MARTELL TOWNSHIP HISTORY

To 1860

Martell was one of three townships carved out of Prescott Township less than a year after Pierce County was organized (1853). The first settlers arrived in the area about 1851, loggers who had worked in Stillwater, Minnesota, and hunted in the wooded lands east of the St. Croix River. Three of these men—Roman Biscouernais (Kay), Exard Jacques (Jock) and Joseph Martell staked out claims on land adjacent to the Rush River, about 15 miles east/southeast of the settlement of River Falls and about 20 miles east/northeast of city of Prescott. A fourth Canadian and early landholder, Louis LaFond (or LaFoe, Laffaw), is believed to have settled north of the St. Croix County line near the settlement that became New Centerville. He married the daughter of Martell landholders Daniel and Nancy McCartney.

The intent of these men was most likely to hunt and subsistence farm. Until then, they had not been the settling kind. But the area contained good soil and an abundance of standing timber for clearing, building, and sale. Other settlers recognized these conditions as well, and after Pierce County was established, growth began in earnest. Early Norwegian immigrants formed the Rush River colony upstream, between what is now State Highway 29 and the St. Croix County line. Other settlers eyed the river downstream for the potential to power sawmills and grist mills—both necessary for healthy community development. The water just south of the parcels of Martell and Jacques was promising. Amos Bonesteel, a War of 1812 veteran with a government land grant, and Matthias Slatten were soon proving up more than 200 acres (cumulatively) there. In 1856, Isaac D. Elliot hired a surveyor and platted a village on the west side of the river in Section 14. The plat was filed in 1857 for the Village of Rising Sun, renamed Martell in 1859.

The first town meeting was held in September 1854, during which town leaders were elected—Amos Bonesteel, chairman and assessor; Matthias Sletten and R. J. Thompson, supervisors; A. O. A. Stowell, clerk and superintendent of schools; Hans Stumlien (Stumlie), treasurer; Roman Kay, sealer of weights and measures; Sletten, highway overseer; and Stowell, Bonesteel, Thompson and John Dee, justices of the peace.

Township settlement in the 1850s was rapid. Over 4,000 acres had been claimed by 1855, and over 11,000 more by 1860. Many of these new landowners were literate, educated Norwegian immigrants whose requirements for community included church and schoolhouse. The Rush River and South Rush River settlements built both institutions before the Civil War. The first postmaster, Ole Rasmason (Rasmussen), was appointed in 1857. Mail deliveries went from one to three days a week.

Hasty marriages were common among the young settlers, who sought partnerships in order to make homes in what was still wilderness. The clearing of timbered land for planting was slow and men often went to the “pineries” to the north in Wisconsin and Minnesota for paid work in the winter while the women raised children and young livestock. In early spring, syrup was made for sweetening. Spiles, made by burning out the pithy center of sumac branches with a hot wire, were hammered into the south side of maple trees so that the sap could drip into troughs hollowed out of 18-inch slabs of wood. The water was boiled from the sap in iron kettles hung over fires between two notched sticks. Women used this same large (30-gallon) kettle to boil lye for soap making, to heat water for butchering and for making apple and pumpkin butter with maple syrup. It was said that such a kettle hid a woman during an unexpected Indian visit.

Gradually, the “Big Woods” on the east side of Rush River was opened up and planting increased. Farms grew and changed hands. And entrepreneurs began businesses that every young community relied on—sawmills, mercantile, blacksmithing, wagon making and repair, and milling. Grist and flour milling provided township residents with the means of using the grains they raised as well as providing extra for sale. Wheat and rye were the primary crops. By 1860, the township’s population had grown to about 600 and the village of Martell was becoming a commercial center, with two blacksmith shops, a shoe shop, a butcher shop, a harness shop, a hardware store and three “general” stores. Travelers could board with one of several residents. A sawmill and gristmill stood nearby, and the need to connect with other communities was growing. But development nearly slowed to a stop as the Civil War came and went.

1861 – 1865

As everywhere in the county, the development of Martell township languished during the Civil War, though it did not stop. Everyday activities such as school, church and commerce continued as young, healthy men went to war. Those men who remained, including Ole Sather, Ole Torgerson, Mads Christopherson, Christopher Oleson, and Anders Baardson, worked with the women to keep farms producing and trade continuing. When the call for volunteers came in 1861 and 1862, the following men are known to have enlisted:

When volunteers dwindled throughout the country, the call for enlistees became a draft in 1863 and 1864, and the following men were some of those drafted:

Of the 51 men known to have served in Wisconsin regiments, most survived the War of Rebellion. It is not known how many of them returned to Martell. John Owens was one who saw combat and returned physically sound, yet as a new widower with four children. Andrew Johnson was wounded at the battle of Five Forks. Torbjorn Halversen was wounded at Pocotaligo, Georgia, in 1864, and imprisoned in Atlanta. Christopher Anderson, Hans Anderson, and Anders Torgersen, all of whom enlisted in 1861, died of disease within weeks of each other in 1862, on Tennessee’s swampy, disease infested Island No. 10, in the Mississippi River. The men were three of fifteen Martell men to fight with Wisconsin’s famous Scandinavian Regiment, the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Regardless of growing dissatisfaction throughout the country with length of the conflict, at the end, the public voice was that the sacrifices of men, families and resources were necessary. Norwegian immigrants in particular understood the misery of slaves, who lived without prospects for freedom and prosperity.

1866 to 1900

The end of the Civil War was welcomed by all who could return to life as normal. Prosperity returned as the Martell mills produced lumber, grist and flour in increasing quantities. Road construction picked up as setters spread throughout the county. In 1869, several miles of roads were built between Martell and Ellsworth and River Falls. The following year, a road that followed the Rush River, a link in the road that stretched between Maiden Rock to the south and Hammond, St. Croix County, to the north, neared completion. But bridges over the Rush were still few and basic, being prone to destruction during floods and freshets.

The decade of the 1870s started with a nationwide financial panic. Being a northern farmer was in this case an advantage, even as prices fluctuated. The local economy was little affected by banking failures and few Martell residents were prosperous enough to sell their grain into interstate markets. Families grew and more schools were built to accommodate the children. Businesses also started and expanded. By 1880, the village of Martell and the surrounding area boasted a hotel, four general merchandise stores, four specialty stores (hardware, furniture, shoe and drug), three mills (grist, flour, and saw), an insurance company, a part time photographer and a doctor. A two man steam threshing crew operated and in 1878, a cattle fair was held. The population of the township grew to 1,070.

One of the most unusual and brilliant business developments in Martell was the organization of the Martell Mutual Insurance Company. Its objective was to insure buildings and personal property against loss by fire, the bane of all settlers in the Upper Midwest. The abundance of wood as a natural resource guaranteed that most structures were built of wood and subject to total incineration, causing great personal and financial hardship. Coverage was available to company members for property worth $25,000 and above, excepting vacant dwellings and those without chimneys and stovepipes properly installed. The company existed until 1980.

The decade of the 1880s was one of maturation in Martell. Pioneers from the 1850s were beginning to die and veterans of the Civil War or their widows were applying for pensions. Many residents were becoming “old timers.” Still, a new wave of Scandinavian immigration was bringing growth and change to the township.

A number of businesses had been in operation in and near the village of Martell ten years or more, atypical in many rural settlements, even though some of them changed ownership. Though mill dams were washed away in an 1880 flood, owners simply rebuilt them and carried on business as usual. A new carding mill, feed mill, general store, livery stable, meat market, machine shop, wagon shop, milliner, barber, shoe factory, dressmaker, weaver, farm implement dealer, and temperance saloon appeared. Traveling salesmen and agents made Martell a destination. A new resident doctor arrived.

Changes in technology began to influence life in the township. Hand dug wells were replaced by professionally drilled wells of 100 feet or more in depth. A telephone made its appearance at Thompson’s store and a phone company created. Grinding rollers replaced stones in the grist mill and the wool carding mill added new spinning equipment for customer convenience. Well pumps, hay mowers and binders appeared, the latter two sold in Martell village by Ole Winger.

Social activities, which included the Norwegian Syttende Mai celebration each May 17th, broadened beyond church and school socials to include a dance hall, a community cornet band, a baseball club, social clubs, intellectual improvement societies, and a fraternal organization.

The last decade of the century brought more changes to Martell. The Martell Cooperative Creamery, which had been discussed for at least two years, was finally organized and built, with implements bought from a St. Paul company installed. In 1890, it turned out over 700 lbs. of butter a day by mid-summer. Guiser’s Cheese Factory was doing a brisk business, a butcher arrived, and farm implement sales were escalating. The woolen mill increased its production of cloth, and the planing mill and hotel were busy. New businesses included a restaurant, an ice company, a jeweler, a watchmaker, two carpenters, and a “blind pig” saloon.

A short lived fire company was organized in 1892,the township Lutherans finally settled into three congregations, and part of New Centerville’s Norwegian Lutheran Evangelical congregation relocated to Martell village. The steel windmill made its appearance on local farms, a new phone line was extended to River Falls and another installed by the Pierce County Telephone Company, a phonograph was demonstrated at the Bonsness Hall, and bicycles became the rage. New, larger barns were becoming an investment with area farmers.

What did not change was the arrival of floods and damage to mills and other property downstream. Money was continuously put into dam and bridge repair and restoration. And fire claimed a few victims, including the Norwegian (Rush River Prairie) Lutheran church near Centerville in 1897. A new church was dedicated the following June.

Immigration to the township slowed, but the opportunities to have fun continued to grow. Martell Ski Club members took their skis to trails and to bluffs for ski jumping competitions. Funds were raised with raffles, a Singing Club gathered year round, and trout fishing and baseball were increasingly popular summer activities. Traveling companies, medicine and Chautauqua shows arrived to entertain. Residents attended camp meetings, plays, literary presentations, picnics, basket socials, and for some, Republican Club meetings. Young Methodists and Lutherans had activities planned specifically for them.

But, despite the "Gay Nineties" and social atmosphere of the 1890s, a significant change in economics was on the horizon for Martell. The heavy timber that had made the township so attractive was thinning to the point of being unprofitable to harvest for more than piece wood or fire wood. A variety of material goods were becoming more available from growing cities, lessening the need for local manufacturing. And the “West” (the Dakotas and Montana) was beckoning to young adults looking for cheap land, adventure and change. A number of them left the township’s population of over 1,200 and did not return.

• Martell Township Businesses
• Martell Township Cemeteries
• Martell Township Churches
• Martell Township Civil War Volunteers
• Martell Township Landowners
• Martell Township Pioneers
• Martell Township Schools
• Martell Township Waterways