USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 5
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Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 1849 TO 1869
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EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
and is mentioned by Alexander Henry as being the first post established by the North-West Company on the Red River. Jean Baptiste Cadotte was at Red Lake in 1796-7 and had a wintering establishment at the mouth of the Clear- water River, in 1798.
The Red River country prior to 1797, had received visits from traders in the winter, and there had been wintering establishments for the purpose of trading, but no permanent posts until Pembina was established in 1801.
John Tanner, called the "White Captive," author of "Tanner's Narrative," was among the Indians in the Red River country in 1797, and found no Indians or whites at Pembina, a short time previous to the building of the post there in that year by Charles Baptiste Chaboillez, who named his post "Fort Panbian."
A considerable settlement of Indians followed the building of the post, and in March, 1798, David Thompson was entertained by Chaboillez while locating the international boundary line in the interest of the North-West Company, visiting also, a post known as Roy's House on the Salt River, which like that of Chaboillez at Pembina, and Grant at St. Vincent, had disappeared when Henry visited these points in September, 1800.
PEMBINA POST ESTABLISHED
The Park River post having been abandoned May 4, 1801, and the Langlois party having joined Henry's, the reunited Red River Brigade moved down the river to the spot selected originally by Chaboillez, and established the post at Pembina. Chief Tabishaw and other Indians arrived on the 8th. Nothing was then seen of the Indian settlement that was said to have been near the old Fort Panbian, erected by Chaboillez, which had entirely disappeared.
CHAPTER III
THE BUFFALO REPUBLIC
RICHES OF THE INDIANS-THE VAST HERDS OF BUFFALO-A BUFFALO HUNT ON THE SHEYENNE-RUNNING THE BUFFALO-MAKING PEMMICAN-THE BUFFALO REPUBLIC-THE MISSOURI RIVER BLOCKADED BY BUFFALO-THE LAST GREAT HUNT.
"Upon the Michigan, three moons ago, We launched our pirogues for the bison chase, And with the Hurons planted for a space, With true and faithful hands, the olive stalk; But snakes are in the bosoms of their race, And though they held with us a friendly talk, The hollow peace tree fell beneath their tomahawk." -The Oneida Chief to the Planter-Campbell.
RICHES OF THE INDIANS
The herds of buffalo afforded the chief means of subsistence of the Indians while the beaver were the main source of emolument. The flesh of the buffalo was dried or put up as pemmican for future use, the sinews furnished them with thread, the skins gave material for tepees, raiment, bedding, carpets, canoes, bull- boats, baskets, buckets and cases for pemmican and the fat of bears and other animals, strings for their bows, ropes for tethering animals, lariats for catching the young buffalo, and at the end were used for shroud and coffin.
For many years the Indians conserved the buffalo and endeavored to prevent the slaughter of more than was necessary for their own consumption, but tlie temptations offered by the traders were too great, and they joined in the work of destruction for the means of procuring needed supplies and of gratifying their appetite for intoxicating liquors.
THE VAST HERDS OF BUFFALO
On nearing the Park River in September, 1800, Alexander Henry found numerous herds of buffalo, sometimes forming one continuous body as far as the eye could reach, passing sometimes within 800 feet of the party. Climbing a tall oak at Park River, he noted the same conditions, and that the small timber had been entirely destroyed by them, and great piles of wool lay at the foot of the trees they had rubbed against. The ground was trampled as it would be in a barnyard, and the grass was entirely destroyed where they had come to the
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Courtesy of U. S. Treasurer, John Burke.
BLACK DIAMOND The famous buffalo used on the ten dollar bill.
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EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
river for water. All the way to Pembina Mountains he found buffalo and in great numbers about Turtle River, Grand Forks, Goose River and the Sheyenne.
One morning at Park River they were awakened by the moving herd, which tramped continuously past their camp from before daylight until after 9 o'clock in the forenoon. When the river broke up in the spring of 1801, large numbers were drowned. They floated by the post at Park River for about two days in an unbroken stream, and from Pembina to Grand Forks there was scarcely a rod of the banks where they had not lodged. An early writer claims that in 1795 he counted in the streams and on the shore of the Qu' Appelle River, 7,360 buffalo, drowned by the breaking up of the stream. They were simply in incredi- ble numbers and the prairies were black with them. About their camp in Pembina in 1802, they had so completely destroyed the grass that Henry lost twenty-eight head of horses from starvation, and one day a buffalo actually came within the gates of their fort.
