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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-13 PACKET 05.B.Cottage Grove here Pride and PrOsPerity Meet TO: Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation FROM: John M. Burbank, Senior Planner DATE: March 2, 2018 RE: Military Road Historic Trail Interpretative Signage Introduction In 2018, the long anticipated two-phase Ravine Parkway construction project will be completed between Keats and Jamaica Avenues and a segment east of Hinton Avenue. -e Yrrr. r rr i rrcrrr prtx'r F a. -r - r � e rr rrr•r r s. �{{II .xr f ��: •...�r�r t �Ii � � r r r r T4, 1Ir IlJ II -Illi kyr}�hAy�e°m'®n 4 � �F. .T Irrr EL F I_.T g �7 r ' I ` I I ]P:? as A component of the project is the conversion of Military Road into a recreational trail corridor. One of the design features will be interpretive signs related to the establishment and use of the roadway. Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation Military Road Historic Trail Signage March 2, 2018 Page 2 of 2 LEGEND ROADWAY CURDlMEDLAN /.�I�. SIDEWALK PATH .I I _ u taNDsraPE y r" . ® REMOVAL REMOVE ACCESS --c wv L--- c m x wvwxrsans� u�- .ti-ai. �snr:x�,vsmceaie mxu�rema.maamw _ -_-_. L. ____J MILITARY TRAIL FROM RAVINE AVENUE TO 70TH STREET Discussion The ACHP has been tasked with providing the narrative copy for the design of the interpretive signs. Staff and Committee Member Reckinger have compiled a variety of interesting documents that can aid in the selection of information to include in the design of the new signage. The materials are attached to this memorandum. Recommendation Review, discuss, suggest. MINNESOTA'S MILITARY ROADS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY Washington County was graced by two military roads that date back to the 1850s. Upon Minnesota's creation as a territory in 1849, roads were needed to facilitate the expansion of the coming settlers and for their protection. Henry Sibley was our first territorial delegate to congress. In 1850 he asked for appropriations for the military roads. The initial amount of money approved was $40,000. Along with three other military roads for Minnesota, the work took place during the1850s. These were crude roads by today's standards. Excavating, cutting and filling, culvert and bridge construction were all necessary. Both of Washington County's military roads began at Point Douglas between the Mississippi and Saint Croix Rivers at a crossing from Prescott, Wisconsin. The paths were together until they came out of the valley. One went north through Stillwater and Marine on the Saint Croix and ended at Superior, Wisconsin. It was called the Point Douglas- Saint Louis River Road. The other trail went northwest through Cottage Grove, Newport, and Saint Paul and ended at Fort Ripley and was called the Point Douglas to Fort Ripley Military Road. The paths of these two roads through our county were very crooked roads, but in many places our modern roads were laid over the top of these. A few of these roads are Military Road, Norell, Lamar, and Lehigh on the Fort Ripley road. The path of this road through Cottage Grove is the farthest the path got from the Mississippi River. Parts of the Saint Louis River Road was laid over by Stagecoach and Trading Post Roads as well as Highway 95 in the northern part of the county. Grover Singley authored a booklet for the Minnesota Historical Society's pamphlet series in 1974 called Tracing Minnesota's Old Government Roads. Much of our knowledge comes from his work. Singley also wrote an article about the Point Douglas to Superior road before the pamphlet came out. It appeared in the 1967 spring issue of Minnesota History Magazine. The Washington County Historical Society published- Washington: A History of the Minnesota County in 1977 and there are over 10 pages about the roads in that book. In 2008 the Society published another county history authored by Robert Goodman and the military roads are also noted in that publication. The two maps show the two military roads. The state, map shows the lengths of both of our county's roads as well as the other military roads. The doted trails on the west side of the state are several of the ox cart trails from Canada. The county map shows the paths the two roads took through the southern part of the county. The red lined trail goes to Fort Ripley and the blue trail goes to Superior. The photographs on the two picture boards were taken almost ten years ago. Most of the photos show our modern county roads where the military roads once passed. The three pictures at the bottom of the Fort Ripley board were taken on the north side of the pond between Old Cottage Grove and the Cedarhurst Mansion. Here the military road went from the middle of the village in a northwesterly direction to the mansion, much to the south of today's County 20 (70th Street). On the Saint Louis River board there are several pictures taken near the Johnson Cemetery where the military road closely passed in a south to north direction in southern Denmark Township. Grover Singley began his military road research in the mid 1950s after his retirement. He was almost 90 years old when the Minnesota Historical Society first published his pamphlet in 1974. Section 31 in your township provides a peculiarity for the old Point Douglas to Fort Ripley Military Road. Norell Street comes up to section 31 from the southeast and Point Douglas. Lehigh comes to section 31 from Cottage Grove at the opposite northwest corner. This military road was built in the early 1850s and for about 20 years the path of the military road was one continual path connecting Lehigh and Norell through section 31 in one southeast to northeast line. In the early 1870s a very ambitious farmer named Oliver Dalrymple owned the entire section, all 640 acres. He lobbied and won a decision to keep the military road off his property. The path of the military road after that time came to section 31 on todays Norell, then went west to present day highway 95, then north to Lehigh where it once again turned northwest to Old Cottage Grove. Of course Oliver was not content with 640 acres and turned his attention to the great fields of southeastern North Dakota where he owned what was known as a bonanza farm. At its height, the farm encompassed 115 square miles (about the same as three standard townships that have 36 square miles each). His best wheat yield brought in over 600,000 bushels in one year. Oliver died in 1905 and is buried in Saint Paul's Oakland Cemetery. His son Alton is also buried there and has a very ornate monument. Oliver Dalrymple can be found in several books including an out of print (but still out there in the used book market) book called DAY OF THE BONANZA by Hiram Drache. Another book is CHECKERED YEARS by Mary Dodge Woodward is still kept in print by the Minnesota Historical Society. Oliver left his mark in North Dakota in more way than one. One of his great grandsons is Jack Dalrymple, Governor of the State of North Dakota. I first noticed .lack's name during the Minot flood of 2011 and much more recently when a trainload of crude oil derailed and caused a heck of a fire outside of Casselton (near Fargo). Casselton is where the Dalrymple Farm was and is where Jack and his family live. Jack and Oliver Dalrymple are all over the internet. There is a picture of Oliver on several sites. Another military road also began in Point Douglas but went north to Duluth. This chapter can be read online by googling these 5 words- POINT DOUGLAS DULUTH MILITRAY ROAD. It should be the first entry and is on the website of the Minnesota Historical Society. Your chapter was copied from Grover Singley's booklet-TRACING MINNESOTA'S OLD GOVERNMENT ROADS. The Minnesota Historical Society published the 52 page pamphlet in 1974. 1 looked and there are none available today on the book sites. When it is, it sells for about $50 to over $100.1 paid $3.95 for my copy. . J i . - P. - y ' •.` r fir,` � � EON L 1A 17 OINI KT- 1A ------------- wq .i ��. ..i � � � � I i r •.I � ° h St' 1-, t °wt+ry s. o'°,ti 'L 1 I t I .. ,�_ �,_3•b�YS-� �� .� _! ..i. � '� l I '� �� Iii { _f � Rlexi � � � ol` �' a -t'r � � � � F I� �, � _ I I � I ! •ter { I � -, ' ` ' �.. ,t5- —II - __.. I I a � - - � _ I fid' ..�' .f... _�"� '1•-.{_: 1,3�f�'j��� �th � - .�, V. - 4 6- i � I ,•'zl tK, esu Cl . 1 n _ l. r e T; 7-7 FO iT All , y } r v' I I~ ! V A {I ' . . ........ .... Jo 4 Will 'IN: (� 5 V - - - - _ - - 01 - X12 MR MW 17 e r� r 54. JYL t � � �� ` a x` ,' ' r � i ,;%//���d� 9`9�i'141��}l�i]�"�•• � a�����l;r�ry�i'��A�l� ,1::.'�a'a��� x� : - o in agriculture." A railroad spur was run to his elevator situated opposite his home, and from this location, known as GilfilIan Siding, many carloads of livestock were shipped an- nually to Chicago. One lot of sixty Gilfillan steers in the fall of 1891, each weighing some 1,450 pounds, brought $5.95 a hun- dredweight live, the highest price by ten cents a hundred pounds of any of the ten thousand steers sold in Chicago on that particular day.36 Two years later, in 1893, the editor of the Morgan newspaper toured the farm and concluded: "It is a place worth visiting and is supplied with everything that money can buy." Not surprisingly, there was a system of underground water works leading to the stock buildings —five stock barns which held nine hundred tons of hay and 750 head of stock, three cattle sheds, and a horse barn large enough for forty animals."? In the office at the end of the house, where he spent much time, Gilfillan delighted in sharing his knowledge with his neighbors and in urging them to try experiments which he bad successfully made on his farm. "Every pound of feed that was raised or purchased he weighed, and every pound of beef that left the farm was kept count of, wrote one observer. "No man so much as he, helped to develop the idea of mixed farm- ing." In many ways his efforts to raise the Ievel of agriculture in southwestern Min- nesota are reminiscent of similar efforts else- where made by his friend, banking associate, and fellow Scot, James J. Hill. To both of these men Minnesota farming owes a sizable debt."' Another contribution of his later years was the role he played in the activities of the Minnesota Valley Historical Society, which he helped organize at Morton on February 2, 1895. The most striking achievement of this group was the erection of stone monuments throughout the Minnesota Valley to com- memorate the major events of the Sioux Uprising. Although this form of commem- oration has since gone out of fashion, the program of the society and the interest thus 232 aroused resulted in the preservation of many historic sites which would otherwise have been forever lost to the people of the state. In accomplishing this, many thousands of Gilfillan dollars were spent.3' In 1901 Gilfillan was "badly shaken by a runaway team" and had to leave the farm in order to receive medical attention in St. Paul. Thereafter, while he was able to re- ceive visitors and to go out of doors in good weather, his health failed steadily, and on December 18,1902, he died suddenly.44 The public had understandably assumed that Gilfillan s money ran into the millions. He had obviously bad both the opportunity and ability to amass a fortune. Surprise was expressed, therefore, when his estate was filed for probate and the amount proved to be less than $370,000. Those who knew him best may have suspected this, for his quiet charities, especially in his last years, had been substantial. Obituaries in the state's newspapers resounded with flowery praise, but perhaps the best comment was made by an editor in the farming community that had grown to know him well: "He was a man who put no fence about himself,"41 "Wayne E. Webb and J. I. Swedberg, Redwood: The Story of a County, 139 (St. Paul, 1964), Fairfax Standard, June 1, 1939; The Messenger (Morgan), May 9, 1891; Redwood Gazette, September 10; 1891. "Morgan. Messenger, October 19, 1893. "Morgan Messenger, December 25, 1902. Long before the days of the New Deal's shelter belts in the 1930s, Gilfillan had thousands of trees planted on his prairie land. See Redwood Gazette, May 8, 1890. "Lamberton Star, December 19, 1902; Folwell, Minnesota, 2:390. See also, Sketches HistoAcal and Descriptive of the Monuments and Tablets Erected by the Minnesota Valley Historical Society in Ren- ville and Redwood Counties, Minnesota (Morton, 1902). For a comment on the present-day impor- tance of this early effort at preservation, see Russell W. Fridley, "Preserving and Interpreting Min- nesota's Historic Sites," in Minnesota History, 37:59, 60 (June, 1960). "Morgan Messenger, December 25, 1902; Lam- berton Star, December 19, 1902. 'Morgan Messenger, December 25, 1902. For speculation on Gilfillan's wealth, see Newson, Pen Pictures, 443. THE PORTRAIT of Gilfillan is from the picture collection of the Minnesota Historical Society, r wNEsc,TA History 0 Mr. Sin.gley is a long-time resident of Minnesota. Since his retirement in 1958 he has devoted his time to a study of the territory's military toads in the 1850s. -RETRJCIZVG the MILITARY ROAD From POINT D 0 UGL�S to SUPERIOR GROVER SINGiEY THE ROAD SYSTEM of Minnesota Terri- tory came into existence on July 18, 1850, when Congress passed the Minnesota Road Act, authorizing five "Military Roads" and providing funds for their construction.' These roads were intended for the protec- tion of the frontier, and at the same time they provided access to undeveloped areas for the land -hungry settlers. The five roads authorized by the act were: (1) the Point Douglas–St. Louis River road; (2) the Point Douglas --Fort Gaines road (later renamed the Fort Ripley road); (3) the Wabasha-Mendota road; (4) the Swan Riv- er–Long Prairie road; (5) the Mendota–Big Sioux River road. Of these the one to the St. Louis River was considered the most im- portant for the development of the territory. Editors in St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Still- water hammered incessantly on the theme that a good road between the head of naviga- tion on the Mississippi and the head of navigation on the Great Lakes would make St. Paul the chief supply point for the entire 'United States, Statutes at Large, 9;939. For a complete discussion of this subject, see Arthur J. Larsen, "The Development of the Minnesota Road System," 39-88, an unpublished dissertation in the Minnesota Historical Society. '32 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Docu- ments, no. 1, p. 438-443 (serial 611). Sping 1967 Northwest. It was the first of the routes upon which work was started. The United States Army placed Fust Lieutenant James H. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in charge of building the Minnesota roads, and in the summer and fall of 1851 Simpson's assistant, Josiah Knauer, surveyed the route from Point Douglas to the St. Louis River. He found it to be some 200 miles long.2 In one of his early reports Simpson de- scribed the road as follows: "It runs - en- tirely on the west side of the river Saint Croix ... keeping ... [for about seventy- eight miles] with the exception of the por- tion about Cottage Grove, within a mile or two of its banks. . . . [From Sunrise River] it runs generally about northwest to Snake river, a distance of twenty-four miles, crossing it just below the mouth of Lake Pokegomah [sic]; thence along the east side ... eight miles; thence in a direction gen- erally north 30° east to Kettle river .. . forty miles; and thence in about the same general course to the falls or rapids of the Saint Louis river, a distance of about fifty miles.... From Point Douglass to Still- water .. . the country is . .. prairie more or less rolling. From Stillwater to Otis, three miles beyond Marine Mills ... it is brush 233 and oak openings, with occasionally a sec- tion of prairie. From Otis to the St. Louis river, it is dense timber, the greater portion of which is traversed by extensive marshes and tamarack swamps." 3 During the years of construction four major changes and a number of minor ones were made in the route, reducing its length considerably, while in July, 1854, Congress changed the northern terminal from the falls The Point Douglas -St. Louis Raver woad, built by the United States Corps of Topo- graphical Engineers in the years 1851-57 St. Louis B. Fgnd Superior Conlon du Lac OIL. L Twin Lakes f; BinahooE " Barnum // 8'' o uav, A' .route °ole ��Moase L. salllers' rood 6 E Z i f (7854) 51ur,geon L. �/ m n f yj111m'145 III N l' aYz I � 1 - Sondslone Grindstone R, �hare�, Loading Hinskloy i l E %A• � chem- sti a°� Pakegama L. i wolona Pine+Cily Rush 1 Ci,y i Rush L. s Goose L. � 4 rise �. T°ylars Falls wynming;' .o r' F t L. � Marina -on -St. Crolx J. r t Sliilwoter 1 St. Poul Ccnapa f Afton orov. 9, t �1+st„1 Point o°uglos Ppi R. 234 of the St, Louis River to its mouth at the town of Superior, Wisconsin, thus adding about 16 miles. In 1858, when the survey and location were complete, the length of the road was reported as 178 miles, but there is reason to think that some of the improve- ments and cutoffs then included were never made, and the length as traveled seems to have been about 185 miles.4 As of rune, 1966, the old military road was divided approximately as follows: In- terstate Highway 35, 2 miles; Minnesota state highway system, 15 miles; county roads, 75 miles; abandoned, 93 miles. The author has traveled with his car over all of the route that is still maintained by state and county highway funds. Good luck and several exceptionally dry years permitted the use of the car over additional miles that are grown up to grass, weeds, and brush. Many more were explored on foot. Tracking down old roads is complicated by the wandering course they took; if at any time they coincide with section lines it cannot have been intentional on the part of the engineers. Good stout clothes are a must for anyone with the urge to explore these old routes, for they lead through briars, prickly ash thickets, and poison ivy, while in summer mosquitoes, deer flies, and wood ticks are plentiful. But local history enthusiasts will understand the satisfaction that comes with seeing a faint trace of the old track leading across a pasture or down '32 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Docu- ments, no, 1, p• 440 (serial 611). 'United States, Statutes at Large, 10:306; 35 Congress, 2 session, Senate Executive Documents, no. 1, p, 1193 (serial 976). In searching out the exact route followed by the military road, the author relied mainly on the original survey map, of which he obtained a photographic copy from the Na- tional Archives. See "Map of Road from Point Douglas to the Falls of the Saint Louis River," (Roads 108); "Map of Northern Extension of Road From Point Douglas to St. Louis River," (Roads 123) both in Record Group 77. (Hereafter records in the National Archives are indicated by the symbol NARG followed by the record group number,) Sev- eral inaccurate accounts of the route have been published. See, for example, George H. Primmer, "Pioneer Roads Centering at Duluth," in Minnesota History, 16:282-299 (September, 1935). NmN-EsoTA History a stream bank in exactly the spot where the original survey indicates that it should be. POINT DOUGLAS, the southern terminal, has, Iike the road itself, almost vanished.' Except for some parts of foundations, all the buildings near the boat landing have disappeared. The Burlington and Milwau- kee railroads have laid tracks across the water front, and U.S. Highway 10 has out a deep ravine under the Milwaukee tracks, The starting point of the military road was at the foot of Burris Street, near Levi Hert- zelPs warehouse. It ran north 1,030 feet, then turned northwest for another 485 feet. Con- tinuing in a northerly direction, it crossed sections 9, 4, and 5 of Township 26 North, Range 20 West, then went through sections 32, 28, 21, 16, 9, and 4 of T. 27 N. R. 20 W. (See map, p. 236,) Contrary to what one might expect, this was not the first part of the road built. Be- fore Lieutenant Simpson could get con- struction going on it, he received a petition originating in Stillwater and Point Douglas, 'For an account.of the early settlement of Point Douglas, see William H. C. Folsom, Fifty Yeal's in the Northwest, 364-366 (St. Paul, 1888). The origi- nal plat of the town is on file in the Washington County Courthouse, Stalwater" "John J. Abert to Charles M. Conrad, Secretary of War, September 2, 1850; December 22, 1851, Letter Books, Topographical Engineers, NARG 77; Congressional Globe, 32 Congress, I session, 1174, ° United States, Statutes at Large, 10:150; 11:203. Simpson employed William Payte, a civil engineer, to resurvey this 19 miles duringJuly, 1855, As finally relocated, the line bypass" both Cottage Grove and the Bolles mill. On October 1, 1857, a contract was signed with S. W. Furber and J. W. Hamilton to build it for $1,949.80. 34 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Documents, no. 1, p. 471 (serial 811); map of "Relocation of the Southern Section of Paint Douglas & St. Louis River Road," (Roads 134); George Thom to Abert, October 1, 1857, Letters Received, 'Topographical Engineers, NARG 77. Two county road surveys, dated Septem- ber, 1858, and August, 1879, on file in the Washing- ton County Courthouse, were helpful in following the exact line of the military road as relocated by Payte. B Folsom, Fifty Years -in the Northwest, 358, 367; George M. Warner and Charles M. Foote, History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley, 411 (Minneapolis, 1881), Spring 1967 requesting that Cottage Grove be bypassed and the road run from Point Douglas to Stillwater by way of the Bolles mill near Afton.3 The relocation required the approval of Congress, since Cottage Grove was men- tioned as a point on the road in the original act. This was remedied in 1853, when the army was authorized to build the road "by the most direct and convenient route" be- tween the two terminals, but construction on the southernmost 19 miles was delayed until 1857. By that time Congress had lost interest in the matter, and of some $31,000 appropriated for completion of the road in 1857, only about $2,000 was available for this stretch. The lack of funds may account for the fact that so few traces of the old road can be found in Denmark Township." One part that may be dimly seen is hidden in a brushy fence row in the northwest quar- ter of section 28. Two more places are farther north, in section 16, where the old- road crossed a crooked creek several times. Still farther north, in section 4, where the mili- tary road crossed a branch of Trout Brook, a shallow ravine cut down to accommodate an old road is still visible on the north bank of the creek. A few hundred feet beyond, the military route comes into a county road, which follows the old line north through sections 33 and 28 of T. 28 N. R. 20 W. Much of the country between Point Doug- las and Stillwater was settled by 1857, and some of the old farms still serve as guides to the route. One is the Simon Shingledeeker place in section 8 of T. 27 N. R. 20 W.; an- other is the home of Thomas Persons, which was located where the military route crossed the old Afton -Cottage Grove road, A half mile farther north the government road passed the house of Joseph Haskell, who in 1839 was the first man to take up farming as a way of life on the Washington County prairie," From Haskell's place the route ran north among some low hills, then down along the vest side of a deep ravine in section 16 to Valley Creek. There it turned east and fol- lowed along the creek to a high hill, turned 235 The ?naps Here and on the following pages shoto the military road (broken red line) in sections of 20 aniles or snore, beginning at the southern end. Present roads appear in black; surveyors' lines and numbers are shoton in blue. The original maps from which these were prepared were drawn by the author, left around the foot of this hill and then went north through section 10 and into section 3 of T. 28 N. R. 20 W. on a line now followed by a county road. At about the time the military road was built, Erastus Bolles located in section 10 and set up a blacksmith shop. The old Bolles house still stands beside the road in a grove of trees south of.the town hall in the community of Valley Creek." About half way across section 3 the county road makes a short bend to the west, then continues north again through sections 3, 34, and 27. The military road did not turn but went straight ahead, and the county road comes back to the old route again in sec- tion 27 of T. 29 N. R. 20 W. North of here in section 22 is another early settler's place -- the Jacob Fisher farm— and a mile and a half farther an is the homestead of David H. Fisk, still to be seen among some trees just west of the railroad crossing. Soon after leaving the Fisk faun in section 10, the road ran down through a winding ravine to the home of "Big Joe" Perro (or Perreau) on the bank of Perro Creek. Big Joe was a retired river pilot whose house stood on the north bank of the stream, a short distance south of the walls of the present state prison.") From his place the road ran up what is now Main Street of Oak Park, then along the bluffs by the St. Croix into Stillwater. THE FIRST PROPOSALS for construc- tion on the St. Louis River road, opened March 15, 1852, called for bids on 31 miles °Augustus H. Easton, History of the Saint Croix Valley, 1:370 (Chicago, 1909). 'Folsom, Fifty Years in the Northwest, 80; Warner and Foote, Histoa•y of Washington County, 425, wt z N r I a MINNESOTA History of road between the southwest corner of the cemetery at the top of the Bill in Still- water and milepost 56 at the falls of the St. Croix."1 Almost immediately a move devel- oped in Stillwater to change the first 8 miles of the route to run along the St. Cron: and through Arcola, then a busy sawmill town some 6 miles upriver from Stillwater. Be- cause of the difficulties of the river route, Simpson had laid out the road on the high ground farther back, and despite a local tradition that it passed through Arcola, there is good evidence. that he stuck to his original plan.12 According to this, the military road ran from the southwest corner of the cemetery to a place on Browns Creek in section 20 of T. 30 N. R. 20 W. There is now a. substantial bridge over Browns Creek and the railroad tracks at this point, but the depression at the south end where the military road ran down over the bank and crossed the creek on a bridge of fieldstone is easy to trace. A short way north of the creek the county road forks, the right branch following the military route north and northeast through sections 17, 9, and 10. Near the southwest corner of section 2 of T. 30 N. R. 20 W. the old road has been incorporated into State Highway 95. This now follows the old route through sections 31 and 30 .of T. 31 N. R. 19 W. to Harvey Creek in section 19. ( See map at right.) From Harvey Creek the military road con- tinued north across sections 19 and 18 to a 'Minnesota Pioneer (St. Paul), February 12, 1852. Until 1872-73 the Stillwater cemetery was located along the north .side of Laurel Street, be- tween Second and Fourth streets. "Simpson to Abert, May 22, 1852, Letters.Re- ceived, Topographical Engineers; "Ma of Pro- posed Routes from Stillwater to Arcola," (Roads 96) NARG 77. The minutes of the Washington County commissioners for 1.856 reveal that a county road was ordered built from Stillwater through Arcola "to intersect the Point Douglas & St. Louis River Road at Harvey Creek." ("Proceedings," July 7, 1856, on file in the office of the county auditor, Still- water.) Since Harvey Creels is a mile or more beyond Arcola, such a road would not have been necessary had the military route included Arcola. Spring 1967 237 23 1, 24 c,19 12 7 8 �m \I 26 25 30 35 36 13 T. 36 N. R.21 W. 31 T. 35 N. R.21 W. 2 1 6 J 1, 12 7 21 cHe nswnrnr+�+ N�A1S I i1 36=aR F�36 N. a20 W 35 T 35 N, R. 20 W. E 4 3 2 1 1 6 9 10 1 i 12 I 7 �R 15 14 13 1 18 �4� I 19 'pY T36 N. R.19 W, T. 35 N. R, 19 W. 5 a , 1s 17 I 30 29 28 27 steep hill and an extensive swamp south of Marine Mills (now Maxine -on -St. Croix). To I 31 3z 33 34 I avoid this difficulty, Simpson ran the road 135 .R. 19 W to the left until it reached a place where the I .34 N. R. 19 W. descent was easier. It then turned east to i 6 .0 1 4 the St. Croix and north along the river, pos- sibly following Judd Street in Marine. North Z7 out of town the route ran along the side hill a between Third and Fourth streets to a level bench on the side of the bluff, which it f©1- 18 17 lowed through sections 31 and 30 of T. 32 N., R. 19 W. to the faun home of Benjamin I 19 F. Otis. At this spot the town of Vasa was platted in 1856, but the financial crash of 1857 I 30 2s clipped its wings. Today the crossroads 31 OSHAcommunity goes by the name of Copas,Here Highway 95 turns to the left and IT 3a N. crosses the Soo Line tracks by an overpass, I 6 5 but the military road continued north along 1 the river for about a mile to a point where I 7 e the town of Otisville was later platted.13 I There it turned left and ran to the northwest [ corner of section 19, where Highway 95, OWNER 6 bh.: � +�24� 18 15 1420 21 2223ry 26 0,2726 coming fromthe south, takes the old route 18 17 through section 18. 