The governor soon returned to the capital, and on the 1st of June, 1849, issued a proclamation, declaring the territory duly organized. On the 11th of June he issued a second proclamation, dividing the territory into three judicial districts. The county of St. Croix, which was one of the discarded counties of Wisconsin, and embraced the present county of Ramsey, was made the first district. The second was composed of the county of La Pointe (another of the Wisconsin counties), and the region north and west of the Mississippi river, and north of the Minnesota, and of a line running due west from the head waters of the Minnesota to the Missouri. The country west of the Mississippi and south of the Minnesota formed the third district. The chief justice was assigned to the first, Meeker to the second and Cooper to the third, and courts were ordered held in each district as follows: At Stillwater, in the first district, on the second Monday, at the Falls of St. Anthony on the third Monday, and at Mendota on the fourth Monday, in August.

A census was taken of the inhabitants of the territory, in pursuance of the requirements of the organic act, with the following result. I give here the details of the census, as it is interesting to know what inhabited places there were in the territory at this time, as well as the number of inhabitants:

Total Inhabitants.

Stillwater 609 Lake St. Croix 211 Marine Mills 173 St. Paul 840 Little Canada and St. Anthony 571 Crow Wing and Long Prairie 350 Osakis Rapids 133 Falls of St. Croix 16 Snake River 82 La Pointe County 22 Crow Wing 174 Big Stone Lake and Lac qui Parle 68 Little Rock 35 Prairieville 22 Oak Grove 23 Black Dog Village 18 Crow Wing (east side) 70 Mendota 122 Red Wing Village 33 Wabasha and Root River 114 Fort Snelling 38 Soldiers, women and children in forts 317 Pembina 637 Missouri River 85 ——— Total 4,764

On the seventh day of July the governor issued a proclamation, dividing the territory into seven council districts, and ordering an election for a delegate to congress, nine councillors, and eighteen representatives, to constitute the first territorial legislature, to be held on the first day of August. At this election Henry H. Sibley was again chosen delegate to congress.



COURTS.

The courts were held in pursuance of the governor's proclamation, the first one convening at Stillwater. But before I relate what there occurred, I will mention an attempt that was made by Judge Irwin, one of the territorial judges of Wisconsin, to hold a term in St. Croix county, in 1842. Joseph R. Brown, of whom I shall speak hereafter as one of the brightest of Minnesota's early settlers, came to Fort Snelling as a fifer boy in the regiment that founded and built the fort in 1819. He was discharged from the army about 1826, and had become clerk of the courts in St. Croix county. He had procured from the legislature of Wisconsin an order for a court in his county for some reason only known to himself, and in 1842 Judge Irwin came up to hold it. He arrived at Fort Snelling, and found himself in a country which indicated that disputes were more frequently settled with tomahawks than by the principles of the common law. The officers of the fort could give him no information, but in his wanderings he found Mr. Norman W. Kittson, who had a trading house near the Falls of Minnehaha. Kittson knew Clerk Brown, who was then living on the St. Croix, near where Stillwater now stands, and furnishing the judge a horse, directed him how to find his clerk. After a ride of more than twenty miles, Brown was discovered, but no preparations had been made for a court. The judge took the first boat down the river, a disgusted and angry man.

After the lapse of five years from this futile attempt the first court actually held within the bounds of Minnesota was presided over by Judge Dunn, then chief justice of the Territory of Wisconsin. The court convened at Stillwater in June, 1847, and is remembered not only as the first court ever held in Minnesota, but on account of the trial of an Indian chief, named "Wind," who was indicted for murder. Samuel J. Crawford of Mineral Point was appointed prosecuting attorney for the term, and Ben C. Eastman of Plattville defended the prisoner. "Wind" was acquitted. This was the first jury trial in Minnesota.

It should be stated that Henry H. Sibley was in fact the first judicial officer who ever exercised the functions of a court in Minnesota. While living at St. Peters (Mendota), he was commissioned a justice of the peace in 1835 or 1836 by Governor Chambers of Iowa, with a jurisdiction extending from twenty miles south of Prairie du Chien to the British boundary on the north, to the White river on the west and the Mississippi on the east. His prisoners could only be committed to Prairie du Chien. Boundary lines were very dimly defined in those days, and minor magistrates were in no danger of being overruled by superior courts, and tradition asserts that the writs of Sibley's court often extended far over into Wisconsin and other jurisdictions. One case is recalled which will serve as an illustration. A man named Phalen was charged with having murdered a sergeant in the United States army in Wisconsin. He was arrested under a warrant from Justice Sibley's Iowa court, examined and committed to Prairie du Chien, and no questions asked. Lake Phalen, from which the city of St. Paul derives part of its water supply, is named after this prisoner. Whatever jurisdictional irregularities Justice Sibley may have indulged in, it is safe to say that no injustice ever resulted from any decision of his.

The first court-house that was erected within the present limits of Minnesota was at Stillwater, in the year 1847. A private subscription was taken up, and $1,200 was contributed. This sum was supplemented by a sufficient amount to complete the structure, from the treasury of St. Croix county. It was perched on the top of one of the high bluffs in that town, and much private and judicial blasphemy has been expended by exhausted litigants and judges in climbing to its lofty pinnacle. I held a term in it ten years after its completion.

This court-house fell within the first judicial district of the Territory of Minnesota, under the division made by Governor Ramsey, and the first court under his proclamation was held within its walls, beginning the second Monday of August, 1849. It was presided over by Chief Justice Goodrich, assisted by Judge Cooper, the term lasting one week. There were thirty-five cases on the calendar. The grand jury returned thirty indictments, one for assault with intent to maim, one for perjury, four for selling liquor to Indians, and four for keeping gambling houses. Only one of these indictments was tried at this term, and the accused, Mr. William D. Phillips, being a prominent member of the bar, and there being a good deal of fun in it, I will give a brief history of the trial and the defendant.

Mr. Phillips was a native of Maryland, and came to St. Paul in 1848. He was the first district attorney of the county of Ramsey. He became quite prominent as a lawyer and politician, and tradition has handed down many interesting anecdotes concerning him. The indictment charged him with assault with intent to maim. In an altercation with a man, he had drawn a pistol on him, and his defense was that the pistol was not loaded. The witness for the prosecution swore that it was, and added that he could see the load. The prisoner, as the law then was, was not allowed to testify in his own behalf. He was convicted and fined $25. He was very indignant at the result, and explained the assertion of the witness, that he could see the load, in this way. He said he had been electioneering for Mr. Henry M. Rice, and from the uncertainty of getting his meals in such an unsettled country, he carried crackers and cheese in the same pocket with his pistol, a crumb of which had gotten into the pistol, and the fellow was so scared when he looked at it, that he thought it was loaded to the muzzle.

Another anecdote which is related of him shows that he fully understood the fundamental principle which underlies success in the practice of law—that of always charging for services performed. Mr. Henry M. Rice had presented him with a lot in St. Paul, upon which to build an office, and when he presented his next bill to Mr. Rice there was in it a charge of four dollars for drawing the deed.

The territorial courts as originally constituted, being composed of only three judges, the trial terms were held by single judges, and the supreme court by all three sitting in bank, where they would review each others decisions on appeal.

When the state was admitted into the Union the judiciary was made to consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, who constituted the supreme court, with a jurisdiction exclusively appellate, and a district judge for each district. As the state has grown in population and business, the supreme court judges have been increased to five and the judicial districts to eighteen in number, two of which, the second and the fourth, have six judges each, the eleventh three, the first and seventh two each, and the remainder one each.

The practice adopted by the territorial legislature was generally similar to that of the New York code, with such differences as were necessary to conform it to a very new country. From a residence in the territory and state of forty-seven years, nearly all of which has been spent either in practice at the bar or as a judge on the bench, I take pride in saying that the judiciary of Minnesota, in all its branches, both territorial and state, has, during its fifty years of existence, equalled in ability, learning and integrity that of any state in the West, which is well attested by the seventy-seven well filled volumes of its reported decisions.

Nearly all of the old lawyers of Minnesota were admitted to practice at the first term held at Stillwater, among whom were Morton S. Wilkinson, Henry L. Moss, Edmund Rice, Lorenzo A. Babcock, Alexander Wilkin, Bushrod W. Lott, and many others. Of the whole list, Mr. Moss is the sole survivor.



FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.

The first legislature convened at St. Paul on Monday, the 3d of September, 1849, in the Central House, which for the occasion served for both capitol and hotel. The quarters were limited, but the legislature was small. The council had nine members and the house of representatives eighteen. The usual officers were elected, and on Tuesday afternoon both houses assembled in the dining-room of the hotel. Prayer was offered by the Rev. E. D. Neill, and Governor Ramsey delivered his message, which was well received both at home and abroad.

It may be interesting to give the names of the men constituting this body, and the places of their nativity. The councillors were:

James S. Norris, Maine. Samuel Burkleo, Delaware. William H. Forbes, Montreal. James McBoal, Pennsylvania. David B. Loomis, Connecticut. John Rollins, Maine. David Olmsted, Vermont. William Sturgis, Upper Canada. Martin McLeod, Montreal.

