Scott County MN Archives History - Books .....History Of Scott County 1882
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Book Title: History Of The Minnesota Valley

SCOTT COUNTY.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

   By act of territorial legislature at the session of 1853, the county of Scott
was established and bounded as follows: beginning at the north-east comer of
township 112 north, range 21 west of the fifth meridian; thence west on the
township line between townships 112 and 113 to the middle of the main channel of
the Minnesota river; thence down said channel to the mouth of Credit-river;
thence in a direct line to the place of beginning.

   By an act of legislature passed May 23, 1857, describing the corporate limits
of Shakopee, that part of section one lying north of the river was detached from
Carver and became part of Scott county.

   A subsequent change was made March 6th, 1871, when the present boundary
between this and Dakota county was established. The proposition was submitted to
the people at the next annual election, and ratified by vote, and a subsequent
act empowered the registers in each county to transcribe the records pertaining
to land affected, from the books of the other.

   The first officers of the county, appointed by Governor Ramsey, were: Thomas
S. Turner, chairman; Frank Wasson and Comfort Barnes, commissioners; Ai G.
Apgar, sheriff; Daniel Apgar, justice of peace. The first regular meeting of the
board was held July 4th, 1853, at Holmes' store, Shakopee. The board appointed
Daniel Apgar judge of probate, and William H. Nobles county surveyor. The board
also constituted the entire county one election precinct, and the Wasson house,
the first hotel at Shakopee, the place of election, with Alvin Dorward, Samuel
Apgar and H. D. J. Koons, judges of election.

   The board at their several sessions considered petitions for roads, and took
earnest measures for opening the county for settlement. The first of the
numerous actions in regard to roads, was the appointing of H. H. Strunk, Henry
D. J. Koons and Thomas A. Holmes road viewers, and the granting of the petition
of Thomas S. Turner, asking for the laying out of a road from Shakopee to the
western borders of the county. For the purpose of removing obstacles to
settlement, they addressed a communication to the governor, requesting the
removal of the Indians to lands provided for them by the recent treaty, urging
prompt action in the matter.

   The first election was held the third Monday in September, 1853, at the
Wasson house: officers: Samuel Apgar, chairman; Frank Wasson and Comfort Barnes,
commissioners; Ai G. Apgar, sheriff; H. H. Spencer, treasurer; William H.
Nobles, register of deeds and county surveyor; Daniel Apgar, judge of probate;
E. A. Greenleaf, clerk of court; L. M. Brown, district attorney. Joseph B.
Brown, of Henderson, was elected to council, and Wm. H. Nobles to the house,
from the sixth district, to which this county belonged, for the fifth
territorial legislature. The register of deeds was ex-officio auditor. Mr.
Nobles was therefore register, auditor and surveyor.

   October 23d, 1853, E. A. Greenleaf appears by the records as register of
deeds. January 2d, 1854, Benjamin F. Davis was appointed treasurer in place of
Spencer resigned. February 6th, 1854, the board passed a vote of thanks to D. L.
Fuller and Thomas A. Holmes, for the gift of a site for county buildings, and
February 6th following, Comfort Barnes introduced a resolution, which was
adopted by the board, by which Shakopee was established as the county seat,
designating block fifty-six, received from Holmes and Fuller, as the site for
county buildings. On the same day, the western part of the county was created a
separate election precinct, called Chat-field; E. G. Covington, Nelson Roberts
and Ambrose Wolker, judges of election.

   January, 1855, the county was divided into three assessors districts;
assessors, David Kinghorn, first district, Harrison Raynor, second, Thomas S.
Turner, third.

   April 7th, 1856, the election precincts were changed and the following
created: Shakopee, Eagle Creek, Belle Plaine, Credit River, Spring Lake, Jordan,
Helena and Cedar Lake.

