FOOTNOTES:[E]Several years prior to this William Morrison had a trading station upon the shores of this lake, and is probably the first white man who visited it, but it does not appear that he identified it as the source of the Mississippi.
[E]Several years prior to this William Morrison had a trading station upon the shores of this lake, and is probably the first white man who visited it, but it does not appear that he identified it as the source of the Mississippi.
[E]Several years prior to this William Morrison had a trading station upon the shores of this lake, and is probably the first white man who visited it, but it does not appear that he identified it as the source of the Mississippi.
Kanabec county, prior to 1849, was included in St. Croix county, Wisconsin; thence until 1852 it was a part of Ramsey county, Minnesota; until 1854 a part of Chisago county; and thence until its organization in 1859, a part of Pine county. It was attached for judicial purposes at various times to Chisago, Isanti and Pine counties. In 1882 it was organized for judicial purposes, Judge Crosby holding the first term of court at Brunswick. The second term was held at Mora in 1884, in the new court house.
The writer, when a member of the Minnesota senate in 1858, selected the name and introduced the bill for the formation of the county. Its boundaries are Aitkin county on the north, Pine on the east, Isanti on the south, and Mille Lacs on the west. It is well watered and drained by the Kanabec and its tributaries. This river is navigable to Brunswick, and one of its tributaries, Rice river, is navigable six miles from its mouth to Rice lake. The soil is a rich, sandy loam, deep, strong and productive. One-fifth of the entire surface was originally covered with pines. About 25,000 acres are natural meadows, while much of the remainder is covered with hardwood, and a small portion is brush prairie, which can be easily rendered fit for cultivation. The best crops are wheat, oats and potatoes, but Indian corn can be grown profitably as compared with other localities in Minnesota. Small fruits, wild and cultivated, grow luxuriantly. Cranberries have been shipped in considerable quantities. Redtop, clover, and timothy grow rank, and are profitably cultivated. Upward of 5,000 tons of hay are cured annually. The lumbering interests are still important, about 75,000,000 feet of logsbeing annually driven to the Stillwater boom. This county is spotted with lakes and abounds in streams capable of being utilized as water powers. Good building granite is found on the Kanabec river above Mora, which will eventually be quarried and exported.
The first permanent settlers were George L. Staples and James Pennington, who came in 1855. They were followed by Stephen W. Tolman, Alvin De Wolf, John L. Spence and others. Gov. Sibley appointed the following as the first board of officers, June 10, 1859: County commissioners, Geo. L. Staples, chairman; Daniel Gordon, Benj. L. Gifford; clerk and register of deeds, James C. Morrison; treasurer, Alvah Lougee; sheriff, Benj. L. Gifford. The first election was held in October, 1859. The following were elected county officers: County commissioners, Geo. L. Staples, chairman; James Pennington, Geo. Morrison; auditor, Benj. Bill.
In the bill organizing the county, Brunswick was designated as the county seat, and so remained until 1882, when by popular vote Mora was selected. In 1883 the county built a court house at a cost of $5,000, and a jail costing $2,000. In 1874 the county built a bridge across the Kanabec at Brunswick, the bridge and its approaches being 1,300 feet in length, at a cost of $5,000. In 1879 the county built a bridge across the Kanabec at Grass Lake at a cost of $4,000. As this bridge obstructed navigation in 1884, the county, at a cost of $4,000, rebuilt it in such a way that steamers could pass underneath. In 1883 another bridge was built across the Kanabec in the town of Arthur at a cost of $4,000.
The first post office was established at Brunswick in 1859, Geo. L. Staples, postmaster. The first mail was from Anoka via Cambridge to Brunswick. In 1847 Rev. W. S. Boutwell preached the first sermon within the present limits of the county. The first deed recorded was a warranty deed from Ralph Potter to John A. Snyder, both of Illinois, in June, 1857, conveying lands in sections 3 and 10, township 38, range 25. The second deed recorded was from David Bagley to Hersey, Hall, Whitney and Fenno, of Boston, and Isaac Staples of Stillwater, conveying the northeast quarter of section 1, township 38, range 24, and other lands.
The town of Arthur includes township 39, ranges 23, 24 and 25. It was organized in 1883. The first supervisors were: Ira A. Conger, Andrew E. Westling and Charles A. Staples; clerk, Stanton D. Seavey. The village of Mora was the first settlement. Anna C. Larson was the first child born in the town. The first marriage was that of Frederick G. Turner and Edith Perkins. The first death was that of Henry Rust, in 1847, killed by Indians. There is one house of worship, at what is known as the Swedish mission.
A village, platted in 1882, is located in section 11, township 39, range 24, on the Hinckley branch of the Manitoba railroad. Myron R. Kent, owner of the town plat, made the first improvements, building a hotel and post office, of which he became postmaster. Alvah J. Conger opened the first store in 1882. The village now contains a court house, school house, two hotels, five stores, three saloons, and many fine residences. Lake Mora, a lovely sheet of deep, blue water, about one hundred and fifty acres in extent, is located within the village limits. The village is beautifully situated on a plateau on the east side of Kanabec river.
Stephen L. Danforthlived in the county of Kanabec during the '70s. His occupation was that of a farmer or lumberman. He died in Stillwater in 1884.
N. H. Danforth, brother of S. L., also settled here in the '70s, and still resides here, an active business man.
Alvah J. and Ira Congerare cousins. They came from Maine to Minnesota in 1850. Alvah J. kept the Tombler House in Wyoming. Subsequently he removed to Cambridge, where he kept a hotel and store, and thence removed to Pine City, where he kept a store until 1882, when he moved to Mora. He was married to Charlotte Pennington. They have no children. Ira Conger has been actively engaged in business at Cambridge and other places, and moved to Mora in 1883, where he is proprietor of a hotel and store. His oldest son, John, has charge of his business interests.
This village is yet unplatted. It is located in section 21, range 24, on the line of the Manitoba railroad. A post office was establishedhere in 1884, of which Frank P. Burleigh is postmaster. Adjoining and including this village is the large farm of Isaac Staples, including 2,000 acres, of which six hundred and fifty acres are under cultivation. The improvements on the farm are two large barns, one store, one blacksmith shop, one wood working shop, and commodious dwellings for employes. This farm is headquarters for the lumbering interests of Mr. Staples in Kanabec county.
Includes township 38, ranges 24 and 25. The town was organized in 1883. The first supervisors were Eric Hokansen, John Rines and Haquin Ekman. The first school was taught by Charlotte Pennington, in 1856. The first death was that of —— Cowan, killed accidentally, in 1857. There are two church organizations, Swedish Baptist and Swedish Lutheran. Stephen E. Tallman built a saw mill in 1870, and a flour mill in 1879. The village of Brunswick is located in the southwest quarter of section 1, township 38; range 24. It was platted in 1856, by Isaac and George Staples. It was originally designated as the county seat.
Was platted by Isaac Staples for Hersey, Staples & Co., Jan 17, 1857, in section 7, township 38, range 24.
James Penningtonwas born in Queensborough, New Brunswick, in 1799. He lived in Houlton, Maine, fifteen years, and came to Kanabec county in 1854 with his family, who were the first permanent settlers in the county. Mr. Pennington farmed and lumbered. He died in December, 1887. Mrs. Pennington died in 1878. Six sons and three daughters are living. The sons are residents of Minnesota. The daughters are married as follows: Elisabeth to —— Grant, of Detroit, Minnesota; Charlotte to A. J. Conger, of Mora, Minnesota; Augusta to B. C. Newport, of Pipestone, Minnesota.
