Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Future Hopes—Farm Life—Norwegian Pioneers—The Condition of the Immigrant at the Beginning of the Fifties—Religious Meetings—The Growth of the Settlement—Vasa Township Organized—A Lutheran Church Established—My Wedding—Speculation—The Crisis of 1857—Study of Law in Red Wing—I am admitted to the Bar and elected County Auditor—Politics in 1860—War is Imminent
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70.2
IS 4.2 Story of an Emigrant.
home, the narrow room which served as bedroom, study,,
kitchen and parlor, was soon exchanged for a neat little
house, and a year later we moved into a larger and more
comfortable building, which was our own property.
Meanwhile the settlement at Yasa had prospered, and the
population had materially increased. The Scandinavian
settlers had scattered over the neighboring towns and
counties with marvelous rapidity. The crisis of 1857 had been
an excellent lesson to us all, for, although the price of real
estate had fallen to about one-fourth of its former value,
the people were letter off now than formerly, owing to
better management and more prudent economy.
The Scandinavians had now commenced to take a lively
interest in the political discussions which were agitating the
entire country at that time. The all absorbing political
question of the day was "slavery’’ or "no slavery" in the
new territories. It is unnecessary to say that the
Scandinavians were almost to a man in favor of liberty to all men,
and that they consequently joined the Republican part}’,
which had just been organized for the purpose of restricting
slavery.
In the winter of 1861, while I was holding the office of
auditor the second term, the legislature of Minnesota
appointed a committee to revise the tax laws. This
committee invited live county auditors, of which number I had
the honor to l>e one, to assist in its work. The tax laws
which were formulated by this general committee were in
force over twenty years.
It was about this time the great American statesman, AY.
II. Seward, visited Minnesota. I heard him make his famous
spccch in St. Paul, in which, with the gift of prophecy, he
depicted the future grandeur of the twin cities. I also heard
Owen Lovejoy, a member of congress from Illinois, and one
of the leading anti-slaverv agitators of the times.
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