   April 5th, 1858, at a meeting of the county board, the boundaries of the
several towns were established, and July 5th, 1858, the system of representation
in the county board of commissioners was changed, and at the same time the name
commissioners was changed to supervisors. The chairman of each town board was
ex-officio a member of the board of county supervisors, and each ward of a city
was entitled to one representative as member. First board, 1858: R. Kennedy,
Peter Yost and J. R. Hinds, city of Shakopee; Charles L. Sly, Belle Plaine;
Charles Lord, Eagle Creek; John Dorman, Buchanan; M. Reagan, Credit River; P.
Schreiner, Douglass; J. W. Sencerbox, Louisville; C. Brown, Helena; D. C. Fix,
Spring Lake; S. B. Strait, St. Lawrence; Thomas Quill, Cedar Lake. It will be
observed that New Market, or Jackson, as that town was first named, had no
representative in the county board.

   Officers 1881: Patrick H. Thornton, east district, John W. Callender, west
district, representatives; Henry Hinds, senator; Otto Seifert, chairman, Peter
C. Mattice, D. S. How, Michael McMahon, Peter J. Baltes, commissioners; Theodore
Weiland, sheriff; Roderick O'Dowd, treasurer; Thos. Haas, auditor; Gerhard
Hilgers, register; Nicholas Meyer, judge of probate; Michael K. Marrinan, clerk
of court; James McHale, superintendent of schools; Eli Southworth, county
attorney; William A. Fuller, county surveyor; James McKown, coroner; F. J.
Whittock, court commissioner.

   Total area of county, 235,899 acres, of which 52,317 were cultivated in 1880.
Number of school houses, 66, with 3,078 pupils enrolled. Population by census of
1880, 13,478. Twenty-eight church organizations exist in the county, thirteen of
which are Catholic.

   The settlement of Scott county must bear the date 1851 as the starting point,
and begin with the advent of Thomas A. Holmes at Shakopee in the spring of that
year. And yet Mr. Holmes found several families on the ground at the time of his
arrival, to whom we refer before giving the details of his arrival and the
history of the settlement that followed. Four families were here living among
the Indians. These were Rev. S. W. Pond and family, the old missionary to the
Sioux; Hazen Mooers and family, Indian farmer employed by the government; John
Mooers, a son of Hazen Mooers by an Indian wife, who with his own wife lived in
the same house with his father; Olivier Faribault, an Indian trader, and his
family. These families or their descendants to a considerable number are still
residents of the county, and demand special mention here.

   Rev. Mr. Pond, whose advent to Minnesota in 1834 in company with his brother
Gideon H., marks an era, was born in Washington, Litchfield county, Connecticut.
Mr. Pond was employed as a. teacher at Galena, Illinois, when by correspondence
with his brother Gideon H., who was still living in the old Connecticut home,
the plan for a private missionary enterprise was matured. The brothers after the
arrival of Gideon H. came up to Fort Snelling, where, although at first
suspected of mercenary motives, they were aided and encouraged by the officers
in charge. They first located at Lake Calhoun and devoted their lives and
talents to the missionary work.

   In 1837, after the arrival of the missionaries of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, they continued under the patronage of that
society. Passing over the intervening years, we find S. W. Pond, in 1847,
located as missionary to the Shakopee band of Dakotas, living where we find him
to-day, a mile from Shakopee city, in the township of Eagle Creek. Here in his
own house he preached to the Indians in their native language, and gathered the
children in the missionary school. This school was established in 1848, with
Miss Cunningham as teacher.

   The school encountered opposition from the Indians, and in some instances
from traders, who saw that if the Indians learned to compute, their future
dealings with them would be placed on a different footing.

   The ignorant savage was at the mercy of the shrewd trader, whereas if
educated they would be able to know their rights and assert them. One of these
unscrupulous traders told Mr. Pond that he took one hundred dollars out of his
profits every time he taught a child to read.