George L. Staplessettled in section 1, township 38, range 24, in 1855. He lived there eight years and filled various responsible offices. He was an upright, conscientious man, much respected by all who knew him. In 1863 he removed to Monticello, Minnesota, and died in 1877, leaving a widow, five sons and a daughter. Mr. Staples raised the first crop in the county,opened the first store, and gave the name of Brunswick to the town. Isaac Edwin Staples, son of George, was the first white child born in the county. He was clerk of court in Morrison county in 1887.
Daniel Gordonwas born in Readfield, Maine, in 1809. In 1856 he settled in the southeast quarter of section 1, township 38, range 24. He was married to widow Tallman in Brunswick. This was the first marriage in the town. Mrs. Gordon died in June, 1885.
Includes township 38, range 23. It was organized in 1883. It is thickly settled, mostly by Swedes. They have good farms, roads and schools. The first settler was Solomon Anderson; the second, Benjamin Norton; both were farmers. There are in this town three houses of worship, two belonging to the Swedish mission, and one to the Baptists. There are five school houses.
The remainder of the county, consisting mostly of pine lands, and including nine townships, is without organization or township government. It is divided into three assessment districts over which the county exercises jurisdiction, making levies and collecting taxes.
Isanti county lies directly west of Chisago and south of Kanabec. It is bounded on the west and south by Sherburne, Mille Lacs and Anoka counties, and contains about fourteen towns. The soil is well adapted for agriculture. The county has no large lakes, but is well watered by tributaries of Rum and Sunrise rivers. It is well timbered in the north with sugar maple. The settlers are chiefly Scandinavians, who, by their industry, have made the plains and oak ridges to blossom with clover and the cereals. The county was organized Feb. 13, 1857. It took its name from a tribe of Indians who some time ago occupied the country about Mille Lacs. The first board of county commissioners consisted of Oscar Smith, Hugh Wylie and Elbridge G. Clough. The first county officers were: William Tubbs, auditor; F. H. Moon, treasurer; G. G. Griswold, register of deeds; Stephen Hewson, judge of probate; H. M. Davis, clerk; George L. Henderson, sheriff. The first court was held by Judge C. E. Vanderburgh in October, 1871. Prior to this time Isanti had been attached to Auoka county for judicial purposes.
The county seat of Isanti, was incorporated as a village in 1876. It is pleasantly located on the west side of Rum river. It has one flouring mill, a newspaper office, and several stores, shops, dwellings and churches. The county buildings are neat and convenient. The new court house cost $7,000. It is worthy of mention that B. A. Latta, as county treasurer, paid the first money into the hands of the state treasurer for war purposes. The first postmasters in the county were Van Vliet Ainsley, of Spencer Brook, and G. G. Griswold, in 1858.
Lies on the headwaters of the Sunrise river. It was settled, as early as 1855, by John P. Owens, W. A. Hobbs, B. T. Huntley, and John Schinler. It was organized as a town in 1858, John P. Owens being chairman of the first board of supervisors. John Schinler raised the first crop, in 1857. Schools were established in 1860.
Rensselaer Grant, M. Hurley and Stephen Hewson settled within the present limits of this town in 1855. At that time the town was not organized. In 1865 it was included within the limits of North Branch, but in 1878 the town of Oxford was set off as now defined. The first supervisors were John Bachelor, P. Lillygrin and P. Berg. Stephen Hewson was town clerk, and has retained the office ever since. A post office was established in 1863. Stephen Hewson was postmaster, and has held the office continuously ever since. The town is well settled by farmers. In 1870 a cyclone passed through the town, destroying everything in its track, which was about twenty rods wide. Not a building was left on the homestead of Mr. Hewson. His fine large barn was torn to pieces and the fragments scattered for the distance of a mile.
Stephen Hewsonis a native of England, which he left in 1844. He resided in Canada a few years, then came to Chicago, and later to Minnesota. He was for awhile a partner in the publishing firm of E. S. Goodrich & Co., then proprietors of the St. PaulPioneer. He made his present home in Oxford in 1855, and has since that time been intimately identified with its historyand that of the county of Isanti. He was a representative from the Fourth district in the legislature of 1865. He has filled the offices of county auditor, county commissioner and judge of probate court. As an ordained minister of the Methodist church he takes an active interest in religious matters, serving as superintendent of the Sunday-school, and occasionally filling the pulpit. Five of his daughters are school teachers, one of whom, Mary, in 1870, taught the first school in Oxford. He remains hale and hearty in his seventy-seventh year.
George W. Nesbitwas born in 1828, in Delaware county, New York. He received an academic education. He came in 1856 to St. Francis, Anoka county, Minnesota, and in 1863 to Isanti county. He has been engaged in farming and selling goods, and is an energetic, busy man. He made the first pre-emption timber claim on the Mille Lacs reservation, which was rejected. Mr. Nesbit was married in New York and has a family of six children.
Rensselaer Grantwas born in New York in 1816. His father was a native of Scotland but emigrated to the United States and took part in the war of 1812. Mr. Grant was married in Saratoga county, New York, in 1837, to Libiah Mitchell. The Grants moved to Illinois in 1850, and to Isanti county in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Grant died at North Branch, in 1886, leaving, three married sons, two living in Isanti county, and one at Rush City, and three daughters, the eldest married to J. W. Delamater, the second to W. H. Hobbs, the third living in St. Paul.
This county is bounded on the north by Mille Lacs lake and Aitkin county, on the east by Isanti, Kanabec and Aitkin, on the south by Sherburne and on the west by Morrison and Benton counties, and includes about 17 townships extending from south to north a distance of 48 miles, and having a breadth of 12 miles, excepting the two upper series of towns, which have a width of 18 miles. It is, excepting two agricultural towns in the south, heavily timbered, chiefly with pine. It is well watered by Rum river and its tributaries, and by the body of water known as Mille Lacs, a large picturesque lake, which covers over one hundred and five sections of Aitkin, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs counties. The tributaries of theSt. Croix also drain the northeastern part of the county. The southern townships consist of prairies and oak openings, the northern and central parts being covered with hardwood and pine. Immense quantities have been already marketed. The hardwood ridges and flats offer good farming lands, and the wild meadows, scattered over the county, excellent hay and pasturage.
Mille Lacs lake, the largest inland lake in Minnesota, is a beautiful and picturesque sheet of water, with receding wooded shores, with but little low land adjoining. The waters are deep and clear and abundantly supplied with fish. This lake, when reached by railways, will be one of the most pleasant summer resorts in the Northwest. It already attracts the attention of the tourist. A steamer built in 1885 floats upon its waters. The lake is about eighteen miles long by from twelve to fifteen wide, and covers about six townships. Three small islands gem its surface, one of which, from its columnar appearance, seems to be of volcanic or igneous formation.
The Mille Lacs reservation covers about four fractional towns, bordering the southern shore of the lake. Since the treaty these lands have been covered by pre-emptions, soldiers' warrants and half-breed scrip, but are held by a doubtful tenure owing to the uncertain and various rulings of the land department. Under the provisions of the treaty, the Indians, a band of Chippewas, were allowed to retain possession until ordered to remove. In anticipation of this order settlements have been made at various periods, and patents have been issued to the pre emptors in a few cases, but in many cases refused. Half-breed scrip has been laid upon thousands of acres under one administration at Washington, the permission to be countermanded by another. Meanwhile the Indians, not having received the order for removal, claim to be the owners of the land, and with some show of justice. In 1882 the Manitoba Railroad Company built a road through the county from east to west, through township 40, ranges 26 and 27.
