HALF CENTURY 
 
 OF 
 
 MINNESOTA 
 
9 
 
A Half Century of Minnesota 
 
 ..AS.. 
 
 TERRITORY AND STATE 
 
 A Concise Account of the Principal Events in the 
 Period of Discovery, Exploration and Settle- 
 ment, and During the Half Century 
 of Territorial and State 
 Government. 
 
 By Horace B. Hudson 
 
 Profusely Illustrated 
 
 1900 
 
5.3752 
 
 < Ol'YIUGHT 180?!. 
 
 Hv HORACE r>. nUDSON 
 
 \' 
 
 TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 
 
 Library of Ccngret% 
 Office of the 
 
 JAN 1 6 1900 
 
 Regltt»r of Copyrigiiic, 
 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 THE YEAR 1899 closes a half century of org-anized government in 
 Minnesota. Nine of these years were passed under the territorial 
 administration and forty-one in statehood; but the distinction matters 
 little. In 1840 Minnesota assumed her name and her position among the 
 geographical and political divisions of the United States. In 1849 
 Minnesota became an entitj-. Since that time she has had a distinct 
 place in this great country; for fifty years her history has been making 
 and her character and position developing. 
 
 And that half century of Minnesota history is well worth preserva- 
 tion. It is worth the while of everj- person living in the state to be in- 
 formed as to the main facts in the story of Minnesota. For few if any 
 of the states of the Union have made greater progress in the first fifty 
 years of their organized existence. This progress has been not alone in 
 increased population and material wealth; Minnesota has, in these five 
 decades, looked well to the higher things of life. An educational system 
 has been established which, while not yet perfect, is recognized as ad- 
 mirable in plan and detail and quite wonderful for a state which a half 
 century ago was largely inhabited by Indians. At the head of this sys- 
 tem is the University of Minnesota, which is now recognized as ranking 
 among the best institutions of its kind in the country. Supplementing 
 the educational system is a group of excellent libraries which under the 
 stimulating influence of sympathetic legislation and enthusiastic pro- 
 motion will, it is believed, increase rapidly in the immediate future. Not 
 less significant has been the progress of the religious life of the state. 
 The leading denominations have found a fertile field among a people 
 whose antecedents and traditions make church affiliations and loyalties 
 most natural. It is noteworthy that in several of the foremost denomina- 
 tions in Minnesota there are individual churches which compare favor- 
 ably in membership, charities and general efficiency with any in the 
 country. 
 
 A community which supports schools and churches liberally is us- 
 ually intelligent, law abiding, honest and patriotic. Such has been 
 found to be the case from the earliest days in Minnesota. From the be- 
 ginnings of things in the settlements near Fort Snelling the press has 
 been a recognized factor in the life of the people. With the establish- 
 ment of every village has gone the founding of a newspaper; the people 
 of Minnesota have always been a reading people — a people well informed 
 
on affairs. Such a community, it goes without sa3'ing, is public spirited 
 and patriotic. Minnesota was the first to respond to the call for troops 
 to suppress the rebellion. (Governor Ramsey made the first tender of a 
 regfiment and a Minnesota man was the first to enlist. In these fifty 
 years the state has been singularly free from the unhappy results of law- 
 lessness; there is little to tell, in the history of the state, of riots, lynch- 
 ings or other outbreaks against lawful authority. It is also true that the 
 state's financial record is clean, the only blot upon its credit — one which 
 seemed almost excusable — having been subsequently obliterate!. 
 
 Minnesota has developed men who have taken most conspicuous 
 places in the councils of the nation and who have international reputa- 
 tions. Not less respected are her business men who have made the prod- 
 ucts of the state known around the world, or her farmers who have de- 
 veloped the resources of the soil. Acting together, the public men, the 
 business men, the farmers — all classes of honest workers — have brought 
 Minnesota in fifty years to an honored and prominent place in the sister- 
 hood of states. And yet the wonderful natural resources of the state 
 are but parti}' developed. But one tenth of the state is under cultivation. 
 The population is a million and a half; if the state were peopled only 
 as densely as Ohio the population would reach seven and a half millions, 
 or more than the present population of New York and New Jersey 
 combined. 
 
 E-very citizen of Minnesota may well be proud of her past, of her 
 present — and look fofward with confidence and pride to her future. And 
 as the mind naturally adapts itself to summing up results and making 
 retrospects at certain fixed periods, the end of Minnesota's first half cen- 
 tury seems an appropriate time in -(^hich to review the principal events 
 in the history of the state. This is the raisoii d'etre of this sketch. There 
 has been no attempt to produce a detailed history of the state; the purpose 
 has been, as may be seen at a glance, to touch briefly upon the important 
 and significant events in Minnesota's history — the events which have 
 affected her career or which have been mile stones in her progress. 
 
 Acknowledgements are due to the Minnesota Historical Society 
 whose collections must furnish the basis of all historical work in this state. 
 Through the courtes_y of the society several illustrations have been re- 
 produced which have special value as the original engravings of the faces 
 and scenes familiar in early days in Minnesota. The writings of the 
 Rev. Edward D. Neil and Mr. J. Fletcher Williams have also been fre- 
 quently consulted. — H. B. H. 
 
Exploration and Early Settlement. 
 
 Minnesota in Mistv Tradition. 
 
 For more than a century alter the discov- 
 ery of America nothing whatever was 
 known of the region about the headwaters 
 of the Mississippi river. During the sev- 
 enteenth century tales of the wonderful 
 country lying west of the Great Lakes be- 
 gan to reach the eastern settlements and 
 were transmitted to Europe, 1)ut for the 
 most part they are so vague and contradict- 
 ory as to be little better than oral tradi- 
 tion. Canada was let that time a French 
 possession and the earliest exploratitju to- 
 wards the west was made by French voy- 
 aguers — men of energy and action, but or- 
 dinarily ignorant and untrustworthy. Their 
 exaggerated reports have little of historical 
 value. Probably the first definite report 
 touching upon the geography of this sec- 
 tion was that carried to Quebec in 1618 by 
 Stephen Brule, a fur trader, who heard, 
 from the Indians, of the great lake known 
 afterwards as Superior. Jean Nicollet, an- 
 other trader, reached Green Bay, on Lake 
 Michigan, in 1634. and learned something 
 of the character of the country lying to the 
 west. .A-Ccording to the most authentic rec- 
 ords tlie first white men to actually set 
 foot on ground now a part of Minnesota. 
 were Medard Chouart and Pierre d'Esprit. 
 known respectively as Sieur Groseilliers 
 and Sieur Radisson. who explored the 
 south shore of Lake Superior and visited 
 the Sioux Indians on a "large inland lake," 
 which was undoubtedly one of the lakes 
 in central Minnesc5ta. Du Luth's explora- 
 tions in 1679 are quite well authenticated. 
 It was he who named the principal streams 
 west of Lake Superior, and for whom the 
 present city at the head of the lakes was 
 named. In the following, year Du Luth 
 ascended the Brule, crossed the divide to 
 the St. Croix and. descending to the Mis- 
 sissippi, met the party sent out by La 
 Salle, which had already penetrated to the 
 Falls of St. .\ntliony and the Mille Lacs 
 region. The explorations of this party 
 were recorded by Father Louis Hennepin, 
 
 a Franciscan priest, who accompanied it; 
 and, though it is now generally conceded 
 that his accounts were untrustworthy, he 
 has been honored in the perpetuation of his 
 name in connection with the large county 
 adjacent to the falls, while the real leader 
 of the party, Michael Accault. has been 
 forgotten. 
 
 Tlie Later Explorers. 
 
 After Hi nnepin the explorers came more 
 frequently and their doings are better au- 
 thenticated. Perrot in 1689 gives the first 
 
 CAPTAIN .loNATIlA.N ('AH\ KR. 
 Kxplortr of lT6t). 
 
 account of the iMinnesota — then the St. 
 Pierre — river. Eleven years afterwards Le 
 Sueur ascended that stream, but, with the 
 exception of some exploration along the 
 Ramy Lake and Lake of the Woods region 
 at the north, little further appears to have 
 been done towards forming a closer ac- 
 quaintance with the country until 1763, 
 when the Canadas passed into the hands of 
 the British. This caused the first of the 
 many divisions of the territory now com- 
 prised in Minnesota which took place be- 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 fore the state finally assumed its present 
 boundaries. Previous to this time the en- 
 tire northwest was claimed by France; now 
 that part of the Minnesota of today east of 
 the Mississippi passed into the hands of 
 England, and all west into the possession 
 of Spain. The English made immediate at- 
 tempts to secure the trade of the Indian 
 trappers, and Jonathan Carver was the first 
 and most noted of the English traders who 
 
 Northwest Territory, of Indiana, of Mich- 
 igan, and of Wisconsin. But for many 
 years it continued to be haunted by Eng- 
 lish and French traders. The famous 
 Northwest Company was organized in 1783. 
 and in 1798 absorbed its principal com- 
 petitors and remained for a long time in 
 almost complete possession of the trade of 
 the region west of Lake Michigan. By the 
 terms of the Louisiana purchase of 1803 
 
 i|ll' NOrVliLLE rnANCK 
 ijfPar Cuillauni,. DE LISIi'i 
 
 jl j '/ P'linrtr tt.\t,/ra/Jtr*fu Urt/ 
 
 APAtilS 
 
 MAP OF CANADA AND THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
 
 Compiled in France by De Lisle from information furnished by Le Sueiir and 
 
 T)"Iberville, the explorers. 
 
 explored parts of Wisconsin and Minne- 
 sota. Carver's alleged purchase of a vast 
 tract oi land, including the site of- St. Paul, 
 is still occasionally referred to as furnishing 
 a valid basis for title claims on the part 
 ef his heirs. Carver visited the Falls of 
 St. Anthony in 1766. With the successful 
 termination of the Revolution in 1783 that 
 part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi 
 passed into the control of the United 
 States, becoming in turn a part of the 
 
 all that part of Minnesota west of the Mis- 
 sissippi became the property of the United 
 States. In 1805 this ground became a part 
 of the territory of Missouri and passed 
 later through the jurisdiction of Michigan, 
 Wisconsin and Iowa. Soon after the trans- 
 fer of Louisiana from Spain, Capt. Zebu- 
 Ion M. Pike was sent into the region of 
 the upper Mississippi to explore the rivers 
 and expel the British traders. Pike ac- 
 quired for the government, by treaty with 
 
A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 9 
 
 the Sioux, a tract of land including the 
 present sites of Fort Snelling reservation 
 and the city of Minneapolis, and expelled 
 most of the obnoxious traders or secured 
 their promises of allegiance. But these 
 promises seem to have had little weight, 
 for the British influences continued to 
 make themselves felt until long after the 
 war of 1812. The hard feeling engendered 
 by frequent collisions was heightened hy 
 the mistaken efforts of Lord Selkirk, who 
 founded a colony in United States terri- 
 tory on the Red River. Selkirk undoubt- 
 edly had the highest of motives, but his 
 misdirected colonization was naturally in- 
 terpreted as meaning an intention to sc- 
 
 hemes on the Mississippi near Fort Snell- 
 ing. They were the first to farm the soil of 
 Minnesota, and with true Swiss instincts 
 introduced cattle and dairying, thus laying 
 the foundations for the present magnificent 
 dairy interests of Minnesota. 
 
 Military Occupation. 
 
 Up to this time there had been no regu- 
 lar exercise of governmental authority in 
 Minnesota. In i8ig that section of the 
 present state east of the Mississippi became 
 a part of Crawford county, Michigan, but 
 there is no record of any exercise of the 
 territorial government's powers. The ne- 
 cessities of the frontier called for military 
 
 Tin; Ul.a TUWEK t)N THE BLUFF'S EDCiE AT FOKT S^'ELLI^'U. 
 
 cure the rich fur trade of the northwest for 
 British interests. 
 
 The First Farmers. 
 
 To Selkirk, however, belongs the credit 
 for having first demonstrated the possi- 
 bilities of agriculture in Minnesota. A part 
 of the emigrants whom the misrepresenta- 
 tions of his agents induced to leave their 
 homes in Europe were Swiss from the vi- 
 cinity of Berne, who were brought to Lake 
 Winnipeg in 1822 by the perilous route 
 through Hudson Bay, and soon became 
 dissatisfied and gradually deserted the Sel- 
 kirk colony, and some of them sought 
 
 control, and this was provided by General 
 Jacob Brown, then at the head of the 
 army, who ordered the establishment of a 
 military post at the confluence of the Min- 
 nesota and Mississippi rivers. The order 
 was issued in February, 1819, and during 
 the following summer a military expedition 
 reached Mendota. On September loth of 
 the following year Col. Josiah Snelling, 
 who had taken command, laid the corner- 
 stone of the fort which has since borne his 
 name. Fort Snelling became the emblem 
 of the authority of the United States gov- 
 ernment, and the presence of troops at the 
 
10 
 
 A HALF CEXTURV OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 station undoubtedly had a salutary effect 
 upon the Indians. 
 
 Agency System Introduced. 
 
 With the introduction of military power 
 came the system of managing the Indians 
 through the so-called "Indian agent." The 
 first person to hold this position in what 
 is now Minnesota was Lawrence Talia- 
 ferro, who was appointed by President 
 Monroe in 1819, and who became one of 
 the striking figures of early Minnesota his- 
 tory. He was a veteran of the War of 
 1812 and an officer of the regular army 
 when appointed Indian agent. Even at 
 this early date the Indian question had 
 become a troublesome one. There were 
 occasional outrages perpetrated upon the 
 
 wheels were installed and wheat and logs 
 were converted into flour and lumber. The 
 old mill at the Falls of St. Anthony, 
 which was a landmark during the earlier 
 days of Minnesota, was built to provide 
 supplies for the fort, and was constructed 
 by the soldiers. At first it produced only 
 lumber, but was afterwards fitted up with 
 mill stones sent up from St. Louis. The 
 only wheat to be ground was that raised at 
 Fort Snclling. Later when the improve- 
 ment of the Falls of St. Anthony was un- 
 dertaken on a more extensive plan, the old 
 mill was useful in supplying the lumber 
 needed for the dam and mill frames 
 
 Beginnings of Commerce. 
 
 Commerce began in Minnesota when 
 
 RKD RIYER (WRT.s ENHOUTE. 
 
 The earliest form of overland transportation in the Northwest. These cart> were used to ship furs 
 from the North\vest Territories to St. Paul and were loaded with merchandise for the 
 return trip. This photograph was taken in 1862. 
 
 whites and constant feuds between the 
 Ojibways and their hereditary enemies, the 
 Dakotahs. It required the training of an 
 army officer and the wisdom and courage 
 of a veteran to deal successfully with them. 
 From all accounts Taliaferro handled the 
 savages as well as could be expected, and 
 he retained the confidence of the govern- 
 ment during his long service, which ex- 
 tended to 1840. 
 
 The First Mill Wheels Turn. 
 
 Manufacturing began in Minnesota in 
 1821. True, it was on a very meagre scale 
 and not on a commercial basis; but water 
 
 the first French explorer bartered with the 
 Indians for furs, giving in exchange some 
 worthless trinkets which had rare value to 
 the savage mind. This sort of traffic be- 
 came quite extensive before the end of the 
 eighteenth century, and was of sufficient 
 importance to warrant the establishment 
 of the Northwest company soon after the 
 Revolution. But until 1823 the business 
 was confined to such means of transpor- 
 tation as the Indian canoes or the bateaux 
 or Mackinaw boats of the traders. When, 
 on May loth, 1823, the steamboat Virginia 
 arrived at Fort Snelling and heralded her 
 approach with a blast from her whistle 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 U 
 
 which terrorized the waiting assemblage of 
 Indians, a new era in the commerce of the 
 Northwest was opened. The little Vir- 
 ginia — just ii8 feet in length — was the fore- 
 
 MUfi. t'lIAKLOTTE O. V.\N CLEVK. 
 
 Identified with ^linnesota since 1819, when she came 
 
 to Ft. Snellin-;. the l)al).v daughter of Lieut. Clark. 
 
 runner of a great fleet of river steamboats 
 which brought immigrants and suppUes to 
 the rapidly developing country about Fort 
 Snelling, and which, after a while, com- 
 menced to take something back to the 
 southern markets besides the furs brought 
 in by the Indian hunters. For many years 
 the bateaux and the famous Red River 
 carts remained the only means of transpor- 
 tation into the woods and prairies north 
 and west of Fort Snelling, and it was not 
 until after the war, when railroad building 
 commenced in earnest, that the commerce 
 of the state began to take on such char- 
 acter as to give it importance in the busi- 
 ness world. 
 
 The Church and Early Missions, 
 
 The first organization for religious wcirk 
 in Minnesota was a Sunday school estab- 
 lished at Fort Snelling in 1823 by Mrs. 
 Snelling, the wife of the commandant, and 
 Mrs. Clark, wife of Capt. Nathan Clark, 
 and mother of Mrs. Charlotte O. Van 
 Cleve. Some six years later were made 
 the first investigations looking to the es- 
 tablishment of missions among the In- 
 dians. In tlie conduct of this e.xamination 
 Rev. Alvan Coe, a Presbyterian clergy- 
 man, arrived at Fort Snelling on Septem- 
 
 ber 1st, 1829. He was the first Protestant 
 clergyman to enter the territory. The first 
 mission among the Indians was founded 
 at Leech Lake in 1833 by Rev. W. T. 
 Boutwell, a commanding figure for many 
 years in the religious life of the territory. 
 Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond arrived 
 at Fort Snelling in the following spring, 
 and became prominent in the early mis- 
 sionary and educational work among the 
 Sioux. Not a year later Rev. Thomas S. 
 Williamson, a missionary of the Presby- 
 terian and Congregational denominations, 
 was instrumental in founding the first 
 church in Minnesota — a Presbyterian 
 church of 22 members. Rev. J. D. Stevens, 
 who had come out with Mr. Williamson, 
 became its pastor. For years it had no 
 other place of worship than a room in the 
 Fort. Dr. Williamson and Mr. Stevens 
 founded two mission stations, one at Lake 
 Harriet, now a part of Minneapolis, and 
 one at Lac qui Parle, on the Minnesota 
 river. Within a few years from this time 
 many missionary efforts developed. The 
 noted Rev. S. R. Riggs arrived in 1837. 
 
 The First Magistrate. 
 
 The law followed hard upon the church 
 — but in a very crude and uncertain man- 
 
 liE.NKY 11. SIBLEY. 
 Fir.st (;o\ei'uor of the State of Minnesota— 1S58- 1860. 
 
 ner. In 1835 or 1836 Henry H. Sibley, 
 who had settled at Mendota. received a 
 commission from the governor of Iowa, 
 as justice of the peace. His jurisdiction 
 
12 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 extended from below Prairie du Chien on 
 the Mississippi river to the British pos- 
 sessions on the north, and from the Mis- 
 issippi river west to the White river. Mr. 
 Sibley in later days told many interesting 
 experiences in the administration of fron- 
 tier justice. His position was such that 
 he had almost unlimited power, and the 
 exigencies of frontier life made it neces- 
 sary for him to use a large discretion. 
 
 In Mr. Sibley the coming state made an 
 invaluable acquisition. He came to Men- 
 dota in 1834 as the agent of the American 
 Fur Company, and two years later built 
 there the first stone houses in the state, 
 one a residence and one a warehouse. 
 From this time he became a leader in all 
 
 Schoolcraft and Nicollet. 
 
 During the thirties came the last of the 
 explorers. Henry R. Schoolcraft, in 1832, 
 explored the sources of the Mississippi 
 river and is entitled to the honor of having 
 first traced the great river to its head and 
 brought the facts to the attention of geog- 
 raphers. It was Schoolcraft who gave the 
 name Itasca to the main lake in the basin 
 from wMch the Mississippi takes its course. 
 Schoolcraft's work was verified by Jean N. 
 Nicollet in 1836. Nicollet made much 
 more careful examinations and surveys, 
 and may be said to have put into scientific 
 form the discoveries of his predecessor. It 
 was this Nicollet and not the trader of the 
 
 LAKE ITASCA 
 
 and vicinity. 
 Fbom Nicollet's Map, now deposited in the 
 General Land Office, Washington-, D. C. 
 Scale: 90 miles to an locb. 
 
 Kluiii Neill'B His 
 the afifairs of the young community, and 
 later was called upon to serve the territory 
 and state in the highest positions in the 
 gift of the people. It has been well said 
 of him that for many years the history 
 of his life was the history of Minnesota. 
 Though a lawyer. Gen. Sibley never prac- 
 ticed his profession, though he did hang 
 out his "shingle" when he first settled at 
 Mendota. thus acquiring the distinction of 
 being the first lawyer of Minnesota. 
 
 It was not until 1847 that a term of 
 court was held within the present limits 
 of Minnesota. This was at Stillwater. In 
 1848 the first court house was erected by 
 the people of Stillwater. 
 
 toi-y of Miniiesot;!. 
 
 seventeenth century, whose name has been . 
 perpetuated in the nomenclature of Min- 
 nesota. 
 
 Gov. Dodge's Treaty. 
 
 Jurisdiction over the wilderness about 
 the upper Mississippi river had shifted 
 many times during the period of later ex- 
 ploration. In 1834 that part of the region 
 west of the Mississippi became a part of 
 Michigan, being separated from Missouri 
 for that purpose. But with the organiza- 
 tion of Wisconsin territory in 1836 every- 
 thing west of the river was made a part of 
 Iowa territory. These changes signified 
 but little, for the great country west and 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA, 
 
 13 
 
 northwest of Fort Snelling was almost un- 
 known and was commonly spoken of as 
 "The Indian Coimtry." There were few 
 settlers, and these held their claims with- 
 
 The oldest livinfi: ^linnesota pionefr. 
 
 out authority. But in 1837 Gov. Dodge, of 
 Wisconsin, acting as a government com- 
 missioner, made a treaty with the Ojib- 
 ways by which they ceded their lands east 
 of the Mississippi, and during the same 
 year a similar treaty was effected with the 
 Dakotahs. 
 
 With the expectation that this treaty 
 would be ratified by congress and that set- 
 tlers would thus secure the right to pat- 
 ents for their lands, a steady movement 
 ■of immigration set in even during the last 
 months of 1837. 
 
 Cities in Embryo. 
 
