  cen- 
tral portion  of  what  is  now  the  city  of  Duluth,  about  one-half 
mile  in  length.  Having  laid  it  out  then  and  set  up  their  picket, 
they  waited  until  an  equal  time  after  twelve  o'clock  at  noon, 
and  upon  testing  it  again,  there  was  but  two  or  three  feet  dif- 
ference given  for  the  picket  at  the  end  of  a  half  mile  distance. 
As  this  error  was  as  much  to  the  right  after  dinner  as  it  had 
been  to  the  left  before  dinner,  the  hub  was  put  in  halfway  be- 
tween the  two,  and  tlie  nail  for  the  center.  This  was  used  in 
starting  the  transit  survey  from  there  to  the  connection  with 
the  line  from  St.  Paul  up  to  about  Chengwatana,  on  the  Snake 
river,  some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  from  St.  Paul.  The  survey 
starting  from  Duluth  was  followed  down,  and  it  was  far  into 
the  winter,  the  later  part  of  December,  when  we  connected  with 
the  survey  from  the  south  and  returned  home,  where  I  found 
my  wife  very  sick  and  anxiously  waiting  for  me. 

The  next  year  I  secured  quite  a  large  contract  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  state,  to  subdivide  a  portion  of  Rock  and 
Nobles  counties,  where  General  Bishop  had  some  time  before 
run  the  township  lines  for  these  and  some  other  counties.  Be- 
fore going,  I  arranged  with  one  of  the  prominent  lumber  firms 
of  Minneapolis  to  go  into  the  northern  pine  forests  and  sur- 
vey a  number  of  townships  in  the  Pokegama  region,  and  to 
cruise  the  timber  lands  and  locate  a  lot  of  land  scrip  on  lands 
for  use  by  this  firm  for  lumbering  purposes.  I  was  authorized 
to  secure  a  lot  of  scrip  at  the  price  of  $3.50  per  acre,  and  any- 
thing that  I  could  get  as  a  commission  on  this  price  I  would  be 
entitled  to.  I  secured  from  Mr.  Oakes,  private  banker  in  St. 
Paul,  who  in  some  way  through  the  agency  of  Bishop  Whipple 
had  much  to  do  with  the  Indians,  a  quantity  of  Chippewa  scrip 
to  the  extent  of  something  over  four  thousand  acres,  on  which 
Mr.  Oakes  finally  reduced  the  price  to  me,  allowing  me  a  com- 
mission of  25  cents  per  acre.  Having  arranged  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  scrip,  it  came  to  St.  Paul  from  Chicago.  The  firm 
did  not  take  it  then,  but  said  they  would  take  it  later,  and,  as 
I  had  to  go  to  my  surveys  in  southwestern  Minnesota  early  in 
June,  I  had  to  leave  the  timber  surveying  and  land  scrip  mat- 
ters for  this  firm  to  settle  and  arrange. 


466  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

When  I  came  back,,  a  couple  of  months  later,  and  sometime 
before  the  southwestern  survey  was  completed,  I  found  to  my 
surprise  that  the  scrip  had  been  taken  up  and  I  was  not  cred- 
ited, a  statement  being  made  that  a  certain  Mr.  Brown  had  pur- 
chased this  scrip  for  his  own  use ;  and  I  also  found  that  George 
R.  Stuntz  had  been  engaged  to  do  the  government  surveying 
for  which  I  had  been  engaged,  in  the  quite  noted  timber  lands 
around  Lake  Pokegama  and  on  the  Mississippi  river  below. 

My  intention  was  at  this  time  to  follow  railroad  surveying, 
and  afterwards  to  be  a  contractor  and  builder  of  railroads,  and 
finally,  perhaps,  as  Mr.  James  J.  Hill  afterward  did,  to  become 
interested  as  a  stockholder  in  the  roads.  But  this  disappoint- 
ment of  not  receiving  my  commissions  on  the  scrip,  which 
would  have  amounted  to  a  little  over  $1,000,  and  the  loss  of  the 
work  in  doing  the  surveying,  led  me  to  abandon  the  railroads 
and  join  Dr.  Levi  Butler  in  a  pine  timber  enterprise,  whereby  I 
should-secure  the  land  notes  and  locate  and  look  after  the  af- 
fairs in  the  pine  timber  region.  I  then  put  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  winter  in  attending  to  some  of  Dr.  Butler's  previously 
arranged  timber  enterprises,  and  in  the  spring  made  my  way 
to  Pokegama  in  a  large  dug-out  boat  that  I  made  at  Bine  Knoll, 
which  carried  me  and  the  spring  and  summer's  supply  of  pro- 
visions, wherewith  I  examined  the  whole  timber  region  that 
Mr.  Stuntz  had  surveyed. 

Having  made  full  preparations  for  locating  the  timber  when 
the  plats  were  received  at  the  local  land  office,  I  succeeded  in 
what  the  newspapers  call  a  "scoop,"  securing  almost  every 
fine  forty  acres  of  timber  that  was  near  and  most  valuable, 
around  Pokegema  lake  and  the  river  below.  That  lumber 
firm  failed  to  get  one  single  quarter  section  that  was  good. 
They  did  locate  one  quarter  that  was  in  a  swamp,  from  a  wrong 
description  of  the  land  which  they  intended  to  locate,  and  the 
scrip  was  afterward  removed.  The  breach  of  faith  on  the 
part  of  the  lumber  firm  changed  my  whole  course  of  life  into 
that  which  I  had  not  intended  to  follow,  lumbering.  Having 
located  these  lands,  it  became  necessary  for  me  to  continue  in 
the  firm  of  Butler,  Mills  and  Walker ;  and  when  the  logs  which 
Dr.  Butler  and  Mr.  Mills  had  secured  in  the  winter's  logging 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  467 

that  I  had  no  financial  interest  in,  only  to  look  after  it  for 
them,  came  into  the  booms,  they  were  taken  into  ownership 
of  our  new  firm.  Some  of  the  east  side  mills  were  engaged  and 
rebuilt,  and  through  Mr.  Ed.  Brown,  the  east  side  lumberman, 
the  logs  were  manufactured  into  lumber ;  and  this  work  marked 
the  beginning  of  the  lumber  firm  then  incorporated,  of  Butler, 
Mills  and  Walker. 

Later  in  the  summer,  I  went  up  by  way  of  Leech  lake  with 
a  haying  crew,  and  went  through  the  temporary,  noisy  Indian 
disturbance  that  came  tolerably  near  ending  in  our  being 
killed  by  the  Indians ;  but,  having  finally  gotten  there,  by  way 
of  Leech  lake  and  Leech  river  and  down  the  Mississippi  to 
Pokegama,  I  secured  an  abundant  supply  of  hay  from  the  ex- 
tended hay  meadows  running  along  the  river,  and  prepared  for 
logging  that  winter.  I  met  there  two  very  industrious  Chip- 
pewas,  by  the  name  of  Naugonup  and  Chechegum,  who  had 
locations  at  the  outlet  of  Trout  lake,  a  mile  or  so  from  where 
the  town  of  Coleraine  and  the  Walker-Hill  iron  mines  are  now 
located. 

Finding  that  I  intended  to  begin  lumbering  and  bring  in 
some  crews  of  lumbermen  that  winter,  they  set  to  work  to  raise 
a  crop  of  potatoes  to  sell  to  the  contractors  during  the  fall  and 
winter.  Their  experience  and  that  of  Joseph  Tuttle,  who  em- 
barked in  a  civilizing  enterprise  at  Waukenauboo  lake,  which 
I  will  refer  to  later,  gave  me  the  first  real  vi-ew  of  the  calamity 
of  socialism.  These  two  men,  Naugonup  and  Chechegum,  raised 
about  thirty-five  bushels  of  potatoes  on  a  little  tract  of  very 
rich  land  that  is  now  occupied  by  Gilbert  Hartley  as  a  summer 
home,  in  a  very  beautiful  and  attractive  situation.  It  was  cov- 
ered with  hardwood  timber,  mostly  maple,  and  in  a  storm  all 
the  timber  on  this  tract  was  swept  down  in  so  much  of  a  heap 
that  afterwards  it  burned  off  clean  the  great  mass  of  wood, 
fuel,  and  brush  that  was  available,  thus  completing  the  clear- 
ing. These  potatoes  were  stored  in  holes  under  the  houses,  and 
some  rough  poles  and  boards  were  put  over  them  for  a  floor. 
There  being  no  road  from  Mr.  Haney's  lumber  camp,  six  or 
seven  miles  distant,  the  potatoes  could  not  be  moved  until  the 
swamps  froze,  when  they  could  be  hauled  over  a  summer  trail 
that  a  team  could  go  over  to  bring  them. 


468  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  Indians  at  Oak  Point,  twenty-five  miles  away,  heard  of 
this  horrible  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  these  two  Indians  with 
Mr.  Haney,  to  deprive  the  band  to  which  they  belonged  of  their 
natural  rights  to  appropriate  all  the  surplus  above  the  day's 
supply  and  to  transfer  it  to  a  lot  of  white  men  in  the  lumber 
camps.  This  was  so  repugnant  to  their  ideas,  of  the  rights  of 
one  fellow  in  the  product  of  the  other  fellow 's  labor,  that  they 
went  in  force  with  their  canoes  down  the  Mississippi,  past  the 
Pokegama  falls,  and  up  the  Prairie  river  and  past  its  falls,  and 
thence  on  a  portage  across  to  Trout  lake,  thence  across  the  lake 
to  the  two  little  log  houses  under  which  the  potatoes  were 
stored,  and  took  away  across  the  lake  and  over  the  river  and 
thence  down,  retracing  their  way,  every  potato  that  the  enter- 
prising two  Indians  had  raised  for  their  own  benefit,  to  buy  pro- 
visions and  carry  them  through  the  winter.  Afterward  these 
two  Indians  were  always  at  a  discount  and  somewhat  ostra- 
cized by  the  band,  because  of  their  attempt  at  robbing  the 
band  of  its  interest  in  the  produce  of  their  labor. 

Naugonup  and  Chechegum  were  at  that  time  up  on  Swan 
river  above  Swan  lake,  when  the  Indians  came  to  take  the  pota- 
toes. If  they  had  been  at  home,  very  probably  the  invaders 
might  have  meted  out  to  them  greater  punishment,  even  more 
than  the  confiscation  of  their  supply  of  potatoes. 

Several  years  before  this,  a  very  enterprising  and  capable 
young  Chippewa  Indian,  named  Joseph  Tuttle,  was  sent  to  Al- 
bion, Michigan,  by  his  friends  in  St.  Paul,  or  by  the  Indian 
missionary  association,  to  be  educated.  He  went  through  the 
school  course  and  graduated  and  returned  to  his  native  heath, 
which  was  at  "Waukenauboo  or  Hill  lake,  about  ten  miles  south 
of  Pokegama.  He  then  married  a  young  woman  whom  he  had 
known  before  he  left,  perhaps  being  engaged  to  her,  and  started 
out  to  establish  a  nucleus  of  civilization  and  progressive  life 
among  his  native  people.  He  built  a  two-story  house  down  by 
the  junction  of  Willow  river  and  the  outlet  of  Hill  lake,  cleared 
up  a  piece  of  ground,  put  in  some  fish  traps,  was  the  owner  of 
a  good  Winchester  rifle,  was  a  good  hunter,  and  altogether  was 
an  industrious  fellow.  His  house  was  not  very  large,  but  suffi- 
cient for  himself  and  his  family,  if  he  could  have  been  pro 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  469 

tected  from  the  multitudes  of  relatives  and  friends  who  saw 
no  reason  why,  if  he  caught  more  fish  than  he  needed  for  his 
family  for  that  day,  they  should  not  take  the  remainder. 
When  his  corn  was  ripe  or  ready  to  eat,  or  his  potatoes  ready 
to  dig,  there  was  not  the  slightest  reason  or  good  citizenship 
in  his  raising  any  objections  to  his  friends,  relatives,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  band,  taking  the  remainder  above  the  immediate 
needs.  Nor  was  there  any  reason  why,  when  it  came  night  and 
any  of  them  were  short  of  blankets  or  wigwam  room,  to  sleep 
in,  they  should  not  occupy  the  floor  of  his  house,  and  sometimes 
even  the  second  floor  where  he  and  his  family  were  sleeping. 
All  the  game  that  he  secured,  any  rice  that  he  had  left  over, 
or  sugar  from  his  maple  trees,  must  be  subject  to  division,  from 
the  natural  rights  of  the  others  to  share  the  product  of  his 
labor. 

Two  years  later  I  met  him  at  Pokegama,  living  in  a  wig- 
wam. He  spoke  perhaps  the  best  English  of  any  one  around 
the  lake.  He  told  me  that  the  customs  of  the  Chippewas  were 
absolutely  a  bar  to  progress  and  resulted  in  complete  paralysis 
of  any  ambition  or  industry  being  pursued  by  any  members 
of  his  band  and  race,  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  abandon 
his  homestead  where  he  had  located,  and  that  he  had  changed 
his  residence  to  Pokegama  lake. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  and  in  later  years  in  the 
logging  operations  in  that  region,  it  was  our  custom  to  employ 
the  Indians  so  far  as  we  could,  as  a  policy,  as  well  as  from 
necessity ;  but  we  were  quite  disappointed  by  the  fact  that  they 
worked  only  a  little  while,  then  collected  their  pay,  and  went 
off  on  a  hunt  and  a  resting  spell.  This  was,  as  we  found,  be- 
cause any  further  earnings  that  would  leave  a  surplus  above 
their  immediate  needs  must  be  divided  among  the  neighbors  or 
other  members  of  the  band.  In  gathering  rice  in  the  fall,  in 
making  sugar  in  the  spring,  the  custom  of  the  Indians  was  to 
use  this  product  to  pay  off  the  traders  for  supplies  obtained 
during  the  previous  winter,  and,  to  very  great  extent,  to  buy 
back  piecemeal,  on  credit  at  a  much  higher  price,  the  rice  and 
sugar  which  they  had  sold  to  the  traders  for  the  double  pur- 
pose of  settling  their  account  and,  if  possible,  to  leave  a  sur- 


470  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

plus  that  could  be  doled  out  to  them  during  the  winter,  instead 
of  having  to  divide  it  up  with  their  neighbors. 

We  found  that  it  was  not  indolence  or  lack  of  willingness 
to  work,  which  caused  the  Indians  to  live  in  poverty  and  want, 
but  from  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  socialistic  doctrine  that 
has  prevailed  in  all  tribal  life,  which  in  the  long  ages  before 
civilization  began  has  made  life  a  burden  and  a  period  of  pov- 
erty, hardship,  and  dire  want,  through  the  impossibility  of  any 
person  receiving  the  benefit  of  his  own  labor  or  enterprise. 
My  observations  of  these  experiences  among  the  Chippewas 
were  nearly  duplicated  also  when  carried  to  a  trip  of  inspec- 
tion in  the  South,  where  I  found  the  same  customs  and  habits 
to  a  large  extent  prevailing,  so  that  they  keep  the  colored  race 
at  the  bottom  and  in  general  poverty,  in  place  of  being  inde- 
pendent farmers,  mechanics,  and  workmen,  living  in  comfort 
and  with  the  conveniences  and  advantages  of  life  as  their  com- 
mon inheritance. 

In  addressing  a  large  school  of  over  1,200  negro  boys  and 
girls  in  Montgomery,  Alabama,  not  long  ago,  I  said  that  social- 
istic customs  existing  among  them  are  the  calamity  of  their 
people ;  the  fact  that  no  one  could  profit  by  his  own  industry 
and  build  up  a  home  and  a  fortune,  because  he  was  compelled 
to  divide  up  with  his  relatives  and  neighbors  to  that  extent 
that  it  became  practically  impossible  to  advance  from  a  renter 
to  a  landholder  and  prosperous  citizen.  Afterward  the  several 
colored  teachers  came  to  me  and  in  the  most  emphatic  manner 
expressed  the  view  that  I  was  the  first  one  that  had  ever 
seemed  to  apprehend  or  understand  the  real  cause  underlying 
the  misfortune,  poverty,  and  hard  times  of  the  colored  people 
of  the  South. 

The  next  year  but  one,  after  Butler,  Mills  &  Walker  began 
operations  at  Pokegama,  the  mills  on  the  St.  Anthony  side 
burned  down  and  the  firm  of  L.  Butler  &  Company  was  organ- 
ized while  I  was  absent  in  the  woods.  They  constructed  a  big 
mill  on  the  east  side,  and  in  this  I  became  interested  more  par- 
ticularly in  selling  stumpage  to  the  new  firm;  and  finally, 
when  it  came  along  toward  1873,  I  saw  the  impending  twenty- 
years'  panic  coming  and  I  withdrew  from  the  business  entirely, 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  471 

refusing  to  retain  any  interest  in  the  lumber  business,  from 
which  I  had  foreseen  that  our  lumbermen  could  not  stand  the 
competition  with  Canada,  on  a  free  trade  basis.  My  partner, 
Mr.  Butler,  at  first  agreed  to  join  in  at  least  suspending  opera- 
tions until  better  times,  or  to  withdraw  entirely  from  the  fur- 
ther manufacture  of  lumber.  Afterwards  he  decided  to  con- 
tinue, and  the  result  was  that  the  panic  wasted  almost  his 
entire  fortune,  which  his  will  indicated  to  have  been  about  one 
million  dollars. 

In  anticipation  of  the  panic,  for  over  a  year  before  it  came, 
I  used  every  feature  of  persuasion  to  induce  Dr.  Butler,  my 
then  partner  in  the  firm  of  Butler  &  Walker,  to  withdraw  and 
to  avoid  that  which  I  considered  inevitable,  under  the  circum- 
stances existing  in  the  lumber  business,  which,  even  at  best 
and  in  good  times,  gave  but  small  margin  of  profit.  When  re- 
verses came,  they  more  than  ate  up  any  surplus  profits  above 
the  cost  of  living,  that  the  lumbermen  could  secure  from  their 
lumber  business.  At  first  he  agreed  to  withdraw,  but  after- 
ward made  the  matter  worse  by  continuing  on  a  less  favorable 
basis  than  before.  He  purchased  my  half  interest  in  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  timber  we  owned  jointly,  which  I  let  him 
have  at  one  dollar  a  thousand  less  than  the  amount  that  J.  Dean 
&  Co.  had  rather  urgently  offered  to  pay  for  it.  When  the 
panic  came,  I  had  no  lumber,  logs,  nor  any  interest  in  any  mill- 
ing plant,  but  had  paid  off  my  debts  and  was  free  from  all  such 
obligations,  which  would  otherwise  have  closed  out  my  much 
smaller  capital  and  property  interests. 

The  panic  of  1873  broke  down  the  nervous  system  of  Dr. 
Butler  to  that  extent  that  he  never  rallied  from  it,  and  after 
several  months  of  prostration  he  died,  ending  a  very  strenuous, 
active  life. 

In  1877  I  joined  with  Major  Camp,  who  had  some  surplus 
capital,  and  began  the  Camp  &  Walker  firm  of  buying  timber 
and  selling  logs.  Sometime  after  this.  Major  Camp  desired  to 
enter  into  the  lumber  manufacturing  business,  which  I  reluct- 
antly went  into,  more  on  the  policy  which  I  have  always  pur- 
sued, of  trying  to  adjust  my  views  and  the  policy  to  be  pur- 
sued, as  far  as  it  appeared  not  too  objectionable,  to  the  wishes 


472  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  judgment  of  my  partners,  of  whom  I  have  had  quite  a  num- 
ber, including  Henry  T.  Welles,  Franklin  Steele,  Levi  Butler, 
Major  Camp,  Herrick  Brothers,  Mr.  Akeley,  and  one  or  two 
others  that  I  do  not  now  name. 

After  my  joining  with  Major  Camp,  it  soon  came  to  pass 
that  the  J.  Dean  Pacific  Mill  was  for  sale  at  auction.  By  a 
thorough  investigation  of  the  value  of  the  mill,  machinery,  and 
outfit,  for  which  we  secured  Mr.  Menzel  of  Milwaukee  to  ex- 
amine for  us,  and  which  was  perhaps  the  beginning  of  his  in- 
terest in  Minneapolis,  where  he  located  and  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  it  was  figured  out  that  the  mill  and  machinery  were 
worth  about  $90,000,  and  the  real  property  $20,000  or  $30,000. 
When  the  auction  sale  began,  there  were  gathered  in  the  J.. 
Dean  lumber  office,  next  to  the  mill,  the  Harrisons,  Deans,  and 
Mr.  Johnson,  who  owned  the  big  iron  works  adjoining  the  mill 
property,  and  a  considerable  number  of  lumbermen,  among 
whom  several  had  formed  little  organizations  or  associate  inter- 
ests to  purchase  the  mill.  Major  Camp  and  I  concluded  that 
we  would  bid  up  to  about  $80,000,  and  I  was  installed  as  bid- 
der for  Major  Camp  and  myself. 

The  property  was  started  off  at  $20,000,  and  then  by  bids 
of  one  thousand  it  went  up  to  $25,000  or  $26,000;  then  by 
500 's,  to  about  $30,000  or  $32,000;  then  by  100 's,  coming  very 
slowly,  it  ran  up  to  $35,000;  and  then,  to  my  utter  astonish- 
ment, Major  Camp  came  to  me  and  said  he  did  not  care  to  go 
higher,  although  we  had  agreed  to  go  more  than  double  that. 
I  said,  '^Very  well,"  and  continued  on  bidding;  and  as  I  was 
in  the  back  part  of  the  house,  near  to  where  the  owners  were 
sitting,  the  report  was  spread  that  I  was  just  bidding  up  for 
the  owners,  and  not  in  good  faith  for  myself.  That  seemed  to 
take  the  starch  out  of  the  bidders  who  had  come  there  with  the 
same  intention  that  Major  Camp  and  I  had,  of  bidding  up  to 
$80,000,  and  tK?  final  outcome  was  that  it  was  struck  off  for 
$37,500  to  me  personally. 

The  next  day  Major  Camp  came  to  me  and  said  that,  if  I 
was  willing,  he  would  be  glad  to  take  a  half  interest  in  the  mill 
and  make  use  of  it  in  manufacturing  the  logs  from  the  timber 
that  we  had  secured.     This  established  the  firm  of  Camp  & 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA.  473 

Walker,  which  continued  for  eight  or  ten  years,  until  I  became 
weary  of  trying  to  make  a  sufficiently  profitable  lumber  manu- 
facturing business  by  cutting  only  twenty  millions  of  logs  in  a 
season,  when,  there  was  about  as  much  overhead  or  general 
expense  as  there  would  be  in  cutting  forty  or  fifty  million.  As 
Major  Camp  refused  to  go  beyond  the  small  cut,  we  decided  to 
sell  the  mill.  I  then  embarked  in  the  northwestern  enterprise 
of  manufacturing  lumber  at  Crookston  and  Grand  Forks ;  and 
Major  Camp  withdrew  or  retired  on  a  comfortable  fortune  and 
property  interests  that  we  had  together,  including  the  Central 
Market  and  the  property  around  it,  together  with  some  timber- 
land  interests  in  the  pineries. 

The  beginning  of  my  lumber  manufacturing  on  the  Clear- 
water river  was  owing  to  the  fact  of  my  having  sold  logs  to 
the  lumber  firm  of  Jarvis  &  Barridge  of  Winnipeg,  who  failed 
to  meet  their  payments  so  that  I  had  to  take  security  on  the 
lumber  sawed  and  piled;  and  afterward,  through  the  agency 
of  the  banks  in  Winnipeg  and  Montreal,  I  closed  out  and  se- 
cured most  that  was  due  me  and  canceled  off  the  balance. 

As  I  had  continued  lumbering  on  the  Clearwater  river,  I 
began  the  construction  of  a  mill  at  Crookston,  in  which  I  manu- 
factured lumber  from  as  many  logs  as  the  limited  driving  facili- 
ties of  the  river  would  allow,  until  later  when  I  constructed 
another  mill  at  Grand  Forks,  which  I  ran  for  several  years. 
After  this  later  mill  once  burned  down,  I  rebuilt  it,  and  when 
it  was  destroyed  a  second  time  I  did  not  rebuild  it,  but  gave 
the  millsite  and  boomage  to  the  city  and  closed  out  the  busi- 
ness. 

The  plant  at  Crookston  ran  for  some  time  afterward,  and 
then  was  sold  to  the  Shevlin-Carpenter  Company,  who  have 
been  running  it  from  that  time  to  this. 

In  1889  a  general  agreement  to  sell  my  Minnesota  timber- 
lands  to  parties  in  Michigan  was  made,  with  terms,  conditions, 
and  estimates  arranged;  and,  presuming  that  the  sale  would 
go  through,  I  turned  my  attention  to  the  western  coast,  to  se- 
cure there  a  tract  of  timber  to  continue  lumbering  after  clos- 
ing out  here,  more  on  account  of  my  sons,  who  had  all  decided  . 
to  go  into  the  lumber  business.     I  began  explorations  of  the 


474  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

western  timber  from  Montana  through  Idaho,  Washington, 
Oregon,  and  California.  My  many  years'  superintendent,  Mr. 
Kline,  with  many  assistants,  explored  all  of  these  states  in  a 
general  way,  at  least  sufficiently  to  determine  the  advantages 
of  each ;  but  as  the  timber  deal  that  I  had  arranged  here  fell 
through,  from  serious  misfortune  in  one  of  the  families,  I  did 
not  follow  up  the  western  timber  deal  until  1894. 

While  I  was  in  New  York  about  1890,  my  superintendent  of 
logging  and  general  business  man,  Mr.  F.  J.  Kline,  who  was  a 
graduate  of  Chicago  University  and  was  with  me  thirty-seven 
years,  telegraphed  to  me  that  a  man  from  Michigan,  Mr.  Healy 
C.  Akeley,  was  looking  for  a  location  for  a  millsite  at  St. 
Cloud,  with  a  view  of  handling  the  Itasca  Lumber  Company's 
timber  that  Mr.  Turnbull  had  arranged  for  in  northern  Minne- 
sota. I  therefore  wired  Mr.  Kline,  to  ask  Mr.  Akeley  to  wait 
until  I  got  home,  as  it  would  be  a  serious  drawback  to  Minne- 
apolis, and  to  the  whole  lumber  interests,  including  himself,  if 
he  should  locate  on  the  highway  of  our  logs  coming  to  Minne- 
apolis, for  which  reason  I  urged  him  to  wait  until  I  could  get 
back  home.  I  started  immediately,  and  came  back  to  Minne- 
apolis. I  had  never  heard  of  Mr.  Akeley  before.  He  lived  at 
Grand  Haven,  Michigan,  and  had  been  extensively  engaged  in 
lumbering  with  parties  in  Chicago. 

When  I  came,  I  went  over  the  map  with  him,  showing  him 
the  misfortune  that  would  come  to  all  parties  if  he  located  on 
the  river  where  he  would  not  be  able  to  handle  the  four  or  five 
hundred  million  of  logs  coming  to  Minneapolis,  from  which  he 
should  sort  out  his,  whatever  amount  it  would  be,  which  at 
most  would  be  only  a  fractional  part.  After  talking  this  over 
with  him,  he  turned  to  me  and  said,  "If  I  should  come  here,  I 
do  not  suppose  that  you  would  sell  me  an  interest  in  your  tim- 
ber?" This  was  rather  a  stumper,  as  I  had  then  not  the  slight- 
est thought  of  selling  to  him  or  anybody  else  any  interest  in 
the  timber  that  I  owned  in  that  great  area  around  Leech  lake 
and  extending  off  beyond  Itasca  lake. 

I  did  not  know  what  to  say,  but  I  had  been  advising  him  to 
come  to  Minneapolis  and  manufacture  lumber  here,  so  that  I 
said  to  him,  ''I  have  no  timber  for  sale,  at  least  have  had  no 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OP  MINNESOTA. 


475 


intention  of  selling,  excepting  to  sell  logs  or  stumpage ;  but  if 
you  wish  to  buy  a  half  interest  in  this  large  uncut  tract,  I  will 
sell  it  to  you."  Thereupon  he  asked  how  much  timber  there 
was  per  acre,  and  how  many  acres  there  were.  I  had  no  map, 
as  I  did  not  have  any  expectation  of  having  to  use  it,  so  I  ex- 
plained to  him  about  how  much  white  pine  and  how  much 
Norway  pine  there  was  on  the  land,  and  made  a  general  guess 
only,  as  to  the  acreage,  which  was  quite  a  large  tract.  He  then 
inquired  when  I  would  want  him  to  pay.  I  told  him  that  could 
be  arranged  by  making  a  sufficient  cash  payment  and  leaving 
the  remainder  on  a  moderate  rate  of  interest  until  it  was  paid 
off.    He  then  said,  *'I  will  see  you  about  this  tomorrow." 

The  next  day  I  went  back  and  carried  a  map  and  showed 
him  where  the  timber  lay.  The  timber  that  I  offered  him  was 
in  what  was  then  a  remote  timber  region,  which  my  compet- 
itors and  friends  in  the  lumber  business  had  decided  I  needed 
a  guardian  for  locating,  as  they  looked  upon  it  as  inaccessible 
timber  that  would  cost  more  to  log  and  drive  than  it  would  be 
worth  when  the  logs  were  in  the  booms. 

I  told  Mr.  Akeley  what  these  reports  were,  but  explained 
to  him  that  there  were  practicable  ways  of  handling  the  tim- 
ber, and  that  it  would  soon  be  necessary  to  reach  that  more 
distant  timber  in  order  to  supply  the  mills  with  logs.  He  then 
said  that  he  would  purchase  a  half  interest  in  this  timber  at 
the  prices  I  named,  and  would  pay  me  a  very  considerable  sum 
in  cash  and  the  balance  in  deferred  payments,  running  over  a 
couple  of  years,  if  that  would  be  satisfactory  to  me.  I  in- 
formed him  that  that  was  entirely  satisfactory  and  that  he 
could  have  the  timber  on  those  terms,  and  he  said:  ''Very 
well,  I  will  take  it."  I  then  said,  "I  suppose  you  mean  after 
you  have  examined  the  timber;"  and  upon  this  he  said,  "Well, 
you  know  what  you  are  selling."  I  said,  "Yes,  but  how  does 
that  show  to  you  what  you  are  buying?"  He  then  replied, 
"As  you  have  looked  up  the  timber,  I  have  looked  you  up,  and 
that  satisfies  me  as  to  what  I  am  buying." 

We  closed  the  deal,  he  paid  me  the  money,  and  I  gave  him 
a  list  of  the  lands,  but  he  did  not  call  on  me  for  a  deed  for 
twelve  or  fifteen  years.    He  afterward  expressed  great  regret 


476  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

that  he  did  not  confine  his  entire  operations  in  Minnesota  to 
his  dealings  with  me,  as  these  have  been  very  satisfactory  and 
profitable  in  place  of  the  reverse  in  his  other  operations. 

After  several  years  of  experience  in  the  timber  industry,  I 
found  that  the  lumbermen  on  our  side  of  the  line  could  not 
compete  with  Canada  successfully,  to  make  a  reasonable  profit, 
excepting  in  the  favorable  years  that  came  around  occasion- 
ally. The  Canadian  lumbermen  were  favored  in  quality  of 
timber  and  market  facilities,  and  in  special  favors  from  their 
government,  while  our  lumbermen  were  handicapped  by  prej- 
udiced treatment  and  discrimination,  even  to  persecution  for 
practices  that  were  freely  given  in  Canada.  Timber  supply, 
taxation,  wages,  and  freedom  of  organized  business  and  co- 
operation, were  all  strongly  in  their  favor  and  against  us.  In 
seasons  when  the  market  had  been  overstocked  by  the  floods 
of  lumber  from  Canada,  bringing  hard  times  and  failure,  it 
made  conditions  for  the  lumber  industry  here  the  least  favor- 
able and  the  least  favored,  through  adverse  laws  and  their  en- 
forcement, and  through  public  prejudice  without  just  cause, 
that  pertained  to  any  industry  or  occupation. 

"When  from  these  causes  the  lumber  trade  was  prostrated 
and  lumbermen  largely  closed  out,  then,  upon  recovery,  a  num- 
ber of  years  later  when  the  demand  exceeded  the  supply  for 
several  years  and  prices  went  up  temporarily,  there  was  a 
margin  of  profit  in  lumber.  I  watched  carefully  the  signs  of 
the  times  and  the  prospective  coming  of  the  panics,  which  prej- 
udiced treatment  of  the  lumbermen  aided  materially  in  bring- 
ing on  and  intensifying ;  and  when  the  panic  or  depressed  years 
could  be  foreseen,  I  got  from  under,  as  in  1873,  and  also  in 
another  period  of  depression  about  halfway  between  then  and 
now. 

In  1892,  I  provided  for  the  anticipated  panic  of  '93  by  sell- 
ing logs  and  stumpage  and  some  tracts  of  timber  and  some 
stocks,  bonds,  etc.,  from  which  proceeds  I  could  see  my  way 
through  the  panic.  I  cut  no  logs  that  winter  excepting  a  small 
stock  on  the  Clearwater  river,  and  in  this  way  would  have  been 
comfortable  during  the  panic,  had  it  not  been  for  others  who 
were  satisfied  that  no  serious  troubles  were  in  store  and  re- 


EARLY  LIFE  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINNESOTA. 


477 


fused  to  make  any  arrangements  to  provide  for  such  financial 
troubles. 

In  1894,  I  began  the  timber  enterprise  in  California,  which 
had  been  explored  in  1889  but  had  been  laid  aside  because  the 
sale  of  my  entire  tract  of  Minnesota  timber  was  not  completed 
as  I  had  made  agreement  for  it.  I  have  since  then  secured  a 
large  tract  of  timber  in  northeastern  California,  in  Siskiyou, 
Shasta,  Modoc,  Lassen,  Plumas,  and  Tehama  counties.  It  is 
the  best  and  finest  tract  of  pine  timber  left  in  the  country,  and 
it  is  being  made  accessible  by  branch  lines  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  railway,  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  This 
railway  line  is  completed  and  ready  for  operation  to  within 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  the  new  town  of  Westwood,  where 
we  are  installing  one  of  the  largest  lumber  plants  in  the  United 
States.  We  have  one  preliminary  mill  built  that  has  furnished 
lumber  for  houses  for  about  twelve  hundred  people,  and  the 
superstructure  of  a  very  large  plant  is  about  completed,  for 
which  the  machinery  will  be  available  in  a  month  or  so  by 
means  of  the  completed  railroad  line. 

In  1895,  I  made  a  stumpage  agreement  with  several  promi- 
nent lumber  firms  for  the  sale  to  them  of  the  Walker  &  Akeley 
timber,  and  also,  at  the  same  time  and  terms,  to  cover  the  Pills- 
bury  timber  in  the  same  territory  that  I  had  been  engaged  in 
locating  for  them.  This  was  the  largest  timber  contract  that 
has  been  made  in  Minnesota.  The  logging  company,  consist- 
ing of  the  lumber  firms  of  the  Brainerd  Lumber  Company, 
Nelson  Tenney,  E.  W.  Backus  Co.,  J.  W.  Day  &  Co.,  and  the 
Carpenter,  Lamb  Co.,  was  called  the  Minnesota  Logging  Com- 
pany. They  built  the  Brainerd  &  Northern  railway  to  Leech 
lake  and  beyond,  and  cut  several  hundred  millions  of  logs, 
when  the  continuing  depressed  prices  and  hard  times  led  them 
to  an  adjustment  and  cancellation  of  the  contract  with  Walker 
&  Akeley  and  the  Pillsbury  Company. 

About  1898,  I  decided  to  build  a  mill  on  the  Upper  Crow 
Wing  lake,  where  I  located  the  town  of  Akeley  and  changed 
the  name  of  the  lake  to  Akeley  lake,  in  honor  of  my  partner, 
Mr.  H.  C.  Akeley.  I  had  fifteen  million  feet  of  logs  in  the  lake, 
which  I  had  cut  for  a  Michigan  firm  who  had  agreed  to  build 


478  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

a  mill  at  that  point,  and  I  was  to  supply  them  with  sixty  mil- 
lions of  logs  for  a  term  of  years. 

Among  the  many  beautiful  regions  of  northern  Minnesota, 
explored  by  timber  cruisers  and  first  occupied  by  logging 
camps  and  lumbermen's  mills,  none  surpasses  the  vicinity  of 
the  villages  of  Akeley  and  Walker,  with  the  very  remarkable 
and  unique  Crow  Wing  chain  or  series  of  lakes.  When  nearly 
all  the  pine  timber  has  been  cut  off,  after  many  years  the 
stumps  left  by  the  axman  will  disappear,  leaving  no  reminders 
of  the  first  great  industry  of  this  region;  but  it  then  will  be 
not  less  valuable  for  the  stockman  and  farmer  than  formerly 
for  the  logger  and  lumber  manufacturer.  Pasturage,  mowing 
lands,  and  cultivated  fields,  are  taking  the  former  place  of  the 
pine  woods. 

About  twenty  years  ago,  before  the  founding  of  these  vil- 
lages, this  chain  of  lakes  was  examined  by  Warren  Upham  and 
Prof.  J.  E.  Todd  for  the  Geological  Survey  of  Minnesota.  Their 
descriptions  are  published  in  Volume  IV  of  its  Final  Report 
(pages  77  and  84-88),  which  show  that  many  interesting  ques- 
tions connected  with  the  glacial  and  modified  drift  deposits, 
and  including  the  origin  of  this  series  of  lake  basins,  await 
further  investigation. 

The  first  sawmills  in  St.  Anthony  and  Minneapolis  marketed 
their  lumber  by  rafting  below  the  Falls,  over  which  the  lumber 
was  carried  in  sluiceways  down  to  the  quiet  waters,  where  the 
lumber  was  put  in  rafts  containing  one  million  or  two  million 
feet.  The  rafts  were  taken  down  the  river  sometimes  by  steam 
tugs  and  sometimes  being  floated  with  the  current  and  steered 
by  very  large  rear  oars  that  kept  them  in  the  channel.  This 
piloting  required  very  careful  work  and  experienced  men  to 
avoid  breaking  the  rafts  on  the  curved  banks  of  the  river  and 
on  the  bars  and  shallows. 

After  the  coming  of  the  railroad  builder  in  1862,  and  with 
the  great  extension  of  railroads  during  the  decade  of  1870-80, 
they  have  ever  since  furnished  abundant  outlet  to  eager  mar- 
kets for  all  the  lumber  manufactured  from  the  once  immense 
but  now  nearly  exhausted  Minnesota  pineries. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA, 

1851  TO  1861.* 


BY  REV.  PRANK  C.  COOLBAUGH,  S.  T.  D. 


In  the  early  days  of  which  I  speak  there  was  no  zealous 
rivalry,  nor  even  friendly  competition,  between  the  Twin  Cities. 
Minneapolis  was  not  yet  on  the  map,  and  St.  Anthony  was  only 
a  wayside  village ;  while  St.  Paul  had  already  assumed  the  form 
of  a  thriving  and  bustling  city,  of  prosperous  proportions,  with 
two  thousand  people  or  more,  the  capital  of  the  Territory.  Of 
course  there  was  a  town  of  St.  Peter,  on  the  St.  Peter  river, 
the  would-be  rival  and  competitor  for  capital  honors,  but  it 
was  of  less  size,  less  prospects,  and  far  away  from  the  tem- 
porary and  permanent  head  of  navigation.  For  no  little  time 
both  St.  Peter  and  Minneapolis  later  strove,  with  much  federal 
aid  and  no  little  misappropriation  of  money,  to  become  the 
head  of  navigation,  but  all  efforts  and  subsidies  proved  vain. 
Nature  discountenanced,  disfavored,  and  rendered  futile  all 
such  artificial  efforts. 

Above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  stretched  an  unbroken 
wilderness  of  prairie  and  pine  forest,  trodden  only  by  the  foot 
of  the  wandering  red  man.  At  the  confluence  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  St.  Peter  rivers  stood  Fort  Snelling,  with  its  stone 
walls  and  frowning  batteries,  the  military  guardian  of  the  un- 
bounded West.  Opposite  to  the  fort  and  beneath  it,  crouched 
the  modest  hamlet  of  Mendota,  wherein  dwelt  that  prince  of 
men,  Henry  Hastings  Sibley,  whose  humble  but  baronial  home 
yet  stands  as  a  memorial  of  him,  the  first  governor  of  the  state 
of  Minnesota,  and  at  no  time  less  than  among  the  first  and  fore- 
most of  its  pioneer  citizenry. 

The  textbook  of  geography  in  1845  speaks  of  all  this  region 
as  a  country  "unknoAvn  and  occupied  by  Chippewas,  Menom- 
inees,  and  other  Indians;  wild  rice  in  the  marshes,  furnishing 
food;  the  soil  fine,  and  certain  districts  rich  in  mines  of  iron, 

♦Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  May  12,  1913. 


480  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

lead,  and  copper."  Be  it  observed  that  so  late,  then,  as  only 
six  years  before  my  personal  observations  begin,  this  section 
was  reckoned  as  unknown,  an  unexplored  region. 

In  1848  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  introduced  a  bill  into  the 
United  States  senate,  which  became  a  law  March  3,  1849,  creat- 
ing Minnesota  Territory,  to  which  a  governor  was  shortly  ap- 
pointed. In  1851  all  that  land  about  Fort  Snelling  westward 
of  St.  Peter  river  and  the  Mississippi  was  a  military  reserva- 
tion under  the  immediate  control  of  the  commandant  of  the 
fort.  Minnehaha  sang  its  joyous  notes  to  the  wild  Dakotas 
and  the  birds  of  the  air.  Two  white  men  with  their  families, 
alone,  lived  on  the  entire  reservation,  leagues  in  extent.  Phil- 
ander Prescott  and  John  H.  Stevens.  Prescott  came  hither  in 
1820  as  a  clerk  to  a  man  named  Devotion,  who  first  brought 
merchandise  here  for  the  Indian  trade.  About  two  years  later 
the  Columbia  Fur  Company  brought  the  second  installment  of 
goods  and  opened  extensive  trading  with  the  Indians.  In  1826 
Joseph  R.  Brown  made  a  claim  near  ''Little  falls,"  or  "Brown's 
falls,"  as  Minnehaha  was  then  called,  but  he  abandoned  it  in 
1830.  An  impression  had  prevailed  that  farm  products  would 
not  mature  in  this  high  latitude,  and  all  military  provisions 
were  shipped  from  the  south  until  1823,  when  the  soldiers  un- 
der Lieutenant  Camp  experimented  in  potatoes,  corn,  cabbages, 
and  onions,  and  discovered  that  they  would  grow  and  mature. 

Early  pioneers  from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  the 
Selkirk  colony  had  settled  on  this  reservation  in  1827,  and  on- 
ward, but  were  driven  off  by  the  United  States  soldiers  in  the 
year  1840,  and  their  houses  were  torn  down  or  burned.  Abra- 
ham Perry,  having  large  herds  of  cattle,  was  forced  from  his 
claim.  He  pitched  his  tent  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  be- 
yond the  limits  of  the  reservation.  Philander  Prescott,  govern- 
ment farmer  for  the  Indians,  broke  the  first  sod  outside  of  the 
vicinity  of  the  fort,  on  a  piece  of  ground  near  lake  Calhoun,  in 
1830,  under  the  direction  of  Major  Lawrence  Taliaferro,  gov- 
ernment agent  of  the  Sioux.  On  that  very  spot  in  August, 
1852,  my  sister  and  I,  with  the  family  of  Dr.  A.  E.  Ames,  picked 
bushels  of  wild  strawberries.  The  abandoned  cornfield  was 
literally  one  vast  bed  of  the  prolific  and  luscious  native  fruit. 

Prescott 's  house  and  his  small  farm  adjoining  it  were  but 
a  few  rods  from  Minnehaha  creek  and  its  waterfall.     He  was 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,  1851  to  1861. 


481 


married  to  an  Indian  woman  of  the  Dakotas,  and  they  had  a 
large  family  of  girls  and  boys,  whom  I  knew.  Owing  to  his 
marriage  and  kindly  spirit,  he  was  most  influential  among  the 
Indians,  and  was  not  less  popular  among  the  incoming  white 
settlers.  He  was  the  first  white  man  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  sav- 
age butchery  of  the  massacre  in  August,  1862.  His  death  was 
a  sacrifice  for  his  fellowmen.  Aware  of  the  conspiracy  among 
the  hostile  Sioux  to  rise  and  destroy  the  palefaces,  he  sternly 
opposed  it  in  secret  council  and  also  openly.  He  was  ambushed 
and  murdered,  lest  his  better  and  wiser  counsels  should  prevail. 

It  may  be  well  to  recall  that  the  portion  of  our  state  west 
of  the  St.  Croix  river  and  east  of  the  Mississippi,  in  which  the 
greater  part  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul  is  located,  was  originally 
in  the  Northwest  Territory  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the  United 
States.  Out  of  that  generous  cession  were  created  Ohio,  Mich- 
igan, Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin,  and  so  much  of  Minne- 
sota as  lies  between  the  St.  Croix  and  the  Mississippi ;  but  the 
larger  part  of  this  state  west  of  the  Mississippi,  including  Fort 
Snelling,  comes  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  from  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  for  fifteen  million  dollars  in  1803.  Thus  the  area  of 
Minnesota's  tenure  passed  through  not  less  than  six  or  eight 
jurisdictions  before  it  became  either  a  territorial  or  state  unit. 
Referring  to  this  peculiar  fact.  General  Sibley  was  wont  to 
remark  jocosely,  "I  was  successively  a  citizen  of  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota,  both  state  and  territory,  with- 
out changing  my  residence  at  Mendota." 

The  second  of  the  two  men  living  on  the  military  reserva- 
tion in  1851  was  Colonel  John  H.  Stevens,  a  veteran  of  the 
Mexican  war,  the  first  settler  in  Minneapolis  proper,  in  1849, 
ever  a  prominent  and  influential  citizen.  I  well  recall  his  cot- 
tage, a  story  and  a  half  in  height,  perched  on  the  very  edge  of 
the  river  bank,  and  hard-by  the  landing  place  of  the  ferryboat, 
of  which  Captain  John  Tapper  was  for  a  long  time  the  able- 
bodied  and  trusty  ferryman. 

The  ferryboat  itself  was  of  the  primitive  character  familiar 
enough  to  all  pioneers,  whose  running  stock  consisted  of  a  rope 
cable  stretched  from  shore  to  shore,  the  river's  current  supply- 
ing the  force  to  drive  it  to  and  fro  according  as  the  movable 
keel  or  side  board  was  raised  or  lowered. 

General  James  H.  Baker  has  well  stated,  in  his  sketch  of 

31 


482  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Governor  Alexander  Ramsey,  how  much  is  due  to  the  state- 
craft of  Sibley,  the  skill  of  Eamsey,  and  the  combined  wisdom 
and  diplomacy  of  both,  with  the  government  and  in  treaties 
made  in  1851  with  the  Sioux  Indians,  in  securing  so  vast  a 
fertile  region  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  claimed,  oc- 
cupied, and  sold  by  the  aboriginal  tribes. 

In  1851,  between  St.  Paul  and  the  village  of  St.  Anthony 
there  stretched  an  old  Indian  trail,  used  as  a  highway,  mid- 
way of  which  stood  a  solitary  road  house  or  tavern,  known  as 
Desnoyer's,  whose  deep  dug  well  and  iron-bound  bucket  fur- 
nished water  to  the  laboring  horses,  and  whose  bar  quenched 
the  not  less  thirsty  pioneer.  Of  its  kind  it  was  a  sort  of  Samar- 
itan inn,  such  as  yet  stands  on  the  downward  slope  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Jericho,  a  resort  for  the  wayfaring  and  weary  man, 
but  so  decently  kept  that  no  scandal  or  scene  of  riotousness 
was  ever  associated  with  it. 

It  was  in  August,  1851,  when  the  Coolbaughs,  with  other 
passengers,  disembarked  in  St.  Paul  from  that  famous  old  Mis- 
sissippi steamer,  War  Eagle,  and  stepped  for  the  first  time  on 
the  soil  of  Minnesota  Territory.  We  had  come  immediately 
from  farm  life  in  Winnebago  county  and  from  Freeport,  Illi- 
nois. My  father's  health  failing,  he  was  advised  to  seek  a 
higher  latitude  and  healthier  climate,  and,  hearing  of  Minne- 
sota, he  sought  a  new  home  here.  We  came  as  a  family  from 
Pennsylvania,  from  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  in  Bradford 
county. 

My  father,  Daniel  M.,  was  of  German  descent,  yet  repre- 
sented by  the  Von  Kaulbachs  of  the  fatherland.  The  first  Cool- 
baugh  in  America  is  said  to  have  come  twenty-three  years  after 
the  Jamestown  colony  of  1607,  a  sea  captain  from  Holland. 
My  mother  was  of  English  blood,  born  in  Stockbridge,  of  the 
Massachusetts  Whitneys,  whose  names  are  enrolled  among  the 
minute  mim  of  1775,  similarly  as  members  of  my  father's  fam- 
ily furnished  recruits  to  the  worn  and  battered  ranks  of  Wash- 
ington's army  at  Valley  Forge. 

Our  journey  from  the  Susquehanna  to  Eock  river,  Illinois, 
was  through  that  long  stretch  of  country  known  as  "the  Over- 
land Road  West,"  in  a  prairie  schooner  drawn  by  four  horses, 
camping  by  the  wayside  when  taverns  were  not  at  hand.  When 
we  subsequently  landed  in  Minnesota,  we  were  five  in  number. 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,  1851  to  1861.  483 

my  father  and  mother,  my  sister,  a  baby  brother,  and  myself. 

The  day  we  disembarked  was  fair  and  beautiful.  The  scene 
that  first  met  our  eyes  was  not  unattractive.  Tall  rugged  cliffs 
of  white  sandstone,  capped  with  gray  limestone,  rose  to  view 
as  we  looked  westward  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  A  few  scat- 
tered shacks  and  larger  warehouses  confronted  us,  while  far- 
ther up  the  hill  shoreward  we  beheld  scattering  stores  and 
some  few  residences.  To  the  right  and  eastward,  near  and 
far  away,  stretched  a  great  wide-spreading  green  morass,  look- 
ing so  deep  and  forbidding  that  seemingly  no  foot  of  man  could 
traverse  it;  but  all  that  waste  has  long  since  been  recovered 
and  now  is  occupied  by  the  Union  Station,  its  extensive  yards, 
and  the  very  many  wholesale  and  other  establishments  in  the 
immediate  vicinage. 

A  pleasant  feature  of  our  voyage  up  the  Mississippi  was 
the  passing  of  certain  points  that  have  since  taken  on  increase 
of  size,  city  form,  and  urban  beauty  and  interest,  such  as 
Winona,  Red  Wing,  Hastings,  each  of  these  being  then  marked 
as  habitations  only  by  slab  shacks  and  Indian  tepees.  Along- 
side of  these  places,  the  War  Eagle  discharged  her  cargo  of 
live  stock.  The  work  was  accomplished  by  the  cattle  being 
forcibly  pushed  over  the  gunwales,  and  each  beast,  as  it  fell, 
was  submerged  for  the  instant,  then  rose,  and,  expelling  the 
water  from  its  nostrils,  made  for  the  shore,  a  process  so  rude 
and  novel  that  it  brought  every  passenger  to  view  the  scene. 

Among  the  most  notable  incidents,  however,  was  the  ap- 
pearance on  board  of  the  governor  of  the  new  territory.  Young 
as  I  was,  I  had  already  noted  the  presence  of  this  stranger 
among  us,  a  tall,  stately  man,  dark  visaged,  heavy-browed,  of 
giant  form,  whom  my  father  introduced  afterward  to  my 
mother  as  Alexander  Ramsey.  A  feeling  of  satisfaction  and 
added  security  seemed  to  pervade  the  body  of  passengers  when 
aware  of  the  companionship  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  our 
destined  home.  I  still  clearly  recall  my  first  sight  of  this 
great  man,  for  as  such  we  Minnesotans  can  truly  think  and 
speak  of  him.  In  the  fullness  of  health  and  maturity  of  vig- 
orous strength,  Ramsey  stood  a  prince  among  men.  I  have 
heard  it  said  that  when  Daniel  Webster  was  in  London  and 
walked  the  Strand,  or  threaded  the  not  less  crowded  Hyde 
Park,  passersby  would  stop  and  question  each  other,  "What 


484  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

king  is  that?"  Such  was  the  dignity  of  Webster's  carriage, 
the  massiveness  of  form,  the  majesty  of  brow,  the  eagle  eye  of 
the  great  Expounder  of  the  Constitution.  Similarly  Governor 
Ramsey  throughout  all  his  life  exercised  a  powerful  personal 
influence.  He  needed  no  crown  to  mark  the  dignity  of  his 
bearing,  the  royal  majesty  of  his  nature,  or  the  wisdom  of  his 
reign  and  rule. 

"With  Ramsey  at  the  helm,  whether  in  St.  Paul  or  in  Wash- 
ington, with  his  inspiring  genius  and  commanding  figure,  there 
never  was  any  question  as  to  how  Minnesota  stood  or  should 
stand  during  the  trials  and  despondencies  in  the  Civil  War. 
It  has  ever  seemed  to  me  that  with  the  glory  of  the  old  First 
Minnesota  Regiment  and  its  heroic  deeds  of  valor,  at  Gettys- 
burg and  on  other  fields,  should  be  interwoven  the  life-story 
of  Alexander  Ramsey,  who  was  the  first  governor  among  all 
the  states  to  proffer  a  regiment  to  Lincoln  at  his  first  call  for 
troops  in  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

Finding  a  temporary  shelter  for  the  family,  my  father  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  St.  Anthony  on  a  prospecting  tour.  In  his 
absence  we  who  were  left  behind,  a  Sunday  occurring,  attended 
the  only  religious  services  known  to  us  at  that  time,  that  of  the 
Rev.  Edward  D.  Neill,  whose  subsequent  career  proved  him  to 
be  one  of  our  state's  most  accomplished  gentlemen,  scholars, 
and  authors.  Later,  during  the  early  years  of  my  ministry  in 
the  Parish  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  St.  Anthony,  we  became  friends 
and  neighbors,  when  he  assumed  the  presidency  of  the  newly 
created  Macalester  College,  located  then  in  the  heart  of  St. 
Anthony,  being  opened  and  maintained  some  years  in  the  large 
stone  structure  known  as  the  Winslow  House.  This  hotel  was 
an  adventurous  proposition,  having  been  built  for  the  accom- 
modation of  wealthy  southern  patrons,  who  early  flocked  hither 
in  summer  time  with  their  negro  slaves.  Upon  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war,  they  deserted  in  a  body,  which  ruined  the  pat- 
ronage and  prospects  of  the  Winslow  House,  so  that  this  large 
building  stood  unused  till  the  founding  of  Macalester  College. 

With  my  father's  return  from  his  prospecting  tour,  we 
learned  that  he  had  determined  to  make  St.  Anthony  his  home. 
Thither  immediately  he,  with  my  mother  and  the  other  child- 
ren, drove  in  one  of  the  old  fashioned  Concord  coaches, 
drawn  by  four  horses,  of  the  stage  line  owned  by  Borup  and 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,  1851  to  1861.  485 

Oakes.  I  was  left  to  follow  with  the  household  goods.  Seated 
beside  the  driver  on  the  top  of  the  high  piled  furniture  wagon, 
it  seemed  a  long  and  toilsome  way  to  the  Falls.  Having  passed 
Desnoyer's  halfway  house,  suddenly  the  driver  left  his  seat, 
and,  seeking  the  road,  brought  back  in  his  hand  a  horrid-look- 
ing instrument,  which  he  described  as  an  Indian  scalping  knife. 
From  that  hour  on  till  we  reached  the  village,  I  was  in  mortal 
terror  lest  a  painted  savage  might  spring  from  behind  a  tree 
and  scalp  us. 

Being  settled  in  our  new  home,  we  children  began  to  attend 
the  school,  in  its  building  on  University  avenue,  about  two 
blocks  from  the  Winslow  House.  Of  this  school  E.  P.  Mills, 
E.  W.  Merrill,  and  D.  S.  B.  Johnston,  were  teachers  at  different 
times.  It  was  the  foundation  and  beginning  of  the  State  Uni- 
versity. A  Congregational  meetinghouse  was  already  built, 
and  a  minister  of  that  denomination  settled,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Secombe.  An  Episcopal  church  was  also  in  process  of  erection, 
of  which  twenty-one  years  afterward  I  became  the  rector. 

The  year  1851  was  of  the  period  when  the  flood  tide  of  im- 
migration set  in,  transforming  the  territory  in  a  short  time 
and  at  a  rapid  rate  into  the  full  age  and  strength  of  other  com- 
monwealths. The  people  who  flocked  hither  were  not  of  for- 
eign birth  and  polyglot  tongues  as  now.  They  were  native- 
born  citizens,  some  being  stalwart  sons  of  Maine,  from  the  pine 
forests  of  the  Penobscot,  who  loved  the  echoes  of  the  resound- 
ing axe;  others  came  from  the  rugged  hills  of  Vermont  and 
New  Hampshire,  and  from  the  low  shores  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  sturdy  and  intelligent  pioneers;  yet  others  were 
from  the  Empire  State,  and  not  a  few  from  the  steep  hills  and 
the  beaufiful  valleys  of  Pennsylvania,  and  from  the  City  of 
Brotherly  Love.  Of  the  foreigners  who  came,  France,  Ireland, 
and  Scotland  furnished  the  larger  part. 

A  finer  class  of  people,  I  am  led  to  indulge  the  thought, 
never  sought  the  West  than  those  who  first  came  to  these 
shores  of  the  Mississippi.  They  flocked  here  not  only  from  the 
states  mentioned,  but  from  ''Little  Rhody"  and  New  Jersey, 
also  Buckeyes  from  Ohio  and  Hoosiers  from  Indiana,  with  now 
and  then  "the  man  from  Missouri,"  and  a  scattered  few  from 
Virginia  and  Kentucky,  of  pure  English  blood,  gentle  manners, 
and  large  vision. 


486  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Some  of  you  may  remember  the  address  of  Gov.  John  A. 
Johnson,  remarkable  for  its  winsome  simplicity  and  pure  elo- 
quence, delivered  Commencement  Day  in  1907  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania.  He  happily  touched  upon  the  close  rela- 
tionship existing  between  that  state  and  Minnesota  by  reason 
of  kinship  and  mutual  sympathy,  and  through  Governor  Ram- 
sey and  other  less  notable  but  worthy  folk  coming  from  thence. 
As  a  fact,  two  of  our  territorial  governors  were  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, and,  of  the  state  governors.  Miller,  the  fourth,  and  Mc- 
Gill,  the  tenth,  were  also  natives  of  Pennsylvania.  Thus  four 
of  our  chief  magistrates  came  from  the  Keystone  State. 

Without  disallowing  or  lessening  what  was  so  felicitously 
spoken  by  Governor  Johnson,  in  the  beautiful  and  tender  allu- 
sion to  the  feeling  of  fellowship  between  the  great  state  of 
"William  Penn  and  Minnesota,  the  thought  may  be  extended 
without  attenuation  of  the  chain,  that  Minnesota  is  bound  not 
only  by  more  than  a  fourfold  tie  to  Pennsylvania,  but  also  by 
a  bond  of  many  ply  to  other  states  which  have  contributed 
largely  to  the  Nation,  whose  sons  came  to  Minnesota  to  help 
lay  deep  and  strong  the  foundations  of  a  new  commonwealth 
not  less  great  than  that  of  their  fathers.  Let  us  not  forget  that 
If  our  state  stands  not  far  from  the  foremost  of  seven  and  forty 
sister  states,  it  is  not  our  rivers  and  lakes  alone,  our  forests,  our 
broad  acres  of  fertile  soil  and  waving  grain,  that  in  fifty  years 
have  elevated  Minnesota  to  her  place  as  the  great  cereal  and 
dairy  producing  area  of  the  continent,  with  other  features  not 
less  contributary  to  the  welfare  of  humanity,  not  solely  her 
natural  resources,  great  and  manifold  as  they  are ;  but  more  is 
due  to  the  spirit,  the  inexhaustible  energy,  and  the  resource- 
fulness of  her  high  minded  citizenry,  who  have  enlarged  and 
ennobled  the  annals  of  accomplishments,  not  less  in  the  field, 
in  shop  and  factory,  by  the  arts  of  peace,  than  on  the  battle- 
fields of  our  great  Civil  War,  for  liberty,  justice,  equality,  and 
the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  my  heart  swells  with  pride 
when  I  think  of  the  long  list  of  honored  names  Minnesota  has 
enshrined  in  her  bosom  and  inscribed,  too,  on  the  deathless  roll 
of  fame,  not  all  equally  known  and  published,  but  each  in  his 
place  and  function  helping  to  approximate  to  the  fulfillment  of 
duty,  rendering  civic,  social,  and  moral  benefit  to  his  state  and 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,   1851  to   1861.  487 

nation,  according  to  the  ability  within  him,  and  in  the  figure 
employed  by  Paul  when  speaking  of  a  temple  growing  into  the 
stateliness  of  perfection,  ''by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth," 

In  1853  it  began  to  be  understood  that  the  officers  of  Fort 
Snelling  were  not  so  opposed  to  the  occupation  of  the  Military 
Reservation  as  formerly.  Two  men  were  already  there,  Phil- 
ander Prescott  and  Col.  John  H.  Stevens.  Another  ventured 
over,  Calvin  A.  Tuttle,  moving  into  the  abandoned  barracks 
which  the  soldiers  had. occupied  while  constructing  the  govern- 
ment sawmill  and  grist  mill  in  1821  and  1823.  Under  their  long, 
low-browed  roof,  the  first  funeral  in  Minneapolis  occurred, 
upon  the  death  of  a  child,  my  sister  singing  the  appropriate 
hymn. 

Other  men  crept  over  the  river  as  if  by  stealth.  Among  the 
first  was  Anson  Northup,  the  early  adventurer  who  built  the 
first  hotel  in  Stillwater  in  1846,  the  American  House  in  St.  Paul, 
1848,  and  the  St.  Charles  in  St.  Anthony  in  1850.  He  also  ran 
the  first  steamboat  on  the  Red  river  of  the  North.  His  house 
stood  on  the  high  bank  facing  and  overlooking  the  Falls,  near 
the  site  of  the  great  Washburn  flour  mills.  Dr.  Alfred  E. 
Ames,  whose  family  came  from  Belvidere,  111.,  also  moved  over 
and  built  a  house  in  1853.  At  his  suggestion,  my  father  moved 
over,  making  a  claim  of  eighty  acres  and  building  the  third 
new  house.  Other  pioneers  followed  thick  and  fast,  and  soon 
the  west  side  was  spotted  with  little  habitations. 

Recognizing  the  fact  that  with  such  abundant  water  power 
an  industrial  town  would  likely  spring  up,  the  settlers  organ- 
ized an  association  for  self  protection,  agreeing  that  no  one 
among  them,  squatting  near  or  about  the  Falls,  should  lay 
claim  to  more  than  eighty  acres  of  land.  This  was  strictly  ad- 
hered to,  and  the  same  association  administered  such  law,  jus- 
tice, and  punishments,  as  it  deemed  necessary ;  for  as  yet  there 
was  no  court,  no  judge,  no  jury.  "Jumpers"  and  other  un- 
desirable intruders  were  unceremoniously  notified,  and,  if  nec- 
essary, they  were  forcibly  and  bodily  ejected. 

In  1851  a  newspaper  was  published  on  the  east  side,  called 
the  St.  Anthony  Express,  under  Elmer  Tyler,  edited  by  Isaac 
Atwater,  who  was  assisted  directly  or  indirectly  by  several 
other  young  men,  as  Colonel  Spooner  and  George  D.  Bowman. 
All  these  young  men  were  poor,  and  it  was  understood  that  they 


488  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

were  "keeping  bachelor's  hall"  in  the  printing  office.  It  was 
reported  that  they  lived  principally  upon  mush,  milk,  and  mo- 
lasses. Whether  true  or  false,  it  matters  little,  but  one  thing 
I  do  know,  that  the  young  editor  was  inured  to  hard  fare  and 
plain  living;  for  I  heard  him  say  some  years  later,  in  a  public 
address  delivered  at  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  the  great 
Episcopal  schools  in  Fa^-ibault,  that  when  working  his  way 
through  Yale  College  it  was  his  habit  to  eat  for  his  noonday 
meal  the  cold  boiled  potatoes  left  over  from  his  breakfast.  I 
visited  the  printing  office  one  day,  and  upon  the  huge  stove, 
centrally  located  for  the  diffusion  of  heat,  I  saw  a  big  iron  pot 
and  within  it  a  seething,  bubbling  mass  of  yellow  meal.  Few 
lawyers  had  a  more  extended  or  lucrative  law  practice  than 
Judge  Isaac  Atwater,  who  became  a  resident  of  the  west  side, 
accumulated  a  large  fortune,  and  died  not  long  since  at  an 
advanced  age,  laden  with  honors,  leaving  generous  bequests  to 
church  and  eleemosynary  uses.  Mr.  George  D.  Bowman,  who 
had  studied  at  Bowdoin  College,  was  for  a  time  an  inmate  of 
our  home,  a  young  man  of  rare  taste  and  fine  education.  To 
him,  following  the  suggestion  of  Charles  Hoag,  is  to  be  accred- 
ited the  public  adoption  of  the  future  name  of  the  growing 
town,  Minneapolis,  "the  Minnehaha  City."  He  advocated  this 
name  in  the  Express,  and  talked  not  a  little  about  it. 

Charles  Hoag  and  Miss  Marion  Coolbaugh  taught  school  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  church,  which,  in  allusion  to  its  very 
slender  spire,  was  called  "the  Toothpick."  Rev.  Dr.  Knicker- 
backer,  the  Episcopal  pastor,  later  bought  the  "Toothpick" 
church,  and  established  in  it  the  first  parochial  school.  This 
school  was  taught  by  Mrs.  W.  E.  Jones  and  Miss  Leonora  Hall, 
who  later  was  the  wife  of  George  H.  Christian. 

Minneapolis  soon  began  to  have  its  own  newspapers.  In 
1853,  the  Northwestern  Democrat  appeared,  beginning  in  St. 
Anthony  under  George  W.  Prescott,  but  the  next  year  it  was 
sold  to  W.  A.  Hotchkiss,  who  moved  it  to  the  west  side  of  the 
river.  Electa  Hartwell  and  my  sister  Marion  folded  the  first 
Minneapolis  issue,  from  the  old  Franklin  hand  press.  In  1857 
it  was  again  sold,  to  Mr.  W.  F.  Russell,  who  changed  its  name 
to  The  Gazette.  After  other  changes  of  both  name  and  own- 
ership, the  paper  came  into  the  posesssion  of  Hon.  William  S. 
King,  who  rechristened  it  as  The  State  Atlas. 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,   1851  to  1861. 


489 


The  Chronicle  was  started  in  1866  by  my  friend  and  school- 
mate, Willard  S.  Whitmore,  nephew  of  Congressman  Cyrus 
Aldrich,  associating  with  him  Col.  John  H.  Stevens,  Fred  L. 
Smith,  and  Col.  Le  Vinne  P.  Plummer.  The  following  year  it 
was  joined  to  the  Atlas  and  appeared  under  the  name  of  The 
Tribune. 

The  original  sites  of  St.  Paul,  St.  Anthony,  and  Minneapolis, 
were  far  more  attractive  in  their  natural  setting  and  landscape 
beauty  than  would  now  appear,  even  under  their  present  urban 
improvement  and  embellishments.  Wooded  hills  surrounded 
one  and  all.  Not  the  least  attractive  was  St.  Paul,  whose  entire 
early  settlement  nestled  closely  within  the  valley  of  the  cir- 
cumjacent and  overlooking  hills.  The  rough  and  rugged  cliffs, 
of  snowy  whiteness  as  seen  from  the  river's  edge,  were  sur- 
mounted with  a  heavy  growth  of  oak  and  pine.  The  natural 
and  simple  grandeur  of  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  unbroken 
and  undimmed  by  the  later  constructions  of  apron  and  dam 
and  mills,  cannot  now  well  be  conceived  of,  even  in  the  glow  of 
a  fervent  imagination.  They  were  grand  and  beautiful,  as 
every  old  settler  can  testify. 

The  lofty  bluffs  in  the  rear  of  Minneapolis,  crowned  with  a 
rich  growth  of  stately  oaks,  stood  as  a  splendid  background  to  a 
picturesque  landscape.  Along  the  summit  of  these  ancient 
cliffs  ran  a  well-worn  footpath,  an  old  trail,  giving  touching 
evidence  that  the  red  man  appreciated  these  heights  and  sought 
the  solitary  haunts  to  enjoy  the  beauty  of  his  native  land.  One' 
autumn  night  from  the  top  of  these  natural  watch  towers,  I 
beheld  the  oft  dreaded  prairie  fires,  raging  in  many  distinct 
and  far  separated  places,  illuminating  with  spectacular  and 
fearful  splendor  the  darkness  of  the  sky. 

Another  feature,  not  the  least  interesting  to  the  lover  of 
humanity,  has  been  withdrawn.  Three  tribes  of  the  North 
American  Indians  centered  around  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
the  Winnebagoes,  the  Sioux,  the  Chippewa.  Their  trails  cen- 
tered at  and  radiated  from  the  Falls,  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel 
to  the  iron-bound  felly,  leading  to  and  from  their  respective 
homes  and  hunting  grounds.  Here,  on  the  broad  and  smooth 
rock  ledge  above  the  Falls,  they  forded  the  river  on  foot  and 
astride  their  ponies.  Not  infrequently  bands  of  these  several 
tribes  peaceably  invaded  our  settlement,  danced  in  our  streets. 


490  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

and  sought  our  favor  and  our  gifts  of  bread  and  pork  and 
beans.  Of  course  they  were  armed,  each  equipped  with  toma- 
hawk, scalping  knife,  bow  and  feathered  arrow,  or  flintlock 
gun.  Scalps  hung  at  their  waists,  and  eagle  feathers  adorned 
their  head  gear  and  war  locks,  bearing  conspicuous  but  silent 
evidence  of  battles  fought  and  enemies  slain. 

To  their  credit,  be  it  said,  however,  that  during  all  their 
close  neighboring  and  frequent  visits  (not  wholly  unwelcome 
to  break  the  monotony  of  frontier  life),  I  never  knew  nor  saw 
an  immodest  act  of  Indian  maid  or  woman,  nor  did  I  hear  of 
theft,  crime,  or  misdemeanor.  Law  or  no  law,  little  "fire 
water"  was  sold  or  given  to  these  children  of  the  forest,  and 
though  I  saw  hundreds  at  a  time,  and  not  at  infrequent  inter- 
vals smaller  groups  and  scalping  parties,  and  at  one  time  sev- 
eral thousand,  yet  I  saw  little  intoxication.  I  say  it  boldly 
and  gladly,  in  the  defense  of  the  much  abused  and  maligned 
red  man,  that  the  Indian  of  early  times,  uncontaminated  by  the 
bold,  bad  white  man,  was  not  of  and  by  himself  the  vicious, 
hostile,  repulsive,  defiant  creature  so  oft  depicted.  If  from  his 
original  estate  he  has  fallen  into  the  low,  sneaking  thief,  tramp, 
robber  and  cut-throat,  dissolute  and  debauched,  it  is  the  white 
man  who  has  done  it,  who  has  injured  and  betrayed  his  simple 
habit  and  confiding  nature. 

You  may  call  me  wise  or  call  me  foolish,  but  I  am  now,  and 
for  life  long  have  been,  the  constant  friend  of  the  red  man; 
and  I  say  unhesitatingly  that  I  believe  Fenimore  Cooper  has 
not  more  greatly  or  erroneously  exaggerated  his  native  virtues 
than  his  adversary  has  grossly  distorted  his  vices  and  traduced 
his  virtues.  I  have  some  sense  of  the  smiling  incredulity  with 
which  I  may  be  heard,  but  I  have  not  the  less  assurance  of  the 
fairness  and  justice  of  my  judgment,  formed  from  personal 
acquaintance  and  from  the  observation  of  wiser  and  better  men. 

The  venerable  Bishop  Whipple,  known  among  the  red  men 
as  ''old  Straight  Tongue,"  because  he  always  told  the  truth, 
used  to  quote  Generals  Miles,  Meade,  Sheridan,  Halleck,  and 
other  officers,  to  attest  that  not  one  treaty  out  of  the  many 
had  been  fully  and  fairly  carried  out  by  our  Government.  The 
Bishop  was  further  wont  to  say,  that  in  all  cases  where  the 
Indian  had  been  charged  with  wrong  and  misdoing,  later  in- 
vestigation and  subsequent  facts  proved  that  these  acts  were 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,  1851  to  1861.  491 

invariably  in  retaliation  for  the  white  man's  prior  misde- 
meanors, not  less  cruel,  not  less  injurious,  murder  and  outrage 
being  not  excepted. 

In  1872,  as  United  States  commissioner,  with  others,  I  vis- 
ited the  various  tribes  of  Chippewas  from  Leech  lake  and  Lake 
Winnebagoshish  to  Red  lake,  tributary  to  the  Red  river  of  the 
North ;  and  during  the  length  of  those  days  I  found  them  as  I 
knew  them  in  the  earlier  days  of  my  boyhood,  unperverted, 
friendly,  a  faithful  and  confiding  group  of  men  and  women, 
ready  and  willing  to  be  led,  and  brutish  only  when  misled  by 
swinish  lusts  and  distraught  and  maddened  by  the  fiery  flames 
of  the  paleface's  whiskey.  I  met  Hole-in-the-Day,  knew  Little 
Crow,  Good  Thunder,  and  other  less  notable  chiefs  and  head 
men  of  the  Northwest,  and  not  a  few  of  the  common  rank  and 
file.  I  can  even  say  that  I  knew  "Old  Bets,"  of  long  and  doubt- 
ful recollections,  here  in  the  city  of  St.  Paul;  but  there  were 
better  days  even  for  her,  the  earlier,  when  fairer  things  can  be 
well  said,  before  she  became  a  common  vagrant. 

Will  you  bear  with  me  while  I  relate  a  single  incident?  In 
Lafayette,  Indiana,  I  met  a  lady  parishioner,  who  chanced  to 
show  me  a  daguerreotype  which  she  cherished  with  the  fondest 
attachment.  To  my  great  surprise,  it  was  that  of  *'01d  Bets." 
The  lady  was  the  daughter  of  an  army  officer  who  had  been 
sent  with  his  company  to  occupy  Fort  Snelling.  She  was  born 
while  the  company  was  in  winter  quarters  on  the  little  island 
in  the  Mississippi  just  below  the  Fort.  The  company  was  there 
encamped  because  of  the  insufficient  barracks  of  the  uncom- 
pleted fort.  Strange  to  say,  upon  this  lady's  birth,  ''Old  Bets" 
or  ''Young  Bets,"  as  it  was  then,  was  summoned  and  acted  as 
nurse  to  mother  and  child.  So  kind  and  so  gentle,  so  efficient 
were  the  services  of  the  Indian  girl,  that  the  lieutenant  and  his 
family  ever  cherished  the  kindest  thoughts  and  warmest  affec- 
tion for  her. 

The  first  building  used  in  Minneapolis  as  a  schoolhouse  is 
said  to  have  been  an  abandoned  lumbermen's  camp,  a  veritable 
shanty  20  by  30  feet  in  size,  on  Anson  Northup  's  land,  near  his 
house,  and  hard  by  the  present  St.  Paul  and  Milwaukee  station. 
Between  it  and  the  site  of  the  station  was  a  small,  deep  pond, 
in  which  the  boys  used  to  swim  during  the  noon  recess  and 
after  school.     In  front  was  a  wide-spreading  swamp,  where 


492  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

cowslips  grew  in  abundance,  and  the  white  and  yellow  moc- 
casin flowers.  The  teacher  of  this  school  was  May  Miller,  sis- 
ter of  Col.  John  H.  Stevens'  wife,  later  Mrs.  Robinson.  She 
was  succeeded  by  a  seafaring  man,  Green  by  name,  who,  learn- 
ing the  utility  of  flogging  in  the  English  navy,  extended  its 
service  lustily  and  at  short  intervals  upon  us  boys. 

I  recall  several  other  private  schools  in  different  places,  one 
especially  on  Bridge  street,  taught  by  Miss  Electa  Hartwell, 
since  we  boys  used  to  infest  the  baker 's  shop  just  over  the  way 
and  invest  our  change  in  gingerbread,  in  pieces  of  so  large  di- 
mensions that  we  were  wont  to  speak  of  them  as  ''quarter  sec- 
tions," not  an  unfamiliar  term  or  epithet  to  the  sons  of 
pioneers.  Mr.  A.  K.  Hartwell,  a  brother  of  Electa,  also  kept  a 
school  in  Fletcher's  Hall  on  Helen  street. 

In  November,  1858,  the  historic  Union  School,  a  two  and  a 
half  story  brick  building,  built  by  the  city,  was  opened  under 
George  B.  Stone,  with  a  staff  of  teachers,  two  of  whom  were 
Mrs.  Lucy  Eogers  and  Mrs.  S.  B.  Grimshaw.  At  a  later  time, 
when  the  city  of  Minneapolis  wanted  the  block  of  land  on  which 
this  first  schoolhouse  stood,  to  erect  the  present  City  Hall,  the 
block  was  found  a  portion  of  my  father's  original  plat  of  eighty 
acres,  secured,  patented  and  owned  by  him,  then  and  now,  re- 
corded in  the  county  records  under  the  name  of  D.  M.  Cool- 
baugh.  Under  the  ruling  of  Judge  Lochren,  this  valuable  piece 
of  property  was  adjudged  forfeited  by  our  family  on  the  score 
of  its  having  been  in  possession  of  other  hands  for  twenty 
years  without  protest,  no  witnesses  nor  documents  appearing, 
either  of  his  giving  or  in  any  wise  disposing  of  the  same.  Here 
in  this  school  I  acquired  a  sufficiency  of  Greek  and  Latin  and 
other  knowledge  to  gain  an  entrance  to  an  Eastern  college. 

Mr.  George  B.  Stone  was  called  from  Fall  River,  Mass.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  Brown  University,  a  ripe  scholar  and  skill- 
ful teacher,  a  wise  disciplinarian  and  thorough  organizer,  un- 
der whose  guidance  the  several  city  schools  took  form  and  or- 
der. All  of  the  old  surviving  pupils,  as  I  myself,  look  back 
with  precious  and  grateful  memories  to  the  sweet  and  tender, 
but  strict  and  strong,  personal  influences  he  brought  to  bear 
upon  us.  Under  his  loving  and  masterful  sway  we  had  to  work, 
learned  to  work,  and,  further,  learned  to  love  the  work.  His 
was  the  most  thorough  and  rigid  discipline  I  ever  knew,  of 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,  1851  to  1861.  493 

"which  there  was  no  let-up  until  we  acquired  the  habit  of  ab- 
solute self  control.  He  put  every  pupil  upon  his  honor,  both 
as  to  behavior  and  study,  and  then  attended  to  our  keeping  it 
untarnished.  In  the  due  course  of  time,  the  order  was  most 
perfect  and  self  regulating,  and  the  zeal  and  interest  in  study 
[iinequalled.  Mr.  Stone  resigned  to  accept  the  broader  field  and 
more  lucrative  position  of  a  professorship  in  Washington  Uni- 
versity, then  as  now  a  favorite  institution  of  St.  Louis.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  he  visited  the  barracks  of  the  young  soldiers, 
particularly  those  of  the  Minnesota  troops  temporarily  quar- 
tered there,  relieving  the  tedium  of  idle  camp  life  by  supplying 
school  books  to  the  soldiers  and  instructing  them  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  studies  broken  off  by  enlistment  and  service. 

One  schoolmate,  George  Case,  grandson  of  Emmanuel  Case, 
years  after  the  war,  told  me  that  under  the  kindly  and  gen- 
erous tuition  thus  furnished  he  completed  his  algebra  and 
geometry.  Under  Prof.  Stone's  supervision  other  soldiers  ad- 
vanced themselves  in  interrupted  courses  of  reading  and  study. 
To  many  besides  myself,  he  remains  the  ideal,  most  beloved 
teacher.  Thoroughness  was  the  marked  characteristic  of  his 
life  and  his  work. 

Under  his  guidance  an  organization  was  formed  of  the  High 
School  and  intermediate  classes,  known  as  ''The  Chrysalis,"  in 
which  the  study  of  parliamentary  law  was  cultivated,  with 
presentation  of  original  essays,  recitations,  and  an  occasional 
play  before  the  footlights.  Thus  were  engendered  the  love  of 
books  and  some  elementary  familiarity  with  the  best  British 
and  American  authors.  At  Mr.  Stone's  suggestion  we  had  a 
course  of  public  lectures  by  professional  men  of  local  reputa- 
tion, and  now  and  then  of  wider  prominence.  One  most  pleas- 
ing and  acceptable  lecture  was  by  William  L.  Banning  of  St. 
Paul.  We  secured  Bayard  Taylor,  then  perhaps  the  most  pop- 
ular lecturer  in  the  country,  his  subject  being,  "The  Land  of 
the  Midnight  Sun;"  his  price  was  high,  several  hundred  dol- 
lars, but  we  cleared  seventy-five  dollars. 

This  sum  we  devoted  to  the  establishment  of  a  public 
library,  of  which  at  that  time  there  was  none.  To  the  best  of 
my  knowledge  and  belief  this  was  the  first  money  donated  for 
that  laudable  purpose,  and  not  long  afterward  it  eventuated, 
with  increase  of  other  gifts  and  the  growth  of  popular  interest, 


494  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

to  the  founding  of  the  Athenaeum,  which  still  later  and  more 
fully  developed  into  the  present  Minneapolis  Public  Library. 
Years  after  our  humble  incipient  effort  a  splendid  endowment 
came,  to  make  sure  and  permanent  our  feeble  enterprise, 
through  the  generous  bequest  of  lands  and  rentals  from  Dr. 
Kirby  Spencer,  a  dentist,  then  a  resident  of  the  city. 

Between  the  years  of  '51  and  '61  many  men  of  note,  and 
some  of  more  than  national  reputation,  visited  the  Twin  Cities. 
The  wife  of  Cyrus  Aldrich,  first  Congressman  from  Minne- 
apolis, once  told  me  the  very  great  number  of  well  known  and 
distinguished  personages  she  had  entertained  in  her  hospitable 
home.  The  number  was  so  great,  the  names  so  numerous,  I 
would  fail  in  any  attempt  at  recall.  Two  came  whose  name 
and  fame  were  equally  great  at  home  and  abroad,  Edward 
Everett  and  "William  H.  Seward. 

The  visit  of  Seward  in  the  newly  created  state  of  Minne- 
sota was  not  an  ordinary  event.  It  was  more  than  of  local 
importance.  It  encouraged  the  feeling  that  we  were  a  real 
and  increasingly  large  factor  of  the  mighty  forces  upbuilding 
the  Greater  Union  yet  to  be.  His  coming  was  of  national  sig- 
nificance. His  words  and  his  prominence  in  the  world's  pol- 
itics combined  to  create  and  make  substantial  (to  democra- 
tize) that  growing  sentiment,  that  Minnesota  was  to  bear  an 
essential  and  conspicuous  part  in  the  nation's  glory,  which  sub- 
sequently Alexander  Ramsey,  the  "War  Governor,  could  rely 
upon  when  in  Washington  he  offered  to  Lincoln  the  first  body 
of  volunteer  troops  to  face  the  rising,  yea,  the  already  risen 
Rebellion. 

Seward  was  full  of  statecraft,  an  accomplished  scholar  and 
cultivated  gentleman,  a  diplomat  of  the  highest  order,  a  royal 
patriot,  a  wise  far-seeing  citizen,  an  American  whose  vision  of 
his  country's  greatness  was  like  that  of  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero, 
of  unlimited  scope,  whose  eagle  eye  scanned  the  horizon  on 
land  and  sea  to  extend  his  country's  mission.  No  man  now 
doubts  the  wisdom  of  the  Alaska  Purchase,  though  at  the  crisis 
of  its  issue  he  stood  quite  solitary  and  alone  in  the  advocacy 
of  the  scheme  whose  ratification  has  strengthened  the  long  arm 
of  the  republic,  with  Pacific  coast  lines  from  San  Diego  on  the 
south  to  Bering's  strait  on  the  north,  and  has  further  enriched 
her  with  inexhaustible  mines  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  coal. 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  MINNESOTA,  1851  to  1861.  495 

Seward  was  heralded  to  speak  in  St.  Paul  on  September  18, 
1860.  Well  nigh  all  Minneapolis  invaded  St.  Paul  to  hail  the 
chief  of  statesmen  and  give  him  welcome.  The  streets  of  the 
city  were  alive  with  citizens  from  near  and  far;  wide-awakes 
and  military  companies  marched  in  procession  with  the  citi- 
zens, at  beat  of  drum  and  martial  airs.  Upon  the  steps  of  the 
first  Minnesota  capitol,  the  venerable  statesman  faced  an  im- 
mense throng  of  the  new  state's  representative  sons,  and  ex- 
pectancy beamed  from  every  eye.  From  that  rostrum  of  the 
public  forum,  he  delivered  an  address  of  singular  and  prophetic 
foresight. 

This  address,  entitled  ''Political  Equality  the  National 
Idea, ' '  is  published  in  The  Works  of  William  H.  Seward,  edited 
by  George  E.  Baker,  1861,  forming  pages  330-347  of  Volume 
IV.  First  he  alluded  to  his  voyage  by  steamboat  from  Prairie 
du  Chien  to  St.  Paul,  with  praise  of  the  grandeur  and  beauty 
of  the  river  valley,  its  inclosing  bluffs,  "sentinel  walls  that 
look  down  on  the  Mississippi, ' '  and  the  splendor  of  Lake  Pepin 
seen  at  the  close  of  an  autumn  day.  Continuing  in  the  intro- 
ductory remarks  which  led  up  to  his  main  theme  in  the  presi- 
dential campaign  then  in  progress,  Seward  said: 

I  find  myself  now,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  highlands  in  the  center 
of  the  continent  of  North  America,  equidistant  from  the  waters  of 
Hudson's  bay  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the 
ocean  in  which  the  sun  sets In  other  days,  study- 
ing what  might  perhaps  have  seemed  to  others  a  visionary  subject,  I 
have  cast  about  for  the  future,  the  ultimate  central  seat  of  power  of 
the  North  American  people.  I  have  looked  at  Quebec  and  at  New 
Orleans,  at  Washington  and  at  San  Francisco,  at  Cincinnati  and  at 
St.  Louis,  and  it  has  been  the  result  of  my  best  conjecture  that  the 
seat  of  power  for  North  America  would  yet  be  found  in  the  valley  of 
Mexico;  that  the  glories  of  the  Aztec  capital  would  be  renewed,  and 
that  city  would  become  ultimately  the  capital  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  But  I  have  corrected  that  view,  and  I  now  believe  that  the 
last  seat  of  power  on  the  great  continent  will  be  found  somewhere 
within  a  radius  not  very  far  from  the  very  spot  where  I  stand,  at  the 
head  of  navigation  on  the  Mississippi  river  and  on  the  great  Mediter- 
ranean lakes. 

If  Seward's  words  and  vision  of  the  future  helped  to  create 
and  substantiate  the  idea  of  Minnesota's  fellowship  in  the  un- 
exampled   development    of   the    great   middle    west,    Edward 


496  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAI^  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Everett,  a  year  later,  awakened  the  latent  ardor  and  kindled 
the  slumbering  embers  of  loyalty  to  duty  into  flames  that  led 
our  patriots  and  their  sons  in  the  First  Minnesota  and  other 
regiments  on  the  fields  of  carnage  to  make  more  bright  and 
enduring  the  glory  of  Freedom's  heights,  and  to  leave  the  Star 
of  the  North  shining  with  increase  of  splendor.  Who  shall  say 
that  the  voice  of  Everett,  appealing  to  loyalty  and  to  duty,  was 
less  efficient,  in  preaching  the  crusade  of  war,  than  the  Chicago 
minstrel,  Jules  Lombard,  of  whom  Lincoln  said  that  his  pa- 
riotic  verse  and  voice  of  wondrous  melody  enlisted  more  sol- 
diers for  the  Union  army  than  any  hundred  and  fifty  recruiting 
officers  with  beating  drums  and  sounding  fifes? 

Everett  delivered  in  St.  Paul  in  1861  his  famous  oration  on 
the  Life  of  George  Washington.  I  was  fortunate  in  being  able 
to  crowd  in  and  secure  a  seat  in  the  front  row.  His  was  the 
first  form,  figure,  face,  and  bearing,  that  filled  my  youthful 
dream  of  an  ideal  patriot,  scholar,  statesman.  Nothing  seemed 
wanting  in  the  man  before  me  that  could  more  fully  round  out 
a  great  orator.  His  splendid  stature,  his  dignified  demeanor, 
his  noble  countenance  and  lofty  brow,  his  matchless  voice,  his 
scholarly  choice  of  phrase  and  diction,  his  noble  subject,  ''First 
in  war,  first  in  peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen," 
— these,  one  and  all,  enthralled  me. 

When  in  the  peroration,  in  view  of  the  ''irrepressible  con- 
flict" of  the  Civil  War  and  the  dire  necessity  to  rise  and  save 
the  Union,  he  called  on  old  men  and  children,  young  men  and 
maidens,  to  fly  to  the  rescue  in  the  name  and  power  of  Wash- 
ington, lifting  high  his  hands  above  his  lordly  head,  he  cried, 

"Come  one,  come  all! 
Come  as  the  winds  come,  when  forests  are  rended. 
Come  as  the  waves  come,  when  navies  are  stranded." 

My  feelings  were-  one  with  the  wrought-up  multitude  beside 
me,  that  we  thought  we  heard,  as  it  were,  the  voice  of  God  and 
the  great  prophet  of  Sabaoth,  calling  us  to  arms  and  to  duty. 
With  the  lapse  of  more  than  half  a  century,  I  cannot  even  yet 
think  long  nor  speak  well  of  that  awe-inspiring  hour,  when 
American  eloquence  reached  its  climax,  without  a  return  of  the 
thrill  that  then  convulsed  and  the  power  of  speech  that  over- 
whelmed. 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS.* 


BY  DR.  WILLIAM  E.  LEONARD. 


Along  with  the  great  flood  of  western  immigrants  caused  by 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  1848,  came  a  fuller  tide 
of  men  and  women  into  the  Mississippi  valley,  pioneers  of 
more  substantial  type  than  the  hardy  adventurers  who  went 
over  the  Rockies, — men  who  sought  homes  for  their  families, 
not  sudden  wealth  for  themselves.  These  came  into  the  fertile 
prairies  of  Illinois  and  Iowa,  from  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land, a  generation  later  than  the  same  class  of  worthy  pioneers 
settled  northern  Ohio  and  Indiana.  From  1848  to  1860  they 
streamed  up  the  great  river  and  its  tributaries  by  hundreds 
and  by  thousands,  settling  in  Minnesota  and  adjoining  states 
and  territories.  Some  authentic  figures  of  comparison  will 
make  this  remarkable  influx  more  evident. 

In  1850  the  town  of  St.  Anthony  was  credited  with  538  in- 
habitants, and  there  were  a  half  dozen  people  on  the  west  side. 
Only  four  years  later  that  town  had  3,000  citizens,  if  we  in- 
clude the  500  then  estimated  to  be  on  the  west  side;  and  on 
November  2,  1854,  they  asked  the  Legislature  for  a  city  char- 
ter, "in  order  to  manage  their  local  affairs  better,"  and  to 
make  a  better  comparison  with  St.  Paul,  which  then  claimed 
7,000  inhabitants.  This  charter  was  obtained  in  1855.  The 
*' wild-cat  currency"  of  '57,  and  the  hard  times  of  the  two  years 
following,  checked  this  rather  too  rapid  growth,  but  yet  there 
were  over  6,000  people  at  the  Falls  when  the  Civil  War  broke 
out.  In  1849,  when  Minnesota  was  organized  as  a  territory,  it 
had  4,057  inhabitants,  and  6,077  a  year  later ;  after  eight  years, 
in  1857,  there  were  numbered  150,037  souls,  and  172,022  three 
years  later,  showing  more  than  4,000  per  cent  increase  for  the 
eleven  years. 


♦Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  May  11,  1914. 
This   paper   was    illustrated    with    about   sixty   lantern    views,    loaned    by 
Edward  A.  Bromley,  photographer  and  journalist,  whose  extensive  anti- 
quarian   knowledge  of  the  Twin  Cities  has  also  supplied  much  other  aid. 
32 


498  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

As  typical  of  the  homes  these  sturdy  settlers  built,  I  may 
mention  the  log  cabin  by  Joseph  Dean  in  1849,  just  off  the 
Shakopee  road  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Minnesota  river.  This 
''claim  shanty"  still  stands  in  most  excellent  preservation,  a 
hundred  yards  from  the  north  end  of  the  Bloomington  bridge, 
being  used  as  a  storehouse  for  household  goods,  just  as  sub- 
stantial and  dry  a  receptacle  as  a  bonded  warehouse.  Mr. 
Dean's  interests  and  home  were  transferred  to  the  city  of 
Minneapolis,  where  he  became  a  leading  lumberman  and  citi- 
zen. 

The  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  were  really  the  pivotal  point  in 
this  region,  for  they  promised  a  splendid  water  power,  waiting 
development.  Each  settler  in  the  new  village  of  St.  Anthony 
strove  to  make  it  the  center  of  commercial  activity.  There  was 
the  ''Upper  town,"  around  the  site  of  the  Pillsbury  mill,  and 
extending  along  Main  street  as  far  up  the  river  as  to  Third 
avenue  north;  and  the  lower  or  ''Cheever  town,"  the  region 
now  recently  made  part  of  the  larger  University  campus,  in- 
cluding Prospect,  State,  Church,  Union,  and  Harvard  streets. 
Near  the  site  of  the  Elliott  Hospital  of  the  University,  in  front 
of  his  hotel,  the  Cheever  House,  Mr.  William  A.  Cheever  erected 
a  wooden  lookout  tower,  on  the  door  of  which  a  sign  read  "Pay 
your  dime  and  climb."  He  was  on  the  stage  route  up  the  old 
Territorial  road,  and  received  many  guests  and  dimes.  But  the 
following  event  as  chronicled  in  the  Minnesota  Republican  for 
Thursday,  October  19,  1854,  quite  cut  off  Mr.  Cheever 's  chances 
for  being  the  center  of  the  town. 

The  Regents  have  consummated  the  purchase  of  the  Taylor  & 
George  property  on  the  bluff  above  Cheever's,  as  a  site  for  the  Uni- 
versity buildings.  They  have  obtained  25  acres  at  this  point,  which 
Is  universally  admitted  to  be  the  most  beautiful  location  in  the  West, 
commanding,  as  it  does,  a  magnificent  view  of  the  Falls,  river,  and 
country  on  the  west  of  the  river,  and  covered  with  large  and  stately 
oaks.    The  price  paid  was  $6,000. 

Eighteen  years  later,  as  a  student,  I  actually  surveyed  the 
old  campus  with  rod  and  chain  and  found  it  to  contain  twenty- 
three  acres  and  a  fraction.  The  "view  of  the  Falls"  is  not  so 
good  since  the  apron  was  put  in.  Spirit  island  has  disappeared, 
and  the  Great  Northern  viaduct,  the  Tenth  Avenue  bridge,  the 
Pillsbury  dam,  and  the  railway  freight  bridge  just  below,  have 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS.  499 

been  built,  quite  cutting  off  the  outlook  up  the  river.  But  the 
greater  University  campus,  more  than  five  times  as  large  now, 
really  affords  fine  river  views.  The  value  of  this  really  beau- 
tiful site  has  gone  up  into  several  hundred  times  its  original 
cost,  evidencing  the  wisdom  of  those  first  Regents.  Yet  I  must 
confess  great  sympathy  with  Dr.  Folwell's  plan  once  laid  be- 
fore the  Legislature,  to  set  aside  on  upper  Lake  Minnetonka 
several  hundred  acres  for  all  the  departments  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  thereon  to  construct  such  stately  buildings  as  are  now 
being  erected,  but  far  away  from  the  trains  and  noise  of  the 
city  and  in  ideal  setting  of  suburban  beauty. 

The  St.  Anthony  Express,  the  first  newspaper  at  the  Falls, 
founded  in  May,  1851,  is  remarkable  for  its  high  note  of  citi- 
zenship in  its  local  items,  as  for  instance:  ^'Let  us  place  Min- 
nesota University  on  a  basis  equal  to  that  of  Yale;"  "Keep 
litter  off  the  streets,  improve  your  lots  with  shrubbery  and 
fence,  and  build  in  good  taste  back  from  the  sidewalk."  It 
printed  a  series  of  ''Letters  to  Young  Ladies,"  after  the  style 
of  the  modern  Ladies'  Home  Journal. 

No  story  of  Minneapolis  is  complete  without  prominent 
mention  of  Col.  John  H.  Stevens,  who  for  Franklin  Steele  and 
himself  located  the  first  claim  dwelling  house  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river,  a  modest  wooden  building  which  I  well  remember  in 
my  boyhood,  on  the  hillside  some  100  feet  from  the  river,  where 
the  recently  discarded  Union  Station  stood.  Winding  down  to 
the  river  in  front  of  his  house,  from  the  bridge  road,  after  the 
ferry  was  superseded,  was  the  road  up  which  was  hauled  most 
of  the  water  used  for  domestic  purposes  in  the  town.  At  any 
time  during  the  day  could  be  seen  a  flat  cart  backed  into  the 
river,  one  horse  and  one  or  more  barrels,  to  be  filled  by  dipping 
with  a  pail,  completing  the  outfit.  Later  from  this  little  shore 
line  in  front  of  Col.  Stevens'  house  we  venturesome  boys  would 
walk  out  on  the  logs,  backed  up  from  the  mill  pond  below,  to 
the  boom  line,  some  75  feet.  If  we  slipped  and  went  between 
the  logs,  as  we  did  occasionally,  for  the  whole  trick  was  a  for- 
bidden one,  we  might  come  up  between  logs  and  be  saved  or  hit 
our  heads  on  one  and  stay  under  forever!  The  former  expe- 
rience was  mine,  once  only.  Lower  down  the  river,  where  the 
flour  mill  raceway  now  begins,  was  a  shady,  unfrequented  high 
shore,  where  our  fathers  used  to  take  us  to  teach  us  to  swim. 


500  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

You  know  how  this  Stevens  house,  well  preserved,  built  in 
1849  by  Charles  Mousseau  (whose  son  is  still  on  the  police 
force)  and  Captain  John  Tapper,  the  ferryman,  was  purchased 
by  the  city  and  hauled  by  the  school  children  of  Minneapolis, 
on  May  28,  1896,  from  Sixteenth  avenue  south  and  Fourth 
street  to  its  present  permanent  and  picturesque  resting  place 
in  Minnehaha  Park  just  north  of  the  west  end  of  the  bridge 
leading  to  the  Soldiers'  Home. 

Colonel  Stevens  was  always  a  factor  in  the  growth  of  the 
city  and  the  state,  being  especially  enthusiastic  and  untiring  in 
his  devotion  to  intelligent  agriculture.  A  beautiful  bronze 
statue  of  him,  in  his  long  coat  and  slouch  hat,  stands  at  the 
foot  of  Portland  avenue,  placed  there  in  his  memory  by  his 
daughter,  the  late  Mrs.  P.  B.  Winston. 

The  Minnesota  Eepublican  records  that  "the  Minnesota 
mill,  Capt.  Rollins  owner,  ground  36  bushels  and  29  pounds  of 
corn  into  flour  in  less  than  one  hour."  Such  was  the  humble 
beginning  of  the  greatest  flour  industry  of  the  world.  When, 
as  a  student  in  Philadelphia  in  1876, 1  told  that  our  city  ground 
25,000  barrels  of  wheat  flour  daily,  no  one  believed  me !  Last 
year  (1913)  the  Minneapolis  production  of  flour  was  in  round 
numbers  over  17,000,000  barrels,  averaging  over  50,000  daily. 

Affairs  boomed  in  the  new  town  of  ' '  All  Saints, ' '  as  the  we^t 
side  was  known  until  Mr.  Charles  Hoag,  November  5,  1852, 
devised  the  combination  of  Minnehaha,  Dakota  for  "Laughing 
Water,"  with  the  Greek  affix,  "polls,"  a  city,  meaning  "Laugh- 
ing Water  City"  or  "City  of  the  Falls."  This  unique  and 
euphonious  name,  although  objectionably  hybrid  from  a  phil- 
ological view,  has  helped  to  make  our  city  famous ;  for  it  tells, 
even  without  the  silent  "h,"  long  since  dropped,  just  what 
and  where  it  is.  The  town  in  Kansas  that  adopted  our  name 
has  by  no  means  the  same  right  to  it.  Under  date  of  November 
2,  1854,  we  read : 

In  this  promising  town  there  are  already  built,  and  in  process  of 
building,  fifteen  stores,  of  which  ten  are  open  to  trade,  one  hardware, 
one  book-store,  one  extensive  furniture  establishment,  one  well  sup- 
plied with  carriages  and  chairs,  and  the  balance  pretty  well  filled  with 
dry  goods  and  groceries,  etc. '  Minneapolis  has  also  a  sawmill,  a  black- 
smith shop,  a  Government  land  office,  a  printing  office,  a  post  office, 
a  land  agency  and  surveyor's  office,  one  physician,  three  organized 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS.  501 

churches  with  pastors,  and  about  500  inhabitants,  with  room  for  a 
good  many  more.  It  is  directly  opposite  St.  Anthony,  and  the  two 
places  are  in  a  few  weeks  to  be  united  by  a  complete  and  elegant  wire 
suspension  bridge.  When  that  bridge  becomes  free  and  the  two  towns 
are  incorporated  into  one,  maybe  there  will  be  a  city  as  large  as  any 
in  Minnesota. 

This  naive  prophecy  has  been  fulfilled,  but  not  immediately. 
The  bridge  was  not  free  until  after  the  Civil  War,  for  I  myself 
later  used  its  tickets,  three  cents  one  way  or  five  cents  over 
and  back.  The  bridge  was  paid  for  by  stock,  the  first  issue 
being  for  $35,000,  sold  to  the  people  of  the  two  towns.  ''Six 
dwellings  a  week  or  300  a  year,"  is  the  rate  recorded  for  the 
growth  of  Minneapolis,  November  25,  1854.  No  wonder  they 
could  afford  a  bridge  ! 

It  is  a  pity  that  there  is  no  picture  of  John  Tapper's  ferry, 
over  which,  up  to  January  in  1855,  all  the  citizens  and  the 
manufactured  supplies  for  the  little  town  were  brought. 

There  were  many  delays  in  completing  the  bridge.  As  early 
as  December  14,  1854,  E.  H.  Conner,  the  foreman,  and  the  five 
or  six  men  employed,  first  crossed  the  loose  planking.  Foot 
passengers  were  thereafter  allowed  to  cross,  but  in  January 
the  bridge  swayed  in  the  wind  so  violently  as  to  break  up  the 
planking,  and  it  became  necessary  to  place  fresh  wire  guys  to 
new  piers  on  shore  on  each  side  The  toll  for  crossing  on  these 
rather  uncertain  planks  was  one  dime  for  each  foot  passenger 
each  way.  Not  until  January  23,  1855,  was  the  bridge  formally 
opened  to  travel,  and  the  occasion  was  part  of  a  brilliant  cele- 
bration and  dinner  at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel. 

In  the  spring  of  1855  the  census  of  Hennepin  county  was 
taken  as  4,100;  and  it  is  recorded,  ''We  have  had  an  east- 
ern mail  every  day  for  four  days."  That  spring  was  evidently 
an  early  one,  for  we  read  that  Allen  Harmon,  whose  claim  was 
away  out  near  what  is  now  Twelfth  street  and  Hennepin 
avenue,  and  who  gave  his  name  to  Harmon  Place,  "had  pota- 
toes in  bud  on  the  30th  of  May,  and  new  potatoes  on  June  24th. " 

This  new  community,  largely  derived  from  New  England, 
was  not  unmindful  of  the  education  of  its  youth.  May  29,  1856, 
the  Board  selected  the  northwest  half  of  block  77,  where  the 
City  Hall  now  stands,  as  a  site  for  the  Union  School  House ; 
and  in  1857  this  "double  brick  school  house,  the  best  school 


502  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

building  north  of  St.  Louis,"  was  opened  to  scholars.  It  was 
built  by  Eobert  E.  Grimshaw,  a  contractor  who  came  to  Min- 
neapolis two  years  before,  the  father  of  U.  S.  Marshal  W.  H. 
Grimshaw,  Elwood  G.  of  Deadwood,  Mrs.  James  Hunt  of  Cali- 
fornia, Mrs.  George  W.  Cooley,  Mrs.  Charles  M.  Jordan,  and 
Mrs.  A.  E.  Benjamin  of  this  city.  He  designed  it  as  an  exact 
copy  of  a  school  building  in  his  home  town,  Bustleton,  a  suburb 
of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Grimshaw  was  responsible  for  many  of 
the  larger  early  buildings,  including  the  Harrison  Block,  at  the 
corner  of  Washington  and  Nicollet  avenues,  the  First  National 
Bank,  and  Vogeli's  drug  store  on  the  opposite  corner,  which 
were  recently  razed  for  the  Gateway  Park,  and  the  four  Harri- 
son residences,  which  are  still  standing. 

In  my  childhood  recollections  Mr.  Grimshaw  was  notorious 
for  his  leading  connection  with  a  debating  club,  ''The  Liberal 
League,"  abhorred  by  the  good  church  people,  but  kept  much 
alive  each  Sunday  afternoon  in  Harrison's  Hall  by  Mr.  Grim- 
shaw, S.  C.  Gale,  C.  A.  Widstrand,  0.  C.  Merriman,  Dr.  A.  F.  El- 
liott and  others. 

That  Union  School  House  was  my  first,  and  it  brings  back 
many  recollections.  It  seemed  to  us  very  palatial.  A  broad 
central  hall  led  through  the  building  to  rooms  on  either  side, 
cut  off  from  the  hall  by  sliding  glass  partitions,  so  that  the 
four  rooms  of  each  floor  could  be  practically  thrown  into  one 
for  general  school  exercises.  A  huge  wood-burning  stove,  long 
enough  to  receive  four-feet  cordwood,  heated  each  room;  and 
each  stove  gave  more  radiation  by  having  a  long,  hollow  circular 
sheet-iron  drum  above  the  fire  box.  This  school  house,  with  its 
lively  assemblage  of  some  250  children,  was  the  scene  of  as  many 
epoch-making  events  as  any  of  the  seventy  school  buildings  in 
the  present  city.  "We  were  likewise  ''Good,  bad,  and  indiffer- 
ent," as  nowadays. 

The  second  principal,  who  shall  be  nameless,  was  a  powerful 
man,  of  a  very  fiery  temper.  Two  brothers  of  Scotch  descent, 
living  not  far  from  the  school,  were  to  him  especially  exasperat- 
ing by  their  breaches  of  discipline.  He  so  far  forgot  himself 
one  day  as  to  kick  these  boys  down  the  stone  steps.  The  boys 
went  home,  nursing  their  bruises  and  their  temper,  and  through 
their  parents  moved  for  the  principal's  dismissal.  He  was  a 
good  teacher  and  disciplinarian,  and  was  kept  in  his  position  by 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS.  503 

a  lenient  community  because  good  teachers  were  scarce.  The 
boys  could  not  forget  and  one  night  in  1864  the  Union  School 
went  up  in  smoke.  Shavings  saturated  with  kerosene  were 
seen  burning  on  each  floor,  so  that  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  the 
incendiary  origin  of  the  fire.  The  Scotch  family  suddenly  dis- 
appeared from  the  community,  and  the  board  had  to  house  their 
children  in  temporary  quarters  while  a  new  building  was  being 
constructed. 

Although  the  ambitious  citizens  of  Hennepin  county  held 
their  first  fair  in  1854,  a  year  before  the  United  States  gave 
them  clear  title  to  their  claims  and  enabled  them  to  record  a 
plat  of  Minneapolis,  the  first  State  Fair  was  not  held  until  1860, 
being  then  in  the  old  quadrangle  at  Fort  Snelling.  Governor 
Lewis  Cass  of  Michigan,  whose  name  was  given  to  nine  counties 
in  as  many  states  and  to  two  towns  in  Michigan,  was  the  orator 
of  that  occasion.  To  Fort  Snelling  we  took  all  eastern  visitors 
and  strangers,  where  ' '  The  Old  Lookout ' '  gave  a  truly  magnifi- 
cent view  of  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  Minnesota.  The 
removal  of  that  old  round  wooden  platform,  in  the  modernizing 
of  the  Fort  in  the  90  's,  was  a  distinct  scenic  loss  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  Twin  Cities. 

Minnehaha  Falls,  known  as  Brown's  Falls  until  made  famous 
by  Longfellow's  ''Song  of  Hiawatha"  in  1855,  has  done  more  to 
advertise  Minneapolis  than  any  other  one  thing,  for  no  one  can 
come  here  without  seeing  the  supposed  scene  of  his  legends. 
This  waterfall  and  the  beautiful  Minnehaha  Park  surrounding 
it  are  one  of  the  most  familiar  and  valuable  assets  of  the  city. 

The  first  daily  paper  at  the  Falls  was  The  Falls  Evening 
News.  From  Volume  I,  No.  1,  September  28,  1857,  I  select  the 
following  interesting  and  instructive  advertisements  in  the 
separate  Minneapolis  columns. 

"W.  D.  Washburn,  Attorney  &  Counselor  at  Law,  Cor.  of 
Helen  &  Second  Sts.,  Collections,  to  invest  and  loan  money,  enter 
and  locate  lands,  pay  taxes,  examine  titles,  and  attend  promptly 
to  all  business  entrusted  to  him."  Here  follow  in  full  fifteen 
references  to  eastern  men  and  firms  outside  of  the  territory  and 
five  in  St.  Paul  and  elsewhere,  as  the  humble  beginning  of  the 
business  and  fortune  of  the  future  United  States  senator. 

Edwin  S.  Jones,  afterward  Judge  of  Probate  and  president 
of  the  Hennepin  County  Bank,  has  a  similar  card ;  also  Cornell 


504  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

&  Vanderbergh,  who  became  judges,  one  of  the  Supreme  Court ; 
Sherburne  &  Beebe  (the  late  Judge  Franklin  Beebe),  with  some 
twenty  references ;  Henry  Hill,  Parsons  &  Morgan,  Cushman  & 
Woods,  Carlos  Wilcox,  etc.,  all  in  the  real  estate  and  legal  lines. 
I  think  it  was  David  Morgan  of  the  above  firm,  whose  funeral 
five  years  later  in  the  old  Plymouth  Church,  at  the  corner  of 
Fourth  street  and  Nicollet  avenue,  was  the  first  I  ever  attended. 
It  was  an  awesome  occasion,  with  a  large  attendance,  for  Mr. 
Morgan  had  gone  out  among  the  first  volunteers  in  the  Indian 
outbreak,  and  was  brought  home  with  an  arrow  through  his 
heart. 

C.  A.  Widstrand,  advertising  his ' '  Music  &  Stationery  Store, ' ' 
was  an  independent  and  notable  figure  on  the  streets  of  those 
days,  much  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Thomas  Hale  Williams,  Minneapolis  Bookseller  and  Sta- 
tioner, Minnetonka  street  (next  south  of  the  Suspension 
Bridge),  became,  upon  the  organization  of  the  Minneapolis 
Athenaeum  two  years  later,  in  1859,  its  librarian,  and  was  for 
years  the  uncompromising  custodian  of  this  really  excellent 
book  collection,  the  nucleus  of  our  present  Public  Library.  It 
may  be  of  interest  to  note  here  that  the  original  stockholders  in 
the  Athenaeum,  in  lieu  of  their  former  legal  rights  given  up  to 
the  public,  have  the  privilege  of  demanding  the  purchase  by 
their  permanent  librarian  of  any  line  of  books  they  may  see  fit, 
with  the  further  understanding  that  the  original  Athenaeum 
Library  is  always  to  be  kept  intact. 

To  go  back  to  our  advertisements :  George  H.  Keith,  M.  D., 
dentist,  was  afterward  postmaster;  commemoration  of  his  wife 
was  recently  very  beautifully  manifested  by  her  son-in-law, 
Mr.  E.  A.  Merrill,  in  the  gift  of  the  Free  Baptist  church  prop- 
erty, on  Fifteenth  street  and  Nicollet  avenue,  to  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association.  A.  L.  Bausman,  dentist,  min- 
istered to  nearly  all  the  early  citizens  of  prominence,  and  was 
always  an  important  political  factor. 

C.  L.  Anderson  and  W.  H.  Leonard,  my  father,  physicians, 
were  partners  and  friends ;  M.  R.  Greely,  M.  D.,  adds  to  his  card 
this  unique  offer,  ''Surgical  operations  performed  either  with 
or  without  the  use  of  chloroform  or  ether, ' '  an  offer  that  would 
not  attract  nowadays. 

On  April  5,  1860,  the  first  Plymouth  Church  building,  a 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS. 


505 


wooden  structure  of  some  pretensions,  facing  Fourth  street  on 
the  southeast  corner  of  Nicollet,  burned  to  the  ground,  having 
been  set  by  incendiaries.  The  fire  was  thought  to  be  the  re- 
sult of  the  church's  drastic  action  in  a  very  stirring  temperance 
movement.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  as  I  have  reason  to 
remember  distinctly,  for  a  certain  small  boy  had  been  sent  to 
bed  early  for  punishment  and  found  it  a  most  exciting  diversion 
to  watch  the  fire  from  the  upper  back  widow  of  his  Second 
street  home,  just  north  of  Hennepin  avenue.  As  the  flames 
lighted  up  the  sky,  the  few  intervening  buildings  were  brought 
into  bold  outline,  especially  the  original  First  Baptist  Church,  a 
brick  building  facing  Third  street  between  Hennepin  and  Nicol- 
let avenues,  the  most  ambitious  of  the  churches  of  that  day. 
Plymouth  Church  was  rebuilt  larger  than  before,  on  the  same 
site ;  and  it  was  removed  in  the  80  's,  to  make  way  for  the  present 
buildings,  to  Seventh  avenue  north  and  Third  street,  where  it  is 
now  a  crowded  tenement  building. 

The  Plymouth  Church  quintette  in  those  early  years  con- 
sisted of  Harlow  A.  and  S.  C.  Gale,  brothers,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C. 
M.  Cushman,  and  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Clark.  They  were  in  demand 
not  only  on  Sundays,  but  for  many  funerals  and  concerts.  Mr. 
S.  C.  Gale,  Mrs.  Cushman,  and  her  brother,  Mr.  Clark,  still  sur- 
vive, the  latter  living  in  Santa  Monica,  California. 

Refugees  from  the  Sioux  massacre,  in  1862,  came  even  to 
Minneapolis,  more  than  eighty  miles  from  the  scenes  of  the 
slaughter.  Scores  of  the  frightened  settlers  and  their  families 
came,  generally  in  the  covered  farm  wagons  or  ''prairie  schoon- 
ers" in  which  they  had  journeyed  forth  only  a  few  years  before. 
On  the  wagons  were  all  the  household  goods  they  could  crowd, 
with  the  family ;  and  behind  were  such  cows,  calves,  colts,  and 
dogs,  as  could  travel.  Every  home  was  opened  to  them  for  the 
days  of  the  scare.  They  flocked  into  our  side  of  the  town  from 
Bottineau  prairie,  in  Wright  county,  as  the  unwooded  stretch 
from  Buffalo  to  Monticello  was  called,  and  from  the  northern 
part  of  Hennepin  county,  wild,  tired,  and  hungry.  I  remember 
how  our  big  house  served  as  barracks  for  a  time,  even  the  halls 
being  occupied  by  women  and  children. 

It  will  always  be  the  glory  of  Minnesota,  that  she  was  the 
first  to  respond  to  the  call  for  troops  in  the  stirring  first  months 
of  the  Rebellion.     But,  as  elsewhere,  the  burdens  fell  doubly 


506  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

upon  those  left  behind.  Men  were  actually  scarce.  It  was 
impossible  to  get  work  done,  and  women  and  children  were 
pressed  into  the  service  for  unusual  labor.  Many  physicians 
went  into  the  army,  leaving  more  than  double  duty  for  .those 
left  behind  in  a  community  rapidly  increasing  by  immigra- 
tion. Dr.  Philo  L.  Hatch  used  to  tell  how  for  one  week  he 
never  had  an  opportunity  to  sleep  in  bed,  but  went  from  one 
call  to  another,  day  and  night.  The  mails  were  never  more 
eagerly  sought.  We  small  boys  had  the  regular  duty  of  going 
for  letters,  and  in  doing  so  had  to  either  wade  through  or  skirt 
a  small  frog-pond  at  the  lower  end  of  the  present  Gateway 
Park,  where  the  City  Hall  stood  from  1887  to  1912. 

The  post  office  of  war  times  was  in  various  locations  around 
Bridge  Square,  at  First  street  and  Hennepin  avenue,  later  at 
the  Pence  Opera  House  corner,  and  for  years  in  Center  Block 
(recently  razed),  in  a  building  known  as  216  Nicollet  avenue, 
owned  by  R.  E.  Grimshaw;  and  later  still  it  occupied  the  first 
floor  of  the  City  Hall,  until  the  present  Post  Office  Building 
was  completed,  which  again  is  soon  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
new  building  now  in  progress  of  construction. 

Everybody  lived  ''down  town"  in  those  days,  for  there  was 
no  strictly  residence  portion  of  the  city.  All  were  neighbors 
and  friends,  greeting  each  other  with  a  ''Good  morning,"  and 
going  home  to  dinner  (not  lunch)  at  noon,  closing  their  shops 
for  an  hour  or  so. 

The  Gale  brothers,  S.  C.  and  Harlow  A.,  lived  near  Third 
avenue  south  and  Third  street,  in  a  white  wooden  house  long 
since  torn  down.  Judge  E.  S.  Jones  lived  on  Second  ave- 
nue north,  between  First  and  Second  streets,  in  a  two  story 
brick  dwelling,  now  a  hotel  for  Icelanders.  B.  S.  Bull  lived 
across  the  alley  from  Judge  Jones ;  0.  M.  Laraway  and  Thomas 
Gardner,  over  stores  on  Bridge  Square ;  J.  B.  Bassett,  in  a  very 
substantial  brick  dwelling  on  the  river  bank  in  the  present 
Omaha  freight  yards.  My  father,  Dr.  William  H.  Leonard,  and 
Mr.  Schuyler  Johnson,  Mrs.  Andrew  Einker's  father,  lived  on 
the  south  side  of  Second  street  near  Hennepin  avenue,  in  build- 
ings which  are  now  a  hide  store  and  the  headquarters  of  the 
Volunteers  of  America ;  and  I  might  recall  many  other  familiar 
names  of  early  citizens,  whose  homes  were  down  on  Fifth  and 
Seventh  streets  toward  the  old  Court  House. 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS. 


507 


Dr.  Alfred  E.  Ames,  whose  large  and  splendid  home  (for 
those  days)  was  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  street  and  Eighth 
avenue  south,  had  the  first  greenhouse  in  the  city  and  employed 
William  Buckendorf,  a  young  German,  as  his  gardener.  In  the 
very  stringent  times  of  1857,  William  received  a  letter  from 
the  old  country  on  which  was  due  fifty  cents  postage.  He 
knew  it  contained  money  and  asked  Dr.  Ames  for  the  change. 
The  doctor  replied,  ''William,  I  know  I  owe  you  for  several 
months'  wages  besides,  but  I  have  not  seen  half  a  dollar  in 
many  days.  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do,  you  take  this  deed  to 
lot  so  and  so,  on  Seventh  street,  next  to  William  Washburn's 
house,  and  see  if  you  can  raise  some  money  on  it."  Just  what 
William  got  for  a  lot,  now  worth  thousands,  the  story  does 
not  tell,  but  he  paid  his  postage ! 

The  second  schoolhouse  stood  on  the  corner  of  Helen  street 
and  Washington  avenue,  where  the  Post  Office  is  now  being 
built,  and  where  the  Windom  Block  stood  for  years.  It  was 
used  while  the  new  Washington  School  was  being  built,  in 
1864-67.  It  was  a  rambling  wooden  building,  owned  by  Mr. 
Loren  Fletcher,  housing  all  the  scholars  of  the  city  only  by 
considerable  crowding.  Back  of  it,  near  the  center  of  the 
block,  was  a  low  wet  spot  frequented  by  the  pigs  belonging  to 
the  owners  of  the  shanties  between  there  and  the  river  along 
First  and  Second  streets.  On  warm  afternoons,  when  lessons 
lagged  and  we  were  anxious  to  be  out  of  doors,  we  boys  on  the 
front  seats,  while  the  teacher  was  in  the  back  of  the  room,  by 
a  skill  acquired  by  long  practice  outside,  would  call  those  pigs 
so  enticingly  that  they  actually  came  up  to  the  back  door  and 
would  stick  their  fore  feet  and  heads  into  the  room.  One  day, 
when  quite  engrossed  in  this  pastime,  a  resounding  whack  on 
the  side  of  the  head  reminded  me  that  I  was  guilty  of  a  serious 
breach  of  discipline.  The  Russell  brothers,  sons  of  R.  P.  Rus- 
sell, sat  behind  me  and  aided  and  abetted  this  scandal. 

The  close  of  the  war  brought  back  the  veterans  and  their 
accompaniments.  In  my  father's  case,  these  included  two 
horses,  one  of  which,  a  big  white  charger  known  as  ''Charlie," 
had  carried  him  as  surgeon  through  the  siege  of  Vicksburg. 
A  colored  woman  servant  was  also  included,  "Aunt  Hester 
Patterson,"  who  had  been  his  cook  for  a  year  or  more  in  that 
and  other  campaigns.     "Aunty"  proved  a  notable  darkey  char- 


508  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

acter,  a  stalwart  ex-slave  from  Mississippi.  She  arrived  in  true 
southern  fashion,  with  all  her  earthly  belongings  tied  in  a  huge 
sheeted  bundle  on  top  of  her  head.  As  she  strode  over  from 
the  East  Side  stage  office  across  the  bridge  to  my  father's  house 
on  Second  street,  she  literally  swept  down  with  her  bundle  all 
the  loose  store  goods  hanging  to  the  low  wooden  awnings  of 
those  days.  Her  path  through  Bridge  Square  was  strewn  with 
wreckage,  making  her  coming  notable  for  days.  Her  destina- 
tion was  "Dr.  Leonard's  mansion,"  for  that  was  her  sole  idea 
of  the  unfamiliar  North.  Aunty  lived  to  become  a  well  known 
figure  among  her  own  and  the  white  people  and  finally  died  in 
the  70 's,  in  a  shanty  built  for  and  given  to  her  by  some  of  the 
lumbermen  on  Hennepin  island,  who  operated  their  line  of  saw- 
mills, known  as  the  ''East  Side  platform,"  burned  in  1870  and 
never  rebuilt. 

Minneapolis  became  a  town  by  act  of  legislature  in  1856, 
but  it  was  not  until  1867  that  she  obtained  a  city  charter.  In 
the  beginning  of  this  last  corporate  existence  she  had  essen- 
tially the  limited  boundaries  of  the  old  town,  being  bounded 
on  the  east  by  the  river,  north  by  Sixth  avenue,  west  by  Lyn- 
dale  avenue,  and  south  by  an  irregular  line  from  Lyndale  and 
Hennepin  avenues  to  Cedar  avenue  and  to  the  river.  Only  five 
years  later,  in  1872,  Minneapolis  absorbed  the  older  town  of 
St.  Anthony,  had  a  population  of  about  20,000,  and  began  to 
expand  in  all  directions. 

In  July,  1906,  a  half  century  as  town  and  city  was  celebrated 
by  the  Hennepin  County  Territorial  Pioneers  and  the  Native 
Sons  of  Minnesota,  with  a  procession  across  the  city  and 
speeches  on  Richard  Chute  Square,  at  the  same  time  establish- 
ing the  ''Godfrey  House"  in  that  little  park  as  the  oldest  dwell- 
ing in  St.  Anthony  and  a  repository  of  local  historical  memen- 
toes. 

June  22,  1862,  the  "William  Crooks"  was  the  first  railway 
engine  to  haul  a  train  up  to  the  Falls,  arriving  on  Main  street 
in  St.  Anthony  at  the  east  end  of  the  bridge  from  Nicollet 
island.  The  depot  was  soon  removed  to  Second  avenue  north- 
east and  Fourth  street,  and  for  a  year  all  west  side  people  had 
to  go  over  there  to  take  or  meet  a  train.  Our  first  Minneapolis 
depot  was  on  Third  street  and  Third  avenue  north,  that  of  the 
St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba  railway,  earlier  the  St.  Paul 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS. 


509 


&  Pacific  railroad,  which  was  in  some  ways  a  better  name  than 
the  final  one,  the  Great  Northern  railway. 

In  1868  the  value  of  the  manufactured  product  of  the  new 
city  of  Minneapolis  was  $5,000,000.  The  next  year  St.  Paul 
and  Minneapolis  sent  out  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  survey, 
starting  from  Washington  avenue. 

Our  ambitious  town  got  a  great  scare  in  1869,  when  a  sec- 
tion of  the  limestone  ledge  under  the  Falls  fell  into  and 
wrecked  a  tunnel  that  Mr.  William  W.  Eastman  was  building 
under  Hennepin  island.  ''Save  the  Falls"  was  the  cry  heard 
in  Washington,  and  the  United  States .  government  proceeded 
to  spend  over  a  million  dollars  to  construct  a  concrete  barrier 
from  shore  to  shore  underneath  the  limestone,  a  dam  of  solid 
masonry  some  twenty-five  feet  high,  fifteen  feet  wide  at  the 
base  and  four  feet  at  the  top. 

Washington  avenue  was  the  main  street  of  those  days. 
Some  notable  houses  were  the  leading  dry  goods  store,  of  Bell 
Brothers  (J.  E.  and  D.  C.  Bell),  at  the  corner  of  Nicollet  ave- 
nue; Charles  M.  Cushman's  book  store,  and  George  Savory's 
drug  store ;  and  lastly  Bond 's  restaurant,  the  only  good  place 
for  "a  spread"  in  town,  except  that  of  Cyphers,  a  later  rival, 
which  stood  next  to  Deshon's  livery  on  Nicollet  avenue  below 
Washington  avenue,  where  the  Miller-Davis  printing  plant  is 
now.  All  of  the  University  eating  functions  in  the  early  years 
were  held  in  one  of  these  then  palatial  parlors,  but  there  were 
strict  regulations  as  to  being  away  and  at  home  by  ten-thirty 
o'clock!    That  would  seem  strange  nowadays. 

By  1867  the  Washington  School  was  completed  and  occu- 
pied, on  the  site  of  the  Union  School  and  of  the  Court  House. 
It  was  a  fine  substantial  building  of  four  stories  and  basement, 
built  of  limestone  from  Minneapolis  quarries.  There  were  four 
grade  rooms  on  each  floor,  except  that  the  third  story  had  at 
its  north  side  one  large  room  devoted  to  the  High  School. 
Recitations  were  held  in  the  upper  French-roof  story.  The  first 
principals  managed  the  whole  from  an  office  in  the  basement, 
and  taught  classes  in  the  High  School  at  certain  hours.  Other 
ward  or  grade  schools  multiplied  as  the  town  grew,  but  this 
building  was  the  headquarters  for  years. 

The  first  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  was  George  B. 
Stone ;  W.  0.  Hiskey  in  1868  reigned  over  twenty-seven  teach- 


510  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ers;  but  to  Orson  Y.  Tousley,  who  was  superintendent  from 
1871  to  1886,  should  be  given  the  credit  of  putting  the  school 
system  on  its  feet.  During  the  early  part  of  his  administration, 
indeed  from  the  opening  of  the  Washington  building,  there 
stood  on  the  corner  of  Third  avenue  north  and  Fifth  street,  in 
the  extreme  corner  of  the  school  yard,  a  wooden  bell-tower  or 
''Pagoda,"  perhaps  two  and  a  half  stories  high,  the  bell  of 
which  not  only  summoned  to  school,  rang  for  recess,  etc.,  but 
for  years  rang  the  alarm  for  all  fires  in  the  city,  day  or  night. 
The  fire  alarm  duties  extended  to  James  Bulger,  the  janitor  of 
those  days,  and  it  was  certainly  a  privilege  to  a  boy  to  live 
within  one  block  of  that  tocsin  and  get  warning  of  all  fires! 
The  habit  of  responding  to  fire  alarms  is  sometimes  strong  with 
me  yet.  There  was  no  mistaking  its  warning,  when  in  August, 
1872,  it  rang  for  the  destruction  of  my  father's  residence  and 
five  other  dwellings  in  the  block  where  the  Security  and  Mc- 
Knight  buildings  now  stand,  while  the  firemen,  through  some 
mistake  in  cut-offs,  stood  by  helpless  without  water.  This  bell, 
with  its  too  frequent  clangings,  was  soon  afterward  superseded 
by  a  fire-alarm  telegraph  system. 

Superintendent  Tousley  was  a  noted  character  whom  many 
of  us  remember  well.  A  graduate  of  Williams  College  and  a 
lawyer,  he  came  to  us  from  a  school  in  Ohio,  tall,  stern,  a  bril- 
liant speaker  and  teacher,  but  rather  given  to  bullying  his 
pupils.  He  occasionally  met  his  match,  as,  for  instance,  when 
Miss  Lillie  Clark  (late  Mrs.  Fred  C.  Lyman)  flashed  back,  ''You 
are  talking  to  a  lady.  Professor!"  At  another  occasion  he  sur- 
prised George  H.  Morgan  (now  a  major  in  the  U.  S.  army)  and 
myself  in  the  coat  room,  when  we  should  have  been  in  our  seats. 
"What  are  you  boys  doing  here?"  he  roared;  "Swapping  jack 
knives,  unsight  and  unseen, ' '  was  our  truthful  answer.  ' '  Who 's 
getting  the  best  of  it?"  he  asked,  with  a  relaxing  smile;  "I 
am,"  promptly  answered  the  lucky  one,  disclosing  the  knife 
in  his  hand.  The  humor  of  the  situation  appealed  to  him,  and 
he  laughingly  dismissed  us  to  our  seats  without  further  com- 
ment. 

One  day,  in  the  midst  of  the  lessons,  a  little  boy  timidly  ap- 
peared at  the  door  and  stood  trembling,  awaiting  recognition. 
"What  do  you  want?"  roared  Tousley;  "I  want  to  see  Pro- 
fessor Toosley,"  stammered. the  boy.     "Who  sent  you  here?" 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS. 


511 


he  roared  back  across  the  long  room ;  ' '  Miss  Cruikshank  from 
Room  A,"  was  the  answer.  ''You  go  back  to  Miss  Cruikshank, 
and  tell  her  that  the  'ou'  in  my  name  is  pronounced  like  'ow' 
in  'cow,'  "  and  the  boy  disappeared  as  though  shot  from  a  gun ! 

He  was  appointed  a  Regent  of  the  University  and  served 
one  term,  when  federal  duties  took  him  from  the  city.  Return- 
ing on  a  visit  some  years  later,  he  told  some  of  us  grown-up 
boys  that  he  could  not  believe  we  dreaded  and  hated  him  so, 
and  endeavored  to  correct  the  earlier  impressions  by  a  cor- 
diality of  which  he  was  very  capable.  After  most  excellent 
service  in  compiling  the  official  records  of  the  Chicago  Exposi- 
tion of  1893,  for  the  United  States  government,  he  died  in  1902, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years. 

On  August  26,  1865  (the  date  I  find  in  "Mrs.  Abby  Men- 
denhall's  Diary"),  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant  visited  Minneapolis.  I 
well  remember  how  my  father  lifted  me  above  the  crowd  in 
the  Nicollet  House  lobby,  to  look  at  the  grim,  gray  warrior,  in 
whose  command  he  was  for  three  years,  and  who  was  then  be- 
ing groomed  for  the  presidency.  My  impression  is  of  a  retiring 
man,  short  in  stature,  weary  of  the  vociferous  attention  he  was 
receiving,  but  a  man  of  iron  strength  and  will. 

In  those  days  after  the  war,  the  Athenaeum  gave  each  win- 
ter a  "star  course"  of  lectures  in  the  old  Pence  Opera  House, 
among  which  I  recall  (for  they  were  real  treats  even  to  small 
boys)  Anna  Dickinson,  on  "Breakers  Ahead;"  Wendell  Phil- 
lips, on  "The  Lost  Arts;"  and  Richard  Proctor,  on  "Astron- 
omy. ' ' 

The  Academy  of  Music,  on  the  site  of  Temple  Court,  was 
built  in  1869,  and  there  the  lively  growing  town  heard  opera  by 
Adelaide  Phillips  and  many  others ;  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  in  ' '  The 
Mistakes  of  Moses;"  John  G.  Holland,  who  used  to  stand  in 
the  lobby  and  study  his  audience  as  they  filed  in ;  and,  of  local 
talent,  Rev.  James  H.  Tuttle,  and  many  others.  The  Academy 
was  burned  on  Christmas  Day,  1884,  when  the  thermometer 
ranged. away  below  zero. 

In  the  70 's  were  held  "Bill  King's  Fairs,"  in  a  now  thickly 
settled  territory  south  of  Franklin  avenue  from  Twenty-third 
avenue  south  to  the  river.  Great  wooden  buildings  displayed 
the  merchandise  and  stock,  and  a  really  fine  race  course  brought 
the  best  horsemen  of  America.     Col.  William  S.  King  was  a 


512  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

wonderful  impresario  and  manager  and  always  kept  things 
lively,  while  his  secretary,  Hon.  Charles  H.  Clark,  was  a  most 
efficient  aide.  On  one  occasion  Horace  Greeley,  of  the  New 
York  Tribune,  was  the  orator  and  received  from  the  manage- 
ment the  finest  pair  of  blankets  the  North  Star  Woolen  Mills 
then  made,  valued  at  $50. 

In  1875  the  second  Suspension  Bridge,  with  its  fine  stone 
towers  and  broader  dimensions,  superseded  the  one  of  1855,  to 
be  itself  torn  down,  giving  place  for  the  present  stone  arch 
bridge,  in  1890. 

May  2,  1878,  in  the  early  evening,  six  great  flour  mills  were 
blown  up  by  an  ignition  and  explosion  of  flour  dust,  and  eigh- 
teen lives  were  lost.  Over  in  Lakewood  cemetery,  on  the  knoll 
overlooking  Lake  Calhoun,  is  a  flne  granite  shaft  commemorat- 
ing the  event  with  the  names  of  the  victims;  and  a  similar 
memorial  tablet  is  placed  on  th^  north  side  of  the  rebuilt 
''Washburn  A"  mill.  Each  of  these  memorials  bears  the  in- 
scription; ''Labor,  wide  as  earth,  has  its  summit  in  Heaven." 

On  the  East  Side,  a  place  of  much  repute  in  the  early  times 
was  "the  old  Chalybeate  Springs,"  on  the  river  bank  just  be- 
low the  site  of  the  Pillsbury  "A"  Mill.  The  city  of  St.  Anthony 
built  wooden  steps  and  a  long  platform  at  these  springs,  for 
strangers  and  the  public  generally;  and  in  the  palmy  days  of 
the  Winslow  and  Tremont  hotels,  before  the  Civil  War,  the 
walks  were  thronged  with  people  who  came  down  on  summer 
afternoons  and  evenings  to  enjoy  the  scenery  and  the  health- 
ful iron  water.  Later,  in  my  student  days  at  the  University,  it 
was  a  resort  for  those  who  would  walk  together  and  alone ! 
Only  a  few  weeks  ago,  my  daughter  and  I  found  the  springs, 
with  the  red-stained  ground  and  the  old  iron  pipe,  still  flow- 
ing as  of  yore,  but  with  no  steps  nor  walks  and  an  outlook 
badly  damaged  by  the  debris  of  new  channels  and  by  the  city 
ownership  of  Hennepin  island  with  its  pumping  station.  The 
water  still  smacks  of  iron,  and  is  still  therefore  "chalybeate;" 
and  just  above,  as  it  has  stood  since  1855,  was  the  old  limestone 
shop  of  E.  Broad,  the  first  iron  worker,  where  the  broad-axes 
and  logging  tools  of  that  day  were  made. 

Instead  of  the  Minikahda,  Interlachen,  and  Athletic  and 
Boat  Clubs  of  today,  society  of  long  ago  resorted  to  the  Lake 
Calhoun  Pavilion,  a  large  summer  hotel,  where  Mrs.  Foreman 's 


EARLY  DAYS  IN  MINNEAPOLIS. 


513 


fine  residence  now  stands.  Hops  and  functions  were  held  there, 
it  being  reached  by  carriages,  and  by  sleighs  in  the  winter  time. 
This  Pavilion  was  destroyed  by  fire  within  two  years  and  was 
never  rebuilt.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  it  stood  on  the  site  of 
the  first  dwelling  of  white  men  in  this  city,  as  commemorated 
by  the  tablet  on  a  boulder  beside  the  Lake  Calhoun  parkway, 
bearing  this  inscription:  ''On  the  hill  above  was  erected  the 
first  dwelling  in  Minneapolis  by  Samuel  W.  and  Gideon  H. 
Pond,  Missionaries  to  the  Indians,  June,  1834.  Dedicated  by 
the  Native  Sons  of  Minnesota,  May  30,  1908." 

The  University  Coliseum,  a  huge  wooden  structure  seating 
more  than  3,000  people,  the  forerunner  of  the  present  Univer- 
sity Armory,  known  irreverently  among  the  students  as  ' '  Pills- 
bury 's  Barn,"  was  the  place  for  University  commencements, 
balls,  military  drilling,  and  gymnasium  work,  from  1884  to 
1894,  when  it  was  burned  quite  to  the  ground.  It  stood  just 
southeast  of  the  present  Sanford  Hall,  the  women's  dormitory, 
on  the  triangle  of  ground  added  to  the  campus  from  the  home- 
stead of  Mr.  George  W.  Perkins,  the  late  father-in-law  of  L.  S. 
and  George  M.  Gillette. 

The  first  street  car  in  Minneapolis,  horse-drawn  of  course, 
was  started  in  1875 ;  but  the  first  electrifying  did  not  take  place 
until  1888.  Many  will  remember  that  just  before  this  change 
for  using  electricity  the  Minneapolis  Street  Railway  Company 
had  spent  many  thousands  of  dollars  in  placing  a  cable  line  out 
First  avenue  south  (now  Marquette  avenue),  and  was  ready  to 
put  it  in  operation  when  electric  power  was  shown  to  be  far 
more  economical. 

This  paper  may  well  be  concluded  by  noting  the  names  for- 
merly borne  by  the  streets  (now  called  avenues)  which  run 
transverse  to  the  course  of  the  Mississippi.  These  were  re- 
named numerically  as  avenues  within  the  first  year  after  the 
union  in  1872  of  St.  Anthony  and  Minneapolis,  to  distinguish 
them  conveniently  from  the  streets  which  are  parallel  with  the 
river,  being  therefore  intersected  by  the  avenues.  Washington 
and  University  avenues  are  exceptional,  being  parallel  with  the 
Mississippi,  so  that  more  properly  they  should  be  called  streets. 

Under  dates  of  1873  and  1874,  maps  of  the  enlarged  city  show 
in  their  order  southeastward  from  Nicollet  avenue  and  parallel 

33 


514  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

therewith,  running  thus  transverse  to  the  river,  the  following 
streets :  Minnetonka,  Helen,  Oregon,  California,  Marshall,  Cat- 
aract, Russell,  Ames,  Rice,  Smith,  Pearl,  Huy,  Hanson,  Lake, 
Vine,  Clay,  Avon,  and  Lane  streets,  these  being  respectively  the 
First  to  the  Eighteenth  avenues  south,  lying  between  Nicollet 
and  Cedar  avenues.  Both  the  old  names  as  streets  and  the  new 
names  as  avenues  are  given  on  these  maps,  which  belong  to  the 
time  of  transition  from  the  old  to  the  new. 

East  of  Cedar  avenue  on  these  maps  are  Aspen,  Oak,  Wal- 
nut, Elm,  Maple,  Pine,  Spruce,  Willow,  Birch,  and  Orange 
streets,  being  respectively  the  present  Nineteenth  to  the  Twen- 
ty-eighth avenues  south. 

In  the  order  from  Hennepin  avenue  to  the  northwest  and 
north  were  Utah,  Kansas,  Itasca,  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Harrison, 
Lewis,  Seward,  Marcy,  Benton,  the  next  unnamed,  then  Moore, 
Fremont,  Clayton,  Bingham,  Breckenridge,  Cass,  Douglas,  Bu- 
chanan, Christmas,  Howard,  Clay,  Mary  Ann,  and  King  streets, 
these  being  renamed  respectively  as  the  First  to  the  Twenty- 
fourth  avenues  north. 

On  the  St.  Anthony  side.  Central  avenue  had  been  earlier 
called  Bay  street;  and  thence  southeastward  were  Mill,  Pine, 
Cedar,  Spruce,  Spring,  Maple,  Walnut,  Aspen,  Birch,  Willow, 
Elm,  and  A,  B,  etc.,  to  G  and  H  streets,  now  respectively  the 
First  to  Nineteenth  avenues  southeast. 

Passing  northwest  and  north  from  Central  avenue,  in  the 
northeast  part  of  the  city,  were  in  succession  Linden,  Oak, 
Dakota,  Todd,  Dana,  Wood,  St.  Paul,  St.  Anthony,  St.  Peter's, 
St.  Martin,  St.  Genevieve,  Prairie,  Grove,  and  Lake  streets, 
which  now  are,  in  the  same  order,  the  First  to  the  Fourteenth 
avenues  northeast. 

