Lake City City (part 1 of 3)

Lake City City

The citizens of that section of Wabasha county lying along tlie shores of Lake Pepin and contiguous to the county of Goodhue on the north, did not aspire to corporate responsibilities, honors and burdens at a very early date. That portion of the county, for years known as the town of Lake City, had been organized as a township for nearly thirteen years before any attempt to incorporate a village or town within its territory was attempted, and it was more than seventeen years from the date of the permanent settlement of the town before any effective attempt at incorporation was made. During those years there had grown up here an intelligent and thriving community of twenty-five hundred souls. Under no government other than that of the township organization, eifected on the admission of the state into the union in 1S5S, a prosperous mercantile and shipping trade had been developed and successfully fostered ; churches had been organized and built ; schools established and well provided with all necessary appliances of buildings and apparatus ; streets had been opened, graded and furnished with sidewalks ; police and sanitary regulations adopted, and in short the whole paraphernalia of village organization introduced and successfully manipulated under that old township organization of May 11, 1S5S, supplemented by some special legislative acts to which specific attention will be necessary in order to arrive at a true understanding of the status of this city, which was only a town ; and of this portion of the town of Lake Citj', which was so much more than a township, as was only too apparent when the city of Lake City was carved out ot the old township of Lake City, which one year thereafter received by legislative enactment the curtailed name of "Lake," as it now is. The state census i-eturns for 1865 give as the population of the town of Lixke City for that year, fourteen hundred and eleven souls. Deducting the population of the township outside of the corner occupied by the afterward city, and making allowance for the increase of population during the year ending March 31, 1865, and it will not be far from the actual figures if we place the population of that section of Lake City township, now included with the incorporated limits of Lake C'itj', at about eleven hundred, in the spring of 18(54. By special legislative enactment, of date March 3, 1864, the supervisors of the town of Lake City were given special powers, which special powers were equivalent in general terms to those usually exercised by the board of trustees of an incorporated village, or the common council of an incorporated city, but these special powers were only made applicable to a particularly specified section of the town of Lake City, to wit : The S.W. J of S.W. J and lots Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Sec. 4 ; and the E. i and N.W. i of S.E. J of Sec. 5 ; the E. i of N.W. i and the S. i of N.E. J and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of Sec. 5 ; and the E. i of N.W. J and the N.W. J of N.W. i and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of Sec. 9, all in T. Ill N., of E. 12 W., according to United States survey. This tract, as above described, included very nearly so much of the present city limits as is laid oif in plats and blocks. Or, to describe it otherwise, it included that portion lying between the railroad track and the lake, with the addition of some small territory on the south side of the railway tracks about the depot, and also in the lower part of the village. It was a strip of land lying along Lake Pepin, a distance of a little over one and a half miles in length and extending backward from the lake a distance varying from one-half to three-fourths of a mile. It was this portion of Lake City township, that while still continuing an integral part of that township, was ]jractically cut ofi' from it, by the sjjecial act of March 3, 1864, above referred to. The powers conferred by this act upon the supervisors of the town of Lake City, were to the effect that within the above specified territory, they could enact and enforce ordinances for a variety of purposes, which briefly stated were :

1. To compel owners and occupants of slaughterhouses, groceries, cellars, stables, sewers, vaults, or any unwholesome or nauseous house or places, to cleanse or abate the same as deemed necessary for the health and comfort of the town.

2. To direct the location, and management of slaughterhouses, markets, and to regulate the sale, storage and conveying of gunpowder and other combustibles.

4. To restrain cattle, hogs, sheep, dogs, poultry, etc., from running at large, and to provide for impounding, selling or destroying them asjhe case might be.

5. To prevent the bringing into the district as above described, any putrid carcass or otlier unwholesome thing, or in case of its being so brought in, to provide for and enforce its removal.

8. -To prevent open drunkenness, brawling, obscenity, etc., and provide for the arrest and punishment of those guilty of thus offending against the general peace.

9. To prevent the dangerous construction and condition of chimneys, tireplaces, ovens, boilers and boiler-stacks, etc., the deposit of ashes in the highways, or in unsafe places ; to regulate the use of fireworks and firearms, and in general to prevent and provide for the extinguishment of fires as might be considered necessary and expedient.

1(1. To provide for the maintenance of suitable sidewalks and street-crossings on both sides of Washington street, at the expense of the owners of the adjacent properties.

11. To establish a grade for Washington street, under direction of a competent surveyor, cause profiles thereof to be made and registered as town plats are recorded, and make regulations for excavating or filling in streets as may be required.

12. To prevent and punish noise at public meetings and assemblies, riots, disturbances of all kinds, and generally to promote and preserve the public peace.

It was made the duty of the townsliip supervisors to enforce the regulations that should be made in the interest and for the furtherance of tlie above objects, and the manner of procedure in such eases was duly set forth ; all by-laws, regulations or ordinances passed by them for this purpose were declared to have the force of law provided they controvened no existing laws, and severe penalties could be enforced for their violation. The justices of the town of Lake City were given original and exclusive jurisdiction in all cases arising under the act, and no appeal could be taken in any case where the fine imposed did not exceed twenty dollars. The supervisors of the town of Lake were also empowered to appoint a marshal, and it was made their duty to so appoint within thirty days of the annual town election. Said marshal was required to furnish bond, and given all the authority of constable under the statute of the state, to receive fees for his services, and such other compensation as the supervisors should determine, subject to limitation. The supervisors were also authorized and required to vote a tax upon the taxable property of the district thus governed sufticient to pay the expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of the act ; that tax was to be by majority vote of the town supervisors, and the town clerk was required to file a copy of record of such vote upon which the tax was to be levied and collected, as all other towr ship taxes were. The assessor of the town of Lake City was also required to make a separate list of the pei-sons and personal property of all residents ot the specified district in the same manner as was required to be done in the case of residents of incorporated towns. The act took effect from and after its passage, and thenceforth the town supervisors of Lake City had a corporation to look alter, which was not incorporated, and the district above described had all the honors and privileges of an incorporated village or city without its liabilities and many of its burdens. The legislature of 1866 made some additional provisions, supplemental to the act of 1S64, by which the special regulation concerning the building of a sidewalk on Washington street became a more general one, and included all the streets of the special district. In addition to this the town supervisors were authorized to direct so much of the poll and road tax, derived from the tax of the special district, as they deemed to be best, to the maintenance of bridges and highways in adjacent townships. This was only in effect to empower the town supervisors to do officially what the public spirit of the citizens, of the village which was not a village, had been doing privately and unofliciall} for a number of years. Of this more specific mention will be made in another place.

By act oi legislature, approved March 9, 1S67, some ver}' material additions were made to the ]:)Owers of the supervisors of the town of Lake City, by which they were authorized to license and regulate exhibitions and shows of all kinds, caravans, circuses, concerts, theaters ; also, all auctions, billiard tables, tenpin alleys, bowling saloons, etc. ; also, all taverns, saloons, and persons dealing in spirituous, vinous or fermented liquors. They were also given authority to prohibit gaming, card-playing, and restrain persons from engaging in the same, or from vending any article for which license to sell was required, until the license so required had been duh- granted. Another important addition to their powers was that of establishing fire-limits, and prescribing what character of material should be allowed in building within such fire limits ; also, to prevent the reconstruction within such limits of all wooden build- ings, where such buildings had been damaged lifty per cent of their value. It was also enacted that thej should provide a place for the confinement of all arrested persons, no matter from what cause, until discharged by due process of law or committed to the county jail. They were finally empowered to lay out a street through the center of a certain block (No. 1), levy a tax to compensate owners for damages, and to lease so much of the levee as to them shall seem just, provided it does not seriously aftect or injure said levee, and provided also that said leases should not extend for a longer term than ninety-nine years. The supervisors and town clerk were allowed two dollars per diem compensation each for all time actually employed in discharging the duties set forth in the above act and its amendments ; and with this the special legislation ended for this special district which was virtually the incorporation of the city of Lake, and yet did not exist as such incorporation until eight years thereafter.

