Stearns County, Minnesota - Chapter 43: Government Land Office, 1915

The Sauk Rapids Office - Removal to St. Cloud - Changes in Boundaries of Districts - St. Cloud Office Discontinued in 1906 - List of Registers - Land Sales - First Entries in Stearns County.

The land office at Sauk Rapids was established under the provisions of an act of Congress approved August 30, 1852, and opened for business November 3 of that year. This was not an original land district, but was taken from the Stillwater district which originally covered the entire territory of Minnesota.

The Ojibway land district was created out of the Sauk Rapids and Stillwater districts under an act of July 8, 1856, and the office for the remainder of the Sauk Rapids district was removed to St. Cloud April 19, 1858, and the office there opened for business April 29, 1858.

The office for the Ojibway district went to Otter Tail July 25, 1859, and August 17, 1863, following the Indian war, this district was consolidated with the St. Cloud district. The latter district then had within its boundaries much more than a quarter of the state, or about 25,804,900 acres - including all the country east of the Taylor's Falls and Northeastern districts and north of the Minneapolis district.

An act of Congress approved July 25, 1868, provided for the establishing of a land office at Alexandria, the territory included in it being taken from the St. Cloud district. The new district included the counties of Douglas, Otter Tail, Becker, Polk, Clay, Pembina, Johnson, Traverse, and a part of Grant. The St. Cloud district retained the counties of Stearns, Todd, Morrison, Benton, Crow Wing, and parts of Wright, Meeker, Monongalia, Chippewa, Lacqui Parle, Big Stone and Grant. The Alexandria office opened for business September 4, 1868, with Lewis Lewiston, of St. Cloud, register, and J. H. Van- Dyke, of Alexandria, receiver. Lewis Lewiston was succeeded April 22, 1869, as register by L. K. Aaker, of Goodhue county. The office was discontinued and its records removed December 11, 1876 to Fergus Falls.

The Fergus Falls district was transferred February 19, 1889, to the St. Cloud district. This district consisted of Ottertail county, with the exception of the north tier of townships belonging to the Crookston district, Wilkin, Traverse, Grant, Douglas and the north half of Stevens and Pope counties.

The Taylor's Falls land office was closed December 30, 1893, and removed to St. Cloud, its consolidation with the St. Cloud land office taking effect January 10, 1894.

When the Taylor's Falls district was merged into the St. Cloud district, the latter included the following territory: The counties of Stearns, Morrison, Benton, Sherburne, Anoka, Ramsey, Washington, Chisago, Isanti, Kenabec. Pine, Mille Lacs, Crow Wing, Aitkin, Cass, part of Beltrami, Hubbard, Wadena, Todd, parts of Wright, Meeker and Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, Wilkin, Grant, Traverse, part of Pope, Douglas, and parts of Stevens and Itasca.

The Cass Lake land district took from the St. Cloud district the north part of Hubbard and Cass counties, the remainder being made up from the Duluth and Crookston district. The new land office opened for business July 1, 1903.

The names of the registers and receivers of the land office while at Sauk Rapids and St. Cloud, with the dates of their appointment, are as follows:

Myron D. Taylor, register, October 8, 1898. The two gentlemen last named were re-appointed and held their respective positions until the office was removed to Duluth and consolidated with that office December 17, 1906.

Until the homestead law was enacted in 1865 government lands could be obtained only for cash, by pre-emption, with military bounty land warrants, and after 1859 with half-breed scrip.

The first land sale at the St. Cloud office was held in October, 1860, the total sales amounting to but about 800 acres. Within three days afterwards over one hundred persons filed anew on their claims.

A proclamation was issued by the president of the United States in August, 1864, for a sale of government lands to be held at the St. Cloud office beginning October 17. The advertised list included all the pine lands and a considerable part of the farming lands in both the St. Cloud district and the old Otter Tail district. The acreage sold was comparatively small, most of this being pine land.

During the second quarter of the following year, from April 1 to June 30, the following passage of the homestead bill 96,296 acres were taken as homesteads in 632 entries and 109,286 acres were sold at private sale, the government price being $1.25 and $2.50 per acre, as the land lay without or within certain railroad limits. Of these homesteads over 400 were entered for soldiers then in the service by the Rev. Mr. Conway, who made this quite a lucrative business for some time. But very few of the soldiers ever actually went on the lands which had been entered for them in this way. In the first eleven months of this year the total acreage located at the St. Cloud office was 259,102, of which 205,768 acres were taken under the homestead law. The sales for 1866 aggregated 366,323 acres, of which 147,949 were by homestead entries and 167,208 acres with agricultural college scrip. The last homestead entry in 1866 was No. 3,400 and it was located within six miles of the first homestead taken in the district.

