Dakota County History

Castle Rock Township

CASTLE ROCK was first settled in January, 1854, by T. P. Brown, who made his claim on section one of the township, being the northeast section and in November of the same year, Leonard Aldrich and J. B. Stevens also made claims. An old gentleman named Harris, with his sons, came in the spring of 1855, and settled near Aldrich and Stevens; at Poplar Grove in the western part of the township.

There are three groves of timber in the town; one called Virginia Grove, where Mr. Brown, who was formerly from Virginia, settled. This grove is composed of oak, maple, and other hard timber. Little Poplar Grove in the northwest part of the town, and Poplar Grove on the western line, which furnish a fair supply of material for fuel and fences.

The town is watered by the south branch of the Vermillion river, which runs through the town from west to east. The face of the country is so even that no water power is afforded, and no mechanical pursuits are carried on in town. Neither store, or hotel, or saloon has ever been opened, nor even a blacksmith shop, it being an emphatically farming community, and the people thinking it best to attend to legitimate business and leave other matters to take care of themselves.

The Milwaukee, St Paul and Minneapolis railroad runs through the town from north to south, with a station and depot near the centre. The first birth occurred in April, 1855, in the family of T. P. Brown, to whom was born a daughter, who was named Lucy. Two children of Mr. Harris died in the fall of the same year, who were the first white persons that departed on that journey whose goal is on the thither shore of the dark river of death. In the Fall of 1856, Van Hoesen, Esq., of Hastings, joined in wedlock Mr. Samuel Harrington and Miss Lucy Stevens, who were the first applicants for matrimonial honors. The town derived its name from a rock of curious construction standing about a mile east of the railroad station, and which attracts the eye of the traveler hi passing. The rock is some seventy-five or eighty feet in diameter at its base, rising about twenty-five feet, where it forms an abrupt shoulder, the portion rising above this being only about eight by twelve feet in diameter, again rising about twenty feet, and again contracting its proportions to some six feet in diameter, rises still some sixteen feet higher in the air, making the whole tower some sixty feet in height, giving to the rock the appearance of some dismantled tower of an ancient castle. There are some Indian legends connected with this rock, but we have not been able to get any connected version of any of them. The first school in Castle Rock was taught by Ditus Day, in the winter of 1857, and the first religious service held by Rev. William Sheldon, an Adventist, at the house of Leonard Aldrich in 1856.
The following named persons have served the town as Chairman of Supervisors and Town Clerk since its organization:

IN 1853 a party of emigrants from Norway made the first settlement in this town. Among them were Peter Sampson and a Mr. Thompson, who located near the south part of the town, on the banks of Chub Lake, who immediately commenced farming operations. In 1854 a large colony of emigrants from Indiana settled in the north part of the town, among whom were R. S, Donaldson, Isaac and Jacob Van Dorn, James B. Sayers, Charles C. Jones, J. Y. Curry, Clymer Shadinger, A. C. Shee T. M. Smith and William Colburn, with their families which formed a nucleus around which gathered large number of emigrants from the same State, an which is still known as the "Indiana Settlement" The face of the country was in such beautiful contrast to that which they had left in most of its features and yet closely resembling it in others, that they felt that the primitive Eden for which all were looking had at last been gazed upon, and they shouted Eureka I have found it, and as the months and Years went by bringing seed time and harvest in their course, with such abundance of the products of the earth, their first opinions were strengthened, and when the Territory became a State and the town was organized the name was adopted as being the most fitting to the town, as well as satisfactory to the people.
The first hotel or house of public entertainment was rather primitive in its style, being nothing but a claim shanty covered with hay. It was the home of T. I Smith, who made his shanty, after the fashion of an omnibus, so as to "hold one more," and accommodated the weary travelers with food and lodgings until more commodious hotels were built in the vicinity.
The first school was taught in the summer of 1856 by a Mrs. Payne in the claim shanty of L. D. Brown. The first marriage was also in 1856, the parties to the contract being Mr. A. E. Kingsley, and Miss Maria Lamsden, L. D. Brown, Esq., performing the marriage ceremony.

The first religious service was held in 1854, by Elder Eaton, who held meetings at the houses of the settlers during that summer. In 1865 the Norwegians of the Lutheran denomination built a neat church, but owing to a division of sentiment on some of their tenets, another church was built the present year. The Methodists also built a comfortable church edifice in the summer of 1867, and the same year the Presbyterians erected a church edifice at a cost of about 82,200.

A fine grove of poplar timber is growing in the northern part of the town, which furnishes a fair supply for fuel and fencing, while a fine grove of red oak is found near Chub Lake. Rice Lake in this town is the source of Vermillion River. Large quantities of rice grow along the margin of this lake. Soon after leaving the lake, the Vermillion River hides itself in the earth and runs underground for at least a mile, then emerges again into daylight somewhat increased in size and strength, and while running across the farms of C. B. Smith and son, descends enough to afford a good-water power, if dams were constructed. The soil is of a black sandy loam similar to that of adjoining towns, and like them very productive. Chub Lake is a little sheet of water in the southwestern part of the town, about a half mile in diameter. The town is bounded on the north by Lakeville, east by Castle Rock, south by Greenvale, and west by the town of Market in Scott county.

Hampton

HAMPTON was first settled in 1854 by John M. Bell. In 1855 Michael Kranz, Peter Duffing, Nicholas Duffing, John J. Fox, Isaac N. Holton, and several others came and made their claims, and commenced breaking ground prepartory to putting in crops the next season. These people arrived early in spring, and cultivated some vegetables and such garden stuff as they could produce. Spring was unusually early and the grass was as high in May as is generally found in June. This encouraged the settlers very much, and they really felt they had arrived in the promised land. Yet with these advantages and encouragements, they experienced the usual drawbacks and inconveniences of new settlers. They had to go some fifteen miles over the prairie to Hastings for flour and groceries and pay high, prices which they had nothing to sell to procure these necessaries.
Those of them who had money got along very well but the few who were dependent upon their own daily exertions-, sometimes experienced rather dark days.
In 1856 the tide of immigration to this county set in very strong, and about forty families located in Hampton and commenced farming operations in good earnest.
In the fall of this year, the people feeling the need of a school for the education of their children, erected a log school house and employed N.F. W. Kranz, son of Nicholas Kranz, and present Register of Deeds of Dakota county, to teach a term of three months which was the first school in this town.
The first religious service in this town was in the fall of 1855 Rev. Father George Keller of Faribault officiated. The meeting was held in a board shanty. In 1856 the Catholics commenced the erection of a |church, on section eleven, that being somewhat central for that portion of the community belonging to that church. This edifice was built of logs and was used as a place of worship until 1864, when they commenced the erection of a new church near the old one. This house was built of stone, neat and commodious, at an expense of about $9,000, and the old one was converted into a parsonage. Father F. X. Weninger, a Jesuit missionary, went among the people of Hampton in 1856 and labored earnestly for the upbuilding of the church and to bring in a good class of settlers. The settlement being composed mostly of Germans, he labored somewhat effectively in getting both the population and the church largely increased. About two hundred families now worship at this church. Rev. Father Pius Bayer is the present priest of the church, who has established a Sabbath school, with about seventy scholars. The Catholics have also established a school for the education of their children in German which is under the supervision of Father Bayer and taught by H. Biercheite. They built a commodious school house, in 1867, that will accommodate some seventy-five pupils. This school is supported entirely by private individuals. In addition to this school the brothers Kranz and few other families employ, during the vacation of the public schools, a private tutor for their children, who instructs them in the German language.
In the western part of the town there are two fine public school buildings, this portion of the town being mostly settled by people from Wisconsin and the New England States. The school houses are also used on Sundays as places of worship by the different denominations. There are also three other good school buildings, one near the centre of the town, the other two in the eastern portion, in all of which schools are kept during the school terms of the year.
The German Methodists have a neat frame church situated about a mile east of the Catholic church, in which regular meetings are held every Sabbath, also a flourishing Sabbath school, with a large regular attendance. Sabbath schools are also held at each of the
public school houses.
In 1866 Peter Meis built a store near the Catholic church, and opened a grocery and saloon, but sold to John Simmer in 1867, which is the only store in the town.
The first hotel was opened in 1856 by James Archer in the northwestern part of the town, which is one of the best buildings for a hotel in the country. In 1864 George Sieben opened a small house called "The Farmers' Home."
Charles Kranz opened a blacksmith shop in 1856, which he operated some three or four years, when he abandoned the shop and paid his entire attention to farming. In the following year John P. Thorn opened another blacksmith shop near the Catholic church, but only continued business about two years, when he removed to Hastings. James W. Whitford now carries on the business near Archer's Hotel, and is also exten-sively engaged in farming. There is a small shop near the Catholic church.
A Mr. Knipperauth operates a shoe shop near the Catholic church. Peter Eck was the first shoemaker in town, having commenced operations in 1856.
The town is well supplied with mechanics to build houses and other buildings, so that the people are very independent.
The soil a black sandy loam, very productive, well timbered, and very fairly watered, and where it is nec-essary to dig wells water is found at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet.
The town was organized in 1858, and Gilbert McM. McKay was elected Chairman of Supervisors, and J. S. Hazelton Town Clerk. The following, gentlemen have served as Chairman and Town Clerk since that time:

Chairman. Clerk.
Porter Martin. -- G. McM. McKay.
Martin Poor. -- G. McM. McKay,
P. Havord. -- G. McM. McKay.
J. H. Whitford. -- N. F. W. Kranz.
Joseph Stumphf, -- N. F. W. Kranz.
James Brownell. -- Francis Gores.

The Justices of the Peace have been as follows:
Isaac M Halton, A. Campfield, John Kranz, Gilbert McM. McKay, H. G. Shepardson, Eugene Thein, John Greer, Nicholas Kranz, W. H. Wales, Nicholas Lies, M Replinger.
There are two Post Offices. One called New Trier, M. Berscheite, P. M., and Hampton, H. G. Shepardson, P.M

Nininger

PETER M. and Henry Caleff made claims in the township on the 12th of August, 1852, and in the September following moved their families. John Bassett took a claim adjoining that of Peter M. Caleff in August, 1853. Others followed soon after and the settlement grew apace. On the 5th of February 1854, Peter M. Califf and Miss Elizabeth Truax, of Nininger, were joined in wedlock at Point Douglas, across the river, in Washington county. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Mr. Hall. The first death occurred in 1854, in the spring, when a Mrs. Van Devier passed to that bourne from whence no traveler returns. The first birth was that of a child to John and Amelia Bassett, in 1855.
In 1856 Warren Carle taught a school, and about the same time a Miss Twitchell opened another school These were the first schools taught in the town. This year Rev. E. W. Cressy held the first religious service.
In August of this year Mr. L. Faiver opened a store and commenced selling dry goods and groceries, and Charles Yeager built a hotel.
The population now began to increase rapidly and the hamlet to assume the proportions of a village.
On the 25th of July, 1857, the Hastings Independent, in speaking of Nininger, says: "It is delightfully situated on an abrupt eminence on the west bank of the Mississippi river, four miles west of Hastings. It has a good landing, and after reaching the table land charms the eye with the scenery it commands. It is seven months old and has a population of about 500, several dry goods stores, groceries, &c."
The vote of Nininger in 1858 was over 200. A newspaper was started and business was at high tide. But the reaction was too heavy for it and the village began to "advance backwards" with great rapidity, and the present vote is not nearly one-half what it was ten years ago.
In 1859 Ignatius Donnelly was elected Lieut. Governor of Minnesota, and re-elected in 1861. In 1862 he was elected to represent the Second District in Congress, was re-elected in 1864 and again in 1866, and is the present incumbent.
The Emigrant Aid Journal was the first attempt at a newspaper in Nininger. It was a large eight column paper, devoted to laying before immigrants the advantages of settling in Dakota county, and the town of Nininger in particular. But the expense of publishing so large a paper largely excelled the income and it was discontinued after about six months. In 1861 Messrs. Lindergreen & Hobblitt tried the doubtful experiment of newspaper publishing in Nininger, but after a few months of trial abandoned the project as unsuccessful.
The village has gradually subsided, till there is no village left, neither stores or shops in town, and nearly the only landmark of its former prosperity and greatness is the residence of Hon. Ignatius Donnelly, which stands on an eminence overlooking the town and a large extent of country ,as well as a long sweep of the Mississippi river.

