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1192545 /
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
3 1833 01077 1183
HISTORY
Q£
Douglas and Grant Counties
Minnesota
THEIR PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS
CONSTANT LARSON
Editor-in-Chief
k
With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and
Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families
yOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
977 to/ 1916
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc.
D '^' X- Indianapolis, Indiana
V.I
DEDICATION
To those whose hands planted the first homes in Douglas and Grant
counties; whose love of religion and education established the first churches
and schools ; whose desire for good government led to the organization of
civil townships and the selection of worthy public officials; whose wish for
material jn-osperity has caused the building of mills and factories and the
opening of \irgin tracts of land to culti\ation — to those who are gone, as
well as to the many pioneers still liA'ing, is tliis record of their achievements
dedicated.
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE
1192545
.\11 life and achievement is e\-olution; present wisdom comes from past
experience, and present commercial prosperity has come only from past exer-
tion and sacrifice. The deeds and moti\es of the men who have gone before
have been instrumental in shaping the destinies of later communities and
states. The development of a new country was at once a task and a privi-
lege. Jt required great courage, sacrifice and prixation. Compare the pres-
ent conditions of the people of Douglas and Grant counties, ^Minnesota, with
what thicy were six tlecades ago. From a trackless wilderness and \irgin
land, they have come to be centers of prosperity and civilization, with millions
of wealth, systems of railways, educational and religious institutions, varied
industries and immense agricultural and dairy interests. Can anv thinking
person lie insensible to the fascination <)f the study which discloses the aspira-
tions and efforts of the early ]>ioneers who so strongly laid the foundation
u])on which has l;ecn reared the magnificent prosperity of later days? To
perpetuate the stnry of these jjcople and to trace and record the social,
religious, educational, political and industrial jirogress of the community
from its first incejition, is the function ol the local historian. A sincere
purpose to preser\e facts and jiersonal memoirs that are deserving of per-
petuation, and which unite the present to the past, is the motive for the
present publication. The publishers desire to extend their thanks to those
who hax'e so faithfully labored to this end. Thanks are also due to the
citizens of Douglas and Grant counties, for the uniform kindness with which
they ha\-e regarderl this iindertaking, and for their many services rendered
in the gaining of necessary information.
In placing the "History of Douglas and .Grant Counties, Minnesota,"
before the citizens, the publishers can conscientiously claim that they have
carried out the plan as outlined in the ]>rospectus. luery biographical' sketch
in the work has been submitted to the part}- interested, for correction, and
therefore any error of fact, if there be any, is solely due to the person for
whom the sketch was prepared. Confident that our effort to please will
fully meet the approbation of the public, we are.
Respectfully,
THE PUBLISHERS.
CONTENTS
VOLUME I
DOUGLAS COUNTY
CHAPTER I— RELATED STATE HISTORY 3i
A portion of Minnesota Originally Included in Louisiana Purchase — Indian
Cessions and Treaties — Territorial Government Established — Boundaries —
Governor Alexander Ramsey — Eirst Territorial Legislature — The Historic
Council with the Indians at Traverse des Sioux — The Treaty — Indian
Hunters Cause Trouble — Townsite Speculation — Constitutional Convention —
l-'irst State Lesislature— A<lniissi<in of Minnesota as a State— Aid to Rail-
roads— l-inancial String iu\ — direst Among the Indians — Massacre of
1S')2 — Punishment of the Indians — Sul)sequent Treaties — A Period of Rapid
Development — Trouble Because of the State Issue of Railroad Bonds — Settle-
ment of the Ouestion and Activity in Railroad Building — Diversified Farm-
ing Interests — Population Statistics — Military Record — Xame — Geograpliy —
Area — Rivers — Lakes — Elevations — Climate — Chronological History of the
State.
CHAPTER II— GEOLOGY OF DOUGLAS COUXTY 59
Location of the County — Area — Surface Features — Xatural Drainage —
Lakes — Topography — Moraines — Drift and Glacial Deposits — Altitudes —
Soil — Timber — Geological Structure — Mean Elevation Due to Underlying
Formations — Building Stone — Lime — Aboriginal Earthworks.
CHAPTER HI— THE KEXSIXGTOX RUXE STOXE; AX AXCIEXT
TRAGEDY 72
White Men in Minnesota Prior to the Discovery by Columbus — The Record
— Conflicting Views as to the Authenticity of the Rune Stone Found in
Douglas County — The Discovery — Topography of Surroundings — Examina-
tion of Stone l)y Experts — Details of the Inscription — References to the
Topography of the Region — Where was Vinland? — Cliaracteristics of the
Stone — Discussion of Its .Authenticity — Rune Books — Review of tlie Find-
ing of the Stone and Xotes on the Record Given by the Inscription — Lin-
guistic Objections — Collateral Evidence — Resolutions Adopted by the
Museum Committee of the Minnesota State Historical Society — Investiga-
tions of Prof. George T. Flom — Bibliography.
CHAPTER IV— EARLY SETTLEMEXT 123
Great Xatural Beauty of the Park Region of Minnesota — Lack of .\l)Solute
Proof of Some Early Historical Statements— The Old Red River Trail— The
CONTENTS.
Kinkaid Brothers and Their Settlement at Alexandria — Gradual Growth of
the New Settlement — Other Early Settlements — The First County Govern-
ment— Development of the County — Effect of News of the Indian Uprising
on the Early Settlement — Echoes of Pioneer Days — Henry Gager's Stage
Station — Mosquitoes in Pioneer Times — Brandon Township's First Home-
stead— First School Houses — Pioneer Reminiscences — Primitive Ways of
Agriculture — Early Days of the Railroad — Conditions in the Pioneer Schools
— Quick and liffective Remedy for Frostbites.
CHAPTER V— THE SIOUX OUTBREAK AND THE OLD STOCKADE 140
Causes for the Sioux Outbreak of 1862 — Story of the Trouble — Every
Frontier Dwelling a Charnel House — Siege of Ft. Ridgely — Suppression of
The Sioux — Battles of Birch Coulie and Wood Lake — Pitiful Scenes at Camp
Release — Punishment of the Guilt}' — Effect in Douglas County of the
Uprising — Tragic Death of .\ndrew Austin — The Old Stockade at Alex-
andria.
CHAPTER VI— ORGANIZATION OF DOUGLAS COUNTY 15J
First Civil and Judicial Relations — Legislative Act Creating the County —
Boundaries — First Meeting of the County Board — County Buildings — Court
House History — Jails — Population of Douglas County— Naturalization Rec-
ords— County Financial Statement.
CHAPTER VII— OFFICIALS OF DOUGLAS COUNTY 162
First Officers — Roster of County Commissioners — Auditors — Treasurers —
Registers of Deeds — Sheriffs — County Attorneys — Judges of Probate — Sur-
veyors— Coroners — Clerks of the Court — Court Commissioners — Superin-
tendents of Schools — Douglas County in the Legislature — I^egislative
Apportionments, with Roster of Senators and Representatives.
CHAPTER VllI— TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION AND EARLY SETTLERS 172
Civil and Congressional Townships — Osakis Township — Creation — Settle-
ment— Officials — Alexandria Township — Creation — First Officials — Settle-
ment— Present Officials— Holmes City Township — Created — First Election
— Settlement and Land I-jitries — Pioneer Life, a Reminiscence — Early Events
— Present Officials — Brandon Township — Created — Settlement — Officials —
— Moe Township — Creation of — Settlers — Officials — Lake Mary Township —
Establishment — Name — Settlement — Officials — Leaf Valley Township — Crea-
tion— Settlement — Officials — Millerville Township^Created — Settlement —
Officials — Evansville Township — Established — First Homesteads — Officials —
Orange Township — Established — Land Entries — Officials — Ida Township —
Established — Early Homesteaders — Officials — Carlos Township — Created —
Settlement — Officials — Urness Township — First Settlers — Officials — Hudson
Township — Established — Early Settlers — Present Officers — Belle River
Township — Establishment and Name — Land Entries — First Settlers — Early
Conditions — Indian History and Tradition — Present Officers of the Town-
sliip — Solem Township — Creation and Name — Settlers — Present Officers —
Miltona Township — Creation — Settlement — Officials — La Grand Township —
Establishment — Settlement — Present Officers — Spruce Hill Township —
Establishment and First Election — Present Officers.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX— DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE 194
Early Conditions Favorable to the Development of Farms — Timber and
Water Supply — Location of Douglas County — Surface Features — Land and
Water Area — Timber — Soil — Climate — Farms and Principal Crops — Corn
Prizes — Potato Culture — Fruits — Live Stock — Dairying — Rural Mail Deliv-
ery— Telephones — Good Roads — Douglas County Agricultural Association —
— Douglas County as a Summer Resort — Registered Farm Names.
CHAPTER X— TRAV^EL AND TRANSPORTATION 211
Wonderful Transformation in Transportation System — Blazing of the First
Roads — Military Trails — Government Road Surveys — The First Railroads and
Later Lines Which Have Entered the County — County Roads.
CHAPTER XI— EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS 216
The Little Log School Houses of Pioneer Days — High Value Placed on
Education by Early Settlers — Minnesota's Splendid Educational System —
The County's School System Epitomized — Alexandria City Schools and
Some of the Early Teachers — Clerks of the School Districts — Teachers of
Douglas County.
CHAPTER XII— CHURCHES OF DOUGLAS COUNTY 224
First Religious Services in the Homes of the Early Settlers — The Itinerant
Preacher — First Church Organizations — A List of the Seventy-three
Churches Incorporated in Douglas County — Methodist Episcopal Churches-
Congregational Churches — Norwegian Lutheran Churches — Swedish Luthe-
ran Churches — Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Churches — Swedish Baptist
Church — German Evangelical Lutheran Church — Catholic Churches — Episco-
pal Church — Church of Christ, Scientist — Seventh-day .\dventist Church —
Presbyterian Church.
CHAPTER XIII— NEWSPAPERS 265
.\n Account of the Various Papers. Past and Present, Which Have Been
Influential in the Advancement of Douglas County.
CHAPTER XIV— THE BENCH AND BAR '_ 272
First x\ttorneys in Douglas County — Later Attorneys — Douglas County
Judiciary.
CHAPTER XV— THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 275
Self-reliance of Early Settlers in Times of Sickness — The First Physicians
in Douglas County — .Alexandria Physicians — Osakis Physicians and Those
Elsewhere in the County — Doctors of Dental Surgery.
CHAPTER XVI— BANKS AND BANKING 280
High Interest Rate in Early Days— A Record of the Banks at -Alexandria,
Osakis, Evansville, Brandon, Carlos, Garfield, Nelson, Kensington. Forada,
Melba and MillerviUe.
CHAPTER XVII— MILITARY ANN.^LS 286
Soldiers Monument — Douglas County's Loyalty in tlic Civil War — Grand
Army of the Republic — -The Spanish-.American War.
CHAPTER XVIII— FRATERNAL AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES 291
The Spirit of Fraternity Among the Pioneers— The First Lodges in the
County — IndepL-ndent Order of Odd Fellows — Ancient Order of United
Workmen — Knights of Pythias — Modern Woodmen of America — Scandi-
navian Mutual Aid Association Siloah — Independent Order of Good Temp-
lars— Woman's Christian Temperance Union — Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons — Brotherhood of American Yeomen — Modern Brotherhood of Amer-
ica— Douglas County Humane Society.
CHAPTER XIX— ALEXANDRIA, THE COUXTY SEAT 300
Beautiful for Location — Modern Improvements — In the Days of the Begin-
ning— Subsequent Development — The City Government — Elections and Offi-
cials of the City — The Postoffice — Commercial and Industrial Concerns —
Tlie Commercial Club — Free Public Library.
.CHAPTER XX— INCORPORATED TOWNS AND \TLLAGES 314
Epitomized History of Osakis, Touching Its Location, Early Record, First
Events, Business Interests, Public L'tilities, Manufacturing Industries, Church
and Fraternal Societies, Commercial Club. Postoffice, Educational Advan-
tages and Homes — Evansville, Brandon, Holmes City, Nelson, Garfield,
Melby, Forada, Miltona, Millersville, Carlos and Kensington.
CHAPTER XXI— SIDELIGHTS ON COUNTY HISTORY 331
Home-coming Week at Alexandria — Memories of Other Days, a Cluster of
Reminiscences — William Everett Hicks, the Man Who Started Alexandria
Going — Senator Knute Nelson. Alexandria's "Grand Old Man" — Alexandria's
First Village President — F'irst Commercial -Association Incorporated — The
Celebrated Paulson Case — Reminiscences by a F'irst Settler — .An Early Trav-
eler's Impressions — An Impressionist's View of Alexandria — Something
About Mules and Mule Drivers — Glimpses of Claim-stakes and Claim-
shanties — The .Approach to Alexandria — Hospitality of the Wilderness — The
Sims Brothers — Old People's Home — Early Daj'S Near Nelson.
GRANT COUNTY
CHAPTER I— GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY 361
Location — Area — Surface Features — Drainage — Lakes — Elevations — Soil —
Timber — Geological Structure — Lake .Agassiz — Building Stone— Lime— Bricks
— .Aboriginal Earthworks.
CHAPTER II— THE INDIAN OUTBREAK AND THE STOCKADE 370
Settlement Deferred Because of the Indian L'nrest in the Early Sixties —
Causes of the Outbreak — First Bloodshed — .Ambuscade at Redwood F'erry —
-Attack on New Ulm — Battle of Birch Coulie and at Wood Lake — Events in
Grant County During the Outbreak — The Old Stockade — Expeditions
Through Grant County.
CH.VPTER HI- E.\RLY SETTLEMENT 376
Edward (Iriffin, the l-"irst White Resident of Grant County — Some of the
I'irst Settlers— Pioneer Conditions— Settlement, by Townships, and Interest-
ing Incidents in Connection Therewith.
CHAPTER IV'— ORGAXIZATIOX OF GRANT COUNTY 387
Legislative Act Estaljlishing the County — Locating the County Seat — Name
of the County — First Commissioners and Some of Their Early Acts — Com-
missioner Districts Estalilished — The Second Board — First County Court
House — County-seat Contest — The Present Court House — Population Statis-
tics— Naturalization Statistics — Countj- Finances.
CHAPTER V— OFFICIALS OF GRANT COUNTY 399
County Commissioners — Auditors — Treasurers — Registers of Deeds — Sher-
iffs— County Attorneys — Judges of Probate — Surveyors — Coroners — Clerks
of the Court — Court Commissioners — Superintendents of Schools — Grant
County in the Legislature — Senators and Representatives — Apijortionnients.
CHAPTER VI— TCJWNSHIP ORGANIZATION 409
An Account of the Organization, First Elections, I'irst and Present Officers,
and Other Interesting l-'acts in the Townships of Lien. Logan, Elk Lake,
Pelican Lake, Elbow Lake, Pomnie de Terre, Erdahl, Stony Brook, Land,
Rosevillc, Maesville. Gorton, Delaware, Lawrence, Sanford and North
Ottawa.
CHAPTER VH— DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE 419
Pioneers I'avored by Wonderfid Natural Resources — Getting Started on the
Pioneer F"arm — Some Early Difficulties — E\olution of F'arm Machinery —
Tree Planting — Diversified Farming — Statistics of Production — Modern
F'arm Conditions — County .Agricultural Agent — Farmers' Clubs — Recorded
I'arni Names — Grant County .Agricultural .Association.
CI1.\PTER Vlll— TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATKJN 427
Trails, the First Routes of Travel— The First Roads— Old Stage Routes-
Trend of Early Settlement— Laying Out the Early Wagon Roads— State
Highway Commission — Railroads in Grant County.
CH.APTER IX— SCHOOLS OF GRANT COUNTY 432
High Ideals of the Pioneers — First School Houses — Scliool Districts Estab-
lished— Sketch of the F^arly Schools by a Pioneer — Some of the Early School
Houses — Pioneer School Conditions — Teachers of 189() — Development of
School System — .Aims of the Modern Seliool — Teachers for 1916 — School
District Officers — F'inancial Statement.
CHAPTER X— CHl-RCHES OF GR.XXT COUNTY 442
Synod Lutheran Churches — Rev. Gullik M. Erdahl— Swedish livangelical
Lutheran Churches — Xorwcgian United Lutheran Church — Presbyterian
Church — Rev. James Godward — Methodist Churches — Catholic Churches —
Seventh-Day .Adventist Church — Other Church Incorporations.
CHAPTER XI— XF.WSP.VPERS OF GRAXT COUXTY 455
Story of Journalistic Efforts Which Have .Api)eared in Grant County and of
the Papers Xow in Existence Here.
CHAPTER XII— THE BEXCH AXD BAR 458
Early Judicial Jurisdiction of Grant County— Judges — .Attornevs — Story of
the F'irst Court Session.
CHAPTER XIII— THE MEDICAL PROFESSIOX 461
Sharp Contrast Between Early Conditions and Those of Today — First Physi-
cians in the County — Physicians Who Have Practiced at Herman, Elbow
Lake. Ashbj-, Wendell, Barrett and Hoffman — Grant Comity Dentists-
Veterinary Surgeons.
CHAPTER XIV— BANKS OF GRAXT COUNTY 466
High Interest Rates in Early Days — .\ Brief History of Each of the Finan-
cial Institutions in Herman. Elbow Lake, Hoffman, Ashby, Wendell, Nor-
cross, Barrett and Erdahl.
CHAPTER XV— MILITARY ANNALS 472
Grand Army of the Republic — Many Veterans Among the Early Settlers.
CHAPTER XVI— FRATERNAL AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES 474
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons — Order of the Eastern Star — -Knights
of Pythias — Independent- Order of Odd Fellows — Modern Woodmen of
-America — Brotherhood of American Yeomen — Degree of Honor.
CHAPTER XVII— ELBOW LAKE, THE COUNTY SEAT 481
Platted — Location — Selection as County Seat — First Election — Municipal
Officers — Slow Early Growth — Postoffice — Schools — Business Directory —
Creamery Interests — Telephones — Concert Band.
CHAPTER XVIII— VILLAGES OF GRANT COUNTY 488
Herman — Settlement — Platting — First Officers — Present Officers — Schools —
Community Social Club — Band — Business Interests — Hoffman — Beginning
of — First Business Men — First and Present Officers — Education — Religious
Organizations — Ladies' Band — Present Business Interests — Wendell — Begin-
ning of and Early Events — Postoffice — Incorporation — First and Present
Officers — Schools — Public Improvements — Business Directory — Ashby —
Early Records Destroyed — Officers — Schools — Postoffice — First Merchants
— Present Business Interests — Barrett — Original Plat — Incorporation — First
and Present Officers — Manufacturing Industries — Postoffice — Business Inter-
ests— Norcross — Hereford — Erdahl — Pommc dc Terrc — Cancstorp.
CHAPTER XIX— SIDELIGHTS ON COUNTY HISTORY 500
County-seat Contest — "A Crow Feast" — "An Eventful Day" — "News from
Grant County" — Ancient Stone Carving — Indian Scare of 1876 — Grant County
Old Settlers' Association — .\ Pioneer of Pioneers — Thomas C. Hodgson.
HISTORICAL INDEX
VOLUME
DOUGLAS COUNTY
A
Aboriginal Earthworks 71
Acreage of Farms 197
Agricultural Association 201
Agriculture, Development of 194
Agriculture, Primitive 137
Alexandria —
Attractiveness of 300
Banks , 280
Beginning of 301
Business Interests 309
Churches__224, 221, 229, 230, 231,
2li, 235, 246, 247, 251, 253, 254, 262
City Buildings 308
City Government 302
Elections 304
First Merchants 301
Growth of 126, 302
High Schoof 217
Home-coming Week 331
Impressionist's View of 349
Improvements 300
Incorporation as Village 303
Indian Scare 148
Kinkaid, Alexander 125
Lawyers 212
Library 312
Lodges 287, 291, 292, 294, 296
Lot Sales 126
Mail Routes, Early 126
Mayors 307
Merchants 309
Newspapersi 265
Officials, Roster of 304
Old People's Home 357
Physicians 275
Population 158, 300
Alexandria — Con.
Postofficc History ■ 126, 308
President, First Village 343
Reminiscences 333, 346
Roster of Officials 304
Schools 218
Settlement 124, 127, 132
Stockade 134, 150
Townsitc Company 126
Village Council 303
Alexandria Township —
Altitude 66
Churches 227
Officers, First 153, 173
Officers, Present 174
Organization 153, 173
I'opulation 158
Settlement ._ 173
Topography 65
Altitudes in County 65
Altitudes in the State 49
Ancient I'Vce and Accepted Masons 295
Ancient Order of l"nited Workmen 292
Animals, Farm 201
Apportionments, Legislative 169
Area of County 59
Area of the State 47
Attorneys 272
Auditors, County 153, 164
Austin, Andrew, Death of 149
B
Banks and Banking 280
Baptist Church 221, 228, 229, 230
Belle River Township —
Altitude 65
Churches 234. 259
HISTORICAL
ricllc River Township — Con.
Indians 189
Mills. Early 189
Officers - 190
Organization lh8
Population 158
Settlement 188
Bench and Bar 272
l!,iuvolcnt Snciities l.._-287. 291
Kethcsda Society 2i2
lUnmdaries of eounty 152
Brandon-
Banks 283
Business Interests 324
Churches 230, 234, 325
Incorporation 324
Indian Scare 149
LaVvyers 273
Lodges 292
Xewspapers 269, 271
Officials 324
riiysicians 278
Population 159
Schools 324
Settlement 130. 323
Stage Station, Early 323
Brandon Township —
Birth, First 133
Gager, Henry 133
Homestead, First 135
Officers 179
Organization 178
Population 158
Settlement 133, 179
Building Stone 71
c
Carlos-
Banks 283
Piusiness Interests 329
Churches 234, 252, 259
Plat 329
Popiulation 159, 329
Carlos Township —
Altitude 66
Churches 232, 2ii
Officers 185
Organization 185
Population 159
Carlos Township — Con.
Settlement 185
Topography 65
Catholic Church 232. 233, 234, 254
Cereal Crops 198
Chippewa (see Brandon) __130. 134, 149
Chippewa Township 66
Chiropractor 279
Chronolo.gical History of Minnesota 50
Church of Christ, Scientist 263
Churches 224
Claim-stakes and Claim-shanties 351
Clerks of the Court 153, 167
Clerks of School Districts 221
Climate of Minnesota 49
Conimissioners, County 161
Commissioners, County. I'irst 129
Commissioners. Court 167
Congregational Church__224, 227. 231. 238
Constitution of State 39
Corn as a Crop 199
Coroners 153, 167
County .\ttorncys 153, 166
County Auditors 153, 164
County Boundaries 152
County Buildings 153
County Coiumissioners, h'irst 129
County Commissioners, Roster of 16!
County h'inances 161
County Government, First 129
County Offices, First 154
County Officials, Roster of 161
County Organized 152
County Roads 214
County School Superintendents 168
County School System 217
County Surveyors 153, 166
County Treasurers 153, 164
Courcurs des Bois, the 211
Court, Clerks of the 153, 167
Court Commissioners 167
Court House History 154
Creameries 200
Croiis, I'arm 198
D
Daughters of Rebekah 297
Dentists 278
Diversified I'^arniing Interests 46
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Doctors 27S
Douglas County Agricultural Ass'u. 201
Douglas Count}- Humane Society— 299
Drainage 195
E
Early Days near Xclson 357
I"larly I'^aniilies 127
Early Settlement of Count}' 123
ICarthworks 71
Education 216
r.lection. Eirst in County 129
l'"piscoi)al Cliurch 262
l-Aangelical Association 229, 231
ICvangclical Lutheran Church
227, 229, 230, 2M. 234, 253
Evansville —
Ranks •- 282
I'lusincss Interests 323
Churches 226. 229,
231, 2ii. 234. 246, 247, 248, 264, i22
Improvements i22
Incorporation 322
Indian Scare 149
Lawyers 27i
Location 321
Lodges 295, ?,22
Newspapers 271
Officials i2?,
Paulson Case 345
Physicians 278
Population 159
Settlement 130
Stage Station, I'.arly 322
Evansville Township —
.Altitude 66
Churches 248, 250
Officers 184
Organization 183
Population 1,59
Settlement 184
F
air Association 201
amilies. Early 127
arm Acreag:e 197
arm .Knimals 201
arm Xames, Registered 204
I'armers Clubs 201
h'arming Interests, Diversified 46
Farms, Number of 197
I'^inancial Statement, County 161
First County Government 129
F6rada 159, 264, 284, 328
Fraternal Orders 287 "M
F>eemasonry 295
Free Methodist Church 230, 231
hVostbites, Pioneer Cure for 139
G
Garheld—
Banks 2i^3
liusiness Interests 327
Churches 234, 327
Name 327
Officials 327
Population 159
Postoffice 327
Geography of the State 47
Geology of Douglas County 59, 66
German Evangelical Luth. Church__ 252
Grains 19,s
Grand -Army of the Republic 287
Gregory, P. L. 129. 152
Growing Season 197
tirowth of the State 44
H
Hicks, William E. 340
Holmes City —
Business Interests 325
Churches-. 230, 234, 248, 251, 252, 325
Indian Scare 149
Location 325
Lodges 293
Settlement 132
Holmes City Townshiij —
Altitude 66
Churches 247. 248
Officers 178
Organization ; 153, 174
Pioneer Life 175
Population 159
Recollections of 178
Settlement 124, 174
Topography 65
Home-coming, A 331
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Hospitality. Early 355
1 1 udson Township —
.\ltitiide 66
Officers 187
Organization 187
Population 159
Settlement 130, 187
Topography 65
Humane Society 299
I
Ida Township —
Altitude 66
Churches 227, 228. 231, 248
Moraines 64
Officers 185
(Organization 185
Population 159
Settleniient 128, 185
Incorporated Churches 224
Incorporated Towns 314
Independent Order of Good Temp-
lars 293
Independent Order of Odd Fellows
291, 292, 296
Indian Hunters, Trouble with 37
Indian Outbreak 140
Indian Treaties 33
Indian I'nrest 40
J
Jail History 156
Judges ^T^
Judges of Probate 130, 152, 153, 166
Judiciary of Douglas County 273
K
Kensington —
Banks 284
Business Interests 329
Churches 233
Location 329
Plat 329
Population 159
Kensington Rune Stone Tl
Kinkaid Brothers 124, 125
Knights of Pvthias 292
L
LaGrand Township —
Altitude -I 66
Churches 230
Officers 192
Organization 192
Population 159
Settlement 192
Topo.graphy- 65
Lake Mary Township —
.Altitude 66
Officers 181
Organization 181
Population 159
Settlement 181
Topography 65
Lakes of Minnesota 48
Lakes of the County 59
Land Area 195
Lawyers 272
Leaf \'alley Township —
Altitude 66
Churches 226, 230
Officers - 181
Organization 181
Population 159
Settlement 181
Legal Profession 272
Legislative Apportionments 169
Legislators 168
Lime 71
Live Stock 201
Location of County 59
Location of Douglas County 194
Lodges 287. 291
Lund Township —
Altitude 66
Churches 228, 232, 248, 249
Officers 191
Moraines 63
Organization 191
Population 159
Settlement 191
M
Masonic Order 295
Massacre of 1862 42
Medical Profession 275
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Melby 284, 328
Methodist Episcopal Church 224, 226, 235
Military Annals 286
Military Record of State 46
Military Trails 212
Millcrville—
Banks 284
Business Interests 329
Churches 233, 257
First Things 329
Plat 329
Population 159
Millerville Township —
Altitude 65
Moraines 63
Officers .: 183
Organization 182
Population 159
Settlement 135, 182
Miltona 328
Miltona Township — -
Altitude -- 66
Officers 191
Organization 190
Population 159
Settlement 191
Modern Brotherhood of America— 298
Modern Woodmen of America 293
Moe Township — •
Altitude 66
Churches 227, 228, 230, 233, 246
Moraines 63
Officers 180
Organization 179
Population 159
Settlement 180
Moraines 63
Mosquitoes 133, 134
N
Name of the State 47
Xationality of Citizens 197
Naturalization Records 159
Nelson —
Banks 284
Business Interests 326
Early Days 357
First Things 325
Incorporation 325
Nelson — Con.
Plat 325
Postoffice 325
Population 159
School 326
W. C. T. U 326
Nelson. Senator Knute 342
Newspapers 265
Norwegian-Danish Evan. Luth. Ch._ 228
Norwegian Evangelical Church 226
Norwegian Evan. Luth. Church
. 227, 229, 230
Norwegian Lutheran Church 246
O
Officers, First County 129
Officials of County 162
Ohnian, Olaf 72, 76, 86, 88
Old People's Home 357
Old Red River Trail 124
Orange Township —
Altitude 66
Commercial -Association 344
Officers 184
Organization 184
Population 159
♦ Settlement 184
Topography 65
Organization of County 152
Organization of Townships 172
Osakis —
Band 344
Banks 281
Business Interests 315
Churches
224, 227. 229, 231, 232, 255, 264, 319
Commercial Club 319
Creamery 318
Farmers Co-operative Assn 344
First Events 315
Fires 315
High School 217
Homes, A City of 321
Improvements 317
Incorporation 315
Lawyers 273
Location 314
Lodges. 289, 295, 319
Mail Service 320
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Osakis—
Manufacturing Industries 318
Xante '- 314
Xewspapcrs 271
Officials 315
Physicians 276
Plat 314
Population 159, 317
PostofFicc 320
Professional Interests 315
Public L'tilitics 318
Schools 320
Settlement 130, 314
Osakis Township —
Altitude 66
Churches 228, 248
Xame 172
Officers. First 153, 172
Officers, Present 173
Organization 153, 172
Population 159
Settlement 172
Ti>i)Ography 65
Osteopathy 279
P
Patriarchs Militant 296
Paulson Case, the Ccleliratcd 345
Physicians 275
Pioneer Days, Echoes of 132, 136
Pioneer Schools, Conditions in 138
Population of County 158, 197
Population of the State 46
Potatoes 199
Precipitation 197
Presbyterian Church 231, 234. 264
PresSi the 265
Probate Judges 130, 152, 153, 166
Products, Farm 198
R
Railroad Honds 39
Railroad, the First 213
Railroads, Early Days on .138
Rainfall 197
Red River Trail -_. 124
Registered h'arm Xanies 204
Ue-isters of Deeds 129, 152. 153, 1(6
Related State History 33
Religious Societies 224
Reminiscences 132, 136. 333, 346
Representatives 168
Rivers 4«
Roads, County ,_ 214
Roster of County Officials 161
Rune Stone, Kensington 12
Rural I"ree Delivery 201
Scandinavian Christian Free Church 233
Scandinavian Evan. Luth. Church
228. Ill
Scandinavian Free Church of God-- 233
Scandinavian Mut. Aid .^ssn 293
School Districts, Clerks of 221
School Houses, First 136
School Superintendents, County 168
Schools 216
Schools. Pioneer, Conditions in 138
Senators, State 168
Settlement of County 123
Seventh-Day Adventist Church -_231, 263
Sheriffs 129, 152. 153, 165
SherifT's Residence 1.58
Sidelights 331
Sims Brothers 356
Sioux Indians, Murders by 43
Siou.x Outbreak 140
Soil 66, 196
Soldiers Monument 286
.Solem Township —
.\ltitudc 66
Churches 227, 229, 248
Moraines 63
Officers 190
Organization 190
Population 159
Rime Stone 72
Settlement 190
Spanish-.American War 289
Spruce Hill Township —
Altitude 65
Churches 228, 231. 234, 248, 249
Moraines 63, 67
Officers 193
Organization 192
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Spruce Hill Townshii.—
Population 159
Settlement 192
Stage Routes, Early 212
State Constitution 39
State Senators 168
Stockade. Old 140
Summer Resorts 203
Superintendents of School 168
Surface Features 59
Surveyors, County 153, 166
Swedish Raptist Church__-229, 230,
234, 251
Swedish Evangelical Cliurch
225, 228, 229, 232
Swedish Evan. Luth. Church
229, 230. 231, 2.«, 234, 2.50
Swedish Lutheran Church _- 247
T
Teachers of Douglas County 223
Temperature 196
Terminal Moraines 67
Territorial Government 34
Timber 66, 195
Topography of the County 63
Towns 314
Township Organization 172
Townsite Speculation 38
Trading Posts 211
Trails, Early 124
Trails, the First 211
Transportation 211
Treasurers, County 153, 164
Treaties with Indians 33
U
Union Church Society 232
Union Religious Society 229
I'rness Township —
.Altitude 66
Churches 230, 248, 250
Lodges 293
Officers 187
Organization 186
Population 159
Settlement 186
V
Value of Farm Land 197
Vegetable Products 199
Villages 314
w
Water Area 195
Weather Records *__— 196
Woman's Christian Temperance
Union 294
GRANT COUNTY
A
■'.\ Crow Feast" 502
Aastad 442
-Aboriginal Earthworks 369
-Agricultural -Agent. County 423
-Agricultural -Association 425
-Agriculture, Development of 419
Altitudes 362
-An Eventful Day 500
-Ancient Free and .Accepted Masons_ 474
-Ancient Stone Carving 506
-Apportionments, Legislative 406
Area of County 361
-Assessment Districts, First 389
-Attorneys 458
-Auditors. County 389, 401
.\shby—
Altitude 362
Banks 468, 470
Business Interests 495
Churches 447
Farmers' Club ^ 424
Location 494
Lodges 472, 479
Lawyers 459
Newspapers 456
Officials 494
Physicians 463
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Ashby— Con.
Population 396
Postoffice 49S
School District Officers 438
Schools 494
Teachers 437
Banks and Banking
Baptist Church
Barrett^
466
.. 454
470. 471
Business Interests
Churches
497
4=i4
Farmers' Club
Incorporation
Location
424
496
496
Lodges
477 479
Manufacturing Industries-
Officials
496
496
464
Platted
496
396
497
School District Officers
Teachers
439
437
Beaches . ^
365
458
Benevolent Societies
Brick-making
474
369
Bridges, Early 428
Brotherhood of -American Yeomen- 479
Brown, Henry SOS
Building Stone
C
367
499
Catholic Church
452
Christian Reform Church
Church of God
Churches of Grant County—.
Clerks of the Court
Commissioner Districts
454
454
442
404
—390, 400
County .\gricultural .\gent 423
County .\ttorneys 389, 403
County -Auditors 389, 401
County Commissioners, First 387
County Commissioners, List of
387, 389, 391, 399
County P'inances 397
County Officers, First 389
County-seat Contest 392, 500
County Seat Located 387, 389
County Surveyors 404
County Treasurers 389, 401
Court Commissioners 405
Court, First Sessions of 460
Court House, First 391
Court House, Present 394
Crop Statistics 422
Crops, Early 420
Degree of Honor 480
Delaware Township — •
Altitude 362
Geology 367
Name 416
Officers 416
Organization 416
Population 396
Roads, Early 385
School District Officers 438
Schools 432
Settlement 385
Dentists 464
Development of School System 435
District Court 460
Diversified Farming 421
Doctors 461
Drainage of County 361
Commissioners, County, First 387
Commissioners, County, List of
387, 389, 391, 399
Coroners 404
E
Early Difficulties 420
Early Settlement, Routes of 428
Earthworks, -Aboriginal 369
Eastern Star, Order of the 475
Education 432
Elbow Lake —
-\ncient Stone 506
Band 4S7
Banks 467
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Llliew Lake— Con.
Business Interests 485
Churches 444,445,447, 452
Court Houses 392, 394
Creamery 486
Dentists 464
Early Growth 482
Election. First 481
Farmers' Clubs 424
Growth 481
Improvements ■ 482
Lawyers 459
Location 481
Lo.Ircs 474. 476, 478, 479, 480
Newspapers 456, 486
Officials 482
Physicians 462
Flatted 481
Population 396
Postmaster, .An Early 378
Postoffice History 482
Public Utilities 482
School District Officers 437
Schools 483
Teachers 437. 484
Telephones 486
Elliow Lake Township —
.\ltitude 362
Churches 442, 443
I-"armers' Clubs 424
Election, First 412
First Death 381
First Religious Service 381
Geology 367
Officials 412
Organization 411
Population 396
School District Officers 438
School, First 381
Schools 432
Settlement . 377, 380
Elevations 362
Elk Lake Township —
.Altitude 362
Churches 443
Geology 365
Mill, Early 381
Officers 410
Organization 410
Population 396
Elk Lake Township — Con.
School District Officers 437
Schools 432, 433
Settlement 376, 377, 381
Roads, Early 38L 429
Erdahl—
Banks 471
Business Interests 498
Churches 454
Farmers' Club 424
Location 498
Plat 498
School District Officers 440
Erdahl. Rev. Gullik M 444
I'-rdahl Township —
-Altitude 362
Lime 367
Moraines 364
Name 412
Officials 412
Organization 412
School District Officers 437
Schools 432
Settlement 384
Population 396
Evangelical Lutheran Church 446
F
Fairs, Annual 426
Farm Conditions, Modern 422
Farm Machinery, Evolution of 421
Farm Names 424
Farm Production 422
Farmers' Clubs 423
Farming Interests 419
Finances of County 397
First County Commissioners 387
First House in County 376
First Session of Court 460
Fraternal Orders 474
Freemasons 474
G
Geological Structure 364
German Evan. Luth. Church 454
German Reformed Church 454
Glacial Drift 364
Godward. Rev. James 448
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Old Settlers- Association 508
Old Stockade 374
Order of the Eastern Star 475
Organization of County 387
P
Pelican Lake Township —
Altitude 362
Election, Mrst 411
Government Road 373
Lime 369
Moraines 364
Officials 411
Organization 411
Population 396
Roads, Early 427
School District Officers 438
Schools 432, 433
Settlement 377, 380
Stockade 374
Physicians 461
Pioneer Conditions 377
Pioneer Farms 419
Pioneer School Conditions 435
Pomme de Terre —
Churches 443
Early Stores J 380
Laid Out 379
Mill 380
Plat 499
Pomme dc Terre Township — •
Altitude 362
Election, First 412
Moraines 364
Officials 412
Organization 412
Population 396
Roads. Early 427
School District Officers 438
Schools 432
Settlement i77 . 379
Population Statistics 395
Prairie Fires 420
Presbyterian Churcli 447
Press, the 455
R
Railroads 431
Recorded I'-arm Names 424
Registers of Deeds 389, 402
Religious Societies 442
Representatives 406
Road Districts, First 389
Roads, Government 373
Roseville Township —
Altitude 362
Churches 454
Election, First 414
Xanie 383
Officers 414
Organization 414
Population 396
School District Officers 438
Schools 383
Settlement 383
Routes of Early Settlement 428
Ivoyal Xeighhors of America 477
S
Sanford, Henry F. 376. 378
Sanford Township —
Altitude 362
First House in County 376
Xame 417
Officials 417
Organization 417
Population 3%
School District Officers 438
Schools 432. 434
Settlement 376, 377, i7i<
School District Officers 437
School Districts, Early „_-389, 390, 432
School I'inancial Statement 440
School Houses, Early 434
School Superintendents. County 405
Schools 432
Schools. Early, Sketch of 433
Secret Orders 474
Senators, State 406
Settlement, Early 376
Seventh-Day Advcntist Church 4.=;3
Sheriffs 389. 3''1. 402
Sioux Indian Outbreak 370
Sketch of Early Schools 433
Soil 362
State Highway Commission 430
State Roads 4.W
State Senators 406
HISTORICAL INDEX.
Stock Raising- 422
Stockade, the Old 374
Stone, Building 368
Stone Carving, Ancient 506
Stony Brook Township —
Altitude 362
Election, First 413
First Religious Service 383
House, First 383
Officials 413
Organization 413
Population 396
Roads, Early 427
School District Officers 438
Schools 432
Settlement 376, 377, 382
Streams 361
Surface Features 361
Superintendents of Schools 405
Surveyors, County 404
Swedish Evan. Luth. Church 444
Synod Lutheran Churches 442
T
Teachers in 1896 435
Teachers in 1916 436
Timber 364
Township Organization 409
Trails, Early 427
Transportation 427
Treasurers, County 389, 401
Tree Planting, Early 421
V
Veterinary Surgeons 46S
W
Wendell-
Banks 469, 471
Business Interests 493
Churches 443, 449
Creamery 492
Farmers' Club 424
Incorporation 492
Location 492
Lodges 478
Merchants, Early 492
Newspapers 456
Officials 493
Physicians 464
Platted 492
Population 396
Postoffice 492
Public Utilities 493
School District Officers 439
Schools 493
Teachers 437
Wheat, a Leading Crop 421
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX
VOLUME II
A.
Aancnson, Reinert _-31/
Aanerud, M. C .485
Adams, Mclvin L 196
Adensam. Henry 688
Adensam, Wcnzl 669
Adrianson, Clavis P 670
Amundsen, Ole A. 169
Amundson, Hon. Ole 43
Amundson. Oscar 166
Anderson. A. Emil 600
Anderson, A. M 167
Anderson, Aaron 458
Anderson, Andrew H 667
Anderson, Carl D 295
Anderson, Charles 251
Anderson, Charley J 623
Anderson, F. O 578
Anderson, Giistaf 244
Anderson, Louis 174
Anderson, Magnus 345
Anderson, Ncls D 496
Anderson, Xcls M 232
Anderson, O. H. 534
Anderson, Swan M 325
Angen, Jens J 263
Angen, Olaus 378
Asleson, Ole 195
Augdabl, Carl O 682
B
Backelin, John 432
Bah, Andrew O 203
Bah, Olaus O 246
Baker, John 544
Baker, Lewis 544
Baker, William R 676
Bardahl, Hans 517
Barker, Melvin A 591
Bartness, Paul S 611
Earlz, Rev. Albert F. W 575
Bates, John C 236
Behrends, William F 94
Benson, John S 406
Benson, Louis 680
Berg, John O 677
Bergan. Erick N -188
Bergan, Ole N 676
Bergh, Emil E 275
Berglund, J. Alfred 430
Bergstrom, John __.383
Betland, Christopher P 551
Betland, John C 526
Betterman, William F 351
Birkhofer, Hans 336
Bjerke, Even E 620
Boerner, Elmer 558
Bolin, John 639
Bordsen, Theodore 90
Borgen, Adolph 571
Borrill. James R 536
I'.oulting, Walter H 274
Bowman, Edwin 337
Brakken, Gilbert J. 691
Brandt, Emil J 339
Brckke, Nels B 686
Brevig-, Xels N 212
Brevig. Peter N' 675
Brewf^cr. Loren I 84
Bronson, Clement H 504
Bronson. Willie X 1 87
Brough, Robert K 71
Brown, Charles T 612
Brown, Eli W 564
Brown, George C 261
Brown, John N 384
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Brown, Nicholas 384
Brown, P. C 388
Brown, William 662
Brucske, lunil 476
Brueskc. I'Vedcrick 439
Brusc, Evert 186
Bundy, Scott 424
Burkcc, Axel 208
Burros. O. J 363
Burtness, Tidoman H 68
Busclier. Frank 307
Bye, Xels 479
C
Campbell, Harlan S 61
Canlicld, Charles F 89
Carlquist, Adam 374
Carlson, C. A 334
Carlson, Carl J 373
Carlson, Magnus 464
Carlson, Samuel M 464
Cassell, Peter 278
Cater, Charles 88
Christensen, Martin 411
Christcnson, Arthur C 249
Christenson, Christen A 106
Christeuson, Henry 306
Christenson, Nels C 250
Christiansen, Chris 511
Christopherson, Charles J 460
Clark, John H 644
Colbjornscn, Colbjorn W 40
Cooley, John H 466
Cordal, Tosten T 122
Cowing;, William T 35
Crabb, William J 451
Crai.sj, Hon, George P 96
Curtis, Jesse M 158
Curtis, O. H 291
D
Dahl. Alfred J 98
Dahl, F.rick F 390
Dahl, Peter E 340
Dahlberg, Martin 1 445
Dahlgrcn, Olaf J 661
Dahlstrom, Carl J 2.S9
Danek. eharles 311
Davidson, David J 409
Derby, L. J 658
Dicken, James F 376
Diment, Henry 368
Diment, Louis 368
Dobmeyer, F'erdinand G 472
Drussell, Edward J 220
Dybdal, Knute 283
Dybdal, Tosten E 583
Dyrud, Siver 663
E
EkbcFg, Frank A 585
Elgin, Frank 497
EUingson, Ellen 652
Ellingson, Fllcnd X 116
EUingson, Nils 63
Ellis, Ray F 465
Engemon, Ole 253
Englund, Peter M 455
Engstrom, Peter . 353
Erickson, August W 223
Erickson, Edward P. 584
Erickson, Erick G 618
Erickson, Hcndrick 417
Erickson, Peter 189
Evenson, Nels M 51
Evju. Halbcrt H 680
F
b'agerberg, Lewis T 615
Eahlin, Nels J. 265
Fida, Leopold 341
F'ida, Lucas 382
Fisher, John M. 175
Fjoslien. Knut O 505
Floden, Peter 640
Foslien, Alfred 303
Foslien, Theodore 399
I'oss, Hon. Louis O 562
Frigaard, Jens 281
G
Gerjord, Ole T. 521
Gilbertson, George 176
Gilbertson, Gilbert 113
Gilkinson. Andrew I.. M. D I.^C
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Gillies, John E 492
Ginther, Louis 138
Goetzinger, Hon. William H 477
Goodell, Charles S 159
Gregersen, Anton H. 56
Grinder, Christian C 193
Gronwold, Herman •. 185
Groven, Knute 267
Gruetzmacher, Robert 82
Guenther, Gustavus 576
Gulbrandscn, Ole 554
Gulbranson, Ole 653
Gulson, H. A 356
Gundcrson. John L 179
Gustafson, Gustaf H 579
H
Haatvedt, Carl A. 288
Haatvedt, Ole A 288
Halgrimson, J. E 184
Halvorson, Albert O 491
Halvorson, John T 343
Halvorson, Osten 228
Hammer, John 362
Hand, William R., M. D 569
Handschug, William A 588
Hansen, Anton 410
Hansen, Louis 614
Hanson, Albert 240
Hanson, Christopher B 426
Hanson, Erick 347
Hanson, Gilbert 674
Hanson, George H 352
Hanson, Hans O 240
Hanson, Hans P 352
Hanson, Henry 452
Hanson, Ole 508
Hanson, Peter 461
Harris, Frederick G 689
Harrison, Ole W 148
Harstad, Carl A 226
Harstad, Christian L ^_270
Hauge, Lars J. 132
H'augen, Andrew I 500
Haugen, Knute 149
Hauglie, Anton 367
Hawkins, Oliver P 298
Hawkinson, Andrew 665
Haywood, George H 142
Heald, Frank H 629
Helleckson, FI. E 77
Hcndrickson. Henry 518
Hengstler, William H., M. D 76
Herbert, Frans O 318
Hermanson, Carl 231
Hermanson, L. G 350
Hermanson, William 398
Hessel, Henry 516
Hctherington, Charles C 322
Hicks, William E S3
Hillmond, Hon. Herman 72
Hintzen, John A 342
Hintzen. Leonard 437
Hintzen, Nicholas 344
Hjelm, Peter M 404
Hobart, H. B 440
Hogstrom, John N 670
Holing, Anton 453
Holing, John 657
Holm, Peter J 462
Holt. Engebret O 539
Holte, Christ L 475
Hoplin, Peter 75
Hove, James B 139
Hove, Oluf T 433
Howe, Byron E 365
Hubred, Hans 560
Hubred, Olaf M 546
Isackson, Isack 386
Isakson, Andrew 538
Island, Gunerinus L. 230
Iverson. Ole B 93
J
Jeffrey, George 355
Jensen, Peder 660
Jensen. Theodore A 333
Jenstad, Ole G 541
Johnson, Hon. .\nders G— 1 483
Johnson, Charles 414
Johnson. Chris 91
Johnson, Erick 395
Johnson, Erick G 408
Johnson, Gustav A 182
Johnson. John C 488
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Johnson, Martin 237
Johnson, Martin P 634
Johnson, Mrs. Peter 332
Johnson, Theodore 271
Johnson, \'ictor X 412
Julig, Charles L 252
K
Kaasa, Halvor L 194
Kellogg. Leander 4cS9
Kent, Lewis S 144
Kersten, H. C 654
Kietzman. Adolph G 606
Kietznian, Aniil R 312
Kietzmann, .\lbert P 598
Kinney, James .\ 272
Kloehn, Charles 387
Kloos, Charles B 596
Kloos, John W 656
King, Frederick 447
Knutson, Torgjels 168
Kraemcr, Michael 309
Kreidler, George D ; 617
Kube, Adolph G 287
Kuchenbcckcr, Otto 199
Knllandcr, Andrew 685
L
Landecne, William E 567
Landt, S. S 532
Larson, A. D., M. D 605
Larson, .-Mgot F 214
Larson, C. H 457
Larson, Constant 160
Larson, Mrs. Elna 561
Larson. Emil 636
Larson, Erick 324
Larson, Julius 444
Larson, Simon 478
Larson, Victor 346
Leach, Hugh E 83
Lee, Jens P 603
Lee, Lars E 423
Lee, Ole 302
Lekander, Jens 648
Leraas, Andrew L 599
Leraas, Ole J .590
Lel^oy, Henry A 592
Lewis, Hon. Henry L 446
Lien, Edward 535
Lietz, Henry T 635
Lillemoen, Henry G 118
Lindem, John T 137
Lindsey, Harvey E 248
Lindstrom, Charles J 217
Lindstrom, Olaf J 494
Linnard, Carl O 401
Long, Charles M., M. D 364
Lorsung, Anton J 117
Lund, Alfred O 78
Lund, Christian A 357
Lusty, John A 1 331
Lynne, John M 689
Lynne, Lars 587
Mc
McClellan, James R 335
McCord, Andrew L 436
McCrea, Ezra E 566
McFarlane, John 470
M
Magnuson, A. Alfred 459
Mahlke, Fred 637
Malmquist, Henry A 338
Martinson, Henry M 205
Mathison, Math 428
Mattson, Swen 515
Ma.xfield, George S 81
Mcckstroth, Charles W., M. D 163
Meissner, Ernest 358
Meissner, William F 155
Meistcr, Conrad 314
Melby, H. O 300
Melby, K. N. O 480
Melin. Axel 389
Mclin, Charles 360
Miller, Carl G 224
Miller, Henry W 543
Miller, Soren J 435
Mobraaten, Torger 279
Mollman, August 552
Moses, William J. B 59
Moxness, Peder 391
Mylir, Henry O 369
Mvhr, Peter O 405
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
X
Xasli, Timothy V 284
Xehls. I"rank J. E. G 103
Xclson, Alfred 664
Xclsoii, Algc.rt T 43S
Xelsoii, Carl 241
Xclson. Edward 23^
Xclson, Gustaf 286
Xolson. John P 219
Xelson, John W 628
Xelsun. lion. Xcls E 418
XeLson. Xolson G 349
Xdson, Ottn 482
\.lM.n, otio W 442
Xrl>,.n. I\Ut J 473
Xo>s, Christ (■ 215
Xewhorsc, Carl J 555
Xcwnian. E. J 499
Xewman, Gust 277
Xicmackl. William W .502
Xilson. Xils 512
Xorsrcn, John .\ 429
Xornian. Rev. Olans 41
O
Oachs. iM-ank 601
Ohcrs, Knut - 427
Olhekson, Hans 1 266
Olson. Charles G 431
Olson. Jnlins C 641
Olson. Ole G 520
Olson, Olof 211
Olson, Thomas 157
Omland, Peter T 400
Oslund. Erick O 238
Osterbcrg-, Arthur L 115
Ostrom, .\aron J 140
Otterson. Xcls M 524
P
Pennie. Peter 315
Pennock, Joseph 668
Peterson, Carl O 280
Peterson, Charles S 626
Peterson, Claus 456
Peterson, Emil 359
Peterson, Erank .\ 545
Peterson, Xcls 136
Peterson. P. M 254
I'eterson, Peter 550
Peterson, Peter .\. 326
Peterson, I'eter A 326
IVterson. Peter C, 105
Peterson. Peter J 683
Petcrsnn, Rev. Peter T 143
Pikop. Knut .\. 207
Pikop. L. 11 519
Pikop, Olaus .\ 127
Piko]). Hon. Ole A 33
Phtan. Gilbert J 263
Pletan, Jens 198
I'letan. Ole J 187
I'owers, i'letcher W.. M. D 527
Prestrud, C. .\. 70
Q
Ouast. F. E 666
(juinn, Thomas 642
R
Raines, John E 671
Raiter, Ercd C 4.i
Randall, .\uvignc M.. M. D 154
Rarer. Robert F 100
Reif. Victor M 290
Ringdahl, Theo. 449
Risbrudt. Edward T 366
Ritzschke, Albert L 180
Ritzschke, Carl 646
Kitzschkc, Charles E 548
Ritzsclikc, Theodore A. H 580
Ronhovde, Mons ..-_572
liooney, .\. A 206
Rose, Lars . 321
Roth, Andrew 297
Ruggles. E. R 125
Russell, INTarvin D 421
Rustad, Carl O 594
Rustand, .Andrew C.l 487
Rustand, Mads C 153
Rustand, Ole C 191
Rustand, Ole K 109
Ruud, Magnus P.., M. D 92
BIOGKAl'ItlCAL INDEX.
s
Sanil. Kittil () 693
Saiul, Ole O 239
Sandbcrg-, John 495
Sanford, Jasper X 631
Sangstead, Andrew 420
Sannes, Ole O 525
Sanstcad, John E 371
Saterlee, Henry I 403
Satterlund. Ole 687
Satire. Rev. Torbjorn A 4S
Schaffer. .Albertiis 260
Schelin, Charles F 471
Schlcchter. Joseph 294
Schmidt, William 67S
Schmidt, William B 245
Schoonover, Sylvan 102
Schulz, .■\ugust 643
Sellscth. Ole 38
Setran, Hogan G 282
Sheldon. W. W 134
Shervey, Sivert 542
Shogrcn, Carl A 209
Shogren. Herman A 216
Simonson, Hans 568
Skinnemoen, John S ^ 124
Skinnemoen, Nils S 133
Skinnemoen, Ole S 173
Skinnemoen. Stiner S., Jr 52
Skoglund, Magnus 681
Skramstad, Haakcn 227
Skrove, Martin 463
Sletten. K. E 607
Sletto. Ole E 415
Slotsve, Hans H. 557
Smith, John 402
Smith. Roy G 269
Sobers, Halvor O 613
StafFanson, Erick G 372
Stariha. Mathcw _— 229
Stark. Gustav -V 162
Sfcdje. Clarence 692
Stcidl, Nicholas A 130
Steinach, Rev. Emil J 99
Steinhorst. Ed 690
Stene. C. J 171
Stevens. George T 151
Strand, Jens O 530
Strandberg. John T 361
Strang, Cassius C, D. D. S 64
Strecd, Tcter 242
Strom, .\nton H 381
Stromlund, George 192
-Suckow. Herman 392
Sund, Engebret E 213
Svvcnson, Carl H. 679
Swenson, Ferdinand 121
Svvcnson, Sven N. 256
Swenson, Rev. Sven W 80
Swenson. Swen 467
Swenson, Theo E 256
Swore, Knute 165
Synionds, Fred H. 624
Syverson. Lauritz 450
Syvrud. Thomas A. 156
T
Teigen, Bottol T. 108
Thayer. Thomas M.. M. D. 111
Thies. Nick .sa;
Thompson, .Alfred J. 468
Thompson, August 285
Thompson, Gilbert J 649
Thompson, John 638
Thompson, Ole A. 304
Thompson. Theo. 595
Thorson, Lars 441
Thorson. Thor J 422
Thorstenson, Calmer E. 164
Thronson. Otto C. 201
Thronson. Thron C. 528
Titus. John F. 268
Tobiason. T. L. 222
Tollefson, Bernt 311)
Tollefson. Jens 235
Torgerson, Mikkel 289
Torstenson, William 650
Treat, George L. 128
Triese. Jacob 513
Tripp, George 293
Trisko, Sylvester 264
U
Ulsagcr, Martin N 221
I'nunib, Peter O. 112
l-rness. John A. 582
Von l-!auml);icli. Ma
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
V Wcstlund, P. M. 622
W'cttleson, Joseph H. 58
L'denck -3-/ ^^..^1^ Martin l'. 507
Winkjcr, G. T. 379
W Wold, Hon. Carl .\. 60H
Wagcnius, Samuel O 329 ^\°'f- "^^ '^ ^^^
Wagner, Herbert O. 54
Walstad. -Andrew M. 320
Y
Wallen, Oscar J. 119 yates, W. .\. 181
Wangsness, Syvert S. 258
Z
Waugh, Knute 522
W^caver, Howard _ 299
Weigand, Fred 621 Zelkr. Andrew 684
Wells, A. Waters 145 Zicb^irth. \V. T. 150
W>scn, Constant .\. 396 Zicnier. Kred 574
Western, John O. 172 Zininul, Andrew 416
DOUGLAS COUNTY
MINNESOTA
CHAPTER I.
Related State History.
The greater part, or about two-thirds, of the territory embraced within
the boundaries of Minnesota was inckided in the Louisiana Purchase, ceded
to the United States by France in 1803. The remainder of this state, com-
prising the northeastern third part, lying east of the Mississippi river, was
included in the country surrendered from Great Britain by the treaty of
1783, at the end of the Revolutionary War. In 1805 a grant of land nine
miles square, at the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peter (now Min-
nesota) rivers, was obtained from the Sioux Indians. A military post was
established on the grant in 18 19, and in 1820 arrangements were made for
the erection of a fort, which was completed in 1822 and named Ft. Snelling,
after the commanding officer, and the grant has ever since been known as
the Ft. Snelling Reservation. In 1823 the first steamboat ascended the
Mississippi as far as Ft. Snelling; and annually thereafter one or two trips
of steamboats were made to this isolated post for a number of years.
This territory was held by the Chippewa or Ojibway and the Dakota
or Sioux Indians, but adventurous pioneers had penetrated into the coun-
try along the streams tributary to the Mississippi river, and in 1836 Wis-
consin territory was organized, comprising all the territory west of Lake
Michigan, and including within its limits all the country west of the Great
Lakes and north of Illinois, the west boundary of the territory being the
Mississippi river.
INDIAN TRE.A.TIES.
In 1837 two important treaties were made with the native tribes of
Indians. The first one was made by Gov. Henry Dodge, of Wisconsin, with
the Ojibwavs, at Ft. Snelling, on the 29th of July, of that year, whereby
(3)
34 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
they ceded to the United States all their pine or agricultural lands on the St.
Croix river and its tributaries.
On the 29th of September, of the same year, at the city of Washing-
ton, a treaty with the Sioux was made by Joel R. Poinsett, a special com-
missioner representing the United States, and about twenty chiefs, accom-
panied by Major Taliaferro, their agent, and Scott Campbell, an interpreter.
Through the influence and by the direction of Governor Dodge, this delega-
tion of chiefs had proceeded to Washington for the purpose of making this
treaty, by which the Dakotas, or Sioux, ceded to the United States all their
lands east of the Mississippi river and all its islands. The Indians were to
receive as consideration for the same $110,000 in cash, to be divided among
the mixed bloods, $90,000 in payment of debts owing by the tribes, and
$300,000 to be invested in five per cent, stocks, the interest of which should
be paid to them annually.
In 1848 Wisconsin adopted a state constitution, but ignored the enab-
ling act, and made the northern part of the western boundary of the state
along the line of the St. Louis and Rum rivers, which was not accepted by
the United States government, and the boundary line from the Mississippi
river to Lake Superior became fixed, as in the enabling act, on the line of
the St. Croix river and in a direct line to the mouth of the St. Louis river.
After the acceptance of the Wisconsin constitution, in May, 1848, the
territory north and west of the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers being prac-
ticaly without a government, the Hon. John Catlin, claiming to be still
secretary and acting governor of Wisconsin territory, issued a proclama-
tion for a special election, to elect a delegate to Congress. The election
was held on October 30, and Hon. H. H. Sibley was chosen delegate, and
after some delay was admitted as such into the Congress of the United
States.
TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED.
On March 3, 1S49, Congress passed an act to establish the territorial
government of Minnesota. It fixed the seat of government at St. Paul,
and established the southern boundary of the territory along the north and
west boundary line of the state of Iowa, from the Mississippi river to the
Missouri river, the western boundary through the middle of the channel
of the Missouri river to the moutli of the White Earth river, and up the
middle of the channel of the White Earth river to the boundary line between
the United States and Great Britain, the northern boundary running thence
easterly and southeasterly on the international boundary line to Lake Super-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 35
ior, and the eastern boundary running thence in a straight Hne to the north-
ermost point of the state of Wisconsin, and following the north and west
boundary of said state down the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers to the
place of beginning. At this time the population of the territory was mainly
in the section east of the Mississippi river, and the settlers were almost
entirely engaged in lumbering. The territorial government was declared
fully organized, June i, 1849, by Hon. Alexander Ramsey, who had been
appointed first territorial governor. The year 1848 was noted as the year
of excitement from the discovery of gold in California, and the eyes of
many thousands of people throughout the east were turned westward, where
opportunities were opening for the growth of new states. Although at the
organization of the territory there was scarcely a thousand people, within a
year the census of 1850 gave to the territory a population of 6,077. Of this
number, however, 1,134 residents were credited to the northernmost part of
the territory on the Red River of the North, many of these being half-
breds, and the early pioneers engaged in the fur trade, brought there
through the influence of the Hudson Bay Company.
The first territorial election was held on August i, 1849.
The first session of the territorial Legislature commenced in St. Paul,
September 3, 1849, during which counties were established and a code of
laws enacted. The second session was commenced in January, 1851, at
which time the capitol was located at St. Paul, the university at St. Anthony,
and the state prison at Stillwater.
THE COUNCIL AT TRAVERSE DES SIOUX. ^ ^ ^^^ m —
1192545
In 185 1 three treaties were made with the Sioux and with the Ojibway
bands of Indians, whereby large tracts of lands were relinquished to the
United States. In view of the great extent of country desired, and the
importance of the transaction, and the long continued friendship of the
Dakota nation. President Fillmore departed from the usual mode of appoint-
ing commissioners, and deputed the Hon. Luke Lea, the commissioner of
Indian affairs, and Gov. Alexander Ramsey to meet the representatives of
the Dakotas, and to conclude with them a treaty for such lands as they
might be willing to sell.
On the 27th of June, 185 1, Commissioner Lea arrived in St. Paul on
the steamboat "Excelsior," and on the 29th he, in company with Governor
Ramsey, landed at Traverse des Sioux, where the great council was to be
held and the treaty consummated with the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands
36 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
of Sioux. Great delay in the proceedings was caused by the non-arrival of
certain Sioux chiefs from the upper country, and it was not until the i8th
of July that the council convened and the preliminaries to the treaty com-
menced. During this interval of about twenty days they all entertained
themselves as best they could with races, dances, suppers, sham fights, and
all sorts of fun.
On the 1 8th of Jul}", all the chiefs having arrived, proclamation was
made, and being convened in grand council and the pipe of peace having
been passed around, the council was opened by an address from Governor
Ramsey. On the 23rd of July the treaty was concluded and signed by the
chiefs, by which they ceded to the United States all the lands claimed by
these bands east of the Sioux Wood (or Bois des Sioux), and Big Sioux
ri\ers and Lake Traverse to the Mississippi, excepting a reservation one
hundred miles long by twenty miles wide, on the upper part of the Minne-
sota river. By this treaty the Indians were to remove within two years to
the reservation; to receive from the government, after removal $275,000,
to enable them to settle up their affairs and to become established in their
new home; and $30,000 was to be expended in breaking land, erecting mills
and establishing a manual training school. They were also to receive for
fifty years from that time, an annuity of $68,000, payable as follows : Cash,
$40,000; civilization fund, $12,000; goods and provisions, $10,000; educa-
tion fund, $6,000.
About a week later, on the 29th of July, Governor Ramsey and Com-
missioner Lea met the chiefs and leading men of the Med-ay-wakanton and
Wah-pay-koo-tay bands of Sioux at a grand council at Mendota, to nego-
tiate another treaty for the sale of other lands, which was concluded on the
5th of August, being signed by sixty-four chiefs, head men and warriors.
In the treaty these bands of Indians ceded and relinquished all their lands in
territory of Minnesota and state of Iowa, and in consideration thereof the
United States was to reserve for them a tract of the average width of ten
miles on either side of the Minnesota river, and bounded on the west by the
Tehay-tam-bay and Yellow Medicine rivers, on the east by the Little Rock
river, and a line running due south from the mouth to the Waraju river;
and to pay them the following sums of money: For settling debts and aid
in removal, $220,000; for erection of buildings and opening farms, $30,000;
civilization fund, to be paid annually, $12,000; educational fund, paid
annually, $6,000; goods and provisions, annually, $10,000; cash, $30,000.
The annuities were to continue for fifty years from the date of the treaty.
These two treaties of 1851 at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota acquired
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 'X^']
for white settlement nearly 24,000,000 acres of the finest lands in the
world. The cessions were mostly in Minnesota, but included about an eighth
part, or nearly 3,000,000 acres, in the state of Iowa, between the line of the
old "neutral ground" and the northern and western boundaries of the state.
That tract of country, and generally all lands in Iowa, claimed by the Sioux,
were therefore embraced in the articles of cession of both treaties.
The Senate of the United States, on the 23rd of June, 1852, ratified the
treaties, with amendments to each, which amendments were subsequently
accepted by the Indians, and on the 24th of February, 1853, President Mil-
lard Fillmore issued his proclamation accepting, ratifying and confirming
each of the said treaties as amended. The total lands in the present state of
Minnesota relinquished to the government by these treaties exceeded
19,000,000 acres; and they also ceded about 1,750,000 acres in South Dakota,
besides the tract described in Iowa.
The third treaty of 185 1 was effected by Governor Ramsey with the
Red Lake and Pembina bands of Ojibways at Pembina, by which they
ceded certain territory, sixty-five miles in width by one hundred and fifty
miles in length, intersected by the Red River of the North. This treaty
was not ratified by the government.
After the ratification of the treaties with the Sioux, a great wave of
immigration set in from all the eastern states, and an era of speculation
started which probably has never been excelled in any portion of the west.
A census, taken in 1857, gave a population of 150,037.
INDIAN HUNTERS CAUSE TROUBLE.
Notwithstanding there was an abundant supply of good land outside of
the limits of the land ceded under these treaties, the adventurous spirit
of the pioneers led many of them to settle on the extreme limits of the
grant, and in immediate proximity to the Indian settlements. In the south-
western portion of the state, particularly, settlements were made close to
the boundary line of Iowa and north and west of Spirit lake. Some were
in Iowa and some were in Minnesota, and all were within the jurisdiction
of the Indian agent resident in the territory of Minnesota. Although the
Indians were living on the reservation lands west of these settlements, in
their hunting expeditions they were accustomed to return to the ceded
lands. In a general way the Indians were civil, and committed only petty
depredations; but their visits were at times annoying. Among the Indians
there was a single band, under the leadership of Ink-pa-du-ta, or the Scar-
38 D01GLA5 AND GRANT COUXTIES. MIXXESOTA.
kt Point, of about fifteen lodges, which had been for many years an inde-
pendent band and of a thie\Tng, \-agabondish character (really outlaws from
the Sioux nation, and not represented in the treaties of 1S51). who had
taken possession of a strip of land nmning on both sides of the boundary
lines of Iowa and Minnesota, and extending to the Missouri river. In
March. 1857. a few of these Indians were hunting in the neighborhood of
Rock river and one of them was bitten by a dog belonging to a white man.
The dog was killed by the Indian, and in return the owner of the dog made
an assault upon the Indian, and afterward gathered his neighbors, and they
went to the Indian camp and disarmed them. The arms were afterward
returned to them, and the party moved northeast arriving at the Spirit Lake
settlement about the 6di of March, where they massacred the men and took
four wcMnoi into captivity. Other settlements were attacked, and alto-
gether forty-two settlers were killed. Two of the women were afterward
rescued through the efforts of Hon. Charles E. Flandreau. then the Indian
agents An effort was made to punish this band of savages, but all escaped
except the eldest son of Ink-pa-du-ta. who had ventured into the camp of
other Sioux, near the agency, and was killed in an attempt to capture him.
T0WX-5ITE 5?ZCVL.\TI0X.
In 1855 and 1856 town-site speculation became the absorbing thought,
and when die panic of 1857 set in. Minnesota was soon in a deplorable
condition. The demand for an extensive railroad system and a state gov-
ernment had originated in the flush times of 1856 and 1857, and on Febru-
arv 26. 1857, Qwigress passed an act authorizing a constitutional conven-
tion, and granting a large amount of lands in aid of puWic schools. On
March 3, 1857, an act of Congress was approved making a large grant of
lands in aid of railroads.
The election of members of the Constitutional Convention was held on
Tune I, 1857, and the resnh was an almost equal division representing the
Democratic and RqmUican parties. So close was this division, and there
being some contested seats, when the convention assemtJed, on July 13,
two distinct organizations were made, each proceeding to frame a Con-
stitntion. but finally, by conference committees, they united in one docu-
ment, which was submitted to a vote of the people on October 13, and was
adc^ed almost unanimously. By this Constitution the boundaries of the
state were changed <m the west, making the Red River of the North the
line, up the Bois des Sioux, and thence extending along that river and
DOLGLAS AXD GRAXT COIXTIES. MIXVESOTA. 39
through Lake Traverse and Big Stone lake, and by a direct south Hne to the
north boundar}' of Iowa.
This Constitution provided for an election of state officers at the same
time of voting upon the adoption of the Constitution, resulting, by a close
vote, in the election of the Democratic nominees. The first state Legisla-
ture was convened on the 2nd of December. 1857, and continued in session
until March 25, 1858, when a recess was taken until after the state should
be admitted. Some doubts were raised as to the legality of the acts of
the Legislature previous to admission by Congress. The act of admission
was passed and approved. May 11, 1858. The Legislature again assembled
in June, and finally adjourned. August 12, 1858. During this prolonged
session the embryo state was without funds, and a loan of $250,000 was
authorized; but as the acts of the Legislature before admission were some-
what irregular, the loan could not be readily negotiated. To tide over the
difficulty state warrants were issued in the form of bank notes, and passed
current, with more or less discount, until the summer of 1S58, when they
were redeemed from the proceeds of the loan consummated after the admis-
sion of the state.
R.AILROAD BOX-DS ISSUED.
The first Legislature worked diligently in what they considered the
best interest of the state, and as the grant of lands by the United States
in aid of railroads within the state had to be turned over to companies, a
large part of the session was devoted to railroad legislation. The scheme
of further aid to companies who might be willing to undertake the build-
ing of railroads was originated, and was commonly denominated the "Five
Million Loan Bill," contemplating the loan of the credit of the state, to
that amx.unt, in such sums as would be paid upon the grading and final
completion of certain miles of road. On a submission of this law to the
people it was adopted by a large majoritj'. The opposition at the time of
the vote upon this measure was ver\- bitter, and continued after bonds were
being issued, and with the dissatisfaction arising from the small amount of
work completed and the large amount of bonds issued, threatenings of repu-
diation advocated by leading men in the state caused a distrust in financial
circles and a fin.1l collapse of the whole scheme, with the foreclosure of the
mortgages taken by the state upon the railroad lands and franchises, and
the abandonment of all railroad construction for the time being. The total
amount of bonds issued under this provision of the constitution was S2.275,-
000. By the foreclosure proceedings the state acquired about 250 miles of
40 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
graded road, the franchises of the companies and the lands, amounting to
five million of acres, as indemnity for this issue of bonds. Notwithstanding
the state had acquired all the rights, including the improvements of the rail-
roa.l companies, the feeling against any settlement of the bonds was strong
enough to secure an amendment to the constitution in i860, prohibiting the
passage of any law levying a tax or making other provision for the pay-
ment of the principal or interest of these bonds without having the same
submitted to a vote of the people and adopted.
The two years following the crash of 1857 were replete with financial
disaster and a shrinkage of inflated values in town-sites; but the country
was filling up with farmers, and the rich soil of the state was giving
abundant harvests. The political contest of 1859 was bitter, and resulted in
the Republican party carrying the state, both for state officers and the Legis-
lature
The census of i860 gave the state a population of 172,023. During
this year there was great hope of a largely increased immigration into the
county; but the political situation in the Union, starting with the opening
of the presidential campaign of that year, soon indicated a disturbing ele-
ment throughout the country, and distrust and depression were manifest
on all sides which was not allayed by the result of the presidential election.
The war period, commencing with the time of the President's proclamation
in April, 1861, to the final close of the rebellion in 1865, did not permit any
material growth in the state. About twenty-two thousand of her able-
bodied citizens volunteered and were enlisted in the Union army.
UNREST AMONG THE INDIANS.
The Indian reservation set apart by the treaties of 1851, a tract twenty
miles wide on the upper part of the Minnesota river, embracing some of
the finest lands in the state, was becoming a barrier to settlements in
the upper Minnesota valley. Settlers had taken lands close up to the reserva-
tion, and there was considerable complaint that Indians were coming off
the reservation and committing petty depredations, and the Indians had
more or less complaints to make regarding the extortions practiced by the
post traders. The encroachments of the whites were viewed with suspicion
by the Indians, and sooner or later, from these causes alone, a conflict would
probably have occurred. The War of the Rebellion, calling away so many
of the able-bodied men of the state, left the frontier settlements almost
DOl'GLAP AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA. .4I
defenseless, and doubtless caused the younger portion of the tribes to become
more offensive to the settlers and more exacting in their demands.
The lands embraced within the reservation under the treaties of 185 1
were in the very heart of Minnesota, and, considering the forests and
streams, were the choicest of farming lands.' The settlers on the border
were anxiously coveting this "Garden of Eden." A sentiment was created
throughout the state that the Indians should abandon the tribal relations
and become civilized. To this end the head men of the Dakota nation
were induced, in 1858, to go to Washington, under the charge of Hon.
Joseph R. Brown, in whom they had great confidence, for the purpose of
negotiating for the whole or a part of this reservation. Treaties were
signed ceding the ten-mile strip on the north side of the river, upon the
payment of $140,000, and the government provided that every head of a
f?mily or single person over the age of twenty-one adopting a civilized
life should secure in fee eighty acres of land. From some cause the pay-
ments of $140,000 were never made, and there was great dissatisfaction
on account of this treaty, among those of the tribes who were adverse to
accepting the condition of civilization; and from the fact that there was
no money divided among them on account of this relinquishment a bitter
dissension arose between the older chiefs and the younger members, the
latter claimiing that they had been robbed either by the chiefs or by the
government, and they proposed to have the settlement, peaceful or other-
wis-e
This internal strife was augmented from year to year by the withdrawal
of families who were willing to accept the civilization fund, the number in
three years succeeding the treaty amounting to one hundred and sixty per-
sons. They were, however, still annuity Indians, and claimed the right to
be heard in the councils. The annuity Indians, all told, numbered about six
thousand two hundred, and the annual cash payment to each person
amounted to about fifteen dollars. The Indians were treated as wards of
the United States. Two agencies were established, around which were
gathered storekeepers to sell the Indians goods in anticipation of the annuity
payments; and, usually, the annual payment was simply a settlement of
the claims of the traders, who took the risk of furnishing the goods in
ad\ance. That there was injustice practiced upon the Indians is doubtless
true; probably not so great as the disaffected Indians imagined. There
was enough, however, to make the time of the annual payment an anxious
period, for fear of an outbreak. The failure of the government in its
attempt to punish the Spirit Lake murderers had a tendency to create a feel-
42 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ing among the leaders of the rebellious spirit that if they could only unite
the whole body of Sioux in an uprising they could make a successful attack
upon the settlers, and perhaps regain the lands formerly held by the Indians.
The War of the Rebellion, starting in 1861, gave renewed energy to the
discontent. The Indians were well aware of the reverses of the Union
forces during the first year of the war. The calls for troops were taking the
able-bodied men from the farms, and many of the half-breeds had volun-
teered for the army. All these conditions had a disquieting effect, and,
added to this, in 1862 the June payment was not made; and as there was no
satisfactory answer for the delay, the traders took advantage of the neces-
sities of the Indians and insinuated that perhaps the government would go
to pieces, and there would be no further payments. The missionaries endeav-
ored to counteract these evil influences, and, with the aid of the civilized
Indians, succeeded in averting deliberate outbreak. The delay in payment
of annuities, however, tended to keep up the discontent, particularly among
the younger braves, who were the hunters. Their vagabond life brought
them into the settlements, and in contact with the whites; and their worth-
less, lazy habits made them offensive to the families, as beggars of meals or
money, or anything that took their fancy.
MASSACRE OF 1862.
These are, in brief, the circumstances which led up to the great mas-
sacre of 1862, which for a short time threatened the lives of all the settlers
on the western boundary of the state. There was no concerted action for
the massacre, and to some extent there is an uncertainty as to why the first
murders were committed. Four young men or boys are believed to have
commenced the massacre, in a spirit of bravado, making a threatening
attack first upon a family, driving them from their home, and afterward
following them to a neighbor's house, where, after an altercation with the
families, they killed three men and two women. These occurrences took
place on the 17th of August, in the township of Acton, twelve miles west
of Litchfield. Realizing that if they remained in the vicinity punishment
would soon overtake their murderous acts, they lost no time in going back
to camp, relating what they had done, and asking protection. A hasty
consultation was had between two of the chiefs; they realized that the mur-
derers must be given up, or the annuities would be stopped, and a war of
exteimination would be inaugurated. They chose to stand by the murder-
ers, and immediately following there was a general uprising of the entire
DOUGLAS AND GRANT GOUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 43
Sioux bands. So swift were their movements, before any effective resistance
could be brought against them, that about eight hundred of the settlers,
men, women and children were murdered within a few days. The prompt
action of the state authorities, aided by the national government, resulted
in the capture of about 2,000 of the belligerent Indians and the withdrawal
of the remainder beyond the boundaries of the state, into the wilds of
Dakota. Of the captured Indians, 303 were found guilty of. murder and
rape, and were condemned to death by a military court-martial. Of this
number 265 were reprieved by President Lincoln, and the remainder, thirty-
eight of the most prominent engaged in the massacre, were hung in Manka'to
on the 26th of December, 1862. The next year the general government
authorized an expedition against the Indians who had escaped to the Dakota
plains, because of their constant raids in small squads on the frontiers of
the state for the purpose of horse-stealing and marauding upon adven-
turous settlers who might risk going back to their abandoned farms. After
two decisive encounters, the Indians retreated beyond the Missouri river,
and in 1864 another expedition was sent forward and a final settlement
of the Sioux outbreak was accomplished, by a confiscation and surrender
of the ponies and arms of most of the bands hostile to the government.
The several tribes of Sioux Indians were engaged irt this massacre, and
were the representatives of the tribes that had made the cession of lands
in 1851, imder the first and second treaties of that year. Under these
treaties the government had set aside trust funds of $2,520,000, from which
there was paid annually the sum of $126,000. Settlers who had lost prop-
erty urged their claims for indemnity, and Congress promptly established a
commission to receive all claims and investigate the facts. The commis-
sion was dujy organized and established headquarters in the city of St. Paul,
and carefully examined all the claims presented. The total number filed
was 2,940, with damages amounting to $2,458,795.16. The commission
allowed 2,635 claims, and cut down the damages to $1,370,374. By act of
Congress these claims were paid, and the annuities and all further pay-
ments to the tribes were stopped. The state was also reimbursed for extra-
ordinary expenses incurred during the period of insurrection.
On the 2nd of October, 1863, a treaty was concluded at the old cross-
ing of Red Lake river, about twelve miles east of the present city of
Crookston by Alexander Ramsey and Ashley C. Morrill, and the chiefs
and head men of the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Ojibway Indians,
for the cession of a large tract of country, being the same land embraced
in one of the treaties of 1851, but not ratified at that time, of which the
44 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
boundaries are as follow : Commencing at the intersection of the national
boundary with the Lake of the \\^oods; thence in a southwest direction to
the head of Thief river; thence following that stream to its mouth; thence
southeasterly in a direct line toward the head of Wild Rice river; and thence
following the boundary of the Pillager cession of 1855 to the mouth of said
river; thence up the channel of the Red river to the mouth of the Cheyenne;
thence up said river to Stump lake, near the eastern extremity of Devil's
lake; thence north to the international boundary; and thence east on
said boundary to the place of beginning. It embraced all of the Red River
valley in [Minnesota and Dakota, except a small portion previously ceded,
and was estimated to contain 11,000,000 acres. This treaty was ratified by
the Senate, with amendments, March i, 1864. The Indians, on the 12th of
April, 1864, assented to the amendments, and President Lincoln, by his
proclamation of the 5th of May, 1864, confirmed the treaty.
A PERIOD OF RAPID DEVELOPMENT.
The close of the Civil \\'ar in the spring of 1865, and the return of the
SQldiers, and the assurance of no further depredations from the Sioux
Indians, started a new era of prosperity and rapid growth. The Legislature,
in the meantime, had granted charters on the foreclosed roadbeds and lands
to new railroad companies, and the construction of roads was furnishing
abundant labor to all who were coming to the state. The population at
this time was 250,099, and in 1870 the ppoulation had increased to 439,706,
nearly doubling in five years. The railroad companies had within the same
period constructed nearly 1,000 miles of railroad, and continued their build-
ing with even greater vigor until the financial crisis of 1873 brought all pub-
lic enterprises again to a stand, and produced stagnation in all the growing
towns. The farmers had been active in developing the country, and were
adding largely to the productions of the state when the grasshopper raids,
for the time being, destroyed the growing crops, and caused great financial
distress for two or three years.
The census of 1875 gave the state a population of 597,407, still showing
a fair increase, but small in comparison with the five years following the
close of the rebellion. By 1878 the state had fairly recovered from the
financial crash of 1873, but speculation has at no time since 1878 been so
reckless as during the two periods ending in 1857 and 1873.
.-\long with the prosperity of the state, caused so largely by the rapid
railroad building, the state pride began to assert itself with more force,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 45
and the prominent citizens continued to urge an adjustment of the dis-
honored railroad bonds. In 1877 a proposition setting aside the proceeds
of 500,000 acres for internal improvement lands in settlement was by act
of the Legislature submitted to a vote at a special election called for the
I2th of June, and was voted down by the decisive vote of 59,176 against
to 17,324 votes for, the proposition. This vote was largely owing to the
fact that the state at that time had almost an entire new population that
had come into the state long after the bonds were issued and had no definite
knowledge of the history of the original indebtedness.
In 1881 the Legislature enacted a law providing for the adjustment of
these bonds and designating the judges of the supreme court as a com-
mission to make the settlement. The constitutionality of this law was
questioned, a writ of injunction was served, and the final determination of
the supreme bench was that the law was unconstitutional, as also the
amendment of i860, prohibiting any settlement without a vote of the people.
This latter act had previously been determined unconstitutional by the
supreme court of the United States. An extra session of the Legislature
was called in October of the same year, when the final adjustment was
authorized by act of the Legislature, on a basis of fifty per cent, of the
amount nominally due, and, after a careful examination of all the claims
presented, the bond question was forever set at rest by the issue of adjust-
ment bonds, to the amount of $4,282,000, to parties entitled to receive
them. For the payment of these bonds the proposition of setting aside
the proceeds of the 500,000 acres of internal improvement lands was again
submitted to the general election in 1881, and by a vote of 82,435 votes in
favor, and 24,526 votes against, the action of the Legislature was ratified
and the stigma of repudiation removed, which had been fastened upon the
state by the popular vote of 1877.
In 1880 the national census gave the state a population of 780,773, and
the state census of 1885 swelled these figures to 1,117,798, indicating the
extraordinary growth of forty-three per cent. ; but an examination of the
figures shows that the growth was mainly confined to the cities, being nearly
eighty per cent, of increase, while in the farming community and small
towns the percentage of increase was only twenty per cent.
During the ten years between 1880 and 1890 there was a period of
great activity in the railroad building, and 2,310 miles of road were put in
operation. This alone gave great energy to the business of the state, and
caused a large increase in the population of the cities, and gradually cul-
minated in a most extravagant real estate boom, and an era of the wildest
46 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
speculation. In the country the growth was normal over the entire state,
although large numbers of farmers in the southern half of the state were
attracted to the plains of Dakota, where great activity was being developed
by the pushing of railroads into different sections of the territory.
DIVERSIFIED FARMING INTERESTS.
The settlement of the Dakotas and the consequent breaking up of the
virgin land, after the vear 1885, almost doubled the wheat yield of the north-
westerii states, so that the farmers of Minnesota were soon confronted
with the question whether wheat should continue to be their leading staple.
In the southern part of the state the wheat return was not enough per acre
to yield any profit to the farmer at the reduced prices ; and gradually meth-
ods have changed, so that the leading agricultural industries now include
dairying, stock raising, and general diversified farming. It seems probable
that Minnesota will hold her place as the greatest wheat-producing state,
and will also earn a greater reputation as the best all-round farming state
in the Union.
'J"he national census of 1890 gave the state a population of 1,301,826,
an increase of 184,028 in five years, of which amount about 70,000 increase
went to the cities and 114,000 to the country districts, showing eighteen per
cent, increase in the cities and fifteen per cent, increase in the country. The
state census of 1895 showed an increase of 272,793, or 21.95 P^r cent., in the
preceding five years, giving a total population of 1,574,619.
According to the census of 1910 the population of Minnesota was
2,075,708, showing an increase of 17.8 per cent, during the preceding
decade. The population of the five largest cities was as follow: Minnea-
poli.s, 301,408; St.' Paul, 214,744: Duluth, 78,466; Winona, 18,583; and
Stillwater 10,198.
Minnesota was the first state of the Union to respond to the call of
the President for volunteers at the beginning of the war with Spain, in
April, i8g8. Three regiments, designated as the Twelfth, Thirteenth and
Fourteenth Regiments of Minnesota Volunteers, were mobilized at St. Paul,
.^pril 29, and were mustered into the United State service on May 7 and 8.
The Fifteenth Regiment was mustered into sen-ice on July 18. In total
tin's state furnished 5.315 ofiicers and enlisted men for the volunteer army.
.At the close of the w-ar the Twelfth and Fourteenth Regiments returned to
Minnesota, and were mustered out of service in November. The Fifteenth
Regiment continued in service until March 27, 1899; and the Thirteenth
DOTGLAS AND GRANT GOUNTIES. MINNESOTA. 47
Regiment, after more than a year of service in the Philippine Islands, was
mustered out on October 3, 1899.
Minnesota derives its name from the river which was named "Minisota"
by the Dakotas, pronounced "Min-nee-sotah," apphed to the stream, in its
natural state in the summer season, after the waters were cleared from the
roiling caused by the spring floods. Mini, water; sotah, sky-colored.
Apparently to secure the correct pronunciation in English letters, the con-
vention called at Stillwater, in 1848, for the purpose of procuring a terri-
torial organization, instructed their delegates to see that the name of the
territory should be written Min-ne-sota.
GEOGRAPHY.
Geographically, Minnesota occupies the exact center of the continent
of North .\merica, midway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and also
midway between Hudson bay and the Gulf of Mexico. This state is bounded
on the south by Iowa, on the west by South and North Dakota, on the north
by Manitoba and Ontario, and on the east by Wisconsin. It extends from
latitude 43 degrees 30 minutes, to 49 degrees 24 minutes, and from 89
degrees 29 minutes, to 97 degrees 15 minutes, west longitude. From its
southern boundary to the northern is about 400 miles, and from its most
eastern to the extreme western point about 354 miles.
Minnesota is, in area, the tenth state of the Union. It contains 84,287
square miles, or about .53,943,379 acres, of which 3,608,012 acres are water.
In altitude it appears to be one of the highest portions of the continent, as
the headwaters of three great river systems are found in its limits, those
of streams flowing northward to Hudson bay, eastward to the Atlantic ocean,
and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.
About half of this surface, on the south and west, consists of rolling
prairie, interspersed with frequent groves, oak openings and belts of hard-
wood timber, watered by numberless lakes and streams, and covered with a
warm, dark soil of great fertility. The rest, embracing the elevated district
immediately west and north of Lake Superior, consists mainly of rich min-
40 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
eral ranges and of the pine forests which clothe the headwaters of the Mis-
sissippi, affording extensive supphes of lumber. There is but a very small
percentage of broken, rocky or worthless land in the state. Nearly all is
arable.
Numerous rivers and watercourses give the state excellent drainage.
But few states are so well watered as Minnesota. Its navigable rivers are
the Mississippi, the Minnesota, the St. Croix, the St. Louis, the Red River
of the North, and the Red Lake river, all of which, near their sources, have
extensive water powers; while a number of smaller streams such as Rum
river and Snake river, both valuable for lumbering, the Cannon and Zumbro
rivers, the Vermilion, Crow, Blue Earth, Des Moines, Cottonwood, Chip-
pewa, LeSueur, Root, Elk and Sauk rivers, also furnish fine water powers.
These with their tributaries and a host of lesser streams penetrate every por-
tion of the state. Some of the water powers furnished by these streams
are among the finest in America, and many of them have been utilized for
manufacturing purposes.
LAKES.
The lakes of Minnesota are more numerous and varied in form than in
any other state in the Union. Bordering on the northeast corner' of the
state for one hundred and fifty miles, the waters of the great Lake Superior
wash its shores. Within the state there are about ten thousand lakes, the
largest of which is Red lake, in the central northern part of the state, bor-
dering partly by dense pine forests, with its overflow through Red Lake
river, by a devious course, into the Red River of the North. On the same
northern slope, in St. Louis county, is the beautiful Vermilion lake, with its
tributaries, at the edge of the great Vermilion iron range, and flowing into
Rainy lake, on the northern boundary, and then through Rainy Lake river
into the Lake of the Woods, and thence into Lake Winnipeg, and finally
into Hudson bay. On the southern slope of the state is Itasca lake, the
source of the Mississippi, with Cass lake. Lake Winnibigoshish, Leech lake,
and other innumerable lakes, all adding volume to the water of the Mississippi,
eventually flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Then there is Mille Lacs, the
source of Rum river, and the picturesque Lake Minnetonka. These are the
largest lakes in the state. Of these, however, only Minnetonka, White Bear,
Bald Eagle and Chisago lakes have so far been much utilized as summer
resorts. The incomparable park region, traversed by the Great Northern
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 49
and Northern Pacific railroads, is the paradise of summer idlers, of hunters
and fishermen; but it is not in this portion alone that all the beautiful lakes
are found. The northeastern and the southwestern sections each have
numerous lakes to attract the summer visitor.
There is an undoubted modification of the climate of the state, caused
by 'these numerous bodies of water, giving a most delightful summer tem-
perature.
Fine varieties of fish are abundant in all these lakes; and the state
expends annually thousands of dollars, through a game and fish commission,
to improve the varieties and to prevent their wanton destruction.
ELEVATION.
Surveys with leveling from the sea show that the shore of Lake Supe-
rior is the lowest land in the state, 602 feet above sea level. The waters
of the northeastern part of the state south of the Mesabi iron range flow
into Lake Superior, and are carried to the Atlantic ocean. The Mississippi
river, having its chief source in Lake Itasca, at 1,466 feet elevation, runs in
a southerly direction, leaving the state at 620 feet above sea level.
The Red River of the North, rising in the north, near Itasca lake, at
a height of 1,600 feet above the ocean, after a circuitous route south and
west to Breckenridge, in Wilkin county, and then flowing north along its
great valley, leaves the state at an elevation of 750 feet. The average
elevation of the state is given at about 1,275 feet. The highest elevation is
the Misquah hills, in Cook county, 2,230 feet.
The elevation of Minnesota above the sea, its fine drainage, and the
dryness of the atmosphere give it a climate of unusual salubrity and pleas-
antness. It has an annual mean temperature of 44 degrees, while its mean
summer temperature is 70 degrees, the same as that of middle Illinois and
Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, etc. The excessive heats of summer often felt
in other states are here tempered by the cooling breezes. Its high latitude
gives it correspondingly longer days in summer than states further south,
and during the growing season there are two and one-half hours more sun-
shine than in the latitude of Cincinnati. This, taken in connection with
the abundant rainfall of earlv summer, accounts for the rapid and vigorous
.(4)
50 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
growth of crops in Minnesota, and their early maturity. The cool breezes
and cool nights in summer prevent the debilitating effects of heat often felt
in low latitudes. The winter climate is one of the attractive features of the
state. Its uniformity, and prevailing freedom from thaws and excessive
spells of cold, severe weather or heavy snow storms, and its dryness, together
with the bright sunshine and electrical condition of the air, all tend to enhance
the personal comfort of the resident, and make outdoor life and labor a
pleasure.
These features tend to make this climate the healthiest in the Union.
It gives life and briskness to those performing manual labor, enabling them
to do more work than in a damper or duller climate.
CHRONOLOGICAL.
In the following list some of the more important events in the state,
from the earliest explorations to the present time, are set forth in chronolo-
gical order:
1635. Jean Nicollet, an explorer from France, who had wintered in the
neighborhood of Green Bay, brought to Montreal the first
mention of the aborigines of Minnesota.
1659-60. Grosseilliers and Radisson wintered among the Sioux of the Mille
Lacs region, Minnesota, being its first white explorers. In a
previous expedition, four years earlier, they are thought to
have come to Prairie Island, west of the main channel of the
Mississippi, between Red Wing and Hastings.
1661 Father Rene Menard left Kewennaw, on Lake Superior, to visit the
Hurons, then in northern Wisconsin, and was lost near the
sources of the Black and Chippewa rivers. His breviary and
cassock were said to have been found among the Sioux.
1679. July 2, Daniel Greyselon Du Lhut (Duluth) held a council with the
Sioux at their principal settlement on the shore of Mille Lacs.
Du Lhut, in June, 1680, by way of the St. Croix river, reached
the Mississippi and met Hennepin.
1680 Louis Hennepin, after captivity in the village of Mille Lacs Sioux,
first saw the Falls of St. Anthony.
1689 May 8, Nicholas Perrot, at his Ft., St. Antoine, on the Wisconsin
shore of Lake Pepin, laid formal claim to the surrounding
country for France. He built a fort also on the Minnesota
shore of this lake, near its outlet.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 5 1
1095. LeSueur built a fort or trading post on Isle Pelee, now called Prairie
Island, above Lake Pepin.
1700. LeSueur established Ft. L'Huillier, on the Blue Earth river (near
the mouth of the LeSueur), and first supplied the Sioux with
firearms.
1727 The French established a third fort on Lake Pepin, with Sieur de
La Perriere as commander.
1728. Great flood in the Mississippi.
1763 By the treaty of Versailles, France ceded Minnesota, east of the
Mississippi, to England, and west of it to Spain.
1766 Capt. Jonathan Carver visited St. Anthony falls and Minnesota
river. He claimed to have made a treaty with the Indians
the following spring, in a cave afterward called "Carver's
Cave," within the present limits of St. Paul, at which he said
they ceded to him an immense tract of land, long known as
"Carver's Claim," but never recognized by the government.
1796. Laws of the Ordinance of 1787 extended over the Northwest terri-
tory, including the northeastern third of Minnesota, east of
the Mississippi river.
1798-99. The Northwestern Fur Company established itself in Minnesota.
1800. May 7, that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi became a part
of Indiana by the division of Ohio.
1803. April 30, that part of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, for the
preceding forty years to possession of Spain as a part of Louis-
iana, was ceded to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte,
who had just obtained it from Spain.
1803-04. W'illiam Morrison, the first known white man to discover the
source of the Mississippi river, visited Elk lake and explored
the streams entering into the lake forming the head of the
river.
1805. Lieut. Z. M. Pike visited Minnesota to establish government rela-
tions there, and obtained the Ft. Snelling reservation from
the Dakotas.
1812. The Dakotas, Ojibways and Winnebagoes, under the lead of hostile
traders, joined the British during the war. Red river colony
established by Lord Selkirk.
1819. Minnesota, east of the Mississippi river, became a part of Crawford
county, Michigan. Ft. Snelling established, and a post at
Mendota occupied by troops, under command of Col.
52 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Leavenworth. Maj. L. Taliaferro appointed Indian agent,
arriving on April 19.
1820. Corner stone of Ft. Snelling laid on September 10. Governor Cass
visits Minnesota and makes a treaty of peace between the
.Siotix and Ojibways at Ft. Snelling. Col. Josiah Snelling
appointed to the command of the latter post.
1823. The first steamboat arrived at Mendota, May 10, Major Taliaferro
and Beltrami being passengers. Maj. Stephen H. Long
explored Minnesota river, the Red river valley, and the north-
ern frontier. Beltrami explored sources of the Mississippi.
1826 Great flood on the .Red river; a part of the colony driven to Minne-
sota, settling near Ft. Snelling.
1832. Schoolcraft explored sources of Mississippi river, and named Lake
Itasca (formerly called Elk lake).
1833 First mission established at Leech lake by Rev. W. T. Boutwell.
1834. The portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi attached to Michi-
gan. Gen. H. H. Sibley settled at Mendota.
1835. Catlin and Featherstonhaugh visited Minnesota.
1836. The territory of Wisconsin organized, embracing the part of Minne-
sota east of the Mississippi, the part on the west being attached
to Iowa. Nicollet visited Minnesota.
1837 Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin, made a treaty at Ft. Snelling with
the Ojibways, by which the latter ceded all their pine lands
on the St. Croix and its tributaries ; a treaty was also effected
at Washington with a deputation of Dakotas for their lands
east of the Mississippi. These treaties led the way to the first
actual settlements within the area of Minnesota.
1838. The treaty ratified by Congress. Franklin Steele makes a claim at
St. Anthony falls. Pierre Parrant makes a claim and builds
a shanty on the present site of St. Paul.
1839. St. Croix county established.
1843. Stillwater settled.
1846. August 6, the Wisconsin enabling act.
1847. The Wisconsin Constitutional Convention meets. The town of St.
Paul surveyed, platted and recorded in St. Croix county regis-
ter of deeds' office. First improvement of the water power
at the Falls of St. Anthony.
1848. May 29, Wisconsin admitted, leaving the area of Minnesota without
a government. August 26, the "Stillwater Convention" held,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 53
taking measures for a separate territorial organization, and
asking that the new territory be named Minnesota. October
30, H. H. Sibley elected delegate to Congress.
1849. January 15, H. H. Sibley admitted to a seat. March 3, the bill
organizing Minnesota passed. March 19, its territorial officers
appointed. June i, Governor Ramsey declared, by proclama-
tion, the territory organized. September 3, the first terri-
torial Legislature assembled.
1850. Great flood this year; highest water ever known. Minnesota river
first navigated by steamboats. Census shows 6,077 inhabi-
tants.
1851. Location of the capitol, university and penitentiary; another flood.
July 23, treaty of Traverse des Sioux completed and August
5 the treaty of Mendota, opening the territory west of the
Mississippi to settlers.
1852. June 23, the treaties ratified by the United States Senate.
1853. Pierce's administration. W. A. Gorman appointed governor. The
capitol building completed.
1854. Celebration of the opening of the Rock Island railroad, the first road
to the Mississippi river, by a mammoth excursion, reaching
St. Paul, June 8. Large immigration this season and the
three succeeding- ones, and the real estate mania commences.
1857. Enabling act passes Congress, February 26. Gov. Samuel Medary
(appointed by Buchanan), arrives on April 22. Legislature
passes a bill to remove the capital to St. Peter, but it fails to
accomplish the object. Ink-pa-du-to massacre, April. Land
grant passes Congress. April 27, extra session of the Legis-
lature to apportion land grant. July 13, Constitutional Con-
vention assembles. Real estate speculation reaches its height,
and is checked by the financial panic, August 27. Great
revulsions and hard times. Census shows 150,037 population.
October 13, Constitution adopted and state officers elected.
1858. State loan of $250,000 negotiated. Five million loan bill passed by
the Legislature, March 9; ratified by vote of the people, April
15. Great stringency in money market. State admitted, May
II. State officers sworn in, May 24.
1859. Hard times continue to intensify. "Wright County War." "Glen-
coe"' and "Owatonna" money issued. Work on the land
grant rnad ceases. Collapse of the five million scheme. First
54 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
export of grain this fall. Hard political struggle; the Repub-
licans triumph.
i860. Another warm political canvass Federal census, 172,023.
1861. April 15, President proclamation for troops received; the first regi-
ment recruits at once; June 22, it embarks at Ft. Snelling for
the seat of war.
1862. Call for 600,000 men. August 17, massacre at Acton; August 18,
outbreak at Lower Sioux Agency, eight miles east of Red-
wood Falls; 19th, New Ulm attacked; 20th, Fort Ridgely
attacked; 25th, second attack on New Ulm; 30th, Fort Aber-
crombie besieged; September 2d, the bloody attack at Birch
Coulee. September 19, first railroad in Minnesota in opera-'
tion, between St. Paul and Minneapolis. September 23, bat-
tle of Wood Lake; 26th, captives surrendered at Camp
Release; military commission tries 321 Indians for murder,
rape, etc.; 303 condemned to die; December 26, 38 hung at
Nankato.
1863. General Sibley's expedition to the Missouri river; July 3, Little
Crow killed; July 24, battle of Big Mound; July 26, battle of
Dead Bufifalo Lake ; July 28, battle of Stony Lake.
1864. Large levies for troops. Expedition to Missouri river, under Sully.
Inflation of money market. Occasional Indian raids.
1865. Peace returns. Minnesota regiments return and are disbanded. In
all 22,016 troops furnished by the state. Census shows
250,099 inhabitants.
1866-72 Rapid railroad building everywhere; immigration heavy; "good
times" prevail, and the real estate inflated.
1873. January 7, 8 and 9, polar wave sweeps over the state; seventy per-
sons perish. September, the Jay Cook failure creates another
panic. Grasshopper raid begins and continues five seasons.
1876. September 7, attack on bank at Northfield by a gang of armed
outlaws from Missouri; three of the latter killed and three
captured.
1877. Biennial session amendment adopted.
1878. May 2, three flouring-mills at Minneapolis explode; eighteen lives
lost.
1880. November 15, portion of the hospital for the insane at St. Peter
destroyed by fire; eighteen inmates burned to death, seven
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 55
died subsequently of injuries and fright, and six missing; total
loss, $150,000.
1881. March i, the state capitol destroyed by fire.
1884. January 25, state prison partially burned.
1886 April 14, a tornado strikes the cities of St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids,
demolishing scores of buildings and killing about seventy
people.
1887. Important legislation regarding the liquor traffic, common carriers,
and elections.
1889. The Legislature enacts the Australian system of voting in cities of
10,000 and over. The first electric street railway started in
the state at Stillwater.
1890. United States census shows a population of 1,301,826. July 13, an
excursion steamboat returning from Lake City encampment
foundered on Lake Pepin, and 100 people drowned. July
13, tornado swept across Lake Gervias, in Ramsey county,
demolishing several buildings and kilHng six people.
1891 June 15, a series of tornadoes started in Jackson county, near the
town of Jackson, traversing Martin, Faribault, Freeborn,
Mower and Fillmore counties, on a line nearly parallel with,
but from five to fifteen miles north of, the Southern Minnesota
division of the Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, doing a large
amount of damage to farms and farm buildings, and causing
the death to about fifty people along the track of the storm.
1892. June 7, Republican national convention held at Minneapolis. The
Australian system of voting used at the November general
election.
1893. The Legislature authorizes the appointment of a capitol commission
to select a site for a new capitol, and providing a tax of two-
tenths of a mill for ten years to pay for the site and the
erection of a building. A great financial crisis causes the
failure of several banks and many mercantile and manufactur-
ing establishments in the larger cities of the state.
1894. September i. forest fires start in the neighborhood of Hinckley, in
Pine county, carrying death and destruction over nearly four
hundred square miles of territory, destroying the towns of
Hinckley and Sandstone, causing the death of 417 people,
rendering homeless and destitute 2,200 men, women and chil-
dren, and entailing a property loss of about $1,000,000.
56 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
1895. A census of the state was taken during the month of June, and the
total population of the state was found to be 1,574,619.
1896. The Red Lake Indian reservation was diminished to about a quarter
part of its former area, and on May 15 a large tract of agri-
cultural and timber lands formerly belonging to that reserva-
tion was opened for settlement.
1897. July 2, the monument at Gettysburg to the First Minnesota Regi-
ment was dedicated.
1898. July 27, the corner stone of the new capitol was laid. Minnesota
supplied four regiments for service in the Spanish-American
War, being the first state. May 7, to respond to the president's
call. October 5, the Pillager Indians attacked United States
troops near Sugar Point, Leech lake.
1899. Semi-centennial of the territory and state celebrated by the Old Set-
tlers' Association, June i, and by the Historical Society,
November 15.
1900. Population of Minnesota, shown by the national census, 1,751,394.
Death of Senator C. K. Davis, November 27.
190 1. In the Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, New York, the superior
exhibits of wheat, flour, and daii-y products of Minnesota-
caused her to be called "the Bread and Butter State."
1902. August 23, the fortieth anniversary of the Sioux War celebrated at
New Ulm. Monuments and tablets erected there and at other
places in the Minnesota valley.
1903. Tide of immigration into Minnesota, particularly in northern and
western sections. April 22, death of Alexander Ramsey, first
territorial governor, later governor of the state, United States
senator, and secretary of war.
1904. Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Minnesota exhibits win many first
prizes for flour, butter, fruits, iron ores, work of pupils in
schools, etc.
1905. January 3, Legislature convenes in the new capitol. The population,
according to the state census, June i, was 1,979,912.
1906. September 3, live stock amphitheater on the state fair ground dedi-
cated, with address by James J. Hill. Attendance at the fair
on that day, 93,199; during the week, 295,000.
1907. Folwell Hall, the new main building for the College of Science,
Literature and Arts, of the University of Minnesota, com-
pleted at cost of $410,000 for the building and its equipment.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 57
The total number of students of this University enrolled in
all departments for the year was 4,145.
1908. The fiftieth anniversary of the admission of Minnesota to statehood
was celebrated in connection with the state fair, its attendance
during the week being 326,753.
1909. Death of Gov. John A. Johnson as the result of an operation, at
Rochester. Minnesota, September 21, 1909. Lieut.-Gov.
Adolph O. Eberhart sworn in as governor by Chief Justice
Start, in the Supreme Court retiring room, at 11 o'clock the
same day.
1910. Population of Minnesota, shown by the national census, 2,075,708;
Death of State Treasurer Clarence C. Dinehart, June 8. E.
S. Pettijohn appointed to succeed, June it. Forest fires in
northern Minnesota during the second and third week in Octo-
ber, results in death to about thirty people and the destruc-
tion of about $20,000,000 of property. .Spooner and Baudette
wiped out.
1911. The Legislature ratified the proposed amendment to the United States
Constitution for election of United States senators by popular
\ote. October 18, George E. Vincent was inaugurated presi-
dent of the University of Minnesota.
1912. The Legislature in special .session enacted a new primary election
law and "corrupt practices" act. October ig, the statue of
Governor Johnson on the capitol ground was unveiled.
1913. June 16-20, the American Medical Association held its sixty-fourth
annual session in Minneapoli? United States postal savings
bank and parcel post inaugurated in Minnesota. Practical reforms
in state road laws enacted. Work begun on the new building
of the St. Paul Public Library and Hill Reference Library. New
postoffice and new railroad depot building in Minneapolis.
November 5. the historic Carver's cave, all trace of which had
been lost for forty years or more, was definitely located.
1914. March. Minneapolis made the reserve city in the Northwest for the
system of regional national banks. Remarkable impetus to
building operations in Minnesota cities. April 4. Frederick
Weyerhauser, extensive lumber operator, died in his winter home
at Pasadena, California. April 15. plans adopted for St. Paul's
new terminals aiid union depot. May 9. a bronze statue of Gen.
James Shields, tendered by the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army
58 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
of the Republic to the state of Minnesota, for a niche in the
capitol. Unveiled in November; formally presented to the state
by Commander Samuel Appleton, of the Loyal Legion; accepted
by Governor A. O. Everhart; eloquent memorial address by
Comrade and Companion John Ireland, archbishop. July 4-11,
the National Educational Association held its annual convention
in St. Paul. November. Winfield Scott Hammond, Democrat,
elected governor of Minnesota, defeating William E. Lee, Repub-
lican nominee.
1915. January 2, session of the thirty-ninth Legislature opened at the state
capitol; Hon. J. A. A. Burnquist, lieutenant-governor, president
of the Senate; H. H. Flower, speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives. January 3, Winfield Scott Hammond inaugurated
governor of Minnesota. February 12, birthday of Abraham
Lincoln observed by Minnesota Commandery of the Loyal Leg-
ion by a banquet at the West hotel, Minneapolis. Oration by
Bishop William A. Quayle, of the Methodist Episcopal church.
February 19-20, forty-ninth annual convention of the Minnesota
Editorial Association assembled at the St. Paul hotel, St. Paul,
President H. C. HotaHng, presiding. December 30, death of
Governor Hammond. December 31, Lieutenant-Governor Burn-
quist assumed the office of governor.
1916. February, discovery of discrepancies in the office of Walter J. Smith
treasurer of the state, and his subsequent resignation.
CHAPTER II.
Geology of Douglas County.
Douglas county lies in the west part of central Minnesota, about half
way between the Mississippi river and Lakes Traverse and Big Stone.
Alexandria, the county seat and largest town, is about one hundred and
twenty miles west-northwest from St. Paul and Minneapolis. The county
has a length of five townships, or thirty miles, from east to west, and a
width of four townships, or twenty-four miles, from north to south. Doug-
las county contains about 722.66 square miles, or 462,500.62 acres, of
which about sixty thousand acres are covered with water.
SURFACE FEATURES.
Natural Drainage. The county is included wholly within the basin of
the Mississippi river; but about half of it sends its waters to the Mississippi
river by way of the Minnesota river. The Long Prairie river, tributary
to the Crow Wing, drains the northeastern and central portions of Douglas
county, having its sources in lakes Miltona, Ida, Carlos, Le Homme Dieu,
and others. Osakis lake, on the east line of Douglas county, is the head
of the Sauk river. The west part of this county is drained by the Chippewa
river, excepting its northwest corner, where Lake Christina lies within
the basin of the Pomme de Terre river. Lakes of large and small size
abound in the county, especially in the region within ten or fifteen miles
around Alexandria. The most notable have been described as follows by
Rev. C. M. Terry:
"The lakes of Douglas county are unsurpassed for the purity of their
waters, the beauty of their scenery and general attractiveness. There is a
large number of them, as a glance at the map will show, but it is not
the number so much as it is their beauty and variety which impresses anj^one
who studies them in detail.
"In the eastern half of Douglas county there is a chain of lakes remark-
able for their purity, depth and beauty. They are all connected and lie
within a radius of a dozen miles from Alexandria. Beginning with the
most northern and highest of the chain, they are Irene, Miltona. Ida. Louise,
6o DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Alill, Andrews. ^Fary. Lobster, Fish, Latoka, Cowdrey. Darling. Union,
Childs, X'icturia. Geneva, Le Homme Dieu, Carlos.
"Lake ^liltona is the largest of the chain. It has an area of about nine
square miles. It is six to seven miles long from east to west, and about two
miles wide. It has two inlets, one at the eastern extremity and another
at the northwestern. Its outlet on the southeastern side discharges into
Lake Ida. The lake has an elevation above the sea of a trifle over fourteen
hundred feet. Its shores in man}- places are bold and rise abruptly twenty
to forty feet above the water. They are covered with forests except in a
few places. The Leaf hills to the north, dun and hazy in the distance, are
seen from the center of the lake. There are large areas of the lake which
are shallow, and the bottom is covered with a dense growth of aquatic
plants. Although a number of soundings were taken in different parts of
the lake, only one place of considerable depth was found where the line
showed eighty feet of water; this was a little south of the center. Other
parts showed thirty to fifty feet, but the majority of soundings gave fourteen
to twenty-five feet. Ow'ing to the amount of vegetation growing, the water
is not as free from foreign matter as some lakes. It is, however, clear,
sparkling, with no tinge of yellow. There are some fine springs on the
shores of this lake ; and some stately forest trees, sugar maple, elm and
basswood, flourish.
"Next in size and order is Lake Ida. It is four and one-half miles
long and one to one and a half miles wide. It has an area of about five
square miles. It lies east of the central drift ridge, which divides the waters
of the county. The surrounding country is massively rolling drift, and on
the eastern side is well timbered. The water is very pure and crystalline.
The shores are strewn with pebbles and small sub-angular boulders. There
are very few reeds and bushes. The temperature of this lake on the i6th of
August was 73 degrees F., surface: and 8i degrees F., air. The inlet of
Lake Ida is at the northern end, where it recei\"es the surplus water of Lake
]\liltnna. Tlie outlet is at the siiutheast corner, whence it flows south.
"The charming little Lake Latoka is only two miles from Alexandria.
It is abinit one and one-half miles long and half a mile wide. It lies in a
deep and quite uniform basin. It has average depth of fifty feet, the great-
est being eighty feet. The bluffs around the north end at the outlet are
from two to thirty feet high. The soil is sand and gravel, including some
boulders. The water is remarkably pure and of a deep Ixittle-green color.
The surrounding country is covered with forest.
"Lake Cowdrev, a few rods north of Latoka, is smaller in area but a
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA. OI
\-ery pretty lake. Here the .surplus waters from some twelve or fourteen
other lakes combine and send a deep, strong current north to Lake Darling.
"A sheet of water two miles long and a mile wide, surrounded by
forests of stately trees, dry and bold shores, divided by a bar near the
northern end into two basins, almost two lakes, this is Lake Darling. The
inlet at the southern extremity pours continually into this lake the surplus
Avaters of a dozen others. The depth varies from sixteen to fifty feet.
The water is clear and pure.
"Lake A'ictoria receives the drainage from half a dozen smaller lakes
at the south. There are two arms, an eastern and western ; both have inlets
and combine to form the main body of the lake. The western arm is
much the larger. In this basin the great mass of the water lies. Its depth,
near the center, varies from forty to fifty feet. The east arm is thirty
to forty feet deep. Near the outlet the water becomes shallow and reeds
are numerous. In the center of the lowest part of the lake the depth varies
from twenty-two to thirty-eight feet. The water is not very pure ; it contains
a considerable amount of decaying vegetable matter, brought down from
swamps and shallow lakes above. The shores of the Victoria are generallv
high and wooded. The banks, where exposed, are clay. A very short out-
let, crossed by the Great Northern railway, brings us to the next link in
the chain.
"Lake Geneva is nearly two miles long and half a mile wide. Its
waters are clearer than those of Victoria. In some parts it is also con-
siderably deeper. Soundings varying from thirty to sixty feet were made
in the south part of the lake. There is clay in the surrounding bluffs, which
rise ten to twenty feet above the water. The railway has made a long,
high 'fill' at the inlet. In consequence of these facts the water holds in
suspension considerable earthy matter, giving it at times a faint vellowish
tinge.
"One of the charms of tliis chain of lakes and the country adjacent is
the presence of fine, large forest trees, which the ravages of the 'woodman'
have not laid low. For this reason the shores of these lakes are particu-
larly attractive as places of resort in summer.
"Lake Le Homme Dieu has a quite irregular shape and lies in two
distinct depressions of unequal depth. The long point that runs out from
the west side is continued under water by a bar extending more than half
way across the lake. In the southern basin, not far from the inlet, the
water is from sixty to seventy-five feet deep. Iji various parts of this basin
62 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
depths varying from twenty-five to fifty-seven feet were found. The lower
basin at the north end of the lake is larger and includes a deep bay on
the west side, but on the whole this portion of the lake is shallower than the
other.
"As a whole, it is one of the most beautiful sheets of water in Minne-
sota. The shores are moderately high and well rounded. It is separated
only by a narrow bar from Lake Carlos. The water is clear and pure.
In this respect there is a gradual improvement as we proceed down the
chain. Geneva is purer than Victoria, Le Homme Dieu is purer than Geneva,
and Carlos is purest of them all.
"Lake Carlos is the gem of this group of lakes. It is the last and low-
est of the series. It is the immediate source of Long Prairie river, which
forms its outlet at the northeast corner. It has two inlets, one from lake
Darling at the southern extremity, and the other from Lake Le Homme
Dieu. It thus receives the surplus waters of all the other lakes north and
south and the drainage of six townships. The lake in some places is one
hundred and fifty feet deep, and there is a channel averaging fifty feet deep,
extending the entire length of the lake. The deepest area is not far from
the Le Homme Dieu inlet. There are shallow areas where the water is
only five to ten feet deep, further down the lake. It is about five miles long
and a mile wide. Tlie water is perfectly pure, of a deep, bottle-green color.
The color, however, varies with the sky and weather, and is sometimes a deep
indigo and sometimes a light delicate blue. In this lake, as in many others,
which have been explored with the sounding line and other appliances for
discovering what lies at the bottom, it was found that there are, under the
level surface of the water, a variety of hill and dale, plateaus, ravines,
abrupt declivities and gradual slopes very similar to the irregularities of
the county around. Vegetation, too, flourishes beneath the waves as vigor-
ously as on the main land, while the waters are thronged with fish of many
species and of delicious flavor.
"There are many indications about the shores of these lakes of former
higher levels of water. There are old beaches and half-obscured terraces
which show that the lakes were connected at no very remote date. The
whole of the 'Alexandria prairie,' which lies between the two chains of
lakes, is modified drift. The gravel, sands and clays are finely stratified
and record the fact that at the close of the ice age some ancient river with
gentle current flowed here, rearranging and depositing in their present posi-
tions the materials wliich the glacier had brought down.
"On the eastern lioundary of Douglas county, but lying chiefly in
DOL'GLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 63
Todd county, is Lake Osakis. It is about seven miles long. The southern
part is a mile and a half to two miles wide. The northern part is narrow
and deep. The depths at the upper end of the lake varied from forty to
seventy feet. In the broader part of the lake there are large areas of shallow
water, varying from five to fifteen feet, the average depth being alx)ut twenty-
five feet. Around the southern end of the lake, the prairie slopes down
gradually to the water's edge. Some of the shores are low and wet. At
other points they are from ten to twenty feet above the water. The water
varies in purity. In the deep parts at the north end it was quite pure. In
shallow places and where the wind stirs the whole volume to the bot-
tom, it has the yellowish hue characteristic of the more alkaline lakes.
"Among the hills in the southern part of Douglas county are a multi-
tude of small lakes, the largest of which is Lake Oscar. The surrounding
country is rolling, and there are some abrupt declivities and massive hills
of drift, whose summits are from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet above
the lakes. There is a fringe of oaks about the lake, and a forest on the
northeast stretches away to Alexandria and beyond. Toward the west
and south lies a prairie country. The outlet of Lake Oscar, in high water,
is into the Chippewa river. Its only tributaries are other and smaller lakes.
The basin is subdivided by various points and bars. The outlet is very
irregular. This interlocking of the water gives the most charming scenery.
The shores are bold, being in several places thirty to forty feet above the
water. The lake is about thirty feet deep in its largest basin, growing shal-
lower, of course, about the shore's points.
"In the extreme northwestern part of the county is Lake Christina,
which has an area of about six scjuare miles, but is very shallow. The
water is decidedly yellow and muddy. It is full of reeds and rushes. Its
shallow depth and the rills and rivulets pouring down from clay deposits
keep it looking very much like the Missouri river. It is rather exceptional
in this respect among the lakes of this region."
Maple lake, in the southern part of the county, and Smith lake,
in the southeastern part, are both fine, deep lakes.
Topography. The south edge of the great terminal moraine called the
Leaf hills extends into Lund along the north side of Lake Christina and
into Millerville north of Lakes Moses and Aaron. Its elevations in these
townships along the north line of Douglas county are one hundred to two
hundred and fifty feet above the lakes, or thirteen hundred to sixteen
hundred feet alaove.the sea.
At the highest point of the Leaf hills in Otter Tail county, fifteen miles
64 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
south of the Leaf lakes, a morainic belt branches off nearly at right angles
from the range of the Leaf hills and extends southeast into Douglas county.
In the first few miles this moraine decreases in height from two hundred to
seventy-five feet. At the north line of Douglas county it divides into two
divergent belts, both showing a rough and broken surface, though the hills of
each are only seventy-five feet or less in height. One of these continues south-
east and east through Spruce Hill township into Todd county; the other
runs south-southwest to the northwest side of Lake Miltona, along the west
side of Lake Ida, by Elk lake and the west part of Lake Lobster, to the con-
spicuous hills, about one hundred and fifty feet high, at the southwest corner
of Moe. Each of these belts averages about one mile wide. The latter in its
farther extent, seems to leave by a continuous course from the prominent
Leaf hills to the almost equally noteworthy morainic range which extends
through a distance of forty miles in southern Pope and northern Kandiyohi
counties.
From the hills in Moe and the northeast part of Solum, lying on the
north and west sides of Lake Oscar, this terminal moraine, seldom much ele-
vated above the adjacent country, but distinguished by its irregular hills and
hollows, continues with an average width of about one mile, first southwest
and south twelve miles to the bridge across the Chippewa river in section 32,
Xora township, in Pope county; then southeast, east, and east-northeast
eighteen miles, passing along the north side of Lake Whipple to Glenwood.
It will probably be found traceable, also, by low knolls and ridges, from the
bridge in Pope county to the hills in Blue Mounds township, in the same
ci^unty. About three miles southwest from the course of this moraine, a
roughly broken tract of morainic hillocks and ridges was noted.
Most of northwestern Douglas county, between the Leaf hills and lake
Christina on the north and the moraine that extends from Lakes Miltona and
Ida southwest to Lake Oscar, is prominently rolling till, rising with smooth
slopes in swells thirty to fifty feet above the depressions and lakes. The
most rolling portion of this area is found in the west part of Ida township,
and on a belt several miles wide southwest from the Great Northern railway.
Northwest from Brandon station a tract of moderately undulating and partly
level gravel and sand, belonging to the modified drift, extends to the Chip-
pewa river: and in Millerville nearly level modified drift extends two or
three miles south and east from Lake Moses, having a height of twenty to
forty feet above this lake. The same formation of gravel and sand con-
tinues iiorriiward on the east side of Lake Karon to the moraine, but in this
portion it has a motlerately undulating surface.
A TYl'lCAL I.(l(; CAHIX OF THE I'lOXKKi; I'KKI
I.AKK \"I(T(li;iA. norCLAS COIXTY
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 65
The southwest edge of Douglas county, west and south from Red Rock
lake, is a somewhat lower and gently undulating expanse of till. In the
south part of this county, southeast from the moraine, Holmes City, Lake
Mary and the west half of La Grand are undulating or rolling till, with eleva-
tions twenty to forty feet above the hollows. The morainic hills of till west
of Lake Ida and north of the west part of Lake Miltona, seventy-five to one
hundred feet high, are quite in contrast with the moderately undulating or
often nearly level till which covers central and southeastern Miltona and
continues thence south through Carlos and Alexandria, the east part of Hud-
son, the south part of Belle River and Osakis and Orange townships.
In northeastern Miltona and Spruce Hill townships the morainic belt
consists chiefly of kame-like, short, disconnected ridges of coarse gravel,
twenty to thirty, or rarely, forty feet high, most frequently trending from
west to east, or approximately so. North and south of this belt are tracts of
level modified drift, only ten to twenty-five feet above the streams; that south
of the moraine occupies the north half of Belle River township, and con-
tinues westward on the south side of the Long Prairie river to Lake Carlos.
Another tract of modified drift, consisting for the most part of level
or slightly undulating sand and gravel, extends eight or nine miles south from
Alexandria, through the west half of Hudson township; and the same forma-
tion with a more rolling surface, in swells and plateaus twenty-five to fifty
feet above the depressions and lakes, also reaches three or four miles west
and northwest from Alexandria, through the east half of La Grand town-
ship. Kames of coarse gravel, forming short ridges, ten to thirty feet high,
were noted near the Maple lake school house in section 29, Hudson town-
ship.
Osakis lake is about thirteen hundred and ten feet, and Lakes Winona
and Agnes, close west and north of Alexandria, are about thirteen hundred
and sixty-five feet above the sea.
The highest land in Douglas county is on or near the north line of Millers-
ville, which crosses the border of the Leaf hills, attaining at a few points a
height of about sixteen hundred feet above the sea. The other portions of
this county are from one hundred to four hundred feet lower, its lowest
land being the shore of lake Christina, which is about twelve hundred and
fifteen feet above the sea, or the valley of the Chippewa river at the south-
west corner of the county, which has nearly the same elevation. Estimates
of the average heights of the townships of Douglas county are as follows:
Spruce Hill, fourteen hundred feet above the sea; Belle River, thirteen hun-
(5)
(^ DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
dred and forty; Osakis, thirteen hundred and sixty; Orange, thirteen hun-
dred and seventy-five; Miltona, fourteen hundred and forty; Carlos, thirteen
hundred and seventy-five ; Alexandria, thirteen hundred and eighty ; Hudson,
thirteen hundred and ninety; Leaf Valley, fourteen hundred and twenty; Ida,
fourteen hundred and twenty-five; La Grand, thirteen hundred and ninety;
Lake Mary, fourteen hundred; Millerville, fourteen hundred and forty;
Chippewa, thirteen hundred and ninety ; Moe, fourteen hundred and twenty ;
Holmes City, fourteen hundred and ten; Lund, thirteen hundred and thirty;
Evansville, thirteen hundred and fifty; Urness, thirteen hundred and sixty;
and Solem, thirteen hundred and fifty. The mean elevation of Douglas
county, derived from these figures, is approximately thirteen hundred and
eighty-five feet.
Soil and Timber. The l)lack soil, one to two feet thick, is the upper
part of the glacial and modified drift covering this county, thus colored and
made fertile by the decay of vegetation during many centuries. The carbon-
ates of lime and magnesia, in the form of magnesian limestone boulders,
pebbles and fine detritus, are an important ingredient of the drift, contribut-
ing much to the productiveness of the soil, and also making the water of wells
and springs hard. Alkaline matter is not present in appreciable quantity.
Wheat and other grains, sorghum, potatoes and other vegetables, live stock,
butter and cheese, are the chief agricultural products.
Douglas county is well supplied with timber, about half its area being
wooded. This forest extends from Miltona, Spruce Hill and Belle River, its
most northeastern townships, southwestward to Lakes Andrews, Mary and
Oscar. Southeast of this belt, the south edge of Osakis and most of Orange
and Hudson townships are prairie. In the northwest part of Douglas county
a strip of timber two or three miles wide, consisting partly of oak openings,
extends from Lake Miltona westerly to Chippewa lake and into Millerville
and Lund townships. Besides this, most of the lakes are fringed with woods.
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.
This count}- is entirely covered by the glacial and modified drift. The
thickness of the drift in Douglas county is probably from one hundred to
two hundred and fifty feet. Its bottom has not been reached by wells, and
this estimate is derived from its known thickness on adjoining areas. The
greater part of this formation is till or the modified glacial drift, called also
boulder-clay, or hardpan, deposited by the ice-sheet without modification by
water. With this are associated beds of modified drift or gravel, sand and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 67
clay, which were gathered from the ice, assorted and laid down by the waters
set free by glacial melting.
Terminal moraines. The material of the terminal moraines of the ice-
sheet which have been explored in Minnesota is nearly everywhere till, with
scanty deposits of modified drift. The latter consists of obliquely and irregu-
larly stratified gravel and sand, the gravel often being very coarse, with
pebbles and rounded stones of all sizes up to a foot or more in diameter.
It either occurs enclosed in the till, forming beds and masses of variable
shapes from a few inches to several feet in thickness, or sometimes it is
spread upon the surface and forms knolls and ridges. No considerable area
or extensive portion of this formation is found to consist of water, within this
region; though at some localities in Spruce Hill township, it is in great part
stratified gravel and sand, usually with numerous boulders enclosed and
scattered over its ridges and hillocks.
The till of the terminal moraines differs very noticeably from the more
level areas of till which generally lie at each side ; in that the former has many
more boulders, and a much larger intermixture of gravel and sand than the
latter. On an average, probably twenty times as many rock-fragments, both
large and small, occur in the morainic hills and knolls as on the smoother
tracts, and sometimes the ratio is a hundredfold. The smaller pebbles and
stones have angular and unworn forms, or more frequently are rounded,
probably by water-wearing before the glacial period, or show planed and
striated surfaces, due to grinding under the moving ice-sheet. The large
boulders are mostly less than five feet, but rarely are ten feet or more in
diameter. In form they are subangular and of irregular shape, rarely show-
ing any distinctly water-worn or glaciated surface.