The members of the House were:

Joseph W. Furber, New Hampshire. James Wells, New Jersey. M. S. Wilkinson, New York. Sylvanus Trask, New York. Mahlon Black, Ohio. Benjamin W. Bronson, Michigan. Henry Jackson, Virginia. John J. Duvey, New York. Parsons K. Johnson, Vermont. Henry F. Stetzer, Missouri. William R. Marshall, Missouri. William Dugas, Lower Canada. Jeremiah Russell, Lower Canada. L. A. Babcock, Vermont. Thomas A. Holmes, Pennsylvania. Allen Morrison, Pennsylvania. Alexis Bailly, Michigan. Gideon H. Pond, Connecticut.

David Olmsted was elected president of the council, with Joseph R. Brown as secretary. In the House, Joseph W. Furber was elected speaker, and W. D. Phillips clerk.

Many of these men became very prominent in the subsequent history of the state, and it is both curious and interesting to note the varied sources of their nativity, which shows that they were all of that peculiar and picturesque class known as the American pioneer.

The work of the first legislature was not extensive, yet it performed some acts of historical interest. It created eight counties, named as follows: Itasca, Wabashaw, Dakota, Wahnahtah, Mankato, Pembina, Washington, Ramsey and Benton. The spelling of some of these names has since been changed.

A very deep interest was manifested in the school system. A joint resolution was passed ordering a slab of red pipestone from the famous quarry to be sent to the Washington monument association, which was done, and now represents Minnesota in that lofty monument at the national capital.

This was done at the suggestion of Henry H. Sibley, who furnished the stone. It will be remembered that I have referred to the visit of George Catlin, the artist, to Minnesota, in 1835, and that his report was unreliable. Among other things, he said that he was the first white man who had visited this quarry, and induced geologists to name the pipestone "Catlinite." Mr. Sibley, in his communication to the legislature presenting this slab, in answer to this pretension, says:

"In conclusion, I would beg leave to state, that a late geological work of high authority by Dr. Jackson, designates this formation as Catlinite, upon the erroneous supposition that Mr. George Catlin was the first white man who had ever visited that region; whereas it is notorious that many whites had been there and examined the quarry long before he came to the country. The designation, therefore, is clearly improper and unjust. The Sioux term for the stone is Eyan-Sha (red stone), by which, I conceive, it should be known and classified."

In my opinion, the greatest achievement of the first legislature was the incorporation of the Historical Society of Minnesota. It established beyond question that we had citizens, at that early day, of thought and culture. One would naturally suppose that the first legislative body of an extreme frontier territory would be engaged principally with saw logs, peltries, town sites, and other things material; but in this instance we find an expression of the highest intellectual prevision, the desire to record historical events for posterity, even before their happening. And what affords even greater satisfaction to the present citizens of Minnesota is, that from the time of the conception of this grand idea there have never been men wanting to appreciate its advantages, and carry it out, until now our state possesses its greatest intellectual and moral treasure in a library of historical knowledge of sixty-three thousand volumes, which is steadily increasing, a valuable museum of curiosities, and a gallery of historical paintings.

This legislature recommended a device for a great seal. It represented an Indian family with lodge and canoe, encamped; a single white man visiting them, and receiving from them the calumet of peace. The design did not meet with general approval, and nothing came of it. The next winter Governor Ramsey and the delegate to congress prepared a seal for the territory, the design of which was the Falls of St. Anthony in the distance, a farmer plowing land, his gun and powder horn leaning against a newly cut stump, a mounted Indian, surprised at the sight of the plow, lance in hand, fleeing toward the setting sun, with the Latin motto, "Quae sursum volo videre," ("I wish to see what is above"). A blunder was made by the engraver, in substituting the word "Quo" for "Quae," in the motto, which destroyed its meaning. Some time after, it was changed to the French motto, "L'Etoile du Nord" ("Star of the North"), and thus remains until the present time.

While speaking of seals, I will state that the seal of the supreme court was established when the first term of the court convened, in 1858. The design adopted was a female figure, representing the goddess of liberty, holding the evenly-balanced scales of justice in one hand and a sword in the other, with the somewhat hackneyed motto, "Fiat justitia ruat coelum" ("Let justice be done if the heavens fall"). I remember that, soon after it appeared, some one asked one of the judges what the new motto meant, and he jocularly answered, "Those who fy at justice will rue it when we seal 'em."

The seal was changed to the same device as that of the state, with the same motto and the words, "Seal of the Supreme Court, State of Minnesota."



IMMIGRATION.

When the first legislature convened, the governor, on the second day of the session (Sept. 4, 1849), delivered his message. It was a well-timed document, and admirably expressed to attract attention to the new territory. After congratulating the members upon the enviable position they occupied as pioneers of a great prospective civilization, which would carry the American name and American institutions, by the force of superior intelligence, labor and energy, to untold results, he among other things said:

"I would advise you, therefore, that your legislation should be such as will guard equally the rights of labor and the rights of property, without running into ultraisms on either hand; as will recognize no social distinctions except those which merit and knowledge, religion and morals unavoidably create; as will suppress crime, encourage virtue, give free scope to enterprise and industry; as will promptly and without delay administer to and supply all the legitimate wants of the people—laws, in a word, in the proclamation of which will be kept steadily in view the truth that this territory is designed to be a great state, rivalling in population, wealth and energy her sisters of the Union, and that consequently all laws not merely local in their objects should be framed for the future as well as the present....

"Our territory, judging from the experience of the few months since public attention was called to its many advantages, will settle rapidly. Nature has done much for us. Our productive soil and salubrious climate will bring thousands of immigrants within our borders; it is of the utmost moment that the foundation of our legislation should be healthful and solid. A knowledge of this fact will encourage tens of thousands of others to settle in our midst, and it may not be long ere we may with truth be recognized throughout the political and the moral world as indeed the "Polar Star" of the republican galaxy....

"No portion of the earth's surface perhaps combines so many favorable features for the settler as this territory,—watered by the two greatest rivers of our continent, the Missouri sweeping its entire western border, the Mississippi and Lake Superior making its eastern frontier, and whilst the States of Wisconsin and Iowa limit us on the south, the possessions of the Hudson Bay Company present the only barrier to our domain on the extreme north; in all embracing an area of 166,000 square miles, a country sufficiently extensive to admit of the erection of four states of the largest class, each enjoying in abundance most of the elements of future greatness. Its soil is of the most productive character, yet our northern latitude saves us from malaria and death, which in other climes are so often attendant on a liberal soil. Our people, under the healthful and bracing influences of this northern climate, will never sink into littleness, but continue to possess the vigor and the energy to make the most of their natural advantages."

This message, while not in the least exaggerating the actual situation, was well calculated to attract immigration to this region. It was written in a year of great activity in that line. Gold had been discovered in California, and the thoughts of the pioneer were attracted in that direction, and it needed extraordinary inducements to divert the stream to any other point. It was extensively quoted in the eastern papers, and much commented upon, and succeeded beyond all expectations in awakening interest in the Northwest. It was particularly attractive in Maine, where the people were experienced in lumbering, and many of them flocked to the Valley of the St. Croix and the Falls of St. Anthony, and inaugurated the lumbering business, which has since grown to such immense proportions. The valleys of the St. Croix, the Rum, and the Upper Mississippi rivers, with their tributaries, soon resounded with the music of the woodman's axe. Saw mills were erected, and Minnesota was recognized among the great lumber producing regions.

Although immigration continued to be quite rapid during the years 1850-54, it was not until about the year 1855 that it acquired a volume that was particularly noticeable. The reader must remember that Minnesota was on the extreme border of America, and that it represented to the immigrant only those attractions incident to a new territory possessing the general advantages of good climate, good soil and good government as far as developed. There was no gold, no silver, nor other special inducements. The only way of reaching it was by land on wheels, or by the navigable rivers. There was not a railroad west of Chicago. To give an idea of the rush that came in 1855, I quote from the "History of St. Paul," by J. Fletcher Williams, for many years secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, published in 1876. Speaking of the immigration of 1855, he says:

"Navigation opened on April 17th, the old favorite, 'War Eagle,' leading the van with 814 passengers. The papers chronicled the immigration that spring as unprecedented. Seven boats arrived in one day, each having brought to Minnesota two hundred to six hundred passengers. Most of these came through St. Paul and diverged hence to other parts of the territory. It was estimated by the packet company that they brought thirty thousand immigrants into Minnesota that season. Certainly 1855, 1856 and 1857 were the three great years of immigration in our territorial days. Nothing like it has ever been seen."

In the early fifties, the Mississippi up to, and even for a long distance above, the Falls of St. Anthony was navigable for steamboats. A fine boat, the "Ans. Northrup," once penetrated as far as the Falls of Pokegama, where she was dismantled and her machinery transported to the Red River of the North, and four or five boats regularly navigated the stream above the falls.

