Sauk Centre is a city in Stearns County, in west-central Minnesota, with a population of 4,317 at the 2010 census.   It lies on the Sauk River at the southern tip of Sauk Lake about 45 miles northwest of St, Cloud.  Settled in 1856 and laid out in 1863, the city was named for its location on the central part of the Sauk River, which itself was named for the Sauk Indians.  The community developed as a trade center for a rich farming area where dairy products, poultry, oats, barley, rye, hay, corn and soybeans are produced.  wikipedia  

     In 1884 the Sauk Centre citizens voted in a special election to issue $14,000 in bonds for water works.  It is confusing, but in 1885 a suit was entered in the U.S. circuit court to enjoin the “Waterpower and Mill Company”? from building a dam across the river.  In 1886 The village of Sauk Centre won the lawsuit against the water works and proceeded to foreclose its mortgage and take possession of the works.  Historysaukcentregooglebooks