Excerpt from History of Rice and Steele Counties, Minnesota, Vol. 1 It is with a feeling of considerable pride and pleasure that the publishers present this history for the approval of the people of Rice and Steele counties. The undertaking has not been an easy one, and the difficulties have been many, so many indeed that this work would not have been possible without the liberal assistance of the citizens of the counties. The chief contributors have given freely of their time and talent; business men, church officials, fraternity and associ ation officers, manufacturers, professional men and bankers, often at great personal sacrifice, have laid aside their regular duties to write of their communities and special interests; educators have written of the schools; and men and women in all walks of life have willingly given the information at their command regarding themselves, their families, their interests and their localities. To all of these the readers of this work owe a lasting debt of gratitude, and to each and every one the publishers extend their heartfelt thanks. Since this work was first proposed, it has been the plan of the publishers to prepare a narrative which would tell the story of this rich and prosperous vicinity from the time when it first became a geologic reality, through the years when the first explorers pushed their way into the wilderness, down to the present time, when cities and villages dot the landscape, and comfortable homes and fertile farms are seen on nearly every quarter section. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.