Chapter I Aboriginal Days - 1834-1866 1908
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Book Title: An Illustrated History Of Nobles County
CHAPTER I.
ABORIGINAL DAYS-1834-1866.
Turn back, as it were, the leaves of Time's great book to the period before
the all-conquering White Man had set foot on the soil of the present day county
of Nobles. We, of this generation, who play our part in the affairs of the
present day, are apt to think of that time as long past. Yet there are men and
women residing in Nobles county today who were living at the time of that event.
Before a civilized eye had gazed on the country we now call home, Lewis and
Clark, those intrepid explorers, had penetrated the Rocky mountain regions and
pushed on to the Pacific coast, obtaining information of inestimable value;
Marcus Whitman had planted his colony in the wilds of Oregon and taken' the
first step to secure possession of the Northwest to the United States. While
knowledge was being' gained of the far western country, southwestern Minnesota,
on the border of civilization, remained a terra incognita.
Let us imagine what this country was in its primeval state, when all was as
nature had formed it. The broad and rolling prairies stretched as far as the eye
could reach, presenting, in summer, a perfect paradise of verdure, with its
variegated hues of flowers and vegetation; in winter, a dreary snow mantled
desert. The creeks flowed in the same courses as now; the lakes occupied the
same banks; the topography of the country was the same. But what a contrast!
Wild beasts and birds and wilder red men then reigned supreme. Vast herds of
bison, elk and deer roamed the open prairies and reared their young in the more
sheltered places. With that wonderful appreciation of the beautiful which nature
has made an instinct in the savage, the untutored. Sioux had selected the
country as his hunting ground. If inanimate things could speak, what wild tales
of Indian adventure could be poured forth!
The country which such a short time ago was an uncharted wilderness is today a
prosperous land, filled with an enterprising, intelligent and happy people.
Cities and villages, the peer of those that were centuries in building, adorn
the former barren prairies; civilization and progress have supplanted savagery;
schools, churches and libraries occupy the sites of the aboriginal's tepees.
That part of the North American continent which is now designated on the map
as Minnesota was occupied by the Dakota or Sioux Indians from the very earliest
days up to the time when the white man supplanted the red man in the nineteenth
century. Indian tradition tells of no earlier inhabitants. Certain it is that
when the first explorers, centuries ago, came to the Northwest country they
found the Dakotas or Sioux in possession. When knowledge was first gained of
these people there were three great tribal divisions, namely: The Isantis,
residing on the headwaters of the Mississippi; the Yanktons, who occupied the
region north of the Minnesota river; and the Titonwans, who had their hunting
grounds west of the Yanktons. The last named was the most powerful and numerous
tribe.
Coming down to the year 1834, we find that definite knowledge had been gained
of the tribal divisions of southern Minnesota, and that their places of summer
residence were known. General H. H. Sibley, an authority on Indian affairs,
described the Indian bands as he found them in 1834. There were seven bands of
the Dakotas, known as the M'daywakantons, or People of the Leaf. Their summer
residences were in villages, the lodges being built of elm bark upon a frame
work of poles. These villages were situated at Wabasha Prairie, where the city
of Winona now stands; at Red Wing and Kaposia, on the Mississippi; three bands
on the lower Minnesota, below Shakopee; and the Lake Calhoun band, on the lake
of that name. These bands could bring into the field about 600 warriors.
The Wakpatootas, or People of the Shot Leaf, were in villages on Cannon lake,
a short distance from the present city of Faribault, and at a few other points.
They numbered about 150 warriors. The lower Wakpatons, or People of the Leaf,
were located at Little Rapids, Sand Prairie and on the banks of the Minnesota,
not far from Belle Plaine. The lower Sissetons occupied the regions around
Traverse des Sioux, Swan lake and the Cottonwood, extending to the Coteau des
Prairies. It was this band which claimed jurisdiction over the present day
county of Nobles. The upper Wakpaton tribe had its villages on the shores of the
Lac qui Parle. The upper Sissetons were on Big Stone lake and lake Traverse.
