Becker County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1907 (part 7 of 16)

The first Sabbath school was organized in Captain Wellman's residence by Missionary Mason, and David Wellman was elected superintendent. The next summer it was removed to the upper room in Mr. Hendry's store, and was removed in 1874 to Frazee into the little public schoolhouse standing on the ground now occupied by the palatial residence of Gotlieb Baer. Mr. Collins was superintendent ; Leonard Ashley, secretary ; and Robert Carson took an active part. About twenty was the regular attendance.

Mr. And Mrs. Samuel Pearce

Mr. Collins discovered that liis land, overlooking the Otter Tail River, was rich in Indian lore, and some very rare treasures of Indian relics were found in the grounds, such as arrow heads, hammers, pieces of pottery and one extra large mound led to the belief that this was one of the old and famous Mound Builder's cities or camping grounds. Xumerinis piles of cooking stones were foimd where he now has his home.

In 1873-4 there was an Indian scare, and all the residents of the village congregated in one building in town. Leonard Ashley came over and implored ]Mr. Collins to come with his family into the barracks, but he thought he could defend himself and family, and he kindly refused the invitation.

The cause of the scare was a party of Sioux Indians going through to White Earth for a visit with the Chippewas. They went through Collin's farm passing the house on their prancing horses and decked in feathers and paint. They would jump off their ponies and with their scalping knives cut ofif the long grass as if they were scalping an enemy.

He is considered an expert farmer and machinist and owns one of the best farms near Frazec. I lis c(irn won a prize at the ?t. Louis Exposition.

The fir.st bridge built across the Otter Tail River in this county was built in 1869 by Patrick Quinlan. It was built at the foot of the hill where the Perham road is now located, about ten rods south from where the new bridge across the Otter Tail River has since been built. The river then ran along the foot of the hill in what is now the old slough, all the way from the railroad to a point several rods west of the Perham road. After building this bridge he built a corduroy road along what was then the north side of the river to the long narrow ridge on the east side of the railroad lying between the railroad and the river. When the railroad was built a year or two afterwards, they changed the bed of the river to its present location.

The old Red River trail which had been the only thoroughfare through this part of the country for years, entered Becker County between the two lakes on Section 36, near where Herman Fisher now lives, passed by the Albertson place and crossed the Otter Tail River between where the lower dam and the bridge on the Silverleaf road have since been built. There had never been any bridge across the river and the crossing was frequently attended with considerable difficulty, especially at the beginning of winter when ice was forming, so Ouinlan conceived the idea of building a cutoff road, bridging the river and charging toll for all travelers passing over his bridge. After he had finished the bridge, he opened up a new road from a point on the Red River trail, a little south of where Thomas Keys in Otter Tail County has since lived. The road ran on the west side of the oak grove in Edward Brigg's field south of his house, and came down to the river at the foot of the hill exactly where the road enters the marsh at the present time. The old road is still to be seen where it came down the hill over in the timber west of the present road.

This was about the time the Northern Pacific explorers and surveyors commenced traveling up and down the country, and while they were delighted at having a bridge to cross on there was a lot of kicking done when it came to paying toll. After having several quarrels and getting but little toll he dropped the whole business and never covered the bare poles on his corduroy v^-est of the river. The place where this bridge was built has since been nearly filled with sand and gravel washed down from the hill, although there is a small bridge there at the present time.

When the railroad company changed the bed of the river they built a new wagon bridge a short distance below the railroad bridge and for many years all the travel from the south went around the horseshoe bend, along the foot of the railroad embankment. The road was changed to its present location in the winter of 1897 and 1898.

The "Hodder" bridge across the Otter Tail, on Section 2, was built in 1886 by Rudolph Boll with money furnished by the town and county. The bridge across the Otter Tail below the lower dam was built in the summer of 1889 by R. L. Frazee with a state appropriation.

On the 9th day of Aiii^ust, 1872, a petition was granted by the board of county commissioners to detach Township 138, Range 40, from the township of Lake Mew and organize the same into a new township to be called Burlington. The township was so named from the city of Burlington in the state of \>rmont, by Airs. E. L. \\'right, a Vermonter, whose husband took a leading part in the organization of the township.

The first set of township officers were : Chairman of board of supervisors, E. L. Wright ; supervisors, Charles E. Churchill and Patrick Quinlan ; clerk, James G. Chilton. Roscoe Dow was elected justice of the peace at this election, but did not qualify.

At the annual town meeting in March, 1873, the supervisors elected were E. L. Wright, chairman ; Charles E Churchill and I. J. Collins, supervisors ; James Chilton, town clerk ; James Maxwell, assessor.

In the winter of 1872-3, R. L. Frazee opened up his first lumber camp in Becker County, on Section 14, in the town of Erie. Among the men employed in his camp was a man named Arthur Crissy, a native of Maine, a man about thirty-five years of age, of robust constitution and perfect health and full of general good humor, and who prided himself on being the best ox teamster in Becker County.

The next time I saw him was in the summer of 1878 in the same place where he kept a little candy and tobacco store. Since I had last seen him, he had lost both feet and was walking on his knees. He had met with a terrible misfortune in the spring of 1876, and I will endeavor to relate it as he told it to me as near as possible.

A few miles below Bismarck is Sibley Island wdiich contains twenty or thirty acres of land. On the west side of the island is the Missouri River, and on the east side is a narrow channel about four rods wide, which is full of water, when the river is high, but most of the time it is nearly dry.

Sibley Island at that time was covered with a heavy growth of Cottonwood timber, and in the winter of 1875-6, N. P. Clark, of St. Cloud, Minnesota, put in a wood camp on the island. This camp consisted of a log cabin for the men and two log stables for the oxen, of which they had twenty or thirty. With the disappearance of the snow in the spring the camp was broken up, but Crissy and two other men, one of which was named Kelly, were retained to take care of the oxen. They had not remained there many days before the ice in the river broke up and an ice gorge commenced to form a short distance below the island. In a day or two the water in the channel on the east side began to raise, and in a short time was up level with its banks.

At this time they found they could have made their escape to the high ground, but they decided on account of the oxen to remain another day, confident that Clark or his agent at Bismarck would send orders for them to come away w^th the cattle before night. That night, however, the water rose rapidly and by the next morning escape was impossible. They were driven out of their cabin and made their escape to the roof. The night before they had taken the precaution to turn out the oxen from their stables, and that day the oxen were all swimming around among the trees, and they were themselves on the top of the cabin, where they expected to remain in safety with their bedding and some provisions, until the the flood subsided. In this, however, they were disappointed. By the middle of the afternoon, the water was two feet deep on the roof of the cabin, where they were standing. They now commenced shouting for help. It was several miles to high land on their side of the river, so there was no hope of relief from that direction, but Fort Lincoln was on the opposite side of the river, and as it was afterwards discovered there were some soldiers within hearing distance, but the gorge of ice made it impossible for them to cross the river. Their only hope now was to reach some of the cottonwood trees, the nearest of which was several rods away from the cabin. They had kept the upper part of their clothing dry, and the problem now was how to reach the trees without getting wet all over. It was not long, however, before the opportunity came. One of the oxen came swimming close to the cabin and Kelly mounted it. wliicli took hini to a small tree that stood about twenty feet above the water. Soon afterwards another ox drifted by in close proximity to the cabin and Crissy and his com])anion were soon astride the ox, which they easily guided h) a good sized cottonwood tree with numerous limbs for climbing and seats, and they were soon out of reach of the flood. Night quickly set in, their provisions and bedding had all floated away and their wet clothing began to freeze. and their lower extremities were soon benuml)ed with the cold. They began to call for help in turns. Towards morning Kelly was heard to utter a cry of despair and almost instantly he relaxed his hold and fell into the water and was never seen or heard of again by his companions. This had a very depressing effect on Crissy's companion, wdio was sitting on the same limb of the tree with Crissy. It was not long before he too dropped from his seat, and in falling he caught Crissy by both ankles with his hands, clinging to them with a grip like that of a vise. Crissy was a large powerful man, but it was fully an hour before he could release himself from his companion's icy grasp. During all this time the man was insensible and his own strength was fast becoming exhausted. At last Crissy, by an almost superhuman effort, relaxed the man's grip, and he fell into the water and was seen and heard no more. Crissy having managed to keep some matches dry, lit his pipe and alternately smoked and shouted for help. The next day the sun warmed him u]) so that he was comparatively comfortable, but the second night was colder than before and his feet began to freeze. The second morning he felt as if he could hold out no longer, but the Sim arose and put new life into him and he determined to hold on another day if possible, and should no help coiue to give up the struggle for life.

The third night set in colder than before. At dark a thin skim of ice commenced to form on the water. The icy coldness had now left his feet and legs and lu' felt drowsy. He was just on the point of falling asleep when the scnmd of human voices and the strokes of an oar fell upon his ears. Relief was at hand ! A boat manned by soldiers from Fort Lincoln had come to his rescue. He was lifted into the boat and taken across the river where he found that in attcm])ting to walk he was unable to stand on his feet. I le was taken to the hosi:)ital at the fort where he became delirious and kuew nolhii^ii' for more than a week. In the meantime his legs were amputated just below the knees. He managed to get around fairly well for many years and finally died at Bismarck in the winter of 1896-7.