1 19 20 21 1 "James Taylor Dunn, The St. Croix: Midwest 30 29 Border River, 187 (New York, 1965); "Map Ex- 1 hibiting the Location of the U. S. Military Roads in Minnesota," (Roads 156) NARG 77, 238 15 22 / 35 J_T.34 N. R.18 W, IT 33N. R.18 W. 2 I 11 co a L MINNESPTA .History Sections 12 and I of T. 32 N. R. 20 W. and section 6 of T. 32 N. R. 19 W. are badly out up by ravines which made the old route ex- ceedingly crooked in places. A glance at the map for this part of the road (p. 237) will show how Highway 95 cuts across these twists and turns. With- a little footwork some of the abandoned parts of the old road can still be found, FROM THE Washington—Chisago County line the military road continued northeast through sections 31 and 29 to the northwest part of section 28 of T. 33 N. R. 19 W. At this point Highway 95 has been routed across a swamp, but the old road ran along the hillside to the west, then northeast through sections 21, 16, and 9 to Lawrence Creek in section S. There a three-mile sec- tion of the first survey line was rerouted. As laid out by Knauer, the road ran downstream a considerable distance before crossing the creek, but Simpson took it to the head of a ravine a short distance west of where the present county road crosses, then followed along the east side of this ravine down to the creek. ( See map, p. 238.)14 On the north side the military road ap- parently angled to the right up along the high bank to the top of the bluff. The county road runs directly across the creek and through a deep cut in the north bank, then across sections 35, 26, and 25 of T. 34 N, R. 19 W. to Taylors Falls. The old road also entered the town from the west. It ran down- hill to where Folsom Street comes into the highway from the left and there turned off to the right. The route it followed over the top of the bluff, past the house of William H. C. Folsom, then down along the edge of the hill to the main street of Taylors Falls is still called Government Street. In Taylors Falls, as elsewhere, a hundred years have made many changes. From the foot of the bluff the old road ran toward the St. Croix, then north along the bank of "Simpson to Abert, September 23, 1853, and ac- companying map (Roads 113), Letters Received, Topographical Engineers, NARG 77. Spring 1967 zoo 9 10 11 12 7 8 16 15 / 13 i t3 17 a 14 24 19 20 22 23 21 cHe nswnrnr+�+ 28k0000 wk P1Na 26 25 30 29 3435 -36 31 32 ow T.39 GTV N. '801' 8451 R.21 W, ' T 39 N. R. 20 W. _ N. _ R.21W. T.38 N. R. 20 W T39 3 2 1 6 5 4 g 10 ` 1i 12 7 8 16 15 14e13 1B 17 r- war yo 21 2 23� rr Y. StoeK 24 19 20 28 27 r 30 29 625 F 34 36 332 32 33 T. 38 N. R. 21 W T. 38 N. R. 20 W. T. 3 7 N. R. 21 W I T. 37 N. R. 20 W. 5 4 3 2 FFA 12 I 7 8 � 10 11 17 16 15 1 RU5H3EBA 13 18 RUSR �j �• 22 23+1 24 19 20 1 m .�# 29 28 27 28, 25 30. 35I 32 33 34 36 F. 37 N. R. 21 W. R. 21 W 4 3 2 1 1 I I T 36 N 5 8 9 10 11 12 GboS� 4 1 17 16 15 13 I 0)1 zoo the river to a rocky knoll. This rock outcrop can still be seen at the Minnesota end of the Northern States Power Company's dam. If the military road was constructed as origi- nally laid out, then it ran along between this knoll and the river, and at least a half mile of it is now under water. Possibly three- quarters of a mile upriver the route turned up the bluff. An old road barely apparent to the eye ascends the bluff at this point; it could be the one. On top of the bluff, farming has destroyed all evidence until one reaches the north line of section 24, where a county road follows the military route in a northerly direction across sections 13, 11, and 2. In section 2 the county road ends, but traces of the older road can be followed on foot through the woods to Dry Creek, where another county road picks up the route and carries it along the St. Croix through sections 35, 94, and 27 of T. 35 N. R. 19 W. At the south line of section 21 the county road turns west, but the military road con- tinued on along the bank of the river. It crossed Deer Creek at the north line of sec- tion 21 and another small stream a little farther on in section 16. To avoid sonic swampy ground it turned northwest and ran along the foot of a steep hill for a short distance, then up through a sandy ravine to the top of a bluff in section 17. From this point the old road continued on a northwesterly course through sections 8, 5, and 6 of T. 35 N. R. 19 W. and on into section 31 of T. 36 N. R. 19 W. There a bend in the river caused the route to turn south- west through section 36 of T. 36 N. R. 20 W., then west across sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of T. 35 N. R. 20 W. to the Sunrise River, which the road crossed on a bridge 75 feet long. When work ended for the year 1854 the military road was completed to milepost 78, approximately 4% miles beyond the Sunrise River. A few measurements on the United States Geological Survey map for this area place this post in the southeast quarter of section 23 of T. 36 N. R. 21 W. -- or a long half mile east of the Goose Creek swamp. MINNESOTA HiStOPY ANOTHER CHANGE made possible when Congress authorized use of the "most direct and convenient route" in January, 1853, appears in the next section of the road. Knauer's survey line had rua from milepost 78 to the northwest along the east shore of Rush Lake. It bad crossed the Snake River 12 ,//,70' Y I a I 9 14 113 /," I IS f� 17 I 16 34loo, 6. 27 29 28 6 "'' X3 — ' 52 — 4 1 26 1 31 32 •33 / 34 35 8 9 10 I T.43 N. R. 20 W. 1 KE15 .NIP — — — — - T.42 N. R. 20 W � 3 6 5 4 7 e 9 f z 1q h 1B U, 17 h� 16 15 —477 19 20 11121 22 29 - 1 25 30 1 27 281 36 31 34 1 T. 42 N. _ R. 21 W. R,4 32 33 i T.42N.R.20W. _ T. 41 N. R.21 WT,41N. _ R.20.W. 6 y 5 14 1 ��ti o�ER�B 3 12 7 s 9 10 13 I '17 / y10 J I S 5 i 1 16 ¢x.\2"4- !9 GRtrl°sra eQ V21 HINCKLEY 25 30 29 28 27 I aHn 8E 36 1 31 32.j 33 34 T41 N. R.2 W I T. 41 N. R. 20 W. _ 3 2 1 6 5 4 t 10 1.1 12' 7 1, 8 9 15 14 18 �1 16 13 17 r 22 23 24 19 20 21 Mtssto= 28 2S 25 3o' 29 28 27 / 33 34 35 315 j 31 32 33 T.40N. R. 21 W. a.... b.., /TAO N. R. 20 W. T 39 N. R. 21 W. T39 N. R. 20 W. ^ 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 a the river to a rocky knoll. This rock outcrop can still be seen at the Minnesota end of the Northern States Power Company's dam. If the military road was constructed as origi- nally laid out, then it ran along between this knoll and the river, and at least a half mile of it is now under water. Possibly three- quarters of a mile upriver the route turned up the bluff. An old road barely apparent to the eye ascends the bluff at this point; it could be the one. On top of the bluff, farming has destroyed all evidence until one reaches the north line of section 24, where a county road follows the military route in a northerly direction across sections 13, 11, and 2. In section 2 the county road ends, but traces of the older road can be followed on foot through the woods to Dry Creek, where another county road picks up the route and carries it along the St. Croix through sections 35, 94, and 27 of T. 35 N. R. 19 W. At the south line of section 21 the county road turns west, but the military road con- tinued on along the bank of the river. It crossed Deer Creek at the north line of sec- tion 21 and another small stream a little farther on in section 16. To avoid sonic swampy ground it turned northwest and ran along the foot of a steep hill for a short distance, then up through a sandy ravine to the top of a bluff in section 17. From this point the old road continued on a northwesterly course through sections 8, 5, and 6 of T. 35 N. R. 19 W. and on into section 31 of T. 36 N. R. 19 W. There a bend in the river caused the route to turn south- west through section 36 of T. 36 N. R. 20 W., then west across sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of T. 35 N. R. 20 W. to the Sunrise River, which the road crossed on a bridge 75 feet long. When work ended for the year 1854 the military road was completed to milepost 78, approximately 4% miles beyond the Sunrise River. A few measurements on the United States Geological Survey map for this area place this post in the southeast quarter of section 23 of T. 36 N. R. 21 W. -- or a long half mile east of the Goose Creek swamp. MINNESOTA HiStOPY ANOTHER CHANGE made possible when Congress authorized use of the "most direct and convenient route" in January, 1853, appears in the next section of the road. Knauer's survey line had rua from milepost 78 to the northwest along the east shore of Rush Lake. It bad crossed the Snake River 12 ,//,70' Y I a I 9 14 113 /," I IS f� 17 I 16 NO I F 24 1 19 20 21 I 25 1 30 29 28 KY°H 131 32 33 T 45 N. R. 18 W 1 I LRHE ELYE I r 13 21 ~22 23 24 c 28 26 25 X 27 1 wv. KE 34 RIVER 35 36 1 45_N. R. 19 W. ' 744 N.R.1 W�I 4 3 2 1 10 11 12 rLtLyO" 32 5 fi I 7 r 8 9 I I 14 13 18 17 15 16 21. 22.4 23 , 24 �/ 20 aw / 19 g 25 / 28 27 26 F I 30 29 33 e34 35 t 1 .31 32 44N, R.20_W 1IT44 R_ 7 43N R. 20 W. T. 4.3 N. R,19 4 frr 2 / 1 6 5 3 �F V2,4 16. 1518 i7 21 22 2319 20 at the outlet of Pokegama Lake, then run north and northeast to the Kettle River at Deer Creek. During the winter of 1854-55 Simpson sent` survey crews out to stake a new line. A number of miles were saved' by rerouting the road directly north to the Snake River, which was crossed where it flows out of Cross Lake at the old Indian village of Chengwatana. The new and old survey lines merged once more at Deer Creek, about 3 miles northeast of the present town of Hinckley. This change in the route produced a sharp right angle at milepost 78 and left a prob- 241 34loo, 6. LAKE 35, — ' 52 — 4 1 lS LAM. LRKE I SLE 8 9 10 11 CUAGE°N KE15 .NIP 14 NO I F 24 1 19 20 21 I 25 1 30 29 28 KY°H 131 32 33 T 45 N. R. 18 W 1 I LRHE ELYE I r 13 21 ~22 23 24 c 28 26 25 X 27 1 wv. KE 34 RIVER 35 36 1 45_N. R. 19 W. ' 744 N.R.1 W�I 4 3 2 1 10 11 12 rLtLyO" 32 5 fi I 7 r 8 9 I I 14 13 18 17 15 16 21. 22.4 23 , 24 �/ 20 aw / 19 g 25 / 28 27 26 F I 30 29 33 e34 35 t 1 .31 32 44N, R.20_W 1IT44 R_ 7 43N R. 20 W. T. 4.3 N. R,19 4 frr 2 / 1 6 5 3 �F V2,4 16. 1518 i7 21 22 2319 20 at the outlet of Pokegama Lake, then run north and northeast to the Kettle River at Deer Creek. During the winter of 1854-55 Simpson sent` survey crews out to stake a new line. A number of miles were saved' by rerouting the road directly north to the Snake River, which was crossed where it flows out of Cross Lake at the old Indian village of Chengwatana. The new and old survey lines merged once more at Deer Creek, about 3 miles northeast of the present town of Hinckley. This change in the route produced a sharp right angle at milepost 78 and left a prob- 241 lem for the road hunter, Oldertl eo le in p p Ze As' before, the military road is here shown area say the road did not make a square by a broken line. The solid red line follows ST. LOUIS' 16 15 19aAv SOF, turn but cut across the corner. The story the route of the 1851 survey north to the St. seems to be confirmed by a plat book of Louis River near present-day Carlton, and 21 22 23 Chisago County published in 1888, which the extension from milepost I70 east to Su- *oda shows a country road running through.sec- period• as `laid out by William Rock in the 28 27 26 25 1 rf 414 tions 31, 25, 24, and 223 of T, 36 N. R. 21 W. hinter of 1854--55. 5PIRf 30 30 29 to Goose Creek in section 14. LAKE 31 32 33 34 35 6 � � 32 After crossing Goose Creek, the military road continued across sections 11 and `2, of T.49 N. R.14 W. — � — — 749 N.R13 W T. 36 N. R, 21 W. and sections 35, 26,23, "ALTON FOND T48N. 4 14 W. 3 2 / T4 N.5 R. 13 W. 14, 11, and 2 of T. 37 N. R, 21 W. on aline Du LAG ,i6 5 Sd1 ERIOR GIrY !-im now followed by a county road. Where it 11 $ 12 I 7 OLIVER 8 ftG 10 7 8 crossed Rush Creek in section 14 of, the 12 I 8 12 1 7 _ PM1L� 12 I latter township, George Folsom built, a ' ' 13 14 SRN '0 hr w � house that became a stopping lace for pp g p 15 1B 17 16 14 13 1 18 17 16 15 14 � 19 I � 18 17 r R51 ATE A' 16' ffi�ex 14 13 18 � travelers. To this a store and mill were `K°B- LAKE i5 29 21 22 24 19 20 21 23 24 119 z Zii 20 21 22 23 R SER 20 21 22 35 23 24 I 24 ' I Zi L+rrl.e POKtGnt?`� I. 19 �. tri = I 29 28 2717 25 30 29 29yA1t 26 25 1 30 z 29 28 27 26 ,. I 30 Bla oOxecArrz X27 26 ILEP°5 170 27 1 - 25 1 29 28 3Q 33 34 HAY LAKE LLAr A BELLE TWIN 32 33 �� 35 36 32 33 131 7 48 N. RA 7 W. 35 36 148H. R16. W 34 �'31 IT 47 N. 1 R.18 W. 4 3 2 I 1 T.47 N. R.17 W 2T47N. R.16 W.+ALF 6 5 ' 6 5 SW REAR A 3 r 1 N° 6 aq4 5 x 3 1 I I 12 1 7 8 9 10. 11 I 12 % 7 8 LAKE 9 + ' 11 12 7 I I !i 1c 1.3 18 17 1fi 15 r 1� I REN Wq 15 bridges have spanned the river at that point and the northwest tip of section 13, where MUN86N LPKE +� 1e 17 i5 14 13 since 1855, it crossed over a causeway and bridge, It 22 With the arrival of the military road, a then continued north through sections 12 24 1 19 20 21 z3 24 19 BLACK_ HOLnKE 21 22 23 24 townsite was platted on the angle of ground and 1 of M 39 N. R. 21 W. and sections 36 LA 20 SLACKMQ°F east of Cross hake and north of the Snake and 25 of T. 40 N. R. 21 W. In section 24 25 3o 29 28 26 25 f3LPG%HOOF RIV � River, which had long been the site of an it turned northeast into section 19 of T. rwENrvNtNE LAKE { 27 30 I Indian village. Alhambra, promoted by 40 N. R. 20 W., then headed north again 3132 33 35 36 Judd, Walker, and Company of Marine and through sections 18, 7, and 6. (See map, p, r �/ r 34 T. 47 N. RAS W. Daniel A. Robertson of St. Paul in 1856, 240.) �P¢ uNR 5 LL^�T—i-46N .S . R.18 W. _ -- existed chiefly on paper for several years In T. 41 N. R. 20 W. it passed through sec- 1 6 2 1 and through sections 35 and 26 of T. 39 N. R. and was then replatted, reverting to the tions 32, 29, and 20 to the Grindstone River, 21 W. down to the Snake River crossing, Indian name of Chengwatana. 1t prospered which it crossed just to the west of the pres- (See map, p. 239.) modestly until 1869, when it was bypassed ent bridge. Through the northwest quarter added, and several of the early maps mark The first bridge over the Snake River, by the Lake Superior and Mississippi Rail- of section 21 it can still be traced with ease, the place "Rushby" or "Rushseba. "> r, Be- made of wood and 175 feet long, was built road and was replaced by Pine City, which running northeast across a pasture to a very yond Rush Creek the road soon crosses the during the summer and fall of 1855. It was grew up beside the railroad tracks on the brushy brook. Beyond this the route has Chisago—Pine County line and continues wrecked by high water a year or so later west bank of the lake,16 again been converted to a county road and north through sections 35, 26, 23, 14, 11, and had to be replaced. Its exact location The military road ran along the east side can be followed by car through sections 16, and 2 of T. 38 N. R."21 W. At the north line can only be guessed at, as at least three new of Cross Lake through sections 26, 23, 14, .9, and 4 of T. 41 N. R. 20 W. and through of section 2 the county road ends, but the sections 33, 28, and 21 of T. 42 N. R. 20 W. old route continues on across a farmyard 1'Folsom, Fifty Years in the Northwest 343, 1eDunn, The St. Croix, 188• to Sandstone in sections 16 and 9. Beyond 242 IVIINNusoTA History . Spring 1967 243 the town it crosses section 4 of T. 42 N. R. 20 W. and sections 33, 34, and 27 of T. 43 N, R. 20 W. Sandstone was not a point on the original route, as it did not develop until 1885, when the quarries on the Kettle River were opened up.17 Where State Highway 23 crosses the mili- tary route, Interstate Highway 35, coming from the southwest, takes over the old road through the north half of section 27 and almost across section 22, Near the northeast corner of this section the route made. a short bend to the west to avoid some low ground, then turned northeast again through sec- tions 14 and 11 to the Kettle River crossing. (See map, p, 241.) A bridge 96 feet long was built here in 1855, but it was so badly dam- aged by high water a year or so later that it needed extensive repairs. Fortuna, another "paper town," was platted at this point. With the bridge at its center, it extended one mile from east to west and half a mile from south to north." Except for an old Ianding camp, the only evidence of an occupant is a cellar hole on the east side of the river not far from the bridge site. This may mark the location of the Kettle River stage station, About a hundred feet southwest of the cellar hole the military road crossed Cane Creek and ran northeast through sections 11, 2, and 1 of T. 43 N. R. 20 W., sections 36, 25, and 24 of T. 44 N. R. 20 W., and sections 19, 18, 7, 8, 5, and 4 of T, 44 N. R. 19 W. to the Willow River bridge. Shortly before reaching Willow River the route is picked up by a county road which follows it northeast through sections 33, 34, 27, 22, 15, 10, 11, and 2 of T. 45 N. R. 19 W. to the Pine -Carlton County line. The traveled por- tion ends at a farmhouse in the south part of section 2, and the next three miles or more through the rest of section 2 and see - tions 35 and 25 of T. 46 N. R. 19 W. must be traversed on foot through woodland and pasture, to the east shore of Little Moose Lake, the location of the Elkton stage sta- tion. The old route becomes a county road 244 again near the southwest corner of section 24 and winds northeasterly across the Por- tage River in section 24, then through sec- tion 13. Near the center of section 7 of T. 46 N. R. 18 W. the old route once more takes off across country, making it necessary to negotiate. 