Jackson County, Minnesota - Pbosperous Times - 1878-1894, 1910

ANEW era in the history of Jackson county begins with the year 18T8. Three events of that year mark the turning point to better times: the disappearance of the grasshoppers, the building of the county's second railroad, and the revival of immigration.

It will be remembered that so early as 1866 preparations had been made for extending the Southern Minnesota railroad from Houston to the west line of the state. The United States government had ^nted large areas of land to the state of Minnesota to aid in the construction of railroads, and the state had in turn given these lands to the Southern Minnesota Kailroad company, m consideration that it should extend its road to the west line of the state on or before February 25, 1877. Owing to financial embarrassment and the terrible grasshopper scourge, the railroad company had not been able to eoniplete its line, although it had builded a considerable distance to the westward, and many of the lands were about to revert to the state as forfeiture for noncompliance with the terms of the grant. For many long years the people of southem Jackson county had anxiously awaited the coming of this road, which meant so much to them.*

The road was built to Winnebago City, and late in 1877 it was announced that the company had sufficient funds and the inclination to extend the road 45 miles further, to Jackson, providing the lapsed land grant were renewed. Nearly everybody was in favor of renewing the grant, and on March 6, 1878, the Minnesota legislature, in a memorial to congress, asked for a four years' extension of the grant.^ The sentiment of the people of Jackson county is shown by the following resoluferent lines have come and made propositions to supply us a road, and they would go. Thus the long years have rolled away, and our little town and struggling community have survived without a road, our merchants have hauled in their goods on wheels, slow coaches have brought our mails and transported passengers and express packages." - George C. Chamberlin in Republic. November 30, 1878.

2" . . . That if said grant is extended to this state for the purposes aforesaid, this state will be able to secure the speedy construction of said entire line of railroad, and thereby meet the Just expectations of the settlers who have purchased said even numbered sections, and afford to the people of the counties of Martin. Jackson. Nobles. Murray and Pipestone the means of transportation from the large and increasing products of their industry.

"Wherefore your memorialists respectfully urge upon congress an extension of said grant for four years to the state, and not to such defaulting company or any other railroad company, to the end that the speedy construction of said entire line of road may be assured; and we hereby urgently request our senators and representatives In congress under no circumstances to permit any extension of said grant to be made which does not vest the same In the state of Minnesota, with full authority to convey the same to such company as It may see fit. subject to such conditions as it may desire to impose, consistent with the objects of the original grant." - Extract from Memorial to Congress, March 6, 1878.

Resolved that it is the sense of this meeting that an act be passed continuing the Southern Minnesota Railroad land grant with said road or its auxiliary, the "Southern Minnesota Extension company," and that our delegation in the legislature be requested to favor said act and urge its passage during the present session, provided that said road be built to the village of Jackson by the first of January, 1879.

The legislature took the action which seemed to be desired by the people of southwestern Minnesota, and on March 6, 1878, passed an act transferring and granting the lands to the Southern Minnesota Railroad Extension company, on condition that the line of road be completed to Fairmont before September 1, 1878, to Jackson before the close of the year 1879, and to the west line of the state before the close of the year 1880. y^Confitruction was begun at once. The company still asked a bonus from Jackson county, and at a railroad meeting held at Jackson, called at the instance of J. C. Easton, president of the Southern Minnesota, it was the sense of those present that the township of Des Moines should vote bonds to an amount of ten per cent of the a^isessed valuation, provided the road should be in operation and the Jackson depot built that season. The line was extended to Jackson without the aid of bonds, however. The road was completed to Fairmont and train service established on July 1. The construction work progressed rapidly, and on November 27, 1878, the iron horse reached Jackson, thereby causing great rejoicing. Jackson was the terminus until the next year, when it was extended to the northwest.

A country into which it is known a railroad is to be built is always a goal for immigrants. The belief that the grasshopper scourge was a thing of the past also added to the inpouring of new settlors. E^rly in March th^ immigrants began arriving, looking for land, and they continued to pour in during the whole spring and summer.' As a general thing the newcomers were a well-to-do class. They came, not to take homesteads, but to purchase land and make improvements. Owing to the removal of so many settlers during the grasshopper years, there was much land on the market at reasonable prices, and all were given opportunity to become permanent settlers. Thousands of acres of wheat and other grain were sown that spring. The old sod shanties were replaced by frame structures, and in other ways the advancement was marked. Not only in the southeastern part of the county was the revival noticed, but all parts of the county responded to the changed conditions. A gentleman writing from Heron Lake in April said:

The amount of freight received at this depot is surprising. Car load after ear load continues to come, and there seems to be no end of it. Old settlers as well as new are coming and shipping in their household goods, and mercltants are receiving freight almost daily. Altogether it makes business lively around the depot every time the eastern freight comes in.

