"A History of Western Murray County" by Robt. B. Forrest, Pages 72-83, 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. 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Be sure to read: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/murray/history/western/preface3.txt ================================================================================ Early W. Murray Co. MN Hist., pages 72-83 Thirty four people, eleven of them men, and a team of horses, were in the cabin, when the attack started. Pawn and his friendly Indians stood in the stable while Lean Bear and White Lodge led the attack for several hours. There came a lull in the fighting and Pawn came to the cabin and said, "If the settlers would leave there would be no more killing." Outnumbered and short of powder, the settlers agreed to leave. There was no wagon, so the Indians allowed Rohdes and Hatch to take the team to the Everett place for a big wagon. Into the wagon were placed all the women and children except Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Duley and two Eastlick children. The women carried rifles and marched with the men. Mrs. Smith drove and Mrs. Eastlick stood on the wagon tongue, whipping the horses. They drove east from the Wright farm on their way to New Ulm and safety. Just as they had reached a spot about a mile and a half from the Wright farm, the Indians commenced their vicious attack. They had cut across country, surrounding the settlers and commenced firing. The position of the settlers became serious, as they were exposed to bullets from three sides, so they made a break for a nearby slough (later called Slaughter Slough) where they could hide in the high rushes and reeds. The Indians kept up the attack for some time after the settlers had gone into the slough. The settlers crouched low in the heavy vegetation and the bullets failed to drive them out. Two of the settlers, both married, either left the scene of action or were killed in the slough and their bodies covered up as they were never heard of again. This left only nine men and three women to do battle with the Indians. During a lull in the shooting, Pawn, the old devil, who had lied to them before, urged them to come out and told them they would not be hurt. Eastlick and Everett were shot and killed in the slough. Again the settlers, worn out by wading in the mud of the slough, were compelled to give up and listened to the lies of Pawn for the second time. Mrs. Wright came out of the slough carrying three guns. Ireland was badly wounded and managed to hide in the slough until night. Duley was the only man to —72— escape from the fight. He shot and killed Lean Bear. Seven straggling, unwounded children came out of the slough. There they stood in front of a band of brutal Indians and squaws. Mrs. Eastlick, Mrs. Ireland and Mrs. Everett were suffering from wounds and were not worth keeping by the Indians. The spoil was divided as follows: Mrs. Koch was given to an old chief and the two Ireland girls to another chief. The Wright woman and Mrs. Duley and two children were taken over by an ugly buck. The children were beaten to death before their mother's eyes. The squaws in a frenzy beat the three Merton boys to death. Mrs. Eastlick, who had struggled to her feet to try to save her sons, was beaten down and left for dead. Mrs. Smith lay dead and so did Mrs. Ireland while on her breast lay her youngest son, sleeping peacefully. Nature was even shocked by the brutality of the Indians and torrents of rain and vicious lightning brought to a close one of the bravest fights in the history of the western settlements. Stragglers had hid away, including Mrs. Eastlick, and Tommy Ireland, who had revived some from the effects of their wounds and finally escaped. The dead were picked up by a party of soldiers sent out soon after the massacre and buried. The bodies were removed later and laid at rest under the sturdy oaks of Smith Lake. The state erected a tall and stately monument to their memory in August, 1925. Thus ended the real tragedy of early pioneer life in Murray County and these brave and hardy settlers sleep their last sleep, listening to the sigh of the winds through the oaks, the ripples on the waves of Shetek and Smith Lakes and the soft rustle of the waving grass. May their sleep be as peaceful as their end was tragic. Meeting Death at the Hands of the Indians were: 1. Almira Hatch Everett (wife of Wm. Everett) 2. Willie Everett, aged 5 3. Charlie Everett, aged 2 4. Sophia Walters Ireland (wife of Thos. Ireland) 5. Sarah Jane Ireland, aged 5 —73— 6. Julianne Ireland, aged 3 7. Sophia Smith (wife of Henry Smith) 8. John Voight 9. Andrew Koch 10. John Eastlick 11. Fredrick Eastlick, aged 4 12. Giles Eastlick, aged 4 13. W. J. Duley, Jr. aged 10 14. Belle Duley, aged 6 The Lake Shetek massacre did not follow the pattern of most of the Indian raids. Not a cabin in the Lake Shetek settlement was burned. Not a settler was scalped. Money was left in the pockets of the murdered settlers. There was no evidence of excessive brutality and the Indians left two out of the three that were slain by the whites. Duley, one of the three settlers who escaped from the slough was the man that cut the rope that sent the 48 Indians to their death at Mankato. Duley was a little inclined to boast of his prowess but the people that knew him thought very little of him after his leaving the slough where the women and children were. The Wright cabin where the settlers met to make their first stand, was taken down log by log by the Tracy people for fuel during the winter of 1880-1881—the winter of the big snow. ================================================= Land was almost free; it cost the settler about $7.50 to file on the claim. If he could live on it for five years, the government gave it to him for the proving up costs. The settler in addition could take up a tree claim. He planted so many trees and protected them from the prairie fires, and if he saved them he got 160 acres of land. Then if some early settler got tired of it all, he could buy his rights for $1.25 an acre. This was called preemption. —74— FORMATION OF MURRAY COUNTY The part of Minnesota that is now known as Murray County had its inception as a separate politic division in 1857, when the legislature formed the congressional townships into counties and gave each group of townships a name. The twenty townships, comprising this county, were named Murray County in honor of William Pitt Murray who was a member of the legislature and a member of the committee on counties. In the late '50's settlers located on the east shore of Lake Shetek. Others came in from time to time and in 1862 there were about forty people in the settlement. In one day in August, 1862, the entire settlement was wiped out by the Indians. The dead were interred in one grave on the east side of the lake. It was several years after the massacre before settlers again ventured into these parts. The first to come was John H. Low, who spent the winter of 1865-6 trapping in the vicinity of Bear Lakes. He took up a homestead at that time. He had passed through this section in 1863 with an expedition sent against the Indians in South Dakota. In 1867 a few settlers arrived and new settlers came each year thereafter. In 1871 a movement was made to organize the county. On Feb. 26th, 1872, the legislature passed a law organizing the county and the governor appointed Lewis Low, Samuel Armstrong and W. S. French county commissioners and empowered them to locate the county seat. On June 17th, 1872, the commissioners met at the home of W. W. Calkins. Lewis Low was elected chairman of the board. The board then elected the county officers: W. W. Calkins, auditor; Nelson Joy, treasurer; F. M. Byram, register of deeds; Z. W. Marsh, sheriff; B. M. Low, surveyor; C. T. Aldrich, coroner. The above officers were selected by the wishes of a majority of the legal voters of the county at an election held at the home of Doc Shephard. The county was then divided into three commissioner districts. At the July meeting of the same year, Holly, Murray and Shetek townships were organized. S. R. Harris was chosen as county attorney and E. Cutter was appointed Supt. of schools at a salary of $25.00 a year. —75— The act of the legislature organizing the county authorized the county board to locate the county seat. Then the legislature on Feb. 24th, 1873, passed a bill locating the county seat on the NE 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of section 17-107-40 where Currie now stands, but later in the same session of the legislature an act was passed changing the location of the county seat to the NE 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of section 34-107-41. When the commissioners met they were evidently not satisfied with the act of the legislature and on Sept. 4th, 1872, ordered that a vote be taken to decide the location of the county seat. The county records at that time fail to show when the election was held, where it was held, and the result of the election. Politics were getting warm and there was a real hot election. On January 7, 1873, the commissioners met at the home of L. D. Bonesteel about three miles north of what is now Slayton. This house was nearest the point or place selected by the legislature. At the election in Nov. of 1872, L. D. Bonesteel, W. H. Mellen, and John H. Low were elected commissioners. At this meeting the salary of the Supt. of schools was raised to $100.00 a year. The political leaven was working at a meeting of the board. W. H. Mellen moved that they meet "at Currie's Mills, the county seat of Murray County on May l6th at 9 o'clock A. M." The board met the next day and as Bonesteel was absent, John H. Low acted as chairman pro tem. This would indicate that the election for the removal to the NE 1/4 of the SE 1/4 had carried. At this place Neil Currie established the first store in the county and later a flour mill. The first store of the '70 wave was that of L. D. Bonesteel. He kept a little tea, coffee, flour and tobacco. The first grand and petit jurors were drawn in January 1874. A county seat war which started in the early '80's kept the county in an uproar for several years. The county seat, that is the records, were moved from Currie to Slayton and then back again to Currie and then returned to Slayton in 1889. Some of the county officers lived at Currie and some at Slayton during -76— the county seat war. The county seat election of 1889 reminded one of the elections of New York and Chicago. Votes were openly bought on both sides and Jerry Baker, whom you will find mentioned in the Cameron twp. article, drew down the top price for his vote. One of the campaign men told the writer that they had to pay him $7.30, the highest price paid in the county by either side. The county had those staunch men of every decade, who would not sell their vote under any circumstance, but they did accept two quarts of whiskey from the well-filled back end of the buggy. That was the election of the county. Committees from both sides were present at every polling place and the going price of votes was three dollars and a half. If one got more, one had to be watched. That was one early Murray County election where party lines, which were mighty strong in those days, were forgotten. The people of the county voted $22,300.00 for the erection of the present courthouse in 1892. Slayton carried the election by a majority of 12 votes. ============================================== "POVERTY HILL" The term "Poverty Hill" for the highest area in Mason township has been the cause of much inquiry and argument. Back in the '70's two of the young men who came west for land made their home at Currie. One of them, John Dennison, settled on the high area in Mason and G. H. Smith settled on a place in Cameron township. They batched it at first and as conditions were not of the best, Dennison jokingly called his place "Poverty Hill."; G. H., not to be outdone, called his place "Calamity Ranch." They would spend the weekends in Currie and naturally told the folks about their places. The "Poverty Hill" name stuck but that of "Calamity Ranch" was soon forgotten. The voyageurs' name for the hill was "Butte Des Morts" the equivalent of the Sioux name meaning "Mound of the Dead." Here on the hill on scaffolds, the Sioux who hunted and lived nearby, deposited their dead. Fremont and Nicollet camped on top of the hill on the way to Bear Lake Woods in 1838. —77— IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN WORLD WAR II Howard W. Bedford, born Oct. 20, 1925, second son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred W. Bedford of Lake Wilson. Entered the Navy Jan. 13, 1944. Was in Landing Craft Div. killed in action Feb. 16, 1945 at Corregidor, P. 1. Harold J. Hansen, born Nov. 23, 1925, oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Hansen, of Lake Wilson. Entered the service July 21, 1944. Was in Co. E. 1 l9th Inf. 30th Div. of 9th Army. Killed in action, in Germany, Mar. 31, 1945. Gordon B. Olson, born May 30, 1926, oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar A. Olson of Lake Wilson. Entered service Aug. 7, 1944, killed in action in France, March 20, 1945. Herman John Nett, born Aug. 3, 1915, third son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Nett of Lake Wilson. Entered service June, 1942, and was attached to 9th Army under General Leonard. Killed in action in Germany, Apr. 15, 1945. His body lies in the cemetery at Margarerten, Holland. Marvin C. Kahnk born April 17, 1923, son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Kahnk of Lake Wilson. Entered the service Sept. 14, 1944. Was in Co. C. 382 Inf. Sent overseas in February. Killed in action on Okinawa Island, Japan, May 10, 1945. Harold A. Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Johnson of Lake Wilson, born April 10, 1922. Entered the service of the U. S. March 24, 1943. Was in the l5th Air Corps. Was killed in action in Italy Oct. 17, 1944. Edward William Beers, born June 2, 1 920, second son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Beers of Lake Wilson. Entered the service Nov. 4,1941. Attached to 3rd Armored Div. Killed in action in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, December 19, 1944. Duane Alfred Dahlquist, third son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Dahlquist, born Sept. 25, 1921, entered the Air Corps in .July, 1942. Lt. Dahlquist was killed in line of duty, Aug. 19, 1944 in the Pacific Area. Matt Ver Does, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Ver Does was born Jan. 16, 1921, entered the service Oct. 19, 1942, attached to tank radio work. Killed in Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 21, 1944. —78— Henry John Oldenmeyer, born March 18, 1918, son of Mr. and Mrs. Rens Oldenmeyer, entered the army Mar. 22, 1942. Attached to 357th Infantry, 90th Division; killed in France June 12, 1944. =============================================== THE BUFFALO Thousands of buffalo dotted the prairies in Murray County in the real early days. They have long since vanished from this area. Their trails were found by the early explorers; some of the trails over the Buffalo Ridge were six and seven inches in depth. When the buffalo migration started westward is not known. They were plentiful in western Murray County in the 1830's and Major Allen, who was in this section, noted seeing buffalo in 1844. While buffalo was plentiful in 1835, the hides seemed to have no commercial value, as they do not appear on any of the invoices of the American Fur Trading Company at the Bear Lake Post. Many buffalo skulls have been found in the western part of the county, especially in nearby sloughs and springs on the slopes of the Buffalo Ridge. The reason that no bones were found on the prairies is that "bone gatherers" were plentiful here in the early '80's. They gathered the bones from the prairies and shipped them in carload lots. Buffalo robes and coats were quite popular in the late '70's and early '80's. Their heavy pelt and thick covering of hair made them ideal coats to ward off zero weather. A lone, stray buffalo is said to have been seen near Lake Shetek in the '60's. Elk were here in abundance about the time the buffalo were going out. Herds of over two hundred were not uncommon in the 1840's. The last elk in this section was killed in Skandia in 1876. Deer never were plentiful in western Murray County. While no doubt there were bear and beaver here, they appeared to have disappeared before the coming of the white man. The late Bob Hyslop told the writer that in all the years he had worked for Neil Currie in the seventies he had only purchased one beaver. —79— THE EARLYHISTORY OF LAKE WILSON< MINNESOTA In 1882, Jonathon E. Wilson, a member of the well known firm of Wilson Bros., manufacturers of men's furnishings of Chicago, decided to go west and start a ranch. He Sent J. W. Bragdon, one of his employees, to look for a suitable location. He travelled over the state for several months and decided on this section of the country. Chas. Norwood of Skandia twp. had homesteaded the parcel of land which is now Lake Wilson and had a little shack on the banks of the lake. After some dickering, Bragdon bought the land from Mr. Norwood, Alex Lowe being a witness on the contract. The railroad was here then, (1882) having been completed in 1880. In 1883, the building of the new town started in earnest. Magne Anderson, who was then in the employ of the Omaha railroad company at Heron Lake, was ordered to go to Lake Wilson and construct a side track so that cars could be unloaded. Work started feverishly on the new town which was named after its promoter. Lumber and goods poured in by the car load and every available carpenter was put to work. The men stayed at Woodstock at first and were driven back and forth. The big hotel and store building was built in 1883 and so was the Peavey elevator now owned by Hubbard & Palmer. Residences were started and a smaller building was built for a store north of where the schoolhouse now stands. The building is now used as a residence. It was the first building completed in Lake Wilson. Houses to care for the help, were erected, a blacksmith shop and other buildings. Mr. Wilson constructed a huge barn with sheds on the south side of the village. Another barn and many sheds were built at the south end of the lake. The barn near town was devoted to horse raising and was full of imported Percherons from France. At the lower end of the lake, the shed contained the finest herd of Hereford cattle in the county. For hogs he had Berkshires. Both the Herefords and Berkshires were imported from England. Wilson owned 17,000 acres of land in this vicinity at one time. No man ever lived in Murray County —80— who did as much for it. Year after year, he had his own colt and horse shows from the get of his full blood sires. The father of the writer was awarded the first prize one year for a Hereford bull calf. It was $75.00, a good chunk of money in the earl y '80's. There was hardly a man in the township that had not been aided and helped by Wilson, but the inevitable came. Petty township politicians started the old cry "the rich should pay more taxes" and the board put in the cheap prairie land at the same assessment value as their improved farms. Mr. Wilson failed to see any justice in it so he sold most of his livestock and moved the balance to a small town near Chicago. In 1899 the land north of the track was platted by M. E. Lang. There was a steady stream, at that period, of German farmers from Nebraska and Iowa and a sprinkling of Swedes and Norwegians. These men were experienced farmers and did a lot in the development of the community. The building up of the north side was a duplicate of the starting of the town. People had money in those years and buildings went up almost over night. Strome, Bruner & Young put up a huge store building (for that time). It stood where the Johnson store does today. From Tyler came N. O. Jensen and Nels Christensen. Jensen was a harness maker and Nels a butcher. A bank was started by Iowa parties; H. Clasen built a fine hotel with steam heat, something unusual for a town of this size. He sold out to Chas. Winzer. In fact the north side of the track had all the elements and all the businesses of a western town. It had all the various stores and shops, even a blind pig which graduated into a saloon run by R. Trosin. Among the early merchants on the south side were the Engebretson Bros. Fine honest men they were. As was the custom, no goods were paid for except once a year when the crop was threshed. Traveling men came to the store. They carried as high as 20 big trunks, but only came twice a year. Summer goods were bought in the winter and the winter goods in the summer. Farmers would come in once a week and sometimes once in two weeks to do their trading. The sidewalks were wooden affairs and stood three feet off the street on the north side, which was a real mudhole after every rain. Gravel —81— was hauled in by the wagon load to fill up the street. There were 8 street lights. Kerosene lamps were used for street lights, homes and business places. The marshal got $10.00 a month, and the council got cussed as they do now. The big fire of May 11th, 1911, wiped out the north side—that is, the business portion. In all, thirty buildings were destroyed. Here is the toll: Harness and shoe shop, butcher shop, bowling alley, drug store, restaurant, department store, state bank, 2 lumber yards, furniture, barber shop, real estate office, the depot, two machine sheds, two water tanks, engine house and store building, 3 box cars, elevator, 2 ice houses, 5 barns, 2 coal sheds, and 2 cement sheds—a hard blow, but they took it on the chin. The council room was used as a bank, barber shop, real estate office, etc., and things were kept moving. Fire departments came from Pipestone, Slayton and other towns, but the wind was blowing a gale that day, and as there were no waterworks, the afternoon was spent watching the town burn. There was a local fire outfit here: two gas machines, but they could do nothing against a blaze like that. The fire started in a barn at the rear of the Grier store. The wind was a howling gale from the northwest and in less time than it takes to tell, the town was a mass of flames. By nightfall everything on the north side was leveled to the ground. The Farmers elevator and the Peavey elevator escaped destruction as did the little postoffice and the old hotel building. The town came back with a real bang. For years its Farmer's Day celebrations were the leading sporting event in this section. People flocked here to see good baseball. And what good baseball teams we had! Besides the county teams, there was the best in this section of the state. Here John Donaldson, negro player and greatest pitcher of all time, either black or white, strutted his stuff with the All Nations, and then there were the Sioux City Packers when they were in their prime, the Raggedy Tennessee Rats, Gilkerson's Union Giants, a team that had more power than any other colored team that made this section, the Flandreau and Pipestone Indians, Estherville and Spencer, Pipestone and Marshall. Calling the names of the teams who played here in those balmy days would include the name of every better team in this section of the state, —82— (Picture 083.jpg) The Lake Wilson Nickel Plate Band in the spring of 1905 South Dakota or Iowa. The management always had this thought: get the best. Those early "Farmer's Days" were the "Golden Era" for this section. There was the community spirit that comes to the builders a community, and the farmers in this vicinity joined in to help make these big days a success. They were just as proud of the Farmer's Days as the folks in town. Baseball was not everything on the program. There was always a topnotch speaker, good bands; then there were prizes for the best buggy team, the best single horse, best draft team, horse races, tugs-of-war and all kinds of minor sports. The first airplane to take to the air in Murray County took off at one of the "Days." Then there were the foot races for the men, boys and girls, some good free acts and the day ended with a big dance in the evening. All the ladies aid societies had eating stands. In fact everybody entered into the spirit of the affair. In the winters we had calf shows, colt shows, corn and grain shows and then there was always the Farmers' Institute for two days, generally the two coldest days of the winter. These were the horse and —83—