 It had seemed probable that Mendota, 
 or St. Peters, as it was at first called, 
 would be the site of the first city in Min- 
 nesota. Here Sibley and Faribault estab- 
 lished their trading posts and here the first 
 permanent buildings outside of Fort Snell- 
 ing were erected. But the earlier opening 
 of the territory east of the Mississippi to 
 settlement changed the course of events. 
 Only on that bank of the river was it 
 possible to obtain title to government 
 land. So, in the spring of 1838, when the 
 news of the treaty with the Indians ar- 
 rived, Pierre Parrant, a worthless scamp 
 who had been idling about Fort Snell- 
 
 ing for several years, hastened across the 
 river and staked out a claim just outside 
 the reservation — a vantage point where he 
 could without molestation sell whiskey to 
 the Indians and the passing traders. His 
 cabin was the first to be built in what 
 afterwards became St. Paul. 
 
 Simultaneously, but with far different 
 motives, Franklin Steele built the first hut 
 in St, Anthony — the beginnings of the city 
 of Minneapolis. Mr. Steele had recog- 
 nized the value of a claim adjacent to the 
 magnificent water power of the falls, and 
 made a night march from Fort Snelling. 
 succeeding in forestalling an equally en- 
 thusiastic but not as energetic competitor. 
 
 Parrant's claim was soon surrounded by 
 others, and in time the hamlet became 
 known as Pig's Eye. Abraham Perret, one 
 of the Swiss settlers from Selkirk's un- 
 lucky colony, was the second to establish 
 himself near Parrant. Benjamin and 
 Pierre Gervais, Rondo and others of the 
 very early settlers in St. Paul, were also 
 of this colony, and had been living on the 
 reservation since 1827. Charles Perret, or 
 Perry as he is known, the oldest son of 
 -\braham Perret, is undoubtedlv the oldest 
 
 \ 
 
 REV. LUCIE^' G.\LTIER. 
 
 Itiiiliiei- of the chupel which gave a name to St. Paul. 
 
 livin.u; Minnesota pioneer. He still resides 
 near I^ake Johanna in Ramsey county, and 
 is now 83 years of age. 
 
 Mrs. Cfiarlotte O. Van Cleve, however, 
 
14 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 came to Fort Snelling in 1819. the baby 
 daughter of Lieut, and Mrs. Nathan Clark. 
 Her fatlier being an army officer, made no 
 settlement in Minnesota, and it was not 
 until 1S56 when Mrs. Van Cleve returned 
 to Minnesota with her husband and settled 
 at Long Prairie, that she became a per- 
 manent resident. As she spent her child- 
 hood at Fort Snelling, her reminiscences 
 of early times in Minnesota are of the 
 deepest interest. 
 
 down the river and staked out a claim and 
 built a cabin at Marine. Early in the next 
 year a saw mill was built. These were the 
 beginnings of the settlement of the St. 
 Croi.x valley. Stillwater was laid out in 
 1843. The proprietors of the town site, 
 John McCusick. Calvin Leach, Elam 
 Greeley and Elias McKean, at once began 
 to erect another saw mill. Joseph R. 
 Brown, a man famous in the early history 
 
 (,11.\PEL OF ST. P.\l ).. 
 Built by F:ttlier iialtier in 1841. It gave a nam*; to tlit 
 citv of Minnesota. 
 
 i-a|)itHl 
 
 111 1841 Rev. Lucien Galtier. a Catholic 
 priest, erected a chapel in the village and 
 dedicated it to Saint Paul, thus supplying 
 the name of the future capital of the state. 
 
 The first cabin w'as built at the falls of 
 the St. Croix in the autumn of 1837. and the 
 next year a saw mill was erected. Early 
 in the winter of 1838 Jeremiah Russell and 
 L. W. Stratton, who had been interested 
 in the St. Croix Falls settlement, walked 
 
 of Minnesota, had already made a claim 
 near, and took an active part in the devel- 
 opment of the St. Croix valley. He had 
 come to Minnesota with the troops in 1819. 
 but in 1825 left the army and engaged in 
 trade. He was the first man to raft Min- 
 nesota lumber. Brown took a prominent 
 part in territorial political life, and was at 
 one time state territorial printer. In many 
 ways he was the typical Minnesota pioneer. 
 
The Territory. 
 
 18^9-1858. 
 
 The Stillwater Convention. 
 
 For several years previous to the actual 
 creation of Minnesota Territory it was evi- 
 dent that some such organization was de- 
 stined to be formed; for the enabling act 
 under which Wisconsin became a state de- 
 fined the western boundary at the St. 
 Croix river and left a large section of what 
 had been a part of Wisconsin territory en- 
 tirely outside of any state or territorial 
 boundaries. This was the condition of all 
 that part of the present Minnesota lying 
 between the Mississippi and St. Croix riv- 
 ers. It had formed a part of St. Croix 
 county, Wisconsin. This is the only in- 
 stance remembered in which a part of a 
 state or territory had been dropped out of 
 its original connection to be left for a time 
 without any form of government. The sec- 
 tion thus left adrift by congress contained 
 most of the population of Minnesota. There 
 were the villages of Stillwater, St. Paul 
 and St. Anthony, and a good many scatter- 
 ed settlers along the two rivers. Immedi- 
 ately upon the passage of the enabling act 
 for Wisconsin an attempt was made to se- 
 cure the organization of a territory to be 
 called "Minnesota," but the bill failed of 
 passage. For two years the people of Mm- 
 ncsota continued their agitations. These 
 culminated in the summer of 1848 in the 
 famous Stillwater convention, which was 
 attended by such men as General H. H. 
 Sibley, Franklin Steele. Morton S. Wilkin- 
 son, David Lambert, William D. Phillips 
 and Henry L. Moss. There were no for- 
 malities of credentials; the people simply 
 came together to take some action. With 
 •entire unanimity the convention adopted a 
 petition to congress praying the organiza- 
 tion of Minnesota Territory. Gen. Sibley 
 was delegated to visit Washington and 
 present the petition. It was Sibley who 
 urged the name "Minnesota," and he was 
 subsequently successful in maintaining this 
 '^election against arguments in favor of oth- 
 er names, made in congress. It was at this 
 
 convention that the famous agreement was 
 first proposed by which St. Paul was to 
 become the capital of the proposed state, 
 ■ while Stillwater was to have the penitenti- 
 ary and St. Anthony the university. 
 
 Wisconsin Territory Again. 
 
 Shortly after the Stillwater convention 
 some one advanced the theory that the or- 
 ganization of the state of Wisconsin from 
 
 ALEXANDER KAJls^EV. 
 
 First Governor of Jliimesota Territory, War Governor 
 
 of the State, V. S. Senator and Cabinet Oflicial. 
 
 a part of the territory of Wisconsin did 
 not disorganize the remainder of the orig- 
 inal territory, and after due consideration 
 a territorial government was revived and 
 Gen. Sibley duly elected as delegate to 
 congress. He went to Washington in a 
 dual capacity — as a representative of a ter- 
 ritory having a very doubtful claim to 
 recognition and as a delegate from a mass 
 convention. Claiming a seat under the first 
 
16 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 of these characters, Gen. Sibley found him- 
 self precipitated into a warmly contested 
 fight, which ended, however, after some 
 weeks, in his admission to congress; that 
 body thereby establishing the precedent 
 that "the division of an organized territory 
 and the admission of a part as a state into 
 the Union, does not annul the continuance 
 of the territorial government over the por- 
 tion remaining." 
 
 Minnesota Territorv Organized. 
 
 Gen. Sibley's fight foi a seat in the house 
 of representatives brought so clearly before 
 the members the actual state of affairs in 
 the northwest that there was no further 
 active opposition to the creation of a new 
 territory, and on March 3d, 1849. the or- 
 ganic act was passed. But for more than 
 
 tory and state; who was to serve Minne- 
 sota in many honored positions; who was 
 to take an active part in the affairs of the 
 nation and who. surviving many of his 
 contemporaries, was to live to see half a 
 century of Minnesota's progress and re- 
 joice in the wonderful development which 
 has taken place in the span of one man's 
 active life. This was Alexander Ramsey, 
 who was a practicing lawyer in Harrisburg. 
 Pa., when he was appointed governor of 
 Minnesota Territory by President Taylor. 
 Within four days after his arrival in Min- 
 nesota he issued a prorlamation declaring 
 the territory duly organized. The other 
 officers were: C. K. Smith, of Ohio, sec- 
 retary; A. Goodrich, of Tennessee, chief 
 justice; D. Cooper, of Pennsylvania, and 
 B. B. Meeker, of Kentucky, associate jus- 
 
 A HISTOIUCAL BUILDING. 
 
 The Central House, St. Paul, where the first Minnesota Territorial Legislature met. It wa? erected in l*}'.t, 
 at the corner of Minnesota and Bench Streets. 
 
 a month the people of the new territory 
 were in ignorance of the success of their 
 plans. In those days the Mississippi river 
 was the only route from the east and, as 
 now, the Mississippi was solidly frozen un- 
 til well along in the spring. On April 
 9th the first steamer of the season to force 
 its way through the ice, rounded the bend 
 below St. Paul, and by repeated blasts of 
 its whistle announced the news that Min- 
 nesota had come into being. 
 
 Governor Ramsey's Arrival. 
 
 On May 27th, 1849, there arrived at St. 
 Paul a man who was to have a very large 
 part in shaping the career of the new terri- 
 
 tices; Joshua L. Taylor, marshal; and H. 
 L. Moss, United States attorney. Another 
 proclamation soon afterwards divided the 
 territory into three temporary judicial dis- 
 tricts and assigned the three justices among 
 them. 
 
 The First Term of Court. 
 
 Judicial proceedings under the territorial 
 government commenced with the holding 
 of a term of court at Stillwater by Chief 
 Justice Goodrich during the second week 
 of August, 1849. On this occasion nineteen 
 lawyers were present to take the oath as 
 attorneys, and of this number only one, 
 Henrv L. ]\Ioss, of St. Paul, has survived 
 
A HAL,P CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 In sec a Iialf century 
 cisions. 
 
 Minnesota de- 
 
 The First Legislative Session. 
 
 Gciv. Ramsey, as soon as possible, or- 
 dered a census as the basis for an appor- 
 tionment and an election for tlie purpose of 
 choosing members of the territorial legis- 
 lature and a delegate to congress. The 
 election was duly held on August ist of 
 that year, and the legislatitre, composed of 
 J/ members, assembled on September ,5d. 
 In the absence of any capitol this first ses- 
 sion of a Minnesota legislature was held 
 in the Central House, the first hotel in St. 
 
 Minnesota in iS^g. 
 
 .\ map of the Territory of Minnesota 
 when its government was organized would 
 liave been in strange contrast to the map 
 of 1899. The eastern, southern and north- 
 ern boundaries were much the same as 
 now, but on the west the territory ex- 
 tended to the Missouri and White Earth 
 rivers, thus including much of the Dako- 
 tas. So much of this vast region was un- 
 known that the lines of lakes and rivers 
 could only be put on at random. Of rail- 
 roads there was, of course, none. If cor- 
 rectly filled out the map would have shown 
 a town at Stillwater of about Coo people. 
 
 IHE cil.l) MILL NEAR SHAKOFEE. 
 Built b.v (iideuu Pond, the Missionary to the Indians near the old Mission House. 
 
 Paul. It was a plain two-story building 
 which had just been erected at the corner 
 of Third and Exchange streets. The sec- 
 retary and the representatives found ac- 
 commodations on the first floor, while the 
 council, of nine members, met in a room 
 above. At this first legislative session the 
 territory was divided into judicial districts 
 and nine counties were created. Gov. 
 Ramsey's message gave much good advice 
 as to the shaping of the affairs of the new 
 territory. One of the acts ot the session 
 was the incorporation of the Historical 
 Society of Minnesota. 
 
 Along the St. Croi.x were also the villages 
 of Marine and Lake St. Croix of about 
 200 inhabitants each. Little Canada and 
 St. Anthony together had about 575 peo- 
 ple and Mendota 122. These were almost 
 the only towns in the territory. There was 
 a trading post at Wabasha credited (in the 
 crude census taken by the sheriff (as pro- 
 vided in the organic act) with over a hun- 
 dred people. In the same way "Crow 
 Wing and Long Prairie" were said to have 
 350 people: Osakis Rapids. 13,3: Snake 
 River, 82: Crow Wing (again"). 174; Big 
 Stone Lake and Lac qui Parle. 68; Crow 
 
18 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 Wing, east side, 70; Red Wing, village, 33, 
 and so on. It is feared that this census 01 
 1849 was as liable to criticisms as some 
 of a later date. There are evidences that 
 half-breeds, temporary French traders and 
 possibly Indians were counted in to make 
 a favorable showing. Fort Snelling was 
 given 38 people and "soldiers, women and 
 children in forts" were numbered as 317. 
 Pembina was credited with a population of 
 637, and along the Missouri river 86 set- 
 tlers were enumerated, though it is not at 
 all probable that any census taker visited 
 that distant part of the territory. But 
 whatever its inaccuracies, this first census 
 of Minnesota served its purpose — that of 
 providing a basis of representation in the 
 territorial legislature, and incidentally, of 
 advertising the new territory to the world. 
 However, more potent advertising forces 
 were at hand. 
 
 Advent of the Press. 
 
 Minnesota's pioneer journalist was 
 James M. Goodhue, who arrived at St. 
 Paul on April 18, 1849, scarce a week after 
 
 COL. .JOHN U STEVENS. 
 
 Minneapolis pioneer and life lung patron of 
 
 ai^riciilture. 
 
 the news that the territory had been creat- 
 ed. Goodhue was a lawyer, but had been 
 editing a paper at Lancaster, Wisconsin. 
 When he heard that Minnesota had been 
 made a territory, he packed his plant and 
 took the first steamer for St. Paul. Ten 
 days after his arrival he issued the first 
 number of "The Minnesota Pioneer." 
 
 About the same time Dr. A. Randall and 
 John P. Owens issued at Cincinnati the 
 first number of '"The Minnesota Register." 
 dating it "St. Paul, April 27, 1849" It 
 therefore bears date one day earlier than 
 Mr. Goodhue's paper, but as it was not 
 printed in Minnesota, Mr. Goodhue's title 
 to being the first newspaper publisher in 
 the state remains clear. "The Register" 
 was moved to St. Paul and the second 
 number was gotten oi't on July 14 by 
 McLean & Owen. James Hughes reached 
 St. Paul early in June and started "The 
 Minnesota Chronicle." After a few weeks 
 it became evident that the young town 
 could not support so many papers, and the 
 ■•Chronicle and Register" was the result 
 of the first newspaper consolidation m 
 Minnesota. Notwithstanding this experi- 
 ence, "The Minnesota Democrat," con- 
 ducted by Daniel A. Robertson, made its 
 ■appearance in the following December. In 
 the spring of 1851 Isaac Atwater com- 
 menced the publication of "The St. An- 
 thonv Express." the forerunner of many 
 later' newspaper ventures in Minneapolis. 
 The first paper to be published west of 
 the Mississippi river in Minnesota was 
 ■ The Glencoe Register," founded by Col. 
 John H. Stevens. Goodhue's press, on 
 which the Pioneer was first printed, was 
 the same first used in the office of "The 
 Dubuque Visitor," and is said to have been 
 the first printing press ever used west of 
 the Mississippi river and north of the Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 The Original Counties. 
 One of the first acts of the first terri- 
 torial legislature was the division of the 
 territory into counties. Washington. Ram- 
 sey and Benton counties were instituted 
 from the country east of the Mississippi. 
 This was the only part of the territory 
 which had been ceded by the Indians, and 
 contained the bulk of the meagre popula- 
 tion. Stillwater was made county seat of 
 Washington. St. Paul of Ramsey (which 
 included St. Anthony), and a site was se- 
 lected for the county town of Benton, 
 which afterwards became Sauk Rapids. 
 The other counties were Dahkotah, Wah- 
 natah, Wabashaw, Pembina, Itasca and 
 Mankato. Mendota was the county seat 
 of Dakotah county, Wabashaw of the 
 county bearing that name, and Pembina of 
 the northwestern county, which was as 
 large as several good sized states. The 
 other counties did not at first have any 
 local organization. County elections were 
 held on the fourth ^londay of November. 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA 
 
 l'.» 
 
 Party Organization Appears. 
 
 There had been some politics in the cre- 
 ation of Minnesota territory, but up to this 
 time there had been no party organization. 
 The first legislature was chosen without 
 much regard to old party lines. But dur- 
 ing its session the first democratic caucus 
 in Minnesota was held at the house of H. 
 M. Rice in St. Paul. At this meeting it 
 was determined to hold a state conven- 
 tion and perfect organization, and in the 
 following month the convention was duly 
 held in the A.merican House. It does not 
 appear that politics — along national party 
 lines — cut much figure in the management 
 of the territory. The only participation 
 which the territory had in the affairs of 
 the nation was through a delegate to con- 
 gress, who, of course, had no vote in that 
 body. At the election of a delegate in 
 1850 the close vote between H. H. Sibley 
 and A. M. Mitchell was not divided along 
 party lines at all, but was based entirely 
 upon personal preferences. Gen. Sibley 
 was elected by a vote of 649 to 559. The 
 territorial legislators were all chosen, 
 according to the best authorities, largely 
 on local issues rather than party divisions. 
 It was not until 1855. when the Republican 
 party was organized, that political contests 
 became animated. 
 
 The Tri-Partite Agreement. 
 
 At the second session of the territorial 
 legislature, which opened on January ist, 
 1851, the famous division of the three in- 
 stitutions — the capitol, the penitentiary and 
 the university — between St. Paul, Still- 
 water and St. Anthony, took place. There 
 had been an understanding to this effect at 
 the Stillwater convention of 1848, but the 
 arrangement was not completed without 
 considerable manifestation of feeling. 
 
 Foundations of an Educational Svstem 
 Laid. 
 
 The first schools in Minnesota were 
 those taught by missionaries among the 
 Indians. As the white population in- 
 creased and the need of the settlements 
 became apparent, desultory attempts at 
 private education were made, but the 
 first organized schools were taught by 
 teachers sent out in 1847 and 1848 by the 
 National Popular Education Society. Miss 
 Harriet E. Bishop opened the first school 
 room in St. Paul; Miss Amanda M. Hos- 
 ford commenced teaching in 1848 at Still- 
 water, and Miss Elizabeth Backus in 1849 
 at St. AnthoBv. Other ladies were sent 
 
 out by the same society, and they were re- 
 tained in most instances after the school 
 system was established, upon the recom- 
 mendation of Gov. Ramsey, by the terri- 
 torial legislature in 1849. Under the or- 
 ganic act of Minnesota two sections in 
 each township were reserved for the school 
 system. This very wise provision and the 
 subsequent wisdom displayed in the man- 
 agement of these school lands have com- 
 bined to greatly assist in the developmenS 
 of the school system. Rev. E. D. Neill 
 was appointed territorial superintendent of 
 schools in 1851, and through his excellent 
 
 KEY. EDWAUD D. NEILL. 
 Clergyman, Educator, Historian. 
 
 services during two years in office, added 
 largely to the debt which Minnesota owes 
 him as a leader during the formative peri- 
 od. His efforts in behalf of education, the 
 church, libraries and historical research 
 made a strong impression on the develop- 
 ments in the higher life of the state. 
 
 It is to the credit of the pioneers of Min- 
 nesota that an institution of higher learn- 
 ing was contemplated in the earliest days. 
 With whom the suggestion originated is 
 not a matter of record, but at the time of 
 the Stillwater convention, in 1848, it ap- 
 pears to have been the general understand- 
 ing that the coming state was to have a 
 university. In pursuance of the general 
 understanding, Gov. Ramsey recommend- 
 ed in his message to the second territorial 
 legislature that a university be established. 
 
\ \ 
 
 Jiljll '' 
 
 "7^5 
 
 PrSV 'S^ 
 
 !JS 
 
 r 
 
 1 '"^'jij^V 
 
 n 
 
 1 1 
 ) 
 
 1 
 ) 
 
 |l 
 1 
 
 '1 1 1 
 
 ill' ' 
 11' '' 
 
A HALl'' C'E\TUR>' OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 21 
 
 and a bill creating the institution was in- 
 troduced by J. W. North, of St. Anthony. 
 and shortly became a law. There was no 
 appropriation carried by this act. and the 
 first board of re.yents found itself without 
 means to estabHsh the work proposed. 
 But a memorial to congress had been 
 passed, and in the following year two 
 townships were reserved for the uses of 
 the institution. As there was little pros- 
 pect of realizing upon this grant imme- 
 diately, Franklin Steele, in 1852, presented 
 the regents with a block of land near the 
 present site of the Minneapolis exposition 
 building, and erected a two-story frame 
 building which was to Ue used as a pre- 
 paratory school for the university. With' 
 cheerful ootimism, it was believed that by 
 the time any students were "prepared." 
 the university itself would be ready to re- 
 ceive them. This preparatory school was 
 opened by Rev. E. W. ^[errill. But it 
 soon became evident that the site was un- 
 suitable for a permanent university, and 
 the present campus was acquired by gift 
 and purchase in 1854. In 1856 the first 
 building was commenced, but its comple- 
 tion was prevented by the financial panic 
 of 1857, and remained an unfinished under- 
 taking until after the war. 
 
 I,ibraries w'ere instituted in Minnesota 
 contemporaneously with schools; two 
 such organizations were authorized by the 
 first session of the territorial legislature. 
 One of these, the St. Anthony Library As- 
 sociation, was undoubtedly the first circu- 
 lating library in Minnesota. It commenced 
 with a collection of 200 volumes in the 
 fall of 1849, and tinder its auspices a series 
 of lectures were given during that winter. 
 The Minnesota Historical Society, the 
 main purpose of which was the collection 
 of a historical library, was organized on 
 November 15. 1849, with Gov. Ramsey as 
 president and Charles K. Smith as secre- 
 tary. There is no record of any rooms 
 occupied by the society until 1855, when 
 a room was obtained in the capitol build- 
 ing, but it is known that the collec- 
 tion of books and manuscripts commenced 
 shortly after organization. 
 
 The organic act of Minnesota territory 
 appropriated $5,000 for a state library to 
 be maintained for the use of the state 
 otTicials. This library was organized in 
 1851. For many years its purpose has 
 lieen simply to provide law books and peri- 
 odicals and public documents. No attempt 
 has been made since very early days to 
 maintain a general library. 
 
 The Minnesota Valley Opened. 
 
