Sherburne County Heritage Center Interpretive Plan Final Report 2005

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Exhibit Station: 7 Topic: Communities and People Story: Communities Section 1: Early Settlement Section After Dakota and Ojibwe ceded the land that included Sherburne County in the Treaty of 1837, land was still not officially open for settlement. But a few settlers claimed land under the 1841 Preemption Act. This law allowed settlers to choose their land and make improvements before the land was surveyed and publicly auctioned by the government. Settlers could claim by right of possession up to 160 acres of land and purchase it from the government after 14 months of residence for $1.25 an acre after it was surveyed, but before it was offered for public sale. The first land to be surveyed and offered for sale after the Treaty of 1837 were the townsites of Stillwater, St. Paul, and St. Anthony in 1848. The land ceded by treaty in 1837 that later became Sherburne County was surveyed over a few years in the early 1850s. More white settlers began trickling in as the survey was completed. (www.bartleby.com/65/pr/Preempti.html and http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/mn/treaties.html; Merrill E. Jarchow, The Earth Brought Forth: A History of Minnesota Agriculture to 1885, (St. Paul: MHS, 1949) 41-45) Two of the earliest structures were built at different points in Sherburne County at about the same time. David Faribault built a cabin as a trading post near the mouth of the Elk River in 1846 near what later became Orono, or Elk River's Upper Town. Henry M. Rice, co-owner of the American Fur Company, with Henry H. Sibley, purchased Faribault's trading post in 1848. Rice hired Simeon P. Folsom to manage the trading post, and Folsom built another building within what is now the City of Elk River just south of Main Street and Tipton. That same year, Joseph Jerome built a tavern in northwest Haven Township. It served as an important stopping point for the Red River Ox Cart Trail travelers. (show location from GLO survey map for Haven Township) E. Seymoure traveled from St. Anthony to Sauk Rapids in a wagon in 1849. His descriptions provide us with a glimpse of Sherburne County just as Minnesota was becoming a Territory of the United States. Leaving the juncture of the Mississippi and Rum River, Seymoure and his companion entered the land that would soon become Sherburne County, traveling through groves of scrubby oak and grassland. Just before arriving at Folsom's trading post, Seymoure described the scene that would have been near today's downtown Elk River: "The road approached the Mississippi at a bend of the river, where a view of it and the adjoining scenery is picturesque and beautiful." (Anderson, 29-30) After staying at Folsom's overnight, Seymoure described a breakfast of "a good dish of fresh pickerel." (quoted in Anderson, 29) Ten miles past Elk River, Seymoure encountered a "beautiful lake of transparent water called Big Lake." (quoted in Anderson 30) On the shore, he found the foundation logs for a double cabin, which were not completed, but started with the intent to secure title under the Preemption Act. That's What They Said! Sherburne County Historical Society Heritage Center Interpretive Plan, April 21, 2005, page 40