Sherburne County Heritage Center Interpretive Plan Final Report 2005

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"We drove ten miles further that afternoon and put up at Sturgis', forty miles beyond the camp on the Rum River. Mr. Sturgis/ house is constructed of tamarack logs. It resembled, when seen from a distance on the prairie, a two- story framed house an optical illusion common to the prairies of the West. The buildings and fences of this section of the country are composed principally of tamarack poles. The country through which we have traveled today had been, principally, a level or gently undulating prairie, with some small groves of oak, the Mississippi within a few miles on our left and the Elk River, nearly parallel with it on our right. Within three miles of Sturgis' the road passes in sight of several pretty lakes.... Mr. Sturgis was breaking the prairie near his house. The black fresh -turned soil appeared as if it might yield the best of crops. This place is situated on the bank of the Elk River, which at this point, is deep and has a strong current, and is about 30 feet wide [The Sturgis farm was located about three and one half miles due west of the present Briggs Lake.] There is a large party of Winnebagos camped on the Mississippi River near Mr. Sturgis; a band or party of them, I believe, who are somewhat discontented with the location of their own land above." [The Winnebagoes were moved to an area called Long Prairie near Sauk Rapids in 1849] (quoted in Anderson 28-29) Another traveler described Clear Lake about ten years later. That's What They Said! "The route lay along the Father of Waters and through a rolling prairie, covered with sweet-smelling flowers and strawberries. Nothing is more magnificent than one of those prairies, especially at the rising and the setting of the sun. Nothing can the eye see but the sky, grass and flowers, with here and there a tiny lake or rivulet, or a wood which has the appearance of an island in the midst of a mighty ocean." (Father William H. Oram, 1860, quoted in Anderson 96) Pierre Bottineau, a French and Chippewa trader and guide purchased the Folsom post in Orono about 1850, then decided to build a larger complex on present day Main Street of Elk River, calling it the Elk River House. Three years later, Bottineau's hotel was owned by Marshall and Company, which offered the hotel for sale. That's What They Said! Elk River Tavern Stand For Sale or Exchange "This well known property, formerly owned by P. Botteneau [sic], is offered for sale or would be exchanged for logs or real estate in the vicinity of St. Anthony or St. Paul, on the most favorable terms. Our business engagements are such that we cannot pay proper attention to, or take care of the above property; we are therefore disposed to sell it for much less than it has cost us. Sherburne County Historical Society Heritage Center Interpretive Plan, April 21, 2005, page 41