Evergreen Township

Chas. S. Palmer

36, employing about forty men, and on Section 34 Aaron Scribner located a camp of about twenty men. These camp crews logged on Sections 34, 35 and 36, and during that winter cut and hauled about two million feet, and a similar cjuantity the following winter. These logs were hauled on heavy sleds to Section 19, and there unloaded on the bank of Toad River, being afterward floated down the Toad, Otter Tail and Red Rivers to Winnipeg, the drive requiring about 115 days. Prior to the year 1882 there was heavy logging on Sections 19, 20 and 29 by Clark and McClure of

Saint Cloiul, the logs being sawed at their mill one mile east of Perham. Later there were small portable sawmills brought to the township which manufactured a large portion of the remaining timber.

Twenty-five years ago there was considerable large game consisting of bears, big timber wolves and lynx. There were also a few moose, and deer were very plentiful.

The first actual settler was Charles Scribner who settled on Section i8 in the year 1882. On Thanksgiving Day, 1884, he was married to Rosy Allen of Corliss Township, Otter Tail County, who died the following autumn. In 1877, Mr. Scribner removed to the ]\Iouse River country in Xorth Dakota, where he now resides.

Ewald Bohne and his wife, Jennie, came from Hastings, Alinnesota, in February, 1883, and located a homestead on Section 20. There they lived until the year 1898, when they moved to Section 19, where they now reside. Their son Fred was born in January, 1885, being the second white child born in the township.

Frank Omans and his wife arrived from Michigan in October, 1883, and settled on Section 32, where they still live. Their son Earl, born in August, 1884, is the first white child born in the township.

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Clifford moved from Perham during the winter of 1884-5, ^"^ settled on Section 34. Their daughter Bonibelle Altha, born March 23, 1886, is the first girl born in Evergreen. In 1887 j\Ir. Clifford moved to Spruce Grove where they now live, Airs. Clifford being postmistress of Cliff'ord post-office.

During the years 1886 and 1887 about twenty families settled in the township. On Januar}- 4, 1888, the board of county commissioners organized the township, naming it Evergreen because of the number of evergreen trees in it. The first town meeting was held at the home of Emil Materne on Section 20, March 13, 1888. ^^^ R. Morton was chosen moderator ; Emil ]\Iaterne, clerk ; W. R. Morton, John Pick and Chas. Howard were elected supervisors ; W. A. Kennedy, clerk ; J. W. Southard, assessor ; John Miller, constable; and Sargent Palmer, justice of the peace.

Those present and voting at the first annual town meeting, in line as they voted, were : John Rick, W. R. Morton, Nick Leyendecker, Antony Sagenschneider, Joe Pope, E. Alaterne, C. Pope, C. Limpensel, Ewald Bohne, John Hauser, Hans Hauser. J. \\'.

Southard, Jr., A. W. Furber, Garry Omans, H. A. Barron, J. W. Southard, Sr., Sargent Pahner, Charles S. Pahiier, Charles Rick, Sam. McKibben, C. H. King, Wm. A. Kennedy, Frank Omans, John Miller, Ed. Southard.

C)ne day in the summer of 1888, an ox team which Mrs. Materne was driving along the road became frightened by a bear and ran away, throwing her from the wagon and breaking her leg. The fracture was quickly and properly set by Dr, W, R. Morton.

In the fall of 1887 Arnold Kohler and John Adams, settlers living on Section 18, became involved in a quarrel in Mr. Kohler's house. Kohler became enraged and seizing a gun struck at Adams, who dodged behind the stove. The gun struck the stove chimney and was discharged, killing Kohler. Adams was arrested, and taken to the county jail at Detroit, but was later discharged from custody afer a trial.

In February, 1895, M. Burfield, of Star Lake, Otter Tail County, set a portable sawmill on Section 34. While hauling a large load of logs from Section 2 the clevis holding the short tongue of the hind sled became loose, allowing the tongue to drop down and stick in the frozen snow of the road. The team hauled the load over the short tongue and when it reached a vertical position the load tipped over. Mr. Burfield being an old man and heavily wrapped in blankets, could not jump clear of the load, but fell beside the sled and was instantly crushed to death under the falling logs.

In April, 1898, Charles H. Lamphier and L. Jeswin, living on Section 34, became engaged in a quarrel over Mrs. Jeswin crossing a field, which Lamphier was seeding, and the wives of both men took an active part in the scrimmage. Lamphier's boy brought out a gun to his father, Jeswin's son then took a hand in the melee, and things became generally mixed. How it happened will probably never be clearly known, but the gun was discharged, killing Jeswin instantly. Lamphier was arrested, and court being then in session he was sentenced to the state penitentiary for life. Just two weeks from the day of the killing he was on his way to Stillwater to serve his sentence. Through numerous petitions secured by his wife, his sentence was afterwards commuted to six years, and at the end of four years he was released on parole. Having lived out his parole as a good citizen he is now a free man. Jeswin was a good citizen.

Ill 1 901, Woodland post-office was moved from Corliss Township in Otter Tail County to Section 28 in Evergreen, and two years later a German Lutheran church was Iniilt on Section 17. In the township there are now a post-office, a church and four schoolhouses. Hattie Howard was the first school teacher in Evergreen, teaching in a log schoolhouse on Section 14. which was hurned at the time of the big Hinckley fire. During this fire the whole township burned over, clearing whole areas. Settlers took advantage of the easy clearing and moved in freely, and now there are about eighty voters in the township. While much damage resulted from the fire in the burning of timber, the benefit in clearing the land largely compensated for the loss.