Continuing on today where Daniel Dayton’s granddaughter, De Orra Dayton, (her father was Zara Dayton) left off last week.
Once again, please note, this pioneer story was authored by my good friend, “Flip” (Brian Huggenvik. He has done an outstanding job, educating us about the challenges our forefathers faced as they tamed the wilderness of Fillmore County over a century ago!
The Daytons were now able to offer overnight accommodations to stage passengers and crew. The three men handled the outside business and the women… Maribah and daughters Jerusha, Emily, Mary, and Maria took care of cooking and inside hospitalities.
De Orra writes: “The hotel business was thriving. The women were good cooks. Grandfather (Daniel) bought 150 pounds of dried peaches from some traveler, and my aunt’s dried peach pies became famous far and wide. A load of dressed logs came along and they bought that. The menfolk went out on the prairie and cut 50 tons of hay to feed their own stock and that of the teamsters (the stagecoach horses). They put up five bed-steads and three beds on the floor in that little up-stairs. Besides that, they had three beds downstairs, with trundle beds under them. The second summer they built a lean-to which gave them much more room.”
The hospitality business seemed to be doing well enough for the Daytons to once again expand. In 1857 they added a full two story stone house next to the existing log building. There was an abundance of exposed limestone rock in the ravine and the new structure went up quickly that spring and summer. It is believed two Scottish masons named James McLaine and Ransom Walter, along with Dayton sons, built the new Ravine House. It served as a hotel, store, and the Big Spring Post Office. Daniel was the Postmaster. His salary was $31.00. (Documentation doesn’t specify-for a month or a year!). The appraised value of the new hotel was $1,350.00.
De Orra writes: “The next year they built a stone house, and they did have quite a hotel for those times. About the time the stone house was in condition to use, my grandma (Maribah) died. My grandfather was postmaster for years. The post office was my mother’s (Carrie) kitchen, but they finally built a small house for it. My writing is a small part of an unusually interesting descriptive article on pioneer life in Big Spring.”
The Brink and Walker Stage Line recognized this new business and officially hired the three Dayton men to run a “stage.” The four horses needed to be changed out every 15 miles. Each segment was a stage. The stagecoach could accommodate nine passengers and baggage. The crew would drive the coach for 15 hours each day, with planned overnight stops. They could average 45 miles a day in the summer, and 30 in the winter.
The stage ran through Elliota (Canton), Greenfield (Harmony), Big Spring, Carimona, Forestville, and west through Fillmore to Rochester and St. Paul.
Stagecoach fares:
• $.40 Ravine House to Preston or Elliota
• $.75 Ravine House to Chatfield
• $1.50 Ravine House to Decorah or Rochester
Besides keeping an inventory of horses for the Brink and Walker Line, the Daytons would offer food and a bed for weary travelers. The Stage Line recommended the Daytons should charge 50 cents for a bed and 50 cents for two meals.
Times got tough for the family as oldest daughter Jerusha and husband William Allen moved to Carimona. Emily married and left with Robert Blake. Mary moved on, and Daniel’s wife, Maribah died in 1858. In 1861, 17-year-old Maria died. From then on, with no women to take care of the men and guests, the Dayton boys always had boarders and immigrants living and working in the business.
The year was 1862 and the Civil War was spooling up. Aaron first joined up with the 7th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. Aaron became a 1st Lieutenant. He initially fought native Dakota Indians on the Minnesota frontier and later fought in battles with the Confederate Rebels in Kentucky, Tennessee and south to New Orleans.
Aaron write his brother Zara from the Steamer, Magenta: “Perhaps before this reaches you, you will be a soldier too. I would advise you what to do but both horns of the dilemma are so bad that it is difficult to determine which is worst. The thing is, if you volunteer you will get four or five hundred dollars bounty which will, by the time you get it, be worth little to you. If you don’t volunteer you will likely be drafted…”
To be continued next week, so please, stay tuned!
These fabulous pictures of Daniel Dayton and his wife Maribau were done by our favorite early photographer, Aaron L. Sleyster, who lived in Preston during these same exciting times as the Dayton family!
Photos courtesy of The Fillmore County History Center
All photographs (including last week’s photo) related to this story by Flip Huggenvik are courtesy of The Fillmore County History Center in Fountain, Minn.
Leave a Reply