Part 35 (1/2)

Aside fro was done in the way of improvements until 1846, when Jerry Ross and Benja on as subsequently known as the Morton and Colby faretables and built houses This was the first cultivation of the soil in Chisago county In 1847 Mr Otis sold his improvements to Wrown by white men in the county In 1846 Thornton Bishop commenced improvements on a farm at the head of the rapids, six miles above Taylor's Falls J L Taylor, in 1848, built a pre-emption shanty midway between the upper and lower falls In 1849 he proved up his pre-ee 18 N

C D Taylor pre-empted the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 25, and the west half of the same quarter section; also lot 1, section 36, townshi+p 34, range 19

In 1849 Lewis Barlow and Wm E Bush became citizens An abstract of the canvassed returns of an election held November 26th shows but six votes in the settlement In 1850 W F Colby pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 25, townshi+p 34, range 19, and W H C Folsom the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of the sa of the St Croix county board, held at Stillwater, April 2, 1850, the following judges of election were appointed within the present lio county: St Croix Falls precinct, Wm F Colby, Wm Holmes, N C D Taylor; Rush Lake precinct, Levi Clark, Walter Carrier and Richard Arnold At a , held Oct 7, 1850, the petition of Lewis Barlow and ten others, of St

Croix Falls precinct, was presented, asking for a special election, to elect two justices of the peace Their petition was granted The poll was: Wm E Bush, one vote; John H Reid, six votes; Ansel Smith, five votes Reid and Smith were declared elected The first survey of town lots was made in 1851, by Theodore E Parker, of Stillwater, and under this survey the village was legally established as Taylor's Falls The first deeds recorded in Chisago county were transcripts fro of town site property, dated 1851, conveyed to W H C Folsoanization of a new county froton commenced in the winter of 1851-52 A foranization, drawn up and circulated by Hon Ansel Smith, of Franconia, and the writer, was duly forwarded, presented and acquiesced in by that body The writer had been selected to visit the capital in the interest of the petitioners

Some difficulty arose as to the naa” This Indian name was ridiculed, and Hamilton, Jackson, Franklin and Jefferson were in turn proposed The committee of the whole finally reported in favor of the na the bill for our county organization, by clerical or typographical error changed the last ”a” in ”saga” to ”o,”

which, having becoed

The eastern boundary of the county was fixed as the St Croix river; the southern boundary, the line between townshi+ps 32 and 33; the western, the line between ranges 21 and 22, for three townshi+ps south, and the line between ranges 22 and 23 for the re townshi+ps north To sho little was known of the geography of the section we refer to the record of the county coton county, dated Dec 15, 1848, at which St Croix district, the present Chisago county, was established as ”bounded on the north by Sunrise river and on the west by line between ranges 21 and 22”--an utter impossibility, as the Sunrise river flows in a northerly direction entirely through the county and at its nearest point does not coe line mentioned

The election for the first board of county officers was held at the Chisago House, Oct 14, 1851 Twenty-three votes were polled at this election The following officers were elected: Commissioners, Samuel Thomson, chairister of deeds, F W Abbott; treasurer, W H C Folso the county provided that ”the seat of justice of the county of Chisago shall be at such point in said county as the first board of commissioners elected in said county shall deter of the commissioners, held at the office of N C D Taylor in Taylor's Falls, Jan 5, 1852, the town of Taylor's Falls was chosen as the county seat, ”agreeable to the Revised Statutes, chapter 1st, section 14th”

As the population of the county increased the project ofthe county seat to a itated In 1858 a vote was taken which resulted in favor of its reality of the vote was referred to the court, and decided by Judge Welch adversely, on the ground that a majority of the voters of the county had not voted The county seat consequently remained at Taylor's Falls In 1861 another vote was taken by which the county seat was reo City, and there it reo City having but a small population and no conveniences for such a purpose, and being for several years without even a post office, repeated efforts were made for another removal, until in 1875 a vote to remove it to Centre City carried In January, 1876, the records were removed The county authorities issued 5,000 bonds for a court house which was erected on a point of land extending into Chisago lake, a beautiful situation

The bonds have been paid and the county is without indebtedness, and has a surplus of about 10,000

The town of Amador coe 20, and two fractional sections of townshi+p 36, range 20, fractional townshi+p 35, range 19, and one fractional section of townshi+p 36, range 19 The St Croix river forms its boundary on the north and east The surface is undulating The western and southern part is covered with hardwood tis and prairie, with soil somewhat varied, in some places more or less sandy It is atered and drained Thornton Bishop, the first settler, came in 1846, and located a farm on the banks of the St Croix, at the head of the rapids, in section 34

Richard Arnold settled on Amador prairie in 1854, and was followed by James P Martin, Car physician, but engaged in other work He built a stea out the village of Ae 20 H N Newbury, surveyor, not succeeding in his undertaking, issued the prospectus of a paper to be called the _St Croix Eagle_ and to be published at Taylor's Falls

This failing he reanized in 1858 The first supervisors were C P

Garlick, R Arnold and James Martin A post office was established in 1857; Henry Bush, postmaster Mr Bush had a se public house, two stories high

This house burned down He established a ferry across the St Croix

He had a large family of boys who roamed the woods freely until one of their number was lost The other boys caive no account Parties were organized for the search, which at last was given up as unsuccessful A year afterward the bones of the , where the little wanderer had doubtless perished of starvation and exposure Mr Bishop raised the first crops of the town The first e was that of Charles S Nevers and Mary Snell, by John Winans, Esq, Feb 23, 1860

THORNTON BISHOP was a native of Indiana He came to St Croix Falls in 1841 and was married to Delia Wolf in 1842, by Rev W D Boutwell, at the Pokegama mission This as a well educated half-breed They raised a large family of children He came to Amador in 1846 and farmed for some time at the head of the rapids, when he sold his farm and moved to Sunrise In 1880 he removed to Kettle River station In 1883-84-85-86 he served as commissioner for Pine county

WILLIAM HOLMES came to Amador and settled on a farm at the head of the rapids in 1848 The farm is now held by John Dabney Mr Holmes married a sister of Mrs Thornton Bishop She was educated at Pokegae family of children In 1852 Mr

Holmes removed to Sunrise and thence to Trade River, Wisconsin, in 1875, where he sickened His brother-in-law, Bishop, came to his relief, removed him to his own home and cared for him till he died, May, 1876

JAMES M MARTIN was one of the first settlers in Ainally from Missouri, where he wassome years prior Their sons are Jahters are Mrs Cowan, Mrs

Wilkes, Mrs Nordine and Mrs Lanon

BRANCH

The town of Branch, occupying townshi+p 35, range 21, was set off froanized in 1872 The first supervisors were Williaht A post office was established in 1869; Geo W Flanders, post, and the soil a sandy loa the course of the north branch of the Sunrise river, which flows through the town from west to east, there are inally contained pine forests; about 5,000,000 feet have been cut away Branch contains some pretty and well cultivated farms The St Paul & Duluth railroad traverses the town from south to north

NORTH BRANCH STATION

The only village in the town of Branch was platted in January, 1870, the proprietors being the Western Land association, L Mendenhall, agent The plat includes the north half of the northwest quarter of section 21, and the northeast quarter of section 20, townshi+p 35, range 21 The first settler was G M Flanders, who opened a store here in 1868, which was burned in 1869 Henry L Ingalls erected a good hotel and other buildings In 1870 Gurley & Bros established a store; B F Wilkes built a hotel; Winston, Long & Co established a store In 1874 J F F Swanson built a flouring mill, which was burned in 1878 The loss was about 6,000, with but little insurance