The Minnesota river, during all the period of our early history, and far into the sixties, was navigable for large steamers up to Mankato, and in one instance, a steamboat carrying a large cargo of Indian goods was taken by Culver and Farrington, Indian traders, as far as the Yellow Medicine river, and into that river, so that the goods were delivered at the agency, situated a few miles above its mouth. I mention this fact because a wonderful change has taken place in the watercourses and lakes of the state in the past twenty odd years, which I propose to account for on the only theory that seems to me to meet the conditions. Up to about twenty years ago, as soon as the ice went out of the Minnesota river in the spring, it would rise until it overran its banks and covered its bottoms for miles on each side of its channel, and would continue capable of carrying large steamers until late in August. Since that time it has rarely been out of its banks, and navigation of its waters has entirely ceased. The same phenomenon is observable in relation to many of our lakes. Hundreds of the smaller ones have entirely dried up, and most of the larger ones have become reduced in depth several feet. The rainfall has not been lessened, but, if anything, has increased. My explanation of the change is, that in the advance of civilization, the water sheds or basins of these rivers and lakes having been plowed up, the rainfall which formerly found its way quickly into the streams and lakes over the hard natural surface is now absorbed into the soft and receptive ground, and is returned by evaporation. This change is generally attributed to the destruction of forests, but in this case that cause has not progressed sufficiently to have produced the result, and our streams do not rise in mountains.

The trend of immigration toward Minnesota encouraged the organization of transportation companies, by boat and stage, for passengers and freight, and by 1856 it was one of the liveliest communities to be found anywhere, and, curious as it may seem, this era of prosperity was the cause of Minnesota's first great calamity.

The object of the immigrant is, always, the betterment of his condition. He leaves old communities, where competition in all branches of industry is great, in the hope of "getting in on the ground floor," as we used to say, when he arrived in a new country, and every American, and, in fact, everybody else, wants to get rich by head work instead of hand work, if he can. The bulk of the immigration that first came to Minnesota remained in the cities; there was no agriculture worthy of the name. I may say that we had nothing at all to sell, and everything we needed to buy. I can remember that as late as 1853, and even after, we imported hay in bales from Dubuque to feed the horses of St. Paul, when there were millions of tons of it growing in the Minnesota valley, within a few miles of the city.

In the progress of emigration to the West, the territories have always presented the greatest attractions. The settler expects to have a better choice of lands, and at original government prices. Society and politics are both in the formative condition, and very few emigrants omit the latter consideration from their hopes and expectations. In fact, political preferment is a leading motive with many of them.

Under the influence of this great rush of immigration it is very natural that the prevailing idea should be that lands would greatly increase in value in the near future, and everybody became a speculator. Towns and cities sprang into existence like mushrooms in a night. Scarcely anyone was to be seen without a town-site map in his hands, the advantages and beauties of which fictitious metropolis he was ready to present in the most eloquent terms. Everything useful was neglected, and speculation was rampant. There were no banks of issue, and all the money that was in the country was borrowed in the East. In order to make borrowing easy, the law placed no restrictions on the rate of interest, and the usual terms were three per cent per month, with the condition that if the principal was not paid at maturity, the interest should be increased to five per cent per month. Everybody was in debt on these ruinous terms; which, of course, could not last long before the inevitable explosion. The price of lands, and especially town lots, increased rapidly, and attained fabulous rates; in fact, some real property in St. Paul sold in 1856 for more money than it has ever since brought.



THE PANIC OF 1857.

The bubble burst by the announcement of the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, which reached St. Paul on Aug. 24, 1857. The failure of this financial institution precipitated a panic all over the country. It happened just on the recurrence of the twenty year period which has marked the pecuniary disasters of the country, beginning with 1837. Its effects on Minnesota were extremely disastrous. The eastern creditors demanded their money, and the Minnesota debtors paid as long as a dollar remained in the country, and all means of borrowing more being cut off, a most remarkable condition of things resulted. Cities like St. Paul and St. Anthony, having a population of several thousands each, were absolutely without money to carry on the necessary commercial functions. A temporary remedy was soon discovered, by every merchant and shopkeeper issuing tickets marked "Good for one dollar at my store," and every fractional part of a dollar, down to five cents. This device tided the people for a while, but scarcely any business establishment in the territory weathered the storm, and many people who had considered themselves beyond the chance of disaster were left without resources of any kind and hopelessly bankrupt. The distress was great and universal, but it was bravely met, and finally overcome.

Dreadful as this affliction was to almost everyone in the territory, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It compelled the people to abandon speculation, and seek honest labor in the cultivation of the soil and the development of the splendid resources that generous nature had bestowed upon the country. Farms were opened by the thousands, everybody went to work, and in ten or a dozen years, Minnesota had a surplus of forty millions of bushels of wheat with which to supply the hungry world.



LAND TITLES.

All the lands of Minnesota were the property of the United States, and title to them could only be obtained through the regular methods of preemption, town-site entry, public sales, or private entries. One event occurred on Aug. 14, 1848, which illustrates so clearly the way in which western men protect their rights that I will relate it. The recognized price of public lands was one dollar and a quarter per acre, and all pioneer settlers were willing to pay that sum, but when a public sale was made, any one could bid whatever he was willing to pay. Under the administration of President Polk, a public sale of lands was ordered to be made at the land office at St. Croix Falls, of lands lying partly in Minnesota and partly in Wisconsin. The lands advertised for sale included those embraced in St. Paul and St. Anthony. The settlers selected Henry H. Sibley as their trustee, to buy their lands for them, to be conveyed to them subsequently. It was a high offense under the United States laws to do any act that would tend to prevent persons bidding at the sales. Mr. Sibley appeared at the sale, and bid off every tract of land that was occupied by an actual settler at the price of $1.25 per acre. The general, in a paper he read before the Historical Society, says of this affair:

"I was selected by the actual settlers to bid off portions of the land for them, and when the hour for business arrived, my seat was universally surrounded by a number of men with huge bludgeons. What was meant by the proceeding, I could, of course, only surmise, but I would not have envied the fate of the individual who would have ventured to bid against me."

It has always been assumed in the far West, and I think justly, that the pioneers who first settle the land and give it value should enjoy every advantage that flows from such priority, and the violation of laws that impede such opportunity is a very venial offense. So universal was the confidence reposed in Mr. Sibley, that many of the French settlers, the title to whose lands became vested in him, by his purchase at this sale, insisted that it should remain in him, and he found it quite difficult in many cases to get them to accept deeds from him.



THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.

Although the first message of the governor went a great way in introducing Minnesota to the world, she was particularly fortunate in the establishment of her first newspapers. The Stillwater convention of 1848, of which I have spoken, first suggested to Dr. A. Randall, who was an attache of Dr. Owen's geological corps, then engaged in a survey of this region by order of the government, the necessity of a newspaper for the new territory. He was possessed of the means and enterprise to accomplish the then rather difficult undertaking, and was promised ample support by leading men of the territory. He returned to his home in Cincinnati in the fall of 1848, intending to purchase the plant and start the paper that year, but the navigation of the rivers closed earlier than usual, and he was foiled in his attempt. He, however, set up his press in Cincinnati, and got out a number or two of his paper there. It was then called the "Minnesota Register," and appeared as of the date of April 27, 1849, and as printed in St. Paul. It was in fact printed in Cincinnati about two weeks earlier. It contained valuable articles from the pens of H. H. Sibley and Henry M. Rice. These articles, added to Mr. Randall's extensive knowledge of the country, made the first issue a great local success. It was the first Minnesota paper ever published, and bears date just one day ahead of the Pioneer, subsequently published by James M. Goodhue, which was actually printed in the territory. Dr. Randall did not carry out his intention, but was caught in the California vortex, and did not return to Minnesota.

James M. Goodhue of Lancaster, Wis., who was editing the Wisconsin Herald, when he heard of the organization of the new territory, immediately decided to start a paper in St. Paul, and as soon as navigation opened in the spring of 1849, he came up with his press and type. He met with many difficulties and obstructions, necessarily incident to a new place in a venture such as was his, but he succeeded in issuing the first number of his paper on the twenty-eighth day of April, 1849. His first inclination was to call his paper the "Epistle of St. Paul," but on sober reflection he was convinced that the name might shock the religious sensibilities of the community, especially as he did not possess many of the attributes of our patron saint, and he decided to call his paper "The Minnesota Pioneer."

In his first issue he speaks of his establishment of that day, as follows:

"We print and issue this number of the Pioneer in a building through which out-of-doors is visible by more than five hundred apertures; and as for our type, it is not safe from being pied on the galleys by the wind." The rest can be imagined.

Mr. Goodhue was just the man to be the editor of the first paper of a frontier territory. He was energetic, enterprising, brilliant, bold and belligerent. He conducted the Pioneer with great success and advantage to the territory until the year 1851, when he published an article on Judge Cooper, censuring him for absenteeism, which is a very good specimen of the editorial style of that day. He called the judge "a sot," "a brute," "an ass," "a profligate vagabond," and closed his article in the following language:

"Feeling some resentment for the wrongs our territory has so long suffered by these men, pressing upon us like a dispensation of wrath,—a judgment—a curse—a plague, unequalled since Egypt went lousy,—we sat down to write this article with some bitterness, but our very gall is honey to what they deserve."

In those fighting days, such an article could not fail to produce a personal collision. A brother of Judge Cooper resented the attack, and in the encounter between them, Goodhue was badly stabbed and Cooper was shot. Neither wound proved fatal at the time, but it was always asserted by the friends of each combatant, and generally believed, that they both died from the effects of these wounds.

The original Minnesota Pioneer still lives in the Pioneer Press of to-day, which is published in St. Paul. It has been continued under several names and edited by different men, but has never been extinguished or lost its relation of lineal descendant from the original Pioneer.

Nothing tends to show the phenomenal growth of Minnesota more than the fact that this first newspaper, issued in 1849, has been followed by the publication of 579 papers, which is the number now issued in the state according to the last official list obtainable. They appear daily, weekly and monthly, in nearly all written languages, English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Bohemian, and one in Icelandic, published in Lyon county.



BANKS.

With the first great increase in immigration business was necessarily enlarged, and banking facilities became a necessity. Dr. Charles W. Borup, a Danish gentleman, who was engaged in the fur trade at Lake Superior as an agent for the American Fur Company, and Mr. Charles H. Oakes, a native of Vermont, came to St. Paul, and established a bank in 1853. They were brothers-in-law, having married sisters. They did a private banking business, under the name of Borup & Oakes, which adapted itself to the needs of the community, including real estate, and almost any other kind of venture that offered. The house of Borup & Oakes was the first banking establishment in Minnesota, and weathered all the financial storms that swept over the territory in its early history.

They were followed by Truman M. Smith, but he went down in the panic of 1857-58. Then came Bidwell's Exchange Bank, followed by C. H. Parker and A. Vance Brown. Mackubin & Edgerton opened a bank in 1854, which was the ancestor of the present Second National Bank, and always legitimate. I think Erastus S. Edgerton may justly be said to have been the most successful banker of all that were early engaged in the business. An enumeration of the banks and bankers which succeeded each other in these early times would be more appropriate in a narrative of the localities where they operated than in a general history of the state. It is sufficient to say that nearly all, if not all, of them succumbed to the financial disasters in 1857-58, and there was no banking worthy of the name until the passage of the banking law of July 26, 1858. But this act was a mere makeshift to meet a financial emergency, and it was not based upon sound financial principles. It allowed the organization of banks and the issue of circulating bank notes upon securities that were capable of being fraudulently overvalued by misrepresentation, and, as a matter of course, advantage was taken of the laxity of the provisions of the law, and securities which had no intrinsic value in fact were made available as the foundation of bank issues, with the inevitable result of disaster.

Another method of furnishing the community with a circulating medium was resorted to by a law of July 23, 1858. The state auditor was authorized to issue his warrants for any indebtedness which the state owed to any person in small sums, and the warrants were made to resemble bank notes, and bore twelve per cent interest. The credit of the state was not sufficiently well established in the public confidence to make these warrants, which were known as "state scrip," worth much over sixty-five or seventy cents on the dollar. They were taken by the money changers at that valuation, and when the state made its first loan of $250,000, they were all redeemed in gold at par, with interest at twelve per cent.

In this uncertain way, the financial interests of the territory were cared for until the breaking out of the Civil War, and the establishment of the national and state systems which still exist.

Another evidence of the growth of the state may be found in the fact that at the present time the state has within its limits banks in good standing as follows: State banks, 172 in number, with a paid-in capital stock of $6,736,800, and sixty-seven national banks, with a capital stock paid in of $11,220,000. This statement does not include either the surplus or the undivided profits of these banks, nor the capital employed by private banking concerns which do not fall under the supervision of the state, which latter item can safely be estimated at $2,000,000.



THE FUR TRADE.

The first legitimate business of the territory was the fur trade, and the carrying business resulting therefrom. Prior to the year 1842 the Northwestern Fur Company occupied the territory which is now Minnesota. In 1842 it sold out to, and was merged into, the American Fur Company, which was owned by P. Choteau & Company. This company had trading stations at Prairie du Chien and Mendota, Henry H. Sibley being their chief factor at the latter. The goods imported into the Red river settlements and the furs exported therefrom all came and went through the difficult and circuitous route by way of Hudson Bay. This route was only navigable for about two months in the year, on account of the ice. The catch of furs and buffalo robes in that region was practically monopolized by the Hudson Bay Company. The American Fur Company soon became well established in the Northwest. In 1844 this company sent Mr. Norman W. Kittson from the Mendota outfit to establish a trading post at Pembina, just south of the British possessions, with the design of diverting some of the fur trade of that region in the direction of the navigable waters of the Mississippi. The company, through Mr. Kittson, invested some $2,000 in furs at Pembina, and had them transported to Mendota in six Pembina carts, which returned loaded with merchandise of the character needed by the people of that distant region. This venture was the beginning of the fur trade with the Red river country, but did not prove a financial success. It entailed a loss of about $600, and similar results attended the next two years' operations, but the trade increased, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of the Hudson Bay Company to obstruct it. This company had enjoyed a monopoly of the trade without any outside interference for so long that it looked upon this new enterprise as a direct attack on its vested rights. But Mr. Kittson had faith in being able in the near future to work up a paying trade, and he persevered. By the year 1850 the business had so far increased as to involve a consumption of goods to the extent of $10,000, with a return of furs to the amount of $15,000. Five years later the goods sent to Pembina amounted in value to $24,000, and the return of furs to $40,000. In 1851 the firm of Forbes & Kittson was organized, and also "The St. Paul Outfit," to carry on the supply business. When St. Paul became of some importance in 1849 the terminus and supply depot was removed to that point, and the trade rapidly increased in magnitude, and made St. Paul one of the largest fur markets in America, second only to St. Louis, the trade of which city consisted mostly of buffalo robes, which was always regarded as a distinct branch of the business, in contrast with that of fine furs. In the early days the Indians and a few professional trappers were about all who caught fur animals, but as the country became more settled the squatters added to their incomes by such trapping as their environments afforded, which increased the market at St. Paul by the addition of all Minnesota, which then included both of the Dakotas, and northern Wisconsin.

The extent and value of this trade can better be understood by a statement of the increase of the number of carts engaged in it between 1844 and 1858. In the first year mentioned six carts performed all the required service, and in 1858 six hundred carts came from Pembina to St. Paul. After the year 1858 the number of carts engaged in the traffic fell off, as a steamer had been put in operation on the Red river, which reduced the land transportation to 216 miles, which had formerly been 448 miles, J. C. & H. C. Burbank having established a line of freight trains connecting with the steamer. In 1867, when the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad reached St. Cloud, the caravans of carts ceased their annual visits to St. Paul. St. Cloud then became the terminus of the traffic, until the increase of freight lines and the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Red river drove these most primitive of all transportation vehicles out of business. Another cause of the decrease in the fur trade was the imposition of a duty of twenty-five per cent on all dressed skins, which included buffalo robes, and from that time on robes that formerly came to St. Paul from the British possessions were diverted to Montreal.

The extent and value of this trade to Minnesota, which was then in its infancy, can easily be judged by a brief statement of its growth. In 1844 it amounted to $1,400 and in 1863 to $250,000. All the money paid out for these furs, and large sums besides, would be expended in St. Paul for merchandise, in the shape of groceries, liquors, dry goods, blankets, household utensils, guns and ammunition, and, in fact every article demanded by the needs of a primitive people. Even threshers and mowers were included, which were taken apart and loaded on the return carts. This trade was the pioneer of the great commercial activity which now prevails.

I cannot permit this opportunity to pass without describing the Red river cart, and the picturesque people who used it, as their like will never be seen again. The inhabitants of the Pembina country were principally Chippewa half breeds, with an occasional white man, prominently Joseph Rolette, of whom I shall hereafter speak as the man who vetoed the capital removal bill, by running away with it, in 1857. Their principal business was hunting the buffalo, in connection with small farming, and defending themselves against the invasions of their hereditary enemies, the Sioux. They were a bold, free race, skilled in the arts of Indian war, fine horsemen, and good fighters.

The Red river cart was a home invention. It was made entirely of wood and rawhide. It moved upon two wheels, of about a diameter of five feet six inches, with shafts for one animal, horse or ox,—generally the latter. The wheels were without tires, and their tread about three and a half or four inches wide. They would carry a load of six to eight hundred pounds, which would be protected by canvas covers. They were especially adapted to the condition of the country, which was largely interspersed with swamps and sloughs, which were impassable for any other character of vehicle. Their lightness, the width of the surface presented by the tread of the wheel and the careful steps of the educated animal which drew them, enabled them to go where anything else would flounder. The trail which they left upon the prairie was deeply cut, and remained for many years after they were disused.

When a brigade of them was ready to leave from Pembina for St. Paul, it would be manned by one driver for four carts, the train being arranged in single file with the animals hitched to the cart before them, so that one driver could attend to that number of carts. Their speed was about fifteen miles a day, which made the voyage last about a month. When night overtook them they formed a circular corral with their carts, the shafts pointing inward, with the camp in the center, which made a strong fort in case of attack. The animals were allowed to graze on the outside, but were carefully watched to prevent a stampede. When they reached St. Paul they went into camp near some lake, and were a great source of interest to all the newcomers. During their stay the town would be thronged with the men, who were dressed in vari-colored costumes, always including the sash of Pembina, a beautiful girdle, giving them a most picturesque appearance. The only truthful representation of these curious people that has been preserved is found in two full length portraits of Joe Rollette, one in the gallery of the Minnesota Historical Society and the other on the walls of the Minnesota Club, in St. Paul, both of which are the gift of a very dear friend of the original.

During the progress of this peculiar traffic many people not connected with the established fur companies, engaged in the Indian trade, prominently Culver and Farrington, Louis Roberts, and Nathan Myrick. I remember that Mr. John Farrington made an improvement in the construction of the Red river cart, by putting an iron box in the hub of the wheel, which prevented the loud squeaking noise they formerly made, and so facilitated their movements that they carried a thousand pounds as easily as they had before carried eight hundred.

The early fur trade in the Northwest, carried on by canoes and these carts, was very appropriately called by one of our first historians of Minnesota, "The heroic age of American commerce."



PEMMICAN.

One of the principal sources of subsistence of these frontier people in their long journeys through uninhabited regions was pemmican. This food was especially adapted to extreme northern countries, where in the winter it was sometimes impossible to make fires to cook with, and the means of transportation was by dog-trains, as it was equally good for man and beast. It was invented among the Hudson Bay people, many years ago, and undoubtedly from necessity. It was made in this way: The meat of the buffalo, without the fat, was thoroughly boiled, and then picked into shreds or very small pieces. A sack was made of buffalo skin, with the hair on the outside, which would hold about ninety pounds of meat. A hole was then dug in the ground of sufficient size to hold the sack. It was filled with the meat thus prepared, which was packed and pounded until it was as hard as it could be made. A kettle of boiling hot buffalo fat, in a fluid state, was then poured into it, until it was thoroughly permeated, every interstice from center to circumference being filled, until it became a solid mass, perfectly impervious to the air, and as well preserved against decomposition as if it had been enclosed in an hermetically sealed glass jar. Here you had a most nutritious preparation of animal food, all ready for use for both man and dog. An analysis of this compound proved it to possess more nutriment to the pound weight than any other substance ever manufactured, and with a winter camp appetite, it was a very palatable dish. Its great superiority over any other kind of food was its not requiring preparation and its portability.



TRANSPORTATION AND EXPRESS.

With the increase of trade and business naturally came the need of greater transportation facilities, and the men to furnish them were not wanting. John C. Burbank of St. Paul may be said to have been the pioneer in that line, although several minor lines of stages and ventures in the livery business preceded his efforts. Willoughby & Powers, Allen & Chase, M. O. Walker & Company of Chicago, and others, were early engaged in this work. In 1854 the Northwestern Express Company was organized by Burbank & Whitney, and in 1856 Captain Russell Blakeley succeeded Mr. Whitney, and the express business became well established in Minnesota. In 1858-59 Mr. Burbank got the mail contract down the river, and established an express line from St. Paul to Galena, in connection with the American Express Company, whose lines extended to Galena as its western terminus. Steamboats were used in summer and stages in winter. In the fall of 1859 the Minnesota Stage Company was formed by a consolidation of the Burbank interests with those of Allen & Chase, and the line extended up the Mississippi to St. Anthony and Crow Wing. Other lines and interests were purchased and united, and in the spring of 1860 Col. John L. Merriam became a member of the firm, and for more than seven years Messrs. Burbank, Blakeley & Merriam constituted the firm and carried on the express and stage business in Minnesota. This business increased rapidly, and in 1865 this firm worked over seven hundred horses, and employed two hundred men.

During this staging period the railroads from the East centered in Chicago, and gradually reached the Mississippi river from that point; first at Rock Island, next at Dunleith, opposite Dubuque, then at Prairie du Chien, next at Prairie La Crosse,—each advance carrying them nearer Minnesota. The Prairie du Chien extension was continued across the river at McGregor in Iowa, and thence up through Iowa and Southern Minnesota to Minneapolis and St. Paul. In 1872 the St. Paul & Chicago Railroad was finished from St. Paul down the west bank of the Mississippi to Winona and was purchased by the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, and by that company was, in 1873, extended still further down the river to La Crescent, opposite to La Crosse, which completed the connection with the eastern trains. This road was popularly known as the "River Road." Various other railroads were soon completed, covering the needs of the settled part of the state, and the principal stage lines either withdrew to the westward, or gave up their business.

The growth in the carrying line has since become immense throughout the state, and may be judged when I say that there are now five strong daily lines to Chicago, the Burlington, the Omaha, the Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Central and the Chicago Great Western, and three transcontinental lines departing daily for the Pacific Coast, the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Sault Ste. Marie (connecting with the Canadian Pacific). Besides these prominent trains, there are innumerable lesser ones connecting with nearly every part of the state. More passenger trains arrive at, and depart from, the St. Paul Union Depot than at any other point in the state. They aggregate 104 in, and the same number out every day. Many—perhaps the most—of these trains go to Minneapolis. The freight trains passing these points are, of course, less regular in their movements than the scheduled passenger trains, but their number is great, and their cargoes of incalculable value.



LUMBER.

A large portion of Minnesota is covered with exceptionally fine timber. The northern section, traversed by the Mississippi and its numerous branches, the St. Croix, the St. Louis, and other streams, was covered with a growth of white and Norway pine of great value, and a large area of its central western portion with hard timber. At a very early day in the history of our state these forests attracted the attention of lumbermen from different parts of the country, principally from Maine, who erected sawmills at the Falls of St. Anthony, Stillwater and other points, and began the cutting of logs to supply them. Nearly all the streams were navigable for logs, or were easily made so, and thus one of the great industries of the state had its beginning. Quite an amount of lumber was manufactured at Minneapolis in the fifties, but no official record of the amounts were kept until 1870. An estimate of the standing pine in the state was made by the United States government for the census of 1880, which was designed to include all the standing pine on the streams leading into the Mississippi, the Rainy Lake river, the St. Croix, and the head of Lake Superior; in fact, the whole state. The estimate was 10,000,000,000 feet. When this estimate was made, it was accepted by the best informed lumbermen as approximately correct. The mills at Minneapolis and above, in the St. Croix valley, and in what was called the Duluth district, were cutting about 500,000,000 feet a year. It was expected that there would be a gradual increase in the consumption of lumber made by Minnesota mills, and it was therefore estimated that in about fifteen years, all the white pine in the state would be cut into lumber and sold; but such has not proved to be the case, although the production has rapidly increased as was expected. But this difference between the estimate and the result is not of much consequence, as there is nothing more unreliable than an estimate of standing timber, and especially is such the case when covering a large area of country. Since 1880 the production of lumber in the state has increased from year to year, until it is at the present time fully 1,629,110,000 feet of pine logs every year. The cut made by the Minneapolis mills alone in 1898 was 469,701,000 feet, with a corresponding amount of laths and shingles. But this pace cannot be kept up much longer, and apprehensions of the entire destruction of the forests of the state are becoming quite prevalent among the people. These fears are taking the shape of associations for the promotion of scientific forestry, and the establishment of large forest reserves near the headwaters of our streams, which are to serve also the purpose of national parks. In assigning a cause for the lowering of our streams, and the drying up of many of our lakes, in a former part of this work, I attribute it to the plowing up of their valleys and watersheds, and not to the destruction of the forests, because I do not think that the latter reason has sufficiently progressed to produce the result, although it is well known that the destruction of growing timber about the head waters of streams operates disastrously upon the volume of their waters and the regularity of its flow. Minnesota is the best watered state in the Union, and every precaution should be taken to maintain this advantage. From the extent of the interest displayed in the direction of forest reserves and their scientific administration, we have every reason to hope for speedy and final success. The state and interstate parks already established will be noticed hereafter.



RELIGION.

The growth of the religious element of a new country is always one of its interesting features, and I will endeavor to give a short account of the progress made in this line in Minnesota from the mission period, which was directed more particularly to the Christianizing of the Indians. I will begin with the first structure ever erected in the state, designed for religious purposes. It was a very small beginning for the prodigious results that have followed it. I speak of the little log "Chapel of Saint Paul," built by the Rev. Lucian Galtier, in October, 1841, in what is now the city of St. Paul.

Father Galtier was a French priest of the Church of Rome. He was sent by the ecclesiastic authorities of Dubuque to the Upper Mississippi country, and arrived at Fort Snelling in April, 1840, and settled at St. Peters (now Mendota), where he soon tired of inaction, and sought a larger field among the settlers who had found homes further down the river, in the neighborhood of the present St. Paul. He decided that he could facilitate his labors by erecting a church at some point accessible to his parishioners. Here he found Joseph Rondo, Edward Phalen, Vetal Guerin, Pierre Bottineau, the Gervais Brothers, and a few others. The settlers encouraged the idea of building a church, and a question of much importance arose as to where it should be placed. I will let the good father tell his own story as to the selection of a site. In an account of this matter, which he prepared for Bishop Grace in 1864, he says:

"Three different points were offered, one called La Pointe Basse, or Pointe La Claire (now Pig's Eye); but I objected because that locality was the very extreme end of the new settlement, and in high water, was exposed to inundation. The idea of building a church which might at any day be swept down the river to St. Louis did not please me. Two miles and a half further up, on his elevated claim (now the southern point of Dayton's Bluff), Mr. Charles Mouseau offered me an acre of his ground, but the place did not suit my purpose. I was truly looking ahead, thinking of the future as well as the present. Steamboats could not stop there; the bank was too steep, the place on the summit of the hill too restricted, and communication difficult with the other parts of the settlement up and down the river.

