Saratoga, Minnesota

This township lies in the extreme southwestern corner of Winona county, having Qlrastead county on the west and FiUmore county on the south. Though the face of the country is somewhat broken along its western front, it contains some of as fine farming land as is to be found in any state of the Union. Settlements were made almost simultaneously in the western portion of the township and. along the northern ridge, adjoining the township of St. Charles. These settlements date back a period of nearly thirty years, and some of the claims then taken are still being farmed by the original pre-emptors. Tlie soil upon the prairie is a deep vegetable loam, with a clay subsoil ; but in the oak openings it is of a lighter character, a sandy loam intermixed with gravel. This latter is a quicker, warmer soil, and specially adapted to the growth of corn, as this cereal ripens quicker on the gravelly soil, a very material consideration in this latitude. All the valuable farming lands of the township may be included under one or the other of these classes of soil. The western portion of the township is well watered and quite a valuable water privilege exists at Troy. The volume of water, thougli not large, having its sources in unfailing springs, afibrds with its head of twenty feet sufficient power to maintain a very considerable milling industry. The staple of the farms in past years has been wheat, to which within the past decade the growth of barley has been added in quantities sufficient to dispute the palm. These grains, with clover and timothy seed (which are grown in large quantities), oats and corn, have been and still are the main dependence of the farmer throughout this whole region, little if any stock more than sufficient for farm purposes being raised. But as the wheat yield has decreased from time to time, more and more attention has been paid to the breeding of horses, cattle and swine for market, and now there are some valuable herds of these animals on well conducted stock farms within the area of the township. Dairying has also begun to challenge the attention of the farmers of this and adjoining townships, and some farms keep quite a number of milch cows, the number and quality of them increasing from year to year. Creameries are being established to manufacture the cream product of these dairy herds, and the industry promises soon to assume an important rank among the farm products of the western portions of the county. Considerable settlements had been made in Saratoga township as early as the s])ring of 1855, a few pre-emptions and actual occupancy of the land dating as far back as the fall of 1858. The settlements during 1855 were numerous, and the following season, 1856, it was (juite difhcult if not impossible to fingl any valuable lands unclaimed. The formal organization of the township was effected under the new state government, May 11, 1858, at Troy, a small village and postoffice in the southwestern part of the township, at which time the usual officers were elected. Luke Blair and Thomas P. Dixon were appointed judges of election, and J. P. Moulton and E. W. Day, clerks. The whole number of ballots cast was MO. Luke Blair, elames Walker and Robert JSTesbit were elected supervisors ; J. C. Dixon, town clerk ; E. S. Harvey, assessor ; D. Durham, collector of taxes ; Thos. P. Dixon and Oscar Kately, justices of the ]>eace ; L. M. Phelps and Alvin Durham, constables ; Geo. W. Grain, overseer of the poor, and L. B, Smitli, overseer of roads. The townshi]) was named Saratoga, on account of the beautiful natural springs in its western section, the vote standing eighty-six in favor of Saratoga and sixty in favor of Afton. The office of town clerk has been successively filled as follows: A. D. Trowbridge, elected as the successor of J. G. Dixon, in 1859, held the office three years ; E. W. Day, elected in 1862, served one year ; P. F. Thurbur, one year ; Wm. LI. Fry, one year. In 1865 E. W. Day was again elected and served until 1878, a period of thirteen years, when the present incumbent, E. B. Gery, was elected, and has held the office continuously until date, March 1, 1883. The town officers elected or holding over for 1882, are: J. D. Ball (chairman), Alexander Gampbell and O. B. Suthei-land, supervisors ; N. M. Gross, treasurer; W. B. Hesselgrave, assessor; E. B. Gery, town clerk; G. French and Samuel Gary, justices of the peace; Ira Canfield and James Wise, constables. A comfortable and commodious town hall was erected in 1877. It is situated in the center of the township and

Passage source: History of Winona County, published 1883.

The first death and burial in the township was that of a non-resident, Rev. Angel Wright, who, following some horse thieves into this section from Iowa, was taken sick and died in Saratoga village, some time in the summer of 1855. The first death of an actual resident was that of Justen Braddock, early in August, 1 856, and immediately following was that of Mrs. Dr. Gates, wife of G. L. Gates, M.D., now of Winona city, who died August 25, 1856. Harriet Warren died April 29, 185Y; an infant son of George Blair's, July 1, that season; a child of Henry Olney's about the same time, and Kate Flannigan in the following September. These last four were buried in what is known as Wortli cemetery, the others in Saratoga cemetery, but all within the bounds of the township.

Passage source: History of Winona County, published 1883.

On the night before Christmas, 1856, a brother of Mrs. William Reeves, traveling from High Forest, Olmstead county, passed through Saratoga village, warmed himself at the hotel of Moulton & Dixon, and notwithstanding the warning of Mr. Dixon, concluded to try and reach his sister's house, five miles distant, despite the severe storm and cold. This man was found frozen to death on Sec. 9, by Mr. Charles Gerrish, on Christmas morning, eight o'clock, onehalf a mile from his house, one and one-fourth miles from Mr. Reeves'. Mr. Gerrish took charge of the body without waiting for a coroner, and finding from the deceased papers that he had come from Chatfield, took him to Saratoga for identification. And this act of Mr. Gerrish's in taking charge of the bod} without waiting for coroner, was made the occasion of an electioneering argument

Passage source: History of Winona County, published 1883.

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 Saratoga Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.