Clearwater City

Clearwater City

Clearwater is the most northern of the political divisions of Wright county. It embraces all that part of Congressional township 122, range 27, that lies east of the Clearwater river; a small portion of seetions 34 and 35, in township 123, range 27, in the triangle formed by the juncture of the Clearwater and Mississippi rivers, and sections 7, 17 and 18 and fractional sections 5, 6 and 8, in township 122, range 26.

Clearwater is separated from Sherburne county on the north by the Mississippi river, while on the west the Clearwater river marks the line separating it from Stearns county. Silver creek

The surface is rolling, and in the northern part was originally principally prairie, bordered by a narrow belt of timber skirting the river, while south it merged into brushland, beyond which was a heavy timber land. Numerous fine lakes are found throughout the town, and two of more considerable size make slight encroachments from the town of Corinna on the south. Some good natural meadow land is found in the southern portion and along the Mississippi in the northern part. The soil in the prairie portion is a dark sandy loam with clay subsoil, and produces excellent crops; in the portion originally timbered it is clay and dark loam and is unsurpassed for fertility. For many years the cultivated area of this town was proportionately greater than in any other town in the county, but with the development of modern improvements in other localities in the county, Clearwater lost this distinction.

Selah Markham was the first permanent settler in Clearwater. He was born in New York, and came here from Illinois in the fall of 1854 and took a claim in section 7, township 122, range 26. He built a cabin and started a farm, the first in the township. About the same time, Alonzo T. Boynton tock a claim in sections 1, 2. 11 and 12. He also built a cabin and started a farm. He also was a native of New York state and came here from Illinois. John Oakes spent a part of the winter with Markham. Asa White, who had traded at Clear Lake, aeross the Mississippi river, as early as 1847, possibly selected a claim here the same winter.

Early in 1855, John Oakes and his sons took claims on sections 8 and 17, and took up their residence thereon. Asa White, Alonzo T. Boynton and others staked out a town which they named El Dorado. March 8, 1855, Thomas ©. Porter arrived and took a claim in section 2, township 122, range 27. Mrs, Abigail P. Camp, who became his wife in the fall of 1856, was the first woman in the village, and had been induced to come to Whitewater as hotel housekeeper for the townsite company, Others who came in 1855 were Dr. J. D. Wheelock, from Vermont, and Simon Stevens, Horace Webster and John Farwell from Canada. Dr. Wheelock took a claim in section 2. Stevens and Webster had been pioneers of Hennepin county, Stevens took a claim in section 1 and Webster in section 2. Stevens, Webster and Farwell laid out the town of Clearwater. There was some trouble with those who had laid out El Dorado, but a compromise was reached, and on May 27, 1856, the village was platted with Simon Stevens, Josiah Talbot and Wiliam Fellows as proprietors. It lay on both sides of the Clearwater river, in both Stearns and Wright counties, A revised plat of the Wright county portion was filed September 11, 1883,

Clearwater was one of the original towns in Wright county. The first election was held May 11, 1858. Two lists of the officers elected at that meeting have been handed down to the present time. According to one list, the officers elected were: Supervisors, J. D. Wheelock (chairman), Hiram Woodworth and Cyrus Smith; elerk, Samuel Whiting, Jr.; treasurer, H. J. Dunton; justice of the peace, A. W, Waldron; constable, Thomas J. Doble; overseer of the poor, Simon Stevens. According to another list the officers were; Supervisors, J. D. Wheelock (chairman), Hiram Woodworth and Cyrus Smith; clerk, Samuel Whiting; assessor, John Townsend; collector, J. H. Dunton; justices of the peace, J. D. Wheelock and Thomas Doble; constables, A. H. Williams and J. H. Dunton; overseer of the poor, Simon Stevens. On motion of Simon Stevens, a tax of $150 was voted to defray the town expenses for the ensuing year. At the time of the organization, the present town of Corinna was included in Clearwater,

Tn 1856 and 1857, Clearwater was well settled up. For this reason it suffered more from the grasshopper ravages of 1856 and 1857 than most of the other townships. Many of the farmers lost their entire crops, and as many had all their means invested in these crops they were almost ruined and foreed to leave the township. Except in the southern part of the township, very little ginseng was gathered, but the village was an important trading point for the root.

