USA > South Dakota > Jerauld County > A history of Jerauld county, South Dakota > Part 36
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At the NE corner of 27, I turned south and had a nice run down to- ward one of the most pleasant valleys I ever saw. The road was good and the weather fine. Off to the left was the house of Peter Schleder, to the right lay the old time residence of H. A. Frick. I turned another corner, ran down to where the creamery once stood, the buildings of which are now scattered over the township, and entering what is some- times called "Buttermilk Street," I was at Glen, really the loveliest spot it has been my good luck to see in the state.
Glen is certainly a beautiful place. Why it is more lovely than other places or what makes it so, I can not tell. The grass is no greener, the soil no better, the crops no more abundant, the sun no brighter, the hills
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no higher, nor the valley any smoother, yet all these things are combined in such a way that one can not help saying "delightful." Some day when the railroad reaches it, tired men and women will go there to lounge in the shade, fish in the pools and rest.
At Glen there is a spacious town hall, but no town ; a postmaster, but no post office, an R. F. D., but when I was there the carrier had not been seen for three days.
Glen, in a mercantile sence, and as known to the U. S. Postoffice De- partment, is one acre in size, located in the northeast corner of the SE of 33 and owned by William Barker.
In 1893 the people in that vicinity petitioned the government for a postoffice. The request was granted and they were told to select a name for the new office. Different persons handed in names to H. A. Frick, the new postmaster, and all the suggestions were forwarded to Washing- ton, where the name Glen, which had been suggested by Harry Frick, now a druggist at Wessington Springs, was adopted by the department. The postoffice was kept in Mr. Frick's residence until the next year and then it was moved into Grandma Frick's house, across the line on sec- tion 34. This old landmark is now used as a chicken house on the Cable ranch.
The name Glen followed the postoffice as it was moved from one building to another, until in February, 1908, when, the postoffice being suspended, the name became attached to the store in which the office had been kept. Mr. Barker's store and residence is now Glen. The building is a commodious one and the store room well stocked with such goods as are liable to be wanted in rural communities. Outside of his store Mr. Barker amuses himself with thoroughbred chickens, of which he is a fancier. The breeds that have attracted his attention for some time are the Ringlet Barred Plymouth Rock and the Rhode Island Reds. He has attended a number of South Dakota poultry shows and never failed to have his birds decorated. He expects to attend the Mitchell show as an exhibitor this winter. Near the poultry yards and doing duty as a granary is an old claim shanty, once owned by Frank Rogers.
A good deal of the land about Glen is included in a ranch owned by Mr. Cable of Hudson, Lincoln county, S. D. The ranch is occupied by Mr. D. B. Orear, a cultured gentlemna of extensive information. One of the attractive features of this ranch is the great spring that flows into a walled room at the foot of a gravel hill. The water is cool and free from everything objectionable, the supply would be sufficient for an army.
A half mile east of Glen lives Peter Schleder, who has a splendid farm of 520 acres, most of which is in section 34. Years ago this land was owned by E. R. Burgess. Mr. S. came on to this farm from Aurora
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county in 1894 and has added to the imporvements until he now owns one of the best in the township.
I enjoyed Mr. Orear's hospitality for the night and the next morning started west from Glen. The section line between 33 and 28 has been vacated as a highway, because it would require three bridges in one mile to make it passable. The road has been located on the half section line in 33, where but one bridge would be required and that one has not been built. The only means of crossing this branch of Smith creek on this road is a great pile of large and small stones thrown into it and over which people can pass without getting into the mud. The crossing is dangerous and but little used, the travel being around by the county line in preference to the risk of driving over the stone crossing. These people have a right to complain of the neglect of the county in not providing them with the one bridge over the creek.
A mile west of Glen in section 32 is Mike Liesh's farm residence. The farm includes 800 acres, a part of which is in Brule county. Mr. Liesch lives in Kimball but he holds onto this land, a part of which he has owned a quarter of a century. I have seen many farms sold for $100 per acre that were not as good.