James Winram was born on the Isle of Man, February i6th, 1843. ^is parents moved that same year to Liverpool, where his boyhood days were spent until he was fourteen years of age, when in the year 1857 he shipped on board a sailing vessel bound for Calcutta, going by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. Upon his return from this voyage he made a voyage to Australia, after which he made four more voyages to India and China. These voyages took about five years of his life in all, and the strange sights that he saw, and the many adventures which he can relate would almost rival the stories of Sinbad the Sailor.

On the 2d of May, 1874, Sol. Wells stabbed Bill McDonald at Webb's cabin. After nearly cutting ofif his thumb, he stabbed him in the thigh and in his back, inflicting serious but not fatal wounds. Old Sol. was a wild-eyed son of Erin who homesteaded the land on Section 18, where the village of McHugh has since been built. He was killed by the cars near his own home some time about the year 1888.

He came to America in the spring of 1870 and to Becker County about the first of June, 1871. and took a homestead on Section 24, where he spent the remainder of his life. Mr. Trieglafif was comparatively a poor man when he came to this country, but l:»v untiring industry and rigid economy, he became one of the prosperous men of Becker County. He was a man of sound business judgment, decided in character and strictly upright and honest in all his transactions with his fellow men.

Mr. Trieglaff died on the 25th day of June, 1897, leaving his wife and five sons and two daughters to survive him. The sons are William Trieglafif, August Trieglaff, Carl Trieglaff, Robert Trieglaff and Albert Trieglafif. The daughters are Mrs. Joseph Frick and Mrs. Michael Warter.

He became a sailor at the age of seventeen and continued as such upon the inland lakes and rivers for six summers, after which he left in company with a friend, Wm. Redpath, for the distant West reaching Minnesota in 1870. From Little Sauk near St. Cloud their journey was by ox team there being no railroad west of that place at that time. He settled in Becker County and filed on the land that now forms the homestead upon which he built one of the first houses in the county. He also assisted in the construction of the first sawmill erected in these parts, on the Otter Tail River, and afterwards sold it to R. L. Frazee. It was most interesting to listen to a recital of his adventures with the Indians, "perils by sea," narrow escapes in blizzards, experiences in privations, and other hardships incident to a pioneer's life, all of which contributed to make him the man he was in courage and enduring power.

At the age of twenty-nine he visited his old home in the East and was happily married to Miss Katherine Rutledge, and as a result of this union there were born unto them four children, Addia, Mabel, John and Almena, all of whom lived to mourn the loss of their mother in May, 1883.

His second wife was Mrs. Ellen Moulthrope, of Detroit, by whom seven children were born, five of which are still living; namely : Timothy, Ella, Katie, Howard and Gordon.

Mr. Chilton died on the 26th day of August, 1902. Three brothers and four sisters survive him, namely : James, Timothy and John, and IMrs. John Gummer, Mrs. Patrick O'Neil and Mrs.

Samuel Pearce was born at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, England, on the fifth day of April, 1832, and was married to Miss Elizabeth Warr on the first day of December, i860.

They were the parents of eight children, all of whom are still living. Their names are as follows : Thomas Pearce. ]\Irs. Elizabeth Morse, William Pearce, Samuel Pearce, Mrs. Angelena Gifford, Robert Pearce, Charles Pearce, Flossie Pearce.

About the middle of March, 1873, Mr. Pearce. accom]:)auie(l by Thomas, his oldest son, left his home in England in company with about one hundred and fifty other people comprising what was called the Yeoville Colony, destined for Hawle}-. Clay County, Minnesota. They arrived at their destination on the 13th of April. Xot taking a fancy to the bleak prairies of Clay County, at the close of a hard winter, and as he was well pleased with what he saw of Becker the day before while passing through, he came back to Frazee on foot the next day and afterwards took a homestead on Section 2, of the township of Burlington, where he resided until the time of his death. The family came a year or two later ; as soon as he was able to work and earn money to pay their passage. In addition to his original homestead he added over 200 acres more to his farm, making it one of the finest and best cultivated in Burlington Township. Mrs. Pearce and her son Charles are still living on the old homestead.

A most horrible discovery was made yesterday afternoon by Bert Morton, a boy living near AIcHugh, four miles east of Detroit. While out rabbit hunting the boy discovered a peculiar trail through the brush. His curiosity excited, he followed it up, and found that it led to a brush pile in a near-by swamp, and that under the brush heap lay the dead body of a man.

Word was sent to the sheriff, who in company with County Attorney Schroeder, Marshal Bert Clement, Dr. Frasier and Marshal John Hurley, of Frazee, visited the place last night. They found the body, but were unable to identify it. In the absence of the coroner from the county the body was brought to Detroit at an early hour this morning.

The man evidently was a Finlander, and a harvest hand on his way home from Dakota. Apparently a shotgun had been placed close to the man's head and fired, as the head was horribly mutilated.

After the shooting the body had been dragged feet first by a horse, from the scene of the crime to the hiding place. This was plainly apparent from the trail that was left, and also from the condition of the body.

A letter was found upon the body, but so saturated with blood that it was hardly legible. A portion of the address upon the envelope appears to be L. R. Satzwedel, Leonard, N. Dak. The letter is written in Finnish.

The murdered man was apparently of that nationality and about 20 to 25 years old. His hat, coat and shoes were missing. He wore a navy blue shirt; blue overalls; a neck muffler and chest protector, striped red and black. In his pocket was found a steel handled knife upon the side of which were the words "Easy Opener." - Detroit Record.

A Finlander by the name of Charles Huotari was convicted of this fotil crime at the March term of court, 1906, and sent to the penitentiary for hfe. The name of the murdered man was Jacob Paakkonen.

For nearly three years after the Northern Pacific Railroad was built, the nearest station was at Hobert, a long mile on the other side by the Otter Tail River.

In the summer of 1872 a company consisting of Absalom Campbell, Charles ^L Campbell, William G. Chilton and T. W. Chilton built a dam and sawmill on Section 26, near where the Nichols, Chisholm Lumber Company's sawmill is now located. After operating their mill for a few months they sold the property to R. L. Frazee. As soon as Frazee had secured this valuable mill site he made a purchase of all the land on Section 35, lying west and north of the river, and proceeded to lay out a townsite on the north side of the railroad, including a part of Sections 26 and 35. The survey of this townsite was made in the summer of 1873 by W. C. Darling. He next began to negotiate with the railroad company for the removal of the depot from Hobart, and as an inducement in that direction, he gave them half the lots in his new townsite. The removal was gradually accomplished, the depot building not being brought over until some time after a temporary station had been established at the new townsite. Finally, on the 25th day of October,

Hon. R. L. Frazee

1874, the depot building was loaded on two flat cars and brought across the river and dumped off at the new station on the north side of the track.

Thomas Murphy, now of Sanborn, North Dakota, claims the honor of being in charge of the removal. In the spring of 1873 Mr. Frazee enlarged the Chilton sawmill and in the fall of the same year built a flour mill adjoining his sawmill, and both mills did a flourishing business for many years. In the spring of 1874 an ugly hole was cut in his mill dam by the high water in the river and it was with considerable difficulty that it was finally repaired. A lot of his saw-logs floated off down the river and were sold to parties below.

In 1 88 1 he built the big, new dam at the east end of Front Street and moved both mills down to the new dam that same fall. The flour mill, however, was considerably enlarged and when completed was the finest flour mill in northern Minnesota. These mills both burned down on the 14th day of October, 1889. The cost of these mills, dam included, was about $60,000, and were insured for $15,000.

In the spring of 1890 he sold all his mill property to A. H. Wilcox, who repaired the dam and rebuilt the sawmill on the old foundations that same year. He carried on the manufacture of lumber until January, 1897, when he sold out to the Commonwealth Lumber Company, who built a new steam sawmill on an extensive scale near where the Campbell mill was built in 1872. This mill, however, is outside the village but close up to the hne.

The first house in the village of Frazee was built by James G. Chilton on the rear of what are now lots 11 and 12, block 14, where Chris. Johnson had a laundry a few years ago. This house was built in the summer of 1872 of lumber sawed at the Campbell sawmill.

In the fall of 1873 S. M. Thompkins came down from Oak Lake and built what is now known as the Frazee Hotel or Briggs' House. This hotel was opened up for business about the first of December, 1873. The next October Luther Weymouth moved his hotel over from Hobert and set it up on the south side of the railroad a little east of where the passenger depot now stands. Some of the passenger trains stopped regularly at the Weymouth House for meals, Mrs. Weymouth was a very popular landlady in those days. Her meals were the subject of much flattering comment far and wide. The box-elder and the willow trees growing there at the present time were planted in the rear of the new hotel by Mrs. Weymouth herself. This new hotel hurt the business of the Thompkins' house to a serious extent. As an inducement to draw railroad passengers to his house Thompkins built a broad, high walk from the depot in a straight line to his hotel, over the big hole where Baer's block and the Windsor Hotel now stand. One of the first buildings erected - as I remember, was the one now owned by Dr. S. S. Jones and used by him as a drug store. It was built by a little Jew whose name I have forgotten, in 1873, for a dry goods store.

