USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 27
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THE TREATY OF 1858
April 19, 1858, a treaty was negotiated at Washington by Charles E. Mix, commissioner on behalf of the United States, and sixteen Yankton Sioux chiefs- three of them represented by Charles F. Picotte, their agent-ceding the lands to the United States in Southeastern Dakota described as follows :
Beginning at the mouth of the Tehan-kas-an-data, or Calumet or Big Sioux River ; thence up the Missouri River to the mouth of Pa-hoh-wa-kan or East Medicine Knoll River; thence up said river to its head; thence in a direction to the head of the main fork of the Won-dusk-kah-for or Snake River : thence down said river to its junction with the Tehan-san-gan or Jacques or James River ; thence in a direct line to the northern point of Lake Kampeska ; thence along the northern shore of said lake and its outlet to the junction of said outlet with the said Big Sioux River ; thence down the Big Sioux River to its junction with the Missouri River.
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This cession included all islands in the Missouri River from Sioux City to near Fort Pierre.
CAPT. JOHN B. S. TODD
Capt. John B. S. Todd, a cousin of Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln, was on duty at Fort Pierre as captain of Company A, Sixth United States Infantry, resigning September 16, 1856, to become sutler (military post trader) at Fort Randall, and to become a member of the firm of Frost, Todd & Co., who had trading posts at Sioux City, Elk Point and midway between Elk Point and Vermilion ; one at the latter place, one on the James River and one at Yankton.
It was the active influence of this company that brought about the treaty of 1858, one of the firm being in Washington while the negotiations were pending and while the treaty was before the Senate, by which it was ratified March 9, 1859, being proclaimed March 31, 1859. As licensed traders they had the right to occupy Indian territory, and through their employes were able to select and occupy the lands desired for townsite purposes, while the Government, under its treaties, was in duty bound to prevent others from doing so.
The election of Abraham Lincoln as President, in 1860, naturally increased the prestige of Captain Todd, who was appointed by Mr. Lincoln a brigadier- general of volunteers September 19, 1861, his appointment expiring by limitation July 17, 1862. General Todd was elected delegate to Congress when the territory of Dakota was organized, and remained a factor in its politics, business and development until his death, January 5. 1872.
FORT RANDALL ESTABLISHED
In the spring of 1856 General Harney selected the site for the military post at Fort Randall, which was named for Lieut. Col. and Paymaster Daniel Randall, then recently deceased, and on its completion became an important link in the chain of military posts designed for the protection of the advancing settlements.
The first troops to arrive at Fort Randall to begin its construction were eighty-four recruits under command of Lieut. David S. Stanley. He and Lieut. and Quartermaster George H. Page built the fort, the buildings from Forts Pierre and Lookout having been removed to Fort Randall by Maj. Charles E. Galpin, on the steamboat D. H. Morton. Lieut .- Col. Francis Lee commanded the first garrison in the spring of 1857. Lieut .- Col. John Munroe of the Fourth United States Artillery, was in command of Fort Randall in 1861, then garrisoned by four companies. Three companies were sent east, leaving one, in command of Capt. John D. Brown, who left without leave at the breaking out of the Civil war and became a colonel in the Confederate army. He was succeeded at Fort Randall by Lieut. Thomas R. Tannett, who resigned to become a captain in a Massachusetts regiment on the side of the Union. In December, 1861. Capt. Bradley Mahana of the Fourteenth Iowa was assigned to duty at Fort Randall.
FORT ABERCROMBIE
Fort Abercrombie was authorized by act of Congress, approved March 3, 1857, to be established at the most eligible site near the head of the Red River
GENERAL JOHN B. S. TODD First delegate to Congress from Dakota
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of the North, in the vicinity of Graham's Point in Minnesota. It was built on the west side of Red River, by a force under the supervision of Lieut .- Col. John J. Abercrombie of the Second United States Infantry, which arrived August 28, 1858, and spent the winter there. The fort was abandoned in 1859, but reoccupied and rebuilt in 1860 by Maj. Hannibal Day of the Second United States Infantry.
