Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/272

 216 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY Yates, Frank Carlson, Victor Freeman, George Washington, George W. Knight, George Bohinbaek, Ben Benson, Charles E. Charleson, Charles M. Beers, Halvor Ekeland, Olaf Fahlin, Peter Johnson, John Johnson, John Larson, John Monson, John P. Ofelt John F. Olson, Paul Paulson, Nils Ringdahl, Charles Roos, Gustav Swenson, Charles J. Sundell, Jonas SAvan, John Stice, Charles Gustavson, John Hokason, Ivan Salmonson, Reuben Taylor, Con- rad Windhusen, Eder B. Pelles, Carl Bruhn, John Hershberger, Robert V. Langdon. H. F. Merriman, S. L. Merriman, Harvey- Ward, Michael McGrath, Felix Hills, Joseph McNally, Horation Vaughn, Carl Sehroske, Ephraim Dudley, Benjamin Burgess, Charles Berlin, John Dablow, Joseph Griffin, Patrick Hefferman, Lafayette Leavitt, Matt Mattson, Thomas McDonald, Ole Oleson, Charles Oleson, Olin Wiltse, Olin K. Ryalan, George Blake, Peter Dressell, Henry G. Henderson, Henry Luhring and Frederick Ressert. Vasa village has a population of about 300. It is the only postoffice in the county that is not situated on a railroad, its shipping points being Red Wing, Welch and Cannon Falls. Swe- dish Lutheran and Methodist churches supply the religious de- mands of the people, and a creamery, feed mill and two stores add to its industrial importance. Here is also. located the Orphan's Home. WACOOTA TOWNSHIP. Wacoota township preserves the name of the chief whom the while men found in charge of the Indian band at Red Wing in the late forties and early fifties. His name, Wah-coo-tay, variously translated as Waueouta, Dacouta and Waccota, means the ''Shooter." or "Leaf Shooter," literally the "Shooter of the Leaves of the Indigenous Pines." The township of Wacoota consists of a few sections lying along the Mississippi river at the head of Lake Pepin. It has many hills and bluffs, but in the valleys are many fine farms. The first white settler, George W. Billiard, arrived about 1850, bringing Abner W. Post, who built for him the first house erected in the township. Bullard had a license from the United States government to trade with the Indians. This gave him some rights upon the Indian lands, which at that time were not opened to the whites ; but although he did enjoy some Indian trade, the larger part of his customers were lumbermen from across the river. In May, 1852, even before the signing of the treaty, the influx of immigration started. In 1853 Bullard and Post erected a sawmill, the first west of the Mississippi river, it is believed. A village was platted, and for a time it looked as