Nathan Richardson, the historian of Morrison county, an authority to whom we are greatly indebted, says that the country was acknowledged to be Chippewa ground before and during the settlement by the whites, but that the Sioux made frequent raids through the counties in parties of from five to twenty-five, their principal object being to possess themselves of Chippewa scalps. The Chippewas retaliated by pursuing the Sioux into their own prescribed limits. Mr. Richardson avers that the Chippewas were seldom known to treat the white settlers uncivilly, while the Sioux would kill stock to supply their wants, for which the settlers were left without compensation from Indians or government.
The Winnebagoes were for some years located within the bounds of Todd and Morrison counties. In 1848 Gen. Fletcher removed them from Fort Atkinson, Iowa, to Long Prairie, west side of the Mississippi; but although the agency was located at Long Prairie, the Indians occupied the Swan River valley within the present limits of Morrison and Todd counties for a period of seven years, where they engaged partly in hunting and partly in farming, having about two hundred acres under cultivation, when they became dissatisfied and were removed to the Blue Earth country.
When the Winnebago Indians were brought to Long Prairie and the Swan River valley, in 1848, the government built Fort Ripley on the west bank of the Mississippi, about twenty miles above the mouth of Swan river. The government still owns the fort and reservation around it, and keeps a garrison there. Fort Ripley, however, has other associations than those connected with the Winnebagoes. It was necessary to place a force here during the Indian outbreak in 1862, the object being to overawe and hold in check the Chippewas, who were more than suspected of an intention to make common cause with the Sioux in their warfare against the whites. There the Seventh Regiment, Minnesota Volunteers, had its headquarters for a time.
Morrison county was named in honor of Hon. Allen W. Morrison, who came to Minnesota some time in the '20s, and was prominent in the early history of the Territory. It was organized April 18, 1856, by the election of the following county officers: Commissioners, Wm. Trask, Elliott J. Kidder and W. W. Stebbins; register of deeds and clerk of board of commissioners, Nathan Richardson; judge of probate, James Fergus; sheriff, Jonathan Pugh; district attorney, W. B. Fairbanks; assessors, W. B. Tuttle and John Fry.
The first term of court was held May 15, 1856; Judge Moses Sherburne, presiding. The first deed recorded was dated June 19, 1854, conveying from William Shelafoo to Louis Robair the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and lots 3, 4 and 5 of section 30, township 40, range 32.
Morrison county is subdivided into the following towns: Agram, Belle Prairie, Buckman, Bellevue, Culdrum, Elmdale, Green Prairie, Little Falls, Morrill, Motley, Parker, Pierz, Pike Creek, Ripley, Swan River, and Two Rivers.
LITTLE FALLS VILLAGE,
The county seat of Morrison county, is located on the east bank of the Mississippi river, in sections 7, 8, 18 and 19 of township 40, range 32. It derives its name from a rapid in the Mississippi river, formed by the extension across the river of the slate stone ledges of the St. Louis. The site is a prairie, sloping gently to the water's edge. The first survey was made in 1855, by S. M. Putnam. The village grew rapidly from the first, and in 1857 the best lots were selling for $1,000 each. Previous to 1855 the only houses in the place were two cabins, a frame building in which E. J. Kidder lived, and a school house. Two hotels were built that year, one by Joseph Batters, the other by W. B. Fairbanks and Nathan Richardson.
The first settlers were the Kidders, Fairbanks, Batters, Richardson, James Green, William Sturgis, William Butler, and O. A. Churchill. James Green came as early as 1848, and took a squatter's claim on the east bank, including the water power, and built a saw mill, but soon after died, and the property passed into the hands of H. M. Rice and Capt. Todd, who in 1850 sold their right to Wm. Sturgis. In 1852 John M. Kidder pre-empted the mill power, transferring it to the Little Falls Company, consisting of Wm. Sturgis and Calvin Tuttle, organized in 1854 for the improvement of the falls. This company purchased about 1,000 acres of adjoining land from the government, and in 1855 merged into a stock company with a capital of $100,000, of which the original company retained one-half, the remaining half being converted into cash. The stock rose in value at one time two hundred and fifty per cent.
The company built a new dam and mills, but the revenue did not keep the property in good condition after the expenditures. These valuable improvements, including the dam and mills, were all swept away by high water in 1860; the firm became bankrupt, and the valuable power became nearly worthless and entirely useless, until 1887, when a new company, known as the Little Falls Water Power Company, was formed with a paid up capital of $600,000, which is distributed among eastern and western capitalists. The company is now constructing very extensive works, the power of which will have a head, or fall, of twenty feet, thus making it the largest water power, next to Minneapolis, to be found in the whole Northwest. The dam, now about completed, has cost about $200,000.