In contour these deposits are very uneven, consisting usuallv of many
hillocks, mounds and ridges of rough outlines and broken slopes, with enclosed
hollows, which are sometimes nearly round, but more generally have some
irregular fomi, often holding sloughs and lakelets. The only indication of
system appears in the frequently noticeable trends of the elevations and
depressions in a direction approximately parallel with the course of the
series.
It should be added that the ridges which occur as part of this formation
differ from the ridges of interbedded gravel and sand called osars, in their
material, which is usually boulder-clay or till; in their trend, at right angles
with the course in which the ice moved, while series of osars extend nearly
in the direction taken by glacial currents; and in their length, single ridges
of the moraines being only froiu a few rods to a quarter of a mile or very
68 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
rarely perhaps a half mile long, while a single ridge in a series of osars is
generally longer, and is sometimes distinctly traceable ten or twenty miles. In
this state, however, osars of similar extent with those of Sweden and Scot-
land, and those described in Maine by Prof. George H. Stone, in ^lassa-
chusetts by Rev. G. F. Wright, and in New Hampshire by Professor \\'in-
chell. have not been found.
The height of the morainic elevations above the intervening hollows
is generalh" from twenty-five to seventy-five or one hundred feet. The only
district in this state where they are higher for any considerable part of the
series is the Leaf hills, which through a distance of twenty miles rise from
one hundred to three hundred and fifty feet above the adjoining country.
Upon the Coteau des Prairies the terminal moraines lie on areas of highland,
to tlie altitude of which xhey appear to add seventy-five or one hundred and
rarely one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet.
For agriculture the value of the terminal moraines is much less than
that of the gently undulated till which generally covers other parts of this
region. Among the hills of this formation, however, are found considerable
areas which have a smooth surface, nearly free from boulders, and possess
a highly productive soil; while the portions which are too knolly and stony
for desirable cultivation afiford excellent pasturage. In some districts the
entire morainic belt is in smooth swells, being all good farming land.
The origin of these series of drift hills is confidently referred to the
action of the continental ice-sheet, accumulating them at its margin in suc-
cessive belts, which mark the farthest limit reached by the ice in the last
glacial epoch and lines where it halted or perhaps temporarily re-advanced
during its final recession. Their reference to the agency of land-ice is
required by the partly near and partly remote sources of their material;
bv its generallv unstratified condition; by its transportation next to these
hill-ranges in courses nearly at right angles toward them ; and by the variable
elevation of the series, conforming to all the irregularities in altitude of the
region across which they extend.
In general, the material and contour of the morainic belts in Douglas
county present the same characteristics as in other parts of the state, agreeing
fully with the foregoing descriptions. The contour of the drift hills, trending
from east to west, is in the same direction as the belt which they form. Their
material is partly sand and gravel, commonly with frequent or abundant
boulders, and partly Ixiulder-clay or till. The shortness and the disconnected
or irregularly interlocked arrangement of the ridges, their variable width
and broken sloi>es, forbid their reference to such glacial rivers as deposited
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 69
the prolonged narrow ridges called osars, and seem to prove that their accumu-
lation, where they consist of sand and gravel, was by the waters flowing
down from the melting surface of the ice-sheet along its margin. This mode
of formation must also be attributed to the greater part of the morainic
belt observed in Soruce Hill township, and the northeast part of Miltona,
and to the- upper part of the bluffs at Glenwood. Boulders are usually pres-
ent, and at many places are very abundant in and on the deposits of gravel
and sand in the morainic belts; but they are usually absent or rare in and
on osars, wherever these peculiar gravel ridges have been observed.
Comparison and correlation with the morainic belts of other portions
of the state indicate that the series of drift hills is contemporaneous with the
sixth or Waconia moraine and the seventh or Dove moraine. The former
is represented by the' drift accumulations along the line of Chippewa and
Lake Whipple in Pope county. The latter, or Dove moraine, continues
westerly and northwest to Nora township, where it curves graduallv and
thence runs northeast through the county by Takes Oscar. Ida and ^liltona.
The lobe of the ice-sheet on whose boundaries these lines of knolly and hilly
drift were formed, lay on their south and west side. At the time of the
Waconia moraine the angle in the glacial boundary formed by the confluence
of the ice-fields flowing from the west and those flowing from the north
and northeast was probably near Glenwood, in Pope county, the northern ice
temiinating on the tract of rolling till that extends eastward from Glenwood
and Lake Reno into Stearns county, not distinguished by specially morainic
contour. At the time of the Dove moraine this northern ice appears to have
reached only to Spruce Hill township, its angle of confluence with the west-
ern ice-lobe l^eing in the north part of Miltona township. During the two
stages next later in the glacial recession the massive Leaf hills were accumu-
lated at the south end of the western "ice-lobe, which in its earlier extent had
covered the basin of the Minnesota river and stretched southward in Iowa
to Des Moines.
In the suljsequent recession of the ice-sheet from eastern Douglas
county, b}- which its margin was withdrawn to the moraines of Lakes Oscar,
Ida and Miltona, and that of Spruce Hill township, further deposits of
modified drift were made, including the Mt of undulating or nearly flat
sand and gravel, about one mile wide, reaching from Lake Amelia and
Turtle lake to the north end of Westport lake and continuing thence with
less width along Ashley creek to the Sauk river; the plain in Hudson and
Alexandria townships, with the connected area of plateaus, swells and kame-
like accumulations in La Grand township ; and the plain bordering the Lon<T
yo DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Prairie river in Carlos and Belle river townships, with associated undulating
and partly rolling and kame-like deposits in the south part of Spruce Hill.
The terminal moraines in Todd county show, however, that the course of
drainage could not continue north-eastward in the valley of Long Prairie
river, still covered by the ice-sheet, but was turned southward into the Sauk
valley.
Much of Carlos township has a moderately undulating surface of till,
underlain at the depth of ten to twenty feet by a thick bed of sand, in which
wells obtain water before reaching its bottom. Again, about one mile east
of Alexandria a railroad-cut was seen to consist of stratified sand and gravel,
having a vertical thickness of twenty feet exposed and continuing lower,
overlain by a deposit of till three to ten feet thick. These observations prove
a considerable re-advance of the ice after it had once retreated, but both
these movements probably took place within the same last glacial epoch.
A fault was seen in a lenticular layer of dark laminated clay one and a
half feet thick, enclosed in till, in the section cut for the railroad in the
north part of Evansville. The north end of this clay layer has fallen one and
a half feet. This is five feet above the railroad track and about thirty-five
feet below the surface, the whole section above and beneath the faulted clay
being till.
Mean elevation due to underlying formations. The grand topographic
features of this district, as the highlands and the depression occupied bv Lake
Christina, are doubtless due to the contour of the formations, probably Cre-
taceous, which underlie the drift deposits. Erosion during the long Ter-
tiary ages had probably sculptured the strata that then formed the surface
in massive hills and elevated areas resembling the buttes and mesas of
the West, divided by basins and channels sometimes several hundred feet
lower. Such preglacial contour, though partially planed down and filled up
by the erosion of the ice, still determined the mean elevation of the envelop-
ing drift-sheet, giving in this district the l^eautiful scenery in southwestern
Minnesota.
Boulders of magnesian limestone, like that outcropping near Winnipeg
in Manitoba, are frequent in the drift throughout this country, perhaps mak-
ing on an average a twentieth part of the rock- fragments over one foot in
size. Occasionally very large slabs and blocks of it are found, measuring
ten to twenty feet in length. A much larger proportion of the gravel is this
limestone, which makes alx)ut a third on the shores of some of the lakes.
The other boulders and gravel are chiefly crystalline rocks, as granite,
syenite, gneiss, and micaceous and hornblendic schists. The largest mass of
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 7I
this kind observed is a boulder of flesh-colored granite. It is forty or fifty
feet below the highest land of the township. This kind of granite, however,
does not appear to be specially abundant in the drift. No other boulder of
the crystalline rocks larger than five to seven feet in dimension, was noticed
in the county.
Ice-formed ridges of gravel and sand, sometimes with numerous boul-
ders, occur in many places on the shores of lakes, usually where the water
is shallow and the adjoining land low, being quite often a marsh scarcely
higher than the lake, above which the ridge has a height of three to six and
seven feet, with a width of three to six or eight rods. Such ridges are seen
on the southeast side of Lake Moses in Millerville township; at the mouth
of Little Chippewa lake in section 9, Chippewa township; along a distance
of one and a half miles on the west side of the north part of Lake Amelia
and between this and Turtle lake, which were united before the formation,
of this ridge.
The soil and agricultural capabilities of the county, and its timber, has
already been noticed. In adaptation for profitable farming, which must con-
tinue to be their chief source of wealth, they are unsurpassed by any other
part of the state or of the Northwest.
Building Sfoiic. No rock-outcrops occur in this district, but the
boulders of the drift supply the needs of the farmer for coarse masonry, as
foundations and the walls of cellars and wells.
Lime. Magnesian limestone boulders are used in many places for lime-
burning. Lime is burned at Evansville and other parts of Evansville town-
ship, as well as in Millerville, Chippewa, Ida and La Grand townships.
ABORIGINAL EARTHWORKS.
In the northern corner of Alexandria township, between Lakes Carlos
and Le Homme Dieu, on the west side of the road in heavy woods, is a steep
mound, about fifteen feet high, which has been partly dug out and was found
to contain bones. Near this are also two or three smaller mounds, about five
feet high.
CHAPTER III.
The Kensington Rune Stone; An Ancient Tragedy.
If the conclusions of eminent archaeologists be correct, the one outstand-
ing, paramount fact in the histor_v of Douglas county is that one hundred and
thirty years before the voyage of Columbus to America, white men — Euro-
peans— had trod the soil of that section of Minnesota now comprised within
the boundaries of Douglas county and had left here a record of their travels
and of their perilous adventures and of the death of ten of their number at
the hands of the savages.
EIGHT GOTHS AXD TWEXTY-TW'O NORWE-
GIANS UPON A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
FROM VINLAND WESTWARD. WE HAD A
CAMP BY TWO SKERRIES ONE DAY'S JOUR-
NEY NORTH FROM THIS STONE. WE WERE
OUT FISHING ONE DAY. WHEN WE RE-
TURNED 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 VESSEL FOURTEEN DAY^S'
JOURNEY FROM THIS ISLAND. YEAR 1362.
When a stone inscribed in Runic characters carrying the above simple
narrative was unearthed on the farm of Olaf Ohman on the southeast quarter
of section 14, Solem township, about three miles northeast from Kensington
station, in Douglas county, in the fall of 1898, much local interest was
created in the matter, but it was not until some little time later that the find
was brought to the attention of archaeologists in such a way as to lead to
the widespread investigation which has marked the later history of what now
is known on two continents as the Kensington Rune Stone. Archaeologists
are divided in their opinion as to the genuineness of the record here unfolded
and there has arisen a considerable controversy in relation to the matter,
elaborate arguments being presented both for and against the genuineness
of the inscription on the stone; some maintaining that the Runic characters
there inscril:ied are but the work of a clever forger lient on perpetrating an
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES;, MINNESOTA. 73
even more elaborate hoax than was the famous "Cardiff giant," while other
equally earnest and sincere scholars declare that there can be no doubt of the
authenticity of the record, among these latter being Mr. Warren Upham,
archaeologist of the Minnesota Historical Society, and some other members
of that society, and in 1910 a preliminary report in the matter was made to
the society by its museum committee. In view of the fact, however, that
statements have been made that the Minnesota Historical Society endorsed
the Kensington Rune Stone as authentic, Solon J. Buck, superintendent of
that society, desires, in this connection, to call attention to the exact position
of the society on the subject. The museum committee, as will be seen by the
report which follows, rendered a favorable opinion, "provided, that the
references to Scandinavian hterature given in this committee's written report
and accompanying papers be verified by a competent specialist in the Scandi-
navian languages, to be selected by this committee, and that he approve the
conclusions of this report."
The report of the committee was presented to the executive council of
the society, but was never accepted or adopted by the council or by the society
itself. It was, however, as will also be noted in the report that follows,
received and ordered printed "with the statement that the council and society
reserve their conclusions until more agreement of opinion for or against
the rune inscription may be attained." Xo further action on the subject has
ever been taken by the executive council or by the societv. It also will be
noted that Professor Bothne, who was selected by the museum committee,
in accordance with its resolution, to verify the references, refused to approve
the conclusions of the committee's report. Since that report was made, Mr.
Holand, the owner of the stone, took it abroad and it was examined by a
number of European scholars, but so far as has appeared, few if any of
them have expressed their belief in its authenticity. Superintendent Buck's
position in the matter is similar to that expressed by the executive council
of the society in 1910. Never having made a study of runic inscriptions, he
is quoted as preferring to reserve his conclusion in the matter until more
agreement of opinion is reached among experts in the field.
Below is given in full the preliminary report of the Minnesota Historical
Society by its museum committee on the famous
KENSINGTON RUNE STONE.
As the museum committee is charged with the responsiliility of making
a recommendation to the society respecting the authenticit}- or the fraudulent
74 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 1)y 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 prepara-
tory to plowing, and his men were grubbing out the stumps. There were
present at the finding, or immediately thereafter, the following persons : Olof
Ohman, his sons, Olof Emil Ohman, 12 years of age, and Edward Ohman,
10 years of age, and Xils 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.
When the stone was found, its inscribed side was down, and about six
inches of soil covered it. A poplar or aspen tree 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
age 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 esti-
mating 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
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 75
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 Governor 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. Johnson, of Kensington; Emil Johnson, now at Warroad; Gulick
Landsvark, living two miles east of Kensington; and Lars Goldberg, now
at Bowbells, North Dakota.
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 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.
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 country is
morainic, the elevations rising sometimes somewhat abruptly 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 ver)^ few
boulders in the clay, yet on the tops of some of the drift hills granitic and
other boulders are numerous, and sometimes the}- are found in numbers
near the bases of the hills and in the swamps. They are sometimes large and
conspicuous, and frequently 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 quartzosfi ; and the other five in a hundred may be compared with
the rock of the rune stone, being some of the various forms of gravwacke.
76 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The extreme length of the Rune Stone is 36 inches, width across the
face 15 inches, the thickness sVz 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 heat-
ing and slow cooling in contact, or near contact, with igneous rocks. On
its inscribed face is a layer of calcite covering 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 evidently 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 families 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 under-
stand 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 county school, where the children gathered for instruc-
tion, first at one farm house for a week and then at another, six weeks in
all making 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 exliibited for a time in the drug store
at Kensington. It was later sent to Minneapolis and was examined by Prof.
O. J. Breda, also to Evanston, 111., and was examined by Prof. George O.
Curine. As they pronounced it fraudulent, it was returned to the finder
in March. 1899, who placed it carelessly in his )ard, where it served as a step-
ping stone near his granary for eight years, without further 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 exhib-
ited it in Chicago, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin, and Northfield, Minnesota,
giving in each place a lecture. This has brought out various criticisms, pro
and con, and the burden resting on the committee has considerably increased.
The memliers of this committee appreciate the great importance of the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. JJ
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 impar-
tial discussion of all the circumstances.
THE INSCRIPTION.
The runic inscription has been translated as l>elo\v 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 \'inland of vest vi
hadhe laeger vedh 2 skjar en dags rise norr fro dheno sten vi var ok tiske
en dhagh aeptir vi kom hem fan 10 man riidhe af blodh og dhedh A X M
fraelse af illy
On the edge of the stone:
har 10 mans ve(dj havet at se aeptir vore skip 14 [?] dhagh rise
from dheno oh ahr 1362
No one has called in question the correctness of this translation. In
explanation of the transliteration Mr. Holand writes: "The runic alpha-
bet had only one character to indicate three, or what became three, different
sounds, til. dli, and d. Out of 2,000 runic inscriptioris we find only about
a half dozen having a separate sign for d. This character was later sup-
plemented, and was used medially and 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 centur\- 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 jjlood and dead.
A V M [Ave, Virgo Maria], save us from evil.
[We] have ten men by the sea to look after our vessels fourteen
[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 :
y8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
(a) Their camp was near two rocks in the water (skerries), one
clay's journe}- north from the stone ;
(h) The location of the stone was on an island;
(3) The sea was fourteen days' journey from the stone (doubtfvilly
forty-one ).
( a ) Professor P\)ssuni and Mr. Holand searched about Lake Chris-
tina. I'elican 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. O. 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 answer
the description. There are twelve or thirteen of them and hence they are
too numerous, and for the purpose of locating 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 not exactly parallel,
and that those lines might be called the skerries referred to in the inscrip-
tion : 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 porphy-
ritic granite, cut by a coarse red dike, three inches wide, with dimensions
of 6 feet by 4 feet by 3>4 feet, with rounded contours. The other is of
gray gneiss, banded with light reddish laminae, 6 feet by 4^/2 feet by 4 feet,
irregularly and bluntly angular, showing some brecciation and a pegmatyte
\'ein 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 break-
water 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 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 s])routed was so much higher than now. Under
such conditions, 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 _\'ears ago the lake level was somewhat higher than it is
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 79
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 composed 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 enibraces a small lagoon. If the explorers"
camp was on this point, near its extremity, the two big boulders would ht
chosen very naturally as reference points in the inscription.
( h ) 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 desiccation of the country which has converted many
lakes into marshes and many marshes into meadows. This gradual drying
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 Northwest. If the stone be genuine, therefore, the
present disagreement with the facts, as with the skerries, is due to physi-
cal change in the surface of the country.
(c) The sisrae was fourteen days' journey from the sea. At no
place could the sea be reached in that space of time, with their means
of tra\el, 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 penetrated the country by way of the Great Lakes. There
are, however, insuperable oljjections to such an idea. It is a very improb-
able suggestion that from any place which may have had the name of \'in-
land a party would penetrate North America by that route, Ijy sail and by
foot, to encounter the natives in a tragic death only in western Minne-
sota. That suggestion need not Ije further considered; and the more so,
.'■■ince the route of possible tra\'el, or at least most probable, as shown bv
the ^Minnesota Historical Society's map of regions north to Hudson bay
and of the pro.ximity of Minnesota through a well-known water route,
would have been from \''inland to Hudson bay, and to Lake Winnipeg
via Nelson river, and thence up the Red river of the North. This map is
based on the chart of J. T. Smith, published in 1839 at London, in a work
entitled "The Discovery of America by the Northmen in the Tenth Cen-
tury." By this map it appears that the entrance to Hudson bav is directly
west from W'estljygd and Eastl5}'gd, the chief settlements of Greenland,
8o DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. '
and could hardly fail of being well known. It is the route which the ships
of the Hudson Bay Company followed for about three hundred years in
reaching" the region of furs tributary to Hudson ba}^.
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 North-
men's discoveries, to mention three parts of the coast of North America,
namely, Helluland, Markland, and Vinland, the last being farthest south.
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 Rafn 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 exclu-
sively Massachusetts, is evident from Joseph Fischer's work, "The Dis-
coveries of the Norsemen in America" (St. Louis, 1903), at page 3, when,
in quoting from Adam of Bremen's oldest work, Fischer states that the
objections to Adam's tales consisted mainly in a statement like the fol-
lowing :
"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 objection to Adam's account of Vinland was
based by Fischer on an idea of Vinland which grew up afterward without
sufficient 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 applicable 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 rugged-
ness and inhospitable nature of at least the northern part of Hudson bay.
It is perhaps reasonable to presume that at the 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
Massachusetts. But that would discredit the storv of the discoverv of
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 8l
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. AI. 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 translators of the sagas, were not the fruit
of the grape vine (Vitis), but some form of currant (Ribes), or the wine-
berry of northern Europe (Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea), and that the last named
species is common in northern Labrador. As the so-called "grapes" were
gathered so abundantly as to fill their afterboat 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," men-
tioned as one of the products of Vinland, was the strand wheat (Elymus
arenarius). having a similar northern distribution. The tree which the Norse-
men procured 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 description 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 supposition that two different eastward-facing coasts have been con-
founded and considered as one. The earliest accounts are perfectly appli-
cable to the west coast of Hudson bay. The Flatey book states that in
\'inland were glaciers, and these are well known about the northwestern
confines of Hudson Bay, but are not found in Nova Scotia nor in Massa-
chusetts, 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 voy-
age to \'inland took place, and there is reason to suppose that he and his
successors visited points/ on the Atlantic side of North America, but sup-
posed they had visited the country which had already been named Vinland.
From his and Karlsefne's sagas, there rose the geographic distinction of
(6)
82 DOUGLAS AXD GR.\XT COUNTIES, MIXXESOTA.
Helluland. Markland, and \'inland. so much spoken of by all later accounts.
The committee has not taken the time necessar}- to verify or to disprove
this h\-pothesis. and desires merely to call attention to it as a possible solu-
tion of contradictions that appear in the historic records, avoiding the neces-
sity- of rejecting either as untrustworthy.
Dr. Henrik Xissen. 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 Norse-
men. There certainly was no permanent colonization of \'inland. and
according to Fischer all arguments hitherto brought forward to support
the idea of colonization by the Xorse have proved to be fallacious. The
definite histon,- of the voyages to \'inland ends at A. D. 1121. but there is
sufficient account to show that until the year 1362 voyages from the Scandi-
navian settlements in AA'estem Greenland were occasionally made to \'in-
land. 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 Icelandic 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 colonies.
In the absence of other evidence, the statement of the Kensington Rune Stone,
that a party of thirty men started from \'inland on an exploring tour
westward. ma\" be understood to refer merely to a winter spent by the party
in \'inland. or even to a temporan,- landing there, rather than to any prev-
iously existing settlement or colony.
According to Storm's "Studier over \'inlandsreiseme" (pages 76. •/■/).
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
supposed that this expedition, or a part of it. returned in 1364.
THE SLIGHT WEATHERIXG OF T^E RUXE STOXE.
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, accord-
ing to the testimony of Mr. Ohm.an. 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
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 83
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 direc-
tion 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 inscription 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 counteract its evil influences. Numerous works of the mound-building
Indians are known in the immediate neighborhood, and they 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.
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 elonga-
tion 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 reverse of the inscribed side
is more altered by weathering and carries evident older glacial striations.
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 impossil>le to draw a decisive inference 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 bv crushing the stone. This dift'erence was said to l)e due to the fact
84 DOUGLAS AND GRAXT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 fresli 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 surface 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 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 calcite, 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. ^larble 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 b\' 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 com-
mon 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 distinctly the fine glacial scratches
which they received during the Ice age. which ended about 7,000 or 8,000
years ago. When, however, they are found exposed at the surface of the
ground, they have lost this smoothness and all the glacial marking, and their
surfaces afiford 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 slal) was separated
from its neighbor 548 years ago, it must have lain with its face side down dur-
ing the most of that period, and if separated earlier it must have been covered
I)y 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 years except to bury
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 85
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 hun-
dred 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 approximately in a scale
as follows :
1. A fresh break or cut o
2. Break or cut shown b)' 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. O. Hotchkiss, state geologist of
Wisconsin, estimated that the time since the runes were inscribed is "at least
50 to 100 years." If the figures in the foregoing series be all multiplied by
100, they would stand:
(I) (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 gla-
ciation (5), the numbers may all be accepted as the approximate number of
years required for the various stages 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 durable 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
86 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
quartzyte, even where exix)sed to the weather since they were formed, the
fine glacial scratches and polishing are well preserved, and when covered bv
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 inscription 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 revie\\-. 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 \^'atts, 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 familiar with rune
characters, made runes on the sidewalk, on window casings and granaries, and
was generally regarded as a "queer genius," resembling Uriah Heep, 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 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 ^fr. Ohman had a Swedish grammar,
published in 1840, the author of which was C. J. L. Almquist, issued at
Stockholm. This rumor was encountered 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. Ohman's "library." He considered that it had
nothing to do with the rune stone and discredited the rumor. \\'hen, more
recently, interest in the stone became more active and the rumor became
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 8/
widespread, 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 returned to him. On the front fly-leaf is written
Sz'. Fogclblad,
Stockholm, d. i6 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 correspond-
ing names and Roman equivalents.
j\lr. 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 read-
ing the rune record by means of the rune alphabet contained 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 Fogelblad. 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-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 liquor. 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 opin-
ion that he died prior to his going there fifteen years ago. These points
were verified by others. They were carefully followed 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. Fogelglad had been the source of the necessary knowledge.
Mr. John A. Holvik, a student of the United Church Seminary, St.
Anthony Park, St. Paul, had begun a search for the book which Fogel-
±)lad left at Mt. 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
an DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
inscription, .\fter the book was obtained in the investigation by this com-
mittee, he examined it at leisure for two or three days, and wrote the follow-
ing letter concerning it :
jAitcr of John A. Holvik.
St. Autbou.v I'aik. Miiiu., April 20. 1910.
Prof. N. H. Wiiicliell, St. Paul.
Dear Sir:
After comparing in detail the Kensington iuserliition with the hook bearing the
name of Sv. Fogelblad, I am prepared to make the following statements.
1. The book Is a grammar of modern Swedish, published in 1S40.
2. It contains some material on the development of the language:
(a) A system of runes:
(b) Xoun declensions of Old and Middle Swedish;
(c) Verb conjugations of Old and Middle Swedish;
(d) Short selections to illustrate the language at different iieriods from A. D. 1200
to the present time.
(e) Selections to illustrate different dialects.
3. The rune system Is the Futhork of sixteen characters. 'I'he rimes of the inscrip-
tion are the later "punctuated" (stungne) runes.
4. The declensions give the four cases for nouns in Old and Middle Swedish
The Inscription has only nominative and genitive forms. Furthermore, the word for
ship, used as a tji^e word in the fifth declension, is spelled skep in Middle Swedish
The inscription has skip.
5. The conjugation gives plural iutlectiou for all verbs in Old ami 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 from 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 ruuologists) that the-
autlior of the Inscription must be from Dalame in Sweden. A^ selection in the book
shows the characteristic diphthongs of the dialect of Dalarne: but a characteristic fea-
ture of the inscription 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 inscription on the Kensington Rune Stiuie and the book bearing
the name Sv. Fogelblad.
Yours truly.
.T. 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
ijeen suggested by someone, asked by another whether true or not, intimated
by another, and affirmed by the fourth. Once stated as a fact, it was hence
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 09
additional evidence, united with the possession 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 rumor that Mr. Ohman made rune characters on the sidewalks, on
fences, and on granaries, asking people if they could read them, was appar-
ently a very easy one to verify or disprove. And so it proved to be. Every-
where, 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. O , 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 char-
acters, as a joke, and "knew all about runes." Asked to state whether he him-
self ever saw Mr. Ohman make runes at any time, disregarding the rumor,
Mr. O. 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 took, written at the time of the interview :
••Mr. Ciiiu'er .lohuson says his little testiuiony is not worth Miiything one way or
the other. He knew Mr. Ohninu, who built his house, about 26 or 27 years ago. Mr.
Obujiui iiiul be were talking about old Xorske one day, and Ohman said there were old
letters which were called nnies, and Mr. Ohmau took a pencil and made some on a
board, sa.vini; 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 ciuiUl make them, nor anyone passing throiigh here who could
make them."
Later, when Mr. Ohman, was told that people said he made runes on side-
walks and on granaries, etc., he indignantly demanded, "Who said it?" When
he was told that Air. Gunder Johnson stated that he had made them on a board
when he worked for Mr. Johnson twenty-six or twenty-seven years ago, he
denied it, but added that he "could not recall an\- conversation with Mr. John-
son about runes," and that if at an\- time he had said anything to Mr. Johnson
about runes, "It was I^ecause 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
90 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
that twenty-six or twenty-seven years ago, according to Mr. Gunder John-
son, 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. John-
son's house as a carpenter, in order to show him the kind of letters formerly
used by the Scandinavians. The following is also extracted from our field
book, bearing on the existence of this rumor.
"I fouud Mr. Guilder Jobusou a very tiilkative uiau. I recall it Ilo^^■, and record
it for its beariug ou tlie existence and spread of tlie idea that Mr. Oliuiau knew rimes
long ago, had a number of books on runes, and made runic characters ou 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 fouud the report especially prevalent and detailed about Brandon, where
Mr. Ohman lived 26 or 27 years ago. I have asked, not for the stor.v, but for positive
statements as to whether the parties affirming the story actually knew of Mr. Ohman's
making runes. They said they did not, except Jlr. Gunder Johnson, and some of them
said they knew nothing about it except what emanated either from Mr. O. of Brandon
or Mr. Gunder Johmsou.
"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 inscribed. All minds turned to Mr. Ohman. Eighty years passed. The
knowledge of Mr. Gunder Johnson about Jlr. Ohman's making runes, and the fact that
he retaiiied 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, giveu broadcast. There was no other possible explanation of a fraudu-
lent rune stone found ou Mr. Ohman's farm aud kept by him, however indifferently.
•■Jlr. Ohman is' a rather taciturn man, and he took no pains to counteract 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 kuown 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 inscription. 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 kmiwu that Mr. Ohman had 'rune hooks.' the story
was credited by many who had no knowledge of the case nor any personal acquaint-
ance 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 assumption 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 pronqited this thorough investigation."
Ohman is not a thrifty farmer. His premises are in disorder. His
cattle, pigs, chickens, and his children, have a common way of approach to
his front door, and when it is mudd\- the floor of his house is also muddy.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 9I
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 Hstlessness has its influence
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 insist on its return to him. A Swede farmer, in ignorance of the
ways and means to have the inscription further investigated, not fully know-
ing 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. Ohman'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, believe that these rumors are baseless, and affirm their con-
fidence 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 he had known ever since he
came to his farm, "is utterly incapable 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.
No one was found who questioned the existence of this tree, nor the flat-
ness of the roots caused by long contact on the stone. Indeed, one man who
regarded Mr. Ohman as the possible maker of the inscription stated that he
saw the roots and that thev were flattened on one side.
92 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Tlie shortest time that has been assigned to the growth of the tree is ten
years. 'Sir. 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 Stehson.
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 growtb 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 owner-
ship of the land by Mr. Stenson. The committee has taken no steps to ascer-
tain 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 STONE.
The foregoing sketch of the facts of the finding of the stone, and of the
attendant conditions, embraces everything of importance that has come within
the scope of our inquiry. It may be well, before leaving this part of the subject
to call attention to some obvious inferences which bear on the question of the
authenticity of the stone.
1. The inscription was made upon a boulder of gra3'wacke 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, Init appears to have
been shaped by hammering.
3. The inscribed face api>ears weathered so as to indicate that it was
separated from its companion piece perhaps several thousand years ago (but
has not been glaciated), or was affected by water that entered along the
joint-opening for a long time before such separation. The preservation of
the calcite 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 five hundred and forty-eight years ago, and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 93
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 \vas 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 "inland" was
appHcable. If the inscription is modern, the engraver must have known that
five hundred and forty-eight years ago this elevation was an island.
6. The sea was said to be fourteen days' journey distant from the place
of the stone. The sea at Hudson bay is about that distance from Douglas
county, for a canoe party descending 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 occupancy of the farm by \lr.
Ohman.
9. Air. 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 short-
est estimate of its age. The committee has not learned the date of 'Sir. Fogel-
blad's coming to the region, not deeming it important. The relation of the
rune stone to the Swedish grammar owned by Mr. Fogelblad at the time of
his death is expressed by Mr. Holvik. According to his opinion, the liook
could not have been the source of the information necessar}' to construct
the inscription.
10. If the stone is fraudulent, it seems neces.sary to exonerate both
Mr. Fogelblad and Mr. Ohman from the imposition, (See the Appendix.)
94 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
NOTES ON THE RECORD GIVEN BY THE INSCRIPTION.
The inscription has been acceptably translated as follows :
Eight Goths 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. \\ M., save us from evil.
Have ten men by the sea to look after our vessels four-
teen days" journey from this island. Year 1362.
Without reference at this time to the language used, and not consider-
ing 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 omis-
sion of non-important details. This simplicity, unfortunately for the his-
torical 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 statement in the
light of the fact that it is not known, even at this day, that a permanent
or even a temporary colony was established 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 \'inland, by the statements of the record, should agree with the location
of that countrv liv Fernald. since all modern (and even earlier) descriptions
of \inland have placed \'inland 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 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 X'inland. and they had their s]ii])s till
DOUCLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 95
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 fraudu-
lent, 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 \"inland was where it has been thought to be; and how much
more probable that an impostor would not attempt to make a definite state-
ment. 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 b}- such a discrepancy.
The exactness with which the location of the camp is described can be
attributed to the probable burial of the ten men at the camp, and the natural
desire to describe geographically the place of the bloody massacre of ten of
their comrades; 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 is fraudu-
lent, 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
five hundred and forty-eight 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.
If the record is fraudulent, it is also remarkable that the impostor could
see that five hundred and forty-eight 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
usuallv characterized bv the omission of details. Here was a reckless and a
ijG DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
fearlessness amongst details which l>etoken honesty and truth. The very dis-
crepancies, where the details di\erge 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 fraudulent, 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 tlie place
where they were encamped, nor as to the direction to the sea. Such links as
are necessary to make a connected and reasonable 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 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 appearance of the dead men be
stated at all? and especially why should it be stated before stating the fact of
death? The murderers are not mentioned nor indicated. These peculiari-
ties in the record may be explained b\- 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 Indians 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 remarkable inscription.
"A. \'. AI." Hail, Virgin Mary! or Ave Maria. This is a distinctly Catholic
expression. According to Archbishop 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 emplo\ed a term
suitable to the date of the inscription; but we would hardly expect an im-
postor, 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 supposition that the stone is fraudulent, this is a decided anachron-
ism and would hardly be introduced by an impostor.
KENSINGTON RUNE STONE
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 97
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. O. A. Norman, of Ashby, called our attention to a singular coinci-
dence, viz., the frequency of the expression calling upon Mary, in Scandi-
navia, 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, Minnesota, 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 century, 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 stone be fraudulent, it is singular that such a man
should prove himself capable of such literary and historical knowledge, and
of such artiful 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 five hundred and forty-eight years ago.
4. Refer to an island, which was not an island when the stone was in-
scribed, but was so five hundred and forty-eight 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 Scandinavia in 1362,
but anachronistic iij the nineteenth century.
8. As an impostor, utter the common prayer of a devout Catholic of
the fourteenth century.
9. Use in part some ancient runic characters instead of those common
in later centuries.
(7)
98 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 genuine-
ness of the Kensington Rune Stone, there are linguistic objections, which, it
is claimed, are insurmountable. It is claimed by those who are expert in the
Scandinavian languages, and who present those difficulties, that linguistic
evidence is paramount in importance, and that other considerations are pertin-
ent only after the linguistic objections are removed.
A summary statement of these objections is about as follows :
Certain words not in use in Sweden at the date given the inscription, viz. :
opdagclsc. It is pointed out that this word is not in Sodervall's diction-
ary, nor in that of Kalkar, the latter being a dictionary of the old Danish
(and Swedish) language covering the years 1300 to 1700, and that in modern
Swedish the word opdage is uppdaga; that "opdagclsc" is made by adding to
the root the suffix else, which in the form ilsi is not found in Swedish or Dan-
ish prior to 1300; that "opdage" itself is a borrowed word, allied to the Dutch
opdagen and the German cntdcckcn; and that, if it had existed in 1362, its only
meaning could have been dazmiing.
po, which appears twice in the inscription. This word, derived from
iipp 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 from the sixteenth cen-
tury or later, its earliest date in Kalkar being 1534.
dag is, on the stone, thag (or dhug), meaning day, but in 1362 d had
supplanted dh and should have been used. The use of "the thorn" (the
rune (?) for dh or th or d) indicated a modern Swede runologist. The
same objection lies against dh in opdagelse. J 'inland, and dcd. and other
words.
vorc skip should have been written voruui skipiiiii, to agree with the lan-
guage of Sweden in 1362.
har, var, kom, and fan, are first person plurals, as used, and should
have the ending om. viz., haf thorn (or hathom), zvroin, koiiioiii. and funnom.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 99
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.
dcd (or theth, or dhedth) should have been dodh, and is apparently a
reflection of the English word "ded."
from is English
mails is an incorrect plural English word for men.
0 is written with c rune inside an o. o appears for the first time in
1495-
In short, the language of the stone, it is claimed, is a mixture of
modern Swedish, Norwegian, and English.
It is fortunate for 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 European experts in runes and in Scandinavian
literature have given close attention to this stone, and have afforded their
aid to the committee in their efforts to reach a warrantable conclusion as
to the authenticity of the record for the date which it claims. The commit-
tee 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 committee entertain unsupported
opinions, but that in the end the result would be based on other's opinions
and would not be a creditable and judicial consideration of the problems
with which the committee is charged.
The following eminent and critical scholars have aided the committee,
and to them the thanks of the Historical Society are due :
Helge G jessing, University of Christiania, Norway.
Hjalmar Rued Holand, Ephraim, Wisconsin.
O. J. Breda, Christiania, Norway, formerly of the University of Min-
nesota.
George O. Curme, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
Chester N. Gould, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Rasmus B. Anderson, Madison, Wisconsin.
Dr. Knut Hoegh, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Gisle Bothne, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
John O. Evjen, Augsburg Seminary, Minneapolis.
Andrew Possum, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota.
P. P. Iverslie, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
lOO DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
George T. Flom, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
Julius E. Olson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
J. A. Holvik, United Church Seminary, St. Anthony Park, St. Paul,
Minnesota.
Olaf Huseby, Norwegian journalist and author, Fosston, ^Minnesota.
J. J. Skordalsvold, Minneapolis, Minnesota, formerly professor of Nor-
wegian Literature in Augsburg Seminary.
O. E. Hagen, Meridian, Wisconsin, formerly professor in the Uni-
versity of South Dakota, Vermilion, South Dakota.
It is needless to say that among these there is divergence of testimony.
and sometimes contrary, not only in the results which they have reached,
but sometimes in their estimates of the value of the linguistic peculiarities
of the language 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
and 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 Bible in King James' version
does not employ the words boy or girl, but instead uses lad and danisel, if
a book purporting to be a copy of the King James version were found to
contain the words boy 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 inscription 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 com-
pared with a "usage," and it is the wide uncertainty of that usage that
gives rise to the variety 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 mav 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 inscrip-
tion ought to show a conformity. It should also be remembered that,
as in English, these standards change from one into the other with lapse
of time. A usage which was prevalent only in common speech, say in
the fourteenth century, might be found in literature in the fifteenth cen-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. lOI
tury, and in the more dignified language of legal documents not till the
sixteenth century. As our slang words creep slowly into literature, 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 niade 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 numerous 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 unlettered 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 neces-
sary to allow for some effect of German and perhaps English contiguity.
Hence, as the stone claims to date from the fourteenth century, it is reason-
able to compare it with the colloquial usage of that century.
Here arises another important consideration, viz., the fourteenth cen-
tury was a period of change and confusion, arising from the introduction
of Christianity. Here was in full swing the tradition to the modern forms
and usages. Indeed the language of Sweden and Denmark in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries "was much like that of the present." and, "to that
degree agrees with the new that nothing except an occasional business or
law expression will stop a reader of the present." This change was not
accomplished without much irregularity, and perhaps this is most apparent
in the fourteenth century. The German language made a powerful impress
on the Swedish. Dahlerup declares, "Never has our language received
so- great influence from abroad (especially Middle Low German) as it
received in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries." Those irregularities
consisted in a more or less prevalent dropping of case ending, disregard of
grammatical agreements, especially in common speech, and differences of spell-
ing.
With these facts in mind, we will examine in succession the difticult
linguistic points whicli we have already mentioned.
opdagclsc 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 purporting to be a dictionary of the old
I02 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 dawn. In the inscrip-
tion it has an active significance, 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 opdaget" (A vessel zvith pirates was discov-
ered off shore). The fact that the date of this quotation is 1634 does
not show that this signification of this word was not in earlier use, for
Kalkar gives numerous other quotations witth dates showing similar Ger-
man influence, dated later than their known earhest use, as follows :
understanda is dated 1610, but is found in Den Jydskc Lov of 1241.
(Brandt, Gammeldanska Lasebog, 1856, p. 29, Hne 15.)
ophange in dated 1575, used in a provision of Waldemar Seier of 1250
(itto, 41, 3, as uphengia.)
opladlia, dated by Kalkar 1550, used in a diploma of 1329 (ditto, yj,
5, as itplader) ; and numerous others.
Kalkar's dictionary was not complete. He is now compiling a sup-
plement, which will contain hundreds of words missed by him in his first
edition. The following, similar to opdagelsc, may be mentioned, in use
about 1400, which were omitted by Kalkar: opfostrc, upfodde. opbrande,
opraettilsae, forymmels, paa>nindelse (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 certain 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 recognize 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 : ( i )
It is used earlier than is recognized by Sodervall's dictionary ; and ( 2 )
it is used correctly to designate "an action 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 nian\- words are in use long before they are recognized
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. IO3
in standard literature and in dictionaries, and that the difference of -time
here amounts to only thirty-eight years, it appears to the committee 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 preposition before
the word opdagelse, its force, as defined by the objectors, is to be inferred
from the connection. "On a journey of discovery" implies a verb such as
going, and if that be supplied the phrase reads "going on a journey of dis-
covery," which gives the preposition exactly the sense required.
Again, it is quite likely that in pronunciation pa, the original word which
became paa, was sounded so nearly like po that the unlettered scribe pre-
ferred 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 century and hence could not have been used in 1362;
but Falk and Torp state that in Swedish-Danish the transition from e to a
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 burial 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
lagre omkring tlicnnom" (date of this writing, 1524?). This dictionary
covers the period from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century.
dhag, opdhagelse, J'inlandh, 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 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, used exclusively
on the inscription, was warrantable as a character either for that dental
which was sounded th, or for that which was sounded by dh. 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 regulated practice, in 1362, as
to the use of it for d. we have been unable to find out. No one has referred
to any regulated practice, and it seems to us that any criticism demanding
the exclusive use of the character for d in 1362 where the inscription shows
I04 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
dh, should be supported by such a rule. There is not a word in the inscrip-
tion which calls for the dental sound th, and it is hence plain that where the
thorn sign 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 I42 times in these same inscriptions. It appears also that
there was great latitude in the use of this character, in that it not only
commonly represented th and dh, but also frequently d, and even t. In
inscription No. 4, on page 448, we find ristu spelled with the "thorn" instead
of the t. Therefore, while it might have l:>een accessible in elementary text-
liooks. the writer of' the inscription has shown a close agreement even with
written usage in Sweden in the middle ages, by using the "thorn" exclusively.
Had / only been used, that character, as it seems to the committee, would
have constituted a greater objection than the exclusive use of the "thorn."
hadhe, har, var, kom, and fan. These are unquestionably verb forms
of the first plural, past tense {har is present), 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
abbreviations were warrantable in the year 1362.
The statement has been made already, in general terms, that this was
a period in the histor}' of the Danish- Swedish and Danish-Norse lan-
guages when great confusion prevailed, because of a tendency toward the
modern usages, and it would be possible to assign such verb changes to that
general statement. 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, examples in practice dating irom
the fourteenth centur}-, 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 influences, show that the speech
undoubtedly in many parts [of the country] had given up the logical use of the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I05
plural forms" ( Det Danske Sprogs Historic, p. 33). As an example of this
he quotes: "Allc fugle son hedder voliicres pa Latin," "the faar," "the
gik," "the kan," "I seer," etc. In all these illustrations we find singular
verbs with plural subjects. We have other examples of this, as in a letter
of 1340, which begins, "Alloc )nen thettac href ser eller hor' (Brandt's
Lasebog, p. 79, line i). Similarly a letter of 1329 begins, Allae ma£n thet-
tae href ser aeldaer horaer (ditto, yy, i). 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 per-
son plural preterite for hafa is hofdu; but as early as 1200 we find JVitherlax
men hamdhe honum uraet giort" (Kong Knuts Viderlagsret in Brandt's
Lasebog, p. 39, line i). Gamle Kong Eriks Kronike, written about 1320,
says, "The hado upotith therra maat" (Svenska Medeltidens Rim-Kronikor,
G. E. Klemmings's edition, Stockholm, 1865, first part, line 1514; see also
line 2581). Upsala Kronike, of the fourteenth century, reads, "hadae moss
[plural] acdct opp oxen som I'ar of osth giord (Hunde Kongen og Snio in
Hallenberg, No. 51, also cjuoted in Brandt's Lasebog, p. y2, line i). In
Mandevilles Reiser, of about 1400, we similarly find hadhc: "ikcae Jiadhae vy
. . . .frem kommit" (Brandt's Lasebog, 123, 10); "ta tct hadae gongit
Iioos 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 has, 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 disap-
peared. 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 hm'e or haver; but, according
to Falk and Thorp, for a long time the i> was elided in pronunciation, mak-
ing lia and har, or was replaced, even in the fourteenth century, h\ », the
following e being dropped. Thus: "lak haur of herrana hort" (Gamble
Eriks Kronike, 1320, Klemming's ed., line 4404) ; "Thet haur konnng 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 have tint
oc lathet ivore kerae bytndn (Brandt's Lasebog, p. 79, line 18). In a letter
of Queen Margaret, of 1339, we read: "Meth al thene rat som han og
honiies fathir thcr til hawe haft og hawe." In the last two instances u
(or T') is Ti', which also illustrates the confusion which has, in all 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 "J]'i Iiaita
I06 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
nu talet ok sagt oc screiv'dt thct som tharyekt ar" (Molbech's Ordbog, xlix) ;
also, "Thorn ther hauer howeth wdrk," etc. (ditto, xlix).
Summarizing oiir inquiry on this word, we find :
(a) that the plural hafvom had been largely dropped in the four-
teenth 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 sporadi-
cally in Gamle Eriks Krliinike, the ablest literary work of the times, written
in 1320.
If we add to this a probable advance in phonetic and grammatic develop-
ment 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 impostor of today, trying to reproduce the language of an
ancient period, could only be a philologist, and would try to follow the liter-
ary 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 regular 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 tiina." while in line
15 we read, "Slenge ok Vege varu i hans tima." After this time the singular
var is dominant. Many illustrations could be given of plural subjects used
with the singular var. Var is frequently seen in the form vare, as "tha vare
wi acy fraelstc aff helvedis nodh" (devotional jxiem from alx)ut 1425, Brandt's
Lasebog, p. 262, 8).
koiii is used for koiiiiiion, the plural ending, like others already dis-
cussed, having dropped off in the period under discussion.
fail. This form, although we have no examples to quote, may be assumed
to have been used for the old plural form, analogous to koin, var, and har.
dhcdh {or dcdh). The use of c for ac, in the fourteenth century, or vice
versa, was frequent. Hence the uncritical maker of the inscription did not
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. IO7
pass beyond the warrant of his time. The Danish dialect had dcd in 1390.
It is evident that the thorn must have been intended here to express the
symbol dh (th as in this, and .not tli as in thistle), which irt English found its
equivalent in d, and in German in the word todt. The spelling of this word
may have been influenced somewhat by a knowledge of the English pro-
nunciation 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 substitution of 0 for long a or aa is so apparent
in this word that it needs no efifort 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 authenticity of the stone rather
than against it.
fn the old Aurlancrs 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 Vestgotland, 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 inscrip-
tion.
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 the)- are warranted in making the following conclusions :
1. It cannot be the work df 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 fourteenth century, which was essentially the
Dalske dialect of Dalarne of the sixteenth century.
3. No expert philologist would make the blunder of writing dcd for
d'od. A modern philologist familiar with the evolution of 0 from an would
hardly make such an error, but such phonetic mistakes were common among
the uncritical people of the fourteenth century.
I08 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 b.
5. The use of the phrase, "id var ok fiskc,'' belongs in the same class
of colloquialisms as skiillen for skule han. haden for havde han, etc. These
phrases are all on the lips of the people in common speech, but no well-
informed person would sufifer them to appear in a serious narrative in
writing. But in the fourteenth century, with its greater phonetic freedom,
the}- were all common.
6. Several obsolete words, which were in use in the fourteenth cen-
tury, such as lacgcr, rise, skjar, af illy, and from, as well as the peculiar
numeral characters, strongly indicate 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 evidence 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' journey distant
from the seashore is more probably meant for fourteen than forty-one.
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE.
Attention should be called again to the stone found by Verendrye and
sent by him to Paris in 1734-40. The characters could not be read by any
parties in Quebec, but were believed to be of Tartarean origin, there being
then a belief entertained 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 e\"es. (7atlin presumed that the party of ]\Iadoc, 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 peo-
ple from northern Europe mingled with the Alandan Indians.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. ICQ
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE MUSEUM COMMITTEE.
The following resolutions, which 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 :
Resolved, That this committee renders a favorable opinion of the authen-
ticity of the Kensington rune stone, provided, that the references to Scandi-
navian literature given in this committee's written report and accompan_\-ing
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.
Resoh-ed. That this action of the committee be reported to the next
meeting of the executive council, and that J\Ir. 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, 19 10. this subject 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 committee, of these resolutions. After much dis-
cussion 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 statement 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, Jnly 19, 1910.
Prof. N. H. Winchell,
Dear Sir: I am going away tomorrow, and cannot attend your meet-
ing next Sunday. I have examined your report carefully, have visited
Kensington and neighborhood, and have read most of the papers and articles
relating to the rune stone.
no DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
I ha\e always believed with the great authorities of Norway and Sweden,
Magnus Olsen, Moltke Moe, M. Hogstad, Bugge, Noreen, Schrick, Mon-
telius, 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 country as far as
the present Kensington, is possible. But what has been testified to about
the finding of the stone is not convincing, and I do not consider the Ken-
sington 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 dis-
pose of the matter.
Yours respectfully,
GiSLE BOTHNE.
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 adverse decision. This was cour-
teously furnished to the committee in manuscript, but has since been revised
and published 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. hadlic. hafthc should have been used; that is, the disappearance
of / or V before a consonant had not yet taken place.
2. I'cdh should Ije vidh. The change to c begins about 1400. vc, in
the third line from the end, is an attempt to use the modern Swedish-Nor-
wegian vc.
3. fro should be fra. as fro and fro)n never occur in Middle Swedish.
4. of cannot be compared with the sense "too," which would be beside
the point ; and of rest is as impossible as "too west" in English.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. Ill
5. o/j would have been in Middle Swedish, in the regular way, do.
6. ahr. The same error occurs here in oh. These spellings belong to
a much later time.
7. dliag, opdhagclsc, landli, dlicdh. There was no need for the Swedish
scribe to employ the rune p for (/, os well as for dh and //;; for d then had
its own symbol.
INFLEXIONS.
8. x'ar, koiii, fan, liar. The transference of the singular form to the
plural is comparatively recent.
9. man, as plural, is irregular.
10. 7-i had he. The modern scribe here employed his own speech,
with an antiquarian effort shown in introducing /; after the dental.
11. fra dheno sten should be fra pacssoii stcn (variant of paoiuna
stcn) ; "later fra may also govern the accusative, which would give the
form fra paenna sten."
12. at se acptirvore skip should be, regularly, at se aeptir varolii skipiiin.
The rune stone's inscription is that of present speech, Norwegian rather than
Swedish, except for the word aeptir.
13. from dheno ijh. oil is feminine in Old Swedish, and the feminine
form of dheno should have been used, i. e., fra paeniia 0. { Compare fra dheno
stcn above.)
MEANING OF CERTAIN WORDS.
14. po. then just forming from 11 pp a, up pa, could not be used in this
way (i. e., with an activity), but only as a preposition meaning upon. The
use here is modern (in Swedish comparatively recent).
15. opdhagclse must have dated from after the Reformation. It is
Dutch, and its meaning as here employed is from High German entdeckcn.
16. lacger 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.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 theScan-
ian Law (1300). The Kensington scribe therefore did not use the regular
Norwegian and Middle Swedish runic alphabet, but employed characters
either invented by himself or from some other dialect, "a different alphabet."
20. This paper shows use and knowledge of runes "until the last cen-
tury." Hence there is some likelihood of someone 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 tJi, dli, and d, whereas
at the date claimed for the stone d had its own character.
DISCUSSION OF THESE OBJECTIONS. '
Most of these critical objections have been presented by others, and
are referred to in the Ixidy of the foregoing report. There are 21 items,
as numbered, and they will be reviewed here in numerical order. Numbers
I, 3, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, and 16, have been shown to be either invalid ov at
least of questionable character adverse to the records.
No. 2. vc is undoubtedly the phonetic for I'cdii, which is spelled in
full (vcdii) in the fourth line, but probably pronounced as spelled here
(vi"). If the rune scribe were perpetrating a fraudulent record of 1362,
and was acquainted with the word vcdJi. he would scarcely introduce a
modern spelling of that word (tr).
No. 4. The translation far to the z^'cstzvard is not required. The use
of of for af is an instance of the phonetic confounding of a, aa, with 0.
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[i050-i35o],
the original long a had begun to approach the sound of aa" (Det Danske
Sprogs Historic, p. 31 ). This increased length of sound was indicated also
by the spelling ahr.
No. 9. iiiaii. The common form for the plural was menu, or iiuiii.
The form here used is irregular for anv date and can hardly be justified,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES,
113
although in Gamle Eriks Kronike (1320) is the expression "10,000 man them
forslo"' (Klemming's edition, 326).
No. 10. z'i hadlie. 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. II. fra dheno stcn. The error of not distinguishing the gender
of nouns in the application of the demonstrative was, and is, common. The
final letter (0) was frequently substituted for a; but as sten is masculine,
this form of the adjective is quite allowable. The final letter 0, being unac-
cented, was frequently substituted for a, and vice versa.
No. 12. at se aptir vore skip. This illustrates the confusion of inflex-
ional usage of the fourteenth century. According to Falk and Torp, about
this period c 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, cptir, and dffthir, and cftir, 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 skipmn. We find however that case endings were not
so invariably respected as is commonly supposed. Even in the Icelandic sagas,
which show a far more precise literary practice than the Swedish of the four-
teenth century, the case endings are sometimes violated. For instance, in
the Vinland saga (A. M. 552) we read: "Lata their i haf fram tvcnnum
skipmn thegar their erii. bunir" (Vigfusson's, p. 123, line 23). haf is there
nominative and should be dative, while tvennum skipum 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 cen-
tury but meagerly remained, almost completely disappeared at the close of the
century" ( Molbech's Ordbog, p. xlvii). We find therefore that the expres-
sion 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 Swedish noun (mean-
ing 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 exhibi't the usage
(8)
114 DOXJGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
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 common in 1362,
as illustrated by the Mariaklagan and the Scanian I^w, these being of about
that date, but embrace novel characters, thirteen in number (including punctu-
ations). It cannot 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 knowledge 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 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 Goth-
land.
This energetic discussion brings out important new facts which every-
one who is seeking only the truth will v^'elcome ; but everyone 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 bear-
ing which they have on each other and on the main issue.
The- rune character (thorn) is confounded by Flom with a similar
character having the upper and lower ends of its semicircle continued some-
what to the left of the vertical bar. This form is said to have taken the place,
in part, in the modern Dalecarlian runic alphabet, when, on the disappearance
of the sounds dli and tli, 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; and hence only the sounds
represented can be fairly ascribed to the stone. Professor Flom's new
translation, on pages 25-26 of his address, seems to be based wholly on his
confusion of these rune forms. In 1362 the thorn must have represented
the sound .of d in those cases where the d sound in spoken language had
supplanted dh or th, though it had not yet been given a special character in
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. II 5
written language. The modern runic alphabet, according to Flom, employs
only the new form which represents the sound d.
On the stone the "thorn" character occurs fourteen times, distinctly cut,
without any suggestion of the modern rune character representing d. Yet
nothwithstanding this the author assumes that the scribe, a man of the latter
half of the nineteenth century, as he supposes, and hence familiar with that
modern rune for the sound of d, ignorantly inscribed the "thorn"' in these
fourteen places. It is not intimated that the use of the 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 that the scribe was ignorant of the character used for d. As
a matter of fact, the modern sound of d was only beginning to be used in
spoken language in 1362, and was very rarely recognized then in runic
script the character for t punctuated and thus changed to indicate the d
sound.
Professor Flom shows that a rune system was used in Dalarne in the
sixteenth century and later, but fails to show how much earlier.
Doubtless runes were well known there in 1362, since their use seems to have
prevailed throughout Scandinavia from a much earlier time. To except
Dalarne would be without reason, unless some special condition can be shown
to have operated against runes in that district. The inference therefore is
that they were the ancestors of the Dalarne 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 (0111, uni, 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 set out in the appendix seem not to be based on
the facts brought out by Professor Flom's address. No. i is deficient because
his address does not treat of "the language as spoken at the time."' He
only discusses it as written and especially its inflexions, which were dropped
Il6 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
much 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 Delecar-
lian system, and where it shows discrepancies (which may arise from greater
age) he regards them as evidences of forgery by the scribe. Xo 2 is further
faulty because of the uncertain significance of the word "modern." Some
things that are modern, say of the nineteenth century, began to exist in the
fourteenth but are still "modern," which indeed may be the case of the Delecar-
lian 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 determined, if
Professor Flom's identifications be accepted, by an investigation directed to
the question whether the Delecarlian system of runes existed at the date 1362 ;
for the linguistic objections are largely swept away, and the runic objections
appear to be turned into probably 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 stoue of 1362 was found near Kensington. Minuuesota.
twelve .vears ago, it lias been subject to a close scrutiny, and many persons liave 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 pastor.
According to the statements of Professors R. B. Anderson and G. T. Floni, the leaders
of the opposition against the genuineness of the inscription, Fogelblad was a Lutheran
clergyman who later was deposed. He is said to have turned against his former faith
and written books against Christianity, among which was one entitled "Ageof 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 narra-
tive of how "Scandinavian explorers had visited that region (around Kensington) hun-
dreds 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 tinder 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 pani])hlet
published by the Hlinois State Historical Society. It must be admitted that, if this is
true, it is .serious circumstantial evidence against the truth of the inscription.
Although I have made four or five earlier trips to Kensington and vicinity, I had
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. II7.
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 iwrsons who knew him in Sweden, with farmers
who entertained him for years, with men and women whose entire schoolings had been
received from him, and, finally, with those who were with him when he died. Although
I have interviewed more than a hundred persons, there has been perfect harmony in
all their accounts, e.specially concerning his character.
The following is a summary :
Sveu 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 a jolly curate under Rev. Mr. Kolander in
Tomberg parish in Westgothland.
He resigned his pastorate and came to America. Here he was almost persuaded to
re-enter the ministry as pastor of a Swedish congregation 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, thiek-set 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 si.x to
eight pupils, giving him an income of $3 to $4- per month, which was all he needed for
clothes. When the times and the seasons were inconvenient for schooling he used to
quarter himself upon a farmer. He was e.xtremely lazy, and was never known to have
assisted in the harvest or carried in a pail of water or aii armful of wood. He preferred to
repair old pipes, bind books, make kitchen kuiek-knacks, etc.
In spite of his laziness the farmers were always glad to see hiui because of his wealth
of local news. He knew of births and deaths and other doings fiir and wide, and was
the forerunner of the village newspaper. 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 Sweden 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 Swedish songs. On the whole, he appears to have been a tenderhearted,
superficial person in general, with a deep conscientiousness which prevented him from
squaring his creed with the doctrine of the church, wearing his sorrows as well as his
joys upon his sleeve, inspiring confidence in all by his openhearted ways. '
He had iieen visiting for a year with a nephew in Scott county, when he in 1S95
returned to Kensington to visit friends. On approaching the house of one Andrew
Anderson, he suddenly felt ill. whereupon he went in there and died after a three days'
attack of an unknown malady.
Those who knew him best in (irant and Douglas counties are Messrs. Oslund.
Thompson and Slmonson of Red Hock Lake. Hendrickson of Hoffman, Ekberg of Her-
Il8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
mau. aud Moeu. Carlsou. Benson. Ohmau and Oberg of Kensington, all among the
mcst respected farmers of that section. To these persons and nian.v others I put the
following questions:
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 believe he could have had a hand in making the
Kensington inscription?
To all of these questions 1 received an invariable and unequivocal "no." Not
one had seen him make runes, not one had heard hiui speak of Scandinavian explorers
in Minnesota, not one believed he could possibly have had anything to do with the
Kensington stone. Many of these persons doubted the stone's genuineness, but, lio mat-
ter 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 deceptions; 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 ignorant
of the fine runological and linguistic points involved in this inscription. 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 encycloiiedia. 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 Alm-
quist) among his books. On page 34 are two lines of runes to illustrate the develop-
ment 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 success. 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 inscription, 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 im-estigation of this- question
still further, inquiry was made of Mr. NordstroeiTi 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.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. II9
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The chronologic order is followed, as showing best the development of
discussion of this subject. The time included extends 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. Au interview giving au account of the discovery of the Ruue
Stone. Minneapolis Journal, Feb. 22, 1S99.
News Report, tlie first announcement of tbis discovery published in the Norwegian
press, Skandinaven, Chicago, Feb. 22, 1S99.
Aaberg, E. E. Further account of the discovery, written by a local resident acquainted
with its details. Skandinarcn (semi-weekly), Chicago, March 1, 1809.
Curme, Prof. G. O. Interview presenting in a brief paragraph bis 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. Skandinuven, March 1, 1899.
Curme, Prof. G. O. A lengthy interview, favoring the genuineness of the inscrip-
tion, but objecting 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 Skandinai-en, March K, 1899, summarizing the objections of
Prof. Oluf Rygh as published in Mnrgenhladet, Christiania, Norway. These are the sup-
posed English words, from, of, ded, and unusual runic characters.
Flom. P. L. Communication showing that from was in use in Norway in the
middle ages. Skandinaven, March 24, 1899.
Breda, Prof. O. J. Interview giving a cablegram from professors of Christiania
University, discrediting the ioscription chiefly because of its numerous supposed English
words. Minneapolis Tribune, April 16, 1899.
This opinion silencetl 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 genuineness and a full translation. Skandinaven,
January 17, 1908: printed also in several other Scandinavian newspapers.
Holand. H. R. The second chapter, pages 8-22, in his "De Norske Settlementers
Historie" (Ephraim, Wisconsin, 1908), gives an account of the visits to America by the
early Norsemen between the years lOOO 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 transliteration.
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. Deeorah Posfcn, Decorah, Iowa, May 14. 1909.
Gjessing. Helge. Runestenen fra Kensington. The full publication of his objections.
in Symra, Decorah, Iowa. Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 113-126, September, 1909.
Iverslie, P. P. Keusingtonstenen. An able support of Mr. Holand's arguments in
favor of the stone and in opposition to Mr. Gjessing's conclusions. Kvartalskrift, Eau
Claire, Wisconsin, July, 1909, pp. 13-21.
120 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Editorial Article in La Nature, Paris. France, August 14. 1009. giving tbe history
of the discovery of the stone and discussions of it, and presenting the probability of its
genuineness.
Holaud, H. R. "Au 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, October 0. 1909. p. 15.
Fossum, Prof. Andrew. "Hudson Bay Route to Solve Problem." 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. XunicgUin American,
Northfield, Minnesota, October 22, 1909. This article was printed also in Norwegian
in Skandinaven, October 26.
Holand, H. R. "The. Skerries Discovered." Au account of the author's di-scovery of
the skerries mentioned in the inscription. Noriicgian American, November 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, November 26.
Odland, M. W. "The Kensington Rune Stone is Genuine." Minneapolis Jounial,
November 29, 1909.
Norman, Rev. O. A. "More about the Rune Stone, ; by one who was asso-
ciated in the Discovery of the Skerries." Ashby (Minnesota) Post, December 3, 1909.
News Report of a meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society, December 13, 1909,
giving synopses of addresses by H. R. Holand, Prof. N. H. Winchell, Prof. Andrew Fossum,
and Dr. Knut Hoegh, all in defense of the genuineness of the inscription. Pioneer Press,
St. Paul. Minnesota. Dec'ember 14, 1909.
News Report, noting resolutions by the Council of the JIinne.sota Historical Society,
requesting the governor of Minnesota to institute a search iu 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. III. pp. 124-128).
The Dispatch, St. Paul, December 14. 1909.
News Reports, more detailed, of tbe addresses on December 13. in the meeting of this
Historical Society, including nearly all of Professor Wiifchell's address. Xorirc'iiaii
American. December 17. 1909.
Hoegh, Dr. Knut. Report by the chairman of a committee appointed by the Nor-
wegian Society of Minneapolis to investigate the discovery of the stone. The reiiort shows
that it had lain where it was found since about 1800. at least, and strongly favors the
genuineness of the inscription. Symra, Vol. 5. No. 4. pp. 178-189. December, 1909.
Holand, H. R. A reply in Symra, Vol. 5. N<i. 4, p|i. 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, January-February, 1910; with prints from photographs showing the inscriptions on
the face and edge of the stone.
Daae, Dr. Anders. Concise summary of the discussidu up in date, rouchuling that the
opponents of the stone have not properly investigated tbe subject liefore forming their
conclusions. Aftenpostcn, Christiauia, Norway, January 18, 1910.
News Report of a meeting of the Chicago Historical Society. Feliruary 3. 1910, in
which an address relating to the probable genuineness of this Rune Stone was delivered
l)y H. U. Holand. followed by arguments of Dr. Chester N. Gould, of Chicago University,
and Prof. George T. Flom. of tbe I'niversity of Illinois, against it. skdinlindrrn. Febru-
ary 5; 1910.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 121
Aiulei'son. Prof. Kasuius B. "Professor Auderson calls it a Fraud." a sharp attack
on the Itune Stoue and Mr. Holand's integrit.v. Wl'iconxiii titaic ■Journal. Madisou,
Wisconsin, February 7. 1910.
Holand, H. R. Rebuttal of the arguments presented in the preceding article. Wis-
coiiisin, State Journal, February 8. I&IO.
Holand. H. R. An interview entitled "Wed with Indians," presenting the prob-
ability that the blue-eyed Maudan Indians are the result of intermarriage of the explor-
er.s of 13U2 with the Indians of that region. Pioneer Press, February 15, 1910.
Anderson, Prof. R. B. Editorial attacks against the Kensington stone and Mr.
Holand. Amerika, Madison, Wisconsin, February 18, 1910. In the next issue of Aineriha,
February 25, are a letter by Warren Upham, secretary of the Jlinnesota Historical
Society, coucerniu!: that society's investigation of the stone and its inscriptions, and
Professor Andersdu's eilitorial reply.
Gates, Rev. Htiratio. A sunnnary of the discovery and discussion, with numerous
references supporting the genuineness of the inscriptions. Rcimblican Gazette. Willmar,
Minnesota, 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 l.'J64, and that probably they went into Hudson bay and theuee advanced
inland to the site of the Kensington stoue. Harper's Wcekli/, March 26, 1910.
Hageu. Prof. O. E. "Ad Utrunique Simus." An Interesting discussion of the cre-
dentials 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 langua,i;e of the stoue. particularly of the word
front, ^kandinaren. April 9, 101 U.
Holand, H. It. A reply to I'rofes.sor Flom's ob.iections to the inscription, as pre-
sented by him at the meetiufr, February 3. of the Chicago Historical Society. Skundi-
naren, April 21, 1910.
Holand, H. R. "The Oldest Native Document in America ;" the address delivered
before the Minnesota Historical Society as before noted, December 13, 1909, giving a
narration of the finding of the Rune Stone, with affidavits relating thereto, and a full
statement of the arguments, runic, and linguistic, on both sides of the controversy, showing
the probable reliability of the inscription as a historical record. Journal of American
History. Vol. IV, No. 2, pp. 165-184, April, 1910.
Breda, Prof. O. J. "Ruudt Keusiugton-stenen." A satirical article, 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 foiuid. Symra. Vol. 6, No. 2, pp.
05-80, May, 1910.
, Dieserud, .luul. "Holand og Kensingtonspogen." Detailed objections against the
language of the inscription. Skandinaven, May 4, and Anurika. May 13, 1910.
Winchell. Prof. N. H. News report entitled "I believe the Stoue is Genuine."
Nonreoian Anieriean, Northfield. Minnesota, May 13, 1910. This article and others in
the St. Paul and Minneapolis newspapers. May 10-12, contain extracts from the Report
of the Mu.seuni Committee of the Minnesota Historical Society, read by Professor Win-
chell at the society's monthly meeting. May 9.
Holand, H. R. "Kensington-stenen." Lengthy replies to Jlr. Diesernd's olyections
stated in the foregoing article. Skandinaven, May IS and 23, 1910.
Anderson, Prof. R. B. "The Kensington Rune Stone once more: Draw your own
Conclusions." This article claims that one Andrew Anderson practically .idmitted to
the writer that he and Olof Ohman, the tinder of the stone, .-issisted a foniier iire;ichcr
122 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
named Fogelblad iu forging the inscription. Amerika, ilay 27, 1910 ; reprinted also in
the Democrat, Madison, Wisconsin, of the same date.
Winchell, Prof. N. H. "Letters from Rune Su.spects." 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. X. H. Winchell. "Opinions differ on Rune Stone."
An interview with the former, accusing Rev. Sveu Fogelblad of making inscription, and
letters from the latter and from Andrew Anderson, refuting that statement. Minne-
apolis 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 Normandeue i Amerika i 1362V" Review of recent develop-
ments in the disi'iissidii. including a signed invitation from professors at Christiania
University that the stinic lie brought there for renewed investigation. Aftciiiioxtrn.
Christiania, Norw^iy, .luiio 12. 1910.
Flom, Prof. George T. "The Kensington Rune Stone; a Modern Inscription from
Douglas County, Minnesota." This address, delivered to the Illinois State Historical
Society at its annual meeting, May 5-6, 1910, is a very elaborate array of arguments,
from many points of view, against the genuineness of this rune inscription, with intima-
tion that Mr. Fogelblad may have been its author. Publication 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 Ken-
sington inscription.
Schaefer, Rev. Francis J. "The Kensington Rune Stone." Narration of the dis-
covery, description of the stone, with a plate from photograiilis. mikI iliscussiou of the
inscription, concluding that it probably is genuine. Acta et DU-ln ( pulilislied by the St.
Paul Catholic Historical Society), Vol. II, No. 2. pp. 206-210, July, lOKi.
Dieserud, Juul. Restatement of his arguments against the stone. SkdiKliiKircii.
July 11, 1910.
Holand. H. R. Reply to the article last cited. Hkandinaren. July 29. 1910.
Holand. H. R. Report of a thorough investigation of the rumor relating to Sven
Fogelblad. entirely exonerating him from complicity in authoi-ship of the inscription.
Skandinaven. August 4, and the Minneapolis Jountul. August 9, 1910: reprinted in the
preceding pages 57-60.
IversHe, P^ P. "Comments on the Rune Stone." in support of its genuineness.
Norwegian Avierican, August 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. Skandinaren, September 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 inscrip-
tion. Skini(liiiarr)i. September 17, 1910.
Petterson. A. E. An interesting summary of Icelandic traditions of late voyages to
Vinland. supporting the genuineness of the stone. Skandinaven, September 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 Pa>:t. Vol. IX, Part V. pp. 240-245, September-October. 1910.
CHAPTER IV.
Early Settlement.
An eloquent and observant writer who some years ago had occasion to
pen his observation regarding that portion of the beautiful Park Region of
Minnesota. comprised within the borders of Douglas county observed that "the
first settlers who pushed their way thus far beyond the confines of civilization,
found a land of great natural beauty; a land selected as a home by the Sioux
and Chippewa, with love for the beautiful which Nature made an instinct
in the savage. The sun shone as brightly then as now, the flowers bloomed
as freshly and carpeted the wide waste with the same variegated hues of
beauty, while the woodland, with its network of undergrowth, almost defied
penetration to all else but natives of its own depths. It was, indeed, a beauti-
ful land. In summer, a perfect paradise of flowers; in winter, a drear\-,
barren desert, with no trace of civilization. But today, how changed the
scene. Rich fields of golden grain, magnificent farms, villages and cities
have sprung up where so recently was naught but waste and desolation.
The wintry blast which in former years drove the deer, bear and wolf to their
hiding places, now signals the herd of the husbandman to comfortable
shelter; while the iron horse, swifter than the nimble deer, treads the path-
way so recently the trail of the red man. A wealthy and prosperous land
has grown up, filled with a happy and contented people — a land dotted with
schools and churches; while, as each milepost in the history of the county is-
passed, it seems to mark an era of new and increased prosperity."
Upon seeking to arrive at a definite conclusion regarding the very first
settlement of any county or locality, the historian immediately is confronted
by a difficult task. Fact and tradition are so closely interwoven in all state-
ments relating to the beginning of a social order in an)- given community that
it often is wholly impossible to differentiate between the two and to say of
any given set of narratives bearing upon the first settlement, this is fact
and this is merely tradition. And the situation confronting the historian in
Douglas county is no exception to the rule. In the absence of any definite
record or memoir of the pioneer period preserved against such a time as this
there is no means at hand of acquiring absolute proof of historical state-
124 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ments covering the period that marked the first settlement hereabout in the
time preceding the Indian outbreak, for it is known that there was some
settlement here in the latter fifties of the past century. At the time of the
ui>rising, however, those scantily protected settlers were scattered and, seek-
ing safet\- in flight to more populous centers, did not return; hence there
was a period following the appearance of the white man as a settler in this
region that the land reverted to the waste and was unsought by such as other-
wise would have gladly occupied the beautiful park region hereabout.
THE OLD RED RIVER TRAIL.
Though unpopulated by the white man until the period of the latter
fifties, above mentioned, Douglas county was not unknown to civilization,
for long before its actual settlement white men had been passing through
on the old Red River trail which marked the passage to the Pembina colony
and the rich trading posts of the farther Northwest, and the groaning creak
of the ungreased axles of the Red river carts must have been familiar sounds
to the savage denizens of the then wastes of this lake region long before the
white man stopped to la)- claim ti) one of the fairest spots on the globe. The
old trail of the Red River N'alley settlements passed through Douglas county,
running about twelve miles south of the present line of the Great Northern
railroad, and along the line of that famous trail there was carried on a con-
siderable commerce many years before there were any actual settlements in
this immediate vicinity.
Out of all the confusion relating to statements covering the period of
pioneer davs it may safely enough be declared that the first definite settle-
ment made by whites within the boundaries now comprising Douglas county
was during the summer of 1858, in August of which year Alexander and
William Kinkaid made their historic settlement at the junction of the two
lakes, Agnes and Winona, the present site of the beautiful city of Alexandria,
the county seat, which bears its name in honor of Alexander Kinkaid. About
that same time a settlement was made within the present limits of Holmes
City township by one Holmes, Noah Grant and W. S. Sandford. Both
parties arrived at their respective places of settlement at very nearly the
same time, but which came first is a difficult matter to determine at this late
date. By cfimmon consent the Kinkaids alwa\s have been accorded the
honor of being regarded as the pioneers, but a brief historical sketch of
Douglas county accompanying a plat-book of the county published in the
middle eighties savs that "some of the leading old settlers claim that the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I25
Holmes City party had been here some weeks before the Kinkaids arrived."
However that may be, it is certain that in August, 1858, both parties were
on the ground. Messrs. Holmes, Grant and Sandford came together from
Shakopee. Mr. Holmes, who was regarded as the leader of the party, became
the leader in that community during the short time he remained there and
when the township came to be named it was given the name of Holmes City
in his honor, while the little lake on which the settlement called Holmes City
was established became known as Grant's lake, in honor of Noah Grant, an
immediate contemporary of Holmes. Mr. Holmes only remained a year or
two and then returned to Shakopee. Noah Grant enlisted in the army dur-
ing the Civil War and upon the completion of his military service returned
to Douglas county, but in 1867 went South, where he afterwards made his
home. Sandford, it is said, left the county at or before the time of the
Sioux rebellion.
THE KINKAID BROTHERS.
Alexander and William Kinkaid, bachelor brothers, were natives of
Wilmington, Delaware, who, some years prior to 1858, the time of their
settlement in Douglas county, had come West and had put in their fortunes
with those early settlers who had come to Minnesota in territorial days. For
some time they sojourned at St. Peter, which then had aspirations to become
the capital of the state, and then pushed on northwest into Pope county/
locating on White Bear lake, where they started a settlement which later
developed into the thriving town of Glenwood. The following summer, the
summer of 1858, they came on farther to the northwest on a prospecting
expedition and upon arriving at the banks of Lake Agnes became so deeply
impressed by the beauty of the spot that they determined there "to pitch their
tent,"' and thus was the city of Alexandria brought into being. Returning
to White Bear lake for their belongings the Kinkaid brothers soon made
their way back to Lake Agnes and in August of that year made a perma-
nent location on the site previously selected, being probably the first white men
who had visited that particular spot. It was not long until other settlers
were attracted to the spot and thus a thriving settlement presently sprang
up on the attractive rise of ground to the south of Lake Agnes and on the
east shore of Lake Winona, the site now covered by the city of Alexandria.
The Kinkaid brothers built a log cabin on the knoll just south of where the
Great Northern railway station now stands, and upon the arrival of other
settlers almost immediately thereafter became instrumental in forming a
townsite company, with a view of attracting others and thus establishing
126 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
a city in the then wilderness. They secured the services of Gen. T. F. Bar-
rett, of St. Cloud, a government surveyor, who surveyed and platted the
townsite and the same was named Alexandria, in honor of the founder,
Alexander Kinkaid. In order to promote the sale of lots and advertise the
attractiveness of the new settlement, the Kinkaid brothers organized a town-
site company, which included besides themselves Col. John Ball, of Winona;
George F. Bratt, of St. Cloud; H. T. Welles, of Minneapolis, and A. P..
Wilson and P. L. Gregory, of St. Anthony. Though the township at that
time had been run, it had not been sub-divided and the land hereabout had
not been fully surveyed. It is narrated that through the agency of P. L.
Gregory four hundred and forty acres of land' were located, the same being
covered by Sioux half-breed script, obtained for this purpose by H. T.
Welles from Franklin Steele, of Minneapolis, and to secure him for the
advance made, the title to the town site was vested in Mr. Welles. William
Kinkaid remained at the new settlement until 1861, in which year he received
an appointment to a government clerkship and removed to Washington,
D. C, where he died some time afterward. Alexander Kinkaid was made
postmaster of the new town of Alexandria, when a station was established
there late in 1858, the mail route at that time being from St. Cloud to Ft.
Abercrombie, the mail then being carried, most of the time on foot, by one
Evans, after whom the town of Evansville afterward came to be named.
The postoffice at first was kept in the Kinkaid cabin, but when J. H. Van
Dyke presently started a little store the office was removed to the same and
later \'an Dyke was made postmaster. Alexander Kinkaid continued to
take a prominent part in the affairs of the new settlement, being one of the
most active promoters of the growing village, but about 1868 went to Cali-
fornia, where it is believed he sjient the remainder of his life.
GRADUAL GROWTH OF THE NEW SETTLEMENT.
For some time after the establishment of the new settlement all the
travel to and from Alexandria— what little there was — came from the south,
along the edge of the prairie, following the line taken by the Kinkaids upon
coming into this country. The old trail to the Red River settlements passed
through the county, but there was very little travel upon that. A year or
two after the Kinkaids came they opened a road north from the new town-
site and in 1859 the government troops cut a road through the timber, east
and west, establishing a military road, which afterward became a stage and
state road and which, with a few changes in its course, is now one of the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 12/
most extensively traveled highways in this part of the state, its course being
throvigh the towns of Osakis, Alexandria, Brandon and Evansville.
During the remainder of the year 1858 there was very little addition
to the population of the county, though among those who came before the
spring of 1859 were the families of P. L. Gregory, James Bedman, Charles
Cook, J. A. James and Hugh O'Donnell. It was from St. Cloud that P. L.
Gregory made his way to this section and he became a member of the Alexan-
dria Town Site Company, and for several years took a prominent part in
the work of developing the new settlement. Tlie townsite company put up
a log hotel near Kinkaid's building and Gregory moved his family from St.
Cloud and occupied the hotel, the family making their way from St. Cloud,
a distance of seventy miles, by ox-team. For several years the Gregory hotel
was a favorite resort of the pioneers and is still often referred to in tales
of the old days hereabout. Some years after locating at Alexandria Gregory
was elected as a representative from this district to the state Legislature and
returned to St. Cloud for residence. James Bedman, who also arrived in the
fall of 1858, was an Englishman and a blacksmith by trade. He took a
claim on the rise northwest of Lake Agnes and opened a little blacksmith
shop in which he followed his trade. Charles Cook, also a native of Eng-
land, arrived with Bedman from Kandota, in Stearns county, but in 1867
he returned to his native land. Soon after the war broke out J. A. James,
whose name is noted above, enlisted for service and did not return to Alex-
andria. Hugh O'Donnell, who did good work for the townsite company,
later took a claim nearby, but left in 1861 and years afterward was heard
from as a resident of Pembina. Among others who came in the summer of
1858 were N. F. Barnes and Glendy King, the former of whom came from
the state of Maine and the latter from Philadelphia. Barnes settled on a
farm east of Lake Agnes, but in 1866 went to St. Cloud, whence he later
went to California. King settled at the south end of Lake Winona, but in
1 861 returned East, which section did not permanently claim him, however,
for in the early eighties word was received that he had been killed in the
Indian Territory.
As word of the new settlement over in the lake country became circu-
lated others became attracted to the spot and during the year 1859 quite a
number of settlers arrived in the county, the most of whom settled in Alexan-
dria or in that immediate vicinity. Among these were J. H. Van Dj'ke, A.
Darling and family, James F. Dicken, James Barr and family, Myron Col-
oney and S. B. Cowdry. \^an Dyke, who was a native of Pennsylvania,
moved over from St. Cloud, arriving at Alexandria in the spring of 1859.
128 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
During that summer he put up a log house on the height overlooking the
lake, south of where the Great Northern freight depot now stands, and in
that building opened up a small store, the first general store in Douglas
county, and there continued doing business until the time of the Indian out-
break, when the building was torn down and the goods moved within the
walls of the stockade which the government meanwhile had erected on
the same height overlooking the lake nearby the store, which also had been
used as a postofifice and was thus regarded as the center of the new com-
munity. A. Darling, who had come over from the neighborhood of Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, took a claim on the banks of Lake Darling, and there he and his
family remained until the time of the Indian outbreak, when they left for
Missouri, intending to return when things had quieted down in this section,
but in August. 1864. Mr. Darling was slain by Southern bushwhackers and
his family returned to the homestead farm on Lake Darling, and there estab-
lished their home anew. It was in the spring of 1859 that James F. Dicken,
who is still living in Douglas county, one of its best-known and most hon-
ored residents, had his first sight of this favored region. He passed through
the new settlement at Alexandria on his way West on a prospecting trip, but
returned in the fall, accompanied by Burton Sparry and Henry Whitcomb,
and established himself on the shores of Lake Ida for the purpose of trap-
ping and trading with the Indians. In August. 1862, he enlisted in the First
^Minnesota Cavalry, under Colonel McPhail. and remained in the service for
thirteen months, at the end of which term of service he went to Missouri, in
Vvhich state he renewed the acquaintance of the family of A. Darling, mar-
ried one of the daughters of the family and in 1864 returned to Douglas
countv, which has ever since been his place of residence, his home long hav-
ing been at his pleasant place one mile east of Garfield.
Among the other original settlers whose memories have been recalled
was James Barr, who also arrived in 1859, having come West from Phila-
delphia. He entered a claim near the Darling place and remained there for
several years, later becoming a resident of Ida township and still later
moving on farther west and settling in the Dakotas. Myron Coloney,
another of the settlers of 1859, ^* referred to in contemporary accounts as
having been (|uite a character among the earl\- settlers. He had for some
time been engaged in editorial work on one of the St. Louis newspapers, was
a writer of much talent and took an active interest in the affairs of the new
settlement. He took a claim on the shores of Lake Ida and there estab-
lished his home, building a log cabin into which he moved his effects, among
which was a fine piano, his wife having been an accomplished musician. It
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I29
was in the neighborhood of James F. Dicken's place on Lake Ida that the
Coloneys settled and Mr. Dicken found pleasant relief from his lonely bache-
lor quarters in the agreeable companionship of his neighbors. When the
settlers were warned to flee at the beginning of the Indian outbreak the
Coloneys returned to St. Louis, leaving their domestic belongings behind,
and not long afterward their house overlooking the lake was destroyed by
lire, the first piano in Douglas county thus being reduced to ashes. S. B.
Cowdry, a native of the state of New York, whose name is noted above as
one of the arrivals in 1859, took as a claim a farm in La Grande township,
afterward owned by G. C. Whitcomb, but a year later left his claim shanty
and moved into the settlement at Alexandria, where he took charge of the
hotel whicli Charles Cook, the Englishman, had just given up, the profits of
the humble inn not having been sufficiently remunerative to pro\e attractive.
When the outbreak occurred Cowdry joined the others in the general fiight
to St. Cloud and did not return.
THE FIRST COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
In the meantime there was beginning to be some form to the civic
affairs of the new community and a county government, for certain local
purposes, had been set up. For some years after the creation of Douglas
county by the Legislature it had been attached to Stearns county for civil
and judicial purposes, but in 1859, there then having come to be a consid-
erable settlement in and about the center of the county, a move was started
to organize Douglas for administrative purposes. In this movement P. L.
Gregory is said to have been the active leader and an election was held — the
first election in Douglas county — in Gregory's hotel., Not all of the settlers
were willing thus to assume the responsibilities of government and it is
narrated that only a few voted. The returns of the election therefore were
not recognized by the authorities and the election was held to be void. How-
ever, during the session of the Legislature in the winter of 1858-59, a bill
had been passed authorizing the organization of Douglas county for certain
local purposes essentially administrative in their character and it was not
long after the failure of the first citizens to e.xercise their right to the fran-
chise that the governor appointed J. H. Van Dyke, S. B. Cowdry and A.
Darling as a board of commissioners to set on foot a local government here-
aI)out. This board convened at .the Van Dyke store and appointed the fol-
lowing countv officers: Register of deeds, Alexander Kinkaid; sherifl:, J. A.
(9)
130 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Adams; probate judge, P. L. Gregory. This organization was maintained
until the time of the Indian outbreak, when it, as well as all other local
matters, was abandoned and all records that had been made were lost. Noth-
ing further was done in the matter of local government until 1866, by which
time definite settlement again was being re-established, when the county was
organized on a permanent and continuing basis, the details of which, as well
as the general history of the county government, are set out elsewhere in this
volume in the chapters relating to the organization of Douglas county and
to the officials of the same.
While the settlement at Alexandria was beginning to take form, it being
the first settlement in the county, other portions of the county also were
beginning to be recognized as exceedingly desirable points for settlement
and during the years of 1859 and i860 several small settlements sprang up.
.\t the point where the thriving village of Brandon now stands Henry Gagar
settled and it was not long until others had joined him at that desirable
point, c|uite a little settlement presently being formed there, to which the
name of Chippewa was given, the large lake in that vicinitv also being gi\en
the name of Chippewa lake, the headwater of the Chippewa river which
drains the western part of the county and empties into the Minnesota river
at Montevideo, in Chippewa county, this state. Afterward the \'illage of
Chippewa was rechristened Brandon, in honor of the birthplace in Ver-
mont of Stephen A. Douglas, after whom the county was named. In
the southeastern part of the county there also was noted the beginning of a
settlement in 1859, John Potter having taken a claim where tlie village of
Osakis now stands, and within a year afterward Joshua Fairfield, Robert
Wyman, Benjamin Pease, William Husted and others took claims nearby
or farther up in the eastern part of the count}-. About the same time Xels
Olson took a claim on Maple lake, in what afterward became Hudson town-
ship, and during the year i860 the western part of the county also began to
take on something of the aspect of settlement. The year before, in 1859,
Burbank & Company having established their stage line through this part
of the country, a station was established at the point now known as Evans-
ville and 1-^vans. the first mail carrier, after whom the town was named, had
put up a little shant\- there. In i860 Mr. Rogers settled there and kept the
station and it was not long until others had settled in that part of the count^•,
among those resident in the Evans neighborhood at the time of the Indian
outbreak having been the Canfields, the Does, Samuel Thompson, the Per-
fountaines, the LaBrands, Miner VanLoon, H. Blackwell, Thomas Cowing,
J. W. Barr, Robert Ridley. George Bancroft, George Kinkaid and James
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I3I
Shotwells. By this time roads were beginning to be opened up in addition
to the stage Hne and the old military trail and the Red River trail and there
was on all sides an appearance of activity presaging early and populous set-
tlement. Numerous farms were beginning to be developed and the fair lake
region comprised in what is now Douglas county gave promise of becoming
at once one of the most desirable points of settlement in the western part
of the state. More and more frequent were the inquiries at the land office
regarding locations in this section and all seemed well with Douglas county,
the future apparently being full of promise, when the dread event occurred
that proved a set back for all of western Minnesota and on down the fair
valley of the Minnesota river, a set back from which Douglas county did
not recover for several years, during which the county was practically depopu-
lated, the courageous and hopeful settlers who had come here in the period
following 1859 and up to the summer of 1862 having fled in the face of a
savage uprising which for a time threatened to sweep before it the force and
the authority of the white man in the new state.
The influence of the earlier phases of the Civil War had been little felt
this far west, the absence of railroads and telegraph leaving the settlers in
practical ignorance of the disastrous struggle then being waged between the
states, so much so that the extent of the war had hardly been realized out
this way, though several of the settlers had responded to the call to arms
and had enlisted in the service of their country against the rebellion of a
section. But when the news came in August, 1862, that the Indians had
arisen and had declared war on the whites in Minnesota, the dreams of
peaceful and undisturbed habitation out here were rudely dashed and the
history of Douglas county was set back for three or four vears, or until
the eventual re-establishment of secure conditions in the wilderness made
tenable the return of the settlers who had scattered and fled to more populous
points upon the wild cry of alarm that followed the Sioux uprising of 1862.
And thus closed the first period of the history of Douglas county, the
pioneer period, the period of the first settlement, when the foundations were
laid for the noble structure of social, civic, religious and commercial develop-
ment that later was to be erected here. Of the tragic incidents connected
with the Sioux uprising, in its relation to this part of the state, details are
set out elsewhere in a chapter devoted to that outbreak ; of the resumption of
settlement after the uprising had been effectually put down, details also are
set out elsewhere in the chapters relating to the organizations of townships
and villages, and there is therefore no need to dwell here upon that tragic
incident which interrupted the course of empire in Douglas count\- bv driv-
132 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ing the pioneers into retreat or to include in this chapter on the early settle-
ment of the county the details of the establishment of a permanent govern-
ment hereabout or of the real settlement which came about in due course
when the white man came into undisputed possession of this fair region and
no longer stood in terror of the relentless fury of the savages. Suffice it to
say that there had been established here before the Sioux uprising an out-
post of civilization and that on the foundation then laid there has arisen one
of the finest and most substantial social structures in all the great state of
Minnesota.
ECHOES OF PIONEER DAYS.
From a series of letters relating to pioneer days, written by V. D.
' Nichols, a pioneer of Douglas county, now residing at San Jose, California,
and published in the Brandon Echo during the summer of 1906, it is pointed
out that Douglas county was first settled at Alexandria and at Holmes City
in 1858. The country then was a perfect wilderness, the undisputed hunt-
ing ground of the Indians, who found much wild game roaming everywhere
through the heavy timbers and over the grassy prairie land. One of the
early Holmes City settlers killed more than ninety deer in one winter. The
chief source of livelihood for those early pioneefs was hunting, trapping and
fishing. The settlers did not begin to come out here in any yery large num-
bers for some time after the desirability of this region as a place of residence
had been demonstrated, the Indian massacre keeping the first stream of
immigration out this way from penetrating too far into the wilderness. But
with the close of the Civil War and the establishment of a sense of security
against Indian depredations, numbers began to prospect for new homes in
this section and considerable settlements began to form. In addition to the
settlement at Alexandria, already referred to, in 1866, a considerable number
of settlers had arrived in the neighborhood of old Chippewa, which had first
been settled by Henry Gager in 1861 and which later took its present name
of Brandon.
Among the first of these colonists were Hans P. Hanson, Ole Thomp-
son, Haagen Holing and John Thorkelson, who came over from Goodhue
county by ox-team, with covered wagons and a few head of cattle. I'hey
had heard of the excellent land in this region that could be secured cheaply.
Some bought their farms for $1.25 an acre and others, who bought from
speculators, paid from $2.50 to $3.50 the acre. Traveling was extremely
slow and difficult, as there were practically no roads and a bridge was almost
wholly unknown. If the\- came to a stream, the only way was to plunge
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I33
in and get across as best they could. The drivers had to lead their oxen
and were therefore compelled to wade along, sometimes waist deep. It
might happen that the heavy load, consisting of wife and children and the
most essential household goods, would get stuck in mid-stream. Then the
only way was to carry the load across to the opposite bank of the river and
get the wagon out as best they could. In addition to these difficulties, the
mosquitoes were so thick that the travelers could hardly breathe without
choking on them and the pests worked a great hardship on cattle.
The parties above mentioned located on the farms on which they estab-
lished their permanent homes, with the exception of H. P. Hanson, who
bought the eighty north of the John A. Olson place, where he at once began
to erect a sod hut. Meanwhile, they did their cooking and housekeeping in
the covered wagons. Three days after their arrival, Thorston Hanson was
born, thus having the distinction of having been the first white child born in
the township of Brandon. The hardships and privations these people had to
undergo were distressing. The swarms of mosquitoes and flies drove the
people and the cattle almost frantic. It had rained almost continuously all
summer, so every low place was full of water, an ideal breeding spot for the
mosquitoes. The cattle, tormented by the pestilential insects, would stray
off through the thick underbrush in the wild woods and in the marshes. The
grass was so high as almost to conceal them and to follow them was a most
difificult task, to say nothing of. the disagreeable work of hunting for them
through the tall, stiff and sharp slough grass and thick timber, tormented
continually by clouds of mosquitoes.
HENRY G.\GER's STAGE ST.\TION.
The first piece of land taken up in the township of Brandon was the
place taken Ijy Henry Gager, shortly after or about the time the stage route
was opened between St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie, on the Red river, near
the present city of Breckenridge, this state; Burbank & Waite, who held the
mail contract, having induced Gager to enter a tract of land there, open up
a farm and keep a stage station for them, other stations established in this
section having been those at Osakis, Alexandria, Evansville and Pomme de
Terre. Gager opened a farm at Chippewa lake and kept the station until
the Indian outbreak in 1862, when he was driven out. There was another
settler named Austin, whose house stood where later the school house in dis-
trict No. 76 was erected. He and some others came back after cattle and
Austin was killed by Indians near where the village of Evansville now is
1^4 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
situated. A few weeks later the government had the government mail route
open again. Stockades were put up at Alexandria, Chippewa and Pomme
de Terre and soldiers were stationed there for defense, and most of the
scattered settlers came back.
In 1865 George Freundrich bought the Gager place and in 1866 settlers
began coming in, the first settlers in that part of the county making Chippewa
City their headquarters. In 1867 came the flood, when the roads, bad enough
before, for awhile became impassible. As the nearest place at which the
settlers could get flour or other provisions was at St. Cloud, one hundred
and four miles away, starvation stared them in the face. Luckily, an ox-
train loaded with supplies for one of the frontier forts was wending its way
through the county at the t4me and as it could not proceed, these supplies
were sold to the settlers in the vicinity of Chippewa. In 1868 settlers came
in briskly and the township was organized under the name of Chippewa
Lake. George Cowing put up a store across the road from Richard Peffer's
house. Metz & Cotois put up the Pefifer building for a store. Joseph Med-
bery put up a blacksmith shop. A townsite was laid out, the postoffice of
Chippewa Lake was established and there became the center of civilization
for many miles about. Later the name of the postoffice was changed to
Brandon, in further honor to Stephen A. Douglas, in whose honor the county
was named, Brandon, Vermont, having been "the Little Giant's" birthplace.
Other centers of settlement sprang up and at last, in 1878, came the railroad
and New Brandon. Old Brandon went back to a quiet, well-tilled farm.
Meantime, Freundrich sold it out to Peffer, Hoplin and others, Peffer getting
the old farm. But none of the old timers ever forgot the "great old times"
at Chippewa lake or the many hunting and fishing stories told there.
MOSQUITOES IN PIONEER DAYS.
The present generation cannot realize all the hardships the early settlers
endured in opening up the land. Of these hardships, the mosquitoes were
probably the most difficult to endure. Bad roads, the lack of every conven-
ience of living and such things were expected beforehand and so could be
endured, but the little insect pests were almost unendurable. V. D. Nichols
recalls that on more than one night no one could get a "wink" of sleep. "The
early settlers did not have houses from which the pests could be entirely
excluded and I have known them to so swarm in the houses that they would
put out the light in a few minutes time, their dead bodies clogging the wick.
Out of doors, toward evening, it was almost impossible to breathe on account
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. • I35
of them. A man's clothing would become so covered that he simply would
look gray with them. The poor cattle would rush madly through the bushes
trying to brush them off and often stray a long way off. I have known
grown men to give up and cry from the pain of their bites and the hopelessness
of getting any rest from them."
BRANDON township's FIRST HOMESTEAD.
The first homestead entered in the township of Brandon (old Chippewa
Lake), taken up after the Indian outbreak of 1862, was on an entry made
by John C. Nichols, while on the same day his cousin, John J. Nichols, entered
a neighboring place. Someone had filed on the place in 1862 and had broken
about five acres on it, but never returned after the outbreak. The Nichols
boys arrived from VVolcottville, Indiana, early in 1866 and were the very first
settlers to come into the township after it again began to settle up, the party
above referred to as having come from Goodhue county, having come a few
months later. After selecting land, it was necessary to go to St. Cloud, one
hundred and four miles distant, to locate, as the land office was there at that
time, it being some years later that it was moved to Alexandria. St. Cloud
also was the point from which all supplies were drawn. John C. Nichols was
a member of the first board of supervisors of Brandon township and was
supervisor from the time the township was organized in 1868 to 1878, most
of the time chairman of the board. He sold out in 1879 and moved to
Dakota.
In 1867 Antoine Pelliser entered a tract of eighty acres right north of
Baumbach lake and broke twenty acres of the same that same season, the
next spring, in March, 1868, selling the farm to Fred von Baumbach, who
took up an additional tract adjoining as a homestead and built his first log
house where the Nootnagle house later was erected, and farmed the land
imtil his election in 1872 to the office of county auditor, when he moved to
Alexandria, where he is still living. In 1876 he sold his farm to Dr. Charles
Nootnagle, who two years later gave the place to his sons, Herman and
Fred. Mr. von Baumbach was quite a horticulturist and on his place were
planted the first fruit trees in Brandon township ; or rather there and on the
V. D. Nichols place, the two getting one dozen small crab-apple trees and
each planted six.
William Kappahahn was one of the first settlers of Millerville town-
ship, having arrived there from Northfield on March 8, 1867. At that time
there was about three or four feet of snow on the ground and he and another
136 • DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
man who had come up here with government supplies, had to wade through
the wet snow. It was beginning to meU and the streams had to be forded.
At one place below Alexandria they had to wait two days before the water
was low enough for them to undertake the ford. Mr. Kappahahn had been
through this country a few years previously with General Sibley's force dur-
ing the Indian outbreak. One of the worst difficulties he had to contenc?
against after locating was the mosquitoes. The people much of the time
during the summers could not work on account of the pests. About four
o'clock in the afternoon they had to build smudge fires, to which the cattle
would come bellowing. Often the cattle would be so thickly covered with
mosquitoes that the settlers had to take a hoe and scrape the insects off.
THE FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES.
The district school houses of the pioneer period were not so well
equipped with blackboards, desks, charts, mechanical appliances and the like
as the schools of the present date. The seats were made from heavy boards,
with wooden pegs driven into them for legs and the pupils had to make use
of their knees in lieu of a desk ; and not very many were troubled with curva-
ture of the spine on that account, either.
PIONEER REMINISCENCES.
Conditions and modes of life in Douglas county today differ greatly
from those of the pioneer days. To those who have lived here from the
beginning, the changes have come about so gradually that to a large extent
they have escaped notice; and to the younger generation some of the expe-
riences of the early settlers seem like tales from a story book rather than
actual occurrences.
For many }'ears the only travel was on foot or with ox-teams and was
necessarily slow and monotonous, except on the rare occasions when the
"steers" would take it into their heads to run awa_\", and then for a time
it was neither slow nor monotonous.
Parts of the county were sparsely settled and even on some of the main
roads through the big woods — especially was this true near .\lexandria —
one could travel for miles without seeing a human habitation or meeting a
single person. But the scenery along the roads was magnificent, especially
in the autumn, after the foliage had been touched by the early frosts, and
the deep red of the high-bush cranberries and the dark blue of the wild
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 37
grapes, both of which were plentiful, mingled with the multi-colored leaves
of the trees and shrubs.
Perhaps, because of the fact that houses were far apart and travel was
slow, the people were sociable and hospitable to a degree, and a house near
one of the roads was seldom without one or more guests over night, although
the house was very small and the accommodations most scanty.
PRIMITIVE WAYS OF AGRICULTURE.
The day of farm machinery had not arrived and for many years, espe-
cially on the farms in the timber, the numerous stumps were such serious
obstacles to the use of machinery that the latter could not have been used,
even if the owner had the means to buy it. The hay was cut with a scythe,
cocked by the pitchfork and carried to the stack on poles. To those who
are unfamiliar with this operation it may be stated that a cock was a round
pile of hay, built quite high and in such a way that it would shed rain, and
of such a size that twenty cocks would ordinarily make a ton. In stacking
these cocks into large and permanent stacks, two men would provide them-
selves with two strong poles about ten feet long and pointed at the ends.
These poles would be run under the cock of hay about three feet apart,
one man would take hold of the ends of these poles on one side of the cock
and the other man would do the same on the other side, and the cock would
then be lifted and carried to the stack. If the men were strong they would
not be content to carry one cock, but would put one on top of another and
carry both to the stack at one time.
Wheat and other small grain was cut with a cradle, an implement con-
sisting of a large and long scythe to which was affixed a frame consisting
of four "fingers," or prongs, of wood nearly as long as the scythe blade
and about eight inches apart. The contrivance bore a remote resemblance
to the cradle in which babies were rocked to sleep — hence the name. By
means of this cradle the grain would be cut and laid in even swathes that
could easily be raked into bundles and bound up. Grain seeders were
unknown and the grain was sown broadcast by hand. Corn and potatoes
were cultivated entirely by the hand hoe. Wheat was threshed out on the
house floor with sticks and flails and thrown across the room to separate the
grain from the chaff, but threshing-machines were s6on introduced. For
many years the threshing-machines were operated by horse power, and
usually five teams of horses were used to run a machine.
138 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
EARLY DAYS OF THE RAILROAD.
The first railroad trains that operated in the county were quite different
from the present ones. That was the day before steel rails were used and
the soft iron rails soon became flattened out even though the locomotives
and cars then in use were much lighter than those of the present day. For
a number of years wood-burning engines were used and the wood for these
engines was cut near the railroad in the winter time, hauled to the track
and piled up in ranks generally six feet high. In places these ranks of cord-
wood, often four or five in number, would extend almost continuously for
miles along the track. Then in the summer or fall a crew of five or six
men would come along with a circular saw, operated by a steam engine, and
saw the cordwood in two. the proper length for use in the engines. This
was before the day of the traction steam engine and the saw-rig engine
would be pushed by the men from place to place on planks.
When a train came along and wanted fuel it would simply stop any-
where along the right-of-way where some of this sawed cordwood was to
be found, the train crew would get off and throw on a sufficient supply of
wood and then start on their way rejoicing. It can readily be seen that in
those days it took more than four hours to run from Alexandria to St. Paul.
CONDITIONS IN THE PIONEER SCHOOLS.
Though the country was thinly settled and the pupils not always numer-
ous, schools were very early established everywhere. The buildings were
usually constructed of logs and were very small. The school house in dis-
trict Xo. 22. where the writer obtained all of his schooling below the high
school, was about eighteen feet long by sixteen feet wide, and at times there
was an attendance of more than fifty pupils of almost all sizes and ages.
Sometimes the teachers were very well educated and again their scholastic
qualifications were more or less limited. The writer can very well remem-
ber that one of the teachers of this school, in all seriousness, told the pupils
that no one had been able to get near the south pole because of the extreme
heat which prevailed there. And he inspired the youngsters with much
admiration and considerable awe for the knowledge bound up in "Robin-
son's Common-School Arithmetic" by solemnly stating that only two per-
sons in all the world were far enough advanced in mathematical knowledge
to know all that that book contained. One of these was the author of the
book and the other the King of England. Presumably this teacher was
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I39
even ignorant of the fact that the good Queen Victoria then reigned in
England. In those days the attendance at school was mostly in the winter
time and if a boy attended school as much as two or three months during
the 3-ear, it was generally thought that he was preparing himself for the
ministry.
MADE SHORT WORK OF FROSTBITES.
For many years money was scarce and the settlers had little of it to
spend. Overcoats and overshoes were unknown, and frozen toes were very
common. However, a home-made remedy consisting of a poultice made
from unslacked lime and melted pork made short work of frostbites. In
many families whitefish, caught in the nearby lakes in the fall 'of the year
and salted down, was an almost daily article of food.
Although the people were sociable and hospitable, it seemed that quar-
rels and fights were much more common then than now. And, as the
British General Gage remarked about the boys of Boston, the pugnacious
and belligerent spirit of tlieir elders was reflected in the youngsters, and if a
number of country boys went to Alexandria on a Fourth of July or other
holiday, they would expect to have a fight with the city boys before they got
l^ack again.
CHAPTER V.
The Sioux Outbreak and the Old Stockade.
"There have been many theories advanced to account for the Sioux out-
break of 1862, but they are for the most part superficial and erroneous,"
declares the Rev. Edward Duffield Neill in his comprehensive "History of
Minnesota." Little Crow, in his written communications to Colonel Sibley,
explaining the causes which had provoked hostilities on the part of the
Indians, makes no allusion to the treaties, but stated that his people had been
driven to acts of violence b}- the suffering brought upon them by the delay in
the payment of their annuities, and by the bad treatment they had received
from the traders. In fact, nothing has transpired to justify the conclusion
that when the bands first assembled at the agency, there was anything more
than the usual chronic discontent among them, superinduced by the failure
of the government, or its agents, faithfully to carry out the stipulations of
the different treaties. During the trial of the prisoners before the military
commission every effort was. made to elicit evidence bearing upon the out-
break and the motives which actuated the leaders in inaugurating the bloody
work. The only inference that can be drawn from all these sources of infor-
mation is, that the movement was not deliberate and predetermined, but was
the result of various concurrent causes, such as the long delay in the payment
of the annuities after the Indians were asseml^led, and an insufficient supply
of food in the interim ; dissatisfaction with the traders ; alleged encroach-
ment of settlers upon the Indian reservation; ill-feeling of the pagan Indians
against the missionaries and their converts and the predictions of the
medicine-men that the Sioux would defeat the white men in battle and then
reoccupy the whole country after clearing it of the whites. Add to these
the facts, well known to the Indians, that thousands of young and able-
bodied men had been dispatched to aid in suppressing the Southern rebellion
and that but a meager force remained to garrison Ft. Ridgeh- and Ft. Aber-
crombie, the only military posts in proximity to their countrv, and it will be
perceived that, to savages who held fast to their traditional attachment to
the British crown, and were therefore not friendly to the Americans, the
temptation to regain their lost possessions must have been strong. It was
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I4I
fresh in their minds, also, and a frequent subject of comment on their part,
that the government had taken no steps to punish Ink-pah-du-tah and his
small band, who had committed so many murders and other outrages upon
citizens at Spirit Lake in 1857.
APPLICATION OF THE TORCH TO THE MAGAZINE.
It is, ho\ve\'er. by no means certain that all of these considerations
combined would have resulted in open hostilities, save for an occurrence
which proved to l>e the application of the torch to the magazine. Five or
six young warriors, wearied of the inaction of a stationary camp life, accord-
ing to Neill, made an excursion along the outer line of the Big Woods in
a northern direction, with the avowed intention of securing the scalp of a
Chippewa, if practicable. Being unsuccessful in their search, they retraced
their steps to Acton, a small settlement in Meeker county, on August 17,
1862, and through some means they obtained whisky and drank freely. They
made a demand for more liciuor from a man named Jones and were refused,
whereupon the infuriated savages fired upon and killed not only Jones, but
two other men, ^^^ebster and Baker, and an elderly woman and a young girl.
Terrified at their own violence and fearful of the punishment due to their
crimes, these savages made their way back to the camp at 'the Lower Agenc)',
confessed their guilt to their friends and implored protection from the venge-
ance of the outraged laws. They all belonged to influential and powerful
families and when the whole affair had been discussed in solemn conclave in
the "Soldiers Lodge" it was determined that the bands should make common
cause with the criminals, and the following morning was fixed upon for the
e.xtermination of the unsuspecting whites at the agencies and of all the white
settlers within reach.
According to Holcombe's history of the outbreak it was about August
12 that twenty Lower Indians went over into the big woods of Meeker and
McLeod counties to hunt. Half a dozen of the Rice Creek band were of the
party. One of Shakopee's band, named Island Cloud, had business with
Capt. George C. Whitcomb, of Forest City, later commander of the stockade
at Alexandria, concerning a wagon which the Indian had left with the captain.
Reaching the hunting grounds in the southern part of Meeker county, the
party divided. Island Cloud and four others proceeding to Forest City and
the remainder continuing in the township of Acton. On the morning of
August 17 four Rice Creek Indians were passing along the Henderson and
Pembina road, in the central part of Acton township. Their names in Eng-
142 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
lish were Brown Wing, Breaks Up and Scatters, Ghost That Kills and
Crawls Against and none was more than thirty years of age. As these
Indians were passing the house and premises of Robinson Jones, four miles
south of the present site of Grove City, one of them found some hen's eggs
in a fence corner and proceeded to appropriate them. One of his comrades
remonstrated against the taking of the eggs, because they belonged to a
white man, and a discussion amounting to a quarrel resulted. The Ghost
Killer and his three companions went to the Jones house and, according to
the statement that Jones presently made to his family, demanded whisky
whicii he declined to give them. Alarmed at their menacing attitude, Jones
fled from his house to that of his stepson, Howard Baker, living half a mile
north, whither his wife had gone a day or two before and where at the time
was staying a young couple, Viranus Webster and wife, Wisconsin folk,
who were seeking a homestead in Minnesota. UiX)n leaving his home Jones
left his foster children, Clara D. Wilson, a girl of fifteen, and the latter's
baby brother. Walking leisurely, the Indians followed Jones to the Baker
house and there, after some apparently friendly parley, shot and killed Jones,
Baker, Webster and Mrs. Jones, after which they returned to the Jones
house and shot Clara Wilson through the heart, but did not molest the infant.
Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Webster made their way to the home of the nearest
settler and the neighborhood was aroused, the word of the murders being
passed on to all the adjoining settlements.
THE historian's CONCLUSION.
Holcombe concludes that "all of the attendant circumstances proye that
the murder of the five persons at .Vcton was not concocted by any other
Indians than the four that did the deed, and that they had po accessories
before or after the fact. It was not perpetrated because of dissatisfaction
at the delay in the payment, nor because there were to be soldiers at the pay
table; it was not occasioned by the sale of the ten-mile strip of the reserva-
tion, nor because so many white men had left Minnesota and gone into the
Union army. It was not the result of the councils of the soldiers' lodge,
nor of anv other Indian plot. The twenty or more Indians who left Rice
Creek on .\ugust \2 for the hunt did not intend to kill white people; if they
had so intended, Island Cloud antl all the rest would have been present at
and have participated in the murders at Baker's and Jones', and carried off
much portable jiroperty, including horses. The trouble started as has been
stated — from finding a few eggs in a white man's fence corner."
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I43
About six o'clock on the morning of the next day, August i8, 1862,
according to NeilFs account, a large number of Sioux warriors, armed and
in their war paint, assembled about the buildings at the Lower Agency. It
had been rurpored purposely in advance that a war-party was to take the field
against the Chippewas, but no sooner had the Indians assumed their several
positions, according to the program, than an onslaught was made indiscrim-
inately upon the whites, and with the exception of two or three men who
concealed themselves, and a few of the women and children who were kept
as captives, no whites escaped destruction but George H. Spencer, who
although twice seriously wounded, was saved from instant death by the heroic
intervention of his Indian comrade, Wak-ke-an-da-tah, or "Red Lightning."
A number of persons also were slain at the LTpper Agency, but through the
agency of "Other Day," a Christian Indian, the missionaries, the Rev.
Stephen R. Riggs and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Williamson and their families
and others, numbering in all about sixty persons, were saved, the party being
conducted safely through the Indian country to the white settlements.
EVERY FRONTIER DWELLING A CHARNEL HOUSE.
The massacre of the people, the pillage of stores and dwellings, and the
destruction of the buildings having been consummated, parties were dis-
patched to fall upon the settlers on farms and in villages along the entire
frontier, extending nearly two hundred miles. The scenes of horror con-
sequent upon the general onslaught can better be imagined than described.
Fortimate, comparatively speaking, was the lot of those who were doomed
to instant death, and thus spared the agonies of lingering tortures and the
superadded anguish of witnessing outrages upon the persons of those near-
est and dearest to them. The fiends of hell could not invent more fearful
atrocities than were perpetrated by the savages upon their victims. The
bullet, the tomahawk and the scalping-knife spared neither age nor sex, the
only prisoners taken being the young and comely women, to minister to the
brutal lusts of their captors, and a few children. In the short space of
thirty-six hours, as nearly as could be computed, eight hundred whites were
cruelly slain. Almost every dwelling house along the extreme frontier was
a charnel house, containing the dying or the dead. In many cases the torch
was applied and maimed and crippled sufferers, unable to escape, were con-
sumed with their habitations. The alarm was communicated by refugees to
the adjacent settlements, and soon the roads leading east and to the pro-
144 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
tected centers were crowded by thousands of men, women and children, in
the wild confusion of sudden flight.
After accomphshing their mission of death the savages assembled in
force and attempt to take Ft. Ridgcly by a coup de main. In this they
were foiled by the vigilance and determination of the garrison, aided by
volunteers who had escaped from the surrounding settlements. The attack
was continued for several days, but without success. The town of New Ulm
also was assailed by a strong force of the savages, but was gallantly defended
by volunteers from the neighboring counties, under the command of Col.
C. H. Flandrau. Captain Dodd, an old and prominent citizen of St. Peter,
was among the killed at this latter point. Ft. Abercrombie, on the Red river,
also suffered a long and tedious siege by the bands of Sioux from the Lac
qui Parle country, until relie\ed by a force dispatched by Governor Ramsey
from St. Paul.
SUPPRESSION OF THE SIOUX.
The first advices of the outbreak reached the state capital on the day
succeeding the massacre at the Lower Agency! Instant preparations were
made by Governor Ramsey to arrest the progress of the savages. At his
personal solicitation, Henry FI. Sibley, a resident of JMendota, whose long
and intimate acquaintance with Indian character and habits was supposed
to render him peculiarly fitted for the position, consented to take charge of
military operations. He accordingly was commissioned by the governor,
colonel commanding, and upon him in person devolved the conduct of the
campaign.
Unfortunately, the state of Minnesota was lamentably deficient in the
means and appliances requisite to carry on successfully a war of the formid-
able character which this threatened to assume. The Sioux alhed bands
could bring into the field from eight hundred to one thousand warriors, and
they might be indefinitely reinforced by the powerful divisions of the prairie
Sioux. Those actually engaged in hostilities were good marksmen, splen-
didly armed, and abundant!)- supplied with ammunition. They had been
victorious in several encounters with detachments of troops, and had over-
whelming confidence in their own skill. On the other hand, the state had
already dispatched five thousand, more or less, of her choicest young men
to the South, her arsenal was stripped of all the arms that were effective,
and there was little animuniticMi on hand, and no rations. There was no
government transportation to be had and the prospect was not by any means
favoral)le. Goveror Ramsey, notwithstanding, acted with promptness and
OLD STtXKADK AT AI.EXAXDUIA. FlidM A CUAYOX DltAWIXC MADE IX
1MI2. DIKIXi; THE DAYS OF .MILITAKY AfTIVITY THERE.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I45
vigor. He telegraphed for arms and ammunition to tiie war department and
to the governors of adjoining states. He authorized also the appropriation
for the public use of the teams belonging to individual citizens, and adopted
such other measures as the emergency demanded.
There were at Ft. Snelling, happily, the nuclei of regiments tliat had
been called into service. Colonel Sibley left Ft. Snelling with four hundred
men of the Sixth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, early on the
morning of August 20. Upon an inspection of the arms and cartridges
furnished, it was fovmd that the former comprised worthless Austrian rifles,
and the ammunition was for guns of a larger and different calibre. The
command was detained several days at St. Peter, engaged in swedging the
balls so as to fit the arms and in preparing canister-shot for the six-pounders.
Meantime arms of a better quality were received, reinforcements of troops
arrived and the column took up the line of march for Ft. Ridgley, which was
reached without interruption, and the troops went into camp a short distance
from the post, to await the reception of rations and to make the final prepara-
tions for an advance upon the hostile Indians, who had drawn in their
detached parties and were concentrating for a decisive battle.
BATTLES OF BIRCH COOLIE AND WOOD LAKE.
Scouts were dispatched to ascertain the location of the main Indian
camp, and upon their return they reported no Indians below Yellow Medicine
river. A burial party of twenty men, under the escort of one company of
infantry and the available mounted force, in all about two hundred men,
under the command of Major J. R. Brown, was detailed to proceed and
inter the remains of the slain at the Lower Agency and at other points in
the vicinity. The duty was performed, fifty-four lx>dies buried, and the
detachment was en route to the settlements on Beaver river and had encamped
for the night near Birch Coolie, a long and wooded ravine debouching into
the Minnesota river, when, about dawn the following morning, the camp was
attacked by a large force of Indians, twenty-five men killed or mortally
wounded and nearly all the horses, ninety in number, shot down. Provi-
dentially, the volleys of musketry were heard at the main camp, although
eighteen miles distant, and Colonel Sibley marched to the relief of the
beleaguered detachment, drove off the Indians, buried the dead, and the
weary column then retraced its steps to the camp.
The period spent in awaiting necessary supplies of provisions was made
(ID)
146 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
useful in drilling the men and bringing them under discipline. So soon as
ten days' rations had been accumulated, Colonel Sibley marched in search of
the savages, and on September 23, 1862, was fought the severe and decisive
battle of Wood Lake. The action was commenced by the Indians and was
bravely contested by them for more than two hours, when they gave way at
all points and sent in a flag of truce, asking permission to remove their dead
and wounded, which was refused. A message was sent back to Little Crow,
the leader of the hostile Indians, to the efifect that if any of the white pris-
oners held by him received injury at the hands of the savages, no mercy
would be shown the latter, l>ut that they would be pursued and destroyed
without regard to age or sex.
The success at Wood Lake was i:ot achieved without serious loss. Two
officers were severely wounded and nearly forty non-commissioned officers
and privates were killed or wounded. The loss of the enemy was much
greater, a half-breed prisoner stating it at thirty killed and a larger number
wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall and Major Bradley, of the Seventh
Regiment, distinguished themselves, the former leading a charge of five com-
panies of his own and two companies of the Sixth Regiment, which cleared
a ravine of the enemy, where they had obtained shelter. Lieutenant-Colonel
Averill and Major McLaren, of the Sixth Regiment, also performed signal
service, as did all the officers and men of both regiments. The Third Regi-
ment, composed of fractions of six companies, fought gallantly, having for a
time, in conjunction with the Renville Rangers, borne the brunt of the fight,
and their loss was great in proportion.
PITIFUL SCENES AT CAMP RELEASE.
One of the main objects of the campaign, the deliverance- of the white
captives, was yet to be accomplished, and required the exercise of much judg-
ment and caution. There was good reason to fear that, in the exasperation
of defeat, the helpless prisoners might fall victims to the savages. Colonel
Sibley, therefore, delayed his march towards the great Indian camp until
the second day after the battle, to allow time to the friendly element to
strengthen itself and to avoid driving the hostile Indians into desperate meas-
ures against their prisoners. On the 25th of September, the column, with
drums beating and colors flying, filed past the Indian encampment and formed
camp within a few hundred yards of it, on the heights overlooking the junc-
tion of the Chippewa and the Minnesota rivers, at a point about two miles
southwest of the present city of Montevideo. Colonel Sibley, with his staff
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I47
and field officers/ then proceeded to the lodges of the Indians and directed
that all the captives should be delivered up to him, which was forthwith done ;
a sight thus being presented that sufficed to suiifuse the eyes of strong men
with tears. Young and beautiful women, who had for weeks endured the
extremitv of outrage from their brutal captors, followed by a crowd of chil-
dren of all ages, came forth from the lodges, hardly realizing that the day
of their deliverance had arrived. Convulsive sobbing was heard on every
side and the poor creatures clung to the men who had come to their relief,
as if they feared that some savage would drag them away. They were all
escorted tenderly to the tents prepared for their reception and made as com-
fortable as circumstances would admit. The number of pure whites thus
released amounted to about one hundred and fifty, including one man only,
George H. Spencer, whose preservation by "Red Lightning" has been noted
above. Mr. Spencer expressed his gratitude to Colonel Sibley that the latter
had not made a forced march upon the camp after the battle, stating emphatic-
ally that if such a course had been pursued, it was the determination of the
hostile Indians to cut the throats of the captives and then disperse to the
prairies. There were deli^■ered also nearly two hundred and fifty half-breeds,
who had been held as prisoners.
PUNISHMENT OF THE GUILTY.
Two of the principal objects of the campaign, the defeat of the savages
and the release of the captives, having thus been consummated, there remained
but to punish the guilty. Many of these, with Little Crow, had made their
escape and could not be overtaken, but some of the small camps of refugees
were surrounded and their inmates brought back. The locality where these
events transpired was appropriately called Camp Release and the spot has
been marked by a grateful state by the erection of a beautiful granite shaft,
suitably inscribed, commemorating the deeds of Colonel Sibley's relief expedi-
tion and the release of the captives.
At the proper time the Indian camp was surrounded by a cordon of
troops and four hundred of the warriors were arrested, chained together in
pairs, and placed in an enclosure of logs made by the troops, under strong
guard. Others who were known to be innocent were not interfered with.
Colonel Sibley constituted a military commission, with Colonel Crooks, com-
manding the Sixth Regiment, as president, for the trial of the prisoners. A
fair and impartial hearing was accorded to each and the result was the find-
ing of three hundred and three guilty of participation in the murder of the
148 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
whites, and the sentence of death by hanging was passed upon them. Others
were convicted of robbery and pillage and condemned to various terms of
imprisonment, and a few were acquitted. The witnesses were composed of
the released captives, including mixed Ijloods, and of Christian Indians, who
had refused to join Little Crow in the war.
The preparations for the execution of the guilty Indians were brought
to a summary close by an order from President Lincoln prohibiting the hang-
ing of any of the convicted men without his previous sanction, sentimental
persons in the East having demanded of the President a review of the pro-
ceeding of the military court. The people of the state were highly indig-
nant at this suspension and an energetic protest was made by their senators
and representatives in- Washington. Finally, after much delay, Colonel
Sibley was directed to carry out the sentence of the commission in certain
cases specified, and on December 26, 1862, thirty-eight of the criminals were
executed accordingly at Mankato, on the same scaffold, under the direction
of Colonel Miller, commanding that post. The remainder of the condemned
were sent to Davenport, Iowa, early in the spring, where they were kept in
confinement for more than a year, a large number dying of disease in the
meantime. Those that remained eventually were dispatched to a reservation
on the Upper Missouri, where the large number of prisoners taken by Colonel
Sibley, principally women and children, had already been placed.
EFFECT OF THE UPRISING IN DOUGLAS COUNTY.
When the stage brought the news to the Alexandria settlement during
those fateful days in August, 1862, that the Indians were collecting and
putting on the war paint at the Yellow Medicine agency, much alarm was
created in the hamlet and throughout the county, for trouble had been feared
for some time, and the settlers were warned to flee if they desired safety.
When the stage driver brought the news of the uprising all the settlers in the
vicinity of Alexandria congregated on the town site and. held a "council of
war.'" .\fter some discussion of the news it was decided that the alarm
must lie a hoax and the farmers were advised to return to their fields, which
they did. I'our days later a messenger from Go\ ernor Ramsey reached this
part of the state, driving post haste, distributing arms and ammunition and
cornmanding the settlers to gather together, or rendezvous, and arm them-
selves for safety. At Alexandria a few muskets and some ammunition were
left with J. H. \'an Dyke for distribution and all the settlers that could be
reached were notified to arm or prepare for flight. On that same day prac-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I49
tically all the settlers in the community assembled at Alexandria and it was
then and there decided that the women and children should at once be taken
to Sauk Center or St. Cloud for safety, and the party lost no time in setting
out, all save their most valuable personal possessions being left behind. At
the same time the settlers in the several vicinities of Holmes City, Chippewa
(Brandon) and Evansville and the few who had gathered in the vicinity of
Osakis — who had not already gone, got together and all left, most of them
going to Sauk Center or St. Cloud, while others scattered in various direc-
tions, it being said that but two of the settlers remained in the county, Andreas
Darling and N. P. Barnes. They conveyed their families to places of safety,
but returned straightway and remained on their farms, undisturbed.
When the first squad of refugees from this section arrived at Sauk
Center a consultation was held and it was decided that the men should return
to their farms and attend to their crops. Accordingly, within a few days,
they were on their way back, most of them being armed with some kind of
a weapon, among those who returned at that time being recalled the names
of Messrs Dicken, Barr, Redman, Darling, Barnes, Shotwell, Cowing, Can-
field, Thompson, Ridley, Gager, Austin, Lewis, Rogers and several young
men. Upon their arrival at Alexandria the party found everything just as
it had been left, even the tables set as they were when the affrighted settlers
had fled.
TRAGIC EVENT CREATES FRESH ALARM.
Upon finding things at the settlement undisturbed, the party separated,
the settlers leaving for their respective farms. A number started for the
Chippewa settlement where Henry Gager" s claim was located and when that
place was reached eight or ten of the party, including Andrew Austin and
Ben Lewis started for Evansville to see about Rogers's property and to learn
whether the Indians had burned the house. Andrew Austin and Ben Lewis
were riding ponies and had proceeded on Cjuite a distance in advance of the
remainder of the party who were riding in a wagon. On the way Austin and
Lewis shot a hawk and stuck the feathers in their hats. When but a short
distance from their destination they were surprised by a band of about forty
Indians, who sprang up from their ambush along the trail and surrounded
the two, firing upon them at close range. The party in the wagon was far to
the rear and unable to render aid to the entrapped horsemen ; and, indeed, it
would have been a mark of foolhardiness for the small party to have
attempted succor in the face of the overwhelming odds presented i)y the much
superior liand of redskins.
150 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
At the first volley, Austin was seen to reel from his horse, while Lewis
headed toward the south, escaping the bullets of the savages, his nimble-
footed pony quickly putting a safe distance between him and his red foe, and
was soon out of sight^never to be heard of again in this community. In a
moment the Indians had gathered about the prostrate form of Austin and
those in the wagon straightway wheeled about and beat a precipitate retreat
to the point where they had left the rest of the party. There they waited for
a time, prepared to resist to the death the expected attack, but as none came
they presently all set out on the return to Sauk Center, abandoning their
previous design of remaining on the farms which they had left at the first
alarm. Through the haste of getting away a gun was accidentally dis-
charged, the contents entering the back of a girl who had accompanied the
party. At Sauk Center medical aid was secured and she eventually recovered.
The body of the ill-fated Andrew Austin remained where it fell for several
weeks, a squad of soldiers that had been dispatched to this part of the state
then giving it proper burial, a coffin for that purpose being obtained at Alex-
andria. The soldiers found that the savages had cut off Austin's head and
one of his hands and then had cut out his heart.
THE OLD STOCKADE AT ALEXANDRIA.
