6. Julianne Ireland, aged 3
        7. Sophia Smith (wife of Henry Smith)
        8. John Voight
        9. Andrew Koch
      10. John Eastlick
      11. Fredrick Eastlick, aged 4
      12. Giles Eastlick, aged 4
      13. W. J. Duley, Jr. aged 10
      14. Belle Duley, aged 6

        The Lake Shetek massacre did not follow the pattern of most of the Indian raids. Not a cabin in the Lake Shetek settlement was burned. Not a settler was scalped. Money was left in the pockets of the murdered settlers. There was no evidence of excessive brutality and the Indians left two out of the three that were slain by the whites.

        Duley, one of the three settlers who escaped from the slough was the man that cut the rope that sent the 48 Indians to their death at Mankato. Duley was a little inclined to boast of his prowess but the people that knew him thought very little of him after his leaving the slough where the women and children were.

        The Wright cabin where the settlers met to make their first stand, was taken down log by log by the Tracy people for fuel during the winter of 1880-1881—the winter of the big snow.

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        Land was almost free; it cost the settler about $7.50 to file on the claim. If he could live on it for five years, the government gave it to him for the proving up costs. The settler in addition could take up a tree claim. He planted so many trees and protected them from the prairie fires, and if he saved them he got 160 acres of land. Then if some early settler got tired of it all, he could buy his rights for $1.25 an acre. This was called preemption.


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FORMATION OF MURRAY COUNTY

        The part of Minnesota that is now known as Murray County had its inception as a separate politic division in 1857, when the legislature formed the congressional townships into counties and gave each group of townships a name. The twenty townships, comprising this county, were named Murray County in honor of William Pitt Murray who was a member of the legislature and a member of the committee on counties. In the late '50's settlers located on the east shore of Lake Shetek. Others came in from time to time and in 1862 there were about forty people in the settlement. In one day in August, 1862, the entire settlement was wiped out by the Indians. The dead were interred in one grave on the east side of the lake.

        It was several years after the massacre before settlers again ventured into these parts. The first to come was John H. Low, who spent the winter of 1865-6 trapping in the vicinity of Bear Lakes. He took up a homestead at that time. He had passed through this section in 1863 with an expedition sent against the Indians in South Dakota.

        In 1867 a few settlers arrived and new settlers came each year thereafter. In 1871 a movement was made to organize the county. On Feb. 26th, 1872, the legislature passed a law organizing the county and the governor appointed Lewis Low, Samuel Armstrong and W. S. French county commissioners and empowered them to locate the county seat. On June 17th, 1872, the commissioners met at the home of W. W. Calkins. Lewis Low was elected chairman of the board. The board then elected the county officers: W. W. Calkins, auditor; Nelson Joy, treasurer; F. M. Byram, register of deeds; Z. W. Marsh, sheriff; B. M. Low, surveyor; C. T. Aldrich, coroner.

        The above officers were selected by the wishes of a majority of the legal voters of the county at an election held at the home of Doc Shephard.

        The county was then divided into three commissioner districts. At the July meeting of the same year, Holly, Murray and Shetek townships were organized. S. R. Harris was chosen as county attorney and E. Cutter was appointed Supt. of schools at a salary of $25.00 a year.

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