20 years ago

SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY BULLETIN June 26, 2002 In a loosening of fireworks restrictions after 9/11, Minnesota residents could soon buy Class C fireworks, including sparklers and fountains.

“But if it flies or explodes, it’s illegal,” Cottage Grove police sergeant Brian Wilson told the Bulletin. Use of explosive fireworks weighing less than 35 pounds was still grounds for a maximum of 90 days in jail and/ or $700 less in one’s bank account.

“They could just be using the legal fireworks,” Wilson said of the relaxed restrictions.

Finally for the news from 20 years ago, parents filling out sports forms for kids to play football at Park or Woodbury could expect an extra $15 or $100. Football was classed as a Level H sport by the Minnesota State High School League, along with “tennis, baseball, gymnastics, softball, track, volleyball, baseball, soccer… wrestling, swimming, adapted soccer and adapted softball.” Those seeking Level I sports like golf and skiing, meanwhile, only had to pay out $95. Hockey was $125. The last raises had come in 1998, according to the district finance director.

30 years ago

SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY BULLETIN July 2, 1992 Powerlifting for a good cause, Cottage Grove resident Ron Hoff appeared in a write up by sportswriter Neil Tardy.

Taking up powerlifting to get big and strong, Hoff’s motivation had changed over time, focused instead on proving that drugs weren’t needed for the sport, and thereby keeping impressionable kids from going down the wrong path. “Kids are gonna listen a lot more when they see a little guy my size… walk into a gym, and they see how much I can lift,” Hoff told Tardy. “I can honestly tell them I got this strength without the use of strength-inducing drugs.” That was important, as Hoff also held world championships from 1988 and 1989, thereby giving kids a role model to look up to and see they could succeed in sports without performance enhancing drugs.

40 years ago THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BULLETIN July 1, 1982 With phase three plans for a study of abandoned dump sites submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 3M would reportedly foot the bill for another $300,000, the cost of the dump study. The largest site in view was called the Abresch site due to being the site of the Abresch Drum and Barrel Company from the late Forties into the Sixties, with chemical waste hauled from 3M to the site by an independent contractor. The Abresch site was reportedly “located south of Highway 5 and west of Hadley Avenue North,” but not the only site in question, as there was also the Broekman and Eberle burn sites, the latter at the site of a city well out of service since “trace amounts of benzene” were found on site, with chemical dumping also thought possible at the two burn sites. Phase three of the study was to include recommendations from Barr Engineering, with the purpose “to discover the extent and migration of the contamination.”

46 years ago HASTINGS GAZETTE June 10, 1976 Stating its two cents some 46 years ago, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources rejected an application from the Control Data Corporation for a permit to build a marina some threeand- a-half miles north of Point Douglas. DNR rejection of the application came after it was determined that the marina would require 52,000 cubic yards of dirt to be moved from a low area near the river.

The extra dirt would have been placed in the river to form a sand beach. Eugene R. Gere noted in conducting the public hearing that management plans for the St. Croix did not provide for future marinas, “except within municipalities.”

The Lower St. Croix, meanwhile, had been designated by Congress as part of the “National Wild and Scenic River System,” a companion act passing the Minnesota statehouse in 1973.

50 years ago THE WASHINGTON COUNTY BULLETIN June 22, 1972 Writing for the historical record, Elaine Knox-Wagner shared that the first school in Cottage Grove “was built at Atkinson’s Corners, which place, in case unfamiliar, was located according to Knox-Wagner “near the current intersection of Highway 61 and 90th Street” in 1972. Students were said to carry their lunches in metal boxes or large pails, with the one room school combining eight grade levels into one class saw Frank Belden, Louella Belden, Lloyd Belden and Dorothy Belden among the students in 1915.

A phenomenon taking up more space, drive in church came to the Minnehaha Drive-in 50 years ago, with Reverend W. L. Prisbe of the East Heights Lutheran Church of St. Paul. With four-hundred and fifty people attending the drive-in services, there were challenges.

“When I speak, I’m looking at cars, not faces,” the Reverend told Knox-Wagner in 1972. “It looks like a used car lot from where I stand. So this means I don’t get the feeling of empathy I get from speaking in a regular church.” Unable to tell people’s reactions, Prisbe had trouble knowing if the message had gotten across. There was also rain and high winds to deal with although this had never led to cancelling a service. “If it rains, I have a big umbrella to stand under,” Prisbe said. “And if it gets too bad, I get down inside the projection room. But I do prefer to stand where people can see me.” Service music was prerecorded in May, making it less of an issue than it otherwise might be with high winds and rain. The first church to try outdoor services in the area, the high attendance numbers for Eastern Heights Lutheran had reportedly led other churches to try the concept as well.

76 years ago HASTINGS GAZETTE June 28, 1946 Coming in 76 years ago, was the news that William Fox, a promising farm youth from the Point Douglas community in Washington County, has lost his life from drowning in the St. Croix River.

Reportedly a “good swimmer,” Fox was swimming to shore from a raft that he and two neighbor boys had built the previous day when water splashing in his face from a wind was believed to have caused him to not make shore.

The southeast wind that had initially made the boys abandon their raft left them 200 feet from shore, such that the distance was too much to make. Surviving the young man were his parents, three sisters (Marjorie, Shirley, and Joyce), and one brother, Kenneth, with all siblings being younger than the deceased. Funeral services were conducted at the Congregational church in Prescott with interment in Pine Glen Cemetery, also at Prescott. Find a Grave Memorial ID 1340265540. Reported from Hastings 156 years ago THE HASTINGS CONSERVER Volume VI, No. 6 June 26, 1866 Local Affairs. HOT.—Piping hot. Thermometer over 90 degrees in the shade, and is still rising. This is the first rare weather for crops and restaurants.

Artillery Company.—An organization was effected in this city on Thursday evening last, under the name of the Hastings Light Artillery Company. The following are the officers elect: John Kennedy, captain; H. H. Fisher, first lieutenant; F. J. Mead, second lieutenant; H. C. Reed, first sergeant; Henry Van Inwegen, second sergeant; A. P. Fitch, third sergeant; Norman Johnson, fourth sergeant; W. H. DeKay, fifth sergeant; Joseph Lemont, sixth sergeant.

A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and bylaws, and report at a future meeting. We hope to see the movement meet with suitable encouragement from our citizens.

Just across Spring Lake in Dakota County… 164 years ago EMIGRANT AID JOURNAL City of Nininger, Dakota County, Minnesota Territory March 31, 1852 The Reward of Merit A first rate love story (with no attribution) Annie had arrived at the mature age of (do not start, reader), twenty-seven, and yet in a state of single blessedness. Somehow or other she had not even fallen in love yet. ‘Had she no offers?’ What a simple question! Did you ever know half-a-million dollars to go begging? Offers? Yes, scores of them! It may be accounted as one of her oddities, perhaps, but whenever the subject happened to be touched upon by her father, Annie would say that she wanted someone who could love her for herself, and she must have assurance of this, and how should she in her present position? Thus matters stood, when Annie was led to form and execute what will appear a very strange resolution, but she was a resolute girl. We must now go back six years.

One dark, rainy morning in November, as our old friend was looking composedly at the cheerful fire in the grate of his counting room, really indulging in some serious reflections on the past and future, the far future, too, a gentleman presented himself and inquired for Mr. Bremen. The old man uttered not a word, but merely bowed. There was that in his looks which said ‘I am he.’ March 24, 1858 Indian Tribes in Minnesota The three bodies of Indians in Minnesota are the Chippewas, or Ojibwa; the Dakota (Sioux); and the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk). The first named body occupy all the unsettled lands of Minnesota and Wisconsin east of the Mississippi river, and also a portion of land west of the Mississippi, in the neighborhood of the Crow Wing settlement. They hold the land round Lake Superior and penetrate into Canada. The Dakota Indians occupy the upper part of Minnesota, west of the Mississippi except the portion held by the Chippewas. They also cover the whole of the future territory of Dakota, and range from the Yellow Stone to the Mississippi. Between them and the Chippewa Indians there is interminable war. The Winnebagos consist of a single tribe—a remnant— located here by the U.S. government, to make way for the ‘march of destiny.’ They were first removed to a reservation between the Chippewa and Dakota Territories, in order to separate the two, but the experiment failed, and they were again removed to a place selected by their agent, Gen. Fletcher, in Blue Earth County, where they now reside, to the number of 1,872 souls. A few others are scattered elsewhere, who prefer losing their annuities to living on the reservation.

