Grand Forks County, North Dakota - The whole text, 1900 (part 4 of 4)

In the fall the contractors turned their plats over to the district J. and Office: thence they were forwarded to the Interior Department at Washington for record and approval, and when returned to the Laud OHice, which would likely not occur for several month*, tlie land was at once thrown open to settlement, and squatters and pros|)ective settlers were then enabled to make their filings on such claims as they had already selected."

The North Wood Settlement

Early in the 'seventies the pioneers of Traill county, coming; up from northern Iowa, from Minnesota and Wisconsin, began to push their settlements up the course of Goose river. Between 1873 and 1875 these settlements were being made in what was then a part of Cirand Forks county as originally bounded. Before Traill county was created, these settlements on Goose river had been extended up the stream and into this county as at present bounded. The timber settlers, coming in from the south, took to the line of the streams in the order of their occurrence from south to north, thus it happens that we find that Northwood township contained settlers several years in advance of any ol the interior townships of this county that are bisected either by Turtle or Forest rivers. Those who made these upper settlements on the Goose were Scandinavians, some of whom had emigrated to the territory from northern Iowa, or from aroui«d Northwood in that state.

The first of these settlers to locate in Northwood township were John and Lars Lindstrom. John came to Dakota in May, 1870, and located on Red river, four miles below the mouth of the tSheyenne. The Lindstrom brothers made their settlement on Goose river November 13, 1873. At that time the settlers on the river had taken the timbered quarter-sections up the stream as far as the vicinity of Mayville. Between that point and Newberg there were only a few settlers scattered along the river, and none had settled above the last named point when the Lindstroms came and made their .selections of land, .lohn Lindstrom states that when he came to Northwood town.ship his nearest neighbor was located sixteen miles distant down the stream. But this isolation did not continue very long.

Nels Korsmo, Ole Tragethon, Ha Ivor Solem and Anton Ostmo were settlers who canie into the town.«ihip in 1874. Paul C. Johnson and Andrew Nelsoti arrived in 1875. Andrew Sjerva, Peder Thingelstad, Hans Thingelstad. Guldbran Tandberg and J.ars Thoresen were settlers of 1876. All of those here mentioned were the pioneers of Northwood township. The township lines in this part of the county had been run by the year 1876; the township was subdivided in 1877 and the land was open to receive filings by the spring of 1878; consequently the timber settlers of Northwood were squatters, and this class of settlers

* In part from information derived from D. M. Holmes and Major Geo. G. Beardsley. Tlie writer saw some of the surveying that was done here in 1880. and eonversed with Dyke as to the methods used in subdividing townships.

are necessarily pioneers. Others canje in later and took whatever timbered claims may have been left, if any, or who began occupying the adjacent prairie lands. On still mornings the smoke from the log cabins curling upward above the trees indicated ihat the line of Goose river was now occupied.

The number of the timber settlers of the county were few in comparison with those who, a little Inter, overran the prairie lands. The first of the numerous prairie settlers of Northwood township are said to have been T. O. Midbo and sons who came in 1878. T. E. TufTte was a settler of 1879. Knute Paulson and Krick Overson came about that time. Peter N. and Gunder Korsmo came with their father in 1874, but not being of age they did not acquire land at that time.

The nearest supplying point for these settlements was Caledonia on Red river, near the mouth of the Goose. The settlers had began raising a little wheat in 1875 and '76, and loads of it were teamed to Fargo during the same years, after being threshed by horse-power machines, but in the fall of 1877 and afterward, the grain was teamed to Grand Forks across a wide stretch of unoccupied prairie. About the year 1876, a steam flour mill was built at Caledonia, to which the Goose river settlers resorted for flour and feed.

About 1875 a mail route was established between Caledonia and Newberg, the latter being a point in Steele county eight miles south of Northwood. Here, in the pioneer days, the settlers along the headstream of the Goose received their mail. About 1880 a mail route was established between Pembina and Valley City, the Northwood settlement being made one of the local offices; but owing to lack of roads or some other cause it was soon discontinued. The mail-carrier used a span of mules which he sold to John Lindstrom on throwing up his vocation. Northwood township was organized in 1879. The original organization seems to have included the townships of Northwood, Washingtoti, Avon and Pleasant View.*

In the northeastern part of the county there is a heavy body of timber between the Red ami Turile rivers, and around the mouth of the latter stream, the whole varying from a hall mile to IJ mile in breadih. 'I'his forest extends along the Marais for some distance into Walsh county. Several land entries were made in this section of Grand Forks county, now called Turtle Kiver township, when the J^and Office was at Pembina, by Thos. Campbell, William ('ochiane and Angus McDonald, then residing at Grand Forks.

James M. Htoughtoii, an early settler of Turtle River township, who came to Grand Korks from Ontario- iji January, 1876, informs us tliat most of the timber between Cirand Forks and Turtle river and for quite a distance north, was mainly taken by the speculators. Tliere is very little timber on the west side of Turtle river, only a few groves here and there, but they reach nearly to rlanvel.

The open prairie land in that part of the county began to be occupied in 1877, other settlers also coming in the next year. In ihe fall of 1878 a steam flour and saw mill was built near the sou',h line of the township by August Christiani and a village was also platted there in July, 1879, which was called Bellevue. This place contained, besides the mill, two stores, two hotels, a blacksmith's shop, a post-office and a few dwellings. The mill having been burned down within a few years after it had been built, and the railroad line from Grand Forks to Neche having left the place to one side, it never amounted to much of anything afterward. No place in the county has ever attained to anything more than a country liamlet if located off the line of a railroad, since these have been built.

As a constantly flowing stream, Turtle river does not head beyond Agnes township, although several tributary coulees extend back into the hill country for several miles. The course of the stream is at first southeast to Arvilla township where it attains its most southerly bend, thence its course is northeast to Mekinock, again east adjacent to the township line between Blooming and Lakeville, and finally it takes a northerly course down the valley plain through Ferry and Turtle River tovvnships to its confluence with Red river near the northeastern corner of the county. Between Agnes and JNIekinock townships the stream is contained within something of a valley cut across the central land belt of the county; in Hegton and the north part of Arvilla townships this depression varies from a quarter to a half mile in breadth and has a depth of from 40 to 90 feet below the common prairie level. This valley is partially timbered.

The stream bisects Mekinock township diagonally. 'I'he first settlers of this township came to its valley in the spring of 1877. They were Halvor Halvorson and two sons who located near the present villnge of Mekinock. The next to come were the Rasmussons and Ole Graft". In the summer of the same year, Robert Hlakely arrived and located in Section 21, near the middle of the township. The Saridback family also came during the summer of 1877. Fred Trepanier and Crawford Blakely came in 1878. A mone: the settlers of 1879 were Thos. T. Stevens, Capt. Battersbv and Dr. Howard Lancaster, all of whom located in the isouthwest quarter of the township. Chas. Cooper, Ebenezer Smith, John Smith and B, F. Warren were settlers who came to the township in 1880.

Robert F?lal<ely was pretty well known during his residence in ihe township since he kept the post-office of the community for several years. He teamed through from Stearns county, Minn.; from Caledonia he followed the old halfbreed trail down the country to where it then crossed the Turtle a little below his place, for the crossing four miles above ( mentioned page 52) seems to have been later, and to have been made by white men. J)uring the earlier part of his resid mce in the county, he burned lime by collecting limestone bowlders. Later he was engaged in the same occupation on Salt coulee, south of Ojata, from which place he once took a load of lime to (Jrand Forks, and having lost off the bur from one of the wagon wheels, he walked beside that particular wheel so as to push it back on the axle whenever it showed any signs of working off. This was characteristic of Blakely. Ultimately, considering that the county was getting too crowded to suit his notions in regard to population, he emigrated to the Rocky mountaiiis.

T. '1\ Stevens teamed through frojn St. Paul. In those times tl»e "Barnesville flats" in Minnesota was a notable locality for the miring of teams during the spring by reason of the occasional cutting of the wheels through the thin prairie sod and into a sticky, whitish clay subsoil which resembled putty. Mr. Stevens states that between Barnesville and Moorhead he had to unload his wagon eighteen times in one day. He reached Grand Forks about the middle of April, 1879, and while on his journey out to Blakely's place his team was mired seven times during the first six miles in crossing the Red River flats.

