Charles F. Kindred, an active, enterprising citizen of Brainerd, is doing for his adopted city all that one man can do. Mr. Kindred, for many years after his arrival in Minnesota, was a trusted agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and while in their employ acquired a thorough knowledge of the resources of North Minnesota, which he uses to the best interest of the section in which he has made his home. He is at present superintending the building of the Kindred dam.
This county consists of an oblong section, six towns in width, lying between Mille Lacs and Kanabec counties on the south, and Itasca on the north. It is a heavily timbered region, upon which the lumberman has drawn for hundreds of millions of feet of lumber, with but little apparent diminution in the quantity of the supply. The whole surface is dotted with lakes and variegated with natural meadows. The southern portion of the county affords good farming lands. Mille Lacs, in the southern part of the county, is the largest lake, and settlements have already been made along its shores. Sandy lake is second in size. It lies on the great portage route from Winnipeg, by way of St. Louis river to Lake Superior, and has been a noted point on that route for two hundred years. The missions of the Jesuits, and later, of the Presbyterians and Methodists, had been located here and abandoned. The fur trader and the Indian trader have made their headquarters here. Sandy lake has become historic. The county contains about one hundred and three townships, which are drained chiefly by the Mississippi and its tributaries. The Mississippi is navigable from Aitkin to Pokegama falls, a distance of over one hundred miles.
Aitkin county was created May 23, 1857, but was not organized until July 30, 1872. The first officers chosen were: County commissioners, Nathaniel Tibbetts, chairman; Wm. Hallstrom, Wm. Wade; treasurer, Geo. Clapp; register of deeds, Wm. Hallstrom; auditor, W. E. Crowell; sheriff, James W. Tibbetts. That part of the county including the village of Aitkin was organized into a town in 1873; N. Tibbetts, chairman. The Northern Pacific railroad passes through six townships of this county, namely:townships 27 and 28, range 22 to 27, inclusive. While the road was in process of building in 1870, Nathaniel Tibbetts made a claim where the village of Aitkin now stands, and built the first house, a hotel known as the Ojibway House, and the next spring built the Aitkin House. He moved his family here in 1471. He was appointed the first postmaster at the organization of the county. The county and village of Aitkin were named after Wm. A. Aitkin, who was a prominent trader on the Upper Mississippi for a number of years.
Aitkin was made the county seat at the organization of the county. It is pleasantly situated on the west branch of Ripple creek, near the east branch of the Mississippi. It is now a prosperous and thriving village with heavy mercantile establishments, two first class hotels, a good school house, and pleasant homes. One newspaper, the AitkinAge, is published here. Warren Potter, Richard Mills, William Wade and George Jenkins are early citizens. In 1873 Capt. Houghton built a steamer, called the Pokegama, to run from Aitkin to Pokegama Falls. This steamer was burned in 1878. Capt. Houghton replaced it with a new boat called the City of Aitkin, which still plies the Mississippi river between the points named.
Pokegama Falls is a headquarters for lumbermen and a place for general trade.
Wm. A. Aitken.—The date and place of Mr. Aitkin's nativity are not positively known. He came to the Chippewa country when a boy of fifteen, as servant to a trader named John Drew, and in time became a successful and well known trader. He died at Sandy Lake in 1851. His life, in common with that of the early traders, was adventurous. He witnessed many stirring scenes, among them the battle of Stillwater Ravine, in 1839. Although raised among the Indians, and continually on the frontier, he was noted for his urbanity and geniality, and is well spoken of by the early explorers.
Alfred Aitkin, son of the foregoing, was killed by a Chippewa Indian at Cass lake in 1836. He had stolen the wife of the Indian, and refusing to return her to the enraged husband, was shot by him. The murderer was arrested, taken to Prairie du Chien for trial, tried before Judge Drum's court and acquitted.
Nathaniel Tibbettswas born in New Sharon, Maine, March 21, 1824. While a mere boy he moved to Piscataquis county, and in 1845 came to Plover, Wisconsin, and two years later to Stillwater, Minnesota. He engaged in lumbering until 1850, when he moved to St. Anthony, and soon afterward made a claim at the mouth of Elk river, then in Benton county, where he remained until the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company A, Eighth Minnesota, of which company he was commissioned first lieutenant, and was afterward appointed regimental quartermaster. He was mustered out with his regiment at the close of the war, when he returned to his home at Elk River, and resumed his old business of lumbering. In 1870 he was engaged in the preliminary survey of the Northern Pacific railroad, and located the same year at Aitkin, of which village he was the pioneer, building the first house and barn, keeping the first hotel and serving as the first postmaster. He served four years as county commissioner. He has also served as register of deeds and sheriff. Ten years after his location at Aitkin he removed to Morrison county, where he now resides. His health is somewhat impaired from the exposure and fatigue of army life.
Carlton county lies between St. Louis county on the north, Pine on the south, Douglas county, Wisconsin, on the east and Aitkin on the west, and contains twenty-four townships. It is abundantly watered by the St. Louis river and its many tributaries on the northeast, by the tributaries of the Nemadji and Kettle rivers on the south. It is well timbered with pine and hardwoods. The St. Louis river affords one of the finest water powers in the Northwest. The rapids of this stream extend from the falls at Cloquet to Fond du Lac, a distance of twelve miles. The channel is rocky, the rocks being of a trappean or slaty formation, not easily worn by the water, and capable of furnishing good foundations for dams and mills. The first settlers were A. K. Lovejoy, Cephas Bradley, Joseph Meyers, Sexton Lyons, and some others. Mr. Lovejoy died at Thomson, Feb. 11, 1888, aged sixty-three years, leaving a wife. They had been the parents of twenty-four children, twelve pairs of twins. The county was named in honor of R. B. Carlton, who was a representative in the first state legislature. Mr. Carlton died at Fond du Lac, Sept. 10, 1863.