During the Civil War, a large number of the male inhabitants enlisted, and at no time was there a possibility of a draft here. Those who are accredited to this town are:

Clearwater Village

Clearwater village, once the rival of places that are now Minnesota's greatest cities, is one of the prettiest little villages in the state. It is located at the junction of the Clearwater and Mississippi rivers, in the extreme northwest part of Wright county, twenty-eight miles northwest of Buffalo and fifty-two miles northwest of Minneapolis. The Great Northern railroad furnishes its transportation facilities and the people are also connected with the outside world by both telegraph and telephone. Live stock, grain, produce and cream are its principal shipments. The village is incorporated, has all lines of business represented and a farming seetion from which to draw its patronage second to none in the state of Minnesota, Lands are for the most part under a state of enltivation and range in price from $65 te $100 per aere. Improved property of all kinds, be it farm, business or residence, is never in want of a renter and all property is readily disposed of at a reasonable figure. The town is laid out symmetrically; the streets are uniformly wide. A bower of shade trees enhances the view on all sides. The majority of the business houses are modern, substantially built and of pleasing design; the display of stocks such as would be expected in cities several times the size of Clearwater. The residence portion furnishes conclusive evidence of the permanency of the population and of the pride taken by the people in their homes and surroundings. Here are beautiful houses and well kept lawns and shade trees in abundance. The business section, with its stores, its railroad station, its flour and pulp mill, and its Methodist Episcopal church, is on the flat at the junction of the river, while the residence section with its beautiful homes and its Catholic and Congregational churches is on the sightly blaff. The village has two banks, a creamery, a hotel, a grain elevator and a number of stores. <A brief business directory follows: Jenme UL, Phillips, postmistress; Bert Case, auctioneer; Central Lumber Company (Andrew Rasmussen, manager); Clearwater Co-operative Creamery Company (P. P. Jones, president; Oscar W. Osterberg, secretary and manager); Clearwater Ferry Company (G. B. Boutweil, president); Clearwater Herald (John Evans, publisher); Clearwater Hotel (Frank T. Scott, proprietor); Clearwater Mereantile Company (A. B. Maxam, president; A. J. Maxam, secretary and treasurer), general store; Clearwater State Bank (W. A. Shaw, president; E. A. Shaw, cashier); Clearwater Telephone Company (P. P. Jones, president) ; Dexter E. Collins, blacksmith ; Ira L. Edmunds, physician; Farmer Co-operative Shipping Association (P, P, Jones, president; G. S. Sheldon, secretary and treasurer), live stock; First State Bank (Joseph Whittemore, president; C. D. Whittemore, eashier); Oscar C. Frederick, pool; Grain Producers Ele- vator Company (A. L. Hart, manager) ; John Haaf, livery; Delia A. and Mary Kottleman, milliners; Luther Laughton, meats; E. H. Metzener, harness; Car] Nielson, general store; Ira Oatman, blacksmith; Edward H. Palm, restaurant; Jennie L, and C. 8. Phillips, drugs; William B. Pineo, insurance agent; P. H. Quinn, saloon; A. W. Ray and Millard Boddy, hardware; Frank T. Scott, hotel; Willis A. Shaw, insuranee agent; William H. Simmons, agent; Elmer E. Smith, barber; William H. Wescott, blacksmith; Joseph and Charles D. Whittemore, insurance agents; Gordon H. Wilcox, farm implements.

Clearwater was at one time noted far and wide as the home of education and culture. Probably no town in the Northwest in the early days enjoyed so high a reputation as an intellectual center. The early settlers were for the most part men and women of eastern birth, ancient lineage and splendid training, and to this wilderness they transplanted their high ideals, their religious faith, their intellectual keenness, their lofty traditions, and broad eulture. Lectures, discussions, debates, musical entertainmenta and social gatherings relieved the tedium of the winters of privation, and their children, thongh in a savage country, surrounded by hardships and want, were reared with the same tender care for their moral and intellectual being that they would have received in the sheltered homes of comfort and civilized advantages which their parents had left.

From the village these people settled in neighboring townships in Wright and Stearns county, and in time the neighborhood took on all the aspects of an eastern community, A few of these families still remain. For the most part, however, the children have found other fields of labor, and many men and women who have made a marked suecess of life date their aspirations from some little school in Clearwater or vicinity.

