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150 Years of History to Celebrate …
CELEBRATING MINNESOTA´S SESQUICENTENNIAL
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF MENAHGA
The young man in the lower left of the picture above is the late Olof Liimatta of Menahga. Olof´s son, Clifford, resided in Menahga, as do several grandchildlren, some of who follow their grandfather´s footstep in the logging business.
Published in the Menahga Messenger, February 17, 1949
Early History of Menahga
By Ray Etter and David Jacobson
Menahga’s early history is pretty well linked together with the early history of Paddock, Hubbard and Shell City.
In the early days when Paddock had a trading post and a saw mill, but did not have a grist mill, the early settlers had to haul their grist with ox teams to Hubbard to be ground. This was at least a two day trip. There was no Menahga village at that time.
The settlers cut a new trail northeast of the old government trail from Paddock to Hubbard. The trail came in from the southwest, following the Spirit Lake shore where the shade trees are on the swimming beach (or the old beaver dam), continued through the alley west of the present village hall, turning eastward by Mrs. Rydig’s place, following the high ground by the river bank. Al Halvorson’s new house is right on the old trail. Then by Camp Emmaus, past Morgan Lake, then across the country, heading northeast. There was a bridge where the Shell River flows out of lower Twin Lakes. This is where the pioneer crossed, and then to Hubbard. (This information by O.P. Westien.)
The Paddock to Hubbard road was cut by these early pioneers: Albert Western, E.C. Weston, Zene Ramsell, a man by the name of Honeywell, and Wm. Pratt. Pratt later moved to Osage, Minn. (This information by A. Westien.)
The Delaney family had the grist mill in Hubbard, having moved from Iowa in 1884. Hubbard was first known as Brighton, later, at their arrival as Manther, but on account of the resemblance to Mentor, it was changed to Hubbard, the governor’s name. Lucius F. Hubbard, governor of Minnesota from 1882-1887, Hubbard county was also named for him. Some of the Delaneys later moved to Menahga and made their home here.
Shell City was settled a little earlier than Hubbard. Shell City at one time had a school house, a hotel, and a livery stable. The livery stable was later moved to Menahga, by Yoder, the man who built the present Gilmore house.
Close to Hubbard was also the first saw mill, run by Webber & Brick. Later John Buddy bought in the company and later bought the mill. This mill was located by the so-called Buddy bridge, where Fishhook River and Shell River join.
The writer had the opportunity to meet and get first hand information from a son of John Buddy in 1938. He told the writer that they lived later in Menahga, in the so-called Weller house. This man had been 15 years of age when he left Menahga. His age was 51 in 1938.
After the railroad came to Menahga in 1892, a good many of these early pioneers moved to Menahga and made their homes here. Namely, Yoder from Shell City, Manther, John Buddy and the Delaneys from Hubbard, also A. Barron, who ran a store in Paddock, and Fritz Boekers, who ran a store in Hubbard.
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Published in the Menahga Messenger, March 3, 1949
The Story That Was Lost
By Ray Etter and David Jacobson
Charles Livingston settled a few miles north of Menahga in 1887 and in later years, before he passed away, lived in the village of Menahga.
On one occasion he told a very interesting story of the early days to the writer in Adam Stodley’s barber shop. Mr. Stodley has also passed away, so the story cannot be certified.
The story went like this – when Livingston was living a few miles north of our present village of Menahga, the Great Northern railroad was not yet built, but the Northern Pacific was, so one day Livingston made up his mind to make a trip cross country to Detroit Lakes. He had it figured out that if he followed the compass pretty near due west, he could not get lost as he would run into the railroad track some where near Detroit Lakes.
Said and done he took his rifle and his pack sack and a little lunch and started out. Distance was hard to tell, but what he figured to be a little more than halfway, he found a big sea-going boat, right in among big pine trees – on high ground.
He could not understand how it got there; if it had been built there, how could the lumber have been transported to the spot. Also, he did not see any waterway of any kind, and it looked like the big pine trees had grown around it afterwards, so close that they really supported the boat.
The boat was about 35 to 40 feet long. Livingston was about 5 feet 6 inches tall, and he said that his fingertips could just reach the gun wales. The boat must have been there a long time, because the moss covering it was about 5 to 6 inches thick, and that was what held the rotten wood together.
Mr. Livingston claimed that it really bothered him afterwards, and he always had it in his mind to make the trip once more, to really make a careful study of the whole situation, but he said that about one or two years later a bad forest fire passed through the whole territory, between his place and Detroit Lakes and after that he considered it useless, because all evidence would have been destroyed.
In later years while living here in Menahga and hearing about certain evidence having been uncovered of the travels of the Vikings, he figured that maybe the boat had something to do in connection with their travels.
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(continues)
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