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ization. Samuel resided at home until the death of his father, since which time he has lived with his brother Marcus, devoting his time to the lumber business and farming.

DANIEL TRASK was born in Aroostook county, Maine, on the 31st of January, 1832. He was engaged in the lumber business with his father until coming to Minnesota in 1856. In 1861, he came to the farm on which he now lives. He enlisted in Company B, of the First Minnesota Volunteer Artillery, in 1864; was sent to Chattanooga, Tennesse, where he was detailed in the Quartermaster department. In June, 1865, he was mustered out, and soon after, returned to his farm in this place. Mr. Trask was married to Miss Emma Godfrey, of Maine, in 1863. They have three children; one girl and two boys.

CALVIN AUSTIN TUTTLE was born in Tolland county, Connecticut, on the 31st of December, 1811. He received his education at the Academy of Tolland, and also learned the trade of a millwright. For two years he lived at Alton, Illinois, and in July, 1838, came to Minnesota. He was employed for a few years by the St. Louis Company, at the Falls of St. Croix; then moved to Iowa, and to Illinois, and finally returned to this State, locating at St. Anthony. He was employed by Franklin Steele & Co., in the erection of the first mill built at the Falls; also built for himself

the second mill at Minnetonka. During Mr. Tuttle's residence at Minneapolis, he was Territorial Treasurer for six years by appointment from Governor Ramsey. In 1867, he came to this town, located on his present farm, and has been Town Treasurer most of the time since. He was married to Miss Charlotte Minkler, of New York, in December, 1840. They have had seven children, four of whom are living.

CAPTAIN ROBERT B. YOUNG was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1814. In 1856, he came to Minnesota, locating on a farm in Scott county. In September, 1861, he enlisted in the army, serving as First Lieutenant. During the winter he was on the frontier, and the following spring was promoted to Captain and sent south. He participated in the siege of Corinth, also in the battles of Jackson and Champion Hills. While in the latter battle, Captain Young was sunstruck, and in June, 1863, resigned, since which time he has drawn a pension. In the latter year he returned to his former home in Scott county, and afterwards became engaged in the milling business with his sons, Thomas M., James M., and Milo N. They now own a flouring-mill in this township, erected in 1875. It is 36x36 feet, four stories high, has two run of stones and one set of rolls, with a capacity of twenty barrels per day.

CROW WING COUNTY.

CHAPTER CL.

DESCRIPTIVE-EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS-VILLAGE OF CROW WING ORGANIZATION -FORT RIPLEY STATION.

Crow Wing county, located in north central Minnesota, was created by an act of the Legislature, approved on the 23d of May, 1857, with the following described boundaries: beginning at the southeast corner of township forty-three north, range twenty-eight west of the fourth principal meridian; thence north on the line between ranges twenty-seven and twenty-eight, to the center of the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence down the center of said channel to its intersection with the line between townships forty-two and forty-three; thence east on said township line to the place of beginning. The county is bounded on the west and north by the Mississippi river, on the east by Aitkin and Mille Lacs counties, and on the south by Morrison county. The surface is generally undulating, with a slight trend to the south and west. It is drained by the Mississippi river and its tributaries, the chief of which are the Little Nokay and Noka Sebe rivers, whose general direction is south and west.

Long Lake and several smaller lakes in the central and eastern part, have outlets flowing into the "Father of Waters." The soil varies from a light sandy, to a rich dark loam, with occasional tracts of clay loam, and with the abundant supply of wild meadow, renders this region well adapted to agriculture and grazing. Situated in the southern portion of the pine region, its surface is mostly wooded, the usual varieties of hard wood abounding, in addition to its forests of pine. In the southwest is found prairie and light burr oak openings. At the old village site of Crow Wing a fierce encounter is said to have occurred between the Sioux and Chippewas many years ago, traces of the pits dug by the latter being still visible.