The county was organized in 1858, and the county seat located at Twin Lakes, but changed by act of legislature to Thomson. It is subdivided into five towns, Knife Falls, Mahtowa, Moose Lake, Thomson, and Twin Lakes. It has a well defined slate stone range running from northeast to southwest. The same range crops out at Little Falls, Morrison county.
The village of Thomson, the county seat of Carlton county, is located on the St. Louis river. The Northern Pacific railroad crosses at this point. A. M. Miller erected a steam saw mill here in 1873. The mill has a capacity of 100,000 feet per day, and has been a profitable enterprise. A. K. Lovejoy operates a saw mill six miles northwest, which has a capacity of 35,000 feet. The village of Thomson has a good graded school with two departments.
Located on the St. Louis river, was surveyed and platted in 1871. In 1878 Charles D. Harwood erected a steam saw mill at this point with a capacity of 50,000 feet. This was the beginning of a thriving manufacturing village. In 1883 the Knife Falls Lumber Company rebuilt the Harwood mill, increasing its capacity to 180,000 feet per day. In 1884 the property was transferred to Renwick, Crossett & Co. James Paine, McNair and others built a water power saw mill in 1880, with a capacity of 100,000 feet per day. The C. N. Nelson Company, in 1880, built two steam saw mills with a capacity of 350,000 feet per day. A post office was established in 1879; C. D. Harwood, postmaster. The village was platted and incorporated in 1882; William P. Allen was the first president of the council. It has two newspapers, thePine Knot Journal, established by Ed. Gottry and J. H. Page in 1884, and theIndustrial Vidette, established in 1887. It contains three church organizations with good buildings, the Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian.
On the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, is surrounded by a good farming country, and is a pretty, prosperous village. It has a post office, about sixty dwellings and a saw mill.
On the line of the same road, contains a post office, a saw mill with a capacity of about 50,000 feet daily, a few fine residences, with fine farms adjoining.
On the same road, has a saw mill and about twenty dwellings. An extensive stock farm is located here.
Is situated on the St. Louis river, at the junction of the St. Paul & Duluth and Northern Pacific railroads. There are about one hundred buildings here including a large saw mill built by Paine & Co., having a capacity of 10,000,000 feet per annum; one school house, one church, and hotels, stores, shops and dwellings. The village was organized in 1881; Cephas Bradley, president.
Francis Asbury Watkinsis a native of the state of New Hampshire. He was born in 1853; came to Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1866, to North Pacific Junction in 1881; was married to Anna Wicks, of Pine City, Minnesota, in 1882, and was admitted to practice law in 1883. He is a graduate of Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. He has served as auditor of Carlton county four years.
St. Louis county takes its name from St. Louis river, the river itself having been named by some of the early French travelers or Jesuit missionaries, possibly by Duluth or Buade.
The county is bounded on the north by Rainy lake and the British boundary, on the east by Lake county, on the south by Lake Superior, St. Louis river and Carlton, and on the west by Aitkin county. The surface is variegated, much of it being broken with deep ravines. It is well watered by streams tributary to Rainy lake and Superior, and by innumerable small lakes. Portions of it are heavily timbered with pines and hardwoods, and the northern portion is traversed by a rich mineral belt extending through the Vermillion Lake region. The settlements are chiefly along the shores of Lake Superior and St. Louis river, and on the shores of Vermillion lake. The falls and rapids of St. Louis river are noted for their wildness and grandeur.
The scenery on its northern boundary, including the Dalles of the Rainy Lake waters, is not surpassed or even equaled at any point east of the Rocky mountains. The geological formation consists largely of primitive or igneous rocks, trappean, basaltic and granite, and the scenery has a peculiarly grand and sombre appearance. Notwithstanding the igneous character of the formation there is much excellent farming land on plains and intervales, while the more abrupt and rocky portions are rich in iron and the precious metals. The region about Vermillion lake has become a centre of mining operations. The region is rich in iron ores. Gold has also been discovered. A mineral region abounding in gold, silver and iron extends from Vermillion lake to Thunder Bay. St. Louis county was organized in 1856. The territorial governor appointed the following officers: Clerk of district court, J. B. Culver; sheriff, J. B. Ellis; register of deeds, R. H. Barrett; auditor, J. E. Brown.
The first board of county commissioners elected were C. E. Martin, Vose Palmer and Z. J. Brown. The first meeting was held at Portland, Jan. 4, 1858. At an adjourned meeting held Jan. 20, 1858, the commissioners drew a grand and petit jury. The meetings were held sometimes at Portland and sometimes at Duluth. At a meeting held April 5, 1858, the county was divided into four towns—Duluth, Martin, Carp River and Carlton. At an adjourned meeting three assessor's districts, six school districts and four road districts were formed. The records do not show any previous division into districts or precincts, nor does the name of any clerk appear until the meeting of September 14th, when A. B. Robbins attests as clerk. At a meeting held Sept. 23, 1858, the village of Oneota was established. November 1st E. H. Brown was appointed clerk in place of A. B. Robbins. November 14th a bill allowing R. H. Barrett compensation for services as clerk prior to September 1st was passed. His name does not appear prior to this entry.
The records show that a court was held in 1859, S. J. R. McMillan officiating as judge. Also that a road was made from Oneota to Buchanan and the mouth of Knife river, through Fremont, Portland and Endion, following a trail to Lester's river and across French river to Montezuma, and another from Oneota to Fond du Lac. The town of Milford is mentioned as acceptingthe report. The assessment for St. Louis county for 1859 amounted to $96,836.76. At a special meeting of the county commissioners held Jan. 10, 1866, a resolution was adopted asking the legislature to grant authority to St. Louis county to issue $150,000 to aid in building the Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad. The legislature granted the request and twenty year bonds were issued.
