Rollingstone Township

Rollingstone City

:":: a stX? rnel twelve or fourteen in houses for shelter for those who were to follow m May, the 16th big the time set for the colony to be here. This pioneer squad, as not have accomplished it, as they had no ^-'^'^S-^f^^-fl^^ ^I^ TfloUar in money for their use. The treasurer did not till tome ttme in Ma,l and after paying someof the surveyors and other

But the colony came, and about the 80th of May tlieie were ninft mt andnlarly 400 women and children on the ground with- Tt anylelter, except temporary tents and such skelter as could be made with poles and turf. The season was ^-W e» \wet

M,ri9 u'petition was drawn and sent to the postoffice department for the establishment of a postoffice, with '^e name of Rob^^^ Pike as postmaster. Mr. Pike received his appointment and more, a tailor by trade,\.om Kenneh Maine ; >>e was We - a family and about sixty years of iige. mere weie deaths immediately after Mr. Densmore's, and of the persons who left the colony spread exaggerated reports of « « '=°"'^i^°" nf the settlers Gov. Ramsey and his secretary, Alex. Wilkm, . T'^ St Paul to see if they could be of any assistance. ^irGoTernrxpres^fhl: ct^Meni in the ability ot' the people I tak! care of themselves and gave them cheerful wo;^-l^ncour^^ ment, but expressed the opinion that the colony should have located

Tlie last week in May a committee was appointed to explore the country between here and the great bend of the St. Peter's river to ascertain if there was a feasible route for a railroad. The committee consisted of Robert Pike, I. M. Narucong and William Stephens. Two reports were made, both of them representing the route as entirely feasible and the country as a beautiful undulating prairie and well watered, with liere and there fine groves of timber. It is interesting to note that in these reports the beauty and desirar bility of the present site of Rochester is well described.

On July 4 a census was taken and the population numbered 154. July 12 an election precinct was organized and Thomas K. Allen chosen justice of the peace, Augustus A. Gilbert, notarj^ public ; James Wright, assessor ; Josiah Keene, constable, and Robert Taylor, collector. These officers were subsequently appointed by Gov. Ramsey. July 26 Messrs. John lams, Hiram Campbell and O. M. Lord were appointed road commissioners.

Religious meetings were held in the forenoons and afternoons of every Sunday. The First Baptist society, the first religious organization in southern Minnesota, was formed here in the summer of 1852. In the fall of 1852 a school was taught by Miss Ann Orton. In the spring of 1853 a school district was organized under the laws of the territory, being the first and for some time the only organized district in the then county of Fillmore, and summer and winter terms of school have been continuously taught here since.

There was no election held here this fall, as a six months' residence was necessary to become voters ; but the settlers sent John lams to St. Paul as a lobbyist while the legislature was in session and paid his expenses. Mr. lams was from Wabash, Indiana, a carpenter by trade, and was afterward chosen as the first sheriff of the county. He built the first log house erected here, covering the roof with shakes or long shingles split from the red-oak trees. Four more log houses were built, the others being made of rough pine boards, brought here in small rafts by Mr. Densmore and Mr. Lord. In these houses the settlers spent the winter very pleasantly, with much social enjoyment.

The association had laid out a vihage of large dimensions, with wide streets and avenues and large public parks on the terrace land near the mouth of the creek, apportioning to each member four large village lots and also a claim of 160 acres of farm land in the valleys. So few remained that there was ample room for all, but the claims were made before there was a government survey, and when these lines were made, claims often conHicted. This occasioned considerable discord, until the claim laws were well understood.

Mr. E. B. Drew had broken thirty acres of valley land in 1852, and therefrom raised a small crop of sod corn, some potatoes and other vegetables, and in the fall he sowed some winter wheat. This was considered the first farm opened in 1852, though small patches of ground were broken in numerous places during the same season. The next season some of the settlers moved on to the valley farms, and continue to reside there. This year a large supply of sod corn, potatoes and a great variety of garden vegetables were raised. Wild grass was abundant, and though a good deal of hay was burned by prairie fires in the fall, the cattle, numbering about eiglity head, did remarkably well. Fish were plenty and easily taken, and wild game also ; flour was procured down the river at $4 per barrel, and from that time to this there has been no want of the staple articles of food, and usually a large sur23lus.

Before the lands were ofiered at public sale pre-emption claims had been filed upon the valley farms and upon the village plat, and these lands were entered at the land office in Goot's subdivisions.

During the season of 1854 Mr. Lord put in operation a sawmill. Settlements were graduallj^ extended and new farms were opened, buildings added, etc. A wagon road was established to Winona, and one up the South Valley and one up the North Valley, and bridges were built, but nothing occurred beyond the ordinary incidents of early settlement for several years.

In 1854 congress established a mail route, N'o. 14015, from Minnesota City to Traverse des Sioux, and semi-monthly service was ordered on the route in the fall of 1855. This was the first mail route established in the territory south of the St. Peters river. The route was afterward extended from Minnesota City to Winona and terminated at St. Peters instead of Traverse des Sioux.