In the summer of 1904 the Stelzner flour mill was built by Mr. C. J. Stelzner, who soon afterwards sold a half interest to James Scott. Leonard Ashley was the first station agent at Frazee.

In the fall of the year 1898 the railroad company moved the passenger depot from the north side of the track, in the rear of Baer's brick block, to the south side near where it now stands, and since that time have used the old side track on the south side of the main line of the railroad for the main line. The building was moved by Charles Wagner, of Detroit.

It should ever be born in mind, however, that much of the real estate in Frazee is bounded, and the descriptions start from the center of the main line of the railroad, and that the original main line is the third track north from the passenger depot since the double track was laid, or the track that runs next to the freight depot, being the most northerly of the three tracks between the two depots.

Resolved; on receiving and reading the petition of A. H. Wilcox and thirty-four others, residents upon the lands and premises in said petition described, praying that a time and place be appointed when and where the electors actually resident upon said described premises, may vote for or against the incorporation of said premises, and said petition being in due form, it is further resolved, that the electors, resident on said premises shall meet at the Briggs Hotel on said premises on the loth day of February, A. D. 1891, at 10 o'clock, a. m., and that Edward Gummer, George Combs, and W. Baer are hereby appointed to act as inspectors at said meeting, and that copies of said petition and notices of said meeting be posted as provided by law.

The proposition to incorporate the village received nearly a unanimous vote and the first election of officers was held at Baer's store on the loth of March, 1891, when the following officers were elected : President, A. H. Wilcox ; trustees, William Baer, Clement Mayer and Robert Alexander; village, recorder, John Briggs; treasurer, John S. Comstock ; justices of the peace, John

The incorporation took in the following territory : The south half of the southwest quarter of Section 26 and all of Section 35, Township 138, Range 40, except the south tier of forties and the west tier of forties.

Randolph L. Frazee, for whom the village of Frazee was named, was born at Hamden Junction, Vinton County, ( )hio, on the 3rd day of July, 1841, and came to Minnesota in September, 1866, locating first ten miles north of St. Cloud. In the fall of 1868 he removed to Otter Tail City where he built a sawmill and flour mill which he operated until the spring of 1872, when he built a side track and sawmill where Xew York ^lills station is now located. This place was then called Frazee's Mills. He sold out here in the fall of 1872 and bought the Campbell-Chilton mill at Frazee.

A history of his milling operations has already been given in the history of Frazee Village, so I will pass them over. In the fall of 1873 he built for his first residence the house in block 2 of his first addition, which stands just a little west of where L. D. Hendry now resides. That same fall he erected a building on Front Street, since known as the Louck's Hotel, which he used as a store for the next four years. That same fall, 1873, he built a warehouse on the north side of the railroad track which he used also for an ofiice and in 1876 added a large store building to it, which was about 24 by 80 feet in extent ; the same building that was used for many years as a store by Baer Brothers. In the fall of 1874, says Mr. Frazee, "I graded a sidetrack alongside of my w^arehouse and furnished ties for the rails, and then prevailed on C. W. Mead, the general manager of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, to move the depot over from Hobert. There were strong objections to the removal made by the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Townsite Company, who owned the townsite at Hobert, and also by David Wellman, who had just recently surveyed out an addition thereto ; but Mr. Mead told me to keep quiet until they had subsided somewhat, and that he would send a crew some evening and

Mr. Frazee represented Becker County in the ^Minnesota legislature during the session of 1875, and in 1883 was the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor running considerably ahead of his ticket, but was defeated by Charles A. Gilman, of St. Cloud.

In 1890 Mr. Frazee removed to Pelican Rapids in Otter Tail County, where he resided until the time of his death, which occurred on the 4th day of June, 1906.

He was one of the wealthiest men in northwestern Minnesota, but although usually fortunate and properous in business matters his business pathway was not always a smooth one.

Mrs. Frazee and four sons and two daughters survive him. They are Charles, William, Harry, Clifford, Mrs. May McArdle and ]\Iiss Cora Frazee.

Luther Weymouth was born in the town of Abbot. Maine, on the 15th day of October, 1833. On the i6th day of June, 1855, he was married at Stillwater, Maine, to Miss Abbie C. Porter, who was born at Fredrickton, New Brunswick, on the 31st of September, 1838.

In September, 1858, Mr. Weymouth started for California, going by way of the Isthmus of Panama and located at Mariposa. Here he opened a boarding house, housing and feeding eighty-eight men who were in the employ of General John C. Fremont, who, two years before, had been the Republican candidate for president of the United States. About once a week he had for a guest at his table, a lady who was at that time the most popular woman in the free states, and the idol of the Republicans of the whole land, Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont, wife of General Fremont, and daughter of Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri. Mrs. Fremont always came on horseback accompanied by her daughter.

He came to Becker County on the loth of December, 1870, and that same w^inter built a hotel on the brow of the hill on the south side of the river near where Mrs. Martin now lives. He afterwards opened up a hotel at Hobart where the Northern Pacific station was located, but when the station was moved to Frazee, Weymouth came with it and brought his hotel with him, building and all, on the cars.

His hotel was re-established a few rods east of where the passenger depot now stands, where he and Mrs. Weymouth did a thriving business for several years.

For several years he was justice of the peace for the town of Burlington and many stories were in circulation years ago, relating to his short-handed methods of administering justice and his utter disregard for red tape.

On one occasion a woman came in from the country and complained that her husband had been pounding her, and asked to have a warrant issued for his arrest. The warrant was issued but they could not find the constable. He had gone from home. Weymouth, however, could not allow so trifling an obstacle as that to stand in the way of the administration of justice, so he took the warrant and served it himself, arresting and bringing the offender to town in his own conveyance. He gave him a speedy trial, with no other witness than his wife, found him guilty of assault, fined the prisoner ten dollars, which he promptly paid. Weymouth then handed the ten dollars over to the offender's wife, who went home rejoicing, highly pleased with Judge Weymouth's method of conducting court, and dealing with wife beaters.

he received an academic education. He learned telegraphy and went west with his brother as far as the Rocky Mountains, working at different places, but finally came back as far as Hobart, as the station was then called, and became the first ticket agent at that place, and when the depot building was moved over to Frazee in 1874, he came with it and so became the first agent at Frazee, which position he occupied until the time of his death. He also held the ofiice of town clerk during all his residence at Frazee.

Mr. Ashley died at his home in Frazee on the 31st of March, 1882, survived by his wife who died several years later. They were the parents of Misses Jessie and Agnes and Paul Ashley.

The first newspaper in Frazee was printed on the 23rd day of December, 1896. The name of the paper at that time was the Park Region, and the editor was A. Delacy Wood.

To The Public

We shall dispense with the customary lengthy salutatory and make a brief, plain statement of the mission and platform of the Frazee Park Region. This journal has been established as a purely legitimate business enterprise, the material having been bought by the proprietor for that purpose, there being no obligation, mortgage or political debt to meet. We have faith in the future of Frazee, and this rich region of northern Minnesota, with its sparkling lakes, musical streams and great natural advantages, and shall do all in our power to aid in the work of progress and development. The Park Region has not been started as a boom sheet or political journal but is here to zealously advocate and defend the best interests of our village and county.

In politics the Park Region will be independent, free from bias, not bigoted or narrow-minded - and will, at all times, evince a spirit of respect and consideration for those friends and contemporaries who may honestly differ with us on the great national issues of the day. Local and county matters, however, will receive special attention at our hands. Suffice it to say, the Park Region will endeavor to be a journal of local advocacy and general news, and we ask for the hearty co-operation of all our citizens, irrespective of political affiliations. The Park Region will always endeavor to stand loyally for justice and right.

Our Thriving Village

Frazee is now assuming proportions that justify the claim of its original founder, Hon. R. L. Frazee, that it is destined to be one of leading towns in northern Minnesota. This thriving village contains a population of about 400, and is pleasantly situated on the Otter Tail River and on the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 200 miles from St. Paul and 55 miles from Fargo, and is located in the midst of the famous picturesque Park Region of Minnesota which has brought forth glowing words of praise from the leading descriptive writers of the country.

Fifteen beautiful lakes are situated within live miles of this place, all abounding with fish, consisting of bass, pickerel, pike and rock bass. With the sparkling waves and healthful breezes of these fine lakes, with the primeval forest rising grandly in proximity, there is scarcely a prettier or more romantic region in the North Star State, - a region, greatly favored by the generous hand of nature, that would beggar description from the most graphic pen. This point is bound to become a popular summer resort just as soon as its advantages are known abroad.

This place has been incorporated about six years and ]Mr. A. H. Wilcox has been president of the council since that time with the exception of one term, which ofificial preferment is certainly a handsome recognition of his sterling worth as a citizen, business man and neighbor. A number of public improvements are contemplated the coming year.

Those who have thoroughly investigated this district are loud in their praises of the quality and quantity of the timber that is standing, waiting to be cut and floated down from the White Earth region to the big mill that will soon be located at Frazee. It is roughly estimated that there is over 200,000,000 feet of choice pine directly tributary to this rising young city.