We append a list of county commissioners to the year 1863: E. C. Martin, Vose Palmer, Zach T. Brown, 1858; E. C. Martin, Vose Palmer, W. E. Wright, 1859; W. E. Wright, S. A. Forbes, Sidney Luce, 1860; E. F. Ely, Joseph B. Culver (first meeting), 1861; E. F. Ely, Harvey Fargo, Levi B. Coffrey (second meeting), 1861; E. F. Ely, R. B. Carlton, H. Fargo, 1862; H. Fargo, R. B. Carlton, E. G. Swanstrom, 1863.
Names of villages that appear in the old records of the board have entirely disappeared. Those villages nearest to Duluth have been absorbed by that vigorous young city. We find a record, bearing date 1859, authorizing an election to decide upon the question of the removal of the county seat from Duluth to Port Byron. There is no record of the result of the election, nor is Port Byron found in a recent map.
The site of Duluth was visited as long ago as 1659, by two adventurous Frenchmen, Grosselier and Redission. This was twenty-one years prior to the coming of Greyson Duluth, in whose honor the city of Duluth was named two hundred years later. Capt. Duluth visited the western end of the lake in 1680. Three or four years later Jean Duluth, a brother of the captain, established two trading posts, one at the mouth of Pigeon river, the other on Minnesota Point. Le Sueur followed in 1683, accompanied by a French surveyor, Franquelin, who made a fairly correct map of the region. The attraction to the early voyageurs was the rich furs to be obtained in the wild regions adjacent. The great American Fur Company early established posts along the northern shore of Lake Superior, and later the Astor Fur Company made its northwestern headquarters at Fond du Lac, a few miles above the present site of Duluth. Nothing was done toward permanent settlement until about the year 1854, when the tide of immigration set in toward the head of the lake,and it became evident that here was to rise cities of no mean importance, one upon the western shore of the lake, rising from the base of Minnesota Point, and the other Superior City, across the gleaming waters of St. Louis bay.
For several years the growth of Duluth was slow, and sometimes its fortunes seemed on the wane, but the construction of a railroad to St. Paul, completed in 1870, and a sudden influx of capital consequent upon this new outlet of trade, and more than all this, the proposed construction of the great Northern Pacific railroad, gave a new impetus to the growth of the city. The three years succeeding were years of great activity and progress. The population increased from 3,000 to 5,000, and many of the finer older buildings of the city were constructed. The canal was cut through Minnesota Point, thus giving to Duluth the most magnificent harbor on the lake, if not in the world.
In 1873 the failure of Jay Cooke, who had largely contributed the means for the construction of the Northern Pacific railroad, caused a financial depression similar in its effects to that of 1857. Banks failed, merchants became bankrupt, and the population of the city was reduced to 1,300 souls. The "hard times" lasted until some time in 1878, when the opening up of the great wheat fields in the Red River valley, and the completion of the Northern Pacific railroad, again brought prosperity to the more than half deserted city. The population increased in 1878 from 1,300 to 2,200 souls. Two years later the census showed 3,470; and a year later, 7,800. In 1882 the population had increased to 12,000; in 1883 to 14,000; in 1884 to 16,690; in 1885 to 18,036, and in 1886 to 26,000 souls.
Duluth has now a well organized board of trade, produce exchange and chamber of commerce. It has four banks, the American Exchange, Duluth National, Merchants National, and Bell & Eyster's. These banks had, in 1886, an aggregate capital of $300,000, with deposits of $2,034,281, amounts greatly increased during the year 1887. The taxable valuation of property in Duluth for the year 1886 was $11,773,720. The taxes paid in 1887 amount to $261,376.
Duluth has one immense flour mill, with a capacity of 250 barrels per day. It is five stories in height, and favorably situated; having the lake upon one side and the railroads upon the other, so that loading and unloading can be carried on at once from vessels and cars.
Duluth has also two large flour warehouses with a capacity of 200,000 barrels each. Large warehouses are also being built by the Northern Pacific and Omaha Railroad companies. The annual shipment of flour from Duluth has ranged from 164,000 barrels in 1871 to 1,500,000 in 1886, making an aggregate of 8,285,000 barrels in that time.
The lumber industry of Duluth is no small factor in the prosperity of the city. The cut of the Duluth district for the past season amounts to 160,000,000 feet of lumber, 43,000,000 shingles, and 22,600,000 lath, of which the city mills have manufactured one-third. Much of this lumber has been shipped to Chicago and the East, and a new district, the Tower mining region, has lately been opened for shipment.
We have alluded to the harbor of Duluth as one of the best on the lake. It consists of what is known as the Bay of Superior, a body of water about seven miles long by one mile in width, almost entirely shut off from the lake by a narrow strip of land known as Minnesota Point. The original entrance to this bay was through a channel on the southeast of the Point, separating it from Wisconsin Point, a similar tongue of land in the same line of direction. As this entrance was inconvenient and difficult, a canal was cut across the point near the mainland, sufficiently large to admit all vessels that pass through Ste. Marie's canal. Since the construction of the canal through Minnesota Point, the old landing in front of the city has been abandoned, and elevators have been built on the shores of the bay. These elevators are the best of their class, and have a total capacity of 20,000,000 bushels. They were ten in number, exclusive of several warehouses; two, however, have been destroyed by fire. The walls of the canal have been extended in the form of piers 1,000 feet into the lake. One of these piers is supplied with a lighthouse and a fog horn. The canal is 700 feet long and 250 feet in width. The arrivals and clearances for the port of Duluth in 1886 were 2,180.
