Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1891-04-17
MAYOR RICHARDSON'S MESSAGE,
An Elaborate Review Of the History
Condition and Prospects
Of Our City.

From the Mound Builders to Electric
Lights; Gloom to Brightness;
Hope to Realization.
To the Honorable Council OF the City
Of Little Falls:
Having been at the recent annual
election held In this city elected for
the third time to fill the office of chief
executive OF our young city, now en-
tering upon the third year of it's cor
porate existence, I will, as mayor,
in accordance with an almost uni
versal practice, briefly call your at
tention to some of the matters that
l deem it important for you and the
public at large to take into consider
alton. 1nso doing I will not assume
that any OF you are ignorant, or are
not alive to, or do not realize the fact
that in accepting the position OF al
dermen Of the city you have taken
upon yourselves great and grave
trust. You were selected by the vot-
ers in the several wards of the city in
very cool and deliberate manner,
after duly considering your gualiflca-
tons for the responsible positions
you were to hold; indeed the recent
election by which you were elevated
to power was a remarkable one, be-
ing nearly free from party or faction
al strife, consequently the result was
very nearly satisfactory to all the
people. So far our city council has
been composed OF wise and discrete
men, who may have erred in some
minor matters. but in all matters of
grave Importance they have acted
wisely, and left nothing undone that
the best interests Of the city demand
ed should be done. That your con-
duct OF the affairs Of the city will be
equally wise I have no reason to
doubt.
In order to avoid burdensOme tax
alton and obtain what was abso-
lutely necessary for the grow tn and
prosperity OF the city we have had to
incur some Indebtedness, but l think
we are owing nothing for which we
have not got value received. We of
course are not yet great city, but
have the foundations for one laid,
and nothing but suicidal policy on
the part OF us, to whom the destiny
OF our young city has for the time be-
ing been committed, can prevent us
from realizing the goal to which we
aspire, which is to become the me-
tropolis of the northwest; situated
at the gateway to the vast wheat
growing region of Northern Mime
sofa and the Dakotas, and of the
great pineries and hard wood region
embraced by the headwaters of the
Mississippi, and being at present the
brightest gem upon it's banks. No
observing man ever assembled or de-
scended the upper Mississippi with
out being captivated with the beauty
OF this location, and seeing the great
advantages it possessed over any
other point for building up a manu-
featuring city. The extensive earth
works in this vicinity thrown up by
a prehistoric race, and lines of rifle
pits made by the aborigines (which
showed to have been recently dug
when came to Little Falls in the
spring OF 1859 show to a certainty
that in the dingy past fierce
battles were fought for the
possession of this beautiful spot,
and when arrived here in May of
that year, I found several par
ties here apparently with ample
means, who claimed they were lay
ing the foundation of Il great city.
All were elated over the beautiful
place they had found, and the bright
prospects for future greatness. Rap
id progress was made for a short
time, when general financial crash
came. By an enormous increase in
the volume OF water in the great riv-
er, dam, mills and factories were
swept away. Following this in
quick succession came the Indian war
in 1862, when a large number OF the
people left and never looked back.
After this for many years real estate
In Little Falls was not considered
worth paying taxes on. Many resi-
dences were torn down and shipped
to points down the river, 80 the ruin
Of Little Falls was considered to he
complete, and for many years-it was
not accorded a place on some of our
state maps, while points like Lango-
Ia and Belle-Prairle, where there was
located q tavern and blacksmith
shop, showed up conspicuously on
all the maps OF this country. The
principal cause of this almost CON-
plete humiliation of Little Falls, al
ter becoming booming town of q
thousand people, was bad manage
ment. The founders had sufficient
capital. but had little, if any, exper-
fence in the building of cities, so they
became disheartened, and sought
other fields in which to recuperate
their lost fortunes, while h few of US
thought no better place could be
found, and imagining that we could
see In the uncertain and dim future
realization OF our first pleasant
dreams, we CROPPED and felt our way
along in the dark surrounded with a
gloom Of uncertainty, for a quarter
OF century. doing what was in our
power to put things in shape for the
millennium we believed would come to
Little Falls in due time.
One of the things worthy of note
was the securing of large slice OF
territory lying west of the MISSISSIPPI
pi river. from Todd county, thus
doubling the size ofMorrison county,
so that the future city of Little Falls
would take in adjacent territory on
both sides OF the Mississippi river,
and thus become one large city In
place of two small ones.
Two years ago the dead village OF
Little Falls was resurected and came
forth from the grave full fledged
city, young and vigorous. I was, at
that time, by the SURFACES OF the
people, chosen to fill the position OF
MAYOR With the assfsfanca Of " orr