Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 59 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 59 of those read)

The town bearing this Central American name is one of the western towns of the county of Houston, the second from the northeastern corner. It is bounded on the north by Money Creek and Houston, on the east by Houston and Sheldon, on the south by Black Hammer, and on the west by Fillmore county.

The South Fork of Root River winds through the southern part of the township toward the northeast. The Root River itself is not far from the northern boundary which is so arranged as to bring the line within the valley, and it thus has an irregular outline that carries the northeast corner of the town two and one-half miles further south than the corresponding corner on the west. The township is diversified with the usual hill and dale, which have a silent rivalry as to which shall predominate. As to the topography and the character of the soil, it is not unlike the contiguous towns. It is well settled by an industrious and thriving population. The railroad, following the Root River valley, dips down into its territory at two points, but there is no station. It contains a little over forty- three square miles,the surplus over a government township coming from a town on the north.

Early Settlement

The first man to set stakes in the territory of Yucatan was Edwin Stevens, who first settled in the southern part, in what is now Black Hammer. It is difficult to fix the exact date, but it was probably in 1852. He extemporized a log dwelling with the assistance of several Winnebago Indians. He also went down to Decorah and helped build the first mill put up there. In the fall of 1855, he sold out his place and took up his abode in another cabin of peculiar construction, being all roof, made by splitting basswood logs, and placing them in an inverted V shape, with the flat side up, then covering the interstices with another layer in the reverse position, and then covering the whole with hay. With a stone chimney at the end, he had the simplest kind of elements for "love in a cottage." This was situated in the woods near the South Fork, in close proximity to the present Howe mill in section twenty-three.

In the spring of 1856, when the town site fever was epidemic throughout this region, he put up another log house on the open land north of his other location, near where Mrs. Van Sickles now lives, and platted a town of forty acres, north of the road in the southeast of the southeast quarter of section fourteen, and gave it the name of Yucatan. Whether he had a priority of invention in the "isothermal line" business, and supposed he could iuduce immigrants to believe that the climate was semi-tropical, is not known. At all events, the result of his enterprise was that during the summer the city had five log buildings erected, and reached the pinnacle of its glory. A mill-dam was completed and a saw-mill commenced.

In September, 1855, Mr. Stevens transferred his right, title, and interest here to Peter Larr and Hiram Howe, and removed to Worth county, Iowa, where he lived some years and then went to Puget Sound, Washington Territory. Mr. E. Mackintire, who had been a railroad contractor, from from Dedham, Massachusetts, came here in the summer of 1855, and took a claim on section thirty-three, where H. Carrier now lives.

Mr. Maokintire was an enterprising man and secured the establishment of a Post-office which was called Dedham. He was the first representative from this district in the State legislature, and his son, S. B. Mclntire, was the first cadet to West Point, appointed from this congressional district. Mr. Mackintire afterwards removed to Houston, where he has since lived. In company with a Mr. Cooper, he built a mill and had it running in 1856. It had one run of stones and a long bolt turned, out eight bushels an hour, and was driven by a reaction wheel. Soon after, a run of stones for feed was put in. In 1859, an addition was made to the mill, in which a still was placed to make whisky from the corn obtained as toll in the grist-mill; the still had a capacity of 100 gallons a day. In 1861, Mr. Mackintire sold out to L. Lynch, Mr.

Enoch Gould was the first man in the north part of the town, in the Root River valley. He was a native of New Hampshire, and first came west to Fox Lake, Wisconsin, and thence to Yucatan in 1855. His family joined him a year or two later. He took 400 acres of land in sections thirty-three and thirty-four. At first he lived where D. R. Chisholm's place now is. He secured a Post-office on section thirty-three, called Hamilton, which afterwards gave the name to the town that was finally re-named Money Creek.

Dr. T. A. Pope, in the spring of 1856, reported in person and made a claim in section thirteen, where H. Persons now is. The Doctor originated in Chautauqua county, New York, and had lived a short time on Pope's prairie, south of Caledonia. In 1856, he procured the establishment of a Postoffice, and it is now the Yucatan office. The name of the town at one time was Utica. Dr. Pope was the first Postmaster, practiced medicine and opened up a farm, and was the first Town Clerk, holding the position several years. He finall/ removed to Sheldon in 1860 or '61, and taught school about two years, when he returned to his place, but soon removed to Houston, after selling his farm, and there engaged in the practice of his profession until a few years since, when he went to Iowa and still resides there.

