Fifty Years In The Northwest
in township 42, range 20, and extend two and three-quarters miles on
each side of Kettle river. The first work in opening the quarries was
done Aug. 22, 1885. The village plat was surveyed in June, 1887, and a
post office established there the February preceding, W. H. Grant,
Jr., being the first postmaster. The saw mill and the quarries give
employment to about four hundred men. Sandstone is located on the old
site of Fortuna. The Kettle River railroad was built to the quarries
in 1886, from the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, a distance of five
miles. The Manitoba railroad, running to Superior, passes through the
village.
WILLIAM H. GRANT, SR., one of the founders of Hinckley, and the
proprietor and founder of the Sandstone enterprise, was born Dec. 23,
1829, at Lyndborough, New Hampshire. He received his education at
Hancock Academy, New Hampshire, and Yates Academy, Orleans county, New
York. He studied law and was admitted to practice in 1854 at
Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He came to St. Paul in 1859, where he
still resides, his property interests at Sandstone being immediately
under the super vision of his son, W. H. Grant, Jr. He sold his
interest in May, 1888, for $100,000. He was married to Martha McKean
in New Hampshire, January, 1855.
KETTLE RIVER.
The town of Kettle River, including townships 43 and 44, lying on the
west line of the county, was organized in 1874. S. S. Griggs was
chairman of the first board of supervisors. The town contains but one
school district. The first settler was S. S. Griggs, who, in company
with John S. Prince, of St. Paul, built a saw mill at the St. Paul &
Duluth railroad crossing on Kettle river, in 1871-72. This was not a
successful venture. A post office was established at the mill, and S.
S. Griggs was appointed postmaster. The Manitoba and St. Paul & Duluth
railroads pass through the town from south to north. The township now
has no settlement except about twenty-four families at the station and
village. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwood. There are
meadows, marshes and tamarack swamps, fine streams and beautiful
lakes, and much excellent farming land besides. The Pine lakes in
township 43, range 21, are beautiful sheets of water. There are no
good roads or public improvements.
JOHN C. HANLEY was born in Covington, Kentucky, and was educated at
Oxford College, Ohio. He came to St. Paul in 1849, as a machinist and
millwright. He was married in 1853, at St. Anthony, to Sophia
Ramsdale. In 1862 he enlisted in Company M, Minnesota Mounted Cavalry,
a company recruited principally at Sunrise, Chisago county, by Capt.
James Starkey. He was commissioned second lieutenant and was with Gen.
Sibleys expedition against the Sioux. Subsequently he received a
captain's commission, and recruited Company M, Second Minnesota
Cavalry, stationed on the frontier. He was mustered out in 1865. He
resides at Kettle River.
MISSION CREEK
Was organized as a town in 1880. The first supervisors were M. Thomas,
T. Johnson, Wm. McKean; Messrs. H. A. Taylor and Philip Riley & Co.,
of St. Paul, were the first operators here. They built a saw mill with
a capacity of 3,000,000 feet per annum. This property has changed
owners, and is now held by the John Martin Lumber Company, of St.
Paul. It was burned down in 1885, but was immediately rebuilt.
PINE CITY.
The town of Pine City was organized in 1874. The first supervisors
were Hiram Brackett, H. B. Hoffman and James Griffith. The village of
Pine City was platted in 1869. The original proprietors were James and
Stephen H. Petrie, Catherine Sloan and Luther Mendenhall. The survey
was made by B. W. Brunson. Wm. Branch acted as attorney and the
acknowledgment was made by J. J. Egan, notary public, of St. Louis
county. The village was organized in 1881, but the officers did not
qualify until the following year.
The oldest settler was probably a Mr. Kirkland, of Quincy, Illinois,
who worked for some time on the banks of Cross lake, on the present
site of Pine City, hoping to be able to plant a colony there, but,
according to the testimony of Mrs. E. T. Ayer, the missionary became
disheartened by the Indian troubles, and left in 1841, abandoning his
scheme. The completion of the railroad which crosses the Kanabec river
at this point gave a great impetus to the prosperity of the village
and neighborhood. It now contains a fine court house, built at a cost
of $8,000, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches, good
buildings for graded and common schools, and three hotels. Pine City
has besides a pleasant park, the gift of Capt. Richard G. Robinson,
which has been adorned and embellished and named after the donor,
"Robinson Park."
RICHARD G. ROBINSON was born in Jackson county, Iowa, in 1829; he
moved thence with his parents to Illinois, and to St. Croix Falls in
1848, where he followed lumbering, scaling, surveying and exploring.
He lived at St. Croix and Taylor's Falls until 1872, when he received
the appointment of land examiner for the Lake Superior & Mississippi
Railroad Company. He was in the employ of the company twelve years,
making his home at Pine City, where he still lives, engaged in
lumbering and real estate. He was married to Catharine A. Fullenwider,
of Iowa. Mrs. Robinson died at Pine City in 1885.
HIRAM BRACKETT was born in 1817, in China, Maine, and came to Pine
City in 1868 from Aroostook county, Maine. He was among the first to
make improvements. He built a hotel and was the first postmaster in
the town. He died in 1883, leaving an estimable widow, three sons,
John, Albert and Frank, and two daughters, Emily, married to Henry A.
Linn, of Milwaukee, and Louise, married to Henry D. Crohurst, of Pine
City.
