Peering at the Past Gold, murder, a water spout and a new Lutheran edifice

Part six of a series.

Residents of Houston County were among those seeking wealth during the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1874-1877. Gold had been discovered in Dakota Territory by an 1874 United States Army expedition of 1,000 men, led by George Armstrong Custer. In 1877, according to a published history of Houston County, “A lot of Blackhillers, as they were called, left Houston county for that new found Eldorado.”

That 1882 History of Houston County included a year-by-year collection of “interesting events” that reflected life in the county during its first three decades. The following is quoted with the original spelling, capitalization and punctuation (or lack thereof) from that large hardbound volume. In addition to the gold seekers, some of the other entries from 1876 and 1877:

The year 1876

On Sunday, the 16th of February, at Mound Prairie, a daughter of Thomas Murry, who was fifteen years of age and had been a cripple from birth, in the absence of the rest of the rest of the family at church, was burned to death, with the residence, which was found in ashes on their return.

James Conley, of Brownsville, was accidentally drowned on the 18th of July, in the river, having undertaken to swim across, he suddenly sunk to rise no more of his own volition.

On the 20th of July, a Mr. Wilcox, of Riceford, was shot while handling a gun by the muzzle, and died a few days afterwards.

On the fifth of August there was a sudden fall of rain, and what was popularly supposed to be a water spout, burst upon Riceford Creek, and the South Fork of the Root River. In the south part of Yucatan so sudden was the rise, that the water came down in an overwhelming wave from six to ten feet high. It struck the Dedham mill between two and three o’clock in the morning, and that with the distillery, a store started a short time before by Herrick Persons, and a saloon kept by Mr. Carrier, were swept away. Several dwellings were destroyed and considerable stock was drowned. The calamity would have been much greater, so far as life and stock is concerned, but a man on horseback rode as Phil Sheridan rode, giving the alarm. The lower part of the town was not reached until daylight by the impetuous waters, and the stock and human life was thus saved. In all this deluge seventeen persons, according to the local papers, lost their lives. Editor’s note: Phil Sheridan was a Union cavalry commandeer during the Civil War.

Those interested in the formation of a musical society met at the Court-house in Caledonia on Thursday afternoon, September 28th, and effected an organization…

The year 1877

In this year there were 24 flour mills in the county, with 68 run of stones, furnishing 124,000 barrels of flour a year. There were seven custom mills. All of these mills were driven by water and they employed 88 persons.

There were six saw and lumber mills, running sixteen saws, and turning out annually 720,000 feet of lumber. One of them was run by steam, and fifteen men were employed. There were five carriage and wagon shops, and one woolen mill employing thirteen persons. There were three wheat elevators, with a capacity of 45,000 bushels.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Portland Prairie was dedicated on the 20th of May, Rev. J. F. Chaffee officiating.

A brutal and cold-blooded murder was committed on the 7th of June, between Brownsville and Hokah, by Joseph Marco, the victims being Mr. Joseph Ennis and his wife, who lived on a farm at the place mentioned. Marco was at work for Ennis, and shot him and his wife through the head and set fire to the house partially consuming their bodies. The murderer was soon apprehended and safely lodged in the Caledonia jail.

On July the 11th a new Norwegian Church was dedicated at Spring Grove. It was a Lutheran edifice, and it was said at the time that the church was the finest in southern Minnesota. The services were of an interesting character, and the event a notable one in the vicinity.