August, 1862, on the plain below the Redwood river, opened up a farm for the Indians, known as the Lake Calhoun band of Dakotas. This farm was situated on the east shore of Lake Calhoun, but notwithstanding it was cultivated for years, there is no trace of it now to be seen. It only requires a few years for a well-cultivated farm on the prai ries, in this climate, to return to its native and original appearance. In 1834 there was quite a village on the borders of the Lake. The mission building of the Messrs. Pond was built out of lumber found buried on a sandbank near the outlet of Bassett's creek into the Mississippi. These are all the improvements made at an early day worthy of note, outside of the vicinity of Fort Snelling and the west falls of St. Anthony.

On the eighth day of June, 1819, the command of Colonel Leavenworth reached the St. Peter's river, and preparations were at once commenced for the erection of Fort Snelling. The next year Colonel Snelling assumed command, and the fort was finished under his auspices.

The first white child to the manor born made its appearance in 1819, in a tent near where the end of the railroad bridge stands, this side of the Minnesota river. The parents of this child, D. M. Hubbard and his wife, were connected with the army.

The commercial interests of the new country were represented by Captain Devotion, and in 1821 the late Kenneth McKenzie of St. Louis, Messrs. Ludlow and Lamont imported large quan

tities of goods into this country. They were known as the Columbia Fur company.

The first white woman who had the honor of visiting the Falls of Saint Anthony, was Mrs. Goodwin, the accomplished wife of Captain Goodwin of the Fifth United States infantry, a lady who gave a graphic account of its beauty in 1829. The first claim made by private parties to lands in our county, was at the junction of the Little Falls, or the Minnehaha creek, with the Mississippi, when the Honorable J. R. Brown, in May, 1836, staked off a quarter section of Mother Earth for his own use; but it soon became evident to him that his proper avocation was not that of a farmer, and he abandoned it. The old Government mill was commenced June, 1822, at the west side of the falls. It was built under the supervision of Lieutenant J. B. F. Russell, then an acting quartermaster in the army. He finished it in 1829, and had in the meantime completed the old dwelling-house which stood near the present machine shop of the Central Railroad company. Lieutenant Russell continued in the army until he had reached the rank of a field officer, then resigned, and died a few years since in Chicago. He was well known to many of the early settlers of this state.

The precincts of what is now Hennepin county remained in statu quo until 1837, when Franklin Steele laid a claim to St. Anthony proper. The Falls of St. Anthony were discovered by Lewis Hennepin, a missionary, in the year 1680, and he named them in honor of

his patron saint, Anthony of Padua. Hennepin was born in Flanders in 1640, thus making him just forty years of age then he reached this point. The Indians of the Dakota Nation took him prisoner, but treated him kindly, and after a pilgrimage with them for some two years, he was suffered to depart in peace. We do not learn that he converted any of them to Christianity. Anthony belonged to a noble house, was born in Lisbon, in 1195, was a disciple of St. Francis of Assisi, and he belonged to the Francisco order as early as 1220, and died in Padua June 13, 1231, and the ninth Gregory, who occupied the Papal chair, canonized him in 1232. A hundred and fifty-seven years had passed from the time of the discovery until the first claim was made with a view to an improvement of the great water power, by private parties. Mr. Steele erected, in 1837, a small log house near Edwards' block on Main street, which was a good, substantial claim cabin. This at that time was the only house between the St. Croix and the Mississippi. There were two other log cabins built the same year, one above, the other below, the first one, and in 1838 Mr. Steele opened up a farm of seven acres, the centre of which was near the ground now occupied by the Tremont house. This farm was fenced and carefully cultivated until the land was entered in 1847 at government price. The late Samuel J. Findley and his father-in-law, Peter Quinn, who was murdered by the Indians in 1862, also occupied claims on a part of the city of St. Anthony, which Mr. Steele purchased for two hundred

and fifty dollars. He also bought the right of Joseph Reachi's claim, a Canadian voyageur, for two hundred and fifty dollars. These purchases made Mr. Steele the proprietor of a large portion of what is now included in the city of St. Anthony, though R. P. Russell, esq., of this city, was a partner with Mr. Steele in a part of the original town site. In 1845 Pierre Bottineau removed to St. Anthony. He paid Messrs. Russell & Findley one hundred and fifty dollars for the whole of Bottineau's addition to that city. He built the second house in that city. In 1846 an emigrant from the Red River of the North built. another house. Early in June, in 1847, appeared in St. Anthony William A. Cheever, esq., who made a claim in the lower town of that city; and he also, on the tenth of July, in the same year, purchased from Mr. Steele nine-tenths of the water power for $12,000 for the Honorable Robert Rantoul, jr., Caleb Cushing and others. Mills were to be built at once. Ard Godfrey was brought out from Maine to build the mills, and Caleb D. Dorr, John McDonald, Samuel Ferrald and Ira Burroughs were also engaged to assist in matters, and all of whom arrived in the fall of that year. Messrs. Robert W. Cummings, Henry Angell, Captain John Tapper and William Dugas were sent up to Swan river to cut timber for the mill, while Daniel Stanchfield with a crew of men went up Rum river for the same purpose. However, no lumber appeared until the next spring. In the fall of the same year there was built an edifice, just below the bridge, which became classical in con

sequence of the extraordinary propensity which it had for the propagation of trivial, but troublesome animal matter, which is a horror to every civilized daughter and son of Adam. This building in its day was of a good deal of moment; it fed the hungry and protected the people from the storms and cold, but it is to be presumed that its destruction caused no tears to be shed -many a one had been bitten under its respectable roof.

This same fall R. P. Russell, esq., who was an inhabitant of this county at Fort Snelling as early as 1839, moved to St. Anthony and opened the first store in the original log house. His father-inHis father-inlaw's family occupied the same building. Calvin A. Tuttle, esq, with his family, also moved into that city the same year. The first marriage in this city was Honorable R. P. Russell and Miss Patch.

The second marriage was L. N. Parker and Miss Amanda Hurse, on the nineteenth of September, 1849.

The winter of 1847 and '48 was a hard one on the colony. Cushing, Rantoul & Co. failed to keep their contract with Mr. Steele, and the consequence was he had all the bills to foot. Goods that were consigned to the embryo city met with a watery grave; provisions had to be hauled a long distance; men, in the absence of women, had to do housework; lumber could only be secured from the banks of the St. Croix, and matters were gloomy enough. But yet, when spring opened, the affairs brightened again, and in September Mr. Steele had two saws in running order. This year brought more settlers, and

houses went up at a rapid pace. R. P. Russell, Ard Godfrey, Sherman Hurse, Mr. Rogers and Washington Getchell built homes out of the new-made lumber. Captain John Rollins, Governor William R. Marshall, Joseph M. Marshall, the Farnhams and others, became citizens. Messrs. S. W. Farnham, Charles Stimpson, D. Stanchfield, Silas Farnham and Hurse had teams in the pineries hauling and banking pine logs, which the new mill was ready to make into lumber. The land embracing the town site was entered in August, 1848, for one dollar and a quarter per acre. In 1849 the city received many enterprising citizens, consisting in part of Honorable J. W. North, Dr. John H. Murphy, John George Lennon, J. P. Wilson, Joseph McAlpin, Alexander Cloutier, Anson Northup, Francis Huot, Peter Poncin and others. Anson Northup built the St. Charles, and other houses went up in a very satisfactory manner.

This year the territory was organized, and at the first election W.R. Marshall and Wm. Dugas were elected to the house of representatives, and John Rollins to the council. Through the influence of Mr. Marshall and others, a town library was started. A school-house was built, and a Mr. Lee, from Iowa, engaged as a teacher. Preparations were made for building churches, and on the whole it was a year of prosperity. In consequence of the high water, logs in the boom, some six million feet, went down stream, which caused a suspension in the lumber business; but Mr. Steele had, fortunately, a million or two feet of lumber cut up on the Platt river, by

the Honorable Joseph R. Brown, which afforded sufficient lumber for building purposes.

Several clergymen came to the city this year, and meetings were held regularly, much to the satisfaction of the people.

The first territorial legislature selected St. Anthony as the site of the future state university, and measures were taken to set up a preparatory building for that purpose. Over three thousand dollars was contributed by the citizens for this purpose. Unfortunately, Mr. Steele had sold, the previous spring, onehalf of his interest to Arnold W. Taylor of Boston, who was a thorn in the way of advancement of the town. No one could agree with him, and the consequence was strong symptoms of breakers ahead appeared. The difficulties could not be overcome, which ended in a general suspension of business-everything tied up as close as could be wished. Here was a pretty pickle which the people found themselves in, and after a two years' sweat, Mr. Steele, with a good deal of exertion and perseverance, succeeded in purchasing Mr. Taylor's interest, much to the relief of the people. St. Anthony belonged to Ramsey county in the organization of the different counties by the first legislature, and remained so until March, 1856, when it was made a part and parcel of Hennepin county. From 1852 St. Anthony improved rapidly until 1857

In the matter of churches in St. Anthony, the first one organized was the Baptist, in July, 1850. The Congregationalist was organized in November,

1851; the Methodist in August, 1850; Holy Trinity, Episcopal, in 1852; the Universalist in 1853. The Catholics held meetings ever since 1838. Of the first clergymen who preached at St. Anthony, were the Revs. J. P. Parsons and W. C. Brown of the Baptist church; Revs. J. G. Putnam and Newcombe of the Methodist; Revs. Dr. E. G. Gere and T. Wilcoxson of the Episcopal; Rev. S. Barnes of the Universalist; Rev. C. Secombe, Congregationalist; Revs. Mr. Ravoux and Galtier of the Catholic church.

Dr. A. E. Ames, upon his advent into the territory, in October, 1851, collected the scattering Masons who resided in the neighborhood and obtained a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Illinois to open Cataract lodge, U. D. in Ancient Form, and fifteen years and eight days ago that ceremony was observed in the little parlor of Ard Godfrey, when A. E. Ames accepted the east, Colonel W. Smith the west, Isaac Brown the south; Ard Godfrey, treasurer; J. H. Stevens, the secretary; D. M. Coolbaugh, the senior deacon; H. St. Atwood, the junior deacon; William Brewer, tyler; with General J. W. T. Gardiner, then stationed at Fort Snelling, for a member. This is the parent lodge of all the lodges in this vicinity, and we, its charter members, feel a fondness for its prosperity over and above all other lodges around the falls.

Returning to the west side of the Mississippi we find the Rev. G. H. Pond of Oak Grove, and his brother, the Rev. S. W. Pond of Shakopee, settled at Lake Calhoun as missionaries in 1834. In