After the terrible event above related none of the settlers returned to
Douglas county until after the soldiers were sent to this section, which was
not until the latter part of October or early in November, and Alexandria
was created a government post. The first company detailed to that post was
Company B, Twenty-fifth Wisconsin, under Captain Joshlin, who had
quarters erected for his command at a point near the original Kinkaid log
cabin, the first house erected in the county, about a scjuare south of the pres-
ent railway station of the Great Northern Railroad . Company. About two
months later Captain Joshlin's command was relieved by Company K, Eighth
Minnesota, under command of Captain Rockwood, who caused to be erected,
as quarters for his command and as a means of greater security to the set-
tlers hereabout, the famous old stockade, which for some years was the center
of social and commercial activity for this whole region. The old stockade
was of the familiar form of construction of such structures, generally, erected
with a view to stability and security against assault, the walls being con-
structed of logs set endways into the ground, the enclosure being about ten
rods square. It was erected on the hill near the \'an Dyke Store, just south
of the present freight depot of the Great Northern Railroad Company, and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I5I
the building of it in the period of mid-winter was quite a task for the soldiers
and settlers thus engaged. Upon the completion of the stockade practically
all the settlers who had returned to the vicinity of Alexandria moved into the
same, J- H. Van Dyke even moving his store inside, all thus acquiring a
greater sense of security against possible further marauding bands of sav-
ages, and thus the situation remained at the settlement until the Indian
excitement had wholly subsided, further fears of an uprising being pretty
generally at an end before the close of another year, after which there was
little excitement over the Indians, although it is recalled that as late as 1873
there was a "scare" throughout this part of the state, vague rumors of an
Indian uprising driving not a few of the settlers in the sparsely populated dis-
tricts to more populous centers and causing all to take effective precautionary
measures such as the molding of bullets and seeing to it that effective bolts
were placed on houses, but that rumor seemed to be a "false alarm," as there
was found to be no foundation for it whatever.
The troops remained at the old stockade until the spring of 1866, by
which time a sufficient number of settlers had returned to Douglas county, or
new ones had come in to take the places of those who had fled during the
uprising, to pave the way for the re-establishment of a formal local govern-
ment again, Douglas county being officially and permanently reorganized in
the spring of 1866, as set out elsewhere. During the time the troops remained
at the stockade there generally was about half a company stationed there.
Captain Grosvener, with a company of Hatch's battalion, succeeded Captain
Rockwood and he in turn was succeeded by Capt. G. C. Whitcomb, who
remained in charge until the post was discontinued and the soldiers dis-
charged in the spring of 1866. In the meantime, the Civil War had been
going on and in this great struggle Douglas county nobly performed her
part in raising men, her quota being furnished without the painful necessity
of resorting to the draft. After it was discontinued the stockade fell into
disuse, its timbers were found useful for other building purposes and it long
since has been a matter of memory only; but among the old settlers the mem-
ories that cluster around it are imperishable — some sad, some gav, but all
linked with that early period that witnessed the permanent establishment of
a definite social order hereabout, a process in which the old stockade plaved
no small part, the security the presence of the soldiers there gave to the set-
tlers having been a very pronounced factor in the restoration of civic condi-
tions after the setback occasioned bv the dre^d rising of the Sioux in the
summer of 1862.
CHAPTER VL
Organization of Douglas County.
For some time after Douglas county was first set apart by the state
Legislature it was attached to Stearns county for civil and judicial pur-
poses. In 1859 a move was started to establish Douglas as an independent
county. P. L. Gregory was the prime mover, and an election was held — the
first in the county — at Gregory's hotel. Some of the settlers were opposed
to the project, and only a few voted. It was, therefore, given up, as the
election was held without authority and was illegal. At the session of the
state Legislature in 1858- 1859 a bill was passed authorizing the organiza-
tion of Douglas county for certain purposes, and the Governor appointed
J. H. Van Dyke, S. B. Cowdry and A. Darling, as the first board of county
commissioners. The board met at the store of Mr. Van Dyke, at Alexandria,
and appointed the following county officers: Alexander Kinkaid, register
of deeds; J. A. James, sheriff, and P. L. Gregory, judge of probate. This
organization was kept up until the Indian outbreak in 1862, when it was
abandoned and all records which had been made were lost. Nothing further
was done with official matters until 1866. when the count}- was permanently
organized.
Douglas county was established with its present boundaries by act of
the Legislature in 1866, when it was ordered that "The county of Douglas is
established and bounded as follows : Beginning at the northeast corner of
township 130 north, range 36 west from the fifth principal meridian: thence
west on the line between townships 130 and 131, to the northwest corner of
township 130, of range 40; thence south on the line between ranges 40 and
41, to the southwest corner of township 127, of range 40; thence east on the
line between towhships 126 and 127, to the southeast comer of township
127, of range 36; thence north on the line between ranges 35 and 36, to the
place of beginning."
FIRST MEETING OF THE COUNTY BOARD.
In the si)ring of 1866 the governor appointed a new board of commis-
sioners to organize the countv. consisting of the following: J. H. A'an Dvke,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 53
James F. Dicken and Donald Stevison. This board held its first meeting
on June 15, 1866, at Alexandria, which village, on account of its being the
principal settlement and located near the center of the county, had been desig-
nated as the county seat. Mr. Van Dyke was chosen chairman of the county
board \yhich then proceeded to appoint the following of¥icers : J. Mont
Smvth, auditor; Charles Cook, judge of probate; J. Mont Smyth, register
of deeds; Thomas F. Cowing, sheriff; J. Mont Smyth, clerk of the court;
William Shaw, attorney ; T. W. Moore, surveyor ; Thomas F. Cowing,
treasurer; Robert Wyman, coroner.
At this first meeting of the county board two townships were estab-
lished, Osakis and Alexandria. Osakis township consisted of congressional
townships 127 and 128, range 36, and Alexandria township included all the
balance of the county. The board appointed the first officers for Osakis
township as follows: William Shaw, clerk; J. Maguire, treasurer; T. M.
Works, assessor; William Shaw and Roland Sanderson, justices; Thomas
Adams and Charles Gilbert, constables. The first officers apix)inted for
Alexandria township were: J. Mont Smyth, clerk; H. S. Rutherford, treas-
urer; T. W. Sprague, assessor; George Cowing and N. B. Johnson, justices;
John Johnson and Henry Blackwell, constables.
At the second meeting of the board of county commissioners, held at
Alexandria on October 4, 1866, a petition having been presented from the
legal voters in that territory, congressional townships 127 and 128, ranges
39 and 40, were set apart as a separate civil township, to be known as
Holmes City township. The board appointed the following judges and
clerks of the election to be held there: Henry Blackwell, N. B. Johnson and
Xels Nickelson. judges; T. W. Sprague and Noah Grant, clerks.
EVOLUTION OF COUNTY BUILDINGS.
When Douglas county was organized there was a provision in the laws
of the state allowing county officers, in counties where there was no court
house, to keep their offices at their homes. For some months this plan was
followed by the first officers of Douglas county. At a meeting of the county
board held on January i, 1867, Commissioner Dicken made a motion, which
was formally adopted, that "The county auditor be instructed to procure an
office, furnish the same with stove and the necessary furniture, including a
desk for the safe-keeping of books and papers, and also to furnish said office
with fuel, all of which at the expense of the county ; also to procure a suit-
able desk for the clerk of the district court."
154 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
On February 2, 1867, the board voted to issue county order Xo. i for
twenty-five dollars, to J. H. Van Dyke, to pay for seals for the clerk of the
court and the register of deeds. At that same meeting the board issued
county order No. 2 for four hundred dollars, to W. E. Hicks, J. H. Bondy
and Thomas F. Cowing, for county books.
In the spring of 1867 \\. E. Hicks and Thomas F. Cowing erected a
frame building on lot 10. block 59, in the original plat of the village of
Alexandria, where N. P. Ward's store now stands. It was a two-story
structure, ha\ing four rooms and an entry on the first floor and one large
room on the second floor. On March 30, 1867, the county commissioners
voted to pay Hicks and Cowing two hundred and fifty dollars per annum for
the use of this building for county offices, the room on the second floor to be
used only when required for holding court, possession to be given on June
I, 1867.
The county officers established themselves in the building on Main
street in the fall of 1867. Furniture, stoves and fuel were provided and all
the county business was for a time transacted there. On September 4, 1867,
James Troag was paid fifty-five dollars for a fine hand-made desk for the
use of the clerk of the court. At that time none of the county officers devoted
all their time to the county duties but had private business which required
attention. Anyone having in hand a matter which required the atten-
tion of a county official would first find the officer at his place of busi-
ness, when they would repair to the building used as a court house and give
the matter official consideration. On account of the small amount of county
business to be attended to at that time, the early officials soon found that this
])lan seriously interfered with their private aiTairs and secured permission
from the county board to take their books and papers to their respective
stores and offices in the village of Alexandria.
On December 30, 1868, the county auditor was instructed to lease the
.southeast corner room in the court house to J. H. \'an Dyke for six months,
with the privilege of using the room for the county treasurer when necessary,
Mr. \'an D\ke to pay at the rate of $33.33 per year, quarterly in advance.
.\t the same time the northeast corner room was rented to Lewis Lewision,
register of the United States land office, at the rate of $66.66 per year. On
January 6, 1869, the register of deeds was allowed to remove his books from
the court house to his office, and on March 9. that same \ear, the county
auditor removed his books to his store. On June 22, 1869, the southwest
corner room, occupied by John S. Mower, superintendent of schools, was
rented to Mr. ]Mower for his use as a lawver's office, the court commissioner
♦
1}
4
^iT/
mk
1
m
m
m
■
m
^^B
FIRST XATIOXAI. BANK IX 1S7C.
Wlierp C. O. Peterson's driis store now stiinds. in 1876 Bob Walker bad bis
■ksmitli shop. The next bnildins; was the home of the First National Bank
ilGxandrin.
THE OLD COL'ltT HOUSE.
From a photograph taken in 1S76, the site now being occupied by N. P. Wardstone. The little bnild-
ing was used by James Walker, as a jewelry store, express office, postofEce and office of the clerk of
courts. The next building was the log store erected by William E. Hicks.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 55
and sheriff to use the room when needed. The same room was rented to
John S. Randolph on September 7, 1869. The northwest corner room was
rented to W. F. Ball for nine dollars per month.
FIRST COURT HOUSE OWNED BY THE COUNTY.
The little frame building on Main street continued to be used more or
less exclusively for public business for nine years, but very early the county
fathers realized that in time the county would need a real court house, and
with wise foresight began negotiations for ground for a public building. On
May 26, 1871, the board conferred with W. E. Hicks to secure a piece of
land in the townsite of Alexandria for a pubHc square on which to erect
county buildings. Mr. Hicks agreed to give the county a bond for a deed if
the commissioners, on behalf of the county, would bind themselves to com-
mence the erection of county buildings within three years and complete them
in six years. The commissioners were unable to give any such assurance
and the project was abandoned for the time being.
On March 27, 1875, Theresa T. Hicks, widow of W. E. Hicks, agreed
to give the county a bond for a deed to block 34, in the original townsite of
Alexandria, if the county would erect a court house costing not less than
$10,000 on or before January i, 1880. This amount was decided to be more
than the county could afford for a building and Mrs. Hicks was persuaded to
give the land to the county on condition that a court house costing not less
than three thousand five hundred dollars would be built before January i,
1878. The county commissioners at that time were A. H. Ta\lor, K. C.
Rustad, Roljert Angus, Ole Amundson and AI. J. Gordon. On April 6,
1876, they accepted the plans of J. X. Herder, for a building fort\' by fift}--
four feet. The contract was awarded to Raymond & Owen, of St. Cloud,
who agreed to build the court house for three thousand four hundred and
forty-seven dollars.
J. N. Herder, L. K. Aaker and A. J. Ames were appointed as a com-
mittee to superintend the construction of the building. This court house was
completed and accepted on .\ugust 15, 1876. It was a two-story frame
building, with five office rooms on the first floor and a court room up-stairs.
A fire-proof vault, nine by twelve feet, was built at the rear of the court
house, by Stephen King, at a cost of six hundred and seventy dollars. When
the officials moved into this building in the fall of 1876 the county business
had increased to such an extent that the principal officers devoted all their
time to their official duties. For almost twenty years this building ser\'ed
156 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
for conntv purposes, when it was replaced by a modern structure which
provided not only larger working space, but what was even more important,
safety \-aults for the storage of the many valuable records of the county.
PRESENT COUNTY COURT H0U.SE.
Back in the eighties when Theodore Bordsen was a county auditor he
was largel}- instrumental in establishing a fund for a new court house. This
fund accumulated through the years and finally grew to sufficient proportions
to enable the county to erect a new building without issuing a single dollar's
worth of bonds. On July 11, 1893, the board of county commissioners
appointed a committee consisting of Fred von Baumbach, L. J. Brown, James
H. White, John B. Cowing and James Ouinn, to procure and select plans
and specifications for a new court house. The plans of Buechner & Jacobson
were accepted on October 10, 1893, ^.nd on January 3, 1894, the general con-
tract was awarded to Hinckley & Powers, who agreed to put the building
under roof during 1894, for $26,037.43. Many of the common brick for this
building were furnished by parties in this count}', namely: J. A. McKay, of
Alexandria; Norton & Berg, of Evansville, and Gilbert Bracken, of Ida.
The facing brick were brought from St. Paul.
Auditor Fred von Baumbach and Commissioner James H. White were
appointed as a committee to superintend the construction of the building. At
the time this new court house was erected the county was suffering from a
serious industrial depression ; cost of material and labor was at a low figure
and easily secured, and it was principally for this reason that Douglas county
was able to erect her present handsome court house, including heating, light-
ing, plumbing and vault fixtures, for the sum of $35,000.
The building was completed and accepted in the fall of 1895. It is a
two-story brick structure, the facing being of pressed brick and the trim-
mings of Kasota sandstone. There are eight offices on the first floor and
five offices and the court room on the second floor. Fire-proof vaults are
provided for the safe storage of official records. A basement extends under
the entire building, providing space for the heating system, work shop and
storage.
FIRST COUNTY JAIL.
On Tune 2'j, 1867, the board of county commissioners voted to authorize
the county attorney and George B. Cowing to fit up a suitable building to
be used as a county jail. On January, 1868. the county auditor was instructed
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I57
to ask Charles A. Gilman, then the state senator from this district, to pro-
cure the passage of an act authorizing the county to issue bonds for the
purpose of building a jail. However, nothing definite resulted from these
'various projects, and for about two years after the organization of the
county prisoners were detained wherever the sheriff saw fit. On Ma}' 30,
1868, a committee consisting of F. B. Van Hosen, J. H. \'an Dyke and
George C. Whitcomb was appointed to get proposals and make an estimate
on the cost of building a jail twelve by fourteen feed, to be built of oak
timber, with walls, floor and ceiling six inches thick. The contract for a
building of that description was let on June 30, 1868, and it was completed in
September, of that year, at a cost of three hundred and fifty dollars.
This first jail building was located on the rear of the lot back of the
court house on Main street. Some slight alterations and improvements were
made to it at various times, but it was never more than the old-fashioned
"calaboose" common in those days. After the county oiificials had moved
to the new frame court house in 1876, the little oak jail was sold to R.
A\'egener for twenty-five dollars.
BRICK JAIL BUILT ON THE COUNTY GROUNDS.
Plans for a new brick jail drawn by H. L. Sage were accepted by the
county board on February 3, '1880. Bids were received on February, 1880,
and the lowest was that of J. N. Herder, who offered to put up the building
for $8,640. As this was more than the county could afford to spend for a
jail all bids were rejected and the board advertised for plans of a jail
of eight cells to cost more than $6,000. New plans of H. L. Sage were
accepted and the building contract was awarded to John Aiton for $6,250.
This brick jail was built due east of the frame court house, twenty-five
feet west of E street. Surveyor John Abercrombie determined the proper
grade. After the construction was started the contractor was allowed two
hundred dollars extra to make the wall one foot higher all around. The
building was completed in the fall of 1880, and accepted by the county, but it
was not long, however, until the county officials realized that it was a very
unsatisfactory jail building. It was mostly underground, dark and damp,
and while it probably would have been considered a very proper prison in
the Middle Ages, it did not meet the humanitarian ideals of .the present dav.
After it had been made to serve as a county jail for a number of vears
the county grand juries began to condemn it as an unfit place in which to
confine prisoners. The building was dark, damp and unhealthful, aft'orded
150 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
no proper accommodation fbr female prisoners, was dangerous in case of
fire and too small for the county needs. In 1899 the state board of correc-
tions and charities finally and formally condemned the jail, and on July 18,
1899, the board of county commissioners voted to erect a new jail and
sherifif's residence. The board at that time consisted of Anton H. Strom,
John F. Lancleen, J. H. White, Michael Hickey and Roland Bentson.
PRESENT JAIL AND SHERIFFS RESIDENCE.
On f''ebruary 9, 1900, the county board accepted plans for a new jail
which had been approved by the state board of corrections and charities,
and on March 22, 1900, the contract for its erection was let to Aiton Brothers,
for $8,916. The contractor was to pay $400 for the material in the old jail
and remove the same from the court house grounds. The contract for heat-
ing and ventilating was awarded to T. M. Maguire, for $930; the contract
for the plumbing was given to John M. Bailey, for $620, and the steel cell
work to the Diebold Safe and Lock Company, for $4,280. The building was
completed and accepted by the county on December 3, 1900.
It is a two-story brick building, with sandstone trimmings, of architec-
tural design to harmonize with the court house, and stands a short distance
southeast of the last mentioned building. Comfortable C|uarters for the
sherifif and family are provided in the front part of the building, and ample
provision is made in the rear for the accommodation of the few persons
in Douglas county who need be detained under law. The building has
every modern convenience.
POPULATION OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
The population of Douglas county in 1910, according to the Federal
census report, was 17,669, of which number 4,619 were foreign born, divided
among the principal foreign countries as follows: Sweden, 1,998; Norway,
960; Germany, 753; Austria, 244; Denmark, 230; Canada, 116; Finland,
86; all other countries, 232. While the different nationalities of the foreign
born population are largely separated into distinct communities they are
all enthusiastic patriots for the land of their adoption. The population for
three decades is set out in the following table:
lino. I'.KM). isoo.
Ale.xjUHlriii cit.v 3,001 - 2,(isl 2.118
Alexjiiidiia townsliip 078 072 470
Belle Kiver fowusliip 719 8!)2 711
Hr.-iiKldU tnwiisliin 632 075 570
r,6i
509
910
746
207
859
545
7119
506
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I59
191(1 190(1 1S90
Braiulon vilhi.se 27(j 272 225
Carlos towushiiJ 557 597 435
Carlos village 1(57
Evausville township 474 589 580
Evausville village 389 483 452
Forada village 66
Garfield village KjO
Holmes City townsliip 682 701 746
Hudson towusliip 492
Ida township 729
Kensington village , 244
La Grand township 850
Lake Mary township 610
Leaf Valley township 674
Lund township 634
Millerville township 552
Millerville village 150
Miltoaa towjiship 417
Jloe township 689
Nelson village 157
Orange township 418
Osakis township 623
Osakis village 924
Soleni township 590
Spruce Hill township 602
I'rness township 513
Total 17,669 17.964 14,606
NATURALIZATION RECORDS.
A large majority of the settlers of this county who came here from
ahroad have become naturalizecJ citizens of this county by due process of
law. The first step in naturalization is for the applicant to make declaration
of his intention to become a citizen of this country, and is known as taking
out the first papers. The first person to apply for first papers in Douglas
county was John Nelson, from Sweden, who appeared before county clerk
J. H. Van D_\-ke on February 28, 1867. The second was Thurston Severson.
on March 4, 1867. Halvor Halvorson, from Norway, also came on the
same day. The fourth man was Thomas Oatmason, on March 15, 1867,
and the fifth was Erick Peherson Eng., on March 20, 1867. In 1867
there were 97 applicants for first papers, of whom 59 were from Den-
mark; 3 from Austria, and i from France.
The first applicant for second papers, or final proof of citizenship, in
Douglas count}', was Henr\- Blackwell, a native of England, who appeared
456
343
703
479
815
472
6i22
714
673
530
616
641
l6o DOL-GLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
before county clerk F. B. \"an Hoesen on October 5, 1870. Air. Blackwell
had taken out his first papers in Meeker county. The second applicant
was Peter Stranstrup. on October 5, 1870, who presented an honorable dis-
charge showing he had served three years in the Union army during the
Civil War. The third name on the records is that of Ole Brandon, who also
appeared on October 5, 1870, and also presented an honorable discharge
showing three years' service in the Union army. The fourth man was
Thomas F. Cowing, a native of England, who had made his declaration of
intentions in Dane count)', Wisconsin, and secured his final proof of citi-
zenship on October 6, 1870. On that same day Thurston Halvorson, a
native of Norway, applied for his second papers, having taken out his first
papers in Stevens county.
In 1870 and 1871 there were 95 applicants for second papers in Douglas
county, of whom 61 were from Norway and Sweden; 29 were from England;
3 from Prussia; i from Denmark, and i from Russia. In 1896 it became
necessary for minor aliens to make application for citizenship on a separate
form. This applied to those who came to this country before their eighteenth
birthday, but the law was changed in 1906. The following table sets out the
naturalization record since the organization of the county :
First Second Minor.
Papers. Papers. Aliens.
1867 97 1802 _
1S68 128 1893 -
1869 382 1894 _
1870 470 6 1895 _
1871 592 89 1896 _
1872 194 82 1897 -
1873 98 157 1898 .
1874 78 141 1899 _
1875 62 1.34 1900 _
1876 92 157 1901 .
1877 28 64 1902 .
187S 24 51 1903 _
1879 30 32 1904 _
1880 92 28 1905 _
1881 198 18 1906 _
1882 318 22 1907 -
1883 74 22 1908 _
1884 224 21 1900 .
1885 64 13 1910 _
1886 130 28 1911 .
1887 41 31 1012 _
1888 180 29 1913 _
First
Second
Minor.
Papers.
Papers.
Aliens.
63
17
36
21
ISO
IT
18
16
214
280
21
27
352
75
44
334
79
25
106
30
25
100
23
15
32
7
31
60
14
32
20
11
44
IS
0
38
16
7
39
26
4
27
13
21
12
23
20
28
IS
26
21
23
0
1889 34
I.SOO 1.32
ISO! 34
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. l6l
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
The following financial statement is taken from the report of the county
auditor for the year ending December 31, 191 5:
-•1 ssets.
Court bouse and grouuds .f 34,700.00
Jail aud site 14,900.00
Woodlots aud barn 1,500.00
Office aud vault furniture aud fixtures 3,500.00
Ditcb liens, assessed but not due 105,023.81
Ditcb liens, accrued but uot assessed 4,490.79
Balance cash in ditcb fund 42,998.92
Balance casb in revenue fund 3,537.27
Balance cash in incidental fund 132.45
Balance cash in mortgage registry fund 1,960.99
Balance cash in county sanatorium fund 7,629.55
Balance cash in assurance fund • 7.26
Due from state of Minnesota, road refund 2,804.42
Due from state of Minnesota, wolf bounty 229.50
Taxes for the year 1914 due and unpaid 7,261.10
Uncollected taxes for 1913 and prior years, estimated 4,936.43
Fuel in yard and basement 165.00
$235,777.49
LkiWlities.
Claims filed aud not audited $ 1,144.37
Ditch bonds issued but uot due 101,800.00
Warrants outstanding 4,435.86
Road aud bridge fund overdraft 1,213.73
Assets and liabilities 127,183.53
$235,777.49
(lO
CHAPTER Vn.
Officials of Douglas County.
Mention has already been made in the chapter on county organization
of the officers appointed during the temporary organization effected in 1859.
During the Indian outbreak in 1862 the county was almost deserted, the
organization was abandoned and the records lost. It was not until the spring
of 1866 that permanent government was established in the area now known
as Douglas county. Governor William R. Marshall appointed J. H. Van
Dyke, James F. Dicken and Donald Stevison as a board of county commis-
sioners to organize the county. This board met at Alexandria on June 15,
1866, and appointed the first officers of Douglas county under the permanent
organization, as follows: J. Mont Smyth, auditor; Charles Cook, judge
of probate; J. Mont Snwth, register of deeds; Thomas F. Cowing, sheriff;
J. Mont Smyth, clerk of the court ; William Shaw, attorney ; T, W. Moore,
surveyor; Thomas F. Cowing, treasurer; Robert Wyman, coroner.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
The board of county commissioners has always been one of the most
important official bodies of the county government. The first board pro-
ceeded to divide the county into townships, also into commissioner districts,
established school .districts and roads and ferries. The minutes of the meet-
ings of the board as kept by the county auditor, who is clerk of the board
of commissioners, serves as a record of the organization and development
of the county. Following is a complete list of the county commissioners, the
first name being that of the chairman of the board; beginning with 1886
the names are given in the order of their respective commissioner districts :
1866 — J. H. \'an Dyke. James F. Dicken, Donald Stevison.
1867 — Donald Stevison, James F. Dicken, N. B. Johnson.
1868— S. T. Russell, O. G. Lincoln, N. B. Johnson.
1869 — E. G. Holmes, Levi E. Thompson, O. G. Lincoln.
1870 — Levi E. Thompson, Warren .\dley, T. Evenson.
1871 — Levi E. Thompson, N. S. W'orden, T. Evenson.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 163 '
1872 — Levi E. Thompson, N. S. Worden, T. Evenson.
1873 — Levi E. Thompson, N. S. Worden, O. Amundson, C. F. Kings-
land, S. Thompson.
1874 — Robert Angus, K. Rustad, O. Amundson, A. H. Taylor, AT.
Gordon.
1875 — Robert Angus, K. Rustard, O. Amundson, A. H. Taylor, M.
Gordon.
1876 — A. H. Taylor, K. Rustad, O. Amundson, Robert Angus, M. Gor-
don.
1877 — A. H. Taylor, K. Rustad, O. Amundson, Robert Angus, L. H.
Webster.
1878 — A. H. Taylor, R. Bentson, O. Amundson, Robert Angus, L. H,
Webster.
1879 — A. H. Taylor, R. Bentson, Thoren Evenson, James Knapton, L,
H. Webster.
1880 — James Knapton, R. Bentson, Thoren Evenson, H. H. Wilson,
James Fitzgerald.
1881 — H. H. Wilson, R. Bentson, Thoren Evenson, James Knapton, N.
B. Smith.
1882 — H. H. Wilson, R. Bentson, Thoren Evenson, Robert Angus, N.
B. Smith.
1883 — H. H. Wilson, R. Bentson, Thoren Evenson, Robert Angus,
N. L. Renter.
1884 — George W. Robards, O. Amundson, Thoren Evenson, Robert
Angus, N. L. Renter.
1885 — George W. Robards, O. Amundson, \'. D. Nichols, Robert
Angus, N. L. Renter.
1886 — A. G. Johnson, Ole T. Vinkjer, Rol>ert Angus, Rudolph Wegener,
James Shinners.
1887 — A. G. Johnson, Ole T. Vinkjer, Robert Angus, Rulodph Wegener,
James Shinners.
1889 — A. G. Johnson, Ole T. \"inkjer, Robert Angus, Rudolph Wegener,
James Shinners.
1891 — A. G. Johnson, Ole T. Vinkjer, Peter Sweet, Rudolph Wegener,
W. H. Crowe.
1893 — Ole J. Thurstad, Charles J. Johnson, Peter Sweet, James H.
White, James Quinn.
1895— Ole J. Thurdstad, Anton H. Strom, Peter Sweet, S. O. Stedje,
James Quinn.
l64 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
1897 — Roald Bentson, Anton H. Strom, John F. Landeen, S. O. Stedje,
Michael Hickey.
1899 — Roald Bentson, Anton H. Strom, John F. Landeen, James H.
White, Michael Hickey.
1901 — Nels Ekblad, Anton H. Strom, John F. Landeen, James H.
White, John L. Sather.
1903 — ^'els Ekblad, John C. Egeberg, John F. Landeen, Edward A.
Olsen, John L. Sather.
1905— Nels Ekblad, John C. Egeberg, C. A. Anderson, Edward A.
Olsen, John L. Sather.
1907 — Nels Ekblad, L. O. Larson, C. A. Anderson, C. J. Lindstrom,
John L. Sather.
1909 — D. J. Davidson. L. O. Larson, Louis Malmberg, C. J. Lindstrom,
John L. Sather.
191 1 — D. J. Davidson, Peter Hoplin, Louis Malmberg, John H. O'Brien,
John L. Sather.
1913 — Theodore Walstead, Peter Hoplin, Louis Malmberg, John H.
O'Brien, John Severson.
191 5 — Theodore Walstead, Peter Hoplin, Louis Malmberg, John H.
O'Brien, John L. Sather.
AUDITORS.
The board of county commissioners appointed J. Mont Smyth as the
first auditor of Douglas county. The record makes no mention of what
his salary was to be to start with, but on January i, 1867, the commissioners
voted to pay the county auditor five hundred dollars per annum. Like the
other county officers he did not at first devote all his time to the duties
of his office.
Following is a list of those who have held the office of auditor, together
with the years of their service: J. Mont Smyth, 1866-67; G. C. Whitcomb,
1867-69; William M. Pye, 1866-71; George A. Freudenreich, 1871-72;
James Fitzgerald, 1872-73; Fred von Baumbach, 1873-80; Theodore Bord-
sen, 1880-89; Fred von Baumbach, 1889-98; E. P. Wright, 1898-1909; E.
J. Brandt, 1909-15; C. H. Jenson. 1915, term expires in 1919.
TREASURER.
The commissioners also appointed the first county treasurer, Thomas
F. Cowing, at their meeting on June 15, 1866. Naturally, there was no
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 65
money in the treasury upon the organization of the county and the early
expenses were met by issuing orders or warrants on the credit of the county.
These orders were discounted at the local banks, sometimes as low as sixty
per cent on their face value, and as they could later be cashed in full they
returned a very satisfactory profit to the purchaser.
A complete list of the treasurers of Douglas county is here given :
Thomas F. Cowing, 1866-69; J- H. Van Dyke, 1869-71; T. W. Sprague,
1871-75; H. K. White, 1875-79; John Kron, 1879-87; John C. Thornstad,
1887-89; Erick Erickson, 1889-91; Theodore Bordsen, 1891, present term
expires in 1919.
REGISTER OF DEEDS.
During the first organization of Douglas count}- the record books were
kept at St. Cloud, the county seat of Stearns county; but in 1866, upon
effecting the permanent organization, they were sent to Alexandria. The
first record made regarding land within the limits of Douglas county bears
the date of July 25, 1862. It is a deed from A. D. Campbell and wife,
of Dakota county, to H. T. Welles, of Hennepin county, conveying the west
half of the northeast quarter, and the west half of the southeast quarter, of
section 19, township .128, range t,"/. and the southwest quarter of section
19, township 126, range 37, in all three hundred and one acres. The
consideration was two hundred dollars. The first mortgage recorded in
Douglas county bears the date of June 17, 1867. Robert Thomas was the
mortgagor and J. C. Bodwell was the mortgagee. The land mortgaged was
the southeast quarter of section 34, township 128, range 36.
The fcillowing have served as register of deeds since the organization
of the county: J. Mont Smyth, 1866-67; G. C. Whitcomb, 1867-69; F. B.
\'"an Hoesen, 1869-71; A. J. Ames. 1871-77; Theodore Bordsen, 1877-79;
W. F. Canfield, 1879-87; Nels E. Nelson, 1887-1900; Oscar Erickson,
1909-15; John Nelson, 1915, term expires in 1919.
The duties of the sheriff of Douglas county have never been very
difficult in the way of dealing with criminals, though there is considerable
work in the line of civil duties. Some of the early sheriffs were thought
to favor the saloon element too much, and on one or two occasions a sheriff
was removed by the governor on account of being a too liberal patron of
the saloon himself.
l66 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
A list of the county sheriffs is here set out : Thomas F. Cowing,
1866-67; A. Robinson. 1867-68; Lorentz Johnson, 1868-69; G. W. Harper,
1869-71; Magnus Lundgren, 1871-72; Nels A. Nelson, 1872-73; Ole
Amundson, 1873-77; Ole Urness, 1877-86; John A. Thordsted. 1886-87;
Ole Urness, 1887-88: T. J. Barros. i888;89; A. \V. DeFrate, 1889-99;
J. E. Lundgren, 1899-1911: L. S. Kent, 191 1, present term expires in 1919.
COUNTY ATTORNEYS.
On March 10, 1868, the board of county commissioners voted "That
the salary of the county attorney be fixed at one hundred dollars for the
year 1868, and in addition thereto the board will, in case of an accumulating
amount of Ijusiness, entertain favorably a bill for extra charges.'" On
March 9, 1869, the salary of the county attorney was fixed at three hundred
dollars per annum. Increases in salary corresponding with the increases in
business have been made at various times since that date.
The following have served as attorney for Douglas county : William
Shaw, 1866-69; F- B. Van Hoesen, 1869-71; John Randolph, 1871-73;
Knute Nelson, 1873-75; Nelson Fulmer, 1875-79; George H. Reynolds,
1879-83; H. Jenkins, 1883-85; C. J. Gunderson, 1889-1903; Constant Lar-
son, 1903-13; Hugh E. Leach, 1913, term expires in 1919.
JUDGES OF PROBATE.
It was not until the county offices were moved to the present county
grounds in 1876 that the judge of probate had any regular office, and not
until several years later that he was in his office as often as one day a
week. It was not long, however, until the work of the office increased
so that the incumbent devoted all his time to his official duties as at present.
The judges of probate in Douglas county have been as follows : Charles
Cook, 1866-71; H. S. Boyd, 1871-73; William S. Best, 1873-77; William
McAboy, 1877-85; James S. Fitzgerald. 1885-93; A. G. Sexton, 1893-1912;
George L. Treat, 1912-13; George P. Craig. 1913. term expires in 1917.
SURNEYORS.
The land in Douglas county was first surveyed and the corners of all
sections lotated by government surveyors. Occasional mistakes in measure-
ments, however, have caused some difficulty in running some of the lines,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 167
though the original work in Douglas county was done better than in some
other counties of the state. Besides determining section lines the work on
the roads and ditches requires the attention of the surveyor.
Following is a list of the surveyors of Douglas county: T. W. Moore,
1866-69; Henry Blackwell, 1869-71; L. W. Rima, 1871-75; Charles L.
Thompson, 1875-79; John Abercrombie, 1879-83; Henry Blackwell, 1883-89;
John Abercrombie, 1889-1907; E. R. Lausted, 1907-1911 ; John Abercrom-
bie, 191 1, present term expires in 1919.
In the early years of the county government it was not customary as
at present to choose a physician for coroner. The duties of the office were
extremely light and it was not then considered necessary to make a careful
inquest should a fatality come under the consideration of the coroner.
The coroners in Douglas county have been as follows : Robert Wyman,
1866-71; Daniel Shotwell. 1871-73; Godfrey Vivian, 1873-81; S. W.
McEwan, 1881-91 ; H. J. Boyd, 1891-93; S. W. McEwan, 1893-99; E. A.
Hensel, 1899-1903; H. J. Boyd, 1903-07: E. A. Hensel, 1907-11; A. D.
Haskell, 1911-15; M. B. Ruud, 1915, term expires in 1919.
CLERK OF THE COURT.
The records of the board of county commissioners show that J. Mont
Smyth was appointed as the first clerk of the district court. He evidently
did not qualify nor serve for the earliest papers in the clerk's office bear
the signature of J. H. A^an Dyke as clerk whose name appears on case
No. I and also on the naturalization and other records.
Following is a list of those who have served as clerk of the court
for Douglas county: J. H. Van Dyke, 1866-69; F- B. Van Hoesen, 1869-73;
James Purden. 1873-79; W. E. Chidester, 1879-81; H. K. White, 1881-
1903; W. F. Sundblad, 1903, present term expires in 1919.
COURT COMMISSIONERS.
The court commissioner has jurisdiction in certain matters when the
court is not in session in this county, and some of his duties are similar
to those of the judge of probate.
Those who have served as court commissioner in Douglas county are
l68 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
as follows: N. B. Patterson, 1869-73; Charles Schultz, 1873-91; W. E.
Chidester, 1891-99; Joseph Gilpin, 1899-1901 ; J. A. McKay, 1901-07;
George P. Craig, 1907-13; C. H. Jensen, 1913, term would have expired
in 191 7, but W. F. Sundblad is now acting as court commissioner.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
The early superintendents of the county schools had no certain office
room and were usually paid so much a day for the time devoted to their
official duties. Several of the early incumbents in this office were appointed
by the county commissioners.
Following is a list of all who have served as superintendent of schools
in Douglas county: John A. Mower, 1869-73; Smith Bloomfield, 1873-75;
W. H. Sanders, 1875-87; E. T. Carroll, 1887-91; A. D. Gaines, 1891-95;
A. W. Curtis, 1895-99; C. W. V'dn Dyke, 1899-1903; Godfrey T.' Englund,
1903-07; Theodore A. Erickson, 1907-15; George Susens, 1915, term
expires in 1919.
DOUGLAS COUNTY IN THE LEGISLATURE.
Douglas county was first represented in the state legislature under the
apportionment of i860, which divided the state in twenty-one districts, of
which Douglas county was a part of the third district, together with eighteen
other counties. This district was entitled to one senator and three representa-
tives.
The third Legislature assembled on January 8, 1861, and adjourned on
March 8. Lieut.-Gov. Ignatius Donnelly was the presiding officer in the
senate, and Jared Benson, of Anoka county, was the speaker of the hnver
house. The third district was represented by Seth Gibbs in the senate,
and by Thomas Cathcart, Levi Wheeler and P. S. Gregory in the house.
. Fourth Legislature — 1862. S. B. Lowry in the senate, and R. M.
Richardson, Peter Roy and John Whipple in the house.
Fifth Legislature — 1863. William S. Moore in the senate, and L. R.
Bently. H. C. Wait and R. M. Richardson in the house.
Si.xth Legislature — 1864. J. P. W'ilson in the senate, and R. M.
Richardson, W. T. Rigby and C. A. Ruffee in tlie house.
Seventh Legislature — 1865. J- P- ^^ ilson in the senate, and Oscar
Taylor, Louis A. Evans and W. T. Rigby in the house.
Eighth Legislature — 1866. R. M. Richardson in the senate, and N. F.
Barnes. Thomas Cathcart and B. Overpeck in the house.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 169
APPORTIONMENT OF 1866.
Under the apportionment of 1866 the state was divided into twenty-two
districts, of which Douglas county was still a part of the third. This
district was now entitled to one senator and two representatives.
Ninth Legislature — 1867. Louis A. Evans in the senate, and N. H.
Miner and N. Richardson in the house.
Tenth Legislature — 1868. C. A. Oilman in the senate, and D. G.
Pettijohn and N. H. Miller in the house.
Eleventh Legislature — 1869. C. A. Oilman in the senate, and Ludwig
Robbers and William E. Hicks in the house.
Twelfth Legislature — 1870. H. C. Wait in the senate, and John L.
\\'ilson and Isaac Thorson in the house.
Thirteenth Legislature — 1871. H. C. Wait in the senate, and ^^^ S.
Moore and Luke Marvin in the house.
APPORTIONMENT OF 187I.
Under the apportionment of 1871 the state was divided into fortv-one
districts, of which Douglas county was a part of the thirty-ninth, together
with Pope, Stevens, Orant, Big Stone and Lake counties. The district was
entitled to one senator and two representatives.
Fourteenth Legislature — 1872. Ole Peterson in the senate, and F. B.
\'an Hoesen and O. W. Rockwell in the house.
Fifteenth Legislature — 1873. J- G. Whittemore in the senate, and
\\'arren Adley and O. W. Rockwell in the house.
Sixteenth Legislature — 1874. J. O. Whittemore in the senate, and
\\'arren Adley and Henry Foss in the house.
Seventeenth Legislature — 1875. Knute Nelson in the senate, and Mar-
tin Stowe and J. 0. Whittemore in the house.
Eighteenth Legislature — 1876. Knute Nelson in the senate, and Mar-
tin Stowe and J. D. Oood in the house.
Nineteenth Legislature — 1877. Knute Nelson in the senate, and Michael
-A. \\'ollan and Ole Amimdson in the house.
Twentieth Legislature — 1878. Knute Nelson in the senate, and John
B. Cowing and H. W. Stone in the house.
Twenty-first Legislature — 1879. A. A. Brown in the senate, and Tohn
B. Cowing and Ole N. Barsness in the house.
170 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Twenty-second Legislature — 1881. L. K. Asker in the senate, and C.
F. Washhurn and F. B. \'an Hoesen in the house.
APPORTIONMENT OF 1881.
Under the apportionment of 1881 the state was divided into forty-
seven districts, of which Douglas county was a part of the forty-first,
together with Pope county. This district was entitled to one senator and
two representatives.
Twentj'-third Legislature — 1883. ^'- B. \'an Hoesen in the senate, and
J. H. Van Dyke and Ole Peterson in the house.
Twenty-fourth Legislature — 1885. F. B. \'an Hoesen in the senate,
and George W. Thacker and H. L. Lewis in the house.
Twenty-fifth Legislature — 1887. G. \\'. Thacker in the senate, and
M. A. Wollan and H. H. Wilson in the house.
Twenty-sixth Legislature — 1889. G. W. Thacker in the senate, and H.
H. \\'ilson and Edwin Cox in the house.
APPOKTIONMCNT OF 1889.
Under the apportionment of 1889 the state was divided into fift}-four
districts, of which Douglas and Pope counties constituted the forty-seventh
district, entitled to one senator and two representatives.
Twenty-seventh Legislature — 1891. Herman A. Grafe in the senate.
and H. G. Lewis and L. B. Cantleberry in the house.
Twenty-eighth Legislature — 1893. Herman A. Grafe in the senate,
and A. G. Johnson and John E. Johnson in the house.
Twenty-ninth Legislature — 1895. A. G. Johnson in the senate, and C.
P. Reeves and G. J. Strang in the house.
Thirtieth Legislature — 1897. A. G. Johnson in the senate, and R. J.
McXeil and C. P. Reeves in the house.
APPORTIONMENT OF 1897.
Under the apportionment of 1897 the state was divided into sixty-three
districts, of which Douglas and Pope counties were made the fifty-eighth
district, entitled to one senator and two representatives.
Thirty-first Legislature — 1899. C. P. Reeves in the senate, and R. J.
McNeil and H. C. Estbv in the house.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I7I
Thirty-second Legislature — 191 1.. C. P. Reeves in the senate, and T.
T. Ofsthun and G. B. Ward in the house.
Thirty-third Legislature — 1903. G. B. Ward in the senate, T. T.
Ofsthun and H. L. Lewis in the house.
Thirty-fourth Legislature — 1905. G. B. Ward in the senate, and T. T.
Ofsthun and John F. Landeen in the house.
Thirty-fifth Legislature — 1907. C. J. Gunderson in the senate, and E.
M. Webster and E. E. Lobeck in the house.
Thirty-sixth Legislature — 1909. C. J. Gunderson in the senate, and
Iver J. Lee and E. E. Lobeck in the house.
Thirty-seventh Legislature — 191 1. C. J. Gunderson in the senate, and
Iver J. Lee and John J. Anderson in the house.
Thirty-eighth Legislature — 1913. C. J. Gunderson in the senate, and
Nels E. Xelson and T. T. Ofsthun in the house.
APPORTIONMENT OF I9I3.
Under the apportionment of 1913 the state was divided into, sixty-
seven districts, of which Douglas and Pope counties were made the forty-
seventh district, entitled to one joint senator and one representative from
each county.
Thirty-ninth Legislature — 1915. E. E. Lobeck in the senate, and Carl
A. Wold (Douglas county) and Iver J. Lee (Pope county) in the house.
CHAPTER VIII.
Township Organization and Early Settlers.
Douglas county is divided into twenty civil townships which coincide
in each instance with the respective congressional townships, each one being
six miles square. The first three townships were established by the county
l)oard, but the later townships were established by petition of a majority of at
least twenty-five legal voters.
OSAKIS TOWNSHIP.
At the meeting of the county board held on June 15, 1866, the commis-
sioners established the first township, to be known as No. i or Osakis town-
ship. As then formed it comprised all of congressional townships 127 and
128, range 36. Its name was taken from the lake which lies on the eastern
boundary of the township. The commissioners appointed the first officers
for Osakis township, as follow: T. AI. Works, assessor; William Shaw and
Roland Sanderson, justices: Thomas Adams and Charles Gilbert, constables;
\\'illiam Shaw, clerk; J. Maguire, treasurer. The present area of Osakis
township includes only township 128, range 36.
John Potter is said to have been the first settler in Osakis township,
taking up a claim on section 25 in 1859. A number of other settlers came in
soon afterwards but nearly all left this vicinity during the Indian outbreak
in 1862. As nearly as can ]>e ascertained the first settler on each section in
the township is mentioned in the following list. John Derocher took land
on section i in 1862, Thomas C. McClure on section 2 in 1862, Elias For-
meshill on section 3 in 1864, Elling Semmen on section 4 in 1871, Adam
Anderson on section 5 in 1866, Ole Solum on section 6 in 1863, Sven .Ander-
son on section 7 in 1869, Peter F. Peterson on section 8 in 1868, Benjamin
^\■. \'iles on section 9 in 1862, William A. Seamans on section 10 in 1861,
Henry H. Anderson on section 11 in 1861, John S. Countryman on section
12 in 1867. Albert S. Alderman on section 13 in 1861, Elijah G. Gibbs on
section 14 in 1863, Thomas A. Adams on section 15 in 1861, Ingrin Nelson
on section 17 in 1867, Hans Hanson on section 18 in 1868, John E. Rineheart
on section 19 in 1861, Charles Peterson on section 20 in 1869. Charles Giles
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 73
on section 21, 1861, John B. Scherman on section 22 in 1867, Armstead M.
Gideon on section 23 in 1868, Stephen D. Seamans on section 2^ in 1862,
Hiram M. Works on section 26 in 1864, Lemuel H. Webster on section
27 in 1869, James Chambers on section 28 in 1864, Edwin Fairfield on sec-
tion 29 in 1863, Thor Peterson on section 30 in 1868, Matthew Bartlett on
section 31 in 1862, William B. Glover on section 31 in 1864, Clay Moore
on section 33 in 1866, Olinda Graves on section 34 in 1861, and Thomas
L. Adams on section 35 in 1866.
The present officers of Osakis township are as follows : A. A. Rooney.
clerk ; Edward Hanson, treasurer ; George W. LaMonte, assessor ; Joel Han-
son, A. G. Sorenson and Thomas IMasteller, supervisors;
ALEXANDRIA TOWNSHIP.
^^'hen the board of county commissioners held its first meeting on June
15, 1866, it was decided that all of Douglas county not included in Osakis
township should be known as Alexandria or No. 2 township. The commis-
sioners appointed the first officers, as follow : T. W. Sprague, assessor ;
George Cowing and N. B. Johnson, justices; John Johnson and Henry Black-
well, constables; J. Mont Smyth, clerk; H. S. Rutherford, treasurer.
William and Alexander Kinkaid located in Alexandria township in 1859
and other settlers came in soon afterward. The few who remained in the
township during the Indian troubles sought safety in a stockade on the
Alexandria townsite. The present area of Alexandria township includes
only congressional township 128, range 37. Some of the first settlers on
each section are as follows : John B. Gilfillan took land on section i in
1863, Thomas Watts on section 2 in 1863, William B. Mitchell on section
3 in 1863, Thomas Aadson on section 5 in 1868, Wooster P. Wyman on
section 6 in 1869, James Bedman on section i in 1861, Laura A, Kinkaid
on section 8 in 1863, Aaron Doty on section 9 in 1862, Andrew Holes on
section 10 in 1864, Edward O'Brien on section 11 in 1868, Peter T. Peterson
on section 12 in 1864, Nels Anderson on section 13 in 1865, George Caison
on section 14 in 1865, Annie P. Smith on section 15 in 1863, Chester Wait
on section 17 in 1864, Peter L. Gregory on section 18 in i860, A. D. Camp-
bell on section 19 in i860, James S. Mitchell on section 20 in 1862, Charles
Walker on section 21 in 1863, Martin Debord on section 22 in 1863, Thomas
White on section 23 in 1862, Hans Anderson on section 24 in 1870, Marv
Larson on section 25 in 1869, Michael Kennedy on section 26 in 1863, Rich-
ard Dent on section 2^ in 1863, Rufus Colby on section 28 in 1870, L. \\'.
174 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Kilbonrn on section 29 in 1865, Roderick D. Hathaway on section 30 in 1862,
Jesse Hosford on section 31 in 1863, Mary E. Latimer on section 32 in
1863, Wilhelm Dummert on section 34 in 1869, and Robert Walker on
section 35 in 1867.
The present officers of Alexandria township are as follow : A. E.
Anderson, clerk; J. H. Schlein, treasurer; Einil E. Gahlon, assessor; Louis
Thorson, Louis Anderson and Soren Jensen, supervisors.
HOLMES CITY TOWNSHIP.
Holmes City township was established by the board of county commis-
sioners on October 4, 1866, and at that time included all of congressional
townships 127 and 128, ranges 39 and 40. The commissioners appointed the
following election officers for the township : Henry Blackwell, N. B. John-
son and Nels Nickelson, judges ; T. W. Sprague and Noah Grant, clerks.
At present Holmes City township is comprised of congressional township
127, range 39.
A 'Sir. Holmes, Noah Grant and W. S. Sandford located in Holmes
City township in 1858. Noah Grant proved up on a claim on section 2, but
the others did not secure title to any land. Among the other early settlers
were: Lloyd L. Ely, who took land on section i in 1868, George Blackwell
on section 3, in 1868, Simon Christenson on section 4 in 1870, Jonas Sjull-
son on section 5 in 1868, Erick Johanson on section 6 in 1869, Olaf Paulson
on section 7 in 1869, Nils B. Johnson on section 8 in 1865, Peter O. Kron
on section 9 in 1865, Henry J. W. Brown on section 10 in 1868, Martin H.
Strandvold on section 11 in 1870, Andrew Knudson on section 12 in 1869,
John VV. Gilbreath on section 13 in 1868, Francis Guiles on section 14 in
1869, Kittel Sampson on section 15 in 1865, John A. Anderson on section
16 in 1867, Carl A. J. Wahlstrom on section 17 in 1868, Olof Falin on sec-
tion 18 in 1869, Thurston Severson on section 19 in 1865, Ingerinus E.
Lobeck on section 21 in 1867, Lars Isakson on section 22 in 1869, Charles
F. Canfield on section 2;^, in 1868. Miner Van Loon on section 24 in 1865,
Thomas W. Price on section 25 in 1867, William H. Guiles on section
26 in 1870, H. B. Westmoreland on section 2y in 1863, Halvor D. Strand-
void on section 28 in 1866, Nels A. Nelson on section 29 in 1868, John
Freeborn on section 30 in 1868, Lars J. Dalen on section 31 in 1868, John
Mattson on section t,2 in 1868. Swan N. Swanson on section t,7i in 1868,
Ole Evenson on section 34 in 1863, and Halvor Toraasen on section 35
in 1870.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 75
PIONEER LIFE IN HOLMES CITY.
In response to a request from the Park Region Echo, Hon. E. E. Lobeck,
state senator from this district, recently prepared the following brief review
of pioneer conditions in the neighborhood of his bo3'hood home in Holmes
City township. "To enumerate the struggles and hardships the first settlers
had to go through," wrote Senator Lobeck. "would take up too much space,
but suffice me to say that this lot fell upon a rugged class of people, strong
in body and mind, who converted the wilderness into a garden spot.
"My father came to Holmes City in the fall of 1867 and settled down
in section 21. At that time it took longer to go across the country than
now. Here is a little bit from father's note book : "Came to New York
May 5, then on board a train via Easton, Reading and Harrisburg to
Cleveland. There we were stuffed into one of those renounced, dingy, dirty
steamboats and taken across Lake Erie to Detroit — on toard a train again
to Grand Haven and then on steamboat across Lake Michigan to Mil-
waukee, where a train stood puffing- ready to take us westward, and after a
few days of jolting and jerking we were dumped off at Prairie du Chiene on
the Mississippi river and tugged up to St. Paul on a river boat.' There we
rested for a few days and stretched our arms and legs to find out if every-
thing was in order and when we found that we had every limb with us,
we boarded a train and came to St. Cloud, which was then the terminal
of the domain of the steam-horse.
"In St. Cloud father bought an ox-team for one hundred and seventy-
five dollars, a second-hand wagon for one hundred and five dollars, stretched
a cover over it and took part of the luggage, together with mamma and
us children and stuck us in the vehicle. 'Get up. Dick and Charley!' and
off we were and landed in Holmes City the 29th day of May. It took us
twenty-four days from New York to Holmes City, a trip which is now-
made in four days.
"In the township of Holmes City we found a few Norwegians. Swedes
and Americans — "^'ankees, we called the Americans at that time, .\mong
the Norwegians we had Kjettel Koltvedt, who lived where Nils Thompson
used to live later on; Nils Mikkelsen (Haatvedt's place), where we staved a
few days, and Gunder Knutson. where we stayed during the summer. A
few other Norwegians were scattered here and there, .\mong the Swedes,
I may name H. L. Lewis, who is still tilling the soil in Holmes City, and
Messrs. Svenson, Ole Fahlin, Ole Erickson, Christopher Person and others,
170 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
and among the Americans I will mention Messrs. Blackwell, Canfield, West-
moreland and the Guiels brothers. These were among the first to tackle the
big oaks and turn the sod in Holmes City. The Holmes City village was
founded in the fall of 1858 and it is today one of the most beautifully
located and cozy inland towns you can find. No one had any crop when
.we came, l)ut three or four seeded a few acres that spring, but did not get
much, as the blackbirds did most of the harvesting.
"Father thought conditions would be better farther to the northwest,
so he yoked up his team and took the government trail in the direction of
Ottertail county, but when we reached the old fort at Pomme de Terre
and from a hilltop looked west across the country — no settlers between there
and the Rockies, he got lonesome. 'Ho, back, haw, Dick and Charley!"
and at once he was on his way back to Holmes City. In crossing Chippewa
river he discovered that the water was packed with fat and beautiful hogs.
He grabbed a handspike and went down to see what was up and found that
tlie river was teeming with fish — buffalo fish, mind you — and as no game
warden was around, father manipulated the spike in such a way that after
awhile he had the wagon-box full of fish and came in triumph back to Gunder
Knutson's. 'America is all right!'
"In the spring of 1867 father bought three cows and paid fifty dollars
to fifty-five dollars for each. He also paid nineteen dollars for a barrel of
flour and nine dollars for a barrel of salt. He broke up two and one-half
acres that year, which was seeded the following spring and we children had
to run from one end of the field to the other all day chasing blackbirds. In
the fall after the cradle had been swung and threshing was done, father
stored away fort}--nine l)ushels of wheat and fifty bushels of potatoes.
"In the fall of 1867 we moved into our own home. Not very much
furniture — a few chairs, minus backs; a rude table, and beds one above the
other — and we children scrambled for the upper one, as it was a glorious
thing to look down from the 'heights' and note what was going on in the
room. Lamps? Oh, no! A home-made candle had to do at that time.
The winter of 1867-68 was bitterly cold and severe. Geese, ducks and deer
were plentiful in the fall and we lived high. During the summer we had
fish daily, as the lakes were teeming with members of the finny tribe and we
youngsters had no trouble catching whole strings of them.
"During the succeeding springs of 1868, 1869 and 1870 a stream of immi-
grants came and soon every available quarter section was taken. School
districts were organized, congregations formed, ministers called, and the peo-
ple went afoot four to five miles to get to prayer meetings and other gath-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 77
erings of that kind in the evenings — singing both going and coming. As
the population increased, strife and cjuarrels came. It was a mighty hard
thing to get the school houses and churches in the right places. Well do I
remember a day when hard words were flying, fists were used and axes
flourished at the foot of the hill between where Ole Mauseth and Ole John-
son now reside. A school house had been erected at that place and the peo-
ple farther to the south came and demanded that the institution of edu-
cation and learning 1)e moved. At the foot of the hill the battle was fought.
A gentleman of some reputation led the forces for the faction that wanted
the school house moved — and a genuine Viking, chunky, strong and fear-
less, by the name of Lars Isakson, was the leader for the other side. This
Lars Isakson was looked upon by us youngsters as a mighty man. He
once caught a deer. The brush was thick and Lars dropped himself down
beside the deer track and all of a sudden a buck came. Lars stuck out his
hand and grabbed the hind foot of the deer and you may imagine what
happened. The brush was uprooted — at times they were rolling on the
ground, at times they \\'ere up in the air — but Lars brought some venison
home to his family, all right. In that school house fight he stood like a
wall, even if an ax was flourished over his head. I have a vivid picture
of that typical Viking in my mind yet. Some small scrappings occurred
about fishing places in the spring. An heroic battle was fought on a hill
between two study pioneers, because both claimed the right to a creek where
the fish went to spawn. A handspike was used by one of the men, breaking
the arms and legs of the other fellow and for many years that hill went
under the name of 'Slagter bakken,' the butcher hill.
"The potato bugs came to visit Holmes City for the first time in June,
1870, and they came to stay. These abominable, persistent creatures kept
us children busy and we did not love them at all. Two years afterward
the black potato bugs came for the first time and threatened to devour every
potato plant in the township, and then both young and old had to be out and
do some killing. In the fall the prairie fire kept the people on the lookout and
many a night the men folks had to leave home to meet this foe, while the
women and children sat at the windows starring at the glare in the sky,
fearing that both house and barn would go up in smoke. Great damage
was done every fall. Nils Abrahamson lost all his grain in the fall of 1872,
during a terrific fire. The cold winters and the long drives to market made
it a severe task for the people to dispose of their grain and many a man
was found dead along the roadside on what we called the Morris prairie.
(12)
178 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
We had two extremely severe storms in February, 1872, and when those
storms were over the prairie were strewn with dead bodies. Some were
caught going to Morris and some were caught coming from that place. A
few saved their lives by tipping over the wagon-box and creeping under it,
wrapping themselves in blankets and empty sacks; but we may imagine
how it felt to be confined in such a place for three days and three nights.
"The years went on and the people went through hardships of all
kinds. The last of the set-backs came in 1876-77, when the grasshoppers
came and devoured everything. After that time conditions changed; market
places sprang up closer at hand and today the farmers in Holmes City seem
to be happy and contented. The first market place was St. Cloud, seventy-
five miles away; Melrose next, fifty miles awa}^; then Benson, forty-five
miles ; then Morris, twenty-five to thirty miles away, and then, all of a sudden,
the Manitoba road liit Alexandria and then the people were singing; and
then, more than twenty years ago, the Soo came, still closer at hand."
FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF HOLMES CITY.
One of the very earliest settlers in the Holmes City neighborhood was
the trader and trapper, Lewis, who located a station there for trading with
the Indians, and he is recalled by settlers who came in as late as 1867.
At a very early date a postoffice was established at Holmes City and some
time later a postoffice was established at Moe, with Gunder Johnson as post-
master. When the railroad reached Douglas county the postoffice at the
home of Robert Angus, was moved to Garfield and Brandon postofiice
was moved over to the present location of that town on the railroad. It
is related that Holmes and Grant, who had come up into this country before
the days of the Indian uprising, bought out the Lewis trading post and
that the trading point thus created later came to be known as Holmes City,
which it still bears, and which name was given the township when it later
came to be organized, the lake on which the village is situated being named
Grant, in honor of the other partner in the concern.
The present officers of Holmes City township are as follow : S. O.
Wagenius, clerk; John Backelin, treasurer; Olof Wallner, assessor; X. G.
Nelson, Theodore Swenson and Emil Guldbranson, supervisors.
BRANDON TOWNSHIP.
On September 3, 1867, the board of county commissioners established
Chippewa township, comprised of congressional townships 129 and 130,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 1 79
ranges 39 and 40. The first meeting was to be held at the house of George
A. Freundereich, September 28, 1867. The name was later changed to
Brandon, which township now comprises congressional township 129,
range 39.
Henry Gager is thought to have been the first settler in Brandon town-
ship. He located on section 5 about i860 and others came in soon after-
ward. Haagan Holing, who died in February, 1907, at his home in Brandon
township, was one of the early settlers in this township, having come out
here from Minneapolis, where he was working in the mills, in 1865, and
filing on the homestead on which he spent the rest of his life. When he
built his cabin after his arrival here, his nearest neighbor was four miles
distant. Mr. Holing served as treasurer of Brandon township for more
than thirty years.
In the list following is given the names of one of the first settlers on each
section of the township, with the approximate date of their location. Charles
A. Dollner took land on section 2 in 1863, John J. Nichols on section 3 in
1862, Solon Moore on section 4 in 1862, Joseph Hunt on section 6 in 1867,
George Ward on section 7 in 1865, George A. Freundenreich on section
9 in 1861, A. A. Noble on section 10 in 1862, Andrew Holes on section
II in 1862, John Sundblad on section 12 in 1865, Lars Nilson on section
13 in 1863, Elijah Sandford on section 15 in i860, Job Smith on section
17 in 1866, Martin Stowe on section 18 in 1862, Hans J. Solem on section
19 in 1870, Matilda Mcintosh on section 20 in 1862, L. Fletcher on section
21 in 1862, Fletcher Thom on section 22 in 1862, John D. Aldrich on sec-
tion 23 in 1868, Ingebret Peterson on section 24 in 1863, John Salmon on
section 25 in 1862' John Nelson on section 26 in 1865, Ole Peterson on sec-
tion 27 in 1864. Ole Thompson on section 28 in 1861, Jonetta Halvorson
on section 29 in 1868, Nels Nelson on section 28 in 1863, Thomas FT.
Klevan on section 31 in 1S63, Halvor Rassmussen on section 32 in 1863,
Hans A. Strom on section 33 in 1863, and Halvor G. Kyllo on section 34
in 1869.
The present officers of Brandon township are as follow : Emil E. Bergh,
clerk: Henry O. Olson, treasurer; Anton Holing, assessor; C. O. Augdahl,
Knute Olaerg and H. H. Evju, supervisors.
MOE TOWNSHIP.
On September 3, 1867, a petition signed by fourteen legal voters was pre-
sented to the board of county commissioners, requesting that congressional
township 128, range 39, be established as a separate civil township. This
l8o DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
petition was granted with instructions that the first meeting be held at the
house of Thomas Adkins, September 21, 1867.- The township was first called
Adkinsville, in honor of one of the first settlers, but later the name was
changed to Aloe, in memory of a district in Xorway, from which a numljer
of the pioneers came.
Torer Evenson and family, who had come from Norway to America
in 1857, settling in Wisconsin, were among the early settlers in ^^loe town-
ship, settling on the old Evenson homestead there in 1865, coming through
by ox-team and prairie schooner from Wisconsin and living in their covered
wagon until a cabin could be built. Moe township then was practically a
wilderness, there being but few settlers there and those far between, among
these having been Lars Amundson and Johanes Hanson, Indians being more
commonly seen there than white people. Amundson had brought out with
him a grind-stone and that useful article proved so popular with his pioneer
neighbors and was borrowed so widely that finally, so the story goes, nothing
was left of it but the hole, and that the neighbor who used it last neglected
to return.
Some of the first settlers on each section in JNIoe township, together with
the approximate date of their location, are mentioned in the following list.
Arthur A. Flom took land on section i in 1864, Ole Thompson on section 2
in 1865. Ole Bergerson on section 3 in 1868, Thomas Olson on section 4 in
1868, Patrick Brown on section 5 in 1864, Monroe Nichols on section 6 in
1864, Gulick Johnson on section 7 in 1868, Mary E. Chute on section 8 in
1864, Thomas Larson on section 10 in 1870, Ole K. Lappinger on section 13
in 1866, John Arntson on section 14 in 1863, Charles Brown on section 17 in
1868, Amos Johnson on section 18 in 1863, Peter Johnson on section iq in
1868, Thomas E. Lajord on section 20 in 1863, Knudt C. Brackle on section
21 in 1863, Lewis Lewiston on section 22 in 1864, Lathan J. Ellsworth on
section 23 in 1863, George B. Wright on section 24 in 1865, Peter Peterson on
section 26 in 1863, James S. Mitchell on section 2-] in 1865, Henry C. Wait
on section 28 in 1865, Hendric Johnson on section 29 in 1864, Ole Amund-
son on section 30 in 1865, John Nord on section 31 in 1869, Ol^ Brandon on
section 2,2 in 1863, John Blackwell on section 33 in 1863, Sylvester Yates
on section 34 in 1866, and Maths Anderson on section 35 in 1868.
The present officers of Moe township are as follow: Alfred B. Ander-
son, clerk; Peter Syverson, treasurer; Peter Hanson, assessor: O. E. Sletto,
Lauritz Severson and Carl J. Pipo, supervisors.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. lOI
LAKE MARY TOWNSHIP.
Lake Mary township was established on September 3, 1867, as requested
in a petition presented to the board of county commissioners signed by fifteen
legal voters in congressional township 127, range 38. The first meeting was
to be held at the home of A. L. Robinson, September 21, 1867. The town-
ship was named for the large lake of that name in the northwestern part of
the township.
The records do not give the exact date of entry of the homesteads in
many instances, but the following list has the approximate date of settlement
of most of the sections in Lake Mary township. Matthew Britendahl took
land on section i in 1864, Charles E. Jenkins on section 2 in 1863, William
E. Hicks on section 3 in 1863, Hendrick Erickson on section 4 in 1868,
George W. McComber on section 5 in 1864, Elon Holmes on section 6 in
1865, Ferdinand Keflo on section 7 in 1867, James C. Ii/Iiller on section 9 in
1864, Porter Davis on section 12 in 1865, Charles T. McKillips on section 13
in 1870, Horace A. McComter on section 14 in 1863, William Hounsell on
section 15 in 1868, Thomas Crooks on section 17 in 1868, Samuel M. Jones
on section 18 in 1868, Gottlieb Greibe on section 19 in 1868, Stephen W.
Miller on section 20 in 1868, Margaret J. Fox on section 21 in 1869, Har-
rison Crandall on section 22 in 1870, Fred J. Colby on section 23 in 1870,
John Tompkins on section 24 in 1868, Benton A. Livingston on section 25 in
1863, William Matthews on section 26 in 1865, David Townsend on section
27 in 1868, George Lansing on section 28 in 1869, Andrew Lansing on sec-
tion 29 in 1869, Thomas C. McClure on .section 30 in 1864, Isaiah Fairies on
section 31 in 1864, James A. Beaver on section 32 in 1864, Fred C. Holmes
on section 33 in 1864, George B. Wright on section 34 in 1864, and William
H. Harris on section 35 in 1864.
The present officers of Lake Mary township are as follow : Charles
Danneck, clerk: Wenzel Bruzek, treasurer; Thomas J. Barros, assessor; A.
Koudela, Andrew Roth and Frank Radii, supervisors.
LEAF VALLEY TOWNSHIP.
Leaf A'alley township was established by the board of countv commis-
sioners on November 2t,. 1867. The first meeting was to be held at the
house of Willard B. Ellis, December 14, 1867. This township comprises
congressional township 130, range 38.
162 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
In the following list are given the names of some of the first settlers
on each section in Leaf Valley township, together with the approximate date
of their location. Enoch H. Alden took land on section i in 1868, George
Mumm on section 2 in 1870, William Marquadt on section 3 in 1866, Hen-
rick Thies on section 4 in 1866, Wilhelm Fentzke on -section 5 in 1689, John
Johnson on section 6 in 1869, Adam Peffer on section 7 in 1869, Emil Nuscke
on section 8 in 1869, John S. Evans on section 9 in 1868, Herman Peterman
on section 10 in 1870, Willard A. Alden on section 11 in 1869, Wesley Smith
on section 12 in 1873, Wallace Kibbe on section 13 in 1870, Samuel Pollard
on section 14 in 1871, John S. Evans on section 15 in 1870, Peter Smith on
section 17 in 1872, Andreas Reger on section 18 in 1870, Peter Ley on sec-
tion 19 in 187 1. Wilson Davidson on section 20 in 1870, Mary A. Lane on
section 21 in 1870, Lorenzo D. Peck on section 22 in 1868, Isaac Johnson on
section 2:^^ in 1871, John H. Hartew on section 24 in 1872, Simon L. West
on section 26 in 1873, J. F. W. Grosenick on section 2y in 1875, August
Lawrenz on section 28 in 1871, John Comoford on section 29 in 1871, El-
bridge G. Paddock on section 30 in 1871, Patrick Kelly on section 31 in 1873,
John Mullins on section ^2 in 1872, Andrew Anderson on section 34 in 1871,
and Jonas Hult on section 35 in 1871.
The present officers of Leaf Valley township are as follow : Michael
Kelly, Jr., clerk; W. H. Venzke, treasurer; H. Julig. assessor; Charles L.
Julig, J. G. Loeffler and William Schmidt, supervisors.
MILLERVILLE TOWNSHIP.
Millerville township was established on November 2t^, 1867, by the
board of county commissioners, in answer to a petition signed by si.xteen legal
voters from congressional township 130, range 39. The first meeting was to
be held at the house of John Miller, one of the early and prominent settlers,
for whom the township was named.
Some of the first settlers on each section in Millerville township, with
the year about when they located, are mentioned in the following list. Nicholas
Langshausen took land on section i in 1869, August Keplien on section 2
in 1870, Rolden M. Finch on section 4 in 1871, Ignatz KroU on section 6 in
1876, John Schwartz on section 7 in 1871, Andrew Bader on section 8 in
1872, Aaron Dewey on section 9 in 1871, John Engler on section 10 in 1873.
Bernhard Nuss on section 11 in 1873, John Woyda on section 12 in 1873,
Anton R. Cicky on section 13 in 1872, Mathias Portz on section 14 in 1872,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 183
Mathias Wunch on section 15 in 1871, John F. Busse on section 17 in 1875,
Hans G. von Stackhausen on section 18 in 1870, Olof Landin on section 20
in 1873, John Schafer on section 22 in 1868, John Flesch on section 2'i^ in
1873, John N. Peck on section 24 in 1871, Joseph Goetz on section 25 in
1872, George Wagner on section 26 in 1873, Wilham W. Arness on section
27 in 1873, Andrew J. Arness on section 28 in 1871, Magnus Johnson on
section 29 in 187:, Edward Uhde on section 30 in 1872, Thomas Lauder on
section },2 in 1876, Andrew J. Goodwin on section 33 in 1872, and Henry
McKibben on section 34 in 1873.
Charles Debetzan, who died at St. Cloud in 1906, was one of the early
settlers in IMillerville township. He and his family moved to this state from
Pennsylvania in 1688, settling in Douglas county. At the time of his death
Mr. Debetzan had twenty-nine grandchildren and fifty-two great-grand-i
children.
The present officers of Millerville township are as follow: John M.
Prazak, clerk; Henry Meissner, treasurer; Albin Beckman, assessor; John
Bitzan, Peter Renkes and Frank Lederman, supervisors.
EVANSVILLE TOWNSHIP.
Evansville township was established on January 7, 1868, and originally
included all of congressional townships 129 and 130, range 40. At present
it comprises only congressional township 129, range 40. The first meeting
was to be held at the house of Jacob Shawr, February 24, 1868. The town-
ship was named for a Mr. Evans, who carried the mail through here in 1859
on the old St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie stage road. Later he put up a little
store on the present site of the town of Evansville and the village was also
named for him. Evans was killed by the Indians during the outbreak. A
number of claims were taken about i860 but the country was deserted dur-
ing the Indian troubles.
In the fall of 1865, L. E. Thompson took a homestead on the banks of
Lake Fanny, and was the first settler to locate after the outbreak. A number
of the sections in Evansville township were first settled by the men named in
the following list, at about the years given, as nearly as can be ascertained.
Luther Dearborn took land on section i in 1865, Gustav Willius on section
2 in 1866, Ole H. Lockren on section 3 in 1865, John Johnson on section 5
in 1866, Monroe Nichols on section 6 in 1866, John Partridge on section 7
in 1867, Hans Hanson on section 8 in 1866, Olof Dahlheim on section 9 in
184 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
1870, Jacob Shanar on section 10 in 1865, James G. Butterfield on section 11
in 1866, Robert White on section 13 in 1865, Pascal Smith on section 14 in
1869, Knut Larson on section 15 in 1865, Thomas Aadson on section 17 in
1866, Martin Erickson on section 18 in 1870, Ole A. Knutson on section 19
in 1867, Andrew Nass on section 21 in 1869, Joseph A. Jenkin on section
22 in 1867, Isaac Skiles, Jr.. on section 24 in 1865, Jonathan Morrell on
section 25 in 1868, ^^^iiliam H. Sanders on section 26 in 1871, Mordecai C.
Pkimmer on section 27 in 1871, Edward Peterson on section 29 in 1866, Ole
Alberts on section 30 in 1865, Varano G. Bryant on section 32 in 1866,
James A. Beaver on section 34 in 1866, and George Ward on section 35 in
1867.
The present officers of Evansville township are as follow : A. B. Ander-
son, clerk; John Saterlie, treasurer; J. H. Kronberg, assessor; T. C. Thron-
son, Fritz Lindstrom and Ole O. Larson, supervisors.
ORANGE TOWNSHIP.
Orange township was established on January 7, 1868, by the board of
'county commissioners, in answer to a petition from a majority of the legal
voters in congressional township 127. range 36. The first meeting was to be
held at the house of I. S. English, February 24, 1868.
Among the- early settlers who located in Orange township were Donald
Stevenson, who took land on section i about 1864, James B. Wickham on
section 2 in 1864, Elijah G. Gibbs on section 3 in 1864, Gilbert Sargent on
section 4 in 1865, Thomas Smith on section 5 in 1866, Julia M. Allen on
section 7 in 1866, George Plank on section 8 in 1864, James Holes on sec-
tion 9 in 1864, Daniel W. McCart on section 10 in 1864, George E. Hanford
on section 11 in 1866, Albert A. Gilbert on section 13 in 1865, Oliver Han-
ford on section 14 in 1866, John M. Scott on section 15 in 1866, Charles
Walker on section 17 in 1866, John W. Fulkerson on section 18 in 1866,
Nelson H. Miner on section 20 in 1866, Isaac T. Andrews on section 23 in
1865, Morris Ladd on section 25 in 1865, Luther LaPlant on section 26 in
1864, Gustavus Klatt on section 28 in 1863, John F. Walker on section 29 in
1864, Patrick Maloney on section 30 in 1865, Robert Thomas on section 31
in 1863, Jeremiah Plank on section 32 in 1864, George W. Radabaugh on
section 33 in 1864, and William T. English on section 34 in 1863.
The present officers of Orange township are as follow : \\\ W. Rarick,
clerk; Mike Dunn, treasurer; August J. Mechels, assessor: M. G. Dockhani.
Lewis Baker and John Cassell, supervisors.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
IDA TOWNSHIP.
Ida township was established on March 2, 1868. It comprises con-
gressional township 129, range 38. The first meeting was held at the house
of Robert Angus, on the first Tuesday in April, 1868.
James F. Dicken, who located on the shores of Lake Ida, was one of
the first settlers of Ida township. James Barr and Myron Coloney were also
early settlers. Some of the first to locate on a number of the sections of
Ida township, with the approximate date of their settlement, are mentioned
in the following list of homesteaders who secured a patent to their land from
the government. Thomas Brown took land on section 2 in 1864, John Torry
on section 3 in 1863, August F. Braski on section 4 in 1868, Claus V. John-
son on section 5 in 1871, Leonard West on section 6 in 1871, Pehr Anderson
on section 7 in 1873, Sylvester Dicken on section 8 in 1865, John Reid on
section 9 in 1864. Gilbert Brakken on section 12 in 1873, Lars Pederson on
section 14 in 1871, Erick Ersson on section 15 in 1873, Daniel Russell on
section 16 in 1863, Solomon R. Kaiser on section 17 in 1864, Benjamin
Stewart on section 20 in 1868, Jesse Hosford on section 21 in 1864, Erick
Larson on section 22 in 1871, Henry Richards on section 24 in 1870, Charles
E. Thomas on section 25 in 1868, William Rutherford on section 2y in 1864,
J. M. Smith on section 28 in 1865, John J. Muir on section 29 in 1868,
James Holes on section 30 in 1864, Alexander Richardson on section 31 in
1864, Julius Frost on section 2^2 in 1863, Owen Osborn on section 34 in
1863, and S. M. Thompson on section 35 in 1864.
The present ofiicers of Ida township are as follow : C. J. Christopher-
son, clerk; Charles Kloehn, treasurer: John A. Norgren, assessor; P. M.
\'ideen, Charles G. Olson and Emil Bruske, super^•isors.
CARLOS TOWNSHIP.
Carlos township was established on May i, 1868, at which time the
board of county commissioners gave notice that the first meeting should be
held at the house of A. H. Hall, on May 19, 1868. As originally established
Carlos township included all of congressional townships 129 and 130, range
37: township 130, range 36, and the west half of township 129, range 36.
At present it comprises only congressional township 129, range T,y.
Carlos township settled up rapidly after the Indian outbreak, the greater
part of the land being taken up under homestead entry. Some of the first
settlers on a number of the sections of this township, with the vear of their
l86 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
arrival, as nearly as can be ascertained, are mentioned in the following list
of those who secured title from the government. Joseph B. Plymouth took
land on section i about 1864, William A. Wheeler on section 2 in 1870,
Charles Engstrom on section 6 in 1865, Sarah J. Brown on section 7 in
1868, Antoine Klein on section 8 in 1871, John Torrey on section 10 in
164, William H. Sparrell on section 11 in 1864, Timothy Enright on section
12 in 1864. Samuel Beidleman on section 13 in 1863, Ova A. Hall on section
15 in 1864, William A. Cosgrove on section 17 in 1864, Gustav O. Hegg on
section 18 in 1864, James F. Dilley on section 19 in 1863, Joshua N. Daudna
on section 21 in 1868, William W. Kaine on section 22 in 1863, Alfred W.
Prettyman on section 24 in 1863, Hugh Hamill on section 2j in 1864, John
Van Hoesen on section 28 in 1864, John B. Ellison on .section 30 in 1864.
Daniel McCarthy on section 31 in 1864, and Napoleon Beedan on section
7,2 in 1866.
The present officers of Carlos township are as follow : A. F. ]\Iiller.
clerk : J. O. Stedje, treasurer ; W. B. Nelson, assessor ; Emil Lundeen, Albert
Ritten and Tollef Dahl, supervisors.
URNESS TOWNSHIP.
On March 22. 1869, the board of county commissioners set apart con-
gressional township 128. range 40, as a separate civil township, to be known
as Red Rock. The first meeting was held at the house of Ole Moe. on April
13, 1869. On February 7, 1871, the commissioners received a petition re-
questing that the name of the township be changed to Urness, in memor)- of
a certain district in Norwa}'.
In the following list are given the names of some of the first settlers in
a number of the sections of Urness township, together with the approximate
date of their arrival. Ole Strand took land on section i in 1871, John John-
son on section 2 in 1864, Christopher Isakson on section 3 in 1864. Martin
Anderson on section 4 in 1864, Johannes Hanson on section 5 in 1864, Karie
Petersdatter on section 6 in 1871, Christopher Christopherson on section 7 in
1864, Hans Johnson on section 8 in 1864, Erick Paulson on section 9 in
1863, Andrew J. Burke on section 10 in 1863, Thomas S. Holleque on sec-
tion II in 1863, Ole J. Urness on section 12 in 1865, Bernt J. Burke on
section 15 in 1870, Erick Nelson on section 17 in 1871, J. Henry Holmes
on section 18 in 1867, John L. Merriam on section 20 in 1864, Ole E. Fjeld
on section 21 in 1866, Jens Olsen on section 23 in 1869, Andrew J. Urness on
section 24 in 1865, John Johnson on section 25 in 1864. Nels Iverson on sec-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. ISJ
tion 2"/ in 1863. Edwin O. Hillstad on section 29 in 1863, William H. Brad-
ford on section 30 in 1868, Ole Olson on section ^2 in 1866, Charles R.
Stewart on section 2^t, in 1863, Isaac Oberg on section 34 in 1863, and Xels
O. Shattleboe on section 35 in 1862.
The present officers of Urness township are as follow : O. A. Burkee,
clerk; Oscar Earsness, treasurer; John Endreson, assessor; Xils Bye, Olaf
Hakenson and A. K. Burkey, supervisors.
HUDSON TOWNSHIP.
On March 30, 1869, the board of county commissioners granted a peti-
tion to establish congressional township 127, range ^,'], as a separate civil
township. The first meeting was held at the house of John Brown, on April
16, 1869. Later the name of this township was changed to Hudson.
Below are given the names of some of the early settlers on each section
in Hudson township, with the approximate date of their arrival, ^^'illiam
Smith took land on section i in 1871, Joseph Strong on section 2 in 1870.
John M. Sissler on section 3 in 1868, William H. Rowe on section 4 in
1869, William P. Burgan on section 5 in 1869, James H. White on section
6 in 1870, Edward Phernetten on section 7 in 1867, Orson Shippey on sec-
tion 8 in 1866, Henry H. Russell on section 9 in 1868, Jacob Gasper on
section 10 in 1867, Thomas Strieker on section 11 in 1869, Pleates Fry
on section 12 in 1868, James Purdon on section 13 in 1867, Edwin R.
Childs on section 14 in 1867, Nelson B. Fullmer on section 15 in 1869,
Creighton J. Bondurant on section 16 in 1869, Hiram Shippey on section 17
in 1868, George G. Mitchell on section 18 in 1867, Rial Moulton on section
19 in 1869, Thomas Parks on section 20 in 1869, Harden Brown on sec-
tion 21 in 1869, James W. Meyers on section 22 in 1869, William W. Sheldon
on section 23 in 1867, William H. Briggs on section 24 in 1868, John AIc-
Cellan on section 25 in 1869, John Meyers on section 26 in 1868, Benjamin
Sheldon on section 2-j in 1868, Hollis S. Boyd on section 28 in 1868, Eleazer
C. Phelps on section 29 in 1868, Leander Kellogg on section 30 in 1864,
Nancy Campbell on section 31 in 1865, William Hogan on section 32 in
1866, William H. McGee on section 33 in 1866, Porter Davis on section 34
in 1869, Joseph DeCramer on section 35 in 1868, and George Cassell on
section 36 in 1869.
The present officers of Hudson township are as follow : Fred C.
Meade, clerk; John Lorenz. treasurer; Peter Cassell, assessor; George Mc-
Mahan, James Butler and John Lorenz, supervisors.
loo DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
BELLE RIVER TOWNSHIP.
On ^larch 8, 1870, the board of county commissioners received a i3eti-
tion to establish congressional township 129, range 36, as a separate civil
township. This petition was granted and the township named Riverdale,
with instructions that the first meeting should be held at the house of
Mathias Klein, March 22, 1870. On January 4, 1871, a communication was
sent to the county board saying that the township meeting had adopted the
name of Belle River, instead of Riverdale. This action was approved by the
commissioners.
Some of the first to locate on a number of the sections in Belle River
township are mentioned in the list which follows, together with the date of
their arrival, as nearly as can be ascertained. John Moriarty took land on
section i in 1865, Martin Lee on section 2 in 1873, Martin Crowson on sec-
tion 4 in 1873, Michael Fitzgerald on section 6 in 1865, Peter Henry Jr., on
section 7 in 1865, John Clouser on section 8 in 1868, Frank Ouinn on sec-
tion 9 in 1870. Henry Cook on section 10 in 1867, Johnston W. Lowrv on
section 11 in 1865, John Dunn on section 12 in 1865, John Collins on sec-
tion 13 in 1 87 1, John Petruick on section 15 in 1873, Charles Baumers on
section 17 in 1868, Stephen Miller on section 18 in 1865, Anders G. Sjogren
on section 19 in 1875, Nicholas Botzel on section 20 in 1873, Gustav Ander-
son on section 22 in 1875, George B. Craig on section 2t^ in 1871, Andrew
Ellsworth on section 24 in 1870, Luther Dearborn on section 25 in 1865,
Anders L. Helrud on section 26 in 1875, Lars Bergsten on section 2y in
1875, Haymond W. Clark on section 28 in 1865, John B. Gilfillian on sec-
tion 31 in 1865, August Forsgren on section 2,2 in 1873, John A. Nelson on
section ^i, in 1869, Joseph Van Epps on section 34 in 1866, and Obadiah
Brown on section 35 in 1865.
George B. Craig, who arrived in 1865, is referred to as probablv the
first settler in Belle River. Se\'eral others soon settled in that same neigh-
borhood, among these being John Anderson and his brother-in-law, M. A.
Anderson. The country in general thereabout was very marshy at that time.
Mr. Craig had a yoke of steers and a wagon. One of these steers had the
bad habit of balking in the most undesirable places in the road, and would
lie diiwn when the roailwax- didn't suit him. One day Mr. Craig prepared
to go to market with a load of potatoes. He had no sacks and no monev
with which to buy them and the potatoes were loaded into the wagon-box
loose. The roads were bad and, sure enough, in crossing one of the difficult
spots in the road the balky steer laid down on the job. ]\lr. Craig was thus
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 189
put to the tedious task of carrying tlie potatoes across to a dry spot. When
the wagon-box was emptied the steer conchided to get up and gi).
There was no mill nearer than Melrose at that time and thither the set-
tlers went to grind. The first year Mr. Anderson was on his place he raised
but twelve bushels of rye. which was to be the year's supply for his family.
He started to Melrose, a trip requiring about five days at that time. When
he arrived at the mill there the miller declined to grind rye and Mr. .Vnder-
son had to return with the grain, which Mr. and Mrs. Anderson ground
during the winter in their cofl:ee-mill. Mr. Craig did the same. He bought
a coffee-mill of Johnson, the Osakis merchant, the latter guaranteeing the
machine. After a few weeks of use the cofifee-mill was worn out by the
extraordinary demand upon it and Mr. Craig took it back to the store and
claimed a new one, under the terms of the guarantee. This second machine
also wore out in due course and another machine was secured on the guar^
antee, this process being repeated a third or fourth time during the winter and
it was not until long afterward that Mr. Craig told Mr. Johnson how those
coffee-mills failed to stand up to the guarantee.
For about two years during the most trying period a band of about two
hundred Indians camped on the other side of the river, on the land now
known as the Renter farm. These Indians were friendly and often visited
with the new settlers. The Indians had plenty of meat and fish and would
give liberally of these stores in exchange for potatoes, salt, rye and the other
products of the white man's husbandry. That they were perfectly honest is
shown by the following incident. John Anderson had a sieve, which he had
brought from the old country, and which he used in sifting the grain at
threshing time. An old Indian had borrowed this sieve and one night about
two o'clock he brought it back, explaining to Mr. Anderson that the Sioux
were coming and that the Chippewas were going. The entire camp was gone
in the morning. The traditional enmity existing between the Sioux and the
Chippewas from time immemorial made it impossible for bands of the two
rival tribes to live in peace in the same neighborhood. A gruesome reminder
of this ancient feud was unearthed in the neighborhood of Chippewa Lake
some years ago, when the curiosity aroused over the probable cause of a
slight mound led to an excavation which revealed a few feet under ground
the bones of a considerable number of human beings, clearly those of Indians.
From the promiscuity with whfch the bones were mingled it is evident that
the lx)dies had been thrown into a shallow trench without regard to any
orderly arrangement and had then been covered over. These evidently were
the bodies of the victims of one of the numerous battles which were fought
IQO DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
between warring tribes in this section long before the coming of the white
man.
The present officers of Belle River township are as follow : L. E.
Olson, clerk; Nicholas Hintzen, treasurer; John L. Renter, assessor; Mattis
Clark, John 'J. Dunn and Paul Blank, supervisors.
SOLEM TOWNSHIP.
Solem township was established on March lo, 1870, in answer to a
petition signed by Osmund Thompson and others. It comprises congres-
sional township 127, range 40. The first meeting was held at the house of
Ole O. Sauslin. The township takes its name from a district in Norway,
from which place many of the pioneers came.
In the list which follows are mentioned some of the pioneers who settled
on a number of the sections of Soleni township, with the approximate date
of their arrival. Erick Johanson took land on section i in 1870, Jens Lekan-
der on section 2 in 1871, Ole O. Sarsland on section 3 in 1869, Ole E. Field
on section 4 in 1866, John Johnson on section 5 in 1866, Daniel Linquist on
section 6 in 1871, Ole Olson on section 9 in 1871, Paul Nielson on section
10 in 1869, John Hedstrom on section 11 in 1870, Olof Paulson on section
12 in 1 87 1, Abraham Nilson on section 13 in 1871, Halvor Halvorson on
section 14 in 1866, John Peterson on section 15 in 1872, Jens Fahlin on sec-
tion 17 in 1872, Peter Knutson on section 18 in 1872. Andrew Kullander
on section 21 in 1871, Christen Olson on section 2;3, in 1874, Isaac Peterson
on section 24 in 1870, Andrew G. Sohlberg on section 25 in 1867, Erick Hagg
on section 26 in 1872, Erick Snar on section 2^ in 1871, Peter Swenson on
section 28 in 1872, Erick Pehrson Eng on section 30 in 1873, and Joseph E.
Wetterling on section 34 in 1872.
The present officers of Solem township are as follow : Jorgen Spilseth,
clerk : Frank Kullander, treasurer ; John S. Benson, assessor ; L. A. Larson,
X. M. .\nderfon and William Peterson, supervisors.
MILTONA TOWNSHIP.
Miltona township was established on December 19, 187 1. It comprises
congressional township 130, range 37. The odd sections in this township
were secured by the old St. Paul & Pacific Railway Company. The even
sections were mostly taken by homestead entry and some of the early settlers
on the \arious sections are mentioned in the list which follows, together with
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I9I
the dates of their arrival, as nearly as they can be ascertained. Durfee Mar-
quette took land on section 2 in 1878, James H. Abbott on section 4 in 1880,
Frederick W. Balfour on section 6 in 1871, Sven Olson on section 8 in 1878,
Jason Bumpus on section 10 in 1875, Mary Hill on section 12 in 1885, George
L. Taplin on section 14 in 1874, Joseph C. Carter on section 18 in 1877, Delia
Lucas on section 20 in 1876, Harrison Foster on section 22 in 1880, Timothy
Martin on section 24 in 1875, Charles Jungrath on section 26 in 1871, Frank
Schram on section 32 in 1877, and Garrett Cronk on section 34 in 1879.
The present officers of Miltona township are as follow : John O. Hiller,
clerk : Edward Miller, treasurer ; G. J. Thompson, assessor ; William Better-
man, Lewis Olbeckson and John Eggleston, supervisors.
LUND TOWNSHIP.
Lund township was established on March i, 1872. It comprises con-
gressional township 130, range 40. The first meeting was held at the house
of John \\'ahlin. The original petition asked that the township be named
Christina, but the name Lund was adopted. About two weeks after the new-
township was established the commissioners received a petition asking that
it be set back in the township of Evansville, to which it had formerly been
attached, but as all the signatures to the petition were in the same hand-
writing it was not given any serious consideration.
Some of the homesteaders on the various sections of Lund town.ship
located about the years given in the following list : They were among the
first to settle in the township. Hans F. Peterson took land on section 2 in
1877, Nils J. Walstad on section 4 in 1876, Ole Peterson on section 6 in
1868. Sven S. Ebbjorn on section 8 in 1869, Thomas Olson on section 10 in
1871, Lars Ellingston on section 11 in 1877, Anders N. Fjillstrom on section
12 in 1877, .\ndrew Janson on section 13 in 1876, Ole S. Hernm on sec-
tion 14 in 1876, Olof Larson on section 15 in 1875, August Peterson on
section 18 in 1874, Kam Swenson on section 19 in 1869, Anders Janson on
section 21 in 1876, Gabriel Peterson on section 22 in 1876, .Andrew Skon on
section 28 in 1869, Grager Kittelson on section 30 in 1876, Charles Johnson
on section 31 in 1873,' Andrew Johnson on section },2 in 1875, John John-
son on section -^t^ in 1866, and Milton M. Morrell on section 34 in 1868.
The present officers of Lund township are as follow : Victor E. John-
son, clerk ; .\ndrew .\. Lang, treasurer ; A. G. Johnson, assessor ; Anton
Olson, .-\. G. Olson and .\ndrew P. Nelson, supervisors.
ig2 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
LA GRAND TOWNSHIP.
On September 4, 1873, the board of county commissioners established
congressional township 128, range 38, as a separate civil township, to be
known as West Alexandria. The first election was held at the school house
in district Xo. 47, on September 23, 1873. On December 11, 1873, the com-
missioners were notified that the legal voters of the township had chosen
the name of La Grand, instead of West Alexandria, and the county board
had the change properly recorded in the archives of the state.
Andrew Darling was the first settler to locate in what is now La Grand
township. He took up a claim in i860. Others came in about the same time
but there was very little permanent settlement until after the Indian troubles
were quieted. Robert Smith took land on section i about 1864, Jacob Ly
Brand on section 2 in 1862. James F. Dicken on section 3 in 1863, Engebret
Xielson on section 4 in 1870, Carl G. Johnson on section 5 in 1868, Charles
Peterson on section 6 in 1871, Francis B. \'an Hoesen on section 7 in 1865,
Xiels P. Christenson on section 8 in 1869, George F. Cowing on section 9 in
1861, L. J. Brown on section 10 in 1868, Samuel B. Cowdry on section 11 in
i860, James Bedman on section 12 in 1861, Hugh O'Donnell on section 13 in
1861, George Diment on section 14 in 1861, Samuel B. Pinney on section
15 in 1864, Daniel Egan on section 17 in 1864, Caroline S. Edwards on sec-
tion 18 in 1863, John O'Brien on section 19 in 1862, George B. Wright on
section 20 in 1862, James Knapton on section 21 in 1871, Oscar W» Day
on section 22 in 1865, Mary A. Kinkaid on section 24 in 1861, Louis Morain
on section 25 in i860, James B. Lattimer on section 26 in 1861, Sophus N.
Miller on section 2/ in 1868, Amund Mattison on section 28 in 1871, Anders
O. Solberg on section 31 in 1865, George W. McComber on section 32 in
1863, and Hendrick Erickson on section 34 in 1872.
The present officers of La Grand township are as follow: P. M. Eng-
lund, clerk: O. M. Englund, treasurer: S. M. Carlson, assessor: Ole Satter-
lund. S. J. Wedin and A. A. IMagnuson. supervisors.
SPRUCE HILL TOWNSHIP.
Spruce Hill township was established on January 5, 1875. It com-
prises congressional township 130, range 36. The first election was held at
the school house in district No. 51, on March 9, 1875.
The odd sections in this township were part of the land grant of the
St. Paul & Pacific Railway Company, and therefore were not available for
LAKE OSAKIS.
SPEARING FISH. LAKE OSAKIS.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I93
homesteads. Some of the early settlers who located claims on the even
numbered sections arrived here about the years given in the following list.
Samuel Hasbrouck took land on section 2 in 1878, Stekan Slekicher on sec-
tion 4 in 1876, Joseph Friet on section 6 in 1875,, Michael Barta on section
8 in 1875, Ole Janson on section 10 in 1878, Tracy Bardwell on section 12 in
1878, Thomas Primrose on section 14 in 1875, Gilbert F. Sciven on section
18 in 1877, Louis Nilson on section 20 in 1875, Alvin Milligan on section
22 in 1879, Chester H. Bardwell on section 26 in 1878, Martin B. Hagblad
on section 28 in 1875, Hans Matson on section ^2 in 1875, and Andrew
Lustig on section 34 in 1875.
The present officers of Spruce Hill township are as follow: Nels
Nelson, clerk; Frans Anderson, treasurer; E. V. Larson, assessor; Axel
Peterson, John Lindberg and Charles Hallock, supervisors.
(13)
CHAPTER IX.
Development of Agriculture.
In the days of the beginning of the settlement of this part of the state,
the development of agriculture was probably as rapid as in any section of
Minnesota. It already has been noted that the earliest settlers attracted to
this region were of an energetic and thrifty type and little time was lost in
bringing the wilderness under cultivation. In nearly all sections of the county
there was a sufficient area of natural meadow to enable the settler to begin
his farming operations at once, without the tedious and arduous labor of
clearing a patch of land before he could get in his first crop and thus nearly
all were enabled to make an inmiediate and effective start toward the tilling
of the soil after the little log cabin had been erected as a temporary shelter
for the family. Plenty of excellent timber was easily accessible for this
latter purpose and with the expenditure of ordinary energy there was little
to prevent the average family from becoming fairly comfortably settled within
a year after taking up a location in the new country. Added to this abund-
ance of good timber, the numerous running streams and the many lakes of
good, pure water, together with the unbounded fertility of the virgin soil
made this section an ideal one for settlement and it was not long after the
tide of immigration had definitely settled in toward this part of the state
that the most desirable lands were taken up by industrious and earnest home-
steaders, who ciuickly brought their places under cultivation; by the time of
the middle seventies it having been most effectually demonstrated that Douglas
county was one of the garden spots of the state, a fact which the experience
of the later years has served to accentuate.
LOCATION OF D0UGL.-\S COUNTY.
Douglas county is situated a little southwest of the central part of the
state of Minnesota, in the division of the state known as the West Central
Section, alx)ut one hundred and thirty miles northwest of the city c)f St.
Paul, the state capital, and is nearly on the dividing ridge of that part of the
state. Within a few miles of its north and west lines the waters flow north
into the Red river, south into the Minnesota river and east into the Mississippi
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I95
river. It lies in that part of the state which, from its beautiful lakes, streams
and prairies, dotted with groves of magnificent native trees, is appropriately
named the "Park Region" of Minnesota. At Alexandria, nearly in the center
of the county, the altitude is one thousand three hundred and ninety-one feet,
and on the north line of the county it is somewhat over one thousand four
hundred feet, being as high as any part of the state except the extreme
northeast and southwest. The surface of the county is undulating, fine, level
and rolling prairies, interspersed with living streams, beautiful lakes and
magnificent woodland. An almost perfect drainage of the county is secured
by several chains of lakes, flowing out through the Chippewa river in the
western part of the county, into the Minnesota river, and through the Long
Prairie river to the east into the Mississippi. There are about two hundred
lakes in the county, many of them very deep, and most of which have high
banks surrounded with beautiful timber extending close to the shores, with
many fine sandy beaches. One of these. Lake Carlos, a few miles north of
Alexandria, is said to be the deepest lake in the state, and has been sounded
to a depth of one hundred and fifty feet. There is comparatively little marsh
or wet land, and much of that has been, or can be, drained. An abundance
of good, pure well water can always be found at an average depth of thirty
feet.
LAND AND WATER AREA, TIMBER, SOIL AND CLIMATE.
Douglas county contains 722.6 square miles, divided into twenty town-
ships, extending thirty miles from east to west and twenty-four miles from
north to south. According to the United States government surveys it has
an area of 462,500.62 acres, of which 401,014.74 acres are land and 61,485.88
acres water. The 1910 census report, however, increases the land area to
414,720 acres, a part of the increase being due to the drainage of shallow
lakes and ponds within recent years.
Throughout the county of Douglas there is an abundant supply of
choice timber. The northeastern side of the county has a heavy growth of
native forest, while the central and western parts are dotted over with
groves which furnish abundant fuel and shelter for stock. Much of the
timber suitable for lumber has been cut, but there is still some remaining
which can be used in building barns and other farm buildings. Much timber
land has been cleared and converted into fine fields. Among the hardwoods
native to the country are the maple, white, red and burr oak, ironwood, birch,
ash and elm, while of the soft varieties the principal are the dififerent varieties
of poplar, basswood, soft maple, cottonwood, tamarack and spruce.
ig6 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The soil, almost without exception, is of excellent quality. A heavy
black loam, or a black sandy loam, from eight inches to six feet deep, with
clay or hardpan subsoil, varying in depth from eighteen inches to several
feet, prevails, forming a quality of land of a character best suited to bear
the extremes either of wet or drought. There are several distinct classes of
soil found in the count}- which may be termed — the black sandy loam prairie
soil, the black loam prairie soil, the black sandy loam timber soil and the
black loam timber soil, all of excellent quality and each having its special
adaptability to particular crops. There is also the deep, rich black soil of
the natural lowland meadows and of the lake bottoms which have been
reclaimed by drainage, conditions thus described rendering the county ex-
tremely well adapted to the demands of diversified farming.
The winters are generally cold and the summers generally warm, but
this locality is not subject to those sudden and unexpected changes which are
so fatal in their effects and which afflict seaboard and more southern regions.
The atmosphere is clear, dry and pure and has a tonic property which braces
and develops the energies and fits a man for great mental and physical exer-
tion. It is declared by experienced travelers that a person will suffer far
less bodily discomfort with the thermometer at twenty degrees below zero
in this locality than he will in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio
or Illinois with the thermometer indicating zero. Usually there is fine
sleighing and no slush during the winter. In summer the nights are cool.
Malarial diseases are unknown in this locality and the rating given to the
state of Minnesota abreast of any other state in the Union for general health-
fulness. Hail storms are not so frequent as in states further south and
cyclones have seldom visited these parts. Hot winds, such as prevail in
some sections, are practically unknown here.
TEMPERATURE, RAINFALL AND POPULATION.
The records of the United States weather department, kept at Alex-
andria, show the mean annual temperature for the past twenty-one years to
be 41.4 degrees. In 19 14 the highest temperature was 95 degrees on August
8, and the lowest was 32 degrees below zero on February 8. According to
an admirable review of crop conditions recently prepared under the direction
of the Douglas County Agricultural Association, the average dates of the
earliest and latest killing frosts for sixteen years up to 1908 are September
23 and May 18. The earliest frost in autumn during the sixteen years
occurred on September 9 and the latest in the spring was on June 8. In 19 14
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I97
tlie earliest frost was on September 22 and the latest in the spring was on
May 10.
The mean annual rainfall for twenty years, 1888 to 1908, as kept by
the weather station at Alexandria, was 24.23 inches, and for the six years,
1909 to 1914, it was 24.18 inches. In 1914 the total rainfall was 29.43
inches. The following figures show the mean rainfall at Alexandria, by
months, for twenty years to 1908, and also for the five years, 1909 to 1913,
during the months of April, May, June, July and August, which comprise
practically the entire crop season, and show that the great bulk of the rainfall
occurs during those months:
20 yrs. 5 yrs.
April 2.23 1.96
May 3.31 3.98
June 3.97 2.22
July 3.44 409
August 3.71 3.98
The foregoing figures show that the average growing season is one hun-
dred and twenty-eight days, which compares favorably with southern Wiscon-
sin, Iowa and northern Illinois, and is sufficiently long for the maturing of
excellent crops of corn.
The population of the county in 1910 was 17,669, of which number 4,619
were foreign tern, divided among the principal foreign countries as follow:
Sweden, 1,998; Norway, 960; Germany, 753; Austria, 224; Denmark, 230;
Canada, 116; Finland, 86; all other countries, 2^2. The different nationalities
of the foreign-born population and their descendants are largely separated into
distinct communities and settlements; that is, there are Swedish, Norwegian,
German, Bohemian, Danish and Finnish settlements.
FARMS AND PRINCIPAL CROPS.
According to the census of 1910 the number of farms in Douglas county
in 1909 was 2,265, comprising 354,379 acres, the average size of the farm be-
ing 156.5 as against 177 acres for the whole state. The percentage of all
lands in farms was 85.4 and the percentage of improved land was 62, the
average number of acres improved on each farm being 97. The value of
farm lands was $10,694,213, and the value of all farm property was $16,-
312,224, the average value of farm land per acre being placed at $30.18.
According to the 1914 report of the state tax commission the value of farm
lands in that year had increased to $16,976,453. and the average value of land
per acre to $42.84.
ly^ DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Douglas county was long famous for raising the largest crops of wheat
of any county in the state, holding the record for the highest average yield
per acre for man}- \ears. In the earlier years of its history wheat and other
cerals constituted its principal crops and little attention was given to the
raising of corn, live stock or dairying. But the farmers have long since
awakened to the fact that it does not pay to put all their eggs into one
basket, and the methods of farming have for the past fifteen years l>een
gradually changing. The acreage of wheat has been gradually decreased
and that of corn increased, while more and more attention is being given to
dairying and stock raising. The result has been better farming methods
practiced in the raising of all crops, and increased prosperity.
The following gives the acreage and amoimts of the principal crops
raised in 1909. the latest date for which accurate statistics are available:
Acres. Bushels.
Corn 8,927 308.805
Oats 23.385 820.913
Wheat 63.653 1,208,710
Barley 15.609 413,066
Rye 3.148 70.998
Flax seed 4.859 54.013
Timothy seed 401 2,135
Potatoes 1,532 178,466
Hay and forage 56,170 85.972
In 19 1 5 corn increased to about twelve thousand acres, wheat decreased
in acreage, while rye and potatoes largely increased. The following figures
show the average yield per acre of Douglas county crops in 1909. compared
with the average yield of the same crops in the state :
Average of Average of
State. Douglas Couiity.
Corn ^ 33-99 '^i'- 34-6 bu.
Oats .. 31.5 bu. 35. bu.
Wheat, spring 17.4 bu. 19. bu.
Barley 22.2 bu. 26.5 bu.
Rye 16.6 bu. 22.5 bu.
Flax seed 9.1 bu. ii.i bu.
Hay and forage ' 1.53 tons 1.53 tons
Potatoes 1 19.8 bu. 116.5 bu.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. I99
Corn has been successfully grown in Douglas county for many years. In
1899 there were 6,593 acres: in 1909 the acreage had increased to 8,927; in
1915 there were at least 12,000 acres, which acreage was considerably in-
creased in 191 6. In the past few years, with the coming of farmers from
southern Minnesota, Iowa and Illint)is, who are skilled in its cultivation, the
yield of corn has rapidly increased until it begins to rival the best yields of
those states. Farmers also are raising more corn for fodder and, while in
1910 there was hardh" a silo to be found in the county, there are now in the
neighborhood of one hundretl and fifty, there being at least twenty-five in
one township alone. By the experiments of the State Agricultural College,
a number of varieties of white and yellow dent corn have been produced
that are well adapted to the county, mature early, }ield well and are very
successfully grown. Among these are Minnesota No. 23, Minnesota No. 13,
Rustler White, Silver King, Reeves' Yellow Dent and others.
Douglas county fanners have taken a number of prizes at recent corn
shows which are worthy of record here. At the corn contest of the Minne-
sota Corn Growers Association held at Albert Lea, January 2 to 7, 191 1,
George McMahan was awarded the first prize for the northern section of the
state for best ten ears of Minnesota No. 13. At the same contest Samuel
Preston, of Carlos township, received the second prize for the best twenty-
five ears of any variety, his corn being White Dent; and Eugene Korkowski,
of Brandon township, received first prize for the entire state for the best ten
ears of flint corn. And this flint corn was the best in the United States, for
the second prize winner afterward entered his corn at the national corn show
at Columbus, Ohio, and received first prize. In 1912 Mr. McMahan won
first prize for the entire state for the best ten ears of white dent at the
northwestern live-stock show at South St. Paul.
POTATO CULTURE, FRUITS, LIVE STOCK AND DAIRYING.
For vegetables, it is declared that no soil in the state is better suited
than that of Douglas county. Potatoes, beets, turnips, onions and all kinds
of garden and field vegetables grow to fine size and give large yields. The
growing of potatoes for outside markets has in the past few years become
an assured success and many carloads are now shipped each year outside
the state at a good profit. No finer potatoes are grown in the state, a fact
attested at the scoring at the county exhibits at the Minnesota state fair
during recent vears, where Douglas county potatoes came into competition
with a lar^e number of the best counties of the state; in one year, out of a
200 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
possible score of 150 points, Douglas county scoring 149, the highest of
the twenty-three counties exhibiting. The next year the score was 147
points, the highest of the thirty-four counties contesting.
The first potato warehouse in the county was built at Garfield in 191 1
by a farmers co-operative company, and was so much of a success that in
1912 a second warehouse was built at that point, since which time warehouses
have been built at Alexandria, Osakis, Brandon, Carlos, Nelson, Forada and
Melby. As a consequence of this success the acreage of potatoes has in-
creased to above four thousand acres and the potato crop is now becoming
one of the leading crops of the county.
On many of the older farms of the county apples of good size and fine
quality and other cultivated fruits are successfully grown, and within the
past few years many thousands of hardy apple, crab, plum and cherry trees
have been set out and are doing well. Forty-five varieties of apples were
shown at the Douglas county exhibit at the state fair recently and the fruit
exhibits as a whole have scored as high as many counties one hundred miles
farther south. Large numbers of grape vines and strawberries also have
Iieen planted and the strawberry crop is especially fine. As much as four
hundred dollars has been realized from one acre of strawberries. Wild
fruits are abundant in all parts of the county, grapes, plums, raspberries,
gooseberries and juneberries are excellent in quality and large in quantity.
The soil, climate, pure water and timber all combine to make this sec-
tion especially adapted to stock raising and dairy farming. The soil and
climate being well adapted to growing corn, clover, timothy, alfalfa and
nutritious grasses, all kinds of stock do well and cattle and hogs especially
are increasing rapidly. There have been in the past no serious diseases
among cattle, ver}- little hog cholera and very few diseases among horses,
while sheep do extra w^ell here, besides being a great aid in clearing up
timber and brush lands. According to the bulletin of the Douglas County
Agricultural Association above referred to, the creameries are getting the
verv highest prices for butter in the Eastern markets and taking premiums
wherever they enter butter in competition. There are now fourteen cream-
eries in the county, eleven co-operative, two independent, and one large cen-
tral creamery, with the largest capacity, when built, of an}- creamery in the
state, owned by the North American Storage Company at Alexandria. A
breeders association was formed in 1909, the first one to be organized in the
state, and it has been quite successful, having about sixty members, covering
about half the county. A number of full-blood Holstein and Guernsey sires
have been purchased and hundreds of grade calves have been raised by its
i;\iiiKX('i:s (IF iMtdsrEniTT.
WHEAT HARVEST SCENE.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 20I
members. The association has also stimulated outside farmers to purchase
full-blood sires and twenty-five or thirty such sires are now owned by indi-
viduals. Recent statistics show that the fourteen creameries' had 1,917
patrons owning 15.107 cows, made 2.215,819 pounds of butter and paid out
during the year $573,686.02 to patrons for butter fat. To this must be added
the large amounts received by farmers for cream shipped to central cream-
eries in adjoining counties and the amounts received by farmers for butter
made upon the farms, which probably amounts to nearly as much as the
sum received from the creameries in the county. A recent report of the
Minnesota tax commission gave the numbers and value of the live stock in
Douglas county as follow :
Number. Value.
Cattle 30,281 $ 870,516
Horses 10,352 1,045,737
Swine 10,203 95.064
Sheep 3,512 14,802
RURAL MAIL DELIVERY. TELEPHONES AND GOOD ROADS.
Douglas county has a complete county system of rural free delivery
routes by which every farmer in the county is reached. There is also a
complete system of rural telephones maintained by eight companies, connect-
ing with each other and with exchanges in Alexandria. Osakis and other
villages, and with long-distance lines, covering nearly every part of the county
and giving good service. The county is noted for its good roads, having
many miles of first class graveled roads, which are being added to each year.
The National Parks Highway, known as "The Red Trail," extending from
Xew York to Seattle, passes through the county nearly parallel to the Great
Xorthern railway, following practically the route of the old Red River trail,
which was the highway for the famous old Red River carts in the days of
the fur traders. This road is practically all now graded and graveled, as a
state road, throughout its forty-mile course in the county.
Farmers clubs for the discussion of farm problems and for social inter-
course flourish in Douglas county, nine or ten such clubs doing splendid
work along those lines. There are also a number of farmers co-operative
associations for conducting elevators, potato warehouses, the shipping of live
stock and other produce, the buying of farm machinery and other bulky
merchandise at wholesale, besides the co-operative creameries above men-
tioned, and largely attended farmers institutes for the study of scientific
202 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUXTIKS. MINNESOTA.
agriculture and farm problems, conducted b}' state experts, are held in differ-
ent parts of the county every winter. The prices at which improved farms
can be bought in Douglas county vary considerable, according to circum-
stances, ranging from forty dollars to one hundred and twenty-five dollars
an acre. A successful county fair is held each year at Alexandria by the
Douglas County Agricultural .Association, which also makes an annual countv
exhibit at the state fair.
DOUGLAS COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.
The efforts to hold county fairs and agricultural exhibits in Douglas
county have passed through three successive stages of development. From
the very beginning of agricultural development in this section of the state,
the farmers and business men of Douglas county have exerted their energies
in the direction of making a creditable showing of the resources of the
county and the annual exhibits, together with a constant succession of the
exhibits of the county's agricultural resources at the Minnesota state fair,
have done much to establish the reputation of this section as a region of
much productivity. Early in the seventies voluntary exhibits began to be
made in the village of Alexandria after the passing of the harvest season
and on January i8, 1874, the Douglas County Fair Ground Association was
organized and incorporated for the purpose of holding annual fairs in the
village of Alexandria, the county seat, the articles of incorporation of this
association having been signed by Christ H. Raiter, L. G. Sims, Hiram Ship-
pev, Thomas F. Cowing, Fred von Baumbacb, Charles Shultz, Charles F.
Sims, J. B. Cowing, Knute Nelson, C. Offel, Charles Sonday, John A. Flesch,
George H. Roe, Thomas W. Sprague, James H. \'an Dyke, Joseph Gilpin,
J. M. Doudua, Godfrey Vivian and Frank E. Lewis.
The above association established fair grounds and conducted annual
exhibits with a varying measure of success for some years and was presently
reorganized and succeeded by the Douglas County Agricultural Society,
which filed articles of incorporation on April 2, 1888. This society was
organized with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, with the following
stockholders; Fred C. Meade, of Hudson; John Landeen, of Ida; B. W.
Blakesley, of Lake Mary; N. N. Hardy, of Alexandria; Mathias Kline, of
Belle River; Jacob Kohlhaas, of Carlos; J. F. Dicken, of La Grand; D. E.
Robinson, of Lake Mary ; Frank Reynolds, Fred von Baumbach, J. H. Let-
son and G. W. Robards, of Alexandria, and the following directors ; F. C.
Meade, John Landeen, B. W. Blakesley, Mathias Kline, Jacob Kohlhaas, J. F.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 203
Dicken and X. N. Hardy. The Douglas County Agricultural Society con-
tinued holding county fairs and some very creditable exhibits were made
from year to year, Ijut finally the direction of the society gradually passed
into other hands, too much attention was paid to the sporting side of horse
racing and the sporting element which attached itself to the enterprise eventu-
ally brought the county fairs into such local disrepute that the people of the
county generally paid little attention to the same, attendance and interest
both dwindling to such proportions that the societ}- finally was disbanded
and the fair ground was bought by the city of Alexandria for e\xntual park
purposes or such purposes as may eventually be found most advantageous to
the city, and the annual , county fair exhibits ceased for a time. During the
years 1907-10, annual fairs were held at Alexandria under the auspices of
the Alexandria Commercial Club.
On August 25, 19 II, the present Douglas County Agricultural Asso-
ciation was organized and on September 5 of that year filed articles of incor-
poration, under the above title, the names and addresses of the incorporators
being as follow: Nels Bye, of Urness; Ole J. Berg, of Moe: B. E. Howe, of
Osagis; C. H. Cooper, of Carlos; John H. O'Brien, of Alexandria; Fred C.
Meade, of Hudson; John A. Johnson, of Ida; Theo. A. Erickson, J. A.
W'edum, G. A. Kortsch and A. H. Gregerson, of Alexandria, with the fol-
lowing officers ; President, Theo. A. Erickson ; vice-president, Fred C.
Meade ; secretary, George L. Treat, and treasurer, G. A. Kortsch. This
association has not yet purchased fair grounds, but has done a fine work in
making a concerted efifort to promote the agricultural interests of Douglas
county and to introduce the advantages of this section as an agricultural
region by means of well-designed publications and' other forms of publicity
to persons seeking homes in the beautiful park region of which the associa-
tion's base of operations is the virtual center. Attractive exhibits have been
made in the city of Alexandria with a view to showing the advance that has
been made in recent 3'ears in the methods and results of modern farming and
as a further means of interesting all in the wonderful agricultural possibili-
ties of the county. The association also makes an annual county exhibit at
the state fair and through this latter means has done much to attract the
attention of people from all parts of the state to Douglas county.
DOUGLAS COUNTY AS A SUMMER RESORT.
Douglas county is a famous summer resort. Its two hundred lakes of
pure, deep water, with their beautiful, timbered shores and sandy beaches,
204 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
furnish a resting place and recreation for many hundreds of people from all
parts of the United States during the summer months. The finishing is of the
best, among the varieties of fish to be found in the lakes being pickerel, wall-
eyed pike, Great Northern pike, crappies, and at least six varieties of bass,
including the gamey, small-mouthed gray bass and the black bass, all of
which attain a size wholly unknown outside of the Minnesota park region.
While the tourist resorts center at Alexandria and Osakis, good accommoda-
tions also are provided at many small resorts and farm houses throughout
the county.
REGISTERED FARM NAMES.
The Minnesota state Legislature passed an act in 1909 under the pro-
visions of which any farm owner in the state may secure exclusive right to a
name for his farm by having the same recorded with the register of deeds
in the county where he lives. A fee of onl}- fifty cents is charged to cover
the cost of the clerical work. Up to August, 19 16, one hundred and nine-
teen farm names were registered in Douglas county, and the owners and
location of the same are set out in the following paragraphs:
"Birch Hill" — Owned by C. H. Jenson; registered on July 2, 1909;
located on section 24, township 128, range 37.
"Riveiview" — Owned by Oscar Erickson; registered on July 2, 1909;
located on section t,2, t^t,, township 129, range 40.
"Lakeside"" — Owned by XewtonJ. Trenham; registered on July 9, 1909;
located in section 18, township 128, range ^,7.
"Pleasant \'ie\v'" — Owned by C. H. Cooper; registered on July 10,
1909; located on section 13. township 129, range 37.
"Lund"" — Owned by Ole Haglund; registered on July 13, 1909; located
on section 17, township 128, range 38.
"Eagle Point" — Owned by E. E. Hedeen; registered on July 20, 1909;
located on section 12, township 129, range 39.
"Lake Shore"" — Owned by Jacob E. Jacobson; registered on July 20,
1909: located on section 13. township 129, range 39.
"Cloverdale" — Owned b\- Leander Kellogg: registered on July 2^, 1909;
located on sections 28, 29, t,j. ^t,, township 127, rdnge 2i7-
"Runboholm"' — Owned by Oscar Wolf; registered on July 26, 1909;
located on section 2, township 127, range 39.
"Coney Island"" — Owned by Paul W. Hanson; registered on July 26,
1909: located on section 2, township 127. range 39.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 2O5
"Elmwood" — Owned by C. E. Warberg; registered on July 2-], 1909;
located on section 25, township 129, range 36.
"Urness Lakeside" — Owned by E. J. Olson; registered on July 28, 1909;
located on sections 14, 2:i,, township 128, range 40.
"Greenwing Pass" — Owned b\- John E. Anderson; registered on Jul\-
28, 1909; located on section 12, township 127, range 40, and section 7,
township 127, range 39.
"Elm Grove" — Owned Ijy C. J. Peterson; registered on July 28, 1909;
located on section 11, township 127, range 39.
"Maple Hill" — Owned by Annie Johnson; registered on July 28, 1909;
located on section 11, township 127, range 39.
"Lakeview" — Owned by Louis Morris; registered on July 30, 1909;
located on section 20, township 127, range 37.
"Oak Grove" — Owned by Peter N. Johnson; registered on July 31,
1909; located on section 26, township 128, range 38.
"Maple Lane" — Owned by George A. Swaren ; registered on August 2,
1909; located on section 27, township 128, range 37.
"Sunnyside" — Owned by Ambrose Peet; registered on August 14, 1909;
located on section I},, township 128, range 38.
"Fairview" — Owned by C. O. Weatherwax; registered on August 16,
1909; located on sections 21, 22, township 129, range t^J.
"Riverside" — Owned by F. W. Craig; registered on August 21, 1909;
located on sections 13, 14, 24, township 129, range 36.
"Korum Farm" — Owned by Aune O. Korum; registered on August 28,
1909; located on sections 5, 6, township 128. range 39.
"Fairfield" — Owned by Anton Lund; registered on September 11,
1909; located on section 15, townshii> 128, range 38.
"Butternut Lawn" — Owned by Carolina Miessner; registered on Sep-
tember 18, 1909; located on sections 27, 34, township 120, range 39.
"Evansville Fairview" — Owned by Ellen J. Okerlund ; registered on
September 2-3^, 1909; located on sections 29, 31, ^2. township 129,
range 40.
"Cosy Nook" — Owned by Ellen J. Okerlund; registered on September
23, 1909; located on section },2, township 129, range 40.
"Sandvik" — Owned by C. H. Larson; registered on September 24,
1909; located on section 14, township 128, range 37.
"Oakland" — Owned by Charles O. Anderson; registered on October 4,
1909; located on sections 31, }^2, township 129, range 2,1-
2o6 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COl"NTIES. MINNESOTA.
"Grand View" — Owned by Mina O. Newhouse; registered on October
9, 1909; located on sections 29, 32, township 129, range 39.
"Woodland" — Owned by John Anderson; registered on OctoJjer 9,
1909: located on sections 26, 27, 35, township 128, range 39.
"Maplewood" — Owned by B. W. Blakesley; registered on October 23,
1909; located on sections 11, 13, 14, township 127, range 38.
"Clover Crest" — Owned by William Hermanson; registered on October
26, 1909; located on section 7, township 129, range 38.
"The Oaks" — Owned by R. J. Ballentine; registered on November 10.
1909: located on section 7, township 128, range 37.
"Glen Oak" — Owned by C. X"auman ; registered on November
17, 1909; located on sections 2"], 28, township 129, range t,"].
"Birch Lawn" — Owned by E. H. Boerner; registered on November 17,
1909; located on sections 28, 29, township 129, range 37.
"Oakdale" — Owned by Erick E. Ekdahl; registered on November 24,
1909; located on section 35, township 129, range 38, and section 2, town-
ship 128, range 38.
"Lake Center" — Owned by J. N. Tilleskjor; registered on November 26,
1909; located on section 11, township 128, range 40.
"Clover Leaf" — Owned by John S. Wagner; registered on November
30, 1909; located on section 33, township 130, range 39.
"Oak Lawn" — Owned by John Kelly ; registered on December 8, 1909 ;
located on section 28, township 130, range 38.
"Willow Grove" — Owned \>\ Christian Pitir^on ; registered on Decem-
lier II, 1909; located on section 22, township 128, range 38.
"Lugn Vik" — Owned by Per Hanson; registered .on December 16,
1909; located on section 2, township 127, range 39.
"Cranberry Farm" — Owned by James Lauda; registered on December
28, 1909; located on sections 2, 3, 11, township 129, range 39.
"Broadview" — Owned by J. O. Brandon; registered on December 31.
1909: located on sections })-• H' township 128, range 39.
"Park Hill" — Owned by A. J. Peterson; registered on January 13.
1910; located on section 9, township 129, range 39.
"Pine Hill" — Owne<l by A. H. Englund; registered on Januarv 24,
1910; located on section 15. township 127, range 39.
"Lilac Grove" — Owned by Gustaf Olson; registered on January 26,
1910; located on section 15, township 127, range 39.
"Lake Park" — Owned b\' P. A. Lofdahl ; registered on February 7,
1910; located on sections 20, 21, township 130, range 39.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 207
"Prairie \'iolet" — Owned by Amund Holverson; registered on Febru-
ary 7. 1910; located on section 2, township 128, range 40.
"Woodside" — Owned by Paul E. Foslin; registered on February 7,
1910; located on sections 15, 16, township 128, range 39.
Geneva Hill" — Owned by F. O. Erickson; registered on February 14,
1910; located on section 15, township 128, range 37.
"Green Briar" — ^Owned by Erick T. Sletto; registered on February 19,
1910; located on sections 17, 18, 19, 20, township 128, range 39.
"Prairie Home" — Owned by J. H. Cooley ; registered on February
26, 1910; located on sections 7, 8, township 127, range 37.
"Spring Hill" — Owned by E. J. and Jennie Robards; registered on
February 28, 1910: located on sections 4, 5, township 127, range },■/.
"Hazel Grove" — Owned by J. ^^'. Lund; registered on ]\Iarch 17.
1910: located on section 26, township 128, range 2)7-
"Carlos Lakeview" — Owned by John P. Peterson; registered on March
21, 1910; located on sections 16. 17, township 129, range ^J.
"Andrewborg" — Owned by Andrew A. Anderson; registered on May
9, 1 9 10; located on section 21, township 128, range 39.
"The Blom Farm" — Owned by John J. Blom; registered on May 14,
19 10; located on section 15 township 128, range 38.
"Oakwood" — Owned by Charles Guenther; registered on May 2;i,. 1910;
located on section 20, township 130, range 38.
"Hampton" — Owned by Gustav Tonn ; registered on I\Iay 27, 1910;
located on sections 11, 12, township 129, range T,y.
"Golden Willow" — Owned by Louis Thoreson; registered on Ma\- 31,
1910: located on section 2. township 128, range 37.
"Fosmoe Farm" — Owned by John Fosmoe; registered on June 7. 1910;
located on section 28, township 128, range 39.
"Summit" — Owned by L. G. Hermanson; registered on June 22, 1910;
located on section 12, township 129, range 39.
"Meadow Lawn" — Owned In- Fritz Lindstrom; registered on August
8, 19^0; located on section ^t,, township 129, range 40.
"Brookside" — Owned by Fred Peterson; registered on August 26,
1 9 10; located on section 13, township 129, range 39.
"Brook Hill" — Owned by Emil Peterson; registered on August 26,
1 9 10, located on section 18, township 129, range 38.
"La Glade" — Owned by ^\'illiam H. Lee; registered on October 4,
19 10; located on section 23, township 128. range 38.
"Green Park" — Owned by Ole L. Berglund ; registered on October 29.
208 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
1910; locdted on section 4. township 129, range 36, and section 33, town-
ship 130, range 36.
"Green Hill" — Owned by Charles A. Anderson; registered on October
31, 1910; located on section 5, township 128, range 36.
"Wood Lawn" — Owned by Samuel Preston; registered on December
7. 1910; located on section 30, township 129, range T,y, and section 25. town-
ship 129, range 38.
"The Willows" — Owned by Frank Danielson; registered on Januar}- 12
1911 ; located on section 31, township 127, range 40.
"Botner Farm" — Owned by Ole P. Botner; registered on January 17,
1911; located on sections 12, 13, township 128, range 39.
"Shore Acres" — Owned by Jerry L. Blodgett; registered on January
30. 191 1 ; located on section 31, township 129, range 37.
"The Highlands" — Owned by H. L. Lewis: registered on February 15
191 1 ; located on section 15, township IJ7, range 39.
"Homewood" — Owned by John Bolin; registered on February 28
191 1 ; located on section 2, township 128, range 37.
"Victoria Lodge" — Owned by Josephine Helen \'an Cleve; registered
on March 18, 191 1; located on section 21, township 128, range 2,y.
"Interlachen Lodge" — Owned by Mary E. Finch; registered on June
9. 191 1 ; located on section 6, township 128, range T,y.
"Glendale" — Owned by Albert W. Allen; registered on June 24, 1911 ;
located on section 21, township 128, range ^,7.
"Fair Acres" — Owned by John C. Ames; registered on September
II. 191 1 ; located on section 2, township 129, range 38.
"La Grand Lake Park" — Owned by Peter Sweet; registered on Sep-
tember 24. 191 1 ; located on sections 2, 3, township 128, range 38.
"Highland" — Owned by J. P. Gran; registered on November 10. 1911 ;
located on sections i, 12, township 127, range 40.
"Circle Beach" — Owned by Constant A. Wesen; registered on Decem-
ber 18. 191 1 ; located on section 24. township 127, range 39.
"Heather Brae" — Owned by J. A. McKay; registered on December
26, 191 1 ; located on section 17, township 128, range 37.
"Oak Hill" — Owned by E. J. Brandt; registered on December 2~, 191 1 ;
located on section 30, township 130, range 36.
