The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-07-01
Fifty Years Ago in Minnesota
(By Mrs. Ellen Porter)

From Fridays Daily.
| was born and raised i'm the state
of New Hampshire In the year 1852
my father together with a number of
other families in our neighborhood be-
coming dissatisfied with the difficult
farming in that rock-rbb country,
and having been filled with the glow
ing reports about the advantages of
the state Of Wisconsin as a farmers
paradise decided to move us all out
there. We came by train to Buffalo,
New York and there embarked on one
OF the lake craft of that day, which
after Il somewhat t"mpestuoils voyage
finally landed us in Milwaukee, from
which place we a few days after ar
rived at our destination at Fox Lake
in Dodge county, Wisconsin.
We lived in Fox Lake and vicinity
until 1858. In 1857 my father Captain
Elisha Parks, and my uncle, Milton
Parks, had again acquired that spirit
OF unrest which seemed to pervade
the American people in those days
and having heard many rosy descrip
tions of the beauty fertility and soil
and general excellence of Blue Earth
county decided to come out and pre-
empt government lands. They stayed
here the most of that summer and
employed their time in preparing
things for our advent the following
spring. They hauled logs from the
nearby timber and constructed there
from the walls of what was ultimately
to be our future home.
They returned in the fall and spent
the winter with rs and early the
next spring we started for what was
then the mecca of all immigrants,
Minnesota.
Fifty-two years ago. my father, moth
CT. three sisters, two uncles, an amt ard
myself. crossed the Mississippi at La
Crosse, Wisconsin, in ferry boat,
there being no bridges across the Great
Father of Waters in those days and
not one mile of railroad west of To-
nah, Wisconsin. Imagine us in two
wagons each pulled by a team OF horses,
leading two COWS and on either
side of the wagons large chicken coops
attached, slowly making our way to-
ward our land which my father had
homesteaded the year previous, camp
ing the spring; on account of which we
and prepare our meals in Gods out
of doors. and at night sleeping under
the vast canopy of heaven protected
only by our lightly covered wagons.
Our progress was slow from the fact
and also on account of the very wet
condition of the prairies as there had
been an exceedingly heavy rainfall dur
ing the spring; on account of which
were often obliged to unload our wag
Ons and pull them out of the mud of
the prairies with sticks obtained along
our route. However, after many
weary days of travelling thus, we
finally reached our new home, which was
situated in Vernon township, Blne
Earth county. Minnesota. We lived in
our rude cOnveyances during the re-
mainder of the summer and until the
completion of our mud-cemented log
house which was fair example of all
the log houses of early pioneer days,
consisting of two rooms-One above
and one below. We raised a small
pittance each year and lived in COM
parative comfort until the real out
break of the Indians in 1862, although
they had been harassing the frontier
settlers in many sections Tor several
months before In 1861 [ was married
TO John Parks, who had homesteaded
a piece of land in Ceresco township
IN 1857, which was about one and a
half miles from my fathers place,
where we continued to reside for many
years after that.
The cause of the dissatisfaction and
revolt of the Indians came as re-
suit of the reinforcement of the
treaties made between them and the
government of United States. The lat
ter meant to deal honestly with the
red men and sent missionaries to edu
cate them, furnished them with cattle,
horses, provisions, implements for
farming and money in payment for the
land which had so long been the hap
Ply hunting ground of the wild, rowing
Indian tribes. With the exception of
a very small proportion, these hone>-
debts were never paid to the Indians;
as said before the government did pay
the prices stipulated in the treaties
regularly but the superintendent and
agents to whom the money and sup
plies were entrusted for distribution