Newspapers on the Minnesota Frontier, 1849— to persuade prospective settlers and townsmen 1860. By GEORGE S. HAGE. (St. Paul, Min­ to migrate to Minnesota. Characteristic of these nesota Historical Society, 1967. ix, 176 p. are editor James M. Goodhue's florid enthusi­ Illustrations. $4.50.) asms in the columns of the Minnesota Pioneer. Even on the brink of the 1857 depression in Reviewed by Ralph D. Casey the Northwest, the Minnesotian's spokesman re­ jected pessimism and cited "happy examples of MR. HACK'S scholarly account of the frontier Western speculation and Minnesota's full har­ newspapers of Minnesota is a model of press vest." history. It neither places undue stress on the Intent on impressing officialdom in the na­ editorial thunderers of the pioneer society, nor tion's capital, and impelled to sing the praises does it become a sociological treatise ignoring of the Minnesota area, the editors always wrote the significant role played by the irrepressible with one eye on the eastern papers, with which crew of journalists who helped to make Minne­ they exchanged their own. Meantime, they neg­ sota articulate. The author has recognized that lected the news at their own doorsteps. If the press was not an independent agency. His they thought seriously about local reporting, history is a balanced account of the reciprocal the Minnesota writers no doubt rationalized relationship between jom"nals and journalists that the average pioneer would not miss the and the setting of which they were a part. account of local events, as he would quickly The task of extracting historical nuggets from learn of them without the help of a paper. the mine of "jumbled, disparate and mainly Where the frontier press consistently failed, trivial details'' in the newspaper files must have Mr. Hage writes, was in "any sense of involve­ been a heroic one. It was necessary to comb ment in the great conflict that was building up thousands of newspaper pages in order to inter­ in the nation in the 1850s." Faint echoes car­ pret the outlook and behavior of the early edi­ ried to Goodhue's journal, he adds; other tors, as well as those of a later generation which papers were indifferent to the crisis. He de­ are touched on in an epilogue chapter devoted scribes the frontier press as an "activist press," to the development of the modern Twin City and fears "that if its editors had paused in the daifies. Official documents, biographies, letters, headlong rush to ask what is progress and why, diaries, and other records aided him in arriving it is doubtful that anyone would have been at judgments on how well or ill the press served listening.'' Yet he understandably stresses that its readers. the early press did serve as a force in develop­ Detachment, candor, and fairness mark the ing community cohesion in Minnesota; that author's reconstruction of the changes in the over the years editorial pages gained sobriety, newspapers over a decade. Their constructive the news took a more dominant place, and the endeavors are recalled, but Mr. Hage tells also press assumed something of its present form. of their misdirected zeal and their lack of re­ straint during pitched political battles. He Mr. Casey is professor emeritus of journalism reports entertainingly on the panegyrics written at the University of Minnesota.

302 MINNESOTA History He leaves his reader with a sympathetic under­ country's population was engaged in farming, standing of the problems of editing and there was a tendency to neglect the history of publishing in a sparsely settled pioneer envi­ that commonplace occupation in favor of more ronment. colorful pursuits like fur trading, cattle raising, The author's vivid portraits of the editors and mining. Today, possibly, the tide has that march through the narrative and his en­ turned; with only a small proportion of Ameri­ thusiasm in recording their stories capture and cans actively engaged in farming, its history hold the reader's interest; the careful research seems to have become more appealing. In his that underlies the work and the author's pro­ previous books dealing with various aspects of fessional knowledge of the ways of the press agriculture, Mr. Fite has championed the cause result in a sound interpretation of the develop­ of agricultural history. If the present volume ment of Minnesota newspapers. The book is lacks the depth usually found in his works, it livened throughout by Mr. Hage's skill as a is because of its very purpose. Leaving the trained writer and his engaging sense of humor. more detailed accounts for presentation in se­ Photographs of early Minnesota publishers lected monographs, he here devotes himself to and editors, of political leaders who were prom­ the broad story. inent in the news, and of newspaper pages, Even in this survey, however, Mr. Fife's advertisements, and early printing shops — all knowledge of the sources of agricultural history add interest to the volume. It also contains a becomes obvious when one reads the thirty- useful list of Minnesota newspapers published seven pages of notes and the bibliographical between 1849 and 1860. essay. He seems to have listed the most sig­ nificant works on each phase of the frontier, as well as having personally explored some of the AGRICULTURAL WEST best primary sources in those areas. The text is written in such a manner that the words The Farmers Frontier, 1865-1900. By CIL- fairly flow, making for pleasant as well as in­ BERT C. FiTE. (New York, Holt, Rinehart teresting reading. The index could have been and Winston, 1966. xiv, 272 p. Illustra­ more complete, and a few more maps could tions, maps. $6.75.) have been used, but the book is attractively illustrated with novel western farm scenes. If Reviewed by hHiram M. Draclie the other volumes in the Histories of the Amer­ ican Frontier series are as competently done, PROFESSOR FITE in the preface and Ray they will serve the cause of history well. Allen Billington in the foreword both point out the purpose of this book: to give a broad his­ tory of the frontier farmer west of the Missis­ sippi. In one sweep the author covers the FRONTIERS REVISITED movement of the agricultural frontier across the western United States. Chapters that may America's Frontier Heritage. By RAY ALLEN at first seem repetitious move with the pioneer BILLINGTON. (New York, Chicago, San Fran­ settler from one area to the next, following the cisco, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. endless struggle with nature that differed only xiv, 320 p. $7.95.) according to geography and how the battle was won or lost. But Mr. Fite has a knack of mak­ Reviewed by David W. Noble ing history come alive; he knows how to look THIS BOOK is the synthesis of Professor Bil- for and write about the human side of it. lington's long concern with, and many writings Through the use of personal incidents he shows about, the frontier. It is a defense of the valid­ much of the joy, sadness, and hardship of fron­ ity of the Turner thesis in explaining the his­ tier farm life. tory of the United States. It may be the last In the years when a large majority of the important defense of Turner. Professor Billing­ Mr. Drache is professor of history at Concordia ton may be the last important historian of the College in Moorhead and the author of The West. It has been increasingly clear since World Day of the Bonanza (1964). War II that the West as a significant area of