In June, 1878, a party of seven men from Stearns and Kandiyohi counties in Minnesota, arrived at Grand Forks. They made the journey with ox-teams, and brought along with them their supplies and about fifty head of young stock. Learning on their arrival that the Turtle river valley was not occupied above what is now IVIekinock township, and that it contained timber aiid a pure running stream, they decided to locate in that part of the county. Having chosen their respective claims, and erected Iok cabins, they began the usual round of western pioneer life. The land being in market in the central part of the county that year, they filed on their claims together at Grand Forks. At this time the U. S. Land Office was at Fargo, but filings could be made at Grand Forks through authorized attorneys acting for the Fargo office. Some of this party 'lad fatnilies who came when they did or soon afterward. These ;ettlers were Henry A. Morgan, his brother, Newell C. Morgan. Oawford Blakely, Edwin Collins, Oscar E. Clark, Dennis Kelley and Albert Murrav.

.All of these men, with the exception of Blakely, who settled in Ivlekinock, located in the north part of Arvilla township and were the original settlers of that township. Others who formed part of the Turtle river contingent came later and at different intervals, (tco. Hughes and August Schiebe came in the fall of 1878, E. O. Steelman in the spring of 1879, and John C. Morgan, father of H. A. and N. C. Morgan, in 1880. In INIarch of the latter year, Frank Becker came and located near the "point of timber" about three quarters of a mile east of the Hersey mansion. Edwin Collins* was the original settler at the Hfersey place, and built his log cabin at the foot of the hill or at what is now called the Hersey grove.

Hegton is one of the Turtle riyer townships and is situated next north of A rvilla in Range 54, The township is twice bisected by the stream with a major and a minor crossing of the same. The first crossing of the township by the river is through its southwestern part, while the minor crossing of the same is made by a diagonal bisection of scjiool section 36 after the stream leaves Arvilla township. A small stream called the south branch of Turtle river flows for IJ miles through the southwest part of the township to its confluence with the main stream in section 32.

The settlements on both streams in Hegton township were mostly made during the year 1879. George D. Leavitt came up from Mitchell county, Iowa, in the fall of 1878 and made his selection of land along the south branch. The next spring he settled at Roach's grove, which was formerly called Leavitt's ^rove. Joe Carter, who was an Englishman by birth, came with Leavitt and located farther down the stream. Austin Fisch, a German, who was a hotel keeper from Grand Forks, took a claim near Leavitt's and built his log cabin down on the bottom land of the stream. John Tholin, a Norwegian, and Edward Wheeler, an American, settled near the confluence of the south branch with the main stream. Above Tholin's place along the main stream were located August Aslngsen, August Molean, Ludvic Berggren, and Axel Anderson, the latter haying bought the right of a previous settler named Nelson.

About the first of June, 1879, Thomas Chrsitianson, H. E. Hanson and three others arrived from Swift county, Minn., the first two locating on the Turtle in the western part of the township, while the others passed on to Bachelors grove. Arne Anderson and Gilbert Johnson came in the spring of 1880.

There is some extension of the timber along Turtle river into the northeastern part of Elm Grove township. A few Norwegian settlers came in 1880 and made their locations here, this

* ( olliiis removed to Nebraska about the year 1S89, and in the fall of 1891 he was }:ccidentally killed ii) the railroad yards at Omaha while employed there as n r.witchmai).

being the lar-t of the timber on the stream that had until tliat year remained unoccupied These settlers, who were the first to locate ill Elm Grove towns lip, wereTollif Chrisliaiison, Christian Huset, Mattis Gulickson, < )le Meilaiid and Isaac Christianson. The cabin of IMelbind hav-ng bnrne<l down, he took a prairie claim the next year in another part of the township, Isaac Christianson occnpying liis former claim on the river, "^

Bachelors Grove

Bachelors grove is a large wedge shaped body of timber on the headstream of Turtle river, comprising about three hundred acres. It borders the stream for 1| miles with an average width of a quarter of a mile and is mainly contained in Agnes township, but it has a considerable extension up a coulee of the hills and into Oakwood township. The east half of the grove, in the Elk Valley, is dense woods, chiefly of elm and basswood, with much bur oak along its upper half. The stream here is frozen up in winter and is so inconsequential, that in the summer and fall it is either dry or reduced merely to a trickling watercourse.

The residences of the present occupants of the land are situated in and around this body of timber, together with the schoolhouse and church of the community. The schoolhonse is located in the S. Ej section 30 and the church, which is Scaudinavian Lutheran, in the ^. \V} section 29. Agnes township, and north of the grove. The townline road between Agnes and Oakwood cuts a swath through the midst of the grove about sixty rods in length.

During the period under consideration, a large body of fine timber like Bachelors grove would not have been apt to have remained long unoccupied. Indeed, it appears that squatters located there over a month before that part of the timber along Turtle river in Arvilla township was taken, and perhaps over a year before the portion of it in Hegton township was filed upon. To the west of Hegton, Arvilla and Avon townships the land was not opened to settlement until Ma}', 1881, consequently anyone locating upon either tiniber or prairie claims in that part of the county prior to that date were of the squatter class ot settlers.

The earlier settlers of Bachelors grove were chiefly Scandinavians, and they came at intervals from Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. First ot all, there came in the month of April, 1878, Culick and Thomas Thomson, Peter L. Peterson, .lames Christianson and with tiiem a young man from U'isconsin who rcuurned there in about three months. At first this bod}' of timber was called Thomson's grove, from the Thomson brothers, but in the fall of 1879 when \V. N. Eoach opened the mail route between

Grand Forks and Fort Totten, James H, Mathews, wlio accompanied him, spoke of it as "the bachelor's gjrove" for the reason that at that time only one man had Iiis family with him, and this designation of the locality passed into current use. In the spring of 1879, Gulick Thomson sold his squatter's right to James Christianson and removed to Forest river. Christianson later <lisposed of his acquired right to VVm. Postall. The latter in turn disposed of it to John Crawford and John Warnock in the fall of 187 ^>. Christian Bang also became a settler at the grove that year. Others came during the same year or that following. Of there, Albert Wright, Cornelius Olson, Hans Olson, and PJver Olson occupied that part of the grove that extends into Oakwood township.

h) 1880 there came to the grove or to its vicinity, H. S. Hanson, Wm. McLaren, IverCiunderson, .lohn Anderson, Bert. Gates, Edw. Beardsley, John Pierson, M. 8. Wallace and Geo, G. Beardsley, the hitter a contractor for government surveys and originally from Ohio. These later settlers were squatters, but not all of them timber men, tor here we refer to this locality as a community. Those who came to the groye in 1878, passed three years here as squatters before they could make their filings on their claims. 'I'he nearest market town for all of the grove settlers during the first two or three years was Grand Forks, which is about forty miles distant. A trip to town and back, if made with oxen, w;is then a three day's journey.

Elm irrove, which gave the township in which it is located its name, is a small body of timber containing about five acres situated in the north part of Section 19. In 1880 a squatter had built a log shack in the grove, but before the township was opened to settlement, his right was purchased by T. O. Edwards, who subsequently acquired considerable land in its vicinity.

The first occupants of Niagara township were a few Hcandinauians who settled in a couple of isolated timber tracts bordering coulees in the eastern part of the township. About two miles south of Bachelors grove is IJttle Elm grove, a tract of about ten acres, located in the east half of Section 12. Peter Hanson located at this grove in 1879 and was probably the first settler of the township. Andrew Hanson came there in 1880.

Up the coulee west of Elm grove there is a limited amount of timber, this locality being called Whiskey creek, though there is but little water in the coulee, except at the melting away of a winter's accumulation of snow. The (-oulee forks about a mile above Kirn grove, both branches being crossed by the main line of the Great Northern railroad, the larger fill being 52 feet high at the center. Along this coulee there settled in 1880, Knute

The Forest River Settlements

Forest river is mainly confined to Walsh county but its upper reaches intersect the north part of Strabane and Inkster townships in this county. It is only with that portion of the stream in these townships that this narrative is specially concerned, for along its banks we rnay confidently look for the location of the first settlers of the northwestern part of the county. It should be observed, however, that Forest river was known to the trappers, voyageurs, explorers and others, and even on our modern maps, as the Big Salt, the change in the naiiie occurring in 1878. In that year the few settlers in what is now Forest River township of Walsh county, provided for mail delivery at a post-ofl5ce located in that township and along the stream, by which their mail was brought to them from a post-ofiice in Turtle River township, distant about 18 miles, and at their own expense. It should be understood that these country offices, even to present times, are the residences of their respective postmasters, and in settlement days the offices were apt to have been log cabins. Jesse B. Warren was postmaster for these settlers. The name chosen for this oflice was "Forest River," which was soon applied both to the township and the stream. This township formerly included Johnstown in this county, Walsh county not then having been created.

