Part two of a series
Settlers were attracted to the future site of Hokah by the excellent water power, plenty of good timber, rich soil and the navigable Root River, so convenient to the Mississippi River. Local historian A. J. Langen described Hokah as “bounded on the west by Mount Hope and on the east by Mount Tom. To the south, we see forest-covered hills while on the north is a pleasant view of (the) Root River as it slips into the Mississippi River Valley.”
Ed Thompson, at age 23, came from Illinois in 1850 in search of a sawmill site and was joined in the reconnaissance by his brother John, who claimed they were the first white men, except for the government surveyor, to look down into the valley at the future site of Hokah. They named Thompson Creek.
Ed brought his family to Minnesota Territory in 1851 and by 1852 had constructed a dam with an ambitious fall of 36 feet. The pressure was too great and the dam gave way. But the dauntless pioneer modified plans and built a replacement dam with a head of 25 feet.
The following year 1853, Ed was joined by brother Clark W. Thompson who joined the operation and put up a grist mill. Hokah was comprised mostly by settlers from Roscoe, Ill., by 1956, the year Clark and J. G. Prentiss purchased a hand press to publish the Hokah Chief newspaper.
Early settlers had to be resourceful. After the first death in 1851, Ed Thompson wrote, “We managed to make him a coffin by splitting a plank I happened to have with a handsaw and staining it with burnt sugar but had to use nails as I had no screws. We buried him as best we could without a preacher.”
There would be prosperity; however, “The early settlers were as a rule, poor,” said Ed. “In the spring of 1853, I was returning from looking up some logs up the river and being tired and hungry, stopped at Mound Prairie to get something to eat. The people were hospitable but when it came time to eat, we had boiled leeks, thickened with a little flour, hunger being a good sauce, they tasted good, and I continued on my way home, thankful for what I had received.”
There was still a large number of native Americans living in the area. Lucy Beckett recalled, “We saw very few Indians.” But she mentioned, “At the time of out arrival (1855), the Indian graves were distinctly marked… Indian trails were deep-cut… mounds were numerous and a source of much conjecture.”
After a deceased Indian was found in the yard of a settler’s deserted cabin, there was some anxiety about their native neighbors, 500 of whom were wintering across the river. “We did not know but they might feel like avenging the death of the one killed,” said Ed Thompson, “but they did not disturb us.”
Langen noted some Indians made daily stops at Ed Thompson’s home, where they were “always treated kindly.” The Indians’ main attraction seemed to be the Thompson’s golden-haired daughter, Alice. One morning, a squaw made her usual call and while the mother was not looking, she picked up the child, tucked her under her shawl and made a hurried departure.” Becoming aware of what had happened, Mrs. Thompson sounded the alarm by banging on a dishpan with a stick of firewood. The men of the settlement quickly gave chase, rescued Alice and brought her home unharmed.
Later, in early September 1862, there was an Indian scare due to the Indian wars taking place in Mankato and other towns to the north and west. “While few if any of the local Indians left,” said Langen, “our village (Hokah) was filled with refugees from the warring regions.”
Thompson brother, John Thompson, did not return until 1855, and by 1857, he recalled Hokah having “quite an increase of town settlers,” along with three hotels, three stores, four saloons and the newspaper. Culture also came west with “genuine good feeling” prevailing at well-attended literary society meetings sponsored by the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the winter, formal dances called cotillion parties at the hotel attracted young people from as far away as 25 miles. “In those days, we had some keen, bright men noted for their good stories and genial ways. Hokah for years was the banner town.”
That same year of 1857, a younger brother James Thompson, came with his uncle and a female cousin to Hokah for a brief visit with brother Edward and his uncle Henry Snure. James wrote, “Thompson’s Creek near the mouth was full of fish and with the right kind of bait, it was an easy matter to catch a string of fish in a very short time. Pickerel were plentiful in the Root River while some pike and catfish were caught. Up the creek some three miles were trout that were real beauties but we had no time to catch these.”
However, James was less pleased with some creatures in the air at both residences where sleepers were “serenaded by the same gang of mosquitoes and twice in the night, the usual smudge of chips burning on the stove lids had to be made to stop the music.”
Two years later, in 1859, James returned. In between trips, Minnesota had become a state in 1858. On his second visit, he said there were “many more settlers scattered up and down the river as well as along the Caledonia Road.” He noted that Hokah was “growing, the new county was smiling with crops, and happy faces were seen on all sides. Very few old people were seen but plenty of young men from eastern and middle states, bright and active, industrious and intelligent young faces. Just the stuff for the citizens of the great Commonwealth of Minnesota.”
The census taken in 1870 listed Hokah with a population of 1,038 with 629 born in the United States and 409 of foreign birth.
Source: Just For Old Times Sake; History of Early Days of Hokah, Minn. By W. J. Langen, 1949
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