By Lee Epps The “well-to-do” would have a four-seated buggy for warmer weather and a one-seated “cutter” with sled runners for winter travel, as well as a horse to pull either. “The rest of us walked,” said Mervin Dvergsten about his 1920s boyhood on a farm at the edge of Spring Grove, Minnesota. His Norwegian immigrant father walked to the east side of town where he did … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – No Cow? No Problem! – Milk on the Move
By Lee Epps Part two of a milk-moving series A century ago, Houston County cows were milked not only on farms, but also in town, including the county seat. As late as the 1920s, those residing within the city limits of Caledonia were permitted to keep milk cows on their property. People would annually lead their town cow out to a nearby farm to be introduced to a rural bull. … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – The Milkman Was Not a Man
The milkman was not a man. The milk delivery “person” was actually a milk maiden. And her helpers were her two school-aged daughters. In the early 1940s, during World War II, Eunice “Granny” Murray delivered milk door to door in Hokah, Houston County. Her husband worked full time in La Crosse, so milk delivery was strictly a female enterprise. Arising at 4 a.m., Eunice and one … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Being Wary of Wolves in the 1850s
By Lee Epps Part three of a series In his second day in Minnesota Territory in 1852, teenager Sam McIntire was teased, that unless his hunting marksmanship improved, the wolves in the valley might catch him off guard and make a meal of him. That may have been said in jest, but under certain circumstances, wolves were feared as evidenced by one recollection McIntire described … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – A Great Meal and a Muzzleloader
By Lee Epps Part two of a series Captain Samuel Bates McIntire (Cap’n Mac), who came to what would become Houston County in 1852 at the age of 14, prefaced each published portion of his 1901 historical memoir with a poem. As toward our future home we glide, Wild bluffs frown down on either side, And tell of countless ages gone, Since when they first beheld the … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – The Peculiar Thump of the Paddle Wheel
He did not state the reason his parents moved halfway across a continent. “While yet a boy, my mother, two sisters and myself left a comfortable home in the East for the then far West, my father going before to size up the situation and locate. The change from the classic old State of Massachusetts to the then wild territory of Minnesota was a long stride from … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Chaotic Clash Between Farmers, Claim Jumpers and Land Sharks
They have been politely called “speculators” or “real estate agents,” and more harshly, “shysters.” But according to Houston County historian Sumner Sheldon, the term used by the early settlers of the Minnesota frontier was “land sharks.” These unpopular, often unscrupulous land sharks purchased land, not to farm but only to sell for higher prices. A rumor of a railroad … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – White Beaver and Buffalo Bill in Lanesboro
From Lanesboro to Europe? Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was the largest and most attended live, traveling outdoor performance that reenacted scenes of the American west along with exhibitions of sharpshooting and daring horsemanship in both the United States and Europe for three decades, beginning in 1883. Lanesboro historian Cecil Ward claimed the inspiration and sometime … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Everything is Free, Including the Teeth Extraction
In the latter decades of the 1800s, frontier settlers, including those in southeast Minnesota, were eager for entertainment that was not homegrown. There was not yet radio, motion pictures or television. Even if a more urban area was available, there were not yet automobiles or paved roads for convenient travel. Traveling entertainers made a living in rural areas be they … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – What Else Could He Do? … Muskrats!
The Cassell family carried everything they owned as they walked about six miles on the Territorial Road before stopping at the log farmhouse of Isaac Holmes. It was mid-summer of 1862, about a decade after the first white settlers began to arrive in southeast Minnesota. It was two years after a survey of 40 acres that was being purchased by Theodore Cassell (Kassell, Castle). … [Read more...]