Lebanon

Lebanon lying directly west of Rosemount, is bounded on the north by Eagan, east by
Rosemount, south by Lakeville, and west by Burnsville, and was first settled by James Ryan in 1854. And though others soon followed, his was the first claim, and to him belongs the honor of being the first and oldest settler in the town. About one half of the town is prairie and the other half about equally divided between timber lands and openings, making a diversity very pleasing to farmers, as it affords plenty of prairie and openings for cultivation, and timber for building, fences, and fuel. The soil is a rich, black loam, to the depth of one and a half or two feet, resting on a clay subsoil of several feet in depth, and produces in abundance every variety of grain whose seed is committed to its care.
The rites of wedlock were first performed for the benefit of Mr. G. Elliot and Miss Dora Morse, in 1857, when these two took upon themselves the responsibility of loving and cherishing each other till death should them part. How faithfully they performed their contract our informant did not tell. Mrs. Almira Potter was the first summoned to the thither shore of the dark river, in 1856. The first school was taught in 1857, and in 1856 was held the first religious service, at which Rev. H. Porter officiated. There is no church edifice in Lebanon, though the people of this

town united with those of Rosemount and erected just across the line of that town a very neat house of worship, at a cost of about $2,500, the expense being borne nearly equally by the towns. The house belongs to the Methodist Episcopal denomination, and is considered a model for country churches. Services are held regularly every Sabbath by Rev. J. Shaffner. The house was dedicated for worship in December, 1867.
At the time of the organization of the town in 1858, Mr. Verrill was elected Chairman of Supervisors, and T. C. Carpenter Town Clerk, and since that time the following named persons have filled those offices:

The town is progressing as rapidly as most of the others with an excellent soil, well watered and close to market are. Lebanon sent twenty-five men to the war and paid them $1,500 bounty. Land is held at from $25 to $35 per acre.

Burnsville

BURNSVILLE was first occupied in 1853 by William Burns and family, consisting of his wife and five sons, who emigrated from Canada the same year. He settled in the northwest corner of the town, near the mouth of' Credit River, and where is the present station of Hamilton on the Minnesota Valley Railroad. A family by the name of McCoy also settled here this year. No other settlers came till 1854, when Steven Jewell, his father, Francis Jewell, and their family, from Chicago, made claims, and during the year a large number of others came and built up quite a settlement. At once entering upon the practical duties of preparing permanent homes for themselves, they built dwellings for their temporal shelter, and the same year erected a comfortable house of worship. It was built of logs, but answered all purposes for private worship. All the settlers thus far were Catholic Irish, and consequently gave freely of their substance for the erection of the church. The first religious service was held at the house of William Burns, in the fall of 1853, by Father Ravoux, parish priest of Mendota.
The first birth was that of Kate Kearney, a daughter of James Kearney, in 1854:, and the first marriage ceremony was celebrated in 1856, by Father Ravoux joining in wedlock Miss Ellen Bonan and Mr. James Lynn.

The first death was that of a gentleman named O'Hare, father-in-law of Mr. McCoy, in 1854. The next to follow was Mr. Francis Newell, in 1855. These two were buried in a little grove, on an eminence overlooking a large extent of country, known as Teepee Hill, which had been used by the Sioux as a burying ground.
A large number of Sioux Indians had their camping ground along the banks of the Minnesota river, and were oftentimes very troublesome, though never offering violence.
The Minnesota Valley railroad runs through Burnsville on the north, Hamilton station being just across line in Scott county. The town is bounded on the north by the Minnesota river, on the east by Eagan and Lebanon, south by Lakeville and west by Glendale in Scott county.
In 1857 a log school house was built and a school taught by Andrew Carberry. There are now two large frame buildings for school purposes, in which schools have been taught during all school terms. The Catholics have also erected a fine frame church, 40x80 feet, on the site of the old log one, also a neat and commodious residence for the pastor, Rev. A. Oster, and have supported regular preaching for the past ten years.
One of the school houses is located on the land of Thomas Hogan, a liberal and educated man, to whom is due in a great measure the high standard of education and the schools of that town.
There has never been but one saloon in the town, and that was kept open but a short time, when the women took the matter in hand, and with the assistance of Mr. Steven Newell, the Sheriff of the county, the concern was at once closed up, and no one has since ventured to start the business.
In 1857 T. J. Burns was elected to the Constitutional Convention. In 1859 Mr. Steven Newell was elected to the Legislature, but his seat was contested on the ground of some illegal votes. After remaining a member for about thirty days he gave his seat to his contestant. In 1863 Steven Newell was elected Sheriff of Dakota county, re-elected in 1865 and again in 1867. Thomas Hogan was elected Chairman of Supervisors in 1858, and has been re-elected each succeeding year. Steven Newell was elected first Town Clerk, and held the office five years, Michael Connelly having held it the balance of the time.
The northern portion of the town lies in the valley of the Minnesota river, and its rich alluvial soil is of the best quality for meadow lands, and large amounts of hay are cut each year for supplying the St. Paul and other markets. The balance of the town is high, rolling openings, of fair quality of soil, and produces excellent crops. There are no large streams of water, and no water power, though there is a fair supply of water for stock, &c, from springs and small rivulets.
The people are of an industrious, sober, intelligent class, avoiding quarrels as they would a pestilence. Law suits are rarely known in the community, and the Sheriff in the discharge of his duties is seldom under the necessity of visiting his own town.

Empire

THE town of Empire lies nearly in the centre of Dakota county, and is bounded by Rosemount on the north, Vermillion on the east, Castle Rock on the south, and Lakeville on the west. It embraces just an even government township of thirty-six sections of as fine land as any township to be found in the country, and as a natural consequence was settled at an early day in the history of the county. In 1854, C. R. Rollins, A. Amidon, and a brother of Mr. Amidon, located on the Vermillion river near where is now the village of Farmington, and commenced agricultural operations preparatory to sowing grain the next season. L. Fish, E. P. Whittier and a Mr. Laird, came into the town the same year, and made claims on the route of the present road from St. Paul to Cannon Falls. From this commencement the settlement of the county around about progressed very rapidly, and it was not long before the prairie was dotted all over with claim shanties, and soon some comfortable dwellings were to be seen along the route. The first house was built by Mr. Thos. Laird, near the centre of the town. In 1S56, Mr. Laird built a large frame house and opened it as a hotel. This was a great improvement, as the travel through this section had become considerable, and the lack of accommodations for travelers was severely felt. The first store was opened by Mr. N. Amidon in 1857 about one mile

from the present village of Farmington, in the house which is now the residence of Mr. Orcutt. The sec-ond enterprise of this nature was entered upon by James Tuttle, who opened a stock of goods in the building known as the Barkaloe House, which was also used as a hotel. The goods were afterwards re-moved to the house which is the present residence of Major Donaldson. In 1860, Mr. Alidon Amidon opened his house as a hotel, and for several years and until the railroad was built, this was made a station for the stages running on that route. In 1866, Mr. Amidon sold his farm and built a large and commodious hotel at the new village of Farmington, on the railroad, where he served the public as mine host till 1868, when he sold to Mr. Wm. E. Hull, the present proprietor.
In the early days of the settlement the Indians were very, numerous, and hundreds would frequently make their camping ground on the farms of the settlers. In one instance a band of some 500 camped on the farm of Mr. Alidon Amidon, the chief of which carried with him, nicely packed between shingles, a copy of a treaty entered into between the government and his tribe in 1812.
The first birth and death of a white person in Empire was that of a child of Alidon Amidon, in September, 1856. The first marriage was celebrated between a German and Miss Laird, daughter of Thos. Laird, in 1856. In the summer of 1855 a school was taught by Mrs. Leverett Wellman.
There are now four school houses in which schools are taught during the usual school terms of the year, and two neat and commodious church edifices. In 1858 the town was organized under the name of Empire City, at which time the following named persons were chosen to administer the town government:

Supervisors-George H. Moody, Chairman; Chas. Porter and Jessee Ives, Associates.
Town Clerk-Charles E. Rollins.
Assessor-E. P. Whittier.
Collector-G. W. Porter.
Overseer of Poor-Ephraim Fish.
Justices of the Peace-A. J. Irvine, Caleb Smith.
Constables-Daniel Felton, A. Amidon.
Those who have officiated as Chairman of Supervisors and Town Clerk since that time, are as follows :

The soil varies but little from that of other towns. The Vermillion river runs through the town, and has a sufficient fall to make good power for turning machinery, but it has never been improved in consequence of the necessity of flowing so much valuable land by reason of building dams.
At the time of the first settlement, seed wheat was brought from Iowa, for which $2.25 per bushel was paid. Prairie wolves were close neighbors to the settlers, and would frequently sit on the door steps and make the night dreary by their howlings.
In 1865, when the Minnesota Central Railroad was completed through to Faribault, a station was made at Farmington, it being then only a farming community, but being very near the centre of the county, the population rapidly increased, stores and a hotel were built and business opened up during the summer of 1866 very lively. The farmers found it an excellent thing to have a market for their wheat and other products at their own doors, and trade and barter were kept on the increase till in IS67, the people of the town and vicinity became ambitious to have the county-seat removed from Hastings on the Mississippi river to this village. In accordance with these views a bill was introduced into the Legislature and passed, authorizing a vote to be taken on that question at the general election. The excitement ran pretty high, but the measure was lost by between 506 and 600 votes. The vil-lage has now several hundred inhabitants, and nearly all kinds of business are represented.
There are of dry goods dealers, Messrs. Taylor & McLaren, Hosmer & Judson, Joseph Knowles, H. M. & H. E. Humphrey, Jerry McCarty, J. M. Courtwright, and Dr. Torgeson.
Furniture-C. B. Rollins, H.G.Winters.
Harness-G. W. Chamberlain, Plummer & Co. Motels-Occidental Hotel, W. E. Hull proprietor. Blacksmiths-David France, J. Weichselbaughm, Geo. Cable.
Drug Stores-Blake & Thurston, Dr. Torgeson.
Lawyers-E. A, Gove, R.W. Hudson.
Printing- --Farmington Telegraph, F. J. MEAD. Physicians - L.P. Dodge, J. G. Bemis, Dr. Torgerson, T.N Berlin.
Hardware-Atz & Lower.
Shoemaker-H. Whitaker.
Insurance-R. J. Chewning, E. A. Gove. Milliner-Mrs. Hendryx.
Machine Shop-H. C. Wing & Co.

There are three tailor shops, one lumber yard, one feed store, :two insurance agents, five saloons, one watchmaker, one wagon shop, one restaurant, besides the buildings, depot, steam water tank and steam elevator, belonging to the railroad company. A lodge of Masons and one of Good Templars, the latter of which was organized on the 21st of May, 1866, with thirty-five charter members. At the close of the second quarter the lodge numbered 171 members in good standing, and at the end of the first year it numbered 237.

