Fifty Years In The Northwest
government. It is divided into three assessment districts over which
the county exercises jurisdiction, making levies and collecting taxes.
ISANTI COUNTY.
Isanti county lies directly west of Chisago and south of Kanabec. It
is bounded on the west and south by Sherburne, Mille Lacs and Anoka
counties, and contains about fourteen towns. The soil is well adapted
for agriculture. The county has no large lakes, but is well watered by
tributaries of Rum and Sunrise rivers. It is well timbered in the
north with sugar maple. The settlers are chiefly Scandinavians, who,
by their industry, have made the plains and oak ridges to blossom with
clover and the cereals. The county was organized Feb. 13, 1857. It
took its name from a tribe of Indians who some time ago occupied the
country about Mille Lacs. The first board of county commissioners
consisted of Oscar Smith, Hugh Wylie and Elbridge G. Clough. The first
county officers were: William Tubbs, auditor; F. H. Moon, treasurer;
G. G. Griswold, register of deeds; Stephen Hewson, judge of probate;
H. M. Davis, clerk; George L. Henderson, sheriff. The first court was
held by Judge C. E. Vanderburgh in October, 1871. Prior to this time
Isanti had been attached to Auoka county for judicial purposes.
CAMBRIDGE,
The county seat of Isanti, was incorporated as a village in 1876. It
is pleasantly located on the west side of Rum river. It has one
flouring mill, a newspaper office, and several stores, shops,
dwellings and churches. The county buildings are neat and convenient.
The new court house cost $7,000. It is worthy of mention that B. A.
Latta, as county treasurer, paid the first money into the hands of the
state treasurer for war purposes. The first postmasters in the county
were Van Vliet Ainsley, of Spencer Brook, and G. G. Griswold, in 1858.
NORTH BRANCH TOWN
Lies on the headwaters of the Sunrise river. It was settled, as early
as 1855, by John P. Owens, W. A. Hobbs, B. T. Huntley, and John
Schinler. It was organized as a town in 1858, John P. Owens being
chairman of the first board of supervisors. John Schinler raised the
first crop, in 1857. Schools were established in 1860.
OXFORD.
Rensselaer Grant, M. Hurley and Stephen Hewson settled within the
present limits of this town in 1855. At that time the town was not
organized. In 1865 it was included within the limits of North Branch,
but in 1878 the town of Oxford was set off as now defined. The first
supervisors were John Bachelor, P. Lillygrin and P. Berg. Stephen
Hewson was town clerk, and has retained the office ever since. A post
office was established in 1863. Stephen Hewson was postmaster, and has
held the office continuously ever since. The town is well settled by
farmers. In 1870 a cyclone passed through the town, destroying
everything in its track, which was about twenty rods wide. Not a
building was left on the homestead of Mr. Hewson. His fine large barn
was torn to pieces and the fragments scattered for the distance of a
mile.
STEPHEN HEWSON is a native of England, which he left in 1844. He
resided in Canada a few years, then came to Chicago, and later to
Minnesota. He was for awhile a partner in the publishing firm of E. S.
Goodrich & Co., then proprietors of the St. Paul _Pioneer_. He made
his present home in Oxford in 1855, and has since that time been
intimately identified with its history and that of the county of
Isanti. He was a representative from the Fourth district in the
legislature of 1865. He has filled the offices of county auditor,
county commissioner and judge of probate court. As an ordained
minister of the Methodist church he takes an active interest in
religious matters, serving as superintendent of the Sunday-school, and
occasionally filling the pulpit. Five of his daughters are school
teachers, one of whom, Mary, in 1870, taught the first school in
Oxford. He remains hale and hearty in his seventy-seventh year.
GEORGE W. NESBIT was born in 1828, in Delaware county, New York. He
received an academic education. He came in 1856 to St. Francis, Anoka
county, Minnesota, and in 1863 to Isanti county. He has been engaged
in farming and selling goods, and is an energetic, busy man. He made
the first pre-emption timber claim on the Mille Lacs reservation,
which was rejected. Mr. Nesbit was married in New York and has a
family of six children.
RENSSELAER GRANT was born in New York in 1816. His father was a native
of Scotland but emigrated to the United States and took part in the
war of 1812. Mr. Grant was married in Saratoga county, New York, in
1837, to Libiah Mitchell. The Grants moved to Illinois in 1850, and to
Isanti county in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Grant died at North Branch, in
1886, leaving, three married sons, two living in Isanti county, and
one at Rush City, and three daughters, the eldest married to J. W.
Delamater, the second to W. H. Hobbs, the third living in St. Paul.
MILLE LACS COUNTY.
This county is bounded on the north by Mille Lacs lake and Aitkin
county, on the east by Isanti, Kanabec and Aitkin, on the south by
Sherburne and on the west by Morrison and Benton counties, and
includes about 17 townships extending from south to north a distance
of 48 miles, and having a breadth of 12 miles, excepting the two upper
series of towns, which have a width of 18 miles. It is, excepting two
agricultural towns in the south, heavily timbered, chiefly with pine.
It is well watered by Rum river and its tributaries, and by the body
of water known as Mille Lacs, a large picturesque lake, which covers
over one hundred and five sections of Aitkin, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs
counties. The tributaries of the St. Croix also drain the
northeastern part of the county. The southern townships consist of
prairies and oak openings, the northern and central parts being
covered with hardwood and pine. Immense quantities have been already
marketed. The hardwood ridges and flats offer good farming lands, and
the wild meadows, scattered over the county, excellent hay and
pasturage.
