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Photograph - Scan only - Shields Family Photos -tV / 71:(1 ; C',1,1•tc••••1.-- If . • ==,- 4 -‘•• ••••-, • •-•c**'. - * •,7 •••••":L:‘ • —.N. 4114;7...wit -1;*`.7 • „ _ • d...i a :-..Lf r5}77a 2s 1,A 3a3 rt's is :51 r 12 . Spence Hollstadt%Staff Photographer Martin 'Shielos,`born on this Lagan property in 1900, stands onIanI his grandparents' homesteaded in 1850. Development behind him is on land that o♦itt nce was the family farm. x t By Bruce Orwell Staff Writer Martin Shields knows an Eagan that would pe‘ =Iv cogmzable t most residents of this suburban boom town At age 88, Shields still lives on his'family's'homestead at Lon Oak and Pilot Knob roads, just as he has since: his'rfather, died i 1911. It's the same`la'nd:that once' supported Eagan's original tol. hall, before it burned down in 1912. It's the place wiere Shield took over the falnily dairy farm when lie,was baiely,a'teen age. and made it thrive � So a people in` Eagan";think the flavor .of those days, 'when the rural landscape was untouched by anything but the family dairy onion d potato farms,.is-slipping away;as quickly: as today': young familiesare gobbling up homes in the city. They're trying tc latch onto old Eagan and freeze it in time while they still can. The result is the Eagan Historical Commission, which is begin- ning to sort through waysto preserve Eagan history, which dates to the 1850s, while it's'still thereto preserve. • "We have to give our new residents a look at the way it was Pleae)see Eagan%? St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch FROM THE SECTION FRONT I7Dw Eagan/ City trying to save remains of vanishing history Continued from Page 1 then," said city council member Ted Wachter, who is in charge of the historical group. Wachter said the city, which has more than doubled in size during the last eight years, is rapidly losing the opportunity to save its heritage. Wachter's group is already working on its first project — saving the town hall that was built after the original was destroyed. The building sits on Pilot Knob Road near the current Government Center, but a road improvement project is forcing it to be relocat- ed away from the road on the same property. Wachter said the commission wants to use the relo- cation as an opportunity to make some improvements in the building and prepare it as the possible site of an Eagan museum. The city council is seeking grant money to pay for any renovations. The building_cur rently is used only for storage by several city depart- ments. Most people agree that the old town hall isn't much to look at. "It's mostly like an old shed," said Shields, who serves on the historical commission. But Shields, Wachter and others think it's the last well-preserved building of its era in town, and they think it would be the ideal place to display other arti- facts of the city's history. "There are families that have been here for more than 100 years," said Eagan Mayor Vic Ellison. "They have a good deal to share, and I think they would like to display things if we had a place." Ellison would like to construct a small courtyard with park benches at the town hall, making it an at- tractive place for the city's school children to visit on field trips. The city already has some historical items that Wachter thinks the museum should hold. The old gavel that the town council used to conduct meetings is still around, as are the signs that identified the town hall (one hangs in the office of city administrator Tom Hedges). And there is a stove that Wachter and other town council members used to keep warm on those 25 - below winter nights. And Ellison points out that the landmark Eagan res- idents once used to identify their city — and still do in its official logo — is still looking for a permanent home. The Lone Oak Tree, a 200 -year-old Eagan monument that stood at the intersection of Highway 55 and Lone Oak Road until it was cut down in 1984, still has no home. City officials long said the tree symbolized strength and growth in the community. Unfortunately, heavy pelting from road salt over the years diseased the symbol, forcing it to be cut down. A cross-section of the tree hangs in Eagan's Govern- ment Center, Ellison said, but a larger 18 -foot section — once thought of as the basis for a potential sculp- ture — still waits in storage in a city -owned building near the possible museum. The historical commission, Ellison said, will look at ways the tree can be incorpo- •rated into the museum. Spence Hollstadt/Staff Photographer Martin Shields, born on this Eagan property in 1900, stands on land his, grandparents homesteaded in 1850. Development behind him is on land that once was the family farm. JULY 8, 1876 