Wabasha County, Minnesota - Chapter 22: Lake Township and Lake City, 1920 (part 1 of 2)

Lake is a rather small township, both on account of Lake Pepin, which lies partly within its boundaries, and because the city of Lake City was carved out of its original territory. Most of it lies back of the bluffs which form a kind of ampitheater within which the city is situated. Its surface is rolling, diversi¬ fied by ravines and bluffs, from the summit of which fine views of Lake Pepin and the Mississippi Valley may be had. The soil is largely of yellow clay, and produces the finest crops of wheat; other crops, as potatoes, barley, rye, corn, etc., are also raised in abundance, but the best proof of the fertility of the soil is found in the tasty farm houses and large barns that dot the landscape in every direction, evidently the homes of intelligent and prosperous people. It was settled largely by the Irish, and the present population is composed mostly of Irish, Germans and Americans.

Lake Township was first officially known as the town of Lake City, and as such included within its limits Lake City proper, which settlement, however, soon obtained special powers to be hereinafter described. It was not so much beauty of location, as it was opportunity for trade, that was sought by the early settlers along the upper Mississippi, else the beautiful location this city now occupies would not so long have remained unclaimed by white settlers. The Indian ports at Red Wing and at Wabasha, the inlet and outlet of Lake Pepin, had been the home of half-breeds for years previous to any settlement at this point, and white traders had also been resident there for no incon¬ siderable time prior to the coming of any white settlers to this immediate vicinity. The mouth of the Chippewa River on the Wisconsin shore, and Read's on this, had been occupied as trading ports by whites, the former for eighteen years, the latter for nearly as long, before Jacob and Philip Boody laid claim and settled upon lands now within the corporate limits of this city. This settle¬ ment was effected in the autumn of 1853, the claims in all amounting to 328 acres, lying up the lake from the central part of the city. In May of the spring following, Mr. Patrick Conway and his two sons, James and William, arrived, and took claims back of the present city, near the old territorial road. In June, Mr. Abner Dwelle and his family, together with John Boody, cousin of the first claimants, came and took claims down the lake, and these were the only settle¬ ments prior to the year 1855. The spring of 1855 brought quite a reinforcement to the little settlement, and from that time forward frequent accession to the number of settlers occurred, until in the fall of 1856 it was estimated that about 300 persons were settled in the neighborhood. Among the arrivals of 1855 whose names have become household words were Abner Tibbetts, William Berry, Seth Skinner, who brought a small stock of goods which he retailed from a board shanty belonging to Abner Tibbetts, and Mr. Samuel Doughty, who bought the claims of Jacob and Philip Boody, and in June of this year erected the first frame dwelling in the place, bringing his lumber by raft from Read's Landing. This building, originally intended as a kitchen for the more con¬ siderable dwelling he proposed to erect, was 18 by 26 feet, and stood very nearly upon the site of the present dwelling of Mr. Doughty on High street. He also brought a few blacksmithing tools with him and though his shop was not very commodious, its usefulness to the pioneers as a place where their plows might be sharpened, amply compensated for its lack of windows and chimney. Although the country was still a wilderness, and Indians were constantly pass¬ ing back and forth from Red Wing to Wabasha, camping on the shores of the lake near the houses of the early settlers, and occasionally inviting themselves to dinner, yet they were generally civil, and the settlers knew very little of the privations that oft are suffered by pioneers in sections far removed from the highways of trade. Provisions were brought from Prairie du Chien by the steamers that were .constantly plying up and down the river, for these were the days when trade was booming upon the Mississippi, as many as nine steamers having been seen in the lake at one time. The beautiful plain, encircled by bluffs on three sides and fronted by Lake Pepin, was at this time covered with burr oak, white and black oak, maple, hazel brush, etc., interspersed with little stretches of prairie as smooth as the most finely-kept lawns. Game was abundant, and the lake and creeks teemed with fish. Currey creek was espe¬ cially noted for deer, there being several runways upon it, and a drove of nineteen elk was at one time seen by Mr. Doughty on the prairie back of the town.

Nothing but sheer laziness would prevent a man from obtaining as many prairie chickens and ducks as desired. Wolves, too, were common, and were frequently seen in numbers playing upon the ice of the lake. In the year 1856, large numbers arrived, and buildings of a permanent character were rapidly pushed. Messrs. Tibbetts, Dwelle and Baldwin erected a large store building in 1855 and 1856, which was occupied by H. F. Williamson, who opened quite a large stock of goods. This building stood near the foot of Washington street, where the old grange warehouse now is. Mr. Patten also built a store, and the steamers, which previously objected to landing at this point, began to make regular stops. A town was surveyed and platted this year, Messrs. Tibbetts, Dwelle, and Doughty being proprietors, and the lots sold rapidly to the new¬ comers. Mr. Doughty donated four of his best lots, in what is now the central portion of the town, to Messrs. Jacobs and Sigler, in consideration of their erecting a hotel thereon. The City Hotel, the result of this transaction, stood on the corner now occupied by Stout, Dwelle and Hassinger's clothing store, and was a good-sized and popular house. It was converted into a store afterwards, and finally destroyed by fire in 1882. In the year, also, a sawmill was erected by Messrs. Gillett, Thompson, Starr, and A. H. Gaylord at the foot of Main street, the frame of which is still standing.

Abner Tibbetts built a grain warehouse, which was occupied by J. L. Armstrong and L. H. Maples, who started the forwarding and commission busi¬ ness. During this year the Congregationalists built a small church, which was destroyed by a windstorm while in process of erection, but was immediately rebuilt. The materials for building were rafted from above, principally from Stillwater and Hastings. The town grew rapidly. In 1857, John T. Averill put a run of stone into the planing-mill of Tupper & Sons, which was the first move toward a gristmill. The postoffice was established in 1856, and H. F. Williamson appointed postmaster. The first child born upon ground included in the town plat was a girl born to John Boody and wife, in the summer of 1854. The first death in the settlement was in the same family, Mrs. John Boody, who died sometime in 1855. The first marriage was that of G. W. Hathaway and Miss Abbey Langley, in the year 1857. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Silas Hazlett, who also taught the school. Matters continued to improve in the little colony until the lands were legally entered and title properly acquired, soon after which the formal organization of the county into townships was effected, and the history of the colony here becomes a part of that of Lake City Township, May 11, 1858, the time of the first town meeting, to be resumed as separate history in 1864, when by special act of legislature the city was endowed with special and corporate privileges. The first town meeting was held at the City Hotel, May 13, 1858, at which there were 103 votes polled and the followingnamed gentlemen were elected town officers: Supervisors - Charles W. Hackett, Abner Dwelle, Samuel Doughty; town clerk - Dewitt C. Sterry; assessor - Henry Collins; collector - H. M. Hulett; overseer of the poor - John McNeil; con-

The period of early settlement was not without its tragedies, which every now and then cast a gloom over the community. One of these occurred in June, 1858, when Julia and Rebecca Stout, and two sisters named Stowell, members of a picnic party to Maiden Rock, Wis., were drowned during a squall on Lake Pepin by the upsetting of their sailboat. Another notable accident occurred in the spring of 1859, when the steamer Aeolian was crushed by the ice and sunk, two men and an old lady being drowned.

By special legislative enactment, of date March 3, 1864, the supervisors of the town of Lake City were given special powers, which were equivalent in general terms to those usually exercised by the board of trustees of an incor¬ porated village, or the common council of an incorporated city, but these special powers were only made applicable to a particularly specified section of the town of Lake City, to wit: The S. W. V4 of S. W. V4 and lots Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Sec. 4; and the E. V2 and N. W. V4 of S. E. x/4 of Sec. 5; the E. y2 of N. W. V4 and the S. V2 of N. E. x/4 and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of Sec. 5; and the E. y2 of N. W. V4 and the N. W. y4 of N. W. y4 and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of Sec. 9, all in T. Ill N., of R. 12 W., according to United States survey. This tract, as above described, included that portion lying between the railroad track and the lake, with the addition of some small territory on the south side of the railway tracks about the depot, and also in the lower part of the village. It was a strip of land lying along Lake Pepin, a distance of a little over one and a half miles in length and extending backward from the lake a distance varying from one-half to three-fourths of a mile. It was this portion of Lake City township, that while still continuing an integral part of that township, was practically cut off from it, by the special act of March 3, 1864, above referred to.

