Becker County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1907 (part 13 of 16)

I was at the time about three miles from camp and alone. I had burned the grass off a narrow strip of ground as a place to retreat to in case of necessity, being of the opinion from the smoke that the prairie was on fire. The wind was blowing at the rate of more than thirty miles an hour at the time. I then started out on my work, facing the wind. I had gone two hundred rods, when as if by magic the fiery demon came bounding over the crest of a hill scarce half a mile away. The flames were leaping high in the air, and extended to the right and to the left in one solid wall of fire as far as the eye could reach. I tried to back-fire, but the wind was blowing so hard I could not light the grass. Then commenced a race for dear life. I ran like a deer with the wind at my back helping me along, but the fire was gaining at every second. When about half way to my burnt patch, I was nearly exhausted, but one glance over my shoulder at the raging flames was sufficient and on I went. The fire was at my heels when I entered my burnt strip. It was not more than a rod wide, but it broke the force of the flames and saved me from serious and probably from fatal injury, but my coat and hat and boots, the legs of which were outside the legs of my pants, were nearly ruined. Some idea of the speed of this fire can be had from the fact that from the front to the rear of the fire was fifteen rods.

The flames were forty or fifty feet in length from the ground upward, and every few seconds they would assume a position almost perpendicular, then the force of the wind would shoot them ahead and with a single leap, and in an instant of time, the crest of these waves of fire would strike the ground several rods in advance. There was little or no smoke, only a seething, roaring, plunging sea of fire. After the fire had passed, a jack-rabbit was hobbling around at random over the prairie, having been caught and badly burned and blinded by the fire.

The next year while I was running the township lines in Lamoure County, a similar fire passed through the country at night, but we saved our camp and ourselves by spading around our camp. A day or two afterwards we ran down and caught several antelope that had been caught in the fire and so badly crippled that they were easily overtaken b}- us.

November 25th, 1804: The plains are all burned over and blind buffalo are seen wandering in ever}^ direction. The poor beasts have all the hair singed off; even the skin in many places is shriveled up and terribly burned and their eyes swollen and closed fast.

It is really pitiful to see them staggering about, sometimes running afoul of a large stone, at other times tumbling down hill and falling into the creeks not yet frozen over. In one spot we found a whole herd lying dead. The fire having passed only yesterday they are still fresh and some of them exceedingly fat. At sunset we arrived at the Indian camp, having seen an incredible number of dead and dying, blind, lame, singed and roasted buffalo.

Soon after the Fourth of July, 1871, grasshoppers in large numbers began to appear in the western part of Becker County. This was the first year that any crops had been sown of any iniportance, but the season was very dry, consequently the small acreage of crops was light and the grasshoppers destroyed a large percentage of the grain that escaped the drought. The grasshoppers that year w^ere confined to the towns of Richwood, Audubon,

Lake Park, Cormorant, and the western part of Detroit. Thev did not stay long-, but deposited a good many eggs. In the spring of 1872, they hatched out in large numbers, wherever an}- plowing had been done, more particularly on new breaking and along the sides of the roads. The damage to grain that year was more than one half, but was confined to the prairie region west of the belt of timber extending down through Richwood, Detroit and Lake Eunice. This belt of timber served as a wall of defense, over and beyond which they evidently did not care to go.

The larger prairies, east of this belt of timber, such as the Detroit prairie and the Frazee prairie had escaped and the small clearings suffered but little damage, but the losses in Richwood, Hamden, Cuba, Audubon, Lake Park and Cormorant were sorely felt. The damage that year was caused mostly by the young hoppers, as I believe they nearly all left as soon as they were able to fly. In 1873, the acreage of land sown to grain was considerably increased. Swarms of hoppers came in from the west in June and July. They did considerable damage and deposited eggs in large quantities in the western part of the county, but the small prairies and clearings in the timbered region of the county escaped.

The year 1874 was among the worst of the seven years of plague. Nearly everything in the shape of grain and vegetables along the western border of the timber belt was destroyed. Out on the prairies in Richwood, Hamden, Cuba, Lake Park, Audubon and Cormorant the damage amounted to two-thirds of the entire crop. On the small prairies and clearings in Lake Eunice, Detroit, Lake View and Burlington the damage amounted to 25 per cent. The small grain was cut oft' as if mowed down with a scythe. The silk on the ears of the corn was gnawed to the cob, so the corn could not mature. The "hoppers"" chewed away at growing tobacco until they became dizzy from the eft'ects of the narcotic, and would lay in small heaps around the roots of the growing plants in a state of stupefaction, ^'hey would eat oft' the tops of onions and with tears in their eyes devour the very onions themselves. About the only plant they shunned was the tomato, but they did not hesitate to attack the ripe fruit. The damage to crops now began to be severely felt by the settlers, particularly in the western part of the county. In the western towns there was not grain enough raised for home consumption. A part of the potato crop escaped and most of the settlers owned small herds of cattle and the hav crop as a general thing was not badly damaged. In the winter of 1874-5, many families lived largely on potatoes and milk. The ponds and marshes throughout the county were at that time abundanth' stocked with muskrats, and they proved the salvation of the w^estern towns. Rat skins that winter brought better prices than they ever have before or since, and a large part of the population of Richwood, Hamden. Cuba, Lake Park, Audubon, Lake Eunice and Cormorant turned trappers. As high as thirty cents a skin was paid that winter. It was estimated that $11,000 was paid out for rat skins at Detroit, Lake Park and Audubon during that winter and spring. I knew Norwegians who earned between $200 and $300 a piece during the season. The market price for rat skins was quoted in the county papers weekly, the same as the price of wheat.

Large quantities of grasshoppers' eggs were deposited in the fields and along the highways wherever the ground was bare. Everybody was apprehensive of a more extensive visitation of the pests the coming year than ever before. Public meetings were held to devise measures of safety, and an agreement was entered into by the people in the western towns that all prairie fires should be strictly prohibited until some day to be agreed upon later on, which I think was on the 5th of June, and then the whole prairie should be fired simultaneously. The whole population was to turn out to assist in spreading the fire and protecting their houses and stock from the flames. It was thought by that date the young ''hoppers" would be well distributed about among the old grass, and it was believed that they would be almost absolutely destroyed. The program was carried out, but the spring of 1875 '^^'ss cold and backward, and the day set for the burning was rather unfavorable, but a great many hoppers were destroyed. The season too was not very favorable for hoppers, who delight in dry, hot weather, and large numbers of them died or flew awa}', so that a fair proportion of the crop was saved that year in this section of country, but in some of the states farther south the losses were tremendous. At the suggestion of Governor Pillsbury, a conference of governors of six or seven different states was called to meet at Omaha, Nebraska, on the 25th of October of that year, to devise measures by which their numbers might be diminished.

In 1876 they were numerous, in spots. We had a long, dry spell of hot weather in July, with a southwest wind, which brought clouds of them in as it was supposed from Kansas and Texas, but they visited the county more in streaks than was usual. Some fields of grain were totally destroyed. The d'Engelbroner farm in Cuba was particularly unfortunate. That company had wheat sown that year on Sections 5 and 19 in Cuba, 33 in Atlanta, and 13 and 23 just over the line in Clay County. The grasshoppers were their final undoing. They had suffered severe losses during the three previous years, and this year the loss was complete.

On the 5th day of July, 1876, I was camped with a surveying party near the Northern Pacific Railroad, between Buft'alo and Tower City in Dakota Territory. We set up our tent just before noon and spread our blankets out on the grass to air, and were eating our dinner in the tent, when one of the men remarked that it was snowing. We all rushed outside and there the hoppers were coming down in millions. They had nearly ruined our blankets and it began to grow dark, the sun being completely hid. At this time we heard a train of cars coming from the west. They were coming up a heavy grade and their speed began to grow less and less, until they reached a point opposite our camp when they came to a dead stop. They had been stalled by the grasshoppers. Passengers on the train told us of the Custer massacre, which was news to us.

The people throughout the countr}- had become alarmed and discouraged. Many of them kept a close watch of the winds and the sky, the same as they have done in later years during a season of protracted drought. A practiced eye could tell when hoppers were flying high, by looking directly at the sun or close to it. Everybody was suspicious of a westerly wind, as it was liable to bring fresh hordes of the pests. An easterly wind was always hailed with delight. Their movements were always from the west to the east and they never came back.

This species of grasshopper had three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. Being double winged they were able to ascend to a very high altitude, and remain in the air for a long period at a time. They, however, generally depended on the wind to propel them along. Aside from the havoc they created with growing crops, they were exceedingly destructive to farming implements and clotliing. They would in a few short hours badly damage the handles of scythes and hand rakes and pitchforks. A coat or vest left on the fence in the morning would be ruined before noon. In traveling over the prairies or along the highways facing the wind, vou were in constant danger of being: hit In the face and eyes. They appeared to have a pecuHar knack of landing" on your naked eye with their six sharp, rough feet, all in a hunch, and giving you a stinging blow that would shock your whole system. ]\Iany and many a time when running lines over the prairies against a strong wind with my eyes fixed on some small distant object, and hardly daring to wink for fear of losing sight of it, some big hopper would come sailing through the air with the combined speed of the wind and two pairs of wings and hit me in the naked eye with a degree of accuracy and force that was both stunning and exasperating. They generally deposited their eggs in bare spots of ground or in plowed fields, but more especially in new breaking and on the borders of the highways, always preferring a hard surface. The eggs were deposited about an inch in depth and I have found more than a dozen nests in a foot square of ground with from 30 to 40 eggs in a nest. Plowing the ground after thev were deposited usually destroyed the eggs.

