EAST ST. CLOUD,
In the town of Haven, is a thriving village. It has one of the best granite quarries in the State. The State, in 1887, located here its reformatory school, receiving a donation of two hundred acres of land, covered with gray and variegated granite. The village was surveyed and platted in August, 1853; Geo. F. Brott & Co., proprietors.
CLEAR LAKE
Was surveyed and platted March 24, 1882; Alanson Potter and wife, proprietors.
BECKER
Was surveyed and platted Dec. 5, 1870; J. Freeman and H. C. Fridley, proprietors. Mr. Vadnais was the first settler, in 1855.
BIG LAKE,
Originally Humboldt village, is located on Elk river, ten miles above its junction with the Mississippi. Its first settler was Joseph Brown, a veteran pioneer, but not to be confounded with the invincible Joe R. Brown, elsewhere referred to. Mr. Brown came here in 1848, and made substantial improvements. He died in 1886. His family still reside here. James Ely and Newell Houghton also settled here in 1884. Mr. Houghton was killed at the New Ulm massacre in 1862.
John Quincy Adams Nickerson was born in New Salem, Franklin county, Maine, March 30, 1825. He received an academic education; taught school and followed farming in Maine. In 1849 he came to St. Anthony Falls, and in 1853 settled at Elk River, which then contained but one house, a hewed log structure, which he, in company with B. F. Hildreth, purchased for a hotel. The house has been enlarged from time to time, and has been continuously under the charge of Mr. Nickerson. He has besides employed much of his time in farming and lumbering, and has dealt in village lots. He was appointed postmaster at an early day. He has filled various responsible offices, among them that of county treasurer and town and county supervisor. He was married to Julia A. Farnham, of St. Anthony Falls, Oct. 2, 1852. They have five children.
Henry Bittner was born in Bavaria in 1799; came to America in his boyhood; enlisted in the United States Army in 1835; served in the Mexican War; was present at the battle of Buena Vista, and when the American forces were surrounded performed a daring feat, carrying a dispatch from Gen. Taylor through the Mexican lines to an American fort. He was a target for the bullets of the Mexican Army, but arrived at his destination severely wounded. He was discharged on account of his wounds. In 1855 he came to Clear Lake and made him a home. He offered himself as a volunteer during the late Civil War, but was not received on account of age and disability. He died at his home at Clear Lake in 1885.