There are few cases that can parallel this, and none that have come under our own notice. This existence of eight years in which the inhabitants of a favored corner of Lake City township were privileged with all that actual incorporation could confer, relieved of its financial burdens, might well mark an era in their history and be designated bj' a white stone. Not one substantial beuefit that could be secured through a city charter that they did not reap ; not one responsibility, which as a city they must have assumed, that tiiey did not in this manner largely avoid, and that without working aught but good to them. They could open streets and tax property therefor ; lay sidewalks, grade, condemn property, lease the levees, prescribe fire limits, regulate sale of specified articles, I'equire licenses, construct their own courts of municipal justice, issue their writs, execute them and enforce penalties without recourse (within certain limits); take the taxes for road purposes and appropriate them where they could do most good - and in every conceivable way exercise all the pi-ivileges of an indi\-idual or body corporate ; but thej' were not a body corporate in law, had no existence in fact, could not sue or be sued, could not contract any obligation, could not be forced to meet any ; and all the expense of carrying on this machinery was the sum of two dollars per capita for the township supervisors and town clerk for every day actually ex]iended in the direction of aftairs. True the township officers could be sued, but there was no provision for their contracting any obligations for this specified district as such, and tlie ari-angement all tlirough was one on which Lake City, unincorporate, might well congratulate herself. The verdict of one of her citizens - that she fortunately stumbled upon the peculiar legislation which this conferred privilege without responsibility, was after all, perhaps, not very wide of the mark. Early iu 1867 the question of formally organizing as a city was discussed, and meetings held to consider the question. The matter was finally disposed of in a meeting of the citizens held at Williamson's hall, on the evening of Saturday, January 19, 1867. The objection to the existing order of affairs was urged, on the ground that as now administered, the town authorities lacked the power properly to administer the affairs of a community like this, and corporate powers had become a necessity. To this it was answered that tlie powers in the hands of the supervisors was ample, and only needed to be exercised. Also that if more legislation was needed it could be obtained, but that it was unadvisable to saddle the town with the burdens of maintaining a corporate existence. The test question, as submitted, was that a city charter be drawn up, and the proposition was negatived by a very decided majority. The meeting instructed the supervisors to rigidly enforce such by-laws and ordinances as were already in existence, and a committee chosen to draw up amendments to the present regulations, increasing the power of the town supervisiors so as to include the various subjects aftei-ward specified in the legislative act of March 9, next ensuing. Matters remained in this state so far as the exercise of govermental powers was concerned, until the formal incorporation of the city - although one more attempt to incorporate was made, which led to no definite result. By act of legislature of 1870, it was provided that any community, within any specified distiict, numbering not less than two thousand souls, and not more than fifteen thousand, might, upon filing with the judge of probate for the county witliin which such district was located, a petition for incorporation signed by not less than two-thirds of the legal voters of said district, become thereby incorporated, and it was made the duty of the judges of probate, before whom such petition should come, to order an election for the purpose of filling the various offices set forth in the charter as petitioned for. Such petition so signed by three hundred and twenty-two legal voters residing within a certain described district (substantially the corporate limits of the present city of Lake City), came before A. Z. Putnam, judge of probate for the county of Wabasha, on May 15, 1871. The judge gave notice of election to be held July 1, 1871, for the purpose of filling the various offices, and designated the place of holding such elections. Caucuses were held, and a full ticket nominated, but owing to opposition on the part of some, and a general distrust of the legality of such an incorporation, the polls were never opened, and the election passed. The friends of the measure were not satisfied with this disposition of the case, and C. N. Sterry, Esq., secured the opinion of Hon. Thos. "Wilson, of the city of Winona, and also of Messrs. Bigelow, Flandrau & Clark, of St. Paul, as to the constitutionality or otherwise of the city charter. The opinions in both cases sustained, the action of the citizens as legal, and the incorporation as a valid act. The opinion of the St. Paul attorneys was also to the effect that failure to hold the election in no case vacated or dissolved the corporation. The recourse as contained in tlie opinion, was to re-petition for a designated day of election, or apply to the legislature to appoint a day. The former was not done, and instead of the latter, an act of incorporation was duly passed at the next session of the legislature in accordance with which Lake City was incorporated as a city, and the long-vexed question finally settled.

The condition of the city, its growth and development as a corporate body, virtually dates from the year in which, under special legislative enactment, the inhabitants of this particular portion of Lake City township began to assume the methods of city governments ; and in this view of the case we will speak of Lake City as existing from 1864. Little change requiring note appears to have transpired in 1864, and the early part of 1865. The attention of aU classes was directed to the great struggle between national authority and organized rebellion, to the exclusion of almost all else ; and it was not until the nation emerged from the conflict, and liei" brave defenders came trooping homeward, regiment by regiment, what was left of their decimated ranks, that the great heart of the country breathed free, and the life of all industries resumed their natural flow. At this time, midsummer of 1865, the township of Lake City had a population of fourteen hundred and eleven ; of these from eleven hundred to twelve hundred were included within the city limits. The citizens of the little mart on the shores of Lake Pepin were aspiring to the direction of so much of the trade of the sur- rounding country as a liberal policy would enable them to control. They had reached out a liberal hand over the adjacent townships, and attempted the creation of a market for grain at this point by providing the best roads possible, along which the loaded wagons might reach their warehouses and wharves. They had steadily resisted all seductions to combine against the producer and depress prices, and by this policy had gained the confidence of the wheatgrowers in adjacent counties, many of whom, as far as practicable, brought their surplus grain to Lake City market, the advance in price secured here more than compensating for the remoteness of the market. By this means the little city-to-be soon became noted as a profitable market in which to sell cereals, and successfully disputed the palm with older and more pojjulons centers of trade. The season for grain shipments during 1865 lasted two hundred and forty-eight days ; and in that time there were slii])ped from this point, of wheat alone, 660,394 bushels ; and there was in store 66,000 bushels, as seen b^ the warehouse receipts - an aggregate of 726,394 bushels of wheat brought to this market in wagons. Prices ruled for the year about one dollar and five cents on the average, and had it not been for the rapacity of the transportation companies, it was claimed that the average price for the season would have ruled ten cents per bushel higher - a difference of seventy-two thousand six hundred and thirty-nine dollars and forty cents in the pockets of the wheat-growers. This ten cents represented the increase above what was claimed to be a fair price for transportation. This exaction led to attempted combinations on the part of the shippers, out of which new lines of freigiit-carrying vessels originated ; and competition, as far as practicable, restored the balances to something like equity. The tonnage of the vessels passing this point, and receiving and discharging fi-eight at Lake City docks, was computed at twelve thousand six hundred and thirtj^-one tons, and the whole number of vessels fifty-three. To these were to be added one hundred and twenty-nine barges and lighters, witli a farther capacity of nineteen thousand three hundred and fifty tons. The increase in population of the town of Lake City for the semi-decade from 1860 to 1865 was five hundred and forty-five, an increase of sixty-three per cent. No separate census returns were kept of population within the village, and how much of the increase was in town or how much in country cannot now be ascertained. The substantial improvements in building alone during the year aggregated neai'ly eighty-five thousand dollars, about one-third of which was on Washington street. The improvements on the various streets, as shown in round numbers, and these very largely new structures, were :

During the year 1866 there was no very marked improvement in the volume of business transacted, neither was any decrease noted. The aggregate of city improvements was nearly the same, tlie total being eighty-seven thoiisand six hundred dollars. A board of trade was organized in February, officered as follows : H. F. Williamson, president; A. B. Doughty, vice-president; S. B. Munson, Jr., secretary. Directors : A. Tibbitts, J. L. Armstrong and C. F. Kogers. Most of the leading men of the city were identified with this organization, which had, among other objects, that of securing more equitable freight rates for grain and merchandise. An antimonopoly convention had been called, representing the merchants and shippers of the state, to meet at St. Paul on February 9, and to this convention the Lake City board of trade sent its representatives. The result of the deliberations at St. Paul was the determination to build a line of boats and put them on the river - - to be known as the People's line - the people holding and owning the stock. Committees were appointed to secure subscriptions to such stock, and President Williamson, of tlie Lake City board of trade, was appointed solicitor for this section. The organization of the Minnesota Transportation Company was the result of this convention ; but as the old monopolies were breaking up, and it was thought that the resulting competition would equalize freight charges, the building of boats was abandoned. The beginning of this year 1866 was marked by a decided interest in temperance matters on the part of the public at large. A Good Templars' lodge was organized here January 20, with a membership of sixty, and only one week later the number was increased to one hundred. A genuine wave of temperance feeling tided over the county ; lectures were common, lodges multi- plied, the recruits were numerous, and the interest was well sustained throughout the year. There was also a proposition made to the citizens by the state conference of Congregational churches looking toward the establishment of a college here under the aus])ices of that body. The matter was taken in hand by the citizens, meetings held of the legal voters of the town of Lake City, and the supervisors were ordered to issue the bonds of the town to the amount of twenty thousand dollars in aid of such an institution. Further conference with the church authorities having the matter in hand elicited the unexpected fact that if the college was established Lake City would have to build the structures, and provide largely for the expenses, the Congregational church throughout the state endorsing the school and recommending contributions and endowments from the friends of education within that denomination. The matter dropped there. From the ledgers of the merchants doing business in town, it was ascertained that the volume of trade for the year ended August 1, 1866, aggregated a little over one and a half millions of dollars. The returns, however, are quite incomplete ; oats, corn, barley, manufactures in general, saloons and some other branches of business are not mentioned. The list, as tabulated, is :

The price of wheat ruled high during the shipping season, and fifteen thousand dollars a day was quite frequently paid by the buj'ers here. The shipments for the season were 652, 05i bushels, a decline of 57,54:4 as compared with the shipments of the previous year. The amount in store at close of navigation was 6,800 bushels. The decreased shipments all over the state were doubtless owing to the partial failure of the crop. The shipments at Red Wing fell off 300,000 bushels from corresponding period of previous year ; Hastings showed a decline of 78,000 bushels. In November the price paid here on the streets rose to $1.75, the Milwaukee quotations being from $1.80 to $2.12. The year 1867 was ushered in with a fire, which broke out in the livery stables of Eussell & M'Neil, on

Franklin street. The flames sped so quickly that only a portion of the stock could be saved, and seven horses were burned to death. The total loss, building and contents, was twenty-five hundred dollars, on which there was three hundred dollars insurance.

