History of Clearwater County

There were only nine counties in Minnesota when it became an organized territory in 1849. The entire northern part of the state had two counties: Itasca county on the east and Pembina on the west. From these two counties, smaller units gradually formed including Beltrami County in 1866. 

By 1900, Beltrami County had undergone several boundary changes and had more than 150 townships. As time went on, people living in the settled edges of the county began to feel that the county was too large, it was too far to the county seat, and that perhaps a smaller county government would reduce taxes.

Leading the plot to divide Beltrami county was Erik Falk, the crusading editor of the "Bagley Times." Falk, who was a retired doctor from Hillsboro, North Dakota, came to Bagley to set up a newspaper office. In January 1901, he began publishing a series of lively articles stressing the need for a smaller county in the Bagley are. He was joined in his mission by A.R. Butler, publisher of the "Bagley Independent." Iver Krohn, publisher of the "Beltrami County Advocate" of Shevlin, was against this idea.

On February 21, 1902, the people living in southwestern Beltrami decided to take action. A county convention was held in Bagley to consider the proposed division. People attending the convention were the chairmen and clerks of the townships interested in forming a new county. It was an evening meeting and the air was filled with enthusiasm and expectancy. Nearly all the township officials were there. Most of them had come by sled during the afternoon and had bedded their horses down for the night in one of several livery barns set up where Main Street now stands. 

Frank A. Norquist, long time county resident and public official, was then chairmen of the Pine Lake town board. He recalled the convention this way: 

"First of all, we had to show our credentials, indicating we were authorized to be there. On the whole, it was a very orderly gathering. The only point of disagreement was the establishment of the northern boundary. Some delegates objected to extending the proposed county beyond the organized townships to include a portion of the Red Lake Indian Reservation. They felt (that it would be expensive and) the county might be required to build several bridges across the Clearwater River in that region.

On the other hand the argument in favor of extending the north boundary (to where it now stands) was that some day this land might be opened for settlement, or that the land might be allotted to Indians giving them title to the land in such a way as to make it taxable. The part of Clearwater County in the Red Lake Reservation contains some choice farmland, timber, and valuable meadowlands.

Those of us delegates who came from the north end of the county had met beforehand to insure proper representation on the first board of commissioners. 

Among the things I remember distinctly is how Swan Torkelson suggested that the new county be named Clearwater, to which the assembled group consented without opposition"

The convention decided that the board of commissioners for the new county should be Knut Nora, homesteader living south of Bagley; E.N. Falk, editor of the "Bagley Times;" Ben Sorenson, homesteader in Eddy township; J.W. Johnson, storekeeper in the town of Leon who was then a member of the Beltrami county board; and John E. Pearson, a farmer from Pine Lake.

In an organizational meeting held three weeks later, the committee named Torkelson as chairmen and Sommervold as secretary. The purpose of the meeting was to draw up a petition to divide the county. Charles Wagner, a local barber, was appointed to secure as many signers as he could. Falk was selected to present the petition to the Secretary of State in St. Paul. A week later the committee met again. 657 people had signed the petition. 

The petition was then filed with the Secretary of State to be voted on at the regular November election of 1902. 

Not Everyone wanted to divide the county this way. There were three county division propositions. they were:

1. The Bagley proposition- three rows of townships in southwestern Beltrami would be separated to form Clearwater County with bagley as the county seat.

2. The Roosevelt (Shevlin) proposition- one row of townships further east would be included, but the proposed county line would not extend as far north. Shevlin would be the designated county seat. The name fo the county would be Roosevelt, after the President of the United States.

3. The Blackduck proposition- this plan was introduced by petition later, but still early enough for the fall election. Upper Beltrami was to be formed into Blackduck County, with the village of Blackduck as the county seat.

Bemidji, the county seat of Beltrami County, didn't want to divide the county. In the early part of 1902, it had approved funds for building its new courthouse, even though Bagley area residents were against it. To pay for the new courthouse, Beltrami needed taxes from as many people as possible.

In October 30, 1902, issue "The Bemidji Pioneer" made fun of the three different county proposals. The editor thought the propositions would be defeated; believing that most of the citizens would not like to see teh county divided this early in its existence.

In the following issue, a sample ballot on the county issue was published. The ballot had three sections in which area residents could vote Yes or No.

1. For the creation of Roosevelt County.

2.  For the creation of Clearwater County.

3. For the creation of Blackduck County.

By this time the "Olberg Journal" published by Albert Anderson, had joined the crusade for county division and was pushing the issue in the north end of the proposed new county. 

The strategy of the Clearwater group was to carry on a very quiet campaign, leading Bemidji officials to believe that the Roosevelt and Blackduck propositions were the strongest and therefore the ones to be defeated.

In the November election of 1902, the move to form Clearwater County won out by a large majority. The final count was: Roosevelt 437 for and 619 against; Clearwater 396 for and 48 against; Blackduck 158 for and 387 against.

About a month later, the state declared that the Clearwater propostion had carried. On December 20, 1902 Governor Van Sant proclaimed that Clearwater county existed.