Portions of Minnesota had been visited by whites at a very early day, but the
southwestern portion was unvisited until long after other parts were fairly well
known. Catlin, Schoolcraft, Featherstonhaugh, Allen, Keating and Long were early
explorers to the wilds of Minnesota, but they confined themselves to the ready
routes of travel, passing through the country in a single season. But in the
late thirties appeared one who crossed the upper Mississippi country in all
directions, spending several years, winters included, in procuring data for his
map. This was Joseph Nicolas Nicollet,[1] who, so far as I am able to learn, was
the first white man to set foot on the soil of Nobles county. He gave names to
many lakes and physical features or adopted those which were current, and his
map, issued in 1842, shows the scope of his explorations.
The country of which Nobles county forms a part was labeled "Sisseton Country"
on his map, he finding that that branch of the Dakotas were in possession. He
found that the region west of the Mississippi had several plateaus, or elevated
prairies, which marked the limits of the various river basins. The most
remarkable of these he called Plateau du Coteau des Prairies (plateau of prairie
heights) and Coteau du Grand Bois (wooded heights). Nicollet described the
Coteau des Prairies as a vast plain, elevated 1,916 feet above the level of the
ocean and 890 feet above Big Stone lake, lying between latitudes 43 and 46
degrees, extending from northwest to southeast for a distance of 200 miles, its
width varying from 15 to 40 miles. [2] He described it as a beautiful country,
from whose summit grand views were afforded, and said that at the eastern border
particularly the prospect was magnificent beyond description, extending over the
immense green turf that forms the basin of the Red River of the North, the
forest clad summits of the Hauteurs des Terres that surround the sources of the
Mississippi, the gigantic valley of the upper Minnesota, and the depressions in
which are lake Traverse and Big Stone lake. That Nicollet visited Nobles county
and other portions of the southwestern part of Minnesota is evidenced by the
fact that several physical features of the country with which we are familiar
were given names and more or less accurately located. "Okebene" lake has a place
on the map, as also has "Spirit lake," "Ocheyedan lake," "Ocheyedan Hillock, or
Mourning Ground," "Okoboji river and lake," and "Karanzi river, where the Kansas
were killed."
For several years after the visit of Nicollet the future county of Nobles was
visited by white men only occasionally. In fact the whole of southwestern
Minnesota remained the country of the red man up to the middle fifties and
nearly to the time when Minnesota was admitted to the union as a state. Even
then, although the settlements extended up to the borders of Nobles county on
the south, east and north, Nobles countywas without actual settlers. It was
several years behind its neighboring counties, and permanent settlement did not
begin until 1867.
While the settlement of the southwestern part of the state-to-be was not
attempted until a late day, other portions received some settlement, and
Minnesota territory was created in 1849. Three years later the boundary line
between the new territory and Iowa was surveyed. The territory from which,
later, Nobles county was formed, being on the southern boundary of Minnesota,
was visited at that time by surveyors, and on August 5, 1852, the first line was
run that marked a boundary of the county-to-be. That day the line along Grand
Prairie township was surveyed; the following day that along Little Rock; on the
seventh the surveyors completed Ransom and part of Bigelow; on the eighth
Bigelow was finished, and the line along the southern boundary of Indian Lake
was completed, and the surveyors continued their way eastward. [3]
Although the permanent settlement of the western counties of southwestern
Minnesota was backward, trappers operated over the whole country for many years
prior to actual settlement. The abundance of game that roamed over the region
drew hunters and trappers regularly to its lakes and streams. Some of these
later took claims in the country they, had trapped over and became the first
settlers.
In 1856 there was a great tide of emigration "toward the setting sun" from the
eastern states, and Minnesota territory grew rapdily [sic] in population. This
inpouring of settlers continued during the following year. Then came the panic
of 1857, and the influx of settlers almost completely ceased. Times were very
hard all through the country, and especially was this condition of affairs felt
in the Northwest. It was during this activity in the settlement of Minnesota
that the first settlement was made in the southwestern part of the territory.
During the years 1855, 1856 and 1857, a few hardy pioneers found their way to
and made settlements in territory which now forms Faribault, Martin, Jackson and
Cottonwood counties, in Minnesota, and the Spirit Lake country, [4] in Iowa. In
some of these counties substantial settlements were begun; villages were
founded; counties were organized; civilization took its first advancing stride
into the frontier.
