Among the early pilots on the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers were Antoine Lapoint, Augustus Barlow, Richard Whiting, James Hickman, George M. Penny, and Daniel McLean.
Among the early pilots on the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers were Antoine Lapoint, Augustus Barlow, Richard Whiting, James Hickman, George M. Penny, and Daniel McLean.
Polk county contains 700,000 acres of land, well diversified with timber and prairie, uplands and valleys, rivers and lakes, and fertile enough to sustain a large population. The county was established by the Wisconsin legislature in 1853, and originally included much more territory than it now contains, new counties having been formed north and east of its present domain. Indian traders had visited it at an earlier period, but the first permanent white settlement was made in 1837, and the first pioneer who came with the serious intention of making permanent improvements was Franklin Steele. As Mr. Steele's history is in a great part the history of the early settlement, we insert it here, and very nearly in the language of Mr. Steele himself, as he communicated it to the writer some years since:
"I came to the Northwest in 1837, a young man, healthy and ambitious, to dare the perils of an almost unexplored region, inhabited by savages. I sought Fort Snelling (which was at that time an active United States fort) as a point from which to start. In September, 1837, immediately after the treaty was made ceding the St. Croix valley to the government, accompanied by Dr. Fitch, of Bloomington, Iowa, we started from Fort Snelling in a bark canoe, also a scow loaded with tools, supplies and laborers, descended the Mississippi river and ascended the St. Croix to the Dalles. We clambered over the rocks to the Falls, where we made two land claims, covering the Falls on the east side and the approach to it in the Dalles. We built a log cabin at the Falls, where the Upper Copper trap range crosses the river and where the old mill was afterward erected. A second log house webuilt in the ravine at the head of navigation. Whilst building, four other parties arrived to make claim to this power. I found the veritable Joe Brown on the west side of the St. Croix, trading with the Indians, a few rods from where Baker & Taylor built their mill (near the end of the present toll bridge). Brown had also cut pine logs, part of which, in 1838, were used by Baker & Taylor, but most of them were burned by forest fires on the ground where they were felled. In February, 1838, I made a trip to the Falls with a dog team for the relief of one Boyce, who was cutting logs at the mouth of Snake river, and had had some trouble with the Indians. I helped him until he left the country. Peshick, a chief of the Chippewas, said, 'We have no money for logs; we have no money for land. Logs can not go.' He said he could not control his young men and would not be responsible for their acts.
"In the spring of 1838, from Fort Snelling we descended the Mississippi river to Prairie du Chien in bark canoes, thence by steamer to St. Louis, Missouri, where a co-partnership was formed by Messrs. Fitch, of Muscatine, Iowa, Libbey, of Alton, Illinois, Hungerford and Livingston, of St. Louis, Hill and Holcombe, of Quincy, Illinois, and myself. We chartered the steamer Palmyra, loaded her with all the materials with which to build a saw mill, including mechanics to do the work, and started for the scene of operations. Plans for procedure, rules and by-laws were discussed and adopted during the journey on the steamer, and the new organization was christened the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company. Calvin A. Tuttle was the millwright."
The trip was made in safety, our immediate plans executed, and the Palmyra was the first steamboat that ever sailed the St. Croix river and lake. Mr. Steele made an estimate for the construction of the mill and dam at $20,000, which he submitted to the company. It was accepted, and Calvin A. Tuttle, a millwright, was placed in charge of the work, but Mr. Steele sold his interest to the company before the mill was completed. On examination of the records we find that W. Libbey was the first agent of the company. We find also from the same record that Libbey knew little or nothing of the business he had undertaken. With a few barrels of whisky and one of beads he busied himself trading with the Indians. This was the first whisky sold in the valley, and it was sold in defiance of government law.
Much could be written about this old pioneer company of the Northwest, and its history, could it be truly written, would contain many thrilling incidents and scenes worthy of remembrance; but much is already forgotten and many of the most prominent actors have passed away, leaving no record of their lives. The company, as a corporation, passed through many changes of name and ownership. Its history would be a history of litigations, of wranglings and feuds, of losses and gains, of mistakes, of blunders and of wrongs. In the first place, the mill was planned by men practically unfitted for such work, inexperienced in lumbering and unacquainted with the vast expenditures requisite for the opening up of a new country, hundreds of miles from labor and the supplies needed for manufacturing. There were three requisites present, a splendid water power, abundance of timber at convenient distances and a healthful climate; but these alone did not and could not make the enterprise a success. Had practical, experienced lumbermen been employed the result might have been different, but impractical methods, enormous expenses, with no profits or dividends, caused most of the company to withdraw, forfeiting their stock in preference to continuing with the prospect of total bankruptcy. Goods were brought annually, at great expense, from St. Louis by the large steamers which then controlled the trade of the Mississippi and the St. Croix. The navigation of the St. Croix grew annually more difficult, the immense number of logs floated down since 1838 wearing away the banks and increasing the number and area of sand bars and not infrequently obstructing the channel with jams.
It is not known exactly how or when the name of St. Croix came to be applied to the beautiful river bearing it, but La Harpe, in his "Louisiana," gives the most plausible account of its origin: "This name is not ecclesiastical in its associations, but named after Monsieur St. Croix, who was drowned at its mouth." Le Sueur, who explored the Upper Mississippi in 1683, says he left a large river on the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was drowned at its mouth. As Duluth was the first white man to embark in the waters of the St. Croix, descending it in canoes, from near Lake Superior, which he did in 1680; and as Hennepin and La Salle ascended the Mississippi the same year, the name could not have had an earlier origin, but may be fixed as given sometime between 1680and 1683. An old map in my possession, one hundred and twenty-five years old, gives the present name of the river and lake. The St. Croix valley embraces an area of territory from 20 to 90 miles in width, and about 120 miles in length. Its northern water, Upper Lake St. Croix, is about 20 miles from Lake Superior. The southern portion is a rich prairie country, interspersed with groves of hardwood timber. The more northern portion is interspersed with groves of pine, tamarack, cedar, balsam and hardwoods. The whole district, with a small exception, is a cereal country. It abounds in wild meadows, and much of the swampy portion will ultimately be utilized by ditching, which will transform it all into a good stock raising country. About eight-tenths of this entire valley is fitted by nature for agriculture.
Wheat, the leading cereal, averages ten to thirty bushels per acre; the growth of tame grasses can not be excelled; vegetables grow to wonderful size; native wild fruits abound; cultivated fruits are being successfully introduced; cranberries are being cultivated in the northern part. Wheat, stock, and pine lumber are the principal articles of export. The southern portion is well watered by the St. Croix and its tributaries—Kinnikinic, Willow, Apple, Sunrise, and smaller streams, lakes and springs. The northern portion is abundantly watered by the St. Croix and tributaries—Wolf, Trade, Wood, Clam, Yellow, Namakagan, Rush, Kanabec and Kettle rivers. Small streams and lakes are numerous, of which only the largest are named on the maps. The valley is abundantly supplied with water power, capable of running enough manufactories to work up all the products of the country. The soil is, as a general thing, dry and arable. April and May are the seeding months. Crops mature, and are seldom injured by frosts. The whole country adjacent to this valley will answer to this general description.