In the meantime the scourge had spread over nearly the whole breadth of the land, reaching from Lake Winnipeg on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, including Manitoba, Dakota, Nebraska, Texas and the western half of Alinnesota, Iowa. i\Iissouri and Arkansas. Immense quantities of eggs were deposited during the summer of 1876 throughout this entire territory. The spring of 1877 opened with many gloomy forebodings. The hoppers were hatching in swarms along the whole line. The grasshopper scourge had given Becker County, as well as the entire frontier, a backset and caused great suffering among the settlers. The pests had destroyed a large share of their crops from 187 1 up to 1877. The pioneers had fought against them by means of traps of every conceivable pattern, but all in vain. The state had furnished tar and sheet iron for catching grasshoppers, and these were dealt out by the county commissioners in lil)eral (piantities and charged to the several towns. The state also loaned money to the settlers with which to buy seed grain. In many places this year they destroyed the young grass as fast as it grew. In July. I found farmers who lived in Stearns County cutting hay in the old cut-over pineries away east of the Mississippi River in ?\Iorrison County, all the grass in their meadows at home having been destroyed. Young wheat and oats and corn was destroyed as fast as it grew. Some localities in Becker County escaped with slight damage. The loss in some of the states farther south was enormous. Whole communities were almost panic stricken. Prayers for deliverance from the scourge were offered on every Sabbath day in the churches. Days of fasting- and prayer were appointed by the governors of some of the states.

Our own Governor Pillsbury appointed one early in July, which was very generally observed by the religiously inclined people throughout the grasshopper stricken portion of the state. Before the middle of the month the pests were more numerous and were spread over a greater extent of country than ever before. For a day or two the}- appeared to come in clouds from the sky. They came pouring in from the direction of the great plains and the Rocky ^Mountain regions. They had never been seen in such multitudes, but there was a certain peculiarit\- about their motions that was new and strange. Their actions were similar to those of a famil\- of tame bees when beginning to swarm. There was a hurried movement to the east of almost endless numbers. As a general thing they would alight on the prairies and fields at night, and in the morning they would be on wing, much earlier than was their usual custom, doing but little damage. The movement was observed and reported all along the frontier.

Finally on one of the last days of July, 1877, just before the beginning of harvest, the rear of this vast army of winged destroyers passed to the east, and disappeared from view, and as far as Becker County and that generation was concerned, never to return. From that day there have been no grasshoppers of that distinctive species to be found in the county worth mentioning. People could hardly believe their senses. They had disappeared from the whole breadth of the land in a single day. Where they went to no one could tell. Soon after that time a shower of them came down in Lake Champlain and the northern part of Vermont. A part of the coast of North Carolina was said to have been strewn with dead grasshoppers several feet in thickness for miles and miles. Aside from these two instances nothing was ever heard from them as far as I was able to ascertain.

With the exception of a few local instances, like that at Perham, in 1886, there have been no grasshoppers of any importance in the C(^untry since their departure in 1877.

Hosmer H. Wilcox William P. Mckinstrv. Brede Anderson

When I was in St. Paul in the spring of 1871, there was quite a breeze raised by the people of both St. Paul and Minneapolis over the report that a woman was going about exhibiting as a show, her own daughter who was only eleven years old and was herself the mother of a child.

The authorities soon put a stop to this show business, but I noticed the family on the streets several times afterwards. The name of the woman was AA'ilkins and her daughter's name was Panola.

I returned to Becker County soon afterwards and thought no more about them until the next fall, wdien to my surprise I found the whole family living in a comfortable log house on Section 34 in Lake Park Township.

Harvey Jones, one of the first settlers in P)ecker CountA' had married the mother of the young mother, and they were now all snugly housed in his new log cabin.

Matters did not, however, run smoothly in the Jones" household for a very long period of time. Jones was a bachelor up to the time of his recent marriage, nearly fifty years old and was not accustomed to having his authority in domestic alTairs called in question. He complained that Panola and her mother were wasteful and extravagant and that their extravagance was backed up with an aggravating kind of impudence and abuse, and that his wife was not faithful and true. I^ater on, quarrels became frequent in this interesting family and the trouble finally culminated in Jones being arrested for administering family discipline to Mrs. Jones with an iron-wood sapling. A complaint was made out and a warrant issued by justice James G. McGrew of Audubon Township, which was placed in the hands of Captain F. K. Small, constable, and Jones was arrested about the last of October, 1871.

Excitement ran high in the neighborhood. Some of the settlers took sides with Jones, but more of them were on the side of Mrs. Jones and Panola. I was camped in the vicinity at the time, and heard all sides of the case and my sympathies were with Jones.

Jones was tried before Squire McGrew and a jury of twelve men, and this was the first jury before which a case either civil or criminal was ever tried in Becker County. Here is a list of the jurymen : L. D. Sperry, Patrick Ouigley, Moody Cook, Charles P. Wiicox, Hosmer H. Wilcox, William P. McKinstry. T. R. Anderson. John Lewison, David Pyle, A. J. Haney. A. B. Freeman and Brede Anderson.

Not having any commitment papers French conckicled he would have a hard time getting the prisoner off his hands at Otter Tail City, so they both started back home and that was the end of the first legal case in Becker County.

County Seat Controversy

At a meeting of the board of county commissioners on the loth of September, 1872. they passed a resolution to build a jail at Detroit not to exceed a cost of $2,000. \\\ H. H. Howe and J. E. A"an Gorden voted for it and L. G. Stevenson against it. At that time the board consisted of only three commissioners.

On the 6th day of December, 1872, another meeting was held and W. H. H. Howe, chairman of the board and W. F. Ball, county attorney, were appointed a building committee to select a site and secure the early erection of a county jail.

At the same meeting a contract was made and approved by the board by which Colonel George H. Johnston was to build a jail for $1,300, to be completed by July i, 1873 on lots 13 and 14, of block 92, Detroit Townsite. ( )n the 17th day of January. 1873. the board again met at Detroit, but a majority of the board were new meml)ers, AW A. A\'ilkins having succeeded J. E. \'an Gorden and W. S. Dixon taking the place of L. G. Stevenson. At this meeting a resolution was adopted instructing the county auditor to notify the parties building the jail to suspend operations. First, for the reason that it was doubtful if a good title could be given to the ground where it was to be built. Second, that the liabilities to be created were greater than the law authorized the commissioners to create in one year. Third, that tlie townsite of Detroit as platted where the jail was to be built in the township of Detroit is not identical with the townsite of Detroit at which the county seat is located by statute. The building committee was discharged and the chairman ordered to hand over to the county auditor all plans and specifications in his possession.

and platted eleven years before there was a settler in Becker Count)', was located at the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, on what is now called Town Lake, and included a large part of the present village of Frazee, instead of at Detroit Lake in Detroit Township.

Dixon and W'ilkins the two new county commissioners both lived in the west end of the county, the former in Lake Park Township and the latter in Hamden, and were both in favor of Audubon for the county seat and were not slow in taking advantage of the newlv made discovery in relation to the two Detroit townsites.

It was found that a townsite had been surveyed out at the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, and the plat recorded at St. Cloud, ]\rinn., on the 12th day of June, 1857.

On August 30th, 1873, Colonel Johnston commenced suit against Becker County on jail contract. On September 3rd, 1873, the the board met at Detroit and commissioner A\\ S. Dixon was ap- ]iointed by the board to employ counsel to defend the suit.

( )n September i6th, commissioner Howe informed the board that he had in his possession a deed for lots 13 and 14, block 92 of Detroit Townsite for a jail. On January 6, 1874. the board met at Detroit. C. P. Wilcox of Detroit took the place of W. H. H. Howe of Detroit. The deed for lots 13 and 14, block 92, tendered b}- George H. Johnston was refused and returned to the maker, and the bill of $1300 for building jail was rejected. The jail had been built since the time when he was ordered by the board to suspend operations. By this time the discovery of the plat of the Detroit Townsite that was recorded in the office of the register of deeds for Stearns County at St. Cloud and unmistakably hxing its location at the third crossing of the Otter Tail River, had unsettled the county seat business to such an extent that people generally believed that there was no legal county scat. It certainly was not at Detroit although it might be at Frazee City which was doubtful. At least that was the view taken of it by the majority of the board of county commissioners and a majority of the county officers. Nearly all' of them lived west from Detroit and with the exce])tion of the register of deeds they all took their books, papers and office equipment to their homes, and their offices were scattered far and wide. The county treasurer left a deputy at Detroit, and the coroner, being a resident of Detroit, could generally be found there. The county auditor was interested in a store at Lake Park and there he opened up his office.