Evidently  the  confusion  arising  after  the  two  municipalities 
were  united  as  the  new  and  greater  Minneapolis,  through  the 
several  duplications  of  street  names  west  and  east  of  the  river, 
was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  for  their  renaming  as  avenues  and 
under  numbers  for  the  four  main  divisions  of  the  city.  What 
was  lost  in  the  historic  origins  of  the  former  names,  dating  from 
the  first  surveys  and  plats,  seems  to  have  been  more  than  offset 
by  the  increased  convenience,  local  significance,  and  systematic 
^efiniteness  of  the  present  nomenclature. 


j7£/i^s^  Y^ck^/--^^  A^ 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XIII. 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.* 


BY  MRS.  REBECCA  MARSHALL  CATHCART. 


I  have  heard  it  said  that  the  most  uneventful  life,  if  care- 
fully written  up,  would  make  an  interesting  book,  and  I  have 
been  persuaded  to  prove  this  statement. 

My  life  has  seemed  to  me  to  have  experienced  little  be- 
yond ordinary,  commonplace  events,  yet,  at  the  earnest  request 
of  my  children,  and  overcoming  my  extreme  dislike  for  the 
manual  drudgery  of  writing,  I  shall  try  to  jot  down  some  remin- 
iscences of  my  childhood  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  as  well  as 
those  of  later  years  in  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  hoping  to  interest 
those  who  care  for  early  memories  of  our  city. 

My  earliest  remembrances  are  those  in  frontier  life.  My 
great-grandparents,  both  paternal  and  maternal,  came  from 
the  north  of  Ireland  and  were  what  is  known  as  Scotch-Irish. 
They  came  to  this  country  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  set- 
tled near  Philadelphia.  I  know  very  little  about  their  lives,  as 
they  were  too  busy  trying  to  establish  homes  to  keep  any  record 
of  daily  experiences. 

My  paternal  grandfather,  David  Marshall,  visited  Kentucky 
before  the  War  of  the  Revolution;  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
he  enlisted  and  served  throughout  the  war  in  the  Pennsylvania 
troops  under  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne ;  after  peace  was  declared, 
he  married  Sarah  Graham,  and  bride  and  groom  started  for 
their  future  home  in  Kentucky  on  horseback,  making  the  en- 
tire journey  in  that  way.  They  bade  good-bye  to  their  rela- 
tives, never  expecting  to  see  them  again;  however,  a  sister  of 
my  grandmother  married  and  went  to  Lexington  to  live  some 
years  later.  A  descendant  of  hers,  James  Fisher  Robinson,  was 
governor  of  Kentucky  during  a  part  of  the  Civil  War,  in  1862-3. 

We  often  talk  and  tell  stories  of  heroes  during  the  forming 


*Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  November 
10,  1913. 


516  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

of  the  West,  but  there  were  heroines  as  well,  and  I  always  think 
of  my  grandmother  Marshall  as  one  of  that  number.  In  1872 
I  visited  my  ancestor's  home  in  Kentucky;  the  farm  on  which 
my  grandfather  located  was  near  Paris,  Bourbon  county. 
While  I  was  there,  one  among  many  incidents  which  my  mother 
had  told  me  as  happening  there  was  forcibly  brought  to  my 
mind;  it  occurred  soon  after  the  birth  of  my  grandmother's 
eldest  child.  The  first  settlers  had  built  their  log  cabins  of 
one  room  near  together  as  a  protection  from  the  Indians,  and 
these  little  settlements  were  called  stations;  each  cabin  had  a 
hole  in  the  wall  closed  with  a  wooden  plug,  and  every  morning 
before  opening  the  door  the  occupant  would  look  out  of  this 
opening  to  see  if  any  Indians  were  around.  On  the  morning 
of  this  incident  my  grandfather  looked  out,  as  usual,  and  saw 
an  Indian  with  his  gun  pointed  at  the  door  of  the  adjoining 
cabin.  He  took  down  his  rifle,  loaded  it,  asked  my  grand- 
mother to  hold  a  charge  in  her  hand,  and  then,  not  wishing  to 
frighten  her,  said  he  saw  a  deer;  he  fired  and  wounded  the 
Indian,  whereupon  other  Indians  appeared  and  carried  off  the 
wounded  one.  The  settlers  were  roused  by  the  noise  of  the  shot 
and  traced  the  trail  of  the  Indians  a  long  way  by  the  drops  of 
blood,  but  could  not  catch  up  with  them.  I  was  much  inter- 
ested in  visiting  the  cabin,  which  was  then  used  as  a  chicken 
house  and  was  still  standing  on  its  original  site  on  the  farm 
owned  by  my  grandfather,  and  in  actually  looking  through  the 
very  hole  through  which  my  grandfather  fired. 

My  maternal  grandfather  was  Samuel  Shaw;  I  know  he 
lived  in  Carlisle,  Pa.,  and  married  my  grandmother  there,  her 
maiden  name  being  Rebecca  Lowry  Black;  I  was  named  Re- 
becca Lowry  after  her.  My  mother,  named  Abigail,  was  born 
in  Carlisle,  February  19,  1789,  and  was  eight  years  old  when 
her  father  and  mother  moved  to  Kentucky.  My  grandfather 
Shaw  located  on  a  farm  near  my  grandfather  Marshall,  and 
both  families  grew  up  together  in  the  famous  ''blue  grass  re- 
gion." 

In  the  year  1820  a  number  of  families  emigrated  from  Ken- 
tucky to  Ohio  and  Missouri ;  my  father  and  mother  were  among 
the  emigrants  and  went  to  Missouri.  They  located  on  a  farm 
near  Boonville,  and  there  the  four  younger  children  were  born. 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


517 


two  sons,  Joseph  Miller  and  William  Rainey,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, Sarah  Jane  and  myself,  Rebecca  Lowry. 

In  1830  my  grandfather  Shaw,  having  become  dissatisfied 
with  slavery,  decided  to  remove  to  a  free  state  and  Illinois  at- 
tracted him ;  he  went  to  Quincy  with  his  family,  consisting  of 
five  grown  children,  his  wife  having  died,  and  located  on  a 
farm  three  miles  out  of  the  village,  where  he  died  in  1832. 

My  father  had  financial  reverses  in  Missouri,  chiefly  owing 
to  the  burning  of  a  large  barn  stored  with  tobacco,  and  he  de- 
cided to  join  my  mother's  family  at  Quincy.  I  was  born  on 
May  30,  1830,  and  in  the  following  September  my  father  moved 
to  Quincy.  They  traveled,  as  all  emigrants  did  in  those  days, 
in  covered  wagons  during  the  daytime,  and  camped  out  at 
night.  My  father  bought  a  farm  in  the  vicinity  of  grand- 
father Shaw,  but  before  he  was  able  to  move  onto  it  he  was 
taken  ill  with  typhoid  fever  and  died,  leaving  my  mother  with 
six  children,  the  eldest  one  twelve  years  old,  and  the  youngest, 
myself,  six  months.  Now  came  the  time  to  show  what  a  heroine 
my  mother  was ;  she  moved  to  the  farm  with  her  small  children 
that  fall,  and  the  first  winter  proved  a  terrible  one  for  her. 
She  and  all  the  family  had  the  ague,  as  indeed  all  the  inhab- 
itants of  that  region  were  subject  to  chills  and  fever;  my 
mother  had  a  chill  every  alternate  day,  and  on  the  interven- 
ing well  day  she  worked  hard  to  get  ready  for  the  sick  day. 
I  was  so  ill  that  my  aunts  kept  me  at  my  grandfather's  place; 
no  one  thought  I  would  live,  nor  desired  me  to  live,  as  it  was 
deemed  I  could  not  have  good  sense  should  I  live;  yet  now  I 
am  well  and  vigorous  after  eighty-three  years  of  active  life. 

In  1832  an  epidemic  of  cholera  visited  the  country  and  was 
particularly  severe  in  Quincy  and  the  surrounding  district. 
My  grandfather  Shaw  and  my  oldest  brother  were  stricken 
with  the  dread  disease,  and  both  died  the  same  day;  my  aunts 
were  helpless  from  fright,  and  my  mother  had  everything  to 
do;  she  prepared  them  for  the  burial,  and  returned  from  the 
funeral  to  take  up  her  burden  again.  One  of  her  neighbors, 
Mr.  Edward  Pearson,  helped  her  in  every  way  he  could,  and 
they  both  nursed  cholera  patients  without  catching  the  disease. 

My  mother's  next  trial  was  the  death  of  the  eldest  of  the 
remaining  children  from  fever;  after  this  she  rented  the  farm 


518  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  moved  into  the  village  of  Quincy.  My  first  recollections 
begin  when  I  was  about  five  years  old;  our  family  numbered 
five,  my  mother,  two  brothers,  aged  nine  and  eleven,  a  sister 
seven  years  old,  and  myself ;  my  sister  died  in  her  eighth  year. 
My  brothers  and  I  attended  a  school  taught  by  Mr.  Stafford 
and  his  sister,  situated  near  where  we  lived;  I  must  have 
learned  to  read  at  this  early  age,  as  I  can  never  remember  the 
time  when  I  could  not  read.  Mr.  Stafford's  mother  taught  me 
to  work  a  sampler  also,  and  I  well  recollect  how  patient  the 
dear  old  lady  was,  how  stupid  I  was,  and  how  many  tears  I 
shed ;  I  have  thought  ever  since  it  was  a  mistake  to  teach  chil- 
dren too  young.  From  the  time  I  was  nine  years  old  until  I 
was  fourteen,  I  was  very  fortunate  in  attending  a  school  kept 
by  a  lady  of  fine  character  and  education;  she  was  a  Mrs. 
Thornton,  and  I  feel  that  I  owe  all  I  know  to  her  faithful 
teaching. 

My  mother  was  a  strict  disciplinarian;  with  her  to  speak 
was  to  be  obeyed.  I  remember  one  instance :  my  brother  Wil- 
liam was  very  easily  provoked  to  laughter,  and  one  day  began 
laughing  in  school ;  the  teacher  demanded  to  know  what  caused 
him  such  mirth ;  my  brother 's  answer  did  not  please  the  teach- 
er, and  he  gave  him  a  severe  whipping.  My  brother  felt  that 
the  teacher  was  unjust,  so  he  took  his  books  and  went  home ; 
mother  heard  his  complaint,  and  then  took  down  a  whip  and 
told  him  to  return  to  school,  which  he  did.  The  teacher  after- 
ward acknowledged  he  was  wrong,  and  begged  my  brother/s 
forgiveness.  In  those  days  discipline  was  strictly  maintained, 
and  there  was  no  need  of  parental  schools. 

My  mother  had  two  brothers  who  served  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War;  one  died  during  the  war,  and  the  other  retired  with  the 
rank  of  captain;  he  lived  in  the  mining  region  of  Wisconsin, 
about  twelve  miles  from  Galena,  Illinois.  My  brother  Joseph 
went  to  live  with  this  uncle  when  he  was  sixteen,  and  in  a 
year  or  two  my  brother  William  joined  him;  this  left  my 
mother  and  me  alone. 

In  the  spring  of  1844  mother  and  I  visited  my  brothers, 
and  we  remained  with  them  a  year;  to  me  it  was  a  year  full 
of  physical  benefit,  as  the  great  freedom  from  school,  and  out- 
of-door  life  at  a  period  when  I  was  growing  rapidly,  estab- 


A  SHEAF  OP  REMEMBRANCES.  519 

lished  my  health,  and  I  think  my  four  score  years  are  due  to 
this  one  year  spent  in  the  lead  mining  district  of  Wisconsin. 

We  returned  to  Quincy  in  the  spring  of  1845,  and  I  again 
took  up  my  school  duties ;  but  my  good,  efficient  teacher,  Mrs. 
Thornton,  had  gone  to  Oregon,  and  the  school  seemed  to  be  run 
to  support  the  teacher,  not  to  educate  the  pupils.  I  made  very 
little  progress,  and  have  always  felt  that  I  was  defrauded  of 
the  education  I  ought  to  have  had. 

In  1849  my  brothers  left  AVisconsin  and  went  to  the  new 
territory  of  Minnesota.  In  May  of  that  year  my  brother  Wil- 
liam came  for  mother  and  me,  and,  much  to  my  delight,  we 
started  for  our  new  home.  We  came  by  steamboat  to  Galena, 
and  then  changed  to  another  boat  for  the  upper  Mississippi. 
The  trip  in  those  days  was  delightful ;  the  boats  were  large,  the 
captains  were  gentlemen,  and  the  food  was  of  the  best.  Since 
traffic  by  railroad  has  been  introduced,  all  this  has  been 
changed. 

Our  trip  up  the  river  was  made  at  the  most  favorable  time 
of  the  year,  and  most  of  each  day  was  spent  on  the  hurricane 
deck ;  the  scenery  of  the  upper  Mississippi  was  grand,  far  sur- 
passing the  Hudson.  I  feel  very  sorry  for  people  who  traverse 
Europe  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  grand  scenery  and  have 
never  looked  upon  the  magnificent  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi 
river.  Our  boat,  the  Lady  Franklin,  with  Captain  Smith  in 
command^  landed  at  Mendota  the  morning  of  the  tenth  of  May, 
1849,  for  Mendota  was  then  of  more  importance  than  St.  Paul. 
Mr.  Sibley,  afterward  Governor  and  General,  lived  there;  as 
he  was  the  delegate  to  Congress  from  the  territory  of  Minne- 
sota, his  residence  and  influence  had  made  Mendota  a  place  of 
prime  importance.  After  lying  there  most  of  the  day  to  dis- 
charge freight,  the  Lady  Franklin  brought  us  to  St.  Paul,  as 
all  our  passengers  were  bound  for  this  point. 

The  only  hotel  here  was  a  small  one  built  partly  of  logs  and 
partly  of  frame  work,  called  the  St.  Paul  House;  it  was  sit- 
uated on  the  corner  of  Third  and  Jackson  streets,  on  the  site 
of  the  present  Merchants'  Hotel.  Besides  being  the  only  hotel, 
it  was  also  the  post  office,  and  Mr.  J.  W.  Bass  was  both  land- 
lord and  post  master.  Here  we  were  crowded  like  sardines  in 
a  box,  and  some  of  the  younger  members  among  the  passen- 


520  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

gers  had  to  sleep  on  the  floor,  I  among  the  number.  One  of 
the  passengers  was  a  Mrs.  Parker  from  Boston,  the  future  land- 
lady of  the  American  House  then  being  built. 

Those  days  are  very  vivid  in  my  memory.  The  morning 
after  our  arrival  a  Miss  Bishop  introduced  herself  to  us  as  the 
school  teacher,  and  asked  my  mother  and  me  to  take  a  walk 
with  her  and  see  the  village,  I  might  say,  the  Indian  village. 
Our  walk  took  us  up  a  high  hill  at  the  rear  of  the  hotel,  from 
which  we  had  a  splendid  view  of  the  bluffs  on  either  side  of 
the  river  as  far  as  to  Fort  Snelling.  All  the  surrounding  coun- 
try was  in  its  primitive  state,  and  the  prospect  was  a  glorious 
one;  as  we  gazed  around  there  came  to  our  notice  Dayton's 
bluff  (but  not  Dayton's  then)  on  the  east;  what  is  now  Sum- 
mit avenue  on  the  west;  and  the  Wabasha  bluff  on  the  north. 
Could  anything  be  grander  than  the  view  at  that  time?  Who 
could  imagine  then  that  this  little  French  and  Indian  village 
would  one  day  become  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
cities  of  the  Northwest?  Oh,  if  our  future  citizens  could  have 
realized  this  great  fact,  how  much  more  wisely  would  they 
have  wrought!  The  Third  street  bluff  might  have  been  kept 
intact  as  a  boulevard  for  all  time,  and  Summit  avenue  could 
have  been  laid  out  so  as  not  to  destroy  the  bluff  line.  God  did 
everything  for  our  city,  but  man's  greed  has  defaced  the 
Creator's  work. 

The  second  day  after  our  arrival  a  party  was  made  up  to 
visit  St.  Anthony  Falls,  noted  from  the  time  it  was  discovered 
by  Father  Hennepin  on  his  voyage  down  the  river  in  1680.  We 
drove  up  the  river  until  opposite  Fort  Snelling,  and  then  lost 
our  way;  no  one  in  the  party  knew  the  road,  but  after  going 
through  the  woods  for  some  distance  we  finally  struck  the  right 
path  between  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony.  During  our  drive  we 
saw  several  deer,  and  realized  we  were  indeed  in  the  wilder- 
ness. The  thunder  of  the  falling  water  reached  our  ears  long 
before  we  came  to  the  famous  cataract;  but  when  at  last  our 
eyes  saw  the  great  volume  of  water  that  rushed  over  the  preci- 
pice, the  sight  surpassed  all  our  expectations.  It  was  superb; 
no  one  can  realize  now  anything  of  the  grandeur  of  the  scene 
as  it  was  then;  no  wonder  that  the  poor  Indian  worshipped 
the  Great  Spirit  of  the  cataract.    But  here  again  man  has  de- 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


521 


stroyed  for  utilitarian  purposes  what  the  savage  worshipped. 

The  only  building,  except  sawmills,  at  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony at  that  time.  May  11,  1849,  was  a  boarding  house  for  the 
mill  hands.  Two  sawmills  were  operated  on  the  east  side  just 
below  Nicollet  island;  several  small  buildings  were  in  the  pro- 
cess of  erection,  however,  and  among  them  a  one-story  frame 
house  was  being  built  by  my  brothers,  Joseph  M.  and  William 
R.  Marshall.  The  front  room  was  intended  to  be  used  as  a 
general  country  store,  and  the  rooms  back  of  that  for  a  resi- 
dence ;  it  was  the  only  plastered  house  in  the  village.  Today 
the  Pillsbury  ''A"  mill  stands  near  the  site  of  that  early  home, 
and  the  little  village  of  1849-50  has  long  since  been  swallowed 
up  in  the  progress  and  enterprise  which  have  built  the  stirring 
city  of  Minneapolis. 

After  remaining  a  few  weeks  in  St.  Paul,  waiting  for  our 
house  to  be  finished,  we  moved  to  St.  Anthony.  We  had  very 
little  furniture,  as  everything  had  to  be  hauled  by  team  from 
St.  Paul ;  aside  from  merchantable  things,  only  what  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  our  living  was  taken  over ;  our  dining  table 
all  summer  was  a  dry  goods  box,  although  my  mother  had 
brought  fine  mahogany  furniture  with  her,  tables,  chairs,  sofas, 
bureaus,  washstands,  and  dining-room  set.  Governor  Ramsey 
wished  to  buy  the  parlor  set,  offering  my  mother  several  hun- 
dred dollars  for  it;  my  brothers  urged  her  to  sell  it  and  buy 
real  estate,  but  she  said  that  she  had  but  a  few  years  to  live 
and  she  wished  to  live  those  few  years  respectably.  Part  of 
this  furniture  is  still  preserved  by  the  family  as  an  heirloom. 

The  summer  of  '49  was  a  most  interesting  period  in  my 
life.  I  had  been  raised  under  the  strict  rules  laid  down  by  the 
straitest  sect  of  the  Presbyterians,  and  had  never  been  to  a 
dance,  theater,  or  any  place  of  amusement  supposed  to  have 
the  Evil  One  for  a  patron.  Here  I  was  like  one  let  out  of 
prison,  and  each  day  was  one  of  joy  and  gladness.  People  were 
pouring  into  the  Territory;  every  steamboat's  passenger  list 
was  full;  every  stage  arriving  in  the  village  of '  St.  Anthony 
was  crowded  with  tourists;  some  came  to  settle,  others  to  spy 
out  the  land.  The  stage  stopped  within  a  few  rods  of  our 
house,  and  the  tourists  always  crossed  from  our  side  of  the 
river  to  Hennepin  island,  on  a  foot  bridge,  in  order  to  get  the 


522  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

best  view  of  the  Falls.  They  were  invariably  enraptured  with 
the  sight;  as  I  have  said,  the  fall  of  water  at  this  time  was 
grand,  the  river  not  being  obstructed  with  logs,  and  the  preci- 
pice over  which  the  river  dashed  not  having  broken  away.  My 
brothers  had  inherited  the  hospitable  spirit  of  our  Southern 
ancestors,  and  our  home,  poor  as  it  was,  became  a  center  of 
entertainment  J  and  thus  it  was  that  those  travelers  from  the 
far  East  partook  of  our  meager  fare,  with  many  thanks,  all 
the  recompense  asked.  It  is  a  great  source  of  regret  to  me 
that  I  did  not  keep  a  visitor 's  book  during  the  years  of  1849-50, 
as  so  many  distinguished  people  were  our  guests  during  those 
years,  some  spending  two  or  three  days,  while  others  took  only 
one  meal. 

Our  guests  were  not  all  white  citizens,  however,  for  many  a 
time  when  I  was  busy  in  the  house  I  became  conscious  that 
some  one  was  near  me,  and  on  looking  around  I  saw  a  half 
dozen  Indians  inside  the  door;  their  moccasined  feet  had  not 
made  the  slightest  noise.  It  was  not  very  pleasant  to  have 
such  visitors,  although  they  were  perfectly  harmless ;  they  were 
inveterate  beggars,  and  would  never  leave  until  you  gave  them 
something  to  eat.  After  a  while  I  learned  to  keep  the  outside 
door  locked. 

Altogether  that  first  summer  in  our  new  home  was  delightful, 
but  we  all  dreaded  the  approach  of  winter.  It  would  be  at 
least  five  months  after  the  close  of  navigation  before  it  would 
be  resumed,  and  during  that  time  we  should  be  practically 
prisoners,  our  only  means  of  communication  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  being  by  stage,  a  very  hard  and  dangerous  journey 
in  any  direction. 

A  great  number  of  young  men  from  eastern  cities  came  also 
that  first  summer;  most  of  them  settled  in  St.  Paul,  commer- 
cial life  appealing  to  them  more  than  manufacturing.  Many 
succeeded  in  business,  went  back  east  to  marry,  and  returned 
with  their  brides ;  few,  very  few,  of  these  founders  of  our  com- 
monwealth are  now  living,  but  their  children  and  grandchil- 
dren are  our  present  active  citizens.  Fortunately  for  our  new 
Territory,  the  rough  class  which  emigrated  to  Colorado,  Mont- 
ana, and  the  territories  farther  west,  did  not  come  to  Minne- 
sota, there  being  no  mineral  resources  to  attract  them. 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  523 

Governor  Ramsey  and  the  other  territorial  officers  came  in 
May,  1849.  Most  of  those  officials  were  old  war  horses,  who 
had  been  living  on  politics  the  greater  part  of  their  lives;  al- 
though many  of  them  were  men  of  ability,  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  in  many  respects  they  did  not  prove  shining  examples. 
Ramsey  was  an  exception;  he  had  plenty  of  good  common 
sense,  and  though  not  as  brilliant,  perhaps,  as  some  of  the 
judges,  he  was  a  safe  man  and  made  a  most  excellent  governor, 
never,  however,  losing  sight  of  the  political  outlook  and  the 
part  he  was  to  play.  He  was  most  fortunate  in  having  a  charm- 
ing wife,  to  whom  was  due  much  of  his  success,  and  of  whom  I 
shall  have  more  to  say  later. 

The  American  House,  with  Mrs.  Parker  as  landlady,  was 
headquarters  for  the  territorial  officers.  Mrs.  Parker  was  a 
large,  handsome  woman,  rather  masculine,  but  well  adapted  to 
conduct  the  business  of  a  frontier  hotel.  Hon.  Henry  M.  Rice, 
afterward  delegate  to  Congress  and  United  States  senator,  was 
the  principal  owner  of  the  American  House,  and  he  had  secured 
her  as  landlady;  there  was  a  Mr.  Parker,  but  he  was  chiefly 
known  as  Mrs.  Parker's  husband.  When  the  hotel  was  first 
opened,  it  was  called  the  Rice  House,  and  it  continued  to  be 
so  called  until  there  arose  a  quarrel  between  Mr.  Rice  and  Mrs. 
Parker.  I  do  not  know  the  cause  of  it,  but  I  know  that  Mrs. 
Parker  felt  so  bitter  that  she  practiced  at  a  mark  for  weeks, 
declaring  her  intention  of  shooting  Mr.  Rice.  Finally,  how- 
ever, she  gave  up  her  desire  for  blood,  and  revenged  herself 
by  changing  the  name  of  the  hotel  from  Rice  House  to  the 
American  House,  and  later  it  was  burned  down.  Mrs.  Parker 
built  a  fine  dwelling  on  Irvine  Park,  was  confirmed  in  Christ 
Church,  and  lived  to  an  honorable  old  age. 

St.  Anthony  was  first  settled  by  lumbermen  who  came  from 
the  vicinity  of  Bangor,  Maine ;  they  were  a  sturdy,  honest,  and 
industrious  class  of  men.  We  were  the  only  family  of  South- 
ern lineage,  but  my  brothers  were  also  typical  pioneers,  with 
plenty  of  enterprise  and  endurance.  Brother  William,  although 
not  then  twenty-four  years  of  age,  became  a  leader  in  both 
business  and  political  affairs.  He  surveyed  and  platted  the 
village  of  St.  Anthony  in  the  autumn  of  1849,  and  named  the 
streets. 


524  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  inhabitants  being  also  God-fearing  men  and  anxious 
for  mental  improvement,  built  a  schoolhouse,  which  was  to  be 
used  as  a  church  and  lecture  hall  as  well  as  for  school  pur- 
poses. The  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  and  Methodist  ministers  from 
St.  Paul  came  over  on  alternate  Sundays  to  hold  service  in  this 
building,  and  my  mother  always  gladly  entertained  them  from 
Saturday  night  until  Monday  morning. 

St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony  united  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of 
July,  1849,  with  a  parade,  a  banquet,  and  a  ball.  The  army 
corps  from  Ft.  Snelling  was  invited  to  join  in  the  parade,  and 
indeed  it  really  was  the  parade,  but  I  was  too  busy  preparing 
for  the  ball  to  see  it  myself.  The  oration  of  the  day  was  deliv- 
ered by  Judge  Meeker  in  a  grove  on  the  site  of  Rice  Park ;  the 
banquet  was  held  in  the  American  House  in  the  afternoon ;  and 
the  ball  was  in  the  same  place  in  the  evening.  These  festivi- 
ties also  marked  the  opening  of  the  American  House.  The  elite 
of  both  villages  attended  the  ball,  and  as  the  men  outnumbered 
the  women  there  were  no  wall  flowers  throughout  the  evening. 

Just  before  supper  was  served,  my  attention  was  attracted 
to  a  group  of  ladies  who  had  entered  the  dining-room;  they 
were  Mrs.  Ramsey,  Mrs.  Sibley,  Mrs.  H.  M.  Rice,  and  Mrs. 
Steele.  I  do  not  think  four  handsomer  women  could  have  been 
found  in  the  United  States.  Mrs.  Ramsey  was  easily  distin- 
guished from  the  others,  however,  on  account  of  her  regal  bear- 
ing, and  she  immediately  captured  my  admiration  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  others;  but  meeting  the  other  three  at  a  later  date, 
and  seeing  how  beautiful  they  were,  I  wondered  how  I  could 
have  been  so  partial  that  evening. 

The  first  Territorial  Legislature  met  in  St.  Paul  in  the  fall 
of  1849;  it  met  in  the  Central  House,  a  boarding  house  near 
Third  street  and  what  are  now  Cedar  and  Minnesota  streets. 
Besides  being  a  hotel,  it  was  also  the  place  where  many  society 
functions  were  held.  My  brother  William  was  a  member  of 
this  legislature  and  frequently  walked  from  St.  Anthony  to 
St.  Paul  to  attend  to  his  public  duties.  This  was  the  legisla- 
ture which  decided  the  location  of  the  Capitol,  the  State  Uni- 
versity, and  the  State  Prison;  of  course  the  capitol  had  been 
already  located  in  St.  Paul  by  Congress,  when  General  Sibley 
was  our  territorial  delegate,  but  many  attempts  were  made  to 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


525 


have  it  moved,  and  several  times  the  efforts  were  very  nearly- 
successful.  My  brother  earnestly  argued  for  locating  the  State 
University  at  St.  Anthony. 

A  few  society  people  in  St.  Paul  planned  to  celebrate  Christ- 
mas, '49,  by  a  sleigh  ride  to  Banfil's  on  Manomin  creek,  about 
nine  miles  above  St.  Anthony.  I  was  invited  to  be  one  of  their 
guests,  and  Mr.  Whitall,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  H.  M.  Rice,  was  my 
escort.  The  sleighing  was  fine  and  being  well  protected  with 
fur  robes  the  drive  was  delightful  to  us,  and  it  seemed  very 
short.  We  arrived  at  Banfil's  in  time  for  an  early  supper, 
which  consisted  of  viands  that  even  in  these  luxurious  days 
would  be  tempting  to  the  appetite ;  after  supper  the  dining- 
room  was  cleared,  and  we  had  a  grand  dance. 

The  musicians  were  colored  barbers  from  St.  Paul,  and  the 
leader  was  a  large,  fine-looking  man  named  Taylor;  he  had  a 
voice  a  brigadier  general  might  envy,  and  as  at  that  time  the 
figures  were  called  off,  a  clear,  strong  voice  was  much  sought 
for.  He  was  killed  in  the  Indian  outbreak  of  '62.  This  colored 
band  was  in  great  demand  in  both  St.  Paul  and  St.  Anthony 
during  several  years. 

We  danced  until  the  wee,  small  hours  of  the  morning,  and 
then  retired  for  a  short  rest;  after  a  breakfast  equally  as  ap- 
petizing as  our  supper  of  the  night  before,  we  prepared  for  our 
drive  home. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  just  as  we  were  ready  to 
start  for  home.  One  of  our  party  was  a  stalwart,  young  man, 
afterward  known  as  Sonny  Dayton ;  he  was  quite  smitten  with 
a  young  lady  whose  escort  was  a  Southerner  of  blue  blood,  but 
of  diminutive  stature.  This  couple  were  seated  opposite  each 
other  when  suddenly  Mr.  Dayton  came  up  to  the  sleigh,  lifted 
the  small  escort  out,  jumped  in  himself  and  signaled  the  driver 
to  start.  The  Southerner  was  what  was  called  a  fire-eater,  and 
we  fully  expected  coffee  and  pistols  for  two,  but  happily  the 
affair  closed  without  any  blood  being  shed. 

When  the  restraints  of  an  older  and  long  settled  community 
are  thrown  off,  as  they  are  to  a  large  extent  in  newly  settled 
districts,  an  unseemly  indulgence  is  often  a  source  of  great 
embarrassment  to  those  of  stronger  character,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  those  early  days  bore  ample  testimony  to  this  fact. 


526  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

I  remember  well  the  New  Year's  Day  of  1850.  I  was  spend- 
ing the  holidays  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmund  Rice  in  St.  Paul ; 
early  in  the  morning  of  this  day  a  delegation  of  Sioux  Indians 
from  the  west  side  of  the  village,  which  was  still  an  Indian 
reservation,  called  to  pay  their  respects.  They  shook  hands 
with  us,  said  in  English,  ''Happy  New  Year,"  and  then  seated 
themselves  on  the  floor.  Mr.  Rice  sent  to  the  baker's  for 
bread,  and  gave  each  one  of  them  a  loaf ;  after  staying  a  short 
time,  they  bowed  in  a  very  courteous  manner  and  left.  Dur- 
ing the  afternoon  several  of  the  territorial  officers  called ;  they 
were  gentlemen  born  and  bred,  but  they  had  so  far  forgotten 
both  birth  and  breeding  that  they  fell  far  below  our  savage 
guests.  Mrs.  Rice  felt  so  insulted  by  their  behavior  that  she 
had  what  we  women  call  a  good  cry,  when  they  at  last  reeled 
out  of  her  home. 

My  brother  William  became  greatly  interested  in  some  of 
the  young  clerks  who  had  fallen  under  this  influence,  and 
brought  them  to  our  home  to  recover  from  the  effects  of  too 
much  liquor.  He  persuaded  two  of  them  to  resign  and  return 
to  their  homes;  one  of  them  became  a  prominent  Baptist  min- 
ister, and  the  other  a  famous  editor  in  Dayton,  Ohio.  They 
both  said  they  owed  their  salvation  to  my  brother's  efforts  in 
their  behalf.  My  brother  was  also  held  in  such  respect  by  the 
territorial  officers  that  during  a  week  when  he  was  a  guest  at 
the  American  House,  while  busy  surveying  an  addition  to  St. 
Paul,  no  liquor  was  served  at  the  table;  but,  to  compensate 
themselves  for  their  self-denial,  on  the  Saturday  my  brother 
left,  the  officials  of  the  Territory  had  a  jamboree  and  flooded 
the  dining-room  as  well  as  themselves  with  the  vile  stuff. 

In  the  spring  of  1850  the  Episcopalians  began  missionary 
and  pastoral  work  in  the  Territory,  and  the  Associate  Mission, 
consisting  of  three  clergymen,  Rev,  James  Lloyd  Breck,  Rev. 
Timothy  Wilcoxson,  and  Rev.  John  A.  Merrick,  arrived  in  St. 
Paul  and  located  on  the  mission  grounds  now  called  Park  Place. 
They  organized  Christ  Church  in  St.  Paul,  and  planned  to  visit 
Stillwater,  St.  Anthony,  and  other  places,  holding  service  once 
a  Sunday.  They  walked  to  these  several  stations  and  were 
faithful  workers  in  God's  vineyard.     The  seed  sown  then  has 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


527 


produced  a  truly  bountiful  harvest  for  the  reapers  who  are  jIow 
gathering  it  and  sowing  again. 

One  little  incident  occurred  that  summer  which  is  worthy 
of  being  told.  One  Sunday  we  expected  the  Rev,  Mr.  Wilcox 
son  to  hold  service  in  St.  Anthony,  and  my  mother  prepared 
supper  for  him  in  her  hospitable  way,  but  he  did  not  come.  My 
brothers  and  I  went  to  church,  and  found  that  he  had  gone 
directly  there.  The  service  began,  but  in  the  midst  of  it  Mr. 
Wilcoxson  fainted;  the  congregation  was  dismissed,  and  later, 
when  he  was  taken  to  our  home,  we  found  out  that  he  had 
walked  from  St.  Paul  and  begun  the  service  without  having 
anything  to  eat;  nature  was  outraged  and  rebelled.  We  took 
the  best  possible  care  of  him,  and  the  next  morning,  after  a 
comfortable  breakfast,  he  left  us  to  return  to  St.  Paul.  As  a 
sequel  to  this,  five  years  later  when  my  mother  lay  dying  in 
St.  Paul,  Mr.  Wilcoxson  comforted  her  with  the  Church's 
prayers  and  blessing. 

A  personal  experience  during  this  early  residence  in  St. 
Anthony  shows  how  the  unexpected  may  come  to  pass.  A 
young  man  from  Boston  became  the  guest  of  my  brother,  and 
being  a  devout  Episcopalian  held  many  an  argument  with  me 
over  our  differing  religious  beliefs,  he  upholding  the  ''faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  as  represented  by  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  I  arguing  for  my  mother's  form  of  doctrine,  rep- 
resented by  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Finally  he  ended  our 
argument  by  saying,  "You  will  some  day  be  a  good  church- 
woman,  and  to  help  you  become  such  an  one  I  will  send  you  a 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  I  know  you  will  use  it."  I  said, 
"You  will  only  be  wasting  money,  as  I  will  never  use  it;"  but 
he  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  I  received  a  beautifully  bound 
copy  of  the  Prayer  Book.  In  the  year  1853  I  married  a  devout 
churchman,  and  the  prayer  book  sent  was  used  until  it  had 
grown  shabby,  and  it  has  since  been  carefully  preserved  as  a 
memento  of  former  days. 

In  June,  1850,  I  enjoyed  two  interesting  and  unique  river 
excursions.  One  was  early  in  that  month,  when  Mrs.  North 
and  I  were  guests  on  a  little  steamboat  called  the  Governor 
Ramsey,  on  its  trial  trip  up  the  river ;  the  boat  was  built  above 
the  Falls,  to  ply  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  it  was  small  and 


528  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

of  very  light  draught.  We  left  St.  Anthony  one  morning,  the 
weather  being  delightful  so  that  we  spent  all  our  time  on  deck 
under  an  awning.  Captain  Rollins,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  was 
in  charge  of  the  boat ;  at  evening  he  tied  up  to  the  river  bank, 
navigation  being  so  uncertain  that  the  pilot  did  not  dare  to 
proceed  during  the  night.  We  reached  our  destination  the  next 
day,  and,  I  think,  landed  at  what  is  now  Saint  Cloud ;  at  least, 
it  was  below  Sauk  Rapids. 

At  this  time  a  treaty  had  been  arranged  by  the  Governor 
between  the  hostile  tribes  of  Indians,  the  Sioux  and  Chippe- 
was,  to  take  place  at  Fort  Snelling ;  so  awaiting  our  boat  were 
several  hundred  Chippewas  to  be  transported  to  the  fort.  Mr. 
Beaulieu  was  the  interpreter;  he  was  a  French  Canadian  who 
had  lived  many  years  among  the  Chippewas,  and  had  an  Indian 
wife.  The  Indians  came  on  board,  and  we  steamed  down  the- 
river  on  our  return  trip.  Mrs.  North  and  I  were  much  inter- 
ested in  watching  our  Indian  passengers,  who  were  well  con- 
trolled by  their  chief;  no  body  of  white  men  could  have  be- 
haved better.  Indians  are  great  admirers  of  red  or  curly  hair, 
and  my  hair,  though  brown,  curled  naturally  and  profusely, 
and  it  was  so  worn  according  to  the  fashion  of  those  days. 
Several  of  them  came  to  me  and  lifted  my  curls  in  their  hands, 
saying  in  their  native  tongue,  "Pretty,  pretty."  It  did  not 
make  me  feel  very  comfortable,  but  I  knew  that  they  meant 
no  harm,  only  admiration,  and  I  didn't  resent  their  familiarity. 
The  homeward  trip  was  charming;  the  little  steamboat  stood 
its  trial  trip  satisfactorily ;  but  it  did  not  prove  to  be  profitable 
afterward,  and  it  was  taken  to  pieces  and  transferred  to  the 
Red  river. 

Quite  a  party  of  St.  Anthony  people  attended  the  treaty  at 
Fort  Snelling,  on  the  12th  of  June.  AVe  went  in  a  farmer's 
wagon  and  across  a  prairie  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Min- 
neapolis, not  a  single  cabin  meeting  our  eyes  in  any  direction ; 
there  were  many  wild  flowers,  and  the  air  was  fragrant  with 
the  wild  strawberries.  We  passed  Lake  Calhoun  and  Lake 
Harriet,  and  crossed  their  outlet  above  Minnehaha  Falls.  Like 
St.  Anthony  Falls,  the  natural  beauty  of  these  lakes  and  of  the 
picturesque  Minnehaha  have  been  partially  spoiled  by  the  hand 
of  man. 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  529 

It  was  an  interesting  scene  at  the  fort ;  the  Chippewas  were 
stationed  on  the  ground  inside  the  fort,  when  the  Sioux 
marched  up  the  steep  hill  and  circled  around  their  deadly  ene- 
mies. The  commandant  had  the  guns  trained  on  them  ready 
to  use  if  there  should  be  the  least  outbreak;  but  the  Indians 
were  cowed,  knowing  the  white  men  had  them  in  their  power. 
The  Chippewas  were  a  much  finer  appearing  body  of  men  than 
the  Sioux;  and  their  chief,  Hole-in-the-Day,  was  a  dignified, 
grand  looking  Indian,  reminding  one  of  the  Indian  chiefs  we 
read  about  in  colonial  days. 

Governor  Ramsey  and  the  commissioners  had  everything 
planned,  and  acted  with  such  good  judgment  that  they  accom- 
plished what  they  wished.  On  our  return  home  across  the 
prairie,  we  lost  our  way  and  were  several  hours  getting  back 
on  the  right  trail,  so  we  arrived  home  late  in  the  evening. 

Fifty-one  years  later  I  met  these  tribes  of  Indians,  or  rather 
members  of  these  two  tribes,  amid  very  different  surroundings 
and  on  a  very  different  occasion;  it  was  at  the  funeral  of  our 
beloved  Bishop  Whipple,  held  in  the  cathedral  at  Faribault. 
A  band  of  Christian  Chippewas  and  a  band  of  Christian  Sioux 
came  to  show  their  love  for  one  who  had  been  to  them  truly 
an  apostle ;  each  band  had  a  share  in  the  service,  one  band 
singing  a  hymn  in  their  native  language  during  the  service  in 
the  cathedral,  and  the  other  band  singing  outside  the  cathedral 
at  the  close  of  the  service.  I,  who  had  known  them  when  to 
meet  was  to  murder  each  other,  could  not  but  marvel  at  the 
power  of  Christ  which  could  convert  deadly  enemies  into 
brothers.  The  hymns  they  sang  were  much  more  effective  as 
funeral  hymns  than  those  rendered  by  the  cathedral  choir ;  and 
I  remember  feeling  this  same  way  when  attending  the  me- 
morial service  for  Queen  Victoria  in  Honolulu.  The  native 
Hawaiians  sang  at  that  service,  and  their  music  was  pathetic 
and  solemn,  being  much  better  adapted  to  a  mournful  occa- 
sion than  that  of  the  American  choir. 

My  second  river  excursion  was  enjoyed  on  the  first  steam- 
boat that  made  an  exploring  trip  up  the  Minnesota  river.  On 
the  morning  of  June  28,  1850,  the  Anthony  Wayne  under 
charge  of  Captain  Dan  Able  left  St.  Paul  for  a  journey  up  the 


530  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

unknown  waters  of  the  St.  Peter  river,  now  called  the  Minne- 
sota. There  was  a  gay  crowd  on  board,  composed  of  our  most 
prominent  citizens,  with  quite  a  number  of  young  men  and 
women  who  later  grew  to  be  the  bone  and  sinew  of  our  great 
Northwest.  At  this  time  I  was  the  guest  of  Mrs.  Edmund  Rice 
of  St.  Paul,  in  whose  home  I  met  the  gentleman  who  was  my 
escort  on  the  excursion;  he  was  Gen.  Sylvanus  B.  Lowry  of 
Stearns  county,  whose  principal  city,  St.  Cloud,  was  then  a 
small  village.  General  Lowry  was  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  the 
son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  had  all  the  polish  of  a  well- 
born gentlemarrT  We  had  a  band  of  music  on  board,  and  also 
a  quantity  of  fireworks,  which  were  to  be  fired  off  the  night 
we  reached  the  highest  point  on  the  river.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  beauty  of  that  ride;  the  vegetation  was  perfect,  as  it  al- 
ways is  in  this  climate  in  June ;  the  banks  were  gay  with  wild 
flowers  of  gorgeous  hues,  and  acres  and  acres  of  wild  roses 
covered  the  islands  we  passed  by.  We  landed  at  various 
points,  amusing  ourselves  by  gathering  flowers  and  walking 
through  grass  a  foot  or  more  in  height.  Sunset  brought  us 
to  a  mission  station,  now  the  city  of  Shakopee,  and  the  mis- 
sionary in  charge  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Pond. 

The  Indians  there  were  Sioux  or  Dacotahs ;  they  had  never 
seen  such  a  monster  as  a  steamboat,  and  were  so  excited  that 
Mr.  P(5nd  would  not  let  us  set  off  the  fire  works,  and  said  that 
the  Indians  probably  could  not  be  restrained  and  might  cause 
great  trouble.  The  night  was  anything  but  peaceful,  however ; 
it  was  not  the  Indians  who  disturbed  us,  but  billions  upon  bil- 
lions of  mosquitoes;  they  filled  the  air,  and  the  walls  of  our 
cabin  were  black  with  them;  we  walked  the  deck  all  night 
fighting  them  off.  In  the  morning  the  captain  concluded  he 
had  reached  the  highest  point  to  which  it  was  safe  to  go  and 
turned  homeward;  aside  from  the  plague  of  mosquitoes,  we 
had  a  jolly  time  dancing  and  feasting  to  our  heart's  content. 
Again  my  greatest  admirers  on  this  trip  were  some  half-civil- 
ized Indians  who  often  touched  my  curly  hair,  saying,  in  their 
language,  ''Pretty,  pretty." 

My  mother's  health  not  being  very  good,  my  brother  Wil- 
liam thought  it  best  for  her  to  visit  her  old  home  in  Kentucky, 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


531 


and  accordingly  arrangements  were  made  for  us  to  spend  the 
winter  of  1850-51  in  the  South;  we  were  to  leave  St.  Paul  on 
the  last  steamboat  of  the  season,  about  the  first  of  November, 
and  we  boarded  in  St.  Paul  at  the  Central  House  a  few  days 
waiting  for  the  steamer.  At  the  hotel  we  found  Miss  Harriet 
E.  Bishop  prepared  to  be  a  passenger  also ;  we  w^ere  much  sur- 
prised to  find  that  she  had  decided  to  leave,  thinking  her  more 
permanently  established  than  many  others.  But  a  great  dis- 
appointment had  come  into  her  life,  and  as  her  story  was  quite 
romantic  and  unusual  for  those  days,  I  shall  tell  it  here. 

In  1848  Governor  Slade  of  Vermont,  who  was  much  inter- 
ested in  educational  matters,  sent  out  two  teachers  to  Minne- 
sota; they  were  Miss  Amanda  Horsford  (later  Mrs.  H.  L.  Moss) 
to  Stillwater,  and  Miss  Bishop  to  St.  Paul.  One  year  later  he 
sent  Miss  Backus  to  St.  Anthony.  Miss  Bishop  found  St.  Paul 
an  Indian  half-breed  village  with  a  very  few  white  people,  but 
she  opened  the  first  school  here  in  a  log  hut  and  did  her  duty 
faithfully  to  her  pupils.  As  I  have  before  said,  she  was  the 
first  one  to  greet  us  on  our  arrival  in  May,  1849,  and  she  be- 
came quite  intimate  in  our  family  and  was  always  a  welcome 
visitor. 

Miss  Bishop  became  engaged  to  Mr.  James  K.  Humphrey,  a 
young  lawyer  of  St.  Paul,  and  some  years  younger  than  her- 
self, but  not  her  equal  intellectually.  She  was  devoted  to  him, 
and  during  all  one  summer  had  planned  to  be  married  in  the 
fall ;  Mr.  Humphrey  had  built  a  pretty  cottage  on  Irvine  Park ; 
the  trousseau  had  been  completed,  and  everything  was  going 
smoothly;  but,  alas,  there  was  a  rock  ahead  which  made  ship- 
wreck of  all  these  fond  anticipations  and  plans.  Mr.  Hum- 
phrey's sister,  Mrs.  Selby,  came  back  from  the  East,  where  she 
had  been  spending  the  summer,  and  she  forbade  the  bans;  her 
only  reason  stated  was  that  Miss  Bishop  was  older  than  her 
brother ;  and  he  then  and  there  proved  our  opinion  of  him, 
that  he  was  weak,  and  broke  the  engagement.  Miss  Bishop 
was  broken-hearted  and  decided  she  could  not  remain  in  St. 
Paul ;  we  all  sympathized  with  her,  but  thought  that  she  would 
realize  after  a  time  that  he  had  not  been  worthy  of  her  love. 
Nevertheless  the  result  was  that  her  life  was  wrecked  and  she 


532  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

seemed  to  lose  her  fine  mental  balance.  She  married  a  few 
years  after  this,  and  was  the  author  of  a  historical  book  enti- 
tled ''Dakota  War  Whoop,  or  Indian  Massacres  and  War  in 
Minnesota,  of  1862-3;  "but  she  had  lost  her  prestige  as  Miss 
Bishop,  and  twenty  years  later  she  died  in  this  city,  almost 
unknown.  An  island  in  the  river  was  named  Harriet  after  her, 
and  today  this  island  is  covered  with  the  Public  Baths  and 
Playgrounds,  so  that  in  a  certain  sense  her  name  will  always 
be  connected  with  the  education  and  enlightenment  of  youth. 

Upon  our  arrival  South,  it  was  thought  best  that  I  should 
spend  a  few  months  in  a  boarding-school  in  Quincy,  Illinois, 
my  former  home.  The  school  was  organized  and  run  by  Cath- 
erine Beecher,  sister  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher;  the  teachers 
were  all  from  Boston  and  very  celebrated  women.  I  had  the 
privilege  of  selecting  my  studies,  and  chose  music,  Latin, 
French,  and  history.  Mrs.  Dana,  an  aunt  of  Richard  Dana, 
author  of  ''Two  Years  Before  the  Mast,"  was  the  history 
teacher;  and  her  daughter,  Miss  Dana,  taught  Latin  and 
French. 

In  June,  1851,  my  mother  and  I  returned  to  Minnesota  and 
to  our  home  in  St.  Anthony.  The  trip  by  steamboat  from 
Quincy  to  St.  Paul  was  delightful  in  the  beautiful  summer 
weather;  the  present  generation  cannot  realize  what  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  and  still  is. 

The  summer  of  1851  passed  very  much  as  did  the  summer 
of  '49 ;  numerous  tourists  came  to  view  the  country,  and  many 
became  permanent  residents-  One  especially  interesting  event 
of  that  summer  was  the  visit  of  the  Swedish  authoress,  Fred- 
rika  Bremer ;  she  was  the  guest  of  Governor  and  Mrs.  Ramsey, 
and  they  brought  her  to  St.  Anthony  Falls  to  enjoy  its  beauty. 
They  called  on  my  mother,  and  later  my  brother  William  and  I 
accompanied  them  on  a  visit  to  Mrs.  North,  who  lived  on  Nicol- 
let island. 

It  is  very  hard  to  believe  that  sixty  years  ago  that  island 
had  only  one  house  on  it,  and  that  one  built  of  logs ;  it  was  also 
heavily  wooded,  and  in  its  wild  state  was  very  beautiful. 
There  was  no  bridge  connecting  it  with  the  main  land;  the 
crossing  had  to  be  made  on  the  pine  logs  lying  in  the  mill  dam 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  538 

above  the  sawmills.  Mrs.  North  was  a  fine  musician,  and  I  had 
taken  music  lessons  from  her,  and  so  I  had  become  quite  ac- 
complished in  making  this  dangerous  passage  every  day.  But 
naturally  Miss  Bremer  was  terrified  at  the  prospect,  and  Gov- 
ernor Ramsey  and  my  brother  had  to  use  their  best  peirsuasive 
powers  to  get  her  started  on  the  perilous  journey.  Fortunately 
the  logs  nearer  the  mill  were  more  tightly  jammed,  and  the 
noted  authoress  reached  the  island  safely.  Mrs.  North  enter- 
tained us  with  some  of  the  finest  selections  of  music,  both  vocal 
and  instrumental,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  our  visit  we  re- 
turned to  the  main  shore  over  the  same  log  jam.  I  remember 
one  remark  of  Miss  Bremer  on  that  memorable  visit;  she  was 
asked  to  sing,  but  declined,  saying,  "I  only  sing  for  God  in 
the  church,  and  for  little  children." 

When  I  now  visit  the  city  of  Minneapolis  and  see  Nicollet 
island,  with  its  streets  and  row  upon  row  of  houses,  street  cars 
crossing  it,  and  bridges  on  either  side,  I  think  progress  is  all 
utilitarian.  No  grand  cataract,  no  magnificent  forest  trees,  no 
majestic  river,  are  there  now;  but  everything  has  been  bound 
and  fettered,  to  add  to  the  wealth  and  comfort  of  man.  I  am 
glad  that  I  lived  in  the  wild  days  when  nature  reigned  supreme. 

In  the  fall  of  1851  I  went  to  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  to  act  as 
bridesmaid  to  my  friend.  Miss  Slaymaker,  and  while  I  was  away 
my  family  made  a  momentous  change.  My  brothers  had  de- 
cided that  the  future  of  St.  Anthony  would  be  greatly  retarded 
from  the  fact  that  the  water  power  was  in  litigation,  and  that 
it  might  be  years  before  the  lawsuits  would  end  and  the  power 
could  be  used;  but  they  knew  that  St.  Paul,  as  the  head  of 
navigation,  was  bound  to  be  a  commercial  city,  and  so  they 
decided  to  remove  to  this  place.  Then,  too,  the  strife  between 
the  ''Twin  Cities,"  as  they  were  fain  to  be  called,  was  well 
begun. 

St.  Anthony  residents  contended  that  their  city  was  the 
head  of  navigation;  and  indeed,  to  prove  it,  one  steamboat  was 
induced  to  ascend  the  river  as  far  as  Cheever  's  landing,  a  point 
near  where  the  University  now  stands.  The  citizens  of  St. 
Anthony  made  a  great  celebration  over  the  event,  and  in  the 
evening  a  dance  on  board  the  boat  was  given;  but  on  the  re- 


534  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

turn  of  the  boat  to  St.  Paul,  the  captain  said  that  nothing  would 
ever  induce  him  to  take  that  risk  again.  He  had  not  expected 
to  reach  St.  Paul  without  the  loss  of  the  boat,  and  perhaps  of 
life;  but  we  passengers  knew  nothing  of  the  danger  and  en- 
joyed it  all.  As  far  as  I  know,  that  was  the  first  and  last  time 
a  boat  reached  Cheever's  landing. 

On  my  return  to  St.  Paul  from  the  wedding,  I  found  my 
family  living  there.  My  brother  had  bought  several  lots  on 
Irvine  Park,  and  had  a  much  more  comfortable  house  than  the 
one  we  had  in  St.  Anthony. 

The  winter  of  1851-2  was  spent  very  pleasantly;  small 
dancing  parties  were  given,  and  many  sleigh  rides  were  taken 
on  the  river  to  Fort  Snelling.  In  the  spring  of  '52  my  brother 
Joseph  kept  the  house  on  Irvine  Park,  and  my  brother  William 
bought  a  house  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Rice  Park  and 
Fourth  street,  into  which  my  mother,  himself,  and  I  moved.  In 
this  house  I  was  married,  and  in  it  my  mother  died ;  it  has  long 
since  been  torn  down,  and  the  only  thing  left  to  remind  me  of 
those  old  days  is  a  maple  tree,  one  of  a  row  that  my  mother 
had  transplanted  there;  it  still  flourishes,  but  each  spring  I 
expect  it  will  disappear  to  give  place  to  modern  improvements. 

In  this  locality  was  the  First  Methodist  Church;  it  was 
built  in  1849,  and  was  used  as  a  place  of  worship  by  the  Meth- 
odists for  many  years ;  later  it  was  occupied  by  the  New  Jeru- 
salem or  Swedenborgian  congregation;  it  still  stands  to  re- 
mind us  of  the  day  of  small  things,  in  contrast  to  the  present 
beautiful  Methodist  church  edifice  just  completed  in  a  fashion- 
able part  of  the  city.  I  do  not  think  that  one  member  of  the 
congregation  who  worshipped  in  the  little  brick  church  on  Rice 
Park  in  1849  is  now  living.  Truly,  man  passes  away  like  a 
shadow,  but  "the  word  of  God  abideth  forever." 

In  1852-3  my  brothers  had  a  hardware  store  on  Washing- 
ton street,  near  the  corner  of  Fourth  street;  they  sold  it  to 
John  Nicols,  and  it  is  now  a  large  wholesale  store,  the  firm 
name  being  ''Nicols,  Dean  &  Gregg,"  two  of  the  proprietors 
being  son  and  son-in-law  of  the  Mr.  Nicols  who  purchased  it 
from  my  brothers.  Afterward  my  brothers  organized  a  bank 
that  failed  in  the  great  panic  of  1857,  which  was  so  general 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


535 


that  not  one  citizen  of  the  Northwest  escaped  the  crash ;  busi- 
ness houses  fell  down  like  card  houses.  Every  one  had  to  start 
anew  to  build  up  his  fortune,  but  all  being  young  and  full  of 
energy  we  went  to  work  immediately;  in  a  few  years  we  had 
forgotten  the  trials  and  economies  of  the  panic,  which  really 
lasted  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  in  1861- 

As  I  think  of  those  years,  I  cannot  remember  that  the  loss 
of  money  made  any  of  us  unhappy ;  we  all  went  down  together, 
and  we  were  all  willing  to  economize  and  live  plainly,  enter- 
taining our  friends  and  having  a  happy  time  in  a  simple  way. 
Youth,  happy  youth,  always  hopeful,  looks  forward  to  the 
good  time,  which  most  of  us  realized. 

We  were  living  on  Rice  Park  when  I  met  my  husband.  I 
was  taking  tea  with  Miss  Day,  a  friend  of  mine  who  was  visit- 
ing her  brother  who  lived  on  the  corner  of  Wabasha  and  Tenth 
streets,  opposite  the  old  Capitol,  and  in  the  evening  two  young 
gentlemen  called  on  us,  Mr.  William  P.  Murray  and  Mr.  Alex- 
ander H.  Cathcart.  I  had  never  met  either  gentleman  before ; 
the  evening  passed  pleasantly,  and  in  a  few  days,  having  asked 
my  permission,  both  gentlemen  called  at  our  house.  The  win- 
ter of  1852-3  was  a  gay  one,  and  my  acquaintance  with  Mr. 
Cathcart  progressed  so  rapidly  that  I  was  engaged  to  him  in 
the  spring,  and  we  were  married  the  following  November  on 
the  tenth  day  of  the  month.  Mr.  Cathcart,  born  and  raised  in 
Toronto,  Canada,  was  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
at  his  request,  we  were  married  by  an  Episcopal  clergyman. 
After  our  marriage  we  attended  Christ  Church,  became  com- 
municants of  the  church,  and  I  am  still  a  member,  having  com- 
pleted my  sixtieth  year  of  enjoyment  of  this  great  privilege. 

My  mother  had  been  failing  in  health  for  a  year  or  more, 
and  died  in  January,  1854;  her  grave  was  one  of  the  first  in 
Oakland  Cemetery.  She  was  a  member  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  on  Third  street  midway  between  Market  and 
St.  Peter  streets,  of  which  the  Rev.  Edward  D.  Neill  was  pastor. 

My  marriage  and  my  mother's  death  brought  great  changes 
to  our  household,  and  in  the  spring  of  '54  we  left  the  home  on 
Fourth  street  and  for  a  few  months  lived  on  Seventh  street  be- 
low Broadway.    We  then  bought  a  house  on  Robert  street,  at 


536  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

that  time  a  very  pleasant  location,  though  now  one  of  the  most 
forlorn  parts  of  the  city.  The  little  cottage  is  still  standing, 
and  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  it  was  once  a  comfortable  and 
happy  home. 

In  the  fall  of  1857  my  husband  purchased  a  newly  built 
residence  on  Summit  avenue  between  Rice  and  St.  Peter  streets ; 
at  that  time  this  location  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  city.  The 
block  opposite  our  home  was  owned  by  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  it  was  expected  that  the  future  bishop's  residence  and  the 
cathedral  would  be  built  on  those  grounds. 

The  three  clergymen,  Dr.  Breck,  Rev.  Mr.  Wilcoxson,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Merrick,  occupied  a  building  there ;  the  grounds  were 
beautiful,  each  clergyman  having  a  flower  garden  amidst  the 
fine  native  oak  trees;  this  gave  us  a  charming  outlook,  and  we 
felt  settled  for  life.  Alas,  how  uncertain  life  is!  Now  that 
fine  neighborhood  has  deteriorated;  the  mission  property  has 
been  allowed  to  go  to  rack  and  ruin;  boarding  houses  have 
crowded  in,  and  the  bishop's  residence  and  cathedral  are  in 
Faribault. 

When  we  moved  to  the  Summit  avenue  home,  no  grading 
had  been  done  on  either  Rice  street  or  St.  Peter  street.  The 
ascent  up  St.  Peter  street  was  very  steep,  and  the  road  ran 
through  a  Roman  Catholic  cemetery,  one  of  the  first  to  be 
located  in  the  city.  A  little  below,  we  crossed  the  street  in 
front  of  the  old  Capitol  on  Wabasha  street  on  a  plank  walk 
elevated  a  few  feet,  as  all  the  ground  below  the  St.  Peter  street 
hill  was  then  a  tamarack  swamp ;  the  trees  had  been  cut  down, 
but  the  swamp  was  not  yet  drained.  It  is  very  difficult  now  to 
realize  that  this  condition  existed,  when  I  see  that  part  of  the 
city  so  closely  built  up  with  large  substantial  houses;  and  it 
seems  like  a  dream  when  my  mind,  going  back  to  1857  and  the 
following  years,  recalls  the  many  nights  I  worried  about  my 
husband's  returning  after  nightfall  across  that  swamp,  and 
lest  he  should  stumble  into  one  of  the  empty  graves  in  the 
cemetery.  Gradually  this  cemetery  was  removed,  and  when 
St.  Peter  street  was  graded  and  the  mission  grounds  leased  to 
a  company  who  were  to  build  the  Park  Place  Hotel,  it  became 
necessary  to  remove  all  the  bodies  remaining;  it  was  a  grue- 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


537 


some  sight  to  see  wagon  load  after  wagon  load  of  them  taken 
away. 

On  the  mission  grounds  there  was  a  spring  of  water,  which 
was  supposed  to  contain  a  great  deal  of  iron,  and  the  good 
clergymen  had  it  so  arranged  that  people  generally  could  drink 
the  water,  thinking  it  very  beneficial;  but,  like  many  other  so- 
called  health-giving  remedies,  it  proved,  on  being  analyzed,  to 
have  no  medicinal  qualities  at  all,  but  to  be  only  the  seepings 
of  the  tamarack  swamp. 

The  panic  did  not  materially  affect  Mr.  Cathcart's  business 
until  1862,  when  he  compromised  with  his  creditors,  by  giving 
or  assigning  to  them  all  his  property,  and  continued  to  carry 
on  his  dry  goods  store,  the  largest  one  in  the  city-  We  removed 
from  our  homestead  on  Summit  avenue,  between  Rice  and  St. 
Peter  streets,  to  another  house  on  Summit  avenue  near  where 
James  J.  Hill  now  lives.  This  house  was  built  by  Mr.  Master- 
son,  a  young  lawyer,  who  went  East  and  brought  back  his 
bride  to  this  far  Western  home,  but  his  visions  of  happiness 
disappeared  within  two  years,  as  his  wife  died;  the  house  was 
closed,  and  it  was  not  again  occupied  until  we  moved  into  it  in 
the  spring  of  1863. 

Mr.  Masterson  had  planted  grape  vines  on  his  terraces,  and 
also  pear  and  peach  trees ;  he  was  fond  of  gardening  and  took 
great  care  of  the  little  orchard.  Knowing  that  peaches  and 
pears  were  too  tender  to  endure  our  cold  climate  very  well,  he 
dwarfed  the  trees,  training  the  branches  on  the  ground  so  that 
they  could  be  well  covered  during  the  winter ;  as  a  reward  for 
this  skillful  care,  the  trees  and  vines  were  all  bearing  fruit  in 
the  fall  of  '63.  He  was  proud  of  the  results  of  his  labor,  as 
well  as  he  might  be ;  these  delicate  fruits  had  never  before  been 
raised  in  this  climate  out  of  doors,  and,  as- far  as  my  knowledge 
extends,  they  have  never  been  grown  successfully  up  to  this 
time,  1913.  Grapes  of  a  hardy  variety  are  grown  in  abundance, 
but  Mr.  Masterson  was  able  to  raise  the  choice  varieties  which 
have  never  been  cultivated  so  far  north. 

Wishing  to  give  his  friends  a  rare  treat,  he  invited  over  a 
hundred  of  them  to  partake  of  the  fruit  on  the  lawn  surround- 
ing his  former  home,  and  urged  every  one  to  eat  all  he  or  she 


538  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COT.TiKCTIONS. 

could,  afterward  distributing  what  was  left  among  them.  Our 
family  received  a  quantity  of  pears,  which  being  kept  in  a  dark 
place  improved  with  age.  I  have  written  about  this  little  at- 
tempt at  fruit  growing  in  early  days  because  I  am  almost  the 
only  one  left  to  remember  this  feasting  on  fruit  which  was  sup- 
posed impossible  to  be  raised  in  Minnesota;  but  Mr.  Master- 
son's  enthusiasm  expired  after  he  had  proved  his  experiment 
to  be  successful,  and  he  allowed  both  grape  vines  and  fruit 
trees  to  die  out,  so  that  there  was  never  again  such  a  picnic 
on  those  grounds.  A  fine  residence  has  now  replaced  the  house 
built  for  his  bride,  and  an  automobile  garage  occupies  the  ter- 
race where  his  grape  vines  grew. 

Summit  avenue  was  a  lonely  place  at  this  time.  Between  it 
and  Selby  avenue  stood  a  dense  forest  of  native  oaks,  and  the 
few  houses  were  separated  by  large,  unoccupied  grounds. 
Many  and  many  a  night,  after  the  Indian  massacre  of  1862, 
have  I  lain  awake  listening  for  the  Indian  warwhoop,  and 
thinking  how  easily  they  could  come  through  the  woods  and 
kill  us  all. 

Our  present  inhabitants,  in  their  palatial  homes  that  line 
our  famous  avenue,  may  think  that  I  am  drawing  on  my  imagi- 
nation in  giving  these  pen  pictures,  but  it  is  all  true. 

The  foregoing  reminiscences  have  told  some  of  the  inci- 
dents of  the  Territorial  days  and  the  early  statehood  of  Min- 
nesota; and  I  wish  now  to  emphasize  the  social  life  and  qual- 
ities of  some  of  my  early  friends  and  acquaintances.    • 

As  I  have  said,  the  Twin  Cities  were  particularly  fortunate 
in  the  class  of  young  men  which  they  attracted-  They  were 
mostly  college-bred  men  from  fine  families,  who  had  the  enter- 
prise and  enthusiasm  to  test  Horace  Greeley's  advice,  ''Go 
West,  young  man,  go  West." 

Those  who  went  to  St.  Anthony  have  proved  what  they  • 
could  do  by  the  wonderful  city  of  Minneapolis,  which  in  time 
absorbed  the  town  of  St.  Anthony.  Almost  all  the  pioneer 
founders  have  passed  into  the  Great  Unknown,  but  "their 
works  do  follow  them."  The  little  village  has  become  a  great 
and  mighty  city,  known  all  over  the  world  in  sending  the  ' '  staff 
of  life"  to  its  utmost  bounds. 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  539 

St.  Paul,  being  the  head  of  navigation,  and  the  state  capital, 
attracted  the  commercially  and  politically  inclined;  many  of 
the  young  men  who  came  here  were  budding  lawyers,  pros- 
pective merchants,  and  bankers.  They  had  so  much  energy 
that  they  did  not  sit  down  and  wait  for  business, — indeed,  that 
would  have  been  a  weary  waiting, — but  set  to  work  at  the  first 
task  that  offered  itself;  some  who  afterwards  became  famous 
as  lawyers  and  bankers,,  taught  school,  did  carpenter  work,  or 
employed  their  time  in  other  ways  earning  an  honest  penny. 
Most  of  them  had  become  engaged  to  be  married  before  com- 
ing out  here,  and  as  soon  as  they  could  make  and  keep  a  home 
they  brought  their  brides  here,  and  then  began  the  social  life 
of  our  city. 

As  early  as  the  years  1843-4  some  of  the  most  prominent 
citizens  were  living  at  Fort  Snelling  and  Mendota.  Henry  H. 
Sibley  married  Miss  Steele  in  '43,  and  when  Governor  Ramsey 
came  in  May,  '49,  he  and  his  wife  were  entertained  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sibley  in  their  hospitable  home  at  Mendota.  Franklin 
Steele,  Mrs.  Sibley's  brother,  was  then  sutler  at  the  fort,  and 
he  had  a  charming  wife  who  became  a  leader  in  the  social  life 
of  our  city. 

I  must  not  neglect  to  give  due  honour  to  the  very  earliest 
pioneer  women,  Mrs.  John  R.  Irvine  and  Mrs.  Jacob  Bass.  We 
forty-niners  found  them  here,  and  they  antedated  us  by  several 
years.  Mrs.  Irvine  came  in  the  year  1843,  and  endured  great 
hardships  in  the  truly  pioneer  days;  she  was  a  remarkably 
handsome  woman,  and  her  mental  characteristics  equalled  her 
physical  beauty ;  through  all  the  trying  yars  before  this  North- 
west could  be  called  civilized  she  kept  her  womanly  qualities, 
and  when  refined  social  life  displaced  the  early  frontier  so- 
ciety, Mrs.  Irvine  took  her  place  among  the  best;  during  the 
many  years  she  was  permitted  to  live  in  our  midst,  she  was 
prominent  in  all  good  works,  and  died  at  a  good  old  age,  great- 
ly regretted. 

Mrs.  Bass  came,  a  very  young  bride,  to  the  French  and  half- 
breed  village  called  St.  Paul,  and  assisted  her  husband  in  wel- 
coming the  new  comers  whom  every  steamboat  brought  to  the 
newly   organized   Territory.     I   remember  well   the   pleasant 


54:0  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

greeting  which  my  mother  and  I  received  on  reaching  the  St. 
Paul  House,  after  the  dreary  landing  at  what  seemed  to  us  the 
end  of  civilized  life.  Mrs.  Bass  was  then  the  mother  of  two 
sons,  one  aged  six  years  and  the  other  six  months.  Edgar,  the 
elder,  and  I  became  friends  and  spent  part  of  each  day  picking 
flowers  in  a  deep  ravine  back  of  the  hotel,  and  decorating  the 
dining-room  table.  The  difference  of  twelve  years  in  our  ages 
did  not  prevent  our  comradeship,  as  Edgar  was  a  manly  little 
fellow;  he  became  an  officer  in  the  U.  S.  army,  and  is  now  on 
the  retired  list.  Mrs.  Bass  helped  greatly  in  the  formative 
period  of  our  social  life,  and  when  her  husband  became  wealthy 
and  built  a  beautiful  home  on  Woodward  avenue,  she  enter- 
tained in  a  most  hospitable  manner;  and,  by  the  way,  their 
house  was  the  first  one  in  St.  Paul  to  have  French  plate  glass 
windows.  She  died  this  past  summer,  1913,  and  we  all  feel 
that  our  city  has  been  made  the  better  for  her  life. 

Ex-Governor  Marshall,  in  his  address  before  the  old  set- 
tlers of  Hennepin  county,  considered  the  coming  of  Henry  M. 
Rice  the  turning  point  in  favor  of  St.  Paul.  Socially  it  was  a 
most  fortunate  incident,  for  Mr.  Rice  brought  his  bride,  a 
charming  Southern  girl,  in  the  spring  of  '49,  and  they  began 
housekeeping  in  a  cottage  he  built  on  Third  street  near  what 
is  now  Washington  street;  this  cottage  was  beautifully  fur- 
nished, and  it  was  the  beginning  of  one  of  our  loveliest  homes. 
Mr.  Rice  had  the  task  of  removing  the  Winnebago  Indians 
from  their  reservation  at  Fort  Atkinson  in  1848 ;  it  was  a  most 
difficult  undertaking,  as  the  Indians  were  very  unwilling  to 
move  to  the  cold  Northwest.  While  superintending  the  re- 
moval of  this  tribe,  he  became  interested  in  St.  Paul  and  bought 
an  interest  in  the  village  from  John  R.  Irvine;  this  property 
was  surveyed  and  called  Rice  and  Irvine's  Addition,  and  after- 
ward it  became  an  important  part  of  the  city. 

Another  addition  to  the  social  life  of  1849  was  the  arrival 
in  July  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmund  Rice,  with  Mr.  Rice's  sister, 
who  later,  in  1851,  married  Mr.  William  Hollinshead,  a  prom- 
inent lawyer  from  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Rice  being  a  lawyer,  a 
law  firm  was  established  bearing  the  name,  ''Rice,  Hollinshead 
&  Becker." 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  541 

.  Another  charming  family  came  that  same  summer,  Rev. 
Edward  D.  Neill  and  wife;  Mr.  Neill  purchased  a  lot  on  the 
corner  of  Fourth  street  and  Rice  Park,  and  built  a  two  story- 
brick  house,  which  was  a  most  attractive  home  for  many  years. 
This  was  the  first  brick  dwelling  house  in  the  city.  Mrs.  Neill, 
a  very  attractive  lady,  became  a  social  power,  standing  for  the 
best  religiously  and  socially.  Mr.  Neill  built  a  small  chapel 
on  Washington  street  during  the  summer  of  '49,  and  this 
chapel  was  the  progenitor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
built  on  Third  street  in  1850;  unfortunately  this  chapel  was 
burned  down  in  the  winter  of  that  same  year. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Selby  and  his  family  came  in  '49  also ;  they  came 
from  Ohio,  and  after  looking  around  Mr.  Selby  decided  to  buy 
a  farm  adjoining  the  village ;  this  farm  extended  from  what  is 
now  College  avenue  to  Dale  street,  and  from  Dayton  avenue 
to  Summit  avenue.  On  hearing  of  this  purchase,  Mr.  Rice  said, 
''What  a  fool  Selby  is  to  go  out  into  the  woods."  Mr.  Selby 
built  a  very  small  cottage  on  the  hill  near  where  the  First 
Methodist  Church  (now  abandoned)  stands;  St.  Anthony  hill, 
as  it  was  called,  was  very  steep  and  had  a  tamarack  swamp  at 
its  foot,  crossed  by  a  corduroy  bridge.  After  the  arrival  of 
Mrs.  Selby,  with  her  sister  and  an  attractive  young  brother, 
this  home  became  the  social  center  for  young  people,  and  one 
of  the  chief  winter  diversions  was  coasting  down  hill  in  front 
of  their  house,  where  Selby  avenue  now  is.  After  some  years 
Mr.  Selby  built  a  very  handsome  residence  on  Dayton  avenue, 
on  a  lot  which  ran  back  to  Selby  avenue.  I  can  well  remember 
the  time  when  Mr.  Selby 's  cows  and  horses  pastured  luxu- 
riously on  this  farm  site,  and  I  felt  the  force  of  Mr.  Rice 's  com- 
ment; but  now  these  ''woods"  are  in  the  most  thickly  settled 
portion  of  the  city.  Mr.  Selby  died  before  his  property  be- 
came very  valuable,  however;  his  widow  sold  the  homestead 
to  Norman  Kittson  for  a  large  sum,  and  Mr.  Kittson  built  a 
grand  house  on  the  site  of  it.  Since  his  death  the  mansion  has 
made  way  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral,  which  is  now  in 
process  of  erection.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Selby  were  devout  Presby- 
terians, Mr.  Selby  being  an  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  and  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  pastor.  Rev.  E.D.  Neill. 


542  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

I  trust  their  knowledge  is  now  so  developed  in  the  Great  Be^ 
yond  that  their  souls  are  not  vexed  by  the  cathedral  occupying 
their  old  home  site. 

In  May,  1849,  Dr.  Charles  William  Wulff  Borup  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Oakes,  came  to  St.  Paul  and 
added  much  to  our  social  life.  Both  gentlemen  married  wives 
of  mixed  French  and  Indian  blood,  who  were  sisters  and  had 
been  well  educated  in  an  eastern  school ;  they  were  ladies  and 
a  great  addition  to  our  little  circle.  Both  men  built  attractive 
homes,  much  more  modern  than  any  other  in  our  embryo 
town;  Dr.  Borup 's  occupied  a  city  block  fronting  on  Ninth 
street,  and  his  garden  and  hothouses  were  the  admiration  of 
our  citizens  for  many  years.  Mr.  Oakes'  residence  was  on 
Eighth  street,  and  at  that  time  and  for  several  years  later 
Eighth  street  from  Jackson  to  Broadway  was  the  fashionable 
part  of  the  city  and  boasted  many  handsome  houses. 

We  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Borup  for  the  first  musical  cultiva- 
tion in  St.  Paul;  he  was  very  fond  of  music,  had  a  fine  musical 
education,  and  his  family  of  several  daughters  inherited  his 
talent  and  became  fine  pianists  under  his  training.  After  his 
home  was  finished.  Dr.  Borup  gave  frequent  musicals  in  which 
local  talent  assisted,  and  one  of  these  local  musicians  became 
the  founder  and  principal  supporter  of  the  later  musical  soci- 
eties of  St.  Paul.  Richards  Gordon's  name  and  the  work  he 
accomplished  are  well  known,  but  back  of  him  great  credit 
should  be  given  to  Dr.  Borup  for  the  high  standard  he  set  as 
the  musical  impulse  of  our  people.  The  entertainments  given 
by  Mrs.  Borup  and  Mrs.  Oakes  were  of  the  most  refined  type, 
and  I  feel  sure  that  any  one  attending  them  could  easily  have 
imagined  she  was  in  an  eastern  city,  instead  of  a  frontier  town 
in  the  extreme  Northwest. 

One  of  the  young  men  who  came  in  '49  was  Dr.  David  Day ; 
he  had  not  selected  his  bride  then,  but  waited  several  years 
before  he  brought  from  Pittsburg  a  most  charming  young 
woman,  indeed  a  very  j^oung  woman,  only  eighteen;  she  was 
the  daughter  of  General  Butler  of  the  United  States  army.  Dr. 
Day  died  some  years  since,  but  his  widow  and  lovely  daughter 
are  still  with  us,  and  no  social  function  is  complete  without 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  543 

dear  Mrs.  Day.  I  must  also  mention  here  Mrs.  Day's  older  sis- 
ter, the  widow  of  Senator  McMillan;  the  senator  and  his  wife 
came  to  Stillwater  in  1854,  and  to  St.  Paul  in  '56.  Senator 
McMillan's  ancestors  were  Scotch-Irish,  descendants  of  the 
Covenanters,  and  his  religion  was  a  part  of  his  life  never  laid 
aside,  but  Sunday  and  week  days  the  same.  His  wife  fully 
agreed  with  him,  and  their  family  was  raised  to  truly  love 
God  and  their  fellow  men ;  no  personal  sacrifice  was  too  great 
to  show  their  loyalty  to  God  and  his  divine  laws,  or  to  help 
their  neighbor.  Mrs.  McMillan  is  still  with  us,  and  surely  her 
children  and  grand-children  ''rise  up  and  call  her  blessed." 

In  1849  Mr.  Henry  L.  Moss,  a  young  lawyer  of  Stillwater, 
married  Miss  Horsford  and  brought  her  to  St.  Paul  to  live; 
Miss  Horsford  was  one  of  the  teachers  sent  out  by  Governor 
Slade,  you  remember,  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Williamson,  one  of 
the  early  missionaries,  and  she  had  settled  in  Stillwater,  an 
older  place  than  St.  Paul  and  larger  at  that  time.  Mrs.  Moss 
was  a  remarkably  intelligent,  well  educated  woman,  petite  and 
attractive  in  appearance,  and  greatly  interested  in  all  philan- 
thropic work.  Mr.  Moss  built  a  home  on  Exchange  street,  near 
Irvine  Park,  where  they  lived  for  over  fifty  years.  They  gave 
many  notable  entertainments,  of  which  two  should  go  down 
into  history,  the  one  in  1874  when  they  celebrated  their  silver 
wedding,  and  the  other  in  1899  on  the  occasion  of  their  golden 
wedding. 

Among  the  early  merchants  were  three  brothers  who  came 
to  St.  Paul  in  1849;  they  built  a  two-story  building  on  Third 
street  near  what  is  now  Exchange  street,  and  this  building  is 
still  standing  and  apparently  will  last  another  half  century. 
These  brothers  were  Abram,  Edwin,  and  Charles  Elfelt,  sons 
of  a  Jewish  family  in  Philadelphia;  this  family  belonged  to  a 
very  high  class  of  Jews,  the  same  from  which  Walter  Scott 
took  his  character  of  Rebecca  in  Ivanhoe.  It  was  Washington 
Irving  who  told  Scott  about  her ;  she  was  a  Gratz,  and  in  her 
grandfather's  time  Jefferson  was  often  a  guest  at  his  house. 
A  great-granddaughter,  married  to  a  cousin  of  Ex-Governor 
Marshall,  told  him  that  Jefferson  wrote  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  her  great-grandfather's  house. 


544  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  Elfelts  were  refined,  cultivated  men;  they  opened  a 
fine  stock  of  dry  goods  in  their  new  building,  and  for  several 
years  they  had  the  leading  dry  goods  store  in  the  city.  In 
1852  Mr.  Abram  Elfelt  brought  his  bride  from  Philadelphia,  a 
most  beautiful  woman,  who  became  a  social  leader;  their 
daughter,  Mrs.  Bramhall,  is  now  prominent  in  advancing  plans 
to  improve  our  civic  life,  and  especially  in  conserving  our  for- 
ests. Mr.  Elfelt  built  a  modern  house  on  the  west  side  of 
Irvine  Park,  and  furnished  it  with  furniture  brought  from 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elfelt  were  most  hospitable,  and 
many  dancing  parties  were  given  in  their  beautifully  ap- 
pointed home. 

The  second  story  of  the  Elfelts'  dry  goods  store  was  a 
hall,  which  was  called  Mazurka  Hall,  and  it  filled  a  great  need 
during  several  years;  almost  all  our  public  dancing  parties 
were  held  there,  and  many  public  meetings.  I  often  think  that 
this  building  should  be  purchased  by  the  city,  to  be  preserved 
as  an  historical  relic.  It  is  sad  for  us  pioneers  to  see  building 
after  building  demolished,  which  rendered  such  great  service 
in  the  early  days;  and  many  times  not  even  the  site  is  pre- 
served, but  all  must  give  way  to  progress. 

Many  have  written  about  the  pioneer  men,  but  very  little 
has  been  told  of  the  pioneer  women  who  came  from  luxurious 
eastern  homes  to  endure  the  hardships  of  our  border  life.  How 
nobly  they  bore  them,  and  what  brave  men  and  women  they 
reared  to  take  their  places  and  carry  on  their  work  of  advanc- 
ing Christianity  and  civilization  in  this  great  territory. 

Among  the  most  notable  of  these  women  stood  Mrs.  Ramsey, 
the  Governor's  wife;  she  was  not  only  queenly  in  appearance, 
but  had  most  charming  manners.  Her  Quaker  education  had 
given  her  simplicity,  which,  combined  with  cordiality,  im- 
pressed one  with  the  genuineness  of  her  character;  no  one 
for  an  instant  could  think  she  was  acting  a  part..  Her  tone  of 
voice  and  manner  of  talking  were  so  fascinating  that  I  loved 
to  listen  to  her.  She  was  the  same  charming  personality  after 
returning  from  Washington,  where  Governor  Ramsey  had 
served  as  Secretary  of  War  and  of  the  Treasury;  no  worldly 
•prosperity    could    change    her.     The    last    entertainment    she 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  545 

gave  was  a  reception,  perhaps  two  years  before  she  died ;  after 
the  reception  she  was  criticized  for  being  close,  as  she  had 
neither  flowers  nor  music.  All  the  disagreeable  things  said 
came  to  her  ears,  and  she  said  to  me,  ''I  gave  that  reception 
without  flowers  or  music  on  purpose;  I  could  have  had  both, 
but  I  wanted  to  show  my  friends  that  a  reception  could  be  given 
in  a  simple  way.  It  was  the  kind  of  an  entertainment  that 
most  of  our  citizens  can  afford  to  give,  and  I  wanted  to  rebuke 
the  extravagance  of  our  friends  of  moderate  circumstances." 
Her  death  was  a  great  loss  to  our  city,  where  she  dominated 
society  and  set  a  sensible  example  to  our  citizens. 

Mrs.  Goodhue,  wife  of  James  M.  Goodhue,  the  founder  and 
editor  of  our  first  newspaper,  The  Pioneer,  was  a  woman  of 
unusual  intellectual  ability  and  very  great  social  qualities. 
She  not  only  kept  her  household  in  order,  but  could  edit  her 
husband's  newspaper  in  an  emergency.  Her  sister.  Miss  Cor- 
delia Kneeland,  lived  with  her,  a  young  lady  whose  great  wit 
and  conversational  talents  made  a  success  of  many  of  our  social 
entertainments. 

Indeed,  when  I  think  of  the  fall  of  1849  and  the  winter  of 
1850,1  cannot  imagine  a  finer  society  than  existed  in  the  villages 
of  Mendota,  St.  Paul,  and  St.  Anthony,  and  at  Fort  Snelling, 
small  as  the  numbers  were.  All  attended  the  social  functions 
given  in  St.  Paul,  and,  with  the  regimental  band  from  the  fort 
for  music,  the  parties  could  not  fail  of  being  a  success.  Most 
of  the  entertainments  had  to  be  given  in  a  hall  or  hotel,  of 
course,  as  the  few  private  homes  were  too  small  to  accommodate 
them. 

In  July,  1850,  Colonel  Robertson  of  Ohio  became  a  citizen 
of  St.  Paul ;  and  his  wife,  a  very  attractive  young  matron,  be- 
came noted  for  her  hospitality.  She  was  the  first  person  to 
have  regular  *'at  home"  days.  Her  sister,  bride  of  Lafayette 
Emmett  (afterward  Judge  Emmett),  was  also  a  most  charming 
hostess  and  both  Mrs.  Robertson  and  Mrs.  Emmett  were  for 
many  years  a  social  and  intellectual  force  among  us. 

In  the  spring  of  1851  General  James  H.  Simpson  arrived, 
accompanied  by  his  wife  and  a  young  sister-in-law.  Miss  Champ- 
lin.     Mrs.  Simpson  was  a  fine  pianist,  and  proved  an  added 

35 


546  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

inspiration  to  our  musical  society,  taking  part  in  the  musical 
entertainments  given  by  Dr.  Borup.  Her  brother,  Mr.  Champ- 
lin,  married  Dr.  Borup 's  oldest  daughter.  Mrs.  Simpson  was 
not  only  a  cultivated  musician,  but  a  very  fine  conversationalist, 
and  had  a  very  cheerful,  bright  disposition,  always  seeing  the 
humorous  side  of  life.  Such  a  cheerful  temperament  endeared 
her  to  her  friends,  who,  however  despondent,  always  felt  hap- 
pier after  an  interview  with  her.  Both  the  General  and  his 
wife  were  devout  Christians,  members  of  Christ  Church,  and 
were  a  great  help  in  sustaining  the  parish  in  its  formative 
period;  both  have  passed  away  years  since,  but  their  works 
live  after  them. 

Miss  Champlin  married  John  B.  Cook,  and  for  many  years 
dispensed  a  gracious  hospitality  in  the  city;  both  have  now 
joined  the  great  majority  across  the  "dark  river." 

In  1852  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  L.  Willes  came  from  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  Mrs.  Willes  coming  on  her  wedding  trip;  they 
bought  a  home  on  Irvine  Park,  adding  another  to  our  attractive 
homes.  Mrs.  Willes  was  beautiful  and  refined,  worthy  to  join 
the  group  composed  of  Mrs.  Ramsey,  Mrs.  Sibley,  and  others  of 
our  company  forming  the  best  society.  Mr.  Willes  had  the 
advantage  of  some  of  our  young  men,  in  that  he  was  well  to 
do  and  could  help  in  civic  improvements  in  many  ways.  Mrs. 
Willes  is  still  with  us,  and  her  children  and  grandchildren  are 
leaders  in  social  and  intellectual  life. 

In  May,  1853,  Governor  Gorman  came  with  his  family; 
Mrs.  Gorman  did  the  honors  of  the  governor's  mansion  in  a 
most  gracious  way;  she  was  fond  of  entertaining,  and  during 
her  husband's  term  of  office,  and  for  several  years  after,  kept 
open  house  for  all,  and  many  were  the. social  gatherings  that 
were  enjoyed  there.  The  most  notable  event,  perhaps,  was  the 
marriage  of  her  eldest  daughter  to  Harvey  Officer,  a  rising 
young  lawyer  of  St.  Paul;  the  wedding  ceremony  and  recep- 
tion were  held  at  the  home,  and  nothing  was  lacking  to  make 
the  occasion  a  society  function  equal  to  a  wedding  of  these 
latter  days. 

Mrs.  Gorman's  sister,  wife  of  Robert  A.  Smith,  many  times 
Mayor  of  St.  Paul,  was  a  great  assistance  to  Mrs.  Gorman  in 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  547 

entertaining;  she  is  still  living,  and  although  her  later  years 
have  been  spent  in  caring  for  an  invalid  husband,  she  is  remem- 
bered as  a  gracious  entertainer,  not  only  at  Mrs.  Gorman's, 
but  later  at  her  own  home  on  Summit  avenue.  May  she  be 
w^ith  us  many  days  to  come  ! 

Another  most  charming  v^roman  must  not  be  forgotten,  Mrs. 
Prince,  v^^ife  of  the  late  John  S.  Prince,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent early  bankers;  upon  her  arrival  here,  in  1854,  she  took 
her  place  as  a  leader  in  society.  Mr.  Prince  built  a  most  at- 
tractive home  in  lower  town,  and  from  the  time  it  was  occu- 
pied until  his  death  no  home  in  the  city  equalled  it  in  hospi- 
tality ;  delightful  entertainments  for  both  old  and  young  were 
given,  and  to  be  welcomed  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prince  was  an 
event  in  one 's  life.  I  remember  one  occasion  when  a  children 's 
party  was  in  full  swing;  Mr.  Egbert  Thompson  came  in  and 
in  a  depressed  manner  said,  ''Well,  I  have  missed  it  all  my 
life ;  when  I  was  young,  children  were  of  no  account,  and  now, 
when  I  am  old,  old  people  are  of  no  account. "  Mrs.  Prince  lived 
to  a  good  old  age,  dying  this  past  summer,  1913;  each  year 
of  her  life  was  a  benediction  to  her  children  and  her  friends. 

Yet  another  of  the  women  who  came  in  1853  is  with  us,  Mrs. 
Hunt,  widow  of  Mr.  Edgar  Hunt;  she  is  a  deeply  religious 
woman,  and  has  been  a  power  for  good  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  as  well  as  in  the  community;  her  children  and  grand- 
children have  followed  in  her  footsteps,  and  are  active  workers 
in  church  and  society  for  the  uplift  of  all. 

In  March,  1854,  William  R.  Marshall  brought  his  bride  from 
Utica,  N.  Y. ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  George  Langford,  a 
banker,  and  was  connected  with  the  most  prominent  families 
of  Oneida  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marshall  began  housekeeping 
on  the  corner  of  Fourth  street  and  Rice  Park ;  Mrs.  Marshall, 
having  been  reared  in  the  center  of  culture  and  refinement, 
brought  these  qualities  into  her  new  home,  and  for  forty  years 
she  was  a  most  delightful  hostess. 

Through  her  influence,  two  of  her  sisters  also  became  resi- 
dents of  St.  Paul ;  one  was  the  wife  of  William  Spencer,  son  of 
Joshua  Spencer,  the  most  noted  lawyer  of  New  York ;  and  olie 
was  the  wife  of  James  W.  Taylor,  who  became  prominent  as  our 


548  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

consul  at  Winnipeg,  being  held  in  such  esteem  by  the  English 
that  at  his  death  the  flag  of  Windsor  Castle  was  lowered.  Both 
these  women  had  a  delightful  personality,  and  took  a  leading 
part  in  social  life  for  many  years ;  they  were  also  most  efficient 
in  helping  to  care  for  the  sick,  in  the  days  before  trained  nurses, 
or  indeed  any  kind  of  nurses,  were  here.  In  those  days  kind 
neighbors  went  and  ministered  to  the  helpless  ones ;  and  many 
now  living  can  remember  how  the  anxieties  attending  the  sick 
bed  were  removed  when  Mrs.  Spencer  appeared,  and  many  a 
dying  one's  last  hours  were  comforted  and  soothed  by  her  gen- 
tle words  and  tender  ministrations.  Children  and  grandchil- 
dren are  living  in  our  midst  and  ''rise  up  to  call  her  blessed," 

Mrs.  Marshall  also  influenced  two  young  brothers  to  join 
her  in  the  fall  of  1854,  and  these  brothers  became  permanent 
citizens.  Mr.  Nathaniel  P.  Langford  died  in  October,  1911, 
greatly  lamented,  having  taken  an  active  part  in  all  our  civic 
affairs  and  always  for  the  benefit  of  the  city.  The  other  brother, 
Augustine  G.  Langford,  married  Elizabeth  Robertson,  daughter 
of  Col.  D.  A.  Robertson;  he  died  in  Denver  many  years  since, 
but  the  sons,  Nathaniel  and  W^illiam  Langford,  are  among  our 
best  business  men,  and,  no  doubt,  their  children  will  follow  in 
their  footsteps. 

In  1860  Miss  Fanny  Spencer  visited  her  brother,  William 
Spencer,  and  during  this  visit  she  met  Mr.  Amherst  H.  Wilder, 
who  immediately  fell  in  love  with  her;  they  were  married  in 
1861,  and  settled  permanently  in  St.  Paul.  This  marriage 
proved  a  very  important  event  for  the  city,  not  only  in  starting 
a  new  home  and  adding  to  the  social  life,  but  eventually  in 
founding  the  ''Wilder  Charity,"  which  will  continue  to  benefit 
the  worthy  poor  among  us  for  all  time.  Mrs.  Wilder  was  a 
very  superior  woman;  she  had  a  fine  education,  and  all  her 
early  life  had  been  spent  in  the  midst  of  intellectutal  and  culti- 
vated society;  the  guests  in  her  father's  house  were  such  men 
as  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster,  and  she  imbibed  from  her 
earliest  years  a  love  for  things  which  make  for  refinement  and 
culture.  She  excelled  in  conversation,  and  could  maintain  her 
side  in  argument  with  the  most  highly  educated  men.  A  sad 
calamity  it  was  to  St.  Paul  when  the  Wilder  family,  father. 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES.  549 

mother,  and  daughter,  Mrs.  Appleby,  passed  away  within  a  few 
years  of  each  other. 

So,  indirectly,  the  coming  of  Mrs.  Marshall  brought  a  num- 
ber of  people  who  have  added  to  our  growth  both  in  intellectual 
advancement  and  wealth. 

In  the  spring  of  1854,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  W.  Coleman 
came  here  from  Canada ;  they  resided  in  St.  Paul  several  years, 
and  afterward  in  Iowa,  but  returned  here  in  1877.  Mr.  Coleman 
invested  largely  in  real  estate,  and  also  bought  stock  in  one  of 
our  banks;  the  family  consisted  of  two  daughters,  Jenny  and 
Emily,  and  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Coleman.  Mrs.  Coleman  and  her 
sister,  Miss  Newington,  at  once  became  important  members  of 
our  circle,  having  moved  in  the  best  society  in  Canada,  and  we 
all  know  an  educated  Englishwoman  cannot  be  excelled  in  re- 
finement and  good  manners.  Mrs.  Coleman  played  delightfully, 
and  many  impromptu  dances  were  indebted  to  her  for  the 
music  which  added  so  much  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  young  peo- 
ple. Mr.  Coleman  purchased  the  Brown  residence,  which  after- 
wards was  sold  to  the  city  for  a  hospital,  and  their  home  became 
a  place  where  young  people  loved  to  congregate.  Miss  New- 
ington some  years  later  became  the  wife  of  Ex-Governor  Gor- 
man, and  for  many  years  led  in  church  work  and  philanthropic 
and  social  activities.  Miss  Jenny  Coleman,  the  older  daughter, 
married  Mr.  G.  W.  Armstrong,  a  young  lawyer,  and  their  sons, 
James  and  John,  today  rank  among  our  most  useful  citizens; 
one  is  a  lawyer  and  one  a  physician,  continuing  the  good  work 
begun  by  their  father  and  grandfather.  Mrs.  Armstrong  is  now 
living,  a  most  gracious  lady  beloved  by  all  who  know  her. 

I  hope  I  have  done  justice  to  a  few  of  the  pioneer  women 
who  bore  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day ;  we  were  truly  blessed 
in  the  character  of  these  women  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
our  family  and  social  life;  their  children  and  grandchildren 
have  maintained  their  principles,  so  that  St.  Paul  is  known  as 
one  of  the  most  refined  cities  in  the  Union.  I  have  mentioned 
only  a  few  of  the  gracious,  charming  women  who  made  their 
home  among  us  then ;  but  I  have  neither  strength  nor  time  to 
write  of  the  many  who  came  after  1854,  and  who  kept  up  the 
high  moral  and  intellectual  standard  of  their  predecessors. 


550  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Our  method  of  entertaining  in  those  early  days  made  us  all 
like  one  family,  each  of  our  friends,  or  perhaps  only  a  certain 
number  of  our  friends,  contributing  to  the  menu ;  this  was  made 
necessary  because  we  had  no  public  caterers  and  our  domestic 
help  was  very  inexperienced.  One  of  the  wonders  of  that  time 
was  what  famous  housekeepers  and  cooks  our  ignorant,  help- 
less brides  became ;  after  sixty  years  the  mention  of  their  names 
brings  to  mind  the  savor  of  good  viands.  When  an  entertain- 
ment was  planned,  one  would  send  the  salad,  another  the  rolls, 
and  another  the  cake,  etc.;  the  hostess  had  very  little  to  do, 
except  to  see  that  her  house  was  in  order;  and  she,  of  course, 
returned  those  favors  when  her  friends  entertained.  I  was 
amused  and  reminded  of  old  times,  when  celebrating  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  my  arrival  in  St.  Paul,  by  having  some  of  the 
older  friends  say  to  me,  ' '  Why  did  you  not  ask  me  to  make  the 
salad?"  or  ^'Why  did  you  not  send  to  me  for  cake?"  and  *'I 
expected  to  have  to  send  you  some  lamps. ' '  When  I  was  mar- 
ried, Mrs.  Goodhue  made  the  bride's  cake,  and  Mrs.  Emmett 
and  Mrs.  Simpson  assisted  in  making  the  fruit  cake,  salad,  etc., 
for  the  supper.  Such  close  intimacy  endeared  us  to  each  other, 
and  the  bonds  of  friendship  lasted  all  through  our  lives. 

During  those  days  surprise  parties  were  quite  common,  or 
at  least  so-called  surprise  parties;  but  the  lady  of  the  house 
that  was  intended  to  be  surprised  always  had  a  hint  that  some- 
thing unusual  might  occur  on  such  and  such  an  evening.  We 
generally  received  a  hospitable  welcome,  and  soon  the  dancing 
began  and  a  delightful  evening  was  spent. 

One  party,  however,  was  made  more  of  a  surprise  to  the 
guests  than  to  the  host  and  hostess.  In  the  family  of  one  of  our 
prominent  citizens  there  was  a  young  lady  visiting ;  the  young 
people  thought  it  would  be  all  right  to  take  music  and  refresh- 
ments and  surprise  the  hostess  and  her  guest  in  the  customary 
way.  The  hint  was  duly  given,  and  the  hostess  signified  that 
the  party  would  be  welcome  ;  everything  went  off  as  scheduled ; 
the  guests  were  welcomed  by  the  hostess,  as  her  husband  was 
out  of  town ;  dancing  began  soon,  and  all  were  having  a  merry 
time,  when  the  host  came  home  quite  unexpectedly.     He  was 


A  SHEAF  OF  REMEMBRANCES. 


551 


furious  at  having  his  home  invaded  by  uninvited  guests,  al- 
though they  were  the  cream  of  our  little  circle,  and  he  told 
them  in  no  very  civil  words  that  when  he  wanted  guests  he 
would  invite  them.  The  guests  left  in  double-quick  time,  and 
none  of  them  ever  entered  that  house  again;  the  hostess,  a 
lovely  woman,  never  had  a  social  position,  or,  rather  I  should 
say,  a  position  in  society.  This  ended  surprise  parties  among 
our  best  society  people. 

Telling  of  parties,  I  must  not  omit  one  which  proved  almost 
a  tragedy ;  I  am  not  quite  sure  of  the  year  in  which  it  occurred, 
but  think  it  was  the  very  cold  winter  of  '55.  The  party  was 
given  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  A.  J.  Baker  at  their  farm,  now  Mer- 
riam  Park.^  There  was  a  stretch  of  prairie  to  be  crossed,  reach- 
ing from  what  is  now  Mackubin  street  but  then  called  Mar- 
shall's farm,  to  what  is  now  Snelling  avenue.  The  invited 
guests  started  about  seven  o'clock  in  sleighs  to  meet  at  a  ren- 
dezvous and  go  all  together,  which  arrangement  proved  very 
fortunate  and  saved  many  lives.  On  reaching  the  crest  of  the 
hill,  called  St.  Anthony  hill,  a  sharp  wind  met  them  and  the 
atmosphere  became  filled  with  snow  in  a  short  time;  it  was  a 
genuine  blizzard.  The  road  was  soon  obliterated,  and  the  in- 
stinct of  the  horses  remained  their  only  guide.  Mr.  John  Cath- 
cart  led  the  line  of  sleighs,  and  he  said  afterward  that  it  was 
much  more  like  a  funeral  procession  than  a  prospective  dancing 
party.  One  or  two  of  the  sleighs  wandered  out  from  the  line, 
but  fortunately  reached  a  house  on  Governor  Ramsey's  farm, 
quite  far  to  the  north  of  University  avenue,  or,  as  it  was  then 
called,  the  ' '  Territorial  road. ' '  They  were  fortunate  in  finding 
shelter  for  the  night,  as  otherwise  they  would  have  been  frozen 
to  death,  there  being  no  other  house  within  miles.  The  party 
led  by  Mr.  Cathcart  finally  reached  Mr.  Baker's,  but  how  it  was 
impossible  to  tell;  several  of  the  party  were  frostbitten,  but 
only  one  seriously ;  a  Mr.  Wolf  had  his  hands  frozen  and  suf- 
fered intensely,  but  recovered  eventually  without  losing  his 
fingers.  My  brother  William  started  for  Mr.  Baker's  in  a 
double  sleigh  drawn  by  a  fine  pair  of  horses,  but  had  gone  only 
a  short  distance  when  he  turned  back,  realizing  the  great  dan- 


552  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ger  of  being  lost  in  a  Minnesota  blizzard.  However,  ''All's 
well  that  ends  well,"  and  our  party  returned  home  the  next 
morning  grateful  to  the  Power  that  guided  them  safely. 

After  1855  immigration  came  so  rapidly  that  a  great  change 
took  place  in  our  social  life ;  the  family  parties  were  succeeded 
by  social  circles  formed  in  the  churches,  the  members  feeling 
that  they  should  become  acquainted  with  each  other.  A  few  of 
us  older  residents  still  kept  our  social  compact,  but  the  early 
custom  of  all  citizens  meeting  together  had  to  give  way  to 
smaller  and  more  formal  affairs. 

Now,  after  sixty-four  years,  few,  very  few,  can  remember 
those  youthful,  happy,  hospitable  days  in  the  little  French  and 
Indian  village  which  has  grown  into  our  great,  cosmopolitan 
City  of  St.  Paul. 


REMINISCENCES  OP  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.* 


BY  HENRY  A.  CASTLE. 


I  arrived  in  Minnesota  in  July,  1866,  having  left  my  old 
home  at  Quincy,  111.,  on  account  of  lung  trouble  contracted  dur- 
ing my  army  service.  I  had  always  been  interested  in  politics 
as  a  Republican.  In  May,  1864,  I  was  a  delegate  to  the  Repub- 
lican State  Convention  at  Springfield,  111.,  which  sent  delegates 
to  the  National  Convention  to  re-nominate  Abraham  Lincoln  as 
President.  In  that  convention  I  wore  my  uniform  as  a  cap- 
tain of  Illinois  volunteers,  having  just  recruited  a  company  for 
my  second  term  of  service.  This  convention  also  nominated 
Richard  J.  Oglesby  for  governor  of  Illinois  and  a  full  state 
ticket.  Returning  from  my  army  service  in  the  fall  of  1864,  I 
made  speeches  in  favor  of  Lincoln's  election  and  cast  my  first 
presidential  vote  in  November,  for  the  great  Emancipator. 

I  was  thus,  on  coming  to  Minnesota,  somewhat  prepared  to 
take  an  interest  in  political  affairs.  This  tendency  was  stim- 
ulated by  the  fact  that  I  brought  with  me  letters  of  introduc- 
tion to  William  R.  Marshall,  then  governor,  from  his  old  friends 
in  Quincy,  where  he  had  spent  his  boyhood  years.  Governor 
Marshall  received  me  most  kindly,  and  thus  within  a  week  after 
my  arrival  in  St.  Paul  began  the  acquaintance  which  lasted 
during  his  entire  life  with  constantly  increasing  respect  on  my 
part  for  his  commanding  abilities,  sterling  integrity,  and  ami- 
able character. 

I  spent  the  fall  and  winter  of  1866-7  at  Anoka,  and  attended 
there  in  October  my  first  political  meeting  in  the  state,  which 
was  addressed  by  General  C.  C.  Andrews,  then  just  returned 
from  his  prolonged  and  honorable  army  service.  I  was  not 
yet  a  voter,  but,  had  I  been,  should  undoubtedly  have  voted  for 


'Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  May  13,  1907. 


554  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Ignatius  Donnelly  at  what  proved  to  be  his  last  election  as  rep- 
resentative in  Congress. 

1867. 

On  January  1,  1867,  at  the  invitation  of  Granville  S.  Pease, 
then  and  now  its  proprietor,  I  assumed  the  editorship  of  the 
Anoka  Union,  a  relation  which  continued  for  five  years,  al- 
though I  only  remained  for  a  few  months  a  resident  of  Anoka. 
In  this  capacity  I  helped  organize  the  Minnesota  State  Edi- 
torial Association  at  St.  Paul  in  February,  1867.  There  I  met 
practically  all  the  newspaper  men  of  the  state,  only  fifty  or 
sixty  in  number  at  that  time,  and  formed  associations,  many 
of  which  have  lasted  until  now. 

In  April,  1867,  I  removed  to  St.  Cloud,  Minn.,  where  I  re- 
mained one  year.  Soon  after  my  arrival  I  became  involved,  at 
the  village  caucus,  in  a  political  contest  in  behalf  of  my  friend, 
Governor  Marshall.  He  was  a  candidate  for  re-nomination  and 
was  opposed  by  the  so-called  Donnelly  element  of  the  party, 
then  specially  represented  in  St.  Cloud  by  L.  W.  Collins,  after- 
ward justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  C.  D.  Kerr,  afterward  judge 
of  our  St.  Paul  District  Court,  and  W.  B.  Mitchell,  then  and 
long  afterward  editor  of  the  St.  Cloud  Journal.  Governor 
Marshall's  interests  were  represented  by  J.  E.  West,  T.  C.  Mc- 
Clure,  and  others,  and  my  belligerent  disposition  carried  me 
into  a  wordy  debate  with  Captain  Collins,  which  afforded  us 
material  for  some  amusement  in  after  years.  Marshall  was 
defeated  at  St.  Cloud,  but  was  victorious  in  the  State  Conven- 
tion and  was  easily  elected  in  November. 

The  state  constitutional  amendment  granting  equal  suffrage 
was  voted  upon  at  that  election,  and  was  an  issue  in  the  cam- 
paign. I  made  some  speeches  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state, 
especially  devoted  to  that  issue,  and  some  others  in  Stearns 
county  in  the  interest  of  C.  A.  Gilman,  candidate  for  state 
senator,  pledged  to  the  re-election  of  Alexander  Ramsey,  United 
States  senator,  which  would  occur  during  Mr.  Gilman 's  official 
term.  Gilman  was  elected,  although  Stearns  county  was 
strongly  Democratic,  and  I  thus  gladly  contributed  somewhat 
to  the  election  of  Senator  Ramsey  for  his  second  term. 

During  this  canvass  I  heard,  for  the  first  time,  Cushman 
K.  Davis  deliver,  or  attempt  to  deliver,  a  political  speech.    It 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  555 

was  at  the  court  house  in  St.  Cloud  where  Captain  Davis,  as 
he  was  then  known,  occupied  the  platform  with  Sam  Beeman, 
a  well  known  political  orator  from  southern  Minnesota.  Bee- 
man  was  a  fluent  and  vigorous  speaker,  with  a  tremendous 
voice,  and  a  remarkable  gift  of  ''continuance."  He  spoke  for 
more  than  two  hours,  greatly  interesting  the  audience,  and 
when  he  closed  two-thirds  of  those  present  left  the  hall.  This 
was  embarrassing  for  Captain  Davis,  who  bravely  started  in, 
however,  in  a  modest  way,  with  a  shrill  voice  to  rehearse  a 
carefully  prepared  speech.  Within  five  minutes  half  of  the 
people  who  had  remained  disappeared.  Davis  saw  that  he  must 
be  brief  and  tried  to  jump  to  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  but 
failed  to  land  at  the  right  place.  He  became  covered  with  con- 
fusion, stammered  and  repeated  himself,  but  finally  struck  his 
peroration  and  wound  up  what  was  admittedly  a  complete 
failure.  Contrasting  this  episode  with  the  wonderful  success 
Senator  Davis  afterward  achieved  as  an  orator  in  many  widely 
divergent  fields,  one  must  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that,  in  some 
cases  at  least,  orators  are  made  and  not  born.  On  my  speak- 
ing with  him  many  years  afterward,  when  multiplied  successes 
had  made  it  safe  to  allude  to  this  early  failure,  Senator  Davis 
told  me  that  he  had  other  discouragements  nearly  as  bad  in  his 
early  career.  During  this  same  campaign  he  spoke  at  Lake 
City,  where  things  passed  off  smoothly,  as  he  thought,  and  he 
expected  a  glowing  compliment  in  the  local  paper.  Getting 
hold  of  the  next  issue  he  was  astonished  to  see  that  the  only 
allusion  to  his  speech  was  couched  in  language  something  like 
this:  ''A  young  man  named  Davis  also  spoke.  In  our  opinion 
this  handsome  young  man  would  be  more  effective  in  address- 
ing an  audience  of  one  with  his  arm  around  it." 

1868. 
I  removed  to  St.  Paul  in  April,  1868,  and  established  my 
permanent  residence  which  has  since  remained  here.  This  was 
the  year  of  the  celebrated  contest  for  the  Republican  nomina- 
tion to  Congress  between  Ignatius  Donnelly,  the  then  incum- 
bent, on  one  side,  and  W.  D.  Washburn,  General  L.  F.  Hub- 
bard, and  General  C.  C.  Andrews,  on  the  other  side.  I  had 
formed  the  favorable  acquaintance  of  General  Andrews  dur- 
ing my  year  at  St.  Cloud,  and  had  accumulated  a  growing  po- 


556  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

litical  distrust  of  Mr.  Donnelly.  Consequently  I  opposed  Don- 
nelly's renomination  in  my  editorials  in  the  Anoka  Union  and 
I  went  to  the  district  convention  as  a  proxy  delegate  from  Ot- 
tertail  county  (the  first  time  that  county  had  been  represented 
in  any  convention)  in  the  interest  of  General  Andrews.  Don- 
nelly bolted  the  convention  and  was  nominated  by  his  friends 
with  a  pretext  of  regularity.  In  the  anti-Donnelly  convention, 
Washburn  withdrew  and  General  Hubbard  was  nominated.  A 
little  later,  however,  having  been  put  in  a  false  position  as  to 
a  matter  of  arbitrating  the  differences  by  some  of  his  campaign 
managers.  General  Hubbard  resigned  the  nomination.  The  con- 
vention was  re-assembled  and  General  Andrews  became  the 
final  nominee  and  made  the  campaign.  The  Democrats  nomi- 
nated E.  M.  Wilson  of  Minneapolis,  who  was  elected  in  Novem- 
ber, as  the  opposing  Republican  candidates  divided  the  over- 
whelming party  vote  of  the  district.  There  were  then  only  two 
Congressional  districts  in  the  state,  and  this  district  embraced 
everything  north  of  Wabasha  county. 

The  fight  within  the  party  was  bitter  and  unrelenting.  I 
made  many  speeches,  winding  up  the  night  before  election  at 
St.  Cloud,  where  I  occupied  the  platform  with  Governor  Mar- 
shall, and  whence  we  sent  to  Mr.  Wheelock's  St.  Paul  Press, 
which  ardently  supported  Andrews,  the  cheering  intelligence 
that  the  prairies  of  northern  Minnesota  were  on  fire  with  en- 
thusiasm for  our  favorite.  The  returns  a  few  days  later  showed 
that  he  came  out  third  in  the  race. 

1869. 
In  January,  1869,  occurred  the  second  election  of  Alexander 
Ramsey  as  United  States  senator,  which  was  full  of  surprises, 
criminations,  recriminations,  stratagems  and  strategies.  I  was 
an  interested  observer,  being  heartily  in  favor  of  our  distin- 
guished senator,  but  not  sufficiently  on  the  inside  to  know  as  to 
the  truth  or  falsity  of  many  of  the  serious  allegations  made  in 
connection  with  the  affair.  Ramsey's  following  then,  as  later, 
while  embracing  unquestionably  a  very  large  section  of  the 
party,  was  controlled  and  manipulated  by  a  select  coterie 
of  shrewd  politicians,  embracing  Federal  office  holders  and 
wealthy  contractors  in  St.  Paul  and  elsewhere,  who  had  grown 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  557 

rich  from  post  traderships  and  furnishing  army  supplies,  In- 
dian goods,  etc. 

While  Eamsey  was  thus  successful  in  his  re-election,  the 
methods  of  his  supporters  had  become  somewhat  unpopular 
and  the  nomination  of  Horace  Austin  for  governor  later  in  the 
year  was  distinctly  an  anti-Ramsey  movement.  Donnelly  came 
serenely  to  the  front  as  a  candidate  for  governor  against  Aus- 
tin in  the  Republican  convention,  and  McKusick  of  Stillwater 
was  another  candidate,  but  Austin  received  a  majority  of  the 
delegates.  He  had  lukewarm  support  at  the  polls,  however, 
from  the  dominating  element  of  the  party,  and  was  elected  by 
an  uncomfortably  small  majority  over  George  L.  Otis,  the 
Democratic  candidate. 

1870. 

General  John  T.  Averill  of  St.  Paul,  a  popular  and  able  man, 
whom  it  was  always  a  delight  to  honor,  was  the  Republican 
nominee  for  Congress  in  1870,  and  again  Donnelly  appeared, 
this  time  as  an  independent  candidate  with  Democratic  sup- 
port. He  announced  that  he  would  run  solely  on  the  platform 
of  ' '  Ignatius  Donnelly. ' '  The  Democrats  made  no  nomination, 
and  mostly  voted  for  him,  but  Averill  was  elected.  The  St. 
Paul  Pioneer,  then  the  state  organ  of  the  Democracy,  was  non- 
committal and  gave  Donnelly  little  or  no  assistance.  I  hap- 
pened to  be  present  when  General  H.  H.  Sibley  made  a  per- 
suasive and  almost  pathetic  effort  to  induce  H.  L.  Carver,  then 
the  proprietor  of  the  Pioneer,  to  support  Donnelly  in  his  paper. 
Carver  said  he  would  do  so  whenever  the  Democrats  endorsed 
Donnelly,  but  as  they  failed  to  do  this  formally  he  was  never 
called  upon  to  fulfill  his  promise. 

Mark  H.  Dunnell,  who  had  for  several  years  been  State 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  was  elected  to  Congress 
as  a  Republican  from  the  First  District  this  year,  and  began  his 
notable  career  of  fourteen  years'  conspicuously  able  and  useful 
public  service. 

In  1870  I  was  appointed  by  Governor  Austin  a  member  of 
the  State  Board  of  Trustees  of  Soldiers'  Orphans,  and  held  the 
position  by  successive  appointments  for  ten  years  or  until  the 
close  of  the  institution.     There  was  no  salary  attached  to  the 


558  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

office.     Among  my  colleagues  Col.  H.  G.  Hicks  and  Maj.  0.  B. 
Gould  were  specially  prominent. 

1871. 

The  state  convention  of  1871  re-nominated  Governor  Austin 
with  little  or  no  opposition.  Mr.  Donnelly  came  back  into  the 
fold,  making  a  characteristic  speech  at  the  convention,  in  which 
he  stated  that  he  found  the  platform  of  "Ignatius  Donnelly," 
on  which  he  had  run  for  Congress  the  year  before,  was  alto- 
gether too  narrow.  He  pledged  himself  to  support  the  tickjet 
this  year  and  be  a  good  Republican  forever  after.  But  the 
next  year  he  was  to  be  seen  shouting  in  the  front  ranks  for 
Horace  Greeley,  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  and  dur- 
ing the  remainder  of  his  long  life  he  was  found,  as  a  rule,  active 
in  the  opposition. 

One  episode  of  this  convention  is  significant  as  the  first 
entry  of  C.  K.  Davis  as  a  candidate  in  state  conventions.  F. 
R.  E.  Cornell,  of  Minneapolis,  was  attorney  general  and  had  no. 
opposition  for  re-nomination.  At  the  noon  recess  of  the  con- 
vention Captain  A.  H.  Reed  of  Glencoe  came  to  me  and  sug- 
gested that  we  go  to  Cush.  Davis  and  ask  him  to  be  a  candidate 
for  attorney  general  as  a  representaive  of  the  Union  soldier 
element.  I  willingly  consented,  though  I  doubted  the  success 
of  our  mission  as  Mr.  Davis  was  then  United  State  district  at- 
torney, which  I  regarded  as  an  equally  important  and  more 
lucrative  position.  To  my  astonishment,  however,  Captain 
Davis,  without  a  moment's  hesitation  consented  to  run,  showed 
much  eagerness  for  success,  and  authorized  us  to  get  tickets 
printed  and  muster  all  his  friends  to  his  support.  The  time 
was  too  short,  during  the  few  hours  that  intervened  before  the 
nomination  was  reached  in  regular  order,  to  secure  enough 
votes  to  defeat  Cornell.  But  the  episode  is  interesting  as  in- 
dicating Mr.  Davis'  laudable  ambition  to  get  before  the  people, 
and  as  the  beginning  of  a  moulding  of  political  events  in  his 
interest,  which  during  the  remainder  of  his  life  commanded 
my  active  support. 

1872. 

In  1872  General  John  T.  Averill  was  re-elected  to  Congress 
from  the  St.  Paul  district,  and  Mark  H.  Dunnell  from  the  First 
district.     There  was  now,  for  the  first  time,  an  election  for  a 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  559 

third  Congressman,  and  H.  B.  Strait  of  Shakopee  was  elected, 
thus  inaugurating  a  total  service  of  fourteen  fruitful  years  in 
the  House  of  Representatives, — losing  one  intermediate  term, 
1879-81. 

General  Grant  was  renominated  for  President,  and  the  St. 
Paul  Republicans  organized  a  Grant  and  Wilson  club,  embrac- 
ing the  entire  city,  which  was  a  strong  and  energetic  organiza- 
tion, doing  very  efficient  work  throughout  the  campaign.  I 
had  the  honor  to  be  unanimously  elected  president  of  this  club, 
with  Frank  Fairchild  as  secretary,  W.  D.  Cornish  vice-presi- 
dent, and  H.  R.  Brill,  now  our  esteemed  senior  judge  of  the 
District  Court,  treasurer.  At  the  November  election,  St.  Paul 
went  Republican  on  the  national  ticket  for  the  first  time. 

In  October  I  was  nominated  as  a  Republican  candidate  for 
the  Legislature  in  the  Fifth  ward  of  St.  Paul,  embracing  the 
territory  now  covered  by  the  First,  Second  and  Third  wards. 
I  was  elected  in  November  over  James  Smith,  Jr.,  an  old  citi- 
zen and  prominent  lawyer,  the  Democratic  candidate,  after  a 
spirited  contest. 

1873. 

In  January,  1873,  began  my  service  in  the  Legislature,  which 
then  met  annually  and  was  limited  to  a  term  of  sixty  days.  It 
was,  in  some  respects,  the  most  notable  session  which  the  state 
had  then  seen.  It  was  specially  notable  for  the  large  number 
of  members,  who  then  were,  or  afterward  became,  distinguished 
in  public  life. 

In  the  Senate  were  W.  H.  Yale,  lieutenant  governor,  S.  S. 
Beeman,  Milo  White,  W.  G.  Ward,  L.  F.  Hubbard,  J.  L.  Mc- 
Donald, D.  M.  Sabin,  Edmund  Rice,  J.  S.  Pillsbury,  C.  H. 
Graves,  R.  B.  Langdon,  L.  L.  Baxter,  Henry  Poehler,  and  others 
almost  equally  distinguished. 

.  In  the  House  were  A.  R.  Hall,  speaker,  George  P.  Wilson, 
T.  S.  Van  Dyke,  S.  P.  Child,  W.  C.  Williston,  E.  W.  Durant, 
George  Benz,  L.  Fletcher,  C.  H.  Clarke,  A.  Barto,  F.  E.  Du  Toit, 
E.  St.  Julian  Cox,  Stephen  Miller,  J.  V.  Brower,  J.  W.  Blake, 
and  others. 

Of  these  men,  two,  Hubbard  and  Pillsbury,  were  afterward 
governors,  and  one,  Stephen  Miller,  had  already  been  gov- 
ernor; D.  M,  Sabin  became  United  States  senator;  White,  Mc- 


560  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Donald,  Rice,  Poehler,  and  Fletcher,  became  Congressmen; 
Baxter,  Williston,  Cox,  and  McDonald,  became  district  judges ; 
and  several  others  occupied  prominent  positions  in  the  political 
and  business  life  of  the  commonwealth. 

One  unofficial  episode  of  the  session  was  an  intense  excite- 
ment created  by  the  refusal  of  the  Merchants  Hotel  to  enter- 
tain the  colored  orator,  Frederick  Douglass,  who  came  to  St. 
Paul  to  deliver  a  lecture.  ''Deacon"  W.  L.  Wilson  solved  the 
problem  by  taking  Mr.  Douglass  to  his  home,  but  an  indignant 
legislator  introduced  a  resolution  removing  the  capital  from 
St.  Paul  on  account  of  this  insult  to  the  colored  race.  The  res- 
olution went  over  under  notice  of  debate  and  did  not  after- 
ward materialize.  Later  in  the  session,  Mr.  George  Benz  and 
myself,  the  only  two  Republican  members  of  the  House  from 
Ramsey  county,  secured  an  appropriation  of  $10,000  to  extend 
the  old  Territorial  capitol,  then  in  use  by  the  State,  after  an 
effort  nearly  equal  to  that  required  in  1893  to  begin  the  con- 
struction of  our  present  capitol,  costing  nearly  $5,000,000. 

A  notable  official  episode  of  the  session  was  the  impeach- 
ment of  William  Seeger,  state  treasurer.  I  voted  against  the 
articles  of  impeachment,  and  have  never  had  occasion  to  regret 
my  action.  They  were  overwhelmingly  carried,  but  Mr.  Seeger 
resigned  and  the  Senate  proceedings  which  subsequently  en- 
sued were  nugatory. 

The  year  1873  witnessed  the  nomination  of  Cushman  K. 
Davis  for  governor,  an  event  of  intense  and  lasting  interest  in 
itself,  with  many  far  reaching  influences  on  the  politics  of  the 
state.  My  own  relations  to  this  movement  were  somewhat  in- 
timate. It  was  the  beginning  of  my  separation  from  many  of 
those  with  whom  I  had  worked  harmoniously  within  the  party 
for  several  years.  Hon.  W.  D.  Washburn,  of  Minneapolis,  was 
the  choice  announced  for  governor  by  the  Republican  influ- 
ences which  had  dominated  from  the  beginning  of  the  state 
government, — the  so-called  Ramsey  dynasty.  Ramsey  county 
was  expected  to  go  for  Washburn ;  St.  Paul  had  no  candidate ; 
Governor  Austin  was,  in  some  quarters,  talked  of  for  a  third 
term ;  and  Augustus  Armstrong,  of  Rochester,  was  put  forward 
by  that  part  of  southern  Minnesota.  The  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  then 
an  avowed  Democratic  paper,  conducted  by  H.  P.  Hall,  had,  in 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  561 


ra  spirit  of  supposed  mischievous  interference  in  Republican 
plans,  frequently  suggested  the  name  of  C.  K.  Davis  for  gov- 
ernor, but  little  attention  was  paid  to  it  by  Republicans  in  the 
absence  of  any  indication  that  Davis  desired  the  nomination. 
One  Saturday  afternoon  in  Rice  Park,  H.  R.  Brill,  then  pro- 
bate judge  and  active  in  politics,  asked  me  if  I  thought  Davis 
could  be  nominated.  I  replied  that  I  had  no  knowledge  that 
he  desired  the  nomination.  Brill  said,  "Let's  find  out,  and,  if 
he  does,  we  can  carry  this  county  for  him."  The  same  day  I 
received  a  letter  from  S.  P.  Child  of  Faribault  county,  asking 
me  if  Davis  was  a  candidate.  The  next  Monday  I  went  to 
Davis'  law  office  to  find  out.  At  the  door  I  met  W.  L.  Wilson, 
who  was  going  on  the  same  errand.  We  asked  the  question, 
and,  without  giving  us  a  direct  reply,  Davis  inquired  what  we 
thought  about  it.  We  told  him  that  a  good  deal  depended  on 
Governor  Austin's  attitude.  If  he  were  a  candidate,  it  would 
divide  the  anti- Washburn  strength  and  there  would  be  little 
hope;  if  he  were  not,  we  believed  the  experiment  was  worth 
trying,  especially  if  we  could  get  some  assurances  of  a  few 
leading  St.  Paul  men  of  their  active  help.  Mr.  Wilson  and  my- 
self agreed  to  make  some  inquiries  and  meet  in  the  afternoon 
at  Davis'  office  to  report.  Mr.  Wilson  saw  D.  W.  IngersoU, 
General  J.  B.  Sanborn,  and  some  other  leading  men,  who  said 
that  they  would  support  Davis.  I  went  to  the  capitol  to  see 
Governor  Austin.  He  was  absent,  but  his  private  secretary,  A. 
R.  McGill,  afterward  governor,  promptly  assured  me  that  Aus- 
tin was  not  a  candidate,  was  perfectly  willing  to  retire,  and 
that  he,  McGill,  would  gladly  see  Mr.  Davis  enter  the  field.  I 
then  went  to  former  Governor  W.  R.  Marshall,  my  mentor  and 
friend,  and  was  surprised  to  find  him  ready  to  embark  heartily 
in  the  Davis  movement.  He  had  always  been,  and  still  was,  a 
'•Ramsey"  man,  but  he  said  he  would  fight  Ramsey's  battles 
when  Ramsey  was  a  candidate ;  we  would  not  sacrifice  so  good 
a  man  as  Davis  on  the  mere  suspicion  that  his  promotion  might 
sometime  in  the  future  injure  Ramsey.  This  was  a  manly  and 
independent  position  to  take,  as  was  eminently  characteristic 
of  Marshall ;  but  few  of  the  other  leading  Ramsey  men  followed 
his  example, — we  had  them  all  to  fight. 


562  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Mr.  Wilson  met  me  at  Davis'  law  office  in  the  afternoon  as 
agreed,  and  we  made  our  encouraging  report.  Mr.  Davis 
promptly  decided  to  formally  announce  his  candidacy,  and  tak- 
ing from  his  desk  a  letter  from  Liberty  Hall  of  Glencoe  which 
inquired  as  to  his  position,  he  wrote  a  brief  reply  stating  that 
he  would  be  a  candidate  and  would  be  grateful  for  the  sup- 
port of  his  Republican  friends. 

In  order  to  secure  immediate  publicity,  it  was  decided  that 
I  should  take  copies  of  these  letters  to  the  St.  Paul  Press,  the 
Republican  organ,  and  ask  their  insertion.  The  Press  was  out- 
spoken for  Washburn,  but  it  was  hoped  that  its  editor,  Mr.  J. 
A.  Wheelock,  would  print  the  correspondence  as  a  matter  of 
news. 

I  wrestled  vigorously  with  Mr.  Wheelock  for  two  hours  that 
evening.  He  did  not  refuse  to  print  the  letters,  but  labored 
hard  to  secure  a  reconsideration  of  the  decision.  He  foresaw 
numerous  political  complications  that  would  result,  whether 
the  movement  was  successful  or  otherwise,  and  urged  me 
strongly  to  go  back  to  Davis  and  induce  him  to  change  his 
mind, — but  I  told  him  the  decision  was  final.  Next  day  the 
letters  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  editorial  column,  but  were, 
as  was  expected,  accompanied  by  vehemently  adverse  com- 
ment. That  interview  was  the  parting  of  the  ways  between 
Mr.  Wheelock  and  myself,  the  beginning  of  a  political  estrange- 
ment that  lasted  twenty  years. 

The  Davis  men  organized  the  city  of  St.  Paul,  and  carried 
it  at  the  primaries,  winning  in  four  of  the  five  wards,  and  also 
in  the  country  towns,  and  sending  from  the  county  convention 
a  strong  delegation  for  Davis. 

Meantime  a  vigorous  correspondence  was  carried  on 
throughout  the  state,  the  time  being  very  short,  and  the  work 
for  Washburn  having  been  quite  thoroughly  done.  The  men 
largely  relied  on  in  the  different  counties  to  come  down  to  the 
state  convention  in  Davis'  interest  were  Republican  members 
of  the  last  legislature  and  Republican  editors  of  county  news- 
papers. We  had  no  money  to  pay  the  traveling  expenses  of 
delegates,  but  all  these  men  had  railroad  passes,  and  then,  as 
afterward  in  emergencies,  proved  a  valuable  resource  to  draw 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  563 

upon  when  their  services  were  needed.  The  editors,  especially, 
were  a  practically  solid  phalanx  behind  Davis  during  all  his 
political  career. 

Personally  I  visited  a  few  counties,  including  Goodhue  coun- 
ty. There  I  met  General  Hubbard,  who,  as  soon  as  he  was  as- 
sured that  Davis  had  an  earnest  following,  went  to  work  ener- 
getically in  his  own  and  other  counties.  General  Hubbard  had 
a  vivid  recollection  of  some  injustice  done  him  five  years  be- 
fore by  the  influences  that  were  now  supporting  AVashburn; 
this,  added  to  his  sincere  personal  admiration  for  Davis,  made 
him  an  enthusiastic  and  effective  supporter.  Gen.  John  B. 
Sanborn,  always  zealous,  unselfish  and  faithful,  was  another 
tower  of  strength  in  this  and  future  battles. 

When  the  state  convention  assembled,  it  was  found  that,  in 
spite  of  Governor  Austin's  announced  declination,  a  good  many 
county  conventions  had  instructed  their  delegates  to  support 
him.  Many  of  these  delegates  were  now  anxious  to  vote  for 
Austin,  unless  he  formally  absolved  them.  Austin  seemed 
afraid  that  Davis  could  not  beat  Washburn  and  hesitated  to 
positively  decline.  In  fact,  he  stated  that,  if  nominated,  he 
would  be  obliged  to  accept.  This,  in  effect,  made  him  a  candi- 
date and  threw  cold  water  on  the  Davis  enthusiasm.  If,  on  the 
first  ballot,  Austin  should  show  more  votes  than  Davis,  our 
forces  would  be  expected  to  go  to  him.  At  Davis'  request  I 
went  to  Governor  Austin  early  in  the  morning  of  the  day  of 
the  convention  and  frankly  stated  our  position.  I  told  him 
that  Davis  never  would  have  gone  into  the  race  had  not  Sec- 
retary McGill  positively  assured  me  that  he,  Austin,  was  not  a 
candidate ;  that  now  things  had  so  shaped  themselves  that  Aus- 
tin's  candidacy  would  be  bitterly  resented  by  the  earnest 
friends  of  Davis,  and  that  in  this  state  of  feeling  Washburn 
would  win  the  nomination.  I  asked  Austin  to  write  a  letter  to 
the  convention,  explicitly  stating  that  he  was  not  in  the  usual 
sense  of  the  term  a  candidate,  and  had  not  been ;  that  no  dele- 
gates were  there  at  his  request,  and  that  he  would  be  satisfied 
to  have  either  of  the  candidates,  aside  from  himself,  receive  the 
nomination.  He  promptly  agreed  to  write  the  letter  and  at 
once  did  so,  sending  one  copy  to  General  Hubbard,  represent- 


564  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ing  Davis,  and  another  to  Levi  Butler,  representing  Washburn, 
and  the  letter  was  read  to  the  convention.  This  letter  accom- 
plished the  object  of  releasing  some  Austin  men  to  Davis,  so 
that  on  the  first  ballot  Davis  and  Austin  each  received  77  votes ; 
and  thereafter  Davis  constantly  gained,  while  Austin  steadily 
lost.  Years  afterward  I  was  told  by  one  of  Austin's  friends 
that  most  of  them  considered  he  made  a  great  mistake  in  writ- 
ing that  letter,  and  that  they  blamed  me  for  suggesting  it  to 
him.  But  I  have  always  considered  it  a  manly  and  proper 
thing  for  Governor  Austin  to  do, — furthermore,  that  but  for 
this  letter  Washburn  would  have  been  nominated,  many  Davis 
men  preferring  him  to  Austin  under  the  circumstances. 

The  convention  met  July  16,  1873,  and  in  the  preliminary 
skirmish  the  Washburn  forces  seemed  to  have  a  victory  over 
the  combined  opposition  in  the  election  of  William  H.  Yale  of 
Winona  as  temporary  chairman  by  a  decisive  majority,  but 
subsequent  events  failed  to  justify  this  promise.  The  final  bal- 
lot gave  Davis  155  and  Washburn  152  votes,  thus  by  a  narrow 
margin  nominating  our  candidate  and  changing  the  entire  po- 
litical history  of  the  state.  Many  interesting  and  exciting  epi- 
sodes occurred  during  the  convention.  A  disputed  ballot  for 
Davis  was  found  under  the  lining  of  General  Sanborn's  hat, 
used  as  a  ballot  box,  and  was  counted,  no  doubt  properly ;  if  it 
had  not  been  counted,  Davis  would  still  have  had  a  majority. 
The  excitement  over  the  result  was  almost  painful  in  its  in- 
tensity. Davis  appeared  on  the  platform  and  made,  as  would 
be  expected,  a  splendid  acceptance  speech. 

A  very  influential  personage  in  the  Washburn  ranks  at  this 
time,  and  in  the  ranks  of  the  Ramsey  element  at  all  times,  was 
General  R.  N.  McLaren  of  St.  Paul,  United  States  marshal.  He 
was  an  intelligent,  systematic  and  tireless  worker  against  us, 
and  had  many  admirable  qualities  and  was  as  generous  and 
honorable  an  opponent  as  one  ever  meets  in  political  warfare. 
One  of  his  good  qualities  was  a  graceful,  manly  acceptance  of 
defeat.  He  knew  when  his  side  was  whipped.  General  Mc- 
Laren came  to  me  on  the  floor  of  the  convention  as  soon  as  the 
result  was  known  and  said:  ''You  must  be  chairman  of  the 
Republican   State    Committee;   you   have    earned    it;    Davis' 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS. 


565 


friends  are  entitled  to  it  in  making  his  campaign,  and  I  will 
try  to  see  that  you  get  it."  I  had  no  desire  for  the  position 
with  its  responsibilities,  and  I  told  him  I  would  not  be  ap- 
pointed, as  I  knew  the  dominating  influences  of  the  convention 
operating  through  Chairman  Yale  too  well  to  believe  that  this 
concession  would  be  made.  I  was  correct  in  my  judgment.  C. 
H.  Pettit  of  Minneapolis  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee ; 
it  had  little  interest  in  Davis  or  the  ticket ;  it  raised  a  consid- 
erable campaign  fund,  but  spent  very  little,  turning  over  about 
three-quarters  of  it  to  the  committee  for  the  ensuing  campaign. 
Davis  made  speeches  throughout  the  state,  and  was  every- 
where received  with  enthusiasm.  The  people  were  with  him, 
but  the  machine  was  against  him.  It  was  desired  that  his  ma- 
jority should  be  small.  Ara  Barton  was  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nee, and  Davis'  majority  was  something  like  6,000,  as  against 
three  times  that  number  for  Grant  as  President  the  preceding 
year. 

One  thing  which  dampened  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Ramsey 
Republicans  who  had  opposed  Davis,  was  the  fact  that ^  his  en- 
thusiastic young  friends,  immediately  after  his  nomination, 
raised  the  cry  of  ''Davis  for  Senator  in  1875."  Davis  himself 
looked  with  favor  on  this  proposition,  but  was  doubtful  about 
the  expediency  of  mixing  it  up  with  his  current  gubernatorial 
campaign.  Still,  as  the  state  senators  to  be  elected  with  him 
in  November  would  hold  over  and  have  a  vote  in  the  United 
States  senatorial  election  in  1875,  it  was  necessary  to  make  at 
least  some  preliminary  movements  in  that  direction.  As  one 
of  those  movements,  Davis  requested  me  to  become  a  candi- 
date for  state  senator  from  my  district  in  St.  Paul.  I  was  an- 
tagonized by  Hon.  E.  F.  Drake,  capitalist,  railroad  president, 
successful  in  business,  able  and  experienced  in  politics,  who 
was  an  avowed  Ramsey  man.  The  district  embraced  the  Fourth 
and  Fifth  wards  of  St.  Paul  and  the  county  towns.  There  were 
twenty  delegates  in  the  district  convention,  and  when  they 
went  into  secret  caucus,  I  had  twelve  of  them  pledged  and  Mr. 
Drake  had  eight.  But  Col.  John  L.  Merriam  was  a  delegate 
inside,  and  when  the  doors  were  opened  it  was  announced  that 
Drake  had  received  twelve  votes  to   Castle   eight,   and  that 


566  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Drake  was  nominated.  This  was  a  sample  of  the  vicissitudes 
of  politics  to  which  we  had  already  become  accustomed  and  of 
which  we  were  all  to  learn  more  later  on. 

1874. 

Cushman  K.  Davis  was  inaugurated  governor  early  in  Jan- 
uary, 1874.  Shortly  before  his  inauguration  I  was  requested 
by  Adjutant  General  Mark  D.  Flower,  who  like  myself  had 
been  one  of  his  ardent  supporters,  to  go  with  him  and  ask 
Davis  to  appoint  A.  R.  McGill  as  his  private  secretary, — McGill 
having  served  four  years  in  that  capacity  for  Governor  Austin 
with  distinguished  ability.  Governor-elect  Davis  promptly  told 
us  that  he  had  already  decided  to  appoint  ^'Deacon"  Wilford 
L.  Wilson  to  that  position.  This  was  an  unthought  of  thing  to 
both  of  us,  but  I  promptly  recognized  its  wisdom  and  emphat- 
ically endorsed  it.  Davis  was  then  under  thirty-five  years  of 
age  and  had  the  reputation  of  being,  to  draw  it  gently,  a  little 
''wild,"  which  reputation  was  very  largely  undeserved,  but 
which  made  it  especially  appropriate  that  the  antechamber  of 
his  official  home  should  be  occupied  by  a  man  twenty  years 
older  than  himself,  of  the  highest  character  for  purity  of  morals 
and  dignity  of  bearing  as  well  as  sincere  religious  faith  and 
practice.  Mr.  Wilson's  appointment  was  at  once  a  guarantee 
*    of  correct  politics  and  dignified  administration. 

Senator  Hoar  of  Massachusetts,  in  his  eloquent  memorial 
address  after  the  death  of  Senator  Davis,  used  this  language : 
''He  met  every  occasion  with  a  simple  and  quiet  courtesy.  There 
was  not  much  of  deference  in  it ;  there  was  no  yielding  or  sup- 
plication or  timidity  in  it. ' '  The  aged  and  dignified  Massachu- 
setts senator,  accustomed  for  years  to  deference  from  every- 
body, showed  in  this  phrase  a  tinge  of  disappointment  that  he 
had  never  received  such  from  this  stalwart  young  colleague 
out  of  the  west.  I  never  saw  Governor  Davis  show  much  defer- 
ence to  people  in  all  his  career,  but  must  make  an  exception  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Wilson.  He  showed  him  unquestioned  defer- 
ence and  respect  from  the  beginning. 

When  it  was  discovered  that  Davis  could  not  make  McGill 
his  private  secretary.  Governor  Austin,  in  the  last  days  of  his 
administration,  appointed  McGill  insurance  commissioner,  in 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  567 

the  place  of  Pennoek  Pusey  who  resigned  for  that  purpose. 
Davis  was  not  consulted  about  this  and  resented  it  as  an  in- 
fringement on  his  prerogative.  He  was  naturally  sensitive  and 
somewhat  suspicious ;  and  though  he  then  admired  McGill,  and 
years  afterward  learned  to  trust  him  implicitly,  to  lean  on  him 
unreservedly  and  to  confide  his  highest  interests  to  his  keeping, 
he  was  dissatisfied  with  this  procedure.  As  a  means  of  check- 
mating it,  if  found  advisable,  Davis  went  before  a  notary  pub- 
lic and  signed  an  oath  of  office  immediately  after  the  Legislat- 
ure had  canvassed  the  vote,  and  two  days  before  the  public  in- 
auguration. He  thus  became  legal  governor,  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  McGill,  which  was  promptly  sent  in  by  Governor  Aus- 
tin, was  of  no  validity.  The  Senate  held  up  the  appointment 
until  after  the  inauguration;  but  a  few  days  later  Davis  per- 
sonally requested  the  senators  to  confirm  it,  and  from  that  time 
forward  he  was  one  of  McGill's  warmest  friends.  The  fact  of 
his  taking  the  oath  of  office  in  advance  was  probably  never 
known  to  more  than  three  persons,  and  is  only  narrated  now 
as  an  unwritten  incident  of  politics  which  throws  a  side  light  on 
the  relations  and  motives  of  the  parties  interested. 

