Lyon County, Minnesota - Chapter 2: Early Settlement - 1867-1869, 1912

THERE is always something connected with the settlement of a new country that interests, and so it is with Lyon county. Often, however, there is a tendency on the part of the chronicler of local history to paint, polish and varnish the stories of the early days, so that sometimes those who were the principal actors in the drama enacted fail to recognize themselves or their part in the play. It is my intention to steer clear of this fault and avoid fiction in dealing with the early day events, and to rely solely upon the facts to make the narrative interesting.

After the close of the Civil War and the subjugation of the Indians, there was a great tide of immigration to the western country. To all parts of the upper Mississippi valley came the homeseekers, who spread out over the rich lands of Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska. Most of the emigrants were from the eastern and central states, where timber was abundant, and their first choice was always wooded land along the streams. So it came about that the first settlement in Lyon county was made in the timber tract along the Redwood river in the townships of Lynd and Lyons.

began in 1867. The year before, however, a few men had visited that part of Redwood county which later was set off as Lyon for the purpose of spying out the land and selecting claims.

A. W. Muzzy made a trip to the Lynd woods in 1866 and there found several families of half-breeds occupying claims by squatters' rights. He selected a claim held by LaFrambdise on section 33, Lynd, bargained for the purchase of* the same, and made arrangements with the half-breed to hold the claim until his return. This LaFramboise did, living in the log cabin formerly occupied by James Lynd as his trading post.1

In 1866 also came Charles E. Goodell and his cousin, Will Stone. They spent some time hunting, trapping and cutting timber, they having conceived the idea of cutting logs in the Lynd woods and floating them down the river during high water to a mill at Redwood Falls. They soon abandoned the scheme. Mr. Goodell determined to make his home in, the county and selected as a claim the northeast quarter of section 5, Lyons township, the site of the first Lynd trading post. He came back again in 1867, but did not locate permanently until January, 1868.

The first settler to make a permanent home in the county was T. W. Castor, who located on the extreme eastern border of the county in the spring of 1867. Part of his claim was on section 34, Stanley township, and the rest was over the line in Redwood county. He built a house on the claim and resided there several years. It is said that he hauled his supplies from Redwood Fall;; during the winter on a handsled drawn by a Newfoundland dog. To T. W. and Mary Castor, on September 12, 1867, the first white child in Lyon county was born. His name was Hugh Wilson Castor and he died of diphtheria in Iowa.2

During the month of June, 1867, A. W. Muzzy, who had selected his claim the previous year, came to take possession and he was accompanied by E. B. Langdon. Both dated their permanent residence in Lyon county from that time. Their families came in September.3 During the fall months of 1867 there also joined the little settlement in the Lynd woods and became established residents the following: L. W. Langdon and family (including a nephew, Emerson Hull), Luman Ticknor and his wife and step-daughter, Elizabeth Taylor; M. Y. Davidson and family, Mrs. C. F. Wright and son, D. M. Taylor and E. E.

2T. W. Castor was a graduate of Oberlin College. He was a man of positive temperament, peculiar in his views, independent in his thinking. He was a scout under General Sibley during the Indian War and at one time served as deputy register of deeds of Olmsted county. Mr. Castor was a pioneer of Redwood Falls but remained only a short time. He settled in Lyon county with the intention of raising stock and was the county's pioneer stock man. The first winter of his stay he had only one cow, and from that he increased until he had cjuite a herd. Mr. Castor was a member of the Board of County Commissioners in 1874. In the late seventies he moved to Pottawattamie county, Iowa.

1 3A. W. Muzzy was untiring in his efforts to induce immigration to the vicinity. He wrote articles descriptive of the country to newspapers in the East and West and enlisted the attention and co-operation of many leading men of Minnesota. His settlement in the county was due to his desire to found a Methodist colony. He and his son-in-law, Rev. C. F. Wright. planned to establish a large church and school for the education of the Indians. The scheme proved to be a visionary one, but it resulted in giving to Lyon county many desirable citizens.

Others came during the year to view the new land and some selected claims with the intention of returning the next year, but the ones mentioned were the only one- who may properly be termed settlers of 1867. 4 When the first settlers arrived Lyon county had not been divided into townships or sections, but during the months of July, August, September and October Surveyors R. H. L. Jewett and George G. Howe and their assistants ran the lines. s Thereafter the settlers could select their claims intelligently, although it was some time later when the plats were placed on record and filings could be made at the land office.