Turning north from the Liesch place I ran north to the old Byers farm to which has been added the NW of 32, the S half of 31 and the E half of 30. A branch of Smith creek forms a chain of pools across the NE of 32 where Joseph Byers had his buildings. It was while trying to water his cattle at one of these pools that Mr. Byers got lost and perished in the great blizzard of 1888. The farm now comprising 960 acres is owned by a man in Sioux Falls, but is occupied by Louis Range, who moved here from Winnebago county, Iowa, in the spring of 1907.
From the residence of Louis Range I took the road west to the NIV corner of section 32 just to look at the lands where the early settlers lived. H. H. Moulton took from the government two claims in the south half of 29, each a mile long. The old shanty, vacant and deserted, stands on the southwest quarter of the section. The only building west of the Moulton shanty in this county, that is in use is on the NW corner of 32. I leaned the wheel against the fence and went in to look at it. Some school room furniture was lying on the floor, so arranged to form a bin in one corner of the building. A part of the furniture was held in place as part of the bin by the heating stove that was also lying on the floor. The door was kept shut by the bin which was partly filled with wheat. The window glass and sash were broken and gone, the birds were making good use of the room as a haven of "roost." It was the old Dan Sleigter school house of 20 years ago. It reminded me of the story of the wan- dering Indian, who said that it was not he that was lost, 'twas his wig-
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wam. It would cost more to repair it than to build a new one and it will probably never again be used for school purposes. It was first placed on section 17 but has moved about since then until the land upon which it was finally located became a part of the great pasture in which the build- ing is now situated, and it seemingly has been forgotten as a school house. The wanderings of Logan township school houses will be given next week.
The NW of 32, the quarter on which the old school house is located. was obtained from the government by Ira Ellis, who afterward drove the mail stage between Waterbury and Wessington Springs.
A number of the quarter sections of land in the southern part of Logan township, were settled upon by railroad men from Amboy, Ill., who came to the territory in 1883. Among them was H. H. Moulton, who for 35 years had been a clerk in the Illinois Central freight office at Amboy. He was accompanied by his daughters, Helen, Florence and Lizzie, each of whom made the required filings and residence. Mr. Moulton obtained the SW of 29, while Florence took the east half of that section. Lizzie Moulton placed a filing on the south half of 28 and Helen on the NW of the same section.
Wm. Hale was a conductor on the Illinois Central. He also lived at Amboy, but made a tree claim entry for the NW of 31.
For the NE of 31, Ed Coalman, a baggage-master on the C. B. & Q., at Amboy, made a pre-emption filing and "lived" on it the required number of times to make proof.
Timothy Chase, also a railroad man from Amboy, got the NE of 30.
Ed Blakesly and M. Butterfield, both Illinois Central conductors and WV. H. Fox, conductor on the C. B. & Q., got the west half and the SE of 19. while W. Patten, another railroad man, all from Amboy, filed on the SE of 17.
John Rogers, who had the NW of 30, was yardmaster for the Illinois Central at Amboy. This claim was finally purchased by Mrs. Dykeman. now Mrs. Barker of Glen, who made proof for it and still holds the title.
None of these railroad men had anything to do with the subsequent development of the township. They were simply claim holders who came out from Amboy and "lived" once in thirty days or once in six months according to the filing they had on the land and after making proof abandoned the country entirely. The land laws of the U. S. at that time provided that the holder of a pre-emption claim should not be absent from his land longer than 30 days at one time and a homesteader must not be absent more than six months in succession.
These uncertain settlers caused a good deal of trouble in after years in getting the school houses located so as to be most convenient for the
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actual settlers. Logan township was probably bothered more than any other township in the county. The itinerary of the school buildings of this community, if the term may be properly applied to a building, may be of interest to later settlers.
School house No. I, known as the "Green Mountain" school house was built on section 12 and never moved but the others had a roving existence.
School house No. 2 was built on the south line of the SW of 17. Draw a line on the township plat from that point to the center of the east line of the SE of 6, then to the center of the NW of 9, from there to the northwest corner of the NW of 32 and you have the line of travel given to the house.
Then draw another line from the center of the north line of the NW of 27 to the center of the west line of the NW of 15, thence to the center of the south line of the SE of 21 and you have the course followed by school house No. 3.
