CHAPTER XVIII.

AITKIN COUNTY. This county consists of an oblong section, six towns in width, lying between Mille Lacs and Kanabec counties on the south, and Itasca on the north. It is a heavily timbered region, upon which the lumberman has drawn for hundreds of millions of feet of lumber, with but little apparent diminution in the quantity of the supply. The whole surface is dotted with lakes and variegated with natural meadows. The southern portion of the county affords good farming lands. Mille Lacs, in the southern part of the county, is the largest lake, and settlements have already been made along its shores. Sandy lake is second in size. It lies on the great portage route from Winnipeg, by way of St. Louis river to Lake Superior, and has been a noted point on that route for two hundred years. The missions of the Jesuits, and later, of the Presbyterians and Methodists, had been located here and abandoned. The fur trader and the Indian trader have made their headquarters here. Sandy lake has become historic. The county contains about one hundred and three townships, which are drained chiefly by the Mississippi and its tributaries. The Mississippi is navigable from Aitkin to Pokegama falls, a distance of over one hundred miles. Aitkin county was created May 23, 1857, but was not organized until July 30, 1872. The first officers chosen were: County commissioners, Nathaniel Tibbetts, chairman; Wm. Hallstrom, Wm. Wade; treasurer, Geo. Clapp; register of deeds, Wm. Hallstrom; auditor, W. E. Crowell; sheriff, James W. Tibbetts. That part of the county including the village of Aitkin was organized into a town in 1873; N. Tibbetts, chairman. The Northern Pacific railroad passes through six townships of this county, namely: townships 27 and 28, range 22 to 27, inclusive. While the road was in process of building in 1870, Nathaniel Tibbetts made a claim where the village of Aitkin now stands, and built the first house, a hotel known as the Ojibway House, and the next spring built the Aitkin House. He moved his family here in 1471. He was appointed the first postmaster at the organization of the county. The county and village of Aitkin were named after Wm. A. Aitkin, who was a prominent trader on the Upper Mississippi for a number of years. AITKIN VILLAGE. Aitkin was made the county seat at the organization of the county. It is pleasantly situated on the west branch of Ripple creek, near the east branch of the Mississippi. It is now a prosperous and thriving village with heavy mercantile establishments, two first class hotels, a good school house, and pleasant homes. One newspaper, the Aitkin _Age_, is published here. Warren Potter, Richard Mills, William Wade and George Jenkins are early citizens. In 1873 Capt. Houghton built a steamer, called the Pokegama, to run from Aitkin to Pokegama Falls. This steamer was burned in 1878. Capt. Houghton replaced it with a new boat called the City of Aitkin, which still plies the Mississippi river between the points named. Pokegama Falls is a headquarters for lumbermen and a place for general trade. WM. A. AITKEN.--The date and place of Mr. Aitkin's nativity are not positively known. He came to the Chippewa country when a boy of fifteen, as servant to a trader named John Drew, and in time became a successful and well known trader. He died at Sandy Lake in 1851. His life, in common with that of the early traders, was adventurous. He witnessed many stirring scenes, among them the battle of Stillwater Ravine, in 1839. Although raised among the Indians, and continually on the frontier, he was noted for his urbanity and geniality, and is well spoken of by the early explorers. ALFRED AITKIN, son of the foregoing, was killed by a Chippewa Indian at Cass lake in 1836. He had stolen the wife of the Indian, and refusing to return her to the enraged husband, was shot by him. The murderer was arrested, taken to Prairie du Chien for trial, tried before Judge Drum's court and acquitted. NATHANIEL TIBBETTS was born in New Sharon, Maine, March 21, 1824. While a mere boy he moved to Piscataquis county, and in 1845 came to Plover, Wisconsin, and two years later to Stillwater, Minnesota. He engaged in lumbering until 1850, when he moved to St. Anthony, and soon afterward made a claim at the mouth of Elk river, then in Benton county, where he remained until the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company A, Eighth Minnesota, of which company he was commissioned first lieutenant, and was afterward appointed regimental quartermaster. He was mustered out with his regiment at the close of the war, when he returned to his home at Elk River, and resumed his old business of lumbering. In 1870 he was engaged in the preliminary survey of the Northern Pacific railroad, and located the same year at Aitkin, of which village he was the pioneer, building the first house and barn, keeping the first hotel and serving as the first