Black Dog ViHage, Mendota Preceded City Of Eagan Martin Shields: witness to 82 years of change in Eagan by Linda Hanson As Martin Shields looks back over the 82 years he's live(' in Eagan, he recalls everything from barn dances at4*Shields by the Mud Puddle" to blowing the noon whistle at his father's sorgitunt mill to the bootlegging on area farms during Prohibition. The land at the corner of Pilot Knob and 1..,otte Oak melds, , i11 ather Is 1c868, withroads where ti41,0u9rei ehhsiisfsotgrartSatihndireftied in 1854 i bqjlt near that corner in , Th.,4 edtice4%trilP/45' recrriii,LY r way Martin Shields: witness to 82 years- of changes SHIELDS: from p. 1 street) 21 years ago. So there's a lot f attachment." Shields is the only one of his brothers and sisters who did not roc ve :from Eagan. When he was growing up, "there were Shields all around the lake," he sail. He added that the lake was always called Shields Lake until the Le\1ay family had it officially :hanged in the late 1800s. lie recalled how beautiful the lake used to be before a storm sewer - "spoiled it." "There was never a weed in it or anything. They had a beach on the :ther side—Uncle Jack's side. They had big barrels with a platform where kids used to go out and jump off and jive." But swimming was only one of the Fart things they used to do at the ake. "My cousin had big barn dances -ig:it down there below the hill," he ;aid. "They called it `Shields by the La.{e' or `Shields by the Mud Puidle.' They'd come from all over. The biggest band they had was Whoopee John." Shields also recalls how the pasture iown the hill from his house next to lake was used by 4-H clubs for :aseball games. When Shields was tending a lunch :ounter at the Dakota City pioneer village at the county fair two weeks ago, some people who used to play in pis field stopped by to reminisce. "A lot of the girls who played back :at n have big families now," he said. A lot of the Tousignants were good players --girls and boys." ;shields used to pitch for the Dakota County League. His team won the championship around World War 1. When asked if he ever heard of any Coatleg whiskey -making in Eagan luring Prohibition, Shields laughed and said, "Heard of it—it was on Tha Eagan CHRONICLE, August 23, 1982 almost every farm." But, Shields added, not on his farm. Shields said a neighboring farm on the lake had bootlegging going on. He said the people making it used to get warning when "the feds" would be making a raid and they'd dump it in the lake to get rid of the evidence. "The lake would be full of the stuff—the cattle would almost get drunk on it." He added that generally it wasn't the farmers doing the bootlegging, but experts from the cities who'd give the farmers $5,000 for the use of a barn. But long before there was bootlegging going on near the lake, there was a more respectable industry there. Shield's father brought industry to Eagan in the 1800s with the construction of a sorghum mill on the lake. "All the farmers from miles around raised sugar cane and had it processed there." The cane was processed into sorghum, which is similar in taste and texture to molasses. When his father died in 1911, production stopped and the equipment was sold from the mill. Just like his father, Shields is credited with bringing industry to Eagan, but in a different way. After working many years as a farmer (at times working the land at night while working during the day on another job), and after spending 16 years as an inspector with the state Health Department, Shields took a job with Suburban Electric Cooperatives in 1959 as a field representative. His job was to bring more electric customers to the area. When he started, he said, there were 2,000 electric connections in Dakota County, and most of them were farmers who were light users. When he left in 1975 there were 22,500 connections, and most of those were big industrial users, he said. As part of his job, he provided General Douglas MacArthur, the first chairman of the board of Sperry Rand Corporation, with information on a 640 -acre site where MacArthur could build a new plant and recreational facilities for Univac employees. MacArthur was considering a site in northern Eagan where Eagandale Industrial Park now is. But before a decision was made on that property, MacArthur died in 1964. A couple of years later Univac officials decided to purchase and build at the site on Pilot Knob Road. "That hatched the egg for everything else that came out here," he said. After having served for 25 years on the state Soil and Water Conservation Board, Shields was familiar with area farms which businesses might be interested in buying. When he was a member of the industrial committee of the St. Paul—Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, people would ask him where they could buy land. Since he knew the area so well, he could give them advice on specific property and refer them to a realtor. Since Eagan was expected to be at the intersection of two major highways, Interstate 494 and 35E, industries were interested in the area, he said. When Shields was named 1979 Dakota County Man of the Year by the Dakota County Development Association, he was credited with bringing in as many as 10,000 jobs to the county over about 20 years. Shields is reminded of Eagan's industrial growth frequently. Living at the corner of Pilot Knob and Lone Oak roads, he continually hears trucks rumbling by, shifting gears when they get to the corner. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't done it," he said. "It was once so nice and peaceful here. This was a real quiet place to live. But now just try to sleep here at night." In general, Shields has welcomed most of the changes he's seen in his 82 years. But the best change was thi coming of electricity to rural areas, he said. It's easy to understand his enthusiasm once he explains that before electricity, he had to hand pump the water for 50 head of cattle After electricity came to Eagan, he bought seven engines just to pump the water. "We got rural electrification in 1936 and the minute we turned on th light at the old barn we bought a refrigerator," he said. "All the demand for electricity prompted General Electric to make more equipment. It put millions of people back to work." Shields knows what he's talking about when he discusses electricity. 1 addition to working for Suburban Electric Cooperatives, he was on the board of directors of Dakota Electric Cooperative (now Dakota Electric Association) for 26 years. Shields also has strong opinions of mass transit. He can recall the days of taking a street car into town, which is how many people in the are once commuted to work. Now he looks at commuter traffic and think! there has got to be a better way, suc as the high-speed commuter trains Japan has. "Just think of the energy and the gas that's wasted when pert near everyone is one to a car. There will have to be some radical changes." He chuckled and added, "I'm an opinionated son of a gun, huh." But despite his strong opinions, Shields never ran for public office. When asked why, Shields said, "I sure had lots of chances to. But I thought you could do better on the outside if you squawk like the dickens." T_=i7 SHI'LD'S SORGHUM MILL One of ^a an's first industrial basides farming was a sorghum mill processing sugar cane for borghum. Several mills had been built beginning in 1/5/, b'it fire had destroyed to first two. Tha big operation began in 179d, the mill was situated by Lake Leciay. It consisted of a building 400-01 long and 100-0} feet wide and threw stories high. This three story mill became a familiar land— mark to the people of Lagan. Within this building ware two steam Anginas with 2/ and 30 foot flues in the boilers-to,genrate power for the opAr— ation. of the mill. ;Dater was pumped from Letiay Lake for the boilers and coal and pressed can stalks ware used for fuel. Farmers raised the can for the mill, and ware paid so much a ton. Cane was grown and delivered for a distance of 50 miles around. Sorghum ie nada from sugar cane and at times it grew to a height of 16-0 to 1`!—O' feat high. The opening of the mill each season was a big avant, with such dignitaries as Archbishop Ireland, Jamas J. Hill and the Rev. Waltar of the Lone Oak Trinity Church coiling for the open— ing cer^monies. A craw of 6 or 7 uen handled the mill operation during thA day and 4 or 5 uen made up the night crew. Tach crew worked 12 hours a shift and the pay was $2.00 per day. The capacity of the mill was Q0 gallons of sorb un1 per day. Industry within Eagan had its beginnings with the sorghum mill operated by Michael Shields from 1889 to 1911. Sorghum is a sweet -tasting syrup made from a thick cane -like grass similar to sugar cane. The process involved pressing the cane stalks and then boiling the juice to refine the syrup. The Shields' farm was located around the intersection of Pilot Knob Road and Lone Oak Road. The work was first conducted a little to the west of Pilot Knob Road, but after a couple of years, a new mill was built on the east side of the road. It was operated in a 20' x 30' 2 -story wood building on a stone -walled basement, and included a 100' long storage shed. The press was run by a 12 -horse power steam engine, and two 200 -gallon boilers were used, with water drawn from nearby LeMay Lake. The opening of the mill each fall was quite an event, with such dignitaries as Archbishop Ireland and James J. Hill reportedly having attended on occasion. For