 Since the days 01 Car\er and Le Sueur 
 longing eyes had been looking towards 
 ilic beautiful \alley of tlie St. Peter river, 
 but only the hardiest of the pioneers dared 
 \enture into this country which the fierce 
 Sioux still claimed as their own. With 
 the exce])tion of the missionaries living 
 at Shakojjee. Traverse des Sioux and I.ac 
 qui Parle, a few traders and possibly an 
 occasional s(|uatter. tliere were no white 
 men living in the valley when Minnesota 
 becatne a territory. It was understood 
 that a cession from tlie Indians would soon 
 be sought, and with an eye to future trade 
 several adventurous steamboat captains 
 turned their craft into the Minnesota dur- 
 ing the summer of 1850, and explgred its 
 sinuous course for a long distance. The 
 famous old-time steamer, "Anthony 
 \\'ayne," made two trips, going finally 
 almost to the site of Alankato. A few 
 days later the "Yankee" took a party of 
 St. Paul people up as far as the mouth of 
 the Cottonwood river. 
 
 But the treaty of cession was put off un- 
 til another year. At last, during the clos- 
 ing days of July and the early part of Au- 
 gust, 1851, Col. Luke Lea. commissioner 
 of Indian affairs for the United States, and 
 Gov. Ramsey, acting for the government, 
 met with the great councils of the Dako- 
 tahs and secured the much desired ces- 
 sions. Through two treaties the United 
 States secured practically all the Indian 
 lands west of the Mississippi to the Siou.x 
 river, from central Minnesota south far 
 into Iowa. The Sisseton and Wahpaytoan 
 Dakotahs reserved a dwelling place about 
 100 miles long and 20 broad, extending on 
 both sides of the Minnesota from the Yel- 
 low Medicine river to Lake Traverse. The 
 reservation of the M'dewakantonwan and 
 Wahpaykootay bands was immediately be- 
 low. 
 
 Within a few years there were promising 
 settlements all along the Minnesota as far 
 as the Cottonwood. Thomas A. Holmes 
 settled at Shakopee in 1851 and laid out 
 Chaska during the same year. Sibley 
 county was settled at Henderson in 1852 by 
 French Canadians and Germans. The year 
 1852 also saw the beginning of Mankato 
 and LeSueur, George W. Thompson being 
 the pioneer at the former place and P. K. 
 Johnson and Henry Jackson at the latter. 
 Brown county had, perhaps, the most in- 
 teresting settlement of all. German emi- 
 gration societies were formed at Chicago 
 and Cincinnati on a sort of co-operative 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 plan, and explorers were sent out to select 
 a site. They chose the Minnesota valley 
 near the Cottonwood, and the first party 
 came from Chicago in 1854, settling at Mil- 
 ford. Soon afterward? they moved and 
 founded New Ulm. In 1857 the Cincin- 
 nati emigrants chartered a steamer and 
 made the voyage from their city to New 
 Ulm without transfer. During the early 
 times in the colony the lands w'cre appor- 
 tioned among the members of the society 
 so that each should have a certain number 
 of town lots and equal acreage in the farm 
 lands. When Brown county was organ- 
 ized in 1855 it comprised the entire south- 
 western part of the territory from the Min- 
 nesota to the Missouri river. All the older 
 Minnesota valley counties were organized 
 from 1853 to 1855. 
 
 Pioneering on the Upper Mississippi. 
 
 With fourteen years' advantage in the 
 matter of Indian cession, it would ap- 
 pear that the eastern bank nf the Mis- 
 
 Stearns county on the west was not set ofif 
 until 1855. 
 
 As early as 1794 there was a trading post 
 at Sandy Lake. The first post which after- 
 wards grew into a settlement was that es- 
 tablished at Crow Wing about 1844. The 
 names of Allen Morrison, Donald Mc- 
 Donald and Philip Beaupre are associated 
 with this settlement. At the time of the 
 creation of the territory. Crow Wing was 
 a considerable town, but afterwards it was 
 alinost abandoned in favor of Brainerd. 
 Crow Wing county was not organized un- 
 til 1857. There was a trading post at Swan 
 River in Morrison county in 1826, but ac- 
 tual settlement dated from the late forties, 
 when William Nicholson and William 
 Aitkin established themselves near what is 
 now Little Falls. Jeremiah Russell was 
 the first settler at Sauk Rapids in 1849, and 
 Antoine Guion became a permanent resi- 
 dent at Anoka in 1851. Pierre Bottineau, 
 of early territorial fame, built a tavern at 
 Llk River in 1850 and laid the foundations 
 
 III.I) BLOCK HOUSE AT FORT RIPLEY. 
 
 Ont' of the few siirv i\ore of the buildiDy:e of the most importaut military pu^t iiortln 
 
 I est of Foit Suelliu'' 
 
 (luring the pioneer daye 
 
 sissippi river above the Falls of St. An- 
 thony would have made greater progress 
 than the valley of the Minnesota, but such 
 was not the case. There were more trad- 
 ing posts on the upper Mississippi in the 
 forties than further south, but the country 
 was not highly regarded for farming pur- 
 poses, and the lumbering industry had not 
 yet developed. One county organization, 
 that of Benton, served for the entire east- 
 ern bank of the river until 1856, and 
 
 of Sherburne county. S. B. Lowry estab- 
 lished a trading post at St. Cloud in 1849. 
 but the first actual settler was Ole Berge- 
 son, who took up land in 1852. Wright 
 county was settled in the same year. 
 
 One of the important settlements on the 
 west bank of the river was not hindered 
 by waiting for the Indian treaty. In 1849 
 Col. John H. Stevens obtained permission 
 to settle on the military reservation oppo- 
 site St. Anthonv. and built the first house 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 23 
 
 in Minneapolis. The tract was soon 
 thrown open to general settlement. In 
 1854 the two villages were connected by 
 the first bridge which ever spanned the 
 Mississippi river at any point. 
 
 Though French traders are known to 
 have reached the site of Duluth in 1640, 
 there was no settlement in that vicinity 
 nntil 1850-51, when George E. Nettleton 
 and J. B. Culver established a trading post 
 at Fond du Lac and entered claims for 
 land. Nettleton built the first house in 
 Duluth in 185 1. Five years later the city 
 was platted and in 1856 the first saw mill 
 was erected. Duluth's wonderful lake 
 commerce did not begin to develop until 
 many years afterwards. 
 
 In Southern Minnesota. 
 
 The continually growing commerce on 
 the Mississippi river below St. Paul aided 
 in the development of the towns along the 
 western bank. The trading posts of Wa- 
 
 fer spending the congressional grant of 
 $20,000, providing for a commission, which 
 in turn secured a site from Charles Bazille 
 and decided on plans for a buildjjig. to cost 
 $.33,000. As the actual cost only exceed- 
 ed this estimate by about thirty per cent, 
 the old commission cannot be charged with 
 being more e.xtravagant than some later 
 bodies entrusted with tlie erection of pub- 
 lic buildings. Work was commenced on 
 July 21. 1851, but the building was not oc- 
 cupied until two years later. 
 
 Gorman's Administration. 
 
 With the incoming of a new national 
 administration in 1853 Gov. Ramsey's seat 
 was given to Willis A. Gorman, of Indi- 
 ana, who was appointed by President 
 Pierce. Gov. Gorman arrived in St. Paul 
 on May 13. His associates were J. T. 
 Rosser, of Virginia, appointed secretary of 
 the territory, and W. H. Welch, of Red 
 Wing, chief justice, and Moses Sherburne, 
 
 #^-: 
 
 THE FIRST^CAPITOL OK MINNKISOTA. 
 
 Hy permission of the Minnesota Ilietorical Society. 
 
 basba and Red Wing quickly grew to vil- 
 lage proportions after the ceding of the 
 Indian lands, and Winona, Lake City. 
 Reed's Landing, Hastings and other vil- 
 lages were established and began to assert 
 themselves. Nor were the immigrants 
 long in striking back over the hills into 
 the interior of Southern Minnesota. So 
 rapidly did they fill up southeastern Min- 
 nesota tliat Goodhue. Wabasha and Rice 
 counties were created in 1853. Two years 
 later Fillmore, Freeborn, Mower, Houston, 
 Olmstead, Steele and Winona counties had 
 been added to the list. 
 
 The Old Capitol. 
 
 Minnesota enjoyed the luxury of a Capi- 
 tol commission even in territorial days. 
 The legislature of 1851 made arrangements 
 
 of Maine, and A. G. Chatfiehl. of Wiscon- 
 sin, associate jus_tices. Gov. Gorman's ad- 
 ministration covered the period of the wild- 
 est and most extravagant speculation 
 whicli Minnesota has ever experienced. 
 When he took his seat immigrants were 
 pouring into the territory in thousands. 
 From 1850 to 1855 the population had in- 
 creased from 6.000 to 53.000: in two years 
 more it had reached 150.000. Stimulated 
 by the inpouring of people and the natural 
 demand for land, real estate speculation be- 
 came a craze. Fortunes were made in 
 months and weeks, and sometimes even 
 in days. The towns were growing very 
 rapidly, everyone was employed and con- 
 tinued prosperity seemed assured. People 
 thought 01 nothing but business; it would 
 seem that the higher things which received 
 
2i 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 so much attention a few years l)efore were 
 for tlie time neglected. Honest people 
 forgot their reputations and entered specu- 
 lation aniJraud with the crowd of sharp- 
 ers which invaded the territory. Town 
 sites were laid out eveiywiiere — and no- 
 where. Lots ha\ing no location except on 
 paper were sold and resold at great profit. 
 Trades and trade *vere abandoned for real 
 estate speculation. The people were land 
 mad. The center of this craze was. of 
 course, in St. Paul, the chiet city and capi- 
 tal of the territory. The smaller towns 
 
 rll-\RI.KS E. Kl,.\N|}|{E.\r. 
 
 Pioneer lawyer anil Justice of the Suin-enie Ccinrt, 
 
 185V-64. 
 
 were relatively less affected, as their lesser 
 importance made them less attractive to 
 speculators. 
 
 The inevitable reaction came at last. 
 With the beginning of the financial panic 
 in August, 1857, the bubble burst. In St. 
 Paul nearly all of tne DanKs and business 
 firms failed. Real estate which had been 
 
 regarded as a fortune to its owners be- 
 came worthless. The poi)ulation of the city 
 decreased one-half and stores and houses 
 stood vacant. A very similar experience 
 was the lot of the towns of Minneapolis 
 and St. Anthony. 
 
 Towards the close of Gorman's a<lmin- 
 istration came an attempt to remove the 
 capital to St. Peter, an occurrence which 
 for the time being caused more excitement 
 in the territory than th.i real estate craze. 
 Believing that justice was on their side, 
 the opponents of removal hid the bill after 
 it liad passed both houses, and after most 
 exciting scenes prevented it from receiv- 
 ing the ofticial signature. Railroad legis- 
 lation was demanded by the people, and 
 ended in 1857 in the gift of the railroad 
 land grant to the promoters of what 
 seemed a promising railroad project. 
 
 Indian Troubles of 1857. 
 
 L'p to this time the settlement of .Min- 
 nesota had been unattended with any seri- 
 ous collisions with the Indians. With few 
 exceptions, the Indians appeared to be 
 well satisfied with the treatment of the 
 whites, and very lew outrages are record- 
 ed. But early in 1857 an Indian named 
 Inkpadootah. who li.nd been driven out of 
 his trilie — the Dakotahs — with a small band 
 ' cif followers, quarrelled with the settlers 
 at .Spirit Lake. Iowa, and after murdering 
 about twenty people in that vicinity, 
 crossed the line into Minnesota and mas- 
 sacred the entire settlement at Springfield. 
 Only a few women were spared, and these 
 were carried into captivity. One of them 
 was finally released, but the others were 
 murdered before help could reach them. 
 With few exceptions, the Indians engaged 
 in this massacre escaped punishment. This 
 massacre, in wdiich about fifty settlers lost 
 their lives, was a gloomy episode of the 
 close of the territorial period and fore- 
 shadowed the greater horrors which were 
 to bathe southwestern Minnesota in blood 
 during the early years of statehood. 
 
The State. 
 
 1858-1899. 
 
 Minnesota's elevation to statehood was 
 attended by quite as exciting political dis- 
 turbances as those which preceded her re- 
 cognition as a territory. PoUtically the 
 situation was very much mixed. Minne- 
 sota was large enough to become a state — 
 the population was about 150,000 — but the 
 new commonwealth would be a "free 
 state." For many years the slave states 
 had fought against the admission of north- 
 ern states which, through their representa- 
 tion at Washington, would tend to overbal- 
 ance the Southerners' influence in the na- 
 tional government, and until the admission 
 of California a balance between the sec- 
 tions had been well maintained. Then 
 came the great contest over Kansas and 
 Nebraska — a contest which nearly precipi- 
 tated civil war several years before actual 
 secession — and Minnesota's proposed ad- 
 mission came up at a moment when the 
 bitterness between the two sections had 
 reached the boiling point. 
 
 The Battle m Congress. 
 
 When Henry M. Rice, the delegate from 
 the Territory of Minnesota, introduced a 
 Minnesota enabling act on December 24th. 
 1856, he only added fresh fuel to the fac- 
 tional war in congress. The bill fared well 
 in the house, where it was sure of a fairly 
 good majority, but in the senate the fight 
 was long. It lasted, in fact, to the very 
 close of the session. Of course the issue 
 was not made directly upon the slavery 
 question. The opponents of the bill found 
 a convenient subject for discussion in a 
 provision of the bill which made it pos- 
 sible for aliens to exercise the franchise un- 
 der certain conditions. An amendment 
 changing this provision served to keep the 
 senators talking. The amendment once 
 carried and the bill was passed as amended, 
 but soon afterwards the whole matter was 
 reconsidered. The attitude of the oppo- 
 nents seemed to be that, if amended, the 
 •lill would scarcely get through the busi- 
 
 ness of the house before the end of the 
 session, while, if they kept it hanging about 
 the senate, its death would be equally cer- 
 tain. But the energy of the Northern sen- 
 ators prevented this fate. Repeated bring- 
 ing forward of the measure finally tired out 
 opposition and the enabling act became a 
 law on February 25. 1857. 
 
 The Battle at Home. 
 
 It is possible that rumors casting a doubt 
 on the political complexion of the coming 
 state may have had something to do with 
 the final acquiescence of the Southern sen- 
 ators. At all events, as soon as the en- 
 abling act was passed, there began a most 
 intense partisan struggle for the control of 
 the constitutional convention and the elec- 
 tion of the first set of state officials. Un- 
 der the terms of the enabling act delegates 
 to a constitutional convention were to be 
 elected on the first Monday in June, and 
 the convention was to be held at the capital 
 on the second Monday in July. Unfortu- 
 nately the exact hour of meeting was not 
 specified. The election of delegate was 
 hotly contested, but resulted, it was be- 
 lieved, in the election of a republican ma- 
 jority. Some very close districts and pos- 
 sibilities of contests for seats left the mat- 
 ter aggravatingly uncertain as to the exact 
 condition. As the day of the convention 
 approached there was talk of possible sharp 
 practice, and to prevent any attempt on 
 the part of the democrats to organize the 
 convention, the republican members quietlv 
 took possession of the legislative hall on 
 Sunday at midnight, and were in readiness 
 for anything which ihight be attempted. 
 However, the democratic wing made no 
 move until noon of the appointed day 
 When the democrats entered the hall 
 Charles L. Chase, the secretary of the ter- 
 ritory, attempted to call the convention to 
 order and J. W. North, on behalf of the 
 republican majority, at the same moment 
 performed the same duty. Mr. Chase then 
 
A HALF CENTURV OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 put a motion to adjourn and the democrats 
 voted for it and at once left the hall, while 
 the republicans, confident of their majority, 
 remained and organized the convention. It 
 was found that the republican body actually 
 had 59 members and the democratic wing 
 
 but S3- 
 
 Thus commenced one of the most re- 
 markable episodes in the history of the 
 state. The democrats, in a few days, met 
 in another hall and organized. Feeling 
 ran high. Neither convention would recog- 
 nize the other, and both continued in in- 
 dependent session for several weeks. At 
 last it became evident to the cooler heads 
 that such procedure would certainly defeat 
 the objects of the gathering; that congress 
 would be unwilling to ratify the action of 
 either body and that statehood would be 
 sacrified to patisan feeling. Good counsels 
 finally prevailed, and on August 29th, both 
 conventions adopted the same constitution, 
 which was subsequently ratified by the peo- 
 ple. Coincident with this ratification was 
 the election of the first state officers and of 
 the first representatives in congress. In 
 this election the democrats were successful. 
 Gen. H. H. Sibley defeated Alexander 
 Ramsey for governor, and George L. Beck- 
 er, William W. Phelps and James M. Cav- 
 anaugli, all democrats, were elected to con- 
 gress. The state legislature was also demo- 
 cratic and it chose, at its first session, 
 Henry M. Rice and James Shields as 
 United States senators. These gentlemen 
 had the distinction of being the only demo- 
 cratic senators ever sent to Washington by 
 Minnesota. 
 
 A State at Last. 
 
 During all this period of struggle for 
 control o'f the new state, the territorial gov- 
 ernment still administered the affairs of 
 Minnesota. The state government would 
 not be in force until congress formally re- 
 cognized it. It was supposed that this re- 
 cognition would occur early in the session 
 of congress, and the newly elected senators 
 and representatives went to Washington 
 expecting to take part in the interesting 
 legislation of that winter. But the attitude 
 of congress had undergone a considerable 
 change. Republicans who had been strenu- 
 ous for the admission of Minnesota in the 
 previous winter, when it was expected to 
 line up as a republican state, had lost their 
 enthusiasm when five democratic legislat- 
 ors appeared in Washington seeking seats 
 and votes in the congressional bodies. On 
 the other hand Southern politicians who 
 had vigorously protested against the ad- 
 
 mission of another "free state" saw in the 
 increase of the democratic vote in congress 
 a possible aid to tlieir own cause. In ad- 
 dition, Kansas was asking admission to the 
 Union under a slavery constitution and 
 some Southern congressmen were in favor 
 of settling the Kansas subject before tak- 
 ing up the case of Minnesota. The situa- 
 tion was decidedly more mixed than it was 
 when the enabling act was under consid- 
 eration. During the long discussion of the 
 measure the strange spectacle was present- 
 ed of a northern republican — John Sher- 
 man, of Ohio — opposing the admission of 
 another free state, while a Southern demo- 
 
 \MLL1.\M It. .M.^ItMI.VLL. 
 Governor of Minnesota— Ii6ti-18T0. 
 
 crat — Alexander Stephens, of Georgia^ 
 argued skillfully for it. On May 11, 1858, 
 the bill finally passed, and Minnesota at 
 last became one of the states of the Union. 
 
 The Railroad Bond Issue. 
 
 Minnesota was a state at last, after long 
 and tiresome waiting, but the new admin- 
 istration doubtless wished that its respon- 
 sibilities had been further delayed. For 
 statehood was entered upon in the midst 
 of the most distressing period in the his- 
 tory of this region. The general financial 
 panic of 1857 had affected Minnesota as 
 such disturbances usually do affect new 
 communities. Without well established in- 
 dustries and settled values, the new terri- 
 tnry had been unable to withstand the finan- 
 cial reverses. Real estate values had dis- 
 
A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 27 
 
 appeared, agriculture bad not been so far 
 developed as to make the state self-sup- 
 porting, and many of the people were re- 
 duced to absolute distress. 
 
 Early in 1857 the territorial legislature 
 had turned over the entire railroad land 
 grant of the territory to railroad companies, 
 hoping that the immediate construction of 
 railroads would assist materially in devel- 
 oping the young state. Work was com- 
 menced, but it soon became evident that 
 tlte grantees had not the financial strength 
 to carry out their agreements. But in- 
 stead of declaring the grants forfeited the 
 state legislature, early in 1858, acceded to 
 a request for the assistance of these shaky 
 railroad promoters by the loan of the com- 
 ing state's credit. The famous $5,00.000 
 loan bill was passed, and notwithstanding 
 the opposition of such prominent citizens 
 as ex-Governor Gorman and William R. 
 Marshall, the measure was ratified soon 
 after by popular vote. But the warnings 
 of the wiser heads proved to have been 
 well founded. Within a short time the 
 young state found itself loaded with a debt 
 of over $2,000,000 through the issue of these 
 railroad bonds, while not a rail had been 
 laid by any of the companies, and only 250 
 miles of grading had been done. 
 
 Interest upon the bonds was defaulted 
 and the state was obliged to foreclose the 
 properties. The situation seemed hopeless. 
 In a spirit, possibly, of retaliation (for it 
 was generally believed that the state had 
 been grossly misused) the people, at the 
 November election, adopted a cnnstitu- 
 tional amendment virtuallj' repudiating the 
 debt incurred in the bond issue. Impend- 
 ing war made the future doubtful, and for 
 the time being nothing could be done. And 
 soon the war cloud broke and railroads 
 were forgotten in the excitement of the 
 hour. 
 
 Minnesota m the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 In the election of the fall of 1859 the 
 republican party was successful, and Gov- 
 ernor Ramsey was again selected to guide 
 the fortunes of the young state through 
 what proved to be the most exciting period 
 in its history. The choice was a fortunate 
 one. Others might have borne the respon- 
 sibilities with honor, but certainly none 
 better than the young, ardent and capable 
 executive, whose thorough sympathy with 
 the national administration, whose intense 
 loyalty, whose fine executive ability and 
 whose nearness to the hearts of the people 
 of the state made him the ideal leader for 
 such a crisis. On the fateful Saturday. 
 
 April 13, 1861, when the news of the fall 
 of Sumter awakened the North to the cer- 
 tainty of war. Governor Ramsey was in 
 Washington. He foresaw a call for troops, 
 and early on Sunday morning called upon 
 Secretary Cameron of the war department 
 to offer a regiment from Minnesota. The 
 tender was put into writing and conveyed 
 at once to President Lincoln, Minnesota 
 thus being the first state in the Union to 
 offer her services for suppressing the re- 
 bellion. The offer was accepted and Gov- 
 ernor Ramsey on Monday telegraphed 
 Lieut,-Gov. Ignatius Donnelly to issue a 
 call for volunteers. That night Josias R. 
 King, of St. Paul, was the first man to 
 sign an agreement to enlist, and therefore 
 
 STEPIIKN MII.I.KI;. 
 Goveruor of Minne^^uta— 1864-1866. 
 
 claimed the honor of being the first vol- 
 unteer of the civil war. But not alone in 
 these particulars did Minnesota take pre- 
 eminence. The first "three years" regi- 
 ment to reach the front came from Minne- 
 sota, and that regiment — the famous First 
 Minnesota — "sustained the greatest loss in 
 the greatest battle of the war." The con- 
 tribution of the state to the army was also 
 something remarkable. Though a border 
 state where the men could ill be spared for 
 military duty, the state furnished 26.717 
 volunteers: this from a population of 172.- 
 023 by tlie census of i860. It was more 
 than ten per cent of the population in 1865. 
 Eleven regiments, two companies of sharp- 
 shooters, several light cavalry and four ar- 
 
28 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 tillery organizations were recruited from 
 the state. 
 