Accordingly on the 4th of June, 1874, the county commissioners met at the auditor's office at Lake Park. On the 23rd of June they met there again. Judge Reynolds, secretary of the Tyler Townsite and Land Compan}-, otlered the use of the huihling known as the old printing" office at Detroit free of rent for one year for the use of the county officers. R. L. Frazee, proprietor of the old townsite of Detroit, at third crossing of the Otter Tail River, made an offer to the board to erect a building at that point suitable for the county officers and give it free of rent for one year. Both propositions were laid on the table.

On the 5th of January, 1875, the county board met at Lake Park. The commissioners were W. S. Dixon, of Lake Park, C. P. AA'ilcox of Detroit and Thomas Torgerson of Cuba. They met again at Lake Park on the 27th of July, 1875. In the meantime Commissioner Dixon had experienced a decided change of mind with reference to county seat matters. A motion was made and seconded that Frazee be recognized as the county seat of Becker County, but it received only one vote. The board met again on the 24th day of August, 1875, when the following resolutions were adopted :

First, Resolved that the board of county commissioners of Becker Count}' proceed to provide offices for the use of county officers of said county, at Detroit, in Township 139, Range 41.

Second, Resolved that the board accept the oiTer of R. Reynolds, secretary of T^der Townsite and Land Com])any of the building formerly occupied b}' ^Montgomery, West and Smith for the use of the county officers, and that they are hereby required to move there as early as the 5th of September, 1875.

This is the building used as a section house by the X'orthern Pacific Railroad for many years past and stands on the north side of the railroad on the east border of the village.

Commissioners Dixon and Wilcox voted for the above resolutions and Torgerson voted against them. The board met in this building on November ist, 1875, for the first time. The county officers were mostly back with their books and papers at the appointed time, although they did not all stay there themselves with any degree of regularity.

It was customary in those days for one county officer to do the work of others. The county auditor was deputy clerk of court, and also did the work of the judge of probate. John Mc-

Clelland. the register of deeds, had erected the building since owned and occupied by M. \\ V>. Davis as a boot and shoe store, and occupied it as his office (hiring' nearly all of his tliree terms of office.

Excitement ran high all over the county for several years over county seat matters. Petitions had been sent to the legislature at nearly every session asking authority to vote on the question of removing the county seat to Audubon. One petition read like this:

"Audubon, January 31, 1874. We, the undersigned legal voters of Becker County, ^^linncsota, respectfully represent that the eastern half of said county will never be settled: that the town of Audubon is nearer the geographical center of the portion of said county which is now settled or will hereafter be settled than Detroit is: that it is the actual desire of the majority of the legal voters of said county that an act of the legislature be passed providing for a vote to l)e taken upon the removal of the county seat of said county from Detroit to Audubon, and we further represent that the Pugct Sound Land Company has never in any way or manner used any influence whatever to control any election in this county." As there were no settlers in Becker County east of the Otter Tail River in those days, it was for the interests of Detroit to postpone the final settlement of this question by a vote of the people as long as possible. They accordingly fought off all these petitions until the winter of 1877, wdien believing themselves strong enough to outvote Audubon they submitted to the passage of a bill authorizing a vote on the question.

When the county commissioners re-established the county seat at Detroit on the 24th of August, 1875, the excitement quieted down all over the county and there was not much heard about county seat matters until a few months before the election in 1877. In the meantime the lawsuit brought by Colonel Johnston to recover pay for building the jail, was decided in favor of Becker County on the ground that the county commissioners had exceeded their authority. They had appropriated more money for one item of expense than the whole legal tax levy for county revenue for the current year.

The jail building stood for several years in the edge of the oak grove on block 92, in the north part of the village. Later on it was rented to the village of Detroit for a "lock up." It was built of two by six scantling, laid flat down, one scantling on the top of another, the ends crossing at the corners of the buildmg like the logs in a cabin. The spaces between the scantling were filled with other scantling of the same width and thickness, making a solid wall six inches thick from the foundation to the roof, and all spiked good and tight with forty-penny spikes driven in six inches apart, 'i'he following from the Detroit Record of September 28, 1882, tells what finally became of the old jail:

The village jail at Detroit was destroyed by fire on Monday night and Christ. Davis, confined for beating his wife, perished in the flames. The fire occurred at about 11 P. M. and when discovered it was too late to save the confined man. Davis was a hard character and had been recently released from the Clay County jail, having served a term for beating his wife some time ago. It is believed the man fired the building himself, either purposely or accidently. Nothing was left of the man's body excepting a small piece of the back-bone and head, one lung and part of the heart.

The legislature of 1877 had authorized a vote to be taken on the question of the removal of the county seat to Audubon at the annual election to be held in November of that year, and as the time drew near excitement began to run high. To illustrate the state of the feeling between the people of Atttltibon and Detroit at the time, I will insert a part of a column from the last publication of the Detroit Record before the election, November 3, 1S77, then run by Colonel Johnston :

Voters of Becker County! Are you willing to be sold like cattle in the shambles? Read the following intercepted letter, written by one of the Audubon ring and then show by your vote you are freemen and not slaves.

what will probably be the result of the vote on the county seat. I can tell you that we at Audubon have a sure thing. We have got all the leading Scandinavians on our side, and we have fooled some of the Burlington people to vote for us. We have the matter all fixed with the county commissioners so that after the election we will proceed at once to erect county buildings at Audubon, at an expense of $3,000, as this will not require a vote of the people. Of course after we get the county buildings erected, then we are sure of keeping the county seat.

We fear Lake Park as much as Detroit, for it is more than probable that if we do not succeed in carrying the election this year it may go to

Citizens of Becker County: This letter shows for itself, and explains the reason why the Audubon ring would not consent to have a provision in the bill passed by the legislature, that no buildings should be erected for five years. Oh, no! they propose to saddle the county with three thousand dollars of debt, by erecting county buildings at Audubon at once.

Remember that every vote for the removal of the county seat to Audubon is a vote for thousands of dollars of increased ta.xes to Becker County for the erection of expensive county buildings.

The Audubon people were suspicious that Detroit would resort to fraud in carrying the election. They had accused them of gross irregularities at former elections when county seat matters were at stake, notably at the election of 1874 when R. L. Frazee was elected to the legislature. They tried to get some one living at Detroit to watch the polls in their interest. They did not succeed in this, but were assured that if they wished to send some one down from Audubon they should have fair play, if they behaved themselves properly. The evening before election, the town clerk at Detroit discovered that some one had torn down and carried off his poll list. This was laid to the Audubon gang as a matter of course, and they were undoubtedly correct. A prominent citizen of Detroit was at Lake Park on the dav of election working: in the interest of Detroit. Two citizens of Audubon, Charles Emuleth and McCormick came down to Detroit to watch the polls. Emuleth took up a position in the voting room and proceeded to write down the names of an occasional voter that might or might not, for all he knew, be an illegal voter while McCormick did considerable superfluous talking outside. Along in the afternoon a man who owned a farm out in the country, but who was not a voter in Detroit began to persuade some of the Detroiters that it was a matter ill becoming to the dignity of their town to allow men from Audubon or anywhere else to come in and run their election. The result of his arguments was that three or four of the men addressed appointed themselves a committee to rid the town of those two undesirable persons. McCormick had been a little boisterous and aggressive, but Emuleth had not opened his mouth so far (luring the day as anyone knew, but the list of the names he was taking down had the etfect of a red rag at a bull fight. So the self-appointed committee without any ceremony ordered him to leave town inside of five minutes. They were somewhat surprised, however, when a couple of Detroit men began to take his part, and after their attention was called to the fact that a Detroit man had been at Lake Park all day working for Detroit they gave up their task and Emuleth was allowed to remain. Soon afterwards Emuleth 's papers were snatched from his hands and in an instant the man who did the snatching was laid flat on his back on the floor. Someone else, however, took the papers, and ran oft' with them but the judges of the election allowed him to copy such names as he wished from their poll list afterwards.

For two or three weeks previous to the election a gravel train with its accompanying boarding cars and crew of men had been stationed at Detroit. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company's officials were supposed to favor Audubon in preference to Detroit as they were indirectly the owners of Audubon Townsite, either in whole or in part at that time. So they induced the railroad company to take the boarding cars away the day before the election. The cars were removed, but nearly all the men remained. The people of Detroit had arranged to board them while the cars were gone. Many of these men were citizens of Detroit and none of them lost their vote.

Mk. And Mrs. Xub. Nelson, Sr Mr. .A.Nd Mrs. Nub. Nelson, Jr

The town of Atlanta, situated in the northwestern part of Becker County was first settled June i6, 1871, by N. N. \'iger and family, who drove from Fillmore County with an ox team and prairie schooner and settled on Section 32 of said township.