The first public sale of pine lands which reached any magnitude at the St. Cloud office began December 16, 1872, and continued for nine days. In all about 30,000 acres of land were sold the ruling price being $1.25 per acre. There was little or no competition among the buyers, matters having been satisfactorily arranged in advance so as to avoid competition. The largest purchasers were J. E. Hayward and J. P. Wilson, of St. Cloud; L. Day & Sons, C. Morrison, T. B. Walker, H. P. Brown, J. K. Sidle, Frank L. Morse and Todd & Fales, of Minneapolis.

Another sale of pine lands began January 13 of the following year, continuing but three days, the sales amounting to between 6,000 and 7,000 acres. The prevailing price was $1.25 per acre, although a few tracts were sold at the double-minimum price, $2.50 per acre.

The next offerings of pine lands were in 1883, when two large sales were held. The first began January 15 closing January 24, and attracted a great number of buyers. On account of the large attendance it was found necessary to adjourn the offerings from the land office to the court house, where the sales were conducted by D. H. Freeman, register, and W. B. MitcheU, receiver. Among the buyers present were T. B. Walker, J. S. Pillsbury,

The second sale was even more successful than the first. As in the case of its predecessor, the offerings were made at the court house in order to accommodate the large attendance, the sale beginning August 20 and continuing until September 1. Minneapolis was represented by T. B. Walker, C. A. Pillsbury, George A. Camp, D. M. Clough, B. F. Nelson, W. L. Bassett, Jonathan Chase, J. T. Wyman, H. L. Gordon, C. E. Brown and others ; Duluth, Brainerd and other Minnesota cities by leading lumbermen, while C. F. Ruggles, of Manistee; E. M. Fowler and W. C. Yawkey, of Detroit; M. L. Alworth and Ezra Rust, of Saginaw, Mich,; B. F. Millard, D. E. Miles and a half dozen others from Chippewa Falls, Wis., were among the active buyers, and many other localities, even as far off as Olean, N. Y., had present one or more seekers after pine. The heaviest individual buyers were : C. F. Ruggles, $76,179; C. A. Pillsbury, $42,647; J. S. Pillsbury, $27,044; M. H. Alworth, $30,437 ; Camp & Walker, $35,799 ; T. B. Walker, $28,783 ; E. M. Fowler, $34,762; W. C. Yawkey, $14,746; D. E. Miles, $28,771; B. F. Millard, $24,290; J. W. Pence, $22,047 ; C. H. Davis, $20,383 ; E. C. Beebe, $14,762 ; H. L. Gordon, $19,451 ; C. A. Oilman, $18,257 ; John Cooper, $10,024. The sales totaled $558,885. The highest price paid was $20.25 per acre, the average being about $3.12. This sale was the largest, in the matter of receipts, ever held in the country and the prices received were on an average nearly double those usually paid at sales of government lands. During the sale the receiver issued 3,000 receipts, the money taken each day being sent to the sub-treasury at Chicago. The total acreage of the two sales in 1883 was 556,662, and the cash receipts $990,045 - almost a million dollars. Commissioner McFarland of the General Land Office, Washington, officially pronounced "the St. Cloud sale a great success." It was the last public sale of pine lands held at this office.

An examination of the land office records would indicate that it was a neck-and-neck race - without intention - among the early settlers in the county as to who should have the honor of having made the first entry. That distinction, however, falls to W. B. Staples, of the township of St. Joseph, who, September 29, filed on 160 aeres in section 22. Stephen Zien filed October 13 on 120 acres in section 5 of the same township. But several others had preceded him. G. H. Brinkman, October 10, took nine forties in section 3 in the township of Rockville. On the same day M. Hammerel filed on the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 19 in the township of St. Augusta. Maine Prairie had an "early bird" in the person of Samuel

Young, Jr., who, October 13, 1855, filed on two forties in section 17 and three forties in section 20. This group constitute all who filed prior to the year 1857.

As the early settlement was in the eastern part of the county there were few filings from the townships in the western part. The first filing at Sauk Centre was in 1860, when, March 17, James R. Walker took 120 acres in section 9, and 40 acres in section 10. In 1861, September 14, Margaret Frazer took a forty in section 8. Whitman R. James followed October 21, with 160 acres in sections 10 and 11, and Lewis M. Davis 80 acres in section 15. On the sixth of the following month Eldridge F. Washburn took 160 acres, J. F. Warren 160 acres, and Lewis Ford 40 acres in section 17, the latter taking 120 acres additional in section 18. It was not until 1862 that Alexander Moore began the purchasing of a large acreage. James M. Thomason also acquired considerable land in Sauk Centre that year.