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This issue: Contents
Tuesday, April 7th, 2015
Editor’s Note A huge thank you to everyone who came to see Cathy Wurzer at our Annual Membership Meeting back on the 26th! WCHS Board President Dave Lindsey and Treasurer Tom Simonet were both re-elected to their respective positions and the membership welcomed Jeff Rankin as the newest member on the Board of Directors. In case you missed the fun, here’s a few photos of the evening’s festivities! We are only accepting internship and scholarship applications for another 8 days! Check out our first News Story for the details. If you are interested in learning about working in the history field (and getting paid while you do it!) this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss! In less than a month, both the Warden’s House Museum and the Hay Lake Schoolhouse will be open for tours! We’ll be kicking the season off with our Annual Open House of the Warden’s House on April 26th this year. Head down to our second News Story to learn more! Of course, we’ll also continue with our “What Is This Thing?!” game! In today’s Old News, we’ll read about a good ol’ fashioned, turn-of-the-century bovine brawl. And be sure to stick around for today’s Featured Article to read a tale of the St. Croix Valley’s early residents using technology to master the world around them. Want to learn more about the history of Washington County? “Like” WCHS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! Sean Pallas Historical Messenger editor and Warden’s House Site Manager WCHS NewsInternship and ScholarshipInternship The Washington County Historical Society is offering internships for post-secondary education. The internship program is designed to introduce students to the workings of a regional history museum and the interpretive educational process. The internship provides a rare opportunity to directly apply academic skills and training in a unique working environment, as well as provide exposure to a career as a history museum professional. The intern should have good English skills, communication skills, be reliable and able to work both as a team member and independently. S/he should have creativity, pay attention to detail, present him/herself well, and enjoy working with the public. General history knowledge and museum work a plus. The internship is a mixture of training and hands-on experience. The intern will be invited to learn about day-to-day operations of a small history museum, including lectures, research facilities, exhibit display and design, collections care and preservation of artifacts. The intern will assist staff in researching and developing an interpretive guided tour for visitors. Opportunities will be offered to attend to board meetings, participate in fundraising activities, assist with Society sponsored events and contribute to the quarterly newsletter. The internships are open to all undergraduate college students majoring in the history field or like major. Please send application letter, resume, and references by April 15, 2015 to: Washington County Historical Society c/o Internship Committee, P.O. Box 167 Stillwater, MN 55082. For more information visit our website. Scholarship The goal of the Washington County Historical Society Scholarship program is to encourage historic preservation and interpretation, and to encourage students to study history by providing financial assistance in the form of an educational scholarship. This scholarship is available to a graduating senior enrolled in a Washington County high school, or a student in a college or university program currently residing in Washington County (as a permanent residence) who is focusing on history, American studies, architecture, or a history-related field of study. Applications must be submitted before April 15th, 2015. Applicants must also: – Have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher – Be a member of the Washington County Historical Society or have an immediate family member(s) who is/are a member of the Society. The Scholarship Program is facilitated and managed by the Washington County Historical Society Board of Directors and administered by a designated committee. Please visit our website for application documents. WCHS NewsWarden’s House Open HouseHelp us launch the 2015 touring season while getting a sneak peek at the new Warden’s House exhibits at our free Open House on Sunday, April 26th from 12:00 – 4:00 PM! Enjoy generously donated Caribou Coffee, delicious treats and snacks, and live music by Mary Taylor Allen and her string instrument students all in a unique historic setting! We may also have a fun surprise or two up our sleeves for the folks who attend – but you’ll just have to swing by and see them yourself! More: Events What Is This Thing?!What Is This Thing?! (Round 5) Whew! I got a lot of responses to last issue’s What Is This Thing?! challenge! While a few folks ventured answers like a Baptismal station or a knitting stand – many of your answers hovered around a smoking table, which is pretty dang close! This particular smoking table is specifically designed for cigars. Most of those who were thinking “smoking table” were able to correctly identify that the larger, flat container in indeed an ashtray. However, the other two cup shaped holders proved a bit more challenging! The largest cup could hold extra cigars for future use and the smaller held matches. You can even see a flat metal section on the flat surface where you could strike the matches! Another feature of the cigar table is that the flat surface actual rotates to make accessing the various containers easier for the user. Thank you everyone who threw a guess my way! I love reading your responses! Onto this week’s challenge! Just what the heck is this thing!? Can you identify the WCHS artifact photographed above? If you’d care to venture an answer, you can send an email to me at spallas.wchs@gmail.com, tweet @WCHS2, or post your guess on our Facebook page. Good luck! Old NewsAn Udderly Ridiculous ArticleLast issue’s Old News featured several grisly deaths at the hands of accidental fires. All and all an unquestionably depressing and fairly heavy topic. So, I offer the following article as a palate cleanser. Row Over A Cow – Stillwater Messenger – April 7, 1906 Mrs. August Miller and Mrs. Dorothy Reinsberg, of Lakeland, and a number of their neighbors appeared in the municipal court of this city to settle a dispute that occurred about a cow that was locked up by Mrs. Reinsberg for trespassing, and which led to blows between the two women. Mrs. Reinsberg swore out warrants for the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Judge Doe fined the latter $1: which, with costs, amounted to $34.44. Shortly after, Mrs. Miller commenced a suit against Mrs. Reinsberg. It is a pity that the cow did not belong to the beef trust. Featured ArticleConquering Natureby Brent Peterson Years ago once the river froze over and the steamboats were not able to come up the river, not much of anything happened until the spring thaw. No mail, deliveries or merchandise made it to the stores or the homes of Stillwater. Until Martin Mower, lumberman and boat builder, decided to use mankind’s latest know-how to challenge Mother Nature’s might. Mower and his brother John established a lumber mill between Stillwater and Marine in 1847. It was there that Martin started building steamboats for the St. Croix River trade. It was in the winter of 1868-69 that he first tried to create an iceboat between Stillwater and Taylor’s Falls. Although his first craft did make several trips carrying passengers and freight between the two communities, the rough ice that was encountered was enough to dampen any thoughts of continuous service with the vehicle. Mower’s next attempt at an iceboat came in the winter of 1876-77. There he created a boat and named it the “Queen Piajuk” after the daughter of an Ojibwa chief. According to the Stillwater Gazette of January 31, 1877, the length of the keel was forty feet, breadth of beam eight feet; depth of hull, two feet. The one boiler was made by Rosser & Dean of Dubuque, Iowa – thirty-two inches in diameter, six feet in length. Two horizontal engines, geared to equal forty-horse power and to propel two iron driving wheels four feet in diameter with cogs, or spikes, on the rims that are “similar to the driving wheels of a locomotive.” The whole thing was placed on four large sleigh runners and was steered by means of “tiller wheel and wire tiller rope, attached to the forward runners and managed from the pilot house placed near the bow.” The Gazette continued its description of the iceboat, saying “she has a single smoke stack, while near by is the steam whistle common to steam vessels. A handsome jack staff ornaments the bow, while perched jauntily on the pilot house is the figure of a swan with its wings out-stretched as if eager to regain the graceful position on the bosom of the lake.” It was estimated that the craft would be able to travel about 10 miles an hour and would be able to make the trip from Stillwater to Taylor’s Falls, 30 miles, in three hours. However, it was also planned to pull a Pullman car that was 28 feet long and eight feet wide which would naturally extend this journey. A trial run was to be made on January 28, 1877. Some two hundred spectators arrived up in Arcola for the Queen to be put through her paces. Steam built up but the craft did not move. Several horses and townspeople armed with crowbars tried to get the boat to move, but it didn’t. After a week of work, the Queen finally made that maiden voyage. It was Sunday, February 4th and with whistles piercing the air that the Queen Piajuk, captain by Jack Kent, came sliding into Stillwater followed closely behind by Martin Mower driving a team of horses. Mower would continue to work on the iceboat, which did make several successful runs up to Taylor’s Falls. The following year a test run with the Queen was postponed due to thin ice. The iceboat would jump and bounce on the rough ice and it received the nickname of the “St. Croix Grasshopper.” It is thought that the Queen made its last voyage in 1879 from Stillwater and went back to its Arcola home. In the book, Steamboats on the St. Croix by Anita Buck, it is thought that the Queen “probably reached its home port of Arcola safely, but perhaps was dismantled there. The oak timbers from the ice craft may have been used to build the pile driver Arcola.” The ice experiment had seemed to end. But as the newspaper said, “Looking at Queen Piajuk we feel that human ingenuity has added one more laurel to the brow of him who long since brought about the successful application of steam to annihilate space.” |
Upcoming Events
More information: WCHS Events >>> Preserve the Past, Share in the Future!Become a member of the Washington County Historical Society! Membership is one way that you can help support the Washington County Historical Society. Your membership helps us collect, preserve, and disseminate the history of Washington County for county residents and visitors in the belief that a historical perspective enhances our understanding of community and sense of place. Benefits of membership:
The Washington County Historical Society has depended on membership ever since it was formed in 1934. Please show your support for the organization by becoming a member today. More: WCHS Membership >>> Mission StatementWashington County Historical Society collects, preserves, and disseminates the history of the county and state of Minnesota.
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