The questions of supreme importance that engaged the attention of the citizens of Lake City during the year 1S67 were those of railroad aid and county-seat removal. The Chicago & St. Paul Railway Company had come to a standstill in their efforts to secure the construction of the road. A prejudice was felt against the road and eastern capitalists would not invest in its bonds ; it was therefore attempted to secure the placing of some of these bonds at home, or at least a suflicient number of them to convince eastern capitalists that the road enjoyed the confidence of the residents of that portion of the state through which it was to pass. A conference between the representatives of the railroad company and leading citizens of Lake City was accordingly held June 26, and alter some preliminary investigation into the character of the investment a motion was made by Judge Stout, recommending the supervisors of the town of Lake to subscribe for first mortgage bonds of the Chicago & St. Paul Railway Company, to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, on the conditions embodied in the report of the committee that had been previously appointed and whose report was then under consideration. JSTo result was reached, and the old company was i-eorganized in November, with Hon. AV". B. Ogden, of Chicago, at its head. On March 6, 1868, by special act of the state legislature the town of Lake City was authorized to issue its bonds in aid of the constraction of the Chicago & St. Paul railway. This act was amended February 2, 1869, and on the 6th of that month the supervisors of the town passed an ordinance, submitting the question to the legal voters thereof. Due notice was given, and the election was held Tuesday, February 26, 1869, at which a total vote of four hundred and thirty-seven was polled. The amount of the proposed issue was sevent}'-five thousand dollars, and the poll stood : for issue, 306 ; against issue, 131. The issue of the bonds thus voted and their transfer led to litigation, in which the corporation of Lake City was made defendant and won the suit as against the railway company. Judgment was subsequently recovered against the town of Lake, so much of as was not included in the corporate limits of Lake City, and the matter compromised by the payment of the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars. The history of this litigation will appear in another place. Tlie county-seat question was one equally tedious of settlement, and much more provocative of animosity and sectional bitterness. On March 7 of this year, 1867, an act legislative was passed, submitting to the voters of the county the question of the removal of the county-seat from its then location, Wabasha, to Lake City. The act was passed upon a petition of the citizens, and competition for the capital honors became lively. Lake City bid for the removal by pledging her bonds to the exteat of twenty thousand dollars for the erection of suitable county buildings in case the county seat was located here. It was urged that this would be a saving of at least ten thousand dollars to the county, as that amount was imperatively needed to provide a jail at Wabasha, and the matter of issuing county bonds for that amount had already been under consideration by the county commissionei-s. The legality of the issue of twenty thousand dollars in bonds as proposed by Lake City was submitted to the ,attorney-general Hon. W. Colville, who affirmed the legality of the issue. The bonds were duly issued and deposited with th'e county treasurer as the property of the county in case the removal should be effected. These bonds were to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent annually, and were made payable in five yearly installments of four thousand dollars each. The press of the rival cities waxed heated in the contest which ensued, and no means were left untried to secure a possible victory. The resources of the language were somewhat severely taxed, as well as the upper cases of the printing-offices, in supplying epithets and capitals, and so the day of election came on. The voting was something extraordinary, and the immense number of 9,480 votes were polled in a county not exceeding 13, .500 populaticm all told. The contest was carried into the courts and a hearing had before Judge Barber, of the third judicial district. Case was adjourned tor months to take testimony. Judge Mitchell, of Winona, acting as referee, together with Counsellor Benedict, of Rochester. The conclusion finally was that 2,531 legal votes had been cast, of which number 1,457 had been cast in favor of Lake Gty, and 1,074 in favor of Wabasha. The case was carried to the supreme court and a decision rendered in January, 1871, reversing the judgment of the district court, on the ground that it requires a majority of the legal voters of the county and not a majority of the votes cast to effect the removal of the county seat, and in this manner the matter was disposed of three years and a half after the vote was taken.

Sos History Of Wabasha Countt

The city suffered quite a loss on August 30 of this year by the destruction of the planing-mill of J. W. Harding, which, with the warehouse of Amsbry & Fletcher, was totally destroyed by tire. The planing-mill was quite an extensive establishment, and the loss was probably not less than ten thousand dollars, upon which there was no insurance. The warehouse was 30x90, valued at iive thousand dollars, insured for half that amount.

The price of wheat rose to $1.83 for JSTo. 1 early in October, and for the first four days of the month the sum of $75,000 was paid by the buyers of the city to farmers for wheat. Two weeks later one firm in this city took in one hundred and ten loads, and barges were loaded at the rate of 2,000 bushels per hour. There was a decided falling off in the wheat shipments this year ; only 342, 622 bushels were forwarded from this place, and at close of navigation 25,855 bushels remained in store.

With the year 1868 the town reached its first decade as an organized part of the governmental system of the state. A comparison* ot the votes cast at the opening and also at the close of this period of ten years, shows that the increase was from one hundred and thirtyfour votes in 1858, to five hundred and twelve in 1868. The area of the township, exclusive of town lots, in acres, 17,408tj acres, which was valued at $100, 602, or about $5. 77 per acre. The aggregate value of town lots in 1868, including buildings thereon, was $180, 639, making a total real-est te valuation for the town of Lake City of $290,241. The total value of the personal property of the town was rated at $149,374, a little more than one-seventh of all the personal property of the county, which was returned at $1,005,856, about $75,500 less than the real property as scheduled by assessor. While the vote of Lake City in 1868 had increased to almost four times that cast in 1858, the vote of the county at large had increased to a little less than three times the vote cast at the general election of ten years ago. Chester, Elgin, Gillford, Richland, Highland, Plainview and Zumbro, all showing a larger rate of increase than Lake City, the balance of the township a much smaller ratio. There was a decided increase in the amount of grain shipments from Lake City during this year as compared with 1867, but prices did not rule so high. Total wheat shipments were 502,288 bushels, and about 4,000 bushels of barley. A census taken in this year by Abner Tibbetts, the assessor, gave 3,031 as the population of the town of Lake City, an estimate a little higher than the United States census returns of two years later seemed to warrant. The amount expended in building improvements for the year was about $28,000 in excess of that of 1867, the total amount for 1868 being $102,750. The inliabitants of the city were forcibly reminded in the beginning of this year that they were not quite out of the woods, by tlie advent of an immense wild-cat, which crossed the lake on the evening of January 11, and raided the chicken-house of David Lalaw, near the lake, and piled his poultry in a heap, after sucking their blood. On being discovered, he went out through the sash, and, taking refuge in Willis' warehouse, was shot. He was described as of immense size, almost as large as a wolf. These "varmints" were quite common in the Wisconsin woods across the lake, but their advent in the streets of Lake City was something unusual. During the year 1SG9 the question of voting aid to the reorganized St. Paul and Chicago Railway Company was the all-absorbing theme. Of this mention has already been made. On July 9 a tornado, the first ever seen in Wabasha count}' within historic periods, struck the county, inflicting considerable damage in Mount Pleasant township, where three dwellings were destroyed, some stock killed, but no persons injured, with the exception of L. C. Carson's little girl, who was carried about one hundred and fifty feet and considerably bruised. The storm seemed to be identical in character with those that have recently devastated portions of this and Olmsted counties, and its descent into Lake Pepin and passage across, about one mile below town, are described as peculiarly grand and terrible. It appears to have formed on the highland between Eead's Landing and the West Albany roads, and swept over the blufi" back of Morrison Lake, near the O'Hara House, and descended to Lake Pepin. Its path was nearly three hundred yards wide, and where it descended the steep blufi", brusli and sapling were scooped out by the roots and scarifications made in the soil. Trees, fences, telegraph-poles, and whatever came in its path as it swept toward the lake, was carried into the air and hurled in all directions, its progress being accompanied by a tremendous roar that drowned the noise of the hoarse thunder then reverberating through the air. As it approached the lake, so says an eye-witness, it appeared a tunnel-shaped cloud whirling about one hundred yards above the surface of the water, diagonally inclining toward the water. It gradually assumed an upright position, descending in its course until it commenced drawing up the waters of the lake, which rose to meet it. It was about fifteen minutes in passing over the lake, and the waters for nearly three hundred yards diameter were in a state of agitation impossible to describe. The water was mixed with the dust and debris carried from the shore, and there was a strange play of light within the cloud, which gave it the appearance of a lake on fire. "When it reached the Wisconsin shore it had greatly diminished in breadth, but swept the waters out on the beach in a column thirty to forty yards wide and twenty feet above the ordinary lake level. As it rose, the bluft' side, to pass over into the valley beyond, the trees that it lifted were plainly seen from the watchers on the shore at this point sailing away in the whirling death-dance of the tornado. Its force was so great that whole oak-trees, tliirty inches in diameter, were twisted completely ofif, their stumps remaining to tell how powerful must have been the force excited. The storm crossed the lake about six o'clock in the evening, and when about midway the lake, the sun broke through the dun-colored clouds in the west, and a beautiful rainbow crowned the head of the tornado and rode upon it as upon the wings of the wind over to the Wisconsin shore, - Nature's presentation of "beauty and the beast" on a gorgeous scale, within the beautiful amphitheater of blnif-crowned Pepin.