The next settler was O. J. Jahr and family who settled on Section 30 in 1872. For several years these three homes were the only ones in the township, but in 1876 several new families arrived from Wisconsin and Iowa, among which were O. ( ). Xoben, L. H. Hauge, H. J. Larson and others. Gradually the level prairies were broken up and converted into fertile fields, and groves and houses dotted the lonesome plains.

January 25, 1879. the township was organized as the town of Martin, but the name was changed to Atlanta at the following meeting, March 18, 1879.

The first school district, No. 29, was organized in the spring of 1880, and the first term of school was held in the home of John Larson and taught by Miss Carrie Larson, with an enrolInK'nt of twenty pu])ils.

The growth of the population has been slow but steady, till at the present time most of the land has been taken up or bought by actual settlers.

a middle aged, single man who resided on his farm on Section 10. On the evening of Xovember 8, 1897, he was found lying dead near the barn which had been set afire by the murderer.

This was perhaps the most sensational murder case ever tried in Becker County. After a long trial the suspected murderer was acquitted for want of evidence and the case remains a mystery to this day.

On June 9, 1903, a cyclone passed over the central part of the town destroying nearly a dozen homes and the large Norwegian church which had just been completed. One person, Mrs. O. Berg, an old lady lost her life in the storm.

The earlier settlers of Atlanta were Scandinavians with the exception of two or three families, and during the first twenty years or more there were few changes excepting as new settlers were added from time to time, but toward the close of the nineties a number of transfers of real estate brought a considerable German element into the township.

On the wdiole the history of the township while uneventful has been a prosperous one. The bleak prairies of twenty-five years ago now are fertile fields, and the sod shanty is replaced by the commodious farm buildings.

Ole O. Noben

OLE O. NOBEN. Ole O. Noben was born in Slidre, Valders, Norway, Aug. 14, 1835. He came to America in 1851 and settled in Dane County, Wis., afterwards removing to Decorah, Iowa, in 1854, where on Sept. 16, 1859, he married Christina Lien. Coming to- Becker County in the early days lie took a homestead in Atlanta, where he has ever since made his home. A man of education, and of energetic, progressive disposition, he did much in the development of the northwestern part of the county. His homestead of virgin prairie has been converted into one of the best farms in Becker County, with a fine grove, substantial buildings and productive fields, and in every way betokening the energy and thoughtfulness of its owner. He was always an advocate of good roads, and he was ever at the front in every movement for public improvement and good schools in his home town. In politics he was a lifelong Republican, and ever since coming to the county he has taken part in the councils of his party. In the fall of '96 he was elected to the ofSce of register of deeds, and served with ability until last January, having been re-nominated, but defeated by a verv few votes at the last election. Mr. Noben had been a resident of

Being one of the first settlers in the town of Walworth, I will relate some of my early day and pioneer experiences. In the fall of 1878, I, with my wife and one son six months old, left the home of my childhood in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, and started west in search of homestead land. W'e landed in Audubon and during- the winter of 1878-79 kept the Audubon Hotel, and in March, 1879, filed on the northeast quarter of Section 22, Township 142, Range 43 and on the first of June we moved on for actual settlement. The nearest neighbor was eight miles away. O. O. Noben in Atlanta. At that time Walworth and Atlanta were organized into one township and called Atlanta. In the fall and winter of 1879, three families consisting of my two brothers and myself built a shanty on the south branch of the Wild Rice River and spent our first winter of pioneering. That winter was very cold and the snow deep. We hauled our wood from the Wild Rice River, a distance of fifteen miles and without any such roads as we have now. There was only a stage road going from the Wild Rice River to Lake Park. In the spring several settlers moved on claims they had taken. Among the first was Anthony Johnson on Section 8, and the Morks. There were several of the Mork brothers and sisters, and their families still reside on Section 34. Their father died in an early day, and their mother died in 1904. having lived a very useful and helpful life, always ready to lend a helping hand to the sick, which was very needful in an early day for many times a doctor could not be had within twenty-five miles. All the old settlers called for Grandma IMork in tiiue of sickness.

Our town meetings were at first held jointly with Atlanta, and the first one we attended was at O. O. Noben's house a distance of ei^ht miles. The heavv Sfrowth of grass afforded a good

In the year 1882, it became necessary to divide the two townships, and the petition being completed it was handed to me to be sent in. I suggested if no objection were raised that it be named Walworth, after a beautiful prairie county in Wisconsin. In an early day every little slough was filled with water and wild ducks and geese were numerous. The sand-hill crane was a common bird, and occasionally a deer or moose would be seen grazing with the stock on the open prairie.

Our town being new, it was noted for its hunting grounds, and hunters came from many different states, and put up with what poor accommodations could be had for the sake of the hunting. I remember well a large white crane that was shot by W. E. Reid, of Detroit. The bird was mounted and is now on exhil)ition in a hotel office at Wadena. One morning as I went to my sod barn, directly back of it sat a flock of about seventy-five geese in the tall grass. The only gun I owned was an old army muzzle loading musket. I loaded that to the brim, and let drive at them and the result was that five large geese fell but I was the loser of one front tooth as it was nearly as dangerous to be behind it as in front, for it would kick like a mule. We encountered many hardships and numerous persons became discouraged and left, but what still remain are well-to-do farmers.

The prairie lands of Walworth as they appeared twenty-seven years ago seemed little fit for habitation, but their present thriving condition has been accomplished by hard work and good judgment. The settlers that have lived through it are now happy and that much wiser for the experience they have had.

In the year 1882, a log schoolhouse was built on Section 21. This answered the purpose for school, town hall and church. Miss Christina Johnson was the first teacher to wield the rod. Miss Lizzie Hunt the second, and Fred L. Day of Audubon succeeded her. The attendance was very small on account of the distance to walk and poor roads, and many days there was not a scholar in attendance.

On such an occasion Mr. Day would frequently go to his boarding house and play checkers. On one of those occasions, Mr. Chapin, county superintendent, happened to visit the school, but all old timers know that checkers was Mr. Chapin's favorite game, and he soon took a hand in with him. In those days we only had four or five months school in tlie year, only just what the law required to get state aid, but now we have four good school buildings in the township, each of which has school from eight to ten months in the year.

After a heavy growth of grass in the summer months, the following fall the prairie fires would sweep along at the rate of forty miles an hour and with only now and then a little patch of breaking to check its speed.

For many years the nearest post-office and market was Lake Park, a distance of fifteen miles, but now we are blessed with a railroad station, rural free delivery and a nearby market. All the old settlers came with very little money, but lots of courage and energy for which they have reaped the benefit, for now it has the name of being one of the finest towns in the county. A fine prairie country covered with beautiful groves planted twenty-five years ago with our own hands and land valued at $30 per acre, and fine buildings and windmills and everything that helps to make farm life a pleasure. We think all have been amply repaid and have no complaints to ofifer.

The storm originated north of Ulen Monday evening at 5:30 p. m. and passed in a southeasterly direction through the southwest corner of the town of Walworth and the northern part of Atlanta carrying death and destruction throughout its ten mile course.

In the town of Ulen and three miles north of the village of Ulen four children of the family of Mr. Hoiuni were killed and six dwellings destroyed. - June II, igo2.

He was one of the old settlers of Walworth Township, and was born in Rome, Wisconsin, June 26th, 1851, and was the son of William and Emma Higbie. He was married in 1874 to Dora Tallmadge. Mrs. Higbie was born in Amsterdam, New York, May I2th, 1858, and was the daughter of Henry and Jane Tallmadge. Two children have been born. Claude E. was born in Wisconsin, in 1878, and came with his parents to Walworth when

Anthony Johnson settled on Section 8 in the township of Walworth in the spring of 1880, and has resided there continuously ever since. He now owns a fine farm, and has filled many township offices with honor to himself and advantage to the township.

N. P. Johnson. Among the old settlers I will mention N. P. Johnson who settled on Section 8, in an early day, and has held several township offices, and P. P. Berg who came from Audubon in the year 1882, located on Section 28, and has taken an important part in township and school matters. He now has a fine farm on which are fine buildings surrounded by a grove of evergreen and fruit trees.

John Anderson came in the early eighties but sold his farm three years ago, and went back to Denmark to stay, but after a year came back here and said Walworth was sfood enougrh for him.

The first town meeting held in Walworth after being set ofif from the town of Atlanta was at the school house on Section 21. on the third day of April, 1883. Anthony Johnson was elected town clerk ; Simon Jenson. A. E. Higbie and L. Johnson, supervisors ; N. A. Narum, justice of the peace and O. Benson, constable. The town was bonded for $150 to improve the highways. The first death in the town was Frederick Alork, infant son of Anna and Frederick ATork.

Erie is, or rather was, a heavily timbered township. In the east half there was considerable pine, some of it the best I ever saw. The other part was timbered with hard and soft wood. Talk about pine! A little west of where the Otter Tail River bridge is at present, a person could not see the sun in the daytime, the trees were so large and tall. Some of the remaining" stumps can give you an idea of what the trees were.

