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Early days in Rock County, Minnesota, are recalled through a mixture of colorful tales and factual data in this spiral bound booklet reprinted from a rare 1911 book: An Illustrated History of the Counties of Rock and Pipestone Minnesota by Arthur P. Rose. The book was originally published by Northern History Publishing Company, Luverne, MN. This booklet includes the portion of the original book pertaining to the history of Rock County. It is printed on 60# paper, 8.5" x 11", with a four color front cover, protected by a vinyl sheet.
Among the many topic headings in the booklet are: The Red Man's Day 1838-1866; Early Settlement 1867-1870; County and Township Organization 1870-1878 -- including Luverne, Grant (Clinton), Beaver Creek, Magnolia, Kanaranzi, Martin, Gregory, Vienna, Albion (Springwater), Mound, Riverside (Battle Plain), Rose Dell, Dover (Denver); Era of Development 1871-1873; Calmitous Days 1874-1877; Reconstruction Period 1878-1884; Age of Prosperity 1885-1911; Political 1870-1922 (with names of all political candidates); Luverne 1867-1922, including the names of government officials and business owners; Luverne's Institutions -- schools, churches, lodges (many names), fire department, banks, the towns of Hills and Hardwick; the towns of Beaver Creek and Magnolia; the towns of Kenneth, Steen, Ashcreek, Bruce, Kanaranzi, Manley, etc; Physical Description; Newspapers; and Reminiscences, and other interesting bits of history and trivia. Many names are mentioned throughout the booklet.
The notes at the end of each chapter often include insights into the lives of the people of Rock County. For instance:
"...Planning for Christmas dinner away out
sixty-five miles beyond the last settler...was no small matter,
but we felt as though the day should be maked. So we boys strove
to see who would trap the first beaver to supply us with roast meat,
as we valued our hens too highly to kill one of them. Amos was the
lucky trapper; he caught a fine kitten beaver that weighed about
thirty-five punds gross. Then we dressed it and put it out to freeze.
We boys wanted mother to make one of her famous johnnie cakes, which
any of the old settlers can vouch were A No. 1. But mother said
she was barred: 'Biddie' had not contributed her share toward the
johnnie cake. Just as we were talking it over, off jumped 'Biddlie'
with a cackle as if to say, 'I haven't, hey? You spared my neck
and here is your egg.' ... I look back to that Christmas as one
of the happiest in my life."
Note: The picture
on the front of our Minnesota booklets shows the Goldfinch as "The
State Bird". This information was taken from the World Book
Encyclopedia, which showed it as such in its 1960 edition, apparently assuming
the goldfinch would be a "shoe-in" for the honor over it's chief
competitor, the loon. The WBE guessed wrong. Since the information in
our booklet pre-dates the naming of the loon as state bird in 1961,
and since we don't know how to draw a loon, we're content to
allow the goldfinch to have this moment in the spotlight.
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A
customer who purchased this booklet, sent us the following
note:
I
used to live ... very close to Redwood County ... I just wanted
to let you know that I used to watch the show Little House on the
Prairie... Walnut Grove was about thirty - forty miles from
my old area. I think ...you should list in the search or with
the listing that your book has in it that Charles Ingalls was elected
as Walnut Groves Justice. This is found on page 781. This
is Laura Ingalls Wilder's father...
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Note:
The picture on the front of our Minnesota
booklets shows the Goldfinch as "The State Bird". This information was
taken from the World Book Encyclopedia, which showed it as such
in its 1960 edition, apparently assuming the goldfinch would
be a "shoe-in" for the honor over it's chief competitor, the loon.
The WBE guessed wrong. Since the information in our
booklet pre-dates the naming of the loon as state bird in 1961,
and since we don't know how to draw a loon, we're content to
allow the goldfinch to have this moment in the spotlight.
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