George T. Inkster, now a resident of McHenry county, is of Scotch parentage, horn on Red river at some distance below Winnipeg. His mother was a native of the country, having some Indian blood, but was nearly white. Prior to 1878 Inkster resided for awhile on lied Lake river near the present village of jNlallory. Late in the fall of that year he removed to Forest river and settled in the township now bearing his name, locating in Section 12 of the same. He was the first settler of Inkster township and may be regarded as the father of it. His nearest neighbors, for that year at least, appear to have been located several miles down the stream. AI)out 1885 he removed to Mc- Henry county. The next settler was David l^emery who came in the spring of 1879 and took a squatter's claim adjoining Inkster's on the west. Other settlers came during the spring of 1880; these were William and Neil Mathie, Luther Dodge, James S. Collins, A. Mclntyre and Olark Casey.

Strabane township is next east of Inkster, and one of those which border on the Walsh county line. The first settlers of this township were James jNIcDonald, John McDonald and W. H. McDonald. James came first and was the first actual settler of the township, liaving made his squatter's location in April, 1879, and was soon followed by the other two of the McDonald brothers. Other early settlers were Gillison Wager, Leonard Wager, Wni. Pitts, Henry Congrave, Wm. Hobbs, N. L. INlcEwen and Jonathan Wager, who came in 1879. Nearly all of these men were from Ontario; Pitts and his family emigrated from Wisconsin and McEwen came from New York state.

There was a j)ost-office established at Wm. AFnthie's place in Inkster township in the spring of 1880, the mail being brought once a week from Walshville. The Strabane settlers also esffiblished one in the fall of the same year, which was called Reno, John McDonald being the postmaster. The mail was brought to this office from the one in Inkster township. The ]leno ol!ice was maintained until 1884, or to the time that the railroad came through that part of the county and Inkster village was started, when it was discontinued.*

Remarks On The Timber Settlers

The life of the log cabin settlers of Traill, Grand Forks Walsh and other counties of eastern North Dakota, differed considerably from thnt of the present occupants of the soil who dwell in roomy framed houses and who are never out of reach of the sound of the whistle of the locomotive. Although this interval was comparatively short, comprising only a few years in each section that was thus represented, the significance of the phase of life presented by the timber settlements lies in the fact that it was the real pioneer period of the eastern portion of this state, exclusive of the northern boundjiry. While the period lasted, it furnished much the same round of life as has been usual in the west before the railroads came and ushered in a distinct phase of civilization, closely corresponding, in fact, with the earlier, but longer continued log cabin days of the older western states. In the Red River tier of counties this period approximately comprised the decade of the 'seventies but was far from beginning and ending in ench section contemporaneously, as lias already been instanced in the case of this county.

Usually the pioneer settlers of the middle western states have been a restless and thriftless class, though there are many notable exceptions; here, the most of them never retained their lands but few years longer than the log cabin period itself lasted. There is a class of them who have ever preferred the rough and isolated life of the frontier to the requirements and vexatious complications of populous communities, disliking the prospect of being merged with the agricultural population that later overruns the country. There were many such located for awhile along the timbered tributaries of Red river. As times changed, they one by one either lost their claims through mortgages or disposed of them to new comers and agjain faced toward the setting sun. Again, there were otiiers of the original timber settlers who drifted to the new and growing towns and changed their occupation. The present framed houses and barns that have replaced the original log cabins ;uid stables of logs, poles and straw, respectively, have generally been erected by later comers, thougii this has not, ol course, invariably been the case.

The Old Wagon Trails

The three halfbreed, or cart trails that passed through the county have been duly mentioned, but our purpose here will be to speak of those that were struck out by the settlers using the common farm wagon, in connection with the timber settlements, suid which were used during the continuance of that interval. The old trails of the county, whether made by cart trains or farm wagons, were the predecessors of the present section-line roads. In regard to the county roads, four successive stages of development may be noted. First of all there came into use the old cart trails of the long ago; second in order were the trails made and used by the timber sectlers and mail carriers; then there next came into use the numerous trails of the prairie settlers, and finally, the present roads were established which generally correspond with the section lines. The trails of the whites were at first such 9S would re'sult from the occasional passage in the same track of the common farm wagon. After they became rutted by the cutting of the sod by the narrow wheel tires and treading of the animals used tor draught, a strip of grass about 2J feet in width remained between the ruts, and increased travel gradually wore even this away. At this stage of development these routes ceased to be trails and became beaten roads.

There was a trail leading from the northern outskirts of Grand Forks that bore west-by-north across the valley plain to Robert Blakeley's place in Mekinock, thence followed the prairie near the timber along the south side of the Turtle river valley and it terminated at what is now called Roach's grove. This early roadway into the central part of the county was struck out in the summer of 1878 by the Turtle river settlers. The reason^ of their not taking a more direct course to Grand Forks was owing to sloughy land in Chester township sind danger of miring their teams, while by keeping near the Turtle river valley a more suitable and dry route was found. Two years later the direct route through Ojata was taken.

There was another trail of those days that led from Grand Forks across the south half of the county in a general southwestern direction to the Newberg and Northwood settlements. By the year 1880 this earlv traveled wmv across the countv had be-

'There wiis also a. wagon trail of the later 'seventies, merely rutted rather than worn, tliat passed throiiuh the western p.rt ol' the county near the hills. It lollowed the western side ol ilie P'lk Valley, farther inward than the ohl halfbreed trail, 'i'o the west of Larimore its course lay about a mile inward (roni the base of these iiplands but it approached mucti nearer to tiiem f;irlher north, and likely followed the lialfbree«l trail in places through the northwestern quaiter of the county. It was an early line of transient travel between the settlements on the brandies of the Goose and those on forest and Park rivers, and was mostly utilized by persons who traveled in canvas covered wagons called "prairie schooners," stich as emigrants and oiher roving classes commonly use. I?i those days the teams were generally oxen for horses were then by no trieans plenty even in proportion to the comparatively scant population of the country.

'i'hese, with the Fort Totten trail and Ked River stage road formed the principal of the early traveled routes tiirough the county. As the prairie settlements developed, numerous transient wagon trails of a local character were used for awhile, or until the breaking up of the land for cultivati(>n gradually forced the most of them from the lands they crossed to the section lines. As might be supposed, any kind of trail disregarded the section lines even where. for awhile, as in the case of the prairie settler's trails, tiiey were used in surveyed parts of the county.

The Fort Totten Trail

The military post at the Indian reservation on the south side of Devils lake was established in 1867-8. 'i'he teaming of materials and supplies to build Fort Totten was from St, Cloud by way of Fort Abercrombie, When the Northern Pacific railroad had been built west of Red river, and Jamestown was started, the quartermaster's supplies and the goods furnished the Indians by government were teamed from that place to the post until the fall of 1879, after which the goods were delivered for awhile at Grand Forks, and later at Ojata and Larimore. The mail for the post came by way of Jamestown, As the railroad advanced west from Grand Forks, the distance that the supplies destined for Fort Totten and the reservation had to be transported by teams, was shortened.

From Grand Forks out to Blakeley's the route corresponded with the Turtle River trail. After crossing the stream by a ford at this place, the route passed west to Hanson's in the western part of Hegton township where it again crossed the stream by a shallow ford; thence bearing across Elm Grove township and passing just to the north of Kim grove, it next crossed over the uplands through the soutli pnrt of Niagara township and then passing between Smith's lakes in tiie northwestern part of Moraine township, it struck westward to Stump and Devils lakes across what i.^s now Nelson count}'.

Something of a survey for a wagon route between Fort 'I'otten and Grajid Forks was made l>y the military authorities about the year 1877, but the route was not actually utilized until October, 1879, when the first of the caravans or wagon trains that came to Grand Forks, set out for that place. During that fall, W. N, Roach, in later years United States senator for this state, was residing in Grand Forks, having arrived there in September of that year. Viets & McKelvey, of Grand Forks, had a contract at that time to deliver certain supplies to the fort, and this circumstance, together with tlie starting of the railroad from Fishers J.anding to Grand Forks, appears to have led to the establishment of a mail route between Grand Forks and Fort Totten. An organization called tiie Overland INIail & Transportation company, with headquarters at Washington, were then the original contractors with the government for a large number of mail routes in the west, and alter some contest over the sub-contract, it was awarded to IMr. Roach. He therefore proceeded to open a mail and stage route through this county to the lake. The mail was to be carried both ways once a week.*

Mr. Roach started out on his first trip early in October, 1879, and was accompanied by James H. Mathews. At Smith's lakes, near the west line of the county, they niet the first wagon train that came east from Fort Totten and after passing them they saw no white men until the fort was reached. In crossing what is now Nelson county, they kept their course by using a pocket compass, taking a route somewhat north of that which the Indian caravan had just traveled. f Quite early in his mail and stage business, Mr. Roach took steps to have three intermediate post-offices established on tiie route. These were located at Blakeley's in Mekinock, at Hanson's in Hegton and one at Stump lake. In respect to the Hegton office, Mr. Roach had a conference with the settlers at I3achelors grove and some of those on the upper course of the Turtle; at his suggestion a petition to the Postmaster General at Washington was drawn up and signed by them, requesting that a post-office be established in their neighborhood and that Hans E. Hanson be appointed postmaster. In like manner Robert Blakeley became postmaster of the office in Mekinock township.

