Freeborn County, Minnesota - Chapter 8: Early Days, 1911

Chapter 8: Early Days

Course of the Early Pioneers - First Settlement - Difficulty of Transportation - Story of the County Seat Wars as Told by One of the Principal Participants in the Contests - Appoint¬ ment of County Commissioners - Albert Lea Selected as the Temporary Seat of Government - Albert Lea, St. Nicholas, Shell Rock City, Itasca, Fairfield and Bancroft Enter the Fight - Albert Lea Wins First Contest - Itasca Again Enters the Arena - Settlers About to Lose Their Claims - Albert Lea Citizens Ascertain Methods of Protecting the Claimants - Victory Again Comes to Albert Lea - Matter Settled Perma¬ nently. - By Dr. A. C. Wedge.

The first white people who came into Freeborn county for the purpose of settlement, came via the Iowa route. This is accounted for from the fact that Iowa is the older state. Emi¬ grants seeking new homes would naturally follow up the water courses that drained this part of the country. The valleys were beautiful and fertile and the streams were usually skirted with timber. The valley of the Cedar was first settled and then came the Shell Rock. The course of both streams is south and they are about twenty miles apart at the state line, joining about 100 miles further south.

About the month of May, 1853, came Ole Colbjornson Livdahlen with his family and made the first settlement in Free-' born county, on Section thirty-three, town of Shell Rock, just north of the state line. Possibly this man did not know that he was in Minnesota when he located his claim. This was before county lines were established. Vegger Gulbrandson, one of our territorial pioneers who has made it his business to look up all the facts in connection with this first settlement, has stated them very clearly in a communication to the "Freeborn County Standard," and I quote his letter in full, as a very important document relating to our early history.

"About the middle of May, 1853, Gulbrand Mellem and his brother-in-law, Ole Colbjornson Livdahlen, moved from Rock Prairie, Wis., to St. Ansgar, Mitchell county, Iowa, on the Cedar river and came across the prairie to Shell Rock river. G. Mellem settled on the south half of the town site of what is now

William Kellar

Northwood, in Iowa. Mr. Mellem was the first white man to settle in Worth county, Iowa. Ole Colbjornson Livdahlen moved four miles further north, just over the line into Minnesota, into Yankee Grove, later called the Beighley Grove, and that summer he built the old house, (now rebuilt on the Freeborn county fair grounds). Mr. Livdahlen sold his claim in 1856 and moved to Winneshiek county, Iowa, and bought 120 acres of land on the Waterloo ridge. There he lived with his wife and two sons, Ole and Colbjorn, four years, but sold in 1860 and settled on a quarter section in Kandiyohi county, Minnesota, and died there a well-to-do farmer. His wife, with her two sons, never went with her husband to Kandiyohi. Her brother, 0. Mellem, gave her a quarter section of land four miles north of Lake Mills, Iowa, and she lived there until her death."

This man, Livdahlen, appears to have moved away about the time he was likely to have some white neighbors. This disposi¬ tion "to move on" appeared to be quite a characteristic of some of the pioneers and this reminds me of Lorenzo Merry, who in 1856 owned a claim of 120 acres which is now the west portion of the city of Albert Lea. The east line of his land was what is now the center line of the paved street of Broadway. Before he moved here (in 1855) he had lived a year or two on the bank of the Cedar river in Iowa, not far from the state line near where the village of Lyle is now located, where he had a farm. The crossing of the Cedar at that point was then, and is to this day, known as Merry's Ford. Early in 1857, after the town site had been platted and just as there began to be a fair prospect of a good town springing up, he sold his property to Lucius P. Wedge for the sum of $2,500, and one year later, after the county seat had been located, moved out west twenty-five miles and built a hotel north of Walnut lake, on the prairie out of sight of timber or habitation. He remained there only a few years, when he sold out and settled northwest of Bismarck, North Dakota, where we lost track of him.

I remarked in the beginning that the valley of the Cedar river was settled first. A few days after my arrival at Albert Lea, in May, 1857, I found the good lady of the log cabin trying to feed the hungry young men who were her boarders, with nothing to cook but flour of which she made good bread, and starch gravy. After a few days of this kind of fare, I concluded that I would like a change of diet, so with the team I had driven from Wisconsin, I made a trip to Mitchell, Iowa, to see if I could find something better.