The city continued to show a gratifying increase in trade and improvements. The amount expended in buildings was §109,000. The shipments of grain were much in excess of grevious years ; barley began to assume importance as an item of freight, and flour shipments largely increased also. The shipments of wheat this season were (il8,531 bushels, which, with the 23,800 barrels of flour, equivalent to 119,000 additional bushels' at that time, and the 86,165 remaining in store, would give a total of 823,696 bushels of wheat as the season's business. To this may be added 20,645 bushels of barley, and some other shipments of oats and corn not tabulated, which would bring the grain business of the season to about 850,000 bushels.

The year 1870 was that in which the United States census was taken, and the returns as filed by the enumerator gave the town of Lake City a total population of two thousand six hundred and eight, of whom two thousand one hundred and seventeen were within what may be denominated the limits of the city. ' This was some- what less than was expected, as from the assessor's returns of 1S6S it was confidently believed that the population would not fall below three tiiousand. The winter of 1869-70 a rivalry arose among the various drivers along the stage-route from La Crosse northward as to the quickest possible time between the terminus of the railroad, La Crosse, and Lake City. On Wednesday, February 9, one of the up-stages left La Crosse at 7:15 a.m., and making stoppages aggregating fifty-eight minutes at "Winona, Minneiska and AVabasha, reached Lake City at 4:38 p.m., making the distance of eighty-eight miles in nine hours and twenty-three minutes, or, deducting stoppages, in eight hours and twenty-five minutes. It was not always, however, that the drivers were so fortunate. The south-bound stage on December 28 went through the ice about three miles above Read's Landing, drowning the wheel horses and losing express, mails and freight. Two passengers on board escaped, one dry-shod, one with an ice-bath in Pepin. The mails, express and freight, with the coach, were hooked up by a party of volunteers from Read's Landing, and the horses only were a total loss. This year witnessed the organization of the First National bank, and the completion of the Methodist Episcopal church so far as to enable the society to occupy the basement, which they did, on December 18. These matters will be more fully treated of under "Clmrches" and "Banks." The expenditures for buildings during the year footed up $88,125. The volume of grain business was: Shipped, wheat, 861,000 bushels; barley, 62,100 bushels ; oats, 27,000 bushels ; corn, 3,000 bushels. The shipments ot flour were not tabulated. There is a record of one shipment of eight hundred barrels, and as there was considerable local Wisconsin demand, it is within bounds to say that of wheat (and the equivalent in flour), barley, oats and corn, the actual shipments from the wharves here were in excess of one million one hundred thousand bushels. The year 1871 marked an era in the history of the town of Lake City, and was the beginning of the end of that anomalous existence in which the city that was not a city enjoyed all the privileges of a full-fledged corporate existence. As before cited, it was during this year that the attempt to incorporate through petition to the judge of probate was made. The retiring board of town supervisors made a tabulated report of the town business at the close of their term of ofiice, March 1-t, 1871, for which, at the town meeting held on that date, they wei-e handsomely complimented in a resolution of thanks, as also for their efliciency and economy in the management of the town business. The meeting also expressed the hope that tlieir successors would imitate their good example, and furnish each year a full statement to the press for publication. The year's expenditures for bridges, roads, sti-eets, drains, tools for roadwork, etc., were $853.48. The ordinary town expenses were $536.26. Legal services in the county-seat contest were $591.53, and for building a lock-up they had expended $378. With uncollected taxes, taxes levied, delinquent highway tax and cash, the total assets of the town from these sources were $9,128.89 ; town bonds, town orders, and bond orders outstanding, with interest to date, $4,533.31, showing a balance in favor of the town of $4,595.58. The treasurer's report showed total receipts for the year, $7,140.73 ; all accounts audited and a balance in the treasury of $334.47. The Patrons of Husbandry organized a grange of the order in Lake City, June 3, and steps were taken to consolidate the work of the grange throughout the county, so as to secure some practical results. This year was rendered memorable by the completion of the railway to this place, and the arrival of the long-expected locomotive. The tracklayers crossed the county-line from the north on Tuesday, July 11, and by nightfall the rails were laid lialf-way through town. On the 25th regular trains were put on between Lake City and St. Paul, and the road at the south was rapidly extending itself up the river. Work on the depot here was being rapidly pushed and matters wore a very businesslike air about the railroad terminus, the only objection to which was its location so far from the business portion of the city. The first tlu-ough train for Winona came down on Wednesday, September 6, and the following day regular trips commenced over the road. One train a day each way, meeting in this city at 1:15 P.M., was the arrangement, and it was no longer possible to say the upper river towns were out of the world six months of the year. On Friday, October 13, the United States mails were brought in on the trains, and so closed the old era of stages and steamboats as mail transports for Lake City. The new order of things was brought about by the personal attention of congressman Averill, who gave a day of his time in Washington to matters and secured the benefits of railway mails without the usual delay. This year was also marked by the organization of the public library and the opening of its shelves to the reading public. The matter was consummated August 22 by the organization of the Lake City Library Association, with the following board of officers and trustees, who also constituted the directory : J. Fletcher, president ; Mrs. C. A. Jewell,