"Belle Plaine" — Owned by Gust Mattson; registered on December 28.
191 1 ; located on section 29, township 129, range 36.
"Sunny Slope" — Owned by John Nelson; registered on December 30.
191 1 ; located on section 19. township 128, range 36.
DOl'GLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 209
"Cloverland" — Owned by August Anderson; registered on December
30, 191 1 : located un section 12, township 128, range 37.
"Urness Homestead" — Owned by John A. Urness; registered on Decem-
ber 30, 191 1 ; located on sections 13, 14, 24, township 128, range 40.
"Pleasant Grove Stock Farm" — Owned by John A. Olson; registered
on January 2, 1912; located on sections 17, 18, township 128, range 36.
"Honeydale" — Owned by Albin Anderson; registered on March 18,
1912; located on section i, township 129, range 36.
"Lakewood" — Owned by Samuel Preston; registered on March 22,
1912; located on section 11, township 128, range 38.
"Pleasant Home" — Owned by Edward A. Olson; registered on April
6, 1912; located on sections 24, 25, township 128, range 37.
"Crescent Grove" — Owned by O. H. Kahlon; registered on June 12,
1912; located on section i, township 128, range 37.
"The Meadows" — Owned by E. O. Fritz; registered on August 30,
1912; located on sections 28, 33, township 129, range 36.
"North Star" — Owned bv Theodore Walstad ; registered on September
12, 1912; located on section 4, township 130, range 40.
"Terre Bonne" — Owned by Stephen A. Blackwell; registered on October
31, 1912; located on section 13, township 127, range 39.
"Peaceful Grove" — Owned by Theodore Johnson; registered on March
8, 1913; located on sections 29, 32, township 127, range 40.
"Oakdene Park" — Owned by W. J. B. Moses; registered on June 23,
1913; located on section 23, township 128, range 38.
"Plain View" — Owned by Augusta Peterson; registered on July 9,
1913; located on section 21, township 127, range 40.
"Ferndale Stock Farm" — Owned by Peter Rutten; registered on Novem-
ber 15, 1913: located on sections i, 2, township 128, range 36.
"Park Region" — Owned by Mrs. H. B. Hobart; registered on Decem-
ber 2-/, 1913; located on sections 34. 35, township 129, range 37.
"Meadow Lane Jersey Farm" — Owned by J. O. Rosencjuist; registered
on February 6. 1914; located on section 10, township 130, range 36.
"Evergreen Valley Orchard Green Lawn Roadside Farm — Owned by
Robert Berglund; registered on February 9, 1914; located on section 3,
township 127, range 40.
"Orchard Grove" — Owned by A. G. Carlson; registered on February
12, 1914; located on section 4,' township 127, range n.
"Geneva Crest" — Owned by A. G. Carlson; registered on March 18,
1914; located on section 22, township 128, range 37.
(14)
2IO DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
"Brook Dale" — Owned by J. J. Volker; registered on May i6, 1914;
located on section 30, township 127, range 36.
"Golden Summit Dairy Farm" — Owned by George Workman ; regis-
tered on June 15, 1914; located on section 31, township 127, range 36.
"Hillcrest" — Owned by Elhe L. Hitchcox; registered on July 3, 1914;
located on section i, township 128, range 38.
"Brown's Dale Stock Farm"- — Owned by John N. Brown; registered
on May 11, 1915; located on sections 7. 18, township 129. range 36.
"Cowdry Park" — Owned by John M. Green; registered on May 19,
1915; located on section 14, township 128, range 38.
"Sunny Brook" — Owned by Peter Streed; registered on October 2t,.
191 5; located on section 14, township 129, range T,y.
"Garden Grove" — Owned by Frank O. Kullander ; registered on March
1, 1916; located on section 21, township 127, range 40.
"Pleasant Hill" — Owned by Matt Johnson; registered on March 10,
1916; located on section 28, township 128, range 39.
"Hill View" — Owned by Gust Mattson; registered on April i, 1916;
located on section 35, township 129, range 37.
"Maple Grove" — Owned by E. Herman Peterson ; registered on May
2, 1916; located on section 16, township 130, range 36.
"Alexandria Fruit and Nursery Farm" — Owned by W. H. Horton ;
registered on June 17. 191 6; located on section 24, township 128, range 38.
"Oak Valley" — Owned by C. Hermanson; registered on July 3, 1916;
located on section 27, township 129, range 39.
CHAPTER X.
Travel and Transportation.
From the days of the Umibering Red Ri^•er carts and the "prairie
schooners," with their plodding oxen as motive power, to the wonderful
trans-continental steel vestibuled trains that roar amid the lake-begemmed
park region comprised within the confines of Douglas county, on their swift
flight to and from the coast, and from the creaking wagons of the pioneers
to the cushioned ease of the automobile "super-sixes" of the present day
is a far crv, indeed; and yet this amazing transformation in the transporta-
tion system of the people has been accomplished within the eas}- recollection
of many persons now living in Douglas county.
White men began to travel through the then wilds of this section of
Minnesota as early as the second decade of the past century, the French
voyageurs and, later, the hardy courciirs dcs bois, or rangers of the woods,
blazing the ways that later became well-developed and much traveled trails
from the rich fur-trading stations of the Red River country to the outposts
of ci\-ilization on the Mississippi. For many years the voyageurs and semi-
wild wood rangers, employees of the various fur companies, ranged through
the wilds of Minnesota and traded with the Indian tribes on the Minnesota,
the Mississippi, the Red River of the North and other streams. These
hardy men penetrated to all parts of the land and explored it mile by mile.
Trading posts were established at all convenient points from the headwaters
of the Mississippi westward to the Red River of the North, from Lake
Superior, Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods on the north to the valley
of the Minnesota; many of these posts being carried on by private intli-
viduals in competition with the rich fur-trading companies of the East, and
the trails through the forests and over the prairies created by these wander-
ing and roving traders later Ijecame the; first highways of the pioneers, the
first permanent settlers of the land. Towards the middle of the century
communication between the Red River valley and the outside world became
all the more frequent. Cart routes leading to the head of navigation on
the Mississippi began to be established by traders who. independent of
the fur companies, began to locate at Pembina and other points, Mendota,
212 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
near Ft. Snelling becoming one of the chief objective points of the Red
River cart trails through Minnesota -for many years lief ore St. Paul was
founded and became a determined rival of the equally busy port at Prairie
du Chein. The aristocracy of the plains in those times consisted of the
officers, traders and clerks at the posts and the buffalo hunters. While
the Selkirk colonists generally dressed in homespun clothing and lived plainly,
the men at the posts had every lu.xury they could procure, including a
stock of the finest lic|uors. In fact, liquor was one of the essentials of a
well-stocked post in that time and there was rarel}- a lack of the ardent
spirits among the roving, reckless people of that day, it not being an infre-
quent thing to cache barrels of whiskey at convenient points along the trail,
presumably for the better progress of the carters and rovers of the fur
country. It is related that Whisky Lake, just to the north of the present
village of Brandon, in Douglas county, has its name from the circumstance
thad it was noted in those days as the place of one of the best-known liquor
caches of that period.
Afterward, the military trails began to open up new lines .of travel,
one of the most notable of these being the old military trail that was cut
through Douglas county and on to the Red River by Colonel Abercrombie,
who established the fort which long bore his name, in the neighborhood of
the present city of Breckenridge, and then came the stage lines, enterprising
individuals finding that there was enough transient travel developing to
warrant the establishment of regular stage routes and stage stations. It
was in the spring of 1859 that J. C. Burbank & Company, of St. Cloud and
St. Paul, commenced running a line of stages through Douglas county, sta-
tions along that route being established in this county at Osakis, Alexan-
dria, Chippewa, about two miles from what is now the village of Brandon,
and Evansville, the western terminus of the line at first being Ft. Aber-
crombie and later St. Mncent. The road followed was the one surveyed by
the government the year before and opened by the troops, the same now
being the old state road, with certain modifications of route to suit later con-
ditions. For years that road was the main thoroughfare of travel between
St. Paul, St. Cloud and the Red River region. The stage line was con-
tinued by Burbank & Company until about 1874, when the railroad, follow-
ing the same general line of direction, reached Melrose, after which, as the
distance then was only about forty miles, local stage companies and local
freighters began gradually to take over the business and regular stages and
freight hauls were established out of Alexandria to the railway station. In
1874 a stage line also was established between Benson and Alexandria
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 2I3
and the competing lines had the effect to reduce the price of freightage con-
siderably.
The railway was graded as far west as Alexandria in the years 1873
and 1874, but owing to the failure of the company, the road was not com-
pleted until in 1878, and on the 5th day of November in that year, the first
train of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroad Company reached
Alexandria, an occasion of general rejoicing throughout the entire county.
The railway, entering the county at the south shore of Lake Osakis, accom-
modating the village already established at that point, proceeded on in a
northwesterly direction, continuing to follow virtually the line of the old
stage route, through Osakis, Alexandria, La Grand, Ida Brandon, Evansville
and Lund township and passed out at a point a little more than two miles
south of the north edge of the latter township, the northern boundary of
the county, along the south shore of Lake Christina, striking the old stage
station at Evansville on its way. The station at Chippewa was passed by
on the other side by the railway surveyors and what small commercial
activities had been started there were moved over to the railroad and thus
began the village of Brandon. Between Osakis and Alexandria another
station was established and was given the name of Nelson, in honor of
United States Senator Knute Nelson, and later about midway between Alex-
andria and Brandon another station was established, which developed into
the present village of Garfield. Still later the station at Melby was estab-
lished in the upper part of Lund township, just south of the Lake Christina,
and all have developed into prosperous trading points, the centers of the
extensive shipping interests of their respective territories.
THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD.
The railroad above mentioned, now the main line of the Great Northern
railroad, running from Chicago to the coast, is a part of the great system
of railroads evolved under the directive genius of the late James J. Hill.
At the time of the failure of the banking house of Jay Cook & Company in
1873, and the consequent bankruptcy of the Northern Pacific Railroad, a part
of that system formerly known as the St. Paul & Pacific was involved in
difficulties with its bondholders and encumbered by a heavy mortgage. It
was at that time in the hands of a receiver appointed by the court and a
syndicate was formed, under the direction of James J. Hill, which purchased
the whole property and reorganized it under the name of the St. Paul, Minne-
apolis & Manitoba Railroad Company, George Stevens, of Montreal, being
214 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
chosen president of the company and Mr. Hill, general manager. On August
22, 1882, Mr. Hill was elected president of the company and the history
of the magnificent railway system which he gradually built up, under the
name of the Great Northern, is a matter of common knowledge. It was
in 1880 that the trans-continental line crossed the Red River and its
progress then on over the mountains and the plains to the coast was but a
matter of sure and steady pushing along until more than half a continent
had been crossed with its iron bands, from the shores of Lake Superior and
the banks of the Mississippi to the Pacific.
Douglas county again was penetrated by a railroad in 1902, the Minne-
apolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie, or "Soo" line entering the county on
section ^2, of Hudson township, proceeding northerly through that town-
ship to Alexandria and thence, through Alexandria township, northeasterly
through Carlos township and out of the county, north, on section 2, of Mil-
tona township. Forida, in Hudson township; Carlos, in the township of that
name, and Miltona, in the township of that name, being the stations estab-
lished along the route, besides that at Alexandria, the new line opened up
valuable markets to Duluth and the lake. The western line of the "Soo"
but in 1887 crossed the extreme southwest corner of Douglas county, enter-
ing the same in section 36 of Solem township and crossing the lower part of
that township in a northwesterly direction, passing out in section 19 of
the same, the village of Kensington being the only station on that line in
the county.
With the rapid development of the automobile as a means of rapid
and convenient transportation, local travel throughout this part of Minne-
sota, as well as all over the country, has been practically revolutionized.
Since the farmers have found that an autoniol)ile is one of the best invest-
ments that can be made on a farm, there are few well-equipped farm plants
in the county that have not an automobile now, the farm thus being brought
within easy distance of the market, and in consequence the growing cry for
better roads have resulted in much more systematic attention to the con-
struction and maintenance of highways. The many attractive lakes through-
out the county bring thousands of tourists into Douglas county during the
summer season and most of these come in by automobile, the license plates
of widely remote states being noted among these touring cars, covering a
range from Oregon to Florida and from New York to Texas.
County road No. i, the St. Cloud and Breckenridge, or Ft. Abercrombie
road, already referred to. was surveyed in 1858 and 1859 by Theodore H.
Barrett and opened up in part during the year 1859. In 1869 this road
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 215
was resurveyed as far as the village of Alexandria by the then county sur-
veyor, Henry Blackwell.
County Road Xo. 2, the Osakis Townsite and Ottertail Lake road, was
surveyed by W. Adley in 1866.
County road No. 3, the Lake George and Ottertail lake road, was sur-
veyed in 1869 by Charles Tengwall.
County road No. 4, the St. Paul & Pacific railroad and Ft. Ripley ,
road, was surveyed by Henry Blackwell in 1869.
CHAPTER XL
L^DUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
The development of the schools of Douglas county from the days of
the little log school house in the wilderness to the present highly organized
and effective high-school system with a course as good as that offered by
the colleges in that earlier day is one of the wonders of modern social
progress. So gradual has this development been, however, that those of the
present generation of pupils are hardly sensible of the wonderful advance-
ment that has been made along that line, accepting, as a matter of course,
advantages in the way of schooling that hardly could have been dreamed of
by the pioneers who cleared the way in this region a couple of generations
ago.
There was little time lost, after the settlers began to make over the
wilds hereabout, in getting schools established and very soon after a set-
tlement was found to possess a sufficient number of children to warrant
the effort, the district school came into being; districts being organized in
accordance with the effective Minnesota system until there finally came to
be one hundred and two school districts in the county, all of which now are
doing effective work. In many instances at first these little district schools,
by reason of the natural and inevitable limitations of the circumstances and
surroundings, were but crude affairs, indeed; but they served their purpose
in their own day and generation and the torch of learning was bravely held
aloft in the wilderness. By the time of the early seventies, when the settle-
ment of the county was rapidly progressing, there had come to be excel-
lent schools in all the considerable settlements and villages, while even in the
remoter districts there had come to be a well-organized system with respect
to the schools, no neighborhood being without a fitting place of schooling
for the youth of the same. The wonderful impetus given to the cause of
education throughout this state generally by Minnesota's wonderful educa-
tional system was felt from the very beginning throughout Douglas county
and the gradual development of the schools of the count}-, as a result thereof,
has been a matter of course, the high-minded men and women who took
the lead in school matters, as well as in the general social matters of this
communit}- in an early day, having built very wisely and very well a founda-
^/r5f -«^<^>i<?^^ 'Ve^^e.
HI-: .
. A.
JAMES (Ar.lX, ON
THE WEST SlIOKE (IK LAKE AIJX
:s.
w
riiK
FIIiST SCHOOL IX
ALIOXAXDiaA IS SA1I> TO IIAX'E
r.i'
EX
TATiiHT I
tv .MISS .lAXviEi; IX iscn.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 21/
tion upon which today rests the county's excellent school system, one of the
most effectively organized in this part of the state.
THE county's school SYSTEM EPITOMIZED.
Included in the one hundred and two districts which comprise the sys-
tem of public schools in Douglas county are two high schools, one at Alex-
andria and one at Osakis ; two graded schools, each doing two years of
high-school work and a course in manual training, at Evansville and Bran-
don; nine semi-graded schools and eighty-nine rural schools, with free uni-
form text books throughout the county, except in one district. Every school
has a library. All rural schools except three receive state aid, and nearly
all teachers have had special normal training. Five districts are known
as consolidated districts and ' transport pupils living more than two miles
from school, these districts being those at Alexandria, Osakis, Melby, Mil-
tona and Nelson. Graduation exercises for the rural schools are held
annually at the county seat, the class of 1916 numbering fifty- four, and
graduates from the graded and rural schools are admitted to the high schools.
Industrial education along the lines of agriculture, sewing and cooking, is
successfully taught in the graded and rural schools and an annual county
industrial contest is held in connection with the county fair, where the work
and products of these schools are exhibited, there being large enrollments
in the corn, potato, pig and bread contests.
The high school at Alexandria was one of the first ten high schools
in the state to introduce the teaching of agriculture, and the district now
maintains a ten-acre farm for the use of the pupils in both the grade school
and in the high school. The Alexandria high school also maintains special
departments, for w^hich state aid is provided, such as agriculture, manual
training, domestic science and art, commercial and normal training, and
music also is taught. The high school at Osakis, though not numbering
so many pupils, has the same departments and is doing excellent work, as
are the graded and semi-graded schools in the county. The system of super-
vision of the schools compels a high standard of competency oin the part
of the teaching corps and Douglas county boasts of a highly trained and
very competent force of teachers, practically all of whom hold first-grade
certificates. With the improvement in the curriculum and in the methods
of teaching in recent years there also has come a wonderful improvement
in the manner of construction of school houses, all the newer school build-
ings in the county being built along modern lines with respect to sanitation
2l8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIKS, MINNESOTA.
and for the better comfort of the pupils, every effort being made to render
the school as attractive a spot as possible, bringing it more and more in
hannon\- with the home and at the same time dexeloping it as a social
center of large influence throughout the entire district.
ALEXANDRIA CITY SCHOOLS.
In connection with the ceremonies incident to the dedication of the
present magnificent high-school building at Alexandria in the spring of
1916, a brief sketch of the history of the Alexandria schools was read by
R. C. Bondurant, of the Alexandria Post-News, who, as pupil, teacher, patron
or school officer of the Alexandria schools, had enjoyed exceptional oppor-
tunities for observation of the gradual development of the same. In opening
his review, Mr. Bondurant pointed out that it had been a diflrcult task to
trace the earliest history of the school district. Old records, if any, had
been .destroyed, but, fortunately, his access to the early files of the old
Alexandria Post and correspondence with friends of the early days had
enabled him to prepare what is regarded locally as the most accurate history
of the schools of the county seat of Douglas county that has ever been
compiled.
The first school in the district was taught, probably, by Miss Janvier
in. 1861, in a little log cabin, the home of J. A. James, near where IMajor
von Baumbach's residence now stands on the west side of Lake Agnes. It
is claimed that Miss Olive Darling also taught in that building in 1865.
The next school was taught in the old stockade, a small log building being
used to accommodate the few pupils who attended. It seems that three
women taught in the stockade, Mrs. Haynes probably having been the first.
Miss Kate Piatt, who later became Mrs. W. H. Cowing, was the second,
and Miss Wright, of St. Cloud, also taught there. The first school up town
was taught in the winter of 1867-68 by Miss Anna Worthington, the
school room having Ijeen on the second floor of the old court-house building,
which in later years was occupied by N. P. Ward as a grocery store. Miss
Worthington also taught during the following winter and in the winter of
1860-70 there seem to have been two or three teachers, who met with indiffer-
ent success, the first having been a man of the name of \Mlliams, whose
reign was short. Just who fnllowed Williams is nut recalled. It is prob-
able, however, that the third teacher of that winter was Miss Hannah Ben-
nett, daughter of a Methodist preacher. During the summer of 1870 a
short term was taught by Miss Mary Amelia Pye, in an old frame build-
DOUGLAS ANn GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 2I9
ing which stood where the middle portion of the building of the Alexandria
Hardware and Lumber Company now stands.
About that time a change for the better came in the affairs of the
Alexandria school. In July or August of 1869 the first site for a school
house was purchased. A half block of land, a part of the present school
site, was acquired and has since remained the property of district No. 2.
The old Alexandria Post records the fact that on Saturday, March 26, 1870,
a school meeting was held for the purpose of electing school officers.
Eighty votes were cast at that election and John McLeod was elected direc-
tor : Smith Bltiomfield, clerk, and F. B. Van Hoesen, treasurer. 'Sir. Bloom-
field was later county superintendent and Mr. Van Hoesen was for many
years a member of the school board.
In the spring of 1870 work on the first school building in Alexandria
was commenced. The Alexandria Post of November 12, 1870, says of that
building: "It is 44 by 24 feet on the ground, and about 24 feet from the
ground to the eaves. The pitch of the roof is one-third. The frame is of
oak. The studding, 2 by 5 ; the joists, 2 by 8. It is filled with grout to
the top of plate of first story. The sheeting, flooring and lining are of
basswood — the siding also, and carefully dressed. There is a porch in front,
nine feet wide — six feet projection and eight feet posts, the roof, pitch and
cornice correspond with the main building. There is a hall-way. or vesti-
bule, in the lower stor}-. formed by running a partition across the building
eight feet from the entrance. This leaves a lower room 35 by 22 feet ten
inches, and 10 feet 6 in the clear. This room is ceiled with matched pine
flooring three feet from the ground. It is lighted by six twelve-lighted
windows, size of glass, 10 by 8. The vestibule is lighted by two windows of
same description. The upper room is 43 feet by 22 feet 10 inches, of same
height as the lower room, and is lighted by eleven windows. Of these, there
is a central front, sixteen-lighted, with a circle head ; two front side windows,
twelve-lighted, size of glass, 10 by 16, and four on either side of .same descrip-
tion.
The Post of the same date says of the teacher who taught the first term
of school in the new building: "Miss M. Frank Reynolds, a graduate of the
Winona Normal School and a teacher of experience and ability, has been ap-
pointed to the charge of the school during the winter term. School will com-
mence on Monday morning next, 15th instant, at 8>4 o'clock." The follow-
ing from the same issue of the Post should be of interest. "With such a
buiUling to instruct in, and with a teacher who is entitled to our confidence,
let us help the excellent cause by showing our interest in the work of educa-
220 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
tion and by that co-operation and assistance in the households, without which
the efforts of the best of teachers will meet with very partial success." This
lady was the daughter of Judge Reuben Reynolds and a sister of George H.
Reynolds, one-time attorneys of Alexandria.
About 1872 the second floor of the new building was furnished as a
school room and two teachers were employed. .\ Mr. \\'illis was hired as
principal and Miss Kate McClellan taught the primary pupils. These two
teachers remained until the school closed in the spring of 1873. From that
time on there is a complete list of principals and superintendents, which will
be given later. In the summer of 1876 a "twin" building to the first one was
erected about one hundred feet to the east. That fall one room in the new
building was used. In 1878 the second floor of the new building was finished
and four teachers were employed, Miss Mary Gunderson (Mrs. F. B. Yan
Housen) being the principal. About 1882 the schools became so crowded
that one of the rooms in the old building was divided into two rooms. Also
about that time the Norwegian Lutheran church was rented and used as a
school room, this making the employment of six teachers necessary. In the
summer of 1883, what is now known as the old high school building was
erected. John Alton having the contract. Just the two floors of this latter
Iniilding were used for school purposes, they being considered ample for
some time. The school grew faster than the town, however, and in 1888,
the Ward school was opened and continued for several years, during the later
years with two teachers. After being closed for some time, that building was
reopened in 1910 with one teacher, .\l30ut that time two routes for trans-
pcirting pupils were established, one north and one to the west. In 191 1 the
district came under the consolidation act, and the Ward building was closed
and three other routes established. The Washington building had been
thought large enough to accommodate the schools for years, but in the course
of a short time they were again crowded and during the summer of igo8 the
old high school building was remodeled, rooms being furnished in the attic
and in the basement, these rooms being added to later until four floors of the
building were crowded.
In 1887, during the superintendency of Mr. Gaines, the school was put
in the high-school class. When the Putnam act went into eft"ect in 1909 a
complete industrial course was added. Sewing and manual training had been
taught during the two years previous and in 1909 the normal and commer-
cial courses were added. In the fall of 1914 the normal department was
crowded out of the school building and quarters were secured in the court
house. That fall the school board began agitation in favor of a new and
modern high school building; bonds were voted on. February 8, 19 15, and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 221
tlie contract was let to the Xational Contracting Company on June 4, 1915.
fortv-five years from the time the first school building in Alexandria was
erected. One of the interesting features of Mr. Bondurant's sketch is a list
of teachers who were at the head of the school from the time of its beginning
in the little log cabin f)n the Baumbach hill. It may be that the order in
which the first three or four teachers is given is not wholly accurate, as the
memory of early settlers had to be depended on for the list and dates and
these individual recollections do not all agree.
Miss Janvier seems to have been the first, teaching in 1861. She was a
sister-in-law of George Kinkaid, one of the townsite proprietors. Whether
Olive Darling or Mrs. Haynes is the next in order, is a question, Miss Darl-
ing probably having the honor. Then came Miss Piatt and Miss Wright,
Mrs. Ha3-nes, Miss Piatt and Miss Wright having taught in the stockade.
Then came Miss Anna Worthington and a man named Williams, and it is
thought that Miss Hannah Bennett taught a short term, followed by Miss
Pye. The first school building then was occupied, Miss M. Frank Reynolds
having been the first teacher in the same. The heads of the school since that
time have been as follow: Mr. Willis, in the fall of 1872, with Miss Kate
McClellan as primary teacher; J. H. Dunn, in the fall of 1873, Miss Mary
Alden as primary teacher ; A. H. Graham, who came in the fall of 1875 and
taught during the following winter and until his death in the fall of 1876,
A\'. H. Sanders finishing the winter term and J. H. Dunn returning to con-
duct the spring term of 1877, after which C. A. Carson taught until Christ-
mas, 1877, when W. H. Sanders again took charge; Miss Mary Gunderson,
in the winter of 1878-79; C. E. Norton, beginning the term of 1879, to be
succeeded by J. W. Chaney, who finished the same; C. J. Gunderson, term of
1880-81; Joel N. Childs, 1881, remaining two years, during which time the
school increased to six rooms, H. H. Kingsley and C. L. Greenough follow-
ing, each remaining one year; A. D. Gaines, fall of 1885, remaining five years,
a period of progress for the school; J. H. Manchester, one year, succeeded
by J. E. Phillips, who remained diree years, after which followed John
Cranston, C. F. W. Carlson and W. P. Dyer, under the latter of whom the
industrial and normal departments were added: C. S. Yeager, 1910-11, fol-
lowed by J. B. Hagen, who remained two years, at the end of which time he
was succeeded by F. M. Yockey, the present superintendent.
CLERKS OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
The clerks of the school districts in Douglas county for the current year
(1916) are as follow: Xo i, J. P. Olson, Osakis; 2,. A. A. Urness, Alex-
222 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
andria; 3, Sylvester Chase, Forada: 4, Emil Gulbranson, Farwell ; 5, J- O.
Brandon. Kensington; 6, Henry A. Dau, Alexandria; 7. Aug. J. Alechels,
Alexandria; A. Alfred Foslien, Garfield; 9, Fred Sweet, Alexandria; 10,
Otto T. Olson, Xelson; 11, A. A. Rooney, Osakis; 12, Mary A. Pollard,
Osakis; 13, Reinhold Roth, Alexandria; 14, Chas. Danek, Lowry; 15, Emil
E. Gahlon, Xelson; 16, Albert Covel, Alexandria; 17, John A. Xorgren,
Garfield; 18, Peter Cassell, Alexandria; 19, Frank Radii, Alexandria; 20,
W". R. Guiles, Farwell; 21, Chas. Robertson, Osakis; 2t,, Walter C. Havens,
Garfield; 24, T. J. Barros, Alexandria; 25, Eug. Korkowski, Brandon; 26,
Alfred Strand Evansville; 2/. Ole J. Holm, Kensington; 28, John Kelly,
Garfield; 29, E. O. Steen, Farwell; 30, E. H. Boerner, Alexandria; 31, C.
W. Aleckstroth, Brandon ; ;3,2, Edward Erickson, Evansville ; ^t,. M. G.
Dockham, Osakis; 34, Frank Buscher, Brandon; 35, T. O. Bakken, Evans-
ville; 36, R. J. \'ickerman, Alexandria; ^,7. John Hopfner, Brandon; 38,
.\lbert J. Flor. Ashby ; 39, Peter Beheng, Carlos ; 40, Martin Dahlberg, Xel-
son; 41, Thos. Collins, Osakis; 42, C. O. Colniark, Kensington; 43, Peter
Faber, Parkers Prairie; 44, John Feiguni, Brandon; 45, John P. Edman,
Kensington; 46, John Eggleston, Parkers Prairie; 47. S. M, Carlson, Alex-
andria; 48, John H. Strom, Brandon; 49, X'els Christopherson, Hoffman;
50, Joseph Schlecter, Alexandria; 51, John Sundquist. Eagle Bend; 52, N.
D. Anderson, Evansville; 53, Geo. Freudenberg, Parkers Prairie; Ole O.
Lea, Brandon; 55, Xels A. Johnson, Carlos; 56, J. IM. Prazak, Evansville;
57, H. A. Pries. Evansville; 58, Edwin Johnson. Melby; 59, Chas. Miller,
Garfield; 60, Emil Johnson, Alexandria; 61. Chas. G. Olson, Garfield; 62,
P. L. Blank, Carlos; 63, John Johnsrud, Kensington; 64, Frank Pexsa,
Carlos; 65, Albert Engstrand, Carlos; 66, Frans Anderson, Carlos; 67,
Phtiebe Withers. Osakis; 68, C. J. Christopherson, Alexandria; 69, Swan
Anders()n, Alexandria; 70, Henry Oberg, Brandon; 71, X. M. Anderson,
Hoft'man; J2. C. A. Beckman, Evansville; 73, Roy Downing, Parkers Prai-
rie; 74, C. A. Anderson, Alexandria; 75. Chas. Braunscheveig. Alexandria;
76, Frank Schwartz, Evansville; yy, C. J. Lindstrom, Alexandria; -S. EWmg
Ellingson, Hoffman ; 79, A. S. Peterson. Farwell ; 80. Emil J. Wahlstrom.
Kensington; 81, Theo. Johnson, Kensington; 82, Henry Olson, Brandon;
83, J. H. Kapphahn, Osakis; 84, H. J. Marthaler, Osakis; 85. \\"illiam
Bosnian. Osakis; 86, G. E. Willett. Osakis: 87, X. H. Strand, Evansville;
88, Henry Eggen. Garfield; 89, .\. G. Olson, Evansville: 90, L. O. Larson,
Evansville: gi. R. L. Smith, \'illard : 92, AL Clark, Carlos; 93. A. L.
( 'hajiman. .Mexandria; 94, John Tvrdik. .Me.xandria ; 93 J- J- Sursely, Car-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 223
los: 96. Frank Freske, Vining; 97, Albert Roth, Villard; 98, Peter Streed,
Carkos; 99, F. L. Berglin, Garfield; 100, Henry Kloehn, Garfield; 102, R.
A. Johnson, Melby; 103, Chas. F. Schelin, Nelson; 104, Aaron Edman,
Evansville.
TEACHERS OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
The teachers in these several districts for the term 1 916-17 were as
follow: No. I, Superintendent E. N. Hamilton; 2. Superintendent F. INI.
Yockey; 3, Elvira Flint; 4, Fanny Lehto; 5, Jennie Halverson; 6, Hattie
Werline; 7, Susan Thirmesch: 8, Eunice Landa ; 9, Tessie Mcllravie; 10,
Lydia Johnson; 11, Anna A'. Donahue; 13. Mathilda Renner; 14, Sigrid
Johnson; 15, Alinetta Sweet; 16, Myrtle Parmeter; 17, Signe Peterson,
principal. Ellen Sangstead ; 18, Hilda Bostrom ; 19, Meda Drussell; 20,
Peter Xordby, Myrtle Weatherwax ; 21, Alartha Olson; 27,, Clifford Lar-
son; 24. X(ira G. \'iker; 2^. Mary \'. Schirber; 26, Alma Moen ; 2j. Rose
Knutsun. Minnie Stenberg; 28, Cathyrn Augustine; 29, Frankie Xelson;
30. Minnie I. Johnson; 31, Mr. Hawley. principal, Jennie Beckman, Clara
Xelson. Esther Erickson ; 7,2. AJinnie Johnson; t,^. Bessie Lowrv; 34, ;\Iar-
garet E. Lawler; 35, Mary Xorem ; 36, Grace Franklin; ^y, Lillian Erick-
son; 38, Clara Tweeten; 39, Mary Palmer; 40. Rose Xelson; 41, Emma
Feda; 42, Grace Bondurant. principal, Lillian Johnson, Alphild Lund; 44,
Jennie Barsness; 45, Ernest Olson, principal, Amelia Nelson; 46, .\nna
Owen; 47, Nettie McFarlane; 48, Isabelle .\ngus; 49, Constance Erickson;
50. .\nna G. Olson; 51, Hazel Johnson; 52. Elizabeth Swenson; 53, Cecelia
Donahue, Christine Ekman; 54. Ehera Johnson; 55, Jacob Bixby, principal,
Freda Dahlstrom; 56, Mamie Tamble ; 57. Herman Steubner, principal; 58,
Alma Gradin; 59, Edith Anderson; 60; Olive Olson; 61. X'ictor Ostlund,
principal, Mrs. Xelson; 62, Margaret Julig; 63, Louise Tax; 64, .\melia
Feda; 65, Ellen L. Hedin ; 66, Hannah Clark; 67, Esther Lee; 68, Myrtle
Olson; 69, Agnes Dahlstrom; 70, Mary Jacobson; 71, Petra Reckadahl;
72, Teckla Anderson; yT,. Carrie Smith; 74. Ellen Anderson; 75, Alice
Modahl; 76, Ruth Werner; yy, Clara Larson; 78, Alma Westerberg; 80,
Xettie Maroney; 81, Jennie Larson; 82, Edna Sweet; 83, Mabel Brink-
man; 85, Helen Schmid; 86. Frances Blakeslee; 87, Bertha Norem; 88,
Helga Knutson ; 89, Olga Anderson ; 90, Clara Olson ; 92, Margaret Tav-
lor; 93, Edna M. Anderso" • 94, Ino Cowing; 97, Mabel Palmer; 98, Myrtle
Benn, principal, Airs. Be....ie Swetland; 99. Edith Hanson; 100. Elvera
Engstrom, principal; 102. George Hanson, principal, Cecil Rinehart ; 10:;,
Ralph Borman, principal.
CHAPTER XII.
Churches of Douglas County.
No definite history of the earHest religious services held in the beautiful
lake region now comprised within the boundaries of Douglas county is avail-
able, but it is known, as a matter of tradition, that unorganized services were
held from time to time in the groves or in the humble homes of the earliest
settlers by itinerant preachers long before there was any definite church organ-
• ization in the county, Congregationalist services having been held in the
Gregory cabin as early as 1859. Though not the first church to file its articles
of incorporation, it is pretty clearly established that th'e Congregational church
at Alexandria was the first formal church organization in the county ; having
been organized in December, 1867, though the claim is made that the church
erected by the Methodists at Alexandria was the first church building erected
in that city. That was in the fall of 1868 and the church stood just west of
the present church building, near where the parsonage now stands, adjoining
the church, which stands on the northwest corner of Sixth avenue and F
street, just one square west of the business center of the citv. With char-
acteristic liberality the Methodists permitted the use of their church build-
ing to other denominations which soon sought to effect organizations in
Alexandria and the old church thus was the point of beginning for several
others of the churches of Alexandria. None of the charter members of the
Methodist church is still living and no full records of the early days of
Methodism thereabout are now available, such information as the present
congregation has regarding the early days having come from the recollec-
tions of the late John Bondurant, a pioneer of the church, a record of whose
narratives were carefully penned by the Rev. J. M. Brown, during the time
of the latter's pastorate at Alexandria, 1895-1900.
CHURCHES INCORPORATED IN COUNTY.
Tliough tlie Methodist church at Alexandria may have been the first to
effect a formal organization it was not the first to file its articles of incor-
poration, that distinction being accorded the First Methodist Episcopal church
of Osakis, the record of whose incorporation opens the record of incorpora-
SWEDISH LUTIIEIiA.N CllUliClI, ALEXAMJKIA
METHODIST EI'ISCOPAL t'lIlKCH, ALEXANDUIA.
co\(;i;e(;ati().\al riirui'ii, alexaxduia.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 225
tions in Douglas county, the first page of Book A of the record of incorpora-
tions for that county carrying the following :
"We, Charles Griswold, presiding elder; F. H. Tubbs, preacher in
charge; L. H. Webster, E. F. Chase and Marquis Bowhall, stewards, and
Simon Coons, class leader of the congregation accustomed to attend divine ■
worship at Osakis in the county of Douglas and state of Minnesota cele-
brated under the ministration and jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal
church, said officers constituting the quarterly conference of said church at
and for the said town of Osakis, do hereby certify that we, the said officers
in said c[uarterly conference, assembled at the school house in West Union
in the county of Todd, in said state, on the 24th day of February, A. D.
1869, did and hereby do, in conformity to the constitution, rules and usages
of the Methodist Episcopal church and by virtue of the authority in us
vested by said constitution and rules, and in pursuance of Section eighty-
eight (88) of Chapter thirty-four (34) of the General Statutes of Minne-
sota, appoint and constitute Simon Coons, Lemuel H. Webster, William B.
Glover, Esdore F. Chase, Harlow F. Curtis, Donald Stevenson and Michael
H. Coons trustees of the said church and congregation at the said town of
Osakis by the corporate name of The First Alethodist Episcopal Church of
Osakis, by which name the said trustees and their successors shall, as a cor-
poration, forever hereafter be called and known. In testimony whereof we
hereunto subscribe our names and affix our seals the 24th day of February,
A. D. 1869. Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of James Chambers,
Elias G. Pike, King E. Bohall, Charles Griswold, presiding elder; F. H.
Tubbs, preacher in charge ; L. H. Webster, steward ; C. F. Chase, steward ;
M. Bohall, steward : Simon Coons, class leader, of the Methodist Episcopal
church at Osakis, IMinnesota."" This article of incorporation was attested
by James Chambers, notary public, and was filed for record in the office of
the register of deeds of Douglas county on October 18, 1869, at 9 o'clock
a. m.
About this time began that notable influ.x of immigration of the Scan-
dinavian peoples to this section of Minnesota and the next congregation to
file articles of incorporation in the office of the register of deeds of Douglas
county was the Swedish Evangelical Falun Congregation of the town of
Osakis, which was organized at a meeting held at the house of John Johnson,
James Alagny. president, and Leonard Forsgren, secretary, the congrega-
tion at that meeting electing Adam Anderson, Peter Lundgren and Peter
Hanson, trustees. This second article of incorporation was filed for record
on April 19, 1872.
(15)
226 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Seventy-three distinct congregations have filed articles of incorix)ration
in the ofiice of the register of deeds of -Douglas county. Of course not all
of these congregations are now existent, not a few of them having dis-
banded for one reason or another and some others having merged with other
.congregations, giving up their own separate identity, but the larger part of
them are still continuing and flourishing, the religious needs of the people
of the county being provided for by no fewer than fifty- four church organ-
izations conveniently located in the towns and rural neighborhoods through-
out the county, and nearly all are supplied with comfortable and tasteful
houses of worship. These societies comprise the following: Congrega-
tional, one ; Episcopal, one ; Adventist, one ; Plymouth Brethren, one ; Meth-
odist Episcopal, two; Free Methodist, two; Presbyterian, four; Swedish
Baptist, two; Swedish Mission, three, and thirty-two Lutheran churches, as
follow : Danish, one ; Finnish, one ; Norwegian Free church, one ; United
and Synod Norwegian, ten ; Swedish, thirteen, and German, six. The Cath-
olic churches number five and in most of these services are held in both
English and German. A prominent and valuable feature of most of these
societies is a well organized and well attended Sunday school, with a County
Sunday School Association uniting them f(ir mutual benefit and support.
NAMES OF THE VARIOUS CONGREGATIONS.
Following will be given a brief summary of the organization of the
various church congregations which make up the list of seventy-three above
referred to. This list is made up from the record of incorporations in the
register of deed's office and is set out in the order in which the articles of
incorporation were filed, not in the order in which the various congregations
were organized ; for it is noted that many of the congregations did not incor-
porate until long after they had been well established as definite religious
bodies, having substantial houses of jvorship and holding regular services.
The first two congregations to file articles of incorixiration have been noted
above. The next was that of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Park-
ers Prairie, which was organized at a meeting held at the house of Benjamin
Roadruck, in the township of Leaf Valley, November 13, 1872, Benjamin
Roadruck, Albert Tull and Cyrus Smith being elected trustees of the con-
gregation.
On July I, 1872, "the male persons of full age belonging to the reli-
gious society heretofore known as the Norwegian Evangelical church of
Evansville and vicinity" met at the house of P. Ohlson in the town of Evans-
ville and elected Thomas Bordson. John Davidson and P. Ohlson as trustees.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 227
On June 3, 1872, the congregation of the Norwegian Evangelical Luth-
eran church of Moe, Solem, Grant and Alexandria met at the parsonage of
the church of Moe and elected John Arneson, Charles Peterson, Ole Endre-
son, Roar Benson, Ole E. Lien, Ole Thompson and Lorentz Johnson, trustees,
the articles of incorporation being signed by Ole Amundsen and Andrew J.
Urness.
On May 20, 1872, the "F"irst Congregational Church and Society of
Alexandria" was incorporated at a meeting held in the church theretofore
occupied by said society in Alexandria by the election of William E. Hicks,
George F. Sims and Robert C. McNeil as trustees.
On March 25, 1872, at a meeting held at the school house at Osakis,
professors of the Baptist faith organized a congregation of that communion
and elected L. Fail, Rollin Sanderson, John Daesusha, Charles Gilbert and
A. Doesing. trustees, the Rev. William M. Wells and Abram Doering attest-
ing the minutes of the meeting.
On June 17, 1872, the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church at
Pelican Lake adopted a constitution and elected Jan G. Llalt, Aslak Gunder-
son and Ole P. Bowerset, trustees, the articles of incorporation being attested
by T. Nettleson, chairman, and Knut Melby, secretary.
The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church of Ida was incorporated
on November 5, 1874, by the election of Martin Nelson, Amund Bjorga and
August Olson as trustees, the articles of incorporation being signed by Gil-
bert Brackken and Gudbrand Anderson.
At a meeting held at the home of x\ndrew Olson at Alexandria on
October 6, 1875, the congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran church of
Alexandria incorporated by electing Ole H. Nelson, David Anderson and
Andrew Olson as trustees, the articles of incorporation being signed by
Chr. Sangstad and David Anderson.
On September 21, 1875, at a meeting held at the home of L. K. Aaker,
the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church of Alexandria was incorporated
by the election of C. M. Hanson, L. K. Aaker and John Sundblad as trustees,
the articles of incorporation being signed by L. Johnson and Thorns Oadson.
On February 7, 1876, at a meeting in the town of Lake Mary those in
that vicinity holding to the profession of the United Brethren in Christ, incor-
porated under the corporate name of the United Brethren in Christ by elect-
ing John Robinson, Robert McClellan, George Ingersol, Eyar Langdon and
H. Laufman, trustees.
At a meeting held at the home of A\'illiam M. Wills at Alexandria on
228 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
April 22", 1876, the First Regular Baptist church of Alexandria was incor-
porated by the election of John McFarland, John O. Lindquist and William
McAboy as trustees.
At a meeting held at the school house in district Xo. 15 in the township
of Osakis on March 27. 1877, "Our Lord's Scandinavian Evangelical Luth-
eran Church of the Town of Osakis Under Authority of the Wisconsin
Synod" was incorporated by the election of M. J. Kyed, P. T. Peterson and
L. Solum as trustees, the articles of incorporation being attested by Jacob
Anderson and A. I. Stadstad.
The Christian Lake church, which had existed since the year 1871, held
a meeting in the school house in district No. 58, Lund township, on May 10,
1877, and incorporated by the election of Christian Nilsson, Ole Wahlin and
Daniel Anderson as trustees, the congregation adopting a constitution in
conformity with that used and recommended by the Swedish Augustana
Synod, Andover, Illinois.
At a meeting held at the house of S. A. Sandberg on ^lay 17, 1869,
the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church of Ida was incorporated by the
election of A. Sandstedt, C. G. Johnson and Charles Johnson as trustees.
The meeting was presided over by the Rev. S. F. Westerdahl, chairman, and
P. G. Anderson was secretary.
On June 12, 1877, at a meeting held at the house of Peter E. Julin in
the township of Moe, the congregation of the Finns church of Holmes City
lake was incorporated by the election of Peter E. Julin, John W^atson Lehto
and Herman Jacobson as trustees.
On June 10, 1878, at a meeting held at the house of Frank Engstran,
the Svenska Lutherska Augustana Synod Forsamlingen in Spruce Hill was
incorporated by the election of Ole Johnson, Frank Egstran and Erik Nelson
as trustees, the articles of incorporation l^eing attested by Axel Peterson and
N. P. Hegblad.
At a meeting held at the house of Lewis Hanson in the town of Osakis
on February 19, 1879, the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran church of
Osakis, which was organized on October 2, 1873, was incorporated by the
election of Hans Jenson, Knud Smith and Peder Boeson as trustees, the
articles of incorporation being attested by Ole Thompson and Elling Hal-
grinson.
On July 28, 1879, at a meeting held in the village of Osakis, Our Lord's
Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran church of Osakis was incorporated
bv the election of J. P. Simonson, Jens Lyseng and Ole Broughton as trus-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 229
tees, the articles of incorporation being attested by J. P. Simonson, Martin.
Rasmuson and Ole Broughton.
At a meeting at the home of G. Klatt on August 25, 1879, the persons
attached to the Alexandria Mission of the Evangelical Association of North
America incorporated the Salem church of the Evangelical Association. The
meeting was called to order by the Rev. E. F. Movius and Fr. Kurell, Sr.,
Aug. Kruger and G. Klatt were elected trustees.
At a meeting held in the Union church at Osakis on March 25, 1879,
Rev. F. X. \\'alcott, chairman, and Thomas Bolles, clerk, the Union Religi-
ous Society was incorporated by the election of Harvey Mills, Chester S.
Boss and William H. Sevens as trustees.
On April 23, 1878, at a meeting held in the school house on section 11,
Solem township, the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church in Solem was
incorporated by the election of Paul Nilson, R. Bentson and Paul Larson as
trustees, the articles of incorporation being attested by \\\ S. Stadstad and
Christian Olsen.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Evansville was
incorporated at a meeting held on February 3, 1883, by the election of
Anders Johnson, John Bylander, C. B. Johnson and C. J. Johnson as trustees.
The congregation of the First Swedish Baptist church of Alexandria
met at the American Baptist church in Alexandria on January i, 1883, and
with the Rev. Martin Dahlquist as chairman and N. A. Peterson as clerk
incorporated by electing John Leverson, John Falk, John Jern, N. A. Peter-
son and Martin Dahlquist as trustees.
The Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Evansville was incorporated
as the Swedish Lutheran Zionsborg Congregation on May 6, 1885, by the
election of Ole Alberts, Per Erickson and Erick T. Malmgren as trustees.
At a meeting held on Octoljer 20, 1886, the Swedish Evangelical Church
Svea of Alexandria was incorporated by the election of M. Lungren, N. J.
Johnson, A. P. Erickson, Andrew Peterson and C. H. Larson as trustees.
John E. Hedberg was chairman of the meeting and J. E. Peterson, clerk.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Association of Oscar Lake was
incorporated at a meeting held on June 30, 1885, Lars Fahlin, John Matson
and H. L. Lewis being elected trustees, the articles of incorporation being
attested In- C. G. Johnson and C. .\. Peterson.
The first board of trustees of the First Baptist Society of Alexandria
was elected on May 18, 1885, A. R. Campbell, John McFarlane and N. L.
Page being thus elected, the articles of incorporation Ijeing attested by C. B.
Rockwell, chairman, and John A. ^McKav. clerk.
230 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COCNTIES, MINNESOTA.
At a meeting held on January 15, 1887. the Swedish Evangelical Luth-
eran Church Lekvalten of Holmes City was incorporated, the chairman of
the meeting being John E. Hedberg; clerk, S. O. Hegenius, and the trustees
elected, John Smith, John Bergstrom, Olaf O. Sodergren and John Backelin.
The constitution of the Ebenezer church of the Evangelical Lutheran
Congregation of the L'naltered Augsburg Confession of Leaf \"alley. incor-
porated, was tiled for record, January 24, 1887, the articles of incorporation
being signed by Christian Froeming, Carl Grosenick. William Schmidt and
August Hertig.
A certificate of election of trustees of the First Baptist church of Alex-
andria, signed by Rev. Thomas S. Eigelberner, chairman, and L. S. Kaiser,
clerk, and filed for record on May 20, 1887, certified to the election of L. S.
Kaiser, Almon Morse, John McFarlane and Robert AIcFarlane as trustees.
The St. Petre Norsk Evangelical Lutheran Alenighed in the village of
Brandon was incorporated on January 23, 1888, the incorporators being
Johan O. Berg, Board Solberg, Ole Enderson, E. Engebrightson, Niels Niel-
sen and Engebret Torkelson, with the following officers : President, Johan
O. Berg; secretary, Ole Enderson; treasurer. Board Solberg; trustees, Ole
Enderson, Board Solberg, Johan O. Berg, Niels Nielson, Engebret Torkel-
son and E. Engebrigtson.
At a meeting held in the court house hall on May 5. 1888, at which E.
Hallgren was chairman and Ole Olson, clerk, the Swedish Baptist church of
Alexandria was incorporated by the election of Nils Peterson, John Severt-
son and John H. Broms as trustees.
The Eastern Moe Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church in section
I in the township of ^loe, at a meeting held in that church on November 8,
1886, presided over by L. Carlson, chairman; George R. Botner, clerk; was
incorporated by the election of Syvert J. \'ibstad, Theodore Thompson and
Carl J. Peterson as trustees.
At a meeting held on April 3, i88g, at the residence of P. J. Vickstrand
on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 30 of La Grand
township. Nils Anderson, chairman, and Emil Johnson, clerk, the Svenska
Kristna Forsamlingen of La Grand township was incorporated by the election
of P. J. \'ickstrand, Nils Anderson and Emil Johnson as trustees.
The Free Methodist church of Alexandria was incorporated on April 2"/,
1889, at a meeting presided over by William H. Black; AL F. Childs. clerk;
William H. Black, J. W. Glines and V. D. Nichols being elected trustees.
At a meeting held at the church of that congregation on May 16, 1889,
L. Johnson, chairman, and Nils Ekblad, clerk, the Swedish Evangelical
DOUdLAS AND GRAXT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 23I
Lutheran Fryksande church of Urness was incorporated by the election of
Nils Ekblad, John R. Randstedt and Nils J. Lindstrom as trustees.
The Svenska Kristna Missions Forsamlingen in the town of Id'a was
incorporated on February 8, 1890, at a meeting held at the residence of J. E.
Norgren on the northeast quarter of section 29 of that township, A. G. Berg-
strom, chairman, and Erick Johnson, clerk, and A. G. Bergstrom, Emil
Peterson and John Johnson being elected trustees.
The First Congregational church of O&akis was incorporated on May
20, 1890, the articles of incorporation being signed by C. N. Armstrong,'
Frances A. Sargent and Lizzie G. Armstrong.
At a meeting held in the school house in Evansville on August 6, 1890,
the congregation of the Presbyterian church there, Rev. James Godward,
chairman, and Charles L. Thomson, clerk, was incorporated by electing Will-
iam Beach, Christ Nelson and John Kron as trustees.
Den Svenska Kristna Forsamlingen of Spruce Hill at a meeting held
at the residence of Mary Peterson in the northeast corner of the northeast
quarter of the northeast quarter of section 29 on November 21, 1890, Frans
Anderson, chairman, and Andrew Larson, clerk, was incorporated by the
election of Andrew Larson, Alfred Lingren and Joseph Johnson, trustees.
The First Free Methodist church of Alexandria was incorporated at a
meeting held at the parsonage of that church on March 28, 1891, Richard
Boothroyd, chairman, and John W. Glines, clerk, Jacob Roth, Richard
Boothroyd, Elizabeth Covel and Elmira Glines being elected trustees.
At a meeting held on April 2, 1891, C. Aeberle, chairman, and Carl
Brockopp, clerk, the Evangelical Lutheran Zions Congregation of the LTn-
altered Augsburg Confession was incorporated, the articles of incorporation
being signed by C. Aeberle, C. Brockopp, W. Lemke, M. Haberer, J. Stoppel,
Carl Schulke, Carl Beltz and Andrew Roth.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church Society of Osakis, at a meeting
held at the church of that society at Osakis on November 11, 1891, W. B.
Hill, chairman, and Euphemia Imre, clerk, was incorporated by the election
of W. B. Hill, Randall Perkins, Samuel Johnson and G. L. Fry as trustees.
At a meeting held on April 4, 1892, Frank Johnson, chairman, and
Mattis Clark, clerk, the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church of Spruce
Hill was incorporated by the election of Frank Johnson, Peter Hanson and
A. Osterberg as trustees.
The Emanuels Church of the Evangelical Association of North America
at Alexandria was incorporated at a meeting held on June 17, 1895. A- H-
232 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
Utzinger, president, and Mrs. Rosa Zimmerman, secretary, August Engel,
Frank Griebenow and Gustav Klatt being elected trustees.
The German Evangelical St. Michael's church on section 8 in the town-
ship of Carlos, was incorporated at a meeting held at that church on July 8,
1896, Herman F. Miller, chairman, and August Leucke, secretary, Frederick
Kitzman, August Leucke and August Blank being elected trustees.
The Evangelical Lutheran Emmanuel Congregation of the L'naltered
Augsburg Confession at Carlos was incoqxjrated at a meeting held on
February 16. 1897, A. Bartz, chairman, and J. Schwerttiger, secretary.
The Swedish Evangelical Mission church of Christina Lake was incor-
porated at a meeting held at the residence of Olaf Larson in Lund township
on July 6, 1897, N. D. Anderson, chairman, and M. Thornberg, secretary,
George Larson, Frederick Olson and X. D. Anderson being elected trustees.
The Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Emaus Congregation of Osakis
was incorporated on July 30, 1898, J. P. Simonson, James P. Johnson, X. P.
Jacobson, Lars Christenson, Andrew Johnson, E. H. Erickson, C. W. Lar-
son, R. J. Simonson, C. P. Hanson, T. W. Schleppergril, Soren Hanson,
Lars Jacobson, Karl Berry, R. P. Clauson, Peter Larson and P. J. Stenmore
signing the articles of incorporation; J. P. Simonson, president; James P.
Johnson, secretary-; Erick Erickson, treasurer, and C. P. Hanson. Soren
Hanson and N. P. Jacobson, trustees.
At a meeting held in the school house in district 30 of Carlos township,
June 19, 1899, the Union Church Society of Carlos was incorporated, Will-
iam A. Wheeler acting as chairman of the meeting, H. F. ]\Iiller as clerk and
J. O. Stedje, H. F. Miller. August Blank, Parnell Atkinson. William A.
Wheeler and Mathias Junt being elected trustees.
The Union Church Society of Hudson was incorporated at a meeting
held in the school house of district No. 6, Hudson township, June 26, 1899,
G. J. Strang, chairman, and Fred C. Meade, secretary, F. M. Dille, M. D.
Fredenberg, Herbert Boyd, S. S. Pratt and J. J. Brown being elected as
trustees.
The Catholic church of the Immaculate Conception at Osakis, in the
diocese of St. Cloud, was incorporated on August i. 1899, the articles of
incorporation being signed by James Trobec, bishop; Edward J. Xagl. \icar
general; P. Ildephonse Molitor, O. S. B., pastor in charge; and \Mlliani
Shinners and Sylvester Housen, lay members of the congregation.
At a meeting held at the dwelling house of Andrew Knudson on sec-
tion 21, township 127, range 39, H. Jenson, minister; Andrew Knudson,
chairman, and Torgal Xordby, clerk, the Bethesda Society, a religious society,
DOUGLAS ANP GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 233
was incorporated by the election of Emer O. Steen, Ole Steen and Torgal
Xordby as trustees.
The Catholic church of Our Lady of Seven Dolors at Millerville was
incorporated on November 2"^, 1899, the articles of incorporation being
signed by James Trobec, bishop of the diocese of St. Cloud ; Edward Nagl,
vicar general ; Alois Raster, pastor in charge, and Michael Kelly and J. C.
Drexler, la}' members of the congregation.
St. Mary's Catholic church of Alexandria was incorporated on February
2J, 1900, the articles of incorporation being signed by James Trobec, bishop
of the diocese of St. Cloud ; Edward J. Nagl, vicar general ; Otto Weisser,
pastor in charge, and Adam J. Renner and Mathias N. Kroll, lay members of
the congregation.
At a meeting held in the dwelling house of John W. Johnson in the
east half of the northwest quarter of section 't^T)^ township 128, range 39,
the same being the township of Moe, Abraham Hogana, chairman, and John
M. Johnson, clerk, the Suomalainen Ewankelis-Lutherilainen Kansallisseu-
rakunta of the town of Moe was incoqx)rated by the election of Jacob Olson,
John Gustav Hiltunen and Ed. A. Johnson as trustees.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church of Kensington was incor-
porated at a meeting held on February 11, 1901, Rudolph Valkjuist, chair-
man, and Charles Lilyquist, secretary, J. P. Hedberg. Charles Lilyquist and
J. A. \\'edum being elected trustees.
The Evangelical Lutheran Emanuel Congregation of the Lnaltered
Augsburg Confession at Carlos was incorporated at a meeting held on
March 21, 1902, Ferdinand Fiss, chairman, and Albert Schulz, secretar\-, the
articles of incorporation being signed by Ferdinand Fiss, H. Bast, John
P'elton, Gustav Tonn, Ferdinand Zunker, Carl Scheunemann, Herman
Beulke, Albert H. Schulz and W'illiam Zunker.
At a meeting held at the residence of Lars Johnson on Alarch 17, 1903,
Olaf A. Lafgren, chairman, and E. P. Wickstrom, clerk, the Scandinavian
Christian Free Church of Evansville was incorporated by the election of
Sven Person,- A. P. Johnson and Lars Johnson as trustees.
The Evangelical Lutheran Dreieninigkeits Congregation of Millerville
township was incorporated at a meeting held on September 21, 1903, Ernst
Meissner, chairman, and .\lbert Pries, clerk, Adolph Pries, W'ilhelm Klein
and Karl Buse lieing elected trustees.
At a meeting held in the hall at 518 Main street in Alexandria on
December 19, 1905, C. .\. Strandberg, chairman, and George A. Anderson,
clerk, the Scandinavian Free Church of God of Alexandria was incorporated
234 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
by the election of Gottfried Kruger, C'. A. Sternljerg and Albert Kruger as
trustees.
The Catholic church of St. Nicholas of Belle River was incorporated
on February 2, 1910, the articles of incorporation being signed by James
Trobec, bishop of the diocese of St. Cloud; Edward Nagl, vicar general;
Ignatius Tomazin, pastor in charge, and Charles B. Pasch and A. Joseph
Wolters, lay members of the congregation.
On March 19, 1906, Fred Swenson, moderator, and W. AI. Dunnicliff,
clerk, the First Presbyterian church of Garfield was incorporated by the
election of F. L. Robbins, John A. Nelson and W. ^^^ Dunnicliff as trustees.
At a meeting held on May 10, 1879, at the house of Swen Waginius,
Rev. O. Olson, chairman, and Sven Auslund, clerk, the Swedish Evangelical
Lutheran church of Wennesborg in Douglas and Grant counties, was incor-
porated by electing Alartin Peterson, Frick ^Viklund and Sv. Auslund as
trustees.
At a meeting held at the house of Gust M. Johnson on February 24,
1906, Per Hanson, chairman, and Gust M. Johnson, clerk, the Swedish Bap-
tist church of Holmes City was incorporated by the election of Per Hanson,
Gust M. Johnson, Maret Hanson, Ellen Ekstrand and Annie Johnson as
trustees.
The Catholic church of St. Anna of Brandon was incorporated on
February 10, 1909, the articles of incorporation being signed by James
Trobec, bishop of the diocese of St. Cloud; Edward J. Nagl, vicar general;
Paul Kuich, pastor in charge, and August Lehr and Jacob Table, two lay
members.
At a meeting held in the school house at Carlos on April 5, 1909, Scott
Bund}-, moderator, and C. O. Franzen, clerk, the Carlos Presbyterian church
was incorporated by the election of M. E. Smith, James B. Howe, C. O.
Franzen and Scott Bundy as trustees.
The Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Society of Garfield was incor-
porated at a meeting held in the village hall on February 24, 1910, August
Stark, Sr., chairman, and Carl Kloehn, secretary, Fred Berthel, Henry
Wadtke and Fred Wittnebel being elected trustees.
At a meeting held on January 19, 1910. M. B. Juul, president; Carl O.
Augdahl, secretary, and Julius Larson, treasurer, the Brandon Evangelical
Lutheran church was incorporated by the election of Anton Strom, O. F.
Olson and M. Sektnan as trustees.
The First Swedish Baptist church of Spruce Hill was incorporated at a
DOUGLAS ANL' GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 235
meeting held in the home of O. A. Peterson on ^lay 4, 1914, Fred Pahnborg,
chairman, and Nathaniel P. Larson, secretary, O. A. Peterson, Nathaniel P.
Larson and G. A. Erickson being elected trustees.
On August 18, 1914, at a meeting held at the home of .V. Eastman in
E\-ansville, G. R. Anderson, chairman, and S. A. Swenson, secretary, the
First Swedish Baptist church of Evansville was incorporated by the election
of Per Johnson, Mrs. X. P. Johnson and O. Skold as trustees.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
As noted in the introduction to this chapter the house of worship of the
First Methodist Episcopal church of Alexandria was the first church build-
ing erected in that city and from all accounts the first to be erected in Doug-
las county. The Minnesota Conference met at Red Wing in 1867 and at its
business session voted to establish a church at Alexandria, and Rev. William
Bowdish was appointed pastor. The next year the first church building was
erected in Alexandria. It was just west of the present building, near where
the new parsonage now stands. The second pastor appointed to that field
was the Rev. C. F. Kingsland, under whom a revival occurred that greatly
increased the membership of the church. He remained but a year and was
followed by the Rev. H. G. Hilton, who remained two years and during
whose pastorate the first parsonage was built. It still remains at the rear
of the church in the possession of the society. In 1874 the Rev. C. B. Bre-
count was appointed to the Alexandria charge, that having been his first
Minnesota pastorate and under his ministrations there was a large ingather-
ing to the church. Two years later, in 1876, the Rev. G. S. Dorsey became
pastor, the period of his servic? long being remembered as the beginning of
a period of trial and hardship. It was in that year that the grasshopper
scourge swept the fields and starvation stared the people in the face. The
pastor's health failed and he asked to lie released. The financial pressure
became so great that on the retirement of Reverend Dorsey the church doors
were shut and for fifteen months no regular preaching services were held.
Even the Sunday school was finally closed.
LInder the presiding eldership of Reverend Starkey, Rev. S. M. Bron-
son, of Iowa, was secured and placed in charge. He reorganized the society
and placed a new roof on the building. Dark days followed in close succes-
sion until the entire membership were almost disheartened and some favored
closing the church again. But there were, as usual, a few faithful ones, whi).
like the Scotch bugle boy, never had learned to play "retreat," and who per-
236 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
sistently pressed for victory. The Rev. C. T. Barkulo was sent as pastor in
October. 1881. He was a faithful preacher of the Gospel and an earnest,
hard worker, and soon the society was on upgrade again. He was followed
b}' the Rev. S. Snyder who had a stirring re\-ival, thus strengthening the
church very materially. He was followed bv the Rev. J. B. Ogle, a talented
man who was much beloved by his congregation. It was about this time
that tiie church was greatly strengthened by the accession of some prominent
men. possessed of generous hearts and zealous endeavor for Zion. Such men
as J. U. Barnes, William Moses, Robert McCrory. H. A. LeRoy and others,
who of their increasing wealth and worth gave freely to the prosperity of
the church. In the fall of 1887, Rev. Samuel White was appointed pastor
and his ministry was made memorable by a very successful revival and a
new building was decided upon. By the fall of 188S he had the frame of
the new building up, when, contrary to the wishes of the people, he was
removed to another charge.
This proved unfortunate to the society's advance, as it was not until the
coming of the Rev. R. C. Grose in the fall of 1889, that the old debt was
paid off and the building properly enclosed. That building was dedicated on
January 26. 1890. In the fall of 1891, Rev. H. Treglawney became pastor
and was successful in eliminating all indebtedness. Ne.xt was the Rev. C. W.
Lawson who was a careful and untiring shepherd of the flock. He was fol-
lowed by one of the most constructive and eft'ective pastors the church has
had. namely, the Rev. J. M. Brown, now of Grinnell, Iowa. Mr. Brown
ga\e to the church the longest pastorate of any preacher up to that time —
nearly five years. They were years of material improvements and spiritual
growth. The new parsonage was constructed under his supervisi(in, being
until recently the best ministerial home in the Fergus Falls District.
Under the head of "Notes and Comments," there appears this interest-
ing paragraph : "The old church building when no longer needed was sold
to \\'. K. Barnes who started it one winter across Lake Agnes on its way to
his farm on Lake Darling .(now occupied by N. J. Nelson and family) where
it is now used as a barn (where it can truthfully be said, it is "cold as a
l:arn'"). \Mien well on its way over the lake it broke through the ice as
favoring immersion exclusively, or ])rotesting against the indignity put upon
it. There it remained for some time, and was afterwards taken to its desti-
nation."
The foll(jwing is a record of the pastors who have served the Methodist
church at .Alexandria as taken from the official records : ^\'illiam M. Bow-
dish, 1867 to 1868; C. F. Kingsland, 1868 to 1871 ; J. L. Fasig, 1871 to
bOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 237
1872: H. G. Hilton, 1872 to 1874; C. B. Brecount, 1874 to 1876: George
X. Dorsey, 1876: S. M. Bronson. 1878 to October, 1880; F. I. Fisher, 1880;
D. S. Smith, July 1881 to October, 1881 : T. C. Barkuloo, October, 1881, to
1882: S. Snyder, 1882 to March, 1883; J. B. Ogle, April, 1883, to September,
1885: S. D. Kemerer, October, 1885, to 1887; Samuel White, 1887 to 1888;
H. C. Klingel, 1888 to 1889; R. C. Grose, 1889 to 1891 ; C. H. Terglawney,
1891 to 1892: C. \y. Lawson, 1892 to 1895: J. M. Bjown, 1895 to May,
1900; C. \\'. Cullinge, 'Slay, 1900, to June, 1901 ; E. H. Nicholson, June,
1901, to October, 1904; J. G. Crosier, October, 1904, to 1905; R. \\'. \Mlcox,
1905 to 1907; George E. Tindall, 1907 to the present time.
During the present pastorate many difficulties have been met and prob-
lems solved. The material increase of the church has been most encourag-
ing. The old "basement debt" of six hundred dollars at six per cent, interest
has been paid in full, and over one thousand dollars improvements have been
made upon the Iniildings, so that the buildings are all under good repair.
The interior aspect of the church parlor has been greatly enhanced. Two
beautiful memorial windows have been installed in the church to the memories
of Robert McCrory and Mr. and Mrs. William Moses, beloved pioneers of
the church and faithful servants of God, through whose generosity and
untiring zeal the church was sustained in some of its years of severe trials.
During the year 19 15 the budget ran up to over two thousand five hundred
dollars, the largest of any year in the history of the church, except when the
church was dedicated.
The spiritual growth of the church has also paralleled its material in-
crease. Revivals have been held every year and have been the means of
increasing the membership from eighty-four at the commencement of the
present pastorate to one hundred and seventy-three at the present, with
twenty in the pastor's probationer's class. The superintendent of the Sun-
day school is O. L. Solstad; president of Epworth League, Dr. D. E. Whit-
tenberg; president of Ladies' Aid Society, Mrs. T. R. Alton; president of
Woman's Missionary Society, Mrs. L. Madison ; stewards, O. W. Landeen,
George Susens, W. H. Horton, A. F. Storm, C. J. Larson, H. H. Grielaenow.
J. A. Poalson, Mrs. O. W. Landeen, Mrs. S. D. Johnson, ^^Irs. D. L. John-
son, Mrs George Bracken, Mrs. H. N. Doyle; trustees, G. Jesse Strang,
M. R. McArdle, Thomas Cooper, Herman H. Squires, Gus. E. Antlerson,
Fred G. Boomgaarden, George W. Ramsdell. Franklin George, Jacob Luckert.
The Rev. George E. Tindall, present pastor of the church, is also
called to speak at Brandon, Hoffman and Garfield. For three years he pulj-
li.^^hed at Alexandria the Fergus Falls District Methodist, a quarterly ]nilili-
238 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
cation in the interests of the church of that district, and during the twentv-
six years of his ministerial activity in Minnesota, having begun his pastoral
work on May 20, 1890, his first charge having been the church at Ada, has
in other ways been one of the most active ministers of the Methodist church
in this state. Mr. Tindall is a native of Canada and left his old home near
Bradford, Ontario, in 1890. to take up his ministerial caUing in t'his state
and has ever since served in Minnesota, his se\eral charges having been at
Ada, Melrose, Grove Lake, Staples, Long Prairie, Frazee, Aklev, Warren
and Alexandria.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA.
Sometime in the year i860, two years after the advent of the first white
settlers in what is now Douglas county, the Rev. C. S. Harrison, a Congre-
gational missionary, and representative of the American Home Missionary
Society of that denomination, then stationed at Sauk Center, held what is
claimed by some to be the first religious service within the bounds of the
present city of Alexandria and probably of Douglas county. This service
was held in a bedroom of a log house owned bv P. L. Gregors". Mr. Harri-
son probably continued to- come to Alexandria for occasional services for
about six months.
In the winter of 1866 and 1867 Mrs. Theresa T. Hicks and Mrs. Ann
B. Whitcomb, being anxious that the young should have some Christian
training, gathered a little flock together within the old stockade and formed
a Sunday school. In the summer of 1867 the American Home Missionary
Society again became interested through the Minnesota sui>erintendent, Rev.
Richard Hall, and sent Rev. B. F. Haviland to work in this district. On the
14th day of December, 1867, a meeting was held in the court house hall to
consider the propriety of organizing a Congregational church in Alexandria.
The church was duly organized with the following members, who brought
letters from their respective churches. Rev. B. F. Haviland, J. R. Lowell,
S. B. Chikls, Eliza Lowell, L. R. Chi-kls, Ann B. Whitcomb, Antoinette Darl-
ing, L. J. Hobert, H. T. Haviland and Theresa T. Hicks — three males and
seven females. The officers elected were Rev. B. I". Haviland, clerk; J. R.
Lowell, deacon, and S. B. Chikls, treasurer. On April i. 1869, ]\Ir. Havi-
land resigned his charge. The little company were still meeting in the court
hciuse hall for services. George F. Whitcomb was elected clerk.
In the fall of 1868 W. E. Hicks donated a lot for a church and the
people of the village all contributed towards the erection of a new church
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 239
building on the site of the present Methodist Episcopal church and parsonage.
The Methodists had recently formed an organization and the new building
was known as the Methodist church. Upon its completion the Congregation-
alists used it alternately with the Methodists. The first mention found in the
records of meeting in the new church was on June 26, 1869. In July, 1869,
Rev. Reuben Evarts came to x\lexandria to care for the young church and
continued in his work until July, 1871. Little is on record concerning the
work during the two years except that the pastor was to receive seven hun-
dred dollars salar), a part of which was to be paid l)y the Home Missionary
Society. There is no record of any pastor being at work from July, 1871,
to May, 1873, but the church was not idle, for in October, 1872, after having
tendered a call to Rev. Mr. Williams — who did not accept — the church voted
to raise five hundred dollars and proceed at once to build a parsonage, the
building committee being James Purdon, George C. Whitcomb and L. G.
Sims. The parsonage was built on lots donated by W. E. Hicks on the
site of the present Congregational church which comprises three entire lots.
On May i, 1873, Rev. William W. Norton became pastor of the church
which was evidently not yet very strong, as the salary was to be seven hun-
dred and free parsonage, the church paying but two hundred dollars of the
amount. It was during this pastorate that the church seemed to take on new
life and great progress was made. On May 20, 1873, a church "society" was
organized and a corporation formed to be known as "The First Congrega-
tional Church and Society of Alexandria," and William E. Hicks, George
C. Sims and Robert C. McNeil were elected trustees. During the Rev. Will-
iam W. Norton's pastorate of four years the membership increased from
nine to thirty-three : the parsonage was enlarged and improved ; a new chiu-ch
seating two hundred was built and furnished at a cost of about two thcu-
sand six hundred dollars, all l)ut five hundred dollars of which was raised bv
the church and society. At the conclusion of his pastorate in April, 1877,
the following appears on the record : "Although the grasshoppers have
inpoverished the country, yet the condition of the church both spiritually
and financially is excellent and the future prospects very encouraging."
■ Rev. P. S. Smith was acting pastor for one year from Mav i, 1877,
and on January 4, 1878, was held the first regular annual meeting, the fol-
lowing officers who had served since May, 1874, being elected: Clerk, W.
E. Chidester; treasurer, Mrs. George C. Whitcomb; deacon, W. E. Chid-
ester. Rev. Quinc}- L. Dowd was pastor from September i, 1878, to Sep-
tember I, 1880. June 24, 1879, a constitution for the "society" and a com-
pact of agreement between the "church" and "society" was adopted, and thus
240 DOUGLAS AND GRANT GOUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
the regular organization of "The First Congregational Church and Society
of Alexandria" was i^erfected after an existence of more than six years. At
the annual meeting of the church in January, 1879, William S. Mules was
elected clerk, Andrew Purdon, treasurer, and L. G. Sims, deacon. At the
first annual meeting of the "society" held on May 24, 1880, George C.
Whitcomb was elected trustee for a term of three years, thus showing that
finally, after many years of struggle, the machinery of that part of the
church organization was working smoothly. On the 19th day of Jnly in
the same year an amendment to the constitution was adopted increasing
the number of members of the 'board of trustees to five and Messrs. D. H.
Mason and George H. S. Campbell were elected the additional members.
On November i, 1880, Rev. W. W. Norton was recalled to the pastorate
and continued for one year. The church had evidently been strengthened,
for when Rev. \Mlliam Gill was called to the pastorate in December, 1881,
the church promised to pay four hundred and fifty dollars of the seven hun-
dred dollars salary. This pastor continued until April, 1883, when Rev. J. S.
Jewell was called, taking charge on June i. This seemed to be a time of
awakening, as the church assumed self-support and also increased the salary
to one thousand dollars. This result was largely due to the wise planning of
the previous pastor. Rev. William Gill. On account of sickness in his family
this pastorate continued but two years. The church was supplied during
the summer of 1885 by Rev. J. A. Stemen, who declined a call to become
permanent pastor. Rev. S. M. Wilcox was then called to the 'work and began
his pastorate on December i, 1885, and continued five years. Whether or
not this was the time of the organization of the Young People's Society of
Christian Endeavor is -not shown by the records, but in December, 1888, the
society and the Sunday school, which had been continued since its first
organization in 1866, both gave annual reports for the first time. At this
same meeting the Ladies' Society gave its first annual report, although the
report showed it was not the first year of its organization as it showed cash
on hand at the beginning of the year of sixty-five dollars. . On January i,
1 89 1, Rev. George W. Jackman came to the church as pastor, liut remained
only one year.
It is said "There is a man for every crisis" and the man was evidentlv
found when the church called to the pastorate Rev. George E. Soper, in
June, 1892. Although there had been a steady advance under the leadership
of nearl\- e\ery pastor, it was during "Sir. Soper's pastorate that the present
church 1)uilding was erected, the membership was largely increased, and the
church came into pniminence among the churches of the state. After ha\-
DOUGLAS .ANn GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 24I
ing finished the present beautiful and commodious church edifice, the state
association was invited to meet in Alexandria. This invitation was accepted
and in 1895 the pastors and delegates of the churches of the state met in
their fortieth annual meeting. From that time the Congregational church
of Alexandria has held a high place among the churches of the state.
The first action of which there is any record with reference to the
erection of the present house of worship was taken by the society at itr
annual meeting in January, 1889, when Mrs. J. H. Lebson, Mrs. F. B. Van
Ht)esen and W. S. Moles were appointed a committee to devise wa3's and
means for raising funds for the purpose, and at the annual meeting held in
January, 1890, Mesrs. H. K. White, C. H. Raiter, George G. S. Campbell
were added to this committee. At a special meeting held November 18,
1892, it was resolved "That this church and society proceed to the erection
of a new church building to cost twelve thousand dollars, provided that
amount of money be first raised, and the following building committee was
appointed : I'". B. Van Hoesen, treasurer ; George L. Treat, secretary ; A. S.
Mason, master mechanic. At a later meeting the members of the board of
trustees, consisting of Messrs. Samuel D. Moles, C. H. Raiter, G. B. Ward,
J. H. Letson and George G. S. Campbell were added to this committee. The
building was completed and dedicated with a week of services beginning on
December 17, 1893. Its total cost, including furniture and heating plant,
was twenty thousand five hundred and thirty-five dollars and forty-two
cents, which was all paid before dedication.
An important feature of Mr. Soper's pastorate was the inaugeration of
rural missionary work at four out stations in the towns of Hudson, Lake
Mary. Carlos, and Miltona, supported in part by members of the church and
society. This work, started in 1896, was successfully carried on for six
years by Rev. George F. Norton, Rev. F. P. Ferguson and Rev. Alexander
Thorn, resulting in the organization of churches at Carlos and Hudson, and
the erection of two church buildings, and its final abandonment was due
largely to changed conditions on the fields. The church building in the town
of Carlos was located about two miles west of the present Carlos village and
was shared with the German Lutherans and Norwegian Lutherans. After
being used for several years it was destroyed by fire and a new church was
built by the Lutherans at Carlos village. After the location of the village
of Forada on the new Soo Line railroad the Hudson church building was
sold to the Presbyterians and moved about a mile and a half to its present
location in said village where the church work started as above stated is
(16)
24^ DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
being successfully carried on by the Presbyterians. A revival service, led by
Rev. Mr. Hartsough, was conducted during this pastorate and was fruitful
in adding a number of members to the church rolls. The work continued
to grow during the five and one-half years of Mr. Soper's pastorate, which
ended on December 31, 1887.
Rev. William H. Medlar succeeded to the pastorate in May, 1898, and
continued till December i, 1903, five and one-half years. During this pastor-
ate the records show two distinct features of work, the first being that of
rural missionary work, and the second the successful revival services con-
ducted by Mr. Hunt from which thirty united with the church by confession
of faith. The total membership was increased from one hundred and fifty-
eight to two hundred and thirty-eight. The splendid work done among the
young people under Mr. Medlar's leadership needs also to be mentioned.
•Rev. William J. Paske accepted the call and became pastor of the
church on May i, 1904. Some institutional features of work were added to
the church ec|uipment in the summer of 1905. ' A Men's Club was organized
which finished off a portion of the basement of the church and installed there-
in bowling alleys at a cost of five hundred and eighty dollars, which fur-
nished wholesome recreation for all who cared to avail themselves of the
opportunity, boys and girls alike, as well as members of the club. During the
year 1904 a beautiful new parsonage was erected at an expense of over five
thousand five hundred dollars on lots directly west from the church building.
In 1907 a magnificent organ was installed in the church at an expense of
three thousand five hundred dollars. Mr. Paske's pastorate ended on Sep-
tember I, 1907.
The next pastor to take up the work was Rev. Alfred A. Secord, begin-
ning on November 15, 1907, and ending on September i, 1913, being more
than five years and nine months and the longest in the history of the church.
Mr. Secord's pastorate was not marked by any great increase in the material
equipment of the church, as in some former pastorates, but there was a strong
steady and well balanced growth along all lines, with a marked increase of
influence in the whole community. In 1907 the church received a legacy
from the estate of Francis B. Van Hoesen of one thousand dollars for the
purpose of making repairs to the church building when needed. Union
revival services held in 1908 under the leadership of Rev. Milford H. Lyon.
brought into the church about thirty new members. The benevolences of the
church were largely increased and became the largest in its history. In 1911
the General Congregational Association of the state again held its annual
meeting with the church.
DOUGLAS ANU GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 243
On December i. 19 13, Rev. Frederick Osten-Sacken commenced his
pastorate which continued to July i, 1916, the two and one-half years being
characterized by a large increase in membership, seventy-six members being
received and there being a net gain of fifty-seven. A Men's Sunday Club of
over fifty members was organized which has charge of the bowling alleys
and holds a weekly meeting at the Sunday school hour in a room which it
provided in the basement of the church, for the discussion of religious and
social topics.
This history would not be complete if it failed to mention the mission-
ary and charitable work of the church. A child of the American Home Mis-
sionary Society, and assisted by it for the first sixteen years of its life, as
well as by the Church Building Society in the erection of its first parsonage
and church building, the church has always recognized its obligations to
these societies especially, and at the same time has always contributed to
other missionary and educational objects as well as to local charities. In
carrying on the rural missionary enterprise before mentioned, and assisting
in the erection of the two church buildings in the towns of Hudson and
Carlos, an opportunity was afforded to repay to some extent its debt to the
home mission and church building societies. These contributions amounted
to about four hundred dollars per year for about six years for carrying on
that work, and to nearly one thousand six hundred dollars for the church
buildings. In 1898 the total benevolences are recorded as eight hundred and
twelve dollars, and in 1899, one thousand nine hundred eighty-six dollars,
including the church building subscriptions. For the last ten years the total
annual benevolences have averaged aver nine hundred dollars.
It is interesting to note the growth of the church in membership by
decades. In 1877, at the end of the first decade, there were 33 members;
in Deceniljer, 1887, there were 81; in December, 1897, 158; in December,
1907, 158; and at the present time, September, 1916, there are 247. The
officers who have served the church are : Deacons, J. R. Lowell, S. B.
Childs, \\'illiam E. Chidester, L. G. Sims, George T. Robards, Fayette C.
Meade, George L. Treat, Andrew Purdon, Samuel D. Moles, George E.
Middleton. Charles W. Ridley, Millard Fifield, Arthur S. Mason, J. A.
Cranston, Frank Kent, J.' Willis Knox, Hugh E. Leach and Fred C. Meade.
Those who are conspicuous for their long service are : William E. Chidester,
from May i, 1874, to September 19, 1898, over twenty- four years and four
months; George L. Treat from August 2, 1883, to the present time, thirty-
three years; Andrew Purdon, from December 28, 1893, to the present, near-
ly thirty-three years; and Fayette C. Meade, from August 2. 1883, to Janu-
244 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUXTIES, MINNESOTA.
ary 2, 1896, and from January 10, 1907, to the present time, over twenty-
two years. The present deacons are : George L. Treat, Andrew Purdon. J.
\\'inis Knox, Hugh E. Leach, Fred C. Meade, and Fayette C. Meade, honor-
ary deacon.
Deaconesses, beginning on December 31, 1896: Mrs. Mary J. Cami>
bell, Mrs. Annie E. Roberts. Mrs. IMary E. Chapman, Mrs. Mary J. Stevens,
Mrs. Lucy Whitcomb. Mrs. Anne Raiter, Mrs. Albert Hubbell, Mrs. F. L
Cook, Mrs. A. G. Sexton, Mrs. Hattie Barnes, Mrs. Maud Larson, Mrs.
H. S. Campbell, ^Irs. Lillian Boyd, Mrs. Angeline Hounsel and Mrs. J. A.
Kinney.
Clerks: Rev. B. F. Haviland. George T. ^^'hitconll). William E. Chid-
ester, AMlliam S. Moles, ^Irs. X. E. Dowd, Andrew I'urdon, Airs. A. E.
Loring, Joel X. Childs, George L. Treat, Henry A. Barnes, Nathan M.
Barnes. George E. ]^Iiddleton, Dr. C. L. Good, Arthur S. Mason. The pres-
ent clerk is George L. Treat. Among those who have served as treasurer
are : Airs. Ann B. \\ hitcomb, George C. Whitcomb, Andrew Purdon. Alex-
ander Forbes, Eder E. Houghwont, Fayette C. Meade, J. H. \\'ettleson,
William Walker, \Mlliam E. Xesbitt and James A. Kinney.
The trustees who have served the "society" are: W'illiam E. Hicks,
George C. Sims, Robert C. McNeil, George C. Whitcomb, William S. Moles,
David H. Mason, George G. S. Campbell, George W. Robards, Gershom
B. Ward, Samuel D. Moles, Christ H. Raiter, James H. Letson, Andrew
Purdon, Horatio Jenkins, Francis B. \"an Hoesen, Constant Larson, Tallef
Jacobson, Hugh E. Leach and \\'illiam J. Sheldon. George H. S. Camp-
bell has served continuously as a member of the board of trustees since July
19, 1880, and as secretary of the board since January 5, 1883, and C. H.
Raiter has served as a member since 1883. The present trustees are: Hugh
E. Leach, president; George G. S. Campbell, secretary; C. H. Raiter, J. H.
Letson and W'illiam J. Sheldon.
There are a number of auxiliary societies connected with the church
which have contributed largely to its growth and work and which should
be briefly mentioned. The first of these is the Sunday school, which was
organized, as has been said, even before the church, and has been success-
fully carried on ever since, largely furnished, through its training, recruits
for the church membership. From a very small class it has grown to a
membership of about two hundred at the i>resent time, though there have
been some ups and downs in its history. Those who have acted as superin-
tendent of the school since 1880 are: L. G. Sims, George L. Treat, E. E.
Houghwont. Samuel D. Moles. Joseph H. ^^■ettleson. Prof. J. E. Phillips,
DOUGLAS AND GRA?\T COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 245
Prof. J. A. Cranston, Mrs. Nellie Page, Mrs. O. J. Robards, J. W. Knox,
Constant Larson, Ezra E. McCrea.
The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor has been in exist-
ence since 1887, and while it, too, has had its ups and downs it has done
a valuable work among the young people in fitting them for more advanced
church work. The combined active membership of the senior and junior
societies in January, 1916, was one hundred and three.
The Woman's Missionary Society, organized in February, 1885, has
done much to advance the interest of Missions in the church. Its first report
to the church at the annual meeting in December, 1886, showed total con-
tributions to home and foreign missions of sixty-two dollars and these
annual contributions have gradually increased until the present time. For
the last few years, including" the value of missionary boxes of clothing, the
annual offering amounts to from three hundred dollars to four hundred dol-
lars. The society has a present membership of fifty-two.
One of the strongest forces in the material work of the church has been
the Ladies' Society. While a work society existed at an early period probably
no formal organization was attempted until 1885 or 1886. From that time
tlie society has been very active. It now has a membership of fifty-three.
The records show that in 1893-4 the society expended in furnishings for the
new church building $2,335 • that in 1900 it paid for the lots on which the
parsonage now stands $1,150; that in 1903 it expended "mostly for carpet"
for the church $634; and that in 1904 it took the lead in building the par-
sonage and paid $2,171 of the expense. In 1905 it contributed $500 toward
the expense of the new organ. These are some of the larger things that it
has accomplished, btit it has also contributed largely towards the running
expenses and the local charitable work of the church as there has been need.
Only one of the original members survives, Mrs. Thresa T. Hicks, who
is still a member of the church, though for many years unable by reason
of deafness and blindness to take part in the church work. Others who
have been members from an early period are George F. Whitcomb. 1868,
Deacon Andrew Rudon and Mrs. LucyE. Whitcomb, 1875, and Mrs. Chris-
tine Walker, 1877. Among those now deceased who were members for the
longest period may be mentioned, David H. Mason, missionary of the
American Sunday School Union for more than twenty-five years, from
1874 to 1906, and Deacon William E. Chidester from 1873 to 1898.
While there are many members who have taken a prominent part
in the work of the church from an early period none are more worthy
to be mentioned for their Christian character and zeal and for their long
246 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
and arduous service than Mrs. Ann B. Whitcomb, one of the original band;
Mrs. Lucy Finch, Deacon WilHam E. Chidester and Deacon Andrew Pur-
don. In conchision it remains to be said that the leadership in providing
the splendid equipment in church building parsonage, pipe organ, etc., was
found in the large donations of Christ H. Raiter and F. B. Van Hoesen and
in the splendid labors of the board of trustees, without which such equip-
ment would not have been possible.
THE NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
One of the first churches of the Norwegian Lutheran communion in
Douglas county is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church at Evansville,
which was formally organized and rules and regulations adopted on Octo-
ber 9, 1896. Previously ministers from other settlements came periodically
to preach to the persons of that faith in the Evansville neighborhood and
it was not until 1871 that the permanent pastor was chosen. Rev. Carlson
was the first minister to fill the position and he remained four years. From
the fall of 1875 to 1885, the Reverend Stadstad served the congregation
as pastor, and from that date the Rev. T. A. Sattre has filled the position,
for years having been recognized as one of the oldest ministers of that
communion in continuous service in one parish in western Minnesota. The
services of the congregation until 1880 were held in the old log school house
on the hill and in that year the present commodious house of worship
was erected. In 1900 the congregation provided a fine parsonage for the
pastor.
The two churches of the Norwegian Lutheran communion in Moe
township have for many years been large factors for good in that commun-
ity. These churches are maintained under one charge, the minister in charge
filling both pulpits alternately. The Moe Norwegian Lutheran church on
section 7 of Moe township was erected in 1878, the first pastor being the
Rev. Lauritz Carlson, and the East Moe church was erected in 1882. The
two congregations aggregate more than one hundred families and the par-
sonage is maintained in conjunction with the first named church.
The Norwegian Lutheran church of Alexandria was organized at a
meeting held in the school house in tliat city on April 17, 187J, the following
persons participating : Lars K. Aaker, John Sundblad. Ove I\I. Week,
Lorintz Johnson, S. N. Miller, G. Dahl, O. R. Wulfsberg and Katherine
H. Aaker, others joining a short time afterward, as follows: Mrs. Kris-
tine \'andvke, Oluf Solum and familv, Thomas Oakson, Christian AI. Han-
X()i;wi:(;iAX ij-riiicuAX ciukcii. kvaxsvii.M'
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 247
son, Stean Torgerson and Theodore Bordson; in 1875 Christoffer Larson
and Sophia Larson and in 1876, Olef King. The first church building was
erected in 1876 and the following pastors have served: Rev. Lauritz Carl-
sen, 1872-75; Rev. O. H. Auberg, 1877-79; Rev. A. L Stadstad, 1876,
1880-85; Rev. T. A. Sattre, 1886-1900; Rev. B. A. Benson, 1901-15; Rev.
Grant Mile Rundhaug, 19 16. The present membership of the congregation
is about one hundred and twenty and a very comfortable parsonage is
maintained adjoining the church. The pastor in charge also has charge of
the congregation of the Scandinavian-American Lutheran church at Carlos
and of the church of Our Savior at Nelson.
X0RWEGI.\N LUTHERAN CHURCH AT EVANSVILLE.
The Norwegian Lutheran church at Evansville was organized and rules
and regulations for the same were adopted on October 9, 1869. Previously,
ministers from other settlements came periodically to preach to the people
of that faith and it was not until in 1871 that a permanent pastor was
chosen. Reverend Carlson was the first minister to fill the position and he
remained four years. From the fall of 1875 to 1885 Reverend Stadstad
served the congregation as pastor, and from that date Rev. T. A. Sattre,
the present pastor, has filled the position with ability and marked success.
Until in 1880 the services were held in the "old log school house on the
hill," but in that year the present commodious building was erected. The fine
parsonage near the church was built in 1900. The first trustees of the
church were Ole Granddokken, John Davidson and John Saterlie. The
present congregation consists of about four hundred and the church and
parsonage are free from debt.
THE SWEDISH LUTHER.\N AUGUSTANA CHURCH.
The first ministers of the Swedish Lutheran Augustana church to visit
Douglas county were Eric Norelius and Peter Carlson and that was during
the summer of 1865. They travelled on foot and by ox-team through the
dense woods and uninhabited prairies. The next year Rev. J. Magny came
to the countv and organized the Oscar Lake church in Holmes City town-
ship. He visited a number of places in the county' and prepared them for
future religious work.
In September, 1879. in the Svea church at Alexandria, the .Mexandria
District was established. The district was verv large, extending to the
248 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Pacific Coast on the west and to the extreme north of Canada on the north,
but in this vast territory there were then only nineteen small congrega-
tions. The following ministers were present at that meeting: J- P. Matt-
son, L. C. Lind, P. J. Lundblad, S. J- Kronberg and L. -Johnson. Of these
all have passed to their reward except Reverend Kronberg. who lives on
his farm near Melby, Minnesota.
There are eleven churches of this denomination in the county, namely :
Svea, at Alexandria; Ida, in Ida township, Falun, in Osakis township;
Spruce Hill, in Spruce Hill township; Oscar Lake, in Holmes City township;
Holmes City, at Holmes City; Wennersborg in Solem township; Immanuel,
at Evansville ; Christine Lake, in Lund township ; Fryksende, in Urness
township, and Zionsborg, in Evansville township.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THESE CHURCHES.
Svea church at Alexandria was organized and inctirporated in 1877.
For a time the congregation used the church building, located where the
present church stands, together with the Norwegian congregation, but pres-
ently the Norwegians built a church of their own and each then had its
separate house of worship. The present fine Svea church building was
erected in 1909. There is a commodious parsonage next to the church and
this is owned in common by Svea and Ida congregations. The ministers of
this church have been the following: L. C. Lind, John Hedberg, A. ]\Ielin.
A. Mattson, the last named being the present very efficient pastor.
Ida church was organized in 1869 and incorporated in 1877. Its pres-
ent edifice was erected in 1897. The church owns a parsonage at Alexan-
dria in common with the Svea church. The congregation has been served
by the above named pastors of the S^•ea church, and A. Mattson is the
present pastor.
Falun church was organized on ]\Iay 31, 1871, at a meeting at which
Peter E. Hanson was chairman and E. L. Forsgren, secretary. Lars Berg-
strom, E. L. Forsgren and John Marites Johnson were elected deacons.
Adam Anderson, Peter Lundgren and P. E. Hanson were elected trustees.
Later on in the same year the church was incorporated and Adam Anderson,
Peter Lundgren and P. E. Hanson continued to be trustees. The mem-
bership then was sixty-five. The first church building was built of logs
and was quite a large building. It was located on the southwest quarter of
section 8 in Osakis township. The present building was erected in 1886 and
there is a commodious parsonage near the church. The following pastors
DOUGLAS ^ND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 249
have served Falun church : P. J. Lundblad, J. P. Hedberg, A. ]\[eliu. J.
S. Ryding, and P. G. Ording, the latter of whom is the present ver\- efficient
pastor.
Spruce Hill church was organized in 1876; incorporated in 1878 and
its present church building was constructed in 1902. For some years the
church was served by the pastor who served the church at Parkers Prairie,
and later by the pastor of the Falun church.
THE CHRISTINA LAKE PASTORATE.
The church work among the Swedish people of the western part of
Douglas county has been carried on by the Christina Lake pastorate since
1 87 1. Rev. J. Magny organized the Swedish Lutheran Christina Lake
congregation in that year and it was incorporated in 1877.
In the year 1874, Re^'. S. J. Kronberg was called by' the mission
board of the Minnesota conference to take charge of the church work
among the Swedish people of Douglas, Otter Tail and Grant counties.
The pioneers were very religious. They felt that they could not live and
prosper without having the church of their fathers in their midst. Lender
the able leadership of Reverend Kronberg, the beautiful Christina Lake
church building was erected which yet serves as the place of worship.
This was by no means a small undertaking when the financial circumstances
of the people at that time are considered.
This congregation has been a prominent factor in the upbuilding of
this community, and many men and women have been better fitted for the
duties of life through the infiuence of this church. Northwestern College,
which is now located at Fergus Falls, had its beginning here under the name
of Lund .\cademy, and the school room of the church served as- the
home of the college during the first year. Nearl}- all of the charter mem-
bers of this congregation have been laid to rest in the peaceful cemetery
adjoining the church, but the good work begun by them will continue through
generations to come.
When the Great Xorthern railway, then the St. Paul, Minneapolis &
Manitoba road, was built through Douglas county in 1879, the \nllage of
Evansville came into existence. The Swedish people in the village and
surrounding country at that time belonged to the Christina Lake congrega-
gation, but in 1883 the Swedes and Norwegians erected a small church
in the western part of the village. In 1884 the Swedish Lutheran Imnianuel
congregation of Evansville was organized and the Swedes became the sole
250 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIICS, MINNESOTA.
owners of the above mentioned church building. This building was replaced
by a modern church in 1906. Upon the resignation of Reverend Kronberg,
who faithfully served this pastorate for thirty years, the residence of the
pastor was changed from Christina Lake to Evansville. In 19 13 the pastor
erected a beautiful modern house next to the church at a cost of five thou-
sand dollars, which makes this property a valuable addition to the village.
The Swedish Lutheran Fryksende congregation, in the township of
L^rness, south of Evansville, was organized in 1877 and a church building
was then erected.
In 1884 the Swedish Lutheran Zionsborg congregation was organ-
ized and a church was built in the southwestern corner of the township
of Evansville.
The abo\e mentioned four congregations constitute the Christina Lake
pastorate which has been served by the following ministers : Rev. S. J.
Kronberg, from 1874 to 1904; Rev. Eric Floreen, from 1905 to 1908;
1908-1910, no residence pastor; from 1910 to 1912 by Rev. C. E. Holmer,
and from 19 12 to the present day Rev. S. W. Swenson has been the pastor.
In closing this brief review of the history of the Christina Lake pastorate,
Mr. Swenson appended the following: "It would have been a pleasant duty
for the writer to mention many faithful men and women who have been
connected with the work in this pastorate, Ijut, as space does not permit, we
close with the assurance that God knows them all and He will give the
due reward."
SWEDISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
One of the very earliest church organizations in Douglas county was
that of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church of Oscar Lake, which
was organized in 1886, largely through the individual efforts of O. Fahlin.
one of the first settlers of that community. For some time services were
held in the homes of the settlers of that neighborhood, but after awhile
a small church building was erected. The second and present house of
worship was erected in 1884 at a cost of above three thousand dollars and
was dedicated in 1886 by the Rev. J. Fremling, president of the conference.
The pastors who have had charge there are as follows: Rev. J. IMagny,
Rev. Aaron W'ahlin, Rev. L. Johnson, Rev. J. A. Johnson, Rev. Rudolph
\'all(|uist and the present pastor, the Rev. E. M. Ericksson, who is also
pastor of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church of Holmes City, where
he makes his home, and of the church of the same communion at Xorunga,
DOUGLAS ANP GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 25 1
over the line in Pope cmmty. The church at Hohnes City was organized
in 1875, services being held in convenient places of meeting until a house
of worship was erected in 1889. the building being consecrated on December
3, 1890, by the Rev. P. Sjblom, the cost of the church having been in the
neighborhood of three thousand dollars. A parsonage is maintained for the
pastor at Holmes City, the cost of the same having been shared by the con-
gregation at Oscar Lake and a.t Norunga. Among the ministers who pre-
ceded Mr. Eriksson at Plolmes City were the Rev. O. Lindh, Rev. J. P.
Hedberg, Rev. J. J. Johnson and Rev. Rudolph Vallcjuist. The three
churches in this charge are well organized for effective service, the various
departments of the work of the church being well represented by active
workers.
SWEDISH BAPTIST CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA.
At the same time that Alexandria and Douglas count}- were celebrating
their home coming week in the summer of 1916, the Swedish Baptist church
was celebrating its thirty-tifth anniversary. A large number of the mem-
bers, former members and friends from far and near were present. The
programs extended over several days and were well attended. Great interest
in the meetings prevailed.
The congregation was organized on July 2, 1881, at the home of John
Broms with A. A. Linne, of the American Baptist Missionary Society, pres-
ent. N. A. Peterson was chosen president and A. A. Linne, secretary.
Thirteen persons joined as members on this day. They are J. Broms. Fred
Severson, Johanes M. Broms, Ulrika S. Broms. Ida Broms, Ole E. Floding,
Karin Floding, N. J. Anderson, Christine Anderson, Nils A. Peterson and
Anna Peterson. The first deacons were Fritz Severson and Nils A. Pet-
erson.
In December ]\Iartin Dahlquist was engaged as pastor which position
he held for three years. The progress and growth of the church was marked
from the start, so in 1885 there were forty members. At that time the
American Baptist church on Seventh avenue was hired as the public meet-
ing place. Following Mr. Dahlquist came Reverend Hallgren in 1877 and
the progress of the congregation became still more marked, so in 189 1 there
was a membership of one hundred and twenty-five. It was during this time
that the congregation secured the present site and built their own church.
In 1891 Reverend Hallgren went to Sweden and this left the congregation
without a fixed pastor. But Mr. Ole Sutherlund served in the capacity
as such until the following }-ear when Rev. A. G. Holm took charge. The
252 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
church was completed in 1894 and in 1895 and the membership had reached
one hundred and eighty.
.\t that time a great change took place. A branch church was organ-
ized from a part of the membership at Reynolds, Todd county. Also a
large number of the members migrated to Canada and a Swedish Baptist
church at Alidale was organized almost exclusively from members that had
left .Alexandria. This for a time greatly reduced the local organization but
it continued to prosper because of the self-sacrifices and energy of those
who remained.
In 1 90 1 the Holmes City members organized the Holmes City con-
gregation and have later built for themselves a very beautiful church in
the village of Holmes City.
In 191 2 the local church was remodelled and enlarged at a consider-
able expense. It is now one of the largest churches of the city and cen-
trally located, so is often used for large temperance gatherings and meet-
ings of similar nature by outsiders.
The acti\'ities of this congregation are extensive and felt in many parts
of the county through its Sunday schools and various Ladies" Aid organi-
zations. One of the features of this church organization is the persistent
and energetic temperance work. Its membership can always be counted
upon as loyal supporters in any movement of this kind, no matter under
what auspices such movement may be conducted.
Rev. A. O. Lundeen, the present pastor, has brought new life and
energy into the organization and the growth and influence of the congre-
gations are steadily gaining ground.
GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
In the fall of 1874 the Rev. A. Hertwig, resident at South Effington,
made a number of explorations into the townships of Miltona, Carlos, Belle
River and Spruce Hill. A number of German Lutherans were found scat-
tered through these townships and that same fall the Emmanuel's German
Evangelical Lutheran congregation was organized. Services were held at
the homes of the various members until a small church could be built near
the present farm of William Zunker. The members being far scattered,
progress was slow and some years later a number of the original members
severed their connection and joined in building a Union church near the pres-
ent cemetery at Carlos. The rest built the present church of the Emmanuel's
congregation just at the outskirts of the village of Carlos. That building
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COL'NTIES, MINNESOTA. 253
was put Up in 1898, there being fourteen members of the church at the
time, and is still used as a house of worship by the congregation. After
the Rev. A. , Hertwig moved from South Effington to Gaylord the Rev.
A. Bartz, of Alexandria, had charge of the congregation until the sum-
mer of 1910, when the Rev. J. H. Jank was called and was installed as the
first resident pastor. He had charge of the congregation until in May, 1914,
and in June of that same year the present pastor, the Rev. Paul F. Siegel,
took charge. Connected with the Emmanuel congregation at Carlos there
is a small congregation at Park Hill, over in Todd county, also under the
charge of Mr. Siegel. Naturally, in a mixed settlement, such as that around
Carlos, the progresss of a one-language church, and that foreign, must be
slow. The congregation at present numbers thirty voting members, about
eighty-five communicant members and about one hundred and seventy souls.
There are no auxiliaries to the church, but the congregation upholds a paro-
chial school, though in the winter of 1915-16 there were only seven in
attendance at the same. The pastor also serves as teacher in the school. It
is reported that a new church is badly needed, the present edifice not holding
more than half the congregation and without doubt the next few years will
see a new church edifice erected alongside the parsonage in town.
The Evangelical Lutheran Zion's congregation at Alexandria had its
origin about thirty-five years ago in a small way, when a few German
Lutheran families who had settled in and near Alexandria formed a congre-
gation, which has grown into the present flourishing parish. The Rev. Hert-
wig, then stationed at Effington, over the line of Ottertail county, who was
one of the missionaries of that faith in the Northwest, served the little con-
gregation at converrkmt seasons and after the arrival of a few more Ger-
man Lutheran families the congregation was formally organized, December
2-j, 1886, with seven charter members, Andrew Roth, Matth. Haberer, Fred
Fiebranz, Carl Beltz, Fred Kitzke, Carl Schuelke and Julius Stoppel. At
first the small congregation held its services in private houses ; then it rented
the Lutheran Norwegian church for its meetings. But in the year 1889 the
little flock built a church building of its own, a small building, but the little
congregation was delighted now to have its own spiritual home. As the
Reverend Hertwig by this time had eleven places to serve, the congrega-
tion at Alexandria, with four other small congregations, the ones at Villard,
Carlos, English Grove and Oak Hill, in the next year called its own pastor,
the Rev. A. Bartz, who is still serving. In the year 1899, the congrega-
tion meantime having outgrown the building erected in 1888, a new and
larger church edifice, the present church building, was erected, and great
254 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
was the joy of the members when the Lutheran Zion's Congregation was
permitted to enter this new house of worship. As the work for the pastor
thenceforward increased, the parish was divided in 1902, Villard and two
other places calHng their own pastor. A few years later another division
took place, Carlos and Oak Hill organizing as a parish and calling their
own pastor. By that time a new congregation had been founded at Garfield,
which asked to form a parish with the congregation at Alexandria and this
mutually agreeable union still exists. In 191 1 Zion's congregation celebrated
the twenty-fifth anniversary, or silver jubilee, of its organization and in the
next year another important step was taken by the congregation in calling
a special teacher for its parochial school, the latter theretofore having been
conducted by the pastor. Prof. W. Melchert, the teacher then called, is
still serving in that capacity. In this school, besides religion, all the branches
of the common school are taught in two languages, English and German.
Besides this school training, there is a two-year course of special instruction
of the upper classes in religion by the pastor, preparatory to confirmation.
To attain this end the Ijetter, the congregation erected in 1914 a handsome
two-room modern school building. The congregation at present has more
than eighty voting members, three hundred communicants and five hundred
baptized members, and the Word of God is preached in its midst in two
languages, German and English.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN DOUGLAS COUNTY.
There are several active parishes of the Catholic church in Douglas
count}', including St. Mary's at Alexandria, Immaculate Conception at
Osakis, St. Ann's at Brandon, the Seven Dolors at Millerville, and the
church in Belle River, the latter presided over by the Rev. Emil Steinach;
while there are several parishes in adjoining counties, a part of whose mem-
bership is gained from Douglas county.
The first religious services for the Catholics of Alexandria, the county
seat, were held in a small apartment at the residence of Charles Sondag and
among the first priests who administered to the spiritual needs of the people
in those pioneer days was the Re\-. Edward Guenther. In compliance with
the rec|uest of a few Catholics in that community Bishop Seidenbusch
granted permission for the erection of the little church, which stood until the
present handsome church of St. Mary's was erected at Alexandria about
fifteen vears ago. It was on July 2, 1882, that the little frame building was
dedicated, under the patronage of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, by
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 255
the Rev. Father Othmar, who attended the parish from St. John's University
at Collegeville. The Benedictine Fathers directed the congregation until
1895, when Rev. Father Tomazin was ordered to provide for it in connec-
tion with his pastorate in Belle River. In February, 1899, the Benedictines
were again intrusted with the charge, and following a mission conducted
in June of that year by the Rev. Father Augustine, of Moorhead, the
trustees secured the appointment of a priest to administer services regularly
every Sunday instead of once or twice a month, as was done previously,
and the- charge was conferred upon Rev. Otto Weisser, who officiated from
October of that year until October, 19 10, it being during his pastorate that
the parish was incorporated under the laws of the state, as set out in a
previous paragraph. Father Weisser was succeeded by the Rev. L. J. Haupt,
who became the first resident priest in Alexandria and he has been suc-
ceeded in turn by the Rev. Henry Leuthner, Rev. James Walcher, Rev.
Leo Gans, Rev. Peter Gans, Rev. Paul Kuich, Rev. Van Dinter and the
Rev. Francis Welp, the present pastor. St. Mary's parish maintains a com-
modious parish residence and the various organizations of the church display
their activities by their works. These include the Confraternity of Chris-
tian ^Mothers, the Ladies' Sewing Circle, the Young Ladies Sodalitv and
St. Mary Court No. 1067, Catholic Order of Foresters, the latter of which
was organized in February, 1900. with a membership of twenty-one.
Though the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Osakis did not
come into being until the summer of 1899, the people of the Catholic faith
in that vicinity had not been deprived of the comfort of divine service,
in the earlier days the few scattered families attended service, under consid-
erable sacrifice, at the church on the Benedictine farm about two miles north-
west of West Union. But as Osakis grew and prospered, more Catholic
families settled in the vicinity and the project of having a church of their
own came to fulfillment. One of the circumstances which contributed to
the establishment of a Catholic parish at Osakis was the fact that the Bene-
dictine Fathers had resolved to dispose of their farming property near
Lhiion. which was soon followed by the decision to move the St. Alexis
church into the town of West Union, thereby making the distance still
farther for the Catholics in and around Osakis. In the beginning of April,
1899, the Rev. Ildephonse Molitor, pastor of the church of St. Alexius at
West Union, called a meeting of Catholics of Osakis and vicinity for the
purpose of organizing a congregation. At that meeting twenty-eight were
present and the details of raising funds and providing for the erection of a
church were entrusted to a committee. Eight lots were bought for iour
256 DOUGLAS AND t;RANT COTNTIES, MINNESOTA.
hundred dollars in C. P. Hanson's addition to Osakis and work on the
edifice was begun without delay. One-half of the church furniture and
five hundred dollars in cash was gi\en the Osakis congregation when it
separated from St. Alexius parish. At the beginning the congregation con-
sisted of forty-five families and it was incorporated, August 11, 1899, under
the name of The Cluirch of the Immaculate Conception, as set out in a
previous paragraph. The original plan was to build a brick-veneered church.
Init scarcity of funds precluded the idea of veneering it and hence it remained
unfinished until the latter part of October, 1905. The church was dedi-
cated on December 17, 1900, bv the Rt. Rev. James Trobec, D. D., bishop
of the diocese of St. Cloud. The foundation and the frame work of the
church cost about three hundred dollars and the brick veneering was added
at a cost of eight hundred and fifty dollars. From its inception until October,
1900, the congregation was attended to partly by Fathers from the Benedic-
tine Abbey at Collegeville and partly from ,St. Alexius church. In October,
1900, it was made a permanent mission of St. Alexius church of \\'est
Union and on September 14, 1905, it became a parish having a resident priest.
The following Benedictine Fathers have been pastors of the church of the
Immaculate Conception or attended the same from the abbey: Rev. Ilde-
phonse Molitor, Rev. Charles Cannon, Rev. Oswald Baran, Rev. Louis
Traufler, Rev. Maurus Ferdinand, Rev. Ralph Knapp and Rev. Philip
Bahner. On April 4, 1906, Rev. Philip Bahner called a meeting of the lay
trustees to consider the feasibility of building a parish house. At that meet-
ing it was decided to proceed at once with the erection of a parish house
and to make a loan of one thousand dollars to cover the stipulated cost.
In the spring and summer of 1906 the present parsonage was built. Father
Bahner doing much of the carpenter work himself. Services were conducted
every Sunday, as there was no mission connected with the parish. Father
Bahner remained pastor until October, 1907, when the Benedictine Fathers
were relieved of Osakis. The Rt. Rev. James Trobec then appointed Rev.
Frederick Hinnenkamp, pastor, who took charge of the parish on October 12,
1907. Father Hinnenkamp was pastor until August 4, 191 1, when he was
transferred to the church of Our Lady of Angels at Sauk Center. During
his pastorate substantial improvements were made in both the church and
the house. The interior of the church was laid with steel sheeting and
beautifully decorated. Two hot-air furnaces were installed in the basement
of the church, these and the improvements in the house and on the premises
being paid for in cash, the money for the same being raised by church fes-
tivals, donations and subscriptions. Services were conducted every Sunday
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ATIIOI.IC CHUnCH. ALEXAXDUIA.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 257
and Holy Day, except on the first Sunday of each month, when Father
Hinnenkamp attended St. Ann's congregation at Brandon, which order co-
tinues to the present time. x\fter Father Hinnenkamp had been transferred
to Sauk Center, Rev. John Fuss was pastor of the church of the Immacu-
late Conception for three months. Then the spiritual wants of the people
were ministered to for some time by the Rev. William Scheiner, pastor of
St. Alexius church at West Union. After that -the Benedictine Fathers of
St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, conducted services at Osakis two Sundays
a month until February 23, 1913, when the bishop appointed the Rev.
Joseph Wessendorf, pastor. On account of ill health Father Wessendorf
was compelled to leave the following June. z\gain the Benedictine Fathers
were called upon for their kind assistance, until the bishop could send Rev.
John Van der Boer, who had charge of the parish for nearly six months.
Father Wessendorf resumed his pastorate on March 26, 1914, and has con-
tinued the same to this day. Within the past few years the parish has
increased considerably and at present numbers about seventy families, or
three hundred and fifty members. Because of this increase in membership
and on account of the general prosperity the parish was able to reduce its
liabilities by two thousand nine hundred dollars in the past four years, leav-
ing at present an incumbrance of only six hundred dollars on all its prop-
erty. On December 24, 1902, the church corporation purchased two acres of
land from Charles Anderson for a cemetery, for a consideration of two hun-
dred dollars. The remains in the old cemetery near the Evergreen, or
Rhinehart, cemetery, were then taken up and removed to the new site. The
Christian Mothers Society of the Church of the Immaculate Conception was
estabhshed on October 19, -1902, by the Rev. Maurus Ferdinand. This
society, together with the Sewing Circle, or Ladies Aid Society, has, by
means of festivals, suppers and energetic work, supplied the church with
the necessary linens and vestments, has provided for the repair of cassocks
and altar linen and the scrubbing of the church and has, moreover, provided
the church with some beautiful statues, a marble votive stand, flowers and
other furnishings for the sanctuary and has borne the expense of fencing in
the cemeterv, the society Ijeinjj n living monument to what union and effort
can accomplish
The Church of the Seven Dolors at Millerville, of which the Rev.
Ignatius Wippich has been the pastor since in April, 1910, is one of the
twenty-five parishes of the diocese of St. Cloud which is in the possession
of a parochial school, which w^s erected at a cost of something more than
(17)
258 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
seventeen thousand dolars in 1913, after a very vigorous and effective cam-
paign in that behalf directed by the pastor, Father \\'ippich, who wrote in
Latin and placed in the cornerstone of the new school a document, of which
the following is a free translation :
"To the greater glory of God and veneration of Alary, the sorrowful
mother of our Redeemer, the patroness of our parish, and for the safvation
of souls from generation to generation, souls redeemed by the blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and for the welfare of our country; the cornerstone for
the proposed new parochial school at Millerville, in the county of Douglas
and state of Minnesota, was laid and blessed by the Rt. Rev. Bernard Richter,
domestic prelate and pastor of the St. Boniface church of Melrose, on the
feast of the glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, on a Sunday, on the 29th
of June, in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirteen, when Pius
X, by Divine Providence, Pope, was gloriously reigning over the Catholic
church, when James Trobec, by Divine Mercy and grace of the Holy Apos-
tolic See, was bishop of the diocese of St. Cloud, when Ignatius W'ippich, a
priest born in the diocese of Emland, East Prussia, was pastor of the St.
Mary's church, under the title of the Seven Dolors, at Millerville, and Chas.
L. Julig was treasurer, and John Bitzan, secretary of the congregation, and
also when to the board of consultation belonged John Kelly, Frank Kor-
kowski, Frank Ledermann, Martin Pinkowski, Edward Schirber and Peter
Wagner; when Eugene Korkowski was president of the St. Joseph (Men's)
Society; Ferdinand Dobmeyer, chief ranger of the Catholic Order of For-
esters; Conrad Abel of the St. Aloysius (Young Men's) Society; Widow
Anna Maria Kotschevar, president of the Christian Mothers' Society, and
Barbara Kotschevar, president of the Young Ladies' Sodality, under the
patronage of St. Rosa of Lima: when 'Woodrow Wilson was President of
the United States of America; Adolph Eberhart, governor of the state of
Minnesota, and Jacob Thoennes, mayor of the village of Millerville, this
festival took place on a beautiful day and a great multitude participating.
The builder of the school is John Abel, a youth of Millerville. The archi-
tect, Edward J. Donahue, of St. Paul. Of the visiting priests were Revs.
John Sand of Effington, Paul Kuich of Alexandria, Emil Stemach of Belle
River, and the newly ordained Victor Stiegler. And to Thee, O Sorrowful
Mother, to whose honor this statue, which decorates the parochial school, is
today blessed, again also this parish is dedicated, that through thy interces-
sion, the Almighty God may reward all benefactors of this school with
eternal goods, and that our pledge may be brought before the Throne of the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 259
Almighty — namely, lienediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
honor and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen."
The St. Mary's parochial school is situated in a healthful and pleasant
locality, north of the church on a hill and is surrounded by a grove. It has
a front elevation of fifty-nine feet and a side elevation of forty-one feet.
The building is constructed of white brick on a concrete basement. In the
basement are the boiler room, coal bunks, kitchen and dining room for the
V'en. Sisters, play room and lavatories. The first ston,' contains two spacious
class-rooms with all sanitary and modern equipments. The second story is
used exclusively as a residence for the Sisters of St. Benedict.
The Church of Our Lady of Seven Dolors at Millerville is familiar to
all residents of Douglas county and its towering spire can be seen for miles,
overtopping everything in the vicinity. The first church in Millerville was
built in 1868, prior to which mass had been said at the homes of some of the
early settlers, among whom were the Larsungs, the Weavers and John A.
Miller, for the latter of whom Millerville was named. The old church, built
of logs, was pulled down to give place to the present church building, which
was erected in 1892. The first priest officiating at Miller was Father Pierce,
in 1867, who was succeeded by Father Tomazin, who built the priest's house,
which building, as well as the first church, has long since disappeared. Father
Tomazin remained until 1873 and was succeeded by Father Holzer, Father
Schneider, Father Hilbert, Father Cramer, Father Gunther. Father Ewen,
Father Jerome. Father Brogerding, Father W'eist, Father Kicken, Father
Alois Rastor and the present pastor. Father Wippich. On account of his
maserly eloquence and his excellent character. Father Otto Weist was held
in very high regard throughout that community and in October, 1901, a
beautiful and costly monument was erected over his final resting place.
The mission of St. Nicholas at Belle River, to which also belongs the
Catholics of Carlos, four miles distant, was founded in 1870 by the Rev.
Father Tomazin, a Slovenian missionary amongst the northern Indians of
the Sioux and Chippewa tribes, a countryman of the renowned Indian mis-
sionary. Father Pierz. Pioneer divine service was at first held in the home
of Frank Ouinn, the father of the late James Quinn, at one time county
commissioner and nearly always, since the organization of the parish, treas-
urer and trustee of the St. Nicholas church; Frank Quinn, his father, and
John Clausen, pioneers, donating each ten acres of land to Bishop Thomas
L. Grace, for the foundation o{ a church at Belle River. The first church
was built of logs, on the present cemetery in 1871, and was dedicated by the
late Archbishop Thomas S. Grace, of St. Paul. On the same occasion some
260 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
children of the parish were confirmed. In September of the same year the
renowned Jesuit missionary, P. Havier Weninger, held the first mission
(revival). Rev. Ignatius Tomazin attended the parish until August, 1873,
when he was succeeded by Rev. John Schenk, the Bohemian pastor of Long
Prairie, whose life was so siiddenly and sadly terminated in 1883, when he
accidentally shot himself to death. The management of the St. Nicholas con-
gregation was now conducted by the Benedictine Fathers, of Collegeville,
Re\'. Pater Placidus, the Greek scholar, who later on for a few years became
rector of a Greek college in Rome, Italy, and who is now a celebrated pro-
fessor at St. John's University, Minnesota; Rev. Peter Alfred, presentlv
pastor of the Catholic church at Moorhead, Minnesota; Rev. IMartinus, at
present at Weire's Grover, Stearm county, Minnesota, and then for seven
years. Rev. Pater Tldephons, who attended the parish from the Benedictine
convent at West Union, now secularized and sold. In 1891 Rev. Ignatius
Lager took charge of the congregation until the year 1893. ^^'^ 1883 already,
under the leadership of Pater Placidus, the second frame church had been
built by the contractors, Christ Raiter and Spooner, of Alexandria, and one
year later the little parsonage, by Messrs. William Maher, John Collins and
Anton Schneiderhan, Sr. In 1890 Rev. Ignatius Lager had an addition
built to the parsonage, destined for a parochial school, which however, was
used for a winter chapel. During his term of office Rev. Peter Post, a
saintly Jesuit Father, conducted a successful mission in his parish. In 1893
Father Lager was followed in office, again by the Rev. Father Tomazin,
who in 191 5 celebrated his golden jubilee of the priesthood in unison with
his Lordship, the Rt. Rev. Thomas O'Gorman, bishop of Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, with whom he had been ordained priest on the 5th of November,
1865, in the cathedral of St. Paul, Minnesota. The Reverend Jubilarian
(who during his second term, incorporated the parish with Joseph Woltors,
Sr., as secretary, and Charles Pasch, as treasurer, Bishop James Trobec, at
that time ordinary of the St. Cloud diocese, as president and Rt. Rev. Mgr.
Edward Nagl, vicar general, as vice-president, and himself as chairman of
the incorporation of the church of St. Nicholas), remained as pastor in
Belle River until 1907, when he was transferred to Padua, ^Minnesota, being
succeeded by Rev. Herman Klein. He again provided a successful mission
through the Dominican priest. Rev. Pater Thuente, of Minneapolis, and
made many improvements in the church and priest's house, ^^■ith the permis-
sion of the Rt. Rev. Bishop James Troliec, Rev. H. Klein and Rev. Emil
Joseph Steimach, of St. Mary's church, Rice, Benton cuunty, Minnesota,
exchanged their ijarishes on the i8th of October, 190S. Under the present
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 261
pastor, Emil Joseph Steimach, the ditiferent parish societies were organized:
St. Nicholas Sodality for single and married men; St. Ann"s for Christian
mothers; St. Agnes' for young ladies, and Childhood of Jesus' for the chil-
dren. The purpose of these sodalities is the material as well as spiritual
advancement of the parish in general and the spiritual growth and sanctifica-
tion of the individuals in particular. In 1909 a hot air furnace system was
installed in the church, the gallery enlarged and other improvements made
on premises, in church and parsonage. Messrs. James Quinn and Peter
Beheng were trustees under the present administration up to 191 3, when the
latter resigned as secretary, being succeeded in the office by Henry Wolters.
In June, 1905, a well-attended mission was given by the Rev. Peter Bour. On
the 8th of August, 191 5, in the afternoon, around three o'clock, a fire broke
out in the sacristy of the church and in less than an hour the building was
transformed into a heap of ashes. The cause of the conflagration could not
be ascertained, but most likely started in the charcoal box on the sacristy
table. The following Sunday service was conducted on the new porch of the
parsonage, people having their provisional seats in the surrounding grove.
A mass meeting for the following Sunday was announced (for the 22d of
August). At the latter, the following building committee was elected: E. H.
Steimach, pastor, chairman ex-officio; August Kohlhaas, (acting) vice-
chairman; Peter Beheng, treasurer; Henry Wolters, secretary; Albert Ritten,
John Dunn, Anton Schneiderhan, Jr., and Thomas Ouinn. After organiza-
tion of committee, a plan for the new church was selected, Messrs. Alban and
Lockhart, of St. Paul, chosen as architects ; funds collected, with three thou-
sand seven hundred dollars insurance, amounted to about twenty-two thou-
sand dollars. On the 19th of October, the contract for the new church was
let to the lowest liidder, William Schueller, contractor and builder, of Fergus
Falls, who gave bonds and commenced work on the new church on the 27th
of April, 1916. The laying of the cornerstone took place on the 30th of
May, Decoration Day. His Lordship Rt. Rev. Joseph Busch, performed the
ceremony, also blessed the two new bells of two thousand pounds and one
thousand four hundred ninety pounds respectively, and preached the English
sermon, whilst Rt. Rev. Mgr. B. Richter, of Melrose, preached in German.
The following reverend priests were present besides the pastor : Rev. John
Sand, Effington; Rev. Ignatius Wippich, Millerville; Rev. Francis Beitscher,
Long Prairie; Rev. .Math. Billmayr, Brownsville; Rev. Charles Gruenwald,
St. Cloud; Rev. Joseph Wessendorf, Osakis; Rev. Eugene Scheirer, Hold-
ingsford. The beautiful new church of Gothic style, seating some eight hun-
262 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
dred people, was dedicated on the 15th of October, 1916. Previous to its
dedication the premises around the church were beautiful and the interior of
the sanctuary was furnished appropriately with nice altars, statuary and
furniture of quality and beauty. The parishioners, about one hundred and
six families, irrespective of German, Bohemian. Hollandish, Belgian. Irish
and English extraction, are good, loyal fervent Americans and showed their
unity, their ci\ic pride and religious fervor by contributing most generously
of money and lalDor, until their pious aspirations materialized in this beauti-
ful temple of God, crowning their efforts and sacrifices and attesting their
love of God and zeal of salvation.
EMMANUEL EPISCOPAL CHLTRCH AT ALEXANDRIA.
Emmanuel Episcopal church at Alexandria was organized earl_\- in the
seventies, among the leading families in the organization of the same being
the Cowings, the \'an Dykes, the Dickens, the Abercrombies, the Brophys
and the Spragues, and on August 31, 1875, under the ministry of the Rev.
George Stewart, the first rector, the present attractive old Gothic edifice which
has ever since served the Episcopal congregation as a house of worship, was
dedicated, the document attesting the fact being signed by Bishop Benjamin
Whipple, first bishop of Minnesota, to whose memory a memorial w-indow
has been placed in the church. Among the other memorial windows in the
church is one to the memory of Rt. Rev. Mahol Morris Gilbert, bishop coad-
jutor; to Mary A. Cowing, one to Efifie Viola Moore, one "presented by
tourists," one presented by the St. Andrew's Brotherhood and one to Lucile
Brown. The beautiful altar is a memorial to Louis J. Brown, the altar rail
to Mary Henrietta Alleyne Mingfield, the altar chairs to Smith Bloomfield,
the missal stand to Ellen A'enoss, the cross and altar vases to ]\Iartha S. D.
Plank, the litany desk to Richard and Cecelia Heard, the prayer book to
Mary Ann and John James Peacock. There is also a window presented by
the St. Monica Guild and one presented by "friends." There have been
fifteen rectors of Emmanuel's Episcopal church since its organization, the
Rev. George Stewart having been followed, in turn, by the Rev. I. T. Oslx)rn,
Rev. Thomas K. Allen, Rev. F. B. Nash, Rev. Mark Jukes, Rev. F. M.
Bacon, Rev. Charles Rollit, Rev. James McCausland, Rev. F. E. Alleyne,
Rev. George \V. Barnes, Rev. Glen White, Rev. H. J. Kaiser, Rev. Samuel L.
Mitchell and the Rev. E. C. Schmeiser. the latter of whom has been in charge
since March. 1916.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 263
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST (SCIENTIST).
The Church of Christ (Scientist) at Alexandria is a recent organiza-
tion, the meniljers of which hegan to liold regular Sunday services at the
home of Mrs. Alta-Mae Jacobson on July 12, 1914. At that time there were
only about seven or eight persons interested in the meetings, but the home
soon became too small to accommodate the growing congregation and on
November 22. 19 14, the group moved into the present charters of the Chris-
tian Science church, a small hall over the Carlson grocery store on the city's
main street. The group grew steadily and on Alarch 21, 1916, organized an
authorized Christian Science Society at Alexandria, complying with the rules
of the First Church of Christ (Scientist) at Boston. There are seventeen
charter members, four of whom are members of the Mother Church. The
officers consist of a first reader, a second reader and a board of trustees. The
first reader is Mrs. Alta-Mae Jacobson; second reader, ]\Irs. Caroline von
Baumbach; trustees: President, Mrs. Margaret Unumb; treasurer, Miss
Amelia Jasperson ; clerk, Alta-Mae Jacobson ; Mrs. Mary Robards and Will-
iam Olson. The group has a committee for the distribution of Christian
Science literature, which sends the Monitor, a daily newspaper of clean
journalism; the Sentinel, a weekly magazine, and the Journal, a monthly
magazine.
