BlockBefore

Belle Creek, Minnesota

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Belle Creek Township. It lies in ZIP code area 55027. The Survey maps it on the White Rock quadrangle.

Belle Creek within Goodhue County

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

3,939 words on this township

History of Goodhue County, Including a Sketch of the Territory and State of Minnesota; Together with an Account of the Early French Discoveries, Indian Massacres, the Part Borne by Minnesota's Patriots in the War of the Great Rebellion, and a Full and Complete History of the County from the Time of Its Occupancy by Swiss Missionaries in 1838. Pioneer Incidents, Biographical Sketches of Early and Prominent Settlers and Representative Men, and of Its Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc, published 1878 names this settlement in its chapter on Belle Creek Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first settlers in this township were two Swedes, Charles Ross and a man named Kemper, in the fall of 1853. They located on section five, built a cabin and put in the winter there. In May, 1854, Walter Doyle and five sons, Henry, Richard, Michael, Walter, jr., and John, settled sections two and four. Benom Hill and three sons, John, Henry, and Thomas, followed in July of that year, locating on sections five and eight. The next year, 1855, the township settled up rapidly, and farms and gardens and substantial habitations began to round into form.

Passage source: History of Goodhue County, Including a Sketch of the Territory and State of Minnesota; Together with an Account of the Early French Discoveries, Indian Massacres, the Part Borne by Minnesota's Patriots in the War of the Great Rebellion, and a Full and Complete History of the County from the Time of Its Occupancy by Swiss Missionaries in 1838. Pioneer Incidents, Biographical Sketches of Early and Prominent Settlers and Representative Men, and of Its Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc, published 1878.

Alvin Herbert taught the first school in the winter of 1855-1856, in the basement of a stone house owned by Mr. Kirkpatrick. No school house was erected until 1859, although schools were in progress nearly every season up to that time, being held in some of the settlers' houses.

Passage source: History of Goodhue County, Including a Sketch of the Territory and State of Minnesota; Together with an Account of the Early French Discoveries, Indian Massacres, the Part Borne by Minnesota's Patriots in the War of the Great Rebellion, and a Full and Complete History of the County from the Time of Its Occupancy by Swiss Missionaries in 1838. Pioneer Incidents, Biographical Sketches of Early and Prominent Settlers and Representative Men, and of Its Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc, published 1878.

A post office was established in 1854, called "Burr Oak," and H. M. Doyle was appointed postmaster. This office was located on the stage route which led from St. Paul to Dubuque. In 1855 the mail route was changed, and the office was therefore discontinued. 1858 another office was established in the southwest portion of the township and named Belle Creek. S. P. Chandler was appointed postmaster.

Passage source: History of Goodhue County, Including a Sketch of the Territory and State of Minnesota; Together with an Account of the Early French Discoveries, Indian Massacres, the Part Borne by Minnesota's Patriots in the War of the Great Rebellion, and a Full and Complete History of the County from the Time of Its Occupancy by Swiss Missionaries in 1838. Pioneer Incidents, Biographical Sketches of Early and Prominent Settlers and Representative Men, and of Its Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc, published 1878.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Belle Creek Township - it names this place 8 more 8 times.

Fires near this place

9 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Belle Creek between 1994 and 2015, burning about 38 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use3
Smoking2
Debris and open burning2
Recreation and ceremony1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 April 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 April 1994Smoking1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 April 2015Debris and open burning1.5 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
14 April 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 April 1994Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 March 2012Smokingunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 November 2012Recreation and ceremony10 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 October 2015Equipment and vehicle use5.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Goodhue County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Belle Creek: 7 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Baringer QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hader Quarry & MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Martinson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Oconnor QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Ryan QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Spring Garden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Tougen QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Goodhue County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
White Rock1.3 miles11
Ryan3.1 miles10
Wastedo4.9 miles11
Vasa5.2 miles15
Hader5.3 miles11
Claybank7.4 miles10
White Willow8.1 miles11
Goodhue8.2 miles11

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 654596. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.