postmaster. He served four years as county commissioner. He has also served as register of deeds and sheriff. Ten years after his location at Aitkin he removed to Morrison county, where he now resides. His health is somewhat impaired from the exposure and fatigue of army life. CARLTON COUNTY. Carlton county lies between St. Louis county on the north, Pine on the south, Douglas county, Wisconsin, on the east and Aitkin on the west, and contains twenty-four townships. It is abundantly watered by the St. Louis river and its many tributaries on the northeast, by the tributaries of the Nemadji and Kettle rivers on the south. It is well timbered with pine and hardwoods. The St. Louis river affords one of the finest water powers in the Northwest. The rapids of this stream extend from the falls at Cloquet to Fond du Lac, a distance of twelve miles. The channel is rocky, the rocks being of a trappean or slaty formation, not easily worn by the water, and capable of furnishing good foundations for dams and mills. The first settlers were A. K. Lovejoy, Cephas Bradley, Joseph Meyers, Sexton Lyons, and some others. Mr. Lovejoy died at Thomson, Feb. 11, 1888, aged sixty-three years, leaving a wife. They had been the parents of twenty-four children, twelve pairs of twins. The county was named in honor of R. B. Carlton, who was a representative in the first state legislature. Mr. Carlton died at Fond du Lac, Sept. 10, 1863. The county was organized in 1858, and the county seat located at Twin Lakes, but changed by act of legislature to Thomson. It is subdivided into five towns, Knife Falls, Mahtowa, Moose Lake, Thomson, and Twin Lakes. It has a well defined slate stone range running from northeast to southwest. The same range crops out at Little Falls, Morrison county. THOMSON. The village of Thomson, the county seat of Carlton county, is located on the St. Louis river. The Northern Pacific railroad crosses at this point. A. M. Miller erected a steam saw mill here in 1873. The mill has a capacity of 100,000 feet per day, and has been a profitable enterprise. A. K. Lovejoy operates a saw mill six miles northwest, which has a capacity of 35,000 feet. The village of Thomson has a good graded school with two departments. CLOQUET, Located on the St. Louis river, was surveyed and platted in 1871. In 1878 Charles D. Harwood erected a steam saw mill at this point with a capacity of 50,000 feet. This was the beginning of a thriving manufacturing village. In 1883 the Knife Falls Lumber Company rebuilt the Harwood mill, increasing its capacity to 180,000 feet per day. In 1884 the property was transferred to Renwick, Crossett & Co. James Paine, McNair and others built a water power saw mill in 1880, with a capacity of 100,000 feet per day. The C. N. Nelson Company, in 1880, built two steam saw mills with a capacity of 350,000 feet per day. A post office was established in 1879; C. D. Harwood, postmaster. The village was platted and incorporated in 1882; William P. Allen was the first president of the council. It has two newspapers, the _Pine Knot Journal_, established by Ed. Gottry and J. H. Page in 1884, and the _Industrial Vidette_, established in 1887. It contains three church organizations with good buildings, the Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian. MOOSE LAKE STATION, On the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, is surrounded by a good farming country, and is a pretty, prosperous village. It has a post office, about sixty dwellings and a saw mill. BARNUM STATION, On the line of the same road, contains a post office, a saw mill with a capacity of about 50,000 feet daily, a few fine residences, with fine farms adjoining. MAHTOWA STATION, On the same road, has a saw mill and about twenty dwellings. An extensive stock farm is located here. NORTH PACIFIC JUNCTION Is situated on the St. Louis river, at the junction of the St. Paul & Duluth and Northern Pacific railroads. There are about one hundred buildings here including a large saw mill built by Paine & Co., having a capacity of 10,000,000 feet per annum; one school house, one church, and hotels, stores, shops and dwellings. The village was organized in 1881; Cephas Bradley, president. FRANCIS ASBURY WATKINS is a native of the state of New Hampshire. He was born in 1853; came to Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1866, to North Pacific Junction in 1881; was married to Anna Wicks, of Pine City, Minnesota, in 1882, and was admitted to practice law in 1883. He is a graduate of Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. He has served as auditor of Carlton county four years. ST. LOUIS COUNTY. St. Louis county takes its name from St. Louis river, the river itself having been named by some of the early French travelers or Jesuit missionaries, possibly by Duluth or Buade. The county is bounded on the north by Rainy lake and the British boundary, on the east by Lake county, on