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST.
The Seventh-Day Ad\entist church of Alexandria was organized on
November 8, 1885, with twelve charter members and E. A. Curtis as elder.
For awhile a rented building was used for a place of worship until a build-
ing could be bought. The church building now occupied was dedicated for
service on January 2^, 1900, the dedicatory service being conducted by
Pastor C. W. Flaise. Following Mr. Curtis the pastors of the church have
been : G. L. Budd, E. M. Chapman, W. W. Ruble, and E. L. Sheldon, the
present pastor.
Of the many young people who have grown up and been fostered by
this church, four have become ministers of the Gospel and are holding posi-
tions of trust in different places. A school room has been added to the
church building and for nine months of the year a teacher is employed and
instruction is given the children in the usual grade studies and on Bible sub-
jects, especial efifort being made to build up Christian character. There is in
the church a strong Missionary Volunteer Society of young people, which
meets regularly.
264 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
There are several church companies at different places in the county
which hold regular services, but have not as }'et secured church buildings.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Some years ago there was a Presbyterian church mission established at
Alexandria under the direction of the mission board of that church, but it
could not get a foothold and was presently abandoned. The only actrv'e
congregations of the Presb_vterians in Douglas county are those at Forada,
presided over by the Reverend Owen, who is building up a flourishing and
compact organization there, and the church at Evansville, which now has
a stated pastor, and a church at Osakis.
CHAPTER XIII.
Newspapers.
It was not long after the establishment of a social order hereabout that
the newspaper appeared and from the very beginning Douglas county has
been favored b}' the presence of admirable mediums of publicity, the news-
papers of the county ranking very high among the country journals of the
state.
The first newspaper established in Douglas county was the Alexandria
Post, which, under its present hyphenated name of the Post-Nczvs, is still
being published, having had an unbroken existence since September 2^, 1868,
on which date it was launched on the then untried "sea of journalism" in
this section of Minnesota by William E. Hicks, owner of the Alexandria
townsite, who was a tried New York City newspaper man, and who asso-
ciated with him in the initial stages of the venture George \\^ Benedict, a
practical printer, of St. Cloud, who before the year was out retired and the
paper was continued alone by Hicks until late in the fall of 1870, when
Joseph Gilpin, a veteran of the Civil War and an experienced printer, took
over the publication, Hicks in the meantime having been elected to the
Legislature and his townsite and other business interests requiring all of
his time. Mr. Gilpin had grown up "at the case'' on a newspaper in Buffalo.
New York, and when the Civil War broke out had enlisted for service in a
New York regiment. His health became broken and he found work at the
printer's "case" in the cit}- did not agree with him after the completion of
his militarv service, therefore, in July, 1867, he came to Minnesota and for
the benefit he thought might be derived in a physical way, homesteaded a
farm on the shores of beautiful Lake Darling, just north of Alexandria, and
thought he would become a farmer, but the old lure of the print-shop was
too strong and a couple of years after the PoJ^had been started, he traded
his farm to Hicks for the newspaper property and resumed the calling with
which he was much Ijetter acquainted than with the methods of breaking a
frontier farm.
Mr. Gilpin continued the publication of the Post until 1874, in which
vear he sold the paper to A. B. Donaldson, of Minneapolis, a professor in
266 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
the State University,- and returned to his former home in Buffalo, but pres-
ently returned to Alexandria and on August i, 1877, started the Douglas
County Nc-di'S, the publication of which he continued until 1894, when
Charles Mitchell, of St. Cloud, came over and bought both the Post and the
Xcivs and consolidated the two pajiers under the present name of the Post-
Xczi's. Charles Mitchell, a lirnther of William Mitchell, of the St. Cloud
Journal, continued the publication of the Post-Xc<^'s until Noveml)er 7. 1902,
when he sold the paper to Ezra E. McCrea, of St. Paul, an experienced
newspaper man, who has ever since been editor and publisher of the paper.
Mr. McCrea, who formerly was deputy city clerk of St. Paul, had a ten-year
experience in newspaper work before taking up the work at Alexandria, hav-
ing been a reporter on both the Pioneer Press and the DispatcJi at the state
capital and had for some time been a reporter for the Associated Press in
New York City.
OLD PAPER REVIVES MEMORIES OF ANOTHER DAY.
An examination of the files of the old Alexandria Post, preserved at
the office of the Post-N^ews would revive many memories of other days in
the minds of old residents who might look over the same. The Post was an
admirably printed sheet from the very start, its initial issue showing the
work of a master hand. It was pointed out by the editor that the mechani-
cal outfit, which had been shipped over from Chicago, was in place and ready
for operation within two weeks after the order was placed. When the Post
Avas established Grant and Colfax were the nominees of the Republican
party for president and vice-president, respectiveh', and their names were
carried at the mast-head of the paper in its very first issue. The electors on
the Republican national ticket, whose names were published, were W. T.
Rambush, of Freeborn county; Oscar Malmros, of Ramsey county; C. T.
Brown, of Nicollet county, and T. C. Jones, of Anoka county. The con-
gressional ticket was, for first district, M. S. ^\'ilkinson ; second district,
Ignatius Donnelly; legislative ticket, for Stearns county, S. B. Pinney; out-
side of Stearns county. William E. Hicks. Large attention was paid by the
Post to local political conditions, a warm local fight, with particular refer-
ence to the congressional nomination then being on. In the second issue of
the Post there was printed the correspondence between Gen. L. T. Hubbard
and Ignatius Donnelly regarding a plan of arbitration of the differences be-
tween the two, arising out of the congressional nomination, the Post con-
cluding its comment on the proposition by declaring that "should the board
UOL'GLAS AND GRANT COL'NTIES, MINNESOTA. 267
of arbitration settle the matter of differences between the candidates harmon-
iously, which we trust they will, the choice of the board, we have no doubt,
would Ije recognized and accepted by the entire party, and this is as it should
be." The Republican county ticket for that year, as carried by the Post in
its initial issue, was as follow: For auditor. William M. Pye; register of
deeds, F. B. Van Hoesen ; sheriff, (i. W. Harper; corner, Daniel Shotwell;
judge of probate, H. S. Boyd ; surveyor, Henry Blackwell : treasurer, T. W.
Sprague; court commissioner, N. B. Patterson; county commissioner, second
district, Levi E. Thompson.
Proper attention was paid to local social doings in those days and in
the second issue of the Post there was printed a considerable item under the
head of "The Alexandria Ball,'-' the public being informed that "tlie ball
given by Mr. McLeod, of the Woodhull House, on Monday night last, was
a complete success. About thirty couples were present. Dancing began at
nine o'clock and was continued until midnight, when supper was announced
and all sat down to a splendid repast, served in Mrs. McLeod's inimitable
style. Thorough justice lieing done to the substantials and delicacies of the
supper, dancing was resumed and continued until daybreak. .Vll the partici-
pants went home pleased and satisfied. Russell's music, McLeod's supper and
Darling's management are all that are necessary to make a night pass pleas-
antly. These reunions of town and country are agreeable and aid greatly
in promoting a friendly feeling among those present. We hope these social
gatherings may be more frecjuent." That same issue of the paper devoted
three columns to a report of the fourteenth annual conference of the Method-
ist Episcopal church at St. Anthony, including a list of appointments for the
several districts of the state, it being noted that C. F. Kingsland was appointed
to the Alexandria church and O. Hoover to the Osakis church in the St.
Cloud district. L'nder the head of "Our Xew Church,'' it was stated that
"In our last issue we alluded to a moA-ement towards erecting a Methodist
church in Alexandria. As a further evidence of the energ\' and public spirit
of the citizens in this matter, we take great pleasure in stating that the build-
ing is already in course of construction, carpenters commencing work on
Monday morning last. The citizens can now confidently calculate upon
having a suitable house of worship ready for occupancy within sixty da\'s."
In the same column it was noted that "We were delighted with the good dis-
play of the vocal powers of the ladies of Alexandria at the morning church
service last Sunday. There is abundant material in our congregation for
good singing and we hope to see an organ placed in the church to accompany
our lady singers." This item is supposed to have had reference to the con-
268 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
gregation of the Congregational church, which at that time was holding serv-
ices in the old court house hall and to which Mr. Hicks later donated the
fine corner lot on which the present Congregational church stands. Under
the head of "Personal"' it was noted in the second issue of the Post that "Air.-
G. W. Benedict, one of the proprietors of the Alexandria Post, went below
on Sunday last, after assisting in the publication of the first number of our
paper, which in point of mechanical appearance, we are not afraid to com-
pare with any newspaper that has been started on the frontier of late years. ""
The grain market quotations then were as follow : "Wheat is lower, selling
at $1.05 for Xo. I. All the markets below are lower. Oats are C|uoted at 50
to 53 cents. Wheat at Center, $1 to $1.50."
The business interests of Alexandria seemed well represented even at
that early date and the Post carried the following advertisers in its columns :
F. B. Van Hoesen, attorney at law; Scandinavian House, L. Johnson, pro-
prietor: H. L. Gordon and L. W. Collins, Gordon & Collins, attorneys at law
and real estate agents; Gates & Blood, general freighters, running "regularlv
once a week between St. Cloud and Alexandria, rates from $1.50 to $2 per
100 pounds;" Van Hoesen & Mitchell. F. B. \'an Hoesen and James S.
Mitchell, real estate agency; John S. Mower, attorney at law and insurance;
AI. H. Tolan, bootmaker and repairer ; George C. Whitcomb, countv auditor
and register of deeds, "any business required to be done by non-resident land
holders executed promptly and no exorbitant charges;" Dr. O. E. Andrews,
physician and surgeon ; Thomas Cowing, general merchandise ; \\'oodhulI
House. John ]iIcLeod, proprietor; Hammond, Rima & Co., shingle manu-
facturers; \\'. E. Hieks, lumber yard; C. Shultz, gunsmith and dealer in
sportsmen's and hunter's goods ; G. C. Marshall, saloon ; E. G. Holmes, gen-
eral merchandise and farm implements. Holmes City ; John Sundblad. board-
ing house and saloon; C. Sonday, merchant tailor; J. F. Bell & Company,
St. Cloud, dry goods ; Alexandria Flouring Mills, "the highest price paid for
wheat;" Joseph Gilpin, builder and plasterer; D. Fredenberg, carriage and
wagon factory ; Smith & Herbert, boots, shoes and leather ; St. Germaine. St.
Cloud ; D. B. Hull, house, sign and carriage painting, glazier and paper-
hanger; Andrew Lundberg, carpenter and jointer; Robert Walker, black-
smitliing and horse-shoeing; S. J. Holmberg. wagonmaker; J. H. Holla-
Ijaugh, liardware; T. F. Cowing, Alexandria Store, drx goods and general
merchandise; J. B. Cowing, groceries and meat market; Pomme de Terre
Station Hotel, D. Burns, proprietor; Mueller Brothers, dry goods and general
merchandise.
DOUGLAS A.VU GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 269
:HE ALEXANDRIA CITIZEN.
In the summer of 1893, ^^^- S. Gilpin, son of the veteran ethtr.r, Joseph
Gilpin, and Newton Trenham started a newspaper at Alexandria which they
called the Citizen and which the_\- began publishing largely in behalf of the
Grange movement. Presently Gilpin sold his interest in the paper to Tren-
ham and moved to Hamilton, North Dakota, where he started a paper which
he conducted for three or four years, at the end of which time he went to
Osseo, Wisconsin, and started there the Ossco .Yczi's. which he is still pub-
lishing. Trenham later sold the Citizen to J- A. Kinney, whiT is still con-
ducting the same.
THE PARK REGION ECHO.
Twent)--six years ago a man by the name of Clark arri\ed at Brandon
and proceeded to establish a newspaper for that thriving village. He was
an e.x-county attorney of Itasca county and considerable was expected of
his venture by the people of that community. The paper he started he
named Blue Bells. But he proved to be an eccentric sort and the publica-
tion was rather erratic. Frecjuently, weekly editions would be omitted. He
continued about a year and sold out to Hans Peterson and Fred Andrews,
two of Brajidon's promising and energetic young men. They edited the
paper for some time, when it proved the income was not sufficient to keep
the venture going.
But the people of Brandon h.ad acquired a taste of ha\ing a local news-
paper and were not willing to let matters drop so readily. At E\ansville,
A. C. Lawrence was located and they made an arrangement with him to
take over the property. They assisted him to the extent of fetching his
household goods and family to Brandon and he began reviving the Brandon
Echo. He gave the Aillage a live and interesting newspaper, but he also
encountered the same ditficulty — small income — too small to maintain a
family of three large people. It was claimed that tlie three together would
ti]) the scales at more than 700 pounds and that they ate regularh" three
pijunds of the liest roast lieef each dinner. The Echo was then sold to
George S. Myron, who mo\-ed the plant into his house, the one now occu-
pied by Anton H. Str(im. Up to that time the plant had been located in
the Decker building, yet standing south of the Larson hardware store. 'Slv.
Lawrence went to Alexandria and there started a new paper which lasted
only a short while, though.
Mr. Borgen was a good printer and put new life into the Echo. It
270 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
appeared to prosper and gain prestige. He was appointed postmaster and
this gave him additional income and prestige, and he materially improved
the publication. Large fonts of type were added and the old army press
was disposed of and the Minnesota stop-cylinder press, on which the Alex-
andria Post Xczcs had been published for several years was installed. The
paper was changed from a four-page seven-column to an eight-page five-
column. The business men ot the \-illage patronized him liberally and did
what they could to assist in giving the community a li\e little local paper.
But re\erses set in and in time the ownership passed into the hands of the
Brandon State Bank. Again the business men took a hold to retain the
paper .and keep it alive. Carl A. ^^'old. the present editor, agreed to edit
it for the bank until some other arrangement could be made. But this
appeared to Ije a difficult matter and a proposition was made to Wold, which
he accepted and became the owner of the plant.
Up to this time the temperance question had not received much atten-
tion in the local papers. In fact the saloons had been the most prominent
feature in the business and political life of a community. But a change
was dexeloping. Their work was "growing distasteful and protests began
to come frequently. The system was gradually changing from the local
saloonkeeper wlio lived in the place and invested his income in the village,
educated his children there and took a live interest in the development of
the towns, as is customary of business men, to men who acted as mere
agents for some brewery outside of the village and whose only interest in
the place was the amount of profits turned in. This system produced a
class of saloon keepers that sometimes did not act wisely or very scrupu-
lously. They gener^ited a general protest from the better class of residents
and the temperance movement was on.
Mr. \\'old upon assuming the management of the Echo at once dis-
continued the liquor advertising. This was resented by the saloon keepers
and at once a fight was on. \\'old tried to avoid this and for a long time
ignored the attacks and advocated prohiljition and no-license. From this
condition developed an organization in the count)- that has done much to
create sentiment for no saloons and a dry county.
After three years work in Brandon, temperance advocates of the county
started a movement to reorganize the paper and mo\e the plant to Alexandria,
where the Eclio would l>e in a position to assume the work for the whole
county. From a small circulation it has developed a large circulation and
has the liberal support of the people.
The plant of the Park Region Echo is now equipped with a good
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 27I
cylinder press, jobber, linotype and other necessary machinery for news-
paper and job work.
THE ALEXANDRIA REPUBLICAN.
.\ newspaper formerly puljhshed at Alexandria was the Rcl^ublican,
which was established more than twent}- }'ears ago by U. B. Shaver, who con-
tinned its publication a few years, at the end of which time he sold it to
A. C. Lawrence, who continued the publication of the same until growing
financial difficulties caused him to seek a change of base and he moved the
plant to Fergus Falls.
THE OSAKIS REVIEW.
The Osakis Rcviciv was established in 1890 by A. L. Heikes and was
a four-page seven-colimin paper. It was printed on one of the first Wash-
ington hand-presses ever brought to Minnesota. The Rci'ic-zv became the
property of Clement H. Bronson, the present publisher, in December, 1892.
Mr. Bronson at that time enjoying the distinction of being the youngest
editor in the state. From a four-page paper with a circulation of two hun-
dred and forty copies weekly, the Rcviciv has grown to an eight- to sixteen-
page seven-column newspaper, having a circulation of over one thousand
five hundred copies weekly. The Rcz'iciv is now printed in a modern news-
paper plant occupying a floor space forty by one hundred feet. The office is
equipped with a linotype machine, power presses and attached newspaper
folder, each piece of machinery being driven by an individual electric motor.
The Rcznczv has always been consistently Republican in politics.
THE BRANDON FORUM.
The Brandon Foiiiin was founded at Brandon by A. B. Johnson on
October 15, 19 10. about two years after the Echo had been moved from that
village to Alexandria. Five years later, October 15, 1915, the Forum was
purchased by W. J. B. Moses, who has since been editor and publisher of the
same.
THE EVAN.SVILLE ENTERPRISE.
The Enterprise, published at Evansville, was established in 1889 by
H. G. Urie, who later sold to P. A. Neff, who in turn sold, the paper to W. N.
Bronson, brother of the editor of the Osakis Review, who is still publish-
ing it.
CHAFTl'K .\I\',
Thk Bench and Bar.
The first attorneys to locate in Douglas county for the practice of their
profession were John Randolph and John S. Mower, who came to Alexan-
dria in 1867, when this city was only a straggling village. Reuben Reynolds
also came that same year. Mr. Reynolds was county attorney from 1871 to
1873. ^I''- Mower was the first county superintendent of schools, serving
from 1869 to 1873, and was also editor of a newspaper. F. B. V^an Hoesen.
one of the very early settlers at Alexandria, was a lawyer and served as
county attorney from 1869 to 1871, but spent most of his years here as a
banker.
In 1 87 1, Knute Nelson, a young lawyer from Wisconsin, who had been
admitted to the bar in Dane county in 1869 and practiced there two years,
came to Alexandria and formed a partnership with Reuben Reynolds for the
practice of law. Mr. Nelson was county attorney from 1873 to 1875; was
elected to the state Senate in 1875; was elected to Congress in 1883 and
served there until 1892; was elected governor of Minnesota in 1892 and
served two terms; in January, 1895, he was elected United States senator
and has since represented this state in the Senate.
Nelson Fulmer studied law in the office of Mr. Nelson and was admitted
to the bar" at .\lexandria. Mr. Fulmer practiced law here for several years;
was county attornev from 1875 to 1879, and later moved to St. Cloud, where
he was collector of the McCormick Harvester Company and finall\- had
charge of collections for that company in a large part of the state.
William F. Ball came to Alexandria from Canada in 1875 and opened
an office for the practice of law. After residing here about ten years Mr.
Ball moved to Fargo, North Dakota, where he died recently.
George H. Reynolds, a son of Reuben Reynolds, came to Alexandria in
1877. He was county attorney from 1879 to 1883. He afterward mo\ed to
St. Cloud and engaged in the practice of law there until his death in 1914.
Col. Horatio Jenkins, a native of Massachusetts, who had gone south
after the Civil War, came to Alexandria from Florida in 1880 and engaged
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 273
in the practice here until his death. He was county attorney from 1883
to 1889.
George L. Treat, a native of Wisconsin, and a graduate of Ann Arhor
law school, began the practice of his profession at Alexandria in 1883, and
has been here ever since, engaged in the law, loan and insurance business.
C. J. Gunderson was educated at Minnesota State University and the
Ann Arbor law school and began practice in Alexandria in 1886, and has
ever since been one of the resident attorneys. Mr. Gunderson was county
attorne}- from 1889 to 1903, and served eight years in the state Senate.
Constant Larson is a native of Douglas county and after graduating
from the law school of the State University began the practice of his pro-
fession at Alexandria in 1894. Mr. Larson was county attorney from 1903
to 191 3, and is the present city attorney.
Hugh E. Leach came to Alexandria in 1906 and formed a partnership
with C. J. Gunderson for the practice of law. Mr. Leach was elected county
attorney in 1913 and is now serving in that "office.
Ralph S. Thornton was educated at Drake University, Iowa, where he
was graduated from the law department in 191 3. He came to Alexandria
in October, 19 14, and has since been engaged here at his profession.
F. E. Ullman located in Alexandria in 1906 and after practicing law
here for a short time moved to another field.
Nick Langhausen had a fine law office at Alexandria in 19 12, but his
library was burned in 1914 and he cjuit the practice.
A. A. Andrews practiced law for about six months at Alexandria in 1914.
OTHER ATTORNEYS OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
O. A. Felt, who was a graduate of the L^niversity of Minnesota, located
at Evansville in 1896. He engaged in the practice of law there until his
death in 1908.
A. G. Osterberg practiced law at Brandon until his removal to Mille
Lacs county, several years ago, where he is now register of deeds for that
county.
F"rank H. Borchert located at Osakis in 1896 and opened a law office
there. Mr. Borchert is also interested in the banking business and is the
present postmaster of Osakis.
E. R. Ruggles was formerly engaged in the practice of law in Douglas
countv, but is now manager of a summer hotel, called "Idlewild," at Osakis.
'(18)
274 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
DOUGLAS COUNTY JUDICIARY.
Ever since its organization Douglas county has been a part of the seventh
judicial district, which is comprised of the counties of Clay, Becker, Otter
Tail, Wadena. Douglas, Todd, Morrison, Mille I^cs, Benton and Stearns.
The judges who have presided in this district are as follow: James M.
McKeLyey of St. Cloud, Stearns county, who assumed office on August i,
1866; L. M. Collins, of St. Cloud, April 19, 1883; L. L. Baxter, of Fergus
Falls, Otter Tail county, March 18, 1885; D. B. Searle, of St. Cloud, Novem-
ber 14, 1887; Myron D. Taylor, of St. Cloud, December i, 1906; Carroll A.
Nye, of Moorhead, Clay county, January i, 1911 ; William L. Parsons, of
Fergus Falls, April 18, 1913, and John A. Roeser, of St_Cloud, April i, 1913.
The three last named are the present judges of this district, having
concurrent jurisdiction, and assignments are made by the senior member.
Judge Nye.
CHAPTER XV.
The Medical Profession.
During the early )ears of the settlement of this region there were no
regular practicing physicians hereabout, the settlers relying on the experi-
ence of such of their number as might have a knowledge of "simples" to
help them out of their ailments in ordinary cases and sending over to Sauk
Center for a physician in case of emergencies, but as the charge for attend-
ance by a physician from that distance was almost prohibitive, the emergency
was generally extreme when such a call was made. Occasionally traveling
doctors would come out this way and make the rounds of the settlements,
but as far as the recollection of the survivors of that period goes Doctor
Andrews was the first physician definitely to locate at Alexandria, where he
remained in practice for several years. Doctor Andrews was not only a
good physician, but an excellent surgeon, who had had considerable experi-
ence as a practitioner in the iron region near Duluth before locating at
Alexandria. He later moved to Aloorehead, where he spent the rest of his
hfe.
It was during the time of Doctor Andrews's residence at Alexandria
that Doctor Borden, a young graduate physician from Boston, came out
here and located at Alexandria, where he remained some years, later return-
ing to Boston, whence news presently came of his death there. Then came
Dr. Godfrey ^'ivian, an Englishman, who also came down from the iron
range, a surgeon of wide experience, who remained at Alexandria for years,
at the end of which time he went to California, where he spent the remainder
of his life. Not long after the coming of Doctor Vivian, Doctor Lewis
appeared on the scene and the two formed a partnership and started a drug
store, of which Doctor Lewis became the active manager, the latter spending
the balance of his life at Alexandria.
In 1 88 1 Dr. S. W. McEwan, who had started in practice at Evansville,
moved to Alexandria and presently formed a partnership with Doctor Vivian,
which continued until the latter's appointment as postmaster, when Doctor
McEwan and Dr. H. J. Boyd, the latter of whom meanwhile had located at
Alexandria, formed a partnership. Doctor Boyd was a son of one of the
l)ioneer families of Hudson township and had grown to manhood in this
276 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
community. He received his medical education in Cincinnati and afterward
for a time was engaged in practice in New York, but about 1883 he returned
to Douglas county and .engaged in practice at Alexandria, where he spent
the rest of his life, his death occurring about 1909. His son, Dr. Leon A.
Boyd, is now in practice at Alexandria. Doctor McEwan became very suc-
cessful in his practice, at the same time taking an active part in public affairs,
and remained actively in practice until his death about ten years ago.
ALEXANDRIA PHYSICIANS.
In the meantime, as in all communities, other physicians had been locat-
ing at Alexandria, some of these, however, remaining but a short time until
attracted to some other location and thus created no Aery distinct impression
upon the community. Among those who did locate with a definite purpose
to remain may be mentioned Dr. James H. Drake, a young physician, who
engaged in practice at Alexandria for a year or two and then went to
Mondak, Montana. Dr. Frithiof L. Kling also was located for some time
at Alexandria, but presently moved to the neighboring county seat, Elbow
Lake, where he is now engaged in practice. Dr. W. E. Ellis, of Prentice,
Wisconsin, also located at Alexandria, but after awhile returned to the place
from which he had come, and Dr. Charles A. Lester, another physician of
some years standing in Alexandria, located at Winona, this state. Dr.
Eugene A. Hensel, who succeeded to the practice of Doctor McEwan upon
the death of the latter, grew up in Douglas county, his parents having been
pioneers here. He was graduated from Bush Medical College, at Chicago,
and began practice at Alexandria in the nineties, remaining there until in
January, 1910, when he moved to San Diego, California, where he is now
engaged in practice. Besides Dr. Leon A. Boyd, mentioned above, the other
practitioners at Alexandria at present are Dr. M. B. Ruud, Dr. L. W. Satter-
lee. Dr. A. D. Haskell and Dr. L. M. Keene.
OSAKIS PHYSICIANS.
The oldest practicing physician at present in Douglas county is Dr. C. M.
Long, of Osakis, who was a classmate of Doctor McEwan at Rush Medical
College, and who is now the only member left of the regular medical fratern-
ity in this region of forty years ago, all the early physicians at Fergus Falls,
Alexandria, Osakis, Sauk Center and St. Cloud save himself having passed
to their reward years ago. When Doctor Long settled in Douglas county in
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 277
1878 Alexandria was but a small hamlet and Osakis was but a feeding place
for the ox-trains, to use the Doctor's own words in expressing the situation.
He arrived at Osakis on the old stage from Melrose, and the St. Paul, Min-
neapolis & Manitoba railroad was laid through Osakis to Alexandria in the
fall of that same year, the first mixed' train being run through Osakis and
on to Alexandria on November i6. When Doctor Long settled in practice at
Osakis, Doctor Vivian and Doctor Lewis were in practice in Alexandria
and had been there for some time, continuing in partnership until the death
of Dr. Lewis at Chaska about 1882. Doctor Long was the first resident
physician at Osakis and has remained there continuously ever since settling
in the village, the list of physicians who later located there comprising
Doctors Rathburn, Anderson, Scoboris, Cleveland, Titus, A. J. Gilkinson and
Hengstler, the two latter of whom are now practicing there in partnership.
For twenty years, or until the railway physicians in the smaller towns
were discontinued. Doctor Long was the local physician for the Great North-
ern railroad. From his description of the disadvantages under which the
physician labored in the period covering the earUer years of his practice, it
is apparent that too much cannot be said in praise of the pioneer physicians
or of the efforts they put forth amid all possible disadvantageous conditions.
During most parts of the year the roads were almost impassible on account
of mud holes, stumps, rocks, ruts and the heavy snow banks of the cold
winters of those early days. The question of price or of pay for services was
not considered, but all calls were 'answered with a devotion to the profession
and an interest in the patient that was as noble as it was unselfish, for many
times the physician received not even a civil "thank you"' for his services.
In those days it not infrequently happened that the deep snow drifts
were the belated physician's protecting bed against freezing and the old army
rifle kept the hungry "sassy" wolves at bay. Surgical operations often were
performed during the night hours in the remote districts without counsel or
assistance. All emergencies had to be met fearlessly, without any advantage
save the exercise of double wits, courage and "dare."' Difficult surgical opera-
tions had to be performed under conditions that would make a modern physi-
cian's hair stand on end, there then being no opportunity for the antiseptic
surgery of today, and it is remarkable what good results usually followed
those daring operations. Though in too many cases the families who were
compelled to call in the services of the physician were poor and had no
intention of paying for the service, there sat the true physician, all night,
watching and devising, devoted to the interests of his patient, though know-
ing that he was not to be remunerated when all was over.
270 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The medical profession is represented at Alillerville by Dr. John C.
Drexler, and at Kensington by Dr. Otto L. Hanson and at Carlos by Dr.
P. A. Love. Doctor Gray formerly was engaged in practice at Garfield,
which village is now without a physician.
EVANSVILLE PHYSICIANS.
So far as can be ascertained the following list contains the names and
years of service of all the physicians who have resided at Evansville : Doctor
Hahnemann came in 1881 and moved away in 1886; Doctor AIcKenzie came
in 1886 and stayed until 1887; Dr. Charles Nootnagel resided here in 1887-89;
Doctor Spaulding, 1890-91; Dr. R. I. Hubert, 1891-94; Dr. Charles Van
Cappellen, 1894-96; Dr. C. R. Ward, 1895-1903: Dr. C. W. Meckstroth,
1896-1901 ; Doctor Bachman, 1901-1902; Dr. G. B. Mathison, 1902-1910;
Doctor Regner, 1906-07; Dr. G. R. Melzer came in 1910; Dr. W. Hufifman,
1912-13; Doctor Ekrem, 1914-15; Doctor Ruud and Dr. P. G. Cowing came
to Evansville in 1916 and are now engaged in the practice there.
BRANDON PHYSICIANS.
The physicians who have practiced at Brandon have been as follow :
Doctor Brown came about 1883 and resided here several years; Doctor Foss,
1885-86; Dr. Charles Van Cappellen, 1889-1904; Dr. Gisle Bjornstad, 1893-
96; Dr. John Lyng, 1 899-1 901 ; Dr. C. W. Meckstroth came in 1901 and still
resides here. Dr. C. Nootnagel, Sr., a homeopath, practiced five miles west
of Brandon from 1876 until his death a few years ago.
DOCTORS OF DENTAL SURGERY.
From the traveling "tinker," as the settlers about the old stockade used
to call the itinerant dentists who were wont to call at the settlement there or at
the other early settlements in Douglas county in pioneer days, to the skilled
and trained dental surgeons of today is a far cry, indeed. In the old days
tooth-pulling was the chief remedy for dental ailments, though some of the
traveling dentists were equipped with a sort of a kit of tools with which
they would attempt the filling of teeth, Init the sufferer usually discovered
that the filling would be dropping out within a short time. In consequence
of the bad practice of these itinerants the pioneers usually relied upon the
family physician for dental services, the same being confined to tooth-pulling.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 279
except in the cases of those who cared to make a trip to the cities for dental
attention.
It was not until about 1880 that Alexandria had a resident dentist. Dr.
James Bell, who came over from Minneapolis and located at the county seat,
the first resident dentist in Douglas county. Doctor Bell presently formed a
partnership with Doctor Hand, who came in later, and that partnership was
continued for some time. Doctor Hand later moving to Long Prairie and
Doctor Bell back to Minneapolis. Doctor Jordon was the next dentist to
locate at Alexandria and he later went to Fergus Falls, where he died, and
the next was Doctor Avery, who later went to Idaho. Dr. Harry Pritchett
and Doctor Good located at Alexandria about that time, the former of
whom later moved to Perham and the latter sold his practice to Dr. J. J.
Volker, who is still engaged in practice at Alexandria. Dr. E. E. Buell
succeeded to the practice of Doctor Jordon and is still in practice. In 1904
Dr. C. L. Cole established an office at Alexandria and is still there, and in
1906 Dr. C. C. Strang, present mayor of Alexandria, opened an office for
the practice of his profession and is still thus engaged there. The latest
dentist to locate at the county seat is Dr. L. W. Prescott, who opened an
office there in the summer of 19 16.
The chiropractic profession is represented by Dr. D. E. Wittenburg,
and the osteopaths l^y Dr. J. A. McCabe.
CHAPTER XVI.
Banks and Banking
The early banks of Douglas county were private institutions, often
carried on along with some other business. When the county was unde-
veloped it was only natural that interest rates were high. It was no uncom-
mon thing for a money lender to ask as high as twenty-five or thirty per cent
interest during the early days of settlement. As land values increased, inter-
est rates were lowered, and developed farms afforded good security for loans.
Later the rates were regulated by law and today the farmers and business
men of Douglas county are able to secure all the money they need for legiti-
mate enterprises at rates as reasonable as any county in the state.
There are now four national and thirteen state banks in Douglas county.
In 1915 these banks had capital and surplus of $529,500, and total deposits
of $3,459,159.68. It is estimated that two-thirds of these deposits belong
to farmers. These figures represent a per capita deposit of $195. In the
following paragraphs brief mention is made of the officers and the financial
condition of all the banks in Douglas county.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF ALEXANDRIA.
The First National Bank of Alexandria is the oldest financial institu-
tion in the county. In 1868 a private bank was established, called the Bank
of Alexandria, of which F. B. Van Hoesen was president; C. H. Raiter, vice-
president, and G. B. Ward, cashier. In 1883 this business was converted into
a national bank, called the First National Bank of Alexandria. The present
officers are: C. J. Gunderson, president; C. H. Raiter, vice-president; A. H.
Gregersen, vice-president; P. O. Unumb, cashier; C. F. Raiter, assistant
cashier. Directors: C. J. Gunderson, C. H. Raiter, Fred von Baumbach,
P. O. Unumb, A. H. Gregersen, F. C. Raiter and Theodore Bordsen.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital Stock, $60,000.00; surplus and undivided
profits, $39,551.86; deposits, $766,533.15; loans and discounts, $681,563.18;
cash assets, $158,257.71.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
FARMERS NATIONAL BANK OF ALEXANDRIA.
The Farmers Xational Bank of Alexandria was chartered on June 12,
1901. The first officers were as follow: Tollef Jacobson, president: J- H.
Letson, vice-president : Andrew Jacobson, cashier ; H. A. Schaefer, assistant
cashier. The bank has the same officers in 1916 with the addition of H. A.
LeRoy as vice-president.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, igi6, are as follows: Capital stock, $100,000.00; surplus and undivided
profits, $31,424.33; deposits, $805,516.14; loans and discounts, $722,314.15;
cash assets, $118,184.05. The building in which the Farmers National is
hriused was erected in 1914 and is one of the handsomest bank buildings in
the state. It is of Maine granite and with a marble interior, erected at a
cost of about $65,000.
DOUGLAS COUNTY STATE BANK.
The Douglas County State Bank was established on June 10, 1886, at
Alexandria. The first officers were : Joseph U. Barnes, president ; William
Moses, vice-president ; H. A. Barnes, cashier. The first board of directors
consisted of Joseph U. Barnes, William Moses, G. A. Kortsch, Henry A.
Barnes, E. J. Phelps, W. L. Barnes and E. A. Merrill. The present officers
are : G. A. Kortsch, president : W. K. Barnes, cashier ; O. W. Landeen,
assistant cashier.
At the close of business on June 30, 1916, the bank had: Capital,
$50,000.00: surplus and undivided profits, $11,724.34; deposits, $202,271.58;
loans and discounts, $213,961.65; cash assets, $37,556.34.
OSAKIS STATE BANK.
The Osakis State Bank was organized in ]\Iay, 1900. The first officers
were: H. A. Shedd, president; W. P. Long, vice-president; Carl E. Oberg,
cashier. First board of directors : H. A. Shedd, W. P. Long and \\'. B.
Lvons. The original capital stock was $10,000. The present officers of the
bank are : F. H. Borchert, president ; W. P. Long, vice-president ; Clyde W.
Long, cashier; C. E. Belding, assistant cashier. Directors: F. H. Borchert,
W. P. Long and \Y. B. Lyons.
At the close of business on June 30, 1916, the condition of the bank
was as follows: Capital stock, $25,000.00; surplus and undivided profits.
282 . DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
$11,653.40; deposits, $309,396.70; loans and discounts, $334,486.11; cash
assets, $27,838.34.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF OSAKIS.
The First National Bank of Osakis was organized on June 9, 1903,
with a capital stock of $25,000.00. The first officers were : Tollef Jacob-
son, president; Andrew Jacobson, vice-president; Nels M, Evenson, cashier.
The present officers are: Nels M. Evenson, president; James A. Caughren,
vice-president; G. R. Lee, cashier; D. B. McCleery, assistant cashier.
At the close of business on May i, 1916, the bank showed the following
financial condition: Capital stock, $25,000.00; surplus and undivided profits,
$13,340.34; deposits, $285,766.89; loans and discounts, $239,646.75; cash
assets, $79,300.84.
FARMERS STATE BANK OF EVANSVILLE. ,
The Farmers State Bank of Evansville was established in 1882. The
present officers are as follow: G. H. Raiter, president; O. C. Amundson,
vice-president; Joseph Mathison, cashier; V. F. Johnson, assistant cashier.
A recent statement of the bank showed the following condition: Capital
stock, $10,000.00; surplus and undivided profits, $7,500.00; deposits, $131,-
000.00; loans and discounts, $118,000.00; cash assets, $26,000.00.
EVANSVILLE STATE BANK.
The Evansville State Bank was established on October i, 1902, with a
capital stock of $10,000.00. The first officers were: Tollef Jacobson, presi-
dent; Andrew Jacobson, vice-president; Oscar Lindstrom, cashier; O. J.
Wallen, assistant cashier. In 1904 O. J. Wallen was elected cashier. In
May, 1912, the capital stock was increased to $25,000.00, and a surplus of
$5,000.00 was set aside. The present officers are : John Anderson, presi-
dent; A. J. Ostrom, vice-president; O. J. Wallen, cashier; J. T. Larson,
assistant cashier.
At the close of business on June 30, 1916, the condition of the bank was :
Capital stock, $25,000.00; surplus and undivided profits, $11,013.60; deposits,
$216,714.14; loans and discounts, $217,443.47; cash assets, $27,168.92.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 283
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BRANDON.
The Brandon State Bank was organized in 1902, with a capital stock
of $10,000.00. O. F. Olson was the president and Theodore F. Olson was
the cashier. On June 16, 1916, this institution was converted into the First
National Bank of Brandon, with a capital stock of $25,000.00. Toilet
Jacobsen is president and Ferd Swenson is cashier.
Statement of the First National Bank of Brandon at the close of busi-
ness on August 6, 1916: Capital stock, $25,000.00; surplus, $10,000.00;
deposits, $211,932.72; loans, $179,414.91; cash assets, $45,368.95.
F.\RMERS STATE B.\NK OF BRANDON.
The Farmers State Bank of Brandon was organized on No\-ember 11,
1910. Its first officers were: P. O. Unumb, president; B. T. Teigen, vice-
president; George Drexler, cashier; A. B. Burkee, assistant cashier. Mr.
Drexler died on April 13. 1914, and was succeeded by A. B. Burkee as
cashier. The present assistant cashier is Edwin Berg.
At the close of business on June 30, 1916, the statement of the bank
was as follows: Capital stock, $15,000.00; surplus, $4,000.00: deposits,
$255,112.54; loans and discounts, $250,716.55; cash assets, $18,330.67.
FIRST STATE BANK OF CARLOS.
The First State Bank of Carlos was organized on Septemlier 5, 1904,
with a capital stock of $10,000.00. The first officers were: S. .\. Netland.
president; A. O. Netland, vice-president; James B. Hove, cashier. The
present officers are: James B. Hove, president; A. ]\I. Kohlhaas, vice-presi-
dent ; Edward B. Dahlsten, cashier.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follow: Capital stock, $10,000.00; surplus and undivided
profits, $3,264.34; deposits, $158,338.44; loans and discounts, $145,795.76;
cash assets, $19,850.29.
GARFIELD ST.\TE BANK.
The Garfield State Bank was organized on IMarch 2-j, 1905, with a
capital stock of $10,000.00. The first officers were: Harry Dranger, presi-
dent; Ferd. Swenson. cashier. The present officers are: Ferd. Swenson,
284 " DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
president; John A. Linnard, vice-president; Theodore Walstad, cashier;
George Roche, assistant cashier.
At the close of business on June 30, 1916, the condition of the bank
was as follows: Capital stock, $15,000,00; .surplus, $3,000.00; deposits,
$193,427.53; loans and discounts, $185,442.04; cash assets, $19,461.59.
NELSON STATE BANK.
The Nelson State Bank was incorporated on April 23, 1907, with a
capital stock of $12,000.00. The fir.st officers were: James Manuel, presi-
dent; H. J. Ernster, cashier. Directors: C. H. Larson, T. A. Erickson and
George Stromlund. The present officers are: C. H. Larson, president; F.
Otto Swenson, vice-president; George Stromlund, cashier; Ida A. Erickson
and Hanna M. Stromlund, assistant cashiers. T. A. Erickson and Nels
Sather are on the board of directors.
At the close of inisiness on June 30, 1916. the condition of the bank
was as follows: Capital stock, $12,000.00; surplus, $3,448.63; deposits,
$124,867.82; loans and discounts, $120,367.25; cash assets, $13,305.79.
FIRST STATE BANK OF KENSINGTON.
The First State Bank of Kensington was established in 1909. The
present officers are: C. H. Raiter. president; H. Thorson, vice-president;
O. W. Harrison, cashier ; C. D. Sampson, assistant cashier. The principal
items from the statement at the close of business on June 30, 1916, are as
follow: Capital stock, $15,000.00: surplus and undivided profits, $6,100.83;
deposits, $209,222.86; loans and discounts, $200,195.40; cash assets,
$^3.795-09-
FARMERS STATE BANK OF FORADA.
The Farmers State Bank of Forada was organized in 19 13, with a
capital stock of $10,000.00. The first officers were: Fred C. Meade, presi-
dent; John Lorenz, vice-president; Henry Daniels, cashier. The present
officers are: Theodore Aune, president; John Lorenz, vice-president; N. P.
Norling, cashier.
At the close of Ijusiness on June 30, 19 16, the statement of the bank
showed the following condition: Capital stock, $10,000.00; surplus and
undivided profits, $2,269.94; deposits, $48,078.80; loans and discounts, $49,-
333.78; -cash assets, $4,130.05.
DOUCa.AS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
JIELBY STATE BANK.
The Alelby State Bank was estalilished in 1914. Tlie present officers
are: E. A. Jewett, president; H. M. Palmquist, vice-president; J. L. Everts,
cashier. A statement of the bank for June 30, 1916, shows the following
condition: Capital stock, $10,000.00; surplus and undivided profits, $2,-
228.39; deposits, $44,489.89; loans and discounts, $48,466.00; cash assets,
$3,678.27.
GERMAN .\MERICAN STATE BANK OF MILLERVILLE.
The German American State Bank of jNlillerville was chartered on May
II, 1914, and opened for business on August i, 1914. The present officers
are: Tollef Jacobson, president; Frank Buscher, cashier. Directors: Tol-
lef Jacobson, Ferd. Swenson, F. G. Dobmeyer, P. B. Lorsung and Frank
Buscher.
At the cjose of business on June 30, 1916, the condition of the bank was
as follows: Capital stock, $10,000.00; surplus and undivided profits, $2,-
124.30; deposits, $61,616.88; loans and discounts, $54,538.16; cash assets,
$15,034.27.
CHAPTER XVII.
Military Annals.
On the lawn of the Douglas county court house there stands a beautiful
gray granite monument, surmounted by a life-size bronze figure of a soldier
standing at guard. On the face of the granite shaft there is carved a repro-
duction of the familiar emblem of the Grand Army of the Republic and on
the left side of the shaft there is carved the following inscription:
IN MEMORY OF
THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF THE CIML WAR,
1861 TO 1865
IT WAS ERECTED BY THE PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF
REV. T. W. CRITCHETTE, D. D.,
COMMANDER OF J. L. REYNOLDS POST NO. 5 1, DEPT. OF MINN.,
G. A. R.. THE W. R. C. AND THE CITIZENS OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
DEDICATED MAY 3O, I916.
Douglas count}- not having had a formal, separate civic entity during
the period of the Civil War, it having teen, previous to the spring of 1866,
attached to Stearns C(iunt}- for civil purposes, the military annals of the
region now comprised within the boundaries of Douglas county hardly can
be regarded as those of the latter county, but rather of Stearns county, to
which it then was attached. When the Civil ^^'ar broke out there were not
manv settlers in the territory now comprised within Douglas county and of
these all but a very few scattered and left during the time of the Indian up-
rising in the next year, the story of which, together with a history of the
estalilishment of the old stockade at Alexandria, following the outbreak, is
told in an earlier chapter. Of the few settlers in this region, however, a
goodlv percentage responded to the call to arms and joined the forces of
the state of Minnesota in aiding to put down the rebellion of the Southern
states, this percentage having been sufficiently high to obviate the necessity
for the exercise of the draft throughout this region. At the close of the
war and upon the re-establishment of a sense of security against the Indians
in this section, settlement became quite rapid and among these settlers were
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 287
many of the veterans of the Civil War, who came out here seeking new
homes in this promising region. These veterans in the due course of time
formed local posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, one at Osakis and one
at Alexandria, and the rosters of these posts may therefore very properly
be regarding as continuing the military annals of the county in so far as
the Civil ^^^ar is concerned.
JOHN L. REYNOLDS POST NO. 5I.
The charter of John L. Reynolds Post No. 51, Grand Army of the
Republic, Department of ^linnesota. was granted at Stillwater on October
29, 1883, John P. Rea then being department commander and Samuel Bloo-
neir, assistant adjutant-general, following l>eing the charter members of the
post : Horatio Jenkins, Thomas F. Cowing, Lewis J. Brown, James S. Chap-
man, John B. Cowing, Henry K. White, Buel Chidester, William E. Chid-
ester, Andrew J. Ames, Charles Schultz, Lewis S. Hill, William H. Hutchin-
son, Joseph Gilpin, Charles Perkins and Ole J. Urness. The post held its
first meeting in Cowing's Opera Hall at Alexandria on October 29, 1883,
and W. H. Harrington, chief mustering officer of the Department of ]\Iinne-
sota. Grand Army of the Republic, installed the post and officers of the
same, the officers being as follow : Commander, Horatio Jenkins ; senicjr
vice-commander, Thomas F. Cowing; junior vice-commander, William H.
Sanders; surgeon, Lewis J. Brown; chaplain, James S. Chapman; quarter-
master, J. B. Cowing; adjutant, WilHam E. Chidester; officer of the day,
Henry White ; officer of the guard, Buel Chidester ; sergeant-major, Andrew
Ames.
John L. Reynolds Post grew in strength of numljers and in local influ-
ence with the passing of years until its roster came to number one hundred
and seventy-nine, the meml^ers, in addition to those mentioned above being
as follow : Hiram Shippey, Hiram P. James, James A. Shotwell, William A.
Downs, Oliver B. Cooley, A.- H. Taylor, George A. Whitcomb, Francis
Giles, Charles E. Jenkins, F. C. Meade, William P. Burgan, G. J. Strang.
Samuel J. Johnson, James Shaver, George E. Ke}-es, Knute Nelson, Leon-
ard West, Henry H. Brown, David Johnson, Peter Lundgren, W. H. Hal-
stad, W. C. Roland, John Lindquist, John Barnard, Hamilton Tavlor, F. G.
Stevens, N. N. Hardy, Fred von Baumbach, A. A. Brown, James C. Miller.
Royal Colby, Dennis Crandall, \\'. R, Franklin, James A. Miller, C. \\'. Co-
field. Moses Fredenberg, Isaiah Johnson, Cah'in .\bbott, .Albert Hubljell.
Rial Catlin, Thomas Kinney. Mathias Swap, Joseph Cramer. William H
288 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
Countryman, R. B. Oliver, George W. Frost. Paul Paulson, Carl W. Wood-
ward. Xels Abrahamson, H. L. Lewis, James F. Dicken, William L. 'Slc-
Kenzie, William P. Rogers, Daniel Allee, Martin J. Norde, Johnson Baker,
Christopher Halvorsen, George W. Gardner, Thomas Bratton. John N.
Shelru, George W. Partridge, Olaf Dahlheim, James Madison, John Sund-
blad, Andrew J. Urness, George G. ^Mitchell, William Hounsell, James J.
McQuillan, Luther South, James R. Patten, Olaf Fahlin, Philander Brooks,
Gilbert Olson, John Olson, Jr., Moses Ingersoll, H. G. Fladeland, Cyrus B.
Chase. James W. Roath. Henry Johnson, Fred Prodger, Samuel Jones, John
Peterson. Andrew Burkee, John X. Hanson, John A. Anderson, Nicholas
Mager, Peter Smith, John DeBilzen, August Wilm, J. L. Kasson, J. C.
Terrvl, Gustav Olason, William Ziska, John A. Johnson, Charles Laurel,
\\'illiam Kapphahn, Joshua M. Doudna, Alonzo Kellogg, Laurentz Johnson,
Justus O. Kellogg, Nicholas Renkes, John Hobart, John E. Allen, William
A. Baile}-, John C. Carley, Francis W. Frederick, John Moses, James Fitz-
gerald, Frank Webber, Frank H. Colby, George H. Ostrum, William Mc-
Crory, William B. Dow, Olie Olson, Olie Brandson, Charles Buscher, Charles
H. Wright, Ed. Peterson, Josiah Kimball, James H. Abbott, Nicholas Sand-
strom. Nelson Peck, Almon Warner, Stephen W. Miller, Theo. A. Emerson,
August Gutzman, George A. Freundenberg, \"alentine Nichols, Egbert Ful-
lerton, Gilbert Hayford, Samuel Laws, Alvin Milligan, John R. Moran,
James Bright, Jesse Barrick, Amos Bacon, William A. McDonald, Henry
Haner, Solomon Demming, David R. B. Hall, Edward Alger, Joseph Alger,
Benjamin W. Noe, Charles W. Sutton, P. L. Letherman, R. Larson, Vincent
Cooley, Chris McCabe, Frank J. Stevens, Thomas Cooper, Henry Yerigen.
Charles F. McKillips, William Cort, James Goddard, James Watters, Rev.
T. W. Critchette, D. D., Melvin Cushman, George Mathison, Gottlieb Grie-
bio, Lewis S. Patten and Melvin Churchman, besides whom the names of
John Anderson, Thomas Carpenter and William Wagoner are mentioned on
the roll as veterans not members of the post.
With the passage of time and in consequence of death and removals,
the present membership of the post has dwindled down to thirty-two. Meet-
ings are held in a room on the second floor of the court house, provided
through the courtesy of the county commissioners, and the present (1916)
officers of the post are as follows: Commander, Rev. T. W. Critchette, D.
D. ; senior vice-commander, Thomas Cooper; jimior vice-commander, Frank
F. Stevens; officer of the day, Luther South; officer of the guard, Henry
A'earkin; adjutant, Melvin Cushman; quartermaster, James Watters, and
chaplain. T. W. Critchette.
DOUGLAS ANU GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
JOHN KENNEDY POST NO. 4I.
John Kennedy Post No. 41, Department of Minnesota, Grand Arm}- of
the Republic, was instituted at Osakis on May 27, 1885, with M. D. Judkins,
W. H. Crows, F. A. Caswell, William Johnson, S. R. Smith, M. Johnson,
W. H. Stevens, V. A. Edgerly, John Bailor, L. E. Stallcop, H. H. Sander-
son, J. B. Johnson, B. W. Viles, H. O. Whipple, John Casterline, J. H.
Passon, John Hoosline, E. J. Wickwire, Stephen John, J. B. Sherman, J. H.
Rock, W^ B. Lyons, A. O. Chapin, E. G. Pike, C. N. Tubbs, C. W. B. Taylor
and Paul Harmon as charter members and the following officers : Com-
mander, Joseph Bird; senior vice-commander, Levi Stallcop; junior vice-
commander, I\Iark D. Judkins, and adjutant, \\\ H. Crows. Kennedy post
remained active for many }"ears, but in course of time its ranks l>ecame so
thinned b}" death and removals that it finally disbanded. At one time the
post was a strong organization, owned their own building and held their
meetings with due regularity. But as the years advanced death entered the
ranks, many moved away, interest subsided and it was found impossible to
maintain the post. Following is a complete roster of the post, sixty-seven
in all: M. D. Judkins, William H. Crowe, F. A. Caswell, S. R. Smith,
Morgan Johnson, William H. Stevens, V. A. Edgley, John Bailor, Levy
Stalcap, H. H. Sanderson, J. B. Johnson, C. N. Tiebs, E. G. Pike, O. O.
Chapin, O. A\\ Tiger, B. W. Viles, Paul Harmon, H. O. Whiffle, John Cas-
terton, John Hoostine, P. H. Pason, E. Wickwire, John Stephen, John B.
Scherman, John H. Rock, W^ B. Lyons, William Johnson, James H. Fisher,
W. W. Wood, AL W. Adley, Joseph Bird, James Stanley, William Millard,
William Curtis, 'SL G. Tixley, John R. Lysing, David Chapman, Webster
Howard, Sam Gonser, J. H. Mann, O. H. P. Fans, George Haskins, John
Debord, Rubin L. Buck, Calvin Ripley, B. D. Judkins, A. O. Berry, R. B.
Saterlee, J. B. Perkins, D. A. Edwards, Alexander Brink, Charles Peterson,
William Knowles, Jacob Bowman, John Kileble, L. P. Beeding, Dennis
Huntley, William Schroeder, A. J. Marrow, John Shaw, Ruben Skeesucker,
V. Warren, W. W. Gorden, R. Tilton, Dennis Harden, M. Tilton, R. H.
Belnap,, C. S. Grover.
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
On the 25th of May, 1898, just one month after the declaration of war
l:)et\veen the United States and Spain, President McKinley issued his second
(19)
290 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
call for troops. The patriotic fervor was at its height throughout the county.
At the city of Alexandria there was organized a company of volunteers, one
hundred and forty strong, which was promised a place in the Fifteenth Regi-
ment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, but like a good many other like
organizations, it was doomed to be disappointed, for there were sixty such
companies and only twelve could be used at this time, and the Alexandria
volunteers were asked to wait for the Sixteenth. In the first few days of
July a number of the boys went to the cities and enlisted in other companies
rather than wait for the promised Sixteenth Regiment.
Those enlisting in Company B, under Capt. John W. Fineout, were as
follows : Asa P. Brooks, Frank R. Beisholdt, Erik Florman, Martin Jensen,
WiUiam F. Miller, John O'Farrell, Henry T. Ronning, Benjamin F. Gaskill,
Bendix N. Bekker, William Gauthier, Louis O. Lund, David Myers, Oscar
I. Peterson and Carl C. A'anDyke, all of Alexandria.
Those enlisting in Company G, under Capt. L. S. Nelson were as fol-
lows : William A. Downs, George A. Fish, Edward P. Lampman, Ovey V.
Shippey, Henry C. Eichman, Carl J. King and Frank L. Lampman, all of
Alexandria, and Nick Sward, of Nelson Station.
They were first stationed at the state fair grounds, at Camp Ramsey,
named in honor of the first governor of Minnesota, and there on July 18,
1898, the regiment was mustered in as a body. On August 2^^ the entire
regiment, except Company G was moved to Ft. Snelling, on account of the
epidemic of typhoid fever which had taken a strong hold on the boys at
Camp Ramsey. Company G was left to police the grounds and followed the
main body the next day. Although several of the boys from Douglas county
fell a prey to the dreaded disease, they were all fortunate in recovering. Not
so with all in the regiment, however, for a great number died. On the 15th
of September the boys left for Camp Meade, Pennsylvania. On November
15 the boys again moved, this time to Augusta, Georgia, where they remained
until they were mustered out on March 27, 1899. In addition to those volun-
teers from Douglas county mentioned above, there were about half a dozen
who enlisted in various other regiments.
CHAPTER XVni,
Fraternal and Benevolent Societies.
The spirit of fraternity in the way of formal organizations of the vari-
ous secret societies began early to be manifested in Douglas county after
the rough edges of pioneer living had been somewhat worn off, and, although
this community is not so strongly marked by the presence of secret societies
as are some communities in the state, there have been from the beginning
some well-organized and influential fraternal associations in the county.
Some of these have maintained their organization in compact form; others
have flourished for a time and then gone down through a decline in interest
on the part of their respective memljers. The majority of the lodges in the
county at present are those organized for insurance purposes rather than
for any other reason and the social side of these latter associations has never
been very strongly played up, the members keeping up their "dues" in behalf
of the insurance feature, but giving little attention to the fraternity idea
that is made much of by some such associations in other communities. The
majority of these have no corporate existence and some do not even main-
tain lodge headquarters. An effort has been made to obtain a complete list
of the various fraternal and benevolent societies in the county, but the Hsl
which follows does not purport to be complete, not a few of the societies
thus approached for information failing to supply the necessary data to
make up a report on the same.
The first "lodge" to file articles of incorporation in Douglas county was
Alexandria Lodge No. 54, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which on
]\Iay I, 1876, was incorporated with the following charter members: B.
Nicholas, W. L. McCallum, Evison Atkinson, August Kortsch and Samuel
Beidelman, the articles of incorporation being signed by W. L. McCallum,
noble grand; Evison Atkinson, vice-grand, and Fred von Baumbach, sec-
retary.
The second was Ida Grange No. 395, incorporated on June 4, 1877, with
the following charter members : E. H. Alden, Scharlatte Alden, Alexander
Hasbrook, James F. Dicken, Jerome Dicken, Joseph Pennar. Abner Darling,
292 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Reuben Ecker. Rebecca A. Ecker, Elizabetb Bedman. Heiir)' Alden and Henry
H. Brown.
On March 14, 1895, Brandon Lodge No. 224, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, was instituted with F. W. Ruppelius, Herman Nootnagel,
Gustavus Gunther, Rudolph Wagner, Joshua M. Doudna and the following
officers: Noble grand, F. W. Ruppelius; vice-grand, Herman Nootnagel,
and secretary, L. E. Williams.
Douglas Encampment No. 47, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, ac-
cording to its articles of incorporation filed in the office of the register of
deeds, was instituted on September 25, 1897, with George G. S. Campbell,
James Walker, James H. ^'an Dyke, A. G. Sexton, A. W. Curtis, Rudolph
Wegener, J. A. ]\IcKay, Fred von Baumbach, H. K. White. George F. \Miit-
comb, J. E. Lundgren, Hugo Lundbohm, Wego ^^'erner, F. E. FrankHn,
Michael Hickey, Gilbert Sargent, N. P. Jacobson, Charles Culross, J. P.
Simonson, H. J. Boyd, A. M. Kohlhaas, H. T. Halvorson, William McKay,
R. J. McNeil, P. Atkinson, Jolm Templeton, Thomas Hall, S. W. McEwan
and A. E. Shippey, charter members.
At a meeting held on December 7, 1898, Alexandria Lodge No. 185,
Ancient Order of United Workmen, was incorporated with the following
charter members : Arthur S. Mason, Leon E. Waite, Simon. R. Drum,
Cyrus T. Allen, C. W. Ridley, D. J. Jones, Fred C. Meade, George R.
Auxer, O. J. Reynolds, H. G. Atwood, L. C. Atwood. O. A. Bailor, G. B.
Carlton. C. L. Gilbert, C. H. Kline, C. N. ]\Iitchell and .V. D. Sargent, with
the following officers: :Master workman, William E. Kellogg; foreman,
J. W. Robards; overseer, Nels Erickson; recorder, L. C. Atwood; financier,
J. E. Peterson; receiver, Charles S. Brown; guide, A. E. Shippey; inside
watch, Hugo Heere : outside watch, J. L. Burgan.
Alexandria Lodge No. 133, Knights of Pythias, at Alexandria, was
incorporated on December 13, 1898, said lodge having been instituted on
June 13, 1894, the charter members being F. B. A'an Hoesen, Charles S.
Mitchell, L. E. Waite, George E. Soper, N. W. Hicks, G. A. Kortsch, W. K.
Barnes, Milo Strieker, Alex. Jacobson, Walter E. Peck, H. K. White, George
S. Spaulding, G. T. Morrisse, H. T. Halvorson, George F. Whitcomb, Glaus
J. Gunderson, J. H. Letson, N. L. Page, W. F. Jordan, C H. Raiter, S. D.
Moles, H. W. Allen, R. J. McNeil, George L. Treat, G. B. Ward, ^^'. T.
Cowing, E. P. Wright, C. A. Benson, P. O. Unumb, H. Jenkins, Sr., W. F.
Sundblad, S. W. McEwan, N. .P. Ward, D. J. Jones, H. J. Boyd and Joseph
F. Hieljel, the officers at the time of incorporation having been as follow:
Chancellor commander. ToUef Jacolison; vice-chancellor, ]\Iiles Strieker;
DOUGLAS ANO GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 293
prelate. W.'H. Thompson; master of work, W. T. Hendren; keeper of record
and seal, Joseph F. Hiebel; master of exchequer, P. O. Unumb; master at
arms, Andrew Jacobson; trustees, Charles S. Mitchell, H. K. White and
W. K. Barnes. This lodge is no longer active, having surrendered its
charter some years ago.
Urness Camp No. 5521, ]\Iodern Woodmen of America, in the town of
Urness, at a meeting held in the camp rooms on July 25, 1899, was incor-
porated, the officers of the camp at that time being as follow: Venerable
counsel, Oscar Erickson : worthy advisor, John A. Urness; banker, E. G.
Erickson; clerk, Oscar Lindstrom; escort, John G. Doobin; watchman, John
J. Bugge; sentry, Ole A. Johnson; managers, Henry N. Hanson, P. J. Bugge
and Nels J. Urness. The charter members of this camp were Peder J. Bugge,
John J. Bugge, John G. Doobin, Erick G. Erickson, Oscar Erickson, Henry
N. Hanson, Ole A. Johnson, Oscar Lindstrom, Charles S. Peterson, Albert
Ouam, Andrew Ouam. John A. Urness, Ole K. Urness, Nils J. Urness and
Thomas Thompson.
The Scandinavian Mutual Aid Association Siloah, of Holmes City, was
incorporated on December 18, 1899, an association for relief in sickness,
accident or death, the articles of incorporation being signed by the follow-
ing officers: President, H. L. Lewis, vice-president. Per J. Holm, secretary,
R. \'allquist; treasurer, Jens Backelin; directors at large, P. J. Christopher-
son and John Holmstedt.
Perlbandet Lodge No. 49, Independent Order of Good Templars, was
incorporated on Novemljer 30, 1910, with the following officers: President,
Peter Hoglin; vice-president, Jennie Johnson; secretary, Ole Wallner; treas-
urer, Andrew Hjelm; trustees, Albert Hanson, Paulus Paulson and P. J.
Hjelm.
Besides the Grand Army Post and the W'oman's Relief Corps, which
are treated of in the chapter relating to military annals, there are at Alexan-
dria, the county seat, lodges and societies as follow: Constellation Lodge
No. 81, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Lyra Chapter No. 166, Order
of the Eastern Star: Alexandria Lodge No. 54, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows; Douglas Encampment Xo. 47, Independent Order of Odd Fellows;
Canton Caledonia, Patriarchs Militant; Lady of the Lake Lodge No. 173,
Daughters of Rebekah ; Alexandria Homestead No. 589, Brotherhood of
American Yeomen; Alexandria Lodge No. 185, Ancient Order of United
Workmen; St. Mary's Court No. 1067, Catholic Order of Foresters; Alex-
andria Lodge No. 904, Modern Brotherhood of America; Park Region Camp
No. 2416, Modern Woodmen of America; Maple Camp No. 2064. Royal
294 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Neighl)ors; Alexandria Tent No. 65, Knights of the Maccabees, and a lodge
of the Ladies of the Maccabees; Alexandria Lodge No. 357, American
Nobles: Alexandria Council No. 1715, Knights and Ladies of Security;
Alexandria Observatory No. 89, North Star Lodge, an active branch of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Douglas County Humane So-
ciety and the Douglas County Agricultural Society.
woman's, christian temper.ance union.
The Alexandria branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
vifas organized at a meeting held at the Methodist church in February, 1908,
presided over by Miss Green, with the following charter members : Mrs.
George E. Tindall, Mrs. Fred Williams, Mrs. Francis Davis, Mrs. Ida Tart,
Mrs. Orin Kellogg and Mrs. Otto Landeen, the first officers being as follow :
President, Mrs. Martha Williams; vice-president, Mrs. Francis Davis; secre-
tary, Mrs. Orin Kellogg: treasurer, Mrs. Otto Landeen. The union now
has a membership of sixty-six and is officered as follow: President, Mrs.
Eva Wold; vice-president, Mrs. Leonora Squires; corresponding secretary,
Mrs. Anna Poalson; recording secretary, Mrs. AHce Haskins; treasurer, Mrs.
Martha Lobeck. At Evansville, Brandon, Garfield, Kensington, Ida and
Nelson there are also active branches of this form of social work, the cor-
responding secretary of the union at Evansville being Mrs. W. M. Thomp-
son; Garfield, Mrs. Anna Loren; Kensington, Mrs. Agnes Osterberg; Bran-
don Young Peoples Band, Reuben Hermanson; Ida Young Peoples Band,
Miss Belle Angus, and Nelson Young Peoples Band, Emmaline Younger.
DOUGLAS woman's CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.
The Douglas Chapter, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, at Alex-
andria, was organized on November 4, 1914. The first officers were as fol-
low: Mrs. Etta Mulligan, president; Mrs. Ethel Kinney, vice-president; Mrs.
Katherine Brandt, recording secretary; Mrs. Eunice Franklin, correspond-
ing secretary: Mrs. Anna Helming, treasurer.
The active charter members were : Mrs. Etta Mulligan, Mrs. Katherine
Brandt, Mrs. Eunice Franklin, Mrs. Ethel Kinney, Mrs. Anna Helming.
Mrs. Mable Reynolds, Mrs. Ida Hanson, Miss Eva Whiting, Mrs. Jessie
Walters, Mrs. Mary Larsen, Mrs. Elizabeth Sherwood, Mrs. Maud Larson,
Mrs. Cornelia Osten-Sacken. Mrs. Lillian Bovd, Mrs. Louise Wedum, Mrs.
l)()i;i;las and grant counties, Minnesota. 295
.■\iigeline Hounsell, Mrs. Delia Nelson, Mrs. Ida Lor, Mrs. Florence Hicks,
Mrs. Bertha Osborn. Mrs. Mary Geer and Mrs. Freudenberg.
The honorary charter members were: S. C. Nelson, R. C. Franklin,
E. J. Brandt, Elmer Watters, John T. Flanagan and Fergus A. Flanagan.
The present officers are : Miss Eva Whiting, president; Mrs. Louise Wedum,
vice-president; Miss Mae Cowan, recording secretary; Mrs. Henrietta
Morris, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Anna Helming, treasurer. The
chapter now has fift^•-four active members and nineteen honorar)- members.
.\NCIENT FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.
A dispensation was granted to organize Constellation Lodge No. 81,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Alexandria on February 25, 1869.
The lodge was duly organized on March 8, 1869, with the following officers:
N. B. Patterson, worshipful master: L. ^^^ Kilbourne. senior ma,ster; F. B.
Van Hoesen, junior warden; John D. Aldrich, junior deacon; \A'. T. Eng-
lish, senior deacon : L. W. Rima, tyler ; George F. Cowing, treasurer ; L. G.
Sims, secretary. The charter of the lodge was received on January 27, 1870.
The lodge now has a membership of one hundred and fifteen, with the fol-
lowing officers: W. J. Sheldon, worshipful master; J. H. Stevens, senior
warden; H. E. Leach, junior warden; C. C. Strang, senior deacon; A. M.
Foker, junior deacon; C. H. Raiter, senior steward ; F. Garvey, junior stew-
ard; C. Fiskness, tyler; C. F. Raiter, treasurer; J. A. Kinney, secretary.
OSAKIS LODGE NO. l8o.
Osakis Lodge No. 180, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was organ-
ized at Osakis on May 5, 1888, by Deputy Grand Master Bridgman, of
Star in the ^^'est Lodge No. 60, at Sauk Center, Minnesota. The charter
members were: W. H. Crowe, J. H. Rock, H. Chalfant, G. R. Babbitt, W.
P. Long, W. B. Lyons, C. Nelson and L P. Schei. The first officers were:
VV. H. Crowe, worshipful master; J. H. Rock, senior warden; H. Chalfant,
junior warden ; W. B. Lyons, secretary ; W. P. Long, treasurer. This lodge
holds its meetings in the Masonic hall in the Caughren block. The officers
for 1916 are: C. G. Millard, worshipful master; G. L. Bryant, senior
warden; L. M. Thorbum, secretary; J. M. Curtis, treasurer.
Evansville Lodge No. 214, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at
Evansville, was organized on May 25, 1894, with the following charter
members : Charles W. Webb, Christ Nelson, P. J. Wrangelborg, Olaf Dahl-
296 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
heim and F. N. Miner, the first elective officers being as follow : Wor-
shipful master, Charles \\'. Webb; senior warden, Christ Xelson; junior
warden, P. J. Wrangelborg ; treasurer, Olaf Dahlheim; secretary, F. N.
Miner. The lodge has a present membership of thirty-six and the pres-
ent (1916) officers are as follow: Worshipful master, Allen H. Nelson;
senior warden, E. L. Anderson; junior warden, A. C. Hanson; treasurer,
C. W. Webb; secretary, H. E. Alstead.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.
Alexandria Lodge No. 54, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was
instituted on April 18, 1876, at Alexandria, with the following charter mem-
bers: B. Nichols, \y. L. McCalum, Evison Atkinson, August Kortsch and
Samuel Beidleman. The first officers were as follow : Noble grand, W. L.
McCalum ; vice-grand, E. Atkinson ; recording secretary, Fred von Baum-
bach; treasurer, August Kortsch. The present membership of the lodge
numbers one hundred and thirty-eight and the present officers are : Noble
grand, L. P. Schroeder; vice-grand, A. C. Jensen; recording secretary, John
C. Antonson ; financial secretary, F. E. Franklin ; treasurer, C. H. Jensen.
Douglas Encampment No. 47, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was
instituted on September 25, 1897, i^i Odd Fellows hall at Alexandria with
the following charter memljers : George G. S. Campbell, James Walker,
James H. \'an Dyke, A. G. Sexton, A. W. Curtis, Rudolph Wegener, J. A.
McKay, F. von Baumbach, H. K. White, George F. Whitcomb, J. E. Lund-
gren, Hugo Lumbohm, Wego Werner, F. E. Franklin, Michael Hickey,
Gilbert Sargeant, N. P. Jacobson. Charles Culross, J. P. Simonson, H. J.
Boyd, A. M. Kahlhaas, H. T. Halverson, W. W.. McKay, R. J. McNeal,
Parnell Atkinson, John Templeton, Thomas Hall, S. W. McEwan and A. E.
Shippey. The first officers were George G. ,S. Campbell, James Walker,
James H. Van Dyke, A. G. Sexton, R. Wegener and J. A. McKay. The
present membership of the Encampment is thirty-one and the present officers
are Fred Radecop, N. N. Akesen, A. E. Alger, G. A. Anderson, F. E.
Franklin, F. T. Geer and Richard Chase.
Canton Caledonia No. 18, Patriarchs Militant, Independent Order ,of
Odd Fellows, was instituted on February 10, 19 10, in Odd Fellows hall at
Alexandria, with the following charter members: J. E. Lundgren, F. E.
Franklin, J.' S. McKay, A. H. McKay, L. C. Atwood, J. A. McKay, S. B.
McKay, George M. \'iering, A. E. Shippey, R. A. McKay, G. A. Anderson.
J. A. Munkberg, John S. Lien, Casper Hanson, F. T. Geer, Elmer E. Peter-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 297
son, E. C. Oppel and A. G. Sexton. The first officers were as follow : Cap-
tain, J. E. Lundgren ; lieutenant, F. E. Franklin ; ensign, J. S. McKay ; clerk,
A. H. 2\IcKav; treasurer, L. C. Atwood. The present membership is sixteen
and the present officers are: Captain, F. T. Geer; lieutenant, J. A. McKay;
ensign, L. S. Kent; clerk, E. E. Franklin; treasurer, G. A. Anderson.
Lady of the Lake Rebekah Lodge No. 173, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, was instituted on April 8, 1898, in Odd Fellows hall at Alexandria,
with the -following charter members : J. E. Lundgren, Mary J. Campbell,
William McKay, E. C. Raiter, Nina Pratt, John Templeton, Julia Baumbach,
F. C. Oppel, G. G. S. Campbell, Lillian R. Boyd, J. A. McKay, Ella M.
Sweet, Maud McKay, Charles J. Lindstrom, B. T. Emerson, Claudia Stevens,
R. J. McNeal, Henriette Wilson, Millie O. Sexton, Ollie Rodgers, Caroline
Lindstrom, George E. Whitcomb, Winnie Van Loon, May Hall, A. G. Sex-
ton, Sarah Walker, Cora M. Brooks, R. Wegener, Mary E. Geer, Marie
Walker, Thomas Hall, F. von Baumbach, L. S. Kaiser, E. E. Robinson, C.
Tart, A. W. Curtis, A. E. Shippey, F. T. Geer, Charlotte Campbell, J. H.
Van Dvke, Ellen M. Kaiser, Louise C. Kortsch, S. S. Pratt, Anna Temple-
ton, Emma L. Shippey, E. E. Dent and Alice E. McNeal. The first officers
were as follows : Noble grand, Ella M. Sweet ; vice-grand, Louise C. Kortsch ;
recording secretary, Charlotte Campbell; financial secretary, Winona Sex-
ton ; treasurer, Maud McKay. The present membership is seventy-six and
the present officers are : Noble grand, Ida Alger ; vice-grand, Clara Schroed-
er: recording secretary, Josephine Satterlee; financial secretary, E. E.
Franklin; treasurer, Mattie Allen.
BROTHERHOOD OF AMERICAN YEOMEN.
Alexandria Homestead No. 589, Brotherhood of American Yeomen,
was organized on March 28, 1902, at a meeting in E. E. Buell's office in the
city of Alexandria, the meeting being called to order by C. W. Collinge,
tleputy. On April 2, 1902, the first officers of the Homestead were elected,
as follow : Past foreman, E. A. Hensel ; foreman, E. E. Buell ; master of
ceremonies, Frank Raiter; master of accounts, Nelse Erickson; correspond-
ent, Newton Trenham ; chaplain, James L. Alton ; overseer, Frank Miller ;
watchman, S. R. Sweet; sentinel, Charles S. MitcheU,; guard, ^^'illianl E.
Xesbitt; lodge deputy. Roljert Brough. The first regular place of meeting
was in the Knights of Pythias hall, also known as the N. P. Ward hall, and
at that time it was decided to meet on the first Friday of each month. This
date was afterward changed to the first and third ^^londavs of each month.
298 • DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
and those are still the meeting nights of the order. The original charter
became lost in the early existence of the order and a new one was issued by.
the home ofifice. The charter, as it is now, has the following names enrolled:
James L. Alton, Xels Erickson, Eugene Hensel, William E. Nesbitt, Orin
Kellog, Ripley C. Bondurant, Annie E. Roberts, Ragna Olson, Claud E.
Colin-, Edmund H. Gilmore, Daniel Stromlund, John E. Peterson, Lewis
Stewert Kent, William J. Young, Theodore L. Bordsen, Frank E. Raiter,
Robert Brough, Xoah P. \\'ard, Peter O. Bolin, Ouincy M. Gilmore, Grace
M. .\iton, John Eiden, Charles Daniels, Byron A. Strieker, Ida Young,
Adelbert E. Shippey, John Swenson, Elmer T. Drum, H. T. Holverson,
Joseph J. Mode, Samuel James, Lyman C. Atwood, Stephen R. Sweet, E. C.
Wagoner, Frank C. Olson, Franklin B. McKenzie, Nellie L. Nesbitt, Charles
A. Benson, Arthur S. Mason, John Johnson, Hermon Thompson, Jessie A.
Strieker, Enock F. Nelson, George Washington Ramsdell, Bertha McGray,
Clarence W. Lee, Alatilda Nelson, John A. ]McCabe, Anton Kust, David
Nelson, Louis C. Lamser, Jennie Alton, Magnus Munson, \'irgil E. Hawley,
M. J. Sweet, James G. Crozier, B. W. Mitchell, Clell Blanchard, James A.
Kinney, Rienhard Merki, Elmer E. Peterson, Thomas R. Aiton, Alice O. Far-
rar, William Erickson, Peter R. Sorenson, Carl K. McGray, Amelia A.
Daniels, Gustus C. Preston. Charles E. Farrar, Ethel Kinney, Clara Merki,
Elmer Roberts, Laura Bondurant and Fred Raiter. The present officers of
the Homestead are: Foreman, William A. Downs: master of ceremonies,
E. E. Evans; master of accounts, Nels Erickson; correspondent, Nellie L.
Nesbitt; chaplain, Jessie O. Waters; overseer, William E. Nesbitt; Lady
Rowena, Lillian B. Downs; Lady Rebecca, Laura Bondurant; watchman,
William J. Young; sentinel, \\'ilmott L. Lawson. The Homestead now
meets in Raiter's Hall and has a present membership of one hundred and
sixty.
MODERN BROTHERHOOD OF AMERICA.
Lodge No. 904, ^Modern Brotherhood oi America, was organized at
Alexandria on July 12, 1901, with the following charter members: Frank
S. Fredenburg, Herman S. Anderson, Theo. F. Damask, Clarence H. Yeri-
gan, Charles E. Aiton, Edwin P. Wright, Nathan A. Blanchard, Constant
Larson, Carlos Whitcomb, George Gustafson, James L. Aiton, Emil A.
Polzine, Rol^ert W. McFarlane, Samuel A. Engstrom, John Milligan. N.
Gauthier, Olof Sutherland, Michael Milligan, Charles H. Gabion, Nels E.
Johnson, Nels Erickson, William Lee, Edwin D. JMaxon, Axel R. Diseth,
George P. Craig, Eugene L. Norton, Andrew Westlund, Frank Scriven,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 2qg
Arnold F. Will, Oscar H. Gahlom, Lewis C. Nelson, Irwin A. Lee, Gustaf
A. Diseth, Andrew Broms, Ernest De F. 2\Iaxon and Lyman C. Atwood.
Lodge records were all destroyed by tire on P'ebruarv 26, 1913, when the
Gunderson and Raiter buildings were burned. The alxive is taken from a
duplicate charter which was furnished after the fire. Policies issued at the
date of organization are signed by Ernest D. Maxon, president, and Geo.
P. Craig, secretary. Meetings are held in Raiter's Hall on the fourth Fri-
day evening of each month. The present membership of the lodge is
twenty-one, and the present officers are as follow : D. B. Shepard, presi-
dent; W. C. Nass, vice-president; George P. Craig, secretary; W. E. Xesbitt.
treasur'/r: H. S. Anderson, conductor; S. A. Engstrom, chaplain; G. A.
AndersVm, inside guard; J. L. .\iton, outside guard.
DOUGI..\S COUNTY HUM.ANE SOCIETY.
The Douglas County Humane Societ}- was organized on June 21, 1904,
with the following charter members : J. S. Cowen, John J. .\llen, Cleveland ■
H. Hicks, Maurice Cohn, Constant Larson, H. S. Campbell, C. A. Benson
and Frank Stevens. The first officers were: President, X. P. Ward; secre-
tary, Cleveland H. Hicks; treasurer, \\'. K. Barnes. The present officers are:
President, Frank M. Stevens; secretary, George I... Treat; treasurer, W. K.
Barnes. The present membership is about one hundred and seventy-five.
Though the society was organized at Alexandria, the membership is from all
parts of the county. During the twelve years since its organization the
society has investigated more than ninety complaints of cruelty, seventy-five
of which have been complaints of cruelty to animals; eleven of crueky to
children, and four of cruelty to adults. There have been nine prosecutions
of cruelty to animals \vith eight convictions. Twenty-eight animals have
been killed by order of the society, and thirteen children have been taken
from their parents on account of cruelty and neglect and sent to the State
Public School at Owatonna on complaint of the society, whose motto is :
"We speak for those that cannot speak for themselves."
CHAPTER XIX.
Alexandria, the County Seat.
Beautiful for location. Alexandria, "Lady of the Lakes," county seat
of Douglas county, occupies a charming and most advantageous position in
the delightful park region of Minnesota and has for many years enjoyed
its well-merited reputation as one of the prettiest and most flourishing
county-seat towns in the state. In the beginning it was fortunate in being
settled by an intelligent and enterprising class of citizens and the high stand-
ard of citizenship then established has ever been maintained, its business,
school and church privileges being second to no other city of its size and the
equal of those of much larger places. Its miles of cement sidewalks, well-
graded streets, attractive homes, spacious and well-kept lawns and abundance
of shade trees combine to make Alexandria an ideal place of residence, ren-
dered all the more attractive by its proximity to the chain of seven lakes,
pronounced by ^^'arren L^pham, of the Minnesota Historical Society, to be
the finest chain (jf lakes in the state and whose shores are lined with summer
cottages, club houses and resort hotels, making the city the center of the
summer tourist business throughout the park region, greatly swelling the
population during the summer months.
According to the census returns of 1910 Alexandria then had a popu-
lation of three thousand and one, but conservative estimates now place the
population at between thirty-three hundred and thirty-five hundred and
continued building operations point to a rapidly increasing population. The
cit^' has several thriving manufacturing establishments, substantial banking
institutions and business houses and has excellent facilities as a market for
grain and produce, with an outlet, by way of the Great Northern railway and
the "Soo"' line, to three of the best markets in the Northwest, St. Paul,
[Minneapolis artd Duluth. " It has a handsome postoffice building, erected by
the federal government at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, a fine lilirary
containing some nine thousand volumes, two fine grade school buildings, a
new high-school building erected at a cost of seventy thousand dollars, three
banks with combined deposits of more than one and one-half million dol-
lars, the Douglas county buildings, eleven churches, three commercial hotels,
besides the adjacent summer hotels, and three enterprising and well-conducted
ALEXAXDKIA IN lS7(i.
East side of Main street, pUutoiiraphecl iii IsKi. Tlie largo liuiiaing is the old Dougla
House, a location now oceiiiiieil by the James Walker store.
ALEXANDRIA IX 1S76.
Looking north along Main street from Campbell's Mi
THE IlirivS IK^MESTEAD.
Home of Willi.iui E. Hii-ks. one «t tlw cliief iiromoters of the
Alexjindria towusite. in the latter sixties: a sample of the kind of
Imiiaiiiirs in wliieli the very liest of the pioneers liad to live. This
was one of the best honses in Dou.ulas county at that time.
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3OI
newspapers. The city government is up-to-date and energetic and the city
owns its- own electric Hght and waterworks plant and the general attractive-
ness of the main business street is enhanced by a half mile of l)rilliant boule-
vard lights. As the commercial center of the county, all lines of general
business are well represented and some of its banks and commercial houses
would do credit to a town of many times its population.
IN THE DAYS OF THE BEGINNING.
In an earlier chapter relating to the early settlement of Douglas county,
the historv of the beginning of things in Alexandria is set out at consid-
erable length, as it was then, as now, the central point in the communit\-
and its early history was practically identical with that of the county, all
matters of interest in and to the county clustering about the county seat. In
1865 the second store in the county was opened at Alexandria by Thomas
F. Cowing, J. H. A^an Dyke still running his sutler's store, mentioned in
the earlier chapter, at that time. Mr. Cowing had just completed a term of
service in the army and he erected a little log building and opened up a
small stock of general merchandise, later building a larger store room and
extending his stock, remaining in business for many years thereafter. His
father, Thomas Cowing, had come to Douglas county in 1861, settling on
a farm near the present site of Holmes City, and when the Indian out-
break occurred left with his family, but when the soldiers established the
stockade at Alexandria he returned and shortly afterward erected a log
house in which for some time he conducted a hotel, later engaging in the
mercantile business. In 1866 William E. Hicks, a New Yorker, whose activi-
ties in promoting the development of Alexandria are mentioned more at
length elsewhere in this volume, started the third store, building a log store
building which he stocked with a line of general merchandise. In that same
\-ear Hicks Iwught the townsite, which meantime had concentrated in the
hands of two or three persons, one of whom was Judge Gregory, who had
expended monev and labor and had encountered hardships in behalf of Alex-
andria. Almost immediately afterward Hicks, in connection with Thomas
Cowing, erected a saw-mill on Long Lake and in the following year began
the' erection of the Alexandria flouring mill, completed in 1869 and a few
years later sold to G. G. S. Campbell. Hicks also erected a hotel, the Wood-
hull House, and in the fall of 1868 started the Alexandria Post, the first
newspaper in Douglas county. In the same year he was elected to the Legis-
lature and continued to take an active interest in the work of developing the
302 DOUGLAS ATSSD GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
new town until his death in 1874. His widow is still Hving in Alexandria,
occupying the building at the corner of Sixth avenue and H street, erected
by her husband back in the old days.
In the meantime other lines of business gradually were being developed
in the new settlement and there presently came to be quite a village at the
site of the old Kinkaid settlement at the junction of the two pretty lakes,
Agnes and Winona. In the chapter relating to newspapers there is set out,
in a review of the history of the Post, a list of the merchants doing business
at Alexandria when the Post was established and it will not be necessary
to repeat the same here. One of the causes of the considerable impetus
given to business and the rapid growth of population in the new settlement
was the establishment in the winter of 1868-69 of a government land office
at Alexandria. It was in February, 1869. that. the land office was opened,
with Lewis Lewiston, of St. Cloud, as register, and J. H. Van Dyke, of
Alexandria, as receiver. The office at farst was located in the building which
then was being used as a court house. In June, 1869, Lewiston was suc-
ceeded as register bv L. K. Aaker, then of Goodhue county, and in the
winter of 1874 Warren Adley became receiver, Soren Listo, of Brecken-
ridge, succeeding Aaker as register the following spring, and in the follow-
ing winter the office was moved to Fergus Falls, but by that time almost
all the tillable land in this region had been taken. It is undoubted that
the land office was a great factor in the development of Douglas county and
gave an impetus to trade and every branch of business at Alexandria, which
thus was the headquarters for a very wide territory throughout the North-
west, settlers driving there to mill even from the Red River settlement and
Rush Lake, distances of more than one hundred miles, and for several years
during the early seventies the town was constantly full of people, hotels
crowded and all places where accommodations could be furnished, either for
man or beast, taxed to their utmost. In the fall of 1878 the railroad reached
Alexandria and the day on which the first train rolled into the town, the
5th of November it was, was made a gala day in the village, which ever since
has been gradually developing into its present substantial state.
THE CITY GOVERNMENT.
Bv an act of the Legislature approved February 20, 1877. the following
described territory in the county of Douglas, state of Minnesota, to-wit:
Lots 5 and 6 in section 18, the north half of section 19, the north half of
the southwest quarter, the north half of the southeast quarter and the north
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3O3
half of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 19, all in
ownship 1^8 of range T^y, "be and the same is hereby set apart, constituted
and incorporated as the village of Alexandria. * * * ^nd the inhabit-
ants of said territory shall form and constitute a municipal corporation and
shall ha\-e the powers possessed by municipal corporations at common law,"
etc., and James H. Van Dyke, Lewis I. Brown and Fred von Baumbach
were appointed to call and give notice of the first election in said village.
Pursuant to legal notice dated March 5, 1877, and signed by the above
named persons, the legal voters of the village of Alexandria met at the court
house on March 12 of that same year, at nine o'clock a. m., the meeting
being called to order by J. H. Van Dyke, and on motion L. I. Brown and
Thomas Cowing were elected judges and Theodore Bordson, clerk of elec-
tion and the election by ballots proceeded with the following result: Presi-
dent, F. B. Van Hoesen ; trustees, John Sundblad, Charles Schultz and John
Kron; recorder, Fred von Baumbach; treasurer, John B. Cowing; justice of
the peace, A. J. Ames, and constable, Frank Reynolds.
The first meeting of the village council was held on I\Iarch 17, 1877, and
the recorder was instructed to obtain from St. Paul books for the use of
the treasurer and recorder and all blanks needed. At the meeting on April
3, ordinances were adopted relating to licenses and relating to police regu-
lations, racing of horses and fast driving. At the next meeting ordinances
were adopted relating to health and to cattle running at large and Frank
Reynolds was appointed pound master. At the meeting on April 18 an ordi-
nace was adopted relating to the incumbering of certain streets and a commit-
tee was appointed to see that chimneys, stove pipes and fire-places were kept
in safe condition, and Chester Van Dyke was elected street commissioner.
At the meeting on May i, John Abercrombie was employed to survey the
chief streets of the village for the purix)se of establishing a grade. On May
15 the council approved the bonds of five applicants for liquor license and
on June 8 James Walker was appointed village constable to fill a vacancy
created by the resignation of Frank Reynolds, whose bill for services had
been scaled fnim $33.10 to $20.60 at the previous meeting of the council.
At that same meeting, "it having been reported to the council that the drug
stores were in the practice of retailing liquor without license, a motion was
adopted appointing Charles Schultz a committee to consult with Knute Nel-
son about bringing action against said stores for selling liquor," and the
minute of the next meeting, June 10, noted that "the president and recorder
were requested to notify Mess. Sims & Nelson, druggists, that the\- must
take out a license for selling liquors;" and thus the new village began to
304 IIOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
exercise its authority and to get under headway as a governing body. On
December 15 of that first year of the village organization the resignation
of Fred von Baumbach, recorder, was accepted and George H. Roe was
appointed to fill the unexpired term.
On January i, 1878, the second village election was held, with the fol-
lowing result : President, F. B. Van Hoesen ; trustees, L. K. Aaker, George
A. Freundenreich and G. C. Sims ; recorder, W. F. Ball ; -treasurer, J. B.
Cowing; justice of the peace, H. H. Wilson; constable^ James Walker. At
the meeting of the council on January 10, following, the bonds of Charles
Volk, B. A. Li\-ingston, Aberle & Aberle and \'an Dyke & Larson, as liquor
dealers, were approved, the license fee at that time being noted at seventy-
five dollars. On March 7 a special election was held for the purpose of
electing a justice of the peace to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation
of A. J. Ames, and H. Shippey was elected.
The next annual election was held on January 7, 1879, with the following
result: President, F. B. Van Hoesen; trustees, John N. Herder, H. H. Wil-
son and T. F. Cowing; recorder, George W. Robards, treasurer, Theodore
Bordson; justice of the peace, Hiram Shippey; constable, James Walker.
1880 — President, Thomas Cowing; trustees, C. F. Canfield, Frank
RcAUolds and M. J. Norde ; recorder, James Purdon ; treasurer, Ole Narver-
son.
1881 — President, F. B. Van Hoesen; trustees, James Walker, Charles
Robards and John Sundblad; recorder, N. J. Trenham; treasurer, George
C. Sims; constable, Len West. In March of that year the Legislature granted
to the village a new charter and on March 15 an election was held under
the charter, with the following result : President, F. B. Van Hoesen ; coun-
cilmen, C. T. Robards, for one year ; C. W. Cofield, for two years, and John
Sundblad, for three years; recorder, N. J. Trenham; treasurer, George C.
Sims; assessor, James Fitzgerald; marshal, Len West; justices of the peace,
William McAboy and James Fitzgerald.
1882 — President, F. B. Van Hoesen; councilman, John Kron; recorder,
N. |. Trenham; treasurer, G. C. Sims; assessor, James Fitzgerald; marshal,
John Knapton. 'Tn favor of restraining horses, etc.," 43 Votes; against the
same, 150.
1883 — President, H. H. Wilson; recorder, N. J. Trenham; treasurer,
G. C. Sims; councilman, N. P. Ward; assessor, W. H. Sanders; marshal,
Charles Culcross.
1884 — President, F. B. Van Hoesen; recorder, N. J. Trenham; treas-
ii!!^
ooiiteinii^
first
FIRST HOr.SE IX ALEXANDRIA.
on (lra\yin,Et of the cabin erected by
) settle at Alexandria, wbicli was nai
Alexander Kinkaid.
Kinkaid brothers
in honor of
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DOUGLAS AND, GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 305
urer, G. C. Sims; councihiKin, P. Arnott; assessor, James Fitzgerald; marshal,
John JNIetcalf.
1885 — President, H. H. Wilson; recorder, George H. Brundage; treas-
urer, George C. Sims ; councilmen, John Kyed and G. A. Kortsch ; marshal,
John Metcalf ; assessor, J. H. \'an D}'ke.
1886 — President, H. H. Wilson; recorder, George H. Brundage;
treasurer, S. M. Thompson; councilman, John Sundblad ; marshal, John
Knapton ; assessor, J. H. \'an Dyke. Favoring liquor license, 221, votes ;
against, 86.
1887 — President, X. L. Page; councilman, Theodore Johnson; recorder.
F. A. Reimer; treasurer, G. C. Sims; assessor, J. H. Van Dyke; justices
of the peace, J. H. Van Dyke and F. G. Stevens; marshal, A. W. DeFrate.
1888 — President, N. L. Page; councilman, Fred von Baumbach;
recorder, A. G. Sexton; treasurer, S. M. Thompson; assessor, J. H. Van
Dyke; marshal, A. W. DeFrate. ^
1889 — President, James Walker; councilman, J. H. Letson; recorder,
A. G. Sexton; treasurer, S. M. Thompson; assessor, J. H. Van Dyke; jus-
tices, J. H. Van Dyke and George L. Treat; marshal, C. W. Cofield. A
proposition to bond the village for the construction of a waterworks plant
was carried and a similar proposition to bond the village for the con-
struction of a sewer system was rejected. Waterworks bonds to the amount
of eighteen thousand dollars were issued in that same spring. In December
of that year a committee was appointed to consider the advisability of pur-
chasing from J. B. Hardebeck the electric light plant, which had been oper-
ated as a private enterprise, and the same presently was taken over by the
village for the sum of eight thousand five hundred dollars and has since
been operated as a municipal plant, in connection with the waterworks
plant.
1890 — President, X. P. Ward; councilman, Ruljert INIcCrory; recorder,
A. G. Se.xton; treasurer, S. M. Thompson; assessor, J. H. Van Dyke; jus-
tice, W. E. Chidester; marshal, C. Hanson.
1891 — President, X. P. Ward; councilman, Fred von Baumbach;
recorder, X. W. Hicks; treasurer, S. M. Thompson; assessor, S. M. Thomp-
son ; justice, F. G. Stevens ; marshal, Frank Reynolds.
1892 — President, James Walker; councilman, Richard Dent; recorder,
X. W. Hicks; assessor, James S. Chapman; treasurer, S. M. Thompson;
justice, James F"itzgerald ; marshal, Chester Van D\ke. •
1893 — President, James Walker; councilman, \\'illiam AlcCrorv;
( 20) . .
306 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
recorder, James Fitzgerald; treasurer, S. M. Thompson; assessor, James S.
Chapman ; justice, W. B. Mitson ; marshal, C. B. Van Dyke. W' hole number
of votes cast, 349.
1894 — President, R. McCrory; councilman. Fred von Baumbach;
recorder, James Fitzgerald; treasurer, G. G. S. Campbell; justice, J. A.
McKay; marshal, Peter BoHn; assessor, J. A. McKay; street commissioner,
A. E. Shippey. For license, 282; against, 167. Whole number of votes
cast, 479.
1895 — President, R. McCrory; councilman, Robert Walkter ; recorder,
James Fitzgerald; treasurer, S. M. Thompson; marshal, J. S. Lampman, jus-
tice, W. B. Mitson; assessor, George Whitcomb; street commissioner. C. B.
Van Dyke. License, yes, 251; no, 193.
1896 — President, O. J. Robards; councilmen, R. J. iMcXeil and W. K.
Barnes; recorder, James Fitzgerald; treasurer, S. Al. Thompson; assessor,
G. F. Whitcomb; marshal, J. S. Lampman; justice, A. A. Brown: street
commissioner, C. B. Van Dyke. License, yes, 266; no, 274.
1897 — President, N. P. V\^ard ; councilmen, J. F. Hiebel and M.
Kraemer; recorder, James Walker; treasurer, W. F. Sundblad; marshal, C.
B. Van Dyke; justice, W. B. Mitson; assessor, WiUiam Van Dyke; street
commissioner, G. R. Morse. License, yes. 259; no. 255.
1898 — President, N. P. Ward: councilman, T. R. Aiton ; recorder,
James Walker; treasurer, William F. Sundblad: justice, Joseph Gilpin;
assessor, William Van Dyke; marshal, C. H. Klein; street commissioner,
Nick Menkes.
1899 — President, X. P. Ward; councilman M. Kraemer; treasurer, W.
F. Sundblad, recorder, James Walker: justice, W.. B. Mitson; marshal. F.
E. Franklin; assessor, James H. Wettleson ; street commissioner, Nick
Henkes.
1900 — President, N. P. Ward; councilman, C. Aberle; treasurer, W. F.
Sundblad ; recorder, James Walker ; justice, Joseph Gilpin ; assessor, William
Van Dyke; marshal, L. S. Kent; street commis,sioner, A. E. Shippey.
License, yes, 307; no. 241.
1901 — President, George G. S. Campbell: councilmen, John Anderson
and H. T. Halvorson; treasurer, Joseph F. Heibel ; recorder, W. F. Sund-
blad: justices, W. B. Mitson and J. A. McKay; assessor, William A'an Dyke;
marshall, C. Fiskness ; street commissioner, Nick Henkes.
1902 — President-, G. G. S. Campbell; councilman, Herman Nootnagel:
recorder, W. F. Sundblad: treasurer, Joseph F. Heibel; assessor, William
Van Dyke; street commissioner, Nick Henkes; marshal, Christ Fiskness.
DOUGLAS .VXD GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. • 3O7
1903 — President, X. P. Ward; councilman, Michael Kraemer ; recorder,
W. B. ]Matson; treasurer, L. S. Atwood; justice, F. E. UUman ; marshal,
Christ Fiskness.
1904 — President, John Anderson; councilmen, William Moses and J.
A. Prodger; recorder, W. B. Mitson.
1905 — President, John Anderson; councilman, AI. D. Freshenburg;
recorder, L. C. Atwood; treasurer, Charles J. O'Brien.
- 1906 — President, Toleff Jacohson ; recorder. W. B. Mitson; treasurer,
C. J. O'Brien.
1907 — President, Toleff Jacohson; recorder, W. B. Alitson ; treasurer,
C. J. O'Brien; justices, F. E. Ullman and William \'an Dyke.
1908 — President, Andrew Jacohson; recorder, W. B. Mitson; treasurer,
C. J. O'Brien; marshal, J. R. Cowing; street commissioner, C. J. Hollrjuist.
In the meantime the city charter having been adopted, the next election was
held under that charter.
1909 — Mayor, Gustav A. Kortsch; treasurer, C. J. O'Brien; justices,
\Mlliam \'an Dyke and Joseph Gilpin; aldermen, ]\Iatt Habener, P. O.
Unumb, J. A. Prodger, H. S. Campbell and W. E. Xesbett. License, yes,
365 ; no, 275. Recorder Mitson acted as clerk of the council until that
body presently appointed C. J. Sundblad to the position of city clerk, which
position he ever since has held.
1910 — Mayor, John J. Anderson; treasurer, Xels Erickson; aldermen.
Matt Haberer, P. O. Unumb and H. S. Campbell.
191 1 — Mayor, Michael Kraemer; treasurer, Xels Erickson; aldermen.
Robert Peacock. W. W. Sheldon; justices. Joseph Gilpin and William \'an
Dyke.
1912 — Mayor, Alfred A. Secord ; treasurer, Xels Erickson; aldermen.
Matt Haberer, P. O. Unumb and H. S. Campbell License, yes, 328; no,
374. Total number of ballots cast, 735
1913 — Mayor, Louis Ginther; treasurer, Xels Erickson; justice, William
\'an Dyke; aldermen, J. F. Anderson and W. \\'. Shekkm. License, for.
373 ; against, 291.
1914 — Mayor, Louis Ginther; treasurer, Xels Erickson; aldermen.
Matt Haberer and H S. Campbell. Total number of votes, 636. License,
for, 347; against, 287.
1915 — Mayor, Louis Ginther; treasurer, Xels Erickson; justice, E. F.
Xelson; aldermen, J. F. Anderson and W. W. Sheldon. License, for, ^^y.
against. 305. May 31. 1915, Douglas county voted "dry" and the .Alexan-
dria saloons were closed in six months.
308 DOUGLAS AND GRAXT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
1916 — Mayor, Dr. C. C. Strang; treasurer, Nels Erickson; aldermen,
C. \'. Anderson, P. O. Unumb and T. H. Weatherhead. Total vote cast,
621. The present city council consists of C. V. Anderson, P. O. Unumb,
J. F. Anderson, T. H. Weatherhead and W. VV. Sheldon, representing the
five wards in the city, respectively. The city clerk is C. J. Sundblad and the
city attornc}' is Constant Larson. C. A. Johnson is superintendent of the
board of public works and the commissioners of the same are Louis Ginther,
N. P. Ward and Dr. E. E. Buell, C. J. Sundblad being secretary of the board.
The chief of the effective volunteer fire department is L. S. Kent and the
chief of police is Jerry Callaghan. Nicholas Hankes is street commissioner,
also under appointment by the council, and the city health officer is Dr.
L. W. Saterlee. The city hall, a substantial two-story brick structure,
erected in 1882, affords headquarters for the city clerk, the police and
fire departments and a well-equipped public rest room. The city jail adjoins
the city hall on the south and the waterworks reservoir occupies premises
adjoining. The city schools, a history of which is set out in the chapter relat-
ing to education, are admirably maintained and a Carnegie library, situated
across the street from the new high-school building, is an excellent adjunct
to the same.
THE ALEXANDRIA POSTOFFICE.
The first postoffice in Douglas county was established at Alexandria
very shortly after the beginning of the settlement there in 1858 and it is
the recollection of Mrs. Fanny Van Dyke that her father, Charles Cook,
was the first person there to be put in charge of the mails, which were
carried between St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie by the mail carrier, Evans,
after whom the village of Evansville later came to be named. Upon Cook's
return East the charge of the little local mail was taken over by Alexan-
dria Kinkaid and was distributed to the settlers from his cabin until J.
H. \'an Dyke started his store at the settlement, when the "office" was
moved to that center of congregation and \'an Dyke presently was
appointed postmaster, continuing to hold his commissi<)n until his resig-
nation in 1866, at which time Robert Wyman, who was running a hotel in
the stockade abandoned by the soldiers in that year, was appointed and he
was succeeded in turn by T. F. Cowing, N. B. Patterson, Charles T. Sims,
1874; Sophus N. Miller, 1876; Lorenzo G. Sims, 1880; Sophus N. Miller,
1883; Dr. Godfrey Vivien, 1887, and he by' J. H. Van Dyke, who was suc-
ceeded bv his widow, Mrs. Fanny \^an Dyke, who served for three
terms, she being succeeded by Charles S. Mitchell, who served for one
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 309
term, being succeeded by H. K. White, who died in office and was suc-
ceeded by his deputy, Robert K. Brough, present incumbent, who has held
the office continuously since in December, 1908. Following an ample appro-
priation by Congress, the present handsome postoffice building was erected
at a cost of about sixty thousand dollars, one of the most substantial build-
ings in a town the size of Alexandria in the state, and was opened for
business on February 22, 191 1.
COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS.
Alexandria has a well-organized Commercial Club and its commercial
and industrial interests are represented by the following concerns :
Alexandria Auto Company, garage and machine shop; Alexandria Citi-
ccn, J. A. Kinney, proprietor, newspaper and job printing; Alexandria Con-
fectionery Company, candy manufacturers, ice cream, and restaurant; Alex-
andria Boat Works, E. G. Erickson, proprietor, manufacturers of boats;
Alexandria Hardware and Lumber Company, J. A. \Vedum, president,
hardware, lumber, farm machinery, coal, bicycles, paints and oils; Alexan-
dria Electric Supply Company, motorcycles and electrical supplies; Alexan-
dria Milling Company, E. G. Olson, president, flour and feed grinding; Ales-
aiidria Post-News, E. E. McCrea, proprietor, newspaper and job printing;
x\merican Laundry, Lackey and Olson, proprietors, general and family laun-
dry; Alexandria .Soda- Water W^orks, Michael Kraemer, proprietor, soft-
drinks bottling works; Alexandria Telephone Company, C. H. Raiter, presi-
dent, local and long-distance service; Alexandria Potato Warehouse Asso-
ciation, buyers and shippers of jxitatoes; Atlantic Elevator Company, grain
and coal; Anderson Furniture Company, Carl X. Anderson, proprietor, fur-
niture, undertaking, carpets, rugs, pianos, sewing machines, bicycles, pic-
ture framing and trunks; Anderson, John F., cement works and contractor;
Aiton & Anderson, plastering contractors: Aiton, Thomas R., contractor and
brick layer; Alexandria Tire X'ulcanizing Company, Breese Brothers, pro-
prietors.
Baker Weedless Fish Hook Company, J. Griebler, F. W. Becker, manu-
facturers of fishhooks; Blake's Hotel, C. J. Blake, proprietor, summer hi)tel;
Boyd, Dr. L. M., physician, specialist in eye, ear. throat and nose: Bronis
Cutlery Works, J. M. Broms, proprietor, factory and general repairs; Broms
Tire Repair Co., Anton Broms, auto tires and repairs; Brown Brothers &
Chapin, farm machinery, vehicles and automobiles; Buell, Dr. Eugene E.,
dentist; Birchard, Mrs. B. J., flower store; Brophy, G. S., second-hand store;
Bjorklund, .\. W. T., plumbing and heating.
3IO DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES,' MINNESOTA.
Cable, John W., blacksmith shop; Campbell, George G. S., flour and
feed store, and elevator; Carlson, John A., groceries and crockery: Central
House, L. Michaelson, proprietor, hotel; Chase, Richard, dray line; Colbjorn-
sen & Wegener, clothiers and tailors; Cole, Dr. C. L., dentist; Cowen, John
S., real-estate dealer: Costello, Sherman, restaurant; Cowing-Robards Com-
pany, hardware, agricultural implements, plumbing, heating and coal; City
Flower Store, Mrs. ]\Iyra Pennar, proprietor; Cozy Theatre; Chidester, Buel,
real estate and insurance : Central House, feed barn.
- Dickinson Inn, Harry L. Dickinson, manager, summer hotel ; Douglas
County Bank, G. A. Kortsch, president ; W. K. Barnes, cashier : Drum,
Simon R., pianos.
Eagle Clothing Company, The, C. A. Kolstad, president and manager;
Edwards. W. C, veterinarian; Earl I. Best Lumber Company, lumlaer and
fuel; European Hotel, William Heyer, proprietor; Eickmann. cigar manu-
facturer.
Falconer, Dr. Thomas, veterinarian; Farmers National Bank, Tollef
Jacobson, president, Andrew Jacobson, cashier; First National Bank, C. J.
Gunderson, president, P. O. Unumb, cashier; Franklin, F. E., real estate
and insurance; Fredenburg, Moses D., machine shop; Fair Store, The, C. E.
Mabee, proprietor, variety store.
Gamble-Robinson Company, H. N. Doyle, manager, wholesale fruits
and groceries; Goodwin, Albert G., real estate broker; Great Northern
Express Company, W. L. Lawson, agent; Gregersen, A. H. and Company,
dry goods and groceries; Grieljenow, Herman H., groceries: Gunderson &
Leach, Claus J. Gunderson, Hugh E. Leach, lawyers; Gilbertson, A., soft
drinks and billiards.
Hammar, IMrs. ^larv, restaurant; Hanson, Dean, harness; Halverson
Furniture Company, furniture, undertaking, rugs, wall paper, picture fram-
ing: Hanson, J. R., furs and electric wiring; Haskell, Dr. A. D., physician
and surgeon; Herberger-Wettleson Company, dry goods; Herbert, F. O.,
groceries; Herbert, Cyril, billiard hall; Hoglund, J. L., jeweler; Holverson,
Henry T., druggist and optician; Howard Theatre, C. P. Hanke, proprietor;
Hande and Tonsager, laarber shop; Hopson, A., barber shop.
Johnson, P. A., photographic studio; Johnson, Charles A., granite monu-
ments and tombstones; Johnson, E. W., tailor and cleaner.
Keene, Dr. L. M., physician and surgeon; Kent's Bus and Transfer,
L. S. Kent, proprietor: Kitzke, Miss Clara A., millinery: Knapton Sisters,
millinery; Koyle, Kittle, millinery.
Larson, Constant, lawyer: Letson House, Louis Ginther, proprietor.
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KIUirS-KVIO VIEW OF ALKXAXDKIA.
STREET SCENE, ALEXA.XDKIA.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3II
hotel: Levin, Albert, barber shop; Loo Land Company, real estate; Ludke-
Luckert Company, wholesale groceries; Lindquist, Albert V., photographic
studio; Lundberg, Levine A., restaurant.
McKav, J. A., real estate; McCabe. Dr. John A., osteopath; iSLinhat-
tan Oil Company. W. V. Abercromliie. agent: Motor Inn Garage Company,
garage. automo1>ile dealers and auto repair shop; Moore, John L.. restau-
rant; Minnesota House Feed Barn. William Hagan, proprietor.
National Contracting Company, J. A. Shulind, president, general con-
tracting; North American Storage Company, F. R. Noonan, manager, cold
storage and creamery, dealers in Initter and eggs.
Olson, Frank C, plumliing and heating; Oppel, C. and Company (C.
and F. C. Opel, H. Paulson), shoes.
Purdon, Andrew, wagon-maker: Pederson, photos: Pennar, Alex., con-
tractor; People's Store (Ferdinand F. and Carrie Wellin), dry goods and
millinery: Peterson Brothers, garage and auto machine shop; Peterson, C.
O., drugs, books and stationery; Peterson, P. M. & Company, painters and
decorators; Prescott, W. L., real estate: Prescott. Dr. Laurel, dentist; Prod-
ger, J. A. auto livery; Park Region Echo, Carl Wold, proprietor, newspaper
and job printing; Paulus, William, contractor.
Quality Bakery and Lunch Rooms.
Radecop, Fred C, blacksmith shop; Raiter Brothers, shoes and rub-
bers; Raiter, Fred C, meat market; Renner, J. AL, plumbing, heating and
general repairs; Rul. Wegener Brewing Company, H. Birkhofer, president;
Ruud, Dr. M. B., physician and surgeon.
St. Anthony and Dakota Elevator Company, Ft. S. Campbell, agent,
elevator: St. Paul Bakery, Joseph Leuthner, proprietor, commercial bak-
ing; Satterlee. Dr. L. W.. homeopathic physician: Satter, Andrew, livery
and feed stable ; Seeger. Andrew, pop corn, fruit, tobacco ; Sheldon Clothing
Company, clothing and gentlemen's furnishers; Shepard, D. B., contractor;
Shoppey's Bowling Alleys: Secord. Alfred A., real estate; Standard Oil
Company, H. A. Schroeder, agent; Stevens, F. M., auto and horse livery;
Strandberg, C. A., wood dealer; Strang, Dr. C. C, dentist: Strieker, Frank
W., painter and decorator: Swenson's dray and ice line; Syvrud & Meyers,
automobile dealers and auto livery; Syvrud & Hanson, real estate: Stoppel,
Mrs. Max. millinery: Stoppel, Helmuth J., barber shop.
Thompson, Albert, garage, auto supplies and repairs: Thornton. Ralph
S.. law\-er: Treat, George L., lawyer and real estate: Thompson, Herman
T., barber shop.
Unumb. E. O., dry goods, clothing and groceries.
312 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Van Dyke, Lafayette, cigar manufactory; \>nne\vitz Brothers, meat
market; \'olker, Dr. J. J., dentist.
Walker, William, groceries; Ward, N. P., groceries and crockery;
Weatherhead, T. H., dray and ice line; Weber, Barney, pool and billiard
hall; Weeker, A. O., tailoring; Wittenburg, Dr. D. E., chiropractor; Western
Express Company, O. F. Ehlers, agent; \Vestman, Wilhelm, photographic
studio; Wagoner, Edward C, pianos.
The Commercial Club of Alexandria was incorporated on ]\larch i8,
1907, the names of the incorporators being A. H. Gregerson, G. A. Kortsch,
Horatio Jenkins, Ezra E. McCrea, Fred C. Oppel, E. Eugene Buell, G. B.
Ward, Constant Larson, H. T. Halvorson, H. A. LeRoy and O. Hen-
nings and the following officers: President, A. H. Gregerson; first vice-
president, G. A. Kortsch ; second vice-president, Horatio Jenkins ; corre-
sponding and recording secretary, Ezra E. McCrea ; financial secretary, Fred
C. Oppel; treasurer, E. Eugene Buell; executive committee, A. H. Greger-
son. Ezra E. McCrea, G. B. Ward, Constant Larson, H. T. Halverson, H.
A. LeRoy and O. W. Hennings. The present officers of the Commercial
Club are as follows: President. J. H. Wettleson; first vice-president. Andrew
Jacobson; second vice-president, H. S. Campbell; corresponding and record-
ing secretary, George L. Treat; financial secretary, J. W. Knox, and treas-
urer, G. A. Kortsch. There are also live commercial clubs at Osakis, Bran-
don and Evansville, which look after the commercial interests of those towns
and besides these there are numerous farmers clubs in the county, which
have proved and are proving of large value in their respective rural com-
munities. There are also a number of farmers' co-operative associations
for conducting elevators, potato "warehouses, the shipping of live stock and
other products of the farm, the buying of farm machinery and other bulky
merchandise at wholesale, besides a number of very effective local creamery
associations.
THE ALEXANDRIA FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The fine public library at Alexandria had its beginning in a reading
club started in the village days of that city as early as 1878, a small circu-
lating library being established at that time. While Senator Nelson was
serving in the state Senate he was instrumental in ha\ing enacted the pres-
ent admirable public library law in Minnesota and under the provisions
of that law there was organized the Alexandria Free Public Library, which
has had a continuous and successful existence ever since. For a time after
the village bought the building since used as a city hall, the books of the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3I3
library association were lioused in the hall of that building, now used as
a town hall, and during George G. S. Campbell's incumbency as president
of the village he was alile to secure from Andrew Carnegie a donation
Si ten thousand dollars for the erection of a Carnegie free public library in
Alexandria. .\ choice lot across the street from the high-school property
was obtained and the present handsome public library was erected, an addi-
tional two thousand dollars later being secured from the old iron master
to complete the same. There are about nine thousand volumes in the library
and one thousand four hundred and eighty-nine cards were in circula-
tion in the summer of 19 16, a fair index of the popularity of the library
among the reading people of the city and vicinity. The present library
board is composed of the following members: G. A. Kortsch, president;
George G. S. Campbell, secretary: Constant Larson, H. A. LeRoy, U. P.
Ward, E. E. McCrea, Airs. Anna \'olker, Knute Nelson and Mrs. W. F.
Sundblad. Margaret A. McCord is the librarian and the city treasurer acts
as treasurer of the board. Under the will of the late F. B. Van Hoesen
the library board received a legacy of five thousand dollars, the income
from which is to be applied ■ to library purposes forever and this, in addi-
tion to the small tax levied for librar}- purposes maintains the librar\- in
admirable fashion.
CHAPTER XX.
Incorporated Towns and Villages.
Very few counties in the state having the population claimed by Doug-
las county can pride themselves of so many incorporated towns and villages.
Geographically, they are apportioned with regularity, which fact goes to
show that they were located to meet the demands and needs of the sur-
rounding communities and not to appease the selfish ambitions of some
ambitious person. Each tow^n and village has shown growth and prosperity
and in each case has become a commercial center and trading point for the
surrounding, community.
OSAKIS.
In the eastern edge of the county on the Great X'orthern Railway, and on
the shore of the most picturesque lake in JNIinnesota, is located Osakis, the
second village in size and importance in the county. The history of the
village is somewhat obscure but it is known that with the coming of the
early settlers, a man by the name of Peter Botneau, a Canadian half-breed
Indian, had a camp one mile east of where the village now stands. His
camp was on the dividing line between the Sioux Indians, who inhabited
the prairie, and the Chippewa Indians who lived in the timbered region.
Therefore he called his place "Sakis," which meant a place of danger. \Mth
the coming of some English settlers they added the prefix "O" and thus the
village took on the name of Osakis.
Early in the history of Douglas county, a few white settlers had gathered
near Osakis Lake, attracted by the great beauty of the place, locating just over
the line in Todd county, and one of them, John Potter, in 1859, made a
claim where Osakis now stands. In 1859 the stages began running here on
their way to Ft. Abercrombie, and this was one of the stations. When the
Indian outbreak came in 1862 all the settlers abandoned their claims and
left for safety, and many never returned. However, along in the latter
part of the sixties, Daniel Stevenson, one of the pioneers of Minnesota, pur-
chased the land and laid out a town. Among the first settlers were the
Gordon boys who took up their residence on the bank of the lake. The first
store in the \illage was erected by James Chambers in 1866 and he con-
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3I5
tinned to hand out merchandise and groceries for several years. The year
of 1867 brought several newcomers to the village. In January of the
same year Warren Adley, who for several years had been engaged in the
hotel business, erected a commodious hotel, and around his establishment
clustered several homes and buildings of a various nature. Henry Stone
established a general store where the Brown implement store is tixlay. On
May 25, 1867, Mr. Sanderson opened a tow mill and did an active business
for some time. Among other early settlers not already mentioned were:
Thomas Adams, J- C. Stone, Leon Faille, A. M. Giddeon, A. S. Worden,
John McKinsey, W. H. Stevens, W. P. Long and \V. H. Crowe. A large
majority of male settlers were single men. For instance, in the summer
of 1886 there were ten young single men in the village and all lived in two
small houses. There was not a girl eligible to marriage in manv miles.
Finall}-, in the summer of 1868, Mrs. Tannehill moved into the village with
five beautiful and charming daughters. At once there began a spirited
and lively contest among the young men to win the hearts of these fair
maidens. So persistent were the attentions of the young men that the con-
test was not long drawn out and in a very few months ]\Irs. Tannehill
was alone.
The first fire in the village occurred in 1887 when the old railroad
eating house, built in 1879, was burned to the ground; the second fire
occurred on January 16, 1889, when the building belonging to George
Frye and Adley's barn burned: the third fire was on May 18, 1890, but
not a great loss was sustained.
The first passenger train came through the village November i, 1878.
The first wooden sidewalk was laid by William H. Crowe, as was also
the first cement sidewalk in May, 1881.
The village became an incorporated district on February 21, 18S1. with
the following officers: President, W. P. Long: recorder, ^^'illiam H.
Crowe : treasurer, J. B. Bird. At the present time Osakis has a village form
of government with the following officers: Mayor, L. D. Bentlev; recorder,
S. J. Lyons; treasurer, D. B. McCleery; Robert Metcalf, William Brown and
William Baker; justices, W. B. Lyons and C. S. French: constables, R. H.
Belknap and Mike Clifford.
The business and professional interests of the village during the sum-
mer of 1916 were in the hands of the following: Allen, H., contractor
and builder; Anderson Bros. & Baker, hardware and implements: Anderson,
Mrs. A. B., milliner; Austin, G. A., real estate.
Belknap & Son, livery; Bentley, L. D., real estate; Berg, Carl, contrac-
3l6 DOUGLAS .AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
tor and luiilder; Bjorklund, Alexander, contractor and Ijuilder; Bjorklund,
John, shoe shop; Borschert, F. H.. attorney; Brown Bros. Implement Com-
pany, farm implements and automobiles; Bryant. G. L., veterinary; Buck,
Charles, stone mason.
Caughren, H. J., department store; Christensen, Peter, ditch and tiling
contractor; Cagley, Roy, restaurant; Christensen, C. 'SI., ditch and tiling
contractor; City Hotel, \\.. S. Garner; Cobb, R. E. & Company, branch pro-
duce dealer; Cowen, L. C. summer resort.
Davis, Henry, power saw rig.
Earle, M. A., contractor and builder; Electric light plant. S. ]\I. Lowery,
manager; Empress Theatre, E. H. Voss; Engells. P. A., blacksmith and
wagon shop; Erwin, S. E., harness and shoe shop; Evenson, O. C, con-
tractor and builder.
Fairhaven summer resort, C. H. Comport, proprietor; Faille. A. 'SI.,
carpenter and builder: Fearing & Conley. li\-ery and feed stable; Fezler,
F. H.. auctioneer; First National Bank, Nels M. Evenson, president; Fisher,
X. E., live stock shipper; Finneke, Andrew, contractor and builder: French,
C. S., licensed embalmer; Flynn, Ray Auto Co., Ray Flynn, manager; Fry,
\'erne, painter and decorator.
Garber, Louis, proprietor People's Bargain Store; Gilkinson, Dr. A.
J., phvsician and surgeon; Gingery, H. E., lumber, grain and coal; Gresty,
G. \Y., real estate: Great Northern Railroad and Express Company, H. F.
Greeley, agent.
Harris Land Company, real estate; Harden, D. A., painter and deco-
rator; Hagen, William, wagon shop; Hanson, Xels, contractor and builder;
Harsh Bros., shippers of ice; Herberger-Cruse Company, department store;
Hedberg, J. A., furniture and undertaking; Hengstler, Dr. \\'. H., physi-
cian and .surgeon; Hicks & Robertson, sale and feed stable: Hotel Idle-
wilde. summer resort. E. R. Ruggles, proprietor: Hause, C. W'., restaurant;
Howe, B. E., auctioneer: Hawlett, John, painter and plasterer; Hyland, W.
H., clothing; Ideal Cafe, A. S. Jackson; Ingersoll. H. A., pool and billiards.
Tacobson, H. J., milkman; Jenkins, S. G., auctioneer; Johnson, W.,
boatman: Johnston, Chas., carpenter and builder; Johnson. L. J., milkman;
Jorgenson, Peter, tailor.
Kirk, William, street sprinkler: Kirk, Leslie, auto livery: Kulstad,
Oscar, laundry; Kline Oil Company, Charles Kline, manager.
Lakeside Ice Company, Lake House; Lamphear, G. E., general mer-
chandise: LaMont, Lou E., milliner: Larson, Peter, blacksmith and wagon-
shop: Lane, Ralph, dray line; Langston, William, auto repair shop; Lenz
A I.EAPIXr; EXTERrUISK AT OSAK
STKKET SCENE, 08AKIS.
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DOUGLAS ANH GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3I7
Summer Hotel, James .\. Xorris. proprietor: Long, Dr. C". M., physician
and surgeon; Lyons, W. R., justice of peace; Ludwig, A. A., attorney.
■ ]\Iadson, J- 'SI., insurance and notary public; Mann, Mrs. Lucy, dress-
maker; Mix, Herman, carpenter and builder; McCleery, D. B., real estate;
Mix & Sampson, dray line.
North American Storage Co. ( branch ) , Geo. Buck, manager.
Osakis Creamery Compan}-.
Osakis Commercial Club, C. H. Bronson, president; Osakis Milling
Co., H. E. Gingery, president; Osakis Meat Market, B. C. Blakeslee; Osakis
State Bank, F. H. Borschelt, president; Osakis Telephone Company, F. B.
Cannada, proprietor; Osakis Rcviezv, C. H. Bronson, proprietor; Osakis
public school, E. N. Hamilton, superintendent; Osakis Roller Mill, H. W.
Smith; 01son"s \'ariety Store, A. Olson; Olson, R. A., photographer.
Park Region Hospital, Drs. Gilkinson and Hengstler; Palmatier, H.,
barber; Palmer, H., auctioneer; Palmatier & Earle, barbers; Penfield, Mrs.
dressmaker; Phelps. Warren, contractor and builder; Postoffice, F. H.
Borchert, postmaster. S. L. Lyons, assistant; Poncelet, Michael, plasterer.
Ouinn, Frank, real estate and insurance.
Rellar, Frank, well driller; Riis, Laura, dressmaker; Ruggles, E. R.,
attorney.
Shinners. \\'. E., real estate; Skuey, J. J. & Co., general store; Smith, C.
J\L, barber; Smith, H. W., feed mill; Spaulding, H. H., restaurant; Stev-
ens, G. T., real estate; Steintl, V., blacksmith and wagonshop; Stewart, R. E.,
dentist; Stratemeyer, E. H., shoe shop; Swore, Knute, general store; Stand-
ard Oil Co. ( branch ) ; Sutliff. Pearl, dressmaker.
Thornburn & Larson, dentists; Thoma, G. AL, bakery; Thompson &
Son, live stock shippers; Togstad Bros., jewelery and opticians.
Von Retter, P. J., tailor.
Wigal, Marv, milliner : W'oodard Hospital. Mrs. A. A. Woodard ; With-
ers, H. W., pool and billiards.
Yates, ^V. A., lumber and coal: Yates & Nelson, automobile repair shop.
Zimmerson, J. P.. stone mason.
A conservative estimate of Osakis' population would be one thousand
four hundred people, which numl)er is increased during the summer months
by tourists who visit the summer resorts for rest and recreation. Beautifully
situated on the shore of the most picturesciue lake in Minnesota, Osakis is
favored in the beauty and scope of its natural surroundings.
Osakis is an enterprising city of modern conveniences for comfort
and advancement, including one of the best high schools in the central part
3l8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
of the state, churches, fraternal and civic societies, a well-equipped volun-
teer fire department, an active commercial club, excellent rural route facili-
ties, electric and power service, local, long distance and rural telephone
service, water-works, sewerage, miles of cement walks, and in fact all
improvements that go to make up a modern, progressive and up-to-date
city. The majority of the business blocks are of brick thus giving the town
a substantial and metropolitan appearance. A school building has just been
completed at a cost of seventy thousand dollars and is a model of its kind.
As a market town Osakis is pre-eminent among the cities and villages
in this section of the state. A large merchant flour-mill, a roller feed-mill,
two grain elevators, two potato warehouses, creamery, and a market for
straw, baled hay, eggs, poultry, vegetables are provided to furnish an outlet
for everything the farmer produces.
PUBLIC UTILITIES.
The village owns its own water system which furnishes adequate fire
protection and provides water service for many families. A water tower
and tank provide immediate pressure in case of fire until the pump at the
pumping station may be put into operation.
The village has day and night electric service furnished by the Osakis
Milling Company and the service is equal to the best found in the larger
cities.
The Osakis Telephone Company has an extensive s}'stem with over two
hundred subscribers and connecting with eleven farmer's lines.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
Among the most successful manufacturing institutions of the county
is the four-hundred-barrel merchant flour mill erected at a cost of fifty
thousand dollars. The famous "O-sa-kis" brand is a household word not
only through this part of Minnesota but in neighboring states. In connec-
tion with the mill the company has an elevator of thirty-thousand-bushel
capacity and equipped with all the latest machinen,'. A spur track provides
adequate and economical facilities. The company grinds nearly one-half
million bushels of wheat annually, operating day and night and giving
employment to about twenty people.
The Osakis Co-operative Creamery is owned and managed by farm-
ers. The company was incorporated in 1897 and has enjo\ed prosperity
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3I9
ever since. In 1914 a new building- was erected at a cost of six tivnisand
dollars. The plant is equipped with all the modern machinery and the
products command a premium in the New York market. The report of
the output for the year of 191 5 is not at hand- but for 1914 the amount of
butter turned out amounted to three hundred and thirty-eight thousand one
hundred and forty-five pounds. At the present time the creamery has over
three hundred patrons.
Among other manufacturing industries is a roller feed mill, eciuipped
with an electric motor for power purposes, so that the farmer can have
his feed ground while he waits.
A tile and cement factory has been in operation for the last few }-ears
and has enjoyed success and prosperity. In September, 191 5, the com-
pany moved into a larger and more convenient building erected by the com-
pany.
The \illage has a planing and moulding mill and several iron and
wood-work shops that give employment to several people,
CHURCH AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES.
The religious and social life of the village is all that could be desired.
There are four churches, including the Caiholic with Rev. Fatlier A^'essen-
dorf as pastor; the Danish Lutheran, Rev. P. C. Paulsen, pastor: the
[Methodist, Rev. Edward Kaneen, pastor : the Presbvterian, the pastor to
be supplied.
Many fraternal organizations are represented, most of them maintain-
ing lodge-rooms. Among the number represented are the following : Masons,
Eastern Star, Improved Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of America,
Ancient Order of United Workmen, Degree of Honor, Knights of Macca-
bees and Danish Brotherhood.
OSAKIS COMMERCIAL CLUB.
