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

by William H. C. Folsom

I, William Willim, an alien by birth, aged twenty-six years, do hereby, upon my oath, make known that I was born in the county of Hereford, in the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on the twenty-sixth day of June, A. D. 1821; that I emigrated from the kingdom aforesaid, and landed in New York, in the state of New York, on the first day of October, 1838; that I was at that time a minor aged seventeen years, and that I have since that time resided in the United States of America; that it is my bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States, to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity which I, in anywise, owe to any foreign power, potentate, state or sovereignty whatever, and more particularly all allegiance and fidelity which I, in anywise, owe to Victoria, queen of Great Britain, of whom I have heretofore been a subject, and, further that I do not possess any hereditary title, or belong to any of the order of nobility in the kingdom from whence I came; so help me God.

William Willim.

Sworn and subscribed to before me on this eighteenth day of June, 1847, in open court.

Joseph R. Brown,
Clerk of District Court of St. Croix County, Wisconsin Territory.

Another oath, such as is now administered, to support the constitution of the United States, was signed and attested in like manner.

BURNING OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL.

On a clear, cold night in February, 1869, the International Hotel, located at the corner of Seventh and Jackson streets, took fire and was speedily consumed. The alarm was sounded at two o'clock in the morning. The hotel was crowded with boarders, among whom were many members of the legislature, then in session, and their families. The writer occupied a room on the second floor and was among the first aroused. Hastily seizing my trunk I hurried down stairs and returned to assist others, but was stopped by the smoke at the entrance. The guests of the house were pouring from every outlet. A group of ladies had escaped to the sidewalk, partly clad, some with bare feet. Ladders were placed to the windows to save those who had failed to escape in the hallway. Senators C. A. Gilman and Seagrave Smith, with their wives, were rescued in this manner. Many diverting circumstances occurred illustrative of nonchalance, coolness and daring, as well as of bewilderment and panic.

Senator Armstrong tried in vain to throw his trunk from a window in which it was wedged fast and was obliged to leave it to the flames. Judge Meeker came out of the house carrying his clothing upon his arm, having a shawl wrapped round his head, and bewailing the loss of the maps and charts of Meeker's dam. Seagrave Smith tarried too long searching for a senate bill, and narrowly escaped sharing the fate of the bill. Many of the guests escaped in their night clothing, and carrying their clothing with them completed their toilet standing in the snow in the light of the burning building. Considering the rapidity of the fire, and the hour at which it occurred it seemed marvelous that no lives were lost.

GRASSHOPPERS.

Minnesota has been visited at intervals by that scourge of some of the Western States, grasshoppers. The first visitation was from the Selkirk (now Manitoba) settlement, about 1838-9. The pests are said to have accompanied some of the early immigrants from Selkirk who came down to the reservation about Fort Snelling. They made yearly visitations and threatened to become a serious obstacle to the settlement of the country. Some seasons they proved quite destructive. In 1874-5-6-7 the state legislature made appropriations to relieve those suffering from their ravages in the western and southwestern parts of the State. There were also large private contributions to the relief fund. One of the acts passed at the session of 1877 appropriated $100,000 for bounties to pay for the destruction of grasshoppers and their eggs. Townships and villages were also authorized to levy taxes for the destruction of the common enemy, and $75,000 was appropriated to furnish seed grain for those who had lost their crops, and $5,000 was voted for a common relief fund. Special prayers were offered for an abatement of the scourge. In 1877, when the grasshopper appeared in myriads again, the governor appointed a day of fasting and prayer for riddance from the calamity. From some unknown cause the grasshoppers disappeared, and have not since returned in such numbers as to prove a plague. These grasshoppers were a species known as the Rocky Mountain locusts.