   Hazen Mooers, who was Indian farmer, antedated Mr. Pond by more than twenty
years' residence in the North-west. He came from the state of New York soon
after the war of 1812, and had lived among the Indians ever since. He was first
deputy collector on the Canada frontier, but afterward was appointed trader or
clerk, as these traders were called, and under this company held many
responsible positions at Cheyenne and other points. He had lived at what is now
Shakopee many years before the arrival of Rev. Mr. Pond with an Indian wife and
a family of half-breeds. One of his sons was also married and lived with him in
the same house.

   Olivier Faribault was a quarter-breed, and was a trader, living at the Indian
village near where Rev. Mr. Pond and Mooers lived, now the outskirts of
Shakopee. He had previously been Indian farmer as well as trader. The Faribaults
had formerly had charge of the trading post at Chaska. He had been here some
years before the arrival of Mr. Pond. About the time of Mr. Holmes' arrival,
David Faribault, a brother of Olivier, arrived, and when the excitement of town
building began he attempted a rival town, trying to divert the settlement to his
location, which was the old Indian village.

   With Holmes on his first voyage of discovery was only a guide; his May
Flower, a canoe; his penates, the love of adventure; his only disease the town
site mania, of which he was one of the earliest victims. When he came the second
time, in the fall of 1851, he brought with him in his flat-boat, "Wild Paddy,"
besides the material for building his trading post, some men who belong to the
early settlers of the county. Their names smack of the Canadian voyageurs or
half-breeds along the Mississippi. There was Baptiste Le Beau, M. Shamway, Tim
Kanty and John McKenzie. They all made claims and became settlers. Their names
will appear in the settlements of the towns following. Shamway and his entire
family in after years were victims of the Mountain Meadow massacre.

   The settlement of the county began according to the custom of the North-west,
cities first and country afterward. Indeed, it can hardly be said that farms
were cultivated at all until after the crash of 1857 had crushed the air-bubbles
of town site speculation and brought people face to face with wants to be
supplied and necessaries to be provided, with no money. Then, perforce, farms
were opened and men worked to raise crops, who before had made and lost money by
the thousand with reckless indifference. Shakopee was the hope of the county at
first, and settlements and villages branched out from this as a center.

   The river was in early times the highway of travel and the channel of
transportation. The steamers "Clarion," "Time and Tide," and many others,
brought at irregular intervals such passengers as came up to explore the country
or make settlement.

   The settlement of the county previous to 1855 can be found in the history of
Shakopee, and an attempt to review the ground here would lead to a repetition
there; we therefore refer to that chapter and the township histories for full
information. All legitimate efforts were made to induce settlement, and
passengers bound up the river were persuaded if possible to stop here. In 1854
the steamboat "Minnesota Belle" attempted to proceed up the river about the
first of May, but was compelled to return to Shakopee and discharge her entire
cargo, which was very large, because on account of low water she could not pass
the rapids. This pleased the citizens, and they regarded Shakopee as the head of
navigation.

   In 1855 the stream of immigration set in, in earnest, and the county was
rapidly settled, though mainly in villages and hamlets, and not yet as farms.

NATURAL FEATURES.

   A prairie half a mile wide extended from Eagle Creek to Belle Plaine parallel
with the river. Heavy timber extended through Credit River, Spring Lake, Sand
Creek, Belle Plaine and Blakely. Patches of prairie and timber existed in Helena
and St. Lawrence. Brush land openings, marshes, with patches of timber,
characterized Cedar Lake, New Market and Credit River. Glendale and Eagle Creek
embraced both timber and prairie.

   Three Indian bands had permanent villages in the county, the Shakopee, Eagle
Head and Sand Creek bands.

   Two circumstances need to be taken into account as having an important
influence on the settlement of Scott county, and to a greater or less extent,
other counties in the valley of the Minnesota. First, the country was covered
with timber which, besides the difficulty it caused in opening farms,
intercepted the view in all directions and rendered the search for eligible
sites for farms a difficult matter. The smoke from one claim cabin could not be
seen from another, and neighbors could not so readily become acquainted, when
separated by timber as if living on the prairie. Another fact was the existence
of several Indian villages, and the fact that the valley was marked by their
trails, which not only followed the river, serving as the great highway of
travel between the Red River country of the north and Prairie du Chein, but by
branching at various points in the country, furnished paths to the finest lakes
and openings, thus conducting settlers to the most eligible points for locating
farms.