Soon  after  his  inauguration.  Governor  Davis  became  an 
avowed  candidate  for  United  States  senator  to  succeed  Alex- 
ander Ramsey  at  the  election  to  be  held  in  the  winter  of  1875. 
W.  D.  Washburn  and  Horace  Austin  also  entered  the  field  as 
candidates,  and  the  autumn  of  1874  was  largely  devoted  by 
their  friends  to  securing  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  the 
Legislature  in  their  interest.  It  was  the  field  against  Ramsey, 
and  the  three  gubernatorial  rivals  in  1873  were  now  allies.  In 
Ramsey  county  the  conflict  raged  with  great  bitterness.  Hor- 
ace Thompson,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank,  secured  a 
nomination  for  the  Legislature  in  the  fifth  ward,  and  though 
after  his  nomination  he  recognized  Davis  sentiment  in  St.  Paul 
to  the  extent  of  pledging  himself  to  vote  for  Davis  for  senator, 
enough  Republicans  in  the  fifth  ward  had  become  alienated  to 
join  with  the  Democrats  and  elect  P.  R.  Delano  as  their  repre- 
sentative,— although  Flower,  McCardy,  T.  S.  White,  myself,  and 
many  other  Davis  men,  vigorously  supported  Mr.  Thompson, 
relying  on  his  promise  which,  no  doubt,  would  have  been  ful- 
filled and  might  have  been  decisive  in  Davis'  favor. 


568  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

This  year  W.  S.  King  of  Minneapolis  was  nominated  for 
Congressman;  he  was  bitterly  opposed  by  the  St.  Paul  Press, 
under  the  management  of  Mr.  Wheelock,  who  lavished  his 
choicest  morsels  of  invective  in  voicing  his  hostility.  The  peo- 
ple were  warned  against  ''The  strumpet  of  corruption  which 
strides  in  naked  horror  through  the  land,"  and  were  told  how 
deeply  they  would  be  disgraced  if  King  were  allowed  to  suc- 
ceed. He  was  nominated,  however,  and  elected,  but  the  pre- 
science of  Mr.  Wheelock  was  apparently  justified.  The  Pacific 
Mail  scandal  came  to  the  surface  and  Mr.  King  spent  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  his  official  term  in  Canada,  evading  the  serv- 
ice of  a  subpoena  to  appear  as  witness  in  a  Congressional  in- 
vestigation,— on  the  alleged  ground,  believed  by  many  to  be 
absolutely  correct,  that  he  was  thereby  protecting  the  precious 
reputations  of  many  unsullied  senators  and  congressmen. 

1875. 

The  winter  of  1875  witnessed,  during  the  legislative  session, 
the  memorable  senatorial  contest  which  resulted  in  the  defeat 
of  Alexander  Ramsey  and  the  election  of  S.  J.  R.  McMillan, 
then  Chief  Justice  by  recent  appointment  of  Governor  Davis. 
The  leading  candidates  against  Ramsey  were  Davis,  Washburn, 
and  Austin.  The  mp^i^ine.  that  is,  the  Federal  office  holders 
and  the  railroad  and  capitalist  element,  carrying  what  we 
younger  men  called  the  "barrel"  with  them,  presented  a  united 
front  in  favor  of  Ramsey.  Davis  was  then  leading  candidate 
in  opposition,  and  many  of  his  sanguine  friends  believed  he  had 
the  certainty  of  ultimate  victory.  There  was  no  specially  valid 
reason,  as  appears  from  this  distant  perspective,  why  Ramsey 
should  have  been  displaced.  He  had  served  two  terms  in  the 
Senate  after  creditable  records  as  Territorial  and  State  gov- 
ernor. But  we  were  impatient  and  really  thought  he  was  too 
old  to  longer  perform  efficient  service.  The  shortness  of  our 
vision  and  the  irony  of  fate  were  vividly  presented  to  my  mind 
twenty-five  years  later,  when  I  saw  ex-Senator  Ramsey,  still 
hale  and  vigorous  at  the  age  of  eighty,  on  a  front  seat  at  the 
funeral  of  Senator  Davis,  worn  out  and  stricken  down  at  the 
age  of  sixty-two. 

When  the  legislature  of  1875  assembled,  active  work  began 
and  the  adherents  of  the  different  candidates  were  rounded  up. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  569 

A  secret  caucus  to  nominate  for  United  States  senator  was 
called  for  a  certain  evening,  and  the  preceding  night  a  confer- 
ence of  the  friends  of  Governor  Davis  was  held  in  his  room  at 
the  capitol.  Twenty-nine  or  thirty  senators  and  representatives 
were  personally  present  and  each  solemnly  pledged  himself  to 
support  the  governor  in  the  caucus.  Two  or  three  more  were 
vouched  for,  so  that  we  fully  counted  on  a  minimum  of  thirty- 
two  votes.  When  the  caucus  met  the  next  evening,  Davis  re- 
ceived twenty-one  votes  on  the  secret  ballot.  His  real  friends 
then  saw  how  they  had  been  deceived  and  resolved  to  expose 
the  treachery.  Senators  L.  F.  Hubbard  and  Thomas  H.  Arm- 
strong, who  led  the  Davis  forces,  demanded  a  recess  for  con- 
sultation. They  finally  secured  it  and  called  on  the  Davis  men 
to  go  to  the  governor's  room.  Twenty-nine  men  responded  to 
the  call,  gathered  around  the  governor  and  looked  each  other 
in  the  face.  Senator  Hubbard  said,  "Who  of  us  are  the  trait- 
ors? The  only  way  to  find  out  is  to  abandon  the  caucus  and 
appeal  to  the  vote  in  the  Legislature,  where  each  man  must  be 
recorded."  The  result  was  that  the  caucus  was  adjourned  and 
never  again  reassembled  in  force.  Ramsey's  adherents  held 
what  we  called  a  ''rump"  caucus  and  nominated  him.  But 
this  was  not  considered  binding  on  those  who  did  not  partici- 
pate, and  the  friends  of  the  other  candidates  carried  the  fight 
into  the  open  session  of  the  Legislature.  Here  Davis  received 
his  twenty-one  votes ;  he  discovered  who  his  true  friends  were, 
and  was  enabled  to  give  a  pretty  good  guess  as  to  who  were  the 
traitors.  After  many  weary  days  of  caucusing  and  balloting 
and  criminating,  a  compromise  was  effected  by  which  all  the 
other  candidates  were  dropped  and  Judge  McMillan,  whom 
nobody  had  thought  of  at  the  beginning,  least  of  all  himself, 
was  elected  senator.  He  was  re-elected  in  1881,  served  cred- 
itably but  not  conspicuously  for  twelve  years,  and  then  in  1887 
Davis  came  into  his  own. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Senator  McMillan,  in  the  spring  of 
1875,  was  to  recommend  to  President  Grant  the  removal  of  J.  A. 
Wheelock,  editor  of  the  Press,  from  the  position  of  postmaster 
of  St.  Paul,  to  which  he  had  recently  been  reappointed  after 
serving  four  years.    Frederick  Driscoll,  his  business  associate, 


570  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

was  assistant  postmaster,  both  salaries,  aggregating  about 
$7,000  a  year,  thus  going  to  the  support  of  the  Republican 
organ.  The  President  demurred,  but  Senator  McMillan  insisted, 
and  since  by  long  precedent  the  local  postoffice  is  considered 
the  personal  perquisite  of  a  senator,  he  finally  had  his  way. 
Dr.  David  Day,  his  brother-in-law,  received  the  post  office  which 
he  held  nearly  fourteen  years  and  administered  with  marked 
efficiency.  But  the  iron  entered  the  soul  of  the  party  organ.. 
The  defeat  of  Ramsey  and  the  loss  of  the  post  office  absolved 
the  Press  from  its  party  fealty;  having  about  that  time  con- 
solidated with  the  old  Democratic  Pioneer,  it  became  an  inde- 
pendent newspaper  with  all  that  the  name  implies.  It  freely 
criticised  Republican  administrations,  state  and  national,  and 
for  some  time  gave  little  support  to  party  candidates,  state  or 
local.  But  Mr.  Wheelock  was  too  loyal  a  Republican,  and  too 
ardent  a  controversialist,  to  remain  long  in  a  position  of  neu- 
trality. Within  a  year  or  two,  the  exaltation  of  Pillsbury  in 
the  party  measurably  consoled  him  for  the  occultation  of  Ram- 
sey. The  Pioneer  Press  donned  its  war  bonnet  and  plunged 
into  the  midst  of  the  fray,  on  the  Republican  side. 

Governor  Davis  declined  the  re-e],ection  which  he  could  have 
had  for  the  asking  in  spite  of  some  hostilities  within  the  party, 
caused  by  the  so-called  "bolt"  of  his  adherents  in  the  Legis- 
lature. As  a  matter  of  fact,  that  movement  never  injured  the 
political  status  of  any  who  participated  in  it.  Senator  Hubbard 
was  elected  governor  a  few  years  later,  and  all  the  other  friends 
of  Davis  in  the  Legislature  had  honorable  political  careers  dur- 
ing the  next  decade.  None  of  them  was  willing  to  give  up  his 
heritage  as  a  Republican  or  surrender  his  prerogatives  of  local 
leadership.  During  the  few  years  preceding,  some  of  the  ablest 
Republicans  in  the  state  had  been  driven  from  the  party,  after 
more  or  less  serious  defeats  for  nominations,  etc.,  by  the  dom- 
inant faction, — among  them  Thomas  Wilson,  James  Smith,  Jr., 
Morton  S.  Wilkinson,  Ignatius  Donnelly,  and  William  L.  Ban- 
ning. But  the  ''Davis  men"  swallowed  their  defeat,  justified 
their  insurrection,  and  stood  by  their  colors. 

John  S.  Pillsbury  was  nominated  for  governor  by  the  Repub- 
lican State  Convention  of  1875,  his  opponents  being  Dr.  J.  H. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  571 

Stewart,  of  St.  Paul,  and  Ex-Governor  Horace  Austin.  Pills- 
bury  was  elected  in  November  and  served  six  years,  through 
three  terms, — the  only  governor  of  Minnesota  up  to  this  time 
who  has  enjoyed  that  distinction. 

During  Governor's  Davis'  term  he  tencjered  me  several  offi- 
cial positions  which  I  declined,  as  I  was  then  practicing  law  in 
St.  Paul  and  preferred  my  professional  work.  Finally,  on  No- 
vember first,  1875,  he  offered  me  the  position  of  adjutant  gen- 
eral, which  Mark  D.  Flower  resigned,  for  the  brief  remainder 
of  his  term.  As  this  would  not  interfere  with  my  plans,  the 
duties  of  the  office  alluded  to  then  being  somewhat  nominal 
and  the  salary  correspondingly  low,  I  accepted,  and  held  over 
several  months  under  Governor  Pillsbury.  I  then  voluntarily 
retired  and  Gen.  H.  P.  Van  Cleve,  one  of  the  recognized  heroes 
of  the  Civil  War,  succeeded  me. 

1876. 

The  year  1876  was  made  memorable  by  the  Hayes  and  Til- 
den  campaign  for  the  presidency.  At  the  convention  which 
elected  delegates  to  the  Republican  National  Convention,  I  was 
made  a  member  at  large  of  the  Republican  state  central  com- 
mittee. When  the  committee  organized,  George  A.  Brackett  of 
Minneapolis  was  elected  chairman  and  I  was  elected  treasurer. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Stewart  of  St.  Paul  was  nominated  for  Congress 
to  succeed  Col.  William  S.  King,  whose  service  had  been  neither 
creditable  to  himself  nor  acceptable  to  his  constituents.  The 
Pioneer  Press  was  lukewarm  in  its  support  of  Dr.  Stewart,  and 
the  Dispatch,  the  only  other  daily  paper  in  the  city,  was 
avowedly  a  Democratic  organ.  Finding  that  H.  P.  Hall,  the 
owner  of  the  Dispatch,  was  willing  to  sell  it  at  a  reasonable 
price,  a  movement  was  inaugurated  in  the  special  interest  of 
Dr.  Stewart  to  purchase  the  paper.  Many  leading  Republicans 
promptly  subscribed  to  the  stock  of  the  new  concern,  among 
them  Senators  Windom  and  McMillan,  Governor  Pillsbury,  ex- 
Governor  C.  K.  Davis,  Postmaster  Day,  Russell  Blakely,  D.  M. 
Sabin,  General  McLaren,  General  Hubbard,  and  others.  Some 
of  these  subscribers  made  it  a  condition  that  I  should  take 
editorial  charge  of  the  paper,  at  least  until  after  the  Novem- 
ber election,  to  which  I  consented.    We  took  possession  of  the 


572  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL.  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Dispatch  September  13,  1876,  and  in  one  day  transformed  it 
from  a  belligerent  Democratic  to  an  equally  aggressive  Repub- 
lican sheet,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  many  members  of  both 
parties  who  were  not  in  the  secret.  The  remaining  six  weeks 
of  the  campaign  were  made  as  lively  as  possible,  and  at  the 
election  Dr.  Stewart  was  successful,  and  the  State  went  for 
Hayes  by  a  large  majority. 

After  election  there  seemed  to  be  a  unanimous  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  Dispatch  stockholders  that  I  should  continue 
as  editor-in-chief  of  the  paper,  which  position  after  delibera- 
tion I  finally  accepted.  This  terminated  my  professional  work 
as  a  lawyer  and  began  a  career  in  daily  journalism  which  I 
continued,  except  a  short  interval,  for  about  nine  years.  The 
Dispatch  under  my  direction  warmly  advocated  the  re-elec- 
tion of  Senator  Windom,  and  no  formidable  candidate  ap- 
peared against  him.  The  tremendous  excitement  succeeding 
the  election,  as  to  whether  Hayes  or  Tilden  had  been  chosen,  is 
a  matter  of  history  and  need  not  be  detailed  here.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  Minnesota  had  her  share  of  the  excitement  and  par- 
ticipated freely  in  the  criminations  and  recriminations  which 
were  indulged  in. 

1877. 

The  first  important  political  event  of  1877  was  the  com- 
promise at  Washington  by  which  the  electoral  commission  was 
established  to  pass  upon  the  electoral  vote  as  between  Hayes 
and  Tilden,  which  resulted  in  the  victory  of  Hayes  by  the  nar- 
rowest possible  margin,  8  to  7. 

"When  the  Legislature  met  at  St.  Paul  no  opponent  to  Sen- 
ator Windom  appeared,  nevertheless  he  left  his  important  du- 
ties in  Washington  and  came  here  to  look  after  his  interests. 
Even  after  the  Republican  caucus  had  unanimously  endorsed 
him  and  Windom  had  ostensibly  returned  to  Washington,  it 
developed  that  he  tarried  in  Winona  until  he  had  actually  been 
elected,  thus  betraying  a  nervousness  and  lack  of  confidence  in 
his  friends  or  in  himself  which  was  entirely  unjustifiable. 

John  S.  Pillsbury  was  re-nominated  and  re-elected  gov- 
ernor; the  state  central  committee  of  the  previous  year  was 
continued,  Mr.  Brackett  remaining  chairman  and  myself  treas- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  573 

urer  during  the  years  1876  to  1878.  I  was  furthermore  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  of  the  state  central  committee  (C.  K.  Davis, 
chairman)  from  1881  to  1883,  and  chairman  of  the  committee 
from  1884  to  1886,  In  1884  our  committee  conducted  the 
Blaine  and  Logan  campaign,  giving  the  ticket  the  then  unprec- 
edented Republican  majority  of  42,000  in  this  state.  During 
all  these  campaigns  I  handled  or  was  cognizant  of  all  moneys 
collected  and  disbursed  by  the  committees.  It  is  a  significant 
fact,  in  view  of  some  heavy  expenditures  of  campaign  funds  in 
this  state  during  subsequent  years,  that  the  largest  sum  dis- 
bursed in  any  of  these  campaigns  was  the"  fund  of  1884  which 
amounted  to  exactly  $850. 

1878. 

At  the  Congressionl  Convention  of  1878,  W.  D.  Washburn 
of  Minneapolis  defeated  Congressman  J.  H.  Stewart  for  the 
Republican  nomination  in  this  district.  Ignatius  Donnelly  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  Democratic  and  '^ Granger"  nomination. 
Then  followed  the  celebrated  ''Little  Brass  Kettle"  campaign, 
which  created  great  excitement  throughout  the  district,  then 
embracing  practically  the  whole  of  Minnesota  north  and  west 
of  St.  Paul.  Washburn  was  elected  by  over  3,000  majority,  but 
Donnelly  contested  the  election  on  the  alleged  technical  irreg- 
ularity of  a  few  votes  in  Minneapolis,  relying  on  a  Democratic 
Congress  to  seat  him.  Donnelly  came  very  near  succeeding  in 
this  attempt,  and  the  contest  which  was  kept  up  during  the 
entire  two  years  of  Washburn's  term  largely  neutralized  his 
influence. 

I  favored  Stewart  for  the  nomination,  but  ardently  sup- 
ported Washburn  for  the  election  both  in  the  Dispatch  and  on 
the  platform. 

1879. 

Previous  to  the  Republican  State  Convention  for  1879,  it 
was  announced  that  Governor  Pillsbury  would  be  a  candidate 
for  nomination  a  third  time.  There  was  no  precedent  for  this 
proposition,  and  it  was  strongly  opposed  by  many  strong  party 
men.  Lieutenant  Governor  J.  B.  Wakefield  and  Gen.  L.  F. 
Hubbard  were  candidates  for  the  nomination,  and  both  had 
extensive  support. 


574  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

The  Dispatch,  under  my  control,  vigorously  opposed  the 
renomination  of  Governor  Pillsbury,  although  he  and  many  of 
his  supporters  were  still  stockholders  in  the  paper.  Consider- 
able bitterness  was  engendered  during  the  pre-convention  can- 
vass. Pillsbury  was  nominated  by  the  convention,  and  al- 
though the  Dispatch  supported  him  loyally  as  the  party  can- 
didate, and  although  he  was  elected  by  a  comfortable  majority, 
I  personally  incurred  his  lasting  enmity.  The  ill  feeling  be- 
tween us  lasted  for  twelve  years,  when  it  was  finally  termi- 
nated through  the  intervention  of  our  mutual  friend,  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Marshall. 

Pillsbury  was  nominated  by  the  convention,  as  stated;  but 
the  remainder  of  the  opposition  "slate,"  which  our  friends 
made  up,  was  victorious  in  the  convention,  namely,  for  lieuten- 
ant governor,  C.  A.  Gilman,  secretary  of  state,  F.  Von  Baum- 
bach,  and  treasurer,  Charles  Kittelson.  Mr.  Gilman  here  spe- 
cially displayed  the  qualities  of  political  astuteness  and  stead- 
fastness, which  were  often  seen  later. 

As  a  result  of  experiences  in  this  pre-convention  contro- 
versy, the  Dispatch  thenceforward  assumed  an  independent 
attitude  within  Republican  party  lines.  It  adopted  for  its  own 
guidance  a  platform  of  civil  service  reform  and  the  elimina- 
tion of  state  and  federal  officeholders  from  active  manipulation 
of  party  politics.  We  thus  antedated  by  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  the  current  Roosevelt  policy  which  now  commands 
practically  universal  approval.  In  this  course  I  was  sustained 
by  stockholders  owning  more  than  a  majority  in  amount  of  the 
capital  of  the  paper,  although  a  numerical  majority  of  the 
stockholders,  comprising  officeholders  and  adherents  of  what 
we  called  the  ''old  machine,"  were  arrayed  against  me. 

1880. 
The  lines  were  again  drawn  early  in  1880  between  the  two 
elements  of  the  party.  The  Republicans  of  the  state  were,  ad- 
mittedly, overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  nominating  James  G. 
Blaine  for  President.  The  officeholders  and  the  machine  were 
in  favor  of  U.  S.  Grant.  As  a  means  of  taking  the  stat^  away 
from  Blaine,  the  device  of  carrying  it  for  Senator  "William 
Windom  of  our  state  as  a  candidate  was  adopted.    C.  K.  Davis 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  575 

was  put  forward  in  the  Blaine  interest  for  delegate  at  large  to 
the  Republican  National  Convention.  A  spirited  campaign  fol- 
lowed; Ramsey  county  was  carried  for  Blaine  and  Davis,  but 
the  combined  influence  of  the  officeholders  and  of  state  pride 
resulted  in  the  selection  of  a  Windom  delegation  by  the  state 
convention. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  in  Chicago  and 
was  one  of  the  most  notable  in  the  history  of  American  politics. 
The  splendid  oratory  of  Garfield,  Conkling,  and  others,  in  their 
nominating  speeches  was  in  itself  sufficient  to  signalize  the  as- 
semblage. Its  notable  achievement  was  the  abolition  of  the 
unit  rule  which  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  James  A.  Gar- 
field, Minnesota's  alleged  candidate.  Senator  Windom,  cut  a 
sorry  figure  in  the  proceedings;  he  never  received  a  vote  out- 
side of  our  delegation,  and  the  phrase  ''Windom  10"  became  a 
matter  of  national  ridicule.  At  Chicago,  before  the  conven- 
tion met.  General  McLaren  of  St.  Paul,  one  of  the  enthusiastic 
Windom  boomers,  said  to  me :  ''I  am  astonished  in  talking  to 
men  from  other  states  to  find  how  few  of  them  know  anything 
about  Senator  Windom."  I  replied:  "General,  who  are  the 
two  senators  from  Nebraska?"  *'I  don't  know,"  he  said. 
"Neither  do  I,"  said  I,  "and  that  shows  how  local  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  supposedly  great  man  may  be." 

The  Democrats  nominated  Gen.  W.  S.  Hancock  for  Presi- 
dent, and  a  campaign  ensued  which  on  national  issues  was 
quite  tame  in  Minnesota,  since  there  was  no  question  as  to  how 
the  vote  of  the  state  would  stand. 

In  June,  1880,  with  the  consent  of  my  associates  in  the  own- 
ership of  a  majority  of  the  Dispatch  stock,  I  sold  my  interest 
to  Ex-Governor  W.  R.  Marshall  and  Gen.  C.  C.  Andrews,  who 
soon  acquired  the  entire  ownership.  I  thus  retired  for  a  short 
period  from  the  active  work  of  journalism.  I  engaged  actively 
during  the  early  autumn  in  the  speaking  campaign  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  state,  for  W.  D.  Washburn,  the  Republican 
nominee  for  Congress  against  Gen.  H.  H.  Sibley,  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate.  Later,  I  went  with  Gen.  J.  B.  Sanborn  into 
the  First  district,  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  where  we  made 
a  thorough  canvass  for  Mark  H.  Dunnell,  the  Republican  can- 


576  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

didate.  There  was  a  triangular  fight  in  this  district  and  a  close 
contest;.  W.  G.  Ward  was  an  independent  Republican  candi- 
date, and  H.  G.  Wells  was  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  Dunnell 
was  successful  and  continued  his  useful  career  in  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

1881. 

When  the  Legislature  of  1881  assembled,  one  of  its  first 
duties  was  to  elect  a  successor  to  Senator  S.  J.  R.  McMillan. 
Ex-Senator  Ramsey,  then  serving  as  Secretary  of  War  in  the 
cabinet  of  President  Hayes,  appeared  as  a  candidate  against 
McMillan,  having  the  support  of  the  Pioneer  Press  and  many 
of  the  old  political  associates.  Ex-Governor  C.  K.  Davis  also 
entered  the  lists,  but  as  no  preliminary  organization  in  his 
favor  had  been  attempted,  he  did  not  make  a  conspicuous  show- 
ing. Senator  McMillan  was  re-elected,  and  Davis'  ambition 
remained  ungratified  for  another  six-year  period. 

When  President  Garfield  was  inaugurated  March  4th,  he 
appointed  Senator  Windom  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  This 
created  a  vacancy  in  the  senate  which  Governor  Pillsbury  filled 
by  appointing  Gen.  A.  J.  Edgerton  of  Dodge  county  as  senator. 

In  the  summer  of  1881  an  active  canvass  began  for  the  nom- 
ination for  governor.  I  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  Gen.  L. 
F.  Hubbard,  and  was  entrusted  by  him  with  the  management 
of  his  campaign  throughout  the  state.  A  systematic  organiza- 
tion of  his  friends  was  effected  in  nearly  every  county,  and 
there  was  from  the  beginning  an  almost  uninterrupted  series 
of  favorable  reports.  Hon.  A.  R.  McGill,  insurance  commis- 
sioner, announced  his  candidacy  and  accumulated  a  very  cred- 
itable support  in  certain  directions.  To  the  astonishment  of 
everybody  the  Pioneer  Press,  at  a  late  period,  announced  the 
candidacy  of  Governor  Pillsbury  for  a  fourth  term.  A  some- 
what exciting  canvass  followed  in  several  counties.  The  Pills- 
bury and  McGill  forces  combined  in  Ramsey  county,  carried 
the  county  convention  by  a  small  margin,  and  secured  the 
county  delegation  to  the  state  convention.  When  the  state  con- 
vention met,  Clark  Thompson  of  Houston  county  also  appeared 
as  a  candidate,  but  General  Hubbard  was  nominated  over  all 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  577 

by  a  handsome  majority.  A  new  State  Central  Committee  was 
selected,  whereof  C.  K.  Davis  was  made  chairman  and  myself 
secretary  and  treasurer. 

One  of  the  incidental  results  of  this  convention,  which  I 
always  lamented,  was  the  defeat  of  my  friend  Greenleaf  Clark 
of  St.  Paul  for  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  a  position  to  which 
he  had  been  appointed  a  few  months  before  by  the  governor  to 
fill  a  vacancy,  a  position  which  he  was  qualified  to  dignify  and 
adorn,  and  to  which  his  numerous  friends  desired  to  see  him 
formally  elected.  But  the  committal  of  the  Ramsey  county 
delegation  to  the  Pillsbury  interest  in  the  state  convention, 
which  interest  was  in  a  minority,  neutralized  their  influence, 
and,  as  matter  of  practical  politics,  naturally  involved  the  de- 
feat of  Judge  Clark.  It  was  a  lifelong  disappointment  to  him 
and  he  always  seemed  to  blame  the  Hubbard  element  in  the 
party,  whereas  in  reality  he  only  had  his  St.  Paul  friends,  who 
identified  his  interests  with  those  of  Pillsbury,  to  thank  for  his 
discomfiture. 

At  this  convention,  Gen.  James  H.  Baker  was  nominated  for 
railroad  commissioner,  under  circumstances  which  vividly  il- 
lustrate the  fortuities  of  politics.  General  Baker  had  served 
as  secretary  of  state,  as  colonel  of  the  Tenth  Minnesota  regi- 
ment in  the  Civil  War,  and  as  United  States  commissioner  of 
pensions ;  he  was  a  popular  and  effective  campaign  orator,  with 
a  wide  state  acquaintance.  He  had  come  up  to  the  convention 
from  his  farm  in  Blue  Earth  county  to  support  Col.  Clark  W. 
Thompson  for  governor,  and  with  no  thought  of  office  for  him- 
self. The  night  before  the  convention  I  was  talking  with  Gen- 
eral Baker  at  the  hotel  and  incidentally  remarked  that  Ex- 
Governor  Marshall  apparently  had  no  opposition  for  renomi- 
nation  as  railroad  commissioner,  an  office  which  he  had  then 
held  for  eight  years.  The  general  remarked  that  he  supposed 
this  position  came  by  appointment  from  the  governor,  as  had 
formerly  been  the  case.  I  replied  that  it  was  now  elective,  and 
would  come  before  the  convention. 

Next  day.  General  Baker  in  a  remarkably  eloquent  speech 
presented  the  name  of  Colonel  Thompson  for  governor.  After 
Hubbard's  nomination.  Gen.  Baker  announced  himself  a  can- 


578  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

didate  for  railroad  commissioner.  He  had  many  personal 
friends  among  the  delegates ;  his  ringing  speech  had  favorably 
impressed  many  others;  Governor  Marshall,  anticipating  no 
opposition,  had  made  little  or  no  effort  in  his  own  behalf,  and 
General  Baker  was  nominated.  He  was,  of  course,  elected,  and 
held  this  important  position  five  years. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Hubbard  campaign  I  purchased  the  St. 
Paul  Dispatch  from  Ex-Governor  Marshall,  and  on  September 
17,  1881,  resumed  control  of  the  paper  as  its  editor  and  sole 
proprietor. 

In  the  fall  of  1881,  the  Minnesota  Supreme  Court  rendered 
a  decision  which  opened  the  way  for  a  settlement  of  the  old, 
repudiated  State  Railroad  bonds,  and  Governor  Pillsbury  at 
once  called  an  extra  session  of  the  Legislature  to  act  upon  the 
question.  Although  I  had  come  to  the  state  long  after  this 
largely  fraudulent  indebtedness  had  been  contracted,  I  had 
always  favored  any  fair  adjustment  that  would  relieve  our 
commonwealth  of  the  stain  attached  to  its  repudiation.  But 
when  this  extra  session  convened,  I  saw  so  much  of  the  dis- 
graceful methods  employed  to  secure  votes  for  the  settlement 
proposed,  heard  so  much  of  the  shameless  bargaining  and  sale 
going  on,  that  I  aligned  the  Dispatch  with  those  who  opposed 
the  plan;  demanded  that  the  people  be  heard,  and  that  there 
be,  at  least,  enough  delay  to  thwart  the  plans  of  those  who 
expected  and  finally  did  reap  rich  harvests  from  the  fields 
of  corruption  opened  before  them.  But  Governor  Pillsbury 
wanted  to  signalize  the  close  of  his  administration  by  wiping 
out  the  stigma,  and  helped  to  ''jam"  the  measure  through. 
Selah  Chamberlain,  the  principal  bondholder  and  popularly  be- 
lieved to  be  a  party  to  the  original  fraud,  secured  his  unearned 
millions.  The  outside  credit  of  the  state  was  restored  and  the 
incident  was  closed. 

This  extra  session  was,  by  law,  required  to  elect  a  United 
States  senator  to  fill  Mr.  Windom's  unexpired  term,  vice  Gen. 
A.  J.  Edgerton,  holding  the  place  ad  interim  by  appointment. 
AVindom  had  retired  from  the  cabinet  after  Garfield's  death; 
he  now  wanted  to  go  back  to  the  senate,  and  General  Edger- 
ton declined  to  contest  the  position  with  him.    Some  little  op- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS. 


579 


position  was  mustered,  under  the  lead  of  C.  A.  Gilman,  lieuten- 
ant governor,  but  Windom  was  elected.  It  was  generally  con- 
ceded that  Senator  Edgerton  would  have  been  successful  had 
he  consented  to  make  the  race. 

1882. 

The  important  political  events  of  1882  were  the  nomination 
and  election  of  our  increased  Republican  Congressional  dele- 
gation, and  preparations  for  the  senatorial  election  to  be  held 
in  January  of  the  succeeding  year. 

Under  the  new  apportionment  Minnesota  was  entitled  to 
five  representatives  in  Congress  instead  of  three,  which  num- 
ber had  been  our  allotment  for  ten  years.  The  exciting  con- 
tests were  in  the  first  and  fifth  districts.  In  the  first  district 
Mr.  Dunnell,  the  incumbent,  was  defeated  for  the  nomination 
by  Milo  White.  Dunnell  attributed  his  overthrow  to  Windom, 
a  conviction  which  produced  important  consequences  a  little 
later. 

In  the  fifth  district  one  of  the  liveliest  contests  in  the  politi- 
cal history  of  Minnesota  ensued.  C.  F.  Kindred  of  Brainerd,  a 
wealthy  and  ambitious  young  aspirant,  entered  the  field  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  spending  money  freely  to  secure  the 
nomination.  There  were  several  other  candidates,  the  most 
formidable  being  Knute  Nelson  of  Alexandria.  The  district 
convention  assembled  at  Detroit  on  the  Northern  Pacific  rail- 
road. As. a  representative  of  both  the  Dispatch  and  the  State 
Central  Committee,  I  attended  this  convention  and  witnessed 
its  turbulent  proceedings.  There  were  many  contesting  dele- 
gations, and  the  indications  of  a  split  were  numerous  from  the 
beginning,  the  only  question  being  as  to  which  side  should 
gain  the  most  points  in  favor  of  regularity.  It  was  Kindred 
against  the  field,  all  the  other  candidates  having  combined  in 
opposition  to  him.  The  history  of  that  riotous  convention  has 
often  been  written;  its  scenes  of  disgraceful  confusion  cannot 
be  exaggerated ;  it  was  for  a  considerable  period  nothing  but  a 
howling  mob,  and  bloodshed  was  narrowly  escaped.  The  Kin- 
dred forces  held  the  convention  hall,  while  their  opponents 
withdrew  in  a  body,  proceeded  to  a  tent  which  had  been  pitched 
in  a  vacant  lot  as  a  precautionary  measure,  and  performed 


580  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

their  duties  in  a  standing  position  but  with  much  harmony  and 
enthusiasm. 

The  convention  in  the  hall  unanimously  nominated  Kin- 
dred as  the  alleged  Republican  for  Congress  from  the  fifth 
district,  and  the  convention  in  the  tent  unanimously  performed 
the  same  distinguished  service  for  Knute  Nelson.  Impartial 
observation  on  the  ground  thoroughly  convinced  me  that  Mr. 
Nelson  had  a  decisive  majority  of  the  bona  fide  delegates 
elected  to  the  convention,  and  I  promptly  decided  to  support 
him  in  the  Dispatch.  Governor  Davis  and  many  other  friends 
favored  Kindred.  There  were  abundant  financial  inducements 
to  newspapers  which  would  advocate  Kindred,  and  a  campaign 
of  great  bitterness  as  well  as  of  liberal  financial  disbursements 
on  the  Kindred  side  ensued.  The  Democrats  nominated  a  can- 
didate and  hoped  to  elect  him,  owing  to  the  Republican  divi- 
sion. But  Mr.  Nelson  was  elected  by  a  considerable  plurality 
and  thus  began  a  career  which  has  been  followed  by  his  elec- 
tion three  times  to  Congress,  twice  to  the  governorship,  and 
three  times  as  United  States  senator. 

The  issue  of  general  interest  throughout  the  state  centered 
in  the  coming  senatorial  election.  Mr.  Windom  only  remained 
in  the  cabinet  a  few  months,  and  when  the  Legislature  met  in 
extra  session  during  the  autumn  of  1881  he  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  chosen  to  fill  his  own  unexpired  term,  General  Edgerton 
having  temporarily  succeeded  him.  But  a  very  serious  opposi- 
tion to  Windom 's  re-election  for  a  third  term  had  now  devel- 
oped throughout  the  state.  The  Dispatch  took  strong  ground 
in  opposition,  and  the  Republican  press  of  the  state  was  ar- 
rayed with  almost  entire  unanimity  against  him.  In  addition 
to  conducting  the  Dispatch  actively  along  the  anti- Windom 
line,  it  was  my  duty  to  superintend  an  organization  in  all  the 
legislative  districts  to  secure  the  nomination  of  state  senators 
and  representatives  committed  to  our  policy.  We  had  no 
avowed  candidate,  but  simply  demanded  the  defeat  of  Win- 
dom and  an  open  door  for  all  competent  Republicans.  Mark 
H.  Dunnell,  the  most  tireless  political  worker  I  ever  met,  threw 
himself  energetically  into  the  anti- Windom  contest,  giving  it 
his  undivided  attention  for  several  months.    As  a  result  of  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  581 

efforts  thus  put  forth  we  were  fully  convinced,  when  we 
scanned  the  names  of  Republicans  elected  to  the  Legislature 
in  November,  that  Mr.  Windom  would  not  return  to  his  long 
occupied  seat  in  Washington. 

One  of  the  incidents  of  this  lively  contest  was  my  arrest 
for  criminal  libel,  the  only  instance  of  a  suit  civil  or  criminal 
being  brought  against  me  during  my  strenuous  journalistic 
career.  An  active  and  zealous  Federal  official,  an  inspector  of 
the  post  office  department  by  grace  of  Mr.  Windom,  was 
alleged  to  be  very  busy  looking  after  the  senator's  interests, 
to  the  neglect  of  his  official  duties.  I  took  occasion  to  criticise 
his  conduct  in  the  paper,  applying  to  the  derelict  official  some 
semi-humorous  epithets,  without  a  particle  of  malicious  feel- 
ing, for  I  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  the  gentleman. 
Feeling  aggrieved,  or  incited  thereto  by  some  of  Mr.  Windom 's 
Winona  friends,  the  inspector  went  to  that  city  and  swore  out 
a  warrant  for  my  arrest,  charging  me  with  publishing  lan- 
guage regarding  him  which  was  calculated  to  humiliate  and 
degrade  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  public.  The  Winona  county 
sheriff  served  his  warrant  on  me  in  St.  Paul;  I  went  before 
Judge  W.  T.  Burr  of  our  municipal  court,  as  permitted  by 
statute,  and  gave  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $500  for  my  appear- 
ance in  court  at  Winona,  in  case  an  indictment  should  be  found. 
When  the  court  met,  the  election  had  passed,  the  excitement 
had  subsided,  and  the  grand  jury  saw  fit  to  ignore  the  case; 
hence  I  had  no  further  trouble  therewith.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  post  office  inspector  alluded  to  is  still  in  the  pub- 
lic service  after  a  long  and  highly  creditable  career,  having 
been  entrusted  by  his  official  superiors  with  many  important 
functions  far  beyond  the  grade  to  which  he  has  attained. 

1883. 

The  winter  of  1883  was  signalized  by  the  prolonged  and 
acidulated  contest  in  the  Legislature  over  the  election  of  a 
successor  to  Senator  Windom.  Those  who  received  the  larger 
number  of  votes  in  opposition  were  ex-Congressman  M.  H. 
Bunnell,  Ex-Governor  Davis  and  Governor  Hubbard,  though 
scattering  votes  were  cast  for  many  others. 

The  popular  sentiment  among  Republicans  against  Win- 
dom was  based  on  the  fact  that  he  had  measurably  withdrawn 


582  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

himself  from  interest  in  and  sympathy  with  state  politics,  dur- 
ing his  long  absence  in  Washington,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  he 
was  believed  to  be  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  same  coterie  of 
officeholders,  contractors,  etc.,  which  had  assumed  to  control 
the  party  since  its  organization.  This  feeling  of  hostility 
seemed  to  justify  his  opponents  in  resorting  to  radical  meas- 
ures for  his  defeat.  It  was  consequently  decided  that  they 
would  not  participate  in  a  Republican  senatorial  caucus,  which 
w^ould  probably  be  under  machine  influences. 

Efcrts  were  therefore  directed  toward  securing  the  concert 
of  all  anti-Windom  members  of  the  Legislature  to  abstain  from 
the  caucus.  Numerous  consultations  were  held  by  the  anti- 
Windom  leaders,  Mr.  Dunnell,  Generals  Sanborn  and  Averill, 
C.  A.  Oilman,  C.  K.  Davis,  and  others,  with  legislators,  and 
finally  a  conference  was  called  one  evening  at  the  law  office  of 
General  Sanborn  to  which  all  the  anti-Windom  members  of  the 
Legislature  were  invited.  The  attendance  was  encouragingly 
large,  and  the  reports  from  reliable  absentees  indicated  that 
the  movement  to  defeat  a  binding  senatorial  caucus  would  be 
successful. 

After  attending  that  conference  I  went  to  the  Merchants' 
Hotel,  where  I  met  Hon.  D.  M.  Sabin  of  Stillwater,  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  prominent  in  the  Windom  councils,  who  had 
just  come  from  a  meeting  of  Mr.  Windom 's  friends.  I  called 
Mr.  Sabin  aside,  told  him  that  Windom  was  doomed  to  defeat, 
and  said  that  I  hoped  influential  Republicans  of  both  factions 
would  fix  their  minds  on  a  generally  acceptable  candidate  who 
could  be  elected  and  be  a  credit  to  the  state.  Without  admit- 
ting my  deductions,  Mr.  Sabin  inquired  whom  I  had  in  view. 
I  told  him  that  in  my  opinion  Governor  Hubbard,  although  he 
was  not  in  the  field  and  evidently  did  not  desire  the  office, 
could  get  more  votes  in  the  Legislature  than  any  other  man 
now  mentioned.  Besides  his  official  prestige  and  his  acknowl- 
edged merits,  he  would  have  the  support  of  many  friends  of 
Lieutenant  Governor  Gilman,  who  would  succeed  to  the  gov- 
ernorship. I  also  spoke  of  several  other  available  names  as 
alternatives.  To  each  of  these  suggestions  Mr.  Sabin  made 
some  mild  objection,  but  did  not  indicate  any  preference  of  his 


REMINISCENCES  OP  MINNESOTA  POLITICS. 


583 


own.  This  interview  is  significant  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Sabin 
himself  was  ultimately  elected  senator  as  the  outcome  of  the 
movement.  It  was  afterward  charged  by  Windom's  friends 
that  Sabin  had  been  in  the  anti-Windom  ''conspiracy"  from 
the  beginning,  and  was  therefore  treacherous  to  his  chief.  I 
believe  that  I  was  cognizant  of  every  important  move  through- 
out the  state  for  the  defeat  of  Windom,  and  I  did  not  know 
of  a  single  place  where  Mr.  Sabin 's  influence  was  thrown  in 
our  favor.  We  always  classed  him  as  a  Windom  man  and  I 
thoroughly  believe  today  that  down  to  the  moment  when  I 
told  him  the  outcome  of  our  conference,  he  was  faithful  to 
Windom  and  expected  to  see  him  elected. 

The  senatorial  caucus,  as  we  had  planned  and  predicted, 
was  a  failure.  Of  110  Republicans  in  the  Legislature,  only  62 
went  into  the  caucus.  This  was  not  a  majority  of  the  Legis- 
lature and  the  caucus  could  not  make  a  nomination  that  would 
be  binding  on  those  Republicans  who  did  not  participate.  The 
contest  was  thus  thrown  into  the  open  Legislature  where  after 
balloting  many  days,  for  numerous  candidates,  the  anti-Win- 
dom Republicans  mostly  concentrated  their  votes  on  Mr.  Sabin, 
who  then  by  preconcerted  arrangement  received  enough  Dem- 
ocratic votes  to  secure  his  election. 

Mr.  Windom,  who  had  come  from  Washington  late  in  the 
day  to  look  after  his  interests,  which  had  been  personally  neg- 
lected through  his  supreme  self-confidence,  left  St.  Paul  the 
moment  Sabin  was  elected,  without  even  thanking  the  two 
score  or  more  devoted  friends  who  stood  by  him  to  the  last. 
Mr.  Windom  thus  practically  disappeared  from  Minnesota 
politics,  only  appearing  here  afterward  to  feed  his  revenge  in 
trying  to  defeat  the  aspirations  of  some  of  those  who  had  con- 
tributed to  his  downfall. 

At  the  Republican  state  convention  of  1883,  Governor  L.  F. 
Hubbard  was  re-nominated  without  opposition.  Meantime  a 
constitutional  amendment  providing  for  biennial  elections  and 
sessions  of  the  Legislature  had  been  adopted,  by  means  of 
which  his  second  term  was  extended  to  three  years.  Governor 
Hubbard  thus  served  five  years  in  the  executive  chair,  with  a 
success  which  demonstrated  in  civil  life  the  same  high  quali- 


584  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ties  that  had  won  for  him  honor  and  promotion  as  an  officer 
in  the  civil  war.  It  is  a  noteworthy  circumstance  that  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Spanish  American  war  in  1898,  thirty-three 
years  after  the  close  of  his  previous  military  service,  he  again 
tendered  his  sword  to  the  Government,  was  appointed  a  briga- 
dier general  by  President  McKinley,  and  commanded  a  division 
of  troops  of  the  new  generation  of  patriotic  Americans. 

Early  in  1883  I  was  appointed  inspector  of  illuminating  oils 
by  Governor  Hubbard.  The  emoluments  of  the  office  were  not 
so  large  at  that  period  as  they  afterward  became,  but  the 
duties  were  important'  and  I  held  the  position  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  official  term. 

At  about  this  period  there  began  to  appear  in  state  con- 
ventions and  in  the  Legislature  a  new  generation  of  militant 
Eepublicans  who  affiliated,  as  a  rule,  with  the  progressive  wing 
of  the  party,  and  soon  gave  evidence  of  the  qualities  which, 
in  the  next  decade,  were  to  lift  them  high  in  the  councils  of 
the  state  and  the  nation.  As  examples  it  will  suffice  to  men- 
tion Moses  E.  Clapp,  J.  A.  Tawney,  John  Lind,  R.  G.  Evans, 
Frank  A.  Day,  H.  Steenerson,  F.  C.  Stevens,  G.  S.  Ives,  Tams 
Bixby,  Frank  M.  Eddy,  F.  B.  Kellogg,  and  Joel  P.  Heatwole. 

1884. 
In  May,  1884,  there  arose  in  the  state,  and  especially  in 
Ramsey  county,  a  peculiar  contest  over  the  delegation  to  the 
Republican  National  Convention.  Minnesota  was,  as  always, 
for  James  G.  Blaine,  and  C.  K.  Davis  was  universally  recog- 
nized as  an  exponent  of  Mr.  Blaine's  candidacy  in  this  state. 
Meantime  Senator  D.  M.  Sabin  had  been  made  chairman  of  the 
Republican  National  Committee,  a  position  of  honor  and  influ- 
ence and  a  credit  to  our  state.  Mr.  Sabin  expressed  a  desire  to 
be  elected  one  of  the  delegates  at  large  to  the  National  con- 
vention, and  I  believed  with  others  that  it  was  due  him  as  a 
proof  of  the  confidence  and  endorsement  of  his  constituents. 
But  Governor  Davis  joined  with  Mr.  Wheelock,  Mr.  Driscoll, 
W.  R.  Merriam,  and  some  other  St.  Paul  Republicans,  in  a 
movement  to  carry  Ramsey  county  against  Sabin.  I,  here,  for 
a  second  time,  parted  company  temporarily  with  Governor 
Davis.    I  joined  with  General  Sanborn,  General  McLaren,  W. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  585 

B.  Dean,  Mark  D.  Flower  and  others,  in  carrying  the  county 
for  Sabin,  as  against  Davis,  Merriam,  and  their  following.  We 
elected  a  delegation  to  the  state  convention  which  was  in- 
structed to  support  Sabin  for  delegate  at  large,  but  I  person- 
ally reserved  the  right  to  vote  also  for  Davis  as  another  dele- 
gate, believing  that  there  was  room  in  this  state  and  on  the 
delegation  for  both  these  distinguished  men.  After  the  county 
convention  I  had  a  stormy  interview  with  Governor  Davis,  who 
felt  crushed  and  humiliated  by  the  outcome.  I  consoled  him 
by  quoting  Lincoln's  telegram  to  Richard  Yates:  "Possess 
thou  thy  soul  in  patience;  stand  by,  and  see  the  salvation  of 
the  Lord." 

When  the  delegates  to  the  Republican  state  convention 
assembled  in  St.  Paul,  it  was  manifest  that  the  sentiment  in 
favor  of  Blaine  was  duly  represented,  and  that  the  long  time 
favorite  of  the  outside  counties,  C.  K.  Davis,  was  their  choice 
for  one  of  the  delegates.  In  the  forenoon  before  the  conven- 
tion met,  a  Blaine  caucus  was  called  at  the  Merchants'  Hotel, 
in  which  I,  alone  of  the  Ramsey  county  delegation,  partici- 
pated. It  was  here  decided  to  present  Z.  B.  Clarke  of  Swift 
county  as  our  candidate  for  chairman  of  the  state  convention, 
and  C.  K.  Davis  as  one  of  the  delegates  at  large  to  Chicago. 
When  a  motion  was  made  to  support  D.  M.  Sabin  as  another 
delegate,  Hon.  Frank  A.  Day  of  Martin  county,  later  private 
secretary  to  Governor  Johnson  but  then  an  ardent  Blaine  Re- 
publican, moved  to  send  a  committee  to  Senator  Sabin  and 
secure  his  pledge  to  vote  for  Blaine.  The  motion  was  about 
to  be  carried,  when  I  vigorously  protested  against  submitting 
our  senator  to  this  inquiry.  I  expressed  my  belief  that  he 
would  vote  for  Blaine  as  the  unquestioned  choice  of  his  state, 
and  argued  that  whether  he  did  or  not  we  could  afford  to  show 
our  confidence  in  him  and  our  appreciation  of  the  honor  which 
had  been  conferred  on  Minnesota  by  his  exaltation  to  the  lead- 
ership of  the  party  in  the  nation.  My  appeal  was  successful, 
and  Mr.  Sabin  was  endorsed  without  the  exaction  of  a  pledge. 
The  event  proved  that  I  was  wrong  in  my  supposition,  Mr. 
Sabin  having  previously  pledged  himself  to  vote  for  President 
Arthur  and  feeling  obliged  to  carry  out  that  pledge, — but  it 


586  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

fortunately  made  no  difference  in  the  result ;  Blaine  was  nomi- 
nated at  Chicago,  but  was  defeated  by  Grover  Cleveland. 

When  the  state  convention  assembled,  Z.  B.  Clarke  was  pro- 
posed for  chairman  by  the  Blaine  side  and  Gen.  John  B.  San- 
born by  the  opposition.  My  vote  was  the  only  one  cast  for 
Clarke  from  the  three  leading  counties  of  the  state,  Ramsey, 
Hennepin,  and  Winona.  Mr.  Clarke  was  elected  chairman  by 
a  small  majority,  and  I  was  immediately  made  secretary  of  the 
convention  without  opposition.  Mr.  Clarke,  on  assuming  the 
chair,  made  a  very  brief  address  which  for  several  years  was 
quoted  with  amused  approval  throughout  the  state.  He  said : 
''This  honor  is  unexpected,  but  I  promise  you  to  discharge  my 
duties  as  your  presiding  officer  honestly  and  impartially — in 
the  interest  of  James  G.  Blaine."    He  did. 

The  further  proceedings  of  the  convention  were  without 
special  incident.  My  plan  of  sending  both  Davis  and  Sabin  to 
the  National  convention  was  now  satisfactory  to  all  parties, 
and  two  other  delegates  at  large  were  selected.  Davis  and 
Sabin  sat  fraternally  in  the  great  Chicago  convention;  Sabin 
presided  over  its  preliminary  organization,  and  Davis  made  a 
memorably  brilliant  address,  proposing  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Blaine. 

At  the  conclusion  of  our  state  convention  I  was  named  as 
the  member  of  the  state  central  committee  from  the  state  at 
large,  afterward  being  elected  chairman  thereof.  From  my 
affiliation  with  the  majority  I  was  able  to  secure  the  selection 
of  Mark  D.  Flower  as  district  member  of  the  state  committee 
and  W.  B,  Dean  as  presidential  elector,  although  both  of  them, 
as  delegates  from  Ramsey  county,  had  voted  against  the  organ- 
ization. General  Flower,  being  the  incumbent  of  a  Federal 
office,  soon  resigned  from  the  committee ;  Major  John  Espy  of 
St.  Paul  was  chosen  in  his  place  and  elected  secretary.  Major 
Espy  and  myself  conducted  the  vigorous  campaign  for  Blaine 
which  ensued,  and  which,  as  before  stated,  resulted  in  a  ma- 
jority of  43,000  for  our  candidate  with  the  expenditure  of  only 
$850. 

The  next  important  political  event  of  the  year  1884  with 
which  I  was  connected  was  the  contest  for  -Republican  nomi- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  587 

nation  of  Congressman  in  this  district.  Hon.  Loren  Fletcher 
of  Minneapolis,  long  an  aspirant,  was  now  in  the  field  with  the 
backing  of  his  own  county  and  several  others.  Albert  Scheffer 
of  St.  Paul  was  also  a  candidate;  Ramsey  county  supported 
him,  and  I  was  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  district  convention. 
There  was  a  contested  delegation  from  Washington  county,  and 
the  forces  were  so  nearly  equal  that  this  delegation  would  de- 
cide the  result.  On  the  question  of  the  admission  of  delegates 
from  Washington  county  the  convention  was  so  evenly  divided 
that  one  delegate,  H.  F.  Barker  of  Isanti  county,  had  the  cast- 
ing vote.  Mr.  Barker  was  opposed  to  both  Fletcher  and  Schef- 
fer,  but  expressed  a  willingness  to  join  the  Scheffer  delegates 
in  nominating  Hon.  J.  B.  Gilfillan  of  Minneapolis.  As  the 
only  other  alternative  seemed  to  be  a  split  in  the  convention, 
two  candidates,  and  a  Republican  defeat  in  the  district,  Mr. 
Scheffer  and  his  friends  consented  to  the  arrangement.  Mr. 
Barker  came  into  our  camp;  Washington  county  was  neutral- 
ized, and  Mr.  Gilfillan  was  nominated.  Mr.  Fletcher  was  great- 
ly disappointed,  but  eight  years  later,  when  Hennepin  county 
became  a  district  of  itself,  he  was  elected  to  the  coveted  posi- 
tion and  served  an  aggregate  of  twelve  years  in  Washington, 
greatly  to  the  benefit  of  his  admiring  constituents. 

1885. 

Under  the  operation  of  the  Constitutional  amendment  pro- 
viding for  biennial  sessions,  the  year  1885  was  the  first  year  in 
the  history  of  the  state  when  no  election  was  held.  There  was 
consequently  a  rest  from  political  conflict,  the  forerunner  of 
similar  grateful  periods  of  political  repose  which  have  since 
been  enjoyed  on  alternate  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1885,  finding  my  health  seriously  threat- 
ened by  the  laborious  duties  of  editor,  proprietor,  and  business 
manager  of  the  Daily  Dispatch,  and  having  a  satisfactory  offer 
from  Mr.  George  K.  Shaw  of  Minneapolis,  I  sold  the  property 
to  him  and  retired  from  daily  newspaper  work.  One  year  later 
Mr.  Shaw  sold  the  paper  to  his  associate,  Mr.  George  Thomp- 
son, who  has  retained  the  ownership  until  this  time  and  has 
built  up  the  magnificent  institution  to  which  Minnesotans  point 
with  pride,  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch  of  today. 


588  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

After  passing  through  a  period  of  serious  illness  resulting 
from  overwork,  I  occupied  such  leisure  time  as  I  could  spare 
from  the  development  of  suburban  property  to  the  formation 
of  an  organization  throughout  the  state  for  the  election  of  C. 
K.  Davis  to  the  United  States  senate  by  the  legislature  of  1887. 
The  sentiment  was  overwhelmingly  in  his  favor,  the  old  guard 
of  Republican  editors  was  everywhere  alert  and  active;  the 
accession  of  Cleveland  to  the  presidency  had  broken  down  the 
oligarchy  of  officeholders  which  had  been  the  nucleus  of  the 
strength  of  both  Windom  and  McMillan;  in  a  word,  the  coast 
was  clear  and  it  only  needed  concert  of  action  to  insure  suc- 
cess. 

1886. 

The  year  1886  was  what  is  denominated  an  ''off  year"  in 
politics.  The  Republican  party  suffered  accordingly.  Three  of 
the  five  Congressional  districts  in  the  state  elected  Democratic 
representatives,  Thomas  Wilson,  John  L.  Macdonald,  and  Ed- 
mund Rice, — the  two  Republicans  elected  being  John  Lind  and 
Knute  Nelson. 

At  the  Republican  state  convention,  Hon.  A.  R.  McGill  was 
nominated  for  governor,  the  opposing  candidates  being  C.  A. 
Oilman  and  Albert  Scheffer.  My  name  was  presented  to  the 
convention  for  lieutenant  governor,  and  I  received  over  100 
votes,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  previous  nomination 
of  Mr.  McGill,  also  a  resident  of  St.  Paul,  precluded  any  pos- 
sibility of  my  success. 

Mr.  Windom  appeared  in  this  convention  as  a  delegate  from 
Winona  county  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  helping  his  friends 
and  punishing  his  enemies.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  of  his 
presence,  his  special  protege,  Samuel  H.  Nichols,  was  defeated 
for  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  an  office  which  he  had  held  for 
eleven  years.  Mr.  Windom  was  subsequently  appointed  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  by  President  Harrison,  and  died  in 
office.  He  was  credited  to  Minnesota  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  he  had  some  years  before  become  a  permanent  resident  of 
New  York  city.  His  interference  in  Minnesota  appointments 
while  a  member  of  Harrison's  cabinet  was  the  source  of  much 
friction  between  himself  and  Senator  Davis,  who  naturally  re- 
sented it. 


REMINISCENCES  OP  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  589 

The  systematic  canvass  for  members  of  the  Legislature 
friendly  to  the  election  of  C.  K.  Davis  as  United  States  senator 
was  continued  this  year,  and  after  the  election  in  November  it 
was  easy  to  predict  from  the  complexion  of  the  returns  that 
victory  was  assured. 

1887. 

The  legislature  of  1887  passed  a  bill  creating  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  State  Soldiers'  Home,  and  Governor  McGill 
appointed  me  a  member  thereof.  I  was  elected  president  of 
the  Board  when  it  organized,  and  served  in  that  position,  with- 
out salary  or  perquisite,  for  twelve  years.  The  labors  of  the 
Board,  including  the  responsibility  of  building  and  adminis- 
tering the  Home,  as  well  as  the  disbursement  of  the  outside 
relief  fund,  were  very  exacting,  and  an  undue  share  of  them 
naturally  devolved  on  the  president.  But  there  were  pleasant 
incidents  and  associations  connected  with  the  service  that  to 
some  extent  recompensed  the  effort. 

When  the  legislature  assembled  in  January,  1887,  Senator 
McMillan  came  home  from  Washington,  announced  his  can- 
didacy for  a  third  term,  and  energetically  sought  support.  It 
was  soon  revealed,  however,  even  to  him,  that  C.  K.  Davis  was 
the  predestined  Republican  nominee.  Senator  McMillan  grace- 
fully withdrew;  Davis  was  nominated  at  an  open  Republican 
caucus  with  substantial  unanimity,  and  was  elected  by  the  Leg- 
islature with  the  enthusiastic  support  of  a  united  party. 

This  result  was  the  fruition  of  twelve  years'  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  annually  augmenting  fraternity  of  Minnesota  Re- 
publicans with  whom  I  had  been  closely  identified.  We  had 
now  placed  our  favorite  in  the  arena  where  we  believed  his 
splendid  natural  gifts  and  his  wide  range  of  acquirements 
would  lead  to  a  career  of  conspicuous  usefulness  to  his  state 
and  his  country. 

This  ended,  in  an  aureole  of  success,  the  first  twenty  years 
of  my  experiences 'of  and  participation  in  the  political  affairs 
of  this  state.  My  activities  were  thenceforward  less  pro- 
nounced, although  I  did  not  cease  my  interest,  nor  abstain 
from  work.  The  later  field  was  more  circumscribed.  I  had 
served  my  turn  on  state  committees,  and  I  no  longer  controlled 


590  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

a  daily  newspaper.    The  chronicles  of  the  second  twenty  years 
will  therefore  permit  a  briefer  and  less  detailed  treatment. 

1888-1907. 

At  the  Eepublican  state  convention  of  1888,  Governor  A. 
R.  McGill  was  a  candidate  for  renomination.  He  was  entitled 
to  this  endorsement,  both  by  uniform  party  precedent  and  by 
the  excellence  of  his  administration.  But  W.  R.  Merriam,  an 
ambitious  young  banker  of  St.  Paul,  could  not  restrain  his  im- 
patience for  the  coveted  prize,  and  appeared  as  a  candidate. 
This  led  Albert  Seheffer,  also  of  St.  Paul,  to  enter  the  field,  and 
a  contest  of  great  animation  ensued.  I  favored  Governor  Mc- 
Gill, and  worked  earnestly  for  his  success.  Seheffer  and  Mer- 
riam fought  desperately  for  Ramsey  county,  and  Seheffer  won. 
With  his  consent  three  avowed  McGill  men,  including  myself, 
were  placed  on  the  Ramsey  county  delegation  to  the  state  con- 
vention. I  was  made  one  of  the  McGill  managers,  and  was 
selected  to  deliver  the  nominating  speech.  Mutual  friends  had 
arranged  that  Seheffer  should  withdraw  in  favor  of  McGill,  if 
the  latter  developed  the  greater  strength ;  but  Seheffer,  hoping 
to  gain,  failed  to  withdraw  in  time  to  effect  a  winning  com- 
bination, and  Merriam  was  nominated.  The  result  caused  some 
political  and  personal  bitterness  that  was  never  sweetened. 
One  humorous  episode  relieved  some  of  the  somber  features. 
After  the  final  vote,  a  friend  asked  Seheffer  how  many  dele- 
gates he  had  to  buy.  "Ah,"  said  he,  "from  the  rapidity  with 
which  my  vote  shrank,  I  fear  I'll  be  accused  of  selling  dele- 
gates." 

In  the  legislature  of  1889,  Senator  D.  M.  Sabin  was  a  can- 
didate for  re-election,  with  Hon.  W.  D.  Washburn  as  his  op- 
ponent. Although  on  the  friendliest  terms  personally  and  po- 
litically with  Sabin,  I  had  incurred  no  obligation  to  him,  and 
my  deliberate  preference  was  now  for  Washburn.  I  therefore 
did  all  in  my  power  to  aid  him.  Washburn  was  elected,  and 
during  the  single  term  to  which  his  service  in  the  Senate  was 
limited,  he  made,  as  was  to  be  expected  from  his  high  char- 
acter and  long  public  experience,  an  unblemished  record. 

The  year  1890  was  another  decidedly  "off  year"  for  Minne- 
sota Republicans,  due  to  the  reaction  against  the  McKinley 


I 


REMINISCENCES  OP  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  591 

tariff  bill,  just  enacted  and  not  yet  tested.  W.  R.  Merriam  was 
re-elected  governor  by  a  plurality  of  2,200  over  Judge  Thomas 
Wilson,  the  Democratic  nominee.  But  as  the  "Alliance"  can- 
didate, S.  M.  Owen  received  58,500  votes,  and  the  Prohibition 
candidate  over  8,000,  Mr.  Merriam  lacked  nearly  65,000  votes 
of  a  majority.  Worse  than  that,  four  of  the  five  Republican 
candidates  for  Congress  were  defeated,  the  only  successful 
nominee  being  Joh%  Lind  in  the  second  district,  who  turned 
Democrat  shortly  afterward.  A  notable  event  of  this  year  was 
the  election  of  Kittel  Halvorson,  Farmers  Alliance  candidate 
for  Congress,  in  the  fifth  district.  A.  J.  Whiteman,  of  Duluth, 
was  the  Democratic  nominee,  and  S.  G.  Comstock,  the  then  in- 
cumbent, the  Republican.  Mr.  Whiteman  induced  Halvorson,  a 
farmer  in  Stearns  county,  to  run  on  the  Alliance  ticket,  with 
the  expectation  of  reducing  the  Republican  vote,  Whiteman 
paying  all  Halvorson 's  campaign  expenses.  To  the  astonish- 
ment of  everybody,  especially  Whiteman,  Halvorson  was 
elected.  He  served  one  term  in  Congress;  lived,  it  is  said,  on 
his  "mileage;"  saved  the  $10,000  salary  to  improve  and  en- 
large his  farm,  and  retired  on  his  laurels.  Whiteman  devel- 
oped into  a  criminal  of  the  deepest  dye,  and  is  now  an  inmate 
of  the  New  York  penitentiary. 

In  February,  1892,  I  was  appointed  postmaster  of  St.  Paul 
by  President  Harrison,  on  the  recommendation  of  Senator  Da- 
vis, and  held  office  until  November  1,  1896,  or  eight  months 
beyond  the  allotted  four  years'  term,  although  after  the  first 
year  I  served  under  the  second  Democratic  administration  of 
Grover  Cleveland.  After  Cleveland  came  in,  some  hostile  Dem- 
ocrats sought  to  secure  my  removal  on  the  ground  of  ' '  offensive 
partisanship, ' '  but  failed.  They  were  told  that  removals  would 
only  be  made  on  a  defective  official  record,  and  as  I  was  per- 
mitted to  remain  in  office  eight  months  after  my  time  expired, 
it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  record  was  satisfactory.  I  admin- 
istered the  civil  service  law  as  to  the  200  employees  of  the  post 
office  in  good  faith,  and  made  no  attempt  to  use  them  for  par- 
tisan politics.  But  I  did  not  surrender  my  political  convic- 
tions, nor  cease  working  for  my  party  in  all  proper  ways.  I 
made  speeches  in  every  campaign,  as  usual,  and  participated  in 


592  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Republican  conferences  and  conventions,  unmolested.  What- 
ever may  be  said  adverse  to  President  Cleveland,  he  was  cer- 
tainly sincere  and  consistent  in  his  civil  service  policy. 

In  1893  Senator  Davis  was  a  candidate  before  the  legis- 
lature for  re-election.  The  state  convention  of  1892  had  unan- 
imously endorsed  him  as  the  party  candidate  and  in  most  of 
the  counties  Republican  senators  and  representatives  had  been 
instructed  to  support  him.  The  legislature  of  1891  had  been 
controlled  by  a  combination  of  Democrats  and  Populists ;  hence 
the  efforts  of  Senator  Davis'  friends  were  principally  directed 
to  securing  a  Republican  majority,  trusting  to  these  endorse- 
ments and  instructions,  undoubtedly  backed  by  public  senti- 
ment, to  ensure  his  election.  The  majority,  on  joint  ballot,  was 
about  twelve,  but  when  the  legislature  assembled  it  developed 
that  a  secret  campaign  of  debauchery  and  corruption  had  been 
inaugurated  to  defeat  Davis,  with  the  hope  of  electing  an  un- 
avowed,  but  well  recognized  Republican  aspirant  in  his  stead. 
No  more  brazen,  defiant,  and  demoralizing  movement  was  ever 
inaugurated  in  any  state.  Votes  were  shamelessly  trafficked  in, 
and  so  recklessly  that  the  price  paid  in  many  instances  was 
well  known,  in  advance,  to  the  Senator 's  supporters,  who  had  a 
detective  force  systematically  at  work  and  kept  advised  of 
every  movement.  Enough  Republican  votes  were  bought  and 
actually  paid  for  to  prevent  a  majority  for  Davis  on  the  first 
joint  ballot,  but  several  of  the  bribed  members  weakened  at 
the  last  moment  and  Davis  received  precisely  enough  votes  to 
elect  him,  not  one  to  spare.  I  was  cognizant  of  all  the  details 
of  the  contest ;  held  at  one  time,  for  possible  use  as  evidence  in 
criminal  prosecutions,  a  considerable  sum  of  the  corruption 
fund  paid  to  one  of  the  members ;  and  I  yet  retain  interesting 
correspondence  and  memoranda,  which,  for  the  credit  of  the 
state,  it  were  better  to  consign  to  oblivion.  The  miserable  con- 
spiracy failed;  Senator  Davis  was  re-elected,  and  most  of  the 
persons  who  betrayed  him  were  effectually  reckoned  with  by 
their  indignant  constituents. 

Early  in  1896  a  very  strong  sentiment  was  manifested  in 
certain  portions  of  the  country  in  favor  of  the  selection  of  Sen- 
ator C.  K.  Davis  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  President. 


nEMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  593 

His  eloquent  speeches  in  the  Senate  on  several  important  ques- 
tions had  made  him  a  national  reputation,  and  his  ringing  tele- 
gram to  the  Duluth  labor  leaders  in  1894  had  evinced  the  pos- 
session of  qualities  too  rare  in  public  men.  Not  only  did  hun- 
dreds of  newspapers  in  many  states  express  favorable  opinions 
of  his  candidacy,  but  volunteer  offers  of  support  v^^ere  received 
from  influential  Republicans  in  various  sections.  In  addition,  a 
considerable  number  of  his  colleagues  in  the  Senate  and  House, 
who  were  powerful  political  factors  in  their  respective  states, 
were  ready  to  assist  if  there  was  any  hope  of  success.  A  num- 
ber of  Senator  Davis'  friends,  including  myself,  formed  a  cor- 
respondence bureau  in  St.  Paul  which  brought  encouraging 
news  from  all  quarters.  But,  a  little  later,  the  popular  senti- 
ment for  McKinley  became  so  strong  that  it  was  evident  no 
other  aspirant  could  make  headway  against  it.  Senator  Davis 
promptly  acquiesced  in  the  proposition  to  give  our  state  dele- 
gation to  McKinley,  who  had  no  more  effective  champion  in 
the  campaign,  or  more  loyal,  trusted  counsellor  during  the  try- 
ing crises  of  his  administration. 

At  the  Republican  state  convention  of  1896,  Gov.  David  M. 
Clough,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  seat  of  Gov.  Knute  Nelson 
when  the  latter  was  chosen  United  States  senator  to  succeed 
Washburn  a  year  previously,  was  a  candidate  for  the  nomina- 
tion for  governor.  Hon.  Moses  E.  Clapp  of  St.  Paul  was  pro- 
posed in  opposition  to  Mr.  Clough  and  commanded  my  earnest 
support,  as  a  matter  of  personal  and  political  preference.  But 
he  came  late  into  the  field,  and  although  we  made  a  vigorous 
and  measurably  successful  fight  in  Ramsey  county  Governor 
Clough  was  victorious. 

In  the  campaign  of  1896,  although  still  postmaster  of  St. 
Paul  under  a  Democratic  administration,  I  spoke  many  times 
in  various  counties  for  the  Republican  ticket, — as,  indeed,  I 
have  in  every  national  and  most  of  the  intermediate  contests, 
since  1864. 

In  May,  1897,  on  the  special  recommendation  of  Senator 
Davis,  approved  by  Senator  Nelson  and  the  entire  Minnesota 
delegation  in  Congress,  I  was  appointed  Auditor  for  the  Post 
Office  Department  in  Washington.    The  bureau  over  which  the 


594  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Auditor  presides  is  attached  to  the  Treasury  Department,  al- 
though it  is  located  in  the  Post  Office  Department  building,  and 
it  is  exclusively  engaged  in  adjusting  and  recording  the  ac- 
counts of  that  great  governmental  institution,  which  employs 
more  men  and  handles  more  money  than  all  other  branches  of 
the  government  combined.  The  Auditor's  office  has  over  700 
employees;  it  settles  and  records,  every  working  day  in  the 
year,  3,000  accounts  of  postmasters,  contractors  and  others,  in- 
volving about  $8,000,000  daily,  or  two  and  a  half  billions  of 
dollars  a  year.  The  business  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  the 
strain  on  the  faithful  clerks  and  the  experienced  chiefs  of  divi- 
sion, as  well  as  on  the  head  of  the  office,  is  tremendous.  I  held 
the  position  until  January,  1904,  six  years  and  eight  months, — 
a  longer  period  than  any  other  incumbent  since  its  creation  in 
1836. 

During  my  stay  in  Washington,  I  kept  advised,  through  the 
newspapers,  through  correspondence,  and  through  frequent 
visits  to  the  state,  of  the  general  currents  of  Minnesota  politics, 
although  I  necessarily  lost  touch,  to  a  considerable  degree,  with 
the  constantly  changing  personnel  of  the  party. 

In  1899,  Senator  Davis  was  re-elected  without  opposition, 
thus  securing  the  then  unprecedented  honor  (since  worthily  con- 
ferred on  Senator  Nelson)  of  a  third  term  in  the  Senate  from 
this  state.  During  the  early  months  of  1898  there  had  been 
some  mutterings  of  coming  hostility  to  him,  which  led  his 
friends  to  take  some  precautionary  steps  in  his  behalf.  But 
the  events  of  the  Spanish-American  war,  which  brought  our 
Senator  into  such  conspicuous  eminence,  which  brought  into 
exercise  on  the  highest  plane  of  statesmanship  his  commanding 
abilities  and  the  special  attainments  he  had,  for  years,  been 
cultivating,  which  made  him  the  leader  of  the  Senate  as  well 
as  the  adviser  of  the  President  in  international  questions,  and, 
in  great  emergencies,  the  actual  arbiter  of  national  destiny, — 
all  this  so  augmented  the  pride  of  his  constituents  as  to  dwarf 
to  insignificance  and  banish  from  sight  every  trace  of  the  me- 
ditated antagonism. 

In  1900  President  McKinley  was  renominated,  with  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  as  his  running  mate ;  and  Bryan,  as  in  1896,  was 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  595 

his  Democratic  opponent.  In  September  I  attended  the  great 
Hamilton  Club  banquet  in  Chicago,  where  Senator  Davis  ably 
''struck  the  key-note"  of  the  national  campaign,  making,  as  it 
eventuated,  his  last  important  address,  and  pathetically  evinc- 
ing, could  we  have  realized  it,  the  fatal  exhaustion  of  his  phys- 
ical powers.  I  came  to  Minnesota  in  October  and  devoted  some 
weeks  to  campaigning.  Senator  Davis  was  then  seriously  ill 
at  his  home  in  St.  Paul,  and  on  election  day,  November  6th, 
before  returning  to  Washington,  I  bade  him  what  proved  to  be 
a  final  farewell.  November  29th  I  came  back  to  St.  Paul  and 
attended  his  funeral;  among  the  thousands  of  sorrowing  citi- 
zens of  Minnesota  who  paid  their  tributes  of  honor  as  he  lay  in 
state  at  the  Capitol,  T  am  sure  there  was  no  more  sincere  mourn- 
er than  myself. 

This  paper  has  sufficiently  verified  its  statement  that  the 
central  figure  of  a  large  portion  of  the  political  activity  in 
which  I  have  indulged  during  my  forty  years  residence  in  Min- 
nesota was  Cushman  K.  Davis.  I  think  no  man  who  supported 
him  at  any  time  during  his  career  ever  felt  obliged  to  apologize 
for  that  support.  If  there  has  been  a  series  of  clean  political 
combats  in  the  history  of  any  state,  it  was  the  Davis  side  of 
the  numerous  battles  fought  by  his  friends  in  his  interest. 
"When  it  was  all  over  and  I  was  privileged  to  speak  some  words 
of  appreciation  at  the  unveiling  of  his  monument  at  Arlington, 
Va.,  I  could  truthfully  place  on  record  for  his  honor  and  that 
of  our  magnificent  commonwealth  this  eulogium : 

Honored  for  thirty  years  with  his  unreserved  confidence,  advised  as 
to  the  minutest  details  of  his  political  contests,  I  here  affirm  with  all 
the  solemnity  these  surroundings  and  this  event  can  lend,  that  no  un- 
worthy suggestion,  no  dishonorable  proposition,  no  device  for  improper 
influence,  no  hint  at  undue  advantage,  ever  came  from  him,  even  in 
the  most  crucial  stress  of  dangerous  and  doubtful  struggles.  In  none 
of  his  campaigns  was  an  office  promised  or  an  unclean  dollar  expended 
by  him  or  for  him,  although  in  many  of  them  he  was  confronted  by 
venal  methods  employed  by  unscrupulous  rivals.  Let  others  dwell  on 
the  gifts  and  graces  they  discern,— this  is  my  acme  of  encomium  for 
the  politician  and  the  man. 

In  May,  1903,  having  served  six  years  as  Auditor  at  Wash- 
ington, having  found  my  health  seriously  impaired  by  the  sum- 
mer climate,  and  having  more  lucrative  business  opportunities 


596  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

offered,  I  tendered  my  resignation  through  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  the  President.  An  investigation  of  the  Post  Office 
Department  being  then  just  inaugurated,  I  was  asked  to  re- 
main in  office  and  assist  therein.  The  inquiry  yielded  impor- 
tant results  and  lasted  until  October,  when  on  its  conclusion  I 
again  resigned.  My  resignation  was  accepted  to  take  effect  on 
the  appointment  of  my  successor,  which  was  not  made  for  more 
than  three  months.  Finally  on  January  22,  1904,  I  turned  over 
the  bureau  to  the  new  appointee,  my  old  friend,  Hon.  Joseph  J. 
McCardy,  of  St.  Paul.  The  long  tenure,  nearly  seven  years,  of 
this  the  most  important  position  I  have  held,  marks  the  culmi- 
nation of  my  experiences  in  political  life.  The  Auditorship  is 
a  quasi- judicial  position.  There  are  six  Auditors,  whereof  the 
Auditor  for  the  Post  Office  Department  supervises  more  em- 
ployees and  handles  more  business  than  the  five  others  united. 
The  direct  official  head  of  the  accounting  system,  the  appellate 
officer  for  all  the  Auditors,  is  the  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury. 
During  all  my  service  in  Washington,  Hon.  R.  J.  Tracewell  was 
Comptroller,  and  he  still  retains  that  position.  When  I  retired 
from  office,  Mr.  Tracewell  wrote  this  testimonial,  which  I  am 
possibly  justified  in  quoting  as  a  political  valedictory: 

"It  was  with  the  most  profound  regret  that  I  learned  several  months 
since  that  you  had  tendered  your  resignation  to  take  effect  upon  the 
appointment  and  qualification  of  a  successor. 

"If  the  President  had  known,  as  I  know,  the  difficulties  with  which 
you  have  been  surrounded  during  your  term  of  office,  and  the  fidelity 
and  integrity  with  which  you  have  performed  the  many  arduous  duties 
thereof,  I  feel  confident  that  it  would  only  have  been  for  a  considera- 
tion of  your  health  that  he  would  have  consented  to  your  resignation. 
Good  Auditors  for  the  Post  Office  Department  are  not  made,  but  must 
be  born.  Even  though  one  could  be  made,  the  process  would  be  long, 
and  in  the  making  public  interests  would  necessarily  suffer  more  or 
less. 

"I  shall  always  recall  with  pleasure  your  intelligent  zeal  for  the 
institution  and  carrying  out  of  real  reforms  in  your  office,  and  the 
cheerful  assistance  you  have  always  given  me  in  any  matter  connected 
therewith.  There  is  no  officer  in  the  Government  service  who  is  pos- 
sessed of  more  information  as  to  your  true  worth  to  the  Government, 
nor  one  who  will  realize  the  loss  of  its  being  deprived  of  your  services 
more  keenly  than  myself." 

In  1904  two  of  my  friends  and  co-workers  in  the  lively 
political  battles  of  twenty  years  before.  Judge  L.  AV.  Collins 


REMINISCENCES  OF  MINNESOTA  POLITICS.  597 


^m        and  Hon.  R,  C.  Dunn,  were  rival  aspirants  for  the  Republican 
^B       nomination  for  governor  of  Minnesota.    I  preferred  Judge  Col- 
^B       lins,  and  supported  him  at  the  primaries.     But  Mr.  Dunn  re- 
^P        ceived  the  nomination,  and  knowing,  from  of  old,  his  sterling 
integrity  and  many  manly  qualities,  I  earnestly  advocated  his 
election  on  the  platform  and  with  the  pen.    It  was  a  cause  of 
keen  regret  to  me  that  Mr.  Dunn  was  defeated,  even  by  so 
worthy  a  Democrat  as  Governor  Johnson,  not  only  on  account 
of  his  personal  disappointment  but  of  the  far-reaching  disas- 
trous consequences  to  the  Republican  party  of  this  state. 

All  my  activities  of  forty  years  in  Minnesota  politics  have 
been  with  and  for  the  Republican  party.  During  the  greater 
portion  of  this  period,  politics  has  been  incidental,  virtually  a 
recreation,  not  interfering  with  my  business  occupations.  I 
have  not  always  agreed  in  every  detail  with  the  avowed  poli- 
cies of  the  party,  but  upon  the  whole  its  principles  have  seemed 
to  me  best  calculated  to  promote  the  honor  and  prosperity  of 
the  state  and  the  nation.  Usually  its  candidates  have  been  ac- 
ceptable. The  nominees  have  not  in  every  instance  been  my 
first  choice,  but  in  most  instances  have  commanded  my  adhe- 
sion. 

I  actively  supported  Marshall,  Davis,  Hubbard,  McGill,  Nel- 
son, and  Van  Sant,  for  governor,  also  Averill,  Stewart,  Wash- 
burn, Dunnell,  Strait,  Nelson,  Wakefield,  Stevens,  and  others, 
for  Congress,  every  time  they  were  candidates  for  these  offices, 
and  never  had  occasion  to  regret  that  support.  I  supported 
Ramsey  for  one  term  in  the  Senate,  Windom  for  two  terms  in 
the  Senate,  Sabin  for  one  term  in  the  Senate,  and  Pillsbury  for 
two  terms  as  governor,  afterward  opposing  each  of  them  for 
re-election,  not  as  a  rule  from  any  special  hostility  to  them  per- 
sonally or  politically,  but  because  of  a  marked  preference  for 
candidates  who  then  stood  in  opposition.  A  few  men  who  have 
been  candidates  for  governor  or  Congress  on  the  Republican 
ticket  during  the  past  forty  years,  I  found  myself  unable  to 
support,  either  for  the  nomination  or  for  election;  they  were 
usually  elected,  however,  but  nothing  in  their  official  careers 
ever  caused  me  to  regret  my  opposition. 

On  the  whole,  my  political  experiences  have  led  me  to 
form  a  higher  estimate  of  the  personal  integrity  of  party  lead- 


598  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ers  than  the  general  public  seems  to  entertain.  I  believe  that 
the  average  legislator  is  as  honest  as  the  average  business  man ; 
that  the  business  of  the  state  and  national  governments  is^  in 
the  main,  well  conducted,  and  that  the  men  whom  the  people 
of  this  state  have  delighted  to  honor  have  been,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, entirely  worthy  of  their  confidence.  I  have  person- 
ally known  every  territorial  and  state  governor  of  Minnesota 
except  two,  every  senator  and  representative  in  Congress,  and 
nearly  all  the  unsuccessful  candidates  for  all  these  positions. 
I  am  satisfied  that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  political  victories 
achieved  have  been  honestly  won,  and  that,  in  most  cases,  the 
alleged  corrupt  use  of  money  in  Minnesota  politics  has  been 
greatly  exaggerated. 

In  the  aggregate,  the  public  men  of  the  formative  decades 
of  the  State  have  been  able,  far-sighted,  and  faithful  to  their 
trust.  The  magnificent  result  of  their  labors  testifies  to  their 
wisdom  and  assiduity.  If  the  generations  which  succeed  them 
show  equal  capacity  and  devotion,  we  may  be  assured  that  the 
golden  promise  of  the  day  in  which  we  live  will  be  amply  ful- 
filled by  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  coming  years. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF 
MINNEAPOLIS.* 


BY  CHARLES  M.  LORING. 


Members  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society : 

At  the  request  of  your  Secretary,  I  present  to  you  a  his- 
tory of  the  parks  of  Minneapolis,  which  I  hope  may  have  some 
influence  in  promoting  the  development  of  parks  and  play- 
grounds in  other  cities  of  the  state.  Even  the  small  village 
should  have  its  public  park,  centrally  located,  and  land  should 
be  secured  before  it  is  occupied  and  covered  with  buildings. 
The  villages  as  well  as  the  cities  are  growing,  and  the  neces- 
sity for  a  public  meeting-place  for  recreation  is  more  and  more 
apparent  as  the  years  go  by. 

The  village  of  Bluff  City,  Kansas,  where  there  are  but  sixty- 
five  voters,  has  become  noted  for  its  beautiful  park  of  twelve 
acres  and  for  its  neat  and  well  kept  houses  and  lawns.  Sev- 
eral publications  have  given  views  of  the  park  and  noted  its 
influence  upon  the  citizens  of  the  village,  who  organized  a  band 
which  discourses  music  in  the  park,  and  in  it,  each  year,  there 
is  held  a  social  gathering.  Why  not  make  every  village  in  our 
beautiful  State  of  Minnesota  as  attractive  as  is  this  one  in 
Kansas  ? 

It  has  been  demonstrated  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  that 
no  investment  of  public  funds  has  brought  greater  returns 
financially  than  those  invested  in  the  parks  and  playgrounds, 
and  none  has  brought  more  pleasure  and  added  more  to  the 
health  of  the  citizens. 

The  history  of  the  Minneapolis  parks  demonstrates  the  ne- 
cessity of  securing  park  sites  before  the  land  is  occupied.  Cap- 
tain Edward  Murphy  in  1857  donated  the  first  park  to  the 
City  of  Minneapolis,  but  this  remained  a  vacant  tract,  used 
only  as  a  cow  pasture  or  public  common  until  1880,  when  the 


*Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  November 
11,   1912. 


600  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

City  Council  passed  an  ordinance  creating  the  office  of  City- 
Forester,  who,  under  the  supervision  of  the  writer,  laid  out 
walks  and  planted  this  park  with  trees.  Since  that  time  it  has 
been  of  inestimable  value  to  a  now  densely  populated  section 
of  the  city. 

Friends  of  the  parks  had  a  long  struggle  and  met  with  many 
disappointments,  before  success  crowned  their  efforts ;  and  the 
delay  in  securing  land  cost  the  city  large  sums  of  money  and 
the  loss  of  many  valuable  sites,  which  were  offered  at  figures 
that  now  seem  very  insignificant. 

At  the  first  public  meeting,  called  in  September,  1864,  to  ad- 
vocate the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  land  for  a  park,  containing 
twenty  acres,  which  was  offered  for  $6,000,  the  discussion  of 
the  question  was  very  warm,  and  one  prominent  citizen  de- 
clared that  there  would  never  be  a  house  south  of  Tenth  street, 
and  that  beyond  Seventh  street  it  was  all  park.  But  the  park 
advocates  were  in  a  majority,  and  the  Town  Supervisors  were 
instructed  to  make  the  purchase.  However,  the  obstructors 
controlled  them,  politically,  the  matter  went  by  default,  and 
we  lost  a  park  where  it  is  now  needed.  This  property  is  now 
valued  at  over  half  a  million  dollars. 

In  March,  1866,  the  citizens  of  St.  Anthony  and  Minneapolis 
held  an  election  to  decide  the  question  of  uniting  the  two  cities, 
and  to  authorize  the  purchase  of  Nicollet  Island,  containing 
about  forty  acres,  for  a  public  park,  which  was  offered  by  the 
owners  for  the  sum  of  $47,500.  The  project  was  defeated  by 
eighty-five  votes,  and  its  defeat  has  been  regretted  by  the  citi- 
zens of  Minneapolis  to  the  present  day,  and  is  referred  to  as 
''our  great  mistake."  The  island  was  covered  with  a  fine 
growth  of  forest  trees,  mostly  hard  maple,  and  is  admirably 
located  for  a  public  park.  This  land  is  now  valued  at  more 
than  a  million  dollars.  September  15,  1865,  a  committee,  which 
had  been  appointed  at  a  special  town  meeting  to  recommend  a 
site  for  a  park,  reported  that  a  tract  of  forty  acres  could  be  pur- 
chased for  the  sum  of  $8,500,  payable  in  three  and  five  years, 
with  interest  at  seven  per  cent,  but  this  was  not  purchased. 

Through  the  efforts  of  the  advocates  of  public  parks,  the 
City  Council  passed  a  resolution  favoring  the  establishment  of 
parks;  and' on  the  8th  day  of  July,  1869,  a  proposition  was 
made  by  the  owner  to  sell  a  tract  of  land  containing  forty  acres 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  MINNEAPOLIS.  601 

for  the  sum  of  $25,000,  payable  in  the  bonds  of  the  city,  run- 
ning twenty-five  years  at  eight  per  cent.  This  property  is  now 
covered  with  fine  houses,  among  them  that  of  the  late  Hon. 
William  D.  Washburn.  A  part,  containing  ten  acres,  has  just 
been  purchased  by  the  city  for  a  park,  for  the  sum  of  $250,000, 
making  the  value  of  the  tract  of  forty  acres  for  the  proposed 
park  to  be  now  $1,000,000. 

In  1872  Col.  William  S.  King  offered  250  acres  of  land 
around  Lake  Harriet  for  $50,000.  He  was  told  by  a  member  of 
the  City  Council  that  he  had  better  go  back  to  Washington 
and  not  try  to  unload  his  farm  on  the  city  for  so  large  a  sum. 
The  property  is  now  worth  more  than  $2,000,000.  Two  lots  in 
this  tract  were  sold  recently  for  $15,000. 

In  April,  1882,  a  block  of  land  in  Harmon's  Addition  was 
purchased  at  a  cost  of  $13,475,  the  city  paying  one  half  and 
the  citizens  of  the  neighborhood  contributing  one  half  of  this 
amount.  This  is  the  first  park  for  which  the  public  paid  any 
portion  of  its  cost.  It  is  now  surrounded  with  beautiful  homes, 
and  is  the  great  attraction  of  the  neighborhood. 

In  October,  1882,  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Morris,  Katherine  B.  Steele, 
and  Mrs.  Caroline  H.  Addison,  daughters  of  the  late  Franklin 
Steele,  purchased  a  block  of  land  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  which 
they  presented  to  the  city  on  condition  that  it  be  improved  as 
a  park,  to  be  called  Franklin  Steele  Square. 

On  January  29,  1883,  the  Board  of  Trade  passed  a  series  of 
resolutions  in  favor  of  securing  legislation  authorizing  the  cre- 
ation of  a  Board  of  Park  Commissioners,  with  authority  to  pur- 
chase or  condemn  land  for  a  system  of  public  parks  and  boule- 
vards. A  committee  was  appointed  to  draft  a  bill,  which  was 
reported  at  a  meeting  on  February  6;  and  the  Committee  on 
Public  Parks  was  requested  to  confer  at  once  with  a  committee 
of  the  City  Council  and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  to  re- 
quest the  aid  of  these  bodies  in  carrying  out  this  important 
matter. 

Opinions  were  expressed  that  speedy  action  should  be  taken, 
and  that  from  $100,000  to  $200,000  should  be  appropriated  for 
park  purposes;  but  the  City  Council  passed  strong  resolutions 
condemning  the  park  scheme.  A  bill  was  prepared  by  the 
Board  of  Trade  and  was  presented  to  the  Legislature  by  the 
Hennepin  County  delegation,  who  amended  it  by  a  provision 


602  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

to  submit  the  same  to  a  vote  of  the  people.  It  then  passed  both 
houses  under  a  suspension  of  the  rules. 

On  March  30  the  Knights  of  Labor  adopted  a  set  of  resolu- 
tions condemning  the  movement  in  favor  of  parks  and  calling 
for  a  public  mass  meeting  to  protest  against  the  ratification  of 
the  Park  Act.  The  hall  was  crowded,  but  no  one  was  allowed 
to  express  an  opinion  favorable  to  the  passage  of  the  act. 

The  election  to  ratify  the  Park  Act  was  held  on  April  3, 
1883,  and,  notwithstanding  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  oppo- 
sition, it  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  1,405.  The  friends  of 
the  parks,  after  twenty  years  of  earnest  effort,  achieved  suc- 
cess, and  the  Board  was  organized  and  proceeded  to  lay  out 
and  acquire  a  system  of  parks  and  parkways  which  is  now  the 
pride  of  the  city. 

Within  two  years  of  the  organization  of  the  Board,  those 
who  were  the  most  strenuous  opponents  of  the  measure  began 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  parks;  the  Knights  of  Labor,  who 
had  so  bitterly  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Park  Act,  sent  a 
petition  to  the  Board  favoring  the  acquisition  of  land  for  a 
park ;  and  the  large  number  of  children  with  their  parents  who 
visited  the  parks  was  evidence  that  they  were  for  the  working 
people,  as  well  as  for  the  rich. 

Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Board,  Dr.  Jacob  S.  El- 
liot, one  of  the  pioneers  of  Minneapolis,  presented  to  the  City 
four  acres,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  streets,  which  the  Board 
named  Elliot  Park  in  his  honor. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  the  existence  of  the  Board  it 
acquired,  by  gift  and  purchase,  ten  tracts  for  parks,  those  most 
important  being  Loring  Park,  37  acres,  and  the  tract  of  fifty- 
five  acres  inclosing  Lake  Harriet,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water 
consisting  of  360  acres.  This  latter  valuable  acquisition  was 
donated  by  Col.  William  S.  King,  Henry  B.  Beard,  and  Gen. 
J.  V.  D.  Reeve.  Since  that  time  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres 
have  been  added  to  its  land  area. 

In  July,  1885,  all  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  the  Isles,  except 
a  few  lots  which  were  condemned,  was  donated  to  the  city. 
This  is  now  one  of  our  most  attractive  parks,  containing  200 
acres.  In  the  same  year  the  east  shore  of  Lake  Calhoun  was 
acquired,  thus  connecting  the  lake  parkways,  and  now  the  en- 
tire shore  is  owned  by  the  city,  and  a  boulevard  encircles  it. 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  MINNEAPOLIS.  603 

This  lake  and  the  Lake  of  the  Isles  are  connected  by  a  short 
canal,  through  which  pleasure  boats  pass.  A  canal  is  also  be- 
ing made  to  unite  these  lakes  with  Cedar  lake.  There  are  now 
in  the  park  system  six  lakes,  connected  by  parkways. 

During  the  year  1886,  Kenwood  Boulevard,  containing  20 
acres,  was  graded  and  improved  by  the  owners  and  donated  to 
the  city.  The  most  important  acquisition  to  the  Park  System 
made  in  1887  was  the  tract  of  123  acres  which  includes  the 
Minnehaha  Falls.  This,  park  is  now  the  most  popular  in  the 
system,  and  it  is  visited  by  many  thousands  during  the  summer 
months  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  the  visitors  frequently  num- 
bering over  ten  thousand. 

The  next  great  addition  to  the  parkways  was  the  Minne- 
haha Parkway,  extending  from  Lake  Harriet  through  the  beau- 
tiful valley  of  Minnehaha  creek  to  Minnehaha  Park.  This  park- 
way, five  miles  long  and  from  200  to  600  feet  wide,  with  sec- 
tions running  through  the  natural  forest,  contains  177  acres, 
of  which  over  100  acres  was  donated  by  public-spirited  citi- 
zens. 

During  the  years  from  1889  to  1891,  inclusive,  ten  small 
squares  and  triangles  were  donated  for  small  parks,  and  Col. 
William  S.  King  presented  to  the  city  the  beautiful  Lyndale 
Park,  containing  fifty-one  acres,  on  the  east  shore  of  Lake  Har- 
riet. The  Lakewood  Cemetery  Association  supplemented  this 
last  named  tract  with  a  gift  of  thirty-five  acres  of  beautifully 
wooded  land  adjoining.  Colonel  King  also  deeded  a  strip  of 
land  forty  feet  wide  and  a  mile  in  length,  for  widening  the 
boulevard  now  called  ''King's  Highway." 

Besides  the  valuable  gifts  of  land  which  Minneapolis  has 
received,  the  wisdom  of  her  citizens  has  been  displayed  more 
recently  in  another  form,  of  which  the  Shelter  House  in  Cam- 
den Park  affords  the  most  complete  example.  This  is  the  gen- 
erous gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  C.  Webber,  in  memory  of 
their  son,  John  C.  Webber,  deceased,  for  whom  it  is  named. 
It  is  a  beautiful  building  of  reinforced  concrete,  in  the  Mission 
style,  and  is  perfect  in  its  arrangement  for  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  constructed.  There  is  a  large  room,  27  by  53  feet, 
used  as  a  shelter  in  summer,  which  is  heated  during  the  skating 
season.  It  has  two  large  swimming  pools,  through  which  a 
brook  of  pure  water  flows  continuously,  lockers  for  the  cloth- 


604  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

ing  of  the  bathers,  modern  toilet  rooms,  and,  in  the  second 
story,  a  branch  of  the  Minneapolis  Library.  The  pretty 
'^Shelter"  in  Loring  Park  is  also  a  gift  to  the  city. 

Columbia  Park,  containing  185  acres,  was  purchased  in 
1892,  and  its  cost  was  assessed  on  benefited  property,  which 
was  greatly  enhanced  in  value  by  the  location  of  the  park. 

Glenwood  Park,  the  rural  park  of  the  system,  now  con- 
tains nearly  600  acres,  which  the  Board  hopes  to  increase  to 
1,000  acres.  It  contains  a  beautiful  little  lake,  surrounded  by 
hills  which  are  heavily  wooded,  one  of  which  is  the  highest 
point  in  Hennepin  county.  In  this  park  the  native  wild  flowers 
are  carefully  kept  in  growing  condition  by  Miss  Eloise  Butler, 
who  has  charge  of  the  wild  garden,  where  nearly  all  of  the 
native  flowers  of  the  State  are  cared  for.  This  collection  is 
much  appreciated  by  those  who  are  interested  in  plant  life,  and 
is  of  great  educational  value. 

The  parkways  are  important  features  of  the  Minneapolis 
park  systems,  the  most  important  being  the  Minnehaha  and  the 
River  Bank  drives. 

When  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  purchased  the  east  and  west 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  river  from  Port  Snelling  to  the  Uni- 
versity, they  secured  for  posterity  the  most  beautiful  parkway 
in  this  country,  forming  really  a  great  park  wifh  the  mighty 
i:iver  running  through  it.  The  area  on  the  west  side,  from 
Minnehaha  to  Eiverside  Park,  and  including  both,  is  369  acres, 
of  the  most  picturesque  character;  on  the  east  side,  from  the 
University  to  Fort  Snelling,  682  acres. 

The  late  Joseph  A.  Wheelock,  to  whom  the  City  of  St.  Paul 
and  the  Stat^  of  Minnesota  owe  so  much  for  his  unselfish  work 
for  their  development  and  prosperity,  wrote  in  one  of  his  re- 
ports, when  President  of  the  Park  Board: 

With  the  acquisition  of  the  river  bank  from  Summit  avenue  to 
Fort  Snelling,  the  Crty  of  St.  Paul  will  possess  a  driveway  about  eight 
miles  and  a  half  in  length,  along  the  summit  of  the  bluff  walls  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  which  eminent  landscape  architects  agree 
in  saying  will  have  no  equal  in  America  in  the  picturesque  aspects  of 
the  river  scenery  which  it  will  command,  and  in  the  beauty  of  its  forest 
environment.  Meanwhile,  the  Minneapolis  Park  Board  are  about  to 
acquire  the  corresponding  edge  and  slopes  of  the  bluffs  on  the  western 
side  of  the  river,  which  it  is  hoped  the  military  authorities  will  extend 
or  permit  to  be  extended  to  Fort  Snelling  bridge,  which  will  form  one 


PARKS  AND  PtJBLlC  GROUNDS  OP  MINNEAPOLIS.  605 


^K  connecting  link  between  the  two  boulevards,  as  Marshall  avenue  bridge 
^m  will  form  another.  With  these  connections  the  twin  boulevards  will 
^B  form  a  circuit  along  the  summits  of  the  bluff  hills  on  both  sides  qt  the 
^B  river,  and  will  duplicate,  in  one  enchanting  drive,  the  charms  of  each. 
^B  There  will  be  nothing  like  it,  or  approaching  it  in  beauty,  in  any  other 
American  city. 

The  development  of  these  river  boulevards  along  the  coterminous 
boundaries  of  the  two  cities  will  bring  these  parkways  and  park  sys- 
tems into  close  contact,  being  a  long  step  forward  towards  a  still  wider 
scheme  of  interconnection. 

These  riverside  parkways  are  now  completed,  and  the 
dreams  of  the  advocates  for  the  parks  are  being  realized. 

Minneapolis  now  has  thirty-three  miles  of  parkways,  and 
this  will  be  largely  increased  by  a  drive  of  over  ten  miles  in 
length,  which  will  entirely  encircle  the  city,  making  over  forty- 
three  miles  within  the  city  limits.  Dr.  W.  W.  Folwell,  when 
President  of  the  Board,  suggested  this  drive,  which  will  con- 
nect all  the  parkways  and  many  of  the  parks  of  Minneapolis, 
to  be  called  the  ''Grand  Rounds."  This  will  connect  with  the 
St.  Paul  parkways,  giving  to  the  Twin  Cities  the  longest,  most 
diversified,  and  grandest  system  of  drives  in  the  country.  With 
all  of  its  branches,  including  those  now  completed  and  others 
which  are  planned,  there  will  be  over  seventy-five  miles,  run- 
ning through  valleys,  over  hills,  bordering  lakes  and  rivers,  a 
large  portion  through  forests  and  grand  natural  scenery. 

The  park  system  of  Minneapolis  now  consists  of: 

27  parks  of  over  five  acres  each 2,767.13  acres. 

40  small  systems  and  triangles 228.10  acres. 

8  parkways  or  bouvelards  from  200  to  600  feet 

wide  662.58  acres. 

12  playgrounds,  9  now  in  use 31.08  acres. 

Total 3,688.89  acres. 

If  one  looks  at  the  large  sum  the  parks  have  cost  and  is  not 
familiar  with  the  financial  conditions  and  the  amount  which 
should  be  credited  to  them  through  the  increase  in  the  value 
of  the  real  estate  contiguous  to  them,  he  is  apt  to  say  that  the 
City  is  expending  too  much  money  for  recreation  grounds ;  but 
the  facts  are  that,  with  one  exception,  there  is  not  a  park  or 
parkway  in  Minneapolis  that  is  not  a  source  of  profit  through 
the  amount  collected  in  taxes  on  increased  valuations.    This  is 


606  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

not  only  true  in  Minneapolis,  but  it  is  true  in  other  cities.  The 
great  landscape  architect,  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  said:  ''That 
a  well  arranged  and  attractive  park  adds  greatly  to  the  value 
of  real  estate,  is  a  well  known  fact."  The  foremost  business 
men  of  New  York  said  the  purchase  of  Central  Park  was  the 
city's  most  profitable  real  estate  speculation. 

Jacob  Eiis,  the  philanthropic  friend  of  the  poor,  said: 

It  is  a  wicked  city  where  the  boy  is  denied  a  chance  to  play.  .  .  . 
Build  your  parks  and  playgrounds,  and  the  boy  gets  a  chance  at  once; 
and  when  he  gets  it,  he  will  go  to  work  and  he  will  be  a  good  citizen. 
As  a  result  of  the  three  years'  era  of  reform  in  New  York  City,  in  which 
twenty-two  millions  of  dollars  had  been  expended  for  parks,  play- 
grounds, and  schoolhouses,  the  death  rate  was  reduced  from  26.33  per 
cent  to  18.66  per  cent. 

An  article  in  the  New  England  Magazine,  on  the  town  of 
Brookline,  Mass.,  says: 

Regarding  municipal  development  on  broad  lines  as  a  remunerative 
investment  for  the  town,  the  Beacon  Parkway  will  be  cited.  Beacon 
street  was  widened  from  160  to  180  feet  in  width,  the  entire  cost  being 
$615,000.  In  six  years  the  increase  in  assessed  values  of  land  on  each 
side  of  the  Parkway  throughout  its  entire  length  in  Brookline  was 
$4,330,400,  with  no  allowance  for  any  increase  in  personal  estate  inci- 
dent thereto;  thus  paying  for  itself  long  before  its  most  zealous  advo- 
cates supposed  it  would. 

The  experience  of  Minneapolis  is  the  same  as  that  of  other 
cities.  Before  improvements  were  made  in  Lake  of  the  Isles 
Park,  lots  were  selling  for  from  $15  to  $20  per  front  foot. 
Within  two  years  from  the  beginning  of  those  improvements 
the  price  had  risen  to  $100  and  over  per  front  foot.  Many 
more  instances  could  be  cited  to  prove  that  well  considered 
plans  for  large  public  improvements  of  this  kind  are  profitable 
investments.  But,  better  than  the  financial  benefits  to  be  de- 
rived from  them,  they  are  invaluable  for  the  promotion  of  the 
health,  the  morals,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  people. 

The  Park  Board  for  more  than  twenty  years  has  had  the 
entire  control  of  the  planting  and  care  of  the  street  trees,  and 
its  forestry  committee  is  planting  about  two  thousand  each 
year.    This  department  has  done  much  to  make  the  streets  of 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OP  MINNEAPOLIS.  607 

the  city  attractive,  and  it  is  becoming  noted  as  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  shaded  cities  in  America. 

If  the  establishment  of  parks  in  the  towns  and  cities  of  the 
State  is  encouraged,  some  speaker,  in  future  years,  who  has 
the  privilege  of  appearing  before  the  Minnesota  Historical  So- 
ciety, will  be  able  to  relate  more  fully  the  practical  benefits 
and  elevating  influences  derived  from  the  people's  recreation 
grounds. 


Postscript,  in  accordance  with  rkoukst  of  the  Council. 


The  foregoing  paper,  read  by  its  author  in  the  meeting  of 
this  Society,  met  with  deservedly  generous  applause;  but,  in 
the  discussion  which  followed,  the  criticism  was  made  that  the 
author,  with  characteristic  modesty,  had  carefully  avoided  any 
reference  to  the  part  he  had  himself  had  in  the  development  of 
the  Minneapolis  Park  System.  The  undersigned  was  therefore 
requested  to  add  a  memorandum  to  accompany  this  paper,  to 
supply  in  some  measure  the  admitted  deficiency. 

The  Park  System  of  Minneapolis  has  not  been  the  work  of 
any  one  man,  but  has  resulted  from  the  unpaid  co-operative 
efforts  of  many,  so  many  that  space  cannot  be  afforded  for  even 
a  list.  But  there  is  not  one  of  them  all  who  have  so  co-operated 
who  will  not  desire  to  have  Mr.  Charles  M.  Loring  singled  out 
and  honored  as  the  one  most  active,  zealous,  and  indefatigable. 
He  was  a  prime  mover  in  all  the  abortive  efforts  toward  park 
beginning  described  in  his  paper.  Failure  only  spurred  him  to 
renewed  activity.  Possibly  he  deserves  the  gratitude  of  the 
city  for  all  these  failures  as  much  as  for  the  later  successes. 

The  fundamental  act  of  the  legislature  of  1883,  condemned 
by  the  city  council  and  denounced  by  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
would  not  have  been  passed  but  for  his  untiring  advocacy. 
When  the  first  Park  Board  was  formed  under  the  law,  Mr. 
Loring  was  at  once  logically  placed  at  its  head.  He  held  the 
presidency  for  many  years,  and  might  have  retained  it  indefi- 
nitely, but  that  he  felt  obliged  to  resign  when  the  Board  de- 
sired to  acquire  a  piece  of  land  in  which  he  had  an  interest. 
But  no  matter  whether  in  the  chair  or  on  the  floor,  and  even 
after  his  ultimate  retirement  from  the  board,  his  interest  never 
flagged  nor  his  enthusiasm  abated.     Indeed  the  contagion  of 


608  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

Mr.  Loring's  enthusiasm  has  perhaps  been  the  most  potent 
force  in  the  whole  development. 

Among  the  services  deserving  of  particular  mention  is  one 
in  which  he  took  great  pride,  and  which  was  of  great  and  last- 
ing advantage.  That  was  the  discovery  of  two  men  soon  after 
the  organization  of  the  Park  Board.  It  was  he  who  secured 
the  services  of  Horace  W.  S.  Cleveland,  already  eminent  among 
American  landscape  artists,  for  designing  our  earlier  parks  and 
parkways.  Mr.  Cleveland  possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  art 
of  subordinating  art  to  nature.  All  his  designs  were  accom- 
modated to  the  shape  and  contour  of  natural  surfaces.  The 
grove  or  forest,  the  lawn  or  meadow,  in  his  vistas  and  surprises 
were  the  dominant  elements.  All  artificial  constructions  were 
kept  out  of  sight,  so  far  as  passible,  or  blended  in  the  landscape. 

The  other  man  was  William  M.  Berry,  who  had  co-operated 
with  Mr.  Cleveland  in  the  development  of  Chicago  parks.  The 
two  made  an  admirable  team.  In  absolute  sympathy  Avith  Mr. 
Cleveland's  ideas,  Mr.  Berry  knew  how  to  work  them  out  faith- 
fully, and  with  a  degree  of  economy  beyond  praise.  Every 
dollar  allowed  him  showed  in  results.  It  was  the  effective 
simplicity  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  designs,  carried  out  by  Mr.  Berry 
at  costs  that  seem  pitifully  small  in  these  days,  which  over- 
came opposition  and  reconciled  citizens  to  larger  outlays  for 
park  acquirement  and  maintenance. 

In  the  working  season  there  were  few  days,  for  many  years, 
when  Mr.  Loring  was  not  in  the  field  with  one  or  other  of  these 
admirable  experts.  In  grateful  recognition  of  his  labors  the 
Park  Board  gave  the  name  of  Loring  Park  to  the  first  acquired 
and  most  conspicuous  of  the  interior  parks.  It  would  be  but 
just  that  some  enduring  memorials  of  Cleveland  and  Berry,  his 
co-workers,  should  be  provided. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  Charles  M.  Loring  has  had 
the  park  system  of  Minneapolis  close  to  his  heart,  but  not  to 
the  exclusion  of  other  good  causes.  Every  public  interest  of 
his  city  and  state  has  had  his  sympathy  and  support;  but  his 
fellow  citizens  know  him  best  by  his  long  and  faithful  labors 
to  build  up  their  parks,  and  they  have  given  him  the  title  they 
desire  posterity  to  perpetuate,  "Father  of  the  Park  System." 

William  W.  Folwdll. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS 
OF  ST.  PAUL.* 


BY  LLOYD  PEABODY. 


Of  the  few  whose  prophetic  vision  in  the  early  years  of  the 
history  of  this  city  swept  over  our  river  bluffs  and  alternating 
hills  and  valleys  and  saw  there,  ready  to  our  fashioning,  a  com- 
bined park  system  unequaled  in  its  setting,  Joseph  A.  Wheelock 
was  easily  first.  It  is  not  claimed,  here,  that  he  was  the  first 
in  point  of  time  to  dream  of  great  things  for  the  future,  but 
that,  summing  up  the  things  he  sought  to  bring  about,  and 
comparing  them  with  the  actual  achievement,  there  is  no  other 
man  who  can  be  placed  beside  him  as  a  founder  of  our  parks. 

The  Pioneer  Press,  which  became  great  under  his  hand,  was 
always  a  power  for  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the  city 
in  the  domain  of  parks.  Identified  as  he  was,  from  the  very 
earliest  efforts  in  that  direction,  with  the  movement  for  the 
acquisition  of  parks,  his  interest  and  his  work  never  flagged. 
We  are  informed  by  those  who  knew  him  most  intimately  that 
for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  fully  half  of  his  time  was  given 
to  work  for  the  parks.  Before  his  active  connection  with  the 
Park  Board  there  was  no  park  system.  His  imagination  saw, 
and  his  mind  devised,  the  system  of  parks  and  boulevards  for 
St.  Paul  as  they  are  today.  His  energy  and  perseverance 
brought  to  a  conclusion  many  of  the  most  important  of  the  sep- 
arate features  of  the  system. 

Mr.  Wheelock  spent  the  most  of  what  to  other  men  would 
have  been  leisure  time  in  going  about  the  city  and  its  environs, 
in  company  with  his  most  effective  and  sympathetic  co-worker, 
Mr.  Nussbaumer,  Superintendent  of  Parks.  Day  after  day  and 
month  after  month,  almost  without  rest  so  far  as  holidays  were 
concerned,  they  went  over  the  proposed  system,  planning  an 


•Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  March  10, 
1913. 


610  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

area  here,  a  connecting  boulevard  there,  and  perfecting  and 
bringing  into  symmetry  as  a  whole  that  remarkable  series  of 
natural  intervals  and  spaces  which  we  now  know  as  our  park 
system. 

Th^  Old  Syste:m  ;  Public  Squares. 

The  classification  of  our  park  areas,  with  reference  to  the 
original  purpose  back  of  their  institution  as  such  areas,  falls 
readily  into  two  classes,  the  old  and  the  new. 

The  park  areas  belonging  to  the  old  system  were  really  not 
of  a  system  at  all.  They  were  merely  a  haphazard  lot  of  open 
spaces,  which  had  come  to  the  possession  of  the  city  in  all  sorts 
of  ways,  and  with  no  common  nor  ordered  purpose  on  the  part 
of  the  donors,  when  they  were  donated,  nor  of  the  authorities 
of  the  city  in  the  cases  when  the  areas  were  acquired  by  pur- 
chase or  condemnation.  These  areas  had  no  relation  to  each 
other,  nor  to  any  general  plan. 

It  is  not  intended  by  any  means  to  detract  either  from  the 
merit  of  the  various  donors  of  those  old  park  plots,  or  from 
their  utility  and  even  beauty.  Many  of  them,  as  will  be  noted 
later,  lend  dignity  to  their  surroundings,  are  quite  fit  and  ade- 
quate as  park  spaces  in  their  respective  localities,  and  are  justly 
considered  as  monuments  to  the  men  whose  generosity  pre- 
served them  to  public  use.  The  point  here  made  simply  is  that 
the  park  areas  of  St.  Paul,  as  a  unified  system,  were  never 
dreamed  of,  certainly  never  effectively,  until  the  dreams  of 
Joseph  A.  "Wheelock,  and  of  those  who  worked  with  him  and 
after  him,  came  true. 

The  greater  number  of  the  old  areas  are  most  fitly  defined 
as  public  squares,  having  some  utility  as  connective  ways  be- 
tween neighboring  streets,  and  which  in  closely  built  up  por- 
tions of  the  city  give  distinction  to  the  surrounding  archi- 
tecture. 

COURT  HOUSE   SQUARE. 

The  first  of  these  squares,  in  point  of  relative  importance,  is 
the  Court  House  Square,  on  which  the  present  Court  House 
stands.  This  was  donated  to  the  County  of  Kamsey  by  Vital 
Guerin,  in  1850.  Later,  in  1876,  his  widow,  Adele  Guerin,  gave 
^  quitclaim  deed  of  the  property  to  the  county  in  consideration 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       611 

of  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars;  and  in  1892  the  County 
deeded  a  half  to  the  City.  The  location  of  this  square,  which 
was  perhaps  originally  nearly  accidental,  proved  to  be  a  most 
fortunate  one,  situated,  as  it  is,  between  Fourth  and  Fifth 
streets  on  "Wabasha,  on  one  edge  of  the  business  district  proper, 
yet  in  a  quite  central  location  with  respect  to  all  parts  of  the 
city. 

RICE  PARK. 

Next  in  importance  of  these  public  squares  is  Rice  Park. 
If  it  were  not  for  the  use  made  of  the  Court  House  Square,  this 
park  should  be  placed  first  in  the  list.  Located,  as  it  is,  be- 
tween Fourth  and  Fifth  streets,  with  St.  Peter  street  on  the 
east,  it  has  already  become  the  center  of  a  series  of  public  and 
semi-public  edifices  of  noble  design  and  architecture,  which 
buildings  would  lack  a  large  share  of  their  present  effective- 
ness, from  an  artistic  standpoint,  in  the  absence  of  an  open 
space  for  a  proper  setting.  With  the  United  States  Building 
on  the  northerly  side,  the  new  Public  Library  on  the  south, 
made  possible  largely  through  the  munificence  of  James  J.  Hill, 
and  the  Wilder  Charity  Building  on  the  west,  there  are  few 
similar  areas  in  any  city  which  so  well  serve  the  purpose  for 
which  they  were  originally  devoted  as  does  Rice  Park. 

The  ground,  1.60  acres,  was  donated  to  the  city  by  the  own- 
ers and  platters  of  that  and  the  surrounding  property,  former 
United  States  Senator  Henry  M.  Rice,  and  his  associate,  John 
R.  Irvine.  The  donation  was  made  May  16,  1849.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that  there  never  was  any  formal  dedication  of 
this  square  to  public  uses.  On  the  plat  of  Rice  and  Irvine's 
Addition,  the  ground  is  designated  as  ''Public  Square."  The 
only  approach  to  a  dedication  appearing  on  the  plat  are  the 
words,  ''....  that  the  map  hereto  attached  is  a  correct 
map  .  .  .,"  etc.  The  filing  of  such  a  map,  however,  fol- 
lowed by  the  taking  possession  by  the  public,  constitutes  a  suffi- 
cient transfer  of  the  interest  of  the  donors  to  the  city  (which 
continued  as  a  village  until  five  years  after  the  date  of  the 
plat). 

IRVINE  PARK. 

This  park  or  square  is  noticed  next  in  order,  not  because  of 
its  relative  importance,  but  on  account  of  the  fact  that  it  passed 


612  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

to  the  city  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  way  as  Rice  Park, 
just  described.  It  is  located  at  the  intersection  of  Franklin 
and  Walnut  streets,  in  the  West  Seventh  street  district.  By 
itself,  this  park  of  3.58  acres  is  a  dignified  and  sightly  square, 
but  the  development  of  the  city  has  left  it  with  no  distinctive 
surroundings.  It  is  of  value  as  a  breathing  space  and  a  neigh- 
borhood park,  but  it  cannot  be  given  any  higher  rating  as  an 
institution  of  public  utility  or  beauty.  It  is  a  part  of  the  land 
platted  with  Rice  Park  in  Rice  and  Irvine's  Addition.  The 
area  here,  also,  is  simply  indicated  on  the  plat  as  ''Public 
Square."  The  names  of  these  two  parks  were  bestowed  in  rec- 
ognition of  the  generosity  of  the  donors  respectively. 

SMITH  PARK. 

This  square  of  2.03  acres,  lying  between  Fifth  and  Sixth 
and  Sibley  and  Wacouta  streets,  should  be  ranked  third  among 
this  class  of  spaces  in  the  city.  It  affords  some  slight  utility 
as  a  connective  way  for  pedestrians,  but  is  chiefly  useful  as 
affording  one  of  those  open  spaces  which  add  so  much  to  the 
sightliness  of  a  city,  especially  in  a  congested  district  such  as 
is  the  one  in  St.  Paul  where  it  is  located,  and  which  add  greatly 
to  the  artistic  merit  of  the  surrounding  architecture,  as  already 
pointed  out. 

This  square  was  acquired  by  the  city  at  the  time  of  the  plat 
of  Whitney  and  Smith 's  Addition,  in  which  it  lies.  The  owners 
of  the  plat  were  Cornelius  I.  Whitney  and  Robert  Smith.  They 
were  both  non-residents.  The  name  of  the  latter  was  assigned 
to  this  square,  which  on  the  plat  appears  merely  as  a  space 
marked  ' '  10, "  as  a  block  number  in  a  series  of  blocks.  The  ded- 
ication recites  that  the  owners  of  the  property  ''hereby  convey 
the  public  square  to  the  public,"  etc. 

The  ground  was  originally  a  high  hill  of  drift  gravel  and 
boulders,  some  sixty  feet  above  the  surrounding  land,  and  has 
been  graded  down  to  its  present  level  in  the  general  improve- 
ment of  the  district.  The  recorded  plat  bears  date  of  July  24, 
1849. 

SUMMIT  PARK. 

This  is  a  beautifully  adorned  square  of  .79  of  an  acre,  lying 
at  Summit  and  Nelson  avenues.    Half  of  it  was  donated  to  the 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       613 

city  by  Bartlett  Presley,  and  the  other  half  was  purchased  at 
a  cost  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  It  has  been  ornamented  at  a 
cost  of  $2,104.57;  and  it  is  the  site  of  the  City  Monument  to 
the  Soldiers  of  the  Civil  War.  The  plot  was  acquired  in  March, 
1883.  Although  of  small  area,  the  outlook  it  affords  over  the 
business  section  of  the  city,  and  its  adornment  with  a  growth 
of  large  forest  trees,  make  it  one  of  the  most  important  small 
parks  in  the  city. 

CENTRAL  PARK. 

Central  Park,  which  contains  2.35  acres,  occupies  so  com- 
manding a  position,  with  reference  to  possible  future  ap- 
proaches to  the  State  Capitol,  that  it  possesses  an  importance 
which  increases  as  time  goes  on.  It  lies  just  north  of  the  junc- 
tion of  Minnesota  street  with  Summit  avenue. 

The  acquisition  of  this  park  presents  one  of  the  earliest  in- 
stances of  the  citizens  of  St.  Paul  making  an  effort  to  improve 
the  appearance  of  the  city  by  increasing  its  open  spaces.  Mr. 
Frederick  H.  Warwick,  a  lithographic  artist,  drew  a  map  of  a 
proposed  park  designed  to  take  in  the  ground  which  now  con- 
stitutes Central  Park.  George  H.  Hazzard,  now  Superintend- 
ent of  the  State  Park  at  Taylor's  Falls,  interested  himself  with 
John  C.  Quinby,  Major  John  Espy,  and  others,  in  agitating  the 
matter  of  acquiring  the  park  and  in  procuring  options  on  the 
property.  Theodore  L.  Schurmeier,  William  Lindeke,  W.  R. 
Merriam,  Uri  L.  Lamprey,  William  Dawson,  and  other  well 
known  men,  were  owners  in  the  desired  tract.  Mr.  Dawson 
purchased  the  interests  of  Mr.  Merriam  and  Mr.  Lamprey,  and 
with  others  made  a  donation  to  the  city  of  a  good  portion  of 
the  ground.  The  remainder  of  the  tract  was  purchased  by  the 
city.    The  date  of  acquisition  was  November  15,  1884. 

LAFAYETTE  SQUARE. 

This  square  was  acquired  by  the  city  by  purchase  in  the 
years  1884-86,  at  an  initial  cost  of  $18,088.80 ;  and  it  has  been 
improved  at  a  cost  of  $1,513.80.  The  area  is  1.01  acres.  This 
ground  has  for  many  years  served  the  purposes  of  a  neighbor- 
hood park  at  Grove,  Locust,  Ninth  and  Willius  streets,  where 
it  is  situated.  It  seems  likely  that  this  square  will  pass  into 
history  by  the  encroachment  from  the  surrounding  territory  of 


6l4         Minnesota  historical  society  collections. 

business  which  cannot  well  accommodate  itself  to  broken  areas 
and  spaces. 

The:  N^w  Syste:m  of  Parks. 
It  is  perhaps  not  quite  accurate  historically  to  class  our 
three  principal  landscape  parks  as  belonging  to  the  new  sys- 
tem. What  that  system  comprehends  is  set  out  more  fully 
under  the  next  following  subdivision  of  ''Parkways  and  Boule- 
vards." But  it  seems  most  appropriate  to  class  them  with  the 
new,  rather  than  with  the  old,  for  while  the  beginnings  of  Como 
Park,  particularly,  run  back  into  the  early  history  of  the  city, 
yet  its  development  and  that  of  the  other  two  mentioned  have 
been  perfected  under  the  new  spirit  which  has  brought  our 
parks  as  a  whole  to  their  present  standard. 

como  park. 

No  history  of  the  parks  of  St.  Paul  would  be  well  balanced 
which  did  not  give  large  space  to  Como  Park.  This  conclusion 
is  established  by  several  considerations.  Its  history  runs  back 
well  toward  the  beginning  of  the  city,  as  above  pointed  out. 
Its  area,  319.34  acres  of  land,  107.75  of  water,  having  thus  a 
total  of  427.09  acres,  gives  an  expanse  devoted  to  landscape 
gardening  quite  commensurate  with  the  present  development 
and  wealth  of  St.  Paul.  Its  individual  beauty,  regardless  of 
comparisons  with  other  like  parks,  is  too  manifest  for  discus- 
sion. Finally,  its  location  affords  a  sort  of  nucleus  from  which 
run  out  several  parkways,  uniting  this  most  important  park 
with  the  entire  system. 

The  history  of  this  park  begins  with  an  act  of  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Minnesota  approved  February  29,  1872,  by  which  the 
Judge  of  the  District  Court  in  Ramsey  County  was  required  to 
appoint  five  commissioners,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  con- 
tract for  and  purchase  not  less  than  five  hundred,  nor  more 
than  six  hundred  and  fifty,  acres  of  land  within  a  convenient 
distance  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul,  but  "beyond  the  present  limits 
thereof,"  for  a  public  park.  A  bond  issue  was  provided,  to  an 
amount  not  exceeding  $100,000,  for  the  purchase  of  the  tract 
to  be  selected  by  the  commissioners.  In  1873  the  act  was 
amended  in  some  particulars,  and  pursuant  to  the  act  Judge 


I^ARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROXJNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.  615 

Westcott  Wilkin  appointed,  as  commissioners,  General  H.  H. 
Sibley,  Joseph  A.  Wheelock,  Samuel  Calhoun,  William  Pitt 
Murray,  and  J.  C.  Burbank. 

The  City  Council  took  the  necessary  steps  for  the  issuance 
of  the  bonds,  the  lands  of  the  first  portion  acquired  were  se- 
lected at  Lake  Como  and  put  under  contract,  and  the  details 
of  perfecting  the  transfers  from  the  various  owners  were  put 
under  way.  Meanwhile  opposition  sprang  up  in  several  quar- 
ters, and  it  finally  spread  till  it  appeared  to  involve  nearly  all 
the  best  citizenship  of  St.  Paul.  The  first  active  opposition 
appears  to  have  taken  shape  in  the  City  Council. 

In  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch  for  July  2,  1873,  on  page  2,  ap- 
pears the  following  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Common 
Council  of  St.  Paul: 

A  communication  was  received  from  the  parties  owning  the  real 
estate  purchased  for  the  public  park,  notifying  the  council  that  they 
were  ready  to  perfect  title  to  the  land  as  soon  as  the  city  should  exe- 
cute the  necessary  bonds  for  the  purpose Alderman 

Fisher  moved  the  reconsideration  of  the  resolution  by  which  the  Coun- 
cil had  directed  the  purchase  of  the  property  at  Lake  Como  for  park 
purposes.  In  support  of  the  resolution  he  read  a  long  speech,  and 
concluded  with  an  appeal  to  the  Council  not  to  make  laws  in  favor  of 
the  rich  who  could  "ride  in  chaises,"  and  against  the  poor  who  could 
not  afford  to  indulge  in  such  articles. 

Alderman  Louis  Krieger  made  some  remarks  in  support  of 
the  resolution,  in  which  he  referred  to  those  who  had  "parks 
on  the  brain,"  to  ''oppression  of  the  poor,"  etc.  The  motion 
to  reconsider  was  lost. 

The  speech  of  Alderman  J.  W.  Fisher  in  support  of  his 
resolution  appears  in  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch  for  July  3,  1873, 
and  refers  to  the  acreage  of  the  park  as  257  acres,  and  to  the 
bond  issue  as  being  $392,000. 

In  the  Dispatch  for  February  18,  1874,  appears  the  record 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  Common  Council  at  which  Alderman 
Krieger  introduced  a  resolution  in  the  following  language: 

Whereas,  The  City  Council  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul  did  purchase  a 
public  park  at  and  near  Lake  Como,  and  whereas  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple is  apparently  opposed  to  the  city  holding  said  land  for  such  pur- 
pose. 

That  the  public  debt  of  the  city  has  thereby  been  increased  beyond 


616  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  interests  of  the  tax-payers,  and  at  a  time  when  they  are  least  able 
to  bear  it. 

That  no  publicly  expressed  voice  of  the  people  demanded  said 
purchase;  that  the  public  interest  demands  that  said  lands  be  sold  and 
the  proceeds  placed  in  the  city  treasury  to  pay  the  principal  and  in- 
terest of  said  department  incurred  thereby,  if  the  same  can  be  done 
by  authority  of  law.    Therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  subject  of  the  power  of  the  city  to  sell  a  part 
or  the  whole  of  said  park  lands  be  referred  to  the  City  Attorney  for 
his  legal  opinion,  as  to  the  legal  right  of  the  city  to  sell  lands  or  some 
part  thereof,  and  [that  he]  send  the  same  to  the  Council  at  the  earliest 
day  practicable. 

The  subject  became  a  matter  of  general  public  concern  and 
was  taken  up  by  the  old  Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  body  older 
than,  and  quite  distinct  from,  the  present  Commercial  Club  of 
St.  Paul.  Prior  to  formal  action,  the  following  petition  was 
circulated  and  signed,  and,  with  the  names  attached,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Dispatch,  which  at  that  date  had  become  the 
''Evening  Dispatch,"  in  the  issue  of  April  4,  1874.  The  peti- 
tion is  as  follows : 

The:  Como  Park.  A  Petition  for  its  Sale. 
To  the  President  and  Common  Council,  City  of  St.  Paul,  Gentlemen  : 
The  indebtedness  of  St.  Paul  is  increasing  at  an  alarming  extent, 
and  we  the  undersigned  taxpayers  would  ask  of  your  honorable  tody 
to  sell  the  park  property,  provided  it  can  be  sold'  at  cost,  and  reduce 
our  liabilities.  What  we  most  need  is  sewerage,  elevators,  free  bridge 
and  good  roads.  We  ask  you  as  taxpayers  that  you  so  regulate  the 
burden  of  taxation  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  future  prosperity 
of  St.  Paul,  and  not  for  the  advancement  of  private  interests  of  wild 
real  estate  speculators. 

The  petition  bears  the  names  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  signers, — names,  be  it  said,  even  today,  of  the  highest 
honor  in  St.  Paul.  At  least  twenty-five  of  the  names  are  those 
of  men  who  are  universally  known  and  respected  today.  For 
obvious  reasons  the  publication  of  the  list  of  these  names  is 
forborne.  These  men  represented  the  best  blood  of  St.  Paul  at 
that  time.  But  the  citizens  were  oppressed  by  business  re- 
verses brought  on  by  the  ''panic  of  '73,"  referred  to  in  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  meeting  stated  more  in  detail  below. 
The  city  was  then  small,  with  a  population  of  only  about  30,000. 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       61 7 

The  park  project  was  a  very  ambitious  one  for  a  new  city, 
whose  citizens  were  struggling  with  the  financial  depression 
that  was  then  world-wide. 

Further,  the  final  action  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on 
this  matter  appears  to  indicate  that  the  sober  second  thought 
of  the  men  of  St.  Paul  was  sound,  and  that  the  petition  was 
born  of  fears  to  which  they  had  only  temporarily  yielded.  Two 
days  after  the  publication  of  the  petition  there  was  published 
in  the  Dispatch  for  April  6,  an  account  of  the  consideration  of 
the  petition  at  a  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  The 
account  states  that  William  L.  Banning  spoke  in  support  of 
the  petition,  and  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  reiterated  some 
prior  statements  made  by  him  that  the  park  when  completed 
would  have  cost  three  million  dollars.  Pennock  Pusey  spoke 
in  favor  of  retaining  the  park,  and  in  the  course  of  his  remarks 
said: 

It  was  thought,  and  I  think  wisely  thought,  that  we  should  profit 
by  the  errors  and  omissions  of  other  cities,  and  take  timely  steps  to 
secure  one  of  the  many  sightly  and  characteristic  spots  for  which  our 
landscape  is  noted,  before  the  complications  arising  from  the  erection 
of  expensive  private  improvements  should  render  the  undertaking  diffi- 
cult and  costly I  submit  that  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke 

&  Co.  and  the  resulting  monetary  scare,  matters  of  temporary  con- 
cern, things  of  today,  from  the  effects  of  which  we  are  already  rapidly 
recovering,  are  scarcely  a  sufficient  cause  for  the  abandonment  of  all 
provision  for  an  expanding  future. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note,  in  passing,  that  Mr.  Pusey  in  his 
address  charges  Mr.  Banning  with  saying  that  no  parks  would 
be  needed  until  after  the  passage  of  fifty  years,  when  St.  Paul 
should  have  attained  a  population  of  two  hundred  thousand. 
We  shall  not  complete  this  fifty  year  period  till  1924. 

The  matter  was  laid  over  for  a  week,  and  in  the  issue  of 
the  Dispatch  for  April  13,  1874,  it  is  chronicled  that  the  peti- 
tion was  indefinitely  postponed,  with  but  one  dissenting  vote. 
The  name  of  the  dissenting  member  is  not  given,  but  we  may 
easily  guess  it. 

At  the  time  of  the  presentation  and  consideration  of  these 
trouble-borrowing  resolutions,  there  was  in  progress  a  con- 
clusive demonstration  of  the  wisdom,  from  a  business  stand- 


6l8  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

point  alone,  of  the  purchase  of  the  park  lands,  and  as  well  the 
fairness  of  the  purchase  price,  commercially  considered.  This 
appears  in  an  editorial  in  the  Dispatch  in  the  issue  for  April  7, 
1874.  It  is  there  stated  that  the  real  estate  firm  of  Col.  D.  A. 
Robertson  &  Son  proposed  to  purchase  Como  Park,  except  a 
hundred  acres  to  be  retained  by  the  city,  the  purchase  to  be 
effected  by  guaranteeing  the  payment  of  the  bonds  which  were 
issued  to  secure  the  park  lands,  so  that  the  100  acres  would  cost 
the  city  nothing.  The  editorial  goes  on  to  state  that  this  prop- 
osition will  go  far  toward  convincing  the  most  skeptical  that 
the  purchase  of  Como  Park  was  a  judicious  investment. 

The  work  of  shaping  the  wooded  area  and  utilizing  the  ex- 
panse of  water  included  in  the  original  purchase,  and  in  later 
acquisitions  for  Como  Park,  has  fallen  to  the  Superintendent  of 
Parks,  Frederick  Nussbaumer,  who  has  held  his  present  position 
continuously  since  his  appointment  in  1892,  It  is  but  scant  jus- 
tice to  say  that  the  work  could  not  have  been  put  in  better 
hands.  Mr.  Nussbaumer  has  combined  native  taste  and  a  ca- 
pacity to  grow  with  his  work,  with  executive  ability  of  the  sort 
which  has  enabled  the  Park  Board  over  many  years,  and  with 
the  successive  changes  in  its  personnel,  to  leave  in  his  hands  to 
a  large  degree  the  purely  business  part  of  the  administration 
of  this  and  the  other  parks  of  the  city.  Whatever  of  individual 
service  the  future  may  bring  to  the  city  of  St.  Paul,  Como  will 
remain  as  a  testimonial  to  the  native  genius  and  energy  of 
Superintendent  Nussbaumer. 

It  has  unfortunately  become  true  that  Lake  Como,  the  na- 
tive setting  around  which  the  park  has  been  built,  is  with  diffi- 
culty maintained  at  a  satisfactory  level  of  the  water.  Power- 
ful pumps  were  installed  several  years  ago,  and  during  the  past 
winter  of  1912-13  have  been  worked  continuously  day  and 
night.  The  superintendent  reports  that  even  with  this  constant 
supply  the  level  at  which  the  water  stood  in  October,  1912,  has 
been  but  little  more  than  maintained.  It  is  thought  that  the 
location  of  sewers  in  the  vicinity  has  operated  to  drain  off  and 
thus  divert  from  the  lake  a  considerable  amount  of  surface 
water  which  originally  found  its  way  thither;  and  also  that 
the  work  of  improving  the  lake  has  disturbed  its  natural  bed 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       619 

of  impervious  soil  to  such  an  extent  that  a  partial  drainage 
from  the  lake  itself  has  been  set  up  by  that  means.  It  is  the 
intention  of  the  superintendent  to  seek  a  remedy  for  the  latter 
condition,  which,  if  his  theory  be  correct,  is  susceptible  of  being 
rectified. 

In  the  improvement  of  the  park,  the  shores  of  Lake  Como 
have  been  dredged  out  to  make  a  more  uniform  and  deeper 
stage  of  water  near  the  shores,  the  lagoon  northwest  of  the 
lake  has  been  improved  by  dredging,  and  a  waterway  has  been 
opened  from  it  into  the  lake  proper.  Besides  containing  in 
large  numbers  the  native  plants  and  flowers  of  the  state,  the 
park  now  supports,  through  the  ingenuity  of  Mr.  Nussbaumer, 
not  less  than  twenty  species  which  were  formerly  exotic  to  the 
state. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  prophecies  made  at  the  time 
when  the  first  land  for  Como  Park  was  acquired,  with  what  has 
actually  come  to  pass.  The  total  cost  of  Como  Park  to  date  for 
land  is  $141,880.61,  and  for  improvements  $465,545.19 ;  in  total 
$607,425.80.  This  is  nearly  $2,400,000  less  than  the  three  mil- 
lions which  Mr.  Banning  in  1874  prophesied  it  would  cost. 

Another  light  that  failed  was  Alderman  Fisher.  The  rich 
do  go  to  Como  "in  their  chaises,"  propelled  now  by  gasoline; 
but  it  is  a  safe  hazard,  judging  from  what  one  may  observe  at 
Como  every  summer,  that  there  are  at  least  fifty  poor  people 
and  those  of  the  middle  class  financially  who  patronize  Como, 
to  one  who  goes  there  in  an  automobile  or  carriage. 

PHALEN   PARK. 

This  park  in  its  main  extent  is  of  comparatively  recent  ac- 
quisition, and,  leaving  the  water  out  of  consideration,  is  second 
to  Como  in  size,  containing  239.14  acres  of  land.  There  are 
222.04  acres  of  water,  making  a  total  area  of  461.18  acres,  thus 
somewhat  exceeding  Como  in  total  area.  The  land  was  all  ac- 
quired by  the  city  by  condemnation  proceedings,  dating  from 
the  year  1894  onward.  The  latest  acquisition  was  May  19,  1906. 
The  park  takes  its  name  from  Lake  Phalen  which  forms  a  part 
of  it,  and  which,  with  the  neighboring  hillocks  and  valleys  to 
the  south  and  west,  well  timbered  with  native  oak,  forms  so 


620  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

attractive  an  expanse  of  natural  landscape  that  its  acquisition 
as  a  park  for  the  city  was  almost  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Lake  Phalen  and  its  outflowing  creek  were  named  for  Ed- 
ward Phelan  (whose  name  was  variously  spelled),  one  of  whose 
successive  land  claims,  in  the  earliest  years  of  St.  Paul,  was  on 
this  creek.  He  sold  the  claim  to  William  Dugas,  who  in  1844- 
45  built  a  sawmill  on  the  creek  and  intended  also  to  make  it 
partly  a  grist  mill,  this  being  the  first  mill  in  St.  Paul. 

Though  Phalen  Park  is  somewhat  remote  at  the  present 
time,  yet  in  view  of  its  inherent  fitness  as  a  landscape  park 
and  its  location  on  the  line  of  the  boulevards  destined  to  en- 
circle St.  Paul  as  more  fully  set  out  further  on,  it  is  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  the  city. 

INDIAN  MOUNDS  PARK. 

For  this  park  St.  Paul  is  indebted  to  the  persistence  and 
energy  of  Joseph  A.  Wheelock.  Efforts  for  its  acquisition  had 
been  under  way  for  some  time  before  the  accomplishment  of 
the  project.  The  land  was  obtained  under  condemnation  pro- 
ceedings, but  in  most  cases  the  prices  fixed  for  the  respective 
pieces  of  land  taken  were  the  result  of  coftipromise,  after  al- 
most endless  negotiations  between  Mr.  Wheelock  and  the  vari- 
ous owners.  The  tract  was  acquired  at  different  times  from 
the  year  1893  onward.  The  area  at  present  is  46.33  acres.  The 
land  cost  $126,426.71,  and  the  improvements  $44,101.92;  total, 
$170,528.63. 

The  price  seems  somewhat  large  for  the  amount  of  land 
which  was  secured,  but  in  gauging  the  value  of  the  tract  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  its  main  feature,  that  is,  the 
outlook  both  up  and  down  the  long  sweep  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  from  the  point  where  the  Minnesota  enters  it,  at  Fort 
Snelling,  past  this  city,  and  far  away  to  the  south.  Mounds 
Park  is  entirely  beyond  comparison.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  is 
anywhere  in  any  city  so  impressive  a  combination  of  views, 
where  nearly  the  whole  of  the  business  section  of  a  great  city, 
so  imposing  an  expanse  of  river,  with  a  vast  sweep  of  country 
lying  beyond,  can  all  be  taken  in  at  a  single  viewpoint.  That 
particular  spot  was  known  and  appreciated  by  our  red  broth- 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       621 


P 

^m      ers  long  before  any  white  man  came  elbowing  his  way  in.    Doc- 

^m_     tor  Neill,  in  his  History  of  Minnesota,  sets  out  the  account  by 

^m      Jonathan  Carver  of  the  observation  by  the  latter  of  the  burial 

^B     place  of  the  Indians,  which  is  now  so  prominent  a  feature  in 

the  park,  and  from  which  the  park  takes  its  name.     Carver's 

account,  which  dates  from  what  he  saw  in  the  year  1766,  is  as 

follows : 

At  a  little  distance  from  this  dreary  cavern  [now  known  as  Car- 
ver's cave  and  which  he  had  just  been  describing]  is  the  burying-place 
of  several  bands  of  the  Naudowessie  [Sioux]  Indians.  Though  these 
people  have  no  fixed  residence,  living  in  tents,  and  abiding  but  a  few 
months  on  one  spot,  yet  they  always  bring  the  bones  of  their  dead  to 
this  place. 

HARRIET   ISLAND. 

While  there  was  some  opposition  of  a  rather  negative  sort 
to  the  taking  over  by  the  city  of  Harriet  Island,  yet  no  voice 
has  ever  been  raised  to  claim  that  this  unique  bit  of  nature 
donated  to  the  city  by  the  generosity  of  Dr.  Justus  Ohage,  was 
destined  for  the  use  of  the  rich.  No  act  of  greater  beneficence 
has  ever  been  performed  toward  the  city  or  its  people  than 
that  of  Dr.  Ohage  in  acquiring  and  donating  the  island  in  the 
.  channel  of  the  Mississippi  known  as  Harriet  Island.  That  name 
has  long  been  borne  by  the  bit  of  land  in  the  river  opposite  the 
upper  portion  of  the  business  section  of  the  city,  and  it  was 
bestowed  in  honor  of  Miss  Harriet  E.  Bishop,  who  came  to  St. 
Paul  as  a  teacher  in  the  year  1847.  The  land  was  originally 
but  an  enlarged  sand  bar  in  the  river.  Nature  had,  however, 
clothed  it  with  an  abundant  growth  of  trees,  and  while  Dr. 
Ohage  was  Health  Commissioner  of  St.  Paul  he  conceived  the 
project  of  acquiring  and  improving  the  island  and  turning  it 
into  a  park  and  public  baths  for  the  use  of  the  people  of  the 
city  generally.  He  accordingly  acquired  the  property  and  do. 
nated  it  to  the  city  by  deed  dated  May  26,  1900,  recorded  in 
the  office  of  the  Register  of  Deeds  in  Book  442,  page  439.  The 
area  of  the  island  is  28.13  acres,  much  of  which  is  made  ground. 
The  original  surface  was  a  series  of  undulating  bars  composed 
of  sand  and  silt,  which  have  been  brought  to  something  like  a 
uniform  level,  the  outer  edges  of  the  island  being  raised  by 
hydraulic  dredging  from  the  channel,  and  these  newly-built 
areas  being  sown  to  grass. 


622  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  native  trees  have  served  for  most  of  the  adorning  nec- 
essary in  that  .direction.  Nearly  all  the  trees  of  the  island 
were  overturned  by  the  tornado  of  August  20,  1904,  but  were 
quickly  restored  to  their  original  position  where  not  too  badly 
broken,  and  there  is  now  so  little  trace  of  what  then  seemed 
like  an  irreparable  calamity,  that  the  fact  that  such  an  event 
had  occurred  would  not  now  be  suspected  by  any  visitor  to 
the  island. 