No. 4 is the old Sulphur Springs school house purchased in 1899 of Crow township. Draw a line from the southwest corner of 29 in Crow township to the center of the south line of the SW of 27 in Logan, then east 80 rods to the center of the north line of 34 and you will have the laughable outlines of the wanderings of these institutions up to the present time. Yet these removals were necessary to accommodate the changing settlement, and more will be made in the future or new houses built.
From the old and deserted school house on the NW of 32, I took the section line north, some of the time riding but walking most of the way. for this road has not been traveled enough to keep the grass down.
There was little of interest until I reached sections 18 and 17. The west half of section 18 was taken as homesteads by Eugene Rowe and Chas. Marvin, about the former of whom I could learn but little. The SE quarter was taken by some one as a tree claim. The NE of 18 was a pre-emption taken by James Long in April, 1883. The quarter across the line east was taken by A. S. Fordham, now of Wessington Springs. Mr. Long and Mr. Fordham were brother-in-laws, and so as a matter of economy they put one shanty for the two families, building it across the section line. The two families numbered ten persons, but they were getting a beginning in their new homes and anything would do, for a time, even though it was crowded. While the shanty was being built the families found shelter with Hiram Woodbury down on the SW of 32. Probably no two families in this county saw more of sorrow and hardship than these two during the years that followed.
All were full of hope and they laughed at the discomforts of their situation. Mr. Fordham put a timber culture entry on the SW of 17
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and his soldiers' declaratory on the SE quarter, for he was a veteran of the civil war. The first great sorrow came a few weeks after they were. settled when Mrs. Long was taken suddenly ill and died on the 20th of July, 1883. She was buried on the hill north of the shanty. This was. the first death in the township and spread a visible sadness over the whole- community.
Life was not all sorrow and trouble, however, in the new settlement .. Crops and prospects were fair and three years after coming to the ter- ritory Miss Belle Fordham, on the 25th of April, her 17th birthday, was. married to Frank Dykeman. This was the first marriage in the township.
One day Hiram Woodbury, who had now obtained a filing on the SE of 7, came to the shanty on 17 and they took him in. He was suffering from inflammatory rheumatism and the people he had sheltered while they were building their new home several years before, now cared for him in his extremity. All that tender care and nursing could do for him was done, but his malady was fatal and in a couple of weeks he died.
The period of hot winds and hard times came and struck the Ford- hams as hard as any. The crops were poor and the prices low, but they stayed. At length the tide turned, with better prices came better crops. The cattle had increased in number and by 1899 Mr. Fordham and his wife determined to leave their farm and move to Kimball, where they could take life a little easier.
On the morning of the 28th of April Mrs. Fordham and her daughter, Mrs. Dykeman, started out from Kimball to drive to the farm. A terrific wind was blowing from the south and the air was full of dust and debri blown up from the prairie. They had driven but a few miles when they saw a dense volume of smoke ahead of them. Some one, heedless of the damage that might be done by a fire driven by such a wind, had applied a match to a field of dry weeds. The fire soon passed beyond the limits of the small field and was at large in the great limitless prairie of dead grass. The wind was steadily widening the head fire and driving it straight toward the center of Logan township. The two women urged on the horses in the faint hope that the fire would be at least checked at Smith creek, then a full running stream. But the creek was no obstacle to the progress of the flames.
At home on 17, Mr. Dykeman was in the house preparing the midday meal for himself and the children. One of the little boys rushed into the room shouting the alarm that a fire was coming. Mr. Dykeman hurried out to find a long stretch of head-fire close upon them. The house and stables were protected by fire-breaks, but the granary was more exposed and was soon in flames. The fire passed leaving the house and stable unharmed. Mr. Dykeman and the children gathered near the house and
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watched the burning granary and the smoking prairie. A crackling noise at the window attracted his attention and he saw that the whole inside of the building was in flames. Not a thing was saved from the burning house.
In a short time Mrs. Dykeman and her mother drove up. Only the stables and the animals were left of all the fruits of their years of toil. Dykeman and the boys were exhausted with their efforts to fight off the fire. and their lungs were filled with the smoke and dust. That night Mr. Fordham came up from Kimball and both families took up their abode in the stable.