Mr. Roach did not always go with the mail stage himself, but occasionally employed others to make the weekly trips. During the first winter the carriers sometimes had to rely on the dog- sledge to get the mail through. A man named Smith kept the mail station at Stump laice and a few other settlers were located there, among whom was the old frontiersman, Francis de Molin, In J)eceml)er, 1879, Warren Smith, a son of the station keeper, was carrying tlie »nail and he had with him as passengers a halfbreed and a white man. They had three dogs in the train, but lost the beaten track in a storm. They killed one dog for food and one froze to death. They lay in a snowbank for about two days but finally managed to reach Molin's place, and staggering from exhaustion one or more of them fell at his door. Here they were kindly cared for until they could go on to Fort Totten. At Grand Forks the men were not heard from for some time and were supposed to have perished until a letter arrived from the fort that iiad b'een sent around by way of Jamestown and Fargo, stating that the men were safe and that tiie route was impassably blockaded with snow.

The Fort Totten trail was also traveled by the Indian caravans that went to Grand Forks for government supplies. The government had furnished the Indiiins with good wagons and oxen. Sometimes as many as fifty teams, each with an Indian driver, composed these supply trains. They traveled mostly in warm weather, cam[>ing in canvas covered tepees at suitable points on the route, and on these trips they were accompanied by an agent who used a horse and buggy. Smaller parties of of the reservation Indians occasionally passed back and forth over this route in making visits to the Red Lake Chippeways in Minnesota. A few of the old Red lliver carls and ponies were then still to be seen with these l>auds.

J\Ir. Roach drove a good team of roadsters with a light two seated wagon. Only an ordinary mail-bag was required. As the trail developed a few local ones were made to branch off from it leading to Forest river and liachelors grove. At the time that the main trail began to be forced upon the section lines in consequence of the occupation and breaking of the land, that portion of it between Grand Forks and the hill country had developed into a well beaten road. With the westward advance of the railroad, tlie mail was discontinued in 1882 and the Fort Totten trail, as a distinctive line of travel between Grand Forks and Stump and Devils lakes, ceased to exist.

The old Red River trail, mail and stage route, though barely more than mentioned in the sketches, stands first in importance in relation to its historical bearings on the central part of the valley; the old Fort Totten trail, though brief in duration, stands next in order of all these old traveled wavs.

The Opening Of A New Era

IHE BEGINNING of the new epoch in the Red River [\ VHlley WHS characterized by the introduction ot the present civilization. In its dawn some counties had the start of some of the others. JUit by spring;time of the year 1880 the new ern of progress had so far been ushered into existence already in Urand Forks county as to have become a visible reality as reflected in the increasinj*; business activity, in the spreading: of the settlements and in the material chiinges that were then jroing on. These effected, in particular, the eastern half of the county at that time.

With the opening of direct railroad communication with eastern points, an era of progress and development began, both for Grand F'orks and for the county at large. There was then no other railroad point on Red river nearer than Moorhead and Fargo, a fact that exerted a centralizing influence upon Grand Forks commercially. All kinds of business enterprises common to new western towns began to gain a foothold and flourish. Throughout that spring the baggage room in the depot was piled high with trunks, indicating a large number of arrivals. 'I'he business of the hotels consequently became more flourishing than ever before. A large transfer business sprang up between the new railroad terminus at Grand Forks and the steamboats in respect to freight and passenger traflSc bound to points down the river, and a spur-track was built over on the east side to connect with a steamboat landing. The prairie lands of the county were now being rapidly occupied, thus largely increasing that year the scope of territory in which the settlers were dependent upon Grand Forks as a base for supplies. Thus the place began to increase in importance as a distributing point.

Progress And Development 113

'J'he U. S. Land Office at Grand Forks was opened that spring, and on the day of opening several hundred filings were made. By the month of June the population of the town had increased considerably over ji thousand more than what it was at the close of 1879. The census taken that month gave Grand Forks a resident population of 1,705 inhabitants. There was evidence of the rapid and permanent occupation of the back country then in progress, in the large amount of settler's supplies, agricultural implements (particularly breaking plows) and machinery arriving and being sold. Lumber was also being shipped in by railroad, and was then in considerable demand for putting up claim shacks, besides what was being used to build up the town. By this time boat or pontoon bridges had replaced the old method of crossing the river by ferry.

In February, 1881, Grand Forks was incorporated as a city, and under the general laws of the territory of Dakota. The city was divided into five wards at this time, the first municipal officers being as follows: W. H. Brown, mayor; aldermen, Frank Viets and John Fadden, First ward; James Elton and A. L. JJnton. Second ward; A. Abrahamsen and Henry Gotzian, Third ward; Newton Porter and 'J'homas White, Fourth ward; 0. E. Teel and M. L. McCormack, Fifth ward.

Settling The Prairie Lands

By the fall of 1881 the city had largely overstepped the bounds it had occupied when the railroad arrived and had become a thriving place. After the year 1880 new additions to the city were successively platted. All of the common trades and mercantile establishments were well represented together with a number of good hotels. New churches were being built and the older ones enlarged. Beginning in 1879, over three years of business prosperity followed during which the city made remarkable progress. During this time the railroads were being extended north, south and west from Grand Forks. SETTLING THE PRAIRIE LANDS.

During the earlier 'seventies such accounts as Gen. Hazen's adverse report on the country west of Red river together with the widely published reports concerning the ravages of the Uocky Mountain locusts in western Minnesota in 1874-5, combined with the depressed state of the times, furnish sufficient causes by which to account for the light emigration to the Red River Valley occurring in those years. But toward the close of the decade times began ripeni'ig for more general movements of this kind. Owing to various causes there were thousands of persons in the older western states ready to try their fortunes in any new and readily accessible region of the west for the purpose of bettering their condition in life and so soon as aii}'^ impelling motives to do so presented themselves. People already here were writing letters to their former homes; articles in the newspapers and later in some of the magazines began to attract notice; but most effective of all of these reports that were attracting attention to the agricultural possibilities of the Red River Valley at that time were the widely published accounts of the large yields of fine wheat raised on the large farms then receutly opened in Cass county. With millions of acres of fertile lands at their choice and railroads in process of construction, thousands had now a strong incentive to come here. Therefore each succeedins: year began to witness its increasing influx of immifirrants.

All of the partially timbered quarter-sections in the county, as we have seen, were taken by settlers before others began to occupy the adjacent prairie lands. The settlenient of the prairie lands virtually came within the period that we have called the "new epoch" and for the country back from the river it was the beginning of this epoch. Fietween the Goose and Turtle rivers, and again, between the latter stream and Forest river, are two widely spreading prairie sections, tliat south of the Turtle extending into Traill coinity and the other section into Walsh county. The southern section has a considerable northern projection on the valley plain due to the northeast course of Turtle river across these flats, hence the area of the northern section within the county limits is correspondingly diminished. 'I'hese districts comprise the parts of the valley plahi, the central slope and the Elk Valley between the streams mentioned and exclusive of the hill country. The occupation of the valley plain had been in progress prior to 1879, yet a little more than twenty years ago these prairie districts were quite generally devoid of trees or other conspicuous land marks; now, the land is considerably diversified by the numerous farmsteads with their grovesof cultivated trees, but not so much so in this respect as would now have been the case had the farms more generally consisted of smalleilioldings. Nevertheless, the original blank aspect of the open prairie country has been modified in no small degree.

Agriculture in the Northwest is so thoroughly dependent on the railroads that it could not be extensively engaged in at distances remote from Red river until tliese were built and markets created at intervals along these lines (or shipment of the products of the soil. The settlement of the prairie lands took place a little in advance of the building of the railroads, settlers, in fact, readily filing upon these lands when they became assured that they would not have to wait very long for near markets.

The occupation of the prairie district south of Turtle river was carried forward from Grand Forks as a starting point, and here the movement of the incoming population was westw'ard across the central part of the county with more deflection toward the south at that time than to the north of its medial line. As late as the suiiuner of 1879, filing^s on the land had largely been restricted to tiie valley plain, but in the fall of that year the taking of the vacant lands was siiddetily extended west to and including range 54, beyond which the townships were not subdivided. At that period immigrants showed but little disposition to locate on any of the open prairie land as squatters until the townships had, at least, been subdivided and the corners of quarter-sectionsdnly marked. After filing upon his claim the settler was allowed six months to get on to it and commence making improvements; the breaking season was now several months past, hence those filing on lands in Chester, Arvilla, Pleasant View, Avon, Washington and Northwood townships did not generally occupy their claims until the spring of 1880. Even at that dnte there was considerable vacant land in the southern part of the county and in the section between Reynolds and Nortlnvood. This, however, did not long remain unclaimed.

In iMay, 1881, the Elk Valley west of range 54 was opened to settlement, also such part of the hill country as is comprised within the limits of the cC'Unty. The Elk Valley was overrun by settlers that year, but there still remained north of Turtle river a district lyiuir between Gilby and Inkster that was not generally occupied until the spring of 1882. This land, lying upon the main valley slope, is mainly com{)rised in Wheatfield, Strabane and north part of Hegton townships.

'i'he settlers of the prairie districts usually put up claim shacks of pine lumber to begin with Some of these were only eight feet square, others twelve and some 12 by 16 feet. They were merely inteiuied lor use in warm weather, to batch in for awhile, and were the veriest makeshilt of an abode that could readily be put together with a few scantling, one or two window sash and pine boards. They had shed roofs and the better class of tliem were covered with tarred paper similar in all respects to the same kind of structures still to be seen in the outskirts of the towns. Un some claims three stages of dwelling may be noted to have been developed, to wit, the original claim shack, the same rebuilt larger so as to serve awliile lor winter's use, and lastly, after a few years more, the substantial framed house. Turf was sometimes piled around a well built shack in which the occupants remained a winter or two, but the veritable "sod shanty," it ever used in tliis county at all, was something exceptional to common usage. I<\)r the prairie larms the j)redecessors of the large red barns were cheap, low structures built of scantling and shiplap.

Prior to 1882 oxen were much used, esi)ecially in doing the first year's amount of breaking on the farms, not but that there were already some horses in the country, but in starling in witli farming oxen were often used at first so as to save tlie larger expense of keeping liorses until oats and other feed could be raised for them. While being worked the oxen required ground feed, Vjut on the whole were less expensive than horses. The ox teams were largely brought into the country by the settlers themselves rather than purchased here. They could then be bought in the older parts of Minnesota and adjoining parts of \Visconsin and Iowa at $80 or $90 per yoke, while in the Ked River Valley they were worth from $125 to $150 per yoke. In 1882 horses began to be shipped into the country in large numbers and previous to that 3'ear and for some time afterwards they were rated at high prices.

Some Of The Prairie Settlements

Gilby township is situated next north of Mekinock and amidst the prairie section lying north of Turtle river. The township is more a portion of the vallev plain than of the central valley sl(»pe and is a fine Hgricultural township. It was first settled in 1879. Among the first or earliest settlers were the brothers George, John and James Gilby who cnine from Ontario. Thomas and James Lewis, George, Jlobert and J. W. Scott were immigrants from St. Croix county, Wi^iconsin. J. W. Scott broke the first full quarter-section in the township in 1880.

The prairie land in Arvilla township was very generally filed upon in October, 1879, but the land was not occupied until the next spring. There were at Grand Forks in October of the year mentioned, James H. Mathews, Prof. Webster IMeirifield, John Hawkins, John Forsyth, John E. Cooley and Thos. F. Eastgate. Tliese men had already been out and selected claims and they made iheir filings on or about October 6th. Other prospective settlers of that time were Geo. Bull, Geo. Ames, .lames Jenks, Lewis Keller, W. 0. Ghering, F, D. Hughes and B. S. Fryar. Some of these men were from various counties in the state of New York. Most of the township was taken that fall, all of the fairly good quarters being filed upon that season. There were many other persons who held land in the township besides those specially mentioned. Among these were Gunder Anderson and A. B. Holte. The first held the quarter in which the First ward of the city of Larimore is now located; the other the quarter south of this. Their claim shacks stood near together in ths corners of their respective claims and near the present railroad crossing; consequently these were the first buildings of any kind put up where Larimore now stands.

At first the township was called Orange, but afterward, when the Hersey farm was originated in 1882, it was renamed Arvilla after the maiden name of Mrs. Hersey. The Hersey farm comprises 2,600 acres, all adjoining and lying on both sides of Turtle river. The village of Arvilla was platted on land of this farm in May, and the plat placed on file June 23, 1882.

Another lar^e farm that occupies the ceiitrstl part of Arvilla township, is ihat of James H. Mathews, known as the New York Farm. This grew from the original claims by the purcliase of adjoining quarter-sections and others more or less detached. The first crop was grown on the farm in 1881 on land that had been broken the previous year, comprising 191 jicres. Of tliis, 171 acres were sown to wheat and the remaining twenty were cropped in oats. In 1898 the area of the New York Farm was considerably enlarged by the acquisition of the estate of the late (leo. Bull whose land adjoined that of Mr. Mathevvs on the east. The buildings of the present hirge farm are located 1^ miles southeast of Larimore.

Avon township is situated next south of Arvilla. The land is generally level, with the exception of being just a little ridgy in its eastern half. It was occupied simibir to Arvilla and at the same time. Among the earlier settlers were Homer I), Smith, Samuel and Maurice Swain, Alonzo and Frederick Deitz, Maurice Hines, Daniel Corkins and VVm. Hanrahan, all of whom were from the state of Michigan. Other settlers from various states were Geo. Becker, Thos. Martin, Daniel and [ra Stevens, Wm. (^Ihalloner, Frank Challoner, Bernhard Schrump, Albert Sclnump, John Shirley. Millard Shirley, Edwin Kerkele, Henry LaPorte, Thos. and Addison Bruyere. The two latter came from New Jersey; .Addison Bruyere, who was a promising young man, died Dec. 29, 1885. W. N. lioach also took a homestead and tree-claim in Section 2, which he fi'ed upon in October, 1879.

The extensive tract called the l^]lk Valley, so far as the land lies even moderately level, includes all of Northwood and adjoining parts of Washington and liind, most of Avon and the east half of Grace, the southwest portion of Arvilla and all but the west one-third of Larimore, the mostof Elm Grove and parts of Agnes, Oakwood, Inkster and Elkmount townships. This tract is rather abruptly bounded on the west by the higher hill country; on the east in the central land belt of the county, the surface breaks into low, broad ridges, the land falling thence with a gentle descent to the valley [>lain.

In the days of butfal(» hunting the Elk Valley was a range of these animals and the elk. The great quantity of buffalo bones that lay .scattered over the prairie, as seen by the first settlers, was an attestation of the fact that these animals had frt-quently been hunted here by the Indians and halfbreeds. The bones of single sinimals, as observed here by the writer in 1880, never lay together but were always strewn over a space of several rods, as dragged about by the coyotes and foxes soon after they had been killed. The most prominent of these remains, bleached l>y many years of weathering, were the skulls. These varied in size, the larger ones evidently having behmged to the bulls. The horns were usually gone, their cores remaining and forming two pointed stubs about five inches in length projecting outward and upward at a small angle from each skull. The latest date at which any of the herds could have visited this section was 1868.

\Ve have no record of the first white men who saw this former buffalo range. They were probably employees of some one of the various fur companies who followed up the courses of one or another of the timbered streams. The route of one of the geographical expeditions of Nicollet and Fremont lay close to the western border of the Elk Valley during their visit to this part of the country sixty years ago, and white men used the old halfbreed trail long prior to the settlement of the county. Walter J. S. Traill, Hector Bruce and Geo. T. Inkster explored Turtle and Forest rivers in 1874. Bruce and Inkster made a second trip to the headwaters of the Forest and Little Salt in 1876.

In those days the section about the headst reams of the Turtle awd Forest was a notable game country. Black bear were sometimes seen, while elk, black tailed deer and antelope were more plentiful. Otter abounded on the streams, and even the beaver appeared about the time that the first settlers came to that section, these shy animals doubtless being then on their retreat from the south before the advance of the first wave of civilization for some halfbreeds assured Mr. Inkster that the beaver had not previously been known on the headwaters ol Forest river.