On the twenty-ninth day of July, 1837, our government purchased the valley of the St. Croix of the Indians at a treaty held at Fort Snelling, Gov. Henry Dodge and Gen. Wm. R. Smith acting as commissioners. The purchase was ratified in Congress in the spring of 1838. Polk county, originally a part of Crawford, in 1840 became a part of St. Croix, and in 1853 received its present organization and name, the latter in honor of James K. Polk, eleventh president of the United States. Thiscountry occupies the eastern part of the valley of the St. Croix lying between Burnett and St. Croix counties on the north and south, and Barron on the east, the St. Croix river forming its western boundary. The surface is agreeably diversified with forest and prairie land, and is supplied with excellent springs, rivers and lakes. Most of the underlying rock is sandstone. This rock crops out along the banks of the St. Croix and is extensively used for building purposes. Lime rock is also found along the river banks, some of which is of a superior grade, notably that below Osceola, which is manufactured into lime and exported. The natural scenery can scarcely be surpassed in the West. The towering, precipitous bluffs along the St. Croix, the picturesque trap rocks of the Dalles, and the bright clear lakes of the interior have long been an attraction to the tourist. The lakes and smaller streams abound in fish, and the latter are famous for their abundance of brook trout.
The county seat at the organization of the county was located at St. Croix Falls. The first election held in the limits of the present county of Polk, prior to its organization, was at St. Croix Falls, then a voting precinct, known as Caw-caw-baw-kang, a Chippewa name, meaning waterfall. The returns of this election were made to Prairie du Chien. I was present at the canvassing of these returns. They were found to be accurate. Annually since then elections were held at this point and returns made, first to Prairie du Chien, Crawford county, then to Stillwater, St. Croix county, to Hudson, St. Croix county, and to Osceola Mills, Polk county. By an election held in Polk county just after its organization the county seat was removed to Osceola Mills, by a unanimous vote. The records of the first elections can not be found, they having been stolen from the safe in 1864. The following county officers were elected in 1853: Isaac Freeland, clerk of court and register of deeds; E. C. Treadwell, sheriff; Oscar A. Clark, surveyor; Wm. Kent, county treasurer; Harmon Crandall, coroner; Nelson McCarty, district attorney; J. Freeland, clerk of board of supervisors. The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held in Osceola, in Isaac Freeland's building, where the offices were located for many years. The first court was held in the school house, Wyram Knowlton presiding. Both petit and grand juries were in attendance. Isaac Freeland was the first attorney admitted topractice. Isaac W. Hale was the first county judge. The first marriage was that of Lewis Barlow to —— ——, at St. Croix Falls. The first birth in the county was that of Charles Northrup, son of Anson Northrup, at St. Croix Falls (1844). The first death was that of John Kelly, by drowning (1839), at St. Croix Falls. The first school in the county was established at St. Croix Falls by Miss Tainter, from Prairie du Chien, in 1848. The first school house was built in Osceola in 1852, the second at St. Croix Falls in 1861. The first mail, established in 1840, was carried up the St. Croix river by batteaus in summer and by sleds over the ice in winter. The mail was weekly; the carrier was Dr. Philip Aldrich. The first land mail route was in 1847, from Willow River to St. Croix Falls. The mail was carried by Dr. Aldrich through the woods. The first stage route was established in 1855. The first deed we find of Polk county property is recorded at Prairie du Chien Sept. 2, 1845, from James Purinton to John Witherell, of St. Louis, Missouri, for $4,933,—a deed of trust covering a saw mill at St. Croix Falls. The second deed is from Benj. T. Otis to Edmond Johnson, conveying an undivided interest in a pre-emption claim, known as the Northrup or Jerusalem claim, about one mile east of St. Croix Falls, for $200. The first deed recorded in the county of old St. Croix was Sept. 29, 1845, from James Purinton, of St. Croix Falls, to John H. Ferguson, of the city of St. Louis, Missouri,—consideration $1,552,—of St. Croix Falls water power property. The first store was built in St. Croix Falls in 1839 and stocked with goods by the St. Croix Falls Company. The first blacksmith shop and the first hotel were built at St. Croix Falls. The first grist mill was built at Osceola in 1853. The first crops were raised at "Jerusalem," the first farm in the county, in 1839. "Jerusalem" was the farm now owned by Wm. Blanding, and was early noted as a resort for pleasure seekers, as a place for picnics and base ball games. The first pre-emption and entry of land was made in 1848, by Harmon Crandall, of Farmington. Settlers came into the county slowly until about 1866, since which time the population has more rapidly increased.
Undoubtedly the greatest curse to the pioneers of a new settlement, and to the aborigines as well, is the liquor traffic.The Indians, under the influence of whisky, became infuriated and were capable of committing any atrocity; the effects upon the whites were not so violent but just as surely demoralizing, and in time as fatal. Among dealers in the vile fluid there was no one more persistent and unscrupulous than Capt. M. M. Samuels. During the summers of 1848 and 1849 there was no other whisky selling house at the Falls. The character of the whisky sold was vile beyond description. Mrs. H—— and son informed me that they were employed by Samuels during the summer in compounding various roots with tobacco and boiling them, for the manufacture of a strong drink that was sold for whisky. Many, both whites and Indians, were poisoned by this compound. As an emphatic evidence against the vileness of the liquor, I append some of the blighting results:
A talented young lawyer, Hall by name, from Philadelphia, became infatuated with the peculiar whisky furnished by Samuels, and when insane from its effects ran from Barlow's boarding house to a high rock overhanging the St. Croix river, just below the falls, plunged in and was drowned.
Another, named Douglas, under the same influence, tried repeatedly to drown himself, when his friends bound him securely with cords. He then managed to stab himself.
Alexander Livingston, a man who in youth had had excellent advantages, became himself a dealer in whisky, at the mouth of Wolf creek, in a drunken melee in his own store was shot and killed by Robido, a half-breed. Robido was arrested but managed to escape justice.
Livingston, once, when on his way from Wolf creek to Clam falls, sought refuge in my camp, having with him two kegs of whisky. The Indians soon collected at the camp in fighting trim and sung and danced madly about the door of the cabin, and clamored for scoot-a-wa-bo (whisky). I refused to allow any whisky to be issued. The Indians were furious. Livingston cowered with fear. Foreseeing trouble I ordered Nat Tibbetts and Jonathan Brawn to take the kegs and follow me. The Indians stopped their gymnastic performances and gazed intently. With an axe and with a single blow on each keg I knocked in the heads, and the whisky was soon swallowed up in the snow. The Indians sprang forward with demoniac yells and commenced licking up the saturated snow, after which they danced around me,calling me "Oge-ma" (captain). I gave them food and they went away sober and apparently satisfied.
In the spring of 1848 there were two rival whisky sellers at or near Balsam lake. Miles Tornell, a Norwegian, was located midway between the lake and the Falls. Miller, a German, had his post at the lake. Miller was an older trader, and claimed exclusive rights. A bitter feeling sprang up between them, which resulted, as the testimony afterward proved, in the murder of Tornell. His house was burned, and his body found concealed in a coal pit. One McLaughlin, who was stopping with Tornell, was also murdered. An investigation was set on foot. Samuels and Fields acted as detectives, and fixed the crime upon an Indian, whom they arrested on an island in Blake's lake, and brought to the Falls for trial. H. H. Perkins acted as judge, a jury of good men was impaneled, and the trial was held in Daniel Mears' store. A prosecuting attorney and counsel for the accused were appointed. The Indian frankly confessed the killing, and said that he had been hired to do the bloody work by Miller. Another Indian testified to being present on the occasion of the murder. After brief remarks by the lawyers, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. There was no formal sentence. The Indian was kept under guard till next morning, when, by the unanimous consent of all present, he was hanged to a tree, since blighted, that stood near the old burying ground (later Louisiana street), and was hanged, Samuels officiating as sheriff. The Indians present were permitted to take the body, which they buried with Indian rites. Toward Miller, who ought to have been held as principal, the crowd were unexpectedly lenient. Instead of being hanged upon the same tree, he was merely lashed to it, and flogged, Pat Collins administering fifteen strokes on the bare back with a beech withe. He was then placed on a steamboat and ordered to leave the country, never to return. Of the more active participants in the hanging, Pat Collins, who officiated as hangman, and who flogged Miller, was undeniably a hard citizen. He had a bitter grudge against Miller, and administered the strokes with a will. He was himself hanged some years later in California for highway robbery. Chas. F. Rowley, who assisted in the hanging, lived for some years on a farm atWolf creek, enlisted in 1861 in the Union army, and was killed in battle.