On the third day after the fire one of the boys became seriously ill and soon showed unmistakable signs of scarlet fever. A move from their lodging place was then imperative and the two families moved over to the school house on the north line of 27. There a couch was fixed up for the sick boy, the rest of the group sleeping on the benches until bed- ding could be procured and more comfortable arrangements made. In a few days Mr. Dykeman was taken sick and it was soon evident that he, too, had the dread disease. Then the county health officers stepped in and quarantined the school house and its occupants. A. S. Fordman was the only man about the place able to do anything and he was suffering from the effects of a carbuncle on his knee upon which an operation had been performed a few days before.
The cattle, among which were 28 milch cows, were at the home place on 17. Twice Mr. Fordham went over and milked the entire number, but the milk could not be sold, and must be poured out. Mr. Andrew Pflaum kindly volunteered to take the animals and care for them. Ford- ham now gave his entire attention to the sick ones in the school house. The needed groceries were obtained at Mr. Frick's store at Glen. To get the supplies needed Fordham would go to a spot near the store where he could be seen and wait until some one came to the door. He then made his wants known and retreated to a safe distance, when the articles wanted had been brought out and placed where he could get them, he would pick them up and go back to the school house. This continued day after day. The sick child began slowly to recover, but the sick man was evidently getting worse. Then the other little boy was taken ill. On the 15th of May Mr. Dykeman died. S. T. Leeds, H. A. Frick, John Pflaum, August Miers and Dr. Smith came for the body and laid it away in Pleasant Hill cemetery. The boys recovered and at length the quarantine was raised. the bedding and all articles used in the school house burned or fumigated. the building cleaned and the two old people stepped forth, destitute of all personal property, but rich in the consciousness that they had done their best. They still own the S half of 17, which is one of the many good
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tracts in Logan township. The old veteran and his wife now live in Wes- sington Springs, in a house of their own which by hard work they have bought and built, little by little and paid for. The house on 17 was not rebuilt.
The east half of 18 has had numerous owners. One of them was Henry McElwain, now of Wessington Springs, who made substantial improvements. Then it passed into the hands of a man named Carlson, then Mahnke, then W. T. McConnell, who last spring sold it to Mr. Bayne. At the time of my visit Mr. Bayne was hard at work getting moved on to the place and settled.
The SE of 18, the SW of 17, the NW of 20 and the NE of 19 were all tree claims, making a square 640 acres of timber culture entries, but not a tree is in sight.
On the NW of 21, adjoining the school section A. P. Pflaum, son of Andrew Pflaum, has resided since 1904. This was the homestead of C. C. Meyer, who made proof for it. It was swept by the prairie fire that destroyed so much property in Logan, Crow and Pleasant townships on the 28th of April, 1899. A loan company foreclosed a mortgage that Meyers had given and which, at the time of foreclosure amounted to $700. Mr. Pflaum purchased it from the company for $400. Today it could not be bought for $3200. A new house and barn, a good well, 90 acres in cultivation and excellent crops have placed the young man in comfortable circumstances. He was one of the boys that passed the night of January 12th, 1888, in Pleasant Hill school house with the other pupils of John Wicks' school. He has a vivid recollection of that storm.
On September Ist, 1906, Mr. Solomon Radke came up from Yankton county, S. D., and took possession of the S half of 8, which he had re- cently purchased of S. C. Scott, speculator, of Lyons, Iowa. The improve- ments are good, the buildings being located near the center of the section . on the NW corner of the SE quarter. One hundred and forty acres are in cultivation, the balance is in pasture. In the early 'Sos the SE of this section was taken by W. J. Burnette as a pre-emption, and a man named Boyce took the SW quarter as a tree claim. Neither Burnette nor Boyce perfected their entries for the land they had taken in this section and later John Pfaff filed a homestead entry for the SE quarter and a pre- emption for the SW.
From Radke's farm I rode and led the wheel alternately in a northi- easterly direction until I was again on the old trail from Waterbury to Kimball. I went north between sections 4 and 5, certainly a fine country. The approach down the hills from the south to Crow Creek bridge is no better than from the north. At one time, when the bridge was built this was one of the best traveled roads of the west part of the county. It was
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the outlet for all that region to Kimball twenty-five miles south. But that was before the railroad came to Wessington Springs. Now the main course of travel is eastward and this old thoroughfare but dimly visible in the rank growth of grass. At the bridge I stopped a few minutes to catch a mess of fish and then climbing the hill north of the bridge I rode on to the old townsite of Waterbury again. I was hungry and the fish were fine.
One morning in the latter part of October, I was at the Waterbury P. O. and finding the wind favorable, determined to take a run down into Crow Lake township. I followed the star route that is traversed by Jehial -- commonly known as "Hiley" Barnum every day in the year. Numer- ous small tin boxes, each decorated with the name of some farmer, were stationed along the way. On some of them the little tin "flag" was stand- ing up to notify the carrier that some mail was there for him to take. About 20 families have boxes on this 10-mile route, where they receive and deliver their letters and papers each day.
When a great convenience is new people express their appreciation by saying, "thank you," but when it gets old enough to be common they show their sense of the favor only by saying "-you" when a miss accurs. The veteran carrier, who travels this route has for 21 years been doing the work that Uncle Sam requires of his servants in this line of duty. Yet he is only one of those who day after day, summer and winter. in sunshine or in storm, have traveled the bare Dakota prairies since the postal stations were established here so long ago. Mr. Barnum, of Crow Lake, Howard Pope, now retired from the service, and Mr. Spayn, who for years has carried the Wessington Springs-Miller mail, have each gone over miles enough in their work for the government, to have en- circled the globe a half dozen times, and all that in Jerauld and adjoining counties. Many other men attract far greater attention in positions more spectacular, and called more honorable, yet not one in ten thousand of them render such useful service to the public, or receive so little compen- sation or honorable mention as the faithful carriers who make life so much more pleasant in the prairie home.
On the NE of I, in Logan township, Johanan H. Riegal, a splendid fellow, well known to all the early settlers of the southwest part of the county, settled in 1883. He remained until about 1900 and then sold out and went to Pennsylvania, but has not prospered by the change. The place is now owned by J. W. Goffin, who lives on the old C. S. Barber farm in Pleasant township.
Across the road east and I was on section 6 of Crow Lake township. Of the first settlers of this section B. F. Drown, on the NE: Robt. Heble on the SE; Joseph Gibisch on the SW and Frank Kaas on the NW. none
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are there. The land is of excellent quality but they seemed to think they could do better elsewhere and sold for a trifle of what the land is now worth. Three quarters of this section, the S half and NW quarter, are now owned by H. B. and J. B. Reese, two brothers who have operated one of the best paying farms in the county during the past four years. In addition to the land above mentioned they have the west half of 5 in Crow Lake and a few quarters across the line in Pleasant, making two sections in all. Of this farm the SW of 5 was taken in June, 1882, by C. S. Jacobs, now of Wessington Springs, who came here from his birth place, Victor, Ontario county, N. Y. He returned to New York that summer, but the western fever had him and he has it yet. The next June he came back to the territory and filed a pre-emption on the NW of the same section. He built a house near the northwest corner of his pre- emption and began the life of a pioneer. In building the house on his pre-emption a few little articles dropped between the studding and were not noticed. This summer, in repairing the building Mr. Reese brought forth a Victor, (N. Y.) newspaper, dated March, 1884; a gold plated harness buckle and a stamping outfit. They were of interest only because of the length of time they had lain there. The house has been enlarged until it is now sufficiently commodious for the help required to push the work on so large a farm. Some idea of the work done by the present owners can be formed from the fact that when they took possession of the farm four years ago there were but 35 acres on the whole tract that had been in cultivation the previous year, and their first crop of small grain, all told, was but 390 bushels. This year they cultivated 450 acres of which 70 acres was planted to corn. This they were husking at the time of my visit and the quantity and quality were excellent. The crop of small grain this season, as it came from the machine, was 7000 bushels. Three hundred acres are in pasture, where 120 head of cattle have grazed during the summer. Half a hundred hogs would be ready for market in a short time. The place. has that evidence of prosperity that makes it noticeable, even to a man on a wheel. H. B. Reese came here from Yank- ton county in 1904, while J. B. Reese was for some time the pastor of the Congregational church at Wessington Springs. It was during his pas- torate that a church was established at Fauston, in Pleasant township, and also in Anina township.
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