Latest / History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier, Part 1 / 046 - Origin of the Name Gopher State State Parks Itasca State Park and Interstate Park -- The Dalles of t

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046 - Origin of the Name Gopher State State Parks Itasca State Park and Interstate Park -- The Dalles of t · History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier, Part 1

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  Speaker 1: Section forty six of the History of Minnesota and Tales
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  Speaker 1: of the Frontier, Part one. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The
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  Speaker 1: History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier, Part one
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  Speaker 1: by Charles E. Flandrau, Section forty six. Origin of the
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  Speaker 1: name Gopher State, State parks, Itaska State Park and Interstate Park.
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  Speaker 1: The dulls of the Saint Croix. Origin of the name
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  Speaker 1: Gopher State. Most of the states in the Union have
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  Speaker 1: a popular name. New York is called the Empire State,
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania the Keystone State, et cetera. As you come west,
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  Speaker 1: they seem to have taken the names of animals. Michigan
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  Speaker 1: is called the Wolverine State, Wisconsin the Badger State, and
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  Speaker 1: it is not at all singular that Minnesota should have
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  Speaker 1: been christened the Gopher State. These names never originate by
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  Speaker 1: any recognized authority. They arise from some event that suggests them,
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  Speaker 1: or from some important utterance that makes an impression on
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  Speaker 1: the public mind. In the very early days of the territory,
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  Speaker 1: say as early as eighteen fifty four or eighteen fifty five,
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  Speaker 1: the question was discussed among the settlers as to what
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  Speaker 1: names should be adopted by Minnesota, and for a time
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  Speaker 1: it was called by some the Beaver state. That name
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  Speaker 1: seemed to have the greatest number of advocates, but it
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  Speaker 1: was always met with the objection that the beaver, although
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  Speaker 1: quite numerous in some of our streams, was not sufficiently
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  Speaker 1: so to entitle him to characterize the territory by giving
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  Speaker 1: it his name. While this debate was in progress, the
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  Speaker 1: advocates of the beaver spoke of the territory as the
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  Speaker 1: Beaver territory, but it never reached a point of universal adoption.
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  Speaker 1: It was well known that the gopher abounded, and his
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  Speaker 1: name was introduced as a competitor with the beaver, But
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  Speaker 1: being a rather insignificant animal, and his nature being destructive
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  Speaker 1: and in no way useful, he was objected to by
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  Speaker 1: many as too useless and undignified to become an emblem
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  Speaker 1: of the great state. For we all had at that
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  Speaker 1: early day full confidence that Minnesota was destined to be
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  Speaker 1: a great and prominent state. Nothing was ever settled on
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  Speaker 1: this subject until after the year eighteen fifty seven. As
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  Speaker 1: I have before stated, in that year, an attempt was
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  Speaker 1: made to amend the constitution by allowing the state to
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  Speaker 1: issue bonds in the sum of five million dollars to
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  Speaker 1: aid in the construction of the railroads which the United
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  Speaker 1: States had subsidized with land grants, and the campaign which
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  Speaker 1: involved this amendment was most bitterly fought. The opponents of
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  Speaker 1: the measure published a cartoon to bring the subject into ridicule,
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  Speaker 1: which was very generally circulated throughout the state, but failed
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  Speaker 1: to check the enthusiasm in favor of the proposition. This
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  Speaker 1: cartoon represented ten men in a line with heads bowed down,
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  Speaker 1: with the weight of a bag of gold hung about
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  Speaker 1: their next marked ten thousand dollars. They were supposed to
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  Speaker 1: represent the members of the legislature who had been bribed
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  Speaker 1: to pass the act and were called primary directors. On
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  Speaker 1: their backs was a railroad track, upon which was a
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  Speaker 1: train of cars drawn by nine gophers, the three gophers
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  Speaker 1: in the lead proclaiming we have no cash, but will
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  Speaker 1: give you our drafts. Attached to the rear of the
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  Speaker 1: train was a wheelbarrow with a barrel on it marked Jinn,
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  Speaker 1: followed by the Devil in great glee with his thumb
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  Speaker 1: at his nose in the train were the advocates of
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  Speaker 1: the bill, flying a flag bearing these words gopher train,
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  Speaker 1: excursion train, Members of Extra Session of Legislature free, we
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  Speaker 1: developed the resources of the country over This was a
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  Speaker 1: smaller flag with the words the five million dollar loan bill.
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  Speaker 1: In another part of the picture is a rostrum from
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  Speaker 1: which a gopher is addressing the people with the legend
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  Speaker 1: I am right, Gorman is wrong. In the right hand
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  Speaker 1: corner of the cartoon is a round ball with a
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  Speaker 1: gopher in it, coming rapidly down, with the legend a
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  Speaker 1: ball come from Winona. This was a pun on the
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  Speaker 1: name of mister Saint a d belcom from Winona, who
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  Speaker 1: was a strong advocate of the measure. Under the whole
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  Speaker 1: group was a dark pit with the words a mine
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  Speaker 1: of corruption. The bill was passed, and the state was
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  Speaker 1: saddled with a debt of five million dollars, under which
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  Speaker 1: it staggered for over twenty years, and we never even
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  Speaker 1: got a gopher train out of it. This cartoon, coming
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  Speaker 1: just at the time the name of the state was
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  Speaker 1: under consideration, fastened upon it the nickname of Gopher, which
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  Speaker 1: it has ever since retained. The name is not all inappropriate,
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  Speaker 1: as the animal has always abounded in the state. In
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  Speaker 1: a work on mammals of Minnesota by C. L. Herrick
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety two, he gives the scientific name of our
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  Speaker 1: most common species of gopher Spermophilius tridessim linitus or thirteen
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  Speaker 1: striped gopher, and says the species ranges from Saskatchewan to
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  Speaker 1: Texas and from Ohio to Utah. Minnesota is the peculiar
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  Speaker 1: home of the typical form, and thus derives the name
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  Speaker 1: of the gopher state. Although the name originated in ridicule
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  Speaker 1: and contempt, it has not in any way handicapped the Commonwealth,
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  Speaker 1: partly because very few people know its origin, but for
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  Speaker 1: the greater reason that it would take much more than
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  Speaker 1: a name to check its predestined progress. State parks Itaska
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  Speaker 1: State Park. In a previous part of the work under
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  Speaker 1: the head of Lumber, I have referred to the fact
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  Speaker 1: that a great national park and forest reserve is in
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  Speaker 1: contemplation by the United States at the headwaters of the Mississippi,
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  Speaker 1: and made reference to the state park already established at
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  Speaker 1: that point. I will now relate what has been done
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  Speaker 1: by the state in this regard. In eighteen seventy five,
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  Speaker 1: an official survey of the land in and about Lake
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  Speaker 1: Itasca was made by the Surveyor General of the United
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  Speaker 1: States for Minnesota, which brought these lands on under the
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  Speaker 1: operation of the United States Laws, and part of them
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  Speaker 1: were entered. A portion of them went to the National
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  Speaker 1: Pacific Railroad Company under its land grant. The swamp and
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  Speaker 1: school lands went to the state, and much to private
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  Speaker 1: individuals under the various methods of making title to government lands.
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  Speaker 1: On the twentieth of April eighteen ninety one, the legislature
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  Speaker 1: passed an act entitled an Act to Establish and create
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  Speaker 1: a public Park to be known and designated as the
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  Speaker 1: Itasca State Park, and authorizing the condemnation of lands for
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  Speaker 1: park purposes. This Act sets apart for park purposes, nineteen thousand,
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred and two acres of land and dedicates them
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  Speaker 1: to the perpetual use of the people. It places the
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  Speaker 1: same under the care and supervision of the State Auditor
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  Speaker 1: as land Commissioner. It prohibits the destruction of trees or
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  Speaker 1: hunting within its limits. It provides for a commission to
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  Speaker 1: obtain title to such of the lands as belonged to
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  Speaker 1: private individuals, either by purchase or condemnation. On the third
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  Speaker 1: day of August eighteen ninety two, the United States granted
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  Speaker 1: to the State all the unappropriated lands within the limits
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  Speaker 1: of the park. Upon this condition provided the land hereby
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  Speaker 1: granted shall revert to the United States, together with all
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  Speaker 1: the improvements thereon, if at any time it shall cease
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  Speaker 1: to be exclusively used for a public state park, or
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  Speaker 1: if the state shall not pass a law or laws
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  Speaker 1: to protect the timber thereon. The State, at the session
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  Speaker 1: of the legislature in eighteen ninety three, accepted the grant,
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  Speaker 1: but as yet had no provision for the extinguishment of
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  Speaker 1: the u the title of private owners, of which there
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  Speaker 1: are eight thousand, eight hundred twenty three acres. This divided
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  Speaker 1: ownership of the lands within the limits of the park
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  Speaker 1: endangers the whole region by lumbering operations and consequent forest fires.
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  Speaker 1: After the timber is cut. Fires are not to be
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  Speaker 1: feared in natural forests until they are cut over. The
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  Speaker 1: acquisition of title to all of these lands by this
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  Speaker 1: state should not be delayed any longer than is necessary
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  Speaker 1: to perfect it, no matter at what cost. The state
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  Speaker 1: has already erected a house on the bank of Itasca
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  Speaker 1: Lake and has a resident commissioner in charge of the park.
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  Speaker 1: The effect of the law prohibiting hunting in the park
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  Speaker 1: has already greatly increased the number of animals and fowls
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  Speaker 1: that finding it a safe refuge. The extent of the
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  Speaker 1: park is seven miles long by five miles wide, and
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  Speaker 1: is covered with a dense forest of pine, oak, maple, basswood, aspen, balsam, fir, cedar,
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  Speaker 1: and spruce, which is nearly in a state of nature.
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  Speaker 1: It is much to be hoped that in the near
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  Speaker 1: future this park will be enlarged to many times its
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  Speaker 1: present size by additional grants. Inner State Park. The Dolls
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  Speaker 1: of the Saint Croix. One of the most, if not
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  Speaker 1: the most beautiful and picturesque points in the Northwest is
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  Speaker 1: the dulls of the Saint Croix River. Here the state
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  Speaker 1: has acquired the title to about a hundred fifty acres
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  Speaker 1: of land on the Minnesota side of the river and
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  Speaker 1: dedicated it for park purposes. This was done under the
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  Speaker 1: authority of Chapter one sixty nine of the Laws of
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety five. The point on the Minnesota's side is
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  Speaker 1: called Tailor's Falls, and on the Wisconsin side, Saint Croix
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  Speaker 1: falls between these two towns. The Saint Croix River rushes rapidly,
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  Speaker 1: forming a cataract of great beauty. The bluffs are precipitate
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  Speaker 1: and rocky, forming a narrow gorge through which the river plunges.
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  Speaker 1: The name of the river is French Saint Croix, meaning
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Cross, and the name of this particular point,
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  Speaker 1: the Dolls, was given on account of the curious formation
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  Speaker 1: of the rocky banks, which assume wonderful shapes. One looking
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  Speaker 1: down stream presents a perfect likeness of a man, and
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  Speaker 1: is called the old Man of the Dolls. Another curious
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  Speaker 1: rock formation is called the Devil's chair. There are many
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  Speaker 1: others equally interesting. It is generally supposed that the word
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  Speaker 1: dolls has the same meaning as the English word dell
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  Speaker 1: or dale, signifying a narrow, secluded vale or valley, but
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  Speaker 1: such is not the case as applied to this peculiar locality.
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  Speaker 1: The word dolls is French and means a slab, a flag,
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  Speaker 1: or a flagstone, and is appropriate to the peculiar character
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  Speaker 1: of the general rock formation of the river banks at
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  Speaker 1: this point and vicinity. The state of Minnesota has already
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  Speaker 1: done a good deal of work towards making it attractive,
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  Speaker 1: and it has become quite a resort for pleasure seekers
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  Speaker 1: in the summer time. Wisconsin has acquired title to a
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  Speaker 1: larger tract on the east side of the river than
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  Speaker 1: is embraced in the Minnesota Park on the west side,
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  Speaker 1: but as yet has not done much in the way
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  Speaker 1: of improvement. The two tracks are united by a grace
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  Speaker 1: full bridge which spans the river between them. The Minnesota
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  Speaker 1: Park is under the charge of a state custodian who
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  Speaker 1: cares for and protects it from despoilment. End of Section
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  Speaker 1: forty six