USA > South Dakota > Jerauld County > A history of Jerauld county, South Dakota > Part 14
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Since Rosenthal the meat market business in Alpena has been con- trolled in succession by Ed. Hinchliff, J. J. Hillis, Geo. Marsten & J. Venables, John Woods (who put up the building since used as a market), Andrew Mercer and his son Robert, W. H. McMillan & John Chamber- lain, W. H. McMillan, L. W. Castleman, L. W. Castleman & C. C. Rohr, C. C. Rohr, and F. Mann, who took possession March 25, 1908.
In 1886 a masonic lodge was organized at Wessington Springs. The number of the lodge was 87 and the name "Frontier." The charter was granted June Toth. The charter members were :
Chas. W. McDonald, W. M.
Cleveland T. Hall, S. W.
W. J. Williams, J. W.
J. E. Sullivan, Treasurer.
E. G. Williams, Secretary.
I. H. French, S. D.
J. T. Ferguson, J. D.
A. S. Beals, Tyler.
M. A. Shaw.
E. V. Miles.
The first new member of the masonic lodge at Wessington Springs was O. E. Williams. The present membership numbers 42.
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Chapter 19.
Jefferson Sickler took the oath of office as a county commissioners on the 4th day of January, 1887. Following the precedent set by preceding commissioners the outgoing board settled with the county treasurer, be- fore Mr. Sickler was sworn in. Ever since then the settlement has been made by the new board.
The new board was organized by the election of Mr. L. G. Wilson as chairman.
Mr. Johnston, the outgoing superintendent, had received $1514.75 as fees and salary during the two years of his term, certainly not a large compensation, but the new board on the 5th of January reduced the salary of that office to $100 yer year.
The True Republican was made the official paper of the county on condition that the paper should publish the minutes of the board and all notices of board meetings free of charge. The legislature then in session passed a law requiring the appointment of three official papers, and on the 5th of April the Jerauld County Journal at Alpena and The Jerauld County Messenger, at Waterbury, were also made official papers, with- out the aforesaid conditions.
In January 1887 several townships moved for civil township organ- ization. The petition in all but one (Blaine), were granted and elections called for February Ist in Franklin, Marlar, Alpena, Crow, Anina, Chery and Viola. The petition from Blaine township was denied because a remonstrance containing more names than were attached to the petition was filed before the board had acted on the petition. On the day that the petitions were granted the board ordered that all civil township names and boundaries should be the same as the school townships.
The county clerk's salary was increased to $400 per year.
About the first of April, 1887, the county treasurer desired to resign his office and asked the different members of the board to agree to ap- point C. E. Thayer in his place. The commissioners refused and Mr. Williams did not resign.
A petition was filed with the county board on the 4th day of April asking them to consent to a change in the place of trial in the Solomon case. After some hesitancy they granted the petition on assurance that the change would obviate the necessity of having a term of court in Jerauld county that year.
April 5th the board declared mustard, Canada thistles and cockle burs to be noxious weeds.
A petition signed by 471 voters was laid before the commissioners on July 7th asking that the question of "local option" be submited to the
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people at the next November election which was granted. A territorial law required that the matter of division of the territory be also sub- mitted.
On July 9th, 1887, H. M. Rice resigned his office of Probate Judge and C. E. Hackett was appointed to the vacancy. Mr. Hackett resigned his position as a county Justice and on the 14th Richard Dalton, of Blaine township, was appointed to that place.
The time had now come for the semi-annual settlement with the treasurer, but the treasurer did not appear. It soon became known that W. J. Williams had absconded. The commissioners took possession of the office. They found in the safe $189.74. The deputy treasurer, Mary Williams, sister of the treasurer, gave the board checks for the amount in the local bank, which was $415.00. The shortage was estimated at about $4,500.
When the excitement incident to this affair had abated a little the commissioners declared the office of treasurer vacant and each member of the board proposed a candidate. Mr. Knudtson nominated J. M. Wheeler, of Blaine township, Mr. Sickler proposed H. A. Peirce, of Har- mony township, while the chairman brought forward the name of H. J. Wallace, of Chery. This occurred on the 9th of July. At the next meet- ing, July 12th, the board elected Mr. Wallace county treasurer to suc- ceed Williams.
On July 13th the board published a statement showing the financial condition of the county. The public debt above the amount due from unpaid taxes, etc., was $10,153.27.
On the 19th of July Mr. Wallace resigned his position as county sur- veyor and B. R. Shimp. was appointed to the vacancy.
The tax levy was made as follows on the 5th of September :
County school 2 mills, County bridge I mill, county road I mill, sink- ing fund 4 mills and county general 6 mills.
The territorial tax in 1887 was three and six-tenths mills and in Jerauld County one mill extra on cattle, horses and mules to pay for animals killed by the state veterinarian.
A petition to increase the number of members of the board from three to five, signed by 137 voters was filed Sept. 6th, but was denied because of it not having a sufficient number of signers.
The Agricultural society, at a meeting held January 4th, 1887, elected L. N. Loomis president and H. A. Miller secretary. At this time the society was about $90 in debt. To raise money with which to pay off its obligations the plan was proposed and adopted to have a public ball at the court house on Feb. 22nd. The move met with popular favor and $41 was secured for that purpose. On July 23rd the fair dates were
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fixed at Sept. 21, 22 and 23. The result was a successful exhibit, the society closing the year out of debt. and about ten dollars in the treasury.
Several changes were made in the newspaper work of the county in 1887. The first was the purchase of the Waterbury Home-News from M. B. McNeil, in January by O. P. Hull, who changed the name of the paper to "Jerauld County Messenger." In October Mr. Hull bought the Buffalo County Sentinel, and about the middle of December he bought IV. R. Pooley's Crow Lake Homesteader. Both papers were consolidated with the Messenger. April Ist, N. J. Dunham rented the Jerauld County Journal for one year.
The real estate firm of Hudson & Heart at Waterbury dissolved part- nership in March, 1887, Mr. Hudson retiring from the business.
Among the churches, of course, some changes were made in the pas- torates. The M. E. Conference in October appointed Rev. Chas. Vessey to Wessington Springs, W. H. Underwood to Alpena, and D. P. Olin to Waterbury. At, the latter place C. V. Martin had been employed by the people to preach for six months, commencing in March.
The County S. S. Associaiton held its meeting at Wessington Springs, June 10.
May 15th a Sunday School was organized at school house No. 3 in Pleasant township, with C. D. Coley, Supt.
The Weslyan Methodists held their last quarterly meeting for that conference year in a large tabernacle erected at Lyndale, Sept. 17th and 18th.
In Media township a union Sunday school was formed at the school house in district No. 2, Mr. A. S. Beals, Supt.
Quarterly meeting services of the German M. E. Church were held at the Nesmith school house, May 29, 1887.
A union Sabbath school was held at Dale Center also during the sum- mer of . 1887.
The people of Viola and Anina townships observed Arbor Day in 1887, by planting trees and laying out walks in Union cemetery.
I have been unable to obtain the roll of the G. A. R. Post at Water- bury, but it is probable that at this time it contained the following mem- bers :
A. E. White, H. Merwin, W. A. Rex, E. S. Waterbury, Geo. N. Price, J. M. Corbin, H. M. Rice, H. Herring, H. A. Jones, D. F. Jones, Henry Fogarty, James Long, A. S. Fordham, H. Herman, R. S. Russell, T. J. Hunt and Flavins Curtis.
A creamery had been established in Woonsocket and the managers were anxious to secure the trade of Jerauld county. In May of 1887 an arrangement was made with Mr. A. B. Smart to gather cream from the
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county north, west and south of the Springs, and deliver it to the creamery wagon, which would come to Wessington Springs for it. This was con- tinued through the summer and fall, the cream checks being cashed at the local stores. It was so successful that a move began Oct. 29th to establish an institution of that kind in Wessington Springs.
In April, 1887, the Woodburn Hotel changed hands and Mr. A. B. Easter became proprietor. He continued in charge of it until about the 25th of Sept., when Geo. N. Price, of Waterbury, purchased the property and on Oct. 3rd, 1887, moved in and became resident of the county seat. About two weeks later Mr. Price rented the livery barn in Wessington Springs owned by E. B. Orr. The Wessington Springs-Woonsocket stage line had been purchased by Mr. Price, Aug. 16th, and A. G. Eber- hart put on that line as driver. A new stage wagon with a canvas cover was provided and traveling over that line was made as comfortable as possible,-a long and tedious ride at the best. He was at this time owner of the Woonsocket line, the Crow Lake line, which became a daily line June Ist, the Miller line and Belford line. Rolla Cady drove the mail to Miller, Gehial Barnum to Crow Lake and Will Moss was on the Bel- ford line. This was undoubtedly the severest winter, especially for stage drivers in the history of the county, yet Price was as reliable with his mail lines as was the famous Ben Halliday with his pony express. Storms were frequent in November and December, blocking. the trains and obstructing the mails on all railroads.
On October Ist the mail route between Alpena and Wessington Springs was discontinued.
The first "special delivery" letter to arrive at the Wesington Springs P. O. came on Monday, Oct. 3, 1887. It was addressed to C. W. Mc- Donald, clerk of courts, and was delivered by Postmaster Barrett.
At Alpena, on June 8, 1887, L. N. Loomis rented Lot 2, Block 7, to F. W. Whitney at $75 per year for use as a post office, lease to take effect July Ist, at which time Mr. Whitney succeeded W. L. Arnold as postmaster.
In the same year Geo. Brooks took Frank Wheelihan's place in the depot at Alpena. Since then the station agents at Alpena have been : M. Mellette, Renshaw, A. Amundson, C. G. Boom and Mr. Buechler.
In the same year that Whitney took the Alpena post office J. A. Craw- ford, who with his blacksmith shop had been "holding down his claim," the SW of 3 in Dale township, for several months, moved his shop and his residence back to town again.
In the summer of 1887, J. T. Johnston sold his Alpena grain ware- house to McMichael, who made an elevator of it in 1901. Soon after selling his warehouse Johnston became interested in baseball. He took
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charge of the team at Alpena and arranged for a game with the Woon- socket nine at Wessington Springs, during the fair week in September. An immense crowd gathered to see the game and cheered itself hoarse when the Alpena boys won the game.
Some business changes were made in Wessington Springs. In the forepart of February Allan Ransom and J. H. Vessey, the founders of the business, drew out of the company, Vessey Bros., Ransom & Co. Ransom left the county, but Vessey took charge of the Crow Lake store as manager on a salary.
In the last week in April, Mr. Blosser moved the True Republican office into the Drake building, Mr. Drake having moved to Faulkton.
Mr. E. H. Ford put a chair in the front room of his building on the south side of Main street, and during two days each week run a barber shop.
Geo. Bickford, of Woonsocket, opened a meat market in Wessington Springs Aug. 8, 1887, but on the eighteenth of the same month sold out to Geo. R. Bateman and E. L. Hinchliff.
It may not be generally known, yet it is a fact that Jerauld and Aurora counties in 1887 had a railroad company, all their own. Mr. Heintz of White Lake, was president, J. R. Milliken, of Alpena, was treasurer and T. H. Null, of Wessington Springs was secretary. The name of the road was "The Duluth, Huron and Pacific." The plan of the road was to connect with the Great Northern at Huron and cross the Missouri at Wheeler, in Charles Mix county.
The building of the Great Northern into Huron started the C. M. & St. P. in the construction of a line south through Faulk, Hand, Jerauld and Aurora counties to connect with a line extending from Tripp in Hutchinson county to Armour in Douglas county. The contract for grad- ing the line through Pleasant and Harmony townships was let to the Murray Bros., and the settlers thought their days of waiting for railroad facilities were over. The Great Northern built their line to Huron and stopped. The C. M. & St. P. built their line to Orient, in Hand county, and stopped. For twenty-two years those railroad companies have been watching each other, and the settlers have been watching them.
On July 26, 1887, a gun club was organized at Wessington Springs with A. M. Mathias, president, and B. B. Blosser. secretary. The object was sport and enforcement of the game laws. Several contests were had with sportsmen from Alpena and Waterbury, but no one was prose- cuted for violating the law.
The new superintendent of schools began early in his term to organize the teachers of the county for professional work. In February, 1887, township institute work started in Pleasant township to which Media and
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Harmony were united for that purpose. They were continued once a month till the close of the school year.
With the beginning of the next school year the work was revived and much enthusiasm put into the meetings which were held on the 3rd Sa- turday of each month. At the Trollope school house an institute began on the 19th of November for the teachers of Logan, Crow, Pleasant and Crow Lake townships. The next Saturday, Nov. 26th, the teachers of Viola, Anina, Media, and Wessington Springs were brought together for institute work at the Nesmith school house in Viola. Dec. 3rd an insti- tute began at Dale Center school house for Alpena, Dale and Chery town- ships. At the northwest school house of Blaine township a similar meet- ing was arranged on Dec. 17th for Franklin and Blaine.
On the 24th of October, a county teachers institute was opened at the court house in Wessington Springs with J. W. Harden as inctructor. Twenty-nine teachers were in attendance. The list follows :
Mesdames Anna Tryon, C. A. Dunham, R. A. Gregory, Misses Mary Williams, Minnie Stanley, Nellie Jacobs, Ella Hewitt, Kate McLean, Addie Powell, May Hunt, Ella Allyn, Anna Peterson, Sarah Fish, Jennie Holcomb, Jeanette Richardson and Messrs. Fred Luke, J. A. Ford, T. L. White, B. R. Shimp, A. J. Miller, John R. Francis, W. L. Holden, John F. Wicks, John Holmes, A. H. Elliott, Chas. Beach, Geo. O. Wil- liams, Fred Fisher, and N. E. Williams.
On the evening of the first day of the institute a reception was given the teachers by the people of Wessington Springs. It was arranged by Mr. Binford and it was a very pleasant affair.
The year 1887 was a year of abundant harvest. Some authentic re- ports were made of yields that were astonishing. There is a strip of country along the east part of Alpena township that has never suffered loss either from fire, or storm. In this favored region Chas. Bechtold raised a field of wheat that year that was threshed by Ferguson and Mon- roe, who produced their books to show that the yield was forty-three bushels per acre.
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Chapter 20.
The local papers at Wessington Springs on the 28th day of January, 1887, published a short notice calling a meeting to be held at the M. E. Church on February 5th to consider the matter of securing the location of a Free Methodist seminary at Wessington Springs. The meeting was not largely attended. It had been called at the instance of Rev. A. B. Smart. Mr. John Chapman was elected chairman of the meeting and Albert Gunderson, secretary. A committee was appointed whose duty was to solicit aid toward securing the location of the school at the county seat of Jeranld county. The committee was composed of M. D. Crow, I. S. Binford, T. K. Ford, A. B. Smart, S. F. Huntley and J. O. Gray. But few of the men appointed to that committee were present at the meeting which named them, and Mr. Smart was requested to notify them of their appointment. There is no record of any meeting of that com- mittee and in all probability none was ever held. But be that as it may, its working force was the man who called the meeting on Feb. 5th. In this opportunity Mr. Smart saw the fulfillment of a plan conceived, evolved and worked out to the minutest detail, during the years of his middle life. It was this scheme, that had beckoned him, with all the learning got at two colleges, from both of which he had graduated with honor, to bring his family away from the intellectual and social culture of New England, to "set his stake" in an uninhabited wilderness. For this he had braved everything, privations and hardships in common with the poorest and most ignorant settler, and disappointments. But few can imagine the eagerness throbbing in his brain when he asked the news- paper man to publish the call for the meeting. To him it meant the achievement of an ambition, to this people it meant the acquisition of possibilities that might never be offered them again. Of all those present he alone was the man who could do. Yet he was neither made presiding officer of the meeting nor chairman of the committee. Another date was set, Feb. 12th, at which the committee should report. . Because of a storm the meeting to be held at that time was postponed until the 19th.
On the 19th of February the location committee of the church met at Mitchell to discuss the site for the school. Mr. Smart was there. Men from several cities and towns were there urging the advantages they could offer to the committee. Many places could offer more of population and greater wealth, but Jeranld county had an asset that was worth more in the mind of the committee than all else and that was its strong moral and temperance sentiment. Alone Mr. Smart made the fight and won. He got from the church committee a conditional location of the institut- tion at Wessington Springs. True, those conditions were hard for a
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town of less than 200 population, but he had won in the first move and felt sure of success. A sub-committee of three members, with full power to locate the school if the conditions were obtained was appointed at Mitchell. This committee was composed of Rev. J. B. Freeland, G. C. Coffee and A. W. Hayes. This committee met at the Springs on the 22nd, Mr. Smart was there. He secured donations of land amounting to nearly 5000 acres, giving a large part of it himself.
The plan of the church was to make the school preparatory, collegiate and theological. On the 25th of March Mr. Smart published a notice to all students of the county who had passed the grades of common schools to call on him before arranging to go away to school. The purpose of this notice was to interest the boys and girls, and through them, the parents of the community, in the proposed home school.
About the midle of April the location committee made their final demand. It was that in addition to the land already pledged the people should raise for the school $2,000 in cash. A. B. Smart and C. G. Coffee were apppointed a committee to solicit subscriptions. To men less in earnest, or less determined, the task set before them would have seemed impossible. They were asked to get for the school, in absolute gifts a sum of money equal to about one-twelfth of the total assessed value of all the personal property of Wessington Springs township.
On the 3Ist of May Mr. Smart reported to the full church committee at Mitchell, and was rewarded with the permanent location of the school at Wessington Springs. The grounds of the seminary campus were surveyed Sept. Ist on the tract at the foot of the hills donated to the school by Mr. Smart. During that week the trustees of the school held a meeting in Wessington Springs and selected the spot upon which to erect the seminary building. At this meeting they let the contract to Wm. Bremner, of Harmony township to build the foundation wall to be 40x60 feet, and II feet high, 21/2 feet thick at the bottom and two feet thick at the top. In the rear of this wall an addition must be built, 16x 24; the whole to be completed in five weeks. They arranged to open the school on Nov. 8, 1887. Later it was found necessary to change the date of opening the school to Nov. 15th.
When the wall was completed a roof was put over the main building and the addition, and covered with tar paper. The structure, when com- pleted ready for the first term of school, (they didn't call it "semester" in those days) had very much the appearance of a farm shed for animals, -- so much so that for several years it was referred to by the students as "the sheep shed." It was necessary to again put off the day of opening.
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John F. Wicks.
T. H. Null.
Samuel Marlenec.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dalton.
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The faculty secured for the seminary was Rev. J. K. Freeland, prin- cipal, Mrs. J. K. Freeland, preceptress, Miss Mary Freeland, teacher, and Mrs. A. B. Smart, teacher of music. The board of trustees was com- posed of Rev. J. B. Freeland, president ; Rev. C. G. Coffee, secretary and financial agent ; A. W. Hayes, treasurer, and W. S. Chamberlain, Rev. A. B. Smart, I. N. Rich, and D. M. Lewis.
The formal opening occurred on the 29th of November, 1887. The faculty and trustees were there and many of the people of Wessington Springs. The first hymn sung in the new school was old "Coronation." The occasion was, of course, given over mainly to speech-making. The prophecies of success made that day have been more than realized in the years that have followed. One of the most fitting things done that day was the tendering of public thanks, unanimously by a rising vote, to A. B. Smart for securing the location of the seminary at Wessington Springs.
On December Ist, 1887, the following named students were enrolled :
Miss Mary Piper, Miss Lulu Smart, Miss Edith Thomas, Miss Alice Fear, R. C. Smith, J. W. Osborne, W. E. A. Thornton, W. B. Wilson, J. E. Bremner, H. C. Fear, Alfred C. Thompson and Dale C. Wallace.
A few days later, Dec. 17th, the "Alpha" literary society was or- ganized.
The legislature of 1887 passed an act providing for a vote on the sub- ject of division of the territory, the election to be held on the usual elec- tion day-the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
A non-partizan delegate convention had been called to meet at Huron in July, and on July 7th a mass convention was held at the court house in Wessington Springs to elect representatives from Jerauld county. Chas. Davis of Alpena was made chairman and B. B. Blosser, secretary of the meeting. Delegates to the Huron convention were selected as fol- lows: D. F. Royer, B. B. Blosser, W. R. Day, J. W. Harden, B. R. Shimp. At Huron a division campaign committee was appointed for Jerauld county, composed of John Chapman and H. A. Miller-one de- mocrat and one republican. The county committee had but little to do, for the sentiment in favor of dividing the territory and admitting it into the Union as two states was nearly unanimous.
But another matter that interested the people more than division was coming up for settlement at the election on the 8th of November :
The petition with 471 signers asking for submission of the local op- tion question was not forgotten. Under the law the commissioners were bound to submit it, and the temperance people began to prepare for the contest. At that time Mrs. Nettie C. Hall was president of the county W. C. T. U. and Mrs. E. V. Miles was at the head of the Pioneer W. C. T. U. Both were well qualified to conduct a contest such as was before
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them. They had the advantage of the campaign and the victory of two years before. Practically the same methods were used. A law and order league was formed with I. N. Rich, of Harmony township as president. During October prohibition meetings were held in all the townships of the county. A lodge of the I. O. G. T. was organized at Wessington Springs with a large membership. It was named "Haddock Lodge" No. 190. The officers were: A. Sturgis, C. T .; Lillian Bateman, V. T .; J. G. Campbell, Chap .; B. B. Blosser, Sec'y. ; Eva L. Hawthorne, A. S .; Maude Campbell, F. S .; Mrs. Mary Bateman, Treas .; Nate Spears, Sen .; H. P. Campbell, Guard ; E. S. Campbell, Mar .; Minnie Shryock, Ass't. Mar. : Mary Williams, R. S. C. T., and Mrs. J. G. Campbell, L. S. C. T.
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