Was organized in 1880. The first supervisors were Edward Peterson, Alexis Kain and Joseph Heiniger. It is a good farming township with many good farms. The first settlement was made by Elam Greely, in 1849, who made a farm and built a large barn, hauling the lumber from Marine Mills, a distance of seventy miles. The town was named in honor of Royal C. Gray, who located on the Greely farm in 1854, in the northwest quarter of section 15, township 38, range 22, on the banks of the Kanabec river.
WINDERMERE
Was organized as a town Jan. 3, 1882. The first supervisors were August Schog, William Champlain and Frank Bloomquist.
The towns of Kettle River, Hinckley and Pine City were organized, and Chengwatana reorganized by special act of the legislature in 1874, and at that time embraced all the territory in the county. Since 1874, Mission Creek, Rock Creek and Royalton have been set off from Pine City and Windermere from Kettle River.
The following villages were platted at the dates named: Neshodana, by Clark, Cowell & Foster, in townships 41 and 42, ranges 15 and 16, in 1856; Fortuna, by W. A. Porter, surveyor, at the crossing of Kettle river and the military road, January, 1857; St. John's, by M. L. Benson, surveyor, in section 26, township 41, range 17, October, 1857; Midway, by Frank B. and Julia L. Lewis, proprietors, in the northwest quarter of section 34, township 40, range 21, September, 1855.
A ROCK CREEK MURDER.
A man passing under the name of Harris had been arrested for stealing horses. George Hathaway started with the prisoner to Sunrise. Five days afterward Hathaway's dead body was found, and the inquest decided that he probably met his death by stabbing or shooting at the hands of his prisoner, who made his escape, and was never again heard from. Hathaway was a native of Passadumkeag, Maine.
THE BURNING OF A JAIL.
March 22, 1884, a couple of young men, John Cope and William Leonard, were arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and confined in the Pine City jail, a wooden structure. About three o'clock the next morning the jail was found to be on fire. All efforts to extinguish the flames or rescue the unhappy prisoners were unavailing. The fire originated from within, in all probability from the careless action of the prisoners themselves in striking matches, either for the purpose of smoking or of exploring their cells.