Among the early explorers of this region, the names of G. C. Beltrami and C. H. Beauleau are still preserved in tradition. The former is believed to have passed through here as early as 1823, and the latter is said to have had a trading post at or near the mouth of the Crow Wing river about the year 1837. Hon. H. M. Rice is authority for the statement that William Aitkin opened a trading post at the mouth of Little Rock river, and C. H. Beauleau at Crow Wing, in 1846, and were furnished with goods from Prairie du Chien. Philip Beaupre, now residing near Sauk Rapids, came from Fort Garry, on the Red River, to Crow Wing, in the spring of 1844. When he came to this place he found Allen Morrison and Donald McDonald trading with the Indians. About the time Fort Ripley was established, S. B. Olmstead settled on the east side of the Mississippi river opposite the Fort, the location being, at that time, a part of Benton county, but afterwards included in Crow Wing. This farm is now the home of Daniel S. Mooers, who purchased it in the year 1868. Among other early settlers or traders who came about this date, were Clemens H. Beauleau, John Fairbanks, John McGillis, Wallace Bean, and David McArthur. Crow Wing was then the centre of Indian trading for all the upper country, the general supply store being located at this place, under the management of Beauleau & Co., from which the trading posts in the country drew their supplies from time to time. This state of things continued for a number of years. Benjamin Brown opened a hotel here about 1860. From this date, additions were made year by year to the population and the business interests of the place. In 1866, the settlement and village contained seven families of whites, and about twenty-three of half-breeds and Chippewas, with a large transient population, which is variously estimated by parties who resided in the village at the time. The entire population was, from reliable estimates, about

six hundred. There were two hotels, a number of boarding-houses, two stores, one blacksmith shop, an Episcopal, and a Catholic church, a school kept in the Episcopal church edifice, and two saloons at this date. Mrs. Beauleau, Mrs. Chapman, and Mrs. Whipple were the only white women in the place in 1866.

Crow Wing, as a business point, has passed away, most of the buildings having been removed to Brainerd, and the remaining ones destroyed. It is stated by former residents of the village that the number of families did not exceed twenty-five, and the entire population could not have exceeded six hundred persons.

When the county was organized in 1857, it was attached to Morrison county for judicial purposes. The first District Court was held in Crow Wing about 1859, Judge J. McKelvy presiding. Charles Beauleau was clerk of the District Court; William Wade, Sheriff; Allen Morrison, John H. Fairbanks, and C. H. Beauleau, Sen., were the first Commissioners. The county business was conducted in an irregular manner for a few years, when the organization was abandoned, and reorganized by an act of the Legislature on the 3d of March, 1870. The first meeting of the County Commissioners bears the date, January 19th, 1870, and was held at the hotel of Henry Whipple, at Crow Wing. Henry Whipple, Wallace Bean, and F. W. Peake were constituted the Board of Commissioners, the first named being chairman. The old Auditor sent in the books and papers belonging to the county and in use under the former organization. F. M. Campbell was sworn as Auditor; F. Cathcart was appointed Judge of Probate on the 29th of January, 1870, and on the same date H. M. Mixter and C. H. Beauleau, Sen., were appointed County Commissioners. John McGillis was appointed Justice of the Peace on the 21st of February, 1870. On the 8th of March, 1870, the County Commissioners passed a resolution declaring all official proceedings prior to that date illegal, and all orders drawn upon the county treasury, void and not subject to payment.

The officers for 1870 were: County Commissioners, Wallace Bean, Chairman, Henry Whipple, and F. W. Peake; Treasurer, E. B. Snyder; Sheriff, William Wood; Auditor, F. M. Campbell; Clerk of the Court, C. H. Beauleau.

About twenty miles south of Brainerd, and about eight from the old village of Crow Wing is Fort Ripley Station, about half a mile from the

river, and opposite the old Fort from which it derives its name. It was established upon the completion of the railroad from Sank Rapids to Brainerd, and F. A. Perley assigned to duty here as agent. The present agent is L. I. Baker, who is also Postmaster. The depot, a grain warehouse, water-tank, and a small store comprise the buildings.

About four miles northeast of the station is a lumber mill, with capacity of three thousand feet per day. It is on the Noka Sebe river, which furnishes the motive power. It was built in October, 1880, by J. Gorst and M. E. Coe, the latter retiring form the firm in March, 1881, since which time Mr. Gorst has conducted the business alone.