In all probability a large flouring mill will be erected here, while electric lights, water works and factories are among the possibilities of this flourishing section of the justly famous Park Region of the Golden Northwest. May the brightest hopes of our citizens be fully realized.

It is rumored that Baer Bros., our enterprising merchants, intend to erect a large brick store building next spring on their fine corner lot.

The Northern Pacific Railway completed its many improvements in the vicinity of Frazee for i8g6 by constructing a three-span iron bridge across the Otter Tail River here. The bridge was placed in position IMonday.

Converted into the First National Bank of Frazee on Nov. 2, 1903. A. H. Wilcox, president ; T. R. Daniel, vice president ; L. W. Oberhauser, cashier

Capt. D. L. Wellman

Captain D. L. Wellman is a veteran of the Civil War and the originator of the celebrated Wellman Saskatchewan Fife wheat, which at one time sold as high as ten dollars a bushel.

Senator Nelson once told me that he did his thinking and dreaming in the Norwegian language, but that when it came to talking business he preferred the "King's English."

Capt. Wellman does some of his thinking and all his sleeping and dreaming and eating in Otter Tail County, but when it comes to talking and transacting business, he prefers Becker County for his field of operations. For the last thirty-six years he has been considered the link that binds the two counties together, but not the

Although the captain is an Otter Tail County man by residence and force of circumstances, he is a Becker County man by choice and long continued hal)it. and is therefore clearly entitled to a place among us.

By Mrs. Jessie C. West. The following interesting account of the first settlement of Detroit Township is from the pen of Henry Way, nov^ of Osage, who was one of the pioneer party :

In 1865 a colony composed of sixteen families left Iowa and arrived in Otter Tail County, July 31, 1865. There were no white settlements in that county at that time. We settled at Battle Lake, remaining there three years. From Otter Tail Lake to Dayton, over that vast expanse of country now covered with cities and towns and past where Fergus Falls now stands, there was not a white settler nor a house. As I was a farmer by occupation I desired to find a good range for stock where there was an abundance of grass, good water and some timber. Having been informed by the Indians and half-breeds of the immense cattle range north, five of us started out in search of it. We came past what became Otter Tail City, then occupied by some mixed bloods. We forded the Otter Tail River three times, which brought us to the present location of Frazee City, where we found a man named Butler, who claimed that the land was all taken by script, and who told us it was still fourteen miles to the "land of promise."

We camped there that night, he promising to go with us the next day and show us the land, rich with strawberries, and only waiting for the cows to come to have them with cream. We reached Oak Lake, June 28, 1868, and were so well pleased with the country that we took our claims without getting out of the wagon. L. D. Sperry, A. W. Sherman and myself each took a claim at Oak Lake, Mr. Sherman taking the one which was since the county poor farm. We at once commenced improvements - that is, we started foundations for our houses and left them for the buzzards to roost on and hold our claims until we returned. We then returned to our families in Otter Tail County. Mr. Sherman came back and built a house and put up hay; I also built my house and the next spring came with my family. When we were at Battle Lake we had to go to Cold Springs, nine miles this side of St. Cloud, for our flour, and to Sauk Center for our groceries and all things used by farmers. This was 108 miles, and took us from eight to ten days to make a trip. Afterwe arrived in Becker County we did all our trading and milling at Alexandria, distant 100 miles. My friends, think of it; what would you think of starting out with an ox team, 100 miles, for a box of matches or a pound of tea? Why, I think you would say, "Give me the Northern Pacific Railroad to make the trip with."

Mr. Sherman was on his farm during the winter of '68, and during my absence they got out of provisions; Paul Beaulieu. of White Earth, called, and, learning their situation and sympathyzing with them, promised them a sack of flour before the setting of another sun; and he was as good as his word. All traffic was carried on then with dog sleds, and our mail (what we had), was sent from Otter Tail City by the hand of some Indian.

In the spring of 1869 a party of men in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company came through from St. Cloud. They came with supplies, and made my place their headquarters. At that time it seemed almost impossible for a railroad to be built through a country without inhabitants. During the summer of 1870 we were surprised to see the emigration that was coming in. In the year of i86g we were surprised to see a train of buggies and wagons coming into our neighborhood. There were fifteen of them and they called at my place and wanted to buy a sheep. We sold them one, and one of the men informed me they were looking for a place to locate a railroad. This man was Mr. Eugene Wilson, of Minneapolis. There was also Rev. Mr. Lord, of New York City, who invited us to come to their camp at 10 o'clock a. m.. as he would hold a meeting. We went, and listened to a good sermon. Then we had dinner with them, it being Sunday they did not travel. Gov. Smith, of Vermont, was then president of the company; there were senators and ex-senators from other states, and physicians for soul and body, and also Carleton Coffin, the great newspaper correspondent, who justly entitled this the Park Region.

The place that Mr. Way selected for his homestead was at the north end of Oak Lake, on the southeast quarter of Section 7. In 1870 he sold his improvements to Mrs. Barbara Stillman, after which he located on Section 20 in what is now Audubon Township. L. D. Sperry lived there much of the time during the early seventies, and Elias Nason lived there in 1885. It now belongs to J. Isaacson.

Almon W. Sherman located on the west shore of Oak Lake, on the place that afterwards became the poor farm, and is now (1905), the residence of L. O. Ramsted.

L. D. Sperry selected for his homestead, a place on the west shore of the lake in the northwest quarter of Section 7. After living there for a year or two he rented his house to a man by the name of Sterling, and the first store ever opened up in Becker

Mrs. Jane Way. Mrs. Lois H. Sherman

County, to trade with white people was begun in this house, Sperry hving in the meantime on his mother-in-law's place (Mrs. Stillman's), at Oak Lake.

The old White Earth and Red River trail passed close to both these houses. Byron Wheeler since owned this place, and lived there for several years, in the same house where the store was kept.

About the middle of December, 1870, Jedediah Anderson started a small store in a vacant house belonging to Mrs. Sherman on Section 18. close to the west shore of Oak Lake, in Detroit Township, and two or three days later another store was opened up by S. B. Pinney, with Ole A. Boe for clerk, in another vacant house belong- ing to Mrs. Sherman, so by the beginning of the year 1871 there were three full fledged stores running full blast, in what is now Detroit Township.

C. A. Sherman or Alma Sherman as he was usually called, took for his claim the east half of the northwest quarter, and the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 19.

that he was Hving' there when the Northern Pacific Railroad surveyors camped at Floyd Lake in August, 1869, but he is not sure whether he had a liousc or not. He also says that he saw Max N'annose and Leon Vannose there at Floyd Lake also, but saw no houses. As all three of these men were living- with Chippewa women, the probability is that they were all living in wigwams, prior to the summer of 1870. At any rate, Henry Way is confident that none of them wintered there during the winter of 1869 and 1870. All three of them, however, had good log houses in the summer of 1870. The Vannoses both built their houses near the southwest corner of Floyd Lake, on Section Sixteen.

In the meantime John ( ). French settled upon and commenced a residence on the farm at Floyd Lake, in the summer of 1870 where he has lived ever since.

Melvin ]\L Tyler located on the northwest quarter of the nortliwest quarter of Section 34 on the 28th day of July. 1870, and built the first section of what was afterwards enlarged and became the Tyler Hotel, that stood for so many vears on the north side of the railroad, near the Pelican River.

About the first of September Archibald Mc Arthur took a claim on the north shore of Detroit Lake, on Section 35, where the little prairie comes down to the lake a little east of the Pelican River.

The next settler was Deacon Samuel P. Childs, who came from Alexandria and selected the southwest quarter of Section 2^, on the 30th day of September, 1870. ^Ivs. Childs and the rest of the family came on the 22(\ of May, 1871.

William W. Rossman located on the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 34, which afterwards became the Holmes Addition to Detroit, sometime in ( )ctober 1870. He had been living for several months in Lake Eunice, being one of the three first settlers in that township. This land is now right in the midst of the village, and takes in the Holmes school building.

Many of the early settlers will probably remember Michael Dalton, who lived for several years on what was since the C. P. Bailey farm; the northeast quarter of Section 32. Dalton located on this place in October, 1870, and Clarence McCarthy settled on the southeast quarter of Section 32 at the same time. Late in the fall of this year, Samuel J. Fox took the west half of the southeast quarter and the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 34, and built a house on what is since known as the Fox Hill. A large part of the village of Detroit is now built on the old Fox property, including the Frazee and Holmes Addition and the Holmes Second Addition, taking in the Hotel Minnesota and the court house.

In November, 1870, I selected the northwest quarter of Section 6 for a homestead, but did not make any improvements until late in January, 187 1, at which time I built a log house, and Andrew' Tong built a house on the northeast quarter of Section 6 that same winter.

At the close of the Civil War, Congress passed a law giving to every soldier, sailor and marine 160 acres of land, which could be taken under the homestead act. In 1870 the Northern Pacific Railroad Company commenced to build its road through Minnesota, and in the winter of 1870 and '71 Charles Carleton Coffin, war correspondent and reporter for the Boston Journal, who in 1869 had accompanied a party of Northern Pacific officials and engineers over the proposed route in northwestern Minnesota, gave a series of lectures in Boston, which were listened to by large audiences and were published by all the prominent newspapers of the day. The result of the land grant and these lectures was the holding of a large meeting in Boston in the spring of 1871 and an association was formed, known as the Gale Association of Ex-Soldiers and Sailors.

