The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-08-27
WHEN Town WAS moist
|WHISKEY RAN OUT AND sup
PLY MUST BE HAD :.
Courier Hustled to ST. Paul to
Fill Up the Early Day
Canteens

RECORDS Oh the ufSL meeIlHS Vi INC
present Old Settlers association of
this county, which was held at Hig-
gins Hall. about where the Frank
Front street, ION May %, 1870, now
read to one of the present genera
ton like a romance Of some far on
period, and it is hard to realize that,
number of the men and women
spoken Of in the records are still liv-
ing in Mankato There were fifty
eight present at the first meeting Of
the association. In order to be elig-
ible to the association at that time
one must have been a resident OF
Mankato previous to 1856. Among
those who were present at that first
meeting who are still living is Mrs.
]. R. Beatty, wife of the late Cap
tain Beatty, Phillip and Wendell
Hodapp, Charles and Louis Graf,
George PARROT, and Mrs. Carolina
Lamm, mother Of Robert and Otto
Lamm, and Mrs. John II. Holman
of this city.
meeting aas oH Were: President, John s.
Hinkley; vice presidents, P. K John
son, D. C. Evans, John Bruels. George
Maxfield, Lyman Mathews: record
ing secretary, Wesley Maxfeld.
Among the members of the execu-
tive committee was the late M. T.
Comstock, father of Judge w. L.
Comstock of this city. P. X. john
son, one of the vice presidents, has
son, Charles Johnson, living in
Brainard. George Maxfield, another
of the first vice presidents Of the
association, was the father of Mrs.
J. r. Beatty, and Wesley Maxfleld.
the first recording secretary of the
association, was Mrs. Beaty's brother
Was Headquarters For Sleepy Eye.
A very interesting paper read at
the first meeting of the organization
by the late George H. Marsh on the
history of Mankato states that in
1852 Mankato was the headquarters
Of the Indian chieftain, Sleepy Eye,
and that the Indians did not feel al
all friendly toward the encroachmeni
of the whites. At that time the gov
eminent of the United States had un-
der consideration the erection OF Fort
Ridgely. Steamboats, occasionally
piled up the Minnesota. Among
these boats were the Tiger, Clarion
and the Greek Slave. Any lumber
which was sawed that year was with
the aid of a whip saw.
Marsh, the first election ever held
in Mankato was at the Mankato
House in October, 1853. At that
election there were about seventeen
or eighteen votes cast Ephram
Cole and Jacob Guenther were elect
ed as county commissioners together
with ]. w. Babcock Of Kasota. which
was then within the boundaries OF
Blue Earth county. Descendants OF
Guenther Hill or the Windmiller Hill
as it is also known today. mark the
site of Jacob Guenther's claim. Mi
nard Mills was elected first judge OF
probate and P. K Johnson first reg
lister of deeds B. Moreland was
elected first sheriff and JOSHUA Keene
first justice Of peace.
That the early settlers Of Mankato
believed in nip" OF cold ana
frosty mornings to ward on the cold
is evidenced by the following quo
tation from Mr.. Marsh's paper:
Got Supply of Whiskey.
"About the last of December the
supply of whiskey in Mankato gave
out. but measures were promptly
taken to send a man with a pony and
pack train to st. Paul where a sup
ply was procured"
During the winter Of 1853, supplies
became very low in Mankato and the
settlers shared like brothers with
each other, until the arrival of the
first steamboat from st. Paul on May
90. 1854, when much needed supplies
were received from that city.
In his paper Mr.. Marsh spoke OF
rowing bands of Sioux and Chippewa
Indians who were at war with each
other during the year 1854. He
says that Large harvests of scalps'
were secured by the warriors on the
opposing sides. At the close OF 1854
the village of Mankato consisted or
about thirty houses, and all of these
with the exception of five or six were
of unhewn logs. Supplies were large.
ly purchased at Marshes store, and
the settlers had their boots and
shoes made at Lamm's shoe shop.