Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 50, 1905

Chapter 50

VERY STORMY WINTER - RAILROADS BLOCKADED - HARRY READ'S STORY - NEW CHARTER FOR CITY OP WASECA - TORNADOES IN JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST - DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN WASECA OCT. 20 - MURDER OF CHRISTIAN SCHIEFNBR NEAR NEW RICHLAND - C. & N. W. ROUND HOUSE AND MACHINE SHOPS BUILT THIS YEAR - RESULT OF ELECTION- WASECA FIRE COMPANIES - DIED, J. K. MAYNE, PATRICK CALLAHAN.

With the opening of the year 1881, the county fathers met, Jan. 4, the following being present : Thos. Bowe, A. J. Jordan, Philip Purcell, N. M. Nelson, and W. D. Armstrong. Philip Purcell was elected chairman. Only routine business was transacted, except that a new desk was ordered for the judge of probate.

The Winter Weather

THE WINTER WEATHER. While the winter of 1880-1 was by no comparison the coldest ever known to Minnesota, it was by all odds the stormiest, the longest and the most disagreeable. The Southern Minnesota railroad was blockaded from Winnebago City west from the middle of January until the first week in April. On the 5th and 6th of April, that year, in Jackson county, the snow was three feet deep - on the level - and a heavy span of horses could be driven over it, the crust of the snow being so hard as to bear the weight of the team. About the 7th of April the weather became warm and the snow rapidly disappeared.

Winter Story By Harry Read

"Engineer H. A. Read came home Wednesday night, having been on duty up on the west end of the road. He relates some of the charms of railroading in winter. Having recently been to Winona and procured a new engine for the Western division, Mr. Read was commissioned to break it in. Last Sunday, with the thermometer down to 35, and roads more or less blockaded, he was making his way to Watertown, having a freight train and a caboose of passengers. The water tanks along the road had either gone dry or frozen up, and Mr. Read's supply of water was rapidly being exhausted. When within half a mile of Goodwin, his train became stalled in a snow bank. He succeeded in getting his engine through and pulling on to the station. Here the citizens turned out and, with buckets and tubs, brought water to fill up his tank. He then went on to Watertown, some twenty miles, and remained until -Monday, when he came back, and, with help, the train was extricated from the drift, where it had remained all night. Fortunately two of the cars were loaded with wood, which had enabled the passengers to keep themselves warm. On Tuesday night, as Mr. Read was coming down the road between Lamberton and Walnut Grove with two engines on the train, and in front of them a train with a snow plow, the head train becaipe stalled. Before Read's train was signalled, it ran into the caboose, raised it up, and tipped it fairly on to the head engine. An engineer and fireman jumped off and were considerably hurt. It takes a host of nerve and pluck to follow railroading on the Western prairies."

A New Richland correspondent on Feb. 18. wrote : "Railroading this winter is not one of the pleasant occupations. Six engines and crews, including the southward bound passenger train, were snow bound at Hartland six days, and as this place Is but a small village, its facilities for accommodating so many were insuflflcient, and a good deal of suffering ensued. The passenger train fortunately had but eight passengers aboard. It was stalled in a drift one mile north of the station, and was detained there and at the station seven days. One lady and her daughter were on their way to Boston, and were in quite ill health. As the passengers were compelled to stay in the car. It was exceedingly tiresome and unpleasant for them."

The body of J. K. Mayne, who died in AYilton. Feb. 11, 1881, was buried temporarily in a snow drift near his home, the snow l)eing so deep that it was impos.sible to pain access to the cemetery.

Patrick Callahan

'J'his gentleman settled in Freedom with his family in 1865. lie (lied ]\Iarch 22, 1881, ai^ed about sixty years. He had been an invalid some tAvo years as the result of a sun-slroke. Alderman Callahan, of Waseca, is his son.

New City Charter

On ^Mareh 26, 1881, AVaseca received, at the hands of the legislature, a new charter. Under its provisions the city was divided into five wards. The first election under the new charter was held May 3, 1881. The first city contest was a battle royal. The candidates were Hon. Warren Smith, and Hon. M. D. L. CoUester. The total vote for mayor numbered 373. Mr. Smith received 219 votes, and Mv. CoUester 164. In the First ward, H. H. Sudduth was elected over C. A. "Wright by a vote of 45 to 34. In the second ward, Dennis ]\[cLoughlin received 110 votes, and Dr. M. Y. Hunt 40. In the Third ward, James B. Hayden was elected without opposition by a vote of 32. The Fourth ward elected Theodore Brown by a vote of 33, to 15, cast for E. W. Piske. The Fifth ward cast 30 ballots for Thomas Coleman, and 26 for John Gutfleisch. H. G. ilosher was unanimously elected assessor, and lion. John Carmody and Hon. B. A. Lowell were elected justices of the peace without much opposition. Samuel Stevenson was elected constable by a vote of 234 to 115 for G. H. Zeller. The first city council met at the office of the clerk of court in the old court house. May 10, 1881, and was called to order by Mayorelect Smith. Aldermen present, Theodore Brown, James B. Hayden, H. H. Sudduth, D. McLoughlin, and Thos. Coleman. James B. Hayden was elected president of the council, and the mayor made the following appointments which were confirmed, namely: Jerome E. iladden city recorder, Frank A. Newell treasurer, C. E. Leslie city attorney, and Lucius Keyes marshal.

"D. Welch, for standing around with his hands in his pockets and looking on while the men were excavating cistern at the court house corner, $19.00."

Tornadoes And Hurricanes

The year 1881 was noted not only for its winter storms and blizzards, but also for its summer tornadoes. On the 11th of June a destructive tornado started near Blue Earth, in Faribault county, traveled northeasterly and passed near Minnesota Lake. Its pathway was strewn with the wrecks of houses, barns, grain, stock, etc. The farm house of Mr. Chaffey was entirely blown away, killing both himself and wife, an aged couple. The fine large barn of T. J. Probert was blown down, seriously injuring his daughter, who was in the barn at the time; also killing one horse, blowing his machinery all to pieces, besides scattering about 500 bushels of grain. The county bridge at Grady's, on the. Maple river, was blown entirely away, and the house of John Grady was also blown away. The lady that was living in the house felt it moving, and opened the door to jump. She landed in the cellar all right. The house of Geo. Earrings was unroofed; house of Robert Jones blown away with its contents, his wife being badly injured; barn of E. Curtis blown down; house of D. Matterson blown from foundation and three of his family injured; house of August Zabel blown entirely away, together with its contents, and he and one son were injured. ]Much other damage resulted in the vicinity.

Another terrible storm struck New Ulm July 15, at 4 :48 p. m., and in twelve minutes had destroyed property to the value of $300,000, killed four persons in New Ulm and fifteen in the adjoining townships, and wounded eighteen severely. The tornado was terrible. Houses were taken up bodily, carried considerable distances and then crushed as they were dropped to earth. Three churches were completely destroyed, as were numerous business houses.

August 30, a severe storm visited Waseca county, although it did not amount to a tornado. The Janesville Argus noted that, "The rain was a deluge and the wind a cyclone. Very little damage was done in Janesville, but east of the village sad havoc was made with the grain stacks and cornfields. We first hear of trouble at A. P. Wilson 's place, northeast of the village, where twenty grain stacks were leveled. Mr. Wilson says the fall of water was tremendous, it standing in his yard from six to ten inches in depth, and over his plowed field a boat might have sailed without fear of grounding. ]\Ir. jMcHugo had a setting of stacks blown down; Mr. Lilly, southeast of the village, seven stacks, some of them entirely blown away; Pat Lilly, eight stacks; jMrs. Mo- Donough, twelve ; Sam Lambert, six ; Keeley boys, fifteen ; D. Glynn, ten; C. Plynn, four; M. Lang, seven; Pat Foley, four; C. Guyer, several. Fences were leveled generally in the track of the storm."

came with such force as to burst in the windows and doors. The blinds to the windows were as completely broken as though a man had taken a hammer and smashed them to pieces. One immense mass of hail fell, many of the pieces of ice being fully as large as a man's fist. Mr. Spillane had forty acres of corn driven into the ground. A dozen or so of pigs and hogs and many turkeys were killed. The storm throughout the country was severe.

A Disastrous Fire

The most disastrous fire that has ever visited Waseca occurred on the night of Oct. 20, 1881. The Herald of that date contained the following account :

"A midnight fire broke out in the Dr. Brubaker building, corner of Second and Oak streets, and before it was subdued a dozen buildings were burned to the ground, a half dozen families rendered homeless, and thousands of dollars worth of goods and household property devoured by the flames or badly injured.

Roger Hanbury was working around some cars near the W. & St. Peter freight depot, and discovering the fire, gave the alarm, which was immediately taken up by two locomotives. In a few minutes many hundred men were on the ground with such means of fighting fire as could be obtained, but they consisted only of pails, axes, ladders, and the long cable with hooks for tearing down buildings. The first efforts were to tear down the small building owned by J. Halvorsen and used for a shoe and harness shop. This had hardly been accomplished before the Kraft hotel caught fire, when it became evident that the entire row of buildings must go. Efforts were then devoted mostly to removing the contents of the several buildings to safe distances.