Erie corners on the southwest near the Northern Pacific Railroad, on the northeast not far from the beautiful Height of Land Lake, is joined on the north by Holmesville and two miles from !Rock Lake, and on the south by Burlington ; the Otter Tail River leaving the town in Section 36.

The first squatter was evidently a trapper by the name of McKenzie, on Section 20. The first actual settler, or at least the first one to build a house, was INIiles Hanna who settled on the southwest quarter of Section 30 in the summer of 1872. In May, 1873, ^^ ^'"id his son worked on the Clearwater drive where he was accidently poisoned by eating the root of the wild parsnip or poison hemlock. He was a soldier of the civil war, and one of the jurymen who tried Bobolink for the murder of the Cook family.

That same fall C. E. Brown built a small log house on the southwest quarter of Section 18. The next year 1873, the following settlers took claims in Erie and built houses on them : James T. Bestick on the northwest quarter of Section 30, Richard Huck on the northeast quarter of Section 30, Kimball Hayden on the northwest quarter of Section 18, A. J. Farnsworth on Section 20 where James Norris afterwards lived and George Neuner took the southwest (|uarter of Section 30 formerly occupied by Miles Hanna. These were about all the settlers in Erie until 1876 or '/"/ when the Buflr'alo people came in and took up all of the western part of the township.

After the Centennial Exposition, in 1876, there were hard times in the East. Common laborors' wages were only seventy-five cents a day, and only three-quarter time at that ; also a great scarcity of employment.

A man by the name of Whitson C. Darling, (by the way the biggest rascal unhung) a Canadian, who had been to Detroit, Minnesota, came to ButTalo, and hired a German saloon-keeper, Fred Disse. Darling made speeches in English and Disse in the German language. He told us there were car shops at Detroit, four or five big hotels, and lots of work at two dollars a day, also nice farms for sale very cheap. This last was true enough. In some of his lectures he said that the snow fall in Becker County was not more than six inches, and that stock grazed in the open fields until away along in January or February. Well, he caught a good many suckers ; he would take their property in Buffalo in exchange for improved farms. Then he was careful to get the Buffalo property safely deeded over but some of the parties are waiting for their farms yet.

We left Buft'alo, about twenty-two families, on the 5th of May, 1877, by steamboat, for Duluth. We were laid up a week in Cleveland on account of the ice. At last we struck Duluth on the 22nd of May, a forsaken and deserted looking place. A few thousand dollars at that time would have bought a good slice of Duluth.

We arrived at Frazee on the 25th of May, 1877. R. L. Frazee was all kindness to us. He gave us the use of a stove and a laree frame buildmo- for shelter. The next day the most of our men went a-fishing by the sawmill. Well, it was a wonder the fish they all brought in. I am certain that two or three fryingpans were kept constantly in action. On the 26th I walked to Detroit to see the great city. Well, I found on the north side of the railroad track a little town, one saloon and two small hotels, and on the south side eight or nine houses, a little bank and a store, also a drug and whisky store combined, also the Northern Pacific Hotel, where I found some beds made on the floor with straw, and two men from Buffalo that came on a boat that left ten days after we did. I returned to Frazee that evening and reported. The next day a lot of us left for Detroit. Some of them got into the empty hotel and other empty houses. I rented the Archie McArthur place near Col. Johnston's flour mill at the mouth of the Pelican River. I then looked around for some land and finally got stranded on the northwest quarter of Section 6 in the town of Erie. 1 will tell of my farming some other time. The grasshoppers had been in the country in 1876, and ever}'thing' was scarce. Many of the old settlers wanted to sell out. but the most of the newcomers had none or but little monc}' to buy with. Flour was five dollars a barrel, potatoes 50 to 90 cents a bushel and hard to get at that.

The actual settlers then living in the town of Erie were Kimball Hayden on Section 18. Eli Hodder on Section 30. John Bertram on vSection 30. Mike Soldner on Section 30, Jerome Farr and O. Sims on Section 34.

Ten or twelve families got disgusted; the women and children were sent back on the Northern Pacific Railroad, the men started on foot for Duluth. and I don't know what ever became of them.

In ( )ctober, 1877, the following newcomers were settled in Erie: Mrs. Schraska and four children; Mr. A. Stackelhouse, wife and children ; A. Schnitzer. wife and three children ; A. INFatzdorf. wife and eight children. In the spring of 1878 there came the following: Jacob Krick. wife and daughter Barbar}' ; Fred Disse, wife and two children ; Bartholomew Tveithiser. wife and two children ; Baptiste Graff and wife ; Julien Zeck. wife and two children ; James Xorris. wife and three children ; John A\'inkler. wife and three children ; John Eides ; Peter Fisher, wife and six children ; M. Smith, wife and fixe children ; John liehuke. wife and one child, and B. Fisher. These were about all the settlers in the town, before it was organized.

As I mentioned before, I located on the northwest quarter of Section 6. A. ]\Iatzdorf and myself went out into the town east of Detroit, now Erie, where we found Mr. Kimball Hayden living on Section 18, and he went with us, a mile and a half north to Section 6. where I took my land, and Matzdorf also took the southwest cpiarter of Section 6. In a few days Alatzdorf moved into the "Betty Brown" house on Section 18 until he could build a house of his own. I hired Jake Schafer to help me and built

Erie was first organized into one school district which took in the entire township. The first officers of the district were : Bartholomew Leithiscr, director; James Norris, clerk; and Alfred ]\leili, treasurer, and he has held the office of treasurer ever since. ]\Iiss May Chapin. now Mrs. John Whittemore, taught the first school in the schoolhouse on Section 29, and Miss Cad Dix, now Mrs. Arthur Blanding. taught the first school in the schoolhouse on Section 18.

Accidents in the town of Erie have been few. Once in a while a settler would fall out of his wagon going home from Detroit, which I suppose was owing to the bad condition of the roads.

The first death was that of Miles Hanna but he died away from home. The first person to die within the limits of the township was George Neuner who died at his home on Section 30 on the 9th day of January, 1875. He was the father of John and Firank Neuner. The Xeuner family came to Becker County on the 29th day of March, 1873, with ]\Irs. Trimlet and her son William, and they were the first installment of the Buft'alo colony.

In 1880' Louisa Furcht was married to William Fischer. They have today a married daughter and two grandchildren. The first white girl born in Erie was Lizzie Schultz, now Mrs. AA'illiam Lindner. The first white boy born was William Bertram.

A. H. AMlcox built the first bridge across the Otter Tail River in 1873, oi^it of ^ state appropriation of about $800, the bridge itself costing $340.

Game was plentiful in those days ; bears, deer and wild cats. Grouse were as plentiful then as common chickens are now. A person could hear them drumming around every day. Deer I was certain to meet in the fall of the year whenever I went to get my cattle home, and I could see them most any day around my fifteen acre lake.

hog's of about two hundred pounds weight apiece. ^ly wife with the lantern and myself with a Remington rifle chased Mr. I'ear ofif but he had one hog killed or so badly hurt that it was dead when we went to take a look in the morning. The bear also made his appearance in the yard. I was going to help Charles Schnitzer break some land, so I put the pig under cover until night. Toward evening Schnitzer and I took the pig and fastened it with a heavy log chain to a small tree, across the road west of the house. We then went in the house to get our shooting sticks, and when we came out Mr. Bear was in full view and by good luck we shot him dead on the spot. He measured about six feet in length, but, holy Ceasar ! his meat was just like mush: hardly tit to eat. He was old and had probably just come out of his winter's sleep. I sold the hide to W. Hayden for sixteen dollars, but never got but tw^o dollars.

There have been no great crimes committed in Erie so far as I know. Chris Weiks while out hunting about eight vears ago, found the well kept skeleton of a man. near the southwest corner of Section 19, about twenty-five rods east of the Erie road. There was never any identification, or any case made out of it. but it is my opinion that as the place was a general camping ground for people going to and from Dakota that the man may have licen killed in a quarrel, or for his money.

I will tell a little story that happened in 1886. showing the way we used to vote. The Australian system was not then in use. On the morning of the second Tuesday in November, Mr. Jerome Farr came early to vote. He had three sons who were voters and a hired man. These four men had to go away on some urgent campaign business, so Farr took the four tickets, all of the same kind and put them in an envelope, sealed it in the presence of the judges and put it into the ballot box. In the evening these ballots were counted the same as the others.

The township of Erie was organized on the 18th day of August, 1878, and the first town election w^as held on that date at the house of Fred. Disse. The first township officers were : Chairman of board of supervisors, Alfred Meile ; supervisors, Fred. Disse, and James Norris ; clerk, Kimball Hayden.

The lo5:ii^ino- dam on the southwest quarter of Section 12 known as the Hubbell dam was l)uilt by R. L. Frazee, early in the summer of 1876. He cut several hundred thousand feet of pine logs on Section 5 and 6. in the town of Height of Land, and floated them down the river that same summer.