On the 3d of April, 1871, Miss Ellen McArthur, a daughter of David McArthur, living about two miles east of Crow Wing, was murdered by two Indians, while on her way from her father's house to that of Henry Whipple. For some time it was supposed she had run away, though no reason existed for such an act. In August, an old Indian woman whom the murderers had offended, told a young girl, Ida Whipple, the truth, and named the guilty parties. This information subsequently led to their arrest at White Earth, from whence they were brought to Brainerd and lodged in jail, from which they were taken by a party said to have been led by Anson Northrup, and hanged without ceremony to a pine tree in the village. The old pine is yet standing, though dead, and without top or branch, except the bare arm from which the murderers were suspended.

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of comparatively recent date, are somewhat conflicting. The following account is from one of the participants in the early movements and may be received as authentic.

The Northern Pacific Railroad was surveyed to the present site of this town, and the railroad crossing of the Mississippi river determined in June, 1870. A few days after the surveying party had passed Little Falls on their way north, O. W. Sylvester, Lewis Hamlin, William H. Horn, Alfred Tanner, Robert A. Beggs, Moses Lefond, and perhaps others, formed a temporary company and sent part of their number up the river to secure the ground for a town site, at the place where the surveying party should determine to cross the river. Proceeding to Crow Wing by wagon, thence in canoes, they reached this point about the time the surveyors were completing their work. Under pretext of hunting, they remained near by until the surveyors left, then located and marked out a claim embracing what they deemed sufficient for a town, and railroad purposes. They then returned to Little Falls, and soon a part of the company visited the claim and constructed two or three temporary residences, and divided the ground, each member being assigned his part. Some of these were evidently sold to Mrs. Hester Gilman, who entered part of the present site of Brainerd, the patent bearing the date of record December 10th, 1870. The same record shows a transfer of her rights to the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company, on the 13th of August, 1870. The remaining members of the original claimants sold their interests to the same Company. About this time Charles Darby "jumped" a portion of the town site not included in Mrs. Gilman's claim, and built the first house of round logs, completed as a permanent dwelling, near the ground now occupied by the railroad shops, in block eighteen. Soon after, he also sold to the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company.

The second house was built by Stuart Seeley, and was of hewed logs, a few rods north of the railroad bridge, used as a boarding house. The third was a small, hastily constructed building occupied as a saloon. The next was the residence of L. P. White, agent of the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company, corner of Seventh and Juniper streets. This company took immediate steps for building up a town, and the sale of lots. The town was platted in the fall of 1870, and recorded September 29, 1871. From the location of

the town, settlers began to flock to the place. S. W. Taylor, John Bishop, Edward B. Lynde, John Martin, W. W. Hartley, Fred W. Peake, Thomas Holmes, and two of his brothers, H. A. Hall, Frank Dunn, Edward Morse. and a number of others, came during the fall of 1870, and a number of boarding houses and hotels were started. Bly & Co. started a general supply store, and others of the new comers started some of the different lines of trade and business. The Headquarters Hotel was built soon after by the Railroad Company, and the Northwestern House by Joseph Styles.

In the fall of 1870, the first marriage occurred, the parties being Joseph Gronden and Miss Darby. Numerous houses of various kinds, shapes and styles were erected during this summer. A large portion of the buildings, that had served a noble purpose for many years in the village of Crow Wing, were, during this summer removed to this place, and occupied either for residences or business houses. The crowded streets, the busy stores, the jammed hotels, the rumbling of the cars, the sound of the hammer all day and a large portion of the night, and the constant ingress of emigrants, bearing unmistakable evidence of a real life, flowed onward like a stream with great force.

In 1871, measures were taken for the erection of a court house and jail, the contract being awarded to L. P. White, for the sum of $971.60. The building was 18x20 feet, and two stories high. On the first floor were four cells, 4x8 feet, and two, 8x8 feet, in front of which was a room, 8x18 feet, for a Sheriff's office. The walls of the jail were of scantling lying flat, and spiked together, nine hundred and fifty-eight pounds of large spikes being used in the construction. The second floor of the building was furnished for a court room.

During this year the first ferry across the Mississippi was built by the railroad company, and after some time the title was transferred to Cass county.

