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The Friendliest place in town! |
Good Food, Great Fun and Weekly Live Entertainment ! POOL TOURNAMENT ! |
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back HISTORY OF ANN LAKE Page 2 next It is not known when the Indiana came to Ann Lake but we do know that two French fur traders, Radisson and Groseilliers, with a large band of Huron and Ottawa Indians, spent the winter of 1659-1660 at Knife Lake. In 1680 three Frenchmen, including Father Hennepin, came up the Mississippi River near the Iowa border and were met by a war party of Sioux Indians from Mille Lacs Lake. The Indians took the Frenchmen captives, left their canoes where St. Paul now stands, went overland past where Cambridge is now located and north to the campsites at the forks of Snake and Ann Rivers, then past where Mora is today and to Knife Lake. From there they followed the portage to Mille Lacs Lake, their home. About 1750 the Chippewas drove the Sioux away from the Mille Lacs area in the Battle of Kathio. The remaining Sioux in the vicinity of Knife lake and Fish Lake left down the Snake river to the St. Croix and down to the mouth of the Minnesota River, where they made their home. In July 1837, while this part of the country was still Wisconsin Territory, the governor made a treaty with the Chippewas and obtained the lands for about 1-1/3c per acre. Kanabec County, with its 344,320 acres, cost the government about $14,648.32. The beautiful stand of white pine in Kanabec county and the existence of the St. Croix and Snake rivers for furnishing transportation made this an ideal set-up for the logging interest. The Indians fought the cutting of timber for many years, contending that the government had not complied with the provisions of the treaty. As soon as the Indians were paid, the lumbermen moved in. The timberlands could not be purchased until the government had surveyed the land. The first government survey in Kanabec County in 1849 established the outside boundaries of the 15 townships and in 1851 the survey established the township and section lines. The lumbermen were given an early pick of the best timber as surveys were done first in South Fork, Whited and ford townships, which contained the best timber in the entire region. It is know that there were two lumber camps in the Fish Lake area during the winter of 1846-47, but whether they were operating under a permit is not known. Even before the surveys were completed, the lumbermen had built tote roads in the county. Logging dams were built on many of the Kanabec County streams. These were necessary on all the streams to provide sufficient water in the spring of the year to float the logs, Which were driven to Stillwater, where they were manufactured into lumber. The first lumber concern to acquire pine timberlands in Kanabec County was the Maine syndicate headed by Samuel Hersey, Isaac Staples and Company. In about 1875 Staples left the firm, taking with him the Ann River timberlands. In the early days the lumbermen dominated the affairs of the county for most of its first 20 years. Stillwater was the headquarters for this logging company. All supplies were toted overland from Stillwater before the railroad was built through Pine City in the 1870's. Many of the early woodsmen came from Stillwater. They had earlier migrated from Maine and eastern Canada. One of the camps located near Ann Lake was the Depot Camp located on Ann River close to the Ann Lake-Mora road. There were about 80 men working in these camps. Another camp located close to Ann Lake was Brackett's Camp just south of Ann Lake, where the state highway gravel pit is located. Then another camp just north and west of Ann Lake was called the Headquarters Camp, which was located on Camp Creek on County Road #26, west of Highway $47. Pictures of the log loads have been taken and one load contained 31,400 feet of lumber (log scale). The last drive and camp was in 1899. A logging camp was comprised of two parts: one part was the kitchen which had to be large enough to seat 50-70 men at table. There was absolutely no talking while eating. Anyone who talked was booted out. There was a cook, and his helper was called the cookee. Several big barns were built for the horses and oxen. Then man employed to take care of the barns was called the stable boss; the man who took care of the sleeping shanty was called the shanty boss. Also, a couple of wells with good water were needed. Before the railroads came through, groceries and such supplies had to be purchased by a man who had been sent down the river to the pints in Iowa and Illinois with cash to purchase the same; it had to be shipped by steamboat to Stillwater and such supplies which were needed in the woods would be hauled by teams to Brunswick and other points where logging was done. This all had to be done while the river was still open. If supplies ran out, the camp would have to do without until spring. |
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