History of Pioneer Lumbering On the Upper Mississippi and Its Tributaries. D. STANCHFIELD. ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University THE GIFT OF Estate of J. P. Kinney Corneir University Library HD 9757.M6S78 History of lumbering in lUlinnesota.Pionee 3 1924 000 581 748 ™, Cornell University Library The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000581748 .z^'^?irvirrT:rsm'"r"'T'"g^^^^'!:^!f, DANIEL STANCHFIELD. Minnesota Histokioal Societt, Vol. IX. Plate VI. HISTOEI OF lUMBBEING II MINNESOTA. PIONEER LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, WITH BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES. By Daniel Stanchfield. LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY, WITH BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES. By William H. C Folsom, Papers from Volume IX of the Minnesota Historical Society Collections. Published by Daniel Stawchb'ield, Minneapolis, Minn., 1900. Printed bt thb PIOKBER PRESS CO., St. PAtTL, Mnrer. Entered according to an act OF CONGRESS AT WASHINGTON, D. May ai, 1900, PREFACE. Thrwigh the kindness of the Minnesota Historical Society, and of my friend!, Mr. W. H. 0. Folsiom, of Taylor's Falls, Minn., I am enajbled to place together in this volimie two pa- pers which were read at meetings of that society. They give the chief events in the establishment of the great industry of lumbering in this state, with biographic notes and portraits of some of the pioneers of this idustry. The order of these papers, as printed in the original vol- ume, is h.ere transposed; but the original paging is retained. It is hoped that other and! later workers will add to these records their own narrations of the beginnamgs of the lumber business on every imiportant loiggimg stream and area in North- ern Minnesota, and indeed likewise for all the part of Wiscon- sin tributary to the St. Croix and the MisBissippi. D. S. Minneapolis, Maty 1, 1900. CONTENTS. Page. hlstokt of ploneeb lumbering on the ijppeb mississippi and its Teibutaeies, with Biogbaphic Sketches. By DIaniel Stanch- field 325 Personal Narrartion 325 Arrival In Minnesota 326 Elxploration of the Pineries on the Bum river 329 Loss of the first Log Drive 333 Pirsit Logging near the Crow Wing river 335 Exploration of the Upiper Streams and Lakes 338 Growth of the Town of St Anthony 339 Outfits for Lumbering repaid by Logsi 341 Lumbering on the Rum river and its West Branch 341 Eelation of Lumbering to Agricultural Settlement 344 Incidents during Exploration and Logging 344 Changes in this Industry since Fifty Years ago 346 Lumbermen of St Anthony and Minneapolis prior to 1860. . . 347 Early Lumber Manufaoturtng above Miimeapolis 350 Biographic Sketches 353 Franklin Steele 354 Caleb D. Dorr 355 Sumner W. Famham 356 John Martin 357 Dorilus Morrison 358 John S. Pillsbury 359 Statistics 361 History of Lumbekinq in the St. Oroix Vaixey, with Bio- gbaphic Sketches. By Wiixtam H. C. Folsom 291 Beginning of Settlements, Steamboating, and Lumbering 293 Establishment of the Interstate Boondary 295 Pioneer Lumbering on Govemimeint Lands 296 Foresft Fires and Decrease of Rainfall 297 The Village «f Mairine 297 Osceola, Wisconsin 299 The old St Orodx county 298! The City of Stilliwater , ' 301 Lakeland^ Af ton, and Point Douglas 305 Presoott, Wisconsdn 306 Page. District of tlie Apple and Willow rivers 306 Mills on tlie O., St. P., M. and O. Railway 309 Pine, Oarlton, anid Kamatec counties 310 Duluth and the St. Lonis tir&c ' 312 Clam river and Burnett county, Wiscomsiiiii 313 Taylor's Falls and vicinity 314 Areola, Washington county 316 The Nevers dam 316 Ijog booms and raftsi 317 Lumber manufacturing farther south in Minnesota 318 Summaiy and Statistics 321 Amount of Logs cut from 1837 to 1898 321 Eecapitulation of Logs and Sawn Lumber 322 Cost of Labor in Lumbering, 1837 toi 1898 323 Losses by Fires 323 PORTRAITS. Daniel Stanohfield Frontispieoe Frantlin Steele. Facing page 327 Caleb D. Dorr " " 333 Sumner W. Parnham " " 341 John Martin " " 357 Dorilus Morrison " " 358 John S. PiUsbury " " 359 William H. C. Polsom " " 291 HISTORY OF PIONEER LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, WITH BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.* BY DANIEL STANCHFIELD. Personal. Narration. My earliest home memories and first experience of toil were associated with, the pine, woods of Maine, where I was bom, in Leeds township, June 8th, 1820. Up to the age of fifteen years I attended school and worked on my father's farm, which he had purchased in Milo township, then part of the great forest region of Maine. Our work consisted largely in cutting down the timiber and burning it to clear the farm, a few acres being thus added each year to the tract under cultivation and pasturage. In the year 1839, responding to the call of Governor Fair- field, I enlisted, with the state militia company of which I was a member, and served eight months in the campaign for de- fense of the rights of Maine and of the United States in the establishment of the boundary between northern Maine and Canada. During much of the time for the next five years I was engaged with lumbermen in cutting logs and driving them down tributaries of the Penobscot river, and also worked during parts of these years in sawmills. In the autumn of 1844, 1 set my face toward the west, tak- ing passage, September 1st, in the steamer Bangor, to Boston, thence going by railway to Albany, and by canal to Buffalo. The canal passage across the state of New York took seven days. ♦Read at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council, May 8, 1899. 326 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. Thence the trip to Chicago was by th.e steamer Nile, and we encountered a very severe storm on Lake Huron. Reach- ing Chicago, I was disappointed in the appearance of that far advertised city. Lots close west of the river could be pur- chased for two hundred dollars. After a few days' stay in Chicago, I went on by stage to Belvidere, Illinois, near which place my elder brother Geoi^e, who had come west earlier, was farming. His children were sick with the ague. According to my wish, he sold his prop- erty in Belvidere, and we together moved onvFard to a healthier location near Freeport, in northwestern Illinois, where he took a farming claim of government land. During the following winter I explored the Galena mining region, and in "the spring of 1845 went to the Wisconsin pineries. Two years of hard work in lumbering and sawing followed, with good investments of money partly brought from Maine and partly earned during these years. The spring and summer of the next year, 1847, found me rafting lumber down the Wisconsin river and thence down the Mississippi, selling it in Dubuque, Galena, Quimcy, and St. Louis. As lumber bought in northern Wisconsin, rafted, and sold in these grow- ing towns and cities along the Mississippi, brought large prof- its, I decided to return' in the fall to the pineries and continue in this business. ARRIVAL IN MINNESOTA. While I was. resting for a part of the summer of 1847, in St. Louis, after the. sale of my lumber, the heat became so intense that I decided to leave for my voyage up the river. Just then Capt. John Atchison, with his steamer Lynx, arrived from New Orleians, carrying a cargo of government supplies for Fort Snelling, and having on board a pleasure party for the same destination. I secured a stateroom and joined the party. They were all southerners . excepting myself, a jolly crowd of ladies and gentlemen. The captain of the boat sup- plied a brass band that played and entertained us all day, and then furnished string music to dance by in the evening. Thus the whole trip was spent in pleasure, and the time passed rapidly until we arrived at Fort Snelling. FRANKLIN STEELE. Minnesota Histortcai, Soctett, Vol. IX. Plate VII. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 327 There Mr. Franklin Steele awaited the arrival of the party with carriages to convey us across the waving prairie to St. Anthony falls. I rode with Mr. Steele in a two-wheeled cart, and he entertained me by describing his claim at the falls, and the improvements contemplated for the following autumn. At the end of our ride, he pointed out the site of the dam and the sawmill he intended to build, while the steward of the boat was preparing dinner for the party on the grass, between the spring and the old gristmill. When all the carriages had arrived, every one was anxious to secure the best view of this magnificent body of water as it plunged and seethed over the rocks on its long journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of people had gazed on this grand spectacle, but no man with capital as yet had attempted to utilize this wonderful natural water power. The bell rang for dinner, and the party gathered to the feastt. There were luxuries prepared by the steward, and delicacies prepared by the ladies and distributed by their own hands. There were good wines in abundance, which made the crowd merry, and two hours were spent in feasting and drinking. But clouds were gathering and indicated a shower very soon, and that the party would get a drenching before they could reach the boat. The horses were urged on, and the paxty reached Min- nehaha falls as the rain began to pour down. Those in open carriages found shelter under the shelving rock, where they were secure until the storm passed over, when all returned to the steamer. The captain had invited the ofiScers and their wives from the fort to join in the dance in the evening, and all had a good time. I rode back to the steamer with Mr. Steele, and we dis- cussed more thoroughly his claim at the Falls of St. Anthony, and the improvements he wished to make on it. He wanted me to examine the claim, and, as soon as he should hear favor- ably from Hon. Caleb Gushing and other eastern capitalists forming a company for the manufacture of lumber at the falls, he wanted me to explore the upper Mississippi for pine. When the danoe was over, I bade the company good-night and the excursion party adieu, and had my baggage put ashore and removed to the hotel kept by Philander Prescott, where I tarried until I started on my exploring trip. 328 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. In the moming the steamer was gone, when Mr. Steele and I crossed the ferry at the fort and went up the east side of the Mississippi to the falls. Everything was just as nature had made it, and the scenery of the islands and river bluffs was indeed beautiful. Civilized man had seen it, but had left no evidence that it had ever been visited before. The falls looked abandoned. No new improvements could be seen any- where. A few weather-beaten buildings marked the sites of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Stillwater. At St. Croix Falls a mill and hotel had been recently built, and these were the only new improvements or new buildings in tie whole country. Benjamin Cheever, Oushing's agent, cajne from St. Croix Palls to Fort Snelling to finish up the agreement for the im- provements to be made on the Franklin Steele water-power claim at St. Anthony faJls. Cushing had written to Mr. Cheever what he would do, and that, if Mr. Steele was satis- fied, the writings should be drawn up. The conversation took place in Mr. Steele's front parlor, and the argument lasted all day. I was also present. The contention was that the claim was not adequate security for the capital necessary for the improvements, as it was on unsurveyed land, and it was settled in the following manner. Franklin Steele, of Fort SneUing, Wisconsin Territory, and Caleb Cushing, Robert Rantoul, and their associates, of Mas- sachusetts, entered into an agreement to make the improve- ments for the manufacture of pine timber at the Falls of St. Anthony, on the Steele claim on unsurveyed government land. It was agreed, between the capitalists and Mr. Steele, that, before 'the advancing of capital, the Mississippi river and its branches above the falls should be explored by me, and that a written report should be made by me of the estimated amount of pine found, and of the navigation of the river and its tributaries. On the receipt of my report, Cushing and Company were to decide on the amount of capital they would invest in the improvement for lumber manufacturing on Mr. Steele's claim. Soon after this agreement was made, Benjamin Cheever returned east, and within a year he died. His brother, Wil- liam A. Cheever, was one of the pioneers of St. Anthony, set- tling there in the same year, 1847. L.UMBEBING OiN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 329 EXPLORATION OP THE PINERIES ON THE RUM RIVER. It was near the end of summer when the outfit was in readiness for my exploring voyage. On the first day of Sep- tember, 1847, there were seen, by Pierre Bottineau and others, three men, his younger brother, Severre Bottineau, Charles Manock, and myself, paddling in a bark canoe up the east shore of the Mississippi river above St. Anthony falls. When op- posite what is now called Boom Island, we were hailed by Pierre from the shore, saying, '"How far do you expect to travel in that canoe at this low stage of water? The bottom will be out of the canoe in less than a week." We answered, "To Mille Lacs, the source of Rum river;" and the canoe and party moved on up the Mississippi. This little exploring party's report, the money consequently supplied from the east, and Franklin Steele's perseverance and unlimited will, made it possible to make the improvements on unsurveyed govern- ment land. My written report secured the capital from Caleb Cushing and his associates; and his influence in Congress se- cured the survey of the government land adjoining the falls and including this claim. The discovery by the exploring party of the almost inexhaustible pine timber above the falls of St. Anthony, heralded throughout all the states and Can- ada, brought immigration from every state, and changed this part of the territory from barbarism to civilization. When the exploring party went up the Mississippi river, half of the present state of Wisconsin was the hunting ground of the Ojibway Indians, three-fourths of what is now Minne- sota was owned by the same people, and all the area of the Dakotas was owned by the Sioux Indians. Since 1847 four states have been carved out of that territory and admitted to the Union. Returning to the exploring party in the canoe, we find them camped at the mouth of Rum river, with the timber crew that came up the road. This crew of twenty men or more were to advance with the exploring party until the first pine was discovered; and then they were immediately to pro-i ceed to hew and bank timber until the return of that party. They pushed on the second day to the head of the rapids, about fifteen miles. The canoe had to be carried a part of the 330 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. distance, the water being too shallow to float it. We camped on the bank of the river the second night, with the timber crew, and the third night in a tract of scrub pine, known aft- erward as the Dutchman's grove, about three miles northwest of the present town of Cambridge. The timber crew I located there. Our party in the canoe started on up the river to explore it all the way to Mille Lacs and see what could be found. The bottomland was wide; the growth of timber was thick, but wholly of deciduous species, with no pine; and the river was crooked. The mosquito, the gnat, and the moose-fly, met and opposed us. They were first in the flght. The battle com- menced early each morning and lasted all day. It was a bravely contested battle; for ten days the blood flowed freely. The enemy contested every foot of ground. The fight on our side was for civilization; on theirs for barbarism. When night came we crawled under the mosquito bar that was set up, where all was protected and secure for sleep. But the men were discouraged with the prolonged struggle each day, and said that it would be better to return and wait until later in the autumn, and that if we continued I would be dead in less than a week; but in the morning the canoe was moving on up the river. The third day from where we left the timber crew, I saw on the west shore a tributary which I wished to explore. We had passed over sixty miles of the meandering river course above the timber camp, and had carried the canoe for miles over jams in the river made by trunks of trees that had been washed and torn out of the bank and had floated down and filled the river. Up to this time no tracts of pine forest had been discovered. On the following morning after coming to this tributary, I started to explore it for pine. On each side, all the country was covered with pine and hardwood for miles away from the stream, as far as it was navigable. It was called the West branch of Eum river. At its mouth is norw located the town of Princeton. This branch was well timbered for more than twenty-five miles, as also were all its tributaries. The pine on each side was from three to six miles wide. Its amount could hardly be estimated until the land should be surveyed into townships and sections. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 331 We returned to the canoe and pushed on up the main river, until, about dark, we came to a small stream where we camped. The next day I explored this stream to its source, eight miles or more. There was pine on both shores. There was also pine on each side of the main river. I made it a practice to climb a tall tree every six miles when exploring, and to look from its top across the woods which reached far away in every direction. A large tributary, the most northern entering from the west, which was afterward called Bradbury brook, had the 1 finest pine I had seen. This brook, in its south and north forks, was navigable for log driving, with pine on both shores. The pine on the main river reached from the shore, on each side, as far as the eye could see from the top of the highest tree, along all its extent of fifty miles or more from the mouth of the West branch to Mille Lacs. I had seen far more pine than the company expected to find. Billions of feet of pine that grew upon the shores of Bum river and its tributaries belonged to the red man in 1847, but has since been cut and removed by the civilized paleface, whose capital and infiuence in Congress obtained from the Indian the title and possession of this land and its timber. When once stripped of the pine forest which was its wealth, the land, formerly the hunting ground of the Indians, ought to revert to its original owners, as the inheritance given them by the Great Spirit. A large part of it is worthless for agri- culture, but was a source of sustenance to the red man. Abundance of game, and thousands of bushels of wild rice, together with the sugar made from the sap of the maple trees which are found in abundance, supplied to the simple Ojibway an easy living. The annuities which our government now al- lows them do not repay half of what they relinquished in giv- 1 ing up their lands to the settler and the lumberman. When the exploring crew came to the Rice lakes, eight ' miles from Mille Lacs, the squaws had tied the rice together for threshing, and therefore the canoe could not pass through and had to be taken to the shore. We walked to Mille Lacs, which we found to be a very large body of water, too broad for one standing on the shore to see the land on its farthest side. Here we found a band of Indians and an old chief, sec- 332 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. ond in authority to Hole-in-the-Day. Tliey had planted small gardens, and seemed like half-civilized people. We were treated as braves and given plenty of game, corn, and potatoes. On the shores of the Rice lakes, which we had passed, many Indians were encamped. In the lakes, for more than six miles, they were gathering the wild rice. I had never seen that arti- cle of food before, and desired to know how it was harvested and prepared for food. When the rice is ready for gathering, it is made into bundles by drawing two or three straws around a bunch and tying them. They make lines or rows of these bunches across the lake; and each family has from two to five rows. Each has a canoe with a blanket spread in the bottom to hold the rice. The canoe is run between two rows by two squaws, and they pull the tops of the bunches of rice over the side of the canoe and pound them with a stick. In this simple way they secure large quantities of this nutritious grain. After it has been winnowed, it is prepared for packing by heating it in camp kettles over a fire until it is parched. The grain then is put into packages for storage, and it will keep for years. The packages, which the Ojibways call mokuks, are made of birch bark, and are pitched like a canoe. They hold from a half bushel to one bushel, and are stored away in the ground for winter, being covered with leaves and old bark. Fifty-four years have passed since I first dealt with the Indians. In all my experience, they have been found more true and honorable than most of the white men with whom they have come in contact on the frontier. In our return from this exploration we saw sugar maple woods, where the Indians of Mille Lacs and Bum river make a part of their yearly supply of sugar. I have since seen their sugar camps in the spring in full operation. They use the birch bark for vessels to hold the sap, and it is boiled in. their iron camp kettles. The hot syrup is strained through a blan- ket, and on cooling it granulates and makes finely flavored sugar. I smoked the pipe of peace with the Mille Lacs chief; and, in compliance with my request, he sent one of his braves with me to receive presents where we had left the canoe. I found everything in readiness to return to the timber camp, which (JALEB D. DOIUI. Minnesota Historicjaij Sociiett, Vol. IX. Plate VIII. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 333 we reached in a few days. We were badly disfigured by the mosquitoes and flies, and our necks were raw in places. Look- ing in the glass, one would have been disgusted with his ap- pearance; but I wasi overjoyed with what I had discovered. I had found far more pine timber than could reasonably be expected, and the exploration had been made in less than one month's time. I made out my report and dispatched a man to the fort to Mr. Steele, telling him that I had seen pine that seventy mills could not cut in as many years, although I had seen but a small part of it. This report went east, and an answer was returned before my arrival at the fort, as I remained with the lumbering crew for driving their logs down to St. Anthony falls. Belying on my report, Cushing, Rantoul and Company supplied to Mr. Steele $10,000 as their part of the investment here in constructing the dam, building a sawmill, and begin- ning the manufacture of lumber. LOSS OP THE FIRST LOG DRIVE. The logging crew had everything in order for the drive. The water was low, and at the beginning the flies and mos- quitoes were still abundant. We made slow progress, occu- pying nearly four weeks in reaching the Mississippi river. It was then the first of November; cold weather had come, and a storm was in the clouds. We had only a temporary boom at the mouth of the river to hold the timber, and the rope I had ordered to hold the boom had not arrived. The men were worn out, having been wadir^ in the cold water for more than a week. I had left a man to watch the progress of the storm, and to wake the crew if there should be any change. The snow was falling fast, and it was frozen on the timber in the river by the cold' wind from the north. At midnight a cry oame to the crew that the boom had broken and all the timber had gone into the Mississippi. On reaching the moTith of the riVer, I saw at a glance that all was gone, and that the main river was being covered with ice and snow. Galeb D. Dorr and John McDonald had been sent up to Swan river, after I left on the exploring trip, to get out a few pieces of large timber that I could not get on Rum river; and they had run this timber down the Mississippi and landed their raft, and were camping with my crew the night when the 334 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. boom gave way. That same eTening Mr. Dorr and myself had talked over the business, as both were engaged by the same party, and we were congratulating each other on having done more than was expected of us. The following morning all our ' bright prospects had been swept down the river. On account of this disaster I must go back and take a new start, if the new improvements were to go forward. There was no meajQS of transportation, except that which nature had given us, so we made the journey to St. Anthony on foot. When I arrived at the falls, I entered the mess house which had been built for the men who were to work on the dam and mill, and Mr. Dorr introduced me to Ard Godfrey, the mill- wright. It was evening, and after eating I asked for a place to sleep ; and when I said good night to Mr. Godfrey, I asked to see him before I should go to the fort in the morning to meet Mr. Steele. I was up early and found Mr. Godfrey ready. I asked whether there was a boat to convey us to the island. The boat was there, and very soon we landed on the island, since named for Hennepin, which divides the falls into two parts. I was anxious, on account of the loss of our logs, and said: "Mr. Godfrey, why not cut the hardwood timber here for the dam? I have built several dams in Maine out of poorer timber than this. It will cost less, and will make a better job. The plank can be had at St. Croix Falls to make it tight, and the dam' can be built this winter. Should you wait for pine timber, it will delay the improvements one year longer. It appears to me that the dam ought to be built just above the cataract, and be no more than five feet high, so that the waste water will go over it." This idea of putting the dam at the head of the waterfall was new to him, and he said that he would not build the mill if my plan was decided on, but that he could use the trees on the island for the dam. I found Mr. Steele getting ready to visit the falls, and told him what had happened, and that no one was to blame for what the elements had done. Mr. Steele said he saw the tim- ber floating past the fort and knew that all was gone, and that the improvements would have to be delayed at least one year, besides a loss of two thousand dollars, and the expense of paying the millwright while waiting unemployed. But I said to him : "Why delay building the dam and order hewed LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 335 pine for its construction, when trees enougli to build two such, dams are within a stone's throw and will cost only the work of cutting them?" It was on government land, and the round hardwood timber was equally as good as the hewed pine. Mr. Steele remarked that the plana of the dam and mill were fixed by the millwright. The construction of the dam was changed from square to round timber, and the trees for this use were cut on Hennepin island. FIRST LOGGING NEAR THE CROW WING RIVER. It was needful next to profnde the pine logs for the first year's sawing. They could not be taken out of Rum river until the stream was cleared of its driftwood. It was evi- dently better to go up the Mississippi river; and for advice in this undertaking Mr. Steele and I went to St. Paul to see Mr. Henry M. Rice. We found Mr. Rice preparing to send goods to his trading post at the mouth of the Grow Wing river. He said that he could buy the pine of Hole-in-the-Day, and would assist us all he could. The chief, he said, was a young man of twenty years and poor, and that a few presents would satisfy him. We decided, after the interview, to log somewhere up the Mississippi, but no> one knew where the pine was located. This I had to find, and then to make the best bargain I could with the chief for the standing pine. The whole outfit for logging had to come from St. Croix Falls or Stillwater. With the best arrangements that could be made, it would be December before the logging party could start, and then we must travel more than a hundred and fifty i miles with oxen, for horses could not be obtained. The road through the timber must be cut, and supplies for the men and teams must be taken along, as the roads could not be kept open during the winter for that long distance. All must be ready to start in less than three weeks. Everything had to be hunted up and got together, as the teams, sleds, eto. I proposed that, before going back, we should look for teams, the most essential part of onr logging outfit. Mr. Steele hired a conveyance, and we started on the road to Stillwater. All the farms were in the area extending from St. Paul and Still- water south to Point Douglas. Within two days we visited them, and had secured all the teams needed for logging, a 336 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. few sleds for the supplies, and several men. In less than two weeks we had the outfit completed for the winter's work of lumbering. It was the first of December when we started, and snow was on the ground. The procession consisted of teams of two or four oxen, and horses, mules, and ponies, with supplies to feed the men and teams until spring. Our intention was to stop at night wherever we could find water for our teams. About ten days after we left St. Anthony falls, we made a temporary camp at the mouth of the Nokasippi river, opposite to where Port Ripley was afterward built. I left the teams and men at this camp and went forward on a pony to the Orow Wing river, where Mr. Rice had his trading post. I found him there, and he told me that I could make a bargain with the chief, to whom he had spoken about cutting pine logs on his land, but that he had not ascertained where they should be cut or at what price. I also sought an interview with Mr. Allan Morrison, who had lived at Crow Wing as a trader many years. His wife was a half-breed Ojibway, and he was Hole-in-the-Day's ad- viser. Mr. Steele, being acquainted with Mr. Morrison, had given me a letter to him when I started. He looked the letter over, and then said, "You can take your meals with us, and I will do what I can with the chief, to help Mr. Steele." I told him that my teams, with thirty men, would be there the next day, and that I desired to have a talk with the chief at once, because I had to locate the logging party after finding where the timber was. Mr. Morrison sent for Hole-in-the-Day, and it was decided that the talk should take place at Mr. Rice's store the next morning. Mr. Morrison spoke of presents. I had not pro- vided any, but told him that he could offer a pony and some blankets, to be given when I was located, if the price for the pine was reasonable. The chief came the next morning, and Mr. Morrison was the interpreter. I told him that the great Ogema at the falls of St. Anthony wanted to buy some pine trees to bnild a mill and to make improvements, and that I had come a long dis- tance to see him about it. He said he had vast pine woods farther up toward Leech lake. I inquired whether he would LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 337 sell me the pine close west of the Mississippi about four miles below Crow Wing river, and asked the price per tree for what I could cut and haul. Mr. Morrison and the chief had a talk together, and then the chief said that he wanted five pairs of blankets, some calico, and broadcloth; that the price of the pine trees would be fifty cents for each tree hauled to the river; and that he wished the additional present of a pony the next * spring. This seemed an exorbitant price, but I told him that when I found the pine and saw how large the trees were, I would give him an answer, and that I wanted the privilege of exploring without being molested. This was agreed upon, and we parted to meet again at the end of a week. Examining the pine timber below the mouth of the Crow Wing river, and finding a plenty for the winter's hauling within one mile from the Mississippi, I selected a place to build the camp, and then went to get the teams and men and to set them at work building the camp and stables. The next day we all were on the ground and began the work for our winter's logging. Then I retnrned to Crow Wing to close the bargain for the timber. I met Mr. Eice and Mr. Morrison and told them that the timber was small and not very good, and that fifty cents a tree was all I could pay for the privilege of removing it. I would let Hole-in-the-Day have what he wanted for pres- ents, but the amount they cost me should be deducted from what was due to him in the spring. I would advance the goods, and he could get them from Mr. Rice when he wanted them. The chief's father, the older Hole-in-the-Day, had been killed less than a year before, and all the old chief left had been used in lamentation. About five hundred Indians were camping on the island at the mouth of the Crow Wing river, and they had but little to eat or to wear. Morrison sent f ot the chief, and in less than an hour my proposition was ac- cepted. Some provisions of food were added to what was to be advanced in payment. It was agreed that Mr. Morrison should draw up the writings for the chief of the Ojibway na- tion, who therein guaranteed that none of his people should oamp within one mile of our camp, or should commit any dep- redations or prevent in any way my removing the pine from the land. 338 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. After the papers were signed, I returned to my camp, well pleased with what I had accomplished. I sent the supply teams home, and wrote to Mr. Steele what I had done. The camp went up with a rush, and in ten days the teams were hauling logs. We had a good winter for the business and put in one and a half million feet of logs, besides timber for a mile and a half of boom. We had very little trouble with the Indians during the win- ter. On one occasion an Indian put up his tepee in the night within a stone's throw of the camp. The next morning, when the teamster was hitching up his team, the Indian said, "If you don^t give me some meat, I will kill an ox and get some." I told young Bottiueau, who was interpreter, to command him to leave, and to threaten, if he refused, that we would have his scalp. Bottineau took the cook's poker and struck him just as he was about to fire. He knocked the Indian down, and the gun flew out of his hands. The squaw came to his rescue, but the whole crew by this time were out of the camp and ready to take a part in the row. I requested Bottineau to hold the Indian, but not to hurt him, and to tell the squaw to pack up and leave at once. She left with her papoose in double quick time. I reported the Indian's conduct to the chief, and we had no more trouble. Near the end of the winter, some braves, numbering about twenty, had been out on the warpath for the purpose of pun- ishing the Sioux. They had killed an old squaw, and returned with her scalp. They came into our camp about midnight, and commenced dancing around the camp-fire. The crew, awakened by their howling noise, were alarmed, and each se- cured some weapon to defend himself. When the Indians saw that we were all armed, they stopped their racket. Bottineau asked them what they wanted. They said that they were hun- gry, and he told them to sit down and the cook would feed them. After eating, they left for Crow Wing, without making any further disturbance. We had no other difSculties with the Indians during the winter. EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER STREAMS AND LAKES. Late in February, Mr. Rice had arranged to visit his trad- ing posts on Leech lake and other lakes at the sources of the Mississippi. I wished to finish my explorations before March, LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 339 and therefore I arranged to accompany him. I had received very important information from Mr. Morrison, who knew the lakes and rivers, and had seen the pine growing upon their shores. But I wanted to explore the country myself, and to estimate its amount of pine timber. We started on snow- shoes, and had two packers to carry the supplies and the lug- gage for camping. I found pine in abundance on the traJl, and at every trading post gathered all the information the traders could give me. I took notes of the location of pine woods on the lakes and on the main river and its tributaries. All this information led me to believe, and to report to Caleb Gushing, that the pine on the upper waters of the Mis- sissippi would last for several generations to come. As more than fifty years have since passed, this prediction is being proved true. The exploration that I had engaged to do for Steele and Gushing was thus completed shortly before the end of our work of cutting logs. On the first of March I broke camp, and with part of the crew started for St. Anthony, leaving the remain- der of the crew to prepare for the drive. GROWTH OF THE TOWN OF ST. ANTHONY. I found that the dam at St. Anthony falls was finished, with the exception of planking. Mr. Godfrey had pushed the work, intending to have the dam closed in before the rise of the water from the snow melting in the spring. There were other improvements and many newcomers. Proceeding to Fort Snelling, I found Mr. Steele severely ill at this time of my return, early in March, 1848; and in business for Mm and myself I went onward to Dubuque and Galena. For Mr. Steele I visited Galena bankers, previously Known to me, by whom he received two remittances of |5,000 each from Gushing and Gompany, their investment for lum- ber manufacturing at St. Anthony. When I came back, early in June, many other newcomers had arrived in St. Anthony, with their families, to make this place their home. New houses were being built on the corner lots, and the town had put on a domestic appearance. Sum- ner W. Farnham was making arrangements for his people, who arrived that fall. There was a continued and large immigra- tion until winter. 340 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL. SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. Among the immigrants were Luther Patch and his fam- ily. His eldest daughter, Marian, was married to Eoswell P. Eussell, October 3d, 1848. This was the first wedding in St. Anthony, and I had the honor of being present. They had done considerable fishing on a large rock below the falls, which was a very romantic place to talk over matters in which the two were most interested. The decision they made that au- tumn was for a life together, which has proven one of peace and happiness. They and their children have been a blessing to all with whom they have been associated. The first sawmill that the company built began to saw lumber September 1st, 1848, just one year from the time when the exploring party in the little canoe started up the Missisi- sippi to estimate its supply of pine. Following that explora- tion, the town was surveyed and lots were placed on sale. The real estate ofSce and the lumber office were together. Later in the autumn a gang sawmill and two shingle mills were to be erected, to be ready for business in the spring of 1849. Sumner W. Pamham ran the first sawmill during that autiiunn, until he took charge of one of my logging parties in the winter. As soon as the mill started, it was run night and day in order to supply enough lumber for the houses of im- migrants, who were pouring in from the whole country. There was life put into every enterprise. The houses had to be built of green lumber; and all merchandise came from St. Paul, or from the store of Franklin Steele at the fort. Dry lumber was hanled from Stillwater to finish the buildings. Both common and skilled laborers were scarce, as the mill company employed all they could possibly work on their im- provements. Before Governor Ramsey proclaimed the organ- ization of the Territory of Minnesota, June 1st, 1849, a busy town had grown up, called St. Anthony, buUt mostly by New England immigrants, and presenting the appearance of a thriv- ing New England village. When river navigation opened in 1849, on the first boats, immigration came in small armies. Every boat was full of passengers. The sawmills were all running to supply lumber to build houses for the newcomers, and this was continued through all the year, as long as navigation lasted. About half of the immigrants stopped at St. Paul. Both towns doubled in houses and families. 'm, ' ' ''//"//j'wf SUMNEll W. FARNHAM. Minnesota Historical Societt, Vol. IX. Plate IX. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 34I In the same year, 1849, I built a store at St. Anthony, and put in a general stock of goods; and Anson Northup com- menced to build the St. Charles hotel, which lie finished the next year. In 1848 he had built the American House in St. Paul. He was one of the most enterprising and generous men that I ever knew, always accommodating and hospitable. He built the first hotels for transient people both in St. Paul and St. Anthony. It took money to make these improvements, and he always had the money or knew where he could procure it to carry on the work. OUTFITS FOR LUMBERING REPAID BY LOGS. The firm of Borup and Oakes, in St. Paul, furnished sup- plies to many of the early lumbermen, and took logs in pay- ment. In 1856 they ran many rafts of logs to St. Louis. As surveyor general that year, I scaled over six million feet of logs for them. Their store in St. Paul was a branch of the ) immense business of Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Co., of St. Louis. ' John S. Prince, of St. Paul, also supplied outfits for lum- bering, and in payment received logs for sawing in his mill, which was situated just below the steamboat landing. He was the first to manufacture lumber in St. Paul. Merchants of that city sold supplies to logging companies; but scarcely any St. Paul men engaged in lumbering in the woods, and only a few were lumber manufacturers. Most of the lum!ber used for buildings in St. Paul came from the St. Anthony mill company. Nearly all the money that came into the country consisted | * of government annuities paid to the Indians. It passed into the hands of the Indian traders, who had it all promised be- fore the government made the payment. My store, built and stocked with goods in 1849, was the largest then in St. An- thony, and I had no Indian trade to pay for the goods sold. I had to take logs as payment and ran them to the lower mar- kets, as did Borup and Oakes, to get money to purchase goods. It required one year to get cash returns for goods after they were delivered, and sometimes two years. LUMBERING ON THE RUM RIVER AND ITS WEST BRANCH. Having made a contract with Cushing and Steele, in the autumn of 1848, to stock all their mills with logs for two years, 342 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. I went up Rum river to explore the second time. On a trib- utary which enters this river from the northeast about four miles north of the present town of Cambridge, I found a small lake and good white pine on every side. This was afterward called Lower Stanchfleld brook. I logged there two years, which was the first lumbering upon a large scale on Rum river. A part of the lumber for building Port Snelling, however, had been cut on the same lake; for we found on its shore the remains of an old logging camp that had been there many years. In its vicinity pine trees had been cut and taken away, and the stumps had partially decayed. Logging had also been done at the same early date in the Dutchman's grove, where my party in the autumn of 1847 got the logs designed for building the St. Anthony dam. This grove was on the south- west side of the river, about midway between the Lower and Upper Stanchfield brooks, which come from the opposite side. I built two camps for the winter of 1848, and then returned to St. Anthony to hire men and to secure teams and supplies. Sumner W. Farnham was the foreman of one camp, as pre- viously noted; and one of my brothers, Samuel Stanchfield, was foreman for the other. The two camps put in two and a half million feet of logs that winter. Some of the men iu' camp were from Maine, including Sumner W. and SUas M. Farnham, Charles W. Stimpson, and others whose names I have forgotten. My brother Samuel was in later years one of the prominent lumbermen of St Anthony, having in 1856 pur- chased my store and logging business. In 1849 I put in the logs of my contract for the mill com- pany mostly on the Upper Stanchfield brook. Joseph E. Brown put in logs on the same stream, over one million feet. The two drives in the spring of 1850 went down the river to- gether. During the year 1850, the jams and rafts of driftwood in the upper part of the course of Rum river were cleared out by S. W. Farnham and O. W. Stimpson, making the river nav- igable for logs from its source. The West branch was cleared afterward, within the same year. Logs were cut on both branches and on their tributaries in 1850, and over six million feet were driven to St. Anthony, and were there sawed by the mill company. Other logs went LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 343 belaw to the St. Paul boom, for markets farther down the river. The St. Anthony mills had two gangs and three single saws running this year, besides two shingle mills. The earli- est settlement of the part of Minneapolis that first bore this name, on the west side of the river, was in this year 1850. During the next winter I cut about two million feet of logs. There were eight parties, under different proprietors, engaged in lumbering on the Tipper Mississippi that winter; and alto- gether about 8,800,000 feet of logs were driven the next spring to St. Anthony and Minneapolis. These logs were manufac- tured by the mill company, and the lumber was mostly sold in these rival towns and in St. Paul for building. The im- migration in 1851 was nearly twice as large as the year before. In the winter of 1851-52 my lumbering parties cut, for driving the next spring, three million feet of logs; and the total product of logs that season from the Bum river pineries, driven to St. Anthony by all the lumbermen, was over eleven millions. A part of this amount went over the falls and was rafted at the St. Paul boom, going to the lower markets. In 1853 the logs driven from Rum river and its West branch amounted to over 23,000,000 feet. In 1854 the product was nearly 33,000,000 feet; and the next year it exceeded thirty-six million. More than half the logs cut in the winter of 1855-'56 went over the St. Anthony falls, on account of the breaking of the boom above the falls in the spring of 1856. The logs were scattered down the river, some going into the "Cave boom" above St. Paul, some into "Pig's Eye slough," and others into the head of Lake Pepin. About twenty mil- lion feet of these runaway logs were collected, rafted, and sold in the southern markets. In 1856, I was appointed surveyor general of logs for the second district, comprising Minneapolis and the upper Mis- sissippi; and under the law I was forbidden to cut or manu- facture lumber during my term of office. From 1856 to 1859, there were many improvements in lumber manufacturing, and more mills were added to those previously running. There was a steady increase in the yearly cut and drive of logs until 1857, when they exceeded forty-four million feet. Up to that date, nearly all the logging was on the Bum river and its tributaries. 344 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. RELATION OF LUMBERING TO AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. A later part of this paper gives the statistics of the logs cut in all the region drained by the Mississippi above Minne- apolis, for each year from 1848 to 1899, yielding aggregate wealth of seventy-five million dollars. The gold received for the manufactured lumber contributed in a very large degree to the agricultural and commercial development of Minnesota and the two Dakotas. The farmers, who had at first sup- plied only the lumbermen with grain and flour, soon found, by steamboats and railways, more distant markets for their surplus grain, which made their farming profitable. This brought a great agricultural immigration. Its first start was mainly on account of needs of the lumbermen for provisions to feed their teams and themselves in the pine woods, in log driving, and in lumber manufacturing. The first great gold mine of the Northwest was its pine i timber, which was taken from the red man almost without compensation. From the upper Mississippi region, above the falls of St. Anthony, it has yielded twelve billion feet of lum- ber, having a value, at the places where it was sawn, of not less than $75,000,000. This great lumber industry, more than all our other resources, built up the cities and towns on the upper Mississippi and its tributaries, at these falls and north- ward. INCIDENTS DURING EXPLORATION AND LOGGING. Two or three incidents may be related to show some of the dangers and hardships of pioneer exploration and lum- bering fifty years ago. In an exploring trip on the Rum river, I had spent three weeks aJone, running lines and estimating timber for entries at the government land office. When re- turning, at a point near the Mississippi above Anoka, I was surrounded by a band of Ojibways, led by Hole-in-the-Day. The first I saw of them, they were in a curved line, like the shape of a new moon, running toward me. In a minute I was surrounded by more than a hundred threatening redskins with their faces painted for war. But as soon as Hole-in-the-Day made himself known, I had no fear of them, because I had had friendly business relations with him, as before narrated. We shook hands, and I opened my pack, which had very little LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 345 in it. The chief said that he was on the hunt for Sioux, but had seen none. We parted as friends; he went for game, and I continued on my journey home. At another time, I was again returning home from ex- ploring alone, and it had been raining all day. When it began to grow dark, I looked for my matches to build a fire, and found them so damp that they would not light. Wolves were howling in the distance, and I knew that something must be done before long, as they seemed to be coming nearer all the time. I looked' around for a tall tree, and, finding one that I thought would serve, I took my pack and ax and climbed up nearly to its top. The wolves soon began to come around tie foot of the tree. It had grown colder, and the rain froze to form ice on the limbs, making them very slippery. I ar- ranged the limbs so that I could sit as comfortable as pos^ sible under the circumstances, and wrapped my blankets around me, which gave some protection from the cold. The wolves howled and fought with each other around the foot of the tree all night; but I felt safe, knowing that the tree was so large they could not gnaw it with their teetii. At the approach of morning they scattered, and as soon as it was light I climbed down and started on again toward St. An- thony. In the winter of 1850, one of my lumber camps was burned, together with my supplies, and I had to hasten to St. Anthony and the fort for more supplies. During my return to the camp, walking forward alone in advance of the team, I was met in the thick brush by a pack of wolves. The road was narrow and crooked, and they filled it completely. I yelled at them and lifted my ax high in the air, going toward them. They began to scatter into the brush, and soon left plenty of room for me to pass b^'tween them unmolested; and they looked at me until a turn m the road screened me from their view. Had I taken the opposite direction and turned to es- cape, they would probably have made a meal of me before the team would have reached me, as it was a mile back. I hurried forward at a double quick pace until I reached the river, a mile aiead, where we camped for the night. The wolves howled around us all night, but were shy of the fire and the teams. 346 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. CHANGES IN THIS INDUSTRY SINCE FIFTY YEARS AGO. My apprenticeship for lumbering was in my native state, Maine, during the years 1837 to 1844. Most of our Minnesota lumbermen, and many settlers in our pine region, came from that state, and are therefore often called "Mainites." The methods of lumbering in the Maine woods in 1830 to 1850 were transferred to Wisconsin and Minnesota. The logging party built their camp early in the fall, and then cut the main logging roads, which had to be straight, twelve or more feet wide, smooth, and level. Whole trees, trimmed of their branches, were hauled, the bark being re- moved from the under side so that it would slip easily on the snow. One end of the tree trunk was loaded on a bob- sled, the other i)art being dragged along. In this way the tree was taken to the landing on the shore of the lake or river, where it was rolled off the sled and the sawyers cut it into logs, cutting a mark of ownership on the side of each log. The logs were then ready for the drivers, in the spring, to roll them into the water. • - The old camp, as it used to be built in Maine and at the beginning of lumbering in Minnesota, was ample but very handy. Two large trees, of the full length of the camp, were procured and placed about twenty feet apart, and two base logs were cut for the ends. Each end was run up to a peak like the gable of a house, but each side slanted up as a roof, from the long base tree at the ground, to the ridge-pole. This roof, constructed with level stringers, was shingled. A chim- ney, measuring about four by six feet, formed of round poles and calked, was buUt in the middle of the roof, and the Are was directly underneath it in the middle of the room. Six stones were arranged, three at one end and three at the other, as the flre-place, on which the logs, about eight feet long, were laid and burned. Between the two rows of stones a hole was dug, and when filled with live coals it was a fine oven for cooking meat or for baking beans or bread. Benches of hewn planks were built beside the fire, and thence ex- tended the entire length of the camp. The places for sleeping were back of the benches, being next to the wall, and the bed consisted of fir boughs laid on the ground. A pole fastened horizontally in the chimney served as a crane to hang the LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 347 kettles on for cooking. A cellar was dug near the front of the camp; and a table was made at the rear end, opposite the door. This describes the average lumber camp of the Minnesota pineries during the early years, from 1847 to 1860. The modern logging outfit is different. Two bob-sleds are placed one behind the other, and are fastened by two chains crossed in the center. With a tackle and fall, logs are rolled up and loaded on these sleds, sometimes to the height of ten feet. Horses or oxen are used on the tackle, and a load takes from four to ten thousand feet of logs. It is made possible to draw these very heavy loads by icing the ruts of the logging roads. At the beginning of the logging season, and occasionally afterward, whenever snow- storms or continued wearing make it needful, water tanks on runners are drawn along the roads, supplying a small stream at each side. The resulting narrow courses of ice bear up the sleds under the great weight. The manner of felling the trees also shows an important change from the old methods. Instead of chopping them down with axes, as was formerly done, they are sawed off at the stump. Temporary lumbering camps of the present time, for use during one or two winters, are warmly built log-houses with perpendicular sides, well supplied with windows, and are in many other respects better than when I began logging on the Mississippi and Rum rivers. The more permanent camps have partitions dividing them into a kitchen, dining-room, and sitting-room, on the main floor, with bedrooms upstairs. The sitting-room is heated by a large stove, and the kitchen has the best and largest modem cooking range. In a single camp fifty choppers and teamsters may be comfortably lodged. They eat breakfast and supper at the camp, going to their work, often two miles away, before light in the short days of winter, and returning after dark. They are provided with abundant and well prepared food, for which their hard manual labor gives a keen appetite. LUMBERMEN OP ST. ANTHONY AND MINNEAPOLIS PRIOR TO 1860. The pioneer lumbermen of the upper Mississippi region, who were engaged in our great logging and lumber manu- 348 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. faoturing industries before the Civil war, are named in the following list, with dates of their coining to St. Anthony or IMlnneapolis. It will be remembered that these two towns or cities, on opposite sides of the Mississippi, were not united ' under the latter name until the year 1872. The dates given for firms and companies indicate the year of beginning of their work in lumbering. A few residents of St. Paul, as Borup and Oakes, and John S. Prince, having business interests in St. Anthony and Minneapolis, are also included, with the earliest years of accounts of their logs in the surveyor's rec- ords. With nearly all whose names appear in this list, I was personally acquainted. Only very few of them are left with me to the present time. They well performed their work as founders of Minnesota and of its largest city. The list is compiled from the records of the surveyor gen- eral's office. It comprises more than a hundred names of individuals and firms. They are arranged in the chronologic order of their coming to live at Minneapolis, or, in connection with firms and companies, of their first engaging in business here. In some instances a residence of a few years in Min- neapolis preceded the appearance of the name in the surveyor's records. Franklin Steele and Roswell P. Russell had lived a long time previously within the limits of the present state of Minnesota, having come respectively in 1837 and 1839 to Fort Snelling. Each proprietor or firm used a special mark to designate their logs for separate accounts and payments, when the logs of many different owners were mixed together in the booms and drawn out for sawing, or when they were rafted together for sale to southern manufacturers. 1847. Caleb D. Dorr. Franklin Steele, Caleb Cashing, and Ard Godfrey. Co. Koswell P. Russell. Charles W. Stimpson. Daniel Stanchfield. Calvin A. Tnttle. 1848. Joseph B. Brown. John Bollins. Silas M. Famham. Samuel Stanchfield. Summer W. Famham. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 349 1849. Reuben Bean. Kufus Farnham. Isaac Gilpatrick. John Jackins. Isaac E. Lane. Silas Lane. James A. Lennon. John G. Lennon. James McMuUeu. John W. North. Anson Northnp. Joseph P. Wilson. 1850. Joel B. Bassett. Henry Chambers. Thomas Chambers. Charles Chute. Richard Chute. Gordon Jackins. William Jackins. 1851. John Berry. Mark T. Berry. John T. Blaisdell. Robert Blaisdell. George A. Camp. Dan S. Day. William Hanson. F. G. Mayo and Brothers. Frank Rollins. Henry T. Welles. J. W. Day. Joseph Day. Leonard Day. Joseph Libbey. Marshall and Co. Benjamin Soule. 1852. Russell, Gray and Co. Ensign Stanchfield. 1853. 1854. A. M. Fridley. McKenzie and Estes. D. W. Marr. Stanchfield and Co. Ambrose Tourtelotte. 1855. F. C. Barrows. Borup and Oakes. Camp and Reynolds. Chapman and Co. John Dudley. Farnham and Stimpson. Gray and Libbey. Jackson and Blaisdell. Jewett and Chase. James A. Lovejoy. Stephen Lovejoy. Mcintosh and Estes. McEnight and King. John Martin. Clinton Morrison. Dorilus Morrison. David Nichols. John S. Pillsbury. Stanchfield and Brown. Daniel Stimpson. Tourtelotte and Co. George Warren and Co. Welles and Co. 350 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 1856. Ames, Howell and Co. Ames and Hoyt. John Banfil. Daniel Bassett. Cathcart and Co. Josiah H. Chase. L. P. Chase. Robert Christie. Farnham and Co. Gray and Leighton. John G. Howe. James McCann. W. H. Chamberlain. William W. McNair. Jonathan Chase. W. E. Jones. Richard J. Mendenhall. Morrison and Tourtelotte. S}lias Moses. W. M. Nesmith. Olmstead and Ames. John S. Prince. Rotary Mill Co. I. Sanford. Stanchfield and McCormack. William A. Todd. Woodbury and Co. Ivory F. Woodman. 1857. William D. Washburn. Wensinger and Co. 1858 (none added). 1859. Orlando C. Merriman. Early Lumber Manufacturing Above Minneapolis. In 1860, business reverses and the death of my wife and children caused me to remove from Minneapolis, and after a year of travel I settled in Davenport, Iowa, There I again married and engaged ia the lumber trade until 1889, when I returned to Minneapolis, to spend my declining years in the city whose first growth and earliest industries sprang from my exploration of the Upper Mississippi pineries. It is not proposed, therefore, to extend this history beyond the year 1860, excepting as it is partly given in biographic sketches and in the tables of statistics. Joseph Libbey, who came to St. Anthony with his family early in 1851, was the first to cut and haul logs above the junc- tion of the Crow Wing and Mississippi rivers. Several years passed before any other lumberman went so far north, the next being Asa Libbey. When the best pineries adjoining the Rum river began to be exhausted, the loggers went up the Mis- sissippi to Pine and Gull rivers and many other streams form- ing its headVaters, which I had partly explored in February, 1848, predicting that the timber supply in that region would far outlast a generation. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 351 Within the subsequent period of more than fifty years, logging and lumber manufacturing have been developed be- yond any extent which could then be expected. Eailroads for lumbering have been built, during the last ten years, in the large district reaching north from Brainerd to Leech, Cass, and Bemidji lakes, and also northward from the mouths of Swan and Deer rivers, to bring the timber of areas many miles distant from any stream capable of floating and driving logs ; and, in some instances, after the country has been stripped of its merchantable pine, the rails of long lines and branches have been taken up to be laid again for the same use in other belts of pine forest on and near the principal watersheds. Large districts have yielded all or nearly all their available pine timber; but some extensive tracts of this most valuable timber yet remain. In the progress of railroad logging, prob- ably the pine supply of the Upper Mississippi region will con- tinne many years; and its resources of excellent hardiwood timber, well adapted for building, furniture, and a very wide range of wood manufacturing, almost wholly neglected to the present time, seem practically inexhaustible. During the period preceding the Civil War, lumber manu- facturing was begun, on a small scale, in Anoka, Elk River, St. Cloud, and Little Falls, besides numerous smaller towns and settlements, some of which, as Wata.b and Granite City, existed only a few years. In the winter of 1853-'54 the first dam and sawmill at An- oka were built by Caleb and W. H. Woodbury. In 1860 this water-power and sawmill were bought by James McCann, the mill having then only one sash-saw, with a capacity of 6,000 feet of lumber daily. Other early sawmills in Anoka county included one built in 1854 by Charles Peltier on the Clearwater creek near Cen- terville, which was operated during five years; a large steam sawmill built by Starkey and Pettey® in 1857 at their village of Columbus, in the present township of this name, but this mill was burned after a few years and the village disappeared;, and a mill at St. Francis, built in 1855 by Dwight Woodbury. In Sherburne county, Ard Godfrey and John G. Jameson built the first dam and sawmill, in 1851, at the rapids of the Elk river, where four years later the village of Orono was sur- 352 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. veyed and platted, now forming the western part of the town of Elk Eiver. This mill had only a single sash-saw, and was capable of sawing about 3,000 feet daily. In Princeton a steam sawmill was built in 1856 by William F. Dunham and others; and a sawmill run by water-power was built by Samuel Ross in 1858. Their daily capacity, re- spectively, was about 6,000 feet and 3,000 feet. At Monticello two large steam sawmills were built in 1855 and 1856, each having a daily capacity of about 25,000 feet The first was operated many years, but the second was burned in 1858, and was never rebuilt. At Clearwater a dam and sawmill were built in 1856, but were washed away by a flood when nearly ready to begin saw- ing. The next year a second sawmill on the Clearwater river, a mile above the former, was built by Herman Woodworth; and in 1858 a steam sawmill was erected by Frank Morrisan on or near the site of the first mill. Each of these later mills continued in operation about twenty years. At St. Cloud, one of the earliest enterprises was the erec- tion of a steam sawmill in 1855 by a company consisting of J. P. Wilson, George F. Brott, H. T. Welles and C. T. Steams. It was burned and was rebuilt the next year. Its site was that of the Bridgman upper mill. In 1857, Raymond and Owen erected their first factory for making doors, sash, and blinds, which was carried away by ice in 1862, but was rebuilt the same year. The old village of Watab, which was platted in 1854 and flourished during several years but was afterward abandoned, situated on the Mississippi in Benton county, about four miles north of Sauk Rapids, had a steam sawmill, which was built in 1856 by Place, Hanson, and Clark. In Morrison county, the first sawmill was built at Little Falls by James Green, in 1849, and was operated by different owners until 1858, when it was washed away. Extensive out- lay was made by the Little Falls Manufacturing Company, during the years 1856 to 1858, in building a dam and mills; but they were destroyed by a flood in the summer of 1860. Near the mouth of Swan river, on the west side of Pike rapids, Anson Northup built a steam sawmill in 1856, and operated it two years. On the Skunk river, in the east part of this LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 353 county, at a distance of nearly twenty miles from Little Falls, a steam sawmill and, a considerable village, called Granite City, were built in 1858 and ensuing years; but the site was abandoned at the time of the Indian outbreak in 1862, and was never reoccupied. Northward from Morrison county, the present large devel- opment of lumber manufacturing at Brainerd, Aitkin, and other places on the Northern Pacific railroad, which was built through this region in 1870 and 1871, belongs to a period con- siderably later than that which is the theme of this paper. More recent lines of railway, in several instances constructed chiefly or solely for their use in lumbering, with numerous large sawmills and a vast yearly production of manufactured lumber, are situated yet farther north within the Mississippi drainage area. The continuation of this subject, however, must be left for other and younger writers. Let those who have shared in the great expansion of the lumber industry during the later period narrate its steps of advance, as I have attempted to give the records of the early time which included my explora- tion and work. Biographic Sketches. Among those who were my associates in the years 1847 to 1860, Severre Bottineau and Charles Manock are well remem- bered as companions of travel by canoe and afoot during the earliest years when I was cruising through the pineries of Bum river and the upper waters of the Mississippi. The de- termination of the areas occupied by pine timber available for logging, and the estimation of the amounts that would be yielded from different tracts on the many streams of that great region, led many others also to prospect or cruise in search of the most desirable areas for lumbering. This was my principal work during a large part of each year up to the time of my appointment as surveyor general of logs and lum- ber. It was the custom of the cruiser to supply himself with some provisions, a blanket, a rifle or shotgun with pleniy of ammunition, and a good stock of matches to start the nightly campfire, and then to go alone, or with one or two comrades, into the pathless forests, there to collect the information and 23 354 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. estimates needed, remaining weeks or sometimes even months in the woods, and subsisting mostly on game, fish, and berries. Manock was hired to accompany my first expedition for his aid as a hunter, and we seldom lacked an abundance of wild meat. He was a good cook, and always performed the usual work of preparing the camp and meals. Severre Bottineau, as previously noted, was a younger brother of Pierre, the well known guide. He was a stout and athletic fellow, accustomed to the hardships of exploring. His acquaintance with four languages, French, English, Ojib- way, and Dakota, made him very serviceable in my dealings i; with the Indians. It should be added, too, that both Manock 'and Bottineau were mixed-bloods, thoroughly understanding the temperament, inclinations, andi usages, of the two great tribes or nations of red men who then occupied and owned nearly all of what is now Minnesota. Young Bottineau, in- telligent, friendly, fond of conversation, and always good-na- tured, was my companion during all the first year, until Sep- tember, 1848. It would be a pleasure to me to write further of these men, but I am unable to do so, or even to state whether either of them may be still living. There are many among the hundred or more who were en- gaged in lumbering here during those early years of whom I would wish to write my high appreciation and friendship; but the proper limits of the present paper forbid this, even if the biographic information for so many of the old pioneers were sufficiently known to me. Six of them, however, I may be permitted to select, namely, Franklin Steele, Caleb D. Dorr, Sumner W. Farnham, John Martin, Dorilus Morrison, and John S. Pillsbury, in the chronologic order of their coming to Minnesota, of whom short biographic sketches, with portraits, are placed here to give, by these examples, a view of the ster- ling integrity, business sagacity, and indomitable energy and perseverance, which characterized the pioneer lumbermen of our North Star State. Franklin Steele was bom in Chester county, Pennsylvania, May 12th, 1813. At the age of twenty-four years, in 1837, he came to Fort Snell- ing, and thence went to the St. Croix falls and took a land LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPL 355 claim, building a log cabin to secure ownership of the water- power there. In 1838 he received a federal appointment as sutler of Fort Snelling. In April, 1843, he was married, in Bal- timore, to Miss Anna Barney, a granddaughter of Commodore Barney of the United States Navy, and also, by her mother, of Samuel Chase, one of the Maryland signers of the Declara- tion of Independence. The part taken by Mr. Steele in the improvement of the water-power at the falls of St. Anthony, and in the early development of logging' and manufacturing lumber here, has been noted in the foregoing pages. In 1851 he was elected by the legislature as one of the first Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota; and by his gifts and personal interest he aided largely in establishing and sustain- ing this institution. In 1854 he built a suspension bridge con- necting St. Anthony and Minneapolis, which was the first bridge to span the Mississippi in any part of its course from lake Itasca to its mouth. In 1862 he was active to aid the settlers who had been driven from their homes by the Sioux outbreak and massacre. To the close of his life, September 10th, 1880, he was one of the most eminent and public-spirited citizens of his adopted state. Mr. Steele began the utilization of the falls of St. Anthony, and lived to see the city which he BO largely aided to found there grow to have 48,000 people. Another has justly written, "His life was i>ecullarly unselfisl^, and largely devoted to the prosecution of public measures, of which others have chiefly reaped the benefits." Caleb D. Dorr was bom at East Great Works (now Bradley), in Penobscot county, Maine, July 9th, 1824. He had worked several years in the pineries of the Penobscot river, cutting and driving logs, before he came to St. Anthony in the autumn of 1847, arriving here October 1st. He was employed mainly during 1848 in the construction of the first dam and sawmill of Steele, Cushlng, and Company, at the falls of St. Anthony; and in the spring and summer of that year he built the first boom above the falls. Late in the autumn of 1847 he had cut pine in the vicinity of Little Palls and Swan river, intended for the St. Anthony dam and boom; and in 1848 he ran the first rafta and drives of logs from the upper Mississippi river to St. An- 356 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. thony, which my loggiBg crew had cut during the preceding winter, as narrated in an earlier part of this paper. On the 4th of March, 1849, in a visit east after his first year in Minne- sota, he married Oelestia A. Bicker of Maine. Mr. Dorr brought the first machine used at St. Anthony for making shingles, in 1850. During many years he was one of the principal lumbermen of the upper Mississippi, cutting logs chiefly on the Bum river. In 1866 he accepted the office of boom master, and held it many years. He is still living in Minneax>olis, where he has held numerous positions of honor and trust, one of the earliest being as an alderman in the first city council of St. Anthony, in 1858. Sumner W. Farnham was born in Calais, Maine, April 2nd, 1820. His father was a surveyor of logs and lumber on the St. Croix river, which forms the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, and the son inherited a strong inclination for the lumber business. At the age of fourteen years he began work with his father about the sawmills, and four years later went into the pine woods to cut logs on his own account. In 1840 he bought a sawmill, and ran it four years. In September, 1847, he left Calais and came west After examining the lumbering pros- pects of eastern Michigan and wintering in the lead-mining region of southwestern Wisconsin, he arrived at Stillwater in the spring of 1848. He was at first employed in logging by his friend, John McKusick, who had previously come from the same part of Maine. On the way up the Mississippi, the steamer which brought Mr. Farnham had been pushed ashore by a gale, with drifting ice, near the site of Lake City, and there I first met him, aiding the captain in his endeavors to get the boat again into the water. This was while I was on my way to Galena, partly for the business of Mr. Steele in relation to capital supplied from the east for the improvements at St. Anthony Falls. The next winter Mr. Farnham went into the woods of Bum river as foreman of one of my logging camps. In the next two summers, he did the greater part of the work of clearing this river of its driftwood, opening it for log-driv- ing from its upper tributaries. During 1850 and several ensuing years, Mr. Farnham was very profitably engaged in logging and lumber manufacturing. JOHN MARTIN. MI^fNESOTA HisTonicAjj Society, Vol. IX. Plate X. LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 357 June 1st, 1851, he was married to Miss Eunice Estes, a daugh- ter of Jonathan Estes, an immigrant from Maine. In 1854, with Samuel Tracy, he opened the first bank in St Anthony, which continued in business until 1858. It was then closed, on account of the prevailing financial depression, and all the depositors were fully paid, though at a considerable loss of the capital invested by Mr. Farnham and his partners. In 1860 he associated with himself James A. Lovejoy, forming the lumber firm of Farnham and Lovejoy, which continued in this busi- ness twenty-eight years, antil Mr. Lovejoy's death. Their total production of manufactured lumber is estimated to have exceeded 300,000,000 feet. As early as 1849, Mr. Farnham was one of the founders of the Library Association of St. Anthony. In 1852, and again in 1856, he was a member of the Territorial Legislature. He also served as assessor and afterward as treasurer of St. An- thony, and during the Civil War was appointed with others to raise money for the relief of soldiers' families. Through- out his long life, he has honorably fulfilled his part in the pro^ motion of the best interests of his city and state, and still lives in Minneapolis, but his health was broken by paralysis several years ago. John Martin was bom in Peacham, Vermont, August 18th, 1820, and was early inured to hard work on his father's farm. In 1839 he took employment as a fireman on a steamboat plying on the Connecticut river, and in time became its captain. After five years he went with this steamboat to North Carolina, and there was engaged in freighting on the Neuse river during several years. In 1849, returning to Peacham, he was married to Miss Jane B. Gilfillan. Soon afterward, he went to Cali- fornia, by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, and spent a year in placer gold mining. Next he returned and lived as a farmer two or three years in Vermont. But an adventurous tempera- ment led him to the Northwest in 1854. Having found in St Anthony opportunities for good investments in lumbering, and believing that the little village of that time would become a great commercial metropolis, he went back to Vermont, sold his farms, and early in 1855 came to reside permanently here. 358 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIBTT COLLECTIONS. During that year he became interested in Mississippi steam- boating, and aided to form a company for navigating the river to St, Anthony. Subsequently he was captain of the steamer Falls City, named for St. Anthony, where it had been built, and made regular trips far down the Mississippi. Through the ensuing fort;y years, he has engaged very success- fully in lumbering, operating many sawmills, with lumber yards in Minneapolis and St. Paul; in flour manufacturing, becoming president of the Nori;hwestern Consolidated Milling Company at Minneapolis, which owns several large mills; and in banking, and railway building. He still lives amid the scenes of his life work, in review of which a friend says: "Thus Captain Martin's life, in a private and unostentatious way, has been full of labor, inspired by sagacity, reaching success, and contributing to the common weal He enjoys in fullest measure the respect and confidence of his neighbors and acquaintances, and has occupied a large place in the growth of Minneapolis." DoRiLus Morrison was born in Livermore, Maine, December 27th, 1814, his father, a farmer of Scotch lineage, having been one of the early set- tlers of that state. Dorilus became a merchant in Bangor, a part of his business being to furnish supplies to lumbermen for their winter logging camps. In 1854, he first came to Minnesota for the purpose of purchasing pine lands for him- self and others. Being very favorably impressed with the advantages here for lumbering, he returned to Maine, disposed of his large business interests there, and came, with his family, in the spring of 1855, to reside in St. Anthony. During sev- eral years following, he lumbered on the Rum river and its branches, supplying logs to Lovejoy and Brockway, who had leased the St. Anthony sawmills. He was a director, and at times was president, of the Minneapolis Mill Company, which constructed a dam and canal for utilization of water-power on the west side of the river, at first largely employed in saw- ing lumber, and now in manufacturing flour. He built a sawmill, opened a lumber yard, and conducted all branches of the business from cutting the logs in the woods to the sale of the manufactured lumber. His sons, George H. and Clinton Morrison, in 1868, succeeded him in lumber manufacturing. DOHILIS iMOlUllSON. MlNMESOTA HlSTOHU'Al. SoOl KTT, Vol.. IX. PHTK XI. Minnesota Histortoal Society, Vol. IX. Platk XII. Besides his very extensive work in Minnesota, Mr. Morrison had lumber yards in Davenport, Iowa, and in Hannibal, Mo. His yard and stock in Davenport I bought in 1863, and con- tinued in business there as his successor during twenty-five years. In 1856, he was the first president of the Union Board of Trade of St Anthony and Minneapolis. In 1864 and 1865 he was a member of the state senate. In 1867, when Minneapolis was incorporated as a city, Mr. Morrison was elected its first mayor, and in 1869 he again held this oflSce. He was one of the principal members of the construction companies which in the years 1870 to 1873 built the Northern Pacific railroad through Minnesota and onward to the Missouri river; and during many years afterward he was a director of this great railroad corporation. He was one of the founders of the Minneapolis Harvester Works. During the later part of his life, he was for several terms a member of the city Board of Education, and was long a member of the Board of Park Commissioners of Minneapolis. From its beginning, he was one of the chief supporters of the Athenaeum Library^ which is now a part of the city public library. After a most active and eminently useful life, spent in Minnesota for its last forty-two years, he died June 26th, 1897. John S. Pillsbury was bora in Slutton, New Hampshire, July 29th, 1827. His education was limited to the common schools of his native town ; and from the age of sixteen to twenty-one years he was a clerk in the general country store of his brother, George A. Pillsbury, then of Warner, N. H. He was afterward in mer- cantile partnership during two years with Walter Harriman, of Warner, who was his senior by ten years, audi who was twice elected governor of New Hampshire, in 1867 and 1868. Mr. Pillsbury was next engaged two years as a merchant tailor and cloth dealer in Concord, N. H. In 1853 he began a tour of observation throughout the western states, and in June, 1855, came to Minnesota, and settled at St. Anthony, now the east part of Minneapolis, which has ever since been his home. Returning east for a visit, he married Miss Mahala Fisk, in Warner, N. H., November 3rd, 1856. 