The fish trade is no inconsiderable part of the industries of Duluth. Two large firms have their headquarters here and the amount of capital invested in the business amounts to $165,000. During 1886 1,200,000 pounds of fish were shipped to Duluth for reshipment to other places, from the various fisheries of these companies. The United States fish commissioners, realizingthe value of Lake Superior as a reservoir for food fish, have projected the largest fish hatchery on the lakes, to be located at Lester's Park. It is to be under government and state control and will supply the lakes of Superior and Michigan with about 500,000,000 eggs yearly.
Duluth was organized and laid out as a village under the town site law of 1844; Richard Ralf, surveyor; Geo. E. Nettleton, J. B. Culver, O. W. Rice, Wm. Nettleton, and Robt. E. Jefferson, proprietors. The date of this organization is not known. We have a statement from Hon. W. G. Le Duc, of Hastings, to the effect, that in the winter of 1852-53, A. Ramsey, H. M. Rice, Maj. Watrous and himself, with two others whose names he can not recall, organized as a company and projected a town site at the west end of the lake, on the present site of Duluth. Maj. Watrous, the Indian agent, was instructed to take necessary measures to secure the land. Watrous failed to secure the property and the scheme failed. Mr. Le Duc projected and introduced a charter in the territorial legislature, which was passed, for a railroad to Duluth.
In 1870 the city of Duluth was first incorporated, and five years later a portion of the same territory was incorporated as the village of Duluth, and the two municipal corporations were still in existence Feb. 25, 1887, when the act imposing certain political obligations upon the then existing city of Duluth became a law. The second day of March another law went into effect incorporating both the city and village of Duluth as the present city.
Located at the head of navigation on St. Louis river, and at the foot of the rapids, is a point of considerable historical interest, it having long been in use as a trading post. It has been a place of outfit and departure for trading expeditions for two hundred years. The old stone trading house of the Astor Fur Company still remains. It is surrounded by about twenty buildings of more recent date. It is now better known as a station on the Northern Pacific railroad. It was surveyed in 1856 by Richard Ralf and platted into village lots. The plats were signed by James A. Markland, attorney for the proprietors. Fond du Lac is now a village of some magnitude.
Was settled some time in the '40s, by Edmund F. Ely and others, and became a village of some note, containing a post office, church and other evidences of prosperity. It was platted as a village in 1856; H. W. Wheeler, surveyor; Marcus W. McCracken, Bion W. Bacon, Edmund F. Ely, proprietors. The first recorded deed in St. Louis county is a quitclaim deed from B. H. Baer to E. F. Ely, of the town site of Ely; consideration, $1,500. The deed bears date of April 20, 1856. Oneota is now included in the plat of Duluth.
This village was platted in 1858, by John S. Watrous, on the shores of the lake north of Duluth. It is now within the Duluth city limits.
A village on the lake shore above Duluth, was platted in 1856. The proprietors were Aaron B. Robbins, James D. Ray, C. Marshall and J. J. Post. It is now within the Duluth city limits.
Located on the north shore, was surveyed Dec. 15, 1856, by Chas. Martin; M. 7P. Niel and others, proprietors. It is now within the Duluth city limits.
Located on Minnesota Point, was surveyed Aug. 1, 1856; proprietors, Robert Reed, T. A. Markland.
Located on the north shore, was surveyed in May, 1856, by Vose Palmer; proprietor, Frederic Ottoman.
Located on the north shore, was surveyed in October, 1856; proprietor, W. G. Cowell.
Was surveyed in 1857, by C. E. Clark; Thos. H. Hogan, attorney for proprietors.
A peculiar feature of St. Louis bay has been the formation of floating islands, possibly the result of the collection of driftwood and other debris at the mouth of St. Louis river. The rafts thus formed in time became consolidated by the deposition of earthy materials, leaves, twigs and vegetable matter, and are covered with a rank growth of vegetation, at first shrubby, but at last arboreous. The roots of the shrubs and trees interlace, and hold the material of the raft more tightly together. These island rafts are sometimes loosened and float into the bay, and are driven about by the winds from one side of the bay to the other.
One of these islands, supposed to be stationary, known as Fremont island, was surveyed and platted in 1856, by C. P. Heustis and Chas. A. Post. On the completion of the canal it broke loose from its moorings, floated away and disappeared, in all probability going to pieces in the rough waters of the lake.
Located on the southern shore of Vermillion lake, was surveyed Aug. 4, 1884. The proprietors are the Minnesota Iron Company, of which Charlemagne Tower is president. The iron mines located in this vicinity are amongst the richest on the continent. Attention was first called to the Vermillion by the reported discovery of gold. Machinery for crushing and smelting was transported thither, but the thousands who rushed to the reputed gold field expecting to become suddenly rich, returned disappointed and disheartened. Attention had long before been called to the fact that there were rich iron mines in the district, but the circumstances were unfavorable for their development. They were in a remote position and accessible only by a journey of several days through woods and swamps. These mines could be reached and developed only by state aid, which was given in the shape of a grant of swamp lands, to be applied to building a railway from the lake to the mines. This grant having been obtained, Mr. Tower and other capitalists at once invested their millions in the mines, purchasing some 8,000 acres of land, covering the larger portion of the iron deposits in the district, embracing the present site of the village of Tower. A railroad sixty-eight miles in length was constructed from Tower to Two Harbors, a point twenty-seven miles north of Duluth. This road was completed in the spring of 1884, and the firstshipment was made July 3d of that year, the total shipments for the year being 62,124 tons. The shipments for 1885 were 225,484 tons, and for 1886, 304,000 tons. Over $3,000,000 was paid to laborers in the Tower mines in 1887.
Col. George E. Stone, of Duluth, is deserving of praise for his foresight and energy in opening the Tower mines. Mr. Stone labored with untiring zeal after the land grant to aid in building the road was given until the road was built and the mines opened.
