Peering at the Past Getting to court – by canoe, by wagon, on foot

In 1887, Judge Flandrau appeared before the Ramsey County, Minn., bar, where he delivered a lecture on the practice of law in the early days after statehood in 1858.

“To give the younger members of the bar some idea on the difficulties attending the practice in early days, you must allow me to relate a few instances connected with my own experience. Mr. Brisbin called me down from Traverse Des Sioux (presently in St. Peter) where I was then residing, to Mendota, then the county seat of Goodhue County, to respond to a motion before Judge Chatfield. I paddled a canoe down the tortuous course of the Minnesota River for about 150 miles, attended to business, sold the canoe for $3.00 and walked back to my home, a distance straight across the country of ninety miles.

“On another occasion, a large party of suitors, witnesses and myself started, in December, from Traverse des Sioux for the land office at Winona. There were no roads, and not more than two or three houses on the route, which, in a straight line, is about 150 miles. We started with a wagon and two horses, made about fifteen miles the first day and camped. When morning came, we found 15 inches of snow on the ground. We could not turn a wheel, so we cached the wagon, packed the horses with our baggage, drove them before us and footed it to Winona. On the return, we built a small sled at Stockton, some twenty miles on this side of Winona, sufficient to carry our “traps” and footed it home again – a distance, in all, of some 300 miles through an uninhabited country, in mid-winter and with a deep snow.

“I used to think that sort of thing was fun, but with the growth of railroads, I have naturally changed my views on that as on many another point.”

The judge was speaking about the early years of statehood. Five years before statehood, the first term of court for Fillmore County – which included the present counties of Fillmore, Winona, Olmstead and Houston – convened during the summer of 1853 in Winona, but only after the judge and attorneys had finally arrived from St. Paul – by boat.

Both before and after statehood, residents settled many disputes, civil and criminal, among themselves, mostly outside of a courtroom. In addition to larger subdivisions of government, there were disputes settled in the smaller units, including townships. During the year 1848, no courts were held in Minnesota Territory, but by the winter of 1848-49, there were some actions before justices of the peace. Courts of Justices of the Peace were created where a local magistrate resolved minor disputes over damages for injury to a person or property or failure to comply with township regulations.

Some handwritten records survive from early trials in Yucatan Township, Houston County. A summons was issued by a constable to the plaintiff and the defendant to appear before the Justice of the Peace on a certain date at a specified time.

In 1863, men in Yucatan Township were required to donate labor to maintain the roads or pay a commutation fee. One plaintiff, the overseer of Township Road District No. 4, swore he notified the defendant on Saturday morning to come and work on the roads on Tuesday morning, if the weather would permit and if not, on Wednesday. The frost was too hard on Tuesday, so Wednesday it was. The defendant, who was asked in person at his residence to come out and work at 7 a.m., did not appear until about half past nine and then would not work as instructed. Told he should follow instructions or go home, the defendant did depart. The defendant claimed that three months previous, he had worked a day on the roads, and his obligation was only for two days labor. The plaintiff reached out to the defendant again to work on the roads “without any more trouble,” but there was no reply.

The judgement called for the defendant to pay a fine of $2.50 cents plus $1.50 constable fee, $1.60 witness fee and $1.00 Justice fee – total fees $6.60 (purchasing power of $155 in 2022).

Sources: An article by Duane Peterson published in the book “Caledonia Pride” and “The First Trials of Yucatan,” as collected by the Yucatan Township Board in 1997.