The following heads of families resided in St. Croix Falls in 1848: H. H. Perkins, Edward Worth, G. W. Brownell, Otis Hoyt, J. Saunders, R. Arnold, L. Barlow, A. L. Tuttle, M. M. Samuels, Geo. De Attley, Moses Perin, and W. H. C. Folsom.
The following single men claimed this as their home: D. Mears, J. L. and N. C. D. Taylor, P. Kelly, A. Romain, J. and W. R. Marshall, W. F. Colby, Dr. De Witt, W. J. Vincent, C. Dexter, A. Youle, H. H. Newberry, J. and O. Weymouth, Geo. Field, W. W. Folsom, J. H. Tuller, J. Dobney, J. Paine, and some others whose names I can not readily recall.
The Indians, when unable to talk English, nevertheless managed to express themselves intelligibly by gestures, picture writing, and vocal utterances, imitating the sounds which they wished to describe. A kind old Chippewa occasionally visited my camp. He would sit by the camp fire and mark out in the ashes the outlines of lakes and streams. In tracing South Clam river, at a certain point he drew a line across the stream, and blew his breath between his teeth and lips in such a way as to perfectly imitate the sound of falling water. Sometime afterward, in exploring Clam river, on rounding a curve I heard the sound of falling water, and found the fall just as he had located it.
Mr. Perkins had been in the village since 1847, acting as agent for the Falls company until the winter of 1850-51, when he was accidentally drowned while attending to his duties. He was engaged in repairing the dam, and was standing on a block of ice. In an unguarded moment he lost his foothold and was carried by the swift current under the ice. It was two days before his body was recovered. His family left the valley, taking the body with them.
St. Croix Falls. The buildings consisted of a dwelling house, whisky shop, bowling alley, Indian house and stable, the whole inappropriately styled Quailtown, as the name was a gross slander upon the innocent birds. The quails in this "Partridge" nest were evil birds. The resort was noted for its riotous disorder. The worst classes met there for revelry and midnight orgies. In the summer of 1849 Alfred Romain and Patrick Kelly met at Quailtown, disputed, fought, were parted, and the neat day met by agreement to continue the fight with pistols. They were to meet at sunrise in front of Daniel Mears' store. An attempt was made to pacify them, but in vain. Only Romain appeared at the appointed place, and not finding Kelly, hunted through the village for him. About 9 o'clocka. m.he found him at the house of Kimball, a mulatto man. Romain shot him at sight, fatally. At the inquest, held by Dr. Hoyt, it was proven that Romain fired four shots into the body of Kelly, each taking effect, and then crushed his skull with the pistol, and that Kelly fired one shot at Romain. Romain was held for murder, but was never brought to trial. After two years' confinement he escaped from the jail at Prairie du Chien.
Romain afterward removed to St. Louis, reformed his mode of life and became a steady and respectable man. Kelly was a native of Ireland, and at the time of his death was engaged to be married to an estimable lady, one of the corps of teachers sent out by Gov. Slade.
In 1846 a party of speculators, composed of Caleb Cushing, Rufus Choate, Robert Rantoul, and others, located a mineral permit, one mile square, covering part of the site of the two towns of St. Croix and Taylor's Falls, with the water power as the centre. Their permit was filed in the general land office at Washington. They located another permit at or near the mouth of Kettle river. As no money was ever expended in improving them, these permits were never respected. Subsequently the government resurveyed the lands and sold them. The present title to these lands is perfectly good.
In the olden time officers could not always readily be found to execute the laws. Parties desiring to be married, being unableto secure the services of a minister or justice of the peace, would seek for an officer on the other side of the river, get on a raft or boat, cast off the fastenings and under the concurrent jurisdiction of the state and territorial authorities, would be pronounced "man and wife." Parties have had the same rite performed in the winter season while standing on the ice of the St. Croix midway between the two shores.
During the excitement following the Indian outbreak, there was a general feeling of insecurity and alarm. The half-breeds were especially apprehensive of some kind of violence. One bright moonlight evening, at St. Croix, a surveyor was taking some observations, and as his instrument glittered brightly in the moonlight, the half-breeds saw it and fled, badly frightened, fancying a Sioux behind every bush. The whites seeing them running, as if for their lives, caught the panic, and fled over to the Minnesota side. The Taylor's Falls people were aroused from their peaceful slumbers to find, soon after, that it was a false alarm. Some of the fugitives hid underneath the bridge and clung to the trestle work till morning.
I am indebted to Calvin A. Tuttle for the following reminiscence: In July, 1838, the steamer Palmyra, Capt. Middleton, of Hannibal, Missouri, in command, the first steamer on St. Croix waters, brought me to St. Croix Falls, landing in the Dalles, east side, opposite Angle Rock. The snorting of the Palmyra brought many curiosity seeking Indians to the Dalles. They gathered on the pinnacles of the trap rock, peered curiously over and jumped back, trembling with fright at the "Scota Cheman" or "fire canoe," the first that had ever floated on the placid waters of the St. Croix. I had been employed as millwright to erect mills in the new, and, as yet, almost unknown settlement. On the Palmyra came the proprietors, Steele, Fitch, Hungerford, Libbey, Livingston, Hill, and Russell, with mill irons, tools and provisions for the enterprise.
After climbing over the cragged rocks we came to an Indian trail which led to the Falls, where we found two men, Lagoo andDenire holding the claim for Steele. The fanciful scheme of building a mill up in the wild land looked now like a reality. The men lived in a log cabin just below the Falls, in a small clearing in the timber, near a copper rock range. Boyce and his men had been driven in by Indians from above. Andrew Mackey and others of Boyce's men went to work with us. Thirty-six men had come from St. Louis on the steamer Palmyra. We moved our machinery from the Dalles to the Falls by water and commenced work immediately. Steele's men had been hindered by the Indians from procuring timber for the building of the mill. We obtained a supply from Kanabec river, which arrived September 15th. Building the mill and blasting the rock occupied our attention during the winter. The mill was soon completed and running. During this period the work was often interrupted and the men were greatly demoralized by the threatening behavior of the Indians. Many of them were frightened into leaving the settlement, but their places were supplied by the company whenever practicable. During 1840 we received some reliable accessions, among them J. L. Taylor, John McKusick, Joseph Haskell, Elam Greely, J. W. Furber and A. McHattie. Some frame houses were built near the mill. Washington Libbey was our first agent, Darnes our second (1839), Capt. W. Frazer our third (1840), Capt. Wm. Holcombe our fourth (1841). The first death was of a man drowned in 1840. The first white woman who visited the Falls was Mrs. David Hone. Rev. Boutwell preached here in 1839. A. Northrup and family came in 1840.