2R miles on foot through sections 7 and 5 and section 33 of T. 47 N. R. 18 W. Near the northeast corner of section 33 a county road again takes up the route, first in a northerly, then in a northeasterly direc- tion through sections 27, 22, 23, and 14, to the west line of section 13 in T. 47 N. R. 18 W. ( See map, p. 242.) Only the hardy will follow the next 7 or 8 miles of the route across section 13 of T. 47 N. R. 18 W. and through sections 18, 17, 9, 10, 3, 2, and 1 of T. 47 N. R. 17 W. This part of the old road is almost totally abandoned. In section 18 it crosses the Blackhoof River, on the east bank of which the town[ of Trenton was platted and the Blackhoof stage station once stood.18 Both have van- ished. Twin Lakes, now called Scott's Corner, in section 36 of T. 48 N. R. 17 W. was once a Place of some importance on the military road. It had a stage station which also served as a trading post, general store, and court- house -for this was the seat of Carlton County from 1857 to 1870. When the court- house was moved to Carlton and traffic ceased on the military road, Twin Lakes dwindled to its present status as a country crossroads.24 The first survey line for the Point Doug- las -St. Louis River road ran northeast from 1zLocating the route in the Sandstone area and farther north was greatly expedited by the help of Colonel John N. Stubler, retired, of Sandstone, an- other old roads enthusiast. "A copy of the plat of Fortuna is in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society. See also, Dunn, The St. Croix, 186. Y0"Map .. , of the U.S. Military Roads," (Roads 156) NARG 77. For a description of the Blaekhoof station, see Jobn T. Trowbridge, "Railroad Route From St, Paul to Duluth in 1869," in Minnesota History, 37.107, 107n, (September, 1960). "Trowbridge, in Minnesota History, 37:108, 108n. miNNEsaTA History Twin Lakes to the vicinity of Wrenshall, then north to a falls on the St. Louis River just below Thomson Dam, probably about where Otter Creek comes in from the west. After Congress changed the northern termi- nal to Superior in 1854 Simpson's assistant, William Rock, ran the line for this extension in a southeasterly direction from mile- post 170 to the Wisconsin state line in sec- tion 31 of T. 48 N. R. 15 W., then east and northeast through Wisconsin to Superior, Construction apparently did not follow the survey, for all information available at this time indicates that instead of starting near milepost 170 this extension, to the military road ran a comparatively straight course east from Twin Lakes to the Minnesota -Wis- consin line.21 The route is still in use as a county road. IN WISCONSIN the line ran east then northeast across sections 31, 32, 33, 34, 27, 26, 25, ''and about half way across section 24 of T. 48 N. R. 15 W. At this point the county road turns north to the town of Oliver, but the old route continued to the northeast through the brush and swamps of sections 19, 18, and 1.7 of T. 48 N. R. 14 W., crossing the Little Pokegama River two times on the way. Near the north line of section 17, where the Interstate Transfer Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway intersect, the mili- tary road seemed to end in a bog. Two attempts to locate it from this bog to Supe - '34 Congress, I session, Senate Executive Dom- ments, no. 1, p. 470 (serial 811). An old resident of Scott's Corner told the author that a road leading east from that point existed before the present county.road. In the early 1900s it was filled with weeds and seldom used. No evidence of a road is traceable from milepost 170. X34 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Docu- ments, no. 1, p. 470 (serial 811). Dwight E. Woodbridge and John S. Pardee, History of Duluth and St. Louis County, 1,229 (Chicago, 1:910); Walter Van Brunt, ed., Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota, 1:105-109 (Chi- cago and New York, 1921). The settlers' road would be nearly impossible to trace. It probably went south through Wisconsinn as far as the St. Croix, on about the line now taken by Highway 35. Spring 1967 rior along Rock's survey line failed to pro- duce a trace of it. At last, on a third attempt, the author learned that local tradition placed the military road a mile or more farther south, A more careful look at Simpson's an- nual report for 1855 solved the riddle: the last 7 miles leading into Superior had been relocated.22 With this information and an early Geological Survey map it was easy to trace the now route. From the bog in the north part of section 17 the road ran in a more easterly direction through sections 9 and 10. In section 10 there had been two bridges over the Big Pokegama River, both indicated by a few old pilings, about 40 rods apart. The survey map showed that the one farther south had been built for the military road. After crossing the Pokegama the old road ran along the north side of the Nemadji River through sections 11, 2, and 1 of T. 48 N. R. 14 W., section 36 of T. 49 N. R. 14 W., and sections 31 and 30 of T. 49 N. R. 13 W. to Lake Superior. The last 4 miles are within the southern limit of the city of Superior. There the route is effectively blocked in sev- eral places by the high fence of the Lake- head Pipeline Company. In another spot the municipal golf course has rearranged the landscape with a bulldozer. On the west bank of the Nemadji River, in Nemadji Park, the Daughters of the American Revolution have erected a bronze marker to honor the pioneers who in 1853 established the first settlement at Superior and who on January 2, 1854, started cutting the "Old Military Road" from this point. The road referred to on the marker was a 57 -mile track cut out during the early months of 1854 between the settlement at Superior and Chase's Landing on the St. Croix River, It was a shorter route to Tay- lors Falls than the official government road, and it continued to be used extensively in the winter months. Several travelers, how- ever, described it as absolutely impassable in summer .21 The chance to acquire several miles of this road already partially built was no doubt a factor in changing the last 7 miles 245 Captain Jaines H, Simpson in I857 of the government route into Superior. It has also brought about much confusion in historical records as to what is meant by the "military road," IN HIS REPORT for September 15, 1851, made before the first survey had been com- pleted, Lieutenant Simpson estimated that the road would cost not "much short of $73,000," or about $350 per mile. Since Con- gress had appropriated only $15,000, and on the survey alone he had already spent more than $3,000, it was clear that more money would be needed, This, however, was slow in coming, and by the summer of 1859 it Iooked as though the whole project might be abandoned .24 A new appropriation was passed in the fall and was signed by the president in January, 1853. It made a sum of $20,000 available for the next season's work, and by the fall of 1853 the road had been completed from Stillwater to a point some twelve miles beyond Taylors Falls, Another $20,000 was voted the following July, but with it was the stipulation that the northern terminal be changed, and that the extension of the route to Superior be completed before money was spent on the rest of the road. Simpson vigorously resisted this, pointing out that spending the appropriation "at but one extremity of the road, and that the most inaccessible," would bring no useful results. Instead he proposed to apply the money over "as great an extent of the road as pos- sible," and establish communication be- tween Superior and the St. Croix Valley as early as it could be done .26 Nearly a whole season was wasted before the red tape was cut and Simpson received authorization to go ahead as he saw fit. In the winter of 1854-55 the survey of the Su- perior extension was finished, and in March, 1855, Congress granted another $34,000 for the final completion of the road. During the following summer, work was pushed rapidly ahead. Simpson's plan was .to cut a narrow track through the forest, do a minimum amount of grubbing, and build bridges where absolutely needed. Grading, filling, culverts, and corduroy could wait." The effort fell far short, for when Simp son was replaced in June, 1856, his suc- cessor, Captain George Thom, found the middle and northern sections of the road still impassable for wagons, and according to the mail carrier at that time some 60 miles could not 'be traveled even on horseback. Work on the southernmost 19 miles had not been started, The last appropriation— $31,425.50—was made in 1857, yet in September of that year Thom estimated that another $44,000 would be needed to make the road "practicable in all weather and in all seasons of the year,"27 An even gloomier picture was painted by '32 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Docu- ments, no. 1, p. 440 (serial 611); Larsen, "The Min- nesota Road System," 61. United States, Statutes at Large, 10:150, 306; 34 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Docu- ments, no, 1, p. 469 (serial 811). "United States, Statutes at Large, 10:638; 34 Congress, I session, Senate Executive Documents, no. 1, p. 470 (serial 811). The roadway itself was to be 18 feet wide, with a 31%. -foot. strip on each side "cut close to the ground." 'Dunn, The St. Croix, 156; United States, Statutes at Large, 11,203; 34 Congress, 3 session, Senate .Executive Documents, no, 5, p, 369 (serial 876); 35 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Documents, no. 11, p. 351 (serial 920). 246 mmNEsoTA History T Captain Howard Stansbury, who replaced Thom in April, 1858. Unusually high water during the months of July and August that summer demonstrated the need for more corduroying and ditching than had been planned. In his. annual report that fail, Stansbury raised the estimate of money needed for finishing the read to $50,000. But the exact figure mattered little, since no '35 Congress, 1 session, Senate Executive Dom- ments, no, 11, p. 355 (serial 920); 35 Congress, 2 session, Senate Executive Documents, no, 1, p, 1195 (serial 976); Larsen, "The Minnesota Road System," 109-111. Dunn, The St. Croix, 156; Woodbridge and Pardee, Duluth and St. Louis County, 1:240; Van Brunt, Duluth and St. Louis County, 1:154-156. The stage line never used the southern section of the military road but left it west of Sunrise, taking a more direct route to St. Paul via Wyoming, the now vanished settlement of Columbus, and the clus- ter of lakes known as the Rice Lakes in southeastern Anoka County. ILLUSTRATIONS are from the picture collection of the Minnesota Historical Society. more funds .were forthcoming. A small amount of grubbing and ditching done in 1858 under contracts already let was the last federally financed work on the road. Just over $120,600 had been spent.211 Despite its permanently unfinished condi- tion, the military road was a vital link in Minnesota's transportation system and re- ceived heavy use throughout the following decade. The first mail seems to have been carried over it on horseback and afoot early in 1856. Stage service had begun by 1861 and continued, subject to interruption from weather and road conditions, until August, 1870, although the trip was. never one for the faint of heart.29 When the Lake Supe- rior and Mississippi Railroad opened its line connecting St. Paul with Duluth, through traffic on the old road ceased almost over- night. Before many years even its exact route ha& been forgotten, except for a few sections which remained in local use until fairly re- cent times. The last stage over the military woad leaving Superior in August, 1870 Spring 1967 247 Chapter One OLD ROADS have always presented an in- triguing challenge, the more so if they have interesting historical backgrounds. Where did they go? Why did they follow the routes they took? The chapters that follow offer an account of the author's search for the exact routes of the first five military roads con- structed in Minnesota Territory by the fed- eral government in the 1850s. This booklet is not intended as a detailed history of the roads, but rather as a guide for those people who, like myself, have an interest in what remains of them.' Only since my retirement in 1958 has it been possible for. ine to search out the wan- dering courses of the first government roads built in Minnesota. Tracking down the dim surviving traces of old roads can be tune con- suming, If at any time they coincided with present section lines, it cannot have been in- tentional on the part of the engineers. Good stout clothes are a must for anyone with the urge to explore these old routes, for they lead through briars, prickly ash thickets, and poison ivy. In summer rnosquitQes, deer flies, and wood ticks are plentiful, But local history enthusiasts will understand the satis- faction that comes with seeing a faint trace of an old track leading across a pasture or down a stream bank in exactly the spot where the original survey indicates that it should be. In searching out the exact routes followed by the military roads, the author relied mainly on the survey maps of the routes pre - INTRODUCTION I pared by the Corps of Topographical En- gineers. The original maps are in the Na- tional Archives in Washington, D.C. Copies were obtained by the author, and they are now in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscripts division. Of value too was a "Map Exhibiting the location of the U.S. Military Roads in Minnesota," which was prepared by the U.S. Office of Government Roads in