 To tell the story of the participation of 
 Minnesota men in the war in detail is, of 
 course, impossible within the limits of this 
 sketch. Even to mention all the brave 
 leaders of the various organizations is out 
 of the question. Of the seven colonels 
 and lieutenant-colonels of the "tild First," 
 three. Colonels Gorman, Dana and Sully, 
 became brigadier generals, while the oth- 
 ers. Colonels Morgan, Colville, Miller and 
 Adams, were brevetted for the same rank. 
 Indeed, Col. Sully won the brevet of major 
 general. Col. Van Cleve, of the Second, 
 was also brevetted major general and Col. 
 C. C. Andrews, of the Third, and Col. John 
 
 I.t'CIUS V. lUBBAIil). 
 (Jovernor of Miimesiita— 1883-1S87. 
 
 B. Sanborn, of the Fourth, won the same 
 distinction. Col. L. F. Hubbard, of the 
 Fifth, won his brevet as brigadier general 
 in 1864. Col. John T. Averill, of the Sixth, 
 was similarly honored, as was Col. Wm. 
 R. Marshall of the Seventh, Col. M. T. 
 Thomas of the Eighth and Col. Jas. H. 
 Baker and Lieut.-Col. Jennison of the 
 Tenth. Col. Miller of the Seventh was 
 promoted to be brigadier general. 
 
 The scenes attending the recruiting of 
 the First regiment were most exciting. 
 Lieut.-Gov. Donnelly issued the call for 
 troops on Tuesday, April i6th. Business 
 was at once relegated to a second place 
 and the people of the state for a few days 
 spent their time in holding patriotic meet- 
 
 ings and discussing the coming war on the 
 street corners. Amid great popular ex- 
 citement company after company waS re- 
 cruited and hastened to Fort Snelling. It 
 was impossible to accept all of them under 
 the call, and ten were selected to form the 
 First regiment. They were mustered in 
 under the three months' call, but the ad- 
 ministration having made a further call for 
 three years' troops, almost the entire regi- 
 ment re-enlisted "for three years or during 
 the war." Ex-Governor Gorman was ap- 
 pointed colonel and Stephen Miller, after- 
 wards to be governor of the state, was 
 made lieutenant colonel. Towards the last 
 of May the regiment marched into St. Paul 
 and in the presence of a vast concourse 
 of people assembled in front of the capitol. 
 received from the hands of Mrs. Ramsey, 
 the wife of the governor, a silk flag which 
 it afterwards carried through the war. Fort 
 Snelling was crowded with visitors during 
 the few weeks that intervened before the 
 regiment went to the front. 
 
 Similar scenes were witnessed as the reg- 
 iments, one by one. assembled in response 
 to the additional calls issued by President 
 Lincoln. The "old First" passed its term 
 of service in the East. It was in scores 
 of engagements. Among the more impor- 
 tant were Bull Run, Ball's Blufif, the bat- 
 tles of the Peninsula, Antietam, Fredericks- 
 burg and Gettysburg — Gettysburg, where 
 Its famous charge has become one of the 
 glorious chapters in the records of mag- 
 nificent courage and self-sacrifice. "There 
 IS no more gallant deed recorded in his- 
 tory," said Gen. Hancock, who ordered the 
 charge. And well he might speak thus. A 
 depleted regiment of 262 men charging two 
 large brigades of the enemy, breaking their 
 victorious advance and holding them in 
 check until reserves had time to come, and 
 losing in the deed 215 men out of the 262. 
 This successful charge saved the position 
 and possibly the day for the Union forces. 
 
 The Second regiment was in the West — 
 at Chickamauga, Atlanta and in the march 
 to the sea. The Third. Fourth and Fifth 
 were at Vicksburg, and the Fourth went 
 with Sherman to the sea; the Seventh. 
 Ninth and Tenth were at Nashville. These 
 were only some of the most conspicuous 
 battles. Most of the regiments served 
 through long and wearisome campaigns 
 and participated with honor in many en- 
 gagements. 
 
 However, many of the Minnesota sol- 
 diers never saw Southern service; to them 
 fell a different kind of campaigning, though 
 their service was not less arduous or im- 
 portant. 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA 
 
 •2!1 
 
 The Indian War of 1862-64. 
 
 Minnesota had already sent half of her 
 volunteers to the South and was hasten- 
 ing the recruiting of more regiments for 
 the suppression of the rebellion, when with 
 the suddenness of the lightning's flash 
 there fell upon the state a calamity which 
 for the time turned aside every thought of 
 the nation's conflict. On the i8th of Au- 
 gust, 1862, the Sioux Indians living upon 
 the reservations along the upper Minnesota 
 river rose without warning and massacred 
 the settlers all along the frontier. Within 
 thirty-six hours about 1,000 people had 
 
 arms, ammunition and rations for equip- 
 ping troops. It was the greatest Indiam 
 massacre in the history of the country and 
 was executed with the fiendish cruelty and 
 suddenness characteristic of the savages. 
 These circumstances made the situation 
 appalling. Fleeing settlers poured into the 
 larger villages on the frontier and hurried 
 preparations were made at these places for 
 defense and for the relief of outlying 
 points. But of the latter there were very 
 lew left with living inhabitants. The peo- 
 ple at the upper and lower Indian agencies 
 on the Minnesota river had been slain at 
 
 
 -mi »* «*»» 
 
 
 
 W^ ■ ^ ..., 
 
 A RELIC OK THE INDIAN MASSACRE OF 1863. 
 
 The old "Lctwer -\gency'' building still standing near Redwood Falls. The roof anil interior have been 
 
 changed; the walls are the same as wlien every inhabitant was murdered on August 18th. 1863. 
 
 been murdered. The Sioux engaged in the 
 massacre could muster upwards of i.ooo 
 effective warriors, and the possibilities of 
 re-inforcement from the western bands of 
 Sioux were almost illimitable. In addi- 
 tion there was imminent danger of the in- 
 fection of. the Winnebagoes and Chippewas 
 with the spirit of rebellion and a general 
 uprising which would have swept the state 
 clear of settlers to the Mississippi river. 
 Indeed, this was found afterwards to have 
 been the program of Little Crow, the chief 
 commanding the Sioux. At the moment 
 of the uprising the state had sent 5,000 of 
 her best men, including most of the trained 
 militia, to the South and was quite without 
 
 the first movement of the Indians. Then 
 from Meeker county on the north, sweep- 
 ing close to Glencoe, St. Peter, Mankato, 
 and on south to Spirit Lake on the Iowa 
 line, the savages had murdered every white 
 person except about 150 young women and 
 children who were carried into a most hor- 
 rible captivity. Fort Ridgley and New 
 Ulm were the only places where resistance 
 had been eflfective, and both these places 
 were sorely beset. 
 
 A few troops in the vicinity were hur- 
 ried to the relief of Fort Ridgley, and 
 Judge Charles E. Flaudreau, who was then 
 living at St. Peter, hastily organized a 
 company of 116 men and marched on Au- 
 
30 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 gust 19th to New Ulm, arriving there just 
 in time to assist in beating off a renewed 
 attack. Within a few days the force was 
 swelled by other arrivals of volunteers, and 
 on Saturday. August 23rd, when the In- 
 dians again attacked the place. Colonel 
 Flandreau had about 300 men, though very 
 poorly equipped. The battle of New Ulm 
 was one of the most bitterly contested 
 known in Indian warfare. The attacking 
 force outnumbered the defenders two to 
 one and were infinitely better armed. Af- 
 ter burning the town and driving the 
 whites into a stockade, the Indians were 
 forced to retire. On Monday the ruins of 
 the town were abandoned and the inliabi- 
 lants and wearied volunteers made good 
 their retreat to Mankato. 
 
 men. raw and undisciplined recruits, citi- 
 zen volunteers and what not. They were 
 ill armed, but undaunted. But the evac- 
 uation of New Ulm and the check which 
 the Indians had received gave time for 
 preparation, and within a few days the lit- 
 tle army was better armed and marched 
 to Fort Ridgley. In the meantime the In- 
 dians had disappeared from the vicinity 
 and a detachment of 150 men sent out to 
 reconnoitre felt so much security that it 
 was surprised at Bird.- Coulie and almost 
 annihilated during a three days' fight be- 
 fore reinforcements arrived. This almost 
 massacre, however, again saved the lower 
 valley. Even after their repulses at Fort 
 Ridgley and New Ulm. the Indians were 
 readv to invade the lower river, and would 
 
 Kiilit lillx. 
 hiiim iin old dr.-iwiiijj in possession of 
 
 Meanwhile Fort Ridgley liad been con- 
 tinuously besieged, but without success. 
 These desperate stands made by the de- 
 fenders of New Ulm and Fort Ridgley un- 
 doubtedly saved the lower Minnesota val- 
 ley. Had the Indians been successful, they 
 would without question have ravaged the 
 state to the vicinity of Fort Snelling. 
 
 Governor Ramsey received word of the 
 uprising on August 19th, and at once 
 placed Gen. H. H. Sibley in command of 
 a movement to check and punish the In- 
 dians. At the time the Sixth Minnesota 
 regiment was being mustered in at Fort 
 Snelling and SibJey went forward ne.xt day 
 with four companies of this regiment. Oth- 
 er companies were hurried after him, and 
 on Sunday, the 24th. he had assembled at 
 St. Peter a motley force of about 1.400 
 
 Ki.KV. 
 
 tht' Miiiiiosnia Ilieti>ri:il Snciety. 
 
 undoubtedly have done so had their at- 
 tention not been taken up with the Birch 
 Coulie aflfair. They could easily have evad- 
 ed the slight defensive operations possible 
 from Mankato and St. Peter, and Sibley 
 could not have overtaken them before they 
 had swept the valley. While these events 
 were transpiring in the Minnesota valley, 
 a command was organized in the region 
 about Glencoe under Col. John H. Stev- 
 ens and such defense was made' that the 
 Indians were prevented from ravaging 
 that part of the country beyond the limits 
 of their first raid. South of the Minnesota 
 Col. Flandreau was put in command of the 
 defense to the Iowa line. 
 
 With the hope of rescuing the prisoners 
 alive. Gen. Sibley, who well understood the 
 Indian character, made no further offensive 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 ?,1 
 
 movements against the Indian position, 
 which had been taken up at the upper 
 agency, but opened communication with 
 Little Crow. Their correspondence proved 
 unsatisfactory and Sibley finally moved 
 west and on September 23rd fought the 
 battle of Wood Lake, where the Indians 
 were defeated. Two days later the Indian 
 camp was surrounded and four hundred 
 warriors taken prisoner, while the white 
 captives were at the same time released. 
 Little Crow and some of his leading men 
 escaped. 
 
 Gen. Sibley organized a military com- 
 mission which tried 425 Indians, of whom 
 J2I were found guilty and 303 were sen- 
 tenced to death. The sentence was sub- 
 sequently commuted by President Lincoln, 
 
 tinually waging war against him. In 1862 
 the Indians had not been promptly paid 
 their annuities and knew that the state was 
 ill prepared to defend its settlers. 
 
 The government decided that further 
 punisliment of the Indians was necessary, 
 and during 1863 and 1864 Generals Sibley 
 and Sully carried on campaigns through 
 Dakota and Montana which completely 
 broke the spirit of the Indians for the time 
 being. 
 
 The Rebound from Depression. 
 
 With the close of the civil war Minne- 
 sota entered upon a new period of pros- 
 perity. Even the backset which the state 
 received through the Sioux massacre was 
 forgotten. Immigration was constant and 
 
 INDIAN EXKlTTION .\T M.\NKAT<I IN 18BS. 
 From a dr.'iwing in the rooms of th*' Minnesota Historical Society. 
 
 except in the case of 38 of the prisoners, 
 who were hanged on one scaffold at Man- 
 kato on December 26th, 1862 — probably the 
 most remarkable execution in the country's 
 history. The remaining prisoners were 
 confined in prison in Iowa for a long time. 
 Some of them died in this captivity and 
 the rest were finally removed to the re- 
 mote frontier and liberated. For his part 
 in the campaign Sibley received a brigadier 
 general's commission. 
 
 The causes of the Indian uprising of 1862 
 have been much discussed and never sat- 
 isfactorily settled, beyond the generaliza- 
 tion that the Indian hates the white man 
 and is only restrained by policy from con- 
 
 large. Many soldiers who had fought in 
 the Union army came to the Northwest to 
 take up government land and make homes 
 on the prairies. During the war the fran- 
 chises granted to railroad companies in 
 1857 and which had fallen in through de- 
 fault, were re-let to new companies and 
 building was taken up slowly. In 1862 the 
 ten miles between St. Paul and St. An- 
 thony had been spanned by the rails, and 
 by 1865 a line had been opened to Fari- 
 bault. As soon as the war ended railroad 
 building went on with great rapidity. Com- 
 munication with the East via LaCrosse 
 was opened in 1867. while the Minnesota 
 & Pacific reached the Red river valley only 
 
32 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 a little later. Under these conditions, so 
 favorable for development, it is not won- 
 derful that the census of 1870 showed a 
 gain of 180,000 in population and a larger 
 percentage of increase than has occurred in 
 any five year period since. 
 
 How the War Developed Men. 
 
 The stress of the times, both on the 
 battlefield and in the management of the 
 affairs of state, brought to the front the 
 best that Minnesota had to offer. These 
 were times that developed men. During 
 the war the foremost man in Minnesota 
 was undoubtedly Governor Ramsey. His 
 prompt action in offering troops to the 
 government and his readiness upon the 
 breaking out of the Indian war have al- 
 ready been mentioned On .September g, 
 
 the strength of character and readiness, 
 endurance and patience which later served 
 them well in political life. 
 
 The exigencies of war time were equally 
 potent in bringing forward strong men 
 among those whose duties kept them at 
 home or in the legislative bodies. One of 
 the most honored of Minnesota's public 
 men commenced his service to the state 
 and nation at this time. This was William 
 Windom, of Winona. He represented the 
 state in the national house of representa- 
 tives from 1859 to 1869, when he was ap- 
 pointed to the senate. In 1871 he was elect- 
 ed senator and again in 1877. In 1880 his 
 name was before the republican national 
 convention as Minnesota's candidate for 
 the presidential nomination. He was made 
 secretary of the treasurv under Garfield 
 
 Morri?, Minn., in 18'<1. 
 
 1862, he called an extra session of the state 
 legislature to take measures for the sup- 
 pression of the uprising. In the fall of 
 1861 he was re-elected, but during the 
 winter of 1863 was chosen to represent the 
 state in the United States senate, where he 
 served with distinction during twelve years. 
 In 1879 he was appointed secretary of war 
 by President Hayes and he afterwards 
 served four years on the Utah commission. 
 No less than four of the later governors 
 of Minnesota were commissioned officers 
 of her regiments during the war. Three 
 Others served in various capacities either in 
 Minnesota or Wisconsin regiments, while 
 many other of the public men of the state 
 acquired in the stern school of the army 
 
 and again by President Harrison, and it 
 was during his conspicuously able conduct 
 of this department that his sudden death 
 occurred in 1891. As a financier and pub- 
 licist of world-wide reputation, and as a 
 man of the highest character. Minnesota 
 has reason to be proud of him. 
 
 Three Great Inventions. 
 
 It must not be inferred from the impor- 
 tant place which is given to railroads in 
 all accounts of the development of Min- 
 nesota, that they were alone responsible 
 for the wonderful advances made by the 
 young state. Without the railroads prog- 
 ress would indeed have been slow; but 
 with them and without the energy of the 
 
A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 33 
 
 early business men the development of 
 Minnesota would have been almost equally 
 delayed. Three inventions or improve- 
 ments were made during the decade of 
 
 WILLI.^M WINDOM. 
 
 IJnileti States Senator and Secretaiy of the Treasun. 
 
 1870-80 which were quickly adopted by the 
 people of Minnesota and which played a 
 most important part in the building up of 
 the state. These were the middlings puri- 
 fier, the roller flour mill and the self- 
 binding harvester. The first two brought 
 such improvements into the manufacture 
 of flour that the product of Northwestern 
 spring wheat mills took an acknowledged 
 lead in the world's markets; the last made 
 it possible to harvest that spring wheat at 
 a greatly reduced cost, and, with the im- 
 proved processes of milling, made it an 
 active competitor with all other breadstuflfs 
 the world over. The fame of Minnesota 
 wheat and ffour went abroad over the land 
 and farmers fiocked to the state to engage 
 in raising "No. I hard." 
 
 The foundation of great manufacturing 
 and agricultural industries was laid and the 
 basis for enormous increase in legitimate 
 immigration was established. 
 
 The Red River Vallev Opened. 
 
 Co-incident with the improvements 
 which made spring wheat a profitable crop 
 came the extension of the railroads into 
 the Red river valley. It was found that the 
 soil of this region was peculiarly adapted 
 to the production of wheat. The subse- 
 
 quent development of wealth has possibly 
 never been equaled in an agricultural dis- 
 trict. In 1870 the territory comprised in 
 the six counties of Wilkin, Clay, Norman, 
 Polk, Marshall and Kittson, which are 
 Minnesota's share of the Red river valley, 
 had a population of 451 people. In 1880 
 this had increased to 21,123 and '" 1890 to 
 71,190. In 1880 this district produced l,- 
 692,183 bushels of wheat; in 1890 about 
 8,000.000 bushels. The output of the Min- 
 neapolis flour mills in 1870 was insignifi- 
 cant; in i88o it had reached over 2,000,000 
 barrels; in 1890, 7,000,000 barrels, and in 
 1898 over 14,000,000 barrels. 
 
 Two Great Disasters. 
 
 While the influences just mentioned were 
 working \o develop two of the greatest in- 
 dustries of the state, there occurred dur- 
 ing this same decade of 1870-80 two such 
 strange and unprecedented disasters to 
 these industries that they deserve a place 
 among the important happenings of the 
 state's history. The "grasshopper plague," 
 as it was called, extended over the years 
 from 1873 to 1878 and for a time threatened 
 to paralyze the agricultural interests of the 
 state. The pests — they were in reality a 
 
 CHARLES .\. PILLSBIRY. 
 
 Fov many years the leading Flour Miller of the 
 World. 
 
 species of locust — appeared in 1873, and 
 in 1875 had increased to such an extent 
 as to destroy the entire crops through a 
 large part of the state. After losing sev- 
 
34 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 eral crops in succession, the farmers were 
 not only discouraged, but in many in- 
 stances in absolute destitution. State aid 
 was granted and means for the destruction 
 of the insects finally devised. Recovery 
 from these losses was, in some districts, 
 very slow. 
 
 In fact, it was not yet complete when 
 the food producing industry was assailed 
 at the other end. On the evening 6f May 
 2, 1878, the Washburn A flour mill in Min- 
 neapolis^ — the largest mill in the world at 
 that time — exploded with terrific force. 
 The explosion was instantly followed by 
 that of two adjoining mills, while build- 
 ings of all kinds in that part of the city 
 were wrecked by the conciisiioii. Tlie 
 
 by the attempted robbery, in 1876, of a 
 bank in Northtield, the murder ot tiie cash- 
 ier and the subsequent pursuit and capture 
 of the outlaws. Two of the outlaws were 
 shot in the repulse of their band in the 
 public square at Northfield and another 
 was killed while the gang was surrounded 
 in a swamp by a pursuing posse. The oth- 
 ers have since been prisoners in the Min- 
 nesota penitentiary. The band hailed from 
 Missouri and the people of Minnesota were 
 most unwilling to liave their state brand- 
 ed with the reputation which had attached 
 to the country of the James family. Prob- 
 ably no event in its history so stirred Min- 
 nesota to the maintenance of a high stand- 
 ,Trd of public firder 
 
 MuuKllEA 
 Ki-om ;i pti()ti>i,'rHpli owned l)y tht 
 
 ruined mills and all others on the west side 
 of the river immediately took tire and were 
 completely consumed. The loss of eighteen 
 lives and the millions invested was not the 
 least of the evils of this catastrophe — from 
 a commercial standpoint — for the mystery 
 of the explosion made it seem, at first, that 
 safety in milling was an impossibility. But 
 the mysteries of dust explosion were soon 
 better understood and the Minneapolis 
 mills were rebuilt on a larger scale and 
 with appliances which assured their future 
 safety from similar accident. 
 
 The Northfield Tragedy. 
 
 A most profound impression was made 
 upon the minds of the people of the state 
 
 I) IN i»;i. 
 
 ' Minnegotii Historical Soi-iety, 
 
 Repudiation Repudiated. 
 
 There was a feeling abrcirid that Minne- 
 sota was a noble heritage and that her 
 good name should be as fair as her grand 
 forests, blue lakes and broad prairies. The 
 public conscience had borne without awak- 
 ening the stigma of repudiation since the 
 beginnings of statehood, but as the time 
 went on it was realized that the unpaid 
 bonds, whatever the circumstances attend- 
 ing their issue, must remain a blot on the 
 record of the state, unless just means were 
 taken to provide for their payment or hon- 
 orable adjustment. Headed by Governor 
 John S. Pillsbury. who repeatedly urged 
 legislative action, the movement at last 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 35 
 
 took such prominence that the issue could 
 be no longer ignored and an extra session 
 of the legislature in October. 1881, passed 
 an act for the issue of adjustment bonds, 
 which was immediately ratified by the peo- 
 ple. The settlement was satisfactory to 
 the bondholders. 
 
 A Lesson Written in Fire, 
 
 During the early eighties three serious 
 tires in as many of the public buildings of 
 the state called attention to the needs of 
 more substantial architecture if the the in- 
 stitutions of Minnesota were to maintain 
 a high position. Previous to 1866 the in- 
 sane wards of the state were cared for by 
 arrangement with the Iowa insane asylutn. 
 
 .JOHN S. PILLSHUKV. 
 Go\ernor of Minnesota — 1876 18T2. 
 
 Legislative action in that year established 
 the first hospital for the insane at St. Pe- 
 ter, and ten years later an extensive build- 
 ing had been completed. The north wing 
 of this building burned on the night of 
 November 15, 1880, causing the direct loss 
 of 24 lives. Four months later the old 
 state capitol at St. Paul was destroyed by 
 fire, entailing the loss of valuable docu- 
 ments and records. In 1884 a portion of 
 the buildings of the state penitentiary at 
 Stillwater were burned. These lessons, 
 though not immediately effective, have led 
 to a gradual improvement in the construc- 
 tion of the buildings of the various state 
 institutions. 
 