Summer 1967 303 specialized study has been disappearing in his­ LITERARY EMIGRANTS tory departments to be replaced, perhaps, by specialists in immigration. As long as American historians were persuaded of the Turner belief From West to East: Studies in the Literature of that the frontier had created a new man, they the American West. By ROBERT EDSON LEE. focused their attention on the West as the ma- (Urbana and London, University of Illi­ tiix of that new birth and neglected the cul­ nois Press, 1966. 172 p. $5.00.) tural influences brought by the European immigrants. Reviewed by Roy W. Meyer While no historian today doubts that there is VARIOUS "Wests" have railed against eastern a unique American national culture, many colonialism from the 1660s, when the Tide­ would claim that the national culture has a water planters tried to deprive the frontier unique pattern within the larger framework of settlers of their rightful voice in the Virginia western civilization. Repeatedly, Mr. Billington legislature, to the 1960s, when North Dakota states his recognition of the roots of American and Minnesota wrangled over dual grain in­ individualism, or capitalistic competition, or spection. On the literary level eastern domi­ materialism in the middle-class society develop­ nance long manifested itself in a near-monopoly ing in western Europe, but his analysis usually of the publishing business, a state of affairs slips away from that recognition and back into that obliged aspiring authors to go East and Tumerian isolation. Thus he states that it is adapt their writing to the tastes of the dom­ an American frontier trait to have a migratory inant section. Mark Twain, Bret Hart, Edward impulse in contrast to the absence of such Eggleston, Hamlin Carland — Westerners by an impulse in Europe. His emphasis, then, is birth or by temporary residence — all found in on Americans moving west from the eastern the East the outlet they needed. And all seaboard rather than Europeans moving west in some degree falsified the West that they from Europe to America. In outlining four ma­ wrote about. jor American national characteristics — ambi­ The thesis of Robert Edson Lee's suggestive tion for upward mobility, inner direction, reinterpretation of the literary treatment of the competition, and individualism as products of American West is that in writing for an eastern the frontier experience — Mr. Bfllington does audience the authors romanticized their west­ not seriously consider the possibility that these ern experience. This was not simply a matter are middle-class traits to be found wherever of editorial ami-twisting; it was done willing­ the middle class is a significant part of society. ly, in some cases unconsciously, by the authors There is a final irony in the author's attempt themselves. Thus the romantic cliches that to bring a variety of social science tools to the color Francis Parkman's view of the West were description of Turner's frontier. In postulating not due to bowdlerizing of The Oregon Trail by the difference between the European and the his eastern friends but were natural to a Boston American as the difference between a man Brahmin who had read James Fenimore shaped by complex culture and a man in simple Cooper. harmony with physical nature, the Turner Aside from a few early Spanish chroniclers, thesis would seem to suggest that cultural only nine writers are treated by the author, studies would apply to Europeans and not to seven of them Easterners who commented on a Americans. That Mr. Billington is concerned land they saw only briefly: Lewis and Clark, with cultural anthropology, social psychology, Timothy Flint, James Hall, Washington Irving, sociology, and behavioral political science as Parkman, and (Missouri being east in Mr. Lee's means to describe the American character geography) Mark Twain. All but Lewis and seems to suggest a greater complexity of Amer­ Clark prettified their accounts to make them ican culture than the Turner thesis would lead more palatable to an eastern reading public, us to expect. and Nicholas Biddle did the same for the two

Mr. Noble is professor of history at the Univer­ Mr. Meyer, a professor at Mankato State Col­ sity of Minnesota and the author of Historians lege, is the author of The Middle Western Against History (1965). Farm Novel in the Twentieth Century (1965).

304 MINNESOTA History captains' journals. Only two authentic Western­ The author's introduction is an expansion of ers are discussed: Willa Gather, who wrote a chapter eight of his previous contribution to few incisively realistic tales before the influ­ the Anvil series. The North Atlantic Civilization ence of the East and of Europe overwhelmed (1957) and constitutes a very abbreviated gen­ her and she turned to idealizing the West in eral account of the history of immigration to novels like O Pioneers!, and Bemard De Veto, the United States. There is nothing new in it, who came along too late to make the great and the reader would be well advised to con­ contribution which he was potentially capa­ sult in addition the bibliography at the rear ble of giving. of the book, a list which is itself abbreviated If there is a weakness in Mr. Lee's stimulat­ and incomplete. ing book, it is that he restricts his selection to The principal merit of the little volume lies authors who support his thesis. Mari Sandoz, in the series of documents and readings illus­ mentioned only by way of contrast to Willa trative of the immigration experience, but the Gather, might be cited as proof that a western reader is advised to use also Oscar Handlin's writer could reach print without compromising Immigration as a Factor in American History his integrity. Parkman might similarly be offset (1959). The readings in the Kraus paperback by Lewis H. Garrard, whose Wah-to-yah and range from the coming of the Pilgrims to the the Taos Trail, a product of the same "year of immigration law of 1965. They include Ameri­ decision," was much less influenced by the gen­ ca letters, comments by contemporaries, immi­ teel tradition. grant reactions, and some ballads and poems But such criticisms can be leveled at any illustrative of the immigrants' experiences. book that breaks new ground, as From West to They are well selected and useful. The editor East assuredly does. It documents and gives has emphasized the experiences of the immi­ order to a theme before dealt with only in grants themselves, and this is all to the good. fragments and in unsystematic fashion. It does As a short introduction to the history of Amer­ so in a lively, direct style that contrasts strik­ ican immigration, this paperback can be profit­ ingly with the calculated obscurity of much able reading. literary scholarship. It is the kind of book that can be read with enjoyment, pondered with profit, and refuted only with difficulty. LONG'S SH ADOW

Stephen Harriman Long, 1784—1864: Army CONDENSED IMMIGRATION Engineer, Explorer, Inventor. By RICHARD G. WOOD. (Glendale, California, Arthur H. Immigration, The American Mosaic: From Pil­ Clark Company, 1966. 292 p. $11.00.) grims to Modern Refugees. By MICHAEL KRAUS. (Princeton, New Jersey, D. Van No- Reviewed by Lucile M. Kane strand Company, Inc., 1966. 207 p. Pa­ per, $1.75.) WHEN STEPHEN LONG retired from the Corps of Engineers in 1863, his memory en­ Reviewed by Carlton C. Qualey compassed service to the United States govern­ ment extending from the War of 1812 to the THERE is undoubtedly a place for telescoped civil conflict. Recognized early as a "gentleman history in this age of plane-ride paperback of large mechanical ingenuity," he soon proved reading. It has even some usefulness for high that he was also sensitive to the needs of a na­ school and college undergraduate instruction. tion that was unifying itself with bonds of For the specialist in any field covered, such transportation, acquiring information about its books have litde merit. Within the limitations natural resources, and making its tortuous way of its kind, however, this Anvil paperback ful- into the West. fifls its function. The most dramatic phase of the engineer's career was the period between 1816 and 1823 Mr. Qimley is head of the history department when he explored the West. Three major trips at Carleton College in Northfield. made in these years took him to the Falls of