"After mature reflection, I resolved to put up the church at the nearest possible point to the cave, because it would be more convenient for me to cross the river there when coming from St. Peters, and because it would be also the nearest point to the head of navigation, outside of the reservation line. Mr. B. Gervais and Mr. Vetal Guerin, two good, quiet farmers, had the only spot which appeared likely to answer the purpose. They consented jointly to give me the ground necessary for a church site, a garden and a small graveyard. I accepted the extreme eastern part of Mr. Vetal's claim, and the extreme west of Mr. Gervais'. Accordingly, in the month of October, 1841, logs were prepared and a church erected, so poor that it well reminded one of the stable of Bethlehem. It was destined, however, to be the nucleus of a great city. On the first day of November, in the same year, I blessed the new basilica, and dedicated it to Saint Paul, the apostle of nations. I expressed a wish, at the same time, that the settlement would be known by the same name, and my desire was obtained. I had, previously to this time, fixed my residence at St. Peters, and as the name of Paul is generally connected with that of Peter, and the Gentiles being well represented at the new place in the persons of Indians, I called it St. Paul. The name "Saint Paul," applied to a town or city seemed appropriate. The monosyllable is short, sounds well, and is understood by all denominations of Christians. When Mr. Vetal was married, I published the banns as those of a resident of St. Paul. A Mr. Jackson put up a store, and a grocery was opened at the foot of Gervais' claim. This soon brought steamboats to land there. Thenceforth the place was known as 'Saint Paul Landing,' and later on as Saint Paul."

The chapel was a small log structure—one story high, one door, and no windows in front, with two windows on each side, and one in the rear end. It had on the front gable end a large wooden cross, which projected above the peak of the roof some six or eight feet. It occupied a conspicuous position, on the top of the high bluff overlooking the Mississippi, some six or eight hundred feet below the point where the Wabasha street bridge now spans the river, I think, between Minnesota and Cedar streets.

The region thus named was formerly known by the appellation of "Pig's Eye." The state owes Father Galtier a debt of gratitude for having changed it, as it seems impossible that the capital city could ever have attained its present majestic proportions, numerous and cultivated population, and many other advantages and attractions, under the handicap of such a name.

In the first New Year's address ever printed in Minnesota, on Jan. 1, 1850, supposed to be by Editor Goodhue, the following lines appeared:

"Pig's Eye, converted thou shall be, like Saul: Arise, and be, henceforth, SAINT PAUL."

Father Galtier died Feb. 21, 1866.

The chapel of Saint Paul, after having been the first to greet all newcomers by way of the Mississippi for fifteen years, was taken down in 1856.

The next representative of the Catholic church to come to Minnesota was the Rev. Augustin Ravoux, who arrived in the fall of 1841. He went up the St. Peter's river to Traverse des Sioux, where he commenced the study of the Sioux language. Soon after he went to Little Rock, on the St. Peters, and thence to Lac qui Parle. After the removal of Father Galtier to Keokuk, in Iowa, he had under his charge, Mendota, St. Paul, Lake Pepin and St. Croix, until the second day of July, 1851, when the Right Reverend Bishop Cretin came to St. Paul, and assumed charge of church matters in Minnesota. Father Ravoux is still living in St. Paul at the advanced age of eighty-five years. His venerable and priestly form may often be seen upon the streets, in excellent health.

At the time of the coming of Father Galtier the country on the east side of the Mississippi, in what is now Minnesota, was under the direct jurisdiction of the Bishop of Milwaukee, and the part lying west of the river was in the diocese of Dubuque.

The growth of the church kept up with the rapid settlement of the country. In August, 1859, the Right Reverend Thomas L. Grace succeeded Bishop Cretin as bishop of St. Paul, and was himself succeeded by the Right Reverend John Ireland, in July, 1884. So important had Minnesota become to the Catholic Church in America that, in May of 1888, the see of St. Paul was raised to metropolitan dignity and Archbishop Ireland was made its first Archbishop, which high office he now holds.

I will not attempt even a short biography of Archbishop Ireland. His fame is world-wide; he is a churchman, statesman, diplomat, orator, citizen and patriot,—in each of which capacities he excels. He has carried the fame of Minnesota to all parts of the world where the Church is known, and has demonstrated to the Pope in Rome, to the Catholics in France, and to the Protestants in America that there can be perfect consistency and harmony between Catholicism and republican government. A history of Minnesota without a fitting tribute to Archbishop John Ireland would be incomplete indeed.

The representatives of the Protestant faith have not been behind their Catholic brethren in providing religious facilities for their adherents. They followed immigration closely, and sometimes accompanied it. Scarcely would an aggregation of people congregate at any one point in sufficient numbers to gain the name of a village, or a settlement, before a minister would be called and a church erected. The church went hand in hand with the schoolhouse, and in many instances one building answered for both purposes. There came Lutherans from Germany and Scandinavia, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Calvinists, Universalists, Unitarians, and every sect into which Protestantism is divided, from New England and other Eastern States. They all found room and encouragement, and dwelt in harmony. I can safely say, that few Western States have been peopled by such law-abiding, industrious, moral and religious inhabitants as were the first settlers of Minnesota. There was nothing to attract the ruffianly element,—no gold, silver, or other mines; the chief industry being peaceful agriculture. So free from all disturbing or dangerous elements did we consider our territory that I have on several occasions taken a wagon loaded with specie, amounting to nearly one hundred thousand dollars, from St. Paul to the Indian agencies at the Redwood and Yellow Medicine rivers, a distance of two hundred miles, through a very sparsely settled country, without any guard except myself and driver, with possibly an Indian picked up on the road, when I was entitled to a squad of dragoons for the asking.

In the early days the Episcopal Church in Minnesota was within the diocese of Wisconsin, and its functions administered by the venerable Bishop Kemper, who occasionally made us a visit, but in 1859 the church had expanded to such an extent that the state was organized into a separate diocese, and the Rev. Henry B. Whipple, then rector of a church in Chicago, was elected bishop of Minnesota, and still retains that high office. Bishop Whipple, by his energy, learning, goodness and universal popularity, has built up his church in this state to a standard surpassed by none in the respect in which it is held and the influence for good which it exerts. The official duties of the bishop have been so enlarged by the growth of his church as to necessitate the appointment of a bishop coadjutor to assist him in their performance, which latter office is filled by the Rev. Mahlon N. Gilbert, who is especially well qualified for the position.[1]

It would be impossible in a brief history like this to go very deeply or particularly into the growth of the religious element of the state. A general presentation of the subject in two grand divisions, Catholic and Protestant, is enough. Suffice it to say, that every sect and subdivision of the latter has its representative in the state, with the one exception of Mormonism, if that can be classified as a Protestant church. There are enough of them to recall the answer of the French traveler in America, when asked of his opinion of the Americans. He said: "They are a most remarkable people; they have invented three hundred religions and only one sauce." No matter how their creeds may be criticised, their joint efforts, Catholic and Protestant, have filled the state with religious, charitable, benevolent and educational institutions to an extent rarely witnessed out of it, so that if a Minnesotan goes wrong, he can blame no one but himself.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Bishop Gilbert died within a few months.



RAILROADS.

In the year 1857, on the third day of March, the congress of the United States made an extensive grant of lands to the territory to aid in the construction of railroads. It consisted of every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width, on each side of the roads specified, and their branches. The grant mapped out a complete system of roads for the territory, and provided that the land granted for each road should be applied exclusively to such road, and no other purpose whatever. The lines designated in the granting act were as follows:

From Stillwater, by the way of St. Paul and St. Anthony to a point between the foot of Big Stone lake and the mouth of the Sioux Wood river, with a branch via St. Cloud and Crow Wing to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North, at such point as the legislature of the territory may determine.

From St. Paul and from St. Anthony via Minneapolis to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi to the southern boundary of the territory, in the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch via Faribault to the north line of the state of Iowa, west of range 16.

From Winona via St. Peter to a point on the Big Sioux river, south of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude.

Also from La Crescent via Target lake up the valley of the Root river, to a point east of range 17.

The territory or future state was authorized to sell one hundred and twenty sections of this land whenever twenty continuous miles of any of the roads or branches was completed,—the land so sold to be contiguous to the completed road. The right of way or road bed of any of the subsidized roads was also granted through any of the government lands. The roads were all to be completed within ten years, and if any of them were not finished by that time the lands applicable to the unfinished portions were to revert to the government. The lands granted by this act amounted to about 4,500,000 acres. An act was subsequently passed on March 2, 1865, increasing the grant to ten sections to the mile. Various other grants were made at different times, but they do not bear upon the subject I am about to present.

This grant came at a time of great financial depression, and when the territory was about to change its dependent condition for that of a sovereign state in the Union. It was greeted as a means of relief that might lift the territory out of its financial troubles, and insure its immediate prosperity. The people did not take into consideration the fact that the lands embraced in the grant, although as good as any in the world, were remote from the habitation of man, lying in a country absolutely bankrupt, and possessing no present value whatever. Nor did they consider that the whole country was laboring under such financial depression that all public enterprises were paralyzed; but such was, unfortunately, the monetary and business condition.

