The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-03-18
Valuable Contribution to Early
History of State Made By
Sank Centre School Students

was also used. This was just the
same as the rabbit snare, only
stronger for the bigger game. The
steel trap and "pit falls" were used
but not so extensively.
In 1862 a band of Siox Indians set
out to kill, drive out, or get rid of
the white settlers in some way. The
people around Sank Centre started to
build a Stockade. My grandfather
had an OK team; and as teams were
hard to get, he drove his team in
stead of doing some other work on
the Stockade. Some men cut logs
in the woods, others loaded them on
the wagons, others drove teams, and
still others set the logs in the ground.
There were scouts and guards all
around to warn the workers of an
attack from the Indians. These
guards were needed as this incident
shows. While Taylor and some 9TH
ers, accompanied by half-breed In
dian guard, were watering their OK
en- and horses in a river in which a
lot of logs, boys, and other things
were floating down, the guard sud-
denly pointed to a bog floating along
with several logs and said it was not
a real bog but an Indian. The 9TH
ers with him laughed. The Indian
guard was sure it was not bog, so he
shot at it as soon as it was in
range. The water splashed for a
minute and then a Sioux Indian came
up. He had been intending to float
down far enough to shoot the whites
standing by the river.
The Stockade was built around the
store owned by Pendergast and Fish.
1t covered a fairly large territory and
was about ten feet high. A ditch
about seven feet wide and rather
deep was dug around it. This was to
keep the Indians from coming right
up to them. At each corner there
was a block house, and on the south
side there was the house for the SOL
diers.
My grandmother lived about ten
miles from the Stockade, but she did
not go to it because they did not
realize the danger from the Indians.
When they realized the danger, they
were told that the Indians had been
captured before they rachel Sank
Centre.
The Taylor and Maly families were
both among the first settlers. The
town of Sank Centre grew up around
them. They came here before there
were any stores in Sank Centre. The
first blacksmith shop was about four
miles south of Sank Centre and was
the first place of business in the COM
munity. The first butcher shop was
about three and one-half miles north
west of Sank Centre.
From 1856 to 1865 the commun-
iJy did not grow much because of
the Indian and Civil Wars. The In
dams were every where and always
at war with each other. The "Win-
nebago crossing" was about six miles
south of Sank Centre. The Sioux and
Chippewas or Ojibwas were con-
stantly fighting over the line between
the two tribes. These things re-
tarded the settlement of this part of
Minnesota. Because of the Civil War
most of the men were in the army,
and this also retarded emigration to
Minnesota.
In 1856 the first settlers came
here. They came very slowly until
after 1865. Both of my grandpar-
ents came before this time.
In June, 1857, Moore and Jaque
started a dam across the Sank River
but owing to hard times they did not
finish it, and in the spring of 1858
the high water took the dam out.
The river spread out and covered
acres of land. You could cut across
fields in boats, and many farmers
went to neighbor who lived about
three miles away in boat-all the
way was across high fields.
After my grandparents were mar
ried they lived on a homestead about
seven miles south of Sank Centre.
In 1868 they moved to the town of
Sank Centre. The town of Sank Cen
tire developed to it's present popular
ity, and in its development my grand
parents took part. Il
Myra Taylor,
Sank Centre Senior High School,
Sank Centre, MINI.
The Story of My Grandparents
in Minnesota
In June of the year 1868 my
grandmother, then girl of sixteen,
came to America, her only escort be-
ing brother a few years her senior.
At the New York station she caught
a mixed train to Milwaukee Ga
"mixed" train is passenger and
freight combined from here she
boarded another as far as Hastings,
Minnesota, and took small steamer
up the Mississippi River to st. Paul.
Another mixed train brought her to
st. Cloud where an uncle of hers re-
sided and with whom she took up her
lodging. This uncle owned hotel
known as the St. Cloud house. 1t
was an available and desirable place
for her to begin earning the livelihood
she was forced to make; and so this
was where she started to work-in-
evitably enjoying home-like atmos-
phere.
On evenings in the winter when
the winds howled about the house and
swept over the prairie all around, the
inmates of this particular hotel sat
around the fire and told stories
stories absolutely true, but that seem
fictitious and romantic to us now.
Nevertheless, they clearly show the
wild, fantastic and even humorous
spirit of the time.
One of the incidents that made a