Although grasshoppers in diminished numbers visited Nobles county and some other portions of southwestern Minnesota in 1878, Jackson county was free from them. But the county was not destined to harvest the mammoth crop to which it was entitled. Two weeks of excessive hot weather in the first half of July, followed by a week of excessive rains, injured the wheat crop so that the yield was not up to expectations. Some fields yielded an ordinary crop, but others fell as low as a half crop.

More railroad building in 1879 added to the activities and prosperity of Jackson counts'. From the first it had been the intention of the Southern Minnesota

-**Still they come - new men hunting- new homes. We see new faces all around us until We be^in to feel as though we had got away from home. " - Republic, March 30, 1878.

Bailroad company (now the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul) to extend the line due west from Jackson to the state line, passing through the village of Worthington/ but early in the spring of 1879 the plans were changed and the line run to the northwest, diagonally across the county. The survey was made, the point of crossing the Sioux City road designated as the southwest quarter of section 35, LaCrosse township (Miloma), and on April 22 work on the extension from Jackson was begun. Tracklaying was completed to the junction on August 1, and regular train service was begun to Fulda November 3. As a result of the extension many new settlers located in the central and western parts of the county and the village of Lakefield was founded.

The Sioux City & St. Paul Eailroad company resented the encroachment on what it considered its own territory by the extension of the Southern Minnesota to the northwest. In an effort to head off the Southern Minnesota, the Sioux City road, in May, made a hurried survey for a branch line from Heron Lake to Pipestone, paralleling- the survey of the other road. Then began a lively race in construction. Side bv side the construction crews of the two roads worked. At times violence was narrowly averted between the workmen, so bitter had become the strife between the two companies. It was admitted that it was a cut-throat policy to continue the building of the parallel roads, but neither would give in.

*"It is stiU a question of doubt where the Southern Minnesota railroad will cross the Sioux City road, and we understand the company Itself is undecided upon this point. The officers are already discussing: tl^e question and investigratlng- the 'lay of the land.' We are quite certain it is the desire of the company to cross at Worthlngrton, and If engrineeringr obstacles do not intervene we are inclined to think that will be the point; then the road will strike a due northwest course for Pipestone county.*' - ^Republic. June 8, 1878.

Late in May a conference was held in St. Paul between representatives of the Milwaukee and Sioux City & St. Paul interests, when an attempt was made to come to an understanding and to reconcile differences. The conference served only to make matters worse, and the work of construction on both roads was rushed to completion. Not only did they run their roads side by side; they laid out their towns almost within a stone^s throw of each other.

During this activity in railroad building the village of Heron Lake and its surrounding territory advanced with rapid strides. Being guaranteed ample railroad facilities and good markets, people improved many farms which had theretofore been unbroken.

In the extreme northwest corner of the county grasshoppers did some little damage in 1879 but other parts were entirely free from the pe^ts. About the middle of July they departed, never to appear again ; grasshoppers had eaten their last Jackson county grain. While grasshoppers, hail and storms fortunately passed the county by, crops were only fair. In some localities wheat was blighted; corn and oats were good.

The federal census of ISSO gave Jackson county a population of 4,80G,^ a gain of 1,300 in five years. Of the total population, 2,920 were native born, while 1,886 were foreign born.* The population was divided by precincts as follows:

-Of the native born the classification by principal states of birth was as follows: Minnesota. 1.703; Wisconsin. 362; New York, 275; niinois, 94; Pennsylvania, 82; Ohio, 79. The countries which furnished the bulk of the foreign population were as follows: Sweden and Norway. 1.084; Germany, 186; British America, 89; England and Wales, 52; Ireland, 40; Scotland. 21; France, 4.