Lake Citt

About the middle of November the reading-room in Eichardson's block, on Center street, was opened. It was a free readingroom, neatly and comfortably furnished, and provided with all the leading northwestern dailies, as also those of New York and Washington. Foreign reviews and home periodicals were provided, and the doors thrown open every evening at half-past six o'clock, made it a very desirable place for young people to visit, and was a decided rival to the saloons. The library began to arrive about the middle of December, the first installment consisting of two hundred and seventy volumes, to which, two weeks later, many more were added. These, with occasional donations, gave at the close of the year a very respectable selection from whicli to make choice, and the opportunity was not neglected. To add to the attractions of the association, a lecture course was organized, and during the winter seven lectures delivered under its auspices. The report of the school directors of the Lake City district also showed a very satisfactory condition of educational affairs, as will appear under the head of "Lake City schools." Elevators were erected during the fall and winter along the railroad track, and a decided impetus was given to business, already flourishing, by the advent of railway communication. Other things seemed also to have come in with the railway, which were not so acceptable. Lake City wheat buyers had long before established the policy of paying as high prices for grain as the market would possibly justify, and tliis because it was just to the producer, conserved the interests of the trade of the city, gave the market at this point the preference over others, and so centered trade at this point. In order to compete with the buyers in this market, shippers at other points were therefore necessitated to pay the very top price the market would justify, and the speculators concluded to manipulate the market at this point. All the large wheat-buying houses were interested in the scheme: Culver & Graves, of Duluth ; Kellogg & Mann and Angus Smith & Co., of Milwaukee; the Davidson and the Diamond Jo line of steamers were all interested. An arrangement was effected with the Lake City warehousemen by which a uniform price of twentyfive cents below the Milwaukee quotations should be paid for wheat in this market, and all profits were to be pooled. The - monopoly extended wherever the river and railway lines extended, and as the freight was only twelve cents, commissions one cent, elevator charges one cent, and cost of buying three cents - at which there was a good profit - the cost of wheat here was justly within seventeen cents of the Milwaukee quotations, a clear gain beyond legitimate trade protits of eight cents per bushel, or a dead loss of that amount to the wheat raisers of the state. The merchants and press of the city opened upon the combination, and an agitation was begun by which, within thirty days, the ring Was completely " busted " - as it was graphically expressed - - and a I'eturn to honorable competition became once more the order of the day. Controlling as they did the whole wheat purchases of the market, the transportation lines forbid all warehousemen from paying more than the dictated price, from buying any wheat or shipping on his own account, or from receiving into the warehouse grain which had been purchased above the stipulated price. The large wheat merchants of the centralized markets and the transportation companies enforced, or attempted to enforce, their measures, by making noncompliance a ground of expulsion from the market, and set their own spies, with power to enter a warehouseman's office and examine his books, as a special police to enforce these regulations. The reputable wheat merchants of the city had entered very reluctantly into the arrangement at the outset, and only acquiesced under protest, to see how matters would turn out, not clearly seeing the deptli of the business to which they were asked to dommit themselves. The "ring" lasted about three weeks, and then collapsed, dishonesty getting so distrustful of its partners, that the Duluth members, finding their own interests suffering through the keener operations of their eastern partners, suddenly withdrew from the combination, and wheat went up by a rebound to within ten cents of the Milwaukee market. During the continuance of the monopoly, wheat here was lower than in the adjacent cities off the river and St. Paul railwaj^, and the receipts were largely diminislied. As a result, the members of the ring, no longer in combination, were pitted against each other, and the following week (after Duluth withdrew) the price ruled twenty to twenty-five cents higher than at Eochester, and by Saturday night the grand total of $130,520.20 had been paid for grain received in this city. The improvements for the year 1S71 were largely in excess of all previous years, and some of them of a ver}' costly and substantial character. The list aggregated $150,000. The more important structures were : W. H. Lyon's brick block, on Lyon avenue,

Lake City

$35,000 ; C. F. Young's block, $12,000 ; the Chicago & St. Paul railway depot and improvements, $9,400 ; John McBride's brick store, $8,000 ; George Patton & Son, store, $8,000, dwelling, $8,000; II. Gillett, foundry, $5,000, and Amsbry & Fletclier, elevator, $5,000. The most important - or certainly not the least important - of the changes and improvements made this year, was the widening of Pearl street, now Lyon avenue, from a width of seventy to that of ninety feet. This work was the liberal donation of Mr. W. H. Lyon, of New York, who had extensive property interests in the city, and has always been liberal in devising for the little city by the lake. What property he did not own he purchased from High street to the lake, and, setting the buildings back the required distance, opened a street ninety feet in width. Purchasing some blocks about the depot, also, he meditated the widening of the entire street from the lake to the city limits, but was temporarily prevented by the owners of some property along the streets. The city, however, in 1S73, took the matter in hand, condemned the lots that jutted out into the street (of which there were only three), and gave the city a beautiful avenue of the uniform width of ninety feet throughout its entire length. Other improvements meditated at the time, and which would have been of immense advantage to the city, were prevented by shortsighted opposition to Mr. Lyon's plans, which so nettled him that he abandoned them and made his investments elsewhere.

From the assessor's books of this year we gather the following statistics of the property, real and personal, and the agricultural products, stock, etc.

Acres. Bush Miscellaneous Productions In Value

The report of the board of supervisors for the year endiug March 12, 1872, the last in which the town and city were to be inchided together, showed that the total expenses for highways, bridges, sidewalks, crossings, sewers, city marshal's salary, etc., was $2,025.25. The assessed valuation of town property was $638,767.00.

Incoepoeation Of Lake City

Notwithstanding the failure to incorporate the city under the provisions of the general law of 1870, known as the judge of probate act, and under which, as befoi'e noticed, an attempt at incorporation was made in 1871, the incorporation at an early day was accepted as certain. The failure in 1871 arose from the uncertainty of the nature of the act, more than from any other cause. Accordingl}', on tlie assembly of the legislature in the winter of 1871-2, an act of incorporation for the city claimed attention. A charter had been duly prepared embodying the views of those who had interested themselves in this matter, and a bill granting the charter prayed for was introduced by Mr. Thompson, representative from this district, early in the session. This bill passed the house under suspension of the rules on February 19, was as favorably received by the senate when it came before them the following day, was approved on the 26th of the month, and became of effect fi-om and after its passage. The city limits as defined under the charter were materially enlarged from what had constituted the special district exercising municipal powers under the administration of the supervisors of the town of Lake City. The new corporation retained the old name "Lake City," and its boundaries as described in the act were : " Beginning at the northwest corner of the N.E. J of Sec. 6, in T. Ill N., of R. 12 W., running thence south one and one-half miles to the center of section 7 in said township, thence east along the quarter-section line and the continuance thereof to the center of Lake Pepin, thence up the middle of said lake to a point due east of the termination of the line between townships Nos. Ill and 1]2, thence to and along said line west to the place of beginning. Otherwise described, the city limits, so much of them at least as were not covered by the waters of Lake Pepin, extended west from the lake shore, along the line separating "Wabasha and Goodhue counties, a distance of one and a half miles, thence south one and one-half miles, thence east two and one-half miles to the lake shore, thence northwesterly along the irregular shore line to the boundary of the county on the north. The landed area of the city as thus defined embraced about three and onequarter sections of land ; and there was not far from the same area covered by the waters of the lake. The city as thus limited was divided into wards, as follows : All that part of said territory lying and being westward of a line beginning in the southern boundary of said territorial limits at a point twenty-seven and one-half [rods] west of the center of section 8, in T. Ill N., of R. 12 W., thence along the middle of the public road north to a point where a line running through the center of Pearl street in the plotted town of Lake City continued southwestward will intersect the same ; thence northwestwardly by said line running through middle of Pearl street and the continuation thereof to Greenwood avenue, thence through the alley between blocks E and F in said town of Lake City, thence northerly to the northern boundary of said territorial limits, shall constitute the first ward. All that part of said territorial limits lying and being eastward of said described lines constitute the second ward. The error in this description is in making Pearl street run northwesterly, - should be northeasterly. The division of the city into wards may at present be practically stated to be by a line running through the center of Lyon avenue and extending from the southern limits of the city to the lake. This does not difter matei-ially from the division as expressed in the act, the city limits and ward boundaries remaining practically as they existed at tlie time the charter was granted. The elective offices, as established by the charter, were : For the city - mayor, treasurer, recorder ; for the wards - one alderman (except at first election, when one should be elected for one j'ear), one justice of the peace and one constable, for each ward, whose terms of office sliould be for two years. The terms of office of city treasurer and recorder were fixed at two years, mayor to be elected annually. All candidates to office, to be eligible, must be residents within the city limits and qualified voters. The first Tuesday in April in each year was designated as the day for holding the charter election, of which ten days' previous notice was to be given by the common council, in which notice time and place of holding election, and the offices to be filled, should be set forth. Provision was also made for removals from office by a fourth-fifths vote of the aldermen of the city, all such removals to be for cause after due trial or notice of trial to accused, the specific process in which was fully laid down. The city wards as established by law were to constitute the electoral districts for all state and county elections as well as municipal ; a refusal on the part of any officer-elect to qualify within ten days of his election, or his removal from the city, vacated the office ; the ward alderman and one legalized voter from each ward, to be designated by the council, should constitute the board of judges of elections, and all elections were to be conducted in the same manner as provided for in holding state and county elections; officers-elect were to be duly notified by the recorder of their election ; terms of office were to be from the second Tuesday of April in the year in which the election was made, and continue one year, unless otherwise specified ; failure to elect on the day designated was made cause sufficient for holding a new election, of which, as in the case of the regular elections, the council were to give ten days' notice. The appointive officers of the city were attorney, marshal, assessor, street commissioner, and such others as the council might see lit to elect, and the terms of office of city attf)rney and assessor were fixed at two years each; that of street commissioner, for one year. The mayor and aldermen were debarred fi-om receiving any compensation for their services as such officers, and the compensation of the city recorder was limited to the sum of one hundred dollars per annum. The treasurer's fees were made to conform to the law fixing the fees of town treasurer, and the recorder was prohibited from being directly or indirectly interested in any contract, job or loan, in which the city is a party or negotiator. Provision was also made for city printing, by designating one paper printed in the city, in which all proceedings, ordinances, acts or by-laws requiring tu be published shall be printed, and it was made the duty of said city printer to file with the recorder a copy of all such publication, with affidavit of time that same has been published, and such affidavit shall be conclusive evidence of its publication. All city contracts in which any alderman might be interested were thereby rejected, and money paid on such contracts was made recoverable by law, as against all such contractors. The general powers of the council were amply set forth in the charter, and covered all matters to the well-being, peace, healthfulness, good conduct and safety of the city, as well as all matters affecting her credit and finances : as, to regulate and prescribe fees for all exhibitions, shows, auctions, sports, sale of liquors, spirituous, vinous or fermented; to abate gambling, drunkenness, disorderly persons, houses of prostitution, and all nuisances, physical and moral alike ; to prevent fast and reckless driving in the streets, or the incumbrance of streets, sidewalks, public grounds, etc., by any unnecessary articles ; to prevent all cattle, swine, poultry, etc., from running at large ; to make and establish ]>ublic cisterns, hydrants, and other receptacles for water, and control all waterworks established ; to regulate and control all carrying of passengers and freight within the city, by hacks, omnibuses, trucks or other like vehicles, and to provide for lighting the public streets and grounds ; to make all necessary market regulations, provide for board of health, establish hospitals, to regulate runners or porters, and other soliciting agents, for boats, cars, hotels, etc.; to regulate the sale of combustibles, and prevent the use of firearms in such way as to endanger life, comfort or property ; to provide standard weights and measures, and for the inspection of liquors and provisions, measurement of materials for building, and the appointment of the necessary ofiicers for such inspection; to prescribe tire-limits, and make all needed regulations to prevent their occurrence and spreading ; to provide workhouse for persons convicted of oifense, and put such ottenders at work therein, or upon the streets of the city ; to establish a fire department and purchase the necessary engines, hose, and other apparatus, and to exempt members of such fire department, after certain terms of service, from poll-tax, jury service or militia duty. All ordinances were to receive the afiirmative vote of a majority of the council, be approved and signed by the mayor, and published in the official paper of the city for ten days before becoming law ; and provision was made tor auditing all accounts of officers and agents of the city, and making full record of the settlements made. Their powers in levjdng taxes, collecting and disbursing same, were duly declared, as also their control of the streets and sidewalks, alleys and public grounds, and methods of procedure in all cases specifically set forth. All property of the fire department, or of the several companies that might compose it, all markethouses and their furniture, city -hall and council-room furniture, pounds and the lots on which they stand, and school property, was exempted from levy and sale under execution, save in the case of action of sellers of property to recover for property thus sold to the city. All private property was exempted from levy and sale for city corporation debts ; all contracts for city work were to be to lowest bidder, of whom a bond was to be required for all contracts in excess of twenty-five dollars, unless work was done under supervision of some city officer. All city property was made free from taxation, and the power of the city to purchase, hold or lease both real and personal property for the city was specifically declared. By the same act of incorporation it was enacted that "all that part of the tovra of Lake City, not included in the limits of the said city of Lake City, under this act, shall constitute and be a town by the name of 'Lake,' with all the authorities, rights and powers of towns under the laws of this state."

