Faribault County, Minnesota - Chapter 3: Lura Township - Easton, 1896

Location

Lura is township number one hundred and four (104) north, of range twenty six ( 26) west. It is bounded on the north by Blue Earth county, on the east by Minnesota Lake township, on the south by the town of Barber, and on the west by Delavan township.

Physical Characteristics

This is a prairie township, and the lands are as productive as any in the county, and adapted to grazing and the raising of all kinds of crops, usually produced in the Northwest. The fertility of this soil can never be exhausted. The general surface of the town is slightly undulating.

The Maple river, which drains the town, passes through the northeast corner of the town, which stream has, also, a western branch, which runs through the central portion of the town, in a northwestern direction. There are several other small rivulets and slough runs, which are unimportant. There is, also, a small lake about a mile east of the center of the town, which is supposed to be the source of the west branch of the river. Some timber is found on the Maple river, but not a great quantity. The farmers of this town, however, have not been behind the people of other towns in setting out fine groves of forest trees, some of which have already attained a large growth.

Several Geological Hints

The estimated average height of the town, above the level of the sea, is 1040 feet. The northern end of a belt of slight morainic hills, extending from the southeast portion of the county, reaches several miles into the southwest part of the town. In this town, the drift deposit, upon the bed rock, is about one hundred feet in depth. The oed rock is composed of limestone, and light gray sandstone. There are a number of fine artesian, or flowing, wells in the town, mainly along the Maple river.

"Mr. Haight reports that in boring a well in ttiis town, two miles north of Easton, he met, at sixty feet below the surface, a layer of mixed sand and grassleaves, appearing lilce drift grass, on a sandy beach. This was between beds of till, and marks an interglacial epoch."

Name

The town was named Lura, by the special commissioners in 1858, after Lake Lura, a small body of water, which lies about a mile west of the northwest corner of the town and which is situated partly in Delavan township and partly in Blue Earth county. The commissioners had no very accurate maps of the count}', at that early day, and supposed that the lake was situated in this town. The name of Lura, is short and neat, but is not a very common name. It may be mentioned, however, that there is a post-office of this name in the state of Kansas.

Organization

Lura was attached, for town purposes, to Walnut Lake township, by the special commissioners in 1858. and was detached therefrom, by the county supervisors on the fifth day of March, 1860, and attached to Marples, (now Minnesota Lake township). The town was detached from Marples on the fifth day of January, 1804, to be organized as a separate town, and an election for town officers was directed to be held on the twenty-sixth day of January, following, at the house of O. C. Healy. But it appears that the town did not get organized at this time, for on September 7th, 1864, it was without officers, and the board of county commissioners, on that day. appointed Chester Johnson (chairman) and N. Haight and G. W. Ware, as a board of supervisors, and John Howard, town clerk.

The first two settlers of this town were Osias C. Healy and John McCormick. They located in the town on the fifteenth day of Maj-, 1856. Mr. Healy claimed the northeast quarter of section three and Mr. McCormick took the northwest quarter of the same section. They came from Connecticut, and were members of the "Minnesota Settlement Association," a more full account of which will be found in the history of Delavan township.

The following list comprises the names of all the residents, old and young, of the town in June, 1860, as appears by the national census taken in that year:

Educational

The first school house in this town was built of logs, on the northeast quarter of section three, in the year 1864, and the first teacher of the public schools.was Mr. C. G. Spaulding. There was, however, a school kept in the town several years before the building of this house. In a letter to the writer, Mr. John Chase says that the first school taught in the town was kept in his house, and at his own expense. There are now (1879) seven good school houses in the town.

Post-Offices

There has for many years been a post-office near the north boundary of the town, named Grapeland. At one time there was, also, a post-office at the house of J. P. Emerson, on the north side of the town, known as "Fountain Brook," but this office has been discontinued. There is also a post-office at Easton.

A n unknown man was found dead, at an early day, on the prairie in this town, by John Howard, B. A. Stowe and others, and this was probably the first death in the town, and at his burial occurred the first public religious services in the town. The Methodists organized a class and a Sunday school here in the spring of 1865, which were the first in the. town. There was also a Baptist organization at an early day. Up to the close of 1879 this town had furnished to the public service a county commissioner. Joseph Claggett, who held the office six years, and a representative in the state legislature, T. S. Wrooley.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (formerly the Southern Minnesota) passes through the town of Lura, in the soutliern tier of sections. On the line of this road, on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section thirty-six, is situated the village of Easton, the capital of the town of Lura. The village site was surveyed and staked out in September, 1873, but the plat was not filed for record in the ofiice of the register of deeds of the county until March 14, 1874. The original proprietors of the village were J. C. Easton and Conrad Ruf. At the close of 1873 there were already twelve buildings on the town site. The village was named in honor of Mr. Easton, but it was for some time known as "Lura Station." The name Easton is not an unfamiliar one. There is a fine city of that name in Pennsylvania, which contains a population of about fifteen thousand people. It is to be hoped that at some day, probably in the very distant future, our village of that name may rival that of Pennsylvania, in numbers, wealth and enter- prise. It may not be inappropriate to mention here the fact, that there are, in the United States, sixteen post-offices of the name of Easton.

Jason C. Easton, after whom the village was named, was for many years the most extensive banker and land owner in this State, and one of its wealthiest citizens. He was born in Lewis county, state of New York, on the twelfth day of May, 1823. He was prepared for college at Lowville Academy, N. Y., and entered Yale in 1847, but owing to failing health, he left during the first year. He subsequently became the editor and publisher of a newspaper, at Lowville, N. Y., for some four years In 1851 he was married to Miss Sarah J. Johnson, of Lewis county, N. Y. They have had one child. Mr. Easton came to Minnesota in 1856, and located at Chatfield, Filmore county, where he has since resided. He engaged, very extensively, for some time, in the grain commission business, and was for some years a director in the Southern Minne.sota Railroad Company. His principal business, however, has been banking and dealing in real estate. He has many farms, and has engaged largely in stock raising, and has some of the best sheep, hogs and cattle in the State. Mr. Easton is, undoubtedly, one of the ablest, most reliable and most successful financiers of the Northwest. The village was incorporated by act of the legislature, approved March 9th, 1874.

Statistics

The population of the town was 20 in 1860, 362 in 1865, 621 in 1870, 724 in 1875 and 648 in 1880, including the village. Of the residents of this township, about one-third ai-e Norwegians, and the remainder are of various nationalties, but principally American.

The total tax assessed on the same was $3,022.31. The agricultural products of the town, for the same year, as nearly as they can be estimated from the returns, were as follows: Wheat, 40,000 bushels; oats, 44,800 bushels; corn, 32,500 bushels; barley, 840 bushels; potatoes, 2,750 bushels; sorgham syrup, 990 gallons; flax seed, 3,340 bushels; tame bay, 112 tons; wool, 5,617 lbs; butter, 26.000 lbs.; cheese, 300 lbs.; honey. 200 lbs. There were reported, also, 3,000 apple trees growing, 690 of which were bearing, and 450 bushels of apples were produced. The total number of acres of cultivated land was 6,600.

Large portions of this town are conveniently near to railroad markets, either at Minnesota Lake, Easton or Delavan, and its future in many other essential respects also, is forever secure.