The only object of natural curiosity in this town is Chimney Rock, a large pillar of sandstone standing alone on the prairie-is some twenty feet high and about twelve feet in diameter at its base, and gradually diminishing in size towards the top. In the spring of 1868, a newspaper was established at Farmington, under the control of Frank J. Mead, which still flourishes, and does its full share in building up the town, and laying before the public the advantages and facilities for getting rich, in the country around about.

In 1866, Maj. J. H. Donaldson was elected to represent this portion of the county in the State Legislature, and in 1867 B. J. Chewning to the same position. He was also re-elected in 1868.

The people of Farmington have the present year built a fine school building at a cost of some $6,000 or $8,000. The building is a fine structure and does great credit to the town and its enterprising inhabitants. The architecture of the house was planned by J. Larmour, Esq,. of Minneapolis. The School Board is composed as follows: J. P. Fluke, L. P. Dodge, .and C. E. Rollins.

Eagan

PATRICK EAGAN, Robert O'Neil, Thos, Fanning, James Wescott, and Edward Barry were the first settlers in what is now the town of Eagan. They came in the year 1853, and selected land for farms, and located thereon. But few settlers had yet arrived in any part of the county, and at Mendota was the nearest point of trade, and almost the nearest neighbors. In the spring of 1854 some other families located in the same vicinity, and all being good Catholics, they soon had the means for holding religious services, and Rev. Father Ravoux, parish priest at Mendota, held the first meeting in the house, of Edward Dowling, as also several successive ones, and mass was had at different houses in the settlement as the population began to increase.
In 1855 a school was opened in the house of Thos. Fanning, and taught by Michael Dowling. Thus early in the existence of .the settlement they took means to enlarge their ideas and cultivate their minds, taking an advance step in the cause of education.
In 1855 Mr. Thomas Westcott opened his house as a tavern, which is the only one ever in the town. It was called one of the best on the route, and many a weary traveller has thanked his "lucky stars" that he arrived at Wescott's ere the night set in to expose him to the inclemency of the weather.
No blacksmith shop was started till 1860, when Mr. Robert Myers bought the necessary tools, a bellows and forge, and commenced operations. No other shops have been built in town. One grocery store and saloon was put in operation in 1865, by Alexander Huor, at the crossing of the Mendota and St. Paul roads which comprises the whole of the trade both wholesale and retail, in that line.
There are three school houses in town and schools taught in each the time usually prescribed by law and generally more than double that number of months in each year.
The land is principally oak openings with a somewhat rolling surface, quite sandy and not as good for raising wheat and heavy grains as in some other parts of the county, yet corn and oats attain the highest perfection of anywhere in this section.
Robert O'Neil was elected from this town as a Representative in the Territorial Legislature in 1857; has served a number of years as county commissioner, and in 1859 was chosen County Treasurer. Michael Comer was elected County Treasurer in 1861, and re-elected in 1863-1865-1867, and is the present incumbent. This is a tribute of respect and confidence rarely bestowed upon any man, especially in a new country, where the population is generally so transient and changing.
The Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis railroad runs through the town from north to south, and has a station called Wescott, near the residence of Mr. James Wescott.

Vermillion

VERMILLION was first settled in 1654, by Moses Cole, Andrew Warsop, Robert Greig, John Barber and Eugene Dean, who located in the northeast part of the town, while R. J. Smith, Samuel Brown, John McKay and Daniel Cadwell located the same year near the west line, and William Cole and Robert Barrington in the southeast. Those who could do so built houses, while the others hastily erected claim shanties and inhabited them till they could find better.
The first birth in Vermillion was that of Harriett Cole, a daughter of Moses and Mary Cole, in 1857. A daughter of J. D. Searles died the same year, which was the first death of a white person in town. The first marriage was consummated between Martin Ennis and Lucy Barrington, the time we have been unable to learn. Divine worship was first had in a log house belonging to Mr. John Cole. The sermon was preached by Rev. Levi Countryman. William Chapman taught the first school in the winter of 1857-8.
When the town was organized in 1858, the name Vermillion was chosen as the most appropriate, from the fact of the Vermillion river running through it, by
which it is principally watered. The officers chosen at the first election were as follows : Supervisors-A. H. Norriss, Chairman, Moses Cole, Samuel Brown; Justices-Robert Greig and Daniel Cadwell; Town Clerk-Andrew Warsop; Constable and Collector-William E. Jones.
There are no churches in the town. Religious services are generally held in the school houses, of which there are several, in which schools are taught through all the school terms in the year. No stores or hotels in Vermillion have ever been put in operation.
There are several small groves of poplar and oak timber in different parts of the town, which add beauty to the landscape and furnish fuel and fencing for the farmers.

Ravenna

RAVENNA was settled in 1854, by Corban Speeks, P. W. Elliott, Thos. Ells, H. C. Lovejoy and Hugh Sherry, all of whom made claims and located on them. In 1855 these settlers were followed by A. J. Henry, Simon Weaver, Samuel Mathews and several others, and quite a colony was founded.
The first birth in Ravenna township was a son to P. W. Elliott in 1854 The first death was that of Mr. Corban Speeks on the 5th day of February, 1856. The first marriage was that of H. C. Lovejoy and Miss Harriett Elliott, in July of 1856. The boundaries of the town are as follows: North by Hastings and the Mississippi river, east by Goodhue county, south and west by Marshan. The town is somewhat irregular in its boundaries, a small part running up to the river east of Hastings, making the city of Hastings from a small part of the western boundary.
There is no water power or mills in Ravenna, no blacksmith or other shops. Adjoining the city of Hastings in such close proximity the business is principally transacted in that city.

In 1856 a school district was organized which comprised the towns of Ravenna and Marshan, and a school was opened near the south line of Ravenna, in a log house belonging to A. J. Henry, and Miss Margaret Ellis installed as teacher. This was the first training of the young idea how to shoot, and to aim high in the attainment of knowledge.
Religious service was held in the same year by Rev. Mr. Johnson, at the house of the widow of Corban Speeks, and occasional services were held thereafter at the houses of the residents, until school houses were built, when those were used as places of religious wor-ship by the different denominations.
The Vermillion river runs through the town from north to south, nearly in the center, giving an abundant supply of water for the use of stock, but affording no power for driving machinery. Trudell Slough, in the northern part, also affords plenty of water for that section. About one-third of Ravenna is quite low, lying on the Mississippi river, and in times of high water is overflowed, but being covered with heavy timber or a luxuriant growth of grass, is considered quite as valuable as any portion of land in the county.

Ravenna comprises only about twenty-two sections of land, being only three miles in width from north to south, and six from east to west, with an ell lying on the east of Hastings along the Mississippi river.

The attention of the people has been entirely turned to agriculture, consequently the history of their progress is somewhat uneventful, and can be chronicled in few words. They are growing rich by cultivating the soil.

Marshan

GEORGE EGBERT located in the northeast part of this town in August, 1854, and a Mr. Lyon in the northwest corner, near the city of Hastings, in the spring. These two gentlemen were the only settlers that year. In 1855 Messrs. John Simpson, Tahey, Westbury, John Judge, John and Thomas Burke and several others made claims and located thereon.

Marshan is bounded on the north by Hastings and Ravenna, in the east by Ravenna and Goodhue county, on the south by Goodhue county and the town of Douglas in Dakota county, and on the west by the town of Vermillion. The town of Marshan, though comprising the requisite number of sections for an even township, is very irregular in shape, being formed somewhat in the shape of a letter L-being nine miles from east to west on the south boundary, the eastern six miles being only three miles in width from north to south, and the western three six miles in width.

In 1856 a village site was platted near the centre of the town, and a tavern house built by Curtis & Co. which was opened for accommodating travelers the same season. In 1867 the building was burned down, and rebuilt again the same season, and is now kept by Daniel Ryan.

The first death occurred in the latter part of February, 1856. A man from near Cannon River, in Goodhue county, on his return from Hastings to his home,
was overcome by the extreme cold and an overdose of liquor, and was frozen to death on the highway, near the residence of Thomas Howes. A coroner was appointed to hold an inquest, but the friends of the deceased having learned of his fate had removed the body before the coroner arrived, consequently no inquest was held.

The first marriage in Marshan was that of James Sally and Miss Susan Wick, in the year 1858, the ceremony being performed by George Egbert, Esq. The circumstances attending, made it rather a novel wedding. It seems the parties were engaged to be married in a few weeks from the time the transaction actually occurred, but one day at the dinner table the conversation turned upon the marriage ceremony and Esquire Egbert proposed they should stand up together and he would see if he remembered how to perform the marriage ceremony. They complied and made the proper responses, and the justice found that he remembered perfectly well how to solemnize a marriage, and the happy pair were made one without their knowledge of the fact, but with their full consent. Before informing them of their new happiness Mr. Egbert sent word to the neighbors and friends to call at his home that evening, and when the company gathered and music and dancing were the order of exercises, they were informed that they were husband and wife according to the laws of Minnesota, and in truth all went merry as a marriage bell.
The first religious service was held at the house of George Egbert in 1856, a Rev. Mr. Johnson from Red Wing officiating.

The Catholics have a very neat church edifice near the centre of the town at a place called Bellewood, which is the only house of worship yet erected, other denominations holding service in the different school houses, of which there are five, four frame houses and one built of brick. In each of these, schools are taught during the school season of the year.

The eastern portion of Marshan is mostly covered with a fine growth of timber, and the western is made up of openings and prairie. The town is watered by the Vermillion river running through it and by numerous springs and small streams. The northeast corner of the town is cut off from the main land by a small branch or slough from the Mississippi river.

John Connor operates a brick yard in the eastern part of the town, where the clay is said to be of .the best quality, and the brick are much sought after for building purposes.

The average of wheat in Marshan, taking the years together, is about twenty bushels per acre.
The people have chosen the following gentlemen as Chairman of Supervisors and Town Clerk:

THE town of Rosemount is bounded on the north by Eagan and Liver Grove, east by Inver Grove south by Empire, and west by Lebanon. It contains twenty-four sections of land being oblong in form, having six sections from east to west, and four from north to south. The soil is of as good quality as can be found in any section of the country, being mostly of a dark loam, and especially adapted to raising wheat, which is the principal production of this as well as most other towns in the county, though large quantities of oats and barley are raised each year. The face of the country in this town is somewhat di-versified, though mostly it is a rolling prairie, yet there are some portions covered with scattering native oaks, and here and there a lovely little lake serve to lighten up and beautify the landscape. Keegan's Lake, about a mile north of the railroad station is a beautiful little sheet of water, covering quite a number of acres of ground, and having a small island near the centre, gives it a quite romantic and picturesque appearance. The railroad runs over one end of it, and travelers always gaze on it with delight and admiration. It was named Keegan's Lake from the fact of Andrew Keegan owning a farm adjoining it. The town was first settled in 1854.

In 1855 a post office was established, and the name of Rosemount was adopted. Andrew Keegan was appointed Postmaster. In 1858 when Minnesota became a State and townships were organized under State authority, the name of Rosemount was applied to the town.

The first birth in this town was that of Margaret Conniff, and occurred on election day, 1855, which was the 2d Tuesday of October, and the 13th day of the month. The first death was that of Eliza Keegan, a daughter of a brother of Andrew Keegan, of about two years of age, who died in January, 1855.
The first religious service in this town was held at the house of John Murphy, by Rev. Father Tissont, a Roman Catholic priest, a missionary. The first school was taught in 1858 by Miss Margaret Canning. There are now three school houses in the town, and considerable attention is given to the subject of educa-tion. In 1867 the Methodists of Rosemount and Leb-anon united and built a very neat and commodious church edifice near the southwest corner of Rosemount, where all unite on common ground to join in the worship of him who united all in the universal brotherhood of man.
In 1858 a Mrs. Morrison built the first hotel in the town, which she still keeps open for the accommoda-tion of "the traveling public" Harry Hines built a store in 1860. Another hotel was also opened near Mrs. Morrison's some time after, but patronage was not sufficient to keep it in operation, and it was closed as a hotel. The store built by Mr. Haines is now kept by Messrs. Lester & Hardick.