I found in Mitcheel county, Iowa, a well improved country, thriving villages, improved farms and plenty of farm produce for sale. This indeed was a surprise. We of Freeborn county were in a wilderness, yet here was a garden almost at our door. The state line appeared to divide a land of plenty from an unin¬ habitable waste. Iowa had long been open to settlement. The door to our part of Minnesota had been opened but a short time, the lands not having surveyed until 1854. Bands of Indians were still to be seen. Home seekers were a little cautious about entering this then-unknown country. Then, too, means of trans¬ portation has much to do with the development of a new coun¬ try. AVest of the Mississippi the only motive power was the ox and the horse, and but very few of the latter had been brought into the country. The population was largely composed of men who had come on foot, and it was nothing uncommon to see a party of men start for the land office at Chatfield on foot. AVe had no mail service, except that which was furnished by such volunteer pedestrians as were willing to ford rivers and sloughs to get the United States mail sack that was to bring us in con¬ nection with the civilized world. At that time the most natural outlet of this section was down through Iowa to McGregor on the Mississippi river opposite Prairie du Chien, which was the terminus of the railroad from the east.

As stated before, my route here, was via La Crosse, and I found this locality Sunday afternoon, May 10, 1857. I would not have recognized it as Albert Lea, had not the road led me through the water running over the dam, and brought me a little further to George S. Ruble's log house and the saw mill close by, with several hundred logs lying near, ready to be made into lumber. Driving upon the townsite proper, to a point where the Freeborn Hotel now stands, I saw Julius Clark's little log store and Lorenzo Merry's log house. There I met David Cheeney, and he told me what I had already suspected, namely that this was Albert Lea, the county seat of Freeborn county, Minnesota.

Much has been written, and many stories told, of the contest for the location of the county seat, and as I was one of the interested participants in the two battles which settled what to us was such a very important question, I am disposed to relate the facts as my memory recalls them after a lapse of half a century of time.

The historian of this volume has told you how the territory comprising this county came to be named Freeborn county. I will now try to inform you how Albert Lea came to be the county seat. Early in 1857 it was well known by the few actual resi¬ dents of the county that there would be an enactment by the territorial legislature resutling in the organization of the county. It was also known by an association of land speculators, residents of Hastings and St. Paul, Minn. The name of the association was the Dakota Land Company. I only remember the names of a few of the members of this corporation. Among them were: Morton S. Wilkinson, John Brisbane, William S. Combs and Jesse Ramsey. The officers of this company were on the Lookout for favorable points for starting young cities, and kept watch of the organization of new counties in which they could fix the location of the seat of government.

This company, early in the winter of 1856-57, sent an agent into this county to select a half section of land for a townsite, expecting to make it the county seat. This agent selected and filed on a half section of land in section twenty-one, township 101, range twenty-one, and christened it Bancroft.

Previous to this, George S. Ruble came here in 1855, and se¬ lected a location for a town. His claim included the outlet of what is now Fountain lake. He procured an act of the territorial legislature, granting him the right to build a dam which would raise said Fountain lake seven feet. This created a good water power, and he soon put up a fine saw-mill and a few years later a grist mill. In 1856 he, in conjunction with Lorenzo Merry and Thomas Thorne, platted and recorded the town site and named it Albert Lea, from the name of the lake on which it was located, and which had been discovered some years before.