Mr. Disse was born in Germany on the first day of November, 1819. He immigrated to America in 1847, settling in the then small city of Buffalo, New York, and resided there twenty-seven years, when with a colony of his countrymen, and fellow townsmen he came west a few years after the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad and settled in Detroit. After living in Detroit for a year or two he removed to his homestead in the town of Erie, where he lived on the farm, and has made his home ever since. Mr. Disse was a man of energy and a man of influence, respected in the tow'n in which he lesided, and wherever he was known.

The first settler in what is now the township of Hohnesville was Swan Olund who settled on the southwest quarter of Section 6 on the 9th day of January, 1871, and is still living" on the same land.

I do not think any one settled in Holmesville after him until in the fall of 1873. when J. R. Philips settled on the northwest quarter of Section 32, William Pollard settled on the northwest quarter of Section 30, H. A. Poor on the northwest quarter of Section 30, and a man by the name of Heath on the southeast quarter of Section 30. Early in the spring of 1874, C. H. Whipple located on the southwest cpiarter of Section 30, Lewis Benson on southwest quarter of Section 18. and A. H. Wentworth on the southwest quarter of Section 18. Wentworth died in July, 1874. and George Yourex took his land the same fall, and in the spring of 1875 sold it to Robert Miller, and Miller sold it to Henry Owen after he had made final proof. Owen came in June 1875.

George Dorman settled on the southeast quarter of Section 28, in 1875, 'i^'^l Jo- JMachner on the northeast quarter of Section 32, in 1882, and E. E. Johnson settled on the northwest quarter of Section 34, in August of the same year, and W. J. Clyde about 1878 settled on Section 20. The remainder of the township has since been settled up, principally with Swedes and Norwegians and Germans, among whom are Charles E. Maguey, Sivert Johnson, E. A. Wagner.

Swan Olund, the first settler, and Louis Benson are the only ones who came into the township in the seventies who still remain so far as T know, and C. H. Whipple and Mrs. Angeline Miller, formerly Mrs. Henry Owen, both now living in Detroit, are the only others of the old settlers now remaining in the country.

On the 19th day of March, 1889, the township of East Richwood was organized, but the name was soon afterwards changed to Holmesville in honor of Hon. E. G. Holmes.

The first township election was held at the house of George Dorman on the southeast quarter of Section 28, on the date above mentioned. The following set of township officers were elected at that time :

Chairman of board of supervisors, C. L. Bostwick ; supervisors, George Dorman, Anuind A. Momb ; township clerk, Barney Meischner ; treasurer, Ernest Wag'ner ; assessor, A\'illiam Pollard, justices of the peace, John P. Momb, Elizer Schisco, John Nelson ; constable, William Hilbrand.

The first people to get married in Holmesville were Swan Olund and Emma Anderson, who were married on the loth of May, 1878, by the Rev. John P. Nelson.

The first death in the township was that of A. H. Wentworth, who located on Section 28, southwest quarter, in March, 1874, and died on the 24th of July, 1874.

Thirty-six years ago the Buffalo River and its connecting lakes through the township of Holmesville was a picturesque stretch of water. Before the Richwood dam was built there was at least seven feet fall between Buff'alo Lake and Tamarack Lake, where it is now nearly all dead water. At that time Buffalo Lake was half a mile shorter, twenty rods narrower and seven feet shallower than at the present time.

Between Buff'alo Lake and the lake on Sections 8 and 17 there was a fine stream of water 40 rods long, 30 feet wide, and two feet deep, with stony bed and beautiful banks timbered with oak, rock elm, maple and basswood. There was a good fording place then where the long high bridge now stands over eight or ten feet of water.

The outlet to Rock Lake was not more than four rods long and two rods wide and three feet deep, with low, well wooded banks, and was one of the loveliest spots in all this region of country. Rock Lake was smaller by at least a hundred acres than at the present time.

Notwithstaiuling' the large amount of water held back by the Richwood dam, and the large amount of land overflowed, it is doubtful if the back water ever reached Tamarack Lake, for that lake is a foot lower than it was thirty-six years ago. At that there was no outlet of open water to the lake, as a floating bog lOO rods wide, and covering an area of more than lOO acres, obstructed the outlet. In walking over this bog at that time you would sink in the water and bog above your ankles at every step. Xow it is good hard n;?ado\v land.

We began work on the Tamarack Lake ditch about the loth of May, 1882. We began at the commencement of the open water in the Buffalo River a little south of the corner to Sections 23, 24, 25 and 26 and cut across the bog to the open water in Tamarack Lake a distance of more than a quarter of a mile. There were seven of us, and we cut the ditch ten feet wide and four feet deep, which was the deptli of the bog.

The w'ater, however, continued slowly and steadily to fall for a long time, but never ([uite getting down the level of the Richwood mill-dam.

I am indebted to Mr. E. Rumery, formerly of Richwood, but now of Detroit, for much of the information in this article with reference to the earlv settlers.

Major S. S. Mckinley

Just as Moses of old led the Israelites toward the promised land, just so did J. F. Siegford lead an exodus from Xorthern Iowa and Southern Minnesota toward the Third Prairie. But he did better than Moses, for he not only entered the promised land, but made proof and has continued to reside on said land ever since.

On the tenth day of June, 1879, with my son G. F. Siegford, George M. Carson, C. E. Bullock and A. W. Sanderson, with Joe Sombs as cruiser, I started northward from Verndale, headed for the Shell Prairies. The advance guard on the line of civilization at that time was one Alex. Cook, whose home was only ten miles north of Verndale. After leaving his place, we proceeded northward sixty miles through an unbroken forest, and across the first and second Shell Prairies, and so well pleased were we with the beautiful surroundings and the fertility of the soil of the Third Prairie that we at once decided that here was our Eldorado, and here we would make our homes and await the coming of civilization, which we felt sure would not be far in the future, when the richness and the beauty of this region became known.

Carson, G. F. Siegford and myself, took homesteads on Section 18, Sanderson on section 20, while Bullock located in the town west. Our next move was to come to Detroit to make our filings, and in order to reach the land office we tramped over an Indian road through the forest to White Earth Agency, thence south twenty-two miles to Detroit. Returning to our claims later in the summer, we erected the regulation "claim shanties" and made such preparations as we could for the arrival of our families in the spring, and in Mrv of the following year we were all back in Verndale, Geo. M. Carson, wife and three children, my son Geo. F. Siegford, wife and three children, and myself and wife. I had purchased a mule team, paying $415 for the same, and as we started upon our journey, one wagon loaded with provisions, such furniture as we had, clothing, etc.. etc., to say nothing of the six children, three women and three men, the appearance of our outfit :an be better imagined, perhaps than described. We were obliged to cut a road through the woods from Cook's, and were five days in reaching the prairie. A\'e went to work at once, my son using the mules in breaking" and in hauling" the necessary material from X'erndale, making fourteen trips during the summer. I returned to A erndale, where I worked at my trade, carpentering as a means of support to our families, who were, of course, unable to derive a dollar in revenue from the farms. ]^Ir. Carson ren"iained upon the prairie during the summer, and in the fall devoted his attention to locating other settlers who had now begun to come in considerable numbers; The first and second prairies also settled up rapid- Iv. and during the next w"inter, that of 1880-81, there were about eighty families there. Immigration was stopped early in the fall, lioweA^er, by the memorable snow-storm of October i6th, when there was a snowfall of fully two feet on the level in the timber, aiid this was followed only two weeks later by another storm of equal severity. Right here began the real hardship of those who had cast their lot upon the Shell Prairies; supplies of provisions were very limited, and with the great depth of snow^ it was next to impossible to replenish them, and when on January 27th another great snowfall occurred, this little band was practically shut out from the rest of the world. ^ly son and myself were in Verndale when this January snow-ston"i"i came, and were detained there two weeks before we dared venture to return to our families, who, though well supplied with provisions, were feared to be suffering for want of fuel. After two weeks of anxious waiting", however, Frank ventured to make the trip, making it on snowshoes. When within a half mile of home, so nearly exhausted had he become that he was unable to proceed farther and was obliged to spend the night there ; iinally reaching home in safety, he found that two friendly Indians had come along on snowshoes and had kindly replenished the supply of fuel. In reaching home he had traveled twenty miles on a logging" road, then for lift}' miles he was obliged to force his way through an unbroken blanket of snow four feet in depth. Until this time our wives had been in mortal fear of the red men, but in that time of anxiety and dire necessity they had no thought of fear of their visitors, who were supplied with food and in return supplied an abundance of fuel and attended to the out-of-door work. There was much actual suft'ering upon the prairies during that long, cold winter; provisions were short, and the mystery has always been how some of the settlers managed to live. A number owe their lives to the fact that Frank Horr, who had come upon the prairies in the fall, had brought a load of ordinary and rather a poor grade of wheat bran ; when the snow became so deep that an attempt to obtain supplies at Verndale, the nearest railroad station, was not to be thought of, the bran was used by the settlers, who converted it into bread, gruel, cakes, etc., and were thereby enabled to sustain life. Since that time there have been years of hardship, but there has been no such genuine suffering.

The first white man who saw this country was the early trapper. Every creek gives evidence of the industrious beaver, that raised the water level and made nearly all the meadow lands here. I)Ut these aml)itious little meadow^ makers are all extinct, like the men who caused their destruction.

The township of ( )sage is slightly rolling. Three-fourths of is does not vary twenty feet in altitude. It verges into hills on the northeast, and the Straight and Shell Rivers in the south and .southwest.

Before the removal of the pine. Straight Lake, the head of Straight River was very beautiful. It was noted for its beautiful fringe of pine, spruce, balsam and birch. It is a body of water about three miles long, and one hundred and twenty rods wide. During the spring of i88i a dam was put across the river about a mile below the outlet, which raised the lake twelve feet, thereby killing all the standing pine near the water and so its beauty was lost.

The outlet of this once lovelv lake runs nearly due east, hence its name. Straight River, and it is remarkable for its swiftness ; during the winter its course can be noted by the steam rising from the running water which changes the temperature several degrees. vSprings also break out all along its course.

Nearly all of these carry iron in solution, which forms ironoxide when it comes in contact with the air. The water level varies with the lake. All ponds, bogs and wells in the vicinity maintain the same level, and the quality of pure, clear, cool water with just a trace of iron and lime is not surpassed in the United States.

was covered with jack pine, which was thought in an early day to be worthless, but now ranks first in lath and shingles, and nearly all kinds of lumber is made from it. The price of jack pine logs is low, but when one buys lumber, he buys a mixture of it and other timber.

These woods in an early time were filled with game. Moose and deer were plentiful, and venison formed the menu of the early settler's bill of fare. As late as 1895 Mr. G. K. Siegford killed a bull moose in his barn-yard.

The whole township is overrun with the white rabbit or northern hare, which forms the diet of both timber wolves and coyotes. Bear were found in the hilly land, as they seek the hardwood timber of the clay land, while the raccoon also shared their company. The bobcat or wildcat still inhabit these woods. Mink, otter, weasel and muskrat finish the list of fur bearers, and the striped and gray gopher, together with the chipmunk, make things lively for the farmer in early spring.

In the priority of settlement there was none, as J. F. Siegford, G. F. Siegford, G. M. Carson and A. W. Sanderson fixed their location in June, 1879, and as soon as they found the proper officers, filed homestead entries or declaratory statements.

In 1881 - Edward Peets, Mrs. P. B. Sackett, Mr. Minert, John Gillian, S. S. McKinley, Warner McKinley, J. D. Pratt, Ambrose Mann, Ambrose Mann, Jr.. J. W. Hawkins and Peter ^Mclntyre. During the fall of 1880 Edward Evans squatted upon the southwest quarter of Section 19. Here upon the banks of Shell River the first white child was born, a girl, Lulu Evans, who now resides in the state of Washington.

When A. W. Sanderson moved upon his homestead June, i! he was a single man, but had chosen his fiancee, Miss Mary A. Bullock, before his removal here.

Early in December they planned a wedding-, but the location of an authorized person to tie the knot was hard to settle. December 1 2th they made an unsuccessful trip to Shell City, but failed to find any one, though a friend promised to furnish one the following Sabbath, so they returned with the knot untied. One week later, December 19th, 1880, Miss Mary A. Bullock became Mrs. A. W. Sanderson, at Shell City ; they returned to Osage the same evening.

During the summer of 1880 Mr. E. S. Frazier had located upon the south-east quarter of Section 22. He was an old soldier and could not stand the hardships of pioneer life. Early in October, 188 1, he passed away and was buried on his homestead. For over one year the people lived without any form of government. August 15th, 1881, the citizens of the two unorganized towns, Township 140, Ranges 36 and 37, met at the residence of G. M. Carson and proceeded to organize a township government.

For a term of ten years the two townships were together. Owing to some dissatisfaction. May 4th, 1891, the eastern township pulled out of the organization and elected as follows:

Town board, Luther Phelps, chairman ; John Schuman and Andrew Allen, trustees; clerk, F. E. Moss; treasurer, Steener Pederson ; justices of the peace, G. M. Carson, A. J. AVoodin ; constables, G. L. Bullock and T. W. Sartin.

Osage

Osag-e, the name chosen, was taken from Osage, Iowa, which was conjured from O. Sage, a wealthy New Yorker, who afterwards gave his namesake a vaUiable library, and we are sorry that he did not serve us likewise.

During the spring of 1881 S. S. McKinley began the construction of a dam across Straight River on the southeast quarter of Section 20. He finished it during the summer and built the first sawmill. He also platted a portion of this quarter section west of the river, and secured the Carsonville post-ofhce, carrying the mail from Detroit with Carson Brothers as carriers, three trips per week.

It was on the loth of October, 1881, that the legal voters gathered at the residence of G. ]\I. Carson and organized school district No. 31, and ordered a schoolhouse built "within forty rods of the dam."

Six weeks later, H. F. Witter, a second grade teacher, began the first school in a private house owned by K. C. Allen, March 1st. His term closed and he received an order for $66, with which he laid the foundation of his present fortune.

Osage had quite a boom in 1881-2 but it practically stood still for ten years. Then prospects of a railroad appeared upon the horizon only to vanish in the early nineties. Then it began to retrograde for another decade, but in 1901 McKinley's store was consumed by fire, together with nearly all the buildings on the north side of the street. Osage had to rebuild and since that time has had a steady growth. In 1904 Henry AA'ay built a fine residence and ]\Ir. Burlingame also completed another modern building.

It was in the month of May that T. M. Sharp moved to Osage. He had previously leased the milling site for a term of years. He and Henry \\'ay straightway began the improvement of the sawmill, and commenced getting out the lumber for a grist-mill. The mill was 1)eg"un in the summer of 1902 and finished the next season. Now Osage can boast of having- one of the best equipped seventy-five barrel mills this side of Minneapolis. A set of five double rollers, together with ])atent cockle extractor and smiitter, and the improved machinery in line of bolters.

Three grades of flour are made, first patent, Straight (meaning the lake of course) and export. It is not uncommon to see men who live twenty-five miles away come here with a grist.

Under the same roof is a feed mill, which is at work nearly all the time making chop-feed for the farmers at the low price of five cents a sack.

When Osage Township was first settled there was a road running north by west through the tract. It was an old government trail between Leech Lake and A\'hite Earth. This road crossed the J^traight at the outlet. Now we have at least fifty miles of road in pretty good repair, generally on section lines. The judicial road crosses the township from north to south, two miles from the west line.

During the winter of 1903,- while the Legislature was in session, E. D. Sylvester requested Senator Peterson for an appropriation of $600 for a bridge at Osage. Senator Peterson and representative Hawley took the matter in hand ; l)ut when the Legislature cut the appropriation bill in two, the allo\\ance became $300. Now we have a substantial bridge of stone abutments.

In the fall of 1889, J- F- ancl G. F. Siegford, Ed. Haight, G. M. Carson, Emmett Kelly and Frank Horr went on a hunting trip, as was their custom many seasons before and since, about the first of November.

After picking out their ground and making the necessary hunter's shack, they began to study the surrounding country. The ground was bare for several days, but one morning they awoke and found about four inches of snow had fallen. All were ready at six o'clock for the chase. J. F. Siegford, who had been cook for a few days, had noticed two deer near the camp, and when they started they ahvays ran in the same direction. The plan was to start a drive from camp. Mr. Siegford made a detour of half a mile and located on the runway where it crossed the brow of a hill. He gave the signal and the boys started on a drive of about eighty rods. Soon Mr, Siegford saw the deer coming. Just as they were passing he dropped the one in the lead by a neck shot. The doe turned and ran the back track. Ere long she met Ed. Haight face to face. Ed., forgetting his double-barreled buckshot loaded gun. threw his "ready cap in the air'' and stood admiring the symmetry and agility of the doe carrying the white flag. She stopped still, forcil)ly threw out her breath, and trotted slowly back down the runway. J. F. noticed her coming, took good aim and soon she lay within a rod of the buck.

The finish of the first drive was near the west bank of the lake, which was two miles long. Just above the first ledge on a rise of the ground was a second runway. Frank Siegford and George Carson were left to watch this runway, while J. F. Siegford remained where he was. The rest of the company went up the lake on the ice to make a drive. The men on the runway waited patiently for half an hour. Xot seeing any deer or hearing any of the boys, they met and made a fire. Presently they heard a shot. Soon Frank and Ed. came down the lake on their back track whistling. They said "Awful big woods up there." "But where is Emmett?" they were asked. Neither had seen him for an hour and a half. All started to find the lost boy.

Just as they arrived at the north end of the lake, Emmett came in sight. When asked why he did not make the drive he said, "Why, you see after I had been in the woods a long time I came to a man's track and concluded to follow it. I traveled half an hour and came to a place where another man had taken the same track. I determined to catch him and hurried as fast as I could. I was about out of breath when I saw a porcupine on a tree just ahead and I shot him. Again I started after the man, sometimes nearly on a run. What do you think? What do you think?

