Tragedy strikes Swanson family,
fires ravage eastern Minnesota
Posted 6/20/02

Things had been going well for the Swanson family in America. The family had established itself on land just east of Milaca.

But in the spring of 1893 tragedy struck. Anna, Swenís wife, became gravely ill with pneumonia and died within a few days at age 55. Anna had been a warm and happy person and, in her gentle way, held the small family together. The men were devastated.

To add to the trauma of losing Anna, the ground was still frozen and it was not possible to bury her. Alys says, "After Anna died, the men put her body out in a cold log building where it froze, preserving her body" until burial arrangements could be made. We donít know the details, but likely the men would have used their carpentry skills and quickly built a coffin for Anna. Thus her remains, clothed in her best dress and wrapped in a sheet or blanket, would be protected until they could bury her.

Adding to the confusion, the only cemetery in the area was the Indian Cemetery. This burial ground was situated a little north of Milaca on the hill east of where the Big Eddy Bridge, then wooden, ran across the Rum River. Being the only burial place available, the Indian Cemetery was used by settlers as well as Native Americans.

As far as can be determined, the cemetery followed along either side of a trail. On the hilltop, the trail turned westward, crossed the Big Eddy Bridge and veered north again. In time, the trail grew into a dirt and gravel road. Later, rather than turning and crossing the river, a road was developed to provide travel northward east of the river. This road eventually became the black-topped double lane we know as Minnesota State Highway 169. We are told Native Americans were buried on one side of the trail and settlers on the other. The Swanson men located a place for a grave for Anna in this cemetery.

A few years later, several acres of land were donated by lumberman Charles W. Burnhelm who lived in ëoldí Bock, to Borgholm Township (organized in 1890) to develop a cemetery. Borgholm Cemetery was established in 1898 and records of burials begin about that time. According to Alys, the Swanson men "removed Annaís body from the Indian Cemetery and transported it in a lumber wagon to the Borgholm Cemetery, four miles east of Milaca, north of what is now Minnesota Highway 23." Anna Swanson is listed in the cemetery records in 1900, but the exact date of her burial there is unknown.

Alys writes in the history, "The fall of 1894 was very dry. The Great Hinckley Fire, believed to have started by sparks from a train, raged in Pine County east of Mille Lacs County, in September.... A fire that started in Bogus Brook Township, a few miles southeast of Milaca, endangered the Milaca area at the same time as the Hinckley fire. The trees were so dry the wind carried the fire a quarter of a mile and started a new blaze.

"A train stood at the Milaca depot ready to evacuate residents westward toward St. Cloud. Many people had hastily packed a few belongings waiting to depart. Just in time, the wind changed direction and the town was saved."

Alys adds, "During the fire near Milaca, the Hawkinsons, who lived on a farm nearby, had just built a new house and, expecting the house would burn, put their belongings into the root cellar. It turned out the fire burned the root cellar and all their belongings but the house was untouched. In another instance, a boy went out to look for their cows. Hearing a noise, he ran toward the sound and found several bears in a waterhole. The fire also got into the Swanson pigpen. The pig was burned so badly that Pa had to butcher it to save the meat."

A root cellar was a cave dug into a hillside used for storage and preservation of root vegetablesócarrots, squash, parsnips, rutabagas, pumpkins, potatoesófor winter eating. The inner side of the cave was reinforced with lumber and the entrance was securely protected to prevent freezing inside the cellar.

Editorís note: Doris Bergstromís column runs every other week in the Times.