Summer 1967 305 St. Anthony in 1817, to the trans-Mississippi SALVAGING HISTORY West on the "Yellowstone Expedition" in 1819- 20, and to the Minnesota and Red rivers in Hardluck Ironclad: The Sinking and Salvage of 1823. Journeying by foot, horseback, canoe, the Cairo. By EDVWN C. BEARSS. (Baton skiff, and steamboat. Long and his companions Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, gathered a hai-vest of information about regions 1966. xii, 208 p. Illustiations. $5.95.) that stiU piqued the imagination of Ameri­ cans. Their adventures were broadcast in two Reviewed by Robert J. R. Johnson works — classics in the literature of explora­ AT 11:55 A.M. on December 12, 1862, the tion— produced by expedition members Ed­ Union ironclad "Cairo" made military history. win James and William H. Keating. It became the first warship ever blasted to the Had it not been for Mr. Wood's vision. bottom by an electrically fired mine, a Confed­ Long's historical reputation would have rested, erate secret weapon. A fellow officer immor­ as it has since his death in 1864, on his exploits talized the historic meeting between the skipper as an explorer. Seeing the subsequent years as of the "Cairo" and the mine (torpedo): "On something more than a dreary postscript, the December 12 Lieutenant-Commander [Thomas author has given substance to the engineer's O.] Selfridge of the Cairo found two torpedoes contributions in designing steam engines and and removed them by placing his vessel over bridges, building roads, railroads, and steam­ them." In a mere twelve minutes the "Cairo," boats, and improving the navigation of rivers. one of the earliest ironclads built in the West- Although the exploration period is symbofized em Hemisphere, slipped beneath the muddy by Longs Peak, a shining mountain in Colorado waters of the Yazoo River in Mississippi. No named in his honor, and the years devoted to lives were lost, but the vessel, commissioned inventions and internal improvements are less than a year before, was gone. Its stacks marked only by a snag boat, also named for and staffs were pulled down to hide its grave him, his biographer has successfully contended from the Confederates, for it carried loaded against such odds to present Long's career in guns and a grand collection of personal and focus. military equipment. Writing this biography was a difficult task. Edwin Bearss, a research historian for the Long seems to have left no personal papers, National Park Service working at Vicksburg Na­ and, a devoted servant of government, he re­ tional Military Park, found the "Cairo." He veals himself in his official writings only by and two friends examined maps and rec­ implication. Despite this handicap, Mr. Wood, ords, then used a magnetic compass to locate who died shortly after publication of this vol­ the ironclad. Having found it, he persevered; ume, produced a good book. He was a master with the help of everyone who could possibly of the intricate public records in the National be enlisted, the vessel was raised. This book is Archives, and he diligently scouted peripheral the story of the "Cairo" — of its career as a sources that somewhat illuminate Long's per­ man-of-war that rarely got anywhere in time sonal character. for the action and of how it clung tenaciously The author's work can be applauded for what and expensively to the mud of the Yazoo. it does and what it tries to do, but commenda­ Mr. Bearss discussed the "Cairo" project at tion of the publisher must be more reserved. the first Conference on Underwater Archaeol­ Although the book is handsomely printed and ogy, sponsored by the Minnesota Historical So­ illustrated, the editing is inept. The first major ciety in St. Paul in 1963. In this book he goes biography of Stephen Long surely deserved farther, telling the story in rich detail. The first more solicitude from the wielders of blue pen­ half is devoted to the history of the Western Flo­ cils who can do so much to improve the quality tilla, an army-navy force established to secure of historical writing. the Mississippi River. Seven ironclad gunboats,

Miss Kane, the society's curator of manuscripts, Mr. Johnson, a reporter for the St. Paul Dis­ is co-recipient of a McKnight Foundation re­ patch, Ims covered the Minnesota undenmter search grant to edit the 1817 and 1823 journals research program since its beginning in of Stephen Long. 1961.

306 MINNESOTA History named for river cities, formed the flotilla's iron His book contains a fascinating collection of fist. The big, heavy, well-armed boats were tales. The bonanzas Mr. Drago writes about manned by sailors and soldiers who stood in­ were found and lost in the West from Texas to spection in a variety of Union uniforms. But Idaho, from Colorado to California. In a little the ironclads were not invulnerable. They were canyon at a wild, remote place unseen by other slow and subject to attack by rams. They also human beings, a Mexican with a deformed ear proved susceptible to damage from glass and unearthed gold beyond dreaming. Children black powder mines. from a wagon train on the way to Oregon Divers, both civilian and military, free and found black pebbles and tossed them into the hardhat, made it possible to recover the blue buckets hanging on the sides of the wag­ "Cairo." They worked in bitter cold water in ons; the black pebbles were later identified as utter darkness. Techniques were tried and gold nuggets, and sons and grandsons of the abandoned, plans made and discarded. Time, original pioneers have searched for the source money, and heavy equipment were needed for of the gold in the Blue Bucket treasure hunt. the job; weather and the river fought the sal­ Then there were Pegleg Smith's lost gold, and vagers. From almost the very first dive, how­ the Lost Gunsight Mine of Death Valley, first ever, they began adding to knowledge of Civil located by an emigrant Forty-Niner who, sight­ War men and machines, and on December 11, ing a deer, wedged a thin piece of shale into 1964, the "Cairo" was out of the water, ready the slot of his misplaced gunsight and later to surrender its "time capsule'' of Civil War learned that the shale was silver. Attempts to history to scholars. find the place where he picked up the silver Artifacts are one thing; several hundred tons led to the discovery of multimillion-dollar of waterlogged ironclad gunboat are another. borax deposits. The future of the vessel remains to be resolved. Time, drifting sands, rockfalls, cloudbursts — The goal is restoration and public exhibit, but who knows what other natmal or humanly who is to do it and how much will it cost? contrived catastrophes — buried the lost treas­ When Hardluck Ironclad was published, the ures, but the memory fingers on and people still National Park Service seemed willing to take search. The one disappointment to Minnesotans over the "Cairo," but no money for restoration reading this book is that Mr. Drago did not had yet been allocated. widen his scope enough to include the story of how Captain James L. Fisk and Dr. William D. Dibb claim.ed to have discovered a mountain TREASURE HUNTS of gold along the Fisk expedition's line of march in 1864, and of how men have looked for it off Lost Bonanzas. By HARRY SINCLAIR DRACO. and on ever since — in the same way they have (New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966. searched for the Lost Gunsight and the Blue xii, 276 p. $5.00.) Bucket treasures.

Reviewed by Helen McCann White HARRY DRAGO has read exhaustively about the lost gold and silver mines of the American MISSOURI MARAUDERS West, as his bibliography attests; he has prowled the mountains and deserts interview­ Jesse James Was His Name: or. Fact and Fic­ ing many an old settler and prospector who had tion Concerning the Careers of the Notorious a story to tell about the rich treasure that some­ James Brothers of Missouri. By WILLIAM A. one glimpsed once just over the next hill. When SETTLE, JR. (Columbia, University of Mis­ dealing with lost mines, he writes, "one rule souri Press, 1966. 263 p. Illustrations, takes precedence over all others: ff you befieve maps. $6.00.) it, it's so." Reviewed by Walter N. Trenerry

Mrs. White, who is on the staff of the Minne­ PROFESSOR SETTLE, a Missourian now sota Historical Society, is the author of Ho! for teaching history in Tulsa, plunged into separat­ the Gold Fields (1966). ing fact and fiction in the sagas of Missouri's