The Elic Valley was so named by 1). McDonald, at that time postmaster of Grand Forks, and who was one of a hunting party that came out to this tract in the fall of 1879. 'i'hey saw a herd of elk in the southern part of Elm Grove township near the south branch of the Turtle and being favorably impressed with the wild aspect of the land, Mr. McDonald designated it by the name it has borne ever since the year of the visit of the hunting party.

To the west of range 54 prospective settlers were generally content to await the subdivision of the townships. At the time that Larin)ore township was beinij subdivided in August, 1880, J)yke, the surveyor, expressed surprise to the writer at not finding such fine looking land wholly occupied by squatters. The first to locate in Larimore township were E. C, H, V., and H. F. Arnold. They were of a New England family but had resided in Houston county, Minn., from early in the 'sixties. Leaving that section April 10, 1880 with two wagons and five yoke of oxen they arrived at the Elk Valley I\ray 27tli and made their settlement on the 28th. They broke 155 acres that season, backsetting the most of it besides doing considerable work outside of the township. Mrs. Arnold and two daughters came early in September. H. F. Arnold went to Grand Forks in December, was offered a position by J. H. Bosard and remained through the winter employed in the office of Clerk of Court.

Progress And Develotment 119

Several weeks after the township had been surveyed, various parties came in and put up claim shacks on huids which they selected, but none of these later comers attempted to winter on their claims. Tliey returned in March and April, 1881, and began breaking when the proper season opened. Among these may be mentioned Albert and Ernest Heudrickson, David Dickson, \Vm. Carnathnn, \Vm, Wilson, L. A. Brooks, S. P. Benjamin, Win. Clone, Greeley Snyder, C. M. Williams, Richard Daely and William and Henry Schrump.

Albert F. Clark was a settler who came from Clayton county, Iowa, and rented a place on Turtle river in the spring of 1880. He broke twenty acres on the S. Kj section 12 adjoining the township line that season. This is the quarter which now contains, the Second and 'I'hird wards of the city of Larimore. Clark built a small house on his claim in March, 1881. 'I'his stood about on the sire of the present Swain House. The quarter south of Clark's, along the north side of which is now located the depot, two elevators, sidetracks, etc., was originally the claim of a person named Patrick Donnelly, while the one west, containing most of the roundhouse, the coal-chute and adjoining railroad yards was taken by August Schiebe, previously a Turtle river settler. Samuel Whittaker came in the fall of 1881, put up a shack on a vacant claim near the foot of the hills and went east for the winter; returning in the spring he continued his residence there for over seventeen years. Larimore township was named for John W. and N. G. Larimore of the K\k Valley Farming company, and was organized in August, 1881.

Grace township is situated next south of Larimore township and iti Range 55. Only the east half of the township is in the Elk Valley. 'I'lie first settler was Andrew H. Tigham who settied on the SWi Section 13 in the fall of 1880 an<l remained on his claim through the following winter. During the ensuing spring and summer many others located in the township. Some of these early comers were J. E. Lavayea and son, Henry Lava\'ea, (for whose daughter the township was named somewhat later on) AlbertSchrump, Iver Anderson, Andrew Kvenshaggen, Andrew Johnson, Ole IMine, E. J. Anderson, Thos. Welch. Wm. Welch, A. D. Henry, John M. Crerar and N. C. Abbott.

With the exception of a few squatters on Turtle river, Elm (irove township remained vacant through the year 1880. A few claim shacks were put up in the township during the fall of that year; then, without waiting for the land to come in market, the township was quickly occupied in the spring by numbers of settlers who began breaking as soon as the season opened. Among the settlers of the southern part of the township in the vicinity of the south branch of Turtle river there were at that time, D. P. Mcliain, Amidon Young, Henry (^uinn, A. W. Lee, Noah Goyne,

Robert Wilson, T. H. Simrns and Geo. Fadden. Jn the central and north part of the township there located that spring Simon A. McCanna, Thos. S. Edison, T. O. Edwards, Hiram Spade, P. McEIligott, David Gorman, A. McLaren, L L. Kyllo, Medley Harting, Nels Larson, Joseph Barstow, T. \V. Lane, Levi Carr, Joseph Stahl, Henry Olmstead and others.

Agnes township lies next north of Elm Grove township between that and Inkster and in Range 55. A ridge running nearly northwest through the township from Section 26 to 4, divides its area between the Elk Valley and the main valley slope, the larger part of the township belonging to the former topographical division of the county. Besides the earlier settlers in and around Bachelors grove there came to other parts of the t»»wnship not earlier than 1881, J. C. McWilliams, A. P. Hall, Chas. Beatty, VVm. Ditton, Frank Kelly, James Callahan, Wm. Smith, Horatio Hulick, August J.iodow, John C. Orr and Silas Burgett.

Elkmount is the most northwestern township of the county and lies next west of Inkster. Over half of its western part lies in the hill country, the remaining area of the township lying in ihe Elk Valley. The township was first occupied in 1880; the first land within its limits used for permanent settlement was broken in 1881. William Houtwell, however, broke a strip of the prairie sod in 1880, but abandoned it without cultivation and removed into Oakwood township. Franklin Estabrook, a prominent citizen of the township and county, settled in the vnlley portion of the township in 1881. Some other early settlers of Elkmount were James M. Haviland, Neil Bell, Angus Bell, Wm. McConnachie, John McOonnachie and H. Katcliffe.

Opening The Elk Valley Farm

There are several large farms in Grand Forks county, but that known as the Elk Valley Farm stands at the head of the list. It was established just prior to the founding of the city of L.Mrimore, the original townsite having been platted on two quartersections then but recently acquired by the Elk Valley Farming company. According to the plat-book of the county, issued in 1893, the company own between nine and ten thousand acres of land contained in Larimore, Arvilla and Hegton townships. These lands are mainly comprised within the east half of Larimore township and the west row of sections of Arvilla township where the company have about forty quarter-sections contiguous to one another, the remainderconsistingof quarters that are more or less remote and detached from the main body of the farm.

In its beginning, the name of Oscar M. Towner is closely connected with the opening stages of this enterprise. But little seems to be known of the previous life of this man, though he has left his name inscribed on the map of the state. He was presumably >i native of of one of the southern states and during the civil war was a soldier in one of the Confederate armies. In the spring of 1880 Towner came to Fargo and spent the early summer iti looKing over the country. He siiw the tract of country called the Elk Valley and conceived that it whs practicable to' open here one of the large farms for which the Ked lliver Valley was alresidy beconung famous, provided thMt men of ample means could be found who were willing to invest the large amount of capital necessary to insure the success of so great an enterprise. Going to St. Louis, he interested several gr;tiii comniision merchants of that city in the project. Towner returned in the fall iind remained here until the approach of winter. At tiie close of 1880 all there was to be seen on the site of the present headquarters ot the farm, located one mile southwest of J^arimore, consisted of two claim shacks which Towner had caused to be put up in September of the same year.

'riie VAk Vallev Farming company was incorporated under the laws of Missouri"in 1881. The company as originally organized, consisted of John N. Booth, Thos. Booth, John \V. Larimore and N. G. Larimore. J. W. Jiarimore was president of the company. O. I\I. Towner was appointed superintendent of the farm.*

During the latter half of the winter of 1880-Sl a great body of snow accumulated on the ground and lasted until the middle of April. While the snow still remai?ied, or in March, 1881, extensive teaming operations began in hauling lumber, brick, farming implements and machinery, feed, provisions, etc., from the terminus of the railroad, then at Ojata. At that time \V. N. lioach entered the service of the company as accountant. As the spring opened the erection of the present buildings that constitute the headquarters was begun. Althouirh there was much building done that year there has been considerable alteration, addition and enlargement in this respect since that time. Mules were shipped up frorii Missouri and a large amount of breaking was done during the season of 1881. No crop was raised on the farm that year other than flax, millet or whatever could be sown upon new breaking. From time to time members of the company made visits to this section. John N. Booth and .bdni VV. Larimore came up in the summer of 1881; N. G. Larimore made his first visit in June, 1882 and took up his residence here in 1889. The farm grew by the accretion of purchased quarter-sections until it soon attained nearly its present dimensions.

The first regular crop fro'/n the farm was harvested in 1882, this having been a fairly good year for cereals. Owing to the non-residence of any of the members of the company and throuuh other causes, it happened that in 1881 and the early part of '82

O. M. Towner or Col. Towner, as he was commoiiiy called, was an ever present and overshadowing personality in the section around Lariniore. Kis management of affairs not proving wholly satisfactory to the company, he was succeeded by Clay Larimore who came up in 1882,

Of tlie 150 miles of railroad, more or less, that are comprised within the limits of the county, by far the greater proportion belongs to the Great Northern system. The first rails were laid in the county, as we have seen, in January. 1880, and all of the lines owned and operated by the above named company, so far as contained in the county, and not including the trackage of yards, sidings and pa.ssing-tracks, were all built before the close of 1884 and have been greatly improved as regards the road beds, tracks, buildings, etc.. since Ihat year.

