Highland Township

Highland Township

Patrick McDonough and John Canfield were the first settlers of this town. They came in the summer of 1855 and built small homes for themselves, installed their families therein, and went to work. The next year other settlers moved in, among whom were W. L. Cleveland, James S. Felton, the brothers Doane and E. G. Smith. In 1857 C. G. Dawley and Thomas Smith located. Mr. Smith built a store and stocked it with general merchandise in 1858 ; it was destroyed by fire in 1859, and Mr. E. J. Duganne built another in its place the same year and filled it with a general assortment of goods for the accommodation of the settlement ; but Plainview and Wabasha drew so largely on the trade that Mr. Duganne closed the store, audit has never been reopened. In 1857 D. J. Watkins built a mill near the center of the town, which furnished a large amount of hard lumber for fencing and building purposes ; he also, in 1860, built a gristmill, but finding the water-power insufficient to propel the machinery of both, the sawmill was allowed to go into disuse. This stream is called Indian creek. In 1861: Mr. Henry Hampe built a fiouring-mill upon the same sti-eam. Both of these mills add greatly to the business interests of the town. A schoolhouse was built in 1859, in what is now district No. 40, in which religious services were first held by a Meliiodist minister the same year.

Wheee They Came Feom

There is but one church edifice in the town, which was built in 1866 by the Roman Catholics. A postoffice called Smithtield was established on the road from Wabasha to Plain view in 1S5S, and James S. Felton was appointed postmaster. Another otfice was established near the center of the town in 1864, called Lyons; W. L. Cleveland, postmaster. The town was christened Smithtield in honor of one of the settlers, but when organized under the state law it was changed to that of Highland. The surface of the land is quite rolling, and in some places even hilly, particularly along the banks of the streams. Much of the surface is covered with scattering oaks, which furnish a good supply of fuel. The soil is very productive. Highland contains an even township of thirty-six sections, most of which is now under cultivation.

The early settlers were not only annoyed by parties holding half-breed script, but by cliques of land-sharks who often sought by force to drive oft those settlers who had come without an invitation from these would-be lords of all the rich and fertile lands in the county. They were sometimes successful, but not always. An incident illustrating their manner of proceeding is the case of John Kedden. Mr. Redden had taken a claim near the McNallans in Highland, which was erected by certain Wabasha 'parties ; and "Blind-Charley " Lessling and a man by the name of Harrecaine, with a posse of congenial spirits, called upon the intruder Redden, after first giving him due notice to quit, and were in the act of hanging him to a ti-ee, when John McNallan and his father Thomas McNallan appeared upon the scene, and by a vigorous protest, backed by a threat to brain with axes which they carried the first man that laid a hand on their intended victim, succeeded in effecting Redden's release, though the cowardly gang of mobbers retired threatening to renew the attempt on Redden's life unless he should speedily leave the country, which he soon after did.

Though the Indians were numerous they were never guilty of committing depredations on the farmers of Highland, but annoyed them by incessant begging. The whites were afraid to deny their requests, and occasionally became the butt of the redskins' practical jokes. On one occasion an old squaw and two young bucks called on Mrs. Patrick McDonough during the absence of her husband, and by signs induced her to prepare them a meal of victuals, which she did with much trouble. As soon as it was ready they laughed at her .and bolted out of the cabin, leaving the meal untouched.