Here on the bank they ate hmch and held councih It was agreed to send Kelly down the west bank of the lake to watch a runway at the outlet of the lake. This creek had high banks and was about forty rods long, running into a second lake.

The rest were to drive the eastern shore of the lake. Giving Kelly twenty minutes the start, they all lined up in the woods on the east bank with an interval of twenty rods between each.

Hardly had their systematic drive began till they heard shots down near the outlet. Bang, bang, bang, went the Winchester. The drivers kept making plenty of noise. About a hundred shots had been fired when they reached the outlet. They looked for Kell}' and the venison. Only one small fawn was in sight. "How many were there?" they asked. "Over twenty, but I was too far ofif," said Kelly. Mr. Horr went to the runway and paced toward Kelly. At twenty-five paces he began to pick up shells, and ere he had reached thirty near the foot of a balsam tree, he had picked up twenty-five empties. "Well," said Mr. Horr, "Kelly's got the ague; let's take the fawn and go to camp." It so happened that both hind legs and one front leg of the fawn were broken. Kelly declared that it was done at one shot.

But all days were not like this one, for when they started home twenty-seven saddles were strung up near their camp. Still this was a poor year for hunting.

Squire S. McKinley was born at Geneva, Kane County, Illinois, February 9th, 1840. His school days were nearly all passed there, but in 1854 his parents removed to Newberry, Mitchell County, Iowa, and later to St. Ansgar. Later he took a course at the Academy and finally studied law under Daniel W. Lawrence.

Squire had just reached his majority before President Lincoln was inaugurated and on the 5th of March, 1861, he ofifered his services to his country. A company was organized and drilled under John P. Knight as captain. In June, 1861, Squire, with twenty-nine others, were mustered into the service of the United States at Keokuk, Iowa. His regiment, the Third Iowa Regiment of Volunteers, lost nearly half its number in the first battle. It followed Grant to Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson, Shiloh and Memphis. It was under General Halleck at the second battle of Cornith, and later took part in the battle of Coldwater and Greenville, where Mosby entertained them royally to the extent of half of their depleted ranks. At the battle of Haines' BluiT, General E. O. C. Ord commanded, but May 9th they met General Grant and took part in the great siege of Vicksburg. Squire was with Sherman at the capture of Jackson, Mississippi, where the division had one of its hardest encounters during the war. His regiment was ordered to charge some cannon on a slope ; when they were within a few steps ]\rr. IMcKinley was facing one of them. A discharge followed and the first thing he remembered afterward was that a comrade was washing his face at a little creek. He immediately took his place in the ranks. Next the regiment was with Sherman in a marauding expedition in Alabama. Later, what was left of the boys took part in the ill-fated Red River expedition, and were forty-seven days under fire. The regiment having fought itself out of existence, was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, in July, 1864. There were fifteen men in line of Squire's company. During this exciting term of service Squire never lost but one battle, and that was caused by a case of measles which held him bedfast. He never entered the hospital, and the only harm done to him was done by the concussion of the cannon.

In the spring of 1880, he, in company with a Mr. Britz, filed on the Rice water-power of Park Rapids and the following spring sold it to the present owner.

Squire ]*kIcKinley was strictly temperate, clear-headed, and an orator of no mean ability. His loyalty was unquestioned. He voted for every Republican President - Lincoln to Roosevelt.

Lying on his death bed, he closed the interview with the words, "The Shell Prairies are an ideal place for any man to live. The most beautiful country I ever saw." He died February 19th, 1905.

The subject of our sketch was born on Chestnut Street in the city of "Brotherly Love" on August 14th, 1824. His father's birth was under the same roof, and this house is still in possession of the family wdiose ownership will soon reach the second century milestone. ]\Ir. Siegford is the second of a family of five, two brothers and two sisters besides himself; both of the brothers are living.

When J. F. Siegford was seven years old his father moved to Rochester, N. Y., where he went to school in a log school house for six months in a year, each pupil paying tuition. He carried Cobb's Dictionary and v'^peller and Daboll's arithmetic. A piece of slate rock served as a slate, being ground smooth, and a soft rock pencil served for computations and writing.

Rochester was then a small town, there being only one house west of the river, in the midst of a black ash swamp, now the heart of the city.

At fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to his uncle for four years as a wheelwright, who was then working in Lowell, Massachusetts. His trade being learned, four years later he became master mechanic and later superintendent of a paper mill.

While working at Gibsonville. he met and married Aliss Elmira Davis, of Danesville, who has shared the trials of her husband for the last fifty-seven years.

During the war ^Ir. Siegford worked for the government, and assisted in throwing the ]iontoon l-)ridges across the Tennessee River at Chattanooga.

In 1865, he was in Wisconsin, a farmer, working a part of the time as a carpenter. Three years later he sought another climate, moving to New Hampton, Iowa, where he worked as a contractor.

He is an Abraham Lincoln Republican, and has always tried to make the "North Star State" shine as bright as any of her sisters. His activity of early life has remained with him in his later years ; although over eighty years old he moves as supple as one of forty.

His active days of labor are over, l^ut he takes pleasure in looking backward over an active career with the consolation of a life well spent.

G. F. Siegford, son of J. F. Siegford and Elmira Siegford, first saw the light of day January 29th, 1849, ^^ Danesville, N. Y. His early education was obtained from the village schools of Danesville, East Pike and Mt. Morris. When sixteen he removed with his father to Columbus, Wisconsin, where he attended school in the winter and farmed in summer.

Three years later he engaged as a carpenter and joiner, working with his father at New Hampton, Iowa. For a period of eleven years he was associated with the company, Siegford & Son, and many buildings from \Yaterloo to Osage, Iowa, stand as monuments of their handicraft.

During the winter of 1875 ^^^ took a brief respite from labor and visited the scenes of his bovhood. Here he met and married Aliss Sib}'l Haight and the following spring they returned to Iowa.

In the fall of 1878 the family removed to A'erndale and remained there for the winter. The following spring he moved to the farm where he now resides.

His wife, Sibyl Haight, was born May 31st, 1844, at Oakport. N. Y. She attended a district school, and began teaching at the early age of fifteen, beginning at $2.25 per week or $9.00 per month of twenty-two days. Mrs. Siegford taught the greater part of the time for seventeen years, and towards the last commanded $35.00 per month which was counted big wages in those days. They have raised four children to manhood and womanhood, Roy E., Renie, Maurice and E. L.

^^Ir. Siegford is the largest individual land owner in Osage Township, and a few }'ears more will find him farming one of the best farms in Becker County. He has filled nearly every position of trust in the tow'nship afi'airs and has always been equal to the emergencv.

John Gillian was born at Lowell, Mass., July 21st, 1843. His wife is his junior by one year, having 1844 as the date of her birth, and Prince Edward Island as the location. In 1863 she took up her residence in Lowell, Mass., and six years later she married John. The chances in the East are limited, and ten years later they moved West, and in the spring- of 1881 moved to A'erndale.and a few months later upon the northwest quarter of Section 20. Not long after they came to Osage, Mr. Peter McSuteer, who had subsequently located upon the northwest quarter of Section 32, passed away, and Mrs. Gillian fell heir to 160 acres in Shell Prairie. They now have 220 acres under the plow and several acres more ready for the breaker. They are contented and have retired from active life, and hope to spend their latter days under Christian influence.

As a further evidence that Osage is a good place to live, we give an account of W. P. Holliday. A Canadian by birth, born August 23rd, 1849, i" Ontario, he emigrated to ?^Ieeker County, Minnesota, in 1878, and two years later he was in Cormorant Township, Becker County. Five years later he took up a homestead in Osage Township. Here he lived seven years, and again moved to Cormorant Township. He had the misfortune of losing his first wife during this move, and had equally good luck two years later in finding another. Again he moved to Osage, 1901, and has since remained upon his homestead. He says that he has lived in a good many places, l)ut Osage suits him best of all, and that if anyone can make an honest living he can do it in Osage Township.

Luther Phelps was born on a farm in Warren Countv, N. Y., March 8th, 1832. At the early age of eleven he went before the mast, and sailed the seas until he gained his majority. He was a soldier in the civil war. W^ien he was twenty-two years of age he married Miss Mary E. Horning, who was also a resident of the same county and state.

Nine children were born to them, five boys and four girls. All the boys have farms near their father's, while their older daughter, Mrs. Smith, resides on a farm just across the road.

While the family was living near Albert Lea, Minnesota, they heard of the free land on Shell Prairies, and in the fall of 1880 Mr. Phelps and family removed to Osage and settled npon the northeast quarter of Section 14, where he lives to-day. When he came to Becker County he possessed four horses, harness and wagon, together with a little money. He now has two horses, eleven head of cattle, some other stock and machinery enough to run the seventy-five acres he has under the plow. He has made an honest living, increased his stock, which is enough. Few men can boast of more.