It was made the duty of the township supervisors to enforce the regulations and the manner of procedure in such cases was duly set forth. The justices of the town of Lake City were given original and exclusive jurisdiction in all cases arising under the act, and no appeal could be taken in any case where the fine imposed did not exceed twenty dollars. The supervisors of the town of Lake City were also empowered to appoint a marshal, who was required to furnish bond, and given all the authority of constable under the statute of the state. The supervisors were also authorized and required to vote a tax upon the tax¬ able property of the district thus governed sufficient to pay the expenses in¬ curred in carrying out the provisions of the act; that tax was to be by majority vote of the town supervisors, and the town clerk was required to file a copy of record of such vote upon which the tax was to be levied and collected, as all other township taxes were. The assessor of the town of Lake City was also required to make a separate list of the persons and personal property of all residents of the specified district in the same manner as was required to be done in the case of residents of incorporated towns. The act took effect from and after its passage, and thenceforth the town supervisors of Lake City had a corporation to look after, which was not incorporated, and the district above described had all the honors and privileges of an incorporated village or city without its liabilities and many of its burdens. The legislature of 1866 made some additional provisions, concerning the building of sidewalks, and the town supervisors were authorized to direct so much of the poll and road tax, derived from the tax of the special district, as they deemed to be best, to the main¬ tenance of bridges and highways in adjacent townships.

By act of legislature, approved March 9, 1867, some material additions were made to the powers of the supervisors of the town of Lake City, chiefly relating to licenses, the prohibition of gaming and card-playing, and the establishment of fire limits, with restrictions in regard to the construction of wooden buildings ; also in regard to the confinement of arrested persons, the construction of a street through the center of Block 1, and the leasing of part of the levee.

Thus a favored corner of Lake City Township was granted, and enjoyed for eight years, all the benefits and privileges that could have been secured through a city charter, while the responsbiilities of incorporation were largely avoided; and all the expense of carrying on the machinery was the sum of two dollars per capita for the township supervisors and town clerk for every day actually expended in the direction of affairs. True, the township officers could be sued, but there was no provision for their contracting any obligations for this specified district as such, and the arrangement all through was one on which Lake City, unincorporated, might well congratulate herself.

The condition of the city, its growth and development as a corporate body, virtually dates from 1864, the year in which, under special legislative enact¬ ment, the inhabitants of this particular portion of Lake City township began to assume the methods of city governments. Little change requiring note appears to have transpired in that year, and the early part of 1865. The attention of all classes was directed to the great struggle between north and south, to the exclusion of almost all else; and it was not until the nation emerged from the conflict, and her surviving defenders came trooping homeward, that the great heart of the country breathed free, and the life of all industries resumed their natural flow. At this time, midsummer of 1865, the township of Lake City had a population of 1,411; of these from 1,100 to 1,200 were included within the city limits. The citizens of the little mart on the shores of Lake Pepin were aspiring to the direction of so much of the trade of the surrounding country as a liberal policy would enable them to control. They had attempted the creation of a market for grain at this point by providing the best roads possible. They had steadily resisted all seductions to combine against the producer and depress prices, and by this policy had gained the confidence of the wheatgrowers in adjacent counties, many of whom brought their surplus grain to Lake City market, the advance in price secured here more than compensating for the remoteness of the market. The season for grain shipments during 1865 lasted 248 days; and in that time there were shipped from this point, of wheat alone, 660,394 bushels; and there was in store 66,000 bushels. Prices ruled for the year about one dollar and five cents on the average, and had it not been for the rapacity of the transportation companies, it was claimed that the aver¬ age price for the season would have ruled ten cents per bushel higher. The exaction led to attempted combinations on the part of the shippers, out of which new lines of freight-carrying vessels originated; and competition, as far as practicable, restored the balances to something like equity. The tonnage of the vessels passing this point, and receiving and discharging freight at Lake City docks, was computed at 12,631 tons-, and the whole number of vessels fifty-three. To these were to be added 129 barges and lighters, with a farther capacity of 19,350 tons.

The increase in population of the town of Lake City for the semi-decacle from 1860 to 1865 was 545, an increase of 63 per cent. No separate census returns were kept of population within the village, and how much of the in¬ crease was in town or how much in country cannot now be ascertained. The substantial improvements in building alone during 1865 aggregated nearly $85,000, about one-third of which was on Washington street. The improve¬ ments were very largely new structures.

In February, 1866, a board of trade was organized, with which most of the leading men of the city were identified. This organization had, among other objects, that of securing more equitable freight rates for grain and merchan¬ dise. An anti-monopoly convention had been called, representing the merchants and shippers of the state, to meet at St. Paul and to this convention the Lake City board of trade sent its representatives. The result of the deliberations at St. Paul was the determination to build a line of boats and put them on the river - to be known as the People's line - the people holding and owning the stock. Committees were appointed to secure subscriptions to such stock, and

President Williamson, of the Lake City board of trade, was appointed solicitor for this section. The organization of the Minnesota Transportation Company was the result of this convention; but as the old monopolies were breaking up, and it was thought that the resulting competition would equalize freight charges, the building of boats was abandoned. The beginning of this year, 1866, was marked by a decided interest in temperance matters on the part of the public at large. A Good Templars' lodge was organized here January 20, and within a week had 100 members. A genuine wave of temperance feeling tided over the county; lectures were common, lodges multiplied, the recruits were numerous, and the interest was well sustained throughout the year.

From the ledgers of the merchants doing business in town, it was ascer¬ tained that the volume of trade for the year ending August 1, 1866, aggregated a little over one and a half millions of dollars. The returns, however, were quite incomplete. Oats, corn, barley, manufactures in general, saloons, and other branches of business not being mentioned. The price of wheat ruled high during the shipping season, and $15,000 a day was quite frequently paid by the buyers here. The year 1867 was ushered in with a fire which destroyed the livery stables, and some of the stock, of Russell & McNeil.

The questions of supreme importance that engaged the attention of the citizens of Lake City during the year 1867 were those of railroad aid and county-seat removal. The Chicago & St. Paul Railway Company had come to a standstill in their efforts to secure the construction of the road. A prejudice was felt against the road and eastern capitalists would not invest in its bonds; it was therefore attempted to secure the placing of some of these bonds at home, or at least a sufficient number of them to convince eastern capitalists that the road enjoyed the confidence of the residents of that portion of the state through which it was to pass. A conference between the representatives of the railroad company and leading citizens of Lake City was accoidingl\ held June 26, and after some preliminary investigation into the character of the in¬ vestment, a motion was made by Judge Stout, recommending the supervisors of the town of Lake to subscribe for first mortgage bonds of the Chicago & St. Paul Railway Company, to the amount of $20,000, on the conditions embodied in the report of the committee that had been previously appointed and whose lepoit was then under consideration. No result was reached, and the old company was reorganized in November, with Hon. W. B. Ogden, of Chicago, at its head. On March 6, 1868, by special act of the state legislature the village of Lake City was authorized to issue its bonds in aid of the construction of the Chicago & St Paul railway. This act was amended February 2, 1869, the word "town being substituted for "village," and on the sixth of that month the supervisors of the town passed an ordinance, submitting the question to the legal v°tei s thereof. Due notice was given, and the election was held Tuesday, February 26, 1869, at which a total vote of 437 was polled. The amount of the proposed issue was $75,000, and the poll stood: for issue, 306; against issue, 131.

The sum of $75,000 bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, etc., the principal to mature thirty years after the date of such bonds, was voted at the special election held February 23, 1869. The delivery of these bonds was conditioned upon the completion and full operation of ^the Chicago and St. Paul Railroad between St. Paul and Winona on or before April 1, 1872. On June 29, 1869, the Chicago and St. Paul Railway Company contracted with the Minnesoa Railway Construction Company to build and equip the railway from St. Paul to Winona, and also sold and assigned to the Minnesota Railway Construction Company all gifts, donations, bounties or aid in any form which had been or thereafter might be given to it by any person, corporation, munici¬ pality or State to aid in the construction of the railway, including the bonds which the town of Lake City had obligated itself to issue and deliver. e road was completed and cars running thereon for the entire distance specified, and the road had become entitled to the delivery of the bonds by January 1,

1872. Aftr this on February 26, 1872, the city of Lake City was incorporated, the territory of which was carved out of the town of Lake City. No provision was made by the act incorporating the city, for the payment of any part of the debts or the assumption of any of the obligations of the town of Lake City, by the city of Lake City, nor is there any general statute of the State adjusting the liabilities of the old town within the new city. A contract, however, was entered into between the city of Lake City and the town of Lake City, through their respective municipal officers, in which it was agreed that of all cash in hand, taxes in hands of county treasurer, uncollected taxes, etc., the city of Lake City should receive 83 per cent, and the town of Lake City 17 per cent. It was further stipulated that all outstanding accounts and claims against the old town of Lake City should be borne in the same proportion by each corpora¬ tion. It is perhaps necessary to state that this contract never came to the notice of the courts in which the suit that followed with the railroad company was tried. In 1873 the name of the township of Lake City was changed to the township of Lake. After the completion of the road the Minnesota Railway Construction Company presented its bonds to the officers of the town of Lake and the city of Lake City to sign, but they refused to do this, alleging fraud against the company. The Minnesota Railway Construction Company then brought suit by writ of mandamus in the Supreme Court to compel the town of Lake and city of Lake City to issue their joint and several bonds of the character and amount provided for. In this suit Thomas Wilson appeared for city of Lake City, and H. D. Stocker and W. J. Hahn for town of Lake. The defendants in this action alleged in their answer various acts of fraud on the part of the railroad company, the most material of which was that before the ordinance authorizing the holding of an election to ratify the issuing of the bonds was passed, the St. Paul and Chicago Railroad Company, for the purpose of inducing the Supervisors to pass the same, promised the Supervisors that if they would pass the ordinance, the railway company would locate on the private property of said Supervisors, thereby greatly enhancing its value. The city also made the further objection that as it was a new and distinct municipal corporation, since created and erected out of a portion of the original town of Lake City, it therefore was not liable for any of the obligations of the old town. This answer was held sufficient as to the city and the action against it was dismissed. It now remained for the town of Lake to prove the alleged fraud.

