pointed teacher and catechist, expecting to return in two years to resume his studies, but the way never opened for his return. He left Albany, N. Y., July 5th, 1833. On reaching Mackinaw, he found that the missionaries who had preceded him had departed with a company of Indian traders. He was forwarded by Henry R. Schoolcraft, then the Indian agent, and in three days overtook the boats on lake Superior. At that time there were no vessels on that lake. Mr. Ely was assigned to the branch of the mission among the Ojibways of the upper Mississippi, under the directon of Rev. William T. Boutwell, and proceeded to Sandy lake, where, after a short time, he was left by Mr. Boutwell, with the joint duties of missionary and teacher resting upon him. In the summer of 1834 the school was removed from Sandy lake to Fond du Lac, a village on the St. Louis river at the head of navigation, where a school house had been built by Mr. Ely. In 1835 a reinforcement of teachers was sent by the mission board. One of them, Miss Catherine Gonlais, soon became the wife of Mr. Ely. Here they labored until May, 1839, when they removed to Pokegama. In a letter written by Mr. Ely in 1881, he says: 'When I first entered the mission work at lake Superior, that portion of the country was included in the Territory of Michigan. After Michigan was admitted as a state, the Territory of Wisconsin was organized, Minnesota at that time being Indian territory. The first party of white men I saw were lumbermen engaged in their business on the waters of the St. Croix, in the year 1838.

The Indian titles to lands about the head of lake Superior were not extinguished till 1854. At that time we had left the mission and removed to St. Paul, but, being thoroughly conversant with the country, I went to lake Superior, took up lands where the town of Superior was located, and assisted in surveying and laying out the town. In 1855 the Indian title was extinguished on the Minnesota side of the harbor, and I went over there and laid out the town of Oneotà as a commercial site, built a steam mill and docks, and held the position of postmaster for six years, also that of notary public under the governor of the Territory. The financial reverses of 1857 rendered our property valueless, and in 1862 we returned to St. Paul.'"

Fond du Lac, now a part of the City of Duluth, was the only mission station established in that part of Minnesota bordering lake Superior. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Ely, other missionaries and teachers were located there. In the year 1840 the Methodist denomination sent missionaries and teachers among the Ojibways of the lake region and northern Minnesota. In 1841 George Copway, an Ojibway, his wife, who was a white woman, her sister, and James Simpson, were engaged in the mission work at Fond du Lac. It would seem that soon after this, for some cause many of the Indians must have left Fond du Lac, as we learn that in 1849 Rev. J. W. Holt and his wife, the last missionaries we see any mention of at Fond du Lac, had only twenty-eight scholars enrolled in their school, with an average attendance of only fifteen.

The first marriage we learn of as having been performed in accordance with the Christian and civilized form, and as taking place at Fond du Lac, within what is at present the city of Duluth, was that of Rev. W. T. Boutwell (one of those early missionaries) to Hester Crooks, on the 11th day of September, 1834. Hester Crooks was the daughter of Ramsay Crooks, a prominent fur trader, and an Indian mother. Miss Crooks had been a teacher at the mission station at Yellow Lake, Wisconsin, and probably was a graduate of the mission boarding school at Mackinaw.

THE FIRST ELECTION.

Before Duluth was platted or had occasion for a name, on the first Tuesday in October, 1855, there was held the tirst election in St. Louis county. The election was for a delegate to represent the Territory in Congress.

The election for all Minnesota at the head of the lake was held in the log house or "claim shanty," as such buildings were commonly called, owned by George E. Nettleton as a trading house or post, situated on the main land near the base of Minnesota point, about 400 feet from the shore of the lake, and about 150 feet east of First avenue east in the present city of Duluth. The house was one-story, about fourteen by eighteen feet, and seven feet high at the sides; it had a scooped log roof, one door and one window. This log house was built

by Mr. Nettleton before the treaty with the Ojibway Indians at La Pointe in September, 1854.

On the morning of the day of the election, the writer, living, like the majority at that time, in Superior, but claiming a residence on their land claims in Minnesota, left Oneota, now a part of Duluth, in a row-boat, in company with eight or nine other voters, for the voting place, a distance of about four miles by land or seven by water. There was then not even a trail by land between Oneota and Nettleton's claim, where now the electric street car makes the run in fifteen minutes. Had we then taken the land route, the density of the forest, the crossing of streams, and the climbing of rocky ridges would have compelled us, even if we reached the polling place in time to vote, to camp out over night before our return. None of the party were then acquainted with the extent and intricacies of the marsh which skirted the base of Minnesota point and the head of Superior bay; so we concluded to land on Minnesota point at the old Indian burying place, about three miles from the voting place. There we left our boat and walked up along the lake shore to the place where we exercised the sovereign right of the American citizen.

On arriving at Nettleton's "claim shanty," we found a cosmopolitan congregation, made up principally, however, of Yankees, Buckeyes, Kentuckians, Wolverines, Badgers, etc., not forgetting Canadians, French, Irish, Dutch, and Scandinavians, with a fair representation of the Ojibways, minus the blanket, but bedecked with coat and pants, as an evidence of their qualification to vote. My recollection is that 105 votes were polled, 96 for Henry M. Rice, the Democratic candidate, and 9 for William R. Marshall, the opposition or Republican candidate. From that election may be dated the birth of the Republican party in the state.

At that time, from Superior, Wis., radiated nearly all of the squatters upon unsurveyed lands, in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. The people in Superior at that time and for some years after, took more interest in elections and political matters in Minnesota than they did in their own state. Superior was then the political headquarters for figuring and laying out plans for an election to an office from northeastern Minnesota.

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE.

Reuben B. Carlton, after whom Carlton county was named, was the first farmer and blacksmith sent among the Indians of Minnesota. He came to Fond du Lac about the year 1849. After the adoption of the state constitution in August, 1857, at the election for members of the state legislature in October following, Mr. Carlton was elected to the first state senate, and John S. Watrous to the first house of representatives. Mr. Carlton was part owner of the townsite of Fond du Lac, and was one of the first trustees of that town under the act of its incorporation in 1857. The other trustees were Alexander Paul, now deceased; D. George Morrison, then and now living at Superior, Wis.; J. B. Culver, then living at Duluth; and Francis Roussain, living at Fond du Lac. Mr. Carlton owned about eighty acres on the St. Louis river, adjoining Fond du Lac, on which he resided until his death, December 6th, 1863.

Mr. Watrous came to the head of the lake from Ashtabula county, Ohio, with George E. and William Nettleton. He was then young, and a man of more than ordinary attainments and force of character. Although a new member, he was elected as speaker of the first house of representatives. He was appointed register of the United States land office at Buchanan, St. Louis county, in March, 1859, and held that office until January, 1860. He then returned to Ohio. He died in California in 1897.

In the next session of the state legislature, in 1860, St. Louis, Lake, and Carlton counties, constituting the Twentysixth legislative district, were represented by Thomas Clark as senator, and William Nettleton as representative. Mr. Clark was a civil engineer. He came from Toledo to Superior, Wis., in 1854, and was employed by the Superior Townsite Company to survey and plat that city. It was customary in those days with the residents of Superior to live in Minnesota on a claim or townsite. Like other inhabitants of that city in those days, Mr. Clark became interested in the location of cities and towns in Minnesota, and therefore concluded that he ought also to have all the benefit of an actual resident. In 1857 he became interested in the location of Beaver Bay, in Lake county,

which was, in May of that year, incorporated by special act of the territorial legislature, by designating the location only as "the territory as surveyed by Thomas Clark" in Lake county. When elected in 1859, he claimed Beaver Bay as his residence. Mr. Clark died in Superior some years ago. He was a good and upright citizen and a faithful representative of Minnesota in the legislature.

William Nettleton, who a few years ago was an honored citizen of St. Paul, but is now a resident of Spokane Falls, Wash., and his brother George E. Nettleton, now deceased, came to Superior, Wis., in the winter of 1853-54, with the St. Paul colony, which was composed in part of Hon. R. R. Nelson, D. A. J. Baker, Col. D. A. Robertson, B. W. Brunson, R. F. Slaughter, and others. The Nettletons took part in the settlement of Superior, and in 1855, with Col. J. B. Culver, were carrying on a large grocery, provision, and general supply store there. In 1858 William Nettleton became an actual resident of Duluth, or at least of that part of it then known as his preemption claim. He was the first person to file a preëmption statement in the United States land office at Buchanan. He proved up his claim and obtained title on August 10th, 1858, to the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 22, and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 27, all in township 50, range 14, now a part of the First division of Duluth. In the winter of 1853-'54, George E. Nettleton obtained from the Indian Department of the government a trader's license, under which he acquired title to lots 2 and 3 and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 27, township 50, range 14, being the remainder of that part of Duluth known as the First Division.

When the crash came and the bottom fell out of the first "boom" in Superior, in 1857, George E. Nettleton left and returned to Ohio, where he resided until his death a few years ago.

William Nettleton, with his family, continued an honored resident of Duluth, aiding materially in its growth and development, until about the year 1878, when they removed to St. Paul.