St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-08

been fairly dealt with. and as his was
| the only organized county in the terri
tory which had not been the beneficiary
of some of the appropriations made by
congress for the erection OF public
| buildings in the territory, 1t was agreed
| that a memorial should be passed ask
| ing congress to grant a township or lana
| for the erection of a court house, WORK
| house and jail, especially a jail, as the
| county was on the frontier of civlllza-
ton, and as between the Indians and the
| criminal classes a Jail was absolutely
necessary to protect the settlers. The
memorial was passed, but congress
never honored the request.
OlmSted, however, must have been
mistaken as to the necessity of a'Jail
to hive the criminal classes, as three
| years later, upon the completion OF the
territorial prison at Saltwater. the COM
mission for discretion reported to the
legislative assembly that it only "con-
tanned two cells and was without work
shops" going to show that Gov. Ram
sey is correct in his statement that the
pioneers and old settlers OF Minnesota
were all honest men, and that Jalls ana
prisons were unnecessary.
BY the terms of The act of the leglS-
lative assembly authorizing the erec-
ton of the capitol at st. Paul, a board
of five commissioners was provided for
four to be elected by the people, by dis
tricts, the governor eX-officio the fifth.
whose duty was to select a site in ST.
Paul, procure plans, and to
Erect a Capitol Building.
The commissioners were Louis Rob-
ert and ID. F. Brawley, of st.
ponI. u A n Hofnh of RQutOn
county, and l. McKusick, of Saltwater
The board organized on the 18th day of
May, 1851, and the next day commenced
receiving offers from property owners
of a site. No propositions were enter
tanned unless without cost, a free gift to
the territory v. There were three propo-
sitions submitted to the board-One by
Louis Robert, of block IL of Robert and
Randall's addition; n by Henry NJ.
Rice, of block Z Of Rice and Irvine'S adj
dition and a bonus of 81, 900. and II by
Charles Bazille, of block 6 of Bazille and
Guerin's addition, which last proposition
was accepted. (Will the st. Paul cap
italiStS who are working up a boom for
the location of the new capitol on the
bluff be as liberal in their offer of a site,
or will they want about two prices?)
Four plans were submitted by differ
ent architects. The one by n. G. Prem
tiss was accepted and approved, for
which he received $50 i'll full cOmpenSa-
ton.
The contract for the erection of the
building was awarded to Joseph Dan
iels, who N those days was a carpenter
aud a builder, uut who eventually came
to the conclusion that he had mistaken
his calling, as he afterward read law,
and for many years past may be seen
gliding around the Hobbies of congress
as a claim agent. The building was
completed during the summer Of 1858,
and accepted by the legislative assembly
which convened on the 4th day of jan
uary, 1854. Costing less, perhaps, than
what will be paid to the architect uf the
new capitol, it answered all the pur-
poses for which it was erected. 1t was
the home of all the territorial officers,
and the territorial library-its council
chamber and representative hall salts
factory to the pioneer men who legiS-
lated wisely and we'll for the future of
Minnesota, and they can point with
pride to our public schools, our charita-
bic institutions, our system of railroads
aud the economy Of our earlier territor-
ial and state governments as part Of
their work, and which added much in
making Minnesota what she is today.
Scheming for Removal.
Not long prior to the meeting of the
legislative assembly which convened
on the 7th day o January, 1851, a num-
Der of thrifty politicians, who had not
come West looking for a sanftarinm,
and a few Western statesmen had con-
federated together and unanimously
resolved that st. Paul was not the prop
er place for a capital, and that there
was money for the gang if they could
succeed in removing it.
The combine sent out their agents to
look up a site for a new capital, land,
after some time. they returned and re-
ported that they had selected q lovely
site next west adjoining Traverse de
Sioux. A purchase of some 300 or 400
acres was made, aud the land plated.
The next thought was to give the place
a popular name. In those days every
body was for Saints. 1t was thought
that a town that was not named
after some saint would never
amount to much. The name of
st. German or st. Dodd-tWo
prominent c%itizens-it was believed