USA > North Dakota > Dickey County > History Of Dickey County, ND, 1930 > Part 26
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and sold in Ellendale. John Stewart and Henry Warren dug into the graves, finding jack-knives, buttons and a silk handkerchief, so that it was deter- mined that they were white men who had been buried there. Afterward a Mr. Luce recognized the location, as he had been a soldier in the battle.
William Taylor unloaded a car of emigrant goods on the west side of the track at Ellendale in April 1883, and put up a shanty to house the furniture and to live in until he could go out to his location in what is now known as Hamburg. His daughters Sarah and Eliza (known to all the pioneers as Mrs. Herbert) took claims near him in Township 131, Range 64, and their home became a center of community life, such as Church services and Sunday School. Great credit is due Miss Sarah in particular, as she was a highly educated person and a delightful entertainer.
It appears that the district known as "Enterprise," which overlaps into Albion, Whitestone and Grand Valley, united in supporting all sorts of
Plowing Bee for the Minister
community affairs, and they all pulled together. The first Sunday School was organized at Mace Burton's, and the first sermon was given by William Campbell, an itinerant who moved in from Canada. The meetings were held at the different homes, so as to accommodate those who did not have means to travel far, and so was called "che traveling Sunday School" by many. Reverend Billbie held services in 1886 and 1887, but used the "Cook" schoolhouse.
Miss Eliza Taylor was married in 1889 to Dr. Herbert of Monango. He had been a soldier in the Indian War under Sibley, and took great in- terest in the Whitestone Battlefield. At one time he had a large collection of relics such as cups, bullets and buckles.
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In 1883 a Presbyterian preacher named Clark took a claim in Township 131-65 and as soon as the Graham School House was built he conducted meetings there. The first school in Hamburg was held in the fall of 1884 in the dwelling of John Wilson, and Eliza Taylor was the teacher, it being her third school in Dakota.
A fine Lutheran Church was built on the northeast quarter of Section 14 in 1903. This church was burned in 1920 but another building was erected on its site, and in 1928 the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of the society and erection of its church was celebrated at the church by a large number of the present and former members and their pastors and officials. It is the largest Lutheran Church in the county, and Rev. H. Von Gemmingen is the pastor (1928.)
Township 131-64 in the Dakota Atlas of 1886 is a part of Shelby Town- ship which included 131-65. The entire community of about four townships was known as Enterprise, but that name officially belonged to what is now Albion and Grand Valley. In a later organization Hamburg, Whitestone and German were under one organization known as Whitestone Township. The school districts were separated first and finally the civil townships were separated to include the congressional townships and the name Hamburg was given 131-64 late in its history.
The people of Hamburg have been interested in schools ever since that beginning in the Wilson home, and in 1917 a new two-room building was erected on the south side of Section 11 in which a good graded school has been maintained. Frequently the teacher of the upper grade is the pastor of the local church near by, in this way making the man more thoroughly a leader in the community.
The Soo railroad maintains a flag-stop at Kilbernie on the northeast quarter of Section 13, where there is also an elevator and loading shute for stock, giving the region good shipping facilities. In 1926 the road past the station stop and the church and school was made a state highway and well graded to afford connection with the Sunshine Trail at Monango and the highway through Forbes and Merricourt.
Besides those already mencioned the following residents, now living in the township, are prominent citizens, carrying on the work begun by the earlier settlers: Jake Gebhardt; the Speidels,-George and Reinholdt; William and Gust Fichtner; Gottleib Oster, Jr., and Gottlieb Roessler, with many others who by their industry and good judgment are making Hamburg one of the finest townships in the county.
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CHAPTER XXXV
THE TOWNSHIP OF WHITESTONE, 131-65
[The story of this township is based upon the accounts of J. O. Glenn, M. M. Cook, J. G. Hyde, J. C. Wilson, T. R. Shimmin, Frank Northrop, the records of the War Department, and the stories of old settlers.]
T HE territory in this township was not in the path of the pioneers. Who was the first to settle within its borders is not easily found at this late day. The eastern part of the township lies on the plains, a part of the Merricourt Valley with its good land, but the western part lies in the hills or on the slope where excellent pasture is found and where much live stock is raised on the ranches or smaller farms.
Three or four separate groups of people from other communities over- lapped into the township. On the northeast the colony from Michigan around Merricourt was represented by several families. On the east the New Yorkers and their friends had neighbors living just over in the future Whitestone and from the south the settlers of Albion and Grand Valley had holdings and kindred in the township. Over on the west side the Germans who came into the hills in the 90's spread over the hills.
One of the first to become acquainted with the township was J. O. Glenn whose pre-emption was on the southwest of 19-131-65. Mr. Glenn had come up from Kansas to look over the new territory just being opened, and he had a brother in LaMoure County. He came out and worked with his brother for eight months, but one of the first things he did was to locate a piece of land. The brother and he hired some mules and drove to Ellendale to buy some lumber. They hauled out the lumber and built six shacks on as many pieces of land for himself and some other young fellows who were locating. In order to hold his land he would take time off from his work over near Grand Rapids, walk down to his claim about forty miles, sleep on the claim, and then on Sunday walk back.
In 1884 Mr. Glenn went out to the pre-emption and went to breaking the sod with horses. He had a tree claim on which he did most of his work and where he lived with a man named Warren. They both had land and changed work. They got their mail at the Merricourt postoffice kept by the Manns and did much of their trading there. Later Mr. Glenn opened a general store, conducted a hotel and did a large amount of business in Merricourt. He had taken the pre-emption on March 14th, 1883, and also took a tree claim. In 1888 he was manager of a lumber yard in Lisbon. From 1889 to 1892 he was a bond salesman in St. Paul. He farmed a thousand
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acres for three or four years, dealing quite extensively in horses, and operated an elevator at Merricourt. From 1906 to 1909 he was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, then returned to Merricourt for some fourteen years, when he established his home in Ellendale.
The list of land owners in the township in 1886, although several of them were not residents gives the following names:
Charles Anderson
Benj. Graham
Oliver Nelson
Julian Bequet
H. J. Hanson
W. J. Norgon
C. A. Birdseye
Cyrus Hofry
L. L. Olson
William Blythe
Chas. Hollister
Edward G. Pierce
Alex. Campbell
Chas. Hofler
George Quivey
David Cookingham
G. W. Hofler
Sylvester Reeves
Newton Davis Clarence Kilbury
John Stewart
L. F. Drew
John Larsen
A. A. Smith
Leonard Ellis
Robert McMillen Ole Strand
Henry Erikson
John Q. Moon
Nels I. Tollefson
Sivertson Gudber
Frank Moon
H. S. Warner
William Gray
Brado Nelson
Henry Warren
This township and the one to the east were organized as a single town- ship known as Shelby in the Atlas of Dakota of 1886. The people socially and for church and school considered themselves a part of the community of Enterprise. The first school was built in Whitestone Township over north of Ben Graham's place, and to this school went the children of the Wilsons, the Grahams, the Peeks, and several other families. The township line meant nothing to them and the fellowship of those days still further cemented the life into one community. The township early became the central part of a township eighteen miles east and west known as Whitestone. Later the townships were separated for school purposes and finally for township organization. The west congressional township took the name of German, the east part that of Hamburg, said to have been given by a party who were picnicing around a fire with fragrant hamburg steak on the menu. The suggestion was made and the name was used and officially applied to the east third. The name Whitestone was left for the middle township, and very appropriately so, but it was probably a white man's name rather than associated with an Indian camping place.
In recent years Mr. Ed. Hafey has conducted a large cattle farm wich headquarters in Section 27 where he erected one of the first of the large barns in Dickey County. John Callan has operated another cattle ranch of generous proportions in the northwest part of the township with head- quarters on Section 8. These places have become quite widely known as large stock enterprises.
A good highway runs across this township to Merricourt and beyond, a mile from the east range line, and a good grade has been constructed into the hills two miles from the south line, making the places in the township
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
easily accessible by autos. The State Park known as the Whitestone Battlefield is located on Section 17 and is becoming an object of interest to many people who wish to know more of the history and the noted spots of their own state.
On the northern brow of a very prominent drumlin in the western part of the township, where it can be seen for miles from the north and north- west there is a huge stone of a very light gray color. To the west of this drumlin there is a lake of considerable size. To the Santi Sioux Indians who came over to the great buffalo feeding grounds this body of water was known as "Bigstone Lake" and its shores were doubtless the location of many a camp in the hunting season.
At this place on the late afternoon of September 3rd, 1863, was fought the Battle of Whitestone Hill, the last great Indian fight east of the Missouri River. The battle is described in the third chapter of this history. The soldiers who lost their lives in this battle were buried there, the Iowa cavalrymen to the north of the battle mound, the Nebraska and Wisconsin men in a trench to the northeast. There were no marks left to locate the grave of the men buried in the trench and the burial place has never been located. One of the soldiers (Mr. Luce) in the battle has stated that the Indians in Minnesota had boasted, years after the battle of how they had returned to the battlefield in a few days after the battle and dug up these Nebraska and Wisconsin soldiers, 26 of them, to recover the buffalo robes in which the soldiers had been buried. They told that they had thrown the bodies among the dead horses. If so that would explain the finding of human bones among the bones of the animals. Those who knew of the place in its early rediscovery say there were no buffalo bones among the bones of the horses.
As nobody lived around that country and the place was not marked the site of this battle was lost, and in fact no one of the early comers knew about the battle or that it had been fought near where they were establishing their homes, and the discovery of the battlefield was accidental, even not apprec- iated for a number of years.
The battlefield was discovered by Frank Drew, a brother of ex-sheriff J. C. Drew, while driving over the hills in the western part of Dickey County in search of buffalo bones to take to Ellendale to market in order to help replenish the home larder. He had sold bones many times before, but this time he came across a lot of bones which proved to be other than buffalo bones. He did not care to let others find his picking grounds and said nothing about it, but others did see that he had been unusually for- tunate and went to the hills to look for bones.
M. M. Cook and J. G. Hyde set out to find bones and found the place where Drew had located his find. Some of the ground had been burned over and in addition to bones of horses and mules they found a human skull and a sort of knife or dirk. They did not stop long to make an investigation,
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but took their load of buffalo bones to market at Ellendale, where they told the story of the finding of the mass of bones. Thomas Shimmin of the south- west part of the county heard of this find and went to investigate. He found pans and copper kettles and many evidences of there having been a big skirmish. No one attached any importance to the discovery nor took the trouble to look up the matter further for some time. They thought it might have been an affair among the Indians.
W. H. Leffingwell was teaming for Martin, Strane & Walker and was in Columbia after a load of flour. While there he told of the finding of this mass of bones and the local newspaper man wrote it up and reported it to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The account fell under the eyes of Mr. Luce who was living at Groton. He had been with the Iowa troops in this battle and was a member of the scouting party that had found the Indian camp at the lake. He had long wanted to revisit the battlefield, so on reading this account he came over to Dickey County on his pony and inquired for one of the veterans he had known and was directed to Theodore North- rop, himself an old soldier. Mr. Northrop hitched up his ponies and took his son Lee and Mr. Luce over to M. M. Cook's and asked him to show them where the bones had been found. Mr. Cook helped them to find the place and Mr. Luce identified the location and many incidents of the fight.
Some sort of chart of the burial places of the Iowa soldiers had been made, and it is reported that the family of Lieutenant Leavitt wished to remove the body to their own cemetery, so they had John Stewart, Henry Warren, Frank Drew and Mr. Hollister open the grave. They found part of a silk handkerchief and patent leather from a collar and shoulder strap and other personal belongings. This was early in the history of restoring the site as a park. When it was finally determined to make this place a state park the remains of the Iowa men were removed to the hill around the monument.
For some years there was nothing accomplished to preserve the site of the battlefield, but fortunately the land was still the property of the Government, and finally through the efforts of Honorable T. F. Marshall of Oakes, who was a member of Congress, an act was passed giving the state of North Dakota the southeast quarter of Section 7, the southwest of 8, the northwest of 17 and the northeast of 18 for the purpose of preserving the place as a park.
On March 13th, 1905, a bill was passed by the State Legislature accept- ing the land grant and authorizing the Governor to appoint a commission to have the care and management of the park. Theodore Northrop, E. R. Kennedy and H. F. Eaton were appointed as this commission. Under another Act of Congress the commission sold 572 acres of this land and with the funds so obtained built a fence around the remaining 68 acres and erected a monument. This monument was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies in October, 1910. It was planned to have the dedication on the
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
anniversary of the battle but the monument was late in arriving, as it is constructed of Barre Granite and was made in the East. Governor Burke of North Dakota and Governor Carrol of Iowa were the principal speakers. Others present were the commissioners, eight of the old veterans who had fought there, two Indians who were at the camp as boys, their interpreter, and a large number of visitors from the neighboring towns. The monument is surmounted by a bugler blowing "boots and saddles", facing north, the direction in which the supporting troops were located.
In July, 1922, the bugler was thrown off in a severe wind and electric storm and was quite badly broken, so the Legislature of 1923 appropriated $500.00 to have it repaired and empowered the Governor to appoint a com- mission to have the repairs made. Hon. T. J. Kelsh, at the time the Senator from Dickey County, Mrs. Mary Flemington Strand and Mr. W. E. Dickinson were appointed on this commission. The monument was repaired and restored to its former state. The same Legislature passed an Act vesting the care and custody of the park in the State Historical Society, which now has control. In 1928 the Dickey County Historical Society through Mr. T. R. Shimmin planted a number of trees in the park. With better roads and renewed appreciation of what the park means in the history of the county and state, increasing numbers of people are finding the Park an interesting place to visit.
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
CHAPTER XXXVI
YOUNG TOWNSHIP, 132-65
[Sources from which this chapter is drawn are the stories of several of the early pioneers, and especially the experiences of the Webb family, and Northrup, and of James O. Glenn, with the records of the county and the newspapers.]
C ONGRESSIONAL Township 132-65 was settled in its eastern part in the early days of 1883, before the survey of the government was com- pleted. Its interests and history were closely bound up with those of other towns in the vicinity. According to the Atlas of 1886 it had no independent organization up to that time, but later was the center of a township eighteen miles long east and west and six miles north and south. This great township was known as Merricourt. The hills of the Missouri coteau come into the western part of what is now Young Township and make a sharp distinction in the character of the farming carried on on the alluvial flats and on the hills where pasture is the surest and most profitable method of managing the soil. The "Merricourt Valley," as the broad strip of land at the base of the coteaus is called, is some of the best farming land in the county.
When the Milwaukee Railroad had run its survey up into the county and the construction had stopped three miles north of where Ellendale is now located the scouting party had set two lines of stakes beyond their grading. One of these lines went up to the neighborhood of Keystone, and the other led off northwest to about where the village of Merricourt is now located. When the Michigan party of which the Webb brothers were a part came out in 1883 they followed the line of stakes to the northwest and located on the flats below the coteaus. As the township lines had been run they could find their locations nearly enough for homesteading purposes, and they "squatted" around the corner made by townships 131 and 132 with ranges 64 and 65. Walter A. Webb, located on Sec- tion 36, in range 65, his brother Richard on Section 30 over in range 64. C. M. Glenn took a homestead in Section 31, just south of Richard Webb, E. A. Sweeney located on the southwest of Section 26. Mrs. Glenn and Mrs. Sweeney were sisters of the Webbs, and another sister was Mrs. J. G. Hyde, whose location at first was in Grand Valley Township but later on Section 19, north of Richard Webb's. Mrs. Emma B. Clark, a sister of Mrs. Walter Webb had her home on the southwest quarter of Section 36.
Other families living in this township in the early days were the Mann, the Jones, and the Young families, and several who have moved on to other places in recent years. The Chris Young family lived in the northern part
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of the township, having land in Sections 2 and 11, and for them the final name of the township was given. The Manns lived in the center of the township, on the southeast quarter of Section 22, and the first postoffice established in 1884, was located in their claim shanty. This postoffice was named Merricourt, and with it the family kept a small store, where the people who came for their mail could buy some of their supplies and trinkets to save a long trip to Keystone or Ellendale. The mail for this postoffice came up to Keystone on the stage and was brought over by Mort M. Cook for a considerable time. A part or all of the time that he hauled mail to Merricourt, Mr. Cook says he went on down to Pearson's from Merricourt. After the through stage line was changed from the Keystone route to go through Yorktown, mail was brought up from Ellendale to Keystone and over to Merricourt . by direct mail route. For some five years this mail came to Merricourt from the new town of Monango. Garney was one of the mail carriers from Ellendale to Merricourt, then Mr. Major who taught school in the hills, and others.
The Milwaukee extension never reached Merricourt, but the Soo had built over to the Milwaukee line south of Monango where it stopped for about four years; then in 1891 it built into the Webb neighborhood and the village of Merricourt began. The terminus of the road was here for some two years, when the line was extended up to Kulm. The climb into the hills
A View of Merricourt
necessitated an easy grade so the Soo built directly through Merricourt for two miles then took a northwesterly direction to leave the township on the north line of Section 5.
Quite a lively little village grew up at the end of the track on the Webb
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
property. Mr. Webb platted a townsite and held a sale of lots in 1892. Being a man of high principles and wishing to have a good clean town, Mr. Webb placed in his deeds clauses to the effect that there was to be no liquor dealing nor card playing on any of these properties. Merricourt never had an open saloon.
The town had an extensive trade as it was the nearest railroad point for many miles to the west, some of the people coming as far as fifty miles with their loads of grain, and so many of them that they sometimes had to wait for days for an opportunity to unload. When the railroad moved on to Kulm that town drew the trade and grain from a large territory around it, but Merricourt held a good business for years and has always been an import- ant shipping point for livestock as well as grain. Merricourt has a splendid depot for a country town. Mr. Underwood was a brakeman and Mr. Hamilton was a telegraph operator and depot agent for the Soo. These men had extensive plans for railroading. Hamilton was located at Boynton when that was the end of the line, but when the road was built further west the Boynton depot was moved to Kilbernie. Mr. Hamilton offered to handle the part of the road served by three stations if he had the authority and equipment. The old Boynton depot at Kilbernie was torn down and a fine new one built. Then later when Merricourt became the more important shipping point the Kilbernie depot was moved bodily to Merricourt.
Mr. Walter Webb took a large share in building up the village. He organized the Merricourt Grain & Produce Company, and had an interest in the hotel that was built on the northwest corner of the principal street crossing. Mr. J. W. Crabtree came up from Minnesota and started the bank. Somewhat later another bank was started. Charles D. Hathaway was one of the first business men to start in the new town. He was the grain buyer at the Atlantic Elevator, and was the first agent for the Salzer Lumber Company. Several other business houses were erected on Main Street. The Northrop Brothers, Lee and Frank, came up from Boynton in 1909 and started an implement store. Mr. Webb built the brick elevator in 1908.
The first boy born in Merricourt was the son of Louis Slosson, and Mr. Webb gave him a lot in town in honor of the event. Frances Nathaway was the first girl born there.
The people of Merricourt have always been interested in schools and education, and a good two-story school house was erected in 1909. The school has ranked high in the quality of work done. The town did not have a church building until 1925. Services were held in the homes for the first years. The people united their efforts and built a manse and hired a preacher, holding services in the school house after it was built. They always had Sunday School and a minister. Some other services were held in the halls with which the town was well provided before some bad fires. In 1925 a very neat and commodious church building was erected in the south part of town by the people of the community. This has been much apprec-
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iated by the people, who have had the services of a good pastor and the help of the town people.
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