Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
19. The west part is somewhat broken by the St. Croix bluffs; the
1823 words | Chapter 58
remainder is undulating and capable of agricultural improvement. There
are many good farms in this town. There are a few small lakes in the
eastern part. Eureka was set off from St. Croix Falls, and organized
Dec. 16, 1877. The first supervisors were Lucius A. Harper, Jens
Welling and William Booth. The first settlers were L. A. Harper, John
C. Beede, Henry Cole and others. There are three post offices in the
town,--Harper, Cushing and North Valley. At the mouth of Wolf creek,
in the extreme northwestern section of this town, J. R. Brown had a
trading house in the '30s, and Louis Roberts in the '40s. At this
place Alex. Livingston, another trader, was killed by Indians in 1849.
Livingston had built him a comfortable home, which he made a stopping
place for the weary traveler, whom he fed on wild rice, maple sugar,
venison, bear meat, muskrats, wild fowl and flour bread, all decently
prepared by his Indian wife. Mr. Livingston was killed by an Indian in
1849.
In 1855 Carma P. Garlick surveyed a quarter section here and laid it
off into town lots, and had lithograph maps published, calling the
prospective village Sebatanna, an Indian town signifying "Water
Village."
CHARLES NEVERS settled here about 1860, and has now a fine farm and
good buildings.
FARMINGTON.
Farmington was organized as a town in 1858. It contains forty-two
sections of land, in township 32, ranges 18 and 19, with some
fractions of sections on the St. Croix. It is a rich agricultural
town, well diversified with prairie and timber land. Its western
portion, along the St. Croix, has the picturesque bluffs common to
that river, with some unusually beautiful cascades and hillside
springs, of which the most notable are the well known mineral spring
and the springs at the lime kiln. The mineral spring is situated on
the St. Croix river, at the base of the bluff, and about one mile and
a half below Osceola Mills. A beautiful hotel was built in 1876 on the
cliff above, at a cost of about $20,000, which became quite a popular
place of resort until 1885, when it was burned. It has not been
rebuilt. The property was improved by Currant & Stevens, but afterward
sold.
The following analysis shows the chemical constituents of a gallon of
the water of the spring:
GRAINS.
Chloride of sodium .053
Sulphate of soda .524
Bicarbonate of soda .799
Bicarbonate of lime 11.193
Bicarbonate of magnesia 7.248
Iron and alumina .492
Silica .265
Organic matter a trace
-------
Total 20,565
South Farmington Corners has a prosperous cheese factory, owned and
operated by Koch Brothers, erected in 1883, turning out in 1884
sixteen tons of cheese and in 1885 over twenty tons. South Farmington
has a Catholic church building.
The first crops in Farmington were raised by Wm. Kent on a farm near
Osceola in 1846, and the same year Harmon Crandall and Richard Arnold
improved land and raised crops not far from the present village of
Farmington. Here, owing to the sandy nature of the soil, well digging
proved rather perilous to the two farmers. Mr. Arnold attempted to dig
a well in a depression, a sinkhole, in the prairie. As he dug deeper
the sides of the well caved in, almost burying him. He managed by his
own utmost exertions and those of his friend Crandall to escape, but
left his boots deeply imbedded in prairie soil.
In 1887 the Soo Railroad Company bridged the St. Croix, at the cedar
bend at the south point of the leaning cedars, and extended their
grade along the base of the precipice overlooking the river above, and
commanding an extensive view of bold, picturesque and beautiful
scenery.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
HARMON CRANDALL.--The Crandall family were the first to settle in
Osceola Prairie, in the town of Farmington. Mr. Crandall moved to his
farm in 1846, and lived there many years; sold out and removed to
Hudson, where, in later life, he became blind. He had three sons born
in Farmington. In 1882 he moved to Shell Lake, Washburn county, where
he died, Aug. 8, 1886. Mrs. Crandall died May 11, 1888.
SAMUEL WALL.--Mr. Wall was born in 1824, in Shropshire, England; went
as a British soldier to the West Indies in 1840; two years later came
to New York City; one year later to St. Louis; in 1844 to St. Paul and
in 1846 to the St. Croix valley, where he made a permanent home at the
lime kiln, which he bought of William Willim. He was married to Anna
Maria Moore in 1857. They had been educated as Episcopalians, but are
now Catholics and have educated their children in that faith in the
schools at St. Paul. Mr. Wall served five years in the British army
for thirteen pence a day, but West India rum was cheap, only ten pence
per gallon, and this, Mr. Wall pathetically remarked, "was an
unfortunate element for the lime-kiln man." After twenty-six years of
struggle Mr. Wall came out victorious and now strongly advises all
young men to "touch not, taste not, handle not," anything that can
intoxicate. The writer trusts he may stand firm.
WILLIAM RAMSEY was born in Ireland in 1814, and came to America with
his parents in his youth, first settling in Nova Scotia. In 1834 he
came to Washington county, Maine. In 1839 he was married to Sarah
Stevens, at Crawford, Maine. In 1849 he went to California. In 1850 he
returned, and located on his farm in Farmington, Polk county, where he
still resides, an efficient citizen, who has borne his full part in
the organization of town and county, and filled various offices.