Summer 1967 307 best-known heroes, Frank and Jesse James. He public records have printed material he does came across the fiction readily enough. He even not seem to be familiar with, and the Minne­ pinpointed the day (September 29, 1872), the sota archives have unpublished material he writing (an editorial in the Kansas City Times), does not cite. Other states, and state historical and the author (John N. Edwards) who societies in addition to that of Missouri, may sketched the first halo ai-ound these two gun- have something to offer. slingers as latter-day Robin Hoods. One question: Dammit, Professor Settle, The fact came harder. It was the author's were the James boys in Northfield on Septem­ bad luck to follow a cold trafl through neigh­ ber 7, 1876? Yes or no? borhoods that in the 1860s and 1870s did not encourage blabbing to outsiders. The James boys doubtless hinted that any other policy FINANCIAL HISTORY forfeited much chance for health and long life. He did find enough facts to show the Robin George Smith's Money: A Scottish Investor in Hood legend to be without basis and to judge America. By ALICE E. SMITH. (Madison, his subjects plain crooks and murderers, but State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1966. he could not find much about the James boys vi, 197 p. Illustrations. $4.50.) as five individuals. Faceless and grim, they would not step out of their hazy background. Reviewed by Hugh D. Galusha, Jr. This little history's real value as Americana THIS BOOK belongs with John Clay's autobiog­ lies in showing how sentimental legend grew raphy. My Life on the Range (1924), for they out of hard politics. To put it baldly. Demo­ have a common accomplishment. Together crats in post-Reconstruction Missouri found they should lay to rest forevermore the canard they could stay in office indefinitely by merely about the Scottish people, which usually de­ shedding tears for old Rebels who claimed that picts them as unimaginative and conventional war atrocities hounded them into postwar investors. This statement was made by Clay: crime. "The Scotch, who are supposed to be one of The James boys were alive and fairly well the most thrifty races on the globe, are on the known, and their friends made such a claim other hand the most speculative. Not the spec­ for them. Heavy infusions of fiction made them ulation you see at Monte Carlo, French Lick or into a convenient legend at hand for every Palm Beach — their young men reach out from Missouri office seeker to use. The truth was not inclination and necessity. They are progressive only in"elevant, but a hindrance. (The James and aggressive, and they will venture anywhere boys' shadows had quite an influence on Min­ in the pursuit of commerce." nesota politics, too, in the years after 1876.) George Smith was just such a Scotsman as Mr. Settle sticks to historians' methods, keep­ Clay had in mind, and in many ways their lives ing away from the gunplay and gush which had dimensions in common. Like Clay, Smith make so much of the writing on this subject spent part of his life as the United States agent worthless. Everything important is footnoted; for Scottish capitalists and was an imaginative anything doubtful or missing is noted; and investor who not only represented his princi­ James fans can profit from bibliographical com­ pals well, but contributed tiemendously to the ments which review at length the tons of sec­ development of his part of the United States. ondary material available. There the similarity ends, however. George The author has apparently done all his work Smith focused his attention on the upper Mid­ in Missouri. Minnesota newspapers, for in­ west, and after he had made his fortune, he stance, are quoted only if reprinted in some returned to the old country for the last third Missouri journal. He also relies almost wholly of his Iffe. There he lived aloof from the world on newspapers for critical points. In Minnesota, with no degree of involvement — other than a for instance, laws, resolutions, orders, and other remote financial one — with the region in

Mr. Trenerry, a St. Paul attorney, is the author Mr. Galusha is president of the Ninth District of Murder in Minnesota (1962), which con­ Federal Reserve Bank located in Minne­ tains a chapter on the Northfield raid of 1876. apolis.

308 MINNESOTA History which his enormous fortune had been made. The first five chapters set the background of His business life was a record of almost con­ Dr. Nagel's Mayo experiences — from a dis­ tinuous financial success with, as the author cussion of the status of surgical clinics through­ points out, no time permitted for family, out the country, to a short but pleasant history friends, or diversion from the making of money. of the clinic that includes the somewhat un­ John Clay, on the contrary, was a vital member usual career of William Worrall Mayo, the of the total community in which he moved, founding of St. Mary's Hospital, and the and he died a beloved figure. mounting fame of Drs. Will and Charles Mayo Alice Smith has done an extraordinary job of by 1922 when the author began his training. documenting a financial history, for this is Subsequent chapters tell of the doctor's as­ really what the volume is. George Smith re­ sociation with individuals who were to make mains in death as shadowy and remote a fig­ surgical history and describe the first hard ure as he must have been in life — less a figure years of the young "Fellow" who finally won than a column of impressive figures. But for his way into the surgical department. This, anyone interested in the processes of finance in perhaps, is the most important section of the any age, this book is a must. And for those who book. The author is expert and at his best when are interested in regional economic history describing the tremendous changes that oc­ there are remarkable insights furnished into curred in surgical techniques and proceedings. banking and investment practices of the Mid­ The book is so well written that laymen will west during the second quarter of the nine­ find it entertaining, and what could be dry teenth century. facts become fascinating because the narrative is illuminated with anecdotal stories. The de­ lineation of Dr. Nagel's chief. Dr. E. Starr MEDIC AT MAYO Judd, and his accomplishments is skillfully done; in addition to making the purely medical The Mayo Legacy. By GUNTHER W. NAGEL. portion of the book understandable, the author (Springfield, Ilfinois, Charles C. Thomas, has included a variety of nonmedical experi­ 1966. xiii, 157 p. Illustrations. $6.00.) ences such as a European trip in 1928, vividly recorded by this trained observer. Perhaps he Reviewed by Robert Rosenthal gives too great attention to general medical history, dwelling overmuch on Rudolf Virchow, ALTHOUGH the Mayo Clinic and its famous Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Florence Nightin­ founders have been the subjects of many arti­ gale, and John Hunter. But his comments cles and books throughout the years — especial­ will be valuable to the young student or doctor. ly at the time of the Mayo centennial in 1964 — there has not been before an intimate, The book ends with some of Dr. Wfll Mayo's autobiographical account by a surgeon who comments delivered at the tenth annual meet­ trained at the clinic. In 1963 Dr. Waltman ing of the Alrunni Association of the Mayo Walters published his memoirs. Forty Years of Clinic and the Mayo Foundation. They are a fitting close to a penetrating and delightful little Surgery at the Mayo Clinic, but that volume book which physicians will enjoy and which is lacks the personal touch which lends such in­ an imperative for young Fellows at the clinic. formal charm to this book. Dr. Nagel's reminiscence is not a history of surgery, nor is it an account of the clinic's SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY growth. Written by a distinguished surgeon nearly forty years after he left the clinic and Germania, U.S.A.: Social Change in New Ulm, after sufficient time had elapsed for him to Minnesota. By NOEL IVERSON. (Minneapolis, evaluate in mature manner his experiences be­ University of Minnesota Press, 1966. 188 p. tween 1922 and 1928, the book is one individu­ $5.50.) al's impression of the clinic's formative years. Reviewed by John Sirjamaki Dr. Rosenthal has written a number of articles on the history of frontier medicine in Minne­ HOW German immigrants, refugees from the sota. revolution of 1848, founded New Ulm, Minne-