     Of course the river itself was the important and natural way of travel, but
settlers found steamboats so irregular in making their trips, that after waiting
several days for a boat which was advertised to leave St. Paul in a few hours,
they would start on foot. By this travel the trails were kept open, and it was
found that they were well directed by the instinct of the Indian, affording the
most direct and feasible routes. The enlargement of these trails to roads was an
easy matter, and the rude Red River carts with one ox harnessed between the
shafts passed up and down between the upper country and lower by these trails
without difficulty. It should be added that these original trails have to a
large measure become the highways of the county.

     Starting from St. Paul, two routes or trails offered the traveler his
option. He could cross the river to Mendota and follow the trail leading through
Black Hog, an Indian village, to the trading post at the camp of the Kaposia
band, Chief Eagle Head, sometimes called Eagle band, kept in 1852 by Louis
Roberts and William Murry at Hamilton. At this point a branching trail followed
up the creek, now dignified by the name of Credit river, through Scott county
south and southwest to Cedar lake. By this branch the Irish settlers of
Glendale, Credit River and parts of Cedar Lake and Spring Lake, found and
located their claims.

     Another principal trail was up the river, crossing at Bloomington ferry,
proceeding by the village of the "Eagle Band," thence to Shakopee, continuing on
up the river. A little east of Shakopee, a branching trail ran south about five
miles when it forked, one trail leading south-east, between Spring and Long
lakes, and the other continued south to the west end of Spring lake and Cedar
lake. Near Belle Plaine another branch from the principal trail led in a
southerly direction.

     At the time settlement in Scott county began the nearest railroad station
was Warren, twenty-eight miles from Galena, Illinois.

     A murder of a white woman named Mrs. Keener, by an Indian occurred in the
fall of 1852 under the following circumstances: H. H. Spencer, who is now a
respectable citizen of Louisville, made a claim in 1852 above Belle Plaine, in
the "Big Woods," and employed Mr. Keener and his wife at St. Paul to come with
him to work and keep house while he was clearing up his claim. They came by team
in the fall, the party consisting of Mr. Spencer, John Schroeder, Keener and his
wife and baby. Their outfit consisted of the necessaries for housekeeping. They
crossed the river by the Bloomington ferry and encamped there at night. During
the night a drenching rain soaked everything through. They therefore spent part
of the next day drying their clothes and spent the second night at the house of
Samuel Apgar, in the embryo village of Shakopee. The following day they pursued
their journey. They had proceeded about eight miles and were walking, some
before and some behind the wagon, when they were accosted by two Indians, of the
Sand Creek band, who, with their usual freedom, entered into conversation and
looked over their outfit including the guns which they saw to be useless from
the soaking rain. They soon became bold and saucy, and while the men were before
the wagon, punched the woman with their guns, saying that it was a shame for the
man to carry papoose, for the husband was carrying the child.

   Mr. Spencer then came back, and shaking the cane he carried in his hand at
them, threatened them, perhaps showing a little of a southerner's temper.
Whereupon one of the Indians, named Yu-ha-zee, loaded his gun to shoot him, but
the other Indian attempted to dissuade him, holding up his blanket before him.
He also diverted the aim by pushing the gun aside, and the bullet struck the
woman in the back of the neck, passing clear through and killing her instantly.
The Indians then hurried away, and the frightened party hastily unloaded on the
ground the contents of the wagon, placed the dead hody therein and returned as
rapidly as possible to Shakopee. Mrs. Apgar tenderly cared for the body and
prepared it for removal to St. Paul, where it was taken the same day in a skiff.
Yu-ha-zee was arrested by a squad of troops from Fort Snelling, and after
several trials, consuming a year, during which his tribe made strenuous efforts
to secure his discharge, he was hung at Fort Snelling. This band harbored ill
will against Mr. Spencer ever after, and the trader, Louis Le Croix, assured him
of their purpose to kill him. At the time of the Indian massacre Mr. Spencer
thought it safer to leave the country with his family for a short time.

   Yu-ha-zee's companion, however, professed friendship for Mr. Spencer, and
declared that he diverted the aim on purpose to have the woman shot because he
knew Yu-ha-zee would shoot somebody, and he thought it not so bad to kill only
squaw, but too bad to kill a man, the leader too. This was the first death of a
white person in Scott county.

   The first birth in the county was that of a son to Rev. Samuel W. Pond, April
20th, 1850, at Shakopee.

   The first marriage was that of Peter Shamway, in 1852, to a hired girl, of
William Holmes, to whose tragic death we have elsewhere referred.

   The second marriage was solemnized by Rev. S. W. Pond, between Henry D. J.
Koons and Henrietta B. Allen, April 16th, 1854.

   The first death was that of a woman shot by an Indian in 1852, the account of
which has been given. The second death was that of Lucy Jane Allen, September
16th, 1853, daughter of John B. Allen, who kept the hotel at Shakopee.

   The first mortgage was given June 2d, 1853, by William H. Calkins to John W.
Turner, on a water power between Spring lake and Long lake, called on records
Minnetonka; this mortgage was unacknowledged.

   The first mill in the county was built at Jordan in 1853. 

   The first post-office was established December 10th, 1853, at Shakopee.

   October 19 and 20, 1853, the Sioux, in accordance with the treaty signed by
their chiefs at Traverse des Sioux in July, 1851, and Mendota in August of the
same year, confirmed at Washington about a year later, broke up their homes and
bade farewell to the valley. The settlers describe it as a sad sight to see the
long lines taking their departure. Several other bands had joined the Sakopee
band and now the total number amounting to over 2,000 set out for their unknown
home. They were silent, and by their actions showed the sadness that they felt
and expressed at leaving their ancient haunts.

   A few days before their departure Governor Gorman came to Sakopee with
$30,000 to pay the Indians on their lands according to the terms of the treaty,
and exhibited to them the purpose of the government to fulfill all promises
made, and at the same time made some advances to hasten and encourage their
departure.

   Sunday, October 16, the Indians gave a great medicine dance for the
entertainment of the Governor.

   Their preparation being made they took their departure up the Minnesota
river, followed soon by the Governor with the treasure to be paid over on their
arrival at the reservation. Thus was accomplished the event so much desired by
the settlers, the removal of the Indians from the county.

   Not long after the money was received, however, many reappeared, and to this
day a remnant remain near the site of the old Indian village.

   A similar scene appeared in Shakopee when the Winnebagos were removed from
Watab, on the upper Mississippi, to the Blue Earth reservation. They came down
the Mississippi and up the Minnesota rivers, braves, squaws, papooses, dogs and
canoes, creating excitement wherever they stopped.

   Several days delay occurred at Shakopee for some reason, and trouble was
apprehended by the citizens when it was learned that they were obtaining whisky.
Although the Winnebagoes were known to be nearer civilization than the other
tribes, there was great reason to fear the effects of whisky, because in numbers
they far exceeded the whites, and the latter were nearly destitute of arms and
at a distance from the fort.

   It was ascertained that "Old Jenks" was dealing out the whisky, and the
citizens rallied in a body to suppress the grievance. Nearly every white man in
town joined the procession that marched down on the amazed Jenks. B. F. Davis
headed the party with a hatchet, rolled out a barrel of whisky, knocked in the
head and set it on fire. Bottles and demijohns were broken and the nuisance
effectually abated.

   In the spring of 1858 a tragedy occurred among the Indians encamped in the
south-east of section 20, Sand Creek, in which love, jealousy and murder appear,
reminding us of the sensational stories of the day. An Indian maiden named
Winona Etocta, belonging to the band, is represented as very beautiful and of
lovely disposition. Her kind acts and winning manners attracted all who met her.

   A son of a well-known Indian, Helpessel, was struck with her charms and was
determined to win her, but he was possessed of the most unamiable qualities and
had a bad reputation. The maiden disdained his proffered love, and the parents,
to whom an appeal was made, sustained their daughter in her refusal.

   In retaliation the vindictive savage killed two of Winona's brothers and her
father, and severely wounded his own father who attempted to restrain him from
his acts of brutality.

    It is some satisfaction to us to know that this villain was afterward hung
at Mankato with thirty-seven others.

    The first license for a ferry across the Minnesota river was granted to
Thomas A. Holmes about 1853, and by him let to John Hare. The ferry crossed the
river near the town site.

    July 3, 1854, license for a ferry was granted to Richard Murphy at a point
called Murphy's Landing, about a mile below the village of Shakopee.

    January 1, 1855, license for a ferry was granted to Luther M. Brown at a
point half a mile below Holmes street. This ferry was of short duration.

    The first newspaper was the "Shakopee Independent," established December 1,
1855, by Allen Green, editor; probably this was the first paper in the valley.
It is said to have been a very good local paper.

    County buildings: The first measures were taken May 11, 1856, toward the
erection of county buildings on the site donated by Holmes and Fuller, and
accepted by the county board more than two years previous, plans , for which
were drawn by John M. Keeler. August 22d $2,000 was voted to commence building.

    It was not until July 24th of the following year that the proposal of
Comfort Barnes was accepted. Meantime an act of the legislature authorized the
county to negotiate a loan for carrying on the work. Bonds to the amount of
$10,000 were accordingly issued, and June 17, 1857, express charges thereon to
Georgetown, District of Columbia, $26.25 paid. A contract was made with Comfort
Barnes for the building, and Thomas J. Galbraith employed to draw up bonds and
necessary papers.

    July 29, 1857, a second set of ten county bonds was issued, each $1,000, in
place of ten others previously issued but returned and cancelled because incorrect.

   January 31, 1859, Comfort Barnes received $4,600 in bonds for work on the
county buildings. These bonds were subsequently paid by the county, except one,
which never came to light. After many years Comfort Barnes collected from the
county the amount, $1,000 with interest, as due him for the lost bond.

   Much difficulty was experienced in obtaining the means necessary for the
completion of the  county buildings, for discount and extras had made sad
inroads on the appropriation.

   It was even suggested that the buildings in their incomplete state be sold
and the avails be appropriated to discharge part of the heavy liabilities of the
county, which was almost bankrupt.

   At the session of the legislature in 1859 an act was passed to change the
county seat to Jordan. Anticipating this measure, in the fall of 1858 strenuous
measures were instituted by the citizens of Skakopee, and by means of private
subscription the unfinished buildings were enclosed and the county officers
located therein, although in small and inconvenient quarters. By these measures
the change was overruled and Shakopee continued as the county seat.

   Improvements were made in 1864, 1867 and 1873 in the county buildings, which
developed them into their present convenient and commodious quarters, and the
cells of the jail were made secure.

   An attempt was again made about 1873 to remove the county seat to Jordan, and
a vigorous contest ensued, decided in favor of Shakopee by a majority of
ninety-two votes.

   Previous to the erection of the county buildings the courts of the county
were held at such places as could be secured. The records show that in 1856
rooms on the first and second floor of the new brick store of R. B. Griswold and
J. C. Farewell were rented by the county for $50 for the next term of court.

   The first term of the district court was held in Holmes' hall on the third
Monday of September, 1853, by Hon. Andrew G. Chatfield, associate justice, who
was identified with the political, social, as well as the business interests of
the county from 1854 till his death, which occurred in 1875. Other officers at
this term were: W. W. Irwin, marshal; A. G. Apgar, deputy marshal and sheriff;
E. A. Greenleaf, clerk. Frank Wasson was foreman of grand jury.

