CHAPTER XV.
WASHINGTON COUNTY—CONTINUED.
CITY OF STILLWATER.
The organization of the territory of Minnesota in 1849 naturally gave a new impetus to settlement, and marked an era in the progress of the settlements already made. None profited more by the new order of things than did Stillwater. The future metropolis of the St. Croix valley, though yet unorganized even as a village, and governed by town and county law, in 1850 presented a scene of unwonted activity. Out of nearly a hundred arrivals we find the names of John C, Gardiner, Samuel M. Register, H. C. Van Voorhees, John N. Ahl, Ralph Wheeler, Dr. E. G. Pugsley, Dr. Morey, dentist, and Theodore E. Parker, a lawyer. This year was rendered notable by the establishment of a livery stable, by Holcomb & Johnson, a new store by Burkelo & Mower, a bakery by R. Hersey, by the building of the second saw mill by Sawyer & Heaton, by the commencement of Remmick's brewery, by the advent of Antonio Brothers' circus, and the occurrence of a remarkable freshet, on which occasion the steamer Lamartine, taking advantage of the high water, made a pleasure excursion up the river, and over the shallows at the mouth of Apple river and a short distance up that stream. Morton Wilkinson and Michael Ames were amongst the excursionists, and, looking out from the steamboat upon the broad, deep expanse of the swollen river, congratulated their fellow passengers upon the discovery of a hitherto unknown navigable stream, tributary to the majestic St. Croix. The Swiss Bell Ringers were on board, and added greatly to the pleasure of the occasion by their weird and peculiar music. The Lamartine, on returning to Stillwater, found the shores and levees submerged, and passing over them landed her passengers directly from the boat upon the floor of the Minnesota House, on the southwest corner of Chestnut and Main. The water was four or five feet deep in the street before the hotel. The streets in the lower part of the city have since been raised several feet, so that a flood of the same dimensions would not overflow them as it did then. There has, however, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, been no other flood equal to that of 1850.
Allusion has been made in the history of Stillwater town to the diversion of the waters of McKusick's lake by a new outlet to the river. This device, so beneficial to the city of Stillwater in other respects, came near resulting in disaster. The old outlet of the lake had been obstructed by a dam, while the waters were conducted by a new outlet down a deep ravine and confined to their channel by dikes consisting of a mixture of clay, sand and gravel. This extended to within six hundred feet of the mill on the lake shore. On May 14, 1852, during a terrible storm, the dam at the new outlet gave way and a tremendous body of water, carrying with it the debris of dikes and dams, rushed tumultuously down the ravine, covering the low shores of the lake beneath, and depositing a new geological stratum of drift over a surface of at least six acres to an average depth of about ten feet. It was wittily said at the time that such an extraordinary movement in real estate had never before been known; but, although a downward movement, that seemed very much like ruin to all concerned, especially to the mill, the machinery of which was completely buried, it nevertheless heralded a rise in prices. Quagmires were filled, unsightly obstructions buried or swept away and a fine plateau for buildings was formed along the lake.
The dam was replaced and greatly strengthened, and the water was conducted through pipes and hydrants to the city. Occasionally, for years afterward, the diggers of cellars or cisterns in the buried region would unearth interesting antediluvian relics. Three barrels of pork were exhumed from the cellar of McKusick's store, and found in a good state of preservation. Some years later remains of a far more ancient character were also unearthed near the corner of Third and Myrtle streets. The tusk of a mastodon was brought up from a depth of thirty-six feet below the surface.
CITY GOVERNMENT.
Stillwater was incorporated as a city in 1854. The following officers were elected on the first Monday in April of that year: Mayor, John McKusiek; recorder, C. D. Gilfillan; treasurer, W. H. Mower; Councilmen, J. C. York, J. N. Masterman, C. Carli. We append a list of mayors from 1854 to the present time: John McKusick, 1854; John Fisher, 1855; Wm. Willim, 1856-66-67; Albert Stinson, 1857; A. B. Gorgas, 1858; T. M. Fullerton, 1859; Mahlon Black, 1860-61; F. R. Delano, 1862; David Bronson, 1863-64; Wm. Grover, 1865; C. J. Butler, 1868; Wm. Holcombe, 1869-70; Wm. McKusick, 1871-72; A. K. Doe, 1873; Wm. G. Bronson, 1874-75-76; E. W. Durant, 1877; John S. Proctor, 1878-79-80; Samuel Mathews, 1881-82-83-84; Hollis R. Murdock, 1885; Isaac Staples, 1886; George M. Seymour, 1887-88.