St. Paul in 1859. A copy of it is also in the Minnesota Historical Society manu- scripts collections. Another tool that will help anyone who wants to explore Minnesota's old roads con- structed between 185o and igoo are the U.S. Geological Survey Quadrangles of Minnesota published before 1905. Up to the early i goos, only a major event like an earthquake or a flood caused any significant change in the old routes, and these survey snaps show most of the roads .2 HOW DID the federal government come to build the five roads which laid the founda- tions of Minnesota's pioneer transportation system? With the creation of Minnesota Ter- ritory in 1849, better roads were necessary for settlement and cora nerce, as well as for protection against possible Indian attacks. Without funds to build the roads that would attract capital and settlers, the territorial legislature, following the precedent set by every other territory and several states, turn- ed to the United States Congress. Henry MINNESOTA'S OLD GOVERNMENT ROADS H. Sibley, Minnesota's first territorial dele- gate to Congress, asked for appropriations for military roads in a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on February 4, 1850.3 After debdting this request for several months, Congress passed the bill on July 8, i85o, and it became effective on July 18. Forty thousand dollars was appropriated to carry out the provisions of the bill—tbe money to be immediately available for con- structing four roads and for surveying a frfth. Congress not only provided the money but also named the man to superintend the spending of it—a kindness many in the ter- ritory would have been glad to dispense with. There is every reason to believe that it was hoped someone in the territory would be ap- pointed to supervise the road program, but the job was handed to the secretary of war - and to Colonel John J. Abert, chief of the War Department's Bureau of Topographical Engineers. The work was to be carried out by such officers of the topographical corps as he should appoint.4 The first official notice of the military roads project in Minnesota is found in Colonel AberCs annual report to the secretary of war in 1850. Writing on November 14 that year, Abert stated: "A law of the 18th July, 1850, directed the construction of certain roads in the Territory of Minnesota—`tbe said roads to be constructed under the direction of the Secretary of War, pursuant to contracts to be made by him.' "5 Abert then described the steps he bad taken to secure the necessary surveys of the proposed roads, reporting that he had hired John S. Potter, "an adequately -informed civil engineer . . . who is now there and en- gaged upon the duty." He then outlined "the several roads" referred to in the law. "1st. A road from Point Douglass, on the Mississippi, via Cottage Grove, Stillwater, Marine Mills, and Falls of . . . [the St. Croix], to the falls of rapids of the St. Louis river of Lake Superior. This road will be, by [Joseph N.] Nicollet's map,s about iso iniles long, and the appropriation in the law is $15,000. "2d. A road from Point Douglass, via Cottage Grove, Red Rock, St. Paul, and Falls of St. Anthony, to Fort Gaines [Ripley]. 7 This road is about 15o miles long, and the appro- priation in the law is $io,000. "3d. A road from the mouth of Swan river, or the most available point between it and the Sauk rapids, to the Winnebago agency at the Long prairie. e This road is about 70 miles long, and the appropriation in the law is $5,000. "4th. A road from Wabashaw to Mendota. The length of this road is about 75 miles, and the appropriation is $5,000. . . . "The same law directed the surveying and laying out of a military road from Mendota, on the Mississippi, to the mouth of the Big Sioux, on the Missouri. The length 'of this survey will probably be not less than 26o miles. The appropriation for the duty is $5,000." Abert then called attention to the first of his many problems in carrying out the proj- ect. "To make this survey of 26o miles, as indicated," he wrote, "will, on a careful esti- mate, cost very near $1o,000. The amount appropriated being $5,000, there will yet be required $5,000 to make this survey." There already existed a haphazard network of rough, ungraded roads in Minnesota, Ear- liest of these were the Indian trails that con- nected major waterways and that were adopted by fur traders in conducting their far-flung business. As the fur trade grew so did the number of more or less defined routes—all established to serve isolated trad- ing posts and transport valuable pelts to col- lecting stations. The best known of these traders' routes were the Red River trails that linked Fort Snelling, and later'St. Paul, with the settlement and fur post at Pembina (now in northern North Dakota) and the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Garry (near Winnipeg). B In use as early as 1823, the Iced River trails were traveled increasingly through the 1850s by the creaking wooden ox carts laden with furs on the trek south and with supplies on the return trip. Three major routes (and several branches) made up the Red River trail system: (1) the west plains trail that began at Fort Snelling, followed the Minnesota River Valley to Big Stone and Traverse lakes, then turned northward along the west side of the Red River to Pembina and Fort Garry; (2) the east plains trail that began at St. Paul, followed the east bank of the Mississippi River to what is now St. Cloud, crossed the stream at the Sauk River, then continued northward on the east side of the Red River to Pembina; and (3) the woods trail that extended northward from St. Cloud, crossed the Mississippi at the vil- lage of Crow Wing, and eventually joined the east plains trail near the Wild Rice River. 10 Other preterr-itorial roads—most of them little more than logging trails—had been cut by lumbermen in the St. Croix Valley. As settlements took shape in the valley, de- mands were met for roads running from Point Douglas at the mouth of the St. Croix north to Sunrise, and from St. Paul to Stillwater and to Point Douglas.11 . In laying out the military roads, the en- gineers made use of these rough trails wherever it was convenient. Another com- mon practice (seldom mentioned in the an- nual reports) was to do the minimum amount of road work. Actual construction was limited to building bridges, clearing timber, eradicating undergrowth, and making swamps passable. Sections of road over open prairie necessitated little or no roadwork at all. 12 ROAD BUILDING procedures in the 1850s were basically very similar to those in use now. Sections of road were let on. sealed bids to private contractors; clearing was done by the acre; excavating and earth filling were measured by the cubic yard. Culverts and small bridges. could be constructed of hewed timbers cut at the location; their construction was paid for by the linear foot. Bridges over 20 feet long were to be built according to the plan of Colonel Stephen H. Long, an en- gineer in the topographical corps. 13 The road right-of-way was to be opened a hundred feet wide with a center strip for wheeled vehicles to be thoroughly cleared for a width of 5o feet. To make swampy areas passable, Abert suggested building log causeways covered with earth and digging drainage ditches where necessary. Five years later, the. en- gineers in Minnesota had established more specific guidelines for building adequate government roads in the territories.14 John S. Potter arrived at St. Paul in November, 185o. He soon began to survey for the Mendota-Wabasba road and com- pleted it by the end of December. From then until May g, 1851, he spent the time recon- noitering the route for the Point Douglas - Fort Ripley road, the route from Sauk Rapids to the Winnebago Agency at Long Prairie, and the Point Douglas -St. Louis River route as far north as the falls of the St. Croix. 15 During the winter of 1850-51, Governor Alexander Ramsey and other leaders in the territory put pressure on the War Depart- ment to expedite the road program by start- ing a second survey party. For this purpose, First Lieutenant James H. Simpson was transferred from New'Mexico to Minnesota to organize a second party and to serve as superintendent for the government roads. Potter was to remain as assistant engineer. Simpson arrived at St. Paul May 8, 1851, with two civil engineers who would serve as assistants, and took over the government road office. He was to remain in charge of military roads in Minnesota for five years, and unlike his successors, he would return to St. Paul to live after retiring from the army. is Leaving St. Paul on May 13, with Potter and Charles L. Emerson as assistants, Simp- son reconnoitered the route to Fort Ripley; returning to St. Paul by May 22. They then went over the portion of the route between St. Paul and Point Douglas. At the end of this reconnaissance, Emerson, as principal assist- ant engineer, with. Joseph R. Smith for his assistant and ten men and a wagon to carry supplies, left St. Paul for Point Douglas to locate the road to Fort Ripley.14 On June 2, 1851, Lieutenant Simpson, ac- companied by Potter and Josiah Knauer, left St. Paul to reconnoiter the St. Louis River route. Because this road and that to Fort Rip- ley. ran over the same ground from Point Douglas to Cottage Grove, the reconnais-' 3 INTRODUCTION MINNESOTA'S OLD GOVERNMENT RMS sante began at the latter place. The group followed a road that had been in use for some years as far north as the falls of the St. Croix, then took a narrow trail cut out for the use of lumbermen to Lake Pokegama, west of pres- ent-day Pine City. Fifteen miles beyond the Indian mission on Lake Pokegama the road ended, and the engineers had to abandon the horses, shoulder their supplies, and splash across the swamps and through the streams for the final go miles. The party was gone 26 days. A few days after returning to St. Paul, Josiah Knauer, principal assistant engineer, with an assistant engineer, ten men, and one wagon for supplies, left for Cottage Grove to locate and survey the Point Douglas -St. Louis River road. After completing the survey for the road to Fort Ripley, Charles Emerson, with George W. Sweet 18 as second assistant engineer and a crew of ten men, left St. Paul on Septem- ber 3, 1851, to locate the Swan River -Long Prairie road, hoping to have the survey com- pleted by the middle of October. With the surveys ended, Simpson and his assistants spent the winter of 1851-52 preparing maps and compiling estimates of costs per mile for each of the- four roads. No contracts were let until spring. By the sum- mer of 1852 it appeared that the original ap- propriation of $40,000 would be the last, for Congress had twice failed to consider esti- mates for additional funds. Abert informed the secretary of war that "work on these roads will be closed, as soon as existing small ap- propriations are exhausted. " 19 However, Congress finally took up the business of roads for Minnesota in De- cember, 1852, and on January 7, 1853, the president signed a bill allotting another $45,000 for that purpose. Specifically divided by law, the funds were allocated as follows: $20,000 to the St. Louis River road, $10,000 to the Fort Ripley road, $5,000 to the Long Prairie road, and $5,000 for the Mendota- Wabasha road. The final $5,00o was desig- nated for laying out the Mendota -Big Sioux River military road; this added to the original $5,00o would give Colonel Abert the $10,000 be needed.20 The specifying of portions of the appropria- tion for each road made it necessary to carry out construction on all of them simultane- ously. Contracts were let only for as many miles as could be completed by the end of a building season. Moreover no contracts could be negotiated unless or until the money had been appropriated and was available. Late each season (but early enough to be subi-nit- ted by the secretary of war to Congress when it convened in December) the officer in charge of the roads had to make an annual report on the work completed, the amount expended, and all estimate of money needed for the next year. Congress appropriated money for building military roads in Minnesota in 1850, 1852, 1855, 1856, and 1857. At the time of the final appropriation, only one military road—that from Swan River to Long Prairie—was com- pleted, All the others needed additional work, some .of wliieb was accomplished be- fore the funds were totally depleted in 1859.21 During the decade the government road office was headquartered in St. Paul, four men were custodians of the building program in Minnesota; John S. Potter, a civil en- gineer, November i, 1850, to May 8, 1851; First Lieutenant James H. Simpson (ad- vanced to captain in 1853) from May 9, 1851, to May 31, 1856; Captain George Thom from June 1, 1856, to May 31, [858; and Captain Howard Stansbury from June 1, 1858, until June 13, 1861, when the government road office was closed. After that the military roads were to be maintained by the communities through which they passed. 22 DURING AND AFTER these years, the United States government also provided for the construction and maintenance of other roads in early Minnesota. In 1855 money was appropriated for cutting timberfrom a road between the Falls of St. Anthony and Fort Ridgely, established on the Minnesota River in 1853. (After a delay of two years, the road was finally begun in 1857.) In 1856 Congress passed a measure that would finance a road from Fort Ridgely to the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains in what is now Wyoming. For a few years following the Dakota War of 1862, federal army personnel stationed in Minnesota were put to work on roads built with materials provided by the counties or by individuals. In 1,869 Congress appropriated money to build a military road from Duluth to Nett Lake, ostensibly to serve the Chip- pewa Indians on the Nett Lake Reservation. This road was constructed by government engineers only as far as Vermilion Lake, where, it served a more popular purpose of opening a route to the newly discovered gold deposits in that area. After decades of pro- moting by St. Paul residents, a bridge over the Mississippi River between Fort Snelling and the state capital was finally constructed with federal funds in 1880.23 The governmexit was also responsible for building the wagon roads promised in various treaties made with Minnesota Indians. In 1855 the treaty with the Chippewa provided for two roads, one from the mouth of the Rom River to Mille Lacs and the other from Crow Wing to Leech Lake. These were built under the supervision of the commissioner of Indian affairs. Appropriations made in 1864 and 1865 paid for a road built between the Leech Lake and Red Lake agencies. In 1870 a road was constructed with federal money between Leech Lake and White Earth, and five years later another road was completed to connect the Red Lake and White Earth reservations with the railroad at Detroit Lakes. 