Other veins have been discovered in the vicinity of the St. Croix Dalles. Considerable money has been spent in prospecting and development, but more capital is needed than miners have yet been able to obtain.
Taylor's Falls Copper Mining Company was organized Dec. 15, 1874, W. H. C. Folsom, president; Geo. W. Seymour, secretary; Levi W. Folsom, treasurer; David A. Caneday, mining agent. They sunk a shaft one hundred and thirty feet deep and found good indications. This mine was worked in 1875-76, at an expenditure of over $5,000. Excellent specimens were found but not in paying quantities. The rock increased in richness as the shaft sunk in depth. The work was suspended for want, of material aid. There is but little doubt that as the valley becomes known and populated, that as wealth increases, the mineral resources of the country are better known, mining will become a prominent and profitable industry.
REMINISCENCES OF REV. JULIUS S. WEBBER.[K]
We reached Stillwater, June 3, 1850, and moved into the Elfelt house on North Hill. The village contained at that time about thirty dwellings, two hotels, three stores, and a number of saloons. Three religious denominations held services each Sabbath, the missionaries in charge alternating through the successive Sabbaths, and supporting in addition a union prayer meeting and Sabbath-school, of which Capt. Wm. Holcomb was the first superintendent. The meetings were held in a school house on Third street.
My appointments outside of Stillwater were at Willow River, Kinnikinic and Prescott, Wisconsin, and at Cottage Grove and Point Douglas in Minnesota. In 1852 Rev. S. T. Catlin was appointed to that part of my field lying east of the St. Croix river, and I formed appointments at Arcola, Marine, Taylor's and St. Croix Falls. We organized a Baptist society at Stillwater, Oct. 26, 1850, consisting of eight members; Rev. J. P. Parsons and wife, Dean A. H. Cavender and wife of St. Paul, J. S. Webber and wife, constituting a council of recognition. Rev. J. P. Parsons preached the sermon of recognition, and J. S. Webber extended the right hand of fellowship. The first baptism by immersion in the county was administered in a large spring just below Nelson's store, Jan. 30, 1853, the waters of the spring being free from ice. The candidate was Margaret Towner, of Pembina. In 1853 I made a tour of the Minnesota valley to Mankato. On the first day, September 23d, I traveled from Fort Snelling to Shakopee and saw not a human habitation nor a human being on the trail. At Shakopee I found a home with Judge Dowling. On the next day I traveled to Le Sueur. On Sabbath morning I preached at Traverse des Sioux, and in the afternoon I went to Mankato, and stopped at the house of Mr. Hannah, where I preached in the evening, to a congregation that had come together hastily from the neighborhood, the first sermon preached in Mankato. On the twenty-sixth I preached the first sermon at Le Seuer, and the first sermon at Shakopee on my return.
In 1854 I opened on the South Hill, known later as Nelson's addition to Stillwater, a school known as Washington Seminary, which received liberal patronage from the citizens of Stillwater and surrounding country. In May, 1855, I sold the school to Mr. Kent, and it passed into the hands of an Episcopal clergyman. I returned to New York where I have since lived, pursuing my calling, which has suffered thus far no interruption from sickness or infirmities.
The remembrance of my association with the people of the St. Croix valley is pleasant. Amongst the most pleasant of my recollections are those of the lumbermen of St. Croix, who often made up a large portion of my congregation. They were kind and courteous, attentive hearers and valued as friends and associates.
AN AMUSING INCIDENT.
An amusing incident occurred in Carver county, in Judge E. O. Hamlin's district (an account of which was published in "The Drawer" of Harper's Monthly, some years after it occurred). Judge Hamlin, going to Chaska to hold his first term of court in Carver county, found the sheriff absent, and his deputy, a foreigner who could speak English very imperfectly, ignorant alike of his duties and of the language in which they were to be performed, confessed his entire ignorance of "how to open court," but said he could read writing. Therefore Judge Hamlin wrote out the form for opening court, and instructed him when the order was given for "the sheriff to open court," to stand up and read distinctly the form prepared for him. This was in the usual terms, beginning "Hear ye, hear ye, all manner of persons having any business," etc., etc., and ending with "come forward and give your attendance, and you shall be heard." At the hour fixed the court room was reasonably well filled. Parties, witnesses and jurors, together with the district attorney (who at that time went with the judge over the whole district) were in attendance. The judge was on the bench, and the deputy sheriff, fully conscious of the dignity of his office, awaited the order of the judge. Upon being told to "make proclamation for the opening of court," this officer arose, and holding the written form before his eyes, roared out in stentorian tones: "Here we are! Here we are!" and running through the remainder of the form closed with "come forward and give your attendance, and you will be sure to be here!" The air of importance with which it was said, together with his self complacency in the discharge of his new duties, was scarcely less amusing than the mistake he had made. Its effect may be better imagined than described.