Osakis has a wide-awake commercial club of seventy members. The
club maintains nicely furnished rooms in the Caughren block with reading
tables, writing desks, billiard and card room and all modern conveniences,
including janitor service. The present officers include the following well-
known business men: President, C. H. Bronson: vice-president, E. X.
Hamilton: secretary, E. R. Ruggles: treasurer, G. R. Lee; executive com-
mittee, Nels Evenson, George Herberger, H. E. Gingery, F. H. Bnrchert
and D. W. Henstler.
3-"0 DOUGLAS .\Xn GRANT COUNTIES. JIINNESOTA.
POSTOFFICE.
While the early records were burned in a fire that destroyed the Osakis
l)0stcffice se\eral years ago, it is kn.own tliat tlie Osakis postotifice was
estabhshed 'in 1865, and the first postmaster was Donald Stevenson, the
earliest pioneer and townsite proprietor. Air. Stevenson was succeeded as
postmaster in 1867 by J. B. Johnson, who fur many years kept the postoffice
in his store building. Short!}- after the railroad reached Osakis in 1878.
Rasmus Flore was made postmaster. Mr. Flore was succeeded by John H.
Rock who held the office a numlser of years and under whose incumbency
the office reached the presidential class. Air. Rock was a Republican and
when Cleveland became President was succeeded by Frank J. Herberger,
a prominent young merchant of the village. Upon the return of a Repub-
lican administration Mr. Herberger was succeeded by Gilbert Sargent, who
died after holding the office five years, and was succeeded by his son, Harry
C. Sargent, who was postmaster for four years, and was one of the young-
est postmasters in the state holding a presidential postoffice. Harry Sargent
gave way to Clement H. Bronson, editor of the Osakis Rcz'ieiv, who was
appointed to the office in February, 1907, by President Roosevelt and was
re-appointed by President Taft in 191 1. Air. Bronson served until June i.
1915, when a change of administration resulted in the naming by Presi-
dent Wilson of the present postmaster, Frank H. Borchert, president of the
Osakis State Bank. The present efficient assistant postmaster, S. J. Lyons,
has had active charge of the work of the office since Mr. Bronson was
appointed postmaster in 1907, and Aliss Bertha Larson has held the posi-
tion as clerk for a number of years.
Rural route service out of Osakis was established in 1902 during the
administration of Postmaster Gilbert Sargent. David W. Allen was the
first rural carrier appointed and is still in the service. At the present time
there are five rural routes out of Osakis, the carriers in every instance being
the ones originally appointed to the routes, as follows: Route i, D. \\'.
Allen; route 2, S. M. Donaldson: route 3, John J. Hanson: route 4, I. I.
McSevany; route 5, E. J. Lee.
EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES.
In 191 5 the Osakis school district constructed a new and modern build-
in'g at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars. The building contains the
eight grades besides the high school and its various departments. The new
JIAIX HTItEET. EVAXSVILT.E.
tDS-FAK VIKW (IF KVANSVl
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 32I
building gives added facilities for all industrial departments, a teachers'
training course and a public library. The domestic science and manual
training departments are each supplied with a suite of three rooms com-
pletely equipped. The agricultural department is also supplied with a suite
of rooms leading to which is an inclined entrance, thus permitting live stock
to be taken into the class room for study.
The teachers' training course fits students of the senior year to teach
in the rural school. Only a small number are permitted to enroll in this
department for the reason that the character of the work does not permit
a larger number to accomplish the desired results. According to Superin-
tendent Hamilton's report, the enrollment for the past year was three hun-
dred and' eighty, of which numljer the high school contributed about one
hundred.
CITY OF HOMES.
Situated in the park region and on a beautiful lake, Osakis is especially
favored with attractive building spots. A large majority of the homes are
modern and especially is this true of the beautiful dwellings erected in recent
years. They are surrounded by large and well-kept lawns and trees. The
greater part of the citizens own their homes and take pride in their upkeep.
The village owns a lake shore park covered with native timber and is
kept as a public picnic and playground. The park is about two and a half
acres in extent and provides an ideal shady spot for all out-door and public
gatherings.
EVANSVILLE.
Eyansville is located in the northwest corner of the county, surrounded
by the very best of farming land, with black loam and clay subsoil, many
groves of timber, and is within a short distance of many sparkling lakes.
The old St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie stage road, twenty miles north
of Alexandria, passed along the south edge of one of the most handsome
groves that adorn the wide area of the park region. This road was opened
in 1859, and stages were running during that year. A man named Evans
was the first carrier, and as this point was made a stage station, he here
put up a little shanty, in the locality, and afterwards the village took his
name. In i860, a man named Rogers settled there and kept the station unt-l
(21)
;^22 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
the Indian outbreak. Settlers commenced to gather in and a number of
claims were taken, but when the outbreak came, the whole country was
deserted and very few ever came back. Peabody & Kyde built a store
and sold the first goods ever offered in this market. In the fall of 1865,
L. E. Thompson selected and occupied a homestead on the banks of Lake
Fanny, and was the first settler in the town after the outbreak. He built
a cabin in the beautiful grove and passed the winter alone, being joined
by his family the following spring. The next year M. C. Plummer, W. H.
Saunders, Messrs. Youngroth, Delheim, Peterson, and others, with their
families located here. The site of the old stage station, faultless in its
picturesque beauty, overlooking the wide sweep of the prairie land, groves,
and shining lakes which extended away southward, so captivated Jacob
Shaner, that in 1872 he laid out a townsite, and in course of a few years
a number of dwellings and business houses nestled in the edge of the grove.
But Mr. Shaner neglected to record his plats, and the first real townsite
of Evansville was laid out by Lorentz Johnson, in the fall of 1879, covering
between fifteen and twenty acres. Later Gustaf Willius, of St. Paul, laid
out about the same number of acres as a new village by the name of East
Evansville, often called "New Town" or "Lower Town." The first cars
reached Evansville late in the fall of 1879, and since that time the village
has shown a steady and gradual growth. The village has a splendid loca-
tion, and will always be one of the best points in the county as a trading
center. A thickly populated and prosperous farming country is tributary to
it, and as the railroad makes it a good shipping point, it is bound to always
be a growing, busy place.
Evansville was incorporated in 1881 by Chapter 13 of the Special Laws
of Minnesota for the year 1881, and the charter was amended by Chap-
ter 23 of the Special Laws for the year 1883.
In the way of improvements the \illage has installed a complete water-
works system and in 1897 constructed a substantial town hall. A new school
building is under consideration which will add much grace and dignity to the
village.
The village is well supplied with church and fraternal organizations.
The churches represented are the Swedish Lutheran with Rev. S. W. Swen-
son as pastor; the Swedish Mission, Rev. Engstrom, pastor; Swedish Bap-
tist, pastor to be supplied: Norwegian Lutheran, Rev. T. A. Sattre, pastor;
Presbyterian, Rev. Hubber, pastor.
The fraternal organizations are represented by the Masons, Modern
Woodmen of America, and the Royal Neighbors.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 323
The business and professional interests of the village during the sum-
mer of 19 16 were in the hands of the following:
Auto garage, N. J. Lindstrom, manager; Banks, Evansville State Bank,
Farmers' State Bank; barber, E. L. Anderson; blacksmith shop, L. J. Klein
and Martin Nelson; creamery, J. J. Micklish ; clothing, Nick Swartz;
dentist, Dr. W. R. Porter; dray line, L. A. Larson, P. J. Johnson; druggist,
C. C. Cowden; elevators, Anderson Grain Company, Inter- State, J. H.
Harris; general dealers, L. A. Schwartz, H. E. Alstead, V. M. Reif, M.
O. Dahe; grocery store, Carl Borgrud; hardware dealer, Evansville Hard-
ware and Lumber Company, G. L. Bristol & Company; hotel. The Commer-
cial, J. Johnson, proprietor; jeweler, L J. Jacobson, livery and feed stable,
Ole Homme; milliners, Hilma Johnson, Mrs. V. M. Reif; merchant tailor,
Evansville Tailoring Company; meat markets, Nils P. Johnson, Charles
Peterson, newspaper, The Evatisznlle Enterprise, W. H. Bronson, proprie-
tor; physician, Dr. H. O. Ruud, Dr. P. G. Cowing; photographer, H. A.
Pries; restaurant, Aug. Carlson, A. F. Lane; furniture, C. S. Peterson; room-
ing houses, Olof Dollheim, Herman Rogers; shoe and harness shop, Chris
Nelson.
The present elective officers of the village are as follow: President,
H. A. Pries; recorder, L J. Jacobson; treasurer, O. J. Wallen; trustees, A.
B. Anderson, Chris Nelson and H. G. Urie; constables, John Johanson and
Ole Homme; justices, H. E. Alstead and V. M. Reif. A conservative esti-
mate of the population would be about five hundred.
Years ago the old St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie stage and mail
line passed two miles north of this point, and a station was established on
the wood-crowned hill that marks the spot. Henry Gager was the first
settler in this locality, which was then called Chippewa. A hotel was opened,
later a general store and postoffice were established, and the usual industries
of a frontier village grouped about the place. In August, 1879, when the
railroad graded through the town of Chippewa, Engineer Sewall laid out
the town-site of the village of Brandon of today, two miles south of the
conspicuous old village on the hill. The proprietress of the site was Mary
Griffin, whose business manager was J. W. Griffin, of Minneapolis. Martin
Stowe immediately commenced the erection of a large store and residence on
the then open prairie of the new village. Halvor Engemoen of Holmes
City, a man of means and enterprise, also built a large store and residence.
324 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Soon afterward Emil Larson built a hotel; Philsbury & Hulbert and David
Dows & Compan}' erected grain houses, and the railroad compan}' put up a
neat and pleasant depot building. Other business interests followed rapidly.
A glance at the business interests of the present day is sufficient to satisfy
one of its growth and prosperity. The business and professional interests
are as follow :
Beraud, \"ictor, barber; Brandon Cement and Tile Factory; Brandon
Cemetery Association, Wigo Werner, secretary; Brandon Co-operative
Creamery Association, Emil Bergh, secretary; Brandon Farmers' Grain
Company, Ole Holpin, manager; Brandon Farmers" and Merchants' Union
Elevator Company, J. Lorsung, manager; Brandon Forum, W. J. B. Moses,
editor ; Brandon Grain Company, S. Dickinson, president ; Brandon Hotel,
William F. Meissner, proprietor; Brandon Meat Market, O. O. Talaat;
Brandon Lumber Company, C. J. Rosengren; Brandon Potato Company, O.
F. Olson, president; Brandon State Bank, T. Jacobson, president; Burke, A.
B., insurance agent; Dickinson, S., express and telegraph agent; Farmers
State Bank, P. O. L^numb. president; Farmers and Merchants Co-operative
Telephone Company; Haber, A. G., flour; Halgren & Christenson, general
merchants; Hoplin & Berg, hardware; Kronberg, Nels, farm implements;
Larson, P. A., garage; Lahn, August, livery; Leonard Olund & Co., general
merchandise; Meckstroth, Dr. C. W., physician and surgeon; Melby, John,
painter; Moe & Urness Township Mutual Fire Insurance Co., A. H. Strom,
secretary; Olson Hardware and Implement Company; Olson, T. F., insur-
ance agent; Pehan, Casper, confectionery: Ringdoll, C. A., drugs; Seidlinger,
P. J., harness; Swinger, L. H., blacksmith; Tamble, Jacob, furniture: Teigen,
B. T., general merchandise; Videen, G. R., restaurant.
The village became incorporated by a bill passed by the state Legisla-
ture and signed by the governor on November 22, 1881. About nine years
after incorporation a town hall was built which has since been a public meet-
ing place and headquarters for the fire department.
Brandon has excellent graded schools doing two years' high school
work. The teachers for the coming year are : Principal, Morris E. Hawley :
grammar grades, Jennie Beckman: intermediate, Clara Nelson; primary.
Esther Erickson. The average enrollment is alx>ut ninety. The school
board is composed of : Emil Bergh, president : Dr. C. ^^'. ^leckstroth, secre-
tary; Wigo Werner, treasurer.
The present village officers include the following: President, B. T.
Teigen-; recorder, \\'igo Werner; treasurer, A. Burkel, trustees. Math Xel-
DOUGLAS AND GRAXT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 325
son, W. J. B. :\Ioses and John Hammergren ; justice; A. Burkel ; constable,
August Lehn.
The religious life of the village is supplied by four congregations, they
being the Catholic, Norwegian Free Lutheran, Norwegian Svnod Lutheran,
and a Norwegian congregation.
It is a recognized fact that Brandon ships more grain than any other
station in the county. The village has a live commercial club composed of
farmers and merchants. There are six fine lakes within fifteen minutes'
drive of town, and the town is surrounded by fine farms.
HOLMES CITY.
This is an inland \'illage, located in the northern part of the township
I.earing the same name. It was one of the first settled points in the county,
Air. Holmes, after whom the town was named, Noah Grant and W. S. San-
ford having settled here in the summer of 1858. The village today has a
good grade for an inland town. A directory of the present business is as
follows :
Backehn, J. J-. shoemaker; Bergstrom, John, blacksmith; Hanson Bros.,
general merchandise; Bjelm, P. M., flour mill; Holmes City Co-operative
Creamery Association; Johnson, Albert, tailor; Johnson, J. M., carding mill;
Malm, S. J., jeweler; Wagemus, S. O., postmaster; Wolf, Oscar, blacksmith.
Two religious denominations have congregations here, namely, the
Swedish Lutheran, and Swedish Baptist. This village it not incorporated.
Data is not in hand to show who were the ^•erv first settlers in this
village or just when it began its existence, but facts go to prove that the date
must have l^een in the latter part of the seventies. A man by the name of
Star was the first merchant and was also the first postmaster. The postoffice
at that time was known as Dent. Star served as ix)stmaster seven or eight
months and on May 12, 1881, he was succeeded by the present postmaster,
Thomas Olson, who has seen continuous service ever since. The name of
the postoffice was later changed to Nelson in honor of Senator Knute Nelson.
In about 1890, S. J. Miller bought the land now comprising the site of
Nelson and platted it into lots. The first lot was sold to John Silrose for
fifty dollars, which was the average price.
On August 31, 1903, the village was incorporated and the following
326 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
officers elected: President, J. P. Larson; recorder, Olof Erickson; trustees,
L. J. Hanson, Mat Berglund and S. J. Miller. The present (jfficers include
the following: President, G. A. Fosgren; recorder, J. G. Myers; trustees,
H. A. Iverson, J. F. Henry and Olof Erickson.
Many lines of business are now carried on in- the village as will be
noticed by giving attention to the present business directory which is as
follows :
Axito repairing, C. E. Iverson; builder and contractor, J. F. Henry; Bank
of Nelson, George Stromlund, president; buyer of live stock, J. P. Larson;
carpenter and contractor, T. A. Jensen; cement and lumber, N. O. Johnson;
cit}' meat market, J. G. Myers; department store, Herberger-Cruse; depot
Great Northern, W. O. Fadden; elevator, N. O. Johnson; tlour and feed,
J. P. Larson ; hotel and restaurant, T. A. Jensen ; Nelson potato house ; pump
supplies and repairs, Olof Erickson.
The Nelson Telephone Company was organized in 1906 and was in-
stalled by C. E. Iverson. The service has always been first-class, which is
quite a tribute to the present operators, Mrs. C. E. Iverson and daughter.
The village has a concert band of twenty-two pieces that would do
credit to a town many times the size of Nelson. During the summer months
weekly concerts are held in the band stand near the center of the village.
There is only one church in the village and that is the Danish Baptist,
the pastor being the Rev. P. C. Paulson.
In the way of fraternal organizations there are two, the Knights of
Maccabees, organized on April 13, 1901, and the Ladies of the Maccabees,
organized on April 30, 1904.
An object of great pride and admiration among many citizens is the
Young Peoples Branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. This
branch was organized in 191 1 by Mrs. Scovell, a state worker. In 1913, a
b.uilding was erected by this organization at a cost of about eight hundred
dollars. The building was dedicated by state workers and gained a great
deal of notice from the fact that the building was about the only one of its
kind in existence. The societies are also very few. The society already
referred to maintains an organization holding regular meetings semi-monthly.
Edna Larson is president of the organization and also state secretary of the
state organization; Wallace Larson is vice-president; E. Youngner, secre-
tary; Chris Hanson, treasurer.
Nothing gi\es the inhabitants of the village and the surrounding com-
munity more pride than to speak of their school. And rightfully too, because
they have just completed a new brick building at a cost of about twenty
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 327
thousand dollars. The building is modern from basement to attic and is a
model of its kind. The village school has been consolidated with a school
district in the countr\- and' thus made more satisfactory to all. Four teachers
are employed and the enrollment averages about one hundred" and ten. Ralph
Borman is the principal for the school year of 1916 and 191 7.
The village was named in honor of James A. Garfield, President of the
United States. Among the first settlers in and near the village were: T.
Knutson, Oscar Dahlin, Fred Bartle, Claus Peterson, Mrs. M. Sanstead and
Augu.st Fenstad. The townsite plats for the village were filed by Andrew
Sanstead, February 17, 1882.
The village began its corporate existence on September 9, 1905. The
following officers were elected: President, T. Knutson; treasurer, J. A.
Nelson ; recorder, W. W. DunniclifT ; trustees, Ole Johnson, Joseph P. McCord
and J. C. Peterson; justices. Gust Loo and K. P. Landru; constables, S. L.
West and Fred Bartel. The present elective officers include the following :
President, P. Christiansen; recorder, Theodore Walstad; trustees, Leonard
Loren. Simon Jensen, Edward Sanstead; constable, Herman Zeigelman.
Among the postmasters of the village have been the following: Swan
D. Larson, who was probably the first; C. H. Larson, Andrew Gustavson,
John Lundstrom, J. L. Larson, C. G. Bergsten, and the present postmaster,
C. J. Johnson, who was appointed October 17, 1907.
The business interests of the village during the summer of 19 16 were in
the hands of the following men:
Auto garage, Charles Johnson; bank. State Bank of Garfield; barber.
Gust .\. Lund; blacksmith, John Youngberg; creamery, Farmers Creamery
Association; elevator. Farmers Elevator; general dealers, A. Abrahams, L.
Olund & Co., A. Bergsten & Son; hardware, Knutson & Son; harness, Fred
Passenheim; hotel, August Buthner; livery, E. Peterson; lumber, Garfield
Lumber Company, John Nelson, manager; meat market, Ketter Bros.; potato
warehouse, Farmers, L. Loren.
The German Lutheran church has a congregation in the village and is
served by the Reverend Bartz. The village maintains no separate school dis-
trict, but is very conveniently served by the district school just at the edge of
town.
The first potato warehouse in the county was built at Garfield in 191 1 by
a farmers co-operative company, and was so much of a success that in 191 2
a second one was built.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The village of Melby, with a population of about seventy, is located in
the northwest corner of the county and twenty-four miles from Alexandria.
It was platted by A. G. and Sigrid Johnson in April, 1902. The village is
surrounded by a fine agricultural community which is its main support.
Although the village is small, yet the business interests are varied and almost
any need can be accommodated. The business directory is given as follows :
Bank, Melby State Bank; blacksmith, Ole Olson; creamery. Gust Wah-
lin; elevator, Farmers Elevator Company, Johnson & Palmquist; furniture
dealer. Constant Lundgren; feed mill, A. G. Johnson & Sons Co.; general
dealer, O. M. Gilbertson & Co., Johnson Bros. ; harness shop, Swan Lind-
strom; hardware dealer, H. N. Palmquist; implement dealer, P. M. Pear-
son ; lumber dealer, Evansville Lumber Company ; potato warehouse, Farm.-
ers ; restaurant, L. C. Calkin, Fritz Carlson ; shoe shop, N. A. Westman.
This village is not incorporated.
Forda is a small village located on the "Soo Line,"' about seven miles
south of Alexander and with an estimated population of seventy-five. The
village is the heart of an agricultural region and also where much fruit is
grown. Thus, the village satisfies the need of a local market and doubtless
will continue to grow as time advances. The village was platted by Cyrus
A. Campbell in July, 1903, was incorporated on April 6. 1905.
Following is a directory of the business interests : Affeldt, John, hard-
ware; Beisek, Lewis, blacksmith; Chase, C, hotel; Farmers State Bank;
Forada Co-operative Manufacturing and \A^arehouse Company ; Jenson,
William, general merchandise and postmaster ; Northland Elevator Company ;
Stevens, O. P., grocer; Turnland, Harry, express and telegraph agent.
Miltona is a small village located in the township that bears its name.
It is on the "Soo Line" and although not as large as some of the other
villages in the county, is well equipped with elevator and stock shipping
facilities. Sufficient business enterprises exist to satisfy all local needs. J. A.
Hintzen conducts a general store ; Edward Jerome, a blacksmith shop ; P. G.
Miller, a grain elevator ; the Sandbeck Lumber Company, a branch. ]\Iiltona
is not incorporated.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 329
MILLERVILLE.
The town site of Alillerville was platted by Edward Schirber in June,
1903. The village began its corporate existence June 29, 1903, after a
hotly-contested election had been held to decide the question of incorporation.
The liquor question was one of the main issues, as many of the citizens
wanted saloons and incorporation was the only means to such an end.
The village is located in the township that bears its name, and though
inland, has an extensive local trade. The first house in Millerville was built
by John A. Miller, second by Frank Weber, third by Peter Lorsung. The
first store was built and operated by Mathias Kotschevar, Joseph .Stariha,
the first hotel keeper, and Mathias Baden, the first blacksmith.
The business interests during the year of 1916 were as follow:
Bank, German American State Bank of Millerville; blacksmith, Jaciib
Thoeness ; creamery, John Poppler, Jr. ; druggist, C. M. Klein ; fiour-mill,
Fred G. Dobmeyer; general stores, J. Linster and A. J. Lorsung; hotel,
Mathias Stariha; harness shop, P. B. Lorsung; meat market, J. P. Lorsung;
physician. Dr. John C. Drexler ; machinery, Val. Thoenness & Sons.
The town-site plats for the \-illage of Carlos were filed in the register of
deeds office on August 12, 1903, by Cyrus A. Campbell. The village began
its corporate existence on July 7, 1904. It is located on the "Soo Line" and
about eight miles northeast of Alexandria. The estimated population is two
hundred. The village has two Lutheran churches and a general business
that is characteristic of towns of its size.
Following is a director}- of the business interests:
Auto garage, G. H. Gilbertson; bank. First State Bank; blacksmith, G.
H. Gilbertson, J. Heskenhoff; liarber, Charles H. Holgrimson; creamery,
Carlos Co-operative Creamery Company; elevator. Homestead Flevator
Company, N. Steidl, agent; Woodworth Elevator Company, A. .\thman,
agent; Farmers Society of Equity; general dealer, Albert Kohler, A. J.
Ogren, Renter Bros. ; harness shop, Thomas Roach ; hardware dealer, August
Kohlhaas ; implement dealer, Ehlert & Gilbertson ; livery, Casper Renter ;
lumber dealer, C. O. Franzen & Co.; meat market, J. E. Taylor; physician,
P. .\. Love; real estate dealer, J. B. Hove, Bundy Scott; restaurant, Charles
Annis; telephone, Central Telephone Company.
330 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUTs'TIES, MINNESOTA.
KENSINGTON.
Kensington was platted by William D. AVashburn in March, 1887, and
incorporated on June 6, 1891. It is located in the extreme southwestern
corner of the county, on the "Soo Line" and nineteen miles from Glenwood.
Kensington is situated on a rolling prairie whose land is unequalled in pro-
ductiveness. A conservative estimate of the population at the present time
would be about two hundred and sixty. In the way of religious and civic
' rganizations the village has a Swedish Lutheran church and an active and
wide awake commercial club.
The' business directory for the year 1916 is as follows:
x\uto garage, Colmark & Brandt; bank, First State Bank of Kensington;
barber, Mark F. Chan; blacksmith shop. Axel W. Hallberg; creamery, Ken-
sington Co-operative Creamery; druggist, John A. Wedum; elevators. Farm-
ers Elevator Company, Andrew Holt, agent; Atlantic Elevator Company,
P. G. Peterson, manager; furniture dealer, George S. Maxfield; Farmers
M'arehouse Association, J. T. Rotto, president; general dealer, Abraham Des-
nick, John Bisek; harness dealer, Ole Berglund; hardware dealer, Kensing-
ton Hardware and Lumber Company; hotel, Kensington Hotel, Mrs. E. J.
Colmark, proprietor ; implements, Harry Osterberg ; livery, Bjorklund Bros. ;
lumber dealer, Kensington Hardware and Lumber Company; meat market,
Frank Dahlin; physician. Dr. Otto L. Hanson; photographer, E. J. Col-
mark; restaurant, George Hendricks, J. A. Bjerke; tile works, Kensington
Tile Company, L. A. Larson, president.
CHAPTER XXI.
Sidelights on County History.
As an interesting "sidelight" on the history of Alexandria and of Doug-
las county, perhaps no event of recent years hereabout has been more signi-
ficant or productive of greater interest in the days that have gone than the
"home-coming week" celebrated by the people of Alexandria and of the
county at large at the county seat in the last week of June, 1916, under the
direction of the Commercial Club and of the home-coming committee. A
series of interesting meetings were arranged for the affair and the event
was marked by the return to the scenes of other days of many who had gone
away from this favored community seeking fame and fortune elsewhere,
but who still regard Douglas county as "home, sweet home." Meetings were
held in the high school hall and music was furnished by the Alexandria
band, on Saturday bands from Eagle Bend and Kensington also being present.
The first meeting was held on Thursday' evening," Gustav A. Kortsch
presiding. The Rev. Francis Welp delivered the invocation and Dr. C. C.
Strang, mavor of Alexandria, made an address of welcome to the "back-
homers," the response to the same being made by Theo. A. Erickson. Other
speakers were A. M. Darling, O. H. Larson, Julian Fitzgerald, Walter Shot-
well, W. E. Landeen and A. M. Wilton, all of whom spoke in a reminiscent
strain of other days. On Friday morning a reunion of former pupils of the
Alexandria schools was held, the program being carried out by memljers of
former classes, and a short historical review of the school dating back to
1 861 was given, while talks fraught with interesting stories of past school
days were made by A. T. Larson, Theo. A. Erickson. A. P. Nelson and W.
E. Landeen. R. C. Bondurant presided and an alumni association was organ-
ized with the following officers: President, A. T. Larson, of Alinneapolis ;
vice-president, W. E. Landeen, of Elbow Lake; secretary. Alma Anderson,
of .Alexandria ; treasurer, R. C. Bondurant. There were present at this
alumni meeting five members of the class of 1878. The afternoon meeting
on that day was presided over by H. A. LeRoy and a series of interesting
letters from persons who had left this county in days past for farther fields
was read bv George L. Treat, secretary of the home-coming committee.
^^2 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Reminiscent talks were made by M. N. Koll, of Cass Lake, and by James F.
Dicken, pioneers of the county, and A. T. Larson also gave an interesting
talk. At that meeting the address of the week was made by Adolph P.
Xelson, of Grantsburg, Wisconsin, who paid a glowing tribute to Alexandria,
"Ladv of the Lakes," and to the pioneers of Douglas count}-, among whom
he mentioned the names of the Kinkaid brothers. Holmes, Grant, Hicks, San-
ford, Gregory, Dicken, Darling, Blackwell, Van Dyke, Shotwell, Sims, Whit-
comb, Kent, Lewis, Nord, Walker, Thorp Sprague, Freudenreich, Cowings,
Van Hoesen, Baumbach, White, Robards, Moles, Canfield, Brown, Vivian,
Aaker, Christie, Sundblad, Bondurant, Llawley, Fahlin, Kortsch, Gilpin,
Burkel, Gunderson "and last, but not least," concluded the speaker, "that
fplendid citizen of your midst who is known as the 'grand old man," not
onlv of Minnesota, but also of the United States Senate. A man who has
made his statesmanship and his influence of life so felt in the national gov-
ernment that when he speaks, not onl\- America, but the world is glad to
listen and to take counsel. I ha^-e reference to your peerless citizen, your
great representative in the LTnited States Senate, Senator Knute Nelson."
Among the earlier teachers in the schools, the speaker mentioned Mr. Gunder-
son, Miss Gunderson (now Mrs. Van Hoesen), Miss Childs, Miss Thomp-
son, Miss King, the Misses Wright, Miss Barnard (now Mrs. Robards),
Miss Dudley, Miss Donaldson, Miss Lloyd and Prof. A. D. Gaines, "through
whose genius and leadership the Alexandria high school attained a rank
second ti) none in the state."
The I'riday evening meeting was presided over b}' J. H. \\'ettleson,
president of the Commercial Club, and with one exception the program was
made up of five-minute talks by George F. ^^'hitcomb, N. P. \\'ard, A. M.
Darling and R. C. Bondurant. The exception noted was a talk given by
James F. Dicken, of La Grand, now past eighty-one years of age and one of
the very first settlers of Douglas county, who gave for the entertainment and
edification of his hearers a review of the history of Douglas county, he
ha\'ing been a resident here since the very beginning of a social order in this
section of the state. Mr. Dicken arrived in Douglas county in 1859 after
having spent two or diree years in the vicinit}- of the present city of Hutch-
in.'-on, this state, and he gave the dates of the cutting out of the Alexandria-
Garfield and the Alexandria-Carlos roads, the names of the parties who did
the work and of the occasion that demanded the construction of the roads.
He gave also a brief history of the Indian uprising of 1862, of the excite-
ment that followed and of the general exodus of the settlers from this region
to [joints of safety at Sauk Center, St. Cloud and elsewhere during that time
DOl^GLAS AND GRA>7T COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 333
of trouble. On Saturda)- evening, closing the home-coming week, a recep-
tion \va.s given by the ladies at the rooms of the Commercial Club and on
Sunday evening a union service was held in the Congregational church, the
Rev. F. S. Stein, of Lincoln, Xebraska, preaching on the subject of home
inHuence. or the place of the home as a factor in civilization. As stated
al)0\e, the delightful home-coming was arranged under the general direction
of the Commercial Club of Alexandria, the general committee and chairmen
of sub-committees being as follow: Chairman, G. A. Kortsch; secretary,
George L. Treat; program, George L. Treat; publicity, John Griebler;
finance, Andrew Jacobson ; reception, Constant Larson : entertainment. H.
T. Holverson; decoration. W. T. Cowing; music, J- ^L Renner; parade,
Lewis S. Kent ; membership, J- H. Wettleson.
MEMORIES OF OTHER DAYS.
Among the many letters received by the secretary of the home-coming
committee and read at the meeting, there were some so interesting, recalling
scenes and incidents of other days so pleasantly, that it is regarded as a
matter of value and interest to succeeding generations to quote a few extracts
from the same in this connection.
Senator Xelson wrote: "I am very glad, indeed, that you and the
other friends have nio\-ed in this matter. It will be a great opportunity for
the old settlers to meet and come together to talk over old times and the
struggles and trials of frontier life. We have now ceased to be a frontier
country, but nevertheless we are still so' young that many of the pioneers are
still with us and bear the scars and marks of the intense struggle of pioneer
life. Alexandria and Douglas county were fortunate in securing an ener-
getic, industrious and thrifty class of people, who ha\e, by their efforts.
succeeded in making Douglas county one of the garden spots of Minnesota.
\Ve old settlers, who will in the near future pass away, can look back with
pride on the great work that has been accomplished with the knowledge and
assurance that our work will be taken up by the younger generation that will
succeed us and that they will expand and enlarge upon the foundations that
we laid. They will have strenuous work before them, but they will be sub-
jected to less trials and tribulations and have more of the modern conveniences
than we had; but we bespeak for them the same blessings of an All-W'ise
Providence that N\e ha\e enjoyed in our day and generation."
Major E. H. ^^■hitcomb, major and chief sanitary officer of the b'irst
Brigade, Minnesota National Guard, and a son of Capt. George C. Whit-
334 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
comb, \vho was commandant of the old Alexandria stockade when the latter
was disbanded in 1866, writing from Camp Bobleter, where the Minnesota
troops were being mobilized for border service, wrote: "Disappointment
falls to the lot of most of us at one time or another, and it certainly has hit
me this time. I felt that a duty was incumbent on me to be present at the
home coming and have a vacation, but duty of a more serious character has
called and I a:ii doing what. I can for my .country. I was mustered into the
United States service yesterday (June zj, 1916). I am chief sanitary officer,
with what other duties may arise. I would dearly enjoy the handclasp of
friends of old who will be with you. As I sit here in my tent, in fancy I
can look into eyes long closed on earth and hear familiar voices wafted on
waves of tender recollection from across the Mystic Sea. These will not
respond to your invitation, but they will be thought of and spoken of in
tenderest terms and will occupy their fitting and essential place in the history
of Alexandria.''
C. D. Baker, of Fergus Falls wrote: "I wanted a chance to tell what
few old settlers there were left there and what I knew about them in an
earlier day. I was goin^ to tell about our trip at the time that Knute Nelson,
Baumbach, \^an Hoesen, Charles Schultz, John Cowing and about a dozen
others went down east of town fishing; the time that Charles Schultz could
not pull a tree up by the roots, and that Mr. Nelson and Baumbach had to
sing songs for the party on their way home that night. I wanted to tell
about ]\lr. Baumbach helping me to sell apple trees up in the Millerville
country, when two of us rode in a two-wheeled road cart; I wanted to tell
about Jim Dicken, the time when he was selling fire insurance, when 'for a
moment' he forgot himself; and then there were a lot of the boys that I
wanted to talk about, but I find most of them have gone to the 'happy hunt-
ing grounds.' ■ As I figure it, there is only about one out of ten of the old-
timers alive. . . . My heart is with you. and it seems as though I can
see among the crowd that you have there, some of the old-timers that I knew
forty years ago. There must be a few of them. left."
;\Irs. Edward Gillette, of Santa Barbara, California, wrote: "And we
are among the pioneers! My dear father, Richard Dent, wife and family of
seven children, three sons and four daughters, arrived at Alexandria, Sep-
tember 9. 1868, coming by team from LeSueur, Minnesota. It was indeed
a frontier town of few inhabitants — looked very drear)' to us. never having
liNed where we could not see railroad trains every day. Father went to work
for Mr. ^^■illiam Hicks, in the grist-mill, as engineer. We lived in a log
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 335
house owned by Mr. Shotwell, near Lake Geneva, until a log house could be
built on our farm on Lake Victoria. We moved on October 28 and it was
not half finished; no chinking in cracks and without windows — hung up
blankets to keep out the cold, but we were all well and happy. The few
people seemed like one large family. . . . D. W. Colby and family
were among the early settlers, also Cal. Roland and James Rusk. All were
there ahead of our family. Mrs. Van Hoesen and her brother, C. J. Gunder-
son were there at Robert Smith's, who had a farm near the Shotwells, on
Lake Geneva. Three youngest children of our family were born in Alexan-
dria: Mrs. H. A. Plahte, of Spokane, Washington; Mrs. M. H. Terryll, of
Faribault, and Dr. Frank E. Dent, of Sequim, Washington. Dear mother
passed away at Spokane, May 10, 191 1 ; father, May 19, 1915. Brother James
Dent, who was in the railway mail service office for twenty years in St. Paul,
passed away June 2;^, 1909. He was chief clerk at that time and was loved
by all who knew him. Brother Richard is a member of the big real-estate
firm of Arthur D. Jones & Company, of Spokane, Washington, and is vice-
president of the company."
William G. -Scott,. «f Winnipeg, wrote : . "The receipt of your letter
caused me to indulge in some 'reminisencing' and recall the fact that it is
fifty years this present month of June since my father and my eldest brother
— the latter now a resident of the state of Washington — first arrived in
Douglas county and located on homesteads in the township of Hudson. The
other members of the family, including the writer, followed in October of
the same year (T866). The journey from Toronto occupied seventeen days
and was made by steamboat to Milwaukee, railway to LaCrosse, steamboat
to St. Paul, railway to St. Cloud and 'prairie schooners' to Hudson. At
that time' there were no large centers of population west of Milwaukee, the
present flourishing cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis being mere hamlets.
It boasted an abandoned stockade, but few buildings. It had a tri-weekly
mail service, carried by the Burbank four-horse stage coaches, which made
regular trips between St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie, on the Red river. It
was on the main highway to the various forts in northern Minnesota, the then
territory of Dakota and what was then known as Ft. Gary, or the Red River
Settlement. There were continually passing through it long lines of govern-
ment wagons, each drawn by six mules, carrying supplies and munitions to
the western forts. The commerce of what is now the three prairie provinces
of Canada, served at the present time by three transcontinental lines of rail-
way and numerous branches, was then carried along the same route in Red
river carts, each drawn by one ox, their journey leading through northern
336 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
IMinnesota and Dakota, then homeless plains, within whose borders civiliza-
tion had not yet entered except in the vicinity of two or three forts."
The Rev. J. Scott Willmarth, of Greenwood, Wisconsin, wrote : "Alex-
andria ma\- well be proud of her citizens and of the products of her school.
She always has a Treat to show her visitors. Some may come and some
may go, but one is always Constant. She is renowned, not only for her fine
houses, but also for her barns. In competing with other towns for recogni-
tion she can rely on her Knox, and she can easily wrest first honors from
all comers with her double Nelson."
J. A. Cranston, superintendent of schools at Santa Ana, California,
former superintendent of the schools at Alexandria, wrote expressing the
hope, "in the not too distant future, to have the pleasure of seeing once more
Alexandria, the crown city of northern Minnesota, and enjoy once more
those beautiful lakes and drives for which Douglas county has become truly
famous."
Col. B. L. Bull, of North Yakima, Washington, past commander of
JNIeade Post No. 9, Department of Washington and Alaska, Grand Army of
the Republic, in a letter to the committee recalled that "We lived there in
1871 and slept in our prairie schooner near your beautiful city, but passed
on to Ottertail county. We are inclined to think our mistake was in not
driving our claim stake there in 1871."
W. H. Sanders, who located man}' of the roads in this part of the state
and was later for some years superintendent of schools of Douglas county,
writing from Los Angeles, California, conveyed the following interesting
bit of information: "I made my first trip to Douglas county in 1867. As I
passed through Alexandria, I noted that the old stockade was about all there
was of the town. There was a store within the stockade and a little later
T. F. Cowing built one outside the structure. I went up to what is now the
town of Evansville and took up a claim about five miles south of the present
town, my nearest neighbor being about five miles south of my location. Later
Mr. Plummer took a claim adjoining mine and then quite a number of set-
tlers came into that section. All fled several times at the report that the
Sioux Indians were coming, only to return after the scare was over. Only
once did we realize that it was not a false alarm. A canoe with Indians came
down the lake and paddled straight across for my home, but backed by Mr.
Plummer we stood our ground, shooting over the heads of the Indians, which
soon caused them to retreat. There were many stirring times, hardships,
even sufferings, in those pioneer days, but the settlers realized even then the
great possibilities of that glorious count}- and remainetl. In 1872 or 1873,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES,. MINNESOTA. 337
when I moved to Alexandria, it was still a small town, among the early set-
tlers I recall having been the Cowings, Van Dykes, Hicks, Mr. \"an Hoesen
and many others.""
J. \'. Roland, writing from Postoak, recalled to the attention of the
committee that he could "date back as far as 1867, when I first arrived in
Alexandria. I made my hume in Dt)Uglas county for ten years and experi-
enced some very haril times. In the summer of 1868, during a high-water
period, the country was out of flour and none could be obtained at any price.
I was working for a Mr. Piatt, who lived on a farm on the south side of
Lake Louise. At that time there was a company of United States soldiers
camped for the night on the shore of the lake and after they had gone on
their way I went down to the camp and found a box of hard-tack that had
been left behind because of some mold on some of them. I hurried to the
Piatt cabin and told of the find. Immediately the lady of the house, Mrs.
Piatt, and luyself hurried to the place and gathered up the fragments; carried
them to the home and Mrs. Piatt prepared a most luscious dinner.'"
From Dyment, Ontario, Mrs. D. A. Larson wrote : "I shall ever remem-
ber the pleasant circumstances which first brought me to Alexandria. I took
up residence there in my bridal days — in October, 1868. Though being
away for many years, yet my heart will always drift back where my cherished
interest is — as my husband's resting place is in Kinkaid cemetery."
From New Bed ford,. Massachusetts, the Rev. and Mrs. Anton A. Ander-
son wrote: "Although it is many years since we lived in the heart of the
park region of Douglas county, many sweet remembrances linger with us and
we can truthfully say with the ancient Israelites: 'If we forget thee, O,
Jerusalem (Alexandria), let our right hand forget! Let our tongue cleave
to our palate, if we do not remember thee; if we prefer not Jerusalem (Alex-
andria) above our chief joy.' Alexandria and its beautiful surroundings
will always be the dearest sjxit to us."
From Claremont, California, Mrs. Stella Stoneman JMoles wrote: "I
doubt if many are back whose entrance to Alexandria antedates my own,
for I went there first as a little girl in 1874, when Mr. Norton preached in
the little old church down in the hollow. He, too, is gone, and his wife, and
Annabel, with whom I played dolls and whom I loved almost as a sister in
those days. In those days the railroad came no farther than Melrose, and I
went the rest of the way with Mr.- David Masdn, who also has been laid to
rest. He had taught his horse to be a home missionary horse, for I remem-
ber how the horse stopped at everv bov, girl, man, woman and house that
(22)
338 DOUGLAS AND. GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
we came to, to ask if there was a Sunday school in the neighborhood, appar-
ently as concerned as Mr. ]\Iason as to their religious opportunities. But it
was when, as a young woman, I visited my sister at Sylvan Home and later,
when I went as a bride to Alexandria, that I spent perhaps the happiest days
of my life. I can see it all now, the woods and the lakes and the country
roads. It was then that I learned what beautiful puff-balls could be made
from thistles. It was there I picked wild strawberries and raspberries. It
was there I saw my first ski and took my first toboggan slide. I have many
happy memories and I remember lovingly the kindly people I knew both as a
little girl and later as a woman grown."
Writing from Urbana. Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Mason sent "greet-
ings to all our friends in the following lines from Browning:
"Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be.
The last of life, for which the first was made;
Our times are in His hand
Who saith, 'A whole life I planned.'
Youth shows but half; trust God; see all, nor lie afraid."
The Rev. George E. Soper wrote: "The prospect of hearing the address
of Adolph, of seeing Lew Kent, in all his glory, leading the parade; of
listening to all those speeches of early friends would be enough to draw me
from a long distance; but when added to all this, there is the prospect of
meeting many old friends and of reviving the friendships of earlier days, I
find the desire to be there most enticing. It will no doubt be a glorious
occasion and will do much to strengthen the chords of home joys, which after
all is said, lie very near the sources of the truest happiness."
From Tacoma Miss Bessie Kasson wrote: "Alexandria spelled home
for so many years that we always think and speak of it in that sense, and
assure you we have never forgotten the years we spent among you, or the
Ijeauties of Alexandria and surrounding country, the many kindnesses of
your citizens and the spirit of friendliness which made us feel at home
among you. My father, who was eighty years old last January, looks no
older than when leaving Alexandria and my mother has changed very little.
I would like to suggest that you follow the example of our chivalrous west-
ern men and grant your women the right of suffrage. It's a fine thing to
feel that you are, indeed, a real citizen of the United States of America."
Mrs. Delia Isom, of Lovell, Wyoming, wrote; "My father, Benjamin
Stewart, lived near Garfield and the home now owned by Mrs. Robert
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 339
Angus used to be my home when I first came to Douglas county forty-seven
years ago. We lived mostly among the Indians, as my father often traded
groceries for furs and meats, which were plentiful in those days. The
Indians were not hostile then, yet when they used to gather in the house
and sharpen their knives, the hearts of my sisters and mother seemed to
stop beating as they used to watch me at play with my rag doll. They
would laugh and talk to me in their own language and, of course, I was
afraid they wanted my doll, not seeming to realize what mischief they might
be planning. I also lived in Alexandria with my husband, George Dixon,
and two small sons, who now are grown men in business in the city of
Minneapolis.'"
Mary Elizabeth Whitcomb, of Minneapolis, wrote : "I would gladly
do something to add to the pleasure of the occasion were it in my power, but
I know there will be no lack of interesting things to fill the time, and I
have perhaps done my share in recalling the old times, as in response to Mr.
Bondurant's request before the dedication of the new high school building,
I wrote an account of the early school days there, which is, I think, fairly
accurate for the years which it covers."
From Roseburg, Oregon, N. Bevier wrote: "I often think of the old
frontier days, for I enjoyed them better than later days. There are lots of
Pope and Douglas people here, following being the names of a few: Mr.
and Mrs. P. Brooks, Mr. Hagan, Mr. and Mrs. Hall, Mr. and Mrs. H. Boyd,
Mrs. Henri Boyd and son, Vern ; Mr. and Mrs. John Pennie and family and
the three daughters of Mr. P. Pennie, besides whom there are quite a few
Minnesota settlers, but not right from that part."
From Hazel, Minnesota, Mr. and Mrs. George Prodger wrote : "Our
kindest thoughts are always with the old neighbors of Douglas county, with
whom we used to have such good times. It doesn't seem like home here, as
it did there where we lived so many years."
Mrs. Herbert M. Boyd wrote from Roseburg, Oregon: "Father Boyd
moved with his family td Hudson township the 22nd of June. 1867, and I
went to live with them, July 24, 1879, so even I ha\'e seen many changes.
I well remember the first trip to Alexandria, September 4, 1879. The store
of Moses & Wylie was considered quite a fine store, and I remember the L. J.
Brown store, at one time where the Griebenow store has been for years, and
then they were fine stores. I remember many changes in all the years of
my sojourn in Hudson."
John Templeton wrote his regrets from Forest Grove. Oregon, declaring
340 DOUGLAS AND GR \NT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
that "nothing would give me more pleasure than to meet with all the old-
time friends and talk over old times and renew our youth together."
F. M. Nelson, of Minneapolis, wrote : "When I go back in my memory
to the 13th of June, 1887, at 2:20 o'clock, when I got off the train as an
immigrant, how little did I dream, when walking up Main street seeing the
signs: L. K. Aaker, John Sundblad, Moles Brothers, Baumbach & Holver-
son (or Monissev, as it was then), Spaulding, drugs, and Kortsch, Hardy &
Heebel, with others, what Alexandria would mean t(_i me. Most of those
signs are g(ine from the dear old Main street, but in my memory lingers those
names of the pioneers, of which I have a fond recollection. Wherever I go
I always think and speak of Alexandria as my home town."
L. T. Mathison wrote his regrets from Rush Lake, Saskatchewan,
declaring that "m\ heart is right there, where I spent my boyhood days."
From Tacoma Caroline M. Sprague wrote: "Nothing would please me
better than to make a visit to the old home town and I deeply regret not
being able to do so. The longing to see the kinsfolk I have left behind, and
the dear old friends, also makes my old heart ache."
From Claremont, California, Samuel D. Moles wrote, recalling that
"it is over twentx' vears since my wife and I left Alexandria to come to Cali-
fornia;" continuing, "It was in Douglas county that nearly one-half of my
life was spent, and I often think of the beautiful country and clear lakes and
business opportunities that your county affords."
From Kingsburg, California, Mr. and Mrs. C. O. Jern wrote: "\Ye
have always held the most ardent resi>ect and have today a warm place in
our hearts for the old town of 'Alex.' Though we are not able to be present
on this occasion, personally, we are with you in kindest memory at all times.
Since our departure, vears ago. we have traveled to some extent, but have
never found quite the same ideal conditions that exist there."
Mrs. Kate McLellan Finkle, of Minneapolis, expressing her regret at
her ina1iilit>- to be present at the home coming, wrote : "I would have enjoyed
meeting the friends. Oh, the wonderful review that passes before the mind's
eve! Alexandria deserves to have the best (if everything, as the former citi-
zens were of such a lovely and interesting type and as I am sure the present
ones are."
THE MAN WHO STARTED ALEXANDRIA GOING.
It ma\- \ery properly be said that William Everett Hicks was the
man who started Alexandria going and by doing so performed a service for
Douglas countv that will keep his memory green in this section of Minnesota
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. ,^1
for generations to come. Though he died before he was forty years of age,
he had shown a notable capacity for performance and his Hfe had been full
of activity. A New Yorker, he came to this section of Minnesota in the
fall of 1866 and was so deeply impressed by the beauty of this charming
lake region that he decided to make his permanent home at Alexandria,
where, during the next eight }'ears, or until his death in 1874, he took a very
active part in local affairs, becoming the owner of the townsite and the pro-
moter of various commercial and industrial enterprises, besides representing
the district in the Legislature and establishing the first newspaper in this
part of Minnesota.
William E. Hicks was born at Sand Point, Long Island, in 1835, and
was educated in the schools of Brooklyn. In 1853 he became a reporter on
the Xc-a' York Tribune, Horace Greeley's paper, and in 1857 became financial
editor of the New York Evening Post, holding that position until 1862,
when failing health compelled his resignation. The next year he traveled
extensively in Europe and returned in the following, year, going into business
in Wall street. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Hicks came West on a genera!
prospecting and pleasure trip and in the fall of that year came out here from
St. Paul on a hunting trip. As noted above, he became so charmed with the
scenic beauties of the park region hereabout that he decided to remain. He
bought the Alexandria townsite, which up to that time had not been making
very great headwav, and also began to develop timber lands in this section.
In 1867 he built a log store building at Alexandria and stocked the same
with a general stock of merchandise. He also erected a hotel building and
built the two-story frame building which for some time thereafter was used
as a court house, and on the second floor of which he conducted a newspaper,
the Alexandria Post, which he established in 1868, the }ear in which he was
elected to the Legislature from this district. Among i\Ir. Hicks's other enter-
prises was a combined grist- and saw-mill, which became tlie leading indus-
try in this section, attracting patronage for many miles in all directions and
giving a real impetus to the development of this section, which before that
time had been suft'ering for the lack of an adequate flour-riiill and for a
saw-mill. Mr. Hicks donated from his townsite lands the square on which
the Douglas county court house stands and also donated to the Congrega-
tional church the fine corner lot on which that society erected its first church
and on which the present handsome Congregational church stands. In other
ways Mr. Hicks contrilnited to the cWk. commercial and industrial life of
the growing communitv and remained active in all good works until his death
at Alexandria on July 17, 1874. He left a widow and five children. One
342 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
of his sons, Cleveland H. Hicks, for years has been private secretary to
Senator Knute Xelson, whose home is in Alexandria, bnt whose official
duties recjuire his presence in Washington much of the time.
Alexandria's "grand old man."
United States Senator Knute Nelson has been a resident of Douglas
county since the year 1870, when he moved over here from Wisconsin, and
has ever since been one of the most active factors in the life of the com-
munity, as well as in the wider and more general life of the whole state.
Senator Nelson is a native of the kingdom of Norway, born on February 2,
1843, ^"d was but six years of age when he accompanied his parents to the
United States in July, 1849, the family remaining in Chicago until the fall
of the next year, 1850, when they removed to Wisconsin, where the future
United States senator grew to manhood. During the Civil War Knute Nelson
enlisted for service as a private in the Fourth Regiment, Wisconsin Volun^
teer Infantry, and was promoted to a non-commissioned office in the same.
At Port Hudson, Louisiana, June 14, 1863, he was wounded and taken pris-
oner. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to Wisconsin.
took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar as a practicing attorney
in the spring of 1867. He was elected to the Wisconsin state Legislature
and served in the assembly during the years 1868-69, after which he sought
a field farther west in which to enter upon the practice of his profession,
and in 1870 came to Minnesota and located at Alexandria, which ever since
has been his home. Mr. Nelson at once began to take a prominent part in
the civic affairs of the new community in which he had located and it was
not long until he was recognized as a potent factor in the same. He was
appointed county attorney of Douglas county shortly after settling at Alexan-
dria and served in that capacity until 1874. During the four years, 1875-78,
he served this district in the upper house of the Minnesota General Assembly
and Jn the campaign of 1880 was a presidential elector from this state. On
February i, 1882, he was commissioned a member of the board of regents
of the Minnesota State University, a position which he retained until Janu-
ary I, 1893. Senator Nelson's larger public service began with his election
as a member of the forty-eighth Congress from the fifth Minnesota district,
and he was re-elected to the forty-ninth and fiftieth Congresses. In the fall
of 1892 he was elected governor of Minnesota as the nominee of the Republi-
can party in this state and was re-elected to that office in the fall of 1894,
during which second incumbency, January 23, 1895. he was elected United
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 343
States senator from Alinnesota and has ever since represented this state in
the Senate, having been re-elected by the Legislature in 1901, 1907 and 1913-
Senator Nelson has a delightful farm home situated on the outskirts of
Alexandria and takes much pleasure in the same during his brief respites
from public service. He also maintains his old law office in Alexandria, but
gives httle attention to the practice of his profession, long having been prac-
tically retired from active practice.
ALEXANDRIA'S FIRST VILLAGE PRESIDENT.
Francis Bennett Van Hoesen, who died at his home in Alexandria on
January -7 1907, not onlv was the first president of the village of Alexan-
dria, but in manv other ways, during his residence of forty years in the
county seat of Douglas county, contributed of his talents and energies to the
general upbuilding of the community at large. Born in Onandaga county,
New York, he was fifteen years of age when he came with his parents, in
1854, to Minnesota, the family setthng at Hastings. He later returned to
his native state, where he completed the academic course in the schools and
then entered the law department of the Michigan State University, from
which he was graduated in 1864, after which he for a time was engaged in
practice in the law office of his uncle, at Harvard, Illinois, presently return-
ing'to Minnesota, where he spent a year as bookkeeper in a bank at St. Cloud,
after which in 1867. he moved over to the new and ambitious village of
Alexandria, where he spent the rest of his life, one of the most active factors
in the development of the town. Upon settling at Alexandria Mr. Van Hoesen
opened a branch land office and in 1869 joined with his uncle, George Ward
and Robert Smith in the establishment of the first bank in Alexandria, of
which he was made cashier. When the bank was reorganized as the First
National Bank in 1883 Mr. Van Hoesen was made president of the same
and continued in that capacity continuously until his death. When the village
of Alexandria was incorporated in 1877 Mr. Van Hoesen was elected first
president of the same and bv subsequent elections served for more than hve
vears in that capacitv. He previously had served the county in several
capacities, countv attorney, clerk of court and register of deeds and later for
some vears was a member of the board of health, while in 1872 he had been
elected representative to the Legislature from this district and was re-elected
in 1 88 1 and in 1883 was elected to the Senate. From the very beginning
of his residence in Alexandria Mr. Van Hoesen took an active interest in
the ';chools and was also a prime mover in the organization ot the library
344 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
association. He was a charter member of the First Congregational church,
organized in 1876, and was president of the board of trustees of the same at
the time of his death. Among the legacies he left was one of one thousand
dollars to the church, one of five thousand dollars to the library and one of
three thousand dollars to the Kinkaid Cemetery Association. He was a
charter member of Constellation Lodge No. 81, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, at Alexandria, organized in 1870, and served for eleven terms as
worshipful master of the lodge.
FIRST COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED.
The record of incorporations in the office of the register of deeds of
Douglas county reveals that the first commercial association incorporated in
the county was the Norden Commercial Association, whose articles of incor-
poration were filed for record on August 16, 1871, Peter O. Chilstrom, Eoen
Newman, Peter Newman, Peter Hanson, William Christensen, Bernhard C.
Hanson, S. P. Christensen, Magnus Olson and Soren Listoe, of the city of
MinneapoHs, incorporating under the above title to carry on a general trad-
ing business at Herman, Grant county.
The first cemetery association incorporated was the Orange Grove
Cemetery Association, organized at a meeting held at the school house in
district No. 7, in the township of Orange, March 24, 1873, Robert Thomas,
chairman, and M. G. Pixley, secretary, the others signing the articles of in-
corporation being J. S. English, Joseph Pixley, Robert Thomas, Jacob Man-
ning, John Gray, George H. Robart, R. T. Bullard, M. G. Pixley, Gustav
Klatt, Harmon Dumerl, O. Kator, John Mada and John Baker.
The first farmers co-operative association to file incorporation papers
was the Farmers Co-operative Company of Osakis, a general mercantile con-
cern, organized on December 17, 1875, those signing the articles of incor-
poration being James Chambers, A. C. Peterson, Mathew Easton, J. C.
Stone, J. P. Simonson, Charles Handy and Andrew Bergsten.
The first cornet band to file articles of incorporation was the Osakis
Cornet Band, incorporated on May 3, 1886, the following persons signing
the articles of incorporation: H. M. Chalfant, W. A. Yales, I. P. Schei, C.
Nelson, Alex. Anderson, J. R. Gallinger, D. M. Farr, George L. Fry, Paul
Herman and William Cressy.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 345
THE CELEBRATED TAULSON CASE.
In as well ordered and quiet a neighborhood as this there naturally have
been very few notable criminal cases to attract the attention of the court
and a chapter devoted to crimes and misdemeanors in a work of this char-
acter would be short indeed, but there is one case that for years provided a
mystery for the people of Douglas count}- to talk over and which was not
cleared for years after the commission of the crime. It was in the early
days of the settlement of this region, back in the old stage-coach days, long
before the coming of the railroad to this section, and the scene of the crime
was at the old log inn and stage station at the stop which later became the
thriving village of Evansville. Five Scandinavians, one of whom was named
Paulson and who were not long from the old country, arrived at the inn one
day and while renewing old acquaintances drank quite liberally of frontier
whisky, served at the inn. a quarrel presently being started and some scuffling
or wrestling, which was not altogether good natured in character, but which
ended apparently without serious ill-feeling on the part of any and late in
the evening the men started for the home of one of the party who lived near-
by, where they expected to remain the rest of the night. On the shore of a
small lake in the vicinity the quarrel w-as known to have been renewed. That
evening was the last Paulson was seen alive and although the neighborhood
was searched no trace of him could be found. The four men last seen in his
company were arrested, but as there was no evidence against them they
presently were released. Three Indians, skilled in the lore of the woods and
of the lakes, were called in to assist in the search for the body, the theory
of the community being that Paulson had been killed as an outcome of the
quarrel and his body thrown into the lake, but the most careful search of the
lake failed to reveal the body. In the meantime the county commissioners
had offered a reward of five hundred dollars for the recovery of the body
and not long thereafter, shortly after the Indians had made their ineffectual
search, the wife of the landlord of the inn in which the initial quarrel between
the Scandinavians had occurred, volunteered to find the body in the lake and
pointing out a certain spot in the water told the searchers to look there, e\-en
though the ground had been gone o\er carefully before. The boch- was
found, even as she had declared it would be, and she collected the reward
money. The four suspects again were arrested and the one with whom
Paulson had quarrelled was placed on trial for his life, but there l^eing no
direct evidence against him, he was ac(|uitted and all four were again set at
346 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
liberty. Xot long afterward the landlord of the inn and his wife left the
count}-, with the five hundred dollars that had been paid the wife, and went
up into Canada, where they settled. On his deathbed the landlord cleared
the mystery of the Paulson case, declaring that Paulson had returned to the
inn about midnight of the night he had left with his four compatriots and
had demanded more whisky. This the landlord refused and a quarrel ensued
in which the landlord killed Paulson. He hid the body in a haystack until
the night after the Indians had searched the lake, when, with the assistance
of his wife, he carried the body to the lake and cast it in, it therefore having
been an easy matter for the wife later to locate the body for the searching
party and claim the reward that had been offered by the county. No suspicion
was attached to them and after going to Canada they kept their secret well,
until remorse compelled the deathbed divulgence of the same.
REMINISCENCES BY A FIRST SETTLER.
During the agitation of the project for holding a "home-coming" week
at Alexandria during the early summer of 1916, Mrs. Fannj- Van Dyke,
widow of J. H. Van Dyke, the first merchant in Alexandria, who came to
Douglas county with her parents, as a girl, in 1858, contributed the follow-
ing bit of reminiscence to the Alexandria Post-Nczi's: "The first settlers
were the Kinkaid brothers, Alexander and Will, who came here from Dela-
ware. After Alexander our town was given its name. Then came the
Joseph James family from Philadelphia. Their child was the first child born
here and was named Winona Douglas, after our lake and county. After
them our family (the Cook family) came in the year 1858. The house we
lived in was built where the von Baumbach home now stands. It was made
of peeled logs and was very comfortable, but coming from the busy city of
London, as we did, it was a decided change. Aly father, who was a member
of the Hudson Bay Company bought furs of the Indians, but spent much
time fishing and hunting. Game of all kinds was very plentiful. With us
came the Bedman family, Mr. Bedman being the first blacksmith here.
Shortly after this came the N. F. Barnes family and Peter L. Gregory. Then
the Darling family came and they were the first people who knew how to be
good farmers, and everyone went to them for advice. About this time came
also our good old friend. James Dicken, who was a trapper and who told
extraordinary stories. Among the many was the following one : Jim wanted
some shirts, and goods of the cheapest quality ])emg very expensive at that
time, he bought only three yards. When he found this would make but one
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 347
shirt, he said that he knew of a woman in Pennsylvania whcj could make
two shirts out of three yards of material so long that they dangled on the
ground and he could pull them up over his ears. He also knew how to make
'stone soup.' which was ver)- rich and tasty. A little later on came the Shot-
well and Canfield families in the year 1859. Also about this time came my
husband, J. H. \'an D\-ke. The Cowdrys and Barrs made up some of the
early settlers and after that the people began to come thick and fast.
"My father, Charles Cook, was the first postmaster, the 'office' being our
dining table. The mail was brought by ox-team from St. Cloud and later a
Mr. Evans, the first Scandinavian, brought the mail on horse-back. The
town of Evans\'ille was named after him and they built a small log house
there for him to stay over night and break the distance of the journey, which
was a very difficult one. He was later killed by the Indians.
"The first school teacher I recall was a Miss Jonvier, a sister of Mrs.
Kinkaid. The school house was an old log house on the von Baumbach
place and belonged to my father. Mrs. Haines was the teacher in the stock-
ade and later a Miss Pye taught. Then came Miss Olive Darling, who taught
about the time that the Hjcks family came. The first doctor was Doctor
Andrews, then a Doctor Borden and later Doctor Vivian. Mr. \'an Dyke
had the first settler's store here, in which he had the postoffice. He also had
the land office and was justice of the peace. The mail was quite large at
that time, as the stockade had been built and the soldiers had been stationed-
there. The mail was brought from St. Cloud by the Burbank stage and was
heavily escorted bv mounted men. The stockade was situated aljout where
the Aberly brewery now stands and was built in 1862 by 'Company 25' of
Wisconsin. It was made of logs, with a bastion at opposite corners to use
in case of an attack by the Indians. Many sad things happened there, one
being the death of a young soldier, John Hazelton, who died of exposure.
He was given a military funeral and his body was later taken to the Kinkaid
cemetery, where it now lies. The assassination of President Lincoln hap-
pened about this time and caused much sadness among the soldiers, some of
whom wept like children. We were ordered to put on mourning and the
flag was draped with some black lining I had bought to line a dress with, each
soldier wearing a piece of it around his arm.
"The first minister, to the best of my memory, was Bishop \MiippIe,
hut several other missionaries came here at different times.
"The spirit among all the early settlers was a kindly one and each one
helped the others. Eatables were very high and hard to procure, flour being
thirteen dollars a l^arrel. The poorest grade of calico was twenty-five cents
34^ DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
a pound and ordinary sheeting was tift}- cents a }-ard, and a very poor grade
of white flannel was over a dollar a yard. With all the inconveniences at
this time we managed to have quite a little sociability and when one had
anything extra nice to eat they always gave a party for the rest. Mrs. Bed-
man had invited us all one evening and the feature was to be dried-apple pie.
She only had enough apples to make two pies and had set them on a bench
near the stove. In her excitement and lack of chairs she sat down on them,
much to her sorrow, and ours. The Whitcomb family were also here during
the time of the stockade, ]\[r. AMiitcomb being captain of the post. ]Many
of the people who first came here were driven out by the Indians and never
came back."
AN EARLY TRAVELER'S IMPRESSIONS.
Among the first settlers in Douglas count}- were Charles Cook and
family, Londoners, who came to Minnesota from Canada in the later fifties
and in 1858 settled on the banks of Lake Agnes, the present site of the city
of Alexandria. Charles Cook had been an extensive merchant in the fur
trade in London, his Hudson Bay establishment on Regent street in that city
having been one of the largest of its kind in the metropolis, and it was he
who introduced into London the use of seal skin as a luxurious form of outer
apparel, his first seal-fur coat having been made for the Duke of Welling-
ton, the second for Charles Dickens, the famous coat referred to in the
latter's "American Notes," and the third for the Count d" Orsay. 'Sir. Cook's
beautiful and accomplished wife was a Franklin, daughter of Robert Frank-
lin, a cousin of Sir John Franklin and of Benjamin Franklin, and a repro-
duction of the portrait of her younger sister, painted by one of the most
celebrated artists of that day and hung in the Royal Gallery, is known world
wide. Charles Cook unfortunately met with business reverses and left his
beautiful home in London for New York, where he engaged for a time in
business, going thence to Canada, later coming, with his family, into the
wilds of Minnesota, in behalf of his Hudson Bay Company connection, but
after a few years spent on the banks of Lake Agnes went East and later re-
turned to London, where he spent the remainder of his life. In the mean-
time his young daughter, Fanny, married James H. \'an Dyke, Alexandria's
first merchant and one of the most active promoters of the destinies of the
new settlement, and remained at the settlement. During the stockade days
]\Irs. \"an Dyke was known as the "Florence Nightingale" of the post, where
her husband was running the suttler's store, her kindness to ailing soldiers
there endearing her to the whole command. Mrs. Van Dyke, who is still
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 349
living in Alexandria, retains a very vivid recollection of the old stockade days
and of the days preceding the Indian outbreak and retains at her pleasant
home a number of interesting souvenirs of those days, including the first
table and chair made by the hands of the soldiers at the stockade. She also
is the possessor of a well-worn and valuable copy of the Franklin Bible,
printed in 1813, and of numerous family portraits and works of art, souv-
enirs of her girlhood da\s in London Irefore she became one of the pioneers
of the Minnesota frontier. Her brother, Charles Cook, had a good bit of
artistic ability and among her cherished possessions are several crayon draw-
ings of scenes hereabout during the pioneer days, including a drawing of the
old Cook log cabin, the house over on the hill, where now stands the von
Baumbach home, where the first school in Douglas county was conducted,
and of the old stockade, reproductions of which appear elsewhere in this
volume. In her library Airs. Vru Dyke has a bound volume of Harper's
Xcw Monthly Magazine for the year i860, in which appears a wonderfully
interesting narrative of an anonymous traveler, the same illustrated by an
equally anonymous artist, conveying in vivid language the author's impres-
.sions of a trip "to Red River and Beyond."
AN impressionist's VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA.
The narrative of the anonymous magazine writer above referred to
opens with a description of the departure of his part)' from St. Paul on June
10 and of the journey to St. Cloud, the first station, and then takes up the
second station of the journey on to Pembina, the reference to the trip across
that section of the state comprised in what is now Douglas county being as
follows : "On Monday, June 20, the train struck, its tents and left St. Cloud ;
here beginning its experiences of camp-life with a background. So far we
had been treading the warp and woof of civilization — now we began to
slip of¥ the fringes of its outermost skirts. Our direction was northwest, by
the valley of the Sauk river, through the lake district of central Minnesota
to the head of navigation on Red River. Such articles as were needed had
been added to our outfit, including a boat to cross streams in, which served
for a wagon-box on dry land. The second day out all our horses and mules
ran away .before breakfast. Half the camp scoured the camp in every direc-
tion for the runaways. They were caught four miles away, making steady
tracks for St. Cloud and its possible oats, led on in their desertion by two of
the handsomest, smallest and meekest-looking mules in the train. The road
rewarded them with retributive justice that day. The sloughs were innumer-
^35° ' DOUGLAS .'vND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
able, and indeed innumerable they continued to be for weeks and weeks, only
approaching the limits of mathematical calculation as we neared Pembina.
This may seem strange when it is considered that we crossed the divide between
the tributaries of the Minnesota and Mississippi; but, as Joseph said, 'with a
general convexity of outline there was great concavity of detail' The con-
vex 'divide,' like a rounded cheek, had a small-pox of lakes, bogs, ponds,
sloughs and morasses.
"To give in detail the particulars of this part of our experience would
be cruel to writer and reader, though it might gain for the former a seat in
the Chinese Paradise of Fuh, where the purgatorial price of admission is to
wade for seven years in mud up to the chin. So let me give the spirit of it
all, in a lump. The only external indication of some kinds of sloughs is a
ranker growth of grass, perhaps of a different color, in the low ground
between two hills of a rolling prairie. Again, on a level prairie, where the
road seems the same as that you have been traveling dry shod, your horse's
hoofs splash in wet grass. This goes on, worse and worse, till you get
nervous and begin to draw up your heels out of the water; and so, perhaps,
for a mile, whether in the water or out of it you cannot tell, horses up to
their bellies trudging through the water and grass, carts sinking deeper than
the hubs, you travel at the rate of one mile in 2 140. A^ery often, however,
sloughs put on no such plausible appearance, but confess themselves unmis-
takably bad and ruinous to horses and carts.
SOMETHING ABOUT MULES AND MULE DRIVERS.
"It is the wagon-master's business to ride ahead of the train a few hun-
dred yards and on coming to a slough, to force his horse carefully back and
forth through it until he finds the best place for crossing. I have fished for
trout in Berkshire streams so small that, to an observer a hundred yards dis-
tant, I must have seemed to be bobbing for grasshoppers in a green meadow ;
but the appearance is not more novel than to see a strong horse plunging and
pitching in a sea of green grass that seems to have as solid a foundation as
that your own horse's hoofs are printing. Some sloughs have no better or
worse spot. It is mud from one side to the other — mud bottomless and in-
finite, and backing up in some infernal Symmes's hole. The foremost cart
approaches, and, at the first step the mule sinks to his knees. Some mules lie
down at this point; but most of ours were sufficiently well broken to make
one more spasmcidic leap, and, though the water or mud went no higher than
their fetlocks, then and there thev laid them down. This is the moment for
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 35I
human intervention, and, on the part of profane mule drivers, for an impreca-
tion of divine intervention. The men get off their horses and carts and hurry
to the shafts and wheels, tugging and straining, while one or two yell at and
belabor the discouraged and mulish mule.
"The census man would have no difficulty at this juncture in ascer-
taining the persuasion to which profane mule drivers belong, or, at least, in
which they have been reared. Some of their oaths derive their flavor from
camp-meeting reminiscences. Another man excels as a close-communion
swearer, and, after damning his mule, superfluously damns the man who
would not damn him. Other oaths have a tropical luxuriance of irreverent
verbiage that shows them to have been drawn from the grand and reverent
phrases of the Prayer-book, and still others are of that sort which proves
their users godless wretches, with whom, for very ignorance, oaths stand
in the stead of adjectives. Belabored by oaths, kicks, whip-lashes and ropes-
ends, the mule may rise and plunge and lie down again, and rise again and
plunge, until the cart is on solid ground; but it was generally the quicker
way to unload the cart or wagon at once, or to lighten it until the mule could
get through easily. If this was inconvenient for any reason, a rope was
fastened to the axle, and twenty men pulling one way would generally succeed
in beating the planet pulling the other. Our Indian ponies got through the
mud splendidly. Joseph was heard to recommend a stud of them for the
hither side of Bunyan's Slough of Despond. They were too lazy to be other
than deliberate in getting out of a hole. They put their feet down carefully,
and, like oxen, waddled along, one step or one jump at a time. So they
never strained themselves as high-spirited horses would, and yet were not so
mulish as to be willing to stay stuck in the mud for centuries, until the
branches of future trees would lift them up for fruit like Sir John Mande-
ville's sheep.
GLIMPSES OF CLAIM-STAKES AND CLAIM-SHANTIES.
"Three times we crossed the tortuous Sauk, first by a ferry like the one
at Rum river. The next time, four days afterward, we hail to make (Xir
own ferry. One stout fellow swam across with a rope in his teeth, which
was tied firmly to stout trees opposite each other. Then the wagon box was
taken off the wheels, two or three hours spent in caulking it, launched, and
a man in the bow, holding on to the rope which sagged down to within a
vard of the water, by bending his body and keeping stifif legs, could head
the bow up stream against the swift current and ]ndl himself and the load
352
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
across. V Cree half-1)reed did tliis canoeing as dexterously from the first
as if he had spent his Hfe on the river. Horses, mules and oxen were then
pushed into the stream, one by one, their lariats tied around their noses,
and held b}' another person in the boat, so as to guide them at once to the
only place where they could get ashore. Finally, the empt)- carts and wagons
were floated across and pulled up the bank tiy a rope around tlie axle. Cross-
ing other streams where the current was not swift enough to overturn the
carts, and the water only deep enough to flow over the boxes, we cut sap-
plings, made a floor on top of the frames, lifted the goods top of that and
crossed without unharnessing a mule. The conclusion of all which is, that
people on railroad cars don't realize what they have to be thankful for.
"This valley of the Sauk up which we were traveling is one of the
garden spots of Minnesota. The new settlers of the last two or three years
have many of them taken that direction. Claim-stakes and claim-shanties
speck the road from one end to the other. Some of the claim-shanties were
built in good faith, had been lived in, and land was tilled around them. Not
a few, however, were of the other sort, built to keep the letter of the law ;
four walls merely, no windows, doors or roof. We often found it con-
venient to camp near these edifices, and saved ourselves the trouble of going
half a mile for wood when we found it cut so near at hand.
"A terrific thunder-storm came on one afternoon in this Sauk valley
to which the average thunder-storms of latitude 40" 42', longitude 74" 41',
are two-penny and theatrical. We were drenched, of course, with the lowest
cloudful, in a moment; but the thunder was so near, prolonged and hurtling,
that it was enough to make a brave man shiver to remember that his trousers
had a steel buckle. All day and night the tempest continued, rain pouring,
lightning flashing round the whole circuit of the heavens, and the thunder
unintermitted. But the next morning rose as clear-skied as if the preceding
had been a June day or old tradition, and not written down in the calendar
of the battle-month as the anniversary of Mnntebello.
THE APPROACH TO ALEXANDRIA.
"Our last day's travel in sylvan Sauk valley took us to Osakis Lake.
Here we camped for Sunday, in an opening in a fine forest which sur-
rounded the lake. Sunday was a perfect day. With patient sight one might
trace here and there the graceful scarf-like shadowy white of the highest
and rarest clouds against the pure blue. No lower or coarser forms were
visible anvwhere from horizon to horizon, and even these would sweep into
DOUGLAS .AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 353
such evanescent folds, and ripple away into such ethereal faintness, that the
eye passed them and looked through the blue ether itself. To breathe the
pure air was indeed an inspiration. The wind came fresh and clear over the
lake. There it lies, surrounded by forests on every side, with only here and
there vistas of open prairie. From the level of the roots of the nearest trees,
and from the shadows of the rest among their huge trunks, the shining beach
slopes down, its white sand the floor where the waves endlessly run up, vis-
ible far out and then fused with the surface blue. I gave myself a baptism
in this beautiful cold lake, and then finding an old gnarled oak whose spread-
ing limbs made a comfortable couch overlooking the water, whiled the still
hours away till the shadows of the distant trees lengthened over the lake
and touched the hither shore. Osakis lake is twelve miles long and two or
three wide; its waters are ciuite cold and abound with the largest and finest
kind of fresh-water fish — wall-eyed pike, bass, perch and other. The Doctor,
our one skillful fisherman, brought in a boat-load, caught in an hour or
two's drifting. The rest of the camp spent the day in reading, writing,
sewing, fishing, washing, cooking and mending wagons.
"Ten or twelve miles over the very worst road yet, brought us to a
place which, when it gets to be a place, is to be called Alexandria. Half of
the distance and more was through woods. Look up, and there was gorg-
eous sunlight flooding the fresh, young leaves, lighting up old oak trunks,
and glorifying the brilliant birch and maple, pigeons flying or alit, robins
and thrushes and what other mellow-throated songsters I know not, making
the vistas and aisles of shadow alive with sounds ; but look down, and your
horse was balking at a labyrinth of stumps, where there was no place to
put his foot; this extending for ten rods and there terminating in a slough
aggravated by the floating debris of a corduroy bridge, and this ending in a
mud-hole, the blackness of darkness, with one stump upright to prevent your
wading comfortably through it, to transfix your horse or upset your cart.
"The carts and their drivers could not get through by daylight, but
were compelled to stay in the woods and fight mosquitoes all night, reaching
Alexandria about noon the next day. Joseph and I, on our ponies, 'thridded
the somber boskage of the wood' and got to Alexandria before dark. It was
slow traveling, but on sure-footed Indian ponies, not very disagreeable. The
mosquitoes were our worst torment ; we avoided their terebrations by 'taking
the vail.' About the middle of the afternoon we caught glimpses through
the leaves of a lake at the right of us, and soon came to the short branch
road which led to it. Leading our horses down to the .water's edge, we
(23)
354
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
observed a blazed tree just at the margin, and an inscription neatly written
on the white wood, with name and date of the company by whom it had
been cut.
"Coming out on the beautiful prairie which is the site of Alexandria,
we were surprised to see the wagon and tents of Messrs. Burbank and
Blakely's first two stage loads, showing that their road-makers were not far
enough ahead for them to follow on. Is it possible that I have forgotten
to tell the romance of that stage load? Two Scotch girls, sisters, journeying
without any protection save their good looks and good sense, from Scotland
to Lake Athabasca, where one of them was to redeem her plighted faith
and marry a Hudson Bay Company's officer. Ocean voyage alone, two or
three thousand miles travel through a strange country to St. Paul alone,
then this journey by stage to Ft. Abercrombie, camping out and cooking
their own food, and voyaging down Red river in a batteau, near a thousand
miles more, and fired at by Red Lake Indians on the way, then journey-
ing with a company's brigade to Athabasca, going north all the while and
winter coming on too, and the mercury traveling down to the bulb; but her
courage sinking never a bit. Hold her fast when you get her, x\thabascan !
She is a heroine, and should be the mother of heroes. And the brave, brides-
maid sister! Where are the 'chivalry?" Letters take about a year to get
to Athabasca, gentlemen.
"Three English sportsmen and their guns, tents and dogs filled another
stage. They had hunted in Canada and Florida, shot crocodiles in the valley
of the Nile, fished for salmon in Norway, and were now on their way to
the bufifalo plains of Saskatchewan to enjoy the finest sport of all. Purdy
rifles, Lancaster rifles, Wesley Richards's shot-guns and Manton's shot-guns,
single-barreled and double-barreled: these wei-e their odds against brute
strength and cunning. One of them was a baronet, the others Oxford men,
and all might have passed a life of ease in London with society, libraries,
establishments; but this wild life, with all its discomforts and privations and
actual hardships and hard work, had more attractions for them in its free-
dom, its romance, its adventure. Their stories were of beleagured proctors
and bear fights, Hyde Park and deer-stalking. Rotten Row rides and moose
hunts. Next year we may hear of them up the Orinoco or in South Africa.
Better there than wasting away manliness in 'society' or the 'hells,' or in
bribing electors ; but is there not something else in all England worth living
and working for? One of the three was a splendid rifle-shot. With my
Maynard rifle, breech-loading and weighing only six pounds, unlike anything
he had ever handled, he plumped a sardine-box at distances of lOO. 150, 200
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 355
and 300 yards, and hit the small tree, in the cleft of which it was fastened,
almost every time in twenty.
HOSPITALITY OF THE WILDERNESS.
"Our tented tield was a fair beginning for a town. In fact, we far
outnumbered the actual population of Alexandria. Joseph and I were glad
enough to be permitted to enjoy more than municipal privileges under the
roof of Judge G (P. L. Gregory). If pioneers were all of the
kind that have founded Alexandria, civilization and refinement would travel
west as fast as settlement, instead of being about a decade behind. The
house was built of hewn logs," of course; but inside grace and beauty strug-
gled with the roughness of such raw materials and came off victorious, and
yet nothing was out of place. There was an air about the main room that .
made you remember that the grandest queen walked on rush-strewn floors
not half so fine as these spotless planks — and what wall-paper had such deli-
cate hues as the peeled bark revealed on the timber beneath? — and there
was a woman's trick in the fall of the window curtains and the hanging of
the net over the spotless counterpane in the corner, and the disposition of
things on the bureau, crowned by its vaseful of beautiful prairie flowers.
Here we enjoy such dinner-table chat and such long evening talks; '^\{; and-i
I., with Judge G and his wife, as made us wish we had known.
them in London Terrace ten years ago, though we could regret the absence
of none of the luxuries which they were daily proving a well-ordered life
could be lived without.
"Alexandria is environed b)- beautiful lakes — lakes which I obstinately
refuse to rhapsodize over, simply because there are so many and all deserve
it. To a promontory jutting out into one of these I took a seven-mile walk
early one drizzly morning, with one of our party, accompanied by a hound,
for which he had returned, to follow up the scent of a deer which he said
he had shot and badly wounded two hours before. We found the place — -
the leaves were splashed with blood — gave the dog the scent, and followed .his
wild running for two or three miles, but saw no deer and walked home in
the rain. * * * First day's travel from Alexandria train made two
and one-half miles. Best four-wheel wagon had all its spokes crushed out
falling into some rut in a wood-road. Next day we got on a dozen miles
farther to Chippewa crossing. A party of Chippewas were hunting and
fishing in the vicinity. Two dusky boys watched us crossing from their
canoe and laughed. I fancy, at white paddling. A shower came up, but
356 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
before the shallow lake had put on its goose-flesh to meet the raindrops,
their paddles were out, and they skimmed the water, straight as a crow
flies, through the rushes to the shelter of the trees which overhung the
water, and there the canoe rested motionless again, and they watched us in
silence. They had speared a half dozen buffalo fish and a plug of tobacco
bought all we wanted for supper. * * * 'pj^g prairie from Alexandria
to Otter Tail river was a very beautiful one, the hills moderately high, but
of gentle slopes, their green, grassy sides flecked with wild flowers of
a thousand brilliant or quiet hues, and then every mile or two a high swell
of land from which we could look over these smaller undulations to the
great green wave rising to its height again." And it was thus that this genial
but anonymous traveler passed on out of what afterward came to be known
as Douglas county on his way to the Pembina country and beyond, leav-
ing a record of his impressions along the way that is invaluable today as a
reflection of the country and of the condition of things in the days of the
very beginning of a social order hereabout.
THE SIMS BROTHERS.
Among the most active of the early residents of Alexandria were the
three brothers, Charles F., Lorenzo G. and George C. Sims, uncles of
George L. Treat, of that city. The Sims brothers were natives of New
York state, but early took up their residence in Minnesota, Charles F. Sims
arriving at St. Paul in the spring of 1856. From 1861 to 1863 he was in
the drug business at St. Anthony and in 1864 he joined Captain Fisk's expedi-
tion of that year bound for Idaho. He later engaged in the milling business
at St. Cloud and in 1866 he and his brother joined the last Fisk expedition
west, returning to Minnesota in 1868. From 1869 to 1875 Charles F. Sims
was in the employ of W. E. Hicks as manager of the latter's mills at Alex-
andria, and in the fall of 1871 made two trips to Ft. Gary in the interests
of the mill. In 1875 he went to California, three years later locating in
Minneapolis, and in 1882 moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, returning
to Minneapolis in 1905, where he died on May 8, 1910. For a time during
his residence in Alexandria he was postmaster of the village, as was also,
later, his brother Lorenzo G. Sims, who located in Alexandria in 1867,
remaining there engaged in the drug business until his departure about 1881
for Rosco, South Dakota, where he remained in business for about twenty-
years, at the end of which time he retired and moved to Minneapolis, where
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 357
he is now making his home. The third brother, George Sims, located at
Alexandria in 1868 and was for some time employed in the old Hicks
log store there, presently engaging in business for himself and was thus
engaged until he sold out and went to Wisconsin. His death occurred in
Chicago, October 22, 1898.
OLD people's home.
The Old People's Home of the Red River Valley Conference of the
Augustana Lutheran church, now being erected near Alexandria, will be
when completed one of the finest institutions of its kind in the state. The
buildings are being erected on a naturally beautiful and desirable site, on
the shore of Lake Winona, just west of the city of Alexandria, on ground
donated by C. H. Raiter. They occupy a high rise of ground, comma'nding
a view of a large oak grove, the grounds gently sloping to the lake shore.
The main building, of which the corner-stone was laid during the first
week in September, 1916, is fifty-three by eighty-eight feet in dimensions.
It has full basement, two floors of rooms and large attic. The main build-
ing was ready for occupancy on November i, 1916, and cost about twenty-
five thou.sand dollars.
early days near nelson.
The following interesting reminiscence was written by C. H. Larson,
the Nelson merchant, who has a vivid recollection of pioneer conditions in
this neighborhood :
"We arrived in this county by mule-team from St. Cloud in November,
1868, stopping at the farm house of John A. Nelson that first winter.
Some time during the winter a bear broke through an out shanty and stole
a butchered pig from Mr. Nelson and, by the way, pigs were pigs in those
days. In the spring of 1869 my grandmother walked through the wilder-
ness for a week or ten days trying to find some small pigs and she finally
found a farmer south of Melrose that had pigs and she persuaded him to
sell her two which she carried in a basket and came home after traveling
for aliout ten days. She was a very strong woman and for several sum-
mers went with my father out in the harvest fields in English Grove, there
being a settlement in that part in the early days. The settlers came in quite
a few in the early seventies, homesteaded land in the Crooked Lake coun-
try and what we called the Geneva Woods. We moved into our own shanty
358 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIKS. MINNESOTA.
in the early fall of 1869 and built a better house a year later made of hewn
logs with moss between the logs and birch bark and dirt on the roof. These
Wfere the prevailing high-toned dwellings in those days; the poorer trash lived
in hol6s in the ground or huts built of round logs.
"House-keeping was very easy in those days, one room made up for sit-
ting room, dining room, bed room, kitchen and all the other rooms. Furni-
ture consisted of a couple of hewn log benches, same for table, and logs
nailed up in a corner for bed. Feed was potatoes, salt bread and butter,
burnt bread, coffee and milk, and of course those that could shoot and had
a gun could get game all they wanted, but my father had never shot a gun
in his life but he finally bought one and I remembered plainly one evening we
met a large buck but in place of shooting he stuck the gun in the air and
hollered so the buck would not run over us. There was plenty of fish but
there was no way of getting them except to get out in the water with a
pitchfork and shovel them out, which some of the most enterprising did.
The mode of traveling in the early days was walking through mud and
water knee deep in some places and through brush and thrash that w^as
nearly impassable. In 1869 a path was cut through the woods to Alexan-
dria called the Crooked Lake road. This was the outlet from East Bell
river. Crooked Lake and the Geneva Woods settlement and connected with
the so-called State Road some four miles east of Alexandria. In the winter
of 1872 and 1873 railroad work was started and the settlers all wore a
grin. This work kept up for about two years and then quit; some of the
settlers cut some cord wood and ties and hauled out to the track expecting
to sell — but nothing doing. The railroad company was busted. Then on
top of all this drawback we had an Indian scare in the year 1876. Everybody
expected to get killed ; many people flocked into the village and barricaded
themselves. We stayed on the farm; my stepfather got the broad-ax into
the house and we barricaded the door, so we expected to decapitate at least
some redskin before we were willing to give up. But no Indians came.
"When this scare was over the grasshoppers came and practically ate
up evervthing, even the pitchfork handles. We would run over our little
field of wheat with a clothes line, one man in each hand, to scare them off
or at least keep them from continually eating; we saved some of our crop
that way. Some people would dig ditches across the road to keep the small
grasshoppers from going from one field to another. When the ditch was full
of hoppers hay was put on them and set afire to, burning them up. The
government furnished coal tar and many used to run little carts across the
field in the spring and capture hoppers in this way.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 359
"Finally, some years later, the railroad was finished and cars came
along. The engine toots was sweet music to the settlers. Wood chopping
and hauling was the going business in those days and every shack in the
woods was full of wood choppers and haulers; prairie farmers coming in
from all over the country buying stumpage, put up shacks and spending the
winters that way.
"The first minister that I can remember came in here in the spring
of 1869, stopping at a farm in Crooked Lake and preaching in several of
the homestead shacks around. There was a small Swede paper printed in
Chicago that was circulated around in the early days. In this paper the
minister I spoke about above wrote about his trip here. He said : T stopped
at a place in Crooked Lake one night. I got mush in a wooden bowl, milk
in a wooden bowl and ate with another wooden bowl and butchered all night.'
The bedbugs were very active in the log shacks in those days and the more
sensitive people had a hard time to sleep. The Crooked Lake church was
built a year or two later. It was c|uite up-to-date for those times. It was
built of hewn logs, had several windows in it and had two iron rods run-
ning across the building to keep the logs from bulging out. The benches
were hewn planks put on log standards, cut from round legs so they were
quite substantial but hard on the back, as the ministers in those days never
preached less than four hours at one sitting. Reverend Lundblad, of Park-
ers Prairie, was the first minister that preached regularly in the Crooked
Lake church. The people came to church in their blue overalls and what
we called in those days government boots, but they were all happy and con-
tented and I doubt if the people of our day are as satisfied as those settlers of
the early day. Most of them walked to church and the better class would
drive a team of oxen when the roads were passable.
"The first school in district No. 22 was held in my grandfather's hut,
in the summer of 1873. ^^ ^r. Fred Leasure taught the school, having
about four scholars when all attended, but mostly only myself, as I am a
sticker and attended the three months every day. I learned the A, B, C's
and to talk a little English and how to kill snakes successfully. Crushing
the head done the business. The next year a log school house was built
on the Crooked Lake road, on section 14. The first term we had many
teachers, most of them staying only a few days. Mr. C. J. Gunderson was
the first successful one we had and even he had to take a layoff for several
weeks during the term but was ably substituted with his sister, Mrs. Van
Hoesen.
"The Swedish church in Alexandria was organized about 1878 and
360 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES^ MINNESOTA.
we shared the church with the Norwegians for many years, finally buying
them out. Reverend Lind was our first minister in Alexandria, having Alex-
andria, Crooked Lake and Ida congregations, and from then everything has
gone merrily on."
GRANT COUNTY
MINNESOTA
CHAPTER I.
Geology and Topography.
Grant county lies in western Minnesota, in the second range of counties
east from Lakes Tra\-erse and Big Stone. Elbow lake, in the central part,
is the county seat. The county is sc|uare, measuring four townships, or
twenty-four miles, from east to west, and the same from north to south.
The area of the county is 578.28 square miles, or 370,099.24 acres, of which
about twenty thousand acres are covered by water.
SURFACE FEATURES.
The west half of Grant county is included within the basin of the Red
River of the North, being drained to Lake Traverse by the Mustinka river
and its tributaries. The rest of this county is drained to the Minnesota
river, mainly by the Pomme de Terre, which flows very directly from north
to south through the east half of the county. The Chippewa river, however,
flows nearly parallel with the Pomme de Terre river, and only four or five
miles east of it, through the southeast edge of Grant county.
Lakes are numerous in the county excepting in the western portion
thereof. They range in size from the smallest, a few rods in diameter, to
Pelican lake, which covers approximately six square miles, in the most north-
east township of Grant county, to which its name is given. Elk lake and
Elbow lake also give their names to the townships in which they occur. Its
other most noteworthy lakes are Pomme de Terre lake, through which the
river of this name flows. Lightning lake in Stony Brook township, Cormor-
362 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ant lake and Barnett lake in Lien township, and a group of a dozen small
lakes within five miles east and southeast from Herman.
Grant county has mostly an undulating or rolling surface, rising in
smooth, massive swells ten to thirty or sometimes fifty feet above the hol-
lows and lakes. Seen in a view of wide extent, however, the appearance is
that of an approximately level plain. The valleys or channels eroded by
these streams are from fifty to seventy-five feet deep, and var}- from a
quarter to a half of a mile, or rareh', where the Pomme de Terre river flows
through lakes, one and a half miles in width.
The northeastern third is more prominentl\- rolling than other parts of
the county ; and rough morainic knolls and hills border the north side of
Pelican lake and extend westward into the northeast corner of Pomme de
Terre township. These are the southwest edge of the great morainic tract
called the Leaf hills. Within the limits of this county they attain only slight
altitudes, fifty to one hundred an.d fifty feet above Pelican lake and Lake
Christina, or about twelve hundred and fifty to thirteen hundred and fifty
feet above the sea.
In the western range of townships of Grant county the area that was
occupied by the glacial Lake Agassiz, as described in a later part of this
chapter, is characterized by a much more smoothed and even surface than
the other parts of the district toward the east and south, this being the margin
of the verv flat, broad expanse which reaches thence west to the Bois des
Sioux river and north along the Red River valley to Winnipeg.
ELEVATIONS.
The following elevations were taken on the old St. Paul, Minneapolis
& Manitoba Railway, from profiles in the ofifice of Col. C. C. Smith, engineer,
St. Paul:
Fergus Falls Line.
Feet above
the sea.
Outlet from Lake Christina to Pelican lake, water, 1,213; grade 1.225
Interlaken ^'""^
Ashby ^--91
Summit near Ashby, cutting ten feet; grade 1.294
Pelican creek, water, 1236; grade 1.249
doui;las and grant counties, Minnesota. 363
Breckinridge Line.
Hancock 1.155
Summit, cutting only one foot; grade 1,17-
Pomme de Terre river, water, 1,066; grade 1,078
Junction of Brown's \'alley branch 1,120
Morris . 1,129
Summit, grade 1,156
Donnelly 1,1^4
Herman 1,070
Upper beach Lake .\gassiz, cut six feet; grade 1,060
Norcross, on lower beach of Lake Agassiz 1-039
Mustinka creek, water, 1,018; grade 1,026
The highest land of Grant county, in Pelican Lake and Erdahl townships,
is about thirteen hundred and fifty feet above the sea and its lowest land, on its
west boundary, is about ten hundred and ten feet above the sea. Estimates
of the average heights of the townships of Grant county are as follows :
Pelican Lake, twelve hundred and seventy-five feet ; Erdahl, twelve hundred
and seventy-five; Elk Lake, twelve hundred and fifty; Land, twelve hundred
and twenty-five; Pomme de Terre, twelve hundred and forty; Sanford,
twelve hundred and twenty; Lien, eleven hundred and eighty; Roseville,
eleven hundred and sixty; Stony Brook, eleven hundred and si.xty; Elbow.
Lake, eleven hundred and forty ; Delaware, ten hundred and ninety : Macs-
ville, ten hundred and ninety; Lawrence, ten hundred and fifty; North Otta-
wa, ten hundred and thirty-five, and Logan, ten hundred and fifty. The
mean elevation of Grant county, from these figures, is eleven hundred and
fifty-five feet.
SOIL AND TIMBER.
A black loam soil extends everywhere one to four feet deep. This is
the enriched upper part of the glacial drift, which below forms the subsoil,
having a ^-ellowish color, due to weathering, to a depth of ten to twenty feet,
be^•ond which it has a darker and bluish color. Clay, sand and gravel, with
occasional boulders, intermingled in an unstratified manner (clay being the
predominant ingredient), constitute the greater part of this formation. With
this boulder-clay, till, or hardpan. as it is called, are associated comparatively
thin and scantv deposits of stratified gravel and sand, which occur as layers
3^4 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
in the till, or rarely in knolls or swells on its surface, also in flat tracts on the
bottom lands of the larger streams, and in beach-ridges on the borders of
Lake Agassiz.
The county is wholly prairie, with timber only in small groves besides
many of the lakes and in a very narrow belt along portions of the rivers and
creeks. Basswood, bur-oak, white and red elm, silver maple, box-elder, wild
plum, green ash, hackberry, ironwood, poplar and Cottonwood are the prin-
cipal species of trees.
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.
The drift-sheet, consisting chiefly of till, and probably varying from
one hundred to two hundred feet in depth, covers the county and wholly
conceals the bed-rocks. Beneath the drift are doubtless in many places de-
posits of Cretaceous age, similar to those outcropping in Brown, Redwood,
Lyon and Stearns counties; but under these, or, where they are absent, imme-
diately underlying the drift, Archaen rocks are believed to occupy this whole
district, at a depth of a few hundred feet.
A well drilled for the railroad at Herman passed through one hundred
and twenty-four feet of till, and then went sixty-five feet in rock. The first
seven or eight feet of the rock was the fine-grained, buff, raagnesian lime-
stone, boulders of which are common throughout northwestern Minnesota.
Professor Winchell thinks it probable that this portion was a compacted
mass -of bouWers.-' --The 'nearest outcrops of this rock in the direction from
which the drift came, are near Winnipeg in Manitoba. The remaining fifty-
seven feet were evidently in Archaen rocks, being quartzose granite, with
red feldspar ; white micaceous quartzyte ; and mica schist of several varieties.
The glacial drift forming the surface of this county has the same
smoothly undulating or rolling contour which characterizes the greater part
of the Minnesota basin. Its only portion presenting the rough, irregularly
grouped, stony knolls and hills of terminal moraines in northeastern Grant
county, including Pelican Lake, some parts of Erdahl and the northeast corner
of Pomme de- Terre township. These moraink accumulations belong to the
time of the eighth or Fergus Falls moraine. The ice-sheet appears to have
lain upon this district until its recession from the seventh or Dovre moraine,
when it was melted back from Swift and Big Stone counties to Fergus Falls
and the Leaf hills in Otter Tail county.
The gravel on the bottom land of the Pomme de Terre river is about
DOUGLAS .-iND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 365
half limestone; and nearly the same proportion holds for the gravel of lake-
shores and for that contained in the till. A much less proportion of the large
boulders is limestone, perhaps not more than a twentieth generally, and in
some localities scarcely a hundredth, the remainder being granite, syenite,
gneiss and crystalline schists. But in section 31, Elk Lake township, about
a dozen limestone blocks, three to eight feet in size, were seen together one to
three rods west of the road, much outnumbering the comparati\ely small
granitic boulders that could be counted on the same space.
The valleys of the Pomme de Terre and Chippewa rivers, iift\- to one
hundred feet deep along most of their course, and one-fourth mile to one
mile or occasionally more in width, were avenues of drainage from the
melting ice-fields in their northward retreat. By these glacial floods the
Pomme de Terre valley was eroded below its present depth, and the subse-
quent alluvial deposits brought in by tributaries and washed down from
adjoining bluffs by the springs in their ravines, have filled some portions
higher than others, so that depressions not thus filled hold the Pomme de
Terre and Little Pomme de Terre lakes.
LAKE AGASSIZ.
Lake Agassiz, formed in the basin of the Red river by the barrier of the
ice-sheet, extended into the northwest part of Eldorado, the most northwest
township of Stevens county, and its upper beach continues thence northward
through Grant county, lying four to six miles east of the county line. On
the area occupied by this glacial lake, the surface is notably smoothed and
nearly flat. Its material here is mainly till, in some places showing indistinct
marks of stratification due to the leveling action of the lake, but containing
sand and gravel and frec|uent boulders, and much more properly classed as
till than as modified drift. No lakes are now found on this part of the area
that was covered by Lake Agassiz, but it has occasional sloughs, sometimes
a mile or more in extent. Besides the upper or Herman beach of this lake,
which is crossed by the Great Northern railway one and one-half miles north-
west of Herman, its next lower or Norcross beach is well exhibited through
the west range of townships of Grant county, being crossed I)y this railway
at Norcross, five miles northwest of Herman. These beaches consist of
gravel and sand, each being a low, flattened ridge, ten to twenty to one hun-
dred rods wide, three to ten feet above the adjoining land on the side away
from the lake, and having a descent of ten to twenty feet on the other side.
366 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The outlet of Lake Agassiz flowed in the remarkable channel or valley
which now contains Lakes Traverse and Big Stone and the Minnesota river.
At the time when the upper beach was formed, its mouth was about eighty
feet above the present surface of Lake Traverse, or ten hundred and fifty
feet above the sea. The Norcross beach in Grant county is one to three
miles west of the upper or Herman beach and alx)ut thirty feet lower, show-
ing that the outlet of the lake had eroded its channel considerably during the
time between the stages recorded by these beach ridges.
The following notes were taken in connection with the work of mapping
these beaches and leveling to determine their elevation :
UPPER OR HERMAN BEACH.
The beach ridge is well displayed in the northwest quarter of section
19, Eldorado township, in Stevens county, having an elevation of about ten
hundred and sixty-three feet above the sea. Its height is seven to ten feet
above the land next west, and. five feet above the depression next east. The
surface on each side .is till,, slowly falling westward and rising eastward.
Beach in the northwest part of section i-j, Logan township, having an
elevation of ten hundred and sixty-seven to ten hundred and sixty-nine feet;
in the southwest quarter of section 22, ten hundred and sixty-seven; in the
north part of this section 22, and the south part of section 15, Logan town-
ship, forming a broad, smoothly rounded gravel-ridge, ten hundred and sixty-
eight to ten hundred and seventy-one.
Beach near the middle of section 15, Logan township, about thirty rods
wide, with a broad nearly flat top, ten hundred and seventy; having a descent
of about fifteen feet on its northwest side to the area of Lake Agassiz, and
half as much on the southeast, thence rising very gradually in the one and
one-half miles eastward to Herman. This ridge is gravel: the land at each
side, till.
Beach equally well exhibited, at the southeast corner of section 10, and
in the southwest part of section 11, Logan township, ten hundred and sixty-
nine to ten hundred and seventy-one; and in this section 11, at the railroad,
and for fifty rods southwestward, ten hundred and sixty-four to ten hundred
and sixty-six. In the cut through this beach-ridge for the railroad, its
material is sand and gravel, containing pebbles up to two or three inches in
diameter, half or two-thirds being limestone.
Depression forty rods wide next southeast at the railroad, lowest twenty
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 367
rods from the top of the beach, ten hundred and sixty to ten hundred and
sixty-three.
Surface of till at the southeastern snow fences of the raih'oad, about
a third of a mile southeast from the beach, ten hundred and seventy -three ;
at the northwest end of the northwestern snow fences, about twenty-five
rods northwest from the highest part of the beach, ten hundred and fifty-
four; and at the one hundred and eightieth mile-post, about a charter of a
mile northwest of the last, ten hundred and forty-nine.
Railroad track at Herman, ten hundred and seventy; at the one hun-
dred and eightieth mile-post, ten hundred and fifty-one.
In the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section i8, Dela-
ware township, ten hundred and sixty-seven; beach here, ten hundred and
sixty-six to ten hundred and sixty-se\en.
On the east side of the southeast (|uarter of section 12, Gorton town-
ship, on the western slope of the beach, ten hundred and sixty-two; top of
l^each-ridge, ten hundred and sixty-seven. Beach through the next one and
a half miles north, along the west side of sections 18 and 7, Delaware town-
ship, ten hundred and sixty-six to ten hundred and sixty-eight. The beach
for this distance is conspicuously developed, having a width of about twenty-
five rods, rising five to eight feet above the depression at its east side and
ten to fifteen feet above the land west.
In the southwest quarter of section 6, Delaware township, of same height
with the top of the beach-ridge, ten hundred and sixty-eight.
Beach in section 31, Elbow Lake township, not so conspicuous as usual,
ten hundred and sixty-six; in or near the southwest quarter of section 19,
this township, ten hundred and seventy ; in the southwest quarter of section
18, a gracefully rounded, low ridge, as elsewhere, composed of gravel and
sand, including pebbles up to three inches in diameter, ten hundred and sixty-
five to ten hundred and sixty-six; in the northwest quarter of this section 18,
ten hundred and seventy; in the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter
of section 2, North Ottawa township, ten hundred and seventy-one; aliout
one mile north of east, near the north side of section 35, Lawrence township,
ten hundred and seventy-five: and about one mile farther north, also ten
hundred and seventy-five.
Beach in the northeast quarter of section 26, Lawrence township, ten
hundred and seventy-five feet, being four feet above the land adjoining this
ridge on the east, and about ten feet above the flat land near on the west ; in
section 2t,. Lawrence township, ten hundred and seventy-six; and near the
368 . DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
south side of section 10, ten hundred and sixty-nine to ten hundred and
seventy-four.
Extensive sloughs of marshes occur in section 36, and in sections 25 and
24, Lavifrence township, each being about a mile long, lying on the east side
of the beach-ridge and reaching two and one-half miles northward; the eleva-
tion of these above sea-level is about ten hundred and sixty feet.
In the north part of section 10, and the south part of section 3, Law-
rence township, the shore line of Lake Agassiz is not marked, as usual, by a
gravel ridge, but by a somewhat abrupt ascent or terrace, the top of which,
composed partly of gravel, is ten hundred and eighty-five to ten hundred and
seventy-nine; base of this terrace-land westward, consisting of till slightly
modified on the area of Lake Agassiz, ten hundred and sixty to ten hundred
and fifty. This escarpment, the eroded shore-line of the glacial lake, passes
at the north side of section 10, Lawrence township.
Beach in section 34, Western township, the most southwest township
of Otter Tail county, ten hundred and seventy to ten hundred and seventy-
five.
NORCROSS BEACH.
At Norcross depot this beach has the same elevation as the railroad
track, ten hundred and thirty-nine feet above the sea. There is a depression
three feet lower on the southeast, and the surface ten to fifteen rods north-
west from the top of this beach, on the side where the lake was, is ten hun-
dred and thirty-two to ten hundred and thirty-four. Thence a very smooth
plain descends to Gorton, Campbell, and the Red river at Breckinridge.
Alx)ut fifty rods northeast from Norcross depot, the beach attains its greatest
height in this vicinity, ten hundred and forty-three feet. It is a rounded,
low ridge of sand and gravel, lying on an area of till, having the same
characters as the upper beach at the numerous places that has been described.
The course of the Norcross beach has been mapped, but its elevation has not
been exactlv determined at other points in this county. In Western town-
ship. Otter Tail county, its elevation is approximately ten hundred and forty-
five feet.
BUILDING STONE.
As there are no outcrops of rock, the boulders of the drift are consider-
ablv used for rough masonry. They are frequent throughout much of the
district, but are comparatively scarce on the more smooth and flat areas.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 369
Magnesian limestone boulders have been burned for lime in the south-
west part of Pelican township, and also in the north part of this same town-
ship, as well as in the northwest part of Erdahl on the southeast side of
Pomme de Terre lake.
BRICKS.
The first brick-making in the county was begun in 1881. The clay used
is till, excavated to a depth of five or six feet, containing gravel, a large part
of which is limestone, so that nearly every brick is more or less cracked by
the slacking of particles of Hme. Some sand, hauled from the Pomme de
Terre river, is mixed with this clay for tempering. The bricks are mostly
cream-colored, but have a notably greenish tint when they are subjected to
the greatest heat, and a light pinkish color close to the outside of the kiln,
where the heat is least.
ABORIGINAL EARTHWORKS.
An artificial mound of the usual dome-like form, forty feet across and
six feet high, lies in section 12, Lien township, about thirty rods east of
the road and a half a mile southwest from Little Pomme de Terre lake, which
is about seventy-five feet lower.
Another mound, about five feet high, is located one-half mile northwest
from the old Moose Island tank, on land some twenty feet above a little lake
close east. This is four miles southeast from Herman.
(24)
CHAPTER II.
The Indian Outbreak and the Stockade.
The principal scenes of the Sioux Indian outbreak of 1862 occurred
some hundred miles to the south, but no introduction to the history of
Grant county would be complete, or furnish a proper understanding of con-
ditions just prior to the advent of white settlers in this region, which did not
recite the main events of that fateful summer which ended forever the occupa-
tion of this county by the native red men. Not until this outburst of savage
fury had been subdued and the hostile Indians driven from the state, was it
safe for settlers to locate this far from supply stations and military protec-
tion.
In the campaign which followed the outbreak, outposts of soldiers were
stationed in the area which subseciuently became Grant county, and several
expeditions of troops traversed this region, going or returning from the
engagements farther west. A number of the men who a little later were
among the early settlers of this county, passed through here during the
Indian warfare, and secured such a favorable impression of the country that
the}' made plans to return.
causes of, the outbreak.
There is a great difference of opinion as to the primary cause of the
Sioux Indian outbreak in Minnesota in the summer of 1862. However, it is
certain that the white traders and the government agents were not entirely
guiltless in bringing about this formidable uprising. Under the terms of
the treaties of 185 1 and 1858 the Indians were paid a certain amount of
money each year in exchange for the land they had ceded to the whites. This
payment was usually made in June, in gold and silver coin, and amounted
to about thirty dollars to each Indian of the various Sioux bands. It had
become an established custom for the white traders to be present at the
payment and present bills against the Indians which often equalled and some-
times exceeded the amount to be drawn from the government. Soldiers were
on hand to enforce the collection of these bills and this greatly incensed the
Indians.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 37I
Another cause for dissatisfaction was the edict of the government that
the Sioux should not make war on the Chippewas, who had recently killed
several of their number. In May, 1862, a band of Sioux under Red Iron
were hunting on the upper Pomme de Terre river, within the borders of this
county, when they were attacked by the Chippewas, and lost two men.
The Indians assembled at the Yellow Medicine Agency about the usual
time in 1862, to receive their annuity. The payment was delayed, and after
waiting until their provisions were exhausted the Indians returned to their
camps. This increased the unrest among the Sioux and the more headstrong
warriors began to urge an uprising against the whites to regain the land they
had parted with. The Civil War was then in progress and it seemed an oppor-
tune time for an organized attack. An accident caused the smouldering
resentment to burst into flame.
THE FIRST BLOOD SHED.
During the second week in August, 1862, a party of young Indians
who were hunting in Meeker county got to bantering each other as to which
were the braver, finally each vowing that to show their courage they would
kill a white man. They proceeded to the house of Robinson Jones, near
Acton, and after making a show of friendship, shot and killed five people.
Securing horses in that neighborhood they mounted and rode to the camp
of their band near the Redwood Agency. A council was called and after
various chiefs had been visited and informed of the happening, it was decided
to make war on the whites rather than surrender their comrades who had
killed the settlers.
The next day, August 18, 1862, the Indians attacked the Redwood
Agency, killing many white men and capturing the women and children. A
few escaped and carried the news of the uprising to Ft. Ridgely, which was
the nearest garrison of government troops, fourteen miles away. The
Indians divided into small bands and that same day killed manv settlers on
both sides of the Minnesota river, burned their houses and ran ofl:' their
stock.
AMBUSCADE AT REDWOOD FERRY.
Capt. John S. Marsh, in command of Company B, Fifth Minnesota
Regiment, stationed at Ft. Ridgely, upon receipt of the news of the massacre
at Redwood Agency, deeming it merely a local trouble, set out with a party
of about fifty men to quell the disturliance at the Agency. He had nci idea
yj2 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
of the extent of the uprising and was confident that he could overcome any
opposition he might meet. While this command was preparing to cross the
river by ferry just below the Agency, they were attacked by Indians in
ambush along the river and Captain Marsh and twenty-five soldiers were
killed. This victory encouraged some of .the hesitating Indians to join in
the uprising.
ATTACK ON NEW ULM.
On Tuesday morning. August 19, 1862, about three hundred and twenty
warriors under the command of chief Little Crow descended upon the town
of New Ulm and laid siege to that place. After several fierce attacks dur-
ing the succeeding four days the Indians finally withdrew. The loss to the
defenders of New Ulm was some thiry-five men killed and more than sixty
wounded. Ft. Ridgely was attacked on August 20 and 21, but was able to
drive off the savages. A few days later reinforcements arrived under com-
mand of Colonel Sibley.
BATTLE OF BIRCH COULfE.
The main body of the Indians retreated up the river after their repulse
from Ft. Ridgely. On August 31 Colonel Sibley sent a detachment of men
to Redwood Agency to bury the bodies of Captain Marsh's men killed at the
ferry, and to learn the strength and location of the Indians. While part of
this command under Captain Grant were camped at Birch Coulie, on Septem-
ber I, they were attacked by a large band of Indians who were on their way
down the river to make a new assault on New Ulm. The soldiers were not
taken altogether by surprise and were able to hold oft' their assailants until
help came to them from Ft. Ridgely.
After the battle of Birch Coulie, Colonel Sibley organized a strong force
and proceeded up the south bank of the Minnesota river after the retreating
Indians.
BATTLE OF WOOD LAKE.
On the evening of September 22 Colonel Sibley's column of about two
thousand men went into camp a short distance northeast of Wood Lake, in
the eastern part of Yellow Medicine county. Early the next morning the
camp was attacked by the Indians, who were driven off after many of their
number .had been killed. The loss to the whites was seven men killed and
thirty-four wounded. This battle ended all organized effort on the part of
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 373
the Indians, who retreated to their camps up the river, opposite the point
where the Chippewa i\ows into the Minnesota river. There they dug rifle
pits and were read}' to make a determined resistance, but when the soldiers
under Colonel Sible}' came up the Indians saw they were greatly outnum-
bered and surrendered, at the same time giving up ninety-one white pris-
oners, mostly women and children. In commemoration of this event the
spot was named Camp Release and is now marked by a fine monument.
While this campaign against the organized bands of Indians was in
progress, many outrages were perpetrated on settlers all over western Minne-
sota, by raiding Indians in small parties. A few days before the surrender
at Camp Release, chief Little Crow with over one hundred warriors, fled into
North Dakota. Later Little Crow returned to this state and was shot and
killed by a settler near Hutchinson, McLeod county. Of the Indians who
surrendered to Colonel Sibley, three hundred and three were condemned to
death, but owing to appeals for clemency from eastern people. President
Lincoln commuted the death sentences of two hundred and sixty- four to
imprisonment. Thirty-eight were hanged on one scaffold at Mankato. on
December 26, 1862. One of the condemned Indians proved an alibi at the
last moment.
Thus ended the Sioux outbreak of 1862 — the most terrible massacre
the country has ever known. It is stated by R. I. Holcombe, in "Minnesota
in Three Centuries," from which book many of the facts in the foregoing
account are taken, that more white people perished in that savage slaughter
than in all the other massacres ever perpetrated on the North American
continent.
EVENTS IN GRANT COUNTY DURING THE OUTBREAK.
In 1859 a road was built by the government from St. Cloud to Ft.
Abercrombie, near the present site of Breckenridge, Wilkin county. This
road entered Grant county on section 36, Pelican Lake township, and crossed
the northeastern corner of the county. This road was for some years the
main line of travel for soldiers on their way to the frontier forts in the Red
river valley, and was also used for stage coach traffic and ox-teams hauling
supplies to the upper garrisons. In 1862, as soon as the serious nature of
the Indian uprising was appreciated by the authorities, the Eighth Regiment
of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, then being organized at Ft. Snelling. was
hurried to the more exposed points on the frontier. The companies were
widely scattered and one of them, Company D, was assigned to a position
374 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
along the old stage road on what is now section i8, in Pelican Lake township,
Grant county.
THE OLD STOCKADE.
Company D, Eighth Regiment, Minnesota \'okmteer Infantry, was
commanded by Capt. Samuel McLarty, with Dennis Jacobs, first lieutenant.
and Thomas Harris, second lieutenant. The company reached Pelican Lake
township in September, 1862, and in a skirmish with a small band of
marauding Sioux two soldiers were killed, Corporal Zenas Blackman and
Private Comfort B. Luddington. The soldiers then erected a stockade and
remained there until May, 1864, when the regiment was assembled at Ft.
Ridgely, to become a part of the expedition under General Sully in his cam-
paign through the "bad lands."
The stockade was built on the southeast quarter of section 18, Pelican
Lake township, on the north side of the road .where it passes between two
small lakes, which would serve as natural defenses on the south and the
north. There was quite a steep bluff leadifig down to the lake. The walls of
the stockade were made from logs, ten or twelve inches in diameter, set close
together in a trench and nailed securely to one another. They were about
twelve feet high and enclosed an area some eight rods wide and twelve rods
long. Two gates, one on the east side and the other on the south, afforded
entrance to the enclosure. In the northwest corner of the stockade there was
a two-story block house, with only one door leading from the yard. The
second stor)' of the block house was built over the first at an angle so that the
sides of the building really faced in eight directions. Both stories were pro-
vided with loopholes for rifle firing. Four long low log barracks were built
for soldiers' quarters and stables, and a story and a half house for the officers.
There was a well back of the officers' quarters.
A garrison was maintained at this point until 1865, when the buildings
and ground were purchased from the government by Carpenter & Burbank,
owners of the stage line from St. Cloud to Ft. Abercrombie, who placed
Edward Buckmaster, an old stage driver, in charge of the station. Meager
provision was made for the entertainment of travelers. Samuel Snow had
a small sutler's store at the stockade: while the soWiers were still there, and
about 1868 he was succeeded by N. 0. Puntches, who increased the stock
of goods and later moved over to the village of Pomme de Terre nearby.
While at the stockade he used one of the old buildings for a store room.
In 1872 David Burns traded land at Sauk Center for the farm on which the
post stood and lived there until he died in 1S79. The old stockade fence was
DOUGLAS AND GKAXT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 375
used for fuel and the buildings were put to general farm purposes, disappear-
ing gradually as they outlived their usefulness.
EXPEDITIONS THROUGH GRANT COUNTY.
After the Indians were defeated in the Minnesota valley those who
fled from the state gathered at Devils Lake, North Dakota, where they were
re-enforced by large bodies of Sioux from that neighborhood. An expedi-
tion was organized against these Indians, under command of General Sibley,
who had been promoted after the battle of Wood Lake. This column
ascended the Minnesota valley, proceeded to Devils Lake, and thence to the
Missouri river, where pursuit of the savages was abandoned. On the return
trip the command marched to Ft. Abercrombie, and then over the old stage
road through Grant county to St. Cloud. Ole E. Lien, Ole Larson Sunvold
and Jens Peterson Lee were members of this expedition, and later became
settlers in this county, having obtained their first personal knowledge of this
country while on their way through here in the fall of 1863.
Another expedition against the Indians in 1863 was known as Hatch's
Independent Battalion of Cavalry. Three companies were mustered into
service in September, 1863, and in October marched through Grant county
to the Red river valley and went down the river to Pembina. In connection
with the British authorities they captured a number of prisoners. These
companies were on duty at different frontier posts during 1864, and returned
to Ft. Snelling in small detachments. One of the members of this command
who a little later became the first settler in Grant county, was Henry F. San-
ford, one of the leading figures in the organization of this commonwealth.
CHAPTER III.
; Early Settlement.
Aside from the .soldiers and stage company emplo3'ees who Hved at the
stockade in Pehcan Lake township, the first white resident in Grant county
was Edward Griffin, who squatted on land in what is now Stony Brook
township, in 1866. He was a trapper and trader. He constructed a rude
cabin, planted a small patch of vegetables and later in the season harvested
a crop of hay. Mr. Griffin had a small stock of provisions and goods which
he traded to the Indians and half-breeds for furs, and as the white settlers
began to come in he increased his stock until he had a nice little store. He
was essentially a trapper, however, and in 1871 left these parts for a loca-
tion more remote. His shanty was located near the big Skinnemoen grove
in the northern part of the township.
SOME OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.
The first permanent settler in Grant county was Henry F. Sanford.
Mr. Sanford made his initial visit to Grant county in 1863 as a member of
Hatch's Battalion, stopped for a time at the stockade, then moved on with
the troops to the Red river valley. In 1864 the company returned to the
stockade, where Mr. Sanford was stationed until 1866, when he was hon-
orably discharged from the service. In the meantime he had thoroughly
explored this region and had determined to locate here. He located on sec-
tion 17, township 129, range 42, just south of the present site of Elbow
Lake village. He made a homestead filing on this land in 1868. Mr. San-
ford erected a small cabin which was the first house built in Grant county.
He culti^'ated a little garden in which he raised .sufficient vegetables to sup-
ply his personal wants and also enough to entertain other hunters, trappers
and land seekers who happened his way. For the first few years, however,
most of liis time was spent in hunting and trapping, as fur gathering in
those days was more profitable than tilling the soil.
Following Mr. Sanford, Ole Gudmunson was possibly the next actual
settler. He took up land in what is now Elk Lake township, in 1867, and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. T^iy
was the first settler in the county to break a largfe area of prairie land for
crops.
Next in order were Timothy Heald, Joseph Pennock and Frank Smith
who located here in 1868. Mr. Heald had made a prospecting trip through
this region the previous year and selected a location on section 24, Pomme
de' Terra township, as he had hopes of establishing a town in that neigh-
borhood, there being water power nearby and a railroad had been surveyed
through there. Mr. Pennock located on section 18, across the line in Peli-
can Lake township, and developed a farm there.
Many new settlers came in 1868 and from that year the development
of the county really begun. K. N. Melby located in Pelican Lake township
that same year, and Ole E. Lien located in Lien township, he being the
pioneer for whom the township was named. In 1871 S. S. Frogner located
in Logan township, the first settler in that portion of the county. In 1869
Iver G. Holt and L. L. Tobiason located in Pelican Lake township; Ole
Larson Sunvold in Pomme de Terre: Jens Peterson Lee in Sanford, and
Halvor Anderson- in Elk Lake. In 1870 O, W. Olson, Ole T. Ring,. Even
Bjerke, Ole Torstenson and Peter Gran settled in Elk Lake township. In
that same year John K. Lee and Ole-K. Lee were among those who settled
in Lien township.
The year 1871 saw a considerable settlement made in Elbow Lake
township and also in Stony Brook. In the former township J. N. Sanford
and Ole O. Canestorp were among the first to locate, and in Stony Brook
Steiner S. Skinnemoen and H. G. Lillemon were among the first settlers.
In 1872 accessions were mafle to all these settlements and farms were
taken up in practically e^•er^■ part of the county except on the "flats" in the
western border. The following year when the count}' was established and
organized there were approximately eight hundred people in the county.
PIONEER CONDITIONS.
Tlie experience of the pioneers in establishing homes in this \irgin
land varied only according to their means and equipment at the start, and
the accessibility to timl>er for fuel and building purposes. As a genera!
thing they came in covered wagons drawn by teams or oxen, and lived in
the wagons until they could construct a rude cabin, which was soon dis-
placed by a comfortable house. Where timber was not to be had, a dug-out
was constructed and serA^ed as an admirable shelter. Those who had an
equipment of farming tools went to work at once to cultivate their land.
T,y8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
but they were in the minority, as most of the early settlers had very little.
The country abounded with game and many of the pioneers secured a large
part of their liA'ing by hunting and fishing. There was a ready market for
all kinds of pelts. Some of the early settlers used their teams and oxen to
haul freight between go\ernment posts and thus secured money to purchase
farm equipment. Earring accident, the first few years were the hardest,
but after a garden was started and markets were near enough to receive
the crops, it was not long until the rich soil began to return a sufficient
harvest to supply all necessary- improvements for home and fami.
Before the first railroad entered Grant county, in 1871, the long trip
necessary to mill and market was one of the chief difficulties of the settlers,
and even this first railroad did not entirely solve the problem for those in
the northern part of the county. Some of the first crops were hauled to
Morris, Alexandria and even to Perham.
SETTLEMENT BY TOWNSHIPS.
Henry F. San ford and two other bachelors were the only settlers in
San ford township in the early part of i86g. They lived principally by
hunting and fishing, doing little farming until they were married a few
years later. Many stories are told of Mr. Sanford's skill as a hunter. It
is said that he usually had his granary decorated each winter with a long
string of wild geese hung under the eaves, where they would keep during
the cold weather and could be used as needed. Prairie chicken were so plen-
tiful they could be shot from his dooryard.
From the very beginning of settlement in this county Air. Sanford took
a leading part in public affairs. He was a member of the first board of
county commissioners, later was county auditor and was postmaster of El-
bow Lake village for many years. While Sanford township was one of the
first to l:>e settled it was one of the last to be organized, being attached to
other townships for election and assessment purposes until 1882. When
the petition for organization was circulated that year the name was left
blank and the commissioners unanimously decided to name the new town-
ship "Sanford," in honor of the man who had devoted so much of his life
to this county. Mr. Sanford was killed in an accident in Xew Mexico in
1914.
Ole Fletcher and John Olson settled in Sanford township in 1869.
Thev were hunting companions of 'Mr. Sanford. and it was in the cabin of
Ole Fletcher that the first school was held in the township. In 1869 Jens
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 3/9
Peterson Lee, with his wife and four-month-old daughter, settled in San-
ford township. For ahnost two years Mrs. Lee was the only white woman
in the neighborhood. Mr. Lee had passed through Grant county with the
Sibley expedition and in the winter of 1867 made a trip to this locality
from' Brandon on snow shoes. He arrived at the site of the village of
Elbow Lake just at dusk in the winter evening and came suddenly upon
an Indian camp. A number of dogs rushed towards him, but he was able
to drive them off, after which the Chippewas invited him to share their sup-
per of roast muskrat. It developed later that these Indians had cut down
a number of trees in the grove which was owned by George McComber,
a timber speculator, and built some sixteen rude huts near the east side of
the lake. For thus despoiling the timber they were taken to Alexandria
and fined a considerable amount, which they paid in furs..
When Mr. Lee came with his family to settle in 1869 they lived for
the first year in one of the Indian shacks, then located on land west of the
lake on section 7. In 1870 Chris Mobraaten located in Sanford township,
and that same year Ole Syverson and wife came in. Knud O. Laastuen
settled on section 8, in 1873. C. S. Dahl, Ollof Otteson, Gunder Hanson
and Henry Gnnderson were among the settlers of an early day in Sanford
township.
These settlers marketed their first crops at. Morris, then Herman, and
later hauled to Ashby. When the railroad was being built the construction
gangs created a considerable market and several loads of potatoes were
hauled to Tintah and sold. Flour was purchased by the early settlers of
Sanford township until mills were established within driving distance.
POMME DE TERRE TOWNSHIP.
Timothy Heald laid out a town-site on his claim in section 24, and
named it "Pomme de Terre." The township later was given the same name.
Other early settlers in this township were: C. W. Briggs, who located on
section 13 in 1870; Ole Sornson, on section 13 in 1871 ; Nels B. Brakke,
on section i in 1871 : George W. Vaughan and his son, John S. \'aughan,
on section 12 in 1870; Oliver Williams, on section 23 in 1872; Thomas E.
Midbon and Halvor O. Midbon, on section 24 in 1872; John Scott, Jens
Adriansen and Ole Johnson Lene, all came at an early day. Another well
known early settler was J. P.. Rolf son, who located on section i in 187.S.
N. p. Puntches moved his general merchandise stock from the old
stockade over to the village of Pomme de Terre in 187 1 and erected a two-
380 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Story frame building, twenty-six by fifty feet in dimensions. In 1874
August Scheafer and Fred Williams built a grist-mill on the Pomme de
Terre river, near the village, where they had made a mill-race which devel-
oped seven head of water power. In 1875 Lage Johnson and his son-in-law,
H. A. Langlie, built a store across the street from Puntches' establishment.
The village seemed to be getting a good 'start, but the railroad did not come
through there, and the early hopes of its founders were never realized. At
one time, however, the village could boast of two stores, two blacksmith
shops, a grist-mill, elevator, hotel and saloon.
■PELICAN LAKE TOWNSHIP.
The settlement of Pelican Lake township was closely interwoven with
the development just mentioned in Pomme de Terre, a number of the early
claims being taken across the line from the village. There was also an
early settlement made in the north part of the township, by people who had
friends north of there in Otter Tail county. Among these were Iver G. Holt
and Andrew J- Holt, who settled on section 2 in 1870; Peter Sorkness and
John Stene, on section 2 in 1871 ; Thomas Gulickson and Gunder Gulick-
son, on section i in 1872; John Houston, on .section 3 in 1870; John New-
man and Abner Newman, on section 5 in 1870; L. M. Phinney, Charles
Phinney and Jacob Halsetb, on section 4 in 1872; Martin Jacobson, on
section 3, and Gunder Gunderson and Hans Kjorven, all came at an early
day.
Ole Larson Sun\'old settled on section 2g, lieing one of the first in the
southern part of the township. R. Beardsley, one of the most prominent
early settlers, long a justice of the peace and still living at Ashby, came into
the township in 1869. Ole P. Settra, who came in about the same time,
is said to have built the first house in the township, on Pelican Heights,
north of the lake.
