Политик и золотоискатель Чарльз Петерсон: жизнь пионера долины Сент-Круа

In the early days of the St. Croix Valley, the pioneers had to take on multiple duties, as there were not that many people around. Some served in local or state government, others in the logging industry and still others would go too far off lands to find riches and glory — or at least try. One such adventurer in the St. Croix Valley was from Marine, and he was Charles A. Peterson. Peterson was born in Havmantorp parish, Sweden on March 9, 1840. He and his family sailed to New York the westward to Chicago; then from there to LaSalle by canal boat, from that point to Rock Island, Illinois and the by passenger steamer to Stillwater. He came to this area in 1853 and at first; the family purchased a farm above Vasa and undertook the difficult task of cutting down the trees and clearing the land to make the farm. Peterson then worked in lumber camps, and tried many different careers, such as opening a rafting plug mill in Marine in 1895, which produced wooden plugs for the rafts of logs going down river during the spring. Peterson married Martha Olson in 1866 at Marine Mills and had seven children that lived to adulthood. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a big party at the Marine Village Hall. Mrs. Peterson died on Feb. 19, 1919. He was a member of the Republican Party and he was elected twice to the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1877 & 1878. While in the legislature, he worked on the Public Buildings and State Reform school committees as well as the Chair of the Indian Affairs committee from 1879 to 1881. During the winter of 1891, he sublet a portion of Mackey and Crotty’s contract to clean the entire stretch of the River of stranded logs from the banks and sloughs of the St. Croix. Peterson hired two five men crews to clear the logs from Marine and the “Soo” railroad bridge. In 32 days they finished by cleaning out nearly a million feet of logs over that stretch of River. In 1893, he was appointed Overseer of the Washington County Poor Farm. There, he and his family would live and work the farm. He was reappointed overseer on Sept. 9, 1893, but his salary was cut from $1,000 per year to $800 per year. The Stillwater Gazette noted, “Overseer of the Poor Farm, Charles A. Peterson, reports that there are only 16 people at the farm being cared for by the county. This is the smallest number during Charlie’s administration but it will be increased with the approach of winter.” After his time as Overseer, Peterson left for Alaska to mine for gold. This was the Alaska gold rush and on all accounts, Charles Peterson never hit the mother lode and he then sold his place in Vasa and moved to Alberta, Canada where he bought a large tract of land on Buffalo Lake and became a successful farmer. He returned when his age no longer permitted him to do any farming and lived with his daughter in the Chisago Lake area. Charles A. Peterson, a logger, politician and gold digger, died on Feb. 26, 1935 at the home of his daughter in Center City, Minnesota. “Charley Peterson is one of the kindest and best of men, warm hearted, true to his friends” said the Stillwater Daily Gazette, “He was very popular, had a host of friends and was always a welcome visitor at the Gazette office, where he always called when in Stillwater. We have lost a kind, loving and liberal man in Charley Peterson, and the world has been better because of his presence.”