Mille Lacs lake, the largest inland lake in Minnesota, is a beautiful
and picturesque sheet of water, with receding wooded shores, with but
little low land adjoining. The waters are deep and clear and
abundantly supplied with fish. This lake, when reached by railways,
will be one of the most pleasant summer resorts in the Northwest. It
already attracts the attention of the tourist. A steamer built in 1885
floats upon its waters. The lake is about eighteen miles long by from
twelve to fifteen wide, and covers about six townships. Three small
islands gem its surface, one of which, from its columnar appearance,
seems to be of volcanic or igneous formation.
The Mille Lacs reservation covers about four fractional towns,
bordering the southern shore of the lake. Since the treaty these lands
have been covered by pre-emptions, soldiers' warrants and half-breed
scrip, but are held by a doubtful tenure owing to the uncertain and
various rulings of the land department. Under the provisions of the
treaty, the Indians, a band of Chippewas, were allowed to retain
possession until ordered to remove. In anticipation of this order
settlements have been made at various periods, and patents have been
issued to the pre emptors in a few cases, but in many cases refused.
Half-breed scrip has been laid upon thousands of acres under one
administration at Washington, the permission to be countermanded by
another. Meanwhile the Indians, not having received the order for
removal, claim to be the owners of the land, and with some show of
justice. In 1882 the Manitoba Railroad Company built a road through
the county from east to west, through township 40, ranges 26 and 27.
In the early divisions of Minnesota into counties, the territory of
Mille Lacs was included in Ramsey and Benton counties. Prior to its
present organization, a county called Monroe, covering the territory
of Mille Lacs, was established but never organized. By legislative
enactment in 1857 Mille Lacs county was established and organized by
the people in 1860, the counties of which its territory was originally
a part concurring, and Princeton was made the county seat. In 1859
there had been effected the organization of one town in the county,
known as Princeton. This has since been subdivided into Princeton
Greenbush, and Milo. The officers of the town organization in 1859
were: Supervisors, C. W. Houston, Charles Pratt, Joseph L. Cater. The
first county election, held April, 1860, resulted in the election of
the following officers: County commissioners, Joseph L. Cater,
chairman; Samuel Orton, C. S. Moses; auditor and register of deeds, W.
W. Payne; clerk of court, S. M. Byers; treasurer, E. J. Whitney;
sheriff, Wm. McCauley; probate judge, Samuel Ross. The first term of
court was held June 3, 1861, E. C. Vanderburgh, presiding judge. The
first recorded deed was from E. J. Whitney to Isaac Staples, and bears
date Aug. 4, 1854.
MILACCA
Has a pleasant site on the Manitoba railroad, on the banks of Rum
river at the crossing of the Manitoba & Superior and the junction of
the Elk River & Princeton railroad. The Manitoba Company have a good
saw mill here, with a capacity of 125,000 feet per day, built at a
cost of $50,000. A planing mill is attached. There is a good three
story hotel, well kept, here.
The village was surveyed and platted March 24, 1886; Chas. Keith,
surveyor; James J. Hill, president of the Mille Lacs Lumber Company,
proprietor. It is located in the town of Greenbush.
BRIDGMAN VILLAGE,
Located in the town of Milo, has a steam saw mill, spoke and hub
factory, around which are several residences.
PRINCETON.
The village of Princeton is located at the junction of the two
branches of the Rum river, on a beautiful prairie, surrounded by rich
prairie and timber lands. The first log house was built in 1849, and
kept as a stopping place by a mulatto known as "Banjo Bill." This
house is still standing. The first permanent settlers were A. B.
Damon, O. E. Garrison, C. H. Chadbourne, Edwin Allen, John W. Allen,
Chas. Whitcomb, Joseph L. Cater, W. F. Dunham, and Samuel Ross. They
were also the first settlers in the county, and came in 1853-7. In
1855 Messrs. Damon and Allen farmed on the present site of the
village. The village was surveyed and platted Feb. 11, 1859, by S.
Ross & Co. S. Ross also built a hotel where the North Star Hotel now
stands. This year the first frame building was erected and used as a
store. W. F. Dunham built a steam saw mill. The first school house was
built, although school organization was not effected until 1858. James
M. Dayton taught the first school. A post office was established with
O. E. Garrison as postmaster. Samuel Ross brought the mail once a week
from Anoka. A Congregational church was established, of which Rev.
Royal Twichell was chosen as pastor. The Methodists organized a
society the following year.
The village was incorporated March 13, 1877, by legislative enactment.
The commissioners appointed under the organic act were E. C. Giles, H.
B. Cowles, C. H. Rines, B. F. Whiting, and Charles Keith. At the
election ordered by them the following officers were chosen:
President, C. H. Rines; trustees. F. M. Campbell, Isaiah S. Mudgett,
Thomas F. Caly; recorder, Silas L. Staples; treasurer, D. H. Murray;
justices of the peace, Scott M. Justice, Charles Keith. The Princeton
_Appeal_ was established by Rev. John Quigley in 1873, but
discontinued in 1875. In December, 1876, Robert C. Dunn started the
Princeton _Union_, which he still publishes.
The Manitoba branch railroad from Elk River to Milacca village passes
through Princeton. The first train arrived Nov. 30, 1880. The county
contributed $47,000 in bonds at five per cent interest for twenty