"A History of Western Murray County" by Robt. B. Forrest, Pages 14-29, Murray Co., MN Published 1947 ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Robert B. Forrest III ========================================================================= Note: Use your "Find and Replace" option under "Edit" to search this file. Where there is noted (Picture) there is a picture or darwing that you can view. The file name (ex: 004.jpg) can be found on the TOC in the description box next to the file you are viewing. Just click on the picture file name or you can view the book in HTML format at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/murray/history/home.htm where the pictures are placed within the book. Special thanks go to Robert B, Forrest for sharing his Grandfather's works. Be sure to read: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/murray/history/western/preface3.txt ================================================================================ Early W. Murray Co. MN Hist., pages 14-29 Early Day County Officials of Murray County, Minnesota (Picture 014.jpg) Back Row: George Mumby, janitor; D. J. McNamara, Treasurer; Dr. W. E. Richardson, Coroner; J. Knutson Register of Deeds. A. D. Smith, County Superintendent ; Jim Lowe, Sheriff; L. S. Nelson, County Attorney ; B. W. Woolstencroft, Judge of Probate ; Robt. Hyslon, Clerk of Court; C. H. Woodgate, Deputy Sheriff; Ole Holmen, County Auditor. Otto Reusse, John Donnelly, A. 0. Lunder, J. J. Mihin and S. Barrows, County Commissioners. –14– Early Days in Western Murray County By John H. Low (John H. Low, the first settler in western Murray County, prepared this article over twenty-five years ago. This is the first time it has appeared in print. Mr. Low first visited this section in 1863. He settled here in 1866 and during his lifetime enjoyed the highest esteem of all.) In November 1863, an expedition of 140 wagons, each drawn by two or three yokes of oxen was sent out from Mankato to carry supplies to Fort Thompson on the Missouri River. Three companies of soldiers were sent by the government as an escort. I was a member of this expedition in the capacity of "bull whacker" (ox teamster). We entered Murray County in what is now the township of Dovray, by the old government trail as it was called, passing by Long Lake and Buffalo Lake and camped on the east side of the Des Moines River near where the upper dam is now located. This was a little over a year after the Indian outbreak and deserted houses and fields grown to weeds furnished conclusive evidence of the thoroughness of the massacre. My first impression of the county was not at all favorable. In fact Uncle Sam could not have given me a patent to the whole county if it had been conditioned on my living in the county for five years. Yet it was the same county then, that it is today except for the people and the improvements they have put in it with their own hands. Imagine if you can this county without a single inhabitant, no homes nor even plowed fields just a sea of prairie dotted with lakes, many of them beautiful and picturesque, others shallow and marshy and not at all beautiful but quite the contrary. We passed through what are now the townships of Dovray, Murray, Mason, Lowville and Cameron. In the fall of 1864, 1 was again a visitor to the county this time with three others on a trapping expedition. We came in October and remained until the following April and took away with us two thousand dollars worth of furs. During the winter months we were the only living human beings in the county and for three months we never saw a single person outside —15— our little company. We managed to keep track of the days of the week, but missed on the day of the month by one week. However, all days were alike to us in the work in which we were engaged. Our provisions for this trip were purchased in St. Louis, carried by boat up the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers to Mankato and from there we hauled them by team. The food consisted of side pork, beans, flour, and coffee. We had no vegetables, no milk, no butter. In the spring of 1865, about the middle of April, as we were leaving Lake Shetek at the close of the trapping season, there was another party of three young men from Estherville, Iowa, who were preparing to make the trip home in a skiff. They sold us what furs they had and I learned afterwards that they had some difficulty in navigating the river. When they arrived at or near Lake Talcot they concluded to abandon that mode of transportation and having discovered a trapper's shack, they moved their possessions into it. The oldest one then shouldered his pack of blankets and grub and started out for home on foot, where he was to get a team and return for the other boys. The boys in the meantime amused themselves by shooting muskrats. Things went along all right for a day or two, but, one morning before the boys got up, the door was suddenly thrown open and several shots were fired into the shack. The boys sprang out of bed, slammed the door shut and proceeded to dress in short order and get down their shot-guns. About this time, an Indian stuck his face up to the window to reconnoiter and one of the boys snapped his gun at him, but the cap failed to explode and no harm was done—probably a good thing for the boys. The Indians in the meantime had taken cover among the trees