In the early divisions of Minnesota into counties, the territory of Mille Lacs was included in Ramsey and Benton counties. Prior to its present organization, a county called Monroe, covering the territory of Mille Lacs, was established but never organized. By legislative enactment in 1857 Mille Lacs county wasestablished and organized by the people in 1860, the counties of which its territory was originally a part concurring, and Princeton was made the county seat. In 1859 there had been effected the organization of one town in the county, known as Princeton. This has since been subdivided into Princeton Greenbush, and Milo. The officers of the town organization in 1859 were: Supervisors, C. W. Houston, Charles Pratt, Joseph L. Cater. The first county election, held April, 1860, resulted in the election of the following officers: County commissioners, Joseph L. Cater, chairman; Samuel Orton, C. S. Moses; auditor and register of deeds, W. W. Payne; clerk of court, S. M. Byers; treasurer, E. J. Whitney; sheriff, Wm. McCauley; probate judge, Samuel Ross. The first term of court was held June 3, 1861, E. C. Vanderburgh, presiding judge. The first recorded deed was from E. J. Whitney to Isaac Staples, and bears date Aug. 4, 1854.
Has a pleasant site on the Manitoba railroad, on the banks of Rum river at the crossing of the Manitoba & Superior and the junction of the Elk River & Princeton railroad. The Manitoba Company have a good saw mill here, with a capacity of 125,000 feet per day, built at a cost of $50,000. A planing mill is attached. There is a good three story hotel, well kept, here.
The village was surveyed and platted March 24, 1886; Chas. Keith, surveyor; James J. Hill, president of the Mille Lacs Lumber Company, proprietor. It is located in the town of Greenbush.
Located in the town of Milo, has a steam saw mill, spoke and hub factory, around which are several residences.
The village of Princeton is located at the junction of the two branches of the Rum river, on a beautiful prairie, surrounded by rich prairie and timber lands. The first log house was built in 1849, and kept as a stopping place by a mulatto known as "Banjo Bill." This house is still standing. The first permanent settlers were A. B. Damon, O. E. Garrison, C. H. Chadbourne, Edwin Allen, John W. Allen, Chas. Whitcomb, Joseph L. Cater, W. F. Dunham, and Samuel Ross. They were alsothe first settlers in the county, and came in 1853-7. In 1855 Messrs. Damon and Allen farmed on the present site of the village. The village was surveyed and platted Feb. 11, 1859, by S. Ross & Co. S. Ross also built a hotel where the North Star Hotel now stands. This year the first frame building was erected and used as a store. W. F. Dunham built a steam saw mill. The first school house was built, although school organization was not effected until 1858. James M. Dayton taught the first school. A post office was established with O. E. Garrison as postmaster. Samuel Ross brought the mail once a week from Anoka. A Congregational church was established, of which Rev. Royal Twichell was chosen as pastor. The Methodists organized a society the following year.
The village was incorporated March 13, 1877, by legislative enactment. The commissioners appointed under the organic act were E. C. Giles, H. B. Cowles, C. H. Rines, B. F. Whiting, and Charles Keith. At the election ordered by them the following officers were chosen: President, C. H. Rines; trustees. F. M. Campbell, Isaiah S. Mudgett, Thomas F. Caly; recorder, Silas L. Staples; treasurer, D. H. Murray; justices of the peace, Scott M. Justice, Charles Keith. The PrincetonAppealwas established by Rev. John Quigley in 1873, but discontinued in 1875. In December, 1876, Robert C. Dunn started the PrincetonUnion, which he still publishes.
The Manitoba branch railroad from Elk River to Milacca village passes through Princeton. The first train arrived Nov. 30, 1880. The county contributed $47,000 in bonds at five per cent interest for twenty years, to aid in building the road. The St. Paul, Mille Lacs, Brainerd, Leech Lake & Crookston railroad will, when completed, pass through Princeton. An excellent school building was erected in 1885, at a cost of about $7,000. Guy Ewing is principal of the school, which is graded. The Grand Army of the Republic have a post here known as the Wallace Rines post. The Masons have an organization, with a splendid hall. A three story hotel, built by Samuel Ross, is kept by his only daughter, Mrs. Barker. A two story brick hotel, the Commercial House, Henry Newbert, proprietor, a handsome structure, was built in 1887. The Mille Lacs County Bank, located here, has a paid up capital of $20,000. Charles Erickson is president; L. P. Hyberg, vice president; FrankHewse, clerk. Princeton has one steam saw mill, two flouring mills, one feed mill, two elevators with a capacity of 60,000 bushels, and one brewery. A court house and jail are in process of erection at an estimated cost of $10,000.
Samuel Rosswas born Aug. 22, 1812. He attended Western Reserve College, but through ill health did not graduate. He came to Iowa in 1839, where he was married to Mary Vaughn in 1841. He came to Princeton in 1855, where he took an active part in building up the town and county, filled many prominent and responsible positions in the village and county, and served as representative of the first state legislature. Mrs. Ross died in 1851; Mr. Ross died in 1881, leaving an only daughter, Olive R., widow of A. P. Barker, who was a prominent lawyer of Princeton. Mrs. Barker was elected superintendent of schools in 1880, to which position she has been re-elected and is at present filling the office efficiently. She was the first female superintendent elected in Minnesota.
Joseph L. Caterwas born in Strafford county, New Hampshire, in 1828. He came to Princeton in 1855 and engaged in farming. His name appears in all the original organizations of town and county. M. V. B. Cater and sons have also been active and prominent citizens of Princeton. M. V. B. Cater died some years since.
Edwin Allen, originally from Welton, Maine, came to Princeton in 1855 and engaged in farming.
John H. Allencame from Maine to Princeton in 1854, engaged in farming and became prominent as a public spirited citizen. He held various positions of trust in the county and was appointed receiver of the land office at Fergus Falls by President Hayes, and resides there.
A. B. Damoncame from Maine to Princeton in 1853 and made the first claim on the town site.
C. H. Chadbournewas born at Lexington, Massachusetts. At the age of sixteen he embarked in a seafaring life in which he continued nine years. Mr. Chadbourne, wishing to abandon his seafaring ways, and to put himself beyond danger of resuming them, came to the centre of the continent and located on a farm near Princeton in 1856. He has since followed farmingcontinuously. His farm consists of 900 acres under cultivation, 500 of which is devoted to tame grass and pasturage, on which he feeds 150 head of blooded stock. He has a large dairy which nets him $1,200 annually. He was a member of the state legislatures of 1874-5 and was seven years county commissioner of Sherburne county. Mr. Chadbourne was married in 1852 to Deborah Crowell. They have three sons and two daughters.
Chisago county, located on the west bank of the St. Croix river, between the counties of Pine on the north and Washington on the south, the St. Croix river on the east and the counties of Isanti and Anoka on the west, presents an agreeable variety of surface, upland and generally undulating, covered with hard and soft wood timber, well watered by lakes and streams. Its principal streams are the St. Croix and its tributaries, Rush and Sunrise rivers and Goose creek, and its principal lakes are Chisago, Sunrise, Green, Rush, and Goose lakes. Its lake scenery is unsurpassed in beauty. The county takes the name of its largest and most beautiful lake. In its original, or rather aboriginal, form it was Ki-chi-sago, from two Chippewa words meaning "kichi," large, and "saga," fair or lovely. For euphonic considerations the first syllable was dropped.
