Fifty Years In The Northwest
resides at Little Falls. He and Nicholson are the only old settlers of
Swan River remaining in the county.
At the organization of the county in 1856, Little Falls, located on
the Mississippi a short distance above Swan River, became the county
seat. The year before and the two years following were years of wild
speculation. The chief ambition of the speculators was to found a
city. During these years twenty-four village or town plats were
recorded in the office of the register of deeds in Morrison. Not all,
however, were located within the bounds of the county, some being
platted on unsurveyed government lands. Of these towns, the only one
remaining, or of note, is Fergus Falls, Otter Tail county, platted by
a company from Little Falls. Of the towns located in Morrison county,
every one vanished except Little Falls, though Swan River, Belle
Prairie and Granite City kept up an appearance of prosperity for a
time.
The early history of Morrison county is enlivened by many thrilling
incidents of Indian warfare, chiefly of contests between the Sioux and
Chippewas. The Sioux had claimed the territory from time immemorial,
but over a hundred years ago the Chippewas had driven them westward
across the Mississippi and were in possession of the soil. The tribal
hostility of the two races continued to manifest itself in predatory
and retaliatory raids, and from these the early settlers were often
sufferers.
Nathan Richardson, the historian of Morrison county, an authority to
whom we are greatly indebted, says that the country was acknowledged
to be Chippewa ground before and during the settlement by the whites,
but that the Sioux made frequent raids through the counties in parties
of from five to twenty-five, their principal object being to possess
themselves of Chippewa scalps. The Chippewas retaliated by pursuing
the Sioux into their own prescribed limits. Mr. Richardson avers that
the Chippewas were seldom known to treat the white settlers uncivilly,
while the Sioux would kill stock to supply their wants, for which the
settlers were left without compensation from Indians or government.
The Winnebagoes were for some years located within the bounds of Todd
and Morrison counties. In 1848 Gen. Fletcher removed them from Fort
Atkinson, Iowa, to Long Prairie, west side of the Mississippi; but
although the agency was located at Long Prairie, the Indians occupied
the Swan River valley within the present limits of Morrison and Todd
counties for a period of seven years, where they engaged partly in
hunting and partly in farming, having about two hundred acres under
cultivation, when they became dissatisfied and were removed to the
Blue Earth country.
When the Winnebago Indians were brought to Long Prairie and the Swan
River valley, in 1848, the government built Fort Ripley on the west
bank of the Mississippi, about twenty miles above the mouth of Swan
river. The government still owns the fort and reservation around it,
and keeps a garrison there. Fort Ripley, however, has other
associations than those connected with the Winnebagoes. It was
necessary to place a force here during the Indian outbreak in 1862,
the object being to overawe and hold in check the Chippewas, who were
more than suspected of an intention to make common cause with the
Sioux in their warfare against the whites. There the Seventh Regiment,
Minnesota Volunteers, had its headquarters for a time.
Morrison county was named in honor of Hon. Allen W. Morrison, who came
to Minnesota some time in the '20s, and was prominent in the early
history of the Territory. It was organized April 18, 1856, by the
election of the following county officers: Commissioners, Wm. Trask,
Elliott J. Kidder and W. W. Stebbins; register of deeds and clerk of
board of commissioners, Nathan Richardson; judge of probate, James
Fergus; sheriff, Jonathan Pugh; district attorney, W. B. Fairbanks;
assessors, W. B. Tuttle and John Fry.
The first term of court was held May 15, 1856; Judge Moses Sherburne,
presiding. The first deed recorded was dated June 19, 1854, conveying
from William Shelafoo to Louis Robair the northeast quarter of the
southwest quarter, and lots 3, 4 and 5 of section 30, township 40,
range 32.
Morrison county is subdivided into the following towns: Agram, Belle
Prairie, Buckman, Bellevue, Culdrum, Elmdale, Green Prairie, Little
Falls, Morrill, Motley, Parker, Pierz, Pike Creek, Ripley, Swan River,
and Two Rivers.
LITTLE FALLS VILLAGE,
The county seat of Morrison county, is located on the east bank of the
Mississippi river, in sections 7, 8, 18 and 19 of township 40, range
32. It derives its name from a rapid in the Mississippi river, formed
by the extension across the river of the slate stone ledges of the St.
Louis. The site is a prairie, sloping gently to the water's edge. The
first survey was made in 1855, by S. M. Putnam. The village grew
rapidly from the first, and in 1857 the best lots were selling for
$1,000 each. Previous to 1855 the only houses in the place were two
cabins, a frame building in which E. J. Kidder lived, and a school
house. Two hotels were built that year, one by Joseph Batters, the
other by W. B. Fairbanks and Nathan Richardson.
The first settlers were the Kidders, Fairbanks, Batters, Richardson,
James Green, William Sturgis, William Butler, and O. A. Churchill.
James Green came as early as 1848, and took a squatter's claim on the
east bank, including the water power, and built a saw mill, but soon
after died, and the property passed into the hands of H. M. Rice and
Capt. Todd, who in 1850 sold their right to Wm. Sturgis. In 1852 John
M. Kidder pre-empted the mill power, transferring it to the Little
Falls Company, consisting of Wm. Sturgis and Calvin Tuttle, organized
in 1854 for the improvement of the falls. This company purchased
about 1,000 acres of adjoining land from the government, and in 1855
merged into a stock company with a capital of $100,000, of which the
original company retained one-half, the remaining half being converted
into cash. The stock rose in value at one time two hundred and fifty
per cent.