Jackson county harvested an excellent the thermometer went to 19 degrees below crop in 1880, sufficient in many cases to zero. A blizzard struck the country Declear up the debts contracted during grass- cember 3, which blockaded the Sioux City hopper days. More No. 1 wheat was har- railroad from the east until the 5th. Anvested in southern Minnesota that year other blizzard began Sunday noon, Decemthan had ever been the case before. The ber 26, and continued its boisterous ways days of adversity became but a memory; until Wednesday night. Cold weather the prospects were bright, indeed. accompanied the storm, the thermometer

One of the dates from which time is during the three days ranging from 10 to reckoned in Jackson county is the win- 24 degrees below zero. The Sioux City ter of 1880-81 - the season of Siberian Milwaukee was closed until January 3. frigidity. There have been worse storms road was blockaded until the 30th; the than any that occurred that winter; for Three hundred men and a half dozen enshort periods of time there has been cold- gines were required to break the Milwauer weather. But there never was a winter kee blockade.

to compare with this one in duration, con- Thereafter the winter was an extremetinned severity, depth of snow and dam- ly severe one, the thermometer frequently age to property - possibly excepting those registering 30 to 33 degrees below the zero of 1856-57 and 1872-73. mark. Blizzard followed blizzard. The

February 3. Longest snow storm of season begins, coming from the southeast and lasting four days. Fifteen days* blockade on Sioux City road begins. Milwaukee road buried from Wells to Dell

'"Last Tuesday night [January 18], blockade No. 3 was effectually and expensively removed. Hundreds of men were employed in the work, thousands of dollars were spent, and almost the entire engrinery of the road was on the snowy field of battle against the blizzards. The prospects were again encouraging for a resumption of work along the line." - Republic, Januar>- 22, 1881.

-"^''ednesday night. [January 19] the trouble began again, and drifts upon drifts once more enveloped the railroad. The state of affairs is indeed discouraging. The company had resolved to hasten forward the tons of delayed freight as rapidly as possible, and five heavily loaded freight trains put In an appearance at this point within one day after the blockade had been lifted. The earliest train left Jackson for the west at about eight o'clock Wednesday evening, the 19th. but a drift about one mile west of the bridge prevented further progress. Three trains followed in rapid succession, but were unable to move the one ahead or back down to the station, and at this writing. Friday night [January 21], are wedged in north of town, with a fair prospect of staying there for several days. Another freight and one passenger train are laid up at the Jackson depot and two passenger trains are at Fulda. Fortunately, through the Indefatigable energy of the hardy knights of the throttle, all of these snow bound iron horses are yet alive and snorting." - Republic. January 22, 1881.

-"The storm which commenced on Thursday of last week [February 3] and continued with scarcely an Intermission until last Monday came from the southeast - blinding in its fury, powerful in windy force, and awful in its aspect - but. thank heaven! lacking the one element which would have made it terribly and, perhaps.

March 11. Terrible blizzard, lasting two days, coming from the east. Heaviest snowfall of the season. All railroads blockaded worse than ever.

to some of God's creatures, fatally complete. The storm was one of miraculous warmth, and throughout its dreary prevalence the thermometer did not register below 20 degrees above sero.

"During those three days the fall of snow was the heaviest ever known In this section of the state. It swooped down in vast clouds which fairly darkened the air and blanketed the level of the earth to a depth of nearly two feet. Drifts almost mountainous in size sprang up like mushrooms over fences and groves, stables and stacks, rail and wagon roads, completely suspending all travel across the prairies.

"On Monday [Febru'iry 7] a sudden halt was called on the elements, and then followed four days of warm pleasant weather, beautifted with occasional glimpses of Old Sol's smiling face, and the universal proohesy was that there had come a permanent 'let-up.' " - Republic. February 12. 1881.

^-"Scores of prairie farmers are known to be without fuel, and the present storm will drive them to dire extren'Ities to protect their families from the cold. It is a bad - a terriWe - state of affairs and is made worse by the fact that it is Impossible to «end help to the needv." - Republic. February 12, 1881.

""As we go to press on Fridav FMarch 4] the elements are actively 'engaged in getting up the biggest blizzard of the year. The air Is thick with snow and the wind is blowing a perfect gale. Of such things as these are blizzards made, and so well developed is this one that at times it Is impossible to see across the streets of the village, so dense are the clouds of snow." - Republic. March 5. 1881.

^^'The depth of snow was very great. It was estimated that the average depth in the cuts on the Milwaukee ilne between Jackson and Fulda was ten feet. During the winter the Minneapolis Tribune printed letters from Heron I^ake correspondents, telling of the wonderful depth of snow. One said it would be impossible to give an idea of the appearance of the prairie country except by imagining that the ocean, when lashed by a terrible tempest.

April 17. Sioux City road opened whole length. First freight train in eleven weeks delivers freight at Heron Lake. Milwaukee road opens and freight is received at Jackson and Lakefield.'^

For a few days there was fairly regular traffic on the railroads. Then came the floods, caused by the melting snow, and traffic was again suspended. For ten days not a train ran over the Sioux City & St. Paul road and it was May 2 before regular train service m as established. Near- Iv 1,000 feet of the Milwaukee track was swept away by Okabena creek, but the Des could be suddenly congealed - waves, breakers and flying spray - and held white and icy. The same writer said that a grove of trees near hl8 place (the trees being nearly 26 feet high) was completely covered by a great snow drift, which was so heavily crusted that his children coastea down the drift and had high frolics over the buried trees. Another correspondent told of houses along the Des Moines river being buried in snow so that the occupants had to cut holes in the roof for ingress and egress.

""Freight is plenty now. Merchants have been out of nearly all kinds of supplies. At one time they were out of oil, candles, sugar, soap and many more useful articles. It has been almost impossible to get meat." - Lakefleld Correspondent, April 23, 1881.

The Des Moines river suddenly became a raging torrent, leaped out of its hankfi, and inundated and destroyed valuable property. The river began to rise Sunday, April 17, and continued to increase in volume until Saturday, April 23, when it was 24 feet above low water mark - the highest point in its history. It left its channel to sweep over meadows and fields, covering with a terrific current nearly one-half the valley, and in some places lapping the very foothills a quarter of a mile from its former bed.

The greatest damage was done in the village of Jackson. The 100-foot iron span bridge that had been erected two years before at a cost of $2,000 was broken from its mooring on the night of the 21st bv the immense cakes of ice that were battered against it. It was reduced to a mass of broken timbers and bent steel, but was rescued and anchored in the south part of town. A wild waste of raging water lapped the very dooryards in the eastern part of the village. Several houses had to be vacated, and many barns were entirely flooded. Colman's lumber yard was in many places covered with eight feet of water, and hard work was done to save the stock. Paul's lumber yard was also damaged with water to some extent. On Saturday and Sunday Jackson had the appearance of a lumbering camp. Thirty or more men were engaged at the bayou hauling out lumber and piling it on shore.

Bridges at Brownsburg, Okabena and in Sioux Valley were carried away by the raging waters. Skinner's mill was also harmed to some extent. Otherwise the damage caused by the floods was not great; there were a few losses in Jackson, besides those mentioned, of a few hundred dollars each.

An average crop was raised in 1881, and the farmers were placed in better condition that they had been, perhaps, at any previous time in tlie county's history. Prices ranged good and there was a market for everything raised.

The last built railroad to touch Jackson county soil was the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern (now the Chicago, Kock Island & Pacific), which was builded from Spirit Lake to Worthington during the summer of 1882, the road reaching Worthington October T. The road passes through the extreme southwestern corner of the county, only about four miles being in Jackson county.

There was a healthy increase in population during 1832. There was no rush, such as characterized the early seventies, but each week during the spring and summer months witnessed the arrival of a few settlers. A county immigration association was formed in the spring, which set forth the advantages of the county in printed matter and resulted in bringing a few new settlers. The 1882 crops was a good one, and all parts of the county enjoyed prosperous times. Thirty-six hundred sexenty-six acres were sown to wheat that year, from which were harvested 46,- 361 bushels, an average of twelve and twothirds bushels per acre. Sixty-five hundred seventy-four acres were planted to com.

Another death in the winter storms - the first since the fatalities of 1872 - occurred in Wisconsin township January 19, 1883. The victim was Henry Curtis, an aged man who made his home with Mrs. Miles Lindsley. He was proceeding home from John K. Johnson's place, three-quarters of a mile distant, when he evidentlybecame fatigued, and, lying down to rest, was overcome by the cold and perished.

and became permanent residents. Crops were good. Com was slightly injured by an early frost, but small grain and vegetables yielded abundantly. According to the official returns, the cereal acreage for 1883 was as follows : Wheat, 5,009 ; corn, 5,043; oats, 6,977; barley, 1,452; flax, 4,262.

