Redwood County MN Archives History - Books .....Redwood County, Redwood Falls 1882 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 9, 2015, 10:12 pm Book Title: History Of The Minnesota Valley REDWOOD COUNTY. CHAPTER LXXXI. REDWOOD COUNTY-REDWOOD FALLS-TOWN OF REDWOOD FALLS-SHERMAN-SHERIDAN-CHARLESTOWN-NEW AVON—SWEDES FOREST-SUNDOWN. The county of Redwood dates it formation from the session of state legislature of 1865. The act reads, "The county of Redwood is established and bounded as follows: Beginning in the centre of the channel of the Minnesota river on the line between ranges 33 and 34,west of the fifth meridian; thence south on said range line to the line between towns 108 and 109; thence west on said township line to the western boundary of the state; thence north along said boundary line to the Big Stone lake; thence following the main channel of the Minnesota river to the place of beginning." The boundaries thus set forth in this act of 1865 are not those of to-day, for four large counties have been formed from the extensive territory included within them. March 2, 1869, Lyon county was formed from the western portion, and March 6, 1871, Lac qui Parle and Yellow Medicine were taken off, and on March 6, 1873, Lincoln county was formed from that portion of Redwood county set off as Lyon county. Since 1871, the boundaries of Redwood county have remained unchanged. It will be interesting to some to look back of the formation of the county to see from what it was formed. It once was a part of Blue Earth county. The chain of changes is as follows: In 1856 Brown county was setoff from Blue Earth; in 1857 Cottonwood, Murray, Pipe Stone, Rock, Nobles and Jackson were set off from Brown, and in 1865, as before stated, Redwood. The settlement of Redwood county began in the spring of 1864, by the arrival of the early settlers of Redwood Falls. Other settlements. were made at nearly the same time in what is now called Sherman, and also in Swedes Forest. At the time of their arrival what is now Redwood, Yellow Medicine and Lac qui Parle counties formed a part of Brown county. The reservation to which the Sioux had been removed after the treaty of 1851, extended along the Minnesota river through a part of Brown county .including within its lines the whole river front of Redwood county for an average width of ten miles, and an equal width on the east side. The Sioux had roamed over this and the reduced reservation at peace with their white neighbors, for more than ten years, until their savage traits broke out in the terrible massacre of 1862. Up to this time no settlement had been made in this county because the most eligible lands, lying along the river, were unavailable, belonging still, as they did, to the Sioux reservation. The only occupants aside from Sioux were agents and employes appointed by the government holding various offices for the benefit of the Indians. At the Lower Sioux Agency quite a little village had grown up out of the government buildings, trading post and dwellings; all were directly or indirectly connected with the Indian agency. The horrors of the massacre of 1862 began here. Trouble had led to the murder of several members of one family in Acton, Meeker county, about forty-five miles distant, on August 17, the day previous, but here the first concerted action of the tribes took place. The present site of Sherman was the location of the Lower Sioux Agency, and the store of Captain Louis Robert the immediate scene of the outbreak. This county had its share in the perils and horrors of the barbarous massacre of 1862. Many incidents might be given, but it is not the province of this chapter to enter into minute details; reference for these is made to the History of the Sioux Massacre, in another part of this volume. After the massacre and the forcible expulsion and punishment of the hostile tribes, enough of them lingered about the woods and waters of this county to keep the whites who came in two years later in a fever of alarm. Stockades were built like that at Redwood Falls to enclose the dwellings of the settlers, and though they made their claims outside, it was considered too hazardous to live on them. The government surveyed the lands in 1864, threw them open for occupation in 1865 and offered them at public sale December 7, 1867. The land office was at St. Peter. In the fall of 1864 commissioners of the government appraised the lands within the reservation on which some claims had already been made. They valued the land at prices varying from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre excepting special tracts covered with valuable timber, well situated, and lands where improvements in the form of buildings or otherwise, had been made. These lands in some cases sold as high as $7 per acre, where the government had made improvements for the benefit of the Sioux. Houses of brick or of wood had been built at various points up and down the reservation and a clay pit and brick yard opened at Yellow Medicine. It was reasonable therefore that wide difference should he made in the appraisal of land. The citizens of Redwood falls, Brown county, with a view to the formation of a new county, held an election in the stockade at which most of the officers customary in counties were elected. The clerk of the court and judge of probate alone were missing from the list, and that with good reason, as no clerk of court could be required when there was no court, and no judge of probate was needed when no estate existed of the living or dead. The following were the first officers: J. S. G. Honner, J. R. Thompson, and O. C. Martin, county commissioners. O. C. Martin was afterwards elected chairman of the board. T. W. Caster, auditor; J. S. G. Honner, register of deeds; Jacob Tippery, treasurer; J. R. Thompson, sheriff; This action of the citizens was of course premature and illegal until legalized by the legislature. This was done at the session of 1865 to the extent of making the officers thus elected temporary officers of the county, to hold until the next general election. In the fall of 1865, the first permanent officers of the county were elected: O. C. Martin chairman; Hugh Curry and John Winters, commissioners; Edward March, auditor; L. M. Baker, register of deeds; Jacob Tippery, treasurer; Birny Flynn, clerk of the court; Samuel McPhaill, judge of probate and county attorney; Norman Webster, sheriff. Redwood county took its name from Redwood river, which rises in Lincoln county and flows through Lyon, where numerous tributaries unite to form it, flows entirely across the county into the Minnesota three miles from Redwood Falls. The river took its name in turn from the red cedar which grew in great abundance along its banks, and it already bore the name when the first settlers arrived. The addition of the word falls furnished a name to the town. At the election held in the fall of 1865 by vote of the people Redwood Falls was made the county seat. Previous to the erection of the county buildings, courts were held in the room over Capt. Roberts' store, which was 20x50, and the county offices were for some time kept at the houses of the persons elected to fill the different positions. In 1874 a building suitable and sufficient for the time was built for the use of the county. The fine square on which it was built was presented to the county by Col. McPhaill. In 1881 an addition was made which doubled the size of the original building, giving ample room for all county purposes. The first term of district court in Redwood county was a special term held at Redwood Falls, beginning June 18, 1867, and continuing seven days. Hon. Horace Austin was presiding judge; Birney Flynn, clerk of court; Norman Webster, sheriff. The session was held in Robert's building, and its purpose was the trial of what are known as the New Ulm murder cases. The judge found the public sentiment too much prejudiced for fair trial at New Ulm, and taking advantage of section 4 of the statutes, approved March 9th, 1867, ordered the court to be removed from New Ulm, Brown county, to Redwood Falls, Redwood county. This statute provides that whenever the judge of any district court shall consider it in furtherance of justice he may order that the place for holding such court be changed from the county in which it should be holden to one of the other counties embraced in the title of said court. The court was accordingly removed to Redwood Falls, Redwood county, which was then attached to Brown county for judicial purposes. The attorneys employed in the case were: Colonel Caldwell, attorney general; Samuel McPhaill, county attorney, and S. A. Buel, for the prosecution; Judge C. E. Flandrau, of St, Paul, C. T. Clothier, Francis Baasen and John M. Dorman, all of New Ulm, for the defense. At the first trial at Redwood Falls the citizens of New Ulm rallied in such numbers to the support of the prisoners that court-house square was covered with their tents as they encamped during the term of court. They were present again at the adjourned term, but in smaller numbers. Terms of court were held in halls belonging to private individuals until 1874, when the first county building was erected. This building was used for all county purposes until 1881, when additions were made which render it commodious and sufficient for the increased business. No debt was incurred by the county in the erection or enlargement of the county building. The credit of the county is high, and its orders are at par. The only debt for which the county is liable was that incurred by the issue of bonds for $50,000 in aid of the Minnesota Valley railway, none of which are yet due. By act of legislature of March 9, 1874, the county was authorized to issue $50,000 in bonds. At the election of August 18, 1876, the act was approved by vote of the people. February 15, 1877, the bonds were issued, bearing seven per cent, semi-annual interest, running twenty years. These were withdrawn and burned, because the railroad company had not completed its contract. In January, 1878, the bonds were again issued, and are now outstanding against the county. February 9, 1865, Captain Louis Robert arrived at Redwood Falls with a stock of goods, and the next day opened the first store in town and the first in the county. It will indicate the prices of the times if we report calico was sixty cents per yard, and that the first sale by Captain Robert was ten yards of calico to Miss Julia Williams, the school teacher, for six dollars. Harry Thompson, born February, 1865, is supposed to have been the first white child born in the county. The first death was that of Willie Honner, who died April 12, 1865. In May, 1865, a son of John Mooer was shot accidentally; this was the second death. The circumstances of his unfortunate death were nearly as follows: A number of government scouts were encamped, with their families, near Rice creek, at a point about seven miles north-west of the stockade, at Redwood Falls. John Mooer, Alexis La Frambois, Joe La Frambois, and Tom Robinson were the leaders and prominent men of the party. Though it is probable that they never had an encounter with the Indians, encamped as they were in a hostile attitude, it is not strange that they were on the alert and sometimes received a scare. One night John Mooer's son was on guard, serving his turn, as a guard was constantly kept. Finding it cold he wrapped himself in a blanket and wore it on his beat. Coming into the tents at the end of his patrol, a squaw waking suddenly, screamed when she saw him dressed so much like the hostile Sioux, and Alexis La Frambois, who was lying on his gun, raised it, and, taking him for an Indian, shot and killed him, the charge passing through him from side to side. He was brought to the stockade and buried just outside. The first blacksmith shop was opened by J. Thomas, in the spring of 1865. The first post-office was established in the fall of 1865, with J. R. Thompson, first postmaster. The first saw-mill, excepting the old government mill, was started July 3, 1865, by Colonel McPhaill, O. C. Martin, Brand and Thompson. The first log sawed was furnished by Birney Flynn, and the lumber it made used by him for tables for a grand Fourth of July picnic in a grove near by. The first religious services were held by a Baptist clergyman, in August, 1865, at the house of J. S. G. Honner. In the fall of 1865, Captain Robert, who has been mentioned as keeping the first store, built a large store, 20x50 feet, outside the stockade. His first store was in a building belonging to Col. McPhaill, within the stockade. Captain Robert was mentioned previously as proprietor of the store assailed by the Indians in the massacre at the Lower Sioux Agency. A log school-house, the first in the county, was built in December, 1865. The first school bad been held previously within the stockade, in the winter of 1864-5, by Miss Julia A. Williams, of Minnesota Lake. The first lyceum was held in the winter of 1865-6. March 19, 1867, a train with Indian supplies, consisting of twenty-five men and thirty-six pair of oxen, passed through, going to Big Stone lake. Sale of land belonging to Sioux Reservation took place December 7, 1867. The first marriage ceremony in the county was performed by O. C. Martin, justice of the peace, between George Coffee and Amanda Cole. It took place April 10, 1865, under the falls where the parties chose that the ceremony should be solemnized. The first store in the county was erected in eight days by Henry Behnke and brother. The first blow was struck July 17,1865, and the building, about 18x30 feet, one and a half stories, was ready for occupancy on the 24th of the same month, and the first goods were sold that day. In the evening of the same day a dance was held in the building to celebrate its completion. The county of Redwood by the census of 1880, had a population of 5,378. Redwood Falls is the county seat. The surface of the county embraces 558,643 acres and 705 farms. The taxable valuation of the real and personal property was $1,822,567. The county has twenty-five organized towns and one yet unorganized. The mail of the county is distributed through eight post offices: Box Elder, Lamberton, Lower Sioux Agency, New Avon, Paxton, Redwood Falls, Sanborn, Walnut Station. The Minnesota Valley railway was completed to Redwood Falls in 1878, and January 1878, the bonds of the county to the amount of $50,000, were issued and paid over to the company according to vote previously passed, on its completion. The county anticipates large additional advantages from the completion of the Minneapolis & St. Louis railway, which will give direct communication with the principal cities of the state. In latitude it is a little below Hennepin county, and has about thirty miles on the Minnesota river. It is a county with rich soil, destined to become the location of rich farms whose farmers give up the more speculative operation of raising wheat, and adopt the husbandry exhibited in the older states. Nature has done enough for the county, providing it with a diversified surface, lakes and streams of great beauty and utility, and water-falls sufficient to afford power for immense manufactories. Much of this lies undeveloped. Specimens of coal and paint have also been exhibited, which are found in abundance in the county, but these deposits too, are yet to be opened. From all these agricultural, mineral and other resources, as well as the favorable location of the county, a great future may be safely predicted. Additional Comments: Extracted from History of the Minnesota Valley Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Co. 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