USA > South Dakota > Faulk County > History of Faulk County, South Dakota, together with biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 1
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IWF FAULK CO)
ELLIS
HISTORY OF
FAULK COUNTY
SOUTH DAKOTA
BY
CAPTAIN C. H. ELLIS
TOGETHER WITH
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF
PIONEERS AND PROMINENT CITIZENS
ILLUSTRATED
17-
1909.
-
RECORD PRINT FAULKTON, S. D.
10
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 733381 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1916 L
INTRODUCTION.
The first quarter of a century has passed since the real work of pioneer life began in Faulk county-the work of transforming the wild, unbroken prairie, the home of the buffalo, the wolf and the wild and uncivilized red man-of blotting out the well worn Indian trail, extending from the eastern to the western boundary of the country.
A work that means so much for us, that has been carried forward with such telling results, as the years go by, shall ever remain an enduring foundation upon which our future social, political, intellectual and moral greatness must stand, demanding a more enduring record than legend or story-Facts well authenticated, facts from the well stored memory, from brief records placed in historical form, before the ruthless hand of Time removes the heroic band from our midst.
For the accomplishment of such a work is this History of Faulk County written.
And to the men and women who composed that heroic band, who left home, with all its social surroundings that enter so largely into the present life, and builded greater than they knew in laying the foundation for a more liberal, broader and higher education and a nobler manhood and womanhood, is this work dedicated.
C. H. ELLIS.
Faulkton, S. D.
THE AUTHOR
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
It is not our home and immediate surroundings that are to be considered in the making up of actual and pros- pective conditions from a financial, social, political and moral standpoint; but the civil government, the national and state organizations, the higher powers, to which we are to look to guide and protect us.
While among the youngest of the states, South Dakota occupies the fore-front in actual wealth and material pros- perity. In 1889 she exchanged her territorial relations with one general government for those of equal sovereign statehood in the Great American Republic. With an area of 76,000 square miles, divided almost equally east and west into two parts by the Missouri river, ( with the excep- tion of the famous Black Hills country, which contains one hundred square miles located in the south-western part of the state, of the richest mineral deposits on the face of the globe), the entire state with a soil of unsurpassed fertility, with climatic conditions superior to all its sur- roundings, underlaid by the greatest artesian basin in the world, furnishing an inexhaustable supply of water for any and all purposes, when and wherever wanted; it needs but time and an intelligent appreciation of its wonderful re- sources to secure a world-wide reputation that shall secure an agricultural population second to no state in the union.
With a population of only six to the square mile it produced in 1901:
Wheat, 35,000,000 bushels, valued at . . ... . $18,000,000.00
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Corn, 70,000,000 bushels, valued at .. 35,000,000.00
Other grains and Agricultural Products 35,000,000.00
Hay Products 10,000,000.00 Live Stock. 35,000,000.00 Dairy Product 9,000,000.00
Wool, Hides and Furs. 4,000,000.00
Gold and other Minerals 13,000,000.00
South Dakota now ranks among the states of the Union: Third in the production of corn, third in the pro- duction of wheat, first in the production of flax, fifth in the production of barley, oats and rye, eighth in the produc- tion of wool, tenth in the production of live stock, and actually produces more wealth in proportion to its popula- · tion than any other state in the Union, as is proven by government.statistics and other reliable data.
The climate is free from malaria, mild, invigorating and healthful, for which reason the death rate in the state is the lowest in the Union. The summers of South Dakota are moderate, without any excessive heat, the most de- lightful season of the year being the long, beautiful autumn, and the winters are so mild that the live stock are grazing on the range all winter without shelter of any kind.
The annual mean temperature of the state for the year 1906, determined from forty-three stations having a com- plete record, was 45 degrees. Wheat growing is, and must continue to be, one of the important branches of fari- ing and is carried on at the present time with great profit. The crop for 1905 averaged fifteen bushels per acre. While South Dakota is sadly deficient in lumber for building. purposes, the deficiency is largely made up in the vast de- posits of material for the best Portland cement, which can be utilized in the erection of more permanent and cheap- er buildings, when durability is taken into consideration.
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With her vast deposits of coal and the introduction of al- cohol for the purpose of light, heat and power, a better and a more desirable supply is at hand.
The following statistical record of 1906 ought to find a place in the permanent record of the production of wealth supplied to the world in one year. The following is an official report, viz:
Wheat, 37,494,108 $20,931,877.24
Corn, 77,414,331 33,224,299.30
Oats, 51,324,557 12,831,139.25
Barley, 24,603,257
7,380,077.10
Flax, 2,283,156. 2,383,156.00
Speltz, 4,558,708 1,367,612.40
Hay, 3,073,554 tons 14,868,770.00
Potatoes, vegetables and Fruit 5,000,000.00
Dairy Products 7,500,000.00
Eggs and Poultry 5,000,000.00
Honey, 90 tons 25,000,00
Live Stock . .
36,000,000.00
Wool and Hides, 300,000.00
Mineral and Stone, 9,000,000,00
Total 145,812,831.29
New wealth per capita, 278.00
No more convincing proof of the prosperous condition of any state can be produced than her bank resources, to- gether with the valuation of all classes of property. The banks of South Dakota have $70,198,433.62, and a total valuation of all classes of property of $260.630,977.00; but the true yaluation is estimated at a billion of dollars.
South Dakota has no bonded debt and the limit of tax levy cannot exceed 2 mills to the dollar, as provided by the constitution. The rate of taxation in South Dakota is low- er than in any of the Northern states.
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EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES.
South Dakota is the best equipped state in the Union for educational purposes. She is proud of her common schools. Where there are children to go to school, teachers are provided and school houses built: The school law con- templates that every child in the state shall receive the benefit of a common school education and makes liberal provisions to attain that end. It provides for the trans- portation to school of all children living at an unreasonable distance from schools. Free school books are furnished, and libraries are also provided. Two sections of land in each township were set apart for school purposes by the general government, which assures a very low rate of tax- ation for the common schools. With four normal schools, one at Aberdeen, one at Madison, one at Spearfish and one at Springfield, and a school of Mines at Rapid City, a State University at Vermillion, and an Agricultural Col- lege at Brookings, the supply of teachers should be equal to all demands.
Denominational schools are as follows, viz: Methodist colleges at Mitchell and Hot Springs, Congregational col- leges at Yankton and Redfield, Presbyterian at Huron, the Baptist at Sioux Falls, the Scandinavian Lutherans at Sioux Falls and Canton, and the Episcopalians at Sioux Falls. The Roman Catholics have well equipped academies at Aberdeen, Sturgis, Elkton, Marion, Vermillion and other points, and the Mennonites at Freeman.
The population is cosmopolitan, being composed, as reported by the census of 1905, of 33,473 Scandinavians, 17,873 Prussian Germans, 12,365 Russian Germans, 22,144 Canadians, 5,564 settlers from England, Scotland and Wales, 3,298 Irish, 1,566 Hollanders and the balance of the population, Americans.
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By occupation the people are engaged as follows: Eighty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven are farmers, of which 57,288 own their own homes; 16,821 are engaged in domestic and personal service, 15,247 are in trade and transportation: 14,327 follow mechanical pur- suits, and 7,877 are in professions. There are over 150,000 school children enrolled in the public schools of the state. Three fourths of the farmers own the land they till, a most gratifying and satisfactory fact from a financial standpoint. Seventy-eight per cent of the population are native born.
The state of South Dakota has provided liberally for her most unfortunate class, the insane, as well as to guard society from the most vicious element of the popula- tion. The hospital at Yankton has large, well constructed buildings where these unfortunates are well cared for. The Northern Hospital for the insane and feeble-minded has been erected at Redfield, where a certain class of the insane are cared for. The penitentiary at Sioux Falls is a modern structure, well suited for the purpose for which it was built and is under the best possible regulations. The state reform school is located at Plankinton. Its equip- ment consists of several large buildings, suitably furnished, and a 640 acre farm. The deaf mute school at Sioux Falls and the asylum for the blind at Gary are also well equipped institutions. The Soldier's Home at Hot Springs, with its well constructed buildings, is an institu- tion of which the state can well be proud.
The people of South Dakota are congenial and hospit- able, and as a class, morally, socially and intellectually, worthy and reliable. South Dakota as a state in the Ameri- can Union, stands in the front rank and is one to which every citizen of Faulk county may well feel proud to own allegiance.
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CHAPTER II. STATE HISTORY.
While it was as early as A. D. 1850, that a few hardy . adventurers settled within the bounds of what is now re- organized as the state of South Dakota there was no real conception of its vast and imposing natural resources until 1875, and it was five years later before the real tide of immigration set in. So far as its real existence as a de- sirable land for homes and civilization is concerned, there was gradual development and passing through an experi- mental stage of nearly two decades, before actual facts be- came fixed in intelligent minds that it was actually one of the most, if not the most desirable agricultural and mining state in the Union.
The following, published about 1890 in the Dakota Outlook, is the best and most reliable information in regard to the early history of South Dakota, obtainable:
"As originally organized Dakota included Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, thus embracing about a half million square miles.
"The first settlement of Dakota by white men was in 1812, when a few of the Scotchmen who composed the Assi- naboine colony of Lord Selkirk, settled at or near where Pembina now is. These loyal subjects of the British crown were not a little annoyed, years after, to learn that they had been tilling the soil and breathing the air of the land presided over by' Uncle Sam's 'bird o' freedom,' and most of them moved northward.
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"It does not appear to be definitely known when the first settlers came into South Dakota. The party of Lewis and Clark (1803-6) were the first white men to explore the Missouri river to its source, and the report of the expedi- tion, published in 1814 probably gave the first information of Dakota. But the accounts of the extreme cold and other hardships which the explorers encountered were not such as to make this land inviting. While the course of empire took its westward flight, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas became the promised land of the eastern emigrants. Dakota was considered a part of the Great American Desert, a land of barren sands in summer, and of snows and frosts in winter.
"Sometime, however, about the year 1850, a few hardy adventurers settled in Dakota, and their magnificient crops of wheat bore unmistakable evidence that this was, indeed, a goodly land. Their reports caused others to come, and by the year 1858 thriving settlements had been made along the Missouri at Elk point, Vermillion, Yankton and other places, and at different points along the Big Sioux. These settlements were upon Indian land, which was finally deded in the spring of 1858.
"During the next two or three years a large number of settlers came in and the people began to move for the for- mation of the Territory of Dakota. I11 these early days the citizens of Sioux Falls were no less energetic and enter- prising than they are now. They not only discussed the matter, but proceeded to organize a provisional governi- ment, choosing also a full list of territorial officers.
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"This was during the latter part of 1859. On the 8th of November of the same year there was held at Yankton a meeting, the object of which was to petition congress to organize the territory. A similar meeting was held at Vermillion on the day following. The organization was not accomplished, however, until February, 1861, and the approval on the organic act on March 2nd, was one of ths last official acts of President Buchanan.
"William Payne, the first governor, entered upon the discharge of his official duties May 27, 1861. A census showed the population to be 1,786.
"On September 16, there occured the first election, at which J. B. S. Todd was elected delegate to congress.
"The first legislative assembly met on the 17th of March, 1862 and adopted a full code of laws.
"In 1870 the census showed a population of 14.181, of whom 12,887 were white. This was a small gain for ten years; but little was yet known of the natural resources of Dakota.
"Up to this time two-thirds of the population of the territory lived in the counties of Union, Yankton and Clay.
"A gradual increase continued until 1875, when the Dakota boom may be said to have begun. At this time- gold was discovered in the Black Hills, and almost all the papers in the country published wonderful stories of the precious yellow nuggets that were found there. Adven- turers flocked in from every direction. Not only did they find gold, but they found also, millions of acres of the very best land, and that the country was one of the most
THE OLD SOD SHANTY ON THE CLAIM
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. 1 . VOX
. 5 IONS
.
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healthful in the world. While thousands passed onward to the Hills many stopped on this side of the Missouri. Many more, attracted by the marvelous stories of the gold- en wheat fields crowded into North Dakota. In that sec- tion where in 1878 there could not be found 1,000 people, there are to-day 100,000 people, the assessed value of whose property last year was over three hundred million. South Dakota has nearly a quarter million of people, whose property, assessed on a scale much lower than that of North Dakota, is over one billion in valuation."
The following extract from a letter from the distin- guished and much beloved Ex-Governor Faulk in regard to the creation of Faulk county, now in the posession of the author, will be of interest not only for the important facts but from the source from which they are obtained: know from my own personal knowledge, that in the winter of 1873, during the administration of Governor Burbank and Gen. Edwin McCook, the territorial secretary, was acting governor, Governor Burbank being absent in the east. The legislature passed a bill creating several coun- ties, among which was Faulk county. No other county had been previously created by the Dakota legislature covering any portion of the territory embraced in this county. And the same is true to the best of my recollec- tion as to all the other counties created that winter. It was organized under the laws of the territory while Ordway was Governor, the date and facts relating to which you will find in the Times, or other papers published in your vicinity at that period.
"In the winter of 1883 an attempt was made to pass a bill through the legislature cutting off range 72 and 73
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from the west side of Faulk county and adding them to Potter county. County seat rivalry appears to account for this very singular movement, at any rate it was resisted so vigorously that a compromise was effected at the last moment by which only one tier of townships was taken and which left the present county seat within three miles. of the geographical center of the county.
"You wished me to say something about the very be- ginning of general knowledge concerning this portion of South Dakota. I will briefly allude to its history prior to 1861, the time of the organization of Dakota Territory .. Previous to that date, and before the act of congress cre- ating the territory of Minnesota, the Missouri river formed the western boundary of Wisconsin and all that portion laying east of the Missouri river was embraced in the county of the St. Croix. But after the state of Minnesota. was created, congress in 1849, caused it to be attached to Minnesota, and the legislature of Minnesota changed its. name to Dakota county or, at least it formed a portion of. that county. All of that portion of Dakota laying west of the Missiouri river was taken from the territory of Neb- raska.
''When I came to Dakota in 1861, this huge territory embraced what are now the four states North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming and a part of Idaho-an area of 350,000 square miles. This was more than one third of the whole of the Louisiana Purchase. This vast region was really as little known to the most of the Ameri- can people as if it had been located in the darkest portion of Central Africa. The Lousiana Purchase, in which South Dakota is situated, was made by President Jef-
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ferson in 1803, and contained about 1,000,000 square miles, which was obtained at the nominal cost of $15,000,000, It had once been claimed by Spain by right of discovery , then sold to France, and by France transferred to the United States."
Gov. Faulk finished up his most interesting letter with the following, which is most highly appreciated by the people of our county: Andrews, the historian, in his "'Historical Atlas of Dakota," published in 1884 at Chicago, after giving a general sketch of the geographical features of the country, concludes with this paragraph:
"The climate soil and productions of Faulk county compare favorably with other counties of central Dakota, and the county is being settled and occupied by a very su- perior class of people, largely from Illinois, Iowa, Minneso- ta and Wisconsin."
This was the verdict of history eleven years ago, and to-day I am very sure it may be written that it has lost nothing of the distinction awarded to it by the publisher ·of the Atlas of Dakota.
CHAPTER IIL.
FAULK COUNTY.
Faulk County, South Dakota, is located on the east :side of the divide between the waters of the James and Missouri Rivers, and, strictly speaking, is in the James River valley and is bounded on the north by Edmunds county, on the south by Hand and Hyde counties, on the east by Spink and on the west by Potter counties. The county has an area of one thousand and eight square miles, con- sisting, by government survey, of Townships 117, 118, 119
*
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and 120 north, and range 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 and 72 west, being twenty-four miles north and south, and forty- two miles east and west. It is watered by Scatterwood lake and Snake or Nixon creek, which rises in the south- western portion of Edmunds county and the coteaux upon the extreme western line of Faulk county, which for ages had been the feeding ground of vast herds of buffalo, until they had been exterminated by the Indians who roamed upon the plains.
The field notes of government surveyors gave a most discouraging account of the whole region, and, when in April 1882, a party of three home-seekers from Missouri left the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Redfield and started out in a westerly direction, on a three days' tour of exploration, one would have said it was inspiration rather than sound judgment, that prompted their movement. But after a most careful exploration, in place of a "barren waste scattered over with growing cactus," they beheld a beautiful, slightly rolling prairie covered with luxuriant grasses and the clear waters of the Nixon. They returned with a most happy report that it was a "goodly land," and one to be earnestly sought after. This party consisted of Alexander LaFoon, D. S. Smith and T. H. McMullen. The location they selected was upon the south side of the creek, in what proved to be Township 118, range 68. (The government survey had not then been made. ) Their plan was for a large colony, but the arrival of others broke up their arrangements so that their plan, so far as a Mis- souri colony was concerned, never materialized. A para- mount idea was the location of a future county seat, and, but for the subsequent coming of the Chicago & Northwest-
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ern Railroad, there is little doubt but LaFoon, in place of Faulkton, would have been the county seat today.
The first party of immigrants located permanently up- on the ground in June, 1882, and among them were T. H. McMullen, Booth, Russell and Whitehead. Additions were soon made to the colony, and among them were some of the strong, influential men of our county at the present day. About this time a party of home-seekers from Charles City, Ia., located on the creek about five miles west of them in Range 67, and christened their town Faulkton; in honor of the distinguished and hon- ored Governor Faulk, for whom the county was named.
Faulkton at once became an active competitor for the county seat. On Dec. 21st, 1882, the first number of the Faulkton Times appeared, with H. A. Humphrey, editor and publisher. It is claimed that the Times was the first paper printed in Faulk county, yet the LaFoon Record, A. E. Evans, editor; Evans & Geddis, proprie- tors, was a very close second. On Dec. 25th the La- Foon town site was platted. Each of the papers left no stone unturned in advocating the advantages and stt- perior claims, of its own location.
The struggle to control the county organization and secure the county seat became the one and only theme of conversation and effort that commanded first attention. It soon became evident that a new factor must be taken into consideration. Gov. Ordway, through his son, George L. Ordway, and one Tibbits, who had been a business partner of George L. Ordway in Denver, Colo- rado, had put up the county organization, including the county seat, to the highest bidder. A den of thieves
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were in control and must be recognized. The Faulkton Times, in commenting upon the transaction, said: "The deal was a public one, and much of it a matter of pub- lic record. It was consummated in broad daylight,-as a matter of fact barter,-without a blush of shame, and the participants candidly conversed about the amount of land and money paid. The people of the county were disgusted and outraged that their interests should have been made an article of merchandise, and their most sacred rights should have been put up by the governor and sold to the highest bidder as an article of speculation" An intelligent and candid writer, who was familiar with all the circumstances at the time, said: "Faulk county residents are entirely excusable for the part taken by them in this piece of open bribery, because it was im- possible to procure an organization of their county with- out yielding to the demands of the organizer. There were at least 2,500 people in the county at the time of its organization and they were suffering great inconven- ience and expense for want of local government. A math- ematical calculation has been made by a resident, and his figures show that if Faulk county had paid $10,000 in cash six months ago for an organization, the people would have been ahead today in a financial sense."
It can, therefore, readily be seen that after so large ex- perience and the disastrous consquences of delay, the citi- zens of Faulk county were ready to resort to any process which would give them government. They were forced into a bargain by the procrastination of a scheming execu- tive. Faulkton had made her bid, and of course LaFoon must go her one better. Nearly a section of adjoining
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land, half of the town site and $3,000 was the price paid. As soon as this man Tibbits had time to confer with Govern- or Ordway, commissions were issued to Thomas L. Humes, Matthew J. Jarvis and Hervey A. Humphrey, appointing them · commissioners of Faulk county, with full power to organize said county. On the 5th day of November, 1883, they met at the office of J. A. Pickler, Esq., in Faulkton, each of them presenting his commission of appointment to the office of county commissioner in and for said Faulk county, by His Excellency, N. G. Ordway, Governor of the Territory of Dakota. The commissioners qualified ac- cording to law and organized as a board by the election of Hervey. A. Humphrey as chairman, and on motion, Geo. W. Fifield was elected temporary secretary. On motion of Commissioner Hume, Joseph H. Bottum was elected by ballot, register of deeds.
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