The  bath  houses  have  been  constructed  on  the  northerly 
side  of  the  island,  with  ample  dressing  rooms  for  boys  and  men, 
and  a  separate  room  for  women.  These,  with  the  outdoor 
games  instituted  on  the  island  and  the  small  zoo  maintained 
there,  are  sufficient  attractions  to  keep  the  island  fairly 
thronged  with  visitors,  especially  in  the  evenings  and  on  holi- 
days, throughout  the  summer  months.  It  seems  most  appro- 
priate to  mention  in  this  connection  the  approach  to  Harriet 
Island,  which  belongs  to  the  park  system  of  the  city  and  leads 
from  the  southerly  end  of  the  Wabasha  street  bridge  to  the 
bridge  connecting  Harriet  Island  with  the  mainland.  This  ap- 
proach was  acquired  by  purchase  at  a  cost  of  $3,500  for  the 
land  and  $918.03  for  improvements;  total,  $4,418.03. 

LINWOOD  PARK. 

This  park  is  of  smaller  area  than  the  older  landscape  parks, 
but  is  located  in  a  rapidly  growing  quarter  of  the  city,  and  on 
this  account  it  will  no  doubt  be  of  increasing  importance  from 
year  to  year.  It  is  at  Victoria  and  St.  Clair  streets,  and  is  of 
recent  acquisition.  It  was  taken  by  condemnation  proceedings 
under  date  of  March  18,  1909.  The  cost  of  the  land  was 
$22,420.37,  of  improvements  $9,135.47;  total,  $31,555.84.  The 
area  is  15.50  acres. 

Parkways  and  BouliRvards. 
In  dealing  with  the  parkways  and  boulevards  of  the  city  it 
seems  fit  to  pause  and  take  account  of  those  grand  features  of 
natural  topography  on  which  our  new  park  system  is  based ; 
for,  as  intimated  in  the  foregoing  subdivisions  of  this  paper, 
the  present  system  is  not  the  result  of  haphazard,  but  has  been 
carefully  thought  out  and  elaborated,  from  a  plan  presented 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       623 

by  nature  itself.  The  following  out  of  this  naturally  graven 
path  has  led  to  a  development  which  has  been  of  parkways  and 
boulevards,  rather  than  of  landscape  parks.  A  glance  at  the 
map  of  the  natural  physical  features  of  St.  Paul  and  its  envi- 
rons shows  that  the  Mississippi  river  sweeps  about  the  city  in 
a  semi-circle,  running  from  the  city  limits  of  Minneapolis  on 
the  west  to  the  point  where  the  river  turns  southeastward  at 
Indian  Mounds  Park.  Passing  over  the  map  with  the  eye  from 
Indian  Mounds  Park  northward  and  then  westward,  it  is  ob- 
served that  Lake  Phalen  and  Lake  Como  lie  in  the  northerly 
half  of  the  great  circle  of  which  the  river  makes  the  southerly 
portion.  This,  then,  was  the  great  natural  parkway  which  pre- 
sented itself  to  the  vision  of  Joseph  A.  Wheelock.  At  the  time 
he  took  up  his  work,  because  the  depth  and  precipitous  slope 
of  the  river  gorge  did  not  permit  any  ordinary  utilization  of 
the  land,  the  desired  areas  lay  to  a  great  extent  unspoiled  and 
ready  for  fitting  into  a  comprehensive  and  unified  system. 

This  is  what  is  known  to  those  concerned  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  parks  as  the  ''Outer  Circle."  Far  too  much  of  it 
has  been  marred  by  the  hand  of  man.  Much  of  it  remains  to 
be  acquired.  But  so  well  awakened  have  the  citizens  of  St. 
Paul  become  to  the  power  of  parks  and  parkways  to  draw  to 
their  vicinity  commercial  values,  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  so  ap- 
preciative have  they  become  to  the  purely  artistic  value  of 
these  open  spaces  and  ways,  that  there  is  little  fear  that  any 
support  which  is  necessary  in  the  future  for  the  carrying  out 
of  those  portions  of  the  plan  yet  in  embryo  will  be  withheld. 

MISSISSIPPI  RIVER  BOULEVARD. 

The  key  to  this  grand  parkway,  and  individually  a  most 
impressive  portion  of  it  is  the  Mississippi  River  Boulevard. 
This  consists,  topographically,  of  the  crest  and  slope  of  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Mississippi  gorge  from  the  Minneapolis  city 
limits,  just  north  of  the  Town  and  Country  Club,  to  West  Sev- 
enth street  at  the  Fort  Snelling  bridge.  The  length  of  this 
boulevard  is  3.51  miles. 

The  acquisition  of  this  expanse  of  ground  has  effected  the 
preservatipO;  it  is  to  be  hoped  for  all  time,  of  a  long  stretch 


624  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

of  our  great  river  in  the  same  condition  that  it  appeared  to 
Father  Hennepin  and  Jonathan  Carver  on  their  first  explora- 
tions of  the  valley.  From  the  north  end  of  the  boulevard  to  a 
point  near  the  Government  high  dam,  at  the  Soldiers'  Home, 
the  entire  gorge,  as  well  as  the  woodland  upon  the  level  bench 
above  it,  are  practically  in  a  state  of  primitive  nature.  The 
dense  woods,  in  which  are  represented  nearly  all  our  native 
hardwood  trees,  with  a  fringe  of  red  cedars  along  the  bluff  and 
a  sprinkling  of  the  white  pine,  here  west  of  its  main  geographic 
range,  stand  for  the  most  part  unspoiled  by  the  ax. 

Although  the  improvement  has  drawn  to  the  adjacent 
platted  land  large  values,  the  territory  up  to  the  present  is 
practically  unoccupied.  North  of  Marshall  avenue  the  im- 
provements of  the  Town  and  Country  Club  front  for  a  consid- 
erable distance  on  the  boulevard.  South  of  Marshall  avenue 
and  near  to  it,  a  few  fine  residences  have  been  built  fronting 
on  the  boulevard,  and  the  grounds  of  the  St.  Paul  Seminary 
run  down  to  the  boulevard  just  south  of  Shadow  Falls  Park. 
Aside  from  these  improvements,  the  ground  along  the  boule- 
vard is  practically  unoccupied  to  a  point  far  south  of  the  Gov- 
ernment high  dam. 

The  driveway  proper  has  been  completely  improved  through- 
out its  length.  All  necessary  bridges,  culverts,  and  drains, 
have  been  put  in,  and  the  way  surfaced  with  crushed  rock  with 
a  crude  oil  dressing,  and  it  is  probably  the  best  patronized 
automobile  drive  in  the  city. 

The  lands  for  this  improvement  were  acquired  at  different 
times,  by  condemnation  and  purchase,  beginning  December  16, 
1901,  and  the  last  acquisition  was  dated  September  18,  1907. 
The  total  area  is  130.54  acres,  and  in  this  connection  it  should 
be  noted  that  not  all,  but  a  portion  only,  of  the  slopes  of  the 
gorge  have  been  acquired  by  the  city.  The  cost  of  the  land 
was  $33,818.94,  of  improvements  $93,414.64 ;  total,  $127,233.58. 

WHEELOCK  PARKWAY. 

Separated  from  the  Mississippi  River  Boulevard  by  a  stretch 
of  territory  to  be  covered  by  a  projected  parkway  not  yet  per- 
fected, is  Wheelock  Parkway,  which  extends  from  Como  Park 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       625 

to  Phalen  Park,  and  which  is  one  of  the  boldest  and  best  con- 
ceived projects  in  our  entire  system.  It  is  here  characterized 
as  bold,  for  the  reason  that  it  has  been  pushed  through  a  ter- 
ritory from  which  no  immediately  local  support  for  such  a 
project  could  be  expected,  and  because  it  could  never  have  been 
conceived  save  as  a  part  of  the  entire  plan  of  encircling  the  city 
with  a  continuous  parkway.  With  its  length  of  4.27  miles,  its 
setting  among  the  rolling  highlands  in  the  north  portion  of  the 
city,  and  its  terminal  points  resting  on  our  two  most  important 
landscape  parks,  it  is  an  entirely  fit  and  worthy  memorial  to 
the  founder  of  our  park  system,  whose  name  it  bears.  The  land 
for  this  parkway  was  acquired  by  condemnation  under  date  of 
December  10,  1909.  The  cost  of  the  land  was  $15,128.88,  and 
improvements,  $44,482.90;  total,  $59,611.78. 

LEXINGTON   PARKWAY. 

Lexington  Parkway  is  one  of  the  best  known  in  the  city 
because  of  its  location  in  a  neighborhood  where  building  im- 
provements are  already  becoming  somewhat  congested,  and 
where  local  values  are  high  from  the  superior  character  of  the 
building  improvements.  This  avenue,  with  its  length  of  2.48 
miles,  running  from  Summit  avenue  north  to  McKenty  street, 
close  to  Lake  Como,  and  with  its  impressive  width  augmented 
by  an  ample  building  line,  lends  a  pronounced  distinction  to 
the  district  through  which  it  runs,  and  confers  values  on  the 
surrounding  properties,  both  artistic  and  commercial,  which 
can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

The  land  for  the  park  was  acquired  by  condemnation,  after 
some  failures  and  a  long  struggle  which  reached  the  courts. 
The  cost  of  the  land,  taken  under  two  separate  improvements, 
was  $102,248.02,  improvements  $32,717.22 ;  total,  $134,965.24. 

COMO  AVENUE  PARKWAY. 

This  parkway  is  the  long  avenue  connecting  Como  Park 
with  the  down-town  district  at  Rice  street,  having  its  south- 
easterly terminal  at  the  point  last  named.  The  land  necessary 
for  the  widening  of  the  streets  on  the  line  of  this  avenue  was 
acquired  by  condemnation,  under  different  improvements  dat- 


626  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ing  from  September  14,  1899,  to  June  14,  1906.  The  cost  of  the 
land  was  $40,963.83,  and  of  the  improvements,  $7,733.64;  total, 
$48,697.47.    The  area  of  land  taken  is  7.37  acres. 

'  COMO  AVENUE  BOULEVARD. 

This  boulevard  is  a  portion  of  the  parkway  which  is  de- 
signed ultimately  to  link  the  Mississippi  River  Boulevard  with 
the  park  at  Como.  It  extends  from  the  Mississippi  river  to  St. 
Anthony  avenue.  The  land  taken  was  condemned  under  date 
of  November  1,  1909.  The  cost  of  the  land  was  $15,415.00;  its 
area,  5  acres. 

CHEROKEE   HEIGHTS  AND  THE   WEST   SIDE  BOULEVARD. 

These  two  improvements  may  be  considered  together,  as 
they  are  separately  acquired  parts  of  one  parkway,  which  has 
not,  however,  been  completed  up  to  this  time.  It  is  impossible 
to  get  a  proper  conception  of  this  parkway  without  taking  into 
consideration  what  is  proposed  to  be  done,  as  well  as  what  has 
already  been  accomplished.  The  park  authorities  have  long 
contemplated  securing  the  crown  of  the  Mississippi  river  bluff 
on  the  west  or  south  side,  from  a  point  on  the  river  near  or  at 
Mendota  and  thence  eastward,  taking  in  the  entire  slope  and 
crown  of  the  bluff  to  a  point  on  South  Wabasha  street.  A 
large  share  of  this  proposed  parkway  lies  in  Dakota  county, 
and  so  is  outside  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  city.  There 
exists,  however,  legislative  authority  for  the  acquisition  of  the 
necessary  property  for  at  least  parkways,  outside  the  city 
limits,  which  may  be  done  as  soon  as  there  are  funds  available 
for  the  purpose,  being  authorized  by  Chapter  485  of  the  Laws 
of  Minnesota  for  the  year  1909. 

This  great  expanse  of  river  scenery  is  for  the  most  part 
still  in  a  natural  state,  and  it  affords  an  imposing  view  west- 
ward up  the  main  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thence  farther 
west  up  the  Minnesota  river.  It  is  a  combined  urban  and  coun- 
try view,  second  only  to  that  at  Indian  Mounds  Park. 

Cherokee  Heights  was  the  portion  of  the  improvement  first 
acquired.  This  tract  comprises  the  open  ground  lying  westerly 
from  Ohio  street  along  Cherokee  avenue,  and  takes  in  a  consid- 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       627 

erable  portion  of  the  bluff  slope.  The  High  Bridge  is  the  south- 
westerly terminus  of  this  first  section  of  the  parkway  under 
consideration.  This  section  was  acquired  partly  by  gift  from 
A.  T.  Rosen,  now  a  member  of  the  Park  Board,  and  partly  by 
purchase  from  other  private  owners.  The  date  of  acquisition 
was  from  1903  to  1906.  The  land  cost  $10,818.30,  and  the  im- 
provements, $3,263.61;  total,  $14,081.91.  This  includes,  how- 
ever, the  market  valuation  of  the  portion  donated  by  Mr.  Rosen. 
The  area  is  9.37  acres. 

The  West  Side  Boulevard  is  the  extension  southwest,  from 
Smith  avenue  to  Baker  street,  of  the  parkway  beginning  as 
noted  on  Ohio  street.  This  property  was  in  form  condemned, 
but  was  in  fact  the  gift  of  James  J.  Hill,  who  furnished  the 
entire  amount  of  money  necessary  to  acquire  the  property, 
$13,000.  The  condemnation  proceedings  date  June  10,  1906; 
and  the  area  taken  is  9.90  acres. 

The  ground  takes  in  a  considerable  portion  of  the  slope  of 
the  bluff  and  a  strip  of  native  woodland  on  level  ground  at  the 
top  of  the  bluff,  which  fortunate  chance  has  spared  from  occu- 
pation by  building  improvements.  The  view  from  the  top  of 
the  bluil^  near  the  southwestern  or  upstream  end  of  this  later 
addition  to  the  West  Side  Parkway  is  a  most  commanding  one, 
affording  a  vista  both  up  and  down  the  river,  and  spreading 
before  the  eye  almost  the  entire  business  section  of  the  city. 

MIDWAY    PARKWAY, 

This  is  a  connective  parkway,  extending  from  Snelling  ave- 
nue easterly  to  Hamline  avenue.  It  was  acquired  by  condem- 
nation under  date  of  June  17,  1901,  at  a  cost  of  $2,833.88  for 
the  land,  and  the  improvements  have  cost  $9,455.41;  total, 
$12,289.29.    The  area  is  5.91  acres. 

PLAYGROUNDS. 

Several  years  ago,  under  appropriate  legislation,  there  was 
created  in  St.  Paul  a  body  known  as  the  Playgrounds  Commit- 
tee. This  committee  has  in  hand  the  work  of  selecting  and 
looking  after  the  development  and  care  of  small  breathing 
spaces  at  various  points  in  the  city,  which  are  designed  prin- 
cipally as  places  where  the  children  of  the  particular  neighbor- 


628  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

hood  may  gather  and  engage  in  games  and  sports.  The  grounds 
acquired  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Park  Board,  and  are 
by  law  classed  as  parks. 

Streets  under  the  Care  of  the  Park  Board. 

There  is  a  class  of  streets  which  are  not  properly  designated 
as  parkways,  but  which  are  ornamented  and  cared  for  under 
the  direction  of  the  Park  Board.  Most  conspicuous  of  these  is 
Summit  avenue,  which  has  the  features  of  a  parkway,  and 
which  is  quite  the  most  important  connective  boulevard  run- 
ning east  and  west  through  the  city.  In  its  width  and  orna- 
mentation, it  takes  the  character  of  a  parkway  at  Lexington 
avenue.  From  this  point  it  is  100  feet  in  width  west  to  the 
Mississippi  river,  a  distance  of  2.63  miles. 

There  are  other  streets  which  are  receiving  the  same  sort  of 
care  from  the  Park  Board  as  Summit  avenue,  but  they  are  of 
less  importance  and  a  recital  of  them  here  would  scarcely  serve 
any  purpose  of  this  paper. 

Parks  and  Parkways  in  Prospect. 

A  history  of  the  parks  and  parkways  in  St.  Paul  would  be 
incomplete  which  does  not  include,  at  least  in  narrative  form, 
a  statement  of  what  is  designed  to  be  done  in  the  future.  A 
comparison  of  what  is  contemplated  in  the  finished  system  as 
outlined  above,  with  what  has  actually  been  finished  by  the 
acquisition  of  the  necessary  lands,  shows  that  there  are  still 
large  gaps  to  be  filled  in,  spaces  to  be  covered  by  future  pur- 
chases or  condemnation,  and  many  details  to  be  worked  out, 
which  will  tax  not  only  the  industry  of  the  future  Commis- 
sioner of  Parks,  Playgrounds,  and  Public  Buildings,  but  will  as 
well  be  a  draft  on  the  resources  of  the  taxpayers.  The  finan- 
cial problem  will  for  some  time  remain  a  serious  one,  but  one 
which  the  people  have  repeatedly  of  late  shown  their  willing- 
ness to  face.  The  present  Park  Board  is  carrying  forward, 
with  such  means  as  it  is  able  to  command,  the  work  laid  out 
in  the  time  of  Joseph  A.  "Wheelock. 

The  city  is  fortunate  in  the  fact  that  there  is  upon  the 
board  at  this  time  a  man  who  is  able  to  bring  to  its  various 


PARKS  AND  PUBLIC  GROUNDS  OF  ST.  PAUL.       629 

problems  a  matured  judgment  in  business  affairs,  large  expe- 
rience in  executive  work  of  the  first  order,  and  energy  and 
capacity  for  new  enterprises,  which  appear  unabated  in  spite 
of  the  toll  that  the  years  have  taken  of  him.  This  member  is 
Alpheus  B.  Stickney.  He  has  personally  taken  up,  and  is  press- 
ing forward  with  a  zeal  which  is  an,  indispensable  prerequisite 
of  success,  the  extension  of  the  present  finished  work  to  that 
completed  system  which  shall  realize  the  hopes  of  the  planners 
of  the  new  system. 

Mr.  Stickney  has  taken  up  at  this  time  the  special  project 
of  connecting  the  River  Boulevard  with  Indian  Mounds  Park, 
by  a  portion  of  the  ''Inner  Circle,"  the  main  details  of  which 
are  as  follows. 

The  top  of  the  river  bluff  all  along  the  Mississippi  River 
Boulevard  consists  of  a  practically  level  plateau,  which  lies 
substantially  in  the  level  of  Fort  Snelling.  Eastward  of  theV 
boulevard  the  land  rises  gradually  into  a  second  terrace,  the 
crest  of  which  is  a  gentle  eminence  opposite  the  Soldiers'  Home, 
but  which  rises  higher  and  higher  as  it  passes  to  the  south  and 
east,  until  at  a  point  near  West  Seventh  street  it  consists  of  a 
high  bluff,  covered  with  an  oak  forest,  and  presenting  a  grand 
view  west,  south,  and  east,  over  the  greater  part  of  the  river 
valley  in  the  city  limits. 

It  is  proposed  by  Mr.  Stickney  to  run  a  boulevard  from  a 
point  on  the  River  Boulevard  near  the  Soldiers'  Home,  easterly 
up  to  and  around  the  brow  of  the  highland  just  described,  to 
the  wooded  bluff  on  Seventh  street.  There  it  is  proposed  to 
expand  the  parkway  into  a  landscape  park,  to  take  in  the  tim- 
bered area.  Thence  the  parkway  will  proceed  by  way  of  Lin- 
wood  Park,  Summit  Avenue,  and  the  State  Capitol  grounds 
and  Capitol  Heights,  next  crossing  the  railroad  tracks  by  a 
viaduct,  and  continuing  by  Dayton's  Bluff  to  Indian  Mounds 
Park. 

Mr.  Stickney  has  also  been  active  in  the  proposition  to  ex- 
tend the  parkway  on  the  West  Side  from  its  present  south- 
westerly limit  to  Mendota  and  Fort  Snelling,  and  to  take  in, 
as  landscape  parks,  the  lowlands  and  islands  between  the  fort 
and  Harriet  Island.     This   proposed   parkway   extension  in- 


630  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

eludes  the  acquisition  of  lands  along  the  river  front  from  near 
Fort  Snelling  easterly  to  a  point  within  the  business  district 
of  the  city. 

There  is  a  proposed  extension  of  the  West  Side  Boulevard 
easterly  around  the  crest  of  the  bluff  along  what  is  known  as 
Prospect  Terrace,  and  the  construction  of  a  new  way  along 
what  will  be  made  land  in  the  river  valley,  if  the  harbor  pro- 
ject ever  comes  into  actual  being.  This  new  way  is  to  connect 
with  the  general  system  at  Indian  Mounds. 

Another  project  which  only  awaits  adequate  financing  is  an 
extension  of  Phalen  Park  to  the  south,  and  its  connection  with 
Indian  Mounds  Park  by  a  parkway.  This  project  is  known  as 
the  Johnson  Parkway,  and  is  one  which  will  certainly  be  ef- 
fected in  the  near  future. 

It  is  proposed  to  connect  Como  Park  at  the  northerly  end 
with  the  Minneapolis  system,  by  an  appropriate  way  running 
west  from  Como  to  the  city  limits. 

Another  proposed  parkway  leads  easterly  and  southerly 
from  Mounds  Park  across  Burlington  Heights  and  into  Wash- 
ington county. 

The  foregoing  enumeration  is  not  exhaustive  of  the  subject 
of  the  proposed  extension  of  our  park  system,  but  mentions 
those  portions  which  are  necessary  to  develop  the  new  system 
into  a  well  balanced  whole. 

The  cost  of  the  park  system  of  St.  Paul  to  the  date  of  Jan- 
uary 1,  1912,  has  consisted  in  acquisitions  of  land,  $780,541.80, 
and  improvements,  $887,504.18;  in  total,  $1,668,045.98.  The 
lands  acquired  amount  to  1,006.04  acres;  and  the  water  areas, 
mostly  of  Lakes  Como  and  Phalen,  comprise  331.89  acres. 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XIV. 


Date  of  this  Portrait,  about  1870;  of  another  in  Volume  IX,  about  1900. 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGPORD, 

The:  V1G11.ANTK,  the:  Exploreir,  the:  Expounder  and  First 
Superinte:ndi$nt  of  the:  Yellowstone  Park.* 


BY  OLIN  D.  WHEELER. 


We  are  wont  to  flatter  ourselves  that  we  live  under  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  one  where  the  sovereignty  is 
vested  in  the  people.  Every  form  of  government,  including  our 
own,  has,  of  course,  its  excellencies  and  its  deficiencies.  Among 
the  latter,  in  a  democracy,  is  the  apparent  and,  all  too  fre- 
quently the  real,  lack  of  appreciation  and  of  honor  shown  to 
those  who  have  accomplished  notable  things  and  achieved  dis- 
tinction in  one  way  or  another. 

Were  we  living  under  a  monarchy  or  an  oligarchy,  where 
absolute  authority  is  centered  in  one  or  a  few  individuals, 
Nathaniel  P.  Langford  and  that  coterie  of  now  well  known 
explorers  of  the  Yellowstone  region  in  1870  would  long  years 
ago  have  been  knighted  or  otherwise  signally  honored  for  their 
services  to  the  nation,  and  indeed  to  the  world. 

It  so  happens,  however,  that  the  few  monuments  which  the 
great  Republic  officially  erects,  or  the  resolutions  of  thanks  to 
individuals  for  meritorious  actions  performed  which  its  repre- 
sentative Congress  votes,  have  been  very  largely  in  honor  of 
those  alone  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  warfare. 

Although  ''peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than 
war, ' '  the  records  of  her  achievements  are  found  buried,  all  too 
often,  in  simple  and  sometimes  prosaic  reports  of  limited  cir- 
culation,with  now  and  then  the  story  finding  its  way  into  our 
literature.  There  are  few  memorials,  or  monuments  of  bronze 
or  marble,  that  commemorate  the  services  of  men  like  Lewis 
and  Clark,  Astor,  Hunt,  Fremont,  Ashley,  Bonneville,  Powell, 
Carson,  Bridger,  and  others,  services  rendered  to  the  country 
in  various  channels,  yet  all  of  them  more  or  less  important,  and 
performed  in  modest,  simple,  and  unpretentious  manner. 

•Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  April  8,  1912. 


(J82  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

That  the  Washburn-Doane  exploration  of  1870  into  the  now 
celebrated  Yellowstone  Park  region  was  productive  of  most 
important  results,  nationally,  in  its  particular  line,  and  that 
the  men  composing  it  were  deserving  of  far  more  honor  than 
ever  was  officially  or  publicly  accorded  them,  is,  I  believe,  an 
acknowledged  fact  among  all  those  most  familiar  with  its  his- 
tory. 

While  some  of  the  party  were  government  officials,  the  ex- 
ploration was  undertaken  by  each  civilian  member'  of  it  purely 
in  his  private  and  individual  capacity.  A  quasi-official  cast  was 
given  to  it,  however,  by  the  facts  that  a  small  escort  of  United 
States  cavalry  under  command  of  Lieut.  Gustavus  G.  Doane 
was  provided  by  the  government,  upon  request,  and  that  Lieu- 
tenant Doane  made  an  official  report  of  the  exploration  to  the 
War  Department.  This  report,  together  with  Mr.  Langford's 
published  diary,  constitute  descriptive  literature  of  the  explor- 
ation and  region  that  has  never  since  been  surpassed,  and  in- 
deed has  been  seldom,  perhaps  never,  equalled. 

Fate  is  a  stern  and  inexorable  mistress.  She  doeth  whatso- 
ever she  will,  and  we  may  but  rarely  modify  or  change  her  de- 
crees. Gall  it  what  one  pleases,  fate,  destiny,  or  Providence, 
little  did  any  one  imagine  that  on  that  16th  day  of  June,  1862, 
when  the  Fisk  Overland  Expedition  left  St.  Paul  for  the  Sal- 
mon river  mines  in  the  heart  of  the  Rockies,  with  Nathaniel  P. 
Langford  as  one  of  its  officers  and  members,  a  trail  was  being 
followed  by  him  that  led  ultimately  to  a  new  and  great  de- 
parture in  national  conservation  and  general  recreation. 

We  were  then  in  the  midst  of  our  great  Givil  War,  and  the 
heavy  westward  emigration  that  followed  that  period  of  strife 
was  yet  to  come.  The  western  frontier,  now  almost  an  irides- 
cent dream,  was,  even  if  an  imaginary  and  intangible  line,  yet 
a  very  real  one,  and  it  then  lay,  virtually,  along  the  valley  of 
the  Missouri  river. 

What  a  wonderful,  changeable  thing  that  old  frontier  was ! 
Like  the  ever  shifting  sands  of  its  own  deserts  or  the  tremulous 
and  deceitful  mirage  of  its  vast  plains,  it  too  was  ever  shifting, 
ever  moving.  And  after  the  Givil  War,  when  the  hegira  from 
the  east  began,  how  rapidly  it  changed  position  and  marked  the 


I 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  683 

gradual  extinction  of  barbarism,  the  steady  advance  of  civiliza- 
tion, as  "westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way." 

And  now  it  has  utterly  and  forever  vanished.  The  waste 
places  are  filled,  the  deserts  are  replaced  by  grain  and  alfalfa 
fields  and  orchards;  irrigation  is  an  evangel  of  progress  and 
prosperity;  the  Indians  and  buffalo  in  their  untamed  wildness 
have  disappeared;  the  story  of  the  ''Pony  Express"  reads  like 
fiction ;  and  the  Daniel  Boones  and  Kit  Carsons,  the  Jim  Bridg- 
ers  and  Bozemans,  the  Joe  Meeks  and  Charlie  Reynoldses  have 
gone, — because  there  is  no  longer  a  place  for  them. 

In  the  elimination  of  that  old  frontier  and  the  transforma- 
tion which  has  been  effected,  our  late  friend.  Councilor,  and 
President,  although  he  knew  it  not,  was  cast  by  Fate,  or  by 
Providence,  to  bear  a  most  noteworthy  and  honorable  part.  I 
can  almost  imagine  that  as  he  toiled  over  the  long  weary  miles 
across  the  sweeping  plains  and  through  the  mountains  on  that 
slow,  winding  trek  in  '62,  the  prairie  flowers  and  grasses  nodded 
and  whispered  to  themselves  in  great  excitement  and  the  tall 
pines  made  dignified  discourse  as  he  passed,  anent  the  great 
discovery  by  which  he  with  others  was  in  a  few  short  years  to 
startle  the  country  and  the  world. 

It  was  late  in  the  fall  when,  after  traveling  1,600  miles  in 
eighteen  weeks,  he  reached  Grasshopper  creek,  the  Willard's 
creek  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  and  established  himself  there  for  the 
winter  as  comfortably  as  was  possible,  400  miles  from  a  post 
office  or  settlement.  They  named  the  place  Bannack,  not  Ban- 
nock, after  the  Bannack  tribe  of  Indians.  Placer  gold  had  been 
discovered  there,  gold  seekers  flocked  in,  and  the  town  became 
the  first  capital  of  Montana,  when  the  latter  was  organized  as  a 
territory  in  1864.  Several  million  dollars  were  added  to  the 
channels  of  western  commerce  from  the  Bannack  placers  in  a 
few  short  years,  and  modern  dredges  are  still  wresting  sub- 
stantial values  from  the  old  time  workings. 

Mr.  Langford  here  bore  his  share  of  hardships  and  severe 
labor  during  a  very  trying  winter.  And  onward,  for  a  series 
of  about  fourteen  years,  as  an  eminent  citizen  of  Montana  and 
much  of  the  time  a  government  official,  he  bore  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  shaping  of  the  destinies  of  the  new  and  youthful 


634  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS.  ^ 

commonwealth  ordained  by  nature  to  become,  possibly,  the 
greatest  in  the  sisterhood  of  Northwestern  states. 

"While  it  is  as  a  great  explorer  and  the  successful  expounder 
of  a  new  idea  in  national  policy  that  Mr.  Langford  is  best 
known  publicly,  he  bore  an  equally  important  and  meritorious 
part  in  another  matter  of  vital  consequence  to  the  peace,  wel- 
fare, and  credit  of  the  new  territory.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  the 
Vigilante  method  of  law  administration  and  enforcement. 

It  is  difficult  for  an  outsider  to  realize  the  cosmopolitan 
character  of  that  early-day  population.  Along  with  honest, 
well  meaning,  hard-working  men,  intent  upon  making  a  good 
livelihood  and  perchance  a  fortune,  there  came,  perhaps  liter- 
ally, from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  many  of  a  distinctly  opposite 
character.  Adventurers  of  all  sorts,  thieves,  thugs,  fugitives 
from  justice,  outlaws,  human  riffraff  from  all  over  the  West, 
poured  into  Bannack,  Alder  Gulch,  and  the  other  Montana  min- 
ing camps,  as  rapidly  as  they  were  established,  intent  upon 
luxuriously  rioting  in  sin  and  violence  where  courts  and  con- 
stabulary were  lacking.  Many  of  these  road  agents,  as  they 
were  called,  secretly  banded  together  and  had  their  spies,  places 
of  rendezvous,  etc.,  scattered  throughout  the  region.  It  jfinally 
became  a  serious  question  whether  any  man  suspected  of  hav- 
ing gold  dust,  money,  or  valuables  of  any  kind,  could  possibly 
journey  safely  from  one  place  to  another,  be  the  distance  long 
or  short;  and  to  incur  the  ill  will  of  one  of  these  men,  from 
whatever  cause,  meant  death.  It  is  known  that  102  persons 
were  killed  by  these  bandits,  and  there  were  undoubtedly  many 
more. 

To  thwart  the  power  of  the  road  agents,  the  Vigilantes  were 
finally  compelled  to  organize  secretly.  As  all  law  with  us  comes 
from  the  people,  so  it  did  here.  It  was  a  last  and  serious  effort, 
a  forlorn  hope,  to  enforce  actually  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the 
law,  where  the  usual  legal  adjuncts  were  lacking.  It  was  really 
the  essence  of  law,  devoid  of  its  technical  forms  and  processes. 

A  quotation  from  a  biographical  sketch  of  Hon.  Hezekiah  L. 
Hosmer,  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  the  Territory  of  Montana, 
published  in  Volume  III  of  the  Montana  Historical  Society  Con- 
tributions, is  pertinent  at  this  point: 

The  attraction  had  brought  those  who  came  to  work,  and  those 


NATHANIEL.  PITT  LANGFORD.  635 

who  came  to  profit  by  the  labor  of  others.  Had  the  convicts  liberated 
on  the  approach  of  Napoleon,  on  the  condition  that  they  burn  Moscow, 
been  thrown  en  masse  into  the  new  settlements  east  of  the  mountains, 
it  could  not  have  been  worse  than  it  was  with  the  crowd  that  entered 
and  undertook  to  control  Bannack  and  Virginia  City  in  the  years  1862 
and  1863. 

Self  liberty  and  self  preservation  made  men  who  regarded  laws  as 
necessary  attendants  upon  happiness,  heroes  in  those  troublous  times. 
And  with  a  community  nearly  equally  divided  between  law  abiding 
men  and  roughs,  determination  finally  brought  the  desperado  to  the 
gallows  and  made  life  at  least  worth  the  living. 

By  the  Vigilantes,  order  was  restored,  and  all,  from  the  highway- 
man to  the  petty  pilferer  from  the  sluice  boxes  or  miners'  cabins,  knew 
by  the  spring  of  1864  that  if  they  valued  their  lives,  honesty  was  not 
only  a  virtue,  but  a  necessity.  In  this  way  the  effect  of  a  well  studied 
criminal  law  was  reached  in  the  early  winter  of  1864. 

The  men  subjected  to  the  judgments  of  the  Vigilantes  were 
promptly  but  impartially  tried,  as  they  were  previously  by  the 
miners'  courts,  without,  however,  the  trifling  and  petty  delays 
of  the  law  so  often  now  as  even  then  experienced,  and  the  de- 
crees were  promptly  executed. 

Judge  Hosmer  reached  Virginia  City  in  the  fall  of  1864.  He 
was  from  northern  Ohio,  a  lawyer  and  journalist  of  ability  and 
reputation.  Literature  was  his  pastime  and  delight,  and  he 
was  a  man  who  seems  to  have  been  well  equipped  in  every  way 
for  the  time,  place,  and  peculiar  exigencies  of  the  situation.  I 
quote  again  from  the  biography  referred  to : 

Upon  the  opening  of  the  court  a  Grand  Jury  was  impanelled,  to 
which  Judge  Hosmer  gave  a  charge  prepared  upon  the  then  existing 
state  of  society.  He,  among  other  matters,  reviewed  the  history  of  the 
two  preceding  years,  the  establishment  of  order  by  the  aid  of  the 
Vigilance  Committee,  approved  its  action  as  a  necessity,  but  counseled, 
as  the  courts  were  established,  that  summary  proceedings  should  give 
way  to  the  law.  The  charge  was  met  with  approval  by  the  bar,  and 
by  request  it  was  published. 

As  soon  as  lawful  officials  and  courts  thus  made  their  ap- 
pearance, in  1864,  and  the  regular  legal  machinery  was  set  in 
motion,  the  Vigilantes  voluntarily  ceased  to  exist,  and  this  fact 
is  the  best  argument  for  the  righteousness  of  the  movement. 

The  principal  centers  at  which  the  organization  was  active 
were  Bannack  and  Virginia  City,  although  there  were  branch 
organizations  at  Last  Chance  and  Confederate  gulches.    Under 


MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  domination  of  the  Vigilantes  the  desperadoes  were  hung  or 
banished,  crime  was  actually  and  swiftly  punished,  life  and 
property  were  rendered  safe,  and  society  was  rescued  from  a 
state  of  anarchy.  Some  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  territory 
were  Vigilantes.  Among  them  were  Col.  Wilbur  F.  Sanders,  a 
leader  among  leaders  and  afterward  United  States  Senator  from 
Montana;  Samuel  T.  Hauser,  subsequently  Governor  of  Mont- 
ana; Judge  "Walter  B.  Dance;  N.  P.  Langford,  and  others  of 
equal  prominence  and  standing.  Deeds  of  bravery,  equally  if 
not  more  daring  than  those  seen  on  the  battlefield,  were  per- 
formed by  some  of  these  men.  Both  the  moral  and  physical 
courage  that  were  displayed  by  Beachy,  Sanders,  Howie,  Feath- 
erstone,  X.  Beidler,  and  others,  are  enrolled  upon  the  scroll  of 
history  and  will  never  be  forgotten  by  the  old  Montana  pioneers 
or  their  successors.  The  State  would  honor  itself  as  well  as 
them  by  sometime  erecting  a  suitable  monument  to  these  men. 

Mr.  Langford  himself,  happily,  in  the  Introduction  to  his 
''Vigilante  Days  and  Ways,"  a  most  valuable  chronicle  of  the 
time  of  which  it  treats,  has  presented  a  statement  of  facts  and 
of  arguments  justifying  the  Vigilante  methods,  that  is  impar- 
tial, honest,  cogent,  forceful,  and  convincing  to  an  open  and 
discriminating  mind.  Honor  and  praise,  instead  of  adverse 
criticism,  are  due  those  men,  and  no  apologies  are  necessary  for 
what  they  did  and  dared.  I  quote  from  the  Introduction  al- 
luded to : 

The  truth  of  the  adage  that  "Crime  carries  with  it  its  own  punish- 
ment" has  never  received  a  more  powerful  vindication  than  at  the 
tribunals  erected  by  the  people  of  the  North-West  mines  for  their  own 
protection.  No  sadder  commentary  could  have  stained  our  civilization 
than  to  permit  the  numerous  and  bloody  crimes  committed  in  the  early 
history  of  this  portion  of  our  country  to  go  unwhipped  of  justice.  And 
the  fact  that  they  were  promptly  and  thoroughly  dealt  with  stands 
among  the  earliest  and  noblest  characteristics  of  a  people  which  de- 
rived their  ideas  of  right  and  of  self-protection  from  that  spirit  of  the 
law  that  flows  spontaneously  from  our  free  institutions.  The  people 
bore  with  crime  until  punishment  became  a  duty  and  neglect  a  crime. 
Then,  at  infinite  hazard  of  failure,  they  entered  upon  the  work  of  pur- 
gation with  a  strong  hand,  and  in  the  briefest  possible  time  established 
the  supremacy  of  law.  The  robbers  and  murderers  of  the  mining  re- 
gions, so  long  defiant  of  the  claims  of  peace  and  safety,  were  made  to 
hold  the  gibbet  in  greater  terror  there  than  in  any  other  portion  of 
our  country. 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGE^ORD.  63*7 

Up  to  this  time,  fear  of  punishment  had  exercised  no  restraining 
influence  on  the  conduct  of  men  who  had  organized  murder  and  rob- 
bery into  a  steady  pursuit.  They  hesitated  at  no  atrocity  necessary  to 
accomplish  their  guilty  designs.  Murder  with  them  was  resorted  to 
as  the  most  available  means  of  concealing  robbery,  and  the  two  crimes 
were  generally  coincident.  The  country,  filled  with  canyons,  gulches, 
and  mountain  passes,  was  especially  adapted  to  their  purposes,  and 
the  unpeopled  distances  between  mining  camps  afforded  ample  oppor- 
tunity for  carrying  them  into  execution.  Pack  trains  and  companies, 
stage  coaches  and  express  messengers,  were  as  much  exposed  as  the 
solitary  traveller,  and  often  selected  as  objects  of  attack.  Miners,  who 
had  spent  months  of  hard  labor  in  the  placers  in  the  accumulation  of  a 
few  hundreds  of  dollars,  were  never  heard  of  after  they  left  the  mines 
to  return  to  their  distant  homes.  Men  were  daily  and  nightly  robbed 
and  murdered  in  the  camps.  There  was  no  limit  to  this  system  of 
organized  brigandage. 

When  not  engaged  in  robbery,  this  criminal  population  followed 
other  disreputable  pursuits.  Gambling  and  licentiousness  were  the 
most  conspicuous  features  of  every  mining  camp,  and  both  were  but 
other  species  of  robbery.  Worthless  women  taken  from  the  stews  of 
cities  plied  their  vocation  in  open  day,  and  their  bagnios  were  the  lures 
where  many  men  were  entrapped  for  robbery  and  slaughter.  Dance- 
houses  sprung  up  as  if  by  enchantment,  and  every  one  who  sought  an 
evening's  recreation  in  them  was  in  some  way  relieved  of  the  money 
he  took  there.  Many  good  men  who  dared  to  give  expression  to  the 
feelings  of  horror  and  disgust  which  these  exhibitions  inspired,  were 
shot  down  by  some  member  of  the  gang  on  the  first  opportunity.  For 
a  long  time  these  acts  were  unnoticed,  for  the  reason  that  the  friends 
of  law  and  order  supposed  the  power  of  evil  to  be  in  the  ascendant. 
Encouraged  by  this  impunity  the  ruffian  power  increased  in  audacity, 
and  gave  utterance  to  threats  against  all  that  portion  of  the  community 
which  did  not  belong  to  its  organization.  An  issue  involving  the  de- 
struction of  the  good  or  bad  element  actually  existed  at  the  time  that 
the  people  entered  upon  the  work  of  punishment. 

I  offer  these  remarks,  not  in  vindication  of  all  the  acts  of  the 
vigilantes,  but  of  so  many  of  them  as  were  necessary  to  establish  the 
safety  and  protection  of  the  people.  The  reader  will  find  among  the 
later  acts  of  some  of  the  individuals  claiming  to  have  exercised  the 
authority  of  the  viligantes  some  executions  of  which  he  cannot  ap- 
prove. For  these  persons  I  can  offer  no  apology.  Many  of  these  were 
worse  men  than  those  they  executed.  Some  were  hasty  and  inconsid- 
erate, and  while  firm  in  the  belief  they  were  doing  right,  actually  com- 
mitted grievous  offences.  Unhappily  for  the  vigilantes,  the  acts  of 
these  men  have  been  recalled  to  justify  an  opinion  abroad,  prejudicial 
to  the  vigilante  organization.  Nothing  could  be  more  unjust.  The 
early  vigilantes  were  the  best  and  most  intelligent  men  in  the  mining 
regions.    They  saw  and  felt  that,  in  the  absence  of  all  law,  they  must 


638  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

become  a  "law  unto  themselves,"  or  submit  to  the  bloody  code  of  the 
banditti  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  and  which  was  increasing  in 
numbers  more  rapidly  than  themselves.  Every  man  among  them  real- 
ized from  the  first  the  great  delicacy  and  care  necessary  in  the  man- 
agement of  a  society  which  assumed  the  right  to  condemn  to  death  a 
fellowman.  And  they  now  refer  to  the  history  of  all  those  men  who 
suffered  death  by  their  decree  as  affording  ample  justification  for  the 
severity  of  their  acts.  What  else  could  they  do?  How  else  were  their 
own  lives  and  property,  and  the  lives  and  property  of  the  great  body 
of  peaceable  miners  in  the  placers  to  be  preserved?  What  other  pro- 
tection was  there  for  a  country  entirely  destitute  of  law? 

Let  those  who  would  condemn  these  men  try  to  realize  how  they 
would  act  under  similar  circumstances,  and  they  will  soon  find  every- 
thing to  approve  and  nothing  to  condemn  in  the  transactions  of  the 
early  vigilantes 

.  .  .  And  when  the  vigilantes  of  Montana  entered  upon  their 
work,  they  did  not  know  how  soon  they  might  have  to  encounter  a 
force  numerically  greater  than  their  own. 

In  my  view  the  moral  of  this  history  is  a  good  one.  The  brave  and 
faithful  conduct  of  the  vigilantes  furnishes  an  example  of  American 
character,  from  a  point  of  view  entirely  new.  We  know  what  our 
countrymen  were  capable  of  doing  when  exposed  to  Indian  massacre. 
We  have  read  history  after  history  recording  the  sufferings  of  early 
pioneers  in  the  East,  South,  and  West,  but  what  they  would  do  when 
surrounded  by  robbers  and  assassins,  who  were  in  all  civil  aspects  like 
themselves,  it  has  remained  for  the  first  settlers  of  the  North  Western 
mines  to  tell.  And  that  they  did  their  work  well,  and  showed  in  every 
act  a  love  for  law,  order,  and  for  the  moral  and  social  virtues  in  which 
they  had  been  educated,  and  a  regard  for  our  free  institutions,  no  one 
can  doubt  who  rightly  appreciates  the  motives  which  actuated  them. 

.  .  .  The  terror  which  popular  justice  inspired  in  the  criminal 
population  has  never  been  forgotten.  To  this  day  crime  has  been  less 
frequent  in  occurrence  in  Montana  than  in  any  other  of  the  new  ter- 
ritories, and  no  banded  criminals  have  made  that  territory  an  abiding 
place. 

The  outline  of  conditions  here  presented,  and  the  character 
of  the  men  enrolled  among  the  Vigilantes,  afford  ample  excuse 
and  justification  for  the  existence  of  the  organzation.  That 
these  men  exhibited  a  high  order  of  moral  courage  and  bravery, 
and  performed  a  distinct  and  valuable  service  to  the  com- 
munity, I  never  heard  any  one  in  Montana,  familiar  with  those 
trying  days,  question.  Doctrinaires  and  theorists,  safely  en- 
sconced in  habitations  far  from  the  scenes  of  action,  may  object 
to  the  course  pursued  and  cavil  at  the  reasoning  that  justified 
it.    But  to  the  straightforward,  practical  man,  whose  common 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  639 

sense  gives  him  to  see  the  situation  in  true  perspective  and  as  it 
actually  existed,  the  means  adopted  to  restore  law  and  order 
to  their  high  and  lefty  pedestal  among  a  sore  stricken  people, 
and  to  enforce  respect  for,  and  obedience  to,  their  edicts,  will 
appeal  to  him  as  entirely  righteous  and  proper.  It  was  indeed 
a  condition,  and  a  grievous  one,  not  a  theory,  that  confronted 
those  heroic  souls ;  and  it  was  met  in  the  only  possible  and  ef- 
fective way,  by  stern,  unrelenting,  yet  impartial,  action.  Sooth- 
ing syrup  methods  of  coercion  were  worse  than  useless.  All 
honor  to  Sanders,  Langford,  Howie,  and  their  associates,  for 
the  example  set  those  who  came  after  them. 

While  a  resident  of  Montana,  Mr.  Langford  served  the  gov- 
ernment in  several  official  positions,  notably  those  of  Collector 
of  Internal  Revenue  and  National  Bank  Examiner.  In  pursu- 
ance of  his  official  and  other  duties,  he  traveled  over  a  great 
part  of  the  Northwest,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  many  in- 
dividuals in  all  walks  of  life,  and  of  all  varieties  of  character 
common  to  western  life  of  that  period. 

Among  those  whom  he  thus  came  to  know  and  with  whom 
he  had  business  relations,  was  one  noted  in  the  annals  of  the 
West.  I  refer  to  James,  or,  as  he  was  commonly  known,  *' Jim" 
Bridger,  the  trapper  and  mountaineer,  a  guide  of  national  rep- 
utation. Bridger  was  a  unique  product  of  a  unique  time,  a  dia- 
mond in  the  rough.  Uncouth,  illiterate  to  the  extent  of  being 
unable  even  to  write  his  name,  he  was,  notwithstanding,  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  of  our  western  history,  within  cer- 
tain limits.  A  man  of  great  endurance,  he  had  explored  wide 
areas,  was  the  discoverer  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  was  familiar  with 
what  is  now  Yellowstone  Park,  and  had  served  the  government 
time  and  again  as  guide  and  hunter.  He  was  a  natural  (a  born) 
topographer  and  explorer  of  most  exceptional  ability,  and  had 
an  imagination  that,  crude  as  he  was,  would  do  credit  to  a 
Munchausen.  This  he  used  upon  occasion  with  telling  effect 
and  to  the  discomfiture  of  many  an  unwary  individual. 

Through  Bridger  and  his  marvelous  tales  and  also  from 
other  sources,  Mr.  Langford  with  others  became  interested  in 
the  geyers,  hot  springs,  and  the  beautiful  lakes  that  were  said 
to  exist  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Yellowstone  river.  For  sev- 
eral successive  years  he  and  his  friends  planned  to  explore  the 


640  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

region,  but  the  danger  from  Indians  each  time  forced  the  aban- 
donment of  the  enterprise. 

In  1869  one  of  the  party,  Hon.  David  E.  Folsom,  refused  to 
be  longer  frightened  from  their  purpose.  With  two  compan- 
ions, C.  W.  Cook  and  William  Peterson,  the  latter  employed  on 
Folsom 's  ranch,  he  that  year  visited  the  region  and  returned  in 
safety.  So  fearful  was  he  that  his  tale  would  be  disbelieved, 
that  he  was  extremely  reticent  and  diffident  in  telling  about 
what  he  found  there.  He  did,  however,  write  an  account  of 
their  experience  that  was  published  in  the  Western  Monthly  of 
Chicago ;  and  to  his  intimate  friends,  including  Mr.  Langf ord, 
he  imparted  a  full  knowledge  of  that  marvelous  locality.  This 
but  whetted  the  appetites  of  the  others  and  determined  them  at 
all  hazards  to  attempt  the  long  deferred  exploration  of  the  re- 
gion. 

The  party  proper,  as  finally  organized  at  Helena,  consisted 
of  nine  civilians,  with  two  white  packers  and  two  colored  cooks 
as  assistants.  The  principals  in  this  resultful  and  historic  ex- 
pedition deserve  more  than  passing  notice,  and  I  add  here  Mr. 
Langf  ord 's  characterization  of  them: 

I  question  if  there  was  ever  a  body  of  men  organized  for  an  ex- 
ploring expedition,  more  intelligent  or  more  keenly  alive  to  the  risks 
to  be  encountered. 

Gen.  Henry  D.  Washburn  was  the  surveyor  general  of  Montana 
and  had  been  brevetted  a  major  general  for  services  in  the  Civil  War, 
and  had  served  two  terms  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Judge 
Cornelius  Hedges  was  a  distinguished  and  highly  esteemed  member  of 
the  Montana  bar.  Samuel  T.  Hauser  was  a  civil  engineer,  and  was 
president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Helena.  He  was  afterwards 
appointed  governor  of  Montana  by  Grover  Cleveland.  Warren  C.  Gil- 
lette and  Benjamin  Stickney  were  pioneer  merchants  in  Montana. 
Walter  Trumbull  was  assistant  assessor  of  internal  revenue,  and  a  son 
of  United  States  Senator  Lyman  Trumbull  of  Illinois.  Truman  C. 
Everts  was  assessor  of  internal  revenue  for  Montana,  and  Nathaniel  P. 
Langford  had  been  for  nearly  five  years  the  United  States  collector  of 
internal  revenue  for  Montana,  and  had  been  appointed  governor  of 
Montana  by  Andrew  Johnson,  but,  owing  to  the  imbroglio  of  the  Senate 
with  Johnson,  his  appointment  was  not  confirmed. 

At  the  very  last  moment,  James  Stuart,  one  of  the  prime 
movers  in  the  exploration,  was  drawn  for  jury  service  in  the 
federal  court  and  prevented  from  going.    Stuart  was  a  man  of 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  641 

unusual  force  and  decision  of  character,  a  splendid  mountaineer 
and  explorer,  versed  in  all  the  trickery  of  the  Indian,  and  he 
had  been  counted  upon  as  the  leader  of  the  party.  His  failure 
to  go  with  them  was  a  distinct  loss  and  a  keen  disappointment 
to  all. 

General  Washburn  was  chosen  as  leader  and  the  party  left 
Helena  on  August  17,  1870. 

At  Fort  Ellis,  near  Bozeman,  through  a  previous  arrange- 
ment made  by  Washburn  and  Langford  with  General  Hancock 
in  command  of  the  military  department,  a  small  cavalry  escort 
of  one  sergeant  and  four  privates  was  procured.  This  escort 
was,  as  previously  stated,  under  command  of  Lieut.  G.  C.  Doane, 
a  man  of  supreme  attainments  for  his  task.  Because  of  that  fact 
and  the  ability  and  fidelity  with  which  he  performed  his  mis- 
sion, his  name  has  become  so  indelibly  linked  with  the  expedi- 
tion that  it  is  now  very  generally  known  as  the  Washburn- 
Doane  Party  or  Expedition. 

When  the  party  finally  broke  clear  from  civilization  and 
boldly  launched  forth  into  an  almost  unknown  wilderness,  it 
consisted,  in  its  entirety,  of  nineteen  persons.  Of  this  large 
number  four  alone  kept  journals  of  what  was  destined  to  be- 
come a  historic  exploration.  These  were  General  Washburn, 
Lieutenant  Doane,  Judge  Hedges,  and  Mr.  Langford. 

The  diary  of  General  Washburn  was  very  concise,  dealing 
but  meagerly  with  the  details  of  the  trip.  That  of  Lieutenant 
Doane  was  very  full  and  complete  and  was  published  by  the 
government.  It  deservedly  ranks  as  a  classic  in  descriptive  lit- 
erature, and  will  endure  as  long  as  the  park  itself  does.  Judge 
Hedges'  journal  was  much  longer  and  more  detailed  than  was 
that  of  Washburn,  but  it  was  not  as  exhaustive  as  that  of  Doane. 
It  was  written  for  the  private  use  of  Judge  Hedges  alone,  and 
not  with  the  least  expectation  of  its  publication;  but  it  was, 
fortunately,  finally  printed  in  1904  in  Volume  V  of  ' '  Contribu- 
tions to  the  Historical  Society  of  Montana."  The  diary  of  Mr. 
Langford  was  by  far  the  most  complete  record  history  of  the 
exploration,  from  every  point  of  view,  and  like  Doane 's  report 
it  was  a  masterpiece  of  descriptive  narrative.  It  was  published 
by  Mr.  Langford  in  the  year  1905,  in  a  book  of  122  pages,  with 
many  portraits  and  other  illustrations,  and  with  an  introduc- 

41 


642  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

tion  of  32  pages.  This  book,  entitled  ''Diary  of  the  Washburn 
Expedition  to  the  Yellowstone  and  Firehole  Rivers  in  the  Year 
1870,"  should  form  a  part  of  the  library  of  every  man  who  has 
any  interest  in  the  physical  grandeur  of  his  country. 

If  to  any  single  member  of  the  party  could  be  accorded  the 
name  of  diarist  or  historian  of  the  exploration,  the  honor  would 
unquestionably  fall  to  our  late  friend  and  associate.  The  three 
journals  of  Langford,  Doane,  and  Hedges,  form  an  imperish- 
able trinity  of  descriptive  literature  and  history  of  the  explor- 
ation and  establishment  of  the  first  National  Park  by  the  gen- 
eral government. 

Of  the  ten  principal  members  of  the  party,  seven  are  now 
dead,  those  now  surviving  being  Ex-Governor  Hauser,  Mr.  Gil- 
lette, and  Mr.  Stickney.  General  Washburn  was  the  first,  and 
Mr.  Langford  the  last  one  to  pass  away.  Mr.  Hauser  and  Mr. 
Gillette  still  reside  in  Montana;  Mr.  Stickney  is  living  in 
Florida. 

I  have  conversed  innumerable  times  with  Mr.  Langford,  and 
I  also  interviewed  Judge  Hedges  several  times,  regarding  this 
exploration.  These  conversations  forcibly  impressed  me  with 
the  modesty  and  fairness  of  both  these  men  regarding  the  part 
each  member  of  the  party  played  in  the  conduct  of  the  expedi- 
tion. There  was  not  the  slightest  attempt  at  self  laudation  on 
the  one  hand,  nor  of  dispraise  of  any  other  member  on  the  other 
hand.  I  long  since  came  to  the  conclusion  that  in  its  personnel 
this  exploring  party  was  highly  favored  by  Providence.  The 
individuals  composing  it  were  congenial,  high  minded  gentle- 
men, who  worked  together  harmoniously  and  without  one  seri- 
ous, violent  outbreak  or  altercation,  so  far  as  I  have  ever  ascer- 
tained, although  at  times  all  were  sorely  tried.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances, as  I  know  from  similar  personal  experience,  this  is 
a  most  creditable  record,  which,  I  think,  may  fairly  be  called 
remarkable. 

After  leaving  Bozeman  and  Fort  Ellis,  the  trail  traveled  led 
the  party  across  the  Belt  range  of  mountains,  about  ten  or 
twelve  miles  south  of  where  Captain  Clark,  of  the  Lewis  and 
Clark  expedition,  crossed  them  in  1806.  The  pass  that  Clark 
used  is  the  one  by  which  the  Northern  Pacific  railway  now 
crosses  the  range,  known  as  Bozeman  pass,  in  honor  of  John  M. 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  643 

Bozeman,  an  early  Montana  pioneer  and  a  contemporary  of 
Bridger.  After  crossing  the  divide,  the  trail  followed  down 
Trail  creek  into  the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone.  They  continued 
up  the  west  side  of  the  beautiful  valley  of  that  stream  to  where 
Gardiner,  the  official  entrance  to  the  park,  now  is  situated  at 
the  mouth  of  Gardiner  river,  where  they  made  one  of  their 
camps.  Thence  they  followed  an  Indian  trail  parallel  to  the 
Yellowstone  river  to  the  Grand  Canyon  and  Yellowstone  lake. 
Before  reaching  the  lake,  they  crossed  to  the  east  side  of  the 
Yellowstone  at  the  ford  near  Mud  Volcano,  the  same  ford  which 
Chief  Joseph  used  when  escaping  from  General  Howard  in  1878. 
They  circled  the  east  and  south  sides  of  Yellowstone  lake,  and 
then  struck  across  the  continental  divide  to  the  Firehole  branch 
of  the  Madison  river,  which  they  followed  through  the  Upper 
and  Lower  Geyser  Basins  back  to  the  Montana  settlements.  The 
Madison  river  trail  is  also  the  one  by  which  Chief  Joseph  and 
General  Howard  entered  the  confines  of  the  park  during  their 
memorable  retreat  and  pursuit. 

That  the  fears  of  the  party  regarding  the  danger  from  rov- 
ing bands  of  Indians  were  not  unfounded,  was  proved  at  the 
very  outset  of  the  journey.  Immediately  upon  descending  into 
the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone,  Crow  Indians  were  discovered  in 
considerable  number.  The  lodge-pole  trail  of  the  Crows  was 
followed  for  several  days,  and  their  smoke  signals  were  seen  on 
the  hills.  Great  vigilance  was,  naturally,  exercised  both  day 
and  night,  but  no  actual  encounter  occurred.  The  size  of  the 
party  undoubtedly  proved  its  safety.  At  Tower  Fall  the  In- 
dians crossed  to  the  east  side  of  the  Yellowstone  river,  and 
although  guards  continued  to  be  stationed  at  night  no  more 
Indians  were  seen. 

Upon  leaving  Helena  the  expedition  had  laid  in  a  supply  of 
provisions  for  thirty  days.  It  was  thirty-eight  days  after  leav- 
ing that  city  before  Mr.  Langford,  the  first  one  of  the  party  to 
re-enter  it,  again  saw  it.  While  still  detained  around  Yellow- 
stone lake,  their  staple  provisions,  sugar,  coffee,  flour,  etc.,  ran 
perilously  low,  and  they  were  put  upon  short  rations.  Before 
reaching  the  geyser  basins,  they  were  able  to  provide  them- 
selves quite  plentifully  with  venison,  grouse,  and  antelope. 
Trout  were  abundant  at  all  times,  so  much  so  that  while  en- 


644  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

camped  at  the  lake,  as  a  measure  of  precaution  they  caught  and 
dried  several  hundred  pounds  to  supplement  their  impoverished 
larder. 

In  a  company  where  practically  all  were  equals,  were  men 
of  enduring  qualities,  and  who  bore  themselves  in  true,  manly 
fashion,  invidious  distinctions  are  not  easily  possible  nor  de- 
sirable. It  may  be  said,  however,  that  a  reading  of  the  jour- 
nals will  show  that  Mr.  Langford  was  easily  one  of  the  leading 
figures  in  the  exploration.  Strong,  physically  and  mentally, 
capable  of  advising  wisely  and  enduring  great  labor  and  hard- 
ship, naturally  industrious  and  not  given  to  shirking  his  share 
of  responsibility,  of  a  temper  that  could  withstand  severe 
strains  upon  its  equanimity,  he  was  admirably  fitted  for  lead- 
ership in  an  enterprise  such  as  this.  While  General  Washburn 
was  the  titular  leader  and  as  such  filled  the  position  in  a  man- 
ner beyond  criticism,  there  was  a  rare  and  beautiful  goodfel- 
lowship  existing  and  several  others,  including  particularly  Mr. 
Langford,  virtually  shared  the  honors  of  leadership  with  Gen- 
eral Washburn. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  region  was,  in  all  serious- 
ness, a  terra  incognita  to  every  one  of  these  explorers,  and  they 
were  following  a  very  blind  wilderness  trail.  The  objective 
point  of  the  expedition  was  Yellowstone  lake,  a  large  body  of 
water  known  to  be  at  a  very  high  altitude  somewhere  among 
the  labyrinths  of  the  mountains.  Upon  arriving  at  what  is  now 
Tower  Fall,  nothing  had  been  seen  of  such  a  body  of  water 
from  any  of  the  elevations  ascended,  and  some  of  the  party 
were  becoming  much  concerned  as  to  their  own  whereabouts. 
While  encamped  at  the  fall.  General  Washburn  one  day  as- 
cended a  high,  sloping  mountain  to  the  south,  and  from  its 
wind-swept,  rounded  summit,  to  which  a  finely  engineered  car- 
riage road  now  winds,  he  descried  the  beautiful  lake,  the  ob- 
ject of  their  quest,  reposing  in  its  mountain  basin  ''twenty 
miles  away."  This  was  a  most  cheSring  discovery,  and,  despite 
a  recently  formed  resolution  not  to  affix  the  name  of  any  mem- 
ber of  the  party  to  any  object  of  interest  discovered,  so  re- 
joiced were  they  all  at  the  tidings  of  General  Washburn,  that 
the  peak  was  spontaneously  and  unanimously  named  Mt.  Wash- 
burn, and  as  such  it  is  known  today. 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  645 

General  Washburn  (and  also  others  of  the  party  in  fact) 
was  more  or  less  broken  by  the  hardships  suffered  on  this  trip, 
and  he  died  on  January  26,  1871,  following  the  return  of  the 
explorers  to  civilization.  As  showing  the  beautiful  harmony 
that  prevailed  in  the  party  and  the  esteem  in  which  General 
Washburn  was  held  by  them,  I  quote  from  a  memorial  address 
by  Mr.  Hedges  in  Helena  on  January  29,  1871 : 

On  the  west  bank  of  the  Yellowstone  ....  a  mighty  senti- 
nel, overlooking  that  region  of  wonders,  rises  in  its  serene  and  solitary- 
grandeur, — Mount  Washburn, — pointing  the  way  his  enfranchised  spirit 
was  soon  to  soar.  He  was  the  first  to  climb  its  bare,  bald  summit,  and 
thence  reported  to  us  the  welcome  news  that  he  saw  the  beautiful  lake 
that  had  been  the  proposed  object  of  our  journey.  By  unanimous 
voice,  unsolicited  by  him,  we  gave  the  mountain  a  name  that  through 
coming  years  shall  bear  onward  the  memory  of  our  gallant,  generous 
leader.  How  little  we  then  thought  that  he  would  be  the  first  to  live 
only  in  memory. 

At  the  Grand  Canyon  the  explorers  camped  on  Cascade 
creek  near  Crystal  fall,  both  so  aptly  named  by  Mr.  Hedges. 
They  were  most  profoundly  impressed,  as  thousands  have  been 
since,  by  the  majesty,  beauty,  and  grandeur  of  their  surround- 
ings. 

As  indicating  the  impressions  made  upon  Mr.  Langford,  in- 
dividually, and  to  show  the  dignity,  power,  and  literary  style 
of  his  narrative,  I  give  two  or  three  excerpts  from  his  journal 
descriptive  of  the  Grand  Canyon  and  the  falls.  Under  date  of 
August  31,  he  wrote : 

This  has  been  a  "red-letter"  day  with  me,  and  one  which  I  shall 
not  soon  forget,  for  my  mind  is  clogged  and  my  memory  confused  by 
what  I  have  today  seen.  General  Washburn  and  Mr.  Hedges  are  sit- 
ting near  me,  writing,  and  we  have  an  understanding  that  we  will 
compare  our  notes  when  finished.  We  are  all  overwhelmed  with  as- 
tonishment and  wonder  at  what  we  have  seen,  and  we  feel  that  we 
have  been  near  the  very  presence  of  the  Almighty.  General  Washburn 
has  just  quoted  from  the  psalm: 

"When  I  behold  the  work  of  Thy  hands,  what  is  man  that  Thou  art 
mindful  of  him?" 

My  own  mind  is  so  confused  that  I  hardly  know  where  to  com- 
mence in  making  a  clear  record  of  what  is  at  this  moment  fioating  past 
my  mental  vision.  I  cannot  confine  myself  to  a  bare  description  of  the 
falls  of  the  Yellowstone  alone,  for  these  two  great  cataracts  are  but 
one  feature  in  a  scene  composed  of  so  many  of  the  elements  of  grand- 


646  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTlOlSfS. 

eur  and  sublimity,  that  I  almost  despair  of  giving  to  those  who  on  our 
return  home  will  listen  to  a  recital  of  our  adventures,  the  faintest  con- 
ception of  it.  The  immense  canyon  or  gorge  of  rocks  through  wnich 
the  river  descends,  perhaps  more  than  the  falls,  is  calculated  to  fill 

the  observer  with  feelings  of  mingled  awe  and  terror The 

stillness  is  horrible,  and  the  solemn  grandeur  of  the  scene  surpasses 
conception.  You  feel  the  absence  of  sound — the  oppression  of  abso- 
lute silence.  Down,  down,  down,  you  see  the  river  attenuated  to  a 
thread.  If  you  could  only  hear  that  gurgling  river,  lashing  with  puny 
strength  the  massive  walls  that  imprison  it  and  hold  it  in  their  dismal 
shadow,  if  you  could  but  see  a  living  thing  in  the  depth  beneath  you, 
if  a  bird  would  but  fly  past  you,  if  the  wind  would  move  any  object  in 
that  awful  chasm,  to  break  for  a  moment  the  solemn  silence  which 
reigns  there,  it  would  relieve  that  tension  of  the  nerves  which  the 
scene  has  excited,  and  with  a  grateful  heart  you  would  thank  God  that 
he  had  permitted  you  to  gaze  unharmed  upon  this  majestic  display  of 
his  handiwork.  But  as  it  is,  the  spirit  of  man  sympathizes  with  the 
deep  gloom  of  the  scene,  and  the  brain  reels  as  you  gaze  into  this  pro- 
found and  solemn  solitude. 

....  As  I  took  in  this  scene,  I  realized  my  own  littleness,  my 
helplessness,  my  dread  exposure  to  destruction,  my  inability  to  cope 
with  or  even  comprehend  the  mighty  architecture  of  nature.  More 
than  all  this  I  felt  as  never  before  my  entire  dependence  upon  that 
Almighty  Power  who  had  wrought  these  wonders. 

Of  the  two  glorious  cataracts  at  the  head  of  the  canyon  he 
wrote,  in  part : 

The  two  grand  falls  of  the  Yellowstone  form  a  fitting  completion 
to  this  stupendous  climax  of  wonders.  They  impart  life,  power,  light 
and  majesty  to  an  assemblage  of  elements,  which  without  them  would 
be  the  most  gloomy  and  horrible  solitude  in  nature.  Their  eternal 
anthem,  echoing  from  canyon,  mountain,  rock  and  woodland,  thrills 
you  with  delight,  and  you  gaze  with  rapture  at  the  iris-crowned  cur- 
tains of  fleecy  foam  as  they  plunge  into  gulfs  enveloped  in  mist  and 
spray.  The  stillness  which  held  your  senses  spell-bound,  as  you  peered 
into  the  dismal  depths  of  the  canyon  below,  is  now  broken  by  the  up- 
roar of  waters;  the  terror  it  inspired  is  superseded  by  admiration  and 
astonishment, 'and  the  scene,  late  so  painful  from  its  silence  and  gloom, 
is  now  animate  with  joy  and  revelry. 

The  first  camp  at  Yellowstone  lake  was  on  the  north  shore 
about  two  miles  east  of  the  outlet.  Here  we  find  Mr.  Langford 
successfully  assuming  a  new  role,  one  that  exhibited  not  only 
his  versatility,  but  proved  his  value  in  emergencies.  During 
the  entire  exploration  thus  far.  Lieutenant  Doane  had  suffered 
agonies  from  an  obstinate  felon.    His  sufferings  had  become  so 


NAtHANlEL  PITT  LANGFORfi.  647 

acute  and  even  excruciating  that  relief  must,  in  some  way,  be 

afforded,  and  we  will  let  Dr.  Langford  tell  the  story  of  what 

followed : 

Last  evening  Lieutenant  Doane's  sufferings  were  so  intense  that 
General  Washburn  and  I  insisted  that  he  submit  to  an  operation,  and 
have  the  felon  opened,  and  he  consented  provided  I  would  administer 
chloroform.  Preparations  were  accordingly  made  after  supper.  A  box 
containng  army  cartridges  was  improvised  as  an  operating  table,  and 
I  engaged  Mr.  Bean,  one  of  our  packers,  and  Mr.  Hedges  as  assistant 
surgeons.  Hedges  was  to  take  his  position  at  Doane's  elbow,  and  was 
to  watch  my  motion  as  I  thrust  in  the  knife  blade,  and  hold  the  elbow 
and  fore-arm  firmly  to  prevent  any  involuntary  drawing  back  of  the 
arm  by  Lieutenant  Doane,  at  the  critical  moment.  When  Doane  was 
told  that  we  were  ready,  he  asked,  "Where  is  the  chloroform?"  I 
replied  that  I  had  never  administered  it,  and  that  after  thinking  the 
matter  over  I  was  afraid  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  giving  it.  He 
swallowed  his  disappointment,  and  turned  his  thumb  over  on  the  car- 
tridge box,  with  the  nail  down.  Hedges  and  Bean  were  on  hand  to 
steady  the  arm,  and  before  one  could  say  "Jack  Robinson,"  I  had  in- 
serted the  point  of  my  penknife,  thrusting  it  down  to  the  bone,  and 
had  ripped  it  out  to  the  end  of  the  thumb.  Doane  gave  one  shriek  as 
the  released  corruption  flew  out  in  all  directions  upon  surgeon  and  as- 
sistants, and  then  with  a  broad  smile  on  his  face  he  exclaimed,  "That 
was  elegant!"  We  then  applied  a  poultice  of  bread  and  water,  which 
we  renewed  a  half  hour  later,  and  Doane  at  about  eight  o'clock  last 
night  dropped  off  into  a  seemingly  peaceful  sleep,  which  has  been  con- 
tinuous up  to  the  time  of  this  writing,  two  o'clock  p.  m. 

Lieutenant  Doane  had  been  nine  days  and  nights  without 
sleep,  and  he  now  slept  continuously  for  thirty-six  hours. 

While  encamped  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake.  Lieuten- 
ant Doane  and  Mr.  Langford  climbed,  with  great  exertion  and 
difficulty,  a  high  mountain  close  at  hand  and  bordering  the 
lake,  in  order  to  gain  some  idea  of  the  country  and  to  lay  out 
a  route  for  the  future.  They  were  four  hours  in  reaching  the 
summit,  and  while  there  Mr.  Langford  made  a  rough  but  very 
correct  outline  map  of  the  lake.  This  was  the  first  map  ever 
drawn  that  gave  anything  like  a  correct  representation  of  the 
peculiar  shape  and  shore  line  of  this  body  of  water.  It  was 
used  by  General  Washburn,  as  Surveyor  General,  as  the  copy, 
or  model,  for  a  map  for  the  Interior  Department  at  Washing- 
ton, in  whose  archives,  presumably,  it  still  reposes. 


648  MINNESOTA  HlSlORtCAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

As  an  appropriate  recognition  of  the  services  of  Mr.  Lang- 
ford  and  Lieutenant  Doane  in  making  this  laborious  ascent  and 
the  map,  General  Washburn,  with  the  hearty  concurrence  of 
his  associates,  named  the  peak  they  climbed,  Mt.  Langford,  and 
the  mountain  just  north  of  it,  Mt.  Doane.  The  one  they  as- 
cended was,  Mr.  Langford  states,  "the  most  westerly  peak"  of 
the  range,  and  it  commanded  a  very  extensive  view.  Doane 
pronounced  it  ''the  highest  peak  of  the  east  range,"  that  is,  of 
the  range  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake. 

In  1871  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden  and  his  government  survey  vis- 
ited the  region,  impelled  thereto  by  the  Washburn-Doane  ex- 
ploration of  1870,  and  his  parties  explored  and  mapped  it. 
With  an  apparent  total  disregard  for  the  facts,  as  stated,  that 
seems  utterly  unjustifiable,  he  ignored  the  name  Mt.  Langford 
as  applied  to  this  peak,  and  gave  it  to  a  mountain  far  removed 
from  this  locality.  Later,  for  some  reason,  apparently  at  least 
publicly  unknown,  but  possibly  by  Hayden,  the  name  was  again 
changed  to  a  peak  near  the  original  Mt.  Langford,  to  which 
mountain  Hayden,  presumably,  gave  the  name  Stevenson,  after 
James  Stevenson,  a  member  of  his  own  party,  who  may  or  may 
not  have  climbed  it.  The  propriety  and  significance  of  apply- 
ing the  name  Langford  to  the  peak  that  Doane  and  Langford 
ascended,  and  from  which  they  sketched  the  first  map  of  the 
locality  that,  rough  as  it  was,  bore  any  semblance  to  accuracy, 
calls  for  no  argument.  As  the  matter  now  stands,  the  name 
carries  little  or  no  significance.  Apparently,  Dr.  Hayden  in- 
excusably ignored  the  prior  and  just  rights  of  a  previous 
brother  explorer,  endeavoring  later,  possibly,  to  make  amends 
for  it  by  bringing  the  name  back  to  that  locality. 

I  suggest  that,  as  these  three  peaks,  Stevenson,  Langford, 
and  Doane,  as  now  named,  are  very  near  together,  it  would  not 
be  difficult  even  now  wholly  to  rectify  this  injustice  and  prop- 
erly and  sensibly  to  readjust  these  names.  A  determined  effort 
by  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Montana  Historical  Society  and  perhaps  other  appropriate  or- 
ganizations, could  probably  accomplish  this  object.  And  what 
a  graceful  and  appropriate  action  and  tribute  it  would  be  if 
these  societies,  to  which  Mr.  Langford  was  so  closely  related, 
could  accomplish  this  result! 


k 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  649 


While,  one  day,  the  expedition  was  making  its  way  with 
greatest  difficulty  through  the  tangled  mass  of  brush  and  fallen 
timber  that  encumbered  the  route,  Mr.  Langford's  keen  sense 
of  the  ludicrous  saved  a  rather  serious  situation  and  changed 
the  entire  aspect  of  affairs. 

Those  of  us  who  have  endeavored  to  work  a  pack  train 
through  almost  impassable  obstacles  of  this  sort,  know  how  it 
tries  men's  souls.  On  this  particular  occasion  patience  as  well 
as  physical  strength  had  become  exhausted,  the  tempers  of  all 
were  strained  to  the  breaking  point,  and  an  ugly  spirit  pre- 
dominated. At  the  opportune  time,  or  as  I  ought  now  to  say, 
I  suppose,  the  psychological  moment,  Mr.  Langford,  in  a  highly 
affected  and  mock  heroic  style,  recited  these  beautiful  lines 
from  Byron,  found  in  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage: 

"There  is  a  pleasure  in  the  pathless  woods; 
There  is  a  rapture  on  the  lonely  shore; 
There  is  society,  where  none  intrudes. 
By  the  deep  sea,  and  music  in  its  roar: 
I  love  not  man  the  less,  but  Nature  more." 

The  effect  of  this  pompous  style  of  declamation,  amid  such 
doleful  and  lugubrious  surroundings,  was  instantaneous  and 
may  easily  be  imagined.  All  burst  into  unrestrained  laughter, 
the  tension  was  quickly  relaxed,  the  atmosphere  was  cleared, 
and  anger  and  sullenness  gave  way  to  good  feeling  and  con- 
geniality. 

All  mountaineers  and  explorers  know  well  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  world  that  so  tries  a  man's  patience  and  de- 
velops, on  the  one  hand,  the  mean,  selfish,  ignoble  attributes, 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  noble  and  unselfish  qualities  in  a 
man, — in  a  word,  nothing  that  so  quickly  and  unfailingly  brings 
to  the  surface  the  real  nature  of  an  individual — as  do  the  trials 
and  difficulties  inseparable  from  just  such  a  journey  as  the  one 
in  which  the  Washburn-Doane  party  were  engaged.  Their 
progress  around  Yellowstone  lake  was  peculiarly  aggravating 
and  nerve-trying.  An  excerpt  from  Mr.  Langford 's  diary  at 
this  time  not  only  emphasizes  this  fact,  but  reveals  most  ad- 
mirably the  sterling  character,  the  rugged  honesty,  the  sound 
philosophy,  the  innate  sweetness  and  nobility  of  spirit  of  the 
man  himself.    He  records: 


65(3  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECtloMS. 

I  growled  at  Hauser  and  scolded  him  a  little  in  camp  tonight  be- 
cause of  some  exasperating  action  of  his.  I  here  record  the  fact  with- 
out going  into  details.  I  think  that  I  must  try  to  be  more  patient.  But 
I  am  feeling  somewhat  the  fatigue  of  our  journey.  However,  there  Is 
something  to  be  said  on  the  other  hand,  and  that  is  that  there  is  no 
one  of  the  party  better  able  to  bear  its  labors  and  anxieties  than  I,  and 
therefore  I  should  be  the  last  man  to  lose  my  patience. 

I  know  of  nothing  that  can  try  one's  patience  more  than  a  trip  of 
any  considerable  length  by  wagon  train  or  pack  train  through  an  un- 
inhabited region,  and  the  most  amiable  of  our  race  cannot  pass  this 
ordeal  entirely  unscathed.  Persons  who  are  not  blessed  with  uncom- 
mon equanimity  never  get  through  such  a  journey  without  frequent 
explosions  of  temper,  and  seldom  without  violence.  Even  education, 
gentle  training  and  the  sharpest  of  mental  discipline,  do  not  always  so 
effectually  subdue  the  passions  that  they  may  not  be  aroused  into  un- 
wonted fury  during  a  long  journey  through  a  country  filled  with  ob- 
structions. Philosophy  has  never  found  a  fitter  subject  for  its  exercise 
than  that  afforded  by  the  journey  we  are  now  making,  which  obliges 
the  members  of  our  party  to  strive  to  relieve  each  other's  burdens. 

In  order  that  an  erroneous  impression  of  Governor  Hauser 
may  not  be  conveyed  by  this  quotation,  I  submit  one  more  writ- 
ten at  about  the  same  time,  referring  to  an  intensely  practical 
joke  played  on  him  by  Mr.  Langford  and  Judge  Hedges  during 
a  night  on  which  they  stood  guard. 

Mr.  Hauser had  expected  to  have  a  dainty  breakfast, 

but  he  is  himself  too  fond  of  a  practical  joke  to  express  any  disap- 
pointment, and  no  one  in  the  party  is  more  unconcerned  at  the  out- 
come than  he.  He  is  a  philosopher,  and,  as  I  know  from  eight  years' 
association  with  him,  does  not  worry  over  the  evils  which  he  can 
remedy,  nor  those  which  he  cannot  remedy.  There  can  be  found  no 
better  man  than  he  for  such  a  trip  as  we  are  making. 

Another  excerpt  will  convey  a  vivid  impression  of  what 
those  of  us  who  have  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  travel  with  pack 
trains,  have  experienced  on  trails  grievously  obstructed  by 
down  timber.  This  experience  was  also  among  the  mountains 
bordering  Yellowstone  lake. 

We  broke  camp  this  morning  with  the  pack  train  at  10  o'clock, 
traveling  in  a  westerly  course  for  about  two  miles,  when  we  gradually 
veered  around  to  a  nearly  easterly  direction,  through  fallen  timber 
almost  impassable  in  the  estimation  of  pilgrims,  and  indeed  pretty 
severe  on  our  pack  horses,  for  there  was  no  trail,  and,  while  our  sad- 
dle horses  with  their  riders  could  manage  to  force  their  way  through 


Nathaniel  pitt  langford.  651 


between  the  trees,  the  packs  on  the  pack  animals  would  frequently 
strike  the  trees,  holding  the  animals  fast  or  compelling  them  to  seek 
some  other  passage.  Frequently,  Vv^e  were  obliged  to  re-arrange  the 
packs  and  narrow  them,  so  as  to  admit  of  their  passage  between  the 
standing  trees.  At  one  point  the  pack  animals  became  separated,  and 
with  the  riding  animals  of  a  portion  of  the  party  were  confronted  with 
a  prostrate  trunk  of  a  huge  tree,  about  four  feet  in  diameter,  around 
which  it  was  impossible  to  pass  because  of  the  obstructions  of  fallen 
timber.  Yet  pass  it  we  must;  and  the  animals,  one  after  another, 
were  brought  up  to  the  log,  their  breasts  touching  it,  when  Williamson 
and  I,  the  two  strongest  men  of  the  party,  on  either  side  of  an  animal, 
stooped  down,  and,  placing  each  a  shoulder  back  of  a  fore  leg  of  a 
horse,  rose  to  an  erect  position,  while  others  of  the  party  placed  his 
fore  feet  over  the  log,  which  he  was  thus  enabled  to  scale.  In  this 
way  we  lifted  fifteen  or  twenty  of  our  animals  over  the  log. 

Friday,  September  9,  1870,  was  a  day  and  date  seared  upon 
the  minds  and  memories  of  every  member  of  the  expedition.  It 
was  the  same  day  on  which  occurred  the  "horse  lifting"  inci- 
dent just  recorded. 

After  a  day  of  soul-trying  and  exhausting  experiences  in  the 
fallen  timber  lodged  on  the  hillsides,  they  camped  that  after- 
noon on  the  western,  the  Pacific,  slope  of  the  Continental  Di- 
vide. The  tremendous  obstacles  to  their  progress  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  their  camp,  en  a  small  affluent  stream 
of  the  Snake  river,  was  but  three  miles  from  their  last  camp, 
and  the  circuitous  distance  traveled  was  but  six  miles. 

These  words,  from  Mr.  Langford 's  journal,  ''Mr,  Everts  has 
not  yet  come  into  camp,  and  we  fear  that  he  is  lost,"  prefigure 
an  experience  in  that  gentleman's  life  that  contained  all  the 
elements  of  an  awful  tragedy.  That,  at  the  last  moment,  it  was 
saved  from  becoming  a  complete  and  lamentable  tragedy,  is  it 
too  much  to  say,  was  owing  to  the  ever  watchful  and  loving 
care  of  a  Divine  Providence  that  so  often  guides  our  footsteps? 
Some  may  question  this,  many  will  firmly  believe  it  to  be  the 
only  possible  solution. 

Mr.  Everts  was,  indeed,  lost!  In  the  absence  of  any  real, 
defined  trail  in  the  tangled  timber,  he  with  the  others  was  con- 
tinually winding  hither  and  thither  seeking  a  route  that  would 
lead  them  onward.  In  some  manner  while  thus  engaged  he  be- 
came confused  and  separated  from  his-  comrades,  and  his  ab- 
sence was  not  noted  until  camp  was  made. 


652  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Mr.  Everts  was  not  seen  again  for  thirty-seven  days,  when 
he  was  found  by  two  mountaineers  on  the  summit  of  a  moun- 
tain in  the  neighborhood  of  Yancey's,  west  of  that  point  and 
north  of  Mt.  Washburn.  These  mountain  men  were  sent  in 
search  of  Everts  by  the  Washburn-Doane  explorers  after  their 
return  to  civilization.  Everts,  when  found,  was  entirely  ex- 
hausted and  partially  deranged  through  starvation,  exposure, 
and  suffering.  On  the  very  first  day  of  his  absence,  his  horse, 
left  standing  and  unfastened,  with  all  the  man 's  arms  and  camp 
equipments  attached,  became  frightened  and  ran  away  and  was 
never  afterward  seen.  Everts  was  near-sighted,  had  not  even 
a  knife  for  use  or  defense,  and  only  a  field-glass  to  assist  him  in 
escaping.  He  at  first  managed  to  reach  Heart  lake,  one  of  the 
sources  of  Snake  river.  Here  he  remained  for  twelve  days, 
sleeping  close  by  the  hot  springs  to  keep  from  freezing.  His 
food  was  thistle  roots,  boiled  in  the  springs.  One  night  he  was 
forced  into  a  tree  by  a  mountain  lion  and  kept  there  all  night. 
Finally  he  bethought  himself  of  the  lenses  of  his  field-glasses, 
and  thus  was  enabled  to  kindle  fires.  He  wandered  all  along 
the  western  side  of  the  lake  and  down  the  Yellowstone  river  to 
where  he  was  providentially  found.  He  gave  the  story  of  his 
terrible  experience  in  the  old  Scribner's  Magazine,  since  be- 
come the  Century  Magazine,  and  a  thrilling  tale  it  makes. 

In  a  country  filled  with  a  network  of  streams,  abundantly 
supplied  with  animal  life  for  food,  gorged  with  timber  for  fuel, 
the  man  nearly  froze,  and  starved,  and  almost  perished  from 
thirst.  Twice  he  was  five  days  without  food,  and  once  three 
days  without  water.  It  was  late  in  the  season,  and  the  storms 
swept  down  on  him  and  chilled  him  to  the  bone ;  the  snows  kept 
him  prisoner  in  camp,  or  when  on  his  painful  marches  blocked 
his  progress.  He  became  weaker  and  weaker.  For  several 
days  toward  the  end  of  his  wanderings,  a  large  mountain  lion 
followed  his  trail  to  feast  on  him  when  he  should  at  last  drop 
exhausted.  When  it  finally  seemed  as  if  hope  must  be  given 
up,  and  life  also,  he  was  providentially  found,  and  was  care- 
fully nursed  back  to  health.  His  escape  borders  on  the  mirac- 
ulous. The  large  plateau,  known  as  Mt.  Everts,  just  east  of 
Mammoth  Hot  Springs,  'was  named  for  Everts  on  the  mistaken 
assumption  that  he  was  found  on  its  summit. 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  653 

The  journal  for  September  11  relates  a  not  infrequent  but 
always  startling  experience: 

We  were  roused  this  morning  about  2  o'clock  by  the  shrill  howl 
of  a  mountain  lion,  and  again  while  we  were  at  breakfast  we  heard 
another  yell.  As  we  stood  around  our  camp-fire  tonight,  our  ears  were 
saluted  with  a  shriek  so  terribly  human,  that  for  a  moment  we  be- 
lieved it  to  be  a  call  from  Mr.  Everts,  and  we  hallooed  in  response, 
and  several  of  our  party  started  in  the  direction  whence  the  sounds 
came,  and  would  have  instituted  a  search  for  our  comrade  but  for  an 
admonitory  growl  of  a  mountain  lion. 

One  who  has  ever  heard  the  peculiar,  childlike  cry  of  one 
of  these  beasts,  will  never  forget  it,  nor  the  terrifying  effect  it 
instinctively  produces.  Fortunately  for  those  who  in  these 
days  now  and  then  break  away  from  the  established  routes  of 
travel  in  the  park  and  penetrate  the  remoter  and  untraveled 
wilds  by  horseback  and  pack  train,  there  are  few  of  these  ani- 
mals now  found  there.  The  government  has  strenuously  hunted 
them  down  to  prevent  their  preying  on  the  elk,  antelopes,  and 
deer,  which  are  steadily  increasing. 

From  September  11  to  16  the  party  remained  at  their  camp 
on  the  southwest  arm  of  the  lake.  The  utmost  anxiety  pre- 
vailed regarding  Mr.  Everts.  By  twos,  following  the  old  script- 
ural injunction,  they  went  forth  day  by  day  in  all  directions, 
searching  for  the  unfortunate  wanderer,  but  not  the  slightest 
trace  of  him  or  his  horse  was  ever  found  by  them. 

The  solicitude  regarding  Everts,  and  one  reason  for  it,  are 
thus  voiced : 

I  had  a  good  nap  this  afternoon and  I  feel  greatly 

refreshed.  My  first  thought  on  awakening  was  for  poor  Everts.  I 
wonder  where  he  can  be  throughout  all  this  fierce  storm  and  deep 
snow?  Perhaps  the  snow  did  not  reach  him,  for  I  noticed  tonight  that 
the  ground  was  quite  bare  on  the  opposite  side  of  this  arm  of  the  lake, 

while  the  snow  is  eight  or  ten  inches  deep  here  at  our  camp 

Each  night  that  we  have  been  camped  here  we  have  heard  the  shrill 
cries  of  the  mountain  lions,  and  under  a  momentary  illusion  I  have  each 
time  been  half  convinced  that  it  was  a  human  being  in  distress.  Be- 
cause of  the  mountain  lions  we  are  keeping  close  watch  upon  our 
horses.  They  are  very  fond  of  horse  flesh,  and  oftentimes  will  follow  a 
horseman  a  long  distance,  more  to  make  a  meal  upon  the  flesh  of  the 
horse  than  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  rider. 


654  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

One,  at  least,  of  these  explorers  was  not  so  beset  by  the 
manifold  cares  and  anxieties,  the  labors  and  fatigues  that  en- 
compassed them,  as  not  to  foresee  in  his  mind's  eye  with  re- 
markably clear  and  unclouded  vision,  the  real  purport  and  ulti- 
mate importance  of  the  exploration  to  which  they  had  so  un- 
reservedly given  themselves.  This  is  evidenced  by  this  excerpt 
from  the  diary  of  September  14,  written  at  their  next  to  the 
last  camp  on  the  lake,  the  one  from  which  they  conducted  the 
search  for  Everts.  It  also  draws  a  picture  of  some  features  of 
their  camp  life  that  is  interesting. 

We  have  remained  in  camp  all  day,  as  it  is  next  to  impossible  to 
move.  The  snow  is  nearly  two  feet  deep,  and  is  very  wet  and  heavy, 
and  our  horses  are  pawing  in  it  for  forage.  Our  large  army  tent  is 
doing  us  good  service,  and,  as  there  is  an  abundance  of  dry  wood  close 
by  our  camp,  we  are  extremely  comfortable.  I  am  the  only  one  of  the 
party  who  has  a  pair  of  water-proof  boots,  and  I  was  up  and  out  of  the 
tent  this  morning  before  daylight  cutting  into  cordwood  a  pine  log, 
and  before  noon  I  had  more  than  a  half  cord  at  the  tent  door.  Wash- 
burn and  Hauser  offered  to  do  some  of  this  work  if  I  would  loan  them 
my  water-proof  boots;  but,  as  they  are  of  a  full  size  for  me,  and  would 
probably  drop  off  of  their  feet,  I  told  them  that  I  would  get  the  wood. 

Lieutenant  Doane  today  requested  me  to  loan  him  this  diary  from 
which  to  write  up  his  records,  as  the  condition  of  his  thumb  has  inter- 
fered with  his  use  of  a  pen  or  pencil.  I  have  accordingly  loaned  it  to 
him,  and  Private  Moore  has  been  busy  the  greater  part  of  the  day 
copying  portions  of  it. 

For  myself,  I  am  very  glad  to  have  a  day  of  rest,  for  I  have  felt 
much  wearied  for  several  days.  I  think  that  I  am  certainly  within 
bounds  when  I  say  that  I  have  put  in  sixteen  hours  a  day  of  pretty 
hard  work,  attending  to  camp  duties,  and  writing  each  day  till  late,  at 
night,  and  I  realize  that  this  journal  of  travel  is  becoming  ponderous. 
Yet  there  is  daily  crowded  upon  my  vision  so  much  of  novelty  and 
wonder,  which  should  be  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  world,  and  which, 
so  far  as  my  individual  effort  is  concerned,  will  be  lost  to  it  if  I  do  not 
record  the  incidents  of  each  day's  travel,  that  I  am  determined  to 
make  my  journal  as  full  as  possible,  and  to  purposely  omit  no  details. 
It  is  a  lifetime  opportunity  for  publishing  to  all  who  may  be  interested, 
a  complete  record  of  the  discoveries  of  an  expedition  which  in  coming 
time  will  rank  among  the  first  and  most  important  of  American  ex- 
plorations. 

That  Mr.  Langford  was  able  at  this  time  to  pen  the  pre- 
ceding statement  concerning  the  importance  of  the  exploration 
and  its  discoveries,  exhibited  a  prescience  and  an  accuracy  in 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  655 

judging  results,  that  are  very  surprising.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  party  did  not  at  any  time  see  or  know  of  Mam- 
moth Hot  Springs  and  its  beautiful  terraces,  the  Golden  Gate, 
the  canyon  and  fall  of  the  Middle  Gardiner  river.  Obsidian 
Cliff,  Norris  Geyser  Basin,  Gibbon  fall  and  canyon,  and  other 
remarkable  objects,  which  now  so  delight  thousands  annually. 
Neither  had  they  at  this  time  seen  a  single  geyser,  that  par- 
ticular class  of  phenomena  that  renders  the  region  so  unique 
and  distinguishes  it,  more  than  any  other,  from  other  wonder 
spots  of  the  globe.  Nevertheless  the  instinct  was  unerring  and 
the  prognostication  a  true  one. 

The  last  camp  in  the  Yellowstone  Lake  region  was  made  at 
the  "West  Arm  or  Thumb,  as  it  is  also  termed,  where  the  lunch 
station  on  the  lake  is  now  located.  It  was  on  open  ground,  and 
the  relief  at  emerging  from  the  gloom  and  intricacies  of  the  for- 
est was  inexpressible.  Mr.  Langford,  from  the  depths  of  that 
tenacious  memory  that  we  all  knew  so  well,  recited  to  Hauser 
and  Washburn  the  following  lines  from  ''The  Task,"  by  Cow- 
per,  as  ''at  once  expressive  of  our  experience  in  the  journey 
around  the  lake  and  of  our  present  relief." 

"As  one  who  long  in  thickets  and  in  brakes 
Entangled,  winds  now  this  way  and  now  that, 
His  devious  course  uncertain,  seeking  home; 
Or  having  long  in  miry  ways  been  foiled 
And  sore  discomfited,  from  slough  to  slough 
Plunging,  and  half  despairing  of  escape; 
If  chance  at  length  he  finds  a  greensward  smooth 
And  faithful  to  the  foot,  his  spirits  rise, 
He  chirrups  brisk  his  ear-erecting  steed, 
And  winds  his  way  with  pleasure  and  with  ease." 

On  September  17  they  resumed  their  forward  journey.  So 
keen  was  their  continued  anxiety  regarding  Everts,  however, 
that  Mr.  Gillette  with  two  of  the  private  soldiers  was  left  be- 
hind the  main  party,  and,  with  ten  days'  rations,  these  resumed 
the  search  for  that  unfortunate  man.  They  were  to  return 
home  by  whatsoever  route  they  chose. 

Striking  out  again  into  the  unknown  with  Mr.  Hauser,  a 
civil  engineer  of  much  experience,  as  topographer  in  chief, 
the  main  body  crossed  the  Continental  Divide,  which  at  this 
point  doubles  back  upon  itself,  twice,  as  the  tourist  of  today 


656  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

does,  camping  that  night  on  a  small  tributary  creek  of  the 
Firehole  river,  and  once  more  on  the  Atlantic  slope.  It  was  a 
camp  of  very  tired  men,  who  for  the  most  part  were  greatly 
depressed.  Upon  crossing  the  Continental  Divide  the  first 
time,  they  saw  a  large  lake  lying  to  the  south.  This  occasioned 
a  great  deal  of  discussion,  not  alone  as  to  what  body  of  water 
it  could  be,  but  as  to  their  whereabouts.  With  the  exception 
of  Hauser  and  Langford,  all  seemed  sure  that  the  lake  was  the 
source  of  the  Firehole  river.  These  two  insisted  that  it  was 
the  source  of  the  Snake  river,  and  that  the  Firehole  yet  lay 
ahead  of  them,  beyond  the  second  crossing  of  the  Divide,  in 
which  conjecture  they  were  correct. 

The  lake  was  Shoshone  lake,  and  from  Shoshone  Point  the 
tourists  of  today  catch  a  glimpse  of  it  and  overlook,  beneath 
them,  the  heavily  timbered  low  country  across  which  the  Wash- 
burn party  struggled  forward  to  the  final  crossing  of  the  Con- 
tinental Divide. 

And  here  let  me  digress  for  a  brief  moment.  One  of  the 
conspicuous  sights  from  Shoshone  Point  is  the  long  distance 
view  obtained,  some  fifty  miles  to  the  south,  of  the  Three  Te- 
tons,  or  the  Pilot  Knobs,  the  name  by  which  they  were  formerly 
known.  These  peaks  are  stern,  rugged,  and  old-time  land- 
marks. The  principal  and  highest  one,  the  Grand  Teton,  was 
first  ascended  to  its  extreme  height,  in  1872,  by  Nathaniel  P. 
Langford  and  James  Stevenson,  the  latter  being  of  the  Hayden 
survey. 

Scribner's  Magazine  for  June,  1873,  published  an  account 
of  -this  ascent,  written  by  Mr.  Langford.  Not  until  1898  was 
the  summit  of  this  peak  again  reached. 

On  September  18,  the  anxieties  of  the  explorers  as  to  their 
location  were  quickly  set  at  rest,  for  within  three  miles  after 
breaking  camp  they  reached  the  Firehole  river  not  far  above 
Kepler  cascade,  and  soon  thereafter  found  themselves  in  the 
wonderful  Upper  Geyser  Basin,  the  very  heart  of  geyser  land. 

To  say  that  they  were  delighted,  astonished,  mystified, 
awed,  by  what  they  saw  here  and  in  going  to  and  through  the 
Midway  and  Lower  Geyser  Basins,  a  distance  of  about  twelve 
miles,  is  merely  to  state  what  all  know  could  not  have  been 
otherwise.     Mr.  Langford 's  journal  at  this  point  exhibits  an 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  657 


^P  almost  boyish  exuberance  and  enthusiasm  at  the  magnitude 
and  strange  nature  of  the  phenomena  discovered  by  them.  One 
excerpt  will  suffice : 

■  Near  by  is  situated  the  "Giantess,"  the  largest  of  all  the  geysers 

we  saw  in  eruption.  Ascending  a  gentle  slope  for  a  distance  of  sixty 
yards  we  came  to  a  sink  or  well  of  an  irregular  oval  shape,  fifteen  by 
twenty  feet  across,  into  which  we  could  see  to  the  depth  of  fifty  feet 
or  more,  but  could  discover  no  water,  though  we  could  distinctly  hear 
it  gurgling  and  boiling  at  a  fearful  rate  afar  down  this  vertical  cavern. 
Suddenly  it  commenced  spluttering  and  rising  with  incredible  rapidity, 
causing  a  general  stampede  among  our  company,  who  all  moved  around 
to  the  windward  side  of  the  geyser.  When  the  water  had  risen  within 
about  twenty-five  feet  of  the  surface,  it  became  stationary,  and  we  re- 
turned to  look  down  upon  the  foaming  water,  which  occasionally 
emitted  hot  jets  nearly  to  the  mouth  of  the  orifice.  As  if  tired  of  this 
sport  the  water  began  to  ascend  at  the  rate  of  five  feet  in  a  second, 
and  when  near  the  top  it  was  expelled  with  terrific  momentum  in  a 
column  the  full  size  of  the  immense  aperture  to  a  height  of  sixty  feet. 
The  column  remained  at  this  height  for  the  space  of  about  a  minute, 
when  from  the  apex  of  this  vast  aqueous  mass  five  lesser  jets  or  round 
columns  of  water  varying  in  size  from  six  to  fifteen  inches  in  diameter 
shot  up  into  the  atmosphere  to  the  amazing  height  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  This  was  without  exception  the  most  magnificent  phenomenon 
I  ever  beheld.  We  were  standing  on  the  side  of  the  geyser  exposed  to 
the  sun,  whose  sparkling  rays  filled  the  ponderous  column  with  what 
appeared  to  be  the  clippings  of  a  thousand  rainbows.  These  prismatic 
illusions  disappeared,  only  to  be  succeeded  by  myriads  of  others  which 
continually  fluttered  and  sparkled  through  the  spray  during  the  twenty 
minutes  the  eruption  lasted.  These  lesser  jets,  thrown  so  much  higher 
than  the  main  column  and  shooting  through  it,  doubtless  proceed  from 
auxiliary  pipes  leading  into  the  principal  orifice  near  the  bottom, 
where  the  explosive  force  is  greater.  The  minute  globules  into  which 
the  spent  column  was  diffused  when  falling  sparkled  like  a  shower  of 
diamonds,  and  around  every  shadow  produced  by  the  column  of  steam 
hiding  the  sun  was  the  halo  so  often  represented  in  paintings  as  en- 
circling the  head  of  the  Savior.  We  unhesitatingly  agreed  that  this 
was  the  greatest  wonder  of  our  trip. 

The  party  were  more  than  fortunate  in  what  they  here  saw. 
The  mysterious,  mystical  spirits  of  the  geyser  world,  seemingly 
forewarned  in  some  secret  manner,  appear  to  have  made  spe- 
cial efforts  to  arrange  an  elaborate  program  of  welcome  and 
exhibition  for  them.  In  a  stay  of  but  twenty-two  hours  they 
saw  twelve  geysers  in  action,  six  of  them  among  the  very  finest 
in  the  basin,  including  Old  Faithful,  Bee  Hive,  the  Giant,  and 


658  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL,  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Castle.  If  any  party  ever  deserved  such  a  multum  in  parvo 
reception  and  display,  it  was  this  one. 

On  the  night  of  September  19,  the  explorers  camped  at  the 
junction  of  the  Firehole  and  Gibbon  rivers.  The  bivouac  at 
that  spot  has  made  it  historic,  for  there  the  idea  of  establish- 
ing a  National  Park  bloomed  and  blossomed  forth  in  full  flower 
and  became  a  practical  one.  General  H.  M.  Chittenden,  re- 
tired, when  Engineer  in  Charge  of  road  construction,  etc.,  in 
the  park,  verj^  properly  placed  a  large  tablet  at  this  point  to 
commemorate  that  truth.  To  a  high  hill  or  salient  at  this  point 
has  also  been  given  the  name  National  Park  Mountain. 

The  facts  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  this  idea  and  its  final 
realization  in  the  establishment  of  Yellowstone  Park  are  not 
only  of  interest  but  of  value  historically.  The  story  forms  an 
important  part  of  the  one  I  am  endeavoring  to  relate,  for  no 
man  loomed  more  prominently  in  it  than  N.  P.  Langford.  As 
one  of  its  original  promoters  let  Mr.  Langford  be  also,  at  least 
in  part,  its  historian.    In  his  journal  for  September  20,  he  wrote  : 

Last  night,  and  also  this  morning  in  camp,  the  entire  party  had  a 
rather  unusual  discussion.  The  proposition  was  made  by  some  mem- 
ber that  we  utilize  the  result  of  our  exploration  by  taking  up  quarter 
sections  of  land  at  the  most  prominent  points  of  interest,  and  a  gen- 
eral discussion  followed.  One  member  of  our  party  suggested  that  if 
there  could  be  secured  by  pre-emption  a  good  title  to  two  or  three 
quarter  sections  of  land  opposite  the  Lower  Fall  of  the  Yellowstone 
and  extending  down  the  river  along  the  canyon,  they  would  eventually 
become  a  source  of  great  profit  to  the  owners.  Another  member  of 
the  party  thought  that  it  would  be  more  desirable  to  take  up  a  quarter 
section  of  land  at  the  Upper  Geyser  Basin,  for  the  reason  that  that 
locality  could  be  more  easily  reached  by  tourists  and  pleasure  seekers. 
A  third  suggestion  was  that  each  member  of  the  party  pre-empt  a 
claim,  and  in  order  that  no  one  should  have  an  advantage  over  the 
other,  the  whole  should  be  thrown  into  a  common  pool  for  the  benefit 
of  the  entire  party.  [Here  Mr.  Langford  and  the  others  appear  to  have 
formulated  the  original  idea  of  a  "trust"  or  "holding  company,"  so 
popular  in  these  latter  days.] 

Mr.  Hedges  then  said  he  did  not  approve  of  any  of  these  plans — 
that  there  ought  to  be  no  private  ownership  of  any  portion  of  that 
region,  but  that  the  whole  of  it  ought  to  be  set  apart  as  a  great  Na- 
tional Park,  and  that  each  one  of  us  ought  to  make  an  effort  to  have 
this  accomplished.  His  suggestion  met  with  an  instantaneous  and  fa- 
vorable response  from  all — except  one — of  the  members  of  our  party, 
and  each  hour  since  the  matter  was  first  broached,  our  enthusiasm  has 


I 


Nathaniel  pitt  LANGt'ORt).  659 

increased.  It  has  been  the  main  theme  of  our  conversation  today  as 
we  journeyed.  I  lay  awake  half  of  last  night  thinking  about  it; — and 
if  my  wakefulness  deprived  my  bed-fellow  (Hedges)  of  any  sleep,  he 
has  only  himself  and  his  disturbing  National  Park  proposition  to  an- 
swer for  it. 

Our  purpose  to  create  a  park  can  only  be  accomplished  by  untiring 
work  and  concerted  action  in  a  warfare  against  the  incredulity  and 
unbelief  of  our  National  legislators  when  our  proposal  shall  be  pre- 
sented for  their  approval.  Nevertheless,  I  believe  we  can  win  the 
battle. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  portion  of  our  country  where  a  national  park 
can  be  established,  furnishing  to  visitors  more  wonderful  attractions 
than  here.  These  wonders  are  so  different  from  anything  we  have 
ever  seen — they  are  so  various,  so  extensive — that  the  feeling  in  my 
mind  from  the  moment  they  began  to  appear  until  we  left  them  has 
been  one  of  intense  surprise  and  of  incredulity.  Every  day  spent  in 
surveying  them  has  revealed  to  me  some  new  beauty,  and  now  that  I 
have  left  them,  I  begin  to  feel  a  skepticism  which  clothes  them  in  a 
memory  clouded  by  doubt. 

Again,  in  further  elucidation  of  what  transpired,  he  wrote : 

The  question  is  frequently  asked,  "Who  originated  the  plan  of  set- 
ting apart  this  region  as  a  National  Park?"  I  answer  that  Judge  Cor- 
nelius Hedges  of  Helena  wrote  the  first  articles  ever  published  by  the 
press,  urging  the  dedication  of  this  region  as  a  park.  The  Helena 
Herald  of  Nov.  9,  1870,  contains  a  letter  of  Mr.  Hedges,  in  which  he 
advocated  the  scheme,  and  in  my  lectures  delivered  in  Washington 
and  New  York  in  January,  1871,  I  directed  attention  to  Mr.  Hedges' 
suggestion,  and  urged  the  passage  by  Congress  of  an  act  setting  apart 
that  region  as  a  public  park.  All  this  was  several  months  prior  to  the 
first  exploration  by  the  U.  S,  Geological  Survey,  in  charge  of  Dr.  Hay- 
den.  The  suggestion  that  the  region  should  be  made  into  a  National 
Park  was  first  broached  to  the  members  of  our  party  on  September  19, 
1870,  by  Mr.  Hedges,  while  we  were  in  camp  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Firehole  and  Gibbon  rivers,  as  is  related  in  this  diary.  After  the  re- 
turn home  of  our  party,  I  was  informed  by  General  Washburn  that  on 
fhe  eve  of  the  departure  of  our  expedition  from  Helena,  David  E.  Fol- 
som  had  suggested  to  him  the  desirability  of  creating  a  park  at  the 
grand  canyon  and  falls  of  the  Yellowstone.  This  fact  was  unknown  to 
Mr.  Hedges, — and  the  boundary  lines  of  the  proposed  park  were  ex- 
tended by  him  so  as  to  be  commensurate  with  the  wider  range  of  our 
explorations. 

General  Washburn's  statement  shows  beyond  question  that 
the  man  who  first  gave  expression  to  the  idea  in  any  tangible, 
practical  form,  was  David  E.  Folsom,  already  mentioned  as  hav- 


660  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

ing  visited  the  region  in  1869.  Judge  Hedges  knew  nothing  of 
this  at  the  time  he  advanced  the  suggestion  and  it  was,  of 
course,  also  original  with  him,  and  his  proposition  embodied  a 
conception  much  broader  than  that  of  Mr.  Folsom. 

Fortunate  it  was  that  the  members  of  the  party  so  promptly, 
unselfishly,  and  warmly  accepted  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Hedges 
and  at  once  planned  to  give  it  practical  effect. 

In  November,  1870,  Mr.  Langford  went  east  to  lecture  upon 
the  marvelous  discoveries  of  the  Washburn  party.  On  the  even- 
ing of  January  19,  1871,  he  delivered  his  lecture  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  and  on  the  eyening  of  January  21  at  Cooper  Insti- 
tute, New  York  City.  At  his  Washington  lecture  Speaker 
James  G.  Blaine  presided,  and  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden  was  one  of  the 
audience.  In  each  of  these  lectures  Langford  advocated  the 
setting  aside  of  the  region  as  a  national  park. 

In  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  under  the  heading  ''Yel- 
lowstone National  Park,"  Mr.  Henry  Gannett,  the  well  known 
geographer,  states  that  the  discoveries  made  by  the  Washburn 
party  ''induced  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden,  then  in  charge  of  a  Govern- 
ment survey,  to  turn  his  explorations  in  this  [i.  e.  the  Yellow- 
stone region]  direction." 

Dr.  Hayden  did,  in  1871,  as  already  stated,  and  again  in 
1872,  thoroughly  explore  and  map  the  park  country.  Mr.  Gan- 
nett was  one  of  his  topographers  in  this  work. 

In  1872  the  act  establishing  the  park  was  passed.  This  act 
was  included  in  Hayden 's  report  of  his  expedition  of  1871 
printed  in  1872,  but  neither  in  this  nor  in  the  report  of  the  suc- 
ceeding year  does  there  seem  to  be  any  intimation  regarding 
who  first  suggested  this  idea.  For  the  year  1878,  Dr.  Hayden 
made  another  and  more  elaborate  report,  prefaced  by  a  letter 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  written  in  1583,  in  which  are 
found  these  words :  "So  far  as  is  now  known,  the  idea  of  set- 
ting apart  a  large  tract  about  the  sources  of  the  Yellowstone 
River  as  a  national  park,  originated  with  the  writer." 

I  do  not  believe  that  Dr.  Hayden  willfully  intended  to  make 
a  misstatement  in  this  connection,  but  I  do  believe  that  a  faulty 
memory  caused  him  to  misstate  the  actual  fact.  Dr.  Lyman  B. 
Sperry,  the  well  known  public  lecturer  and  educator,  informed 
me  years  ago,  that  Dr.  Hayden  told  him  that  during  the  field 


h 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  661 


season  of  1871,  when  the  idea  of  making  a  park  of  the  Yellow- 
stone region  was  advocated  among  his  own  men,  following  of 
course  Langford's  suggestion  in  his  lectures,  he  did  not  believe 
it  practicable  nor  wise. 

General  H.  M.  Chittenden,  in  his  fine  and  very  conscientious 
work,  ''The  Yellowstone  National  Park,"  published  in  1895, 
treats  this  matter  thus : 

The  bill,  being  thus  before  Congress,  was  put  through  mainly  by 
the  efforts  of  three  men,  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden,  N.  P.  Langford,  and  Dele- 
gate William  H.  Clagett.  Dr.  Hayden  occupied  a  commanding  position 
in  this  work,  as  representative  of  the  government  in  the  explorations 
of  1871.  He  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  subject,  and  was  equipped 
with  an  exhaustive  collection  of  photographs  and  specimens  gathered 
the  previous,  summer.  These  were  placed  on  exhibition,  and  were 
probably  seen  by  all  members  of  Congress.  They  did  a  work  which  no 
other  agency  could  do,  and  doubtless  convinced  every  one  who  saw 
them  that  the  region  where  such  wonders  existed  should  be  carefully 
preserved  to  the  people  forever.  Dr.  Hayden  gave  to  the  cause  the 
energy  of  a  genuine  enthusiasm,  and  his  work  that  winter  will  always 
hold  a  prominent  place  in  the  history  of  the  Park. 

Mr.  Langford,  as  already  stated,  had  publicly  advocated  the  meas- 
ure in  the  previous  winter.  He  had  rendered  service  of  the  utmost 
importance,  through  his  publications  in  Scribner's  Magazine  in  the 
preceding  May  and  June.  Four  hundred  copies  of  these  magazines 
were  brought  and  placed  upon  the  desks  of  members  of  Congress  on 
the  days  when  the  measure  was  to  be  brought  to  vote.  During  the 
entire  winter,  Mr.  Langford  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the  promo- 
tion of  this  work. 

The  Hon.  William  H.  Clagett,  as  delegate  from  the  Territory  most 
directly  interested  in  the  passage  of  the  bill,  took  an  active  personal 
part  in  its  advocacy  from  beginning  to  end. 

I  have  the  greatest  admiration  and  esteem  for  General  Chit- 
tenden as  a  personal  friend,  a  man,  and  a  historian.  But  I  can- 
not but  feel  that  he  has,  with  the  best  motives  and  intentions  in 
the  world,  scarcely  awarded  the  honors  in  this  affair  in  an 
equitable  manner.  He  has  given  to  Hayden,  who  did  not,  orig- 
inally, have  any  faith  in  the  idea,  entirely  too  much  credit,  and 
to  Langford  and  Clagett  altogether  too  little.  Langford  was 
the  John  the  Baptist  of  the  National  Park  idea,  crying  aloud 
both  in  the  wilderness  and  out  of  it,  in  advocacy  of  the  Park, 
before  Hayden  ever  saw  the  region.  As  previously  stated,  the 
first  suggestion  of  it  that  came  to  Hayden  was  from  Langford 's 


662  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

own  lips  from  the  lecture  platform.  Langford  and  Clagett,  as 
will  appear  later,  had  the  movement  for  segregation  well  under 
way  before  Hayden  became  connected  with  it,  or,  possibly,  even 
knew  of  it. 

In  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  for  1910, 
Volume  I,  page  54,  are  found  these  words: 

John  Muir  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  Professor  Hayden, 
above  all  others,  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  securing  the  dedication  of 
the  Yellowstone  as  a  national  park,  for  he  led  the  first  scientific  ex- 
ploring party  into  it,  described  it,  and  urged  upon  Congress  its  pres- 
ervation. 

It  is  a  matter  for  regret  that  John  Muir  ever  expressed  such 
an  opinion.  Mr.  Muir  may,  possibly,  base  his  belief  upon  what 
General  Chittenden  has  said,  and  further,  perhaps,  upon  what 
the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  has  stated,  for  the  latter  also  seems 
disposed  to  uphold  Hayden  as  the  one  all  important  factor  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Park. 

We  have  in  the  archives  of  our  own  Historical  Society  a 
letter  which  gives  the  facts  in  regard  to  this  matter. 

On  July  9,  1894,  Ex-Governor  "William  R.  Marshall,  then 
Secretary  of  the  Society,  wrote  to  William  H.  Clagett,  the  for- 
mer Territorial  Delegate  in  Congress  from  Montana,  asking 
him:  *'Who  are  entitled  to  the  principal  credit  for  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  Yellowstone  Na- 
tional Park?" 

Mr.  Clagett,  who  introduced  the  bill  in  Congress,  should 
certainly  have  known  who  the  men  were  and  in  what  degree 
each  was  entitled  to  credit,  and  he  replied  as  follows: 

Coeur  d'Alene,  Idaho,  July  14th,  1894. 
Wm.  R.  Marshall, 

Secretary,  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  Saint  Paul,  Minn., 
Dear  Sir:  Your  favor  of  July  9th  is  just  received.  I  am  glad  that 
you  have  called  my  attention  to  the  question,  "Who  are  entitled  to  the 
principal  credit  for  the  passage  of  the  act  of  Congress  establishing  the 
Yellowstone  National  Park?"  The  history  of  that  measure,  as  far  as 
known  to  me,  is  as  follows,  to-wit:  In  the  fall  of  1870,  soon  after  the 
return  of  the  Washburn-Langford  party,  two  printers  at  Deer  Lodge 
City,  Montana,  went  into  the  Firehole  basin  and  cut  a  large  number 
of  poles,  intended  to  come  back  the  next  summer  and  fence  in  the  tract 
of  land  containing  the  principal  geysers,  and  hold  possession  for  spec- 
ulative purposes,  as  the  Hutchins  family  so  long  held  the  Yosemite 


I 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  6bd 

valley.  One  of  these  men  was  named  Harry  Norton.  He  subsequently 
wrote  a  book  on  the  park.  The  other  one  was  named  Brown.  He  now 
lives  in  Spokane,  Wash.,  and  both  of  them  in  the  summer  of  1871 
worked  in  the  New  Northwest  office  at  Deer  Lodge.  When  I  learned 
from  them  in  the  late  fall  of  1870  or  spring  of  1871  what  they  intended 
to  do,  I  remonstrated  with  them  and  stated  that  from  the  description 
given  by  them  and  by  members  of  Mr.  Langford's  party,  the  whole 
region  should  be  made  into  a  National  Park  and  no  private  proprietor- 
ship be  allowed. 

I  was  elected  Delegate  to  Congress  from  Montana  in  August,  1871, 
and  after  the  election,  Nathaniel  P.  Langford,  Cornelius  Hedges  and 
myself  had  a  consultation  in  Helena,  and  agreed  that  every  effort 
should  be  made  to  establish  the  Park  as  soon  as  possible,  and  before 
any  person  had  got  a  serious  foothold — Mr.  McCartney,  at  the  Mam- 
moth Hot  Springs,  being  the  only  one  who  at  that  time  had  any  im- 
provements made.  In  December,  1871,  Mr.  Langford  came  to  Wash- 
ington and  remained  there  for  some  time,  and  we  two  counseled  to- 
gether about  the  Park  project.  I  drew  the  bill  to  establish  the  Park, 
and  never  knew  Professor  Hayden  in  connection  with  that  bill,  except 
that  I  requested  Mr.  Langford  to  get  from  him  a  description  of  the 
boundaries  of  the  proposed  Park.  There  was  some  delay  in  getting 
the  description,  and  my  recollection  is  that  Langford  brought  me  the 
description  after  consultation  with  Professor  Hayden.  I  then  filled 
the  blank  in  the  bill  with  the  description,  and  the  bill  passed  both 
Houses  of  Congress  just  as  it  was  drawn  and  without  any  change  or 
amendment  whatsoever. 

After  the  bill  was  drawn,  Langford  stated  to  me  that  Senator 
Pomeroy  of  Kansas  was  very  anxious  to  have  the  honor  of  introducing 
the  bill  in  the  Senate;  and  as  he  (Pomeroy)  was  the  chairman  of  the 
Senate  committee  on  Public  Lands,  in  order  to  facilitate  its  passage,  I 
had  a  clean  copy  made  of  the  bill  and  on  the  first  call  day  in  the 
House,  introduced  the  original  there,  and  then  went  over  to  the  Senate 
Chamber  and  handed  the  copy  to  Senator  Pomeroy,  who  immediately 
introduced  it  in  the  Senate.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  first  and  came 
to  the  House,  and  passed  the  House  without  amendment,  at  a  time 
when  I  happened  to  be  at  the  other  end  of  the  Capitol,  and  hence  I 
was  not  present  when  it  actually  passed  the  House. 

Since  the  passage  of  this  bill  there  have  been  so  many  men  who 
have  claimed  the  exclusive  credit  for  its  passage,  that  I  have  lived  for 
twenty  years,  suffering  from  a  chronic  feeling  of  disgust  whenever  the 
subject  was  mentioned.  So  far  as  my  personal  knowledge  goes,  the 
first  idea  of  making  it  a  public  park  occurred  to  myself;  but  from  in- 
formation received  from  Langford  and  others,  it  has  always  been  my 
opinion  that  Hedges,  Langford,  and  myself  formed  the  same  idea  about 
the  same  time,  and  we  all  three  acted  together  in  Montana,  and  after- 
wards Langford  and  I  acted  with  Professor  Hayden  in  Washington,  in 
the  winter  of  1871-2. 


664  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

The  fact  is  that  the  matter  was  well  under  way  before  Professor 
Hayden  was  ever  heard  of  in  connection  with  that  measure.  When  he 
returned  to  Washington  in  1871,  he  brought  with  him  a  large  number 
of  specimens  from  different  parts  of  the  Park,  which  were  on  exhibi- 
tion in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Capitol  or  in  the  Smithsonian  Institute 
(one  or  the  other),  while  Congress  was  in  session,  and  he  rendered 
valuable  services  in  exhibiting  these  specimens  and  explaining  the 
geological  and  other  features  of  the  proposed  Park,  and  between  him, 
Langford  and  myself,  I  believe  there  was  not  a  single  member  of  Con- 
gress in  either  House  who  was  not  fully  posted  by  one  or  the  other  of 
us  in  personal  interviews;  so  much  so,  that  the  bill  practically  passed 
both  Houses  without  objection. 

It  has  always  been  a  pleasure  to  me  to  give  to  Professor  Hayden 
and  to  Senator  Pomeroy,  and  Mr.  Dawes  of  Mass.,  all  of  the  credit 
which  they  deserve  in  connection  with  the  passage  of  that  measure, 
but  the  truth  of  the  matter  is. that  the  origin  of  the  movement  which 
created  the  Park  was  with  Hedges,  Langford  and  myself;  and  after 
Congress  met,  Langford  and  I  probably  did  two-thirds,  if  not  three- 
fourths,  of  all  the  work  connected  with  its  passage. 

I  think  that  the  foregoing  letter  contains  a  full  statement  of  what 
you  wish,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  correct,  at  least  to  some 
extent,  the  misconceptions  which  the  selfish  vanity  of  some  people  has 
occasioned  on  the  subject.  Very  truly  yours, 

[signed]  Wm.  H.  Clagett. 

Mr.  Langford  published  this  letter  in  his  journal  and  added 
a  pregnant  paragraph  thus: 

It  is  true  that  Professor  Hayden  joined  with  Mr.  Clagett  and  my- 
self in  working  for  the  passage  of  the  act  of  dedication,  but  no  person 
can  divide  with  Cornelius  Hedges  and  David  E.  Folsom  the  honor  of 
originating  the  idea  of  creating  the  Yellowstone  Park, 

Mr.  Langford  was  not  the  man  to  withhold  credit  where  it 
was  due.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  far  more  inclined  to  give 
full  measure  and  running  over.  By  no  possibility  can  what  he 
says  be  construed  in  any  other  light  than  that  Clagett  presents 
the  facts  exactly  as  they  were  and  states  the  truth  regarding 
the  matter.  If  these  two  did  not  know  the  truth  no  one  did, 
and  Clagett 's  letter  evinces  no  small,  mean  spirit  in  the  matter, 
but  quite  the  contrary.  Dr.  Hayden  is  certainly  entitled  to  full 
credit  for  his  work  in  the  establishment  of  the  Park,  no  less  and 
no  more;  and  this  applies  equally  to  all  who  were  engaged  in 
that  work. 

The  simple  truth  is  that  to  Folsom  and  Hedges,  as  Mr.  Lang- 
ford says,  is  due  the  genesis  of  the  gospel  for  the  creation  of 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  665 

national  parks;  that  the  Washburn-Doane  party  are  entitled, 
for  the  greater  part,  to  the  credit  of  preaching  and  expounding 
that  gospel;  that  Langford,  Clagett,  and  Hedges,  were  its  in- 
sistent heralds  and  promoters ;  and  that  Langford,  Clagett,  and 
Hayden,  probably  in  the  order  named,  were  the  men  to  whom 
is  primarily  due  the  credit  for  the  passage  through  Congress  of 
the  act  establishing  the  Park.  In  other  words,  to  the  Wash- 
burn-Doane party  is  chiefly  due  the  fact  that  we  have  a  Yel- 
lowstone National  Park. 

That  Dr.  Hayden 's  official  position,  his  photographs  and 
specimens,  were  potent  factors  in  the  final  argument,  is,  with- 
out doubt,  most  true,  and  no  one  desires  to  deprive  him  of  the 
credit  thus  justly  due  him.  But  he  was,  nevertheless,  an  elev- 
enth hour  convert  to  the  idea,  and  in  his  labors  in  behalf  of  it, 
and  must  take  position  accordingly. 

It  is  certainly  to  be  regretted  that  these  men  of  science  and 
official  position  have  unwittingly  taken  a  stand  that,  to  the  out- 
sider, savors  of  a  determination  to  arrogate  practically  all  the 
credit  for  this  achievement  to  one  only  who  was  himself  so 
prominent  in  science  and  official  life. 

While,  as  previously  stated,  there  may  be  no  memorial  mon- 
uments standing  in  honor  of  this  band  of  wilderness  explorers, 
the  great  Park  itself  is  the  best  and  most  enduring  memorial 
of  the  service  they  rendered  to  mankind. 

Until  the  last  trump  shall  sound  and  the  earth  be  dissolved 
by  fervent  heat,  that  wonderful  domain,  the  most  unique  area 
of  its  size  in  the  world,  will  remain  a  tangible  and  glorious 
memorial  to  the  prevision  and  abnegation  that  made  it  possible. 
Let  us  also  be  just  and  frankly  include  in  the  category  of  de- 
serving names  that  of  David  E.  Folsom,  as  one  equally  entitled 
to  the  plaudits  of  mankind  for  the  discovery  and  establishment 
of  this  magnificent  Park.  A  memorial  tablet  attached  to  that 
lava  entrance  arch  at  Gardiner,  in  the  absence  of  a  more  pre- 
tentious monument  in  this  Park,  would  be  an  appropriate  rec- 
ognition in  part  of  these  discoverers. 

The  discoveries  and  the  influence  of  the  Washburn-Doane 
party  are  strongly,  and,  I  may  add,  very  sensibly,  reflected  in 
the  nomenclature  of  the  Park.  The  names  that  they  applied  to 
objects  were  based  upon  analogy  and  common  sense,  and  were 


666  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

devoid  of  eccentricity  or  the  grotesque.  A  few  of  these  names 
that  are  so  familiar  to  travelers  of  the  present  day  are,  Tower 
fall,  Mt.  Washburn,  heretofore  noted,  Crystal  fall.  Crater  hills, 
Mud  geyser  and  Mud  Volcano,  Alum  creek,  Mounts  Doane  and 
Langford,  and  Old  Faithful,  the  Grotto,  Castle,  Giant,  Bee  Hive, 
Giantess,  and  other  geysers. 

I  have  stated  that  when  Mr.  Langford  in  1862  started  west- 
ward, he  followed  a  trail  that  eventually  developed  a  new  fea- 
ture in  national  conservation  and  in  recreation.  That  trail  led 
him,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  upper  Yellowstone  region,  and 
Yellowstone  National  Park  was  the  result.  That  was  the  first 
national  park  to  be  established  in  this  country,  and  we  set  the 
fashion  for  the  world,  I  am  reminded  of  that  well  known  line 
of  my  boyhood  days  as  true  today  as  it  ever  was, 
''Great  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow." 

Yellowstone  Park  was  set  aside  March  1,  1872.  There  are 
now,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
for  1910,  thirteen  national  parks,  aggregating  more  than  4,600,- 
000  acres  in  area.  The  states  of  Arizona,  Arkansas,  Colorado, 
Montana,  North  Dakota,  Oklahoma,  Oregon,  South  Dakota,  and 
"Washington,  have  each  one  such  park  wholly  within  their  bor- 
ders. 

California  has  three  national  parks ;  and  one  park,  the  Yel- 
lowstone, occupies  a  part  of  three  adjoining  states,  Wyoming, 
Idaho,  and  Montana,  with  by  far  the  most  of  it  lying  in  Wyo- 
ming. The  Yellowstone  is  the  largest  of  all  these  parks,  and 
they  range  in  size  from  780  acres  for  Sully's  Hill  Park,  in  North 
Dakota,  to  2,142,720  acres  for  Yellowstone  Park. 

Montana  has  the  credit  of  having  the  first  and  the  largest 
national  park  established,  the  Yellowstone,  partially  within  its 
borders,  and  also  has  the  last  and  the  second  largest  one  set 
aside.  Glacier  National  Park,  wholly  within  its  boundary  lines. 

It  may  with  entire  truth  be  said  that,  through  the  person- 
ality of  Mr.  Langford  and  his  relationship  to  Yellowstone  Park, 
the  four  states  of  Wyoming,  Idaho,  Montana,  and  Minnesota, 
have  a  close  bond  of  sympathy  and  union.  Certainly  the  three 
states  first  named,  in  which  the  park  lies,  can  well  admit  hav- 
ing a  strong  and  sentimental  feeling,  of  the  higher  sort,  for  the 
sister  state  that  loaned  to  them  for  so  many  years  one  of  its 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD.  667 

citizens  who  aided  so  signally  in  accomplishing  such  important 
results  for  humanity. 

Upon  the  formal  establishment  of  the  park,  Mr.  Langford 
was,  very  appropriately,  made  its  first  Superintendent.  He 
thus  continued  for  five  years,  but  the  position  was  largely  one 
in  name  only  and  quite  a  thankless  one  at  that.  No  efforts  were 
made  by  Congress,  characteristically,  to  open  the  park,  no  ap- 
propriation whatever  being  made  to  build  trails  or  roads,  or  to 
preserve  the  park  from  devastation.  Characteristically,  again, 
these  presumptive  representatives  of  the  wisdom  of  the  nation 
allowed  the  Superintendent  to  pay  his  own  expenses  most  pa- 
triotically and  unselfishly,  and  to  perform  his  duties,  such  as 
they  were,  without  any  salary.  This  Mr.  Langford  did  during 
his  entire  incumbency  of  the  office.  Efforts  were  strenuously 
and  continuously  made  by  sinister  minded  persons  to  obtain 
concessions  in  the  park  for  purposes  inimical  to  the  spirit  in 
which  it  was  set  apart.  These  attempts  Mr.  Langford,  with  the 
consistent  and  unyielding  support  of  Gen.  B.  R.  Cowen,  the 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  was  enabled  to  frustrate. 

The  park  was  thus  fortunately  preserved,  in  the  beginning, 
from  an  improper  course  of  administration,  one  that  would  most 
certainly  have  resulted  in  gross  scandal  and  national  disgrace. 

And  what  of  the  probity  and  moral  stamina  of  the  man  who 
in  that  day  could  maintain  himself  for  five  years  in  such  a  posi- 
tion unspotted  and  incorruptible?  The  Minnesota  Historical 
Society  may  well  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  the  one  time  vigi- 
lante, explorer,  and  National  Park  Superintendent,  at  the  time 
of  his  call  from  earthly  labors  had  been  for  seven  years  its 
dignified  and  honored  president. 

As  I  began  so  I  close !  Fate  is  a  stern  and  inexorable  mis- 
tress. She  doeth  whatsoever  she  will,  and  we  may  but  rarely 
modify  or  change  her  decrees.  If  in  his  sturdy,  vigorous  man- 
hood she  led  our  former  friend  and  associate  by  strenuous  and 
danger-lurking  trails,  she  vouchsafed  to  him  in  the  evening  of 
his  days  a  beautiful,  even  tempered,  but  still  useful  life. 

As  he  slowly  approached  the  summit — his  final  climb — of 
that  last  divide,  the  one  between  time  and  eternity,  that  sooner 
or  later  we  must  all  climb,  he  went  forward  calm,  serene,  con- 


668  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

fident,  with  steady,  unflinching  steps.  ' '  Sustained  and  soothed 
by  an  unfaltering  trust"  in  Him  who  had  led  him  safely  thus 
far,  I  can  fancy  him  softly  exclaiming  as  he  toiled  onward,  '  *  I 
have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept 
the  faith." 

And  as  he  reached  the  crest  of  that  last  divide  and  his  spirit, 
loosed  from  its  earthly  tabernacle,  swept  with  its  spirit  sight 
that  vast  and  "mysterious  realm"  that  opened  before  it,  what 
a  vision  it  beheld !  Is  it  a  wholly  fanciful  picture  that  among 
that  innumerable  host  of  transfigured  countenances  that 
thronged  before  him  there,  with  beckoning  arms,  were  those  who 
had  gone  before,  with  whom  he  had  in  those  trying  days  of  old 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  upholding  law  and  order  and 
right  living;  that  there  were  seen  those  with  whom  he  had 
labored  through  the  defiles  and  marshes  and  obstructions  of  the 
Yellowstone ;  and,  again,  those  who  in  his  later  days  had  known 
a  life  made  sweeter  and  better  through  his  efforts  to  aid  dis- 
tressed and  suffering  humanity? 

Possibly  the  thought  is,  indeed,  fanciful,  but  why  may  we 
not  thus  indulge  it  when  it  comports  so  fully  with  that  life,  now 
closed  forever  on  earth?  And  we  may  rest  assured  that,  hav- 
ing crossed  the  border  land,  and  being  brought  into  the  pres- 
ence of  that  Lord  and  Master  whom  he  had  here  served  with 
fidelity,  he  heard  in  accents  strong  and  loving  the  blessed  salu- 
tation, ''Well  done,  good  arid  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into 
the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 


S^c.^^-^  d^Mt 


L^C<J--1^y^Al^ 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XY.     Plate  XV. 


BIOGRAPHIC  MEMORIAL  OF  DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT. 


BY  WILLIAM  WATTS  FOLWELL. 


On  the  seventh  day  of  July,  1910,  it  pleased  the  Lord  of 
Life  and  Death  to  call  from  this  world  the  soul  of  Dr.  Charles 
Nathanael  Hewitt. 

The  assertion  is  ventured  that  no  one  citizen  of  Minnesota 
has  devoted  himself  more  zealously  to  her  welfare  or  conferred 
greater  benefits  on  her  people  than  he.  If  Minnesota  shall  pro- 
pose to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  men  who  have  rendered  great 
public  service  and  furnished  models  on  which  her  young  men 
may  pattern  their  lives,  let  her  place  among  the  statues  she 
rears  in  the  Capitol  that  of  this  citizen. 

Such  distinction  may  rightly  be  claimed  for  the  man  who 
organized  the  Public  Health  Service  of  Minnesota,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  quarter  century's  administration  of  that  service 
brought  it  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency,  saved  thousands  of 
lives,  and  prevented  an  amount  of  sickness  and  suffering  be- 
yond estimation. 

To  record  the  services  of  such  citizens  and  preserve  the 
memory  of  them  for  a  posterity  which  may  be  more  appre- 
ciative of  their  value  than  the  passing  generation,  is  a  worthy 
and  proper  function  of  this  Society.  The  following  contribu- 
tion is  accordingly  submitted. 

Charles  Nathanael  Hewitt  was  born  in  Vergennes,  Vermont, 
June  3,  1836.  Among  his  ancestors  are  many  notable  names. 
His  parents  moved  to  Potsdam,  St.  Lawrence  county.  New 
York,  in  his  early  childhood.  For  his  college  preparation  he 
was  sent  to  the  old  and  still  famous  Academy  of  Cheshire,  Con- 
necticut. From  there  he  passed  to  Hobart  College,  Geneva, 
New  York,  by  which  he  was  graduated  Bachelor  of  Arts  at  the 


*Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  November 
9,  1914. 


670  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

age  of  twenty.  Because  his  heart  was  in  the  subject  of  medi- 
cine he  did  not  aspire  to  academic  honors,  preferring  to  hold 
the  position  of  demonstrator  of  anatomy  in  the  Medical  De- 
partment of  the  College.  He  was  accorded  the  same  position 
in  the  Medical  College  at  Albany,  New  York,  from  which  he 
received  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1857.  His  father 
was  a  physician,  and  the  devotion  of  the  son  to  that  profes- 
sion was  evident  from  boyhood. 

Engaging  in  practice  with  his  preceptor  in  Geneva,  New 
York,  he  had  barely  become  established  before  a  call  came  to  a 
new  and  unexpected  sphere  of  medical  practice.  After  the 
pitiful  disaster  of  Bull  Run  in  1861  came  President  Lincoln's 
call  for  a  great  volunteer  army  to  be  enlisted  for  a  term  of 
three  years. 

General  Charles  B.  Stuart,  a  distinguished  civil  engineer, 
and  then  Chief  Engineer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  conceived 
the  idea  of  raising  a  regiment  of  engineer  troops,  foreseeing  the 
need  there  would  be  for  such  a  corps  in  case  of  a  great  and 
protracted  war.  The  War  Department  readily  issued  the  nec- 
essary orders.  In  the  course  of  a  single  month  the  companies 
were  filled  from  central  and  western  New  York  and  northern 
Pennsylvania.  The  commissioned  and  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers were  largely  civil  engineers,  some  of  them  of  long  expe- 
rience and  wide  reputation.  The  rendezvous  was  at  Elmira, 
New  York,  in  August,  1861. 

Dr.  Hewitt's  preceptor,  a  physician  of  more  than  local  emi- 
nence, was  appointed  surgeon  of  the  new  regiment;  but  ad- 
vanced age  and  developing  infirmity  soon  disqualified  him  for 
active  service,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resign  before  his  first 
campaign  was  well  begun.  From  the  beginning  the  adminis- 
trative duties  had  fallen  on  the  assistant  surgeon.  Dr.  Hewitt, 
who  at  once  succeeded  him  as  regimental  surgeon. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  make  some  account  of  the  peculiar 
organization  of  this  regiment.  When  the  time  came  for  the 
muster-in  of  the-  engineer  volunteers,  it  was  discovered  that 
there  was  no  provision  of  law  for  the  enlistment  of  such  troops. 
In  expectation  that  Congress  would  as  soon  as  possible  ratify 
the  action  of  the  War  Department  in  prematurely  authorizing 


i 


DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT.  671 


such  enlistment,  the  whole  body,  officers  and  men,  cheerfully 
acquiesced  in  being  mustered  in  as  infantry.  The  regiment 
accordingly  took  the  number  50  of  New  York  infantry  volun- 
teers. It  was  not  till  after  the  close  of  the  Peninsular  Cam- 
paign that  the  expected  Act  of  Congress  was  passed.  As  en- 
acted it  provided  for  the  organization  of  volunteer  engineer 
troops  in  regiments  of  twelve  companies,  each  composed  of  150 
officers  and  enlisted  men,  having  the  pay  and  standing  in  all 
respects  of  engineers  of  the  regular  army. 

Like  the  artillery  regiments  as  then  organized,  this  regi- 
ment was  chiefly  an  administrative  unit.  Each  company,  like 
each  battery  of  artillery,  was  equipped  for  independent  move- 
ment and  service.  Soon  after  the  passage  of  the  Act  referred 
to,  the  regiment  was  recruited  to  its  full  strength  of  1,800  offi- 
cers and  men.  The  habitual  distribution  of  the  command  was 
as  follows :  regimental  headquarters  and  one  company  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  in  charge  of  the  engineer  depot  and  construction 
shops;  two  companies  at  the  headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac ;  and  battalions  of  two  or  three  companies  at  the  head- 
quarters of  different  army  corps. 

The  division  and  scattering  of  the  command  imposed  on  the 
medical  staff  duties  far  greater  than  those  falling  on  those  of 
infantry  regiments.  It  outnumbered  those  brigades  which  had 
seen  two  or  more  campaigns.  Major  Hewitt  proved  himself 
equal  to  every  duty  and  emergency.  Riding  from  camp  to 
camp,  he  saw  that  his  assistant  surgeons  and  stewards  were 
provided  with  needed  appliances  and  supplies,  and  that  they 
were  attending  to  their  duties.  Dr.  Letterman,  Hooker's  med- 
ical director,  paid  him  the  high  compliment  of  saying,  ''He  is 
the  best  regimental  surgeon  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac."  In 
the  last  years  of  the  war  he  was  chief  surgeon  of  the  Engineer 
Brigade  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  consisting  of  the  50th 
and  15th  New  York  engineer  regiments  and  the  Regular  En- 
gineer Battalion.  This  position  made  a  large  addition  to  ad- 
ministrative duties.  Details  of  his  activities  in  the  successive 
campaigns  must  be  left  to  a  biographer,  but  some  leading  char- 
acteristics may  properly  be  noted. 


672  MlNNESOfA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Major  Hewitt  had  the  qualifications  essential  to  an  expert 
surgeon,  profound  knowledge  of  anatomy,  keen  perception  of 
the  immediate  problem,  and  extraordinary  deftness  of  hand. 
But  he  was  as  conservative  as  he  was  expert,  saving  to  the  pa- 
tient every  member  and  organ  which  could  be  of  use.  He  em- 
ployed every  means  of  antisepsis  known  at  the  time.  He  used 
to  say  that  he  would  rather  keep  patients  who  had  undergone 
severe  operations  under  a  tree  in  the  field  than  expose  them 
to  the  gangrene  of  the  best  general  hospital  in  "Washington  or 
any  other  city.  For  his  sick  he  trusted  more  to  rest,  fresh  air, 
and  good  food,  than  to  his  medicine  chests.  The  only  com- 
plaint his  men  made  was  that  he  would  not  ''doctor"  enough. 
Many  a  man  who  came  to  sick  call  in  fear  of  a  ''spell"  of  sick- 
ness went  back  to  his  company  a  new  man  after  a  couple  of  days 
of  rest  and  good  feeding.  Intoxicants  he  prescribed  very  rare- 
ly, finding  other  stimulants  effective  enough  and  more  benign. 
It  ought  to  be  added  that  the  irrepressible  joviality  of  the  Chief 
Surgeon  was  perhaps  the  best  of  his  remedies.  Yet  nobody 
could,  when  necessary,  trim  down  a  shirk  or  malingerer  more 
effectually  than  this  genial  doctor. 