In 1840 Jeremiah Russell, the Indian farmer at Pokegama, Pine county, Minnesota, sent two Chippewa Indians to St. Croix Falls for supplies, who arrived in safety. A band of fifty Sioux Indians were concealed at this (St. Croix Falls) settlement for some days. Within an hour after the arrival of the two Chippewas, the settlement was surrounded by these Sioux. The whites, seeing that trouble was brewing, secreted the Chippewas for two days, the Sioux closely watching. The white men were restless, and afraid to go to work. Capt. Frazer, Rev. Ayers and myself held a council and explained the situation to the Chippewas, who replied that they would not expose the whites to trouble. They resolved on leaving and started in open day north over the traprock ridge, thence through the bushes, where they discovered two Sioux. The Chippewas were armed and fired on the Sioux, killing them instantly. The Chippewas then started to run. The report of the guns brought squads of Sioux immediately in pursuit, who, firing on the Chippewas, killed one. The two dead Sioux were sons of Little Crow. They were placed by the Sioux in a sitting posture, with backs to a tree, facing the enemy's country, on the second bench near where the mill dam was subsequently built, a double barreled gun standing on the ground between them. They decorated the corpses with war paint, ribbons and mosses. The two Chippewas who killed Little Crow's sons bore the titles Julius and Wezhaymah. The Sioux in pursuit killed Julius, and his head was hung up in a kettle before those he had slain. His body was chopped in pieces and scattered to the four winds.
From an historical letter, written by Mrs. E. T. Ayer, who lives at Belle Prairie, Minnesota, and whom we have elsewhere mentioned, we have the following description of the death of the sons of Little Crow:
"Julius was of medium height, stout build, very neat, and when in full dress very few Indians would favorably compare with him. Being a good hunter he had the means of gratifying his taste. His hair was long and abundant, and was kept clean and shining by the frequent use of comb and brush, with the help of a little marrow or bear's oil. Three or four of his numerous long braids, studded with silver brooches, hung gracefully on both sides of his face and over his arms—the rest of his dress in a manner corresponding. His hair, like Absalom's, did not save him from his enemies. The Dakotas may dance around it for generations and never see its equal.
"Wezhaymah made his appearance at Pokegama. As he drew near the houses he gave a salute from his double barreled gun. The Ojibways were much frightened. They believed the Sioux had returned to make another trial for scalps and plunder. The first impulse of the women was to hide. The chief's wife and oldest daughter being at the mission house, went through a trap door into a dark cellar. But when the supposed dead stood before them, alive and well, there was great rejoicing.
"Wezhaymah said that Julius killed both of Little Crow's sons; that the Sioux followed him but a short distance, then allturned after Julius. He took a circuitous route home, traveling in the night and hiding in the day. Julius' parents, Joseph and Eunice, and other members of their family, were members of the mission church. He and his wife made no profession, though they sometimes attended religious worship."
About twenty days after, about one hundred Sioux came from little Crow's band at Red Rock for the bodies of their dead comrades and the gun, having first, by means of spies, satisfied themselves that there were no Chippewas in the vicinity. One morning, as the whites were going to work, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of these Indians, who rushed suddenly down upon them from different trails, gorgeously painted and without blankets. Their movements were so sudden that the whites were completely surprised, and at the mercy of the Indians, who, however, satisfied themselves with searching the camp and appropriating all the victuals they could find, ostensibly searching for the gun which was not to be found where they had left it. Complaining bitterly of its loss, they withdrew to a trap rock ledge near by, where they formed a circle, danced, sung and fired several guns into the air. They then asked to see "Oge-ma," the agent, and formally demanded the gun. Everyone in camp denied any knowledge whatever of the missing article. The Indians were at first much dissatisfied, but finally Little Crow advanced, smoked a pipe and offered it to. Capt. Frazer, shook hands and withdrew, apparently in peace.
As it is not the custom for Indians to molest the dead, they firmly believed a white man had taken the gun. Little Crow applied to Maj. Plympton at Fort Snelling, charging the theft upon the whites. The major in turn wrote to Capt. Frazer at the Falls to make an investigation, as a result of which the gun was found in a tool chest belonging to Lewis Barlow, concealed under a false bottom. Barlow professed entire innocence and ignorance of the matter, suggesting that his brother must have placed the gun there. Capt. Frazer severely reprimanded him for imperiling the lives of all the whites in the settlement by his foolish and thievish act. The gun was sent to Maj. Plympton, who wrote to Capt. Frazer cautioning him to be on his guard, as the Indians were much irritated. Barlow had earned the contempt and dislike of his fellow workmen.
Mr. Tuttle was at the Falls at the time of the famous battle between the Sioux and Chippewas, which was fought in the ravine where the Minnesota state prison now stands, July 3, 1839, and has given me the following account:
The Chippewas of the St. Croix had been invited by the officer in command at Fort Snelling to a council, the object of which was to effect a treaty of peace. Two hundred and fifty or three hundred Chippewas, including their women and children, passed down the St. Croix in canoes, rested in fancied security in the ravine near the present site of Stillwater, and made a portage thence to Fort Snelling, where, under protection of government soldiers, the council was held. The pipe of peace had been smoked and the Chippewas were quietly returning home, and had encamped a second time in the ravine, expecting to re-embark the next morning on the waters of the St. Croix. Just at the dawn of the ensuing day, and while they were still asleep, a large body of Sioux, who had stealthily followed them, fell upon them suddenly, and with wild yells commenced an indiscriminate slaughter. The Chippewas rallying, drove the Sioux from the ground, thereby retaining possession of their dead, to the number of about thirty. After the smoke of peace at Fort Snelling it was reported that a Sioux had been killed. This incensed them so that they followed in two parties, one party pursuing the St. Croix band and another the Mille Lacs band up Rum river. The latter party overtook the Chippewas at the point where Princeton is now located, and slew sixty of their number. It was afterward ascertained that the Sioux killed near Fort Snelling was killed by a Pillager of the Upper Mississippi, an Indian of a band that was not in the council. The Sioux and Chippewas, it is true, are bitter, relentless, hereditary foes, but this slaughter occurred through a grievous mistake. The Chippewas, on their return, rested at the Falls. Capt. Frazer gave them medicine, dressed their wounds and fed them. The Indians gave way to the wildest grief at their losses, and when they heard of the sixty killed of the Mille Lacs band, their mourning cries and moans baffled description.
The first logs were cut by J. R. Brown on the Taylor's Falls flat in the winter of 1836-37, but the first regular outfit andcamp was that of John Boyce, who came up in a mackinaw boat from St. Louis with eleven men and six oxen, landing at St. Croix Falls late in the fall of 1837. Mr. Andrew Mackey, who was in his party, has furnished me with some items regarding this adventure. The boat was cordelled over the rapids, and, with poles and lines, taken as far as the mouth of Kanabec river, where a camp was established. Boyce had considerable trouble with the Indians. Little Six, a Chippewa chief, came to the camp with two hundred warriors in a defiant, blustering manner, telling him to "go away," to "go back where they came from." Boyce proceeded to the Indian mission at Lake Pokegama and invoked the aid of Rev. Mr. Boutwell, Ely, Ayers and Seymour, who came back with him to the camp and had a "talk" with Little Six, who claimed that the whites had paid no money. Mr. Seymour explained to them the provisions of the treaty, of which they would soon hear; that under its provisions the whites had a right to the timber; that they were not usurpers, that they would live peaceably and not disturb their game. The Indians granted assent, but refused to allow the whites to remove any of their chingwack (pine). Mr. Seymour, apprehending trouble, advised Mr. Boyce to leave. He determined to remain. The Indians being still troublesome, Mr. Boyce descended the river to the falls, the Indians following. On going over the falls the boat filled and Mr. Boyce lost nearly all he had. The Palmyra shortly after broke the silence of the Dalles with its shrill whistle and brought the news of the ratification of the treaty by Congress. Boyce sent his boat down the river, built small boats and made haste to return to his camp on Kanabec river, where he remained through the fall and winter cutting logs.
