Fair / -2° F
Fort Juelson attracting visitors
Published 12:13pm Tuesday, December 1, 2009This year the Friends of Fort Juelson were a big part of the annual Underwood Harvest Festival. More people visited the site of the fort, east of town, and the warm weather of late is allowing even more people to do so.
When the fort was finished in July 1876, Fort Juelson was, as noted at today’s interpretive sign at the site, “as sturdy as any Hans Juelson had seen during his time with the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War.”
While the Indian scare of 1876 took place following General George Custer’s annihilation with the Seventh Cavalry at the Little Big Horn of Montana, the triggering events that led to the establishment of Fort Juelson were much more immediate.
In July 1876 a rumor was spread by horse back rider Julius Hankey that the Indians were on the warpath at Fergus Falls, French and Foxhome — and that a number of settlers had already been killed.
“This rumor seems to have been triggered by the observation of an Indian party butchering a settler’s steer in the French area,” said Cliff Knutson, president of the Friends of Fort Juelson. “The rumor caused the settlers in the Underwood area to hurriedly load up their families into wagons and release their livestock. Some left so quickly they didn’t take food or water with them.”
Area settlers joined into groups to defend themselves as they traveled. Some went to Dolmers store in Tordenskjold Township and others headed south to Fort Pomme de Terre, Herman, and to Alexandria. Many didn’t expect to return to their homesteads as an intact family.
“Those settlers that gathered at Dolmers store decided they would build an earthen fort for self defense, that being Fort Juelson,” Knutson said.
The fort, located on a high hill (which today has a flag pole) east of Underwood that’s visible by car while looking north of Highway 210, was 100 by 120 feet and had four sod walls and two cross walls through the center.
The effort to establish the fort was led by Juelson and Berge O. Lee who, like Juelson, was a Civil War veteran.
Friends of Fort Juelson, led by Knutson, have future enhancements planned. They include lighting and the planting of flowers and wild grasses on what formerly was 2.5 acres of alfalfa. Stanley Rudsenske of Austin, who plans to deed over 10 acres of land to the county, wholeheartedly supports the Fort Juelson enhancements.
“Environmental classes from the Underwood school have collected seeds for the planting project,” said Knutson. “It’s great to see community involvement.”
A play about Fort Juelson took place in Underwood, one week before the annual Harvest Festival.