In 1803 Mr. Henry went to the Pembina Mountains and thence across the plains to Mouse River and White Earth River, and for upwards of a month was not out of sight of buffalo for a single day.
In 1804 a prairie fire swept over the country around Pembina and Mr. Henry reports that in going to the Pembina Mountains he was not out of sight of blind and singed buffalo for a moment. They were wandering about the prairies, their eyes so swollen that they could not see. Their hair was singed, and in many instances the skin shriveled. In one instance he found a whole herd roasted, either dead or dying.
In 1805 Lewis and Clark, the explorers, counted fifty-one herds of buffalo from one standpoint on the Missouri River. They found the plains of what is now Emmons, Morton, Burleigh, Oliver, Mercer and McLean counties, North Dakota, supporting herds quite equal in extent to those described by Mr. Henry in the Red River Valley.
In 1806 Mr. Henry went to the Mandan villages on the Missouri River, and in the Mouse River country was compelled to barricade his camp at night to prevent being run over by the moving herds.
In the narrative of John Tanner, the White Captive, among the Chippewa, it is stated that one night as they lay in their camp near the Red River they could hear the noise of a buffalo herd which proved to be some twenty miles distant. In his words :
"A part of the herd was all of the time kept in constant rapid motion by the severe fights of the bulls. To the noise produced by the knocking together of the hoofs when they raised their feet from the ground, and their incessant tramp- ing, was added the loud and furious roar of the bulls, engaged, as they all were, in the terrific and appalling conflicts."
To this clamor was added the barking and howling of the packs of wolves, which always followed the herd and preyed upon the calves, and the weak and disabled, or devoured the parts of animals left by the hunters. The Indians killed them with bow's and arrows and caught the young with nooses of leather.
William H. Keating, the historian of Maj. Stephen H. Long's expedition, spoke of the buffalo as existing in herds of tens of thousands between the Mis- sissippi and the Missouri rivers, and vast numbers in the Red River Valley on both sides of the river.
Vol. I- 3
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EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
Gen. William T. Sherman estimated that the buffalo between the Mis- souri River and the Rocky Mountains at the beginning of the construction of the Pacific railroads numbered 9,500,000.
The bones of the animals were afterwards gathered by settlers and shipped out of the country by train loads and down the river by ship loads. It was the privilege of the writer in 1887 to examine a pile of buffalo bones at Minot, N. D., brought in from the adjacent prairies. The pile was measured, and the weight of bones belonging to a single animal obtained, and it was found that one pile represented over seven thousand buffalo. Like shipments were being made from other stations, and it was estimated that the bones which had been and were being gathered in North Dakota represented over two million animals. Entire trains were loaded at Bismarck in the early days with buffalo and other hides, from the steamboats that came down the river.
When the Indian camps were captured at the battle of White Stone Hills, in Dickey County, in 1863, the fat ran in streams from the dried buffalo meat that was destroyed in the conflagration.
In one season Charles Larpenteur, an independent trader, obtained 5,000 buffalo hides at Fort Buford, and in 1845 Gen. John C. Fremont reported that the output of buffalo hides by the trading companies had averaged 90,000 annually for several years, but this covered only the number killed from Novem- ber to March, when the robes were at their best.
During the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) contracted to furnish the men engaged on the work twelve buffalo daily at $500 per month. One day eleven buffalo escaped a party of army officers who were running them, but were all killed by Cody, who fired but twelve shots.
William Comstock, a famous buffalo hunter, having disputed Cody's right to the title of "Buffalo Bill," a contest was arranged near Sheridan, Wyo., and starting with equal opportunities, Cody killed thirty-eight, and Comstock twenty before luncheon. In the afternoon two herds were encountered and the contest closed with a score of sixty-nine for Cody and forty for Comstock.
Hunting one day with a party of Pawnees, who were glad to have killed twenty-two, Cody begged the privilege of attacking the next herd alone, and killed thirty-six, very much to the astonishment of the Indians.
A BUFFALO HUNT ON THE SHEYENNE
In 1840 Alexander Ross, a Canadian trader, witnessed a buffalo hunt on the Sheyenne River, of which he gives the following account :
"At 8 o'clock the cavalcade made for the buffalo, first at a slow trot, then at a gallop, and lastly at full speed. Their advance was on a dead level, the plains having no hollows, or shelter of any kind, to conceal the approach. When within four or five hundred yards, the buffalo began to curve their tails and paw the ground, and in a moment more to take flight, and the hunters burst in among them and began to fire.