George R. Stuntzis well known as the government surveyor of the Lake Superior region, whose work covers thousands of miles of North Wisconsin lands, lying along the southern shore of the lake, and who has accurately mapped the meanderings of the influent streams, the bays and shaggy projecting shores of the great "Unsalted Sea." There is no better topographical authority than Mr. Stuntz, and no one better posted as to the location and value of the Northern Wisconsin areas and the Vermillion mines.
Having early made Superior City and Duluth his home, and for nearly forty years having been identified with the interests of the West Superior country, he is an oft-quoted authority. Many of his published articles contain most valuable information concerning the feasibility of connecting St. Croix and Superior waters. His assertions concerning the mineral wealth of the lake country, made before the development of the mines, have since been verified. Mr. Stuntz is a typical, sensible frontiersman, of American birth, aged about seventy years.
Charles Hinman Graves, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, born in 1839, received a liberal education, and in 1861 enlisted as a private in the Fortieth Massachusetts Volunteers, but was promoted step by step to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. In 1865 he was commissioned as a colonel in the regular army, but resigned in 1870, and located at Duluth. From 1873 to 1876 he was a member of the state senate. He has held several public positions in Duluth, and stands deservedly high as a citizen. He has labored zealously and efficiently for the prosperity of Duluth.
Ozro P. Stearnswas born Jan. 13, 1831, at De Kalb, Lawrence county, New York. In his youth he was dependent upon his own resources. He graduated at Michigan University in1858, after which he visited California, tried mining for a short time, and returning graduated in the law department of Michigan University. In 1860 he came to Rochester, Minnesota, and opened a law office. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, of which he was commissioned first lieutenant, but in 1864 was promoted to the colonelcy of the Thirty-ninth United States Infantry (colored). He served through many battles and campaigns, and was mustered out at the close of the war. In January, 1866, he returned to Rochester; in 1867 was appointed register in bankruptcy for Southern Minnesota; in January, 1871, he was elected to the United States senate for a short term to fill the vacancy caused by the death of D. S. Norton. In 1872 he removed to Duluth, and in 1874 was appointed judge of the Eleventh Judicial district, to which office he was elected in the fall of the same year, which position, by re-election, he still holds. Judge Stearns was married in February, 1863, to Sarah Burger, of Detroit, Michigan.
This county lies on the north shore of Lake Superior, between the counties of Cook and St. Louis, extending northward to the British line. The whole region is abrupt, broken into hills and valleys, and rich in silver, iron and other metals.
The great Vermillion iron mines of St. Louis county find an outlet through this county by the Duluth & Iron Range railroad, which finds a lake station at Two Harbors. The road was built from Two Harbors to Vermillion lake in 1885, from Two Harbors to Duluth in 1887. The entire road and extensive mines were sold in June, 1887, for $8,000,000, to Porter and others, who are now extending the road from Vermillion lake eastward to Thunder Bay and Port Arthur. It is already completed to Ely, a distance of twenty miles.
Emigration during the years 1886-7 to this county has been very extensive. The two counties, Lake and Cook, have many features in common. They are similar in geological formation, produce the same metals in the same generous abundance, and being in the same latitude, and bordering upon the same lake, differ in no wise in climate and but little in productions. Large quantities of pine timber may be found in these counties, and saw mills are located along the lake shore where an accessibleharbor can be found. There are several harbors between Duluth and Thunder Bay that might be improved by the government, greatly to the advantage of the country.
The silver mines of Isle Royal and along the national boundary are extensive, and yield rich returns to the companies working them.
A flourishing village located on the shore of Lake Superior, takes its name from two small harbors bearing that name. The Vermillion Iron Company have built extensive piers into the lake to facilitate the shipping of ores. They have large shops for railroad purposes, with an electric light plant. The company employ about two hundred men. Two Harbors is the county seat of Lake county.
Grand Marais is the county seat of Cook county. It is a round, land-locked harbor. It has a lighthouse, and the government has built a breakwater four hundred feet long, thus making it a harbor of refuge, so that boats can lie with safety in any storm. Grand Marais is one hundred and ten miles from Duluth, on the north shore of Lake Superior. It is the best harbor that Minnesota has except Duluth. It is thirty miles south of the international boundary line, and forty-five miles northeast of the line by Lake Superior. It is the natural outlet for the mineral deposits north. There are large quantities of iron ore within thirty-five miles of the harbor. A railroad line has been run, and men are now at work on the iron deposits with a view of shipping the ore from Grand Marais to points where it is wanted for smelting purposes.
Grand Marais was in early days one of the Northwest Fur Company's trading posts, but of late years has been used as a fishing station. Streets in the town are now being laid out, and from present indications Cook county, with its pine lands, iron ore and other mineral resources, will be one of the most thriving counties in the State, with Grand Marais as not only a harbor of refuge, but one of the competing ports for the shipment of iron ore.
H. Mayhew, to whom we are indebted for items of interest concerning Cook county, is the oldest resident of Grand Marais, and one of the town proprietors.
Hennepin county was organized March 6, 1852. Prior to the organization of Minnesota Territory it was in Clayton county, Iowa. At the organization of the Territory, in 1849, it was included in Dakota county, and so remained until set off in 1852. Hon. Bradley B. Meeker held the first court within the present limits of the county, at the old government mill, in 1849. Taylor Dudley was clerk of court, Franklin Steele, foreman of grand jury. The first board of commissioners were Alex. Moore, chairman, John Jackins and Joseph Dean. The first election was held Oct. 21, 1852, at the house of Col. John H. Stevens, on the west side. The county is a rich agricultural region, abounding with beautiful lakes, of which Minnetonka is the largest and finest. The county is bounded on the north by the Mississippi river and Wright county, on the east by the Mississippi river and Ramsey county, on the south by the Minnesota river and Carver county, on the west by Wright and Carver counties. It is subdivided into the following towns: Bloomington, Brooklyn, Champlin, Crystal Lake, Corcoran, Dayton, Eden Prairie, Excelsior, Greenwood, Hasson, Independence, Maple Grove, Medina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Osseo, Plymouth, Richfield, and St. Anthony.
