Part 89 (1/2)

Minnesota was early visited by this scourge of the eastern world It was brought up the river on the crowded steamers and created the utmost consternation, and even panic No one on board the Royal Arch, May, 1853, can forget the dreadful scenes upon this boat The first case occurred at Galena, that of a child, and the next at La Crosse, that of a wo condition twentyhospital, and thirteen corpses lay under a canvas on the lower deck

Notwithstanding the ghastly freight carried by the steaers in the cabin above, kind hearts sympathized and kind hands were extended to help; and the dead were buried and every thing possible was done for the sick and suffering survivors,carried ashore at St Paul What these good Samaritans did was at the risk of their own lives, andthem Henry P Pratt, editor of the St Paul _Minnesotian_, sickened and died fro to the stricken ones

DECREE OF CITIZENshi+P

The first naturalization papers on record in Minnesota are somewhat unique, and for that reason worthy of preservation, and are herewith presented _et literatim_:

DECREE OF CITIZENshi+P

TERRITORY OF WISCONSIN, ST CROIX COUNTY

I, Williaed 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 edom aforesaid, and landed in New York, in the state of New York, on the first day of October, 1838; that I was at that tied 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 iance 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 hteenth 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 consu The hotel was croith boarders, aislature, then in session, and their families The writer occupied a roo the first aroused Hastily seizing my trunk I hurried down stairs and returned to assist others, but was stopped by the s froroup of ladies had escaped to the sidewalk, partly clad, some with bare feet Ladders were placed to the s to save those who had failed to escape in the hallway Senators C A Gilrave Smith, with their wives, were rescued in thiscircumstances occurred illustrative of nonchalance, coolness and daring, as well as of bewilder tried in vain to throw his trunk froed to leave it to the fla his clothing upon his ar the loss of the rave S 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 theht 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 sorasshoppers The first visitation was from the Selkirk (now Manitoba) settlement, about 1838-9 The pests are said to have accorants fro 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 legislaturefroes 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 Townshi+ps and villages were also authorized to levy taxes for the destruction of the corain for those who had lost their crops, and 5,000 was voted for a common relief fund Special prayers were offered for an abaterasshopper appeared inand prayer for riddance frorasshoppers disappeared, and have not since returned in such nurasshoppers were a species known as the Rocky Mountain locusts

ANCIENT MOUNDS

The valley of the Mississippi and the valleys of its tributary streams abound with mounds of various sizes and fashi+ons, circular, oval or oblong, serpentine and soence and design, wrought by some ancient people for purposes now not fully known It is probable, however, that some were used as places of defense, others were built for sacrificial or religious purposes, others for sepulture, and others still s Most of them contain relics, coins or implements made of shells, of flints and in some instances of baked earthenware, and lastly human remains These relics are not necessarily of cotemporaneous date, and many of them are comparativelyafter their original builders had passed away

That they are very ancient is unquestionable They outdate the traditions of the Indians who inhabited this country at the date of its discovery, while the most ancient remains taken from them indicate as their builders a people widely different froines, and possessed of arts unknown to them Conjecture points to a race from the South, probably the Aztecs, as the mound builders

This race was exterer tribes, who iven place to our present race of Indians A full description of these ancient works would require volumes; we can therefore allude only to a few that may be considered typical specie, now Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1836, the writer saw aa tortoise, the head, feet and tail being still distinctly traceable Many e, and of varying shape, soateways or openings These are located on the high bluffs east of the Prairie Many of these, very distinct in the early days, are now almost obliterated by the plowshare of the farmer and the spade of the relic hunter

The builders of the ancient reat taste in their location, as they are generally found in pleasant localities, on grassy plateaus or elevated lands, and by the shores of lakes and strearoith trees In so even on the summit of the mounds The e, in Marine townshi+p, Washi+ngton county, Minnesota, and in the neighborhood of Osceola Mills, Polk county, Wisconsin We append notes of a survey of the latter, made in 1870 They are sixteen in number and we mention only the most reht and 60 in diameter Trees 2 feet in diameter are found on this inally 30 feet high; at present but 20 This mound is also of circular formation Mound No 3 is circular in forh Mound No 4 is circular, 40 feet in dia and 4060 feet in diest and finest of these mounds have been nearly destroyed by the encroachments of the road makers

These mounds are located two miles north of Osceola, on Close creek

Alanson Thompson made a homestead of the land on which they are situated, and built his hoarden included many of the mounds

Mr T H Lewis, of St Paul, roup north of the creek and near the school house, which he classifies as the upper group, he finds ninety-six well developed reat interest In the group south of the creek, which he calls the lower group, he finds forty-nine roups; at least five times as many as has been supposed to be there