Summer 1967 309 sola, in 1856 and became an upper status The evidence which Mr. Iverson has assem­ group there which survives into the third gen­ bled clearly attests to the major role that Turner eration is told by Mr. Iverson, a native son, in families played in developing New Ulm and to this excellent community study. These settlers their prominence in its social, economic, and belonged to the Turnverein, a German liberal political activities. Their importance today, al­ social and political association transplanted by though declining, is still considerable. Many immigrants to the United States. The organiza­ younger members, moreover, are now gaining tion, headquartered in Cincinnati, estabfished wider eminence in the state and in the nation. a colonization society to assist German immi­ grants in contending with nativist hostifity and in founding new towns or rural settlements. SUMMER NOSTALGIA Several Cincinnati members, with funds sup­ plied by the colonization society, chose New St. Croix Trail Country: Recollections of Wis­ Ulm. There they discovered a few German consin. By WILLIAM GRAY PUKCELL. (Min­ families from Chicago in the process of found­ neapolis, University of Minnesota Press, ing a settlement, and, joining forces, built it 1967, 123 p. Illustrations, maps. $6.50.) as the city of their hopes. Reviewed by James Taylor Dunn Motivated by Turnverein principles of social reform, the settlers tried to establish New Ulm THE LATE WiUiam Gray Purcell, distin­ as a socialist society. They formed a German guished Minnesota architect, compiled an Land Association to acquire the land on which agreeable book of warm memories culled from the town stood and to operate a number of his grandfather's published works and from his community enterprises. The failm'e of these own pleasant reminiscences of a summertime ventures within a few years forced the settlers boyhood spent in the pine-forested, lake- to give up their efforts at socialism and ended studded region of northwestern Wisconsin. their attempt to exist as an ethnic colony. Sub­ About half the book contains carefully chosen sequently they developed New Ulm as a pros­ selections from William C. Cray's popular col­ perous Minnesota city and, with a Turner hall umn which first appeared during the late 1800s as the center of their activities, emerged as in The Interior, a Chicago-published Presby­ social and political leaders. terian paper he edited; later they were col­ Mr. Iverson has reviewed the early years of lected in several books like Camp-fire Musings: New Ulm to 1859 and has skimmed its later Life and Good Times in the Woods (1894). history in a well-written, highly condensed Skillfully interwoven with Grandfather Gray's narrative which occupies the first half of his contemporary accounts are Willie Purcell's own book. In the second half he has provided a so­ recollections of the good times at Island Lake ciological analysis of the settlers and their de­ along the trail which once connected the St. scendants (the Turner group), following their Croix Valley with Bayfield, Wisconsin. Perhaps transformation from an ethnic to a status group outstanding in this quiet book are the stories and assessing the changes among them by of the valley woodsmen and Chippewa Indians means of class, status, power, and assimilation who inhabited the region; here is the "crystal­ factors. lized sunshine of other days." In old age Purcell This sociological analysis of New Ulm is could well conjure up what he called the tightly structured and carefully pursued. The "magic spell" of his wilderness home. And author has compared two generations of Tur­ the reader, too, after finishing this book (an ner families with corresponding generations of exceptionally handsome volume, by the way) non-Turner families by questionnaires, inter­ feels as though he, like Grandfather Gray, has views, and observation, and has constructed just stepped through his cabin door "upon that scales to measure differences between them. familiar path, softly carpeted with silky red Community studies carried on so systematically needles, where for fifteen years I have walked are not numerous, and this one is a model. and returned."

Mr. Sirjamaki is professor of sociology at the Mr. Dunn is the author of The St. Croix: State University of New York in Buffalo. Midwest Border River (1965).

310 MINNESOTA History St. Croix Trail Country is a book of everyday The volume is a handy roadside marker, say­ events, simply but well told. It adds up to good ing in effect, "Straight ahead to the best-known summertime reading for those of us lucky and most serviceable books and articles on enough to have had simfiar childhood experi­ fiterature and drama in this part of the coun­ ences among the lakes and woods and along try." the rivers of the Northwest.

LIGHT ON CATLIN CULTURAL CHECKLIST The Letters of George Catlin and His Family: Literature and Theater of the States and Re­ A Chronicle of the American West. By MAH- gions of the U.S.A., An Historical Bibliogra­ JORIE CATLIN ROEHM. (Berkeley and Los phy. By CLARENCE GOHDES. (Durham, Angeles, University of California Press, 1966. North Carolina, Duke University Press, 1967. xxi, 463 p. Illustrations. $8.50.) ix, 276 p. $10.00.) Reviewed by Bertha L. Heilbron

Reviewed by Donald Z. Woods A TRADITIONAL "fittle old trunk, tucked IT IS NOT difficult to find a kind word to say away in attics'' over many decades, has yielded about this work, but it is difficult to find one the "personal archive" on which this delightful that has not already been said on the dust and informing book is based. Hitherto "com­ jacket. Fortunately, the author's preface will pletely unknown to students of Catlin's life," 174 remain long after the jacket has departed. The letters written from 1798 to 1870 by or to the publisher heralds "this scrupulously researched artist and members of his family have here by a granddaughter of George's book," but the author states, with the modesty been exploited youngest brother, Francis. After patiently tran­ and honesty of the true historian, that "a few scribing the letters, Mrs. Roehm not only drew of the entries scattered throughout the book upon them to reconstruct the story of her dis­ have not been checked for accuracy, and a few tinguished great-imcle's personal life — a topic are incomplete." that for lack of information has been missing The jacket proclaims the book to be a "bib­ from earlier biographies — but she provided liography ... as functionally planned and the charming connecting text that gives the executed as the new Chicago Civic Center." narrative unity and makes it excellent reading. Mr. Cohdes, in the preface, says that his work Because George Catlin played such an im­ is "more accurately . . . [a] checklist." And portant role in the history of American art and that it is — a good, usable, workaday, brought- ethnology, Mrs. Roehm has allotted more space together checklist, one that can lead the begin­ to him than to other members of his family, ner quickly to the basic readings on fiterature reproducing in full his thirty-five letters and and the theater of the various geographical quoting at length from those written to him or areas in the United States. commenting on his activities. Notable among Some questions will occur to the reader: the latter are those penned by his father, Put­ Why does the author settle for "literature" and nam Catlin, who regularly reported current "theater"? In his preface he "notes with dismay news about his numerous clan. There emerges that many of the recently pubfished histories a picture of a devoted and close-knit family, of American cities and states, more often than whose members were deeply concerned for the not, make little or no mention of music, litera­ welfare of the elder Catlins, their seven sons ture, or the theater." Why was music omitted and daughters, and their offspring. Letters writ­ from the study? Why was the word "literature" ten in the autumn of 1836 provide examples of not used as a title for the sections on that sub­ special interest to Minnesotans, for they follow ject? Each of the segments on drama is headed the artist's announcement, dated at Prairie du with the word "theater," while the literature Chien on August 1, that he was "starting to- sections drop in regularly but unannounced.

Mr. Woods is associate dean of the general ex­ Miss Heilbron has written numerous books and tension division at the University of Minnesota. articles in the field of western American art.

Summer 1967 311 morrow morning for the Red Pipe Stone Quar­ sin frontier. Touching upon pioneer life in the ry which will be a pretty hard traipse from here St. Croix Valley are numerous letters addressed on horseback." Months passed before he was to Francis Catlin after his appointment in 1849 again heard from, and his father's letters reflect as register of the land office at Hudson, then the worries endured by those dear to him be­ called Willow River, Wisconsin. fore his safe return from this "long, very tedious For those concerned with George Catlin's and hazardous" journey. books on the red men, there are numerous com­ As indicated in the subtitle, the western ad­ ments relating to their publication, especially ventures of the Catlins did not end with the two volumes of Letters and Notes on the George's journey to southwestern Minnesota in . . . North American Indians issued in Lon­ 1836. The upper Midwest, especially, figured don in 1841. The artist teUs, too, of his unsuc­ prominently in the lives of other members of cessful efforts to sell his Indian gallery and his this Pennsylvania family. George's sister Eliza so-called "cartoon collection," and Mrs. Roehm and her husband, Anson Dart, pioneered in explains how they eventually were added to the Green Bay ai-ea of Wisconsin in 1840, fol­ the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution in lowing his "financial downfall" after the Panic Washington and the American Museum of Na­ of 1837. This would be a "notable work," writes tural History in New York. It is gratifying to Dale L. Morgan in his "Foreword," if it con­ learn that the letters, which are listed in a tained nothing more than the letters relating useful appendix, have found a permanent home to the Darts' failure in the East and their in the Bancroft Library of the University of struggle to establish themselves on the Wiscon­ California at Berkeley.

.. .on the HISTORICAL HORIZON

THE FIRST of two projected volumes entitled THE EXAMINATION of Thwaites Jesuit Re­ Early American Winters by David M. Ludlum lations Errata and Addenda by Joseph P. Don­ has been published by the American Meteoro­ nelly, S.J. (Chicago, Loyola University Press, logical Society with headquarters in Boston 1967. 269 p. $14.00) is not for casual readers. (1966. 285 p. $10.00.). While it does not reach The book's chief value vrill be, as far as his­ as far west as the Minnesota area, the book torians are concerned, for persons wishing to brings together considerable useful weather translate very accurately French documents of data for the period from 1604 to 1820. A sec­ the seventeenth century. For them it will be ond volume announced for 1967 will carry the most useful. For example, in connection with record forward from 1821 to 1870. Divided Thwaites' translation, "But Armand, wishing to into nine sections and containing a good index save a chapel that the Father was carrying," and bibliography, the volume offers a variety the author points out that the French word of source materials gleaned from printed works chapelle should be translated as "Mass kit," not as well as letters, diaries, and ships' logs. It as "chapel." He even fists the kit's contents. is especially helpful for the states of the North­ The author explains why Thwaites should east and Southeast, and it offers useful summa­ have translated chanter as "recite our litanies," ries of the winters of the Revolutionary War instead of "sing" them; for, he says, "Jesuits do period and the War of 1812. One chapter, de­ not sing the litanies said daily, but recite them voted to "Early Winters in the Old Northwest," in a normal tone of voice." Both these examples is largely composed of Ohio and Detioit data. and many more vrill be of special service to per­ A concluding section entitled "A Winter An­ sons attempting to ti^anslate documents relating thology" ranges from excerpts from Samuel to the early exploration of the Minnesota coun­ Sewall's diary of 1705 at Boston to St. John try and adjacent areas. Father Hennepin's book de Crevecoeur's "A Snowstorm as It Affects of 1683 is a case in point. the American Farmer" (1775), to Lewis and A fm-ther aid to scholars is rendered by the Clark's weather observations at Fort Mandan in fine bibfiography at the back of the book, cover­ 1804-05, and a description of springtime in ing publications "pertaining to the Jesuits and Quebec in 1816. June D. Holmquist New France which have appeared since 1906."

312 MINNESOTA History The author pays Thwaites this compfiment: recent interview with William De Coteau, a "Though Thwaites did not claim it . . . [his] ninety-three-year-old resident of the area, who bibliography [of 1906], for afl practical pur­ recalled that there had been "a scout camp . . . poses, was definitive." Father Donnelly's bibli­ in the woods" near the shore of the lake. A map ography covers more than fifty pages and is accompanying the article shows the probable especially rich for secondary sources and peri­ location. Two earlier camps, somewhat to the odical literature. Grace Lee Nute west of the 1865 line, were tentatively located by Mr. Chilson in Lynn and Scotland townships A RECENT product of the reprint industry. of Day County. Guide to Reprints, 1967, edited by Albert J. Diaz (Microcard Editions, Inc., Washington, A NEW SERIES entitled Classic American His­ 1967. 88 p. $4.00), contains some 12,000 en­ torians under the general editorship of Paul M. tries but somewhat fewer titles, as many books Angle has been initiated by the University of have been reprinted by more than one publish­ Chicago Press. Each of the four published er. The scope of the work covers periodicals as books of the projected eight-volume series has well as books, and the basic condition for in­ been abridged and provided with an introduc­ clusion is that the reprint should contain no tion by a recognized scholar; documentation, new composition apart from additional infor­ however, has been eliminated because, Mr. mation on the title page. Books reprinted by Angle says, "books in this series were designed the Minnesota Historical Society are listed, in­ for reading, not research." The available vol­ cluding one volume which does not conform to umes are: The History of the United States of the criteria laid down. It is Five Fiir Traders of America from the Discovery of the Continent the Northwest edited by Charles M. Gates, by George Bancroft, edited by Russel B. Nye which was reprinted in 1965 with an entirely (Chicago, 1966. xxvi, 366 p. Cloth, $8.50; pa­ new transcription of Peter Pond's journal. A per, $3.45); Abraham Lincoln: A History by number of articles reprinted from Minnesota John G. Nicolay and John Hay, edited by Paul History are not listed. Material likely to be M. Angle (Chicago, 1966. xix, 394 p. Cloth, listed in Paperbacks in Print is excluded. About $8.50; paper, $3.45); The History of the Con­ a seventh of the entries deal with United States quest of Mexico by William H. Prescott, edited history, broadly interpreted. The arrangement by C. Harvey Gardiner (Chicago, 1966. xxvi, is by author or by title in the case of periodicals. 413 p. Cloth, $8.50; paper, $3.45); and His­ The edition and date of publication of the origi­ tory of the United States from the Compromise nal book are frequently omitted. of 1850 by James Ford Rhodes, edited by Michael Brook Allan Nevins (Chicago, 1966. xxvi, 576 p. Cloth, $10.00; paper, $3.95). The works of IN A SERIES of articles appearing in the Re­ Francis Parkman, Henry Adams, Moses Coit porter and Farmer of Webster, South Dakota, Tyler, and John B. McMaster are planned on October 19, November 2, and December 7, for future publication. 1966, and in the Watertown (South Dakota) Public Opinion of September 15, November 3, "GREY NUNS Voyage to Red River" is the tide and December 14 and 23, Herman P. Chilson of a historically based story by Robert George tells of efforts to locate the sites of camps estab­ Barclay, published in the Winter, 1966, issue lished by Indian scouts who patroUed the Min­ of The Beaver. The article describes how four nesota-South Dakota border region in the years nrms of the Sisters of Charity, at the urging of following the Sioux Uprising. Under the direc­ Bishop Joseph N. Provencher, traveled in 1844 tion of Joseph R. Brown, serving as "special from Montreal through the Great Lakes, Rainy military agent at Fort Wadsworth" in 1865, Lake, Lake of the Woods, the Winnipeg River, these scouts, according to Mr. Chilson, occupied and finally "the muddy Red River" to Lower a line running from Lake Benton in Lincoln Fort Garry and, ultimately, to St. Boniface. The Comity to the Big Sioux River, up that to Lake journey of nearly two months duration was Kampeska near present-day Watertown, north undertaken by the sisters so that they might to Enemy Swim Lake in Day County, South continue the school teaching at that settlement Dakota, and thence to Lake Traverse. Among which had been begun in 1829 by Angefique those who served in the area the author lists Nolin, daughter of a North West Company Pierre Bottineau, Gabriel and Victor Renvfile, trader. Solomon Two Stars, and Samuel J. Brown. In the Reporter and Farmer of November 2 he de­ AN ODD collection of balloon lore, pasted to­ scribes conflicting manuscript references to the gether in a sort of crazy-quilt scrapbook, has camp near Enemy Swim Lake and recounts a been pubfished by the Beacon Press under the

Summer 1967 313 title With Brass and Gas: An Illustrated and tells of The Great Lakes and the Great Rivers: Embellished Chronicle of Ballooning in Mid- Jonathan Carver's Dream of Empire (Lansing, Nineteenth Century America (Boston, 1967. Michigan, 1965. 18 p.). The annotated booklet 238 p. $6.00.). The man with the scissors and draws largely from the unpublished manuscript paste is Munson Baldwin, and the drawings — journals that Carver kept before writing his which add much to the book's attractiveness Travels through the interior parts of North — are by Owen Wood. Other embellishments America. After describing briefly the area trav­ include a variety of type faces, column widths, ersed by the explorer in 1766-67 during an un­ ornamental borders, and page arrangements, successful attempt to find a northwest passage, planned "to impart the flavor of the period." Mr. Parker examines Carver's map that defined The volume is strictly for those who relish the eleven proposed provinces of "a great inland quaint and curious without continuity or factual empire," and his plan for using the waterways reference; the history-minded reader will feel between the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, like the unnamed balloon passenger who found and the Mississippi River for commerce. that "there are no intermediate points by which the eye can be gradually conducted downwards; A LONG-FELT NEED has been answered by so that the impression of height upon the senses the publication of Dissertations in History: An —which causes dizziness—is indefinite, vague." Index to Dissertations Completed in History A list of sources is given, including books, maga­ Departments of United States and Canadian zines, and newspapers, but none of the extracts Universities, 1873-1960, compiled by Warren used is identified. All appear to be from the F. Kuehl (1965. 249 p.). In the introduction, 1850s. The arrangement and cutting make them Mr. Kuehl points out that he has included only seem like a babble of voices interrupting and doctoral theses for which degrees have been shouting each other down, yet one draws from conferred by a formally organized history de­ the clamor a feeling of the popular excitement partment; that closely related fields such as stirred by balloons and the strange blend of American studies and American civilization are science and showmanship that inspired the nine­ not considered; and that no indication of publi­ teenth-century aeronaut. Midwestern balloonists cation is provided — primarily because length are well represented, among them John H. became prohibitive and because of "the seem­ Steiner, whose visit to Minnesota in 1863 was ingly impossible task of determining what con­ the second attempt at aerostation in the North stitutes publication." The "Numerical Survey" Star State. Steiner's race with the French aero­ cites the University of Minnesota as having naut, Eugene Godard, in October, 1858, from granted 144 doctoral degrees in history, begin­ Cincinnati, is covered in a few breathless quo­ ning with two in 1888. The subject index has 33 tations without mention of place or date. entries under the Minnesota heading. Rhoda R. Gilman

THE LETTERS and journal of Henry A. Boiler: THE MINNESOTA SCENE Missouri River Fur Trader, edited by Ray H. Mattison, have been reprinted from the 1966 THE FIRST adequate published record of the Spring and Summer issues of North Dakota His­ many historic markers to be found along Min­ tory (Bismarck, 1966. 171 p.). Dated between nesota's highways was produced this winter by 1857 and 1860, the letters comprise the first the Minnesota Historical Society. The booklet, two-thirds of the book and were written chiefly entitled History Along the Highways: An Offi­ on board the steamer "Twilight" or from Fort cial Guide to Minnesota State Markers and Atkinson. The journal covers the months of Sep­ Monuments (1967. 66 p. Illustrations, maps tember through December, 1857, and was kept $2.00), was compiled by June Drenning Holm­ while Boiler was stationed at Like-a-Fishhook- quist, Sue E. Holbert, and Dorothy Drescher Village near Fort Atkinson. Boiler was for a time Perry, all members of the society's publications a partner of Charles Larpenteur and visited St. staff. It is the third booklet to appear in the Paul in 1860; he was also, as Mr. Mattison Minnesota Historic Sites Pamphlet Series fi­ points out, "articulate and highly literate," and nanced by appropriations from the Natural his writing describes "in great detail his life as Resources Fund. a fur trader among the Indians." Illustrations, In it are included the legends of 166 markers principally by Karl Bodmer and Philippe Regis and monuments, divided into three groups (his­ de Trobriand, accompany the text. torical markers, state monuments, and geologi­ cal markers) and numbered for easy location on JOHN PARKER, in a 1964 Burton lecture pub­ the booklet's six full-page maps. The oldest lished by the Historical Society of Michigan, group represented is the state monuments —