FORT SNELLING, ON LINE OF C., M. & ST. P. RY.FORT SNELLING, ON LINE OF C., M. & ST. P. RY.
Fort Snelling owes its origin to the encroachments of British traders on our northern frontier. As early as 1805 Lieut. Zebulen Montgomery Pike, United States Army, was sent with a detachment of troops to explore the Upper Mississippi river to expel British traders who might be found encroaching upon our territory, and to secure by treaty a military reservation. Sept. 21, 1805, he encamped on Pike island, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, and, being pleased with the situation, forthwith made a treaty with chiefs of the Sioux nation to include all that tract of land lying from below the confluence of the two rivers, up the Mississippi, including the falls of St. Anthony, nine miles in width on each side of the river. The price paid was $2,000. The reserve thus purchased was not used for military purposes until 1819, when a detachment of the Fifth United States Infantry, commanded by Lieut. Col. HenryLeavenworth, was sent to occupy the reservation and build a fort. The building of the fort, with its various stone and wooden buildings, was the work of years. The site of the fort was selected in 1820, by Col. Josiah Snelling, who named it Fort St. Anthony, but at the suggestion of Gen. Winfield Scott, in 1824 the name was changed to Fort Snelling as a worthy compliment to its founder and builder. Notwithstanding the treaty made by Col. Pike in 1805, the Indian claim to the reservation was not extinguished until the treaty of 1837, ratified by the senate in 1838. In 1836, before the extinction of the Indian title, many settlers located on the reservation on the left bank of the Mississippi. These were forcibly removed by the United States government in 1840, under the act of March 3, 1807, an act to prevent settlements being made on ceded lands until duly authorized by law. The reservation was reduced from time to time, portions being sold. In 1857 Franklin Steele purchased the entire reservation, with the exception of two small tracts, including the fort itself, for the sum of $90,000, to be paid in three yearly installments. The first payments were actually made, the troops were withdrawn, and Mr. Steele assumed possession. Default having been made in the two remaining payments, the government resumed possession of a small portion of the reservation and fort in 1861. The year following, by act of Congress, the reservation was reduced. In 1870 it was permanently reduced to 1,531.20 acres. A suit at law between Mr. Steele and the United States government was compromised by releasing him from further payments and granting him a large tract of land lying along the right bank of the Mississippi, north of the fort, with a portion of Pike's island.
Maj. Plympton and other officers of the fort, in company with Franklin Steele, made the first land claim, by permit of the government, at East St. Anthony, in 1838. They built a shanty and hired a Frenchman to occupy it. Steele bought out the interests of the officers associated with him and in 1848 secured a title from the United States. The first saw mill built on this claim was commenced by Mr. Steele, in conjunction with Boston parties in 1847, but was not completed until the following year.
The next land claim on the river was made further up, by R. P. Russell and S. J. Findley. This was sold to Bottineau and afterward passed to other parties. The land claim adjoiningSteele's, below, was purchased of a Frenchman by C. A. Tuttle in 1848. This claim is now partially occupied by the State University. W. Henry Cheever made a claim south of Tuttle's, on which, in 1849, he built a hotel and a huge wooden tower or observatory, nearly one hundred feet in height, over the entrance to which was a rhyming couplet:
"Pay your dimeAnd climb."
"Pay your dimeAnd climb."
Franklin Steele, before completing his mill and dam, became sole owner of the water power on the east side of the river. During the periods following the property has often changed owners, and sometimes the change has resulted in unprofitable litigation. James J. Hill, in later years, has become the owner of most of the water power of Nicollet and Hennepin islands and of the east shore, and is making valuable improvements.
St. Anthony Falls was platted as a village in 1849, and was included in Ramsey county until 1856. In 1861 the legislature established satisfactory boundaries, annexing part of town 29, range 24, to Hennepin county.
Among the first settlers of the Falls was Ard Godfrey. The first white child born here was a son of C. A. Tuttle, millwright. The Luther Patch family, consisting of four sons and two daughters, was the first resident American family at the Falls. Mr. Patch's sons were Edward, Wallace, Gibson, and Lewis; the daughters, Marion, who became the wife of R. P. Russell, the first marriage at the Falls, Oct. 3, 1848, and Cora, who became the wife of Joseph Marshall. An earlier marriage was celebrated at Fort Snelling May 27, 1835, that of Lieut. Edmund A. Ogden and Eliza Edna Loomis; Rev. Thos. S. Williamson officiating. This was the first marriage north of Prairie du Chien. The first store was opened by R. P. Russell in 1847, the second, in 1849, by Joseph Marshall. We find Jacob Fisher, of Stillwater, here in 1847, building the dam from Nicollet island to the east shore. Among the operators of the mill who have been prominent citizens of St. Anthony Falls are Sumner W. Farnham, John Rollins, Caleb W. Dorr, John McDonald, and Robert W. Cummings. Some of these men brought their families here. The building of the mill was somewhat delayed bythe sinking in the Erie canal of the boats containing the machinery, hardware, etc. Standing pine to be used in the mill was purchased of Hole-in-the-Day, a Chippewa chief, cut and floated down from Sauk Rapids to the Falls. Some timber was also brought from Rum river, the first cut on that stream, except for government use. At the land sale in 1848, Mr. Steele secured all the land above Tuttle's to the north limits of the city. Amongst the settlers in 1848 were the Getchells, Smiths, Rogers' and Huse. In 1849, at the organization of the territory of Minnesota, a number of others arrived, among them Judge B. B. Meeker, Dr. John H. Murphy, John W. North, J. P. Wilson, and John G. Lennon. During this year the west half of sec. 14, range 29, was surveyed and platted into town lots by W. R. Marshall, B. W. Bronson and S. P. Folsom. Anson Northrup commenced the erection of the first hotel, the St. Charles.
