COOK COUNTY.
Grand Marais is the county seat of Cook county. It is a round, land-locked harbor. It has a lighthouse, and the government has built a breakwater four hundred feet long, thus making it a harbor of refuge, so that boats can lie with safety in any storm. Grand Marais is one hundred and ten miles from Duluth, on the north shore of Lake Superior. It is the best harbor that Minnesota has except Duluth. It is thirty miles south of the international boundary line, and forty-five miles northeast of the line by Lake Superior. It is the natural outlet for the mineral deposits north. There are large quantities of iron ore within thirty-five miles of the harbor. A railroad line has been run, and men are now at work on the iron deposits with a view of shipping the ore from Grand Marais to points where it is wanted for smelting purposes.
Grand Marais was in early days one of the Northwest Fur Company's trading posts, but of late years has been used as a fishing station. Streets in the town are now being laid out, and from present indications Cook county, with its pine lands, iron ore and other mineral resources, will be one of the most thriving counties in the State, with Grand Marais as not only a harbor of refuge, but one of the competing ports for the shipment of iron ore.
H. Mayhew, to whom we are indebted for items of interest concerning Cook county, is the oldest resident of Grand Marais, and one of the town proprietors.
CHAPTER XIX.
HENNEPIN COUNTY.
Hennepin county was organized March 6, 1852. Prior to the organization of Minnesota Territory it was in Clayton county, Iowa. At the organization of the Territory, in 1849, it was included in Dakota county, and so remained until set off in 1852. Hon. Bradley B. Meeker held the first court within the present limits of the county, at the old government mill, in 1849. Taylor Dudley was clerk of court, Franklin Steele, foreman of grand jury. The first board of commissioners were Alex. Moore, chairman, John Jackins and Joseph Dean. The first election was held Oct. 21, 1852, at the house of Col. John H. Stevens, on the west side. The county is a rich agricultural region, abounding with beautiful lakes, of which Minnetonka is the largest and finest. The county is bounded on the north by the Mississippi river and Wright county, on the east by the Mississippi river and Ramsey county, on the south by the Minnesota river and Carver county, on the west by Wright and Carver counties. It is subdivided into the following towns: Bloomington, Brooklyn, Champlin, Crystal Lake, Corcoran, Dayton, Eden Prairie, Excelsior, Greenwood, Hasson, Independence, Maple Grove, Medina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Osseo, Plymouth, Richfield, and St. Anthony.