24 WHAT ABOUT the status of Minnesota's old military roads today? It is safe to say that very few miles as surveyed by the topographical engineers are in daily use now. In many places the roads were as crooked as the proverbial dog's hind leg. This was not too much of a handicap during horse and buggy days, but when the. automobile appeared on the scene, the roads were inadequate. The first breakthrough in the effort to im- prove Minnesota's roads carne in 1go5, when the legislature created a three-member highway commission in charge of distributing state aid to counties hard pressed for road building fiends, Plans were soon made to re- vamp many of the old roads by relocating some and widening or taking the crooks out of others— a somewhat piecemeal operation. Then after much controversy, the legislature in ig2o adopted the Babcock road plan, which inaugurated a new era in the state's road building program.25 Under this and later plans many state and federal highways were moved to new locations, and only a small amount of the old military roads was incorporated into the new system. A fair por- tion of the old roads is still maintained as county and township roads; the remainder has been abandoned. The military roads played a vital role in the growth of Minnesota Territory. Built by the federal government primarily to promote military strength along the frontier, these roads served the causes of commerce and population expansion just as efficiently. As the number of people in the territory multiplied—from 6,077 in 185o to over 150,000 in 1857—so did the demand for roads, especially in the later 18505. And many of the roads needed to take the thousands of newcomers to isolated settle- ments were designated as branches of the military roads discussed here. The more than 56o miles of roadway comprising these five military roads, along with hundreds of roads which were authorized by the territorial legislature—though some were never constructed—and other federally funded roads opened in the 185os, laid the framework upon which was built a state-wide network of communication and trade.2' INTROnuc,rioN IN HIS REPORT for September 15, 1851, made before the first survey had been com- pleted, Lieutenant Simpson estimated that the road would cost not "much short of $73,000," or about $350 per mile. Since Con- gress had appropriated only $15,000, and on the survey alone he had already spent 24 more than $3,000, it was clear that more MINNESOTA'S money would be needed. This, however, was slow in coming, and by the summer of OLD GOVERNMENT 1852 it Iooked as though the whole project ROADS might be abandoned.2-1 A new appropriation was passed in the fall and was signed by the president in January, 1853. It made a sum of $20,000 available for the next season's work, and by the fall of 1853 the road had been completed from Stillwater to a point sozne twelve miles beyond Taylors Falls. Another $20,000 was voted the following July, but with it was the stipulation that the northern terminal be changed, and that the extension of the route to Superior be completed. -before money was spent on the rest of the road. Simpson vigorously resisted this, pointing out that spending the appropriation "at but one extremity of the road, and that the most inaccessible," would bring no useful results. Instead he proposed to apply the money over "as great an extent of the road as pos- sible," and establish communication be- tween Superior and the St. Croix Valley as early as it could be done.25 Nearly a whole season was wasted before the red tape was cut and Simpson received authorization to go ahead as he saw fit. In the winter of 1854-55 the survey of the Su- perior extension was finished, and in March, 1855, Congress granted another $34,000 for the final completion of the road. During the following summer, work was pushed rapidly ahead. Simpson's plan was to cut a narrow track through the forest, do a minimum amount of grubbing, and build bridges where absolutely needed. Grading, filling, culverts, and corduroy could wait.26 The effort fell far short, for when Simp- son was replaced in June, 1856, his suc- cessor, Captain George Thom, found the middle and northern sections of the road still impassable for wagons, and according to the mail carrier at that time some 60 miles could not be traveled even on horseback. Work on the southernmost 19 miles had not been started.- The last appropriation— $31,425.50—was made in 1857, yet in September of that year Thom estimated that anther $44,000 would be needed to make the road `Practicable in all weather and in all seasons of the year." 27 An even gloomier picture was painted by Captain Howard Stansbury, who replaced Thom in April, 1858, Unusually high water during the months of July and August that summer demonstrated the need for more corduroying and ditching than had been planned. In his annual report that fall, Stansbury raised the estimate of money needed for finishing the road to $50,000. But the exact figure mattered little, since no more funds were forthcoming. A small amount of grubbing and ditching done in 1858 under contracts already let was the last federally financed work on the road. Just over $120,600 bad been spent.211 Despite its permanently unfinished condi- tion, the military road was a vital link in Minnesota's transportation system and re- ceived heavy use throughout the following decade. The first mail seems to have been carried over it on horseback and afoot early in 1856. Stage service had begun by 1861 and continued, subject to interruption from weather and road conditions, until August, 1870, although the trip was never one for the faint of beart.211 When the Lake Supe- rior and Mississippi Railroad opened its line connecting St. Paul with Duluth, through traffic on the old road ceased almost over- night. Before long its exact route had been forgotten, except for a few sections which remained in use until fairly recent times. Chapter Four THE POINT DOUGLAS - FORT RIPLEY ROAD FORT RIPLEY, the post that later became the northern terminus of the Point Douglas - Fort Ripley military road, was built on the west bank of the Mississippi River opposite the mouth of the Nokasippi River in 1848-49 to act as a buffer between the Winnebago In- dians and their enemies, the Chippewa and the Dakota. It was known briefly as Fort Gaines, but when it was found that "Gaines" had already been selected for a fort in Alabama, the name was changed in T850—to honor Eleazar W. Ripley, who like Edmund P. Gaines was a general in the War of 7812.' During the winter of 1850-51, the road line to Fort Ripley was reconnoitered by John Potter. Shortly after James Simpson ar- rived at St. Paul in May, be set out on his own reconnaissance of the route, which, ex- cept for a distance in what is now Sherburne and Benton counties, closely followed the old Red River Trail from St. Paul along the east side of the Mississippi River to the fort. A survey was completed by early September, 1851, and construction of the road began the following year. As late as 1857, however, there still were sections of the road that were incomplete or that needed repairs. Despite its hazards, the Fort Ripley road was heavily used. In 1857 it was considered to be in bet- ter condition than most of the other military 25 and the Red River Addition roads. It was finally completed in 1858.2 After be had traversed the route in 1851, Simpson described the country the road passed through: "The route from Point Doug- Iass to Fort Gaines runs entirely on the east side of the Mississippi river, and, with but two or three exceptions, within a mile or two of the river. The country through which it passes is an iaaterminglenwnt of prairie and openings; the prairies aggregating about sixty-four miles of the distance, and the oak openings about eighty-two. . . . "The principal rivers to be crossed are, Coon creek, forty-eight and a half feet wide, distant from Point Douglass forty-five miles; Rum river, one hundred and thirty-six feet wide, distant from Coon creek six miles; Elk river, one hundred and two feet wide, distant from Rum river about twelve miles; Rock river, thirty-three feet wide, distant from Elk river about forty-four miles; Platte river, eighty-eight feet wide, distant froin Rock river about ten miles. "The heavy work on the road will be the bridging [of] the streams named, and the construction of the roadway at the following points: Between Red Rock and Saint Paul, about four miles of the distance; between Saint Paul and Saint Anthony, about half a mile of the distance; between Rice creek and 26 MINNESOTA'S ULD GOVERNMENT ROADS z N Z N F Coon creek, all the way, near five miles, be- tween Benton City and Watab, six iniles; be- tween Platte river, and the mouth of Swan river (Aitkins') six miles of the distance; in all about twenty-one and a half miles of road."3. Work on the Fort Ripley road began after sealed bids were opened on March 9, 1852, for the construction of bridges over Coon Creek, Rum River, Elk River, and Little Rock Creek. On July 17 contracts were let for building the sections of road mentioned in the paragraph above.4 THE FORT RIPLEY ROAD, 146 miles long, had a common point of origin with the St. Louis River road at Point Douglas and shared the same roadway up the bluff until the two roads separated at the top of the hill. There the road'to the St. Louis River continued north, and the one to Fort Ripley turned off toward the northwest. For the first mile atop the hill the old route has been plowed under; only at the center of the south line of section 5 of T. 26 N. R. 20 W. does the military road appear as a Washington County road running northwest to the old Harris schoolhouse (now converted to a home), located at the northeast corner of section 6. Beyond the schoolhouse Washington County V U%-1 the old road continued toward the northwest across section 31 of T, 27 N. R. 20 W. until 1872. Then at the request of Oliver Daliym- ple, wheat king of southern Washington County, the road was changed to run west along the south line of section 31, then north along the west side of sections 31 and 30 to the place where it intersected the original military road again.' From this point on the west side of section 30 the old route, which is now part of a Washington County road, runs northwest through sections 25 and 24 of T. 27 N. R. 21 W., then north near the west line of sections 13 and 14 to Cottage Grove iri section 12. By 1851 Cottage Grove was the center of a thriv- ing farming community, with a post office managed by Joseph W. Furber.s To the west of the village there is a narrow valley with a small unnamed lake at the bottom; a little searching along the west side of the main street of Cottage Grove just south of an old feed mill revealed where the military road turned off the high ground and ran northwest along the slope to the valley below. In the valley the road crossed the level ground north of the lake and passed out through a low place on the west side. It con- tinued northwest across sections I1 and 2 to a point on the line between sections 2 and 3 of T, 21 N. R. 21 W. At this place a county road, still very suitably marked "Military Road," takes over the old route northwest through section 3 of Cottage Grove Township, and sections 33, 32, 29, and 30 of T. 28 N. R. 21 W. to the present-day J. V. Bailey Nurseries at the top of the bluff in what is now New- port. These nursery buildings did not, of course, exist during the early years of the military road. They are mentioned here only as a guide to where the old road ran down off the bluff, through a ravine, to the farm home of John Holton at the .foot of the bluff, in the northeast corner of section 26. From the Hol- ton home a mile or more of the military road was extended to the store and Woodyard of John A. Ford; located on the Mississippi. River at Red Rock. The original plan was to run the road through a different ravine to the Ford store first and then .to the Holton home; for some unknown reason a change was made in the route, 7 More than 115 years have passed since the old road was completed through the Red Rock area, and since then that community has been absorbed by the city of Newport, The old Holton home was wrecked when the cloverleaf was constructed for interstate Highway 494 and U,S. Highways 10 and 61. The Ford house also has been destroyed. The only spot unchanged by all these activities is the little cemetery near the intersection, where the Holtons and Fords are buried. e EFFORTS to pin down the route of the Fort Ripley' road between Newport and St. Paul required hours of tramping along the bluffs. Potter's line between these two points ran from St. Paul east over. Dayton's Bluff, around the east end of the deep ravine in Battle Creek Park, down from the top of the bluff near the mouth of the Lower Afton Road ravine, then south along the bluffs to the Hol- ton home. When Lieutenant Simpson ar- rived in the spring of 1851 and inspected Potter's route, be entered the following comment in his field notes: "Route from St. Paul as blazed by Potter to Red Rock, exceed- ingly hilly & quite crooked, and not admissi- ble, except it should be found better than the road under the bluff"s A search among the old maps and field notes left by the engineers leads to but one conclusion. When this section of the military road was construeted in 1855, Simpson chose the route under the bluffs instead of the one marked out by Potter in 1850. This would place the military road north of the Holton place, along the foot of the bluffs through sec- tions 23, 14, 11, Io, and 3 of T. 28 N. R. 22 W. Somewhere near the junction of High- ways 1 o and 61 with Warner Road in St. Paul, the old route climbed the south face of Dayton's Bluff and ran northwest over the bluff to a spot north of Hudson Road (now U. S. Highway 12 and Interstate Highway 94) and east of Earl Street, possibly near the in- tersection of Wakefield Avenue and Frank Street. A short stretch of this old military road, still in daily use and marked "Point Douglas Road," goes northwest from Burns Avenue to Hudson Road. Probably near Wakefield Avenue and Frank Street the old military road turned left and ran westward to the west edge of the bluff. In the 1850s Lyman Dayton, who owned a large portion of the land on the bluff that bears his name, refused Simpson a right-of- way for the road except over a route of Dayton's choosing. This route was not satis- factory to Simpson; neither did it suit Nathaniel McLean, whose land adjoined Dayton's on the south. McLean claimed Dayton's route would be detrimental to his property. The controversy came to a head on June 12, 1855, when Maurice T. Murphy, the contractor, moved onto the bluff to begin work and was driven off by Dayton. Captain Simpson wrote to Colonel Abert for instruc- tions, enclosing with his letter a sketch of the area showing the location of the road as laid out by him in relation to the road line de- manded by Dayton. Abert passed the prob- lem on to Caleb Cushing, United States at- torney general, who pointed out that because no provision had been made in the road act of 1850 to compensate landowners, there was no way private land could be taken for road purposes without the owner's consent. rD This stalemate was broken on March 1, 1856, when the Minnesota territorial legisla- ture passed an act declaring roads already constructed, being constructed, or to be con- structed in the future by the government to be territorial roads. The act also provided landowners who objected to the use of their property for such roads with means pf possi- ble compensation; and it clearly described the penalty for willfully obstructing or hin- dering free passage over the road lines." Today, after more than a century of build- ing railroads, highways,. and homes, the west face of Dayton's Blu%is not even a reasonable facsimile of the land the old road passed over in the 1850s. At that time it angled toward the northwest down the bluff and crossed the swampy ground of Phalen Creek and Trout Brook to Neill Street of Kittson's addition to St. Paul. Road construction ended at a stake on Neill Street, somewhere between Fifth 27 it POINT DOUGLAS - FORT RIPLEY ROAD 28 MINNESOTA'S OLD GOVERNMENT ROADS and Sixth streets. 