The first arrivals to the Lynd settlement were religiously inclined and on September 26, 1867, the first religious services in the county were held, participated in by A. W. Muzzy, his daughter, Sophia, wife of Rev. C. F. Wright of the Methodist church, and L. Langdon and family.6

The Lynd settlement was decidedly on the frontier. To the north the nearest neighbors were on 'the Minnesota river, to the east only a few settlers were to be found until the Minnesota river

'Among those who visited the region in search of land in 1867 were Lambert Marcyes and his son, Hiram R. Marcyes. They met some of the party that had preceded them and inquired where good land could be found, supplied with timber and water. The new arrivals were informed that several belts of timber had been seen at a distance, which were supposed to be along creeks or bordering the several lakes nearby, and that quite a forest was known to exist on a creek about three miles to the northwest, to which the Marcyes took their way. On returning at night one of the many questions asked was where they had been during the day. They replied, "over to that threemile creek," and ever since the stream has borne the name Three-Mile creek.

-The townships of Lucas, Vallers and Westerheim hid been surveyed in August and September, 1859, by Mahlon Black, but the surveyor neglected to make proper mounds and the stakes were mostly destroyed by prairie fires. The township of Custer was surveyed in 1867 by Shaw & Taylor and Eidsvold the same year by David Watson.

few settlers on Lake Shetek) it was many long miles to the nearest white homes, while to the west all was uninhabited country.7 The making of homes in the frontier land was not accomplished without many difficulties and carried with it sacrifices and most of the comforts that make life endurable for him who has had the savage educated out of him. The only visitors were the Indians and half-breeds, who were still in the vicinity in small numbers. The prairies were unbroken by roads or groves, and the winter storms and summer prairie fires chased the elk and antelope without hindrance.

But the human habit of adaptability to environment and the hope of future competence from the fertile farms to be secured under the homestead law carried the pioneers through the dark days. Wild game furnished a part of the bill of fare and the timber furnished fuel and material for the homes. The houses were of logs, the roofs of shakes split from oak trees, the floors of rough plank hewn from the timber.

In 1868 the population of Lyon county was increased. To Lynd township came Levi 8. Kiel, who has ever since had his home in the county; James Cummins, A. R. Cummins and George Cummins, who became prominent in the early affairs of the county; Lambert Marcyes, George Marcyes and Hiram Marcyes, who became well-known residents; A. D. Morgan, who became the county's first store keeper and postmaster; Jacob Rouse, who still resides in the county; Ralph Holland and Arthur Ransom, who purchased claims from half-breeds; Rev. C. F. Wright, who was the first minister; Andrew

Nelson, who has ever since lived in Lyon county; Mrs. Bowers, a daughter of A. AY. Muzzy, who came in April and died of consumption on April 20, one week after hen- arrival, hers being the first death in the county; John Clark, Henry B. Nichols and possibly others.

Charles E. Goodell returned to his claim in Lyons township in January, 1868, and during that year C. H. Hildreth, Luther Hildreth and W. S. Adams located in the same precinct, all taking claims along the Redwood river.

To the timber tract along the Cottonwood river, in the present townships of Custer and Amiret, also came a few settlers in 1868. Charles Grover, Lafayette Grover and Clark Goodrich settled in Amiret, and H. C. Masters, John Avery, Horace Randall, Walter S. Clayson, Edward Horton and G. S. Robinson took claims in Custer. These settlements were all made in the vicinity of the old townsite of Saratoga and for several years the community bore that name.

Nearly all these arrivals of 1868 brought families and builded themselves homes. Until after 1868 the population of Lyon county was confined to two settlements (excepting the T. W. Castor family): the one on the Redwood river occupying the timber lands in Lynd and Lyons townships, and the other on the Cottonwood in Custer and Amiret townships. Of these the Lynd settlement was the larger and for several years dominated the affairs of the county.

Several important events occurred in the Lynd community during 1868 that tended to establish the permanency of the settlement and to make for the convenience of those who had cast their fortunes on the frontier. One was the

7The first white settlers in Nobles countv arrived county were no whiles until is, 4; the firsl settlement July 4, 1867; only two families had their homes in in the county of Lincoln was made in 1868. Rock county during the winter of 1867-68; in Pipestone establishment of a postoffice in June with D. M. Taylor as postmaster. It was located on section 34, Lynd township, - the site of what later became known as Lower Lyncl. A weekly mail was received by way of Redwood Falls.8 Mr. Taylor also put in a small stock of groceries and other goods - in a room said to have been almost large enough for a bed room - and conducted a store for a short time.

The same season Luman Ticknor opened a hotel for the convenience of the few people who visited the settlement.9 In the summer of 1868 Jacob Rouse and James Cummins dammed the Redwood river at the point which later became known as Upper Lynd and put in a small sawmill, which proved to be quite a convenience to the settlers. It was changed to a gristmill in 1872. The same year C. H. Hildreth commenced building a mill at a point on the Redwood about two miles below the present village of Russell, but the place was destroyed by fire the same fall and the project was abandoned.10

While a few conveniences had been established in the settlement, they fell far short of meeting the demands. The sawmill was not in operation until 1869 and before that time it was the custom to haul logs to Redwood Falls, fifty miles distant, have them sawed, and then haul the lumber back, several settlers generally making the trip together. Excepting the little store of Mr. Taylor, Redwood Falls was the nearest trading point. That village had only two stores, run on the trading post style, and they catered but little to the white trade.11 The nearest flouring mill was at New Ulm and there a part of the trading was done.

There were a few additions in 1869 and others came to the county, took claims, made improvements, and prepared to make permanent settlement the following spring. To the Saratoga settlement, in Amiret township, came James Mitchell; to the township of Vallers, which had not before had a settler, came Johannes Anderson; to Lyons came W. C. Adams; to Lake Marshall, L. W. Langdon and E. B. Langdon; to Lynd, T. T. Pierce, H. L. Pierce, George W. Pierce, Parker I. Pierce, Warren S. Eastman, T. S. Eastman and V. Eastman. Besides those mentioned, C. H. Whitney, C. H. Upton and E. G. Bascoinb took claims in Lake Marshall, 0. A. Hawes and R. Waterman in Lynd, and Moses Fifield and Mendell Fifield in Lyons. All made sThe first mail brought to the office was carried by William Jackson, the first white male child born in St. Paul. He sold the contract to one Castle, of Yellow Medicine, and the latter in turn to Peter Ortt, of Redwood Falls. H. J. Tripp carried the mail for Ortt for a time and later secured the contract. The Lynd postoffice was under the management of D. M. Taylor four years. <.

9"The travel through Lynd at that time couldn't have been very large or regular. Bands of Flandreau Indians camped in the woods occasionally and a few travelers from Redwood Falls now and then stopped there on the way to settlements beyond. Between Lynd and Pcdwood P'alls there was but one house." - Case's History of Lyon County.

10The first marriage in the county occurred October 17, 1868, when Ida Marie Hildreth, at the age of fifteen years, became the wife of Henry B. Nichols. The second marriage was that of W. H. Langdon and Zilpha Cummins, which was'also in 1868.

sowed the first grain and the latter operated the first fanning mill. The first wheat was raised by A. R. Cummins in 1869. The first horses in the county were owned by E. B. Langdon, first mules by M. V. Davidson, first chickens and turkeys by L. W. Langdon, first hogs by Luman Ticknor, and first dog by James Cummins.

A. R. Cummins made the first barrels that were in the county; James Cummins made the first chair; George Cummins and Charles E. Goodell split the first rails; T. T. Pierce and son burnt the first brick, a kiln of 40,000, brought in the first blacksmith's tools, and set out the first grove.

^"Perhaps you would like to know how people got along with no railroad nearer than Mankato, although boats were running to New Ulm when the water was high enough. We did a greater part of our trading at Redwood Falls, distant fifty miles, and no place to put up until we got to Mr. Castor's, twenty-five miles. If we had any blacksmithing to be done, it had to be taken to Redwood Falls. I have known our townsman, A. D. Morgan, to walk that fifty miles in one day, with a plow lay on his back, and return the next day. Charles Goodell has done as well." - Correspondent in Marshall Messenger, June 30, 1881.

slight improvements in 1869 and returned to remain the following year.12 Prior to this time the only claims taken had been in the timber; now selections were made on the prairie tracts and some at quite a distance from the older settlements of Lynd and Saratoga.

I can close this chapter no more fittingly than by reproducing an article written by Mrs. Fellows, of Lynd, and read before the old settlers' gathering in February, 1885. It gives a very true idea of conditions in 1869:

The time I first saw Lyon county, in the dark days of 1869, there were about a dozen in our settlement, scattered along the Redwood river in the timber. Another settlement, nearly as large as ours., was on the Cottonwood river, and another at Lake Benton. These constituted the entire population of our county. What was then one county has been divided into two, Lyon and Lincoln.

