Chapter 4 POLK COUNTY

Description and History 82

Franklin Steele, the First Pioneer 82

His Account of the Settlement 83

The St Croix Falls Lumbering Company 83

Organization and History 83

St Croix River, Origin of Name 84

Treaty and Purchase of 1838 85

History of Polk County 85

County Seat located at St. Croix Falls 86

First Election County Officers 86

First Happenings 87

The Liquor Traffic 87

Melancholy Results 88

Death of Hall and Livingston 88

Indian "Jamboree." 88

Frontier Justice 89

Balsam Lake Murders 89

Execution of an Indian 89

Population of St. Croix Falls in 1848 90

Natural Language 90

Drowning of H. H. Perkins 90

A Quailtown Murder 90

Mineral Permits 91

Marriage under Difficulties 91

An Indian Scare 92

The First Fire Canoe 92

Mill Building 92

More Indian Murders 93

Indian Battle of Stillwater 96

The First Loggers 96

The First Rafting 97

An Indian Payment 98

Indian Dancing and Theft 99

Other Thefts 99

Hard Times 100

Puzzled Indians, "Ugh! Ugh!" 101

Mrs. Worth and Muckatice 101