12. No construction was car- ried out by the engineers inside the limits of St. Paul, but their maps indicated wbich streets might be followed. The suggested line ran up Neill Street to about Ninth, then west to Robert Street, and north on Robert to Tenth or possibly Twelfth Street. Although it does not pinpoint the spot where construction started again, an adver- tisement in the Daily Minnesota Pioneer of August 16, 1854, does point out the locality. The advertisement requested "SEALED PxorosALs . . . [on] the opening and con- struction of so much of the Point Douglass and Fort Ripley Road as is comprised be- tween Station A on the west line of the city limits of St. Paul, at its intersection with the St. Anthony road out of Roberts street, and station B, just beyond Deep Ravine in Third street, St. Anthony, a distance of 7 1/4 miles more or less. This line is so marked by stakes and blazed trees, as to be readily followed up by persons wishing to examine the route. . . . "Proposers will bid, first, for the whole Work, supposing it to be completed by the Ist of December next; second, for the work, supposing it to be completed by the 15th of May, the right being reserved of accepting either proposal." "3 IN 1854 the west boundary line of the city between present-day Marshall and Univer- sity avenues ran very near today's Galtier Street. According to Simpson's field notes the military road ran in a westerly direction from the junction of this boundary with the St. Anthony road as far as Governor Ramsey's farm, which was located northwest of the present University Avenue -Dale Street ■ intersection. 14 At this farm Simpson aban- doned the St. Anthony road and beaded cross -lots to the village of St. Anthony, now a part of Minneapolis. East of the present Minnesota Transfer Railway yards, in the block bounded by Blair and Van Buren av- enues and Wheeler and Aldine streets, a last vestige of this old military road survives as a crooked alley running through the block from southeast to northwest. West of the Minnesota Transfer yards the military road still exists as Territorial Road (now considered the route of the Red River Trail) through the Midway district of St. Paul to Malcolm Avenue in Minneapolis, where it disappears. From there the old line con- tinued westward to the deep ravine that crossed Third Street (now University Avenue between Thirteenth and Fourteenth avenues in Southeast Minneapolis), where a substan- tial bridges was needed. Beyond this ravine the military road went up University Avenue to the present East Hennepin Avenue, then took off cross -lots to about Broadway and Marshall streets Nortbeast. Marshall may be the route the old road followed north along the Mississippi River at ibis point, or, as some of Simpson's field notes suggest, the road may have passed along slightly higher ground several blocks east of Marshall Street as far- north as Thir- tieth Avenue Northeast in Minneapolis. Starting at Thirtieth Avenue Northeast, Mar- shall Street actually follows the military road A VIEW of St. Paul from Dayton's Bluff in 11853. The military road crossed the swampy area In the right foreground, then followed the high ground to Neill Street and ended between Fifth and Sixth streets. Photo in the Minnesota Historical Society. j.i�yiialrmr Y�F• _ �z. . . i F - _-w ' }%_ r .i ML `ohm& _Z_ Hennepin and Ramsey Counties route across St. Anthony Boulevard and under the Soo Line Railroad. Just beyond the Soo Line, Marshall Street and the military road have been replaced for the next 2 Ill miles by a modern highway, East River Road, but off to the left the dis- carded road can still be pieced together as far as the north boundary of the Minneapolis Waterworks. The last visible portion of the old roadway can be found inside the high wire fence surrounding the waterworks. In this area Abram McCormack Fridley owned an extensive block of land on the east bank of the Mississippi River in section 27 of T. 3o N. R. 24 W. Like Lyman Dayton of St. Paul, Fridley blocked Simpson's efforts to secure a right-of-way througb his land. This impasse, too, was resolved by the act passed by the territorial legislature in 1856.11 A CLOSE STUDY of the United States Geological Survey Quadrangles published in Igoe indicates that East River Road along the Mississippi River to Coon Creek and then Highway Io northwest to Anoka do not de- viate greatly from the route of the old mili- tary road or the earlier Red River Trail. On the south bank of Rice Creek, some 6 miles from Anoka in section 15 of T. 3o N. R. 24 W., John Banfill established a home that eventually included a stopping place for travelers, a general store, a milldarn and mill, and a ferry on -the Mississippi River; in i851 he platted the town of Manomin on the south bank of Rice Creek. When Simpson came through with the survey for the government road, Banfill suggested that the lieutenant use the top of his ibilldam for the roadway instead of building'a bridge. Later BanfiIl claimed Simpson agreed to do so, but Simp- son denied this and charged Banfill with try- ing to blackmail, him for $Soo. Failing in his maneuver, Banfill took Simpson to court, but a jury decided in Simpson's favor. 116 North of Rice Creek the old road con- tinued across sections 15, io, and 3 of T. 30 N. R. 24 W., then through sections 36, 35, and 26 of T. 31 N. R. 24 W. to Coon Creek. Crossing the creek in the northern part of h. zeo � IVERST!'f AVE. LL MILtTA ROUTE 94 94 ( BURNS AVE: si 15,55111`,1 1 fits s+• �,iis' zi �ka0PO *NPV` 90 route across St. Anthony Boulevard and under the Soo Line Railroad. Just beyond the Soo Line, Marshall Street and the military road have been replaced for the next 2 Ill miles by a modern highway, East River Road, but off to the left the dis- carded road can still be pieced together as far as the north boundary of the Minneapolis Waterworks. The last visible portion of the old roadway can be found inside the high wire fence surrounding the waterworks. In this area Abram McCormack Fridley owned an extensive block of land on the east bank of the Mississippi River in section 27 of T. 3o N. R. 24 W. Like Lyman Dayton of St. Paul, Fridley blocked Simpson's efforts to secure a right-of-way througb his land. This impasse, too, was resolved by the act passed by the territorial legislature in 1856.11 A CLOSE STUDY of the United States Geological Survey Quadrangles published in Igoe indicates that East River Road along the Mississippi River to Coon Creek and then Highway Io northwest to Anoka do not de- viate greatly from the route of the old mili- tary road or the earlier Red River Trail. On the south bank of Rice Creek, some 6 miles from Anoka in section 15 of T. 3o N. R. 24 W., John Banfill established a home that eventually included a stopping place for travelers, a general store, a milldarn and mill, and a ferry on -the Mississippi River; in i851 he platted the town of Manomin on the south bank of Rice Creek. When Simpson came through with the survey for the government road, Banfill suggested that the lieutenant use the top of his ibilldam for the roadway instead of building'a bridge. Later BanfiIl claimed Simpson agreed to do so, but Simp- son denied this and charged Banfill with try- ing to blackmail, him for $Soo. Failing in his maneuver, Banfill took Simpson to court, but a jury decided in Simpson's favor. 116 North of Rice Creek the old road con- tinued across sections 15, io, and 3 of T. 30 N. R. 24 W., then through sections 36, 35, and 26 of T. 31 N. R. 24 W. to Coon Creek. Crossing the creek in the northern part of h. zeo MERGE BUTLER' ROUTE 19 zi 9,.F,.-.] - RE 94 LL � �'tU route across St. Anthony Boulevard and under the Soo Line Railroad. Just beyond the Soo Line, Marshall Street and the military road have been replaced for the next 2 Ill miles by a modern highway, East River Road, but off to the left the dis- carded road can still be pieced together as far as the north boundary of the Minneapolis Waterworks. The last visible portion of the old roadway can be found inside the high wire fence surrounding the waterworks. In this area Abram McCormack Fridley owned an extensive block of land on the east bank of the Mississippi River in section 27 of T. 3o N. R. 24 W. Like Lyman Dayton of St. Paul, Fridley blocked Simpson's efforts to secure a right-of-way througb his land. This impasse, too, was resolved by the act passed by the territorial legislature in 1856.11 A CLOSE STUDY of the United States Geological Survey Quadrangles published in Igoe indicates that East River Road along the Mississippi River to Coon Creek and then Highway Io northwest to Anoka do not de- viate greatly from the route of the old mili- tary road or the earlier Red River Trail. On the south bank of Rice Creek, some 6 miles from Anoka in section 15 of T. 3o N. R. 24 W., John Banfill established a home that eventually included a stopping place for travelers, a general store, a milldarn and mill, and a ferry on -the Mississippi River; in i851 he platted the town of Manomin on the south bank of Rice Creek. When Simpson came through with the survey for the government road, Banfill suggested that the lieutenant use the top of his ibilldam for the roadway instead of building'a bridge. Later BanfiIl claimed Simpson agreed to do so, but Simp- son denied this and charged Banfill with try- ing to blackmail, him for $Soo. Failing in his maneuver, Banfill took Simpson to court, but a jury decided in Simpson's favor. 116 North of Rice Creek the old road con- tinued across sections 15, io, and 3 of T. 30 N. R. 24 W., then through sections 36, 35, and 26 of T. 31 N. R. 24 W. to Coon Creek. Crossing the creek in the northern part of section 26, it turned northwest through see- tinned along the Mississippi River more or tions 23, 22, 16, 17, 8, and 7 of T. 31 N. R. 24 less on the old Red River Trail and near pres- W., reaching the Rum River at what is now ent Highway 10 all, the way to Big Lake. In Anoka. this stretch, on the east bank of the Missis- Before the Fort Ripley military road was sippi in section 30, the town of Itasca was authorized, there were two places to cross platted and promoted during 1851-52 as a the Ruin River with wagons. One was at the . future great river port, but the dream faded. 30 . mouth of the river where there was a ferry, Later the Northern Pacific Railroad located MINNESOTA'S but the bank on the east side was low and Dayton Station there, but it too has disap- flooded badly during high water. The other peared. Now the site of Itasca, with its. his - OLD GOVERNMENT crossing was -about two miles upstream., torical marker, is only a pleasant picnic ' ROADS above the, present Anoka State Hospital, ground. 17 There the Red River carts forded when the From the townsite of Itasca the military water was low. Simpson rejected both places road ran northwest through sections 24, 13, and located the bridge where Main Street 14, 11, 2, and 3 of T. 32 N. R. 26 W. At the now passes over the Rum River in Anoka. northeast corner of section 14, the route This first bridge, built by Orin W. Rice, was touched the farm of Oliver H. Kelley, who damaged by high water in 1857 and was re- had moved there in 1850 to promote the paired in 1858. Itasca townsite and trade with the Win - West of the Rum the military road con- nebago Indians. Kelley later became famous R 26 W as the founder of the National Grange, and R 25 w his farm has becorne. a historic site operated ' i n4� Il1a r AriFallNil I - 5s 13 by the Minnesota Historical Society."' 'Big Lake jj ' 21 - 23 70 II� 24 23 bends of the Mississippi, the town of Mar - 19k . The route continued through section 34 of 7 9 ze zs present Sherburne County village of Becker, Anoka T. 33 N. R. 26 W. to a place designated as Traces of the old road still survive here but the ,5 town vanished long ago. Most of the military Z County "Quincy" -on the survey maps but more usu- ` r the foot of the Sauk Rapids in the Mississippi Lake, so it is a pleasant surprise at the north m ally known as Orono. Here Pierre Bottineau Laka from Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, this col- oil H. Kelley Farm • 13`' r 21 x3 ~ established a trading post in 1848 and later F 27 northwest to the south end of Clear Lake. Trail crossed the Mississippi. Most of the built a hotel on the bank of the Mississippi Another of the towns laid out in the 1850s, area is now within the boundaries of St. below the mouth of the Elk River. The old Cloud. 22 R 24 w route passed through this settlement, which 3 1 , later became a part of the village, of Elk the settlement of Sauk Rapids, and farther River, and then following a more westerly, s Go n,Ra Ids course ran along the north' side of the Elk 43 Z River through sections 33, 28, 29, 32, and 30 of the Red River Trail crossed the Mississippi m of T. 33 N. R. 26 W. The military road crossed River, was the home and trading post of ~ the Elk River in the northeast corner of see - 25 tion 36 of T. 33 N. R. 27 W. and continued The route of the military road has vanished in a northwesterly direction across sections beneath the streets of St. Cloud and Sauk 36, 26, 27, 28, 2o, and 1g of T. 33 N. R. 27 W. Rapids, at least up to the south fine of section 'I Sherburne -Benton County boundary, it con- to the town of Humboldt. Laid out in 1848 tinned north through sections 13, 12, and 1 of it is safe to say Highway 10 and the. railroad at the south end of Big Lake, Humboldt was T. 35 N. R. 31 W to Benton City, located at Rj c�a renamed Big Lake when the railroad was com- pleted to it in 1867.10 BEYOND BIG LAKE, still running in a northwesterly direction, the old road crossed sections 24, 23, 22, 15, 16, 9, 8, 7, and 6 of T. 33 N. R. 28 W. and sections 1 and 2 of T. 33 N. R. 29 W. In section 2, on one of the big R30 W J 3 � 9 14 i Sherburne County 0 w c I � 31 tl' R29w R 28 w POINT DOUGLAS - FORT RIPLEY ROAD 19 „ o. -s' � lea7 I . \ 17 .� . - 23 18 21 23 4s.., m A ' Z •. 2s 2B 27 52 A 33 35 - 33 35 R 27 W R 26 W 37Z .