Sanitation  was  his  enthusiasm.  To  prevent  disease  among 
his  men  was  ever  more  in  his  mind  than  the  cure  of  the  sick. 
His  eye  was  ever  on  the  general  location  and  police  of  the 
camps,  but  particularly  on  the  commissary  departments  and  the 
company  cooks. 

The  writer  well  remembers  a  certain  occasion  when  his  effi- 
ciency in  sanitation  was  displayed  in  a  notable  way.  A  de- 
tachment of  the  regiment  under  command  of  the  lieutenant 
colonel  was  in  camp  in  the  late  summer  of  1864  near  the  mid- 
dle of  the  long  line  fronting  Petersburg.  Typhoid  suddenly 
broke  out  and  was  decimating  the  companies.  The  command- 
ing officer  sent  for  Major  Hewitt,  who  next  day  rode  into  camp. 
After  a  half  hour's  inspection  he  made  his  report  and  recom- 
mendation. In  another  half  hour  that  camp  ground  was  cleared 
of  everything  moveable  upon  it.  The  ground  was  thoroughly 
swept  or  scraped,  the  drainage  was  made  perfect,  new  sinks 
were  dug,  and  new  sources  of  water  were  opened.  The  cooks 
and  commissary  men   got  their  orders  toward  more   cleanly 


DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT.  673 

handling  and  preparation  of  food.  Then  the  camp  was  re- 
established. Typhoid  disappeared  as  suddenly  as  it  had  come. 
Major  Hewitt  deserved  the  commission  of  Brevet  Lieutenant 
Colonel  which  came  to  him  near  the  time  of  his  muster-out  with 
his  regiment  early  in  July,  1865. 

His  old  clients  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  welcomed  Dr.  Hewitt  on 
his  return,  and  a  promising  career  re-opened  there ;  but  corre- 
spondence with  a  college  friend  and  brother  physician  roused 
an  interest  in  Minnesota,  and  the  opportunity  to  succeed  to  an 
established  practice  brought  him  to  Red  Wing  soon  after  the 
close  of  the  war. 

A  few  years  now  passed  devoted  to  extending  his  medical 
practice  and  the  establishment  of  a  home,  modest,  but  so  charm- 
ing that  no  calls  to  larger  spheres  for  the  employment  of  his 
professional  gifts  ever  tempted  him  to  exchange  it.  It  is  safe 
to  assert  that  had  he  moved  to  either  of  the  * '  Twin  Cities, ' '  he 
would  have  won  great  distinction  in  surgery  and  enjoyed  an 
ample  income.  He  married  in  1869  Miss  Helen  Hawley,  a  wife 
who  more  than  fulfilled  all  the  dreams  of  a  young  man's  fancy. 

Dr.  Hewitt  was  not  the  man  to  be  content  with  the  ca- 
reer of  a  village  doctor,  however  worthy  that  might  be.  As 
already  suggested,  he  was  inspired  with  the  noble  aspirations 
of  prevjentive  medicine.  A  diligent  reader  of  the  current  liter- 
ature of  medicine,  he  had  observed  the  operation  of  a  law  of 
Massachusetts  passed  in  1869  to  establish  a  State  Board  of 
Health,  and  the  similar  action  of  California  two  years  later.  A 
bill  drafted  by  him  on  the  model  of  the  Massachusetts  Act, 
passed  by  the  legislature  on  March  4,  1872,  put  Minnesota  third 
on  a  distinguished  roll. 

This  was  not  the  first  legislation  in  the  State  related  to  pub- 
lic health,  but  it  was  the  first  effective  action.  The  ''Code  of 
1857"  had  provided  for  municipal  boards  of  health  consisting 
of  justices  of  the  peace  ''in  every  precinct,"  trustees  of  vil- 
lages, and  aldermen  of  cities.  Such  boards  were  authorized  to 
appoint  health  officers,  to  abate  nuisances,  and  to  quarantine  • 
smallpox. 

In  the  general  statutes  of  1866  we  find  substantially  the 
same  provisions,  with  the  exception  that  town  supervisors  are 
boards  of  health. 

43 


674  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL.  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

It  was  natural  that  these  isolated  boards  of  laymen  should 
act,  if  at  all,  in  a  purely  perfunctory  manner.  There  could  be 
little  voluntary  co-operation,  and  there  was  no  central  author- 
ity which  could  require  united  action. 

The  Act  of  1872  provided  for  a  central  State  Board  of  seven 
physicians,  with  the  following  duties: 

1.  To  put  themselves  in  communication  with  the  local 
boards  of  health  and  with  public  institutions. 

2.  To  take  cognizance  of  the  interests  of  health  and  life 
among  the  citizens  generally. 

3.  To  make  sanitary  investigations,  especially  of  epidemics. 

4.  To  study  the  sources  of  disease  and  the  effects  of  locali- 
ties, employments  and  circumstances  on  public  health. 

5.  To  devise  a  scheme  for  vital  statistics. 

6.  To  act  as  an  advisory  board  to  the  State  in  all  hygienic 
and  medical  matters. 

7.  To  have  charge  of  quarantine. 

8.  To  enact  and  enforce  measures  necessary  to  the  public 
health. 

The  Act  further  provided  for  a  Secretary  to  perform  and 
superintend  the  work  prescribed,  and  to  discharge  such  other 
duties  as  the  Board  might  require;  and  it  fixed  his  salary  at 
$250  a  year,  payable  quarterly. 

The  able  and  highly  reputable  physicians  appointed  to  the 
board  elected  Dr.  Hewitt  their  secretary.  It  was  understood 
of  course  that  he  would  give  only  spare  time  from  his  profes- 
sional work. 

It  is  obviously  impossible  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
article  even  to  catalogue  the  numerous  activities  of  so  enthu- 
siastic and  versatile  an  official.  Certain  groups  of  them  may  be 
noted  and  remarked  upon. 

The  attention  of  the  Board  was  naturally  at  once  directed 
to  putting  itself  into  communication  with  local  boards  of  health 
as  required  by  the  law.  This  was  not  difficult  in  cities  and 
*  villages,  but  from  rural  towns  there  was  almost  no  response. 
Upon  representations  to  the  legislature  of  1873,  that  body  en- 
acted a  law  requiring  town  boards  to  elect  annually  a  town 
board  of  health,  one  member  to  be  a  physician  and  town  health 


DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT.  675 

officer.  These  elected  boards  of  health  may  have  been  an  im- 
provement, but  there  were  no  penalties  to  oblige  them  to  con- 
form to  regulations  of  the  State  Board.  It  was  not  till  1881 
that  a  heavy  fine  was  laid  on  any  local  board  or  member  there- 
of for  refusing  to  obey  the  reasonable  directions  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health. 

These  efforts  toward  providing  a  machinery  for  promoting 
public  health  culminated  in  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  1883, 
entitled  "Health  Code."  It  enlarged  the  powers  of  local  boards 
and  gave  the  State  Board  still  larger  powers  of  regulation. 
Heavy  penalties  were  attached  to  neglect  of  duty  by  local 
boards  or  members.  This  act  was  so  drastic  that  some  of  its 
provisions  were,  in  a  later  year,  mitigated.  It  was  found  im- 
practicable to  compel  local  health  officers  to  make  thorough 
sanitary  inspections  of  their  towns,  villages,  or  cities,  as  the 
case  might  be,  and  to  report  in  writing  both  to  the  local  and 
state  boards.  Prompt  repeated  and  effectual  vaccination  of  all 
children  had  to  be  given  up,  in  the  face  of  a  violent  if  absurd 
opposition. 

The  Act  of  1885  receded  from  the  plan  of  having  town 
boards  elect  the  town  board  of  health,  and  revived  the  old  plan 
of  making  the  town  board  itself  the  board  of  health.  It  was 
not  required  that  there  should  be  a  physician  on  the  board,  but 
that  the  board  should  employ  a  physician  when  they  should 
deem  it  necessary,  or  when  required  to  do  so  by  the  state  board 
of  health.  >       '  |l    ; 

Otherwise  the  act  of  1883  has  not  been  materially  changed, 
unless  in  the  provision  that  there  must  be  at  least  one  physician 
on  the  board  of  health.  If  no  town  supervisor  is  a  physician, 
the  board  of  health  must  elect  one. 

The  local  boards  of  health,  thus  co-ordinated  with  and  reg- 
ulated by  the  state  board,  furnished  a  state-wide  agency  for 
checking  the  spread  of  epidemics,  for  preventing  the  pollution 
of  waters,  for  the  collection  of  vital  statistics,  and  diffusing 
among  the  people  information  relating  to  health. 

"Without  waiting  for  the  perfection  or  indeed  any  consid- 
erable improvement  in  the  mechanism  for  preserving  public 
health,  the  state  board,  led  by  the  executive  secretary,  began  a 


676  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

warfare  against  epidemic  and  infectious  diseases.  Before  its 
creation  the  law  for  quarantine  of  smallpox  had  but  occasionally 
been  put  into  effect.  Measures  were  at  once  taken  for  more 
effective  isolation  of  outbreaks.  Scarlatina  was  soon  added  to 
the  list  of  infectious  diseases  to  be  isolated ;  then  typhoid  fever, 
and  later  diphtheria.  The  last  named  furnished  a  most  strik- 
ing illustration  of  the  effect  of  isolation  accompanied  with  im- 
proved medication  and  nursing.  The  number  of  reported 
deaths  from  diphtheria  in  1882  was  1,607 ;  in  1887,  788,  a  reduc- 
tion of  nearly  one-half ;  and  in  1895  the  figure  was  466,  a  little 
more  than  one-fourth  the  deaths  thirteen  years  before.  In 
those  years  the  population  of  Minnesota  had  doubled.  It  took 
Dr.  Hewitt  some  years  to  convince  his  medical  brethren  gen- 
erally that  diphtheria  was  infectious. 

As  might  be  presumed.  Dr.  Hewitt  was  alert  to  welcome 
every  new  development  in  his  profession.  He  accepted  at  once 
the  statement  of  Kirchhoff,  that  whether  the  bacillus  of  Koch 
was  truly  the  cause  of  Asiatic  cholera  or  not,  it  was  the  part  of 
enlightened  physicians  to  act  as  if  it  were.  He  was  fully  pre- 
pared for  the  invasion  of  that  disease  which  appeared  in  some 
of  our  seaports  in  1890,  but  happily  there  was  no  invasion  into 
Minnesota  and  the  appropriation  made  by  the  legislature  for 
repelling  it  was  not  used. 

He  was  not  content  with  the  new  learning  in  regard  to  the 
employment  of  serums  in  infectious  cases  as  represented  in  the 
journals.  To  get  the  essentials  of  that  he  went  to  Paris  in  the 
spring  of  1890  and  put  himself  under  the  instruction  of  Pasteur. 
His  studies  were  in  diphtheria,  tuberculosis,  and  rabies,  but  his 
main  object  was  to  acquire  the  method  of  Pasteur. 

The  cure  of  diseases  was  a  solemn  duty,  which  Dr.  Hewitt 
shared  with  the  members  of  his  profession;  the  prevention  of 
diseases  was  for  him  a  holy  crusade,  in  which  the  physicians  of 
the  day  were  not  over  eager  to  follow  him.  The  great  public, 
inheriting  the  belief  that  disease  is  inevitable  and  the  day  of 
each  one's  death  appointed,  had  little  faith  in  the  proposals  of: 
preventive  medicine.  His  first  essay  was  towards  the  introduc- 
tion of  efficient  ventilation  in  public  institutions  and  in  school- 
houses.     It  cannot  be  doubted  that  his  inspection  and  recom- 


DR.  CHARLES  N.   HEWITT.  677 

mendations  had  much  to  do  with  experiments  which  were  more 
or  less  satisfactory.  For  dwelling  houses  he  insisted  that  no 
ventilating  apparatus  could  equal  the  open  fireplace.  He  la- 
bored vigorously  to  introduce  earth  closets  for  disposing  of 
human  excreta  where  sewers  did  not  exist. 

The  continued  though  abated  prevalence  of  typhoid  led  Dr. 
Hewitt  to  examine  the  water  supply  of  various  localities.  The 
results  were  such  as  to  convince  him  that  an  immediate  and 
extensive  examination  of  water  supplies  generally  was  de- 
manded. In  1877  he  began  a  sanitary  water  survey  of  the 
state.  In  the  next  years  he  made,  and  had  made,  chemical 
analyses  of  thousands  of  samples  from  lakes,  rivers,  and  wells, 
in  all  the  settled  parts  of  the  state.  Later  bacteriological  exam- 
inations were  added.  How  many  cities  and  villages  were  moved 
to  install  water  supply  systems  is  not  known,  but  the  number 
was  large.  Thousands  of  people  were  constrained  to  disuse 
wells,  which  had  been  erroneously  believed  to  yield  health- 
ful waters  but  in  fact  were  unfit  for  human  use. 

It  was  not  till  1885  that  the  legislature  could  be  moved  to 
enact  a  law  to  prevent  the  pollution  of  rivers  and  sources  of 
water  supply.  This  act  gave  the  state  board  of  health  general 
supervision  of  sources  of  water  supply  for  towns,  villages  and 
cities,  and  required  reports  from  local  authorities,  water  boards 
in  particular,  to  the  state  board. 

The  passage  of  this  important  law  was  recommended  and 
urged  by  Governor  Hubbard,  who,  more  than  any  other  of  the 
state  executives  of  the  time,  appreciated  the  services  of  the 
State  Board  of  Health  and  its  working  secretary.  In  the  same 
year  was  passed  the  act  conferring  on  the  board  power  to  quar- 
antine domestic  animals  attacked  with  epidemic  diseases.  This 
duty  was  later  and  properly  devolved  on  a  special  * '  State  Live 
Stock  Sanitary  Board,"  but  for  some  years  useful  service  was 
rendered  under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Hewitt.  His  faithful 
execution  of  this  law  aroused  an  opposition  which  at  length 
contributed  to  his  disadvantage. 

Mention  may  here  be  made  of  another  statute  of  1885,  em- 
powering the  state  board  of  health  to  regulate  offensive  trades 
and  employments  upon  application  from  parties  aggrieved  after 


678  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

public  hearing.  An  item  well-deserving  mention  is  the  investi- 
gation made  in  his  laboratory  into  illuminating  oils,  particu- 
larly petroleum  distillates.  The  result  was  the  establishment  of 
state  inspection,  which  immediately  shut  unsafe  kerosene  out 
of  Minnesota. 

He  was  the  pioneer  in  exposing  the  adulteration  of  foods 
and  condiments. 

The  untiring  industry  of  Dr.  Hewitt  in  prevention  of  dis- 
ease has  no  better  illustration  than  that  of  smallpox.  He  shared 
the  belief  of  his  profession  that  effective  vaccination,  repeated 
at  proper  intervals,  was  a  perfect  prophylaxis  against  that  fear- 
ful scourge.  In  every  possible  way,  and  on  all  occasions,  he  ad- 
vocated vaccination.  The  best  obtainable  virus  was  distributed 
from  his  office.  Dissatisfied  at  length  with  that  furnished  by 
the  trade,  he  established  near  Red  Wing  a  vaccine  farm.  There 
he  produced  in  liberal  quantity  virus  which  he  knew  to  be,  and 
which  was  proved  to  be  efficacious. 

It  was  found  that  we  had  to  deal  in  Minnesota  not  only  with 
cases  originating  in  the  state,  but  in  very  many  instances  with 
imported  cases.  To  check  the  immigration  of  persons  having 
the  disease,  or  who  might  be  expected  to  have  it,  Dr.  Hewitt 
established  in  1879  a  system  of  interstate  notification  which 
made  it  possible  to  quarantine  such  persons  if  they  crossed  the 
state  lines.  Later  he  prevailed  on  the  U.  S.  Marine  Hospital 
Service  in  New  York  to  give  him  notice  of  immigrants  bound  to 
Minnesota  who  were  likely  to  bring  the  infection.  A  similar 
courtesy  was  obtained  from  Canadian  authorities.  In  the 
years  1894-95,  forty  notifications  were  received  from  New  York, 
seven  from  Canada,  and  two  from  other  sea  ports,  covering  464 
persons  who  had  been  exposed  to  infection.  A  large  number 
of  these  were  intercepted  and  examined. 

Dr.  Hewitt  had  a  cause  still  dearer  to  his  heart  than  either 
the  cure  or  the  immediate  prevention  of  disease.  He  was  an 
apostle  of  the  ''art  of  good  living,"  which  he  gave  as  another 
name  for  hygiene.  Individuals  acting  alone  could  of  course 
practice  this  art,  but  they  would  do  more  and  better  for  them- 
selves when  stimulated  by  the  contagion  of  community  interest. 
Hygiene  was  to  him  above  all  a  social  concern.     Perhaps  the 


p 


DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT.  679 


best  of  all  his  eiforts  went  to  arousing  general  public  interest 
in  health  conservation.  He  wrote,  he  lectured,  he  personally 
exhorted,  and  sought  the  co-operation  of  physicians,  clergy,  and 
teachers.  He  addressed  many  meetings  and  conventions  of 
teachers,  showing  them  how  to  teach  hygiene  in  schools.  He 
called  sanitary  conferences  at  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  Northfield, 
Rochester,  and  other  places,  which  were  largely  attended. 
Some  of  the  addresses  published  in  the  reports  of  the  board  are 
well  worth  republication. 

On  none  of  these  occasions  did  Dr.  Hewitt  fail  to  emphasize 
his  central  doctrine,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  community  to 
promote  health.  The  promotion  of  health,  he  would  say,  is 
''as  obligatory  upon  communities  of  civilized  men  as  upon  in- 
dividuals. ' '  He  cherished  a  dream  of  virtually  organizing  the 
whole  state  into  a  health  association.  He  was  fond  of  quoting 
Franklin's  sentiment,  ''Public  health  is  public  wealth."  In  one 
of  his  early  reports  he  asserted  that  pne  fifth  of  the  deaths  and 
one-fourth  of  the  sickness  in  Minnesota  were  preventable. 

As  a  means  of  spreading  needed  information  primarily 
among  local  health  boards,  and  through  them  to  the  general 
public,  he  began  in  1885  the  publication  of  a  monthly  periodical 
entitled  "Public  Health  in  Minnesota."  This  he  not  only 
edited,  but  wrote  large  parts  of  it.  Soon  after  he  took  the  office 
of  secretary,  he  began  the  publication  of  ' '  Circulars  of  Informa- 
tion," regarding  infectious  diseases.  The  circulars  on  small- 
pox, scarlatina,  diphtheria,  and  rabies,  were  widely  distributed 
and  must  have  done  much  to  quiet  fears  and  direct  proper 
action. 

In  his  whole  laborious  campaign  of  education  there  was 
nothing  into  which  he  threw  himself  with  greater  ardor  than 
into  his  instruction  as  non-resident  professor  of  public  health  in 
the  University  of  Minnesota.  Beginning  in  1873,  for  more  than 
twenty  years  he  gave  an  annual  course  of  lectures  to  entering 
classes  or  the  whole  student  body.  There  was  some  variation 
in  his  subjects ;  but  the  program  of  1877  may  serve  to  indicate 
their  scope. 

1.  Health  and  hygiene,  public  and  private. 

2.  Disease ;  causes  and  prevention. 


680    .         MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

3.  Poverty  and  pauperism. 

4.  To  young  men. 

5.  Crime  and  criminals. 

6.  Hygiene  and  education. 

7.  Hygiene  of  the  home. 

8.  Success  in  life. 

It  was  in  that  year  that  he  began  the  physical  examination 
of  the  students.  The  University  authorities,  indifferent  to  this 
innovation,  gave  no  support,  and  after  two  or  three  years  it 
was  abandoned. 

Two  years  before  the  creation  of  the  State  Board  of  Health, 
a  bureau  of  statistics  had  been  established  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  being  ex 
officio  commissioner  of  statistics.  Provision  was  made  for  the 
collection  of  vital  statistics.  Some  tables  of  these  had  been 
published,  but  no  one  had  put  them  to  any  use.  Dr.  Hewitt 
immediately  made  a  study  of  the  tables,  and  interpreted  their 
lessons.  In  1876  he  published  a  ''Study  of  Vital  Statistics  of 
10,000  Persons,"  which  set  some  persons  to  thinking  and  ought 
to  have  set  a  great  many  more. 

He  found  the  system  of  collecting  vital  statistics  so  imper- 
fect and  inefficient  that  he  soon  proposed  that  the  matter  of 
vital  statistics  be  transferred  to  the  State  Board  of  Health. 
After  more  than  a  decade  of  patient  waiting  and  importunity, 
that  transfer  was  made.  From  that  time,  1891,  the  vital  statis- 
tics of  Minnesota  have  been  increasing  in  value,  and  under  the 
present  administration  they  rank  high  among  those  of  sister 
states.  It  was  Dr.  Hewitt's  merit  to  have  organized  them  in 
right  lines. 

The  labors  thus  mentioned  were  verily  labors  of  love.  For 
the  first  five  years  of  service,  Dr.  Hewitt  received  the  sum  of 
$250  salary  each  year.  Next  for  a  like  term  he  was  paid  $500 
a  year.  The  salary  was  then  raised  to  $1,000  for  the  next  four 
years.  Not  till  1886  was  he  paid  enough  for  the  support  of  his 
family,  and  then  only  enough,  $2,500.  In  1894  an  increase  to 
$3,500  made  it  possible  for  him  to  move  the  office  of  the  State 
Board  to  St.  Paul  and  virtually  to  retire  from  private  practice. 
He  was  not  long  to  enjoy  that  relief. 


DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT.  681 

We  have  considered  things  which  were  done.  It  may  be 
that  the  future  will  admire  this  noble  public  man  the  more  for 
the  things  he  would  have  liked  to  do ;  things  which  could  not 
then  be  done,  partly  because  the  time  was  not  ripe  for  them,  and 
partly  because  strength  failed.  Among  these  unfilled  aspira- 
tions were : 

1.  To  have  local  health  boards  and  health  officers  paid 
enough  to  secure  efficiency.  In  1896  he  reported  that  more 
than  half  the  physicians  serving  as  health  officers  of  the  state 
had  no  pay  at  all,  and  of  those  who  did  receive  salaries  the 
larger  number  did  not  receive  over  $20  each.  The  highest  city 
salary  was  but  $2,000,  and  that  in  only  two  cities. 

2.  To  have  town  supervisors  elected  one  at  a  time  for  three 
years,  instead  of  three  at  a  time  for  one  year.  When  the  whole 
town  board,  as  frequently  happened,  went  out  of  office,  all  their 
successors  had  to  be  apprised  of  their  duties  as  a  board  of 
health.  Mention  has  been  made  of  an  attempt  to  remedy  this 
evil  by  having  the  town  board  elect  the  board  of  health.  This 
duty  was  so  ill  performed,  when  performed  at  all,  that  a  return 
was  made  to  the  old  form  of  having  the  town  board  itself  act  as 
the  town  board  of  health.  Year  after  year  Dr.  Hewitt  pleaded 
with  legislatures  to  arrange  town  elections  so  that  there  would 
always  be  a  majority  of  the  board  holding  over.  It  did  not 
please  the  legislature  to  take  this  perfectly  reasonable  step 
till  1905. 

3.  To  have  the  State  establish  a  hospital  for  inebriates. 
This  proposition  was  made  in  his  first  report,  and  was  repeated 
from  year  to  year  until  the  legislature  of  1875  took  action  for 
the  erection  of  buildings  for  that  purpose  at  Rochester.  As  is 
known,  the  extraordinary  pressure  for  larger  accommodations 
for  increasing  numbers  of  insane,  induced  the  legislature  later 
to  divert  the  institution  to  that  purpose.  The  inebriate  asylum, 
which  Dr.  Hewitt  so  much  desired,  was  opened  in  the  year  1912. 
It  is  therefore  mentioned  here  as  one  of  the  projects  which  this 
many-sided  man  had  at  heart,  but  did  not  live  to  see.  The  sub- 
ject of  intemperance  was  one  on  which  he  thought  intensely. 
He  regarded  it  as  an  inheritance  of  centuries,  which  could  not 
be  abolished  by  any  sudden  act  of  legislation.     It  might  take 


682  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

generations  to  raise  up  a  body  of  people  so  truly  temperate  and 
abstinent  that  the  liquor  seller's  occupation  would  be  gone. 
For  the  meantime  he  preached  the  reasonable  gospel  of  temper- 
ance and  practiced  it.  His  lecture  on  temperance  to  the  Uni- 
versity students  explained  the  evil  effects  of  intoxicants  on 
body  and  mind  in  forceful  but  not  extravagant  terms.  He 
believed  that  habitual  drunkenness  was  a  disease  akin  to  insan- 
ity, and  therefore  held  to  the  conviction  that  it  ought  to  be 
treated  in  institutions  where  proper  restrictive  and  curative 
means  and  surroundings  could  be  provided. 

4.  To  have  a  Pasteur  hospital  for  the  treatment  of  rabies 
established  under  the  management  of  the  State  Board  of  Health. 
On  his  return  from  his  studies  in  Paris  in  1891  he  represented 
that  a  beginning  might  be  made  at  a  cost  of  $1,000  a  year.  It 
was  many  years  after  Dr.  Hewitt 's  retirement  from  public  serv- 
ice that  this  highly  necessary  work  was  taken  up. 

5.  To  have  township  nurses  employed  to  care  for  epidemic 
cases.  This  recommendation  was  repeated  in  successive  reports 
to  no  purpose.  The  time  was  not  ripe,  and  probably  it  is  not 
yet  ripe. 

6.  To  compel  the  vaccination  of  the  whole  population,  and 
to  exclude  children  not  vaccinated  from  public  schools.  At  the 
present  time  vaccination  is  not  yet  generally  compulsory,  and 
only  in  times  of  epidemic  smallpox  can  children  not  vaccinated 
be  excluded  from  public  schools. 

7.  To  have  physical  examination  of  all  children  and  youth 
attending  public  schools  begun  and  ultimately  everywhere  con- 
ducted. In  the  years  1877  to  1880  he  personally  examined  465 
students  of  the  University,  the  records  of  which  may  be  found 
in  the  eighth  report  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  for  the  years 
1879-1880. 

8.  During  the  twenty  years  in  which  he  held  the  position 
of  non-resident  professor  of  Public  Health  in  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  it  was  his  hope  that  a  Department  or  College  of 
Public  Health  might  be  organized  and  developed,  in  which 
health  officers  might  be  trained  for  the  prevention  of  disease. 
He  was  comparatively  indifferent  to  the  development  of  a  med- 
ical  department  of  the  traditional  kind,   in  which  men   are 


DR.  CHARLES  N.  HEWITT.  683 

trained  to  cure  disease.  Still  he  was  loyal  to  his  profession,  and 
in  the  days  when  the  academic  work  of  the  University  was  be- 
ing patiently  built  up,  before  the  University  resources  were 
adequate  to  the  establishment  of  a  medical  college  equipped 
for  complete  instruction,  he  suggested  the  organization  of  a 
faculty  which  should  simply  hold  examinations  and  grant  med- 
ical degrees  to  such  as  should  pass  them.  This  faculty  acted  as 
a  State  Medical  Examining  Board,  and  it  passed  upon  the 
diplomas  of  all  physicians  in  practice  at  that  time  in  the  state. 
This  organization  was  made  and  remained  in  existence  until  the 
University,  by  absorbing  a  local  medical  college,  was  ready  in 
1888  to  offer  instruction.  Dr.  Hewitt  declined  a  professorship 
in  the  enlarged  medical  college,  because  of  the  hope  that  he 
might  see  a  department  of  Public  Health  opened,  in  which  his 
talent  could  be  best  used  and  his  highest  ambition  gratified. 
His  dream  has  not  been  fulfilled,  and  long  years  may  pass  be- 
fore an  enlightened  public,  appreciating  his  splendid  idea,  will 
demand  this  establishment  of  a  college  of  public  health.  His 
lectures  on  public  health  were  probably  the  first  delivered  in  an 
American  college. 

9.  To  have  a  complete  sanitary  inspection  of  the  State, 
followed  by  annual  sanitary  inspection,  with  reports  to  the 
State  Board.  Of  this  it  may  be  said  that  it  was  a  mere  project 
thrown  out  to  call  attention  and  awaken  an  interest  which  in 
the  course  of  time  might  ripen  into  actual  undertakings.  The 
idea  of  a  general  sanitary  survey  is  probably  not  yet  deemed 
feasible  or  desirable  by  any  large  number  of  persons. 

During  these  long  years  of  service,  contending  against  pub- 
lic ignorance,  professional  indifference,  and  legislative  par- 
simony, the  doctor's  enthusiasm  was  constantly  warmed  by  in- 
dications of  appreciation.  His  efficiency  in  the  handling  of 
epidemics  compelled  the  admiration  of  his  profession  and  the 
approval  of  the  general  public.  Teachers  were  grateful  to  him 
for  his  labors  toward  the  sanitation  of  school  buildings.  He 
was  cheered  by  the  co-operation  of  the  clergy  and  of  many  hon- 
orable women,  whose  aid  he  publicly  acknowledged. 

His  work  and  writings  became  known  in  the  neighboring 
states,  and  later  throughout  the  country.     In  1887  he  was  Pres- 


684  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

ident  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association,  an  organiza- 
tion he  had  helped  to  form  and  build  up.  His  reputation  se- 
cured to  him  an  associate  membership  in  the  Society  of  Health 
Officers  of  England  and  the  Societe  d 'Hygiene  of  France.  In 
1891  he  attended  the  International  Congress  of  Medicine  and 
Demography,  held  in  London,  and  contributed  to  the  discus- 
sions. Canadian  health  authorities  respected  his  acquirements 
and  efficiency,  and  were  ready  to  co-operate  with  him.  His  Col- 
lege gave  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

After  a  quarter  century  of  devoted  service  to  his  State,  that 
service  came  to  an  abrupt  termination.  Dr.  Hewitt  had  never 
needed  to  ask  for  reappointment  to  membership  of  the  State 
Board  of  Health,  nor  to  re-elections  as  its  executive  secretary. 
He  had  kept  the  office  absolutely  clear  of  political  complica- 
tions. At  work  in  his  office  on  a  certain  afternoon  in  January 
in  1897,  word  came  to  him  that  the  Governor  had  omitted  his 
name  from  the  list  of  appointments  to  membership  of  the  State 
Board.  It  was  the  work  of  a  few  minutes  for  him  to  gather  up 
the  few  articles  belonging  to  him  personally  and  say  a  word  of 
parting  to  his  faithful  assistants.  In  his  last  report,  for  the 
preceding  year  (1896),  in  a  concluding  paragraph  he  expressed, 
as  follows,  the  feelings  of  the  hour. 

The  best  of  my  life  and  effort  have  gone  into  this  work.  I  have 
spared  neither  time,  labor,  nor  thought,  to  make  it  what  it  ought  to  be. 
Such  as  it  is,  the  record  is  made  and  closed.  I  resume  tomorrow  the 
active  practice  of  my  profession  with  the  sincere  wish  that  the  public 
health  service  of  Minnesota  may  maintain  and  advance  the  position 
which  it  has  won  among  the  similar  organizations  in  other  states.  I 
am  still  more  anxious  that  it  continue  to  serve  the  whole  people  of 
Minnesota  in  the  future  as  in  the  past. 

This  removal  from  the  Board  came  as  an  absolute  surprise. 
If  there  had  been  machinations  for  it,  no  one  had  revealed  them 
to  him.  Never  had  he  been  so  full  of  enthusiasm  for  his  great 
work,  nor  more  hopeful  of  increasing  usefulness.  To  find  his 
career  as  a  sanitarian  and  guardian  of  the  public  health  of  a 
state  thus  instantly  cut  short  without  warning,  was  a  stunning 
blow.  He  left  the  office  and  never  entered  it  again,  nor  held 
any  communication  with  the  State  Board  of  Health  or  its  offi- 
cers.    His  was  not  the  philosophy  to  look  upon  this  decapitation 


DR.  CHARLES  N.   HEWITT.  685 

as  one  of  the  things  likely  to  happen  to  any  man  in  the  service 
of  the  public,  holding  office  at  the  pleasure  of  a  state  executive 
elected  by  a  political  party.  At  some  time  even  such  an  office 
as  his  would  be  needed  in  a  political  propaganda.  It  will  prob- 
ably be  consented  to  by  all,  that  one  who  had  labored  so  faith- 
fully and  deserved  so  well  the  approval  of  the  public  had  a  cer- 
tain right  to  suggest  the  time  and  manner  of  retirement,  even 
when  informed  that  retirement  would  be  inevitable.  The  writer 
does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  action  of  Governor  Clough  was 
simply  brutal. 

The  doctor  of  course  in  time  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
this  relegation  to  private  life.  He  resumed  his  private  practice 
at  Red  Wing,  welcomed  by  a  body  of  old  clients.  His  profes- 
sional brothers  came  to  him  for  information  and  counsel.  His 
home,  with  its  great  elms,  its  vines,  and  his  garden,  occupied 
much  of  his  time.  He  had  long  been  a  busy  writer  of  reports, 
opinions,  essays,  editorials,  and  addresses.  He  now  planned  to 
use  this  talent  in  writing  out  a  history  of  medicine.  He  had 
long  held  the  opinion  that  the  great  physicians  of  antiquity 
whose  names  have  come  down  to  us,  while  ignorant  of  anatomy, 
still  possessed  arts  of  diagnosis  and  healing  which  moderns  have 
to  rediscover.  For  this  purpose  he  spent  some  winters  at  the  na- 
tional capital,  where  the  resources  of  the  Library  of  Congress 
were  available  and  freely  granted.  One  winter  he  spent  in 
Paris.     This  work  he  did  not  live  to  complete. 

Dr.  Hewitt  had  a  great  capacity  for  friendship.  He  cher- 
ished to  the  end  the  attachments  which  his  college  fraternity, 
the  Alpha  Delta  Phi,  had  established.  Educated  in  school  and 
college  under  Episcopalian  influences,  he  maintained  his  mem- 
bership in  that  church  throughout  life.  It  is  well  worth  while 
to  note  a  characteristic  contribution  to  the  work  of  his  parish. 
He  had  a  notable  musical  gift,  which  was  shared  by  his  own 
children.  He  organized  and  for  many  years  taught  a  choir  of 
boys;  and  he  taught  them  much  more  than  music, — courtesy, 
and  honor,  and  reverence.  The  memory  of  those  lessons  is  still 
dear  to  many  of  ' '  the  old  choir  boys. ' ' 

Along  with  all  his  engagements  he  carried  on  the  primary 
education  of  his  children,  and  taught  as  no  schoolmaster  can  be 


686  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

expected  to  do.  He  discovered  that  an  immense  amount  of  time 
was  wasted  in  schools,  that  the  real  learning  by  children  was 
got  in  a  little  time  and  in  separate  moments  of  attention. 
Thirty  years  ago  or  more  he  declared  that  half  of  the  time  of 
public  school  children  might  be  given  to  what  was  later  known 
as  manual  training,  while  still  as  good  progress  would  be  made 
in  the  usual  school  studies. 

The  life  of  this  noble  man,  devoted  citizen,  and  sincere  Chris- 
tian, ended  after  a  short  illness  on  July  7,  1910,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-four  years.  His  body  was  cremated,  and  the  ashes  were 
deposited  at  his  boyhood  home  in  Potsdam,  New  York.  It  will 
be  long  before  Minnesota  shall  look  upon  his  like  again. 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XVI. 


BIOGRAPHIC  MEMORIAL  OF  FREDERICK  DRISCOLL.* 


BY  HENRY  A.  CASTLE. 


Frederick  Driscoll,  whose  character  and  achievement  we 
desire  to  commemorate  on  this  occasion,  filled  worthily  for  a 
long  period,  crowded  with  important  events,  a  conspicuous  place 
in  the  annals  of  this  city  and  this  commonwealth,  besides  attain- 
ing positions  of  nation-wide  prominence  and  influence  in  the 
realms  where  his  professional  activities  were  especially  exer- 
cised. 

Our  friend  was  so  versatile  in  his  endowments,  his  attain- 
ments, and  his  sympathies,  and  so  many-sided  in  his  character, 
as  to  command  the  sincere  respect  of  contemporaries  of  all 
shades  of  political  opinion.  He  was  a  man  of  forceful  and  gen- 
erous nature,  with  a  fertile  mind  well  stocked  with  ideas  and 
lavish  in  their  outlay.  "Warm-hearted,  'open-handed,  large- 
minded,  with  a  certain  profusion  in  his  intellectual  expendi- 
tures, as  if  conscious  of  an  overflowing  reserve,  his  powers  were 
wonderfully  at  his  command  on  those  occasions  when  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  moment  required  him,  in  some  public  assembly, 
to  present  his  views  on  an  important  subject  under  discussion. 

He  was  equally  at  home  in  a  political  convention,  at  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  or  at  a  great  meeting  called  to  decide 
on  measures  to  meet  an  impending  crisis.  He  made  no  ora- 
torical efforts,  but  the  clearness  of  statement,  the  persuasive- 
ness of  his  manner  of  reasoning,  all  combined  to  win  assent  and 
disarm  opposition. 

Frederick  Driscoll  was  born  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  July 
31,  1834.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  that  city,  and  he  received 
a  serviceable  education  at  the  Groton  Academy.  He  formed 
plans  for  a  mercantile  career  and  was  trained  in  that  direction 

♦Rea<3  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  April  10,1911. 


688 


MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


with  no  premonitions  of  the  wide  divergence  therefrom  the 
future  busy  years  would  bring. 

In  the  summer  of  1856  he  came  west  and  found  employment 
for  a  few  months  at  Clinton,  Iowa.  While  travelling  on  the 
Lake  Michigan  steamboat,  "Niagara,"  in  1857,  the  boat  was 
burned  near  Green  Bay,  Wis.,  and  many  of  his  fellow  passen- 
gers were  drowned.  In  attempting  to  assist  one  of  these,  a 
woman,  Mr.  Driscoll  was  struck  by  a  floating  spar  and  deprived 
of  the  sight  of  his  left  eye, — a  permanent  affliction,  honorably 
incurred,  which  however  failed  to  impair  his  subsequent  poten- 
tiality. 

He  arrived  in  Minnesota  in  October,  1857,  and,  after  a  short 
stay  in  St.  Paul,  located  at  Belle  Plaine  in  Scott  county  as  book- 
keeper for  the  land  company  which  exploited  the  townsite. 

He  came,  an  ambitious,  industrious,  level-headed  young  man, 
to  the  Minnesota  of  the  eventful  decade  preceding  the  Civil 
War,  to  breathe  her  invigorating  air,  to  drink  of  her  crystal 
waters,  and  bathe  in  her  glorious  sunshine.  He  came  to  share 
her  affluent  but  undeveloped  resources,  the  age-fattened  fertil- 
ity of  her  shoreless  prairies,  her  immeasurable  storage  vaults  of 
mineral  wealth,  and  her  forests  of  lofty  pines. 

He  came  to  blend  his  destiny  with  a  free,  brave,  virtuous 
people.  They  were. rugged  as  the  red  foemen  they  confronted; 
primitive ;  poor  in  worldly  possessions,  but  rich  in  daring  and 
will  and  hope.  He  became  one  with  them,  without  delay  or  mis- 
giving, and  within  five  years  had  gained  a  position  of  promi- 
nence from  which  he  never  receded. 

The  Belle  Plaine  Land  Company  sufl^ered  some  financial  re- 
verses, Mr.  D.  W.  Ingersoll  of  St.  Paul,  a  leading  merchant,  was 
made  assignee,  and  Mr.  Driscoll  became  his  agent.  Among  the 
assets  of  the  Land  Company  was  a  weekly  newspaper,  the  ''In- 
quirer," which,  after  many  vicissitudes,  suspended  publication 
in  1861.  At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Ingersoll,  Mr.  Driscoll  ac- 
cepted the  newspaper  plant  in  payment  of  arrearages  due  for  his 
services.  He  was  not  a  practical  printer,  but  he  embarked  on 
this  untried  venture,  which  was  to  shape  and  control  the  work  of 
a  lifetime,  with  youthful  self-reliance,  fully  justified  by  the 
result. 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLL.  689 

Meantime,  other  events  which  definitely  affected  his  for- 
tunes had  occurred.  On  May  31,  1858,  he  had  married  at  Belle 
Plaine  Miss  Ann  L.  Brown  of  New  York,  a  daughter  of  Hon.  J. 
B.  Brown,  who  later,  as  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  113th  New 
York  Infantry  Volunteers,  made  a  distinguished  record  in  the 
War  for  the  Union.  Miss  Brown,  who  had  recently  graduated 
at  an  eastern  collegiate  institution,  was  visiting  her  sister,  Mrs. 
William  G.  Gates,  at  Belle  Plaine,  when  the  acquaintance  began. 

In  November,  1860,  Mr.  Driscoll  was  elected  a  representative 
in  the  Minnesota  Legislature  from  Scott  county,  and  served  dur- 
ing the  session  of  1861.  He  was  a  Republican,  and  Scott  county 
was  strongly  Democratic  ;  he  was  only  twenty-six  years  old,  and 
had  lived  in  the  state  but  two  years;  yet  he  was  chosen  by  a 
small  plurality,  and  bore  a  highly  creditable  part  during  the  ses- 
sion in  debates  as  well  as  in  framing  legislation.  He  was  spe- 
cially helpful  in  locating  the  terminus  of  the  Duluth  Railroad  in 
St.  Paul. 

It  was  at  the  close  of  this  session  that  he  purchased  the  mori- 
bund newspaper,  changed  its  name  to  the  ''Scott  County  Jour- 
nal," transformed  its  politics  from  Democratic  to  Republican, 
and  commenced  the  journalistic  apprenticeship  which  was  to 
give  to  the  state  and  to  the  nation  a  genuine  master  workman. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Legislative  session  of  1862,  Mr.  Dris- 
coll came  to  the  capital  and  with  the  prestige  of  his  previous 
service  in  the  House,  added  to  that  of  a  Republican  editor,  was 
elected  Secretary  of  the  Senate.  He  discharged  his  duties,  both 
in  the  regular  session  and  in  the  special  session  of  that  year,  so 
acceptably  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  state  leaders  of  one 
wing  of  the  dominant  Republican  party,  who  encouraged  him  to 
bring  his  printing  material  to  St.  Paul  and  establish  a  daily 
paper  in  opposition  to  the  Press. 

It  was  a  period  of  depression  and  solicitude  for  Minnesota. 
The  rebellion  in  the  South  had  drawn  thousands  of  her  patriotic 
sons  to  its  remote  battlefields,  and  the  horrible  Indian  massacre 
of  August,  1862,  had  depopulated  her  frontiers.  Mr.  DriscoU, 
physically  disabled  for  field  duty,  nevertheless  was  given  a  com- 
mission which  he  was  unable  to  accept,  but  he  rendered  valuable 
service  in  the  quartermasters'  department  at  Fort  Ripley,  and 
elsewhere,  during  the  most  trying  season. 

44  " 


690 


MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


In  November,  1862,  he  removed  to  St.  Paul  and  established 
the  Daily  Union.  A  young  man  just  arrived  from  Ohio,  named 
Harlan  P.  Hall,  was  his  city  reporter.  The  Legislature  of  1863 
was  to  elect  a  United  States  Senator  to  succeed  Henry  M.  Rice. 
There  were  two  Republican  candidates.  Governor  Alexander 
Ramsey  of  St.  Paul  and  Congressman  Cyrus  Aldrich  of  Minne- 
apolis. The  Press,  owned  by  William  R.  Marshall  and  Newton 
Bradley,  with  Joseph  A.  Wheelock  as  editor,  earnestly  sup- 
ported Governor  Ramsey;  Mr.  Driscoll,  in  the  Union,  just  as 
earnestly  supported  Colonel  Aldrich.  Ramsey  won  the  sena- 
torial toga,  but  at  the  same  session  of  the  Legislature  Mr.  Dris- 
coll was  elected  State  Printer,  by  which  proceeding  emoluments 
estimated  at  $20,000  a  year  were  transferred  from  the  Press  to 
the  Union.  Thus  both  papers  had  gained, — likewise  both  had 
lost.     A  consolidation  was  suggested  and  speedily  effected. 

Mr.  Wheelock,  at  the  outset,  doubtless  looked  with  amuse- 
ment bordering  on  disdain  upon  this  journalistic  tyro  from 
Scott  county,  who  had  the  temerity  to  set  up  a  rival  Republican 
daily  in  St.  Paul.  But  no  sooner  had  the  contest  begun  than  he 
discovered,  like  Fitz-James  of  old : 

"No  maiden's  hand  is  round  thee  thrown! 

That  desperate  grasp  thy  frame  might  feel, 

Through  bars  of  brass  and  triple  steel!" 

And  the  contest  did  not  last  long.  It  was  soon  found  ex- 
pedient to  unite  the  two  papers.  The  Union  was  merged  into 
the  Press,  March  1,  1863.  Newton  Bradley  and  William  R. 
Marshall  retired;  Frederick  Driscoll  and  Joseph  A.  Wheelock 
became  partners  and  began  an  association  that  continued  until 
1899. 

As  to  which  was  the  senior  and  which  the  junior  partner, 
opinions  have  differed.  Mr.  Wheelock,  the  editor,  was  always 
in  the  limelight,  while  Mr.  Driscoll,  the  business  manager,  was 
less  conspicuously  displayed.  United,  they  made  a  remark- 
ably successful  combination ;  separately,  neither  could  possibly 
have  accomplished  so  much. 

Mr.  Wheelock 's  half  century  of  primacy  in  Minnesota 
journalism  has  its  unchallenged  historical  recognition.  He  was 
one  of  the  clearest  thinkers  and  most  forcible  writers  in  the 


t'REbERiCk  DRISCOLL.  6M 

nation,  capable  of  sustained  efforts  of  uniform  excellence,  with 
frequent  flights  into  the  realms  of  genius.  An  adept  in  nervous 
thought  and  muscular  language,  he  wrote  with  a  fullness  of  in- 
formation and  a  richness  of  diction  that  commanded  the  ap- 
plause of  his  friends,  while  it  often  exasperated  his  opponents. 
When  his  righteous  indignation  was  aroused  by  some  political 
atrocity,  his  wrath  became  highly  inflammatory,  and  the  color- 
scheme  of  his  denunciations  took  on  a  lurid,  sunset  crimson. 
Not  infallible  in  judgment,  nor  exempt  from  infirmities  of  tem- 
per and  temperament,  which  at  times  cloud  the  intellectual 
vision,  he  was  always  credited  with  good  motives  and  manly 
conduct. 

The  two  associates  worked  together  in  harmony,  as  a  rule, 
although  such  positive  natures  must  have  clashed  occasionally 
in  determining  the  policies  to  be  pursued.  Immersed  together 
in  many  seething  cauldrons  of  controversy,  they  often  emerged 
discomfited,  but  never  dismayed.  Both  cherished  high  ideals 
of  journalistic  responsibility.  They  repudiated  the  practices  of 
those  editorial  parasites  who  cultivate  an  animal  instinct  until 
it  approaches  human  sagacity  in  selecting  a  popular  issue  and 
then  promptly  changing  it  when  the  babble  and  jingle  of  cur- 
rent furor  subsides.  The  editor  who  adopts  this  standard  in- 
fluences nobody;  he  permits  everybody  to  influence  him.  He 
drifts  with  the  tide,  sprinkling  all  his  utterances  with  a  ster- 
ilized mist  until  the  drift  is  discerned.  Whether  afflicting  man- 
kind through  the  pages  of  the  daily  yellow,  the  weekly  roast, 
or  the  monthly  muck-rake,  he  is  a  functional  derelict. 

No  such  perversion  of  allegiance  marred  the  record  of 
Wheelock  and  Driscoll.  They  were  early  in  adopting  and  per- 
sistent in  maintaining  the  standards  of  the  press  which  made 
public  opinion  the  paramount  force  in  society  and  government. 
Healthfully  directing  this  public  opinion,  the  press  of  those 
days  became  an  instrument  of  communiqation,  a  vehicle  of  in- 
fluence ;  not  the  creator  of  civilization,  but  a  marvelous  engine 
for  its  diffusion;  not  perhaps  moving  the  world,  but  moving 
with  the  world,  and  recording  all  its  movements.  In  this  ca- 
pacity it  developed  into  a  ramified,  radiating,  educational  in- 
stitute, in  whose  laboratories  the  best  thoughts  and  most  prac- 


692 


MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLE^CTlONS. 


tical  intelligence  were  raw  material,  to  be  worked  and  re- 
worked into  progressive  institutions. 

"While  Mr.  Wheelock  had  little  or  no  taste  for  business  de- 
tails and  left  them  all  to  his  capable  partner,  it  does  not  follow 
that  Mr.  Driscoll  was  equally  unconcerned  with  matters  per- 
taining to  the  editorial  province. 

Sarcasm  and  stigma  have  been  lavished  by  unthinking 
phrase-coiners  and  wind-spinners  on  the  charge  that  certain 
newspapers  are  *' edited  in  the  counting  room."  In  one  sense, 
the  paper  that  is  not  edited  in  the  counting  room  will  not  be 
edited  at  all,  for  any  considerable  length  of  time.  Nor  does 
this  fact  presuppose  venality,  or  a  lapse  into  the  paths  of  con- 
solidated corporation  publicity.  Even  in  the  most  independent 
and  progressive  journals,  the  business  manager  must  be  con- 
sulted as  to  the  broad  lines  of  editorial  policy,  as  to  allowable 
expenditures  for  news  service,  and  as  to  the  personnel  of  the 
staff,  as  well  as  their  compensation.  He  thus  becomes,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  the  managing  editor,  and  has  weighty 
prerogatives  outside  the  vital  function,  naturally  assigned  to 
him,  of  providing  the  ways  and  means. 

Mr.  Driscoll  was  all  this  to  the  Press  and  the  Pioneer  Press 
for  thirty-six  years.  He  probably  wrote  few  editorials.  He 
probably  censored  few  of  Mr.  Wheelock 's  writings, — it  might 
have  been  better  for  the  paper  and  the  party  if  he  had  censored 
more  of  them,  for  his  was  the  cooler  brain.  But  that  he  forti- 
fied many  of  the  strongest  positions,  energized  many  of  the  most 
creditable  achievements  and  inspired  many  of  the  most  tren- 
chant utterances,  is  a  well  established  truth  of  history.  Thus 
in  the  broadest  meaning  of  the  term,  Frederick  Driscoll  was  a 
journalist. 

From  the  conjunction  of  Wheelock  and  Driscoll,  in  the  own- 
ership of  the  St.  Paul  Daily  Press  and  the  harmonious  adjust- 
ment of  their  respective  functions,  dates  the  entrance  of  the 
latter  into  a  field  of  state-wide  influence.  His  great  oppor- 
tunity had  come,  and  he  embraced  it  with  the  ardor  that  vital- 
ized all  his  enthusiasms.    He  became  a  militant  Minnesotan. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton,  modestly  disclaiming  praise  for  his  scien- 
tific triumphs,  attributed  them  to  the  broader  vision  he  en- 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLIa  693 

joyed  through  standing  on  the  shoulders  of  giants  who  had  pre- 
ceded him,  Galileo  and  Kepler  and  Copernicus  and  the  rest.  To 
these  he  yielded  primacy  of  honor. 

But  the  early  Minnesotans  had  no .  predecessors  in  their 
splendid  work.  They  did  not  stand  on  the  shoulders  of  giants. 
They  were  giants  themselves,  as  if  nourished  on  lions'  milk 
and  the  marrow  of  bisons.  Toiling  terribly,  they  wrought 
mightily  in  their  several  spheres,  each  solicitous  to  do  his  manly 
part  in  building  and  embellishing  the  grand  structure  which 
his  prophetic  eye  clearly  discerned. 

Minnesota  was  an  empire  from  the  day  it  was  founded. 
Saint  Paul  was  a  city  at  the  hour  it  was  born. 

There  were  giants  in  those  days,  and  Frederick  Driscoll  was 
with  them  and  of  them.  He  stood  shoulder  high  with  the 
pioneers,  like  Alexander  Ramsey  and  Henry  M.  Rice  and  H.  H. 
Sibley  and  William  R.  Marshall.  He  kept  step  with  the  de- 
velopments worked  out  by  E.  F.  Drake  and  "W.  L.  Banning  and 
W.  F.  Davidson  and  George  L.  Becker  and  Oliver  Dalrymple 
and  Thomas  Lowry  and  James  J.  Hill,  the  empire  builders,  the 
men  who  did  things.  He  sat  in  council  with  such  financiers  as 
Erastus  Edgerton  and  Horace  Thompson  and  H.  P.  Upham. 
He  measured  up  to  the  intellectual  standard  of  jurists  like  Gil- 
fillan  and  Cornell  and  Cole  and  Flandrau  and  R.  R.  Nelson  and 
George  B.  Young.  In  politics,  he  was  the  trusted  adviser  of 
Windom  and  Pillsbury  and  Dunnell  and  Washburn  and  Wil- 
kinson and  John  B.  Sanborn  and  Cushman  K.  Davis;  the 
dreaded  antagonist  of  Donnelly  and  Eugene  Wilson  and  Nor- 
ton and  Coggswell.  He  was  the  co-worker  in  business  enter- 
prise with  John  Nicols  and  C.  D.  Strong  and  P.  H.  Kelly  and 
C.  W.  Hackett  and  Channing  Seabury  and  J.  C.  Burbank.  He 
worked  in  the  ranks  of  journalism  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
State,  heart  to  heart  with  J.  A.  Wheelock  and  W.  S.  King  and 
J.  A.  Leonard  and  Daniel  Sinclair.  He  walked  hand  in  hand, 
in  gracious  deeds  of  philanthropy  and  benevolence,  with  D.  W. 
Ingersoll  and  Wilford  L.  Wilson  and  D.  R.  Noyes  and  Thomas 
Cochran.  With  bowed  head,  reverently,  he  marched  abreast  of 
churchmen  like  S.  Y.  McMasters  and  D.  R.  Breed  and  E.  D.  Neill 


gg^  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  H.  B.  Whipple  and  John  Ireland,  in  paths  that  lead  to 
righteousness  through  Christian  faith  and  hope. 

It  were  an  honor  to  any  man  who  sustained  himself  for  a 
long  series  of  years  on  terms  of  acknowledged  equality  in  a 
companionship  like  this,  emulating  the  brotherhood  at  King 
Arthur's  table  round,  the  goodliest  fellowship  of  famous 
knights  whereof  the  world  holds  record.  Frederick  DriscoU 
thus  sustained  himself  and  more.  In  numerous  vital  emergen- 
cies, he  was  pushed  forward,  in  one  or  another  of  these  several 
fields  of  usefulness  and  honor,  to  a  position  of  applauded  lead- 
ership, and  in  no  such  case  did  he  fail  to  vindicate  amply  the 
preferment. 

His  early  outlook  and  outreach  had  even  a  wider  signifi- 
cance. They  comprehended  questions  of  national  import,  and 
involved  considerations  of  loftiest  patriotism.  Mr.  Driscoll 
was  not  only  a  Territorial  Pioneer,  but  was  a  staunch  and  loyal 
supporter  of  Lincoln  and  the  Union  in  the  dark  and  bloody 
days  of  the  war  for  the  suppression  of  the  slaveholders'  rebel- 
lion, the  days  that  tried  men 's  souls. 

The  issues  of  the  hour  were  clearly  defined.  In  regard  to 
them  the  paper  published  by  Wheelock  and  Driscoll  sounded 
always  the  clarion  note  of  unconditional  loyalty.  The  domi- 
nant issue  was  the  life  of  the  Republic.  On  that  question  there 
could  be  no  equivocation  or  compromise, — he  who  was  not  for 
the  country  was  against  it.  And  in  all  the  years  succeeding, 
these  patriots  of  the  war  era  were  ever  the  champions  of  the 
veteran  soldiers  of  the  Republic  in  every  just  appeal  to  the 
gratitude  of  the  nation.  The  predominating  tenet  in  their 
creed  of  civics  was  aggresive,  progressive  Americanism. 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Driscoll  began  at  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Minnesota  Editorial  Association  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1867.  He  was  the  chairman  of  the  local  committee  which 
invited  the  editors  of  the  state  to  come  to  St.  Paul.  He  was 
master  of  ceremonies  at  the  initial  assemblages,  toastmaster  at 
the  banquet,  and  in  general  the  director  (if  not  the  originator) 
of  the  movement  which  during  forty-four  years  has  done  so 
much  for  the  publishing  fraternity  of  Minnesota,  meanwhile 
developing  into  a  powerful  national  association,  which  origi- 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLL. 


695 


nated  here.  The  state  organization  was,  from  the  beginning, 
with  the  full  approval  of  the  city  members,  specially  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  country  press,  but,  as  one  of  its  founders, 
Mr.  Driscoll  always  felt  a  personal  pride  in  its  prosperity. 

In  1867  he  was  appointed  Chairman  of  the  Republican  State 
Central  Committee,  and  held  the  position  until  1870,  conduct- 
ing with  skill  the  campaigns  which  resulted  in  the  second  elec- 
tion of  Governor  Marshall  and  the  first  election  of  Governor 
Austin.  He  was  during  this  period  and  subsequently  the  mov- 
ing spirit  in  what  we  called  ''the  Ramsey  dynasty,"  the  inner 
circle  of  leading  Republicans  who  had  in  charge  the  political 
fortunes  of  Senator  Ramsey.  Governor  Marshall,  Gen.  R.  N. 
McLaren,  Mr.  Driscoll,  and  Mr.  Wheelock,  composed  this  inner 
circle,  and  they  so  managed  affairs  as  to  indicate,  with  a  view 
to  the  Senator's  continued  tenure,  most  of  the  nominations  for 
state  officers,  Congressmen,  etc.,  as  well  as  most  of  the  appoint- 
ments to  Federal  positions,  during  at  least  a  full  decade  of 
Minnesota  history.  It  was  a  puissant  combination,  devoted  to 
what  its  members  then  believed  to  be  a  laudable  purpose,  as 
indeed  is  now  conceded  by  some  of  their  surviving  opponents. 

In  May,  1870,  Joseph  A.  Wheelock  was,  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  Senator  Ramsey,  appointed  Postmaster  of  St.  Paul, 
by  President  Grant.  The  office  in  those  days  was  usually 
treated  as  a  sinecure,  a  political  perquisite,  not  necessarily  in- 
volving personal  attention  to  its  duties.  The  previous  incum- 
bent, Dr.  J.  H.  Stewart,  had  continued  his  lucrative  medical 
practice  without  interruption.  Mr.  Wheelock  made  Mr.  Dris- 
coll assistant  postmaster,  thus  accomplishing  the  doubly  desir- 
able object  of  ensuring  a  competent  business  supervision  of  the 
post  office  and  of  securing  a  welcome  recourse,  for  upbuilding 
the  Republican  party  organ,  of  perhaps  seven  thousand  dollars 
a  year  from  their  united  salaries. 

During  the  five  years  they  filled  these  positions,  Mr.  Dris- 
coll gave  all  necessary  attention  to  the  postal  work.  In  the 
beginning  he  demonstrated  his  executive  ability  by  choosing 
Patrick  0  'Brien,  from  among  his  employees  in  the  Press  count- 
ing room,  to  handle  the  post-office  money  and  keep  the  accounts. 
Mr.  O'Brien  is  there  today,  having  served  continuously  as  As- 


QQQ  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

sistant  Postmaster  since  1875,  with  the  unqualified  approbation 
of  all  succeeding  administrations.  Compared  with  its  present 
operations  and  functions,  the  St.  Paul  post  office  was  in  1869  of 
limited  scope.  But  even  then  it  was  important,  as  the  center 
of  an  expanding  mail  system.  Mr.  Driscoll  managed  its  affairs 
efficiently,  introduced  many  substantial  reforms,  and  when,  by 
the  mutations  of  politics,  Dr.  David  Day  became  postmaster 
in  1875,  turned  over  to  him  the  well  organized  up-to-date  postal 
plant  which  it  has  ever  since  remained.  If  Mr.  Driscoll  had 
done  nothing  else  that  was  noteworthy  during  his  post-office 
incumbency,  the  discovery  of  Patrick  O'Brien  and  his  induc- 
tion into  the  service  would  be  a  title  to  public  gratitude. 

Senator  Ramsey's  second  term  expired  March  4,  1875,  and 
his  friends  waged  a  furious  campaign  for  his  re-election,  of 
which  campaign  Mr.  Driscoll  was  the  commander-in-chief. 
Three  candidates  for  Republican  support  were  entered  against 
him, — C.  K.  Davis,  W.  D.  Washburn,  and  Horace  Austin.  After 
long  delay  and  much  heart-burning,  Hon.  S.  J.  R.  McMillan, 
chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state,  was  elected  as 
a  compromise.  Alexander  Ramsey  retired  from  the  Senate,  and 
the  Saint  Paul  Press  lost  faith  in  the  virtue  of  the  party,  if  not 
in  the  perpetuity  of  the  Republic. 

One  of  the  earliest  official  acts  of  Senator  McMillan  was  to 
demand  the  removal  of  Mr.  Wheelock  and  the  appointment  of 
Dr.  David  Day,  the  Senator's  brother-in-law,  as  postmaster  of 
St.  Paul.  Party  usage  constrained  President  Grant  reluctantly 
to  acquiesce,  and  the  change  was  made.  Mr.  Driscoll  ceased  to 
be  de  facto  postmaster,  but  left  his  salutary  impress  and  his 
proficient  helper  behind  him. 

Shortly  after  this  occurrence  the  startling  announcement 
was  made  that  the  Pioneer  and  the  Press  had  been  consolidated 
under  the  management  of  Wheelock  and  Driscoll,  and  that  the 
Pioneer  Press  was  to  be  conducted  as  an  independent  journal,  a 
thing  then  unprecedented  in  Minnesota  politics. 

^  By  this  consolidation,  the  oldest  newspaper  in  the  state,  the 
Pioneer,  became  the  senior  segment  of  the  coming  colossus  of 
the  Northwestern  press.  The  merger  took  effect  April  11, 
1875.    A  year  later,  the  Pioneer  Press  acquired  the  Morning 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLL.  697 

Tribune  and  the  Evening  Mail,  at  Minneapolis,  suspended 
their  publication,  and  for  a  time  held  a  monopoly  of  the  daily 
newspaper  field  of  the  Twin  Cities,  except  the  St.  Paul  Even- 
ing Dispatch. 

Mr.  Driscoll  was  necessarily  the  prime  factor  in  negotiating 
and  effecting  these  several  fusions  or  amalgamations,  in  each 
ease  adding  to  the  prestige  and  profits  of  his  great  journal. 
"Whether  the  ablest  survive,  or  only  those  ablest  to  survive,  the 
survivals  concededly  receive  the  credit  and  reap  the  rewards. 
In  his  admirable  history  of  Minnesota  Journalism,  in  this 
Society's  Collections  (Volumes  X  and  XII),  Mr.  D.  S.  B.  John- 
ston traces  the  pedigree  of  the  Pioneer  Press,  and  shows  that 
nineteen  daily  and  weekly  newspapers  were  first  and  last 
absorbed  into  its  ravenous  organism. 

The  Pioneer  had  been  a  Democratic  paper,  and  the  Press 
had  been  Republican.  It  seemed  to  be  both  logical  and  prudent 
that  the  consolidated  sheet  should  be  independent.  But  its 
new  owners  were  too  sincerely  attached  to  their  party  prin- 
ciples, and  had  too  long  held  front  seats  in  the  party  councils, 
to  refrain  permanently  from  partisan  and  even  factional  in- 
terposition. Within  two  years  the  Pioneer  Press  was  as  solic- 
itous for  Republican  nominations  as  the  familiar  Press  had 
been  for  fifteen  years  preceding. 

In  the  interim  of  attempted  neutrality,  however,  the  Re- 
publicans of  the  state,  feeling  lost  without  an  ''organ"  at  the 
capital,  which  was  then  deemed  essential  to  the  maintenance 
of  party  ascendancy,  purchased  from  H.  P.  Hall  the  Demo- 
cratic St.  Paul  Evening  Dispatch,  and  transformed  it  into  an 
exponent  of  unconditional  Republicanism.  Thenceforward  for 
ten  years  the  Dispatch  was  mostly  under  the  editorial  control 
of  the  writer  hereof.  During  that  period  and  long  afterward 
the  Dispatch  at  least  shared  equally  with  the  Pioneer  Press 
the  honors  of  a  consistent  advocacy  of  Republican  principles, 
and  of  choosing  the  winners  among  Republican  candidates 
for  nominations, — in  the  latter  performance  the  two  papers 
being  invariably  on  opposite  sides. 

After  1875  Mr.  Driscoll 's  aggressive  personal  leadership  in 
political  contests  had  measurably  ceased.    In  1879  he  led  a  sue- 


698  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

cessful  campaign  for  Governor  Pillsbury's  third  term  nomina- 
tion; in  1881  he  tried  to  rehabilitate  Alexander  Ramsey  as  a 
senatorial  candidate,  but  failed;  the  same  year  he  supported 
Governor  Pillsbury's  unsuccessful  candidacy  for  a  fourth 
term;  in  1883  he  was  prominent  in  the  movement  to  re-elect 
Senator  Windom,  vrho  was  defeated.  In  these  struggles  he 
was  of  course  supported  by  the  Pioneer  Press,  which  was  an- 
tagonized by  the  Dispatch  and  by  ninety  per  cent  of  the  Repub- 
lican country  papers  throughout  the  state.  The  scepter  had 
departed. 

As  a  result  of  these  and  other  episodes,  the  Pioneer  Press 
and  its  conductors  gradually  lost  in  political  prestige.  But 
in  the  legitimate  newspaper  field,  in  news  gathering,  in  the 
intelligent  presentation  and  discussion  of  important  events, 
in  expanding  circulation  and  increasingly  profitable  advertis- 
ing patronage,  the  enterprising  journal  went  on  conquering 
and  to  conquer.  As  always,  Frederick  DriscoU  guided  its 
financial  destinies.  His  eye  was  on  every  detail  of  its  compli- 
cated business,  and  that  of  the  manufacturing  and  mercantile 
branches  he  had  built  up  around  it,  the  printing,  binding  and 
lithographing  establishment,  the  wholesale  paper  and  station- 
ery trade,  and  the  ready-print  auxiliary,  each  an  industry  in 
itself. 

.  Yet  amid  all  the  exacting  demands  of  this,  the  busiest  time 
of  his  busy  life,  he  always  found  leisure  for  cheerful  participa- 
tion in  matters  relating  to  the  public  welfare.  In  this  capacity 
he  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  useful  men  our  city  and 
state  have  ever  known.  The  real  value  of  his  truly  unselfish 
service  cannot  be  overestimated.  He  was  the  cultured  man, 
the  gentleman,  in  the  highest  meaning  of  those  expressions.. 
Yet  his  was  a  militant  soul.  He  was  not  merely  a  good  man 
negatively;  he  went  out  and  fought  for  the  faith  that  was  in 
him. 

His  interest  in  everything  that  pertained  to  business  ex- 
tensions, municipal  policies,  and  official  responsibilities,  made 
him  a  leader  among  the  men  who  were  shaping  the  evolution 
of  our  ambitious  and  struggling  young  city.  Every  step  in 
St.  Paul's  advance  had  to  be  worked  and  fought  for  against 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLL.  699 

vigorous  rivalry.  No  more  zealous  worker  or  more  chivalrous 
fighter  than  Frederick  DriscoU  contributed  to  the  ultimate 
victory. 

One  of  the  chief  instrumentalities  through  which  the  un- 
failing public  spirit  of  Mr.  Driscoll  was  manifested  was  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Saint  Paul  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
During  thirty-five  strenuous  years  this  organization  had  an 
influential  part  in  shaping  the  policies  which  built  up  the 
metropolis  out  of  a  struggling  trading  post.  During  that  pe- 
riod, I  sat  with  him  in  that  body,  composed  of  about  fifty  active 
citizens  in  professional  and  business  lines,  who  met  at  nine 
o'clock  every  Monday  morning  to  discuss  and  act  on  measures 
of  general  interest.  Thus  I  witnessed  his  intelligent  zeal  for 
the  public  good,  saw  the  results  of  his  arduous  labors  on  many 
committees,  learned  to  recognize  and  admire  his  self-reliant 
leadership  at  critical  crises  in  our  municipal  annals.  In  1890, 
at  one  of  its  most  strenuous  epochs,  he  served  as  president  of 
this  powerful  organization. 

Among  the  numerous  important  matters  in  which  he  thus 
exercised  a  potent  influence,  were  the  extension  of  early  rail- 
road systems  and  the  location  of  their  shops  and  headquarters ; 
securing  manufacturing  and  commercial  establishments;  build- 
ing two  State  Capitols,  the  Court  House,  the  Federal  Buildings, 
depots  and  hotels;  locating  schools,  colleges,  parks,  bridges, 
and  street  car  lines;  regulating  taxation  and  bond  issues; 
establishing  water  works ;  encouraging  immigration ;  and  pro- 
moting all  enterprises  that  promised  benefits  to  the  peopled 
Scarciely  one  of  these  failed  to  receive  the  special  impress  of  his 
good  sense  and  untiring  effort. 

A  typical  instance  of  Mr.  Driscoll 's  single-hearted  devotion 
to  his  conception  of  civic  duty  occurred  in  1890.  In  that  year 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  appointed  a  committee  on  the  Cen- 
sus, instructed  to  stimulate,  by  legitimate  means,  the  federal 
authorities  in  securing  a  full  and  fair  enumeration  of  this 
city.  The  committee  consisted  of  Frederick  Driscoll,  Charles 
Nichols,  and  the  writer  hereof.  It  was  a  period  of  intense  ri- 
valry between  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  and  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  our  committee  the  acting  mayor  of  this  city,  Mr.  0.  0. 


-^00  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Cullen,  employed  skillful  detectives  to  watch  the  census  opera- 
tions of  our  aggressive  twin.  Unmistakable  evidence  was  se- 
cured that  systematic  methods  for  improperly  swelling  the 
population  rolls  were  being  employed  there.  Advised  of  this, 
the  St.  Paul  census  committee  made  complaint  to  the  census 
bureau  at  Washington,  which,  on  investigation,  found  that  a 
flagrant  violation  of  law  was  being  perpetrated.  Warrants 
were  sworn  out;  the  two  managing  agents  of  the  conspiracy 
were  arrested ;  a  wagonload  of  incriminating  fraudulent  sched- 
ules was  secured,  and  the  scheme  by  which  it  was  proposed  to 
add  50,000  names  to  the  lists  was  thwarted. 

A  stupendous  explosion  of  local  indignation  promptly  en- 
sued. The  honest  people  of  Minneapolis,  innocent,  and  igno- 
rant of  the  work  in  which  a  few  of  their  unscrupulous  leaders 
had  been  secretly  engaged,  denounced  the  seeming  outrage  of 
the  proceedings  taken  in  St.  Paul,  and  blazed  forth  in  fierce 
wrath  against  those  responsible  for  it.  Well  to  the  front  among 
those  who  were  thus  marked  for  vengeance  was  Frederick 
Driscoll.  He  had  most  to  lose,  but  he  did  not  shirk  nor  quail. 
The  Pioneer  Press  had  then  a  large  daily  circulation  and  a 
profitable  advertising  patronage  in  Minneapolis,  which  was  lost 
in  a  day  and  was  never  afterwards  regained.  But  Mr.  Driscoll 
and  Mr.  Wheelock  and  their  paper  stood  by  their  guns  at  the 
cost  of  many  thousands  of  dollars,  and  of  a  journalistic  "dual 
city"  prestige  which  had  been  their  joy  and  pride. 

They  were  sustained  by  St.  Paul  sentiment.  The  movement 
resulted  in  a  fair  count  in  both  cities.  The  arrested  criminals 
were  indicted,  pleaded  guilty,  and  were  punished  by  heavy 
fines,  thus  vindicating  the  proceedings  taken  and  those  con- 
cerned in  them.  But  the  pecuniary  loss  suffered  by  the  paper 
and  its  owners  was,  of  course,  never  recompensed.  It  was  a 
deliberate  sacrifice  to  the  obligations  of  good  citizenship,  as 
understood  by  those  who  made  it. 

Another  manifestation  of  Mr.  Driscoll's  progressive  public 
spirit  was  seen  in  the  fine  buildings  he  caused  to  be  erected  in 
St.  Paul,  and  in  his  participation  in  the  development  of  subur- 
ban property.  When  I  first  met  him,  the  Press  office  was  a 
dilapitated  half-subterranean  structure  at  the  Wabasha  street 


E'tlEDEftlCK  DRlSCOLL.  701 


^B  bridge.    In  1869  he  built  a  new  and,  for  the  time,  elegant  stone 

|H  building  at  Third  and  Minnesota  streets.    Five  years  later,  this 

^K  being  outgrown,  its  capacity  was  increased  fourfold  by  addi- 

^K  tions  to  its  length,  breadth,  and  height.    About  1888,  he  built 

^K  the  magnificent  Pioneer  Press  Building  at  Fourth  and  Robert 

^B  streets.    He  scrutinized  every  feature  of  its  construction  with 

^H  careful  attention.    After  more  than  twenty  years  it  still  remains 

^^H  the  finest  structure  in  the  city,  a  monument  to  his  far-reaching 

'^V  enterprise.    Now  that  the  newspaper  plant  has  been  removed, 

^f  it  ought  to  be  rechristened  ' '  The  Driscoll  Block, "  as  a  tangible 

and  enduring  tribute  to  his  memory.  On  Summit  avenue,  he 
built  one  of  the  most  sumptuous  of  its  stately  homes,  that  now 
occupied  by  Mr.  Frederick  Weyerhaeuser.  He  was  the  leader 
in  building  up  a  prosperous  manufacturing  suburb  at  North 
St.  Paul,  an  undertaking  in  advance  of  the  demands  of  the 
time,  and  of  no  pecuniary  profit  to  himself  or  his  associates, 
but  now  partially  recognized  as  a  valuable  tributary  to  the  city. 
A  crucial  test  of  individual  merit  is  the  estimation  with 
which  one  is  held  by  those  in  long  and  near  association  with 
him  as  subordinates  and  employees.  On  the  whole,  several 
thousands  of  persons  were  employed  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  allied  concerns  managed  by  Mr.  Driscoll,  and  few 
indeed  will  be  found  that  did  not  see  in  him  a  helper  and  a 
friend.  In  the  best  newspaper  offices  of  the  country,  in  banks 
and  counting  rooms,  from  ocean  to  ocean,  will  be  found  success- 
ful men  who  are  earnest  in  their  ascriptions  of  praise  for  the 
training  they  received  at  his  hand.  In  the  higher  ranks  of  the 
writers  attached  to  his  editorial  staff  at  different  periods  were 
such  strong  and  able  men  as  Louis  E.  Fisher,  Charles  Yale, 
Harlan  P.  Hall,  David  Blakeley,  James  H.  Davidson,  Paul 
Selby,  F.  A.  Carle,  J.  O.  Pyle,  Conde  Hamlin,  W.  C.  Handy, 
and  others  equally  notable,  each  abundantly  equipped  for  inde- 
pendent service,  but  all  paying  to  their  one-time  employer  the 
homage  of  their  respect  and  esteem. 

Owing  to  mutations  of  fortune  caused  by  conditions  which 
he  could  not  foresee,  and  for  which  he  was  in  no  way  respon- 
sible, Mr.  Driscoll  surrendered  the  management  of  the  Pioneer 


702  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Press  corporation  on  December  1,  1899,  after  a  continuous  serv- 
ice of  more  than  thirty-six  years. 

The  momentum  given  to  its  varied  business  operations  by 
his  masterly  supervision  was  so  powerful  that  all  have  been 
maintained  unimpaired  to  this  day.  During  the  intervening 
eleven  years,  the  newspaper  has  passed  to  the  ownership  of 
Mr.  George  Thompson,  Proprietor  of  the  Dispatch,  both  jour- 
nals retaining  their  old  names  and  their  individuality  as  to 
hours  of  publication,  etc. ;  the  Newspaper  Union  ready  print 
department  has  become  a  separate  institution;  the  manufac- 
turing and  commercial  branch  has  organized  into  the  Pioneer 
Printing  Company,  with  Mr.  Walter  J.  Driscoll  as  its  president ; 
the  superb  office  building  is  now  under  distinct  proprietorship 
and  control.  Thus  the  great  enterprise  built  up  by  Frederick 
Driscoll  has  been  segregated  into  at  least  four  flourishing  estab- 
lishments, each  requiring  unremitting  diligence  and  exceptional 
managerial  skill. 

At  the  age  of  sixty-six,  two  years  beyond  the  supposed 
limit  of  efficiency  in  officers  of  the  army,  he  laid  down  the  spe- 
cial burden  he  had  carried  for  a  generation,  but  he  did  not  re- 
tire. On  the  contrary,  he  entered  on  a  new  career,  which  led 
him  into  even  higher,  wider  ranges  of  endeavor  than  those  in 
which  he  had  previously  toiled  and  triumphed. 

He  had  already  become  a  national  figure  in  lines  connected 
with  practical  journalism.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Associated  Press,  the  universal  news-gathering  agency  of  the 
country.  In  1881  he  became  one  of  its  directors,  and  for  ten 
years  served  on  the  Executive  Committee  of  three,  which  gov- 
erned its  affairs.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association, 
embracing  the  dailies  of  all  the  principal  cities.  In  1891  he 
was  chosen  chairman  of  a  special  committee  of  this  body  to  ex- 
amine the  merits  and  possibilities  of  type-setting  machines,  then 
regarded  with  suspicion  by  publishers  and  with  open  hostility 
by  printers.  After  patient  and  thorough  investigation  this 
committee  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  new  invention  in 
newspaper  offices,  thus  revolutionizing  the  business,  making 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLL.  703 

the  cheap  newspaper  possible,  and  vastly  extending  the  facili- 
ties for  the  diffusion  of  human  knowledge. 

Thus  prominently  identified  with  the  leading  publishing 
interests  by  long  association,  his  colleagues  at  once  availed 
themselves  of  the  opportunity,  when  he  left  the  Pioneer  Press, 
to  enlist  his  services  in  a  very  important  capacity,  for  which 
he  was  known  to  possess  rare  qualifications.  A  national  board 
of  arbitration  was  created.  It  was  composed  of  the  special 
standing  committee  of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers 
Association  and  the  executive  council  of  the  International  Typo- 
graphical Union.  Of  this  national  board  Frederick  DriscoU 
was  early  in  1900  made  Commissioner  of  Arbitration,  with  wide 
discretionary  authority  and  a  liberal  provision  as  to  salary 
and  expenses. 

The  duties  of  this  position  covered  the  adjustment  of  all 
controversies  betwen  publishers  and  printers.  They  were  com- 
plicated and  exacting,  involving  the  weariness  of  long  jour- 
neys across  the  continent,  the  strain  of  settling  acrimonious 
disputes,  and  the  labor  of  framing  agreements  between  the  par- 
ties thereto.  His  long  experience  as  a  publisher,  his  firm  but 
conciliatory  and  diplomatic  methods,  enabled  him  to  handle 
questions  of  extreme  delicacy,  in  which  large  money  consider- 
ations were  at  stake,  as  well  as  pride  of  opinion  and  issues 
seemingly  irreconcilable  between  labor  and  capital.  He  was 
implicitly  trusted,  from  the  beginning,  by  the  publishers,  and 
soon  grew  to  be  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  the  labor  unions. 
Ever  insisting  on  justice,  his  conduct  was  so  eminently  fair  and 
his  manner  so  persuasive  that  he  effected  a  complete  adjust- 
ment in  every  case  submitted  to  his  arbitrament, — a  record  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  trade  contentions.  He  assuredly 
earned  in  this  life,  and  has  received  in  the  life  beyond,  the 
blessing  promised  to  the  Peacemakers. 

He  was  a  pioneer  in  the  movement  for  better  relations  be- 
tween employer  and  employed.  He  had  no  precedents  to  guide 
him.  He  was  obliged  to  blaze  his  way  through  a  forest  of  tan- 
gled prejudices  and  animosities,  arrogant  defiance  on  one  side, 
and  sullen  contumacy  on  the  other.  These  had  brought  strikes 
and  lockouts,  sometimes  riots,  always  costly  to  both  parties, 


704  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

demoralizing  the  community  and  paralyzing  its  productive  in- 
dustries. 

Various  remedies  had  been  tried,  all  of  which  had  failed. 
Finally  the  publishers  and  printers  decided  to  seek  relief  in  a 
policy  of  concilation  and  arbitration.  As  a  motto  they  might 
have  combined  the  phrases  of  two  eminent  Union  commanders : 
"War  is  hell— let  us  have  peace!"  Providentially  they  found 
Frederick  Driscoll  competent  and  willing,  and  with  leisure  to 
inaugurate  the  experiment.  Organized  labor  and  the  associated 
employers  of  labor  saw  in  him  a  mutual  friend.  Expert,  just, 
patient,  persistent,  and  ever  kindly,  he  always  found  in  the  end 
a  common  ground  of  fairness  on  which  all  could  meet  and  frame 
a  satisfactory  agreement  for  their  future  guidance. 

He  gave  himself  to  this  fruitful  mission,  with  ever  increas- 
ing capacity  for  good,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  How 
fully  he  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  duty  assigned  him,  is 
most  conclusively  shown  by  the  voluntary  tributes  transmitted 
to  his  family,  after  his  decease,  by  the  national  jurisdiction 
best  qualified  to  appreciate  his  work. 

A  memorial  brochure,  beautifully  engrossed  and  bound,  con- 
tains Resolutions  adopted  and  signed  by  the  National  Board 
of  Arbitration,  including  James  M.  Lynch,  Hugo  Miller,  and 
J.  W.  Bramwood,  representing  the  International  Typographical 
Union,  which  read: 

"Whereas,  death  has  summoned  from  among  us  Frederick  Dris- 
coll, Commissioner  of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers  Associa- 
tion, and  Whereas,  the  members  of  this  National  Board  of  Arbitra- 
tion desire  to  bear  witness  to  their  very  high  appreciation  of  his  valued 
services  to  the  Publishers  as  well  as  to  the  International  Typographical 
Union,  to  his  fair-mindedness  and  unceasing  efforts  to  promote  the 
mutual  interests  of  employers  and  employees,  and  to  his  many  esti- 
mable and  lovable  qualities  as  a  man;  Therefore,  Be  it  Resolved,  that 
the  members  of  this  board  feel  that  in  Frederick  Driscoll's  death  they 
have  lost  a  distinguished  associate  and  a  warm  personal  friend." 

An  equally  sumptuous  volume,  suitably  embellished,  con- 
tains the  Memorial  to  Mr.  Driscoll  from  the  Publishers'  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York  City,  adopted  March  27,  1907. 

It  is  signed  by  the  publishers  of  the  New  York  Times,  the 
Tribune,  the  Sun,  the  American,  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  the 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLL. 


705 


World,  the  Evening  Post,  the  Staats-Zeitung,  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle,  etc.,  and  is  of  similar  tenor.  These  two  testimonials 
constitute  a  significant  and  conclusive  tribute  to  his  exalted 
worth.    They  will  be  a  precious  heirloom  for  his  descendants. 

Innumerable  editorial  tributes  to  his  memory  from  the  press 
of  the  United  States  testified  to  the  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held  by  associates  of  all  parties  and  in  every  section.  In  these 
conspicuous  mention  was  made  of  the  beneficial  results  accom- 
plished by  the  Arbitration  Commissioner  during  his  seven 
years'  arduous  service. 

The  distinguished  success  of  Mr.  DriscoU  in  this  new  field, 
of  adjusting  the  relations  between  employers  and  employees, 
led  to  its  adoption  in  other  branches  of  industry,  and  the  pro- 
cess of  extending  the  policy  of  arbitration  is  still  going  on. 
Comments  at  a  meeting  of  another  national  body,  which  has 
entered  upon  the  same  course  are  as  follows: 

"Plans  for  the  elimination  of  strife  are  not  only  going  to  meet 
with  the  approval  of  trade  unionists,  but  are  going  to  be  sanctioned 
by  the  general  public,  who  are  anxiously  awaiting  the  evolution  of 
things,  so  that  warfare  between  employers  and  employees  may  be 
averted.  In  the  struggle  for  supremacy  between  organized  capital  and 
organized  labor,  there  are  three  great  forces  at  work.  At  one  extreme 
there  are  those  who  say  that  trades  unions  are  un-American  and  a 
menace  to  our  Republic.  To  bring  about  their  annihilation  they  ac- 
cumulate corruption  funds,  maintain  lobbies,  hire  strike-breakers,  and 
through  court  proceedings  try  to  tie  up  the  funds  of  the  Unions.  At 
the  other  extreme  we  have  the  radicals  who  declare  that  wage-slavery 
must  be  abolished,  and  that  only  through  publicly  owned  monopolies 
is  industrial  peace  possible.  Between  these  two  extremes  lies  the 
Arbitration  idea.  Its  guiding  principle  is  the  making  of  collective 
instead  of  individual  contracts,  and  the  adjustment  of  points  of  dis- 
pute by  arbitration.  Our  plan  of  action  is  to  form  a  coalition  with  the 
unions  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  peace.  It  is  understood  that  the 
exigencies  of  the  business  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  so  that 
the  customer  may  be  treated  with  fairness  and  not  have  to  pay  the 
onerous  expenses  of  strikes  and  lockouts." 

Wherever  tried  in  good  faith  this  policy  is  said  to  be  ef- 
fective for  the  object  intended.  Peace  is  promoted  with  profit 
to  both  sides  and  to  the  general  public.  Thus  the  results  of  the 
culminating  exploit  of  Frederick  Driscoll  are  spreading  in  great 
waves  of  benignity  over  the  land.    If  the  permai;ent  meliora- 


706  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

tions  that  are  now  reasonably  expected  shall  be  compassed,  he 
will  be  conceded  high  rank  among  the  nation's  benefactors. 

Mr.  Driscoll's  engagements  as  Commissioner  of  Arbitration 
required  the  establishment  of  his.  headquarters  in  Chicago,  and 
he  removed  from  St.  Paul  to  that  city  in  1900.  Thereafter  he 
was  obliged  to  travel  almost  continuously  in  the  performance 
of  his  duties.  A  naturally  robust  physical  constitution,  forti- 
fied by  the  good  habits  of  a  lifetime,  had  kept  his  general  health 
sound;  but  an  organic  trouble,  requiring,  in  the  aggregate, 
seven  severe  surgical  operations,  sapped  his  vitality  by  degrees 
and  led  to  almost  ceaseless  suffering.  In  spite  of  these  afflic- 
tions he  went  on  with  his  work  for  seven  years,  heroically  bat- 
tling to  the  last  with  bodily  tortures  that  would  have  baffled 
any  but  an  unconquerable  will. 

Finally,  in  March,  1907,  he  felt  unequal  to  further  service 
as  Commissioner,  and  tendered  his  resignation  to  the  Arbitra- 
tion Board.  He  was  urged  to  accept  an  unlimited  sick-leave, 
with  continued  salary  and  provision  for  the  expenses  of  a  trip 
to  Europe  in  search  of  relief.  This  striking  proof  of  apprecia- 
tion touched  him  very  deeply,  but  its  suggested  advantages 
could  not  be  realized.  He  gradually  failed,  and  on  March  23, 
1907,  he  passed  peacefully  away  at  his  home  in  Chicago.  Only 
two  weeks  before  his  death  he  had  rendered  valuable  assist- 
ance, by  wise  counsel,  in  the  settlement  of  a  labor  disagree- 
ment. He  thus  died,  literally  and  appropriately,  with  his  armor 
on,  after  an  extended  career  of  activity  and  usefulness  and 
honor. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  in  Saint  Paul,  March  26, 
1907, and  were  conducted  by  Dr.  Henry  C.  Swearingen,  pastor  of 
the  House  of  Hope  Church.  The  pallbearers  were  W.  J.  Dean, 
E.  L.  Shepley,  Webster  Wheelock,  Conde  Hamlin,  J.  D.  Arm- 
strong, and  Dr.  Archibald  McLaren.  The  interment  was  at 
Oakland  cemetery. 

He  rests  in  peace.  He  had  kept  the  faith.  He  had  lanced 
a  festering  abscess  in  the  body  politic  and  applied  healing  lo- 
tions. He  had  stretched  fresh  wires  into  the  domain  of  indus- 
trial economics  and  electrified  them  with  his  soul. 


FREDERICK  DRISCOLK  767 

Mrs.  Ann  Brown  Driscoll  died  March  31,  1880,  leaving  three 
sons.  On  November  8,  1882,  Mr.  Driscoll  was  married  in  New 
York  City  to  Mrs.  Lucy  Norris  Styles  of  St.  Paul,  who  shared 
his  successes  and  labors  for  twenty-five  years.  Mrs.  Driscoll 
now  resides  in  this  city.  There  also  survived  him,  his  sons, 
Frederick  Driscoll,  Jr.,  Arthur  B.  Driscoll,  and  Walter  J.  Dris- 
coll ;  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Robert  H.  Kirk ;  and  his  step-son,  John 
N.  Jackson. 

In  regard  to  the  personal  character  of  Mr.  Driscoll,  I  speak 
from  the  fullness  of  knowledge  and  appreciation  bom  of  forty 
years*  intimate  acquaintance.  In  politics  we  were  sometimes 
in  relations  of  affiliation,  but  often  in  those  of  intense  antago- 
nism; in  business  life  we  were  at  times  in  keen  rivalry,  yet 
more  frequently  in  close  and  harmonious  association.  But  we 
were  always  personal  friends,  and  all  my  recollections  of  him 
are  illuminated  by  the  sincere  respect  which  flows  from  an 
abiding  friendship  and  affection.  My  sentiment  is  one  of  de- 
votion to  his  memory,  inspiring  a  desire  to  record  some  of  his 
titles  to  grateful  remembrance.  It  is  my  hope  that  the  Min- 
nesotans  of  today  and  of  the  future  may  keep,  around  the 
spot  where  he  sleeps,  the  vigils  of  their  heartfelt  gratitude, 
evincing  the  same  constancy  and  fidelity  with  which  he  gave 
his  best  endowments  to  their  service. 

In  his  private  life  Mr.  Driscoll  was,  from  boyhood  and  in 
all  relations,  an  exemplar  of  correct  morals  and  earnest  re- 
ligious convictions.  He  stood  for  what  is  best  in  framing  the 
elements  of  our  Christian  civilization,  the  hope  of  the  country, 
the  light  of  the  world.  He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the 
House  of  Hope  Presbyterian  Church  of  St.  Paul,  and  was  a 
leader  of  the  choir  in  its  early  days.  He  served  for  many  years 
on  its  board  of  trustees,  and  was  always  a  generous  contributor 
to  its  denominational  and  benevolent  agencies.  By  precept  and 
example  he  lent  encouragement  to  every  judicious  effort  for 
the  regeneration  of  society  and  the  uplift  of  the  race. 

In  social  circles  his  genial  manners,  added  to  his  fine  con- 
versational powers,  brought  to  him  many  sincere  and  trusting 
friends.  When  recreation  for  a  season  drew  him  aside  from 
his  arduous  labors,  it  was  with  the  most  lively  satisfaction  and 


708 


MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


pleasure  that  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  full  measure  of  social 
enjoyment;  his  conversation  sparkled  with  wit  and  humor;  his 
manner,  winning  with  a  fine  civility,  was  frank,  tender,  and 
trusting.  In  fraternal  societies  he  was  prominent  and  popular. 
He  was  a  Mason  of  the  thirty-fourth  degree,  and  fulfilled  all 
obligations  faithfully.  He  was  the  incarnation  of  uncondi- 
tional loyalty,— loyalty  to  his  country,  his  home,  and  his 
friends.    He  was  chivalrous  to  women,  and  little  children  loved 

him. 

In  his  ideal  home  life  the  amiable  elements  of  his  character 
were  most  pleasingly  manifested.  Those  permitted  even  casual 
observations  of  that  life  were  always  impressed  with  its  beau- 
tiful, affectionate  simplicity.  Methodical  in  business,  even 
abrupt  and  emphatic  at  times,  he  was  always  in  his  home  the 
devoted,  thoughtful,  considerate  husband  and  father.  His  ten- 
der solicitude  for  the  comfort  of  an  invalid  wife  during  sev- 
eral of  the  most  toilsome,  perplexing  years  in  the  prime  of  his 
manhood,  was  a  revelation  of  his  inmost  soul  that  commanded 
the  enduring  regard  of  all  who  witnessed  it. 

He  was  a  courageous  man,  having  the  courage  of  his  opin- 
ions. No  hope  of  temporary  advantage  could  ever  tempt  him, 
no  flattery  could  cause  him  to  swerve  from  his  view  of  the 
right.  Steadfast  in  the  convictions  of  a  well-matured,  well- 
balanced  mind,  he  stood  firm  in  his  position,  and  hence  he  was 
a  wise  counsellor,  and  a  true  friend.  He  could  say  No!  and 
mean  it,  and  stand  by  it.  Thus  accoutred,  he  went  forward, 
taking  no  counsel  of  doubts  or  fears.  In  the  corrupted  cur- 
rents of  the  time  Frederick  Driscoll  was  incorruptible.  In  the 
thick  of  the  fray  he  played  the  part  of  a  man. 

Mr.  Driscoll  had  m^ny  of  the  true  elements  of  greatness. 
He  was  manifestly  something  more  than  a  fortunate  man. 
What  there  was  of  greatness  in  his  personality  or  his  career  is 
due  not  alone  to  good  fortune,  but  to  a  blend  of  certain  in- 
herent qualities,  the  qualities  of  honesty,  generosity,  firmness, 
and  patriotism. 

Exceptional  faculties  of  perception,  reception,  and  reten- 
tion, joined  to  untiring  industry, — these  constitute  real  great- 
ness, and,  given  or  making  opportunity,  achieve  distinguished 


FREDERICK  DRISCOI.L.  709 


r  success.  Measured  by  the  most  exacting  standards,  Mr.  Dris- 
coU  was  a  successful  man.  It  was  not  a  success  acquired  by 
fortunate  accident,  nor  by  any  sensational  exploit,  nor  by  the 
manipulations  of  frenzied  finance.  It  was  that  which  results 
from  patient  industry,  careful  thought,  unceasing  persistence, 
and  a  wonderful  faculty  for  securing  loyal  service  from  em- 
ployees. One  may  pardonably  felicitate  himself  on  being  hon- 
ored with  the  confidence  of  such  a  man. 
For  nearly  forty  years  he  was  the  controlling  genius  of  a 
great  newspaper  plant,  as  well  as  of  an  extensive  manufactur- 
ing establishment,  and,  latterly,  of  commercial  adjuncts,  all 
managed  by  one  corporation  of  which  he  was  the  head.  He  did 
not  inherit  this  property;  he  did  not  acquire  it  by  doubtful 
means,  or  even  purchase  it  ready  made.  He  created  it.  He 
built  it  up  and  he  grew  with  it,  grasping  and  wielding  its  enor- 
mous influences,  mastering  its  innumerable  details,  until,  in  all 
its  business  aspects  at  least,  his  name  and  that  of  the  publica- 
tion with  its  auxiliaries  became  interchangeable  terms, — all  the 
activities  of  the  corporation  were  vitalized  with  his  individu- 
ality. 

What  sturdy  development  a  man 's  nature  may  receive  from 
a  long  period  of  sustained  service  at  the  head  of  a  great  indus- 
trial enterprise,  has  been  copiously  observed  in  this  era  of  mar- 
velous expansion.  The  industrial  manager  entertains  no  prej- 
udices and  plays  no  favorite.  He  never  indulges  in  malicious 
animal  dogmatism.  He  knows  that  success  depends  on  pre- 
serving an  absolutely  open  mind.  His  constant  incentive  is  effi- 
ciency, and  yet  more  efficiency.  He  knows  that  he  is  operating 
in  a  realm  where  brains  are  daily  subjected  to  the  polishing  of 
the  fiercest  competition  known  to  man. 

Frederick  Driscoll's  career,  with  its  share  of  trials  and  re- 
verses, was  a  success.  It  is  full  of  good  example,  and  of  noble 
encouragement  to  the  young  men  of  today.  He  took  the  buffet- 
ing of  ill  fortune  with  fortitude,  and  accepted  good  fortune 
gratefully,  but  without  false  pride.  Born  and  reared  with  no 
wealth,  with  no  inherited  prestige  to  rest  upon,  alone  with  his 
own  great  mind  and  energies,  he  became  one  of  the  notable 
men  of  a  notable  era  in  this  wonderful  new  Northwest. 


710  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

He  was  easily  one  of  the  foremost  in  the  front  rank  of  his 
contemporaries.  He  left  the  indelible  impress  of  his  excep- 
tional talents,  his  tireless  industry,  and  his  inflexible  integrity, 
on  many  features  of  the  advancement  of  this  city,  of  this  State, 
and  of  the  embryo  communities  beyond  our  Western  border, 
which  for  three  decades  looked  to  this  center  as  a  source  of  in- 
formation, of  political  guidance,  of  commercial  and  financial 
tutelege. 

And  perhaps  his  last  days  were  his  best  days.  Having 
served  faithfully  in  diverse  fields  of  local  effort,  with  wide  radia- 
tions of  beneficent  influence,  he  was,  at  an  age  which  entitled 
him  to  retirement  and  rest,  transferred  to  spheres  of  national 
achievement,  yielding  distinction  it  is  the  privilege  of  few  to 
win. 

He  did  not  retire,  and  he  did  not  rest.  Well  past  three 
score  years  and  ten,  his  untiring  energies  still  consecrated  to 
good  works,  he  fell,  at  last,  a  mailed  warrior  of  the  Empire  of 
Peace  and  Civilization,  ''rich  in  honor  and  glorious  with 
praise." 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XVII. 


GENERAL  JAMES  SHIELDS, 

Soldier,  Orator,  States-man.* 


BY  HENRY  A.  CASTLE. 


James  Shields  was  born  in  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  May  12, 
1806.  Many  authorities  place  this  date  four  years  later,  but  the 
original  family  records,  now  in  the  hands  of  St.  Paul  relatives, 
confirm  much  collateral  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  this 
statement.  He  was  of  notable  ancestry.  In  the  paternal  line 
it  was  distinctly  Irish  and  Catholic,  but  a  great-grandmother 
was  English,  and  his  mother  was  Scottish.  For  generations  the 
Shields  family  were  people  of  property,  education,  and  consid- 
eration, living  at  Cranfield,  County  Antrim,  Province  of  Ulster. 
At  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  in  1690,  Daniel  Shields  and  four 
sons  fought  on  the  losing  side,  that  of  King  James  II.  There 
the  father  and  one  son  were  killed.  Two  of  the  surviving  sons 
went  to  Spain,  where  one  of  them  became  a  general  and  finally 
Captain  General  of  Cuba.  Daniel,  the  youngest  son,  remained  in 
Ireland,  but  suffered  from  the  confiscations  and  banishment 
visited  on  the  Catholic  soldiers  of  the  dethroned  king  by  Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  the  victor. 

This  Daniel  married  an  English  girl,  whom  he  had  roman- 
tically rescued  from  drowning,  and  settled  on  mountain  land 
at  Altmore,  County  Tyrone.  He  was  the  direct  ancestor  of  the 
future  American  general  and  senator.  Charles  Shields,  a  grand- 
son of  Daniel,  married  Katherine  McDonnell,  of  Glencoe,  Scot- 
land, lineage,  a  woman  of  education  and  refinement.  To  them 
were  born  James,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  Daniel,  and  Pat- 
rick, who  thus  inherited  an  infusion  of  the  Scotch-Irish  blood 
which  has  been  manifest  in  many  distinguished  Americans. 
Daniel  was  the  father  of  Lytton  E.  Shields  and  the  grandfather 
of  James  Shields  and  Lytton  J.  Shields,  all  of  whom  have  long 
resided  in  Saint  Paul. 


•Read   at   the  monthly   meeting   of   the   Executive  Council,   April    13, 


712  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Charles  Shields  died  when  his  son  James  was  only  six  years 
old,  but  the  mother,  with  her  Scottish  industry  and  thrift,  raised 
her  three  boys  well,  giving  them  the  best  of  existing  educational 
facilities.  James  received  some  special  attention,  having  early 
developed  a  taste  for  books  which  remained  with  him  during 
his  long  and  active  career,  and  which  was  of  great  value  in  fit- 
ting him  for  the  high  positions  that  he  occupied.  Soon  after 
his  father 's  death,  his  uncle  and  namesake  came  from  America, 
where  he  had  lived  for  many  years.  The  elder  James  had 
fought  in  the  War  for  Independence,  and  in  the  War  of  1812, 
on  the  American  side,  having  been  wounded  in  the  Battle  of 
New  Orleans.  He  remained  in  Ireland  for  a  few  years,  during 
which  time  he  acted  as  schoolmaster  to  young  James  and  laid 
the  foundation  for  his  military  bent.  This  uncle  had  been  pro- 
fessor of  Latin  and  Greek  in  Charleston,  S.  C.  The  boy  made 
rapid  progress,  and  the  uncle  promised  that  when  he  grew 
older  he  would  bring  him  to  America  and  make  him  his  heir. 
At  that  period  also  Ireland  was  full  of  old  soldiers  who  had 
served  in  the  British  army  in  long  campaigns  against  Bona- 
parte. From  one  of  these  young  Shields  learned  fencing  or 
sword  exercise  and  became  expert  in  that  line.  His  early  les- 
sons in  the  military  drill  were  from  the  same  source,  and  the 
rudiments  of  a  military  education  were  acquired  from  books 
presented  to  him  by  one  of  these  veterans.  Supplementing  the 
education  received  from  his  uncle,  was  a  classical  training  from 
a  relative  of  his  mother,  a  clergyman  from  Maynooth  College. 
One  of  the  old  soldiers  also  taught  him  French,  so  that  when 
he  migrated  to  America  he  was  unusually  well  educated  for  a 
boy  of  that  period. 

Young  Shields  was  a  soldier  by  instinct.  He  drilled  his 
school  mates  and  led  them  in  local  battles  with  opposing  clans. 
His  shrewd  devices,  bold  strategies,  and  firm  discipline,  made 
his  force  invincible. 

In  1822,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  James  Shields,  mindful  of  his 
uncle 's  alluring  offer,  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  America.  But 
vicissitudes  followed  him.  His  ship  was  driven  a  wreck  on  the 
coast  of  Scotland,  and  he  was  one  of  only  three  survivors.  He 
remained  several  months  in  Scotland  as  tutor  in  a  wealthy 


GENERAL   JAMES    SHIELDS.  7l3 

family.  Then  he  embarked  under  better  auspices.  Arrived  in 
America  and  failing  to  find  his  uncle,  who  had  died  in  the  in- 
terim, James  adopted,  for  the  time,  a  sailor's  life,  was  purser 
on  a  merchantman,  and  became  so  expert  in  seamanship  that 
many  years  later  he  was  placed  in  command  of  a  sailing  vessel 
on  the  Pacific,  whose  officers  were  disabled,  and  brought  her 
safely  into  port.  His  career  as  purser  terminated  in  an  acci- 
dent, which  left  him  with  both  legs  broken  and  sent  him  to  a 
New  York  hospital  for  three  months. 

He  interrupted  or  supplemented  this  seafaring  with  service 
as  volunteer  in  a  campaign  against  the  Seminole  Indians.  Au- 
thentic details  of  this  episode  are  lacking,  but  he  is  said  to  have 
been  a  lieutenant  and  to  have  been  wounded  in  battle,  where 
he  displayed  marked  gallantry.  On  this  service  rests  his  title 
of  a  soldier  in  three  wars. 

Having  now  reached  years  of  discretion,  through  varied  ex- 
periences, young  Shields  chose  the  law  as  his  profession,  and 
the  old  French  town  of  Kaskaskia  in  Illinois  as  his  field  of 
labor.  This  town,  the  Territorial  capital  of  Illinois,  being  also 
the  county  seat  of  Randolph  county,  had  been  founded  by  La 
Salle  in  1682;  was  garrisoned  by  the  King  of  France  in  1710 
with  troops  who  in  1755  helped  defeat  Braddock  at  Fort  Du- 
quesne ;  and  was  captured  by  George  Rogers  Clark  in  1777. 

He  supported  himself  by  teaching  school  in  and  near  Kas- 
kaskia, his  knowledge  of  the  French  language  being  of  great 
value  then  and  afterward.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1832, 
and  opened  an  office.  He  gained  so  rapidly  in  acquaintance  and 
popularity,  that  in  1835  he  was  elected  a  representative  in  the 
State  Legislature,  as  a  Democrat  from  Randolph  county,  then 
overwhelmingly  "Whig  in  sentiment.  He  took  his  seat  at  Van- 
dalia,  the  state  capital,  in  January,  1836.  Here  he  met,  as 
fellow  representatives,  Douglas,  Lincoln,  Browning,  Hardin, 
Baker,  McClernand,  and  other  young  athletes  of  politics. 
Shields  easily  took  his  place  on  terms  of  equality  in  this  dis- 
tinguished company.  His  personal  appearance  and  manners 
were  engaging.  He  was  five  feet  nine  inches  tall,  of  fine  figure 
and  graceful  bearing.  His  voice  was  well  modulated;  his 
speech  frank,  clear  and  resolute.    He  was  prominent  in  debate 


714  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  influential  in  council.  It  was  a  critical  time  in  the  affairs 
of  Illinois,  the  inauguration  of  a  policy  of  extensive  public  im- 
provements, in  which  the  youthful  legislator  bore  a  progressive 

part. 

Shields  served  four  years  in  the  Legislature,  gaining  so 
much  prominence  that  in  1839  he  was  elected  State  Auditor. 
Meantime,  Springfield  had  become  the  state  capital,  and  in  1840 
he  began  his  residence  there,  which  continued  for  fifteen  years. 
His  administration  was  so  successful  that  in  1841  he  was  re- 
elected without  opposition. 

While  he  occupied  this  important  office  he  was  involved  in 
an  ''affair  of  honor"  with  a  Springfield  lawyer, — no  less  a  per- 
sonage than  Abraham  Lincoln.  At  this  time  ''James  Shields, 
Auditor,"  was  the  pride  of  the  young  Democracy.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1842  the  Springfield  Journal  contained  some  letters  from 
the  "Lost  Townships,"  by  a  contributor  whose  nom  de  plume 
was  "Aunt  Becca,"  which  held  up  the  gallant  young  Auditor 
to  ridicule.  These  letters  caused  intense  excitement  in  the 
town.  Nobody  knew  their  authorship  except  the  editor  of  the 
paper,  of  whom  Shields  demanded  the  name.  The  real  author 
was  Miss  Mary  Todd,  afterward  the  wife  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
to  whom  she  was  engaged,  and  who  felt  bound  to  assume  the 
responsibility  for  her  sharp  pen  thrusts.  Mr.  Lincoln  accepted 
the  situation.  Not  long  after,  the  two  men  with  their  seconds 
were  on  their  way  to  the  field  of  honor.  But  the  affair  was 
adjusted  without  any  fighting,  and  thus  ended  the  Lincoln- 
Shields  duel  of  the  Lost  Townships.  The  antagonists  were  ever 
afterward  firm  friends. 

Considering  all  the  circumstances,  the  temperament  of  the 
respective  parties,  the  customs  and  surroundings,  there  was 
nothing  censurable  in  the  conduct  of  either.  Shields  justly 
deemed  himself  grossly  insulted  and  humiliated  by  some  of  the 
epithets  in  the  letters,  and  bitterly  resented.  Lincoln  felt  in 
honor  bound  to  represent  his  fiancee.  Both  displayed  bravery 
in  meeting  the  crisis  and  magnanimity  in  adjusting  it.  Times 
and  customs  have  happily  changed.  Some  mistaken  friends  on 
both  sides  have  latterly  felt  impelled  to  discredit  the  whole 
story,  but  the  truth  of  history  demands  that  it  be  correctly 


GENERAL    JAMES    SHIELDS.  *15 

stated.  Existing  files  of  the  Springfield  newspapers  contain  all 
the  correspondence,  no  material  part  of  which  has  ever  been 
controverted. 

In  1843,  Auditor  Shields  was  appointed  by  the  Governor  as 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  to  succeed  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  who  had  been  elected  to  Congress.  He  heard  and  de- 
cided many  difficult  cases.  Among  the  great  lawyers  who  prac- 
ticed at  the  bar  when  Judge  Shields  was  on  the  supreme  bench, 
were  Abraham  Lincoln,  John  M.  Palmer,  Lyman  Trumbull,  0. 
H.  Browning,  E.  B.  Washburn,  E.  D.  Baker,  J.  J.  Hardin, 
Stephen  T.  Logan,  J.  C.  Conkling,  W.  Bushnell,  and  Archibald 
Williams.  All  of  these  men  afterward  acquired  distinction, 
many  of  them  becoming  United  States  senators,  congressmen, 
and  judges.  That  Shields,  who  was  still  a  young  man,  sus- 
tained himself  in  such  exalted  company,  and  afterward,  in  war 
and  in  peace,  fully  maintained  his  position  with  them  and  others 
of  nation-wide  renown,  is  conclusive  tribute  to  his  ability  and 
energy.  An  eminent  Minnesota  lawyer  of  a  later  generation 
has  carefully  studied  the  decisions  of  Judge  Shields,  as  re- 
corded in  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court  Reports,  and  testifies  that 
they  bear  conclusive  evidence  of  a  legal  erudition  and  discrim- 
ination, rare  in  that  period,  and  little  to  be  expected  of  one  so 
seemingly  immersed  in  non-professional  interests. 

In  1845,  President  James  K.  Polk  appointed  Judge  Shields 
Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  at  Washington.  He 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  important  matters  coming  before 
this  great  bureau,  and  was  solicitously  preparing  for  such  an 
energetic  administration  as  the  exigencies  then  demanded, 
when  the  outbreak  of  the  Mexican  War  gave  him  a  new  oppor- 
tunity of  proving  his  devotion  to  his  adopted  country.  Presi- 
dent Polk,  recognizing  in  him  the  qualities  that  constitute  a 
great  soldier,  appointed  him  a  brigadier  general  of  United 
States  volunteers.    His  commission  was  dated  July  1,  1846. 

At  the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz  General  Shields  distinguished 
himself,  and  gave  good  promise  of  other  valiant  service.  This 
promise  was  amply  fulfilled  at  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo  and  at 
the  storming  of  Chapultepec.  At  the  former  battle  his  deeds 
of  valor  seem  like  those  of  Roland  at  Roncesvalles  or  Ney  at 
Borodino. 


716  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

At  Cerro  Gordo  he  was  severely  wounded  while  leading  his 
men,  but  he  refused  to  quit  the  field.  He  advanced  to  the 
charge,  when  he  was  struck  in  the  chest  by  an  iron  grapeshot, 
an  inch  in  diameter,  that  passed  through  his  lungs.  He  fell 
into  the  arms  of  Oglesby,  afterward  United  States  senator 
from  Illinois,  and  was  carried  from  the  battlefield  to  all  ap- 
pearances lifeless.  The  wound  was  skillfully  treated  by  a 
French  surgeon,  who  had  been  captured  with  the  Mexicans,  and 
in  nine  weeks  he  was  again  in  the  saddle. 

For  his  gallant  conduct  on  this  occasion,  he  was  brevetted 
Major  General,  and  his  commanding  officers.  Generals  Twiggs 
and  Scott,  both  mentioned  him  in  most  laudatory  terms  in  their 
official  reports.  Four  months  afterwards,  he  led  the  celebrated 
charge  of  the  "Palmettos"  of  South  Carolina  and  the  New 
York  volunteers  at  the  battle  of  Cherubusco,  where  the  Mexi- 
cans, according  to  the  official  account  of  Santa  Anna,  lost  one- 
third  of  their  army.  On  the  13th  of  September,  he  was  in  the 
thick  of  the  fight  at  Chapultepec.  His  horse  having  been  shot 
under  him.  General  Shields  fought  on  foot,  bareheaded  and  in 
his  shirt  sleeves,  leading  his  brigade,  sword  in  hand.  His  com- 
mand led  the  van  into  the  City  of  Mexico  and  first  planted  the 
stars  and  stripes  on  the  halls  of  the  Montezumas.  Here 
Shields  received  another  severe  wound,  a  fractured  arm,  but 
remained  with  his  brigade  until  the  goal  was  reached.  Among 
the  young  subordinates  and  subalterns  in  the  regular  service, 
who  participated  in  this  victory  and  won  early  distinction,  were 
U.  S.  Grant,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  Robert  E.  Lee,  James  Long- 
street,  George  E.  Pickett,  and  "Stonewall"  Jackson. 

One  of  the  notable  battle-pictures  of  the  world,  hanging  in 
the  corridors  of  the  capitol  at  Washington,  is  that  of  the  as- 
sault on  Chapultepec,  the  citadel  of  the  City  of  Mexico.  It 
shows  General  Shields,  easily  distinguishable,  in  the  thick  of 
the  fight,  where  he  always  loved  to  be.  It  thus,  on  the  outer 
walls  of  the  Senate,  where  ten  years  later  he  shed  glory  on 
Minnesota,  certifies  to  his  imperishable  renown. 

After  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  on  July  28,  1848,  General 
Shields'  brigade  was  disbanded,  and  he  returned,  still  feeble 
from  his  wound,  to  Illinois  and  resumed  his  law  practice.    His 


GENERAL    JAMES    SHIELDS.  717 

State  presented  to  him  a  sword  that  cost  $3,000,  and  South  Car- 
olina presented  him  a  diamond-hilted  sword  which  cost  $5,000. 
When  he  died,  thirty-one  years  later,  there  were  left  to  his 
widow  and  children  the  swords  of  Cerro  Gordo,  which,  with  his 
blessing,  was  about  all  he  had  to  leave  them. 

President  Polk,  recognizing  General  Shields'  valuable  serv- 
ices in  Mexico,  appointed  him  Governor  of  the  new  Territory 
of  Oregon.  But  his  election  to  the  senatorship,  which  imme- 
diately followed,  prevented  his  acceptance. 

The  people  of  Illinois  were  not  unmindful  of  the  fidelity 
with  which  the  General  in  his  various  civil  and  military  capaci- 
ties had  served  them.  Although  Senator  Breese,  then  in  office, 
had  greatly  distinguished  himself  and  was  a  candidate  for  re- 
election, yet  Shields'  popularity  was  so  great  that  he  defeated 
Breese  and  was  elected  United  States  Senator  for  the  term  of 
six  years,  commencing  March  4,  1849.  "When  he  presented  his 
credentials  some  technical  question  was  raised  as  to  their  reg- 
ularity. He  promptly  resigned,  returned  to  Illinois,  and  was 
at  once  re-elected. 

He  entered  the  Senate  as  the  colleague  of  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
las. He  found  there  Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Benton,  and  Cass, 
who  were  among  the  grandest  figures  in  our  annals  of  states- 
manship, while  Chase,  Breckenridge,  Jefferson  Davis,  Sumner, 
Fessenden,  and  Everett,  were  already  entering  upon  their  sev- 
eral spheres  of  action.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of 
the  slavery  struggle,  which  affected  nearly  every  important 
debate  in  the  Senate.  Shields  was  opposed  to  the  extension  of 
slavery,  although  his  party  was  for  slavery,  and  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  express  his  opinions  on  the  subject.  He  was  placed 
on  important  committees.  His  work  in  constructive  legislation 
was  intelligent,  practical,  and  influential.  He  made  many  effec- 
tive speeches.  He  advocated  grants  of  land  to  agricultural  col- 
leges, to  railroads,  to  soldiers,  and  to  actual  settlers  under  a 
liberal  homestead  law. 

Probably  the  most  significant  speech  of  General  Shields  in  the 
Senate  was  that  delivered  in  January,  1850,  on  the  bill  for  the 
admission  of  California.  This  speech  fills  many  pages  In  the 
reports,  and  is  saturated  throughout  with  the  spirit  of  patriot- 


718  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS.       . 

ism,  the  spirit  of  liberty,  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  the  spirit  of  pro- 
phe'ey.  On  the  attempt  by  the  South  to  force  slavery  on  Cali- 
fornia, he  said : 

Sir,  they  are  laying  the  foundation  of  a  great  empire  on  the  shore 
of  the  Pacific,— a  mighty  empire,— an  empire  that  at  some  future  day 
will  carry  your  flag,  your  commerce,  your  arts  and  your  arms  into  Asia, 
and  through  China,  Hindustan,  and  Persia,  into  Western  Europe.  Talk 
about  carrying  slavery  there,  of  imposing  such  a  blight  upon  that  peo- 
ple, of  withering  their  strength  and  paralyzing  their  energies  by  such 
an  institution!  No,  sir;  such  a  thing  was  never  intended  by  God,  and 
will  never  be  permitted  by  man.  It  is  sometimes  urged  here  that  our 
constitution  carries  slavery  with  it  wherever  it  goes,  unless  positively 
excluded  by  law;  in  other  words,  that  slavery  is  the  normal  law  of  this 
Republic.  I  think  the  principle  is  just  the  reverse.  Slavery,  being  in 
violation  of  natural  right,  can  only  exist  by  positive  enactment;  and  the 
constitution  of  this  country  only  tolerates  slavery  where  it  exists,  but 
neither  extends  or  establishes  it  anywhere. 

Concerning  the  Southern  threat  of  secession,  he  philosoph- 
ized thus  eloquently  and  convincingly : 

But  suppose  the  Southern  Confederacy  was  now  established,  that 
it  was  quietly  and  peaceably  established  this  moment,  what  would  be 
the  actual  condition  of  the  Confederacy?  It  could  not  exist  a  single  day 
without  a  close  and  intimate  connection  with  some  great  nation  having 
all  the  elements  of  industrial,  financial  and  commercial  power.  The 
South  possesses  none  of  these  elements.  It  has  plenty  of  cotton,  and  it 
has  brave  men  and  lovely  women,  but  it  is  wholly  destitute  of  all  the 
other  material  elements  of  national  power.  In  fact  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy would  be  a  mere  colony  of  masters  and  slaves  to  raise  cotton 
for  the  factories  of  England.  Besides,  sir,  it  is  my  firm  conviction  that 
the  institution  of  slavery,  as  it  now  exists  in  the  South,  would  not  last, 
in  its  present  shape,  for  the  space  of  twenty  years  in  that  Southern  Con- 
federacy. The  South  might  as  well  attempt  to  shut  out  the  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere,  as  to  shut  out  the  whole  pressure  of  the  civilized 
world  on  its  cherished  institutions. 

Senator  Shields'  term  of  six  years  expired  March  4,  1855, 
and  on  February  8  preceding  the  Illinois  legislature  met  in 
joint  session  to  choose  his  sucessor.  Shields  was  the  Demo- 
cratic caucus  nominee,  but  the  embryo  Republican  party  was  in 
the  ascendant  and  elected  Lyman  Trumbull  in  his  stead.  On 
the  first  ballot  Shields  received  41  votes,  Abraham  Lincoln  45, 
Lyman  Trumbull  5,  and  5  votes  were  scattered.  On  the  last 
ballot  the  anti-Nebraska  men  concentrated  on  Trumbull  and 


GENERAL   JAMES    SHIELDS.  710 

elected  him,  thus  saving  Lincoln  for  the  great  debate  with 
Douglas  three  years  later  which  made  him  President  in  1860. 

On  leaving  the  Senate  in  1855,  General  Shields  came  to  Min- 
nesota to  select  some  lands  that  had  been  awarded  for  his  war 
service.  He  was  so  favorably  impressed  with  the  country  that 
he  decided  to  go  East  and  organize  a  large  colony  of  Irish- 
Americans  to  settle  on  the  fertile  soil  of  Rice  and  Le  Sueur 
counties.  His  project  met  with  much  general  approval,  but  was 
vigorously  opposed  by  Archbishop  Hughes,  then  at  the  head  of 
the  American  hierarchy,  and  was  only  partly  successful.  That 
this  opposition  policy  was  a  mistaken  one,  both  for  the  church 
and  the  people,  was  clearly  shown  twenty-five  years  later  by  the 
grand  work  of  another  and  a  greater  Archbishop,  our  esteemed 
prelate  and  citizen,  John  Ireland.  What  Shields,  unimpeded, 
might  have  accomplished,  with  an  earlier  start  and  better  oppor- 
tunities, can  only  be  imagined.  His  wisdom  and  prescience  can 
only  be  commended.  He  saw,  as  in  a  vision,  the  Clontarfs, 
Gracevilles,  Green  Isles,  and  Avocas,  embosomed  in  prolific 
farmsteads,  which  we  now  see  face  to  face. 

General  Shields  received  a  warm  welcome  in  Minnesota.  His 
fame  had  preceded  him,  for  it  was  nation-wide.  He  brought 
with  him  more  acquired  eminence  than  any  predecessor.  He 
entered  at  once  and  with  vig6r  on  constructive  work.  He  was 
one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Faribault.  He  founded  the 
town  of  Shieldsville,  a  few  miles  distant,  as  the  center  of  his 
extensive  rural  settlements,  but  resided  in  Faribault  for  a  con- 
siderable period.  His  colony  prospered  and  is  now  one  of  our 
richest  domains. 

When  the  first  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Minnesota  con- 
vened in  December,  1857,  it  was  Democratic  in  politics  and  there 
was  great  rivalry  between  numerous  candidates  for  the  two 
United  States  senatorships.  General  Shields  was  a  newcomer, 
with  no  local  claims,  but  was  suggested  as  a  compromise ;  and 
he  was  finally  elected  with  Henry  M.  Rice,  then  the  Territorial 
delegate.  The  General  drew  the  short  term,  which  expired  on 
March  4,  1859,  while  Mr.  Rice  had  the  allotment  which  carried 
him  until  1863.  The  next  Legislature  was  Republican,  and 
/Shields  failed  of  re-election,  for  that  reason  alone,  Morton  S. 


720 


MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 


Wilkinson  being  chosen  as  his  successor.  Thus,  for  a  second 
time,  the  shifting  fortunes  of  his  party,  and  not  a  lack  of  merit 
or  popularity,  prevented  his  return  to  the  Senate. 

The  value  of  Senator  Shieds  to  this  State  cannot  be  meas- 
ured by  the  length  of  his  term.  His  previous  high  status  in 
the  body  to  which  he  now  returned,  made  him  a  worthy  col- 
league of  the  astute  pioneer,  Mr.  Rice ;  they  worked  together  in 
fine  harmony  and  with  rare  effectiveness  in  securing  liberal 
favors  for  the  struggling  young  commonwealth.  They  ante- 
dated this  militant  generation,  when  the  hand  that  rocks  the 
cradle  stones  the  premier,  and  the  spear  that  smites  the  octopus 
knows  no  brother.  But  they  helped  found  a  State  that  has  roy- 
ally justified  their  intelligent  solicitude. 

That  the  services  of  General  Shields  to  Minnesota  were  ap- 
preciated is  testified  to  by  the  naming  of  a  military  company  in 
St.  Paul,  ''The  Shields  Guards,"  in  his  honor.  The  manuscript 
files  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  contain  many  letters 
from  Shields  to  H.  H.  Sibley,  during  the  period  of  his  residence 
in  this  state,  which  throw  instructive  side-lights  on  political  and 
social  affairs  of  that  period. 

On  June  25,  1856,  during  the  last  year  of  Franklin  Pierce's 
administration.  Shields  wrote  to  Sibley,  both  being  Democrats : 
"This  administration  has  been  the  most  insignificant  that  ever 
disgraced  this  great  country."  On  November  21  of  the  same 
year,  Buchanan  having  just  been  elected  President  to  succeed 
Pierce,  and  Shields  having  gone  to  Washington  to  act  as  "best 
man"  at  the  (second)  marriage  of  his  former  colleague  from 
Illinois,  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  he  said  to  Sibley  of  Buch- 
anan's proposed  cabinet :  ''My  fears  outrun  my  hopes.  Buch- 
anan will  be  forced  to  take  warring  elements  in, — disunionists 
from  the  South,  presidential  aspirants  from  the  North.  The 
South  elected  him,  and  will  make  him  a  Southern  President.  If 
he  yields  to  this,  he  is  lost. ' '  Impartial  history  has  long  since 
verified  these  sagacious,  independent  statements  and  prophecies. 

Anent  the  Douglas  wedding.  Shields  dropped  a  remark  in 
this  letter  which  the  future  also  fully  justified:  "The  bride. 
Miss  Cutts,  is  a  splendid  person,  and  will  be  a  great  benefit  to 
Judge  Douglas.     She  has  good  sense,  exquisite  taste,  and  a 


GENERAL    JAMES    SHIELDS. 


721 


kind,  generous  disposition.  Her  influence  will  improve  his  ap- 
pearance and  soften  his  manners. ' ' 

This  manuscript  correspondence  with  Sibley  shows  that  dur- 
ing the  entire  period  of  his  residence  in  Minnesota,  Shields 
manifested  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs  generally  as  affect- 
ing the  new  State,  and  especially  the  region  occupied  by  his 
Irish- American  colonists.  On  June  7,  1859,  after  he  had  ceased 
to  be  Senator,  we  find  him  writing  to  Sibley,  then  Governor  of 
Minnesota,  from  Faribault,  that  a  meeting  in  that  town  at 
which  he  presided,  had  selected  directors  to  choose  a  site  for 
the  State  deaf  and  dumb  asylum,  including  four  from  Faribault, 
William  Sprigg  Hall  of  St.  Paul,  and  N.  M.  Donaldson  of  Owa- 
tonna. 

The  memory  of  Gen.  Judson  W.  Bishop  supplies  the  nar- 
rative of  an  episode  which  we  do  not  find  of  record,  but  which 
shows  General  Shields'  dominating  military  spirit,  and  which 
came  near  giving  him  the  title  of  a  Soldier  in  four  wars.  When 
the  Indian  massacre  at  Spirit  Lake,  Iowa,  occurred  in  1857, 
General  Shields,  then  residing  at  Faribault,  promptly  rallied  a 
company  of  his  colonists  and  other  citizens,  had  them  armed 
and  mounted  and  started  for  the  scene  of  hostilities,  about  150 
miles  distant.  Other  bands  of  settlers,  living  nearer,  arrived 
first,  and  the  Indians  had  disappeared.  General  Bishop,  head- 
ing a  surveying  party,  met  Shields'  detachment  on  theif  re- 
turn, and  vividly  describes  their  zeal  and  ardor.  Thus  the  for- 
mer brigade  commander  in  Mexico,  the  future  division  com- 
mander in  Virginia,  was  equally  ready  to  lead  a  hundred  un- 
disciplined men  in  what  might  have  been  a  very  hazardous 
campaign. 

After  retiring  from  office  as  Senator  from  Minnesota,  Gen- 
eral Shields  was  led  by  business  considerations  to  settle  in  Cal- 
ifornia. In  San  Francisco,  in  1861,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Carr,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Jerome  and  Sarah  Carr  and 
was  bom  August  15,  1835,  in  County  Armagh,  Ireland.  Her 
father,  a  linen  merchant,  with  the  proverbial  Irish  large-heart- 
edness,  had  endorsed  a  note  for  a  friend  and  thereby  lost  his 
fortune,  the  accumulation  of  years  of  industry  and  frugality. 
Looking,  as  so  many  others  had  done,  for  a  place  to  recover 

46 


722  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

his  lost  resources,  he  turned  to  America  and  settled  in  the  city 
of  Baltimore,  where  he  died  in  1852,  his  wife  only  surviving 
him  a  year.  The  daughter,  thus  left,  for  a  time  attended  a 
convent  boarding  school  and  made  her  home  with  relatives. 

The  Shields  and  Carr  families  were  friends  in  Ireland,  had 
intermarried,  and  quite  naturally  James  Shields  and  Mary  Can- 
met  and  were  friends  in  America.  During  the  summer  of  1861 
Miss  Carr  was  visiting  at  the  convent  in  San  Francisco,  and 
when  General  Shields  found  he  had  business  in  that  city,  he 
pressed  his  suit  and  won  his  bride.  They  were  married  August 
16,  1861,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Ignatius.  The  General  and  his 
bride  embarked  that  evening  on  a  steamer  for  Mazatlan, 
Mexico,  thus  auspiciously  beginning  their  matrimonial  voyage 
on  the  smooth  and  placid  waters  of  the  Pacific,  truly  typical  of 
the  happy  and  tranquil  domestic  life  which  was  ever  theirs. 

Soon  after  Sumter  was  fired  on.  General  Shields,  blazing 
with  loyalty  and  soldierly  ardor,  tendered  his  services  to  his 
old  friend,  now  President  of  the  United  States.  Official  notice 
of  his  appointment  as  brigadier  general  of  volunteers  to  date 
from  August  19,  1861,  reached  him  in  Mexico,  where  he  was 
manager  of  a  profitable  mine  in  which  he  had  a  large  interest. 
As  soon  as  his  business  affairs  could  be  adjusted,  he  repaired 
to  Washington  and  reported  for  duty.  He  was  sent  to  the 
Shenandoah  valley  in  Virginia,  which  had  been  the  theater  of 
much  indecisive  marching  and  fighting. 

March  7,  1862,  General  Shields  assumed  command  of  the 
division  of  General  Lander,  who  had  died  two  weeks  before  of 
Mexican  war  disabilities.  The  division  instantly  felt  the  magic 
of  his  touch,  and  although  only  a  few  men  of  his  new  command 
had  previously  been  in  battle,  they  recognized  that  their  com- 
mander had  brought  with  him  his  master  hand,  and  if  any 
soldier  had  doubts  as  to  the  courage  or  ability  of  General 
Shields  the  doubts  soon  vanished.  In  fact,  within  two  weeks 
from  his  taking  command  they  were  fighting  "Stonewall" 
Jackson's  army  at  Winchester,  on  the  22d  of  March.  The  bat- 
tle continued  two  days,  ending  at  Kernstown.  Early  in  the 
engagement.  General  Shields  was  wounded,  as  usual,  having 
his  arm  fractured  and  his  shoulder  badly  torn  by  the  explosion 


GENERAL   JAMES    SHIELDS. 


723 


of  a  shell,  and  was  carried  from  the  field.  But  so  thoroughly- 
had  he  enthused  his  little  division  with  his  own  invincible  spirit 
that  it  went  on  and  gained  the  victory,  while  Shields  directed 
its  movements  from  his  cot  of  suffering  three  miles  in  the  rear. 
Colonel  Nathan  Kimball,  who  succeeded  to  the  leadership,  offi- 
cially reports  that  he  carried  out  his  general's  plans  and  fol- 
lowed his  directions,  until  the  field  was  won  and  *' Stonewall" 
Jackson's  invincible  cohorts  were  in  full  retreat.  This  was  two 
years  before  Sheridan  sent  Early  ''whirling  up  the  valley," 
over  some  of  the  same  ground. 

Of  the  close  of  the  battle,  in  which  Shields'  division  alone 
confronted  Jackson 's  entire  army,  Colonel  Kimball  wrote : 
''"With  cheers  from  right  to  left  our  gallant  soldiers  pushed 
forward,  and  as  the  sun  went  down,  our  stubbornly  yielding 
foe,  who  had  thrice  advanced  to  the  attack,  gave  way  and  Jack- 
son's army  was  badly  beaten, — his  shattered  brigades  in  full 
retreat."  General  Banks,  Department  Commander,  congratu- 
lated the  troops  on  their  great  victory,  which  had  expelled 
Stonewall  Jackson  from  the  valley.  Jackson  retreated  eighty 
miles  to  Harrisonburg,  confessing  his  first  and  only  defeat. 

General  Shields'-  wound  disabled  him  for  five  weeks.  He 
resumed  command  of  his  division  April  30,  1862.  Jackson  had, 
after  his  defeat  at  Winchester  and  Kernstown,  retreated  so 
rapidly  and  so  far  that  the  authorities  at  Washington  sup- 
posed he  had  returned  to  Richmond.  Hence  Shields'  division, 
with  other  troops,  was  hurried  across  the  Blue  Ridge  to  rein- 
force McDowell  at  Fredericksburg.  But  Jackson  had  not  left 
the  valley,  and  he  came  back  northward  as  rapidly  as  he  had 
gone  the  other  way.  Shields  was  at  once  ordered  to  retrace 
his  steps.  The  remainder  of  McDowell's  corps  were  taken  by 
rail  to  Aquia  Creek,  by  transports  to  Alexandria,  and  by  rail- 
road to  Front  Royal,  where  they  arrived  two  days  later  than 
Shields'  division.  General  Fremont  with  his  forces,  had  been 
ordered  from  the  Kanawha  Valley  to  get  in  the  rear  of  Jack- 
son. Banks  was  reinforced,  and  Jackson,  learning  of  these 
movements,  again  retreated  up  the  Shenandoah.  McDowell 
followed.  Shields  in  advance.  At  Port  Republic,  Jackson  made 
a  stand,  and  Shields  disposed  his  division  for  another  battle. 


724  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

He  ordered  Carroll,  one  of  his  brigade  commanders,  to  burn 
the  bridge  across  the  Shenandoah,  in  certain  contingencies. 
This  order  was,  it  was  alleged,  countermanded  by  McDowell. 
At  any  rate,  the  bridge  was  not  burned.  Jackson  crossed  the 
river,  and  severely  handled  the  troops  opposed  to  him. 

Speaking  of  this  occurrence,  General  Gates,  an  officer  in 
high  command  under  Stonewall  Jackson  and  later  a  U.  S.  Con- 
gressman, stated  at  the  reception  of  the  Shields  statue  in  Wash- 
ington: ''Had  General  Shields'  orders  been  obeyed,  there  was 
no  escape  for  Jackson."  In  the  same  connection,  Jefferson 
Davis  wrote  of  Shields  and  his  division  as  being  superior  in 
efficiency  to  the  entire  corps  of  General  Howard. 

President  Lincoln  showed  his  appreciation  of  Shields' 
achievements  in  the  valley,  by  promoting  him  to  Major  Gen- 
eral of  Volunteers,  and  appointing  him  a  brigadier  general  in 
the  regular  army.  The  Senate,  on  political  grounds,  it  is  said, 
failed  to  confirm  the  latter  nomination.  It  is  authentically 
stated  that  the  President  informally  tendered  to  General 
Shields  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  after  Mc- 
Clellan  had  failed,  but  that  the  position  was  declined,  owing 
to  the  general's  strained  relations  with  Secretary  Stanton. 
For  this,  and  other  reasons.  Shields  resigned  from  the  army 
March  28,  1863,  returned  to  California,  and  settled  in  San 
Francisco. 

On  some  accounts  the  Pacific  coast  did  not  satisfy  General 
and  Mrs.  Shields  as  a  place  of  residence.  After  the  close  of 
the  war,  in  1866,  he  returned  to  the  Mississippi  valley,  via 
steamer  and  New  York  City.  Mrs.  Shields,  ever  on  the  alerl 
for  her  husband's  welfare,  persuaded  him  to  retire  to  a  farm, 
hoping  that  the  quiet,  restful  life  would  restore  his  health  so 
sadly  shattered  by  his  brilliant,  though  exacting,  service  to  his 
adopted  country.  The  general  climate,  fertile  soil,  and  new- 
born prosperity  of  Missouri  appealed  to  them.  On  an  explor- 
ing expedition,  the  general  happened  to  meet,  at  Carrollton, 
Missouri,  an  old  friend  and  supporter  in  the  Illinois  legislature, 
Judge  George  Pattison,  who  so  impressed  him  with  the  beauties 
and  prospects  of  that  region,  that  he  decided  to  make  that  his 
future  home.     The   place   selected,   still   pointed   out   as   the 


GENERAL   JAMES    SHIELDS.  725 

"Shields  Farm,"  was  the  ideal  for  which  these  people  sought; 
its  quiet  shade,  its  spacious  comfortable  house,  its  orchard  bur- 
dened with  fruits,  and  its  natural  scenic  beauty,  appealed  to 
the  General.  Neither  he  nor  his  wife  had  ever  lived  on  a  farm, 
but  they  thoroughly  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures  of  rural  life. 
Their  hospitality  soon  became  proverbial,  and  the  evening  of 
the  old  soldier's  life  could  not  have  been  more  happily  spent. 

But  he  could  not  entirely  escape  the  penalties  of  his  merited 
prominence.  His  fame  had  preceded  him.  In  1868,  only  two 
years  after  his  settlement  in  Missouri,  his  fellow  Democrats 
forced  on  him  the  nomination  for  Representative  in  Congress  in 
his  district,  which  embraced  Kansas  City.  He  received  a  de- 
cided majority,  but,  on  account  of  some  alleged  irregularity  in 
returns,  the  hostile  canvassing  board  rejected  the  votes  of  two 
counties,  and  gave  the  certificate  to  his  opponent.  Shields' 
friends  contested  the  election  in  his  name,  but  the  Congress, 
also  politically  antagonistic,  declined  to  seat  him.  Neverthe- 
less, it  recognized  the  force  of  his  claim  to  the  extent  of  voting 
him  a  full  year's  salary. 

General  Shields'  home  remained  in  Carrollton  from  1866 
until  his  death  in  1879.  Here  he  cultivated  his  farm,  devoted 
much  of  his  time  to  lecturing  tours  for  charitable  objects,  and 
also  resumed  some  interest  in  political  affairs.  His  benevolence 
covered  a  wide  scope.  Lacking  wealth,  he  gave  freely  of  his 
time  and  of  his  eloquent  appeals  for  every  good  cause,  and  for 
every  phase  of  human  suffering.  When  the  yellow  fever,  a  very 
pestilence,  scourged  the  South  and  depopulated  cities,  when 
every  heart  throbbed  in  sympathy  for  the  stricken  sufferers, 
and  when  in  populous  Atlanta  there  were  not  enough  of  well 
ones  left  to  bury  the  dead,  it  was  the  clarion  tones  of  General 
Shields  that  woke  the  echoes  from  city  to  city,  until  more 
money  was  raised  and  sent  through  his  individual  effort  than 
was  secured  by  any  score  of  his  co-workers,  who  also  did  their 
best  in  this  noble  work. 

In  the  year  1876,  General  B.  F.  Butler,  Republican  repre- 
sentative in  Congress  from  Massachusetts,  proposed  the  name 
of  General  Shields  for  doorkeeper  of  the  House,  which  was  then 
Democratic.    The  position  was  worth  $200  per  month,  but  the 


726  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

veteran  resented  the  proposal  as  an  indignity,  and  Butler  was 
suspected  of  a  design  to  entrap  the  opposition.  The  Democratic 
caucus  had  nominated  General  Field,  an  ex-Confederate,  who 
had  left  the  country  to  serve  in  the  Egyptian  army,  and  Shields 
was  defeated.  The  House,  in  order  to  atone  for  this  action, 
voted  to  place  Shields  on  the  retired  list  as  a  brigadier  general, 
but  the  Republican  Senate,  for  some  reason,  failed  to  concur, 
and  the  bill  failed  to  become  a  law. 

In  1874  General  Shields  was  sent  by  the  Democrats  of  Car- 
roll county  to  the  Missouri  legislature  and  was  re-elected  in 
1875.  Here,  as  ever,  he  was  active  in  useful  work.  One  of  his 
wise  measures  was  the  law  creating  the  State  Railroad  Com- 
mission. In  the  year  1878,  he  was  chosen  for  the  third  time 
and  from  the  third  State,  United  States  Senator,  to  serve  dur- 
ing the  unexpired  term  of  Senator  Lewis  V.  Bogy,  deceased* 
He  was  welcomed  back  to  the  halls  of  legislation,  which  he  had 
first  entered  thirty  years  before,  by  a  new  generation  of  states- 
men, who  paid  willing  tribute  to  his  rare  endowments. 

The  richest  treasure  a  people  can  possess  is  the  memory  of 
their  eminent  men.  Greater  in  importance  than  agricultural, 
mineral,  and  industrial  wealth,  is  the  value  of  the  inspiration 
and  example  of  men  whose  lives  exemplify  those  qualities 
which  make  for  good  government  and  free  institutions.  The 
life  of  James  Shields  meets  this  standard.  The  general  signifi- 
cance to  be  found  therein  is  that  he  was  equal  to  every  respon- 
sibility and  faithful  in  every  trust.  He  doubtless  had  a  fair 
allotment  of  human  shortcomings,  but  they  neither  marred  his 
record  nor  dimmed  the  luster  of  his  worthy  deeds.  We  may 
fervently  pray  that  the  day  will  soon  dawn  when  the  nations 
shall  learn  war  no  more;  but  sad  will  be  the  hour  when  we 
cease  to  honor  those  who  have  bravely  fought  for  the  honor  of 
their  country  and  the  freedom  of  mankind. 

His  career  emphasizes  the  possibilities  of  American  citizen- 
ship, and  the  freedom  from  religious  and  racial  prejudices  of 
our  people.  Though  he  was  neither  of  the  race  nor  creed  of 
the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  three  great  states  whom  he 
represented  in  the  United  States  Senate,  this  did  not  prevent  his 
selection.    Of  a  people  of  whom  it  has  been  said,  "they  have 


GENERAL,   JAMES    SHIELDS. 


727 


fought  successfully  all  battles  save  their  own,"  he  helped  the 
people  of  his  adopted  country  to  successfully  fight  their  wars. 
Born  in  a  foreign  land,  he  was  in  every  fiber  of  his  heart,  in 
the  very  texture  of  his  soul,  distinctively  and  intensely  Ameri- 
can. He  devoted  his  life  with  unchallenged  purity  of  purpose 
to  the  service  of  his  adopted  country,  and  in  three  wars  shed 
his  blood  in  her  defense.  He  was  too  generous  to  be  thrifty 
and  acquisitive,  too  honest  to  be  a  schemer,  and  too  bold  to  be 
a  trimmer.  But  he  was  a  true,  brave  man,  a  patriot,  and  a 
gentleman. 

His  private  life  was  irreproachable.  He  was  strictly  tem- 
perate. His  bearing  was  unobtrusive ;  his  tastes  were  literary 
and  domestic.  The  bitterest  of  partisan  contests  left  no  taint 
on  his  reputation.  He  was  a  model  husband,  father,  citizen, 
and  churchman. 

