RCHS Fall1967 Burnley.Pdf
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LAKE MILLE LAC ORIGINAI RAMSEY COUNTY k (1849) PRESENT ■■ RAMSEY COUNTY ST. PAUL Ramsey County History Published by the RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Editor: Virginia Brainard Kunz Editorial Assistant: Nancy L. Woolworth CONTENTS ... Marshall Sherman and the Civil War Anne Cowie Page 3 Fall Case of the Vanishing Historic Site Charles T. Burnley Page 8 1967 Charles Borup—Fur Trader, Banker, Pioneer Volume 4 Nancy L. Woolworth Page 13 Number 2 Ramsey County History Receives Award Page 17 Forgotten Pioneers... IV Page 18 Memories of the University Lillie Gibbs LeVesconte Page 21 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY is published ON THE COVER: semi-annually and copyrighted, 1967, by the Ram Red River ox carts lined up on Third Street (now sey County Historical Society, 2097 Larpenteur Kellogg Boulevard) in front of Cheritree and Avenue West, St. Paul, Minn. Membership in the Farwell’s Hardware store in 1859. Charles William Society carries with it a subscription to Ramsey Wulff Borup, as agent for the American Fur Com County History. Single issues sell for $1.00. Cor pany, arranged for carts to haul furs for traders. respondence concerning contributions should be addressed to the editor. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements made by contributors. Manuscripts and other editorial material are wel ACKNOWLEDEMENTS: Unless otherwise indi comed but, since the Society is an eleemosynary cated, pictures in this issue are from the Picture institution, no payment can be made for contribu Department of the Minnesota Historical Society. tions. All articles and other editorial material sub The editor is indebted to Eugene Becker, picture mitted will be carefully read and published, if curator, and his assistant, Dorothy Gimmestad, for accepted, as space permits. their help. 2 Case of the Vanishing Historic Site EDITOR'S NOTE: This year marks the bicentennial of the discovery of Carver’s Cave, an historic landmark of the Ramsey Or What County area. The cave was discovered in 1767 by the British explorer, Jonathan Car ver, and subsequently mentioned by most of the early explorers and settlers of the Happened area. In the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, the mouth of the cave disap peared. to The following story was written in 1913 and is published as a contemporary ac count of a group of men engaged in an early attempt at restoration of an historic Carver’s Cave? site. Documentation, and footnotes have been added as explanatory material and to trace what became of their efforts. BY CHARLES T. BURNLEY ARVER’S CAVE, the “Wakan-tebee” least 200 feet into the cliff. It has been of the Indians,1 lost for almost three reported by early explorers to extend as decades, has been rediscovered. Its smoke- much as two miles beneath the great bluff. blackened walls saw the light of day for The outer cavern is all that white men the first time in twenty-eight years, No really have known as Carver’s Cave. It vember 5, 1913. It will be made a part of is 100 feet long and 40 feet wide at the the city system of parks and exploited as present time [1913]. It has a height of a relic of primeval days. 12 feet. Two-thirds of the cave is covered The cavern opens at the base of the with a subterranean lake. This has been southwest exposure of the great sandstone draining at the rate of a million gallons a cliffs at Dayton’s Rluff, St. Paul. Above day for over a month and still covers the and a little to the south of the point of the larger part of the cave floor. The inner high bluff looking down the Mississippi cavern is entirely filled with a subterranean River are the Indian mounds. Indian tra lake. It is 150 by 75 feet, as nearly as can dition connects the mounds and cave. The be judged. The water is crystaline and mounds are the home of the departed, the doubtless comes from springs. cave, “Wakan-tebee,” the home of the Chief Medicine Owl2 and a party of “Great Spirit.” Blackfeet Indians from the Glacier Na TWO CHAMBERS of the cave have tional Park region who were passing been found. The cavern has a depth of at through St. Paul have explored the cavern. They sailed about the underground lake ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Charles T. Burnley was in a skiff searching for “medicine” writing a young reporter for the St. Paul Dispatch when placed on the walls by the ancestors3 of he wrote this story about Carver’s Cave in 1913. the Indians who once