The company built a new dam and mills, but the revenue did not keep
the property in good condition after the expenditures. These valuable
improvements, including the dam and mills, were all swept away by high
water in 1860; the firm became bankrupt, and the valuable power became
nearly worthless and entirely useless, until 1887, when a new company,
known as the Little Falls Water Power Company, was formed with a paid
up capital of $600,000, which is distributed among eastern and western
capitalists. The company is now constructing very extensive works, the
power of which will have a head, or fall, of twenty feet, thus making
it the largest water power, next to Minneapolis, to be found in the
whole Northwest. The dam, now about completed, has cost about
$200,000.
So thoroughly convinced are the people of Morrison county of the great
future before it, that, by a majority of over 2 to 1, they voted a
subscription of $100,000 in 5 per cent bonds as a bonus to be
delivered to the company upon the completion of the work. The village
of Little Falls also entered into a contract with the company,
agreeing to pay annually a sum of money equal to the taxes imposed
upon that corporation, and also to exempt from taxation any
manufactory using the water power for a period of five years. The
improvements under process of construction consist, first, of a dam
across the entire river, resting, however, against the head of Mill
island; second, a canal on the west side, starting from a point
opposite the head of Mill island, and extending 1,000 feet down
stream. This canal is 80 feet wide and 13 feet deep, is lined with a
retaining wall, and provided with head gates at the upper end and with
a waste way at the lower end; third, a wheel house, races, and, if
found desirable, a wire rope tower for transmitting power to Mill
island and to the east shore. Basing the rental of this power on that
of the water power at Lowell, Massachusetts, it would be worth
$150,000 per annum. The officers of the company are W. H. Breyfogle,
of Louisville, Kentucky, president; M. M. Williams, of Little Falls,
secretary and treasurer.
Little Falls was incorporated as a village in 1880, Louis Houde
president of the board. The improvement of the water power has given a
strong impulse to the prosperity of the village. It numbers now
amongst its public buildings a court house, school house having rooms
for six grades, two Catholic churches, one Congregational, one
Episcopal and one Methodist church. In Belle Prairie, four miles
distant, there is also a Catholic church, school and a nunnery.
A bridge, built at a cost of $24,000, crosses the Mississippi at this
point. The bridge is 400 feet in length. The Little Falls & Dakota
railroad, a branch of the Northern Pacific, is finished from Little
Falls to Morris in Stevens county, a distance of 85 miles. In addition
to the mills connected with the water power there is also a steam saw
mill.
ROYALTON VILLAGE
Is located in an oak grove on the Northern Pacific railroad, twenty
miles above Sauk Rapids, and ten below Little Falls near the south
line of Morrison county. It includes some lands in Benton county.
Platte river flows through the village and furnishes a water power of
8 feet head, improved by a dam, supplying a flour mill which has a
capacity of 250 barrels per day, and a saw mill with a capacity of
40,000 feet. There is 65 feet fall on the Platte within five miles of
Royalton below, and 45 feet above the village, yet unimproved. James
Hill, of Baldwin, St. Croix county, Wisconsin, with Putney and Nobles
erected the flour mill, John D. Logan, the proprietor, having donated
the water power and grounds for manufacturing purposes. Mr. Logan has
a steam saw mill with a capacity of 30,000 feet per day. The Platte is
spanned by an iron bridge. The village has, in addition to its mills,
a weekly newspaper, a large elevator, a good graded school with six
departments, and three churches, Episcopal, Presbyterian and
Methodist. It was surveyed and platted in 1879 by John D. Logan, and
incorporated in 1887. The first officers were: President, J. D. Logan;
recorder, John Holmes; trustees. J. C. Wakefield, J. C. Higgins, R.
Lambert; treasurer, G. E. Putney; justices, Robert Brown, Wm. Jones;
constables, Wm. Roller, C. O. Brannen.
PETER ROY, a mixed blood of French and Chippewa parentage, was born in
Rainy Lake, in 1829. He was educated at La Pointe, Wisconsin. At the
age of twenty-one he came to the agency at Long lake, where he served
as interpreter until 1853, when he was elected to the territorial
legislature. He opened a farm at Belle Prairie in 1855; became a
member of the state legislatures of 1860 and 1862. In 1866 he removed
to Little Falls, where he resided until his death, in 1883. He was a
man of large frame and of generous impulses, liberal and open-handed,
even to his own pecuniary disadvantage.
WM. STURGIS came to this county from Big Meadow, Sherburne county,
Minnesota, in 1850, and located at Little Falls, where he put a ferry
across the Mississippi. He also laid out a town and built a saw and
grist mill at the mouth of Little Elk river. He was a member of the
territorial council from Crow Wing and Sauk Rapids precincts in 1849
and 1851; of the territorial house in 1856, and of the constitutional
convention, Democratic wing, in 1857. Some years later he removed,
first to Montana, and then to Sturgis, Michigan.
JAMES FERGUS was born in the parish of Glassford, Lanarkshire,
Scotland, Oct. 8, 1813. His parents were well-to-do farmers, and gave
him a good education along with excellent moral and religious