 A Chapter of Calamities. 
 
 In reviewing the history of Minnesota it 
 is the almost inevitable conclusion that the 
 state has been peculiarly unfortunate in 
 great catastrophes. In addition to the In- 
 dian massacres there have been from time 
 to time disasters wrought by the elements 
 which have in the aggregate caused almost 
 equal loss of life. During the winter of 1873 
 a period of unusually intense cold found 
 many of the newly establish settlers on the 
 prairies unprepared and fully seventy per- 
 sons lost their lives. A tornado, in 1883, 
 destroyed a large portion of Rochester and 
 caused some thirty-five fatalities. Seventy 
 lives were sacrificed in 'he tornauo which 
 swept over St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids in 
 April, 1886, and over fifty were lost in a 
 similar storm which scourged five counties 
 in southern Minnesota five years later. A 
 storm on Lake Pepin in the summer of 
 1890 sank an excursion steam and 100 per- 
 sons were drowned. But these terrible 
 ev.ents were dwarfed by the horrors of the 
 forest fires of 1894. The awful details of 
 the fire which devastated four hundred 
 square miles of territory, destroying 
 Hinckley, Sandstone and other villages, 
 are still fresh in the recollection of the 
 people of Minnesota. In this cyclone of 
 tire 417 people lost their lives, while more 
 than 2,000 were made utterly destitute by 
 the destruction of their homes. Property to 
 the value of at least $1,000,000 was destroy- 
 ed. These tragedies have served to show 
 the warmth of sympathy existing among the 
 people of Minnesota, underneath the busy 
 material lives which most of them have 
 led; in the relief measures which have al- 
 ways been prompt and generous, they have 
 been brought into closer relations and per- 
 haps to a nearer approach to the ideal of 
 universal brotherhood. 
 
 Some Great Celebrations. 
 
 In pleasant contrast to the darker epi- 
 sodes in the history of the state are the 
 incidents which show the normal tendency 
 of the people to merry-making and rejoic- 
 ing. We are wont to think of the people 
 of Minnesota as undemonstrative, but the 
 records show that they have always had a 
 vivid appreciation of the dramatic and have 
 appeared to keenly enjoy public demon- 
 strations and jollifications. From the first 
 Fourth of July celebration in 1849 the in- 
 fant St. Paul, when 500 people — nearly all 
 the inhabitants of the place — joined in the 
 procession, to the demonstrations incident 
 to the return of the Minnesota volunteers 
 
36 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 from the Philippines, half a century later, 
 when nearly half a million people greeted 
 the soldiers and chief executive on the 
 streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul — there 
 have been from time to time many inter- 
 esting occasions of public rejoicing. 
 
 One of the most unique afifairs of this 
 character was the excursion to St. Paul 
 and St. Anthony on the occasion of the 
 opening of the Chicago & Rock Island 
 railroad to the Mississippi river in 1854. 
 About 1,000 prominent people were in the 
 party, including ex-President Fillmore, 
 Edward Bates, the senior and junior 
 Blairs, George Bancroft, the historian, El- 
 bridge Gerry, Charles A. Dana, Samuel 
 Bowles, Samuel J. Tilden. and a great 
 
 HOKACE AfSTIN. 
 Governor of Miunesota — 1S70-18T4. 
 
 many others then or since prominent in 
 politics, the pulpit, the bar or the news- 
 paper sanctum. Such excursions are un- 
 known nowadays, when the palace car con- 
 fines the excursionists in dusty compart- 
 ments. Five steamboats brought the vis- 
 itors from Rock Island to St. Paul. From 
 time to time, as the steamers ascended the 
 river, they were lashed together in pairs 
 for the convenience of the guests, and mu- 
 sic and dancing on board alternated with 
 hospitable receptions at every landing. At 
 St. Paul a banquet and ball in the capitol 
 gave the Eastern visitors an understanding 
 of Western hospitality. Such conveyances 
 as could be had carried the excursionists 
 
 to St. Anthony and the Falls of Minne- 
 haha. 
 
 Perhaps the first pageant ever seen in 
 the state was that which appeared on the 
 streets of St. Paul in 1858 in celebration 
 of the laying of the first Atlantic cable. 
 For a town of less than 10,000 people lo- 
 cated far inland and without telegraphic 
 communication, this celebration of an in- 
 ternational event was quite remarkable. In 
 the parade all the prominent people partici- 
 pated. A long series of floats carried 
 groups representing in tableaux scenes of 
 the revolution and others of a symbolical 
 nature. One car carried thirty-two young 
 women representing the states of the 
 union, the part of Minnesota, the newest 
 in the group, being taken by a little girl 
 of five. The procession which included 
 many other appropriate features, conclud- 
 ed with the inevitable speechmaking. 
 
 There were great demonstrations in cel- 
 ebration of the victories which brought the 
 rebellion to a close, but they were perhaps 
 outdone by the later jubilees over more 
 peaceful triumphs. Upon the completion 
 and formal opening of the Northern Pa- 
 cific railroad, in 1883, the cities of St. Paul 
 and Minneapolis were crowded with the 
 people of the state who gathered to wit- 
 ness the pageants which celebrated this 
 commercial advance and did honor to 
 Henry Villard. Eight years later the mag- 
 nificent harvest of 1891 was the occasion 
 of a jubilee in Minneapolis, the like of 
 which has never been seen in the West. 
 This "harvest festival" attracted national 
 attention. The winter carnivals in St. Paul 
 and the later carnivals in both cities in con- 
 nection with the annu?l state fair have 
 given evidence of the presence of a genu- 
 ine carnival spirit even if tinged with a 
 touch of commercialism. 
 
 Minnesota at the Worlds Fair. 
 
 The assistance of Minnesota m the na- 
 tional celebration of the four hundredth 
 anniversary of the discovery of America 
 was noteworthy. Under the direction of a 
 special commission, an attractive state 
 building was erected on the fair grounds 
 at Chicago and the state made exhibits in 
 many of the departments of the fair. The 
 displays of cereals and dairy products, the 
 mining and forestry exhibits, were excep- 
 tionally fine. Out of about 300 displays 
 of cereals Minnesota took over 200 awards, 
 while 66 were granted for flour. The min- 
 ing displays received 40 awards, the cattle 
 48, horses 50 and poultry 21. Minnesota 
 Day was celebrated on October 13th, the 
 
A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 37 
 
 thirty-sixth anniversary of the adoption of 
 the constitution. 
 
 The Panic of 1893. 
 
 The world's lair j-ear brought with it 
 the commercial depression throughout the 
 country, and which, in the case of Minne- 
 sota, proved to be the most serious panic 
 since the organization of the state, but in 
 proportion to the population and commer- 
 cial interests involved, it was not as serious 
 as the panic of 1857. Its effects were felt 
 principally in the larger cities where many 
 financial institutions, especially those re- 
 lying upon real estate values for their foun- 
 dations, were forced to bankruptcy. The 
 
 cost of about $275,000. Its inadequacy to 
 the needs of the state became apparent 
 within a few years, and in 1893 the legis- 
 lature created a capitol commission 
 charged with the erection of a more per- 
 manent building, to cost $2,000,000. The 
 cornerstone of the new capitol was laid on 
 July 27th, 1898, by the venerable Governor 
 Ramsey. The building is of white Geor- 
 gia marble, and is under contract for com- 
 pletion by July ist, 1900. It will be one of 
 the handsomest, though by no means the 
 most costly of state capitols. 
 
 Minnesota m the Spanish War of 1898. 
 
 The response of the state to the call for 
 
 MINNESOTA HI 11. DIM. AT IllK WOlil.llS FAIH "I 1-^ 
 
 conditions brought to light the operations 
 of careless and even criminal financiers; 
 but Minnesota suffered no more from such 
 revelations than other and older states. In 
 the rural communities of the state the de- 
 pression was much less marked than in 
 the cities. Some districts experienced 
 practically no inconvenience from the gen- 
 eral stringency. 
 
 Minnesota's New Capitol. 
 
 After the destruction of the original cap- 
 itol building in 1881, the legislature held 
 two sessions in the St. Paul market house 
 and in 188.3 occupied the second capitol, 
 which had been rushed to completion at a 
 
 volunteers for the war with Spain in 1898 
 was as prompt as in 1861 when Lincoln 
 asked for soldiers to put down the rebel- 
 lion. Minnesota was again first to offer 
 military aid. She furnished three regi- 
 ments — the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Four- 
 teenth — immediately after the call, and they 
 were mustered in on May 7th and 8th. The 
 Fifteenth followed under the second call 
 on July i8th. In all 5.313 volunteers were 
 furnished the national government. Only 
 the Thirteenth regiment actually partici- 
 pated in hostilities. Its creditable service 
 in the Philippine islands is a matter fa- 
 miliar to evervone in the state. 
 
38 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 The Pillager Indian Uprising. 
 
 In 1898 Minnesota again experienced the 
 sensations of an Indian uprising, but for- 
 tunately on a scale which relieved the af- 
 fair of the terrors of the pioneer days. The 
 attempt of a deputy United States marshal 
 to arrest two Indians on the Leech Lake 
 reservation led to the rising of the Pillager 
 band against the authority of the govern- 
 ment. A detachment of troops sent from 
 Fort Snelling attempted to enforce United 
 States authority, and all but one or two 
 of the miscreants were finally arrested, but 
 not until an engagement had taken place 
 at Sugar Point where the command lost 
 eight killed and as many wounded. No 
 
 CLJSIl.MAN K. DAV1^^. 
 
 Governor of Minnesota, 1ST4 ISTti. and United 
 
 States Senator. 
 
 Indians were killed. For a time the people 
 settled near Leech Lake were fearful of a 
 general uprising, and troops were stationed 
 for several days at all important points. 
 
 An Agricultural Influence. 
 
 Second only in influence in the farming 
 life of the state to the improvements in 
 agricultural and milling machinery of the 
 seventies was the decided movement to- 
 ward dairying in the last decade. Twenty 
 years ago Minnesota was likely to become 
 known as a "one crop state." There was 
 an extraordinary rush into wheat raising, 
 stimulated by the high price of the cereal, 
 the ease with which it could be raised by 
 
 men ignorant of general farming and a 
 certain amount of skepticism regarding the 
 possibilities of the climate for many kinds 
 of crops. Before long it became evident 
 to the more thoughtful that diversification 
 must come or the farms of the state would 
 be ruined. Even a soil which received the 
 award at the world's fair for being extra- 
 ordinarily rich in plant food would sooner 
 or later be exhausted if only wheat were 
 raised. Low prices of wheat in some years 
 and occasional crop failures helped on the 
 coming change. In the early times of the 
 state the excellence of Minnesota grasses 
 as butter-making food had been estab- 
 lished, but it was not until the necessity 
 of diversification became very evident that 
 there was any large movement toward 
 dairying. The introduction of the co-op- 
 erative creamery idea at an opportune time 
 helped on the movement until now there 
 are about 700 creameries and 100 cheese 
 factories in the state, .^bout two-thirds of 
 these institutions are co-operative. Iri 1898 
 about 30 per cent of the farmers in the 
 state were patrons of creameries. At the 
 same time there has grown up a general 
 diversificution of grain crops, an increased 
 attention to fruit raising and considerable 
 interest in stock breeding and fattening. 
 Recently the exploitation of the sugar beet 
 as a Minnesota crop has led to the intro- 
 duction of this profitable root as a Minne- ' 
 sola staple. 
 
 This diversification of farm crops and 
 
 ndustries has had a notable effect upon 
 tlie financial condition of Minnesota 
 larmers. and must in time work an 
 
 qual change in their social condition. Ex- 
 ' lusive wheat raising means for the farmer 
 ' 'verwork at the time of seeding and har- 
 \est and comparative idleness at other pe- 
 riods, while it also tends. to make him more 
 or less of a speculator. In the same way 
 the change from home dairying to the 
 creamery has lightened the duties of the 
 farm wife, and, with the incidentally in- 
 creased income, made possible a higher 
 standard of living. 
 
 Some Events Political. 
 
 Minnesota is peculiar among the states 
 in that for nearly forty years, from i860 to 
 1899, its government remained in the con- 
 trol of one political party. Vermont is the 
 only other state in the Union which has 
 passed through a similar experience. Gen- 
 eral H. H, Sibley, elected as a democrat 
 in 1858. was succeded by a republican. 
 Governor Ramsey, in i860, and then fol- 
 lowed in long succession Governors Henrj'^ 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA 
 
 39 
 
 A. Swift, 1863-4; Stephen Miller, 1864-66; 
 William R. Marshall, 1866-70; Horace Aus- 
 tin, 1870-74; Cushman K. Davis, 1874-76; 
 John S. Pillsbury, 1876-82; Lucius F. Hub- 
 bard, 1882-87; A. R. McGill. 1887-89; Wil- 
 liam R. Merriani, 1889-93; Knute Nelson, 
 1893-95; and David M. Clough, 1895-99. 
 In l8g8 John Lind, the candidate of the 
 democratic and populist parties, was elect- 
 ed governor, breaking the long line of re- 
 publican successes. But on national issues 
 the state has always been republican, every 
 republican president from Lincoln to Mc- 
 Kinley having received a plurality. And 
 with the exception of Senators Shields and 
 Rice, chosen in 1857, all of the state's rep- 
 resentatives in the upper house of congress 
 
 A. R. Mc(ULL. 
 
 Governor of Minnesota— 1887-lf8ll. 
 
 have been republicans. All have served 
 the state with credit, while Senators Ram- 
 sey, Windom and Davis have been called 
 to even higher national honors and duties. 
 Some of the more important legislative 
 enactments of the state have already been 
 mentioned. During Gov. Davis' adminis- 
 tration, and at his suggestion, the foun- 
 dations were laid for state supervision of 
 railroads. The creation of the railroad 
 commission is justly regarded as one of 
 the most important pieces of legislation 
 accomplished in Minnesota. During Gov. 
 McGill's administration the system was 
 perfected. At the same session of the leg- 
 islature the high license system was adopt- 
 ed. Various acts from time to time fixed 
 
 as a part of the state financiering the cus- 
 tom of raising a large revenue from taxes 
 upon the gross earnings of railroads. The 
 Australian system of voting and laws ef- 
 fecting reforms in primary elections have 
 been important measures looking to better 
 government. Early in the life of the state 
 legislation was adopted establishing the ed- 
 ucational and charitable institutions, and 
 supplementary acts have added to the orig- 
 inal establishments and created numerous 
 new departments. 
 
 Development of a School System. 
 
 Until Minnesota became a state the 
 school systems, previously referred to as 
 founded by the territorial legislature, made 
 slow progress. Originally it consisted only 
 of the common schools, conducted much 
 as the local directors considered best, and 
 the university, which remained in an em- 
 bryotic condition until after the war. Early 
 in statehood a revised school law code was 
 adopted and the machinery of the common 
 school system, much as it exists today, 
 was put in motion. The superintendent of 
 public instruction was at first chancellor 
 of the university. Teachers' institutes were 
 provided for by the legislature of 1867-9. 
 High schools first came in on the motion 
 of city school boards; afterwards they were 
 brought under the supervision of a state 
 high school board and grafted into the 
 system which now makes it possible for 
 the Minnesota boy or girl to begin with 
 the elementary branches and pass from one 
 school to another through a high school 
 and university course. In the common 
 schools there are now about 330,000 pupils. 
 The state revenue for schools from the 
 permanent fund and taxation is now over 
 $1,000,000 annually. 
 
 A norma! school system was planned by 
 the legislature of 1858, and after some de- 
 lays the Winona school was opened in 
 i860. Its bifilding was not completed until 
 1870. The Mankato normal was opened 
 in 1868, and that of St. Cloud in the fol- 
 lowing year. In 1888 the Moorhead school 
 was added to the list. These schools Jiad 
 last year an enrollment of 1,825 students. 
 In addition the state maintains a summer 
 school at the state university and local 
 summer schools which are held in more 
 than fifty counties. 
 
 In the territorial division of this sketch 
 the early history of the University of Min- 
 nesota was outlined. In i860 the institu- 
 tion was entirely reorganized by legislative 
 enactment. The new board of regents, 
 then organized, found itself with an incom- 
 
40 
 
 A HALF CENTURV OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 pleted building and a burden of debt. It 
 was not until 1867 that the debts were ex- 
 tinguished and an appropriation made it 
 possible to commence instruction in a pre- 
 paratory department. In the following 
 year the agricultural college created in 
 1862, but never actually established, was 
 incorporated with the university proper, 
 and in 1869 the work of the institution as 
 a college was commenced with Dr. W. W. 
 Folwell as president. Upon President Fol- 
 well devolved the labor of organization 
 and the solution of all the difficult prob- 
 lems of a new institution. The equipment 
 was meagre; not until 1875 was it possible 
 even to enlarge the original building. With 
 1881 came provisions for more liberal 
 building, and 1883 saw the beginnings of 
 the agricultural department work in the 
 farm at St. Anthony Park. 
 
 to a dozen or more on the campus, and 
 almost as many on the agricultural farm. 
 In these buildings are accommodated 
 seven departments, a college of science, lit- 
 erature and arts, a school of mines, a col- 
 lege of mechanic arts, a college of agri- 
 culture, a college of law, a department of 
 medicine and a graduate department. Sev- 
 eral of these departments are so subdivided 
 as to form virtually other colleges or 
 schools. The university has an enrollment 
 of about 3,000 students, a strong faculty 
 and a standard of work which gives its 
 students recognition on equal terms in the 
 best universities in the country. The ag- 
 ricultural department is recognized as lead- 
 ing all others in the United States. The 
 university has an annual financial support 
 of about $300,000, and in addition to its 
 lands, owns buildings wortti over a million 
 
 THE I.TBRARY-lNnEUSITY OF .MI.NNKSOTA, 
 
 In 1884 the time appeared to have come 
 when Dr. Folwell might indulge a prefer- 
 ence for work as an instructor, and he re- 
 tired from the presidency to be succeeded 
 by Dr. Cyrus Northrop, who has contin- 
 ued to administer the affairs of the insti- 
 tution to the present time. Thus the Min- 
 nesota university has had, in its thirty 
 years of actual college work, but two pres- 
 idents, and each has served for one-half the 
 period. President Northrop's conduct of 
 the university has been most successful. 
 The rapid growth of the state during the 
 eighties made great demands upon the ed- 
 ucational institutions, and the legislature, 
 realizing the importance of the university, 
 made liberal appropriations. From three 
 small buildings the imiversity has grown 
 
 dollars. 
 
 Through the organization of its univer- 
 sity, high schools and grammar and dis- 
 trict schools in one complete and con- 
 nected system, Minnesota became the first 
 state to offer to its young people a free 
 liberal education from the primary grades 
 to post graduate university work. 
 
 Other State Institutions. 
 
 Closely allied with its public educational 
 system has been Minnesota's public pro- 
 vision for instruction of defectives, its cor- 
 rectional work and its treatment of the in- 
 sane. From the founding of the peniten- 
 tiary in territorial days, the establishment 
 of the deaf, dumb and blind institute at 
 Faribault in 1868, and the creation of the 
 
42 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 St. Peter hospital for the insane in 1866, 
 the institutional system has gradually de- 
 veloped until it is reasonably complete. 
 The three hospitals for the insane at St. 
 
 \V1LLI.\M K. iIKl;UI.\M, 
 Governor of Minnesota— 1889-1S93 
 
 Peter. Rochester and Fergus Falls had 
 3.357 inmates at the beginning of the cur- 
 rent year; the state has about $2,500,000 
 invested in these institutions. At Faribault 
 are grouped in the institute for defectives 
 the three schools — for the deaf, blind and 
 feeble-minded. The state public school at 
 Owatonna cares for neglected or homeless 
 children and the state training school at 
 Red Wing takes in hand boys and girls 
 who are incorrigible, but whose misde- 
 meanors are not such as to warrant incar- 
 ceration in one of the common prisons. 
 The reformatory at St. Cloud was estab- 
 lished by the legislature of 1887, with the 
 same purpose but going one grade deeper; 
 it is used for the imprisonment and refor- 
 mation if possible of youthful criminals. 
 The most significant and important legis- 
 lation in connection with these institutions 
 was the creation in 1883 of the state board 
 of charities and corrections, charged with 
 a general oversight of the management of 
 the institutions, but without executive 
 powers. New methods may be recom- 
 mended and no buildings may be erected 
 without the approval of plans by the board. 
 Its work has tended to greatly unify the 
 system, improve methods and prevent 
 abuses. 
 
 Growth of the Churches. 
 
 Since the first Presbyterian church was 
 organized in 1834 in a rude apartment at 
 Fort Snelling, and since Father Galtier 
 built the chapel of St. Paul, the religious 
 life of Minnesota has made progress in 
 every way commensurate with the material 
 development of the state. To tell the story 
 in detail would require many pages; it 
 would be an account of indomitable effort 
 midst greatest discouragements in pioneer 
 days, of notable triumphs as the years 
 went on, and a gradual development of 
 such strength and force as has been rarely 
 seen in a half century of spiritual endeavor. 
 Only a few incidents of this fifty years' 
 work may be mentioned. The first resi- 
 dent clergyman in charge of a church in 
 St. Paul was Father Ravoux of the Roman 
 Catholic church. In 1849 Rev. E. D. Neill 
 commenced preaching and Rev. J. P. Par- 
 sons of the Baptist denomination and Rev. 
 Chauncey Hobart.a Methodist, commenced 
 their labors later in the same year. Rev. 
 J. C. Whitney, a Presbyterian clergyman, 
 began pastoral work in Stillwater in 1849. 
 He was followed soon after by a Baptist. 
 Rev. W. C. Brown. The first Methodist 
 church at St. Anthony was organized by 
 
 KNLTE NELSON. 
 ».io\ernor of Minnesota, 1893-1895, and T. S. Senator. 
 
 Rev. Matthew Sorin in 1849; a Presbyter- 
 ian and an Episcopal church were formed 
 in 1850. and a Congregational church in 
 the following year. During October, 1850, 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 43 
 
 the first church bell to ring out its mes- 
 sage from a belfry in Minnesota was heard. 
 It hung in the tower of the First Presby- 
 terian church of St. Paul. , 
 
 DAVID M. ci.orGH. 
 Governor of Minnesota — 150.">-1899. 
 
