Weaver Mercantile Building

Minneiska is a fractional town, and falls far short of containing the requisite number of sections to constitute a full government township, there being but thirteen complete sections in it, while the eight other parts of sections, which form its eastern boundary, are much curtailed by the course of the river.

Passage source: History of Wabasha County : Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc. : Gathered from Matter Furnished by Interviews with Old Settlers, County, Township, and Other Records, and Extracts from Files of Papers, Pamphlets, and Such Other Sources As Have Been Available : Also a History of Winona County, published 1884.

Tiie first settlement within the limits C)f what is now known as the town of Minneiska was made as early as 1S51, Michael Agnes coming up from St. Louis in August of that year, and building a shanty on the southeast corner, on the river side. Louis Krutely followed the same summer, settling near Agnes. During the same year Charles R. Reed, of Reed's Landing, purchased a claim some four miles further up the river. These men only built shanties to shelter themselves while cutting wood for the steamboats that plied up and down the river, and broke no ground for cultivation during their first year. Their mainstay for subsistence was the rod and the rifle, and very often they had nothing but fish and fowl, and considered themselves fortunate if they could occasionally trade their game for some flour and other necessaries with the stewards of the steamers. The total sale of their wood during the summer did not buy enough food to supply them during the winter, and they had a hard time to pull through until the following spring. Steamboats were not as plenty on the rivers in those days as now, and the advent of a steamer passing at intervals of weeks was a godsend to these hardy men. Tliej' used to climb a tree on the island opposite to where now is built the pretty village of Minneiska, commanding a view of the river up and down for several miles, to> sight a coming boat, and it was with feelings of anxiety, as their supplies would

Passage source: History of Wabasha County : Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc. : Gathered from Matter Furnished by Interviews with Old Settlers, County, Township, and Other Records, and Extracts from Files of Papers, Pamphlets, and Such Other Sources As Have Been Available : Also a History of Winona County, published 1884.

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 Minneiska Township - 1,828 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.