Dave Wood

I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Prescott, Wis. First, I spent my too brief honeymoon with my Beautiful Wife, dining at the wonderful Steamboat Inn where we celebrated many anniversaries until the great eatery went south. Second, when my column was let go at the former River Falls Journal, Prescott Publisher John McLoone gave me a weekly spot at the Pierce County Journal, where I’ve enjoyed working with Editor Sarah Nigbor who is also an ace reporter digging up disturbing local trends like the proposed racetrack club for rich people that wanted to locate in River Falls.

I’m certain that Journalist Earl Chapin would agree if he were still around. I’ve written about Chapin before, calling him “the Charles Kuralt of the St. Croix Valley,” for his work as a roving Wisconsin correspondent for The Pioneer Press. His son Sam and I once drank coffee together; he also shared with me “Wonderful Western Wisconsin,” one of his father’s books published in the 60s. 

Now I’m going to dip into it and share with you Chapin’s heart-wrenching story of a fellow named Philander whose good deed fortifies the old adage that “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.” Here are excerpts, some quoted, others summarized, from a chapter entitled BAD LUCK DOGGED PRESCOTT’S FOUNDER: “Philander Prescott, founder of Prescott, would be happy to know of the city’s recent growth. For his was a restless roving spirit not easily laid to rest. He was born in Phelpstown, New York in 1801 and went west in 1819 with a companion named Devotion [a freed slave?]. Prescott camped on an island at the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi. It may be that even then he saw the potential for a city there. No matter. Fate had consigned a portion of his life to this place and, characteristically, an unhappy one.

“Prescott was a man of scholarly habits and attainments. He readily learned the Sioux language and became the interpreter at Fort Snelling. From here, in 1838, he was sent out and established a trading post at the junction of the rivers. Among Prescott’s numerous credit risks was a Sioux Indian, Man-That-Flies, who discharged his debt to Prescott by trading off his daughter Mary to Philander as wife, a good bargain back then, but one that would hurt him sorely.

“Prescott’s trading post was associated with a townsite project launched by a syndicate of Prescott and several Fort Snelling army officers. From its position she stood out fair and commanding with one hand pointing to the great pioneers above the lake, the other to the free navigation below. Prescott should have been ‘the queen city of the north,’ according to an earlier historical account.

“But not with Philander Prescott’s luck. In 1841, congress passed an act forbidding army officers to buy land. Prescott was left without even a sack to hold. But he was not discouraged. He preempted 61 aces and laid out the townsite and in five years Prescott’s village had boomed to be one of the business points in the new state of Wisconsin.”

“But it seems Philander got lost in the shuffle, losing a case about alleged claim-jumping, and he was also troubled with the burden of being a squaw man, so left his wife, wandered south, took to drink, was rescued by an evangelist, returned to Wisconsin, legally married Mary and moved to Minnesota where he once again became an interpreter. During in the Sioux uprising of 1862, he was captured by Sioux who refused his plea that he was their ally, and they executed him.

“The St Paul Dispatch reported ‘Thus perished the best friend the Indians ever had’ “

Thanks for all that, Earl Chapin!