Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 24

LUTE A. TAYLOR, a young man of decided talent, a good cla.s.sical scholar, a brilliant writer and humorist, came to River Falls in 1856, and in 1857, with his brother Horace, established the River Falls _Journal_, which they continued to publish jointly for three years, when Horace removed to Hudson and established the _Times_. Lute A.

removed to Prescott, taking with him the material of the _Journal_ office, and established the Prescott _Journal_, which he edited and published until 1869, when he removed to La Crosse and published the La Crosse _Leader_ until his death, which occurred in 1872.

Mr. Taylor was a correspondent of various papers and an entertaining lecturer. As a conversationalist and wit, he was without a rival. A slight impediment in his speech, if anything, added to the humorous effect of his pithy sayings. He is well remembered in the valley of the St. Croix. A volume containing his biography and some characteristic sketches has been published since his death.

JOHN HUITT, a Canadian, came to Prescott in 1847, and erected the first blacksmith shop in the village. He was married in Prescott to a daughter of Joseph Mosier, and subsequently pre-empted a quarter section of land on Prescott prairie. He built a saw and planing mill on Trimbelle river. He died at Trimbelle in 1873.

JOHN M. RICE was born in Sudbury, Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1805; was married in 1828, in Ma.s.sachusetts, to Mary A. Goodenough; came in 1837 to Marine, Illinois, and in 1847 to Prescott. Mr. Rice was a house carpenter, but followed also the business of farming. He was an upright man and a member of the Congregational church. He died in 1878, leaving one son, David O., living in Prescott; a daughter, Maria A., wife of G. W. McMurphy, of Prescott, and a daughter in Illinois.

AN INDIAN BATTLE.

The feud between the Sioux and Chippewas originated in prehistoric times and from causes not now known. It has been a tribal vendetta, continuous and relentless, with the advantages in favor of the Chippewas, who, in the course of time, have steadily forced the Sioux westward from the Sault Ste. Marie to the Mississippi at Prescott. We give the following account of one of their battles, being an Indian version, translated and written out by Philander Prescott. This fight occurred in 1711, on the site of the city of Prescott. As the Indians had been supplied by the French with firearms as early as 1700, there is nothing improbable in their alleged use on this occasion. But for the story:

"The Chippewas, a thousand strong, attacked a camp of eighteen Sioux lodges by night and killed most of the warriors. The women and children fled to the canoes, and, jumping in, pushed from the sh.o.r.e, but, in their hurry, without paddles. A large eddy in the river carried the canoes round and round, and, as they swept near the sh.o.r.e, the Chippewas seized them, pulled them to the sh.o.r.e and butchered the women and children. A few Sioux warriors had fled up the bank of the lake, where they hid in crevices and caves of the rocks. The Chippewas discovered their hiding places and killed all but one, who rushed from his retreat, and, diving again and again in the lake, swam for the opposite sh.o.r.e. As often as his head appeared above the water the Chippewas fired a volley of bullets, which fell around like hail, but harmlessly. The bold swimmer finally reached the opposite sh.o.r.e unharmed, when he gave a whoop of joy and disappeared in the thicket. The Chippewas, filled with admiration at his daring exploit, returned his farewell whoop with interest."

RIVER FALLS

Occupies township 27, range 18, and a tier of two sections from range 19. Trimbelle river drains the eastern portion and the Kinnikinic the northwest. Its early history is identified with the history of River Falls city, its first settlement. It was organized in 1854, as Greenwood, but in 1858 the name was changed to River Falls. As River Falls city was not incorporated until 1885, we shall give its early history in connection with that of the town.

The first settler was Joel Foster, in the fall of 1848. In 1849, came D. McGregor, James and Walter Mapes; in 1850, Messrs. Hayes, Tozer, Penn and Parks, and not long after the Powells and Clark Green. These early settlers chose locations at, or near, the present site of River Falls city, and along the banks of the Kinnikinic, which here, owing to its numerous waterfalls, offered unusual facilities for milling and manufacturing. The first crop was raised by Joel Foster, in 1849. The first saw mill was built in 1851 by the brothers N. N. and O. S.

Powell, just below the site of the present Greenwood mill. This was burned in 1876. In 1854 the Powell brothers platted the village of River Falls, called at first, Kinnikinic, setting apart for that purpose two hundred acres of land. This plat included the upper waterfalls within the present city limits. The largest water power they donated to C. B. c.o.x as a mill site, to encourage settlement in the village. The brothers co-operated in building up the village, amongst other things building a frame store and stocking it with goods. This was the first store in the Kinnikinic valley. They dealt also in real estate and lumber. The name of River Falls, as applied to the village, dates from the establishment of the first post office, in 1854. Charles Hutchinson was the first postmaster, and the office was held in this pioneer store. J. S. Rounce, in 1870, built the first foundry in Pierce county.