lived in the area. A graduate of Macalester College, St. Paul, he was a student correspondent for the Dispatch during These mostly have been destroyed by the his college years, then joined the staff in 1911. vandalism of white men. From 1919 to 1941, he was city editor of the South St. Paul Daily Reporter. In 1942, he re In the far corner of the cavern, water turned to the St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer Press as was found bubbling from beneath the a reporter, copy editor and makeup editor. He wall. An opening was cut and a second retired in 1963. He has been a long-time member of the Ramsey County Historical Society. cavern was found, larger than the first. 8 This was completely filled with water. The inferior of Carver's Cave looked like this LONG IRON PIPES have been forced on May I, 1867 when the Minnesota Historical beneath the north wall of the main cave. Society celebrated the centennial of Carver's The explorers think another chamber lies council with the Indians by exploring the cave with boats and candles. Except for this sketch, in that direction.4 from the Minnesota Historical Society, pic The property at the mouth of the cave tures and map used with this story were given belongs to the Chicago, Burlington and to the Ramsey County Historical Society by Quincy Railroad. It was purchased by that the author. company from the Milwaukee Road. The need of the railroads to increase their track mouth of the cave. Carver’s Cave will be age obliterated the mouth of the great cave made a part of the city park system. A almost thirty years ago. block from the crest of the bluff is the The sandstone cliffs were cut back 75 proposed Stickney Boulevard. The Short feet and the original mouth of Carver’s Street Park and Carver’s will connect with Cave was destroyed. Then a land slide this.8 The Dayton’s Bluff Commercial Club covered what was left and Carver’s Cave has appointed John H. Colwell, W. E. became only a memory.6 Witherspoon, and Frank J. Waterous to superintendent the conversion of this bit A year ago, John H. Colwell, at that of scenery into a city park. time president of the Mounds Park Im provement Association, agitated for the CARVER’S CAVE has been known to re-opening of the cave. He was instru Indians for thousands of years. It perhaps mental in getting the Dayton’s Bluff Com has a history dating back to the last ice mercial Club to join him.6 epoch, when the last glacier pushing south ward broke over the edge of the bluff into IN THE FALL of 1913, John W. Arm the deep valley of the Mississippi River. strong, Ramsey County surveyor, ran his The glacier broke into jagged fragments lines out following old survey notes, found the thick overlying Trenton Limestone his old pins and placed a blaze on the face strata that now outcrops above the St. Peter of the cliff. He said, “Dig here.” Sandstone base in which the cave is found. It was not until the middle of November On November 5, 1913, workmen cleared that the debris was removed. A gang of the mouth of the cave, a mere slit at the men, three teams of horses and 50 pounds base of the rock. By lying flat, they could of dynamite—were used to open the fam see the top of the arched roof. Within, ous old cave. Plans are being made to lighted by the rays of the setting sun which exploit it as a beauty spot and a lure to shown directly into the narrow opening, tourists. A large electric sign is to be was what appeared to be a vast under placed high on the face of the cliff above ground lake of pure ice-cold water. Dark the cave. It will be in plain view from the ness veiled the farther walls. new Union Depot, from steamers on the Dynasties of Sioux and their ancestors Mississippi River and from a great part knew of the cave and doubtless held their of the business section of St. Paul.7 counsels there. The place was held in great The intersection of Short and Cherry awe by the Indians. Streets is directly above the mouth of the Captain Jonathan Carver, pushing his cave. Short Street will be condemned, con way up the Mississippi River in a canoe, verted into a park, and cement steps will reached the cave on May 1, 1767. He is be built down the face of the cliff to the the first white man known to have visited the cavern. Teams of horses were used in 1913 to scoop Captain Carver, in his notes, tells of rock and debris from mouth of cave, in back finding this cave: “About 30 miles below ground. the Falls of St. Anthony, in the sandstone cliffs overlooking the Mississippi River bounded as follows: From the Falls of St.