About the year 1860 the settlers had increased in numbers so as to form two more school districts, one in the west part of the town in what is now the village of Rolling Stone, and one in Middle or

These districts have cheap frame schoolhouses. There are at present enrolled in the Rolling Stone school forty-seven pupils, in McLanghlin's valley thirteen, in Deering's valley fourteen and ninetysix in the Minnesota City school. The last named has a brick schoolhouse and two departments of school ; the house, grounds, etc., being valued at $6,000. There are three fractional districts united with parts from the adjoining towns, but the schoolhouses are in the other towns.

The Winona & St. Peter or Chicago & Northwestern railroad has now been in operation about twenty years. It enters the township near the southeast corner and passes out through the valley of the Rolling Stone, on the south side. It has at Minnesota City a spur track to Troost's mill of about 100 rods in length, and a side track to Ellsworth's mill and elevator, and a neat, convenient passenger depot and freight house used in common with the Milwaukee & St. Paul road, which passes through the town along the Mississippi river; the latter road has here two long side tracks and a grain elevator.

Rolling Stone ^dllage, in the western part of the town, is at the junction of the north and west valleys of the creek. The inhabitants of the village and of the vicinity are Germans. It contains three stores, two hotels, two blacksmith shops, a fine stone church and neat parsonage, a schoolhouse and two or three saloons. The church belongs to the Catholic denomination, and nearly all the people in the vicinity are members. A Catholic burial-ground is also established here.

The stream near here furnishes power for a custom-mill, which is largely patronized by the surrounding country. Minnesota City is situated at the mouth of the Rolling Stone valley, six miles west of Winona, near the east line of the township. It contains a railroad depot, two flouring-mills, two stores, two elevators, two hotels, a blacksmith shop, a butcher shop, a brick schoolhouse, a large brewery and a saloon. Population 200. A Baptist church is organ- 'ized here and regular services liave been held for several years. The society has no building.

Troost's mill was built hj Mr. Otto Troost in 1866. The mill is 60 X 80 feet in size, on the ground, and four stories high, and has a larger capacity of manufacture than any other mill on the stream. Tlie power is partly supplied by diverting the creek, a distance of sixty rods, to the Mississippi bottom, making a fall of sixteen feet, while the natural creek flows two miles to reach the same level. A Corliss engine of 150-horse power is also used, the two enabling the mill to manufacture 400 barrels of flour per day. The wheat is taken to the mill by a spur or side-track from the Winona & St. Peter railroad and is obtained mostly in the western part of the state.

Ellsworth's mill was built in 1867. The power is furnished by a dam across the Rolling Stone, giving ten feet of fall. The building is a wooden structure upon a strong stone foundation, in size 54 X 72 feet and three stories high, with elevator next to the side track and a warehouse detached 40 X 70 feet in size. The capacity of the mill is 750 bushels of wheat or 150 barrels of flour per day. It has unusual facilities for the manufacture of good grades of flour ; being connected with an elevator any grade of wheat may be selected for milling. The estimated value is $35,000.

Flood

In February, 1876, Minnesota City was visited with a disastrous flood. The Rolling Stone drains a large extent of surface and at the village has a narrow exit. The ground was frozen hard and a heavy rain had filled the water-holes and covered the country with a sheet of ice. The snow then covered this to the depth of a foot when a warm heavy rain fell for twenty-four hours, and as the ground could not absorb any water, it raised higher than has ever been known. The mill-pond above the village was filled with ice four feet in thickness, and when the ice broke up and began to flow, within a few minutes it destroyed three dwellings, a store, a butcher shop, and was deposited in huge pieces upon the railroad bridges and track and in different places over the fields.

Past And Present

It is now thirty years since the men who plow first came to this town. Railroads and wagon-roads have taken the places of the Indian trails. For the Indian the rich soil and the beauty of the scenery had no value ; though fish were plenty, game was not so abun- dant as farther away, and he had no desire to remain ; and to-day he looks with disdain upon the fields of grain and grass, the farnihouses, fences and barns ; if he is luins^ry lie covets some of the pletlioric stock for meat, and would like to possess some of the fine horses to ride. The schools, the mills, the factories are open to him, but he makes no sign of changing his condition ; when the plow comes in he must go out ; he has no ambition to manufacture ; a pipe, a canoe and bows and arrows exhaust his skill. To the settlers who came here the first few days seemed like a perpetual Sunday, now even the darkness does not hush the hum of active life. The cars, the mills and the steamboats during the night keep pace with the plow and harvester and thresher in the day. Thirty years ago our resources were limited, our numbers comparatively few ; now we have all the advantages pertaining to communities of civilized life. Of the persons who came here then, there are at present remaining in the vicinity twenty-three. Some of them have grown-up families and their grandchildren are going to school, and old and young are still ready to cheer to the sentiment of Robert Pike, given thirty years ago, "Hurrah, then, for our chosen home ! "