The Post-office was established and Dr. S. W. Thayer commissioned Postmaster. He was also the first practicing physician. H. M. Mixter opened the first blacksmith shop; and church and school interests were given due attention. During the winter of 1871-72, over two hundred lots were sold by Mr. White. In the latter year, the Leland House was built, with eighteen rooms, which, by its addition in 1879, was increased to sixty. The Merchants Hotel was also built during this year by Mrs. Chapman, who still owns and con

trols it. H. A. Hills, who had engaged in the mercantile trade prior to this date, started the first bank during this year. Frank Dunn opened the first livery stable, but soon after sold it to S. V. R. Sherwood, who in 1874, sold to N. McFadden, the present owner. During the early part of the year, the Brainerd Hook and Ladder Company was organized.

This year also witnessed the establishment of the "Brainerd Tribune," through which medium Brainerd began to be known abroad, and to which was largely due the influx of settlers and remarkable developments following. During the latter part of the year a charter was obtained, authorizing the organization of the City of Brainerd, and on the 11th of January, 1873, the Common Council was organized with the following officers: President, L. P. White; Vice President, M. Tuttle; Aldermen, L. P. White, M. Tuttle, W. L. Heathcote, William Murphy, Antony Mahlum, and F. X. Goulet; City Clerk, P. H. Trudell; City Treasurer, Robert McNider; City Attorney, C. B. Sleeper; and City Justice, W. W. Hartley.

Under this organization several additions to the original plat were surveyed and recorded, as the rapid development of the place required.

The name first suggested for this place was "Ogamagua," in honor of Mrs. Emma Bolliou, a woman of rare personal beauty, to whom the Indians gave the name mentioned, meaning Queen, or Chief Woman. The present name was chosen in honor of the wife of J. Gregory Smith, first President of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, Mrs. Smith's family name being Brainerd.

During this year Barrows, Prescott, & Basset built a steam saw mill near the railroad bridge, capacitated to do good work. This firm run the mill one year, then sold it to George W. LeDuc, who, in a short time, sold to Mr. Bly, who soon after removed it to its present site, about threefourths of a mile south of the city, and in 1876, sold it to Jones Brothers, who operated it until 1878, when it passed into the hands of J. A. Davis & Co., the present proprietors. The mill, with its enlargements, has now a daily capacity of fifty thousand feet of lumber, eighty thousand shingles, and twenty-five thousand lath. It is operated by an engine of one hundred and twenty-five horsepower. Near this is a planing and shingle mill driven by a seventy-five horse-power engine. This company employs about seventy-five men in and

about the mills.

With the establishment of lumber manufactories, substantial and even elegant dwellings supplanted the ruder cabins, and with the exception of a temporary check growing out of Jay Cooke's failure, and the suspension of railroad construction, the place has since enjoyed a steady growth, and is now the most active town on this line of road. Its population, in 1880, as shown by the census returns, was one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, which has since increased to much larger proportions, a local writer of the "Brainerd Tribune" claiming not less than four thousand in the early autumn of 1881. The number of substantial business houses, representatives of the various professions, churches, schools, societies, etc., mark a development rarely met with in so young a city.

Not less remarkable than the rapid growth of the place was an act of the Legislature, approved January 11th, 1876, reducing the city organization, and substituting an ordinary township government, in which condition it still remains. It is hardly probable, however, that with the spirit of progress now apparent, the place will long remain without a municipal form of government.

A National Bank Association was formed at this place in August, 1881, with a capital stock of $50,000, and the following board of Directors: William Ferris, H. A. Towne, G. W. Holland, L. P. White, J. A. Davis, C. B. Sleeper, James Gardner, C. Abby, G. G. Hartley, Adam Brown, and James Dewar, the first named being chosen President.

The first educational effort was in the early summer of 1872, under the direction of Messrs. Bean, Prescott, and White, who, as a self-constituted committee, purchased of John Hess, for fifty dollars, a building of hewed logs near the railroad bridge, in which Miss Hall was employed as teacher.

During the same season an independent school district was formed, with L. P. White, Clerk; P. D. Davenport, Director; and T. F. Knappen, Treasurer. In 1873, the main part of the present school building was erected, which, with its additions will accommodate two hundred and fifty scholars, arranged in four departments. The only school building in the county aside from this, is located near Crow Wing, in district number one, which embraces all the county outside the township of Brainerd. A building, however, is in contemplation at Brainerd, north of the railpad, for

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