Citizens
may celebrate the birthday of Sherburne County, 163 years strong, on Monday 25
February. Looking back on the original promotion
and emigrant recruitment for the county reveals a very proud group of settlers.
The Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper
published an unsigned letter from an early settler of Sherburne County.
“At
Elk River Station,” an 1868 letter writer suggested, “prosperity is at this
time manifest. A steam saw mill with the
usual attachments for furnishing building material, is being built and will
soon be in operation. A new school house
to cost two thousand dollars, is to be erected the present season.”
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| Pierre Bottineau's cabin, one of the first structures built in Sherburne County. In later years the cabin abutted the Riverside Hotel |
The
letter went on to describe a “people free from all bigotry and have no great
partiality for any particular sect.” The
residents of Sherburne County supported education for their children and nearly
guaranteed a dramatic growth in population.
Priced between four and eight dollars an acre, promoters promised land guaranteed
to provide ample crops.
As
part of the efforts to promote Elk River and Sherburne County, a second letter
described Elk river as “growing rapidly.” The city housed “two first class hotels, at
reasonable rates for both day and week board.”
From Elk River, “hundreds of men are to be seen daily, on their way to
the pineries on Rum River and the Upper Mississippi.”
After
the legislative birth of Sherburne County, promoters of the community quickly
developed a program to sell the county as new and exciting opportunity. 163 years later, Sherburne County continues
to deliver exciting and new opportunities.
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