Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
20. It contains about forty dwellings, three large boarding houses,
1104 words | Chapter 106
two stores, one hotel and a stone saw mill with diamond-toothed saw,
built by Ring & Tobin, at a cost of $30,000. The stone quarries of the
Kettle River & Sandstone Company are located on sections 3, 10 and 15,
in township 42, range 20, and extend two and three-quarters miles on
each side of Kettle river. The first work in opening the quarries was
done Aug. 22, 1885. The village plat was surveyed in June, 1887, and a
post office established there the February preceding, W. H. Grant,
Jr., being the first postmaster. The saw mill and the quarries give
employment to about four hundred men. Sandstone is located on the old
site of Fortuna. The Kettle River railroad was built to the quarries
in 1886, from the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, a distance of five
miles. The Manitoba railroad, running to Superior, passes through the
village.
WILLIAM H. GRANT, SR., one of the founders of Hinckley, and the
proprietor and founder of the Sandstone enterprise, was born Dec. 23,
1829, at Lyndborough, New Hampshire. He received his education at
Hancock Academy, New Hampshire, and Yates Academy, Orleans county, New
York. He studied law and was admitted to practice in 1854 at
Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He came to St. Paul in 1859, where he
still resides, his property interests at Sandstone being immediately
under the super vision of his son, W. H. Grant, Jr. He sold his
interest in May, 1888, for $100,000. He was married to Martha McKean
in New Hampshire, January, 1855.
KETTLE RIVER.
The town of Kettle River, including townships 43 and 44, lying on the
west line of the county, was organized in 1874. S. S. Griggs was
chairman of the first board of supervisors. The town contains but one
school district. The first settler was S. S. Griggs, who, in company
with John S. Prince, of St. Paul, built a saw mill at the St. Paul &
Duluth railroad crossing on Kettle river, in 1871-72. This was not a
successful venture. A post office was established at the mill, and S.
S. Griggs was appointed postmaster. The Manitoba and St. Paul & Duluth
railroads pass through the town from south to north. The township now
has no settlement except about twenty-four families at the station and
village. It is heavily timbered with pine and hardwood. There are
meadows, marshes and tamarack swamps, fine streams and beautiful
lakes, and much excellent farming land besides. The Pine lakes in
township 43, range 21, are beautiful sheets of water. There are no
good roads or public improvements.
JOHN C. HANLEY was born in Covington, Kentucky, and was educated at
Oxford College, Ohio. He came to St. Paul in 1849, as a machinist and
millwright. He was married in 1853, at St. Anthony, to Sophia
Ramsdale. In 1862 he enlisted in Company M, Minnesota Mounted Cavalry,
a company recruited principally at Sunrise, Chisago county, by Capt.
James Starkey. He was commissioned second lieutenant and was with Gen.
Sibleys expedition against the Sioux. Subsequently he received a
captain's commission, and recruited Company M, Second Minnesota
Cavalry, stationed on the frontier. He was mustered out in 1865. He
resides at Kettle River.
MISSION CREEK
Was organized as a town in 1880. The first supervisors were M. Thomas,
T. Johnson, Wm. McKean; Messrs. H. A. Taylor and Philip Riley & Co.,
of St. Paul, were the first operators here. They built a saw mill with
a capacity of 3,000,000 feet per annum. This property has changed
owners, and is now held by the John Martin Lumber Company, of St.
Paul. It was burned down in 1885, but was immediately rebuilt.
PINE CITY.
The town of Pine City was organized in 1874. The first supervisors
were Hiram Brackett, H. B. Hoffman and James Griffith. The village of
Pine City was platted in 1869. The original proprietors were James and
Stephen H. Petrie, Catherine Sloan and Luther Mendenhall. The survey
was made by B. W. Brunson. Wm. Branch acted as attorney and the
acknowledgment was made by J. J. Egan, notary public, of St. Louis
county. The village was organized in 1881, but the officers did not
qualify until the following year.
The oldest settler was probably a Mr. Kirkland, of Quincy, Illinois,
who worked for some time on the banks of Cross lake, on the present
site of Pine City, hoping to be able to plant a colony there, but,
according to the testimony of Mrs. E. T. Ayer, the missionary became
disheartened by the Indian troubles, and left in 1841, abandoning his
scheme. The completion of the railroad which crosses the Kanabec river
at this point gave a great impetus to the prosperity of the village
and neighborhood. It now contains a fine court house, built at a cost
of $8,000, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches, good
buildings for graded and common schools, and three hotels. Pine City
has besides a pleasant park, the gift of Capt. Richard G. Robinson,
which has been adorned and embellished and named after the donor,
"Robinson Park."
RICHARD G. ROBINSON was born in Jackson county, Iowa, in 1829; he
moved thence with his parents to Illinois, and to St. Croix Falls in
1848, where he followed lumbering, scaling, surveying and exploring.
He lived at St. Croix and Taylor's Falls until 1872, when he received
the appointment of land examiner for the Lake Superior & Mississippi
Railroad Company. He was in the employ of the company twelve years,
making his home at Pine City, where he still lives, engaged in
lumbering and real estate. He was married to Catharine A. Fullenwider,
of Iowa. Mrs. Robinson died at Pine City in 1885.
HIRAM BRACKETT was born in 1817, in China, Maine, and came to Pine
City in 1868 from Aroostook county, Maine. He was among the first to
make improvements. He built a hotel and was the first postmaster in
the town. He died in 1883, leaving an estimable widow, three sons,
John, Albert and Frank, and two daughters, Emily, married to Henry A.
Linn, of Milwaukee, and Louise, married to Henry D. Crohurst, of Pine
City.
RANDALL K. BURROWS, a native of Connecticut, came to Pine City in
1869, and, with Adolph Munch, built a large stave mill on the shores
of Cross lake. This proved an unfortunate investment, resulting in
litigation, during the progress of which the mill was destroyed by
fire, in 1878. Mr. Burrows was an active, enthusiastic man, and worked
hard for the interests of Pine City, filling many positions of trust.
He was elected to the state senate from the Twenty-eighth district, in
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