The railroad development of the county fairly began with the warm season of 1880. Patrick FJrennan, an experienced tracklayer, had charge of tlie laying ot the rails of the Great Northern system, then the St. P. M. & M., in this part of the state, and on the main line he had charge of this work as far ^vest as Miuol. During the summer the the track was extended from Grand Forks out to the site of Ojata, covering the grading that had been done the previous fall. At this temporary halting place of the road the village of Ojata was begun. The place was laid out by John J. Cavanagh who had it platted in September, 1880, the plat being placed on file on the 30th of the same month. This was the first place in the county to be begun on a railroad line and as a result ot the construction of the same. At first the village was called Suick^iey but this name was changed to Ojata in February, 1881. The end of the track remained at this point from July, 1880, until the latter part of October, 1881.

The line from iNfoorhead and Fargo to Neche by way of Grand Forks was begun abont the time that the grade out to Ojaia was being ironed. The grading on this line, north and south from Grand Forks, was carried on in both directions from that point, but onl}' a part of the road between that city and Fargo was ironed in 1880. During the fall of that year the track was laid from Grand Forks Junction (which is oj miles west of the city) to a point between Grandin and Argusvilie in Cass county. That part of the line from Grand Forks to Hillsboro was opened to traffic that fall. About the first of IMay, 1881. through connection was made with Fargo and the first passenger train from that city came into Grand Forks on Sunday afternoon, May 9. In the fall of 1881 the track on the line north from Grand Forks was laid to Grafton, reachins: that place toward the close of December.

Trogress Anij Development 123

Work WHS again begun on the rruiin line in June, 1881. and during the fall the track was laid about 18 miles west of Ojata, which brought the road to Larimore. This place had began to get its first start about the middle of October, though it was not till the first half of November that as mnny as a dozen buildings were completed or under way. Building operations were in progress when the triicklnyers reached this place on the afternoon of November 22d. Nine days were next occupied in getting things ready for traffic about the tertninus, including the completion of a depot and freighthouse when this extension of the main line was opened to business by the arrival of the first regular train, which also brought the first mail, Sunday morning-, i)ecerwber 1. 1881.

At this time tiie Northern Piicific company were building a branch north from C.'isselton which was begun in 1879. The track reached iMayville in October, 1881, but the grading was carried as far as IMcCanna that season, tliongii not wholly completed at all points. It had, however, been completed through Larimore and for several miles beyond by the time tliat tliis })lace was started. But the N. P. companj^ never ironed the grade farther than Mayville. While this work was in progress the St. P. M & 1\I. also graded a line northerly from the Larimore townsite to l*"orest river. J^arimore remained tiie terminus of the main line until September. 1882, when the track was again started westward, but only reached Bartlett that year, J)eing completed to Pevils J^ake during the summer of 1883.

The Casselton branch of the Northern Pacific was acquired by the St. P. M & J\l. company in June, 1882. In 1884 the grade between Larimore and Mayville was ironed and the ni)rth line was also built the same year as far as I'ark iliver. A large amount of railroad iron was brought to Ijarimore that year atid the laying of both tracks was carried on from this [)oint. 'iVacklaying on the south line began Monday, June 23, and one week later. Monday, June 30. a separate working gang began tracklaying north from the Park River Junction, about 2^ miles northwest from Larimore, where the track diverges from the main line. In July. 1884, work was in progress in this county simultaiieonsly on both the north and south lines from Larimore.

hi 1887 the Northern Pacific company extended a branch of their system through the northeastern quarter of this county. 'I'his passes through (irand Forks, thence runs riearly northwest to Mekinock and Gilby and north thiongh Johnstown ami beyond the county limits. I'he villages named were platted that year as a result of the building of this line througii tlie county. The portion ot this road that is contained in tliis county amounts to about 34 miles. Since its construction there has been no new lines of railroaii built in this county.

The Boom Year

Each passii)^ yeiir since 1877 had witnessed constantly swelling waves of emigration toward the Red River Valley. These movements next took on what for those emigration years was their final phase. This, in a large measure, was produced through extensive advertising of the country by agents of the railroad companies, townsite boomers and persons interested in real estate transactions. These efforts to attract attention to the country just at the time the most of the valley had already been taken, though not very far developed as a wliole, and when the country was beginning to be ramified by railroad lines, culminated in the t»;reat immigration wave of 1882. Hitherto the settlers had largely come frt)m Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and even from Ontario. Now, New York, Ohio, Micliiiran, Indiana. Illinois and northern Missouri became prominently represented. These immigrants could now reach the valley directly by railroad and many of them shipped here, along with their household goods, stock, particularly horses, and fartning implements.

Conditions were such during the earlier half of the year 1882 as to produce a stage of development and phase of life entirely different from anything that the country had witnessed peviously or has experienced since. ^^ore land was being broken and building done on the farms than in any previous year; a large amount of eastern capital was then being sent into the country to be invested in land and other real estate securities; these facts, with railroad building, platting of townsites on these new lines, town building and increased mercantile transactions combined with the rapid increase of population, all conspired to invite and even precipitate the boom of 1882. And so it has came to be remembered as an historical year.

The city of (irand L^'orks built up rapidly that year. Some of the more notable buildings theii erected were the Catholic church costing $30,000; the Grand Forks HoUer Mills, thecostand equipment of which amounted to $40,000; a fine and costly residence built by Capt. Alex. Uriggs; the Citizen's bank; the White Elephant elevator; the second depot which was a wooden structure 24 by 80 feet that stood alongside the line to Neche, a few rods to the north of the roundhouse; then there were as many as 138 residences erected that season varying considerably as t(» cost. The same year the city was bonded in the sum of $15,000 for waterworks. These were located in Viets' addition and upon the river bank, the water being drawn from Red Lake river, the most pure of the two streams. Real estate transfers for the city of Grand Forks amounted that year to $1,502,741. At the close of 1882 the population of the city was estimated at 5,000 inhabitants. In three years Grand Forks had gained in population by as many thousands as previously there had been hundreds. The gain in population for the whole county that year was both sudden and enormous. Real estate transfers for the whole county footed up to $2,670,878, the largest aggregate ever reached here.

The Larimore townsite was platted by Alex. Oldham during the fall of 1881; the plat, however, was not dated until March 13, and it was placed un file by the townsite company March 29, 1882. For the most of that year Larimore was the terminus of the railroad, which was then called the "Devils Lake branch," although intelligent persons saw, with the advance of the surveyors and graders toward the lake, that this was another continental line aiming for the Pacific coast. J^arge numbers of immigrants landed at Larimore that spring, rapidly overran most of the hill townships, while numbers of others pushed on toward Stump and Devils lakes. A daily stage line was opened to the lakes that summer in ndvance of the building of the railroad and '"Adler's" and "VVamduska" became well known stations on the route. Larimore temporarily became the outfitting point for the coutitry lying beyond and business boomed. There was also a l.'irge amount of teaming done. During the spring and early summer the town built up rapidly in what is now the central part of the city. It was expected that the rails of the Casselton branch of the Northern Pacific would arrive before fail, and the location of some of the buildings was made in accordance with that supposition. Late in June the building boom was checked by j« report that the Casselton branch had been sold to the St. F. M. & M. company, together with a disastrous fire that occurred early on the morning of the 29th and destroyed a number <»f new buildings on both sides of Towner avenue and mainly in two bl( cks. 'i'he burned area was soon rebuilt.

At that time the public lands in the county, more, perhaps, th;«n in any previous year, were in process of being rapidly transferred from governnit- nt possessicm to that of individual ownership. This also was a (actor of the times, and it involved the transaction of a large amount of legal business. Hence, "land offices" sprang up in in the new towns to facilitate the location of settlers on new lands, in making final proofs, in examining coiitest claims, and in assisting in the sale of lands upon which settlers had already made their final proofs. In the matter of final proofs and contests these offices were intermediary between claimants and the U. S. J.and Office of the district. Every lawyer from the east entering upon his profession here found that he had to familiiirize himself with both thelaws and all of the details of land office business, thus entering, so to speak, a new legal world. Moreover, the newspapers then being started in the new towns did a thriving business in publishing innumerable final proof and other legal notices.