In April and May of 1839, Boyce rafted his logs with poles and ropes made of basswood strings. The high water swept them away. He gathered from the broken rafts enough for one raft, made it as strong as possible, and continued the descent. The raft struck upon the first island and went to pieces. Boyce saved the canoe and a part of the provisions. Boyce was by this time in a furious rage at his want of success, but tried a third time to make a raft. The crew, tired and hungry, refused to work. A new contract was made and written on a slate, there being nopaper. The logs were left in the river. Some of them floated down and were sold to the Falls company and to the company at Marine. Boyce lost all his labor and investment; the men got but little for their work. Frank Steele had assisted in supplying provisions and clothing for the men, the value of which he never received. Boyce was disgusted and left the country.
Levi W. Stratton, who came up on the Palmyra, July, 1838, gives a few reminiscences from which we select an account of a payment made to the Chippewa Indians the year of his arrival. The crew and passengers of the Palmyra had been greatly annoyed by the Indians, who expected their first payment in July, and besieged the boat in great numbers, demanding it at the hands of the first whites who had come up the river, unable to understand the difference between the regularly constituted authorities and those immigrants who had nothing to do with the payments. It was not until the first week of November that their goods came for payment. The place where Stillwater now stands was selected as the place where they should assemble.
The old stern wheel Gipsey brought the goods and landed them on the beach. The Chippewas came there to the number of 1,100 in their canoes, nearly starved by waiting for their payment. While there receiving it the river and lake froze up, and a deep snow came on; thus all their supplies, including one hundred barrels of flour, twenty-five of pork, kegs of tobacco, bales of blankets, guns and ammunition, casks of Mexican dollars, etc., all were sacrificed except what they could carry off on their backs through the snow hundreds of miles away. Their fleet of birch canoes they destroyed before leaving, lest the Sioux might have the satisfaction of doing the same after they left.
Many of the old as well as the young died from overeating, they being nearly starved. Thus their first payment became a curse rather than a blessing to them, for their supplies soon gave out, the season for hunting was past, they were away from home and had no means of getting there, except by wading through deep snow. Many perished in the attempt. As is usual in such cases, I suppose, no one was to blame, but the poor Indians had to suffer the consequences of somebody's neglect. The old Gipsey had scarcely time to get through the lake before the ice formed.
In the rough log cabin at St. Croix Falls were three females, the wives of Messrs. Orr and Sackett, employes of the company, and Miss Young, daughter of a widower of that name. Life in that cabin was by no means a dream of bliss, for in consequence of the mosquitoes, more relentless persecutors than the Indians, a smudge had to be kept burning night and day, or at least by day when the sun was not shining. The old cabin served for a kitchen, while an arbor was improvised outside for a dining room. Shortly after the arrival of the immigrants, and before they had learned all the peculiarities of Indian character, they were visited by a party of fifteen or twenty braves, who set about adorning themselves, and spent the forenoon in painting and getting themselves up in gorgeous rig, regardless of expense, preparatory to giving a free entertainment. Just before dinner was called, they arranged themselves near the table and gave a dance, which was very much applauded, after which they were given presents of bread and meat, and dismissed, apparently highly pleased with the success of their exhibition. The household gathered about the table to enjoy their repast, but to their consternation, not a knife, fork or spoon could be found. While the majority of the Indians were riveting the attention of the new comers by their extraordinary antics, the remainder were quietly abstracting the tableware. They were afterward charged with the theft, but protested innocence. The missing articles were never heard of again. A pig of lead, left outside, disappeared at the same time. The poor Indians denied ever having seen the lead. Mr. Stratton remarked, however, that all their war clubs, pipes and gun stocks had been lately and elaborately ornamented with molten lead.
At another time, shortly before payment, when the Indians were unusually hungry and troublesome, two barrels of pork and one of butter mysteriously disappeared. The pork barrels were found empty in the river, and also the butter barrel with one-third of the contents missing. The Indians lay all day in camp sick, but protested their innocence. Nevertheless, at payment day a claim of two hundred dollars for the pork and one hundred and fifty for the butter was allowed and kept back.They made no objections to paying for the pork, but protested against paying for the butter, as it did them no good and made them all sick.
In September, an old Indian came to the cabin, begging for something to eat. The agent went to the pork barrel and held up a fine piece of pork weighing about twelve pounds, to which the tail was still attached. At sight of this his countenance fell and he went away silently and sullenly.
Shortly afterward a yoke of oxen was missing. They had been driven off over some bare ledges of trap to break the trail. An Indian was hired to hunt for them. He found that this same beggar who had been so disgusted with the offer of a piece of pork with the tail attached had driven them off and slaughtered them. Payment day made all right, and the Indians were compelled to pay a good price for rather poor beef.
Mrs. Mary C. Worth communicated to the writer the following incidents, illustrating some of the vicissitudes of the early settlers:
It was in the fall of 1842. There were about two hundred people in the village, most of them in the employ of James Purinton, company agent. They were already short of provisions and the winter was rapidly coming on, and the expected boat, with its cargo of provisions for the winter supply, was long delayed. September passed, October came and nearly passed, and still no boat. Snow covered the ground, and thin ice the river. The ice, in finely broken pieces, floated down the rapids and was beginning to gorge in the Dalles, and still no boat. Provisions were allotted to the resident families, and the gloomiest anticipations filled all minds at the prospect of the long, dreary winter without food; when, on the twenty-eighth of October, the long expected whistle was heard from the coming steamer. The people rushed frantically down to the old warehouse, but the ice was so gorged in the Dalles that no boat could make the landing. No boat was in sight, nor was the whistle heard again. Had it all been an illusion? The eager throng were again in despair. Another night of cold would blockade the river. Just then the voices of white men were heard from the rocks of the Dalles, and to their great joy they perceivedthe boat's officers and passengers clambering down from the rocks, with the glad tidings that the boat had reached the landing, half a mile below, and was then unloading her cargo. The boat, as soon as unloaded, hurriedly departed to avoid being frozen in. The winter passed merrily enough, but clouds and darkness gathered in the spring. Provisions were again short, and had to be apportioned sparingly and equally. Occasionally a deer or a fish eked out the supply, but starvation was again imminent. On this occasion they were relieved by the reception of condemned pork from Fort Snelling. The St. Louis proprietors sent up another boat load of supplies after the opening of navigation, and all seemed well, when, during the prevalence of high water, the boom and mill race gave way and the logs, their main dependence, were swept down the river and beyond their control. This important occurrence, as it then seemed to be, opened up for the company and people a new trade from the valley below, which has been a source of immense profit. It suggested the idea of booming and rafting their logs for points down the river, and led to the building of the first saw mill at Stillwater.
Mr. Purinton at one time invited a few noted Indians who were begging for food to be seated at his table. He politely asked them if they would have tea or coffee. "Ugh! Ugh!" (equivalent to yes, yes) replied the whole party. So Mr. Purinton mixed their tea and coffee.