Settlers in Pelican Lake got their flour at Alexandria until the mill was
built at Pomme de Terre. This township was a noted region for game in
the early days, all kinds of ducks, geese, cranes, grouse and deer and bear
being plentiful.
ELBOW LAKE TOWNSHIP.
J. N. .Sanford came to Elbow Lake township in April, 1871, and look
up a homestead on section 24. In May of that same year H. P. Hansen,
Tiedeman H. Purtness, Erick Norgaard and Andrew Norgaard all located
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. S&I
here \nders O. Pikop, who located here in 1872, became one of the large
landowners of the township. Christopher Mobraaten, Lars Mohagen, H. I.
Haugen, Andrew Olson, Erick Olson, Knut Syverson and Christopher Tor-
gerson, all located here in 1871.
The fir.t church service in Elbow Lake township was held at the house
of Christopher Mobraaten in the summer of 1871, by Rev. L. Carlson, of
the Svnod Lutheran church. The first school was taught by Emma Gould,
starting on May 10. 1875. The nearest early mill to this settlement was
at \lexandria. Most of the early crops were hauled to Herman, but the
nearest early store was at Ponm.e de Terre. J. N. Sanford. who was one
of the organizers of the township and served as chairman of the first board
of supervisors, was also rural postmaster for the neighborhood m the early
davs The first death in the township was that o£ John Robinson, a settler
who perished in the terrible snowstomi which raged for three days on Jan-
uary 6, 7 and 8, 1873.
ELK LAKE TOWNSHIP.
\ Strong settlement sprung up in Elk Lake township at an early day.
Among those who came before 1872 were: Ole Gudmunson, Halvor Ander-
son, William Olson, Ole Torstenson, Jens Sethney, Sam Olson BerntS. en-
son Tore Olson. Ole T. Ring. Tver Johnson, Kittel Johnson, O e Anderson^
Peder Gran, A. Benson, O. W. Olson. A. Hubred, Syver Ellmgson and
Even E Bjerke Ole Ostenson and Hans Ostenson were also early settlers.
The fir"^t school hou.se in the county was built in this township m the wmter
of 1872-73. Rev. Louis Carlson held religious services ni this township
also at an early day. , ., , , t-,, t 1
One of the first roads in the county was built through Elk Lake
township to Herman and connected with a road to Alexandria. These t.-o
points were the early marketing places for settlers m this ne>ghl>orhooch
Stillman Meeker built a grist-mill on section i. which did grinding for the
settlers and was known as the ^'Chippewa Mills.'
LIEN TOWNSHIP.
Congressional township 128. range 42, was the first to be organized as
a civil township. It was named '•Lien" for Ole E. Lien, who came in 1868
Ld tlka pre-emotion claim and also a homestead. Erland Anderson,
Han Hanson and Lars Larson were among the very early settlers in he
township. Per Erlandson located on section 18 at a very earlv date. Other
382 nOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
early settlers were : Jens O. Strand, Ole D. Bartness, Alons Hesjedal, Mar-
tin Larson. H. Eide. Jens K. Gran, John G. Peterson, P. A. Moller, K. O.
Bakke, Ole Alostad and A. Holen.
Per Erlandson was for a numljer of 3'ears county surveyor and is now
the oldest li\'ing pioneer in Lien township. When he came here the country
was all raw prairie with the exception of a few straggling thickets by the
lakeside, and here he established a home, hauling the siding for his small
frame house from Benson by ox-team and making the bricks himself for
the foundations and chimney. W^ith the assistance of his wife he dug a
well twenty-eight feet in depth, which still serves on the old home place.
P. A. ]\[rj|!er was the first postmaster in Lien township. He carried
the mail from Alexandria to Herman and kept the postoffice at his farm
on section 22. Later R. J. Beach was postmaster until the office was moved
to Barrett, where Ole K. Lee was the first postmaster in 1884. Lien town-
ship settled up rapid!}' in the early years and the homesteads were all taken
in 1878.
LOGAN TOWNSHIP.
Settlement was made in what is now Logan township in 1871, when
S. S. Frogner located there and very soon after his arrival opened a small
store for the con\'enience of the incoming settlers. As the railroad came
through that same year it served to encourage settlement in this neighbor-
hood and the next few years witnessed rapid development. The townsite
of Herman was laid out and all lines of business necessary to a frontier
town were quickly established. Herman became the leading village of the
county and remained so until it was definitely decided that it would not
have the county seat.
Some of the early settlers of Logan township were: E. A. Ziebarth,
P. H. Clague. Lewis T. Breen, Plans Prydz, Andrias Larson, A. C. Earslev,
P. A. Lamarche, G. Johnson, Ole Taneru. O. \A^estin. H. W. Simons, Will-
iam J. Brown, L. Baker, John Ohlsson, John Galvin, Charles Tancre and
C. Pullman.
STONY BROOK TOWNSHIP.
Mention has already been made of Edward Griffin, who located for a
short time in Stony Brook township and then mo\-ed on. In 1870 three
brothers came from northeastern Towa and settled here. They were Hans
H., Terrace and Knute Haavig. They sent back word to their friends in
Iowa al:)Out the fine land here and induced many others from that section
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 383
to join them. In 1871 quite a little colony came from Iowa and located in
Stony Brook township. Among them were: Steiner S. Skinnemoen, H. G.
Lillemon, Martinus Larson, Chris Mobraaten, Tosten K. Dahlen and Peder
Gulbranson. In 1872 these settlers with a number of others contributed
three or four logs each and built a little cabin in which church services were
held. It was also used for a school house. Rev. Torgus Vetleson, who
started a number of cliurches in this neigh1x)rhood, was the first pastor.
Hans H. Haavig led the singing in the church services and also taught the
first school. Children came from long distances to attend this school, stav-
ing a few weeks ■\\'ith neighbors and then returning home.
Other early settlers in Stony Brook township were: Knute P. Eidahl,
H. Albertson, Nils N. Brevig, Ole Knudtson, Engebret Knudtson, John K.
Folken, Anders Kjorven, Hans P. Heijer, Knut Olson, Jens Erickson,
Cliristian Johnson, Kittel A. Sattra and Reier G. Baa.sen.
The first house erected in Stony Brook township stands on the farm
of John S. Skinnemoen and is being preserved with great care. JMr. Skin-
nemoen also has an extensi\e and interesting collection of Indian relics
formerly used by the nati\es in this neighbohood, consisting of arrow-heads,
spear-heads, stone hammers and axes.
ROSEVILLE TOWNSHIP.
Many names were suggested when Roseville township was about to be
organized, but the settlers finally decided upon a name which would remind
them of the appearance of the virgin prairie when they located there, l^eau-
tiful with thousands of wild roses. At the time of organization, in 1878,
the township was pretty well settled, and as most of the settlers had come
in after the railroad penetrated this section, they did not have quite such
a hard task as the pioneers who came a little earlier.
L. H. Patchen was one of the early settlers and had a postoffice at his
farm for several years. The nearest mill was Jolinson's mill at Morris, but
provisions could be secured at Frogner's store at Herman. Among the
early settlers were: August Endreson, Henry Boerner. H. J. Bollum, Theo-
dore Shauer, C. W. Gii¥ord, Alliert Boerner, Syver Erickson, H. O. Han-
son, Carl Anderson, John Brennin, P. F. McCollor, Hans Endreson, Charles
W'erk. Charles Sliauer. John P. Molander, Charles A. Haskins. Ludvik
Korner, S. R. Lerum, Ole Halvorson. John H. Kroke, Henry Bundv. Ferd
Clark and John Buckman.
3^4 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ERDAHL TOWNSHIP.
Settlement was made in Erdahl township at quite an early day, and
the pioneer homes were developed in all parts of the township. Perhaps
the largest early settlement was along the road which connected Elbow
Lake and Evansville. This was the first route established to mill and mar-
ket for this neighborhood.
Gilbert Gilbertson was one of the first to locate here, and Gilbert Alun-
son and Ole Munson were early settlers. Other pioneers of Erdahl town-
ship were : Jacob Olson, Mikkel D. Lien, Knute A. Lien, Ole Nilson, Mar-
tin O. Boe, Ole A. Boe, Nils A. Lee, Nils Olsen, Erik Nilson, Peder T.
Alvstad. Thore Jensen and H. D. Downen.
LAND TOWNSHIP.
There was an early trail which later became a road running north
from Morris over which many of the pioneers of Land township made their
entrance to Grant county. Settlement was made here about the same time
as in Elk Lake township to the north, but not so rapidly at first. This
township ofi^ered many natural advantages or account of the timber and
watering places along the Pomme de Terre and Chippewa rivers. A num-
ber of pioneers in Land township came from Wisconsin.
Some of the early settlers in Land township were: Erik Olson, Lars
O. Studlien, S\en Ausland, Christian Pederson, A. D. Ausland, Anton L.
Studlien, Jolm L. Studlien, Hans Helland, Ole Clarquist, G. P. Eklof and
Ole Erikson.
MACSVILLE TOWNSHIP.
Settlement in Macsville township was rapid after the railroad came
through in 1 87 1. A nearby trading point was established at Herman and
the fine land around the numerous lakes was soon taken up.
Francis McNabb was one of the first settlers and was chairman of the
first board of supervisors. John McQuillan, another early settler, was the
first township clerk. Other early settlers were: John Gustafson, H. P.
Ronell, Hans Christianson, H. H. Schram, J. W. Perry, John Sannom and
Gustaf Johnson.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 385
DELAWARE lOWNSHIP.
One of the first roads built in Grant county connected Herman, Elbow
Lake and Pomme de Terre \'illages, running through Delaware township.
.\long this road and in the eastern part of the township were the principal
early settlements. Mails were carried from Herman over the road to Bar-
rett, with offices at farm houses along the way.
Some of the first settlers in Delaware township were : Thomas C.
Hodgson, Jacob Erlandson, Nels Helsene, Hans Channel, A. Selander,
James Moses, A. Erlandson, O. Lundberg, John E. Hanson, H. C. Prescott,
John Helsene. J. N. Casper. Louis Nelin, John Lundberg, A. J. Cates and
J. P. Shoberg.
LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP.
The first settlers in Lawrence township were J. S. Bean, John Shaw,
Horace Shaw and Frank P. Symonds, who came here in 1870 from St.
Lawrence county. New York. It was they who gave the township its name
in remembrance of their former home. Settlement in* this township was
somewhat retarded on account of the fact that every other section was
railroad land, and also because at first the government was allowing only
eighty acres to be taken as a homestead. Frank P. Symonds built a little
cabin which was the first house erected in the township. By making what
they called a "field" bed, this little cabin often sheUered eight or ten men,
sleeping on their blankets and quilts spread on the fioor. About the time
of the first settlement this region was noted as a great place to hunt prairie
chicken, cranes and geese. Many hunters came from New York and other
eastern points to enjoy the sport.
M. L. Adams settled here in 1878, when the country was still in a
pioneer condition. At that time the farmers weie hauling their grain over
poorly marked trails to Campbell, Herman and Fergus Falls. Flour was
secured at the mill at Parkdale and at the old Red river mill at Fergus
Falls. Oxen were used for many years for hauling and farm work.
Other early settlers in Lawrence township were : L. H. Fowler, C. W.
Stickney, R. H. Femier, D. P. Carpenter, William Carpenter, A. Fisher,
E. East, S. Fisher, G. H. Adams, J. C. Marple, Joseph Marple, James W.
Ash. N. S. Denton, T- C. Titus, F. J. Titus and Theodore Connell.
(25)
386 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
GORTON TOWNSHIP.
Gorton township lies mostly in the "flats'" which characterize the west-
ern portion of Grant county, and on account of lack of natural drainage
did not settle up as rapidly as some other townships. The railroad passed
through here in 1871, providing a convenient access to market, and a trad-
ing point was established at Norcross.
Among the early settlers in Gorton township were : Frank Forstein,
Samuel H. Wright, Gullik S. Moen, Abner Crawford, Ellef Ellson, Baak
Iverson, Knut Hoginson, E. H. Johnson, Ole O. Hillestad, Kolben Gabriel-
son, Chris C. Ness, Ole Olson, Ole Lee, Knud Gland, Agrim Baarson and
Lars Knudson.
NORTH OTTAWA TOWNSHIP.
North Ottawa township also lies in the "flats" where only recently
artificial drainage has made the naturally rich land fully available for agri-
culture. Thomas H. Toombs, from Ottawa, Illinois, gave the township its
name. He was one of the first settlers and was chairman of the first board
of supervisors.
Other early settlers in North Ottawa township were: John Tripp,
Nicholas Thies, Peter Schuster, David Tripp, Gustaf Johnson, A. H. Bul-
lis, James M. Tucker, Anders A. Falla, J. S. Ireland, George Allen, John
Matchenske, John Schuster, Henry Fay, Gustaf Hanson, Steen Steenson,
W. A. Bullis, L. C. Engelson, C. Christianson, Hans Monson, Ole A.
Amundson, C. Nielsen Veng and Charles Johnson.
CHAPTER IV.
Organization of Grant County.
The area comprised in the present limits of Grant county was first
formally organized as a separate county on March 8, 1868, when the state
Legislature passed an act establishing the county, and ordered that the
county seat should be located on the southwest quarter of section 31, town-
ship 139, range 42. As this would have placed the county seat in Becker
county, near the northeast corner of Sallie lake, it is supposed that an error
was made in writing "139" instead of "129," which would have located the
county seat in the geographical center of the county. This new sub-division
of the state was named "Grant" in honor of Gen. U. S. Grant, who was
elected that year to his first term as President of the United States.
Another step in the tentative organization of the county was taken in
1 87 1, when the governor, Horace .Austin, appointed three county commis-
sioners, namely : Henry F. Sanford. K. N. Melby and S. S. Frogner.
In T872, Peter N. Smith and Henry Secor, two lawyers from Otter Tail
county, came down and induced the county commissioners to appoint a fuU
set of officers, with Secor as auditor and Smith as county attorney. These
officers evidently never held their positions legally, as they left no official
record, and their presence here is known only through tradition.
When the fifteenth Legislature assembled in the second week of Jan-
uary, 1873, Timothy Heald and several others went to St. Paul and re-
quested that the Legislature pass a new act for the organization of the
county. This was accordingly done, and on February 28, 1873, the Legis-
lature approved "An act to provide for the organization of Grant county,"
as follows: •
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of tlie state of Minnesota: Section
I. That the county of Grant in this state be and the same is hereby declared
to be an organized county, with all the rights, privileges and immunities
of other organized counties within this state, and the county seat shall be
located by the county commissioners hereafter to be elected as provided in
this act.
"Section 2. On the day of the next annual town meeting after the
36i5 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
passage of this act, the legal voters of said county may meet at the several
places where the last amiual election was held in said county, and after
choosing judges of election shall, between the hours of nine o'clock in the
forenoon and five o'clock in the afternoon, proceed to vote for three county
commissioners, and after canvassing such vote said judges of election shall,
within ten days thereafter, make a report of such canvass to the county
auditor of Douglas county, to which said Grant county is attached for
judicial purposes, who shall issue certificates of election to three having the
highest number of votes; which commissioners shall within twenty days
thereafter qualify and enter upon their duties, and who shall hold their
offices until the next general election and until their successors are elected
and qualified.
"Section 3. Immediately upon the qualification of said commissioners
they shall proceed to locate the county seat of said county, and appoint
qualified persons to fill all the county offices in said county, except clerk
of the district court, and also to appoint two justices of the peace and two
constables, which persons so appointed and having qualified shall hold their
offices until the next annual town meeting, and until their successors are
elected and qualified.
"Section 4. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions
of this act are hereby repealed.
"Section 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after
its passage."
FIRST COMMISSIONERS ELECTED.
At an election held in the several election districts in accordance with
the provisions of the foregoing act, Henry F. Sanford, K. N. Melby and
S. S. Frogner were elected to the board of county commissioners of Grant
county. The board held its first meeting on April 12, 1873, and as the min-
utes of the meeting are given in the records of the county commissioners
in such lucid style, set down in the beautiful handwriting of Henn,^ F. San-
ford, they are here given in full, as follows :
"Meeting of the board of Grant county, held at the store of N. O.
Puntches, at Pomme de Terre. in said Grant county, April 12, 1873. in
pursuance of a notice issued on the 31st day of March, A. D. 1873, notify-
ing the public that on the 12th day of April, 1873, there would be a meet-
ing of said commissioners, for the purpose of locating the county seat and
appointing the officers of said county.
"Present all the members, namely: K. N. Melby, S. S. Frogner and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 389
Henry F. Sanford. Henry F. Sanford was duly elected chairman. R. S.
Talbot was duly appointed clerk of the board, pro tern.
"The board being duly organized the first business in order being the
locating of the county seat : K. N. Melby moved to have the coimty seat
located on the northwest quarter of section 24, township 130, range 42.
Motion lost. Moved by S. S. Frogner that the county seat l>e located on
section 8, township 129, range 42. S. S. Frogner and Henry F. Sanford
voted in the affirmative; K. N. Melby in the negative. The motion was
carried-and the county seat is therefore located on section 8, township 129,
range 42, in said coimty.
"The following named persons were unanimously appointed to fill the
county offices set opposite their names: R. S. Talbot, auditor; O. W. Olson,
treasurer; N. Q. Puntches, attorney; Ole Tarson, register of deeds; E. M.
Heald, sheriff; John Ohlsson, surveyor; Ole Thompson, judge of probate;
Hans Hanson, coroner: Josiah Smith, superintendent of schools; Ole A.
Peterson and John Doherty, justices of the peace; H. P. Hansen and George
Johnson, constables.
"The next business in order being the dividing the county into road
and assessment districts, it was unanimously resolved that the county should
be divided as follows: That each election district, as formerly laid out,
in which elections have been held, shall be and are hereby declared to be
road and assessment districts. Said districts to be numbered i, 2, 3 and
4, corresponding to the numbering of such former election districts, and
that an assessor and road overseer be appointed for each of said districts.
The following named persons were unanimously appointed to fill the offices
set oppo.site their names: District No. i, J. G. Holt, assessor; Jacob Olson,
road overseer. District No. 2, Even E. Bjerke, assessor; Per Erlandson,
road overseer. District No. 3, E. A. Ziebarth, assessor; H. Ronell. road
overseer. District No. 4, Joseph Smith, assessor; T. Hanson, road over-
seer.
"It was resolved that the amount of license for selling intoxicating
liquors is liereby fixed at thirty dollars per annum, and that all persons
dealing in intoxicating liquors in the county are hereby required to apply
for a license to sell the same on or before the i st day of May, next ensuing,
under the penalty provided by law for selling such liquors without license.
".\ petition was presented from the inhabitants of part of township
130, range 41. asking to have a school district established according to the
boundaries mentioned tlicrein. The petition was granted, and sections 4,
39° DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
5 and 6. and the north half of sections 7, 8 and 9, in township 130, range
41, was set off and estahhshed as such school district, to be designated
school district No. i.
"A petition was presented from the inhabitants of election precinct No.
3, asking for the passage of a law restraining cattle from running at large
in their election precinct. The following resolution was unanimously passed
in relation thereto: That in the third election district or precinct of Grant
county no cattle, horses, mules, hogs or sheep shall be allowed to run at
large without a competent person to take charge of the same, and the own-
ers of such stock .shall be liable for all damages done by sucli stock to the
crops or other property of the inhabitants, or any of them, in said third
election precinct.
"R. S. Talbot was sworn in as county auditor."
The board then adjourned to meet at the house of Mr. Sanford. on
Saturday, May 3, 1873, to receive the bonds of the appointed county offi-
cers and qualify them for office. At that meeting the commissioners ac-
cepted the bonds and qualified such officers as presented themselves. John
Dohertv not having qualified as justice of the peace, John Ohlsson was
appointed to fill that office.
On Mav 24, 1873, the board met at Herman and established school
districts Nos. 2 and 3. Mr. Heald having declined to qualify as sheriff,
E. A. Ziebarth was appointed to fill that office.
COMMISSIONER DISTRICTS ESTABLISHED.
At a meeting of the board held on September 2, 1873, at the house of
Henry F. Sanford, tlie commissioners proceeded to divide the county into
three commissioner districts, as follows: District No. i to comprise town-
ship 130, of ranges 41, 42, 43 and 44. District No. 2 to comprise township
129, of ranges 41, 42, 43 and z^, and township 128, of range 41. District
No. 3 to comprise township 128, of ranges 42, 43 and 44, and township
127, of ranges 41, 42, 43 and 44.
The board then established three new school districts, to be known as
districts Nos. 4. 5 and 6. They also designated places for holding elections
in the several precincts and appointed judges of election, as follows : No.
I at Pomme de Terre; George W. Vaughan and Ole Peterson, judges.
No. 2 at the house of Mr. Gudmunson, in township 128, range 41; O. W.
Olson and Even E. Bjerke, judges. No. 3 at Herman; John Olson and
E. A. Ziebarth, judges.
DOLT.LAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 39I
/
SECOND BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
The second board of county commissioners held their first meeting on
January 6, 1874, at Herman. The Ixiard was composed of George W.
"V^aughan, Coll McClellan and Louis T. Breen. One dollar was paid to
Louis Baker for the use of a room in which to hold the meeting. O. W.
Olson, who was acting as superintendent of schools, resigned, and Coll
McClellan was appointed in his stead.
On March 2, 1874, the board met at the house of Henry F. Sanford.
The following persons were appointed to the respective ofifices : E. M.
Heald, sherifif; John Ohlsson, surveyor; Timothy Heald and K. N. Melby,
justices of the peace in district No. i ; Joseph Pennock and John Houston,
constables, and Ole Larson, assessor. In district No. 2 Andrew Olson and
James Sethny were appointed justices; H. P. Hansen and Gilbert Munson,
constables; T. H. Bartnes, assessor; Ole Munson, road overseer. In dis-
trict No. 3 John Ohlsson and G. W. Frost were appointed justices; Charles
Tancre and Erick Olson, constables ; John Doherty, assessor ; H. P. Ronell,
road overseer.
At a meeting of the board held on April i, 1875, it was resolved that
no bills against Grant county should be allowed prior to March i, 1873.
FIRST COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
As related in the minutes of the board meeting held on April 12, 1873,
Mr. Melby attempted to locate the county seat at Pomme de Terre, then
a small trading post in the center of a considerable settlement in the north-
eastern part of the county. Mr. Frogner wished to locate it at Herman,
but yielded to the argument of Mr. Sanford that it should be located at a
more central point. They accordingly voted to establish the county seat
on section 8, township 129, range 42, and a part of the homestead of Knud
O. Laastuen was secured for the purpose. At that time the village of
Elbow Lake was not yet started, and the neighborhood was but sparsely
settled. The location of the county seat, however, soon attracted business
and professional men to this point and the village was established.
The homestead of Henry F. Sanford was situated just south of the
lake on section 17, across from the location of the county seat. After the
election held on November 3, 1874, Mr. Sanford's cabin became the office
of the auditor and treasurer, the other officers maintaining their places of
392 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES^ MINNESOTA.
business at their respective homes. The need of a suitable building for the
county officers was soon realized, and on May i8, 1875, a petition signed
by one hundred and three legal voters of the county was presented to the
board of commissioners, asking that five hundred dollars be appropriated
to build a court house at Elbow Lake. Hope was still entertained in some
other parts of the county that the county seat might yet be located in their
neighborhood, so a counter petition was presented to the board, signed by
one hundred and fifty-nine legal voters, praying the county commissioners
not to build a court house that year.
Several other unsuccessful efforts were made to induce the commission-
ers to put up a county building at Elbow Lake, but it was not until two
years later, on December 8, 1877, that the lx)ard decided to build a court
house at Elbow Lake and apjoropriated five hundred dollars for that pur-
pose. On December 20, of that year, a contract was let to A. C. Earsley
to erect a building twenty-four by thirty feet, for which he was to be paid
five hundred dollars in county warrants, to bear interest at the rate of ten
per cent. Later the plans for the finishing of the building were somewhat
altered and enlarged, and H. H. Wilson, of Alexandria, was given a con-
tract to complete the building for seven hundred and twenty-five dollars.
This building was approved and occupied by the county officers on Novem-
ber I, 1878.
The first county building stood on a lot just west of the present court
house. It was a two-story structure, with four rooms and a hall on the
first floor and one room on the second floor used as a court room. An
outside stairway ga\-e access to the upper stor\'. This building served for
the needs of the cormty offices until 1884, when it was remodelled and
enlarged; the stairway was placed inside, and a small additional tract of
ground purchased from Mr. Laastuen adjoining it on the north. In the
meantime, however, there occurred an exciting contest for the countv seat,
which is well rememljered by many of the older settlers still li\'ing in this
county.
COUNTY SEAT CONTEST.
In 1880, the village of Elbow Lake, where the seat of government
for Grant county had been estalilished, was but a small cluster of houses,
without a railroad and of no special commercial importance; while Her-
man was an incorporated village of several hundred population, with rail-
wav communications and numerous business hoiises. There is no doubt
but Llerman would have been the countv seat of Grant countv but for one
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 393
insurmountable objection — its location in tbe extreme southwestern corner
of the county. Undeterred by this fact, the citizens of that vicinity renewed
their efforts, and brought sufficient influence to bear to induce the Legis-
lature, in 1 88 1, to pass a special act moving the county seat to Herman, sub-
ject to ratification by the people at the following fall election.
An exciting campaign and election followed, at which 808 votes were
counted, of which 439 were for Herman and 369 against. The voting
strength of the county at that time was Sj2. According to the returns
Herman had a majority of 70, and was proclaimed the county seat by the
governor. Unwilling to accept defeat, the people of Elbow Lake and
Pomme de Terre immediately took steps to contest this election in the
courts. Timothy Heald and several others advanced money and spent time
to gather evidence which would retain the county seat location at Elbow
Lake. Notwithstanding the contest, private parties proceeded at once
toward the erection of a court house at Herman, and upon its completion,
and while the issue was pending settlement in the courts, citizens of Her-
man and their SAmpathizcrs made a raid on the county offices at Elbow
Lake and renio\ed all the records to Herman.
During the investigation which followed the people of Eltow Lake
retained Knute Nelson and H. Jenkins, while L. W. Collins represented
Herman. The Elbow Lake workers soon discovered that the vote from
Erdahl township had not been returned, and that Logan township (in which
Herman is located) had cast a bigger vote than it was ever known to have,
and more than an examination of the poll books showed that it did have.
A lawyer at Red Wing, named Boettcher, who had been attorney in a
South Dakota county seat contest, gave Mr. Nelson an important clue and
he sent to St. Paul for a detective, named Cleveland, to work up the clue.
Evidence was secured that the Plerman people had gone to Anoka and
:\[inneapolis, just before election, and hired a number of laborers to work
on the village streets. These men were voted and after election returned
to their hom.es. It was also discovered that six minors and eight men who
were not American citizens had voted. The revised figures were consid-
ered by the court and on August 19, 1882. judgment was rendered in favor
of Elbow Lake.
Upon securing this decision, some of the partizans of the Elbow Lake
neighborhood, still nursing a grievance for the hasty manner in which the
county records had been removed to that village, organized a posse and
descending on the town in the dead of night, secured the official records and
brought them back to Elbow Lake. This mob was given some hasty train-
394 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ing by the leader, who had a bugler to sound his signals, and all considered
it a very serious matter at that time. In these later days, however, the
survivors of that expedition enjoy many a good laugh in recollection of the
trip. Time has served to efface any ill-feeling engendered during the con-
test and all factions are happy to have the county seat located at the most
central village.
One of the most aggressive leaders in the campaign to retain the county
seat at Elbow Lake was Timothy Heald, of Pomme de Terre, one of the
well-known early settlers of the county. It was due to his initiative, more
perhaps than to any other one man, that the contest was taken up and pressed
to a successful conclusion. Later he was reimbursed for the money he had
expended, as was also J. W. Reynolds, who served as an attorney in the
case.
PRESENT COURT HOUSE.
The rapid development of Grant county during the early nineties, and
the consequent increase in the county business, necessitated larger quarters
than the county building at that time afforded. Many of the public records
were in danger of destruction for want of fire-proof storage places, and
rooms were needed for the county attorney and the judge of probate. In
order to raise money for a new court house the county commissioners, in
1899, decided upon a plan which would relieve the county from any bond
debt. They proposed to make a slight increase in the tax levy and keep the
revenue from this source in a separate fund to be used for a new building.
Succeeding boards all approved of this plan and in seven years over thirty-
six thousand dollars was raised in this manner. In the fall of 1904, the
^commissioners advertised for plans for a new court house and, after careful
inspection, those -submitted by Bell & Detweiler, of Minneapolis, were
selected.
The most desirable location for the new building was the slight knoll
just east of the old court house, occupied by the residence of Knud O.
Laastuen. After considerable negotiations this site was secured by the com-
missioners, mainly through the generosity of public spirited citizens who
organized the "Elbow Lake Improvement Company," secured title to the
tract and conveyed it to the county. In this manner the present beautiful
site of five acres, on an eminence at the head of Central avenue and extend-
ing back to the shore of Worm lake, was obtained for the erection of the
building of which Grant county may well be proud.
The contract for the construction of the building was let to the Prince
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 395
Construction Company, of Minneaix)lis, who agreed to erect the building of
Portwing brown stone for $60,202, inckiding the heating and pkimbing
equipment. E. A. Durkee, a member of the company, was the superintendent
of construction. Work was begun in the spring of 1905 and the finished
building was inspected and accepted on April 6, 1906. The interior decora-
tions were painted by Oden J. Oyen, of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Electric
fixtures and lamps, metal furniture and office desks and chairs of the most
modern style and construction were secured. E. J. Scofield, then serving as
county attorney, was the first official to occupy an office in the new court
house, moving into it on May 21, 1906. Sheriff Thompson and Clerk of
Court Johnson occupied their offices in the new building on the succeeding
day, and the other officers followed as soon as their rooms were completed.
The new court house was formally dedicated with fitting exercises on July
23, 1906.
This building consists of three stories, and is equipped with the latest
appliances in heating, lighting and ventilation. On the second floor are the'
offices of the auditor, treasurer, commissioners, register of deeds and clerk of
the court. In the basement, which really is the first floor of the building, are
the offices of the judge of probate, sheriff, superintendent of schools, high-
way engineer, agricultural agent and custodian. The third floor is occupied
by the court room, county attorney and jury rooms. Ample fire-proof
storage vaults are provided for the care of all county records. A beautiful
lawn surrounds the building and a grove of small oaks serves as a back-
ground on the border of the nearby lake.
Grant county has never found it necessary to build a jail ; one room in
the court house fitted up with two small steel cells being all the equipment
the county possesses for the detention of prisoners. Neither has' the countv
a poor farm; the township officers looking after any dependents in their
respective townships and non-residents being cared for through the proper
county officials. The county has never had a bonded del)t.
POPULATION OF GR.\NT COUNTY.
The first federal census in which an)- return was made from Grant
county was that of 1870 when the count)- had a population of 340. The
state census of 1875 gave the county 1,191. In 1880 there were 3,004; in
1885 there were 5,197; in 1890 there were 6,875 ; in 1895 there were 7,887;
in 1900 there were 8,935; i" 1905 there were 9,652, and in 1910 there were
9,114 people living in Grant county. In 1900 the foreign-born population
396 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
was represented as follows: From Norway, 1,590; from Sweden, 809; from
Germany, 182: from Denmark, 43; from Canada, 42; from Ireland, 20;
from England, 18: from Scotland, 15; from Bohemia, 4; from Russia, 2;
from Finland, 2: from Holland, i, and from Austria, i. The following
table shows the population of the various townships and villages for three
federal census periods:
1910. 1900. 1890.
Ashby village 334 279 231
Barrett village 278 2}^"]
Delaware township 293 307 224
Elbow Lake township 410 473 440
Elbow Lake village 776 625 267
Elk Lake township 470 476 416
Erdahl township 670 595 500
Gorton township 217 318 203
Herman village 604 550 322
Hofifman village ^ 391 270
Land township 479 617 714
Lawrence township 281 273 120
Lien township 425 538 630
Logan township 246 214 126
Macsville township 286 253 241
Xorcross village __-_ 177
North Ottawa township 322 321 237
Pelican Lake township 469 506 471
Pomme de Terre township 458 . 529 426
Roseville township 351 439 },']2
Sanford township 475 506 384
Stony Brook township 527 609 551
Wendell village 175
Total 9.1 14 8.935 6,875
NATURALIZ.\TION STATISTICS.
The first person to apply for his "first papers" and make declaration of
his intention to become a citizen of the United States before the clerk of Grant
county-, was H. A. Hillmond, from Germany, whose application is dated on
September 4, 1883. Mr. Hillmond later represented Grant county in the Legis-
DOt'CLAS \ND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 397
lature. The second applicant was Ole G. Jenstad, from Xorwa\-, who ap-
peared on September 22, 1883. Mr. Jenstad is still a resident of the county,
living near Barrett. The third applicant was Anders Olsson, from Norway,
on September 22, 1883; the fourth was Nils Anderson, from Norway, on
September 24, 1883, and the fifth was Lars Olsen Hjelle, from Norway, on
September 24, 1883.
The first person to make final proof of citizenship and secure his "sec-
ond papers" was Andrew Erlandson, from Sweden, who appeared before
the clerk on September 4, 1883. The second was Nils Stenson, from Nor-
way, on the same date. Halvor J. Eolluni, Anders Mattson and Thomas
Gillesby made final proof on September 24, 1883.
The total number of all who have applied for citizenship papers in
Grant county is presented by years in the following table :
First Second First Second
Papers. Papers. Papers. Papers.
883 48 15 1900 41 79
884 39 18 1901 48 2^
885 II 19 1902 35 34
886 42 6 1903 20 8
887 16 18 1904 30 25
888 120 27 1905 39 8
889 17 12 1906 16 II
890 109 14 1907 14 I
891 17 15 1908 28 I
892 105 16 1909 18 7
893 38 10 1910 14 6
894 86 8 1911 19 16
895 21 10 1912 8 2
896 77 13 1913 3 II
897 14 257 1914 18 8
898 13 159 1915 19 9
899 16 64
COUNTY FINANCES.
At a meeting of the board of county commissioners held on Septemljer 20,
1875, the following levy of taxes was made for the ensuing year: General
expenses, $1,433: sinking fund, $860: poor fund, $140, and road and bridge
398 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
fund, $572. These figures compared with the auditor's report of recent date
give an idea of the growth of the county finances during the past forty years.
Following is the trial balance from the general ledger of County Auditor Nel-
son, showing the condition of the various funds at the close of business on
December 31, 191 5 :
Debits. Credits.
County treasurer $295,809.66 $245,992.59
Warrants accounts 245,992.59 259,326.64
Taxes and penalties 155,146.95 158,815.64
Current school fund 12,599.17 12,736.67
County revenue 22,593.80 21,655.39
Road and bridge fund 25,173.67 26,039.70
Ditch funds 37,203.48 60,646.89
Redemption fund 2,387.17 2,504.32
School fund (districts) 75.3^1-55 78.664.52
Town, city and village 42,079.27 43,478.86
Incidental fund 39-2-58 641.81
Stat€ revenue-and school 29,711.60 29,744.00
State lands and interest 8,969.10 9,074.85
State loans 6,846.45 10,531.77
Inheritance tax 477-46 447-46
Mortgage registry tax 1,638.60 2,007.14
Assurance 4-85
$962,313.10 $962,313.10
Balance from these figures e.\tended $ 50,755.48
CHAPTER V.
Officials of Grant County.
When Grant county was permanently established by act of the Legislature
in 1873 the first step in formal organization was the election of three commis-
sioners, who appointed the first complete set of county officers. At that time
Grant county was not far advanced from its state of primitive wilderness ; set-
tlers were few and far between, communication was difficult and business was
mostly a matter of barter. It is largely due to the good judgment and public
spirit of these first officers that social order was so quickly and firmly estab-
lished in the formative period of this community. The board of county
commissioners has always been one of the most important official bodies of
the county government, and the early members of this board had especially
ilifficult and far-reaching questions lirought to them for decision.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
The first board of county commissioners consisted of Henry F. San-
ford, K. N. Melby and S. S. Frogner. Mr. Sanford's home was on section
17, township 129, range 42, just south of the present site of the village of
Elbow Lake. Mr. Melby was a farmer in Pelican Lake township and became
in time an extensive landholder there. Mr. Frogner kept the first store at
Herman, in Logan township. More extended mention is made of these
men in the chapter on early settlement This first board of commissioners
met at Pomme de Terre, at Mr. Sanford's cabin, at the house of Louis
Baker in Herman, or other points in the county where the nature of the
business to be considered necessitated their presence. For several years be-
fore the first court house was built the meetings of the commissioners were
held at the home of Mr. Sanford. At a meeting of the board held on Sep-
tember 2, 1873, the county was divided into three commissioner districts.
District No. i comprised what is now the townships of Lawrence, Stony
Brook, Pomme de Terre and Pelican Lake. District No. 2 was composed
of North Ottawa, Elbow Lake, Sanford, Erdahl and Elk Lake. District
No. 3, included all of what is now Gorton, Delaware, Lien, Logan, Macsville,
Roseville and Land townships. This arrangement prevailed until July 21,.
400 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
1883, when a redistricting was rendered necessary according'to law, as more
than eight hundred votes had been cast at the last preceding election. The
board therefore ordered and determined that the county should be
divided into five commissioner districts, as follow: District No. i, Pomme
de Terre, Stony Brook and Lawrence townships; district No. 2, Pelican
Lake, Erdahl and Elk Lake townships; district No. 3, Lien, Roseville and
Land townships; district No. 4, Sanford, Elbow Lake, North Ottawa and
Delaware townships; district No. 5, Logan, Gorton and Macsville town-
ships. This re-districting took effect on January i, 1884. A roster of the
board of county commissioners since the county was established is as follows ;
1873 — Henry F. Sanford, K. N. Melby, S. S. Frogner.
1874 — George W. Vaughn, Coll McClellan, Louis T. Breen.
1875— Coll McClellan, Louis T. Breen, Iver G. Holt.
1876— Iver G. Holt,.E. A. Ziebarth, H. P. Hansen.
1877— H. P. Hansen, Iver G. Holt, John G. Peterson.
1878 — H. P. Hansen, John G. Peterson, Ole Johnson.
1879-83 — Ole Johnson, John G. Peterson, Gilbert Gilbertson.
1884— H. P. Hansen, N. B. Ufford, Even E. Bjerke, Ole Johnson, L. L.
Tobiason.
1885-86— H. P. Hansen, N. B. Ufford, Even E. Bjerke, L. L. Tobia-
son, John C. Johnson.
1887 — H. P. Hansen, Even E. Bjerke, John C. Johnson, Frank AIcNabb,
Gilbert T. Hoff.
1888— H. P. Flansen, Even E. Bjerke, Frank McNabb, Gilbert T. Hoff,
A. E. Dybdal.
1889-90— H. P. Hanson, Frank McNabb, Gilbert T. Hoff, A. E. Dyb-
dal, Sven Auslund.
1891-92 — H. P. Hansen, Frank McNabb, A. E. Dybdal, Sven Aus-
lund, Sam Olson.
1893-94— H. P. Hansen, Frank McNabb, A. E. Dybdal. Sam Olson,
M. F. Munson.
1895 — Henr\- Hendrickson, Frank McNabb, A. E. Dybdal, Knut K.
Fuglie, John O. Torgerson.
1896 — Henrv Hendrickson. .\. E. Dybdal, John O. Torgerson, Knut
K. Fuglie, W. T. Ziebarth.
1897-98 — Henr}- Hendrickson. Knut K. Fuglie, John O. Torgerson, A.
E. Dybdal, Frank A. Ekberg.
1899-1900 — Henry Hendrickson, Knut K. Fuglie, John O. Torgerson,
Frank A. Ekberg, Warren Polar.
POMME DE TERRE LAKE, NEAR ELBOW LAKE.
DOUGLAS AN1> GRAXT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 4OI
1901-02 — Edward Mobraaten, Knut K. Fuglie, R. Johnson, John O.
Torgerson, W. T. Ziebarth.
1903-04 — Edward Alobraaten, Knut K. Fughe, R. Johnson, Louis
Fagerberg, W. T. Ziebarth.
1905-06— Ole L. Kaasa. Knut K. Fughe, Anton HeUand, Louis Fager-
berg, W. T. Ziebarth.
1907-08 —M. L. Adams, E. F. Malmgren, Anton Hehand, Louis
Fagerberg, O. W. Jones.
1909-10 — M. L. Adams, E. F. Malmgren, Anton Helland, Louis
Fagerberg, O. W. Jones.
1911-12 — M. L. Adams, E. F. Malmgren, Anton Helland, M. C.
Aanerud, O. W. Jones.
1913-14 — M. L. .Adams, E. F. Malmgren. X. J. Endreson, M. C.
Aanerud, O. W. Jones.
1915-16 — M. L. Adams, O. C. Thomson, N. J. Endreson, M. C.
Aanerud, O. W. Jones.
AUDITORS.
The first auditor of Grant county was R. S. Talbot, who was appointed
by the county commissioners on April 12, 1873, and was subsequently elected
to that office and served one year. Mr. Talbot lived in Logan township,
but during the early part of his term went about the different settlements
in the county with all the official records in his pockets. On September 3,
1873, his salary was fixed b)- the lx)ard at three hundred dollars— then the
highest salary in the county. Henry F. Sanford, who succeeded Mr. Tal-
bot as auditor, was a wonderfully fine penman, and his records as auditor
and clerk of the county board are models of neatness.
A list of the auditors of Grant count}', with the years of their service,
is as follows: R. S. Talbot, 1873-75; Henry F. Sanford, 1875-78; H. A.
Langlie, 1878-80; John Ohlsson, 1880-87; Henry F. Sanford, 1887-91; T.
E. Dybdal, 1891-99; P. H. Clague, 1899-1903; J. S. Arneson, 1903-07; O.
E. Wold, 1907-15; C. M. Nelson. 1915. Term expires in 1919.
TREASURERS.
During the fortv-three years that Grant county has been organized there
have been but four county treasurers. Ole W. Olson was appointed treas-
urer at the first meeting of the county board. He was a farmer of Elk
(26)
402 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Lake township, and it is said that he kept the county's cash and securities
in an unlocked box in his cabin. In 1875 Treasurer Olson presented a
bill for office rent for fifteen dollars but the commissioners allowed him only
ten. In 1882 a bank at Herman, conducted by C. F. Washburn, offered
to pay four per cent per annum on monthly balances for county funds
deposited there. A considerable deposit was made there, but in 1883 the
bank became insolvent and the county brought action against the bank to
recover the money. While the case was pending, W. D. Washburn, an
uncle of the banker involved, paid the county the amount due, some twenty-
eight hundred dollars, and the case never came to trial. The countv has
never lost a dollar through any of its depositories.
The county treasurers have been as follows: Ole W. Olson, 1873-82;
Ole O. Canestorp, 1882-89: Lars Lynne, 1889-1911; E. A. Dybdal, 1911,
present term expires in 1919.
REGISTER OF DEEDS.
The first register of deeds of Grant county was Ole Larson, who at
first maintained his office at his house on his farm in Pelican Lake township.
Mr. Larson had had some business experience and started the early records
in a careful and systematic manner.
A list of the registers of deeds is as follows: Ole Larson, 1873-77;
John Ohlsson, 1877-80; James E. Williams, 1880-82; Frank Forstein,
1882-87; John K. Lee, 1887-95; A. H. Ring, 1895-97; H. J. Bollum, 1897-
1903 ; Frank Heald, 1903, present term expires in 1919.
SHERIFFS.
It was with some difficulty that the county board induced any one to
accept the office of sheriff on the organization of the county. The duties
of that office were very light and the pay correspondingly small. E. M.
Heald was the first man appointed and served with frequent re'signations
for several vears. In 1876 H. P. Hansen was elected but refused to qualify.
Then Ole O. Canestorp was appointed but declined the office, and it was
offered to Jacob Talseth with the same result. Then E. .\. Ziebarth was
appointed, and since that time the sheriff has been regularly elected.
The sheriffs of Grant county have been as follow : E. M. Heald,
1873-76; E. A. Ziebarth, 1876-77; Ole D. Bartness. 1877-79; Hans P.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 403
Hansen, 1879-83; J. T. Lindem, 1883-91: E. N. Nash, 1891-1902; W. B.
Caldwell, 1902-03; Alfred Thompson, 1903-11; Oscar H. Hanson, 191 1,
present term expires in 1919.
COUNTY ATTORNEYS.
At their first meeting the commissioners appointed N. 0. Puntches as
county attornex-. :\Ir. Puntches was then keeping a store at Pomme de
Terre. He was a shrewd business man, but was not a lawyer, and it is said
that his ignorance of the law sometimes led him into amusing and embar-
rassing situations. On January 4, 1876, G. .A. J. Overton was employed
by the board to give them legal advice during that session. On April 4,
1877, Knute Xelson was employed as county attorney, to be paid one hun-
dred and fifty dollars for his sefvices that year. As nearly as can be
determined from the records of the county commissioners, E. S. Rolfe was
the first resident attorney who held the office, beginning in 1878 for a
salary of one hundred dollars for whatever service the board might require.
This amount was raised to two hundred dollars the next year.
The county attorneys have been as follow: N. Q. Puntches, 1 873-75
duties attended to b}- some one employed by the commissioners. 1875-78
E. . Rolfe, 1878-S1: T. W. Reynolds, 1881-83; C. M. Stevens, 1883-87
George Ketcham, 1887-91: E. J. Scofield, 1891-95; Michael Casey, 1895-99
E. J. Scofield, 1899-1909: Xels J. Bothne, 1909-13; R. J. Stromme, 1913,
present term expires in 1919.
JUDGES OF PROBATE.
Ole Thompson Ring was the first judge of the prolaate court for grant
county, appointed by the commissioners on April 12, 1873. He was a
farmer in Elk Lake township and attended to the duties of his office at his
residence. The next incumbent in this position, Ole O. Canestorp, made it
his practice to come to the court house in Elbow Lake on the first Monday
in each month to care for whate\'er business had accumulated. J. S. Arneson
served by appointment.
A list of the judges of probate is here given, as follow : Ole T. Ring,
1873-78; Ole O. Canestorp, 1878-82: Andrew Eriandson, 1882-87; Louis
O. Foss, 1887-97; A. O. Ofsthun, 1897-1901 ; J. S. Arneson, 1901-03: W.
H. Goetzinger, 1903, present term expires in 1917.
404 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
SURVEYORS.
The first county surveyor was John Ohlsson, appointed by the com-
missioners in 1873. At that time Mr. Ohlsson Hved in Mascville township.
He had been a sea captain before immigrating to .\merica, and had received
a very thorough school in navigation and surveying.
The county surveyors have been as follow: John Ohlsson, 1873-78;
Per Erlandson, 1878-82; Hugh Spence, 1882, resigned after a few months;
Per Erlandson, 1882-87; H. J. Bollum, 1887-97; M. H. Palmer, 1897-99;
C. G. Gustafson, 1899-1905; Per Erlandson, 1905-11 : H. J. Bollum, 1911,
present term expires in 1919.
CORONERS.
Hans Hanson, the first coroner of Grant county, was a farmer living in
Stony Brook township. Neither was the second coroner, L. M. Phinney, a
physician. Grant county, however, began earlier than some other counties
to elect a physician to the office of coroner.
A complete list of those who have held this office is as follows: Hans
Hanson, 1873-77; L. M. Phinney, 1877-80; Dr. James M. Tucker, 1880-83
Dr. William D. Holden, 1883-85; L. M. Phinney, 1885-93; C. W. Bigarel
1893-97; Dr. P. G. Cowing, 1897-99; Dr. C. E. Caine, 1899, resigned: Dr
A. D. Larson, 1899-1903; Dr. J. O. Sackett, 1903-05; Dr. C. B. Heimark
1905-06; Dr. F. W. Powers, 1906-07; Dr. W. R. Hand, 1907-09: Dr. J
M. Thayer, 1909-11 ; Dr. F. W. Powers, 1911-13; Dr. John T. Leland
1913, present term expires in 1919.
CLERKS OF THE COURT.
Prior to 1883 Grant county was attached to Douglas county for judicial
purposes and the clerk of the district court at Alexandria performed what-
ever services were necessarv. The clerks who thus attended to the duties
for Grant county were James Purden, W. E. Chidester and H. K. White.
In March, 1883, J. E. Williams was apix)inted as the first resident clerk of
the district court for Grant county.
The list of clerks of the court is as follow: J. E. Williams. 1883-87;
Lars J. Hague, 1887-97; P. P. Larson, 1897-1901 : L. C. Johnson, 1901,
present term expires in 191 7.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 4O5
COURT COMMISSIONERS.
As provided in the state constitution the court commissioner has judicial
power and jurisdiction not exceeding the power and jurisdiction of a judge
of the district court. The first court commissioner in Grant county was Hale
H. Cook, who was appointed in 1883. Mr. Cook had immigrated from Eng-
land and was- a farmer in Pomme de Terre township. The second court
commissioner, A. C. Belyea, while not a lawyer, knew considerable about
law as he had worked in a lawyer's office in Herman.
The court commissioners have been as follow: Hale H. Cook,
1883-87; A. C. Belyea, 1887-91; Thomas Casey, 1891-95; G. T. Hagen,
1895-99; Henry Sampson, 1899, present term expires in 19 19.
SUPERINTENDENTS OF SCHOOLS.
At the first meeting of the board of county commissioners they appointed
Josiah Smith as superintendent of schools. There is no record that Mr.
Smith ever qualified for the office or served as superintendent. On January
6, 1874, the commissioners accepted the resignation of O. W. Olson, super-
intendent of schools, and allowed him fifty dollars for his services, though
there is no previous mention of his appointment. When Mr. Olson resigned
Coll McClellan was appointed and served two years. During the
early years the salary of the superintendent was too small to induce any-
one to devote all his time to the office and there were frequent resignations
and appointments. It was not until 1882, when Mr. Hodgson was superin-
tendent, that the board agreed to pay five hundred dollars if he would devote
all his time to office during the school term.
The superintendents have been as follow: O. W. Olson, 1873-74; Coll
McClellan, 1874-76; John W. Gould, 1876-77; Thomas C. Hodgson,
1877-78; H. G. Lillemon, 1878-79: E. S. Rolfe, 1879-80; Thomas C. Hodg-
son, 1880-89; J. A. Abrahamson, 1889-91; Mrs. John O. Sauby, 1891-93;
W. H. Townsend, 1893-95; Knut T. Dahlen, 1895-1901 ; George L. Wood-
worth, 1901-07; R. J. Stromme, 1907-13; Blanche L. Brennin, 1913, present
term expires in 1919.
GRANT COUNTY IN THE LEGI.SLATURE.
Under the apportionemnt of 1871 the state was divided into forty-one
senatorial districts, and Grant county was assigned to the thirty-ninth, along
406 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
with Douglas, Pope, Stevens, Big Stone and Lake counties. This district
was entitled to one senator and two representatives. At the ensuing sessions
Grant county has been represented as follows:
Fourteenth Legislature — 1872. Ole Peterson was in the senate, F.
B. Van Hoesen and G. W. Rockwell were in the house.
Fifteenth Legislature — 1873. J- G. Whitteniore was in the senate;
Warren Adley and Henry Foss were in the house.
Sixteenth Legislature — 1874. J. G. Whitteniore was in the senate;
Warren Adley and Henry Foss were in the senate. .
Seventeenth Legislature — 1875. Knute Nelson was in the senate; War-
tin Stow and J. G. Whitteniore were in the house.
Eighteenth Legislature — 1876. Knute Nelson was in the senate; Martin
Stowe and J. D. Good were in the house.
Nineteenth Legislature — 1877. Knute , Nelson was in the senate;
Michael A. Wollan and Ole Amundson were in the house.
Twentieth Legislature — 1878. Knute Nelson was in the senate; John B.
Cowing and H. W. Stone were in the house.
Twenty-first Legislature — 1879. A. A. Brown was in the senate; John
B. Cowing and Ole N. Barsness were in the house.
Twenty-second Legislature — 1881. L. K. Aaker was in the senate; C.
F. Washburn and F. B. Van Hoesen were in the house.
APPORTIONMENT OF 1881.
Under the apportionment of 1881 the state was divided into forty-seven
senatorial districts, and Grant county was assigned to the forty-second,
along with Big Stone, Stevens and Traverse. This district was entitled
to one senator and one representative.
Twenty-third Legislature — 1883. C. F. Washburn was in the senate;
H. H. Wells was in the house.
Twenty-fourth Legislature — 1885. H. H. Wells was in the senate;
George L Becker was in the house.
Twenty-fifth Legislature — 1887. D. W. Hixon was in the senate; R.
A. Costello was in the house.
Twenty-sixth Legislature — 1889. D. W. Hixon was in the senate;
Amasa S. Crossfield was in the house.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 407
APPORTIONMENT OF 1889.
Under the apportionment of 1889 the state was divided into fifty-four
senatorial districts, and Grant county was assigned to the forty-ninth, along
with Big Stone, Stevens and Traverse. This district was entitled to one sena-
tor and two representatives.
Twenty-sevtnth Legislature — 189 1. Ole O. Canestorp was in the sen-
ate; Alfred Setterlund and H. C. Lyman were in the house.
Twenty-eighth Legislature — 1893. Ole O. Canestorp was in the senate;
Andrew Peterson and D. P. O'Neill were in the house.
Twenty-ninth Legislature — 1895. Edwin J. Jones was in the senate;
J. M. Finney and Louis O. Foss were in the house.
Thirteenth Legislature — 1897. Edwin J. Jones was in the senate; Louis
O. Foss and J. M. Finney were in the house.
APPORTIONMENT OF 1897.
Under the apportionment of 1897 the state was divided into sixty-three
senatorial districts, and Grant county was assigned to the fifty-seventh dis-
trict, along with the Traverse and Stevens. This district was entitled to
one senator and two representatives.
Thirty-first Legislature — 1899. Edwin J. Jones was in the senate;
Louis O. Foss and Jacob T. Schain were in the house.
Thirty-second Legislature — 1901. Edwin J. Jones was in the senate;
Henry K. Nelson and Herman Hillmond were in the house.
Thirty-third Legislature — 1903. Jacob T. Schain was in the senate;
H. Ward Stone and A. D. Larson were in the house.
Thirty-fourth Legislature — 1905. Jacob T. Schain was in the senate ;
H. Ward Stone and A. D. Larson were in the house.
Thirty-fifth Legislature — 1907. Ole O. Canestorp was in the senate;
Lewis C. Spooner and William C. Bicknell were in the house.
Thirty-sixth Legislature — 1909. Ole O. Canestorp was in the senate;
Lewis C. Spooner and William C. Bicknell were in the house.
Thirty-seventh Legislature — 191 1. Edward Rustad was in the senate;
L. C. Spooner and J. E. Peterson were in the house.
Thirty-eighth Legislature — 1913. Edward Rustad was in the senate;
L. C. Spooner and Carl P. Carlson were in the house.
408 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
APPORTIONMENT OF I913.
Under the apportionment of 191 3 the state was divided into sixty-seven
senatorial districts, and Grant county was assigned to the forty-eighth, along
with Stevens, Traverse and Big Stone. This district was entitled to one
senator from the district and one representative from each county.
Thirty-ninth Legislature — 1915. Edward Rustad was in the senate;
Ole A. Pikop (Grant county), Lewis C. Spooner, Sam Y. Gordon and J.
H. Erickson were in the house.
CHAPTER VI.
Township Organization.
Grant county is subdivided into sixteen civil townships, which coincide
in each case with the si.xteen congressional townships embraced in the
county. The requirements for township organization are prescribed bv law
and depend principally upon the number of inhabitants and legal voters
residing in the township desiring to be established. Some of the townships
in Grant county were not organized until some time after they had acquired
a sufficient number of electors, but they had a satisfactory government bv
being attached to other townships or were content with the election precinct
representation. The first township to be organized was Lien, in 1874. and
the last was North Ottawa, in 1882.
LIEN TOWNSHIP.
On July 28, 1874, a petition was presented to the board of county com-
missioners by Ole D. Bartness, signed by sixteen legal voters of congres-
sional township 128, range 42, praying that the township be organized and
named "Franklin." This petition was signed by Ole D. Bartness, John
G. Peterson, Halvor J. Eide, Mons A. Hesjedahl, Per Erlandson, P. A.
Moller, Olof Cederberg, William Erlandson, M. Anderson, O. Mel-
berg, Nils Person, K. O. Bukke, Tolef Nelson, Ole E. Lien and M. L.
Vig. The petition was granted, but the state auditor informed the com-
missioners that there already was a township named "Franklin,"' and it
became necessary to select some other name. The name "Anderson" was
suggested, in honor of one of the early settlers of the township, but a
greater number seemed to favor the name "Lien," in honor of Ole E. Lien,
who located here in 1867 or 1868, so the township was given that name.
The first election in Lien township was held on March 9, 1875, when
the following officers were elected: Ole D. Bartness, clerk; M. Anderson,
treasurer; K. O. Bukke, assessor; A. Holen and O. Mostad, justices; O.
Burt and E. Anderson, constables; John G. Peterson, P. A. Moller and Ole
E. Lien, supervisors.
The officers of Lien township in 1916 are as follows: .Helmer Lar-
4IO DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
son, clerk; E. J. Newman, treasurer; J. J. Leraas, assessor; Erick E. Huset.
Iver Stamnes and Swen Mattson, supervisors.
LOGAN TOWNSHIP.
Logan township was organized on July 29, 1874, when a petition was
presented to the board of county commissioners by Louis T. Breen, signed
by a majority of the legal voters in congressional township 127, range 44,
praying that the township be organized and named "Herman." The peti-
tion was signed by Louis T. Breen, A. C. Earsley, P. A. Lamarche, Andrias
Larson, G. Johnson, H. Prydz, H. W. Simons, William J. Brown, L. Baker,
Louis Taneru, Ole Taneru, C. Pullman, P. Clague, E. A. Ziebarth and O.
Westin. The petition was granted, but upon learning that the name "Her-
man" had been applied to another township in the state the commissioners
chose the name "Logan," in honor of Gen. John A. Logan.
The township of Logan failed to hold a meeting and elect officers as
ordered by the board, so on January 5, 1876, the county commissioners
appointed the following officers : Hans Prydz, clerk ; E. A. Ziebarth, treas-
urer; John Ohlsson, assessor; William Brown and John Galvin, justices;
John Johnson and Charles Taneru, constables; E. A. Ziebarth, overseer of
highways; E. A. Ziebarth, S. S. Frogner and John Ohlsson, supervisors.
The officers of Logan township in 1916 are as follow: H. N. Erfert,
clerk; E. J. Drexler, treasurer; G. H. Mumm, assessor; Louis Lentfer, John
Davis and JNI. Steger, supervisors.
ELK LAKE TOWNSHIP.
On January 4, 1876, a petition was presented to the board of county
commissioners, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional
township 128, range 41, requesting that the township be organized and named
"Elk Lake." The petition was granted, and the name given was that of a
lake in the township. The original petition cannot be found among the
township records in the auditor's office, but it is known that some of the
signers were : Ole Gudmunson, Halvor Anderson, William Olson, Even E.
Bjerke, Ole Anderson, B. Benson, Ole T. Ring, Sam Olson, Kittel Johnson.
James Sethney, A. Hubred and Bernt Swenson.
The first election was held at the school house in Elk Lake township
on March 14, 1876, when the following officers were elected: Sam Olson,
clerk: Anton Hubred, treasurer: C. Pederson, assessor; James Sethnev and
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 4I [
August Ostenson, justices; Syvert Ellingson and Hans Ostenson, constables:
Ole Thompson, pound master; Ole Anderson and Bernt Swenson, road
overseers; Peder P. Gran, Ole Torstenson and Iver Johnson, supervisors.
The officers in Elk Lake township in 1916 are as follow: O. M.
Hubred, clerk; O. W. Olson, treasurer; E. M. Thompson, assessor; Elling
Ellingson, O. J- Bjerke and A. H. Anderson, supervisors.
PELICAN LAKE TOWNSHIP.
On Januar}- 4, 1876, a petition was presented to the county board by
Iver G. Holt, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional town-
ship 130, range 41, asking that the township be organized and named "Peli-
can Lake." The petition was granted, and the township named for a lake
which covers some seven sections within its boundaries, which lake was
noted for the large flocks of pelicans found there in the early days. Some
of those who signed the petition were : Joseph A. Pennock, Iver G. Holt.
K. N. Melby, Ole Gulickson, Charles Phinney, L. M. Phinney, John New-
man, Thomas Gulickson, I'eter Sorkness, Martin Jacobson, Jacob Halstead,
John Stene, Hans Kjorven and Gunder Wold.
The first election in Pelican Lake township was held on March 14,
1876, when the following officers were elected: Charles Phinney, clerk;
John Stene, treasurer ; Joseph A. Pennock, assessor ; John Houston and
Lewis Tobiason, justices; Jacob Halstead and Iver A. Holt, constables;
Peter Peterson, -road overseer; L. M. Phinney, K. N. Melby and John 'New-
man, supervisors.
The officers in Pelican Lake township in 1916 are as follows: Andrew
Olson, clerk; E. K. Heisberg, treasurer; Charles Mickelson, assessor; W.
F. Wohlers, C. J. Stene and Anton Sumstad, supervisors.
ELBOW LAKE TOWNSHIP.
Elbow Lake township was organized on April 3, 1877, when a petition
was presented to the board of county commissioners, signed by a majority
of the legal voters of township 129, range 43, praying that the township
be organized and ^named "Elbow Lake." The petition was granted, and
the township named for a lake nearby. Some of those who signed the peti-
tion were: J. N. Sanford, Ole O. Canestorp, H. P. Hansen, Erick Norgaard,
Andrew Norgaard. Ole H. Sand, Torger Ostenson, Tiedeman H. Burt-
ness. Anders O. Pikop and A. I. Haugen. At the time of organization San-
412 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ford and North Ottawa township were attached to Elbow Lake township.
The first township election was held on April 20, 1877, at the house
of Ole O. Canestorp. when the following officers were elected: Ole O.
Canestorp, clerk; Ole H. Sand, treasurer; H. P. Hansen,' road overseer;
Henry F. Sanford, justice ; Helge H. Ramstad, constable ; Ole O. Canestorp,
assessor; J. N. Sanford, Even Jorgenson and T. H. Burtness, supervisors.
The officers in Ellx)w Lake township in 1916 are as follow: Albert
O. Halverson, clerk; A. L Haugen, treasurer and, assessor ; John H. Eergu-
son, Torger Mobraaten and Olaus A. Pikop, supervisors.
POMME DE TERRE TOWNSHIP.
On July 17, 1877, a petition was presented to the board of county com-
missioners, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional town-
ship 130, range 42, praying that the township be organized and named
"Pomme de Terre." The petition was granted, and the township was
named for a lake nearby, which title is a Erench phrase meaning "fruit of
the earth." The signers of the petition were: Ole Johnson Lene, Ole
Sornson, J. E. Rolfson, Nels B. Brakke, Timothy Heald, O. Williams.
Thomas E. Midbon, A'aron Heald, Haivor O. Midbon, H. A. Langlie,
Swend Olson, Lage Johnson, C. W. Briggs, George W. Vaughan, John
S. Vaughan, John Scott, Jens Adriansen and N. O. Puntches.
At the first regular election, held on March 12, 1878, the following
officers were elected: H. A. Langlie, clerk; Lage Johnson, treasurer; Aaron
Heald, assessor; J. E. Rolfson and Ole Johnson, justices; Haivor Mikkel-
son and Haivor Olson, constables; Russell Briggs and Haivor Mikkelson,
overseers of highways; Tver Rolfson, Russell Briggs and John S. Vaughan,
supervisors.
The officers of Pomme de Terre township in 1916 are as follow: G.
C. Paulson, clerk; Jacob Woessner, treasurer: G. G. Woldtwedt, assessor;
H. E. Hellickson, William Woessner and T. G. Thompson, supervisors.
ERDAHL TOWNSHIP.
Erdahl township was organized on July 30, 1877, when a petition was
presented to the board of county commissioners, signed by a majority of
the legal voters of congressional township 129, range 41, praying that the
township be organized and named "Erdahl." The petition was granted, and
the township named in remembrance of a district in Norway, from which
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 4I3
some of the early settlers had come. The petition was signed by Gilbert
Gilbertson, Alikkel O. Lien. Ole Nilson. Martin O. Boe, Ole A. Boe, Peder
Alvstad, Thore Jensen, H. D. Downen, Erik Nilson, Carl Nilson, Nils A.
Lee, Jacob Olson, Nils Olsen and Knut A. Lien.
The commissioners ordered that the first meeting should be held on
August 18, 1877, at the school house in district No. 6. The list of officers
elected cannot now be found, but it is known that Gilbert Gilbertson was the
first clerk.
The officers of Erdahl towmship in igi6 are as follows: A. \'. Malm-
gren, clerk; A. O. Bah, treasurer; Gilbert Hanson, assessor; IMartin X'. Lee,
J. P. Frykman and Otto Kuchenbecker, supervisors.
STONY BROOK TOWNSHIP.
On July 30, 1877, a petition was presented to the board of county
commissioners by H. G. Lillemon, signed by a majority of the legal voters
of congressional township 130, range 43, asking that the township be organ-
ized and named "Stony Brook." The petition was granted. Those who
signed the petition were : Knut Olson, Jens Erickson, Peder Gulbranson,
Tosten K. Dahlen, Kittel A. Sattra, Reier G. Baasen, Hans P. Heijer, C.
O. Kolle, Christian Johnson, Anders Kjorven, H. G. Lillemon, Nils N.
Brevig, Sr., Nils N. Brevig, Jr., Alartinus Larson, Engebret Knudtson,
John K. Folken and Ole Knudtson.
The first election in Stony Brook township was held on March 12, 1878,
when the following officers were elected : H. G. Lillemon, clerk ; H. H.
Haavig, treasurer and assessor; H. G. Lillemon and H. Albertson, justices;
C. O. Kolle and Nils N. Brevig, constables; S. S. Skinnemoen, road over-
seer and pound master; H. Albertson, Tosten K. Dahlen and P. Gulbran-
son, supervisors.
The officers of Stony Brook township in 1916 are as follow: H. T.
Haavig, clerk ; H. K. Vigen, treasurer ; I. E. Kolle, assessor ; Ole C. Rustand,
Ole Asleson and Gilbert J. Pletan, supervisors.
LAND TOWNSHIP.
Land township was organized on March 6, 1878, when a petition was
presented to the board of county commissioners by Erik Olson, signed b\
a majority of the legal voters of congressional township 127, range 41, ask-
ing that the township be organized and named "Land."' The petition
414 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES,, MINNESOTA.
was granted, and the township named for the town of Land, Wisconsin,
from when some of the early settlers had come. Some of the signers of
the petition were : Erik Olson, Lars O. Studlien, Ole Erikson, Sven Aus-
lund, John F. Linden, Hans Helland, A. D. Auslund, and Christian Peder-
son.
The first township meeting was held at the house of Lars O. Studlien, on
March 26, 1878. The meeting was called to order by Sven Auslund and
Erik Olson was chosen moderator, when the following officers were elected :
Anton L. Studlien, clerk ; John L. Studlien, treasurer ; John T. Linden,
assessor; Sven Auslund and Hans Helland, justices; Ole Clarquist and G. P.
Eklof , constables ; Ole Erikson and A. D. Ausland, road overseers ; Erik
Olson, Christian Pederson and A. D. Auslund. supervisors.
The officers of Land township in 1916 are as follows: Peter Randin,
clerk ; John Johnson, treasurer ; Theodore Lindquist, assessor ; Tom Joranger,
J. C. Urbatch and Paul Westberg, supervisors.
ROSEVILLE TOWNSHIP.
Roseville township was organized on July 24, 1878, when a petition
was presented to the board of county commissioners by L. H. Patchen, signed
by a majority of the legal voters of congressional township 127, range 42,
asking that the township be organized and named "Roseville." The peti-
tion was granted. This petition, which had been circulated for several
months through tire -township, bore the following signatures : Joe Sherer,
Theodore Shauer, John Brennin, John P. Xolander, Charles A. Haskins,
Charles \Verk, Ludvik Korner, S. N. Lerum, John T. Linden:, Ole Halvor-
son, H. O. Hanson, John H. Kroke, Peter F. McCoUor, Roderick O'Dowd,
L. H. Patchen, C. \V. Gifford, H. J. BoUum, Ferd Clark, Henry Bundy,
Albert Boerner, John Buckman, William Boerner, Henry Boerner, Peter
Samuel, J. H. Deveney, August Endreson and Hans Endreson.
The first township meeting was held at the house of John T. Lindem,
on August 14, 1878, when the following officers were elected: John T.
Lindem, clerk; H. J. Bollum, treasurer: Theodore Shauer, assessor; C. W.
Gifford and Albert Boerner, justices; Syver Erickson and H. O. Hanson,
constables; John Boerner and Carl Anderson, road overseers; L. H. Patchen,
August Endreson and Henry Boerner, supervisors.
The officers of Roseville township in 1916 are as follows: Alfred Nel-
son, clerk; ^^^illard Kreidler, treasurer; A. T. Lindem, assessor; Herman
Podratz, John I. Larson and John H. Olson, supervisors.
DOLIGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. , 4I5
MACSVILLE TOWNSHIP.
On September 2t„ 1878, a petition was presented to the board of county
commissioners, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional
township 127, range 43, praying that the township be organized and named
"Macsville." The petition was granted, and it is thought that Francis
McNabb and John McQuillan had something to do in suggesting the name;
they were both early settlers of the township. Some of the signers of the
petition were : John Sannom, G. P. Ronell, Francis McNabb, J. W. Perry,
Hans Christianson and John McQuillan.
The first meeting was held at the house of John Gustafson, on October
12, 1878, when the following officers were elected: John McQuillan, clerk:
H. H. Schram, treasurer; J. W. Perry, assessor; H. H. Schram and John
McQuillan, justices; John Sannom and Gustaf Johnson, constables; Hans
Christianson and J. W. Perry, pound masters; G. P. Ronell, road overseer;
Francis McNabb, H. P. Ronell and Hans Christianson, supervisors.
The officers of Macsville township in 1916 are as follow: P. T. Will,
clerk; William T. Tretten, treasurer; Tom Haley, assessor; George J. Reuss,
W. W^ Niemackl and A. H. Blume. supervisors.
GORTON TOWNSHIP.
Gorton township was organized on July 21, 1879, when a petition was
presented to the board of county commissioners, signed by a majority of
the legal voters of congressional township 128, range 44, praying that the
township be organized and named "Gorton." The petition was granted.
The signers of the petition were : E. H. Johnson, Frank Forstein, Ole
O. Hillestad, Kolben Gabrielson, Christ C. Ness, Knut Hoginson, Ole Olson,
Baak Iverson, Ellep Ellson, Agrim Baarson, Lars Knudson, Abner Craw-
ford, Samuel H. Wright, Gullik S. Moen, Ole Lee, Knud Oland and Ole
Olson.
The first township meeting was held at the old depot at Gorton station.
on August 25, 1879. but the record of the officers elected has not been
preserved.
The officers of Gorton township in 1916 are as follow : James A. Cobb,
clerk ; C. C. Ness, trea.surer ; C. H. Christophel, assessor ; Louis Klason,
Knute Haugen, and William Steinhagen, supervisors.
4l6 . DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
DELAWARE TOWNSHIP.
On October 6, 1879, a petition was presented to the board of county
commissioners, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional
township 128, range 43, praying that the township be organized and named
"Delaware." The petition was granted. When the petition was being
circulated there were five names considered by the people and each had
their sponsors, so it was put to a vote with the understanding that the name
having the highest number of votes should be included in the petition to the
county board. The ballot resulted in placing the names in the following
order : Delaware was first. Highland Park, second ; Granite Lake, third ;
Spring Grove, fourth, and Laconia, fifth. So the township came to be
called Delaware, which name was chosen by people from that state.
The petition was signed by James Moses, A. Erlandson, A. Selander.
O. Lundberg, Hans Channel, John E. Hanson, H. C. Prescott, Jacob Erland-
son, J. N. Casper, Louis Melin, John Lundberg, John Helsene, Nels Helsene,
A. J. Gates, J. P. Shoberg and Thomas C. Hodgson.
The officers of Delaware township in 1916 are as follows : C. A. Ander-
son, clerk; Ole E. Nelson, treasurer; Edward Rolien, assessor; Louis Han-
son, W. H. Tegtmeier, and L. J. Derby, supervisors.
LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP.
On March 29, 1880, a petition was presented to the board of county
commissioners, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional
township 130, range 44, asking that the township be organized and named
"Lawrence." The petition was granted. In case the name "Lawrence"
could not be used the petitioners asked that the township be called "Ches-
ter." On the original petition in the county auditor's office are the follow-
ing names; L. H. Fowler, C. W. Stickney, F. P. Symonds, H. Shaw, R.
H. Fenner, D. P. Carpenter, William Caqienter, J. S. Bean, A. Fisher, E.
East, S. Fisher, John Shaw, M. L. Adams, G. H. Adams, J. C. Marple,
James W. Ash, N. S. Denton. J. C. Titus. F. J. Titus, Joseph G. Alarple
and Theodore Connell.
The first township meeiing was held at the house of Joseph Bean, on
April 17, 1880, when L. H. Fowler was elected clerk, and H. L. Marple
was elected treasurer.
The officers of Lawrence township in 1916 are as follows: G. A- Shuck,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 4I7
clerk; George L. Thiel, treasurer: Howard Weaver, assessor; F. H. Sym-
onds, A. G. Kube and F. A. Klinger, supervisors.
SANFORD TOWNSHIP.
On July .24, 1882, a petition was presented to the board of county
commissioners, signed by a majority of the legal voters of congressional
township 129, range 42, praying that the township be organized as a civil
unit. The petition was granted, and as no name was included in the peti-
tion the commissioners decided to name the township "Sanford," in honor
of Henry F. Sanford, the first settler in the township and in his day one
of the most influential men in the community. The petition for organization
was signed by Ole O. Blagsvedt, K. C. Walvick, Oloff Otterson, Henry
Gunderson, Tosten Ostensen, Osten Jansen, C. S. Dahl, Ole Hanson, Hans
Olson, Gunder Hanson, Ole Larson, Erik Olson, Nils Olson, Hans Hanson,
Jens Peterson Lee and Henry F. Sanford.
The first meeting was held on August 9, 1882, at the house of Knud
O. Laastuen, but no list of the officers is preserved in the records.
The officers of Sanford township in 1916 are as follows: Andrew
Johnson, clerk: Eldor Edstrom, treasurer; Ole H. Larson, assessor; Peter
Johnson, Engebret Syverson and Ole Fjeld, supervisors.
NORTH OTTAWA TOWNSHIP.
North Ottawa township was organized on July 24, 1882, when a peti-
tion was presented to the board of county commissioners, signed by a major-
ity of the legal voters of congressional township 129, range 44, asking
that the township be organized and named "Ottawa." The petition was
granted, but the commissioners were informed by the state auditor that
there was another township of that name, so it was changed to "North
Ottawa." The residents of the township had first written the name "Rich-
land" in the petition, but a short time before it was presented it was changed
to "Ottawa" by some of the settlers who had come from Ottawa, Illinois.
The original petition was signed by twenty-six men, as follows : A.
H. Bullis, James M. Tucker, Anders A. Falla, Thomas H. Toombs, J. S.
Ireland, George Allen, Peter Schuster, Nicholas Schuster, Nicholas Thies,
John Matchenske, John Schuster, Henry Fay, Gustaf Hanson, Steen
Steensen, W. A. RuUis, John Tripp David Tripp, Gustaf Johnson, Charles
(27)
4l8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Johnson, William Tripp, George Tripp, L. C. Engelson, Ole A. Amundson,
C. Nielson Veng, Hans Monson and C. Christianson.
The first township meeting was held at the house of Thomas H. Toombs,
on August 7, 1882. The board of township supervisors elected at that
meeting consisted of Thomas H. Toombs, chairman, John Tripp and Nicholas
Thies.
The officers of North Ottawa township in 1916 are as follows: Ole
K. Rustand, clerk; And. Rustand, treasurer; C. M. Johnson, assessor;
Nicholas Thies, John Sieben and H. E. Lindsay, supervisors.
CHAPTER VII.
Development of Agriculture.
The story of the origin of the soils of Grant county, the manner of
their construction, their structure and texture, has already been carefully set
out in the chapter on geology. In that same chapter mention is also made
of the location, drainage and native vegetation of this county; therefore
it is not necessary to repeat these facts in detail in this connection. It is
the happy blending of all these essential factors for crop production that
has made Grant county a noted agricultural region. Situated on a divide
at the head waters of two great drainage systems; at an altitude averaging
twelve hundred feet; having an average annual rainfall of twenty-four
inches, and a growing season of usually over one hundred and thirty days,
Grant county possesses ideal conditions for plant and animal growth.
When the first settlers came to Grant county the broad prairies were
unbroken by any tree or shrub. They bore a profusion of native grasses,
made bright in places by numerous wild flowers. Along the streams and
near the lakes were found small groves of trees, consisting principally of
oak, maple, ash, elm, birch and cottonwood. The pioneers found these
lakes and streams teeming with fish — pickerel, pike, bass and perch; and
on the plains and in the groves an abundance of game. Great flocks of
geese and ducks were common; cranes, prairie chickens, grouse, deer and
rabbits were secured with little difficulty. An ample living was right at
hand, and a ready means of barter and trade was found in the pelts of the
foxes, badgers, mink and muskrats which were trapped or shot in great
numbers. The natural resources of this region, and the beauty of the virgin
country, with its exhilirating air and bright sunshine, were no doubt pleasing
to the early comers, and they felt assured that here was a country that
would abundantly reward their labor.
GETTING STARTED ON THE PIONEER FARM.
The pioneers who settled in this county were accustomed to farm life
under frontier conditions. Many of them had already been through just such
420 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIESj MINNESOTA.
an experience as awaited them here, on a claim in Wisconsin, Iowa or south-
ern Minnesota. Some few Hved by hunting and trapping for a time, but the
majority knew of the difficulties which confronted them and set to work
as speedily as their means would permit to develop their new homes. The
first concern of the settler was to erect a shelter for his family, usually the
log cabin of one or two rooms, or out on the- prairie built of such lumber
as could be brought in from the nearest mill. A sufficient protection for
the teams or oxen could be made from poles covered with grass. Small
patches of ground were planted to vegetables for home use, and until mar-
kets were available within reasonable distance no grain was raised for ship-
ment. The virgin prairie sod was difficult to break with the tools of those
days and it was several years after settlement begun that any considerable
area was planted. Once broken up, however, the soil was easily worked
and abundant yields were secured. Oxen could subsist entirely on the native
grasses and wild hay formed the chief support of the few teams of horses
in the early days. Many of the first settlers went to St. Cloud, Alexandria,
Morris or to Fergus Falls for flour, but it was not long until mills were
established near enough to get grinding done from home-grown grain.
Wheat at once took the lead as a cereal crop, though oats, barley and
rye were also planted. In spite of the fact that the native grasses ofifered
such splendid pasturage for stock, laws were passed at an early day to pro-
hibit stock from running at large unattended by a herder, for fear of damage
to un fenced fields. Only such stock was kept as was needed for home con-
sumption and farm work as it was many years after the first settlement
that any regular shipments of stock were made.
SOME EARLY DIFFICULTIES.
A menace which the early settler soon learned to dread was the danger
of prairie fire. These fires might be started by accident or by design, or
sometimes by lightning, and come sweeping over the plain consuming every-
thing in its path. It was the usual custom when establishing a new home
to plow several furrows at some distance about the house and outbuildings,
and this would sometimes suffice to turn the flames aside, but in many cases
houses and crops were burnt and a few people lost their fives. Old settlers
say it was a wonderful spectacle to see a fire that had gotten a good start
sweep across the prairie with the speed of the fastest horse.
As early as 1875 the county commissioners took action for the relief
of settlers who had lost their crops from danger by hail. In that year
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 42I
Christopher Peterson, Peder Gran and Halvor Larson were granted extended
time for paying their taxes on that account.
Predatory animals were a source of considerable loss to the early set-
tlers and for some time bounties were paid for wolves and gophers. The
years 1876 and 1878 will long be remembered as the "grasshopper" years.
At that time these insects devoured many acres of crops. They did con-
siderable damage at other times, but never returned in such great numbers.
The lack of roads was a great handicap to the early farmers of Grant
county, and it was several years before passable roads were built connecting
the first settlements with mills and markets. A great part of the hauling
was done after the ground had frozen in the winter time and sleighs cotild
be used.
EVOLUTION OF FARM MACHINERY.
The first crops harvested in this county were cut with a cradle and
flailed out on the frozen ground. In this manner Jens Peterson Lee cared
for twenty acres of wheat which he planted in 1871. The self-rake reaper
was sSon introduced, followed by the "hand" binder, on which two men stdod
and bound the grain by hand as it came over the elevator. This was suc-
ceeded bv the "wire" binder and later by the "self" binder of the present day.
Almost as wonderful an improvement has been made in the plows, culr
tivators and threshing machines in use in this region. In fact, all the various
machines required bv modern farming are the results of practical use and
demonstration by succeeding generations of farmers.
TREE PLANTING.
Many of the early settlers on the prairie began at once to set out trees
about their farmstead, to add to the attractiveness of the place and serve
as a wind break from the winter storms. Some of the land in this county
was taken up under the "timber claim act," which was an act passed by
Congress to encourage tree planting on the plains. These various efforts
resulted in the thousands of beautiful groves which now adorn the farms of
Grant county, serving not only as a protection but being of material benefit
in the way of fuel and luml)er.
niVERSIFIED FARMING.
For manv rears wheat was the leading crop in Grant county, l)ut dimin-
ishing yields made it evident that dependence could no longer l)e jilaced on
422 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
that one crop. Perhaps the height of the wheat yield was reached in 1895,
after which diversified cropping began to be introduced, which system was
given additional impetus by the serious "rust" loss of 1903. Larger acre-
ages were planted to oats, rye, barley, flax, potatoes, corn and clover, and
the first steps taken towards a crop rotation which would include some
legume for the improvement of the soil. Flax was found to grow well one
year on new breaking, but was subject to wilt if replanted on the same
ground. Corn had been grown in this part of the state for many years and
the acreage was rapidly increased as the acreage of wheat grew smaller.
In recent years the advantages of stock raising have become more and
more apparent, and the superior natural advantages of Grant county for
this type of farming have caused its rapid adoption. Fine herds of pure-
bred stock are now to be found on many farms.
Originally many acres in this county were in need of artificial drainage
and thousands of dollars have been spent by the officials in putting in proper
ditches. The rich, flat land in the western part of the county especially
sufi'ered in a wet season, and a comprehensive system of drainage is now
being installed.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION.
According to the federal census of 1910 Grant county in 1909 produced
crops valued at $2,232,674. In that year the value of all farm property
was $13,482,322. Hay and forage was produced on 43,545 acres to the
amount of 56,513 tons. The amount of grains produced is .shown in the
following table:
Corn. Oats. Wheat. Barley. Rye.
Acres, 9,386 47.593 54.207 25.232 254
Bushels, 272,798 1.542,716 923-778 573.654 4.156
While there are as yet no commercial orchards in Grant county, it has
been demonstrated that fine fruit can be grown here. Within the last few
years manv hardv apple, crab, plum and cherry trees have been set out and
are doing well.
MODERN FARM CONDITIONS.
Conditions of rural life have so vastly improved since the first settlers
entered this county that it is hard to realize that it has been but little o\'er
forty years since the pioneers started to change this then wilderness into pro-
ductive farms. The splendid results of their efforts are seen today through-
DOUGLAS .AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 423
out the county, in the thousands of well improved' farms and modern farm
homes, equipped with everything that makes for comfort and convenience.
The scientific training given in the schools, proper crop rotations, improved
seed and machinery, purebred stock, co-operative buying and selling of stock
and better marketing facilities, are some of the factors now in operation
which will maintain these farms at their present high standard and make
possible a permanently profitable system of agriculture in Grant county.
It is estimated that there are now in use in Grant county about five
hundred and forty automobiles. Over three hundred of these are owned
by farmers. They, have ceased to he a luxury and are now almost a neces-
sity. The automobile has had a marked effect on rural life. It has increased
community interest and afforded a relief from monotony; aided in edu-
cation by wider contact; provided means of easier and cheaper marketing;
helped in the building of good roads, and proven of emergency value.
Every village in Grant county now has a "rest room," which women
and children from the country may make use of while waiting for one
another to do their shopping, or visit there with friends. These rooms have
proven a great accommodation especially in stormy weather.
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AGENT.
Grant county employs a trained agricultural advisor, whose duty it is to
co-operate with the farmers in working out and putting into operation plans
calculated to improve the business of farming. His activities are super-
vised in a measure and assisted by the state agricultural college and the
United States department of agriculture, and the Grant County Farm
Bureau. The present county agent is A. L. Norling, who has been here
since November, 19 12. The work of the agent is comprised in part in the
following lines of effort: Organizing clubs of boys for contests in corn
growing and stock raising; organizing clubs of girls in bread-making con-
tests; assisting in outlining programs for Farmers Clubs meetings; and
initiating definite projects for farm work in improved seed, crop rotations,
purebred stock, feeding experiments, disease control and sanitation, farm
accounts and farm surveys to determine profit.
FARMERS CLUBS.
Acting under the suggestion of the department of agricultural exten-
sion of the state universitv, manv Farmers Clubs have been formed in this
424 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
section of the state. In Grant connty there are now sixteen. The purpose
of these clubs is educational, social and financial. They are composed of a
number of families residing in a neighborhood who meet together once a
month or oftener at the various farm homes. A program consisting of
literary or musical entertainment, talks on the business of farming or such
topics as may be chosen, is given by members or some one invited for the
occasion. A limch is generally served. The work of these clubs is prov-
ing of great benefit to the dififerent communities. The names of the clubs
and the secretary of each are as follow :
Progressive Farmers Club. Oscar Erlandson, Elbow Lake.
North Ottawa Farmers Club. Ella Ricks, Norcross.
Lawrence Farmers Club. Ernest E. Marple, Wendell.
Farmers Betterment Club. Ole Skinnemoen, Wendell.
Viking Farmers Club. Alfred Wicklund, Elbow Lake.
Elberling Farmers Club. W. F. Wohlers, Ashby.
Central Farmers Club. Adolph Kaasa, Elbow Lake.
Corndale Farmers Club. Glen Cole, Norcross.
Willowdale Farmers Club. Mabel Haugen, Elbow Lake.
Booster Farmers Club. Olga Bengtson, Herman.
Erdahl Farmers Club. O. G. Reina, Erdahl.
Mustinka Farmers Club. Mr. Wagner, Elbow Lake.
Land Farmers Club. George Lindquist, Hofl^man.
Lincoln Farmers Club. Marie Blixrud, Barrett.
Lien Farmers Club. David Newman, Barrett.
Delaware Farmers Club. M. C. Aanerud, Elbow Lake.
RECORDED FARM NAMES.
In 1909 the state Legislature passed an act under which the owner of a
farm may have a farm name recorded and secure exclusive right to that
name in the county where he resides. Up to the present time sixteen farm
names have been recorded with the register of deeds of Grant county, as
follow :
"Clover Leaf Farm." Owned by W. H. Goetzinger. Recorded Decem-
ber 23, 1910. Located on sections 21 and 28, township 129, range -|2.
"FairAaew." Owned by J. L. Bugbee. Recorded February 11, 1911.
Located on section 11, town.ship 130, range 44.
"Sunnyside." Owned by F. P. Symonds. Recorded February 23,
191 1. Located on section 2, township 130, range 44.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 425
"Maple Grove." Owned by C. D. Anderson and Thilda C. i\.nderson.
Recorded October 17, 191 3. Located on section 6, township 130, range 41.
"Meadow Lawn." Owned by Adolph Borgen. Recorded Decemljer
3, 1913. Located on section 16, township 128, range 41.
"Oak Grove." Owned by O. M. Hubred. Recorded January 2, 19 14.
Located on sections 16, 20 and 21, township 128, range 41.
"Woodland Farm." Owned by Charley J. Anderson and Anna M.
Anderson. Recorded May 27, 19 14. Located on section 8, township 128,
range 41.
"Lawrence Center Stock Farm." Owned by S. S. Wyand. Recorded
June 10, 1 9 14. Located on section 15, town.ship 130, range 44.
"Evergreen Farm." Owned by W. F. Wohlers. Recorded April 5,
1915. Located on section 20, township 130, range 41.
"Maple Dale." Owned by Peter Flodin and Inger Flodin. Recorded
June 17, 1915. Located on section 13, township 130, range 44.
"Green Valley Place." Owned by Willet G. Parsons and Hattie Mae
Parsons. Recorded March 15, 1916. Located on section 13, township 129,
range 43.
"Pleasant \'iew." Owned by R. P. Sugden and Olive Sugden.
Recorded April 14, 1916. Located on section 18, township 127, range 43.
"Meadow Brook." Owned by Soren T. Endreson. Recorded May 12,
191 6. Located on section 23, township 127, range 42.
"North Star." Owned by Julius H. Mau and Minnie H. Mau.
Recorded June 21, 1916. Located on section 11, township 128, range 42.
"Oak Wood." Owned by Errol J. McDonald and Marjorie McDonald.
Recorded July 11, 1916. Located on sections 16 and 17, township 129,
range 42.
"Riverside." Owned by John Stock. Recorded July 24, 19 16.
Located on section 36, township 127, range 41.
GRANT COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.
The Grant County Agricultural Association filed articles of incorpora-
tion on December 2, 1909. Its general purpose is to aid and develop the
agricultural resources of the county, to promote agricultural, horticultural
and mechanical experiments, and tests of various seeds, grains, vegetables,
fruits and grasses, and to hold annual fairs in this county. It also aims to
aid in the introduction and breeding of purebred live stock and to encourage
the training of good horses.
426 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
To attain these objects the association acquired a tract of land within
the village of Herman. The tirst officers were : O. W. Jones, president :
J. Ray Wells, vice-president; Oscar Arneson, secretary; A. D. Larson, treas-
urer. Directors: W. T. Ziebarth, John T. Lindem, Herman Hillmond, W.
H. Goetzinger, Orland Fallon, Charles Cater and F. A. Ekberg.
The association holds an annual fair and races at Herman, and has very
successful meetings.
CHAPTER VIII.
Travel and Transportation.
The first routes of travel established in the area which now comprises
Grant county were the trails of the native Indians who inhabited this region.
This particular locality was a favorable hunting ground for the redmen, and
as they moved frequently about the country they established certain well
defined paths leading from one camping ground to another. As this was a
part of the ground where the Chippewas and the Sioux had frequently bloody
encounters, these trails were often traveled by war parties of one or another
tribe. While these trails wound along lakes and streams, through the for-
ests and over the broad prairies in apparently aimless fashion, they took the
grades with surprising accuracy and subsequent careful surveying has shown
that in some places they were the best and shortest routes between certain
points.
It was not until 1850 that the first road built by white men penetrated
this region. In that year the old stage road from St. Cloud to Ft. Aber-
crombie was completed, crossing the northern part of Grant county, through
what is now Pelican Lake, Pomme de Terre and Stony Brook townships.
A way station was built at what later, became the village of Pomme de Terre,
and it was on this road, on section 18, in Pelican Lake township, that govern-
ment troops erected a stockade in 1862. Stage coaches made regular trips
over this road, carrying passengers to Ft. Abercrombie, where connections
were made with boats on the Red River of the North. Frequent mail ser-
vice was maintained, one of the early mail carriers being a Mr. Evans, for
whom the town of Evansville. in Douglas county, was named. Some of
the early settlers in Grant county earned money to purchase their first teams
and tools by hauling government supplies over this road to frontier garrisons
located, at points farther west and north. The cumbersome Red River cart
of the half-breed traders and trappers from Pembina creaked noisily along
this early route, laden with furs to be exchanged at St. Paul for pro\isions
and ammunition.
4-S DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ROUTES OF EARLY SETTLEMENT.
In the early sixties the tide of emigration was flowing slowly but steadily
towards this county, and a few adventurous men had already "prospected'"
through here, learning what a desirable country it was. The old stage road
would no doubt have carried many an incoming settler, had it not been for
the opening of the Civil War, which checked development in this region,
and the Indian outbreak of 1862, which made settlement hereabout impos-
siljle until the country was cleared of that savage foe. When the war
between the states was at an end and the hostile bands of Indians had been
removed to distant points, the first real settlers of Grant county began to
arrive.
A number of the settlers in the northern part of the county came in over
the stage road and located along it or in that neighborhood. Other of the
pioneers traveled to Alexandria by teams and then came over the trails
directly westward on foot, settling in the eastern and central parts of the
county- Many of the early settlers in the southern and southeastern parts
of the county came in from the south, on the trails which skirted the edge
of the prairie; and as the first railroad to approach this region was com-
pleted to Morris in 1870, it was natural that the incoming settlers should
come by rail to that point and then drive up from the south. When Grant
county was organized in 1873 it is estimated that there were about eight
hundred people here. One of their greatest needs was the establishment of
roads, and' the county board took immediate action in the matter.
LAYING OUT THE EARLY WAGON ROADS.
At the first meeting of the board of county commissioners, held on April
12, 1873, after locating the county seat and appointing the coimty officers,
the board ordered that each election district should be a road district, and
appointed an overseer for eadi of the four districts thus established. That
same summer the first bridge was built in Grant county. The board met a.t
Pomme de Terre on July 23, 1873, to receive proposals for building a bridge
across the Pomme de Terre river on section 24, township 130, range 42. A
plan of a bridge was submitted by Per Erlandson, also one by Joseph Olson
and Timothy Heald. Mr. tieald agreed to build the bridge for fi\e hundred
dollars, and have it finished by November i, 1873. His bid was accepted.
On July 28, 1874, a petition was presented to the county board by Even
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 429
E. Bjerke. signed by twenty-four legal voters of the territory to be affected,
requesting that a road be laid out from the southeast quarter of section 12^
township 128, range 41, in a certain specified indirect line to Herman, on
section 13, township 127, range 44. This would give the settlers in Elk
Lake township a fairly direct road to the railway at Herman. At the same
meeting a petition was presented by Ole Monson, signed by a number of
legal voters in Pelican Lake and Erdahl townships, requesting that a road
be laid out from a point on the stage road near the foot of Pelican lake,
south along the section line through Erdahl township. Also a petition was
presented by Jacob Olson, signed by legal voters of Erdahl and Sanford
townships, requesting that a road be laid out from Elbow Lake to the east
county line, there to connect with a road from Evansville, Douglas county.
At this meeting the board decided to build the second bridge to be built in
the county, which was to be located across the Pomme de Terre river on
section 12, tov/nship 128, range 42. The contract was let to Christopher
E. Berg, who agreed to build a good substantial bridge for two hundred
dollars.
On January 6, 1874, a petition was presented to the county board from
thirty-three legal voters, asking the board to have a road laid out through
the eastern part of Elk Lake and Land tov>'nships, to connect with a road
from Morris, in Stevens county. A petition was presented asking that a
road be laid out from the home of Ole Thompson, on section 15, township
128, range 41, to run east to the county line and connect with a road from
Alexandria. This would be a continuation of the road from Herman to
Elk Lake township. On September 10, 1874. a petition was presented
requesting that a road, be laid out connecting Barrett and Herman on a some-
what different route from the location mentioned in a preceding petition.
On May 29, 1875, a petition was presented to the county board, signed
by fifty-two legal voters of the territory to be afifected, asking that a road be
laid out as follows: Commencing at the corner of -Fiftli street and Ham-
burg avenue, in the village of Herman, to run in as direct a line as prac-
ticable to the village of Pomme de Terre. H. P. Hansen and Ole Canestorp
were appointed as a committee to meet at the house of Knud O. Laastuen
and locate this road.
The recital of these petitions is here given at some length, as it serves
to show where the largest settlements were in the county at that time, the
largest communities naturally demanding the first roads. Some of these
cross-country roads were actually laid out and built, Init it was not long
430 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
until tlie practice was established of laying out the reads as nearly as prac-
ticable on the section lines and the later petitions were framed accordingly.
In addition to the early roads laid out by the county there were a num-
ber of trails over the prairie which in time became plainly marked roads,
and some of them were developed by the state. Frequent mention is made
in the commissioners record of the state road from Herman to Fergus Falls
and the state road from Pomme de Terre to Fergus Falls, also a state road
from Herman to Big Stone Lake.
It was not many years after the county was settled that nearly every
section line was laid out as a road, and under county and township admin-
istration these roads were built and kept in repair. Considering the materials
at hand the "dirt" roads of Grant county compare very favorably with any
in the county.
STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION.
The system of county control of its roads and bridges prevailed until
1913, when a more economical and efficient system was introduced under
what is called the state highway commission. The present resources of this
commission consisto-f 'a"=tax-of one mill on each -dollar of vaksation, which,
together with the interest on the internal improvement land fund and other
resources, is annually distributed among the different counties in amounts
based on area, valuation, amount of their appropriation for roads and
bridges, mileage of state and other roads and topographical conditions. The
manner in which a county can avail itself of the state aid is by act of the
countv board in establishing a state road or bridge. After construction the
commission will refund a certain portion of the cost. This proportion
dqiends upon various eondrtions, and- in Grant county amounts .to seventy
per cent. Under this system there has been expended in Grant county dur-
ing the past year approximately fifteen thousand dollars, of which eighty
per cent, was for construction and twenty per cent, for maintenance.
The first resident engineer in Grant county under the workings of the
state highway commission was R. E. Kreuger, who started work in 1913 and
remained three years. In March, 1916, he was succeeded by W. E. Burgess,
who is now highway engineer for Grant county, assisted by Philip Jacobson,
draughtsman. .\t present there are four routes that have been designated as
state roads and are under varying degrees of improvement. State road No.
I is the road east from EIImw Lake through Erdahl to the eastern county line.
State road No. 2 is the road south from Elbow Lake to the northwest corner
of Roseville township, and north from Elbow Lake to the northern county
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 43 1
line. State road Xo. 3 is the road through the soutliern part of Lawrence
and Stony Brook townships, from road No. 2 to the western county Hne.
State road No. 4 is the road which crosses the southern tier of townships,
connecting Herman and Hoffman.
RAILROADS IN GRANT COUNTY.
The first railroad to enter Grant county was built by the St. Paul and
Pacific Railway Company in 1871, across the southwestern corner of the
county. The towns of Herman and Norcross were quickly laid out on this
road. The coming of this railroad served to hasten the settlement of the
county, provided a nearer market for produce and gave emplo}'Tnent to many
who later became residents here. The road is now a part of the Great
Northern system. In 1879 a railroad was built by the St. Paul, Minneapolis
and Manitoba Railway Company across the northeastern corner of the
county. It also is now a part of the Great Northern system. The town of
Ashby was laid out on this road in 1880. Another railroad which is a part
of the Great Northern system crosses the north central part of the county.
It was biiilt in 1887.
The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie railroad, commonly
known as the "Soo-Pacific," was built through Grant county in 1887. In
common with the other main lines of road in this section of the state it fol-
lows a northwesterly course, this direction being determined by the efforts
to tap the richest districts of the northwest.
Excellent passenger and freight service is maintained on these roads,
and some of the most palatial trains in the country now cross Grant county,
affording a wonderful contrast to the ox-teapis which conveyed some of the
first settlers.
CHAPTER IX.
Schools of Grant County.
No better indication of the high ideals of the pioneers who settled this
county could be desired than the fact that their first concern, after estab-
lishing their homes, was to secure schools for their children. The first
school house was built in Elk Lake township, in 1872, before the county
was formally organized. This was a log building and other schools were
soon started in various parts of the county in private homes or in a claim
shanty or dug-out. As soon as the county was organized, in 1873, ^ num-
ber of petitions were presented to the county commissioners requesting that
school districts be established in the principal settlements. These petitions
were granted and some eight or ten districts were established, but the num-
bering and the boundaries of the districts became so confused in the records
that on April i, 1875, the county board re-numbered them and established
the schools in eleven districts. District No. i was all of Elk Lake town-
ship and the east half of Lien. District No. 2 was all of Land and Rose-
ville townships. District No. 3 was all of Logan and Macsville townships.
District No. 4 was the west half of Lien and the east part of Delaware town-
ships. District No. 5 was the east part of Elbow Lake and all of Sanford
townships. District No. 6 was all of Erdahl township. District No. 7 was
the northwest part of Pelican Lake township. District No. 8 was the north-
east and central part of Pelican Lake township. District No. 9 was the
southwest part of Pelican Lake township. District No. 10 was the west
part of Elbow Lake township. District No. 1 1 was all of Pomme de Terre,
Stony Brook and Lawrence townships. It should be understood that these
townships were not organized at the time, but the use of the names in this
connection is less confusing than to give the legal description of the districts
by section, township and range.
Thus every part of the county was supplied with meager school facili-
ties except what is now Gorton and North Ottawa townships, which were
not settled until a little later. Soon after these districts were established
school district No. 12 was formed in the township of Stony Brook. This
numbering has been maintained in the respective locations though all the
districts have since then been subdivided as additional schools were needed.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 433
SKETCH BY ONE OF THE PIONEERS.
The early count}- superintendents of schools were not in every case
school teachers. Some were farmers and some were business men, and at
that time no uniform system of reports was made to the state officials, so no
records of the early schools are to be found in the archives of the county.
The early superintendents devoted only a part of their time to the duties
of the office, and it was not until 1882, when Thomas C. Hodgson was
county superintendent of schools, that the office was placed on a salary
basis, the commissioners agreeing to pay Mr. Hodgson five hundred dollars
for his services during the school term. Mr. Hodgson was an able instructor
and an excellent organizer and under his guidance the schools made rapid
progress. When the new court house was dedicated, in 1906, Mr. Hodgson
wrote an historical sketch of the county to be placed in the corner-stone.
Included in this sketch was a brief review of the early schools and a descrip-
tion of conditions at that time, as follows :
"The first common school district organized in the county was undoub-
tedly in Elk Lake, still known as No. i. The date of organization is not
given in the records, but in the files in the auditor's office there is a notice
of officers elected in April, 1873. It first comprised the whole township.
It was the only district to draw its apportionment in 1873. The second
district to be organized (the first one mentioned in the commissioner's record)
is the same district known as No. 7, in the northwest part of Pelican Lake
township. This district built a log school house in 1874 and held school
that year.
"In 1874 five schools were held and drew their apportionment, but the
records are so confused that it cannot be known which districts they were,
except that those above were among them. Many of the schools were held
in private houses, in very small rooms; some were held in cabins and dug-
outs after their inhabitants had moved into better buildings. Among the
difficulties of teaching in the early days was the fact that most of the
children were unable to speak English. They had to learn the language
as well as the rudiments of learning. Schools were held only for a short
term and when the year had rolled round the pupils had forgotten most
of what they had learned the year before. It was like climbing two steps
of a ladder and falling back one. Of the educational qualifications of the
teachers generally in the early days not very much can be said, but it can
truthfullv be stated that thev nearlv alwavs met the requirements of the
(28)
434 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
times. They did honest work, put up with hard fare, and accepted low
wages. Of those early-day pupils too, it may be said that they have served
their day and generation fully as acceptably as those who came after them."
SOME OF THE EARLY SCHOOL HOUSES.
The first school house in Grant county, already alluded to, was built
by the settlers in Elk Lake township at their own expense and largely by
their own labor. That neighborhood had one of the largest of the early
settlements and in the summer of 1872 the project of building a school
was talked of. In the fall a meeting was held and all present agreed to
furnish logs and labor. Those who took part were Halvor Anderson, Ole
Anderson, A. Benson, Even Bjerke, Syver Ellingson, Peder Gran, Ole Gud-
munson, A. Hubred, Iver Johnson, Kittel Johnson, O. W. Olson, Sam
Olson, Tore Olson, Ole Ring, Jens Sethney, Bernt Swenson, Ole Torsten-
son and perhaps one or two others. Logs were cut and hauled by ox-teams
to the site selected, and the walls of the building were erected in the late
fall of 1872. The roof was put on and the building finished in the early
spring of 1873. It was eighteen by twenty-four feet in size. School was
held that year and the school immediately drew state apportionment. The
first teacher in this school was Mrs. Martha Sethneiy, long a resident of
Elk Lake township. At a later date this building was sided with boards
over the log frame, the roof was reshingled and the interior remodeled.
The first school in Land township was held in an old machine shed on
the farm of Martin Studlien about 1874. Christene Nash was the first
teacher. This school became district school No. 2. District schools Nos.
3 and 4 also held sessions in 1874, in Logan and Lien township, respec-
tively. The school which became district school No. 5 was started in 1874
on section 7, Sanford township, in an old log house formerly used by Ole
Fletcher. Alice Hill was the first teacher and at the first term there were
four pupils; Sophia Peterson, Olive Christiansen and two children of Knud
O. Laastuen. The first school in Pelican Lake township was started in
1874 or 1875 in a little log house owned by Ole Wold, on section 10, a
short distance southwest of the present site of Ashby village. This school
was taught by Sallie Johnson. The first school in Stony Brook township
was held in the little log cabin which had been erected for church services
in 1872. The school was started about 1874 or 1875. This school was
taught by Hans H. Haavig, who had been a teacher in Norway and was
well educated. He was also a fine singer and led the singing in the church.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 435
This school became district school No. 12, which was the only school in
Stony Brook township for several years after the organization.
PIONEER SCHOOL CONDITIONS.
All the early schools of course had very meager equipment. Very few
children had a complete set of text books, in fact, there were not sufficient
books to establish regular courses. There were no maps, charts or globes,
and only a few home-made blackboards. Reading, spelling, writing and
-numbers were the principal subjects taught. In some of the early schools
it was the custom to studv aloud, and when two or more children were
using the same book the result was not always harmonious. This custom
soon became obsolete. As the county de^■eloped log school houses were
replaced by frame structures and in a few cases brick buildings were
erected.
TEACHERS OF 1 896.
In 1890 -the number of school districts had increased to forty-eight.
In 1896 there were fifty-five districts. The teachers in that year were:
Amanda Ash, Rena Asleson, Carrie Barnes, Mary Borchert, Florence Cald-
well, Sarah M. Ellsworth, Gustaf Gilbertson, Anna L. Godward, Eliza-
beth Godward, Isabella Groven, Hannah Gudmunson, Nora Grim, Thea
C. Dahlen, Lizzie Dahlen, Hattie Davidson, Ida M. Dewey, Alphia Flade-
land, Frank Heald, Kate Hodgson, Mrs. Emma Heald, Isabella Hodgson,
Annie Hollen, Estella Houston, Julia D. Johnson, Maggie Johnson, Jennie
Johnson, Martha C. Johnson, Augusta Johnson, Amanda Lake, Emily Lit-
tle, Alice Little, Mrs. Thea Nash, Martin Mikkelson, Emily Nelson, Louise
Nelson, Julia M. Osen, Julia Pederson, Mrs. Warren Polar, A. M. Pen-
nock, Henry Peterson, Mae !^reston, Blanche Prescott, Gertrude Schiefer,
August Sethney, Mary Smith, Olive Stanley, Clara P. Stave, Tena H.
Tollefson, Tina O. Tollefson, Charley Thoreson, George L. Woodworth,
Bertha Scofield, H. W. Shroyer and Mrs. H. W. Shroyer.
DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The real development of the modern school system begun with intro-
duction of grades. The graded school afforded a scientific basis upon which
to work. .At an earlv date the requirements for teaching were increased
and facilities were secured to aid in instruction. Free text-books were
436 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
introduced, and all schools were equipped with maps, globes and dictionaries.
Longer terms were held and buildings were remodeled or built with greater
regard to lighting, heating and ventilation.
Numerous laws were passed by the state Legislature to aid in secur-
ing better schools. In 1877 an act was approved allowing -women to vote
on all school matters. In 1887 a state law required instruction on physi-
ology and hygiene, with special reference to the effect of stimulants and nar-
cotics upon the human system. In 1885 the state agreed to pay half the
cost of libraries for the schools. Acts were also passed arranging for the
state department of education to grant certificates to teachers ; and to extend
state aid to schools of a certain standing.
AIMS OF THE MODERN SCHOOL.
In igo6 there were sixty-four school districts in Grant county and in
1916 there are sixty-nine. These schools are distributed over the county
in such a manner as to make it most convenient for all children to attend.
The school of the present day is a wonderful improvement over the pioneer
school in equipment and scientific methods. The aim of the modern school
is to afford not only mental training, but supply serviceable knowledge as
well. To this end courses are given in the use of tools, agriculture, domes-
tic science and commercial branches. Local and state fair contests and
boys and girls clubs add to the interest of school work.
Teachers" institutes, reading circles and libraries now help to enlarge
the scope of instruction, and parent-teacher clubs bring home and school
nearer together. When a school has attained a certain high standing in
regard to length of term, qualifications of teacher, condition of building
and equipment, library and school grounds, it is entitled to state aid to
the extent of one hundred and fifty dollars each term. Fifty-five schools in
Grant county are now receiving this state aid.
TEACHERS FOR I916.
The total enrollment in the schools for the year 191 5 was 889 pupils
in the high and graded schools, and 1,503 pupils in the rural and semi-
graded schools. There were thirty-nine teachers in the high and graded
schools, and seventy in the rural and semi-graded schools. The teachers in
the various districts for 19.16 are as follow: District No. i, Clara Sanders;
No. 2, Irene Flvnn; No. 3, E. B. Anderson, superintendent of Herman high
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 437
school; No. 4, Stella Erickson; No. 5, L. H. Brinks, superintendent of
Elbow Lake high school; No. 6, Augusta Johnson; No. 7, Annie Wilson;
No. 8, G. A. Fjeldstad, superintendent of Ashhy high school ; No. 9, Thora
Dybdal; No. 10, M. J. McDonald; No. 11, Pearl Holman; No. 12, NelHe
Ellingson; No. 13, Sena Bah; No. 14, Gladys Sauby; No. 15, Olive Thomp-
son; No. 16, Alice Newman; No. 17, Alma Hanson; No. 18, Mary Smith;
No. 19, Alma M. Louthan; No. 20, Ida M. Johnson; No. 21, Margaret
Cavanough; No. 22, Ephra Ackerman; No. 23, Ida Kassa ; No. 24,
Charlotta Johnson; No. 25, Mildred Palin; No. 26, Blanche Schoonover;
No. 27, Lilly Johnson; No. 28, Alma Bengston; No. 29, Sigrid Fjoslien;
No. 30, Lilly Dybdal; No. 31, Josephine Groheler and Lulu Christophel;
No. T,2, Betsy Hanson; No. ^^, Mabel Hall, superintendent of Barrett
school; No. 34, Clara Klug, superintendent of Wendell school; No. 35, Eda
Thompson; No. 36, Agnes Manskau; No. 37, Martha Mecklenberg; No. 38,
Genevieve Doely; No. 39, Hilda Dahler; No. 40, Amber Hastie; No.
41, Annie Johnson; No. 42, J. A. Cook, Hoffman school; No. 43,
Ella Holt; No. 44, Eldora Lund; No. 45, Stella Adams; No. 46, Dotty D.
Nye; No. 47, Olive Huseth; No. 48, Latania Ackerson; No. 49, Hilda Mel-
by; No. 50, Nellie Brown; No. 51, Dessie Ziebarth; No. 52, Margaret Hoff;
No. 53, Hilda Haugen; No. 54, Ulda Dybdal; No. 55, Fannie Iverson; No.
56, no school; No. 57, Anna Dahler; No. 58, Ella Ness; No. 59, Grace
Sheppard; No. 60, Hulda Bengtson; No. 61, Lydia Enderle ; No. 62, Cecelia
Berquist; No. 63, Ida Martinson; No. 64, Ida Sellseth; No. 65, Clara Ears-
ley; No. 66, Mabel Haugen; No. 67, Jennie Vik; No. 68, Eudora LaGrange;
No. 69, Bada Chambers.
SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICERS.
In the following list are given the names of the school district officers
for 1916-17, with the township in which the school is located. The first
named is the clerk, the second is the director and the third is the treasurer.
No. I, Elk Lake township— R. E. Olson, O. B. Peterson, O. W. Olson.
No. 2, Land township — T. Joranger, A. R. Bjelland, P. O. Nordin.
No. 3, Herman village— A. H. Morken, A. W. Wells, E. E. Peck.
No. 4, Lien township — Otto Nelson, Andy Block. H. A. Larson.
No. 5, Elbow Lake village — Tos. E. Dybdal, E. Sauby, W. E. Lan-
deene.
No. 6, Erdahl township— Olous O. Bah, J. T. Johnson, Ole A. Dahlen.
438 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
No. 7, Pelican Lake township — Anton O. Sumstad, Charles Nelson,
Julius Elberling.
No. 8, Ashby village— L. J. Hauge, E. K. Teisberg, A. M. Randall.
No. 9, Pelican Lake township — C. E. Schow, Joseph Balgard, Bodel
Anderson.
No. ID, Elbow Lake township — A. Haakenson, A. L Haugen, Elef
Gren.
No. II, Pomme de Terre township — George M. Johnson, H. L. Olson,
Fred Schwarck.
No. 12, Stony Brook township — O. E. Lillemon, Ole Asleson, Nils
Skinnemoen.
No. 13, Erdahl township — J. E. Olson, Martin N. Lee, H. O. Rustad.
No. 14, Lien township — J. B. Blixrud, John Sandberg, Mons A. Ron-
hovde.
No. 15, Pomme de Terre township — H. O. Johnson, Peter Brandvold,
Henry Tollefson.
No. 16, Roseville township — F. D. Clark, U. F. McCollor, Aug. Holm.
No. 17, Elbow Lake township — A. O. Halvorson, Lars H. Berg, J. H.
Ferguson.
No. 18, Gorton township — A. H. Richards, C. H. Christophel, John
Gronwold.
No. 19, Delaware township — C. E. Ellison, A. DeVries, Wm. Hedlund.
No. 20, Roseville township^-A. T. Lindem, Jens Lerum, z'Vlbert Lind-
strom.
No. 21, Macsville township — Theo. Ritzschke, W. H. Brown, Frank
Oachs.
No. 22, Sanford township — C. J. Nibbie, B. E. Engen, Ole H. Larson.
No. 2T,, Roseville township — James R. Borrill, Fred Zimer, W. H.
Kridler.
No. 24, Elbow Lake township — H. C. Kersten, G. Johnson, L. L.
Brewster.
No. 25, Lien township — C. O. Strand, Ed. Rulien, William Coleman.
No. 26, Delaware township — C. A. Anderson, Christ Christensen.
Erick Helsene.
No. 27, North Ottawa townshijD — Mrs. George Larson, Nick Koltes,
John Sieben.
No. 28, Lawrence township — Fred \^'eigand, Geo. ^^'eigand. H. Weaver.
No. 29, Stony Brook township — O. K. Lysne, T. T. Cordal, S. S.
Wangsnes.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 439
No. 30, Elbow Lake township — T. C. Johnson, K. O. Sand, H. K.
Vigen.
No. 31. Norcross village — B. Torgersrud, George Houps, J. A.
Loughlan.
No. ^2, Elk Lane township — O. M. Huberd, Thomas Otterson, J.
Sethney.
No. T,^, Barrett village — E. N. Ellingson, A. F. Peterson, August
Miller.
No. 34, W'endell village — John E. Raines, H. T. Haavig, L. C. Ber-
gan.
No. 35, Elk Lake township— C. J. Anderson, Ole Melin, A. M. Ander-
son.
No. 36, Lawrence township — J. H, Summers, J. W. Thiel, J. F. Styer.
No. ^y, Pomme de Terre township — Alfred H. Woessner, Louis Island,
William Woessner.
No. 38, Sanford township — L M. Westermoe, Louis Pederson, Ole A.
Olson.
No. 39, Elbow Lake township — Olous A. Pikop, Knut A. Pikop, Alick
Ormbrick.
No. 40, North Ottawa township — Oscar Amundson, John Ricks, An-
drew Rustand.
No. 41, Land township — Swan Auslund, Abner Erickson, Theodore
Lindquist.
No. 42, Hoffman village — H. L. Englund, P. P. Hedenstrom, Eric
Sletten.
No. 43, Erdahl township — J. J. Taylor. E. Conroy, A. J. Betland.
No. 44, Erdahl townshili — A. G. Enberg, Hans Johnson, J. P. Ander-
son.
No. 45, Lawrence township — Mrs. V. A. Bugbee, F. J. Miller, A. G.
Kube.
No. 46, Logan township — Louis L. Lentferr, William Boeckholt, H.
N. Erfert.
No. 47, Elk Lake township — F. A. Peterson, P. H. Nelson, A. J.
Peterson.
No. 48, Sanford township — Herman Ledum, Pete Ekelien, Engbert
Syverson.
No. 49, Land townshii^ — Anton Amundson, Alfred Hagen, Thosten
Haatvedt.
440 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
No. 50, North Ottawa township — W. W. Cushman, Jake Besler, Roy
L. Brown.
No. 51, Delaware township — B. D. Brewster, John Buhr, Austin Vaa.
No. 52, Elk Lake township— J. T. Halvorson, Pete Peterson, Alfred
Lund.
No. 53, Lien township — E. J. Newman, Knut Waugh, John J. Leraas.
No. 54, Elbow Lake township — Sven Jorgens, Knut Fjoslien, G. C.
Paulson.
No. 55, Pomme de Terre township — Mike Thompson, M. Haroldson,
T. A. Hagen.
No. 56, Delaware township — Albert Passer, Dan Kloos, Emil Nelson.
No. 57, Sanford township — Lewis T. Fagerberg, Herman Huset, Ben-
hard Westrom.
No. 58, Erdahl village— O. G. Reine, C. A. Bergren, H. T. Harrison.
No. 59, Roseville township — Conrad Blixrud, N. P. Peterson, Herman
Podratz.
No. 60, Lien township — J. H. Clark, Hans Moen, Bennie Ostenson.
No. 61, Lawrence township — R. C. Tompson, M. A. Baker, G. A.
Shuck.
No. 62. Macsville township — Mrs. C. J. Bacon, A. H. Blume, Theo-
dore Johnson.
No. 63, Pomme de Terre township — Jacob Haberer, Andrew Woes-
sner, Pete Martinson.
No. 64, Gorton township — Edwin J. Awe, Louis Steger, William
Jones.
No. 65, Delaware township — John Beck, R. F. Rarer, Knute Haugen.
No. 66, North Ottawa township — O. K. Rustand, John Kelly, Charles
Gorden.
No. 67, Lien township — Martin Leraas, Niles P. Setterlund, Oscar
Erickson.
No. 68, Gorton township — R. H. Martin, Oscar Hillestad, William
Steinhagen.
No. 69, Macsville township — F. A. Ekberg, \\'illiam Tretten, H. B.
Johnson.
FINANCIAL ST..\TEMENT.
The following financial statement is taken from the report of the county
superintendent of schools, for the year ending July 31, 1916:
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 44]
High and Rural and Soni-
Graded School Graded School
Receipts. Districts. Districts.
Cash on hand at beginning of year $ 6,756.97 $15,789.55
Received from apportionment 5,095.17 9,155.27
Received from special tax 21,080.75 20.894.60
Received from local one-mill tax 1,176.15 4,827.82
Received from special state aid 9,184.00 4,578.37
Received from bonds and other sources 18,621.15 1,993.11
Total $61,914.19 $57,238.7:
Disbursements.
Paid for teachers' wages and board $26,327.46
Paid for fuel and school supplies 3,743.42
Paid for repairs and improving grounds 2,215.64
Paid for new school houses and sites 14,453.29
Paid for bonds and. iaterest — ^ 85.47
Paid for library books 196.95
Paid for text-books 889.88
Paid for apparatus 469.70
Paid for transportation of pupils 67.41
Paid for all other purposes 3,963.52
Cash on hand at end of year 9,503.45
Total $61,914.19
Amount of outstanding orders $607.48
^^7'373-^3
3.961.42
1,646.89
20.00
710.25
644.86
766.24
-'3774
3,748.16
18,150.03
$57.-'38.72
$82.95
CHAPTER X.
Churches of Grant County.
There is no better recommendation for a country than the fact that it
is weU suppHed with churches of various denominations. The fact that such
a circumstance exists in Grant county makes this locahty a coveted place
of settlement. AlthoughUiere are many churches and many different denomi-
nations in the county the history of their organization is very incomplete
and the requests for information have been very meagerly answered.
SYNOD LUTHERAN CHURCHES.
In 187 1 and 1872 the Rev. Louis Carlson held services in many parts of
the county. He organized several congregations, among them being those
of Elk Lake, Lien, Elbow Lake, Erdahl and Herman. This valiant mission-
ary did valuable service for four years, and then became a missionary to
Australia. After a few years he returned from Australia and again took
up his work in this'iield. He removed' to California and" died there. Means
with which to build churches in the early days were limited, and the meet-
ings had to be held in small private dwellings and later in school houses.
According to tradition perhaps the first religious service in the county was
a Swedish meeting held in Land township in the dug-out belonging to Gust
Shalmark. This meeting was presided over by Rev. Mageney, a traveling
missionary.
The congregation at Aastad was the first to build a church edifice. The
congregation was organized in 1872, and the following year began prepara-
tion for a church building. It was of logs, twenty-six by thirty-six feet and
ten feet high, with four small windows on a side. The expense was three
hundred dollars, logs furnished free. The church was completed in 1875
and served its purpose until 1889 when it was replaced by a modern frame
building. In 1881 a large and beautiful church was erected at Herman at a
cost of over five thousand dollars. It was for a long time the finest piece
of architecture in the county and one of the nicest churches in the western
part of the state. In 1883 churches were built in Lien and Elbow Lake
townships. In 1875, I^^^'- ^'- Erdahl began his labor in this county. He
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 443
held meetings in all parts of the county and lived to see man_\- prosperous
congregations organized.
The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church of Elbow Lake township
was organized on October 12, 1873, by the Rev. Louis Carlson, who served
as pastor from 1873 until 1875. He was followed by Rev. G. M. Erdahl
who served until 1900. Rev. O. G. Juul was the ne.xt pastor and served
until 191 5. At that time Rev. E. Wulfsberg became the pastor. In 1889
the congregation built a modern edifice which they continue to use as a
place of worship. The present membership is about two hundred.
The Pomme de Terre Lake Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church
was organized on December 5, 1873, ^y the Rev. Louis Carlson. The pas-
tors of this congregation have been the same as those for the Elbow Lake
Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church mentioned above. A modern frame
church building was erected in 1899. The present membership is one hun-
dred and ten.
The St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church of the village of Elbow
Lake was organized in 1900 by the Rev. O. G. Juul, with the following
charter members: L. J. Hauge, H. J. Bollum, P. P. Larson, Christian
Haarstad, K. T. Dahlen, Lars Lynne, O. L. Larson, H. W. Olson. The first
meeting was held in the residence of John K. Lee. Services were held
in school house for some time and then in the Swedish church for two years.
Rev. G. M. Erdahl preached here many years. Reverend Juul served as
pastor until 191 5 and was followed by Rev. E. Wulfsberg who is the pres-
ent pastor. As the church congregation grew and prospered a handsome
church building was erected in 1907. The present membership is one hun-
dred and seventy-five.
The Stony Brook Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church, located at
Wendell, was organized in 1905 by the Rev. O. G. Juul, who served as
pastor until 191 5. He was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. E. Wulfs-
berg. In due season a modern church building was erected at a cost of four
thousand dollars. The present membership is one hundred and fifteen.
Other congregations of the same denomination were organized in Elk
Lake, on ^Nlay 6, 1872; Lien, in 1873, and Gorton, in 1877.
The Svnod Lutheran church of Norcross was one of the congregations
organized by Rev. Erdahl. When the charge was divided the congregation
was assigned to Reverand Juul who labored there until 19 15 and was suc-
ceeded by Rev. Holum. Although the congregation is not large it is very
active and exercises a potent influence in the communit}-. .\ nice little
church was built a few years ago that is now entirely paid for.
4-14 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
REV. GULLIK M. ERDAHL.
Rev. Gullik M. Erdahl was born in, Hardanger, Norway, on October
5, 1840, and seven years later emigrated to America with his parents and
settled in Madison, Wisconsin. He studied in the high school of that city
for some time and then entered Luther College at Decorah, Iowa, from
which he was graduated in 1866. In order that he might better prepare
himself for the ministry, he continued his research at the Concordia Semi-
nary, at St. Louis, from which school he was graduated in 1869. He pur-
sued his studies in the University of Michigan the following year and in 1871
entered the state of Kansas as a missionary and remained there one year.
He then removed to Omaha, Nebraska, where he organized several con-
gregations and also one at Soldier Valley, in Monona county, Iowa. In
1875 he received a call from the congregations of Grant county, including
those of Lincoln, Immanuel, Elbow Lake, Pomme de Terre and Hjerdal.
He served these congregations until 1900 at which time the circuit was
divided. Rev. O. G, Juul was assigned to the congregation in the northern
part of the county and Reverend Erdahl retained the Lincoln and Immanuel
congregations.
Thus for forty- four years Reverend Erdahl was a teacher and preacher
of the gospel; for thirty-nine years he served the same congregations. It
was a record of labor in the service of the Master that is most creditable.
It covers an experience that none but one who has dedicated his life to the
advancement of Christ's kingdom would choose to select. He came out on
the western frontier in the early days, not that he might' better his own
condition but for the sake of the Gospel and humanity. His choice evi-
denced a steadfastness, a nobility of purpose that is characteristic of few.
He met his own trials and privations, sorrows and worries. He forgot
self and shared the adversities and sorrows of his people, he comforted them
with words of cheer and bade them take courage when despondency threat-
ened. He pointed out the way of righteousness and carried the Savior's
message of love and forgiveness. As a minister he arose above denomina-
tionalism; he carried a message of reason, of acceptance of Christ and the
Savior of mankind. He died at his home near Barrett on March 25, 1914.
SWEDISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Fridhem church, located five miles
southeast of Barrett in the town of Lien, was organized in December, 1877.
Among the charter members were, P. A. Moller, Erick Johnson, Olaf
DOUOLAS ANn GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 445
Cederberg, Wilhelni Erlandson, John G. Peterson. The first pastor was
Rev. L. J. Kronberg. This congregation was reorganized in 1885 and incor-
porated the same year at the home of Mons Anderson. At that time Rev. J.
Lundberg was the pastor. The present pastor is the Rev. Oscar O. Gustaf-
son of Elbow Lake. The church property is vahied at three thousand five
hundred dollars and the present membership is one hundred and nineteen.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethel church of Herman was organ-
ized in 1880 by the Rev. J. Lundberg. Among the members instrumental in
the organization were, C. A. Smith, John A. Willd. Isaak Ekberg and Andrew
Selander. The congregation has a church and grounds valued at three
thousand dollars. The present pastor is Rev. Oscar Gustafson, and the
membership is eighty-two.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Elbow Lake was
organized and incorporated in 1887, the pastor at that time being the Rev.
J. Lundberg. Among the men who were responsible for the organization
of the church at this point were: Nels Hakanson, Nels Anderson, Nels
Olson and Rev. J. Lundberg. Li the beginning, services were held in various
places and often in the town hall, but as the congregation grew in strength
and numbers a handsome church building was erected at a cost of about
three thousand dollars. Among the pastors have been Reverend Nordstrom,
Reverend Olson and Rev. M. W. Gustafson. The pastor at the present time
is Rev. Oscar O. Gustafson, who is a college man of unusual talents and
liberal ideas. The present membership is one hundred and thirty-tw^o.
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Hoffman is one
of the three church organizations that has originated from the mother church
of Wennersborg in the town of Solem, Douglas county. The church con-
gregation was not incorporated until 1901 but was organized several years
before. In 1900 a beautiful and modern building was erected, costing about
four thousand five hundred dollars. The congregation is unusually strong
as is evidenced by the present membership, there being two hundred and
forty-seven. Among the early pastors was Rev. Nordstrom, who conducted
services at many points in the county. Rev. Rudolph Vollquist was pastor
of the congregation for several years and was succeeded by Rev. P. P.
Hedenstrom, who has been the regular pastor for the past eight years.