In the whole history of Jackson county, up to the late nineties, there never was such a year for advancement as 1884. It was a jubilee year. Several causes added to the effect. Principal among them was the rapid settlement caused by throwing on the market the railroad lands and other lands withdrawn from settlement in 1866. There can be no doubt this boom would have occurred years before and the county become thickly settled and divided into small farms had these lands been available. The lands were placed on the market at a reasonable price, considering their eligible location and the richness of the soil. The Jackson Eepublic of August 15, 1884, told of the changed conditions:

Land is no longer a drug in the market but is rapidly rising in value and .is passing from the ownership of the state and of railroad companies into the hands of hundreds of settlers; farms are no longer deserted, but new estates are being opened in every townsliip; people are not leaving - they are locating in this county daily and by the score: big crops are the result of better farming by encouraged farmers; thousands of cattle and sheep graze on the prairies, and nearly every farmer yearly sells enough fat stock of some kind to give him plenty of cash; mortgages are being lifted from the farm and new houses and barns built thereon; creameries and hay presses are returning splendid profits to the farmers from sources which have hitherto yielded them little or nothing; beautiful groves surround their homes and diversify the surface of a once unbroken prairie.

The rush for the newly opened I^nds of Jackson county began early in the spring, the buyers spreading out into every township. Go whore one miglit, one found farms, once deserted on account of misfortunes, showing fresh furrows, found smoke arising from chimneys of new houses,

.sources. It is a hearty bloom of vigorous ^^e grasshopper scourge was almost comyouth, not a feverish bloom of fickle spec- P'*^'*^- !» December, 1884, the Jackson yielded a big profit in this year of jubilee. ^^,^^ ^^^^ ^^,,,^ ^^^-^^^ -^ ^^^^^^^^ j^^^ ^^ Hay also ruled high in price, and large the village of Jackson. Secretarv Hubquantities were put u]). Hundreds of car bel, of the I. & M. X., stated on behalf of loads of flax, hay and livestock were ex- tlie corporation that Ihc road would be ported during the year.^* built provided the townships of Peters- The rush of landseekers continued dur- burg, Middletown, T)o^ IVEoines and Wising the fall months, and the land agents consin would vote the company a bonus of were kept busy until winter piloting pros- fiyQ per cent of ihcir asi^essed valuation for pective buyers over the county.^' Over 1883, less the amount of their indebted- 70,000 acres of land, equivalent to more ^^s. Tiiis would make the amount each than three full townships, were put on ^^<^"'^^ ^^^'^ ^^ furnish as follows: Petersthe tax rolls for the first time in 1884. ^"^^' $3,000; Middletown, $4,000; Des The 70,000 acres of added lands were di- koines, $9,200 ; Wisconsin, $4,000. Elecvided as follows: tions were held and the bonds voted in

The year 1885 was noted for its improvements. Those who had purchased land in the fall of 1884 built their houses and began farming the next spring. A good crop was raised, adding to the financial standing of Jackson county farmers. The crop statistics for the year were as follows :

Prosperous times continued during the first half of 1886. During the spring months many new settlers came and bought Jackson county farms, the western part of the county receiving the bulk of

More settlers are coming in this spring than any two before. It seems that almost every freight train brings from two to three car loads of goods. And the new arrivals are the very best farmers. A goodly number of them are from Illinois, and they are bringing with them good teams, farming implements and considerable money. Load after load of lumber is being hauled from this place this spring, and the building boom is lively.

The county received a set-back that fall - the first in a number of years. Owing to a drought only about a half crop was raised. Not since the grasshopper days had the cry of hard times been so general. In addition to the crop failure, what was raised had to be offered on a low market. The cattle and hog market was also ruinously low.

The first contest for the removal of the county seat from Jackson to Lakefield - the beginning of a twenty years contest for county seat honors - come in 1886. It was the forerunner of some of the most bitter contests ever waged for county seat removal in Minnesota, contests which engendered ill feeling between the people of the two towns interested and caused a division between the east and west ends of the county in many things.

