Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/160

 114 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY board. April 21. it was voted that the committee on public buildings accept in behalf of the county, the courthouse when completely finished according to contract, and that when so finished the county officers who were to occupy it were instructed to move into it. The courthouse was completed and turned over by the con- tractors in August. 1859. The excavation, the stone work and the carpenter work was done by Hill. Simmons & Co., the con- tractors. The brick was made by John Carter, and laid in the wall by Messrs. Brink. Todd & Co. The plastering work was done by the same firm. Some of the bonds issued to pay for the erection of the courthouse were sold to individuals in Washing- ton, D. C, some to people in New York and Ohio, and a larger part were taken by Red "Wing parties. They were sold at various prices, ranging from fifty to ninety cents on the dollar. They were all taken up later, and the expense of the courthouse, improvement and enclosure of the square were all paid for within about two decades of the time the bills were contracted. Pending the efforts of the board of supervisors to secure a cancellation of the contract for the erection of the courthouse, and before the bonds were issued, the contractors had been advised that the bonds could be sold in the New York market for nearly their face value. An agent was sent on there to investi- gate the matter, but before negotiations were perfected a cir- cumstance occurred which completely destroyed the value of Minnesota county bonds in thai market. Hennepin county had issued bonds and built a courthouse. When the bonds became due they were not paid, a fact that threw discredit upon all county bonds, and rendered them worthless among commercial men and capitalists. The taxpayers outside of Red Wing and its immediate vicinity were fighting the court house enterprise, and using. every possible means to induce the contractors to throw up the contract, even offering them as much as $10,000 cash to do so. The business men and friends of Red Wing were as anxious the other way. and when, they found the bonds could not be sold for ready money, they promised to render all necessary material assistance to the contractors — to take the bonds, advance the money, etc. When the money was needed, however, it was not forthcoming. When any of them did advance money to aid the contractors, they required a deposit of two dollars in bonds for one dollar in money advanced, and three per cent a month in money besides. At least this was the statement made by Mr. Hill many years after these events transpired. Sometimes bonds could be traded for lumber and other building materials, but only at heavy discounts. Through the influence of Mr. Phelps, the member of Congress from Minnesota, and Mr. Gebhort-. member