NORWEGIAN UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The Norwegian United Lutheran congregation of Elbow Lake held
their first service in 1875, the meeting being conducted by the Rev. J. A.
Berg. He was a traveling missionary and preached here only occasionally.
446 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
He served the religious needs of the people for about two years and was
succeeded by Rev. I. Tharaldson, who two years later established congrega-
tions in Elk Lake township and Bethana. Shortly afterward, Reverend
Tharaldson removed to Grand Forks, and he was succeeded by Rev. Gustaf
Oftedal and he in turn by Rev. Ole Ogen, of Morris, Rev. X. Hierman and
A. Wold. In 1886, Rev. P. T. Peterson, of Minneapolis, received a call and
being ordained the same year, took up the work. Following him was Rev.
S. A. Johnson, then Rev. L. E. Kleppe, and the present pastor, Rev. H. 'SI.
Thoresen.
THE HJARDAL CONGREGATION.
The Hjardal congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran church was
organized on April 8, 1S81, under the name of the Norske Evangeliske
Lutherske Menighed of Ten Mile Lake, under the direction of the Rev. T.
Wetleson, those participating in tlie organization and present at the initial
meeting of the same having been Ole Johnson, K. O. Sanby, Aslak Tollef-
son. Roar Halvorson, Ole Sorenson, Nils B. Brekke, Tobias O. Sanby, Olaus
Ostenson, Halvor Alikkelson and Andreas Erickson. The first pastor, the
Rev. T. Witleson, served the congregation until in September, 1886, when
he was succeeded by the Rev. A. J. Hulting, who served until 1891 and
under whose pastorate, in 1887, the name of the congregation was changed
to that which it now bears, Hjardal. It was also during Mr. Hulting's
pastorate that the church was erected, in 1889, the congregation previous to
that time having held its meetings in the school house in district No. 15.
The- Rev. P. T. Petterson'was called to succeed the Reverend Hulting and
he sen-ed until in December, 1899, when he was succeeded by the Rev.
Aaron Johnson, who was succeeded on November 11, 1903, by the Rev.
L. E. Kleppe, who resigned in July. 1906, and was succeeded by the Rev.
H. M. Thorson, the present pastor, under whose pastorate progress is reported
in all departments of the work of the church, the present membership of
which is about forty-three.
The Norcross Evangelical Lutheran church was organized in 1878
under the ministration of the Rev. G. Erdahl, who served as the first pastor
of the same and was succeeded in turn by the Rev. O. G. Juul. the Rev. T.
A. Hoft' and the Rev. J. O. Holum, the latter of whom is the present efficient
pastor of the congregation. The congregation numbers a membership of
seventv and worships in a substantial frame building. The various depart-
ments of the work of the church are well organized and a Ladies Aid
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 447
Society and a Young Ladies Club contribute very materially to the cause
of the church.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
In the summer of 1886, Rev. A. C. Petitt, of Fergus Falls, began to
hold services at Elbow Lake, and after several months of persistent labor,
he succeeded in organizing a Presbyterian church on October 23, 1886. The
meeting was held at the home of J. N. Sanford, Rev. A. C. Petitt presiding
and Reverend Winchester preaching the sermon. After the sermon the
following named persons were received as the charter members of the
organization: Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Sanford, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Marple,
and IMrs. Xancy E. X'anNess. Messrs. Sanford and Marple were chosen as
elders but the former declined to act as ruling elder. Mr. Marple was duly
installed, having been previously ordained in the church of Western. Rev.
Pettitt continued his labors among the people at Elbow Lake until April,
1887, when he accepted a call from the churches of Maine and Maplewood,
^Minnesota. The church was then without a pastor for several months, until
Rev. W. T. McAltioner came to the field. Owing to his wife's illness he
was obliged to leave ere he got rightly into the work. The little flock being
left without a shepherd, became discouraged and somewhat indifferent so
that for a time it seemed almost advisable to abandon the field. However, on
December 9, 1888, Harold Thorson gave Rev. James God ward, of Evans-
ville, a pressing invitation to preach for the people at Elbow Lake on the
following Sabbath. The invitation was accepted and a large attentive audi-
ence assembled to hear the preached word, and strange as it may seem to
old and thoroughly organized congregations, Rev. Godward was engaged by
the leading business and professional men of the town to preach every altern-
ate Sabbath for one year, and there was not a Presbyterian among them.
The salary agreed upon was increased one hundred dollars the first year.
Reverend Godward served the spiritual needs of the people until his death,
;\Iav 14, 1913- R- G. Rieman, a student pastor, filled the pulpit during the
summer of the same year. In November, 1913, Rev. A. T. Huber accepted
the call of the congregation and is the present pastor. He also has charge
(if the church at Ashby. The membership of the local congregation is one
hundred and eight.
The present church building was erected in 1897 at a cost of two thou-
sand seven hundred dollars. Improvements have since been made thus mak-
ing the building quite ample to meet the needs of the congregation.
The Ashby Presbyterian church was organized on December 9, 1888,
448 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
by Rev. A. C. Elmer and Rev. James Godward, with the following charter
members: E. ]\Iarden and wife, William Porter and wife, Dr. William
McKenzie and wife, D. R. Davidson and wife, M. A. Burbank and wife,
A. D. Dewey and wife, Mrs. H. K. Fisk, George Huggett. Rev. James God-
ward was the first pastor and served ten years, from 1888 to 1898. Rev.
J. \V. Hood succeeded Re\'erend Godward and served the congregation one
year. Rev. A. T. Ploetz became the pastor in 1900 and served one year.
Rev. W. H. Leggett was pastor from 1901 to 1907. He was followed by
Rev. D. O. Bean, who served about one year. From 1908 to 191 1 the church
had no regular pastor. In 1912 Rev. John Mark accepted the call of the
congregation and was the pastor for about two years. Since that time Rev.
A. T. Huber, of Elbow Lake, has been the pastor. The present membership
numbers seventeen. The congregation uses the church building formerly
owned by the Methodist congregation.
REV. JAMES GODWARD.
The Re\-. James Godward was born in Sheffield, England, May 29,
1845, and in 1849 came to this country with his parents who settled in the
vicinity of Youngstown, Ohio. His mother died when he was quite young
and he was brought up under the guidance and direction of his elder brother.
He spent his boyhood days in Ohio, and until he was eighteen years of age
worked in the coal mines. During the Civil War he enlisted in the service
of his country and became a member of a volunteer regiment from Ohio. He
served in the war about a year and returning home at the end of the war
resumed his work in the coal fields. During the time he was working in
the coal fields he was educating himself. After working hours he recited
to students and teachers of ^^'estminster College, located at Xew Wilming-
ton, Pennsylvania.
In December, 1865, James Godward was married to Jean Binnie, a
Highland Scotch girl of unusual talents and wisdom. Soon after his mar-
riage he became a member of the Neshannock church, a so-called country
church, but one having an average attendance of one thousand and an
approximate membership of two thousand people. This church has the dis-
tinction of sending out more missionaries than any other church of this
denomination. To say that Reverend Godward was as great as any of
these would not be an exaggeration. For many years he was an active elder
in the church and a leader in Sunday school and temperance work. He
remained in Xew Wilmington several vears and then moved to Albany,
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DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 449
Ohio, and organized the Concord church, of which he was an elder and
superintendent of the Sabbath school. After a few years he went back to
New Wilmington and there was chosen as an elder in the church. From
New Wilmington he removed to Mt. Jackson where he was chosen as an
elder and superintendent of the Sabbath school. He remained at Mt. Jackson
for several years and then returned to Albany and worked in the church there.
During all this time he was studying and preparing himself for the service of
God. ^
He decided to enter the mission field and came west in the early part of
1887, and was ordained at Moorhead, Minnesota, in March of the same
year. He decided to locate at Evansville, Minnesota, and there he organized
a congregation and built a church building. He also organized a church at
Ashby about the same time and in the years of 1887 and 1888 preached at
the places already mentioned and also at Dalton. In 1888 he ceased preach-
ing at Dalton and annexed the congregation of Elbow Lake to his circuit.
In 1893 he built the church parsonage at Ellx)w Lake and from this point as
a center conducted services at different times at Ashby, Barrett, Hoffman,
Kensington, Wendell, Lawrence and Western in addition to Elbow Lake
and Evansville. Under his pastorship the church building in Ellxiw Lake
was constructed in 1897.
Reverend Godward was a man universally loved and respected. The
golden rule w^s his precept in dealing with his fellow men and in his every
walk of life he practiced the religion he preached. He enjoyed a popularity
that was only limited by acquaintance and not an enemy did he have. He
visited the sick, comforted the sorrowing and helped the needy. It was
given to few men to yield such an influence of good — an influence that will
continue to live and bear fruit. Reverend Godward's health began to decline
a year before his death. He was requested to give up his work but he
insisted that his services were needed. His last sermon was preached in
Elbow Lake on Sunday morning, April 20, 191 3. A few days afterward his
illness became so acute that he was confined to his bed. He died on the
morning of May 14, 1913.
The First Presbyterian church of Wendell was organized on April 10,
1904, by Rev. James Godward. The charter members were as follow:
Miss Ida Stickney, Miss Delia Barker, Mrs. W. U. Williams, Mrs. Hattie
Masters, Mrs. Laura C. Stickney, Miss Emma Stickney, Ole Saison, Airs.
Ole Saison, Mrs. Mary Steine and Miss Gertrude Steine.
The first pastor was Rev. James Godward, who was succeeded by
(29)
450 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Rev. F. O. Bastrom and Rev. William Anderson. The present pastor is
Rev. H. T. Sackett. The church now has a membership of sixteen. In
November, 191 2, the congregation bought the Methodist church building
at Hereford and moved it to Wendell, where it is still in use. The pastor
of the Wendell church conducts services in Lawrence and Western.
LAWRENCE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The first religious service held in the town of Lawrence was in the
home of Joseph C. Marple, father of H. L. Marple, in the winter of 1893,
Rev. John Irwin conducting the service. The first Sabbath school was
organized in the school house of district No. 28 by J. C. Marple in thp
spring of 1884, with John Marple as superintendent and Rev. George John-
son of Western Presbyterian church preaching. Services were held each
Sunday afternoon during the summer and similar services were held during
the summers of 18S5 and 1886. On December 18, 1886, a meeting was
called under the direction of Rev. A. C. Pettitt, and the Presbyterian church
of Lawrence was organized with a membership of twenty-two members,
namely: Jacob M. Reeser, Harriet R. Reeser, George H. Adams, Daniel
L. Tucker, Harriet Tucker, John Shaw, Mary E. Shaw, Delany Shaw,
George H. Shaw, Mattie J. Shaw, John Sellie, Theodbre Cowdell, Mrs.
Mary M. Ash, Kilborn B. Ia)vejoy, Mr. S. P, Lorell, Mrs. Sophia Lorell,
Wilmar J. Reeser, Lillie C. Reeser, Ida A. Reeser, Clarence G. Wentworth,
George E. Wentworth and Stella Anderson. Jacob M. Reeser was elected
elder and continued to hold the office through life.
Sabbath school and preaching services were held in the summer months
by different ministers. Rev. James Godward especially looked after the
interest of the church up to the year 1900. The church was incorporated
under the laws of the state in the spring of 1901, under the direction of
Rev. C. M. Junkin. Five acres of land having been donated, the congrega-
tion proceeded to build a church edifice that same summer, and the same was
dedicated on December i, 1901, Rev. R. N. Adams, synodical superintendent;
Rev. James Godward, of Elbow Lake, and Rev. C. M. Junkin, pastor, being
present. The building cost about one thousand eight hundred dollars, the
Presbyterian board of church erection supplying five hundred dollars. The
board of home missions assisted in support of the pastor up to the summer
of 1902 when, in conjunction with the Western church, the churches became
self-supporting. From that time on there has been regular senice under
different pastors, with many changes of membership, members moving away
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 45 1
and others moving in ; but never has there failed to be those who supported
and enjoyed it, and rejoiced in the fact that a House of God had been estab-
Hshed in the town of Lawrence.
In the current year ( 1916) the membership is fifty-two, with a Sunday
school of over one hundred. Only two of the charter members, the .elder,
J. M. Reeser, and his daughter are still in attendance. Since its organiza-
tion, the following pastors have served the Presbyterian church of Lawrence:
1884, Rev. George Johnson; 1886, Rev. A. C. Pettitt; 1894 to 1900, Rev.
James Godward ; Reverends Stewart, Stevens and Mclnnis were student sup-
plies; Rev. S. Ferguson, pastor-at-large ; Rev. Matthewson, pastor-at-large ;
Reverend McAltioner; 1900-02. Rev. C. M. Junkin; 1902-03, Rev. L G.
Smith; Rev. W. F. Finch, pastor-at-large: 1903-07, Rev. James Wrav, Rev-
erend ShibH and students; 1910, Rev. T. C. Hodgeson; 1913-15. Rev. Will-
iam Anderson; 1915-16, Rev. H. T. Sockett; Rev. S. Sharpless, pastor-at-
large.
METHODIST CHURCHES.
The first Methodist church in Grant county was organized in Herman in
1879 by the Rev. J. B. Starkey. The church began its existence with a mem-
bership of ten members, but has grown to such an extent that the organiza-
tion is onfe of the strongest in this section of the country. The auxiliaries in
connection with the church are the Ladies' Aid Society, of whidh Mrs. Dunn
is president;- the Sunday school and the Queen Esther Circle. The pastors
who have served the congregation since the beginning include the following:
Rev. H. B. Crandall, Rev. S. M. Harm, Rev. C. W. Larson, Rev. W. J.
Hunter, Rev. M. O. McNiff. Rev. P. P. Ingalls, Rev. Frank Fisher, Rev.
D. S. Smith, Rev. George West, Rev. S. G. Briggs, Rev. E. C. Teachout,
Rev. C. E. Davenport, Rev. E, H. Nickolson, Rev. W. Peckard, Rev. H. A.
Barton, Rev. Thomas E. Archer, Rev. Elijah Haley, Rev. R. Murray, Rev.
Joseph E. Watson, Rev. William Love, Rev. L. D. King, Rev. J. Wesley
Scott, Rev. J. J. Trask, Rev. C. I. Mason, Rev. L. W. Bartholow, and the
present pastor. Rev. R. Levin.
The Methodist Episcopal church at Norcross was organized several
years after the one at Herman and was incorporated in 1901. For some time
services were held in the village school house but as the congregation grew
in strength and numbers a neat little church was erected. Besides holding
regular services here the pastor also conducts regular meetings in a school
house in the township of Delaware.
In 1888 or 1889 a Methodist congregation was organized at Hereford.
45- DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The little congregation prospered and in due season erected a neat little church
building. Church services were held with regularity for a few years. Rev.
Smith preached to the congregation for several years. Among the leading
members of the congregation were L. L. Brewster, Josias McGee, Kelley B.
Lovejoy, Rebekah Ireland, George Shaw and Thomas H. Toombs.
CATHOLIC CHURCH AT ST. OLAF.
The first Catholic gathering in Elbow Lake and vicinity was held at the
home of J. A. Dols on June 8, 1912. The first Sunday service was held at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tos. E. Dybdal on May 7, 1914, with Father
James Walcher, of Tintah, presiding. Services are now conducted quite
frequently at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dybdal by Father Matthew Hoff-
man, of Tintah. Sunday school is conducted each Sunday by Mrs. Tos. E.
Dybdal and although the gathering is small the interest manifested is en-
couraging to those of the faith.
The congregation received its name from the fact that Harold Thorson,
although not a Catholic, has kindly donated a beautiful lot as a site for the
prospective church building and it was he who so liberally endowed St. Olaf
College. A great deal of support has been received from non-Catholics, a
fact that is very encouraging to the supporters of this faith. Two thou-
sand five hundred dollars have already been subscribed toward the erection
of anedifice and it is the fond hope of every member to have the structure in
the course of construction within a year.
THE PARISHES OF ST. CHARLES AND ST. MARY.
The Catholic church of St. Charles at Herman w^s organized during the
summer of 191 3 by the Rev. Father Charles L. Grunenwald and during that
same summer was incorporated under the laws of the state of Minnesota with
the following board of directors : The Rt. Rev. James Trobec, D. D., bishop
of St. Cloud ; the Rt. Rev. Mgr. E. J. Nagl, vicar general ; the Rev. Charles
L. Grunenwald, pastor in charge, and J. J. Olson and Edward Drexler, lay
members. The Rev. Charles L. Grunenwald, who had labored so effectively
for the success of the parish, was appointed the first pastor of St. Charles,
attending the same from Donnelly, and upon his removal to St. Cloud to
become editor of the diocesan ])aper, the present pastor, the Rev. B. H.
Wessling, was appointed at the end of No\'ember, 1915. At present there
are about twenty-two families connected with St. Charles parish, numbering
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 453
about sixty souls, and progress is reported in all departments of the work
of the church.
The church of St. Mary at Norcross was organized in the year 1906
by the Rev. Father James Walcher, of Tintah, his successor being the Rev.
Father Matthew Hoffman. Then Norcross was made a mission of the
parish at Donnelly and the Rev. Father Charles L. Grunenwald was appointed
pastor, he being succeeded by the Rev. B. H. Wessling, of Donnelly, the
present rector, and pastor also of the church of St. Charles at Herman.
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH AT HERMAN.
In the year 1905 a small company of believers in the doctrines of the
Seventh-Day Adventist church in and about Herman was organized into a
church company by Elder W. W. Ruble, now in the educational work of
that communion, and Elder A. C. Gilbert, now president of the Canadian
conference of the Seventh-Day Ad\'entists. The congregation was organ-
ized after a six-weeks series of lectures and started out with an initial mem-
bership of twenty, which number was increased to thirty-one by 1907. The
work of this small company prospered and a few more members have been
added since. Some of these members have moved away and joined other
churches, while "some have been laid to rest, awaiting the Lord's soon com-
ing; when all the Faithful shall be called from their dusty beds to meet the
Lord in the air (i Thess., iv: 15-17), the living righteous to be changed
( I Coi., x\- : 51-54) ; all to go to Heaven, where Christ is (John xiv : 1-3)
to reign with Him one thousand years (Rev. xx : 4)." The present mem-
bership of the Seventh-Day Adventist chmxh at Herman is twenty, with
two waiting to join. The offerings for the first, second and third quarters
of 1916 amounted to $480.33; that is, including the tithes, besides the con-
tributions for home missionary work. As one devout member of this faith
puts it: "Every member of this denomination is an ambassador of God and
has a work to do : to help warn the world of the coming of the Day of God,
just before (.'hrist comes in the clouds of Heaven."
OTHER CHURCH INCORPORATIONS.
There are several organizations in the county whose incorporation is
recorded with the register of deeds, some of which are not now active.
Among the incorporations are the Land Norsk Evangelical Lutheran Meni-
ghed church of Hoffman; the Bethel Norsk P^vangelical Lutheran Menighed
454 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
church at Erdahl; the Bethesda Menighed church of Barrett; the First Bap-
tist church of Herman, one of the early churches in the community; the
Christian Reform church of America of Norcross; the EvangeHcal Lutheran
Saint Paul's church of Herman; the Bethany Lutheran congregation in the
township of Lien; the Salem Lutheran church of Barrett; the Catholic church
of St. Charles of Herman; the Catholic church of St. Mary of Norcross;
the German Evangelical Lutheran Zions Congregation in the town of Rose-
ville; the German Evangelical Lutheran Christ church of Pomme de Terre;
the German Reformed church southwest of Herman. The Church of God
at Hereford has an active organization and a neat frame building.
CHAPTER XI.
Newspapers of Grant County.
The newspapers of Grant county compare very favorably with those of
any other distinctly rural community. A number of journalistic efforts have
appeared in the county in the past years, flourished for a time and passed out
of existence. There are now five weekly papers published in Grant county.
GRANT COUNTY REVIEW.
The Grant County Rcxinv was established in 1900, at Herman, bv J.
S. Arneson and Oscar i\rneson. The Arneson Brothers conducted the pa])er
until 191 1, when they sold out to Ronald Morrison, who had charge of the
paper for about three months. The present proprietor, E. M. Chesebrough,
assumed the management of the Review on November i, 191 1, and has
built up a very good paper. It is a six-column, six-page weekly paper, and
is noted for the thoroughness in which it covers the local field. The Reincw
is independent in politics. The office is well equipped for both news and
commercial job work.
Tlie Herman Enterprise was established at Herman in May. 1887, by
E. W. Randall, publisher, and F. J. Skinner, editor. It was an eight-column,
four-page paper. It was later purchased by J. W. Reynolds, who sold out
to K. C. Ness, who in turn sold to Nellie Jacobs. Miss Jacobs continued to
publish this paper until it was discominued in 1908. She was noted for the
vigorous manner in which she handled local matters. Miss Jacobs married N.
J. Bothne and they now live at New I'iockford, North Dakota.
Perhaps the first paper in the county was the Herman Banner, published
at Herman, about 1878. This newspaper is said to have been owned by a
Mr. Kindred and edited by A. C. Belyea, later owner of the Herald.
GRANT COUNTY HERALD.
The Grant County Herald was established at Herman, about 1881, when
that village was the metropolis of Grant county, by W. C. Whiteman. Mr.
W'hiteman conducted the paper for several years and then sold to A. DeLacey
456 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Wood, who in turn sold to A. C. Belyea. Mr. Belyea moved the paper to
the village of Elbow Lake in 1887, and continued as its publisher until his
death, in 1895, whtn W. H. Goetzinger became the proprietor. Mr. Goet-
zinger conducted the paper until 1914, since which time it has been owned
by the Herald Printing Company.
The Elbo7v Lake Tribune was established in 1886 by J. S. Arneson. In
189Q the Tribune absorbed the Barrett Lake Breecc, which had been pub-
lished for some three years at Barrett. At the time of consolidation the
Tribune was enlarged from a five-column, four-page paper, to seven columns,
four pages. A few years later the paper was discontinued.
ASHBY POST.
The Asliby Post was established on November i, 1901, by William Pen-
nar, who sold out on x\pril 22, 1910, to Alfred J. Dahl. Mr. Dahl continued
as publisher until April 22, 191 3, when he transferred his interests to L. R.
Rath bun. the present proprietor.
The Post has a circulation of five hundred and fifty, and is published
every Friday. It is a six-column folio. The type is hand set, and the office
is equipped with newspaper and job presses.
The Grant County Farmer was published at Ashby about 1890, by A. S.
King. In 1897 this paper was taken over by J. S. Arneson, who conducted
it a few years, when it was discontinued.
WENDELL TRIBUNE.
The Wendell Tribune was established on August 14, 1914, by A. R.
McManus. formerly principal of the Wendell public schools. When founded
the paper had two hundred and seventy subscribers and now has five hun-
dred. It is a five-column, eight-page paper, and is well supported by local
advertising from the wide-awake W^endell merchants.
The Tribune office is well supplied with up-to-date type faces and all
) the necessary facilities for commercial job work. The paper circulates in
Grant county and the southern part of Otter Tail county.
The Wendell Sun was published for about eight months at Wendell, by
J. Harvey Cousins, in 1913, when it was discontinued. Mr. Cousins also
started the Barrett Tribune alx)ut the same time, and after a brief existence
it also ceased.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 457
HOFFMAN TIMES.
The Hoffman Times was estal>Iished on ]\Iay 25, 1916, by W. N. Bron-
son. It is a six-cohimn, eight-page paper. The Times office has an "Ideal"
news press and a ten by fifteen inch job press, also a good supply of type.
The Hoffman Tndcpcndcnt was conducted at Hofifman by Casper Noh-
ner, from the spring of 1912 to the fall of 1914, when it was discontinued.
CHAPTER XII.
The Bf.nch and Bar.
From the time of its permanent organization, in 1873. until 1883.
Grant county was a part of Douglas county for judicial purposes, and dis-
trict court cases from this county were tried at Alexandria. In 1883 the
state Legislature gave Grant county a court of its own and rnade it a part
of the seventh judicial district, which was comprised of Benton, Douglas,
Grant, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Otter Tail. Pope, Sherburne, Stearns and Todd
counties. The judges who presided over this court while Grant county was
a part of the seventh judicial district were L. W. ColHns and L. L. Baxter.
Judge Collins later became a member of the state supreme court.
In 1887 Grant county became a part of the sixteenth judicial district,
then composed of Big Stone, Grant, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin counties,
to which Pope county was added later, and these counties constitute the pres-
ent sixteenth judicial district. The judges have been : Calvin L. Brown, who
served from 1887 to i8g8, when he was elected to the state supreme court
of which he is now chief justice; F. J. Steidl, who served from 1898 to
1901, and S. A. Flaherty, who was elected in 1900 and is still presiding as
judge of this district.
ATTORNEYS.
E. S. Rolfe was the first attorney to take up residence in Grant county.
He opened a law office at Herman in the early seventies and at once took an
active part in county affairs. Mr. Rolfe was county superintendent of
schools from 1879 to 1880 and was county attorney from 1878 to 1881.
He moved away from Herman in 1882.
Joseph W. Reynolds located in Herman in 1879 and was one of the
leading early lawyers. Mr. Reynolds was county attorney from 1881 to
1883. He is now practicing law in Duluth.
Charles M. Stevens, who also located at Herman, was county attorney
from 1883 to 1885. He moved from Grant county to Minneapolis, and later
went to Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he is still in the practice.
W. H. Townsend, a native of Michigan and a graduate of the law
• ' DOUGLAS AND GRAKT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 459
school at Ann Arloor, located at Her.man in 1887. He was county superin-
tendent of schools from 1893 to 1895. Mr. Townsend died at Flint, Michi-
gan, in 1900.
A Mr. Rothrick engaged in the practice of law at Herman, in 1882, in
partnership with J. W. Reynolds. Aljout 1888 he mo\ed to Little Falls,
this state.
George Ketcham opened a law office at Herman in 1882. He was
county attorney from 1885 to 1891. Mr. Ketcham died at Herman in 1899.
Arthur B. Childress moved from Northfield to Herman in 1897, en-
gaged in the practice there for two years, then came to Elbow Lake, and
after conducting an office here for one year moved back to Northfield, where
he is now judge of the fifth judicial district.
Guy B. Caldwell located in Herman about 1895. After practicing there
three years he removed to St. Paul.
F. C. Anderson opened a law office in Flerman in 1905, and is still
located there.
Nels J. Bothne located in Herman in 1906. and after residing there
one year moved to Elbow Lake. Mr. Bothne was county attorney from
1909 to 1913. Soon after leaving this office he moved to New Rockford,
North Dakota.
A. S. King came- to Ashby in 1882 and after residing there until 1900
moved to Lake Park, Becker county, where he is still engaged in the prac-
tice.
Michael Casey and Thomas Casey, brothers, natives of Wisconsin,
opened an office for the practice of law at Elbow Lake- in 1887. Michael
Casey served as county attorney from 1895 to 1899. In 1899 he moved to
Bloomington, Wisconsin, where he is engaged in the practice. Thomas
Casey was court commissioner for Grant county from 1891 to 1895. He is
still engaged in practice at Elbow Lake.
Oscar M. Torrison located at Elbow Lake in 1887, and lived here until
1890, then moved to Chicago, where he is now one of the judges of the
circuit court.
E. J- Scofield came to Elbow Lake from Houston county in 1889, and
was in partnership with Mr. Torrison for one year. Mr. Scofield served as
county attorney from 1891 to 1895 and from 1899 to 1909. He is still
engaged in practice here.
Andrew O. Ofsthun located at Elbow Lake in 1891. In 1896 he was
elected judge of probate and was serving in that office when he was acci-
dentally killed at Pomme de Terre lake in 1901.
4^10 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
R. J. Stromine began the practice of law at Elbow Lake in 1903. Mr.
Stromme was county superintendent of schools from 1907 to 1913, and
since 191 3 has been county attorney.
Knut T. Dahlen came to Ellx)\v Lake in 1900, and opened an office for
the practice of law. Mr. Dahlen was county superintendent of schools from
1895 to 1901. In T912 he moved to ]MinneapoHs, where he now is assistant
county' attorney.
James S. Scribner located in Elbow Lake in 1900, and one vear later
moved to Walker, where he is engaged in the practice.
STORY OF THE FIRST COURT SESSION.
At the dedication of the new court house, in 1906, a letter was read
from Judge L. \\\ Collins, who presided at the first session of the district
court held in Grant county, in 1883. This letter is of interest, as it gives
an insight into the conditions which confronted the early lawyers in Grant
county. Judge Collins wrote as fohows :
"I held the first term of court in your county at Elbow Lake in 1883
in the old court house, a small building erected for public purposes. There
was but one hotel, kept by TVIr. Laastuen, and, if I remember right, no store
at all in your place. I am told that the hotel I speak of was on the ground
now occupied by the new court house — a beautiful site for a public building.
"Things were very crude in those days. I remember that an appeal
was made to me to transfer the court to either Herman or Ashby, because
there were no proper facilities in Elbow Lake. I thought that those who
had business might be discommoded, and stated, upon opening the court,
that if any complaints were to be made, I would listen to them at that time,
and, if there was no well founded reason for transferring the court to some
other town, it would be held here. I heard no complaints and we went on
with the business.
"The lawyers were all taken care of by the then county auditor, Mr.
Sanford, who lived about a mile away, across a small lake. Farmers took
jurors, litigants and witnesses to their houses in the neighborhood. The
hotel proprietor and his good wife did exceedingly well with the crowds that
were thrust upon them, and, upon the whole, it was not an unpleasant con-
dition of things.
"I held, as district judge, one or two terms later, when the town had
commenced to grow and could boast of a store and three or four dwelling
houses. I look back upon those days and the friends I met there \Aith a good
deal of satisfaction."
CHAPTER XIII.
The jNIedical Profession.
If one could form a mental conception of the physician of the early
days and his surroundings, it would present a picture in sharp contrast to
the conditions faced by the physicians of the present day.' In early times
there was probably one physician within a radius of twenty-five or thirty
miles, and his only road was the Indian trail or the few lines of the stage
coach. His chief means of conveyance was the faithful horse which he rode,
and his entire line of supplies and instruments was carried in small saddle
bags strapped to the saddle. Rivers had to be crossed in time of flood, blind-
ing snow storms faced, and when he left home on a round of visits he knew
not when he would return. Contrast these conditions with those which pre-
vail in this day of excellent roads, telephones, automobiles and improved
medical science, and one can readily appreciate the sacrifices and hardships
that the early doctors endured. Doubtless none of the professions have
undergone the changes of that of the medical profession, and probably none
other has risen to such a high point of efficiency.
HF.RM.^N PHYSICIANS.
The first man to enter Grant county as a practicing physician was Dr.
William F. Holden, who located at Herman early in the fall of 1882. After
practicing there a number of years he removed to Winona, this state, where
he engaged in the drug business. Doctor Holden was followed b)- Dr. C. O.
Paquin, who was graduated from tlie medical department of Iowa State
University in 1872. In January, 1883, Dr. W. R. Hand came to Herman
and opened an ofifice for the practice of medicine. Doctor Hand was grad-
uated from the Cincinnati College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1877 and
began the practice of his profession at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and remained
there until his removal to Herman, as stated. In 1896 Doctor Hand sold
his practice to Dr. A. D. Larson, and after spending one winter in New
York Post-Graduate Medical School, located in Klbow Lake.
In i8c)6 John Ouincy Sackett. a man who had little or no technical
training in the medical profession, located at Hennan. He started work as
462 DOUGLAS .AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
a horse doctor, but being a man of unusual natural ability, with sound judg-
ment and a winning personality, he gradually turned his attention to medi-
cine and established an extensive practice. "Doctor" Sackett died at Herman
in 1907.
-Among the later physicians who located at Herman were Doctor Mc-
Cann, Doctor Cottam and Doctor Waite, who after brief terms of residence
here mo^-ed to other fields. Dr. B. I.. Brigham, a graduate of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, practiced here for a few years.
Dr. James H. Bowers is another physician known to have been in Herman,
but his residence was of such short duration that little is known of him.
At the present time there are three physicians practicing in Herman.
Dr. .\. D. Larson came here in 18Q4 and in 1896 took over the practice of
Doctor Hand. Dr. T. M. Thayer, who was graduated from a New York
medical college in 1900, and was assistant physician^at the Fergus Falls state
hospital for six years, located in Herman in 1908. Doctor Thayer was
coroner of Grant county from 1909 to 191 1. Doctor Larson was coroner
from 1899 to 1903.: Dr. J- T. Leland, who was graduated from the Chicago
Homeopathic College, opened an office in Herman in 1905. Doctor Leland
has been county coroner since 191 3.
ELBOW LAKE PHYSICIANS.
Dr. Fred A. Robinson was the first physician to begin the practice of
medicine at Elbow Lake. He was graduated from the Minnesota Hospital
College in 1887 and immediately located in Elbow Lake. Doctor Robinson
was accidentally killed while out hunting in 1889.
Dr. Norman W. Chance was one of the pioneer physicians of Elbow
Lake, locating in the village in October, 1888. He was born in Wood
county, Ohio, and received his elem.entary education there. After graduating
from Rush Medical College, at Chicago, he came to Minnesota and began
the practice of his profession in Elbow Lake. Subsequently he took two
post-graduate courses, one at the Chicago Polyclinic and the other at Johns
Hopkins University, at Baltimore. Doctor Chance moved to Little Falls,
this state, where he died on July 3, 1916.
Dr. C. E. Caine was the third physician to take up the practice of medi-
cine in Elbow Lake. Doctor Caine was graduated from the medical depart-
ment of the Minnesota State University in 1896, and at once opened an
office in Elbow Lake. He practiced here for several years and then removed
to Morris, this state, where he now resides.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 463
The next physician to locate in the village was Dr. W. R. Hand, who
removed here from Herman, in 1896, and has since practiced in Elbow
Lake. Doctor Hand has maintained an office in Grant county longer than
any other physician now engaged in the practice here.
Dr. C. B. Heimark came to Ellx)w Lake about 1904 and stayed one
year. Later he resided for about a year at Wendell and then moved to Ack-
ley, where he died in 19 10.
Dr. Robert B. Hixson, a graduate of the University of iMinnesota,
located in Elbow Lake about 1900, but remained only a short time.
Among the practicing physicians in Elbow Lake at the present time is
Dr. E. .A.. T. Reeve, who was graduated from Hamline University in 1899
and located here a short time afterward, where he soon established a paying
practice.
Dr. F. L. Kling is also engaged in the practice in Elbow Lake at the
present time. Doctor Kling is a graduate of Hamline Uni\-ersity, with the
class of 1903. After practicing in Alexandria for several years Doctor
Kling located in Elbow Lake in 191 3.
Dr. Per Oyen set up an office at Ell>ow Lake about 19 10, and was here
two years, moving to Eessenden, North Dakota, where he now resides.
Another physician who located in the village and practiced here several years
was Dr. Jacob L. Hoffman. ' He came here in 1909 and in 191 1 moved to
Henning, Otter Tail county, this state.
ASHBY PHYSICIANS.
One of the pioneer ph}sicians of Grant county was Dr. E. J. Johnson,
of Ashby. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan with the class
of 1879. and a man especially learned in his profession. He practiced here
for several years at an early day. Another physician who at one time prac-
ticed in the \ illage of Ashby was Dr. Ole M. Loosihs, who was educated in
Norway and came to this country to practice medicine. He did not remain
here long, but removed to another location.
Dr. P. G. Cowing located at Ashby in 189^. About 1910 he removed
to Montana, but in 1916 returned to Minnesota and located at Evansville.
Dr. A. Mason Randall came to Ashby in 19 10, where he is still engaged
in the practice of medicine.
464 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
WENDELL PHYSICIANS.
Dr. C. D. Kolset located at Wendell about 1900, where he engaged in
the practice of medicine until 1912, when he moved to Brooten, this state.
Dr. Peter Rothnem located at Wendell about 1914, and is still engaged
in the practice there. One of the pioneer physicians of the Wendell neigh-
borhood, who was for a long time located near Hereford station, was Dr.
J. M. Tucker. He was a graduate of the medical department of Land Uni-
versity, Canada, and died in this county several years ago.
BARRETT PHYSICIANS.
Dr. F. \\\ Powers, who was graduated from Hamline Uni\ersity, in
1899, and was formerly engaged in the practice of medicine at Rockford,
this state, located at Barrett in 1902. Doctor Powers maintains a hospital
at Barrett and is known as one of the leading physicians of the county.
Dr. Carl F. Ansman located at Barrett in 1914 and at once opened an
office for the practice of medicine. Dr. Eugene W. Young was one of the
early day physicians at Barrett, but removed to another location.
HOFFMAN PHYSICIANS.
Doctor Spurr located at Ho#man in 1893, and after practicing medicine
there two or three years, removed to St. Paul, where he is now practicing
dentistry.
Dr. F. E. Griswold opened an office at Hoffman in 1898, and is still
engaged in the practice of medicine there.
Dr. Amly Sjolaas, who recently located at Hoffman, is the only woman
physician in the county, and is the youngest in point of service.
GRANT COUNTY DENTISTS.
Dr. A. C. Agern was the lirst dentist to locate in Herman; later he
moved to California. Dr. Frank R. Haley began the practice of dentistry
in Herman in 1908, but soon moved to another location. Dr. L. W. Pres-
cott located in Herman in 1915, but soon afterward moved to Alexandria.
D'octor Fergerson opened an office for the practice of dentistry at Herman
in 1916.
Dr. C. H. Godward was the first and only dentist in Elbow Lake until
the coming of Dr. O. Sauby in the summer of 1915.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 465
VETERINARY SURGEONS.
A. H. Bullis, a man of talent but having no partictdar technical training,
did all the veterinary work in the county at a very early day. He was an
old-fashioned "hoss doctor" and was very successful considering his equip-
ment.
Dr. M. H. Smith, a trained veterinary, whose abrupt manner of speech
caused him to be regarded as rather eccentric, located at Elbow Lake in
1890. He died here in May, 1907.
Dr. L. Smedley is a veterinary surgeon located at Herman, where he
has been practicing since 1913.
Dr. John R. Nelson came to Elbow Lake in 1908, where he is still
engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery.
(30)
CHAPTER XIV.
Banks of Grant County.
In the early days of the settlement of Grant county it was only natural
that interest rates on loans secured from private parties should be quite high.
Values were not then established and credit was not secure. Even after the
first banks, which were private concerns, were started, it was aistomary to
charge from ten to tliirty per cent fcr short time loans. Fanners in this
county can now secure all the money the}- need for legitimate improvement
at six per cent. In 1889 there were two banks in the county with com-
bined deposits of about $100,000: there are now fourteen banks with depos-
its of something over $2,000,000. Of the financial institutions in Grant
county, three are national banks and eleven are state banks. Following is
a brief history of each in the order of their organization :
grant county state bank of HERMAN.
The first bank in Grant county was started at Herman in 1878 as a
private institution under the name of C. F. Washburn & Company. After
a few years of disastrous experience it ceased to exist in 1883. That same
year saw the establishment of the oldest bank in Grant county, the Grant
County Bank of Herman, which was started on August 23, 1883. The first
officers were: R. P. Wells, president; H. H. Wells, vice-president; E. W.
Snyder, cashier; A. W. Wells, assistant cashier. The directors, in addition
to the officers, were L. E. Pearce and W. J. Monroe. The bank begun under
a state charter with a capital stock of $25,000. In 1886 it was discontinued
as a state bank and became a private bank with a capital of $10,000. On
lanuary 29, 1906, it again became a state bank under the name of Grant
County State Bank of Herman, with a capital stock of $25,000. The present
officers are: Chris Johnson, president; J. P. Wells, vice-president; A. W.
Wells, cashier; R. T. Johnson, assistant cashier. Directors: Chris Johnson,
T. P. Wells, A. W. Wells, R. J. Johnson and W. H. Cooley. The bank
occupies a two-story brick building valued at $10,000.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on
June 30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $25,000; surplus and undivided
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 467
profits, $10,500; total deposits. $225,000; loans and discounts, $225,000;
cash assets, $24,899.
BANK OF ELBOW LAKE.
Tiie Bank of Elbow Lake was established in 1886 by Harold Thorson,
who had been engaged in the banking business in Northfield, Minnesota.
The original capital stock was $35,000. The first officers were: Harold
Thorson, president; A. D. Davidson, vice-president; Henry Sampson, cash-
ier. The directors were: Harold Thorson, A. D. Davidson, John Christen-
son, C. H. Raiter, E. J. Scoiield, W. W. Smith and Henry Sampson. The
present officers are: Henry Sampson, president; Ole O. Canestorp, vice-
president; M. A. Lukken, cashier. Directors: Henry Sampson, M. A.
Lukken, Harold Thorson, Knut Fjoslin and Ole O. Canestorp.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $50,000; surplus and imdivided
profits, $13,108; total deposits, $289,492.23: loans and discounts, $298,-
839.25; cash assets, $30,301.23.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF ELBOW LAKE.
The First National Bank of Elbow Lake was established in August,
1 89 1, with a capital stock of $50,000, by J. U. Barnes, H. A. Barnes, N. M.
Barnes and Thomas R. Marston, of Minneapolis, and W. K. Barnes and
William Moses, of Alexandria. The first officers were: W. K. Barnes,
president; William Moses, vice-president; Thomas R. Marston, cashier. A
two-story brick building was erected in 1892 which was enlarged and im-
proved in 1914. The first charter expired in 191 1 and was then renewed
until 1931. W. K. Barnes served as president from 1891 until 1911, and
since that date as vice-president. W. E. Landeene started with the bank as
bookkeeper at the time of organization, was elected assistant cashier in 1894,
cashier in 1895, ^"d president in 191 1. Lars Lynne, who has been cashier
since 191 1, was treasurer of Grant county for twenty years. The present
officers of the bank are : W. E. Landeene, president ; W. K. Barnes, vice-
president; Lars Lynne, cashier. The directors are: W. E. Landeene, W. K.
Barnes, Lars Lynne, E. J. Scofield and W. H. Goetzinger.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on
June 30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $50,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $19,426.03; total deposits, $217,915.72; loans and discounts, $216,-
392.58; cash assets, $23,052.
4^8 DOUGLAS AND GR\NT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
STATE BANK OF HOFFMAN.
The State Bank of Hoffman was incorporated on September i, 1899,
with a capital stock of $10,000. The first ofificers were: D. A. McLarty,
president; N. E. RuHen, vice-president; William Schellbach, cashier. The
present officers are : N. E. Rulien, president ; D. A. McLarty, vice-president ;
William Schellbach, cashier; H. W. Lundin, assistant cashier.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $10,541.31; total deposits, $231,068.25; loans and discounts, $209,-
657.11; cash assets, $35,385.16.
FIRST STATE BANK OF ASHBY.
The First State Bank of Ashby was organized in July, 1900, with the
following officers: C. D. Wright, president; E. A. Jewett, vice-president;
J. L. Everts, cashier. The majority of the stockholders are farmers and
all the stock is owned by local people. The present officers are : E. J.
Scofield, president; E. K. Teisberg, vice-president; L. J. Hauge, cashier.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $25,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $5,100; total deposits, $192,000; loans and discounts, $183,000;
cash assets, $31,000.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF HERMAN.
The Peoples Bank of Herman was organized in September, 1901, by
Ernest E. Peck and Rodney Hill. This institution was reorganized on Jan-
uary 4, 1906, as the First National Bank of Hennan, with a capital stock
of $25,000. The first officers were: Rodney Hill, president; C. B. Kloos,
vice-president; Ernest ¥.. Peck, cashier; A. L. Nelson, assistant cashier.
W. T. Ziebarth, director, with the officers. In January, 1907, A. D. Larson
took the place of W. T. Ziebarth as director, and in January, 1909, G. H.
Mumm succeeded C. B. Kloos as vice-president. Rodney Hill died in 1909
and in January, 1910, P. W. Barton was elected to fill Mr. Hill's position as
president. In 1910 E. C. Eaton took the place of A. L. Nelson as assistant
cashier, and Fred Hidde was added to the board of directors. In the fall
of 19 1 2 P. W. Barton died and A. D. Larson became president and E. D.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 469
Rodgers was made a director. The present officers are : A. D. Larson,
president; G. H. Miimm, vice-president; Ernest E. Peck, cashier; E. C.
Eaton, assistant cashier; Ray Lentz, assistant cashier. Fred Hidde and E.
D. Rogers, directors, with officers.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $25,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $10,032.53; total deposits, $232,648.93; loans and discounts, $223,-
977.02; cash assets, $23,000.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF WENDELL.
The Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Wendell was organized in
1903, with the following officers: Edward Mobraaten, president; Martinus
Larson, vice-president; S. Skinnemoen, Jr., vice-president; Carl A. Pres-
trud, cashier. The capital stock was $12,000. On September 2, 1916, this
institution became the First National Bank of Wendell, with a capital stock
of $25,000. The present officers are: Edward Mobraaten, president; Mar-
tinus Larson, vice-president; S. Skinnemoen, Jr., vice-president; Carl A.
Prestrud, cashier; Hjalmar Larson, assistant cashier. Directors: The offi-
cers and Erick H. Bergerud, C. H. Bergerud, G. T. Rund, A. E. Soliah and
Ole O. Sand. The bank has a fine new brick building, costing about $12,000.
The principal items from the statement of the state bank at the close
of business on June 30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $12,000; sur-
plus and undivided profits, $6,000; total deposits, $180,000; loans and dis-
counts, $180,000; cash assets, $17,000.
STATE BANK OF NORCROSS.
The Bank of Norcross, a private institution, was established in 1905.
In 1908 this was incorporated as a state bank, under the name State Bank
of Norcross. The present officers are: Andrew Lund, president; Ole Selle-
seth, vice-president; Alfred Lund, cashier. The officers and Lars Larson
form the board of directors.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $11,500; total deposits, -$85,000; loans and discounts, $93,000; cash
assets, $7,500.
470 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
CITIZENS STATE BANK OF BARRETT.
The Citizens State Bank of Barrett was organized in July, 1908, with a
capital stock of $10,000. The first officers were: H. Thorson, president;
E. F. Malmgren, vice-president; H. Sampson, vice-president; Oliver Gorder,
cashier. The present officers are: H. Thorson, president; Tollef Nelson,
vice-president; A. T. Leraas, cashier.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $5,000; total deposits, $207,189.19; loans and discounts, $200,000;
cash assets, $13,613.33.
FARMERS STATE BANK OF HOFFMAN.
Tlie Farmers State Bank of Hoffman was organized on March 21,
191 1, with a capital stock of $12,000. The first officers were: P. O. Unumb,
president; Charles B. Kloos, vice-president; Frank Buscher, cashier. The
present officers are: P. O. Unumb, president; Charles B. Kloos, vice-presi-
dent; G. A. Lofgren, cashier; Ole Lindstrom, assistant cashier.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $12,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $1,682.22; total deposits, $116,436.01; loans and discounts, $105,-
955.61; cash assets, $17,056.93.
FARMERS STATE BANK OF ASHBY.
The Farmers State Bank of Ashby was established on June i, 1914,
with a capital stock of $10,000. The first officers were: I. O. Manger,
president; C. A. Bakke, vice-president; Severt Aaseng, cashier. George
Brito and Eleanora Manger, directors. The present officers are: O. A.
Wilson, president; C. A. Bakke, vice-president; Severt Aaseng, cashier.
J. B. Iverson and I. O. Manger, directors.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $2,000; total deposits, $4,800; loans and discounts, $4,400; cash
assets, $8,000.
AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 47I
FIRST STATE BANK OF ERDAHL.
The First State Bank of Erdahl was organized on November 12, 1915.
They occupy a modern brick building, equipped with all new furniture and
burglar-proof safe. The present officers are: Charles Bradford, president;
Ole A. Thompson, vice-president; H. O. Wagner, cashier; M. J. Wagner,
assistant cashier. Directors : Charles Bradford, Ole A. Thompson, H. O.
Wagner, C. E. White and G. K. Westboe.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on
June 30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $12,000; surplus and undi-
vided profits, $3,353.45 ; total deposits, $32,976.80 ; loans and discounts,
$37,545.06; cash assets, $6,433.50.
FARMERS STATE BANK OF BARRETT.
The Farmers State Bank of Barrett was organized on May 15, 1916,
with a capital stock of $10,000. The present officers are: F. W. Powers,
president; Helmer Larson, vice-president; H. L Wilson, cashier; Alfred
Peterson, assistant cashier.
The principal items from the statement at the close of business on June
30, 1916, are as follows: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus and undivided
profits, $2,000; total deposits, $11,415.03; loans and discounts, $13,935.17;
cash assets, $5,904.51.
WENDELL STATE BANK.
The Wendell State Bank was organized on July i, 1916, with a capital
stock of $12,000. They are erecting a modern brick building, which will be
equipped with up-to-date furniture, and will open for business as soon as
the new banking house is completed. The building will cost $5,000. The
officers of the bank are: jVustin Boe, president; Martin Bergerud, vice-
president ; John S. Skinnemoen, cashier. The directors, besides the officers,
are: Albert Thorstad, John Thorsen, Andrew Haugen, Ole Skinnemoen
and Gustaf Foss.
CHAPTER XV.
Military Annals.
The events which occurred in Grant county during the Indian troubles
of 1862 have been mentioned in the chapter deahng with the story of the
outbreak. As Grant county was not organized until some time after the
Civil War there were no organized companies sent from this region. Among
the early settlers, however, there were many who had seen service during
the war between the states, and also a number who had participated in the
campaigns against the Indians.
ASHBY POST.
In the fall of 1889 a number of the Civil War veterans of Grant county
organized a post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Ashby. which flour-
ished for many years and finally, on account of death and removal of so many
of the comrades, was disbanded in 1903. This post was' named W. W.
Preston Post No. 185, Department of Minnesota, in honor of W. W. Pres-
ton, a member of the Third Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, long
a resident of this neighborhood. The first officers were : K. X. Olson,
commander; Frank Wahldieck, adjutant; R. Beardsley, quartermaster and
chaplain.
The membership of the post consisted of the following: K. N. Olson,
Twenty-second Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry; Frank Wahldieck,
Tenth Regulars; R. Beardsley, Fourth Wisconsin; A. D. Dewey, Twenty-
second Wisconsin; S. G. Beebe, Fourth Wisconsin; M. M. Small, Bracketts'
Battalion ; Joseph Pennock, Sixteenth Illinois ; Thomas Olson, Tenth Minne-
sota Battery; James Godward, Ohio Infantry; Ole O. Ike, Tenth Iowa;
Thomas Rohann, Tenth Minnesota; Ole Sauby, First Minnesota; Jens Peter-
son Lee, Tenth Minnesota ; James H. Bowman, Fourteenth Wisconsin ; C. E.
Sandin, First Minnesota; August O. Melby, Fifteenth Wisconsin; E. C.
Schow, Fifteenth Wisconsin; Henry Brown, Illinois Infantry; James O.
Richardson, First Minnesota: K. N. Melby, Twenty-second Wisconsin; H.
G. Lillemon, Sixteenth Iowa.
There were other veterans who belonged to this post but their names can
not now be recalled, and the records are not available. The following mem-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 473
bers had served as commander of the post: K. N. Olson, S. J. Beebe-, R.
Beardsley and A. D. Dewey. At the time of mustering out the officers were
as follow: A. D. Dewey, commander; R. Beardsley, quartermaster and
adjutant; James Godward, chaplain.
HERMAN POST.
Andrew J. Hubbard Post No. 115, Grand Army of the Republic, was
organized at Herman in the early eighties. A. C. Earsley was "commander
and D. L. Lattin was adjutant. On May 19, 1887, the Herman fyitcr prise
had a report of the post meeting, as follows:
"The Grand Army of the Republic post met in Herman on Tuesday.
All officers were present with but one exception. Thirty members were re-
ported in good standing and three applications for membership were acted
upon favorably. The report of the treasurer showed that there is thirty
dollars on hand. It was decided to attend the Sauk Center encampment on
June 8 in a body, and General Barrett. P. F. McCoUar, S. G. Kriedler and
A. C. Earsley were appointed a committee to make arrangements for such
attendance. It was also decided to hold memorial services on Decoration
Day, May 30, 1887. The post will be held in the Methodist Episcopal church
at three o'clock, p. m. A. C. Earsley, D. W. Hixson and R. P. Wells were
appointed a committee to make general arrangements for Decoration Day,
and A. C. Earsley, G. Smith and D. W. Hixon were appointed a committee
on music. James Robinson was appointed officer of the day. All old soldiers
and all true and loyal citizens are invited to join in the exercises of the day."
The post became reduced in members on account of death and removals
until there were not enough left to continue the work and the post was dis-
banded in 19 10.
Many of the early settlers who were prominent in the organization and
government of Grant county were veterans of the Civil and Indian Wars.
Among them may be mentioned the following: Henry F. Sanford, a mem-
ber of Hatch's Independent Battalion of Cavalry; Ole E. Lien, of the Tenth
Regiment. Minnesota Volunteer Infantry; Ole Larson Sunvold, also a mem-
ber of the Tenth Regiment; H. P. Hansen, of the Fifty-second Regiment,
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry; and R. P. Wells, of the Fourth Regiment,
Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
So far as can be ascertained no residents of Grant county took part in
the Spanish- American War in 1898-99, though several who had fi)rmerly
lived here enlisted at other points.
CHAPTER XVI.
Fraternal and Benevolent Societies.
The instinct for companionship, common to all men, has found expres-
sion in Grant county as elsewhere, in the formation of numerous fraternal
and benevolent societies. Several of the lodges which at one time flourished
in the county have passed out of existence, but so far as can be ascertained
mention is here made of all the orders now active in Grant county.
ANCIENT FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.
Park Region Lodge No. 22-], Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was
organized at Elbow Lake on April 24, 1898. Among the charter members
were John T. Lindem, Harold Thorson, J. D. Boyd, F. H. Prodger, O. J.
Rued, E. J. Scofield and H. W. Barker. The first elective ot^cers were as
follow: J. D. Boyd, worshipful master; F. H. Prodger, senior warden;
Harold Thorson, junior warden; John T. Lindem, secretary; O. J. Rued,
treasurer; E. J. .Scofield, senior deacon, and H. W. Barker, junior deacon.
The present officers of Park Region lodge are as follow: C. H. God-
ward, worshipful master; R. D. Hand, senior warden; Arthur Smith, junior
warden; M. A. Lukken, secretary; Dr. W. R. Hand, treasurer; Frank Stan-
ley, senior deacon ; O. C. Jacobson, junior deacon ; C. E. Stickney, senior
steward, and Don Boyd, junior steward. The present membership numbers
sixty-seven.
PRESCOTT LODGE NO. 162.
Prescott Lodge No. 162, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was
organized at Herman on January 14, 1885. The first officers were: Ezra
W. Snyder, worshipful master; R. P. Wells, senior warden; Nathan B.
Ufford, junior warden.
The lodge now has a membership of sixty-eight, and the following are
the officers for 1916: J. W. Fay, worshipful master; J. R. Wells, senior
warden; J. H. Caswell, junior warden; John T. Lindem, secretary; A. W.
Wells, treasurer; T. M. Thayer, senior deacon; G. R. Underwood, junior
deacon; W. E. Moses, senior steward; R. J. Johnson, junior steward, and
Archie Earslev. tvler.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 475
ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR.
Rufus Chapter No. 144, Order of the Eastern Star, was organized in
Elbow Lake on November 19, 1900. The charter members were as follow:
Isabel Hodgson. G. P. Woodworth, Elizabeth Goetzinger, E. H. Cornell,
J. P. Anderson, Kathryn Hodgson, Efifie Godward, Mary Skogmo, Lillian
Cornell, Jennie Hand, W. R. Hand, W. H. Goetzinger, E. J. Scofield, Mrs.
E. J. Scofield, G. C. Hodgson, Mrs. Ida May Woodworth, Emery McKane,
Peter J. Runberg, Francis M. Barker and Harold Thorson. Among the
first ofificers elected were : Lillian M. Cornell, worthy matron ; W. H. Goet-
ziner, worthy patron; Elizabeth Goetzinger, associate matron.
This chapter was the second of the order to be organized in the county,
the first being at Herman. In order that a chapter might be organized at
Elbow Lake, W. H. Goetzinger and wife, Lillian Cornell, Kathryn Hodgson
and E. H. Cornell were first initiated in the lodge at Herman. In a short
time the chapter was organized at Elbow Lake. The order meets the first and
third Monday nights of each month in the hall above the Bank of Elljow
Lake.
The present ofificers are as follow : Mrs. Elizabeth Goetzinger, worthy
matron; Dr. C. H. Godward, worthy patron; Mrs. Susie Nelson, secretary;
Mrs. Anna Scofield. associate matron; Mrs. May Christianson, conductress;
Mrs. Emma Alberts, associate conductress; Mrs. Frankie Palin, treasurer;
Francis W. Stanley, sentinel; Mrs. Pearl Landeene, warder; Frances Alberts,
Ruth ; Mrs. Anna G. Hinkley, Ada ; Jensine Sanders, Esther ; Nina G. Willd,
Martha; Mrs. Emma Shoemaker, Electa. The chapter now has a member-
ship of twenty-seven.
GOLDEN RULE CHAPTER NO. 39.
Golden Rule Chapter No. 39. Order of the Eastern Star, was organized
at Herman on August 8, 1891. The charter members were as follow: Mes-
dames Lottie J. Swartout, M. J. Snyder, Amelia Winger, Kate Konchal,
Lottie Wells, Euretta Noel, E. E. Prescott, R. M. Prescott, C. W. Prescott,
Minnie Ketcham, Ruth Northrop; and the Misses Syvia Aurland, Marion
A\'ells, Jennie Snyder, Ella G. Richards; and Messrs. R. P. Wells, W. H.
Townsend, Joseph Burns, C. O. Winger, George A. Hartwell and E. W.
Snvder. The first elective ofificers were: Mrs. M. W. Ketcham, worthy
matron; R. P. \\'ells, worthy patron; Helen S. Hixson. assistant matron;
Marion Wells, secretary; Amelia Winger, treasurer; C. W. Prescott. con-
47t> DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
ductor; \l. J. Snyder, assistant conductor. The chapter holds its meetings
in the Odd Fellows hall.
The present officers are: Belva Wells, worthy matron; S. S. Laandt,
worthy patron; Birdie Chesebrough, assistant matron; Isabel M. Goodell,
secretary: Bertha E. Peck, treasurer: Nina S. Wells, conductress; Louise
Schober, assistant conductress. The chapter now has a membership of
seventy.
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.
Elbow Lake Lodge No. 92, Knights of Pythias, was organized on
September 27, 1892. The following were charter members : Michael Casey,
John B. Skogmo, E. N. Nash, Norman W. Chance, A. C. Belyea, Barney L.
Bull, L. C. Perry, Ole L. Lundberg, C. H. Gasman, Andrew O. Ofsthun,
Leonard E. Randall, John A. Wedum, E. J. Scofield, Abram S. King, C. J.
Knutson. John P. Hedberg, John G. Peterson, Ole K. Lee and Herman
Hillmond.
The present officers are as follow : W. H. Goetzinger, chancellor com-
mander; F. W. -Stanley, vice-chancellor; H. H. Barker, prelate; C. M. Nel-
son, keeper of records and seal; L. T. Silk, master at arms; Jacob Triese,
master of work; Guy Thompson, inside guard; George Hanson, outer guard;
C. T. Carlson, master of finance; A. W. Fargerland, master of exchequer.
Section No. 3204, Endowment Rank of the Knights of Pythias, was
established at Elbow Lake on July 2, 1896, with the following charter mem-
bers: Michael Casey, John B. Skogmo, N. B. Lien, W. E. Landeene, Peter
Peterson, Herman Hillmond, Joseph Pennock and E. H. Cornell.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.
Harmony Lodge No. 230. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was
organized at Herman on January 13, 1896. The following were among
the charter members : A. D. Larson, John W. Crabtree, John Bomback,
M. J. Fearer and Louis Anderson. On the 17th of the same month the lodge
was duly instituted and officers installed by Grand Master Mark E. Clay.
The first officers were : A. D. Larson, noble grand ; M. J. Fearer, vice-grand ;
J. W. Crabtree, recording secretary; Louis Anderson, treasurer. The first
meetings were held in a lodge room over the Grant County Bank and later
in rooms in what was then the Commercial Hotel. The membership rapidly
increased and in eight years after formation (1904) the present two-story
commodious building was acc|uired.
DOUGLAS AND GRA\T COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 477
Today the lodge numljers one hundred and three active and enthusiastic-
members. The propert)- is practically paid for and the lodge is in a flour-
ishing condition.
This lodge numbers twenty-five past grands, all of whom are now active
members of the lodge with the exception of Past Grand George Kriedler,
who died in January, 1916. The present officers are: C. F. Nelson, noble
grand; W. A. Pracht, vice-grand; W. G. McRoberts, recording secretary;
E. E. Peck, financial secretary; E. C. Eton, treasurer.
MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA.
Herman Camp Xo. 331 1, Modern Woodmen of America, was organ-
ized at Herman on Octol>er 29, 1895. The charter members were: John
Burkhart, Albert Boerner, John W. Crabtree, M. J. Fearer, Mons Hanson,
J. D. Houston, Ole G. Jenstad, A. D. Larson, K. C. Ness, W. W. Niemackl,
B. H. Phinney, C. H. Phinney, H. C. Prescott, R. F. Rarer, Charles H.
Schellbagh, H. P. Webb. Leo N. Westberg, Albert S. Webb and George F.
Houston. The first officers were : J. W. Crabtree, venerable consul ; H. P.
Webb, worthy advisor; M. J. Fearer, banker; K. C. Ness, clerk; O. G.
Jenstad, escort ; L. N. Westberg, watchman ; J. D. Houston, sentry ; A. D.
Larson, physician. In 191 1 the camp erected a new brick lodge -hall at a
cost of seven thousand five hundred dollars.
The present officers are: E. M. Chesebrough, venerable consul; B. F.
Davis, worthy advisor; W. L. Smedley, banker; E. C. Eaton, clerk; George
Davis, escort ; George R. Underwood, watchman ; A. C. Earsley, sentry ; J. T.
Leland and T. M. Thayer, physicians. The camp has a membership at pres-
ent of two hundred and five.
There is a lodge of the Royal Neighbors, auxiliary to the Modern \Vood-
men, at Herman. The officers for 1916 are: Gertrude Record, oracle;
Rose Davis, vice-oracle; Flora Jones, past oracle; Grace Cater, receiver;
Rekka Morken, recorder; Ida Otting, inner sentinel; Emily Johnson, outer
sentinel ; Emma Gruetzmacher, chancellor ; Minnie Jones, marshal ; Emma
Gruetzmacher, manager.
BARRETT CAMP NO. 3360.
Barrett Camp Xo. 3360. Modern Woodmen of America, was organized
on November 2, 1898. Among the charter members were: M. B. Elling-
son. M. P. Thune. A. H. Peterson. Ole Anderson, P. J. Berg. Ole Moe. W.
4/8 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
N. Wilson. P. P. Larson, G. P. Ellingson, L. A. Schwantz, H. O. Jelund, A.
E. Hegne, Thomas Hogarth and I. Groger. The first officers were : M. B.
Ellingson, venerable consul; P. P. Larson, worthy advisor; Ole Moe, banker;
M. P. Thiine. clerk; A. H. Peterson, escort; H. O. Jelund, watchman;
Thomas Hogarth, sentry : Ole Anderson, L. A. Schwantz and G. P. Ellingson,
managers.
The present officers are as follow : J. R. Stockdill, venerable consul ;
A. W. Borgen, worthy advisor; A. Samuelson, banker; F. E. Nelson, clerk.
ELBOW LAKE CAMP NO. 95/7.
Elbow Lake Camp No. 9577, Modern Woodmen of America, was organ-
ized at Elbow Lake on May 2, 1901. Among the charter members were:
Adolf Anderson, John P. Anderson, Ole C. Christoferson, Hugh H. Cole-
man, W. H. Goetzinger, Helmer O. Hanson, Levy H. Hanson, Ole Hanson,
Jens P. Johnson, Nels E. Landeene, R. J. Lehman and E. N. Nash.
Hyacinth Camp No. 3362, Royal Neightors, was instituted at Elbow
Lake on March 31, 1903, with the following charter members: Emily John-
son, Betsy Jacobson, Ella Sauby, Margaret Cosh, Helena Brandvold, Jose-
phine Ofsthun, Anjelin Johnson, Lena Olson, Hulda Brackin, Bertha Han-
son, Ragna Anderson, Alvina Ackerson, Camilla Stahl, Filda Ameson,
Carrie Prescott, Elvira Sauby, Anna Johnson, Gertrude Bartness, \'ictor E.
Erlandson, Earnest H. Erlandson. Ole C. Jacobson, L. C. Johnson and Dr.
E. T. Reeve.
The present officers of Hyacinth camp are as follow: Mrs. Emily
Johnson, oracle ; Mrs. John Nelson, vice-oracle ; Mrs. John Nelson, recorder ;
Sarah Pennock, past oracle ; Lena Allen, chancellor ; Betsy Jacobson, receiver ;
Thora Flatness, marshal ; Ragna .Anderson, inner watch ; Amanda Tobolt,
outer watch ; Margaret Cosh, Lena .Allen and O. C. Jacobson, trustees. The
camp has a present membership of twenty-six.
WENDELL CAMP.
\\'endell Camp, ]\lodern Woodmen of America, was organized at Wen-
dell in 1907. They meet the first and third Thursdays of each month in
Woodmen hall. The officers for 1916 are as follow; C. E. Stickney, vener-
able consul : A. R. McManus, worthy advisor ; Michael Crogan, banker ; T. V.
Scott, clerk; John Raines, escort; Ben Simonson, John Raines and M. L.
Adams, managers.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 479
ASHBY CAMP NO. 7386.
Ashbv Camp No. 7386, Modern Woodmen of America, was organized
at Ashby about ten years ago. Chris Stene is the present venerable consul
and John Stene is the clerk. The camp has forty members.
BROTHERHOOD OF AMERICAN YEOMEN.
.Homestead No. 418. Brotherhood of American Yeomen, was organized
at Elbow Lake on March 8, 1900, with the following charter members:
W. R. Hand, M. Warfield, K. E. Eidahl, Charles E. McQuillan, C. E. John-
son, J. S. Arneson, Ida M. Arneson, Oscar Svien, S. M. Arneson, J. Ander-
son. J. A. Peterson, Carrie Prescott, Charles D. Peterson, G. Peterson, E. H.
Cornell, H. Hillmond, S. H. Oversea, J. Engebretson, A. A. Lysne, G. M.
Skogmo, Otto Amundson, G. T. Kolberg, H. K. Harrison, G. Gilbertson.
H. W. Nelson, E. H. Fogelsong, A. H. Foss and Oscar Arneson. Within a
few years the organization became dormant but was reorganized on April
25, 1906, with the following officers: George L. Woodworth, foreman;
R. J. Stromme, master of ceremonies; O. Amundson, correspondent: Will-
iam Landeene, master of exchequer; Rev. James Godward, chaplain;
;\Irs. L. C. Johnson, overseer: L. C. Johnson, watchman; A. Hendricks,
sentinel ; A. G. Fossen, guard.
The present officers are : R. J. Stromme, foreman ; E. .\. Dybdal, master
of ceremonies: L. C. Johnson, correspondent; Emily Johnson, chaplain.
The present membership is sixty-eight.
HERMAN HOMESTEAD.
Herman Homestead, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, has the fol-
lowing officers for 1916: B. A. Ritzschke, foreman; Edward Ritzschke,
master of ceremonies ; Mrs. E. E. Peck, master of accounts ; W. T. Ziebarth,
correspondent; Mrs. Paul Goodell, overseer; Mrs. Joe Mathews, chaplain;
Mrs. O. W. Jones, Lady Rowena ; Mrs. E. M. Chesebrough, Lady Rebecca ;
Emil Keitzman, sentinel; R. P. Sugden, watchman; George R. Underwood,
guard.
BARRETT HOMESTEAD.
Barrett Homestead, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, was organized
at Barrett in 1907. The officers for 1916 are: G. F. Gustafson, foreman;
Andrew Linder. correspondent; Frank Nelson, master of ceremonies.
480 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
DEGREE OF HONOR.
Purity Lodge No. 56, Degree of Honor, was organized at Elbow Lake
on February i, 1896, with the following charter members; Mrs. George
Hinkley, Mrs. J. G. McQuillan, Mrs. J. C. Ackerson, Mrs. E. C. Ackerson,
Mrs. H. W. Barker, Mrs. A. W. Nelson, Mrs. A. O. Ofsthun, Mrs. N. T.
Ackerson, Pearl Barker, Mrs. Peter Peterson, Mrs. O. K. Laastuen, Mrs.
J. N. Biever, Mrs. O. G. Sanders, Rena Bacon, Peter Peterson, O. K.
Laastuen, E. C. Ackerson, J. G. McQuillan, Per Person, George Hinkley,
N. T. Ackerson, O. G. Christianson, Christian Rygh, W. R. Cockran, O. G.
Sanders, John H. Oss and M. Laastuen.
At one time the lodge was in a very prosperous condition and had a
membership of about forty, but time has wrought many changes in the
personnel of the organization and now six members are on the roll, only two
of whom, Mrs. John Sauby and Mrs. Belle Hendricks, live in Elbow Lake.
Among the first officers were the following: J. C. Ackerson, past chief
of honor; J. G. McQuillan, chief of honor; Mrs. J. N. Biever, lady of honor;
Pearl Barker, chief of ceremonies; Mrs. O. G. Sanders, recorder; Rena
Bacon, financier; Mrs. Peter Peterson, receiver; Mrs. O. K. Laastuen, usher;
Mrs. E. C. Ackerson, inside watch; Mrs. George Hinkley, outside watch.
The first officers were installed by Mrs. Mary Dailey, grand chief of honor.
RESIDENCE DISTRICT, EAST TAUT OF ELBOW LAKE.
CHAPTER XVII.
Elbow Lake, the County Seat.
The village of Elbow Lake, the seat of government of Grant county,
was platted on October 28, 1886, on land belonging to Knud O. Laastuen
and ex-Senator W. D. Washburn, and was the third village of the county
to be invested with the dignity of municipal incorporation. Geographically,
the village is located in section 17, Sanford township, in the central portion
of the county, and its origin as a governmental center is to be attributed to
the wise decision of the electors of the district who, as early as 1873, saw in
the location a point central and easily accessible from all parts of the county.
The final disposition of the judicial seat question and the erection of the court
house in 1878, set at rest all doubts as to the future of Elbow Lake, and its
subsequent development and general advancement in educational, social and
commercial channels have been steady and permanent. Its central location
with reference to convenience for the management and transaction of county
afifairs, its proximity to extensive agricultural areas and trade districts, its
modern school system and numerous fraternal and social organizations,
patroned by a progressive and public-spirited people are advantages rarely
accorded to a town of its size. Although the town is destined to never be
one of any great size, yet it is enjoying a gradual growth such as builds for
permanance and stability.
The town is regularly laid out, with wide and well shaded streets, con-
venient alleys, and both the business and residence sections are well provided
with' sidewalks. The residence district includes homes that are modern in
every sense, surrounded by picturescjue and well kept lawns.
The first municipal election in the village of Elbow Lake was held on
September 13, 1887, the officers being selected as follow: Henry F. San-
ford, president; John Christenson, Gunder Hanson and M. Casey, trustees;
A. C. Belyea, recorder; O. J. Kolseth, treasurer; A. C. Belyea, justice of the
peace: A. Thompson, constable. O. M. Torrison was appointed attorney;
A. Thompson, marshal ; A. W. Nelson, street commissioner ; Knud O.
Laastuen, fire warden; V. T. Johnson, pound master; Dr. F. A. Robinson,
F. R. Berglin and H. W. Barker, board of health. The first council meeting
was held on September 19, 1887.
(30
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES,
MUNICIPAL OFFICERS.
The municipal government of the present time is in the hands of a
thoroughly progressive body of men whose constant aim is to foster and
encourage pubHc and private improvement. The officers include the follow-
ing: W. E. Landeene, president; Thomas Casey, recorder; M. A. Lukken,
treasurer; H. J. Bollum, assessor; A. G. Ness, marshal; A. J. Anneson, J. A.
Dols, Sophus Bartness, trustees; W. H. Goetzinger, justice.
In the way of municipal improvements the town is quite up to the
standard. Among the first improvements that is worthy of mention was the
installing of a waterworks system in 1898. Two driven wells were put down
to a depth of two hundred feet and when put to a test produced one hundred
and eighty gallons per minute. A wooden water tank was erected which was
replaced by an iron tank in 191 5. The present tank holds one hundred and
fifty-six; thousand gallons. In the way of fire protection the town has a
volunteer fire company of thirty-three men, a chemical fire engine, two hose
carts, a truck and ladder wagon, and one thousand feet of water hose. In
1900 an electric light plant was installed at a cost of about ten thousand
dollars. The plant was managed by the town until 19 14 at which time it
was sold to the Ottertail Power Company.
When the first white settlers came into the vicinity of Elbow Lake in
1868 that there were eighteen log shacks located near the site now occupied
by the creamery. These log huts were occupied by half-breeds who were
engaged in hunting and curing pelts, but a short time later they were ousted
by the owner of the timljer land.
Although the site of Elbow Lake seemed to be a natural selection for a
town, yet the early growth was slow. Even in 1881 there was but a small
cluster of houses, no railroad, in fact nothing of commercial importance.
However, with the question of the county seat settled for all time and with
the coming of the railroad, the site of Elbow Lake acquired a much changed
appearance and not many years elapsed until its commercial importance was
unquestioned.
ELBOW LAKE POSTOFFICE.
The government established a postoffice in the vicinity of Ellxiw Lake
in 1869 or 1870. H. P. Hansen was the first postmaster and his office was
on his farm on section 24. He held the office for a period of five years. At
that time the office did not present many burdens as the cash receipts amounted
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 483
to only a few dollars in the course of a month. At first the mail was carried
by the stage coach but as the settlement of the country increased, star routes
were established and the mail became more frequent and reliable. As the
country developed the postoffice was moved from the Hansen farm to West
Elbow Lake where it remained a few years, and thence to the village of
Elbow Lake, in about 1880. Among the men who have served the com-
munity and village as postmaster have been the following: O. H. Aaker,
Halvor Hendricks, J. N. Sanford, Henry Sanford, A. W. Nelson, L. J.
Hauge, C. M. Nelson, J. S. Jacobson, O. T. Stromme and the present post-
master, John Engebretson. Five rural routes serve the country communities
from this ofifice. Hans L. Johnson has charge of route No. i ; John L.
Stanley, route No. 2; Francis W. Stanley, route No. 3; Hjalmar E. John-
son, route No. 4, and John Berger, route No. 5.
Although the town of Elbow Lake is considered a "city of homes" it is
also a mecca for church and fraternal organizations. These various organ-
izations exercise a potent influence on the social and religious life of the
community and through their instrumentality many people have been in-
fluenced to select this place as a permanent residence.
ELBOW LAKE SCHOOLS.
There is no surer index as to the character, intelligence and degree of
progress in a community than the public schools — their management, patron-
age and scope of work — and in the great majority of cases, those who seek
new localities in which to establish homes and rear their families take
into careful consideration the feature of educational advantages before taking
a decisive step. The early settlers of Elbow Lake seem to have been endowed
with unusual wisdom and keen foresight in the way of education because
hardly had the town limits been established until provisions had been made
for a village school. In due season a handsome and substantial building was
erected and equipped with all the modern appliances that the times afforded.
This building was a two-room, two-story structure and stood in the block
just west of the present building. In the fall of 1888, the first school was
held in the village, the teachers being Mrs. John O. Sauby, who had charge
of the grammar grades, and Effie Coleman, who had charge of the primary
grades. The following year, Mrs. Hurley, later Mrs. McKenzie and Miss
Johnson had charge of the school. The teachers had control of the work
for a period of four or five years, but as the attendance continued to increase
more room was necessarv.
484 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
In 1893, ^" addition was made similar to the original building and four,
teachers were employed. In a few years another addition was made and an
additional corps of two teachers were employed. In keeping with the prog-
ress of the times a new building was desired, a movement which led to the
erection of the present structure in 1907 at a cost of thirty thousand dollars.
The original building and the two additions now form beautiful residences in
the block just west of the school grounds.
In 1902, a four-year high school course was adopted, which was the
first in the county. As a result many pupils came to Elbow Lake from
neighboring towns and villages to complete their high school course. This
circumstance has led to congested conditions on account of the increased
attendance and as the school authorities extend a cordial welcome to all pupils
of the county, an addition to the present building within the next year is quite
probable.
The school board has at all times been composed of careful, competent
and conscientious men who have been assiduous in appointing to the imme-
diate management and supervision of the schools such men and women who
are privileged to aspire to such positions of trust and delicate responsibility
by virtue of moral character, learning and ability. The men and women
who were at the head of the school system at different times before the
school was recognized by the state authorities are given as follow: Mrs.
John O. Sauby, Mrs. Hurley, Mr. Thompson, L. G. Perry, B. W. Hosmer,
H. W. Shroyer, Iver Johnsrud and J. A. Cederstrom. J. A. Cederstrom was
the principal when the state high school was established in 1902. He con-
tinued as superintendent until 1905 and was succeeded by H. A. Johnson
who served from 1905 until 1909. W. B. Bolcom was chosen as the next
superintendent and served in that capacity for a period of two years. He
resigned in the summer of 191 1 and H. R. Tonning was elected and served
until 1915. He was followed by the present superintendent, L. H. Brinks,
who is a man of university training and broad scholastic ideals. In the main,
the high rating of the school system is due to his untiring efforts but due
credit must be given to his excellent corps of teachers, for it is through their
hearty co-operation, coupled with the assistance of a helpful and appreciative
school board, that has made success possible. The present school board is
composed of the following men: E. Sauby, president; Tos. E. Dybdal,
secretary; W. E. Landeene, treasurer; R. D. Hand. Paul Hanson and N. J.
Eide.
The teaching corps for the school year of 19 16- 191 7 includes the fol-
lowing: L. H. Brinks, superintendent; Irene Anderberg, high school prin-
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 485
cipal; Margaret Doty, English; Ruth Wallfred, science; Adeha Olson, home
economics; Emil Thorsen, agriculture; O. W. Bergan, manual training;
Elizabeth Meany, normal department; Marion Engebretson, eighth grade;
Marie Erdahl, seventh grade ; Esther Lundquist, sixth grade ; Ruth Jernberg,
fifth grade; Esther Engelbretson, fourth grade; Milla Lynne, third grade;
Hazel Mortinson, second grade; Mabelle Johnson, first grade. The enroll-
ment for the month of September, 1916, was three hundred and twenty, of
which number one hundred and nineteen are in the high school.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
In the summer of 19 16 the business and professional interests of Elbow
Lake were in the hands of the following :
Auto garage — Elbow Lake Automobile Company, Henry Smith, pro-
prietor; Auto livery — J. O. Smith, E. C. Ackerson; Architect — A. H. Foss;
Attorneys — Thomas Casey, E. J. Scofield. R. J. Stromme.
Banks — First National Bank, Bank of Elbow Lake; Barter shop —
Walter Fox ; Bowling alley — Walter Tobolt ; Blacksmith shops — J. A. Palin,
John Nelson, Henry Smith; Bottling works — Sven Olson.
Clothing store — Harry Maftalin; Cigar factory — A. A. Downs; Cream-
ery— Peter Storvick; Confectionery — Nels Solberg, Edward Eddinger;
Cement worker — T. T. Stuverud.
Druggists — Hand Drug Company, O. G. Hanson; Dray line — Joseph
Pennock, Robert Cosh; Dentists — Dr. C. H. Godward, Dr. O. Sauby.
Elevators — Oslxirn-McMillan. Farmers . Elevator and Grain Company.
Furniture dealer — John Sether; Flour mill — Nels Bergan.
Grocer — E. P. Barsness: General merchandise — Elbow Lake • Co-opera-
tive Company, Paul Hanson & Company, Larson & Fide, Stromme & Loose.
Hotels — The Park Hotel, R. E. Hauser, proprietor; The Haarstad
Hotel, C. G. Haarstad, proprietor; Harness shop — Albert GermundsonJ
Hardware dealers — Hauge Lumber & Hardware Company. Elbow Lake
Hardware & Lumber Company.
Implement dealers — Erick Sletten, Elbow Lake Hardware & Lumber
Company; Icedealer — R. Christianson & Company.
Jewelers — Hans J. Heram, W. R. Hand.
Lumber dealers — Elbow Lake Hardware & Lumber Companv. Hauge
Lumber & Hardware Company ; Livery^Abraham Thorson.
Moving picture show — B. E. Anderson; Meat market — R. Christianson
& Company; Merchant tailor — G. Hofstad.
486 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Newspaper — The Grant County Herald. H. H. Barker, proprietor;
Nursery dealer — C. S. Hinkley.
Painters— Nels Nelson, L. T. Silk; Physicians— Dr. F. L. Kling, Dr.
E. T. Reeve, Dr. W. R. Hand; Photographer— M. L. Holdrem.
Restaurants — Nels Solberg, Sven Olson & Son, Edward Eddinger;
Real estate dealers — Tos E. Dybdal, Brown-UUand Land Company, Globe
Land & Loan Company.
Shoe store — B. E. Dybdal; Shoemaker — S. Albretson; Stock buyers —
John O. Sauby, Farmers Shipping Association.
Telephone — Elbow Lake Telephone Company.
Variety store — L A. Tasa; Veterinary — Dr. J. B. Nelson.
Wood dealer — P. A. Haggberg; Well driller — Max Lohse.
An industry of the town that is worthy of special mention is the cream-
ery. This creamery is one of the oldest in the county, having been organized
in the early eighties. The plant has been owned by several different people
and operated with various degrees of success. Peter Storvick is the present
owner and is operating the concern with credit to himself and the communitv.
The total output for June, 1916, was approximately eighteen thousand
pounds of butter, for w'hich the farmers received the sum of four thousand
five hundred dollars. The average number of patrons is one hundred and
eighty. Besides the butter industry, ice cream is manufactured during the
summer season.
The Grant County Telephone Company, with headquarters at Elbow
Lake, was organized in 1901 and reorganized in 1903 with the same officers
and stockholders. The first organization, which is the same as the present
one, is inclusive of the following : Henry Sampson, president ; E. J. Scofield,
vice-president; W. E. Landeene, secretary-treasurer. The company main-
tains an exchange at Herman and toll lines to Ashby, Wendell and Erdahl.
The first telephone line in the county was built in 1900, between Herman and
Elbow Lake, by George Ketcham, an attorney. The equipment was quite
inadequate and the service unsatisfactory. In 1901 the present company
took over the system, which was in a decadent condition, and after remodel-
ing and reconstructing, have given excellent local and long distance service.
Among the improvements of 1916 is the new Soo-Pacific depot, now
under construction. The new depot for Elbow Lake, the "Gateway of the
Park Region," will be one of the best in a village of this size on the entire
system. The structure is located to the east of the old depot. The basement
contains room for coal bins, storage and the hot-water heating plant. The
building is built of hydraulic pressed brick and stone, the stone forming the
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 487
trimmings and running up the sills of the windows all around. The building
is modern in every sense, very commodious and conveniently arranged.
An organization of Elbow Lake of which the citizens are justly proud
is the Elbow Lake Concert Band. The band is composed of thirty-five pieces
and under the leadership of John Sather it has become one of the best bands
in the Park Region. During the summer season, weekly concerts are given,
which are enjoyed not only by local people but by those who come from a
distance.
CHAPTER X\'III.
Villages of Grant County.
In Grant countv there are six incorporated towns and villages, all rail-
road points, and so situated with reference to locality that they atford
extraordinary accommodations and conveniences to the agriculturist and
stock growers of the district.
HERMAN.
There are many events of more or less local historical interest asso-
ciated with the settlement and subsequent growth of the village of Herman,
Logan township, in the extreme southwestern part of the county, in which
Herman is located, was one of the first settled localities in the district and
for many years after the organization of the county, Herman continued to
be the chief railroad point and principal place of business in the three coun-
ties of Grant, Stevens and Traverse. The village of Herman was laid out
on land belonging to the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company. About this
time S. S. Frogner and Peter Hanson opened up general merchandizing
stores there and did a prosperous business with the settlers and half-breed
aborigines. The village plat was filed with the register of deeds on Septem-
ber 30, 1875, by George L. Becker and Samuel S. Breed. The village began
its corporate e.xistence March 15, 1881 — a year made memorable by the
determined efifort of the citizens to secure the county seat. The first officers
of the village were as follow : C. A. Smith, president : Charles Pullman, A.
C. Earsley, A. Wells, trustees; J. K. Van Doren, recorder; F. \V. \\^ebster.
treasurer; T. C. Hodg.son and C. F. Washburn, justices; David Remp,
marshal.
The present elective ofticers include the following: J. P. Wells, presi-
dent ; A. C. Harper, clerk ; Charles Goodell, Edward R. Hanney, G. John-
srud, trustees; W. J. Shultz, Paul Goodell. constables; Charles Phinney.
J. B. Hodgson, justices.
Herman, with a population of about eight hundred, is one of the busiest
and best little towns situated in the southern portion of the Red River Val-
ley. Doubtless if any town in the county or surrounding counties can offer
as manv inducements to the homeseeker or Ixisiness man as the town of
MAIN .STItEET. HERMAN.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 489
Herman. The town is surrounded by one of the best prairie farming dis-
tricts in the Northwest. Tlie town is beautifully laid out, populated with
a progressive class of people working for a common purpose, "A better and
greater Herman." A little over two years ago the State Municipality League
selected Herman as the "Model Town of the State of Minnesota."
Herman is particularly fortunate in the way of school facilities. It has
a modern pressed brick school and a school system that is above the average.
Prof. E. B. Anderson is the superintendent and is ably assisted by a trained
corps of teachers and an appreciative school board. A full high school
course is given, including the special subjects of manual training, domestic
science and agriculture. The enrollment for month of September, 1916, was
about one hundred and ninety, of which number the high school contributed
forty.
In the way of church and fraternal organizations, the town is amply
supplied to satisfy the wants and needs of the average citizen. Brief accounts
of these organizations will be found in their respecti\'e chapters.
THE COMMUNITY SOCIAL CLUB.
The Community Social Club is one of the few organizations of its kind
in the state. It was formally organized on November 17, 1914, by the rep-
resentative citizens and business men of the town. The general purpose is
literary, social and the promotion of the welfare of Herman. The organi-
zation has beautifully equipped club rooms in the Woodmen hall. It was
through the hearty co-operation and influence of the club that made pos-
sible the present existence of the Herman public library'. The library rooms
are also in the Woodmen hall in conjunction with those of the club. At
present the library has about two thousand volumes. This library is the
only one that is municipal in character in the county, a fact which goes to
show that the people of Herman are among the most progressive citizens of
the county. Mabel Clark is the present librarian.
The town has a band of twenty- five pieces that is entirely self-support-
ing. This organization has never solicited any help from the public and is
one of the strongest boosters of the town.
During the summer of 19 16 the business interests were in\-ested in the
following :
Auto garage — W. B. Schmidt & Son; Attorney — F. C. .Anderson;
Banks — First National, Grant County State; Blacksmith shop — Henrv Fels;
Barber shops — John Newberger. Soy Newberger; Confectionery — H. T.
490 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Lesson; Creamery — S. S. Landt & Son; Druggist — A. D. Larson; Dentist
— F. R. Haley; Elevator — Farmers Elevator Company; General dealers —
A. C. Harper & Company, Herman Farmers Store, Wells Hedgeson; Hard-
ware dealer — Gust Bros. ; Harness shop — J- E. Nelson ; Hotel — The Pull-
man ; Jeweler — Orrin Larson ; Livery — Otto Carlson, Williain Shultz ;
Lumber dealers — H. W'. Ross Lumber Company, Standard Lumber Com-
pany; Milliner — Mrs. Hetty Warren; Meat markets — A. F. Mitchell, Frank
Johnson; Mill — Herman flour mill; Newspaper — The Grant Coiinf\ Rc-
ziezv, E. M. Chesebrough, proprietor; Physicians — Dr. T. M. Thayer, Dr.
J. T. Leland; Restaurant — James F. Leavell; Real estate dealer — O. C.
Eaton, Charles Cater, Haney Land Co., Ziebarth .& Lindem ; Shoe shop —
J. S. Edelstein; Theater — The Bijou, Frank Hook proprietor; Tailor shop
— John Weiss; Veterinary — Walter Smedley.
HOFFMAN.
On April i6, 1887, a plat of the village of Hoffman was filed by W^ D.
Washburn,' and a small cluster of houses, which were speedily thrown
together upon the advent of the Soo-Pacific road in 1886, at once took on
the form of a commercial center. Hoffman is located in the town of Land,
eighteen miles southeast of Elbow Lake, in a remarkably productive agricul-
tural district. Among the numerous country towns on the Soo line between
the Twin cities and Portal, the thriving town of Hoffman which, an indus-
trial class of people, by perpetual co-operation, energ\' and persistence, have
succeeded in building, maintaining and constantly improving and to-day it is
recognized as an industrial factor of considerable local importance. To
adjoining towns on the Soo line and other railroads as well, Hoffman is
justly known as a live, healthy, prosperous and desirable place of business.
While once flourishing, competing villages and towns, in the course of years,
have entered into comatose conditions, this place has continually forged ahead
enjoying growth and prosperity. Today the town has a population of about
five hundred.
The first business men of the town were: H. J. Gronberg, John Kron,
L. T. Breen, J. A. Willd and A. Fogelstrom. As the business grew and the
population increased the citizens desired to become a corporate unit, so on
April 25, 1891, a petition was filed for the purpose of holding an election
to decide the question. The election was held on June 23, of the same year,
and resulted in the vote of thirty-three in favor and eight against. The first
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 49 1
officers were inclusive of the following: J. A. Willd, president; L. T.
Breen, H. J. Gronberg, M. Rollofson, trustees; H. Hendrickson. recorder;
N. E. Rulien, treasurer.
The present officers are as follows : N. E. Rulien, president ; S. J.
Ausland, recorder; Eric Sletten, J. A. Cook, Charles Nelson, trustees; Will-
iam Shauer, constable; J. A. Cook, justice.
The public school is one of the best in the county. It comprises three
departments, with an enrollment at the present time of about one hundred
and five. J. A. Cook is the principal.
The citizens of HoJifman are proud of their town, of their schools,
churches and other organizations, but nothing gives them more pride than
to speak of the ladies' band. The band was organized in the spring of 1916
and its success has been unrivalled. Summer concerts have been given and
the people not only of Hoffman but surrounding towns as well have shown
due appreciation. A great deal of the success belongs to the leadership of
A. L. Backhmd whose untiring efforts certainly have been rewarded. The
young ladies who compose the band are as follows : Lillie Johnson, Amely
Sjolaas, Ruth Henderson, Clara Sunder, Nina Willd, Beattie Johnson, Jessie
Wallmark, Ruth Lindstrom, Sigrud Backlund, Olga Johnson, Lillian Meyer,
Jensine L.ander, Florence Danielson, Alma Henderstrom.
The following business interests were represented in the summer of
1916:
Auto garage — Shauer Brothers; banks, Farmers State, Hoffman State;
blacksmith shop, Erich Melin; barber, J. H. Flolid; confectionery, R. E.
Shauer & Company: creamery, Hoffman Co-operative Creamery Company;
clothing and furnishings, Desnick & Kronick ; druggist, H. J. Gronberg ; dray
line, I. Berg; elevators. Farmers Elevator Company, Woodworth Elevator
Company, Lang Elevator Company; feed and fuel, J. P. Mattson; furniture
dealer, H. L. Elglumb; general dealers, Anton Helland, Farmers Co-opera-
tive Mercantile Company, J. M. Arnquist & Son ; harness shop, K. Skog-
lund; hardware dealers, Hoffman Hardware Co., Lindhurst & Stavig; imple-
ment dealer, Eric Sletten; jeweler, Edward Stavig; lumber dealer, C. A.
Willd; meat market, S. J. Ausland & Company; newspaper. The Hoffman
Times, W. N. Bronson, proprietor; produce dealer. North American Stor-
age Company ; physicians, Dr. F. E. Griswold, Dr. Amly Sjolaas, Dr. H. A.
Hegna; restaurants, R. E. Shauer & Co., J. R. Milne; stockbuyer, Hoffman
Shipping Association ; tile drainage, B. H. Malmgren ; variety store, Mrs.
Nora Sturgis.
492 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
WENDELL.
The village of Wendell is located in Stony Brook township, on section
^2. The land was formerly owned by the Pacific Land Company and on
July II, 1889, the original plat of the townsite was filed in the office of the
register of deeds by the above company, Kittel Olson and Gunild Qlson.
The village is situated on the Soo-Pacific line, nine miles northwest of
Elbow Lake and is the only trading point of pronounced importance in the
extensive agricultural area comprising the northwestern part of the county.
Here, as elsewhere in the district, the staple industries are wheat raising,
corn growing and dairying. Illustrative of the importance of Wendell as a
shipping point and the relative standing of the section as a producer, the fact
may be cited that the village is the best in the county. The dairying indus-
try is also followed with- much supcess as is evidenced by the splendid cream-
ery here. The creamery is known as the Farmers Co-operative Creamery
company and is managed by John Raines. In 1915 a splendid new brick
building was constructed at a cost of six thousand dollars complete. In
the month of August, 1916, the total quantity of butter made amounted to
ten thousand four hundred and five pounds. Thus it can be seen that this
industry is quite a source of wealth and one which deserves the hearty sup-
port of the entire community.
The first storekeeper in what is now the village of Wendell was Kittel
Olson. When the Soo-Pacific road in its construction in 1887, located a
depot at W'endell, the possibilities for a little commercial center were sug-
gested and Messrs. Beck & Whitman, who were in business in Meeker
county, bought the stock of goods belonging to Olson and put in a stock
of general merchandise. In the fall of the same year, Beck built the store
room now occupied by L. O. Sand and moved the store into it. In the
same year K. I. Haugen built the store room now occupied by T. A. Boyd
and put in a stock of goods. T. A. Boyd bought the Haugen store in 1889
and has been in business ever since.
The first postmaster in the village was D. A. Beck in 1887. The com-
munity was first served from the postoffice of Asha, a point about three
miles from Wendell and on the star route between Fergus Falls and Herman.
E. A. Roach succeeded J. A. Beck as postmaster, who in turn was followed
by T. A. Boyd. The present postmaster is J. L. Boyd, the son of T. A.
Boyd, and has served for the past three years.
A petition for the incorporation of the village was filed on January 20,
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 493
1904, signed by T. A. Boyd, P. O. Floan and C. A. Prestrud. The village
was incorporated in April of the same year with the following officers : T.
A. Boyd, president: E. A. Dybdal, clerk: L. C. Bergen, treasurer: C. E.
Stickney, Andrew Solem, E. Mobraaten, trustees; F. W. Hungerford and
Ole K. Olson, constables: C. B. Heimark, chairman of the board of health.
The present elective ofificers include the following: E. IMobraaten,
president; L. H. Pikop, John Raines, E. Mohagen, trustees: L. C. Bergen,
clerk; Hjalmar Larson, treasurer; C. E. Stickney, justice; L. H. Larson,
constable; Ben Simonson, constable and marshal.
The village became an independent school district immediately after incor-
poration. A three-room two-story building was constructed which was
destroyed by lire in 1909. In 1910, the present four-room brick building
was constructed at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. The first teachers to
teach in the village were, Amanda Norgard and Ida Running. At present
there are four teachers, the principal being Clara Kling. A nine-months
school is held and two years of high school are given. The average enroll-
ment is about one hundred and twenty.
The village is beautifully laid out on a hillock about four squares north
of the depot. The spirit of the village may be summed up in the word —
progress. Neither is this name a misnomer, because seldom does one
see in a village of two hundred people such a metropolitan appearance. The
majority of the business blocks are substantial brick structures and additional
ones are now under construction. The village has had electric lights since
1913, the power for which is furnished by the Ottertail Power Company.
The homes are modern and well kept, showing that the citizens are pros-
perous and contented. Although the citizens are proud of these conditions
they are aware that were it not for the wide-awake and progressive farm-
ers in the vicinity, present conditions would be greatly changed.
The following is a business directory for the year of 1916:
Auto garage, Edward Mohagen; banks. Farmers State Bank, First
National Bank; blacksmith. Andrew Solem; barber shop, E. H. Shoemaker;
elevators, Osborne-^NIcAIillan, Farmers Elevator Company ; furniture dealer,
L. C. Bergen. L. O. Sand; general dealers. E. Naftalin & Son. T. A. Boyd,
Dybdal, Pikop & Skinnemoen Company ; harness shop, C. N. Lillemoen ; hard-
ware dealers. L. C. Bergen, L. O. Sand; hotel, Andrew Lystne; implement
dealers, Sletten & Thorsen, C. E. Stikney; jeweler, T. A. Dybdal; lumber
dealer, Edward JNIobraaten ; livery. Nels Olson ; meat market, Ben Simonson ;
moving picture show, C. E. Stickney: newspaper, IJ'cndcU Trib.imc, A. R.
494 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES. MINNESOTA.
McManus, proprietor; physician, Dr. T. P. Rothneni ; restaurant, Johnson
Cafe; telephone, Wendell Telephone Company.
Ashlar, fourth in population among the villages of Grant county, is
located in Pelican Lake township, on the main Hne of the Great Northern,
in the extreme northeastern part of the county. The village is situated
upon the land which was formerly owned by K. &. O. Alelby, the original
plat having been filed by that gentleman in 1879.
From its inception, Ashby has been of more or less importance as a
commercial center, and notwithstanding several serious reverses with which
the village has met, it is still one of the most important trading points in
the district, being favored with an extensive patronage by residents over
the lines in Otter Tail and Douglas counties, as well as from the northeastern
townships of Grant county. Ashby has a thrifty population of about four
hundred people, neat dwellings, attractive and commodious business houses
and additional ones in the <:ourse of construction. The merchants as a whole
are progressive and enterprising, who endorse and support any measure that
bears the stamp of merit.
The date Ashby began its corporate existence is uncertain, as, owing to
the early records being destroyed by fire, no account of the first organization
is at hand. The management of the municipal affairs at the present time
is vested in the following men: A. ]\I. Randall, president; George Vange-
ness. clerk; Svert Aasang. treasurer; C. E. Thorsteson, J. O. Western,
George Huggett, trustees : Herman Balgaard. constable and marshal ; Ross
Beardsley, justice.
In 1893 the village was visited by a very destructive fire which laid
in waste over half the business district. Rebuilding began almost imme-
diately and ere many years had passed new and modern buildings had
taken the place of the ones destroyed.
An excellent public school system is maintained, of which G. A. Fjeld-
stad is the superintendent. A new school building is just completed at a cost
of about twenty-four thousand dollars, which amount does not include the
equipment. Although the building is not as large as some in the county,
it is doubtless the most modern and up-to-date building in this section.
The site of the building has been pronounced by the state authorities as one
of the verv best in the entire state. The structure is situated on the crest
DOUGLAS AMD GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 495
of a gently rising knoll from which a birds-eye view can be gained of the
country in every direction. The school system now includes a four-year
high school course with all of the special courses including manual training,
domestic science, and agriculture, with specially equipped apartments for
each. The present enrollment is about one hundred and fifty of which
number forty-three are in the high school. Seven teachers are employed.
The first school in the community was on the Teisberg farm and Mrs.
Teis1>erg was the first teacher. Pupils of all sizes and ages were in attend-
ance, most of whom were very eager to learn.
The postofiice was established in 1879 or 1880, with K. X. O. ]\Ielby
as postmaster, fiovvever, the first postofifice in the community was at Pomme
de Terre and N. Q. Punchtes was the first postmaster. • With the establish-
ment of the village site and the coming of the railroad the postofiice was
moved to the village and was situated just across the bridge in the east
part of the village. Among the men who have been postmasters of the
village are the following: C. Hawkins, A. S. King, Martin Holt, E. C.
Schow, O. A. Norman, William Penner, A. J. Dahl is the present post-
master and has served in the capacity since June, 1910.
The first merchants in the village were, P. Hawkins, N. O. Punchtes
and Johnson & Langley.
The business interests of the village during the fall of 1916 were in the
hands of the following men :
Auto garage, Ashby Auto Company, Elberling Brothers: banks. Farm-
ers State Bank, First State Bank; barber shop, L. A. Lindberg; blacksmith-
shop, G. W. Hugget, J. P. Hanson & Son ; dray line, J. R. Bowman, Andrew
Hofif; druggist, Geo.rge Peterson; dentist. Dr. R. M. Bright; elevators, Farm-
ers Elexator Company, Northwestern Elevator Company; feed mill, Robert-
son Bros. ; feed stable, Ben Johnson ; general dealers, A. R. Sunju, E. T. Ris-
brudt, Paulson Bros., J. M. Lynne, Dahl & Peterson; harness dealer, A. F.
Stucke; hardware and furniture dealers, Stene Hardware Company, Chris
Skaar ; hotels. Hotel Ashby, Hotel Kittson ; implement dealer, Andrew Olson,
Ole Johnson; jeweler, J. A. Kjellberg; livery, H. A. Bye; lumber dealer,
Ashby Lumber Company, J. O. Western, manager; meat market, O. L. Boe,
Dahl & Peterson ; milliner, Julia Paulson ; newspaper, Tlic Ashby Post, L.
R. Rathbun, proprietor; physicians. Dr. .\. M. Randall, Dr. O. A. Norman;
photographer, A. Cifrlson; restaurant, O. A. Running, Trondbjin Cafe, H.
O. Koefod, proprietor; telephone, Ashby Telephone Company.
496 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
On the Soo line, nine miles directly southeast of Elbow Lake, is the
thriving town of Barrett, one of the most favorably located and prosperous
communities in the county. It is situated on section 12, township 128,
range 42. The original plat of the village was filed on May 7, 1887, by
Erick Johnson and Gertrude Johnson and William D. Washburn and Lizzie
D. Washburn.
The village was incorporated in 1889, and the first election was held
on December 2^,, of that year, with the following result: Ole Moe, presi-
dent; Ole J. Rued, John G. Peterson, C. Van Dj^ke, trustees; Ole K. Lee,
recorder, M. B. Ellingson, treasurer.
The present elective officers include the following: Andrew Linder,
president, E. N. Ellingson, clerk; M. Lund, Edward Erickson, Peter Jen-
son, trustees ; R. J. Stockdill, marshal ; Andrew Linder, justice.
What is now the townsite of the village was formerly the homestead
of Mrs. Johnson. The first business house erected in Barrett was that of
John Ellingson, in 1888, who with his sons, M. B. and B. P., were the pioneer
merchants, produce dealers and stock shippers.
Barrett has a population of two hundred and seventy-eight, and its
business interests are controlled by gentlemen who are thoroughly apace
with the times. Within a stone's throw of the Soo depot lies the lower
lake Pomme de Terre, one of the most beautiful sheets of water in the lake
region. As a picnicking resort it is unsurpassed, the attractive feature of
beautifully shaded groves being augmented by several row boats, which
are always at the service of visitors. The population is largely Scandi-
navian and they are very thrifty here as elsewhere in the county.
In the way of manufacturing industries the village has two. The
tile factory, the owner of which is E. F. Mongen, began its existence in
the spring of 19 16 and since the first day of operation has been unable to
satis f 3' the demand although about one thousand four hundred tile are made
each day. The Barrett roller mill, owned by G. H. Gustafson, is one of the
oldest industries of the village and has always given unqualified satisfaction.
The mill has a fifty-barrel capacity and operates continuously in order to
accommodate the trade. The mill is equipped with both steam and water
power, and is one of the most important industries of the community.
In addition to its business equipment, Barrett maintains two lodges
and four church denominations, all of which are treated in special chap-
ters.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 49/
The interest that the people take in education is evidenced by the mod-
ern brick building situated in the eastern part of town. The village schools
have been independent of the township since about the time the village was
incorporated. At the present time four teachers are employed with an enroll-
ment of about one hundred.
The exact date that the postoffice was established cannot be obtained,
but it is known that Ole K. Lee was the first postmaster in the village.
Before there was an ofhce in Barrett a postoffice was located out in the
country about three miles, where only stamps and envelopes were sold. The
order in which the postmasters have served are given as follow : Ole K.
Lee, G. Arneson, Ole Moe, M. P. Thune, J. G. Peterson, M. H. Palmer,
J. G. Peterson, and A. F. Peterson, the present postmaster, who has served
two years.
The business interests of Barrett in the fall of 1916 were represented
by the following:
Auto garages, Clinton Peterson, Sainuelson Brothers ; banks, State Bank
of Barrett, Citizens State Bank; blacksmiths, Samuelson Brothers; barber,
J. G. Johnson; creamery, Farmers Co-operative Creamery Company; drug-
gist, N. J. Stromstad; dray line, J. O. Hagen; elevators, Farmers Elevator
Coriipany, Osborn-McMillan Elevator Company, Barrett Elevator Company;
furniture dealer, Barrett Hardware Company; general dealers, Andrew
Linder, B. M. Desnick; harness shop, Barrett Hardware Company; hard-
ware dealers, Barrett Hardware Company, Larson Brothers; hotel, Barrett
Lake Hotel, August Miller, proprietor; hospital, Powers Hospital; imple-
ment dealers, Barrett Hardware Company, Sletten Brothers; lumber dealer,
M. Lund; meat markets, F. E. Nelson, J. Sumstad; mill, G. H. Gustafson;
physician. Dr. F. W. Powers; produce dealer, North American Storage
Company; restaurants, Edward Anderson, Albert Anderson, Mrs. Hans.
Larson.
NORCROSS.
The village of Norcross is located in Gorton township on section 28.
The original plat of the townsite was recorded on December 22, 1881, and
signed by Nelson F. Griswold and Lucy A. Gfiswold, Judson N. Cross and
Clara N. Cross.
On November 14, 1903, the people of the village filed a petition for the
purpose of incorporation. At that time there were one hundred and forty
citizens living^ within the proposed corporate limits. The signers of the
petition were, Ole Selleseth, H. O. Shaner and Ole B. Iverson.
(32)
498 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The village is located on the main line of the Great Northern and is
quitt important as a banking and local trading center. The business direc-
tory of 1916 shows the following business:
Behan, James, hotel; Du Frene, H. I., farm implements; Duluth Ele-
A^ator Company; Farmer, W. K., meat market; Farmers Elevator Com-
pany; Felix, Edward, farm implements; Jacobson, Andrew, blacksmith;
Laughlin & Johnson, general store; Lund & Selleseth, general store; State
Bank of Norcross; Wolfe, G. E., barber.
The village of Hereford is located on section i, township 129, range
44. The original plat of the village was recorded on September 10, 1887,
by Richard Nash and Mary Nash. On the Great Northern railroad, nine
miles west of Elbow Lake, situated just at the verge of the great Red river
"flats," has a population of twenty-five. In 1886, when the railroad was
about to establish a station at this point, it was the intention to call the
place Culbertson, in honor of the man who owned a tract of land there,
but the modest man said that if they wished to compliment him in any way
to call the place "Hereford," after his beautiful herd of white-faced cattle
kept on his farm, "Hereford Park," near Newman, Illinois. Accordingly
the place was so christened.
According to tradition George Schell was the first telegrapher at this
point and his office was located in a little hand-car house, but later replaced
by a small depot. He served as operator for a period of seven years.
Mr. and Mrs. McGee conducted the first hotel in the village, but as the
population did not increase as expected, the project had to be abandoned.
The business interests of 1916 were in the hands of the following:
Federal Elevator Company; Hull & Harris, cement workers; Larson, C.
H., general store; Mobraaten, Edward, lumber dealer; Winter-Truesdell-
Ames, grain elevator.
ERDAHL.
The village of Erdahl is located on section 10, township 129, range 41.
The original plat was recorded October 7, 1887, and signed by Harold Thor-
son and Carrie S. Thorson. Although the village is destined to never be
one of any great size, yet it is so geographically situated that it will always
l>e of importance as a local trading center. The business directory for 1916
includes the following: Alberts & Gilbertson, grocery and confectionery;.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 499
Erdahl Farmers Grain Company; I-Lrdahl Mutual Telephone Company; Jor-
genson, Samuel, blacksmith; Markegaard, Andrew implements; Reine, O.
G., hardware; Vinge, Mrs. M., general store.
POMME DE TERRE.
Pomme de Terre was the first village in the county and was platted
on the homestead of Timothy Heald, section 24, township 130, range 42.
The original plat was recorded in 1874 by the owner of the land who at
that time had visions of a growing and prosperous town on account of the
excellent water power and the survey of railroad close by. Several busi-
ness houses sprang up and flourished for a time only to pass out of existence
much more gradually than they had entered.
CANESTORP.
The townsite of Canestorp is commonly known as West Elbow LakeJ
The original plat was filed in the register of deeds ofiice on March 12,
1887, by Adolphus H. Bode, trustee of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Mani-
toba Railroad Company. The land of the townsite was owned by Charles
Swanson and Mettie Swanson. The townsite is located on the branch of
the Great Northern railroad from Evansville to Tintah, one mile west
of Elbow Lake, and makes possible better shipping facilities. The grain
elevator at this point is quite convenient for the farmers in the vicinity, and
thousands of bushels of grain are handled yearly.
CHAPTER XIX.
Sidelights on County History.
The county seat contest of 1881-82 was one of the most exciting events
ifi Grant county and at the time was the cause of considerable heated dis-
cussion. Herewith are presented a few newspaper extracts which show
the state of feeling at that time. The first, entitled "An Eventful Day,"
is the premature jubilation of A. DeLacey Wood, editor of the Grant County
Herald^ then published at Herman. The contribution entitled "News from
Grant County," is thought to be the work of one Matthew Hawkins, and
created considerable amusement at the time it was printed. The veiled refer-
ences to names will be understood by all the old settlers. The long-winded
editorial on "A Crow Feast," not only gives a rough picture of the state
of feeling at that time, but is a fine example of the bitter editorials charac-
teristic of the political controversies of forty years ago, now happily fallen
into disuse.
AN EVENTFUL DAY. ,
"Friday, November 25, 1881, was an eventful day in the history of
Grant county. On that day the officers of the county who are required
by law to keep their offices at the county seat, removed their safes, records
and effects to Herman, the county seat of Grant county.
"On the 2 1st inst. the governor's proclamation, declaring Herman the
legally established count}- seat of Grant county, was issued, and on the 25th,
the officers having direct notice of the issuance of the proclamation,
determined to move at once to their new and more agreeable quarters at
Herman. The removal was conducted by each officer personally, and the
whole was carefully and intelligently supervised by our estimable commis-
sioner, John G. Peterson. Mr. Peterson was named by a majority of the
board of county commissioners to take charge of the removal and see that
the safes, records, etc., were safely transported and securely deposited in the
new offices at Herman. That he, the officers and assistants performed their
duties in this matter well and expeditiously appears from the fact that the
transfer of the entire effects of the county officers, including their accumulated
records and heavy iron safes, was accomplished on that day.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 5OI
"The removal of the county seat to Herman heralds a new era in
our county's history. Grant county will have her fine court house, on a
splendid three-acre block in the center of the village, and will at no distant
day be on an equal footing with the surrounding counties. This is a great
gain to the county and introduces a season of progress and prosperity, for
which the most selfish person cannot fail to thank the generous citizens
of Herman.
"Vacant land will be taken up, uncultivated prairies will be caused to
bloom with the wealth of growing crops; the prairie flower will give place
to the corn stalk and wheat stem; the merits of our land and attractions of
our county will be advertised abroad ; emigration will add to our population,
and every individual in the county, wheresoever he lives, will realize a posi-
tive, unquestionable benefit."
NEWS FROM GRANT COUNTY.
"Editor : Last week I was sojourning in the Land of Potatoes, and
it came to pass on Friday, when the evening was nigh, that a messenger
came in haste to say that a great event was at hand, even the removing
of the county seat. An order from the Great Sanhedrin had been given,
and the people were gathered to make a descent on the City of Fraud, the
ungodly city of Herman, and remove therefrom the archives of Grant.
And they besought me to be present and rejoice with the tribes of Fran, and
Timothy and P. O., over the downfall of the unrighteous. But I said, I
have bought a pair of oxen and must go and prove them, which being trans-
lated means, I have other fish to fry. But he whom I was serving, Ernest
W., whose surname is Cooke, said. Go too, thou art careful and troubled
about many things, choose now the good part and follow us, else I go not.
"And when the evening was come and the lamp of night was on high,
it came to pass that I was journeying with the multitude towards the land
of the Philistines. And as we journeyed the multitude increased until there
were fifteen chariots and fifty-two men of war. And we pitched our camp
over against the devoted city, even on the bank of the river of Mustinka.
And when the morning was nigh we arose and went forth to battle. And
when we came into the cit}' of Gath the inhabitants were amazed and sore
afraid, for they were asleep and the sentinels aroused them with loud knock-
ings, and cries that the Israelites were upon them and judginent and retri-
bution were at hand.
"But the scribe who had charge of the temple and the keys thereof.
502 . DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
having the fear of God in his heart, was awake and watching; he threw
open the gates, and the chariots were loaded with the records, strong safes
and treasures, and the IsraeHtes departed therewith in peace with the blow-
ing of horns and shouting and loud rejoicing. But the Philistines tore their
hair and put on sackcloth and ashes, or in other words were very down in
the mouth and drank beer and wagged their heads and talked fiercely to
one another. But the Israelites heeded not, but departed into their own
land and deposited their spoils at the Lake of Elbow where they now
remain."
A CROW FEAST.
"It has not been the policy of the Banner in this political campaign
to appeal to the sectional prejudices of the citizens of Grant county. We
long to see the time when all animosities shall be obliterated and general
good feeling shall prevail. But we fail to see how this grand result is
to be honorably effected by our people voting in a body for the man who
has not only never done anything to allay the bad blood that has from time
to time been stirred up, but who has done more than any other man outside of
the county and almost any man inside of the county to stir up jealousy and
bitter feeling between the different sections of the county.
"From the first Knute Nelson has been a partisan in the local divi-
sions of Grant county — a partizanship which culminated in his relentless
prosecution of the people of Logan and Delaware in an expensive suit at
Alexandria. His industrious attempt to bring many of our most promi-
nent citizens into disgrace and shame is so fresh that we wonder with blank
astonishment how some of those same citizens can so humiliate themselves
and the town they hail from as to obsequiously fall on their faces before
their arch enemy, and like the dog in the fable, look up and lick the hand
that smites them. The subject is too painful to dwell upon further. We
presume they would be willing to go to the penitentiary if they could only
see his lordship elected. Peace purchased at such a price is too costly to
awaken anything but contempt and ridicule.
"It is well known that Knute Nelson has been for years an aspirant
for the office for which he is now a candidate. His name was prominently
mentioned two years ago, and we presume W. D. Washburn is now assist-
ing in his election as the result of Knute's forbearance at that tirne. But
his having been an aspiring office-seeker, coupled with his conduct toward
this section of Grant county, shows conclusively that he never expected
the support of this section of the county. He had too much sense to expect
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 5^5
it His tactics were to damage us all he could,- that he might ruin and
hold the united support of those who were against us. Doubtless, there-
fore no one was more surprised to find he had a following here than Knute
Nelson himself. We confess it is without a parallel in modern politics.
For ourselves we can see no honorable excuse for such a state of things.
In the language of the great Billings, 'Why are things thusly?'
"The reason is not hard to divine. C. F. Washburn, of Herman, being
ambitious to go to the state Senate, saw no way to get there except by
tacking on to the lapels of the great Nelson. A great light broke in upon
and illuminated the shrewd brain of our would-be senator. He approaches
Nelson and says: 'Most illustrious Mogul! I want to go to the senate. I
am just as objectionable to the north as you are to the south of Grant
county Let's chip in, you carry me through the north and 111 tide you
over the south, and thus we'll both be elected.' 'A happy thought, said
Knuty. 'and we will also thereby heal all the dissensions of that distracted
"""""'V^nd so fellow citizens of Grant county, it is proposed by these two
political bosses that we adjust all our difficulties by each sitting down and
partaking of a hearty meal of crow.
"While musing on the strange situation as indicated above, we uncon-
sciously fell asleep (having attended Tom Mullin's dance the night before).
and dreamed We lifted up our eyes and lo, we beheld a great table sixteen
hundred feet long set upon the plains of Elbow Lake. And a proclama-
tion was sent out into every by-way of the county, which sumnioned every
voter of the county of Grant to a great feast provided for them by the
great Nelson- and the ingrate Washburn. We also observed that the table
extended from east to west and that all those who hailed from the north
end' occupied that side of the table, while those who came from the south
end' occupied the south side of the table, at the head of which were arranged
the returning board of the town of Logan. There was Washburn, with
countenance as innocent and placid as a babe; and Earsley, around the
corners of whose mouth there played a sarcastic smile and whose other eye
winked knowingly at frequent intervals; and Smith, with the facial expres-
sion of an ex-communicated deacon; and Pullman, whose face shone like
a barn door on a frosty morning; while stretching away toward the setting
sun were arrayed the colleagues of these gentlemen to the number of 433-
exactly no more and no less. . ,. ,
"'\t the head of the column on the other side and directly opposite
Washburn was to be seen the grey scattering locks, the commanding brow
504 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
and the lowering visage of Timothy Heald, while at his right stood the
unterrified, the indomitable and the re-lie-able Knute Laastnen. Then
stretching away toward the setting sun filed the stalwarts of the 'north end'
to the number of 433, no more and no less. We observed that as soon as
the count was made the visage of Timothy Heald grew ominously dark
while the teeth of Knud Laastuen gritted in a manner that indicated a
voracious appetite. On the other side the countenance of Washburn was
if possible more child-like and innocent than ever. The sarcastic smile
played on Earsley's lips more vigorously than before; Smith chuckled down
his throat and Pullman's barn door flew wide open. Then Timothy Heald
took from his pocket a shrill whistle and blew it three times, and Knute
Nelson appeared. There was then some commotion, and many Scandi-
navians of the south side, feeling the nationality influence, cast wistful
eyes toward the north side. However, each man kept his place. It was
then decided that each man should show his credentials before the table
should be spread, when it was found that some fifty or seventy-five of those
wearing voting garments on the south side presented such questionable cre-
dentials that Knute the Great demanded that they should withdraw from
the feast. Hereupon Pullman sprang to his feet and the following unique
if not eloquent colloquy ensued:
"Pullman : 'By the jumping , old Tim Heald, you ain't
got money enough or sand enough to drive them fellers away from the
table.'
"Earsley (aside) : 'D it, Pullman, don't be making an ass of
yourself.'
"Heald : 'By , Pullman, Pll show you that I have got sand enough
to drive them fellers away from this table and to send vou to Stillwater,
too.'
"Washburn: 'Don't get excited, gentlemen; don't get excited. Pll
assume the responsibility of this unpleasantness. I move we turn the meet-
ing into a caucus, and suggest that the viands for the occasion' be placed
upon the table at once.'
"While waiting for order to be restored, Washburn got Pullman, Ears-
ley and Smith off to one side where he succeeded in persuading them that
it was best in the interest of politics to let the questionable voters go home
hungry. Then the questionable voters were called out and informed of their
doom, which strange enough they each accepted with calm resignation.
With tearful eyes they each bade good-bye, and it was observed that each
man as he shook hands at parting immediately put his hand into his breeches
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 5O5
pocket! Wondering at this strange procedure we tpok pains to inquire into
its origin, when he found that it was an innocent custom which had grown
up among that class of voters, when shaking hands with politicians of the
Washburn stripe near election time.
"With the disappearance of the objectionable voters there seemed to
be a return of good feeling. After this a short, private interview took
place between the Great and the Ingrate, which caused no little perturbation
among the people who were eagerly waiting for the feast (for the long
waiting had created a voracious appetite which was doubtless just exactly
what the benefactors wanted to produce). At length all was ready and
the Ingrate lifted up his voice and spoke as follows:
" 'P'ellow citizens. This is not the time to discuss great questions or
enter into a long discourse. I i>erceive you are all impatient for the refresh-
ments provided here. Mr. Nelson, who has so recently joined the army of
the Lord, will now pronounce the blessing.'
"This Mr. N^elson did with a degree of pathos and unction which
effectually stopped the mouths of all the scoffers. Then he spoke as follows :
" 'My friends, I rejoice with you' alt to behold' this joyful day of recon-
ciliation, and I am proud to know that my own humble efforts have con-
tributed to this glorious result. I am also proud to confess myself a for-
eigner, a brother to so many who are here today. I plead guilty to the
charge of being a little Norwegian. If elected I shall continue as in the
past to serve all sections of Grant county.'
"Then Washburn made remarks of a similar nature — reminding those
on the north side especially that he would serve them faithfully as he had
done in the past.
"By arrangement previously made, Washburn was to supply the viands
for the north side, while Nelson was to serve the south side. Now the
work of serving had not proceeded far when we observed that a look of
profound disgust covered the faces of the multitude on both sides. We
drew near to see what it could- be that had occasioned such disappointment,
and beheld that there was nothing but crow, crow, crow ! 3209 feet of crow !
a spectacle for the gods! No wine or even harmless tea, nothing in liquid
form but a glass of water fetched from the far-famed Salt River. There
was a general confusion and a strong disposition all round to repudiate the
whole feast. San ford put on his hat and left the taljle. Heakl then went
among the crowd, exhorting them to eat, saying, 'there is no use talking,
gentlemen, we've got to eat it." Then they began with pathetic contortions
of countenance to devour each his crow. We oljserved that each crow
506 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
dished out had some label or motto or other device attached to it, and jjeing
curious to know what the principal actors in this drama had received we
drew near to inspect them. We observed first that Washburn had received
as his portion a crow that had been long dead and was far gone in decav,
but Washburn saw that it contained a sugar plum which had on it in gilt
letters S, S. and he swallowed his crow with the utmost nonchalance. Ears-
ley's crow was simply labeled 'Policy,' and the sarcastic smile prepared the
way for its reception. Pullman's crow was not visible as it was covered
with thick striped cloth which had the stripes on cross-ways. Smith's crow
was received at the hands of Nelson himself. It was fat and plump and
had pinned to its breast this beautiful inscription : 'Bone of your bone and
flesh of }'our flesh.' It was so evidently painful an operation that we ven-
tured to ask him how he felt about it anyhow. 'Feel,' he said, 'I feel as if I
was the meanest cannibal on earth.'
"On the north side things were but a little better. Knute Nelson's
crow looked as if it had died of consumption, and besides some one had
stuck it all full of burrs. These villians were from Ortonville. However,
it was branded precisely as Donnelly had described the Washburn family,
with a M. C. Heald took his down and then swore it was not crow at
all ; he said it was turkey. Knud Laastuen said it was no use to lie about
it, his was crow and darned tough crow at that. Canestorp's fowl was
very old, tough and but half-cooked at that, but with superhuman efforts
he managed to swallow it down, but he never digested it. He lingered along
till the close of 1883, and the place that knew him once knew him no more
forever. And we looked up and beheld the whole row on either side of the
table had disappeared and we saw printed in huge letters along the middle
of the table, 'Gone home to vote for Kindred and Campbell.'
"And we awoke, and behold, it was a dream!"
ANCIENT STONE CARVING.
An ancient stone carving, almost rivaling the Kensington "rune stone" in
interest, was discovered in Grant county in 1890. This stone was found on
the Christianson farm, three miles west of Elbow Lake. It was about three
feet long and two feet wide, and one side of the boulder had been smoothed
to bear a carving some thirteen inches in diameter, an undecipherable hiero-
glyphic having been chiseled in the solid rock. This stone was brought to
Elbow Lake and sef up in the foundation of the Elbow Lake flour mill,
where it attracted much attention.
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 507
Scientists who viewed the stone expressed various opinions as to the
origin and meaning of the inscription, but all agreed that it was the work
of human hands wrought at a very ancient date. The stone was purchased
by Doctor Hoegh, in 1906, for two hundred and fifty dollars, and removed
to Minneapolis. Travelers who are acquainted with the prehistoric ruins
found in the Southwest say that this stone closely resembled the Aztec carv-
ings seen in Arizona and New ^lexico.
THE INDIAN SCARE OF 1876.
The summer of 1876 will be recollected by all the old settlers as the
time of the memorable Indian scare, a circumstance that will go down in
local history as one of the saddest and at the same time, most amusing
incidents. Rumors of the great Custer massacre had begun to arrive and
as the reports were successively repeated they were duly exaggerated, until
the whole of this immediate territory was made to think that every red-
skin on the continent was on the warpath. It resulted in almost a general
stampede for Alexandria, Herman, Morris and other points where it was
hoped to secure protection. Homes were abandoned, movable articles quickly
gathered and loaded into ox-wagons or any other conveyance at hand,
stock collected and a general rush for a place of safety was made. There was
not an Indian within miles and the report of their proximity was a cruel
hoax.
The day succeeding the general alarm the true situation was made
known, all fears were dissipated, and the settlers returned to their hastily
deserted homes, where the rest of the summer was largely devoted to the
recovery of their nerves and the replacing of their household effects.
As would naturally be inferred, many amusing incidents are reported
to have occurred in the grand rush. One terribly startled farmer hooked
onto a recently purchased threshing machine and started pell-mell across
the prairie. Incidentally glancing over his shoulder from the off leader, on
which he was astride, he espied three horsemen chasing him at breakneck
speed. Thinking them blood-thirsty savages, he cut loose the horse he was
riding, bid a hasty farewell to the dear separator, and was away with the
keen prairie wind. The pursuers proved to be three neighbors who were
armed to the teeth and out scouting. Another settler who had a choice
collection of milch cows had heard that milk was a potent cliarm to calm
the savage breast. Before his departure he filled every axailable receptacle
with milk and placed them around about his cabin in plain view in hopes
508 DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
that the anticipated visitors would partake of the fluid, feel kindly toward
him and spare his home. The hogs and calves took advantage of the oppor-
tunity to indulge in a bounteous feast.
GRANT COUNTY OLD SETTLERS ASSOCIATION.
About fifteen years ago (he old -settlers of Grant county organized an
old settlers association for the purpose of holding annual reunions and
thus renewing old acquaintances of the pioneer days. In mid-summer of
each year, a reunion is held at some point in the county. Any citizen who
came into this or adjoining counties prior to 1880 is eligible to membership.
H. Hillmond is the president of the association, having served in that
capacity for several years.
A PIONEER OF PIONEERS.
Henry Brown was a pioneer among pioneers. Before the war he entered
the employ of tlit Hydspn Bay Company and in the early sixties came
to this county as a trapper making his headquarters in and around Pomme
de Terre. He was a familiar character and known to all old settlers and
teamsters who quartered at Pomme de Terre when it was one of the stop-
ping places on the old trail. In the old days when might made right, "Old
Hen", as he was familiarly known, con\inced more than one burly bruiser
that he had found a big bunch of trouble in an undersized package.
THOMAS C. HODGSON.
Few men were better known in Grant county than Thomas C. Hodg-
son. Mr. Hodgson was active in well doing to the end of his days. Blessed
with more than ordinary intelligence, he was a preacher, a teacher,
a reformer, and an uplifter. In politics, in governmental and public affairs
he was alwavs interested and active. E^•ery movement for civic betterment
and for the uplift of his fellow man received his encouragement and support.
He was for progress in all things and never advocated, never supported a
cause that would give rise to a blush or a prick of conscience. Mr. Hodg-
son was not an ordained minister of the gospel although at one time he
considered entering the ministry. He was an able ready speaker and con-
ducted many religious' services during the later years of his life. As a
DOUGLAS AND GRANT COUNTIES, MINNESOTA. 5O9
layman he visited many homes carrying the message of the love of Christ
and brought cheer to many a heavy heart and broken spirit.
Thomas C. Hodgson was born on the Isle of Man {ofi the coast of
England) on January i, 1843. He came to this country with his parents
who settled in Illinois. Later the family moved to North Dakota. He
enlisted in the Union army and, serving until the end of the Civil War, was
discharged and returned to his home. He married soon afterward and
moved to Grant county in 1877, taking a claim in Delaware township. After
many years of hard labor he retired from the farm and moved to Elbow
Lake, where he lived until 1908, when he removed to Fergus Falls, where
he died on September 7, 1913.
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