The buildings burned were the two-story structure belonging to Dr. Brubaker, occupied below by Adolph Schildknecht's drug store, and one room above by Dr. Cleary for an office; the shoe and harness shop of J. Halvorsen; the large two-story hotel occupied by Mrs. Kraft; the saloon building owned by Wm. Herbst, and occupied by Miller & Weishar; A. Wert's two-story restaurant and dwelling, including his bakery, etc.; Karstedt's harness shop; the capacious furniture store and manufacturing rooms of Comee Bros.; Preston's jewelry store; the shoe shop occupied by Anton Anderson, and owned by H. A. Karstedt; the store occupied by D. McLoughlin, and owned by John Anderson, of Otisco; Craven's machine buildings, and other minor adjoining buildings and store rooms. The losses were estimated at $25,000. At the time of this fire the city had no fire company nor any means of fire protection."

Murder Of Christian Schiefner

Schiefner on the 3J of June, 1880, near New Richland, was held at the fall term of the district court, and Henniger was found guilty of manslaughter in the second degree. The men involved in this tragedy were two farmers residing about two miles west of the village of New Richland. For a number of years they had been at enmity with each other, and had several times resorted to the law to settle their difficulties. Their last trouble, which resulted so seriously, was with regard to a small strip of land that each claimed. Henniger was breaking up the disputed land, and Schiefner determined to prevent him from doing so. On the day in question, Henniger secreted himself in a wagon and was driven to the scene of the tragedy, where his son and hired man went to work plowing. Schiefner soon came out and forbade their breaking up the land. Henniger immediately came from his hiding place in the wagon, and after some words, got his gun and shot Schiefner dead, the charge passing through both lungs. Judge Buckham sentenced Henniger to the penitentiary for five years. It was generally thought that the ends of justice were partially thwarted.

At the same term of court one Pettengill was convicted of stealing a horse from Mrs. Reed, of Iosco. He was sentenced to three years and six months in the penitentiary, as was also John Duff, for stealing Pheiffer's horses.

Round House And Machine Shops Op The Chicago Axd Northwestern Railway Company

It was during this year, 1881, that the C. & X.-W. Railway Co. expended about $100,000 in the construction of the round house, machine shops, coal houses, etc., in Waseca. The round house is built of brick and contains twenty stalls for engines. The building is circular, and occupies two-thirds of an entire circle. The outside wall is 520 feet in lenjith, and the inside wall 210 feet in length, the width is 66 feet ; the area of the floor is 36.100 square feet; the walls are 20 feet high. From one end of the main building is partitioned off six stalls, to be used for the general overhauling and repair of, cars and engines. The turntable is in the center of the cii-cle formed by the round house, and from it engines can be run into any stall. The machine and repair shop is 52x100 feet in size with eighteen-foot walls. In

,one end is situated the immense boiler which is used to generate steam to heat the entire structure, operate the steam pump, etc. ; in the other end are the forges and other arrangements for repairing cars and engines. In this building are found, also, the offices and a large fire and frost proof vault for storing oil. There are five forges in the blacksmith shop. The boiler is constructed of locomotive steel, and is 6 feet in diameter and 21 feet long. The chimney, with which the boiler pipe connects, is 7 feet square at its base, and towers to a height of 52 feet. A ladder, constructed of iron rods, extends from the bottom to the top, oh the inside.

The water tank is one of the very largest that is built, and holds 2,500 barrels. It is 22 feet from the groiind to the bottom of the tank, and the tank is 18 feet in height, by 30 feet in diameter. The entire space below the tank is boarded up, battened, and painted. The pipes that connect with the tank are thoroughly protected from the action of the frost, at all places.

The coal shed, separate and apart from the other buildings, is 460 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 14 feet high, and will hold 2,500 tons of coal. It is built entirely of wood, and is a mammoth building. Derricks are provided at two places, from which coal may be supplied. At one end of the coal house is a sand house 16x60 feet in size. In the construction of the buildings there were u,sed 500 cords of stone, 550,000 brick, 150 cars of sand, 1,600 sacks of cement, 800,000 feet of lumber and six carloads of lime. The plant is a large one and contributes much to the permanent prosperity of the city of Waseca.

Election Of 1881 Waseca Fire Companies

The very disastrous fire of October 20 and 21, of this year, emphasized the necessity for organizing fire companies, and the year 1881 was appropriately closed by the organizing of an engine company and a hose company.