   The records show that the commissioners were unable to find in the county
fifty persons qualified to serve as grand jurors; they therefore selected a less
number—twenty-four. For the same reason thirty-two petit jurors were selected,
instead of seventy-two, the full number. L. M. Brown was appointed district
attorney by the court. An indictment against David Faribault for giving liquor
to the Indians was the first. David Faribault also appears as the first
defendant in a civil action. The case was Comfort Barnes against David Faribault
for taking cattle wrongfully. The verdict of the jury gave Barnes $175 damages;
Wilkinson and Babcock, attorneys, for plaintiff; Rice, Hollinshead and Becker,
for defendant.

   The following attorneys appear by records as practicing before the early
courts of the county: Edmund Rice, M. S. Wilkinson, C. E. Flandrau, L. M. Brown,
J. M. Holland, D. H. Dustin, district attorney, Babcock, Brishin, Wakefield,
Henry Hinds, D. Cooper, Frank Warner and Thomas J. Galbraith.

   The first divorce was granted by Judge Chatfield, in the spring of 1856, to
Larona D. Marvin from Edwin D. Marvin.

   About the time of the organization of the county, lands lying east of Credit
river were in dispute as to whether they belonged to Scott or Dakota county.
They were at one time assessed in each county and trouble was experienced in
collecting the taxes. It is said that political intrigue ultimately fixed the
eastern boundary.

   As it was the purpose to make both democratic, the dividing line was made to
conform to this principle, and Irish settlements, that can always he depended
on, were attached to the weaker county.

   Scott county has been unfortunate in the incumbents of responsible offices,
owing, perhaps, to the fact that political bias controlled elections in
preference to personal fitness for the positions. This has by no means been
universal or even common, as the present incumbents of these offices will
clearly demonstrate. J. B. Hinds, register of deeds, ex-officio auditor,
absconded in September, 1858, guilty of issuing fraudulent county orders.

   The defalcation of J. J. Ring, treasurer, was another glaring offense. Some
other irregularities have occurred of less magnitude, attributable to the lack
of a good business preparation for the responsible duties. Indeed, this cause
led to the trouble in all cases.

   A projected railroad, called tbe Ninninger and Dakota, was surveyed ' through
this county in 1857-8. John Ninninger, G. B. Clitherall and Ignatius Donnelly
were the prime movers. They formed a company and incorporated it in 1857, to
build a road from Ninninger, Minnesota, directly west to Dakota territory. The
land along the projected line had been purchased, and considerable money
expended by the company and by private individuals in town site and land
speculations. The death of one of the projectors and accidental causes nipped
the project in the bud and disappointed the hopes of many citizens of Scott county.

   Three railroads traverse the county. The Minneapolis & St. Louis crosses the
Minnesota river at Carver, and runs south through Louisville, Sand Creek and
Helena, making a junction at Merriam Junction in Louisville township with the
St. Paul & Sioux City railway, having the following stations: Merriam, Jordan,
New Prague in this county. The St. Paul & Sioux City railway enters the county
in Glendale and follows the course of the Minnesota river throughout the county,
making junctions with the Hastings & Dakota at Shakopee, and the Minneapolis &
St. Louis &t Merriam Junction. It has the following stations in this county:
Hamilton, Bardon, Shakopee, Merriam Junction, Brentwood, Belle Plaine and Blakeley.

   The Hastings & Dakota division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway
enters the county in Credit River, making a junction at Shakopee with the St.
Paul & Sioux City, having the following stations in the county: Prior Lake and
Shakopee.

   The Minneapolis & St. Louis was completed to Merriam Junction in 1871, and
extended to Albert Lea in 1877. The Hastings & Dakota was built in 1871. The St.
Paul & Sioux City was built in 1870.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from 

History of the Minnesota Valley
Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Co. (1882)

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