For this purpose H. D. Stocker, Esq., went to California and there obtained depositions from the old Supervisors of the town fully sustaining the position of defendants. These depositions were placed on file and coming to the notice of plaintiff's counsel induced them to offer to compromise the suit which was accordingly done and a judgment by agreement of $2,500 was entered in the District Court of Wabasha county against town of Lake. A controversy now arose between the city and town, in relation to the payment of this judgment and the expenses of the suit. Under the contract entered into by these two corporations in 1872, the substance of which is given above, the cash on hand, taxes in hands of county treasurer, uncollected taxes, etc., belonging to the old town of Lake were divided in the ratios set forth in the contract, and all liabilities, debts, and obligations of said town had also been borne in like ratio. The expenses incurred in this suit together with the above mentioned judgment amounted to about $9,200. The town of Lake claimed that the whole of this amount came under the operation of the contract of 1872 and that the city of Lake City was accordingly bound to pay 83 per cent of it. Considerable dis¬ cussion ensued and at a meeting of the city council upon August 28, 1882, the report of a committee appointed to investigate said claims advising the payment of 83 per cent of the judgment, viz.: $2,100 to the town of Lake in consideration of a full release by the town of all further claims against the city was unani¬ mously adopted. The city authorities holding that expenses of the suit incurred by the town amounting to about $4,000 were voluntarily incurred by it and constituted a private debt of the town of Lake for which the city was not responsible under the contract. The town, however, did not accept the $2,100 in the form it was offered, and the matter for some time remained unsettled. It was, however, finally adjusted by the payment of a part of the sum mentioned and the vexatious matter was thus brought to an end.

The county-seat question was one equally tedious of settlement, and much more provocative of animosity and sectional bitterness. On March 7 of this year, 1867, an act legislative was passed, submitting to the voters of the county the question of the removal of the county-seat from its then location, Wabasha, to Lake City. The act was passed upon a petition of the citizens, and competi¬ tion for the capital honors became lively. Lake City bid for the removal by pledging her bonds to the extent of $20,000 for the erection of suitable county buildings in case the county seat was located here. It was urged that this would be a saving of at least $10,000 to the county, as that amount was im¬ peratively needed to provide a jail at Wabasha, and the matter of issuing county bonds for that amount had already been under consideration by the county commissioners. The legality of the issue of $20,000 in bonds, as proposed by Lake City, was submitted to the attorney-general Hon. W. Colville, who affirmed the legality of the issue. The bonds were duly issued and deposited with the county treasurer as the property of the county in case the removal should be effected. These bonds were to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent annually, and were made payable in five yearly installmnts of $4,000 each. The press of the rival cities waxed heated in the contest which ensued, and no means were left untried to secure a possible victory. The balloting was something extraor¬ dinary, and the immense number of 9,480 votes were polled in a county not exceeding 13,500 population all told. The contest was carried into the courts and a hearing had before Judge Barber, of the third judicial district. Case was adjourned for months to take testimony, Judge Mitchell, of Winona, acting as referee, together with Counsellor Benedict, of Rochester. The conclusion finally was that 2,531 legal votes had been cast, of which number 1,457 had been cast in favor of Lake City, and 1,074 in favor of Wabasha. The case was carried to the supreme court and a decision rendered in January, 1871, reversing the judgment of the district court, on the ground that it requires a majority of the legal voters of the county and not a majority of the votes cast to effect the removal of the county seat, and in this manner the matter was disposed of three years and a half after the vote was taken.

The city suffered quite a loss on August 30 of this yeai, 1867, by the destruction of the planing-mill of J. W. Harding, which, with the warehouse of Amsbry & Fletcher, was totally destroyed by fire. The planing-mill was quite an extensive establishment, and the loss was probably not less than ten thou¬ sand dollars, upon which there was no insurance. The Lake City postoffice was made a money-order office September 9.

With the year 1868 the town reached its first decade as an organized part of the governmental system of the state. A comparison of the votes cast at the opening and also at the close of this period of ten years, shows that the increase was from 134 votes in 1858, to 512 in 1868. The aiea o t e exclusive of town lots, in acres, 17,4085/12 acres, which was valued at $100 602, or about $5.77 per acre. The aggregate value of town lots in 1868, including buildings thereon, was $180,639, making a total real estate valuation for the town of Lake City of $290,241. The total value of the persona property of the town was rated at $149,374, a little more than one-seventh of all the person a 1 property of the county, which was returned at $1,005,856, about $75,500 less than the real property as scheduled by assessor. There was a decided increase in the amount of grain shipments from Lake City duiing this >eai as compare with 1867, but prices did not rule so high. A census taken in this year y Abner Tibbetts, the assessor, gave 3,031 as the population of the town o

On July 9, 1869, a tornado, the first ever seen in Wabasha county within historic periods, struck the county, inflicting considerable damage in Mt. Pleasant Township, where three dwellings were destroyed and some stock killed, but no persons injured, with the exception of L. C. Carson's little girl, who was carried about 150 feet and considerably bruised.

During the year 1869 the question of voting aid to the reorganized St. Paul & Chicago Railway Co. was the all-absorbing theme. The city continued to show a gratifying increase in trade and improvements. The amount expended in buildings was $109,000. The shipments of grain were much in excess of previous years; barley began to assume importance as an item of freight, and flour shipments largely increased also. The total grain business of the season amounted to about 850,000 bushels.

The year 1870 was that in which the United States census was taken, and the returns as filed by the enumerator gave the town of Lake City a total population of 2,608, of whom 2,117 were within what may be denominated the limits of the city. This was somewhat less than was expected, as from the assessor's returns of 1868 it was confidently believed that the population would not fall below three thousand.

The winter of 1869-70 a rivalry arose among the various drivers along the stage-route from La Crosse northward as to the quickest possible time between the terminus of the railroad, La Crosse, and Lake City. On Wednesday, February 9, one of the up-stages left La Crosse at 7:15 a. m., and making stop¬ pages aggregating fifty-eight minutes at Winona, Minneiska and Wabasha, reached Lake City at 4:38 p. m., making the distance of eighty-eight miles in nine hours and twenty-three minutes, or, deducting stoppages, in eight hours and twenty-five minutes. It was not ah "vys, however, that the drivers were so fortunate. The south-bound stage on December 28 went through the ice about three miles above Read's Landing, drowning the wheel horses and losing express, mails and freight. Two passengers on board escaped, one dry-shod, one with an ice-bath in Pepin. The mails, express and freight, with the coach, were hooked up by a party of volunteers from Read's Landing, and the horses only were a total loss.

This year, 1870, witnessed the organization of the First National bank, and the completion of the Methodist Episcopal church so far as to enable the society to occupy the basement, which they did, on December 18. The expenditures for buildings during the year footed up $88,125. It is within bounds to say that of wheat (and the equivalent in flour), barley, oats and corn, the actual shipments from the wharves here were in excess of 1,300,000 bushels, the wheat shipped alone amounting to 861,000 bushels. On June 3, 1871, the Patrons of Husbandry organized a grange in Lake City, and steps were taken to consolidate the work of the grange throughout the county, so as to secure some practical results.

This year was rendered memorable by the completion of the railway to this place, and the arrival of the long-expected locomotive. The tracklayers crossed the county-line from the north on Tuesday, July 11, and by nightfall the rails were laid half-way through town. On July 25, regular trains were put on between Lake City and St. Paul, and the road at the south was rapidly extending itself up the river. Work on the depot here was being rapidly pushed, the only regret on the part of the people being that its location was so far from the business portion of the city. The first through train for Winona came down on Wednesday, September 6; the following day regular trips commenced over the road, and it was no longer possible to say the upper river towns were out of the world six months of the year. On Friday, October 13, the United States mails were brought in on the trains, and so closed the old era of stages and steamboats as mail transports for Lake City. The new order of things was brought about by the personal attention of Congressman Averill, who gave a day of his time in Washington to matters and secured the benefits of railway mails without the usual delay. During the same year the public library was organized and a free reading room in Richardson's block, on Center street, being opened about the middle of November.

Elevators were erected during the fall and winter along the railroad track, and a decided impetus was given to business, already flourishing, by the advent of railway communication. Other things seemed also to have come in with the railway, which were not so acceptable. As previously mentioned, Lake City wheat buyers had long before established the policy of paying as high prices for grain as the market would possibly justify. In order, therefore, to compete with the buyers in this market, shippers at other points were obliged reluctantly to follow their lead. At last the speculators concluded to manipulate the.market at this point. All the large wheat-buying houses were interested in the scheme, and also the Davidson and the Diamond Jo line of steamers. An arrangement was effected with the Lake City warehousemen by which a uniform price of twenty-five cents below the Milwaukee quotations should be pooled. The monopoly extended wherever the river and railway lines extended, and as the freight was only twelve cents, commissions one cent, elevator charges one cent, and cost of buying three cents - at which there was a good profit - the cost of wheat here was justly within 17 cents of the Milwaukee quotations, a clear gain beyond legitimate trade profits of eight cents per bushel, or a dead loss of that amount to the wheat raisers of the state. Controlling as they did the whole wheat purchases of the market, the transportation lines forbid all ware¬ housemen from paying more than the dictated price, from buying any wheat or shipping on his own account, or from receiving into the warehouse grain which had been purchased above the stipulated price. The large wheat merchants of the centralized markets and the transportation companies enforced, or attempted to enforce, their measures, by making noncompliance a ground of expulsion from the market, and set their own spies, with power to enter a warehouseman's office and examine his books, as a special police to enforce these regulations. The reputable wheat merchants of the city had entered very reluctantly into the arrangement at the outset, and only acquiesced under protest, to see how matters would turn out, not clearly seeing the depth of the business to which they were asked to commit themselves. As soon as they understood the true inwardness of the matter the merchants and press of the city opened upon the combination, and an agitation was begun by which the ring was completely "busted," and a return to honorable competition effected. The ring lasted cibout three weeks*

The improvements for the year 1871 were largely in excess of all pie\iou.^ years, and some of them of a very costly and substantial character. Their value aggregated $150,000. One of the most important public improvements was the widening of Pearl street, now Lyon avenue, from a width of seventy to that of ninety feet. This work was the liberal donation of W. H. Lyon, of New York, who had extensive property interests in the city, and has always been liberal in devising for the little city by the lake. What property he did not own he purchased from High street to the lake, and setting the buildings back the required distance, opened a street ninety feet in width. Pui chasing some blocks about the depot, also, he meditated the widening of the entire street from the lake to the city limits, but was temporarily prevented by the owners of some property along the streets. The city, however, in 1873, took the matter in hand, condemned the lots that jutted out into the street (of which there were only three), and gave the city a beautiful avenue of the uniform

Early in 1867 the question of formally organizing as a city was discussed, and meetings held to consider the question. The matter was finally disposed of in a meeting of the citizens held at Williamson's hall, on the evening of

Saturday, January 19, 1867. The objection to the existing order of affairs was urged, on the ground that as now administered, the town authorities lacked the power properly to administer the affairs of a community like this, and corporate powers had become a necessity. To this it was answered that the power in the hands of the supervisors was ample, and only needed to be exer¬ cised. Also that if more legislation was needed it could be obtained, but that it was unadvisable to saddle the town with the burdens of maintaining a cor¬ porate existence. The test question, as submitted, was that a city charter be drawn up, and the proposition was negatived by a very decided majority. The meeting instructed the supervisors to rigidly enforce such by-laws and ordi¬ nances as were already in existence, and a committee was chosen to draw up amendments to the then existing regulations, increasing the power of the town supervisors so as to include the various subjects afterward specified in the legislative act of March 9, next ensuing. Matters remained in this state so far as the exercise of governmental powers was concerned, until the formal incorporation of the city - although one more attempt to incorporate was made, which led to no definite result. By act of legislature of 1870, it was provided that any community, within any specified district, numbering not less than 2,000 souls, and not more than 15,000, might, upon filing with the judge of probate for the county within which such district was located, a petition for incorporation signed by not less than two-thirds of the legal voters of said district, become thereby incorporated, and it was made the duty of the judges of probate, before whom such petition should come, to order an election for the purpose of filling the various offices set forth in the charter as petitioned for. Such petition so signed by 322 legal voters residing within a certain described district (substantially the corporate limits of the present city of Lake City), came before A. Z. Putnam, judge of probate for the county of Wabasha, on May 15, 1871. The judge gave notice of election to be held July 1, 1871, for the purpose of filling the various offices, and designated the place of holding such elections. Caucuses were held, and a full ticket nominated, but owing to opposition on the part of some, and a general distrust of the legality of such an incorporation, the polls were never opened, and the election passed. The friends of the measure were not satisfied with the disposition of the case, and C. N. Sterry secured the opinion of Hon. Thos. Wilson, of the city of Winona, and also of Messrs. Bigelow, Flandrau & Clark, of St. Paul, as to the constitutionality or otherwise of the city charter. The opinions in both cases sustained the action of the citizens as legal, and the incorporation as a valid act. The opinion of the St. Paul attorneys was also to the effect that failure to hold the election in no case vacated or dissolved the corporation. The re¬ course as contained in the opinion, was to re-petition for a designated day of election, or apply to the legislature to appoint a day. The former was not done, and instead of the latter, an act of incorporation was duly passed at the next session of the legislature in the winter of 1871-72, in accordance with which Lake City was incorporated as a city, and the long-vexed question finally settled.

The new corporation retained the old name "Lake City," and the city limits were materially enlarged, extending west from the lake shore, along the line separating Wabasha and Goodhue counties, a distance of one and a half miles, thence south one and one-half miles, thence east two and one-half miles to the lake shore, thence northwesterly along the irregular shore line to the boundary of the county on the north. The landed area of the city thus em¬ braced about three and one-quarter sections of land; and there was not far from the same area, as its boundaries were legally described, that were covered by the waters of the lake. The city as thus limited was divided into wards, as follows: All that part of said territory lyingg and being westward of a line beginning in the southern boundary of said territorial limits at a point twentyseven and one-half [rods] west of the center of section 8, in T. Ill N., of R. 12;

W., thence along the middle of the public road north to a point where a line running through the center of Pearl street in the plotted town of Lake City continued southwestward will intersect the same; thence northwestwardly by said line running through middle of Pearl street and the continuation thereof to Greenwood avenue, thence through the alley between blocks E and F in said town of Lake City, thence northerly to the northern boundary of said territorial limits, shall constitute the first ward. All that part of said territorial limits lying and being eastward of said described lines constitute the second ward. The error in this description is in making Pearl street run northwesterly - should be northeasterly. The division of the city into wards may at present be practically stated to be by a line running through the center of Lyon avenue and extending from the southern limits of the city to the lake. This does not differ materially from the division as expressed in the act.

The charter also provided for the election or appointment of the various city officers, defining their duties, specifying the length of their terms of office, and providing for their remuneration by salary or fees. It defined the general powers of the council and board of alderman in all matters concerning the general well-being, peace, healthfulness, good conduct and safety of the city.

By the same act of incorporation it was provided that "all that part of the town of Lake City, under this act, shall constitute and be a town by the name of 'Lake,' with all the authorties, rights and powers of towns under the laws of this state."

Section 11 of chapter 8 of the charter authorized and empowered Asa B. Doughty, Merrell Dwelle and Carlos Clement to appoint three discreet and judicious persons in each ward to act as judges of the election to be held on the first Tuesday of April, 1872; and also to locate and provide a place in each ward for holding the election. March 30, 1872, under call previously published a union caucus for the nomination of city officers, irrespective of political par¬ ties, was held at the opera house, and a ticket put in nomination. The ward caucuses were held after the general caucus, one at the opera house and one at the Washington street school building. The caucus was numerously at¬ tended, and the proceedings were of a character to show a deep interest on the part of the best citizens that a city government of approved ability should be chosen. The nominations were made, and on the following Tuesday, April 2, 1872, the polls were opened for the first charter election for the city of Lake City. The balloting resulted in the choice of the following officials: Mayor, Joel Fletcher; recorder, M. R. Merrell; treasurer, W. A. Doe; aidermen, first ward, J. C. Bartlett and M. A. Baldwin; aldermen, second ward, G M. Dwelle and J. Manning; justices of the peace, Geo. F. Hatch and W. J. Jacobs; constables, L. E. Thorp and Oliver Young. The total vote cast was 529. The vote in the town of Lake (the election in March having gone by default, that the city and town elections might be held on the same day and all conflictions avoided) was 76, making a total vote in city and town of 605, an increase of 97 over the vote polled at the presidential election in 1868, and an increase of 66 over the state election of the previous fall. The ratio of five inhabitants to one vote would thus give Lake City at the time of incorporation a population of 2645. It was generally conceded that the city ofhcers-elect were as good timber for the new city government as could have been selected, and the result was hailed by the citizens as an omen of a good administration adjournment made to the evening of the 9th, at which time the mem bers o the council were all present and took their respective oaths o o ce.

Wilson, was appointed city attorney, and J. W. Matthews street commissioner. At the meeting of council held on the 28th inst., Elijah S ou , w o Mr. Fletcher a good race for mayor, was chosen assessor by a unanimous vo » e. The committee on settlement between the city and the town of Lake lepoited.

and they were instructed to draw up an agreement to be signed by the proper officers, to perfect settlement. This was accordingly done, and the settlement made. By the terms of this agreement all moneys on hand, whether in hands of town or city treasurer, were to be divided between the city and town, ac¬ cording to the assessed valuation of property in each, and all unpaid accounts were to be paid by each in the same proportion. The assessed valuation of city property was found to be $536,787; of town property, $102,000; the money standing to the credit of the former town of Lake City, after all outstanding orders were paid, amounted to $1,932.60. Of this sum the town received $337.13 and the city $1,595.47. The committee on city ordinances performed their work as expeditiously as possible, and presented the results of their work to the council before the close of the month.

One of the most important ordinances passed May 4, 1872, provided for the creation of fire limits, and establishing regulations for the erection of buildings within such limits. On December 21 following, an ordinance pro¬ viding a market for the sale of hay, straw and wood within the city, and for weighing and measuring the same, was adopted. The fire limits included all of blocks one, two and three, blocks nine to sixteen inclusive, and twenty-three to twenty-six inclusive. All buildings within the limits were to be of fire¬ proof material, but some portions of this territory were exempted from a rigid construction of this ordinance, at the discretion of the council. This limit included practically that portion of the city enclosed between Chestnut, Park, High and Dwelle streets.

Down to the date of its incorporation in 1872 Lake City had suffered com¬ paratively little by fires. On December 9, 1870, the old grain warehouse on the Point, technically known as the Armstrong warehouse, and at the time of its destruction owned by Bartlett & Smith, was burned with most of its contents; and on April 20, 1872, Bessey & Burdett's wheat warehouse was burned, the building, on which there was no insurance, being a total loss.

After this came the fire of January 28, 1873, which started in the cellar of Glines & Gould, druggists on Main street, and before it was controlled had caused a total loss of $35,000, of which about one-third was covered by insurance. Then on March 12, 1875, came the fire which destroyed the Boston elevator, located on the north side of town. It had been erected in 1873 by a company of Boston capitalists, was thoroughly constructed and equipped with the best machinery, and was the most conspicuous building on the town site.

Two weeks later, on March 25, 1875, fire started in a wooden building at the corner of Franklin and Center streets, and destroyed several small build¬ ings, causing a loss of about $10,000. It was with difficulty prevented from reaching the hotels on Lake avenue. These fires, following so soon one after another, awakened public attention to the need of an efficient fire department, and its speedy organization was the result.

The fire department had been organized a little over three and a half years when it was called to battle with the most destructive fire that had heretofore visited the city, and whose ravages were not stayed (owing to an unfortunate circumstance over which the department had no control) until the First National Bank building, a brick structure, corner of Center and Washington streets, and seven wooden buildings were laid in ashes, involving a total loss of nearly $75,000, about one-third of which was covered by in¬ surance. It was about one o'clock on the morning of November 16, 1879, that flames were seen in the back part of J. E. Favrow's store. The alarm was given and the fire department was promptly on hand, and, in addition, a telegraph despatch for aid was sent to Red Wing, but, owing to train delays, help from that source did not reach here until about four o'clock, by which time the work of destruction was as complete as it was likely to be. The new arrivals did good service in cooling off safes and quenching the smouldering flames, for which the exhausted firemen of the city were deeply grateful. The fire gained headway through a whole hour, in which the fire engine was rendered absolutely useless by the supply pipe becoming choked with sand. About three years before the fire, after the other fire cisterns had been completed, it was deemed expedient to provide a water supply near the corner of Center street and Lake avenue, which would save about 150 yards of hose connection with the lake in case of fire in the eastern or southeastern part of the city. The well was dug in the low ground east of Neal & Johns, to a point consider¬ ably below that to which the water would rise through the sand in case of extreme low water in the lake. This well was not cemented on the bottom, and the suction of the steamer's supply pipe drew the sand into this pipe and into the engine pumps, completely choking the engine, in fact packing it solid with sand and rendering it absolutely useless. During the hour spent in getting ready for even such work as in its damaged condition it could perform, the fire made fearful headway, sweeping round the corner of Washington street, and making clean work of everything between the bank corner and the heavy stone and brickwork of Patton & Son's store. The fire on Center street was not so destructive, and its progress was checked by the pail brigade and Babcock extinguishers so effectively that only one wooden building on the street adjoining the bank was burned down. Others were damaged, and stocks of goods so materially injured as to involve almost total loss; but the progress of the fire was stayed without spreading through the block to Main street. With the exception of the bank building, the structures consumed were wooden, and old city landmarks, representing the early palatial stores of pioneer days; and in their destruction some old relics were forever swept out of existence, the original Masonic and Odd-Fellows' halls among others. The First National Bank block was the pride of the city. It was erected in 1873 on the south corner of Center and Washington streets (the streets all running diagonally to points of compass), and was constructed of Milwaukee white pressed brick, with iron columns, galvanized iron cornice, white draped stone caps, sills and trimmings, and plate-glass windows. The office was elegantly finished with solid black-walnut counters, desks, doors and casings, and was a model bank office. On Center and Washington streets were stores owned by the cashier and president, respectively, L. S. Van Vleet and L. H. Gerrard. J. E. kavrow, who suffered so seriously in the fire of 1872, in the adjoining block on the south, was by this time completely wiped out. The Sentinel office was entirely consumed, with all it contained; and so was the law office of Stockei & Matchan, over the bank, with its library, including account books and^ old journals. The stores destroyed were those of Van Vleet & Gerrard, Peter Beck, H. C. Bronco, S. Lindgreen, Mrs. A. W. Ditmars, D. C. Corwin, H. L. Halsey and George Patton, each valued at from $1,200 to $2,000. The heaviest losers in merechandise and stock were J. E. Favrow & Co., H. D. Biown, printer, Stocker & Matchan, Henry Miller, druggist, E. M. Everson, and S. Lindgreen. The total loss on buildings was about $27,000, on stocks, $48,000. On the former there was an insurance of $8,715, and on the lattei of $li,745. The morning light of Monday had scarcely broken before the debris was being cleared away and preparations made for rebuilding and resuming trade.

This fire, though serious, was completely overshadowed by the great calamity of 1882, ever after referred to as "the great fire," which originated in an unused room of the old Sexton House on the Point. The fire was discov¬ ered at about two o'clock on the morning of Saturday, April 22, 1882. I he wind was blowing a fierce gale from the lake, and carrying the flames into the old wooden rookeries in that part of town, fanning them into a roaring con¬ flagration, and sweeping the cinders, shingles and burning material of all kinds right over the western and norther parts of the town, threatening the whole with speedy destruction. The workmen in Neal & John's establishment saved that manufactory by almost superhuman exertions, and thus prevented the spread of the flames across the block to the west. The wagonshops of Curtis & Richardson Bros. & Co., John Dobner's blacksmith-shop, and the buildings on the east side of Washington, between Center and Marion, were consumed. Crossing Washington street, Sam Lindgreen's saloon, and the other brick buildings on that side of the block from the First National Bank to Patton's block, were soon in flames, which swept across Center street, and down both sides of Center to Main, leaving nothing standing in its track. Leaping across Main street, it swallowed up the fine brick stores of C. P. Young & Bro. ; and on the north side of Center street, carrying destruction with it as far as the building of the Lake City Furniture Company, which was destroyed. The buildings on the lower side of Center street, between Washington and Main streets, were all destroyed except the lower corner room of the Lake City Bank building, a fine three-story structure, in which was the postoffice. The fire had quickly spread over the entire block bounded by Main, Center, Washington and Lyon streets; the fierce gale blowing the flames in a due westerly course diagonally through the block and across the corner of Lyon and Main streets to the Commercial hotel, which, having been destroyed, the destruction was stayed in that quarter for lack of material. The efforts of the firemen were principally directed to saving the block bounded by Center, Washington, Lyon and Franklin streets, in which was the Merchants' hotel, an immense three-story wooden structure. The burning of this block would in all probability have involved the destruction of the entire northwestern portion of the city, as far down as Center point. The firemen made a stand at Richardson's corner, where their brick building interposed some obstruction to the progress of the flames through the block; and the citizens, who had turned out en masse to save the town, were, many of them, so intent on fighting fire at its very center that their own properties were con¬ sumed before they were aware of the fact. Another stand was made against the progress of the flames at the wooden saloon on the Main street side of the National Bank Building block, as, had that building gone, nothing could have saved the block across the street, and its destruction would have involved the center of the residence portion of the city, including all the church build¬ ings. The efforts in both cases were finally successful, and the fire was finally stayed after sweeping through six of the best business blocks of the city. There were about fifty buildings burned, involving a loss of property in struc¬ tures and contents, as nearly as can be ascertained, of at least $370,000, upon which there was an insurance of about $178,000. Of this amount, however, a considerable proportion was insurance on damaged goods, and partially de¬ stroyed or damaged buildings; so that the loss may be fairly said to have been about one-third covered by insurance.

Thus, within a period of less than ten years, destructive fires had three times ravaged the business center of the city, involving a loss of over half a million dollars in a small town of about 2,600 population. The grit of the little city was fully apparent in this calamity. The common council met immediately, and, refusing all applications for permits to erect temporary wooden structures, extended the fire limits to the lake shore, upon which the fire had originated. Monday evening, following the destruction of Saturday, an enthusiastic meeting of the board of trade was held, and it was apparent that the enterprise and courage of the city was by no means in ashes, if the buildings of the city were. Capt. Seeley, the city postmaster, on the alarm of fire, left his own household goods to destruction, and used all his exertions to save the mails and records of his office, in which he was successfful, all letters, papers and office records being safely removed. The First National Bank officials were at work im¬ mediately, and resumed business in a building they put up on a corner across Center street from their own property. Work upon the bank corner was im¬ mediately begun, and the structure was soon ready for occupancy. The Lake City Bank moved into the reading-room in the Merchants' Hotel, and resumed. The Masonic fraternity lost all their furniture, including their records, the latter a serious loss. The destruction of the valuable museum of Dr. Estes was much to be deplored. Its collection had been the work of a lifetime; and, besides containing curiosities of very rare and valuable character, many of them impossible to duplicate, the Doctor's manuscripts and notes, the work of years, and which it was his intention to have given to the public in permanent form, were all destroyed, leaving him, in his own pathetic words, "Not a scrap of my life work; not a scrap, sir." This was a loss not to be computed in dollars and cents.

Fire Department. - As already mentioned, it was the fire of March 25, 1875, occurring only two weeks after that of the twelfth of the same month, which made the citizens of Lake City realize the need of a fire department, and the matter was at once taken up energetically. In response to a numerously signed petition, the council took the necessary action, appointing a committee to negotiate for the purchase of a steam fire-engine, hose, and other equipment, and accordingly a Silsby patent rotary steam fire-engine was purchased, with two hose carts, 1,500 feet of hose, and other apparatus. An ordinance was also passed providing for the organization of a fire department to consist of one engine company of forty men, two hose companies and a hook and ladder company, to consist of thirty men each. The companies met and perfected their organization on May 1, 1875, the roster as yet being incomplete; but other members were soon enlisted. The engine arrived May 14, and was given a satisfactory test May 22, delegations from Red Wing, Winona, and other places, being present. In the same month the council appropriated the sum of $450 for the purchase of a lot on the southeast side of Centei stieet, between Oak and High streets, upon which to erect an engine-house, which was built at a cost of $630. It measured 20 by 50 feet, the front thirty feet being used as an engine-room, and the rear twenty feet for a council-room. Steps were also taken for the building of cisterns in convenient locations for water supply. A committee that visited La Crosse for the purpose of securing information, re¬ ported in favor of brick cisterns, and accordingly three were constructed at a cost of $630; one with a capacity of 1,000 barrels at the intersection of Center and High streets, and two others, each with a capacity of 500 barrels, one of which was at the intersection of Garden and Dwelle streets, and the othei at the intersection of Oak and Doughty streets. A sad accident occuned duiing the excavation at the corner of Garden and Dwelle streets, caused by the caving in of the walls, by which two men, A. H. Sandford and Benjamin Kramer, lost their lives. A well at the rear of Neal & John's manufactory, on Center street, was also utilized as a reservoir, and together with the others furnished the city with a good water supply. Improvements were subsequently made to the engine-house and hose-tower, and other apparatus provided, in eluding hook and

The department is now supplied with two hose carts, from 6,000 to 8,000 feet of hose, a hook and ladder, and pyrene extinguishers, no engine being needed on account of the 80-pound pressure supplied by the water plant. The department consists of from 30 to 35 volunteer members, who receive no salary, but are paid one dollar for reporting, and one dollar an hour during active duty at fires. This plan of recompense, however, does not apply to the chief and assistant chief, who receive a small nominal salary, the difference lying chiefly in the manner of recompense than in the amount received. The fire alarm system is automatic. On the discovery of a fire the central telephone office is notified, and the operator at once presses a fire button which rings an alaim in the home and pace of business of each member of the company, notifying them to repair at once to the fire station, where information as to the location of the fire has already been received from the central office. By the same contrivance the power plant is also notified. The system has proved efficient, and no big fires have occurred since 1882, except that which destioyed the

Lake Pepin has exacted a large toll of victims. On the evening of December 13, 1878, Porter B. Guernsey, the fifteen-year-old son of a well known and respected citizen, A. T. Guernsey, and Florence Wyckoff, daughter of Rev. Samuel Wyckoff, pastor of the Presbyterian church of this city, were drowned by falling through an air hole in the ice near the foot of High street, while skating. No one witnessed their death, and their bodies were not recovered until the next day.

On June 12, 1882, Frank Collins was drowned while out in a skiff with two other men and a boy, their boat being cut down by the steamer Centennial, for which the officers of the steamer were blamed, the pilot being convicted of manslaughter in the fourth degree.

A gale which occurred on Sunday, April 22, 1883, caused the death of John Matter and his newly married wife, residents of Pepin, by overturning their boat. They had come to Lake City for some needed articles, and were on their way back when the accident occurred.

A more recent tragedy was enacted on the lake Wednesday evening, Janu¬ ary 15, 1913, when Oscar Youngress, aged 33 years, and his sister Alice, aged 19, were drowned while crossing the ice with a single horse and cutter while en route to this city from their parents' home at Bogus Creek, Wisconsin. Mr. Youngress, who had resided in Lake City for a number of years, left a wife and two small children.

The situation of Lake City, on the shore of the lake, at some distance from its outlet or inlet, has always had the effect of curtailing its water-trade, espe¬ cially with the Wisconsin shore. Repeated attempts have been made to over¬ come this disadvantage by the establishment of ferries, or by subsidizing them to a certain extent, but with only moderate success, as such ferries have always had to compete with the little coasting steamers plying on the lake, which were not confined to any regular route, but could touch at any points affording opportunities for trade or passenger transit. Passenger transit across the lake, more or less irregular, was afforded in the closing years of the Civil War by Capt. J. Hull, of Maiden Rock, Wis., who ran a small sailboat, the Daisy, between Maiden Rock and Lake City. In 1866 Capt. John Doughty, of this place, made trips to different points on both sides of the lake with a sailboat called the Union, which was capable of carrying 75 passengers, and its operation wras continued for three years. It was then transformed into a steamer and operated for one year, when its trips were discontinued owing to lack of profit. Another boat, the May Queen, was also operated on this part of the lake that season.

In 1870 Capt. Nelson put a regular ferry on the lake between Lake City and Stockholm, Wis. This was a sailboat and was for passenger traffic exclusively. In 1872 William B. Lutz and W. W. Scott received a charter, con¬ ferring on them, for ten years, the exclusive right of keeping and maintaining a ferry across the Mississippi River at the town of Lake City. In 1873 the time of the franchise was extended to fifteen years, and thirty months allowed for the time of opening the ferry. A similar franchise owned by parties on the Wisconsine shore, was purchased by Lutz & Scott, but the opening of the ferry was postponed by the illness of Mr. Lutz, and in due time the franchise expired by limitation, nothing having been done.

In the meanwhile a proposition was made to the city to purchase the franchises on both sides of the river, or lake, and to give a bonus, or loan, to some responsible parties who should undertake, under bonds, to establish and maintain a ferry for a given number of years, and state legislation was secured in February, 1873, in the form of the ferry-bond act, which enabled the city to act in the matter, but the proposition was decisively turned down by the voters, April 1, 1873. It was next proposed to raise $800 by the issue of shares of $25 each, for the purchase of the Lutz & Scott charter, which had not yet expired, but the purchase was not alfected, and in September negotiations were entered into with Capt. Murphy for the permanent establishment of a steam ferry. Owing to dilatory action this matter fell through, Capt. Murphy making other arrangements.

In the meanwhile Capt. 0. N. Murray, of the little steamer Pepin, had been making regular trips around the lake, his steamer being sometimes accom¬ panied by a barge on which merchandise and passengers were transported. It was not, however, wholly suited to the purpose, and in May, 1874, a sub¬ scription was started to raise funds for the building of a better boat, which was finally completed at a cost of about $500, and on Thursday, July 16, the first regular trip was made in the city's own boat, with the mayor and common council in attendance. The city barge had a capacity of six teams and as many passengers as could crowd on. Trips were made at 9 A. M. and at 4 P. M., the rest of Capt. Murray's time being devoted to his regular coasting trips around the lake.

In the spring of 1875, the Lutz & Scott charter having expired the previous fall, the franchise for a ferry was granted to the city by special act of legis¬ lature, with power to operate or lease at their discretion. During 1875 and 1876 the exclusive right to the ferry charter was granted to Capt. Murray, who maintained communication between Lake City and the Wisconsin shore.

Early in the spring of 1877, a joint stock company, named the Lake City Ferry and Transportation Company, was organized with a capital of $10,000, for the purpose of operating a ferry such as would maintain regular com¬ munication between this point and the Wisconsin shores. By the terms of the ordinance not less than six trips a day were to be made during the season of navigation. The company was to meet all expenses, but the city was to furnish them the use of the barge and confer the rights of the franchise without charge. The rate of tolls or charges showed that oxen were still being used to some extent. The company was to own and continue to own the franchise on the Wisconsin shore as a condition precedent to the continuation by the city of the grant of its charter. The ferry company was composed of responsible business men of Lake City, the first board of directors being: John J. Doughty, H. Gillett, J. C. Stout, William Campbell, W. J. Hahn and H. D. Stocker. The steamer Clipper, a staunch built craft, but with poor engines, was purchased by Capt. Raney for $1,500, was repaired, and a cabin built, at an expense of about $2,000, and operated during the season of 1877 with the old engines. During the following winter she was supplied with new engines, and other improvements, at a further cost of $3,000. This latter amount was lefunded the company by special vote of the citizens, this being the only subsidy evei received. The cost of maintenance, and competence by coasting steamers, however, caused the enterprise to be unprofitable, and after foui seasons, the directors concluded to wind up the affairs of the company and dispose of the assets, which was done. The steamer was put up at auction and bid in bv Messrs. Stout & Post, two of the stockholders, for an amount equal to the company's liabilities, - about $1,800. The franchise on the Wisconsin shoie had been placed in the hands of the city council, and also a mortgage upon the boats of the company, as security to the city that the company would maintain the ferry a given number of years. This was done in 18/8, when the bonus of three thousand dollars was given by the city. These franchises were to be the property of Messrs. Post & Stout, so long as they fulfilled the obligations of the old ferry company, but were retained by the city, which released the moitgage upon the boat, at the request of the directors. Messrs. Post & Stout kept the ferry running during the season of 1881, and that fall closed out, having only added to their former losses by the attempt to continue the line in opera¬ tion. They started their boat for Stillwater when the ferry season closed, intending to dispose of her there, but on the way up the rivei the pilot lan her on the government pier near Prescott, and there she lemained duiing the winter. The following spring she was left to break up, her machineiv taken

In the spring of 1882, Murray & Lenhart resumed trips between the Wis¬ consin and Minnesota shores; and Murray dying, the firm became Lenhart & Collins, who operated the steamer Pepin and barge from Lake City to Maiden Rock, Pepin and Stockholm, on the Wisconsin shores, making semi-weekly trips to Read's Landing, in this county. Within a short time L. Y. Lenhart became the proprietor, and has been connected with the ferry operation almost con¬ tinuously ever since, either alone or with a partner. He is now in partnership with Elmer N. Holstrom, of Maiden Rock, Wis., who was previously ^employed by him for two years as engineer. Under the firm name of Lenhart & Holstrom, they operate the steamer Verona, which was built by Mr. Lenhart in 1895. During the season they make four trips daily between Lake City and Stock¬ holm, Wis.

St. Mary's Church, Lake City. - Our forbearers who built St. Mary's were not rich in wordly goods ; indeed many of them came from a people who, because of their faith "were made outlaws, their homes destroyed, their estates for¬ feited, and their liberties and life itself (made) the price they had to pay for their refusal to conform to the new religion"; from a people "disfranchised, disqualified from acquiring or holding property, compelled to remain illiterate, fined, imprisoned, and many of them tortured with every refinement of cruelty" ; many came from a land where in times past "Bishops and priests were classed as felons, a price set on their heads and 'where' an incredible number of both clergy and people who adhered loyally to the religion of their forefathers were either put to the sword or hanged, drawn and quartered"; where "the methods adopted to crush (the faithful) were cruel in the extreme, their cattle taken from them, their houses leveled and their harvests burned"; where "men, women and even children were indiscriminately shot down or hanged by a brutal soldiery, and the remnant which escaped found shelter in the neighboring bogs and mountains, where they were hunted to death as outlaws or perished from starvation"; they came from a land where, "lest the sur¬ vivors in whom the native instinct of industry and enterprise still prevailed, should draw any measure of prosperity to themselves and away from England, the legislation was steadily directed towards the restraint, if not the absolute ruin, of all (her) trade and commerce"; where "embargoes were laid on the exportation . of cattle, meat and other food products, and the expor¬ tation of wool and woolen goods to any country other than England (which manufactured a supply sufficient for home consumption) was forbidden under heavy penalties" (Catholic Encyclopedia: Irish in the United States). The offspring of such trials and persecutions, with learning, the professions, trades, commerce, even property denied them, what wonder that many of our fathers were a lowly people. But though broken, they were not crushed, and they came led by a hope which centuries of persecution had failed to stifle - the hope, to wit: of tolerance and liberty.

Not all, indeed, of St. Mary's founders were offspring of that persecuted land, but one and all were children of peoples who sighed and hoped for that sweet thing we call liberty. The others were children of a land where the people were excluded from all political action, where there was no freedom of the press, no trial by jury, no right of organization, no elective parliament. Meanwhile America was prospering by reason of the blessings that were denied men in the Fatherland; its broad acres called to them, offering them a con¬ genial home, with the outcome that while for the period 1821-1902 the num¬ ber of immigrants from Ireland was 3,944,269, or 19.3 per cent of the total immigration into the States, the number from Germany for the same period was 5,098,005, or 24.9 per cent, of the total immigration.

Our forebears, then, one and all, had suffered persecution; some religious persecution, the others political; and the only justice the one and the other had ever experienced had come to them at the hands of the church; and not only justice, but comfort and consolation in their long years of trial. Coming,

I then, in quest of liberty, our fathers brought with them an intense devotion to the church; and wherever they went, whether to the thickly populated cities iof the East, or to the sparsely settled prairies of the West, their first care, invariably, was the erection of a church. America's 16,000 Catholic churches are nearly all the outcome of persecution abroad.

And what was true of the Irish and German immigrants elsewhere through¬ out the States was true of such as came to Lake City. The first family came in 1856; three families came in 1857; more in 1858, and now the Catholic Church of Lake City was beginning. The Catholic Directory now for the first time listed Lake City, saying that it was "occasionally visited," and it is still well remembered by a few that in 1858 Fathers Ravoux and Oster came and stayed two days. The Catholic Directory for the next year speaks of Lake City as "regularly visited from Wabashaw," and Father Tissot's Baptism and Marriage Records show that in 1859 he visited Lake City on May 8, July 10, September 11 and November 13. On these visits nine infants were baptized and one couple married. In 1860 Father Tissot came again four times, on March 11, July 8, September 9 and November 11, and again nine infants were baptized during the year.

Meanwhile Mass was celebrated in a private house, but the thought of a church must have been uppermost in the minds of those early settlers, for as early as 1863, less than five years after Father Tissot began to visit Lake City, two lots, six and seven, of block 137, were purchased as a site for the future ohurch. The lots were those abutting to the south on Center street, to the west on Seventh street, and the day of purchase was November 9, 1863.

This was the church's first foothold in Lake City, but the parish evidently was not yet strong enough to proceed with the building of the church, for Mass continued to be celebrated in a private house until early in the year 1866. In January of that year, Mr. H. F. Williamson, responding to an agitation for a public hall in the city, fitted the second story of his large store into an audi¬ torium, 100 by 30 feet in size. Here now Mass was celebrated on the appointed days until the completion of the church. On April 14 of that year the Lake City Leader had in its news column, "We learn that a Catholic church is being erected in the back part of town, not far from the Baptist Church. It is to be a very fine building, calculated to add to the appearance of Lake City" On March 23 of the next year the same newspaper printed: "The Catholic Church at this place numbers a large congregation among its members, and we learn that it is soon to be under the charge of a Priest who will be a resi¬ dent of Lake City. It at present has the services of a reverend (sic) living at Wabashaw. The society here is a new one, and last season built a church worth about $1,800. The church was built on the lots purchased in 1863. It was designed by Father Tissot, and fronted on Center street.

The rumor which the "Leader" printed that the church was soon to be under charge of a Priest who will be a resident of Lake City," came true in the person of Father Hermon. Coming to Lake City in 1869, he found Block 54, on which the church now stands, vacant save for a single house at the coinei of Prairie street and Lyon avenue. Father Hermon secured this house and remodeled it for his residence. This placed the church three blocks away and be it that Father Hermon wished to be closer to the church or that he did not fancy having the Catholic Church "on the back part of town, ' on May 22, 1873, he purchased in the name of the church, lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and the southeast one-third of lots 2 and 9. This gave the church all of the block on which the church now stands, except lots 1 and 10, which lun along Lyon avenue, an one-third of lots 2 and 9. This was in May, 1873, and in the Wabashaw County Sentinel of September 17, 1873, we read, "The Society of St. Mary have removed

In 1875 Father Quinn came, and to him we owe the present St. Mary's Church. On January 30, 1877, he purchased for the church lot 10 and twothirds of lot 9, and now St. Mary's had a site. The Lake City Leader of May 19, 1877, speaks thus of what was to come: "The new church building of the Catholic Society of this city, the construction of which has now been com¬ menced in good earnest, is to be an imposing structure. Beautifully situated at the corner of Lyon avenue (upon which it is to front) and Garden street, it will be in size, 53 by 120 feet, all told, the main building itself being 53 by 100. The first, or basement story, will be of stone, the second of brick. The tower will be 16 feet square on the ground, running to a height of 55 feet of brick, and 100 feet still higher of wood, making a tower 155 feet in height to the cross by which it will be surmounted. It is expected, we understand, that the corner-stone of this grand edifice will be laid on July 4, next, the stone and brick work to be completed by September 1, and the whole structure com¬ pleted by the first of December. William B. Lutz has the contract for the stone and brick work, and also the plastering. Mr. Robert White has the contract for the carpenter work and painting. These gentlemen are masters in their respective departments of construction and we are sure they will, jointly, com¬ plete this fine building in a way that will make it an ornament to the city, and one that will in every way accord with the hopes and desires of our Catholic friends."

July 4 saw the laying of the corner-stone and Lake City, likely, has seen few if any such days. Two Catholic societies came from Wabasha: St. Pat¬ rick's Irish. Benevolent Society, and the Father Matthew Total Abstinence Society; from Highland came another, Father Matthew Total Abstinence; from Oakwood, another; from West Albany, another; and these with the Father Matthew Total Abstinence Society of Lake City made six societies, with banners and regalia, marching to the strains of music furnished by several brass bands. In the morning they marched from the Academy of Music to the old church, where Father O'Gorman of Rochester celebrated Mass. In the afternoon they met Bishop Grace at the railway station and escorted him to the church grounds where he officiated and Father O'Gorman preached the sermon.

And just as the foundation was ready for the laying of the corner-stone on July 4, so was the building ready for divine service in December. Speaking of Christmas, 1877, the Lake City Leader of December 29 said: "At the new Catholic Church edifice, at 6 o'clock in the morning, the first Mass was held in that beautiful structure, participated in by a large congregation. Had the roads been in a passable condition, no doubt there would have been enough present on this notable occasion to fill the immense edifice in every part. Services were held at three different hours during the day. The church is indeed a handsome building, both inside and out; the frescoing is among the most chaste and artistic we have ever seen and is carried out with the most perfect harmony throughout all parts of the building, and is perfectly pleasing to the eye. The Rev. Mr. Quinn can certainly feel proud of his church build¬ ing; and the members of that society can feel well assured that they possess a house of worship second to none in the West in point of artistic elegance."

But Father Quinn was not to be contented wfith mere material greatness; he knew well that the church building, after all, was but an object lesson of what the Catholic should be; to him the edifice was but a means to an end. St. Mary's at the corner of Lyon avenue and Garden street might be second to none in the West, but of what avail was that unless his people in soul and character were second to none anywhere? To ensure that his people would be such, he established that other agency which invariably accompanies the church, viz., a school. Thus did he have a perfect parish equipment. In August, 1877, when it was evident that the old church would soon be vacated and could be used as a school building, he caused to come from Illinois Rev. Mother Liguori and four companions in the Sisterhood. He converted his own residence into a convent for the sisters, while he retired to a cottage on Center street. The old church was turned into a parochial school where the common school branches were taught, while in the convent was conducted a boardingschool for girls, with instruction in academical work and music. The parish was now complete and some notion of its size can be obtained from the records, which show that the number of baptisms in 1875 was thirty-five; in 1876 fifty; in 1877, fifty; in 1878, forty. Indeed, so large was the congregation in those days that it sometimes happened that part of the congregation could assist at Mass only by standing at the doors outside the church.

Such was St. Mary's, Lake City, in 1878, but that year saw the beginning of the colonization movement in Minnesota - a movement which caused a de¬ crease in size in St. Mary's congregation. Homes in well organized parishes, on fertile soil, were to be had on the western prairies at a cost of less than ten dollars per acre with ten years' time to pay. The movement built up the western part of the state, but some parishes in the eastern part it almost depleted. In St. Mary's, in the year 1879, the baptisms fell to thirty-six; in 1880 to twenty-four; in 1881 to thirteen, and until 1888 twelve or thirteen baptisms per year is what the records show. The church at its completion was far from being paid for; Father Quinn's health did not permit him to make the necessary collections, and when at the close of 1881 he was obliged on account of his health to resign the parish, an enormous debt lay upon the con¬ gregation - a debt all the heavier by reason of the decreased number of par¬ ishioners. It was to retrench the expenses of the parish that in 1884 the parochial school was discontinued. A History of Wabasha County issued in 1885 said of St. Mary's, Lake City, "The services are at present conducted by supplying priests from St. Paul. The number of contributing families in the parish is about thirty-five, but the number of families actually connected with the parish is much larger."

In these few years St. Mary's, from being one of the most important par¬ ishes of the diocese, had come to be one of the least important; the pastor appointed was always in line for promotion; pastors came and went as larger places opened. When in 1898 Father McAuliffe was ordained, St. Mary's was not considered too important to be his first charge. At his coming the main altar in the church was the one built for the. old church thirty-one years earlier; the only furniture in the church were the pews; the frescoing had faded; Father Hermon's remodeled house still did service for a rectory; and the debt still hung over the congregation. In the years that have elapsed between Father McAuliffe's coming in 1898 and his going in 1911, a commodious residence was built, the church appointed with altars, statues, lights, and frescoed in the best possible taste - best of all, the debt which had harassed the parish for more than thirty years, was paid. And the progress that begun under Father McAuliffe has continued under his successors, so that again can be said with truth what was said when the first Mass was celebrated in St. Mary's, viz., the members of the congregation "can feel well assured that they possess a house of worship second to none in the West in point of artistic elegance." And all this material elegance is but the outward expression of the piety and devotion to God that reigns in the hearts of St. Mary's children. Again is St. Mary's in the very forefront of the parishes of the diocese, num¬ bering as it does in round numbers one hundred and fifty families.

And here we close our history of St. Mary's in this year of grace 1920. It is the Second Spring. St. Mary's was not and St. Mary's was ; again St. Mary's was not and now St. Mary's is once again. It is the Second Spring. May the promises of this second spring not go the way that went those of the first; rather, may we see realized all the good projects that were fondled by Father Quinn. (Rev.) John A. Cummiskey.

Presbyterian. - The first Presbyterian church of Lake City was organized December 31, 1856, with Rev. Silas Hazlett as acting pastor, and B. C. Baldwin, A. V. Sigler and Mrs. Hazlett as members. B. C. Baldwin and A. V. Sigler were elected elders. For nearly a year and a half the church held union ser¬ vices with the Congregationalists, in the old Congregational church erected by the contributions of both societies, the pastors of the two churches alternating in the services. In 1858 the Presbyterian church rented what was then known as Skinner's Hall. This wTas in the third story of a store-building situated on lot 2, block 14, fronting on Washington street. In 1859 the church erected a church edifice on lots 4 and 5, block 58, which had been presented to the society by Mr. Samuel Doughty. The church building, which originally cost $900, was removed in 1863 to High street, just north of Lyon avenue, and in 1876 was repaired and enlarged at an additional cost of $850. In 1862 the trustees purchased lot 1, block 56, and erected a parsonage at a cost of $800, and in 1878 it was enlarged and repaired at a further cost of $650. Among Mr. Hazlett's successors in the pastorate were the Revs. Porter H. Snow, William Speer, D. D., John Valeen, John A. Annin, Hugh W. Todd, John L. Howell, James M. Pryse, W. J. Weber, Samuel Wyckoff and J. W. Ray. The Sunday school was organized January 1, 1860, with A. T. Guernsey as superintendent, who held the office 18 years. For nearly 30 years the church took an active part in the religious life of Lake City. In February, 1888, the building was destroyed by fire, and in the following August, the organization voted to unite with the First Congregational Church, owing to the depletion in its membership on account of removals and deaths.

First Congregational Church. - This was the first church society organized in Lake City, the date of organization being August 8, 1856. Lake City had then about 300 inhabitants. In the following year, 1857, the society erected a church edifice, in which they worshipped until 1879, when it was destroyed by fire. The present building was dedicated May 4, 1881. About 1892 Rev. E. B. Chase became the pastor, and served eight or nine years. He was followed by Rev .W. E. Warren, who served nine years. His successor was Rev. W. C. A. Wallar, who was pastor from 1911 to 1916. The Rev. Albert Wilson, D. D., occupied the pulpit from 1916 to 1918, and was succeeded in 1919 by the present pastor, Rev. William A. Mulder. From time to time the building has been re¬ paired and improved, some improvements being made the present year, 1920. The present membership of the church is about 225, while there is a flourishing Sunday school having an enrollment of about the same size. There is a fine Young Peoples' Society, a Ladies' Aid, and a Young Ladies' Club of about forty members. A vested choir is maintained, which, with the aid of a pipe organ, has raised the musical part of the service to a high standard.