Fifty Years In The Northwest / With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes

by William H. C. Folsom

FORT SNELLING, ON LINE OF C., M. & ST. P. RY.

FORT SNELLING.

Fort Snelling owes its origin to the encroachments of British traders on our northern frontier. As early as 1805 Lieut. Zebulen Montgomery Pike, United States Army, was sent with a detachment of troops to explore the Upper Mississippi river to expel British traders who might be found encroaching upon our territory, and to secure by treaty a military reservation. Sept. 21, 1805, he encamped on Pike island, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, and, being pleased with the situation, forthwith made a treaty with chiefs of the Sioux nation to include all that tract of land lying from below the confluence of the two rivers, up the Mississippi, including the falls of St. Anthony, nine miles in width on each side of the river. The price paid was $2,000. The reserve thus purchased was not used for military purposes until 1819, when a detachment of the Fifth United States Infantry, commanded by Lieut. Col. Henry Leavenworth, was sent to occupy the reservation and build a fort. The building of the fort, with its various stone and wooden buildings, was the work of years. The site of the fort was selected in 1820, by Col. Josiah Snelling, who named it Fort St. Anthony, but at the suggestion of Gen. Winfield Scott, in 1824 the name was changed to Fort Snelling as a worthy compliment to its founder and builder. Notwithstanding the treaty made by Col. Pike in 1805, the Indian claim to the reservation was not extinguished until the treaty of 1837, ratified by the senate in 1838. In 1836, before the extinction of the Indian title, many settlers located on the reservation on the left bank of the Mississippi. These were forcibly removed by the United States government in 1840, under the act of March 3, 1807, an act to prevent settlements being made on ceded lands until duly authorized by law. The reservation was reduced from time to time, portions being sold. In 1857 Franklin Steele purchased the entire reservation, with the exception of two small tracts, including the fort itself, for the sum of $90,000, to be paid in three yearly installments. The first payments were actually made, the troops were withdrawn, and Mr. Steele assumed possession. Default having been made in the two remaining payments, the government resumed possession of a small portion of the reservation and fort in 1861. The year following, by act of Congress, the reservation was reduced. In 1870 it was permanently reduced to 1,531.20 acres. A suit at law between Mr. Steele and the United States government was compromised by releasing him from further payments and granting him a large tract of land lying along the right bank of the Mississippi, north of the fort, with a portion of Pike's island.

Maj. Plympton and other officers of the fort, in company with Franklin Steele, made the first land claim, by permit of the government, at East St. Anthony, in 1838. They built a shanty and hired a Frenchman to occupy it. Steele bought out the interests of the officers associated with him and in 1848 secured a title from the United States. The first saw mill built on this claim was commenced by Mr. Steele, in conjunction with Boston parties in 1847, but was not completed until the following year.

The next land claim on the river was made further up, by R. P. Russell and S. J. Findley. This was sold to Bottineau and afterward passed to other parties. The land claim adjoining Steele's, below, was purchased of a Frenchman by C. A. Tuttle in 1848. This claim is now partially occupied by the State University. W. Henry Cheever made a claim south of Tuttle's, on which, in 1849, he built a hotel and a huge wooden tower or observatory, nearly one hundred feet in height, over the entrance to which was a rhyming couplet:

"Pay your dime
And climb."

Franklin Steele, before completing his mill and dam, became sole owner of the water power on the east side of the river. During the periods following the property has often changed owners, and sometimes the change has resulted in unprofitable litigation. James J. Hill, in later years, has become the owner of most of the water power of Nicollet and Hennepin islands and of the east shore, and is making valuable improvements.

ST. ANTHONY FALLS.

St. Anthony Falls was platted as a village in 1849, and was included in Ramsey county until 1856. In 1861 the legislature established satisfactory boundaries, annexing part of town 29, range 24, to Hennepin county.

Among the first settlers of the Falls was Ard Godfrey. The first white child born here was a son of C. A. Tuttle, millwright. The Luther Patch family, consisting of four sons and two daughters, was the first resident American family at the Falls. Mr. Patch's sons were Edward, Wallace, Gibson, and Lewis; the daughters, Marion, who became the wife of R. P. Russell, the first marriage at the Falls, Oct. 3, 1848, and Cora, who became the wife of Joseph Marshall. An earlier marriage was celebrated at Fort Snelling May 27, 1835, that of Lieut. Edmund A. Ogden and Eliza Edna Loomis; Rev. Thos. S. Williamson officiating. This was the first marriage north of Prairie du Chien. The first store was opened by R. P. Russell in 1847, the second, in 1849, by Joseph Marshall. We find Jacob Fisher, of Stillwater, here in 1847, building the dam from Nicollet island to the east shore. Among the operators of the mill who have been prominent citizens of St. Anthony Falls are Sumner W. Farnham, John Rollins, Caleb W. Dorr, John McDonald, and Robert W. Cummings. Some of these men brought their families here. The building of the mill was somewhat delayed by the sinking in the Erie canal of the boats containing the machinery, hardware, etc. Standing pine to be used in the mill was purchased of Hole-in-the-Day, a Chippewa chief, cut and floated down from Sauk Rapids to the Falls. Some timber was also brought from Rum river, the first cut on that stream, except for government use. At the land sale in 1848, Mr. Steele secured all the land above Tuttle's to the north limits of the city. Amongst the settlers in 1848 were the Getchells, Smiths, Rogers' and Huse. In 1849, at the organization of the territory of Minnesota, a number of others arrived, among them Judge B. B. Meeker, Dr. John H. Murphy, John W. North, J. P. Wilson, and John G. Lennon. During this year the west half of sec. 14, range 29, was surveyed and platted into town lots by W. R. Marshall, B. W. Bronson and S. P. Folsom. Anson Northrup commenced the erection of the first hotel, the St. Charles.