Prior to 1885 there had been no satisfactory county seat removal law on the Minnesota statute books. That year, on March 5, the legislature passed an act providing that when a majority of the freeholders who were legal voters and resident of a county should present to the county commissioners a petition asking for a change in the location of the county seat it became the duty of the county board to submit the question at the next general election. If a majority of all electors voting cast their ballots for removal, the county seat should be moved. If the question of removal was not decided in the affirmative, the question could not be voted upon again for five years, and

Soon after the passage of this bill the people of Lakefield began to agitate the matter of removal to their town. During the early eighties the bulk of the immigration had been to the western part of the county, and Lakefield, situated almost in the exact center of the county, had grown to be a vijlage of considerable importance. The first mention in the press of a possible attempt being made to remove the county seat was made on July 31, 1885, when a writer signing himself "Brutus" published an article in the Minnesota Citizen (Lakefield), calling upon the people of the north and west parts of the county to bestir themselves in an attempt to secure the county seat for Lakefield under the provisions of the new law. Among other things, ^^rutus" said :

Now, you that are interested in Lakefield want to go to Work and organize a society to put this thing through, make arrangements with your heavy landowners to secure the county from loss on buildings, have the fool- killer to operate on anyone who proposes an underhand measure of any kind. Meet sophistry and cries of delay with sound reasoning and patient but determined explanation; in due time, when the question has been thoroughly discussed and understood, circulate your petitions and present them to the commissioners at their meeting next January, showing such a majority in favor of the change that the matter is practically settled at once.

From the very earliest days, until the eighties, Jackson had been the county's center of population and business life. On its townsite the first settlement had been made, and for years practically all the settled portions of Jackson county were in close proximity to that village. While in later years the bulk of the settlement had been made in other portions of the county, Jackson continued to hold the position of leading town in the county. Therefore, when removal agitation was

The Lakefield Citizen, it is reported, will come out this week with a vigorous fight in its coliunns for the removal of the <?ounty seat, and about 1,000 copies will be circulated throughout the county. If this is true, the Citizen is cruel beyond expression of words. What are the sweltering Jacksonites down in this breathless valley going to do with a county seat fight on their hands and the thermometer 100 in the shade? Be merciful. Brother Seely.

Formal action was not taken until the spring of 1886. On February 20 a meeting was held at Lakefield, at which it was decided to try for the honor. On. March 9 the townships of Hunter and Heron Lake, in which the then unincorporated village of Lakefield was located, each voted to issue and donate $1,000 bonds to aid in the construction of a court house at Lakefield, the same proposition being lost in Rost township by a vote of 17 to 10. The Citizen of March 12 reported that the owner of the Lakefield townsite offered to donate $3,000 for the same purpose and that other citizens of the village would give $1,500.

During the month qf May petitions were circulated, asking that the county commissioners submit the question of the removal of the county seat at the general election on November 2, 1886. The petition received 604 signatures, and it was presented to the board of county commissioners Julv 27. Two davs later the commissioners considered the petition. A petition asking that the board do not take favorable action was presented, and John K. Brown, of Jackson, presented a written objection to having the petition filed with the county auditor - a necessary step if the question were to be submitted at the November election. The commissioners, by a vote of three to two, decided to deliver the petition to the county auditor for publication. Those who voted in the aflEirmative were Christian Lewis, J. G. Fodnes and A. E. Kilen ; those in the negative, J. W. Cowing and John Baldwin. The last two named explained their reasons for so voting as follows: That no proof had been produced to show that the petition had been signed by a majority of the county's freeholders who were legal voters.

The filing of the petition did not close the question, however, and the matter was again taken up in September. The Jackson people decided to contest the petition before the board of county commissioners and prevent the question from coming to a vote, using the argument that many of the signers were men who were not freeholders, but men who held land under contract; that as a matter of fact the petition did not contain the names of a majority of the freeholders, as the law provided. For three days of the week ending September 24 there was a lively discussion before the county board. Attorney T. J. Knox appeared for the Jackson people and analyzed the weak points of the petition. Attorney Betzer appeared for Lakefield in defense of the petition.. The situation was complicated by the resignation of Commissioner A. E. Kilen. H. C. Sether was appointed to the vacancy, and an adjournment taken to September 38.

On the 28th the commissioners decided that the petition did not comply with the law, in that it was foimd that only 330 freeholders who were legal voters had signed the petition, while 433 had not signed. On the final vote Commissioners Lewis and Fodnes voted to have the question submitted, while Commissioners Cowing, Baldwin and Sether voted not to submit it at the general election.^**

"4:30 p. m. Moved by Mr. Lewis and seconded by Mr. Fodnes that the board now proceed to count the names of the legal voters and freeholders on the list for and against the removal of the county 'seat. -

Not much of historical importance occurred in the county during the late eighties. The people were blessed with good crops, and prosperous times resulted. A few new settlers anived each year, new farms were put under cultivation, and the country otherwise improved.