Muckatice, a Chippewa chief, heard that a barrel of whisky had been stored for safe keeping in the cellar of Mrs. Worth, at Balsam Lake. Muckatice forced himself into the house and attempted to raise the cellar trap door. Mrs. Worth forbade him and placed herself upon the door. Muckatice roughly pushed her aside. He raised the trap door, and, while in the act of descending, fell. While falling Mrs. Worth suddenly shut the trap door upon him, by which one of his legs was caught. Mrs. Worth held the door tightly down. When at last Muckatice was released, gathering a crowd of Indians he returned and demanded the whisky. Thayer, with ropes, managed to get the barrel outof the cellar and out upon the ground, and seeing the peril of giving so much whisky to the Indians, knocked in both heads of the barrel with an axe, and the earth drank the poisonous fluid. Muckatice then shook hands with Mrs. Worth, called her very brave, and departed.
The biographical histories of the early settlers of Polk county considerably antedate the organization of the towns to which they would be referred as at present belonging, and we therefore group together those earliest identified with the history of the valley, and its first settlement at St. Croix Falls, referring also some, such as Joseph R. Brown, Gov. W. R. Marshall and Frank Steele, to localities in which they had been more intimately connected.
Gov. Wm. Holcombewas one of the active resident proprietors and agent of the St. Croix Falls Lumber Company from 1838 to 1845. He was born at Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1804; left home when a boy; went to Utica, New York, where he learned the wheelwright trade. He married Martha Wilson, of Utica; moved to Columbus, Ohio, and was successful in business, but lost all by fire, when he moved to Cincinnati, and from thence to Galena. While in Galena he embarked in steamboating on the Mississippi. Mrs. Holcombe died in Galena. From Galena he came to St. Croix Falls, where he devoted his time as agent to selling lumber and keeping books. Mr. Holcombe took a deep interest in opening the valley to public notice and improvement. He traveled over the wilderness country from Prairie du Chien to St. Croix Falls before there was a blazed path, driving horses and cattle. He helped locate the two first roads in the valley from the mouth of St. Croix lake, via Marine, to St. Croix Falls and from St. Croix Falls, via Sunrise and Rush lakes, to Russell's farm, on Pokegama lake. He supervised the cultivation of the first crops raised in Polk county, at Jerusalem. Hesettled in Stillwater in 1846, where he became an active worker in behalf of education, and did much to establish the present excellent system of schools. In 1846 he was a member of the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin Territory, representing this valley and all the country north of Crawford county. He was a faithful worker on the boundary question, and effected a change from the St. Croix to a point fifteen miles due east, from the most easterly point on Lake St. Croix, from thence south to the Mississippi river and north to the waters of Lake Superior. His course was approved by his constituents. In 1848 he took an active part in the formation of Minnesota Territory, and was secretary of the first convention called for that purpose in Stillwater. He was receiver of the United States land office at Stillwater four years. He was a member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional convention for Minnesota in 1857, and was honored by being elected first lieutenant governor of Minnesota in 1857. The name of Gov. Holcombe will long be remembered in the valley of the St. Croix. He died in Stillwater, Sept. 5, 1870, and was buried with masonic honors. He left two sons, William W. and Edward Van Buren, by his first wife. He married a second wife in Galena, in 1847, who died in 1880.
William S. Hungerfordwas born in Connecticut, Aug. 12, 1805. He was married to Lucinda Hart, at Farmington, Connecticut, in 1827. He came to St. Louis, Missouri, at an early age and engaged in mercantile pursuits in the firm of Hungerford & Livingston. In 1838 he became one of the original proprietors of the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company, and gave his time and talents to its welfare. He was of a hopeful temperament, and even in the darkest hour of the enterprise in which he had embarked, cherished a most cheerful faith in its ultimate success.
Hon. Caleb Cushing, whose name was to be associated intimately with that of Mr. Hungerford in the future history and litigation of the company, recognizing St. Croix Falls as a point promising unrivaled attractions to the manufacturer, in 1846 purchased an interest in the company, which was at once reorganized with Cushing and Hungerford as principal stockholders. The acute mind of Gen. Cushing recognized not only the prospective advantages of the water power, but the probability of the division of Wisconsin Territory, which might result in makingSt. Croix Falls the capital of the new territory, and formed plans for the development of the company enterprise, which might have resulted advantageously had not he been called away to take part in the Mexican War and thence to go on a political mission to China. During his absence there was a complete neglect of his American inland projects and the enterprise at St. Croix suffered greatly; the new company accomplished but little that was agreed upon in the consolidation. Cushing had inexperienced agents, unfitted to attend to his interest. He furnished money sufficient, if judiciously handled, to have made a permanent, useful property here. Conflicting questions arose between Hungerford and Cushing's agents, which terminated in lawsuits. The first suit was in 1848, Hungerford, plaintiff. Different suits followed, one after another, for over twenty years, which cursed the property more than a mildew or blight. During this time the parties alternated in use and possession, by order of court. Hungerford, during these trials, pre-empted the land when it came in market. For this he was arrested on complaint of perjury. Hungerford, by order of court, was, on his arrest, taken away in chains. He was soon after released. Hungerford was an indefatigable worker. The labor of his life was invested in the improvements of the company. Cushing, being a man of talent and influence, could fight the battle at a distance. He employed the best legal talent in the land; he met Hungerford at every turn, and Hungerford became a foe worthy of his steel. They unitedly accomplished the ruin of their town. Mr. Hungerford had an excellent family, making their home at the Falls during all their perplexities. On the occasion of his arrest he was manacled in presence of his family, who bore it with a fortitude worthy the name and reputation of the father and husband. The litigation ended only with the death of the principal actors. The perishable part of the property, mills and other buildings, has gone to ruin. The whole history is a sad comment on the folly of attempting to manage great enterprises without harmony of action and purpose. Mr. Hungerford died in Monticello, Illinois, in 1874. Mrs. Hungerford died in Connecticut in 1880. Mr. Cushing died in 1876.
Hon. Henry D. Barron.—Henry Danforth Barron was born in Saratoga county, New York, April 10, 1832. He received a common school education, studied law, and graduated from thelaw school at Ballston Spa, New York. He came to Wisconsin in 1851; learned the printer's trade, and was afterward editor of the WaukeshaDemocrat. In 1857 he removed to Pepin, Wisconsin, and in 1860 received the appointment of circuit judge of the Eighth district.
In September, 1861, he came to St. Croix Falls, as agent for Caleb Cushing and the St. Croix Manufacturing and Improvement Company.
He was elected to the lower house of the Wisconsin legislature in 1862, and served as assemblyman continuously from 1862 to 1869, and for the years 1872 and 1873. During the sessions of 1866 and 1873 he was speaker of the assembly. A portion of this time he held the responsible position of regent of the State University, and was also a special agent of the treasury department. In 1869 President Grant appointed him chief justice of Dakota, which honor was declined. The same year he was appointed fifth auditor in the treasury department, which office he resigned in 1872 to take a more active part in advancing the interests of his State. He was chosen a presidential elector in 1868, and again in 1872, and served as state senator during the sessions of 1874, 1875 and 1876, and was at one time presidentpro tem. of the senate. In 1876 he was elected judge of the Eleventh Judicial circuit. During his service as judge he was highly gratified that so few appeals were taken from his decisions, and that his decisions were seldom reversed in higher courts. He had also held the offices of postmaster, county attorney, county judge, and county superintendent of schools.
