The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1935-02-28
By Ray E. Cotton

OQe OF CQe mOSC interesting Ill
terviews with old timers of Red
wood Falls took place when thu
writer met Mr.. Joseph Tyson a
his home the other day and Mr.
Tyson, assisted by Mrs. Tyson
gave colorful story of early day
history of this community. Exhi
biting a rare memory for one Of
80 years Of age, Mr.. Tyson unfold
ed in a clear and concise manner
q tale of this section which is uni
que in its manner.
Those of us who reside here to-
day, would never dream that years
ago, when a stockade marked the
site of the present city, immense
herds of antelopes roamed at will
and were one Of the main sources
of meat supply for the little vii
lage of Redwood Falls. The ante
lope, according to the story told
by Mr.. Tyson, became quite tame
and it was easy work for the set
tiers to shoot them down. Some
of the holder entelopes even came
and ate food from the hands Of
some of the settlers.
And speaking Of hunters. In
the days Of 80 they were good
shots and mallard ducks were
plentiful. Mr.. Tyson informs the
writer that on one occasion over
where the town Of Riverside once
stood, a hunter lying in ambush,
shot ID mallard ducks with one
barrel load from his musket. That
boy sure must have known his
stuff.
In 1869, Mr.. Tyson, then living
in Illinois, yearned to go west, as
Horace Greeley once advised
young men. So hitching up the
old OK team, three yokes to be ex-
act, he set out for the long trip to
Minnesota.
Joseph Tyson Memories
Arriving here in 1869, Mr.. Ty-
son spent couple Of days at the
town of Redwood Falls, then
small but growing community and
then moved on to near Wood Lake
at the town of Posen, where he
took a homestead and settled.
In 1878, great swarms of grass
hoppers arrived and became sc
thick that at times the sun was al
but bIotted out as the myriads OF
winged pests flew about. The
grasshoppers cleaned out all OF
the crops, eating the bark of
trees and even eating the wooo
from pitchfork handles, owing te
the salty substance which was or
the handles from sweat of human
hands. Farmers had to smooth
off the handles before they could
be used again.
Then came the great Rock Val.
ley gold rush and the trails from
Redwood Falls were thick with
hundreds of men, women and
boys on their way to wrest treas,
ures from Old Mother Earth. Ar
early settler was the instigator OF
this gold rush and after an elabor.
ate array of derricks had been err
ected and much money spent the
investigators found that no gold
was to be had. 1t was a false
alarm, yet the promoters acted in
good faith. Everyone accepted
the adventure in good spirit and
it was soon forgotten.
Prosecute Tie Stealers
While Mr.. Tyson was justice OF
the peace, he was called upon tt
set in judgment against 20 of the
early day Redwood county settlers
who had been accused by the
Chicago and North Western rail
road company of stealing timber
and ties. A jury trial was calico
for by the defendants and the cas'
was tried before Justice Tyson a
Yellow Medicine The joker in TIT
deck was the fact that most OF tn
jurors also had been stealing tim
Der, so they freed all of the de
PENDANTS and the railroad com