Minnesota

Minnesota's early territorial days were exciting and filled with hope for the future, but many dreams were broken before they were ever realized as settlers met untimely deaths in tragic ways. The St. Croix earned its nickname the "River of Graves" when watercraft were dashed against hazards like Death Rock. Torrential downpours flushed settlers from their dwellings, while diseases such as cholera and E. coli were imminent threats. And those whom Mother Nature did not destroy or defeat still had to contend with their fellow pioneers. Take a read on frontier life in the St. Croix River Valley with over fifty stories of adventure, including horse-and-buggy road rage, scalp dances and land disputes settled by war.

The riverfront always drew people to Stillwater. The Ojibwe and Dakota first settled here, later striking a treaty with Europeans, who quickly realized the St. Croix River's potential as an ideal way to move lumber. One of the first to float logs down the river was Captain Stephen Hanks, cousin to Abraham Lincoln. The lumber business gave birth to Minnesota's first millionaire as the city grew, and Stillwater received one of the state's first Carnegie grants for a free public library. Meanwhile, the state prison saw notorious gangster Cole Younger found the Prison Mirror in 1887, now the nation's oldest continuously operated offender newspaper. Authors Holly Day and Sherman Wick celebrate the history and charm of one of Minnesota's finest cities, from the frontier to today.

From scouting reports of Native American tribes to Money Magazine's declaration that it was the best place to live in America, Eden Prairie has a history that commands attention. Few can rival Marie Wittenberg's dedication to telling this story or match her intimate knowledge of her hometown's changing landscape, from early sheep barns to modern megachurches. In this brief history, she describes how Eden Prairie got its name, visits with pioneer families and points out the local places and critical moments that shaped this beloved community's identity.

Spring Grove: Minnesota's First Norwegian Settlement is a tribute to the state's earliest Norwegian emigrants, and to generations of Norwegian Americans who have made this small farming community amongst deep valleys, fjord-like bluffs, and winding streams their true vesterheim. It is a tale told through striking historic photographs, many previously unreleased, and personal narratives, often humorous and always insightful.

The area was first settled in the 1850s by pioneers like James Smith, who, inspired by the landscape, named the place Spring Grove. Smith was followed by the likes of "Big" Ole Gulbransgutton, who chased crooked land surveyors out of town with his bare fist; by the innovative Mons Fladager, whose business acumen earned him the title of "Father of Spring Grove"; and by the 20th-century cartoonist Peter J. Rosendahl, whose work gave a comical voice to the challenges of cultural assimilation. Spring Grove: Minnesota's First Norwegian Settlement also conveys the universality of the Norwegian immigrant experience, and anyone with Norwegian roots who desires to learn more about their ancestors will find it an enjoyable read.

The land area that came to be known as Stevens County was ceded to the United States government by the Dakota Indians in the treaty of the Traverse des Sioux in 1851. Government and railroad exploration parties, Red River Trail oxcarts, and pioneers and missionaries had come through the area long before it was officially ceded or settled. After the Dakota uprising of 1862, the United States government made the decision to put a fort in Dakota Territory. In 1864, Fort Wadsworth, later called Fort Sisseton, was built. Mule teams with supplies for soldiers and Native Americans, and pioneers began traveling in greater numbers across the tallgrass prairies of Stevens County from St. Cloud and into Dakota Territory. Pioneers from many different countries settled in Stevens County to break up the prairie sod and plant wheat and tree claims on their homesteaded land. Grasshoppers, prairie fires, and blizzards tested their determination, but the hardy ones survived to provide for their children's education, organize local governments, and build homes, churches, and businesses.