A portion of the site was claimed in 1855 by Asa White, Alonzo T. Boynton and others and named El Dorado, During Mr. White 's absence that season the land was claimed by Simon Stevens, Horace Webster and John Farwell and platted in the spring of 1856 as Clearwater by J. H. Talbott and Simon Stevens. This led to difficulties, but the matter was afterward adjnsted in a friendly manner. The place scon beeame a popular center, and was thronged with pioneers looking for homes in Stearns and Wright counties.

A blacksmith shop was opened by Stevens, Webster & Farwell in 1855. They soon sold to Allen, and he in 1856 to George Fuller. Dr. J, D. Wheelock started the practice of his profession here in 1855, and eontinued to be the village physician for many years. The first white woman to arrive was Mrs. Abigail P. Camp, who afterwards beeame Mrs. Thomas ©. Porter. She reached here in August, 1855, as housekeeper for the townsite company, Mrs. J. D. Wheelock, who came that fall, was the second white woman to reside in Clearwater. <A postoffice was also established in 1855 and the first religious services held.

The first store was opened in 1856 by Seth Gibbs and Newell Whiting in a bwilding on the river bank near the ferry. The following spring W. T. Rigby opened another store. A third was opened in 1858 by S. A. Heard, and O. S. Lock soon followed with a fourth. E. P. Crossman established a hardware store in 1879, and the following year the firm became Boutwell & Crossman. E. Clocker was the village blacksmith for many years. In the eighties R. L. Campbell was the harnessmaker, R, A, Lyons operated the stage line and ferry, and his wife was milliner and dressmaker.

Samuel Whiting came to Clearwater in 1857 and started a general store in 1861. It lived to be for many years the oldest store in the county. In 1876 he put up what was then considered the best store building in the county. J. E. Fuller came to Clearwater in 1857 and started a general store in 1865. Major W. W. Webster came to Clearwater in May, 1857, and opened a general store in 1868. LL. C. Johnson established a store of the same nature in 1875.

Philip Schwab, an early druggist of Rockford, went to Minneapolis in 1867 and in 1868 came to Clearwater and opened a drug and grocery store. In 1873 he eliminated the drugs. Mr. Schwab was a valuable citizen, leaned money extensively and invested in many of the village enterprises. J. H. Davis was another early druggist. In 1871 he sold out to 8. M. Philips, who, with a partner, EH. P. Crossman, for a while and then alone, continued the business for several years.

A stockade was built at Clearwater village during the Indian uprising, and the settlers from the timbered region found shelter therein. Squads of soldiers were located in the town at different times, and fer the most part the prairie farms were cultivated. But from the southern part of the township many settlers departed never to return.

The first hotel was built in 1855 by Stevens, Webster & Farwell, Mrs. A. P. Camp being the landlady. In the spring of 1856 they sold the furniture and rented the house to - Allen, the blacksmith, In 1857, Frank Morrison built the Morrison House, which was open for several decades thereafter, and was at one time the largest and best hotel in the county.

The religious services held in December, 1855, were conducted at the residence of Dow, near the village, by the Rev. Mr, Creighton, of Monticello. In 1857, Rev. Mr. Chamberlaine, an Episcopal clergyman, conducted services in the first hotel erected. Later religious meetings were held in a two-story building, the

The first sawmill was commenced in 1856, at the mouth of the Clearwater river. When it was nearly completed a freshet carried away the mill and the dam. In 1857, Herman Woodworth built a mill on the same stream, about a mile above the former site. This was torn down and removed in 1876. Frank Morrison in 1857 or 1858 erected a steam sawmill near the mouth of the Clearwater, using some of the timbers from the demolished 1856 mill. Steven Oyester was the millwright. As the last board fell from the last log to be sawed at the end of the first season, Alvin Wilkins was thrown upon the saw and instantly killed. It happened that there was no clergyman at that time available, and the funeral service was preached by Mr. Fowler, who bad previously been a preacher, who at that time had the reputation of being an unbeliever.