One event that should be recorded for this period was another - and the last - severe blizzard. In the history of the northwest there have been a few winter storms of such unnatural severity that they stand out as events of historical importance. The most severe of these awful storms was the blizzard of January 7, 8 and 9, 1873, an account of which has been given. Eanking second was the terrible blizzard of January 12, 1888, when scores of people perished in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Fortunately, there wus no less of life in Jackson county, although several were caught in the storm. The Lakefield Standard of January 19, 1888, told of the blizzard :

Thursday of last week [January 12] one of the worst snow storms known for years raged over the entire northwest. All day long there was a heavy snow-fall and a mild wind from the south. In the evening the wind suddenly changed to the northwest, and the temperature grew colder. The air seemed filled with all the snow banks of the country and it was not safe to venture out of doors, as objects could

"Two petitions, containing the names and sigrnatures of 26 freeholders who had sigmed the petition for the removal of the county seat from Jackson to Lakefleld, were presented, withdrawing the names of said 26 freeholders from said petition for all purposes whatever. Said petitions, after t>einfir presented, were taken by the attorney representing: Lakefleld and subsequently lost. All parties admit that such petitions were so presented and contained the names of such number of freeholders withdrawing their names I'rom s.iid petition for the removal of said county seat.

"The board then proceeded to count the names on the lists of freeholders and legal voters within the county for and against the petition to remove the county seat from Jackson to Lakefleld and found that 330 legal voters and freeholders had signed the petition for the removal and 433 who had not signed said petition.

"It was moved by Mr. Lewis and seconded by Mr. Fodnes that the question of the removal of the county seat fronv Jackson to Lakefleld be submitted to the ""oters of Jackson county at the next general election, November 2, 1886.

Jackson county, so far as heard from, escaped luckily, as no human lives have been reported lost. A number of farmers were overtaken on the prairie by the storm but escaped alive.

The county seat removal question was not again opened during the late eighties, but preparations were made to take up the fight again at some future time. The legislature on April 13, 1889, passed a law authorizing the townships of Heron Lake and Hunter to issue bonds, in sums not exceeding five per cent of the assessed valuation, for the purpose of raising funds to apply on the erection of a court house at the point the voters of the county might select as the location for the county seat.^" As the people of Heron Lake and Hunter townships had no intention of furnishing money to build a court house at Jackson - where the county seat remained - the bonds were not issued.

The federal census of 1890 gave Jackson county a population of 8,924. This was a gain of 2,814 in five years, the largest gain in numbers during any previous five year period. Prosperous times continued during the first few years of the decade beginning with 1890. Good crops were raised, and many new settlers from the middle states came to Jackson county to purchase the comparatively cheap lands. Said the Jackson Republic of August 14, 1891 :

A little inquiry among the real estate men develops the fact that the outlook for Jackson county was never brighter than at the present time. The bountiful crops have attracted the attention of eastern people, and the demand for wild land is unprecedented. The greater portion of this land is being sold to newcomers for actual settlement next spring and the balance is taken by resident farmers who desire to increase the size of their farms - a sure in-

"A proviso of the law was as follows: "Said board of supervisors shall not put such bonds upon the market, nor sell any part thereof, until the site of said court house Is legally established at the location designated in such petition. And if said court house site be not established at such place within two years after such bonds are voted such bonds shall become null and void and shall be cancelled by such supervisors."

dication of prosperity. . Register Baldwin says the number of transfers is increasing rapidly, while the number of mortgages filed shows a healthy decrease.

There was a slight ripple in county seat removal matters during the winter of 1892-93. In Nobles county the village of Adrian was tr}'ing to wrest the county seat from Worthington, when someone developed a plan to settle the matter in both Nobles and Jackson counties. The plan was to form three counties from the two, with Jackson, Worthington and Adrian as the county seats. That would have given both Nobles county towns county seat honors, and, by taking part of western Jackson county for the new county, it would undoubtedly have given Jackson such an advantage that the question of removal to Lakefield would never have been brought up again. Nobles x?ounty people seriously discussed the question of taking such a proposition to. the legislature of 1893, but Jackson county people never seriouslv cons^idered the matter, and the project "died a bornin'."

An event of the year 1893 was a cyclone which visited the county on the evening of Wednesday, July 5, and which resulted in the destruction of many thousand dollars' worth of property. The principal damage was in the villages of Heron Lake and Lakefield and in the townships of Heron Lake, West Heron T^ke and Hunter. Barns, outhouses, fences, chimneys and, in some instances, houses were demolished by the fury of the storm.

