Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 3, 1905

Sutlief Shanty

WINTER TRIP TO MINNESOTA WITH OX TEAMS - VENTURESOME CROSSING OF THE MISSISSIPPI ON THE ICE - CLIMBING THE BLUFF - FIRST BLIZZARD AT ZUMBRO FALLS - THE LIQUOR PEDDLER AND HIS GROG - MANTORVILLE THE LAST HOUSECAMPING OUT IN MID-WINTER TWO NIGHTS - CATTLE WITH BLEEDING LEGS AND WITHOUT HAY - SAFE ARRIVAL AT THE SUTLIEF SHANTY.

Mr. Sutlief was thoroughly enamored with Minnesota, as it then was, and lost no opportunity to proclaim her beauty and her merits. He was under agreement with Mr. Barrett, whom he had left upon his claim, to return in January; and on the 9th of that month, 1855, he started back to Minnesota with three pair of oxen, a wagon and a sleigh, some household goods, provisions, etc., and a few swine. He was accompanied and assisted by the writer whom he had employed for a year to take charge of his Minnesota farming operations. At Fox Lake, Wis., they were joined by S. P. Child, of Waupun, Wis., then a boy of nineteen years. He was to assist in driving the teams and the swine. He owned a few hogs which he drove with Sutlief 's herd.

Nothing of striking importance occurred on the journey until their arrival at La Crosse. At this point, they crossed the river after dark on thin ice that had formed after the January thaw. The act of crossing was a dangerous one and a less venturesome man than Mr. Sutlief would at least have chosen daylight for the undertaking. After crossing the river in safety, they proceeded about two miles, and, at nine o'clock in the evening, stopped at a small house occupied by a Mr. Plummer and his wife. Here two days were spent while Jlr. Plummer was getting ready to join the company. It took nearly all of one day to haul the loaded vehicles to the top of the river bluff, and the party returned to the Plummer house for the night.

All hands turned out eaily next morning, and the first rays of the rising sun found them on the trail going westward. The day turned to be cloudy and stormy, but the drive was short, and just before dark they stopped at a little frame house, near the road, about five miles southeast of tli(- present village of St. Charles. The next morning, an early start was made so as to reach Rochester - then known as Zumbro Falls - that night, if possible. The weather that day was pleasant, but the snow was drifted deep in many places, and this made traveling very difficult. In some places it was necessary to either shovel out or unhitch the teams from the vehicles and drive them back and forth through the snow drifts, before attempting to pass through with the loads; and, although the teams were urged forward as rapidly as shouting and whipping Avould avail, it was eleven o'clock that night before the travelers reached a stopping place. The weather had turned very cold in the afternoon. ]\Ir. Sutlief frosted his cheeks, ears, nose, and feet, and ]\Iessrs. Plummer, Griffin and S. P. Child frosted their toes slightly.

The log hotel at which they arrived was already filled with travelers. The beds were all full, and the floors were nearly covered with sleeping men. There was no sleeping room for these last arrivals, except in a log shanty lean-to, with its Dutch fireplace. This shanty afforded about the poorest protection from cold that could well be imagined, even by a western pioneer. The roof was made of oak shakes. The crevices between the loo-s were not yet plastered or daubed. The prairie blizzard whistled through the holes and crevices with a liberality altosether unpleasant that night.

The next morning the wind blew a gale and the thermometer indicated 20 degrees below zero, rendering traveling across the prairie simply impossible. All parties were compelled to remain over during the day. There were some forty travelers thus detained, this place being on the stage road from Dubuque to St Paul.

and .lokes passed among- the hotel guests in a manner peculiar to the \\ est. One fellow, a liq^^or peddler, was quite chagrined at finding his liquor keg bottom end up and his whisky spread out in the snow. The erdwd insisted that he had been on a spree, and had left the keg in that condition himself; and, as no one pretended to know anything to the contrary, he was obliged to smother his pent-up wrath and make the best of the situation. His attempt at the retail business in the morning was, without doubt, the primaiy cause of his sad bereavement - at least some of the ladies intimated as much to his face.

The Avind lulled dufiug the night, and the next morning Avas bright and pleasant, though still cold. Our first settlers tackled up early and stai'ted across the prairie for Mantorville. That village was then less than a year old and contained only three or four small cabins. It was the last settlement on the route of our "first settlers" until they should reach their destination on the Le Sueur.

Think of the recklessness, not to say foolhardiness, of the trip. Imagine, if you will, good reader, five men and a woman with her babe about to start across a wind-howling prairie, in the midst of winter with the thermometer 10 degrees below zero, without any road, not even a track, and withoiit a tent, to spend three days and two nights, at the least, with no shelter save the starry heavens. The whole company might have perished in a blizzard! JSuch was the thoughtless untlertaking of those men on the morning of the 31st of January, 1S55.

After loading on what hay they could take along they left Slantorville bearing south of west across the trackless prairie until they struclv the southern tier of sections in township 106. They then kept due west, guided by section po.sts, set the fall before by government surveyors. A little after noon they ran into one of those deep, narrow creeks which abound along the Zumbro river, and nearly lost one yoke of oxen. After considerable hard work and some delay, they rescued the "Nucky Steers," as the oxen wei-e called, and finally succeeded in crossing the stream with no serious damage. Without further mishap, they traveled until about sunset when they arrived at a small grove of bur oaks, near the source of one branch of the Zumbro river. Here they concluded to camp for the night. The oxen were soon unyoked and fed, a large campfire was built, supper was prepared and consumed, stories were told, and songs were sung. The weather was reasonably pleasant, with a slight wind from the west.

About nine o'clock, they spread their hay beds upon the snow under the wagons, and laid themselves down for the night, covering up head and ears with quilts and blankets. All slept soundly until three o'clock the next morning when all hands were aroused by the cry of "fire!" coming from Mr. Sutlief, who had been warmed out. The wind had changed to the south in the night and, blowing briskly, had thrown the fire on 'Mr. Sutlief 's bed. It took some time to extinguish the flames in the bed-clothing: and when that had been accomplished and the travelers had about' recovered from the excitement caused b.v the fire, they discovered that the cattle had all left, taking the back track toward the settlement. The Child brothers started in pursuit with furious feclin.us and at a frantic rate of footspeed. The cattle were overtaken at the creek where the difficulty in crossing occurred the day before and were ordered back to camp in the forcible language peculiar to the ox-teamster of the AVest. The two men returned to camp half an hour before sunrise, partook of a hearty breakfast with the rest of the company, and, just as the sun made its appearance, all hands started in a due westerly course. The day was intensely cold and much activity M'as required to keep warm. There was a hard crust on the snow, which impeded progress and cut the legs of the cattle to such an extent that blood was left in their tracks. Several deep snow drifts Avere encountered within the day. Thes.^ caused some delay and much labor.

That night the emigrants encamped in a thicket of hazel brush and poplar trees, with some bur oaks intermingled. This was on the west side of Straight river and several miles south of Owatonna. It was an excellent place for a camp in winter, the brush and trees forming a thicket which was an admirable protection for both man and beast. The main difficultv of these pioneers was want of food for tlu> cattle. No hay was left for them ex cept what was in the beds, and only a .small allowance of -rain remamed. That night th.. cmpany took the precaution to secure the oxen with head ropes.

campfire, and Mrs. Plummer prepared a warm supper, which was eaten with a relish. No one- complained of a lack of appetite. The members of the company were not so much given to song and stories and funny jokes as they had been on the previous evening. The romance of camping out in midwinter had lost to them, after their two days' experience, something of its imaginary charms. They piled high the campfire with fuel and retired early to their hay beds, which were spread upon the snow-covered ground. The wind came up from the northwest in the evening, and before morning the weather was intensely cold. Long before daylight, the next morning, they arose, fed the cattle what hay there was in the beds, and ate their own breakfast. As soon as there was light enough to enable them to keep their course, they renewed their journey. They crossed the LeSueur river, in the town of New Richland, with some difficulty, the banks of the stream being very steep. Soon after crossing the river, they reached the height of the prairie level. They could then see, and took it for their guide, a large bur-oak tree standing alone on section thirty-six, in Wilton about a mile from the Sutlief shanty. Never were weary mortals more pleased than were those first settlers when Mr. Sutlief announced that that tree was within a mile of his claim.

They reached the Sutlief place at four o'clock p. m., rejoiced to find Mr. Barrett alive and well. To say that every member of the company was thankful for this safe resting place is a very mild way of expressing his feelings on that occasion.

The condition and appearance of the country, at that time, however, were neither very pleasing nor inviting to the most of the pioneers, for they had come from a heavy timbered country. To the south and west, as far as the eye could reach, there was a vast expanse of bleak prairie, without either tree or shrub, swept by the howling blasts of winter and covered with snow, sleet and ice. The few trees along the river looked to them then to be short and scrubby; the weather was intensely cold; it was thirty-five miles to the nearest postoffice - Mankato ; they could get no newspapers and no letters, except at long intervals of time ; there were no houses, no barns, no fences, no roads, no bridges, no human beings to be seen in any direction. This shanty was then the only human habitation l)etw(M-ii what was afterwards known as the Winnebago agency and (Jwatonna - the oidy one within the present limits of AA'aseca county.

The writer mentally resolved, within a week after his arrival, to return to Wisconsin as soon as his term of service should expire. But when the month of June came, what a ehanuv ! The irees had put forth their fresh, green foliaue; the prairies were decked with the most gorgeous flowers ; feathered songsters held grand jubilee concerts in every gi-ove, and prairie chickens in endless numbers made early morn melodious with their merry love-making. Xo more enchanting picture of a grand, rich country ever met the eye of man than that presented in the valley of the L.'Siieiii- during the summer of 185.5.