On  the  26th  of  September,  1878,  General  Shields,  who  died 
eight  months  later,  had  a  characteristic  reception  and  ovation 
in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  whither  he  had  journeyed  from  his 
home  in  Missouri  to  deliver  a  lecture  before  a  large  and  rep- 
resentative audience  in  one  of  the  great  auditoriums  of  the 
city.  The  following  spirited  report  of  the  occasion  will  con- 
vey an  idea  of  the  enthusiasm  which  he  created  whenever  he 
made  his  appearance  as  an  orator  or  lecturer. 

The  space  in  front  of  the  Academy  is  black  with  people,  and  from 
opposite  directions  come  diverging  streams.  The  doors  are  thrown 
open,  and  in  twenty  minutes  the  house  is  packed.  The  stage,  too, 
presently  fills  up,  civilians  and  military,  lay  and  clerics,  take  their 
places.  The  rattle  of  drums,  the  clashing  of  cymbals,  and  the  notes  of 
the  ear-piercing  fife,  fioat  in  from  without.  The  General,  with  his 
escort,  enters.  All  is  hushed.  He  is  very  pale,  very  attenuated. 
Silence  reigns,  all  eyes  and  all  hearts  turn  toward  him.  Simultaneous- 
ly all  on  the  stage  rise  to  their  feet.  A  voice:  "Three  cheers  for 
General  Shields!"  The  great  audience  rose,  and  then,  as  the  band 
played  "Hail  to  the  Chief,"  recollections  of  the  victories  he  had  helped 
to  win,  from  Buena  Vista  to  Winchester,  flashed  back;  then,  as  the 
chieftain  who  had  a  generation  ago  led  in  triumph  the  citizen  soldiery 
of  New  York  into  the  City  of  Mexico,  stood  before  the  remnants  of  his 
comrades  in  arms;  then,  as  the  only  man  who  had  ever  successfully 
crossed  swords  with  Stonewall  Jackson,  came  in  sight;  then,  when 
General  Shields,  now  a  feeble,  sick  man,  presented  himself  before  the 


728  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

people  of  Brooklyn,— then  went  up  a  tempest  of  ringing  cheers  such 
as  never  before  resounded  within  the  four  walls  of  that  house. 

Such  episodes,  varying  in  degree,  but  all  testifying  to  a  wide 
popular  recognition  of  his  illustrious  career,  were  numerous  in 
his  later  years.  As  a  soldier,  he  was  a  true  knight ;  but  as  an 
optimist,  he  was  a  very  prince.  To  his  optimistic  mind  no  cloud 
had  such  density  of  midnight  blackness  that  it  did  not  show  him 
a  silver  lining.  He  was  always  a  helper.  No  human  being 
struggling  in  any  whirlpool  of  difficulty  or  danger  came  within 
his  sight  that  he  did  not  immediately  ''throw  out  the  life  line." 

And  he  has  never  received  due  credit  for  his  accomplish- 
ments and  abilities  as  a  theoretical  soldier.  On  January  10, 
1862,  in  a  letter  to  General  McClellan,  commander  in  chief  of 
the  army,  General  Shields  outlined  the  military  operations 
which  he  deemed  necessary  for  the  suppression  of  the  Rebel- 
lion. Secretary  Seward,  in  an  official  communication  a  few  days 
later,  submitted  this  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  urgently 
inviting  his  attention  thereto.  The  letter  is  published  in  the 
Rebellion  Records,  Series  1,  Volume  5,  pages  701  to  703.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  important  papers  relating  to  the  conduct  of 
the  war,  and  stamps  its  author  as  not  only  brave,  but  capable 
as  a  strategist  of  great  ability. 

General  Shields  died  suddenly  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  on  Sun- 
day, June  1,  1879.  He  had  gone  there  to  deliver  a  lecture  for 
the  benefit  of  a  local  charity,  and  remained  several  days  visit- 
ing relatives.  He  had  appeared  in  his  usual  health  on  that  day, 
but  just  before  retiring  he  complained  of  a  pain  in  his  chest, 
and  shortly  afterward  said  to  his  niece  that  he  was  dying.  In 
thirty  minutes  he  expired,  sitting  in  his  chair,  remaining  con- 
scious to  the  last.  His  body  left  Ottumwa  for  his  late  home  in 
Carrollton  the  next  day.  The  funeral  took  place  in  Carrollton 
on  Wednesday.  It  was  largely  attended  and  the  services  were 
conducted  with  the  imposing  ceremonial  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
of  which  he  had  been  a  lifelong  and  consistent  member. 

After  the  death  of  the  General,  Mrs.  Shields  continued  to 
reside  in  Carrollton,  educating  and  caring  for  her  two  sons  and 
one  daughter,  as  only  a  mother  can  from  whom  the  staff  and 
stay  has  been  removed,  and  who  thus  leans  upon  as  well  as  lifts 


GENERAL    JAMES    SHIELDS.  729 

and  buoys  her  children,  the  jewels  of  her  home.  For  two  de- 
cades she  lived  in  her  home  on  North  Main  street,  which  she 
still  owns,  though  for  the  past  few  years  she  has  lived  with  her 
son.  Dr.  Daniel  F.  Shields,  in  New  York. 

James  Shields  had  a  remarkable  career,  and  his  was  a  re- 
markable character.  He  is  to  us  James  Shields  born  in  Ireland, 
the  American  General,  the  American  Senator,  James  Shields  of 
Ireland  and  America.  We  need  not  hesitate  to  claim  a  modest 
participation  in  his  fame  and  to  hail  him,  James  Shields  of  Min- 
nesota !  His  mortal  remains  rest  in  Missouri,  but  Illinois,  Min- 
nesota and  California,  Winchester,  and  Port  Republic,  claim 
their  share  of  his  renown,  for  it  is  as  true  in  America  today  as 
it  was  in  Greece  of  old  that  the  whole  earth  is  the  sepulcher  of 
illustrious  men  and  all  time  is  the  millennium  of  their  story. 

The  State  of  Illinois,  rich  beyond  measure  in  illustrious  sons, 
chose  Senator  Shields  as  her  representative  in  the  hall  of  fame 
in  Washington.  The  legislature  of  Missouri,  at  its  latest  ses- 
sion, appropriated  generously  for  a  colossal  bronze  statue  in  his 
honor  on  the  public  square  in  Carrollton.  The  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  and  the  Loyal  Legion  of  Minnesota  have  heartily 
endorsed  a  movement  to  install  his  statue-  in  our  beautiful 
capitol. 

For  thirty  years  his  grave  remained  unmarked  at  Carroll- 
tion.  But  finally,  by  joint  action  of  local  authorities  and  the 
United  States  Congress,  funds  were  provided  early  in  1910  for 
the  erection  of  an  imposing  monument  near  his  resting  place. 
It  is  of  red  granite  and  is  surmounted  by  a  colossal  bronze  bust 
of  the  distinguished  General. 

On  Saturday,  November  12,  1910,  this  monument  was  un- 
veiled and  dedicated  in  the  presence  of  ten  thousand  people, 
after  a  grand  civic  and  military  procession  in  which  a  battalion 
of  regular  troops  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  a  regiment  of  the 
Missouri  National  Guard,  and  an  immense  concourse  of  citi- 
zens, participated.  The  exercises  at  the  dedication  consisted  of 
addresses  by  Governor  Hadley  of  Missouri,  Archbishop  Glen- 
non  of  St.  Louis,  Congressmen  Rucker  and  Borland,  Attorney 
Ralph  F.  Lozier,  Senator  Busby,  and  others.  There  were  pres- 
ent, as  guests  of  honor,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Shields,  widow  of  General 


730  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Shields;  Dr.  Daniel  F.  Shields,  their  son;  Mr.  L.  E.  Shields,  of 
St.  Paul,  a  nephew  of  General  Shields,  and  other  relatives. 

Minnesota  was  represented  at  the  ceremonies,  in  addition 
to  Mr.  L.  E.  Shields,  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Reagan,  President  of  the  na- 
tional organization  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  and  by 
the  writer  hereof,  who  had  been  specially  commissioned  by 
Governor  A.  0.  Eberhart  as  the  State's  official  delegate. 

Accorded  a  leading  place  on  the  programme  of  addresses, 
Minnesota's  envoy  paid  a  brief  tribute  to  the  hero  of  the  occa- 
sion, which  embodied  this  personal  reminiscence : 

A  striking  Incident  of  my  early  boyhood  is  linked  across  two  gen- 
erations with  this  event.  One  morning,  when  I  was  seven  or  eight 
years  old,  the  tidings  spread  through  the  Illinois  village  which  was  my 
home  that  General  Shields,  returning  wounded  from  the  Mexican  War, 
was  a  passenger  in  the  stage  from  Quincy,  which  stopped  for  break- 
fast and  to  change  horses  at  our  little  tavern.  A  crowd  assembled 
and  waited,  with  silent  awe,  the  appearance  of  the  hero.  He  came  out, 
pale  and  feeble,  supported  by  two  attendants,  was  lifted  into  the  coach, 
and  it  rolled  on  toward  Springfield. 

To  the  group  of  wide-eyed  youth  who  gazed  with  undisguised 
wonder  on  the  scene,  it  was  a  revelation  and  an  inspiration.  Many  of 
them  were  destined,  fifteen  years  later,  to  be  soldiers  and  heroes  in  a 
vastly  mightier  conflict  for  an  inexpressibly  holier  cause.  But  this  was 
our  first  sight  of  a  military  uniform,  our  first  view  of  a  real  general, 
our  first  realization  of  the  pains  and  penalties  of  war.  It  was  an  object 
lesson  in  patriotism.  As  that  coach  rolled  away  toward  Springfield, 
the  dust  from  its  wheels,  lighted  by  the  morning  sunbeams,  became 
a  golden  aureole  through  which  we  saw  many  things  in  new  colors. 
The  world  was  never  quite  the  same  again. 

Thus  General  Shields  vanished  from  our  sight  as  in  a  cloud  of 
splendor.  Thus  his  restless  spirit  passed  through  life, — through  a  pic- 
turesque, versatile,  and  always  honorable  career.  Thus  he  lives  and 
will  live  in  history,  a  faithful  servant  of  the  people,  a  fearless  soldier 
of  the  republic,  worthy  to  be  hailed,  with  an  innumerable  company  of 
his  colleagues  and  comrades,  as  a  priest  in  the  temple  of  freedom,  a 
prince  in  the  kingdom  of  glory. 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  STATUE  OF 
GENERAL  SHIELDS, 

IN  THE  Capitol  of  Minnesota,  October  20,  1914. 


BY  ARCHBISHOP  JOHN  IRELAND. 


To  James  Shields,  the  soldier,  the  statesman,  the  jurist, 
honor  is  paid  by  the  citizenship  of  Minnesota.  A  monument  of 
him  is  enthroned  in  the  hall  of  the  Capitol  of  the  State,  there  to 
perpetuate  his  name  and  memory,  to  the  intent  that  coming 
generations  may  know  him,  and,  knowing  him,  emulate  in  the 
service  of  humanity  and  of  country  his  deeds  of  noble  and  dis- 
interested patriotism  and  valor. 

No  unusual  occurrence  is  it  in  America  that  a  monument  be 
built  to  pay  honor  to  James  Shields.  In  the  Hall  of  Fame,  be- 
neath the  dome  of  the  Capitol  of  the  nation  in  Washington, 
stands  his  figure,  placed  there  by  the  State  of  Illinois,  when  it 
was  summoned  to  name  to  America's  admiring  vision  two  of  its 
most  distinguished  citizens.  A  statue  also  has  been  erected  to 
him  by  the  State  of  Missouri,  in  the  public  square  of  the  City  of 
Carrollton.  Minnesota  may  well,  without  fear  or  peril  of  blame, 
do  as  its  sister  states,  Illinois  and  Missouri,  have  done, — extol 
the  fame  of  ''the  Jurist,  the  Statesman,  the  Soldier,"  James 
Shields, — and  do  so  with  especial  joyousness,  inasmuch  as  at 
one  period  of  his  career  he  was  a  citizen  and  a  loyal  servant  of 
our  commonwealth. 

From  1855  to  1860  James  Shields  claimed  Minnesota  as  his 
home.  While  commissioner  of  the  Federal  Land  Office  in  Wash- 
ington, he  had  learnt  of  the  fertility  of  our  fields  and  the  salu- 
briousness  of  our  climate,  and  had  resolved,  that,  when  freed 
from  the  toils  of  public  office,  he  would  draw  hither  colonists 
from  the  ranks  of  his  fellow  Irishmen  in  the  Eastern  States  and 
in  Ireland  itself,  less  likely  to  find  elsewhere  than  in  Minnesota 
peace  and  prosperity.    He  became  one  of  the  proprietors  and 


732  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

founders  of  what  is  now  the  flourishing  City  of  Faribault,  and 
thence  sent  far  and  wide  invitations  to  settlement  in  the  neigh- 
boring districts.  The  fruits  of  his  labors  as  a  colonizer  are  the 
townships  of  Shieldsville,  Erin,  Kilkenny,  Montgomery,  in  our 
Counties  of  Rice  and  Le  Sueur,  where  reside  hundreds  of  in- 
dustrious and  wealthy  farmers,  of  whose  good  American  citi- 
zenship their  Celtic  names  give  sure  guarantee.  When  the  first 
legislature  of  the  newly  organized  State  of  Minnesota  convened 
in  1858,  it  chose,  as  its  representatives  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  Henry  M.  Rice  and  James  Shields, — ^the  conti- 
nent-wide fame  of  the  latter  commending  him  to  the  electors  in 
lieu  of  more  immediate  labors  in  Minnesota  itself.  As  the  result 
of  the  drawing  of  lots  between  the  new  senators,  James  Shields 
took  to  himself  the  short  term  of  two  years.  This  expired,  the 
majority  in  the  State  Legislature  meanwhile  having  changed 
its  political  coloring,  he  ceased  his  service  in  Washington,  and 
shortly  afterward  sought  a  new  home  in  California. 

James  Shields  was  the  Irishman  and  the  American, — the 
Irishman  by  birth,  temper,  and  education,  the  American  by 
loyalty  and  service, — the  Irishman  and  the  American  to  a 
typical  degree.  His  whole  career  is  summed  up  in  those  words, 
the  Irishman  and  the  American. 

I  give  the  outlines  of  his  life.  He  was  born  in  Ireland  in 
1806,  of  honorable  and  respected  lineage.  His  direct  ancestor, 
with  four  sons,  fought  on  the  losing  side  in  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne, — one  of  those  sons  later  joining  the  army  of  Spain,  and 
there  rising  from  one  honor  to  another  until  finally  he  was  com- 
missioned the  Captain  General  of  Cuba.  An  immediate  uncle 
of  our  hero  was  a  soldier  in  America's  revolutionary  war  and 
in  that  of  1812.  James  decidedly  sprung  from  a  family  in  which 
fear  of  the  battlefield  was  unknown.  In  his  native  isle  he  re- 
ceived, mainly  through  the  tutorship  of  another  uncle,  a  priest 
who  had  been  a  professor  in  the  College  of  Maynooth,  a  liberal 
education.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  emigrated  from  Ireland  in 
search  of  fortune  in  other  lands.  Arrived  in  America,  he  first 
adopted  a  seafaring  life,  afterwards  serving  as  a  soldier  in  the 
Seminole  War,  thence  pushing  westward  to  Kaskaskia,  at  the 
time  the  Territorial  capital  of  Illinois.    There  he  was  the  school- 


UNVEILING    THE    STATUE    OF    GENERAL    SHIELDS.  ^73^ 

teacher,  the  lawyer,  and  quickly  the  office-holder.  He  served 
four  years  in  the  State  Legislature,  was  elected  State  Auditor, 
and  in  1843  succeeded  Stephen  A.  Douglas  as  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois.  Two  years  later  he  was  named  by 
President  James  K.  Polk,  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office  in 
Washington.  This  office  he  resigned  to  become  the  brigadier 
general  of  volunteers,  to  be  soon  brevetted  major  general,  in 
the  Mexican  War.  The  war  over,  he  was  named  by  President 
Polk  governor  of  the  newly  organized  Territory  of  Oregon, — a 
position,  however,  which  he  did  not  accept — a  higher  distinc- 
tion coming  to  him  from  the  State  of  Illinois.  Illinois  chose 
him  as  its  representative  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
where  he  served  the  full  term  of  six  years.  In  1855  he  was  in 
Minnesota,  the  colonizer,  and  later  its  representative  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  The  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
found  him  a  resident  of  California.  At  once  he  buckled  on  his 
warrior  sword,  and  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  briga- 
dier general,  soon  to  be  major  general  of  the  volunteer  army.  In 
1863  he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  army,  owing  to  misun- 
derstandings with  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Stanton.  Mis- 
souri now  became  his  home.  Here  he  was  Adjutant  General  of 
the  State,  and  later  was  chosen  again  to  membership  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  occupying  the  seat  vacated  through 
the  death  of  Senator  Bogy.  Later  he  filled  two  terms  in  the 
State  Legislature.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  cul- 
tivating a  modest  farm  near  Carrollton,  in  Missouri,  and  giving 
lectures  in  different  parts  of  the  country  in  aid  of  charitable 
and  religious  works.  He  died  in  1879,  leaving  to  his  wife  and 
children  all  that  he  was  able  to  leave  to  them  as  the  pecuniary 
result  of  his  many  years  of  civil  and  militant  office-holding — 
his  few  acres  of  farm  land,  the  diamond-studded  swords  which 
had  been  given  to  him,  one  by  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  the 
other  by  the  State  of  Illinois, — and  his  blessing. 

A  wonderful  career,  that  of  James  Shields,  in  the  pictur- 
esqueness  of  its  varieties,  in  the  confidences  reposed  in  him  by 
his  fellow  Americans  from  Illinois  to  Washington  City,  from 
Minnesota  to  Missouri,  in  the  enthusiasms  his  name  everywhere 
was  wont  to  evoke ;  and  wonderful,  equally  so,  in  the  talents  he 


734  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

displayed  wherever  the  can  to  omce  piacea  mm,  magnincently 
so  in  the  martial  skill  and  bravery  of  which  his  sword  was  ever 
the  token  upon  fields  of  gore  and  glory.  Picturesqueness  it  is, 
seldom  equalled  in  the  fortunes  of  other  heroes— though  so 
many  and  so  illustrious — in  the  annals  of  America.  Only  re- 
call the  chief  head-lines  in  the  narratives  of  his  career,— Soldier 
and  Statesman ;  Jurist  and  Orator ;  Legislator  in  the  chief  cities 
of  two  states;  Senator  of  the  United  States  from  three  of  its 
commonwealths;  Soldier  in  three  American  wars. 

Fellow  Americans,  we  announce  a  noble  name,  when  that  of 
James  Shields  is  spoken ;  we  glorify  a  noble  memory,  when  we 
fling  out  his  figure  to  the  gratitude  and  the  admiration  of 
Americans  of  today,  of  Americans  of  tomorrow. 

To  what  do  we  attribute  these  manifold  honors,  bedecking 
the  years  in  the  career  of  James  Shields? 

It  is  plain  from  the  record  that  James  Shields  was  no  in- 
triguer in  politics,  no  shrewd,  insidious  wire-puller.  He  was 
ignorant  of  the  arts  of  combinations  and  machineries.  He  was 
the  single-minded  and  the  open-tongued  citizen.  He  simply 
showed  himself  as  he  was,  willing  to  take  what  was  offered, 
unwilling,  unable  even,  to  plan  for  favor  of  preferment.  He 
was  the  old-fashioned  knight,  without  fear,  but,  also,  without 
reproach.  Nor,  as  distinction  of  office  came,  was  he  cunning  in 
schemes  to  retain  it.  He  did  his  duty,  regardless  of  conse- 
quences, regardless  of  the  dictates  of  the  political  party  that 
had  entrusted  him  with  power,  bidding  friends  and  foes  to 
judge  his  deeds  on  their  bare  desert.  At  all  times,  and  in  all 
stations,  he  was  James  Shields,  to  be  taken,  or  to  be  pushed 
aside,  for  what  he  was,  for  what  he  was  believed  to  be. 

To  what,  then,  is  due  his  career?  To  personal  character  and 
qualifications;  to  value  of  service  rendered,  whatever  the  posi- 
tion to  which  he  was  lifted;  to  the  willingness  of  America  to 
recognize  and  reward  merit,  wherever  merit  is  discernible. 

Shields  was  the  good  man.  His  private  life  was  above  re- 
proach. No  weakness  was  his  in  the  use  of  drink;  no  moral 
stain  ever  darkened  his  escutcheon.  In  him  deep  religious  con- 
viction begot  the  personal  and  social  virtues,  and  brightened 
their  uses  and  practices.     I  might,  perhaps,  blame  the  impetu- 


UNVEILING    THE    STATUE    OF    GENERAL    SHIELDS.  735 

osity  of  a  moment  which  led  him  to  the  brink  of  a  duel  with  a 
famed  citizen,  Abraham  Lincoln.  Let  the  false  notions  of 
honor,  prevailing  at  the  time,  excuse  the  one  and  the  other. 

Shields  was  the  gentleman,  in  manner  polished  and  refined ; 
in  the  maintenance  of  principle,  the  soul  itself  of  honor  and 
integrity.  A  base  proposal  would  have  at  once  awakened  in 
him  indignant  ire.  To  give  service,  to  friend  or  to  foe,  was  the 
imperious  dictate  of  his  code  of  chivalry. 

We  read  of  the  typical  Irish  gentleman.  That  was  Shields, 
warm  Celtic  blood  ever  coursing  in  his  veins,  kingly  Irish  tradi- 
tions ever  ruling  heart  and  head.  He  had  the  Celtic  faults, — 
he  was  emotional,  maybe  now  and  then  too  quick  in  decision, 
too  impatient,  perhaps,  for  his  own  welfare,  too  much  of  a  rover 
and  a  seeker  of  new  things.  But  at  times  those  very  faults 
served  him  well,  as  when  his  sword  was  brandished  on  the  bat- 
tlefield. And  with  Celtic  faults  he  had  all  the  Celtic  virtues. 
Brave  he  was  and  valorous,  generous  of  gift  and  service,  the 
high-tempered  knight,  whose  flashing  passage  across  the  ranks 
of  fellow-men  sheds  over  our  world  of  dull  matter  and  selfish 
plodding  the  sunshine  of  uplifting  poetry,  the  sweetness  of  the 
supernal  life. 

Shields  was  the  scholar.  His  early  liberal  education  served 
him  well,  and  continuous  study  through  the  years  increased  its 
brilliancy  and  power.  And,  of  course,  he  was  the  orator,  hold- 
ing, as  charmed  victims  of  his  fiery  phrase  and  his  orphean 
voice,  no  less  the  sages  of  legislative  and  senatorial  halls  than 
the  ruder  and  less  thinking  multitudes  of  voters  of  Kaskaskia, 
Vandalia,  and  Springfield. 

Rushed  from  one  occupation  to  another,  from  one  political 
office  to  another,  he  was  at  home,  whatever  the  duties  assigned 
to  him.  His  talents  were  most  varied  in  kind.  As  lawyer  and 
as  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  he  had  his  reward  in 
the  genial  companionship  and  the  esteem  of  great  men,  of  whom 
Illinois  was  at  the  time  the  plentiful  parent,  and  all  America  the 
proud  beneficiary, — Abraham  Lincon,  John  M.  Palmer,  E.  B. 
Washburn,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  to  name  but  the  few.  As  Auditor 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  he  wrested  from  confusion  and  uncer- 
tainty its  financial  budget,  and  placed  it  on  a  secure  and  envi- 


736  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS.     • 

able  foundation.  In  legislative  halls  he  was  the  skilled  debater, 
the  magnetic  speaker,  the  promotor  of  whatever  was  wise  and 
just,  himself  the  author  of  several  useful  and  far-reaching  meas- 
ures. In  Washington  they  were  the  days  of  Webster,  Clay, 
Calhoun,  Sumner,  Jefferson  Davis,  Breckenridge.  In  no  way 
was  Shields  below  the  exalted  standard  then  set  to  the  law- 
makers of  America.  I  note  but  a  few  of  the  famed  issues  amid 
which  he  was  the  consistent  champion  of  righteous  patriotism, 
— that  of  allotment  of  free  homes  on  the  lands  of  the  national 
domain  to  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  War,  and  to  actual  settlers, 
that  opposing  the  extension  of  slavery  to  newly  organized 
states,  that  of  the  preservation  of  the  nation  as  one  and  indivisi- 
ble. 

His  own  party  was  opposed,  to  him  in  the  question  of  the 
extension  of  slavery.  The  admission  of  California  to  statehood 
was  the  occasion.  Shields'  greatest  speech  entered  into  the 
debate.  I  quote  a  passage,  showing  not  only  his  firmness  of 
resolve  with  regard  to  the  extension  of  slavery,  but  also  his 
prophetic  view  of  things  to  come,  of  things  that  are  today: 
''Sir,  they  are  laying  the  foundations  of  a  great  empire  on  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific, — a  mighty  empire,  an  empire  that  at  some 
future  day  will  carry  your  flag,  your  commerce,  your  arts  and 
your  arms  into  Asia,  and  through  China,  Hindustan,  and  Persia, 
into  Western  Europe.  Talk  about  carrying  slavery  there,  of 
imposing  such  a  blight  upon  that  people,  of  withering  their 
strength  and  paralyzing  their  energies  by  such  an  institution ! 
No,  Sir,  such  a  thing  was  never  intended  by  God,  and  will 
never  be  permitted  by  man." 

As  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  Union,  his  voice  always  rose 
loud  amid  the  threats  of  secession,  then  thundering  through 
senate  and  chamber, — always  proclaiming  that  secession  would 
be  the  blackest  of  crimes,  the  most  stupid  of  follies,  that  never 
should  America  permit  or  endure  it. 

Always  James  Shields  was  the  truest  of  patriots,  the  most 
earnest  and  loyal  of  Americans.  Country  was  his  idol.  To 
country  he  gallantly  sacrificed  personal  interest,  dictate  of 
party,  hope  and  prospect  of  popular  applause  and  approval.  It 
is  the  undoubted  and  indubitable  fact :     From  every  office,  of 


UNVEILING    THE    STATUE    OF    GENERAL    SHIELDS.  737 

the  many  held  by  him,  at  one  time  or  another,  under  the  gift  of 
one  state  or  of  another.  Shields  always  went  back  to  private 
life  with  clean  hands, — poor  in  the  possession  of  all  emoluments, 
save  that  of  honor  for  faithful  service. 

But,  whatever  his  other  achievements,  it  is  the  field  of  war 
where  James  Shields  is  to  be  seen  at  his  best.  There  his  Celtic 
nature  bursts  forward  in  special  efflorescence.  Above  all  else 
he  is  the  soldier.  As  the  soldier,  especially,  we  salute  him,  w^e 
honor  him.  All  the  virtues  of  the  soldier  are  in  him  in 
plenary  apportionment, — skill  of  strategy,  firmness  of  discipli- 
nary mastership,  magic  power  of  control  of  troops,  undaunted 
courage,  a  dash  in  attack  that  bewilders,  an  endurance  of  pain 
and  fatigue  that  secures  victory  when  defeat  is  most  threaten- 
ing. The  vanguard  is  always  his  coveted  place,  there  brandish- 
ing his  sword,  compelling  by  sheer  magnetism  of  example  oth- 
ers to  follow  his  lead.  Wounded — he  was  wounded  in  almost 
every  engagement —  he  still  fights  on,  so  long  as  strength  to 
move  remains.  Compelled  to  retire,  he  frets  like  the  caged  lion, 
until  again  he  has  leaped  into  the  saddle.  Warriors  of  Napo- 
leon, Ney,  Murat,  McDonald, — how  fittingly  Shields  should  have 
ridden  with  them!  I  must  not  tarry  in  details.  Let  praise 
from  General  Scott  suffice.  In  his  report  of  the  battle  of  Cerro 
Gordo,  the  commander-in-chief  wrote:  ''General  Shields,  a 
commander  of  activity,  zeal  and  talent,  is,  I  fear,  if  not  dead, 
mortally  wounded. ' '  Later  he  said :  ' '  Shields '  brigade,  brave- 
ly assaulting  the  left,  carried  the  rear  battery  (five  guns)  on 
the  Islapa  road,  and  added  materially  in  the  rout  of  the  enemy. ' ' 
And  again :  ' '  The  brigade  so  gallantly  led  by  General  Shields, 
and  after  his  fall  by  Colonel  Baker,  deserves  commendation  for 
fine  behavior  and  success." 

Scarcely  convalescent,  Shields  is  again  on  his  charger  in  the 
march  to  the  City  of  Mexico — always  the  undaunted  soldier. 
In  the  battle  of  Contreras,  "Shields,"  said  General  Scott,  "by 
the  wise  disposition  of  his  brigade  and  gallant  activity,  con- 
tributed much  to  the  general  results.  He  held  masses  of  cav- 
alry and  infantry,  supported  by  artillery,  in  check  below  him, 
and  captured  hundreds,  with  one  general  (Mendoza)  of  those 
who  fled  from  above. "     "At  Cherubusco, ' '  I  still  quote  General 


738  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Scott,  ''Shields  concentrated  the  division  about  a  hamlet  and 
determined  the  attack  in  front.  The  battle  was  long,  hot  and 
varied ;  but  ultimately  success  crowned  the  zeal  and  gallantry 
of  our  troops,  ably  directed  by  their  distinguished  commander, 
General  Shields."  At  Chapultepec,  his  horse  was  killed  under 
him ;  Shields  fought  on  foot,  bareheaded,  in  shirt  sleeves,  lead- 
ing his  brigade,  sword  in  hand.  Yet  another  wound,  but  no 
cessation  of  rush.and  combat.  Shields'  command  led  the  van 
into  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  first  planted  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
on  the  walls  of  the  Belen  Gate. 

Came  the  great  war, — ^the  war  for  the  salvation  of  the  Union. 
Shields,  a  resident  of  California,  bounded  across  the  continent, 
joyous  to  be  again  a  soldier.  He  was  commissioned  brigadier 
and  assigned  to  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  At  Winchester  he  met 
Stonewall  Jackson,  fated  there  to  meet  under  the  blow  of  our 
own  hero  his  only  defeat.  Shields  again  was  wounded ;  much 
of  the  engagement  he  directed  from  his  blood-stained  cot,  in  the 
rear  of  his  command ;  Colonel  Kimball,  who  led  the  final  charge, 
reported,  after  the  victory,  that  in  all  details  he  carried  out  the 
plans  and  directions  of  his  leader.  Shields'  division  alone  had 
confronted  Jackson's  much  larger  army,  and  had  won  the  vic- 
tory. If  later,  at  Port  Republic,  Jackson  did  not  receive  an- 
other severe  defeat,  it  was  because  orders  given  by  General 
Shields  to  burn  the  bridge  across  Aquia  Creek,  for  some  un- 
explained reason,  had  not  been  obeyed.  This  is  the  testimony 
of  General  Gates,  an  officer  under  Stonewall  Jackson,  speaking 
at  the  unveiling  of  the  Shields  Statue  in  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington: "Had  General  Shields'  orders  been  obeyed,  there  was 
no  escape  for  Jackson."  The  orders  obeyed,  the  bridge  burnt, 
one  of  the  most  decisive  victories  of  the  War  should  have  been 
gained  by  General  Shields. 

General  Shields  resigned  from  the  army  March  28,  1863.  I 
take  his  act  to  have  been  a  mistake.  He  and  the  Secretary  of 
War,  Mr.  Stanton,  were  not  in  accord.  Shields  should  have 
borne  with  patience  Mr.  Stanton's  displeasure  and  gone  for- 
ward in  spite  of  temporary  opposition,  gone  whither  his  merits 
bade  him  go,  forward  to  greater  victories  and  higher  rewards. 
It  was  a  mistake  of  his  Celtic  temperament,  to  which  we  must 


UNVEILING    THE    STATUE    OF    GENERAL    SHIELDS.  739 

grant  indulgence,  in  view  of  the  deeds  of  glory,  of  which  else- 
where it  was  the  generous  prompter. 

General  Shields  is  the  soldier  of  three  wars.  He  barely 
missed  being  the  soldier  of  four  wars.  While  a  resident  of  Min- 
nesota he  heard  of  an  Indian  outbreak  near  the  southern  border 
line  of  the  State.  Quickly  his  appeal  echoed  through  Faribault 
and  Shieldsville ;  a  troop  of  his  Irish  Colonists  rallied  around 
him,  with  whatever  arms  they  could  gather  together.  Soon 
General  Shields  and  his  braves  were  on  the  field  of  strife,  but, 
alas  for  his  expectation  of  that  war,  peace  had  already  been 
proclaimed. 

So,  when  building  a  monument  to  James  Shields,  we  have 
built  it  to  the  soldier.  General  Shields.  Have  you  done  well, 
Companions  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  Comrades  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  in  setting  up  before  the  eyes  of  present  and 
future  generations,  in  Minnesota's  Hall  of  Fame,  the  man  who 
rushed  to  war,  in  defence  of  country's  rights  and  country's 
honor?  Most  decidedly  so.  Peace  is  the  ideal  condition  of 
human  society, — all  things,  even  war  itself,  must  tend  to  peace  ; 
but  God  avert  from  America  the  ruin  of  its  commonwealth,  the 
plunder  of  its  territory,  the  dishonor  to  its  flag,  from  which  war 
alone  could  have  wrested  it.  Rather  war,  a  hundred  times, 
than  evils  such  as  those.  Never  do  we  know  when  menace  may 
be  nigh;  never,  consequently,  must  America's  sons  be  void  of 
the  martial  spirit,  which  bids  America  ever  be  free,  ever  secure, 
ever  honored  and  respected.  The  names  of  our  military  heroes 
are  safeguards  of  patriotism;  their  memories  are  perennial 
founts  of  its  life  and  vigor. 

Another  factor  in  the  career  of  General  Shields  was  America 
itself.  America  gave  to  him  inspiration  and  blessed  his  labor. 
America  rewarded  his  merits. 

General  Shields  was  by  birth  an  Irishman,  by  religion  a 
Catholic.  By  lifelong  and  most  loyal  service,  by  the  oft  offered 
sacrifice  of  his  blood,  he  was  the  American.  Never  did  the 
Star-spangled  Banner  look  down  upon  more  sincere  and  braver 
patriotism  than  that  which  fired  the  heart  and  electrified  the 
sword  of  General  James  Shields.  America  put  faith  in  the 
plighted  troth  and  the  deeds  of  General  Shields;  accepted  him 


740  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

into  the  fullness  of  sonship,  accorded  to  him  all  opportunities, 
all  rights,  all  privileges,  within  the  gift  of  the  Star-spangled 
Banner.  General  Shields  was  the  citizen  of  America ;  it  was  all 
that  he  should  have  desired,  all  that  he  could  have  needed  for 
himself,  to  fall  or  to  stand.     Right  nobly  did  he  stand. 

Now  and  then  whispers  pass  through  the  air  that  men  like 
to  General  Shields  in  birthplace  and  in  religious  belief  are  not 
the  truest  of  Americans.  Such  whispers  are  the  vilest  of  false- 
hoods. In  contradiction,  we  evoke  into  speech  the  battlefields 
reddened  by  the  armies  of  America,  the  lakes  and  oceans  fur- 
rowed by  its  navies ;  we  evoke  into  speech  the  monument  erect- 
ed this  day,  within  the  Capitol  of  Minnesota,  to  the  name  and 
the  fame  of  General  James  Shields. 

Back  again,  General  Shields,  to  Minnesota,  back  with  the 
memories  of  your  services  to  Minnesota  itself,  with  the  glories 
in  other  states  of  the  Union, — back  Avith  the  triumphant  flags  of 
Cerro  Cordo,  and  of  Winchester, — back,  the  true  and  loyal  son 
and  servant  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
Our  Welcome — the  welcome  of  our  admiration  and  love — is 
yours. 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XVIII. 


ADDRESSES  ON  THE  PRESENTATION  OF  THE  POR- 
TRAIT OF  PROFESSOR  JABEZ  BROOKS. 


In  the  Council  Meeting  on  April  11,  1910,  an  oil  portrait  of 
the  late  Professor  Jabez  Brooks  was  presented  to  this  Society 
by  his  friends. 

Judge;  Hascal  R.  Brill,  of  Saint  Paul,  spoke  on  this  occasion 
as  follows: 

It  is  eminently  fitting  that  a  portrait  of  Professor  Brooks 
should  be  hung  upon  the  walls  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Minnesota.  He  was  the  principal  of  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment of  Hamline  University,  located  at  Red  Wing,  four  years 
before  the  state  was  admitted  to  the  Union.  He  was  President 
of  Hamline  University  from  1861  to  1869,  and  thereafter  for 
forty  years  he  was  professor  of  Greek  in  the  State  University. 
These  facts  alone  would  justify  the  preservation  of  his  por- 
trait by  the  Historical  Society.  But  there  are  circumstances 
connected  with  his  early  career  as  an  educator,  which  do  not 
lie  upon  the  surface  but  which  make  it  especially  appropriate 
that  he  should  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance  by  the  people  of 
tlie  state,  and  to  some  of  these  I  desire  briefly  to  call  attention. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  as  a  youth  to  be  his  pupil  for  a 
period  of  nearly  five  years.  The  respect  at  first,  and  the  added 
affection  afterward,  which  I  formed  for  him  during  this  period, 
have  been  intensified  as  the  years  have  passed,  and  as  I  have 
realized  more  and  more  the  importance  of  the  work  he  per- 
formed and  the  influence  he  exerted. 

Though  not  active  in  public  life,  Professor  Brooks  had  much 
to  do  with  laying  good  foundations  for  this  commonwealth. 
His  influence  upon  the  quality  of  the  citizenship  of  the  new 
state  was  very  great.  The  institution  of  which  in  the  early 
days  he  v^as  the  head  was  for  years  the  only  one  of  its  grade 
in  the  territory  and  state.  Its  list  of  graduates  was  not  long, 
but  hundreds  of  youn^  men  and  women  from  the  virgin  farms 


742  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  scattered  villages  of  the  state  attended  its  sessions  for  the 
only  higher  education  they  ever  had.  Because  of  the  lack  of 
library  and  apparatus  in  this  early  institution,  the  personality 
of  the  teacher  was  intensified  and  was  potent  to  a  degree  diffi- 
cult now  to  realize.  Lacking  funds,  the  institution  was  able 
to  employ  but  a  scant  corps  of  teachers.  Professor  Brooks 
taught  the  classes  of  many  teachers  and  performed  the  work  of 
many  men.  He  came  into  close  personal  contact  with  all  the 
students. 

He  was  born  under  a  foreign  flag,  but  he  was  an  American 
of  the  best  type.  His  scholarship  was  broad  and  thorough,  his 
ideals  were  lofty,  his  character  was  of  the  finest,  his  person- 
ality was  most  delightful.  He  had  decided  views  of  right  and 
wrong,  and  stood  without  wavering  for  what  he  believed  to 
be  the  right;  but  he  was  tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others, 
and  he  was  charitable  in  a  marked  degree  toward  those  who 
had  wandered  from  the  right  way.  He  was  not  effeminate  in 
any  of  his  characteristics  or  attributes,  but  in  his  intercourse 
with  his  students  he  was  as  gentle  and  as  lovable  as  a  woman. 

In  this  early  period  there  were  no  railroads  to  bring  together 
the  remote  communities.  There  were  no  telephones,  no  auto- 
mobiles, no  rural  free  deliveries,  and  ox  teams  were  more  com- 
mon than  horses.  The  intercourse  of  the  people  was  slow  and 
difficult.  There  were  few  of  the  thousand  later  methods  and 
appliances  which  have  so  greatly  enlarged  the  scope  of  human 
knowledge  and  have  promoted  the  intelligence  of  all  the  people. 

The  students  of  the  early  institution  for  the  most  part  came 
from  homes  which  were  obliged  to  sacrifice  that  they  might 
come,  and  many  worked  their  way.  Their  opportunities  had 
been  limited,  and  their  previous  learning  consisted  of  what 
they  had  acquired  in  the  district  schools,  then  far  below  their 
present  standard;  they  were  much  older  than  the  present 
average  student  of  their  grade  of  scholarship ;  they  came  be- 
cause they  had  a  longing  for  something  higher  and  better,  a 
desire  to  fit  themselves  for  the  work  of  life  before  them ;  their 
characters  were  plastic,  their  minds  were  receptive, "and  even 
a  short  period  under  proper  tutelage  meant  much  to  them. 
These  young  men  and  women  were  brought  into  intimate  per- 


PRESENTATION  OF  PORTRAIT  OF  PROFESSOR  BROOKS. 


743 


sonal  relation  with  Professor  Brooks.  He  was  not  alone  the 
head  of  the  institution  at  which  they  were  students,  he  was 
their  teacher,  unfolding  to  them  the  infinite  possibilities  of  the 
field  of  knowledge ;  he  was  their  guide  to  the  realm  of  the  good, 
the  true,  and  the  beautiful,  and  he  was  their  friend.  His  stu- 
dents, whether  under  his  influence  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time, 
carried  out  into  the  life  of  the  new  community  from  this  quiet 
and  modest  man  an  inspiration  which  made  them  happier  men 
and  women,  which  made  them  better  men  and  women,  which 
made  them  more  useful  to  the  world  and  better  citizens,  and 
which  was  of  inestimable  value  to  our  beloved  state  at  its 
formative  period  in  the  shaping  of  its  destiny. 

General  L.  F.  Hubbard,  long  a  resident  of  Red  Wing,  and 
later  of  St.  Paul,  said : 

Fifty  years  ago  I  knew  Dr.  Brooks  quite  well ;  as  well,  per- 
haps, as  almost  any  one  among  the  general  public  who  had  the 
pleasure  and  advantage  of  his  acquaintance.  When  I  came 
to  Red  Wing  in  1857,  Dr.  Brooks  was  already  established  there 
as  one  of  the  pillars  of  Hamline  University,  engaged  with  his 
co-workers  in  an  earnest  though  somewhat  discouraging  effort, 
to  place  on  a  substantial  basis  the  institution  founded  by 
Bishop  Hamline.  In  those  pioneer  days  one  soon  came  to  know 
everybody  else  in  the  community,  and  among  those  to  whom  I 
was  early  attracted  by  his  genial  personality  was  Dr.  Brooks. 
I  vividly  recall  the  kindly  sympathy  with  which  Dr.  Brooks 
sought  to  encourage  me  in  my  efforts  to  gain  a  footing  for  the 
enterprise,  a  weekly  newspaper,  that  I  started  in  Red  Wing  in 
1857.  Such  sentiments  prevailed  in  the  new  communities  of 
the  west  in  those  days  in  a  much  greater  degree  than  is  the  case 
now,  and  were  a  potent  agency  in  strengthening  the  courage 
and  hopefulness  of  a  young  man  in  the  outset  of  his  career. 

While  all  my  relations  with  Dr.  Brooks  were  of  the.  pleas- 
antest  character,  I  especially  recall  him  as  one  of  a  group  of 
great  characters  that  were  attracted  to  Red  Wing  by  the  estab- 
lishment there  of  Hamline  University.  Red  Wing  became,  by 
reason  of  such  location,  the  headquarters  for  a  time  of  the 
Methodist  denomination  for  the  Territory  of  Minnesota;    and 


744  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

as  a  consequence  several  of  the  great  lights  of  the  Church 
made  Red  Wing  their  residence  for  several  years.  The  Revs. 
Matthew  Sorin,  Chauncey  and  Morris  Hobart,  Daniel  Cobb, 
Cyrus  Brooks,  and  B.  F.  Crary,  with  Dr.  Jabez  Brooks  and 
others,  formed  a  group  of  very  able  men,  who  by  their  cease- 
less efforts,  sacrifice,  and  devotion  to  their  work,  proved  a 
powerful  agency  in  forming  and  giving  force  to  the  moral, 
intellectual,  and  religious  character  of  the  community  of  those 
early  days.  They  have  all  passed  away.  Dr.  Brooks  was  the 
last  to  go,  and  for  many  years  was  the  only  one  left,  but  he 
and  they  have  left  an  impress  upon  the  commonwealth  that 
will  long  endure. 

Professor  N.  H.  Winchell,  of  Minneapolis,  during  many 
years  the  State  Geologist,  said : 

My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Brooks  began  in  1872,  when  I 
first  came  to  Minnesota.  As  members  of  the  faculty  of  the 
State  University,  we  came  into  close  personal  and  official  rela- 
tions. He  had  been  connected  with  the  University  for  three 
years  and  was  the  senior  in  years  and  in  dignity,  and  com- 
manded the  respect  and  confidence  of  all.  Although  we  differed 
on  some  methods  of  education,  our  acquaintance  continued  en- 
tirely friendly  and  even  confidential.  As  years  passed  I  saw 
less  of  him,  my  duties  taking  me  away  from  the  University 
proper. 

One  summer  he  spent  a  part  of  his  vacation  with  me  in  the 
field  work  of  the  geological  survey,  examining  the  rugged  coast 
line  of  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior.  It  has  been  said 
that  among  the  soldiers  of  the  late  war  the  close  association 
of  camp  life  brought  out  all  the  personal  traits,  both  good  and 
bad,  so  that  comrades  came  to  know  each  other  better  than  in 
any  other  way ;  and  to  a  large  degree  the  same  is  true  of  camp 
life  during  a  summer  vacation.  That  brief  period  of  camp  life 
in  company  with  Dr.  Brooks  served  only  to  confirm  my  friend- 
ship for  him,  and  my  respect  for  his  personal  honor.  Fre- 
quently in  later  years  the  events  of  that  season  in  camp  to- 
gether were  a  subject  of  pleasant  recollection  and  conversa- 
tion.   When  our  paths  of  duty  diverged  and  separated  more 


PRESENTATION  OF  PORTRAIT  OF  PROFESSOR  BROOKS.  745 

widely,  I  found  that  one  of  the  greenest  spots  in  the  retrospect 
over  the  past  was  my  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Brooks;  and  it 
was  one  of  my  pleasantest  social  experiences  to  meet  him  in 
brief  reciprocal  visits,  and  to  shake  his  hand  when  casually 
meeting  him  on  the  campus  or  in  the  street. 

His  mind  always  reverted  to  the  camp  life  of  that  short 
vacation,  and  he  asked,  ''When  are  you  going  again  to  the 
north  shore  of  Lake  Superior?"  Alas,  I  told  him  I  thought  it 
doubtful  if  I  should  ever  go,  although  there  were  numerous 
unsolved  problems  remaining  which  I  would  like  to  undertake. 
On  occasion  of  one  of  the  latest  interviews,  but  a  few  months 
prior  to  his  death,  a  tentative  quasi-agreement  was  made  that 
in  the  near  future  we  should  together  repeat,  in  a  measure, 
our  old  camp  life,  and  should  visit  again  some  of  the  interest- 
ing and  beautiful  scenes  in  the  rocky  outlines  of  the  ''north 
shore."  Although  he  was  well  aware  of  the  limitations  of 
human  life  and  conscious  that  he  was  an  old  man  (eighty-five 
years),  his  mental  alertness  seemed  to  warrant  him  in  reck- 
oning on  sufficient  physical  strength  to  undertake  another  boat 
trip  along  the  shore  where  he  had  coasted  twenty-five  years 
before.  But  it  was  never  to  be.  The  gentle  summons  came 
soon,  and  that  last  planned  excursion  over  the  old  route  will 
exist  only  as  a  phantom  of  the  hoped-for  and  unrealized. 

Thus  one  by  one  the  trees  of  the  forest  fall.  Dr.  Brooks  was 
like  a  sturdy  oak,  which  had  breasted  many  years  of  storm,  and 
only  fell  when  its  functions  had  been  all  discharged,  and  when 
the  fruits  of  its  long  life  had  been  numerous  and  generously 
disseminated. 

In  presenting  this  portrait  to  the  Historical  Society,  it  is 
appropriate  to  recall  some  of  the  services  which  Dr.  Brooks 
rendered  to  the  State  of  Minnesota. 

He  was  born  September  18,  1823,  at  Stockport,  England,  and 
came  to  America  in  his  sixteenth  year.  His  father,  the  late 
David  Brooks,  was  a  Methodist  clergyman' well  known  in  Min- 
nesota and  in  "Wisconsin.  The  son  was  educated  at  first  at 
private  schools,  and  in  Rock  River  Seminary,  Mount  Morris, 
111.  He  graduated  at  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn., 
in  1850. 


746  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

He  taught  a  private  school  in  Watertown,  Wis.,  and  mathe- 
matics at  Lawrence  University,  Appleton,  Wis. ;  was  principal 
of  the  preparatory  department  of  Hamline  University  at  Red 
Wing,  1854  to  1857;  was  president  of  the  same  university 
from  1861  to  1869;  and  was  president  of  the  Minnesota  Edu- 
cational Association  in  1868. 

He  organized  the  first  Normal  School  Board,  and  served  as 
a  member  of  it  for  two  terms.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
first  Agricultural  State  Board,  where  he  served  as  president 
for  two  terms.  He  was  elected  to  membership  in  the  first  fac- 
ulty of  the  University  of  Minnesota  in  1869,  when  it  was  fully 
organized  and  opened,  and  maintained  that  connection,  being 
professor  of  the  Greek  language  and  literature,  until  he  retired 
on  the  Carnegie  Pension  Foundation  in  1909,  having  completed 
there  a  period  of  forty  years. 

He  served  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  in  various  capaci- 
ties, being  pastor  in  Milwaukee  in  1853,  and  at  the  Central 
Church,  Winona,  1859-60 ;  member  of  the  General  Conferences 
of  1864  and  1868 ;  and  president  of  Hamline  University,  as  be- 
fore noted,  from  1861  to  1869.  That  institution  was  organized 
and  grew  up,  while  at  Red  Wing,  under  his  special  care  and 
direction.  He  was  a  member  and  an  official  of  the  Wesley 
M.  E.  Church,  Minneapolis.  He  died  at  San  Jose,  California, 
January  26,  1910,  and  was  buried  in  Lakewood  Cemetery,  Min- 
neapolis. 

This  painting,  which  was  made  by  Mr.  T.  S.  Russell  of  St. 
Paul,  has  received  the  special  approval  and  commendation  of  his 
family,  and  is  said  by  all  to  be  an  excellent  reproduction,  not 
only  of  his  features,  but  also  of  his  intelligent  and  pleasant  ex- 
pression. May  it  long  remain  in  this  State  Portrait  Gallery  as  a 
reminder  of  one  of  the  best  and  best  loved  of  Minnesota's 
citizens. 

Dr.  William  W.  Folwell,  former  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota,  spoke  as  follows : 

I  am  safe  in  assuming  that  it  is  expected  of  me,  on  this  occa- 
sion, to  speak  of  Dr.  Brooks  as  a  teacher.  He  had  of  course 
other  interests,  but  teaching  was  his  central  life  work,  his  pro- 


PRESENTATION  OF  PORTRAIT  OF  PROFESSOR  BROOKS.    747 

fession.  When  we  became  associated  in  the  University  forty 
years  ago,  he  was  already  a  veteran  and  had  won  his  way  to 
the  leadership  of  the  profession  in  Minnesota.  His  labors  and 
sacrifices  are  still  warmly  cherished  by  a  large  body  of  living 
Hamline  students,  and  the  historian  of  Hamline  will  find  the 
romance  of  that  institution  in  the  years  of  President  Brooks' 
service  there. 

For  forty  years  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  work  by  his  side. 
I  ought  to  know  his  place  and  worth  among  teachers.  I  think 
I  may  assume  to.  A  wise  critic  praised  one  of  my  own  teachers 
by  saying,  ''He  could  make  boys,  even  lazy  boys,  work  hard 
and  like  it."  Dr.  Brooks  could  do  that.  The  range  and  depth 
of  his  knowledge,  his  fine  art  of  exposition,  his  reasonableness 
in  exacting  tasks,  lent  interest  and  dignity  to  the  matter  in 
hand.  His  students  felt,  and  they  feel  it  still,  that  the  hours 
spent  in  his  class-room  or  in  preparation  for  its  exercises  were 
well  spent.  It  was  worth  while  to  be  there  and  ready  each  for 
his  part.  The  crowning  merit  of  all  teaching  is  to  arouse  inter- 
est and  employ  the  faculties  of  the  student.  I  lay  this  laurel 
on  the  brow  of  this  great  teacher. 

The  great  public  cannot  well  know  how  much  the  time  and 
thought  of  college  teachers  go  to  the  duties  of  organization, 
administration,  and  discipline.  Many  of  us  grudge  that  time 
and  groan  over  the  burden.  Professor  Brooks  was  always  ready 
and  willing  to  share  this  burden.  My  heart  is  full  of  gratitude 
for  his  help  and  counsel  in  our  days  of  infancy.  His  ripe  expe- 
rience, his  trained  judgment,  his  perfect  knowledge,  above  all 
his  poise  and  serenity  of  temper,  made  him  a  tower  of  strength 
in  the  faculty.  Many  of  us  could  recall  occasions  when  the  final 
word  in  season  of  our  senior  cleared  the  air,  calmed  excitement, 
and  showed  the  way  out  of  the  tangle. 

Absolutely  firm  as  to  principles  and  ends,  he  could  tolerate 
all  kinds  of  differences  as  to  ways  and  means.  If  he  found 
himself  in  the  minority,  which  was  rare,  he  knew  how  to  accept 
the  bottom  principle  of  democracy,  which  is  to  leave  the  major- 
ity to  work  out  its  policy  without  impatience  or  obstruction. 

It  was  in  cases  of  discipline  that  the  counsel  of  Dr.  Brooks 
was  perhaps  most  precious.    His  mind  made  him  a  judge,  his 


748  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

heart  a  father.  He  could  stand  for  the  majesty  of  the  law, 
and  yet  so  temper  justice  to  the  individual  case  as  to  make 
the  offender  feel  that  correction  was  better  than  pardon. 

The  teacher's  art  is  a  noble  one.  "I  magnify  mine  office." 
But  there  is  more  to  the  teacher 's  calling  than  book  work  and 
recitations  and  lectures. 

We  hear  much  said  about  the  teaching  of  morals  in  the 
schools.  They  are  taught  and  must  be ;  and,  what  is  more, 
character,  the  ground  and  source  of  morals,  is  formed  there. 
And  it  is  the  walk  and  conversation  of  the  teacher  which  counts 
for  more  than  all  else  in  character  building.  The  teacher  need 
not  say  a  single  evil  word,  and  yet  he  may  corrupt  and  lit- 
erally demoralize  every  scholar.  He  need  not  speak  a  word  in 
praise  of  virtue,  of  things  which  are  noble  and  just,  and  yet 
every  boy  who  sits  at  his  feet  may  be  ennobled  and  strength- 
ened for  the  struggle  against  sin  and  w^rong. 

Judged  from  this  point  of  view,  our  departed  Nestor  might 
bear  the  palm.  His  daily  walk  among  us  was  a  challenge  to 
each  to  be  and  to  do  his  best.  It  spoke  for  purity,  honor,  cour- 
age, temperance,  and  all  the  virtues  in  the  calendar. 

Serene,  unaffected,  simple,  dignified  but  always  genial,  with- 
out pretense  or  ostentation,  he  passed  among  us  a  living  exam- 
ple and  witness  of  ''the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 

His  was  the  path  of  the  just,  shining  more  and  more  unto 
the  perfect  day. 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS  IN  HONOR  OF  GOVERNOR 
JOHNSON.* 


BY  JUSTICE   THOMAS  D.   O'BRIEN. 


John  Albert  Johnson  was  the  sixteenth  governor  of  Minne- 
sota and  the  first  of  her  native  sons  to  occupy  that  position. 

He  was  of  Swedish  ancestry,  was  born  at  St.  Peter,  Minne- 
sota, July  28,  1861,  and  died  at  Rochester,  Minn.,  September  21, 
1909. 

His  death  came  as  a  shock  to  the  people,  not  only  of  his 
native  state,  but  of  all  the  states  of  the  Union;  for  Governor 
Johnson  was  one  of  the  public  men  in  America  to  whom  the 
people  looked  for  good  government  and  the  advancement  of 
American  ideals.  In  the  public  mind  he  ranked  with  such  men 
as  Roosevelt  and  Hughes,  while  those  who  knew  him  intimately 
and  loved  him  well  believed  he  possessed  the  sincerity,  cour- 
age, and  sagacity  of  both. 

We  can  readily  appreciate  the  life  and  experiences  of  the 
child  of  humble  immigrants,  born  in  Minnesota  in  1861.  This 
boy  became  the  main  support  of  his  mother  and  the  family 
from  an  early  age,  and  ''the  uses  of  adversity"  developed  in 
him  the  very  highest  qualities,  as  they  always  do  in  one  who 
has  within  his  soul  the  elemental  spark  of  greatness.  So  in  his 
mature  years  Johnson  was  contented,  for  he  had  the  sense  of 
duty  well  performed;  he  was  strong  and  brave,  for  he  had 
met  and  overcome  great  obstacles ;  he  was  faithful,  because  his 
whole  life  had  been  devoted  to  the  fulfillment  of  obligations 
voluntarily  assumed. 

While  his  intimate  friends  knew  that  he  had,  and  deservedly 
so,  the  confidence  and  affection  of  many,  it  was  only  after  his 


*Read  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  October  11, 
1909. 

A  biography  of  Governor  Johnson,  with  a  portrait,  is  in  Volume  XIII 
of  this  Society's  Collections,  published  in  1908,  pages  423-460.  See  also 
Life  of  John  Albert  Johnson,  by  Frank  A.  Day  and  Theodore  M.  Knappen, 
1910,  429  pages,  with  portraits  and  other  illustrations. 


750  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

death  that  they  realized  the  extent  to  which  he  was  beloved 
by  all  classes  of  citizens.  The  testimonials  of  grief  for  his 
early  death,  and  of  respect  for  his  character  and  achievements, 
exceeded  those  ever  paid  to  the  memory  of  a  citizen  of  Minne- 
sota. 

Governor  Johnson  was  first  of  all  an  optimist,  he  believed 
and  trusted  in  the  future,  he  loved  his  country  and  its  institu- 
tions, and  his  favorite  topic  was  the  boundless  opportunities 
which  America  affords  to  the  industrious  and  the  alert.  While 
keenly  alive  to  the  proprieties  of  official  and  social  life,  he 
ignored  differences  or  grades  in  the  social  structure.  He  did 
not  believe,  and  apparently  did  not  realize  that  any  one  could 
believe,  that  one  man  is,  by  birth,  entitled  to  more  considera- 
tion than  another.  The  standing  of  an  individual,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  depended  entirely  upon  the  conduct  and  efforts  of  the 
individual  himself.  This  with  him  was  not  a  matter  of  judg- 
ment or  education,  it  came  from  no  reflection  upon  his  part. 
He  was  as  unconscious  of  the  mental  operation  leading  to  this 
attitude  as  he  was  of  breathing,  and  made  no  more  attempt  to 
control  his  instinct  than  to  regulate  his  heart  beats;  and  so 
he  met  old  men  and  children,  famous  authors  and  struggling 
reporters,  great  statesmen  and  humble  mechanics,  in  the  same 
simple  straightforward  manner,  and  captivated  each  in  turn. 

He  had  a  quality  not  always  found  in  great  men,  but  one 
which  only  great  men  possess.  He  not  only  easily  forgave, 
but  apparently  entirely  forgot  his  enemies.  He  was  a  brave  and 
adroit  antagonist,  but  to  ''treasure  up  a  wrong"  was  in  his 
mind  worse  than  useless,  for  it  turned  his  thoughts  from  pleas- 
ant to  unpleasant  subjects.  He  seemed  to  think  that  the  one 
guilty  of  the  wrong  should  carry  the  burden  of  remembering 
it.  He  never  forgot  a  friend  or  a  kindness,  he  did  not  make  the 
mistake  of  preferring  his  opponents  to  his  supporters,  but  the 
fact  that  he  seemingly  was  incapable  of  bearing  malice  had  the 
constant  effect  of  changing  enemies  into  friends  without  los- 
ing former  friends. 

As  a  public  official,  he  exhibited  the  same  characteristics 
and  performed  his  duties  in  so  simple  and  direct  a  manner  that 
he  often  accomplished  much  more  good  than  was  realized.    The 


MEMORIAL  OF  GOVERNOR  JOHNSON.  751 

great  strike  upon  the  Iron  Range  was  settled  without  blood- 
shed, because  he  visited  the  Range  personally  and  convinced 
the  strikers  that  he  would  put  down  disorder,  and  the  mine 
owners  that  the  military  power  of  the  state  could  not  be  used 
for  private  purposes.  Later,  when  sending  me  as  one  of  a  com- 
mission to  the  scene,  he  said:  *'If  possible,  I  want  to  avoid 
calling  out  the  militia,  but  if  a  single  life  should  be  lost  because 
of  the  failure  on  my  part  to  afford  proper  protection  I  would 
never  forgive  myself.  I  want  this  commission  to  disregard 
entirely  every  political  consideration,  and  to  make  its  recom- 
mendations as  to  my  future  action  solely  with  regard  to  what 
is  right. ' ' 

This  was  not  a  public  utterance  of  Governor  Johnson,  It 
embodied  his  private  instructions  to  his  confidential  and  polit- 
ical friends,  and  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  make 
it  a  matter  of  historical  record. 

His  sympathy  for  the  poor  and  suffering  was  boundless, 
and  yet  I  have  often  heard  the  Chief  Justice  of  this  State  com- 
mend him  for  his  firmness  and  candor  in  the  performance  of 
his  duties  upon  the  board  of  pardons. 

I  am  reluctant  to  end  this  poor  tribute  to  my  friend's 
memory,  for  I  have  said  so  little  where  so  much  might  be 
said.  Remembering  him  as  he  was,  picture  after  picture 
glides  across  one's  mental  vision,  each  beautiful  and  more  than 
sufficient  to  occupy  the  time  allotted  to  me  tonight.  His  cheer- 
ful greeting,  his  alert  mentality,  his  active  sympathies,  his 
brave  heart,  his  devotion  to  duty,  and  his  reverence  for  the 
right,  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  knew  him. 

He  died  while  in  the  prime  of  life,  while  flushed  with  vic- 
tory, and  just  when  Fortune  seemed  beckoning  him  on  to  still 
greater  achievements.  But  who  shall  say  his  was  an  untimely 
death?  Memory  presents  the  view  of  a  perfected  life,  useful, 
successful,  and  buoyant.  It  is  complete  in  itself,  and  the  mer- 
ciful veil  which  hides  the  future  from  all  may  have  concealed 
sorrow  and  unfulfilled  ambitions  in  his  life  had  it  continued. 
"The  past  is  always  secure,"  and  we  have  now  the  crystallized 
memory  of  a  man  who  successfully  performed  every  duty  and 
faithfully  fulfilled  every  obligation  imposed  upon  him. 


Th^  Statue  of  Governor  Johnson  at  the  State  Capitol. 

October  19,  1912,  a  Bronze  Statue  of  Governor  Johnson,  by 
Andrew  O'Connor,  sculptor,  was  unveiled  on  the  ground  of  the 
State  Capitol,  near  the  main  entrance  of  its  south  side.  A 
Bronze  Tablet,  placed  on  the  north  side  of  the  granite  pedes- 
tal of  the  statue,  bears  this  Inscription : 

JOHN  albert  JOHNSON 

JULY  28.   1861  SEPT.   21.   1909 

THREE  TIMES  GOVERNOR  OF 

MINNESOTA 

A  POOR  BOY,  A  COUNTRY 

EDITOR,   A  NATURAL  LEADER, 

CUT  OFF  IN  HIS  PRIME, 

THE  NATION  MOURNS  HIS  LOSS. 

"HIS      LIFE      WAS      GENTLE;       AND 

THE       ELEMENTS       SO       MIXED       IN 

HIM,    THAT    NATURE    MIGHT    STAND 

UP    AND    SAY    TO    ALL    THE    WORLD, 

THIS  WAS  A  MAN." 

THIS     MONUMENT     IS     RAISED     TO 
HIS      MEMORY      BY      ONE      HUNDRED 
THOUSAND  OF  HIS  FRIENDS. 

The  Library  of  this  Historical  Society  received  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  1913,  by  donation  of  the  John  Albert  Johnson 
Memorial  Commission,  through  kindness  of  its  Secretary,  Mr. 
Charles  W.  Ames,  the  full  Correspondence  and  Records  of  that 
Commission,  relating  to  the  erection  of  this  statue  and  a  replica 
of  it  in  St.  Peter,  these  papers  being  bound  in  seven  quarto 
volumes. 

From  the  same  donor  and  in  the  same  year,  this  Library  also 
received  a  series  of  six  quarto  Scrap-Books,  containing  news- 
paper memorial  notices,  editorials,  and  other  articles,  gathered 
during  several  weeks  next  after  Governor  Johnson's  death, 
concerning  his  character  and  public  services,  and  evincing  wide- 
spread sorrow  in  Minnesota  and  throughout  the  United  States. 

w.  u. 


GENERAL  JAMES  HEATON  BAKER. 

Memorials  prese:nte;d  in  the  Meeting  of  the  Executive 
Council,  September  8,  1913. 

A  manuscript  sent  by  Judge  Lorin  Cray,  of  Mankato,  was 
read  by  the  Secretary,  as  follows: 

General  James  H.  Baker,  a  life  member  of  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society,  died  at  his  home  in  the  City  of  Mankato  in 
this  state  on  May  25,  1913. 

General  Baker  was  born  in  Monroe,  Butler  county,  Ohio,  on 
the  6th  day  of  May,  1829.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Baker, 
M.  D,,  and  Hannah  Heaton  Baker.  In  his  youth  he  attended 
the  Firnian  Academy  at  Middletown,  Ohio,  and  later  the  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University.  For  a  period  of  time  he  edited  the  Sciota 
Gazette  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  it  then  being  the  oldest  newspaper 
in  the  state.  He  served  as  Secretary  of  State  of  Ohio  from  1854 
to  1856,  when  Salmon  P.  Chase  was  Governor  of  that  State.  In 
1857  he  came  to  Minnesota,  and  shortly  thereafter  located  with 
his  family  in  Blue  Earth  County. 

He  was  elected  Secretary  of  State  in  1859  and  again  in  1861. 
In  1862  he  was  commissioned,  by  Governor  Alexander  Ramsey, 
to  be  Colonel  of  the  Tenth  Minnesota  Volunteers,  then  being 
recruited  for  service  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  He  served 
with  his  regiment  the  first  year  in  the  campaign  against  the 
Sioux  Indians,  and  in  the  fall  of  1863  with  his  regiment  went 
South.  At  the  close  of  the  war  General  Baker  was  appointed 
Commissioner  of  Pensions,  and  afterwaf d  Surveyor  General  for 
Minnesota.  In  1881  he  was  elected  State  Railway  Commis- 
sioner, in  which  office  he  served  two  terms. 

For  a  time  General  Baker  was  the  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Mankato  Free  Press.  A  goodly  portion  of  his  life  in  Blue 
Earth  county  was  spent  on  a  beautiful  farm  owned  by  him  near 
Rapidan,  where  he  personally  engaged  in  agriculture,  in  which 
he  was  always  much  interested  and  very  progressive. 

General  Baker  was  always  much  interested  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  Minnesota,  and  was  never  more  at  home  than  at  the 


754  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

meetings  of  the  old  settlers  of  his  county  and  state.  He  was 
pre-eminently  a  social  man,  an  easy,  fluent,  and  very  interest- 
ing conversationalist,  and  hospitable  to  a  fault.  He  was  never 
more  happy  than  when  surrounded  by  his  friends  whom  he 
always  delighted  to  entertain. 

He  was  a  consistent  attendant  and  supporter  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  and  also  belonged  to  the  Masonic  Order,  as  well 
as  the  Elks,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  the  Loyal 
Legion. 

He  was  a  power  to  be  reckoned  with  in  politics,  and  his  in- 
fluence was  always  felt  in  the  civic  and  social  life  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived,  and  always  for  the  betterment  of 
conditions  and  of  humanity  in  particular.  The  life  of  General 
.Baker  stands  out  as  one  of  pronounced  individuality,  and  of 
great  strength  of  purpose. 

On  September  25,  1851,  he  was  married  to  Rose  Lucia 
Thurston  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  who  died  March  20,  1873.  On 
December  23,  1879,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Zula  Bartlett,  who 
survives  him  and  now  resides  in  the  homestead  in  Mankato. 

General  Baker  was  laid  away  in  beautiful  Glenwood  Ceme- 
tery in  Mankato.  His  funeral  was  held  on  Wednesday,  May 
28,  1913,  being  largely  attended. 

Mr.  Thomas  Hughes,  of  Mankato,  contributed  the  following 
Memorial  of  General  Baker  as  an  Author: 

The  late  General  James  H.  Baker  was  a  man  of  many  splen- 
did talents.  Eminent  as  he  was  as  an  orator,  warrior,  and 
statesman,  he  also  possessed  rare  talents  as  an  author.  His 
numerous  and  valuable  historical  and  biographical  contribu- 
tions found  in  the  publications  of  this  Society  attest  this  fact. 
Among  these  papers  are  ''History  of  Lake  Superior,"  "The' 
Sources  of  the  Mississippi  River,"  ''Transportation  in  Min- 
nesota," and  "The  Lives  of  the  Governors  of  Minnesota."  All 
these  writings  show  great  research  and  a  masterly  selection  and 
presentation  of  the  mass  of  material  their  author  was  always 
able  to  discover. 

The  general  had  a  very  acute  mind  and  retentive  memory, 
and  his  long  life  spanned  one  of  the  most  eventful  periods  of 
the  world's  history;  and  so  far  as  this  related  to  the  "Middle 
West"  of  our  own  country,  he  had  a  personal  acquaintance 


MEMORIALS  OF   DECEASED  MEMBERS.    1909-14.  755 

with  most  of  the  great  men  and  a  personal  touch  with  most  of 
the  big  events  which  went  to  make  up  that  history.  Hence  the 
ease  with  which  General  Baker  could  always  command  the  right 
material  and  infuse  into  it  the  very  life  and  atmosphere  it  had 
when  it  was  the  actual  reality. 

Besides  the  very  unique  relation  he  bore  to  the  people  and 
the  times  concerning  which  he  wrote,  the  general  had  a  re- 
markable Command  of  the  English  language  and  a  fervid  lit- 
erary spirit,  which  gave  force,  fitness,  and  finish  to  every  sen- 
tence he  penned.  His  style  is  never  dull  n^r  florid,  but  always 
elegant,  incisive,  and  vigorous. 

His  monograph  on  "The  Sources  of  the  Mississippi"  is  a 
valuable  contribution  to  geographic  knowledge,  and  it  dealt  a 
mortal  blow  to  certain  theories  as  to  the  head  of  the  great  river 
once  in  vogue.  His  ''History  of  Lake  Superior"  did  much  to 
call  attention  to  the  world 's  greatest  waterway  and  the  world 's 
greatest  iron  mines.  ''The  Lives  of  the  Governors  of  Minne- 
sota," forming  Volume  XIH  of  this  Society's  Historical  Col- 
lections, written  at  the  eventide  of  our  author's  life,  is  a  fitting 
climax  to  his  literary  activity,  being  truly  a  great  work,  which 
will  grow  in  worth  and  importance  as  the  years  go  by. 

Mighty  was  he  with  tongue,  sword,  and  pen,  and  his  pass- 
ing removes  from  our  midst  one  of  our  greatest  and  best  citi- 
zens. 

Former  Governor  Van  Sant,  of  Minneapolis,  wrote: 
General  J.  H.  Baker's  death  was  a  great  loss  to  the  state. 
He  served  Minnesota  long  and  faithfully.  He  was  a  brave 
soldier  with  an  untarnished  record,  and  was  universally  loved 
by  all  his  comrades  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic ;  a  most 
exemplary  citizen;  a  statesman  of  ability;  a  forceful  and  elo- 
quent public  speaker;  an  author  of  recognized  merit;  and  his 
devotion  to  his  family  is  an  object  lesson  to  every  man  who 
loves  his  home. 

Personally  I  deeply  deplore  his  departure,  for  "he  was  my 
friend,  faithful  and  just  to  me."  He  lived  long  and  well;  why 
then  should  we  mourn?  Let  us  rather  emulate  his  many  vir- 
tues, so  that  it  may  be  said  of  us  as  of  him,  "Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant." 


756  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Hon.  Hani^ord  L.  Gordon,  formerly  of  St.  Cloud  and  Min- 
neapolis, now  of  Los  Angeles,  California,  wrote: 

I  met  General  Baker  first  in  the  political  campaign  of  1860. 
I  heard  him  then  make  one  of  the  very  ablest  and  most  eloquent 
speeches  I  had  ever  listened  to,  though  I  had  heard  speeches 
by  Daniel  Webster,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  William  H.  Seward, 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  many  other  noted  orators.  I  say  now, 
after  hearing  many  speeches  delivered  by  General  Baker,  that 
in  true  eloquence  he  was  the  peer  of  all  of  them,  and  in  power 
the  superior  of  all  of  them,  Abraham  Lincoln  excepted.  Once 
I  heard  Henry  Clay,  when  I  was  in  my  ''teens"  and  Clay  was 
an  old  man,  somewhat  enfeebled  doubtless  by  age  and  disap- 
pointment; but  the  old  fire  flashed  as  he  "picked  his  flint  and 
tried  it  again," — at  any  rate,  he  electro-fired  me.  When  I 
heard  General  Baker  the  first  time  (and  many  times  after),  the 
image  of  Henry  Clay  came  before  me  like  a  flash. 

Disraeli  said:  "Man  is  not  the  creature  of  circumstances; 
circumstances  are  the  creatures  of  men."  From  my  very  soul, 
and  from  seventy  odd  years  of  observation  and  reading,  I  seri- 
ously disagree  with  Disraeli.  Man  is,  in  a  large  measure,  the 
creature  of  circumstances.  If  General  Grant  had  had  no  Wash- 
bum  to  push  and  back  him,  he  might  have  died  a  poor  unknown 
tanner  in  Galena.  If  circumstances  had  not  called  for  Napo- 
leon, he  would  never  have  deluged  Europe  with  blood  and  met 
his  Nemesis  in  Moscow,  and  finally  at  Waterloo.  If  Joaquin 
Miller,  one  of  the  truest  American  poets,  had  been  born  and 
raised  in  Boston,  and  had  belonged  to  the  literary  clique  of 
Harvard  and  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  his  "Songs  of  the  Sierras" 
and  his  "Columbus"  would  be  recited  in  the  high  schools  and 
colleges  of  America  today,  along  with  Longfellow  and  Whittier. 

General  Baker  was  too  proud  a  man,  too  great  a  man,  to 
go  to  the  newspapers  and  buy  "glory."  He  ought  to  have 
been  United  States  Senator  from  Minnesota;  but  he  was  too 
good,  too  brave,  to  buy  it. 

Let  me  speak  of  his  literature.  His  "Song  of  Friendship," 
an  eulogy  on  his  dead  friend,  Charles  Scheffer,  proves  him  a 
poet.  His  splendid  articles  on  northern  Minnesota,  published 
in  the  Pioneer  Press,  show  his  fine  descriptive  powers,  and  his 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  757 

far-seeing  mind.  His  many  public  addresses  stamp  him,  not  as 
an  ordinary  eulogist,  but  as  a  man  of  sound  sense, .  varied  ex- 
perience, and  wide  learning.  His  ''Lives  of  the  Governors  of 
Minnesota"  proves  him  to  have  been  a  fair  and  impartial  his- 
torian, giving  to  even  his  political  opponents  fair  and  just 
credit,  and  withholding  mere  personal  criticism. 

The  faultless  man  is  yet  to  be  born,  but  when  I  look  back 
on  more  than  fifty  years  of  my  knowledge  of  and  friendship 
for  General  Baker,  I  can  see  fifty  faults  in  myself  where  I  can 
see  one  in  him.  As  a  military  officer  in  the  Civil  War,  he  did 
his  duty  and  did  it  thoroughly.  Circumstances,  the  orders  of 
superiors,  assigned  him  to  important  but  less  conspicuous  posi- 
tions. In  these  he  did  his  duty  faithfully  and  to  the  utmost.  In 
the  campaign  against  the  Sioux  outbreak  he  proved  his  per- 
sonal bravery.  Knowing  him  as  I  did,  I  know  he  would  have 
proved  it  elsewhere,  in  the  Civil  "War,  whenever  and  wherever 
"circumstances"  and  the  orders  of  his  superior  officers  per- 
mitted him  to  do  it.  Men  do  not  make  circumstances;  circum- 
stances make  men, — or,  at  least,  the  reputation  of  men. 

I  am  proud  (if  I  am  proud  of  anything)  that  General  Baker 
was  my  friend;  but  he  was  not  the  friend  of  his  friend's  faults, 
as  I  have  had  reason  to  know,  and  I  honor  him  for  it.  I  never 
had  many  true  friends ;  I  never  sought  for  many.  I  know  that 
he  was  one  of  the  sincerest,  a  true  and  honest  friend. 


LOREN  WARREN  COLLINS. 

In  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  January  13, 
1913,  Hon.  Colin  F.  Macdonald,  of  St.  Cloud,  presented  the 
following  memorial : 

During  the  past  year  or  slightly  more,  we  in  St.  Cloud  have 
suffered  the  loss  of  a  number  of  pioneer  heroes,  principal  among 
them  Loren  W.  Collins,  soldier,  jurist,  and  model  citizen ;  Henry 
C.  Waite,  member  of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention, 
miller,  merchant,  and  state  legislator;  Nehemiah  P.  Clarke, 
government  contractor,  leading  lumberman,  breeder  of  prize 
livestock,  and  banker;  Josiah  E.  West,  captain  in  the  Seventh 


758  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

Minnesota  regiment,  and  St.  Cloud 's  most  progressive  and  pub- 
lic-spirited citizen. 

Loren  Warren  Collins,  late  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  this  state,  a  life  member  and  Vice  President  of  this 
Historical  Society,  was  born  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  August  7,  1838 ; 
and  died  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis,  September  27,  1912.  He 
had  been  in  attendance  at  the  National  Encampment  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  the  week  of  September  8th,  ap- 
parently in  good  health,  but  became  ill  of  heart  trouble  and  hur- 
ried home  only  to  answer  the  last  roll  call  of  the  veteran  sol- 
dier. For  him  ''taps"  had  sounded.  Judge  Collins  descended 
from  old  New  England  stock,  his  ancestors  coming  to  the  New 
World  in  1650.  Great-grandfathers  on  both  parents'  side  were 
Continental  Soldiers  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Some  of  his 
ancestors  served  in  the  French  and  Indian  War  of  1760,  King 
William 's  War,  the  defence  of  Fort  Edward  and  of  Black  Point. 
They  also  held  many  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  in 
civil  life,  one  being  the  last  Colonial  Governor  of  New  Hamp- 
shire.   From  such  honored  lineage  Loren  W.  Collins  descended. 

In  1853,  the  ''call  of  the  West"  attracted  his  father,  and 
they  journeyed  to  the  Territory  of  Minnesota,  settling  on  land 
in  Eden  Prairie,  Hennepin  county.  Up  to  this  time  young  Col- 
lins' education  had  been  limited  to  only  such  as  was  afforded 
by  the  public  schools  of  Chicopee  and  Palmer,  Massachusetts, 
where  his  father,  as  a  mill  operative,  resided.  In  1856  the 
family  removed  to  a  new  home  in  Dakota  county,  near  Hastings. 

In  the  fall  of  1858,  young  Loren  taught  a  four  months'  term 
of  school  near  Cannon  Falls,  receiving  therefor  a  school  district 
order  for  $60.  Ambitious  to  rise  in  the  world,  and  feeling  that 
he  now  had  resources  sufficient  for  a  start,  he  began  the  study 
of  law  in  the  offices  of  Smith,  Smith  &  Crosby,  at  Hastings. 

On  August  15,  1862,  he  responded  to  President  Lincoln's 
call  for  volunteers,  and  enlisted  in  Company  F,  Seventh  Min- 
nesota Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  at  once  promoted  to  second 
lieutenant.  The  great  Sioux  Indian  outbreak  occurring  a  week 
later,  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  the  frontier,  under  Lieut. 
Col.  William  R.  Marshall.  Lieutenant  Collins  participated  in 
the  Sibley  campaign  of  that  year,  ending  in  the  battle  of  Wood 
Lake,  the  defeat  of  the  Sioux,  and  the  release  of  the  captive 


1 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED   MEMBERS,    1909-14.  759 

women  and  children.  The  next  spring  and  summer  he  served 
with  his  regiment  in  General  Sibley 's  campaign  across  the  plains 
to  the  Missouri  river  and  return. 

October  7,  1863,  the  Seventh  regiment  was  ordered  South. 
For  six  months  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Provost  Guard  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri.  In  July,  1864,  the  Seventh  was  ordered  to 
Tennessee  and  Mississippi,  and  was  actively  engaged  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  This  regiment  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Tupelo,  Miss. ;  the  Oxford,  Miss.,  raid ;  the  campaign  in  Ar- 
kansas and  Missouri  in  pursuit  of  the  Confederate  General 
Price ;  the  two  days  battle  of  Nashville,  resulting  in  the  defeat 
of  General  Hood  and  annihilation  of  his  army;  the  investure  of 
Mobile,  Ala.,  and  the  capture  of  Spanish  Fort,  April  9,  1865. 
During  this  period  Collins  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  and 
was  breveted  captain  March  26,  1865.  From  April  until  Au- 
gust, 1865,  he  was  Post  Adjutant  at  Selma,  Alabama. 

As  a  soldier.  Captain  Collins  exhibited  the  same  traits  that 
marked  his  subsequent  life.  He  was  genial  and  companionable 
with  his  associates;  he  was  zealous  and  energetic  in  the  per- 
formance of  every  duty,  or  in  the  discharge  of  every  order ;  and 
in  battle  he  was  gallant  and  fearless. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  shortly  after  his  muster  out, 
which  was  on  August  16,  1865. 

He  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Cloud  in  1866,  and,  at  once 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  continued 
for  seventeen  years  in  the  large  district  covering  central  and 
northern  Minnesota.  During  these  years  he  was  called  upon 
to  fill  many  official  positions.  He  was  mayor  of  St.  Cloud  four 
terms;  was  also  four  terms  the  county  attorney  of  Stearns 
county;  and  was  for  two  terms  a  representative  in  the  Legis- 
lature. 

In  April,  1883,  he  was  appointed  District  Judge,  and  by 
subsequent  election  served  four  years.  November  16,  1887,  he 
was  appointed  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to 
succeed  Justice  Berry,  deceased.  The  following  year  he  was 
elected  to  succeed  himself,  and  again  in  1894  and  also  in  1900. 
He  resigned  in  1904,  thus  having  served  twenty-one  years  on 
the  Bench, — four  years  as  Judge  of  the  Seventh  Judicial  Dis- 
trict, and  seventeen  years  as  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 


760  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

While  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Justice  Collins  wrote 
over  fifteen  hundred  opinions.  On  October  23d  last,  memorial 
exercises  were  held  before  that  tribunal  in  his  honor,  at  which 
several  eulogistic  addresses  were  delivered. 

I  quote  the  following  paragraph  from  the  address  of  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  presenting  the  memorial: 

He  was  a  learned,  clear  headed,  right  minded,  honorable  and  just 
Judge.  He  met  all  the  requirements  of  his  great  office.  His  service 
as  a  member  of  this  court  was  contemporary  with  that  of  some  of  the 
greatest  jurists  of  the  state.  For  years  he  was  a  co-laborer  with  Chief 
Justice  Gilfillan  and  Justices  Mitchell,  Dickinson,  and  Vanderburgh. 
He  had  great  capacity  for  work  and  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  in- 
dustry. Patient,  tireless,  painstaking,  he  could  not  rest  content  with  a 
single  duty  unperformed.  He  had  an  attentive  mind  and  a  retentive 
memory.  He  grasped  with  readiness  the  facts  in  a  case,  even  to  the 
minutest  detail,  and  with  ease  arranged  them  in  orderly  sequence,  so 
that  with  the  law  clearly  in  mind  he  could  speedily  reach  a  right  con- 
clusion. 

In  1904  Judge  Collins  was  an  aspirant  for  the  Republican 
nomination  for  Governor  in  one  of  the  most  closely  contested 
political  campaigns  ever  known  in  Minnesota.  Although  fail- 
ing by  a  narrow  margin  in  securing  the  coveted  prize,  the  sup- 
port accorded  him  was  a  high  tribute  to  his  worth  and  eminent 
fitness. 

At  the  age  of  sixty-six  years  Judge  Collins  resumed  the 
practice  of  the  law  in  Minneapolis,  and  met  with  unusual  suc- 
cess for  one  of  his  years.  He  resided  in  that  city  the  remainder 
of  his  life. 

During  his  residence  of  more  than  forty  years  in  St.  Cloud, 
Judge  Collins  enjoyed  the  respect,  esteem,  and  confidence  of 
his  friends  and  fellow  citizens  in  a  marked  degree.  He  was  a 
man  of  sterling  quality,  of  great  moral  courage,  and  of  un- 
blemished honor.  Having  lived  for  thirty-eight  years  in  the 
same  community,  which  he  always  regarded  as  his  home,  I  can 
bear  testimony  to  the  high  regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  his 
neighbors  and  fellow  citizens.  His  word  was  as  good  as  a  gov- 
ernment bond.  His  clients  had  undoubted  faith  in  his  judg- 
ment and  advice,  and  opposing  counsel  respected  and  admitted 
the  soundness  of  his  opinions.  Under  such  conditions  he  nat- 
urally secured  a  large  clientage,  in  a  practice  which  extended 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,    1909-14.  761 

through  the  counties  of  Stearns,  Benton,  Sherburne,  Mille  Lacs, 
Morrison,  Todd,  Douglas,  and  others.  Although  a  strong  Re- 
publican, his  Democratic  fellow  citizens,  in  that  stronghold  of 
Democracy,  frequently  elected  him  to  office. 

Lieutenant  Collins  was  a  splendid  soldier.  Although  I  was 
not  personally  acquainted  with  him  in  the  dark  days  of  the 
war,  I  served  in  the  same  division  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps, 
and  I  saw  much  of  him  in  the  field,  as  he  was  a  mounted  staff 
officer  and  frequently  rode  along  the  line  of  march  or  battle 
front.  I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  zeal,  energy,  and  dash 
with  which  he  bore  dispatches  from  point  to  point.  The  mem- 
ories of  those  war  days  were  ever  strong  with  Judge  Collins, 
and  he  cherished  a  warm  regard  for  his  veteran  comrades,  a 
feeling  which  was  reciprocated  an  hundredfold.  He  was  prom- 
inent in  Grand  Army  circles,  and  in  the  Department  of  Min- 
nesota was  elevated  to  its  highest  honor,  that  of  Department 
Commander.  He  was  also  closely  identified  with  the  National 
organization,  in  which  he  was  very  popular.  Had  he  lived,  in 
my  judgment,  he  would  have  become  Commander-in-Chief. 

He  took  a  great  interest  in  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal 
Legion  of  the  United  States,  and  was  commander  of  the  Min- 
nesota Commandry  for  one  year.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
xSociety  of  Colonial  Wars  in  this  State,  and  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

Judge  Collins  was  married  September  4,  1878,  to  Miss  Ella 
M.  Stewart,  of  Berlin,  Wis.,  who  died  May  31,  1894.  Three 
sons  and  one  daughter  were  born  to  them.  The  daughter  died 
in  1887.  The  three  sons  survive, — Stewart  Garfield,  Louis 
Lorin,  and  Lorin  Fletcher, — to  receive  the  splendid  heritage  of 
manliness  and  good  citizenship  bequeathed  them  by  one  of  the 
most  devoted  of  fathers. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  at  St.  Cloud  on  Sunday,  Sep- 
tember 29,  in  the  Unitarian  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
and  were  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  the  late  friends  and 
neighbors  of  the  deceased  jurist.  Eulogistic  addresses  were  de- 
livered by  the  minister  of  the  church,  the  Commanders  of  .the 
Loyal  Legion  and  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  United  States 
Senator  Knute  Nelson,  and  Judge  Ell  Torrance.  The  touching 
Grand  Army  ritual,  by  the  old  veterans  of  his  Post,  paid  affec- 


762  MINNESOTA   HtSTORtCAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

tionate  tribute  and  farewell  to  their  comrade.  Interment  was 
made  in  North  Star  Cemetery,  by  the  side  of  his  wife  and 
daughter,  with  Masonic  ceremonies. 


FRANCIS  MARION  CROSBY. 

The  following  memorial  was  presented  by  Mr.  Edward  C. 
Stringe;r,  formerly  of  Hastings,  now  of  St.  Paul,  in  the  monthly 
meeting  of  the  Executive  Council,  December  12,  1910. 

Francis  Marion  Crosby,  descendant  of  colonial  stock,  was 
born  in  Wilmington,  Vermont,  November  13,  1830,  and  died  in 
Hastings,  Minnesota,  November  15,  1910,  at  the  age  of  eighty 
years  and  two  days.  He  received  his  scholastic  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  Wilmington,  Vt.,  and  in  Caesar's  Sem- 
inary at  Swanzey,  N.  H. 

After  his  graduation  from  this  seminary  he  taught  school 
for  a  few  years,  and  then  entered  the  office  of  Oscar  L.  Shafter 
of  Wilmington,  as  a  student  of  law,  and  thereafter  the  office 
of  Daniel  Roberts  of  Manchester,  Vt.  In  1858  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Vermont  bar.  On  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Stephen  P.  Flagg,  and  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law  at  Wilmington.  In  1855  and  '56  he  represented  the 
Wilmington  district  in  the  Legislature  of  Vermont. 

In  1858  he  removed  to  Hastings,  Minnesota,  in  1860  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  of  Dakota  county,  and 
declined  a  re-election  at  the  end  of  the  term.  Shortly  there- 
after he  entered  into  partnership  with  John  R.  Clagett,  which 
continued  until  1871. 

In  November,  1871,  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  First  Judi- 
cial District  of  the  State  of  Minnesota,  which  position  he  held 
without  interruption  until  his  death.  His  service  of  nearly 
thirty-nine  years  on  the  bench  made  him  in  years  of  contin- 
uous service  the  oldest  judge  on  the  Minnesota  bench. 

Judge  Crosby  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Wars ;  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Minnesota  Society  of  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  and  was  president  of  the  latter 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED   MEMBERS,    1909-14.  76^ 

society  in  1905  and  '06.  He  was  elected  a  life  member  of  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  April  13,  1903. 

Judge  Crosby  was  twice  married,  May  30,  1866,  to  Helen 
M.  Sprague,  who  died  November  16,  1869,  leaving  a  son,  Frank 
N.  Crosby  of  New  York  City ;  October  23,  1872,  he  was  married 
to  Helen  S.  Bates,  who  died  Oct.  2,  1909,  leaving  two  daughters. 
Miss  Marion  E.  Crosby  of  Hastings  and  Mrs.  E.  L.  Prescott  of 
Portland,  Oregon. 

His  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  Episcopal  Church  at 
Hastings,  Minn.,  of  which  church  he  was  a  communicant,  and 
were  attended  by  a  large  body  of  distinguished  citizens  and 
members  of  the  bench  and  bar  from  the  Twin  Cities  and  other 
portions  of  the  state. 

These  are  the  mountain  peaks  of  his  life,  but  between  them 
lie  beautiful  valleys  of  fruits  and  flowers,  the  sweetness  and 
fragrance  of  which  are  best  known  to  those  who  knew  him  best. 
His  extraordinary  term  of  service  on  the  bench  would  ordi- 
narily, alone,  be  a  sufficient  commentary  upon  his  ability,  in- 
tegrity, and  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  high 
office,  and  upon  the  confidence,  esteem,  and  appreciation  of  his 
fellow  citizens.  But  Judge  Crosby  was  not  an  ordinary  man 
or  an  ordinary  judge ;  and  such  commentary  inadequately  char- 
acterizes the  nobility  of  the  man  or  the  qualities  of  the  jurist. 
Judge  Crosby  possessed  an  inborn  nobility  of  character  second 
to  none, — a  fine-grained,  chivalrous  nature,  which  had  not  to 
assume  the  outward  appearance  of  gentility,  courtesy,  and 
native  refinement,  but  manifested  them  at  all  times  because 
they  were  inborn. 

He  was  a  remarkable,  impartial,  just,  and  discriminating 
jurist, — patient,  painstaking  and  conscientious,  quick  of  per- 
ception, yet  reaching  conclusions  only  after  study  and  reflec- 
tion; a  judgment  once  formed  was  unalterable.  He  stood  like 
adamant,  and  his  decisions  were  rarely  reversed  by  the  Ap- 
pellate Court.  A  keen  student  of  human  nature  and  appre- 
ciative of  its  frailities,  he  tempered  justice  with  mercy;  pos- 
sessing the  highest  sense  of  personal  and  professional  honor, 
he  abhorred  sham,  chicanery  and  trickery  in  every  form,  and 
rarely  did  it  go  undiscovered  or  bear  fruit  in  his  court.  Judge 
Crosby  was  most  conscientious,  but  always  possessed  the  cour- 


764 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


age  of  his  convictions.  He  was  conscientiously  opposed  to  the 
mfliction  of  capital  punishment,  and  for  that  reason  refused 
to  try  criminal  cases  in  which  he  might  as  a  judge  be  called 
upon  to  impose  the  penalty  his  conscience  disapproved. 

He  was  a  well  beloved  and  esteemed  judge,  citizen,  and 
friend. 


CLARENCE  CHRISTOPHER  DINEHART. 

In  the  Council  Meeting  on  September  12,  1910,  Hon.  Julius 
A.  ScHMAHL,  Secretary  of  State,  presented  this  memorial: 

It  is  with  a  feeling  of  poignant  regret  that  I  have  recalled 
to  my  mind  tonight  the  passing  away  of  two  friends, — the  one 
in  the  ripe  old  age  of  venerable  manhood,  and  the  other  cut 
down  in  the  richest  bloom  of  political  and  commercial  pros- 
perity. The  former,  William  Pitt  Murray,  became  my  friend 
as  far  back  as  1885,  when,  as  corporation  counsel  to  the  city 
of  St.  Paul,  he  seemed  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  my  success  in 
entering  on  my  career  as  a  newspaper  reporter,  giving  me  much 
friendly  advice,  and  in  after  years  he  was  a  close  observer  of 
my  political  career.  The  latter  friend,  Clarence  C.  Dinehart, 
for  whom  the  task  of  preparing  a  brief  history  of  his  career  has 
been  assigned  to  me  for  this  evening,  was  an  acquaintance  and 
friend  of  long  after  years.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  his  me- 
morable campaign  of  1906,  when  he  became  the  successful  Re- 
publican nominee  for  state  treasurer,  that  he  became  known  to 
and  loved  by  me. 

Clarence  Christopher  Dinehart  was  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
C.  E.  Dinehart  in  Chicago  on  April  3,  1877.  At  the  age  of  seven 
he  came  with  his  parents  to  Slayton,  Minnesota,  and  attended 
the  village  school.  He  next  attended  the  Central  High  School 
in  Minneapolis,  continued  his  studies  at  the  State  University, 
and  was  graduated  from  that  institution  in  1899.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  class  of  1899,  and  was  prominent  in  student 
activities.  He  was  a  member  of  the  glee  and  mandolin  clubs, 
and  was  a  soloist  with  the  glee  club  in  its  trips  throughout  the 
Northwest.  In  his  junior  year  he  was  secretary  of  the  Uni- 
versity  Musical   Association   and   editor-in-chief   of   the   1899 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XIX. 


I 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  765 

Gopher,  the  junior  annual  at  the  University.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Delta  Upsilon  fraternity,  and  of  the  Castalian  lit- 
erary society. 

After  graduating  from  the  University  he  returned  to  Slay- 
ton  and  served  as  assistant  cashier  in  his  father's  bank.  In 
1902  he  was  elected  mayor  of  the  village,  but  resigned  that  fall 
to  pursue  the  law  course  at  Harvard  University.  He  completed 
this  in  1905,  and  the  next  year  he  was  urged  to  run  for  the 
office  of  state  treasurer.  ,  He  made  one  of  the  most  phenomenal 
campaigns  ever  made  in  the  State,  was  nominated  on  the  first 
ballot,  and  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  His  next 
election  followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  In  the  administration 
of  the  office  he  exhibited  rare  talents  as  an  executive  officer. 
He  developed  ability  of  a  high  order  as  a  public  speaker  and 
was  in  great  demand  at  commencements,  old  settlers'  gather- 
ings, picnics,  conventions,  and  fraternal  meetings  and  similar 
gatherings. 

His  executive  ability,  pleasing  personality,  and  oratorical 
powers,  attracted  general  attention;  and  almost  with  one  ac- 
cord the  leaders  in  his  congressional  district  looked  to  him  as 
a  suitable  candidate  for  the  Republican  nomination  for  Congress 
this  year.  He  was  just  about  to  enter  an  active  campaign  for 
that  office  when  stricken  by  death,  on  June  8,  1910. 

A  beautiful  life  has  gone  out,  a  brilliant  career  has  been  cut 
short;  but  there  is  consolation  in  the  knowledge  that  he  ac- 
complished so  much  in  the  time  he  lived,  and  satisfaction  in 
the  success  attained. 


WILLIAM  HOOD  DUNWOODY. 

The  following  memorial  was  presented  in  the  Council  Meet- 
ing on  April  13,  1914,  by  Dr.  Cyrus  Northrop,  President 
Emeritus  of  the  University  of  Minnesota. 

I  appear  before  you  tonight  at  the  request  of  your  com- 
mittee, to  present  a  memorial  address  in  honor  of  the  late  Wil- 
liam H.  Dunwoody,  who  had  been  a  life  member  of  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  since  March  8,  1897,  and  a  member 


766  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

of  its  Executive  Council  fourteen  years,  since  January  8,  1900. 
I  do  this  with  some  pleasure,  because  the  subject  is  an  inspir- 
ing one ;  but  I  do  it  with  some  reluctance,  because  it  was  not 
my  good  fortune  to  know  Mr.  Dunwoody  at  all  intimately. 
Aside  from  my  own  very  clear  conviction  as  to  his  character,  I 
must  rely  almost  entirely  upon  the  testimony  of  others  for 
material  out  of  which  to  construct  a  memorial  address.  This 
partial  disqualification  may  possibly  result  in  keeping  my  words 
of  appreciation  within  such  limits  as  Mr.  Dunwoody  himself,  if 
he  could  speak,  would  approve.  I  trust  it  may  not  result  in 
my  doing  less  than  justice  to  his  character  and  achievements. 

William  Hood  Dunwoody  was  born  in  Delaware  county, 
Pennsylvania,  March  14,  1841.  At  an  early  age  he  was  em- 
ployed as  a  clerk  in  the  grain  and  feed  store  of  his  uncle,  in 
Philadelphia.  He  first  came  to  Minneapolis  in  1869  as  a  pur- 
chaser of  flour  for  eastern  concerns.  He  had  a  strong  desire 
to  own  and  operate  a  flour  mill,  and  two  years  later,  in  1871, 
he  became  a  mill  owner,  operating  the  Arctic  and  Union  mills 
in  Minneapolis. 

In  1877,  at  the  request  of  General  Cadwallader  C.  Wash- 
burn, the  owner  of  the  Washburn  Mills,  who  desired  to  estab- 
lish direct  trade  in  flour  between  Minneapolis  and  Europe,  Mr. 
Dunwoody  undertook  the  task  of  establishing  the  desired  trade 
relations.  He  visited  Europe  for  the  purpose,  and  although  he 
encountered  many  obstacles  he  finally  succeeded.  It  is  said 
that  the  Minneapolis  millers  today  attribute  the  great  volume 
of  business  done  by  the  mills  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Dunwoody  in 
those  early  days. 

In  1879  Mr.  Dunwoody  became  a  partner  with  Governor 
Washburn,  John  Crosby,  and  Charles  J.  Martin,  in  the  firm  of 
Washburn,  Crosby  and  Company ;  and  his  interest  in  this  great 
and  prosperous  company  continued  Avithout  interruption  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  He  contributed  in  a  large  way  to  the  perma- 
nence of  the  milling  business  in  Minneapolis.  First  of  all,  then, 
in  the  matter  of  business,  he  was  a  miller.  Other  enterprises 
in  which  he  became  interested  and  in  which  he  took  a  com- 
manding part  were  the  by-products  of  his  energy,  though  they 
alone  were  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  satisfy  the  ambition  and 
employ  the  energies  of  most  men. 


1 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  767 

Mr.  Dunwoody  was  for  many  years  conspicuous  as  a  banker. 
The  Northwestern  National  Bank  of  Minneapolis  is  today  a 
powerful  financial  institution.  It  owes  much  of  its  stren^h  to 
the  wise  counsels  of  Mr.  Dunwoody,  who  was  chairman  of  its 
Board  of  Directors  for  thirty-eight  years,  its  president  for 
nearly  ten  years,  and  twice  its  vice  president.  Although  in 
1911  he  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  bank,  he  still  remained 
chairman  of  its  Directors,  and  his  guiding  wisdom  was  enjoyed 
by  the  bank  almost  to  the  end  of  his  life.  The  value  of  the 
services  thus  rendered  can  be  specially  appreciated  by  busi- 
ness men  whose  life  sometimes  depends  on  their  credit  at  a 
bank,  which  in  turn  has  its  own  power  to  give  credit  dependent 
on  the  wisdom  and  business  sanity  of  the  bank  officials. 

For  twenty-five  years  Mr.  Dunwoody  was  a  director  of  the 
Great  Northern  Railway  Company,  and  we  in  Minnesota  un- 
derstand how  much  that  meant.  His  intimacy  with  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Great  Northern  shows  that  he  was  no  merely  nom- 
inal director,  but  an  important  and  influential  member  of  the 
directorate  of  the  great  railroad  that  has  done  so  much  for  the 
Twin  Cities  and  for  the  entire  Northwest.  Undoubtedly  his 
connection  with  the  Great  Northern  railway  contributed  in 
several  ways  largely  to  his  success  in  business. 

Mr.  Dunwoody  was  of  Scotch  Presbyterian  descent,  and  he 
was  loyal  all  his  life  to  his  denominational  antecedents.  He 
was  for  many  years  a  trustee  of  Westminister  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  was  a  regular  contributor  to  its  support  and  to 
the  various  outside  missions  and  schools  which  it  conducted. 

He  gave  to  the  City  of  Minneapolis  the  land  on  which  the 
Hopewell  Hospital  was  built.  AVhen  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  he  built  a  new  home,  he  gave  his  old  home,  a  substantial 
brick  residence,  as  a  home  and  boarding  house  for  needy 
women. 

When  the  movement  was  started  for  an  Art  Museum  and 
Mr.  Clinton  Morrison  gave  for  the  Museum  a  site  valued  at 
two  hundred  fifty  thousand  dollars,  on  condition  that  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  be  raised  for  a  building,  Mr.  Dunwoody 
started  the  subscription  for  a  building  by  pledging  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  This  appears  to  be  the  only  large  gift 
in  his  lifetime  which  was  made  with  special  publicity,  and  this 


768  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

was  made  so  only  as  an  example  and  incentive  to  others ;  and 
as  a  result  the  requisite  amount  was  subscribed  at  the  first  meet- 
ing held  for  the  purpose,  at  which  announcement  was  made  of 
Mr.  Dunwoody's  gift,  he  himself  being  modestly  absent. 

Mr.  Dunwoody's  life  was  not  spectacular.  He  was  a  busi- 
ness man.  He  conducted  his  business  wisely  and  successfully. 
He  made  few  if  any  mistakes  in  making  investments.  He  never 
speculated.  He  never  gambled.  He  believed  in  everybody's 
earning  what  they  received ;  and  he  seems  to  have  accumulated 
his  large  fortune  by  old-fashioned  honest  methods,  and  not  by 
monopolizing  the  gifts  of  nature  intended  for  the  whole  human 
family.  While  prospering  in  business  and  accumulating  wealth, 
he  was  not  unmindful  of  those  who  were  less  fortunate  and 
who  needed  help,  and  his  gifts  were  freely  and  wisely  and  un- 
ostentatiously given.  The  world  knew  little  about  what  he 
gave,  but  it  did  not  regard  him  as  lacking  in  liberality. 

When  on  Sunday,  February  8,  1914,  he  passed  away,  no 
voice  of  criticism  or  censure  was  heard.  The  public  felt  that 
a  good  citizen,  a  generous  kindly  man,  a  true  friend  of  what- 
ever was  best  for  city,  state,  or  nation,  had  gone  from  them. 
His  business  friends  mourned  the  loss  of  a  wise  counselor ;  his 
personal  friends  mourned  the  loss  of  a  gentle  and  congenial 
friend;  the  public  appreciated  the  loss  that  had  come  to  the 
city,  and,  in  recognition  of  his  worth,  paused  in  its  activities 
long  enough  to  think  of  what  he  had  been  and  had  done,  and 
to  regret  that  so  good  a  citizen  had  been  taken  away.  This  is 
about  the  way  the  record  stood  after  the  news  had  been  cir- 
culated that  Mr.  Dunwoody  had  died  at  seven  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  Sunday,  February  8,  1914. 

And  then,  after  his  body  had  been  borne  to  its  last  resting 
place,  and  the  world  had  again  taken  up  its  work,  there  came 
the  publication  of  the  will.  And  what  a  will  it  was !  So  wise, 
so  clear,  so  thoughtful  of  all  who  might  reasonably  expect  to 
be  remembered,  so  helpful  to  those  to  whom  was  intrusted  the 
care  of  his  estate,  so  magnificently  generous  to  causes  devoted 
to  human  welfare ! 

He  generously  and  wisely  provided  for  his  wife  and  his  three 
nieces,  and  for  other  friends ;  and  then  he  divided  the  residue 
of  his  estate  in  such  a  way,  and  bequeathed  it  for  such  purposes, 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,  1909-14.  769 

as  to  insure  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow  citizens 
for  all  time  to  come. 

I  wish  I  could  include  the  whole  will  in  this  address.  It 
alone  would  be  a  sufficient  memorial  to  the  philanthropist,  the 
citizen,  the  man.  Let  me  at  least  record  here  his  specific  be- 
quests, that  they  may  stand  for  all  time  in  your  treasure  house 
of  memorials  to  the  noble  men  who  have  made  Minnesota  what 
she  is. 

Mr.  Dunwoody  left  an  estate  of  about  seven  millions  of  dol- 
lars. Two  million  two  hundred  two  thousand  he  left  to  his 
wife,  relatives,  and  friends.  The  remainder  of  the  estate, 
amounting  to  four  million  six  hundred  and  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, he  bequeathed  to  the  public  for  educational,  philanthropic, 
and  religious  purposes.    His  gifts  in  detail  are  as  follows : 

To  the  Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,  Minneapolis. $2,000,000 

Minneapolis  Society  of  Fine  Arts 1,000,000 

Trustees  of  Westminster  Church,  Minneapolis 175,000 

Minneapolis  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 50,000 

Minneapolis  Woman's  Boarding  Home 1,000 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Relief  for  Ministers 100,000 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions 100,000 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 100,000 

Dunwoody  Home  for  Convalescents,  Newtown  Farm,  Penn- 
sylvania   1,050,000 

Merchants'  Beneficial  Association,  Philadelphia 10,000 

Newtown  Burying  Ground,  Pennsylvania 5,000 

Merchants'  Fund,  Philadelphia  10,000 

p  $4,601,000 

To  his  family  and  friends  he  bequeathed  as  follows : 

To  Mrs.  W.  H.  Dunwoody $1,500,000 

Three  nieces,  $150,000  each 450,000 

Other  relatives,  friends,  and  associates 252,000 

$2,202,000 
The  children  of  today  will  bless  him  for  remembering  their 
needs  and  providing  most  generously  for  their  training  in  man- 
ual labor ;  the  lovers  of  art  will  hold  him  in  grateful  remem- 
brance for  his  noble  provision  for  the  gratification  and  culture 
of  lovers  of  beauty ;  the  church  which  he  loved,  and  its  mis- 
sionary societies,  will  never  forget  the  great  contributions  he 

49 


770  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

made  to  their  work.  The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
will  rise  into  a  higher  and  broader  life  in  new  quarters  under 
the  inspiration  of  his  gift.  Thousands  of  convalescents  in  his 
old  home  in  Pennsylvania  will  take  in  new  draughts  of  life  in 
the  healthful  quarters  his  liberality  has  created  for  them. 
Other  organizations  will  be  enabled  to  widen  their  work  and 
extend  their  service  through  his  aid, — all  this  in  our  day, — 
while  generations  as  yet  unborn  will  in  the  coming  years  rise 
up  and  call  him  blessed. 

While  all  the  bequests  of  Mr.  Dunwoody's  will  are  wise,  no 
other  one  is  wiser,  or  destined  to  be  productive  of  greater  good, 
than  his  bequest  of  two  million  dollars  to  the  Dunwoody  Indus- 
trial Institute.  Such  an  institution  as  he  had  in  mind  is  greatly 
needed.  Apprenticeship  is  no  longer  usual  in  this  country. 
Some  large  institution  to  which  young  people  can  go  and  learn 
the  use  of  tools,  the  principles  of  mechanics,  and  skill  in  me- 
chanic arts,  has  been  greatly  needed  for  years. 

Another  citizen  of  Minneapolis  had  it  in  mind  some  years 
ago  to  establish  such  an  institution  in  connection  with  the 
Agricultural  Department  of  the  State  University,  but  he  died 
before  his  plans  were  fully  matured. 

The  Institute  for  which  Mr.  Dunwoody  has  made  provision 
is  to  be  so  large,  so  hospitable  to  all  who  desire  to  enjoy  its 
privileges,  so  beneficent  in  its  influence,  that  only  the  full  text 
of  that  part  of  the  will  devoted  to  this  bequest  can  give  an 
adequate  idea  of  Mr.  Dunwoody's  foresight  and  wisdom;  and 
I  need  not  apologize,  I  am  sure,  for  quoting  this  in  full. 

Believing  that  in  the  multiplied  facilities  for  obtaining  a  liberal 
education  by  the  youth  of  this  state,  enough  attention  has  not  been 
given  to  instruction  in  the  industrial  and  mechanical  arts,  therefore, 
it  is  my  purpose  and  desire  to  establish  and  endow  a  school  to  be 
called  "The  William  Hood  Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,"  wherein 
shall  be  taught  industrial  and  mechanical  arts,  giving  special  impor- 
tance to  the  different  handicrafts  and  useful  trades,  including  as  of 
special  importance  the  art  of  milling  and  the  construction  of  milling 
machinery;  and  I  desire  that  such  school  be  established  and  maiii' 
tained  and  such  endowment  fund  be  administered  by  and  through  a 
corporation.  Therefore  I  will  and  direct  that  the  executors  of  this 
Will  shall,  during  the  life  of  the  youngest  of  the  executors  named  in 
this  Will,  and  before  the  final  decree  is  taken,  in  the  administration  of 
xny  estate,  organize  or  caus^  to  be  organized  uncier  tb?  1?>;W§  of  th^ 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,  1909-14.  771 

state  of  Minnesota,  a  corporation  the  name  of  which  shall  be  "The 
William  Hood  Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,"  if  such  name  shall  be 
permitted  by  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Minnesota,  and  if  not,  then  by 
such  name  to  be  selected  by  my  executors  as  the  laws  of  the  state  will 
permit,  with  powers  and  purposes  ample  to  receive,  own  and  admin- 
ister this  fund  and  endowment  and  all  the  property  covered  thereby, 
and  to  establish  and  maintain  a  school  to  be  called  "The  William  Hood 
Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,"  wherein  instruction  in  the  industrial 
and  mechanical  arts,  giving  special  importance  to  the  different  handi- 
crafts and  useful  trades,  including  as  of  special  importance  the  art  of 
milling  and  the  construction  of  milling  machinery,  shall  be  given  free 
to  the  youth  of  the  City  of  Minneapolis  and  State  of  Minnesota,  with- 
out distinction  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  religious  prejudice;  and 
to  make  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  proper  or  necessary  for 
the  admission  of  pupils  to  said  school,  always  having  in  mind  my  wish 
that  the  benefits  thereof  be  given  to  as  many  as  practicable  with  the 
means  in  its  hands;   and,  to  that  end, 

I  give,  devise  and  bequeath  to  such  corporation  all  the  rest,  residue 
and  remainder  of  my  property  of  whatsoever  nature  and  wheresoever 
situate,  to  have  and  to  hold  to  it  and  to  its  successors,  having  like  cor- 
porate powers  and  purposes,  and  assigns,  forever.  And  if  the  laws  of 
the  state  of  Minnesota  regulating  the  formation  of  such  corporations 
shall  so  permit,  I  will  and  direct  that  James  S.  Bell,  W.  G.  Crocker, 
Charles  Cranston  Bovey,  John  Crosby,  Franklin  M.  Crosby,  Elbridge  C. 
Cooke,  Robert  W.  Webb,  E.  W.  Decker,  Joseph  Chapman,  William  H. 
Bovey,  John  Washburn,  and  F,  G.  Atkinson,  be  named  as  trustees  of 
such  corporation;  and  if  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Minnesota  will  not 
permit  of  all  of  them  being  named  as  trustees,  then  it  is  my  will  and 
I  direct  that  so  many  of  them  as  the  law  will  permit  to  be  named  as 
trustees  be  so  named,  the  selection  to  be  made  from  the  persons  spec- 
ified in  the  order  in  which  their  names  are  written  herein;  and  if  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  Minnesota  will  not  permit  the  naming  of  any  of 
the  persons  above  named  as  trustees  in  the  formation  of  such  cor- 
poration, then  it  is  my  will  and  I  direct  that  my  executors  name  such 
other  persons,  either  including  or  excluding  themselves,  as  they  may 
deem  proper  to  act  as  trustees  in  the  formation  of  such  corporation. 
And  in  the  formation  of  such  corporation,  if  the  laws  of  the  State  of 
Minnesota  will  so  permit,  it  is  my  will  and  I  direct  that  the  trustees 
who  shall  have  the  management  of  such  corporation  shall  not  be  less 
than  seven  nor  more  than  fifteen;  and  if  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Min- 
nesota will  so  permit,  it  is  my  will  and  I  direct  that  the  trustees  of 
said  corporation  shall  have  power  and  authority  to  fill  any  vacancy  in 
their  number  arising  from  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise,  to  the  end 
that  a  continuity  of  purpose  and  the  best  interests  of  said  school  may 
be  promoted  and  preserved. 

It  is  my  will  and  I  direct  that  said  corporation  select  and  procure 
a  suitable  site  for  said  school  in  said  City  of  Minneapolis,  and  con- 


772  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Struct  and  erect  suitable  buildings  and  structures  for  the  purposes  of 
said  school  on  said  site,  using  and  employing  in  purchasing  the  site 
and  the  erection  and  construction  of  such  buildings  not  to  exceed  one- 
third  of  the  amount  devised  and  bequeathed  to  it;  and  I  direct  said 
corporation  to  use  and  employ  ninety  per  cent  of  the  net  annual  in- 
come arising  from  the  remainder  of  said  fund  bequeathed  to  it  in  open- 
ing and  maintaining  a  school  in  said  buildings,  to  be  called  "The  Wil- 
liam Hood  Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,"  wherein  instruction  in  the 
industrial  and  mechanical  arts,  giving  special  importance  to  the  dif- 
ferent handicrafts  iand  useful  trades,  including  as  of  special  impor- 
tance the  art  of  milling  and  the  construction  of  milling  machinery,  shall 
be  given  free  to  the  youth  of  the  City  of  Minneapolis  and  the  State  of 
Minnesota,  without  distinction  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  religious 
prejudice;  and  to  make  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  proper 
or  necessary  for  the  admission  of  pupils  to  said  school,  always  having 
in  mind  my  wish  that  the  benefits  thereof  be  given  to  as  many  as 
practicable  with  the  means  in  its  hands.  And  I  direct  that  said  cor- 
poration take  and  hold  all  the  remainder  of  the  moneys  and  property 
which  it  shall  receive  under  this  bequest,  after  paying  for  said  site  and 
the  erection  of  said  buildings  and  structures  as  hereinbefore  specified, 
as  and  for  a  permanent  endowment  fund;  and  I  direct  that  the  moneys 
and  property  held  by  it  as  and  for  such  endowment  fund  be  invested 
and  re-invested  in  the  investments  and  securities  specified  by  and  in 
the  manner  provided  in  Clause  Fourth  hereof,  if  that  shall  be  permitted 
by  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Minnesota;  and  that  ninety  per  cent  of  the 
net  annual  income  only  arising  therefrom  be  used  and  employed  in  the 
maintenance  and  support  of  said  school,  the  remaining  ten  per  cent  of 
the  net  annual  income  to  be  held  as  and  for  an  emergency  fund  to  be 
used  and  expended  whenever  necessary  to  meet  unforeseen  contingen- 
cies and  emergencies;  my  purpose  and  aim  being  to  provide  for  all 
time  a  place  where  the  youth  of  this  city  and  state  may,  if  they  so 
desire,  learn  the  different  handicrafts  and  useful  trades  and  thereby  fit 
themselves  for  the  better  performance  of  life's  duties. 

And  I  hereby  authorize  and  empower  said  corporation  and  its  suc- 
cessors to  sell,  dispose  of  and  freely  alienate  any  and  all  property, 
real,  personal,  or  mixed,  which  it  shall  receive  under  this  the  residuary 
clause  of  my  Will;  and  nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  as  in  any 
manner  limiting  the  free  alienation  at  any  time  of  any  part  of  said 
fund  and  endowment  by  said  corporation  or  its  successors;  but  it  is 
my  wish  that  said  corporation  and  its  successors  invest  and  re-invest 
the  funds  which  shall  come  into  its  possession  and  under  its  control  in 
the  investments  and  securities  specified  by  and  in  the  manner  provided 
in  Clause  Fourth  hereof,  if  that  be  permitted  under  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  Minnesota;  otherwise  in  such  securities  as  the  law  permits. 

It  is  my  desire  and  I  will  that  this  Will  be  so  read  and  construed 
as  tor  permit  such  residue  of  my  estate  to  be  so  donated  and  used  free 


MEMORIALS  OP  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  773 

of  any  and  every  prohibited  trust  feature  and  free  of  any  and  every 
rule  of  law  which  may  make  my  aims  and  purposes  uncertain;  and  to 
that  end  my  directions  as  to  details  herein  may  be  construed,  if  nec- 
essary, as  suggestions.  And  until  said  corporation  is  created  as  herein 
provided,  the  legal  title  of  the  residue  of  my  estate,  and  all  of  the 
same,  shall  vest  in  Kate  L.  Dunwoody,  C.  C.  Bovey,  and  John  Crosby, 
as  executors  of  my  Will,  charged  with  my  wishes,  directions  and  will, 
with  full  power  and  authority  unto  my  said  executors,  Kate  L.  Dun- 
woody,  C.  C.  Bovey,  and  John  Crosby,  or  a  majority  of  them,  while  they 
hold  the  legal  title  to  the  residue  of  my  estate,  to  sell,  dispose  of  and 
freely  alienate  any  and  all  property,  real,  personal,  or  mixed,  so  held 
by  them. 

William  C.  Edgar,  a  close  friend  of  Mr.  Dunwoody,  speaks 
as  follows,  respecting  "the  unostentatious  good"  which  he  did: 

"Mr.  Dunwoody  was  one  of  the  very  few  people  in  this  world  who 
'do  good  by  stealth  and  blush  to  find  it  fame.'  The  most  unpretentious 
of  men,  it  seemed  actually  to  pain  him  to  be  praised  for  his  innumer- 
able kind  and  generous  acts;  and  as  far  as  possible,  he  avoided  re- 
ceiving thanks  or  acknowledgments.  His  gentleness,  his  thoughtful- 
ness  for  others,  his  readiness  to  help  in  time  of  need,  his  true  kindli- 
ness of  heart,  and  his  sympathy  with  those  in  distress  or  trouble,  made 
him  sincerely  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him;  but  he  was  so  excessively 
diffident  about  being  given  credit  for  what  he  did  that  very  few  in- 
deed, even  among  his  most  intimate  associates,  realized  to  what  extent 
his  acts  of  benevolence  reached." 

May  I  be  pardoned  if  in  a  few  words  I  give  you  my  per- 
sonal impression  of  Mr.  Dunwoody  as  a  man?  First  of  all,  he 
had  not  a  particle  of  that  air  of  self-importance  which  wealth 
sometimes  bestows  upon  men  when  they  become  rich.  He  was 
modest.  He  was  gentle.  He  was  a  gentleman.  He  did  not 
draw  you  to  him  by  any  effort  on  his  part.  He  did  not  repel 
you  by  aggressive  self-assertion.  "With  all  his  wealth,  he  seemed 
not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  the  things  which  are  seen  are 
temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  unseen  are  eternal.  Up- 
right, clean,  quiet,  efficient,  earnest  and  kind,  he  was 
*'A  combination  and  a  form  indeed 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man." 

And  how  true  it  is  of  him  that  though  now  ''he  rests  from 
his  labors,  his  works  do  follow  him." 


774  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

SAMUEL  BOWDLEAR  GREEN. 
Born  Skptembkr  15,  1859;  Di^d  July  11,  1910. 

In  the  Council  Meeting  on  September  12,  1910,  Dr.  Cyrus 
Northrop  presented  this  memorial: 

A  great  sorrow  has  come  to  us  all.  The  friend  whom  we 
loved,  the  man  whom  we  honored,  the  scientist  on  whose  knowl- 
edge and  skill  we  relied,  and  the  executive  whose  forceful  and 
wise  carrying  out  of  plans  gave  the  fullest  assurance  that  every- 
thing committed  to  his  management  would  be  most  success- 
fully done,  has  been  stricken  down  in  a  moment,  when  appar- 
ently he  was  in  the  full  vigor  of  virile  strength,  in  the  very 
flower  of  healthy  manhood.  What  it  means  to  him  we  do  not 
know.  Whether  in  a  moment  he  passed  from  the  activities  of 
a  strenuous  life  in  the  service  of  the  state  to  a  full  realization 
of  immortality,  eternal  life,  we  do  not  know.  But  we  do  know 
what  it  means  to  us,  his  friends,  his  colleagues,  his  associates, 
his  colaborers.  For  us  it  means  loss, — irreparable  loss ;  for  us 
it  means  bereavement  and  sorrow.  For  us  it  means  a  realiza- 
tion of  a  great  place  left  vacant  by  his  departure, — a  place 
which  we  feel  sure  no  one  can  ever  fill  to  the  full  measure  that 
he  filled  it. 

Samuel  B.  Green  came  to  us  from  Massachusetts  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Agricultural  Department  of  the  University,  when 
the  future  of  agricultural  education  was  very  uncertain.  He 
was  Professor  of  Horticulture.  At  first  he  had  little  equipment 
for  the  development  of  his  work.  But  he  did  what  was  possi- 
ble. As  the  years  went  on  and  the  inner  life .  of  the  College 
and  School  of  Agriculture  became  both  more  peaceful  and 
orderly,  the  Department  of  Horticulture  grew  in  importance, 
buildings  and  equipment  were  provided,  and  Professor  Green 
could  point  with  pride  to  his  department  as  successfully  doing 
its  work,  and  he  might  have  been  content  with  that.  But  he 
was  not.  He  had  a  noble  ambition  to  lift  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture and  make  it  as  truly  an  agency  for  higher  education  as 
any  of  the  other  colleges  of  the  University.  He  carefully 
planned  the  curriculum,  and,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Course  of  Study,  he  secured  the  adoption  of  the  present 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  775 

high  and  excellent  curriculum.  So  far  as  the  College  of  Agri- 
culture is  concerned,  Professor  Green  was  the  man  who 
moulded  it  into  its  present  shape  and  gave  it  the  resulting 
attractiveness.    But  he  was  not  content  with  this. 

His  mind  was  actively  engaged  all  the  time  in  finding  ways 
by  which  the  work  in  agriculture  could  be  extended.  He  was  a 
member  and  a  most  influential  member  of  the  Board  having 
in  charge  the  Farmers'  Institutes,  by  which  so  much  good  has 
been  done  for  years  past.  He  was  practically  the  executive  in 
charge  of  all  the  extension  work  in  agriculture  provided  for 
by  the  last  session  of  the  State  Legislature. 

Lieutenant  Governor  Rice  and  I  were  associated  with  him 
in  this  work,  but  I  am  sure  that  Mr.  Rice  would  be  quite  as 
ready  as  I  to  bear  witness  that  it  was  Professor  Green  who 
planned,  and  who  executed  the  plans;  and  I  recall  with  won- 
der his  complete  mastery  of  the  details  of  this  whole  work,  and 
his  never  failing  attention  to  the  work  at  the  right  moment, 
notwithstanding  his  many  engagements  in  his  own  special  work. 

And  then  he  was  president  of  the  State  Horticultural  So- 
ciety. He  put  a  new  life  into  this  organization,  and  the  faith- 
ful old  men  who  for  years  had  been  working  together  in  the 
society  must  have  been  cheered  and  delighted  when  this  young, 
forceful,  wise  scientist,  with  full  knowledge  and  hearty  sym- 
pathy, took  hold  of  the  work  with  them  and  gave  them  assur- 
ance that  it  would  be  a  success. 

And  then  he  was  in  touch  with  farmers  all  over  the  state. 
He  was  interested  in  the  establishment  of  schools  of  agricult- 
ure and  helpful  to  those  who  had  the  duty  of  locating  such 
schools.  In  short,  he  in  a  way  pervaded  the  agricultural  life 
of  Minnesota  and  wherever  men  were  interested  in  getting  food 
from  the  earth,  they  could  always  find  a  sympathetic  friend 
and  earnest  and  safe  counselor  in  Professor  Green. 

But  even  this  did  not  fill  up  the  measure  of  his  activity.  He 
became  interested  in  Forestry,  and  his  vision  of  future  forestry 
reserves,  and  of  the  work  to  be  done  in  connection  therewith, 
the  training  of  masters  of  forestry,  the  cultivation  of  trees,  the 
enrichment  and  beautifying  of  large  regions  otherwise  useless, 
— ^his  vision  of  all  these  things  was  so  clear  that  his  hand  was 
stretched  out  to  grasp  them ;  and  had  he  lived  to  the  full  meas- 


776  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLEJCTtONS. 

ure  of  years,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  grasped  all  that  he 
had  seen  in  vision.  As  it  was,  he  had  already  accomplished 
much,  securing  thousands  of  acres  for  his  work,  while  he  him- 
self had  become  one  of  the  leading  authorities  in  the  country 
on  forestry.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago,  the  Board  of  Regents 
formally  organized  the  Department  of  Forestry,  and  elected 
him  Dean  of  the  Department. 

But  why  should  I  enumerate  his  work  further?  A  man  of 
restless  energy,  never  happy  unless  he  was  doing  something, 
never  so  happy  as  when  he  had  done  something  worth  while,  his 
life  was  literally  filled  full  with  usefulness  and  duty. 

We  honor  him  for  the  grand  work  he  has  done.  We  honor 
him  for  being  the  grand  man  he  was.  If  at  any  time  his  asso- 
ciates did  not  agree  with  him  in  some  respect,  there  never  was 
a  time  when  they  were  not  ready  to  praise  him  as  the  man  who 
does  things.  And  as  I  recall  the  momentum  which  he  always 
seemed  to  have  gathered  before  putting  propositions  for  new 
enterprises  before  me,  there  comes  over  me  an  appalling  sense 
of  irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  this  courageous,  strong,  en- 
terprising and  public  spirited  man  of  science,  educator,  for- 
ester, citizen. 

And  that  is  not  all.  It  is  a  noble  record  of  work  that  he  has 
left  behind  him.  But  I  like  to  think  of  him  as  he  was.  A  true 
man,  clean  in  his  life,  of  heroic  attitude  against  evil,  he  would 
have  been  a  crusader  if  he  had  lived  in  the  time  of  the  crusades. 
As  it  is,  he  carried  the  same  spirit  into  his  fight  against  igno- 
rance and  poverty  and  unhappiness;  and,  bravely  bearing  his 
own  burdens  without  a  murmur,  he  did  what  he  could  to  the 
very  last  to  make  the  world  better  and  happier.  Farewell,  dear 
friend!  We  shall  meet  beyond  the  river,  and  may  our  crowns 
be  as  bright  as  yours  surely  will  be. 


LUCIUS  FREDERICK  HUBBARD. 

A   MKMORIAI,  PRIiSEjNT^D  BY  THE:   SeCRE:TARY. 

Lucius  Frederick  Hubbard,  a  life  member  of  this  Historical 
Society  since  September  11,  1899,  and  an  elective  member  of 
its  Executive  Council  since  September  12,  1904,  died  at  the 
home  of  his  son  in  Minneapolis  on  February  5,  1913. 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,  1909-14.  777 

He  was  born  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  January  26,  1836.  His  father 
died  when  the  son  was  only  three  years  old,  and  seven  years 
later  his  mother  died,  leaving  him  to  be  cared  for  by  an  aunt  in 
Vermont.  He  attended  the  public  schools  in  Chester,  Vt.,  three 
years,  and  then  spent  two  years  at  an  academy  in  Granville, 
N.  Y.  He  was  apprenticed  to  a  tinsmith  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
and  devoted  the  next  three  years  to  learning  that  trade.  From 
1854  to  1857  he  worked  as  a  tinsmith  in  Chicago. 

Tempted  by  the  opportunities  offered  by  the  West,  Hubbard 
came  to  Minnesota  in  1857,  settling  in  Red  Wing,  and  there 
established  a  newspaper,  called  the  Red  Wing  Republican, 
which  is  still  one  of  the  leading  journals  of  Goodhue  county. 

Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  Hubbard  enlisted 
a;s  a  private  in  Company  A  of  the  Fifth  Minnesota  Infantry. 
He  was  made  captain  of  his  company  in  February,  1862 ;  a  few 
weeks  later  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  colonel ;  and  in  August 
of  the  same  year  became  colonel  of  his  regiment. 

He  served  throughout  the  war  with  distinguished  valor, 
attaining  the  rank  of  brigadier  general  in  1864. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Minnesota,  and  until 
1901  resided  in  Red  Wing,  being  engaged  in  grain  business, 
milling,  and  railroad  building.  In  1872-5  he  was  a  state  sena- 
tor, andjn  1882  to  1887  was  governor  of  Minnesota,  his  second 
term  consisting  of  three  years  on  account  of  the  change  to  bien- 
nial sessions  of  the  legislature. 

He  removed  to  St.  Paul  in  1901,  and  afterward  lived  there, 
except  that  his  home  during  the  last  two  years  was  with  his 
son  in  Minneapolis. 

Governor  Hubbard  was  appointed  by  President  McKinley 
a  brigadier  general  at  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish-American 
war,  and  he  served  with  the  Seventh  Army  Corps.  The  war 
ended  before  these  troops  were  called  into  active  service,  yet 
the  heroism  and  patriotism  of  the  general,  who  thus  served  in 
two  wars,  were  nobly  attested. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the 
Loyal  Legion,  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  the 
Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars,  and  other  patriotic  organiza- 
tions.    For  the  day  of  his  funeral  both  branches  of  the  State 


778  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Legislature  adjourned.  The  burial  was  in  Lakewood  Cem- 
etery, Minneapolis. 

His  biography  by  General  Baker,  in  ''Lives  of  the  Governors 
of  Minnesota,"  forms  pages  251-281,  with  a  portrait,  in  Volume 
XIII  of  this  Society's  Historical  Collections. 

In  Volume  XII  of  this  series.  Governor  Hubbard  contributed 
''Civil  War  Papers,"  pages  531-638,  with  a  later  portrait,  seven 
maps,  and  other  illustrations. 


DAVID  LANSING  KINGSBURY. 

In  the  meeting  of  the  Council  on  March  11,  1912,  the  Secre- 
tary presented  the  following  memorial : 

David  Lansing  Kingsbury  was  born  in  Marshall,  Mich.,  Dec. 
28,  1842 ;  and  died  at  his  home  in  St.  Paul,  January  24,  1912. 
His  father  died  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old,  and  he  lived 
afterward  in  the  family  of  his  aunt,  his  father's  sister,  Mrs. 
Henry  Bunce,  and  came  with  them  to  Monticello,  Minn.,  in 
1856.  Although  only  eighteen  years  old  when  the  civil  war 
began,  he  was  very  anxious  to  serve  as  a  soldier,  and  in  1862 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Eighth  Minnesota  Regiment.  In 
1864  he  was  promoted  to  be  first  sergeant  of  his  company.  For 
two  years  he  served  on  the  frontier  against  the  Indians,  going 
with  General  Sully's  expedition  to  the  Yellowstone  river.  He 
participated  in  two  pitched  battles  with  the  Sioux.  In  1864 
his  regiment  was  sent  to  Tennessee,  and  later  served  in  North 
Carolina.  Mr.  Kingsbury  was  in  all  the  battles  in  which  his 
regiment  engaged,  but  received  no  wound  during  the  entire 
war.    In  July,  1865,  he  was  mustered  out  as  second  lieutenant. 

He  settled  in  St.  Paul,  and  engaged  in  hardware  business 
from  1873  to  1886.  He  was  assistant  librarian  of  the  Minne- 
sota Historical  Society  continuously  since  1893,  during  more 
than  eighteen  years,  and  in  this  position  did  much  for  the  suc- 
cess and  upbuilding  of  this  institution.  He  became  a  life  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  in  1895,  and  was  a  member  of  its  Executive 
Council  since  1896. 

He  was  greatly  interested  in  military  matters,  and  upon  the 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  77^ 

Organization  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  was  one  of  its 
early  members.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Minnesota  Com- 
mandery  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States,  and  was  its 
Recorder  since  1898. 

Mr.  Kingsbury  was  married  in  1869  to  Miss  Anna  Sawyer 
Braman,  who  died  in  St.  Paul  in  March,  1908.  They  had  no 
children.  Their  home  was  at  Merriam  Park,  and  there  Mr. 
Kingsbury  continued  to  live.  He  took  much  delight  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  his  flower  garden.  Last  summer  he  made  a  visit  to 
his  only  sister,  Mrs.  Gen.  Edwin  C.  Mason,  in  Los  Angeles,  Gal., 
and  on  the  same  trip  attended  meetings  of  the  American  Library 
Association. 

Mr.  Kingsbury  was  a  man  of  strongly  marked  personal  char- 
acter, greatly  attached  to  his  friends,  generous,  sympathetic, 
and  ardently  devoted  to  whatever  work  he  undertook.  He  had 
an  unusually  large  number  of  warm  personal  friends,  and  had 
the  esteem  and  affection  of  his  old  comrades  in  the  army,  of 
the  workers  in  the  Historical  Society  Library,  and  of  those  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  every  walk  of  life. 

He  contributed  papers  to  this  Society's  Collections  in  Vol- 
ume Vin,  ''The  United  States  Government  Publications," 
pages  120-128,  and  ''Sully's  Expedition  against  the  Sioux  in 
1864,"  pages  449-462,  with  a  map;  and  in  Volume  XH,  "The 
Old  Frigate  Minnesota, ' '  pages  85-97,  with  his  portrait. 

Justice:  Loren  W.  Collins,  presiding  in  this  meeting,  said: 
Having  under  consideration  the  life  and  character  of  David 
L.  Kingsbury,  I  may  very  properly  add  a  few  words  concerning 
him.  There  are  very  few  present  who  have  known  him  as  long 
as  I,  for  when  I  went  to  St.  Cloud  to  reside  in  1866  I  became 
acquainted  with  his  brother,  Charles  W.  Kingsbury,  and  very 
soon  afterward  met  David,  who  was  then  a  resident  of  St.  Paul. 
Charles  was  foreman  of  the  St.  Cloud  Journal,  a  weekly  news- 
paper published  in  that  city,  and  as  we  boarded  at  the  same 
place,  I  at  once  became  acquainted  with  him,  and  became  so 
intimate  with  him  that  when  he  died  some  fifteen  or  eighteen 
years  ago  I  was  named  as  executor  of  his  last  will  and  testa- 
ment. This  intimacy  with  Charles  led  to  a  very  close  acquaint- 
ance with  David  and  also  with  Mrs.  Mason,  their  sister,  who 


»780  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

was  the  wife  of  Captain  Edwin  C.  Mason,  then  of  the  Tenth 
Infantry  and  stationed  at  Fort  Ripley,  some  fifty  miles  north 
of  St.  Cloud.  The  captain,  his  wife,  and  David,  frequently  vis- 
ited St.  Cloud,  spending  usually  two  or  three  days  with  their 
brother.  The  resemblance  between  the  two  brothers  was  very 
noticeable,  and  the  only  real  difference  lay  in  the  fact  that  David 
was  two  or  three  inches  taller  than  his  brother.  Both  were 
men  of  marked  character  and  most  excellent  reputation. 

While  David  was  Recorder  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  I  met  him 
frequently,  and  my  admiration  for  the  man  steadily  increased 
so  long  as  he  lived.  He  was  exceedingly  painstaking  and  in- 
dustrious in  everything  that  he  undertook,  and  this  was  made 
very  apparent  in  his  strong  devotion  to  the  work  as  Recorder 
of  the  Legion.  It  is  a  position  which  requires  industry  and 
attention  to  the  many  details  which  are  in  the  hands  of  the 
recorder,  and  it  must  be  looked  after  by  him  with  strict  fidelity. 
I  think  I  can  safely  say  that  no  man  ever  rendered  more  faith- 
ful service  to  the  Loyal  Legion  than  he  did,  and  this  may  be 
said  of  him  in  everything  that  he  undertook.  His  loss  to  the 
organizations  of  which  he  was  a  part,  and  to  the  community  in 
general,  is  exceedingly  great,  and  we  honor  ourselves  in  honor- 
ing his  memory. 


NATHANIEL  PITT  LANGFORD. 
Memorials  presented  in  the  Annual  Meeting,  January  8, 

1912. 

A  manuscript  by  Rev.  Dr.  David  R.  Breed,  formerly  of  St. 
Paul,  now  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  was  read  by  Vice  President  William 
H.  Lightner,  as  follows: 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Langford  in  the  early  sev- 
enties, before  his  permanent  removal  to  St.  Paul,  and  saw  much 
of  him  during  his  visits  to  the  place.  I  officiated  at  his  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Emma  C.  Wheaton,  November  1,  1876,  the  wed- 
ding certificate  being  signed  by  his  mother  and  her  father.  He 
had  already  built  a  home  for  his  bride  on  Exchange  street, 
within  a  block  of  my  own  house,  to  which  he  brought  her  after 
the  wedding  trip,  and  where  he  continued  to  reside.  We  were 
therefore  near  neighbors.    I  saw  him  every  day,  and  had  abun- 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS.   1909-14.  781 

dant  opportunity  to  study  his  character.  I  was  also  intimately 
acquainted  with  his  three  sisters, — all  women  of  like  tempera- 
ment to  his  own  and  reflecting  the  marked  characteristics  of 
the  family.  All  this  continued  for  about  ten  years,  when  I 
removed  to  Chicago.  I  speak  therefore  from  close  and  familiar 
observation. 

If  I  were  to  summarize  the  elements  of  Mr.  Langf ord  's  per- 
sonal character  in  a  single  sentence,  I  should  say  that  it  was  a 
rare  combination  of  tenderness  and  strength.  In  him  the  most 
profound  convictions  were  united  -with  the  sweetest  charity; 
heroism  was  tempered  with  mercy.  He  was  a  fine  illustration 
of  the  lines  of  Bayard  Taylor,  in  ''The  Song  of  the  Camp," 
"The  bravest  are  the  tenderest. 
The  loving  are  the  daring." 

That  which  impressed  me  most  of  all  in  those  early  days 
was  his  devotion  to  his  aged  mother.  She  was  proud  of  him; 
he  was  most  attentive  to  her.  She  was  then  past  the  line  of 
four  score,  but  in  possession  of  all  her  faculties,  interested  in 
all  that  concerned  others,  and  fully  abreast  of  the  times.  In 
appearance  she  was  certainly  the  finest  old  lady  I  have  ever 
seen.  But  her  sweet,  strong  character  was  reflected  in  her 
strong,  sweet  face.  Knowing  Mrs.  Langford,  it  was  apparent 
whence  her  son  had  derived  his  superior  qualities  of  both  body 
and  mind.  And  Mr.  Langford  appreciated  her.  He  showed  her 
every  attention,  was  most  solicitous  for  her  comfort,  planned 
for  her  every  convenience.  It  seemed  to  be  his  chief  joy  to 
wait  upon  her.  I  think  his  return  from  Montana  to  St.  Paul 
was  occasioned  first  of  all  by  his  anxiety  in  her  behalf. 

The  next  illustration  of  his  peculiar  character  which  occurs 
to  me,  was  his  loving  ministry  to  the  sick  and  disabled.  He 
was  a  ''trained  nurse,"  but  in  no  technical  sense.  If  there  was 
any  accident  or  illness  in  the  neighborhood,  it  was  always  ex- 
pected that  Mr.  Langford  would  be  on  hand.  When  one  of 
the  boys  fell  over  the  bank  near  Irvine  Park  and  broke  his 
arm,  it  was  Mr.  Langford  who  frequently  visited  him  there- 
after during  his  confinement  to  his  room,  to  cheer  and  divert 
him. 

Very  soon  after  my  own  severe  accident  he  came  to  my 
house.    Day  after  day  he  was  with  me,  to  smooth  my  pillows 


782  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

and  bathe  my  brow.  And  so  this  great,  strong,  fearless  fel- 
low, who  had  tracked  the  wilderness,  faced  the  savages,  and 
defied  the  highwaymen,  showed  the  touch  of  a  woman  from  the 
hand  of  a  giant,  the  ministry  of  an  angel  in  the  garb  of  a 
frontiersman. 

I  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Langford's  care  of  the  crippled  boy, 
and  this  recalls  another  trait  of  his  character,  his  devotion  to 
the  young.  He  loved  them  and  loved  to  be  with  them,  and 
they  all  recognized  in  him  a  sympathizing  friend. 