"Those who have seen a squadron of horse dash into battle may imagine the scene. The earth seemed to tremble when the horses started, but when the animals fled it was like the shock of an earthquake. The air was darkened, and the rapid firing at last became more faint, and the hunters became more distant.
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EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
"During the day at least two thousand buffalo must have been killed, for there were brought into camp 1,375 tongues. The hunters were followed by the carts which brought in the carcasses. Much of the meat was useless because of the heat of the season, but the tongues were cured, the skins saved, and the pemmican prepared."
For years buffalo hunting. had been carried on as a business, under strict organization. A priest accompanied the hunt to look after the spiritual welfare of the hunters and their families. The women went along to do the drudgery of the camp and care for the meat.
When the herd was reached there was the early morning attack, after due preparation, each hunter killing from five to twenty, according to his skill and equipment, and each was able to claim his own from the size or form or com- bination of bullet and buckshot used by him.
When the meat was cared for another assault was made on the herd, with which they sometimes kept in touch six to eight weeks, the attacks being repeated until all of the carts and available ponies were loaded for the return trip.
In 1849, 1,210 half-breed carts were among the Pembina hunters. When they halted at night the carts were formed in a circle, the shafts projecting out- ward. Tents were pitched in one extremity of the inclosure, and the animals gathered at the other end. The camp was a complete organization, captains and chiefs being elected to command. No person was allowed to act on his own responsibility, nor to use even a sinew without accounting for it. No hunter was allowed to lag, or lop off, or go before, without permission, each being required to take his turn on guard or patrol, and no work was allowed to be done on the Sabbath day. A camp crier was appointed, and any offender was proclaimed a thief, or whatever the nature of the offense might be.
RUNNING THE BUFFALO 1291214
Charles Cavileer spent over fifty years of his life in the Red River Valley. Mrs. Cavileer, his widow, is a grand-daughter of Alexander Murray, one of the Selkirk settlers, and a survivor of the Seven Oaks massacre; a daughter of Don- ald Murray, one of the early merchants of Winnipeg, and on her mother's side, a grand-daughter of James Herron, an old-time trader. Speaking of running the buffalo, she said :
"I can see them now as they started on the hunt. I can see them rushing into the herd of buffalo, the hunter with his mouth filled with balls, loading and firing rapidly. Loose powder was quickly poured into the muzzle of the gun and a ball dropped into place, and the point of the gun lowered and fired, result- ing often in explosion, for the reason that the ball had not reached the powder, or had been thrown out of place by the quick movement of the gun. Riding alongside of the herd, which was on the run with all the desperation possible in frightened animals, they were shot down by the thousands in a single day, and then the work of pemmican making commenced, on the ground where the animals were slain.
MAKING PEMMICAN
"The meat was cut into long strips from half an inch to an inch in thickness, and these were hung on racks to dry, with a slow fire built under them in order
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to smoke them a little. When dried and smoked slightly, they were placed on the flesh side of a buffalo hide, and whipped until beaten into shreds, and then mixed with hot tallow in large kettles. Poured into sacks while soft, the thick, pliable mass became so hard that it often required a heavy blow to break it. It could be eaten without further preparation, or could be cooked with vegetables and in various ways. If handled properly it could be kept for many years per- fectly pure and sweet."
There was always reason to fear danger from an Indian attack in hunting on the plains. In 1856, the Pembina hunters were attacked by the Yanktons, near Devils Lake, and their horses, buffalo meat and supplies were taken from them, the Yanktons claiming the parties were hunting in their country without their permission and not for their own food, but for commerce, which they would not tolerate.
In 1860 Sir Francis Sykes spent the summer hunting in the Devils Lake region, and the next summer a wealthy Englishman of the name of Handberry organized a party for the same purpose. He was accompanied by Captain Cal- vert, Malcolm Roberts, William Nash and Charles E. Peyton. George W. North- rup was interpreter and guide. Their entire outfit was destroyed or carried away and the party taken prisoners by the Tetons, but they were released the next day through the friendly offices of the Yanktons, it being represented to them that Mr. Handberry was a British subject and only passing through their country. They were allowed one team by the Indians and escorted beyond the danger line, but the other animals and their outfit and supplies were retained.
Two hunters were found on the James River who told the Indians that they came to hunt and trap. The chief said to them, "We hunt, we trap; you go," and they were given to understand that if found there on the morrow their lives would pay the forfeit.
Hunting on the plains of the United States became very attractive and many titled persons felt and obeyed the impulse so well expressed in the following lines :
"I'll chase the antelope over the plain, The tiger's cub I'll bind with a chain. And the wild gazelle, with its silvery feet, I'll give thee for a playmate sweet." -Song of Ossian E. Dodge, 1850.
THE BUFFALO REPUBLIC
In the summer of 1865 General John M. Corse and staff visited Fort Wads- worth on Kettle Lake, afterwards known as Sisseton, North Dakota, and par- ticipated in a buffalo hunt arranged by the officers of the post, there being a herd of buffalo in the vicinity estimated at 30,000.
The party numbered about 100, and was led by Gabriel Renville, a mixed- blood Sioux, chief of the Indian Scouts, who conducted them to the vicinity of the Hawk's Nest, a high peak in the coteaux or hills near this point. Renville gave the signal, and he and his party of Indian scouts began whooping and yell- ing, and rushed into the herd, followed by the officers and their visitors. One lieutenant of the general's staff, who was riding the finest horse of the party,
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From Painting by Edwin Willard Deming
RUNNING THE BUFFALO
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EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
became so excited that he dropped one revolver and shot his horse in the back of the head with the other. Renville was armed with a Henry rifle-a sixteen shooter-and, making every shot good, killed sixteen buffalo. Charles Crawford, a noted Sioux Indian scout, armed in the same manner, killed fifteen, and others killed their proportion.
Samuel J. Brown, one of the party, attacked an unusually large, fine-looking bull, which he cut out of the herd and chased until he had exhausted his last shot, when the animal turned on him and ran him more than three miles. Twice Brown tried to avoid his pursuer or mislead him by dodging around a hill, but the animal would slowly ascend it and as soon as he discovered his tormentor, would again pursue him. The buffalo was finally killed by the soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the camp.
The visit of General Corse, and the hunt were celebrated in the manner usual at frontier posts. In the course of the feasting it was resolved that Dakota should be called the Tatanka Republic; tatanka being the Indian word for buffalo. Maj. Robert H. Ross of the Second Minnesota Regiment, was chosen president ; Maj. Joseph R. Brown of the Minnesota Volunteer Militia, secretary of war; Gabriel Renville, "captain-general of the forces operating against the woolly buffalo and the wily Sioux," and Capt. Arthur Mills, quartermaster general.
THE MISSOURI RIVER BLOCKADED BY BUFFALO
In 1867, Capt. Grant Marsh, proceeding up the Missouri River on the steamer "Ida Stockdale," with Gen. Alfred H. Terry and staff aboard, encountered many buffalo when they reached the Elkhorn Prairie, about one hundred and twenty- five miles above Fort Buford. The story as related by Marsh in J. Mills Hanson's book, entitled "The Conquest of the Missouri," is as follows:
"Though these animals were so numerous throughout Dakota and Montana that some of them were almost constantly visible from passing steamboats, either grazing on the open prairie, or resting or wallowing near the river, it was in the country above the Yellowstone River that they appeared in greatest numbers, for here they were accustomed to pass on their northern and southern migra- tions in the spring and autumn.
"As the 'Stockdale' approached Elkhorn Prairie, the buffalo increased rapidly in number on either bank; vast herds, extending away to the horizon line of the northern bluffs, were moving slowly toward the river, grazing as they came. On arriving at the river's brink they hesitated, and then snorting and bellowing, plunged into the swift running current and swam to the opposite shore. When the 'Stockdale' reached a point nearly opposite the Elkhorn Grove, excitement rose to a high pitch on board, for the buffalo became so thick in the river that the boat could not move, and the engine had to be stopped. In front, the channel was blocked by their huge, shaggy bodies, and in their struggles they beat against the sides of the stern, blowing and pawing. Many became entangled with the wheel, which, for a time, could not be revolved without breaking the buckets. As they swept towards the precipitous bank of the north shore and plunged over into the stream, clouds of dust arose from the crumbling earth, while the air trembled with their bellowing and the roar of myriad hoofs. The south
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bank was turned into a liquid mass of mud by the water streaming from their sides as they scrambled out, and thundered away across the prairie. * * * Several hours elapsed before the 'Stockdale' was able to break through the migrating herds, and resume her journey, and they were still crossing, when at last they passed beyond view."
THE LAST GREAT HUNT
In his book entitled "My Friend, the Indian," Maj. James McLaughlin, gives an account of what was the last buffalo hunt in North Dakota, resulting in killing 5,000 of the noble beasts, now reduced to a few small herds preserved in parks by the Government or individuals. Major Mclaughlin was then Indian Agent at Standing Rock.
The buffalo had been located 100 miles west, on the head waters of the Cannonball River. It was in June, when the buffalo was at his best. The camp was made according to tribal customs, and all of the honors were accorded the traditional beliefs. Two thousand Indians were seated on the prairie, with due regard to rank, forming a crescent-shaped body, the horns of the crescent open- ing to the west. Running Antelope, the leader of the hunt, was seated in the rear of a painted stone, made to represent an altar. Eight young men had been selected to go ahead and spy out the buffalo. The chief addressed them relative to the importance of their mission, and the necessity of caution, and closed by administering to each a solemn oath, during which the men in the semi-circle put away their pipes. Running Antelope filled the sacred pipe, which was lighted with much ceremony, and offered to the earth in front of him to propitiate the spirits which make the ground plentiful, and then to the sky, invoking the bless- ing of the Great Spirit. He took a puff, and passed it to the chief of the scouts ; the latter placed his hand holding the bowl of the pipe on the altar, and then took a puff, each following his example.
When the ceremony was over every man owning a horse was on his feet, gesticulating and congratulating the scouts on their good fortune. Three bushes were set in the ground, and if in riding anyone succeeded in knocking down all three of the bushes, a great amount of game would be killed. Major Mclaughlin led the race, and it was his good fortune to knock down all three. The Indians were happy. All seemed well. When happy the Indian is exuberant in his joy, and his cup of happiness that day promised to be filled to the very brim. Gall, Crow King, Rain-in-the-Face, John Grass, Spotted Horn Bull and other noted men were there. The march lasted four days. There were about six hundred mounted hunters in the party, and many thousand buffalo were quietly grazing on the slopes of a hundred elevations as they advanced upon the herd. Some of the hunters were armed with bow and arrows, but most of them with repeating rifles, and in a few moments the hunt became a slaughter. The Indians killed buffalo until they were exhausted, and when the day's work was done over two thousand animals had been slain. Several of the Indians were hurt, one dying of heart disease during the excitement of the slaughter. The attack was renewed on the herd the next day with even greater success, and when it was concluded over five thousand had been slain, and the meat preserved for the
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EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA
winter's food supply. Frank Gates and Henry Agard each killed twenty-five buffalo, and many others had made enviable records.
It was contemporaneous with these results that William E. Curtis, the noted traveler, accompanied by the author of these pages, visited the Yellowstone River. They were entertained at Glendive by Capt. James M. Bell of the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, who organized a buffalo hunt for their entertainment. They reached the grounds, twenty miles down the river, from Glendive, about noon, and encountered a herd of about four thousand, but being there to see and not to be a part of the performance, Curtis and Lounsberry were not mounted. However, they were allowed to creep up the cut bank of a stream to within easy range, when they fired and the stampede commenced. The soldiers then rushed in among the herd shooting as they rode alongside of the running animals. Seven were killed, that being all that was needed for a camp supply of meat.
The great herds of buffalo and of the cattle and horses which succeeded them have passed and are gone, so far as free range is concerned, and the open country which once knew them shall know them no more.
CHAPTER IV
FOUNDING OF PEMBINA
THE POST NAMED ORIGIN OF THE NAME-THE FIRST FARMING-POULTRY RAISING AND MANUFACTURES-THE FIRST CHILD-PIERRE BONGA-THE FIRST WHITE CHILD-MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES AND TRADING STATISTICS-BUFFALO, THE HUNTER- EFFECTS OF THE LIQUOR TRADE AT PEMBINA-THE STAIN ON THE RECORD-NORTH-WEST AND X. Y. CONSOLIDATION- FIRST FAMILY NAMES- HENRY SUFFERS FROM THE SIOUX --- TRIAL OF THE NEW POLICY- CHANGE IN MANAGERS-OUTLYING POSTS WITHDRAWN-ANARCHY AND HOSTILITY-A NIGHT ATTACK-POSTS ON TIIE RED RIVER-EARLY TRAFFIC ON THE RED RIVER.
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