In 1886 after the establishment of a depot in this town, Neheley opened a small dry goods and grocery store, and this present year several others have commenced the experiment. Frank Gallon and Ed. McManomy have each opened stores, James Conway a saloon, and Ole Peterson a shoe shop. Dr. C. C. Knight is the resident physician, John Foster has a blacksmith shop, Frank Gallon a wagon shop, and Daniel Underwood a butcher shop.

There was received and shipped from this station during the year 1867 36,000 bushels of wheat. T. D. Van Hoovenburg is the station agent and telegraph operator.
Rosemount, like the rest of the country in the vicinity, bears on its bosom and in the generous soil the elements of substantial wealth to all who earnestly work to develop and bring these elements into active exercise, and no town or country can well present a more pleasing view than that afforded to the traveler while passing through this town, on the cars. On either side as far as the eye can reach, are cultivated fields, and during the period of growth and harvest the scene is especially lovely and pleasant to contemplate. The fields of golden grain waiting for time to prepare them for the hand of the reaper, or when the shocks of wheat cover the ground these present the elements of wealth and sustenance to mankind. The very hill tops are crowded with fatness and the earth groans with the burden of her fullness and is laboring in travail throes to be delivered of the abundance of her material prosperity.

Lakeville

LAKEVILLE was first settled in June, 1853, by J. J. Brackett, and G. Phelps, and in the fall of the same year by George Palmer and a widow named Whalon and her son. Other claims were made, but none settled upon, except by T. W. Farnham, whose death occurred in the following February, from the effects of freezing his feet and legs, while on his way from St. Paul to Lakeville. This was the first death which occurred in town. In the spring of 1854, S. P. Buker, David France, John House, Jabez Smith, Willis B. Reed and Samuel Dunn made claims and settled on them and went to work to make themselves homes. The most of them, of course, went to breaking up farms. David France opened a blacksmith shop and went to work to accom-modate the public with the benefits of his trade. No hotel was opened till 1855, when George Fagan opened his house for the accommodation of travelers and claim seekers. It was a log house near the shore of Prairie Lake, and though not large, there are many who can look back a few years and remember with grateful hearts the hospitalities meted out to them at the log cabin on the prairie.

The first marriage ceremony was solemnized in 1857, the parties being John Hartig and Dorothy Hartig. No change of name but merely a change of circumstances in life, or in military parlance, a "change of base" upon which line they proposed to fight the battle of life till death should claim one or both of them.
In the winter of 1855, William Cummings taught the first school that was opened in Lakeville, while the first religious service was held in April of the same, year, Rev. John McMann officiating, at the house of Michael Johnson.

In 1854, in the month of August, J. J. Brackett, who had entered into a contract with the government to carry the mail from St. Paul to Faribault, delivered the first mail at the post office of Lakeville. Four days were allowed by the terms of the contract, in which to convey it between these points. G. Phelps was the first postmaster and was appointed in 1854. The first birth was that of Anna Casey, daughter of Roger and Mary Casey in the spring of 1859.

The first town election, in 1858, was held at the house of J. J. Brackett, Mr. Brackett being elected Chairman of Supervisors and Justice of the Peace.
In 1855 a Mr. Connelly of St. Paul opened a store of goods, and about the same time D. C. Johnson and M. Sherman also opened a store and hotel in the building now occupied by Mr. Ackley. In 1856, S. P. Buker established another store in Lakeville, and for a while trade was made quite brisk by competition.
About two-thirds of the town is a beautiful rolling prairie, with a soil not excelled by any in the county or State. The balance is composed principally of oak openings interspersed with occasional groves of fine timber, which afford a fair supply for the necessities of the inhabitants.

The Vermillion river, or one branch of it, takes its rise in Lakeville, which is the only stream of any size the town. There are two beautiful little lakes, that furnish an abundant supply of excellent fish and the best of sport for the disciples of Isaak Walton. Prairie Lake, from, which the town takes its name, is about one and a half miles in diameter, with clear water, and sand bottom, with shores so gently inclining to the water, in places, that one may drive a carriage for some distance into the lake without the least danger. In other places the banks are abrupt and the water quite deep. The shores of Prairie Lake are quite noted as the resort of pleasure and picnic excursions. Crystal Lake also abounds in fine fish, and is a lovely sheet of water, adding great picturesqueness and beauty to the landscape. J.J. Brackett, the oldest settler, still has his home where he first located on the shores of Prairie Lake, and each year as he garners the products of the soil, he blesses the Providence that cast his lot in a land of such wealth and beauty.

Mendota

MENDOTA, situated on the south bank of the Minnesota, and on the east of the Mississippi, just at their confluence, is the oldest village in the State, and the former homestead of Hon. H. H. Sibley is the oldest private residence in Minnesota, having been commenced in 1836, and completed 1837. The first settler in Mendota was Duncan Campbell, who established himself as an Indian trader about the year 1820. He has a son of the same name now living in the Village. Campbell was succeeded about the year 1825 by Jean B. Faribault, who removed thither from Pike's Island opposite, where he had resided several years and until driven by stress of weather to seek higher ground for his habitation, the Mississippi hawing overflowed its banks to such an extent that Mr. Faribault lost all his goods and possessions, except a quantity of furs which he saved in his boat About 1828 Mendota became the principal depot of the trade of the American Fur Company, in this region, and was placed in charge of Alexis Bailly, lately deceased. In 1834 Mr. Bailly was succeeded by H. H. Sibley, who had a much larger district under his charge, as a partner with Joseph Roulette and H. L. Douseman (both now deceased) in the business of the American Fur Company, the two last named residing at Prairie du Chien, and having charge of the trade that was tributary to that central location. In 1819, Col. Leavenworth, in command of United States troops, occupied a spot on the south bank of the Minnesota river, and opposite the present site of Fort Snelling, where they remained during the winter of 1819-20. During the winter the scurvy broke out in a most malignant form, and for some days raged so violently that garrison duty was suspended, there being only well men enough in the command to attend to the sick and the interment of the dead. The attacks were frequently so sudden that persons who went to bed well at night were found dead in the morning. One man who when relieved from his post of sentinel duty, stretched himself upon a bench in the guard room, four hours after, when called upon to resume his post, was found to be lifeless. So fatal was the disease that nearly half the command perished. This is believed to be the only case of land scurvy making its appearance in this country. The troops continued to occupy quarters on the south side of the river till 1823, and some even as late as 1824, at which time Fort Snelling was completed and the whole command removed thither.

Daniel W. Hubbard was the first man to fell a tree on the camping ground, and to him is due the credit of felling the first tree to inaugurate civilization in Minnesota. All this was, however, previous to any settlement other than by government troops, except that of Duncan Campbell, the Indian trader.

In 1851 Hon. Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Hon. Alex. Ramsey, acting for the government, effected a treaty at this point, with the upper bands of Dakotas or Sioux, which together with the treaty entered into the same year, at Traverse des Sioux, deeded to the United States, all that vast country claimed by them west of the Mississippi river.

In 1847 Wisconsin was admitted as a State, leaving all those counties west of the St. Croix river without any government. Hon. H. H. Sibley, of Mendota, though residing on the opposite side of the Mississippi river, was elected to represent the inhabitants of that ungoverned country in Congress, they claiming that the act admitting a certain portion of

the Territory as a State did not abrogate the territorial organization. Mr. Sibley went on to Washington and boldly claimed his seat as a delegate from Wisconsin Territory, which after some delay was granted him. The Territory of Minnesota was organized the same session, and Mr. Sibley was elected to represent the new. Territory in 1849, and again re-elected in 1851, thus serving during five consecutive-sessions of Congress, and representing two different territories, though all the time residing at Mendota. At the time of the organization of Minnesota Territory in 1849 Hon. Stephen A. Douglas was strongly in favor of Mendota as the Capital of the Territory, but the delegate, Mr. Sibley, represented that his constituents, or a majority of them, were in favor of St. Paul, so Mr. Douglas yielded to his solicitations, and St, Paul was designated as the Territorial capital.

The first birth in Mendota was that of George Faribault, on the 28th of September, 1826. In 1834 H. H, Sibley built a store and opened up a stock of goods, which was the first store on the west side of the Upper Mississippi, and in 1837 Alexander Faribault built a stone hotel, which is still standing, and kept as a hotel by his son, George Faribault.

A Canadian by the name of Lejendre taught the first school. The first church service was held by Rev. Father Ravoux, though at what time we have been unable to ascertain. It was the first point where the Jesuit missionaries located, in this section of country. The Catholics erected a small building for a church, and after some years built the present stone edifice, which stands on the high bluff overlooking Fort Snelling and a large extent of country, for many miles around. Hon. H.H. Sibley built a small stone building to be used as a Protestant church, and which was used for that purpose for a number of years, but is now occupied as a school house.
The former residence of General Sibley was sold by him for a merely nominal sum to the Sisters of Charity of the order of St. Joseph, and is now occupied by them.
Mendota was for some years the county seat of Dakota county, but being on the extreme edge of the county, a majority of the people elected to have the county offices and records removed to the more pretentious village of Hastings, where they are now located.

The population is mostly French and Irish. The business of the town is now represented by two dry goods and grocery stores, one kept by Timothy Fee, the other by John Roth; two hotels, one by George Faribault, the other by Michael Lynch; two blacksmith shops, by William Morrissey and Joseph Braudette; two wagon shops, by Joseph Braudette and Flavious Braudette. Civillo Boutillette and Edward Lemay have carpenter shops, while Michael Dupuis is the shoemaker of the village.

Mendota furnished the first State Governor, Hon. H. H. Sibley, who was also Delegate to Congress for three successive terms, and member of the Constitutional Convention, and town officers as follows:

The Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railroad makes a junction at this point with the Minnesota Valley Railroad, passengers for St. Paul or the Minnesota Valley taking the valley road, though making no change of cars for St. Paul.

The Milwaukee and Minneapolis Railway at this point presents some of the finest features of engineer-ing to be found on any road in the country. As the train from Minneapolis runs directly under the brow of Fort Snelling on the north side of the Minnesota river, the high rock on which the Port stands having been cut down some fifty or sixty feet to a level with the road bed, which is here some twenty-five or thirty feet above the river, and presents one of the finest spectacles to be seen, the towering and perpendicular cliff on one side and the swiftly flowing river far below on the other, while the cars glide smoothly along, hanging as it were on the verge of the hill, then passing over a line of trestlework over the Minnesota river, and the lands adjacent thereto, till it reaches Mendota, where it begins its winding way to the table lands above. Passing over another line of trestle-work, and high over the track of the Valley Railroad it winds around the hill, and passengers looking from the car windows, see in the distance to the left the city of St. Paul, which gradually is lost to view as the train moves on, and soon, on looking from the window on the right, another city greets the vision, another and yet the same,, for the train has moved around and up the hill till it is almost where it started from the depot, only higher up and going in the opposite direction, and Fort Snelling, which was passed some time since, is now standing on the right, and only across the river from where the train now stands. It is a spectacle worth a visit to the place to see. This wonderful piece of engineering, the commanding view to be had of the surrounding country from the bluffs, and the fact of its being the oldest settled town in the State, makes Mendota a place of much interest to visitors and pleasure seekers.