Mr. Coffin was present at these meetings, and vividly pictured out the possibilities of the Northwest. Committees were appointed to visit the different states where government lands could be obtained, and Frank B. Chapin, Calvin K. Day, William H. H. Howe, Thomas J. Martin and Sanderson were appointed a committee to visit Minnesota.

Sanderson, Day and Chapin came to St. Cloud and there purchased a lumber wagon and came the rest of the way with their team. Mr. Day was accompanied by his wife and daughter. The other two members of the committee, Howe and Martin, were accompanied by Millard Howe and Frank Barnes, L. C. Averill and wife, two young men, Tucker and Kimball, and the wife and two children of T. J. Martin. They came by way of the lakes to Duluth, then a town of 300 inhabitants, then to Crow Wing on the cars, remaining there the guests of James Campbell, late of Richwood, who kept a liotel at that place, until they could procure wagons to transport them to Detroit. They arrived in Detroit ^lay 22. 187 1, where they met Mr. Chapin and Mr. Day. who were staying at Tyler's Hotel, it being the only house near the line of the railroad.

On our way through Otter Tail City we formed the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. E. G. Holmes, who have done so much for the prosperity of Detroit.

We found the following ex-soldiers living near Detroit, viz.: William W. Rossman, Josiah Richardson, Derrick Hu.ck and John O. French. The colony was soon increased by the arrival of Charles H. Sturtevant and Martin H. Garry.

In the fall of 1871 Capt. William F. Roberts came as an agent for the New England Colony, which had purchased all the railroad land in the township of Detroit, and proceeded to put up a building known as the New England House, which has since been enlarged to the present Waldorf Hotel. In the spring of 1872 a large number of ex-soldiers came to Detroit. Among them were George Wilson, Col. George H. Johnston, Edgar M. Johnston, L. D. Phillips, James T. Bestick, Robert Carson, George A. Learman, Milo S. Converse, George L. Brackett, George W. Grant and others.

On the l:;ack of this certificate is jirinted the articles of incorporation, which are too lengthy to pnl)hsh in fnll, hut the preamhle reads as follows :

Whereas. It is proposed to form an association under the foregoing title for the purpose of promoting and aiding emigration of persons who served in the late war, and others, and the settlement of families on the present uncultivated land of the West (and more especially at present, on lands in the neighborhood of the town of Detroit Lake, Becker County, Minnesota,) in such manner as to induce considerable companies to go and settle in the neighborhood of each other, and thus create a community for mutual protection and encouragement, and the early establishment of schools, churches, and other needful institutions of society:

And ll'licrcas. It has been determined that the most convenient method of managing the matters aforesaid will be to put all the lands, moneys, and property of every description which shall be contributed, or may be acquired in the promotion of the matters aforesaid, in the hands of one person, to be held by him in trust, and managed for the promotion of the business:

And Whereas, Colonel George H. Johnston, of Boston, ^Massachusetts, has been chosen to act as such trustee for the present, and until his successor shall be chosen:

A'oti', Therefore, I, the said George H. Johnston, in consideration of the premises and one dollar in hand paid, do by these presents accept said

They acquired all the odd numbered sections of land in Detroit Township, and laid out the original townsite of Detroit on the south half of Section 2". Colonel Johnston served in the capacity of trustee for several years at the end of which time for some unknown reason the whole of this valuable acquisition came into his hands, and in 1883 a large part of it went into the hands of Henry S. Jenkins.

Frank !>. Chapin, Calvin K. Day and William H. H. Howe, on Section 26, J. C). Crummet on the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 34.

Isaac N. Thomas on the southeast quarter of Section 28, James Hickey on the northeast quarter of Section 28 and Dewit C. Heald on the northwest quarter of Section 28.

Mellville H. Davis on the southwest quarter of Section 8, and James Blanchard on the west half of the east half of Section 8, and a settler on the east half of the east half of Section 8, whose name I have forgotten.

Israel James Hanson on the southeast quarter of Section 30, Alfred Staigg" on the northeast quarter of Section 30, and John Lethenstrom on the northwest quarter of Section 30.

E. G. Holmes sent his store to Detroit in August, 1871, it being the first store opened in the village, and in the fall of 1S72 located there permanently.

A pioneer association has been organized at Detroit, a meeting of which was held at Tyler's Hotel on Thursday of this week. (The association has for its object the mutual benefit of its members.) Mrs. West.

A large majority of these settlers were members of the New England Colony and many others located in the village belonging to that colony. In the spring and summer of 1872 another stream of emigrants poured into Detroit from Boston and other parts of New England, and in 1873 the influx of settlers was kept up, although there was quite a falling off as compared with the two previous years. The newcomers, how-ever, were not all from New England, probably one-fourth of the whole population coming from other parts of the country.

Among the New Englanders who came in 1871 were Robert Buchanan, Thomas Louden, Alexander Louden, W. C. Roberts, George E. Jepson, Millard F. Howe, Frank Barnes, L. D. Phillips and many more whose names I have forgotten and have not space to mention if I could remember them all. Many more came in 1872, and in the spring of 1873 the following came to the village: Charles W. Dix, A. S. McAlister, and from other parts of the country came J. H. Sutherland, S. N. Horneck, A. J. Clark, Carlton Curry, Jasper B. Hillyer and Charles Cochran or "Scotty" as he is familiarly called.

Col. George H. Johnston came to Detroit in the fall of 1871 but went back to ]^>oston, returning in the spring of 1872 to remain permanently. Robert Carson came with him as private secretary and remained with him for several vears.

John A. Teague first came to Detroit about the 20th of May, 1872, but after remaining there a day or two went on to Glyndon where a village was just started. About the first of May he took a preemption on a quarter section of land on Section 14, in Hawley, in Clay County, where he lived until 1874 when he came to Detroit and engaged in the drug business, in which he remained until 1906 when he became a full-fledged dry goods merchant. Mr. Teague has made a success in business aiTairs since he came to Becker County.

Some of the members of this colony were lacking in stayingqualities, for in the year 1873 they began to scatter away and their numbers have continued to dwindle down by removal and death until of the three hundred or more who came at diflferent times, there is now but a handful left.

The colony may be said to have undergone a severe and thorough sifting process, and those who remain represent the No. i Hard kernels of wheat, a fair illustration of the "survival of the fittest."

Many of the worthy colonists have fallen by the wayside, and their bones are now mingling with the soil of Becker County, others have made Detroit a way station on their journey to other regions, but a majority of them returned at an early date to their old homes in New England from whence they migrated.

M. V. B. Davis came to Becker County with Mrs. Davis about the middle of the seventies and located on a farm in Lake Eunice, but finding a rural life too dull for his energetic temperament he finally located in the village of Detroit and engaged in the boot and shoe business in which he has been eminently successful.

A. E. Bowling, another gentleman who has made a small fortune as a boot and shoe merchant, came to Detroit from Michigan April 15, 1879, with his young wife and his circumstances now indicate what industry and frugality will accomplish.

Horace Bowman came here first in 1874 but remained but a short time. He came again in 1879 with Mrs. Bowman, after the death of his father-in-law and engaged in business with his brother-in-law, S. N. Horneck.

Among the pioneer women of Detroit who are still living here are Mrs. F. B. Chapin, Mrs. C. K. Day, Mrs. C. O. Ouincy, Mrs. J. E. Wood, Mrs. E. G. Holmes, Mrs. W. C. RobertsfMrs. S. N.

Ilorneck, .Mrs. Charles Craigie, .Mrs. S. B. Childs, Mrs. C. H. Sturtevant. Mrs. K. Rnmery. Mrs. Geo. Wilson and ]Mrs. J. E. Bestick. .Ml these came in the early seventies.

When the township was first org^anized it took in all of what is now the townships of Detroit, Lake \'iew, Burlington, Erie, Height of Land, Silver Leaf, Everg-reen, Toad Lake, Spruce Grove, Wolf Lake. Green V'alley and Runeburg. When Lake \'icw was organized the next spring-, all of the south tier of townships were detached from Detroit and attached to Lake \'iew, and when Burlington was organized later on, everything east of Burlington became a part of that township, and everything east of Detroit still remained a part of Detroit, and when Richwood was organized, everything east of that township became a part of Richwood.

There was considerable non-resident pine land scattered over these eastern townships, and they came in for their share of township taxation, which in man\- cases was enormous, and which finally led to a lawsuit in 1876 with the result that these unorganized townships were cut loose from the organized towns and all farther taxation discontinued except for state and county purposes.

The first general election in Detroit Township was held at Tyler's Hotel on the 6th day of November, 1871. Millard Howe, who was one of the judges of that election says: "The first election in Detroit was held at Tyler's Hotel in November, 1871. The election board were : Judges : Frank Barnes, Millard Howe and either Isaiah Delemater or Wilham G. Woochvorth, I do not remember which, and the clerks were Charles Doell and either Delemater or W'oodworth. We played a game of seven-up to see who should carry the election returns out to Dr. Pyle's house who then lived two miles west of where the village of Audubon is now. Pyle was then county auditor, appointed by the county commisioners. I got beat, so the next morning I started out for his place on foot by the way of the Oak Lake Cut. A little west of the cut I came across Dennis Stack who showed me where Pyle lived.