360 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COI/LECTIONS. In St Anthony he engaged in the hardware business with George F. Cross and Woodbury Fisk, his brother-in-law. The firm prospered, until, at the same time with the financial panic of 1857, their store was burned at a loss of about $38,000, with- out insurance. Beginning anew, Mr. Pillsbury reorganized the business, and by hard work and honesty of dealing made his establishment the leading hardware house of the North- west. His trade consistedi largely of supplies for lumbermen and millwrights, and it was continued until 1875, being then relinquished to give attention more fully to lumbering and flour milling. During the past twent;y-five years, Mr. Pillsbury has been actively interested in logging and the manufacture of lum- ber. Through the greater part of this time, the Gull River Lumber Company, under his general supervision as president, has carried on a very extensive business, cutting logs in the pineries of Gull river and a large adjoining district, and saw- ing the lumber at Gull Eiver station and Brainerd. In 1869, with his nephew, Charles A. Pillsbury, he estab- lished the flour-milling firm of C. A. Pillsbury and Company, which later included his brother, George A. Pillsbury, and another nephew, Fred C. Pillsbury. This firm built and oper- ated several large flouring mills, one being the largest in the world, capable, of producing 7,000 barrels of flour daily. In 1890 this immense business, with that of other prominent flour manufacturers in Minneapolis, was sold to an English syndi- cate, for which Mr. John S. Pillsbury continues to share in the management of these mills as an American director. By his distinguished public services for Minnesota, Mr. Pillsbury has won the enduring gratitude of all her citizens. In 1860 and; ensuing years, he was an alderman of St. Anthony; in 1864 and onward, a member of the state senate; and in 1876 to 1882 he was for three successive terms the governor of this commonwealth. In 1861 he rendered very efficient aid in or- ganizing regiments of Minnesota volunteers for the Civil War, and in 1862 raised and equipped a mounted company for serv- ice against the Sioux outbreak in Minnesota. In 1863, Mr. Pillsbury was appointed a regent of the State University, in which position he has continued to the present time, constantly giving most devoted care to the upbuilding LUMBERING ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPL 361 of this great institution of learning. Financial difficulties which beset the University in its early years were met and overcome by Mr. Pillsbupy's wise direction; and its steady growth to its rank as one of the largest and best universities of the United States has been in great part due to his watch- fulness, persistent efforts, and personal influence. One of its chief buildings was donatedi by him, and is named in his honor. The private benefactions of Governor Pillsbury and his wife have been many and generous, but unostentatious. Their noble devotion to the welfare of the community, the city, and the state, leads all who know them to wish very heartily for each of them long continuance of life, with all the blessings that kind Providence can give. Statistics. For the early years, to 1855, the following statistics of lumber production are derived, approximately, from the scalers' record books; and for the ensuing years from reports of the surveyors general of logs and lumber, beginning in 1856. The summary of these reports was publishedi during many years in the governors' messages, and afterward in the reports of the commissioners of statistics. As the printing of this paper has been delayed, I am able to include the figures for the year 1899. The table thus com- prises a period of fifty-two years. Year. Feet. Year. Feet. 1848 2,000,000 1874 222,466,520,' 1849 3,500,000 1875 172,775,000 f 1850 6,500,000 18^6 200,371,277 1851 8,830,000 1877 137,081,140 1852 11,600,000 1878 141,380,530 1853 • 23,610,000 1879 189,422,490 1854 32,944,000 1880 255,306,080 1855 36,228,314 1881 298,583,190 1856 41,230,000 1882 390,507,510 1857 44,434,147 1883 361,295,800 1858 42,117,000 1884 384,151,420 1859 29,382,000 1885 378,160,690 I860 45,000,000 1886 322,260,820 1861 41,196,484 1887 254,056,690 1862 40,000,000 1888 407,009,440 1863 21,634,700 1889 287,977,130 1864 35,897,618 1890 344,493,790 1865 108,328,278 1891 425,765,260 1866 72,805,100 1892 505,407,898 1867 113,867,502 1893 428,172,260 1868 115,889,558 1894 459,862,756 1869 146,782,530 1895 539,012,678 1870 121,438,640 1896 385,312,226 1871 117,206,590 1897 527,367,710 1872 179,722,250 1898 533,179,510 1873 197,743,150 1899 678,364,430 362, MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. The great expansion and ratios of growth of this industry during the half century are more concisely indicated in a sec- ond table, formed by addition of successive parts of the pre- ceding table, these parts being then added to give their aggre- gate amount. Feet. 1848 to 1850, three years 12,000,000 1851 to 1860, ten years 315,375,461 1861 to 1870, ten years 817,840,410 1871 to 1880, ten years 1,813,475,027 1881 to 1890, ten years 3,428,496,480 1891 to 1899, nine years , . 4,482,444,728 Total, fifty-two years 10,869,632,106 A considerable amount of other pine lumber, however, is cut in ttiis district, doubtless as much as a tenth and perhaps even more than a fifth of that here tabulated, which fails to appear in the official returns. The whole lumber product to the present time has therefore equalled or exceeded twelve billion feet. Fully two-thirds of this amount, or about eight billion feet, have been sawn in Minneapolis. Allowing six dollars per thousand feet as the average value of this lumber at the sawmills, it will be seen that its total value in this district has amounted, in round numbers, to 175,000,000, the sawn lumber of Minneapolis having been worth $50,000,000. In the census of 1890, the city of Minneapolis was reported to have thirty-nine establishments engaged in lumber manu- factures, including, besides the sawing of logs, the many plan- ing mills and the various mills and factories for making sash, doors, blinds, laths, shingles, etc. Their aggregate capital invested was somewhat more than $10,000,000; their combined number of employees was 3,894, receiving $1,800,000 iu yearly wages; and the value of their products, for a year, was $9,626,- 975. Since that date, within the last nine years, the lumber busi- ness has undoubtedly increased more than fifty per cent, in Minneapolis; and for the entire district, taking into considera- tion the many towns and hamlets whose chief industry is lum- ber manufacturing, it has quite certainly doubled. ^^,^^tV>C._ Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. IX. Plate V. HISTORY OF LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY, WITH BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.* BY WII/LIAM H. O. FOLSOM. Mr. President, Members of the Historical Society, and Citi- zens of Minnesota: It is with great pleasure that I appear be- fore the Minnesota Historical Society in response to an invita- tion extended from your Committee on Lectures. From the time of the fornmtion of this society in 1849, I have known of its progress, success, and noble aims* The wisdom and fore- sight of its founders have been happily illustrated year by year in the interest manifested by our people, in the valuable library accumulated, free to all, and in the published remi- niscences of the history of Minnesota, from the days of tradi- tions among the Indians to the present time. May the Minne- sota Historical Society continue in its usefulness and pros- perity. The invitation of your committee expressed the desire for an article on the History of Lumbering in the St. Croix Val- ley. It appeared quite an undertaking, involving considerable research and covering sixty years of the rise and progress of an important industry. In entering upon this history, I found many of the records obliterated and most of the early mill operators and owners dead; but with the kind assistance of interested friends I have been able to collect and compile the statistics, approximately correct, of the annual cut and manu- facture of pine timber in the St Croix valley from the begin- ning to the present year. In gathering these statistics I have followed the courses of the rivers and railway lines where the mills are situated, ♦An Address at the Annual Meeting of tJi© Minnesota Historical Society, Jan. 16, 1899. 292 MINNE3SOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. instead of referring to tlie various mills in the chronologic or- der of their being built; yet their dates are given as far as they could be ascertained with the help of friends and from my own memoranda. In arranging the data, I have inter- spersed incidents of the early settlement, with numerous short biographic sketches. I have also had occasion to make refer- ence to the fifteen different tribes, nationalities, and territorial and state governments, as far as they can be traced back, which have had control or jurisdiction over the St Croix val- ley, to-wit: 1. Sioux Indians. 9. Illinois Territory. 2. Ojibway Indians. 10. Michigan Territory. 3. Government of France. 11. State of Michigan. 4. Government of England. 12. Wisconsin Territory. 5. Virginia. 13. State of Wisconsin. 6. United States. 14. Minnesota Territory. 7. Ohio Territory. 15. State of Minnesota. 8. Indiana Territory. In 1680, Duluth, who discovered and floated down the St. Croix river, was the flrst man to see this Valley, of whom we have any account. He was a native of Lyons, France, and was an adventurer for wealth and fame. After more than two centuries have passed away, his name is honored, at the southwest end of lake Superior, by a great and growing city. The St. Croix river derived its name from a man by the name of St. Croix, who was buried at the mouth of St. Croix lake in the seventeenth century. In 1833, the American Board of Foreign Missions estab- lished a mission on Yellow river, an eastern tributary of the St. Croix, under the supervision of Rev. Frederick Ayer, who in 1857 was a member of the Minnesota Constitutional Con- vention from Morrison county. It was in this mission that the first school was opened in the valley by Miss Hester Crooks, later Mrs. W. T. Boutwell, now deceased. Her father was Ramsay Crooks, president of the American Fur Company. This mission was removed to Pokegama, Pine county, in 1836. In 1837, treaties were made by our government with the Ojibway (Chippewa) and Sioux Indians, which opened the St Croix valley to white immigration, an opportunity that was soon improved. Gov. Henry Dodge of Wisconsin and Gen. W. LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VAIiLET. £93 R. Smith negotiated with the Ojibways at Fort Snelling, while the Sioux treaty was made at Washington. These treaties were ratified by Congress in 1838. BEGINNING OF SETTLEMENTS, STEAMBOATING, AND LITMBERING. For the following account of the earliest settlement and the first cutting of lumber on the St. Croix I am indebted to Mr. Franklin Steele, who was the first pioneer to come to the Valley with the intention of making permanent improvements. He wrote: I came to the Norttiwest in 1837, a young man, healthy and ambi- tious, to dare the perils of an almost unexplored region, Inhabited by savages. I sought Fort Snelling (which was at that time an active United States fort) as a point from which to start. In September, 1837, Immediately after the treaty was made ceding the St. Crodx valley to the government, accompanied by Dr. Fitch, of Bloomington, Iowa, I started from Fort Snelling in a bark canoe, accompanied by a scow loaded with tools, supplies, and laborers. We descended the Mississippi river to the mouth of the St. Croix, and thence ascended the St. Croix to the Dalles. We clambered over the rocks to the faUs, where we made two land claims, covering the falls on the east side and the ap- proach in the DaUes. We built a log cabin at the falls, where the upper copper-bearing trap range crosses the river, and where the old mill was afterward erected. A second log house we buUt in the Dalles at the head of navigation. While we were building, four other parties arrived to make claims to the water po'^^er. I found the veritable Joe Brown on the west side cutting timber and trading with the Indians, where now stands the town of Taylor's Falls. These were the first pine logs cut in the Valley, and they were used mostly in building a mill. In February, 1838, I made a trip from Fort Snelling to Snake river via St. Croix Falls, where I had a crew of men cutting logs. While I was there, Peshick, an Indian chief, said: "We tiave no money for our land, logs cannot go." He further said *hat he could not control his young men, and would not be responsible for their acts. The treaty was ratified, however, in time for the logs to be moved. The following spring we descended the Mississippi river in bark canoes to Prairie du Chien, and went thence by steamer to St. Louis. There a copartnership was formed, composed of Fitch of Muscatine, Iowa, Libby of Alton, Illinois, Hungerford and Livingstone of St Louis, Missouri, HiU and Holoombe of Quincy, Illinois, and myself. We chartered the steamer Palmyra, loaded her with materials for building a saw mill, and took with us thirty-six laborers. Plans for procedure, rules, and by-laws, were adopted during the Journey on the steamer; our company was named the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Com- pany. 294 MINNESOTA HISTORICAli SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. The steamer Palmyra was the first boat to ply the waters of the St. Oroix lake and river. On her first trip into the Dalles she had an interesting encounter with the Ojibway In- dians. As she steamed up between the high rocks, her shrill whistle and puffing engine attracted the Indians, who fiocked in great numbers to the river to see the "scota chenung" (fire- boat). Some of the more daring ones ventured to the high rocks overtowering the boat, as she lay in the eddy opposite Angle Bock. Their curiosity knew no bounds. They whooped and danced until their frenzied spirits became excited to such a degree that they began to roll rocks from the high pinnacle down upon the boat. At once the captain ordered the engi- neer to let the steam escape, while the whistle screamed with broken notes, the bell keeping time. The shrill belching forth of the steam was terrific. The Indians sprang away with a bound, with fearful yelling, tumbling over the cragged rocks, leaving blankets and utensils behind in their fright, and fled into the woods in such terror that not an Indian reappeared. This was the beginning of steamboating and settlement by the whites in the St. Croix valley. The St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company, with its boat load of men and materials, built a mill and dam, at a cost of about f 20,000, above the Dalles at the rapids. The company passed through many changes. The inexperience of the managers in the lumbering business with its necessary expenditures, the long distance from labor and supplies, which had to be freighted from St. Louis, and the heavy early outlays with no profits or dividends, caused several of the partners to with- draw, notwithstanding the local advantages for lumbering, a splendid water power, abundance of timber, and a healthy climate. However, the company continued operations for years, with William Holcombe as agent, CaptaiB Holcombe was the first lieutenant governor of Minnesota. He took a deep interest in the settlement of the St. Croix valley. In 1846 he was a member of the first constitu- tional convention in Wisconsin, in which he worked hard for the change of the boundary from the St. Croix river to a line farther east; he succeeded in making the change, and was elected on the boundary issue, which was a political question ; but the constitution was defeated by the people. St. Paul LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 295 favored the St. Croix boundary, for she was fearful that, if the line was established farther east, Hudson would be her rival to become the future capital of the new territory destined to be formed northwest of Wisconsin. Lieut. G-ov. Holcombe was also a member of the Democratic wing of the Minnesota constitutional convention, and was United States receiver of the land office for four years. His name will long be remem- bered in the Valley. He died in 1870. The other members of the old company did not become residents of the St Oroix valley, with the exception of William S. Hungerford. Every member of this old company has passed away from all that is mortal. Mr. Hungerford became a permanent resident of the Val- ley when the governmient offered for sale the land embracing the water power. He preempted the subdivision on which the old mill stood, and obtained the title from the government in 1851. He was arrested for perjury in obtaining the title, and was carried to Madison in bonds. This act created liti- gation which continued for over twenty years. Mr. Hunger- ford was acquitted. Hon. John McKusick, of Stillwater, was also connected with the St. Croix Lumbering Company as an agent in 1840, during the first operations. The entire output of this mill was about 50,000,000 feet. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INTERSTATE BOUNDARY. Hon. James Fisher, of Prairie du Chien, a member of the Wisconsin territorial council in 1845, representing Crawford county, which covered the area between the St. Croix and Mis- sissippi rivers, introduced a memiorial to Congress, to create) another territory from the northwest part of Wisconsin, to be called Superior. The memiorial was referred to the Commit- tee on Territories, where it still sleeps. Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, in 1846, purchased an interest in the St. Croix Falls property and formed a stock company. He firmly believed in the future formation of this new territory with boundaries similar to those proposed in the Fisher memorial; he thought that, with his almost unlimited sway in Congress, this result could be accomplished and St. Croix Falls be designated as the capital. But about this time 296 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. Mr. Cnshing was comimssioned by the government and en- tered the Mexican war. He was subsequently sent as minister to China. These and other important duties called away his personal attention from the St. Croix property, so that the new territory and capital as designed sleep with the Fisher memorial. The water power of this property has remained unimproved to the present time. It belongs to the estate of the late Isaac Staples. The falls are created by the water falling over imperishable adamantine rock. George W. Brownell, of St. Croix Falls, was delegate from this district, in 1847, to the second Wisconsin constitutional convention. He had been elected on the issue of establishing the boundary from Mt. Trempealeau to Lake Superior, which would place the St. Croix valley and the two great cities since built at the west end of Lake Superior under one state govern- ment. But the edict had gone forth that Wisconsin must be admitted into the Union, in order that her Whig vote (which was sure) might be cast for Gen. Zachary Taylor for president, and that therefore her Morgan L. Martin boundary must not be tampered with. Thus was sacrificed, in a considerable de- gree, the future welfare of a district capable of sustaining half a million or more of people, by placing them under a gov- ernment not their first choice. The Wisconsin part of this tract of country is adjacent to Minnesota, and its financial interests are blended with those of our state; thus time ex- poses some of our indiscreet national and state-building schemes. PIONEER LUMBERING ON GOVERNMENT LANDS. The first operators in the pine districts of Wisconsin and Minnesota were pioneers, who ventured into this new and un- explored country for the purpose of cutting timber for a liveli- hood, not with the spirit of speculation. They opened the country for settlement and cultivation, as the vanguard of civilization, creating a value for the government domain. The government subsequently sent timber agents to inves- tigate and report, regarding the cutting of timber on these uncared-for lands. It was generally conceded to be a benefit to the government; it being occupancy under an endowed LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. £97 right, as citizens inheriting an interest in the government. In many instances where the gOTernment demanded payment, the demand was promptly met by purchasing the denuded lands, or by paying a fair compensation for the timber cut, FOREST FIRES AND DEX?REASE OP RAINFALL. There is abundant evidence that extensive pine forests once existed where now there are large pine barrens. The gradations from the thrifty pine to barren plains is clearly seen. Fires were the main cause, which annually swept over large tracts of land, stripping them of the timber by mdllions of feet, a destruction vast and incalculable. The physical features of the country have also undergone a change due to decrease of the rainfall. While the towering pines have fallen by the forest fires or by decay or the wood- man's ax, many of the lakes have receded, and tall grasses wave and willows grow where once the "kego" sported in the clear blue waters. "The sun drew the waters up into the heavens," said the Indians; but the old shores may still be traced, by the freshwater shells that are crushed by the foot of the explorer, and by the ineffaceable mark of water breaking upon the beach and undermining the rocky ledges. THE VILLAGE OF MARINE. Next to St. Croix Falls, Marine contains the earliest settle- ment. Lewis Judd and David Hone were deputized by a com- pany of men residing in Marine, Illinois, to visit the North- west and examine the region recently secured by treaty from the Ojibways, and to return the same year and report upon its advantages of climate, soil, and other resources. They were authorized also to locate a claim for future settlement, if they found one entirely suitable. They embarked on the steamer Ariel at St. Louis, September 10th, 1838, and in twenty-five days reached the head of lake St. Croix, whence they proceeded in a fiatboat propelled by poles up the St. Croix as far as the falls, and thence to the mouth of Kettle river. Eeturning by birch canoes, they stopped at the present site of the village of Marine; and thence went onward to Marine, Illinois, where they arrived November 10th, and reported favorably on the location chosen. gg MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. During the following winter a verbal agreement was made y thirteen persons, all of Marine, Illimois, to start in the pring and build a sawmill on the distant St. Croix. On April 7th, this company left St. Louis on the steanuer Fayette for he new settlement, which they reached on the 13th of May. 'he Fayette was chartered expressly for this voyage. They ook with them mill machinery, farming tools, household :oods, three yoke of oxen, and cows. The members of the party were Lewis, George, and Albert udd, Orange Walker, David Hone, William B. Dibble, Dr. jucius Green, Asa Parker, Joseph Cottrell, and Hiram Berkey. Vhen they landed they found Jeremiah Eussell and Levi W. Itratton in possession of the claim, they having taken posses- ion during the preceding winter. These men demanded and eceived three hundred dollars for relinquishing the claim to ts rightful owners. The colonists set to work immediately to build a log cabin s a temporary shelter, which being completed, they com- aenced the mill, and worked with such energy that it was inished in ninety days. The first wheel used was a flutter- Fheel, which, not proving satisfactory, was replaced by an vershot wheel with buckets. Orange Walker was the first clerk and chieftain of the oncern, and when anything was wanted a call of the company Fould be made, and the members assembled. No article of -greement existed. Only one book was kept for a series of ears, — a unique affair, no doubt. The first installment was 1200; the second, $75; the third, $50. All were within the Irst two years, after which the company became self-sustain- ng. No partner forfeited his stock. The name of this com- lany was the Marine Lumber Ck>mpany, which, in 1850, was hanged to the Judd & Walker Company. The property hanged hands several times after this; and Orange Walker vas the sole owner in 1863, when the mail was burned at a loss if $6,000. This mill, the first that manufactured lumber in he St Croix valley, was operated fifty years. Beginning work n 1839 and continuing until 1889, its gross cut was 197,000,000 eet. All the thirteen original owners have passed from earth. The first jury trial ever held in the Valley was at Marine n 1840, with Joseph R. Brown as justice. Philander Prescott, LUMBBBING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. ggg plaintiff, and C. D. Foote, defendant The accusation was for jumping a land claim at Prescott During the trial the court adjourned to allow the jury to visit the claim and obtain the facts in the case. The jury failed to agree, but the case was compromised by Prescott allowing Foote eighty acres of the claim. In the early 50's a mill was built at Vasa, a village three miles above Marine, It ran only a short time, cutting about 3,000,000 feet OSCEOLA, WISCONSIN. The first land claim at Osceola, covering the beautiful cas- cade, was made May 1st, 1844, by Milton V. Nobles and L. N. Parker. The claim was made for mill purposes, and a com- pany was formed consisting of M. V. and W. H. Nobles, Wil- liam Kent, W. O. Mahoney, Anson Northup, and Lewis Walker. The mill began operations in 1845, using a fifty-foot flutter wheel, which made the mill a conspicuous object on the river. It has long since been dismantled, after changing hands a number of times. The approximate cut of lumber was 35,000,000 feet. The original proprietors, with the exception of William Kent, are dead. Captain Kent has been a popular steamboat man for a number of years. In the 50's a small mill was built above Osceola, which was soon afterward moved away; cut, about 3,000,000 feet. Col. William H. Nobles, who invested in the Osceola mill in 1844, was appointed, in 1857, to locate and mark a road from St. Paul to the Missouri river, and thence across the Eocky mountains. Under a military escort he established what is known as Nobles Pass across the Eockies, his route being marked by earth mounds. He came to the St. Croix Valley in 1844. He was a member of the fifth Minnesota state legisla- ture, and a county in this state bears his name. THE OLD ST. CROIX COUNTY. Joseph Eenshaw Brown, one of the best known men of the early days of Minnesota, came with the troops who built Fort Snelling, a drummer boy in the army, in 1819, at the age of fourteen. After the expiration of his term of enlistment. Gray Cloud was his first home, where Crawford county authorities 300 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. commissioned him a justice of the peace, as also David Hone of Point Douglas, in 1839; they being the first persons to hold civil office in what is now Minnesota. I can give but a brief sketch of his history, for which I am personally indebted to him. He was elected, in 1840, representative in the Wisconsin territorial legislature from Crawford county, having sought the position expressly for the purpose of creating St. Croix county, in which he was successful. On returning home, the organization was perfected with the aid of the people. The first county commissioners' meeting of St. Croix county, Wisconsin, now in Minnesota, was held October 5th, 1840, at Dakotah, now a part of Stillwater. Hazen Mooers and Samuel Burkleo appeared and qualified as commissioners; J. E. Brown was clerk; H. Mooers was elected chairman; and the bonds of the officers were approved. In conformity to a vote of the inhabitants of St. Croix county, at an election held August 3rd, the county was au- thorized by a law of Wisconsin Territory, entitled An Act to Organize the County of St. Croix, which was approved Janu- ary 9th, 1840. This vote located the seat of the county at the head of lake St. Croix, on a tract of land occupied by Joseph R. Brown, bounded on the east by lake St. Croix, and on the north by Pine creek. Also in conformity to this law, the board of commissioners by deed transferred all the right and title of the land to Joseph K. Brown, he having paid to the treasurer of the county $800. The Board contracted with Mr. Brown to build a court house, jail, and county offices, to be used four years; and they purchased half an acre of land to be selected by the county commissioners, in the central part of the town, to be surveyed by the county surveyor. The county seat having been located at Dakotah, the or- ganization provided for a district court, which Judge Irwin of Green Bay was ordered to hold in June, 1840. He ascended the Pox river and descended the Wisconsin in a skiff, came thence by steamer to Port Snelling, and from Port Snelling went to Dakotah on foot, with a pilot for a guide. On arriv- ing at Dakotah he found the sheriff, but no jurors or docket. He stopped at Hotel Brown, slept on deer skins, and ate St Croix fish, seasoned with salt which he had brought in his pocket. On his return he succeeded in effecting the disorgani- zation of the court. Phineas Lawrence, the sheriff, on serving LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. gQl the first and only papers, while acting as sheriff, approached the party, holding the document to view, and exclaimed, "I, Phineas Lawrence, high sheriff of St. Croix county, in the name of the United States of America and the immortal God, com- mand you to surrender." The first term of district court held in St Croix county, Wisconsin, convened at Stillwater, June 1st, 1847. The ses- sion lasted one week. The jurors were found in a circuit of one hundred miles. Hon. Charles Dunn, of Mineral Point, pre- sided, with Joseph R. Brown as clerk of court, M. S. Wilkin- son, prosecuting attorney, and W. H. C. Folsom, sheriff. The next term of court was held by Judge Aaron Groodrich, a Min- nesota territorial appointee, in August, 1849, under the Wis- consin territorial laws, two months after the proclamation of Gov. Alexander Ramsey was issued, establishing the Territory of Minnesota. In 1847, while serving as sheriff, I obtained copies of the lists of both grand and petit juries of the June term of court, which I have in my possession, together with the original log scale bills, in the handwriting of the scalers, Gov. William Holcombe and Hon. Joseph Bowron. These are supposed to , be the first log scale bills made in Minnesota. I also have the copies of the poll lists of several of the first elections held in the St Croix valley, containing the names of the candidates; and also the sheriff bills of the trial, and conveyance to Fort Snelling, of the two Indians, Wind and Ne-she-ke-ogemia, who were tried for murder in the June term of court in 1847. That was the first murder trial in what is now Minnesota. The In- dians were acquitted on the ground that the deed was com- mitted in a drunken brawl, in which they killed a whisky vender. THE CITY OF STILLWATER. In the spring of 1843, Jacob Fisher made a claim on unsur- veyed land, where a part of the city of Stillwater now stands. Afterwards, this claim was purchased from Mr. Fisher by John McKusick, Elami Greely, Elias McKean, and Calvin F. Leach, who erected the first sawmill on lake St. Croix. April 1st, 1844, the mill began work, with the motive power from the water run from a small lake near by. It continued operations 302 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. until about 1862, having cut, during its existence, 27,000,000 feet. John McKusick, the only surviying partner, prominent aniiong the pioneers, came to the Valley in 1840. He has filled many positions of trust, being state senator from 1863 to 1866. He is a generous, public-spirited man, Elias McKean, a native of Pennsylvania, and an active and friendly man, came to the Valley in 1841 and to Stillwater in 3843, retiring to his farm in 1850. Calvin F. Leach was a quiet, pleasant business man. He died in St Louis. Elam Greely, native of New Hampshire, came to the Valley in 1840. He was the first postmaster of Stillwater, and was a member of the third and fourth Minnesota territorial councils. He was identified with the prosperity of Stillwater until his death, which occurred suddenly away from home. The year 1848 brought many changes to the Valley. Wis- consin was admitted into the Union, with the St Croix as her northwestern boundary, severing her connection with the Wis- consin territory west of the St. Croix river. In Stillwater, August 4th, was held the first public meeting where were laid the foundations of the future Territory and great State of Min- nesota. James H. Tweedy, delegate in Congress from the ter- ritory, resigned and the people elected Henry H. Sibley as their delegate, who was accredited with his seat Mr. Sibley introduced and obtained the passage of a bill for the organiza- tion of Minnesota Territory, March 3rd, 1849. Mr. Sibley was, at the time, a citizen of Iowa Territory. Morton S. Wilkinson, who came to Stillwater in 1847, was the first practicing lawyer northwest of Prairie du Chien, and was a member of the first Minnesota territorial legislature in 1849. His history is well known, and it will not avail to intro- duce it here. The second mill built at Stillwater was by Sawyer & Hea- ton, in 1852, which was afterward burned at a loss of $5,000. It was transferred to Isaac Staples. The cut of this mill was about 150,000,000 feet In 1854, Schulenburg, Boeckler & Co., of St Louis, erected a mill in Dakotah, now a part. of Stillwater. Louis Hospes, in 1856, became an owner and operated the mill until it burned LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 303 in 1877. It was afterward rebuilt, but it burned again in 1892, at a loss of |188,000. The mill is now the property of Staples, Atlee & Co., who have built the third mill. The gross amount cut by these mills has been 735,600,000 feet Mr. Hospes served as president of the First National Bank of Stillwater for twenty years. His active, energetic business methods had good influence in Stillwater. The firm of Hersey, Staples & Hall, eastern capitalists, built a mill in the south part of Stillwater in 1854, which passed through several ownerships, with different firm names. Hersey & Bean are the present owners, and it is known as the Atwood mill. The amount cut by this mill, in forty-four years, is 756,000,000 feet Its loss by fire has been $5,000. Isaac Staples, a native of Maine, came to Stillwater in 1853, as the agent for Hersey, Staples & Hall, who made large investments in pine lands, carrying on an extensive business. After a number of years of successful business, the property passed into the hands of Isaac Staples, a man of vigor, health, unlimited ambition, good judgment, and money suflSicient to insure success in business. He did much to advance the in- terest of Stillwater. He died in 1898, aged eighty-two years. The number of owners in the Hersey, Staples & Hall mill, from the time of its erection to the present, is too numerous to refer to. Those living are among the business men of Still- water and elsewhere. In 1850, a mill was built near the State Prison; it cut 3,000,000 feet. McKusick, Anderson & Co., in 1869, erected a mill opposite to Stillwater, in Houlton, Wisconsin. The firm was composed of James Anderson, William McKusick, John G. Nelson, and Alexander Johnson. During the year 1888 the capacity of the mill was nearly doubled. The present firm is known as the East Side Lumber Company, composed of David Bronson, E. A. Folsom, Robert Slaughter, John G. Nelson, Alex Johnson, and J. D. Bronson. The cut of this mill has been 500,000,000 feet All the different proprietors who have been connected with this mill are so well known in the Valley as men possess- ing true and reliable character and business habits, that it will not be necessary to give individual notes. 304 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. In 1884, The Hershey Lumber Company, composed of Ben- jamin Hershey and others, built a mill at Oak Park Village, Stillwater. The gross amount cut by this mill up to 1899, haa been 170,000,000 feet; its loss by fire, $2,500. R. W. Turnbull, in 1886, built a mill in Oak Park at a cost of $70,000. The gross cut of this mill has been 275,000,000 feet. In 1852, the first mill was built in South Stillwater, by a company composed of Socrates Nelson, David B. Loomis, and Daniel Mears. The gross cut by this mill has been 30,000,000 feet Socrates Nelson came from Massachusetts to Stillwater in 1844, where he opened the first store. He was territorial audi- tor in 1853, and was state senator in the second legislature. He donated to Washington county the block of land on which the court house stands. He was free and generous of disposi- tion in all the relations of life. The successors to the S. Nelson Lumber Go. were Torinus & Co., who rebuilt the mill in 1873, at a cost of $150,000, and assumed the name St Croix Lumber Co. This mill became the head of various manufactories, with Louis Torinus and William Chalmers as operating members of the firm. In 1876, it sustained a loss by fire to the amount of $75,000, uninsured. The present operators of this mill are William Chalmers, Gr. S. Welchance, and Louis Torinus. Its cut, to 1899, has been 650,000,000 feet. Louis Torinus, an active business man, was a Russian. He came to America in 1854, and to Stillwater in 1856w William Chalmers, the present manager of the firm, came to the Val- ley in 1854 from Canada. He is president of the firm. Mr. Torinus is vice president, and Mr. Welchance is secretary and treasurer. In 1881, D. C. Gaslin and L. B. Castle built a mill in South Stillwater, which they operated for three years, cutting 18,- 000,000 feet. In 1884, this mill was rebuilt, at a cost of $70,- 000, by the South Stillwater Lumber Co., the firm consisting of Smith Ellison, David Tozer, A. T. Jenks, E. W. Durant, and R. J. Wheeler. Since that time the mill has passed through many changes. The cut of this mill to 1899 has been 200,000,- 000 feet. LUM9BRINQ IN THE ST. CEOIX VALLEY. 