During this period of activity in southwestern Minnesota the future Nobles
county had no active part; it was just beyond the "jumping off place." The
greater part of the settlers engaged in trapping for furs, and in the pursuit of
this avocation they frequently visited the lakes of Nobles county. Unfortunately
data of the doings of these men have not been preserved. They were trappers, not
historians, and they left no record of their adventures. Only a few of these
early day trappers are left. Of a nomadic temperament, when permanent settlement
was begun, the majority of these frontiersmen pushed on to still unsettled
countries to the west.
One of these trappers who operated in what is now the western part of Nobles
county was Jude Phillips, and one of his adventures is worth relating. In
company with a brother, he was trapping one season on Kanaranzi creek, his camp
being near the present site of Adrian. His brother's camp was some five miles
distant, also on the creek. A terrible cloudburst raised the Kanaranzi to a
raging flood. Jude Phillips barely escaped with his life. The morning after the
disaster he started out to look for his brother, but found no trace of him, and
never did. The raging Kanaranzi had claimed its first victim.
As before stated, the financial panic of 1857 retarded the growth of the
territory and brought to a standstill the activities in southwestern Minnesota.
But there was another event of that year that changed the whole history of the
country. That was the Inkpadutah massacre. The Indians, under the leadership of
Inkpadutah, went on the war path and ruthlessly murdered settlers at Spirit
Lake, Iowa, and along the Des Moines river in Jackson and Cottonwood counties,
Minnesota. Had the settlement at that time been extended to Nobles county there
can be no doubt that its soil would have been drenched in blood, as the savages
operated in the county during the famous massacre.
The women and children of Inkpadutah's band were camped on Indian lake, in the
southeastern corner of the county, while the warriors were committing their
deeds of violence. After the massacre at Spirit Lake part of the murderers
retreated to the northwest and made their camping place at the same point. It is
said that a force of soldiers, who were in pursuit of the redskins, came as
close to this band as Iowa lake. Had they struck the Indians on Indian lake,
Nobles county would doubtless have played an important part, in the history of
the massacre. When the first white settlers came to the Indian lake country in
1869 the remains of the Indian camp were plainly seen. [5]
The massacre proved to be a serious blow to the growth and development of this
region. The counties in which settlement had been made were depopulated. The
pioneers fled for their lives; everything was abandoned. Troops were soon
stationed in the country, but it took time to restore confidence, and for some
time all of those counties lying west of Faribault county remained almost wholly
devoid of inhabitants.
During the boom days of 1856 and the early part of 1857 the people of
Minnesota were optimistic. Thousands of people were pouring into the territory
and building themselves homes in the heretofore frontier sections. Elaborate
schemes for big ventures were planned; nothing was done in a niggardly manner.
Frenzied finance reigned supreme. Railroad rumors filled the air, and it was
indeed an out of the way place that did not look forward to the coining of the
iron horse in the immediate future. Paper roads covered the territory from one
end to the other, and southwestern Minnesota was no exception to the rule. The
territorial legislature caught the fever, granted bonuses to various
contemplated railways, and indiscriminately created counties in all parts of the
territory-in many of which there was not at the time a single resident.
And Nobles county came into existence under these conditions. It had no
settlers at the time, but abundant prospects. Had it not been for the panic and
the Indian outbreak, there can be no doubt that the county would have been
inhabited and in a prosperous condition within a very short time after its
creation in the spring of 1857. As it was, it was ten years later when permanent
settlement was begun and thirteen when the organization was perfected. Before,
considering the creation of the county let us take a backward glance and trace
the structural history of Minnesota territory from the date of its creation,
insofar as is relates to Nobles county.