Although formerly a Democrat, at the outbreak of the Rebellion he became a Republican. Of late years he was a pronounced stalwart. Throughout his life he never received any profit, pecuniarily, from the prominent positions in which he was placed, his only endeavor seeming to be to advance the interests, influence, worth and ability of the younger men with whom he was associated, and hundreds who to-day hold positions of prominence and responsibility, owe their success and advancement to his teachings and advice. Of a disposition kind, courteous and generous, he was possessed of a remarkably retentive memory, which, with his intimate associations with leading men, and familiarity with public life, legislative and judicial, afforded a fund of personal sketches, anecdotes and biographies, at once entertaining, amusing and instructive.
The judge was twice married, his first wife having died at Waukesha, leaving him an only son, Henry H. Barron, who was with him at the time of his death. His second marriage was to Ellen K. Kellogg, at Pepin, in 1860. For some time she has made her home with her mother in California, on account of ill health. At the time of his death, which occurred at St. Croix Falls, Jan. 22, 1882, he was judge of the Eleventh Judicial circuit. His remains were buried at Waukesha.
George W. Brownell.—Mr. Brownell, though not among the earliest of the pioneers of St. Croix valley, yet deserves special mention on account of his scientific attainments, his high character as a man, and the fact that he was an influential member, from the St. Croix district, of the Wisconsin territorial constitutional convention, he having been elected over Bowron on the question of establishing the new state line east of the St. Croix.
Mr. Brownell was born in Onondago, New York, and when a youth lived in Syracuse, where he learned the trade of a carriage maker. He was a resident of Galena, Illinois, over thirty years, where he engaged in mining and geological pursuits. He spent two years in the lead mines of Wisconsin. He was connected with the GalenaGazettesome years. In 1846 he visited the Superior copper mining region for a Boston company. He formed the acquaintance of Caleb Cushing, Rufus Choate, Horace Rantoul, and others, and located for them mineral permits at St. Croix Falls and Kettle river, and became, this year, a resident of St. Croix Falls. In 1847 he was married to Mrs. Duncan, of Galena. He was elected this year to the constitutional convention. In 1851 he returned to Galena and engaged in the grain trade and cotton planting near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in which he was not successful. In 1865 he visited Colorado and made investments there. When on a trip to Colorado, in 1866, the stage was attacked by Indians. Brownell and another passenger alighted to resist the attack. He was armed with a rifle, and, if properly supported, would probably have been saved; but most of the passengers remained in the stage. The driver, getting scared, whipped his horses and drove rapidly away, leaving Brownell and companion, who were overpowered and killed. Their bodies were recovered, shockingly mutilated. His remains were forwarded to Galena for burial. Mr. Brownell hada scientific mind, and passed much of his life in scientific studies and practical experiments. He attained a good knowledge of geology, mineralogy and chemistry. The foresight of Mr. Brownell on the Wisconsin boundary, and in other public matters, has been, in time, generally recognized. He was a good neighbor and kind friend.
Col. Robert C. Murphy.—Col. Murphy, a man of fine address and admirable social qualities, made his home at St. Croix Falls in 1860-61 and 62, during which time he was in charge of the Cushing interest and property, which position he left to accept the colonelcy of the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. His military career was not fortunate and its abrupt termination was a sad disappointment to himself and friends. An article in the MilwaukeeWeekly Telegraph, from the pen of one who knew Col. Murphy well, thus sums up some of the salient points in his character and career. We make a few extracts:
"Col. Murphy was educated and accomplished. He had been instructed in the Patridge Military School, and was possessed of some experience in Indian fights on the plains with Burnside, bearing scars of that experience, and a recommendation of skill and courage from Gen. Burnside to Gov. Randall. His great intuitiveness, his ready manner, his cultivation of mind, gained for him the respect and charity of his superiors, and brought him the respect and confidence of his regiment. His father, a native of Ireland, was a successful practicing lawyer and politician in Ohio, without much education; a man of strong natural talent and integrity. Upon his son he showered all his earnings, in the form of that which the father lacked the most—books, schooling and polish. Judge Murphy (the father) was the bearer of important dispatches to Texas from the Tyler and Polk administrations in connection with the annexation of that republic to this country, and is referred to in Benton's 'Thirty Years' as Tyler's 'midnight messenger.' Young Murphy was appointed by President Pierce American consul in China, while Gen. Caleb Cushing was minister to that country, and he discharged important consular and judicial duties there with credit to himself and his government. Upon his return Gen. Cushing selected him to take charge of the Cushing interest and property at St. Croix Falls, in this State. From there he went 'to the front,' and his military career was cut short by his failure atIuka and Holly Springs. Gen. Grant dismissed him in brief, terse words, but was willing afterward that he should be heard by a board of army officers detailed for that purpose. Stanton was inexorable and refused."
After his dismissal from the army he removed to Washington and accepted a clerkship in the post office department where he still remains. It is due to him to say that his own version of his military troubles is ingenious and plausible, and would, if sustained, quite exonerate him from the charges that have pressed so heavily upon him.
Edward Worth.—Mr. Worth came to St. Croix Falls from New York State in 1842, where he continued to reside the remainder of his life, experiencing the vicissitudes of pioneer life to their fullest extent. He died in 1863, leaving a widow, an only son (Henry) and two daughters, Myra, wife of W. T. Vincent, and Sarah, wife of John Blanding.
Mrs. Mary C. Worth.—Mrs. Worth was born Oct. 14, 1812, was married to Edward Worth, Dec. 24, 1835, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1842, where she lived till Jan. 12, 1886, when she peacefully passed away. She was a woman of rare mental ability, untiring industry and skill in managing her household affairs, and unquestioned courage, as many incidents in her St. Croix experience will evidence. She was a member of the Episcopal church and went to her grave with the respect and admiration of all who knew her.
Maurice Mordecai Samuels, better known as Capt. Samuels, was born in London, of Jewish parentage. It is not known exactly when he came to this country. I first met him in 1844, at Prairie du Chien, at which time he was a traveling peddler. In 1846 I found him in the Chippewa country, living with an Indian woman and trading with the Indians at the mouth of Sunrise river. In 1847 he established a ball alley and trading post at St. Croix Falls, where he lived until 1861, when he raised a company (the St. Croix Rifles) for the United States service, received a commission and served till the close of the war. After the war he became a citizen of New Orleans, and in 1880 changed his residence to Winfield, Kansas. While in St. Croix he reared a family of half-breed children. He was a shrewd man and an inveterate dealer in Indian whisky. Capt. Samuels was sent as a government agent to the Chippewas of St. Croix valley and thesouthern shore of Lake Superior, in 1862, to ascertain and report their sentiment in regard to the Sioux war. It may be said of Capt. Samuels that, however unprincipled he may have been, he was no dissembler, but outspoken in his sentiments, however repellant they may have been to the moral sense of the community. He died at Winfield, Kansas, in 1884.
Joseph B. Churchillwas born in New York in 1820; was married in New York to Eliza Turnbull, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1854. He has filled various offices creditably, and has the respect and confidence of his acquaintances. His oldest daughter is the wife of Phineas G. Lacy, of Hudson. His second daughter is the wife of Joseph Rogers. He has one son living.
John McLean.—Mr. McLean was born 1819, in Vermont; was married in 1844 to Sarah Turnbull and settled on his farm near St. Croix Falls in 1850. Through untiring industry and honorable dealing he has secured a sufficiency for life, a handsome farm and good buildings. A large family has grown up around him, and have settled in the county.
Gilman Jewellcame from New Hampshire; was married in New Hampshire and came to the West in 1847. He settled on a farm near St. Croix Falls. He died in 1869. Mrs. Jewell died January, 1888. One son, Philip, resides on the homestead. Ezra, another son, resides at the Falls. The other members of the family have moved elsewhere.