In 1858, Rogers, Mitchell & Walker built a mill on the middle falls. It passed through various hands, was rebuilt in 1867, became one of the best flouring mills in the Northwest, and was burned in January, 1877. The flouring mill at the upper falls was built by James Cambell in 1861 and burned in 1870, Two years later a new mill was built on the site. When the mill at the middle falls was burned in 1877, the mill from the upper falls was moved onto the site and became the best flouring mill in the county. At the lower dam, near the Mississippi, Seth Gibbs, a pioneer of 1856, erected a sash, door and blind factory. Thomas Tollington became a partner in 1866, and succeeded to the business when Gibbs was killed by the machinery, October 24, 1874. John Dodds built a muley sawmill on the same dam in 1879, In 1879 the first cheese factory in the town was established.

In 1856, the Burbank stage company operated their stages from St. Paul to the Red River of the North, by way of St. Cloud, as well as hauling supplies over this route. They found that by making a road from Clearwater to Cold Spring it would save twelve to fifteen miles of travel over the sandy road from Clearwater to St. Cloud. The saving of this distance was a big item to the company with their heavy traffic. They made a proposition to the townsite owners of Clearwater, offering to make a good road from that place to Cold Spring, through the rich and fertile towns of Fair Haven, Maine Prairie and Luxemberg, providing that, in return, they were to have sufficient land for their barns, stables and warehouses. They intended to make their place a base of operations. The boats could bring up their supplies from St. Anthony during the whole season of navigation, whereas, it was only during the high water that the boats could reach St,

Cloud, The road to Cold Spring would run through a very fertile country, now fast settling up, and soon immense quantities of wheat, corn and oats would be hauled to Clearwater and sold to be shipped by boat to St. Anthony, and the money for the grain would be spent in the town for supplies that would be brought up by water at a rate cheaper than it could be hauled by team, as the ease was at Saint Cloud. Consequently, the farmers could get better prices at Clearwater for their supplies. Then, again, the immense trains of Red River earts that made annual trips to St. Cloud and St. Paul would come by way of Cold Spring to Clearwater, and as they could send their goods down on the boat and get their supplies up from St. Paul cheaper than they could go down with their trains, this town would become the terminal point of these trains. This alone wonld be a big item, This, together with the vast fertile country to the southwest with unlimited quantities of the various kinds of hardwood for lumber and manufacturing purposes, and together with a splendid water power capable of running two flouring mills and a sawmill, would naturally point out this place as having all that was needed of natural advantages to make in the near future a large and flourishing city. But the townsite owners, like many others in the early days, were short-sighted and replied to the Burbank company's proposition that their lots were for sale but not to give away. The result was that the road to Cold Spring was never opened, and the company continued to go by way of St. Cloud.

From 1866 to 1882, Clear Lake across the river from Clearwater was the only railroad egress from the village. But when the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba eame through in January, 1882, a station was established here.

Clearwater was incorporated in accordance with Section 10, Chapter 73, General Laws of Minnesota, approved May 5, 1853. Application was made to the district court, M. B. Korn, judge, August 28, 1883, and Samuel Whiting, S. M. Phelps and M. Gullett were selected to give notice of the election. The boundaries as given in the incorporation are most interesting, as they are deseribed in ''metes and bounds.'' The deseription follows: '' All those parts of the N. W, qr. of the S. W. qr. and the 8S. W, qr. of the N. W. qr. and lot 4 of see, 35, T, 123, R. 27, also lot 3 in see. 35, T. 123, R. 27, surveyed and platted into blocks and lots, T. B. Titus, surveyor, designed as blocks No. 1 to 51 ine, and 119-113 and 114; also tracts of land in that part of S. E. 14 of S. E. 14, see, 34, T. 123, R. 27, also 8. 4% of S. W. 14 and lots 1 and 2 of see. 35 and lot 1, sec. 36, T. 123, R. 27, which are adjacent to lands hereinbefore mentioned, surveyed and platted into lots and blocks as aforesaid by metes and bounds. Beginning at S. W., ear, see. 35, T. 123, R..27, thence W. on twp. line 11.9 chns. to bank of Clearwater river, thence down said river N, 3134° W. 1.56 ebns., thence

Fremont village, located near the upper dam, flourished for a while. The flour mill brought farmers to the neighborhood; there were several there and a number of residences. Nothing now remains of Fremont, and the place is now a part of a farm,

Gilbert H. Tollington graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, in 1885, and was licensed in Wright county, April 28, 1887.