Another circumstance that pertained to those times was the (acility with which ordinary social conditions reached an organized or settled state of affairs. As we have said, the immigrants were gathered from different states and from various parts of the same. Here they came in contact with people simihirly irathered but who had been longer in the country. Each person, lo a considerable extent, knew nothing of the previous life of his neighbor. But the social reserve of the older states was readily thrown off and new acquaintances and friendships were us easily formed. Ih the evolution of society in the new towns, business relations, but more particularly the newly organized church societies, were the principal factors. THE HILL Country.

That part of Grand Forks county which extends to the higher plateau west of the proper limit of the Red River V^alley, comprises the townships of Loretta, Logan, Moraine, Niagara, the most of Oakwood and larger half of Elkmount, all of which border on the Nelson county line; in the next range of townships east of these the larger part of Lind, half of Grace, the western third of Larimore and the southwestern part of Elm Grove lie upon the slope of the uplands, the remaining portions of these townships being part of the flat land of the Elk Valley.

In the fall of 1881 the settlements had advanced westward to the base of the uplands and some filings were also made that year on these lands. The first settlers in Moraine township were Samuel S. Smith and a companion who located at Smiths lakes that fall on the Fort Totten trail. In the spring of 1882 this township was occupied by settlers chiefly from Michigan and New York state and at the same time many who were from western New York made their locations in Niagara townsiiip. The village of Niagara, near the west line of the county, was started the next year, the village plat having been placed on file May 4, 1883.

Thus the settlement of the county practically reached its conclusion, progressing during its last year or two with accelerated rapidity. The last portions of the county to be occupied were itc northwestern and southwestern townships, compsising parts of the hill country. If we take the year 1878 for the time when the first general advancement west of Red river had its beginning in this county, we find that the westward progress of civilization occupied four years in reaching what is now its western boundary, having advanced at the average rate of ten miles per year.

Page 2. - There is a long gentle slope, or descent of about three hundred feet from the Elk Valley to the valley plain. Eight to ten rtiles west from the river the surface formation beneath the topsoil gradually changes from lacustrine and alluvial deposits to bowlder clay, thus forming a sort of geological boundary. Between this boundary and the foot of the actual slope is an expanse of till, which differs from the bowlder clay of the higher land only in having its surface nearly flat. The change of the surface from the flat valley plain to the main valley slope is hardly perceptible, the one form of the surface imperceptibly merging into the other. However, Uphani notes that the first rise of the surface on the railroad line occurs between Ojata and Emerado, about 13^^ miles west of Red river. Altitude, 865 feet, or 35 feet higher above sea-level than Grand Forks. No topographical map of the county has yet been published, this feature having been neglected in the plat books and other maps.

Page 43. - In all of the extant literature concerning the Red River Valley the writer has never met with any statement relative to the time when the last buff'alo was seen within its limits, though stories of buffalo hunting and stampedes are abundant in print. The point mentioned has some importance historically. D. M. Holmes who came in 1871, states that no buffalo were ever seen in this county since his arrival here. S. C. Cady says that he killed buffalo between Fort Abercrombie and Fort Ransom in 1868, but is of the opinion that the^ never ranged as far east as the Red river during that year. John Lindstrom, speaking of the portion of the valley south of Goose river, notes that the last buffalo seen in that section was killed in 1867. Geo. B. Winship states that while teaming in the valley in 1868, he occasionally heard reports of buffalo being seen in the region about the headwaters of Turtle, Forest and Park rivers, but that they never ventured as far east as the valley plain that year. It is fairly certain that if any of these animals came into the western side of the Red River Valley as late as 1868, none were ever seen anywhere within its confines later than that year.

Pages 59, 60. - According to the recollections of R. M. Probstfield, Nicholas Huffman was born in a small village of Rhenish Prussia, in either the county of Malmedy or of Montjoie. district of Aachen (Aix la Chapelle) about the year 1839. The family of which he was a member, came to this country in 1854 and settled in St. Anthony, Minn. After the siege of Fort Abercrombie. in 1862, Huffman went to St. Cloud, where he spent the following winter. Returning to the valley in the summer of 1863, he worked for David McCauley. In the spring of 1864, he came to Georgetown, and worked for a firm who had leased the International of the Hudson Bay company so as to transport the company merchandise between Georgetown and Fort Garry. The winter following 1864 to that of 1865 he was in partnership with Reuben Messer who kept a trading station at Georgetown, buying furs of the Indians and trappers. The winter of 1865-66 Huffman, Messer arid others were in the region of the Coteau des Prairies trading with the Indians, and the party barely escaped perishing of starvation and exposure to storms. From that time until he entered the employment of W. C. Nash, he remained around McCauleyville and Fort Abercrombie, working for David McCauley and others.

R. M. Probstfield came to the Red River valley in the spring of 1359, at the same time that Capt. Northup's steamboat expedition did, though he was not a member of that party. He settled on the Minnesota side of Red river about four miles above Georgetown, and his name is linked with the history of the upper part of the valley. During Huffman's residence in the valley, Mr. Probstfield knew him intimately as a close friend, and the following brief tribute to his memory, from the pen of the latter, is worthy of permanent record: "A nobler, more disinterested, tender-hearted, and scrupelously honest fellow, I have never known. He was a deep and independent thinker, but so unostentatious that most of those who knew him superficially, took him for a coarse, illiterate, common-place fellow. He was, in fact, a precious diamond in the rough, unground, uncut, and unpolished, as society would express it. His memory will ever be dear to me."

The spelling of his name in this work has been according to the form used in connection with "Nick Huffman's Story." Record Magazfne, Oct. 1896; but .Mr. Probstfield informs us that the correct form was Nieolaus HofFman. Also that August Loon, the associate of Hoffman, was Gustave Loon, the last name being the translation of the French L'huan, "the loon." He was a ranadian Frenchman and remained around Grand Folks until about 1880, w hen he removed north and located on Red river near Acton.

I*age 60. - It appears from statements made verbally to the author by W. C. Nash of East Grand Forks, that he held the sub-contract of Blakely & Cariventer for carrving the mail between Breckenridge and Pembina in 1868, and employed 'Hoffman and Loon at first, but after about two years he turnud the business over to Hoffman. In the fall of 1871 the stages took the mail. .Mr. Nash also stated that he still has the original papers in his possession that relate to the matter. The author is aware that there must be many such records in the possession of private parties, which, in the coming century, are likely to become of considerable historical value. All such documents having any historical bearing on the Red River Valley should be carefully Itreserved.

Page 61. - The letter of Stutsman concerning the naming of the Grand Forks post-office in 1870, was given, Mr. Cady states, to the Old Settlers Association. R. M. Probstfield thinks the name to have been in use for nearly or quite 100 years, both himself and S. C. Cady stating that it is from "le grand fourche" "the French of the voyageurs and trappers for "the great forks."

Page 61. - James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway system, was born Sept. 16, 1838 on a farm at Rockwood, Wellington County, Ontario, of Scotch-Irish parentage. He obtained his early education at a seminary at Rockwood kept by a Quaker. His first start in life was the spending of a year as clerk in a local store. Some years before the civil war he came to .^t. Paul, then a place of about 5,000 inhabitants and started in there as a laborer on the levee, but he soon acquired a clerk's position and familiarized himself with the transportation business. During the civil war he took an active interest in the conflict, forwarding men to the front. Thence onward his career has been from warehouseman to railroad magnate.

Page 79. - Edwin V. Holcomb died suddenly in St. Paul on the evening ol Nov. 26, 1899. The purchase of the last of the real estate owned by the Hudson Bay company in Grand Forks was made in December, 1879.

lage 106. - Geo. T. Inkster was born at Seven Oaks, now just outside the limits of the City of Winnipeg. His mother was born near Hudson bay and was closely rela'ted to the last earl of Orkney. Among Mr. Inkster's early recollectio'ns is that of hearing his father relate that he could trace some descent from the Vikings who conquered and settled a part of Scotland called Orkadia. Mr. Inkster selected his land on Forest river sometime prior to removing to that section. He located there about Sept. 1. 1878, his idea being cattle raising and mixed farming. Speaking of game toward the head of Forest river, he writes: "The first winter I was on Forest river I could find elk in an hour's ride anytime. Black tailed deer were very plentiful and I often killed them in going across country to Grand Forks for supplies." In August, 1882, he removed to the Mouse River country, taking through the first bunch of cattle that was brought into that part of the state, and going there by way of Fort Totten. - The pinnated grouse, or prairie hen, followed civilization into the Northwest and were found on the borders of the settlements. Mr. Inkster states that the first he saw of these birds in this county were some near Grand Forks in 1879.