Hastings

WE are under obligations to Dr. Thomas Foster, the first settler of Hastings, now of Du Luth, St. Louis county, for an interesting letter on the early settlement of the town and incidents connected therewith, which being written in the doctor's usual pleasant style, we give in his own language:
W.H. Mitchell, Esq., Rochester, Minn.:
DEAR SIR :-In answer to inquiries respecting early settlement and early settlers at Hastings and in Dakota county, I would mention that on the 21st of August, 1851, the day after the signing of the treaty of Mendota, made with the Sioux Indians, by which they sold the right to rove over a vast territory on the west bank of the Mississippi, including the whole of Dakota county, I traveled with Alexis Bailly, senior, to the present town site of Hastings, and there made the claim where my family still live, embracing the south shore of Lake Isabel, the beautiful lakelet in-serted into the city plat of Hastings. The first house built in Hastings is my homestead, upon this lake. It was commenced in the winter of 1851-52. The body of the house-though it was afterwards weather-boarded, plastered and Gothicized, was constructed of logs. Alexis Bailly, Sr., Alexis P. Bailly, and Henry Bailly, his two sons, and old John "Blockhanti," as we used to call him, their man of all work, an old discharged soldier and quite a character in his way, assisting in the work of putting it up. The elder Mr. Truax, of Point Douglas, did part of the carpenter work, and Daniel W. Truax, his son, now a prominent merchant of Hastings, and Edward F. Parker, afterwards County Attorney, helped on the building, which was finally finished by Albert H. Halstead and Hiram Halstead, carpenters, who made claims on the Vermillion Bluff or Prairie, opposite the lower stone flouring mill, on the Vermillion, built by me, in partnership with Gov. Ramsey, as joint owner.

"When I arrived in Hastings there was one log house in it, which had been built several years before under the pretext of an Indian trading license, to hold the town site-the proprietory interests being owned by the Baillys, Gen. Henry Hastings Sibley and Alexander Faribault, then of Mendota, but now of the town of Faribault in Rice county. The latter subsequently sold out one-third interest to Wm. G. Le Duc. The log trading house stood near the Mississippi, in the centre of Vermillion street, near its junction with Second street, and was long ago pulled down, but not until it had become quite famous to immigrants for the pleasant hospitality displayed there by Mr. and Mrs. William Felton, who now live on a farm a little west of the town. The first house, after this, was my own, as I have stated, next the store of the Baillys was erected, and soon afterward the hotel of the town, long known as the "New England House," on Second street, was built, both by the town proprietors. The first white man to settle on the town site after the treaty was made, was myself. Mr. Felton was the next and his good lady was the first white woman settler. MY wife, Mrs. Hannah E. Foster, was the next lady settler of the town. One of the earliest houses built in the vicinity, was by Mr. Gillson, occupied by him, his wife and two daughters.
When I came down to the site of Hastings, on the 12th of August, 1851. Mr. Bailly took me to see the Vermillion Falls, which was then in undisturbed natural beauty. Here I found a pole shanty, occupied by a young man named Van Rensaeller, who had been in the "patriot", war in Canada, and was holding (under a trader's license) the Falls claim for himself, for Justus C. Ramsey (brother of the Governor) and others. Finally, after being sustained a good while by his partners, he "sold" them and their claim out to Harrison Graham and Wm. G. LeDuc, and emigrated to the Pacific. We also found at this Falls shanty, Abraham Truax, who was in Van Rensaeler's employ, but who had a shanty and claim of his own on the other side of the Rermillion, just below the Falls.
The way the town came to be named was, I have always understood, in this wise: Each of the original proprietors agreed to put into a hat one slip of paper with the name he preferred written thereon, and the first name drawn out should be that of the town. Mr. Sibley put in his own middle name of Hastings, and this being drawn became the name of the new town. Before this name was bestowed upon the site, "Olive Grove" was its accepted designation. This name originated in the fact that Lieut. Oliver, of the United

States army, coming up the river late in the fall, with a "Durham" boat, loaded with supplies for the garrison at Fort Snelling, was stopped at this point by the ice, and that, he camped here in the woods all winter, guarding the stores, which were conveyed as wanted to the Fort. The spot where he wintered became known as the "woods or grove where Oliver camped," and, by easy transitions, was named first Oliver's Grove, and finally Olive Grove. I remember that there were some who urged the retention of this smooth name for the new city, when it was laid out; but I probably aided in preventing its adoption by scouting the idea of so tropical a name in so cold a climate as ours, where the growth of olives is an impossibility.

I have referred to the beautiful Lake Isabel, in the town site, on the south shore of which my house was built. It was so named by the Baillys, from a female member of the family; but the Indians had another name for it, signifying "The Lake of the Spirit Bear." Mato is "bear" in the Dakota tongue, and Waukon supernatural or spirit, and I have sometimes called the lake Matowauha or Matowauga. Their legend in regard to the Lake was this: That the woods at the lower end, near Vermillion Slough, were haunted by the ghost of a monstrous animal- a sort of grizzly bear-and that whoever ventured into its haunts became its prey. The origin of this legend is probably to be found in the fact that, the town site of Hastings, being the extreme verge of the Sioux country, and in easy shooting distance of war parties of the Chippewas of the St. Croix river, it was a dangerous locality for Indians of the Sioux tribe to frequent, and no doubt in the course of long time many individuals had found their fate from their hereditary enemies in these WOOODS; and the real bear of the Sioux, legend was a Chippewa war party. The lake in question, when the Mississippi is in its spring flood, and backs its waters up into it, fills with fish, which, when the water falls, are retained as in a trap; and, in the early days, in the winter time, I have assisted in catching them with my hands, literally by the wagon load, as they sought, half torpid with the cold, the west side of the lake, where some springs made the water a little warmer. In the early day, after the ice had made, this lake was a natural racing track, and many a spirited contest for horse supremacy has enlivened "The Lake of the Spirit Bear."

There are many incidents and points I might give, connected with the growth of the city and the county, but time and space forbid.
Yours respectfully,
THOMAS FOSTER.

The first birth was in the family of Mr. Edward F. Parker, the 27th of April, 1853, and the little stranger was duly christened Cora.
The first marriage was that of Miss Jeneatte Felton to Mr. Steven Graham, in 1854, the ceremony being performed by Edward F. Parker, Esq.
In 1854 the first school was taught by a man named Gibson, in a claim shanty. The first school house was built the same year.

The Catholics held religious services as early as 1853, in Mr. Felton's house, the priest coming from St. Paul semi-annually to perform mass for his flock. Rev. T. R. Cressy, a minister of the Baptist denomination, commenced preaching in the autumn of 1853, holding his meetings also at the house of Mr. Felton.
The town plat was laid out and surveyed in 1853 by John Blakely, under the direction of Alexis Bailly, senior. The proprietors of the town site at that time were Henry Hastings Sibley, Alexander Faribault, Alexis Bailly and Henry G. Bailly, each owning a fourth interest. The plat was roughly drawn by Mr. Blakely, from his field notes, and afterwards redrawn by Charles L. Emerson, for the lithographer. Mr. Faribault soon transferred his interest to Wm. G. Le Duc, and the claim was entered for the proprietors in the land office at Red Wing on the 20th of October, 1855, and the following winter a government patent was issued therefor.
Few spots can boast of more of nature's handiwork in getting charms in perspective. From the upper terrace or table land looking northward we behold the broad Mississippi flowing onward, in its majesty, and bearing on its bosom boats freighted with the products of the soil, or bringing from foreign shores, or the crowded cities of the East, the thousands who are seeking homes on our fertile prairies, and visitors who come to view the beauties of nature and breathe the fresh and invigorating atmosphere, begotten of this northern latitude. "While on the east lies a beautiful little lake, its waters glancing in the sun's rays like a pool of molten silver, while further on and lying between the two rivers, the Mississippi and the St. Croix, is the village of Point Douglas, with its neat cottages and church spires, and still further, the city of Prescott, in Wisconsin, and the magnificent bluffs beyond, make up the features of a picture worthy the pencil of a master artist, while back from the city is as beautiful a prairie as ever delighted the eye of the beholder and made glad the heart of the husbandman for the generous returns for the seed entrusted to its keeping.

Its prosperity has been continuous and increasing. In June, 1857, Mr. Wheelock, editor of the St. Paul Press, in speaking of the city of Hastings, says: "We recollect when Hastings was considered one of the "paper towns" they tell us of in the eastern papers and elsewhere. It was a 'paper town' apparently, in 1854. In 1855 this paper began to be written in legible characters, and before the fall of that year was already marked with the impress of a bold hand. God has made some towns. We have positive faith in the indications of nature. Now Hastings we consider a foregone "conclusion" from its very situation. It has the very look and air and animus of a town. It has one of the best landings on the Upper Mississippi. Its site is merely the terminal slope of the prairie country which stretches inimitably in its rear till it reaches the Minnesota river on one side and the magnificent valleys of the Cannon and Straight rivers on the other. No bluffs or ravines embarras its communication with the interior. Its roads radiate straight and level as railroads to all points of compass. The valley of the Cannon is the backbone of Hastings, and the thriving agricultural settlements which are filling up the country and appropriating every available quarter section of these valuable lands afford a solid basis for the future commercial growth of the town.
On the first of January, 1856, there were about 700 inhabitants. During the year 1856 the number of inhabitants nearly trebled, as will appear from the fol-lowing extract from the Hastings Journal of that date: "According to the census, recently taken, there are four hundred and twenty-five scholars between the ages of four and twenty-one years. There are seven hundred and ten minors. There are twelve hundred and eight persons of full age. There are seven hundred and eighty females, and eleven hundred and thirty-eight males. The whole number of inhabitants is 1918. More than two-thirds of these, 1280, came since the opening of navigation, April 18, 1856." More than three-fourths of all the buildings in town were erected that year. The following year the county seat was removed, by a vote of the people, from Mendota to this city, on the 17th day of March (St. Pat-rick's Day), 1857, and the county records were removed to Hastings on the 2d day of June following.
In 1860 a bill was passed allowing the people of the county to vote upon the proposition to remove the county seat from Hastings to Pine Bend. At the election the vote stood-for removal of county seat 686; against the removal, 1125.

In 1868 the Legislature passed an act allowing the people to again vote upon the proposition of removal of county seat-this time from Hastings to Farmington, but the proposition was lost by between five and six hundred votes.

Towards the last of May, 1852, Mr. Wm. Felton left Pittsburg, and came by way of St. Louis to Wabasha, where he arrived on the 13th of June. On the 3d of July he left on an exploring expedition. There was no settlement between Wabasha and Red Wing, and none from there to Hastings, and nothing at this point but the log house of H. G. Bailly, who kept a kind of trading post for the Indians, which was the only house, except Dr. Foster's, from Red Wing to Mendota. Mr. Felton arrived at this point on the 4th of July, and camped on the prairie on the elevated plateau back from the town. After satisfying himself in regard to the location, he returned to Wabasha, and on the 6th of September again started for this place, this time accompanied by his family. On his arrival he rented Mr. Bailly's trading house and opened the first boarding house and tavern in this section of country. Mr. Felton lived here four years. In 1854 Mr. Felton built the first wharf ever built on the levee in this place. He was elected Justice of the Peace the same year, being the first elected in the county, though Edward F. Parker, Esq., had been acting as Justice since the spring of 1852, under a commission from Alex. Ramsey, as Territorial Governor. In 1853 quite an immigration was had, though mostly of single men and explorers. In 1854 the tide of immigration set in strongly, and a large increase was the result.

This year Mr. Felton established a ferry across the Mississippi, fixing the rate of crossing at ten cents, and sometimes at the commencement he could not clear ten cents a day, but before the close of navigation the population and travel had so largely increased that his receipts were not infrequently from $8 to $10 per day.