John Rollins was elected to the territorial council, W. R. Marshall and Wm. Dugas to the house of representatives. The district was comprised of St. Anthony Falls and Little Canada.
The first school was taught by Miss Electa Bachus, in the summer of 1849. A post office was established and Ard Godfrey was appointed postmaster. There were occasional mails brought in John Rollins' passenger wagon. In 1850 Willoughby & Powers ran a daily stage line from St. Paul and the mail thenceforth was carried regularly. John W. North built a dwelling on Nicollet island, which became a social centre, and was made attractive by a piano. In 1850 a public library was established, the first in Minnesota. Rev. E. D. Neill, the historian of Minnesota, delivered the first public lecture and preached the first sermon in 1849. The following year, the Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians organized societies, and in 1851 the Episcopalians and Universalists. Amongst the accessions to the population were Judge Isaac Atwater, W. W. Wales, J. B. Bassett, C. W. Christmas, and Joseph Dean. Col. Alvaren Allen opened a livery stable. The St. AnthonyExpress, the first newspaper, was established May 31, 1851; E. Tyler, proprietor, Judge I. Atwater, editor. Measures were taken to locate the university in St. Anthony Falls. Citizens contributed $3,000 aid to in the erection of the building.
Facilities of communication with the surrounding country were none of the best, yet communication was early establishedwith the Red River country, a dog train having arrived from Pembina, distant four hundred miles, in sixteen days. On this train Kittson, Rolette and Gingras came down to attend the territorial legislature at St. Paul as representatives of Pembina county.
Franklin Steele, in 1847, established a ferry above the Falls. In 1854 the Minnesota Bridge Company was organized, consisting of Franklin Steele, H. T. Wells, R. P. Russell, and others. A handsome suspension bridge was finished in 1855. This bridge remained in the control of the company fifteen years, when by an act of the legislature the value was assessed and Hennepin county purchased the bridge, and it became a free thoroughfare.
April 13, 1855, St. Anthony Falls was incorporated as a city with the following officers: Mayor, H. T. Welles; clerk, W. F. Brawley; aldermen, B. F. Spencer, John Orth, Daniel Stanchfield, Edward Lippincott, Caleb W. Dorr, and Robert Cummings.
In 1872 St. Anthony Falls was annexed to Minneapolis, and placed under the same government, a movement which has resulted in great benefit to both cities.
The earliest written descriptions of St. Anthony falls were by the Roman Catholic missionaries, Hennepin and LaSalle. The former with Accault and Du Gay ascended the river in a canoe until captured by a band of Sioux Indians. These Indians left the river at a point now the present site of St. Paul and took their prisoners to Mille Lacs. In September, when the Indians set out on their annual hunt, the captives were left to go where they pleased. Accault preferred remaining with the Indians. Hennepin and Du Gay obtained a small canoe and commenced the descent of the Rum and Mississippi rivers to the falls, then called by the Indians Ka-ka-bi-ka Irara or "Severed Rock." They reached the falls about the first of October, and named them after St. Anthony of Padua. The description given by La Salle, a second hand one, was probably derived from Hennepin, Accault or Du Gay, as La Salle did not visit the falls, and these voyageurs were his subordinates, and had been sent by him to explore the Upper Mississippi.
He says: "In going up the Mississippi again, twenty leagues above the St. Croix is found the falls, which those I sent namedSt. Anthony. They are thirty or forty feet high, and the river is narrower here than elsewhere. There is a small island in the midst of the chute, and the two banks of the river are bordered by hills which gradually diminish at this point, but the country on each side is covered by thin woods, such as oaks and other hardwoods, scattered wide apart."
This description corresponds very well with the earliest pictures of the falls, which with "the small island in the midst of the chute" make them resemble slightly a Niagara considerably diminished in height. The historic falls have almost entirely disappeared or so changed as to become unrecognizable. Spirit island, if this be the island referred to by La Salle as in the midst of the chute, is now so far below the falls that it can scarcely be brought into the same picture with them. The falls have undoubtedly receded, by a process easily explained by a geologist, some distance up the river, and have diminished somewhat in altitude. The movement of the falls up stream, caused by the breaking off of limestone ledges, overlying sandstone, easily washed from beneath by the falling water, threatened the total obliteration of the cataract unless arrested by artificial means, as the dip or inclination of the rock is such that the altitude of the falls diminishes with the wearing away of these ledges: It has been found necessary to strengthen the ledges and prevent further erosion by means of aprons, till the present appearance of the falls is not unsuggestive of a series of dams. The entire cost of these improvements has amounted to more than $1,000,000. The shores of the islands and mainlands have been covered with mills and manufactories, while the scene is still further disfigured by a maze of railway and other bridges, waterways and flumes. Scarce a vestige of the original falls remain to recall their appearance as they were when the sandaled and robed Franciscan, Hennepin, first gazed upon them. In the midst of this solitude, and on the banks once covered by a sparse growth of trees, one of the finest cities in the West has sprung up as if by magic, and the scene is one of busy life. This marvelous change has occurred within a space of fifty years.
From the establishment and occupation of Fort Snelling in 1819, to the settlement of the county in 1840, numerous tradersand adventurers, generally of French or Canadian origin, and not infrequently intermarried with Indians, and semi-Indian in their habits of life, occupied transient homes on or near the military reservation; but these have exercised so little influence upon the development of the country that they merit no recognition or record from the historian. As a general thing, they disappeared before the march of civilization. A few, wiser, stronger, more far-seeing than the rest, adapted themselves to the new order, made claims, engaged in the enterprises of civilized life, and thus obtained an honorable position amongst the pioneers of the country.