Section 11 of chapter 8 of the charter authorized and empowered Asa B. Doughty, Merrell Dwelle and Carlos Clement to appoint three discreet and judicious persons in each ward to act as judges of the election to be held on the first Tuesday of April, 1872 ; and also to locate and provide a place in each ward for holding the election. March 30, 1872, under call previously published, a union caucus for the nomination of city officers, irrespective of political parties, was held at the opera house, and a ticket put in nomination. The ward caucuses were held after the general caucus, one at the opera house and one at the Washington street school building. The caucus was numerously attended, and the proceedings were of a character to show a deep interest on the part of the best citizens that a city government of approved ability should be chosen. The nominations were made, and on the following Tuesday, April 2, 1872, the polls were opened for the first charter election for the city of Lake City. The official i-eturns are as follows :

The total vote cast was five hundred and twenty-nine. The vote in the town of Lake (the election in March having gone by detault, that the city and town elections might be held on the same day and all conflictions avoided) was seventy-six, making a total vote in city and town of six hundred and five, an increase of ninety-seven over the vote polled at the presidential election in 1S68, and an increase of sixty-six over the state election of the previous fall. The i-atio of five inhabitants to one vote would thus give Lake City at the time of incorporation a population of twenty-six iiundred and forty -five. It was generally conceded that the city officers-elect were as good timber for the new city government as could have been selected, and the result was hailed by the citizens as an omen of a good administration of city affairs. The first informal meeting of the officers-elect was held on April 6, and an adjournment made to the evening of the 9th, at which time the members of the council were all present and took their respective oaths of office. Treasurer's bond was fixed at twenty thousand dollars ; constables at one thousand dollars each ; a copy of the city charter (official) was received. The city printing was awarded to Messrs. McMasters & Spaulding, and a committee of two appointed to complete contract for printing. F. M. Wilson, Esq., was elected city attorney, and J. W. Matthews street commissioner. The city attorney-elect, with aldermen Dwelle, Bartlett and Manning, were appointed a committee to draft ordinances and report as early as practicable. Messrs. Manning and Bartlett were appointed a committee to secure valuation ot taxable property in city and town, for the purpose of an understanding settlement between the city and the town of Lake. At the meeting of council held on the 28th inst., Elijah Stout was chosen assessor by a unanimous vote, street commissioner's bond was fixed at one thousand dollars for the current year, and the committee on settlement between the city and the town of Lake reported, and they were instructed to draw up an agreement to be signed by the proper officers, to perfect settlement. This was accordingly done, and the settlement made. By the terms of this agreement all moneys on hand, whether in hands of town or city treasurer, were to be divided between the city and town, according to the assessed valuation of property in each, and all unpaid accounts were to be paid by each in the same proportion. The assessed valuation of city property was found to be $536,787 ; of town property, $102,000 ; the money standing to the credit of the former town of Lake City, after all outstanding orders were paid, amoimted to $1,932.60. Of this sum the town received $337.13 and the city $1,595.47. The committee on city ordinances performed their work as expeditiously as possible, and presented the i-esults of their work to the council before the close of the month. The ordinances as reported, and adopted by the council during this month, were by title as follows : Restraining the running at large of horses, cattle, swine and other animals ; licensing shows, caravans, circuses, theatrical performances, billiard tables, bowling-saloons, auctioneers, ordinaries, hawkers, pawnbrokers, money-changers and other persons ; licensing and regulating the sale of spirituous liquors and the keeping of billiard tables, pigeon-hole tables, shooting-galleries and ten-pin or bowling alleys in saloons ; creating a board of health and defining its duties ; relating to misdemeanors ; relating to disorderly houses and houses of ill-fame ; establishing a city prison ; regulating the planting of shade and ornamental trees within the city and for protecting the same ; also to prevent the obstructing of streets, sidewalks and crossings of streets ; establishing the duties and powers of city marshal; concerning streets, sidewalks and alleys ; relating to nuisances; establishing a night police within the city ; to provide for the safe keeping of powder ; licensing dogs. An ordinance creating fire limits, and establishing regulations for the erection of buildings within such limits, was passed on May 4 ; and on December 21 following, an ordinance providing a market for the sale of hay, straw and wood within the city, and for weighing and measuring the same, was adopted. The fire limits included all of blocks one, two and three, blocks nine to sixteen inclusive, and twenty-three to twentysix inclusive. All buildings within the limits were to be of fire-proof material, but some portions of this territory were exempted from a rigid construction of this ordinance, at the discretion of the council. This limit included practically that portion of the city enclosed between Chestnut, Park, High and Dwelle streets. The portion in which this ordinance was to be strictly enforced without exception included the territory bounded by Franklin, Main, Pearl and Marion streets, the lots in the surrounding Ijlocks facing these streets.

Lake City Feery

The situation of Lake City, on the shore of the lake, at some distance from its outlet or its inlet, has always had the eftect of curtailing its trade, cutting off as it practically does almost all, or at least a great part, of the trade to the north and east and southeast. Repeated attempts have been made to overcome this disadvantage of location by establishing ferries or subsidizing them to a certain extent, with the view of drawing trade from the lake villages and the territory contiguous thereto on the Wisconsin shore. This attempt has not been very successful, and it is to be doubted ifthe maintenance of a ferry at this point will ever pay the expenses of its maintenance. The attempt to make successful bids for trade over ferry routes on the Mississippi, under much more favv>rable auspices, at other points has not as yet been very successful. The ferry at Winona, for instance, costing the city yearly considerable more than the cost of its maintenance, and that over a route less than one- foiirtli tlie distance across Lake Pepin at this point. Xot only so, but the little coasting steamers plying upon the lake will always, and necessarily, become formidable rivals to any ferrj- company attempting to maintain regular communication across the river and return without making trips to the adjacent villages on either shore. The patronage of the one being conlined to the direct travel across the lake, the other including all travel across and upon the lake for miles in every direction. The width of the lake and the character of the navigation, the water being at times very rough, require good substantial boats. The cost of navigating and maintaining these is too great for the patronage that can be secured, and loss is the inevitable result, or at least has been, of every attempt to maintain a ferrj' here. The first regular, or perhaps, more properly speaking, irregular, communication across the lake, for passengers only, was established in the closing years of the war by Capt. J. Hull, of Maiden Eock Village, Wisconsin, who ran a small sloop-rigged sailboat, the Daisy, from Maiden Eock to Lake City, a distance of about eight miles. In 1866 Capt. John Doughty, of this place, put a sloop-rigged sailboat, called the Union, upon the lake. This boat was capable of carrying seventy-five persons comfortably, and for three years it was sailed here by the captain, making trips across the lake and coasting its shores as pleasure-parties or the demands of business required. After doing duty for three years as a sailboat, the sails were taken out, a small engine put in, and the J'oung propeller, christened the Winfred, navigated the lake one year, was a financial loss to the owner and discontinued. Two boats were upon this part of the lake that season, the May Queen being the name of the other, which was afterward taken to Bear lake, and burned there some years later. In the year 1870 Capt. Nelson put a regular ferrv on the lake between this city and the village of Stockholm, directly opposite on the Wisconsin shore. This was a sailboat and was exclusively for passenger traffic. Matters were in this condition until 1872, when Wm. B. Lutz and W. W. Scott received a charter, conferring on them, for a period of ten years, the exclusive right of keeping and maintaining a ferry across the Mississippi river at the town of Lake City, in the county of Wabasha, and State of Minnesota, at any point within one and one-half miles northwesterly or southeasterly up and down said river, from a point where the center line of Center street in said town continued northeasterly^ will strike said river. The charter required the parties therein named to give bonds in the sum of one tliousand dollars to perform the duties set forth in the act, whicli was specific as to the time of running, charges or tolls to be levied for ferriage, tines to be imposed for failure of the said Lutz & Scott to give prompt attendance upon all parties desiring to cross the ferry between the hours of 7 a.ii. and 7 p.m. between the dates of May 15 and November 15 in each year, unless prevented by ice, high winds or other cause which would render the attempt to cross dangerous or imprudent.

By act of legislature of 1873 the time of franchise was extended to fifteen years, and the time of opening the ferry from twenty to thirty months, and of tiling bond from eighteen to thirty months, from the passage of the act of March 4, 1872. A similar franchise was owned by parties on the Wisconsin shore, and this was purchased, together with a barge owned by said parties, by Messrs. Lutz & Scott, and preparations made foi- establishing a steam ferry ; but Mr. Lutz was stricken with partial paralysis, incapacitated from attending to any business for two years, and nothing was done with the franchise, which expired in due time by limitation. Pending the expiration of this charter in the fall of 1873, a proposition was made to the city to purchase the franchises on both sides of the river (or Lake), together with the two lots on the Wisconsin shore (at their actual cost to the owners of the charter), and give a bonus or loan to some responsible parties, who should undertake, under bonds, to establish and maintain a ferry for a given term of years. Anticipating some necessity' of this kind as likely to arise, the city council, in Februai-y, 1873, had secured the passage by the state legislature of the ferry-bond act, authorizing them to issue the bonds of the city to the amount of $2,500 in aid of a ferry, provided the legal voters of the city so desired. The matter was submitted to the electors at the charter election held April 1, 1873, and the proposition was snowed under by a vote of 295 against issue to 83 in favor of issue. This attempt having failed, the sum of $800, in shares of $25 each, was subscribed for the purchase of the charter held by Messrs. Lutz & Scott. This sum was raised in April, 1873, but no purchase of the charter was efiected, and in the following September negotiations were entered into with Capt. Murphy, looking to the permanent establishment of a steam-ferry. Mr. Murphy's proposition was, that in consideration of the sum of $2,500, and the franchise for a term of fifteen years, he would put himself under approved bonds to maintain the ferry for that length of time. The sum of $2,500 was raised, but the matter liad dragged, and before the result was announced to Mr. Murphy, he had made other arrangements, and the whole matter fell through. In the meantime Capt. Murray, of the little steamer Pepin, had been making regular trips around the lake, touching at Maiden Rock, Stockholm and Pepin, on the Wisconsin side, and at Frontenac and Lake City on the Minnesota shore, with occasional trips to Eead's Landing. His little steamer was sometimes accompanied by a barge, on which merchandise and passengers were transported, but it was not suited to the purpose. Accordingly in the season of 1874, early in May, a subscription was started to procure money to build a barge or boat to be used in carrying teams and j^assengers between this cit}' and the Wisconsin shore. Meetings were held, committees appointed, funds raised, a boat built at an expense of about $500, and Messrs. Doe, J. G. Kichardson, Farron, Baldwin and Murray were appointed a committee to make a written contract with Capt. O. N. Murray, of the steamer Pepin, to operate the feri-y. On Thursda}^ July 16th, the lirst regular trip was made in the city's own boat ; the mayor and common council in attendance, and the landing made upon the other shore in seventeen minutes, according to the time given by a local reporter. The city barge had a capacity of six teams and as many passengers as could crowd on. Trips were made at 9 A. 51. and at 4 p.m., for which the free use of the barge was granted Capt. Murray. The rest of his time was devoted to his regular coasting trips around the lakes.

That fall, 1874, the charter of the Messrs. Lutz & Scott expired, and in the following spring, by special act of legislature, the franchise for a feriy was granted to the city, with jjower to opei-ate or lease at their discretion. This charter gave the city the exclusive right to maintain a ferry within the corporate limits of the city, and the territory extending one-half mile beyond said limits on the north and west. In case the city council should lease the ferry to be carried on by other parties, the duration of said lease was not to exceed ten years, and the city was also required to reserve such rights as would empower them to terminate the lease at any time by equitable payment to the lessee for outlay in construction of docks, levees, breakwater, etc. The city council were also empowered to regulate the charges for ferriage and control the place for the landing of boats, and ijrovide such regulations as would insure the comfort and safety of passengers. And all grants or lease on the part of the city under the provisions of this chaiter were so by ordinance of the council dulj passed and signed as in tlie case of all other ordinances, and the lessee under such ordinance was to file such bond, for the proper maintenance of the ferry according to the regulations prescribed, as the council should deem sufficient and equitable. During the years 1875 and 1876, the exclusive right to the ferry charter was granted to Capt. Murray, and during those years the communication between Lake City and the Wisconsin shore was maintained as it had been in 1874. Early in the spring of 1877 a joint stock compan3% with a capital of ten thousand dollars, was organized foi- the ]5urpose of maintaining and operating a ferry at this point, such as would establish regular communications at all hours of the daj" with the Wisconsin shores, and not merely for a morning and evening trip. The company was named the Lake City Ferry and Transportation Company. This company purchased the franchises held by Milison, Sandburg & Co., of the ferry privileges on the Wisconsin shore, and secured a lease of the Minnesota franchise from the common council of this city, together with the barge or boat belonging to the city, for the term of ten years from and after April 3, 1S77. The company, by the terms of the ordinance, was required to provide a good, safe steamboat for the transportation of teams and passengers ; that not less than six trips per day were to be made during the season of navigation, and the Wisconsin landings were designated '' to or near the village of Stockholm, and to or near the mouth of Bogus creek in the county of Pe]:)in." The city, hy the terms of the ordinance, absolved itself from all responsibility in the matter of expenses incurred, which were to be met b}' the transportation company without claim upon the city, but the city was to furnish them the use of the barge and confer the rights of the franchise without charge. A rate of tolls or charges was established by the ordinance, as follows : Each team of two animals with vehicle, loaded or unloaded, together with driver, fifty cents ; single animal with carriage attached, fifty cents ; horse, cow, ox or mule, without carriage, twenty-five cents each ; each sheep or swine, ten cents ; wagon or carriage without team attached, twenty-five cents, and merchandise for the sum of twenty-five cents per hundred pounds. The ferry company were to keep the barge of the city in good repair and i-eturn it to the city at the expiration of their lease or use of it, in good condition as when received, except the usual and unavoidable wear and tear. The company was also to own and continue to own tlic franchise on tbe Wisconsin shore as a condition precedent to the continuation by the city of the grant of its charter. The ferry compan}' was composed of responsible business men in Lake Cit}', who were desirous of maintaining more frequent communication with the Wisconsin shore, believing the same would be beneticial to the trade of the city. Tlie books of the company were burned in the disastrous fire of 1882, which almost wiped out the business houses of the city, and it is impossible to give a list of the stockholders. The first board of directors were : John J. Doughty, H. Gillett, J. C. Stout, Wm. Campbell, W. J. Hahn and H. D. Stocker. They immediately purchased the steamer Clipper, which had been sold under the hammer by the United States marshal, Capt. Kaney, paying therefor the sum of fitteen hundred dollars.