On the twenty-third of February, 1857, an act had passed the congress of the United States authorizing the people of Minnesota to form a constitution preparatory to becoming a state in the Union. Gen. Willis A. Gorman, who was then governor of the territory, called a special session of the legislature to take into consideration measures to carry out the land grant and enabling acts. The extra session convened on April 27th. In the meantime Governor Gorman's term of office had expired, and Samuel Medary of Ohio had been appointed as his successor, and had assumed the duties of his office. He opened the extra session with an appropriate message. The extra session adjourned on the 23d of May, and in accordance with the provisions of the enabling act of congress, an election was held on the first Monday in June for delegates to a constitutional convention, which was to assemble at the capitol on the second Monday in July. The constitutional convention is an event in the history of Minnesota sufficiently important and unique to entitle it to special treatment, which will be given hereafter.

An act was passed at the extra session, on the 19th day of May, 1857, by which the grant of lands made to the territory was formally accepted, "upon the terms, conditions and restrictions" contained in the granting act.

On the twenty-second day of May, at the extra session, an act was passed to execute the trust created by the land grant act, by which a number of railroad companies were incorporated to construct roads on the lines indicated by the act of congress, and to aid in the building of these roads, and the lands applicable to each were granted to it. The companies were to receive title to the lands as the construction progressed, as provided in the granting act. They also had conferred upon them powers to issue bonds, in the discretion of the directors, and to mortgage their roads and franchise to secure them.

These railroad companies were organized upon the hope that the aid extended to them by the grants of land would enable them to raise money sufficient to build their several roads. They had nothing of their own, and no security but the roads and lands upon which to negotiate loans. The times, and the novel idea of building railroads in unpeopled countries, were all against them, and, of course, nothing could be done.

The constitutional convention met and framed an instrument for the fundamental law of the new state which was very conservative, and, among other things, contained the following clause, which was enacted in section 5 of article IX.:

"For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenses the state may contract debts, but such debts shall never in the aggregate exceed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars." And another clause found in section 10, which is as follows: "The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association or corporation."

It was the intention of the framers of the constitution to prevent the legislature from ever using the credit or funds of the state in aid of any private enterprise, and these provisions effectually accomplished that end.

The people were deeply disappointed when they became convinced that the roads could not be built with the aid that congress had extended, and as this work was also looked upon as the only hope of financial relief, the case became a desperate one, which could only be remedied by the most extreme measures. The promoters of the railroads soon discovered one, in an amendment of the section of the constitution which prohibited the credit of the state being given or loaned to anyone, and at the first session of the first legislature, which convened on Dec. 3, 1857, an act was passed proposing such amendment, to be submitted to the people for ratification. The importance of this amendment, and its effect and consequences upon the future of the state, demands that I give it nearly in full. It changed section 10 as it was originally passed, and made it read as follows:

"Section 10. The credit of that state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual association or corporation, except that, for the purpose of expediting the construction of the lines of railroads, in aid of which the congress of the United States has granted lands to the Territory of Minnesota, the governor shall cause to be issued and delivered to each of the companies in which said grants are vested by the legislative assembly of Minnesota the special bonds of the state, bearing an interest of seven per cent per annum, payable semi-annually in the city of New York, as a loan of public credit, to an amount not exceeding twelve hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or an aggregate amount to all of said companies not exceeding five millions of dollars, in manner following, to-wit:"

The amendment then prescribes that, whenever ten miles of railroad was graded so as to be ready for the superstructure, it should receive $100,000 of the bonds, and when ten miles should be completed with the cars running, the company so completing should receive another $100,000 of the bonds until each company had received its quota. The bonds were to be denominated "State Railroad Bonds," for the payment of which the faith and credit of the state was to be pledged. The railroad companies were to pay the principal and interest of the bonds, and to secure such payment they were to pledge the net profits of their respective roads, and to convey to the state the first two hundred and forty sections of land they received, and to deliver to the state treasurer an amount of their first mortgage bonds equal to the amount of bonds received by them from the state, and mortgage to the state their roads and franchises. This was all the security the companies could give, but the underlying difficulty was that it had no value whatever. There were no roads, no net or other profits. The lands had no value whatever except such as lay in the future, which was dependent on the construction of the roads and the settlement of the country. The bonds of the companies, of course, possessed only such value as the property they represented, which was nothing, and the mortgages were of the same character. The whole scheme was based upon hopes, which the slightest application of sober reasoning would have pronounced impossible of fulfillment. But the country was hungry, and willing to seize upon anything that offered a semblance or shadow of relief.

The proposed amendment was to be submitted to the people for adoption or rejection, at an election to be held on the fifteenth day of April, 1858. In order to fully comprehend the condition of the public mind, it should be known that the constitution, with all the safeguards that I have mentioned, had only been in force since Oct. 13, 1857, a period of about six months, and had been carried by a vote of 30,055 for to 571 against its adoption.

The campaign preceding the election was a very active one. The railroad people flooded the state with speakers, documents, pictures, glee clubs singing songs of the delights of "Riding on the Rail," and every conceivable artifice was resorted to to carry the amendment. It was carried by a vote of 25,023 in favor of its passage, to 6,733 against.

To give an idea of the intense feeling that was exhibited in this election, it is only necessary to state that at the city of Winona there were 1,102 votes cast in favor of the amendment and only one vote against it. This negative vote, to his eternal honor be it said, was cast by Thomas Wilson, afterwards chief justice of the state, and now a citizen of St. Paul.

In the execution of the requirements of the amendment, the railroad companies claimed that they could issue first mortgage bonds on their properties to an indefinite amount and exchange them with the state for its bonds, bond for bond, but the governor, who was Hon. Henry H. Sibley, construed the amendment to mean that the first mortgage bonds of the companies which the state was to receive must be an exclusive first lien on the lands and franchises of the company. He therefore declined to issue the bonds of the state unless his views were adopted. The Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, one of the land grant corporations, applied to the supreme court of the state for a writ of mandamus, to compel the governor to issue the bonds. The case was heard, and two members of the court holding the views of the applicants, the writ was issued. I was a member of the court at that time, but entertaining opposite views from the majority, I filed a dissenting opinion. Anyone sufficiently interested in the question can find the case reported in Volume II. of the Minnesota Reports, at page 13. This decision was only to be advisory, as the courts have no power to coerce the executive.

The railroad companies entered into contracts for grading their roads, and a sufficient amount of grading was done to entitle them to about $2,300,000 of the bonds, which were issued accordingly, and went into the hands of the contractors to pay for the work done. It, however, soon became apparent that no completed railroad would ever result from this scheme, even if the whole five millions of bonds were issued. What should have been known before was made clear when any of these state bonds were put on the market. The credit of the state was worthless, and the bonds were valueless. The people became as anxious to shake off the incubus of debt they had imposed upon their infant state as they had been to rush into it.

Governor Sibley, in his message, delivered to the second legislature in December, 1859, said, in speaking of this issue of bonds:

"I regret to be obliged to state that the measure has proved a failure, and has by no means accomplished what was hoped for it, either in providing means for the issue of a safe currency, or of aiding the companies in the completion of the roads."

At the election, held on Nov. 6, 1860, the constitution was again amended, by expunging from it the amendment of 1858 authorizing the issue of the state railroad bonds, and prohibiting any further issue of them. An amendment was also made to section 2 of Article IX. of the constitution at the same time, by providing that no law levying a tax, or making any other provisions for the payment of interest or principal of the bonds already issued, should take effect or be in force until it had been submitted to the people, and adopted by a majority of the electors.

It was very proper to prohibit the issuance of any more of the bonds, but the provision requiring a vote of the people before those already out could be paid was practically repudiation, and the state labored under that damaging stigma for over twenty years. Attempts were made to obtain the sanction of the people for the payment of these bonds, but they were defeated, until it became unpleasant to admit that one was a resident of Minnesota. Whenever the name of Minnesota was heard on the floor of congress as an applicant for favors, or even for justice, it was met by the charge of repudiation. This was an era in our history very much to be regretted, but the state grew steadily in material wealth.

On March 2, 1881, the legislature passed an act, the general purpose of which was to adjust, with the consent of the holders, the outstanding bonds, at the rate of fifty cents on the dollar, and contained the curious provision that the supreme court should decide whether it must first be submitted to the people in order to be valid or not, and if the supreme court should not so decide, then an equal number of the judges of the district court should act. The supreme court judges declined to act, and the governor called upon the district court judges to assume the duty. Before any action was taken by the latter, the attorney general applied to the supreme court for a writ of prohibition to prevent them from taking any action. The case was most elaborately discussed, and the opinion of the supreme court was delivered by Chief Justice Gilfillan, which is most exhaustive and convincing. The court holds that the act of 1881 is void, by conferring upon the judiciary legislative power, and that the amendment to the constitution providing that no bonds should be paid unless the law authorizing such payment was first submitted to and adopted by the people was void, as being repugnant to the clause in the constitution of the United States, that no state shall pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. With these impediments to a just settlement of this question removed, the state was at liberty to make such arrangements with its bond creditors as was satisfactory. John S. Pillsbury was governor at that time. He had always been in favor of paying the bonds, and removing the stain from the honor of the state, and finding his hands free, it did not take him long to arrange the whole matter satisfactorily, and to the approval of all the parties. The debt was paid by the issue of new bonds, at the rate of fifty per cent of the principal and interest of the outstanding ones and the surrender of the latter. This adjustment ended a transaction that was conceived and executed in folly, and was only prevented from eventuating in crime by the persistent efforts of our most honorable and thoughtful citizens throughout the state. The transaction has often been called by those who advocated repudiation, "An old Territorial fraud," but there was nothing in it but a bad bargain, made under the extraordinary pressure of financial difficulties.



