In the last installment of “Glimpses of the Prairie” we met the powerful and wealthy J.C. Burbank who, with his brother, founded an express business that linked the northwest to St. Paul. Now we consider “what might have been” in Maine Prairie had his “preferred” plans been endorsed by the village fathers of Clearwater. The Burbank Express and the Stage Road While historian Wm. Mitchell does not date the incident, it must have been in 1857 that Burbank laid out a proposal to the Clearwater Village leaders, before his companies made their heavy investment in St. Cloud and secured its future. The Burbanks had tasted the immense trade possibilities just opening in northwest Minnesota and beyond to the home of the Hudson Bay Company. Their stages were already running to St. Cloud by 1856 and express wagons were following the Red River trail north, just beginning their competition with the oxcarts. A new “stage road” beyond St. Cloud would be surveyed in 1858 and the road itself begun immediately thereafter. In June 1859, two stages made the first trip along that new route to Breckenridge, connecting to the steamer on the Red River. Two young Scottish ladies bound for Fort Garry and future husbands were passengers on that first stage, adding romance to the groundbreaking news. But by then the die had been permanently cast. St. Cloud would be Stearns County’s most important city. The investment in the new stage route cut 30 miles off the old Red River Trail. The commerce controlled by the Burbanks quickly guaranteed the future of St. Cloud, the coming of the railway and eventually even controlled the track of Interstate 94, a transportation system that even James Burbank could never have dreamed up. The Burbanks’ preferred route, and the basis for his proposal to those at Clearwater, was to establish their primary up-river base of operations at their settlement. Then, a new road westward from Clearwater through Fair Haven and Maine Prairie would meet the old Red River trail at Cold Spring. From there the express wagons would follow the established oxcart trail. As they had done elsewhere, the Burbanks promised to build the road and erect needed bridges. Clearwater would gain immediately and immensely as those serving the travel route thronged to this key location. Their town would become the great hub of middle Minnesota, a status St. Cloud did not yet have within its grasp. In fact, that fledgling city was still striving to catch up to the population and status of the larger settlement at Sauk Rapids. There would have been at least three advantages to the Burbanks in locating at Clearwater. Most importantly, this new route would cut off “twelve to fifteen miles over the sandy road from Clearwater to St. Cloud” and simplify the crossing of the Mississippi at the already established ferry at Clearwater. At minimum, two days would be sliced from the month-long trek to the Red River country. Secondly, the Burbanks envisioned the city as a true terminus where wagons and steamboats could exchange their loads, making for quicker and cheaper transportation. Except when frozen, the waterway allowed the trip from St. Anthony as far as Clearwater irrespective of river conditions. St. Cloud, on the other hand, could only be reached by water when the Mississippi ran high. Commercial goods could arrive quickly from St. Paul, and new merchants with their stock of goods would serve as outfitters for the northwest. Thirdly, though certainly less importantly, the distance between Clearwater and St. Anthony by stage was a more reasonable day’s journey. In those days travelers from St. Cloud had to rise early to travel as far as Clearwater before breakfast, and they only reached St. Anthony by 9 p.m. under the very best conditions. Hotels would quickly grow to serve the travelers coming by stage or steamboat. What the Burbanks requested in exchange was that the Clearwater fathers provide “sufficient land for their barns, stables and warehouses.” They were reminded that the new road would travel through “very fertile country, now fast settling up, and soon immense quantities of wheat, corn and oats would be hauled to Clearwater and sold to be shipped by boat to St. Anthony, and the money for the grain would be spent in the town for supplies that would be brought up by water at a rate cheaper than it could be hauled by team, as the case was at St. Cloud.” With such arguments, and reminding the town fathers of the value of becoming a terminus for the oxcart traffic, the Burbanks made their case, reports Mitchell. “What might have been” for Clearwater and Maine Prairie, however, was never realized. Mitchell concludes his description thus: “The townsite owners, like many others in the early days, were short-sighted and replied to the Burbank company’s proposition that their lots were for sale but not to give away. The result was that the road to Cold Spring was never opened, and the company continued to go by way of St. Cloud.” While no doubt disappointed, the Burbanks never missed a step in the expansion of their spreading empire. J.C. Burbank made St. Paul his base of operations, overseeing a vast array of entrepreneurial projects in that city. J.C. built his mansion on Summit Avenue, but his younger brother Henry made his home in St. Cloud and oversaw the company’s express and stage interests from there. Henry Burbank married in St. Cloud and built their new home (later called the Burbank-McKelvy House) of yellow brick brought up-river from St. Paul. It was completed in 1863 at the corner of Third Avenue and Second Street South and was an “elegant dwelling equal in style and finish to any in northern Minnesota.” It stood as another reminder of the magnitude of what Clearwater gave away. St. Cloud gained all the benefits, and Maine Prairie remained a small but wonderful community on the open prairie. Watch for the third major influence effecting “what might have been” for Maine Prairie, when the saga of the Soo reshapes the community’s geography. Turn back the clock. Hold onto the memories. Time is what keeps everything from happening at once. We invite you to be a part of this column. Input from our readers is gladly accepted. How grateful we are to Duane Stanley for these continuing Kimball histories: something new from an old, old story to preserve the past for future generations. Your contributions make our efforts possible. We don’t forget how important your new and renewed memberships are, either. Remember where you’ve come from. Those who were here before us had an affection for this community. Just recently, the granddaughters of Kimball’s first (1908) pharmacist/ druggist, A.C. Douglass, paid a visit from out of town. What a delight to meet and visit with them and accept some of their family’s artifacts out of their attic into our 2003 exhibit. We look forward to their return in years to come. And the grandchildren of pioneer Charles F. Anderson came in search of his grave to place on it a marker at the McKenzie (Talbot) Cemetery near Kingston. If anyone reading this has information about him or his gravesite, please contact the Kimball Area Historical Society. All these folks came from states far away to share their treasured memories with us. Now, please review this issue on what we yet need for the Kimball Days history exhibit. Coming soon, just for you, just once a year, the 3rd annual Kimball Area History Exhibit Aug. 8-10 at our historic City Hall. And be sure to come to our “supper in the park” on Aug. 8. See you there! Remember, memories last a lifetime. Kimball Area Historical Society P.O. Box 100 Kimball MN 55353 (320) 398-5250 or 398-5743