The Clipper was a boat of about twenty-eight feet beam ; length over all about seventy feet. Her hull was new, having been built only the season before, and she was really a staunch built craft. Her engines, however, were old and comparatively worthless, and not at all adequate for the work required of her. The company expended about two thousand dollars on repairing the boat, building cabin, etc., and she was run during the season of 1877 with the old engines. During the winter of 1878 she was supplied with new engines, and some other improvements, upon which the company expended a further sum of three thousand dollars. This latter amount was refunded the company by special vote of the citizens, and this was the only subsidy ever received. The cost of maintaining the ferry was too great for the receipts derived from the freight and passenger and other transportation charges, and there was year by year a growing diminution of capital.

When four seasons had been passed in this way, the regular trade over the ferry line, continually cut into by the coasting steamers plying along both shores of the lake, and the low rate of transportation keeping receipts at a minimum, the company called a halt. It was found that the original stock had been absorbed, as also the three thousand dollars bonus received from the city and the amount received for transportation during the four years the company had been operating the line. This latter sum aggregated about as much as the others, making a total sum of twenty-six thousand dollars expenses for four years' ferry maintenance. Under this condition of afiairs the directors concluded to wind up the affairs of the company and dispose of the assets. This was done. The steamer was put up at auction and bid in by Messrs. Stout & Post, two of the stockholders, for an amount equal to the company's liabilities, - about eighteen hundred dollars. The franchise on the Wisconsin shore had been placed in the hands of the city council, and also a mortgage upon the boats of the company, as security to the city that the company would maintain the ferry a given number of years. This was done in 1S7S, when the bonus of three thousand dollars was given by the city. These franchises, thus the property of the city, were the property of Messrs. Post & Stout, so long as they fulfilled the obligations of the old ferry company. The city, retaining the franchises, released the mortgage upon the boat, at the request of the directors, upon showing how they had lost thousands of dollars in the attempt to maintain the ferry for the benefit of the city. Messrs. Post & Stout kept the ferr}' running during the season of 1881, and that fall closed out, having only added to their former losses by the attempt to continue the line in operation. They started their boat for Stillwater when the ferry season closed, intending to dispose of her to the trade there, but on the way up the river the pilot ran her on the government pier near Prescott, and there she remained during the winter. The following spring she was left to break up, her machinery taken out, and when high water came she floated oft' and the hull sunk some distance down stream. This was the last of the feri-y steamer Clipper, and of the attem]3t to maintain a regular ferry at this point for the crossing of teams and passengers between Lake City and Stockholm.

In the spring of 1882, Murray & Lenhart resumed trips between the Wisconsin and Minnesota shores ; and Murray dying, the firm became Lenhart & Collins, who are now (18S3) ranning the steamer Pepin and barge from Lake City to Maiden Rock, Pepin and Stockholm, on the Wisconsin shores, making semiweekly trips to Read's Landing, in this county. The attempt to maintain a regular ferry here has only proved disastrous to those engaged in it. Thousands of dollars were spent in the public-spirited attempt, from which the stockholders of the ferry company received no benefit, only such increase of trade, so many of them as were in business, that came to them from the Wisconsin shore. As related at the outset, the cost of maintaining the ferry over so wide a stream was too great to be met by the charges for transportation, and the majority of the citizens were unwilling to subsidize the ferry to the extent of guaranteeing the running expenses, not considering the returns in trade sufficient to justify the outlay.

Down to the date of the incoi-poration of the city in 1872, Lake City had suft'ered comparatively little from fires. December 9, 1870, the old grain warehouse on the Point, technically known as the Armstrong warehouse, and at the time of its destruction owned by Bartlette & Smith, was burned. The fire occurred at about eleven o'clock. The warehouses of Atkinson & Kellogg and Angus Smith & Co. were in close proximity on either side, and the problem was the salvation of theSe buildings. The pails standing at the doors of the grocery houses were unceremoniously seized by the hurrying hundred who started on the run for the Point, there being at that time no -fire company or engine of any kind in the city. The people present worked with a will. The water of the lake afforded an ample supply, and as fast as the adjacent warehouses caught fire, they were extinguished by the crowds who swarmed upon the roofs and every available sjiot where an advantage could be taken of the situation and the contents of a water-pail be made effective. Burned hands, scorched faces and singed hair and clothing were the rule ; but the situation was fully understood, and had the fii-e gained headway, there would have been more to follow. Pluck and water gained the day. The adjacent warehouses were saved, and no further destruction of property than that of the old Armstrong warehouse and its contents ensued. There were about seven thousand bushels of wheat in the warehouse at the time, six thousand bushels of which were a total loss, one thousand bushels being saved in a damaged condition. There was an insurance on the building of about thirteen hundred dollars. The grain in the warehouse was covered by about three thousand dollars insurance. There were some other warehouses, one stored full of tobacco, and an elevator at the depot burned prior to the incoi-poration of the city, but no very serious loss resulted in either case ; the tobacco was fully covered by insurance.

On Sunday morning, April 20, 1872, at about three o'clock, an alarm of fire was sounded, and the lurid reflection upon the buildings and sky, as those who were aroused rushed into the streets, proved only too conclusively that a destructive fire was in progress, and had already made no little headway. Tlie fire was found to be in Bessey & Burdett's wheat warehouse, on the lake shore near the city flouring-mills. The wind was fresh from the north, and carried the burning shingles and other light material for a long distance over the city, requiring constant vigilance and the application of water and wet blankets to prevent a general conflagration. The origin of the fire was never clearly ascertained ; the building had taken fire on the afternoon before, probably from the spilling of a can of kerosene upon the floor near the stove, but the flames had been thoroughly extinguished, and a watch kept upon the premises until ten o'clock at night, when Mr. Burdett, who was on watch, went home. There were between eight thousand and nine thousand bushels of wheat in the warehouse at the time, fully covered by insurance. The building was one of the largest warehouses in town, and was a total loss, upon which there was no insurance. These fires had all been in the suburbs, or, more properly speaking, along the lake front of the city, and not in the heart of the business or residence portion.

The next call was nearer liome, and up to the date of its occuri-ence was the most disastrous fire that had yet visited the city, involving a loss of about thirty-five hundred dollars, one-third of which was covered by insurance. This fire occurred in the evening of January 28, 1873, at which time flames were seen issuing from the cellar of Glines & Gould, druggists, on Main street. All efi'orts to reach the fire were unavailing, and it was only a few moments - so inflammable were the contents of the cellar - before the flames broke out, and it was with difliculty that the books and contents of the safe and money -drawer were saved. The buildings destroyed were, besides the drugstore, an unoccupied building adjoining, owned by Mrs. J. A. Waskey, Oliver Young's residence, which was torn down to prevent the spread of the fire, and for which he afterward claimed remuneration from the city. From the rear of the burning buildings on Main street, the fire communicated to the rear of Wise's block on Center street, cleaning out the saloons there in a hurry, and wrapping Hudderon's brick block adjoining in a sheet of fire. This block was partially occupied by the stock of J. E. Farron, general merchant, who succeeded in saving the greater portion of his goods in a damaged condition. Herrey's brick block (usually known as the Harley block) followed, and this was the last of the buildings consumed. The upper stories of this block were unoccupied, the corner storeroom was in possession of S. S. Ball, grocer and bookseller. Young's brick block and Herrey's wooden buildings, on the opposite side of Center street, were covered with wet blankets to keep the fire from licking them up, and in this they were successful. Glines, Gould & Co. lost, on building and stock, ten thousand dollars, on which there was about seventy-iive hundred dollars of insurance. The occupants of private rooms in this building were losers to the extent of about five hundred dollars additional. Mrs. Waskey lost one thousand dollars, insurance eight hundred dollars ; Mr. Young's loss was five hundred dollars, of which about two-thirds was, after much delay, paid by the city council ; Were's block was valued at five thousand dollars, insured for sixteen hundred dollars. The saloon losses were about one thousand dollars, no insurance ; Mr. Huddleson's loss was over seven thousand dollars, uninsured. J. E. Farron's damage was covered by insurance. Gen. Herre}' was insured for four thousand dollars, about one half of his loss. Other losses were all of a minor character, and did not aggregate much in excess of one thousand dollars.