 The churches planted in these early days 
 grew rapidly. So large indeed was the 
 conception of the needs of the young ter- 
 ritory that in 185 1 a bishopric of the Cath- 
 olic church was created and the Right 
 Reverend Joseph Cretin became the first 
 bishop of St. Paul. In the same year the 
 Wisconsin Methodist conference took cog- 
 nizance of churches of that denomination 
 at St. Paul, St. Anthony, Stillwater and 
 Point Douglas. The St. Paul Pioneer of 
 July 29, 1852, notes the advent of the 
 church organ. As the years went by such 
 names as Knickerbacker, Whipple, Grace 
 and Ireland, appeared in the pages of 
 church history later to become most prom- 
 inent in the religious life of the state. The 
 thought of religious education developed 
 early, and the Presbyterian, Methodist, 
 Congregational, Baptist, Episcopal, Catho- 
 lic and several Lutheran denominations 
 established schools and colleges. Church 
 architecture made slower progress; in 1875 
 the First Baptist Church of St. Paul was 
 "the finest church edifice in Minnesota." 
 In 1890 there were 3.429 church organiza- 
 tions in the state, with 2,619 church edi- 
 fices, while church property was valued at 
 $12,940,152. The membership was 532,590, 
 
 which was about 41 per cent of the popula- 
 tion of the state. 
 
 The Close of a Half Century. 
 
 Minnesota reaches the end of her first 
 fifty years in the enjoyment of conditions 
 which give promise of still more remark- 
 able development in the years which will 
 round out her century. Analyzing these 
 conditions, the most striking and signifi- 
 cant appear in what is ordinarily referred 
 to as the higher life of the people. At no 
 time in the history of the state has there 
 been a larger interest in matters educa- 
 tional, moral, social and governmental 
 than during the last few years. The edu- 
 cational system of the state is better un- 
 derstood, and may be fairly said to have 
 a more general support from all classes 
 of people, than ever before. Legislation 
 in its interests has become distinctly more 
 friendly and intelligent. There is a signi- 
 ficant tendency to inquire into improve- 
 ments and extensions and developments 
 along the lines of modern thought. That 
 the people of Minnesota are thinking is 
 demonstrated by increased attention to the 
 public charities, and a very evident desire 
 to have the correctional work of the com- 
 
 joim LI>'D. 
 Governor of Minnesota— 189'J. 
 
 monwealth carried on on broad and in- 
 telligently moral lines. There is evidence 
 of a large interest in social questions, in the 
 relations of labor and capital, in municipal 
 
44 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 government, in the pnrity of elections, and 
 other similar subjects. These can only be 
 touched upon. These conditions are per- 
 haps, the natural results of the experiences 
 of Minnesota; they certainly reflect a high- 
 er average of quality in population than 
 exists in most Western states. In 1895 
 about one-third of the population of the 
 state was foreign born. But Minnesota has 
 been fortunate in attracting largely a class 
 of immigrants readily assimilated and ready 
 to adopt American customs and ideas. The 
 state has never been troubled with large 
 connnunities which insisted upon preserv- 
 ing their old country customs and lan- 
 guages. 
 
 It is. of course, impossible to ([uite sep- 
 arate these higher conditions from tlie 
 more material. They afifect each other too 
 nearly. The natural resources and ma- 
 terial prosperity of the state have attracted 
 the more intelligent immigration: the char- 
 acter of the immigrants has aided in devel- 
 oping the wealth of the state. Population 
 increase in Minnesota has been relatively 
 enormous. Commencing with 6,000 people 
 in 1850, succeeding counts have shown, in 
 i860, T72,ooo; in 1870, 439.000; in 1880. 780.- 
 000; and in i8go, 1.301,000. Each decade 
 has excelled its predecessor in actual 
 growth. From 1850 to i860 the increase 
 was 165,000; from i860 to 1870. 267.000; 
 from 1870 to 1880. 341.000; and from 1880 
 to 1890, 521.000. .\s the growth between 
 1890 and 1895, as shown by the state cen- 
 sus of the latter year, indicated a still 
 larger rate of increase, it is fair to assume 
 that the census of 1900 will give Minne- 
 sota very nearly 2,000,000 population. 
 
 But with two millions of people Min- 
 nesota would have but twenty-four to the 
 square mile, as against 278 in Massachu- 
 
 setts, ninety in Ohio and sixty-eight in 
 Illinois. If peopled as densely as Ohio 
 Minnesota would have about 7,500,000 in- 
 habitants; and the land, acre for acre, is 
 quite as well adapted to the support of pop- 
 ulation. Climate and prosperity are other 
 conditions which will lead to increasing 
 growth. An unusually low percentage of 
 crop failures and four healthful seasons 
 each year are attractive to farmers. Busi- 
 ness conditions giving unusual opportuni- 
 ties for the investment o' capital must con- 
 tinue to build up the cities of the state. 
 Many facts in the record of the advance 
 of Minnesota's commercial afifairs are sug- 
 gestive and interesting; some of them are 
 referred to in a supplementary chapter. 
 The conditions at the close of 1899 are 
 most gratifying. The reverses of 1893 
 worked. to clarify the commercial atmos- 
 phere. Unsound ventures were weeded 
 out. better methods were adopted. The 
 commercial interests of the state are now 
 on a sound and substantial basis. Inflated 
 values have lieen eliminated from real 
 estate, and wild speculation discouraged. 
 Mortgage indebtedness in city and country 
 has been much reduced. All conditions en- 
 courage increased operations in established 
 business and invite new enterprises. 
 
 The state of Minnesota enters on a new 
 half century with the brightest promise. 
 The people of the North Star State are 
 warranted in looking for\yard to a large 
 material development and great progress 
 in the higher life. *rhey might re-adopt, 
 for use during the remainder of the state's 
 first century, the old territorial motto, 
 
 "Quae sursum volo videre" — literally, "I 
 wish to see what is above" — or, freely 
 translated in the spirit of the pioneers who 
 
 adopted it, "I look for higher things." 
 
 # 
 
Minnesota's Commercial Progress During 
 
 Fifty Years. 
 
 Fifty vL-ars is liut a short time in whicli 
 to build 11]) a great commereial system. 
 When one sees the great warehonscs of St. 
 Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth crowded 
 with merchandise and teeming with 
 activity: when the map of the state, 
 gridironcd with railroads, is opened: 
 when the port of Diiluth is visited 
 and its great lake commerce seen; 
 when the grand totals of manufacturing 
 and commerce in the state are footed up: 
 — when all this is considered, as it is in the 
 year 1899. it is difficult to realize that half 
 a century ago Minnesota was a wilderness, 
 that not a railroad had reached its bor- 
 ders, tliat manufacturing was unknown, 
 and that even the growing of crops for ex- 
 port had not commenced. When Minne- 
 sota became a territory in 1849, the only 
 settlements were about the present sites of 
 Minneapolis and St. Paul and along the 
 St. Croix. West of the Mississippi ex- 
 tended an luibroken reach of forest and 
 prairie — beautiful and productive even as 
 it is now — but then inhabited only by sav- 
 ages. Such trade as was to be found was 
 handled in a rude way in the villages of 
 St. Paul and St. Anthony. It consisted 
 largely of tratiic with the Indians. The 
 furs thus secured went down the river on 
 steamboats wliich brought to the frontier 
 villages such necessities and luxuries as 
 could be afforded by the hardy pioneers. 
 In place of the great railway lines which 
 now di.stribute goods to every corner of 
 the state, the famous' Red River carts were 
 dragged with luuch toil over woods and 
 prairies, the journey from St. Anthony 
 to the Red river and return occupying most 
 of the season. 
 
 The census of 1850 showed a population 
 of only 6,077 people. Then came a rush of 
 immigration. Steamboats pvished up the 
 Minnesota valley, and settlements sprung 
 into being. .-Mong the Mississippi towns 
 were established, both above and below 
 the original settlements at St. Paul and 
 
 St. .\nthony. But until war times llu- 
 only means of transporting freight in quan- 
 tities was by steamer. After the war came 
 the railroad era. and then were laid the 
 foundations of the great commercial struc- 
 tures of today. With means of transpor- 
 tation to the interior, immigration flour- 
 ished. The production of wheat made 
 possible the millin.g industry: the demand 
 for building material gave the lumbering 
 business an impetus; while the demands 
 of th.e rapidly increasing population opened 
 tlie way for wholesale trade in all lines. 
 Fully a quarter of a million of people were 
 found to be in the state when the census 
 of 1865 was taken. 
 
 But two things were still wanting. Their 
 absence was not generally realized as a 
 hindrance to the commercial development 
 of the state; but when they came they were 
 recognized as exercising a most powerful 
 influence. In the seventies they came — the 
 self-binding harvester and tlie roller pro- 
 cess for making dour. Supplemented by 
 the ever-increasing transportation facili- 
 ties, these two things made it possible for 
 the northwestern fartuer to compete with 
 the world in supplying breadstuffs. With- 
 in ten years the two Dakotas had added 
 hundreds of thousands to their population 
 and Minnesota had filled up with people. 
 It was at this time — generally speaking, 
 from 1875 to 1885— that the great wholesale 
 trade of the commercial centers of the state 
 advanced to metropolitan proportions; that 
 the great manufacturing industries which 
 have made Minnesota famous the world 
 over, reached pre-eminence; that com- 
 merce and trade began to be counted as 
 prominent parts of the life of a state which 
 had before been looked upon only as a 
 promisin.g agricultural possibility. 
 
 F"rench and English traders invaded 
 Minnesota during the last century. When 
 
4G A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 (XK><><>C<><>O<><><><>O<><><>0«<X><><>OO<><>O<>O0O<><><>O<K><><><^^ 
 
 I THE OLD RELIABLE | 
 
 Peter Schuttler Wa^onJ 
 
 pOR FIFTY-SIX YEARS it has led 
 * them all. The only large wagon man- 
 ufacturers in America who make their own 
 hubs, spokes, felloes, bolts, rivets, and all other 
 parts from the raw material. All wood stock 
 carried from three to five years, and thoroughly 
 air seasoned before using. Sold by 
 
 BRADLEY, CLARK & CO., 
 
 225-227-229 Fifth Street N., 
 MINNEAPOLIS, - MINNESOTA. 
 
 General Northwestern Agents for 
 o 
 
 X Schuttler, Milburn and Sterling Wagons. Bradley Garden 
 X City Clipper Walking Plows. Bradley X and XX Roy's 
 I Sulky and Gang Plows. Klondike Stem Winder, Vulcan, 
 X Century and Dolphin Cultivators. Also a full line of Cutters, 
 I Bob Sleds, Wind Mills, Feed Mills, Pumps, Etc. 
 
 <><>0<><><>0<>000<X><><KK><>00<H><><><>00<><><>C>00<>0<X><>00000^<><>^^ 
 
A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 TH E 
 
 VAMDUSEn- 
 HARRINOTOnC^ 
 
 oRAinconnission 
 
 rtltlNEAPOLIScA^^ 
 ""a^DULUTH 
 
 For some time after St. Paul had been 
 settled in 1838 the people were obliged to 
 go to Mendota for their supplies. In 1842 
 Henrj- Jackson arrived and opened the 
 first store in St. Paul. R. W. Mortimer 
 lierame a merchant of the coming capital, 
 and Daniel Hopkins opened a store at Red 
 Rock in the same year. The next St. Paul 
 merchant was James W. Simpson, who 
 opened a store where the Union block now 
 stands, in 1843. William Hartshorn ar- 
 rived during the same year, and formed a 
 partnership with Henry Jackson — the first 
 mercantile alliance of this sort in Minne- 
 sota. But the partnership did not last 
 long; in 1845 Mr. Hartshorn opened up an 
 establishment on his own account, which 
 subsequently passed into the hands of 
 Freeman, Larpenteur & Co. and later to 
 John & VVm. H. Randall. A. L. Larpen- 
 teur had been a clerk for both Jackson and 
 Hartshorn. He afterwards engaged in 
 business on his own account and became 
 one of the most prominent merchants of 
 St. Paul in the territorial days. Louis Rob- 
 ert arrived and opened a store in 1844. In 
 1845 about 35 families were settled in and 
 about the village, but these could not sup- 
 port the five stores which, by that time, 
 were in operation: most of the trade was 
 
 l.iout. Pike came out in 1805 to explore 
 the country after the Louisiana purchase, 
 he found J. B. Faribault, Fraser and Mur- 
 doch Cameron, Pierre Roseau, Joseph 
 Renville, Porlier, Robert Dickson. Grant 
 and Hugh McGillis. McGillis was the dis- 
 trict superintendent or manager for the 
 Northwest Company, and mosi of the oth- 
 ers mentioned were in his employ. The 
 trade of this time was all barter — the pur- 
 chase of furs by means of supplies and 
 trinkets, which were highly valued by the 
 ignorant savages. To some extent Ameri- 
 can traders superceded the French and 
 English after Pike's visit, but for a long 
 time there was much friction between the 
 rival frontier business men. Trade took 
 on no more settled aspect until 1834, when 
 Henry H, Sibley came to Alendota as the 
 representative of the American Fur Com- 
 pany, in which he was a partner. He 
 erected the first permanent warehouse for 
 the transaction of mercantile business in 
 what is now Minnesota, and may justly be 
 styled the first business man of Minnesota. 
 His old stone warehouse at Mendota re- 
 mained for many years the monument of 
 the beginning of regular commercial 
 transactions in this state. 
 
 When you see the brand 
 
 " Hiawatha 
 
 on 
 
 Canned Goods 
 Teas 
 Coffees 
 
 »» 
 
 and 
 
 Spices 
 
 it is a g-uaranty of 
 
 EXCELLENT QUALITY 
 
 The brand is copyrig-hted by 
 
 STONE-ORDEAN- WELLS CO. 
 
 Wholesale Grocers 
 DULUTH 
 
48 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 I 
 
 Zim 
 
 Special 
 
 Bicycles 
 
 Our Ninth Bicycle Year. 
 
 We arc tlie 
 Northwestern 
 
 PIONEERS and 
 
 LEADERS. 
 
 I^acine 
 Bicycles 
 
 Bic}xles for old 
 and young — all 
 sizes — rich and 
 poor — all grades. 
 
 VICTOR QANQ PLOW. 
 
 This plow is strong; has extra heavy landsides, 2X2^^ beams. Is light draught; has 
 high wheels and the right shaped mouldhoards. A boy can cipcratc it; has springs to help 
 lift, and a foot lever to drop the bottoms. Turns a square corner properly; has peculiar 
 shaped slots in castings that connect the rod with fnmt and rear furrow wheels, s<j that the 
 tongue controlling them does not affect the rear wheel until after the front wheel has made 
 the turn. Has relief spring to take off the jnit when wheel passes over obstruction.-. 
 Begins plowing the instant bottoms strike the soil; does not drag an inch. 
 
 If our oroods 
 are not 
 represented 
 in your 
 town 
 
 ^" BUOOIES. 1 
 
 FARM IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 BrCYCLES. , 
 
 kindly write 
 us, giving 
 the name 
 of your 
 dealer. 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 49 
 
 with tlie Indians and fur traders. Each 
 merchant carried a general stock of goods, 
 in which liciuor played a prominent part; 
 specializing had not been thought of. But 
 it was at hand; Charles Cavileer embarked 
 in the saddlery business in 1845, and after- 
 wards joined with Dr. Dewey in the drug 
 business, opening the first Minnesota drug 
 store. William H. Randall, referred to 
 above as a successor of Larpenteur, 
 reached St. Paul in 1846. and was. perhaps, 
 the most prominent merchant in the city 
 until the crash of 1857. It was he who 
 built the old stone warehouse on the levee, 
 which was regarded as a model of mer- 
 cantile architecture in those days. 
 
 Up to this time all that there was of 
 Minneapolis was a group of houses on 
 the east side. The place was known as 
 St. Anthony, but until 1847 it was not of 
 enough importance to have a store. In 
 that year R. P. Russell commenced busi- 
 ness, and became the pioneer merchant of 
 the coming city. The second store was 
 opened in 1849 by William R. Marshall, 
 afterwards governor of Minnesota. Dur- 
 ing the same year John G. Lennon opened 
 a branch of P. Chotean & Co. Two years 
 later Franklin Steele and John H. Stevens, 
 under the firm name of John H. Stevens & 
 Co., opened the fourth commercial estab- 
 
 EAT 
 
 HOME BRAND 
 
 rOODS 
 
 ITHE.Y ALL WANT TnEM 
 GET IN LINE 
 "^^ GRIGGS COOPERr'^° 
 ST PAUL MINN 
 
 2+2 • 262 EAST 3^ ST. 
 
 New England Queen 
 -^^Sewing Machines 
 
 Have ^all bearing Stand, 
 Elegant finish and the best 
 [Material throughout. 
 
 AT VCHOLESALE BY 
 
 FARWELL, OZMUN, KIRK & CO. 
 ST. PAUL. 
 
 lishmcnt. Among the other pioneer busi- 
 ness men were J. P. Wilson, R. P. Upton 
 and E. & S. W. Case. 
 
 On the west side the first store was 
 i ipened in 1853 by Thomas Chambers. It 
 occupied a building owned by Col. Stev- 
 ens on Bridge Square. Col. Stevens 
 platted his farm in the next year, and com- 
 menced to sell and give away business lots, 
 and during that season nine stores were 
 started in Minneapolis. E. H. Davis and 
 John Califf opened the first hardware store; 
 a carriage factory was started by James 
 F. Bradley; John M. Anderson opened the 
 first book store: A. K. Hartwell, the first 
 insurance agency; George N. Proper and 
 Carlos Wilco.x, the first real estate and loan 
 business, and Mrs. A. Morrison, the first 
 millinery store. There were seventeen 
 stores in ^Minneapolis in 1855; in 1857 there 
 were forty-two. 
 
 Meanwhile St. Paul had been making 
 ;.;reater progress. It was the older and 
 more important town. It is recorded that 
 in 1849 the mercantile business of the place 
 amounted to $131,000. The first exclusive 
 hardware store in Minnesota was opened 
 this year, and from that time on the general 
 stores of the pioneers began to give way 
 
50 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 before those devoted tp a single line of 
 business. In this change toward more 
 modern practices the Indian supply stores 
 were not included. They continued, as 
 they had from the beginning, to handle 
 ail kinds of goods suited to the traffic with 
 the red men, and were a prominent feature 
 of St. Paul and St. Anthony mercantile 
 life until after the war. With their occu- 
 pation gone, through the advent of civiliza- 
 tion and the departure of the Indians, they 
 gradually disappeared. 
 
 The first business directory issued in St. 
 Paul, in 1850, showed sixteen merchants. 
 
 tiersman eked out his living by taking 
 game. St. Paul became the center of the 
 fur trade of Minnesota and parts of Da- 
 kota and Wisconsin, as well as the market 
 for the buffalo skins taken on tlie north- 
 western prairies. The work of extermina- 
 tion went on apace, and as it progressed 
 the fur trade increased. An old record 
 places the volume of the St. Paul fur busi- 
 ness at $1,500 in 1844, $15,000 in 1850, $40,- 
 000 in 1855, $182,491 in 1857, $186,000 in 
 i860, $202,000 in 1862, and $250,000 in 1863. 
 St. Paul was for a long time one of the 
 leading fur markets in America. 
 
 >0<><>0000<><K>0<><KM>0<><><><X><)<K><><><>OOOC)<)00<)<><><><>^^ 
 
 AGRICULTURAL LANDS AND IMPROVED 
 FARMS FOR SALE IN EVERY COUNTY 
 IN MINNESOTA UPON EASY TERMS. 
 
 ^ 
 
 PINE. CEDAR AND TIMBER 
 LANDS BOUGHT AND SOLD. 
 
 W. D. WASHBURN, JR. 
 
 Farm Lands bought and sold for cash or on easy terms, in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the 
 Dakotas. Listings of non-residents and others desiring to sell at once for cash are particularly 
 solicited. Valuations forwarded on application. 
 
 Send for free list of farms and lands in your own county. 
 
 302 Guaranty Loan Building, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA. 
 
 6<>(><K><><><><>0<>0<>(><><><K>0<K><><><K>00<>0<><H>0<><^^ 
 
 three tailors, one shoemaker, two black- 
 smiths, three bakers, a harness maker, a 
 silversmith, a gun maker and a tinner. 
 
 With the early fifties a branch of trade 
 which was for a long time one of the chief 
 sources of wealth of St. Paul and St. .An- 
 thony, began to develop. From the earli- 
 est times there had been a large traffic 
 with the Indians in furs, but as the coun- 
 try filled up. and settlers became scattered 
 over the entire region, the output of furs 
 was enormously increased. Every fron- 
 
 Until 1857 the business of the two cities 
 continued to grow and prosper: but it was 
 still the retail trade of frontier towns. 
 When the business directory of that year 
 was published St. Paul counted 158 busi- 
 ness houses. Minneapolis and St. .An- 
 thony were much behind this, but were 
 thriving business places. Then came the 
 crash, and in the panic most of the busi- 
 ness houses in the three towns closed their 
 doors. Some of the suspensions were per- 
 manent; others were but temporary, and 
 after a hard struggle, the iiroprietors re- 
 sumed business. 
 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 
 ••• 
 •••• 
 • •«. 
 •••• 
 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 
 •••• 
 
 TJtADE MARK REGrsTERLD 
 
 !•• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 
 
 612-6I/J-616 
 
 Fourth Street 
 SoutK. 
 
 Minneapolis, 
 Minn. 
 
 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 •••• 
 ■••• 
 •••• 
 
A HALF CEXTrRV OP MINNESOTA 
 
 51 
 
 The panic of "57, however, hastened on 
 the development of the wholesale trade 
 of the young cities. It had been the cus- 
 tom among the country merchants to buy 
 their stocks in the east, but the curtail- 
 ment of credits incident to the panic 
 stopped much of this and they were forced 
 to seek supplies in St. Paul and St. An- 
 thony. They would come in and buy in 
 small lots for cash. The city merchants 
 were not slow to take advantage of the sit- 
 uation by providing themselves as well as 
 possible for this unexpected addition to 
 their business. Once started, the idea of 
 
 lis is also in the hardware line, and traces 
 its origin back to the retail hardware busi- 
 ness founded by Gov. John S. Pillsbury in 
 1855. Thus the two oldest wholesale 
 liardware establishments in the state were 
 founded by men who afterwards became 
 governors. After Gov. Pillsbury's with- 
 drawal from the concern it changed sev- 
 eral times, and at last became widely 
 known as Janney, Semple & Co. Nicols 
 & Dean have maintained the same name 
 since i860. 
 
 Kelly & Brother began business in the 
 retail grocery line in Minneapolis in 1858. 
 