Peter Larr came in the summer of 1856, and dropped on the place now occupied by Fallis Knox. He hailed from Missouri, where he was ' born on the 19th of December, 1842. He first went to Iowa and then to Wisconsin, and from there came here. In 1866, he sold the place on sections fourteen and twenty-three, and moved up the valley, and a few years later he bought the place where he now lives, on sections twenty-six and twenty-seven. In 1856 Mr. Larr and H. Howe bought out Stevens, including the mill property, and the town site, and he still lives on the same section.

On the 18th of April, 1856, John and H. Colby, two brothers from Erie county, New York, arrived and secured a place on section twenty-two, where Benjamin Bidwell now lives. These brothers remained here about eight years. H. Colby was the first regular mail carrier between this place and Caledonia, making a single trip each week, at first on foot but finally bestrode a mule. On the break- ing out of the war, he enlisted in Company H, of the Eighth Missouri regiment. His interests were sold out after the war and he went to Iowa, thence to Missouri, und afterwards to Kansas, where the grasshoppers were so copious that he "retreated in good order,' 1 and finally halted on the Durland farm iu section ten. John Colby, after disposing of his share of the .property mentioned above, moved to what is known as Oak Ridge, and bought 120 acres on section nine. In 1865, Urdix Colby, his brother, joined him in September, and opened a shoe shop near Howe's saw-mill. He has since lived in Fillmore county and in Houston, but now owns a farm on section twentyseven, where he now resides.

In the spring of 1853 or '54, Asa Corns took secured a claim in section twenty -seven but did not locate on it until the spring of 1856, when he bought other large tracts; after about fifteen years he went to Missouri.

James Kelly, one of the influential and prominent ment of Yucatan, came here from Brownsville, in April, 1856, and took 280 acres on section twenty-nine. He built a house, and opened up a farm which he left in charge of his father, Hugh Kelly, and went to work at the carpenter's trade in Rushford, which he continued until the fall of 1859, when he returned to his farm to remain. His father died at the age of 82 years, on the 5th of January, 1871, and his mother at the age of 85 years, on the 18th of July, 1874.

Robert Earl was the first to locate on Oak Ridge, about the year 1858. In 1865, he sold to Mr. Colby. Soon after him came Wm. Mahaffery, who stopped on section seven. He was from Delaware. A few years ago he removed to Rushford.

Lawrence Lynch did not arrive till about 1860, when he bargained for the Dedham Mill and Distillery, which he subsequently lost in the August flood of 1866. He was an early settler in the county, and it is related that while prospecting about he came across a tree that had just been felled by the beavers, and he concluded, by the way it was hacked around on all sides, that it must have been done by an Irishman who had never cut a tree in the old country, so he sat down and remained some time waiting for him to return.

The First Bibth. - This is said to have been James C. Kelly, son of James Kelly who was born on the 28th of October, 1857, although there may have been earlier ones.

Marriage. - In the fall of 1857, William King and Martha M. Colby were united in wedlock at the residence of the officiating Justice, E. Maointire, Esq.

Early Deaths. - In the winter of 1862, Mary, the daughter, of Peter Larr, being at the point of death, requested that her remains might be deposited at a particular spot designated on her father's farm, and her wish being complied with, that became a nucleus for a cemetery, and it has since been used by persons in that vicinity. The whole number buried there is fourteen, including two removals, Mr. Enos Adams and Mr. Joseph Barton. In the new cemetery, on sections twenty-seven and twenty- eight, the first interment was that of Eugene Bidwell, in September, 1873.

Edwin Stevens built a dam across the South Fork of Root River, on section twenty-three, where the Howe mill now is, in the summer of 1856, and commenced the construction of a sawmill. Before it was completed he sold the establishment to H. Howe, with the understanding that it should be finished according to certain specifications, but when the property was delivered it proved unsatisfactory, and the wheel was removed and numerous other changes made before it met the views of its new owner. The spot on which this mill stood is near the present grist-mill. It was a vertical sash saw, and its reciprocating motion was kept up, manufacturing lumber until 1871, when the grist-mill was erected.

The first grist-mill was that already mentioned on section thirty -three on Riceford Creek, and was called the Dedham Mill. It was a frame building 20x30 feet, and did a large amount of custom work. Mr. Watkins soon bought out Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Lynch bought out Mr. Mackintire in 1860. and in August, 1866, it was swept away by that flood, and has never been replaced.

