Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/197

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY L45 lie should have kept to reach his brother's. His wanderings through the wilderness in the raging storm, until merciful death relieved him from his sufferings, can only be imagined. In May of the following spring. James Connel attempted to cross a slough with an axe on hi.s shoulder. In some manner he stumbled and fell, and the edge of the axe struck his head, causing a fracture of the skull which resulted in death. The first death due to natural causes was that of Mrs. S. P. Chandler, June 28, 1856. Pioneer discomforts were no dampener to the ardor of Cupid, and in 1856, Lewis White and Emeline Hill took before the Rev. S. P. Chandler the vows which made them man and wife. Although no .school houses were erected until 1859, as early as the fall of 1858 Alvin Herbert taught school in the basement of a stone house owned by a Mr. Kirkpatrick, and the school was continued in session practically every season, in some of the settlers' houses. The rich soil of tin' township showed its possibilities even in the earliest days, for in 1856 Walter Doyle and others obtained fair yields of wheat, threshed it by hand with flails and carried it to the Mazeppa mill to be ground. In 1856 James Allen laid out a village plat and christened the place Troy City. With sanguine hopes of the future, Jesse Johnson built a store and stocked it with merchandise. No other building was ever erected on the village site. The financial crash of 1857 impaired trade to such an extent that Mr. Johnson closed his store ; and all further attempts to build a city there were abandoned. A postofnce, called Burr Oak, was established in 1854, and H. M. Doyle was appointed postmaster. This was on the line of the old stage route from St. Paul to Dubuque, and the following year, when the mail route was changed, the office was discontinued. During the existence of this office Mr. Doyle's house was the last one on the road before reaching Oronoco. twenty- five miles to the south, and consequently was an all-night stopping place for the stage, and Mr. Doyle entertained such prominent men of the early days as Governor Ramsey, General Sibley, J. C. Burbank and many others. He also entertained twenty-six of the principal men and chiefs of the Chippewa tribe, including "Hole in the Day," their head chief, when they were on their way to Washington. In 1858 another postoffice was establisbed in the southwest part of the town and named Belle Creek. S. P. Chandler, the first postmaster, retained that position for many years. There was no hotel, and Mr. Chandler opened his bouse for the accom- modation of travelers, especially the farmers of the western part of the county, who had no other place to stop on their way to Red Wing with their wheat. When the Minnesota Central rail-