Captain Markham of Company B, Second Minnesota Volunteers, relieved the regulars some time in July, 1861, and was succeeded by Capt. Peter Mantor with a detachment of Company C of the Second Regiment Minnesota Volunteers, who were found there by Company D, Fourth Minnesota Volunteers, under Capt. T. E. Inman, mustered into the service October 10, 1861, and immediately dispatched to Fort Abercrombie, arriving October 22, 1861. Captain Inman remained in command of the fort until the last of March, 1862, when he was relieved by Capt. John Vanderhorck, commanding Company D, Fifth Minnesota Volunteers.
Fort Abercrombie was the nucleus for the first settlement of that region in 1858-59 and one of the principal points of Indian attack during the uprising of 1862, as described in Chapter XIII.
THE BON HOMME SETTLEMENT
In May, 1858, a party en route to Pike's Peak, from Dodge County, Minne- sota, settled at Bon Homme, D. T., concluding to look for gold in the grass roots of Dakota rather than in the rocks of distant Pike's Peak. The names of the party were John H. Shober, John Remune, Edward and Daniel Gifford, Fred Carman, John Mantle, John Tallman, Thomas J. Tate, W. W. Warford, George Falkenberg, Lewis E. Jones, Aaron Hammond, wife and child; Reuben Wallace and H. D. Stager. Another party from Dodge County, Minnesota, arrived November 12, 1859, consisting of C. G. Irish and family,, John Butter- field, Jonathan Brown and family, Francis Rounds, Cornelia Rounds and George T. Rounds. C. E. Rowley and Laban H. Litchfield arrived December 26, 1859. Most of these became permanent settlers. William M. Armour settled in this county in 1858, but went on to Pike's Peak in 1859.
The settlers were, however, ejected by the military authorities in the fall of 1858, and moved across the river. Their cabins were torn down, and the logs thrown into the river or burned. This course was taken with all settlers on land covered by the Yankton treaty of 1858, and the settlers were not suffered to return until the following spring, when the treaty was ratified and proclaimed. John H. Shober was a lawyer, and became prominent in the affairs of the territory. George I. Tackett was a settler in 1859.
FIRST IN EDUCATION-FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE
Aside from the Pembina Mission, Bon Homme had the first school, and built the first schoolhouse in Dakota. The building erected by Shober and other settlers was 14 by 15 feet, built of logs, with no floor, and one six-pane, 8 by IC window. A monument at Bon Homme commemorates the erection of this school- house. Miss Emma Bradford, whose father, Daniel Bradford, and brother Henry
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came in 1860, taught this school that summer. The pupils were John, Ira and Melissa Brown, Anna Bradford, Anna, Mary and George McDaniels, George and Delia Rounds.
THE SETTLEMENT AT ELK POINT
Eli B. Wixson came to Dakota in 1859, and July 22 settled at a place he named Elk Point, and built a large log hotel. The name was given by the Indians on account of a runway for elk between two points of timber.
In 1857 William P. Lyman, Samuel Mortimer, Arthur C. Van Meter and Samuel Gerou settled on the James River, near Yankton.
OTHER SETTLEMENTS
There were also settlements opposite Forts Pierre, Randall and Abercrombie and at Brule Creek, but each was independent of the other with no concerted action.
Joseph La Plant settled at Big Sioux Point in 1849. John Brughier came to Fort Pierre in 1836. He located near the mouth of the Big Sioux River in May, 1849. John C. McBride, Christopher Maloney, Antoine Fleury, Adolph Mason, Robear Primeau, Archie Christy, Gustav Christy and James Somers were of this settlement prior to the organization of Dakota Territory. Paul Paquette settled on the Big Sioux in 1854, and operated a ferry. Austin Cole selected lands near the ferry in 1857, and became a settler in 1859.
Milton M. Rich, Mahlon Gore, E. B. Lamoure and Judson Lamoure settled at Brule in 1860. Other settlers that year were M. B. Kent, Myron Cuykendall, A. B. Stoddard, Amos Dexter, Orin Fletcher, John Reams and Thomas C. Watson.
George Stickney and family came to Elk Point in 1860, Mrs. Stickney being the first white woman to take up her abode there. John R. Wood and family, however, came about the same time; also William Adams, Myron Sheldon, Hastings Scammond, David Benjamin, N. J. Wallace, J. A. Wallace and Michael Ryan. Among other settlers at that time in the vicinity of Elk Point were Elmer Seward, Lester Seward, Thaddeus Andrews, Carl Kingsley, Patrick Comfort, Nicholas Comfort, Thomas Olson, John Thompson, J. O. Taylor, Chris Thomp- son, J. E. Hoisington, William H. H. Fate, James Fate, Thomas Fate, Ole Bottolfson, Hiram Stratton, E. C. Collins, William Flannery, K. P. Ronne, Runyan Compton, M. D. Weston, Alvin Cameron, R. H. Langdon, David Pennell, Sherrian Clyde, John Donovan, David Walters, David Green, Howard Mosier, Solomon B. Stough, Daniel Ballinger, Silas Rider, Hegeick Townsend, Anthony Summey, Josialı Bowman, Charles Patton, Preston Hotchkiss, James Phillips, Benjamin Briggs, F. W. Smyth, Jacob Kiplinger, Patrick Carey, Daniel Con- nolley, Michael Currey, Wesley McNeil, George Geisler, J. W. Vandevere, Timothy Brigan, L. K. Fairchild, Henry Rowe, C. W. Briggs, C. M. Northrup, Hiram Gardner, William Baldwin, Frederic Strobel, D. M. Mills, W. W. Adams, Joseph Dugraw, M. U. Hoyt, J. P. Benner, Michael Ryan, Charles LeBreeche, Joseph Yerter, Desire Chaussee and Antonia Rennilards.
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IN CHARLES MIX COUNTY
There were a few settlers in Charles Mix County in 1858, engaged in con- tracting in connection with Fort Randall. In 1861 the population was about fifty, among them F. D. Pease, E. M. Wall, Felicia Fallas, Colin Lamont, John Mallert, E. Fletcher, G. A. Fisher, Joseph Ellis, Joseph V. Hamilton, Colin Campbell, William Bartlett, Abel Forcess, John Archambault, Paul Harol, Napoleon Jack · and Cardinelle Grant. Grant, reputed to be the first white settler in Dakota, was born in Canada in 1765. Hamilton was a son of Major Thomas Hamilton of the United States Army, and had been a sutler at Fort Snelling and Fort Leaven- worth, built in 1827, and was known as Major Hamilton. He was credited with saving the life of General Kearney and 100 soldiers, who had appeared unarmed at a council with the Indians. Discovering a purpose to massacre the whites, Major Hamilton seized a flaming fire-brand, mounted a keg of powder, and told the Indians that unless they immediately threw down their arms he would fire the powder and destroy all, both whites and Indians. The Indians threw down their arms and the council proceeded without further danger.
THE PONCA AGENCY
This agency was the first settlement west of the Missouri River. Among the settlers at the Agency and in the vicinity, 1858 to 1861, were J. Shaw Gregory, James Tufts, Robert M. Hagaman, Peter Keegan, Jonathan Lewis, Harry Hargis, Joel A. Potter, George Detwiler, Robert Barnum and Charles McCarthy, who as sheriff of Burleigh County was drowned by breaking through the ice on the Upper Missouri, in 1875. Gregory was a son of Rear Admiral Francis H. Gregory, and a man of ability. Gregory County was named for him, and Potter County for Joel A. Potter. The Bijou Hills were named for Antoine Bijou, an early trader in Charles Mix County, according to some authorities, but old settlers in the vicinity declare the hills were named "Bijou" because of a great number of crystals of gypsum sparkling in the sun, and visible at a great distance on the steep rain-washed surface of the blue clay, which forms the bulk of these elevations. Bijou, meaning jewel in French, would naturally suggest itself for a name to the French voyageurs on the river, who could easily gather the crystals from the blue clay along the bluffs when boating.
DAKOTA TERRITORY PROCLAIMED
The settlers at Sioux Falls having proclaimed the unorganized territory, left out when Minnesota was admitted, a new territory to be known as Dakota, a mass meeting was held at Sioux Falls, September 28, 1858, and it was ordered that a meeting should be held on the fourth day of October for the election of two members of the Council and five members of the House of Representatives.