Following close upon the heels of the New England Colony was another colony coming from Buffalo, New York and from Dunville, Canada. In the summer of 1872 a man by the name of Whitson C. Darling, hailing from the last named town arrived at Detroit and after looking the county over returned to the East and began the organization of a colony with which to people the vacant land in the vicinity of Detroit. Our friend Alfred Meilie in his history of Erie Township gives us further light on the inside workings of Darling and his colony.

On the 29th of March, the first instalment of this colony arrived from Buffalo, and consisted of Mrs. Caroline Trimlett and her son William, now one of the merchants of Detroit, then a beardless boy ; ]\Ir. George Neuner and wife and two striplings of boys, John Neuner, now of Frazee, and Frank Neuner of Erie Township But few more came for the next two or three years and the flood of emigration did not fairly set in until the spring of 1876, when it began in earnest, and for the next three or four years bid fair to rival the X'ew England Colony of 1871, 'yz and 'y^, in the number of emigrants it sent to Detroit and the surrounding coimtry. They came to the number of about three hundred from Buft'alo and Canada in about equal numbers, those coming from Buff'alo being mostly Germans, while those coming from Dunville, Canada, were mostly native born Canadians of English or Irish descent. Some of the Germans located in Detroit but a majority of them took homesteads in Erie Township. The Canadians mostly settled on land in Lake View, Detroit and Burlington. They were nearly all honest and industrious and possessed of excellent staying c[ualities, as they and their children now constitute a large part of the population of Erie and Lake View, with a good sprinkling of them in Detroit and Burlineton.

The first white child born in Detroit Township was a daughter of Henry and Jane Way, who was born on the north shore of Oak Lake in July, 1870. This child died in infancy.

The first white boy born in Detroit must have a notice. He was born Wednesday, the 24th of July, 1872, and his mother was ]\Irs. J. O. Crummett. This is Frank Crummett.

The first death in Detroit Township and in Becker Covmty was Almon W. Sherman, who died on the west shore of Oak Lake on the 30th day of December, 1869.

The first people married in Detroit Township were John Anderson to Mary St. Clair, by Squire Rossman on the 15th of February, 1872. They were married at the home of Samuel J. Fox wdio was then living on Fox Hill, now in the heart of the village of Detroit. ]\Iiss St. Clair was of mixed blood.

Clayton Gould and Dee Sherman were the first couple married in the township where both parties were fully of white blood. They were married at the home of her mother, ^Irs. Almon Sherman, at Oak Lake on the loth of September, 1872.

Henrv Wa^- was born at Muncie. Delaware County, Lidiana, on the 8th day of October, 1838. He was married to Jane A. Sherman on the 7th of November, 1858, in what is now Fremont County, Iowa.

Mr. Way is a veteran frontiersman. Born on the frontier, he has ever since kept in the vanguard of civilization, having been successively one of the pioneers of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. In 1865 he was a member of the first band of white people to take up their residence in Otter Tail County and he now (1905) enjoys the proud distinction of being the oldest white resident in Becker County.

As has already been stated, Mr. Way settled in Detroit Township on the 28th of June, 1868, and in the summer of 1870 changed his residence to Section 20 of what is now Audubon Township. He here secured 240 acres of what I consider the best land in Becker County, and has been one of the most successful farmers in his section of the country, and he was one of the first to demonstrate the fact that apples could be successfully raised in our latitude.

Mr. Way now resides in the village of Osage, and was one of the originators, and is now one of the proprietors of the flouring mill at that place, a structure of which the people of that village are justly proud.

Almon W. Sherman was born at Monkton, Chittenden County, Vermont, on the 9th day of May, 1803, and was married to Lois H. Cutler on the 14th of May, 1835.

Mr. Sherman came to Otter Tail County, Minnesota, on the 19th day of May, 1865. There were sixteen families in the party, and they were the first settlers in Otter Tail County. After residing in that county for three years he in company with four other men came to Becker County, arriving on Section 18 in Detroit Township on the 28th day of June, 1868. His farm was afterwards purchased by the county for a poor farm, but for several years past has been the home of Lars O. Ramstad. Mr. Sherman built a house and wintered with his family during the winter of 1868 and 1869 at Oak Lake, with no neighbors nearer than White Earth in one direction and the Otter Tail River in the other.

The winter was long and cold, and provisions were scarce and on one occasion, had it not been for unexpected assistance from Paul Beaulieu they would have sufifered from hunger.

Mrs. Lois Cutler was born at Lebanon. Grafton County, New Hampshire, on the 24th day of September, 1788, and was married to Alpheus Cutler in 1808. Her maiden name was Lathrop. Mrs. Cutler came into Becker County with her son-in-law, A. W. Sherman in the year 1868, it being then a wilderness. There were no houses north of Rush Lake a distance of forty miles from where they settled. They were visited by the Northern Pacific Railroad exploring party in the summer of 1869. In this party were Gov. Smith, Senator Wiildom and others, and much surprised they were to meet on the frontier, the sister of a verv rich and noted banker of Wash- ington City, as Mrs. Culler assured them slie was the sister of J. H. Lathrop of that city. It was her of whom Charles Carletoii Coffin, who was with this expedition wrote, as the woman "who had kept on the tide of emigration from New York to Nebraska, and thence north to this place, and whose locks once whitened with age: had under the rejuvenating influence of the .\orthwcst become l)lack again."

She was a member of the church of Latter Day i^aints. and a very exemplary one for forty-six years. She firmly believed that at one time a daughter of hers was miraculously healed by the imposition of hands by the ordained elders of the church.

Mrs. Lois LL Sherman, wife of Almon W. Sherman and daughter of Mrs. Lois Cutler, was born at Lisle, Broome County, New York, on the 2d day of March, 181 1. When twenty years of age, after two years of sickness, during which time she was nearly helpless and unable to leave her bed, she was almost instantaneously and permanently restored to health, by an ordained elder belonging to the church of which Joseph Smith was the head, who was then holding meetings in the neighborhood.

For several years, during the early seventies. I lived a near neighbor to these people, and many times I have heard the story of this marvelous transaction from the lips of both Mrs. Cutler and Mrs. Sherman. They were both women of sincerity, veracity and intelligence, and I was never in the least disposed to doubt the truth of their statement. This was the beginning and the foundation of their faith in and connection with the church of Latter Day Saints, to which they and their posterity for five generations have most loyally and faithfully adhered, and bv which in the course of events they and their kindred became the chief corner stone of that church when it was organized at Oak Lake in the summer of 1875, and which now (1905) has a membership of more than 100 souls in Becker Countv. j\Irs. Sherman came to Becker Countv with her

Mrs. Jane A. Way was born in Hancock County, Illinois, on the 14th day of April, 1842. She was the daughter of Almon W. and Lois H. Sherman and is the wife of Mr. Henry Way who came to Becker County in the summer of 1868, and she is entitled to the honor of being the oldest white settler in point of residence of her sex now living in Becker County.

Mrs. Way has had her full measure of frontier life, having braved the dangers incident to the settlement of a new country in three or four different states.

She has been the mother of seven children : viz., Henry A., Pliny A., Lois Dora, Nellie C, Fanny R., Clara D. and Arra Ann. Of these seven, only Nellie, Fanny and Arra survive. All three are married.

Mrs. Way is now enjoying the fruits of a busy and eventful life with her husband at Osage, in a quiet and comfortable home, surrounded by everything necessary to make life comfortable in her mature vears.

Cutler A. Sherman, son of Almon W. and Lois Sherman, was born December 6th, 1848, at Silver Creek. Mills County, Iowa. In July, 1865, he came with his parents to Battle Lake in Otter Tail County, Minn., and in the fall of 1868 came with them to Detroit Township. He resided here on the shores of Oak Lake for about fifteen years, when he took up his residence at Clitheral in Otter Tail County, where he was accidently killed by the upsetting of a load of wood on which he was riding, on the 4th day of November, 1885.

Johnny French, as he is familiarl\- called, was born at New Market, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on the 31st day of October, 1842. Probably no other man in Becker County has had a more adventurous career, or been through more dangers than he.

At the beginning of the Civil War he enHsted in the First Minnesota Regiment of V^olunteers, and remained with his regiment until the close of his three year term of enlistment. He says he never missed a meal or a single battle. He was at the first battle of Bull Run, Antietam and all the other bloody battles in which the First Minnesota was engaged, including the famous charge at Gettysburg, in which two-thirds of the men in his regiment were either killed or woiftided.

Murdock Pattison, of Cormorant was in this charge. French had his clothing pierced with bullets in three different battles but never received a scratch himself.

In 1864 he enlisted in Brackett's Battalion and crossed the plains in Sully's expedition against the Sioux Indians, and took part in the bloody battle of the Bad Lands, which was fought on the ninth and tenth of August, 1864. Clem. ]\ layer of Frazee. was also in this battle.

French went with the first Northern Pacific Railroad exploring expedition as assistant guide and was an assistant in the party of engineers that located the line through Becker County.