the south by Lake Superior, St. Louis river and Carlton, and on the west by Aitkin county. The surface is variegated, much of it being broken with deep ravines. It is well watered by streams tributary to Rainy lake and Superior, and by innumerable small lakes. Portions of it are heavily timbered with pines and hardwoods, and the northern portion is traversed by a rich mineral belt extending through the Vermillion Lake region. The settlements are chiefly along the shores of Lake Superior and St. Louis river, and on the shores of Vermillion lake. The falls and rapids of St. Louis river are noted for their wildness and grandeur. The scenery on its northern boundary, including the Dalles of the Rainy Lake waters, is not surpassed or even equaled at any point east of the Rocky mountains. The geological formation consists largely of primitive or igneous rocks, trappean, basaltic and granite, and the scenery has a peculiarly grand and sombre appearance. Notwithstanding the igneous character of the formation there is much excellent farming land on plains and intervales, while the more abrupt and rocky portions are rich in iron and the precious metals. The region about Vermillion lake has become a centre of mining operations. The region is rich in iron ores. Gold has also been discovered. A mineral region abounding in gold, silver and iron extends from Vermillion lake to Thunder Bay. St. Louis county was organized in 1856. The territorial governor appointed the following officers: Clerk of district court, J. B. Culver; sheriff, J. B. Ellis; register of deeds, R. H. Barrett; auditor, J. E. Brown. The first board of county commissioners elected were C. E. Martin, Vose Palmer and Z. J. Brown. The first meeting was held at Portland, Jan. 4, 1858. At an adjourned meeting held Jan. 20, 1858, the commissioners drew a grand and petit jury. The meetings were held sometimes at Portland and sometimes at Duluth. At a meeting held April 5, 1858, the county was divided into four towns--Duluth, Martin, Carp River and Carlton. At an adjourned meeting three assessor's districts, six school districts and four road districts were formed. The records do not show any previous division into districts or precincts, nor does the name of any clerk appear until the meeting of September 14th, when A. B. Robbins attests as clerk. At a meeting held Sept. 23, 1858, the village of Oneota was established. November 1st E. H. Brown was appointed clerk in place of A. B. Robbins. November 14th a bill allowing R. H. Barrett compensation for services as clerk prior to September 1st was passed. His name does not appear prior to this entry. The records show that a court was held in 1859, S. J. R. McMillan officiating as judge. Also that a road was made from Oneota to Buchanan and the mouth of Knife river, through Fremont, Portland and Endion, following a trail to Lester's river and across French river to Montezuma, and another from Oneota to Fond du Lac. The town of Milford is mentioned as accepting the report. The assessment for St. Louis county for 1859 amounted to $96,836.76. At a special meeting of the county commissioners held Jan. 10, 1866, a resolution was adopted asking the legislature to grant authority to St. Louis county to issue $150,000 to aid in building the Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad. The legislature granted the request and twenty year bonds were issued. We append a list of county commissioners to the year 1863: E. C. Martin, Vose Palmer, Zach T. Brown, 1858; E. C. Martin, Vose Palmer, W. E. Wright, 1859; W. E. Wright, S. A. Forbes, Sidney Luce, 1860; E. F. Ely, Joseph B. Culver (first meeting), 1861; E. F. Ely, Harvey Fargo, Levi B. Coffrey (second meeting), 1861; E. F. Ely, R. B. Carlton, H. Fargo, 1862; H. Fargo, R. B. Carlton, E. G. Swanstrom, 1863. Names of villages that appear in the old records of the board have entirely disappeared. Those villages nearest to Duluth have been absorbed by that vigorous young city. We find a record, bearing date 1859, authorizing an election to decide upon the question of the removal of the county seat from Duluth to Port Byron. There is no record of the result of the election, nor is Port Byron found in a recent map. DULUTH. The site of Duluth was visited as long ago as 1659, by two adventurous Frenchmen, Grosselier and Redission. This was twenty-one years prior to the coming of Greyson Duluth, in whose honor the city of Duluth was named two hundred years later. Capt. Duluth visited the western end of the lake in 1680. Three or four years later Jean Duluth, a brother of the captain, established two trading posts, one at the mouth of Pigeon river, the other on Minnesota Point. Le Sueur followed in 1683, accompanied by a French surveyor, Franquelin, who made a fairly correct map of the region. The attraction to the early voyageurs was the rich furs to be obtained in the wild regions adjacent. The great American