 T. L. BLOOD «c CO.'s 
 
 READY MIXED 
 
 HOUSE, BARN, FLOOR 
 AND CARRIAGE 
 
 LOOK AND WEAR BEST! 
 
 SOLD IN EVERY TOWN. 
 
 :: ST. PAUL, 
 
 A AAA A AAA A.A.A.A..A.A.A.A. .< 
 
 MINNESOTA. 
 
 4 
 ♦ 
 
 i 
 
 
 obtaining goods within the borders of the 
 state easily became a tixed one, and in a 
 few years the foundations of the great job- 
 bing business in the Twin Cities were 
 firmly laid. 
 
 Under these rapid changes in conditions 
 some of the old retail houses lound them- 
 selves unexpectedly launched on the sea 
 of jobbing. The old concern established in 
 St. Paul by Gov. Alarshall, and which be- 
 came in 1855. Nicols & Berkey, grew into 
 the wholesale hardware hovise of Nicols & 
 Dean. Oddly enough the oldest estab- 
 lishment in the jobbing trade in Minneapo- 
 
 In 1864 P. H. Kelly withdrew and entered 
 a grocery house in St. Paul, while Anthony 
 continued in Minneapolis, building up a 
 large jobbing business. John Dunham en- 
 tered the grocery business in Minneapolis 
 in the later fifties, and from this small 
 beginning grew the large concern of wliich 
 he is still the head. When P. H. Kelly 
 went to St. Paid he became partner in the 
 firm of Beaupre & Kelly, which succeeded 
 Temple & Beaupre. a concern dating back 
 to 1855. The firm subsequently became P. 
 H. Kelly & Co., under which name it was 
 long known in the northwestern jobbing 
 
 JosEi'H McKiBiux. IIkm'.v IIa>enwinki,f. .\nTHrH B. Diii^i oll. William .\. Doi!<iey f 
 
 \ 
 
 McKIBBIN & CO., 
 
 Makers and Jobbers cf 
 
 ! 
 
 JHats, Gloves and Furs. 
 
 t 
 
 NONE BETTER MADE . 
 ASK YOUR DEALER FOR McKIBBIN'S' GOODS. 
 
 ST, PAUL, 
 
 MINNESOTA.! 
 
52 
 
 A HALF CEXTURV OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 trade. P. F. McQuillan founded a gro- 
 cery establishment in 185S in St. Paul, and 
 in 1864 was joined by J. H. Allen, wlfose 
 name has remained in the establishment to 
 this day. Cheritree & Farweil established 
 in St. Paul in 1859, laid the foundations 
 for the firm of Farweil, Ozmun, Kirk & 
 Co. A business established in i860 by C. 
 D. Strong, has now become the C. W. 
 Hackett Hardware Company. Justus & 
 Forepaugh became retail dry gools mer- 
 chants in St. Paul in 1857. and the house 
 has continued to the present time, and is 
 now Finch, VanSlyck, Young & Co. 
 
 These are but the pioneers. It is ob- 
 viously impossible within the limits of this 
 sketch to trace the foundation of all the 
 wholesale establishments of the state. 
 Those which have been mentioned are the 
 principal ones which can trace their gene- 
 ology back to the days before the war. 
 After the war wholesale trade developed 
 rapidly, but it was for a time limited by the 
 lack of shipping facilities, and the absence 
 of consuming population. In these days 
 when vast quantities o'f goods are shipped 
 from Minnesota jobbing houses into a doz- 
 en western states, it is difficult to realize 
 that thirty years ago there was practically 
 no population west of central Minnesota. 
 
 * MORGAN BROUKS 
 ; Rresldent 
 
 GEO. W. HAVFORD ; 
 Sec. and Treas. ' 
 
 Electrical 
 * Engineering Company 
 
 311-313 Second Avenue South 
 . MINNEAPOLIS. MINN. 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 [ Everything Electrical j 
 » 4 
 
 » Electric Light and Power Supplies J 
 
 * Electrical House Goods J 
 
 * Telephones J 
 
 » « 
 
 J Batteries for Gasoline Engines and J 
 
 t Slot Machines 
 
 I Medical Batteries for Home Use 
 
 I 
 
 ONLY STOCK in the NORTHWEST J 
 
 I ONLY STOCK in the NORT 
 
 ..THE.. 
 
 »> 
 
 "Clipper 
 Camera 
 
 The '-CLIPPER' can be loaded with a spool t>f 
 continuous lUm for '2A or 48 or ItiO 4x5 ex- 
 posures. By turning the key the liliu is uuto- 
 raatically cut off at the end of each exposure 
 and brings into position for exposure anothfT 
 Bection. Snap the shutter and turn tht^ key 
 is all the operation necessary and is repeated 
 for any number of exposures. 
 
 No experience in photography required. Tht- 
 novice can operate the "CLIPPER" as suc- 
 cessfully as the expert. 
 
 The "CLIPPER" has the combined advantages of 
 other film or plate cameras and more than 
 eight times the capacity, witJiQut Increasing 
 the size or weight. 
 
 MANUFACTrilED I'.V 
 
 THE CUPPER CAMERA MT'G CO. 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
 ais Second Ave. So. 
 
 .uid no railroads extending more than a 
 imndred miles towards what is now one of 
 the richest farming countries in the world. 
 But the population came in in great vol- 
 ume, and within ten years after the end 
 III the w'ar the wholesale, business of the 
 trade centers of Minnesota had well de- 
 veloped. Nearly all the larger houses now 
 doing business in Minneapolis and St. Paul 
 were founded during or before the seven- 
 lies. 
 
 At first, as has been indicated, only the 
 old staple lines of trade were represented 
 in the jobbing business. Groceries and 
 hardware were about the onlj- things which 
 it would pay to wholesale in the early 
 times: though, of course, these names were 
 made to cover a much wider and more 
 general classification of merchandise than 
 at present. Dry goods became the next 
 specialty — it is odd to speak of dry goods 
 as a specialty in jobbing — and drugs, 
 liquors, implements, paper, glass and a 
 dozen other lines followed in quick succes- 
 sion. The wholesale business of the state 
 now includes not only houses in all these 
 old lines, but concerns which handle ex- 
 clusively a score or more of classes of 
 merchandise not thought of as possible in 
 that connection a few decades back. 
 
A HALF CENTURY OP MINNESOTA. 
 
 53 
 
 Boots and shoes, rubber goods, furniture, 
 millinery, spices, harness, electrical goods, 
 confectionery, building materials, plumb- 
 ers' supplies, printers' supplies, mantels 
 and grates, office fixtures, bank fixtures, 
 bar fixtures, coal, cigars and tobacco, 
 crockery and glass ware, paints and oils, 
 jewelry, photographers' supplies, wooden- 
 ware, scales, railroad supplies, hats and 
 caps, furs, woolens, notions, furnishing 
 goods, silks, heavy hardware, wall paper, 
 window shades, seeds, stationery, clothing, 
 fish, meats — these and more are the special 
 lines of jobbing, to say nothing of the 
 
 in 1890 $135,000,000. The use of such esti- 
 mates has been very largely discontinued 
 of recent years, the jobbers themselves or- 
 dinarily being the first to pronounce them 
 very uncertain aggregations of figures. In 
 the nature of things, it is almost impossible 
 to arrive at accurate conclusions as to 
 the volume of business which is so inter- 
 mingled with other classes of trade, and 
 regarding which no official returns are de- 
 manded by the government. 
 
 Manufacturing in the state dates from 
 
 Che^o^j3 T^^LT^tJCL L-^a^i^d^s 
 
 ON THE "SOO" RAILWAY IN WISCONSIN. 
 
 A DAIRY AND STRAWBERRY FARM IN CHIPPEWA COUNTY, WIS. 
 
 Fine hardwood farming lands, with rich soil, clay suhsoil, near stations, at $4.00 TO $6.00 PER 
 
 ACRE on easy payments. 
 
 A NATURAL STOCK AND DAIRY COUNTRY. 
 
 For clover and wrasse.') this region is not excelled anywhere. An abundance of pure soft water, and a 
 healthful climate. Lowest fares to lan^l seekers. For free descriptive maps write to 
 
 D. W. CASSEDAY, Land Comr "Soo" Railway MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
 
 wholesale handling of grain and flour, 
 butter, apples, potatoes, and other 
 produce. Enormous quantities of fruit are 
 jobbed in Minneapolis and St. Paul. 
 
 The money volume of the wholesale 
 trade in Minnesota is a matter of conjec- 
 ture. Many estimates have been made, but 
 all are more or less unsatisfactory. In 
 1880 it was claimed that the jobbing busi- 
 ness of St. Paul aggregated $40,000,000, 
 and two years later that it had increased 
 to $62,000,000. In 1898 it was claimed to 
 be $165,000,000. Minneapolis in 1880 
 claimed $24,000,000, in 1885 $61,000,000, and 
 
 the erection of the government mill at the 
 falls of St. Anthony in 1821. This, how- 
 ever, was so crude a form of production 
 and the trifling output being put to no 
 commercial uses, it is more exact to 
 say that manufacturing in Minnesota be- 
 gan with the completion of a saw mill at 
 Marine, on the St. Croix in 1839. It was 
 entirely natural that lumber manufactur- 
 ing should be the first to take root in Min- 
 nesota. The pine forests in those days ex- 
 tended almost to the doors of St. Anthony, 
 and there was an immediate and impera- 
 tive demand for lumber for building. ."Kgri- 
 
54 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA 
 
 culture had not developed to any appre- 
 ciable extent, and there were practically 
 no products of field or pasture to supply 
 the raw materials for the industries which 
 now employ the energies of a large popu- 
 lation. Lumber was the obvious thing to 
 make first; and the pioneers set about 
 making it with characteristic energy. 
 
 The saw mill at Marine commenced to 
 saw lumber on August 24, 1839. Another 
 mill was built at St. Croix Falls about the 
 same time, and in 1843 a saw mill was 
 begun at Stillwater. The industry was 
 well established on the St. Croix river be- 
 
 lowmg year, when S. W. Farnhani started 
 up this primitive lumber producer. The 
 mill was equipped with a single, old-fash- 
 ioned sash saw. and could cut about 4,000 
 feet in twelve hours. The first saw mill to 
 be built west of the river was that of Simon 
 Stevens at the outlet of Lake Minnetonka. 
 constructed in 1852. Ard. Godfrey, who 
 came out from Maine to build Mr. Steele's 
 mill, settled at the present site of the sol- 
 diers' home, and in 1853 built a saw mill 
 near the mouth of Minnehaha creek. In 
 1850 a saw mill operated by steam power 
 was completed at St. Paul. The first 
 
 FINCH, VAN SLYCK, YOUNG & CO., 
 
 fore anything was done at St. Anthony. 
 The famous Joseph R. Brown, who settled 
 at Stillwater, was the first man in 
 Minnesota to raft lumber. The lumber- 
 ing industry in Minnesota thus an- 
 tedates the formation of government by 
 ten years, and has been carried on without 
 break for sixty years. 
 
 Franklin Steele had. a hand in the St. 
 Croix Falls mill, but soon left that sec- 
 tion to establish himself at St. Anthony, 
 where he had ta"ken a claim. In 1847 he 
 commenced the erection of a saw mill, and 
 the lumbering industry which has made 
 Minneapolis noted, commenced in the fol- 
 
 boards sawed by steam power in the ter- 
 ritory were turned out of this mill. 
 
 From these modest beginnings the lum- 
 bering business of Minnesota grew until 
 it has now reached probably its maxi- 
 mum. With the exhaustion of the forests 
 of Michigan and Wisconsin, the supply- 
 ing of white pine has come to devolve upon 
 Minnesota. As the Michigan lumbering 
 cities reached their limits and disappeared 
 from the sawing industry many of the 
 prominent lumbermen moved to Minne- 
 sota. Some settled at Minneapolis, oth- 
 ers at Winona, on the St. Croix, at Du- 
 luth, Cloquet, and interior points. Wis- 
 
A HALF CENTURV OK MINNESOTA. 
 
 55 
 
 consin was at first a strong competitor, 
 but its timber is now practically gone, 
 and Minnesota remains almost alone in 
 the field. And already the pine trees of 
 this state have been, it might almost be 
 said, counted and the lumbermen, looking 
 forward to the extinction of the industry, 
 are planning to move on the great forests 
 of the Pacific slope. ,\ good authority 
 places the standing pine in Minnesota in 
 1899 at seven billion feet. Of this about 
 one and one-half billion were to be cut 
 this winter — a striking way of stating that 
 the industry is reaching its end. The lum- 
 ber produced in Minnesota has grown 
 from the few thousand feet cut by the St. 
 Croix mills in 18.59 to a total of 1.630.000,- 
 000 feet in i8g8 — an amount which was 
 ■considerably exceeded in 1899. 
 
 Like the lumbering industry, flour mill- 
 ing in Minnesota had its beginnings in 
 the old government mill at the Falls of 
 St. Anthony, but unlike the picturesque 
 operations of felling the pine forests and 
 converting them into lumber, the flour 
 makin.g business has been quite dry and 
 prosaic. It was destined, however, to car- 
 
 e^^'ARCHIBALD ^^ 
 BUSINESS COLLEGE 
 
 COR. STEVENS AVE."4> LAKE. ST., MmNE;\PpLI5. 
 
 «^>i^k^k^ «v«FhVW*B^>^«^k^iiFkFftWi«Fl^^^^*^^k'^'^^*^K^^^^^ 
 
 DULUTH 
 ARTIFICIAL 
 LIMB CO. 
 
 W. n. Kespohl, rigr. 
 
 
 % Inventors an J Maniifiuturprs of the ' 
 
 1 SINGLE ADJUSTABLE SLIP ^ 
 I SOCKET ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. I 
 
 • Also manufaitiirers and (l»^nlerg ia all kinds of j 
 J ilfforinity appliances. | 
 
 5 ' NO. 18*5 THIRD AVENUE WEST, I 
 
 The Kcclcy Curcj 
 
 ITS BLACKMAILING IMITATORS. : 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC: | 
 
 MANY tboiisand conlirnied drunkards and t 
 drug ueers are annually restored to so- \ 
 briety, home, happiness, good citizen^^Iiip X 
 and earning capacity by the geuufnc Keeley treat- \ 
 nient, and many tliousaud more \\ould bn en re- J 
 stnred were it not for the heartless, tlackmailing t 
 i^ysti^iu of robbery practiced by hundreds of so- * 
 called physicians who prey upon the community ♦ 
 with wortlile^s and disastrous cures. >Ve luue a ■ 
 record of more than twelve hundred of these body \ 
 destroying, health and home v.reckers, scattered ■ 
 over every state in the union, thn bad results of • 
 whose work ia truly ai)paUing, and because inoet 
 of them have stolen Dr. Keeley's liverv under • 
 which to pose as "(Jold Cures," "they are able to ■ 
 impose on the unsnppecting. and by offering a ; 
 cheap j)i"ice for a worse than worthless ser^ ice, - 
 add disaster to misfortune by their heartless ef- • 
 forts to obtain money by false jiretenses. It is 
 entirely legitimate for any i)hy8ician to experi- ; 
 ment with a cure of his own, and if he can obtain ■ 
 patients upon the honest repr'^seiitation that the ■ 
 remedy is of his own compounding, he deceives ; 
 uo one; but when he falsely pretends that he ■ 
 administers the genuine Keeley Cure, the peni- ■ 
 tentiary ia the proper place for'him. It comes to ; 
 our knowledge that several parties in tlie State of j 
 MinnetJota are falsely claiming to pell the Keelev 
 remedies and administer the Keelev treatment. 
 This ia notice to all concerned that the Genuine ' 
 Keeley Remedies and Treatment cannot be ob- 
 tained in the State of Minnt-sdta at anv other 
 place than The Keeley Institute, cornpr Pnrk 
 AvenueandTenth Street, Minneapolis. All others ; 
 so claiming to supply are inipdsters and frauds, : 
 and the public should be governed accordingly 
 
 THE LESLIE E. KEELEY CO. 
 
 (Seventeen Years of EstablUhed Merit.) 
 
 ry tlie fame of Minnesota over the whole 
 civilized world, and to play a much more 
 important part than lumbering in the de- 
 velopment of the state. When the last log 
 sliall have been sawed, and the hum of the 
 saw mills forever stopped, the flour mill- 
 ing business of Minnesota will be still 
 going on — the leading manufacturing in- 
 dustry of the northwest. 
 
 For nearly thirty years the garrison of 
 Fort SnelHng ground more or less flour 
 and corn meal in the original mill. In 
 1849 it passed into the hands of Robert 
 Smith, a congressman from Illinois. Cal- 
 \\n Tuttle. one of the St. .'\nthony pio- 
 neers, operated the mill under a lease from 
 .\lr. Sinitli. from 1850, for !-:*vcral years, 
 and its site was finally occupied in 1859 by 
 the Cataract mill. Meanwhile R. C. Rog- 
 ers had established a small mill on the 
 east side, in 1851, and in 1854 the first 
 merchant - flour mill in Minnesota was 
 erected by John Rollins, John Eastman 
 and R. P. Upton. It was a three run mill. 
 This mill was a little in advance of the re- 
 sources of the farmers of Minnesota, and 
 for the first two years the wheat must 
 needs be imported from Iowa and Wis- 
 consin. Not until 1859 was the first ship- 
 ment of Minnesota flour made to the east. 
 
56 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 A group of small mills grew up on Hen- 
 nepin island during the fifties, but it was 
 not until after the war that mill building 
 commenced in earnest, and then for the 
 first time appeared the names of the men 
 who have been later associated with the 
 great rise in milling. Washburn. Pills- 
 bury, Christian, Crosby, Dunwoody began 
 to be known as the names of leaders in 
 the milling world. About 1872 the mid- 
 dlings purifier was developed, and a few 
 years later the milling of wheat was revo- 
 lutionized by the Hungarian roller process. 
 Both improvements were invented, or 
 adapted, by the genius of Minneapolis mill- 
 ers. From this time the rise of milling was 
 rapid and its future secure. Railroads had al- 
 ready opened the western part of the state 
 and the rich plains of Dakota, and north- 
 ern hard spring wheat was acquiring a 
 reputation the world over. Exporting 
 was commenced with many difficulties in 
 1878. but in a few years the product of the 
 Minneapolis mills was established in repu- 
 tation in the leading foreign markets. 
 From 109,183 barrels exported in '78, the 
 Minneapolis mills alone developed their 
 export trade to 4,000,000 barrels, in round 
 numbers, in 1898. The output of the Min- 
 neapolis mills increased from 940.000 bar- 
 rels in 1878 to over 15,000.000, as is esti- 
 mated for the year 1899. 
 
 While Minneapolis became, by virtue of 
 priority and pecuUar advantages, the leader 
 in the flour industry of the state, other 
 cities and towns were not idle. A nota- 
 ble group of mills was established at Du- 
 luth. Fergus Falls developed a fine mill- 
 ing industry. New Ulm early took a prom- 
 inent part in the business, while Hastings, 
 Cannon Falls. Red Wing, Stillwater, Wi- 
 nona. St. Cloud, Faribault, Red Lake 
 Falls, Montevideo, Mankato, Shakopee, 
 Lanesboro, Austin, Sleepy Eye, Houston, 
 Northfield, Little Falls, and other of the 
 smaller cities of the state have excellent 
 mills of good capacity. The total output 
 of the state for 1899 is estimated at about 
 25.000,000 barrels. 
 
 Closely related to the milling business 
 is the cooperage industry, which has 
 grown up side by side with the greater 
 line, and has developed as it has devel- 
 oped. The unusually large demands for 
 barrels in Minneapolis made it possible 
 to establish the industry on a unique ba- 
 sis, and gave to the world one of the few 
 successful examples of co-operation in 
 America. 
 
 In the pioneer days flour and lumber 
 were the only manufactures of any impor- 
 
 tance; but the foundations were being pre- 
 pared for other large and successful manu- 
 facturing undertakings. For instance J. H. 
 Schurmeier established himself in 1852 as a 
 wheelwright in St. Paul; the business has 
 now grown to be almost national in extent. 
 Orin Rogers built a furniture factory in 
 1854 in St. Anthony, which has continued 
 to the present time, and is now the Bar- 
 nard factory of Minneapolis. This mod- 
 est shop was the beginning of the furni- 
 ture manufacturing industry of Minnesota, 
 which now represents millions of capital 
 and annual production. Mr. Rogers also 
 figured as the pioneer of the sash, door 
 and blind manufacturing of the state. In 
 the same year in which he started his fur- 
 niture shop he commenced in a small way 
 to make sash and doors. Next year a 
 regular factory was erected. After varied 
 experiences this building became the east 
 side pumping house of the Minneapolis 
 water works. In the same line a mill was 
 established in 1857 by a Mr. Morey, which 
 was the commencement of the business 
 now conducted by Smith & Wyman. Oth- 
 er mills followed in Minneapolis and St. 
 Paul, and with the factories which have 
 grown up in the other cities of the state, 
 the sash and door industry has taken a 
 most conspicuous place. 
 
 But to trace even the beginnings oi 
 all the manufacturing branches in Minne- 
 sota is out of the question in this brief 
 chapter. Some of the older and more in- 
 teresting should be mentioned, however. 
 Conrad Gotzian commenced the manufac- 
 ture of shoes in St. Paul in 1859; soap was 
 manufactured in St. Paul in 1856, and has 
 been continued without intermission by 
 the same establishment; E. Broad com- 
 menced to make edge tools at St. Anthony 
 in 1855, and was the forerunner of the 
 enormous metal working industries of the 
 state, which in their ramifications include 
 everything, from a simple bolt to compli- 
 cated engines and machinery, or the entire 
 plant for a smelting works. S. T. Fer- 
 guson established plow works at Minne- 
 apolis in i860, and thus commenced the 
 extensive farm implement and machinery 
 manufacturing business of Minnesota. Pa- 
 per manufacture came in in 1859. For 
 many years it made moderate progress, 
 but the presence within the state of the 
 largest supplies of standing spruce in the 
 country suggest that the business has yet 
 to see its grandest development. The dis- 
 covery of iron ore of high grade leads 
 to the expectation of the development oi 
 iron furnaces at Duluth. where a ship 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 57 
 
 <><><><><><K>0000^>0<X>000<><><><><><><><><><>0<K>0<><H><><>0-<>000000<><>0-<>^^ 
 
 Popular Route 
 
 To. 
 
 PHir* A riO and all EASTERN POINTS. Connecting: with 
 V-.1 li.\^J-^\J\^ ^j^g ^^^ York and Boston Special. (No change 
 
 of Depots.) 
 