Territorial dispatch 171 years ago THE DAKOTA FRIEND May 1851 A Question. Proposed by one of the Dakota Savants, is this, namely: Whether the Queen of England resides this or the other side of sunrise?

Who can answer it? Gatherings from the Traditionary (handed down) history of the Mdewakantonwan Dakotas In laying before the public eye the scant history of the Mdewakantonwan division of the Dakota tribe of Indians, (commonly called Sioux), which awe have been able to glean from their own confused and often contradictory traditions, we invite the candid criticisms of those persons who have long resided among them, and are doubles better acquainted with their traditionary history than the writer of this article.

After the hints given in the April number of the Friend, we feel it our duty to open the way, by contributing our mite of Dakota history, and we enter upon the discharge of this duty the more cheerfully, believing it will provoke those who are able, to contribute their abundance— to correct our errors and supply that which is wanting. Who will give us the Sisitonwan, Warpetonwan, Ihanktonwan, and Titonwan traditions? Who will collect and write out their interesting history, as it has been handed down by themselves?

One great natural fact which perhaps ought to be recognized and recorded at the start, is this, viz: that the mouth of the Minnesota river lies immediately over the center of the earth and under the center of the heavens. Believing this, it is quite natural that the Dakotas should infer their own tribe, among those which wander over the face of the earth, is the tribe which is the peculiar favorite of the great supernatural disposer of all things…and it is equally natural that the Mdewakantonwan division of the Dakotas should infer, that they are the most favored family of the tribe. This idea makes them proud. We often hear it expressed in their speeches on important occasions.

Among the Thousand Lakes, (Mille Lac), which dot the region of the country which lies around the head of Rum River, is one which the Dakotas call I-san-ta-mde (Knife Lake). It is said that this name was given it because that around its shores, the stone which in early times they used for making knives, was found in abundance. One days walk from I-sand-ta-mde, was another Lake, to which they gave the name of Mde-wakan, (Spirit Lake). About these lakes we first find the Mdwakantonwan Dakotas, so denominated because they erected their lodges on the shore of Mde-wa-kan. The name is a compound of three words, Made, Wa-kan, and Ton-wan, (Lake, Spirit, and a verb which signifies to dwell).

The Mdewakantonwans occupied the country extending from the mouth of the Minnesota river, on the south, to the most western point of Lake Superior on the north. They did not, however, possess this country alone, for we find them fighting…battles with the Winnebagos, Sacs and Foxes, at the Falls of St. Anthony, and at various points on the Mississippi below the Falls, and with the Chippewas around the shores of Lake Superior. The Warpetonwans, Sisitonwans, and Ihanktonwans joined the Mdewakantonwans to the north-west, and occupied the country which would be about equally divided, it is believed, by a line extending from the head of Rum river, so as to intersect Red river at a point near the mouth of the Pembina river, and thence stretching into the country now in possession of the Assiniboine Dakotas. It does not appear probable that the Assiniboines had then separated from the Dakota tribe, nor that division now known by the name of Warpekutes (Leaf Shooters) had broken off from the Mdewakantonwan division, of which they formerly constituted a part. It is most probable that the Titonwan division, joined those above named on the west and south…As the Dakotas in early times lived entirely by hunting, fishing, and gathering the spontaneous roots and fruits of the earth, they did not need, and did not have any permanent dwelling place. During a considerable portion of the year they were necessarily scattered over the country, in small hunting parties, notwithstanding danger from their enemies tended to draw and keep them together. The Mdewakantonwans, however, managed so as to hold a general meeting at Spirit or Knife Lake occasionally, to observe their religious festivals, and to spend two or three months of the severest part of winter.