Fur Company early established posts along the northern shore of Lake Superior, and later the Astor Fur Company made its northwestern headquarters at Fond du Lac, a few miles above the present site of Duluth. Nothing was done toward permanent settlement until about the year 1854, when the tide of immigration set in toward the head of the lake, and it became evident that here was to rise cities of no mean importance, one upon the western shore of the lake, rising from the base of Minnesota Point, and the other Superior City, across the gleaming waters of St. Louis bay. For several years the growth of Duluth was slow, and sometimes its fortunes seemed on the wane, but the construction of a railroad to St. Paul, completed in 1870, and a sudden influx of capital consequent upon this new outlet of trade, and more than all this, the proposed construction of the great Northern Pacific railroad, gave a new impetus to the growth of the city. The three years succeeding were years of great activity and progress. The population increased from 3,000 to 5,000, and many of the finer older buildings of the city were constructed. The canal was cut through Minnesota Point, thus giving to Duluth the most magnificent harbor on the lake, if not in the world. In 1873 the failure of Jay Cooke, who had largely contributed the means for the construction of the Northern Pacific railroad, caused a financial depression similar in its effects to that of 1857. Banks failed, merchants became bankrupt, and the population of the city was reduced to 1,300 souls. The "hard times" lasted until some time in 1878, when the opening up of the great wheat fields in the Red River valley, and the completion of the Northern Pacific railroad, again brought prosperity to the more than half deserted city. The population increased in 1878 from 1,300 to 2,200 souls. Two years later the census showed 3,470; and a year later, 7,800. In 1882 the population had increased to 12,000; in 1883 to 14,000; in 1884 to 16,690; in 1885 to 18,036, and in 1886 to 26,000 souls. Duluth has now a well organized board of trade, produce exchange and chamber of commerce. It has four banks, the American Exchange, Duluth National, Merchants National, and Bell & Eyster's. These banks had, in 1886, an aggregate capital of $300,000, with deposits of $2,034,281, amounts greatly increased during the year 1887. The taxable valuation of property in Duluth for the year 1886 was $11,773,720. The taxes paid in 1887 amount to $261,376. Duluth has one immense flour mill, with a capacity of 250 barrels per day. It is five stories in height, and favorably situated; having the lake upon one side and the railroads upon the other, so that loading and unloading can be carried on at once from vessels and cars. Duluth has also two large flour warehouses with a capacity of 200,000 barrels each. Large warehouses are also being built by the Northern Pacific and Omaha Railroad companies. The annual shipment of flour from Duluth has ranged from 164,000 barrels in 1871 to 1,500,000 in 1886, making an aggregate of 8,285,000 barrels in that time. The lumber industry of Duluth is no small factor in the prosperity of the city. The cut of the Duluth district for the past season amounts to 160,000,000 feet of lumber, 43,000,000 shingles, and 22,600,000 lath, of which the city mills have manufactured one-third. Much of this lumber has been shipped to Chicago and the East, and a new district, the Tower mining region, has lately been opened for shipment. We have alluded to the harbor of Duluth as one of the best on the lake. It consists of what is known as the Bay of Superior, a body of water about seven miles long by one mile in width, almost entirely shut off from the lake by a narrow strip of land known as Minnesota Point. The original entrance to this bay was through a channel on the southeast of the Point, separating it from Wisconsin Point, a similar tongue of land in the same line of direction. As this entrance was inconvenient and difficult, a canal was cut across the point near the mainland, sufficiently large to admit all vessels that pass through Ste. Marie's canal. Since the construction of the canal through Minnesota Point, the old landing in front of the city has been abandoned, and elevators have been built on the shores of the bay. These elevators are the best of their class, and have a total capacity of 20,000,000 bushels. They were ten in number, exclusive of several warehouses; two, however, have been destroyed by fire. The walls of the canal have been extended in the form of piers 1,000 feet into the lake. One of these piers is supplied with a lighthouse and a fog horn. The canal is 700 feet long and 250 feet in width. The arrivals and clearances for the port of Duluth in 1886 were 2,180. The fish trade is no inconsiderable part of the industries of Duluth. Two large firms have their headquarters here and the amount of capital invested