305 David Tozer, one of the proprietors, came from New Bruns- wick to the Valley in 1856. He is an active, cautious, and honorable man. Mr. Jenks, one of Stillwater's prompt busi- ness men, came to the Valley in 1855. Smith Ellison, of Illi- nois birth, came to the Valley in 1844. He was a member of the eighth Minnesota legislature, and is now a trustworthy citizen of Taylor's Falls. Edward W. Durant, born in Rox- bury, Mass., in 1829, came to Stillwater in 1848. He repre- sented Washington county in the fifteenth, seventeenth, and twenty-fourth legislatures; he has served as mayor of Still- water often, and has filled many responsible positions with fidelity. LAKELAND, AFTON, AND POINT DOUGLAS. In 1857, Osgood & Andrews built a mill in Lakeland, which was soon after dismantled. Its gross cut was 10,000,000 feet In Lakeland in 1848, Moses Perin and Ballard & Reynolds each built a mill. The cut of these mills was 11,000,000 feet Lakeland was first settled by French refugees from Fort Snell- ing reservation in 1838. Stearns, Watson & Oo. erected a mill in Lakeland at a cost of $45,000. This mill changed hands many times, finally pass- ing to C. N. Nelson, who enlarged it at a cost of $50,000. It is now dismantled. Gross amount cut by this mill, 150,000,- 000 feet. In 1886, Fall & McCoy built a mill in Lakeland, which cut about 155,000,000 feet; present proprietor, R. H. McCoy. In 1854, a mill was built at St Mai-y's; cut, 3,000,000 feet. Lowry & Co. built a mill in Afton, in 1850; Getchell & Co., in 1861, built a mill, which was afterward burned, loss, $3,000. In 1855, Thomias & Sons rebuilt the Lowry mill. Gross cut of these mills, 15,000,000 feet Lemuel Bolles, in 1846, built a flouring mill on Bolles creek in Afton, St. Croix county, and ground the first wheat raised north of Prairie du Chien. The wheat was raised by Joseph Haskell and Andrew Mackey, at Afton. At I'oint Douglas, which was located and named by Levi Hertzell and Oscar Burris in 1839, Woodruff & Sons built a mill in 1851; but it was afterward removed to Prescott. Cut of this mill, 3,000,000 feet A. J. Short built a mill in 1858, 306 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. which was burned at a loss of f 6,000. The cut of this mill was about 20,000,000 feet. David Hone, one of the original proprietors of the Marine mill, says that he built the first franve house in Minnesota, at Point Douglas, in 1843. PRESCOTT, WISCONSIN. Philander Prescott came to Fort Snelling in 1819, and, in conjunction with army officers, made a land claim where the city of Prescott now stands, on the Wisconsin side of the mouth of the St. Croix. He subsequently became sole owner, residing there and at Fort Snelling alternately, until he was killed by the Sioux Indians in 1862. In 1856, mills were built at Prescott by Silverthorn & Dud- ley, Lowry & Co., and Todd & Hunter. Cut of these mills, 45,000,000 feetj loss of mills by fire, $10,000. DISTRICT OF THE APPLE AND WILLOW RIVERS. The first mill that was built on the Apple river, an eastern tributary of the St. Oroix, was by Aaron M. Chase, at the out- let of Balsam lake, eight miles east of St Croix Falls, in 1850. He had neither oxen nor horses, but he yoked himself with an- other man and hauled the timber for the mill, which has changed owners many times. It has cut about 15,000,000 feet. Mr. Chase has a varied history; prior to mill building, he was on the Mississippi river running towboats for eighty miles above St Anthony Falls. There have been two mills on Bal- sam creek; gross cut, 12,000,000 feet. An Indian entered one of the homes at Balsam Lake and demanded of the woman within, Mrs. Edward Worth, who was alone, admittance to the cellar, believing that there was whisky there. The woman was plucky and sternly re- fused him admittance. He attempted to raise the trap-door and force an entrance, but as he was passing down the stairs the woman shut the door upon his legs and jumped on it, hold- ing him until assistance came. Samuel Harriman, a native of Maine, came to the Valley in 1855, and was the founder of Somerset village on the Apple river, where he built and owned a sawmill. We first learn of him, in 1845, in California, mining and lumbering. He en- listed in the army in 1862, June 10th, in Company A of the LUMBERING IN THE Sfl. CROIX VAXiLET. 307 Thirtieth Wisconsin Regiment. In 1864, he was commifi- Bioned colonel of the Thirty-seventh Wiscomsin, being after- ward conumissioned a general. He was a brave soldier, and a genial, kind-hearted gentleman. He was fond of a joke, even at his own expense. He informed the writer of this sketch that when he was mustered out of the service, he was ad- dressed as General at Washington; on his way home, he was saluted as Colonel; when nearing Wisconsin, he was hailed as Major; in Wisconsin, as Captain; but when he met the boys, they greeted him with "Hello, Sam." He died in 1897 at Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 1848-49, James Purinton, as the agent for a Boston com^ pany, built a mill and dam at the mouth of Willow river in North Hudson, at a cost of about |25,000. Both mill and dam were burned in 1862; loss, $15,000. The gross cut of the mill was about 35,000,000 feet In 1856, J. W. Peers built a mill in Hudson, which passed through many ownerships, being rebuilt in 1883 by H. A. Tay- lor, C. E. Coon, M. Herrick, and others, at a cost of $45,000. In 1889, the company was organized into the Hudson Sawmill Company. Gross cut during the first thirty-three years, 198,- 000,000 feet; during the last nine years, 108,000,000; total, 306,000,000. This mill had a loss by fire, in 1873, of |10,000. In 1899, it is a stock company with a capital of $55,000, com- posed of O. K. and J. T. Ingram, of Eau Claire, Wis., C. L. Chamberlain, of Minneapolis, Minn., A. E. Richard, of Mason, Wis., and G. P. De Long, of Hudson, Wis. There were four mills in Hudson, built in the 50's and 60's; their cut was about 20,000,000 feet Horace A. Taylor came to the Valley in 1850, from Norfolk, New Jersey; a man of enterprise and energy, quick perception, and ready wit. In 1881, he was appointed by President Gar- field as consul at Marseilles, France. In 1852, Joseph Bowron built a mill above Willow River Falls; cut, 6,000,000 feet At the same place, in 1868, Charles Buckhart built a mill; cut, 10,000,000 feet The Lord Brothers, in 1872, built a mill in Glenmount, Wis., which changed hands a number of times, being remod- eled by Pennington & Harper; gross cut, 175,000,000 feet. Mills on the Kinnikinic have cut 3,000,000 feet 308 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. Joseph Bowron came to the Valley in 1841, He was a strong advocate for the St. Croix boundary, and was a candi- date for both Wisconsin constitutional conventions, but was defeated. He contested successfully the seat of William R, Marshall, a citizen of St Croix Falls, Wis., who had received the certificate of election as representative to the first session of the Wisconsin legislature; but Bowron defeated Marshall by the legislature rejecting the vote west of the St. Croix lake and river. At New Richmond, Wis., in 1857, D. C. Foster and Silas Staples built a mill which was operated by water power; cut, about 15,000,000 feet In 1884, William Johnson, James Johnson, John C. Grlover, and Jacobson & Sons, built a mill on Willow river, at a cost of ?75,000. The gross cut of this mill, up to 1899, has been 180,- 000,000 feet William Johnson gave me much information about this and other mills. He has been a resident of the Valley for over forty years. S. A. Jewett built a mill on the Willow river six miles above New Richmond, in 1862; cut, 15,000,000 feet The Grienwood mill, built in 1884 on the Wisconsin Central railroad, has cut 35,000,000 feet The Boardman mill, on Wil- low river, has cut 5,000,000 feet. In 1888, a mill was built at Amery, on the Apple river, by I. E. Schneider. It was burnt in 1893 at a loss of $10,000, and was rebuilt by the present owner, John E. Grlover; cut, about 73,000,000 feet A mill was built by Harriman & Sta- ples on Apple river; cut, 6,000,000 feet The Star Prairie mill has cut 5,000,000 feet; the Somerset mill, 5,000,000 feet; and the Little Falls mill, 3,000,000 feet Charles Buckhart, in 1874, built a mill at Black Brook, Wis., cut, 15,000,000 feet. He also built a mill at Marsh Lake station; cut, 25,000,000 feet Israel Graves, in 1875, built a mill at Clear Lake, which has changed hands many times, being rebuilt by John E. Glover in 1880; gross cut, 25,000,000 feet; loss by fire, $10,000. The Jewett mill, three miles from Clear Lake, has cut 30,- 000,000 feet. P. B. Lacy & Johnson built a mill at Pineville in 1880; cut, about 40,000,000 feet; loss by fire, on the mill and railroad timber, $10,000. LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 309 A letter from F. E. Catlin states that a mill was located at Clayton in 1875; and that it cut out in 1889, having cut about 110,000,000 feet. The mill was built and operated by Humbird &Co. MILLS ON THE C, ST. P., M. AND O. RAILWAY. The following mills were located on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railway: The Turtle Lake mill, built in 1878 by S. Eichardson, cut 40,000,000 feet; a mill built by John W. Perley in 1879 cut 65,000,000 feet; and the Sprague mill, built in 1883, cut 40,- 000,000 feet R. Corbett built a mill at Comstock in 1884; cut, 4,000,000 feet. Three mills at Cumberland, in the 80's, cut 100,000,000 feet on the St, Croix waters; loss by fire, $130,000, The Barronett mill, built in 1880, was destroyed by fire in 1894 at a loss of $275,000; insurance, $135,000. The cut of this mill was 150,000,000 feet, its St Croix cut being 125,000,000. Other mills on the Omaha railway cut 16,000,000 feet John W. Perley, of Maine birth, came to the Valley in 1854. By his kindneBs I have been able to gather much information about the mills on the Omaha railway. The Shell Lake Lumber Company was organized in 1880, under Iowa laws, and was composed of C. Lamb and Daniel Joice, of Clinton, Iowa, David Norton & Co., of Winona, Minn., Weyerhaeuser & Co., of Eock Island, 111., and others. They have a capital stock of $500,000;' have sixty-three tenement houses; and employ two hundred and fifty men. This com- pany's mill cut, up to 1899, is 450,000,000 feet; from land drain- ing to the St Croix, 225,000,000 feet I am indebted to W. E. Bourne, the present manager of this mill and former manager of the Barronett mill, for the information concerning the Shell Lake and Barronett mills. These two mills cut their timber on the dividing ridge between the St. Croix and Chippewa rivers. At Hayward, situated on the Namekagan river, in Sawyer county, Wis., the North Wisconsin Lumber Company was or- ganized October 28th, 1881, with a capital of $450,000, in six equal interests, namely: W. H. Laird, M. G. Norton, and J. L. Norton, of Winona, Minn.; F. Weyerhaeuser, of St. Paul, Minn.; E. L. McCormack, of Waseca, Minn.; and A. J. Hay- 310 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. ward, of Chippewa Falls, Wis. The mill began operations June 4th, 1883, and has continued for sixteen seasons; total cut, up to 1899, 540,000,000 feet In a letter from R. L. Mc- Oormack, vice president of the Wisconsin Historical Society, he says: "If any other data are desired, I will be at your service; for I fully appreciate the fact that the vast wealth of the timber country will in a few years live only in the history you and others may write." Mr. McCormack was formierly a resident of Minnesota, being state senator from Waseca county in 1881. He is a man of quiet demeanor, attentive to duties, with good business qualifications. PINE, CARLTON, AND KANABEC COUNTIES. In the early 50's a mill was built by the Munch Brothers at Chengwatana. It was operated by water power, and much of the lumber was floated down the St. Croix river; gross cut, 4,000,000 feet. James S. Ferson built the first mill at Pine City in 1871. It has passed through many hands, and has sustained two losses by fire, to the amount of $75,000. The gross cut of this mill has been about 33,000,000 feet Hiram Brackett erected a mill in the 70's; cut, about 7,000,000 feet Webber & Bur- ger afterward built a mill, which cut about 5,000,000 feet. H. J. Rath also built a mill, which cut 2,000,000 feet Several small mills in the vicinity of Pine City, not including portable mills, cut about 11,000,000 feet These mills were all located in Pine county. Two mills were built at Rush City; cut, about 5,000,000 feet; loss by fire, |3,000. The Martin mill, at Rushseba, cut about 3,000,000 feet. Lee's mill, at Rush lake, out about 3,000,- 000 feet The Sunrise City mill cut about 2,000,000 feet During the 70's and 80's five mills were erected at Rock Creek; their cut was about 41,000,000 feet; loss by fire, two mills, $9,500. The Mission Creek mdll, first operated by Hunter & Taylor, was burned twice, with losses of about $32,000. Its gross cut was about 170,000,000 feet. Its last proprietors were Capt John Martin, Philip Riley, and Frank C. and John L. Laird. D. C. Grant's mill, near Hinckley, built in 1873, cut about 2,000,000 feet LUMBBKINQ IN THE ST. CROIX VADLBT. 311 The Hinckley mill, first owned by William H. Grant, cut 70,000,000 feet. It was rebuilt and cut, in five and a half years, 140,000,000 feet Subsequently, in seven years, it cut 70,000,000 feet. It was burned in 1894, at a loss of $25,000. William H. Grant, the founder of the Hinckley mill, is a man of worthy ambition, very alert, and a practical everyday man. The founders of these many manufacturing establish- ments, on the St. Paul & Duluth and Eastern railroads, are an indefatigable class of men. We have not space to give a sketch of these many useful citizens. To Fred A. Hodge I am greatly indebted for valuable data regarding the Mission Creek, Hinckley, and other mills. He gladly left his business to give me the information needed. Mr. Hodge came to the state early in the 70's, and has always been interested in the lumbering business. He is a genial man, worthy and public spirited, and has served four years in the state senate. The Brown and Eobie mill, at Miller station, cut about 2,000,000 feet; loss by fire, |3,000. D. M. Finlayson's mill cut about 75,000,000 feet. The Pine Eiver mill, owned by Wyman X. Folsom, cut about 15,000,000 feet The Eutledge mill, located on Kettle river and owned by Weyerhaeuser, Sauntry & Eutledge, was built in 1886; gross cut in twelve years, 216,000,000 feet. The two mills at Moose Lake have been owned by McAr- thur & Co., Fox & Wisdom, and others; cut, about 140,000,000 feet; loss by fire, |30,000. Two mills at Barnum have cut about 180,000,000 feet; loss by fire, $5,000. Three mills at Mattawa have cut about 80,000,000 feet Two mills at Groundhouse and Eice Lake have cut about 3,000,000 feet The Atwood Lumber Co., successors to Fox, Wisdom & Co., consisting of George H. Atwood, William Sauntry, and Wey- erhaeuser & Dinkman, built a mill in 1894, on section 2, town- ship 44, range 20. The gross cut of this mill, to 1899, has been 160,000,000 feet Mr. Atwood is a genial, intelligent man. He is a native of Maine and came to the Valley in 1883. Mr. Saun- try is a native of New Brunswick; he came to the Valley in 312 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 1854. He has shown himself to be a practical lumberman. Weyerhaeuser and Dinkman are of German d€scent and are good substantial men. The following mills are on the Eastern railway: The Sand- stone mill has cut about 5,000,000 feet; and the Mora mill about 2,000,000 feet. The Partridge mills, three in number, owned by Kerrick & Co. and others, have cut 25,000,000 feet; and the Nickerson mill, 127,000,000 feet. DULUTH AND THE ST. LOUIS RIVER. Passing beyond the boundary of the St Croix basin, I have gathered some information of the history of lumbering in northeastern Minnesota, at the west end of lake Superior and on the St Lonis river, which is here briefly stated, for the pur- pose of giving somewhat completely the records of this great industry throughout the east part of our state. The sawmills of West Duluth, up to the year 1886, inclu- sive, had manufactured 160,000,000 feet of lumber; and their product to the present time is probably about 1,000,000,000 feet At Thomson, a mill was built in 1873 by A. M. Miller, and was operated many years; its gross cut was at least 10,000,000 feet Another mill, six miles northwest of Thomson, owned by A. K. Lovejoy, cut 5,000,000 feet or more. Both these mills are now dismantled. Carlton has had four sawmills on the same site, the first being built in 1870. Their total product is estimated as 400.- 000,000 feet The present mill is owned by J. M. Paine. The first mill in Cloquet, at the head of the rapids and falls of the St Louis river, was built in 1878 by Charles D. Harwood. It was rebuilt in 1883 by the Knife Falls Lumber Company. In 1880 two other steam sawmills were built here by C. N. Nelson & Co.; and a water power mill by James Paine, McNair & Co. Other mills have been built later. The aggregate lumber product of Cloquet to the present time is es- timated to be at least 1,000,000,000 feet, equalling or exceed- ing that of Duluth. Much lumber has been sawn also at various localities on the Mesabi and Vermilion iron ranges, including about 175,- 000,000 feet at Tower and Ely and in their vicinity. LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 33^3 CLAM RIVER AND BURNETT COUNTY, WISCONSIN. In 1872, Daniel F. Smith built a mill at Clam River Falls, Wis., which was burned in 1887 at a loss of |3,000; cut, 2 000 - 000 feet. He also built a mill at Butternut Lake; cut, about 2,000,000 feet. Mr. Smith is a plain, frank man. He has filled many positions with ability and faithfulness. He came to the Valley in the early fifties. In the winter of 1848, an Indian trader came to my log- ging camp near Clam Falls, with a packer and two kegs of whisky. Twenty Indians soon arrived, gaudily painted and feathered. They demanded the whisky, but were refused, as I would not allow drinking at my camp. They were about to seize the kegs, when I ordered two of my mien to carry the whisky out of camp; and as soon as they had done so, I burst both kegs with an axe, letting the whisky mingle with the snow. The Indians licked up the snow, and then surrounded me, hooting and dancing in a circle, calling me "Ogema, Ogema," meaning brave. I gave them something to eat, and they left for their wigwams ten miles away. Burnett county was named in honor of a genial, kind- hearted and talented lawyer, Thomas P. Burnett of Prairie du Ohien. He was a Kentuckian by birth, and was a prominent man in the northwestern counties of Wisconsin during the 30's, iO's, and 50's. Grantsburg, the county seat of Burnett county, was founded in 1865, by Hon. Canute Anderson, who built a mill in the Wood river valley. Several other mills were also erected. The total cut of these mills is estimated at 25,000,000 feet. 