This lake is conspicuous for its size, the clearness of its waters, its winding shore and islands, its bays, peninsulas, capes, and promontories. It has fully fifty miles of meandering shore line. Its shores and islands are well timbered with maple and other hard woods. It has no waste swamps, or marsh borders. When the writer first came to Taylor's Falls, this beautiful lake was unknown to fame. No one had seen it or could point out its location. Indians brought fish and maple sugar from a lake which they called Ki-chi-sago Sagi-a-gan, or "large and lovely lake." This lake, they said, abounded with "kego," fish.
In 1851 the writer, with Bart Emery, made a visit to this beautiful sheet of water. We found it what its Indian name imports, "fair and lovely water." The government had, the year before, completed a survey of the lake, and it was high time that it should be given a name by which it should be designated on the map and recognized by civilized visitors. What name more beautiful and appropriate than that which the Indians had already given it. That name we at once recognized and used all our influence to perpetuate under somewhat adverse influences; for Swedish emigrants having settled in its neighborhood, a strong effort was made to christen it "Swede Lake," but the lake is to-day known as Chisago, and Chisago it is likely to remain. We believe in the policy of retaining the old Indian names whenever possible. As a rule they are far more musical and appropriate than any we can apply. The Indians have left us their lands, their lakes, their streams; let us accept with them the names by which they were known. Some have been translated into English and appear on the maps as Goose, Elk, Beaver and Snake. By all means let us retranslate them in memory of the race that once owned them.
Chisago county shares with Polk county in the ownership of the wildest and most peculiar scenery in the valley of the St. Croix. At Taylor's Falls, the head of navigation, the river flows between ledges of trap rock, varying in height from fifty to two hundred and fifty feet, for the most part perpendicular, but wildly irregular, as is common in trap rock formations. These ledges are crowned with pine trees and a dense undergrowth of bushes and vines. The prevailing color of the rock is a cold or bluish gray, but broken occasionally by brilliant patches of coloring, red, yellow or green, as they may be stained by oxides of the metals, or covered with lichens and mosses. This formation is known as "The Dalles," sometimes improperly styled "Dells." The rocks composing it are porphyritic trap, an igneous rock forced upward from the interior of the earth through crevices in the crust while still in a liquid state and then solidifying in masses, sometimes prismatic but oftener in irregular polygons, and broken by parallel lines of cleavage. Some geological experts claim that these rocks are "in place"as forming a part of the original crust of the earth, but the balance of evidence seems to be in favor of their having been erupted at a comparatively modern period. This is evidenced by the presence of water-worn boulders and pebbles, imbedded in the trap, somewhat like plums in a pudding, while it was yet plastic; and now forming a species of conglomerate as hard and compact as the trap itself. These rocks are supposed to be rich in copper and silver, and miners have spent much time in prospecting for these metals.
Whatever the origin of the rocks, it is conceded that they were once plastic, at which time this region could not have been a safe or pleasant dwelling place for such beings as now inhabit the world. The theory of a comparatively recent eruption of these rocks is not a pleasant one, for the suggestion forces itself upon the mind that that which has been, at least in recent times, may occur again. The occasional recurrence of earthquakes on our western coast, and the recent severe disturbances in South Carolina and Georgia, raise the query whether this region may not again be visited with an outburst and overflow of trap, terrible and destructive as the first. The foundations, however, seem firm enough to last forever. The rocks are of unusual hardness, and the crust of the earth is probably as solid and thick here as elsewhere. The Dalles proper are about one mile in length. The river, in its passage through them, varies in width from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet. It was formerly reported unfathomable, but in recent years, owing to a filling up process caused by the debris of the log drivers, it is found to be not more than a hundred feet in its deepest place. The river makes an abrupt bend about a bold promontory of trap known as Angle or Elbow Rock. To the first voyageurs this seemed to be the end of the river, and gave rise to the story that at this point the river burst out of the rocks. Much of the frontage of the rocks upon the river is smooth and perpendicular, and stained with oxides of iron and copper. In places it is broken. The upper rocks are disintegrated by the action of rain and frost, and, where far enough from the river, have fallen so as to form a talus or slope of angular fragments to the water's edge.
THE DEVIL'S CHAIR.THE DEVIL'S CHAIR.
There are some instances in which, by the breaking away and falling of smaller rocks, larger rocks have been left standing in the form of columns. Most notable of these are the "Devil's Pulpit," and the "Devil's Chair." The former, owing to surrounding shrubbery, is not easily seen. The latter is a conspicuous object on the western shore of the river a few rods below the lower landing. It stands on the slope formed by the debris of a precipice that rises here about 120 feet above the river. Its base is about 40 feet above low water mark; the column itself reaches 45 feet higher. It is composed of many angular pieces of trap, the upper portion bearing a rude resemblance to a chair. It is considered quite a feat to climb to the summit. The face of the rocks is disfigured by the names of ambitious and undeserving persons. The nuisance of names and advertisements painted upon the most prominent rocks in the Dalles is one that every lover of Nature will wish to have abated. To spend an hour climbing amongst these precipices to find in some conspicuous place the advertisement of a quack medicine, illustratesthe adage: "There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous."
A more remarkable curiosity may be found on that bench or middle plateau of the Dalles, lying between the upper and the lower Taylor's Falls landings, in what has been not inaptly styled "The Wells." These are openings, or pits, not much unlike wells, in places where the trap is not more than 50 feet above water level, varying in width from a few inches to 30 or 40 feet, the deepest being from 20 to 25 feet. These seem to have been formed by the action of water upon pebbles or boulders, much as "pot holes" are now being formed in the rocky bottoms of running streams. The water falls upon the pebbles or boulders in such a way as to cause them to revolve and act as a drill, boring holes in the rock proportioned to the force of the agencies employed. Some of these boulders and pebbles, worn to a spherical shape, were originally found at the bottoms of these wells, but have been mostly carried away by the curious. Some of the wells are cut through solid pieces of trap. The walls of others are seamed and jointed; in some cases fragments have fallen out, and in others the entire side of the wells has been violently disrupted and partly filled with debris. The extreme hardness of the trap rock militates somewhat against the theory of formation above given. It is, however, not improbable that this hardness was acquired after long exposure to the air.
In the history of St. Croix Falls mention has been made of some of the pioneers of Chisago county. St. Croix Falls and Taylor's Falls, the pioneer settlement of Chisago county, though a river divides them which is also the boundary line of two states, have much that is common in their early history. The inhabitants were always greatly interested in what was going on over the river. We may add, that although they now stand in the attitude of rival cities, their interests are still identical, and we believe that, but for the unwise policy of making St. Croix river a state line, they might be to-day under one city government, and as compact and harmonious as though no St. Croix river rolled between them. The river is their joint property;both have the same heritage of trap rocks and pines, the same milling privileges, the same lumbering interests, and, it must be confessed, they remain up to the present time about equally mated. J. R. Brown was unquestionably the pioneer of the settlement. Frank Steele says he found J. R. Brown trading, in 1837, on the spot now the site of Taylor's Falls.
He was not, however, the first white man upon the soil. There is some documentary evidence of the establishment by the French of a fort forty leagues up the St. Croix some time between the years 1700 and 1703. This fort was in all probability erected on the plateau below the Dalles, the distance given, forty leagues, being exaggerated after the fashion of the early voyageurs. It was called Fort St. Croix. There was also a prehistoric settlement, the ruins of which the writer noted as early as 1851, on the school land addition to Taylor's Falls. These were the foundations of nine houses, plainly visible. Over some of them trees two feet in diameter were growing. The rock foundations ranged in size from twenty to thirty feet, with the hearth containing ashes underlying the debris of ages, on smooth hearthstones showing years of service, being apparently a century old. These were the homes, undoubtedly, of a civilized people, and we may claim for Taylor's Falls, Chisago county, one of the first improvements made by whites in the limits of Minnesota.
During the last half of the last century a prominent trading post was established and maintained for many years on the St. Croix river, which was founded by Pierre Grinow, and during the close of the last century it was in the charge of one James Perlier, who afterward became one of the most useful citizens of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lawrence Barth was also here in 1793. The evidence of the existence of this trading post rests upon traditions and the ruins referred to. Recurring to the pioneer Brown, the most irrepressible of all the advance guard of civilization, we find him only a transient inhabitant. He stayed long enough to cut 200,000 feet of pine logs from the present site of Taylor's Falls, when the neighborhood lost its attractions. These were the first pine saw logs cut in the St. Croix valley.
In 1838 a French trader, Robinet, was located at the same place, but in the summer of the same year came Mr. Jesse Taylor from Fort Snelling where he had been following the businessof a stonemason. He had heard of the ratification of the Indian treaty by Congress, and he greatly coveted some of the rich lands brought into market by that treaty. Mr. Taylor, with an Indian guide, came to the Dalles of the St. Croix. As Mr. Steele had already claimed the east side, Mr. Taylor concluded that he would claim the west side. Returning to Fort Snelling he reported to an associate, Benjamin F. Baker, formed a partnership and returned with men, boats, provisions and building material, but on his return to the falls he found Robinet, the trader, in a bark shanty (at the present junction of Bridge and River streets). Robinet was in actual possession of the coveted acres. Robinet having no other function than that of a trader, and consequently having no serious designs on the lands was easily bought off, and Baker & Taylor, in August, 1838, commenced improvements, building a log house, a blacksmith shop, a mill, and commencing a mill race which had to be blasted. They also built piers and a wing dam just above the present location of the bridge. The mill was located at what has since become the upper steamboat landing. Mr. Taylor named the lower falls Baker's falls, and the settlement, Taylor's Place. When the town was platted, in 1850, it was called Taylor's Falls. The name came also to be applied to the lower falls.
The mill enterprise was a melancholy failure. The builders were not practical mill men. The improvements were expensive. The work of blasting rock and building made slow progress. There was no income as long as the mill was in process of building. In the midst of these embarrassments, in 1840, Mr. Baker died. Mr. Taylor took entire possession with no other right than that of a squatter sovereign. In 1843 Mr. Taylor sold the unfinished mill to parties in Osceola, and in 1844 everything movable was transferred to that place. The double log cabin remained, and there Mr. Taylor lived for eight years on the proceeds of the sale, performing in all that time no work more worthy of the historian's notice than fixing his name upon the settlement and falls. Many of the later residents query as to why it was ever called Taylor's Falls. It takes a keen eye to discover any fall in the river at the point named. The falls indeed were once far more conspicuous than they are now, owing to the fact that a large rock rose above the water at the ordinary stage, around which the crowded waters roared and swirled. That rock, nevervisible in later days, was called Death Rock, because three hapless mariners in a skiff were hurled against it by the swift current and drowned.
The old log house, the sole remnant of the Baker and Taylor project, if we may except some holes in the rock made by blasting, and some submerged ruins of the wing dam and pier, has passed through various changes. It has been used as a store, as a boarding house, as a warehouse, as a church, as a school house, and as a stable. Part of it still remains and is habitable. It is located on lot 18, block 15. In 1846 Jesse Taylor sold his claim to Joshua L. Taylor for two hundred dollars. This claim, like most of the claims made prior to the survey of government lands, was not accurately defined. It included, however, all the lands, on the west side of the river, extending northward to the St. Croix Company's claim, at the upper falls, and including the present site of Taylor's Falls.
Aside from mill building, nothing was done in the way of improvements until 1846, when Jerry Ross and Benjamin F. Otis commenced farming on what was subsequently known as the Morton and Colby farms. Both raised potatoes and garden vegetables and built houses. This was the first cultivation of the soil in Chisago county. In 1847 Mr. Otis sold his improvements to Wm. F. Colby, who, in that year, raised the first corn grown by white men in the county. In 1846 Thornton Bishop commenced improvements on a farm at the head of the rapids, six miles above Taylor's Falls. J. L. Taylor, in 1848, built a pre-emption shanty midway between the upper and lower falls. In 1849 he proved up his pre-emption to lots 5, 6 and 7, section 30, township 34, range 18. N. C. D. Taylor pre-empted the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 25, and the west half of the same quarter section; also lot 1, section 36, township 34, range 19.
In 1849 Lewis Barlow and Wm. E. Bush became citizens. An abstract of the canvassed returns of an election held November 26th shows but six votes in the settlement. In 1850 W. F. Colby pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 25, township 34, range 19, and W. H. C. Folsom the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the same.
At a regular meeting of the St. Croix county board, held at Stillwater, April 2, 1850, the following judges of election wereappointed within the present limits of Chisago county: St. Croix Falls precinct, Wm. F. Colby, Wm. Holmes, N. C. D. Taylor; Rush Lake precinct, Levi Clark, Walter Carrier and Richard Arnold. At a meeting, held Oct. 7, 1850, the petition of Lewis Barlow and ten others, of St. Croix Falls precinct, was presented, asking for a special election, to elect two justices of the peace. Their petition was granted. The poll was: Wm. E. Bush, one vote; John H. Reid, six votes; Ansel Smith, five votes. Reid and Smith were declared elected. The first survey of town lots was made in 1851, by Theodore E. Parker, of Stillwater, and under this survey the village was legally established as Taylor's Falls. The first deeds recorded in Chisago county were transcripts from Washington county of lands consisting of town site property, dated 1851, conveyed to W. H. C. Folsom by J. L. and N. C. D. Taylor.
The movement for the organization of a new county from the northern part of Washington commenced in the winter of 1851-52. A formidable petition to the legislature to make such organization, drawn up and circulated by Hon. Ansel Smith, of Franconia, and the writer, was duly forwarded, presented and acquiesced in by that body. The writer had been selected to visit the capital in the interest of the petitioners. Some difficulty arose as to the name. The writer had proposed "Chi-sa-ga." This Indian name was ridiculed, and Hamilton, Jackson, Franklin and Jefferson were in turn proposed. The committee of the whole finally reported in favor of the name, Chisaga, but the legislature, in passing the bill for our county organization, by clerical or typographical error changed the last "a" in "saga" to "o," which, having become the law, has not been changed.
The eastern boundary of the county was fixed as the St. Croix river; the southern boundary, the line between townships 32 and 33; the western, the line between ranges 21 and 22, for three townships south, and the line between ranges 22 and 23 for the remaining townships north. To show how little was known of the geography of the section we refer to the record of the county commissioners of Washington county, dated Dec. 15, 1848, at which St. Croix district, the present Chisago county, was established as "bounded on the north by Sunrise river and on the west by line between ranges 21 and 22"—an utter impossibility, as the Sunrise river flows in a northerly directionentirely through the county and at its nearest point does not come within three miles of the range line mentioned.
The election for the first board of county officers was held at the Chisago House, Oct. 14, 1851. Twenty-three votes were polled at this election. The following officers were elected: Commissioners, Samuel Thomson, chairman; N. C. D. Taylor, Thomas F. Morton; clerk of board and register of deeds, F. W. Abbott; treasurer, W. H. C. Folsom. The bill establishing the county provided that "the seat of justice of the county of Chisago shall be at such point in said county as the first board of commissioners elected in said county shall determine." In accordance with this law, at the first meeting of the commissioners, held at the office of N. C. D. Taylor in Taylor's Falls, Jan. 5, 1852, the town of Taylor's Falls was chosen as the county seat, "agreeable to the Revised Statutes, chapter 1st, section 14th."
As the population of the county increased the project of moving the county seat to a more nearly central position was agitated. In 1858 a vote was taken which resulted in favor of its removal to Centre City. The matter of the legality of the vote was referred to the court, and decided by Judge Welch adversely, on the ground that a majority of the voters of the county had not voted. The county seat consequently remained at Taylor's Falls. In 1861 another vote was taken by which the county seat was removed to Chisago City, and there it remained under somewhat adverse circumstances. Chisago City having but a small population and no conveniences for such a purpose, and being for several years without even a post office, repeated efforts were made for another removal, until in 1875 a vote to remove it to Centre City carried. In January, 1876, the records were removed. The county authorities issued $5,000 bonds for a court house which was erected on a point of land extending into Chisago lake, a beautiful situation. The bonds have been paid and the county is without indebtedness, and has a surplus of about $10,000.
The town of Amador comprises two eastern tiers of sections of township 35, range 20, and two fractional sections of township 36, range 20, fractional township 35, range 19, and one fractional section of township 36, range 19. The St. Croix river forms its boundary on the north and east. The surface is undulating. The western and southern part is covered with hardwoodtimber and has rich soil. The northern part has oak openings and prairie, with soil somewhat varied, in some places more or less sandy. It is well watered and drained. Thornton Bishop, the first settler, came in 1846, and located a farm on the banks of the St. Croix, at the head of the rapids, in section 34. Richard Arnold settled on Amador prairie in 1854, and was followed by James P. Martin, Carmi P. Garlick and others. Garlick was a practicing physician, but engaged in other work. He built a steam saw mill and made many other improvements, among them laying out the village of Amador in section 9, township 35, range 20. H. N. Newbury, surveyor, not succeeding in his undertaking, issued the prospectus of a paper to be called theSt. Croix Eagleand to be published at Taylor's Falls. This failing he removed to Osceola.
Amador was organized in 1858. The first supervisors were C. P. Garlick, R. Arnold and James Martin. A post office was established in 1857; Henry Bush, postmaster. Mr. Bush had a small farm at the mouth of Deer creek, where he built a large public house, two stories high. This house burned down. He established a ferry across the St. Croix. He had a large family of boys who roamed the woods freely until one of their number was lost. The other boys came home as usual but of one they could give no account. Parties were organized for the search, which at last was given up as unsuccessful. A year afterward the bones of the missing boy were found some miles away, by the side of a log, where the little wanderer had doubtless perished of starvation and exposure. Mr. Bishop raised the first crops of the town. The first marriage was that of Charles S. Nevers and Mary Snell, by John Winans, Esq., Feb. 23, 1860.
Thornton Bishopwas a native of Indiana. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1841 and was married to Delia Wolf in 1842, by Rev. W. D. Boutwell, at the Pokegama mission. This wife was a well educated half-breed. They raised a large family of children. He came to Amador in 1846 and farmed for some time at the head of the rapids, when he sold his farm and moved to Sunrise. In 1880 he removed to Kettle River station. In 1883-84-85-86 he served as commissioner for Pine county.
William Holmescame to Amador and settled on a farm at the head of the rapids in 1848. The farm is now held by John Dabney. Mr. Holmes married a sister of Mrs. ThorntonBishop. She was educated at Pokegama mission. They raised a large family of children. In 1852 Mr. Holmes removed to Sunrise and thence to Trade River, Wisconsin, in 1875, where he sickened. His brother-in-law, Bishop, came to his relief, removed him to his own home and cared for him till he died, May, 1876.
James M. Martinwas one of the first settlers in Amador. He came originally from Missouri, where he was married. He died July 17, 1887; Mrs. Martin dying some years prior. Their sons are James M., Harvey, Charles, Isaac, and Theodore. Their daughters are Mrs. Cowan, Mrs. Wilkes, Mrs. Nordine and Mrs. Lanon.
The town of Branch, occupying township 35, range 21, was set off from Sunrise, and organized in 1872. The first supervisors were William Winston, Peter Delamater and Frank Knight. A post office was established in 1869; Geo. W. Flanders, postmaster. The surface is mostly undulating, and the soil a sandy loam. There are oak openings, and along the course of the north branch of the Sunrise river, which flows through the town from west to east, there are many excellent wild meadows. The north part originally contained pine forests; about 5,000,000 feet have been cut away. Branch contains some pretty and well cultivated farms. The St. Paul & Duluth railroad traverses the town from south to north.
The only village in the town of Branch was platted in January, 1870, the proprietors being the Western Land Association, L. Mendenhall, agent. The plat includes the north half of the northwest quarter of section 21, and the northeast quarter of section 20, township 35, range 21. The first settler was G. M. Flanders, who opened a store here in 1868, which was burned in 1869. Henry L. Ingalls erected a good hotel and other buildings. In 1870 Gurley & Bros. established a store; B. F. Wilkes built a hotel; Winston, Long & Co. established a store. In 1874 J. F. F. Swanson built a flouring mill, which was burned in 1878. The loss was about $6,000, with but little insurance. The village now contains two elevators, three hotels, six stores and the usual proportion of dwellings. There are two churches, the Episcopalianbuilding, erected in 1883; and the Congregational, in 1884. There is also a good school house. The village was incorporated in 1882. In December, 1884, the store of Singleton & Bonnafon was burned; loss estimated at $15,000, with but little insurance.
Henry L. Ingallswas born in Abingdon, Connecticut, in 1804. In 1832 he was married to Lavina L. Child, of Woodstock, Connecticut, and with his wife and younger brother emigrated to Illinois, settling at Chandler, Cass county. There he remained seventeen years, when, his impaired health necessitating a change, with his son Henry he went to California. In 1853 he returned and settled on Sunrise prairie, then an unbroken wilderness. For seventeen years he lived on his farm and kept a popular country hotel. In 1870 he removed to North Branch and built a large frame residence, where he lived until his death, which occurred Sept. 2, 1876. Mr. Ingalls left three sons, Ephraim, Henry and Van Rensselaer.
Mrs. Lavina L. Ingalls, whose maiden name was Childs, was born in Connecticut in 1806; was married as above stated in 1832, from which time she cheerfully and uncomplainingly shared the fortunes of her husband in the West, undergoing the usual toils and privations of the pioneer. While at Sunrise, during part of the time she had no neighbors nearer than Taylor's Falls. The first post office in Chisago county north of Taylor's Falls was at her house, and was known as Muscotink. She and her husband, during the later years of their lives, were Spiritualists, and derived great comfort from their peculiar phase of belief. Mrs. Ingalls was a talented and kind hearted woman, charitable in act and beloved by her associates. She died Dec. 29, 1879.
The town of Chisago Lake includes the four western tiers of sections of township 33, range 20, and township 34, range 20. A permanent characteristic of this town is its unrivaled lake scenery, rendering it not only attractive for residences but a favorite resort of visitors. Its principal lake has already been described. The first settler was John S. Van Rensselaer, who located on an island opposite the present site of Centre City in the spring of 1851, and raised a crop of corn and vegetables. He built him a cabin and lived there three years. Eric Norberg, a prominent Swede, came to the lake from Bishop's Hill,Illinois, in April, 1851, and being pleased with the locality, came back with a colony of Swedes, including Peter Berg, Andrew Swenson, Peter Anderson, Peter Shaline, Daniel Rattick, and others. They came by steamboat, landed at Taylor's Falls June 24, 1851, cut a road to Chisago lake and took undisputed possession of its shores, finding no trace of human occupancy save some deserted Indian tepees and the claim cabin of Mr. Van Rensselaer on the island. Mr. Berg settled on the west part of lot 3, section 35, and southwest quarter of southwest quarter of section 26, township 34, range 20. Peter Anderson on the east part of lot 3, and northwest quarter of northeast quarter of section 35, township 34, range 20. Andrew Swenson on lot 5, section 27, township 34, range 20. Mr. Norberg had come first to the country at the invitation of Miles Tornell, who was murdered in 1848, near St. Croix Falls, by some Indian assassins, hired to commit the deed by one Miller, a whisky seller. Mr. Norberg originally intended to make his home at Chisago Lake, but died at Bishop's Hill, Illinois, while on a visit in 1853.
The colony in 1852 raised the first rye, barley and flax in the county. They also raised potatoes, green corn and vegetables, cut out roads, cleared timber, and made other improvements. Peter Berg raised flax and made linen thread in 1852, the first made in Minnesota. Settlers came in rapidly. Among the arrivals in 1852 and soon after were the Petersons, Strands, Johnsons, Frank Mobeck, Dahliam, Porter, and others. A post office was established in 1858; A. Nelson, postmaster. The town was organized in 1858. The first supervisors were: Ephraim C. Ingalls, chairman; Frank Mobeck and Daniel Lindstrom.
The first church organization in the county was that of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran, in 1854. Here was built the first church edifice in 1855, a frame structure subsequently enlarged, but in 1882 superseded by a fine brick building, costing $30,000. Its dimensions are 116 × 66 feet, ground plan, and the spire is 135 feet in height. A fine organ was purchased at a cost of $1,500. This church building is an ornament to the town and the State, and would be creditable even to our great cities. The first pastor was Rev. P. A. Cedarstam. His successors are Revs. C. A. Hedengrand and John J. Frodeen, the present incumbent. The communicants number about 1,300.
In 1880 the St. Paul & Duluth railroad extended a branchroad from Wyoming to Taylor's Falls. This passes through the town of Chisago Lake, from west to east, crossing three arms of the lake. To secure this road the town gave $10,000 in twenty year bonds. It obtains in exchange an outlet for the products of its farms and forests. The bridge across Chisago lake was built in 1857, at a cost of $1,500. It has since been made an embankment bridge at an additional cost of $1,600. Of this the State furnished $1,000 and the county $600.
The county seat of Chisago county, was platted May, 1857, on lot 5, section 27, township 34, range 20; Andrew Swenson, proprietor; Alex. Cairns, surveyor. It is located on a peninsula midway on the east shore of Chisago lake. Few villages are more beautifully situated. It contains two hotels, three stores, a saw and feed mill, two church buildings, a Swedish Lutheran and Swedish Methodist, a school house and many pleasant residences. The court house was built in 1876, at a cost of $5,000, on a promontory commanding a fine view of the lake. The depot of the branch of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad is located half a mile south of the village. Summer excursionists assemble here in goodly numbers, and the location bids fair to become very attractive as a summer resort. During the Indian outbreak in 1862, and the period of uncertainty as to the probable attitude of the Chippewa Indians, the people of Chisago Lake built breastworks for protection, on the isthmus connecting Centre City with the mainland, and planted cannon upon them for defense. The remains of these old fortifications may still be seen.
Andrew Swenson.—Mr. Swenson, the founder of Centre City, came to the shores of the lake in 1851, and made his home on the present site of the city. He was born in Sweden in 1817; came to America in 1850, and remained a short time in New Orleans before coming to Minnesota. He was a farmer and a member of the Methodist church. He was married to Catharine Peterson in 1838. He died in July, 1887, leaving two sons and two daughters.
John S. Van Rensselaercame to Chisago Lake in the spring of 1851, and settled on an island, where he lived three years in hermit-like seclusion, raising corn and vegetables. His cabin, always neat and tasteful, was furnished with a choice library.In 1854 he removed to Sunrise Lake, where he lived fifteen years, engaged in farming. He removed thence to Sunrise City. Mr. Van Rensselaer was the founder of the first cheese factories in the county, at Sunrise City and Centre City. He is an honorable and upright man, whose high aim is to exemplify the golden rule in his life and deportment.
Axel Dahliamsettled on the west shore of East Chisago lake in 1852. Mr. Dahliam had been an officer in the Swedish Army. He was a cultivated gentleman. He died in 1869.
Nels Nordwas born in Lindhopsing, Sweden, in 1819. In his eighteenth year he enlisted in the Swedish Army and served twelve years. He came to America in 1855 and located on Chisago lake, in the northeast quarter of section 32, township 34, range 20. He was married in Sweden to Lisa Anderson. They have one son, John P., who has been for seven years the popular and efficient auditor of Chisago county. He was married in 1878 to Hildah, daughter of Rev. C. A. Hedengrand. They have one daughter.
John A. Hallbergwas born at Smolland, Sweden, in 1830. He came to America in 1853 and to Centre City in 1854. In 1872 he purchased a saw and feed mill of Shogren Brothers. In 1876 he built a hotel. He has held the office of justice of the peace many years and has served four years as county commissioner. He was married to Matilda E. Carlson in 1870.
Chas. A. Bushis of German descent. His father, Wm. H. Bush, lived in Wyoming. His great grandfather came to this country in 1765 and fought on the side of the colonies. Chas. A. came to Minnesota in 1869 from Pennsylvania. He has served as treasurer of Chisago county four years.
Lars Johan Starkwas born in Sweden in 1826; came to America in 1850, and settled at Chisago Lake in 1852. He was married in 1865, and again in 1870. He has eleven children living. In Sweden he served as clerk ten years. In his American home he has followed farming chiefly. He has served as justice of the peace and county commissioner, and has filled some town offices. He was engrossing clerk of the house of representatives in 1864. He was a member of the house in the sessions of 1865 and 1875. In 1868 he moved to the town of Fish Lake, and in 1877 to Harris.
Frank Mobeckwas born in Sweden in 1814. He came toAmerica in 1851, and in 1853 to Chisago Lake, where he settled on lot 5, section 34, township 34, range 20. His home is on a beautiful elevation, on a point of land projecting into the lake. Mr. Mobeck served in the Swedish Army seventeen years. He has raised a large family of children, all of whom are good citizens.
Robert Curriewas born in Ayrshire, Scotland. After reaching manhood he was employed many years as superintendent of a fancy manufacturing company. He was married in Scotland. In 1854, after the death of his wife, he came to America, and in 1855 selected a place for a home on the north shore of west Chisago lake, where he lived till his death by drowning in 1883. The site of his home was well chosen. It commanded a beautiful view of the lake, and in the summer months was luxuriantly adorned with flowers. Mr. Currie was a man of fine intellect, well cultivated, and an ardent admirer of his countryman Burns, from whom, and from Shakespeare and other masters of English literature he could quote for hours. Mr. Currie's occupation was farming, but he filled several offices acceptably. He was superintendent of schools, judge of probate and clerk of district court. Though somewhat eccentric, he was a social, kind hearted man.
Andrew N. Holm, formerly Andrew Nelson, his name having been changed by legislative enactment in 1867, was born in Sweden in 1829. He learned the trade of carpenter, came to America in 1855 and located in Centre City in 1857, of which city he was first postmaster. He served as a soldier during the Civil War and at its close removed his family to Taylor's Falls, which is still his home.
Located on the line of the Taylor's Falls branch of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, on lot 4, section 33, town 34, range 20, was platted in 1880 by G. W. Sewall, surveyor. The proprietors are James and Elisabeth Smith. It is situated on high ground and almost surrounded by the waters of Lake Chisago. It would be difficult to find a lovelier site. Maurice Tombler built the first store and elevator here, in 1881. There are now three stores, one hotel, one railroad station and several shops and dwellings. A post office was established at Lindstrom in 1880; Charles H. Bush, postmaster.
Daniel Lindstromwas born in 1825, in Helsingland, Sweden. He had no early advantages for obtaining an education, and spent most of his youth herding goats amongst the mountains in the north part of Sweden. In 1854 he came to America and located on Chisago lake, choosing a beautiful location, which has since been laid out as a village, and bids fair to become a place of popular resort. Mr. Lindstrom was married first in Sweden, and now lives with his second wife, the first having died in 1864. He has a family of three children. He has filled official positions in his town acceptably.
Magnus S. Shaleenwas born in Sweden in 1796; came to America in 1855, and made a homestead near Lindstrom in section 29, town 34, range 20, where he died in 1869. Mrs. Shaleen died in 1873. John, the oldest son, resides on the family homestead. He has served as sheriff of Chisago county six years, and state senator eight years. Peter, the second son, has served as postmaster of Centre City fourteen years, and clerk of the district court five years. Sarah, the eldest daughter, married John Swenson. They have three sons, John H., Henry A. and Oscar, industrious, reliable young men, all in the employ of the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company. Mary married Andrew Wallmark at Chisago Lake, in 1856. One daughter is unmarried.
The village of Chisago City is located on a hardwood ridge, between Chisago and Green lakes, in sections 6 and 7, township 34, range 20. It was platted by Isaac Bernheimer & Co., of Philadelphia, on lot 4, section 7, township 34, range 20, in 1855. They built a hotel, several dwellings, and a saw and grist mill on the banks of Chisago lake, at an expense of about $7,000. These mills were burned in 1872. A stave factory was built on the site of the burned mills, which was operated successfully for many years under the management of George Nathan, Otto Wallmark, W. D. Webb and others. This stave mill gave a new impetus to the prosperity of the village, under the influence of which the county seat was transferred to it. Its subsequent growth, however, did not justify expectations. It was for many years without even a post office. In 1875 the county seat was removed to Centre City. The Lutherans have here one of the finest church buildings in the county. The branch railroaddepot is located one mile north, and quite a village has grown up around it.
Otto Wallmarkwas born Dec. 7, 1830, in the province of Halland, Sweden. In his minority he was nine years clerk in a store. He received a common school education. In 1854 he came to America and directly to Chisago City, where he lived many years, making a homestead, which has since been his permanent home. He served eighteen years as Chisago county auditor. He served several years as postmaster at Chisago City, and in 1886 was elected state senator for four years. His first wife was Mary Helene, his second wife, Eva Palmgreen. They have one son and one daughter.
Andrew Wallmark, brother of Otto, was born in Sweden in 1826; received a liberal education, and came to Chisago Lake from Sweden in 1854. He has filled several town offices; has been register of deeds for Chisago county nineteen years; was married to Mary Shaleen in 1856. They have two sons and three daughters.
The town of Fish Lake includes township 36, range 22. It was originally well timbered, chiefly with hardwood, but 25,000,000 feet of pine timber has been cut from it and mostly manufactured in the town. There are some fine lakes in the town, of which the largest and finest are Horseshoe and Cedar. The soil is black clay loam with subsoil of clay. The town was cut off from the town of Sunrise and organized in 1868. The first supervisors were Chas. F. Stark, Benjamin Franklin and John A. Hokanson. A post office was established in 1868; Benjamin Franklin, postmaster. The first settlers were Peter Olaf and Peter Bergland, in section 25. The first school was taught by Miss Mattison. The first marriage was that of John Hokanson and Matilda Samuelson. The first death was that of John Erickson. The population is mostly from Sweden. There is a good Swedish Lutheran church built near the centre of the town. There are also a Swedish Methodist and a Swedish Baptist society. The people are a well-to-do, independent class. Fish Lake has a saw mill with a capacity of about 1,000,000 feet. In 1877 Hosburg, the watchman of this mill, was killed by Priestly, an Englishman. Hosburg, in accordance with therules, had ordered him not to smoke on the premises. The Englishman was arrested, tried for murder and acquitted.
Peter Bergwas born in Sweden in 1801; came to America in 1850, and settled at Chisago Lake in 1851. Some time subsequently he settled on the north shore of Fish lake. In 1886, at the age of eighty-five years, he is still a vigorous, active man. Mr. Berg was married in Sweden. He has one daughter, Katharine, who married Sam Hamilton, of Taylor's Falls. Mr. Hamilton died in 1871. She married as her second husband Swain G. Yongren.
Benjamin Franklin, though he bears the name of America's most illustrious philosopher, is a native of Sweden, whence he came with a Swedish colony in 1852, settled at Taylor's Falls, and subsequently removed to the northern shore of Fish lake. By way of explaining how he came by his American name we add that soon after his arrival he came to the writer somewhat puzzled as to how he should write his Swedish name in English. He gave it as "Ben Franz Norel," but pronounced it in such a way that it sounded rather like Benjamin Franklin. We suggested that name as a happy solution of the difficulty, telling him something about the illustrious man who had made it honorable. He adopted it at once, and has never disgraced it. He is still a worthy, industrious and honorable citizen of Fish Lake.
Includes the two eastern tiers of sections of township 33, range 20, and fractional township 33, range 19, including about fifteen whole sections, and four fractional. The soil is good, and originally supported a growth of hardwood. The surface is undulating. It is well watered by Lawrence and several other small creeks tributary to the St. Croix, and has several small but clear lakes. Ansel Smith was the first settler of the town and village, which he named after Franconia in the White mountains. He came here in 1852, and located a claim on the present site of the village, on the St. Croix river, section 10, township 33, range 19. He did much for the prosperity of the village and town. He raised the first crops and was the first postmaster (1854). The town was organized in 1858. The first supervisors were Ansel Smith, Leonard P. Day and A. J. Adams. The town is now well settled and has many excellent farms. The branch St. Paul & Duluth railroad has a depot three-fourths of a mile from the villageof Franconia. A German Methodist church is located near the centre of the town.
Was platted in 1858, by Ansel Smith. It was incorporated in 1884. Paul Munch, in 1860, erected a first class, three storied flouring mill on Lawrence creek. A saw mill, erected in 1854 by the Clark brothers and Ansel Smith, has passed through many changes of ownership. It is now the property of Matthews & Jourdain. Henry F. and Leonard P. Day built the first good dwelling in the village, on the banks of the St. Croix, just above the steamboat landing. Margaret Smith taught the first school. The first death in the village was that of Neil Monroe.
Ansel Smithcame from Vermont to St. Croix Falls in 1850 and engaged in teaching. In 1851 he helped erect the Chisago House in Taylor's Falls. In 1852 he made a claim on the St. Croix river, in section 10, township 33, range 19, and there platted the village of Franconia, clearing away the worst of the timber with his own hands. He was an energetic, active business man, and took an interest not only in the affairs of his town and neighborhood, but in the country at large. He represented his district in the fifth, sixth and seventh legislatures. He was appointed register of the United States land office at Duluth in 1870 and served till 1872. Mr. Smith died at his residence in Duluth in 1878, leaving a wife and three promising sons, two of them practicing attorneys in Duluth; one cashier of a bank in Duluth.