In the summer of 1893 came the memorable panic, followed by a few years of hard times. Business was for a time paralyzed, several business houses failed, and a period of depression followed, which was not entirelv broken until the latter part of the nineties. But this period of hard times was not so keenly felt in Jackson county as it was in many of the less favored portions of the country. The panic was preceded by a decade of flourishing times. Nearly all had prospered and were in a position to weather the financial crash and its resultant period of depression.

The second contest for the removal of the countv seat to Lakefield came in the spring of 1894. The Minnesota county seat removal law at that time (as it does now) provided that the petition for removal must contain the signatures of at least sixty per cent of the number of electors voting at the last preceding general election; that if the board of county commissioners found that the required number of signatures had been obtained they should call a special election to vote upon the question; that if fifty-five per cent of the voters at such special election should declare in favor of removal, the county seat should be changed. Ever since the contest of eight years before the people of Lakefield had been making preparations and laying their plans for renewing the conflict when the conditions were propititious. They believed the time had come in 1894.

The opening gun was fired in February, when a number of prominent citizens of lakefield and vicinity issued a call for a mass meeting to decide upon the advisability of reopening the conflict. The meeting was held at Lakelield February 24, at which time it was unanimously decided to proceed. The following were chosen an executive committee to have charge of the campaign : N. J. Scott, John Frederickson, H. J. Hollister, M. R. Cluss, C. Young, William Searles, George Sawyer, C. Gove, John Crawford and C. Tradewell. In a platform adopted it was stated that the removal forces intended to conduct a clean and honorable campaign and on the merits of the issue. The official notice to circulate the petition was drawn up on February 24 and signed by

The work of circulating the petition was begun on March 12, and on the' 27th the petition, containing the signatures of 1,431 voters, was filed with the county auditor. The board of county commissioners, composed of Henry Thielvoldt, J. W. Cowing, H. K. Eue, George Erbes and Thomas Chesterson, met in special session April 16 to determine the standing of the petition. No united effort was made by the people of Jackson to secure withdrawals from the petition or to fight the instrument at this meeting of the board, although W. B. Sketch, of Jackson, filed objections to each and every affidavit contained in the petition, maintaining that there was no evidence that the names on the petition c6nstituted sixty per cent of the legal voters at the last general election, or that the notices of publication had been legally published. On the seventeenth the board took favorable action and issued the necessary certificate, calling the election for May 15.

So soon as the action was taken that made an election certain, the people of Lakefield opened the campaign with a clever piece of work - the building of a court house at Lakefield. A special meeting of the Lakefield village council was held on the evening of April 17, when it was decided to build at once a city hall of brick and stone, the free use of which should be given to Jackson county for court house purposes in the event of the removal of the county seat. Lots one and two, in block five, were purchased for a site. Architect Thayer, of Mankato, was telegraphed for, and he arrived on the evening of the 18th. Plans for a building, 50x60 feet, 30 feet high, were drawn, and the contract, calling for the completion of the building by May 10, was made with A. W. Schweppe & Company, of St.

James. Construction was begun on the morning of the 19th, and it was rufihed to completion. After tlie work was started a special village election was held and bonds to the amount of $8,000 were voted to pay for the building. This structure, much praised, much maligned, played an important part in the history of Jackson county. With the possible exception of the old court house, it is the most thoroughly discussed building ever erected in the county.

That the offer of this building for court house purposes should be known to be made in good faith, a quit claim deed to the lots upon which the building was being erected was given to H. J. Hollister, G. G. Sawyer and N. J. Scott, and these gentlemen executed a bond and signed a lease to the board of county commissioners, binding themselves to provide the Lakefield court house for county purposes for a term of ten years for a nominal rental price of one dollar per year. The majority of the board of county commissioners agreed to accept the lease in case the county seat was moved. The offer of this building doubtless won many votes for Lakefield in the election. One of the principal arguments of Jackson had been that removal would necessarily cause the expenditure of considerable money to build a court house.

The campaign which followed was an exciting one and very close. When the votes were counted on the evening of May 15, it was found that Jackson was the victor by forty votes. The total vote was 2,803, of which Lakefield received 1,502 and Jackson 1,301. To have won. Lakefield must have received 1,542, or fiftyfive per cent of the total vote. The vote by precincts was as follows: