nd, now Catholic Archbishop of
Minnesota, was also for a time a member of that board.

The St. Paul _Press_ for March 14, 1867, contained the following
concerning the new board:

"The state board of emigration, composed of Gov. Marshall, Col. Rogers
and Col. Mattson, was organized yesterday, and a general plan of
operation agreed upon. We learn that the board concluded that, with the
limited means at their disposal, it was not advisable to employ agents
to work in Europe, but to use every practicable effort to turn
immigrants to Minnesota, after their arrival in this country. Efforts
will be made to procure the publication of facts in regard to the state,
in eastern and European journals; to make arrangements with railroads,
more advantageous to emigrants than, heretofore and to afford them
through interpreters and otherwise reliable information in regard to the
best routes to the state from eastern parts. To give the emigrant a
general idea of the characteristics of every locality in Minnesota, it
is proposed to procure a map or chart of the state, showing its
boundaries, streams, lakes, navigable rivers, timber and prairie
sections, etc."

One of my first and most pleasant duties as secretary of the board was
to secure aid for the settlers along the Minnesota river. This locality
had suffered from drought the previous year, and the settlers, most of
whom were Swedes, Norwegians and Finlanders, were almost entirely
destitute, and had no grain left for seed. Having secured an order from
the government in Washington for provisions from the commissary
department at Fort Ridgely, and being furnished with a letter of credit
from our own state, I left for the stricken territory in the beginning
of April, passing through the counties of Redwood, Renville, Yellow
Medicine and Chippewa. At New Ulm several hundred sacks of flour were
purchased, and at Fort Ridgely large quantities of provisions were taken
out of the United States military stores. Agents were appointed to
distribute these among the people, seed wheat and corn were shipped
there from the South, and the settlers were thus relieved.

Soon after my return to St. Paul the board of emigration was again
called together, and I was authorized to appoint Swedish, Norwegian and
German agents and interpreters to meet our emigrants in New York and
Quebec, and be their guides and protectors on the journey through the
country to our state. Temporary homes were also secured