City of Hastings

CITY OF HASTINGS.
At the session of the Territorial Legislature in 1857, an act was passed, incorporating the city of Hastings, and at the election in May, the following officers were elected:
Mayor-Dr. A. H. Hanchett.
Aldermen-1st Ward, E. D. Barker and Thomas Hope; 2d Ward, O. T. Hays and H. B. Plant; 3d Ward, E.G. Freeman, and William Lee.
John F. Marsh was qualified as City Recorder, and Ethan North as City Justice.
Dr. Hanchett resigned before his term expired, and Alderman Hope was elected Acting Mayor for the remainder of the term. Alderman Plant also resigned and D. F. Langley was elected to fill the vacancy.
1858. Mayor-H. H. Day; Aldermen-Messrs. Hope, Griswold, Carll, Boyle, Lee and Hays: Recorder-H. J. Rogers.

A new charter taking the place of the old one, on the 5th of June, 1858. The following named officers were declared elected for the ensuing year:
Mayor-H. H. Day; Aldermen-J. B. Griswold,. S. S. Carll, William K. Rogers, and David Barker; City Clerk-H. J. Rogers.
1859. Mayor-John F. Marsh; Aldermen-Messrs. Mulloney, Eichhorn, Dutton, and Casserly; City-Clerk-A. Mackeracker; City Justice-I. M. Ray; City Attorney-L. Smith.
Mayor Marsh resigned his office in November of this year and Orrin T. Hays was elected to fill the vacancy. In May, 1860, the office of City Clerk was declared vacant, and L. W. Collins was elected to fill the vacancy.
1860. Mayor-John L. Thorne; Aldermen- Messrs. Marvin, Eichhorn, Dutton and Leach: Clerk- J. F. Kennerson; Attorney-L. Smith.
In November Mr. Kennerson resigned the office of Clerk, and L. W. Collins was elected to fill the vacancy.
1S61. Mayor-D. F. Langley; Aldermen-Messrs. Barnum, Allen, White and Van Duzee; Clerk-C. A. Baker; Attorney-C. W. Nash; Treasurer, A.M. Pell; Marshal, Charles Lewis; Surveyor. H. J.. Rogers; Police Justice, J. R. Claggett.
1862. Mayor, P. Yan Auken; Alderman, Messrs. Waldhier, Ainsworth, Meloy and Johnson; Clerk. L. W. Collins; Attorney, F. M. Crosby; Marshal Charles Lewis; Treasurer, R. J. Marvin; Police Justice, O. T. Hays.

In August Mr. Collins resigned the office of City Clerk, and C. P. Fuller was elected his successor, but in December, he also resigned and B. C. Howes was
elected to the vacancy, who in turn resigned the same month, and Charles Etheridge was selected to supply the place.
1863. Mayor-Col. J. L. Thorne; Aldermen- Messrs. Meloy, Rehse, Schaler and Taylor; Clerk- G. S. Whitman; Attorney-Seagrave Smith, Treasurer; R. J. Marvin; Marshal, A. G. Erdman; P. Hartshorn.
1864. Mayor-Hon. John L. Thorne; Aldermen, Messrs. Wilson, White Simon and Lovell; Attorney, L. Van Slyck; Treasurer, R. J. Marvin; Marshal,
Edwin S. Fitch.
1865. Mayor-Royal Lovel; Aldermen-Messrs. Ainsworth, Eichhorn, Simon and Draper; Clerk-C. A. Baker; Attorney-L. Van Slyck; Treasurer-R. J. Marvin; Marshal-E. S. Fitch.

In September Mayor Lovell resigned his office and Mark Wilson was elected to fill the vacancy. Alderman Ainsworth also resigned and John White was elected his successor.
1866. Mayor-J. E. Finch. J Aldermen-Messrs. Latto, Rich Stearns and Taylor; Clerk-John A. Morton; Attorney- L.Van Slyck; Treasurer-R. J. Marvin; Marshal- M. Maloney.
1867. Mayor-D. E. Eyre; Aldermen-Messrs. Rehse, E. A. Rich, Simon Haas, P. Van Auken, B. C. Hawes and W. Ainsworth: Clerk-G. S. Whitmam; Attorney-F. . M. Crosby; Treasurer- R. J. Marvin; Marshal-Charles Lewis; Police Justice- David Barker. Mr. Barker resigned and E. Parliman was elected in his stead as Police Justice.
1868. Mayor-D. E. Eyre; Aldermen-Messrs. J. F. Rehse, L. L. Ferry, P. Van Auken, John Peller, B. C. Howes, Charles A. Baker; Clerk-G. S. Whitman; Attorney-F. M.Crosby ;Treasurer-S. J. Marvin; Marshal-Charles Lewis; Police Justice- E. Parliman.

The Board of Education of the city of Hastings consists of two school inspectors for each ward, six 6 in all, organized by special act of the Legislature, passed
1866. At the first election, April, 1866, the following gentlemen were elected: 1st Ward-Edmund Eichhorn, L. Van Slyck;
2d Ward-G. S. Winslow and F. M. Crosby; 3d. Ward- P. T. Chamberlin, Seagrave Smith.
P. T. Chamberlin was elected President and is the present incumbent. Rev. C. S. LeDuc was elected Secretary and Treasurer, and resigned in September.
1867. F. M. Crosby was appointed to fill the vacancy, and resigned in March, 1868. Rev. I. M. Ray was appointed to fill the vacancy and is the present
incumbent.
Messrs. Chamberlain and Winslow were re-elected at the annual election in 1867. J. B. Tozer was also elected at the same election. In April, 1867, F. M. Crosby resigned and C. M. Churchill was appointed to fill the vacancy. In December, 1867, Seagrave Smith resigned and Rev. I. McRay was appointed to fill the vacancy.

At the annual election, April, 1868, M. McHugh was elected for the 1st ward, C. M. Churchill for the 2d ward, and D. B. Truax for the 3d ward. The present Board is as follows:
1st Ward-G. S. Winslow and M. McHugh; 2d Ward-J. B. Tozer and C. M. Churchill; 3d Ward- P. T. Chamberlain and D. B. Truax.
The first bank in Hastings was merely a bank of exchange, and operated, by Thorne & Follett, in 1856. In 1859 Mr. Thorne made it a bank of issue, with a capital of $25,000, called Thorne's Bank. On the same day that the bills were issued, Messrs. Follett & Rennick issued bills on the Bank of Hastings. The Bank of Hastings is now known as the First National, and Thorne's Bank as the Merchants' National.

The Star Works Manufacturing Company went into operation in 1866, with the following officers: J. F. Rehse President, W. F. Bacon Secretary, Charles Pearson Superintendent. They manufacture all kinds of agricultural implements, railroad work, &c., and employ about fifteen men, doing an annual business of from $20,000 to $30,000.

Of the settlement at the Falls we cannot do better perhaps than to give an extract of a letter from Gen, W. G. LeDuc on that subject. Mr. LeDuc says:

"Some time during the year 1853 or 1854, I went from St. Paul, where I was then residing, practising law and in business, fishing to Trout Brook, twelve miles below Hastings. On my return, while, fording the Vermilion, I was met by Harrison H. Graham, for whom I had some legal business in hand, and who informed me that he had made a claim of the quarter section embracing the Vermilion Falls, that there was a dispute in relation to the claim, and he wished me to defend his case; that the party holding, James Main I think the name was, did not pretend to hold the claim for himself, but said he held for Alex. Wilkin and others in St. Paul. I took the case, and after some litigation, succeeded in obtaining the patent for my client, Graham. He was poor, unable to pay any fees and had borrowed of me between one and two thousand dollars, and after entry was completed and patent issued, he offered me one half of his claim in payment of indebtedness. Subsequently he borrowed more money, amounting to several thousand dollars, and became indebted to many other persons, and finally offered to sell me the remaining half interest if I would pay his debts, assume all joint debts on the property and give him $7,000 cash, which offer I accepted, and the property was transferred, I think, early in 1856. Up to this time I had regarded my interest in the property in the town site of Hastings, one-fourth of which I purchased of Alex. Faribault, as a mere speculative transaction. But after buying out Graham, I examined the property thoroughly and found myself possessed of one of the most beautiful and desirable waterfalls in the world, with a little farm house of two rooms, and a clumsy back woods mill with two run of stone, the stones being one four and a half and the other four feet in diameter and each placed on top of the water shaft which drove them, said shaft being a tree cut from the woods near and rounded roughly, the foot being rounded, and standing in a cast iron dish resting upon the lever which raised the stone. The mill machinery was driven by the friction of a wooden wheel on this shaft rolling, on a smaller wooden wheel, which had to be renewed as fast as worn out. I don't think there was a cogged wheel in the concern. The water wheels on the foot of the driving shafts were percussion wheels of wood made roughly by Graham, and answered the purpose of grinding the grain of the farmers around. I took out this machinery and rebuilt the mill, a millwright named Bowers superintending the work, and who was unfortunately drawn into the machinery, while starting the same for the first time, and crushed so that he died the next day. This mill I afterwards improved and enlarged, and previous to entering the army, sold, with twenty acres of land, to Messrs. Harrison of Illinois for $20,000. One of the Harrisons died, and the other sold the property to Stephen Gardner for $27,000. Mr. Gardner immediately proceeded to erect the substantial stone mill which now embelishes the north bank of the Vermilion at the Falls."
This mill is one of the finest in the country, and with an exhaustless supply of power, it is considered the most valuable mill property in this part of the State. Vermilion mills flour bears an extra price in the market wherever it has become known. The Dakota Mills, situated on the lower Falls of the Vermilion, about a mile below, is the property of Gov. Alexander Ramsey. The building is of stone and has an excellent water power, but is not so easy of access as the Vermilion, neither are the mills of so great capacity, yet the power is sufficient to admit of enlarging to almost any extent the proprietor may wish.

Vermilion Falls, a view of which we give, is perhaps as beautiful a waterfall as any in this land of "shy-tinted waters." Longellow has probably not seen it, and so it has escaped the rythmic rhapsodies he is wont to bestow upon the beauties of natural scenery. No dusky maiden sitting on its banks has poured out her sad wail for broken heart-hopes for some swarthy brave, and consequently no traditions or legends are connected therewith; yet to the admirer of nature's lavish beauties, it is one of the most enchanting scenes to be found, and new beauties arise from each separate stand-point. The sheer descent is about sixty feet, though broken for the first twenty-feet, and then the remaining forty feet falls in one unbroken sheet to the gorge below. The banks are precipitous on either side and to reach the bed of the river at the foot of the falls one must go some distance below to find a place of safe descent. It only needs the pen of the poet or the pencil of the master artist to make Vermilion Falls one of the most enchanting scenes ever designed by the Master Architect and thrown out of nature's great storehouse for the benefit and delight of mankind.

The Hastings and Dakota Railroad is so completely Identified with the history and the interests of the city of Hastings, that it will not be inappropriate to give something of a sketch of its inception and progress.

As early as 1850, Hon. W. G. LeDuc succeeded in getting a bill passed by the Territorial Legislature granting a charter for the building of the Hastings, Minnesota River and Red River of the North Railroad. A company was organized under the provisions of the charter and the organization maintained up till the time of the breaking out of the war, when all local enterprises were forgotten or laid aside to attend to the demands of the country in its hour of peril, and railroads that had been projected but not commenced were all at a stand-still. Meantime the Minnesota Central, now Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railroad, was built through nearly the centre of the county, and consequently drew largely from the trade and business of Hastings. The business men of the city were somewhat depressed in spirit on account of the reaction and the cutting off of the rich agricultural region which had heretofore been tributary thereto, and resolved to make another effort to put themselves in railroad communication with the outside world, and during the session of the Legislature of 1866, Gen. LeDuc, who had just returned from the war, succeeded in getting a renewal of the charter for that road, as well as legislative authority for the city of Hastings to issue bonds to aid in the construction of the road. A memorial to Congress asking a grant of lands for this road was also passed by the Legislature. Mr. LeDuc, immediately upon the adjournment of the Legislature, repaired to Washington, and with the aid of the Hon. I. Donnelly, member of Congress from Hastings, sustained by the whole delegation from Minnesota, a grant was obtained of ten sections per mile. A competent engineer was employed to run a preliminary survey from Big Stone Lake to Hastings. The survey was pushed forward as fast as possible. As the first snows of winter whitened the landscape the last stake was stuck on the banks of the Mississippi. Early the following spring grading was commenced, and as the city had voted to issue bonds to the amount of $100,000 to aid the enterprise, people began to have some confidence in its ultimate success, feeling assured that the road would at least be built as far as Farmington, to connect with the Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railway, and thus give them a railroad connection with the East. Work was pushed forward as rapidly as funds could be procured, and in 1867 nearly twenty miles of the road was graded.

Thus far everything had been done by the unaided efforts of the people of Hastings; an unwearied search was meantime being made for capital with which to push the work to completion, which after many disappointments was at last crowned with success. An arrangement was entered into with Oakes Ames, of Massachusetts, to furnish $200,000 and take one half interest in the road, it being stipulated that the company should finish thirty miles of the road, and he should receive one half interest for the sum above mentioned. This arrangement was finally concluded in July of 1868, and the work thereupon hurried forward with the utmost rapidity consistent with economy. The company have now thirty miles of the road in operation, with freight and passenger cars running thereon. The iron used in the construction of the road is the Welch rail, weighing fifty pounds to the yard. The first engine was made in Providence, R. I., and named for the trustee of the company, Hon. J. B. Alley. It is the intention of the company to complete the road to the Minnesota river in 1869, and through to the western boundary of the State within five years.
The present officers of the company are as follows:
President- Gen. Wm. G. LeDuc.
Secretary and Gen. Agent-Col. C. H. L. Lange.
Treasurer-Stephen Gardiner.
Acting Superintendent-Col. E. A. Williams.
Directors-J. B. Alley, Peter Butler, Oliver Ames, of Boston; William L. Ames, of St. Paul; Stephen Gardner, W. G. LeDuc, Peter Van Auken, E. B. Allen, J. C. Meloy, of Hastings.

Hastings Business Directory

Greenvale

On the 4th of October, 1854, John and James Claque, Thomas Gill, William Kegg, Thomas Hodgson, Robert Moore and Ransom F. Randolph, came into the county of Dakota and settled in what is now known as the town of Greenvale. Being the pioneers, they were for the time shut out from all society- save among themselves, and their whole attention was given to the cultivation of their farms and making for themselves comfortable homes. Men of stout hearts and strong and willing hands, they soon reduced the barren prairie to cultivated and fruitful fields, and in the autumn of 1855, a bountiful harvest was gathered in as the first installment of the returns for the labor bestowed. Some hardships and privations were of course endured, but only such as are generally experienced by the pioneers of a new country, and after the first harvest there were no ap-prehensions of want or hunger coming to their doors. On the 20th of September, 1855, a son was born to William Kegg, who was christened William Kegg, Jr., and whose death occurred on the 19th of October following, these being the first birth and death occuring in the town. On the third day of April, 1856. Miss Elizabeth Jane Symonds was married to Mr. Billious Pond, which is supposed to be the first transaction of that nature that occurred in Greenvale. In 1856 a school was opened by Mr. Charles King, and the young ideas of the neighborhood were taught to aim high in their striving after education, fame and renown. Religious service was held in 1856 by Rev. Thomas Dodge, though no church was at that time organized. Agricultural pursuits are the only business of the town. The soil is of a black, sandy loam, Very quick in production, and yielding the best quality of grain, though not as large quantities, as in some towns that have a heavier soil, with clay subsoil. Chub Creek is the principal stream that furnishes water, though no water power is afforded. There is plenty of timber for all purposes of fuel and fencing. At the time Greenvale was organized the following named gentlemen were chosen to administer the town government:
Chairman of Supervisors-E. B. Carter.
Associates-A. B. Hale and W. J. Whittaker.
Assessor-Samuel E. Finney.
Collector-R. F. Randolph.
Justices-H. E. C. Barrett and S. C. Howell.
Constables-R. F.Randolph and Robert Moore.

In 1867 S. C. Howell was elected as Representative to the State Legislature. Mr. Howell has also served as County Commissioner for some years.
No business aside from the agricultural pursuits of the farmers is carried on in the town. No wonders of natural scenery vary the beauty of the landscape, consequently the history of Greenvale is told in few words. The citizens are of an enlightened and enterprising class, and will make it a wealthy and influential community as time and labor developed the sources of material wealth that lie hidden in the soil.

West St. Paul

George W. H. Bell left Potosi, in Wisconsin, and journeyed to the Territory of Minnesota. St. Paul was a quiet village, not yet dignified as a city. Being much interested with the country, he climbed St. Anthony Hill and looked over the face of the country on either side of the river, and with prophetic eye saw in the future a beautiful and enterprising city on the banks of the Mississippi, bustling with trade and commerce, the arrival and departure of steamboats and cars, and all the activity and life of a commercial town. But, unluckily for him, he calculated the city on the west side of the river, and in accordance with this view, he found a canoe and crossed the river on an exploring expedition. Alexander McLeod and Henry Balland had claims and had built cabins. Thomas Odell also had a claim on the top of the bluff, near his present residence, and was keeping a kind of trading post for the Indians. These were the only settlers on this side of the river, and Mr. Bell becoming enamored with the country, concluded to make a claim and remove his family, if they were willing. The spot he selected was a fine table land elevated somewhat above the bottom lands of the Mississippi, yet sheltered by the bluffs in the back ground. It was a lovely site and had the city been built on that side of the river it would have been one of the most desirable locations in the town. A treaty of peace had just been made with the Indians, and all that section of country ceded to the United States, so that settlers had little to fear from them, other than occasional annoyances. Mr. Bell's claim was in the direct trail of Little Crow's band of warriors. Mr. Bell and family feeling that if they treated the red man as they would the white all would be well, concluded to try their fortunes on the site selected, and soon had their cabin erected and themselves domiciled therein. It was sometime before other white settlers took up their residence on this side of the river, and it frequently tried the nerves of Mr. Bell and his family to remain in possession of their claim, as there were times when the Indians under the influence of liquor would make such demonstrations as to alarm timid people and make watchful the stoutest hearted.

In the spring of 1852 Morgan Sweeney removed to West St. Paul and settled on a claim adjoining Mr. Bell. But the Sioux having become restless on account of the delay in the ratification of the treaty, grew somewhat troublesome, and one day a party of squaws made a raid upon the family of Mr. Sweeney and drove them from their cabin, while the younger ones drove his cow to the bluffs and gave such demonstrations that Sweeney thought it prudent to go back to St. Paul, which resolution he immediately put into execution. Many interesting incidents might be related of the first settlement and pioneer life among the Indians on the western shore of the great Father of Waters.

In the fall of 1857 the population had so much increased that the town was laid out and surveyed and preparations were active to build up a city, a charter was obtained, and West St. Paul immediately commenced to put on the dignity and airs of a city. At the municipal election that was held in the spring of 1858, the following named persons were elected to administer the government of the new city:

Mayor - G. W. H. Bell.
Aldermen - 1st Ward, W. Derrick. A: Alexander; 2d Ward, William Irvine, James Lowry.
Treasurer-J. Vanderhorck.
City Marshal-William Wright.
City Justice-A. R. French.

The first message of His Honor the Mayor was somewhat elaborate, and spoke of the wonderful future of the embryo city when it should become full-fledged and the termini of various railroads that would inevitably centre here. The people, ever on the alert to possess themselves of every advantage that could be made available, proceeded at once to obtain a charter for the Minnesota and West St. Paul Railroad. The company was organized, consisting of William R. Marshall, James M. Winslow, D. W. C. Dunwell, Amos W. Hall, Artemus Gale, -- Landfere, D. A. Robertson and C. D Gilfillan. A percentage of the stock was paid in and the law in all respects conformed to. The route was surveyed, the right of way obtained, and all things seemed to be in a nourishing condition, but when the Cedar Valley Railroad Company failed it had a discouraging effect upon other railroad enterterprises. and among others the Minnesota and West St. Paul road was abandoned.

Before the abandonment of the railroad project excitement ran high in regard to city property in West St. Paul. Real estate reached the highest figures and transfers were very brisk. J. Vanderhorck built a store and opened a stock of goods. Mr. Alexander built a mill and other buildings followed rapidly, till it really appeared as though there was a brilliant future in store for the new city. There were four dry goods and grocery stores, a bakery, a hardware and tin store, two blacksmith shops, one hotel and three saw mills, Bonds were issued by the city and roads and bridges were built, and all seemed on the high road to prosperity. But in the spring of 1859 the Mississippi overflowed its banks, and a general inundation ensued. Scarce a house in the city escaped the flood of waters. A terrible reaction took place, and city bonds which were worth eighty-one cents in the market were hard to dispose of at thirty cents. An attempt was made at the next session of the Legislature to have the city charter repealed, but finally the bill was withdrawn, and the city began to revive.

William Irvine was elected Mayor at the second municipal election, and he in turn was succeeded by G. W. H. Bell, D. TV. C. Dunwell being the last one elected, as the spring floods of 1861 so effectually drowned the enterprise of the city as well as the city proper that utter depopulation followed, and at the next session of the Legislature the city charter was repealed. The population had reached some 700 or 800, but after the severe wetting of 1861 it fell off till there were very few left. During the war every able-bodied man either enlisted or sent a substitute to the army and left the working force at home very much reduced. The Indian massacres of the frontier also made a drain upon the home supply till the colony had scarcely a working man left. Business was left entirely at a stand still, and not until 1865 did it begin to revive. About this time several persons commenced different branches of business, but were wise enough to locate on the elevated plateau above the bottom lands of the Mississippi. The present business of West St. Paul is represented as follows:
Dealers in dry goods and groceries, McAdams & Fabor, J. McCarty, Michael Itin and Matthias Itin; a hardware store by M. Itin ; Joseph Minne and August Yost, blacksmiths; H. G. Peters, wagon maker; Strong, shoemaker; M. J. Bell, postmaster.

The Catholics have a very neat church edifice, in which services are held every Sabbath. Rev. Father Ireland of St. Paul has charge of the church. The Methodists have a hall very well fitted up for service. Rev. Mr. Bolls is the pastor of the church.

There is only one school house in the town, though there are over one hundred pupils to receive the benefits of education, and at the last town election one hundred and ninety-nine votes were polled.

The first school was taught in West St. Paul by Miss Scamman. The first birth was that of Charles Dacotah Bell, son of G. W. H. and Mary P. Bell, on the 28th of June, 1853. The first marriage was solemnized by James Locke, Esq.

Douglas

THE history of the town of Douglas commences with the year 1855, when John Russell, James Keetley, Mr. Sedman, Benjamin Hare, Zarah Taplin, Barney Gerringer, Arnold Schweitzer and some others pitched their tents and resolved to try their fortunes in that locality. All being farmers their first efforts were of course directed to breaking the prairie and preparing for future harvests. No startling events marked or marred the quiet of the neighborhood, but seed time and harvest with their labor and their rewards came in their regular season and crowned with success the hardy pioneer who had thus sought to make the wilderness blossom as the rose, and reduce the wilderness prairie to fruitful fields. Douglas is an even government township, with just thirty-six sections of land, well watered by the Cannon River and Trout Brook. The river furnishes a very fair water power, which is as yet unimproved. Timber is plenty for fuel and fencing.

