Part 56 (1/2)

Returning the sa, he found W a hotel and store on the east bank of the river Mr Nicholson remained some years in the vicinity, but is now a resident of Little Falls Wm Aiken permanently located at Swan River in 1848, one year after Nicholson's arrival at that point He died in 1851, aged about sixty-five years He had two Indian wives They quarreled and fought savagely at the funeral as to which was entitled to the position of chiefoff victorious James Green made a squatter's claim in 1848, and built a saw mill on the east side of the Mississippi by the island at the falls Wm Knowles located at the mouth of Rabbit river in 1849 John Stillwell came to Swan River in 1849 He was a carpenter and worked at his trade until 1866, when he went into the hotel business He now resides at Little Falls He and Nicholson are the only old settlers of Swan River reanization of the county in 1856, Little Falls, located on the Mississippi a short distance above Swan River, became the county seat The year before and the two years folloere years of wild speculation The chief a these years twenty-four village or town plats were recorded in the office of the register of deeds in Morrison Not all, however, were located within the bounds of the county, soovern, or of note, is Fergus Falls, Otter Tail county, platted by a company from Little Falls Of the towns located in Morrison county, every one vanished except Little Falls, though Swan River, Belle Prairie and Granite City kept up an appearance of prosperity for a time

The early history of Morrison county is enlivened byincidents of Indian warfare, chiefly of contests between the Sioux and Chippewas The Sioux had claimed the territory froo the Chippewas had driven them ard across the Mississippi and were in possession of the soil The tribal hostility of the two races continued to manifest itself in predatory and retaliatory raids, and from these the early settlers were often sufferers

Nathan Richardson, the historian of Morrison county, an authority to e are greatly indebted, says that the country was acknowledged to be Chippewa ground before and during the settlement by the whites, but that the Sioux h the counties in parties of fro to possess themselves of Chippewa scalps The Chippewas retaliated by pursuing the Sioux into their own prescribed limits Mr Richardson avers that the Chippeere seldom known to treat the white settlers uncivilly, while the Sioux would kill stock to supply their wants, for which the settlers were left without cooes were for some years located within the bounds of Todd and Morrison counties In 1848 Gen Fletcher re Prairie, west side of the Mississippi; but although the agency was located at Long Prairie, the Indians occupied the Swan River valley within the present limits of Morrison and Todd counties for a period of seven years, where they engaged partly in hunting and partly in far about two hundred acres under cultivation, when they became dissatisfied and were reo Indians were brought to Long Prairie and the Swan River valley, in 1848, the government built Fort Ripley on the west bank of the Mississippi, about twenty overnment still owns the fort and reservation around it, and keeps a garrison there Fort Ripley, however, has other associations than those connected with the Winnebagoes It was necessary to place a force here during the Indian outbreak in 1862, the object being to overawe and hold in check the Chippeere more than suspected of an intention to ainst the whites There the Seventh Regiment, Minnesota Volunteers, had its headquarters for a time

Morrison county was named in honor of Hon Allen W Morrison, who came to Minnesota some time in the '20s, and was proanized April 18, 1856, by the election of the following county officers: Commissioners, Wister of deeds and clerk of board of cous; sheriff, Jonathan Pugh; district attorney, W B Fairbanks; assessors, W B Tuttle and John Fry

The first tere Moses Sherburne, presiding The first deed recorded was dated June 19, 1854, conveying from William Shelafoo to Louis Robair the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and lots 3, 4 and 5 of section 30, townshi+p 40, range 32

Morrison county is subdivided into the following towns: Agram, Belle Prairie, Buckman, Bellevue, Culdrum, Elmdale, Green Prairie, Little Falls, Morrill, Motley, Parker, Pierz, Pike Creek, Ripley, Swan River, and Two Rivers

LITTLE FALLS VILLAGE,

The county seat of Morrison county, is located on the east bank of the Mississippi river, in sections 7, 8, 18 and 19 of townshi+p 40, range 32 It derives its name from a rapid in the Mississippi river, fores of the St

Louis The site is a prairie, sloping gently to the water's edge The first survey was rew rapidly fro for 1,000 each Previous to 1855 the only houses in the place were two cabins, a fra in which E J Kidder lived, and a school house Two hotels were built that year, one by Joseph Batters, the other by W B Fairbanks and Nathan Richardson

The first settlers were the Kidders, Fairbanks, Batters, Richardson, Jais, William Butler, and O A Churchill

James Green came as early as 1848, and took a squatter's clai the water power, and built a saw mill, but soon after died, and the property passed into the hands of H M Rice and Capt Todd, who in 1850 sold their right to Wis In 1852 John M Kidder pre-e it to the Little Falls Coanized in 1854 for the improvement of the falls This cooverned into a stock coinal co converted into cash The stock rose in value at one time two hundred and fifty per cent

The company built a new daood condition after the expenditures These valuable i the dah water in 1860; the firm became bankrupt, and the valuable power became nearly worthless and entirely useless, until 1887, when a new company, known as the Little Falls Water Power Company, was formed with a paid up capital of 600,000, which is distributed a eastern and western capitalists The co very extensive works, the power of which will have a head, or fall, of twenty feet, thus est water power, next to Minneapolis, to be found in the whole Northwest The dam, now about cohly convinced are the people of Morrison county of the great future before it, that, by a majority of over 2 to 1, they voted a subscription of 100,000 in 5 per cent bonds as a bonus to be delivered to the coe of Little Falls also entered into a contract with the co to pay annually a sum of money equal to the taxes imposed upon that corporation, and also to exe the water power for a period of five years The improvements under process of construction consist, first, of a daainst the head of Mill island; second, a canal on the west side, starting fro 1,000 feet down stream This canal is 80 feet wide and 13 feet deep, is lined with a retaining wall, and provided with head gates at the upper end and with a waste way at the lower end; third, a wheel house, races, and, if found desirable, a wire rope tower for trans the rental of this power on that of the water power at Lowell, Massachusetts, it would be worth 150,000 per annule, of Louisville, Kentucky, president; M M Williams, of Little Falls, secretary and treasurer

Little Falls was incorporated as a village in 1880, Louis Houde president of the board The i ist its public buildings a court house, school house having rooational, one Episcopal and one Methodist church In Belle Prairie, four miles distant, there is also a Catholic church, school and a nunnery

A bridge, built at a cost of 24,000, crosses the Mississippi at this point The bridge is 400 feet in length The Little Falls & Dakota railroad, a branch of the Northern Pacific, is finished from Little Falls to Morris in Stevens county, a distance of 85 miles In addition to the mills connected with the water power there is also a steam saw rove on the Northern Pacific railroad, twenty miles above Sauk Rapids, and ten below Little Falls near the south line of Morrison county It includes soh the village and furnishes a water power of 8 feet head, i a flour mill which has a capacity of 250 barrels per day, and a saw mill with a capacity of 40,000 feet There is 65 feet fall on the Platte within five e, yet unimproved James Hill, of Baldwin, St Croix county, Wisconsin, with Putney and nobles erected the flourdonated the water power and grounds for an has a steam saw mill with a capacity of 30,000 feet per day The Platte is spanned by an iron bridge The village has, in addition to its raded school with six departments, and three churches, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Methodist It was surveyed and platted in 1879 by John D Logan, and incorporated in 1887 The first officers were: President, J D Logan; recorder, John Holins, R

Lambert; treasurer, G E Putney; justices, Robert Brown, Wm Jones; constables, Wm Roller, C O Brannen

PETER ROY, a e, was born in Rainy Lake, in 1829 He was educated at La Pointe, Wisconsin At the age of twenty-one he ca lake, where he served as interpreter until 1853, when he was elected to the territorial legislature He opened a farislatures of 1860 and 1862 In 1866 he removed to Little Falls, where he resided until his death, in 1883 He was a enerous impulses, liberal and open-handed, even to his own pecuniary disadvantage

WM STURGIS ca Meadow, Sherburne county, Minnesota, in 1850, and located at Little Falls, where he put a ferry across the Mississippi He also laid out a town and built a saw and grist mill at the mouth of Little Elk river He was aand Sauk Rapids precincts in 1849 and 1851; of the territorial house in 1856, and of the constitutional convention, De, in 1857 Sois, Michigan

JAMES FERGUS was born in the parish of Glassford, Lanarkshi+re, Scotland, Oct 8, 1813 His parents ell-to-do far with excellentIn his youth he was noted for his thoroughness in whatever work he undertook, and his fondness for good books At the age of nineteen years he ca first in Canada, where he spent three years, and learned the trade of ainvolved in some political troubles just before the outbreak of the Papineau Rebellion, he left Canada for the United States, and spent a couple of years in Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at Chicago and Buffalo Grove, Illinois, going thence to Iowa, and thence to Moline, Illinois, where he found employment in the machine shops and foundries of Buford, Sears & Wheelock In 1854 he removed to Little Falls, and in company with C A Tuttle built a dae He subsequently owned the site of Fergus Falls, now a thriving city, that has done well in assu his name In 1862 he drove his own team from Little Falls to Bannock, then in Idaho, now in Montana Territory He became proanization of the new county of Madison, and held many positions of trust and responsibility He was the commissioner appointed for Madison county, served two terislature, and was a member of the constitutional convention of 1887 At one time he lived in Lewis and Clark counties; he now resides in Meagher county, near Fort Maginnis, where he is engaged in stock raising

His main characteristics are an aptitude for ht, a strict integrity of purpose, and an ardent love of study and good books He is a typical pioneer, and in thedays has the respect and love of his conteree He is the first president of the Montana Pioneer association, a position which he worthily fills

Mr Fergus was married March 16, 1845, to Parnelia Dillin, of Jefferson county, New York Mrs Fergus died Oct 6, 1887 He has one son and three daughters, the latterin Montana

NATHAN RICHARDSON was born in Wayne county, New York, in 1829 He was raised on a faran, and caister of deeds for Morrison county eight years, and was postmaster eleven years He also served as county surveyor and county attorney, having been admitted to the bar in 1877

He was notary public twenty-five years He was a representative in the Minnesota legislatures of 1867, 1872 and 1878 During his first term in the house he represented nineteen counties, nearly one-half the territory of the State He served as judge of probate two terms Mr

Richardson has prepared, by order of the board of county commissioners, and published in the local papers, a complete and valuable history of Morrison county, to which we are greatly indebted