Of these, Joseph R. Brown, by far the most distinguished, by permission of the military authorities, located in Hennepin county near the falls of Minnehaha, in 1829. He is the first white settler. Maj. Taliaferro, then in command of the Fort, in the same year made a farm on the shores of Lake Calhoun, and placed Philander Prescott in charge. In 1834 the Pond brothers, missionaries, located on Lake Calhoun and erected the first dwelling worthy of the name within the present limits of the county of Hennepin. In 1849 Philander Prescott made a claim on what is now Minnehaha avenue. Frank Steele obtained permission from the secretary of war to occupy this claim, whereupon Mr. Prescott abandoned it, and made another on laud adjoining. This he was allowed to retain. Charles Mosseaux, by permission of the military authorities, made a claim on Lake Calhoun in 1856. This claim is now occupied by the pavillion. Rev. E. G. Gear, chaplain at Fort Snelling, by permission of the military authorities, made a claim near Lake Calhoun and employed Edward Brissett to live upon it. Afterward a contest arose as to the ownership. Chaplain Gear, by the aid of Judge Black and H. M. Rice, secured a congressional enactment allowing him to purchase the land from the government. David Gohram made a claim on the Lake of the Isles, but subsequently sold out to R. P. Russell. John Berry, the Blaisdells, Pierce Lowell and many others located in the vicinity of Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, and in 1853 were followed by settlers on nearly all the lands lying immediately west of the Mississippi, in the vicinity of the falls. In 1854 there were twelve farm houses scattered widely from the falls to the vicinity of the lakes. It had been evident for some time that a city ofconsiderable pretensions must arise somewhere in the vicinity of the Fort and the falls. The locality of the coming city was decided largely by advantages of situation, and these were in favor of the locality immediately adjoining the falls, the water power there afforded being a powerful attraction. For the first recognition of these advantages we must go back to a period several years anterior to the location of these claims and there find a starting point in the history of Minneapolis.
In 1820 the military authorities at Fort Snelling had erected a stone mill for sawing their own lumber and grinding the grain shipped from St. Louis. They also built a log house and cultivated a few acres of adjacent ground. This mill, run by the water of the falls, was located a short distance below. This was the first utilization of the water power. The mill, which has long since disappeared, was located on the present site of Sidle, Fletcher & Holmes' flouring mill. In 1854 one saw mill, the first in Minneapolis aside from the old government mill, was located just below the falls. It had a capacity of 1,500,000 feet per annum and besides manufactured great quantities of shingles. It was under the direction of C. King. A steam saw mill was built at the mouth of Bassett's creek, above the falls, in 1856, and another the following year, half a mile further up the river. Thus began the great lumber business of Minneapolis, in 1857 there being three mills with an aggregate capacity of 75,000,000 feet per annum.
The attitude of the government with regard to the lands reserved about the Fort, the act of 1839, driving off those who had settled upon them and destroying their property, and the uncertainty with regard to the tenure of land claims, acted as an effectual bar to further improvement until ten years later, when Hon. Robert Smith, member of Congress from Alton district, Illinois, and Col. John H. Stevens, the pioneer of Minneapolis, each obtained permits from the secretary of war and the officers of the Fort to occupy one hundred and sixty acres of the reservation. Smith's location included the stone mill, which he agreed to use in grinding Fort Snelling grain. Mr. Smith engaged C. A. Tuttle to operate the mill and hold the claim. Mr. Tuttle was to have an interest for his labor. This interest he afterward sold to Smith, who, when the government relinquished the reservation, transferred his claim to AnsonNorthrup and others, who were organized into an association for the entry of land. Soon as the entries were completed the land passed into the hands of the Minneapolis Water Power Company, which proceeded at once to improve the water power.
Col. J. H. Stevens meanwhile located in person on his permit, and in 1849 built the first frame house in Minneapolis, on the ground now occupied by the union depot. J. B. Bassett purchased the fraction of land on the river above Stevens, Col. Emanuel Case the fraction above Bassett's, A. E. Ames the eighty where the court house stands, and Edwin Hedderly the fraction below the water power. Mr. Stevens made the first survey of village lots in the spring of 1854; Chas. W. Christmas, surveyor.
The Smith claim was surveyed by W. R. Marshall in the fall of 1854. In 1856 Atwater's addition was surveyed. Other additions were added from year to year as the growth of the city demanded. At the release of the reservation in 1855, the entire present site of the city was covered with claims.
The name Minneapolis, derived from an Indian wordminne, meaningwater, and a Greek wordpolis, meaningcity, had been early applied to the new village, Chas. Hoag having first suggested the name. In March, 1853, the commissioners of Hennepin county adopted the name as that of a territorial precinct. A government land office had been established in 1854, of which M. L. Olds was register and R. P. Russell receiver. The first, newspaper, the MinneapolisDemocrat, was established in 1854. During the same year the Masons and Odd Fellows organized lodges, the Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists organized societies, and public schools were established. In 1857 the court house, at a cost of $12,000, a school house, and several churches were erected.
The village of Minneapolis was organized in 1858. H. T. Welles was the first president. In 1867 Minneapolis obtained a city charter. Minneapolis and St. Anthony Falls were united under the same government, by act of legislature, approved Feb. 28, 1872, under the name of Minneapolis, St. Anthony Falls being recognized in the directory as East Minneapolis. The united cities elect in common a mayor and city council, but each is financially responsible as to contracts existing previous to the union, and each maintains its own schools.
We append a list of mayors of the two cities prior and subsequent to the union: