Pomme de Terre A Frontier Outpost in Grant County

WILLIAM M. GOETZINGER

ON A LOW, oak-studded hill overlooking a Minnesota had become regular long before small lake between the present towns of El­ the stage line was introduced. As early as bow Lake and Ashby, there stood from 1859 1823 trains of ox-drawn carts made their to 1863 an isolated building knowm as the way from Pembina to St. Paul, and after Pomme de Terre station. The unpretentious 1844, when the enterprising trader, Norman log structure, which was the first evidence W. Kittson, took charge of the American Fur of white settlement in what is now Grant Company's post just south of the interna­ County, was one of several lonely stage tional border, the traffic grew to major pro­ houses built by Burbank and Company portions. The long caravans of oxcarts, along the road from St. Cloud to Fort Aber­ carrying furs to market and returning wdth crombie. supplies and trade goods, gradually estab­ After the Sioux Outbreak of 1862 a de­ lished several definite and well-known trails. tachment of troops was stationed there, and One of these, linking the Mississippi at St. a crude blockhouse and stockade were Cloud with the headwaters of the Red River, erected. Thenceforth dignified by the name crossed the northeastern corner of present- Fort Pomme de Terre, the little cluster of day Grant County, passing Elbow and buildings served, during the troubled years Lightning lakes.- that followed, as one of a chain of outposts With the creation of a United States post which kept open the slender line of commu­ office at Pembina in 1857 and the building nication between St. Paul and the com­ of Fort Abercrombie on the Red River in munity of Pembina in the Red River Valley. 1858, this stretch of trail assumed greater With peace re-established, the fort became importance. Two other developments also once more a hotel and relay station on the stimulated interest in the route. In 1858 the stage route, and its presence gradually at­ Hudson's Bay Company began to send sup­ tracted a few scattered settlers, who in 1874 plies to Fort Garry by way of St. Paul rather platted nearby the viUage of Pomme de than via Hudson Bay, and partly as a result Terre, the first in Grant County.^ Travel through this section of central ^ Constant Larson, ed.. History of Douglas and Grant Counties, 1:499 (Indianapofis, 1916). MR. GOETZINGER is a lifelong resident of Elbow ° Grace Lee Nute, "The Red River Trails," in Minnesota History, 6:281 (September, 1925); John Lake and president of the Grant County His­ Perry Pritchett, "Some Red River Fur Trade Activi­ torical Society- ties," in Minnesota History, 5:409-414 (May, 1924).

June 1962 63 of this, definite plans were made for steam­ not follow the well-knowm path of the Red boat navigation on the Red River between River trail, for according to Blakely, the Forts Abercrombie and Garry. Thus in 1859 route "was an entirely new one and prob­ the time seemed ripe for the opening of a ably located in the interest of some new stage line.3 towm sites," among which were Sauk Cen­ In that year J. C. Burbank and Company tre, Osakis, and Alexandria.^ of St. Paul combined with the firm of Allen The Pomme de Terre station building was and Chase to form the Minnesota Stage an unpretentious two-story structure, with Company and immediately set about the walls of rough-hewn logs; the crevices were task of clearing a road and building stations filled with mortar against rain and cold. On and bridges along the route. Russell Blake­ the ground floor was a kitchen, a dining ley, who supervised the operation, later re­ room, and a trader's store, while overhead called that when the "collection of horses, were sleeping quarters designed to accom­ hack drivers, station keepers, and working modate as many as twenty people. Accounts party, moved out to build the road, bridges, left by early travelers indicate that these and stations over these one hundred and were often overcrowded, and in later years it sixty miles of road, the people of St. Cloud, was found necessary to expand the space by beginning to realize what it meant for them, erecting a lean-to.^ gave us their hearty cheers and Godspeed." Bishop Thomas L. Grace of St. Paul, who The work consumed three weeks, and the sampled the station's accommodations in first two stages left St. Cloud on June 21, 1861, grumbled that "our 'Hotel' . . . main­ 1859, loaded with passengers.* tained its primitive pretensions. In justice, Pomme de Terre was among the western­ however, [it] must be said the beds, being most of the stations, being the second of the newer, were more tolerant of sleep than customary overnight stopping places on the those we had the preceding night. For sup­ three-day journey from St. Cloud to Fort per, fish; for breakfast, fish; even the shadow Abercrombie. With what seems true appre­ of meat had disappeared." He also re­ ciation of a beautiful site, Blakeley's party corded that the road to the east of Pomme selected a knoll overlooking a small lake in de Terre was "the worst piece" between St. what is now the southwest quarter of sec­ Paul and the Red River, being "a succession tion eighteen in Pelican Lake Township. It of swamps, corduroy bridges, holes and was a little over a mile east of the body of stumps." '^ water known to present-day residents as Another impression of the stage station MiU Pond Lake. was recorded nine years later by an uniden- Approaching the spot from the east, the "Wfifiam W. Folwell, A History of Minnesota, road left the Chippewa relay station, not far 2:163, 164 (St. Paul, 1961); RusseU Blakeley, from present-day Evansville, and passed "Opening of the Red River of the North to Com­ along the south and west shores of Pelican merce and Civihzation," in Minnesota Historical Lake, keeping on high ground to avoid nu­ Collections, 8:46-50 (St. Paul, 1898). 'Blakeley, in Minnesota Historical Collections, merous sloughs. It then swoing west for 8:51. two miles, which brought it to the Pomme ''Blakeley, in Minnesota Historical Collections de Terre stopping place. Going on from the 8:50. "Detailed descriptions of the station building station to the west it crossed the Pomme de and the fort as they appeared after 1868 were given Terre River about a quarter of a mile below the author by Mrs. Wilhelmina Burns and Mrs. Mar­ Mill Pond Lake and curving northward tin T. Johnson, both of whom lived at the site for a number of years after it was purchased and passed along the southwest shore of Ten occupied by David Burns. They were interviewed Mile Lake. From there it struck northwest to on December 29, 1931. the crossing of the Otter Tail River, where '"Journal of a Trip to Red River August and September 1861," in Acta et Dicta, 1:169 (Tulv another relay station was situated. It did 1908). •• ^'

64 MINNESOTA History tified clergyman on his way to Fort Aber­ ness at the stations was brisk. Steamboat crombie. He and his fellow tiavelers had navigation on the Red River materialized just retired to the sleeping quarters when with the launching of the "Anson Northup" "rain and wind set in such as few of us had in the spring of 1859, and the discovery of ever seen. Sleepers sprang from their beds, gold on the Fraser River in what is now seized their clothins;, and ran into a safer British Columbia brought a tide of adven­ looking room to dress. Terror was in every turers and fortune seekers bound for the countenance. The landlord was interrogated, gold fields by way of the Red and Saskatche­ and assured us it would stop sometime — wan rivers. On May 15, 1862, the St. Cloud perhaps before day — though he had never Democrat reported that "every stage from seen anything of the kind before. Meanwhile St. Paul brings passengers for . . . [the the commotion was about equally wdld in­ Cariboo mines] while a great many go side and out. Chairs w^ere kicked over, one through on ox and mule teams. Burbank & bedstead was broken down, a man fell part Co. are running a daily line of four horse of the way downstairs, and the tempest was coaches from this place to Red River and trumping without." * they cannot take all who wish to go." Earlier that spring mail service to Pembina had been DESPITE the crudities and hardships of increased to twice weekly.^ travel, however, traffic over the stage line Until the summer of 1862 no serious trou­ was heavy for the first three years, and busi- ble was experienced from Indians, though minor alarms and annoyances did occur. On " St. Paul Daily Pioneer, May 29, 1870. March 29, 1860, the editor of the St. Cloud ° Blakeley, in Minnesota Historical Collections, 8:61. For a discussion of the effects of the Fraser Democrat remarked bitterly, "Now that the Ri\'er gold rush in Minnesota, see ^^'illoughby M. winter is over and the Indians have ceased Babcock, "Gateway to the Northwest: St. Paul and to mob and maltreat the frontier settlements, the Nobles Expedition of 1859," in Minnesota His­ tory, 35:249-262 (June, 1957). the administiation has, as we are informed.

A stagecoach on the northwestern frontier in the 1870s

June 1962 65 ordered three or four companies to Fort the battle of Wood Lake in the Minnesota Abercrombie. . . . But just so soon as Au­ Valley on September 23 and had subse­ tumn and the starving, thieving savages ap­ quently scattered across the plains to the proach the settlements, these same troops north and west. Though constant vigilance will be sent to New York or some other safe against isolated forays was necessary, no and agreeable winter retreat." A traveler large-scale attacks were to be feared. A train stopping at Pomme de Terre in 1861 met loaded with supplies for Fort Abercrombie a coach filled with passengers from the Red left St. Cloud on November 7, and taking ad­ River who "had heard rumors of Indian dis­ vantage of the armed escort, Burbank and turbances and were anxious to make all Company sent along a hundred teams.^^ haste in the direction of St. Paul." " The firm's contract to carry goods for the A year later the danger became more than Hudson's Bay Company made the Burbanks rumor. With the swiftness of a storm the anxious that traffic to Pembina be main­ Sioux Uprising swept all security from the tained with as little interruption as possible, Minnesota frontier. Though the major events and it was partly in response to their urging and depredations of the war occurred in that General Henry H. Sibley stationed "a the Minnesota Valley, marauding bands of larger force at the various posts on the route Sioux spread terror throughout the western from St. Cloud to, and including, Abercrom­ part of the state. The scattered settlers with­ bie, than can well be spared for that pur­ in reach of Fort Abercrombie flocked there pose." 1* for shelter, while those farther east fled to Through the winter and spring of 1863, St. Cloud and beyond. At Sauk Centre the this chain of posts gradually took shape, a citizens constructed a makeshift fort and process which is reflected in war department prepared to defend their homes. Individuals correspondence of the period. A dispatch who tarried or refused to flee often met sent from St. Paul to Fort Abercrombie on death. A mail coach which left Fort Aber­ January 19 states that "Captain [Wflham T.] crombie for St. Paul on August 22,1862, was Rockwood, Company 'K' 8th Minn. Vols, has plundered and its driver slain not far out of been ordered to take post at Alexandria, Breckenridge.^^ leaving a subaltern and 20 men at Chippewa The Sioux attacked Fort Abercrombie on Station. A guard will be stationed at Pomme September 3 and again on September 6, but de Terre if it is absolutely necessary." Ap­ without success. A relief force sent from St. parently the necessity was confirmed, for Cloud camped on the night of September 21 according to a letter dated three days later, at the Pomme de Terre station and pro­ "Means wfll be taken to station a small force ceeded the foUowing day to the station at at Pomme de Terre in a few days." On Janu­ the crossing of the Otter Tail River. There ary 26 a dispatch announced that "Captain they found the stage house and stables [Samuel] McLarty has been ordered from burned and all their contents destroyed. An­ Fort Ripley with his command and will take other day's march brought the troops to post at Pomme de Terre and Chippewa Sta- Fort Abercrombie where they were in time to help repel a third brief attack by the Sioux " Joseph J. Hargrave, Red River, 46 (Montreal, 1871). on September 26. Four days later a group "Annual Report of the Adjutant General, in of civilian refugees from the fort started for Minnesota, Executive Documents, 1862 p 479 484 St. Cloud accompanied by an armed escort; 485. ""Folwell, Minnesota, 2:165-168; Report of Ad­ they arrived safely on October 5.^^ jutant General, 1862, p. 500; Si. Cloud Democrat, October 9, 1862. THE STAGE ROAD was traveled frequent­ " Si. Cloud Democrat, November 6, 1862. ly after that, though only under military " See correspondence between Sibley and Gov­ ernor Alexander Ramsey in Minnesota in the Civil protection. The Sioux had been defeated at and Indian Wars, 2:294, 295 (St. Paul, 1892).

66 MINNESOTA History THE northwest corner of Fort Pomme de Terre, sketched from a model in the Grant Coimty Historical Society museum tion. This additional force wdll secure the the detachment at Chippewa station and supplies at Alexandria and Pomme de Terre concentrate his command at Pomme de and also serve to keep the route open along Terre. He was also told to "care for any the line of posts." i" mules left at your station by the trains" and Several weeks later Captain McLarty, to see that a damaged bridge between Chip­ along with the commanding officers at simi­ pewa and Pomme de Terre was "put in lar posts, received a copy of a circular letter proper repair." Thus Pomme de Terre be­ with instructions that he "proceed forthwith came the principal outpost between Alexan­ to construct a bullet proof stockade at least dria and Fort Abercrombie.^*' nine feet high which [will] serve not only for defense, but as a place of refuge to fami­ CAPTAIN McLARTY'S company was hes in the neighborhood in case of attack mainly composed of soldiers from Fillmore by Indians." Care should be taken, it con­ County, and among them was a recruit from tinued, that a supply of water was available Chatfield named H. Adams Hair. During the and that the stockade was not within range spring of 1863 he wrote a number of letters of timber or underbrush or commanded by to his wife, some of which have been pre­ rising ground. Upon the heels of these in­ served. They give an informal glimpse of a structions came a directive that he call in soldier's lonely life at the frontier fort." Hair apparently arrived there late in Feb­ " Rolfin C. Ofin, Assistant Adjutant General, St. ruary or early in March, for his first letter Paul, to Captain Timothy D. Smith, Fort Abercrom­ bie, January 22, 26, 1863 (photostatic copies), in from Pomme de Terre is dated March 6. "I letterbook of the Department of the Northwest, War think that we shall stay here for the present," Department Papers, Minnesota Historical Society. he told his wife. "We are fortifying this '" Olin to McLarty, February 13, 20, 1863, War Department Papers. place, very strong so that there is not much " These letters are owned by the Grant County danger from the Indians if they do attack Historical Society, Elbow Lake. In them he spelled us. . . . The mail does not come here only his name "Hair," though the regimental roster lists it as "Hare." once a week. I did not get that paper you

June 1962 67 On Aprfl 9 he addressed another letter to his "Dear Frankie," teUing her that "We got our stockade done, and now we are going to build a house for headquarters. That is a house for the officers so that they can be by themselves." Not aU the days were passed in work and drill, however, for "I went strawberrying one day this week, and picked six quarts. . . . Then I have been hunt­ ing some, and yesterday, I went fishing and got a nice lot of pickerel, as many as we could bring home." He closed with, "[I] don't think of anything more to write now only that I would like to be at home with you, but wishing don't make it any better. You must keep up good spirits and if nothing happens we wdll be together again some­ time, even if I have to stay my time out." Less than a month later Hair and another soldier went hunting for goose eggs near ADAMS Hair the shores of a small lake within half a mile sent me. I wish I had for we don't get many of the fort. There they were ambushed and papers here now. ... I like this place as shot by Indians. On the same day a cattle well as any (except it is with you), and I driver taking a herd of beef to Fort Aber­ long for the time to come when we can crombie and a soldier detailed from Pomme be together again." de Terre to accompany him were slain near A month later, on April 5, he reported, the crossing of the Otter Tail River.^^ "We have got most of our work done now These incidents created fresh alarm along and tomorrow we shall commense [sic] to the entire route and drew Captain McLarty drill again twice a day, so that we shall not a sharp reprimand from his superiors for be idle much. I think that we shall stay permitting his men to straggle from the post. here this summer to guard this place. It is Discipline must, however, have been hard quite a pleasant place now the snow is gone to maintain, considering the newness of the off though the lakes are covered with ice recruits, the monotonous duties, and the yet. . . . The geese are flying pretty plenty stream of travelers who constantly stopped today and soon we wiU have some to eat at the post. Another element making for a (that is if we can get them)." nonmihtary atmosphere was the presence The httle group of soldiers apparently of several wives. These eventually numbered maintained an active rehgious life, for Hair twelve, including Mrs. McLarty.^^ wrote that "This forenoon a few of us went They added considerable gaiety to life at out into the woods, and had a good meet­ the fort and boarded many of the soldiers, ing, the best that I have enjoyed for a long for which they received a stipend of twenty- time. ... [It] done me lots of good, and five cents a day and were allotted the rations I feel encouraged to go on. I am still " Si. Cloud Democrat, May 7, 1863. trying to live a Christian. . . . We are go­ '» Olin to McLarty, May 6, 12, 1863, War Depart­ ing to have meetings as often as we can ment Papers; Si. Cloud Democrat, March 17, 1864; when the weather wiU admit. We cannot interview with Mrs. Henry H. Arnold, February 16, 1932. Mrs. Arnold, whose husband was stationed have any only outdoors and if it is stormy at Fort Pomme de Terre, Hved with him there from we will have to dispense with them." the spring of 1863 to the spring of 1864.

68 MINNESOTA History of each solder for whom they cooked. One DESPITE the continuing danger from rov­ of them recalled many years later that ing bands of Sioux and the need for military though she did not know how she "bucked protection, traffic between St. Cloud and up" the courage to go to the fort, she "never the Red River continued at an increasing enjoyed a winter" more than the one she tempo through the summer of 1863. Supplies spent there.^^ were sent over the route, destined for Fort Building continued until the post in­ Abercrombie and for the expedition which cluded, besides the old station house, a Sibley was leading against the Sioux in Da­ blockhouse, a commissary, an arsenal, and kota Territory. With every train went an two rows of barracks, one for soldiers whose equal or greater number of Burbank and wives were with them and the other a Company's wagons, hauling goods for the "bachelors' barracks." All were enclosed by Hudson's Bay Company and others at Pem­ a stockade composed of twelve-foot logs bina. Trains as much as three or four miles placed upright with one end in the ground long were common. Red River half-breeds and the tops fastened securely together with with loaded oxcarts made their appearance wooden pegs. Large gates opened on the in May, and by September 24 the editor of east and south sides and there was a small the St. Cloud Democrat wondered "if there door on the west, but the north side was are any carts left at the Red River Settle­ pierced only by loopholes. The blockhouse ment? It seems as if all that were ever manu­ was located at the northeast corner.^^ factured — and more too — had visited our city within the last week." Hot, dry weather ^"Interview with Mrs. Arnold. throughout the summer kept the waters of •' Interviews with Mrs. Arnold, Mrs. Burns, and the Red River too low for navigation, but Mrs. Johnson. See also Larson, ed., Douglas and goods proceeded by oxcart and wagon never- Grant Counties, 1:374.

\ MARKER over graves , ^ of the two soldiers slain in 186S

. ^-^0.,^^ - ^

LOOKING eastward from the site of the stockade

'^H

/ camp a mile and a half beyond, near the crossing of the Pomme de Terre River.^* In the following month a battahon of vol­ unteer cavalry under Major Edwin A. C. Hatch was ordered to Pembina, and the con­ tract for transporting its supplies was awarded to Burbank and Company. The train consisted of some two hundred wagons belonging to the troops and — as was cus­ tomary— a large number carrying other freight for the company.^^ By the close of the year 1863 the St. Cloud Democrat was able to announce that "Indian theless. An ominous accompaniment of the matters are perfectly quiet throughout this drought were swarms of grasshoppers, re­ portion of the state. . . . The out-posts are, ported throughout the Red River Valley and however, all well garrisoned, and every pre­ seen in smaller numbers as far east as Pomme caution is taken to preserve the present fa­ de Terre.^^ vorable condition of affairs." In the spring The threat of hostile Sioux failed also to of 1864 the troops of the Eighth Minnesota hold back the tide of settlement. On July 9 were relieved of their duty at Pomme de the Democrat reported that "Scarcely a day Terre and Alexandria and were replaced by passes but families from some of the older a company from Hatch's battalion.^^ states are seen on our streets going to farms in this portion of the state. Indian troubles LIKE 1863, the two succeeding years saw do not seem to deter them, as they know that floods of traffic over the route between St. these must before long be settled." Journey­ Cloud and Pembina. Its volume was swelled ing to Fort Abercrombie in early September, as a result of a grasshopper plague which Joseph A. Wheelock, editor of the St. Paul left settlers in the Red River Valley depend­ Press, noted that when he had last been ent on imported supplies. Each year a bri­ over the route, four years earlier, "There was gade numbering around a thousand oxcarts a squatter's claim here and there, and at a arrived in St. Cloud toward the end of June distance of half a day's journey, or more, a or early in July, and many of these re­ newly built log house to mark the stations turned a second time in September. Their on Burbank's just opened stage route here usual lading was furs and hides, of which away. Now it is one almost unbroken chain buffalo robes constituted a large share in of cultivated farms from St. Cloud to miles the 1860s. In addition there were the beyond Sauk Centre." ^^ wagons of the transport companies, en­ Pomme de Terre was still outside the line gaged in hauling military supplies to the of settlement, but its days as a wilderness Dakota army posts and in carrying goods outpost were numbered. Wheelock was ac­ for the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1864 companying Governor Alexander Ramsey on his way to the Red Lake River, where he was '-'St. Cloud Democrat, May 21, 28, June 11 July 2, 1863. to make a treaty wdth the Chippewa for the '-^ St. Paul Daily Press, September 12, 1863. purchase of the Red River Valley. When '* Ramsey Diary, September 10, 1863, Ramsey Ramsey passed Fort Pomme de Terre, he Papers, owned by the Minnesota Historical Society. '= FolweU, Minnesota, 2:290-292; St. Cloud noted in his diary that it was "a wrretched Democrat, October 1, 15, 1863. looking place," and though he partook of "a '•" St. Cloud Democrat, December 24 1863; May generous dinner" at the invitation of Cap­ 26, 1864; Olin to Major Edwin A. C. Hatch, at Fort Abercrombie, May 5, 1864, War Department tain McLarty, he and his party preferred to Papers.

70 MINNESOTA History the Democrat estimated that the latter's into stables and the stockade went un- freight, shipped from St. Paul to Fort Garry, mended.^^ amounted to "about 500 tons annually." ^'^ That summer the Red River brigade num­ In 1866, with the Civil War a thing of the bered almost twelve hundred carts, but the past and the Sioux driven far onto the Da­ end of this picturesque mode of transporta­ kota plains, there was a mighty movement tion was near, for on September 1, 1866, the of settlers westward. As early as May 3, the railroad was opened to St. Cloud, and in Democrat reported, "Immigrants are coming a few years it was to reach the Red River, with a perfect rush. The town is full to over­ passing to the north of Pomme de Terre.•^'' flowing with strangers. The stage company In 1868 Henry C. Burbank sold 315 acres, are compelled to send through extra coaches including the hotel and the abandoned fort to carry their passengers." By June 14 it was buildings, to David Burns, who announced clear that "the immigration to this portion on December 9 "to his friends, and the travel­ of the state has not been exceeded any pre­ ing public," that he had "the Pomme de vious season," and the paper went on to Terre Hotel opened and in good running note "A great number of Norwegians and order, and that no pains will be spared on Swedes are settling in the Chippewa Lake his part to make his guests comfortable and country and along the Pomme de Terre." happy, and their stay pleasant and agree­ At the same time traffic along the route to able." ^i Fort Abercrombie was swelled by immi­ For several years he continued to offer grants bound even farther west. A train of accommodations, sometimes to as many as 325 persons in 160 wagons gathered at the seventy-five people in a single night, when fort in June and under the leadership of Cap­ a large wagon train passed through. A store tain James L. Fisk headed overland for the operated within the stockade kept caps, gold fields of western Montana.^"^ guns, powder, and trapping equipment, Between April 22 and June 22 the troops most of which were traded to Indians and of Hatch's battalion were mustered out of half-breeds in exchange for cranberries, service, and Pomme de Terre became once maple sugar, game, and pelts.-''- again merely a hotel and relay station on In the early 1870s a small village grew up, the stage route. The barracks were turned centered around a gristmill on the Pomme de Terre River, a little more than a mile to '" Si. Clcmd Democrat, April 14, June 23, Sep­ the west of the old fort. The store was moved tember 1, 1864; June 29, September 21, 1865. first, taking up quarters in a pretentious '^"W. Turrentine Jackson, Wagon Roads West, frame building, and before long the settle­ 276 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1952). ^Adjutant General of Minnesota, Reports, 1866, ment, cafling itseff Pomme de Terre, also p. 1. boasted a hotel, a saloon, and several other '"St. Cloud Democrat, June 21, July 5, Septem­ businesses. Gradually the old stage station ber 6, 1866. " Interview with Mrs. Burns; Alexandria Post, fell into disuse, the buildings decayed or December 9, 1868. were moved, and the stockade was report­ °" Interviews with Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Johnson; edly used up for firewood.''•' Illustrated Souvenir of Grant County, 6 (Elbow Lake, 1896). Today nothing of the fort remains, al­ '•'Larson, ed., Douglas and Grant Counties, 374, though there is a marker over the graves of 379, 499. the two soldiers killed there in 1863. In a THE PORTRAIT on page 68 is owned by the few places the route of the stage road can Grant County Historical Society. The photographs be identified by impressions still remaining on page 69 are by Eugene Becker, and the sketch of the fort on page 67 was made by Chester Kozlak. in the ground, but otherwise the site appears The coach on the title page is from an advertise­ as farming country whose peaceful and pro­ ment in the St. Paul City Directory of 1858-59, and ductive appearance does not in any way all other illustrations are from the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society. suggest the colorful story of its past

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