a time in the fall, the mill was operated day and night. The entire Shields farm was said to have been devoted to the growing of sorghum cane. Many area farmers also grew sorghum cane which they sold to the mill. The price they received was only about $3 or $4 a ton, and as they began growing other crops, it was not long before the mill ended its operation. SHIELDS TRS MARK FOR SORGHUM SYRUP The sorghum syrup was taken to St. Pau]. and marketed in five, ten and thirty two and fifty gallon barrels. These containers were filled, labeled and shipped to various parts of the country. They were shipped under such names as Minnesota Valley Cane Drips and Shields Mendota sor- ghum. Small containers, jugs and crocks were used to supply the local trade. The employees lived on the premises, and Martin recalls that his mother did all the cooking and baking for the employees and her child- ren. One order for each day was twenty loaves of bread, which she baked all during the sorghum season. The season usually lasted through Sept- ember and October. The mill finally closed down in 1912. Ref: Martin Shields By Francis J. Dembroski LOIS ANN, 9, and. Richard LeMay, 12, are shown looking at the remains of the old Shields - sorghum mill, in section 10, Eagan township. The mill was erected back in the late 1800s. - A crumbling foundation located in a wooded hollow- on the south shore-bf LeMay lake, is all that remains of a historic sorghum mill which more than 60 years ago was a beehive of activity during sugar cane harvest time, in northern Da- kota county. Located on the Martin- Shields property, the mill- was erected by the late Mike Shields, Martin's fa- ther. _ Ruben LeMay, 83-years-oldl resident living just east of the old' mill site remembers some of the early history of the northern Da- kota county area. Ruben's father, Thellesphorei LeMay, imigrated to Mendota from Canada in 1852 when he was 21 years old. - (He lived to be 96). The young French Canadian did such odd jobs as he could fin about Mendota, the parent set -1 tlement of the section. The little; village was the center of culture; as well as fur trading. The palatial home of Henry Hastings Sibley, now preserved as the oldest stone dwelling in Min- nesota, was then in its prime of distinction and hospitality, being, 17 years old. The city of St. Paul became known to early Mendota as "the new town across the river." It grew rapidly into a city of paved streets, wide lawns, factories and jobbing houses. Fourteen months after Thelles- phore's arrival (January 1854) he was married to Vataline LeMay, who had the same last name, but was not related to him. For their wedding they came to St. Paul in a stoneboat drawn on the river ice by horses. Their residence was taken up at the present farm owned by Ruben LeMay, a son, who is still living at the farm. It was west of this farm, on the shore of LeMay lake that the late Mike Shields werlt ir to the sorghum business. ; His first mill was a temporary,' crude affair, using the power of one horse to make his sugar cane Dress work- Thn fircl.. mill -urn,: 1.-_ After a couple of years Mike moved his equipment across the road -and began construction of a ',modern'_' sorghum. mill_ He and his brother, a priest, worked- all summer on the mill, which was quite- an ac^omplishment in the early days. The basement was made of rocks and mortar, and the top was con- structed of boards. Two tanks were installed -to boil the sugar cane in-, to sorghum syrup; water for the, steam came from the lake, via- a. long pipe, and later a cistern. - Farmers hauled their loads of sugar cane, causing a problem of storage. To cope with this -situa- tion, Mr. Shields constructed a storage shed. The shed seemed to work fine ,,for.awhile, but soon the sugar cane stalks started to sprout, and •they! h'aacto be hauled out into the sun - Dining the busy season, Mr. Shields and his occasional helpers, worked day and night. They fed the big sugar cane press with bun- dled sugar cane stalks, boiled the juice, and hauled the sorghum to market in barrels. Business continued good for about seven or eight years. But I the sorghum boom was short lived. It seems Mr. Shields could pay on- ly $3 or $4 per ton for the cane. Farmers then began growing other 'crops. Ruben LeMay, whp helped Mr. Shields iri his busy seasons, re- members that the; Shields + farm -vas at one time devoted to noth- ing but the sugar cane crop. The storage was about 100 feet ; + long, and the cane mill was 20x30 (two stogies). A steam engine from an old threshing machine was ' employed in the place. It was ,a 12 -horsepower engine. Each boil -11 er had a 200-4allon capacity. Ruben was asked if he remem, bered any of the storis his father told.about early Mendota.