The water powers of River Falls have been extensively utilized, many saw and flouring mills having been erected at various times on the Kinnikinic. Of these, in 1886, the more notable are, the Junction mills, owned by Freeman, Rhyder & Co., with a capacity of 400 barrels daily, and a barrel manufactory attached, which gives employment to 40 men and turns off from 300 to 400 barrels daily. The Greenwood mills, owned by Geo. Fortune & Co., capacity 50 barrels; the Cascade mills, owned by the Baker estate, capacity 50 barrels; the Prairie mill, built by C. B. c.o.x in 1858, and now owned by J. D. Putnam, capacity 150 barrels.

In educational matters River Falls has taken and maintained an advanced position. The first school house was built in 1854, by seven men, at a cost of five hundred dollars. Helen Flint taught the first school. In 1856 a joint stock a.s.sociation was incorporated as "The River Falls Academy." A building was erected, 36 66 feet, ground plan, and two stories in height. Prof. Wilc.o.x was the first princ.i.p.al.

This school was maintained as an academy until 1860, at which time it was superseded by the free schools. In the fall of 1879 the building was destroyed by fire. Subsequently a commodious brick structure was erected in its place at a cost of $15,000. Excellent private schools were maintained by Hinckley, Cody and Baker, for five years during the '60s. The State Normal School, of which a more extended account is given elsewhere, was established here, and a building erected in 1874, at a cost of about $65,000, the people of River Falls and other towns contributing to this fund $25,000, with private subscriptions to the amount of $12,000, and a donation of ten acres of land. Of the $25,000 River Falls gave $10,000, Troy $4,000, Clifton $3,000, while Pierce county contributed $5,000, and Kinnikinic, St. Croix county, gave $3,000. The building, a handsome brick, four stories high, including the bas.e.m.e.nt, stands on an elevated plat of ground in the southeastern part of the city. The first board of instruction consisted of W. D.

Parker, president, with the following a.s.sistants: J. B. Thayer, conductor of teachers' inst.i.tute; A. Earthman, history, geography, music; Lucy E. Foot, English literature, reading, spelling; Julia A.

McFarlan, mathematics; Margaret Hosford, Latin and English literature.

Model department, Ellen C. Jones, teacher, grammar grade; Mary A.

Kelley, teacher, intermediate grade; Lizzie J. Curtis, teacher, primary grade.

The following are the churches of River Falls, with date of establishment and name of first pastor when known: Congregational, 1855, Rev. James Stirratt; Baptist, 1857, Rev. A. Gibson; Methodist, 1858; Episcopal, 1871, Rev. Chas. Thorpe; Catholic, 1875, Rev. Father Connelly; Seventh Day Adventist, 1881.

With the exception of the last named, these church organizations have good buildings. The Congregational church building erected in 1857 was superseded by a building in 1867 that cost $10,000. This was destroyed by a tornado in 1868, but has since been rebuilt at the cost of the building destroyed, and a parsonage has been added at a cost of $2,000.

A Sunday-school was established in River Falls in 1853, and the first sermon was preached, in 1850 or 1851, by Rev. Julius S. Webber, a Baptist missionary. Rev. John Wilc.o.xson, an Episcopalian, held occasional services as early as 1859.

a.s.sOCIATIONS.

The following are the social and benevolent a.s.sociations of River Falls, with dates of organization: Masonic Lodge, June, 1859; I. O. O.

F., 1872; I. O. G. T., March 15, 1877; Juvenile Temple of Honor, March 15, 1877; Temple of Honor, March 31, 1878; A. O. U. W., 1878. The hall, fixtures and charter of the Odd Fellows Lodge was destroyed in the fire of 1876, but the lodge was rechartered the same year.

THE BANK OF RIVER FALLS

Was organized Jan. 1, 1874. ---- Bartlett, president; Joseph M. Smith, cashier. Capital, $15,000. It was reorganized in 1883, under state law, R. S. Burhyte, president; W. D. Parker, vice president; J. M.

Smith, cashier. Capital stock, $35,000. Total business in 1885, $5,770,733.98.

HUDSON & RIVER FALLS RAILROAD.

This road was built in 1878, the people of River Falls contributing $60,000 to its construction. The road is ten miles in length. In 1885 it was extended to Ellsworth, a distance of twelve miles.

RIVER FALLS BOARD OF TRADE

Was established in 1884. A. D. Andrews, president; C. H. Keys, secretary.

FIRES.

In 1875 the Metropolitan Hotel, costing $15,000, and other buildings were burned; loss $30,000. The insurance was light. In 1876 a large portion of the town was destroyed by fire.

RIVER FALLS CITY.