When the first legislature convened after the organization of the territory in
1849 it divided Minnesota into nine counties, named as follows: Benton, Dakota,
Itasca, Cass, Pembina, Bamsey, Washington, Chisago and Wabasha. The whole of
southern Minnesota was included in Wabasha and Dakota, and of these two, Dakota
had the bulk of the territory. Wabasha, included that part of the territory
"lying east of a line running due south from a point on the Mississippi river
known as Medicine Bottle village, at Pine Bend, [6] to the Iowa line." Dakota
county (created Oct. 27, 1849) was "all that part of said territory west of the
Mississippi and lying west of the county of Wabasha and south of a line
beginning at the mouth of Crow river, and up said river and the north branch
thereof to its source, and thence due west to the Missouri river." [7]
Although Dakota county was larger than many of the eastern states its
population was almost nothing, and it was declared "organized only for the
purpose of the appointment of justices of the peace, constables and such other
judicial and ministerial officers as may be specially provided for." For
judicial purposes it was attached to the county of Ramsey.
The future Nobles county remained a part of Dakota county until March 5, 1853,
when there was a readjustment of Wabasha and Dakota county boundaries, and Blue
Earth county came into existence. The boundaries of the latter were described as
follows: "So much territory lying south of the Minnesota river as remains of
Wabasha and Dakota counties undivided by this act." As the boundaries of the two
older counties as defined by this act was very indefinite, it is impossible to
state exactly what the dimentions of Blue Earth county were. It is known,
however, that it included all of southwestern Minnesota.
For two years the unknown Nobles county country remained a part of Blue Earth
county, and then come another change. By an act approved Feb. 20, 1855, the
county of Blue Earth was reduced to its present boundaries, Faribault was
created with the boundaries it now has, except that it then extended one
township farther west than now, and the new county of Brown came into being. It
was described as follows: "That so much of the territory as was formerly
included within the county of Blue Earth, and has not been included within the
boundaries of any other county as herein established, shall be known as the
county of Brown." All of the territory lying south of the Minnesota river and
west of a line drawn south from the western boundary of the present day Blue
Earth county now became Brown county, and Nobles remained a part of this until
two years later, when it became a political division of itself. [8]
The conditions which led up to the creation of Nobles county and the many
others in the southwestern corner of the territory have been briefly referred
to. Among the other contemplated enterprises of the boom days of 1856-7 was the
building of a railroad into the southwestern part of the territory. This
enterprise was, of course, arrested by the panic. But it had not prevented the
building of air castles in the young country prior to the financial crash.
Although no survey for the railroad had been made, it had been learned that it
was to be built through the Graham lakes country, and an imaginary town came
into existence there. This was known as Gretchtown, and in the very early days
it found itself on the maps of the frontier country. It was located on the south
bank of West Graham lake-on land which in time came into the possession of Hon.
J. B. Wakefield, of Blue Earth City. Gretchtown was literally a "paper town." It
was never even platted, nor did it rise to the dignity of having a trapper's hut
thereon. Yet it became the county seat of a county-a county without inhabitants.
On the 23rd day of May, 1857, the bill was passed creating the county of
Nobles and eight others in the southwestern corner of the territory. [9] It was
named in honor of Col. W. H. Nobles, [10] of St. Paul. Section three of the act
describes the boundaries:
Sec. III. That so much of the territory of Minnesota as is embraced in the
following boundaries be, and the same is hereby, established as the county of
Nobles: beginning at the southeast corner of township 101 north, of range 39
west; thence north to the northeast corner of township 104 north, of range 39
west; thence west to the northwest corner of township 104, range 43 west; thence
south to the southwest corner of township 101 north, of range 43 west; thence
east to the place of beginning.
Of the nine counties created by the act only Martin, Jackson, Nobles and Big
Sioux were declared to be organized counties and "invested with all the
immunities to which organized counties are entitled by law." They were attached
to the third judicial district for judicial purposes, and to the tenth council
district for elective purposes. Provision was made for the early organization of
the four counties named. Commissioners residing within the respective counties
were to be appointed by the governor to perfect the organizations. [11] These
commissioners were to meet during the first week in July, 1857, at the county
seat and set in motion the machinery of the county government. The county seat
of Nobles county was temporarily located at Gretchtown, that mythical city in
Graham Lakes township, but provision was made for the selection of the permanent
seat of government by the voters. [12]
It is needless to say that the organization did not take place as provided.