HIRAM W. NASON.--Mr. Nason was born in Waterville, Maine, in 1792.
When of age he settled in Crawford, Maine. In 1852 he was married. He
came to Polk county, and settled in Farmington in 1853. Mr. Nason died
in 1859. Mrs. Nason died some years later. They were members of the
Baptist church. Their children are Joel F., Levi, Merrill, Crocker,
Albert, James, Maria, wife of Thos. Ford, of Farmington, and Frances,
wife of Moses Peaselee, of Farmington. Mr. Ford died in 1880. He was a
well to do farmer. Mr. Peaselee, also a farmer, has served as sheriff
of Polk county.
JOEL F. NASON.--Mr. Nason was born Aug. 31, 1828, in Washington
county, Maine. He was married to Bertha Hanscomb, of Crawford, Maine,
in July, 1851. Their children are Everett, Fred, Louisa, wife of
Albert Thompson, and Bertha. Mrs. Nason died in 1862. Mr. Nason was
married to Mary Ann Godfrey, of Osceola, in 1867. Mrs. Nason died
February, 1885. He was married to Miss Fanny Field, of St. Croix
Falls, in 1887. Mr. Nason settled in Farmington in 1852. He engaged in
lumbering many years, and was called by his fellow citizens to fill
several important offices. He served eight years as county clerk. He
was appointed receiver of the United States land office at St. Croix
Falls in 1871, which office he resigned in 1884, when he was elected
state senator.
JOHN MCADAMS was born in Tennessee in 1808. He was employed for many
years on the Louisville (Ky.) canal. He was married to Eliza Robinson
in 1840. Mrs. McAdams died in 1844, leaving one son, Melville, born
1842, who came with his father to the St. Croix valley in 1849. He
first located at Osceola, but in 1854 removed to Farmington, where he
died in 1883. Mr. McAdams was a mineralogist of some ability.
CHARLES TEA was born in Pennsylvania in 1817; came into the St. Croix
valley in 1849; was married in 1850 to Mary McAdams, sister of John
McAdams, and in the same year settled on a farm in Farmington. In 1880
he removed to Southern Iowa.
GARFIELD.
Garfield includes thirty sections of range 17, and six sections of
range 18, township 33. It is well watered and has many small lakes,
while Sucker lake, a lake of considerable size, is about equally
divided between its own territory and that of Lincoln. Garfield was
organized in 1886. The first supervisors were Abraham Sylvester, James
T. Montgomery and Martin Hanson. In 1887 the Minneapolis, Soo &
Atlantic railway built through the town from west to southeast and
established one station, Deronda, in the southeast corner of the town.
The post office of El Salem is in Garfield.
GEORGETOWN.
Georgetown comprises township 35, ranges 15 and 16. This town is
abundantly supplied with water by Apple river and its tributaries, and
numerous lakes, some of them of considerable size. The largest are
Bone, Blake, Powder and Pipe. The timber is hardwood and pine
intermingled. Immense quantities of pine have been taken from this
town, and still much remains. Wild meadows are plentiful. Georgetown
was set off from Milltown and organized Nov. 15, 1879. The first
supervisors were David H. Smith, Elisha E. Drake and August Larbell.
George P. Anderson was the first settler (1873), and his christian
name was affixed to the town. The first school was taught in 1874 by
John Burns. A post office was established in 1881 at Bunyan, G. P.
Anderson, postmaster. The first sermon was preached by Rev. C. D.
Scott, a Methodist. The first birth was that of Lucy Anderson; the
first marriage that of Henry King to Etta Clark. The first death was
that of August Larbell.
TWO MEN MURDERED.
Oliver Grover and Harry Knight, two prominent lumbermen of Stillwater,
on July 2, 1864, were exploring for timber and hay on Pipe lake,
section 10, in Georgetown. Not returning to their camp, two miles
distant, the watchman at the camp, after waiting two days, went to St.
Croix Falls and gave the alarm. Many parties went in pursuit of the
lost men. Some traces of their presence were discovered on the shore
of this lake, but the search was finally abandoned. After some months
the Indians confessed that two of their young men shot the two men,
disemboweled them, burned the entrails and sunk the bodies in the
lake. Their bodies were never found. We append the following newspaper
clipping:
"FINALE.--The friends of the two Indians that shot Grover and Knight,
last Tuesday delivered to P. B. Lacy, of St. Croix Falls, the
valuables that were taken from the bodies of the murdered men. They
consisted of $113 in gold, $282.05 in greenbacks, $160 in silver, one
silver watch, one wallet and one pocket knife. This is probably the
closing act of the bloody tragedy which cost two innocent men their
lives at the hands of Indians steeped in liquor, and who, fearing the
vengeance of the white man, committed suicide."
The two murderers had confessed the crime and shot themselves.
GEORGE P. ANDERSON.--Mr. Anderson was born in Fulvana county,
Virginia, 1825; was educated in the common schools; lived in Ohio
eighteen and in Indiana fifteen years, and came to Balsam Lake in
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