It will readily be seen that much depended on the character of the legislation relating to the organization of Freeborn county. It was evidently the purpose of the Bancroft proprietors to pro¬ cure the enactment of a law providing for the organization of Freeborn county, the incorporation of the city of Bancroft and the naming of that point as the county seat, although at that time their proposed site was a tract of land owned by the govern¬ ment and covered with snow on which there was not an in¬ habitant. About the time this well matured plan was ready to present to the legislature, George S. Ruble showed up in the lobby, and their scheme was checked. He found friends among the members, as the result of which a bill was introduced, and after something of a contest passed, authorizing the governor to appoint three commissioners, residents of the county, who should have authority to appoint county officers and select a place for the temporary county seat. It was also provided that at the next general election the legal voters should designate by ballot the location of the county seat ; and the place receiving the most votes should be the permanent seat of county government. Among the many friends who came to the relief of Mr. Ruble were Hon. ¥m. Freeborn (for whom the county was named) and Dr. W. W. Sweney, of Red Wing. It was well known at that time that the territorial legislature could do almost anything if they could get the votes. This is proved by the fact that five months after the act was passed, this same legislature was in- duced to pass what appeared to be a very innocent bill providing for the incorporation of the town of Bancroft. After the vote had been taken something in the manner of the supporters of the bid aroused the suspicions of some of our friends. This led to the examination of the bill and the discovery of a " rider" or "joker'' providing that hereafter the said town should be the permanent county seat of Freeborn county. Of course the fraud was shown up, it was quickly reconsidered and the objectionable clause stricken out.

It will be seen by the provisions of the act that there was to be a free-for-all fight, both for the temporary and permanent locations. The legislation out of the way, the next thing for Mr. Ruble to do was to see Governor Gorman and do the best he could to secure the appointment of commissioners favorable to Albert Lea. The governor, to show fairness, proposed that Mr. Ruble select one and the Bancroft people one, while he (the govenor) would name the third. Mr. Ruble named ¥m. Andrews a nice dignified old gentleman, then a farmer living east of the Shell Rock river in the township of that name. He was a justice of the peace for that section and a warm friend of Mr. Ruble. The Bancroft crowd named S. N. Frisbie, a farmer, living where the village of Oakland now stands. Mr. Ruble could not under¬ stand why they should choose Frisbie. But it was learned that the appointment was made at the suggestion of Morton S. "Wilkin¬ son, the agent who visited the proposed site of Bancroft, and probably made the legal filing. On his way out he happened to stop with Mr. Frisbie over night, and it was probable then that Mr. Wilkinson talked over his project with his host At any rate he got the impression that Frisbie would be in their favor, which impression proved to be a mistake. The governor when it came to the point, did not like to take the responsibility of naming the third man, so he remarked that he would let a certain judge - I have forgotten his name - appoint him. In the meantime, "I saw the judge," remarks Ruble. It so happened that the judge knew Hon. E. C. Stacy, as a good Democrat, so he asked Mr. Ruble how Stacy would do. Stacy was perfectly satisfactorv to Ruble, and it thus turned out that Albert Lea had all three of the commissioners in her favor. So Albert Lea "drove in the pickets" and won the first brush in the battle for the county seat. The commissioners met at the home of Geo. S. Ruble, March 3, 1857, and unanimously selected Albert Lea for the temporary county seat. This was two months and seven days after I met David Cheeney on the town site.

At this time the young towns that had sprung up were: Albert Lea on sections 8 and 0, Albert Lea township, principal proprietors George S. Ruble, L. P. Wedge, Thomas Thorne and

William Morin; St. Nicholas, three miles southeast of Albert Lea, LyBrand and Thompson proprietors ; Shell Rock City (now Glenville), on the west bank of the Shell Rock river, eight miles south¬ east of Albert Lea, A. H Bartlett, Fred Cutler, Edward Skinner and others, proprietors; Fairfield on the west bank of Rice lake in Riceland township, Samuel Beardsley, proprietor; and Itasca, three and a half miles northwest of Albert Lea, Dr. A. M, Burn¬ ham and Charles Colby, proprietors. All these and Bancroft were candidates for the county seat, although at that time the proprietors of the latter place had not even broken ground or taken any steps to build a town, in fact they had not even recorded their plat. Ruble had been here two years and had spent quite a little fortune in improving the water power and building a fine saw mill. He was not asking for the county seat to build a town, but was trying to build a city to make a fit place for the county seat. Lorenzo Merry had opened his log house almost a year before this. Julius Clark had a little log building which he lived in, was postmaster and kept a small stock of mer¬ chandise. Captain Thorne lived with his family near what is now Park avenue; Wm. Morin was then unmarried, had a claim which now is a part of the city site. Daniel Flurd and his wife occupied the house on the claim and Morin lived with them. Soon afterward the Hurds moved to the first frame house finished on the town site, the location being on the north side of Clark street a few rods east of Broadway. I arrived May 10, 1857. Augustus Armstrong arrived about the same time and we both built offices on Broadway. John Ruble and Capt. A. W. White owned and occupied farms not far west of the town site and both were identified with the interests of the prospective toAvn. Swineford and Grey Avere here when I came and a dwelling and a building for a printing office Avere under way. Soon after this there was quite an influx of young active men, many of whom held land claims in the vicinity of the town, but made the town their headquarters. I iioav recall to mind Austin D. Clark, David Cheeney, Geo. Watrous, J. G. Godley, T. J. and Ed. Sheehan. A little later quite a large, cheap, frame building Avas put up just where the city hospital now stands, as a temporary hotel, and was opened and kept by an old gentleman known as "Pap" Kenyon. This furnished quarters for many of the single men and the floating population, some of whom became more or less in¬ terested in the young city. At the same time a number of families had arrived and built modest dwellings. I recall J. W. Brownsill, Samuel Eaton, Brock Woodruff and a few others. A. B. Webber had the Webber House about complete, and though not finished, before election it was opened for business. On the

As the time for election drew near we felt confident of suc¬ cess. The temporary location had given us a start, and also the opportunity to make friends of the settlers on the outlying claims. The fact that we were centrally located and the further fact that Bancroft was owned by a lot of real estate speculators, together with the fact that the opposition vote was likely to be divided between five outside candidates, made it very plain to be seen that Albert Lea would get a respectable plurality of the vote cast. But we were well aware that we had a wily foe in Bancroft; its friends were a sharp lot. The proprietors had made quite a sprint in the way of improvements in the two months previous to election. They had started up a steam saw¬ mill, put in quite a good store, had built a good house for the manager of the town site scheme and lastly had established quite a respectable newspaper, the "Bancroft Pioneer," with David Blakely as editor. The first issue appeared just a few days be¬ fore the election and it gave a great many reasons why the voters should favor Bancroft for the county seat. We got on to the fact the Saturday night before election that the proprietors of Itasca and Fairfield had combined to give their vote to Ban¬ croft in consideration of certain interchanges of blocks and lots.

These sites Avere all north of the line running east and Avest through the center of the county. This move looked more formidable, but Ave got busy and the night before election day Ave made arrangements for the withdrawal of Shell Rock City (now Glenville). This gave us the votes largely of the two southern tiers of townships except the strength of St. Nicholas, which persisted in staying in the fight. We also secured support and influence of Geneva which did not enter into the county seat contest. The Geneva people thought they stood a good show of getting the United States land office located there and they con¬ cluded that it would be better for her interest to faA'or us rather than Bancroft. So when the ballots Avere counted on that day in October, 1857, the vote stood 402 for Albert Lea* 199 for Ban¬ croft and 29 for St. Nicholas. This Avas the full ATote of the county on this question, except for a feAv scattering ballots for Shell Rock City.

This resulted in the immediate death of St. Nicholas and Fairfield, and their sites Avere soon coirverted into farms. The proprietors of Bancroft made a desperate attempt to keep their town aliAre. They had spent considerable money, and did not like to give up their project. They professed to think that the north half of the county Avas going to haATe the largest popula- tion, thus eventually bringing them the county seat. But the hard times that followed the financial crash of the fall of 1857 presented too great a difficulty and after a fruitless struggle for a year or so the people who had cast their lot in the promising burg began to move away. Then a little later the buildings began to be moved to the adjoining farms.

Dr. Burnham did not propose to let his town of Itasca die, and some of the Bancroft houses were moved there. So we had the satisfaction of seeing our principal rival as the site of a beautiful young city, a deserted waste. The lots and blocks were year after year sold and bid in by the county for delinquent taxes and finally for a small consideration the county obtained a quit-claim deed, and now it is the location of our county poor house.

While we were a territory it required an act of the legislature to obtain a vote to change the county seat, but the first session of our state legislature enacted a law directing the county com¬ missioners to submit the question to the people, whenever a number of legal voters equal to one-half of the votes cast at the last general election should sign a petition requesting the same ; provided, however, that no such vote should be taken more fre¬ quently than once in three years. Itasca city, though located only three and one-half miles northwest of us, managed to keep alive. During the summer of 1860 a general store was opened, and a newspaper, the "Itasca Herald, 77 was etablished. The proprietors obtained the required number of signatures to a petition and presented it to the county commissioners during the summer of 1860, said petition requested the removal of the county seat from Albert Lea to Itasca city, subject to the appeal of the voters at the next general election to be held in November of that year. The prayer of the petition was at first denied for the reason that one of the state district judges had held that the law under which the petition called the commissioners to act, was unconstitutional. But about a month later the people of Albert Lea requested the commissioners to call a meeting and reconsider their action of the previous meeting and order the election. Our reasons for making this move was an unexpected event, which took place about this time. President Buchanan issued a proc¬ lamation bringing the government lands in this vicinity into market and directing that they be sold to the highest bidder on a certain day not far distant. This was before the enactment of the homestead law. Most all of the real bona fide settlers were living on their claims with their families, and holding the land by virtue of their pre-emption papers, which they could do indefinitely unless the land was brought into market. The proc¬ lamation required every claim holder to procure a land warrant or get the money and appear at the Chatfield government land office, prove the fact of their settlement and pay for the land be Pore the day appointed for the sale or they were liable to be sold out of house and home. This action of the president came at an unfortunate time, as the county had not recovered from the financial crash of the fall of 1857. Not one in ten of the settlers in the county was prepared to make the payment, and at that particular time no money was to be procured by loan in the region. The immediate result was a panic among the settlers and many were soon flocking into our little town to see what they could do. After consultation we concluded to call together a few leading men from the county at large for further consulta¬ tion. The result of this Avas the raising of a fund to pay the expenses of a representatHe to Washington, who would bring to the attention of the President the condition that existed in this locality, and to procure if possible a postponement of the sale. Geo. AY. Skinner who Avas then one of the county commis¬ sioners, and aaTio claimed to be a personal acquaintance of President Buchanan, AAras delegated to make the pilgrimage. About a Aveek after his departure Ave received a telegram, which came part of the Avay by mail, that " settlers can refile." It Avas hard to understand this, but it led us to belieATe that there Avas hope. Mr. Skinner returned in due time, and a meeting of settlers Avas called to hear his report, which Avas that the president had no right to withdraw the land from market. But he had learned from the general land office that though the land the settlers occupied would be subject to prHate entry the day after the sale by anyone who had the wherewithal, neA^ertheless, the settlers could refile that same day and hold their claims another year before they Avere subject to private entry. A great crowd of pioneers Avere in toAAm that day, and an organization Avas perfected, which resulted in the appointment of a committee to see that new filing papers Avere read}" to file as soon as the sale day came. The plan worked out all right. No bidder appeared at the sale, and the new filings Avere made. The people of Itasca took no part in these proceedings and made light of the matter, claiming that Ave Avere just playing the game of the demagogue to get the Arotes of the settlers against the remoAral of the county seat. Whether Ave were or not, Ave made use of their attitude to our oavu adA-antage, and it Avas soon apparent that "we had them on the run." This explained Avhy Ave requested the commissioners to call the election ; Ave thought it a good time to settle the matter forever. The election Avas held on the second Tuesday of November, I860, the same day that Ave elected Abraham Lincoln president of the United States. The ballot Avas the old-fashioned form in use before the adoption of the Australian system. The question of the county seat removal was at the bottom, and those for the removal of the county seat read, "For removal of the county seat to Itasca," while those in favor of retaining the seat of govern¬ ment at Albert Lea read, "Against the removal of the county seat to Itasca." It was reported on the evening of the election by one of the friends who were at the polling place in the town of Manchester, that a Norwegian friend of Itasca, who had been listening to the reading of the tickets as they were being counted, when the count was about complete exclaimed, "Why Albert Lea did not get a vote." We won out handsomely and poor Itasca as a town just lay down and died. And now over her grave is one of the most beautiful farms in Freeborn county, a part of the site being now occupied by the well-known Wedge nursery.