River Falls was incorporated as a city in 1885. At the first election for city officers, held April 7th, three hundred and nineteen votes were cast, and the following persons were declared duly elected to the positions named: Mayor, A. A. Andrews; treasurer, G. E. Pratt; a.s.sessor, E. H. Daniel; aldermen, First ward, W. W. Wadsworth; Second ward, L. M. Rosenquist; Third ward, R. N. Jenson; Fourth ward, L.

Styles; marshal, R. N. Bevens; city clerk, Allen H. Weld. The license for the sale of intoxicants was fixed at $200. The population of River Falls in 1886 was 1,700. It is a lively, prosperous city, planned on a liberal scale, with wide streets, well shaded with ornamental trees.

The mills have reservations by which they are separated from the business part of the city. The beauty of the original waterfalls is somewhat marred by the mills and their debris. Originally they were very beautiful and picturesque, and were widely celebrated, and much visited by the lovers of Nature. Of these falls there are four, two on the south branch, one on the north branch, and one some rods below the junction of the two streams. The falls were not noted for their grandeur, but rather for their quiet beauty, the water falling over ledges but a few feet in height, and so broken in two of them as to present the general appearance of a succession of stairs, or steps, of unequal elevation, over which the water falls. An interesting feature at the junction of the two rivers is the cave in which the pioneer settler, Judge Joel Foster, with his negro boy, spent the winter of 1848-49. From his cave cabin he had full view of the falls on the two streams, no less beautiful in their winter dress of gleaming icicles, with the frost-whitened boughs of the willow and alder drooping over them, than in their summer brightness. The judge has told me that he loved, almost worshiped, this spot. The cave cabin stood about one hundred feet from the sparkling stream. There, in the early morning, he could cast his line, and have for his regal breakfast the speckled trout. Above him towered a precipice crowned with evergreen trees, and around him, on the borders of the streams, were the elm and maple, and an undergrowth of alder and birch. There certainly could have been no fairer scene in the West. To-day no traces remain of the old cave cabin. The Junction mills have effaced the more beautiful and poetic features of the scene. The judge has pa.s.sed away, and found a grave on an elevation overlooking his old home and the scenes he loved so well.

The judge, although a friend to progress, and active in advancing the material interests of the locality in which he lived, was unalterably opposed to the movement to incorporate River Falls, and did all he could to defeat the measure. When the incorporative act had been pa.s.sed, he moved outside of the city limits, declaring that he would neither live nor die within them; but having been fatally injured by an accident, he was brought back to his old home, and died within the city.

THE FOURTH STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT RIVER FALLS--HISTORY.

The const.i.tution of the State, adopted in 1848, provides "that the revenue of the school fund shall be exclusively applied to the following objects:

"_First_--To the support and maintenance of common schools in each school district, and the purchase of suitable libraries and appurtenances therefor.

"_Second_--That the residue of the income of the school fund shall be appropriated to the support of academies and normal schools, and suitable libraries and appurtenances therefor."

No effort was made to take advantage of this provision of the const.i.tution for the endowment of normal schools until 1857, when an act was pa.s.sed providing "that the income of twenty-five per cent of the proceeds arising from the sale of swamp and overflowed lands should be appropriated to normal inst.i.tutes and academies, under the supervision and direction of a 'board of regents of normal schools,'"

who were to be appointed in pursuance of the provisions of that act.

Under this law, the income placed at the disposal of the regents was distributed for several years to such colleges, academies and high schools as maintained a normal cla.s.s, and in proportion to the number of pupils in the cla.s.s who pa.s.sed satisfactory examinations, conducted by an agent of the board.

The law under which these schools are organized provides that "the exclusive purpose of each normal school shall be the instruction and training of persons, both male and female, in the theory and art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education, and in all subjects needful to qualify for teaching in the public schools; also to give instruction in the fundamental laws of the United States and of this State, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens."

REGULATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Tuition is free to all students who are admitted to these normal schools under the following regulations of the board of regents:

_First_--Each a.s.sembly district in the State shall be ent.i.tled to eight representatives in the normal schools, and in case vacancies exist in the representation to which any a.s.sembly district is ent.i.tled, such vacancies may be filled by the president and secretary of the board of regents.

_Second_--Candidates for admission shall be nominated by the superintendent of the county (or if the county superintendent has not jurisdiction, then the nomination shall be made by the city superintendent) in which such candidate may reside, and shall be at least sixteen years of age, of sound bodily health and good moral character. Each person so nominated shall receive a certificate setting forth his name, age, health and character.

_Third_--Upon the presentation of such certificate to the president of a normal school, the candidate shall be examined, under the direction of said president, in the branches required by law for a third grade certificate, except history, theory and practice of teaching, and if found qualified to enter the normal school in respect to learning, he may be admitted after furnishing such evidence as the president may require of good health and good moral character, and after subscribing to the following declaration: