Patterson's Homestead

David S. Patterson came to Itasca in 1889 and made claim to 152 acres that included the Headwaters of the Mississippi. He purchased the land in 1891 for $191. His cabin stood north of McMullen's cabin near the present day museum building in the picnic area. Patterson was a bachelor and is mentioned in Jacob V. Brower's journal, and Brower and his survey crew camped near the Patterson cabin during the winter of 1888-89. At the time, Patterson's property was not within the park boundary. Settlers initially could acquire land under the Cash Purchase Law of 1820, which set the price of unclaimed public land at $1.25 an acre. Later, the Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a head of household, a United States citizen age 21 or older, or an army or navy veteran to claim up to 160 acres of government land, provided the claimant lived on the claim and cultivated it for five years, after which title could be acquired at no cost, while after six months there was also an option to purchase the land at $1.25 an acre. The land east of the Missouri River, including all of what is now Minnesota, was organized into the Minnesota Territory in 1849, and Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. By 1858, the Ojibwe, Dakota and Ho Chunk Indians had ceded almost all of the Indian lands in Minnesota to the United States government, and this land was then made available for settlement. Before homesteading claims were issued, a government survey was conducted, though lumbermen and other entrepreneurs often hired their own surveyors and took land as payment, allowing them to acquire large tracts of timbered land. About three hundred different individuals and companies surveyed Minnesota. As boundary details were worked out, boundaries were sometimes adjusted. Beltrami County was created by legislative act on February 28, 1866, from parts of Pembina and Itasca Counties. The Headwaters of the Mississippi River was once part of Beltrami County but became part of Clearwater County in 1902.

Minnesota · United States