Only a short time later, there were not only no settlers in Nobles county, but
the whole of southwestern Minnesota was deserted. County government was not
begun in Nobles county until 1870; then it was organized under the provisions of
the act of 1857. The panic and Indian troubles had caused a setback of thirteen
years.
It will be remembered that so early as 1852 surveyors had established the line
between Minnesota and Iowa, and for a few days had operated in Nobles county.
That was the only surveying done for several years. But after the territorial
legislature had divided southwestern Minnesota into counties, it was deemed
advisable to establish their boundaries. A surveying party visited the county in
September, 1858, and marked its boundaries. Guide meridian No. 5, along the
eastern boundary of the county was surveyed, as was also standard parallel No.
1, which was the county's northern boundary. It was nine years later when the
county was divided into townships, and one and two years after that when the
section lines were run.
So soon as confidence was restored after the Spirit Lake massacre, settlement
was begun again in portions of southwestern Minnesota, and in the late fifties
and very early sixties quite a number of settlers had founded homes in Martin,
Jackson, Cottonwood, Murray and Nobles counties. Some of the counties east of
these had not been seriously affected by the Indian outbreak, and had
substantial settlements. [13]
Eleven families, comprising thirty-five people, had pushed out to the
heretofore unknown Nobles county country. That was the number found by Elias D.
Bruner, assistant marshal, who took the census July 16, 1860. These were located
in the Graham Lakes country, and Jackson was their postoffice address. The
enumerator stated that he had visited eleven dwelling houses, and that there
were the same number of families. On following page are names of the inhabiants,
their ages, occupations and places of birth as listed by Marshal Bruner: [14]
All of these were white, free inhabitants. Being squatters, they did not have
title to real estate, but four of the number had personal property, as follows:
John Oleson, $200; Uriah Kushman, $175; William Hertwinkle, $275; John
Hertwinkle, $100. Other information contained in the schedule is to the effect
that none had been married within the year, none had attended school within the
year, only one person over twenty years of age (Thomas Marks) could not read or
write, and none was deaf and dumb, blind, idiotic, pauper or convict. [15]
NAME Age Occupation Birthplace
*John Oleson 34 Farmer Norway
Barbara Oleson 37 "
Maria Oleson 11 "
George Oleson 8 "
Betsey Oleson 6 "
*Uriah Kushman 28 "
Betsey Kushman 27 "
Hownis Kushman 6 "
William Kushman 5 "
Ann Kushman 2 Wisconsin
*John Bell 29 Trapper New York
*Thomas Marks 36 Trapper Pennsylvania
Henry Jordan 39 Trapper "
*George Wilkin 24 Indian Trader Wisconsin
*George Bumgardner 34 Farmer Bavaria
Ann Bumgardner 36 "
Henrietta Bumgardner 11 "
Willmetto Bumgardner 7 "
Maria Bumgardner 2 "
*William Hertwinkle 40 Farmer "
Julia Hertwinkle 40 "
Thomas Hertwinkle 18 "
Marie Hertwinkle 16 "
William Hertwinkle 14 "
*John Hertwinkle 27 Farmer "
Joanner Hertwinkle 20 "
Monnie Hertwinkle 1 Wisconsin
Thomas Hertwinkle 25 Farm Laborer Bavaria
*George Evert 38 Trader Maine
Henry Hanson 42 Trader Tennessee
* William Eavens 50 Norway
Maria Eavens 49 "
Thomas Eavens 26 "
*George McFarlane 32 Ireland
Henry McFarlane 30 "
* Heads of families
The development of this frontier region was destined to delay. It had only
fairly recovered from the effects of the Inkpadutah, or Spirit Lake, massacre
and the hard times period when the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 again set a
brake on emigration. Then in August, 1862, was inaugurated the terrible Sioux
war, which again depopulated the western part of Minnesota and crimsoned the
fair soil with the blood of so many innocent men, women and children. Fiendish
atrocity, blood curdling cruelty and red handed murder ran riot. At New Ulm was
enacted one of the most atrocious massacres recorded in the annals of Indian
warfare. At lake Shetek, in Murray county, and other places in southwestern
Minnesota the murder crazed redskins fell upon the settlers and enacted lesser
tragedies- lesser only because the victims were not so numerous. Those farmers,
trappers and traders who had builded themselves homes in Nobles county had taken
their departure, and so escaped the fate that befell so many in southwestern
Minnesota. Whether they had departed of their own volition or taken alarm and
retreated when the Indians went on the warpath is not certain. It is certain
that they were not in the country during the war, and nearly every trace of
their occupancy disappeared.
The growth of Minnesota received a set back from which it took many years to
fully recover. After the inauguration of this fiendish warfare the western
frontier line receded eastward, and the greater portion of southwestern
Minnesota was again left in the midst of the hostile Indian country, and for
many months no white man trod its soil. After the settlements in the eastern
part of the state had partially recovered from the first rude shock of the
Indian outbreak, which fell like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, steps were at
once taken to defend the exposed settlements, to conquer the redskins and drive
them back. The civil war was in progress, and the majority of the able bodied
settlers were in the south fighting for the union, It therefore required some
time to muster troops and place them in advantageous positions to cope with the
wily red foe. In the meantime the Indians carried on their brutal warfare,
murdering men, women and children, and burning as they went. After considerable
delay the Indians were driven back, soldiers were placed all through this
western country, and the prairies were constantly patrolled by companies which
were detailed for this service.
The expeditions against the hostile Sioux resulted in Nobles county being
frequently visited by military parties. On one occasion a force under General
Thomas pursued a band of the hostiles to the shores of Okabena lake and beyond.
For convenience in operating against the savages military roads were constructed
in different parts of the country. One of the main thoroughfares was through
Nobles county, extending from Jackson to the present site of Luverne and on to
Yankton. Another one, coming from Blue Earth City, united with this on section
27, Graham Lakes township. The road from Jackson crossed Hersey township,
traversing it in a northwesterly direction. It crossed Jack creek and entered
Graham Lakes township in section 34, continued in a northwesterly direction to
its junction with the other trail on section 27, and then bore to the southwest.
It passed through the northern part of Elk and Summit Lake townships and entered
Larkin a short distance southeast of the present village of Wilmont. Larkin
township was traversed, the road leaving it at section 18. Lismore township was
entered at section 13; thence the road continued its way through sections 14 and
15 and on to the west. The road was a good one, and in after years was used as
the mail route from Blue Earth City and Jackson to Luverne, Sioux Falls and
Yankton. To this day evidence of the old road can be seen in places.
The savages were soon subdued after troops were placed in the field, but for a
number of years the settlers on the extreme frontier lived in a state of
constant fear and anxiety, not knowing at what time the scenes of 1862 might be
repeated. Soldiers were kept on the frontier for some time, and some of them
were among the first settlers to take up their homes in the new country when
peace was assured, not a few selecting their claims while here in the service.
When peace was established on the border, settlement again began-destined this
time to be permanent-and the frontier line moved westward very rapidly.
During the first half of the sixties the settlement did not extend so far west
as Nobles county, if we expect a few trappers who regularly plied their trade
here. A few of these built shanties, which they occupied during the trapping
season. They would then depart to their homes farther east or south and dispose
of their catch. Sometimes they would return to the trapping grounds of Nobles
county the next season; sometimes they would not. In no sense of the word could
they be called permanent settlers. They neither laid claim to land (except under
the unwritten law governing trapping rights) nor intended to make their homes
here. On the other hand, while those first settlers who came in the early summer
of 1867 also engaged principally in trapping for a livlihood, they were
permanent settlers, and the settlement of the county may properly be said to
date from that time. They came to build permanent homes for themselves and
engage in agricultural pursuits so soon as conditions would permit, and they all
took land claims. Their trapping was done because of necessity, not because they
were trappers.
When the settlers of 1867 appeared they came as pioneers to a new country.
Practically all trace of the former occupation had disappeared, and the only
evidence found were a few trappers' shacks and dugouts. These early settlers
knew nothing, or very little, of the people who had preceded them, so completely
had the efforts at civilization been obliterated, and few people today know that
there were settlers prior to 1867.
