The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-08-10
'OLD-TIMF TALAS
| EARLY DAY Scene
Book Of Ancient Date Re-
calls the Past
MAPS AND THINGS
Historic Publication That
Should Be Placed In State
Archives

Old settlers of Mankato and Blue
Earth county will recall the scenes
throughout this part OF the state In
1874 when the Illustrated Histori q
cal Atlas Of the State OF Minnesota
was issued in that year. I. L. Enid
colt. head of the Endicott Com
pany, 729 South Front street, re-
Gently uncovered an Atlas when
clearing his attic.
A perusal of the huge book is J
revelation to the younger genera
tons OF the state today. Every
county and city OF any size Is shown
by map and interesting scenes sur Z
rounding each OF the cities or coun-
ties are illustrated with engraved,
pen sketches. Homes OF many Of
the prominent people Of the state,
at time are penned and engraved
fhe principal business houses and.
enterprises of the state during the
period are also penned. laundering
farming and mining, the three
principal industries OF the state are
Illustrated and wrote up" in the
atlas. q
OF striking importance to tnesi
young LOAh VI Coudys Al V0IuouB bu0S
book would be to note, in all prob
forefathers. A large section Of the I
book is given over to illustrated
sketchings of prominent men Of thes
state in political, religious, educa. q
tional and business life OF the state. n
Invariably the noble forefathersf
wore well groomed beads or
Some had "goatees," others wore
big heavy black boards. some side .
whiskers-again picture would
show political leader or some
other parsonage adorned with
Colonel s James Geo Geo irish s
whiskers, which had the appear i
ance Of milady Of today wearing a j
summer fur.
Unluckily the atlas was shy pic
lures of many Mankato persdnages
or pen sketches Of the city and
county as there were OF other
places; That part Of the book had /,
History of County
A full page, however, was given
over to detailed story Of the his
tory and other facts about Blue
Earth county: In the lead of the
0OoOA AptiOh VI IS40C L<<1Etn COu4ty ~
states, HThe soil Of this county Is
Of the same nature as the soil Of
the rest of the state, although deep
er and richer than any other IN the
state
So well watered Is Blue Earth
county that even at that early date.
half century ago, Blue Earth
county was known as the AUndine
Region Of Minnesota"
Five rivers spread over the re-
gion hike fan, making the land as
fertile as possible" says the article.
It refers to the Blue Earth. LeSueur,
Little Cottonwood, Maple and the
Big. and Little Cobb. Il also tells
Of how the Minnesota river bounds
the county on the north.
"The Blue Earth region was first
discovered in 100 by M. LeSueur.
who traversed the river e. good
ways and established the strong
hold Of Fort LHillier.
Mankato In the year the Atlas
was made had population Of 3,482.
There were 119 schools in the state
q large portion Of them being OF
log or frame construction. A few
were OF brick and one was Of stone.
Approximately a fifth OF the county
acreage was under cultivation and
wheat, as with the rest of the farm \
ing sections Of the state, was the
main crop. Another fifth. of the
county was covered by heavy tim
Der, mostly in the Northern part of
the county.