Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 20, 1905

Sketch

As stated in the last chapter, the Cornell, or nld "Wilton eomjjany, with head(iuarters at OwatDima, had eompi'onnsed and made financial peace with the men wlmse claims they had jumped, ijniiiediately after election, in the fall of IS-'mj. About that time, Judue Lowell, late an emigrant from New England to Faribault, liecame interested in Wilton town property, and active operations were commenced in October to build up the town. As before stateil. Col. Ide came on, started a steam saw mill, and built a house for his family. H. P. Norton, the pioneer blacksmith, arrived in "Wilton in October, IS.'jG, and erected the fiist permanent blacksmith shop in the county. He was not only the first, but one of the best blacksmiths that ever swung a hammer in the comity. No man could pound a breaking plow lay and make it do better work than he. His old sliop, at this writing, still stands there, but the i-ing of the anvil is no longer heard liy the passersby.

Thomas J. Kerr, then a young, unmarried man, came to Minnesota in April, IS.IG, and worked all summer for Col. Robinson, ^vh(> had taken a claim near Wilton. lie was a prominent actor in one of the stiri-iug incidents of that day. lie had staked out a claim, 1)ut had made no improvements upon it, neither had he filed (m it, when Col. John C. Ide came to Wilton and wanted that particular claim, lie olfered Mr. Kerr ^lOO.OO for his riulit, and the ofTei- was aeeepleil - Col. Lit- paying .+."). (Hi to bind the bargain. Col. Ide's family was still in Rice county, and thither Col. Ide went to settle up his matters and move his family. Scarcely was his back turned before along came our old and esteemed friends, E. B. Stearns and family, one Saturday afternoon, and camped very close to Ide 's claim. Tom had a suspicion that the newcomer proposed to take that claim, and he set himself to work to find out. So he strolled along out to the camp of Mr. Stearns, and while there learned that one of the Eobbins boys was getting IMr. Stearns on to that claim.

The claim was entirely vacant. No improvements had been made and it had not been filed on. Just what to do Tom did not know, but he consulted Col. Robinson and together they concluded to get Uncle Fisk, who had settled on school section 36, in St. ]Mary, to go over and take the claim. So they went over to Pisk's a little late Sunday night and laid the matter before him. Fortimately they had no timepiece that night, and when good Mrs. Fisk remonstrated with them for trespassing upon the Lord's day, they assured her that it was after midnight, and therefore Monday. Uncle Fisk entered heartily into the arrangement, and the three went that night and rolled up a shanty of logs, chinked the cracks with hay, made a roof of hay, and when Mr. Stearns came to run the lines ^londay morning, he found Uucle Fisk in full possession, with a fixed and steadfast purpose to keep and preserve the same from all intruders. Mr. Stearns, being preeminently a man of peace, hitched his team to his wagon and went south, making a claim in Otisco.

But now our friend Kerr found himself in more of a dilemma than when ilr. Stearns camped there. Uncle Fisk made up his mind that, instead of holding that claim for Col. Ide, he would hold it for himself, and that nothing short of $1,000.00 would induce him to surrender his rights to it. However, Fisk continued to live on his school section, and Mr. Kerr was not long in finding a man to jump the old man's claim. Mr. Tarrant Putnam happened along just at that time and Mr. Kerr laid before him the burden on his mind. Putnam soon agreed to take the claim and pre-empt it, and then let Col. Ide have it in exchange for another claim nearby, which the colonel was to pre-empt. Putnam commenced improvements at once by building a shanty and doing a small amount of breaking. As soon as Uncle Fisk heard of Put- nam's intrusion, he came over and ordered him off, but the latter was armed and equipped for claim holding, and the old gentleman never returned with his old shotgun, as he threatened to do. I\Ir. Putnam afterwards became prominent as register of deeds for several years, and is, at this writing, a resident of California, while Mr. T. J. Kerr and family reside in Waseca.

A. J. "Woodbury and sons built the first hotel in "Wilton, the^ first in the county in fact, - during the winter of 1856-7. It stands* there at the present writing, a decaying monument of pioneer enterprise.

During the same winter Messrs. Paige and Baker opened a small stock of general merchandise. Thomas L. Paige was the first clerk of court in this county. He returned East in 1858, as did his partner, Nathan Duane Baker.

All through the winter of 1856-7, which was tediously cold, stores, shops, residences, and barns were erected, so that in early spring Wilton was a thriving village. It soon became the county seat and was the leading village of the county until the building of the Winona & St. Peter railroad and the location of the present city of Waseca. It then died out as rapidly as it well could ; and to-day a stranger would never mistrust, upon visiting the spot, that it was, for a long time, a busy, thriving center of trade for a large extent of country. It died on account of a railroad too near and yet too far away.

St. Mary

ST. MARY. The next spring (1857) St. Mary began to expand. The plat was laid off in February by Chamberlain, Bailev & Co W H Chamberlain had settled there the season before and made arrangements for building and booming the toAvn. The followin<r statements are taken from an interview with Mr. G. R Buckman of Waseca.

3857. He arrived at Owatonna about noon, and fell in with George Tremper, who was coming to Wilton with a team. They left Owatonna about 2 o'clock p. m., and met a regular blizzard before they had proceeded five miles. They did not reach Wilton until 9 0 'clock in the evening, and Wilton then contained but one "stopping place," kept by Uncle Dave Jenkins. The next day ]Mr. Buekman arrived at St. Mary, an embryo village just springing into life. A JMr. Grossman kept a boarding house. He died the next April. This was the first death in the settlement. The village proprietors then residing there were W. H. Chamberlain and wife, H. B. IMorrison and wife, John Bailey and Harvey Bailey and wife. There were also the original settlers, John White, with his family, and a jMr. Clark and wife. There was also a character of local note, named McCarthy, who kept a saloon. He was his own customer nearly all the time, and frequently "painted the town red," sometimes exposing his person in the most obscene manner. He became so objectionable that a little pioneer justice seemed necessary for his instruction. About twenty-five men gathered at McCarthy's shanty, with James Plummer as leader, and after considerable search found two barrels of whisky stowed in a hole under the floor ; they emptied out the whisky. The next day, armed with a warrant. Sheriff Garland "surrounded" twenty-five of the citizens and marched them to Wilton. That was really the first whisky war in Waseca county. It was an amusing sight to see twenty-five sober, quiet, industrious, honorable American citizens put into the criminal dock at the instigation of a bloated, blear-eyed, drunken, obscene vender of rot-gut whisky! Nevertheless they had violated the laws of their country - they had destroyed this man's property unlawfully, and they must take the consequences. However, the case was adjourned from time to time, and finally they were all discharged, through the legal efforts of Ike Price, then a resident of Wilton, and the boys got off by paying seventy-five cents each. Poor McCarthy afterwards, as a result of his drinking habits, froze his feet severely and was crippled for life. At last accounts he was an object of pitv and commiseration.

The winter of 1857-8 was one of much social enjoyment in St. Mary. The citizens organized a large literary society, held some rousing debates, and read a paper each week entitled the "St.

ilary Literary Union," edited by G. R. Buckman. B. ^L Morrill wrote the "machine poetry;" J. W. Johnson was the Wilton correspondent, John A. Wheeler and Mr. Ilale, both since deceased, were the principal contributors. The people from all the surrounding country came in to attend the meetings of the society, Its meetings were continued the next winter.

W. H. Chamberlain built the first frame dwelling house in St. ilary. It may be interesting to know that the same house is now a part of Waseca. It stands on the corner of Lake avenue and Fifth street, and is still in a state of good preservation.

The St. ilary town proprietors built a steam saw mill in the spring of 1857, which Avas of great benefit to the early settlers of the vicinity. Hon. Warren Smith deceased, Capt Geo. T. White, who afterwards lost his life in the War of the Rebellion, and many others settled in St. Mary in the spring of 1857, making it an active, busy village. St. ilary was a lively competitor for the cnunty seat in June, 1857, and reached its largest proportions that season. It remained a business center of considerable importance up to the time of the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861. Its best blood then enlisted in the army, and its business men, one after another, deserted it. The saw mill, flouring mill, and shingle factory, while great blessings to the surroimding countiy, did not bring large dividends to their owners. When the war broke out they were soon deserted and removed to other places. The Catholic church, at St. .Mary, was one of the first church biiildings erected in the coimty. The church society there is no doubt one of the oldest in the county ; that in the Remund neighborhood, Blooming (h-ove, being its only rival in age.