For evidence of occupation of Nobles county prior to the arrival of the
settlers of 1867 I am under obligations to Judge B. W. Woolstencroft, now of
Slayton, who became a resident of the county July 4, 1867. In his occupations of
hunter, trapper and surveyor he visited nearly all parts of the county in the
early days, and knows whereof .he speaks. The evidence of this letter and other
sources of information lead to the belief that evidence of former occupation bad
almost completely disappeared. Judge Woolstencroft writes:
Slayton, Minn., June 24, 1907.
Mr. A. P. Rose,
Worthington, Minn.
Dear Sir:-So far as I know, and am of the opinion that no one knows better,
there was no settlement in Nobles county prior to 1867-no village laid out or
platted. I remember seeing an old map, upon which Gretchtown was marked as being
located near the south end of West Graham lake, but there was no evidence of a
plat or settlement when I came to the county.
There was a trapper's shanty on section 22, on the southwest bank of West
Graham, and one on what has been called "the Island." These were made by digging
two or three feet in the ground, the walls built up of logs and covered with
brush, hay and earth.
There was also a trapper's shanty on the east bank of Ocheyedan lake and one
on Indian lake, but I do not know the exact location of the latter. These were
all the evidences of settlement prior to 1867.
Yours truly,
B. W. WOOLSTENCROFT. [16]
When the civil war closed, railroads- those great civilizers-began reaching
out and interlocking through the Northwest. For Minnesota this was the starting
point of such an era of rapid growth and development as was the marvel of the
times. The iron horse had reached the eastern part of southwestern Minnesota
late in the sixties, and early in the next decade railroads were built through
and beyond these counties. It was in 1871 that the first railroad was built into
Nobles county, although the road was projected and the preliminary survey made
as early as 1866. This was done by the Minnesota Valley Railroad company, which
later became the St. Paul & Sioux City and the Sioux City & St. Paul. [17] The
line of the proposed road entered Nobles county in section 12, Graham Lakes
township, and passed in a southwesterly direction between the two Graham lakes.
It left the township at section 31, passed through the northwest corner of
Hersey and into Worthington township, continuing its general southwestern
direction, going along the north and west side of West Okabena lake. The route
thus surveyed was much longer than the one finally decided on. After the land
grant had been secured-alternate sections in a strip of country on each side of
the survey-the route was changed to the shorter one, over which the Chicago, St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha is now operated.
A country through which railroad surveys are being made is not destined to
remain long without settlers, and the year 1866 marks the close of an era. At
that time there was not a settler in the county, Nobles had not yet been divided
into townships and smaller divisions, it was an untamed country.
ENDNOTES
[1] Do not confound with Jean Nicollet, an American pioneer from France who
visited the country nearly 200 years earlier.
[2] On the map it is marked as extending from a point a short distance
northwest of lake Traverse in a southeasterly direction into Iowa, and including
the present Nobles county.
[3] Surveyors' field notes.
[4] The Spirit Lake settlement was only twenty-five miles from the Nobles
county line.
[5] An incident of these days was recalled by the finding of a revolver on
the shore of lake Okabena in 1872. The Western Advance of Aug. 31, 1872, said:
"A revolver was found on the shores of the lake last week, which was lost
there fifteen years ago by A. H. Bullis, of Winnebago City, Minn." Mr. Bullis,
in company with a friend, had been to Yankton on horseback, and while on their
return stopped at the lake to cook and eat some fish. While the horses were
quietly grazing Mr. Bullis espied a party of Indians approaching, and as this
happened near the time of the Spirit Lake massacre, the white men were naturally
shy of the Sioux, so they hastily mouted [sic] their beasts and fled. The
revolver is silver mounted, but rust and decay have ruined it for use."
[6] Near St. Paul.