Many  incidents  occur  to  me  which  are  too  confidential  to 
be  made  public,  which,  should  I  tell  them,  would  show  how 
true  and  kind  and  strong  he  was.  I  have  seldom  known  any 
one  to  be  so  tried  by  injustice  and  severity  as  was  he,  upon  a 
certain  occasion,  and  I  never  knew  one  to  exercise  a  more  for- 
giving and  peaceful  spirit  under  trying  circumstances.  He 
consulted  me  with  regard  to  his  course,  and  his  disposition  was 
revealed  in  most  emphatic  form. 

Mr.  Langford  was  a  fine  type  of  the  conscientious  business 
man,  the  honorable  public  servant,  the  congenial  acquaintance, 
the  helpful  neighbor.  Others  will  tell  of  his  services  to  his 
city  and  country;  but  for  me,  I  have  that  to  say  of  him  which 
a  certain  distinguished  British  statesman  has  declared  is  the 
very  best  epitaph  that  one  man  may  carve  upon  another's  tomb : 
"He  was  my  friend." 

General  William  G.  ht  Due,  Councilor,  said: 
My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Langford  commenced  in  the  50 's, 
when  he  was  cashier  or  assistant  cashier  with  his  brother  in  a 
bank  established  by  William  R.  Marshall,  on  the  north  side  of 
Third  street,  St.  Paul.  The  brothers  were  so  much  alike  that 
I  mistook  one  for  the  other,  and  some  pleasantry  occurring 
therefrom  fixed  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  our  acquaintance 
in  my  mind;  but  from  that  time  to  the  present  I  have  been 
more  or  less  familiar  with  the  life  of  N.  P?  Langford  while 
resident  in  Minnesota  and  Montana,  and  it  may  be  sufficient 
to  say,  in  the  briefest  of  epitaphs,  that  N.  P.  Langford  was 
one  of  those  comprehended  in  the  concrete  expression  of  a 
famous  English  author,  ''An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  qf 
God." 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  78S 

As  a  banker,  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States  having  charge 
and  care  of  public  funds,  the  bright  gold  of  thousands  has 
passed  through  his  hands,  and  there  is  nothing  to  show  of  this 
glittering  hoard;  no  palatial  mansion,  filled  with  expensive 
treasures  of  art ;  no  palaces  of  business,  no  banks,  no  railroads, 
no  mills  or  factories,  from  all  the  great  opportunities  for  gains. 
He  leaves  a  modest  competence  only,  the  savings  of  an  indus- 
trious, frugal  life, — and  he  leaves  the'  well-earned  reputation 
of  an  honest  man,  the  noblest  work  of  God. 

What  more  need  be  said?  Wife,  relatives,  and  friends, 
mourn  his  decease ;  he  was  instinctively  the  lover  and  friend  of 
his  country,  his  state  and  city ;  and  we,  too,  are  entitled  to  ex- 
press our  sympathy  in  his  departure  from  this  earthly  life  to  a 
higher,  a  spiritual  life. 

At  the  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  great 
Cathedral  now  building  in  this  city,  I  heard  the  learned  Arch- 
bishop Ireland  say  that  the  spirits  of  Bishop  Cretin,  Bishop 
Grace,  and  Father  Ravoux,  were  undoubtedly  present  and 
blessing  by  their  presence  the  assemblage;  and,  as  I  now  be- 
lieve, the  spirit  of  N.  P.  Langford  is  now  here  present. 

Henry  S.  Fairchild,  Councilor,  read  the  following  tribute, 
*'Mr.  Langford,  the  Good  Citizen :" 

It  is  a  sad  and  pleasant  duty,  and  a  privilege,  to  pay  this 
tribute  of  respect,  admiration,  and  love  for  one  whom  we  knew 
so  well,  respected  so  highly,  and  admired  and  loved  so  much. 
I  have  known  Mr.  Langford  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  my 
regard  for  him  has  increased  with  the  years.  In  all  these  years 
I  have  never  heard  or  known  of  his  saying  or  doing  anything 
inconsistent  with  the  life  of  a  true,  high-minded  gentleman. 
As  a  husband,  as  a  citizen,  as  a  business  man,  as  a  public  offi- 
cer, as  a  friend,  he  was  all  our  hearts  could  ask. 

As  president  of  this  Historical  Society,  Mr.  Langford  was 
always  alert,  watchful  of  its  interests ;  and  he  guided  its  course 
with  peculiar  tact  and  ability.  He  seldom  failed  in  his  attend- 
ance, and  he  presided  with  easy  dignity,  ability,  and  fairness. 

As  president  of  the  County  Board  of  Control,  he  gave  to  the 
discharge  of  its  arduous  duties  an  amount  of  time,  thought,  and 
care,  that  only  those  closely  associated  with  him  knew.    It  was 


784  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

here  we  learned  what  thoughtful  care  he  gave  to  the  county's 
interests,  how  correct  were  his  judgments,  and  how  unimpeach- 
able his  integrity.  For  party  purposes,  he  was  bitterly  as- 
sailed, but  the  public's  confidence  was  never  in  the  least 
shaken.  Mr.  Langford  listened  respectfully,  then  calmly  read 
the  law  on  which  his  action  was  based,  and  stated  the  facts  in 
the  case  calmly,  clearly,  and  forcibly,  showing  that  his  course 
had  been  legal,  wise,  and  beneficial.  He  had  the  satisfaction 
of  reading  in  the  faces  of  his  auditors  their  approval  of  his 
course. 

Of  late  I  became  conscious  of  the  fact  that  I  had  never 
heard  Mr.  Langford  speak  in  disparagement  of  any  one;  and 
on  my  expressing  this  to  several  of  my  friends,  each  said,  "I 
never  thought  of  it  before,  but  now  I  recollect  that  such  was 
the  case."  Though  a  man  of  great  courage  and  fearless  in  the 
expression  of  his  opinions,  yet  he  never  engaged  in  denuncia- 
tion or  innuendo.  He  was  above  it,  and  it  had  no  place  in  his 
nature.  Mr.  Langford  was  a  brilliant  writer,  a  good  talker; 
had  a  fine  vein  of  wit  and  humor ;  was  a  good  raconteur,  and 
had  a  large  repertoire  of  good  stories;  in  fine,  was  a  most 
companionable  man,  so  that  his  friends'  faces  always  bright- 
ened as  they  saw  him  approaching. 

That  he  was  a  man  of  the  highest  moral  and  physical  cour- 
age, was  demonstrated,  in  Montana,  when  he  boldly  and  fear- 
lessly led  the  forces  of  good  order  and  good  government  and 
after  a  fair  but  not  legal  trial  brought  to  punishment  the  most 
of  the  gang  of  desperate,  lawless  characters,  who  for  years  had 
terrorized  all  the  Montana  mining  region,  and  made  it  an  unfit 
and  unsafe  place  to  live,  for  any  one  who  had  any  regard  for 
decency,  morality,  or  civil  order. 

Again  he  showed  his  courage  and  self-reliance  when  as  a 
bank  examiner,  at  times  carrying  considerable  money,  he  rode 
on  horseback  over  the  wild,  thinly  populated  western  terri- 
tories, knowing  he  was  likely  to  be  waylaid  and  shot. 

"What  a  national  blessing  it  would  be  if  we  could  have  a 
Congress  filled  with  men  of  his  candor,  courage,  ability,  and 
fine  moral  sense  I 

Did  any  of  you  ever  submit  to  him  a  mathematical  problem 
which  he  failed  to  solve  almost  instantly? 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  ^85 

Did  he  ever,  in  hours  of  leisure,  pour  forth  on  you  the 
treasures  of  his  memory?  I  have  often  listened  with  wonder 
as  he  recited  poem  after  poem,  and  I  envied  him.  Once  he 
recited  to  me  a  long  poem  without  any  pretence  to  merit,  and 
I  said,  '*Mr.  Langford,  why  do  you  store  your  memory  with 
such  trash ? "  He  replied  :  "I  read  it  when  a  boy,  and  did  not 
care  to  remember  it ;  but  occasionally  it  will  pop  up,  and  I  get 
it  off  just  to  show  what  a  foolish  thing  the  memory  can  be." 
Then  he  added,  *'Mr.  Fairchild,  you  once  said  to  me  that  you 
thought  it  probable  that  no  emotion  of  the  human  heart,  nor 
any  thought  of  the  human  brain,  is  ever  irrecoverably  lost, — 
and  this  is  in  support  of  your  theory." 

Those  who  served  with  Mr.  Langford  on  the  Board  of  Con- 
trol, and  the  members  of  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners, 
acting  so  often  with  the  Board  of  Control,  will  always  remem- 
ber what  careful  consideration  he  gave  to  all  that  came  before 
us,  how  sound  his  judgment,  how  strong  his  sense  of  duty,  and 
how  unquestionable  was  his  integrity.  Perhaps  the  most 
marked  characteristic  of  Mr.  Langford,  after  his  integrity,  was 
his  kindness  of  heart  and  his  freedom  from  the  use  of  language 
that  would  offend. 

A  generation  ago,  Clotho  smiled  benignantly  and  sent  forth 
a  galaxy  of  great  men  who  were  to  grow  up  and  build  this 
great  State ;  and  to  preserve  the  records  of  their  works,  this 
Historical  Society  was  formed  in  the  very  infancy  of  the  State. 
From  this  group  of  great  men  was  selected,  as  the  first  presi- 
dent of  this  Society,  Alexander  Ramsey,  who  was  the  Governor 
of  the  Territory  and  State,  a  member  of  Congress,  United 
States  senator,  a  member  of  the  President's  cabinet,  the  nego- 
tiator of  valuable  treaties,  the  great  War  Governor,  and  the 
author  of  our  magnificent  State  School  Fund. 

"We  next  selected  as  our  president,  Hon.  Henry  M.  Rice,  an 
early  settler,  a  man  of  ability,  a  United  States  senator;  and 
after  him  General  Henry  Hastings  Sibley,  one  of  the  first  white 
settlers  in  the  State,  who  rose  to  be  Congressman  and  the  first 
Governor  of  the  State,  and  who  rendered  signal  services  as 
General  of  our  forces  defeating  the  Sioux,  who  were  mas- 
sacring our  frontier  settlers.  In  that  campaign  Sibley  released 
from  a  captivity,  worse  than  death,  more  than  a  hundred 
women,  and  drove  the  savages  beyond  our  borders. 

50 


786  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

From  then  on,  in  a  long  list  of  presidents,  we  find  the  names 
of  Governor  William  R.  Marshall,  Captain  Russell  Blakeley, 
Elias  F.  Drake,  Archbishop  John  Ireland,  and  others,  all  so 
worthy  that  any  one  may  feel  proud  to  be  chosen  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Mr.  Langford. 

We  can  pay  no  tribute  to  the  memory  of  our  departed 
friend  more  fitting  than  to  keep  the  Historical  Society  on  the 
high  plane  on  which  he  left  it. 

To  the  wife  he  loved  so  well,  to  secure  whose  happiness  he 
gave  his  constant  and  last  thoughts,  we  tender  our  sincere 
sympathy.  !      •        =^i 

To  our  departed  friend,  we  pay  the  sincere  homage  of  our 
affections. 

Warren  Upham,  Secretary,  presented  the  following  memo- 
rial, "Nathaniel  P.  Langford,  the  Councilor  and  President  of  this 
Society." 

In  this  tribute  to  do  honor  to  our  revered  and  beloved  for- 
mer president,  let  us  look  through  a  brief  and  very  concise 
chronicle  of  his  life.  It  was  prolonged  to  almost  fourscore 
years,  and  it  was  actively  spent  in  service  to  the  nation,  to  this 
state,  and  to  this  city. 

Nathaniel  Pitt  Langford  was  born  in  Westmoreland,  N.  Y., 
Au^st  9,  1832 ;  and  died  at  his  home  in  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Octo- 
ber 18,  1911.  He  came  to  St.  Paul  in  1854,  became  cashier  the 
next  year  in  the  banking  house  of  Marshall  and  Co.,  and  in 
1858  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Minnesota.  He  re- 
moved to  Montana  in  1862;  was  collector  of  internal  revenue 
in  Montana,  1864-68 ;  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  expedi- 
tion that  in  1870  discovered  the  Yellowstone  geysers,  and  in  a 
series  of  magazine  articles  he  made  them  known  to  the  world ; 
he  was  the  first  superintendent  of  the  Yellowstone  National 
Park,  1872-77 ;  and  was  national  bank  examiner  for  the  Pacific 
states  and  the  territories,  1872-84. 

He  afterward  resided  in  St.  Paul,  and  was  author  of  ''Vig- 
ilante Days  and  Ways,  the  Pioneers  of  the  Rockies,  the  Makers 
and  Making  of  Montana,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Washington,  and 
Wyoming,"  two  volumes,  1890,  and  ''Diary  of  the  Washburn 
Expedition  to  the  Yellowstone  and  Firehole  Rivers  in  the  Year 
1870,"  xxxi  and  122  pages,  published  in  1905. 


Memorials  of  deceased  members,  i909-14.  78'? 

His  life  and  public  service  in  Montana,  and  especially  his 
part  in  exploration  of  the  Upper  Yellowstone  region  and  the 
establishment  of  its  National  Park,  have  been  related  in  a  pre- 
ceding paper  of  this  Volume  (pages  631-668). 

He  contributed  two  papers  in  this  Society's  Historical  Col- 
lections, Volume  IX :  ^'  The  Louisiana  Purchase  and  preceding 
Spanish  Intrigues  for  Dismemberment  of  the  Union,"  pages 
453-508,  with  a  portrait  and  a  map ;  and  ' '  The  Library,  Museum, 
and  Portrait  Collection  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society," 
pages  569-575. 

Mr.  Langford  was  elected  a  life  member  of  this  Historical 
Society  on  March  9,  1885.  He  was  a  member  of  its  Executive 
Council  twenty-two  years,  from  November  11,  1889,  until  his 
death.  Since  1891,  during  twenty  years,  he  was  chairman  of 
its  Committee  on  Publications;  and  since  1894  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Library  Committee.  In  the  work  of  both  these  com- 
mittees he  took  an  active  part  until  two  months  before  he  died. 
He  was  elected  second  vice  president,  February  9,  1903;  first 
vice  president  September  14  of  the  same  year;  and  president 
January  9,  1905,  which  office  he  held  nearly  seven  years. 

Within  the  period  of  my  service  as  secretary  of  this  Society, 
since  1895,  I  have  known  four  presidents:  Governor  Ramsey, 
who  continued  in  the  presidency  until  his  death  in  1903 ;  Gen- 
eral John  B.  Sanborn,  who  lived  only  about  one  year  after  his 
election  to  this  office ;  Judge  Greenleaf  Clark,  so  elected  in 
September,  1904,  who  died  in  December  of  the  same  year ;  and 
President  Langford,  whom  we  commemorate  in  this  meeting. 

During  the  terms  of  each  who  preceded  Mr.  Langford,  the 
greatest  need  of  the  Society  was  to  secure  a  fireproof  building, 
or  rooms  in  such  a  building,  for  safe  preservation  of  its  exceed- 
ingly valuable  Library,  Museum,  and  Collection  of  Portraits. 
Often  Governor  Ramsey  expressed  his  profound  solicitude  for 
the  completion  of  the  New  Capitol,  and  his  hope  to  see  these 
priceless  possessions  of  the  Historical  Society  removed  to  its 
shelter  and  safeguard  from  fire ;  but  two  years  before  the  re- 
moval he  was  called  by  death.  In  the  spring  and  summer  next 
following  Mr.  Langford 's  election  as  president,  the  great  col- 
lections of  our  Society's  Library  and  Museum,  and  some  of  its 
portraits,  were  removed  into  the  fine  commodious  rooms  which 
they  now  occupy  in  the  New  Capitol.    Anxiety  of  the  friends 


786  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCiEfY  COLLECTIONS. 

of  the  Library  against  its  loss  by  fire  ceased ;  and  the  Museum 
was  increased  by  very  extensive  archaeological  donations  of  the 
late  Rev.  Edward  C.  Mitchell,  counselor  and  chairman  of  the 
Museum  Committee. 

But  the  greater  part  of  the  Portrait  Collection,  to  the  num- 
ber of  five  hundred  or  more  of  portraits,  other  pictures,  and 
framed  documents,  yet  remained  in  the  Old  Capitol,  occupying 
the  former  governor's  rooms,  which  were  assigned  to  this  So- 
ciety as  its  State  Portrait  Gallery,  because  our  rooms  in  the 
New  Capitol  could  display  only  about  a  fourth  part  of  this  col- 
lection. Through  more  than  five  years  the  most  of  the  portraits 
owned  by  the  Society  were  thus  on  exhibition,  being  a  very 
interesting  part  of  its  possessions  for  visitors  having  only  a 
short  time  to  spend  in  its  rooms.  In  the  late  winter  and  spring 
of  the  past  year  1911,  through  advice  of  President  Langford, 
these  portraits  were  removed  from  the  Old  Capitol,  because  of 
their  liability  to  be  destroyed  there  by  fire,  and  they  were  care- 
fully boxed  and  stored  in  the  basement  of  the  New  Capitol. 
They  will  probably  in  the  near  future  be  placed  again  on  exhi- 
bition in  a  fireproof  Library  Building,  which  we  hope  and  ex- 
pect to  be  provided  by  the  next  Legislature.  The  wisdom  of 
President  Langford  and  the  Executive  Council  in  withdrawing 
this  important  part  of  the  Society's  collections  from  present 
use  was  fully  justified  while  yet  the  removal  was  in  progress, 
by  the  burning  of  the  state  capitol  of  Missouri,  with  the  loss  of 
nearly  all  its  contents. 

"When  our  Library  was  removed  into  the  New  Capitol,  the 
space  there  allotted  for  it  was  ample,  but  was  even  then  almost 
filled.  After  three  or  four  years  the  main  book-stack  rooms  were 
inconveniently  crowded,  and  additional  space  was  obtained  by 
filling  the  wide  adjoining  corridor  with  bookcases.  The  Library 
now  numbers  105,000  volumes,  including  more  than  9,000  bound 
volumes  of  our  Minnesota  newspapers.  Its  average  yearly  in- 
crease of  about  4,000  volumes  makes  it  very  difficult  to  place 
the  new  books  on  the  shelves  for  the  use  of  readers.  Therefore 
the  great  burdening  problem  of  the  later  part  of  Mr.  Langford 's 
seven  years  as  president  has  been  the  need,  or  we  may  better 
say  the  necessity,  to  provide  a  suitable  Library  Building,  pre- 
ferably on  some  site  adjoining  the  grounds  of  the  New  Capitol. 


J 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  789 

Faithfully,  ardently,  wisely,  with  zeal  and  perseverance  that 
would  do  credit  to  any  younger  man,  President  Langford 
worked  early  and  late  during  three  biennial  sessions  of  the 
Legislature,  advocating,  with  other  members  of  special  com- 
mittees of  the  Society's  council,  that  this  Historical  Library  of 
our  state  be  granted  an  adequate  and  fireproof  building,  large 
enough  for  the  expected  growth  of  many  years  to  come.  "Wis- 
consin and  Iowa,  our  next  neighbors  on  the  east  and  south,  have 
erected  such  historical  library  buildings.  We  cannot  doubt 
that  soon,  within  a  very  few  years,  this  earnest  hope  of  Presi- 
dent Langford  will  be  fulfilled,  for  which  he  gave  heroic  efforts, 
while  suffering  severe  bodily  pain,  in  the  last  legislative  ses- 
sion, less  than  a  year  before  he  died.  Let  us  believe  that  in  the 
spirit  he  will  behold  the  new  Library  Building  when  its  corner 
stone  shall  be  laid,  and  when  it  shall  be  completed  and  dedi- 
cated to  its  noble  purpose  for  preservation  of  the  history  of 
Minnesota  and  for  education  and  enlightenment  of  her  people. 


AMBROSE  McNULTY. 

Memorials  presented  in  the  Council  Meeting, 

March  13,  1911. 

Father  Francis  J.  Schaeeer,  Councilor,  Rector  of  the  St. 
Paul  Seminary,  read  the  following  tribute : 

Ambrose  McNulty  was  born  May  18,  1868,  at  Darwin,  Minn. 
After  having  completed  his  early  training  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  district,  he  pursued  the  higher  studies  in  classics,  philoso- 
phy, and  theology,  at  the  Sacred  Heart  College,  Watertown, 
Wis.,  the  St.  Thomas  College,  St.  Paul,  the  St.  John's  Univer- 
sity, College ville,  Minn.,  and  the  Catholic  University,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  On  March  28,  1891,  he  was  ordained  to  the  priest- 
hood; and  later  he  became  successively  assistant  pastor  at  St. 
Joseph's  Church,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  Secretary  to  His  Grace, 
Archbishop  Ireland  of  St.  Paul.  While  in  the  Secretary's 
office  he  was  also  in  charge  of  the  diocesan  journal,  the  North- 
western Chronicle.  At  the  vacancy  of  the  pastorate  of  St. 
Luke's  in  1896,  he  was  appointed  to  this  important  parish  in  the 
city  of  St,  Paul,  and  remained  there  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  on  Monday,  November  28^  1910, 


790  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL.    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Father  McNulty  was  esteemed  and  loved  by  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him.  His  native  kindliness,  his  winning  sym- 
pathy, his  keen  sense  of  humor,  his  broad  charity,  made  hosts 
of  friends  to  him.  A¥herever  he  went,  whenever  he  spoke,  he 
spread  sunshine,  and  something  of  the  healthy  joy  of  living,  of 
which  his  own  soul  was  superabundantly  filled.  He  was  the 
special  friend  of  the  little  children,  who  used  to  run  up  to  him, 
greet  him,  and  make  him  the  depositary  of  their  confidences 
and  the  helpful  companion  of  their  innocent  pastimes.  And 
all  this  he  did,  although  battling  against  great  odds.  For  years 
the  germs  of  a  dread  disease,  to  which  he  finally  succumbed, 
were  undermining  his  health  and  strength;  and  all  the  while 
he  knew  that  he  was  doomed  to  an  early  end.  Still  he  never 
uttered  a  sound  of  complaint,  never  did  he  mention  a  word  of 
his  sickness  to  others ;  on  the  contrary,  he  was  always  cheerful, 
he  had  always  the  same  winning  smile,  he  was  always  ready  to 
help  others  over  the  troublesome  paths  of  life. 

Father  McNulty  loved  this  life,  and  took  a  keen  enjoyment 
put  of  the  clean  and  healthful  pleasures  which  it  offers.  For 
years  he  was  a  member  of  the  St.  Paul  Rod  and  Gun  Club,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  its  healthy  sports;  whenever  he  was 
amongst  its  members,  either  at  the  tournaments  or  at  the  meet- 
ings, or  at  the  annual  dinners,  his  influence  was  always  for  the 
best,  and  never  did  an  untoward  incident  mar  the  joys  of  these 
friendly  gatherings. 

He  was  an  accomplished  scholar.  His  great  natural  gifts 
of  intellect  were  carefully  developed  during  a  thorough  course 
of  studies,  and  by  a  large  amount  of  reading  on  a  wide  range 
of  subjects.  His  accomplishments  found  a  fruitful  field  of  em- 
ployment when  he  was  appointed  editor  of  the  Northwestern 
Chronicle,  in  the  columns  of  which  he  gave  evidence  of  unusual 
ability  as  a  writer  and  a  thinker. 

The  study  of  history,  local  history  in  particular,  was  an  at- 
tractive subject  for  him ;  in  accordance  with  this  taste  he  sought 
out  the  rooms  and  the  library  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  elected  a  life  member  December  8,  1902. 
An  elaborate  and  scholarly  essay  by  him  on  the  history  of  the 
first  chapel  in  St.  Paul,  built  by  Father  Galtier,  was  read  be- 
fore this  Society  and  found  a  place  in  its  publications  (M.  H. 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  791 

S.  Collections,  vol.  X,  pp.  233-45)  ;  it  was  reprinted,  with  a  few 
modifications  and  corrections,  in  the  Acta  et  Dicta  (vol.  I,  No. 
1,  July,  1907),  the  organ  of  the  St.  Paul  Catholic  Historical 
Society. 

When  in  1901  the  Diocese  of  St.  Paul  celebrated  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  advent  of  its  first  Bishop,  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph 
Cretin,  to  his  episcopal  city,  a  memorial  volume  was  published, 
''The  Diocese  of  St.  Paul,  the  Golden  Jubilee,"  which  was  com- 
piled by  Father  McNulty.  In  his  conversations  with  friends, 
his  broad  scholarship  became  very  apparent ;  he  displayed,  with- 
out ostentation,  a  great  familiarity  with  many  and  varied  sub- 
jects of  erudition. 

Father  McNulty  was  a  faithful  and  loyal  priest,  a  true  min- 
ister of  God.  His  life  was  w^ithout  blemish,  possessed  of  all 
the  sweet  virtues  which  constitute  a  Christian  and  a  priestly 
soul ;  his  faith  was  reverential,  and  one  born  of  conviction.  He 
was  ever  ready,  at  the  altar,  in  the  confessional,  in  the  pulpit, 
at  the  sick-bed,  to  bring  spiritual  help  and  consolation  to  all 
those  that  needed  it.  And  there  was  no  distinction  of  rank  or 
class;  high  and  low  had  equally  access  to  him  for  the  dispen- 
sations of  his  ecclesiastical  ministry.  He  was  faithful  to  the 
last  in  the  fulfillment  of  his  duty.  Although  for  years  his 
physical  frame  was  weakened  from  sickness  and  pain,  he  was 
always  at  his  post;  the  very  day  before  his  death  he  dragged 
himself  to  the  altar,  and  spoke  words  of  wisdom  to  his  parish- 
ioners. 

It  is  almost  a  pity  that  such  men  cannot  be  with  us  forever. 
But  there  is  comfort  in  the  thought  that  their  spirit  lives. 
Justice  0 'Brien  has  well  said :  "To  know  Father  McNulty  well 
was  to  be  convinced  of  immortality;  for  a  spirit  such  as  his 
cannot  die." 

Rt.  Rkv.  John  J.  LawlER,  Auxiliary  Bishop  of  St.  Paul,  said: 
It  is  proper  that  this  Society  should  pause  for  a  few  mo- 
ments to  recall  the  estimable  traits  in  the  lives  of  its  deceased 
members.  I  deem  it  a  privilege  to  be  permitted  to  offer  my 
brief  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Rev.  Ambrose  Mc- 
Nulty, a  fellow  clergyman  whom  I  knew  well,  whose  sterling 
worth  I  prized  highly,  and  whose  career  I  greatly  admired.    I 


792  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

realize  that  truly  Christian  lives  need  no  eulogies.  Words  of 
mine  are  not  required  to  extol  his  nobility  of  character.  En- 
comium of  mine,  however  able,  would  sound  but  feeble  to  all 
who  knew  his  beautiful  characteristics  thoroughly.  If  I  now 
direct  attention  to  his  distinguishing  qualities,  it  is  for  the  pur- 
pose of  drawing  from  them  a  lesson  for  our  own  benefit  and 
edification. 

Prominent  among  the  traits  of  our  departed  friend  was  his 
amiable  disposition.'  His  was  a  remarkable  ability  to  make 
friends  and  to  hold  them.  Of  a  kind  nature,  his  heart  went  out 
to  others.  His  charming  personality  drew  people  to  him  and 
won  their  hearts.  He  had  a  cordial  greeting,  a  pleasant  smile, 
and  a  warm  hand  shake,  for  those  who  came  in  contact  with 
him  for  consultation  or  advice.  He  seemed  to  feel,  with  the 
poet,  ''What  thou  wilt  thou  shalt  rather  enforce  with  thy  smile 
than  hew  to  it  with  thy  sword.'' 

He  looked  on  the  bright  side  of  things.  Though  a  sufferer 
for  years  with  a  severe  malady  to  which  he  finally  succumbed, 
he  bore  his  illness  with  patience  and  resignation.  He  was  al- 
ways cheerful  and  light-hearted,  encouraging  others  by  the 
sunshine  of  his  view  of  life.  There  was  a  vein  of  humor  in  him 
that  made  him  a  pleasant  companion  and  an  entertaining  con- 
versationalist. Having  a  mind  stored  with  wide  information, 
he  was  able,  when  occasion  demanded  it,  to  wield  a  facile  and 
vigorous  pen. 

But,  admirable  as  were  his  natural  gifts  of  head  and  heart, 
it  is  chiefly  to  his  priestly  life  that  I  wish  to  draw  your  atten- 
tion. There  is  a  dash  of  heroism  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  priest. 
In  the  bright  morning  of  life,  when  the  world  stood  before  him 
in  all  its  attractiveness,  he  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say  to  him, 
''Son,  give  me  thy  heart."  That  was  the  Master's  great  de- 
mand, and  magnanimously  did  our  departed  friend  give  the 
answer:  "Thou  art  the  God  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for- 
ever." All  at  once  the  die  was  cast,  and  all  the  joys  and  en- 
dearments and  ambitions  and  trappings  of  earth  were  set  aside 
forever. 

Laboring  side  by  side  with  him  for  years,  I  observed  his 
unselfish  devotedness  to  the  duties  of  a  zealous  pastor  of  souls. 
He  was  a  true  Man  of  God,  exhibiting  in  his  conduct  something 


I 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  793 

of  the  gentleness  and  compassion  and  charity  and  purity  and 
self  sacrifice  of  his  Saviour,  the  Divine  original  of  all  goodness. 
His  energies  were  consecrated  unreservedly  to  the  service  of 
the  Church,  and  the  gift  of  self  is  the  greatest  gift  of  all.  His 
life  was  one  of  truest  altruism,  of  noblest  heroism,  as  is  the  life 
of  every  faithful  Man  of  God.  There  are  few  who  fully  ap- 
preciate the  heroism  of  those  who  live  such  lives.  Few  realize 
that  their  self-denial,  their  gift  of  self  on  the  altar  of  Christian 
charity,  stands  for  manly  courage  greater  and  grander  than 
the  valor  in  memory  of  which  nations  erect  their  imperishable 
monuments.  Truly  has  it  been  said  that  ''real  glory  springs 
from  the  silent  conquest  of  ourselves,  and  without  that  the 
conqueror  is  naught  but  the  first  slave."  There  are  illustrious 
characters  on  history's  page,  who  were  masters  in  the  various 
departments  of  human  energy,  but  slaves  to  their  own  evil 
propensities.  There  are  heroes  and  heroines  who  were  para- 
gons of  courage  against  the  enemies  of  their  country,  but  the 
veriest  poltroons  on  the  silent  battlefields  of  their  own  hearts. 
To  conquer  others  is  much,  but  to  subdue  one's  self  is  the  vic- 
tory of  victories.  "Man  who  man  would  be  must  rule  the  em- 
pire of  himself." 

Nobly  did  Father  McNulty  act  out  this  sublime  truth  in  all 
the  years  of  his  ministry.  His  beautiful  life  stands  as  the  best 
monument  to  his  memory.  ''There  is  one  great  society  alone 
on  earth:  the  noble  living  and  the  noble  dead."  Father  Mc- 
Nulty belonged  to  it. 


EDWARD  CRAIG  MITCHELL. 

Born  July  21,  1836;  Die:d  Dece:mber  8,  1911. 
Memorials  prese:nte:d  in  the  Council  Meeting,  December 

11,   1911. 
Rev.  Francis  J.  Schaeeer,  Councilor,  Rector  of  St.  Paul 
Seminary,  said: 

I  feel  almost  that  I  ought  to  apologize  for  speaking  this 
evening  of  the  merits  of  a  distinguished  member  of  our  Coun- 
cil, who  has  departed  this  life ;  I  have  not  known  the  Rev.  Ed- 
ward C.  Mitchell  for  many  years,  nor  did  I  have  the  privilege 


794  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

of  knowing  him  intimately;  my  acquaintance  with  him  was 
restricted  to  the  meetings  of  this  Council,  or  of  the  Museum 
Committee.  And  still  during  these  intermittent  meetings  I 
learned  to  appreciate  the  high  character  and  the  good  qualities 
of  the  man  we  mourn ;  and  I  gladly  avail  myself  of  this  oppor- 
tunity to  pay  a  tribute  to  his  memory. 

There  were  two  things  chiefly  that  struck  me  as  being  part 
and  parcel  of  his  character :  a  high  Christian  nobility  of  soul, 
and  an  unfailing  optimism  and  cheerfulness.  By  gathering  the 
scattered  threads  of  his  casual  remarks,  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  firmly  rooted  in  his  mind  the  con- 
viction that  man,  as  an  ethical  being,  was  destined  by  Almighty 
God  to  accomplish  the  best,  the  noblest,  and  purest  he-  is  capa- 
ble of  performing  during  the  brief  span  of  life  allotted  to  him. 
Man  must  do  good  and  avoid  evil ;  that  was'  the  command  of 
God  and  of  Christ ;  such  was  the  understanding  of  Mr.  Mitchell 
as  to  man's  duty.  Mr.  Mitchell,  as  you  all  know,  was  a  Chris- 
tian minister ;  and  although  I  learned  little  or  nothing  of  his 
ministerial  work,  I  feel  quite  certain  that  many  a  time  and  on 
many  occasions  he  spoke  to  his  people  in  that  strain,  explain- 
ing to  them  what  their  various  duties  were,  and  to  what  high 
purposes  a  Christian  soul  must  aspire,  in  order  to  reach  the 
goal  set  to  it  by  the  Almighty.  "What  he  recommended  to 
others,  that  he  did  himself;  his  entire  life,  his  whole  career, 
known  to  a  large  public,  testify  to  the  many  good  deeds  accom- 
plished by  him. 

Man  is  destined  for  high  things  in  this  life;  but,  alas!  at 
times  he  falls  short  of  his  noble  mission.  There  are  many  small 
and  great  weaknesses  in  this  frail  human  nature  of  ours,  which 
often  make  man  deviate  from  the  straight  path.  And  when 
seeing  certain  men  wander  about  aimlessly,  listlessly,  some- 
times with  wicked  intent  before  them,  one  might  be  tempted 
to  think  that  there  is  no  righteousness  among  men.  Such  were 
not  the  thoughts  of  Mr.  Mitchell ;  he  was  too  optimistic  to  de- 
spair of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  righteousness  in  man.  He 
knew,  of  course,  human  weakness;  but  he  knew  also  that  for 
one  wicked  man  there  are  hundreds  that  are  good ;  and  even 
of  the  wicked  he  hoped  that  some  day  he  might  return  to  the 
right  path.    This  optimistic  confidence  gave  rise  to  that  cheer- 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  795 

fulness  of  manner  and  countenance,  which  impressed  itself  so 
much  on  all  those  that  came  in  contact  with  him.  There  was 
ever  ready  a  cheerful  word  on  his  tongue,  and  a  pleasant  radi- 
ant smile  on  his  face. 

As  to  what  Mr.  Mitchell  was  to  this  Historical  Society  I 
need  hardly  tell ;  it  is  known  to  all  the  members,  and  to  many 
outside  of  it.  He  took  a  very  active  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
Society,  was  present  at  all  its  meetings,  unless  otherwise  en- 
gaged; and,  as  chairman  of  the  Museum  Committee,  he  pre- 
sided over  the  deliberations  of  that  body.  His  extensive  knowl- 
edge in  many  fields  of  human  learning,  his  great  store  of  in- 
formation on  present  and  past  history,  enabled  him  to  be  of 
useful  service  to  a  body  like  this,  commissioned  to  perpetuate 
the  records  of  the  past. 

Throughout  his  long  life  he  gathered  up  many  objects  of 
historical  and  archaeological  value,  which  covered  not  only  our 
fair  State  of  Minnesota,  but  other  states  of  the  Union  as  well, 
and  even  foreign  lands;  and  most  of  these  he  donated  to  the 
Historical  Society,  to  be  kept  in  its  Museum,  to  be  classified 
and  studied  in  due  time.  We  owe  to  Mr.  Mitchell  a  great  debt 
of  gratitude  for  this  rich  and  valuable  collection. 

With  his  departure  is  ended  a  long,  useful,  and  studious 
life ;  a  noble  character  has  gone  from  amongst  us,  but  his  deeds 
remain ;  and  we  may  well  wish  to  imitate  and  follow  the  good 
things  for  which  he  was  known. 

Professor  N.  H.  Winchell,  Councilor,  said: 
My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Mitchell  was  in  1874  or 
1875  at  Minneapolis,  where  he  was  one  of  the  early  members 
of  the  Minnesota  Academy  of  Science,  of  which  he  was  elected 
Secretary  for  1876.  He  worked  in  the  Academy  with  the  Com- 
mittee on  Archaeology,  a  field  in  which  he  was  destined  later 
to  become  celebrated  as  a  collecter  and  patron.  But  he  did  not 
stay  long  in  Minneapolis;  he  yielded  the  chairmanship  of  his 
committee  to  Mr.  Nathan  Butler,  and  removed  to  St.  Paul. 
However,  before  he  left  Minneapolis  he  presented  to  the  Mu- 
seum of  the  Academy  a  collection  of  ''Japanese  coins  and 
curiosities,"  manifesting  thus  his  characteristic  generosity, 
which  later  blossomed  out  fully  in  St.  Paul, 


796  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

After  he  left  Minneapolis  I  met  him  rarely,  otherwise  than 
at  the  meetings  of  the  Council  of  the  Historical  Society,  where 
he  was  regular  in  attendance  and  frequently  offered  something 
of  interest  in  the  course  of  the  meetings.  He  was  connected 
with  the  old  St.  Paul  Academy  of  Science,  having  been  presi- 
dent in  1895,  when  he  presided,  March  6,  at  a  joint  meeting  of 
that  Academy  with  the  Minnesota  Academy  of  Science,  held  at 
the  rooms  of  the  Commercial  Club,  St.  Paul. 

Mr.  Mitchell  will  be  long  remembered  for  his  donation  of  a 
large  collection  of  archaeological  specimens  to  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society,  and  for  another  collection,  of  shells,  given 
to  the  St.  Paul  Institute.  To  the  former  donation  is  due  the 
erection  of  the  museum  of  the  Historical  Society  into  the  form 
and  character  of  a  real  museum.  The  Society  immediately  pro- 
cured suitable  glass  cases,  twenty-one  in  number,  and  with 
great  pains  and  patience  Mr.  Mitchell  himself  distributed  the 
specimens,  with  suitable  labels,  so  as  to  make  a  beautiful  edu- 
cational display,  an  exhibition  which  is  constantly  visited  by 
people  from  all  parts  of  the  state  and  is  studied  by  archaeolo- 
gists from  other  states.  The  aggregate  number  of  specimens 
donated,  with  later  additions  by  Mr.  Mitchell,  is  about  23,000 
pieces.  They  were  collected  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  mainly 
by  purchase,  during  a  long  period  of  years,  and  had  been  kept 
by  Mr.  Mitchell  at  his  home  in  St.  Paul,  where  on  many  occa- 
sions he  took  delight  in  showing  them  to  his  friends. 

An  article,  contributed  by  him,  describing  this  archaeo- 
logical collection,  was  published  in  this  Society  *s  Volume  XII, 
pages  305-318,  with  his  portrait. 

This  generosity  of  Mr.  Mitchell  was  but  one  of  the  mani- 
festations of  a  beautiful  and  lovable  spirit,  which  character- 
ized all  his  intercourse  with  his  fellows,  and  which  knit  him  by 
thousands  of  invisible  threads  into  the  regard  and  affection  of 
-the  people  of  St.  Paul.  To  the  Historical  Society  he  has  bound 
himself  not  alone  by  his  munificent  gift,  which  in  dollars  and 
cents  far  exceeds  any  gift  it  has  ever  received,  but  by  the  many 
gentle  and  courteous  words  and  acts  which  marked  his  every- 
day demeanor. 

Personally,  after  a  lapse  of  several  years,  I  came  to  know 
hiw  more  intimately  a^ain,  as  a  co-member  of  the  Museum 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,  1909-14.  79^ 

Committee  of  this  Society,  at  the  meetings  of  which  there  were 
serious  and  important  discussions,  interspersed  with  pleasant- 
ries, for  which  latter  Mr.  Mitchell  was  usually  responsible. 

The  last  time  I  heard  his  voice  was  by  a  telephone  confer- 
ence. The  Historical  Museum  cases  had  to  be  supplied  with 
locks  that  were  more  secure.  As  chairman  of  the  Museum 
Committee  and  as  donor  of  the  large  collection,  he  was  most 
concerned  in  the  proper  keeping  of  the  Museum.  I  described 
to  him  the  style  of  lock  that  was  contemplated  for  the  cases. 
He  seemed  not  to  fully  understand  its  plans  and  mechanism, 
but  said,  "Go  ahead,  I  think  it  will  be  all  right/'  He  was  already 
then  evidently  too  weakened  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the 
subject,  but,  in  his  usual  confiding  and  optimistic  manner,  ac- 
quiesced in  the  plan  proposed. 

Since  his  death  that  expression  has  been  ringing  in  my  ears. 
It  was  characteristic  of  his  life  and  his  spirit.  That  cheerful 
confidence  carried  him  through  trials  and  triumphs,  through 
difficulties  and  successes.  So  far  as  I  have  learned  of  his  career, 
whether  as  a  moral  teacher  or  as  a  citizen,  that  which  charac- 
terized him  above  all  other  traits  was  an  optimistic  and  cheer- 
ful hopefulness,  such  as  that  embodied  in  his  last  words  to  me, 
Go  ahead,  I  think  it  will  be  all  right. 

Rev.  Maurice  D.  Edwards,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Dayton 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  spoke  at  the  funeral  services  of 
Rev.  Edward  Craig  Mitchell,  Pastor  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
Church,  St.  Paul,  December  11,  1911,  as  follows: 

What  Mr.  Mitchell  was  to  this  church,  which  for  so  many 
years  enjoyed  his  faithful  ministry,  is  best  known  to  them  who 
have  here  received  the  divine  message  from  his  lips,  and  who 
have  grown  intimate  with  him  by  the  family  fireside. 

As,  in  a  sense,  representing  a  large  circle  of  friends  outside 
his  parish,  I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words  of  apprecia- 
tion of  our  brother.  This  I  gladly  do.  My  long  acquaintance 
with  Mr.  Mitchell  gives  me  at  least  some  qualification  for  this 
service.  During  nearly  forty  years  I  have  known  him.  We 
met  soon  after  I  came  to  the  city,  which  was  in  1874.  Ever 
since  we  have  had  most  pleasant  personal  relations.  Many 
have  been  the  delightful  conversations  and  interchanges  of 


798  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIE'TY    COLLECTIOMS. 

views  that  we  have  held  together.  We  have  frequently  been 
associated  on  committees  in  our  work  for  the  general  welfare 
of  the  community. 

While  we  differed  somewhat  in  our  theological  views,  there 
was  so  much  that  we  held  in  common,  and  we  were  so  agreed 
on  the  great  fundamentals  of  faith  and  right  living,  that  we 
were  always  sympathetic.  Never  during  all  these  years  was 
there  a  ripple  of  discord  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  our  rela- 
tions. 

From  the  beginning  I  learned  to  have  a  high  respect  for 
Mr.  Mitchell,  both  as  a  man  and  as  a  Christian  minister.  In 
every  way  he  was  a  strong  character.  In  these  days  of  theo- 
logical unrest  and  uncertainty,  it  is  refreshing  and  reassuring 
to  meet  one  possessing  such  firm  and  positive  convictions  as 
Mr.  Mitchell  held.  He  knew  what  he  believed,  and  why  he  be- 
lieved it.  There  was  nothing  hazy  or  uncertain  about  his  views 
anywhere.  He  possessed  also  the  courage  of  his  convictions, 
and  on  all  proper  occasions  was  ready  to  confess  the  faith  that 
was  in  him. 

Yet  with  this  positiveness  of  personal  convictions,  our 
brother  had  a  broad  and  generous  spirit  toward  those  who  dif- 
fered from  him,  if  only  they  were  manifestly  sincere  and  true. 
Honesty  of  opinion,  coupled  with  uprightness  of  life,  always 
commanded  hite  respect.  No  one  was  quicker  than  he  to  rec- 
ognize and  honor  high  character  wherever  found. 

A  thoroughly  genuine  man  himself,  he  loved  truth  and  jus- 
tice everywhere,  and  nothing  so  stirred  his  spirit  as  wrong  or 
cruelty  of  any  kind.  He  was  always  ready  therefore  to  cham- 
pion the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  whether  man  or  beast. 

Mr.  Mitchell,  like  his  Master,  "went  about  doing  good." 
His  constant  ministry  of  helpfulness ;  his  unselfish  devotion  to 
those  in  trouble ;  his  many  and  generous  gifts ;  his  high  ideals 
of  business  honor,  which  sometimes  led  him  to  assume  obliga- 
tions that  neither  the  law  nor  custom  required;  and  his  sym- 
pathy for  the  poor; — all  these  were  marked  characteristics  of 
the  man,  which  every  one  recognized  who  had  any  close  rela- 
tions with  him.  It  was  such  traits  and  deeds  as  these  that  en- 
deared him  to  a  large  circle  of  friends  outside  his  parish  and 
made  him  a  benefactor  in  the  community. 


MEMORIALS  OF  DECEASED  MEMBERS,   1909-14.  79^ 

Any  estimate  of  Mr.  Mitchell's  character  would  be  lacking 
that  did  not  make  mention  of  his  profound  reverence  for  sacred 
things.  He  had  such  respect  for  Holy  Scripture,  and  for  every 
thing  connected  with  the  worship  and  being  of  God,  that  noth- 
ing was  more  offensive  to  him  than  any  levity  or  disrespect 
shown  these  religious  themes  and  objects. 

In  his  social  relations  our  friend  was  always  genial  and 
companionable.  He  loved  to  meet  people  in  a  friendly  way, 
and  to  interchange  views  with  them.  Thus  it  was  always  a 
pleasure  to  meet  him  in  society.  His  presence  there  was  often 
sought  and  always  welcome. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  too  large  a  man  to  confine  his  work  and 
sympathy  to  his  own  church.  He  belonged  to  the  community. 
In  every  respect  he  was  a  good  citizen.  Nothing  that  affected 
the  general  welfare  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him.  A 
large  part  of  his  time  and  energy  was  devoted  to  public  affairs ; 
and  no  one  in  the  city  was  quicker  to  respond  to  a  public  call 
for  service  than  himself.  Every  local  philanthropic  and  pa- 
triotic enterprise  found  in  him  a  friend  and  helper. 

He  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution ;  and,  until  advancing  years  prevented,  he  was  active  in 
its  work  as  a  member  of  its  governing  board.  His  name  is 
found  also  on  the  membership  roll  of  the  Sons  of  the  Colonial 
Wars. 

He  was  for  many  years  closely  identified  with  the  Minne- 
sota Historical  Society;  and  was  a  contributor  to  its  valuable 
publications. 

The  work  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  the  Poor  also  com- 
manded his  interest,  and  was  aided  both  by  his  generous  gifts 
and  by  his  personal  service. 

Such  objects  as  the  Free  Kindergarten  and  the  St.  Paul 
Academy  of  Science,  indeed  every  agency  that  sought  the  en- 
lightenment of  men  or  the  betterment  of  their  condition,  found 
in  him  a  friend  and  supporter. 

And  Mr.  Mitchell's  connection  with  any  organization  was 
never  merely  nominal,  but  he  always  felt  a  personal  respon- 
sibility in  its  conduct  and  took  an  active  part  in  its  work. 

Such  men  are  invaluable  in  any  community.  When  they  are 
taken  away,  every  public  interest  feels  their  loss.     Yet  their 


800  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

work  and  influence  abide.  Being  dead  they  yet  speak.  They 
have  an  earthly  as  well  as  a  heavenly  immortality.  This  was 
eminently  true  of  our  brother.  He  will  not  be  forgotten.  The 
good  he  has  done  in  a  hundred  ways  is  seed  that  will  perpet- 
uate itself  in  the  years  to  come. 

Some  lives,  as  they  pass  from  us,  are  like  the  setting  of  the 
sun  in  southern  climes,  where  the  light  soon  fades  away  after 
the  sun  has  disappeared.  Other  lives  are  like  the  sunset  in  the 
far  north,  where  the  twilight  long  lingers  and  sometimes  tar- 
ries even  until  the  morning.  Mr.  Mitchell  has  left  us,  the  place 
that  knew  him  shall  know  him  no  more ;  but  there  is  an  after- 
glow in  the  sky  that  will'long  linger.  It  may  be  that  it  will 
abide  until  the  morning. 


WILLIAM  PITT  MURRAY. 
Born  Jun^  21,  1825;  Di^d  Jun^  20,  1910. 

In  the  Council  Meeting,  September  12,  1910,  the  following 
memorial  was  presented  by  Henry  S.  Fairchild,  Councilor. 

On  June  1,  1849,  sixty-one  years  ago,  the  Territory  of  Min- 
nesota was  organized,  containing  then  a  population  of  about 
1,000;  and  its  capital,  St.  Paul,  had  about  150  inhabitants.  It 
had  be^n  partially  explored  and  was  known  to  be  begemmed 
by  nearly  ten  thousand  lakes;  its  scenery  was  described  as 
beautiful,  its  climate  as  healthful,  and  its  soil  as  exceedingly 
fertile.  Game  and  fish  abounded,  making  it  the  paradise  of 
sportsmen.  Its  fine  commercial  position  at  the  headwaters  of 
the  kingliest  river  of  the  continent  added  to  its  attractions. 

Into  this  new  territory  flocked  from  the  East  great  num- 
bers of  lumbermen,  farmers,  and  mechanics,  and  a  host  of  am- 
bitious young  men  with  aspirations  for  political  honors,  and 
many  older  ones  who  had  occupied  high  positions  in  the  East 
but  had  been  crowded  aside  by  younger  or  abler  men,  and  who 
hoped  here  to  regain  their  lost  honors. 

Among  the  immigrants  into  this  land  of  promise  in  1849 
was  an  earnest,  able,  ambitious  young  man  from  Indiana  (born 
in  Ohio)  by  the  name  of  AVilliam  Pitt  Murray,  in  respect  to 
whose  memory  we  are  gathered  here  tonight.    Mr.  Murray  was 


MEMORIALS    OP    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  801 

an  active  and  valuable  member  of  the  Executive  Council  of  this 
Historical  Society,  and  contributed  a  valuable  paper  of  remi- 
niscences of  early  historical  events  (M.  H.  S.  Volume  XII,  pages 
103-130,  with  his  portrait).  Perhaps  no  man  in  the  state  knew 
so  much  of  our  early  history,  of  the  origin  of  the  names  of  our 
lakes  and  rivers,  towns  and  counties,  as  Mr.  Murray.  We  shall 
always  greatly  miss  his  pheerful  presence  and  his  valuable 
services. 

Within  two  years  after  Mr.  Murray's  advent  here,  he  let 
the  pioneers  know  that  he  would  like  to  have  a  hand  in  shap- 
ing the  legislation  for  the  young  state,  and  before  their  sur- 
prise was  over  he  became  one  of  the  leading  and  most  active 
and  useful  members  of  the  legislature.  The  Territory  soon 
sought  statehood,  and  Mr.  Murray  signified  his  willingness  to 
assist  in  forming  a  constitution.  He  was  elected  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  which,  appreciating  his  ability  and  fit- 
ness, made  him  its  president. 

He  served  several  terms  in  the  House,  also  several  terms  in 
the  Council  (now  called  the  Senate),  at  times  as  presiding 
officer,  at  other  times  actively  on  the  floor,  teaching  his  fellow 
members  from  outside  in  the  state  that  if  they  wanted  their 
local  bills  to  go  through,  they  must  not  attempt  to  block  the 
passage  of  his  local  bills.  In  addition  to  the  offices  hereabove 
named,  Mr.  Murray  was  during  many  years  a  member  of  the 
St.  Paul  city  council,  for  a  time  on  the  Board  of  County  Com- 
missioners, and  for  thirteen  years  was  the  City  Attorney. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  service  he  ever  rendered  to  the  city 
and  state  was  the  defeat  (aided  by  Joe  Kolette)  of  the  in- 
famous bill  to  remove  the  state  capital  to  St.  Peter. 

Mr.  Murray  secured  an  endowment  of  $25,000  from  Bishop 
Hamline  of  the  M.  E.  Church  for  Hamline  University,  and  drew 
the  charter  for  it.  This  university  from  its  beginning  provided 
for  co-education  of  the  sexes,  as  was  also  provided  by  the  State 
University  and  Carleton  College,  which  began  their  work  of 
instruction  several  years  later. 

Mr.  Murray  had  a  kind  and  generous  nature  and  quick 
sympathies,  which  caused  him  to  give  very  freely  of  his  time 
and  means.  He  was  a  tender  and  loving  husband  and  father; 
to  his  wife  in  her  age  and  feebleness  he  was  devotion  itself, 


802  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

constantly  watchful  to  do  some  little  service.  He  was  a  true, 
loyal  friend,  and  a  loyal  citizen,  always  faithful  to  St.  Paul's 
interests.  He  was  the  last  one  of  the  long  list  of  lawyers  of 
1857.  Murray  county,  established  in  that  year,  was  named  in 
his  honor. 


CHANNING  SEABURY. 

In  the  Council  Meeting  on  December  12,  1910,  the  following 
memorial  biographic  sketch  was  presented  by  Ev^r^tt  H.  BailKy, 
Councilor. 

Deeply  feeling  the  loss  of  a  warm  personal  friend, — a  genial 
companion  during  long  years  of  close  acquaintance,  in  which 
were  recognized  and  valued  the  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart  he  possessed, — I  present  to  the  Council  and  friends  here 
gathered  these  words  of  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Channing 
Seabury,  an  honored  member  of  this  Council  since  1893. 

Channing  Seabury  was  born  in  Southbridge,  Mass.,  January 
5,  1842 ;  and  died  in  St.  Paul  October  28,  1910.  At  an  early  age 
he  was  left  an  orphan,  and  was  cared  for  by  an  uncle,  Mr. 
Plimpton,  his  guardian.  He  was  fitted  for  college  in  an  acad- 
emy at  South  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  but  at  fifteen  years  of  age 
went  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  became  an  errand  boy 
for  the  firm  of  which  his  uncle  was  a  member,  Hastings  and 
Plimpton,  importers  and  jobbers  in  carpets. 

Three  years  later,  in  November,  1860,  young  Seabury  came 
to  St.  Paul,  and  here  was  his  home  for  fifty  years.  He  was  at 
first  a  clerk  for  J.  C.  Burbank  and  Co.,  engaged  in  an  extensive 
warehouse  business,  steamboat  agency,  and  overland  transpor- 
tation to  the  Red  river.  In  1865  this  firm  was  dissolved,  and 
Mr.  Seabury  became  a  partner  of  Amherst  H.  Wilder. 

In  1867  he  again  made  a  change  in  business,  and  for  the 
next  five  years  was  assistant  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Northwestern  Union  Packet  Company,  of  which  William  F. 
Davidson  was  president.  This  company  owned  and  operated 
twenty-eight  steamboats  on  the  Mississippi  river. 

In  1872  Mr.  Seabury  was  offered  and  accepted  an  interest 
in  the  large  wholesale  boot  and  shoe  house  of  C.  Gotzian  and 
Co.,  and  was  a  member  of  that  firm  until  1882,  when  he  retired 


MEMORIALS    OP    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  803 

and  engaged  in  the  wholesale  grocery  husiness,  in  which  he 
continued  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  firm  w^as  at  first 
Maxfield  &  Seabury,  until  in  1891,  the  Maxfields  having  with- 
drawn, the  firm  was  styled  Seabury  and  Company. 

Mr.  Seabury  was  always  a  public-spirited  man,  generous 
and  ready  to  give  practical  help  in  every  emergency.  He 
served  as  president  of  the  Jobbers  Union  and  of  the  Wholesale 
Grocers  Association  of  the  Northwest,  and  in  both  positions 
was  active  and  influential. 

His  ability  and  devotion  to  public  interests  was  recognized 
by  Governor  Hubbard,  who  appointed  him  a  member  of  a  com- 
mittee of  five  to  disburse  relief  for  the  sufferers  after  the  tor- 
nado at  St.  Cloud  and  Sauk  Rapids,  in  April,  1886.  This  com- 
mittee built  and  furnished  134  houses  for  the  destitute  sur- 
vivors of  the  disaster,  and  conducted  the  whole  distribution  of 
relief  in  such  an  economical  and  efficient  manner  that  they 
were  able  to  return  a  part  of  the  funds  entrusted  to  them. 

In  September,  1891,  he  served  as  one  of  a  committee  of 
three,  instrumental  in  furnishing  threshing  machines  and  labor- 
ers to  grain  growers  in  northern  Minnesota  and  North  Dakota, 
enabling  them  to  secure  an  unusually  large  wheat  crop,  which 
had  been  in  danger  of  loss  through  lack  of  implements  and  field 
hands. 

The  chief  public  work  of  Channing  Seabury  was  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Capitol  Commission.  Early  in  1893  he  was 
one  of  the  citizens  of  St.  Paul  who  were  most  active  in  securing 
the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the  legislature  providing  for  the  new 
state  house.  The  care  of  this  great  enterprise  was  entrusted  to 
seven  commissioners,  appointed  by  the  governor,  one  from  each 
congressional  district ;  and  Mr.  Seabury  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Nelson  as  the  commissioner  for  his  district,  without  so- 
licitation on  his  part.  From  that  time,  in  1893,  until  its  great 
undertaking  was  completed,  in  1907,  he  was  Vice  President  and 
acting  chairman  of  this  board,  and  was  constantly  and  faith- 
fully devoted  to  its  labors.  The  magnificent  marble  building  is 
a  worthy  monument  to  his  patriotic  devotion. 

The  citizens  of  St.  Paul  and  the  State  of  Minnesota  have 
come  to  realize  and  gratefully  appreciate  the  unselfish  and  la- 
borious services  rendered  by  Channing  Seabury,  at  great  per- 


804  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

sonal  sacrifice,  during  the  long  period  of  construction  of  the 
Capitol,  now  the  pride  of  our  Commonwealth,  and  a  perma- 
nent monument  to  the  ability  and  unswerving  fidelity  of  Mr. 
Seabury  and  his  associate  members  of  the  Board  of  Capitol 
Commissioners.  Mr.  Seabury 's  aptitude  and  readiness  for  pub- 
lic service,  his  keen  perception  of  the  requisites  for  prompt, 
effective  methods  in  business  administration,  and  the  intelli- 
gent and  conscientious  discharge  of  duties  assumed  by  him, 
placed  him  in  the  first  rank  of  citizens  to  be  depended  upon  in 
emergency  needs.  He  enjoyed  the  full  confidence  and  esteem 
of  his  associates,  who  relied  upon  his  sound  judgment  and  who 
admired  his  genial  kindly  nature. 

For  the  past  three  years  Mr.  Seabury  was  in  failing  health, 
and  spent  a  portion  of  the  winter  months  in  the  South.  He 
died  of  heart  failure  at  his  home  on  Ashland  avenue.  A  widow, 
three  sons,  and  a  daughter  survive  him. 

In  the  death  of  Channing  Seabury  his  home  city,  the  State 
at  large,  a  host  of  admiring  friends,  have  lost  a  citizen  broad 
of  mind,  large  of  heart,  of  rare  ability,  of  reputation  untar- 
nished, whose  memory  is  a  rich  heritage  to  be  treasured. 


SAMUEL  RICHARD  THAYER. 

The  following  memorial,  written  by  William  H.  HinklE, 
formerly  of  Minneapolis,  was  read  by  Councilor  Noyes  in  the 
Council  Meeting,  September  13,  1909. 

Samuel  Richard  Thayer  died  January  7,  1909,  at  the  home 
of  his  brother,  George  W.  Thayer,  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.  He  had 
been  ill  several  weeks,  but  the  fatal  termination  of  his  illness 
was  not  expected. 

Mr.  Thayer  was  born  in  Richmond,  N.  Y.,  December  12, 
1837.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  Alfred  Academy  and 
was  graduated  with  honors  from  Union  College  in  the  class  of 
1860.  In  this  class  were  many  men  who  became  prominent, 
among  them  being  "Warner  Miller,  Douglass  Campbell,  Charles 
Sprague,  William  H.  McElroy,  and  the  late  Charles  Emory 
Smith,  who  was  one  of  Mr.  Thayer's  closest  friends.  After  his 
graduation  Mr.  Thayer  moved  to  Minneapolis,  where  he  studied 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  §05 

law  and  practiced  his  profession.  At  this  time  began  the  life- 
long friendship  with  Governor  Cushman  K.  Davis,  who  later 
became  United  States  Senator  from  Minnesota,  and  it  was 
chiefly  through  his  influence  that  Mr. .Thayer  was  appointed 
Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the 
Netherlands  by  President  Benjamin  Harrison.  Mr.  Thayer  was 
at  this  post  from  1889  to  1893,  during  Harrison's  term  and  for 
about  a  year  of  the  Cleveland  administration.  His  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  that  oflice  was  conspicuously  approved  by  the 
State  Department  on  several  occasions. 

His  courtesy  to  fellow  countrymen  who  visited  the  Nether- 
lands earned  for  him  a  wide  popularity.  It  was  through  his 
initiative  that  the  Memorials  for  the  Pilgrims  were  set  up  at 
Delfthaven  and  Plymouth. 

After  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  lived  most  of  the 
time  in  New  York  City,  interesting  himself  in  public  affairs. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  International  Peace  Conference  at 
Luzerne,  where  he  delivered  an  address,  and  was  a  welcome 
speaker  on  many  public  occasions.  A  few  days  before  his 
death,  Mr.  Thayer  was  appointed  by  Mayor  George  B.  McClel- 
lan  a  member  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Commission. 

He  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Alfred  University  and 
from  Union  College.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Cosmos  Club  of 
Washington,  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  the  Huguenot 
Society  of  America,  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants,  and 
the  Union  League  Club  of  New  York.  Mr.  Thayer  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  Church.  He  was  unmarried.  His 
brother  and  one  sister,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  T.  Beadle,  survive  him. 

Few  persons  have  possessed  a  more  engaging  personality. 
Endowed  with  a  fine  and  highly  cultivated  intellect,  and  hav- 
ing a  wide  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs,  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  most  of  the  prominent  men  of  Europe  and  America  dur- 
ing the  past  thirty-five  years.  Possessed  of  a  large  fund  of 
information  gathered  in  this  and  •  other  countries,  thoroughly 
versed  in  the  political  history  of  this  country  and  Europe,  with 
a  ready  wit  and  fluent  speech,  his  conversation  was  always  in- 
teresting and  instructive.  Elevated  in  his  tastes  and  predilec- 
tions, he  naturally  drew  to  himself  the  intimacy  of  a  large 
number  of  persons  of  like  character  and  disposition. 


806  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

HENRY  PRATT  UPHAM. 

Memorials  in  the:  Council  Meeting,  November  8,  1909. 

The  following  biographic  memorial  was  presented  by  Wil- 
liam H.  LiGHTNER,  Councilor: 

To  no  one  member  is  this  Society  more  indebted  for  its 
growth  and  stable  foundation  than  it  is  to  Henry  Pratt  Upham, 
who  departed  this  life  on  May  1,  1909,  and  it  is  fitting  that  a 
record  be  made  of  his  life  and  services. 

Mr.  Upham  was  born  on  January  26,  1837,  at  Millbury,  Mas- 
sachusetts. His  father,  Joel  Worthington  Upham,  was  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  turbine  wheels  at  Worcester,  Massachu- 
setts, by  which  he  acquired  a  competency,  and  he  died  there  in 
1879  after  a  residence  of  forty  years.  Mr.  Upham 's  mother  was 
Seraphine  Howe,  who  died  in  1839.  His  father  having  married 
a  second  time,  he  was  brought  up  by  his  step-mother,  whom  he 
bore  in  affectionate  remembrance.  He  had  a  brother,  George, 
who  served  as  an  officer  in  the  navy  during  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  and  a  half-brother,  Charles,  who  served  in  the  15th 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  was  captured  by  the  Confederates  at 
the  Battle  of  Ball's  Bluff,  and  died  in  Libby  Prison  in  1861. 

Mr.  Upham  was  descended  from  John  Upham,  who  with  a 
company  of  colonists,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Joseph  Hull, 
set  sail  from  Weymouth,  England,  for  New  Engalnd  on  March 
20,  1635.  These  colonists  arrived  at  Boston  on  May  6,  1635, 
and  made  their  home  in  Massachusetts,  choosing  Weymouth  as 
the  name  of  their  new  abode.  John  Upham  appears  to  have 
been  a  strong  man  in  his  day  and  generation  and  to  have  trans- 
mitted to  his  numerous  descendants,  who  are  now  to  be  found 
in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  the  sterling  qualities  of  the 
early  New  England  colonist. 

After  receiving  a  public  school  education  at  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  in  1856,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  Mr.  Upham  came 
to  the  Territory  of  Minnesota  and  reached  St.  Paul  March  9, 
1857.  Here  he  formed  a  co-partnership  with  Chauncey  W. 
Griggs  and  for  some  time  engaged  in  the  lumber  business.  He 
also  engaged  in  the  flour-milling  business.  In  1863  he  began 
his  career  in  banking  by  becoming  teller  in  the  banking-house 


Minnesota  Historical  Society, 
Vol.  XV.    Plate  XX. 


i 


MEMORIALS    OP    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  807 

of  Thompson  Brothers,  which  was  the  same  year  organized  as 
the  First  National  Bank  of  St.  Paul.  He  continued  in  the  posi- 
tion of  teller  until  1867  when  he  was  elected  assistant  cashier, 
which  position  he  held  until  1869,  when  he,  with  others,  or- 
ganized the  City  Bank  of  St.  Paul,  of  which  he  became  cashier, 
the  president  being  H.  H.  Sibley.  This  bank  was  operated  suc- 
cessfully for  four  years,  when  it  was  consolidated  with  the  First 
National  Bank,  Mr.  Upham  becoming  cashier  of  the  latter  in- 
stitution, with  which  he  remained  connected  until  the  time  of 
his  death.  On  May  12,  1880,  after  the  death  of  the  late  Horace 
Thompson,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  bank ;  and  he  served 
in  that  capacity  until  he  retired  from  active  duties  on  January 
8,  1907,  continuing  thereafter  as  chairman  of  the  board  of 
directors  until  his  death. 

In  September,  1868,  he  married  Evelyn  Gertrude  Burbank, 
the  daughter  of  Simeon  Burbank  of  St.  Paul,  formerly  of  Lud- 
low, Vermont.  They  had  three  children:  Gertrude,  who  mar- 
ried John  F.  Harris,  of  New  York  City;  Grace,  who  married 
Horace  E.  Bigelow,  of  St.  Paul ;  and  John  Phineas,  who  is  un- 
married and  resides  in  St.  Paul. 

This  bare  outline  of  Mr.  Upham 's  business  career  is  the 
record  of  a  successful  business  life,  but  does  not  disclose  his 
sound  business  judgment,  his  strong  conservative  character,  his 
far-reaching  influence,  his  interest  in  public  affairs,  his  devo- 
tion and  loyalty  to  his  friends  and  associates,  and  his  kindly 
and  generous  disposition,  which  endeared  him  to  his  many 
friends  and  made  his  death  a  great  loss  not  only  to  his  imme- 
diate family  but  also  to  the  community. 

For  many  years  past  the  First  National  Bank  of  St.  Paul 
has  been  one  of  the  leading  and  strongest  financial  institutions 
in  the  Northwest.  Successful  in  business,  it  has  proved  profit- 
able to  its  stockholders.  It  has  stood  for  safe  and  conservative 
business  methods.  Repeatedly  when  great  financial  distress 
has  prevailed  throughout  the  country,  its  credit  and  standing 
has  remained  wholly  unimpaired.  Never  has  its  soundness  been 
in  question.  An  institution  of  this  character  is  one  of  the  most 
important  factors  in  the  development  of  a  new  country  and  the 
maintenance  of  prosperity  in  the  community.  To  no  one  is  more 
credit  due  than  to  Mr.  Upham  for  the  usefulness,  the  high 


808  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

standing  and  the  success  of  this  institution,  with  which  for 
forty-six  years  his  career  was  identified. 

An  old  friend,  writing  several  years  ago,  correctly  said: 
"Mr.  Upham  is  the  personification  of  business,  and  has  a  sort 
of  reserved  power  which  indicates  the  character  of  the  man. 
He  is  a  strong  business  manipulator  without  the  rant,  a  loco- 
motive without  the  noise,  a  motive  power  with  a  steady  push. 
His  career  from  a  bank  clerk  to  a  bank  president  has  been  a 
peculiar  one,  but  marked  by  that  remarkable  trait  of  character, 
steadiness  of  purpose,  which  is  the  predominant  element  in  his 
nature.  Modest  and  retiring,  he  moves  more  especially  in  the 
business  circle,  and  yet  he  loves  outdoor  sports  and  delights  in 
rambling  among  the  archives  of  the  past. ' ' 

Though  deeply  interested  in  public  affairs  and  active  in  the 
support  of  good  government,  Mr.  Upham  never  sought  public 
office.  He  contented  himself  in  rendering,  when  occasion  pre- 
sented itself,  active  aid  to  any  candidate  in  whose  character 
and  principles  he  had  confidence  and  to  those  measures  which 
made  for  law  and  order.  Entirely  unostentatious,  he  was  in 
his  quiet  way  a  most  valuable  support  to  the  measures  and  men 
whose  cause  he  espoused. 

He  was  a  man  of  pronounced  views  and  convictions.  He 
had  no  sympathy  with  dishonesty  or  shady  transactions.  The 
line  between  right  and  wrong  was  clearly  defined  in  his  mind, 
and  where  any  transaction  caused  the  loss  of  his  confidence,  it 
was  extremely  difficult  to  regain  it.  Yet  he  was  a  very  just  and 
charitable  man.  His  gifts  to  charities  and  to  those  in  need 
were  liberal,  and  were  made  from  a  sense  of  duty  as  well  as 
from  feelings  of  kindness  and  generosity.  Whatever  may  be 
one's  personal  desire  as  to  contributing  from  their  means  in 
aid  of  a  meritorious  cause,  it  frequently  happens  that  such 
contributions  are  made  because  they  are  solicited.  It  was  very 
characteristic  of  Mr.  Upham  that  he  disliked  to  give  upon 
solicitation,  but  that  he  made  his  liberal  benefactions  sponta- 
neously at  regular  seasons  without  solicitation,  from  a  sense  of 
duty  and  a  wish  to  aid  those  less  fortunate  than  himself. 

By  much  reading  and  study  he  supplied  the  want  of  a  col- 
lege education  and  acquired  a  broad  acquaintance  with  liter- 
ature.   Mr.  Upham  moved  much  with  his  fellow  men  and  took 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  809 

great  interest  in  social  and  literary  organizations.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  The  Society  of 
Antiquity  of  Worcester,  the  Mayflower  Society,  the  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars,  of  which  he  was  some  time  governor,  the  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  the  Minnesota  Club,  of  which  he 
was  at  one  time  president,  the  Masonic  Order,  being  a  Knight 
Templar,  the  Ramsey  County  Pioneer  Association,  and  the  St. 
Paul  Chamber  of  Commerce,  He  took  a  lively  interest  in  the 
St.  Paul  Public  Library,  and  for  several  years  was  on  its  di- 
rectorate. 

His  interest  in  history  was  early  aroused,  and  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  on  June  8,  1868. 
He  was  much  interested  in  genealogical  studies,  and  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  best  genealogical  students  in  the  Northwest. 
In  this  Society  he  became  a  life  member  in  1876  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Council  from  March  8,  1875,  until  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  Society  for  more 
than  thirty-three  years,  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  since 
1881,  and  chairman  of  the  library  committee  since  1889.  As 
chairman  of  the  library  committee  he  mainly  selected  the  books 
purchased,  and  as  treasurer  and  chairman  of  the  finance  com- 
mittee he  had  practically  the  sole  management  of  the  finances 
of  the  society. 

In  1908  a  committee  of  the  Executive  Council  made  a  re- 
port on  the  permanent  trust  fund.  From  this  report  it  appears 
that  this  fund  began  with  $300  in  1871.  In  1876,  when  Mr. 
Upham  became  treasurer,  the  fund  amounted  to  about  $1,500. 
In  1908  it  had  increased  to  $75,000.  The  care  and  management 
of  this  fund,  no  part  of  which  was  received  from  the  State  of 
Minnesota,  was  entirely  entrusted  to  Mr.  Upham.  It  was  ac- 
cumulated from  private  donations,  dues,  and  judicious  invest- 
ments made  by  him.  In  the  words  of  the  report  of  the  commit- 
tee, **  certainly  there  could  be  no  better  evidence  of  the  watch- 
ful care,  the  good  judgment,  and  prudent  management  of  this 
fund  on  the  part  of  our  treasurer,  who  has  had  the  custody 
and  the  management  of  it  during  all  this  time." 

Mr.  Upham  repeatedly  declined  to  accede  to  the  wishes  of 
his  friends  that  he  should  accept  the  presidency  of  this  Society, 
believing  that  he  could  be  of  more  service  in  promoting  its 


810  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

interests  in  the  position  which  he  held.  To  a  very  large  extent 
the  credit  for  the  sound  financial  condition  of  this  Society  and 
for  its  valuable  and  well  selected  library,  which  ranks  favor- 
ably with  the  best  historical  libraries  in  the  country,  is  due  to 
the  devoted  and  unselfish  services  of  Mr.  Upham.  With  his 
many  other  cares  he  always  found  the  time  to  guide  and  guard 
its  interests. 

When  he  obeyed  the  last  call  and  closed  his  days,  he  had 
completed  a  successful  and  well-rounded  life.  He  left  a  de- 
voted family  who  mourn  their  loss  and  a  host  of  friends  who 
bear  tribute  to  his  unusual  ability,  his  unflinching  integrity 
and  honesty,  his  sound  and  conservative  judgment,  his  stead- 
fastness of  purpose,  his  devotion  to  his  friends,  and  his  kindness 
and  liberality  to  those  in  need  of  assistance. 

Eve:re:tt  H.  BailKy,  Councilor,  read  this  tribute: 

At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  First 

National  Bank  of  St.  Paul,  held  on  Friday,  June  25,  1909,  the 

following  resolutions   commemorative    of   the   late   Henry  P. 

Upham,  offered  by  the  President,  were  unanimously  adopted: 

"Resolved,  That  with  profound  sorrow  we  record  the  death  on 
May  1st  last  of  Henry  P.  Upham,  for  more  than  forty-six  years  closely 
identified  with  this  institution.  His  conspicuous  ability,  sterling  in- 
tegrity, superior  judgment,  and  widely  known  administrative  qualifica- 
tions, won  for  him  the  admiration  and  esteem  of  a  wide  circle  of 
friends,  and  endeared  him  to  his  associates  in  business  and  in  private 
life. 

"Entering  this  bank  on  February  1,  1863,  as  teller,  in  1867  he  was 
elected  Assistant  Cashier.  On  January  15,  1873,  he  was  elected  Cash- 
ier, which  oflSce  he  held  until  May  12,  1880,  when  he  was  elected  Presi- 
dent; and  he  served  in  that  capacity  until  he  retired  from  active  duties 
on  January  8,  1907,  continuing  a  member  of  this  Board  of  Directors, 
and  its  Chairman,  until  his  death. 

"His  decease,  after  so  long  and  so  prominent  an  active  business 
career,  is  a  great  loss  to  our  city,  and  his  unimpeachable  reputation 
and  charitable  nature  are  a  heritage  to  be  treasured.  The  Directors 
and  oflacers  of  this  Bank,  his  close  associates  for  many  years,  mourn 
the  loss  of  a  loyal  friend,  a  wise  counselor  and  guide, 

"Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread  on  the  records  of  the 
bank,  and  a  copy  be  transmitted  to  the  members  of  his  family,  expres- 
sive of  our  sympathy  in  their  bereavement." 

As  a  close  business  associate  with  Mr.  Upham  for  thirty-six 


i 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  811 

years,  probably  no  person  outside  of  his  immediate  family  had 
a  better  opportunity  than  myself  for  discerning  and  appreciat- 
ing the  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which  in  so  positive  a  man- 
ner characterized  him  among  his  townsmen. 

The  admirable  memorial  to  which  we  have  just  listened  well 
records  his  kindly,  considerate  nature,  his  helpfulness  in  coun- 
sel and  in  material  ways.  His  constant  desire  to  render  serv- 
ice, where  deserved,  in  his  own  quiet  manner,  always  impressed 
me  as  one  of  the  governing  principles  of  his  life.  His  career 
•was  marked  by  the  thoroughness,  the  accuracy  of  detail,  with 
which  he  surveyed  business  or  social  problems.  He  possessed 
an  analytical  mind.  Among  the  most  positive  attributes  of  his 
character  were  scrupulous  fidelity,  integrity  of  purpose,  and 
fairness  in  all  things. 

The  continuous  service  so  devotedly  rendered  by  Henry  P. 
Upham  to  this  Society  during  many  years,  will  be  an  inspira- 
tion to  those  who  succeed  him  in  its  councils. 

Hon.  John  B.  Gilfillan,  of  Minneapolis,  said: 
I  would  not  have  my  silence  upon  this  occasion  construed 
as  indifference  to  what  has  been  said  and  done  here  in  honor 
of  our  friend.  It  was  my  privilege  to  know  him  ifirst,  I  think, 
away  back  in  the  early  sixties,  when  he  held  a  position  of  trust 
and  responsibility  in  the  banking  institution  of  Thompson 
Brothers;  and  from  that  time  forward,  through  a  long  life  of 
business  activity,  it  was  a  great  and  growing  satisfaction  to 
come  into  associations  with  him  frequently.  The  impress  of 
his  daily  life  was  productive  of  pleasant  memories  all  along  the 
line. 

If  there  was  any  one  characteristic  that  impressed  me  more 
than  another,  it  was  his  native  manliness.  No  one  could  look 
upon  him,  or  have  to  do  with  him,  without  feeling,  there  is  a 
man.  In  him  were  found  all  the  elements  of  manliness  in  an 
eminent  degree.  Ever  courteous,  kindly  and  considerate,  he 
always  won  friends  and  held  them  with  a  firm  hold.  He  enter- 
tained malice  toward  none,  but  sympathy  for  all.  His  word 
was  as  good  as  the  written  bond.  Cool,  clear,  and  considerate, 
his  judgment  was  without  error,  his  counsel  safe,  and  his  aid 
always  valuable  and  dependable.    Looking  back  over  his  whole 


812  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

life,  we  see  nothing  to  be  repented  of,  but  rather  a  life  without 
blemish,  an  inspiration  and  a  guide  to  the  best  this  world 

affords. 

Well  will  it  be  for  us  if  in  the  end  we  shall  be  able  to  com- 
mand in  a  like  degree  the  respect,  approval,  confidence,  and 
love  of  our  fellows. 

Hon.  Channing  Seabury    said: 

Mr.  Upham  was  an  upright  man,  a  hater  of  meanness  or 
deceit,  and  a  loyal  friend.  It  has  been  said  that  "a  successful 
banker  must  have  an  iron-  face. ' '  Its  meaning  is  that  he  must 
learn  to  say  ''No."  Mr.  Upham  learned  to  say  ''No,"  but  he 
could  also  say  "Yes,"  with  cordiality.  I  will  give  an  example 
of  the  latter  trait  of  his  character,  simply  to  illustrate  it.  The 
firm  of  which  I  am  a  member  had  been  customers  of  his  bank 
for  many  years.  I  had  never  been  told  what  our  "line"  or 
"limit"  was,  although  it  is  usual  and  customary  for  every  bor- 
rower to  have  an  understanding  of  this  character  with  his 
banker.  So  I  asked  him  once,  what  I  should  consider  our 
"line"  to  be,  as  I  did  not  want  to  ever  meet  with  a  refusal. 
He  quickly  answered  me,  "As  long  as  Bailey  and  I  run  this 
bank,  come  and  get  money  when  you  need  it.  Whenever  we 
think  you  have  had  enough,  we  will  tell  you  so."  This  was 
the  only  answer  I  ever  got,  but  it  illustrates  his  loyalty  to  any 
one  he  believed  in.  I  am  only  one  of  many  who  can  testify 
to  it. 

He  was  a  strong  man,  at  all  times, — in  the  hours  of  pros- 
perity, or  when  panics  came.  I  have  seen  him  under  all  con- 
ditions, and  if  there  were  more  men  like  him  in  the  world,  it 
would  be  a  better  place  to  live  in. 

Rev.  John  Wright,  pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church, 
said : 

I  desire  at  this  time  to  emphasize  a  certain  aspect  of  Mr. 
Upham 's  life,  his  habitual  benevolence.  This  was  not  left  to 
caprice,  impulse,  or  sentiment,  but  followed  a  deliberate  sys- 
tem. His  ear  was  ever  open  to  the  cry  of  distress,  and  his  heart 
softened  whenever  he  knew  of  a  case  of  suffering. 

I  never  had  to  appeal  to  him  or  make  any  solicitation  or  even 
refresh  his  memory.     There  were  certain  times  when  his  be- 


i 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  Bl3 

nevolence  acted  promptly,  gladly,  and  freely.  For  over  twenty 
years  he  sent  me  each  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Thanksgiving,  a 
check  representing  a  substantial  sum,  and  left  it  to  my  judg- 
ment how  it  should  be  applied.  I  knew  of  many  persons  who 
would  never  seek  aid  from  the  charitable  organizations  of  a 
great  city,  who  would  quietly  accept  relief  through  me. 

In  this  way  I  was  able  to  reach  very  deserving  cases.  In- 
valids who  were  emaciated  and  weakened  through  the  lack  of 
nourishing  food,  were .  supplied  with  the  sustaining  things  of 
life,  and  were  brought  back  to  health.  Through  the  stress  of 
poverty  others  were  behind  in  the  payment  of  rent,  and  the 
proffered  relief  brought  peace  of  mind  and  communicated  new 
courage  for  the  battle  of  life.  Loss  of  employment,  unexpected 
sickness,  funeral  expenses,  and  the  varied  phases  and  condi- 
tions that  belong  to  the  laboring  and  low^ly  classes,  were  splen- 
didly met  through  the  generosity  and  thoughtfulness  of  Mr. 
Upham. 

He  had  a  kind  heart,  and  it  was  full  of  sympathy  for  those 
who  were  in  genuine  distress.  He  had  a  strong  dislike  for  the 
confirmed  crank,  or  for  any  insincerity  in  applicants  for  char- 
ity. But  for  the  truly  deserving  he  had  words  and  deeds  of 
helpfulness.  The  death  of  Mr.  Upham  was  a  personal  loss  to 
me,  and  he  will  always  have  a  loving  place  in  my  memory.  I 
also  know  that  his  death  brought  sorrow  to  the  hearts  of  hun- 
dreds of  people  in  this  community  who  had  been  uplifted  and 
blessed  through  his  benefactions. 


HENRY  CHESTER  WAITE. 

In  the  Council  Meeting  on  January  13,  1913,  the  following 
memorial  was  presented  by  Hon.  C.  F.  Macdonald,  of  St.  Cloud . 

Among  the  young  men  of  the  East,  sixty  years  ago,  who 
"Heard  the  tread  of  pioneers 
Of  nations  yet  to  be," 

in  the  far  west,  and  joined  the  tide  of  emigration  towards  the 
setting  sun,  was  Henry  Chester  Waite,  a  native  of  Rensselaer- 
ville,  Albany  county,  New  York,  born  June  30,  1830.     When 


814  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

quite  young,  his  parents  moved  to  Chautauqua  county,  and  later 
to  a  farm  where  Henry  had  agricultural  experience.  He  pre- 
pared for  college  at  Fredonia  and  Jamestown,  and  graduated 
from  Union  College,  Schenectady,  in  1851.  He  read  law  in  the 
office  of  Emory  F.  Warren,  of  Sinclairville,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  at  a  term  of  court  held  at  Angelica,  Allegany  county, 
in  1853.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Waite  journeyed 
westward  to  Madison,  Wisconsin,  and  formed  a  law  partner- 
ship with  Alexander  Botkin  and  Thomas  Hood,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Botkin,  Hood  &  Waite.  In  the  spring  of  1855,  Mr. 
Waite  located  at  St.  Cloud,  Minnesota,  and  was  the  first  attor- 
ney to  open  an  office  in  that  embryo  city. 

After  practicing  several  years,  he  engaged  in  the  banking 
business  with  Thomas  C.  MeClure,  a  brother-in-law,  and  con- 
tinued until  1865,  when  he  was  appointed  Register  of  the  United 
States  Land  Office,  a  position  he  held  for  four  years.  Follow- 
ing this  period,  and  for  some  years,  he  was  engaged  in  flour 
milling  at  Cold  Spring,  merchandising  at  the  same  place,  and 
farming.  He  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Clark,  Waite  & 
McClure,  probably  the  strongest  business  organization  in  cen- 
tral and  northern  Minnesota  at  that  period. 

He  saw  a  great  deal  of  frontier  life,  and  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  plans  for  the  upbuilding  of  that  region,  as  well  as  in 
political  matters.  In  1857  he  was  elected  as  a  Democratic  dele- 
gate to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  took  his  seat  in  that 
wing  of  that  body.  In  that  period  of  anti-slavery  agitation  in 
the  North,  and  of  bitter  threats  of  retaliation  by  secession  in 
the  South,  partisan  feeling  was  very  strong,  and  both  factions 
sought  to  control  the  new  state.  Leading  Republicans  from 
other  states  came  to  Minnesota  to  aid  their  party  friends  in 
the  battle  royal,  among  them  John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire ; 
Lyman  Trumbull  and  Owen  Lovejoy,  of  Illinois ;  Schuyler  Col- 
fax, of  Indiana ;  and  our  own  James  H.  Baker,  then  of  Ohio. 

In  the  membership  of  the  two  wings  of  that  memorable  con- 
vention were  many  of  the  ablest  and  brightest  pioneer  citizens 
of  the  Territory,  who  were  and  ever  will  be  a  credit  to  the  Ter- 
ritory and  State,  whose  memory  will  be  honored  more  and  more 
in  generations  to  come,  as  the  inestimable  value  of  their  serv- 
ices in  laying  well  the  foundation  of  this  great  commonwealth 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  815 

comes  to  be  more  fully  realized.  In  the  Democratic  wing  were 
such  leaders  as  Henry  H.  Sibley,  Willis  A.  Gorman,  William 
Holcombe,  George  L.  Becker,  Michael  E.  Ames,  C.  E.  Flandrau, 
B.  B.  Meeker,  Lafayette  Emmett,  and  Henry  C.  Waite,  well 
fitted  for  the  task  before  them ;  as  were  equally  so  the  leaders 
in  the  opposing  branch,  Thomas  Wilson,  St.  A.  D.  Balcombe, 
Lucas  K.  Stannard,  Clark  W.  Thompson,  Thomas  J.  Galbraith, 
John  AV.  North,  0.  F.  Perkins,  Amos  Coggswell,  and  Cyrus 
Aldrich. 

In  that  body  of  able  men  Mr.  Waite  took  a  prominent  part. 
He  was  tena.ciously  opposed  to  any  compromise  with  what  he 
and  others  termed  "that  other  illegal  body,"  and  was  on&  of 
the  thirteen  Democrats  who  voted  against  the  final  Compromise 
Constitution. 

When  we  consider  the  strong  bitterness  existing  between 
the  two  wings,  it  is  a  source  of  surprise  and  gratification  that 
the  fundamental  law  finally  evolved  has  proven  so  meritorious 
and  has  guided  the  Ship  of  State  safely  for  more  than  half  a 
century. 

Mr.  Waite  later  allied  himself  with  the  Republican  party, 
as  did  other  Democrats.  From  the  Republican  wing  there  also 
were  desertions,  such  leaders  as  Thomas  Wilson,  Amos  Coggs- 
well, and  Cyrus  Aldrich,  going  over  to  the  Democracy  in  later 
years. 

It  was  thought  at  the  time  of  his  death  that  Mr.  Waite  was 
the  last  survivor  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  membership, 
but  it  has  since  developed  that  Lucas  K.  Stannard  still  sur- 
vives, aged  eighty-seven  years. 

In  the  later  history  of  the  State,  Mr.  Waite  served  one  term 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  three  in  the  Senate,  tak- 
ing a  leading  position.    He  was  a  life  member  of  this  Society. 

In  disposition  he  was  one  of  the  most  kindly  of  men,  a  good 
friend  and  neighbor,  and  highly  esteemed  for  his  many  gener- 
ous and  endearing  qualities.  His  tastes  were  along  literary 
lines.  He  possessed  poetic  talent  of  a  high  order,  and  was  the 
author  of  poems  and  other  articles  of  excellence. 

January  1,  1860,  Mr.  Waite  wedded  Mrs.  Maria  D.  Paige,  a 
daughter  of  Dr.  Shepard  Clark,  of  Hubbardston,  Mass.  Two 
sons  were  born  to  them,  John  Chester  and  Clark.    The  former 


616  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

died  in  November,  1887.    Mrs.  Waite  died  three  years  ago. 

For  several  years  prior  to  his  death,  Mr.  Waite's  growing 
infirmities  incapacitated  him  from  active  life.  The  last  two 
years  he  spent  on  his  farm  near  St.  Cloud.  Following  the 
death'  of  his  wife,  he  gradually  but  surely  failed  until  finally 
the  lamp  of  life  ceased  burning,  at  the  dawn  of  Friday,  No- 
vember 15,  1912. 

More  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  Mr.  Waite  became  a 
convert  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  his  funeral  services 
were  held  in  the  St.  Cloud  Cathedral,  on  Monday,  November 
18.  His  remains  were  laid  at  rest  in  North  Star  Cemetery,  in 
the  Waite  family  lot. 


WILLIAM  DREW  WASHBURN. 

A  MEMORIAL  PrKsenti^d  by  thi^  Se:cre:tary. 

William  Drew  Washburn,  a  member  of  the  distinguished 
Washburn  family  of  nation-wide  influence  and  fame,  and  one 
of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Minnesota,  was  born  on  a 
farm  near  Livermore,  Maine,  January  14,  1831,  being  the  sev- 
enth son  of  his  parents.  He  attended  the  district  school  in  his 
childhood,  and  later  attended  an  academy  and  Bowdoin  col- 
lege, being  graduated  from  this  college  in  1854.  The  next  two 
years  were  spent  in  reading  law  in  the  office  of  his  brother 
Israel,  and  in  that  of  John  A.  Peters,  later  chief  justice  of 
Maine. 

In  1857  young  Washburn  came  to  Minnesota,  and  in  May  he 
opened  a  law  office  in  Minneapolis. 

President  Lincoln  appointed  him  surveyor  general  of  this 
state  in  1861,  and  after  serving  four  years  in  this  position  he 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business. 

From  1869  to  1877  he  was  a  railroad  builder  for  the  Minne- 
apolis and  St.  Louis  railway  company.  Later  he  began  the  con- 
struction of  the  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie 
line,  building  several  hundred  miles  of  that  railway  in  the 
years  1885-89,  and  was  president  of  this  company  until  the  lat- 


I 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  817 

ter  year,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  his  election  to  the 
United  States  Senate. 

Besides  these  large  lumbering  and  railroad  enterprises,  he 
was  interested  in  the  extensive  Pillsbury- Washburn  flouring 
mills,  these  companies  being  organized  both  in  Minnesota  and 
in  England. 

In  1871  Mr.  Washburn'  was  a  representative  in  the  State 
Legislature.  In  1878  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  Con- 
gress, where  he  served  six  years ;  and  from  1889  to  1895  he  was 
United  States  senator  from  Minnesota.  He  was  prominent  in 
public  services  and  charities  in  this  state,  and  he  was  elected  a 
life  member  of  this  Historical  Society  on  November  13,  1882. 

He  died  at  his  home  in  Minneapolis,  July  29,  1912. 


FREDERICK  WEYERHAEUSER. 

Born  November  21,  1834;  Died  April  4,  1914. 

The  following  memorial  was  presented  by  NewKL  H.  Clapp, 
of  St.  Paul,  in  the  Council  Meeting  on  April  13,  1914. 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  of  men  who  have  achieved  the  suc- 
cess to  which  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  attained  without  speaking  in 
exaggerated  terms.  This  is  more  especially  true  of  him  be- 
cause so  much  of  the  success  ascribed  to  him  by  the  general 
public,  and  in  the  public  prints,  as  relates  to  the  volume  of  his 
wealth  or  property,  is  really  the  aggregate  of  success  finan- 
cially of  many  others  jointly  with  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser.  So  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  when  any  one  speaks  of  the  prop- 
erties owned  by  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser,  he  is,  unconsciously  per- 
haps, but  nevertheless  necessarily,  speaking  of  him  and  his  as- 
sociates. I  shall  try  in  what  I  have  to  say  this  evening  to  avoid 
this  error,  and  to  speak  only  of  the  man  and  his  character. 

When  I  first  knew  him,  in  the  early  eighties,  before  his  com- 
ing in  1891  to  be  a  resident  of  St.  Paul,  he  had  passed  the  early 
stages  of  his  business  career,  had  built  up  the  great  business 
machine  of  which  he  was  the  director,  and  was  perhaps  at  the 
zenith  of  his  power  as  an  organizer  and  controller  of  men.    It 


818  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

is  of  some  of  the  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  that  enabled  him 
to  rise  to  that  position  that  I  want  to  speak  at  this  time. 

Mr.  "Weyerhaeuser  was  a  business  genius.  He  was  one  of 
those  rare  men  who  can,  and  do,  see  beyond  the  present  and 
immediate  future,  and  forecast  with  a  wonderful  degree  of  cer- 
tainty and  accuracy  the  progress  and  outcome  of  a  particular 
line  of  business  or  a  particular  kind  of  property.  He  used  to 
deny  that  he  or  any  other  man  was  ever  possessed  of  any  such 
intuition  or  judgment,  and  to  say  that  business  success  awaits 
any  man  who  has  fair  judgment  and  nerve  to  back  it,  and  who 
will  work  hard  to  attain  his  ends.  But  I  feel  sure  there  is 
something  more  than  merely  fair  judgment,  nerve,  and  indus- 
try, required  to  attain  such  great  success  as  did  Mr.  "Weyer- 
haeuser. I  think  this  wonderful  ability  to  foresee  the  value  of 
a  piece  of  property,  or  of  a  method  of  conducting  a  business  in 
a  particular  manner,  was  one  of  the  main  factors  in  his  success. 

Then,  he  was  a  thoroughly  honest  man.  He  was  not  honest 
because  he  felt  that  was  the  best  policy,  but  because  his  mind 
could  tolerate  nothing  else  for  himself,  and  the  standard  he  set 
for  himself  he  required  others  to  conform  to. 

He  was  kind,  generous,  and  considerate;  while  he  was  a 
man  of  strong  will,  determined  to  carry  out  his  plans  in  all 
cases  when  he  believed  them  right,  he  was  always  glad  to  listen 
to  the  views  of  others  and  never  attempted  to  force  his  opinions 
on  any  one.  No  matter  how  much  any  or  all  of  his  associates 
might  disagree  with  him,  he  never  even  tried  to  compel  them 
or  any  of  them  to  adopt  his  views.  No  large  purchase  of  prop- 
erty was  ever  made,  no  general  change  of  business  methods  or 
policy  was  ever  ordered,  without  the  unanimous  consent  of 
those  interested  with  him,  nor  until  by  kindly  argument,  which 
amounted  usually  to  a  demonstration,  he  had  convinced  those 
who  at  first  opposed  him,  that  he  was  right.  He  was  a  genuine 
conservator ;  not  one  of  those  who  believe  that  the  way  to  con- 
serve is  to  put  away  and  neither  use  yourself  nor  let  anybody 
else  use,  but  one  who  believed  in  the  teachings  of  our  Saviour, 
that  if  one  was  entrusted  with  a  talent  it  was  his  duty  to  make 
that  talent  produce  as  many  others  as  possible.  He  was  among 
the  first,  if  not  the  first,  in  his  line  of  business,  to  see  the  ter- 
jible  waste  of  money  and  material  that  was  taking  place,  and 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  819 

to  devise  methods  to  prevent  it;  and  he  continued  to  strive  for 
those  methods  which  vrould  still  further  prevent  waste  as  long 
as  he  lived. 

About  the  year  1870  he,  with  Mr.  Denkmann,  was  engaged 
in  the  business  of  manufacturing  lumber  at  Rock  Island.  They 
had  up  to  that  time  prospered  in  their  business,  and  had  con- 
ducted it  without  much  reference  to  what  others  in  the  same 
line  were  doing.  They  owned  some  pine  timber  on  tributaries 
of  the  Mississippi,  and„  like  all  their  competitors,  they  ''looked 
out  for  themselves,"  which  means  that  in  the,  fall  each  man,  or 
firm,  went  into  the  woods  with  his  own  crew  of  men,  built  his 
own  logging  camps  and  logging  roads  and  dams,  and  cut  and 
hauled  his  logs  to  some  stream  down  which  they  could  be 
floated.  "When  spring  arrived  with  its  floods,  each  proprietor 
"went  on  the  stream  prepared  to  ''drive"  his  own  logs;  he  paid 
no  attention  to  his  neighbor,  took  no  precaution  to  prevent  too 
many  logs  being  driven  into  one  place  at  the  same  time,  nor 
any  heed  of  his  neighbor's  necessity  for  the  use  of  the  same 
water  that  he  needed.  Of  course,  the  logs  ultimately  became 
hopelessly  intermingled,  and  they  must  be,  and  were,  stopped 
many  times  and  assorted,  so  that  the  logs  belonging  to  indi- 
viduals doing  business  at  that  point  were  delivered  to  them. 
This  necessarily  involved  handling  and  rehandling  them  many 
times,  hindering  the  ultimate  delivery  of  the  logs  to  the  mills 
for  manufacture.  Necessarily,  too,  this  method  caused  con- 
stant friction  and  ill  feeling  and  more  or  less  litigation,  and  it 
was  constantly  growing  worse. 

Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  saw  that  in  some  way  these  warring  fac- 
tions must  be  brought  together  and  made  to  work  in  harmony. 
The  work  of  cutting  and  banking  the  logs  must  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  the  best  men,  who  were  not  necessarily  the  best  men 
to  drive  them,  and  for  that  part  of  the  work  also  the  best  men 
must  be  selected.  If  a  road,  dam,  or  other  "improvement," 
necessary  to  handle  the  timber  belonging  to  several  parties, 
must  be  built,  all  must  contribute  to  the  building,  and  then  all 
must  be  allowed  to  reap  its  benefits.  The  waters  of  the  various 
tributaries  upon  which  the  logs  were  banked,  and  of  the  main 
streams,  must  be  controlled  and  used  so  as  to  obtain  the  best 
results  for  the  lumbermen  as  a  whole;  some  scheme  must  be 


820  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

devised  whereby  there  should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  a  common 
ownership  of  the  logs,  and  then  the  logs  must  be  so  divided 
that  each  owner  should  receive  his  fair  proportion,  quantity 
and  quality  being  considered.  To  those  of  us  who  have  seen 
the  result  finally  attained,  all  these  things  look  so  reasonable 
and  necessary  that  we  can  hardly  conceive  how  anyone  would 
do,  or  want  to  do,  otherwise.  But  when  we  consider  that  Mr. 
Weyerhaeuser 's  business  competitors  were  also  men  of  strong 
wills,  with  fixed  ideas  as  to  the  way  in  which  their  business 
should  be  conducted,  and  with  the  usual  selfish  belief  that  their 
particular  property  and  business  methods  were  a  little  or  a 
great  deal  better  than  any  or  a  great  majority  of  the  others,  we 
get  a  faint  idea  of  the  task  Mr.  "Weyerhaeuser  set  himself  to 
accomplish. 

Time  will  not  permit,  nor  am  I  sufficiently  familiar  with 
details  to  be  able  to  recount  all  that  was  accomplished.  The 
first  organization  was  known  as  the  Mississippi  River  Logging 
Company,  in  which  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  succeeded  in  bringing 
together  a  large  majority  of  the  mill  owners  and  lumbermen  on 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  (other  than  the  St.  Croix) 
reaching  into  the  pine  forests  of  Wisconsin.  Using  their  com- 
bined capital,  they  were  able  to  buy  large  and  choice  tracts  of 
timber  when  the  owners  were  ready  to  sell  them,  and  combin- 
ing their  skill  as  lumbermen  they  were  able  to,  and  did,  inaug- 
urate business  methods  which  eliminated  waste,  fraud,  and  du- 
plication of  labor,  to  such  an  extent  that  they  could  be  certain 
of  a  fair  profit,  where,  pursuing  the  old  methods,  loss  would 
inevitably  have  resulted.  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser 's  business  career 
up  to  that  time  had  earned  him  the  reputation  of  being  honest, 
farsighted  and  careful,  and  the  men  who  were  then  associated 
with  him  knew  him  well. 

As  time  went  on,  they  and  others  learned  more  of  his  un- 
erring judgment,  his  sterling  honesty  and  good  sense,  his  abso- 
lute fairness,  and  his  ability  and  disposition  to  put  his  own 
selfish  interests  in  the  background  when  they  conflicted  with 
those  of  his  partners  in  business,  until  they  came  to  place  upon 
his  shoulders  the  entire  burden  of  managing  the  conduct  of 
their  business.  From  time  to  time  all,  or  some  of  them,  joined 
with  him  in  forming  other  corporations  to  carry  on  the  lum- 


MEMORIALS    OP    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  821 

bering  business.  They  all  knew  he  would  never  in  any  way 
permit  himself  or  anyone  else  to  reap  a  dollar  of  profit  out  of 
an  enterprise  beyond  his  share  of  the  profit  of  that  enterprise 
as  a  whole ;  that  if  he  told  them  a  particular  property  could  be 
bought,  or  sold,  at  a  certain  price,  that  price  was  just  what  the 
prospective  vendor  or  purchaser  had  named;  there  was  not  a 
cent  in  the  transaction  anywhere  for  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser,  or  for 
any  one  interested  with  him  or  on  his  side,  beyond  their  share 
in  the  enterprise  as  a  whole ;  and  they  knew  that  he  honestly 
believed  that  it  was  best  to  buy  or  sell,  if  he  so  advised. 
Neither  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  nor  any  association  of  which  he  was 
a  member  ever  issued,  or  directly  or  indirectly  consented  to  the 
issue  of,  a  dollar  of  water  stock.  Indeed,  they  were  apt  to 
squeeze  it  so  hard  that  it  was  worth,  when  issued,  at  least  two 
for  one. 

So  it  came  to  be  said  by  all  of  those  associated  with  him, 
''Whatever  Weyerhaeuser  says  goes,"  and  from  this  saying,  I 
think,  has  grown  the  idea  that  he  at  all  times  had  the  majority 
in  interest  and  the  power,  legally,  to  enforce  his  views.  This 
idea  is  very  far  from  the  truth.  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  picked  his 
associates;  he  had  excellent  judgment  as  to  the  character  of 
other  men,  and  he  had  the  advice  of  many  friends  who  either 
knew  something  of  the  man  under  consideration,  or  knew  some- 
one who  did.  Having  once  determined  that  a  man  came  up  to 
his  standards,  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  trusted  him  absolutely  and 
permitted  him  to  have  as  large  an  interest  in  a  given  enterprise 
as  was  consistent  with  the  rights  of  others  and  as  the  man  could 
carry.  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  never  stipulated  for,  or  had  for  him- 
self, the  majority  in  interest  or  vote  in  any  one  of  the  many 
companies  he  was  connected  with.  But  because  of  his  personal 
ability,  fairness  and  honesty,  and  the  faith  his  associates  had 
in  him,  he  always  had  the  practical  control. 

Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  would  never  himself  resort  to,  or  tolerate 
in  his  employees,  any  unfair  or  underhanded  methods  of  com- 
petition with  others  who  were  not  interested  or  associated  with 
him;  he  believed  that  prosperous  neighbors  contributed  more 
to  his  own  prosperity  than  insolvent  ones,  and  always  sought 
not  to  pull  down,  but  to  build  up  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact. 


822  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

He  was  essentially  a  lumberman;  he  believed  that  a  man 
could  attain  great  ends  only  by  sticking  to  his  own  business. 
He  took  great  pains  to  become,  and  he  was,  well  informed,  in 
a  general  way,  as  to  most  other  lines  of  business  and  their 
needs  and  possibilities,  and  he  used  this  information  to  enable 
him  to  shape  the  conduct  of  his  own  business. 

As  he  grew  to  be  a  great  figure  in  the  lumbering  business, 
his  advice  and  financial  aid  were  sought  by  men  in  other  lines, 
and  to  a  very  limited  extent  he  invested  in  some  of  them ;  but 
he  never  lost  his  love  for  a  pine  tree,  and  was  always  ready  to 
buy  one,  or  more,  when  it  was  offered  him  at  what  he  consid- 
ered a  fair  price. 

He  never  dealt  in,  or  had  much  to  do  with,  any  other  kind 
of  timber.  It  is  related  of  him  that  on  a  certain  occasion  a  man 
tried  to  sell  him  a  tract  of  hardwood,  and  took  great  pains  to 
picture  in  somewhat  glowing  terms  the  wonderful  possibilities 
of  an  investment  in  the  tract.  Among  other  things  he  sought 
to  show  that  the  hardwood  could  be  manufactured  into  many 
different  kinds  of  wood  products  from  a  toothpick  to  a  grand 
piano,  while  pine  could  only  be  used  in  the  construction  of 
buildings.  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  listened  very  patiently  and  cour- 
teously to  the  end  of  the  discourse,  and  then  closed  the  inter- 
view by  saying,  ''Well,  all  that  you  say  may  be  true,  but  I  like 
a  pine  tree  because  it  is  always  green." 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  enlarge  upon  Mr.  Weyerhaeus- 
er's  untiring  industry.  Until  after  an  illness  which  to  some 
extent  incapacitated  him  from  physical  exertion,  he  was  con- 
stantly engaged  during  the  summer  in  traveling  to  and  fro  from 
one  manufacturing  plant  to  another,  advising  and  directing 
the  course  to  be  pursued.  His  visits  were  not  advertised,  but 
his  managers  knew  he  was  liable  to  drop  in  at  any  time,  and  they 
welcomed  his  arrival,  because,  while  he  never  failed  to  criticise 
and  condemn  improper  or  wasteful  methods  when  he  found 
them,  he  never  did  so  unkindly;  and  if  a  man  was  doing  the 
best  he  knew  how,  he  was  always  praised,  even  if  Mr.  Weyer- 
haeuser pointed  out  that  the  course  being  pursued  was  wrong. 

An  amusing  anecdote  was  related  of  one  manager  who  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  little  ''near."  This  man  learned  of 
one  of  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser 's  visits  in  advance  and  "slicked  up" 


I 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  823 

until  lie  thought  no  possible  criticism  could  be  made.  Mr. 
Weyerhaeuser  arrived,  and  together  they  started  to  inspect 
the  plant.  The  manager  was  not  modest  in  calling  attention 
to  the  fine  condition  of  everything,  nor  was  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser 
stinted  in  his  praise  of  what  he  saw.  But  it  seems  that  some- 
body had  made  the  mistake  of  cutting  the  strings  with  which 
the  bundles  of  lath  were  tied,  about  twice  as  long  as  was  nec- 
essary, thus  wasting  the  extra  string.  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  saw 
it  instantly,  and,  turning  to  the  manager,  said,  ''When  did  you 
begin  to  put  neckties  on  them?" 

When  the  mills  were  idle  in  the  winter  months  and  active 
logging  operations  were  being  carried  on,  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  the  woods,  and  he  used  to  say  that  it 
was  these  months  in  the  woods  among  the  pines,  sharing  the 
rough  quarters  and  homely  fare  of  the  men  in  his  employment, 
that  he  enjoyed  most,  that  this  really  constituted  his  vacation 
and  gave  him  strength  to  perform  his  tasks. 

Much  has  been  said  of  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser 's  secretiveness 
and  secret  methods  of  work.  He  was  both  socially  and  in  busi- 
ness a  very  modest  man.  He  abhorred  notoriety,  ostentation, 
or  display  of  any  kind.  He  did  not  feel  that  the  public  gen- 
erally had,  or  ought  to  have,  any  particular  interest  in  him  as 
an  individual.  The  business  world  in  which  he  moved  knew 
him  for  what  he  was  as  a  man.  That  what  was  so  known  was 
not  published  broadcast  is  due,  I  think,  entirely  to  his  own 
modesty  and  the  respect  therefor  entertained  by  those  who 
knew  him.  To  all  those  who  were  associated  Avith  him,  and  to 
all  those  who  met  him  in  a  business  or  social  way,  he  was  frank 
and  open  to  a  remarkable  degree.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  tell 
all  he  knew  about  anything,  or  anybody,  himself  included, 
always  avoiding,  however,  any  claim  for  himself  of  wealth, 
power,  or  social  position.  Many  times  some  of  his  associates 
thought  he  was  almost  too  frank  and  willing  to  talk  relating  to 
his  business  affairs.  Perhaps  it  is  needless  to  say  that  he  never 
exaggerated  or  talked  for  effect,  or  made  statements  he  did  not 
know  to  be  true.  What  he  said  was  to  be  taken  at  its  full 
value. 

To  one  who  has  known  him  intimately,  at  least  in  a  busi- 
ness way,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  speak  of  him.    I  have  tried  to  give 


824  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

my  ideas  of  Mr.  Weyerhaeuser  as  a  business  man,  and  of  those 
qualities  which  enabled  him  to  succeed.  To  recount  the  vari- 
ous enterprises  in  which  he  has  been  interested  and  his  suc- 
cesses or  failures,  for  sometimes  he  did  make  mistakes,  would 
be  to  write  a  book,  and,  I  believe,  in  the  end  would  throw  little 
more  light  on  his  essential  characteristics  than  what  I  have 
said. 


NEWTON  HORACE  WINCHELL. 

Mi:morials  in  the:  Council  Me^e^ting,  May  11,  1914. 

Warren  Upham,  Secretary,  presented  the  following  bio- 
graphic memorial. 

A  member  of  this  Historical  Society  who  had  attained  a 
worldwide  fame  by  his  work  as  the  State  Geologist  of  Minne- 
sota, Professor  N.  H.  Winchell,  has  fallen, — let  us  rather  say, 
and  more  truly,  he  has  been  promoted,  called  up  higher.  He 
was  born  in  North  East,  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  December  17, 
1839 ;  and  died  in  a  hospital  of  Minneapolis,  the  city  of  his  home, 
on  Saturday  afternoon,  May  2,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his 
age. 

Like  his  brother,  Alexander,  with  whose  family  he  had  his 
home  during  the  early  part  of  his  university  studies,  at  Ann 
Arbor,  Michigan,  Newton  Horace  devoted  himself  mainly  to 
the  science  of  geology,  with  allied  interest  in  all  branches  of 
natural  history.  In  Michigan  he  did  much  early  work  for 
botany;  and  in  his  latest  years,  after  his  geological  survey  of 
Minnesota  was  completed,  he  performed  very  valuable  services 
for  this  Society  on  the  archaeology  and  ethnology  of  this  state 
and  the  northwest.  From  the  later  work  resulted  a  quarto 
volume,  published  in  1911,  entitled,  ''The  Aborigines  of  Min- 
nesota," 761  pages,  with  many  illustrations  and  about  500  maps 
of  groups  of  Indian  mounds.  This  volume,  and  the  twenty- 
four  Annual  Reports  and  six  quarto  volumes  of  Final  Reports 
of  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Minnesota, 
are  monuments  more  enduring  than  bronze,  which  will  be  con- 
sulted and  studied  during  all  the  coming  centuries  by  inves- 


Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
Vol.  XV.     Plate  XXI. 


I 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  825 

tigators  of  the  origin  and  history  of  the  races  of  mankind  and 
by  all  interested  in  geology  or  earth  lore,  not  only  in  the  schools 
and  universities  of  Minnesota  but  of  all  the  world. 

Newton  Horace  Winchell  in  boyhood  attended  the  public 
school  and  academy  at  Salisbury,  Conn. ;  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen years  he  began  teaching  in  a  district  school  of  his  native 
town.  Two  years  later,  in  1858,  he  entered  the  University  of 
Michigan,  where  his  brother  was  the  professor  of  geology.  The 
next  eight  years  were  spent  alternately  in  studies  at  the  univer- 
sity and  in  school  teaching,  the  schools  taught  being  in  Ann 
Arbor,  Grass  Lake,  Flint,  Kalamazoo,  Colon,  and  Port  Huron, 
Michigan.  Previous  to  his  graduation  at  the  university,  in 
1866,  he  had  been  two  years  the  superintendent  of  public 
schools  in  St.  Clair,  Mich. ;  and  next  after  graduation  he  was 
again  superintendent  of  schools  at  Adrian  in  that  state  for  two 
years,  1867-69.  He  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the  degree 
of  master  of  arts  in  1867. 

During  a  year,  in  1869-70,  he  was  an  assistant  to  Prof. 
Alexander  Winchell  on  the  Geological  Survey  of  Michigan; 
and  later  in  1870  he  visited  and  reported  on  the  copper  and 
silver  deposits  of  New  Mexico.  In  1871  he  assisted  Prof.  J.  S. 
Newberry,  the  state  geologist  of  Ohio,  surveying  and  reporting 
on  twenty  counties  in  the  northwestern  part  of  that  state. 

In  the  summer  of  1872,  N.  H.  Winchell  was  invited  by  Presi- 
dent Folwell,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  to  take  up  the 
work  then  recently  ordered  by  the  legislature  for  a  survey  of 
the  geology  and  natural  history  of  this  state,  to  be  done  under 
the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University.  In 
this  work  he  continued  twenty-eight  years,  until  1900 ;  and  dur- 
ing the  first  seven  years,  until  1879,  he  performed  also  the  full 
duties  of  the  university  professorship  of  geology.  Later  he  re- 
linquished teaching,  aside  from  occasional  lectures,  and  gave 
all  his  time  to  the  diversified  duties  of  the  state  survey  and  the 
euratorship  of  the  university  museum. 

In  the  summer  of  1874  Professor  Winchell  accompanied 
General  Custer's  expedition  to  the  Black  Hills,  brought  back 
many  valuable  additions  for  the  museum,  and  prepared  a  report 
which  contains  the  first  geological  map  of  the  interior  of  the 
Black  Hills. 


826  MINNESOTA  HISTOHICAL   SOCIETY   COLLECTIONS. 

In  1873  he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Minnesota 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  which  he  served  during  three 
terms  as  president ;  and  he  continued  as  one  of  its  most  active 
members  throughout  his  life. 

He  was  a  fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  and  presided  over  its  geological  section 
at  the  Philadelphia  meeting  in  1884.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
chief  founders  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America,  in  1889, 
and  was  its  president  in  1902.  He  was  a  member  of  national 
societies  of  mineralogy  and  geology  in  France  and  Belgium. 
In  the  International  Congress  of  Geologists  he  became  a  mem- 
ber in  1888,  being  reporter  for  the  American  committee  on  the 
nomenclature  of  the  Paleozoic  series;  contributed  papers  in 
French  to  its  subsequent  meetings  at  Boulogne  and  Zurich ;  and 
attended  its  triennial  meeting  last  August  in  Toronto. 

Under  appointment  by  President  Cleveland  in  1887,  Pro- 
fessor Winchell  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  Assay  Com- 
mission. His  geological  reports  received  a  diploma  and, medal 
at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1889,  and  a  medal  at  the  World's 
Fair  in  Chicago  in  1893. 

He  was  the  chief  founder  of  the  American  Geologist,  a 
monthly  magazine,  which  was  published  in  Minneapolis,  under 
his  editorship,  during  eighteen  years,  1888-1905,  in  two  volumes 
yearly,  forming  a  series  of  thirty-six  volumes.  This  work,  in 
which  he  was  much  assisted  by  Mrs.  Winchell,  greatly  promoted 
the  science  of  geology,  affording  means  of  publication  to  many 
specialists  and  amateurs  throughout  this  country.  It  also 
brought  out  many  biographic  sketches,  with  portraits,  of  the 
principal  early  American  workers  in  this  wide  field  of  knowl- 
edge. 

In  one  of  the  bulletins  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey, 
entitled  "The  Iron  Ores  of  Minnesota,"  430  pages,  with  maps, 
published  in  1891,  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  had  the  aid  of  his  son, 
Horace  Vaughn  Winchell;  and  in  a  text-book,  ''Elements  of 
Optical  Mineralogy,"  502  pages,  1909,  he  was  associated  in  au- 
thorship with  his  younger  son,  Prof.  Alexander  Newton  Win- 
chell, of  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  During  parts  of  the 
later  years  of  the  Minnesota  survey  he  was  aided  by  his  son-in- 
law.  Dr.  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  professor  of  geology  in  the  North- 
western University,  Evanston,  Illinois. 


J 


Memorials  of  deceased  members,  1909-14.  827 

In  1895-96  Professor  and  Mrs.  N.  H.  Winchell  spent  about 
a  year  in  Paris,  France,  and  again  he  was  there  during  six 
months  in  1898,  his  attention  being  given  mainly  during  each 
of  these  long  visits  abroad  to  special  studies  and  investigations 
in  petrology. 

My  association  with  Professor  N.  H.  Winchell  began  in 
June,  1879.  Coming  from  the  Geological  Survey  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  which  I  had  been  for  several  years  an  assistant,  I  was 
thenceforward  one  of  the  assistants  of  the  Minnesota  survey 
six  years,  until  1885,  and  again  in  1893  and  1894.  In  the  mean- 
time and  later,  while  I  was  an  assistant  geologist  of  the  surveys 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  on  the  exploration,  mapping, 
and  publication  of  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,  which  occupied 
the  basin  of  the  Red  river  and  of  lakes  Winnipeg  and  Mani- 
toba, my  frequent  association  with  Prof.  Winchell  kept  me  con- 
stantly well  acquainted  with  the  progress  of  his  Minnesota 
work.  Since  the  spring  of  1906  he  had  been  in  the  service  of 
the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  having  charge  of  its  Depart- 
ment of  Archaeology.  During  all  these  thirty-five  years  I  had 
intimately  known  him,  and  had  increasingly  revered  and  loved 
him.  Besides  being  a  skilled  geologist,  Newton  Horace  Win- 
chell was  a  good  citizen,  a  Christian  in  faith  and  practice,  be- 
loved by  all  who  knew  him. 

Among  the  many  special  investigations  which  Prof.  N.  H. 
Winchell  published  during  the  forty-five  years  of  his  active 
work  as  a  scientist,  author,  and  editor,  none  probably  has  been 
more  widely  influential  upon  geologic  thought  and  progress 
than  his  studies  and  estimates  of  the  rate  of  recession  of  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  cutting  the  Mississippi  river  gorge  from 
Fort  Snelling  to  the  present  site  of  the  falls  in  Minneapolis. 
This  investigation,  first  published  in  1876,  gave  about  8,000 
years  as  the  time  occupied  by  the  gorge  erosion,  which  is  like- 
wise the  approximate  measure  of  the  time  that  has  passed  since 
the  closing  stage  of  the  Ice  Age  or  Glacial  period,  when  the 
border  of  the  waning  ice-sheet  was  melted  away  on  the  area 
of  Minnesota. 

Artificially  chipped  quartz  fragments  and  rude  aboriginal 
implements  found  in  the  Mississippi  valley  drift  at  Little  Falls, 
in  central  Minnesota,  belonging  to  the  time  of  final  melting  of 


828  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  ice-sheet  there,  and  other  traces  of  man's  presence  at  nearly 
the  same  time,  or  even  much  earlier,  in  numerous  other  locali- 
ties of  the  southern  part  of  our  great  North  American  glaciated 
area,  have  led  Professor  Winchell  and  others,  as  the  late  Hon. 
J.  V.  Brower,  Professors  G.  F.  Wright  and  F.  W.  Putnam,  and 
myself,  to  a  confident  belief  that  mankind  occupied  this  con- 
tinent during  the  later  part  of  the  Ice  Age,  or  even  quite  prob- 
ably much  earlier  in  that  period,  and  possibly  even  before  our 
continental  glaciation  began.  This  very  interesting  line  of  in- 
vestigation was  the  theme  of  the  last  paper  written  by  Pro- 
fessor Winchell,  entitled  "The  Antiquity  of  Man  in  America 
Compared  with  Europe,"  which  he  presented  as  a  lecture  be- 
fore the  Iowa  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  on 
Friday  evening,  April  24,  only  a  week  before  he  died. 

The  work  on  which  he  was  engaged  for  this  Historical  So- 
ciety, during  his  last  eight  years,  based  on  very  extensive  col- 
lections, by  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower,  of  aboriginal  implements  from 
Minnesota  and  other  states  west  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and 
south  to  Kansas,  enabled  Professor  Winchell  to  take  up  very 
fully  the  questions  of  man's  antiquity  and  of  his  relation  to 
the  Ice  Age. 

During  the  years  1909-10  Professor  Winchell,  as  a  member 
of  the  Museum  Committee  of  this  Society,  gave  much  attention 
to  investigations  of  the  rune  stone  found  near  Kensington,  in 
Douglas  county,  bearing  inscriptions  purporting  to  be  a  record 
of  a  party  of  Swedes  and  Norwegians  coming  there  in  the  year 
1362.  The  report  of  this  committee,  concluding  that  the  inscrip- 
tions are  probably  true  and  of  that  very  ancient  date,  was  first 
published  by  this  Society  in  December,  1910,  and  is  reprinted  in 
pages  221-286  of  this  volume,  with  illustrative  plates  and  maps. 
Professor  Winchell  was  the  author  of  the  report,  and  he  was 
entirely  confident  of  the  reliability  of  this  conclusion,  in  which 
each  of  his  associates  in  the  committee  concurred. 

The  last  publication  in  his  work  for  this  Society  was  in  the 
summer  of  1913,  entitled  "The  Weathering  of  Aboriginal  Stone 
Artifacts,  No.  1 ;  A  Consideration  of  the  Paleoliths  of  Kansas, ' ' 
forming  Part  I  of  Volume  XVI,  M.  H.  S.  Collections,  186  pages, 
with  a  map,  19  plates,  and  numerous  text  illustrations. 

He  had  enjoyed  somewhat  good  health  until  the  last  week. 


I 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  829 

although  suffering  in  some  degree  with  a  chronic  trouble  of 
many  years,  and  his  death  resulted  from  a  needed  surgical 
operation  done  on  the  preceding  day. 

Geologist,  naturalist,  ethnologist,  archaeologist,  historian, 
my  well  trusted  guide  and  comrade  through  half  a  lifetime,  toil- 
ing ever  upward,  Farewell ! 

*' Green  be  the  turf  above  thee. 
Friend  of  my  better  days! 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee. 
Nor  named  thee  but  to  praise." 

William  W.  Folwe:ll,  the  first  president  of  the  University 
of  Minnesota,  said: 

I  willingly  respond  to  the  request  for  a  few  words  in  ap- 
preciation of  Professor  Winchell.  Regents  Pillsbury  and 
Nicols,  both  members  of  the  state  senate  in  1872,  had  little 
difficulty  in  securing  the  passage  of  a  bill  drawn  by  the  writer, 
for  the  establishment  of  a  Geological  and  Natural  History  Sur- 
vey of  Minnesota.  The  plan  was  to  have  the  scientific  work  of 
the  survey  carried  on  by  members  of  the  University  faculty, 
under  the  general  oversight  of  the  board  of  regents. 

From  the  candidates  for  the  new  professorship  of  geology. 
Professor  Newton  H.  Winchell  was  easily  selected.  He  had 
been  graduated  from  the  University  of  Michigan,  where  his  dis- 
tinguished brother,  then  one  of  the  leading  geologists  of  the 
country,  was  professor.  He  had  been  principal  of  a  high  school, 
and  had  taught  in  the  University  which  had  graduated  him. 
He  had  had  three  years 'experience  as  assistant  on  the  geological 
surveys  of  Michigan  and  Ohio.  This  combination  of  gifts  and 
experience  seemed  to  fit  him  expressly  for  the  double  service  in 
Minnesota.  A  few  years  of  labor  fully  justified  the  recom- 
mendations of  friends  and  the  judgment  of  the  regents. 

For  seven  years  Professor  Winchell  carried  all  or  nearly  all 
the  teaching  in  the  department  of  geology  and  mineralogy.  By 
that  time  there  was  a  good  deal  of  clamor  for  immediate  eco- 
nomic results  from  the  survey,  in  response  to  which  the  regents 
relieved  him  of  all  instruction  to  devote  his  whole  time  and 
strength  to  the  survey. 

Had  he  remained  an  active  member  of  the  faculty,  and  gone 
in  and  out  among  us,  it  would  not  be  necessary  now  to  remind 


830  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

the  faculty  and  the  whole  University  that  the  man  whose  body 
we  laid  to  rest  a  week  ago  has  given  the  University  a  wider 
repute  than  all  of  us  put  together.  His  final  report  on  the 
geology  of  Minnesota  in  six  noble  quartos  is  on  the  shelves 
of  all  the  great  libraries  of  the  world.  One  whose  attainments 
entitle  his  opinion  to  credence  has  said  of  this  work:  "No 
state  publication  of  like  nature  surpasses  in  scientific  impor- 
tance this  survey  by  Mr.  Winchell,  and  it  could  be  said  none 
equals  it." 

My  wish  is  to  remind  you  that  a  truly  great  scholar  has  been 
taken  from  the  University  circle,  and  that  Minnesota  has  lost 
one  of  her  most  useful  citizens.  Professor  Newton  Horace 
Winchell's  name  is  forever  inscribed  on  the  roll  of  our  most 
distinguished  men. 

Colonel  Jame:s  Hamilton  Davidson,  of  St.  Paul,  said: 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  be  brought  into  very  close 
relationship  and  personal  friendship  with  three  members  of  this 
Society,  namely,  John  Fletcher  Williams,  General  James  H. 
Baker,  and  Professor  N.  H.  Winchell.  The  bond  of  friendship 
between  the  two  former  and  myself  grew  somewhat  out  of  the 
fact  that  they  were  early  graduates  of  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity at  Delaware,  Ohio,  where  I  received  my  degrees.  They 
were  all  wonderfully  helpful  to  this  great  society  which  has 
been  collecting  its  records  and  its  treasures  for  more  than  half 
a  century. 

I  am  glad  to  know  that  this  Society's  library  and  other  col- 
lections will  soon  Ibe  housed  in  a  suitable  fireproof  building 
where  these  treasures,  which  could  never  be  replaced,  will  be 
carefully  housed  and  cared  for,  a  storehouse  of  information  for 
all  coming  generations. 

In  his  printed  reports  and  scientific  works,  which  are  many, 
Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  will  live  through  coming  ages.  I  venture 
to  make  this  suggestion,  that,  when  the  new  Historical  Society 
Building  is  completed  and  the  work  of  ornamenting  it  is  under- 
taken, a  life  size  statue  of  purest  Parian  marble  be  erected  at 
the  entrance  to  commemorate  this  great  man  and  his  historic 
work. 


OTHER  DECEASED  MEMBERS,  1909-14. 

Me:morials  Pr^sentivd  by  Warre:n  Upham. 

Samue:!^  Eme:ry  Adams,  elected  to  life  membership  in  this 
Society  January  10,  1876,  was  born  in  Reading,  Vt.,  December 
1,  1828 ;  and  died  at  his  home  in  Minneapolis,  March  29,  1912. 
He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1856,  settling  in  Monticello;  was  a 
state  senator,  1857-60;  was  paymaster  in  the  civil  war,  and 
was  brevetted  lieutenant  colonel ;  resided  in  Minneapolis  after 
1883,  being  in  real  estate  business,  and  was  an  alderman  many 
years.    He  was  a  prominent  freemason. 

CharlDS  Edwin  Ai^IvI^n,  of  Cedar  Grove,  Maine,  who  was 
elected  to  corresponding  membership  February  8,  1909,  died 
at  his  home  October  28,  1911. 

Charles  Gordon  Ames,  who  during  half  a  century  was  a 
corresponding  member  of  this  Society,  was  born  in  Dorchester, 
Mass.,  October  3,  1828;  and  died  in  Boston,  Mass.,  April  15, 
1912.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1851,  as  a  missionary  of  the 
Free  Baptist  church,  but,  his  theological  views  having  changed, 
he  joined  the  Unitarian  denomination.  He  remained  in  St. 
Anthony  Falls  until  1859 ;  later  was  a  pastor  in  Illinois,  New 
York  and  California,  and  in  Philadelphia,  and  after  1888  in 
Boston.  He  is  commemorated  in  "A  Spiritual  Autobiography, 
with  an  Epilogue  by  Alice  Ames  Winter, ' '  229  pages,  1913. 

Arthur  Converse  Anderson,  elected  an  annual  member 
of  this  Society  February  8,  1897,  was  born  in  Bethel,  Vt.,  De- 
cember 2,  1859;  and  died  at  his  home  in  White  Bear,  Minn., 
May  29,  1909.  He  settled  in  St.  Paul  in  1883;  was  assistant 
cashier  of  the  St.  Paul  National  Bank,  1883-8,  cashier  1888- 
1902 ;  and  its  president  from  1902  until  1906,  when  it  was  con- 
solidated with  the  Capital  National  Bank. 


832  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

Daniel  A.  J.  Bake:p  was  born  in  1822  in  New  Sharon, 
Maine;  and  died  in  Minneapolis,  October  2,  1909.  He  came 
to  Minnesota  in  1849,  and  taught  at  St.  Paul,  in  1850-51,  the 
first  public  school  in  the  territory,  having  103  pupils  in  attend- 
ance. After  practicing  law  here  three  years,  he  joined  with 
others  in  1854  in  pre-empting  the  site  and  founding  the  town 
of  Superior,  Wisconsin.  He  was  appointed  judge  of  the  dis- 
trict court  by  the  governor  of  Wisconsin,  and  held  this  com- 
mission three  years.  In  1857  he  was  a  member  of  the  consti- 
tutional convention  of  Minnesota;  and  thenceforward  he  re- 
sided in  Ramsey  county,  being  its  superintendent  of  schools  for 
ten  years.  He  built  a  large  residence  and  a  greenhouse  in  1867 
on  his  farm  in  the  southwest  part  of  Rose  township,  later  in- 
cluded in  the  city  of  St.  Paul.  Judge  Baker  became  a  life  mem- 
ber of  this  Historical  Society  on  January  15,  1856. 

Adolph  Francis  Alphonse:  Bande:lie:r,  archaeologist,  was 
born  in  Bern,  Switzerland,  August  6,  1840;  and  died  in  Se- 
ville, Spain,  March  18,  1914.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in 
his  youth;  traveled  extensively  for  the  interests  of  arch- 
aeology, ethnology,  and  history,  in  the  southwestern  United 
States,  Mexico,  Central  America,  Peru,  and  Bolivia;  was 
elected  a  corresponding  member  of  this  Society  on  April  8,  1907. 

GeoRG]^  Washington  Batchelder,  elected  a  life  member 
December  12,  1904,  was  born  in  Danville,  Vt.,  February  18, 
1826;  and  died  in  Faribault,  Minn.,  January  9,  1910.  He  was 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Vermont,  1851 ;  and  four  years 
later,  having  been  admitted  to  practice  law,  he  came  to  Min- 
nesota, settling  at  Faribault.    In  1872-3  he  was  a  state  senator. 


Albert  Stillman  Batchellor,  elected  a  corresponding 
member  September  10, 1894,  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  N.  H.,  April 
22,  1850;  and  died  in  Littleton,  N.  H.,  June  15,  1913.  He  was 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  1872 ;  practiced  law,  settling 
in  Littleton;  and  was  the  State  Historian  and  Editor  of  the 
New  Hampshire  State  Papers  after  1890. 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  83<$ 

John  Edson  Bell,   elected  to  annual  membership  January 

13,  1908,  was  born  in  Brownville,  N.  Y.,  October  10,  1834 ;  and 
died  in  Excelsior,  Minn.,  September  10,  1909.  He  came  to  Min- 
nesota in  1857,  settling  in  Minneapolis,  and  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business.  In  1870  he  became  cashier  of  the  Hennepin 
County  Savings  Bank,  and  after  1889  was  its  president  till 
his  death.  He  was  prominent  in  church,  Sunday  School,  and 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  work. 

Peter  Berkey  was  born  near  Johnstown,  Pa.,  September 

14,  1822 ;  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  April  16,  1909.  When  thirteen 
years  of  age  he  became  a  driver  on  the  Pennsylvania  canal,  and 
afterward  was  captain  of  a  fast  canal  packet  plying  between 
Johnstown  and  Pittsburg.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1853,  set- 
tling in  St.  Paul,  and  with  John  Nicols  established  a  hardware 
business.  He  was  president  of  the  St.  Paul,  Stillwater  and  Tay- 
lor's Falls  railroad  company,  1871-76,  and  of  the  St.  Paul  Na- 
tional Bank,  1883-92 ;  was  a  representative  in  the  Legislature, 
1872.  January  15,  1856,  Captain  Berkey  was  elected  a  life 
member  of  this  Historical  Society,  of  which  he  was  a  councilor 
from  1864  to  1870,  being  for  a  part  of  that  time  its  treasurer. 

Charles  Henry  Bigelow,  elected  an  annual  member  De- 
cember 11,  1899,  was  born  in  Easton,  N.  Y.,  June  4,  1835;  and 
died  in  St.  Paul,  July  31,  1911.  He  settled  at  St.  Paul  in  1864, 
engaging  in  lumber  business  and  insurance;  was  president  of 
the  St.  Paul  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company,  1876-1911. 

Clara  Wooster  Abbie  Blackman,  elected  a  life  member 
September  14,  1908,  died  at  her  home  in  St.  Paul,  April  13,  1913. 
She  was  a  grade  teacher  in  the  Franklin  School,  1874-85; 
principal  of  the  Longfellow  School  twenty-two  years,  1885- 
1907;  and  later  was  the  compiler  of  a  manuscript  Blaekman 
Genealogy. 

Julian  Clarence  Bryant,  elected  a  life  member  January 
12,  1914,  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  February  9,  1852 ;  died 
in  St.  Paul,  November  18,  1914.    He  came  with  his  parents  to 

53 


834  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL.   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Minnesota  in  1859 ;  was  graduated  at  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, 1878 ;  was  superintendent  of  schools  in  Owatonna  three 
years ;  settled  in  St.  Paul,  1883 ;  studied  law,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar;  during  many  years,  1886-1912,  was  successively 
principal  of  the  Humboldt  High  School,  the  Central  High 
School,  and  the  Madison  School. 


Augustus  R.  Capkhart,  elected  a  corresponding  member 
May  8j  1905,  was  born  in  Georgia  in  1836 ;  settled  in  St.  Paul  in 
1856 ;  practiced  law  and  dealt  in  real  estate ;  removed  to  Phoe- 
nix, Arizona,  in  1905 ;  and  died  there,  December  8,  1912. 

Thdodore  G.  Carter  was  born  in  Allegany  county,  N.  Y., 
in  February,  1832;  and  died  in  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  August  7,  1914. 
He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1856;  two  years  later  settled  in  St. 
Peter,  and  was  cashier  in  a  bank ;  served  in  the  Seventh  Minne- 
sota regiment  in  the  civil  war,  attaining  the  rank  of  captain; 
afterward  engaged  in  real  estate  and  insurance  business;  was 
elected  to  life  membership  in  this  Society  May  10,  1897. 

James  Erwin  Child,  elected  to  annual  membership  Febru- 
ary 12,  1906,  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  December  19, 
1833 ;  and  died  in  Waseca,  Minn.,  January  25,  1912.  He  came 
to  Minnesota  in  1855,  settling  in  Wilton,  removed  to  Waseca  in 
1868 ;  was  a  lawyer  and  newspaper  editor ;  a  representative  in 
the  state  legislature,  1861,  1874,  and  1883;  a  state  senator  in 
1872;  Prohibition  candidate  for  governor  in  1886;  author  of 
''History  of  Waseca  County,"  848  pages,  1905. 

Simeon  P.  Child,  elected  a  life  member  December  11, 
1899,  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1836 ;  and  died  at  his  home  near 
Shakopee,  Minn.,  May  26,  1912.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1855, 
settling  in  Waseca  county ;  served  in  the  Indian  and  civil  wars ; 
removed  to  Blue  Earth  City,  1866,  to  St.  Paul,  1892,  and  to  a 
farm  near  Shakopee,  1900;  was  a  representative  in  the  legis- 
lature, 1872-3  and  1877,  and  a  state  senator,  1874-5. 


MEMORIALS    OP    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  §35 

Francis  Byron  Clarke,  elected  a  life  member  November 
13,  1882,  was  born  in  Madison  county,  N.  Y.,  July  1,  1839;  and 
died  in  Portland,  Oregon,  April  24,  1911.  He  settled  in  St.  Paul 
in  1871;  was  in  the  employ  of  the  West  Wisconsin  railway 
company ;  later  was  traffic  manager  of  the  Great  Northern  rail- 
way, and  in  1905  removed  to  Oregon. 

Euge:ne:  B.  Crane,  elected  an  annual  member  January  9, 
1911,  was  born  in  Sharon,  Ohio,  November  4,  1840 ;  was  grad- 
uated in  law  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  1866 ;  came  to  Min- 
nesota in  1870,  settling  at  Austin;  removed  to  Minneapolis  in 
1902 ;  died  at  Ocean  Park,  California,  November  4,  1912. 

Frank  Bertine  Daugherty,  contractor,  elected  to  life 
membership  September  14,  1903,  was  born  in  Rosendale,  Wis., 
June  7,  1850 ;  died  in  Pine  City,  Minn.,  June  8,  1911.  He  set- 
tled in  Duluth  in  1878;  was  a  state  senator,  1891-3  and  1899- 
1902. 

Thomas  Hunter  Dickson,  elected  to  annual  membership 
December  14,  1908,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  December  4, 
1840;  died  in  St.  Paul,  May  14,  1912.  He  came  to  Minnesota 
in  1880,  settling  in  St.  Paul;  was  freight  agent  of  the  Great 
Northern  railway,  1880-1901,  and  later  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
railway. 

Reuben  Thomas  DurrETT,  elected  a  corresponding  mem- 
ber February  8,  1897,  was  born  in  Henry  county,  Kentucky, 
Jan.  22,  1824;  died  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  September  16,  1913.  He 
was  graduated  at  Brown  University,  1849,  and  in  law  at  the 
University  of  Louisville,  1850,  where  he  settled  in  law  practice ; 
was  founder  of  the  Filson  Club,  1884,  and  was  through  his  life 
its  president  and  supporter  of  its  very  valuable  historical  publi- 
cations. 

Richmond  Pearl  Everett,  corresponding  member,  elected 
December  10,  1894,  was  born  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  September  6, 
1826,  and  resided  there,  engaging  in  mercantile  business ;   was 


836  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL,   SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

treasurer  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  thirty-five 
years,  1867-1902;  died  at  a  sanitarium  in  Attleboro,  Mass., 
March  9,  1910. 

Henry  Shields  Fairchild  was  born  in  Warren  county, 
Ohio,  August  18,  1826;  died  in  St.  Paul,  September  18,  1913. 
He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1857,  settling  in  St.  Paul,  where  he 
engaged  through  his  life  in  real  estate  business.  He  aided 
greatly  in  securing  for  the  state  the  site  of  the  new  capitol  and 
the  state  fair  ground.  He  was  elected  a  life  member  of  this 
Society  November  13,  1882;  was  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council  from  January  8,  1894,  until  his  death;  author  of 
'' Sketches  of  the  Early  History  of  Real  Estate  in  St.  Paul," 
M.  H.  S.  Collections,  vol.  X,  1905,  pages  417-443,  with  his  por- 
trait. 

George  R.  Finch,  elected  to  life  membership  November  13, 
1882,  was  born  in  Delaware,  Ohio,  September  24,  1839 ;  died  in 
St.  Paul,  June  1,  1910.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1863,  settling 
in  this  city,  and  engaged  in  wholesale  dry  goods  business.  After 
1888  he  was  the  senior  member  of  his  firm,  its  corporate  name 
for  many  years  being  Finch,  Van  Slyck,  Young,  and  Company. 

Alcee  FoRTiER,  elected  to  honorary  membership  April  8, 
1907,  was  born  in  St.  James  Parish,  La.,  June  5,  1856 ;  died  in 
New  Orleans,  February  14,  1914.  He  was  educated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia  and  in  New  Orleans;  was  professor  of 
Romance  languages,  Tulane  University,  from  1880  through  his 
life ;  author  of  many  historical  works,  including  the  History  of 
Louisiana,  four  volumes,  1904. 

Henry  Gannett,  elected  an  honorary  member  March  11, 
1907,  was  born  at  Bath,  Maine,  August  24,  1846 ;  died  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  November  5,  1914.  He  was  graduated  at  the 
Lawrence  Scientific  School,  Harvard  University,  1869;  was 
topographer  in  surveys  of  the  Territories  by  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden, 
1872-79 ;  was  geographer  of  the  censuses  of  1880,  '90,  and  1900, 
and  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  after  1882,  through  his  life ; 
author  of  many  .reports  on  geography  and  statistics. 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  837 

Charles  Benajah  Gilbert,  elected  a  life  member  March 
10,  1890,  was  born  in  Wilton,  Conn.,  March  9,  1855;  died  in 
New  York  City,  August  27,  1913.  He  was  graduated  from 
Williams  College,  1876 ;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1878,  and  taught 
in  Mankato  and  Winona ;  settled  in  St.  Paul  in  1883 ;  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  high  school  six  years,  and  superintendent  of  the 
city  schools,  1889-96 ;  removed  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  later  to 
New  York  City ;  author  and  editor  of  many  educational  books. 