 ST LOUIS ^^'^ Points Southeast and Southwest. Only 
 Sleeping: Car Line. 
 
 DES MOINES ^^^'^"' Omaha, Salt Lake, San Francisco, 
 "^ lVl>^li N J-ikj j^^^ Angeles, San Diego. 
 
 Standard and Compartn^cnt Sleepers 
 
 Through 
 
 Tourist cars to 
 
 Los Angeles, 
 
 California , 
 
 Tuesdays via 
 
 Fort Worth 
 
 and 
 
 El Paso, 
 
 "The Sunny 
 
 Southern 
 
 Route," 
 
 Thursdays 
 
 via 
 
 Colorado 
 
 Springs, Salt 
 
 Lake City 
 
 and 
 
 Ogden, 
 
 "The Scenic 
 
 Route." 
 
 For 
 
 particulars 
 
 address 
 
 W. L HATHAWAY, City Ticket Agent. No. I Nicollet House Block. Minneapolis. 
 F. P. RUTHERFORD. City Ticket Agent, - - 396 Robert Street, St. Paul. 
 
 or 
 A. B. CUTTS, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, - - Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 So<X><>00-0<>0<><>0«-»<><>OKK><><><><H><>0<><><><X>0<><><><XH>00^ 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MIXXESOTA. 
 
 building industry has already grown up 
 under the stimulus of the commerce of 
 the great lakes. In late years various 
 lines of manufacture have developed in re- 
 sponse to modern conditions. Instances 
 are the beet sugar manufacture, the mak- 
 ing of creamery supplies, the construction 
 (if electrical machinery. While the list of 
 Minnesota manufactures is so long as to 
 seem to leave nothing out, there remain 
 nnny industries which are not represented 
 :ind to which the state is admirablj- adapt- 
 ed. 
 
 In i85o it was reported that Minnesota 
 had 562 manufacturing establishments, 
 with an invested capital of $2,388,310. The 
 census of 1870 announced 2,270 establish- 
 ments with a capital of about $12,000,000 
 and a product worth over $23,000,000. In 
 1880 the census credited the state with 
 3,4q3 manufacturing places, utilizing a 
 capital of $31,000,000 and turning out $76,- 
 000,000 worth of goods: while in 1890 there 
 
 DO YOU 
 I SEE THAT 
 
 BAG? 
 
 ! It means that our 
 I "STERLING" grade of 
 • seed represents the 
 ! best quality obtaina- 
 
 sTEnmc 
 
 cRustcuni 
 
 Seeds 
 
 t 
 
 ble. Catalogue Free. Write for it 
 
 ♦ Northrup, King & Co., 
 
 !* Seed Growers, 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS. MINN. 
 
 were summed up 7.5Q5 establishments with 
 $127,000,000 capital anl products worth 
 $192,000,000. 
 
 The development of the business of 
 handling and trading in grain has been 
 co-incident with that of milling; their stories 
 are almost identical. As was stated in the 
 description of the early days of milling, 
 the first wheat for the Minneapolis mills 
 came from Iowa or Illinois on river steam- 
 boats. It was handled in bags and came 
 in very small quantities. It was regarded 
 as a great event when 2,000 bushels ar- 
 rived in one shipment in 1855. But in a 
 very short time the direction of the wheat 
 shipments was reversed. Mr. James J. 
 Hill is authority for the statement that the 
 
 first wheat shipped out of Minnesota was 
 in 1857, and that it was raised near Le 
 Sueur. Two j'cars afterwards there were 
 2.000 bushels of wheat sent from that vicin- 
 ity by barge direct to St. Louis. All 
 wheat at this time was shipped in sacks. 
 Most of it went to LaCrosse or Prairie 
 du Chien and from thence to Milwaukee. 
 It must be remembered that the Minne- 
 apolis mills were still small affairs and 
 could not attract wheat from the southern 
 part of the state after the farmers began 
 to harvest large crops, and they could 
 not even Iniy all the wheat raised above 
 Minneapolis. Mr. Hill tells of a shipment 
 from St. Cloud — the first to be shipped 
 from north of the Minnesota river — which 
 came to Minneapolis by boat in 1864. It 
 was contained in 150 bags and was hauled 
 from Minneapolis to the St. Paul levee by 
 teams. For a long time the center of the 
 grain trade was at the South. Rochester 
 was at one time the leading wheat market 
 of the state, and after that Red Wing be- 
 came the largest primary wheat market in 
 the country. But the increase of milling at 
 Minneapolis had its inevitable effect, and 
 towards the latter part of the si.xties the 
 grain trade began to crystalize about the 
 milling center. 
 
 Up to this time the mills had easily 
 stored the wheat which they bought, and 
 grain for trans-shipment was kept in bags; 
 but the building of railroads made possible 
 the handling of wheat in bulk, and grain 
 elevators were wanted. To meet this de- 
 mand W. \\'. Eastman. A. H. Wilder. Col. 
 Merriani and D. C. Shepherd organized 
 the LTnion Elevator Company in 1867 and 
 built the old Union elevator at Washing- 
 ton and Ninth avenues south in Minne- 
 apolis. It had a capacity of 130.000 bush- 
 els. The Pacific elevator followed in 1868 
 and Elevator A in 1879 on the line of the 
 Great Northern near Chestnut avenue; 
 This last had a capacity of 780.000 bushels 
 and was the largest elevator west of Chi- 
 cago. From that time on the growth of 
 the grain handling business w'as rapid. In 
 1871 there were nine firms engaged in the 
 grain business at Minneapolis. Following 
 the development of milling, of railroad fa- 
 cilities and the rush to Northwestern farm- 
 ing, these nine firms have' increased to 
 many hundreds in Minneapolis.. Duluth 
 and the other cities and towns of the state. 
 Minneapolis grain elevators have increased 
 froin a capacity of 1.500,000 bushels in 1881 
 to 5,000.000 bushels in 1884, 12,500,000 
 in 1886. 15.415.000 in 1889. and about 29.- 
 000.000 bu'ihcis in 1899. The capacity for 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 59 
 
 storage at Duluth and Superior has also 
 reached enormous proportions. In addi- 
 tion to these terminal storage houses there 
 are hundreds of small elevators along the 
 railroad lines through the state. These 
 are controlled by large corporations, in 
 many cases, and operated in systems with 
 headquarters in the cities. 
 
 Previous to 1870 Minneapolis was 
 scarcely known among the grain markets 
 of the country. But in 1876 her wheat 
 receipts had passed 5.000.000 bushels: in 
 1880 they had reached 10.000.000 bushels; 
 in 1890 45.000.000 bushels, and in 1S98 77.- 
 
 186,470 bushels. Cheap water transporta- 
 tion attracted much of the grain for East- 
 ern shipment and export to Dululh. and 
 that city has developed an enormous trade 
 in this line. The combined receipts of the 
 ports of Duluth and Superior in 1891 were 
 40,000.000 bushels, and in 1898 reached 62,- 
 000.000 bushels. 
 
 Minnesota is the leading wheat state in 
 the union, and the two Dakotas rank ne.\t, 
 excepting Kansas. As Minneapolis and 
 Duluth must continue to be the principal 
 markets lor these three s^reat states, the 
 
 Would You Like 
 To Be a Millionaire? 
 
 Few men become rich by slow economy. Fortunes 
 are made by men of nerve and decision who take advan- 
 tage of opportunities. CAPF NOME, Alaska, offers 
 YOU the chance of your whole life. Hundreds of men 
 will dig out a fortune next year. Why not 3'ou ? Cape 
 Nome is easily reached. No walking or packing. Steam- 
 ers run DIRECT from SEATTLE to NOME CITY. 
 THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY will take you 
 to Seattle in 2]^ days from St. Paul. Direct steamer 
 connections. Write TODAY to F. I. Whitney, St. Paul, 
 Minn., for full information. 
 
 159.980 bushels. Only twenty years ago 
 Minneapolis was ninth among the primary 
 wheat markets of the country; in 1881 she 
 became third, and in 1885 took first place, 
 outranking Chicago and New York. The 
 city has since maintained the lead as tlie 
 greatest primary wheat market in the 
 world. With the first great rush of mill- 
 ing development in the seventies, ^Minne- 
 apolis for a time consutned most of the 
 wheat received. But gradually a shipping 
 business found its place, and from ship- 
 ments of 133.600 bushels in 1880 grew to 
 12.000.000 bushels in 1890. reached as high 
 as 21.000.000 in 1892. and in 1898 was 15,- 
 
 future 01 tlic grain trade of these centers 
 is assured. 
 
 Transportation in the wilderness which 
 is now Minnesota was conducted, previous 
 to 1823. by means of canoes and bateaux. 
 The arrival of the "Virginia" at Fort 
 Snelling opened the era of steamboat traf- 
 fic. It has continued with varying for- 
 tunes to the present day. .Arrivals at Men- 
 dota in St. Paul were irregular until 1847. 
 when the first steamboat company was or- 
 ganized and regular boats were put on be- 
 tween Mendota and Galena. Russell 
 
60 
 
 A HALF CEXTL'RV OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 Blakely, who afterwards became a promi- 
 nent owner and a leader in the develop- 
 ment of the transportation facilities of the 
 state, was connected with this company. 
 From that time until the opening of com- 
 peting railroads the steamboat traffic was 
 large and profitable. In 1855 there were 
 SS3 arrivals of steamers at St. Paul, and 
 one packet company cleared $100,000 net 
 profits on the season's business. A steam- 
 er which cost $20,000 Cleared $44,000: an- 
 other which cost $11,000 made a net in- 
 come of $30,000. In the spring of 1857 
 twenty-four steamers were tied up at the 
 wharf at St. Paul at one time. The year 
 1858 saw 1.090 arrivals at St. Paul. Navi- 
 gation of the Minnesota river was com- 
 menced in 1850 and continued to be a 
 profitable business until the close of the 
 war. The steamer "Governor Ramsey" 
 was launched on the Mississippi river 
 above Minneapolis in 1849, and from that 
 date until the war there was a considerable 
 business on the upper river. Steamboating 
 was introduced on the Red river in 1858 
 by the building of the Anson Northrup. 
 
 Meantime another means of transporta- 
 tion was provided. The Red river carts 
 had been in operation since 1843. They 
 were rude vehicles of wood and traveled 
 the unbroken prairies from St. Paul to 
 Pembina. However, something more 
 speedy was needed, and from the first 
 wagon freighting, commenced in a regular 
 fashion between St. Paul and St. Anthony 
 in 1849, there arose a system of stages for 
 passengers and freight wagons carrying all 
 sorts of goods, which extended from St. 
 Paul to the Red river, southwards through 
 Minnesota and Iowa to Dubuque, and 
 north to Duluth. J. C. Burbank, who was 
 the most conspicuous figure in this early 
 overland transportation system, established 
 the first express service in the state in 
 1851. In the height of its prosperity the 
 firm of Burbank, Blakely & Merriam op- 
 erated routes covering 1,300 miles and em- 
 ployed over 200 men and 700 horses. 
 
 Railroads sounded the death knell of the 
 staging business. As the iron horse 
 pushed out from St. Paul during and after 
 the war, his burden was for a time taken 
 up at the ends of the rails and carried on 
 to the more remote frontier by the stage 
 lines. But in a short time the functions 
 of the stages were completely usurped by 
 the railroads. 
 
 The St. Paul & Pacific reached the Red 
 River valley in 1870 — ; the Chicago line via 
 Winona was opened in 1872; the Minne- 
 sota Central, giving access to the East, 
 
 had been opened a few years before; the 
 Sioux City line was completed in 1872 and 
 the St. Paul & Duluth in 1870. Since this 
 first decade of railroad building in Minne- 
 sota the work of construction has been 
 either filling in of details or the picture 
 first roughly sketched or the carrying out 
 of projects which had in only a small de- 
 gree to do with the geographical limits of 
 the state. The skeleton of the railroad 
 map of the state was completed when the 
 first line down the Mississippi toward Chi- 
 cago, the southerly line through Owa- 
 tonna, the line up the Minnesota valley, 
 the line to the Red River at Fargo and the 
 line to Duluth were marked out. These 
 pioneer lines were determined before the 
 panic of 1873. Then came a period of stag- 
 nation followed by another time of great 
 activity which has only been interrupted 
 by the depression of 1893. In 1870 there 
 were 1,012 miles of railroad in the state: 
 in 1880, 3,099: in 1890, 5,409; and in 1899, 
 about 6,500 miles. The significant events 
 in the railroad history have been the con- 
 solidation and absorption of the earlier 
 lines by great corporations and the reach- 
 ing out of the transcontinental lines from 
 small beginnings as local roads. Of the 
 latter class the Great Northern, originally 
 a ten-mile track from St. Paul to Minne- 
 apolis and with a very uncertain future, 
 has been the most conspicuous example. 
 One of the most daring and at the same 
 time successful schemes in railroal build- 
 ing ever carried out in the West was the 
 building of the Minneapolis. St. Paul & 
 Sault Ste. Marie railroad from Minneapolis 
 to connect' with the Canadian Pacific at 
 Sault Ste. Marie. This line gave to Min- 
 nesota an Eastern outlet entirely independ- 
 ent of Chicago domination, and from the 
 standpoint of commercial strategy, was the 
 most important line of railroad ever pro- 
 jected in the state. 
 
 Reference to the transportation interests 
 of the state is not complete without men- 
 tion of the lake traffic from Duluth. 
 Though entirely without the borders of the 
 state, it plays a very large part in the com- 
 mercial affairs of Minnesota. The lake 
 route makes possible the cheap importa- 
 tion of goods from the Eastern cities and 
 places the distributing centers of Minne- 
 sota on a par with Chicago in rates, while 
 being 400 miles nearer the consumer of the 
 Northwest. The lakes have given a means 
 of shipping the flour, wheat, lumber and 
 iron of Minnesota at such rates as have 
 placed these great products of the state in 
 the lead in the world's markets. It is now 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 61 
 
 1849 
 
 1899 
 
 50 
 
 YEARS 
 AGO 
 
 Railroad Trains 
 
 were like the queer 
 looking affair shown 
 above. 
 
 AND 
 NOW 
 
 THE 
 
 Modern Science 
 
 Has given us railway 
 luxuries the like of 
 which was not then 
 thought possible. 
 
 North-Westcrn Line 
 
 Had its inception fifty-two years ago, and was first to tap the great 
 Northwest, with whose wonderful development it has kept steady 
 pace. Beginning with only a few miles of road it now has 8,250 
 miles in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, 
 South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming. 
 
 THE 
 
 North-Western 
 Limited 
 
 Twin Cities to Chicago 
 
 Finest Train in the World. 
 
 THE 
 
 [flRTJ.'.tiaBi 
 
 Twilight Limited 
 
 Ti) THK 
 
 Head of the Lakes 
 
 The Business Men's Train. 
 
 JAMES T. CLARK, 
 
 Second Vice PRtST. 4, Gen. Traffic Manager, 
 
 ST. PAUL, MINN. 
 
 T. W. TEASDALE, 
 
 GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT, 
 
 ST. PAUL, MINN. 
 
62 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 said that Duluth has a larger tonnage of 
 water trattic than New. York. 
 
 Although the existence of iron ore in 
 Minnesota was known as early as 1850, no 
 practical development of the ore bodies 
 took place for thirty years, and it was not 
 until 1884 that actual production com- 
 menced. This was on the ^'ennillion 
 range, which for nearly ten years furnished 
 al! the ore shipped from the state. In the 
 same year, 1884, the Duluth & Iron Range 
 railroad was completed from Agate Bay to 
 Vermillion lake and 62,124 tons of ore 
 were shipped. The production on the Ver- 
 million range constantly increased until 
 1892, w'hen it had reached 1,167.650 tons. 
 In this year a new factor in the iron in- 
 dustry made its appearance. Two years 
 before the first important discovery of ore 
 on the Mesaba range had been made. It 
 was seen at once that these ores, easily 
 mined and suited for bessemer steel pro- 
 duction, were to take a conspicuous place 
 in the iron producing world. New rail- 
 roads were planned and shipments over 
 them began in 1892, when 4.245 tons went 
 out. Tlie shipments grew to 1,788.447 tons 
 in 1894. and in 1898 reached 4.613.766 tons. 
 The total production of JNIinnesota iron 
 mines in 1898 was 5,878,908 tons, and the 
 aggregate production smce iron mining 
 commenced has reached about 35.000.000 
 tons. No development of iron mining op- 
 erations recorded has ever equalled this. 
 The remarkable character of the iron de- 
 posits on the Mesaba range — their near- 
 ness to the surface and the possibility of 
 working them without blasting in some 
 cases — has made their product the cheap- 
 est ore of its class in the market. As a 
 consequence Mesaba ores are likely to be 
 mined to the fidl capacity of the mines as 
 long as the deposits exist — unless some 
 more startling addition 'to the discovered 
 ore deposits of the country should be 
 made before that time. The development 
 of the Minnesota iron mining industry has 
 had a notable effect on the northern part 
 of the state, bringing forward within ten 
 years, to large importance, a section which 
 had been thought to have little future be- 
 yond the extent of logging operations. 
 
 In the days before statehood the bank- 
 ing business of Minnesota was on a very 
 uncertain basis. In the absence of a bank- 
 
 ing law a number of private banks were 
 established at St. Paul, St. Anthony, Min- 
 neapolis and a few other places in the state 
 during the early fifties. None of them 
 had a fixed capital. They received deposits 
 and issued exchange, and after a time tried 
 a form of circulating currency, but, com- 
 pared with the complete national and state 
 supervision under law at the present time, 
 the banking business of the territorial 
 period was practically without responsi- 
 bility and was extremely crude in all its 
 operations. The first bank in St. Paul of 
 which there is record was that established 
 by Mackubin & Edgerton in 1854. Out 
 of it grew the Second National. The Na- 
 tional German-American traced its origin 
 back to the firm of Meyer & Willius, 
 founded in 1856, anl the First National 
 from J. E. & Horace Thompson, a firm 
 established in 1859. S. W. Farnham and 
 Samuel Tracy opened the first bank in St. 
 .\nthony in 1854. This institution went 
 under in the panic of '57, but it paid in 
 full. Other banks of that period were 
 those of Orrin Curtis, B. D. Dorman. 
 Graves. Towne & Co. and Richard Martin, 
 all in St. .\nthony, and Beede & jNIenden- 
 hall. C. H. Pettit and Snyder & McFar- 
 lane in Minneapolis. Rufus J. Baldwin, 
 D. C. Groh and Sidle, Wolford & Co. com- 
 menced business in 185". .Messrs. Men- 
 ck-nhall and Baldwin, m 1S62, purchased 
 the State Bank of Minnesota at Austin, 
 and. removing it to Minneapolis, laid the 
 foundations of the present Security Bank. 
 Mr. Sidle converted his business into the 
 "Minneapolis Bank,"' which afterwards be- 
 came the First National Bank of Minne- 
 apolis. 
 
 .\t first there was no currency available, 
 and an attempt was made to supply its 
 place by introducing the issues of Indiana 
 banks, but these notes became discredited 
 and known as "Indiana wild cat." An- 
 other attempt was made by the issue of 
 notes secured on the state railroad bond 
 issues of 1858, but the failure of the rail- 
 road schemes and the repudiation of the 
 bonds ruined the banks which tried this 
 solution of the problein. City and county 
 authorities at one time issued a scrip 
 which served a purpose for a while. With 
 the passing of the national bank law 
 things took on a better aspect. The First 
 National Bank of St. Paul was established 
 in 1863 and the First National in Minne- 
 apolis in 1865. State laws were enacted 
 under which there are now operating over 
 150 banks, about a dozen savings banks 
 and eight trust companies. In 1878 a law 
 
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA 
 
 establishing the office of public examiner 
 was passed. The banks, both city and 
 cnuntry. were never in better condition 
 than in 1899. Various financial storms' 
 have been weathered and the banl<ing sys- 
 tem put on a sound and eminently satis- 
 factory basis. 
 
 The commercial interests of Minnesota 
 include many undertakings which may not 
 be 'classified under the general divisions 
 which have been enumerated. The im- 
 mense retail establishments of the cities 
 have grown up from the general trading 
 stocks of the pioneer days — the natural 
 evolution of the country store into the 
 modern department store. Such impor- 
 
 tant adjuncts of the commercial system as 
 the newspapers, hotels, 'telegraph and tele- 
 phone companies, electric and gas lighting 
 industries, the raising of flowers, seed and 
 nursery farming, insurance writing, pub- 
 lishing, real estate dealing — these and oth- 
 ers of like character belong to none of 
 the larger divisions of the commercial 
 body, but have played an important part 
 in the commercial progress of the state 
 and have developed in a manner connnen- 
 surate with the general prosperity. The 
 half century closes with few important 
 lines of activity unrepresented in the com- 
 mercial life of the state and with a condi- 
 tion of uniform prosperity which speaks 
 eloquently of the solid foundations upon 
 which the business structure of Minnesota 
 is erected. 
 
61 
 
 A HALF CENTURY OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ONE or OUR WEST BOUND TRAIN LOADS SHIPPED IN THE EARLY SUMMER OF 1599 TO THE RED RIVER VALLEY, 
 THE LARGEST SINGLE SHIPMENT OF THRESHING MACHINERY IN THE HISTORY OF THE STATE. 
 
 We arc distinctly a Minnesota institution and we want to furnish 
 Minnesota farmers the best Threshing Machinery that ingenuity can devise. 
 
 We have done so for years. 
 
 We will continue to do so. 
 
 We execute orders promptly. 
 
 We are near at hand. 
 
 We invite you to visit us. 
 
 We employ seven hundred men in our factory. 
 
 We manufacture everything in the line of Threshing Machinery, 
 including Engines, Separators, Horse Powers, Self Feeders, Weighers, Wagon 
 Loaders, Wind Stackers, Tanks, etc., etc. 
 
 We are building five hundred (500) Engines, one thousand (1,000) 
 Separators, one thousand (1,000) Self Feeders, etc etc., for the season of J 900. 
 
 We also manufacture Simple and Compound Stationary Engines and 
 Boilers suitable for creameries, flouring mills, saw mills, electric light plants, 
 water works, etc. THEY ARE THE VERY BEST. 
 
 THEY ARE BUILT IN MINNESOTA BY MINNESOTA WORKMEN 
 FOR MINNESOTA FARMERS. 
 
 We will mail our new catalogue for 1900 free on application. 
 
 The Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, 
 
 West Minneapolis, Hopkins P. 0., Minnesota. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 016 096 672 5 
 
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