in the business amounts to $165,000. During 1886 1,200,000 pounds of fish were shipped to Duluth for reshipment to other places, from the various fisheries of these companies. The United States fish commissioners, realizing the value of Lake Superior as a reservoir for food fish, have projected the largest fish hatchery on the lakes, to be located at Lester's Park. It is to be under government and state control and will supply the lakes of Superior and Michigan with about 500,000,000 eggs yearly. Duluth was organized and laid out as a village under the town site law of 1844; Richard Ralf, surveyor; Geo. E. Nettleton, J. B. Culver, O. W. Rice, Wm. Nettleton, and Robt. E. Jefferson, proprietors. The date of this organization is not known. We have a statement from Hon. W. G. Le Duc, of Hastings, to the effect, that in the winter of 1852-53, A. Ramsey, H. M. Rice, Maj. Watrous and himself, with two others whose names he can not recall, organized as a company and projected a town site at the west end of the lake, on the present site of Duluth. Maj. Watrous, the Indian agent, was instructed to take necessary measures to secure the land. Watrous failed to secure the property and the scheme failed. Mr. Le Duc projected and introduced a charter in the territorial legislature, which was passed, for a railroad to Duluth. In 1870 the city of Duluth was first incorporated, and five years later a portion of the same territory was incorporated as the village of Duluth, and the two municipal corporations were still in existence Feb. 25, 1887, when the act imposing certain political obligations upon the then existing city of Duluth became a law. The second day of March another law went into effect incorporating both the city and village of Duluth as the present city. FOND DU LAC, Located at the head of navigation on St. Louis river, and at the foot of the rapids, is a point of considerable historical interest, it having long been in use as a trading post. It has been a place of outfit and departure for trading expeditions for two hundred years. The old stone trading house of the Astor Fur Company still remains. It is surrounded by about twenty buildings of more recent date. It is now better known as a station on the Northern Pacific railroad. It was surveyed in 1856 by Richard Ralf and platted into village lots. The plats were signed by James A. Markland, attorney for the proprietors. Fond du Lac is now a village of some magnitude. ONEOTA Was settled some time in the '40s, by Edmund F. Ely and others, and became a village of some note, containing a post office, church and other evidences of prosperity. It was platted as a village in 1856; H. W. Wheeler, surveyor; Marcus W. McCracken, Bion W. Bacon, Edmund F. Ely, proprietors. The first recorded deed in St. Louis county is a quitclaim deed from B. H. Baer to E. F. Ely, of the town site of Ely; consideration, $1,500. The deed bears date of April 20, 1856. Oneota is now included in the plat of Duluth. CLIFTON. This village was platted in 1858, by John S. Watrous, on the shores of the lake north of Duluth. It is now within the Duluth city limits. PORTLAND, A village on the lake shore above Duluth, was platted in 1856. The proprietors were Aaron B. Robbins, James D. Ray, C. Marshall and J. J. Post. It is now within the Duluth city limits. ENDION, Located on the north shore, was surveyed Dec. 15, 1856, by Chas. Martin; M. 7P. Niel and others, proprietors. It is now within the Duluth city limits. MIDDLETON, Located on Minnesota Point, was surveyed Aug. 1, 1856; proprietors, Robert Reed, T. A. Markland. MONTEZUMA, Located on the north shore, was surveyed in May, 1856, by Vose Palmer; proprietor, Frederic Ottoman. BUCHANAN, Located on the north shore, was surveyed in October, 1856; proprietor, W. G. Cowell. ST. LOUIS FALLS Was surveyed in 1857, by C. E. Clark; Thos. H. Hogan, attorney for proprietors. FREMONT ISLAND. A peculiar feature of St. Louis bay has been the formation of floating islands, possibly the result of the collection of driftwood and other debris at the mouth of St. Louis river. The rafts thus formed in time became consolidated by the deposition of earthy materials, leaves, twigs and vegetable matter, and are covered with a rank growth of vegetation, at first shrubby, but at last arboreous. The roots of the shrubs and trees interlace, and hold the material of the raft more tightly together. These island rafts are sometimes loosened and float into the bay, and are driven about by the winds from one side of the bay to the other. One of these islands, supposed to be stationary, known as Fremont island, was surveyed and platted in 1856, by C. P. Heustis and Chas. A. Post. On the completion of the canal it broke loose from its moorings, floated away and disappeared, in all probability going to pieces in the rough waters of the lake. TOWER, Located on the southern shore of Vermillion lake, was surveyed Aug. 4,