+ He said! when Thellesphore first came, to. Mendota the Indians were camped' on an isl nd there (no doubt Pig's Flye 1518.n%L _ _ --- --- - The Indians, he said, were friendly, good natured people, un= til they went to St. Paul to load up on "firewater." When liquored - up, they suffered a turn -about in personality. They were anything but friendly. Most of the time when on their sprees, they would enter peoples houses and snoop about, picking up beads or anything they were curious about. Early residents reported that Indians, when they'd come back from "scalping trips," would hang their scalps on poles, and dance all night. An uncle of Ruben came nearbeing shot by an arrow at one time. District 11, a nearby rural school, had a centennial exhibit, before Easter. Miss Virginia Scott is the instructor there. "Another shop was opened by George Auge in May, 1867, on the Mendota Road, in the southwest quarter of Section 4, which he continues to operate. "In 1869, Edward Rachenberg opened a blacksmith shop in the southwest quarter of Section 1, which he operated until about (1877)." In 1876, Herman Raddatz established a blacksmith slop in the northwest quarter of Section 2. About five years later he moved the shop a little to the south, where Lexington Avenue crossed the railroad tracks. He operated it there for the next 40 years.' Ephraim Beaudette worked as a blacksmith at Nicols, next to Reo Beaudette's grocery store, in the 1920s. Ephraim was described as weighing about 165 pounds—but all muscle. He was said to have broken cast-iron horse shoes across his chest and bent steel shoes straight with his hands. Horses were the power of most Eagan farms from the town's earliest days up into the I940s. Huge, strong breeds such as Belgians and Percherons pulled plows and wagons; lighter horses carried riders and drew buggies and carts. "Horse trading" was more than a cliche phrase. 11 was common in the late 1800s fur travelers passing through 00 horseback to meet tocol people and swap their tired mounts for fresh ones. Both sides could come away with e bargain: the traveler would get a fester horse and the farmer one Chet, eller it was rested, 'night prove to be better shun the one he'd traded. "Red Toni" Kenneuly was en old man in the 1920s. He used to tell the local children stories about Eagan when he was young. One member of his audience remembered Red Tums story of swapping horses with a man who was passing through. Red Thm said he later found (Jul he had "horse traded" with Jesse James. Sorghum Mill Michael Shields operated e sorghum null in Eagan from 1889 to 1911. Sorghum is a sweet -tasting syrup made from amber sugar cane. It is milled by pressing the juice dut of the stalks and boiling it until it 1Iuckens. At first the processing was done on the Shields farm, e little west of Pilot Knob Road at Lune Oak Road, but in the early 1890s a new mill was built on the east side of Pilot Knob. The new building wes e two-story wooden structure with a stone -walled basement. It had a 100 -foot -long storage shed es well. The mill was equipped with e press run by a 12 -horsepower steem engine and two 200 -gallon boilers that used water drawn from LeMey Lake end were fueled with caul end pressed cane stalks. The mill opened each fall when the sorghum cane was harvested. Its official start for the year wes a social event, with such dignitaries as 127 The Shields Sorghum store and warehouse on Third Street in St. Paul, 1904. The filling of sorghum containers, labeling and shipping runs done from here. (Martin Shields) Archbishop Ireland and James J. Hill attending. The mill usually ran night and day through September and October. A crew of six or seven men handled the day shift, and four or five worked at night. Each was paid $2 a day for 12 hours. The employees lived on the premises; Michael's wife Bridget did all the cooking and baking for them, as well as her husband and her 14 children. In mill season she often baked 20 loaves of bread a day. The milt's capacity was 80 gallons of syrup a day. The syrup was taken to St. Paul and marketed in 5, 10, 32 and 50 -gallon barrels. The containers were labeled and shipped to various parts of the country. Smaller containers were filled for local trade. Farmers as far as 50 miles from the mill grew sorghum, but didn't find it profitable and turned to other crops. As the supply of sorghum disappeared, the mill ended its operation in 1911. Retail "One grocery store and saloon was put in operation in 1865, by Alexander Fluor (Huard), at the crossing of the Mendota and St. Paul roads, which comprises the whole of the trade, both wholesale and retail..." noted the unimpressed author of an 1868 history of Dakota County.2 Huard's Halfway House and other businesses grew, 128