[7] Minnesota territory then extended west to the Missouri river. In this
mammoth county of Dakota were the following present day counties (or parts of
counties) in Minnesota, in addition to many in what is now the state of South
Dakota: Rock, Nobles, Jackson, Martin, Faribault, Freeborn, Steele, Waseca, Blue
Earth, "Watonwan, Cottonwood, Murray, Pipestone, Lincoln, Lyon, Redwood, Brown,
Nicollet, Lesueur, Rice, Dakota (part), Scott, Sibley, Renville, Yellow
Medicine, Lac qui Parle, Chippewa, Kandiyohi (except small corner), Meeker
(part), McLeod, Carver, Hennepin, Wright (part), Stearns (small part}, Pope
(part), Swift, Stevens (part), Big Stone and Traverse (part).
[8] Brown county was not organized at once, but by an act of the legislature
of Feb. 11, 1856, it was permitted to organize. New Ulm was named as the county
seat.
[9] The territory at this time extended west to the Big Sioux river. The
other counties created by the act were Martin, Jackson, Murray, Pipestone, Big
Sioux, Cottonwood, Rock and Midway. The first three named were given the
boundaries they now have. The boundaries of Pipestone county were described as
including the present Rock county and the eastern portion of the present
Minnehaha county, S. D. The boundaries of Rock county were described as
including the present Pipestone county and a small part of the eastern portion
of the present Moody county, S. D. This transposition of the names Rock and
Pipestone in the description of their boundaries in the original act of 1857 may
have been due to a lack of knowledge of the physical features of this part of
the country, or it may have been due to a clerical error. The mistake was
corrected later. Big Sioux county took in part of the present Minnehaha county,
S. D., and extended from the Big Sioux river eastward to Pipestone (Rock)
county. Cottonwood had the same boundaries as now, except that it did not then
have three townships in the northwest corner which it now has. Midway county
included that part of the present Moody county, S. D., that lies beteen the Big
Sioux river and the western boundary of the original Rock (Pipestone) county.
[10] Col. Nobles was noted as the discoverer of the pass in the Rocky
mountains which shortened the emigrant route to the Pacific side some 500 miles,
and through which the Union Pacific now passes. The people of California raised
a purse of $10,000 and presented it to Col. Nobles in appreciation of this
discovery. During the year 1861 he was president of the. Minnesota Old Settlers'
association. The late Daniel Rohrer is my authority for the statement concerning
the naming of the county.
[11] Section eleven of the act reads: "The governor shall appoint three
persons for each of the respective organized counties, being residents and legal
voters thereof, commissioners for each of said counties, with full power and
authority to do and perform all acts and duties devolving upon the board -of
county commissioners of any organized county in this territory, the said board
of commissioners shall have power to appoint all other officers that may be
required to complete the organization of their respective counties."
[12] On the petition of twenty legal voters in any of said counties at any
time after the passage of this act it shall be the duty of the county
commissioners to order the legal voters of any of the said counties to vote at
any general election for the location of the county seats of said counties, and
the point receiving the highest number of votes shall be the county seat of said
county."
[13] The federal census of 1860 showed the following populations:
Faribault 1,335
Blue Earth 4,203
Brown 2,339
Watonwan
Martin 151
Jackson 181
Cottonwood 12
Murray 29
Nobles 35
Rock 23
Pipestone
[14] The list was obtained from the director of the census at Washington
through the kindness of Hon. W. S. Hammond.
[15] It is greatly «to be regretted that nothing further can be learned of
this attempted early settlement. Although I have made extensive research for
information concerning it, I have been able to find little more than is
contained in the bare census returns. These people doubtless came to Nobles
county some time after the Spirit Lake massacre, and probably only a short time
before the census was taken. This is made evident from the fact that in three
different families were children of two years of age or younger, and none of
them was born in Minnesota. How they happened to locate in this frontier land,
stories of their adventures, when and why they left, will probably always remain
a mystery. We can only surmise.
[16] Early settlers also report the finding of evidence of a trappers' camp
in Elk township, on Elk creek, which had probably been in existence from an
early date.
[17] Much confusion has resulted because of the peculiar naming of this road,
which was built from St. Paul to LeMars. The northern portion was the St. Paul &
Sioux City, while the southern end was officially known as the Sioux City & St.
Paul. They were to all intents one road, owned by the same people and managed by
the same officers.
Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY
MINNESOTA
BY
ARTHUR P. ROSE
NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY
WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA
PUBLISHERS
1908
