Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/538

 CHAPTER XXV. - ANECDOTES AND ADVENTURES. Address by Judge Wilder — Office Experiences — A New Setting to an Old Tale — Pleasures of the Early Days — On Thin Ice — C. J. F. Smith's Adventures — His Arrival — An Early Journey — Writing's of the Rev. J. W. Hancock — Indians and Whisky — Difficulties of Travel — A Canoe Trip on Land — The Mys- terious Wild Girl— Oil Well in Red Wing— Coal and Gold Also Found. The employments and diversions of the early settlers are well exemplified in an address delivered before the Old Settler's Association by Judge E. T. Wilder in .January, 1883: "In May. 1856, in company with Charles Hall, father of 0. M. Hall, I left Dubuque for Minnesota. Traveling with our team, we went west to Waterloo on Cedar river, then up that stream, visiting Cedar Falls, Waverly, St. Charles, Osage and other smaller places, thence through Austin. Owatonna, Faribault, Cannon Falls and smaller places, to Red Wing. Returning from this point south, Ave passed Poplar Grove, Oronoeo, Rochester and Decorah, to Dubuque, The incidents of this trip were not a little diversified. Hotel accommodations, even in towns, were by no means inca- pable of improvement, In this particular Red Wing was not an exception. The regulation diet was fresh pork, from shoats of the racer variety, dried apples in different forms, a decoction of the tea plant with little or no sugar, and now and then a dish of corn coffee. The only bright, sunny spot we found on the whole route was Owatonna. This trip was purely one of observation. No point pleased me as well as Reel Wing, and no section equaled in promise what we saw in Goodhue county. In a few days I returned to Red Wing to look over the ground again, and with more care. This was about June 20. At this time I formed numerous acquaintances, prominent among whom were Judge W. H. Welch, Messrs. Phelps and Graham, J. C. Weatherby, James Lawther and Messrs. Smith, Towne & Co. Of the latter firm I then saw more of Mr. Towne than of his partners. My inter- views were mainly with him, and though long since gone to his rest, I am pleased to say that in all my intercourse with men, few 458