RANDALL K. BURROWS, a native of Connecticut, came to Pine City in
1869, and, with Adolph Munch, built a large stave mill on the shores
of Cross lake. This proved an unfortunate investment, resulting in
litigation, during the progress of which the mill was destroyed by
fire, in 1878. Mr. Burrows was an active, enthusiastic man, and worked
hard for the interests of Pine City, filling many positions of trust.
He was elected to the state senate from the Twenty-eighth district, in
1874. His seat was contested by John Hallburg, of Centre City. The
Senate referred the question to the people, but in the election that
followed (1875) he was defeated. In 1879 he removed to Dakota, where
he died three years later.
JOHN S. FERSON came from Michigan to Pine City in 1869. During that
and the succeeding year he was principal in building a first class
steam saw mill. It was located on a bay in the western part of the
city. This mill was burned in 1872, rebuilt and burned again. Mr.
Ferson has since removed to Dakota.
SAMUEL MILLET settled in Pine City in 1869, and in 1870 erected the
Bay View House, on an elevated plateau commanding a fine view of Cross
lake and Kanabec river. Mr. Millet died in 1879, leaving a widow, two
sons and three daughters.
ROCK CREEK
Was organized March, 1874. The first supervisors were Enoch Horton,
Frank England, and S. M. Hewson. Obadiah Hewsom was town clerk. Enoch
Horton and C. W. Gill were justices of the peace. Mr. Horton was the
first settler, he having come to the county in 1872. The year
following he raised the first crop. Mr. Horton was from Colchester,
New York. He was born in 1811, and came to Minnesota in 1862. He was
the first postmaster at Rock Creek. Other settlers came in slowly.
Edgerton, Gill & Co. built a saw mill in 1873, with a capacity of
3,000,000 feet. This property has changed hands several times.
CAPT. ENOCH HORTON commenced official life at the age of twenty-two
years, in New York, where he served twenty-eight years as justice of
the peace and county judge. He served during the Rebellion as captain
of a company of sharpshooters.
ROYALTON
Was organized in 1880. The first supervisors were Edward Peterson,
Alexis Kain and Joseph Heiniger. It is a good farming township with
many good farms. The first settlement was made by Elam Greely, in
1849, who made a farm and built a large barn, hauling the lumber from
Marine Mills, a distance of seventy miles. The town was named in
honor of Royal C. Gray, who located on the Greely farm in 1854, in the
northwest quarter of section 15, township 38, range 22, on the banks
of the Kanabec river.
WINDERMERE
Was organized as a town Jan. 3, 1882. The first supervisors were
August Schog, William Champlain and Frank Bloomquist.
The towns of Kettle River, Hinckley and Pine City were organized, and
Chengwatana reorganized by special act of the legislature in 1874, and
at that time embraced all the territory in the county. Since 1874,
Mission Creek, Rock Creek and Royalton have been set off from Pine
City and Windermere from Kettle River.
The following villages were platted at the dates named: Neshodana, by
Clark, Cowell & Foster, in townships 41 and 42, ranges 15 and 16, in
1856; Fortuna, by W. A. Porter, surveyor, at the crossing of Kettle
river and the military road, January, 1857; St. John's, by M. L.
Benson, surveyor, in section 26, township 41, range 17, October, 1857;
Midway, by Frank B. and Julia L. Lewis, proprietors, in the northwest
quarter of section 34, township 40, range 21, September, 1855.
A ROCK CREEK MURDER.
A man passing under the name of Harris had been arrested for stealing
horses. George Hathaway started with the prisoner to Sunrise. Five
days afterward Hathaway's dead body was found, and the inquest decided
that he probably met his death by stabbing or shooting at the hands of
his prisoner, who made his escape, and was never again heard from.
Hathaway was a native of Passadumkeag, Maine.
THE BURNING OF A JAIL.
March 22, 1884, a couple of young men, John Cope and William Leonard,
were arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and confined in
the Pine City jail, a wooden structure. About three o'clock the next
morning the jail was found to be on fire. All efforts to extinguish
the flames or rescue the unhappy prisoners were unavailing. The fire
originated from within, in all probability from the careless action of
the prisoners themselves in striking matches, either for the purpose
of smoking or of exploring their cells.
A DISFIGURED FAMILY.
Mr. Redman, the agent at the Kettle River railroad station, called my
attention to the fact that old Batice is singularly disfigured. He was
born without thumbs or big toes. The fingers and remaining toes
resemble birds' claws. Two of the fingers of each hand and two of the
toes on each foot are united to the tips but have distinct nails. Of
his four children three are disfigured like the father. His
grandchildren are many of them worse than himself, one having but one
finger.
INDIAN FAITH CURE.
A woman at Pokegama was badly burned by the explosion of gunpowder
while she was putting it in a flask. Her face became terribly swollen
and black. The missionaries did what they could for her, but thought
she must die. After two days the Indian doctors held a medicine dance
for her benefit. After they had gone through with their magic arts the
woman arose, and, without any assistance, walked around distributing
presents to the performers of the ceremony. It was truly wonderful.
She recovered rapidly.
INDIAN GRAVES.
The Chippewas bury their dead much as the whites do. The body is
deposited in a grave and covered with earth. A low wooden covering,
somewhat like the roof of a house, is reared above it, the gables
resting on the ground. The roof is covered with white or bleached
muslin, and surmounted by a board cross. An aperture about six inches
square is left in each end of the structure. The head of the grave is
toward the west, and here are deposited offerings of fruits and