It was Mr. Winston's domicile that was first reached, and it happened, as the driver stopped in front of his house, that his fiancée, Miss Kittie Stevens (the first white child born in Minneapolis), chanced to be passing by. Of course their meeting was unexpected to either, but was a pleasant and joyous one, though somewhat embarrassing to Mr. Winston. The wind was blowing, and I noticed that he took the precaution to keep his own person out of the windward. He had been a soldier in the Confederate Army, and I smiled with much satisfaction as I observed his splendid maneuver.
On meeting me next day, Mr. Winston inquired whether his tactics had been observed, and, being assured that they had, he said that that was the embarrassing moment for him, for he did not know but that the young lady might have considered that she had just grounds for breaking the engagement. Both of us, however, knew better, for she was a young lady possessed of a large degree of common sense and loveliness. The young people later were married, Mr. Winston becoming mayor of Minneapolis, remaining always, one of its best citizens. Often, afterwards, incidents of that winter's experience, a few of which have been herein recorded, were gone over together with great pleasure by the parties interested.
CHAPTER XVII.
Methods of Acquiring Government Land—An Abandoned Squaw.
For many years it was the practice of the United States government, after its lands had been surveyed, to advertise them for sale at public auction on a date fixed by the government. Time sufficient was always given to allow parties interested to go themselves, or send men into the woods, to examine the lands, and thus to be prepared on the day of sale, to bid as high a price on any description as each was willing to pay. After the time advertised for the lands to be thus offered, had expired, and after the land sale had been held, all lands not bought in at that sale became subject to private entry at the local land office. It was this class of lands that I bought in Wisconsin.
After the Civil War, by act of Congress, each Union soldier was given the right to homestead one hundred and sixty acres of land, the government price of which was one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. It sometimes happened that the soldier found only forty acres, or possibly eighty acres, or one hundred and twenty acres, lying contiguous, that he cared to take as a homestead. Later, Congress passed another law enabling the soldier, who had thus previously entered fewer than one hundred and sixty acres, to take an additional homestead claim of enough acres, which, when added to his previous homestead, would make a total of one hundred and sixty acres. The soldier was not obliged to live on this additional piece of land, but had the right to sell his certificate or scrip from the government, to anyone who might choose to buy it, and the purchaser, by power of attorney from the soldier, could with this scrip, himself enter the land. This became a common practice, covering a period of several years, and it was with the use of this kind of scrip that very much of the land that was surveyed about the time I have been describing, was entered.