back of the santy. The boys now decided on a measure that I would have considered altogether too risky. They took their guns and ammunition and leaving everything else, threw the door open and made a break for the prairie. The maneuver was perfectly successful. The Indians never even fired at them. One of the boys discovered after traveling several miles that he had received a slight flesh wound in the leg, but during the excitement had not noticed it. This is merely an episode of those early days. It was not until June 1866, that I again returned to Murray County; by this time I had changed my mind about the de- —16— sirability of land here and forthwith proceeded to take a claim. At this time there were a few hardy pioneers around Lake Shetek, Captain Aldrich and his two sons, Joseph and Clarence; also, Abner Marsh and his son, George. They were seventy miles from New Ulm, the nearest postoffice and trading post, and also the nearest doctor. We were seldom sick and no one died except by accident such as drowning or freezing. When anyone made the trip to New Ulm, he brought back the mail for the whole settlement and usually left it at the home of Captain Aldrich to be called for. Some of our settlers were in the government employ as scouts and had to report to Uncle Sam now and then as to the activities of the Noble Red Men. This, however, was not generally known and what scouting they did, did not interfere with their usual vocations to any great extent. But, it was only just that they should have had some compensation from the government for taking the lead on the edge of civilization, or rather they had pushed considerably over the edge and were really out in the wilderness. While religious meetings were the exception rather than the rule, kindness and good will always prevailed. I for one, certainly appreciate the many favors I received from those early settlers during the infant days of the settlement. While we did not always hold the same views on religious, political and other subjects, we never allowed these differences of opinion to cause any coolness in our social relations. The first factory to operate in Murray County was, I believe, a pipe factory. Three young fellows were sent by the trader at Fort Thompson to get some pipestone pipes. They got a quantity of rock from the Pipestone Quarries and then tinkered up the lathe in an old saw mill on the Des Moines River, that had been abandoned at the time of the massacre. This factory was operated by "one Dutchman power," and that winter turned out a number of pipes which were fitted with native reeds for stems and taken to Fort Thompson and traded to the Indians at the rate of one pipe for two buffalo hides. Our farming operations as compared with those of today were rather crude. We had only a few pieces of machinery, most of it home made. My first drag was hand made and had —17— wooden teeth. We raised mostly wheat and oats and what little surplus we had was mostly taken up by the new settlers as they came in. In the winter we usually did some trapping which helped us out with what cash we needed for supplies. In the early '70's we had the grasshopper plague which stayed with us for five years. It would seem to the casual observer that we had enough drawbacks before this pest arrived but it may be that an all wise Providence was trying us out as Job was tried of old. There were a few, but a very few, that surrendered and left the country. The great majority stuck out and won the victory. Fur bearing animals and plenty of prairie grass contributed largely to our success. I know of two of the old settlers who, after enduring all the hardships of the grasshopper period and others equally trying for over five years proved up on their homesteads of 160 acres each and then sold out for two hundred fifty dollars apiece. They were induced to do this, not altogether by their sufferings, but partly by fear of another Indian raid. And while I do not believe that we were in any great danger from that source, still there was a great deal of uneasiness in the settlement, caused by the activities of the Indians farther west. ====================================================== Drainage Basins of Western Murray County There are four drainage systems in western Murray County. The Redwood River system flows through the eastern and northern part of Ellsborough township. Part of the waters that fall on Skandia flow northwest into the Cottonwood River system. Some engineers think this would have been a fine outlet for the Bear Lake waters. The Oksida or Beaver Creek, that drains most of Murray County combines with the Des Moines River which is a continuation of the Beaver Creek. The Des Moines starts at Currie and the Beaver Creek headwaters come from the ravines just west of the Cameron township line. The Des Moines is a part of the Mississippi River system. In the southwest parts of Chanarambie and Moulton townships, the creeks, Champepadam and Chanarambie, flow into the Rock River and from there finally reach the Missouri. —18— MURRAY COUNTY The area that is Murray County has been a part of the domain of foreign nations and it has been subject to the governments of a number of states. France early claimed the western part of the United States because of explorations in that region. In 1762 France ceded the lands west of the Mississippi River to Spain. International difficulties led Spain to return the lands to France in 1801. And Napoleon, in need of money, sold the region to the United States in 1803. On June 4, 1812, the area was included in the territory of Missouri. It was made a part of the territory of Michigan in 1834. The territory of Iowa included it from 1836 to 1838, when it became a part of the Wisconsin Territory. When the territory of Minnesota was organized in 1849, it was within the boundaries. The area was a part of Wabasha County and a short time later was included in Dakota County. In 1853, when Blue Earth County was established, it became a part of that county. And Brown County, established in 1855, included it in that area. The boundary lines of Murray County established by the legislature in 1857 have enjoyed permanency. Thus, the county has been claimed by three nations; it has been a part of five territories; and has been a part of four Minnesota counties. And all this before Minnesota became a state. Murray County, established in 1857, was named after William Pitt Murray, an active leader in Minnesota. He had held many political offices in the state. Townships were organized as follows: 1872—Holly, Murray, Okcheeda, Center and Shetek. 1873—Skandia, Lake Sarah, Leeds, Lowville, and Lime Lake. 1874—Ellsborough and Bondin. 1878—Des Moines River, Criswell, Stanley. 1879—Lime Stone, Moulton, Dovray. 1880—Anderson. 1886—Fenton. —19— The townships were named by the county commissioners, but the names were not popular in all the townships and at the first meetings, the voters made the following changes: Center to Slayton, Okcheeda to Mason, Criswell to Belfast, Stanley to Cameron, Lime Stone to Chanarambie, and Anderson to Lona. ====================================================== Buffalo Ridge Was First Telegraph Station Centuries ago, Indians transmitted news of all kinds from the tip of the Buffalo Ridge. A mile south of where the present highway No. 47 is located is the highest point in this section and engineers of the seventies and eighties placed this tip as being about 1950 feet above sea level. Early settlers well remember this particular spot. It seemed to be a favorite meeting place for the Indians. They must have revered the spot as they had created outlines in the prairie sod with small rocks of buffalo, turtles, man, round circles, etc. Cairns of stone were also found, as late as the eighties, on the summit, and down in a ravine not more than a hundred feet down was a spring which at some time furnished the Indians with water. Several buffalo heads have been taken from this spring, which has since become dry. The tip was also used by the tribes when they wanted to transmit news. Here was built a fire of prairie grass some of which was damp. It was always there and when urgent news arrived the fire was started and when the smoke started getting dark in color two Indians would take a blanket and by covering the smoke and then rapidly withdrawing the blanket, would make dots and dashes. These signals would be understood by the Indians as far as the eye could reach and they would get word of the approach of danger. This no doubt was the first Morse code known, and probably gave the inventor of the telegraph his inspiration. ====================================================== In 1870 there were only 15 farms in Murray County. They contained 2407 acres. —20— LEEDS TOWNSHIP AND ITS FORMATION. MEETING OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Currie, Minnesota March 11th, 1873 On this 11th day of March, 1873, a petition is presented to the board, signed by Gilbert Johnson and fourteen other legal voters, bearing date, Feb. 11th, 1873, requesting the county commissioners to organize township 106 Range 42 and to name the same. The above request is granted and it is hereby ordered and determined that township 106, Range 42 is organized and named "Leedes" and the first town meeting shall be held for said town at the house of Gilbert Johnson in said town on the 31st day of March 1873. L. D. Bonesteel, Chairman H. Mellen John H. Low The Petitioners were: Gilbert Johnson, Hans Jacobson, Theodore Knutson, Klaus Klausen, Hans Simonson, Lasarias Thompson, Peter Sakariason, Lauris Johnson, Hans Nilsen, Olus Johnson, Sven Nilson, Herman Nilson, Christian Christianson, Lars 0. Solem. Some Names were Changed in Later Years. Our readers will perhaps notice there has been a change in the names of many families since they appeared on the petition for organization and the first census taken in 1875. Klausen was changed to Clauson—Peder Sakariasen to Pete Thompson— Lauris Johnson to L. J. Heimness, Jacobsen to Jacobson—Hans Nilsen to Hans Nelson Olus Johnson to Olaus Johnson—Sven Nilson to Swen Nelson—Christiansen to Christianson. There were also changes in given names—Viz. Kari became Carrie Edevant became Edward—Andrias became Andrew, etc. —22— FIRST CENSUS WAS TAKEN IN JULY 1875 State of Minnesota County of Murray I, Gilbert Johnson, Assessor in and for the Town of Leeds, in the said county and state, do solemnly swear that I will and truly cause to be made a just and perfect enumeration of all persons resident within the same town of Leeds and a true return thereof make, in pursuance of the foregoing act, according to the best of my ability, so help me God. Signed Gilbert Johnson, Assessor Subscribed and sworn to before me this 28th day of June, A.D. 1875. Nils Svenson, Justice of the Peace. Name Birth Place Age Gilbert Johnson Norway 37 Anne Maria Johnson Norway 34 John Johnson Norway 12 Ingebor Johnson Norway 10 Engebret Johnson Minnesota 6 Hans Johnson Minnesota 4 Andreas Johnson Minnesota 2 Hans Jacobsen Minnesota 43 Maguil Jacobsen Minnesota 50 Anna Hanie Jacobsen Minnesota 15 Bernt Jacobsen Minnesota 12 Jacob Jacobsen Minnesota 18 Karoline Jacobsen Minnesota 10 Martin Ludvig Jacobsen Minnesota 5 Lyrne Titna Jacobsen Minnesota 2 Thedor Knutson Norway 27 Maren Johane Knutson Norway 28 Joseph Arol Knutson Minnesota 4 Valborg Klarine Knutson Minnesota 1 Klaus Clauson Norway 41 Anlaug Clauson Norway 29 Graw Clauson Norway 12 —23— Name Birth Place Age Gunnhild Clauson Norway 16 Hans Clauson Norway 10 Martin Vilhelm Clauson Minnesota 1-1/2 Marte Maria Clauson Minnesota 3 Hans Simonson Norway 57 Jyni Simonson Norway 52 Iver Simonson Norway 19 Kari Simonson Norway 17 Knut Simonson Norway 15 Tyni Simonson Minnesota 13 John Simonson Minnesota 2 Lasarias Thomsen Norway 66 Peder Sakariasen Norway 27 Lauris Johnsen Norway 31 Johana Sophia Johnsen Norway 29 Anna Johnsen Norway 3-1/2 Ellen Johnsen Minnesota 1 Hans Nilsen Norway 43 Bergta Sophia Nilsen Norway 39 Hansine Bergeta Nilsen Norway 15 Ole Frederic Nilsen Norway 8 Johanes Anton Nilsen Norway 4 Josephine Nekalisse Nilsen Minnesota 2 Olus Johnson Norway 43 Ellen Anna Johnson Norway 40 Maren Kristin Johnson Norway 18 Andrias Rekan Johnson Norway 13 Mattie Johnson Iowa 8 Johan Martin Johnson Iowa 5 Ingebor Anna Johnson Iowa 3 Kristian Johnson Minnesota 1/2 Sven Nilson Sweden 50 Lisa Nilson Sweden 49 Nils Nilson Sweden 26 Herman Nilson Sweden 24 Usil Nilson Sweden 16 Christian Christianson Norway 49 Karoline Christianson Norway 55 Thea Martin Christianson Norway 19 —24— Name Birth Place Age Karen Olive Christianson Norway 17 Edevant Gunivious Christianson Norway 15 Lars O. Solem Norway 35 Anne O. Solem Norway 39 Maria O. Solem Norway 7 Johane O. Solem Minnesota 5 Martin O. Solem Minnesota 2 Erick Larsen Norway 24 THE MEN AND WOMEN OF LEEDS Most of the early settlers had but little money when they arrived at their new homes; some had just enough to pay the filing fee on their claims. All their worldly belongings and their families came in heavily loaded covered wagons. What wonderful faith they had in themselves! Early Settler Days (Picture 025.jpg) Building a Log Cabin in the summer of 1873 The first homes of many of them were dugouts in the side of a steep hill in a ravine. A number were made in the banks of the Beaver Creek. In the year following, the majority built —25— sod shanties. Some of the sod shanties or rather sod houses were large enough for a good sized family. The one constructed by Christian Christianson was 16 x 24 and was the largest in western Murray County at that time. This house, like most of the others, was built of three foot strips of tough sod taken from a nearby slough. The sods were laid alternately so the walls were three feet thick. Saplings were cut from the stunted timber along the Beaver for rafters and the rafters were covered with willow brush. The brush was covered with coarse slough hay. Well packed yellow clay covered the hay and provided a roof which was almost rain and snow proof. The corner posts of the house were Y shaped logs which came from Bear Lake timber. Yellow clay was used for chinking around the door and window frames. The boards for the door and window frames, and the tiny windows had been placed in the bottom of the wagon boxes when they started on the trail towards what was an almost unknown west. Root cellars were a real necessity. They were built in the same manner as the sod houses and some of them had entrances into them from the houses. One of the necessities, which was easy to get and it was a blessing, was water. Abundant water could be secured on most farms at a depth of from 12 to 16 feet. Some of the early wells were used as they were dug, the top just covered with rough boards or small logs, but a large number of them was curbed with small rocks (nigger heads). All the barns, or rather sheds, were made by piling straw over a skeleton of saplings and logs. The better ones were covered or thatched by a covering of the wiry slough hay. Most of the settlers in Leeds township came from Fillmore County, nearly all of them coming from eastern Minnesota. The trip was a long one. Most of them had oxen and the oxen moved slowly with the well laden wagons and, to add to the slowness of the trip, all of them brought some live stock. The boys had the job of driving the stock behind the wagons and some of the lads walked the entire distance between here and Fillmore county. One little realizes what patient, resolute men and women these pioneers were, or the hardships and privations they endured. Here they were 80 miles —26— Not Searching for Gold but for a Place to Live (Picture 027.jpg) Early settlers on their way to new homes in Western Murray County from a market, and the same distance from a doctor, coffee, sugar and flour. They were not too well blessed with worldly goods and they could not raise crops the first two years for the market. Trapping muskrats and mink kept the settlers supplied with the bare necessities. One family went without sugar or coffee for a whole year. They browned wheat and barley, and ground it in the coffee mill. When the barley and wheat ran out, they cut raw potatoes into small pieces, browned them on top of the stove and then ground them in the old coffee mill, which was the busiest and most important implement about the place. During the early years of the settlement, the men were forced to leave the community and seek work. Some went to the harvest fields in the eastern part of the state; some went to the railroad tracks which were slowly pushing their way westward and some to the pineries for the winter. (This is what kept the families at home. The men must hold their claims.) Many of the men, carrying groceries, walked forty miles to get back to their little crude homes in Leeds in the spring; some even carried a sack of flour, for they were big, strong, sturdy men, these men of Leeds. When the settlers had a little land broken up and were ready to raise crops, their hopes were high as they planted the newly turned sod. They looked forward to their first trip to market as the railroads were getting nearer. Their hopes were blasted, however, as hordes of grasshoppers swooped down out of the skies and lit on their crops. In a few hours their entire —27— crops and gardens were gone. For four years the grasshoppers left the new settlers with only a handful of food. Then the men again had to leave the settlement and seek work. The entire county was almost bankrupt. There was nothing left. The County Commissioners of Murray County, in the annual fiscal report of 1875, stated—Funds in Treasury —NOTHING—$00.00. According to the early settlers, Hans Simonson, who arrived in June 1872, was the first settler. The next was Christian Christiansen who arrived in October, the same year. Then came Gilbert Johnson and Theodore Knutson, closely followed by the others. The settlers on the east of the township were located by Pete Peterson, who had settled near Badger Lake the year before and was acquainted with the government survey marks. In the western part of the township, J. H. Low assisted in the work. Peterson later became County Treasurer and Low the County Auditor. B. M. Low, the first surveyor, located many of the settlers. While most of the settlers "took up" homesteads, some of the new arrivals were compelled to take up tree claims, as they had used their rights in the eastern part of the state before they had the urge to take the westward move. "THE PRAIRIE MOTHER" What a wonderful part the prairie mother played in the drama in the development of the new West! She was the real bulwark of the frontier; she was the first and the last line of defense. She made the homes and made the community. Hard and bitter toil was the price exacted by the virgin soil. Think of the long, long nights she spent alone in the sod shanty or log cabin, listening to the howl of the blizzard and the coyote, with perhaps a sick child lying on a humble tick of straw with no medicine or help available. Just herself and God who soothed and comforted her in the lonely vigil and when death came, as it sometimes did, she struggled over the snow drifts to a nearby neighbor. There were no doctors, no nurses, no cemeteries, no preachers. The neighbor would gather what boards he could find and fashion them into a rough —28— coffin. With a handful of neighbors, sometimes only the family, a muttered prayer filtered through the bitter cold as the little one started on her last long sleep. And the lonely mother, whose heart was filled with bitter anguish, turned to the humble home not to weep, not to pity herself, but to soothe, ease and comfort the other members of the little family. And then there was the prairie mother whose husband was away from the little settlement, and in whose ears echoed the cries of the massacred settlers of a bare ten years before, who would turn and see a group of Indians entering the only door in the little home. They would beg for something to eat. They were a shock to the prairie mother, but not a muscle quivered. The same staunch spirit with which she met the hardships of the pioneer life did not forsake her. There was but little argument. If she had, she gave; if not, she would open the door as she would for a stray cat and tell them to go. The bitter winters, while the men were gone to earn groceries for the summer, should have broken the heart and the spirits of the women, but they would not be cowed; there are the two mothers who gave birth to their babies, without the aid of a doctor, midwife, nurse, neighbor or husband, just themselves and that unbreakable spirit. Her part was hard and bitter, but it was one of love. She made the children's clothes from wool that she had carded and spun. She cooked and baked in a tiny cast iron stove fired with "buffalo chips" or twists of hay; she took care of the oxen and the cow, no matter how severe the weather, hauling the water from the well with a rope solidly coated with ice. She dug herself out of the house and the stock out of the straw shed after the snowstorms, and in the evening she sewed and knitted with hands wrinkled and swelled by the intense cold, by a tiny coal oil lamp, often with a piece of rag in a saucer of lard. Life was a stern reality for the pioneer mother, whose faith was in God and how bravely and nobly she met life. The Indian woman who helped lead an expedition across the Rockies is remembered by statues and monuments in many states. How many have been erected to the memory of the —29—