Fifty Years In The Northwest
Shortly afterward a yoke of oxen was missing. They had been driven off
over some bare ledges of trap to break the trail. An Indian was hired
to hunt for them. He found that this same beggar who had been so
disgusted with the offer of a piece of pork with the tail attached had
driven them off and slaughtered them. Payment day made all right, and
the Indians were compelled to pay a good price for rather poor beef.
HARD TIMES.
Mrs. Mary C. Worth communicated to the writer the following incidents,
illustrating some of the vicissitudes of the early settlers:
It was in the fall of 1842. There were about two hundred people in the
village, most of them in the employ of James Purinton, company agent.
They were already short of provisions and the winter was rapidly
coming on, and the expected boat, with its cargo of provisions for the
winter supply, was long delayed. September passed, October came and
nearly passed, and still no boat. Snow covered the ground, and thin
ice the river. The ice, in finely broken pieces, floated down the
rapids and was beginning to gorge in the Dalles, and still no boat.
Provisions were allotted to the resident families, and the gloomiest
anticipations filled all minds at the prospect of the long, dreary
winter without food; when, on the twenty-eighth of October, the long
expected whistle was heard from the coming steamer. The people rushed
frantically down to the old warehouse, but the ice was so gorged in
the Dalles that no boat could make the landing. No boat was in sight,
nor was the whistle heard again. Had it all been an illusion? The
eager throng were again in despair. Another night of cold would
blockade the river. Just then the voices of white men were heard from
the rocks of the Dalles, and to their great joy they perceived the
boat's officers and passengers clambering down from the rocks, with
the glad tidings that the boat had reached the landing, half a mile
below, and was then unloading her cargo. The boat, as soon as
unloaded, hurriedly departed to avoid being frozen in. The winter
passed merrily enough, but clouds and darkness gathered in the spring.
Provisions were again short, and had to be apportioned sparingly and
equally. Occasionally a deer or a fish eked out the supply, but
starvation was again imminent. On this occasion they were relieved by
the reception of condemned pork from Fort Snelling. The St. Louis
proprietors sent up another boat load of supplies after the opening of
navigation, and all seemed well, when, during the prevalence of high
water, the boom and mill race gave way and the logs, their main
dependence, were swept down the river and beyond their control. This
important occurrence, as it then seemed to be, opened up for the
company and people a new trade from the valley below, which has been a
source of immense profit. It suggested the idea of booming and rafting
their logs for points down the river, and led to the building of the
first saw mill at Stillwater.
UGH! UGH!
Mr. Purinton at one time invited a few noted Indians who were begging
for food to be seated at his table. He politely asked them if they
would have tea or coffee. "Ugh! Ugh!" (equivalent to yes, yes) replied
the whole party. So Mr. Purinton mixed their tea and coffee.
MRS. WORTH AND MUCKATICE.
Muckatice, a Chippewa chief, heard that a barrel of whisky had been
stored for safe keeping in the cellar of Mrs. Worth, at Balsam Lake.
Muckatice forced himself into the house and attempted to raise the
cellar trap door. Mrs. Worth forbade him and placed herself upon the
door. Muckatice roughly pushed her aside. He raised the trap door,
and, while in the act of descending, fell. While falling Mrs. Worth
suddenly shut the trap door upon him, by which one of his legs was
caught. Mrs. Worth held the door tightly down. When at last Muckatice
was released, gathering a crowd of Indians he returned and demanded
the whisky. Thayer, with ropes, managed to get the barrel out of the
cellar and out upon the ground, and seeing the peril of giving so much
whisky to the Indians, knocked in both heads of the barrel with an
axe, and the earth drank the poisonous fluid. Muckatice then shook
hands with Mrs. Worth, called her very brave, and departed.
CHAPTER V.
BIOGRAPHIES.
The biographical histories of the early settlers of Polk county
considerably antedate the organization of the towns to which they
would be referred as at present belonging, and we therefore group
together those earliest identified with the history of the valley, and
its first settlement at St. Croix Falls, referring also some, such as
Joseph R. Brown, Gov. W. R. Marshall and Frank Steele, to localities
in which they had been more intimately connected.
GOV. WM. HOLCOMBE was one of the active resident proprietors and agent
of the St. Croix Falls Lumber Company from 1838 to 1845. He was born
at Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1804; left home when a boy; went to
Utica, New York, where he learned the wheelwright trade. He married
Martha Wilson, of Utica; moved to Columbus, Ohio, and was successful
in business, but lost all by fire, when he moved to Cincinnati, and
from thence to Galena. While in Galena he embarked in steamboating on
the Mississippi. Mrs. Holcombe died in Galena. From Galena he came to
St. Croix Falls, where he devoted his time as agent to selling lumber
and keeping books. Mr. Holcombe took a deep interest in opening the
valley to public notice and improvement. He traveled over the
wilderness country from Prairie du Chien to St. Croix Falls before
there was a blazed path, driving horses and cattle. He helped locate
the two first roads in the valley from the mouth of St. Croix lake,
via Marine, to St. Croix Falls and from St. Croix Falls, via Sunrise
and Rush lakes, to Russell's farm, on Pokegama lake. He supervised the
cultivation of the first crops raised in Polk county, at Jerusalem.
He settled in Stillwater in 1846, where he became an active worker in
behalf of education, and did much to establish the present excellent
system of schools. In 1846 he was a member of the first constitutional
convention of Wisconsin Territory, representing this valley and all
the country north of Crawford county. He was a faithful worker on the
boundary question, and effected a change from the St. Croix to a point
fifteen miles due east, from the most easterly point on Lake St.
Croix, from thence south to the Mississippi river and north to the
waters of Lake Superior. His course was approved by his constituents.
In 1848 he took an active part in the formation of Minnesota
Territory, and was secretary of the first convention called for that
purpose in Stillwater. He was receiver of the United States land
office at Stillwater four years. He was a member of the Democratic
wing of the constitutional convention for Minnesota in 1857, and was
honored by being elected first lieutenant governor of Minnesota in
1857. The name of Gov. Holcombe will long be remembered in the valley
of the St. Croix. He died in Stillwater, Sept. 5, 1870, and was buried
with masonic honors. He left two sons, William W. and Edward Van
Buren, by his first wife. He married a second wife in Galena, in 1847,
who died in 1880.
WILLIAM S. HUNGERFORD was born in Connecticut, Aug. 12, 1805. He was
married to Lucinda Hart, at Farmington, Connecticut, in 1827. He came
to St. Louis, Missouri, at an early age and engaged in mercantile
pursuits in the firm of Hungerford & Livingston. In 1838 he became one
of the original proprietors of the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company,
and gave his time and talents to its welfare. He was of a hopeful
temperament, and even in the darkest hour of the enterprise in which
he had embarked, cherished a most cheerful faith in its ultimate
success.
Hon. Caleb Cushing, whose name was to be associated intimately with
that of Mr. Hungerford in the future history and litigation of the
company, recognizing St. Croix Falls as a point promising unrivaled
attractions to the manufacturer, in 1846 purchased an interest in the
company, which was at once reorganized with Cushing and Hungerford as
principal stockholders. The acute mind of Gen. Cushing recognized not
only the prospective advantages of the water power, but the
probability of the division of Wisconsin Territory, which might result
in making St. Croix Falls the capital of the new territory, and
formed plans for the development of the company enterprise, which
might have resulted advantageously had not he been called away to take
part in the Mexican War and thence to go on a political mission to
China. During his absence there was a complete neglect of his American
inland projects and the enterprise at St. Croix suffered greatly; the
new company accomplished but little that was agreed upon in the
consolidation. Cushing had inexperienced agents, unfitted to attend to
his interest. He furnished money sufficient, if judiciously handled,
to have made a permanent, useful property here. Conflicting questions
arose between Hungerford and Cushing's agents, which terminated in
lawsuits. The first suit was in 1848, Hungerford, plaintiff. Different
suits followed, one after another, for over twenty years, which cursed
the property more than a mildew or blight. During this time the
parties alternated in use and possession, by order of court.
Hungerford, during these trials, pre-empted the land when it came in
market. For this he was arrested on complaint of perjury. Hungerford,
by order of court, was, on his arrest, taken away in chains. He was
soon after released. Hungerford was an indefatigable worker. The labor
of his life was invested in the improvements of the company. Cushing,
being a man of talent and influence, could fight the battle at a
distance. He employed the best legal talent in the land; he met
Hungerford at every turn, and Hungerford became a foe worthy of his
steel. They unitedly accomplished the ruin of their town. Mr.
Hungerford had an excellent family, making their home at the Falls
during all their perplexities. On the occasion of his arrest he was
manacled in presence of his family, who bore it with a fortitude
worthy the name and reputation of the father and husband. The
litigation ended only with the death of the principal actors. The
perishable part of the property, mills and other buildings, has gone
to ruin. The whole history is a sad comment on the folly of attempting
to manage great enterprises without harmony of action and purpose. Mr.
Hungerford died in Monticello, Illinois, in 1874. Mrs. Hungerford died
in Connecticut in 1880. Mr. Cushing died in 1876.
HON. HENRY D. BARRON.--Henry Danforth Barron was born in Saratoga
county, New York, April 10, 1832. He received a common school
education, studied law, and graduated from the law school at Ballston
Spa, New York. He came to Wisconsin in 1851; learned the printer's
trade, and was afterward editor of the Waukesha _Democrat_. In 1857 he
removed to Pepin, Wisconsin, and in 1860 received the appointment of
circuit judge of the Eighth district.
In September, 1861, he came to St. Croix Falls, as agent for Caleb
Cushing and the St. Croix Manufacturing and Improvement Company.
He was elected to the lower house of the Wisconsin legislature in
1862, and served as assemblyman continuously from 1862 to 1869, and
for the years 1872 and 1873. During the sessions of 1866 and 1873 he
was speaker of the assembly. A portion of this time he held the
responsible position of regent of the State University, and was also a
special agent of the treasury department. In 1869 President Grant
appointed him chief justice of Dakota, which honor was declined. The
same year he was appointed fifth auditor in the treasury department,
which office he resigned in 1872 to take a more active part in