- 4 5 3 k ,i 5 1 1 ' i n4� Il1a r AriFallNil I - 5s 13 t7 i5 13 'Big Lake jj ' 21 - 23 70 II� 24 23 bends of the Mississippi, the town of Mar - 19k . seilles was platted during the 1850s near the 25 -Oro ze zs present Sherburne County village of Becker, 3, 35 nmr-La 35 Traces of the old road still survive here but the town vanished long ago. Most of the military � i road also has varnished between here and Big the foot of the Sauk Rapids in the Mississippi Lake, so it is a pleasant surprise at the north River. Apparently named for the senator 4 Iine of section 33 of T. 34 N. R. 29 W. to find from Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton, this col- oil H. Kelley Farm • 13`' the old government road has become an im- lection of houses grew up at the foot of the proved Sherburne County road, running rapids where one branch of the Red River northwest to the south end of Clear Lake. Trail crossed the Mississippi. Most of the Another of the towns laid out in the 1850s, area is now within the boundaries of St. Clear Lake disappeared only to reappear in Cloud. 22 1867 about 2 112 miles farther east as a station About 2 112 miles above Benton City was , on the railroad.21 the settlement of Sauk Rapids, and farther Skirting the south end of Clear Lake, the upstream in section 15 of T. 36 N. R. 3 z W. at military road continued northwest across sec- the head of the rapids, where another branch tions io, 9, and 4, passing along the south of the Red River Trail crossed the Mississippi ends of Pickerel and Long lakes on the way. River, was the home and trading post of Turning to a more northerly course it passed Jeremiah Russell .23 through section 5 of T. 34 N. R. 30 W. and The route of the military road has vanished sections 32, 29, 30, ig, and 18 of T. 35 N. R. beneath the streets of St. Cloud and Sauk 30 W. Crossing over the present Rapids, at least up to the south fine of section j Sherburne -Benton County boundary, it con- 23 of T. 36 N, R. 31 W. Starting at this line tinned north through sections 13, 12, and 1 of it is safe to say Highway 10 and the. railroad T. 35 N. R. 31 W to Benton City, located at track have replaced the old road along the j, 32 MINNESOTA'S OLD GOVERNMENT ROADS Mississippi River through sections 23, 22, 15, 16, and 9 of T. 36 N. R. 31 W. Just above the north line of section 9, Highway io turns away from the river to run along some low hills, but the old route continues along the bank of the river through section 4 of T, 36 N. R. 31 W., then across sections 33, 34, 27, 22, and 23 to the southeast corner of section 15 of T. 37 N., R. 31 W, In section 34 of Watab Township, David Gilman in 1848 settled on a parcel of land. On it he built a hotel, cleared a farm, and by- the ythe time the military road was established, be had platted the town of Watab.24 The village disappeared by i 88o, -but the name has been transferred to a group of houses at a railroad crossing below the mouth of Little Rock Creek. ASSUMING that the channel of the Missis- sippi River has not shifted appreciably at the mouth of Little Rock Creek during the last 125 years, the military road must have crossed the creek in the southeast corner of section 15 of T. 37 N. R. 31 W. This supposi- tion is based on the unofficial suggestions of Simpson to Charles Emerson, his assistant engineer, about the best place to cross the creek and where the bridge might go. Simp- son wrote in his field notes: "Find 3 places for crossing by Bridge [over] Rock Creek, 2 near where road crosses it, and a third & best place 314 mile above [David T. ] Sloans, just where banks approach each ether on both sides, Stream at this place about 8o feet wide, not rapid, sand bottom, and at this time 4 feet deep. Approach & debouchment of bridge good with little or no working. "2s Before the military road to Fort Ripley was constructed, contractors hauling supplies to the post along the old Red River Trail route crossed Little Rock Creek near its mouth. On the survey map Sloan's place appears as a large fenced field with a house on the bank of the Mississippi below the mouth of the creek. Approximately three-fourths of a mile above the mouth of Little Rock Creek, in the very southeast corner of section 15 of T. 37 N. R. 31 W., is an entirely suitable place for a bridge. The author examined this place W r , A a John 29P R31 W 5 3 1 g 1, 17 r,g 13 H 1 0 � 2, .v 23 z frwl` . 25 3, LIM, Ruck."�`- _ 3 I C.nkc I r r• �f r 13 ^i 23 z Watab 1 25 J 35 I_ 3 , Benton County 1 sari 9 1 eremiah ,3 w Russell61 Marker l' z Sault plds .S.City s .St, C C.loud thoroughly and it fits the third and best place described by Simpson: Beyond Little Rock Creek the military road ran over a sandy and almost treeless prairie to the Platte River in present north- eastern Benton County, crossing en route sections 15, 9, and 4 of T. 37 N. R. 31 W., then sections 32, 29, 30, ig, and 18 of T. 38 N. R. 31 W. In Langola Township is the vil- lage of Rice, named for an early hotel pro- prietor, George Rice, His tavern, located on the military road, was about three-fourths of a mile west of the present village. The spot is marked by an old cemetery.28 When Charles Emerson ran the survey line for the Fort Ripley road, he crossed the Platte River on a wooden bridge built by John DePew for the benefit of the freighters hauling supplies to Fort Ripley, Crow Wing village, and other points upriver. DePew, who had settled on the west side of the Platte River in the southeast quarter of section 11, T. 38 N. R. 32 W., soon after the fort was established, operated a stopping place for travelers. Simpson considered DePew's bridge below standard, and felt that it should he used only until a better one was built. Still running northwesterly the military road con- tinued across sections i i, 1o, and 3 of Lan- gola Township, The military road entered Morrison County near what is now Royalton through the southwest corner of section 34 of T: 39 N. R. 32 W., then ran north across section 33 to the center of section 28.27 From this place the military road continues as a greatly improved Morrison County road running in a northerly direction close to the Mississippi River through sections 21, 20, 17, 8, 5, and 6 of T. 39 N. R. 32 W., then through sections 31, 30, ig, 18, and 8 of T. 4o N. R. 32 W. to the Little Falls of the Mississippi. Approximately two miles south of the Lit- tle Falls, on the east bank of the river, were the old village of Swan River and the trading post of William A. Aitken. A ferry was in op- eration at this point by 1851, and later it be- came the connecting link between the road to Fort Ripley and that to Long Prairie. It was discontinued in 1863. Little remains of the old village, less of the old Aitken trading post. 28 ABOVE LITTLE FALLS, the military road kept near the Mississippi while crossing sec- tions 35, 26, 27, 23, 14, 12, and 1 of T. 41 N. R: 32 W, in Morrison County. On the way it passed the home of the Reverend Frederick Ayer in section 12. Ayer was a missionary to the Chippewa Indians of northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota until 1849. He then moved to this spot on the east bank of the Mississippi and established a school for older Indian and white children, naming the small settlement Belle Prairie. Simpson recorded that the school was located about ten miles south of Fort Ripley. Both the school and Ayer's home have disappeared. West of U.S. Highway 371 in section 12, about 2 112 miles north of the present town of Belle Prairie in the area where , the Ayer school stood, there is a row of well -kept homes with lawns extending back to the brush. Between the brush and the fence enclosing the yards, the old road can be traced, A low mound in one of the yards was pointed out to the author as the site of the old Ayer school. 29 Soon after passing Ayer's settlerrient, the 33 �. military road crossed Fletcher Creek and POINT DOUGLAS- ill went north along the Mississippi River through sections 36 and 25 of T. 42 N. R. 32 FORT RIPLEY ROAD W. Then turning toward the river it ran northwesterly across the prairie through sec- l Mar C( TO LONG 34 MINNESOTA'S OLD GOVERNMENT ROADS tions 24, 23, 14, 11, 2, and 3. Crossing the southern boundary of Crow Wing County, it traversed sections 34 and 2'] of T. 43 N. R. 32 W., ending on the east bank of the Missis- sippi near the home of S. Baldwin Olmstead opposite Fort Ripley.30 In 1857, after nearly a decade of keeping the peace in the surrounding countryside, Fort Ripley was evacuated by federal troops, Almost immediately the Chippewa reacted by robbing, killing farm animals; and threatening the lives of whites. The murder of a settler, followed by the lynching of three accused Indians and subsequent threatened reprisals by the Chippewa brought army troops back to the fort. Additional Indian scares, the Dakota Warr of 1862, and the Civil War kept the fort in operation until 1877, when it was abandoned. Some buildings were burned; others were dismantled. That part of the military reserve east of the Missis- sippi was sold. Now nothing remains of the old fort except the ruins of the powder magazine, 31 Apparently the only access from the Mississippi's east bank to Fort Ripley during its active years was by a ferry located just soutb of the mouth of the Nokasippi River. Years later a bridge was built across the Mis- sissippi a short distance north of the tributary's mouth, but it has long since -dis- appeared. Now the only access to the site of old Fort Ripley is through the' main gate at: the southern end of the Camp Ripley Mili- tary Reservation. This gate may be closed at times during the summer, when National Guard units occupy the reserve. The Red River Addition WITH WORK on the Fort Ripley road near- ing completion in 1854, a demand arose for federal help in extending a territorial road northwest from Fort Ripley to connect with the east plains Red River Trail to Pembina. Early in 1855 Congress obligingly appro- priated $to,000 to be expended for cutting out the timber along the road specifically lo - 01 01 Crow Wing County VU< j i9 � i ri 23 fLt0gr 2 Old Fart 2S Ripley cated by law to run "from Fort Ripley, via Crow Wing river, to the point where said road intersects the main road leading to the Red river of the North." This road would con- nect the head of navigation on the Missis- sippi in St. Paul with the Iucrative trading center at Pembina. In that same year the ter- ritorial legislature appointed S. Baldwin Olmstead, John H. Fairbanks, and Frederick Ayer commissioners to locate and mark the route.32 Captain Simpson, alert to the fact that the proposed road line bad never been surveyed, sent his assistant, E. A. Holmes, to inspect the first 125 miles of the route as located by the commissioners. Holmes returned with a negative opinion of the road — which for all practical purposes. followed the unimproved woods route of the Red River Trail. It was, he reported, swampy, exceedingly crooked, and finll of potholes, and it would be a waste of money to cut the road there. Such a road, it was felt, could not serve the expanding com- merce of the territory for long, and Simpson believed the route should be altered so a more permanent road could span the esti- mated 415 miles between Fort Ripley and Pembina. Simpson decided to convince Con- gress that it was necessary to change the wording of the law so it would "admit of the location, survey, and construction of the shortest and most economical route." He asked Colonel Abert to get the permission of the War Department to suspend work on the road until Congress could act on his request. At the same time he sent a circular letter to Governor Willis A. Gorman, Henry H. Sib- ley, Henry M. Rice (then delegate to Con- gress), Norman W. Kittson, and Charles T. Cavalier (the latter two lived in Pembina) re- questing their views on holding up the road work while. Congress considered the idea. All agreed to Simpson's plan for postpone - m ent. 33 Not until 1857 did Congress give the see - rotary of war and the Corps of Topographical Engineers the power to lay out the road where it was deemed best. At the same time the Red River road law was amended so the original appropriation could be applied to constructing the road as well as cutting out the timber. 34 By then Captain George Thom bad re- placed Simpson, and he ordered the survey of the new road. line as soon as Congress ap- proved. the.change; it was completed early in 1858. Shortly before he was replaced by Cap- tain Howard Stansbury, Thom began con- struction on the road. It thus fell to Stansbury to oversee the expenditure of what remained of the $1o,000 allotted for the Red River Ad- dition. In April a contract had been let for the construction of the first section of road be- tween Fort Ripley and the point where the R32W Cass County MMEMME No , WEERM Me 27 1 1 25 33 i *,,Z{_ I j R31 W =�kM%[WM© m g I � 11 survey line crossed the Crow Wing River — a distance of 37 112 miles. The work on this stretch was to be completed by the end of the 1858 season. 35 The Red River Addition began on the east side of the Mississippi River where the Fort Ripley road ended and ran north to old Crow Wing village, Then by ferry it crossed the Mississippi to the north bank of the Crow Wing River and continued northwesterly up the Crow Wing Valley. The remaining allot- ted funds for this road 05,315) ran out before this section could be completed, and con- struction was terminated at the 2.9 -mile post. For that 29 miles, reported the contractor, the road was "a great improvement on the old trail, and a distance of seven miles is gained." The road ended at what was called the Grand Marais, a swampy area some eight miles east of the old Wadena trading post. 3s Stansbury continued to request funds for construction of the Red River Addition, not only to link it up with the east plains Red River Trail, but to extend it westward from Otter Tail Lake in present Otter Tail County to Fort Abercrombie, newly established on the Red River.37 His efforts were in vain, however; no additional money from Congress for military roads in Minnesota was forthcom- ing, and no further construction on the Red River Addition was done. The author has not attempted to trace the route of the Red River Addition for the 29 miles it was constructed. The map of this road in this booklet is based on the U.S. Land Survey plats of the area on which appears the "Crow Wing and Otter Tail Road." This road seems to follow the military road route as it was described in reports to Abort and as it is indicated on the 1859 map of Minnesota's military roads prepared by the topographical engineers., R30W R29W 5 a y� 1 syai 1315 1 13 17 0107 o' F- 23 Ilager �I ISI POINT DOUGLAS - FORT RIPLEY ROAD �I� .. � �: r � 1.` .41 ilk ' I " I 0 L J Ti - - r � - r J vl..].� �' i`a6>epi=.�r3F.Y.�;Sl,.��AF�.�L_1 �'_.,`q. 'i5 S",...,?. .y. ..l.. + �. - 7• .. � ,.. �,'ff!I/ " r • � � . s = �, � � � � ;, J.�f ':it ,;yam i � i .. . ., ____ - - ="*T• r ,.� � � Tor { - , h� ' I i i At r� i ' a i i A 0 1 r, ai 1' J' I �•L' f 4iPV1 + I ! S '.{, _^ �r r P Ayp ! y Y f • r A 44 � ! 1 I i i At r� i ' a i i A 0 1 r, ai 1' J' I �•L' f 4iPV1 I i i At r, ai 1' �•L' f 4iPV1 + I