Elisha Creechwas born in West Virginia, 1831. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1849, and was married to Mary M. Seeds in 1863. They have four children. Mr. Creech has been engaged much of his life in lumbering. Through industry and temperate habits he has made a good farm and a pleasant home.
James W. McGlothlinwas born in Kentucky; came to St. Croix Falls in 1846, and engaged successfully in sawing lumber at the St. Croix mill in 1846 and 1847, but in 1848 rented the mill, being sustained by Waples & Co., of Dubuque, Iowa, but by reason of bad management, he failed and left the valley in 1849. He afterward went to California, where he met a tragic fate, having been murdered by his teamster.
Andrew L. Tuttle.—Mr. Tuttle came to St. Croix Falls in 1849, and was engaged many years as a lumberman and as keeper of a boardinghouse. He settled on his farm at Big Rock in 1856, where he made himself a comfortable home. He went to Montanain 1865, and died there in 1873. Mrs. Tuttle still resides at the homestead, an amiable woman, who has acted well her part in life. One of her daughters is married to Wm. M. Blanding. One son, Eli, died in 1883, another son, Henry, died in Montana. Perly, John and Warren are settled near the homestead.
John Weymouthwas born at Clinton, Maine, in 1815, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1846, where he followed lumbering and made himself a beautiful home on the high hill overlooking the two villages of St. Croix Falls and Taylor's Falls. By frugality and industry Mr. Weymouth has accumulated a competence. He was married in St. Croix Falls in 1850, to Mary McHugh. One son, John, is married to Miss Ramsey, of Osceola, and a daughter, Mary J., is married to Samuel Harvey, of St. Croix Falls.
B. W. Reynolds, a tall, thin, stoop-shouldered man of eccentric manners, was receiver at the St. Croix land office from 1861 to 1864. He was a native of South Carolina, and a graduate of Middlebury College, Vermont. He had studied for the ministry, and, if we mistake not, had devoted some years of his life to pastoral work, but devoted later years to secular pursuits. At the close of the war he returned to South Carolina as a reconstructionist, but in two or three years came North, and located at La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he edited the La CrosseStar. He died at La Crosse Aug. 17, 1877.
Augustus Gaylord.—Mr. Gaylord was a merchant in St. Croix Falls prior to the Rebellion. In 1861 Gov. Harvey appointed him adjutant general of the State. In this office he acquitted himself well. He was an efficient public officer and in private life a high minded, honorable gentleman.
James D. Reymert.—Mr. Reymert was born in Norway in 1821, and came to America and settled in Racine in 1845. He was a practical printer, and editor of the first Norwegian paper west of the lakes, if not the first in America, and was a man of recognized literary ability. He was a member of the second Wisconsin constitutional convention, 1847, from Racine. In 1849 he was a member of the Wisconsin assembly. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1859, and served two years as agent of the St. Croix Falls Company. He was the organizer of a company in New York City, known as "The Great European-American Land Company," in which Count Taub, of Norway, took anactive part. This noted company claimed to have purchased the Cushing property, a claim true only so far as the preliminary steps of a purchase were concerned. For a time there was considerable activity. The town of St. Croix Falls was resurveyed, new streets were opened, and magnificent improvements planned, but failing to consummate the purchase, the company failed, leaving a beggarly account of unpaid debts.
William J. Vincent.—Mr. Vincent is of Irish descent. He was born June 10, 1830, and came West when a youth. In 1846, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted in Company H, Mounted Rifles, and served through the Mexican War. In 1848 he came to St. Croix Falls, where he followed lumbering and clerking. He was married to Myra Worth in 1855. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, First Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, of which company he was appointed second lieutenant. He resigned in 1862. He has held the office of county commissioner eleven years, that of county clerk seven years, that of state timber agent four years. In 1879 he served as representative in the Wisconsin assembly. In 1880 he commenced selling goods with his son-in-law, under the firm name of Vincent & Stevenson. He erected the first brick store building in St. Croix Falls in 1884.
Thompson Brothers.—Thomas Thompson was born in Lower Canada, Nov. 11, 1833, and was married to Eliza Clendenning in 1861. James Thompson was born in Lower Canada, Nov. 11, 1840, and was married to Mary A. Gray in 1871. The brothers came to the Falls in 1856 and engaged in lumbering about ten years, and then in merchandising, jointly, but in 1868 formed separate firms. Thomas built the first brick dwelling house in St. Croix in 1882. Mrs. Thomas Thompson died in 1886. James erected a large flour mill in 1879.
William Amerywas born in London, England, in 1831. He learned the carpenter's trade in London and came to America in 1851, locating at first in Stillwater, but the ensuing year removing to St. Croix Falls. He pre-empted the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31, township 34, range 18, and adjoining lands in 1853, and this has been his continuous home since. He has served as county treasurer four years and held many town offices. He was married to Sarah Hackett in 1855. The town of Amery is named in honor of this respected man. Mr. Amery died Sept. 4, 1887, leaving a widow, two sons and three daughters.
Lewis Barlow.—Among the first immigrants to St. Croix Falls was Lewis Barlow, an eccentric, sensitive man. He was a millwright, and, being of an unhappy disposition, led a troubled life. He was the first man married at the Falls. In 1847 he moved to the Minnesota side, where he owned considerable land. He lived here until 1852 when his family left him. He sold his interests and followed and reunited them at Rock Island, Illinois. Here he suffered much and became blind. He traveled with a panorama and so earned a scanty livelihood. In later life he revisited his old home at the Falls, but broken and dejected in spirit. He died at Rock Island in 1872.
Levi W. Stratton.—Mr. Stratton was one of the passengers of the Palmyra in 1838. He worked for the St. Croix Company two years. After leaving the Falls, he changed his residence several times, and finally settled at Excelsior, Hennepin county, Minnesota, where he died in 1884. Mr. Stratton wrote for the Minneapolis papers many interesting reminiscences of pioneer life on the St. Croix.
Elma M. Blanding.—Mr. Blanding was born in Harford, Susquehanna county, New York, Feb. 14, 1800. He was married to Eliza Tuttle in 1826. He settled on a farm near St. Croix Falls in 1856, where he died, Sept. 16, 1871. Father Blanding, as he was affectionately called in the later years of his life, was a man of exemplary habits, of strong religious convictions, and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. He left a widow, five sons and three daughters. Mrs. Eliza Blanding died Jan. 18, 1887. Wm. M. Blanding, the oldest son, owns a fine farm near the Falls, formerly known as "Jerusalem." He is a surveyor, lumberman and farmer, and a prominent citizen. He was married to Eliza Tuttle. A family of thirteen children has grown up around him. In 1887 he was appointed receiver in the St. Croix land office. John, the second son, is also a farmer in St. Croix Falls. He was married to Sarah, daughter of Edward and Mary C. Worth. Eugene E. is engaged in the drug business at Taylors Falls, and is also surveyor and express agent. He married Joanna Ring, of Taylors Falls, in 1871. Fred, the fourth son, was married in 1885 to Emma Sly. He was appointed United States land receiver at St. Croix Falls in 1887. He died in California, Jan. 30, 1888. Frank, the youngest son, was married to Annie McCourt, and lives on the homestead.Josephine, the oldest daughter, is the wife of Wm. Longfellow, and resides in Machias, Maine. Flavilla, the widow of Charles B. Whiting, lives at St. Paul, Minnesota. Her husband died in 1868. Mrs. Whiting was executrix of the will of Dr. E. D. Whiting, and successfully controlled a property valued at about $80,000. Mary, wife of Wm. McCourt, died in 1880.