Old Rail Fence Corners

Old Rail Fence Corners, by
Various

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Title: Old Rail Fence Corners The A. B. C's. of Minnesota History
Author: Various
Editor: Lucy Leavenworth Wilder Morris
Release Date: July 30, 2007 [EBook #22179]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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FENCE CORNERS ***

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[Illustration: LUCY LEAVENWORTH WILDER MORRIS

Originator of "Old Rail Fence Corners."]

OLD RAIL FENCE CORNERS
THE A. B. C's. OF
Minnesota History
SECOND EDITION
AUTHENTIC INCIDENTS GLEANED FROM The Old Settlers By
The Book Committee 1914
COPYRIGHTED 1914 BY THE BOOK COMMITTEE
LUCY LEAVENWORTH WILDER MORRIS, EDITOR
PUBLISHED BY THE F. H. MCCULLOCH PRINTING @ AUSTIN,
MINN.

In Memoriam
Mr. Eli Pettijohn Mrs. Missouri Rose Pratt Mr. James McMullen Mrs.
Samuel B. Dresser Mr. William W. Ellison Mr. Henry Favel Major
Benjamin Randall Mrs. Duncan Kennedy Major S. A. Buell Mrs. Helen
Horton Mrs. Mary Massolt Mrs. J. M. Paine Mr. Chas. Watson Mrs. C.
W. Gress
[Illustration: Map of OLD TRAILS AND ROADS
COMPILED BY MR. GEORGE RALPH AND MRS. JAMES T.
MORRIS]

Explanatory

How little we know about what we don't know!
During my search for a map of the Old Trails and Roads of Minnesota,
public libraries were thoroughly investigated, but no book or map could
be found showing these old highways. A few old maps in the Historical
Library bore snatches of them, but in their entirety they had
disappeared from books and maps, as well as from our state.
They might be the foundations for modern roads, but only the names of
those modern roads survived, so they were lost.
Months of this research work failed to resurrect them, although a map
was made from the fragmentary pieces on old maps, filled out by what
the pioneers who had traveled those roads could furnish. All old maps
seemed to have disappeared from the state.
"We had one of the new territory of Minnesota when it was admitted in
'49, but just threw it out when we cleaned house lately. I think it came
from Washington," said one dear old pioneer woman.
"What do you want of those old roads anyway," said another. "If you
had been over them as I have, you would know how much better these
roads are, and be glad they are gone."
It was hard to locate them from hearsay for when we asked "Did it go
through Alexandria," the answer was, "There was no town on it after
leaving St. Cloud, so I can't say just where it went, but we went to Fort
Garry and crossed the river at Georgetown."
Finally, after nearly a year's hard work, as we were on our way to the
Capitol to look over the first government surveys, Mr. George Ralph
was met, became interested, and drew part of these trails from the old
plats for this map.
When a surveyor goes into a new country to make a government survey,
he is required to place on that plat every trail, road or plowed
field--John Ryan, who worked in the forties was the only one we found
who always followed these directions. He would survey several

townships, and there would be the much-wanted road. Some other
surveyor would do the one below and there would be a break, but John
would take hold again a little further on and the trail could be joined
from the direction shown.
Later this map made was compared with old maps since destroyed at
the Army Building in St. Paul and found correct.
The three great routes for the Red River carts to St. Paul, the great fur
market, which used to come down by the hundreds from the Pembina
and Fort Garry country are shown. One through the Minnesota Valley;
one through the Sauk Valley, and the most used of all through the Crow
Wing Valley by way of Leaf Lake. They used to come to the head
waters of the Mississippi in 1808.[1] The Wabasha Prairie Road, called
Winona Trail on this map, was a very old one, as also were those
leading to the sacred Pipestone Quarries and the sacred Spirit Lake.
There is a tradition that there was a truce between all tribes when these
trails were followed. Mrs. J. T. M.
[Footnote 1: From Captain Alexander Henry's diary about the Red
River country in 1801, presented to Ottawa. He