Page 109. Chaska. An incorporated village of upwards of 1,000 inhabitants, situated at the intersection of the M. & St. L. with the St. P. &
Page 110. M. Ry, in the southeastern part of Carver county, of which it is the seat, and 30 miles distant from St. Paul; also, upon the Minnesota river, which is navigable to and beyond this point. A small creek here furnishes power to two flouring mills. A steam grist mill is also in operation. Steam power is also employed in a large brick yard which annually manufactures 4,000,000 brick, and in a grain elevator. The principal exports are brick, wood and wheat. Contains a Catholic and Moravian church, and a district and Sisters of Charity school. The Chaska Valley Herald, a weekly Democratic newspaper, is published here. Also contains a bank, four hotels and a great variety of stores and mechanic shops. Telegraph, Northwestern. Express, American and United States. Stages to Excelsior daily, Waconia tri-weekly. Mail four times daily by rail. (Minnesota State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1878-9, Volume 1, R. L. Polk & Co., and A. C. Danser, Detroit, Michigan)
Page 357. The history of Chaska under the pale of civilization begins with the date of 1851. Thomas Holmes obtained a license to trade with the Indians at any point he desired to locate on the Minnesota river from, McLain the agent for the Madahwahkan tribes, and in 1851 he located the town site of Shakopee and about the same time that of Chaska. In the fall of 1851 David Fuller, an eastern man who had located at St. Paul, came up the river, led by the desire to speculate in town sites, which the prevailing epidemic. In the spring of 1852 Holmes sold him the town site of Chaska for $1,000 and he at once set plans in operation for its development. The condition at this time is worthy of notice. In contrast to the surrounding country which belonged to the "big woods" and was densely wooded, at the location of the town site, about twenty acres was cleared and bore evidences of former cultivation. Holmes states that strawberries grew here in great abundance and at one time he picked with the aid of some squaws, whom he brought over from Shakopee, a wash-tub full and sent them down to Fuller who kept a hotel at St. Paul. Asparagus, too, grew near the river and indications of a garden and quite extensive buildings having once existed near the bend of the river.
At a later day bones and implements of iron, old gun-locks for flints, hammers, tongs, etc., to a large amount were exhumed so that every citizen could, if he chose, obtain relics of the past. It was thought from the appearance of these relics, especially the bones, that they were sixty years old. The relics were thought the traces of a Catholic mission, of which the dates are obscure. It was probably a trading post existing not far from the beginning of the present century and was abandoned years before settlement began in the county. Another feature of the town site of Chaska was the existence of a number of symmetrical mounds belonging to the period of ancient mound builders. The situation and form of these mounds as well as the relics unearthed indicate that they were different from the mounds of sepulture so commonly found in this country. They were arranged in a circular form to the number of six with rising ground extending from one to the other as though the whole might at some former time have been a fort enclosed for defense. Excavations have developed bones in large numbers but in such positions as to indicate that many had been killed in some great battle and hastily gathered into one common tomb.
Page 358. The first settlers of Chaska made their claim in 1853. The claimants were mostly Germans, who had been at St. Paul, and for the most part brought their families with them to share the trials of a pioneer life. Although they came into an unsettled country and found here the Indian bands, who had not been removed, still the rapid settlement left little space to solitude and isolation, and the peaceful disposition of the tribes of Indians whose tepees were often clustered in the timber excludes Indian barbarities from the history of the town. The name Chaska was derived from the Sioux language and means one, and is applied to the first born. Doubtless the name chosen for the townsite was thought to be a talisman by which it should acquire a prominence among the ambitious young towns of Minnesota territory.
Page 359. March 6, 1871, the village was incorporated.
Page 360. Business. The first store in Chaska was that opened in 1854, by the Fullers, on the levee, and in charge of their agent, T. D. Smith. Frank Miesseler opened the first blacksmith shop. Without attempting to follow out the changes in business, we give a showing of the present business, twenty-seven years later. The important business of Chaska now centers in the brick manufacture. Five yards are in operation employing a large number of men. The extensive clay pits furnish a cream-colored brick of a quality that has given Chaska brick a first-class reputation in the markets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The business interests may be summed up as follows: Four lawyers, one dentist, one bank, one real estate dealer, five brick yards, manufacturing 9,600,000 brick per year; one newspaper. Two steam flouring mills located on Chaska creek, from which they receive a portion of their power; three elevators, six general merchandise stores, two hardware, one drug, two furniture stores one meat market, two establishments farm implements, three millinery stores, two tailors, one jeweler, one baker and manufacturer of confectionery, one confectionery store, three dress makers, two carriage manufacturers, five blacksmiths, one cooper, two harness makers, two shoe makers, two barbers, three brewers; fifteen saloons and ten hotels. (History of the Minnesota Valley, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Rev. Edward D. Neill, North Star Publishing Company, Minneapolis, 1882)