'Mr. Anderson was the first postmaster in Burnett county. In 1878 he represented his district in the Wisconsin legisla- ture, and it was mostly through his efforts that the Grantsburg branch of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad was built. His home was a resort and intelligence oflSce for the settlers, strangers in a new land; he assisted many a poor and needy family. He was accidentally and instantly killed in 1886. Robideau, a mixed-blood Indian, murdered Jack Drake at Wood Lake, Burnett county. Having been arrested and placed in confinement at St Croix Falls, he jumped with one bound about fifty feet from a second story window, passed 314 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. over the watchman's head and made for the woods, making good his escape. Within a few days afterward he murdered Alex Livingstone; but he was never arrested. Drake and Livingstone were whisky venders. At Wood Lake, Burnett county, Wisconsin, lived in 1874 an aged and blind Indian woman who calculated her pilgrim- age on earth by moons. All traces of her traditional beauty as an Indian maiden had long since departed. Shriveled, de- crepit, bent, she was the impersonation of all that is unlovely and repulsive in old age. Taciturn and sullen, her mind le- thargic and dull, she seemed but little more than half alive, and could not be easily aroused to the comprehension of pass- ing events, or to the recognition of those around her. She must have been very old. When aroused to consciousness, which was but seldom, she woijld talk of things long past. A light would come into her sightless eyes, as she recounted the traditions or described the manners and customs of her peo- ple, speaking with evident pride of their ancient power and prowess when her people planted their tepees on the shores of the "shining big sea water" (lake Superior) and drove their enemies, the Dakotas, before them. Her people wore blankets made from the skins of the moose, elk, and buffalo, with caps from skins of otter and beaver. There was then an abundance of "kego" (fish) and "washkish" (deer). There were no pale- faces then in all the land to drive them from their tepees and take their hunting grounds. Of course they had seen occa- sional whites, hunters, trappers, and missionaries; but the formidable movements of the now dominant race had not fairly commenced. Counting the years of her life on her fin- gers, so many moons representing a year, she must have num- bered a score beyond a century; and she had consequently witnessed, before her eyes were dimmed, the complete spolia- tion of her people's ancestral domain. TAYLOR'S FALLS AND VICINITY. The Inter-State Park, which covers the wonderful rock formations on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix river, and which has been tastefully improved, with the limited means in hand, by the superintendent, George H. Hazzard, was es- tablished in 1895. Wisconsin and Minnesota share equally in LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 3^5 this grand upheaval of trap rocks, which form the Dalles. They are unquestionably the most interesting volcanic erup- tions east of the Eocky mountains. The testimony of thou- sands verifies this statement. Miss Fredrika Bremer, the vrell known Swedish novelist, an intelligent traveller, visited the Dalles in 1849 and pronounced them, in the hearing of the writer, "One of God's beauteous spots of earth." Adjacent to the Dalles are the ancient battlefields of the Sioux and Ojibway Indians. The rocks and hills of the St. Croix Valley, from the source of the river to its mouth, have often been stained with Indian blood. Your worthy presi- dent, in one of his addresses before this Society, pronounced the tract between the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers a G-ol- gotha, a place of skulls. But now, with the exception of a few Indians about the head of the river, all have departed; some have gone to homes in the west, but most of them to an unknown land. In 1857 a mill was built in Taylor's Falls by Kingman & Grurley. It was removed in 1880 j its cut was about 22,000,000 feet. The Clark Brothers built a mill in the 60's, but it was soon afterward removed; cut, about 5,000,000 feet. Ansel Smith erected a mill at Franconia in 1852, which passed through many hajuds. The original owner died in Du- luth. This mill was burned in 1889 at a loss of |3,000. Its cut was about 20,000,000 feet. In 1847 the St. Croix Falls precinot covered both sides of the St. Croix river. Jerry Ross, living on the other side of the river from Taylor's Falls, was elected justice of the peace. One day a gentleman called on Jerry and found him delivering a charge to a jury of twelve men in a basswood grove. Twelve jurors, good steadfast men, were marked lifelike on twelve basswood trees. Jerry Ross said to his visitor, "If you are the defendant in this case, you are too late; the case is de- cided, and the jury discharged." In 1851, a Mr. Philbrook, from Hudson, came to St. Croix Falls to get married. Not finding anyone authorized to per- form the ceremony, he cast loose a raft of lumber from the Wisconsin shore, and Hon. Ansel Smith of St. Croix precinct, Washington county, united them in miarriage. Another party, 316 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL, SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. of Taylor's Falls, desiring matrimoiiy, crossed the St. Croix on the ice and climbed to the highest pinnacle of trap rock, and were there pronounced man and wife by a Wisconsin justice. ARCOLA, WASHINGTON COUNTY. In 1846-47, Martin Mower, David B. Loomis, Joseph Brew- ster, and W. H. C. Folsom, built the Areola mill on a land claim owned by W. H. C. Folsom. It began operations in May, 1847. Martin Mower afterward became the sole owner and erected another mill in 1852. This property is owned, in 1899, by the heirs of John E. Mower. The probable cut of the two mills has been 15,000,000 feet. W. H. C. Folsom is the only surviving member of the firm. Martin and John E. Mower came to the Valley in 1840, where they were prominent business men, Martin Mower being one of the founders of the St. Croix Boom Company. He built a large block in Stillwater. John E. Mower represented the counties of Washington, Chisago, and Pine, in the fifth and sixth territorial councils, and again in the seventeenth state legislfLture. The Minnesota territorial legislature affixed his name to a county. David B. Loomis was a well known mian, being a member of the territorial council for four years, from 1851 to 1855, and president of the council one session. He entered the army in 1861 as a lieutenant in Company F, Second Minnesota; was promoted as a captain; and served three and a half years. In 1873 he represented Washington county in the legislature. THE NEVERS DAM. The Nevers dam was built in 1891, ten miles above St. Croix Falls, at a cost of |180,000. The length of the dami is 1,000 feet; it has a flowage of ten miles, and a possible head of seventeen feet The purpose of this dam is to hold the an- nual cut of logs, and to supply the water, held in the extensive reservoir, for driving the logs to the St. Croix boom. The in- tention was to aid navigation and not to impede it. Litiga- tion is the result of the building of the dam. Before the dam was built, navigation was impeded by the millions of logs fill- LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VAXiLET. 317 ing the river annually above the boom; but the holding of the water above the dam leaves the river, during much of the year, without its usual natural flow. The incorporators of the dam are Sauntry, Weyerhaeuser, McClure, Tozer, the Maloy broth- ers, and others. LOG BOOMS AND RAFTS. The St. Croix Boom Company was organized in 1857, with a capital stock of |25,000. The incorporators were Orange Walker and George B. Judd of Marine; John McKusick, Soc- rates Nelson, and Levi B. Churchill, of Stillwater; Daniel Hears and William Kent, of Osceola; and W. H. C. Folsom, of Taylor's Falls. The boom was built near Osceola. In 1866 the company was reorganized by Martin Mower, W. H. C. Fol- som, Isaac Staples, 0. Carli, and Samuel Burkleo, with a capi- tal stock of $50,000. The boom was removed to Stillwater. Much litigation ensued from the blockading of the river and impeding navigation, which caused damages in one season to the estimated amount of |146,525. Controversies arose as to the jurisdiction of the St. Croix river; it is the state bound- ary, and hence both states claimed concurrent power. The officers of the Boom Company receive a fair salary, and are competent to attend to the multitude of log marks. It may not be amiss to explain briefly the system of log marks. It is a language in itself. There are over two thousand marks recorded, in distinct and different characters. Every owner must have his mark recorded or lose his logs. A law has been passed protecting the ownership of recorded marks. In 1843, a rise of water in the St. Croix river broke the log boom at St. Croix Falls, and about 400,000 feet of logs floated down to St. Croix lake. Thence they were rafted down the river by John B. Page, and were sold to Thomas West of St. Louis, Mo. This was the first raft of logs run from the St Oroix river to the lower markets. Rafts of sawn lumber were run earlier, from the Marine mill in 1839, and from the St. Croix Falls mill in 1842. A part of the first lumber sawn at Stillwater, in 1844, was also rafted south. During recent years, on an average, over three hundred and twenty rafts of logs and lumber are annually floated out of lake St. Croix to southern markets. 318 MINNESOTA HISTOEICAX. SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. LUMBER MANUFACTURING FARTHER SOUTH IN MINNESOTA. That this paper may include mention of the beginnings of the lumber industry at other places in this state south of the St. Croix valley, I have obtained the following notes of saw- mills in St. Paul, Hastings, Red Wing, and elsewhere south- ward to Winona. The Red Wing mills have depended mainly, and those farther south in a considerable degree, on the St. Oroix lumbermen for their supplies of logs. In St. Paul a sawmill was built in the early 50's by John S. Prince, on the bank of the Mississippi river a short distance east of the site of the Union railway depot. After cutting about a million feet of lumber, it was sold to William G. Le Due and was removed by him to Hastings. Other sawmills in and near St. Paul during the fifteen years following 1850 were as follows : In 1851, John R. Irvine built a sawmill on the upper levee, near the foot of Eagle street, which continued in operation until 1858, sawing about 1,000,000 feet of lumber yearly. About the year 1855, J. B, Holmes erected a small sawmill near the spot where the Union depot now stands. William L. Ames built a mill near the foot of Dayton's bluff, which commenced operations about the year 1856 and continued four years, sawing about 1,250,000 feet of lumber each year, until it was torn down in 1860. About 500 feet below the Ames mill, the Sanford mill was erected in 1856, which continued in operation three years, sawing, like the last, about 1,250,000 feet each year. In the same year, 1856, Stuart, Cobb & Company erected a mill on the upper levee, 500 or 600 yards above the Irvine mill, and nearly opposite Sherman street. This mill continued in opera- tion four years, sawing about 2,000,000 feet per annum. It was destroyed by fire in 1860. During the year 1857, Henry P. Upham and Col. Chauncey W. Griggs operated the old Ful- ler sawmill, which stood near the upper levee, on the ground now occupied by the Minnesota Soap Company, sawing 1,000,- 000 feet of lumber. In 1858, Mr. Upham bought a small mill that had been built on the west side of the Mississippi river, just below where the Wabasha street bridge now stands; and he and Freeman James operated this mill about six years, sawing, each year, about 1,000,000 feet of lumber. At Pig's LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 319 Eye, William Davis and Joe Deion operated a sawmill from 1861 to 1865. Another sawmill was built in St. Paul about the year 1870 by Louis Krieger and John M. Keller, on Phalen creek just above the St Paul and Duluth railroad depot. It operated three years and manufactured about three million feet of lum- ber, using logs brought by this railroad from townships 36, 37, and 38, in range 21, which include Harris, Rush City, and Rock Creek stations. The pioneer lumberman of Hastings was William G. Le Due, who in 1856 built a sawmill beside the Mississippi river at the west edge of the city, where now stands the great mill of Libbey & Thompson. He purchased his first mill machin- ery in Ohio, but it proved a failure and was replaced by the machinery from Prince's mill in St. Paul. This mill manu- factured about 5,000,000 feet of lumber. In the autumn of the same year 1856 another mill was built in Hastings, by Phelps, Graham, and Knapp. It was situated on the slough at the east end of the city. After oper- ating three years, it was sold to A. J. Short, who removed it to Point Douglas. A sawmill that was built by Bullard & Post in 1853 at Wacouta, a few miles east of Eed Wing, appears to have been the first west of the Mississippi in this state, excepting the small mill that supplied lumber for the construction of Fort Snelling. The Wacouta mill operated five years, and sawed about 5,000,000 feet of lumber. The first mill at Red Wing was built in 1855 by Pettibone & Knapp. This mill, after sawing about 6,000,000 feet, was sold in 1861 to Cogel & Betcher, by whom it was rebuilt. Their product during the years 1861 to 1875 was at least 70,000,000 feet. In 1875 this property passed to the ownership of Charles Betcher, who estimates his production of lumber from that date until now to be 180,000,000 feet or more. In 1857, Grannis, Daniels & Company built another saw- mill at Red Wing, which continued in operation thirty-two years, under successive owners, being finally burned. Its gross cut is estimated as at least 130,000,000 feet. 320 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. A third mill, built here also in 1857, by a Boston capitalist named Drew, sawed only half a million feet, when its work ceased on account of the financial panic of that year. This mill building, removed a short distance, is now in use as the railway freight house. In 1856 and later, sawmills have been operated at Pronte- nac and Central Point, their product being probably about 10,000,000 feet. At Bead's Landing, in the autumn of 1854, William R. Marshall, Joseph M. Marshall, and N. P. Lajigford, erected a mill which cut about 1,200,000 feet of lumber. Then the prop- erty was sold, in the summer of 1855, to Knapp, Tainter and Wilson, lumbermen of Menomonie, Wisconsin, who enlarged the mill and continued to operate it several years, until it was destroyed by fire. In Winona the first sawmill was one of small capacity, built by Highlands & Wyckoff in the fall of 1855. It was burned five years afterward. The next sawmill was erected in 1857 by Laird, Norton & Company, who continue still in business. Their mill was rebuilt in 1879; and it was de- stroyed by fire, and was rebuilt again on a very large scale, in 1885. The third mill was built in 1858 by the Youmans Broth- ers, and was rebuilt in 1881, being now one of the largest and best equipped sawmills in this state. With these, since 1881, this city has had the large mill of the Winona Lumber Com- pany; and, since 1882, that of the Empire Lumber Company. The production of lumber in Winona, according to esti- mates supplied to me by Hon. Thomas Simpson and Mr. W. H. Laird, has been approximately as follows: During the years 1858 to 1868, inclusive, about 160,000,000 feet; in the next ten years, 325,000,000 feet; in the next decade, 1,150,000,000 feet; and in the last ten years, 1889 to 1898, inclusive, about 1,400,- 000,000 feet. The total for these forty-one years has been thus about 3,035,000,000 feet of sawn lumber; to which should be added a large value of laths and shingles. During the years 1858 to 1870 the logs used in sawing at Winona came largely from the St. Croix river and its tribu- taries. Since 1870 they have mostly come from the Chippewa LUMBERING IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 32I river of Wisconsin. In 1871 the Beef Slough, branching from the Chippewa near its mouth and continuing beside the Missis- sippi almost to Winona, began to be used for running the Chippewa logs and making them into rafts, under the control of the Mississippi River Logging Company, which includes the owners of the Winona mills. But within the last five years a portion of the Winona supply of logs has been again derived from the St Croix valley. SUMMARY AND STATISTICS. During the period of sixty years of lumbering in the St. Oroix valley one hundred and thirty-three mills have been erected, for the manufacture almost exclusively of pine tim- ber. Of this number of mills only twenty-seven are running in 1899. So few mills now are doing the work, with an in- creased product of millions of lumber annually, which is due to the late improvements in machinery. Mills now cutting from ten to forty-five millions per season are doing what in former years would have required the running of ten or fifteen mills, to manufacture the same amount in the same time. In the following tabulated statistics the logs noted as cut prior to the boom output in 1851 are reported beyond in the manufacturers' table, excepting 55,000,000 feet rafted to St. Louis. The earliest statistics are from persons operating, and the later from record books. I give the figures in round numbers. The table includes logs cut and floated down the St. Croix river and its tributaries. Amount of Logs cut from 1837 to 1898. Tear. Feet. Year. Feet 1837-38 300,000 1845 14,000,000 183S^9 700,000 1846 25,500,000 1840 1,500,000 1847 26,000,000 1841 2,500,000 1848 37,000,000 1842 3,000,000 1849 50,000,000 1843 3,500,000 1850 75,000,000 1844 8,500,000 The following figures give the boom output from 1851 to 1898: 322 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. Year. Feet. Year. Feet. 1851 107,000,000 1875 121,389,720 1852 110,000,000 1876 152,520,000 1853 120,000,000 1877 140,540,890 1854 125,000,000 1878 132,735,870 1855 130,000,000 1879 201,763,500 1856 135,000,000 1880 201,440,000 1857 140,000,000 1881 231,000,500 1858 142,000,000 1882 273,810,400 1859 145,000,000 1883 271,272,800 1860 150,000,000 1884 274,350,600 1861 140,000,000 1885 225,540,800 1862 175,000,000 1886 191,454,500 1863 150,000,000 1887 270,060,100 1864 140,000,000 1888 365,486,300 1865 130,000,000 1889 262,385,980 1866 145,000,000 1890 452,360,890 1867 128,000,000 1891 315,180,700 1868 145,000,000 1892 436,899,770 1869 150,000,000 1893 359,468,720 1870 165,000,000 1894 281,470,400 1871 170,000,000 1895 353,062,850 1872 181,000,000 1896 321,764,530 1873 160,000,000 1897 311,615,170 1874 120,000,000 1898 344,728,217 Recapitulation of Logs and Sawn Lvmber. Feet. Log output from the boom, 1851 to 1898 9,895,303,207 From Willow river, Wisconsin 100,000,000 Logs rafted before 1851 55,000,000 Total of loga from the St. Croix and tributaries, board measure 10,050,303,207 This amount do^s not include the logs sawn into lumber at mills on the railroads, which are placed in the following statistics of lum'ber manufactured on the St. Croix and within its drainage area. Feet. Above the boom 347,000,000 Below the boom 3,352,000,000 On the St. Paul & Duluth railroad 1,397,000,000 On the C, St. P., M. & Omaha railway 1,960,000,000 On the Eastern Minnesota railway 159,000,000 On Apple river and Balsam creek 117,000,000 On ciarn and Wood rivers. 27,000,000 Total of sawn lumber 7,359,000,000 LUMBEKINQ IN THE ST. CROIX VALLEY. 323 A considerable part of this amount was cut on adjacent areas drained by branches of the Chippewa river. From this and the foregoing tables, we obtain the total amount of pine timber cut in the St. Croix basin, approximately, 14,054,000,- 000 feet. The value of this timber, for the St. Croix basin, before it was cut, called its stumpage value, may be estimated at ?3 per thousand, amounting to $42,162,000. Cost of Labor in Lvmbering, 1837 to 1898. The amount paid for labor in lumbering in the St. Croix valley has been approximately as follows: Hanufacturing 7,359,000,000 feet of lumber , $17,661,600 Cutting, driving, boomage and rafting of 6,695,000,000 feet of logs, sawn farther south 3,347,500 Boom labor on 10,050,303,000 feet 5,018,800 Manufacturing shingles, laths, and pickets 1,000,000 Labor on Nevera dam 100,000 Miscellaneous labor, as building mills 1,100,000 Total cost of labor $28,227,900 The disbursement of this vast sum has been largely to the surrounding states, much of the wages, as of the lumber, being taken from the Valley to build the farm houses, towns, and cities of our great prairie region. Many a young man, in cen- tral and western Minnesota, and the Dakotas, received his first money for labor performed at the boom, in the mills, or in the pineries, which laid the foundations for many happy, prosperous homes. The wages paid in states farther south for manufacturing the lumber of logs run from the St. Croix valley to southern markets is estimated as about |10,000,000. Losses hy Fires. The losses by fires destroying mills and lumber in the Val- ley, not including losses of standing pine timber burned, have been approximately as follows : On the St. Croix lalse and river $334,000 On the C, St. P., M. & Omaha railway 620,000 On the St. Paul & Duluth railroad and Its branches 185,000 Total $1,139,000 324 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. Estimates of the amoant of timber standing in the Valley are very conjectural. Some of the large firms place their limit of operations at five to ten years. But the history of pine timber in pine-growing countries, in many instances, proves that this timber may be reproduced, growing anew, after the original growth has been removed, if fires are kept subdued. The growth of protected timber is equivalent to a good interest on the investment. Our forests should be pre- served and protected against fires and hunters, even if a pen- alty be imposed. With proper precautions, billions of valua- ble pine timber could thus be saved; and the same is true also of our almost equally valuable hardwood timber. In 1819, Crawford county was organized under the admin- istration of Gov. Lewis Cass of Michigan Territory; and that single county embraced within its bounds what are now the States of Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and the western part of Wisconsin. Judge James D. Doty, at the age of twenty- three years, held the first district court, in 1824, at Prairie du Chien, the county seat Under the jurisdiction of Crawford county tribunals, criminals were transferred from the upper Mississippi valley to Prairie du Chien for trial. The writer of this paper settled in Crawford county in 1837, sixty-two years ago. I have since continuously resided in what was old Crawford county, and during the last forty-nine years at Tay- lor's Falls. The boundary lines have been changed a number of times, leaving me, in 1899, in the State of Minnesota.