The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-01-02
ECHOES OF THE PAST.

ECHOES OF THE PAST.
c. 81. Chadbourne's Interesting Reminis-
cences of the Past.
A late issue of the UNION stirs up
old times and memories of early settle
ment, and the trials and privations that
now seem more like a dream than
reality, and if related in detail, the
present generation would be inclined
to accuse us of dreaming. ~
Princeton was named for John S.
Prince of st, Paul, one Of the town
proprietors- and the one with money.
We came here in the spring of 1856,
with family, consisting of wife, one
child (who is now wife of John Kaliher)
and Mr.. Ross two daughters, lone be-
ing now Mrs. Barker.) There
was no house here completed.
What we called hotel was being
built. We moved into an old logging
camp near whore the North Star hotel
once stood. There was no white woman
here to welcome US, but they came
very soon after us-the Byers, Paynes,
Dimmicks, Carews and others. They
came in quite fast. We got the hotel
completed and moved into it in time to
catch the trade of river drivers, and
they patronized US literally. The
boards for floors and partitions were
~whipsawed and VIM. Carmody had one
end of it. Shingles were made by
hand, and the body of the building was
pine logs. We all thought we were
doing big business, and we were after
the fashion of those days. We ran
the hotel and Mr.. Ross ran the stage
tri-weekly to st. Anthony.
We took our claim just over the line
in Sherburne county, and managed to
get three acres broke in June and
hauled a load of lumber from Anoka,
and the Fourth of July, 1856, S. M.
Byers and myself built my first house,
and had 1t all completed between the
hours of a. m. and 4 p. m. the same
day.
George Oxnard started a general
store in June, the first store in the
place. He contracted with me to put
up hundred tons of hay, and took in
Joe Cater and Ike Baker, and moved
into the shanty the middle of July.
We put up about $50 tons for him and
Mr.. Durham, who was putting in saw
mill. In the fall Joe Cater went back
to New Hampshire to get him a wife,
which he did, and brought her back in
the spring with him, and we built us
another house in Princeton near John
Hatch's present abode, and moved in
and hauled logs for Dunham's mill
during the winter, and helped saw
them in the spring; then moved on my
claim again in the summer of 1856.
We had three acres planted to corn
and potatoes, and they grew wonder
fully. The 18th of August the locusts
came and swept everything clean, and
left their eggs for another year.
We were on our claim again n May,
1857, and so were the grasshoppers, and
DIS fast as anything green appeared,
they took it. We made out to break
few acres more and moved back to our
lefty" residence, and on November I'd
had born to US twin girls, the first
white children born in what is now
Mile Laos county. Forrest Cater came
next in February, and was the first boy
born in this county; but my wife claims
to be the first white woman, and the
mother of the first white children born
in this county.
During the summer of 1855, money
was plenty and emigrants came in fast,
but after the grasshoppers took posses
sion, things stopped and it was pretty
hard to get anything to eat in the line
of bread, butter, pork, sugar, tea or
coffee, and as to clothing aud shoes, we
simply went barefoot. Wouldn't the
kids laugh now to see men and women
going round town barefooted? Well,
all we kicked about was the grubs in
paths that used to snap our toes. Our
flour, e0hen eoe had any, came from
Illinois, up the river in boats, and cost
here $40 to Sl1 a barrel. We moved
on our claim again in the spring of 1853
to stay. The '''hoppers'' we're gone
and the crops were bountiful. After
this crop we had plenty to eat, but we
couldn't sell it; couldn't swap it for
store goods, and money there was none.
didn't have twenty-five cents of my
own for year. What money was
afoat was wild cat," so-called. A
person wasn't safe to take it. We had
some legislation to provide US money,
establishing banks with railroad bonds
for security; and a good many banks
issued money on the strength of the
bonds, which became worthless, and so