The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1922-04-19
WHY BOYS AND GIRLS SHOULD
ATTEND MR.. ADAMS LECTURE
AT THE REDWOOD FALLS
ARMORY, APRIL %.
(By H. M. Hitchcock

We are passing through perplexing
times when most Of US, younger peo-
pie as we'll as older, find it necessary
to devote our time to the problems of
our every day interests and to plan
ming for the future; and it has never
been more important or commendable
than now to heed the INDUCTION to
''look forward and not Backward"
But what happens now and what is
done now is result of what has hap
pened and been done before, so we
cannot and should not entirely ignore
the past.
Our schools provide as a part of
| our preparation to be intelligent cit
liens that we learn the stories of the
Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and of
other first sett 'ements along the At
lantic Coast which were the begin
nings of a new Nation. But there
are just as significant and interesting
stories Of history and biography, of
adventure and romance, of hardship
and tragedy right here in the begin
ming Of our own state of Minnesota
and especially in this part of the up
pecially with the early events of Red
wood and Renville Counties as there
is of any other part of our country
We consider ourselves fortunate
that we live in the United States
rather than in any other land and
we acknowledge our indebtedness TOT
Christopher Columbus for discovering
America and nearly every man, wo-
man and child knows how and when
that was done. But we who live in
what We consider one of the best
counties containing one Of the best !
towns and along by the side of one
of the most remarkably delightful .
and interesting valleys anywhere, it
is Of more immediate concern to us
to know how and when another Italian
Explorer discovered the Redwood
Valley and River; how he came
from Italy to the United States for
the express purpose of making dis
coveries in Minnesota and that the
records of this discovery and the first
of the Redwood Valley |
and the Minnesota Valley in Redwood
County were published in four differ
ent book editions on four different
dates at four different places-Italy,
New Orleans, London and Philadel-
phia, one hundred years ago. One of
the earliest settlers here has told that
he came to Redwood Falls as result
of reading accounts of the stirring
and startling events of 1862 and of |
the earliest settlement here and of
the starting of the town of Redwood |
Falls by Colonel Samuel MacPhail, as
these accounts were reported in Har-
per's Illustrated Weekly, at that time,
one of the most widely read periodi-
Gals in the United States, published
in New York City, while he was still
a resident of New York State, nearly
sixty years ago.
Here are the most important early
historical events of our own locality
that were very widely known to gen
erations that have passed away. To-
day, of the $4,000 people who now
live in Redwood County, not twenty
four of them, perhaps not one-halt
that number know more than very
little or nothing of these events.
What happened here in the early days
is passing entirely from our memory
and there is nothing done in our coun-
ty or in any of our towns or in our
schools or in any of our many librari
es to secure record or preserve re-
cords or publish records or make re-
cords available regarding our own
early history. We fail to realize that
there has been just about as much
change from extreme primitive con- |
ditions right here in our own county ,
in little over fifty years, easily
within the memory of a single life