Joseph  Alexander  Gilfillan,  elected  a  life  member  March 
8,  1897,  was  born  near  Londonderry,  Ireland,  October  23,  1838 ; 
died  in  New  York  City,  November  20,  1913.  He  came  to  Min- 
nesota in  1857;  studied  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York,  1865-9 ;  was  Episcopal  rector  in  Duluth  and  Brain- 
erd,  and  later  was  missionary  to  the  Ojibway  Indians  in  north- 
ern Minnesota,  1873-98 ;  removed  to  Washington,  D.  C. ;  author 
of  ''The  Ojibway,  a  Novel  of  Indian  Life,"  457  pages,  1904. 

EarlE  S.  Goodrich  was  born  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y., 
July  27,  1827 ;  and  died  in  St.  Paul,  September  6,  1913.  He 
studied  law,  and  learned  the  printer's  trade;  came  to  Minne- 
sota in  1854,  settling  in  St.  Paul;  purchased  The  Pioneer,  and 
in  May,  1854,  began  its  issue  as  the  first  daily  newspaper  of 
Minnesota  Territory;  was  commissioned  as  a  captain  in  the 
Civil  War;  later  was  manager  of  the  St.  Paul  Gas  Company, 
and  engaged  in  railroad  construction.  He  was  elected  to  this 
Historical  Society  on  January  15,  1856 ;  was  a  member  of  its 
Council  from  March  21,  1856,  to  February  16,  1864,  and  again 
from  January  20,  1879,  to  November  11,  1889. 

Halsey  R.  W.  Hall,  elected  a  life  member  March  9,  1903, 
was  born  in  Hudson,  Ohio,  August  3,  1834 ;  died  in  Minneapolis, 
July  17,  1913.  He  engaged  in  newspaper  work  throughout  his 
life,  being  in  Ohio  until  1882,  except  the  year  1870  in  St.  Paul. 
After  1882  he  resided  in  this  city,  but  in  1905  removed  to  Min- 
neapolis. In  1902  he  presented  to  this  Society  90  bound  vol- 
umes of  newspapers,  1850-80,  which  had  been  published  by  his 
father  and  himself  in  Ravenna,  Ohio. 


838  MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 

OsEE  Matson  Hall,  elected  a  life  member  April  13,  1908, 
was  born  in  Conneaut,  Ohio,  September  10,  1847 ;  died  in  St. 
Paul,  November  26,  1914.  He  settled  in  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  in 
1868;  was  admitted  to  practice  law  in  1872;  was  a  state  sen- 
ator, 1885;  representative  in  Congress,  1891-5;  member  of  the 
Minnesota  Tax  Commission  from  1907  until  his  death. 

Herbert  Leslie  Hayden,  elected  to  membersliip  November 
13,  1911,  was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  March  23,  1850 ; 
and  died  in  ^Madison,  Minn.,  November  20,  1911.  He  came  to 
Minnesota  in  1875;  settled  in  Lac  qui  Parle  in  1878;  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  law,  1881;  removed  to  Madison,  1884,  and 
was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  townsite  company;  was 
county  attorney  of  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  1891-2  and  1895-6. 

Henry  Williamson  Haynes,  elected  to  honorary  member- 
ship February  8,  1897,  was  born  in  Bangor,  Maine,  September 
20,  1831;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University,  1851;  prac- 
ticed law,  and  afterward  was  professor  in  the  University  of 
Vermont,  1867-72;  later  was  an  explorer  and  writer  in  archae- 
ology, and  resided  in  Boston,  Mass.,  where  he  died  February 
16,  1912. 

LsAAC  V.  D.  Heard,  elected  a  life  member  October  14,  1889, 
was  born  in  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  August  31,  1834,  and  died  there  on 
June  17,  1913.  He  came  to  St.  Paul  in  1851,  and  resided  here 
forty-three  years ;  studied  law,  and  was  city  attorney,  1856  and 
1865-7,  and  county  attorney,  1857-63;  was  a  state  senator  in 
1871 ;  removed  east,  on  account  of  ill  health,  in  1894.  He  served 
in  a  cavalry  company  during  the  Sioux  war,  1862,  and  was 
judge  advocate  at  the  trial  of  303  Sioux  prisoners;  author  of 
''History  of  the  Sioux  War  and  Massacres  of  1862  and  1863,'' 
354  pages,  1863. 

Rev.  J.  C.  Herdman,  of  Calgary,  Alberta,  was  elected  a 
corresponding  member  January  13,  1902;  was  superintendent 
of  Presbyterian  Home  Missions,  and  a  vice  president  of  the 
Western  Canada  Historical  Society;  died  June  7,  1910. 


I 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  §39 

Sheldon  Jackson,  elected  a  corresponding  member  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1897,  was  born  in  Minaville,  N.  Y.,  May  18,  1834;  died 
in  Ashevilie,  N.  C,  May  2,  1909.  He  was  graduated  from  Union 
University,  1855,  and  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  1858; 
was  pastor  in  Minnesota  at  La  Crescent,  1859-64,  and  Rochester, 
1864-69 ;  went  to  Alaska  in  1877,  as  the  first  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionary there.  In  1891-92  he  introduced  domestic  reindeer  into 
Alaska,  171  reindeer  being  imported  in  1892  from  Siberia.  >By 
further  importations  and  the  natural  increase,  the  herd  had 
grown  in  1905  to  10,241  in  number.  He  was  the  author  of  many 
published  reports  on  education,  missions,  and  economic  condi- 
tions in  Alaska. 

Edwin  Ames  Jaggard,  elected  a  life  member  January  9, 
1911,  was  born  in  Altoona,  Pa.,  June  21,  1859;  died  in  Hamil- 
ton, Bermuda,  February  13,  1911.  He  was  graduated  at  Dick- 
inson College,  1879,  and  in  law^  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1882;  settled  at  St.  Paul  in  1882;  was  a  member  of  the 
law  faculty  of  the  University  of  Minnesota  after  1891 ;  was 
judge  in  the  Second  judicial  district,  1899-1904,  and  associate 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  1905  until  his  death ;  was 
author  of  several  text  books  on  law. 

Daniel  S.  B.  Johnston,  elected  an  annual  member  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1897,  was  born  in  South  Bainbridge,  N.  Y.,  May  17, 
1832;  died  at  his  home  in  St.  Paul,  November  17,  1914.  He 
came  to  Minnesota  in  1855;  settled  in  St.  Anthony,  and  en- 
gaged in  teaching  and  newspaper  publication ;  resided  in  St. 
Paul  after  1864,  conducting  loan  and  real  estate  business;  was 
donor  of  the  site  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association 
building  in  this  city,  1907.  He  was  author  of  ''Minnesota  Jour- 
nalism in  the  Territorial  Period,"  this  Society's  Collections, 
vol.  X,  1905,  pages  247-351,  with  his  portrait ;  the  continuation 
of  this  subject  to  1865,  vol.  XII,  1908,  pages  183-262 ;  and  a 
paper  in  the  preceding  pages  411-434  of  this  volume. 

William  Harris  Laird,  elected  a  life  member  January  11, 
1904,  was  born  in  Union  county.  Pa.,  February  24,  1833;  died 


840  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

at  a  hospital  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  February  5,  1910.  He  came  to 
Minnesota  in  1855,  settling  in  Winona,  and  in  the  firm  of  Laird, 
Norton  and  Co.,  formed  in  1856,  engaged  extensively  in  lum- 
bering and  lumber  manufacturing.  He  was  donor  of  the  Public 
Library  building  in  Winona,  and  president  of  the  trustees  of 
Carleton  College. 

Joseph  Lockey,  elected  to  annual  membership  December 
11,  1899,  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  January  1,  1836; 
died  in  St.  Paul,  March  4,  1909.  He  came  with  his  parents  to 
the  United  States  when  six  years  old;  settled  in  Minnesota  in 
1860  as  a  merchant  at  Lake  City;  served  in  the  Sixth  Minne- 
sota regiment  during  the  Sioux  war,  1862-3;  was  U.  S.  deputy 
commissioner  of  pensions,  1870-6 ;  national  bank  examiner, 
1876-83;  cashier  and  later  president  of  the  National  German 
American  Bank  of  St.  Paul,  1883-1903 ;  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican National  Bank  after  1903. 


Thomas  Lowry,  elected  a  life  member  November  13,  1882, 
was  born  in  Logan  county.  111.,  February  27,  1843;  died  in  Min- 
neapolis, February  .4,  1909.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1867,  and  the  same  year  came  to  Minnesota,  settling  in  Min- 
neapolis, where  he  practiced  law  and  dealt  in  real  estate;  was 
president  and  principal  stockowner  of  the  company  operating 
the  street  railways  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  called  the 
Twin  City  Rapid  Transit  Company ;  author  of  ' '  Personal  Remi- 
niscences of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  privately  printed,  32  pages, 
1910. 

Alfred  Thayer  Mahan,  elected  an  honorary  member  Jan- 
uary 9,  1911,  was  born  in  AVest  Point,  N.  Y,,  September  27, 
1840;  died  in  Washington,  D.  C,  December  1,  1914.  He  was 
graduated  at  the  U.  S.  Naval  Academy,  1859 ;  served  in  the  U. 
S.  Navy,  1856-96,  rising  to  the  rank  of  captain  in  1885 ;  retired 
in  1896,  and  later  resided  in  or  near  New  York  City ;  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  rank  of  rear  admiral  in  1906 ;  author  of  many  his- 
torical and  biographic  works,  chiefly  on  naval  defence  and  war- 
fare. 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  841 

Robert  Laird  McCormick,  elected  an  honorary  member 
January  13,  1902,  was  born  near  Lockhaven,  Pa.,  October  29, 
1847 ;  died  in  Sacramento,  Cal.,  February  5,  1911.  He  was  con- 
nected with  the  Laird-Norton  Lumber  Co.,  of  Winona,  Minn., 
1868-74;  removed  to  Waseca;  was  a  state  senator,  1881;  later 
was  manager  of  the  North  Wisconsin  Lumber  Co.,  residing  at 
Hayward,  Wis. ;  was  president  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  So- 
ciety; removed  to  Tacoma,  AVash.,  in  1900,  and  was  secretary 
of  the  Weyerhaeuser  Lumber  Co.  He  went  to  California,  seek- 
ing health,  a  few  weeks  before  his  death. 

Charles  Jairus  Martin,  elected  to  life  membership  Sep- 
tember 10,  1900,  was  born  in  Clarendon,  N.  Y.,  April  1,  1842; 
died  June  15,  1910.  He  served  in  the  40th  Wisconsin  regiment 
in  the  Civil  War;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1874,  settling  at  Min- 
neapolis as  a  partner  of  C.  C.  Washburn  in  flour  milling;  was 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Washburn-Crosby  Co.  from  its 
incorporation  in  1888. 

George  Washington  Martin,  elected  to  corresponding 
membership  February  12,  1906,  was  born  in  Hollidaysburg,  Pa., 
June  30,  1841;  died  in  Topeka,  Kansas,  March  27,  1914.  He 
learned  the  printer's  trade,  and  began  in  that  business  at  Junc- 
tion City,  Kansas,  in  1862;  was  register  of  the  U.  S.  Land 
Office  there,  1865-6  and  1869-70;  was  state  printer,  1873-81; 
was  secretary  of  the  Kansas  Historical  Society,  residing  in  To- 
peka, after  1899. 

Secretary  Martin  will  be  long  remembered  with  gratitude  and 
honor  by  the  people  of  Kansas,  for  his  work  as  an  editor,  for  his 
many  contributions  to  the  history  of  the  state,  and  for  his  suc- 
cessful efforts,  with  others,  in  providing  the  new  Memorial 
Building,  at  a  cost  of  about  $500,000,  in  which  are  housed  the 
Historical  Library,  the  state  archives,  and  files  of  all  the  state 
newspapers. 

William  Worrall  Mayo,  elected  a  life  member  September 
11,  1905,  was  born  in  Manchester,  England,  May  31,  1819 ;  died 
in  Rochester,  Minn.,  March  6,  1911.    He  was  graduated  in  med- 


842  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

icine  at  the  University  of  jMissouri,  1854 ;  came  to  Minnesota  in 
1854,  and  settled  at  St.  Paul ;  removed  in  1858  to  Le  Sneur 
county;  was  surgeon  at  New  Ulm  in  the  Indian  war,  1862 ;  later 
resided  in  Rochester,  and  in  1889  founded  St.  Mary's  Hospital: 
was  a  state  senator,  1891-3. 

Francis  Davis  Millet,  artist,  elected  a  corresponding 
member  April  8,  1907,  was  born  in  Mattapoisett,  Mass.,  No- 
vember 3,  1846;  died  in  the  sinking  of  the  steamship  ''Titanic," 
North  Atlantic  ocean,  April  15,  1912.  He  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  University,  1869 ;  studied  at  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts,  Antwerp,  1871-2 ;  was  the  painter,  in  1905-07,  of  two 
large  paintings  in  the  governor's  reception  room  of  the  capitol, 
"The  Treaty  of  Traverse  des  Sioux,"  and  "The  Fourth  Min- 
nesota Regiment  entering  Vicksburg." 

William  A.  AIorin,  elected  to  annual  membership  Febru- 
ary 10,  1908,  was  born  in  Albert  Lea,  Minn.,  July  29,  1864; 
died  May  22,  1912.  He  was  graduated  at  Pillsbury  Academy, 
Owatonna,  1884 ;  engaged  in  real  estate  business,  residing  in 
Albert  Lea,  and  was  i)rominent  in  securing  railroads  and  pub- 
lic buildings  for  that  town. 

Clinton  Morrison,  elected  a  life  member  January  13,  1908, 
was  born  in  Livermore,  Maine,  January  21,  1842;  died  in 
Minneapolis,  March  11,  1913.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1854 
with  his  parents,  and  resided  in  ^Minneapolis ;  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile, lumber  and  banking  enterprises;  was  vice  president 
and  manager  of  the  Minneapolis  Harvester  Works ;  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Savings  Bank,  1876-1905; 
donor,  in  1911,  of  the  former  homestead  of  his  father,  Dorilus 
Morrison,  comprising  ten  acres,  as  the  site  of  the  Minneapolis 
Institute  of  Arts. 

John  Muir,  elected  to  honorary  membership  January  12,. 
1914,  was  born  in  Dunbar,  Scotland,  April  21,  1838;  died  in 
Los  Angeles,  California,  December  24,  1914.  He  came  in  boy- 
hood to  the  United  States  with  his  parents,  who  settled  on  a 
frontier  farm  in  Wisconsin ;  studied  at  the  University  of  Wis- 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14.  g43 

consin;  traveled  extensively  in  the  Pacific  states,  Alaska,  and 
foreign  lands ;  resided  during  his  latest  years  in  Martinez,  Cal. ; 
author  of  books  and  many  magazine  articles,  treating  of  natural 
history,  scenery,  forest  preservation,  and  the  establishment  of 
national  parks. 

Marcus  Philip  Nichols,  elected  an  annual  member  De- 
cember 12,  1910,  Avas  born  at  Mt.  Carmel,  111.,  May  28,  1836 ; 
died  in  St.  Paul,  October  7,  1911.  He  came  to  Minnesota  with 
his  parents  in  1851,  and  ever  afterward  resided  in  this  city; 
was  much  interested  in  Congregational  home  missionary  work. 

John  D.  O'Brien  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  in  1851 ; 
died  at  Fort  Snelling,  April  27,  1913.  He  came  to  Minnesota 
with  his  father,  Dillon  O'Brien,  in  1863,  and  resided  in  St.  Paul 
after  1865;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1873,  and  practiced 
law;  was  elected  a  life  member  of  this  Society  September  14, 
1903,  and  was  a  member  of  its  council  from  April  11,  1904,  until 
his  death. 

George  Wright  Peavey,  elected  to  life  membership  Sep- 
tember 8,  1902,  was  born  in  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  May  20,  1877; 
died  in  Minneapolis,  June  8,  1913.  He  studied  at  Yale  Uni- 
versity ;  was  president  of  the  Peavey  Elevator  Company,  which 
his  father  founded,  1902-07;  later  traveled  extensively  in  the 
Old  AVorld. 

Curtis  Hussey  Pettit,    elected   a   life   member   November 

11,  1907,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Ohio,  September  18,  1833;  died 
in  Minneapolis  May  11,  1914.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1855, 
settling  in  Minneapolis ;  was  interested  in  the  manufacture  of 
lumber  and  flour,  and  in  other  large  business  enterprises ;  was 
a  state  senator  in  1866  and  1868-71,  and  a  representative  in  the 
legislature  in  1874-6  and  1887. 

David  RamalEy,   elected    to    annual   membership   January 

12,  1914,  was  born  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  August  9,  1828 ;  died  at 
his  home  in  St.  Paul,  August  21,  1914.  He  settled  in  this  city 
in  1856 ;  opened  the  first  job  printing  office  there,  1862 ;  was 
founder,  with  Harlan  P.  Hall,  of  the  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  Feb- 
ruary 29,  1868. 


Si4  '         MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Henry  Clay  Rannky,  elected  a  corresponding  member 
December  9,  1895,  was  born  in  Freedom,  Ohio,  June  1,  1829; 
died  October  7,  1913.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  law  in 
1852;  served  in  the  civil  war;  settled  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
was  prominent  in  railway  management  and  banking;  was  a 
trustee  of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society,  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Cleveland  Museum  of  Art. 

Leonard  August  Rosing,  elected  a  life  member  December 
12,  1904,  was  born  in  Malmo,  Sweden,  August  29,  1861;  died 
in  St.  Paul,  April  14,  1909.  He  came  to  Goodhue  county,  Min- 
nesota, with  his  parents,  in  1869;  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness at  Cannon  Falls,  1881-98;  was  private  secretary  of  Gov- 
ernor Lind,  1899-1901;  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor, 
1902 ;  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Control,  1905-09,  residing 
in  St.  Paul. 

Theodore  Leopold  Schurmeier,  elected  a  life  member 
January  13,  1902,  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  March  14,  1852 ; 
died  in  Richmond,  Va.,  June  2,  1914.  He  came  with  his  par- 
ents to  St.  Paul  when  only  two  years  old;  was  a  member  of 
one  of  the  largest  mercantile  firms  in  the  city,  and  had  many 
other  financial  interests. 

DoLSON  Bush  SearlE,  elected  a  life  member  June  11,  1883, 
was  born  in  Allegany,  N.  Y.,  June  4,  1841 ;  died  in  St.  Cloud, 
Minn.,  December  12,  1909.  He  served  in  the  civil  war;  was 
graduated  at  the  Columbia  Law  College,  Washington,  D.  C., 
1868 ;  settled  in  St.  Cloud,  Minn.,  1871 ;  was  city  attorney  six 
years,  county  attorney  two  years,  and  U.  S.  district  attorney, 
1882-85;   was  judge  of  the  seventh  judicial  district,  1887-1907. 

Timothy  J.  ShEEhan,  elected  to  annual  membership  April 
11,  1898,  was  born  in  County  Cork,  Ireland,  December  21,  1835 ; 
died  at  his  home  in  St.  Paul,  July  11,  1913.  He  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1850,  and  to  Minnesota  in  1856,  settling  at 
Albert  Lea ;  served  in  the  Fourth  Minnesota  regiment,  1861-5 ; 
received  a  captain's  commission  for  his  gallant  defence  of  Fort 
Ridgely  during  the  Sioux  outbreak  in  1862,  and  was  brevetted 
lieutenant  colonel  in  1865;  was  sheriff  of  Freeborn  county. 


MEMORIALS    OF    DECEASED    MEMBERS,    1909-14,  845 

1871-83,  and  Indian  agent  at  White  Earth,  1885-9 ;  wafi  deputy 
U.  S.  Marshal,  1890-1907,  residing  in  St.  Paul. 

Thomas  Henry  Shevlin,  elected  to  life  membership  Oc- 
tober 8,  1906,  was  born  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  January  3,  1852 ;  died 
in  Pasadena,  Cal.,  January  15,  1912.  He  came  to  Minnesota 
in  1886,  settling  in  Minneapolis ;  was  president  of  several  log- 
ging and  lumber  manuafacturing  companies;  donor  of  the 
Alice  A.  Shevlin  Hall,  University  of  Minnesota,  built  in  1906. 

GoLDwiN  Smith,  elected  an  honorary  member  February  8, 
1897,  was  born  in  Reading,  England,  August  13,  1823 ;  died  in 
Toronto,  Canada,  June  7,  1910.  He  was  graduated  at  Oxford 
University,  1845 ;  was  professor  of  modern  history  in  that  Uni- 
versity, 1858-66;  removed  to  the  United  States  in  1867;  was 
professor  of  English  and  constitutional  history  in  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, 1868-71 ;  later  was  a  non-resident  professor  there,  re- 
siding in  Toronto ;   author  of  many  historical  works. 

Robert  Armstrong  Smith,  banker,  elected  to  life  member- 
ship December  11,  1882,  was  born  in  Boonville,  Ind.,  June  13, 
1827 ;  died  in  St.  Paul,  February  12,  1913.  He  was  graduated 
in  law  at  the  University  of  Indiana,  1850;  came  to  Minnesota 
in  1853,  settling  in  St.  Paul ;  was  Territorial  librarian,  1853-8 ; 
treasurer  of  Ramsey  county,  1856-68;  a  representative  in  the 
legislature  in  1885,  and  a  state  senator  in  1887-9 ;  mayor  of  St. 
Paul,  1888-92,  1894-96,  and  1900-08 ;  and  postmaster,  1896-1900. 

Truman  M.  Smith,  elected  a  life  member  January  15, 
1856,  was  born  in  Danby,  Vt.,  June  19,  1825 ;  died  in  St.  Paul, 
September  18,  1909.  He  settled  in  St.  Paul  in  1851 ;  owned  a 
private  bank,  and  afterwards  was  a  commission  merchant; 
removed  to  San  Diego,  Cal.,  in  1887;  returned  to  St.  Paul  a 
few  weeks  before  his  death. 

Samuel  C.  Staples,  elected  to  annual  membership  Novem- 
ber 8,  1909,  was  born  in  Newfield,  Maine,  September  11,  1831 ; 
died  in  St.  Paul,  September  29,  1911.  He  came  to  Minnesota 
in  1852,  and  the  next  year  he  settled  on  a  farm  claim  on  the 
Dodd  road  close  southwest  of  St.  Paul,  which  was  ever  after- 
ward his  home :   was  a  builder  and  contractor. 


846  MINNESOTA    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

H.  Ward  Stone,  banker,  elected  a  life  member  April  10, 
1905,  was  born  in  Wisconsin  in  1849 ;  died  in  Minneapolis,  April 
7,  1913.  He  settled  in  Minnesota  in  1870 ;  was  receiver  of  the 
U.  S.  land  office  at  Benson  eight  years,  and  later  engaged  in 
banking  there;  was  a  representative  in  the  legislature  in  1897, 
and  a  state  senator,  1903-05 ;   removed  to  Minneapolis,  1910. 

Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  elected  a  corresponding  member 
February  8,  1897,  was  born  in  Dorchester,  Mass.,  May  15,  1853 ; 
was  educated  in  public  schools  there;  studied  at  Yale  Uni- 
versity, 1874-5;  was  managing  editor  of  the  Wisconsin  State 
Journal,  Madison,  1876-86;  secretary  and  superintendent  of 
the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin,  after  1886;  author 
of  many  books  on  the  history  of  Wisconsin  and  the  West ; 
editor  of  many  important  historical  books  and  reprints,  includ- 
ing the  Jesuit  Relations,  73  volumes,  1896-1901,  Early  Western 
Travels,  32  volumes,  1904-07,  and  the  Original  Journals  of 
Lewis  and  Clark,  8  volumes,  1905.  He  died  in  Madison,  Wis., 
October  22,  1913. 

Three  times  Thwaites  and  his  wife  made  very  interesting 
journeys,  of  which  he  wrote  three  books:  "Historic  Water- 
ways; Six  Hundred  Miles  of  Canoeing  down  the  Rock,  Fox, 
and  Wisconsin  Rivers,"  journeys  in  1887,  published  the  next 
year;  ''Our  Cycling  Tour  in  England,"  travel  in  1891,  pub- 
lished in  1892 ;  and ''Afloat  on  the  Ohio;  a  Historical  Pilgrim- 
age of  a  Thousand  Miles  in  a  Skiff,  from  Redstone  to  Cairo,"  a. 
journey  in  May  and  June,  1894,  published  in  1897,  and  re- 
printed in  1900  and  1903. 

Secretary  Thwaites  was  the  worthy  successor  of  Secretary 
Draper,  who  was  the  great  collector  of  manuscript  materials  for 
western  history.  In  a  memorial  volume  (94  pages,  1914),  Pro- 
fessor Frederick  J.  Turner  says  of  Dr.  Thwaites:  "Short  in 
stature,  but  with  a  compelling  personality,  his  cheery,  winning 
spirit  shining  out  behind  his  twinkling  eyes,  always  ready  with 
a  joke  or  a  story  that  impressed  a  point  upon  his  hearers ;  alert, 
decisive,  receptive,  helpful,  a  man  of  honor  and  of  character, 
active  in  the  Unitarian  Church  and  trusted  by  the  Catholic 
clergy ;  an  author  whose  style  was  graphic,  lively,  and  so  care- 


Memorials  of  deceased  members,  1909-14.  947 

fully  disciplined  that  it  concealed  the  care  with  which  he 
worked  out  each  sentence;  a  writer  with  imagination,  a  con- 
scientious scholar,  and  a  man  of  affairs.  Dr.  Thwaites  combined 

in  himself  most  unusual  qualities Draper  was  the 

founder;  Thwaites  was  the  great  historical  editor  and  mod- 
ernizer,  the  builder  of  a  new  type  of  state  historical  society. ' ' 

Through  the  enthusiasm,  genius,  and  industry  of  these  ex- 
pert workers  in  western  American  history,  Wisconsin  has  built 
up  the  foremost  western  historical  society,  library,  portrait  col- 
lection, and  museum.  Her  noble  and  beautiful  historical  library 
building  was  erected  in  the  middle  years  of  the  long  service, 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  of  Dr.  Thwaites  as  secretary 
and  superintendent.  It  marks  a  new  era  in  the  collection,  pres- 
ervation, and  publication  of  history. 

James  Beach  Wakefield,  elected  to  life  membership  Sep- 
tember 10,  1894,  was  born  in  Winsted,  Conn.,  March  21,  1825 ; 
and  died  at  his  home  in  Blue  Earth,  Minn.,  August  26,  1910. 
He  was  graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Conn.,  1846; 
was  admitted  to  practice  law,  1851 ;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1854, 
and  settled  two  years  later  at  Blue  Earth ;  was  a  representative 
in  the  legislature  in  1858,  1863,  and  1866,  being  speaker  the 
last  year;  was  a  state  senator,  1867-9;  lieutenant  governor, 
1876-80;  and  a  member  of  Congress,  1883-7.  In  1899  he  pre- 
sented the  greater  part  of  his  library  to  this  Historical  Society, 
a  gift  of  1,100  volumes,  the  largest  private  gift  ever  received  by 
its  Library. 

George  Welsh,  elected  an  annual  member  February  10, 
1908,  was  born  in  Ontario,  Canada,  in  1863;  died  in  St.  Paul, 
November  29,  1911.  He  came  to  Minnesota,  settling  in  Morton, 
and  engaged  in  real  estate  business;  was  state  immigration 
commissioner  after  1907. 

MiLO  White,  elected  a  life  member  December  8,  1884,  was 
born  in  Fletcher,  Vt.,  August  17,  1830 ;  died  in  Chatfield,  Minn., 
May  18,  1913.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1855 ;  settled  in  Chat- 
field,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  business ;  was  a  state  senator, 
1872-6,  and  1881-2 ;  and  a  representative  in  Congress,  1883-7. 


848  MINNESOTA   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY    COLLECTIONS. 

Oric  Ogilvie  Whited,  elected  a  life  member  March  11, 
1912,  was  born  in  Pitchville,  Ohio,  January  20,  1854;  died  in 
Minneapolis,  August  6,  1912.  He  was  graduated  at  the  State 
Normal  School,  Winona,  Minn.,  1872;  taught  several  years  in 
Olmsted  county,  and  later  was  the  county  superintendent  of 
schools;  was  admitted  to  practice  law,  1884;  settled  in  Min- 
neapolis in  1890,  and  engaged  in  real  estate  business  and  law 
practice. 

William  Chapman  Williston  was  born  in  Cheraw,  S.  C, 
June  22,  1830 ;  came  with  his  parents  to  Ohio  in  1834,  and  there 
attended  the  public  schools  and  in  1854  was  admitted  to  the 
bar ;  removed  to  Minnesota  in  1857,  settling  in  Red  Wing,  which 
was  ever  afterward  his  home ;  served  as  captain  in  the  Seventh 
Minnesota  regiment  in  the  Sioux  war  and  the  civil  war,  1862-5 ; 
returned  to  Red  Wing  and  to  his  law  practice ;  was  a  represen- 
tative in  the  legislature,  1873-4,  and  a  state  senator,  1876-7; 
was  judge  in  the  First  judicial  district  from  1891  through  his 
life.  Judge  Williston  was  elected  to  life  membership  in  this  So- 
ciety January  12,  1903 ;  and  was  a  member  of  its  council  after 
March  12,  1906.  He  died  very  suddenly  June  22,  1909,  at 
Goodhue,  Minn.,  while  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Old  Settlers' 
Association  of  Goodhue  county. 

Thomas  Wilson,  elected  a  life  member  October  13,  1902, 
was  born  in  Tyrone  county,  Ireland,  May  16,  1827 ;  died  in  St. 
Paul,  April  3,  1910.  He  came  to  the  United  States  when  twelve 
years  old;  was  graduated  at  Alleghany  College,  1852;  was 
admitted  to  practice  law,  1855,  at  Meadville,  Pa. ;  came  to  Min- 
nesota the  same  year,  settling  at  Winona;  was  a  member  of 
the  constitutional  convention,  1857;  was  judge  of  the  Third 
judicial  district,  1858-64;  was  associate  justice  of  the  Minne- 
sota Supreme  Court  in  1864,  and  its  chief  justice,  1865-69 ;  was 
a  representative  in  the  legislature,  1881 ;  a  state  senator,  1883-5 ; 
and  a  representative  in  Congress,  1887-9 ;  removed  to  St.  Paul 
in  1892,  and  until  his  death  was  general  counsel  of  the  Chicago, 
St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  and  Omaha  railway  company. 


INDEX. 


See  the  Contexts,  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume,  for  a  compre- 
hensive view  of  its  series  of  Papers  and  Addresses,  and  for  the  order 
of  the  subjects  treated  in,  the  several  papers. 


Able,  Captain  Daniel,  529,  530. 

Aborigines  of  Minnesota,  824,  828. 

Academy  of  Music,  Minneapolis, 
511. 

Acta  et  Dicta,  Preface  ,  285,  791. 

Acton,  Minn.,  beginning  of  the 
Sioux  Massacre,  349-355;  bat- 
tles, 355-366. 

Adam  of  Bremen,  230,  231. 

Adams,  Col.  Samuel  E.,  162;  obitu- 
ary sketch,  831. 

Addison,  Mrs.  Caroline  H.,  601. 

Address  at  the  Unveiling  of  the 
Statue  of  General  Shields,  by 
Archbishop  John  Ireland,  731- 
740. 

Addresses  on  the  Presentation  of 
the  Portrait  of  Professor  Jabez 
Brooks,  741-748. 

Afton,  Minn.,  375. 

Agassiz,  Glacial  Lake,  827. 

Agricultural  College  lands,  301,  302, 
306. 

Agricultural  societies,  70-73,  79. 

Agriculture,  College  and  School  of, 
774-5. 

Aird,  James,  371. 

Aird,  Margaret,  371,  372. 

Akeley,  Healy  C,  472,  474-8. 

Akeley,  Minn.,  477,  478. 

Alaska,  reindeer,  839. 

Aldrich,  Hon.  Cyrus,  489,  494,  690, 
815. 

Allen,  Charles  E.,  obituary  note,  831. 

Allouez  bay,  lake  Superior,  385. 

Amendments  of  state  constitution, 
203,  212,  214,  308,  309. 

American  Fur  Company,  372,  394. 

American  Geologist,  826. 

American  House,  St.  Paul,  523,  524, 
526. 

Ames,  Dr.  Alfred  E.,  480,  487,  507. 


Ames,    Rev.    Charles    G.,    obituary 

sketch,  831. 
Ames,  Charles  W.,  752. 
Ames,  Michael  E.  815. 
Ames,  Oliver,  337. 
Ames,  William  L.,  348. 
Anderson,  Andrew,  278-280,  285. 
Anderson,      Arthur      C,      obituary 

sketch,  831. 
Anderson,  Dr.  C.  L.,  504. 
Anderson,  Jane,  372. 
Anderson,  Prof.  Rasmus  B.,  256,  277, 

278,  280,  283,  285. 
Anderson,  Captain  Thomas,  3-72. 
Andrews,  Gen.  C.  C,  553,  555,  556, 

575. 
Annandale,  Minn.,  367. 
Anoka,  53,  54,  101,  219,  553,  554. 
Anthony  Wayne,  steamer,  529,  530. 
Anti-Monopolist,     newspaper,     155, 

162,    176. 
Anti-monopoly    party,    126-129,    133, 

134,  136,  141,  142,  152,  158,  160, 

169. 
Appleby,  Mrs.  Cornelia  D.  W.,  549. 
Apostle  islands,  390. 
Areas,    Minneapolis    park    system, 

605;  St.  Paul  park  system,  630. 
Arbitration,     for     publishers     and 

printers,  703-706. 
Archaeology,  795,  796,  824,  827,  828:, 

832,  838. 
Armstrong,  Hon.  Augustus,  560. 
Armstrong,  Hon.   and   Mrs.   George 

W.,  549. 
Armstrong,  J.  D.,  706. 
Armstrong,  John,  462. 
Armstrong,  Hon.  Thomas  H.,  569. 
Art  Museum,  Minneapolis,  767,  769» 

842. 
Associated  Press,  702. 


850 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Athenaeum,    Minneapolis,    494,   504, 

511. 
Atkinson,  F.  G.,  771, 
Atkinson,  J.  B.,  354. 
Atwater,  Judge  Isaac,  487,  488. 
Austin,  Gov.  Horace,  43,  86,  87,  95, 

96,   99,   101,    111,   114,   136,    148, 

175,  206,  207,  326,  446,  557,  558, 

560,  561,  563,  564,  566-8,  571,  695, 

696. 
Avenues   and   streets,   Minneapolis, 

names,  513,  514. 
Averlll,  Gen.  John  T.,  91,  557,  558, 

582    597. 
Ayers,  Dr.  Otis,  326,  327-329. 


Bailey,  Everett  H.,  812;  Biographic 
memorial  of  Hon.  Channing 
Seabury,  802-804;  Memorial  of 
Henry  P.  Upham,  810-811. 

Baker,  Mrs.  Ann,  350. 

Baker,  Daniel  A.  J.,  551;  obituary 
sketch,  832. 

Baker,  Hon.  Edward  D.,  715. 

Baker,  Howard,  350-354,  358,  360, 
363. 

Baker,  Gen.  James  H.,  481,  577-8, 
778,  814,  830;  Biographic  me- 
morials, 753-7. 

Balcombe,  Hon.  St.  A.  D.,  815. 

Bald  Eagle,  Sioux,  361. 

Bandelier,  Adolpb  F.  A.,  obituary 
sketch,  832. 

Banfil,  John,  525. 

Banking,  St.  Paul,  807,  812. 

Banks,  Gen.  Nathaniel  P.,  723. 

Bannack,  Montana,  633,  634,  635. 

Banning,  William  L.,  464,  493,  570, 
617,  619,  693. 

Barclay,  Anthony,  British  commis- 
sioner, 380,  383,  385,  388. 

Barker,  Hon.  Henry  F.,  587. 

Barrett,  Gen.  Theodore  H.,  428,  430- 
433. 

Barto,  Hon.  Alphonso,  559. 

Barton,  Hon.  Ara,  565. 

Bass,  Jacob  W.,  519. 

Bass,  Mrs.  J*acob  W.,  539-540. 

Bassett,  Joel  B.,  506. 

Batchelder,  Hon.  George  W.,  obitu- 
ary sketch,  832. 

Batchellor,  Albert  S.,  obituary 
sketch,  832. 

Bausman,  A.  L.,  504. 

Baxter,  Hon.  Luther  L.,  559,  560. 


Beard,  Henry  B.,  602. 

Becker,   Hon.   George  L.,   218,   693, 

815. 
Beecher,  Catherine,  532. 
Beeman,  Hon.  Samuel  S.,  555,  559. 
Beginning  of  Railroad   Building  in 

Minnesota,  by  John  H.  Randall, 

215-220. 
Belanger  island,  374. 
Bell,  David  C.,  509. 
Bell,  James  S.,  771. 
Bell,  John  E.,  509;  obituary  sketch, 

833. 
Belle  Plaine,  Minn.,  688,  689. 
Benton,  Hon.  Thomas  H.,  717. 
Benz,  Hon.  George,  559,  560. 
Berkey,     Captain     Peter,     obituary 

sketch,  833. 
Berry,  Hon.  John  M.,  759. 
Berry,  William  M.,  608. 
Bibliography,    railroad     legislation, 

183-188 ;      Kensington      Rune 

Stone,  281-286;  northern  bound- 
ary of  Minnesota,  390-392. 
Bierbauer,  Captain  William,  326. 
Big  Eagle,  Sioux  chief,  351. 
Big  Thunder,  Sioux,  373. 
Big  Woods,  220,  350,  351. 
Bigelow,      Charles      H.,      cybituary 

sketch,   833. 
Bigelow,  Horace  E.,  807. 
Biographic  Memorial  of  Dr.  Charles 

N.  Hewitt,  by  Prof.  William  W. 

Folwell,  669-686. 
Biographic   Memorial  of  Frederick 

Driscoll,   by  Captain  Henry  A. 

Castle,  687-710. 
Birch  Coulie,  358,  359,  361,  365. 
Bishop,    Harriet    E.,    520,    531,    532, 

621. 
Bishop,  Gen.  Judson  W.,  465,  721. 
Bissell,  William  A.,  374,  375,  376. 
Blxby,  Hon.  Tams,  584. 
Black  Dog,  Sioux,  366,  371,  373. 
Black  Hills,  825. 
Blackbirds,  438. 
Blackman,    Clara    W.    A.,    obituary 

sketch,  833. 
Blackwell,  John,  353. 
Blaine,  Hon.  James  G.,  573,  574,  575, 

584,  585,  586,  663. 
Blake,  John  D.,  109,  128,  137,  141. 
Blake,  Hon.  John  W.,  559. 
Blakeley,  Hon.  David,  701. 
Blakeley,  Captain  Russell,  392,  571, 

786. 


INDEX. 


851 


Blizzards,  415,  416,  426,  551-2. 

Blue  Earth  county,  436-8,  443,  449. 

Blue  Earth  river,  436,  438,  449. 

BlufE  City,  Kansas,  park,  599. 

Bogy,  Hon.  Lewis  V.,  726,  733. 

Bois  des  Sioux  river,  412,  419-422, 
431. 

Bolles,  Lemuel,  375.' 

Bonds  issued  by  the  state  for  rail- 
roads, 32,  35-49,  195-214,  305, 
.578. 

Borup,  Dr.  Charles  W.  W.,  542. 

Borup  and  Oakes,  484. 

Bothne,  Prof.  Gisle,  256,  268,  286. 

Bottineau,  Pierre  and  Charles,  411- 
416,  417,  418,  420-423. 

Bottineau  prairie,  505. 

Boulevards,  Minneapolis  and  St. 
Paul,  604,  605,  622-630. 

Boundary  Surveys,  Northern  Min- 
nesota, in  1822  to  1826,  under 
the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  by  Hon. 
William  E.  Culkin,  379-392. 

Bovey,  Charles  C,  and  William  H,, 
771,  773. 

Bowman,  George  D.,  487,  488. 

Boyhood  Remembrances  of  Life 
among  the  Dakotas  and  the 
Massacre  in  1862,  by  John  Ames 
Humphrey,  337-348. 

Bozeman,  John  M.,  643. 

Bozeman  pass,  Montana,  642. 

Brackett,  George  A.,  571,  572. 

Braden,  Hon.  William  W.,  297,  298. 

Bradley,  Newton,  690. 

Brainerd  and  Northern  railway,  477. 

Bramwood,  J.  W.,  704. 

Branham,  Jesse  V.,  Jr.,  359,  360,  361, 
362,  366. 

Breck,  Rev.  James  Lloyd,  526,  536. 

Breckenridge,  Minn.,  220,  419,  421, 
422,  428,  431,  432,  433,  434. 

Breckinridge,  Hon.  John  C,  717, 
736. 

Breda,  Prof.  O.  J.,  225,  242,  244,  256, 
281,  284. 

Breed,  Rev.  David  R.,  693;  Memo- 
rial of  Nathaniel  P.  Langford, 
780-782. 

Breese,  Hon.  Sidney,  717. 

Bremer,  Predrika,  532-3. 

Bridger,  Jaftnes,  guide,  639. 

Brill,  Hon.  Hascal  R.,  559,  561;  Ad- 
dress on  the  Presentation  of 
the  portrait  of  Professor  Jabez 
Brooks,  741-3. 


Bridge,   first,   in  Minneapolis,   501; 

second,  512. 
Broad,  E.,  512. 

Bromley,  Edward  A.,  364,  365,  497. 
Brookline,  Mass.,  parkway,  606. 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  lecture  by  General 

Shields,  727. 
Brooks,  Rev.  Cyrus,  744. 
Brooks,  Rev.  David,  745. 
Brooks,  Professor  Jabez,  Addresses 

on  the  Presentation  of  his  Por- 
trait, 741-748. 
Brott,  George  F.,  411,  433,  434. 
Brower,   Hon.   J.  V.,   320,   392,   559, 

828. 
Brown,  Ed.,  467. 
Brown,  Hon.  J.  B.,  689. 
Brown,  John  W.,  373. 
Brown,  Hon.    Joseph    R.,    197,    372, 

377,  480. 
Brown,  Hon.  William,  168. 
Brown's  falls,  480. 
Browning,  Hon.  Orville  H.,  715. 
Brownsdale,  Minn.,  125. 
Bryant,  Julian  C,  obituary  sketch, 

833. 
Buache,  geographer,  389. 
Buchanan,  President  James,  720. 
Buckendorf,  William,  507. 
Buell,  Major  Salmon  A.,  326. 
Buffalo    hunting,    415-422,    428-430, 

431,  451. 
Bulger,  James,  510.  % 

Bull,  B.  S..  506. 

Burbank,  James  C,  615,  693,  802. 
Burlington  Heights,  near  St.  Paul, 

630. 
Burr,  Judge  W.  T.,  581. 
Bushnell,  W.,  715. 

Butler.  Gen.  Benjamin  F.,  725,  726. 
Butler,  Eloise,  604. 
Butler,  Dr.  Levi,  466,  470,  471,  472, 

564. 
Butler,  Nathan.  363,  795. 
Byron,  quoted.  649. 

Calhoun,  Hon.  John  C,  394,  717,  736. 

Calhoun,  Samuel,  615. 

California,  lumbering,  463,  474,  477; 

national  parks,  666;  admission 

to  Union,  717,  718,  736. 
Camden  park,  Minneapolis,  603. 
Camp,  Major  George  A.,  471-473. 
Canals,  proposed,  149-151,  162,  173, 

174. 


852 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Canoe  travel,  247,  248,  251,  320,  384, 
385,  386,  432. 

Canyon,  Yellowstone,  645,  646,  658, 
659. 

Capehart,  Augustus  R.,  obituary 
sketch,  834. 

Capitol,  788;  statue  of  General 
Shields,  729,  731-740;  paintings 
in  the  governor's  room,  842. 

Capitol  Commission,  803,  804. 

Capitol  grounds  and  Capitol 
Heights,  St.  Paul,  629,  836. 

Capitol,  Old,  788. 

Cardinal,  Peter,  322. 

Carle,  Frank  A.,  701. 

Carleton  College,  801. 

Carr,  Jerome,  731. 

Carrollton,  Mo.,  724,  725,  728,  729, 
733. 

Carter,  Captain  Theodore  G.,  obitu- 
ary sketch,  834. 

Carver,  Hon.  Henry  L.,  557, 

Carver,  Captain  Jonathan,  320,  624; 
quoted,  621. 

Case,  George,  493. 

Case,  James  R.,  378. 

Case,  John  H.,  Historical  Notes  of 
Grey  Cloud  Island  and  its  Vi- 
cinity, 371-378. 

Cass,  Hon.  Lewis,  503,  717. 

Castle,  Captain  Henry  A.,  Reminis- 
'  cences  of  Minnesota  Politics, 
553-598;  personal  references, 
553,  554,  557,  559,  560,  565,  571, 
576,  584,  586,  587,  588,  589-598, 
730;  testimonial  by  Hon.  R.  J. 
Tracewell,  596;  Biographic  Me- 
morial of  Frederick  Driscoll, 
687-710;  paper,  General  James 
Shields,  Soldier,  Orator,  States- 
man, 711-730. 

Cathcart,  Alexander  H.,  527,  535, 
536,  537, 

Cathcart,  John,  551. 

Cathcart,  Mrs.  Rebecca  Marshall,  A 
Sheaf  of  Remembrances,  515- 
552. 

Catholic  Historical  Society,  St. 
Paul,  Preface,  285. 

Catlin,  Dr.  T.  J.,  338. 

Catlin,  George,  artist,  267. 

Cedar  lake,  Minneapolis,  603. 

Cedar  Mills,  358,  362. 

Census  of  1890,  699,  700,  836. 


Centerville,  Minn.,  Early  Dakota 
Trails  and  Settlements,  by  Al- 
bert M.  Goodrich,  315-322. 

Central  House,  St.  Paul,  524,  531. 

Central  Park,  St.  Paul,  613. 

Chain  lakes,  Martin  county,  449; 
Crow  Wing  river,  478. 

Chamberlain,  Selah,  40,  44,  46,  47, 
204,  206,  208,  210,  214,  216,  217, 
578. 

Chanyaska  lake,  448,  450. 

Chapman,  Joseph,  771. 

Chapman,  W.  S.,  462,  463. 

Chapultepec,  Mexican  War,  715,  716, 
738 

Charities,  768-773,  799,  808,  813. 

Charters,  Territorial,  of  railroads, 
5-29,  64. 

Chase,  Hon.  Salmon  P.,  717,  753. 

Chechegum,  a  Chippewa,  467,  468. 

Cheever,  William  A.,  498. 

Cheever's  landing,  533-4. 

Chengwatana,  465. 

Chequamegon,  Wis.,  317. 

Cherokee  Heights,  St.  Paul,  626. 

Chicago  Historical  Society,  284. 

Chicago,  Milwaukee,  and  St.  Paul 
railroad  company,  120,  129,  130, 
153,  154,  310. 

Child,  Hon.  James  E.,  obituary 
sketch,  834. 

Child,  Hon.  Simeon  P.,  559,  561; 
obituary  sketch,  834. 

Chippewa  Indians;  see  Ojibways. 

Chippewa  scrip,  465. 

Chittenden,  Gen.  H.  M.,  658,  661, 
662. 

Cholera  epidemic,  1832,  517. 

Christian,  George  H.,  488. 

Christiania,  University,  285,  286. 

Churches,  early,  in  St.  Paul,  526, 
534,  541. 

Civil  War,  1861-65,  455,  484,  496,  505, 
506,  507,  512,  535,  632,  670-672, 
689,  694,  722-4,  728,  733,  738,  753, 
757,  777,  778. 

Clagett,  John  R.,  762. 

Clagett,  Hon.  William  H.,  661-665; 
letter  to  this  Historical  Society, 
662-4. 

Clapp,  Hon.  Moses  E.,  584,  593. 

Clapp,  Newel  H.,  Memoi^al  of  Fred- 
erick Weyerhaeuser,  817-824. 

Clark,  Hon.  Charles  H.,  512,  559. 

Clark,  Hon.  Greenleaf,  577,  787. 

Clark,  Joseph  H.,  505. 


INDEX. 


853 


Clark,  Lieut.  W.  A.,  362,  365. 
Clarke,  Francis  B.,  obituary  sketch, 

835. 
Clarke,  Neheraiah  P.,  757. 
Clarke,  Hon  Ziba  B.,  585,  586. 
Clay,    Henry,    statesman,    717,    736, 

756. 
Clearwater,  Minn.,  358. 
Clearwater    river,    northern    Minn., 

473. 
Cleveland,    President    Grover,    591, 

592,  805,  826. 
Cleveland,  Horace  W.  S.,  .608. 
Clough,    Gov.    David    M.,    593,    684, 

685. 
Cobb,  Rev.  Daniel,  744. 
Cochran,  Thomas,  693. 
Co-education,  801. 
Coffin,  Captain  Samuel,  326. 
Coggswell,    Hon.    Amos,    152,    169, 

693,  815. 
Goldberg,  Lars,  222. 
Cole,  Hon.  Gordon  E.,  693. 
Coleman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  W., 

549. 
Coleraine,  Minn.,  467. 
Colfax,  Hon.  Schuyler,  814. 
Coliseum,  University  of  Minnesota, 

513. 
Collins,   Hon.   Loren  W.,   554,   596; 
Biographic   memorial,   by   Hon. 
Colin    F.    Macdonald,    757-762; 
Memorial    of    David    L.    Kings- 
bury, 779-780. 
Columbia  Fur  Company,  480. 
Columbia  Park,  Minneapolis,  604. 
Como  Avenue  Parkway  and  Boule- 
vard, St.  Paul,  625,  626. 
Como   Park,   St.  Paul,  614-619,  624, 

625,  630. 
Comstock,  Hon.  Solomon  G.,  591. 
Conkling,  J.  C,  715. 
Connecticut,     railroad     legislation, 

105. 
Conner,  E.  H.,  501. 
Connor's  point,  Superior,  Wis.,  385, 

386. 
Constitution,     state,     amendments, 

203,  212,  214. 
Constitutional    Convention,    9,    184, 
214,  292,  403,  801,  814,  815,  832, 
848. 
Control     of    railroads,     attempted, 

1861-1870,  61-70. 
Cook,  C.  W.,  640. 
Cook,  Mrs.  John  B.,  546. 


Cooke,  Elbridge  C,  771. 
Cooke,  Jay,  131. 

Coolbaugh,  Daniel  M.,  482,  487,  492. 
Coolbaugh,  Rev.  Frank  C,  Reminis- 
cences   of   the    Early    Days    of 
Minnesota,    1851    to    1861,    479- 
496. 
Cooley,    Thomas    M.,    quoted,    179, 

186. 
Cooper,  Hon.  David,  197. 
Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  490. 
Cornell,  Hon.  F.  R.  E.,  558,  693. 
Cornish,  Hon.  William  D.,  559. 
Coteau  des  Prairies,  417. 
Court  House  Square,  St.  Paul,  610. 
Cowen,  Gen.  B.  R.,  667. 
Cowper,  quoted,  655. 
Cox,   Hon.   E.   St.  Julien,   140,   333, 

559,  560. 
Crandall,  Hon.  Charles  S.,  141. 
Crandall,  James  H.,  365. 
Crane,  Eugene  B.,  obituary  sketch, 

835.. 
Cranes,  sandhill,  438. 
Crary,  Rev.  Benjamin  F.,  744. 
Cray,   Hon.    Lorin,    Experiences   in 
Southwestern    Minnesota,    1859 
to  1867,  435-454;  Biographic  me- 
morial of  Gen.  James  H.  Baker, 
753-4. 
Credit  Mobilier,  132. 
Cretin,  Bishop  Joseph,  783,  791. 
Crocker,  William  G.,  771. 
Crooks,  Col.  William,  217,  219,  335. 
"Crooks,  William,"  locomotive,  217, 

508. 
Crookston,  Minn.,  473. 
Crosby,  Hon.  Francis  M.,  Biographic 
memorial,  by  Edward  C.  String- 
er, 762-4. 
Crosby,  Franklin  M.,  771. 
Crosby,  John,  766,  771,  773. 
Crow  Indians,  643. 
Crow    Wing    river    and    chain    of 

lakes,  477,  478. 
Crows,  427. 

Culkin,  Hon.  William  E.,  Northern 
Minnesota  Boundary  Surveys  in 
1822  to  1826,  under  the  Treaty 
of  Ghent,  379-392. 
Cummins,  D.  C,  121. 
Cummins,  Hiram,  370. 
Curme,   Prof.   George   O.,   225,   242, 

244,  256,  281. 
Cushman,  Charles  M.,  505,  509. 
Custer,  Gen.  George  A.,  356,  359. 


854 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Dakota  Indians;  see  Sioux. 

Dakota  Trails,  Early,  and  Settle- 
ments at  Centerville,  Minn.,  by 
Albert  M.  Goodrich,  315-322. 

Dakotas,  Boyhood  Remembrances 
of  Life  among  the,  and  the 
Massacre  in  1862,  by  John 
Ames  Humphrey,  337-348. 

Dalarne,  Sweden,  266,  276,  286. 

Dalecarlian  runic  alphabet,  266,  275- 
277,  286. 

Dalrymple,  Oliver,  693. 

Dance,  Judge  Walter  B.,  636. 

Daniels,  Dr.  Asa  W.,  Reminiscences 
of  the  Little  Crow  Uprising, 
323-336;   quoted,  376. 

Daniels,  Dr.  Jared  W.,  325,  334. 

Dartmouth  College  decision,  63,  68, 
69,  108,  151,  177-183. 

Daugherty,  Hon.  Frank  B.,  obituary 
sketch,  835. 

Davidson,  Col.  James  H.,  701;  Me- 
morial of  Prof.  Newton  H.  Win- 
chell,  830. 

Davidson,  William  F.,  693,  802. 

Davis,  Gov.  Cushman  K.,  45,  126, 
134,  138,  148,  166,  209,  554-5,  558, 
560-571,  573,  576,  577,  580,  581, 
582,  584-6,  588,  -589,  591-5,  597, 
693,  696,  805;  eulogy  by  Captain 
Henry  A.  Castle,  595. 

Davis,  Hon.  Jefferson,  398,  717,  724, 
736. 

Dawes,  Hon.  Henry  L.,  664. 

Dawson,  William,  613. 

Day,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  David,  542-3,  570, 
571,  696. 

Day,  Hon.  Frank  A.,  584,  585,  749. 

Dayton,  Lyman,  464. 

Dayton's  bluff,  St.  Paul,  520,  629. 

Dean,  J.,  and  Co.,  471,  472. 

Dean,  Joseph,  498. 

Dean,  Hon.  William  B.,  585,  586. 

Dean,  William  J.,  706. 

Decker,  Edward  W.,  771. 

Decorah  Post,  243. 

De  Graff,  Andrew,  219. 

Delano,  Hon.  Francis  R.,  41,  205, 
567. 

De  Long,  A.  H.,  354,  361-363,  366. 

Demortimer,  E.,  411. 

Denman,  J,  S.,  124,  157. 

Desnoyer,  Stephen,  482,  485. 

Devil's  lake,  N.  D.,  370. 

"Diamond  Joe,"  steamer,  458. 


Diary  of  N.  P.  Langford,  641-2,  045- 
7,  649-651,  653-4,  657-9,  786. 

Dickinson,  Hon.  Daniel  A.,  760. 

Dickinson,  Hon.  Daniel  S.,  756. 

Dickson,  Thomas  H.,  obituary 
sketch,  835. 

Dieserud,  Juul,  284,  285. 

Dillon,  Hon.  John  F.,  208. 

Dinehart,  Hon.  Clarence  C,  Bio- 
grapic  memorial,  by  Hon.  Ju- 
lius A.  Schmahl,  764-5. 

Diphtheria,  676. 

Disraeli,  quoted,  756. 

Doane,  Lieut.  Gustavus  C,  632,  641, 
646-8,  654. 

Dodd,  Captain  William  B.,  323,  325^ 
326,  330-332. 

Dodd  road,  331,  845. 

Donaldson,  Hon.  Nicholas  M.,  721. 

Donations  to  the  Library,  837,  847. 

Donnelly,  Hon.  Ignatius,  91,  95,  121- 
127,  136,  141,  142,  152,  158-163, 
170,  186,  554,  555,  556,  557,  558, 
570,  573,  693. 

Doughty,  Hon.  J.  E.,  170. 

Douglas,  Hon.  Stephen  A.,  396,  480, 
713,  715,  717,  720,  733,  756. 

Douglass,  Frederick,  560. 

Drainage,  311,  313. 

Drake,  Hon.  Elias  F.,  39,  142,  153, 
217,  219,  565,  693,  786. 

Draper,  Secretary  Lyman  C,  846, 
847. 

Drew,  Hon.  Edward  B.,  Preface. 

Driscoll,  Hon.  Frederick,  584;  Bio- 
graphic memorial,  by  Captain 
Henry  A.  Castle,  687-710. 

Driscoll,  Walter  J.,  702,  707. 

Ducks,  wild,  315,  319. 

Duel,  proposed.  Shields  and  Lin- 
coln, 714,  735. 

Dugas,  William,  620. 

Du  Luth,  Daniel  Greyselon,  247. 

Duluth,  Minn.,  129,  150,  379,  381,  384, 
389,  390,  391,  464,  465,  837. 

Duluth  and  Iron  Range  railroad 
company,  297,  309,  310. 

Dunn,  Ed.,  426. 

Dunn,  Hon.  Robert  C,  597. 

Dunnell,  Hon.  Mark  H.,  88,  557,  558, 
575-6,  579,  580-582,  597,  693. 

Dunwoody,  William  H.,  Biographic 
memorial,  by  President  Cyrus 
Northrop,  765-773. 

Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,  769- 
773. 


INDEX. 


855 


Dupre,  Oliver,  322. 

Durant,  Captain  Edward  W.,  559. 

Durrett,  Hon.  Reuben  T.,  obituary 

sltetch,  835. 
Du  Toit,  Hon.  Frederick  E.,  559. 
Dyke,  Hon.  Edwin  W.,  133,  134. 

Early    Dakota    Trails    and    Settle- 
ments at  Centerville,  Minn.,  by 
Albert  M.  Goodrich,  315-322. 
Early  Days  in  Minneapolis,  by  Dr. 

William  E.  Leonard,  497-514. 
Eastman,  Major  Seth,  400.403. 

Eastman,  William  W.,  509. 

Eberhart,  Gov.  A.  O.,  730. 

Ecklund,  A.  M.,  353. 

Eddy,  Hon.  Frank  M'.,  584. 

Edgar,  William  C,  quoted,  773. 

Edgerton,  Hon.  Alonzo  J.,  18,  109, 
153,  165,  184,  576,  578,  580. 

Edgerton,  Erastus  S.,  693. 

Editorial  Association,  554,  694. 

Edwards,  Lieutenant  A.  M.,  328. 

Edwards,  'Rev.  Maurice  D.,  Memo- 
rial of  Rev.  Edward  C.  Mitch- 
ell, 797-800. 

Egan,  Hon.  James  J.,  168. 

Elevators,  grain,  on  railroads,  68, 
69,  94,  101,  146-148. 

Elfelt  brothers,  543,  544. 

Elliot,  Dr.  Jacob  S.,  donor  of  Elliot 
Park,  Minneapolis,  602. 

Elliott,  Dr.  A.  F.,  502. 

Embarrass  river,  381,  384,  385-7, 
391. 

Emmett,  Judge  Lafayette,  815. 

Emmett,  Mrs.  Lafayette,  545,  550. 

Engineer  Brigade,  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac, 671. 

Episcopal  missions  and  early 
churches,  526,  527. 

Eskimo,  232,  233. 

Espy,  Major  John,  586,  613. 

Evans,  Rohert  G.,  584. 

Evanson,  Evan,  354,  363. 

Everett,  Hon.  Edward,  oration  in 
St.  Paul,  1861,  494,  496,  717. 

Everett,  Richmond  P.,  obituary 
sketch,  835. 

Everts,  Truman  C,  640,  651-654. 

Evjen,  John  O.,  256. 

Experiences  in  Southern  Minne- 
sota, 1859  to  1867,  by  Hon. 
Lorin  Cray,  435-454. 

Explosion  of  flour  mills,  512. 

Exposition,  Chicago,  1893,  511. 


Fairchild,  Frank,  559. 

Fairchild,  Henry  S.,  Memorial  of 
Nathaniel  P.  Langford,  783-6; 
of  Hon.  William  P.  Murray,  800- 
802;   obituary  sketch,  836. 

Fairmont,  Minn.,  fort,  448,  449,  450, 
451. 

Fairs,  first  State,  503 ;  of  Hon.  Wil- 
liam S.  King,  511,  512. 

Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  recession,  827. 

Fargo,  N.  D.,  433. 

Faribault,  Minn.,  134,  719,  721,  732, 
739,  832. 

Farmers'  Institutes,  775. 

Farmers'  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Association,  76,  156. 

Farmers'  Union,  agricultural  jour- 
nal, 76,  77,  117,  122,  135,  156. 

Fernald,  Prof.  M.  L.,  231,  249. 

Ferry  at  Minneapolis,  481. 

Fessenden,  Hon.  William  P.,  717. 

Finch.  George  R.,  obituary  sketch, 

Fischer,  Joseph,  230,  232. 

Fish,  Dakota  county,  374;  Red  river, 

432. 
Fisher,  J.  W.,  615,  619. 
Fisher,  Louis  E.,  701. 
Fisk,  Captain  James  L.,  expedition 

in  1862,  632,  633. 
Five    Million   Loan,   The,   by    Prof. 

William    W.    Folwell,    189-214, 

578. 
Flaaten,  Nils  O.,  221. 
Flandrau,  Hon.  Charles  E.,  198,  325, 

326,  328,  329,  330,  333,  693,  815. 
Flatey  book,  231,  232. 
Fletcher,  Hon.  Loren,  507,  559,  560, 

587. 
Flom,  Prof.  George  T.,  on  the  Ken- 
sington  Rune   Stone,   224,   241, 

247,  256,  270-277,  278,  280,  281, 

283,  285,  286. 
Flour    exportation   to   Europe,    766, 

817. 
Flour  production,  Minneapolis,  500, 

766;    explosion    of   mills,    1878, 

512. 
Flower,  Gen.  Mark  D.,  566,  567,  o71, 

585,  586. 
Floyd,  Hon.  John  B.,  399,  403,  404, 

406,  409,  410. 
Fogelblad,  Sven,  238,  239,  241,  248, 

249,  277-280.  285. 
Folsom,    Hon.    David    E.,    640,    659, 

660.  664,  665. 


856 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIKTY  COLLECTIONS. 


Folwell,  Prof.  William  W.,  43,  186, 
365,  499,  825;  The  Five  Million 
Loan,  189-214;  The  Sale  of 
Fort  Snelling,  1857,  393-410; 
note  on  the  Park  System  of 
Minneapolis,  607-8;  Biographic 
Memorial  of  Dr.  Charles  N. 
Hewitt,  669-686;  Address  on 
the  Presentation  of  the  Por- 
trait of  Professor  Jabez  Brooks, 
746-8;  Memorial  of  Prof.  New- 
ton H.  Winchell,  829. 

Fond  du  Lac,  Minn.,  385,  386. 

Ford,  John  A.,  375. 

Forest  City,  353,  355,  358,  359,  361, 
365. 

Forest  lake,  319. 

Forestry,  313,  775-6,  843. 

Forsyth,  Major  Thomas,  394. 

Fort  Abercrombie,  361,  408,  428, 
450. 

Fort  Dearborn,  Chicago,  405. 

Fort  Ridgely,  323,  327,  342,  347,  365, 
408,  844. 

Fort  Ripley,  401,  402,  408,  409,  461, 
689. 

Fort  St.  Charles,  Preface. 

Fort  Snelling,  373,  375,  377,  393-410, 
479,  480,  487,  491,  503,  524,  528- 
9,  539,  545,  604,  623,  629,  630, 
827 

Fort  Snelling,  The  Sale  of,  1857,  by 
Prof.  William  W.  Folwell,  393- 
410. 

Fortier,  Prof.  Alcee,  obituary 
sketch,    836. 

Fossum,  Prof.  Andrew,  227,  247, 
250,  256,  282,  283. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  381. 

Franklin  Steele  Square,  Minneapo- 
lis, 601. 

Free  trade,  lumber,  471,  476. 

Freeman,  Charles  H.,  364. 

Freight  rates,  railroad,  106,  107, 
129,  143,  144,  154. 

Frontier,  western,  632,  633. 


Galbraith,    Major    Thomas    J.,    293, 

323,  335,  815. 
Gale,  Harlow  A.,  505,  506. 
Gale,  Samuel  C,  502,  505,  506. 
Galtier,  Rev.  Lucian,  790. 
Gannett,    Henry,    660 ;    obituary 

sketch,    836. 
Gardiner,  Montana,  643,  665. 
Gardner,  Thomas,  506. 


Garfield,  President  James  A.,  quot- 
ed, 179,  186;  575,  576. 

Gates,  Rev.  Horatio,  284. 

Gates,  Mrs.  William  G.,  689. 

Geese,  wild,  315,  450. 

Genealogy,  809. 

Geneva,  N.  Y.,  669,  670,  673. 

Geological  and  Natural  History  Sur- 
vey, Minnesota,  301,  478,  824- 
827,  829,  830. 

Geological  Society  of  America,  826. 

Geological  Survey,  U.  S.,  656,  659, 
836. 

Geologists,  International  Congress 
of,  826. 

Getchell,  Alva,  362,  364,  365. 

Getchell,  Sergeant  D.  W.,  362,  365. 

Geyser  basins,  655,  656-8,  662,  666. 

Ghent,  Treaty  of,  1814,  379-392. 

Giddings,  Hon.  Joshua  R.,  756. 

Gideon,  .George  W.,  362,  364,  365. 

Gilbert,  Charles  B.,  obituary  sketch, 
837. 

Gilfillan,  Hon.  James,  212,  693,  760. 

Gilfillan,  Hon.  John  B.,  587;  Memo- 
rial of  Henry  P.  Upham,  811. 

Gilfillan,  Rev.  Joseph  A.,  obituary 
sketch,  837. 

Gillette,  Warren  C,  640,  642,  655. 

Gilman,  Hon.  Charles  A.,  554,  574, 
579,  582,  588. 

Gjessing,  Helge,  256,  282,  283. 

Glacial  period,  234,  235,  246,  827, 
828. 

Glacier  National  Park,  666. 

Glader,  Hon.  Gustavus  A.,  363. 

Glencoe,  Minn.,  306,  358,  376. 

Glenwood  park,  Minneapolis,  604. 

Godfrey  house,  Minneapolis,  508. 

Goiffon,  Rev.  Joseph,  322. 

Gold  mining,  633. 

Goodhue,  Mrs.  James  M.,  545,  550. 

Goodrich,  Albert  M.,  Early  Dakota 
Trails  and  Settlements  at  Cen- 
terville,  Minn.,  315-322. 

Goodrich,  Earle  S.,  obituary  sketch, 
837. 

Gordon,  Hon.  Hanford  L.,  Memo- 
rial of  Geri.  James  H.  Baker, 
756-7. 

Gordon,  Richards,  542. 

Gorman,  Gov.  Willis  A.,  6,  7,  15,  17, 
19,  22,  190,  191,  197,  546,  549, 
815. 

Gorman,  Mrs.  Willis  A.,  546. 

Gothland,  227,  2o7,  258,  274,  275. 


INDEX. 


857 


Gotzian,  Conrad,  802. 
Gould,  Chester  N.,  256,  283. 
Gould,  Major  Ozro  B.,  558. 
Governor     Ramsey,     steamer,     527, 

528. 
Governors  of  Minnesota,  Lives,  by 

Gen.  James  H.  Baker,  755,  757, 

778. 
Grace,  Bishop  Thomas  L.,  783. 
Graham,  Dr.  Archibald,  399-401,  404, 
•       406,  409. 
Graham's  Point,  Red  river,  428,  431, 

432,  434. 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  729, 

739,  754,  755,  758,  761,  777,  779. 
Grand    Canyon,    Yellowstone    river, 

645,  646,  658,  659. 
Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  473. 
Grand  Portage,  Minn.,  380,  382,  383, 

388. 
Grand  Portage,  St.  Louis  river,  386. 
Grand  Rapids,  Minn.,  298. 
Grand  Teton,  mountain,  656. 
Grangers,    Patrons    of    Husbandry, 

70-87,  120-151,  159-163,  173,  176- 

183,  187. 
Grant,  Captain  Hiram  P.,  361. 
Grant,  President  U.  S.,  150,  407,  511, 

559,  565,  574,  695,  696,  716,  756. 
Grant,  Prof.  U.  S.,  392,  826. 
Grapes  in  Vinland,  231. 
Grasshoppers,  131. 
Graves,  Hon.  Charles  H.,  170,   559. 
Great   Northern    railway,    190,    203, 

220,  310,  767. 
Great  Salt  Lake,  639. 
Greeley,  Horace,  512,  538,  558. 
Greely,  Dr.  M.  R.,  504. 
Green,   Prof.   Samuel   B.,   Memorial 

by  President  Northrop,  774-6. 
Greenland,  229,  230-233. 
Grevstad,  N.  A.,  286. 
Grey  Cloud,  Sioux  woman,  371. 
Grey  Cloud  Island  and  its  Vicinity, 

Historical    Notes,    by   John    H. 

Case,  371-378;   408. 
Grey  Iron,  Sioux,  371,  376. 
Griggs,  Chauncey  W.,  806. 
Grimshaw,  Robert  E.,  502,  506. 
Grimshaw,  Mrs.  S.  B.,  492. 
Grindeland,  Hon.  Andrew,  237. 
Grindstones,  455-460. 
Grizzly  Bear,  376. 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  319. 
Guerin,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vital,  610. 


Hackett,  Capt.  Charles  W.,  693. 

Hagen,  Prof.  O.  E.,  256,  284. 

Hahn,  Hon.  William  J.,  211. 

Hale,  Hon.  John  P.,  814. 

Hall,  Hon.  Albert  R.,  559. 

Hall,  Halsey  R.  W.,  obituary  sketch, 

837. 
Hall,  Harlan  P.,  560,  571,  690,  697, 

701,  843. 
Hall,  Hon.  Liberty,  562. 
Hall,  Hon.  Osee  M.,  obituary  sketch, 

838. 
Hall,  Hon.  William  Sprigg,  721. 
Hall   of  Fame,  Washington,   D.   C, 

729,  738;  Capitol  of  Minnesota, 

731,  739. 
Halvorson,  Hon.  Kittel,  591. 
Hamlin,  Conde,  701,  706. 
Hamline,  Bishop  Leonidas  L.,  801. 
Hamline  University,  741-3,  746,  747, 

801. 
Hancock,  Gen.  Winfield  S.,  575. 
H^andy,  De  Witt  C,  357,  363,  366. 
Handy,  William  C,  701. 
Hardin,  Hon.  John  J.,  715. 
Harmon,  Allen,  501,  601. 
Harney,  Gen.  William  S.,  404. 
Harriet  island,  532,  621,  622,  629. 
Harrington,  Captain  Lewis,  362,  364. 
Harrison,  President  Benjamin,  805. 
Hartley,  Gilbert,  467. 
Hartwell,    Electa,    and    A.    K.,    488, 

492. 
Hastings,  Minn.,  120,  371,  377,  378, 

758,  762,  763. 
Hastings  and  Dakota  railroad  com- 
pany, 58,  98. 
Hatch,  Dr.  Philo  L.,  506. 
Hauser,   Gov.    Samuel   T.,   of   Mon- 
tana, 636,  640,  642,  650,  654,  655. 
Hawaiian  music,  529. 
Hay  meadows,  467. 
Hayden,  Dr.  F.  V.,  648,  659,  660-665. 
Hayden,    Herbert    L.,    obituary 

sketch,  838. 
Hayden  survey,  656,  659,  836. 
Hayes,     President     Rutherford     B., 

571,  572. 
Haynes,   Prof.   Henry  W.,   obituary 

sketch,   838. 
Hazzard,  George  H.,  613. 
Health,  State  Board  of,  673-5,  677, 

679,  680-4. 
Heard,  Hon.   Isaac  V.  D.,  obituary 

sketch,  838. 
Heatwole,  Hon.  Joel  P.,  584. 
Hedberg,  J.  P.,  222. 


858 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Hedges,  Judge  Cornelius,  640,  641, 
642,  645,  647,  650,  658,  659,  660, 
663,  664,  665. 
Heiskell,  William  K.,  400-403,  410. 
Helena,  Montana,  643,  645,  659. 
Helluland,  230,  232. 
Hennepin,   Father  Louis,  247,   320, 

624. 
Hennepin    county.    Territorial    Pio- 
neers, 508. 
Hennepin  island,  512,  521. 
Herdman,     Rev.     J.     C,     obituary 

sketch,  838. 
Heroines     of     pioneer     settlement, 

454,  516,  517,  544. 
Hewitt,  Dr.  Charles  N.,  Biographic 
Memorial,  by  Prof.  William  W. 
Folwell,  669-686. 
Hibbing,  308. 

Hicks,  Col.  Henry  G.,  558. 
Hill,  Alfred  J.,  392. 
Hill,  James   J.,    459,    460,    461,    466; 

537,  611,  627,  693,  767. 
Hill  lake,  467,  468. 
Hinkle,  William  H.,  Biographic  me- 
morial of  Hon.  Samuel  R.  Thay- 
er, 804-5. 
Hinman,  Rev.  Samuel  D.,  340. 
Hickey,  W.  O.,  509. 
Historical  Notes  of  Grey  Cloud  Is- 
land and  its  Vicinity,  by  John 
H.  Case,  371-378. 
Historical  Society;    see  Minnesota. 
History    of   the    Parks    and    Public 
Grounds     of     Minneapolis,     by 
Hon.    Charles    M.    Loring,    599- 
607. 
History    of    the    Parks    and    Public 
Grounds  of  St.  Paul,  by  Lloyd 
Peabody,  609-630. 
Hi-u-ka,  Sioux,  367,  370. 
Hoag,  Charles,  488,  500. 
Hoar,  Hon.  George  F.,  quoted,  566. 
Hobart,   Revs.   Chauncey  and   Mor- 
ris, 744. 
Hodges,  Hon.  Leonard  B.,  92. 
Hoegh,  Dr.  Knut,  256,  283. 
Holand,   Hjalmar    Rued,    owner    of 
the    Kensington     Rune     Stone, 
223,  226,  238,  247,  250,  256,  268, 
277-280,  281-286. 
Holcombe,  Hon.  William,  815. 
Hole-in-the-Day,  491,  529. 
Hollinshead,  William,  540. 
Holmes,  Thomas  G.,  359,  360,  366. 
Holvik,  John  A.,  239,  240,  248,  256. 


Holy  Light,  Sioux,  373. 

Horsford,  Amanda,  531,  543. 

Horticultural  Society,  775. 

Horticulture,  537-8,  774. 

Hosmer,  Hon.  Hezekiah  L.,  634,  635, 

Hotchkiss,  W.  A.,  488. 

Hotchkiss,  Prof.  W.  O.,  2S6. 

Hotvedt,    Joseph,    222. 

Houle,  Joseph,  322. 

House  of  Hope  Church,  St.  Paul, 
706,  707. 

Howard  lake,  315,  319. 

Hubbard,  Gov.  Lucius  F.,  555,  556, 
559,  563,  569,  570,  571,  573,  576, 
581,  582-4,  597,  677,  803;  Ad- 
dress on  the  Presentation  of 
the  Portrait  of  Professor  Jabez 
Brooks,  743-4;  Biographic  Me- 
morial, by  Warren  Upham,  776- 
8. 

Hudson  bay,  229-232,  247-8,  282,  284, 
389. 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  371,  390,  480, 

Huey,  Lieutenant  William,  329,  330, 
333. 

Huggins,  Rufus,  334. 

Hughes,  Archbishop,  719. 

Hughes,  Thomas,  Biographic  me- 
morial of  Gen.  James  H.  Baker, 
754-5. 

Humphrey,  James  K.,  531. 

Humphrey,  John  Ames,  Boyhood 
Remembrances  of  Life  among 
the  Dakotas  and  the  Massacre 
in  1862,  337-345. 

Humphrey,  Dr.  Philander  P.,  337. 

Hunt,  Mrs.  Edgar,  547. 

Hunt,  J.  J.,  125. 

Hunt,  John,  428-431. 

Huron  Indians,  316-319. 

Huseby,  Olaf,  256,  284. 

Hutchinson,  Minn.,  358,  363,  364, 
367-370. 

Hygiene,  672,  678-680. 


Ice  age,  234,  235,  246,  827,  828. 

Idaho,  state,  666. 

Illinois,  railroad  legislation,  15,  65, 

108,  140,  141,  146,  186,  205. 
Illinois  Central  railroad,  15,  21,  25, 

65. 
Illinois  Historical  Society,  270,  278, 

285. 
Immigration  to  Minnesota,  290,  435, 

452-454,  485,  486,   497,  521,   522, 

532,  538-9,  552,  632. 


INDEX. 


859 


Indian  mounds,  233,  824. 

Indian  Mounds  Park,  St.  Paul,  620, 
623,  626,  629,  630. 

Indian  trails,  315-321,  375,  489,  643. 

Indians,  489-491,  522,  528,  530,  633, 
643;  see  also  Ojibways,  Sioux, 
Winnebagoes. 

Ingeman,  Ole,  353. 

Ingersoll,  Daniel  W.,  561,  688,  693. 

Inkpaduta,  332. 

Intemperance,  526,  681-2. 

Internal  improvement  lands,  38-44, 
204,  207,  294,  301-305. 

International  Typographical  Union, 
703,  704. 

Inver  Grove,  374. 

Investment,  Board  of,  299,  300,  302- 
304. 

Iowa,  Historical  Library,  789. 

Ireland,  Archbishop  John,  252,  694, 
719,  783,  786,  789;  Address  at 
the  Unveiling  of  the  Statue  of 
General  Shields,  731-740. 

Ireland,  711,  712,  721,  727,  731-2,  735, 
739,  740. 

Iron  ore  lands,  297-299,  302-304,  310, 
311,  826. 

Iron  Range,  751. 

Irvine,  John  R.,  611. 

Irvine,  Mrs.  John  R.,  539. 

Irvine  Park,  St.  Paul,  534,  543,  611, 
781. 

Isle  Royale,  381,  382,  384,  389,  391. 

Iverslie,  P.  P.,  256,  282,  286. 

Iverson,  Hon.  Samuel  G.,  State  Au- 
ditor, The  Public  Lands  and 
School  Fund  of  Minnesota,  287- 
314. 

Ives,  Hon.  Gideon  S.,  584. 


Jackson,  Iver,  354. 

Jackson,  Rev.  Sheldon,  obituary 
sketch,  839. 

Jackson,  Gen.  Thomas  J.  ("Stone- 
wall"), 716,  722-4,  738. 

Jaggard,  Hon.  Edwin  A.,  obituary 
sketch,  839. 

Jefferson,  President  Thomas,  543. 

Jesup,  Gen.  Thomas  S.,  398. 

Jewett,  William  J.,  443. 

Jewett  family,  killed  by  Sioux,  443. 

Johnson,  President  Andrew,  640. 

Johnson,  Emil,  222. 

Johnson,  Gates  A.,  464. 

Johnson,  Gunder,  241-243. 


Johnson,  Gov.  John  A.,  486,  597; 
Memorial  Address  in  his  honor, 
by  Justice  Thomas  D.  O'Brien, 
749-751;  Statue  at  the  State 
Capitol,  752. 

Johnson,  John  E.,  222. 

Johnson,  P.  M.,  353. 

Johnson,  Schuyler,  506. 

Johnson  Parkway,  St.  Paul,  630. 

Johnston,  Daniel  S.  B.,  A  Red  River 
Townsite  Speculation  in  1857, 
411-434;  personal  references, 
Preface,  411,  434,  485,  697;  obit- 
uary sketch,  839. 

Johnston,  Gen.  Joseph  E.,  716. 

Jones,  D.  C,  459. 

Jones,  Edwin  S.,  503,  506. 

Jones,  Hon.  Richard  A.,  90, 106, 109. 

Jones,  Robinson,   350-354,   358,   360. 

Jones,  Mrs.  W.  E.,  488. 

Judson,  Minn.,  447,  448,  450. 


Kalm,  Peter,  267,  283. 

Kaministiquia  river,  381,  383,  388. 

Kandiyohi  county,  355. 

Kansas,  paleoliths,  828;  Historical 
Society  and  its  building,  841. 

Kaposia,  321,  366,  373,  375. 

Kaskaskia,  111.,  713,  732,  735. 

Kasota,  334,  335,  337. 

Keating,  Prof.  William  H.,  247. 

Keith,  Dr.  George  H.,  504. 

Kelley,  Oliver  H.,  founder  of  the 
Patrons  of  Husbandry,  73-85, 
187. 

Kellogg,  Hon.  Frank  B.,  584. 

Kelly,  Hon.  Patrick  H.,  693. 

Kelly's  Bluff,  or  Acton,  battle  in 
Sioux  war,  355-366. 

Kenna,  Sergeant  Michael,  262,  3Q.6. 

Kensington  Rune  Stone,  Prelimi- 
nary Report  by  the  Museum 
Committee,  221-286,  828;  size 
and  description,  225-227,  233- 
237,  246,  248,  286;  the  inscrip- 
tion, 226,  227,  246,  249-277. 

Kentucky,  pioneer  settlers,  515,  516. 

Kenwood  Boulevard,  Minneapolis, 
603. 

Kerr,  Hon.  Charles  D.,  554. 

Keweenaw  peninsula,  389. 

Kiester,  Hon.  Jacob  A.,  153. 

Kimball,  Col.  Nathan,  723,  738. 

Kindred,  Charles  F.,  579,  580. 

King,  Hon.  William  S.,  488,  511,  568, 
571,  601,  602,  603,  693. 


860 


MINJSTESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


King's   Highway,   Minneapolis,   603. 
Kingsbury,  Charles  W.,  779. 
Kingsbury,    David     L.,     Biographic 

memorials,  778-780. 
Kittelson,  Hon.  Charles,  49,  574. 
Kittson,  Norman  W.,  541. 
Kline,  Frank  J.,  474. 
Knappen,  Theodore  M.,  749. 
Kneeland,  Cordelia,  545. 
Knickerbacker,  Rev.  David  B.,  488. 
Knife  lake,  Kanabec  county,  319. 
Knights  of  Labor,  Minneapolis,  602, 

607. 
Knoblauch,  Anton,  364. 
Krieger,  Louis,  615. 


Labrador,  230,  231,  250. 

Lady  Franklin,  steamer,  519. 

Lafayette  Square,  St.  Paul,  613. 

Laird,  William  H.,  obituary  sketch, 
839. 

Lake  Calhoun,  480,  512,  513,  602. 

Lake  City,  121,  452,  555,  840. 

Lake  Christina,  227. 

Lake  Como,  618,  619,  623,  630. 

Lake  Harriet,  601,  602,  603. 

Lake  Henry,  414. 

Lake  Minnetonka,  499. 

Lake  of  the  Isles,  602,  603;  park, 
606. 

Lake  of  the  Woods,  Preface,  379, 
380,  382,  389,  392. 

Lake  Pepin,  375. 

Lake  Phalen,  619,  620,  623,  630. 

Lake  Pomme  de  Terre,  427,  432. 

Lake  Rebecca,    Hastings,    377,    378; 

Lake  Superior,  380-386,  391,  464, 
744-5,  755. 

Lake  Superior  and  Mississippi  rail- 
•  road  company,  51,  57,  58,  65, 
117,  129,  130,  309. 

Lake  Traverse,  372. 

Lakewood  Cemetery,  512;  Associa- 
tion, 603. 

Lamotte,  Francis,  322. 

Lamprey,  Uri  L.,  613. 

Lamson,  Chauncey,  364-370. 

Lamson,  James  Birney,  narrative 
of  the  killing  of  Little  Crow, 
367-370. 

Lamson,  Nathan,  364-370. 

Land  grants  for  internal  improve- 
ments, 38-44,  204,  207,  294,  301- 
305;  for  railroads,  4-9,  16,  24, 
26,  49-59,  63,  65,  66,  67,  112,  189, 


193,  196,  204-208,  210,  215;  for 
schools  and  the  State  Univer- 
sity, 287-314. 

Landsvark,  Gulick,  222. 

Langdon,  Hon.  Robert  B.,  559, 

Langford,  Augustine  G.,  548,  782. 

Langford,  Nathaniel  P.,  548,  631, 
633-9,  648,  649,  654,  655,  656, 
660-668,  780-9. 

Langford,  Nathaniel  Pitt,  the  Vigi- 
lante, the  Explorer,  the  Ex- 
pounder and  First  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Yellowstone  Park, 
by  Olin  D.  Wheeler,  631-668; 
,   Biographic   memorials,   780-789. 

Laraway,  O.  M.,  506. 

Larson,  Albert,  222. 

Lavallee,  F.  X.,  322. 

Lawler,  Bishop  John  J.,  Memorial 
of  Rev.  Ambrose  McNulty,  791- 
3. 

Laws,  relating  to  state  lands,  294- 
299    312 

Leadbeater,  Mark,  428,  430,  431,  432. 

Leaf  mountains,  417. 

Leavenworth,  Gen.  Henry,  394. 

Le  Boutillier,  Dr.  Charles  W.,  334. 

Le  Due,  Gen.  William  G.,  Memorial 
of  Nathaniel  P.  Langford,  782-3. 

Lee,  Col.  Francis,  396. 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  716. 

Leech  lake,  467,  474,  477,  491. 

Legislation,  Railroad,  in  Minnesota, 
1849-1875,  by  Rasmus  S.  Saby, 
1-188. 

Leonard,  Hon.  Joseph  A.,  693. 

Leonard,  Dr.  William  E.,  Early 
Days  in  Minneapolis,  497-514. 

Leonard,  Dr.  William  H.,  504,  506, 
507-8,  511. 

Le  Sueur,  Pierre  Charles,  321. 

Le  Sueur,  Minn.,  323,  325. 

Letterman,  Dr.,  671. 

Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  642. 

Lexington  Parkway,  St.  Paul,  625. 

Library  Building,  proposed  for  this 
Society,  787-9,  830. 

Lightner,  William  H.,  780;  Bio- 
graphic memorial  of  Henry  P. 
Upham,  806-810. 

Lightning  lake,  416,  417,  423. 

Lincoln,  President  Abraham,  553, 
585,  670,  694,  713,  714,  715,  718, 
719,  724,  735,  756,  816,  840. 

Lind,  Gov.  John,  584,  588,  591,  844. 

Lindeke,  William,  613. 


INDEX. 


861 


Linwood  Park,  St.  Paul,  622,  629. 
Liquors,   sold   to  Indians,  324,  351, 

352,  490. 

Listoe,  Hon.  Soren,  169. 

Litchfield,  E.  B.,  219. 

Little  Crow,  324,  329,  333,  341,  343, 

353,  361,  363,  364,  366-370,  373, 
375,  393,  491. 

Little  Crow  Uprising,  Reminis- 
cences, by  Dr.  Asa  W.  Daniels, 
323-336. 

Little  Falls,  Minn.,  408,  432,  827. 

Little  Falls  and  Dakota  railroad 
company,  310. 

Little  Rock,  trading  post,  372. 

Little  Six,  Sioux;  see  Shakopee. 

Lockey,  Joseph,  obituary  sketch, 
840. 

Locomotive,  first  in  Minnesota,  217. 

Logan,  Stephen  T.,  715,  735. 

Logging,  466,  469,  473,  478,  819-823. 

Lombard,  Jules,  496. 

Long  lake.  Pigeon  river,  381,  383, 
389. 

Longstreet,  Gen.  James,  716. 

Loring,  Hon.  Charles  M.,  History 
of  the  Parks  and  Public 
Grounds  of  Minneapolis,  599- 
607;  with  a  Postscript  by  Prof. 
William  W.  Folwell,  607-8. 

Loring  Park,  602,  604,  608. 

Louisiana  Purchase,  481,  787. 

Lovejoy,  Hon.  Owen,  814. 

Lower  Sioux  Agency,  338-343,  353, 
376. 

Lowry,  Gen.  Sylvanus  B.,  530. 

Lowry,  Thomas,  693;  obituary 
sketch,    840. 

Loyal  Legion,  729,  739,  754,  761,  777, 
779,  780. 

Lumber  industry,  215,  466-478,  523, 
817-824,  840,  841,  845. 

Lynch,  James  M.,  704. 

Lynd,  Hon.  James  W.,  320;  quoted, 
321. 

Lyndale  park,  Minneapolis,  603. 


Macalester  College,  484. 

McCardy,  Hon.  Joseph  J.,  567,  596. 

McClellan,  Gen.  George  B.,  724,  728. 

McClure,  Thomas  C,  554,  814. 

McCormick,  Hon.  Robert  L.,  obitu- 
ary sketch,  841. 

MacDonald,  Hon.  John  L.,  559,  560, 
588. 


Macdonald,  Hon.  Colin  F.,  Bio- 
graphic memorial  of  Hon.  Lo- 
ren  W.  Collins,  757-762;  and  of 
Hon.  Henry  C.  Waite,  813-816. 

McGannon,  James,  367,  370. 

McGill,  Gov.  Andrew  R.,  486,  561, 
563,  566,  567,  588,  589,  590,  597. 

McGraw,  James,  354. 

Mack,  Charles  and  Jesse,  441,  442. 

McKinley,  President  William,  593, 
594. 

Mackubin,  Hon.  Charles  N.,  202. 

MacLaren,  Dr.  Archibald,  706. 

McLaren,  Gen.  Robert  N.,  564,  571, 
575,  584,  695. 

McLeod,  Captain  George  A.,  450. 

McMasters,  Rev.  Sterling  Y.,  693. 

McMillan,  Hon.  and  Mrs.  S.  J.  R., 
543,  568,  570,  571,  576,  589,  696. 

McNulty,  Rev.  Ambrose,  Biographic 
memorials,  by  Rev.  Francis  J. 
Schaefer,  789-791,  and  Bishop 
John  J.  Lawler,  791-3. 

Magner,  John,  344,  345,  346. 

Mahan,  Rear  Admiral  Alfred  T., 
obituary  sketch,  840. 

Mail  routes,  1849,  2. 

Maine,  railroad  legislation,  105. 

Mammoth  Hot  Springs,  Yellowstone 
Park,  652,  655,  663. 

Mandan  Indians,  267. 

Mankato,  160,  323,  326,  333,  443,  445- 
448,  753,  837. 

Mantorville,  166. 

Mariaklagan,  255,  272,  274,  285. 

Markland,  230,  232. 

Marsh,  Captain  John  S.,  327,  345, 
346,  348,  357,  362. 

Marsh  lands,  315,  317-319,  483,  491. 

Marshall,  David,  515. 

Marshall,  James,  363,  366. 

Marshall,  Joseph  M.,  517,  521,  522, 
534 

Marshall,  Gov.  William  R.,  39,  40, 
41,  42,  153,  204,  205,  397,  517, 
518,  519,  521,  522,  523,  524,  526, 
530,  532,  534,  540,  547,  551,  553, 
554,  556,  561,  574,  575,  577-8, 
597,  662,  690,  693,  695,  758,  782, 
786. 

Marshall,  Mrs.  William  R.,  547-549. 

Martin,  Charles  J.,  766;  obituary 
sketch,  841. 

Martin,  Secretary  George  W.,  obit- 
uary sketch,  841. 

Mason,  Gen.  and  Mrs.  Edwin  C, 
779,  780. 


862 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL,  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Massachusetts,  railroad  legislation, 
105,  169;  State  Board  of  Health, 
673. 

Massacre  in  1862,  323-370;  also  see 
Sioux. 

Masterson,  H.  F.,  537-8. 

Mather,  Hon.  John  C,  399-404,  406. 

Maxfleld  and  Seabury,  803. 

Mayflower  Society,  809. 

Mayo,  Dr.  William  W.,  326,  327,  329, 
330;  obituary  sketch,  841. 

Mazurka  Hall,  St.  Paul,  544. 

Medary,  Governor  Samuel,  191. 

Medical  Examining  Board,  683. 

Medicine  Bottle,  Sioux  chief,  372- 
376. 

Medicine  dances,  Sioux,  340. 

Meeker,  Judge  B.  B.,  396,  524,  815. 

Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of 
Governor  Johnson,  by  Justice 
Thomas  D.  O'Brien,  749-751. 

Memorial  Commission,  John  Albert 
Johnson,  752. 

Memories  of  the  Early  Life  and 
Development  of  Minnesota,  by 
Thomas  B.  Walker,  455-478. 

Mendenhall,  Mrs.  Abby,  Diary,  511. 

Mendota,  331,  375,  479,  481,  519,  539, 
545,  629. 

Menzel,  Gregor,  472. 

Merriam,  Hon.  John  L.,  565. 

Merriam,  Gov.  William  R.,  584,  590, 
591,  613. 

Merriam  Park,  St.  Paul,  551. 

Merrick,  Rev.  John  A.,  526,  536. 

Merrill,  E.  A.,  504. 

Merrill,  E.  W.,  485. 

Merriman,  O.  C,  502. 

Mesaba  iron  range,  297,  298. 

Methodist  denomination  in  Minne- 
sota  743-4 

Mexican  War,' 715-717,  730,  736-738. 

Michigan,  railroad  legislation,  205. 

Midway  Parkway,  St.  Paul,  627. 

Mille  Lacs,  318,  320,  321. 

Miller,  Hugo,  704. 

Miller,  Joaquin,  poet,  756. 

Miller,  Gov.  Stephen,  446,  486,  559. 

Millet,  Francis  D.,  artist,  obituary 
sketch,  842. 

Mills,  E.  P.,  485. 

Minneapolis,  Preface,  355,  397,  458, 
478,  479,  481,  487,  488-494,  500, 
505,  508,  513,  514,  533,  538,  600, 
699,  700,  746,  769-773. 

Minneapolis,  Early  Days  in,  by  Dr. 
William  E.  Leonard.  497-514. 


Minneapolis,  History  of  the  Parks 
and  Public  Grounds,  by  Hon. 
Charles  M.  Loring,  599-607; 
with  a  Postscript  by  Prof.  Wil- 
liam W.  Folwell,  607-8. 

Minneapolis  Institute  of  Arts,  767, 
769,  842. 

Minneapolis  Journal,  277-280,  281, 
285. 

Minneapolis,  men  in  Sioux  war,  355- 
366;  public  library  founded, 
493-4,  504;  origin  of  name,  500. 

Minneapolis  and  Cedar  Valley  rail- 
road company,  8,  11,  39,  46,  50, 
53,  54,  55,  192,  199. 

Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  railroad 
company,  148,  173,  816. 

Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  and  Sault 
Ste.  Marie  railroad  company, 
816. 

Minnehaha  creek,  397,  528. 

Minnehaha  falls,  480,  503,  528. 

Minnehaha  park,  500,  503,  603,  604; 
parkway,  603. 

Minnesota  Academy  of  Science, 
795,  826. 

Minnesota  Academy  of  Social  Sci- 
ences, 1. 

Minnesota  and  Northwestern  rail- 
road company,  5,  11,  17,  18,  19, 
24,  25,  27,  29,  189. 

Minnesota  and  Pacific  railroad 
company,  8,  11,  24,  29,  45,  50, 
52,  192,  198,  199,  203,  215,  216. 

Minnesota  Historical  Society,  per- 
manent trust  fund,  809;  Memo- 
rial Addresses,  731-830;  Other 
Deceased  Members,  1909-14, 
Memorials  by  Warren  Upham, 
831-848;  proposed  Library  Build- 
ing, 787-9,  830;  donation  by 
Hon.  James  B.  Wakefield,  847. 

Minnesota  point,  Duluth,  385,  390, 
464. 

Minnesota  Politics,  Reminiscences 
of,  by  Captain  Henry  A.  Castle, 
553-598. 

Minnesota  river,  393,  397,  412,  529, 
530. 

Minnesota  Valley  railroad  company, 
55,  57. 

Minnetonka,  Lake,  499. 

Missions,  early,  526,  527,  831. 

Mississippi  river,  392,  393,  395,  397, 
466,  468,  478,  481,  495,  498,  519, 
527-8,  532,  604,  620,  623,  626, 
627,  755,  802,  819,  820,  827. 


INDEX. 


863 


Mississippi  and  Lake  Superior  rail- 
road, 11,  28. 
Mississippi     River     boulevard,     St. 

Paul,  623,  624,  626,  629. 
Missouri,  state  capitol  burned,  788. 
Missouri  river,  632. 
Mitchell,  Rev.  Edward  C,  268,  788; 

Memorials,  793-800. 
Mitchell,  John,  390;  his  map  of  the 
British  colonies,   381,   382,   388, 
389,  390,  391. 
Mitchell,  Hon.  William,  214,  760. 
Mitchell,  William  B.,  554. 
Monongalia  county,  355. 
Montana,  633-666,  784,  786. 
Montana    Historical     Society,     634, 

648. 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  470. 
Monument  at  Acton,  350,  363. 
Mooers,  Hazen,  371,  372,  373. 
Moore,  Prof.  John  Bassett,  390. 
Morgan,  David,  504. 
Morgan,  Major  George  H.,  510. 
Morin,  William  A.,  obituary  sketch, 

842. 
Morris,  Mrs.  Mary  C,  601. 
Morrison,     Clinton,     767;     obituary 

sketch,  842. 
Morrison,  Hon.  Dorilus,  842. 
Morse,  Hon.  Frank  L.,  168,  169,  170, 

174,  175. 
Moss,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  L„  531, 

543. 
Moulton,  J.  C,  411-415,  417,  418,  420- 

423,  427,  428,  430-433. 
Mounds,  aboriginal,  233,  824. 
Mt.  Doane,  648,  666. 
Mt.  Everts,  652. 
Mt.  Langford,  647,  648,  666. 
Mt.  Stevenson,  648. 
Mt.  Washburn,  644,  645,  652,  666. 
Mountain  lions,  652,  653. 
Muir,   John,    662;    obituary    sketch, 

842. 
Municipal   aid  to  railroads,   59,   60, 

116,  120,  151. 
Murphy,  Captain  Edward,  599. 
Murray,  Hon.  William  P.,  535,  615, 
764;    Biographic    memorial,    by 
Henry  S.  Fairchild,  800-802. 
Museum,   Minnesota  Historical   So- 
ciety, 370,  788,  797. 
Museum   Committee,   794,  795,   797, 
828 ;  Preliminary  Report  on  the 
Kensington    Rune    Stone,    221- 
286. 


Names  of  streets  and  avenues,  Min- 
neapolis, 513,  514. 
Names,  geographic,  in  Yellowstone 
Park,   665,   666;    in   Minnesota, 
801. 
Napoleon,  756. 
Narratives    of   the    Sioux   War,   by 

Marion  P.  Satterlee,  349-370. 
National  parks,  658,  666,  843. 
Native  Sons  of  Minnesota,  508,  513, 
Naugonup,  a  Chippewa,  467,  468. 
Negro  socialism,  470. 
Neighborliness  of  pioneer  settlers, 

437. 
Neill,  Rev.  Edward  D.,  484,  535,  541, 

621,  693. 
Neill,  Mrs.  Edward  D.,  541. 
Nelson,  Gov.   Knute,   170,   579,   580, 

588,  593,  594,  597,  761,  803. 
Nelson,  Hon.  Rensselaer  R.,  693. 
Nemadji  river,  385. 
Ness  settlement  and  cemetery,  350, 

354,  355. 
Netherlands,  805. 

New    Hampshire,    railroad    legisla- 
tion, 104. 
New  Ulm,  151,  323,  325,  328-334,  365, 

439,  444,  842. 
New  Year's  Day,  1850,  526. 
New  York,  railroad  legislation,  105. 
Newberry,  Prof.  John  S.,  825. 
Newfoundland,  230. 
Newspaper  Publishers  Association, 

American,  702-704. 
Newspapers,  quoted  on  railroad  leg- 
islation,  188;    early,   in   Minne- 
apolis, 487-9,  499,  503,  504,  697, 
839;  in  St.  Paul,  690-692,  696-8, 
837;  in  Red  Wing,  777;  early  in 
Ohio,   837. 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  692. 
"Niagara,"  steamboat,  burned,  688. 
Nichols,  Charles,  699. 
Nichols,  Marcus  P.,  Preface,  obitu- 
ary sketch,  843. 
Nichols,  Samuel  H.,  588. 
Nicollet  island,  532-3,  600. 
Nicols,  John,  534,  693,  829,  833. 
Nimocks,  W.  A.,  76,  156. 
Nininger,  Minn.,  377,  378. 
Nissen,  Dr.  Henrik,  232. 
Nordstroem,  Rev.  M.  A.,  280. 
Normal  schools,  314,  746. 
Norman,  Rev.  O.  A.,  227,  250,  252, 

282. 
Norman  Millennial  Celebration,  286. 


864 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


North,  Hon.  John  W.,  815. 

North,  Mrs.  John  W.,  527-8,  532-3. 

North  Dakota,  803. 

North  St.  Paul,  701. 

Northern  Minnesota  Boundary  Sur- 
veys in  1822  to  1826,  under  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  by  Hon.  Wil- 
liam E.  Culkin,  379-392. 

Northern  Pacific  railroad  company, 
11,  58.  117,  130,  131,  218,  428, 
509,  642. 

Northmen,  229,  230-233. 

Northrop,  President  Cyrus,  Bio- 
graphic memorial  of  William 
H.  Dunwoody,  764-773;  Memo- 
rial of  Prof.  Samuel  B.  Green, 
774-6. 

Northup,  Anson,  487,  491. 

Northwest  Fur  Company,  385,  388, 
390. 

Northwest  Territory,  481. 

Norton,  Hon.  Daniel  S.,  693. 

Norton,  Harry,  663. 

Nova  Scotia,  230,  232,  249. 

Noyes,  Charles  P.,  804. 

Noyes,  Daniel  R.,  693. 

Nussbaumer,  Frederick,  609,  618. 

Oak  Point,  Mississippi  river,  468. 

Oakes,  Charles  H.,  405,  465,  542. 

Gates,  Gen.  William  C,  724,  738. 

Oberlin  College,  338. 

O'Brien,  John  D.,  obituary  sketch, 
843. 

O'Brien,  Patrick,  695,  696. 

O'Brien,  Justice  Thomas  D.,  791; 
Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of 
Governor  Johnson,  749-751. 

Ochagach,  Assiniboine  chief,  389, 
391. 

O'Connor,  Andrew,  sculptor,  752. 

Officer,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harvey,  546. 

Ogilvy,  John,  British  commissioner, 
380. 

Ohage,  Dr.  Justus,  621. 

Ohio  newspapers,  donated,  837. 

Ohio  railroad  legislation,  105;  geo- 
logical survey,  825. 

Ohman,  Edward,  221,  224. 

Ohman,  Olof,  discoverer  of  the 
Kensington  Rune  Stone,  221- 
226;  233,  237,  238-246,  248,  249, 
278,  280,  285. 

Ojibways,  316,  321,  384,  393,  408, 
411,  416,  467-470,  479,  489-491, 
528-9,  837. 


"uld  Bets,"  Sioux  woman,  491. 
Oliver,  Lieut.  William  G.,  377. 
Oliver's  Grove  (Hastings),  377,  378. 
Olmsted,    Frederick    Law,    quoted, 

606. 
Olson,  John  M.,  222. 
Olson,  Prof.  Julius  E.,  256. 
Olson,  Samuel,  222,  223,  224,  245. 
Osseo,  Minn.,  358. 
Other  Day,  John,  355. 
Otis,  Hon.  George  U,  557. 
Ottawa  Indians,  316,  317. 
Otter,  426. 

Otter  Tail  lake,  432. 
Otter  Tail  river,  417,  419,  424,  426, 

431-433. 
Ottumwa,  Iowa,  728. 
Owatonna,  87,  88,  103,  124,  126,  127, 

128,  155,  166,  175,  834. 
Owen,  Sidney  M.,  591. 


Paintings  in  the  capitol,  842. 

Paist,  William,  158. 

Palmer,  Gov.  John  M.,  of  Illinois, 
83,  715,  735. 

Panic  of  1857,  31,  193,  216,  410,  433, 
534,  537;  of  1873,  130,  131,  470, 
471,  476;  of  1893,  476,  617. 

Paris,  Treaty  of,  1783,  379,  381,  389. 

Park  Place,  St.  Paul,  526,  536. 

Parker,  Mrs.  Rodney,  landlady  of 
the  American  House,  St.  Paul, 
520,  523. 

Parks  and  Public  Grounds  of  Min- 
neapolis, History,  by  Hon. 
Charles  M.  Loring,  599-607. 

Parks  and  Public  Grounds  of  St. 
Paul,  History,  by  Lloyd  Pea- 
body,  609-630. 

Parkways,  Minneapolis  and  St. 
Paul,  604,  605,  622-630. 

Parsons,  George  I.,  127,  135,  158, 
159,  161,  162,  163. 

Passenger  rates,  railroad,  107. 

Patmore,  Tom,  432. 

Patrons  of  Husbandry,  70-87,  120- 
151,  159-163,  173,  176-183,  187. 

Pattison,  Judge  George,  724. 

Peabody,  Lloyd,  History  of  the 
Parks  and  Public  Grounds  of 
St.  Paul,  609-630. 

Pearson,  Edward,  517. 

Pease,  Granville  S.,  554. 

Peavey,  George  W.,  obituary  sketch, 
843. 


INDEX. 


865 


Pelican   lake,   Grant  county,    Plate 

III    at   page   221;    227-229,    247, 

248,  282. 
Peltier,  Charles,   Paul,  and  Oliver, 

322. 
Pennsylvania,    railroad    legislation, 

138,  140;  immigrants  to  Minne- 
sota, 486. 
Pennsylvania,  University  of,  1,  486. 
Perkins,  George  W.,  513, 
Perkins,  Hon.  Oscar  F.,  815. 
Perrot,  Nicholas,  quoted,  316-319. 
Perry,  Abraham,  480, 
Peterson,  Hokan,  359. 
Peterson,  Jonas,  353. 
Peterson,  William,  640. 
Petterson,  A,  E.,  286. 
Pettit,    Hon.    Curtis    H.,    458,    565; 

obituary  sketch,  843. 
Phalen  Park,  St.  Paul,  619,  620,  625, 

630, 
Phelan,  Edward,  620. 
Phelipeaux,  Isle,  381,  382,  389, 
Pickett,  Gen,  George  E.,  716, 
Pierce,  President  Franklin,  720. 
Pigeon  bay,  388,  389,  391. 
Pigeon  river,  381,  382,  383,  388,  389, 

391. 
Pike,  Lieut,  Z.  M.,  quoted,  321;  393. 
Pike  river,  381,  382,  387, 
Pilgrims,  memorials  at  Delfthaven 

and  Plymouth,  805. 
Pillsbury,  Gov.  John  S.,  45-49,  209, 

210,  213,  513,  559,  570,  571-578, 

597,  693,  698,  829. 
Pillsbury  "A"  mill,  512,  521. 
Pine  Bend,  Dakota  county,  372,  374, 

376, 
Pine   lands,   296,   298,   302-304,    310, 

463,   466-9,   473-8,   819,   820,   822, 

823, 
Pioneer  in  Winona  County,  Journal 

of  a.  Preface, 
Pioneer  Press,  696-8,  700,  701,  702, 

756, 
Pioneers,  character  of,  453,  454,  497- 

8,  522,  538,  539,  544,  549, 
Playgrounds  in  St.  Paul,  627,  628. 
Plummer,  Col,  Le  Vinne  P.,  489, 
Plymouth  Church,  Minneapolis,  505, 
Plympton,  Major  Joseph,  394. 
Poehler,  Hon.  Henry,  559,  560. 
Poem,    "Minnesota    in    Panorama," 

Preface;     describing    the    pio- 
neer, 454. 
Pokegama  bay,  St.  Louis  river,  386. 

55 


Pokegama  lake,  Mississippi  river, 
466-470, 

Politics,  Reminiscences  of  Minne- 
sota, by  Captain  Henry  A,  Cas- 
tle, 553-598, 

Polk,  President  James  K.,  715,  717, 
733, 

Pomeroy,  Hon,  Samuel  C,  663,  664, 

Pomme  de  Terre,  lake,  427,  432, 

Pond,  Rev,  Gideon  H,,  513, 

Pond,  Rev,  Samuel  W.,  350,  351,  513, 
530, 

Poplar  tree  on  the  Rune  Stone,  221- 
224,  245,  246,  248. 

Porter,  Hon.  Peter  B.,  380,  383,  388, 

Portrait  Collection,  Minnesota  His- 
torical Society,  788, 

Post  Office  Department,  United 
States,  594,  596, 

Prairie  du  Chien,  Wis,,  371,  372,  377, 
394,  495. 

Prairie  island,  316,  319. 

Prairie  schooners,  482. 

Prentiss,  J.  W„  411-415,  419-421,  424,. 
426,  428,  432, 

Prescott,  George  W,,  488, 

Prescott,  Philander,  480,  481,  487, 

Presley,  Bartlett,  613. 

Prices  of  farm  products,  1866,  452. 

Prince,  Mr,  and  Mrs,  John  S,,  547. 

Prospect  Terrace,  St.  Paul,  630, 

Public  Building  lands,  294,  301,  302, 
305. 

Public  Health,  professorship,  682, 
683, 

Public  Instruction,  Superintendent, 
300, 

Public  Lands  and  School  Fund  of 
Minnesota,  by  Hon,  Samuel  G, 
Iverson,  State  Auditor,  287-314. 

Pusey,  Pennock,  567;  quoted,  617. 

Putnam,  Prof,  Frederick  W.,  828. 

Pyle,  Joseph  G„  701, 

Quane,  Jerry,  333, 

Quartz  chips  and  implements,  827, 

Quinby,  John  C,  613, 

Quincy,  111.,  517-519,  532,  553. 


Rabies,  682. 
Radisson,  319. 
Rafting  logs,  478, 
Railroad  bonds,  195-214. 
Railroad     commission,     Minnesota, 
143-145,  153,  184. 


866 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Railroad  Legislation  in  Minnesota, 
1849  to  1875,  by  Rasmus  S. 
Saby,  1-188;  charters,  5-29;  in- 
corporation laws,  33;  control, 
1861-70,  61-70. 

Railroads,  The  Five  Million  Loan, 
by  Prof.  William  W.  Folwell, 
189-214 

Rainy  lake'and  river,  382,  388. 

Ramaley,  David,  obituary  sketch, 
843. 

Ramsey,  Gov.  Alexander,  1,  2,  36, 
37,  51,  52,  126.  197,  200-203; 
foundation  of  the  state  school 
fund,  288-295,  314;  395,  399,  409, 
482,  483,  484,  494,  521,  523,  528- 
9,  532,  539,  551,  554-557,  561, 
567-570,  576,  597,  690,  693,  695, 
696,  698,  753,  785,  787. 

Ramsey,  Mrs.  Alexander,  524,  544-5. 

Randall,  John  H.,  The  Beginning  of 
Railroad  Building  in  Minnesota, 
215-220. 

Randall,  Hon.  John  J.,  153. 

Ranney,  Henry  C,  obituary  sketch, 
844. 

Reagan,  J.  J.,  730. 

Records  of  the  Past,  283,  286. 

Red  Dog,  Sioux,  361. 

Red  lake,  390,  491. 

Red  river  of  the  North,  174,  215, 
229,  248,  282,  390,  419-433,  487, 
528,  802. 

Red  River  Townsite  Speculation  in 
1857,  by  Daniel  S.  B.  Johnston, 
411-434. 

Red  Rock,  375. 

Red  Wing,  Minn.,  673,  685,  741,  743- 
4,  746,  777,  838,  848. 

Redwood  Agency,  338-343,  353,  376. 

Reed,  Captain  Axel  H.,  558. 

Reeve,  Gen.  J.  V.  D.,  602. 

Reindeer  in  Alaska,  839. 

Remembrances,  A  Sheaf  of,  by  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Marshall  Cathcart,  515- 
552. 

Remembrances,  Boyhood,  of  Life 
among  the  Dakotas  and  the 
Massacre  of  1862,  by  John 
Ames  Humphrey,  337-348. 

Reminiscences  of  the  Early  Days 
of  Minnesota,  1851  to  1861,  by 
Rev.  Frank  C.  Coolbaugh,  479- 
496. 

Reminiscences  of  the  Little  Crow 
Uprising,  by  Dr.  Asa  W,  Dan- 
iels, 323-336. 


Reminiscences  of  Minnesota  Poli- 
tics, by  Captain  Henry  A.  Cas- 
tle, 553-598. 

Rhode  Island,  railroad  legislation, 
104;  Historical  Society,  836. 

Rice,  Hon.  Albert  E.,  775. 

Rice,  Hon.  Edmund,  190,  216,  218, 
526,  540,  559,  560,  588. 

Rice,  Hon.  Henry  M.,  197,  397-399, 
405,  408,  409,  523,  540,  611,  690, 
693,  719,  732,  785. 

Rice,  Mrs.  Henry  M.,  524,  540. 

Rice  creek,  Anoka  county,  315-319, 
321 

Rice  Park,  St.  Paul,  534,  535,  547, 
611,  612. 

Rice's  point,  Duluth,  385, 

Rich  Valley,  Dakota  county,  375. 

Richard  Chute  Square,  Minneapolis, 
508. 

Riggs,  Rev.  Stephen  R.,  341. 

Riis,  Jacob,  quoted  on  city  parks, 
606. 

Riverside  park,  Minneapolis,  604. 

Roads,  305,  312,  313. 

Robertson,  Andrew,  372,  373. 

Robertson,  Col.  Daniel  A.,  80,  197, 
545,  618. 

Robertson,  Mrs.  Daniel  A.,  545. 

Robinson,  Gov.  James  F.,  of  Ken- 
tucky, 515. 

Rochester,  Minn.,  89,  92,  94,  152, 
175,  326,  839,  841,  842. 

Rogers,  Mrs.  Lucy,  492. 

Rolette,  Joseph,  Sr.,  371. 

Rolette,  Hon.  Joseph,  Jr.,  801. 

Roosevelt,  President  Theodore,  749. 

Root,  Noble  G.,  440,  442. 

Root  River  Valley  and  Southern 
Minnesota  railroad  company,  8, 
11,  53,  55,  192. 

Rose,  Anson  H.,  357,  363,  366. 

Rosen,  A.  T.,  627. 

Rosing,  Hon.  Leonard  A.,  obituary 
sketch,  844. 

Roster  of  Captain  Strout's  com- 
pany  at  Acton,   365. 

Rouen,  France,  286. 

Royale,  Isle,  381,  382,  384,  389,  391. 

Rune  books,  237-240. 

Rune  Stone,  Kensington,  prelimi- 
nary report  by  the  Museum 
Committee,  221-286,  828. 

Russell,  Roswell  P.,  375,  507. 

Russell,  Thomas  S.,  746. 

Russell,  W.  F.,  488. 


INDEX. 


867 


Sabin,  Hon.  Dwight  M.,  559,  571, 
582-6,  590,  597. 

Saby,  Rasmus  S.,  Railroad  Legisla- 
tion in  Minnesota,  1849  to  1875, 
1-188. 

Sagas,  232,  273. 

St.  Anthony,  Preface,  11,  52,  53,  54, 
61,  215-220,  393,  413,  433,  470, 
478,  479,  484,  489,  497-9,  508, 
512,  521-528,  532-3,  538,  545,  600, 
831    839 

St.  Anthony' falls,  478,  479,  489,  509, 
520,  522,  527,  528,  532-3,  827. 

St.  Cloud,  219,  413,  461,  462,  528,  530, 
554,  757-762,  779,  780,  803,  814, 
816,  844. 

St.  Croix  Falls,  Wis.,  377. 

St.  Louis  river,  381,  383,  384,  385, 
386,  389,  391. 

St.  Paul,  Preface,  479,  483,  489,  519- 
527,  531,  533-552,  700;  aid  to 
railroads,  59;  first  railroad,  215- 
220;  topography,  217;  Chamber 
of  Comnierce,  616,  617,  699,  809. 

St.  Paul  Academy  of  Science,  796, 
799. 

St.  Paul,  Catholic  Historical  So- 
ciety, Preface,  285. 

St.  Paul,  First  National  Bank,  807, 
810. 

St.  Paul,  History  of  tl;e  Parks  and 
Public  Grounds,  by  Lloyd  Pea- 
body,  609-630. 

St.  Paul,  Remembrances,  by  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Marshall  Cathcart,  515- 
552. 

St.  Paul  Seminary,  624. 

St.  Paul  and  Duluth  railroad  com- 
pany, 309,  463-465,  689. 

St.  Paul  and  Pacific  railroad  com- 
pany, 53,  54,  55,  56,  58,  61,  67, 
101,  117,  120,  137,  146,  148,  173, 
217,  220,  509. 

St.  Paul  and  Sioux  City  railroad 
company,  39,  44,  58,  101,  153, 
155,  208. 

St.  Peter,  Minn.,  323,  324,  325,  331, 
332,  334,  335,  337,  347,  444-448, 
.  479,  749,  752,  801,  834. 

St.  Peter's  river;  see  Minnesota 
river. 

Sale  of  Fort  Snelling,  1857,  by  Prof. 
William  W.  Folwell,  393-410. 

Salt  springs,  lands,  294,  301,  302. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  721,  722,  724. 


Sanborn,  Gen.  John  B.,  561,  563,  564, 
575,  582,  584,  693,  787. 

Sanders,  Col.  Wilbur  F.,  636,  639. 

Sanitary  survey,  679,  683. 

Sanitation,  Civil  War,  672. 

Satterlee,  Marion  P.,  Narratives  of 
the  Sioux  War,  349-370;  anni- 
versary of  the  Battle  of  Acton, 
364. 

Sauk  Rapids,  803. 

Savory,  George,  509. 

Scanian  Law,  272,  274,  276,  285. 

Schaefer,  Rev.  Francis  J.,  Preface, 
268,  285;  Biographic  memorial 
of  Rev.  Ambrose  McNulty,  789- 
791;  Memorial  of  Rev.  Edward 
C.  Mitchell,  793-5. 

Schaller,  Hon.  Albert,  378. 

Scheffer,  Hon.  Albert,  587,  588,  590. 

Scheffer,  Charles,  756. 

Schell,  Hon.  Richard,  400,  404,  406. 

Schmahl,  Hon.  Julius  A.,  Brographic 
memorial  of  Hon.  Clarence  C. 
Dinehart,  764-5. 

School  Fund,  Public  Lands  and,  of 
Minnesota,  by  Hon.  Samuel  G. 
Iverson,  State  Auditor,  287-314. 

School  lands,  granted  by  Congress, 
290-313. 

Schools  of  Minnesota,  314;  early,  in 
Minneapolis,  491-3,  501-503,  507, 
509-511;  early,  in  St.  Paul,  531, 
832. 

Schurmeier,  Theodore  L.,  613;  obit- 
uary sketch,  844. 

Schuyler,  Professor,  457. 

Scott,  Gen.  Winfleld,  403,  716,  737, 
738. 

Scrap-books,  relating  to  Governor 
Johnson,  752. 

Scrip,  Sioux  and  Chippewa  half- 
breed,  463,  465,  466. 

Seabury,  Hon.  Channing,  693;  Bio- 
graphic memorial,  by  Everett 
H.  Bailey,  802-804;  Memorial  of 
Henry  P.  Upham,  812. 

Searle,  Hon.  Dolson  B.,  obituary 
sketch,  844. 

Secession,  opposed  by  Gen.  James 
Shields,  718,  736. 

Secombe,  Rev.  Charles,  485. 

Secombe,  Hon.  David  A.,  212,  213. 

Seeger,  William,  Sr.,  state  treas- 
urer, 560. 

Selby,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  W.,  531,  541. 


868 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIP^TY  COLLECTIONS. 


Selby,  Paul,  701. 

Selkirk  colony,  480. 

Senescall,  William,  375. 

Seward,  Hon.  William  H.,  address 
in  St.  Paul,  1860,  494,  495;  in 
the  Civil  War,  728;  other  refer- 
ence, 756. 

Shadow  Falls  Park,  St.  Paul,  624. 

Shakopee  (Little  Six),  Sioux  chief, 
350,  351,  360,  361,  377. 

Shakopee,  Minn.,  98,   348,  366,  530. 

Shaw,  George  K.,  587. 

Shaw,  Samuel,  516,  517. 

Sheaf  of  Remembrances,  by  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Marshall  Cathcart,  515- 
552. 

Sheehan,  Col.  Timothy  J.,  obituary 
sketch,  844. 

Shelbyville,  438,  439. 

Shelter  House,  Camden  park,  Min- 
neapolis, 603. 

Shepley,  E.  L.,  706. 

Shevlin,  Thomas  H.,  obituary 
sketch,  845. 

Shevlin-Carpenter  Co.,  473. 

Sheyenne  river  and  townsite,  428, 
432    433    434 

Shields,'  Dr. 'Daniel  F.,  729,  730. 

Shields,  General  James,  Soldier, 
Orator,  Statesman,  by  Captain 
Henry  A.  Castle,  711-730;  Ad- 
dress at  the  Unveiling  of  his 
Statue,  by  Archbishop  John 
Ireland,  731-740. 

Shields,  Lytton  E.,  James,  and  Lyt- 
ton  J.,  711,  730. 

Shoshone  lake  and  Point,  656. 

Sibley,  Gov.  Henry  H.,  197-200,  206, 
207,  323,  333,  347,  355,  367,  370, 
395,  396,  479,  481,  519,  539,  557, 
575,  615,  693,  720,  721,  759,  785, 
807,  815. 

Sibley,  Mrs.  Henry  H.,  524,  539. 

Simpson,  Gen.  and  Mrs.  James  H., 
545-6,  550. 

Sinclair,  Hon.  Daniel,  693. 

Sioux  half-breed  scrip,  463,  466. 

Sioux  Indians,  316-321,  323-336,  340- 
346,  349-370,  393,  394,  447,  481, 
482,  489-491,  528-530,  621. 

Sioux  massacre  and  war,  1862-4, 
323-336,  342-347,  349-370,  439- 
447,  461,  505,  538,  689,  757,  758, 
785,  844.       , 

Sioux  massacre.  Spirit  Lake,  Iowa, 
1857,  332,  721,  739. 


Sioux   War,   Narratives   of   the,   by 

Marion  P.  Satterlee,  349-370. 
Sisseton  lake,  449,  450. 
Skerries,  Pelican  lake,  227,  247,  250, 

253,  282. 
Skordalsvold,  Prof.  J.  J.,  256. 
Slade,    Gov.    William,    of   Vermont, 

531,  543. 
Slavery,   debates   in   U.    S.    Senate, 

717,  718,  736. 
Slayton,  Minn.,  764-5. 
Smallpox,  678,  682. 
Smith,  Andrew,  358. 
Smith,  Birdsey  W.,  347. 
Smith,  Lieut.  E.  K.,  394. 
Smith,  Fred  L.,  489. 
Smith,      Prof.     Goldwin,     obituary 

sketch,  845. 
Smith,  J.  T.,  map,  229,  230. 
Smith,  Hon.  James,  Jr.,  559,  570. 
Smith,    Hon.  Robert,  403,  404,  405 

408,  410,  612. 
Smith,  Hon.  Robert  A.,  546;   obitu 

ary  sketch,  845. 
Smith,  Mrs.  Robert  A.,  546. 
Smith,  Truman  M.,  obituary  sketch 

845. 
Smith  Park,  St.  Paul,  612. 
Social    conditions    of    early    Minne 

sota,  538-552. 
Socialism,  of  Indians  and  negroes 

467-470. 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  761,  762 
Sogn,  Norway,  265. 
Soldiers'  Home,  589,  624,  629. 
Soldiers'  Monument,   St.   Paul,   613 
Sons   of  the  American   Revolution 

761,  762,  799,  809. 
Sons  of  the  Colonial  Wars,  761,  762, 

799,  809. 
Sorin,  Rev.  Matthew,  744. 
South  St.  Paul,  373. 
Southern     Minnesota,     Experiences 

in,    1859-1867,    by    Hon.    Lorin 

Cray,  435-454. 
Southern   Minnesota   railroad   com- 
pany, 44,  50,  55,  56,   58,  59,  63, 

64,  67,  142,  190,  310. 
Spanish-American  war,  594. 
Spencer,  Dr.  Kirby,  494. 
Spencer,    Mr.     and     Mrs.     William, 

547-8. 
Sperry,  Albert  H.,  359,  360,  363,  366. 
Sperry,  Dr.  Lyman  B.,  660. 
Spirit  Lake  massacre,  332,  721,  739. 
Spirit  Light,  Sioux.  373. 


INDEX. 


Spring  lake,  Dakota  county,  374. 

Springfield,  111.,  714,  735. 

Springs,    Chalybeate,    Minneapolis, 

512;  St.  Paul,  537. 
Stannard,  Hon.  Lucas  K.,  815. 
Stanton,  Hon.  Edwin  M.,  724,  728, 

733,  738. 
Staples,  Samuel  C,  obituary  sketch, 

845. 
Statistics,  of  land  grants,  sales,  and 

resulting     funds,     300-304;      of 

State  Board  of  Health,  680,  682. 
Statue  of  General  Shields,  729;  Ad- 
dress at  its  Unveiling,  by  Arch- 
bishop John  Ireland,  731-740. 
Statue  of  Governor  Johnson  at  the 

State  Capitol,  752. 
Statue,  proposed,^  Professor  Win- 

chell,  830. 
Steamboats,  482,  483,  487,  519,  521, 

527,  531,  533-4,  802. 
Steele,  Franklin,  197,  398,  399,  400, 

402-409,  472,  499,  539,  601. 
Steele,  Mrs.  Franklin,  524,  539. 
Steele,  Katherine  B.,  601. 
Steenerson,  Hon.  Halvor,  584. 
Stevens,  Hon.  Frederick  C,  584,  597. 
Stevens,  Col.  John  H.,  480,  481,  487, 

489,  492,  499,  500. 
Stevenson,  James,  648,  656. 
Stewart,  Dr.  Jacob  H.,  571,  572,  573, 

597,  695. 
Stewart,  Levi  M.,  462. 
Stickney,  Alpheus  B.,  629. 
Stickney,  Benjamin,  640,  642. 
Stillwater,  Minn.,  397. 
Stone,  Edwin,  362,  364,  366. 
Stone,    Prof.    George    B.,    492,    493, 

509. 
Stone,    H.    Ward,    obituary    sketch, 

846. 
Storm,  Gustav,  233. 
Strait,  Hon.  Horace  B.,  559,  597. 
Strathern,  William  and  Walter,  375. 
Street    cars,    Minneapolis    and    St. 

Paul,  513,  840. 
Streets   and   avenues,    Minneapolis, 

names,  513,  514. 
Strike  on  the  Iron  Range,  751. 
Stringer,     Edward     C,     Biographic 

memorial   of   Hon.    Francis    M. 

Crosby,  762-4. 
Strong,  Charles  D.,  693. 
Strout,    Captain    Richard,    356-366; 

roster  of  his  company  at  Acton, 

365. 


Stuart,  Gen.  Charles  B.,  670. 
Stuart,  James,  640. 
Stubbs,  Milton  C,  363,  366. 
Stuntz,  George  R.,  464,  466. 
Sully,  Gen.  Alfred,  779. 
Sully's  Hill  Park,  N.  D.,  666. 
Summit  avenue,  St.  Paul,  536-8,  541, 

604,  628,  629,  701. 
Summit  Park,  St.  Paul,  612. 
Sumner,  Hon.  Charles,  717,  736. 
Superior,   Wis.,   385,   386,   391,   464, 

832. 
Supreme  Court,  U.  S.,  110,  180-183, 

185,  208. 
Surprise  parties,  550,  551. 
Surveys,    land    and    railroads,    463- 

466. 
Suspension     bridges,     Minneapolis, 

501,  512. 
Swamp  lands,  granted  to  the  state 

and  to  railroad  companies,  54, 

58,  65,  68,  173,  288,  294,  301-304, 

307-311. 
Swearingen,  Rev.  Henry  C,  706. 
Swift,  Gov.  Henry  A.,  54,  326,  347. 


Taliaferro,  Major  Lawrence,  480. 
Talman,  John,  Preface. 
Tapper,  Captain  John,  375,  481,  501. 
Tawney,  Hon.  James  A.,  584. 
Taxation    of   railroad    land    grants, 

66,  67,  68,  113. 
Taylor,  Bayard,  493;   quoted,  781. 
Taylor,  Hon.   and   Mrs.   James   W., 

547-8. 
Taylor's  Falls,  State  Park,  613. 
Telesoga,  253. 
Territorial       Pioneers,       Hennepin 

county,  508. 
"Territorial  road,"  551. 
Territory    of    Minnesota,    Railroad 

Legislation,  1-10;  railroad  char- 
ters, 5,  10-29. 
Tetons,  Three,  mountains,  656. 
Thayer,  D.  B.,  358. 
Thayer,  Hon.  Samuel  R.,  Biographic 

memorial,  by  William  H.  Hin- 

kle,  804-5. 
Thomas,  Jesse,  442. 
Thomas,  Col.  Lorenzo,  403. 
Thompson,  Hon  Clark  W.,  576,  577, 

815. 
Thompson,    David,    surveyor,    385, 

390. 
Thompson,  George,  587,  702. 


870 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Thompson,  Horace,  567,  693,  807. 

Thompson,  James  Egbert,  547,  807. 

Thwaites,  Secretary  Reuben  G., 
obituary  sketch,  846-7. 

Tilden,  Hon.  Samuel  J.,  571,  572. 

Timber  lands,  296,  298,  302-304,  310, 
817-824;  Dakota  county,  374, 
3Z7,  378;  on  Red  river,  424; 
northern  Minnesota,  463,  466, 
467,  469,  473-478;  Mississippi 
bluffs  in  the  Twin  Cities,  624, 
629;  Yellowstone  lake,  650,  651. 

Todd,  Prof.  James  E.,  478. 

Tornado,  St.  Paul,  August  20,  1904, 
622;  St.  Cloud  and  Sauk  Rap- 
ids, April,  1886,  803. 

Torrancev  Judge  Ell,  761. 

Tousley,  Captain  George  M.,  325, 
327,  328. 

Tousley,  Supt.  Orson  V.,  510,  511. 

Town  and  Country  Club,  St.  Paul, 
623,  624. 

Townsite  Speculation,  A  Red  River, 
in  1857,  by  Daniel  S.  B.  John- 
ston, 411-434. 

Tracewell,  Hon.  R.  J.,  testimonial 
relating  to  Captain  Henry  A. 
Castle    596 

Trails,  Indian,  315-321,  375,  482,  489, 
643,  666. 

Transit  railroad  company,  8,  11,  28, 
29,  50,  53,  192,  193. 

Traverse  des  Sioux,  347;  Treaty, 
349;   408. 

Traves,  F.  W.,  322. 

Treaties  with  the  Indians,  336,  482, 
490,  528. 

Treaty  of  Ghent,  1814,  379. 

Treaty,  Ojibways  and  Sioux,  1850, 
528-9. 

Treaty  of  Paris,  1783,  379,  381,  389. 

Treaty  by  Pike,  1805,  393-5. 

Treaty,  Webster-Ashburton,  388. 

Treaty  with  Sioux  in  1851,  482. 

Tree  planting  on  streets,  Minne- 
apolis, 606. 

Trumbull,    Hon.    Lyman,    715,    718, 

814. 
Trumbull,  Walter,  640. 
Turner,  Prof.  Frederick  J.,  quoted, 

846-7. 
Tuttle,  Calvin  A.,  487. 
Tuttle,  Rev.  James  H.,  511. 
Tuttle,  Joseph,  a   Chippewa,   467-9 
Twiggs,  Gen.  David  E.,  716. 


"Twm    Cities,"    533,    538,    605,    673, 

697,  763,  767. 
Twin  City  Rapid  Transit  Company, 

840. 
Tyler,  Elmer,  487. 
Type-setting  machines,  702. 


United  States  Geological  Survey, 
656,  659. 

University  of  Minnesota,  Preface,  1, 
205,  292,  294,  301-304,  307,  310, 
313,  485,  498,  499,  509,  513,  525, 
604,  679,  680,  682,  683,  741,  744, 
746-8,  764-5,  770,  774,  801,  825, 
829,  830,  839,  845. 

Upham,  Henry  P.,  693;  Biographic 
memorials,  806-813. 

Upham,  Dr.  Warren,  268,  283,  284, 
392,  478,  827,  828;  notes  relat- 
ing to  Governor  Johnson,  752; 
Memorial  of  Governor  Hub- 
bard, 776-8;  of  David  L.  Kings- 
bury, 778-9;  of  Nathaniel  P. 
Langford,  786-9;  of  Hon.  Wil- 
liam D.  Washburn,  816;  of 
Prof.  Newton  H.  Winchell,  824- 
829;  Memorials  of  other  de- 
ceased members,  831-848. 

Upper  Sioux  Agency,  355,  372. 


Vaccination,  678,  682. 

Van  Cleve,  Gen.  Horatio  P.,  571. 

Vanderburgh,  Hon.  Charles  E.,  760. 

Van  Dyke,  Cleve,  222. 

Van  Dyke,  Hon.  T.  S.,  559. 

Van  Home,  Sir  William,  460,  461. 

Van  Sant,  Gov.  Samuel  R.,  365,  597; 

Memorial    of    Gen.    James    H. 

Baker,  755.  .  . 
Verendrye,   explorer.    Preface,    267, 

283,  389. 
Vermillion  lake,  297,  381,  382,  384, 

385,  387,  391. 
Vermillion  river,  381,  387. 
Vermont,   762;    railroad   legislation, 

106. 
Vigilantes  of  Montana,  634-639,  784, 

786. 
Vinland,  227,  229,  230-232,  249,  250, 

253,  269,  286. 
Virginia  City,  Montana,  635. 
Vital  statistics,  680. 
Voight,  Hans,  243. 
Von  Baumbach,  Hon.  Frederick,  574, 


I 


INDEX. 


871 


Wabasha,  Sioux  chief,  371,  375,  394. 

Wade,  Hon.  Benjamin  F.,  756. 

Wahpeton,  N.  D.,  420,  431. 

Waite,  Hon.  Henry  C,  757;  Bio- 
graphic memorial,  by  Hon.  Co- 
lin F.  Macdonald,  813-816. 

Wakefield,  Hon.  James  B.,  573,  597; 
obituary  sketch,  847. 

Walker,  Lucius  C,  461,  462. 

Walker,  Thomas  B.,  Memories  of 
the  Early  Life  and  Develop- 
ment of  Minnesota,  455-478. 

Walker,  Minn.,  478. 

War  Eagle,  steamer,  482,  483. 

Ward,  Hon.  William  G.,  559,  576. 

Warwick,  Frederick  H.,  613. 

Waseca  county,  834,  841. 

Washburn,  Gov.  Cadwallader  C,  of 
Wisconsin,  766,  841. 

Washburn,  Hon.  Elihu  B.,  715,  735. 

Washburn,  Gen.  Henry  D.,  640-642, 
644,  645,  647,  654,  659. 

Washburn,  John,  771. 

Washburn,  Hon.  William  D.,  126, 
503,  555,  556,  560-564,  567-8,  573, 
575,  590,  597,  601,  693,  696;  Bio- 
graphic Memorial,  by  Warren 
Upham,  816. 

Washington,  George,  496. 

Washington  University,  St.  Louis, 
493. 

Water  survey  and  analyses,  677. 

Water  transportation,  149-151,  161, 
162,  173,  174,  458,  519,  802. 

Watts,  Hon.  William,  237. 

Waukenauboo  lake,  467,  468. 

Weathering,  of  the  Rune  Stone,  233- 
237;   of  stone  implements,  828. 

Webb,  Robert  W.,  771. 

Webber,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  C, 
603. 

Webster,  Daniel,  statesman,  483, 
717,  736,  756. 

Webster,  Viranus,  350,  352. 

Welles,  Henry  T.,  434,  462,  472. 

Wells,  H.  G.,  576. 

Welsh,  George,  obituary  sketch, 
847. 

Wenzel,  Henry,  322. 

West,  Captain  Josiah  E.,  554,  757. 

West  Side  boulevard,  St.  Paul,  626, 
627,  629,  630. 

Westfall,  Hon.  I.  M.,  169. 

Westwood,  California,  477. 


Weyerhaeuser,  Frederick,  701,  841; 
Memorial,  by  Newel  H.  Clapp. 
817-824. 

Wharton,  Dr.  Alfred,  335. 

Wheeler,  Olin  D.,  268. 

Wheeler,  Olin  D.,  Paper,  Nathaniel 
Pitt  Langford,  the  Vigilante, 
the  Explorer,  the  Expounder 
and  First  Superintendent  of  the 
Yellowstone  Park,  631-668;  per- 
sonal reference,  642. 

Wheelock,  Joseph  A.,  556,  562,  568 
570,  584,  609,  610,  615,  620,  623', 
628,  690-3,  695,  696,  700;  quoted, 
river  bluff  driveways,  604. 

Wheelock,  Webster,  706. 

Wheelock  Parkway,  St.  Paul,  624. 

Whipple,  Bishop  Henry  B.,  331,  340, 
465,  490,  529,  694. 

Whitcomb,  Captain  George  C,  355 
359,  360. 

White,  Hon.  Milo,  559,  579;  obitu- 
ary sketch,  847. 

White,  Captain  Truman  S.,  567. 

Whited,  Oric  O.,  obituary  sketch. 
848. 

Whiteman,  Hon.  Alonzo  J.,  591. 
Whitford,  Joseph,  432,  433. 
Whitmore,  Willard  S.,  489. 
Whitney,  Cornelius  I.,  612. 
Wicklund,  Peter,  353. 
Widstrand,  C.  A.,  502,  504. 
Wilcoxson,  Rev.  Timothy,  526,  527, 

536. 
Wild  rice,  315,  317-319,  321,  479. 
Wilder,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Amherst  H., 

548,  802. 
Wilkin,  Judge  Westcott,  615. 
Wilkinson,  Gen.  James,  393. 
Wilkinson,  Hon.     Morton     S.,     570, 

693,  720. 
Will  of  Hon.  William  H.  Dunwoody, 

768-773. 
Willes,    Mr.    and    Mrs.    Charles    L., 

546. 
Williams,  Archibald,  715. 
Williams,  John  Fletcher,  830. 
Williams,  Thomas  H.,  504. 
Williamson,   Rev.    Thomas    S.,   341, 

543. 
Williston,  Hon.  William  C,  559,  560; 

obituary  sketch,  848. 
Wilson,  Clara  D.,  350,  352,  354. 
Wilson,  Hon.  Eugene  M.,  556,  693. 
Wilson,  Hon.  George  P.,  559. 


872 


MINNESOTA  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  COLLECTIONS. 


Wilson,  Hon.  Thomas,  197,  293,  570, 
588,  591,  815;  obituary  sketch, 
848. 

Wilson,  Wilford  L.,  560,  561,  562, 
566,  693. 

Winchell,  Prof.  Alexander,  of  Mich- 
igan, 824,  825. 

Winchell,  Prof.  Alexander  N.,  392, 
826. 

Winchell,  Horace  V.,  826. 

Winchell,  Prof.  Newton  H.,  243, 
244,  268,  280,  283,  284,  285,  391; 
The  Kensington  Rune  Stone, 
Preliminary  Report  for  the 
Museum  Committee,  221-286 ; 
Address  on  the  Presentation  of 
the  Portrait  of  Professor  Jabez 
Brooks,  744-6;  Memorial  of 
Rev.  Edward  C.  Mitchell,  795-7; 
Biographic  memorials  of  Pro- 
fessor Winchell,   824-830. 

Winchell,  Mrs.  Newton  H.,  826,  827. 

Windom,  Hon.  William,  Preface, 
151,  571,  572,  574-6,  578-583,  588, 
597,  693,  698. 

Winnebago  Indians,  325,  447,  489, 
540. 

Winona,  Minn..  151,  157,.  176,  197, 
366,  371.  375,  581,  746,  837,  840, 
841,  848. 

Winona  and  St.  Peter  railroad  com- 
pany, 53,  54,  58,  87,  89,  92,  93, 
94,  97,  100.  101,  110,  112,  128, 
130,  137,  138,  151,  166,  190,  192. 

Winona  County,  Journal  of  a  Pio- 
neer in.  Preface. 

Winslow  House,  St.  Anthony,  484, 
512. 

Winston,  Mrs.  Philip  B.,  500. 


Wisconsin,  railroad  legislation,  165; 
Historical  Library  building, 
789,  847;  Historical  Society, 
841,  846-7;  University  of,  Pref- 
ace. 

Women,  of  early  St.  Paul,  539-552. 

Wood  Lake,  battle.  358.  365,  367, 
758. 

Woods,  Major  Samuel,  408,  409. 

Wo-wi-napa,  son  of  Little  Crow. 
367-370. 

Wright.  Prof.  G.  Frederick,  828. 

Wright,  George  B.,  458,  461-463. 

Wright.  Grace  Anne,  Preface, 

Wright,  Rev.  John,  Memorial  of 
Henry  P.  Upham,  812-13. 

Wright,  Hon.  Jonathan  W.,  364. 

Wyoming,  state,  666. 


Yale,  Charles,  701. 

Yale.  Hon.  William  H.,  559,  564.  565. 

Yeliow  fever.  725. 

Yellow  Medicine  Agency.  355,  372. 

Yellowstone  canyon.  645,  646,  658, 
659. 

Yellowstone  lake,  643,  644,  646,  647, 
649-655. 

Yellowstone  Park,  Nathaniel  Pitt 
Langford,  the  Vigilante,  the  Ex- 
plorer, the  Expounder  and  First 
Superintendent  of,  by  Olin  D. 
Wheeler,  631-668. 

Yellowstone  Park,  origin  of  its  es- 
tablishment, 658-666,  786,  787. 

Yellowstone  river,  639,  643,  646,  652. 

Young,  Hon.  George  B.,  693. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, St.  Paul,  839. 


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