August 5th, 1871. - E. G. Holmes & Company have sent a stock of goods to Detroit. The goods were hauled in heavy wagons, drawn by nine ox teams. There were only two houses in Detroit at that time.

September 30th, 1871. - E. G. Holmes & Company have established a store at Detroit Lake, endeavoring to keep pace with the developments of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

The first publication at Detroit was on the i8th of ]\Iay, 1872. The editor at that time was William F. Ball, the first newspaper man in the countv, a Virginian, but one who lovallv served his coun- try in the Union army for three years, the most of which time he with his command was chasing after Quantrell in Missouri. Arkansas and the Indian Territory. E. G. Holmes was the proprietor.

My father was a Virginian, and his home was in Fairfax County, Va. He was a Methodist minister (there were four brothers, all Methodist ministers), and a member of the Baltimore Conference. He had been stationed at Danville, where I was born, but transferred back to Virginia soon after my birth, so I never knew Danville as a home. This was something like being "born at sea," and I have always called myself a Virginian. The old homestead in Virginia was right near "Ball's Cross Roads," only a couple of miles from the bank of the Potomac, and right across from Washington. Ball's Cross Roads, Ball's Bluff, and all those places in which Ball appears in that vicinity, take their names from my father's family. I mention all this to explain why I, born in Pennsylvania, always call myself a Virginian.

Mr. Ball edited the Record until about 1877 when he went away and a year or two aferwards settled in Fargo. N. D., where he has become one of the first attorneys in the state. He was at one time mayor of Fargo.

June 2d 1872. - Myriads of young grasshoppers swarm on the prairies in every direction, and much anxiety is felt by the farmers in consequence.

June 23d 1872. - Captain Daniel Coney, brother of Ex-Governor Coney, of Maine, has completed his residence near Floyd Lake, about three miles from town, and removed to that delightful spot this week. (The Byron Wheeler place.)

July 7th, 1872. - Rev. Mr. Wood will preach tomorrow at McKenzie's Hall at 10:30 o'clock, followed by Sunday school and Bible class; service also at 3 p. m.

The first brick chimney in Detroit, and we believe in Becker County, was put up last week by Mr. W. W. Rossman, who erected two on his home. Let it be recorded!

Norcross brothers have just finished burning their first kiln of brick and finished them as samples. Their bricks are of excellent quality for either outside work or a cellar wall. (W. A. Norcross had a hand in making these bricks).

He assisted in the United States survey of this county two years ago, and on arrival at Detroit, Tuesday last, observed that something had happened.

The First Church In Detroit

On Friday evening the 19th inst., a few brethren met, agreeable to previous notice, at the home of Rev. Mr. Wood to consider the propriety of constituting themselves into a church of Christ, in fellowship with the Baptist denomination. After due consideration, they agreed imanimously to take this important step and adopted articles of faith and a covenant and invited a number of brethren temporarily in the vicinity, to constitute a council for recognition. - Record, July 2y, 1872.

On Sunday morning, this council, representing the First Baptist Church of Duluth, the Fourth Baptist Church of Boston and the American Home Missionary Society, together with the delegates from the newly organized church, and finding the proceedings in every way regular and proper, resolved to proceed with the recognition. This was fulfilled in the evening service in the following order, viz.:

Sermon and prayer of recognition by the Rev. J. E. Wood of the American Baptist Home Mission Society; hand of fellowship by Brother J. S. Campbell of the Duluth church; charge to the church by Brother G. H. Johnston of Boston. Then was fully organized the first church of Detroit, and the first Baptist church west of Duluth on the Northern Pacific Railroad.

July 2^, 1872. - There is only one flour mill in Becker county, and that is hardly entitled to be called a mill - the old government mill at White Earth of very small capacity. The grain crop of this county for the present year would afford plenty of work for a good mill.

D. F. Bradley, of Pembina County, Dakota Territory, applied for a license to run a ferry across the Red River, opposite the mouth of the Pembina river, which was ordered permitted.

August 12. - Bishop Whipple held his first service here, at the freight depot. Charles H. Rand saw a bear near his claim shanty this week, two miles from Detroit.

Archie McArthur was then hauling out logs for his house on Section 35, just west of the mouth of the Pelican River on Detroit Lake, when S. P). Childs canie in. The little back building of Tyler's hotel was all that existed then ; the roof was covered wdth shakes.

White Earth road has 2,800 feet of marsh road to be corduroyed, 2,100 feet in one string. Swan Olund and J. P. Engberg of Richwood have the contract. The read will be ready by October ist.

"Remember it is the Pioneer store of Detroit." E. G. H. & Co. As the grasshoppers took their flight "looking toward the sun they seemed like drifting snow, from over 100 to 500 feet upwards."

August 17, 1872. - Congregational council. The organization of a church at Detroit. (On Monday afternoon and evening last a Congregational council met at McKenzie's Hall. We are informed that the services were very impressive and interesting, and there were present at the meetings the following clergymen: Revs. C. C. Salter, Duluth; C. H. Merrill, Mankato; Richard Hall, Superintendent of Congregational Home Missionary Society, St. Paul; C. M. Terry, St. Paul; C. Pickett. St. Cloud; A. Fuller, Rochester; C. M. Saunders, Waukegan, 111.; S. H. Lee, Cleveland, Ohio; E. O. Williams, Glyndor; H. A. Gates, Detroit Congregational Missionary, on N. P. R. R. ; J. E. Wood, Missionary for Baptists on the N. P. R. R. ; Rev. Richard Hall, of St. Paul, acted as moderator. The sermon was by Rev. S. H. Lee, Columbus, Ohio, and the right hand of fellowship extended by Rev. E. S. Williams, of Glyndon.

A church was organized and eleven members were received into the same. Several others were only prevented by reason of not having got their letters from homes in the east.

August 31, 1872. - Frazee and Holmes have this week surveyed and platted the 40 acre tract bought of Mr. Fox, and are now ready to sell lots.

September 2, 1872. - Mr. Kimball Hayden, wife and two children arrived in town this week from Boston. Mr. Hayden has taken a claim in the Detroit woods, (now Erie Township,) purchased lots in town for building in the spring, and we understand is to be connected with the sawmill soon to be erected here.

September 7, 1872. - On Sunday last, the telegraph office at Detroit was removed to the new depot, since which time the trains stop at that place. The new buildings are very convenient and comfortable, and Frank Johnson has now everything in order.

September 14, 1872. - S. B. Childs this week marketed the first load of oats raised in Detroit Township. In looking to the great future, this is the first rain drop of a great shower. Mr. Childs has threshed his wheat, which yields 20 bushels to the acre.

September 14, 1872. - E. G. Holmes and wife, the latter just returned from New Jersey, are stopping at Mr. Tyler's, and from this time on will make Detroit their residence.

Judge Reynolds is building a story and a half Gothic home, 16x26, on land recently purchased of Mr. Fox, which will be finished about November 1st.

February ist, 1873. - Rev. I\Ir. Christ the first resident Methodist preacher in Detroit arrived April 5th. 1873. The following arrived on the train last Saturday, March 29th, 1873. Mrs. Trimlett and son; George Neuner, wife and two boys. The party is stopping at Tyler's hotel, and it is rumored that Mrs. Trimlett has leased the house and will rent the hotel the present season.

May 31. 1873. - The Congregational church is now completed and services will be held there on each Sabbath morning and evening. It is a very neat and pleasant chapel, and reflects credit both to our new but fast growing town, and those through whose instrumentality it was erected.

Mr. George W. Grant from Peabody, Mass., arrived Tuesday, June 7, 1873, Ex- Vice President Schuyler Colfax, visited Detroit on the nth of August, 1873, and pronounced the Park Region the most beautiful country he ever laid his eyes on.

October. 1873. - School was divided, and C. W. McConnel was made principal. Mrs. Sutherland was retained as teacher of the primary department. The schoolhouse cost $2,500.

August 30, 1874. - Work on the mill dam on Pelican River is steadily progressing. Squire Rossman has charge of the work. The raceway, flume and bulkhead are to be put in next week. It is the intention of the parties interested to have the mill up and equipped this fall, probably in October. The contract for furnishing all the lumber for this work and also for the mill building has been let to J. E. Van Gordon, one of the proprietors of Richwood sawmill.

September 6, 1874. - Protect your grain and hay stacks by plowing around them in good season. Keep down the prairie fires this fall. Save all the prairie burning for a concerted attack on young grasshoppers that will without fail make their appearance next spring.

September 5th, 1874. - A large black bear has been seen hy different parties in the Detroit woods east. It visited the home of Samuel Hamilton. D. G. Webster, of Lake View, saw one near his home, and some little girls saw one near Detroit Lake.

If the citizens hope to save the prairie grass for the young grasshoppers in the spring, they will need to organize. A strip should be burned on either side of the railroad track through every town.

September 12, 1874. - On Saturday last there was unloaded from the Northern Pacific freight train at this place, a handsome church bell for the Catholic church at White Earth. The bell was cast at the St. Louis Bell Works; weight about i.ooo pounds and costing $400.

October ist. 1874. - Once more we call the attention of the people of Becker county to the almost vital importance of keeping down the prairie fires this fall. Keep them down at whatever cost, and then fire the grass simultaneously in all directions on some day next spring and more will be dene toward driving out the grasshoppers than can possibly be done in any other way. We have only noticed the light of one or two fires thus far and they were a goodly distance off, and perhaps out of this county. But even those were one or two too many. Not one foot of ground should be burned over this fall. Once more then we say, "Keep down the prairie fires."

George H. Reynolds, son of Judge Reynolds of this place has formed a copartnership with the Hon. Knute Nelson of Alexandria. Mr. Reynolds graduated from the law department of the Michigan University with honors last spring. He is a young man of fine natural ability with economical habits, and starts in the world with bright prospects before him. We wish him abundant success in all his undertakings.

After W. F. Ball, A. J. Clark, George H. Johnston, L. Ed. Davidson, Arthur Linn and George D. Hamilton have successively published the Record. Mr. Hamilton bought the Record in the fall of 1878 and since that time has made it one of the best and most prosperous county papers in the State of IMinnesota.

The first sermon preached at Detroit was by Charles Doell. who ])retcnded to 1)e a preacher. This was late in the summer of 1871. He had an audience of about a dozen. Just before this he preached in Lake View at C. H. Sturtevant's place. He afterwards fell from grace.

Father Gurley preached in Detroit soon afterwards, at the Hemsley house, since known as the Brook's farm. Josiali Delemeter, a yotmg attorney tried to start "Old Hundred" ; he tried it twice and failed, so he had to preach without any singing. Mrs,. West. J. O. Cruminiett.

Friend Wilcox. - The old store that you refer to that was moved from Otter Tail City in 1871 was built into a dwelling house and has been owned for the last eight or ten years by the late M. S. Converse.

I started the first bank in Detroit in the spring of 1872, and Mr. R. L. Frazee was associated with me. Bowman and myself started the bank of Detroit on July ist, 1875, and the Hotel Minnesota was built in 1883 and opened on July ist, 1884.

Charlie Sturtevant says there was a grove of young poplar trees growing in the street in front of McKenzie's store (now Horneck and Bowman's), in 1872. Mrs. West.

Archie McArthur informed me many years ago that Detroit Lake received its name in the following way : A Catholic priest, who was a Frenchman, and whose naine was then familiar but now forgotten, in traveling through the country camped for the night on the north shore of what is now Detroit Lake, in plain sight of where the long bar stretches across the lake. The water in the lake was low, and the dim outline of the bar as it stretched across the lake was glimmering in the light of the setting sun, when our reverend father exclaimed to some of the attendants, "See what a beautiful Detroit" ; Detroit, so I am informed by French scholars, is the name in their language of a narrow place in a lake, but in this instance referred to the bar reaching across the lake.

and the southeast. In order to get to White Earth, or Oak Lake, or Audubon, you were obhged to go around by F. B. Chapin's, and thence around by the house that A. I. Smart afterwards built, thence by where John O. French now Hves, and thence by the north end of Oak Lake. To go east or southeast to Frazee or Erie, you would be obliged to go to the north shore of Detroit Lake and cross the Pelican River where it flows into the lake and travel in places beyond there on the gravelly beach of the lake. To the west or southwest there was only one outlet, and that was around by the southeast shore of Lake St. Clair, crossing the outlet where it leaves the lake. You could go south by passing around the west end of Detroit Lake after the outlet was bridged, but before that the crossing was difficult.

The people of Detroit, however, went at the road problem with commendable energy. Their first move was to vote a large issue of bonds, and the money was expended with equal liberality outside the township as well as at home. They built at a heavy expense, and unassisted as far as I know, the entire road from Detroit to White Earth via the village of Richwood. These roads while expensive were the making of the town. From their construction it received an impetus that it has kept up to the present day.

On the I2th day of March, 187J. a petition was granted by the board of county commissioners to create School District No. i, and in April the first legally created school district in Becker County, was organized by electing W. W. Rossman, director; \V. H. H. Howe, clerk, and C. K. Day, treasurer.

The first common school in a legally created school district on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, west of the Northern Pacific Junction was opened at Detroit on July 2d. 1872, at McKenzie's Hall, with Miss Lottie J. Frank, of Duluth, as teacher. Her school continued for three months with fifteen pupils.

In February, 1873, the Baptist church was rented and school moved there under the management of Miss Amelia Brigham (now Mrs. J. H. Sutherland). School continued there five months.

\Mien School District No. i was first created it took in all of Detroit Township and a few fractional sections around the northern part of Detroit Lake in Lake View. Soon afterwards all of the present townships of Erie, Height of Land, Toad Lake, Wolf Lake and Green Valley were added to District No. i. The levying of heavy taxes on lands in these unorganized townships led to considerable litigation and but little money was collected and in conjunction with the township taxes led to a lawsuit which was decided adversely to the district in 1876 and 1877.

When R. L. Frazee was in the legislature in 1875, he secured the enactment of a law confining the size of school districts to one tow'Uship of land, or an equivalent thereto.

If you will examine the map of School District No. i, which takes in nearly all of Detroit Township and a small part of Lake View, you will observe a notch or two in the western border, where some one has broken out of the district and taken several quarter sections of land along with them.

In the year 1873, the settlers in the vicinity of Oak Lake began discussing a scheme to organize a new school district, to be made up of the northwest quarter of Detroit Township. They were, however, soon reminded by the people in the village that they were in School District No. i, and were there to stay. They were also further informed that in order to establish a new district it would be necessary to obtain a majority of all the voters in the district on a petition, and as nine-tenths of them lived in and around the village this was out of the question. A law was, however, found by which they could be set off as individuals, one at a time, to an adjoining district, by the county commissioners by proving that they lived nearer another schoolhouse than the one in which they were then located, and that their land joined the other district. Accordingly three or four families living in Sections 7, 8 and 19 were set off and attached to District No. 19, or what is now District No. 39, in Audubon Township. Soon afterwards, Andrew Benson in Section 30, was set off in the same way.

The people in the village watched these proceedings with feelings of anxiety. They had just lost five townships through the operations of the Frazee law and now the one township that remained was in danger of dissolution.

of Becker County in matters relating to schools and school districts, to see if he could not devise some scheme to prevent the further disintegration of what territory they had left.

Chapin took the matter under advisement, and after playing a few games of checkers to sharpen his wits, hit upon the device of an independent school district, and in the spring of 1878 the machinery of the reorganized district was put in operation, a permanent king row was established along the line of Audubon Township, and the holes around the borders efifectually plugged.

An independent school district is like Shakespeare's reference to "that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns." It is an easy matter to get into an independent school district, but by an ingenious device of the machinery, you can never get out.

Thanks to the sagacity of F. B. Chapin and the workings of the independent school district law. School District Xo. i, remains intact to his dav.

Detroit boasts that it had the first grain warehouse built on the Northern Pacific Railroad west of Duluth. It was built by J. H. Sutherland, for thirteen years judge of probate in our county. He completed it ready for business in August, 1873. It was the forerunner of the elevator system in northern Minnesota. The first load of wheat was bought from Mr. Peabody of Pelican Lake, September 4th, 1873. Wheat was brought to this warehouse from points at a long distance. From Fergus Falls, Elizabeth, Norwegian Grove and Pelican Rapids. During the fall Mr. Sutherland shipped over 25,000 bushels. The building was occupied by C. M. Campbell in 1893 as a grocery store, and is now Pelican saloon, in front of the depot.

The First Two Loads Of Wheat

Commission Merchants, Agents for the Onondaga Salt Com., of N. Y. Duluth, September 13th, 1873. J. H. Sutherland, Esq. Detroit, Minn. Dear Sir:

Which we will send with next package of currency. Wheat is tumbling down fast, and we are obliged to reduce price to $1.10 for No. i, $1.05 for No. 2, 95 cents for No. 3. We will, however, pay you former prices on any cars shipped today or tomorrow, so as to save you from loss and allow you to adjust your buying prices to the market.

At the request of Judge Reynolds, who was clothed with authority to arrange for the survey of the grounds, it was decided that the blocks and lots, and streets and alleys should all be laid out in circles and winding curves, of various shapes and sizes to conform to the lay of the land, the driveways and walks to occupy the lowest ground, while the burial lots should occupy the more elevated locations, by which there would be a gentle slope from all the lots towards the alleys and walks.

Owing to the intricate nature of the survey in la\ing out so many curves and circles the progress of the work was slow and tedious. A large part of the ground was covered with dense hazel brush, which also hindered the progress of the survey, so that two weeks were required to complete the work, but the plat of the survey made a beautiful map when finished. I wonder if the plat is still in existence.

The first memorial service ever held in Detroit, I think, was held in a grove on these cemetery grounds, on the 30th of May, 1874. I was engaged in this survey at the time, but suspended my work for awhile and listened to an address delivered by Judge O. P. Stearns, of Duluth. The only other person I now remember as being present on that occasion was Miss Amelia Brigham, now ]\Irs. J. H. Sutherland, who was then the teacher of the Detroit school. She was one of the singers.

To the best of my recollection there were no graves there at that time to decorate, but there were two or three in the neighborhood that received appropriate attention.