The Howe Mill - Is on the South Fork in section twenty-three, and was erected by E. B. Howe, having been commenced in the fall of 1870, and completed in the spring of 1871. It has a head of water of seven feet, and two turbine wheels, rated at twenty-five horse-power each, keep the machinery in motion. There are three run of stones, three sets of bolts, a middlings purifier, smutter, cockle machine, corn sheller, oat separator, etc. The mill is capable of grinding 150 bushels of wheat and 300 of feed per day.

The Daily Mill. - This was put up about the middle of the last decade by James Daily. It is run by a turbine wheel of twenty horse-power, under a pressure of twenty feet, but the water supply is only sufficient for a single run of stones for ten hours a day. The mill, however, contains two run of stones, a smutter, bolt, cornsheller, etc., and can grind five bushels of wheat an hour. The present owner of the mill is William Scheu nert, who contemplates important improvements in the near future.

Post-Offices

The Post-office was established in 1856, and Dr. T. A. Pope was the Postmaster, it was at first called Utica, but afterwards changed to Yucatan. In 1864, Mrs. R. Taylor was Postmistress. G. Thomas was appointed in 1867, and H. Carrier was in the position in 1875 and 1876. 0. Wilsey was appointed in June, 1876, and his daughter Cora was appointed deputy on the 3d of June, 1879. She now has charge of the office.

The Dedham office was started not long afterwards with E. Mackintire, Postmaster. Lawrence Lynch succeeded him, and then Mr. Tyler ; it remained in the same house from the first. In February, 1865, it was discontinued.

The present Yucatan office is now kept not far from where the old Dedham office was. It receives a mail on alternate days from the east, and on the other days from the. west. Still another office was established in what is now the northern part of the town, and it received the name of Hamilton, but was soon changed to Lavilla, and when Mr. Gould sold his farm to the Ohisholm brothers, their father became the Postmaster, and about two years afterwards the office was discontinued.

The first school in Yucatan was managed by Miss Emeline Howe, in a rough timber building situated near the residence of B. Bidwell. This was in 1856 or '57. About 1860, the districts were divided, and this building was moved down the road and another constructed, which was

District No. 20. - The building was located on section twenty-seven, and was 20x24 feet, of stone. A. L. Thompson was the earliest teacher. Since that time the original log house has been moved the second and third time, and is now serving as a building for

District No. 19 - Is in the south part of the town. A school was taught in a log structure near the Dedham mill, in 1857, by Mary Mc- Gowen; Miss Eunice Comstook also taught there at an early day. The school was in the Mackintire house for some time, and at the residence of Charles Wilsey until the erection of the schoolhouse sometime during the war.

District No. 17. - The house is a frame building erected in 1861. It is 20x26 feet, and in section twenty -nine. The present teacher is Augusta Gould. There are twenty-three scholars enrolled.

District No. 79. - Originally this was a part of No. 17, but a division was finally made, and a house put up at a cost of $350. It was built in 1871, by Donald Ohisholm. Miss Agnes Mclnnis had the honor of calling the first school to order.

District No. 18. - In 1867, a tax was levied after a new district had been organized, and a log house was got together, 18x24 feet, and a school started with Mrs. Gale as instructor. The schools in town will compare favorably with other similarly situated localities.

Town Government

When the first meeting was held to organize the town, the chairman was Alonzo Adams. The first officers were: Clerk, Mr. Chapman; Treasurer, Mr. Little; Assessor, Hiram Howe; Justice of the Peace, E. Mackintire; Constable, Charles Smith.

The town officers have always been faithful and economical, and nothing startling in the political history of the town has occurred that is worthy of record.

Present Officers. - Supervisors, Herriok Persons, John Crain, and Ole Larhjornson; Clerk, Enud Gedstad ; Treasurer, Edmund Howe; Justices of the Peace, J. W. Comstock and D. R. Chisholm; Constable, John Q. Adams; Assessor, Anton Alberg.

Congregational. - The Oak Ridge Society was organized by Elder Snell, of Bushford, in 1878. At first there were about a dozen members, but several have moved away, and meetings are now held once in two weeks at the schoolhouse and at private residences. Most of the people who attend church go to one of the neighboring towns.