An election was held and the alleged legislature met and elected Samuel Masters governor, and passed a memorial to Congress for recognition as a territory.
A year later another election was ordered, to elect a delegate to Congress and the various county officers and members of the Legislature.
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At this election an alleged vote of 1,689 was cast for Jefferson P. Kidder, and 147 for Alpheus G. Fuller, for delegate to Congress. Congress refused to recognize the organization, and it was questioned whether there were that many people in the territory. The Federal census of 1860 gave the number as 2,128, of whom 1,600 were in the Pembina district, largely mixed-blood Indians, while an enrollment under the direction of the Governor of Dakota, in 1861, showed a population of 2,376, of whom 603 were in the Red River district. The persons taking this census were Henry D. Betts, Wilmot W. Brookings, Andrew J. Harlan, Obed Foote, George M. Pinney and J. D. Moore.
The settlements were known as the Red River district, embracing Pembina, St. Joseph and other adjacent settlements, population 603; Vermilion and Big Sioux districts, with settlements at Brule Creek, 47; Point on the Big Sioux, 104; Elk Point, 61 ; Vermilion, 265; Bottom and Clay Creek, 216; Sioux Falls district, 60; Yankton district, 287; Bon Homme district, 163; Western district, with settlements at Pease and Hamilton, 181 ; Fort Randall, 210; Yankton agency, 76; and Ponca agency, 129.
The census in the Pembina district was not accepted as correct, for the reason that the greater part of the settlers were out on their annual hunt at the time it was taken.
The census of 1860 showed 84 horses, 19 mules, 286 milch cows, 318 oxen, 338 other cattle, 22 sheep and 287 swine within the limits of Dakota, and the following farm products, viz .: 915 bushels of wheat, 700 bushels of rye, 250 bushels of oats, 280 bushels of peas and beans, 9,489 bushels of potatoes, 1,670 pounds of butter, 1,112 tons of hay, 20 gallons of maple syrup.
When Dakota Territory was organized, in 1861, gold was discovered in Montana, and that fact added to the push of immigration, and to the alarm of the Indians and the need of protection for settlers. Kansas was literally bleeding in the strife between the pro-slavery and free-state elements.
CHARLES F. PICOTTE
Perhaps no name deserves more consideration in the early history of the Dakotas than that of Charles F. Picotte, son of Honore Picotte and the daughter of Two Lance, known to the early settlers of the Missouri slope as Mrs. Major Galpin, a full-blooded Sioux, her father a brave and influential chief. When eight years of age young Picotte was placed in charge of the Rev. Father Peter John DeSmet, the Belgian missionary, who sent him to a boarding school at St. Joseph, Mo., where he remained fourteen years, acquired a liberal education in French and English, and, returning to his tribe at twenty-two, was employed by his step-father in trade with the Indians.
FIRST DAKOTA POST OFFICES
An examination of the records of the Post Office Department shows the following facts relative to the establishment of early Dakota post offices: Pem- bina, 1855, Joseph Rolette, postmaster; Sioux Falls City, then in Nebraska Ter- ritory, James M. Allen, June 15, 1858; J. L. Phillips (Joseph B. Amidon, assistant ). June 6, 1861 ; Sioux Falls, James Andrews, June 24, 1867; St. Joseph
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(now Walhalla), Charles Grant, January 20, 1855; Medary (Midway County), John W. McBean, January 6, 1857, succeeded by Gustave Kragenbuhl, August 3, 1857; Greenwood, Alexander H. Redfield, September 29, 1859, succeeded by Walter A. Burleigh, June 28, 1861 ; Fort Pierre, Edward G. Atkinson, September 7, 1855; Niobrara, Bonneville G. Shelley, March 10, 1857; Ponca Agency, J. Shaw Gregory, March 14, 1860, succeeded by John B. Hoffman, July 31, 1861 ; Ver- milion, Hugh Compton, March 25, 1855, succeeded by Samuel Mulholland, April 17, 1860; Yankton, Downer T. Bramble, April 17, 1860; Elk Point, Eli B. Wixon, July 9 1860; Fort Abercrombie, Jesse M. Stone, August 9, 1860; Bon Homme, Moses Herrick, October 2, 1861, succeeded by Richard M. Johnson, December 17, 1862; Fort Randall, John B. S. Todd, January 18, 1857, succeeded by Jesse Wherry, September 29, 1861. J. Shaw Gregory became postmaster at Fort Rice, established January 8, 1866.
CHAPTER XV
DAKOTA PIONEERS
THE CEDED LAND IN DAKOTA-THE UPPER MISSOURI RIVER TOWNSITE COMPANY- YANKTON FOUNDED THE TREATY OF 1858-THE FIRST CABIN HOME-COL. ENOS STUTSMAN-MOSES K. ARMSTRONG THE FIRST SURVEYS-DAKOTA TOWN- SHIP LINES AND SECTION LINES-THE HOMESTEAD LAW- THE FIRST LAND OFFICE-THE FIRST LAND ENTRY-THE PEMBINA SETTLEMENTS-THE CUSTOM HOUSE-WILLIAM H. MOORHEAD-JOSEPH ROLETTE AND THE MINNESOTA CAPI- TAL BILL-SETTLEMENTS NEAR FARGO-THE FIRST FLOUR MILL-THE FIRST FARMS IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY- OTHERS IDENTIFIED WITH DAKOTA PRIOR TO 1861-DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN THE BLACK HILLS-THE PICOTTES, GALPIN, PARKIN AND GERARD- IRON HEART : A TRAPPER'S THRILLING EXPERIENCE-MAJ. JOHN CARLAND.
"Westward the course of empire takes its way The four first acts already past. A fifth shall close the drama with the day : Time's noblest offspring is the last." -Right Rev'd George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne.
This mystical verse is from lines "On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learn- ing in America," by Bishop Berkeley (1684-1753), contemporary with the great poets Pope and Swift and deservedly as popular, who, in the hope of Christianiz- ing the Indians, made a futile attempt at settling and establishing a college in Newport, R. I., in 1729. These lines are illustrated in the capitol at Washington, the national seat of government, by a large painting that represents a party of immigrants among the mountains, making their journey under the greatest difficulties. The women and children and old men are in wagons drawn by oxen and horses, the men and boys on foot or riding horses and mules. There is courage, resolution and bravery shining in every countenance which compels admiration for the heroic party from all observers. Sixty years ago this painting was true to life! It was then a realistic portrayal of the popular method of going West.
THE CEDED LAND IN DAKOTA
The ceded land in Dakota left in unorganized territory by the admission of Minnesota to the Union, May 11, 1858, extended from the present boundary of Minnesota to the Missouri River, where it is touched by the Iowa line; up that stream to the mouth of the White Earth River and thence north to the inter- national boundary, and this tract became attached to Nebraska until the creation of Dakota in 1861.
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THE UPPER MISSOURI RIVER TOWNSITE COMPANY-YANKTON FOUNDED
In February, 1858, the Upper Missouri Land Company was organized for the purpose of taking possession of townsites on the Missouri River, by Capt. John B. S. Todd and associates, including D. M. Frost, Louis H. Kennerly, Edward Atkinson, A. W. Hubbard, J. K. Cook, Dr. S. P. Yeomans, and Enos Stutsman, secretary.
The treaty with the Yanktons of April 19, 1858, ratified March 9th and pro- claimed March 31, 1859, as described in Chapter XIV, was made possible by the activity and influence of this company among the Indians as well as at Wash- ington. Members of the committee in charge of the treaty, were Charles F. Picotte-of whom special mention has been made -- William P. Lyman, Zephyr Rencontre and Theophile Brughier. Picotte was granted a section of land by the treaty which was chosen at Yankton. Other locations were made by employes of Frost, Todd & Co., in the interest of this townsite company, and the first surveys were made in accordance with their suggestions. A like grant was made to Rencontre, half a section to Paul Dorain and quarter sections to certain half breeds.
THE FIRST CABIN HOME
Aware of the purpose of the Missouri Land Company to gain possession of the townsite at Yankton, C. J. Holman, his father, W. P. Holman, Johnson Burritt, Gilbert Bowe, Harry Narvea, Stephen Saunders and others, came to Yankton in March, 1858, and built the Holman cabin, which was abandoned after two attacks by the Indians, upon the advice of the military authority ; no treaty ceding the Indian lands having been negotiated at that time.
This party was supported by Charles F. Booge, John H. Charles, Billis Roberts, Benjamin Stafford and others, of Sioux City, Iowa. The Holman cabin was the first improvement made at Yankton. Early in April, 1858, George D. Fiske and Samuel Mortimer came to Yankton, representing Frost, Todd & Company, who as licensed traders, claimed the right to remain on Indian lands. C. J. Holman returned in May and built another cabin, and though opposed by both Indians and the traders, was suffered to remain. The Fiske settlement is recognized as that of the first white person to establish a permanent home in Yankton.
The trading post was built in July, 1858, under the supervision of William P. Lyman, the Picotte grant was surveyed by George M. Ryall, of Sioux City, at that time.
James M. Stone, running the ferry at the James River crossing, selected land adjoining the Picotte tract, which lay next east of the Todd tract, the original townsite at Yankton.
The settlers in Yankton County in June, 1858, were George B. Fiske, Samuel Mortimer, William P. Lyman, Samuel Gesou, A. B. Smith, Lytle M. Griffith and Frank Dupuis.
The treaty ceding the Indian lands having been negotiated in April, 1858, Hon. Joseph R. Hanson reached Green Island, Neb., opposite Yankton, in August, 1858, and began a period of watchful waiting for the opening of ceded Vol. 1-15
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land. His party consisted of Horace T. Bailey, John Patterson, Kerwin Wilson, Henry and Myron Balcom. The only buildings then at Yankton were the trader's store and the Holman cabin.
COL. ENOS STUTSMAN
Col. Enos Stutsman came to Yankton in 1858, from Sioux City, where he was engaged in the practice of law, and became identified with the townsite com- pany. He was elected to the first Territorial Legislature, which met at Yankton in 1862, and was chairman of the council judiciary committee. At the second session of the Territorial Legislature he was president of the Council, and again president of the Council in 1864-65. In 1866 he was appointed agent for the United States Treasury Department and in July, 1866, visited Pembina in that connection. In 1867 he was elected to the House of Repre- sentatives in the Territorial Legislature from the Pembina district, and became speaker of the House. He was re-elected to the House of Representatives in the Legislature of 1868-69, and elected to the Council for 1872-73. He built a hotel at Pembina, and took an active interest in the development of the Red River Valley. Stutsman County, North Dakota, was named in his honor. He died at Pembina, January 24, 1874.
It is a matter of record that in October, 1858, Enos Stutsman, secretary of the townsite company, came to Yankton with Frank Chapell and J. S. Presho. David Fisher, blacksmith, and Lytle M. Griffith, carpenter, came at the same time. Francis Dupuis had rafted from Fort Pierre the cedar logs for the traders' store and he was also there.
In the fall and winter of 1858, while the ratification of the treaty with the Yanktons was pending, A. H. Redfield, special Indian agent, and Maj. Charles S. Lovell, United States Army, visited all of the settlements on Indian lands in South Dakota, and destroyed all on unceded lands, acting under departmental instructions ; the Indians succeeding in driving off some from ceded land, claim- ing they had not consented to the treaty of 1851, at Mendota, nor to the later treaty.
DOW NER T. BRAMBLE
Downer T. Bramble came to Yankton in the fall of 1859, from Ponca, Neb., and erected a store building, the first frame building at that place, 24 by 80 feet. In 1861, his building became the offices for the territorial government. The only other buildings at Yankton then were the Indian traders' store and the log house built by Charles F. Picotte, and the Ash Hotel; all built of logs. Mr. Bramble was a member of the Council in the first Territorial Legislature, and was identi- fied for many years with the business interests of Dakota, as the head of the firm of Bramble & Miner.
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