THE FIRST RAILROAD ACTUALLY BUILT.

The state was restored to all the lands and franchises of the various companies by means of foreclosure, and on March 8, 1861, passed an act to facilitate the construction of the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad, by which act the old railroad was rehabilitated, and required to construct and put in operation its road from St. Paul to St. Anthony on or before the first day of January, 1862. The company was required to deposit with the governor $10,000 as an earnest of good faith. Work was soon commenced, and the first ten miles constructed as required. This was the first railroad ever built and operated in Minnesota. The first locomotive engine was brought up the river on a barge, and landed at the St. Paul end of the track in the latter part of October, 1861. This pioneer locomotive was called the "William Crooks," after an engineer of that name who was very active and instrumental in the building of the road. This first ten miles of road cost more energy and brain work than all the rest of the vast system that has succeeded it. It was the initial step in what is now known as the Great Northern Railway, a road that spans the continent from St. Paul to the Pacific, and reflects upon its enterprising builders all the credit due to the pioneer.

It was not long before the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated by act of congress, passed on July 2, 1864. This road was to extend from the head of Lake Superior to Puget Sound, on a line north of the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, with a branch via the valley of the Columbia river to Portland, Ore. The company had a grant of land of twenty alternate sections through the states. It was commenced shortly after its incorporation, but met with financial disaster, and was sold under foreclosure of a mortgage, and underwent many trials and tribulations, until it was finally completed on the eighth day of September, in the year 1883, and has been in successful operation ever since. As the Northern Pacific has its eastern terminus and general offices in St. Paul, it is essentially a Minnesota road. The same may be said of the Great Northern, although both are transcontinental roads.

From the small beginning of railroad construction in 1862 have grown thirty-seven distinct railroad corporations, operating in the state of Minnesota 6,062.69 miles of main tracks, according to the official reports of 1898, with quite a substantial addition in course of construction. These various lines cover and render accessible nearly every city, town and village in the state.

The method of taxation of railroad property adopted by the state is a very wise and just one. It imposes a tax of three per cent upon the gross earnings of the roads, which, in 1896, yielded the comfortable sum of $1,037,194.40, the gross earnings of all amounting to $36,918,741.71. This plan of taxation gives the state a direct interest in the prosperity of the roads, as its taxes are increased when business is good and the roads are relieved from oppressive taxation in time of business depression.

The grading which was done and for which the bonds of the state were issued was, as a general thing, utilized in the final construction of the roads.



THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE.

In 1842 the country north of Iowa and west of the Mississippi as far north as the Little Rapids, on the Minnesota river, was occupied by the M'day-wa-kon-ton and Wak-pe-ku-ta bands of Sioux. The Wak-pe-ku-ta band was at war with the Sacs and Foxes, and was under the leadership of two principal chiefs, named Wam-di-sapa (the "Black Eagle") and Ta-sa-gi. Wam-di-sapa and his band were a lawless, predatory set, whose depredations prolonged the war with the Sacs and Foxes, and finally separated him and his band from the Wak-pe-ku-tas. They moved west towards the Missouri, and occupied the valley of the Vermillion river, and so thorough was the separation that the band was not regarded as part of the Wak-pe-ku-ta when the latter, together with the M'day-wa-kon-tons, made their treaty with the government at Mendota in 1851.

By 1857 all that remained of Wam-di-sapa's straggling band was about ten or fifteen lodges under the chieftainship of Ink-pa-du-ta, or the "Scarlet Point," or the "Red End." They had planted near Spirit lake, which lies partly in Dickinson county, Iowa, and partly in Jackson county, Minnesota, prior to 1857, and ranged the country from there to the Missouri, and were considered a bad lot of vagabonds.

Between 1855 and 1857 a small settlement had sprung up about forty miles south of Spirit lake, on the In-yan-yan-ke or Rock river.

In the spring of 1856 Hon. William Freeborn of Red Wing (after whom the county of Freeborn in this state is called) had projected a settlement at Spirit lake, which, by the next spring, contained six or seven houses, with as many families.

About the same time another settlement was started some ten or fifteen miles north of Spirit lake, on the head waters of the Des Moines, and a town laid out which was called Springfield. In the spring of 1857 there were two stores and several families at this place.

These settlements were on the extreme frontier, and very much isolated. There was nothing to the west of them until you reached the Rocky Mountains, and the nearest settlements on the north and northeast were on the Minnesota and Watonwan rivers, while to the south lay the small settlement on the Rock river, about forty miles distant. All these settlements, although on ceded lands, were actually in the heart of the Indian country, and absolutely unprotected and defenseless.

In 1857 I was United States Indian agent for the Sioux of the Mississippi, but had lived on the frontier long enough before to have acquired a general knowledge of Ink-pa-du-ta's reputation and his whereabouts. I was stationed on the Redwood and Yellow Medicine rivers, near where they empty into the Minnesota, and about eighty miles from Spirit lake.

Early in March, 1857, Ink-pa-du-ta's band was hunting in the neighborhood of the settlement on the Rock river, and one of them was bitten by a dog belonging to a white man. The Indian killed the dog. The owner of the dog assaulted the Indian, and beat him severely. The white men then went in a body to the camp of the Indians and disarmed them. The arms were either returned to them or they obtained others, I have never ascertained which. They were probably given back to them on condition that they should leave, as they at once came north to Spirit lake, where they must have arrived about the 6th or 7th of March. They proceeded at once to massacre the settlers, and killed all the men they found there, together with some women, and carried into captivity four women, three of whom were married and one single. Their names were Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Marble, Mrs. Thatcher and Miss Gardner. They came north to the Springfield settlement, where they killed all the people they found. The total number killed at both places was forty-two.

I was the first person to receive notice of this affair. On the 9th of March a Mr. Morris Markham, who had been absent from the Spirit lake settlement for some time, returned, and found all the people dead or missing. Seeing signs of Indians, he took it for granted that they had perpetrated the outrage. He at once went to Springfield, and reported what he had seen. Some of the people fled, but others remained, and lost their lives in consequence. It has always been my opinion that, being in the habit of trading with these Indians occasionally, they did not believe they stood in any danger; and, what is equally probable, they may not have believed the report. Everyone who has lived in an Indian country knows how frequently startling rumors are in circulation, and how often they prove unfounded.

The people of Springfield sent the news to me by two young men, who came on foot through the deep snow. The story was corroborated in a way that convinced me that it was true. They arrived on the 18th of March, completely worn out and snow-blind. I at once made a requisition on Colonel Alexander, commanding at Fort Ridgely, for troops. There were at the fort five or six companies of the Tenth United States Infantry, and the colonel promptly ordered Capt. Barnard E. Bee of Company "A" to proceed with his company to the scene of the trouble. The country between the fort and Spirit lake was uninhabited, and the distance from eighty to one hundred miles. I furnished two experienced guides from among my Sioux half-breeds. They took a pony and a light traineau, put on their snowshoes, and were ready to go anywhere. Not so with the soldiers, however. They were equipped in about the same manner as they would have been in campaigning in Florida, their only transportation being heavy wheeled army wagons, drawn by six mules. It soon became apparent that the outfit could not move straight to the objective point, and it became necessary to follow a trail down the Minnesota to Mankato and up the Watonwan in the direction of the lake, which was reached after one of the most arduous marches ever made by troops, on which for many miles the soldiers had to march ahead of the mules to break a road for them. The Indians, as we expected, were gone. A short pursuit was made, but the guides pronounced the camp fires of the Indians several days old, and it was abandoned. The dead were buried, and after a short stay, the soldiers returned to the fort.

When this affair became known throughout the territory it caused great consternation and apprehension, most of the settlers supposing it was the work of the Sioux nation. Many of the most exposed abandoned their homes temporarily. Their fears, however, were allayed by an explanation which I published in the newspapers.

I at once began to devise plans for the rescue of the white women. I knew that any hostile demonstration would result in their murder. While thinking the matter out an event occurred that opened the way to a solution. A party of my Indians had been hunting on the Big Sioux river, and having learned that Ink-pa-du-ta was encamped at Lake Chan-pta-ya-tan-ka, and that he had some white women prisoners, two young brothers visited the camp and succeeded in purchasing Mrs. Marble, and brought her into the Yellow Medicine agency, and delivered her to the missionaries, who turned her over to me. I received her on the 21st of March, and learned that two of the other captives were still alive. Of course, my first object was to rescue the survivors, and to encourage the Indians to make the attempt, I paid the brothers who had brought in Mrs. Marble $500 each. I could raise only $500 at the agency in money, and to make up the deficiency I resorted to a method, then novel, but which has since become quite general. I issued a bond, which, although done without authority, met with a better fate than many that followed it,—it was paid at maturity.