The first birth of a white person in Douglas was that of George Borrell on the 28th of February. 1856. The first death was of Mr. Clure in 1860, while the first marriage ceremony was postponed till the 8th of March, 1864, when S. S. Twitchell and Miss Sally Dance entered into an arrangement to have the marital rites performed, and perform the remainder of the journey of life in partnership.

In 1850 a school was taught by Mrs. A. Doxtader, and religious services held as early as 1858, by Rev. Mr. Shaw, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, from Hastings. There are no stores or hotels in the town. There are six school houses and one church edifice built, by Methodists in 1866.
The following named persons have officiated as Chairman of Supervisors and Town Clerk for the town of Douglas:

The following named have acted as Justices of the Peace:
H. Van Auken, D. R. Twitchell, S. S. Twitchell, Oliver Patch, Samuel Lamphere, William Gray, John McNamer, John Kerne and Henry Pyle

The Cannon river runs along the south line of the town and affords an excellent water power just where the Granville Mills are situated. The mill is located on the south bank of the river in Goodhue county, and affords sufficient milling accommodations to all that section of country tributary thereto.

Sciota

SCIOTA was first settled by John C. Couper, John H. Couper, William H. Conver, Stephen Casey, Charles Lewis, Sr., Charles Lewis, Jr., A. J. Kibbey, J. Simmons, Edwin Hone, George Daniels, John Hoople, John R. Jones, C. B. Collins, E, J.B. Higgins, H. Woodworth, N. Woodworth and C. P. Bullock, all of whom settled in town the same year.

The first school was taught by Miss Rosetta Emmons, and the first birth was that of Ida Bullock, while the first death was that of Mrs. A. J. Kibbey, in the winter of 1856. Mr. Z. Lewis was married in December of 1855, and the first religious service was held by Rev. Timothy Wilcoxen, now of Hastings. Stephen N. Casey had the honor of building the first store, while C. B. Collins has for erecting the first hotel. Most of the dates we have been unable to get accurately, and in consequence we have not given them. The land is nearly all a prairie, there being only about two acres of timber in the town. The soil is very sandy, and consequently not as well adapted to the cultivation of wheat as are many other towns in the county, the average yield of that cereal being not more than from twelve to fifteen bushels per acre. The town is watered by the Cannon river and some small creeks. A village called Lewiston was platted and laid out by Charles Lewis, who afterwards sold an undivided interest to Stephen Casey, and there being an excellent water power added to many other natural advantages, made the prospect for a thriving village at no very distant day quite flattering. But the town proprietors put their property right up to the highest speculative point, and far above the reach of those who would have settled if they could have procured lots at reasonable figures, and the consequence was that the town never became full fledged, and in a short time it died a natural death, and sank into oblivion to rise no more.

Since the organization of the town under State authority in 1858, the following named persons have acted as Chairman of Supervisors and Town Clerk:

Inver Grove

ALBERT WEBSTER, William A. Bissell, H.P. Sweet, David C. Murray, with some others, were the first settlers in Inver Grove, located at Pine Bend on the Mississippi river, and commenced building a town, which was at that time known as Centralia, a post office having been established by that name and H. P. Sweet appointed postmaster. But little business was done till 1857, the only store being kept by the postmaster, Mr. Sweet, who kept on hand a small stock of groceries, but this year Hon. H. G. O. Morrison, a lawyer from Maine, came to the place and invested considerable capital, erected a flouring mill, a saw mill and shingle machine, a store and several dwelling houses. Mr. Morrison had partners in each branch of business, the mills being operated by Morrison, Wright & Co., and the store by Morrison & Wright. The same year the Chambers Brothers built and put in operation a large two-story building for a hotel and boarding house.
In 1858, Mr. Theophilus Cushing, an extensive lumber dealer from Maine, came to this town, bringing all the machinery for a large saw mill, which he located at Merrimac, five miles above Pine Bend, and on the northern line of the town. Mr. Cushing expended some $28,000 in the enterprise, but when the western bubble burst in that year, this was among those that could not hold a footing, and with the general crash this went too. This so disgusted the proprietors that they returned to Maine, and the mill was finally sold to Wm. L. Ames, of St. Paul, or what the freshet had spared, who removed the machinery.

The town plat of Pine Bend was made by H. G. O. Morrison, William A. Bissell, Robert Foster and A. A. Lovejoy, and surveyed by William Dwilley, Jr., in 1857, and high hopes were entertained by the proprietors of soon seeing a large city, or at least a very enterprising one, built up at this point. Morrison and Co. kept their mills in operation till 1862, and also the store, but the financial crisis of 1857-8 so crippled the business resources of the proprietors that other towns took the lead, and Pine Bend lost its prestige and became one of the things that were.

Some time in 1859 or 1860, Mr. Willoughby built a large house near the centre of Inver Grove, and opened it as a hotel, being on the direct road to St. Paul from Cannon Falls and Hastings, it was a very great accommodation, and soon became a noted stopping point for travellers.

There is now in the town only one store, which is owned by E. F. Crocker, who is also present postmaster of Pine Bend, a large grain warehouse, owned by Thompson & Sanborn, one blacksmith shop, one physician, at Pine Bend, Dr. Munson, and one, Dr. Barton, at Merrimac. Dr. Barton has also in operation a fine steam saw mill, located about one mile above the site of Mr. Cushing's.

A Methodist church was erected in 1857 at Pine Bend, and regular church service was kept up for several years, but as the financial pressure depopulated the town the sustaining of a minister was considered too expensive a luxury, and in 1868 the building was sold to the school district and transformed into a first class school house, yet still occupied by the Methodists for church service. There are five other school houses, in the town in convenient localities to accommodate the pupils of the different neighborhoods.

The Catholics have a very neat church edifice, located about a mile from Willoughby's on the stage road to St. Paul. The German Protestants have also a church building in the northern part of the town.

The town is well watered by small streams and little lakes, and has an abundant supply of timber for all purposes where hardwood may be used. The soil is mostly of a black sandy loam, lying on a clay subsoil. There are about ten miles of river coast in the town, it being of very irregular shape, and twelve miles in length from north to south.

Mr. William H. Jarvis, formerly a St. Paul druggist, has a fine nursery of fruit and ornamental trees, and a market garden; from which he furnishes large supplies for the St. Paul market.

Waterford

IN October 1852 a party of explorers started from Cottage Grove in Washington county and traveled on till they came to the Indian crossing on Cannon river, where two of the party, Warren Atkinson and John Lanphear made claims, Atkinson's embracing the old Indian ford, just above the mill dam, in the town of Waterford. They staked out their claims and returned home. In the following May Charles H. Atkinson made a claim adjoining that of his brother, and some breaking was done, but no crops were raised until 1854, when Warren and Charles Atkinson, built a log house and put in some fifteen acres of wheat and about eight or ten to corn and potatoes, and raised an abundant crop. They kept their own house and occasionally entertained guests, which won for their home the soubriquet of Bachelors' Hotel. But in the September following Mr. Ami Nichols and his wife moved into the place and usurped the honors of host and hostess, which closed the Bachelors' Hotel to the public, and so disgusted Warren Atkinson with single life that he entered into a co-partnership with Miss Ellen A. Nichols, whereby they agreed to work and live together so long as life should last. The contract was ratified on the first of January; 1856, and the new couple commenced a new life and a new year simultaneously, which was the first marriage celebrated in the town.

In December, 1853, a post office was established called Waterford, and Warren Atkinson appointed postmaster, and when the township organization took place the name was given to the town by a vote of the people. Mr. Atkinson served as postmaster till December, 1856, when he was succeeded by S. A. Goss, who in turn was succeeded by G. W. Forsyth, who held the office till April. 1862 when Ami Nichols was appointed, who still retains the office.

Some time in August 1855, Jenette M. Howell, daughter of Hon. S. C. Howell, now of Greenvale, was born at the Bachelor's Hall, which was the first birth in town. This same year, a Sabbath school was organized, at the residence of R. C. Masters, and Ami M. Nichols elected Superintendent and Robert C. Masters Secretary. A very good selection of books for a library were made up for the benefit of the school.

The year 1855 was one of real prosperity to the infant colony. In August, S. A. Goss built a store and opened a stock of goods, which made business appear quite brisk.

The first death which occurred in Waterford was that of Michael Simonds, who was drowned in the Cannon river some time in April, 1856. His body was not recovered till the 5th of May following. The first religious service was held at the residence of K. C. Masters, in 1856, and a sermon preached by Rev. Lucian Farnham, of Kendall county, Illinois.

In the fall of that year L. L. Lewis & Co. erected a saw mill just below the Cannon crossing, but during the hard times of 1857 they failed, and the enterprise was abandoned without their obtaining any title to the water power, which still remains unimproved, though it is said to be a good power and a fine opening for some capitalist to build and operate a flouring mill. In November Prescott Giles built a large frame house and operated it as a hotel. A blacksmith shop had been opened the previous year by Orange Mattison, who still operates it, and nearly all the concomitants of a new town were gathered together, and the colony numbered thirty-two families. No school was taught till the summer of 1857, when Miss Lydia Alexander taught a term of six months.

Hon. Robert C. Masters served two sessions in the Territorial Legislature, and the session of 1866 in the State Legislature. Henry W. Tew was elected in the fall of 1863, serving in the session of 1864.

There are two cemeteries in the town, known as the "Red Rose Cemetery," situated in the northeast corner of section seventeen, the land for which was donated by Dr. Ziba Nichols, and "Oak Leaf Cemetery," the lands for which were donated by Hon. Robert C. Masters, is situated on section 30, in a beautiful little grove of native oaks, cherry, crab apple wild plums, &c., on a little hill with sides gently sloping to the south and towards the Cannon river. There have been but nineteen deaths in the whole time since the town was settled, being somewhat over fourteen years.

There are only about two sections of timber in the town, which lie in the southwest part and join what is called the "Big Woods" of the Cannon river.

The voters of Waterford first decided to raise no tax nor give any bounties to soldiers, but when the draft was ordered, they responded very promptly by voting the issue of bonds to pay bounties to volunteers, paying as high as $375 bounty per man until more than the town quota had been enlisted.
The names of Chairman of Supervisors and Town Clerk for Waterford, are as follows, in the order of their election:

NOTES:
In the foregoing pages we have given a statement of the early history of each town and incidents connected therewith, as nearly correct as we could obtain them. We doubt not that we have been in some instances inaccurate, though we have taken great pains, by correspondence and personal visits to the old settlers, to obtain as correct statements as possible. In two or three instances we have received valuable information in regard to certain towns too late for use, the sketch of these towns having already gone to press.
The types, too, made us make a few mistakes. On page 24 we have said the Milwaukee and Minneapolis railroad company operated 656 miles of road when it should have been 850 - and will be next year about 1000. Again, on page 52, we are made to say that Dakota county lies on the east side of the Mississippi river, while the fact is that Dakota county is bounded on the east by the Mississippi. In giving the number of acres of land in the State, there are three cyphers too many annexed, making rather too large extent of country.
We present the cut of the school house at Farmington, on the last page, as the engraver could not get it ready in time to give it in connection with the sketch of the town.
There are also some other small mistakes and some which probably we have not discovered. When such mistakes shall be discovered we shall feel under obligation to any friend who will make them known to us, that we may have them for future reference.

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