Redding, Nicholas A.

Nicholas A. Redding was born in Sweden about 1842. He settled in Houston, Minnesota. In 1861 he travelled to the gold fields of Colorado with his brother Lewis and in 1863 moved on to Bannack, and then Virginia City, Montana Territory, where he began whipsawing lumber in partnership with Christ Johnson. He returned down the Missouri River to St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1864. After a brief visit home he returned to Montana Territory in 1865 and began whipsawing lumber in Last Chance Gulch [now Helena]. Redding returned to Houston, Minnesota, in 1869 and eventually established a flour mill there. He and his wife Octavia had six children, among them James A. Redding.