314 MINNESOTA History each created by statute between the years 1873 seau counties; and Out of the Dark Ages: A His­ and 1929. Many of these are located in ceme­ tory of the Agralite Cooperative by Harold teries and all are more commemorative than in­ Severson (n.p., 1965. 32 p.), that recounts the formative. By the 1930s the automobile had same general information about the Benson- become a leading means of recreation, and in based organization which suppfies electricity to this decade the first 112 highway markers were nearly 4,400 members in Swfft, Stevens, Big erected by the state department of highways in Stone, and Pope counties. co-operation with the historical society. These An attractive thirty-five-page pamphlet en­ were aimed at a traveling public more interested titled A Century of Service: The Centennial in facts than veneration. Story of the St. Paid District, Army Corps of In an informative introduction, Mrs. Holm­ Engineers (1966) by Franklin J. Ryder traces quist reviews the rather hapless history of the the development of that group's work from the program since 1940 — a record of divided re­ preservation of the Falls of St. Anthony through sponsibility and inadequate funding that ended dam building, flood control, and harbor im­ with the passage of the Minnesota Historic Sites provement. Acts of 1965, which gave full responsibility for authorizing and erecting markers to the histori­ A HANDSOME and substantial-looking volume cal society and provided funds for development by Richard S. Prosser has appeared under the of the program. A measure of the confusion that title Bails to the North Star (Minneapolis, had been generated over the years was the fact 1966. 283 p.). While the fufl story of the that no single agency possessed an up-to-date vital part played by railroads in the develop­ list of historical markers in existence, not to ment of Minnesota has never been told, this mention an accurate record of the legends ap­ book will do fittle to fill the gap. The first pearing on them. The task of preparing the 115 pages are devoted to an annotated history present booklet was therefore a formidable one, of the state's railroads from territorial times and despite "difigent efforts," the compilers ad­ to 1962. As the author acknowledges in his mit that "it is very possible that some significant introduction, it was hastily done and is far markers may have been missed." A practical from complete. The main sources used were acknowledgement of this appears at the end of the records of the Minnesota Railroad and the book, where blank forms are provided for Warehouse Commission, a number of reminis­ the use of the reader who may stumble upon cent articles from the Minnesota Historical an unrecorded legend at some bend of the high­ Collections, and fifteen or twenty books of way. varying refiability. No manuscript sources were used, nor was there any systematic examina­ ADDITIONS to the ever-growing list of busi­ tion of scholarly work already done on this large ness histories include four of special interest to and complex subject. Although it is claimed Minnesotans: Sunlight on Your Doorstep: The that the book deals "with all facets of railroad Minneapolis Tribune's First Hundred Years, development," it is mainly an account of rail­ 1867-1967 by Bradley L. Morison (Minne­ road construction in the state. The financial apolis, Ross and Haines, Inc., 1966. 149 p. history and economic impact of the railroads Cloth, $3.95; paper, $1.75); Cargill Beginnings is scarcely touched upon; the author attempts . . . an Account of Early Years by John L. to deal with regulation, but he would have Work (Miimeapofis, 1965. 154 p.); In Quest of Quality: HormeVs First 75 Years by Richard done better to avoid the subject. His claim of Dougherty (Austin, 1966. 357 p. Illustrations. factual accuracy must also be denied. For ex­ $3.95); and The Unique Voice of Service: The ample: the "virgin voyage" of the "Virginia" Story of the Kahler Corporation by Clark J. in 1823 was not made on the Minnesota River; Pahlas (Rochester, 1964. 166 p.). the Hudson's Bay Company "of Canada" did Among the co-operatives in the state which not use "water entirely for shipments from St. have noted anniversaries by pubfishing com­ Paul"; work on the line from Winona to St. memorative booklets are: the Twin City Milk Peter in 1864-70 could hardly have been Producers Association with 50 Years: An Anni­ slowed by "hard times and harrassments from versary History (n.p., 1966) of the organization the Indians," for this was a period of prosperity, which covers dairy producers in twenty-two and virtuaUy all Indians had been removed from counties in Minnesota and ten in Wisconsin; southeastern Minnesota in 1863; finally. Jay Roseau Electric Cooperative, Incorporated: Cooke failed in 1873 not 1893. 25th Anniversary 1940-1965 (Roseau, n.d.), The miscellaneous information presented in the story of that group's furnishing of power to the second half of the book is probably its 2,500 members in Beltrami, Marshall, and Ro­ most substantial contribution. Fifty-six pages

Summer 1967 315 are devoted to an alphabetical "Summary of search leading to editing of the 1817 and 1823 Railroad Companies Which Built in Minnesota," journals of Major Stephen H. Long. As a mem­ based on the records of the Railroad and Ware­ ber of the United States Corps of Topographi­ house Commission and giving incorporation cal Engineers, Long traveled up the Mississippi date, stated purpose, buflding record, acqui­ from St. Louis in 1817 to pinpoint the future sitions and mergers, and present ownership of site of Fort Snelling. On his second journey in all lines. There is a similar summary of corpor­ 1823, also made under army auspices, he sur­ ations which buflt street and electric railways veyed the Minnesota and Red rivers and in the state, as well as alphabetical fistings of crossed the present Minnesota-Ontario lake those companies of both kinds which were in­ region and Lake Superior. His journals of both corporated but did not build. The researcher expeditions are owned by the society, which wifl no doubt find these to be useful check published the first in unedited form in 1860 fists, especially in regard to dates of building and reprinted it in 1890. The journal of the and the extension of lines to specific places. 1823 trip has never been published. Miss Kane An interesting map section shows the growth is the society's curator of manuscripts; Mrs. of the state's railway network by decades from Holmquist is its associate editor. 1870 to 1960; the growth of individual com­ panies now operating in the state; taconite IN CO-OPERATION with the Fort Snelfing mining railroads; logging raflroads; and transit State Park Association, the Minnesota Histori­ and interurban lines. This is followed by mis­ cal Society has prepared a booklet entitled Old cellaneous documents, a short picture section, Mendota: A Proposal for Addition of Land to and a fist of state statutes "Governing Regula­ Fort Snelling State Historical Park (St. Paid, tion of Railroads." The bibfiography is so in­ 1966. 22 p. Map, illustrations). The report, complete that it is virtually useless. The serious which suggests a seventy-five-acre addition to historian will find that the book must be used the Fort Snelling park, was presented to the vdth great care; the ordinary reader will find State Department of Conservation and to the it attractive but confusing and poorly vwitten. Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Resources Com­ Rhoda R. Gflman mission; if it is approved by these groups, "ap­ propriate legislation will be introduced into the THE OLMSTED County Historical Society's 1967 session" of the state legislature. In addi­ acquisition of Mayowood, the home of Drs. tion to a brief history of Mendota and a look at Charles H. and Charles W. Mayo in Rochester, the future of the area, the pubfication includes is noted in the Summer, 1966, issue of the two appendixes and a bibliography. Quarterly of the Midwest Museums Conference of the American Association of Museums. RUSSELL W. FRIDLEY is the author of His­ toric Sites of North Dakota: A report on Their NEWS OF THE SOCIETY Preservation, Development and Interpretation (n.p., 1967. 30 p.). The pamphlet was prepared THE Solon J. Buck Award for 1966 has been for the North Dakota Historical Society in co­ presented to James L. Clayton for his article on operation with the North Dakota State Outdoor "The Growth and Economic Significance of the Recreational Agency and deals with 'liistoric American Fur Trade, 1790-1890" which ap­ sites . . . that visibly portray the heritage and peared in the Winter, 1966, issue of Minnesota which uniquely belong to the Ffickertafl State." History. Mr. Clayton, who has been visiting Mr. Fridley examines the sixty existing sites professor of history at Dartmouth College dur­ preserved in the state — fifty-one of which are ing the past year, will resume his academic administered by the historical society — in the duties at the University of Utah this fall. His light of their significance, their geographical winning article was chosen by a committee distribution, their maintenance, and their inter­ consisting of Kenneth Carley, author of The pretation. The booklet concludes with specific Sioux Uprising of 1862, Clarke A. Chambers, recommendations for a state-wide historic sites professor of history at the University of Minne­ program. A helpful map augments the text. sota, and Rhoda R. Oilman, editor of the maga­ zine, who announced the award at the so­ IN the Fall issue of Minnesota History incom­ ciety's annual meeting in St. Paul on May 11. plete information was given by the editors as to the availabflity of Heather Gilbert's book, THE MINNESOTA Historical Society's annual Awakening Continent: The Life of Lord Mount McKnight Foundation research grant for 1967 Stephen. The book is readily obtainable from has been awarded to Lucile M. Kane and June the Aberdeen University Press, Aberdeen, Scot­ D. Holmquist, who will use the funds for re­ land. The price is $6.00.

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