The settlers lived in small, low, miserable log houses; indeed, some of them were originally Indian tepees, remodeled to suit the emergency. Some were without floors, except the solid earth with a covering of prairie grass; after it became dry and broken it was raked off and fresh grass cut and spread down. Of course, the floors needed no sweeping, and that was something saved, as there was a chance to economize in brooms. Economy, rigid economy, was the rule.

A roof made of shingles was almost unknown. The houses were roofed, some with hay, some with earth, but the prevailing fashion was a shake roof. I fancy only the initiated have seen or heard of the shake roof. It consisted of flat, clumsy pieces of wood, all sizes and widths, and,

12The coming of these men had much to do with the future growth of Lyon county. On the first day of May, 1S69, the following named ten men set out from Olmsted county, Minnesota, in search of new homes: C. H. Whitney, C. H. Upton, E. G. Bascomb, T. S. Eastman, V. Eastman, W. S. Eastman, O. A. Hawes, R. Waterman, Moses Fifield and Mendell Fifield. They traveled with four covered wagons and had besides a saddle horse. They spent several weeks viewing the country around St. Cloud, Benson and Hutchinson, and not liking the looks of the country turned to the southwest. They arrived in St. Peter and there Abner Tibbets, register of the United States land office, advised them to go to the country which is now Lyon county.

. The party made the trip by way of Redwood Falls and arrived at the Lynd settlement on June 9, where they were welcomed by A. W. Muzzy. The next day was spent in rest at D. M. Taylor's store. On the eleventh three parties were formed to visit as many different parts of the surrounding country: one to the Rock Lake country, one to the head of Three-Mile creek, west of Lynd, and the third down the Redwood. The next day other prospecting trips were made.

C. H. Whitney went out on a scout and covered the north part of the county. He followed an Indian trail down the Redwood to the point called by the as nearly as I can remember, about three feet long, split and shaped and smoothed with a broad-ax, overlapping each other shinglefashion, serving as a mere covering, keeping out the sun, but affording little protection. The wind and snow and rain and flies and mosquitoes and gnats and all other nice things had full liberty to come and go at will. And of all these things there was no lack.

In those days there were blizzards, too, real genuine blizzards. The winds were not tempered to the shorn lamb, not by a good deal. After a blizzard what a picture our houses presented ! Floors, beds, everything, were fancifully covered - decorations enough to have satisfied the most esthetic admirer of Oscar Wilde. Here and there and everywhere were festoons and wreaths and garlands and every imaginary thing of "the snow, the beautiful snow," filling the house, above and below. We didn't enjoy it a bit, however. With the mercury frolicking among the lower twenties, the poetry of our natures was entirely frozen out. Even a board to make a door or case a window was of inestimable value. Flooring, not the best quality by a number of grades, sold for $50 per thousand.

Thanks are due a Maine Yankee for introducing an improvement in our architecture. Sod houses made an appearance, and they were much better, being more economical. Here we lived, deprived of every luxury and most of the comforts and necessaries of life, trying to be happy and keep homesickness away, which would occasionally trouble us notwithstanding all efforts to prevent it.

We were, so to speak, at the jumping-off place, as another leap would have landed us among the savages. We depended wholly upon Redwood Falls for everything we had, and that a poor trading place, indeed. A spool of thread, a sheet of note paper, a pound of tea or sugar, had to be hauled fifty miles. One of our great blessings was our postoffice with a weekly mail. By the way, the first postoffice in this county was a gigantic affair! It required but one box, fastened with a huge padlock, to prevent mail robbery.

Indians the Big Bend - the present site of the city of Marshall. There he struck the Lac qui Parle trail and followed it to about where Minneota is now situated. Thence he proceeded east until he came to another trail between Minnesota Falls and the Big Bend, followed that trail to the Big Bend, and then struck across country to Lake Marshall.' At that point he found another Indian trail leading to the Cottonwood river and Lake Shetek.

After resting at Lynd on the thirteenth and canvassing the situation, all members of the party decided to take claims and made their selections in Lake Marshall, Lynd and Lyons townships. The fourteenth was spent in breaking land on their claims, some of the party also breaking on the northwest quarter of section 4, Lake Marshall township, to hold the claim for Mrs. Ursula Stone, a soldier's widow and the sonin-law of C. H. Upton.

The entire party set out on June 15 for the return home and made their filings :it the land office on June 18. The Eastmans returned in the fall, erected a log cabin, and spent the winter in their new home; the others spent the winter in their old homes and all returned in 1S70. Mr. Whitney did "missionary" work in Wisconsin that winter and as a result the population of Lyon county was added to in 1S70.