USA > South Dakota > Jerauld County > A history of Jerauld county, South Dakota > Part 37
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The east half of section 5 was held by Joseph Gibisch and Thos. H. Null. The latter began life as a Dakota pioneer on the NE of this sec- tion. Reading law was more congenial, however, than farming. Among other things that he had for amusement and profit was a dozen hens that he purchased from a young couple that had become homesick and were going back to Michigan. A few days after getting the fowls. Null took
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a dozen eggs and carried them to Waterbury. Henry Herring saw the eggs and inquired if they were fresh. Null replied, "very." Herring bought them and took them home. A few weeks afterward Herring again met Null in town and complained that the eggs were not good. He said he had set them under a hen but not one had hatched. Null replied, "I couldn't help it." Null soon after sold the land and entered upon his career as a lawyer. Since then all farming operations have been by proxy.
From the Reese farm I ran south, using the coaster brake most of the way until. I reached the southwest corner of section 8. Here were two more mail boxes, one bearing the name of Thos. Paulson and Christ Sorenson, the other Christ Aistrup.
In making this run I had passed the S half of 7, taken by Robt. and Sam Hible when the rush of settlers came in 1883, giving them, with SE of 6, three as good quarters of land as the sun shines on. But like many others the Hibles never realized what a gold mine was lying among the grass roots, waiting for some one to turn it up and gather the treas- ure. The SE of 7 was Artel's tree claim, while the SW quarter was held by Anton Rendl.
Of the men who received section 8 from the government, not one remains in the county. Joseph Vanous had a pre-emption on the NE quarter and Matt Ruppert the same on the NW. The SW of 8 was Reeve's tree claim. This quarter is now owned by Mr. Fagerhaug, who came here three years ago from near Irene, in Yankton county and pur- chased the W half and the SE quarter of this section. The last mentioned quarter was a pre-emption claim held by John Klaker. Mr. Fagerhaug has evidently discovered the aforesaid gold mine and is working it to good advantage. He is not alone in the discovery, however, for all the new settlers in this neighborhood seem to have made the same find. It is being successfully worked by Mr. I. Moen, who came in last spring from Yankton county and began to open up a farm on the old D. R. Hughes quarter, the NW of 17. Across the road west from him Mr. Christ Sorenson, also from Yankton county, certainly knows how to mine the golden stream from the black soil. All this section of country is rolling prairie, fertile in the extreme. The new settlers are not of the "get-rich-quick" kind, but are going at work right on their new posses- sions.
Many of the newspapers of the old territorial days, 25 years ago, cati- tioned the settlers of that day that the most productive soil was from 8 to 10 inches below the surface. They were laughed at by some as "news- paper farmers" and their advice ignored. One farmer in Crow township took a few turns on the sod with a pulverizer, sowed some flax seed and harvested ten bushels to the acre. What was the sense of turning up ten
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inches of dirt when such results could be obtained by just tickling the bosom of mother earth with a pulverizer without plowing at all? Until very recently it was a common thing for farmers to "burn off" the stubble and weeds of a preceding crop and on the ground so cleared "put. in" the grain with a pulverizer and harrow. In fact I have known land to be "farmed" seven years in succession with but one plowing. One old farmer remarked that "people will some times get a crop here in spite of themselves."
But my wires must have got crossed, for I have been talking a long ways from the SW of 8-106-66. Near the southwest corner of this quarter a good substantial school house is located, well protected from prairie fires by a cultivated field. Arrangements have been made for a church and cemetery near the school house by the Lutheran denomination which has a society organized here. The lot will be surrounded by a woven wire fence, the material for which is already on the ground. Near the school house stands a horse stable for the use of those who ride to school. This school house is one of the few in the county that is kept locked.
At the corner by the school house I turned east and passed the old home of Wm. Shultz that joins the school section on the west. On the north side of 16 is section 9, where John Vanous, James Counscel and George Deindorfer held government land with the rest of the early set- tlers. Mr. Deindorfer took the E half of the E half of the section and another strip a mile long on the south side of section 10. One of these strips he took in June '82 and the other in the spring of 1883. In the spring of 1883 he was a candidate for the position of postmaster at White Lake, relying to a great extent upon his record as a veteran of the Civil war. His popularity was attested by a petiton containing between 400 and 500 signatures, but politics controlled in those days and he was not sufficiently identified with the controlling faction. Mr. Deindorfer has sold his land and now lives in Wessington Springs. That part of his land which was in section 9 is now owned by Mr. B. Sailer, but is being rented by S. Sorenson.
At the northeast corner of the school section I turned south follow- ing the stage route toward Crow Lake. On my left was the home of R. Y. Hazard, established nearly 26 years ago, before the affairs of Jerauld county had begun to take definite shape. To him more than to any other man is due the good work done in establishing the school system of the county, for he was the man selected by the first board of county commis- sioners on the first day of their first session to get the schools started. So well and so conservatively was the work done that, though nearly all of the townships issued bonds, there is today but one township in the
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county that has bonds outstanding and those are held by the state school fund. Mr. Hazard's land comprises the NE quarter and the N half of the NW quarter of the section. The S half of the NW quarter of this section was held by Anna Daum, the SW quarter by August Bachmore, while Chris Daum had the SE quarter as a tree claim.
South of the Bachmore quarter is the NW of 22, a quarter owned for several years by Joseph O'Brien, now of Wessington Springs. One of the first branding committees appointed by the first board of commis- sioners at the instance of the stockmen of the county, a member of the first school board of Crow Lake township, always possessed of a lively interest in politics, Mr. O'Brien is probably as well known as any man in the county.
Section 21, once held by James H. Baker, Albert Allyn, E. L. Sawyer and Fanny Heintz is now embraced in one farm owned by G. A. Gray of Coleridge, Neb. To section 21 Mr. Gray has added as a part of his farm the W half of 27, the E half of 28 and also the NE 40 acres of the SE of 28. This gives him a continuous body of land from the school section, 16, to the town of Crow Lake. A new house and barn have been built near the northeast corner of 21, and at the time of my trip a founda- tion had been built and lumber was being hauled for a new house in the old town. Of the land owned by Mr. Gray in 27, the S half of SW quarter was at one time owned by Dr. Melcher, the N half of the SW quarter and the SW of the NW quarter by A. M. Allyn, and the SE of the NW and the N half of the NW quarter by Frank Broz. That lying in section 28 was a part of A. M. Allyn's tree claim.
Approaching Crow Lake on this road, the country lying along the south shore comes into view first. A mile away is the grove on the Frank Spinler tree claim, probably the first piece of cultivated land in the town- ship. Spinler didn't stay long. The old tree claim is now owned by Vaurin Dusek, who took the land on the opposite side of the lake in the fall of 1882 and has lived there ever since.
On top of the hill, northwest of the old town, I dismounted and stood beside the wheel a few moments to catch a glimpse of the quarter of a century that has gone speeding past.
Off across the valley is the old home of Dr. Melcher, now tenantless and surrounded by tall weeds. The farm upon which it stands is com- paratively level and is one of the most fertile in the county. The road leading from the deserted house to the village is plainly visible, though used but little at present as compared with the days when Melcher, Allyn, McGlashan and Alward were trying to make the town one of the im- portant points of the county. A walk over this level road, during the summer time was a daily event for the doctor, always accompanied by his
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little daughter, Anina, for whom he named one of the townships of the county when he was a member of the first board of county commissioners.
The road, as traveled by Mr. Melcher and Anina, led from the farm house to McGlashan's store, where the post office was located, on the east side of the street. Occasionally he would stop at the store kept by Vessey Bros., on the west side of the street.
At the point on the hill where I first caught sight of the Melcher house the lake became also visible over a good part of the southwest corner. The lake covers 700 acres and at the time the early settlers came it was in places from ten to twelve feet in depth. They believed it never had been and never would be dry. When Mr. Peter Barrett, an older settler of the country, told Dr. Melcher that he had driven across the lake, and with a shovel had dug down two feet in hope of finding water for his team, but was disappointed, the doctor replied that "surely he must be mistaken in the lake."
A number of crafts of different styles floated on the lake in those days and boating was a pleasant and common pastime. The appearnce of the body of water then was not the same as now. There were no rushes, and the tall grass that now almost hides the water over a large portion of it, did not mar the beauty of the lake. It was a broad sheet of clear spark- ling water.
One warm, summer day, when old Crow Lake was a shimmer of liquid lovliness Dr. Melcher took his little daughter, then but two years old. for a boat ride. The doctor was not a most skillful boatman, and in some manner the little craft was upset. For a minute there was extreme danger. His eyesight was just verging on the blindness that soon after prevented his moving about without assistance, and it was more by the sense of feeling than seeing that he was enabled to rescue the little girl from the water. The lake where the accident occurred was about five feet deep. and the shore fully two hundred yards away. He held the child in his arms a few minutes until she had recovered from her fright and then placing her upon his shoulder he made his way towards the shore. He came out of the adventure safely, and it is doubtful if he was at any time as badly scared as were some of the neighbors who saw the accident from a distance.
Off to the right from the hill top on which I stood the old Mentzer ranch buildings were plainly visible. The buildings are on the south side of the valley of Smith Creek, the natural outlet of Crow Lake. This val- ley, before it was crossed by fences, afforded a fine course for racing, and was used for that purpose when the people from all over the country cele- brated the Fourth of July at the lake in 1887. The racing that day was notable. Boys and girls came in with their ponies from herding cattle
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and each one was confident his or her pony was the best. One of the ponies was ridden by Mary Detlef. From the top of the hill I could see the whole of the course over which they ran.
The ponies with their riders were ranged up side by side at the west end of the track, a half mile away. I have not been able to learn the names of all the riders. Among them was True Vessey, then a lad of 14 years, who was herding cattle for Jim Weddle.
It was a large and eager throng that gathered on the prairie south of Vessey's store to watch the outcome of the race. The starters could be seen trying to get the little horses in line for a fair start. How long it takes ; one little fellow starts off and has to come back; then two or three start and are called back; both riders and ponies are anxious to get the advantage of a few feet in the start ; all are off, but the starters shout and yell "whoa" and all must get back into line again, while the crowd down by the store "wonder what's the matter." Suddenly from the starters, far up the valley, the breathless throng hears the signal word, "go."
They are too far away to tell who has the best of the start, and half the track is covered before the race takes tangible shape to the waiting people, who are already beginning to yell. Then it is seen that Mary and True are in the lead. Nobody cares for those behind ; all interest is cen- tered in the two leaders. Three-fourths of the distance is covered and the boy is half a length ahead. Mary, riding in modern fashion, begins to urge her pony to greater effort, pounding his sides with her bare heels and calling him to go faster. True begins to apply his whip, and under the sting of the quirt his steed gains another half length. Mary inas no whip. The goal is but ten rods ahead and the other pony is leading by a length. In desperation she clutches the sun bonnet from her head and 11sing it for a whip seems to make her animal realize how much in earnest she is. His ears drop a little further back, his nose points a little further ahead, his body drops a little closer to the ground, and with a magnificent spurt he carries his little rider into the yelling, frantic throng and over the line a good half neck ahead. How the crowd yelled and jumped and hurrahed! Standing there on the hill it almost seemed I could hear the echoes from those happy celebrators of twenty years ago. Then came the tub races and the egg races, but at length I realize that the October air is getting chilly and so I get on the wheel and coast down to the old Mc- Glashan store, now kept by his grandson, Harry Bogardus, where I ob- tain good lodging for the night. The balance of the celebration will be told next week.
The town of Crow Lake was platted at the southwest corner of the body of water after which it was named. Since the settlement of Crow Lake township there have been two lakes in the same hollow, the old and
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the new. Old Crow Lake, the one that was there when the white people came, wholly disappeared in 1893 and nothing was left to show where it had been, but the hollow, the town and the name. The hollow was filled again in 1897, but it has never had the same clear, bright appearance that characterized the old lake.
It was to the bank of the lake near the town that the crowd gathered on the Fourth of July, 1887, to see the tub race. Ernest and Alex Vessey and another young man whose name I have not learned, were the con- testants.
Three common wooden wash tubs were obtained from one of the stores and everything made ready for the race. Ernest Vessey, never a man of great size was still smaller, when he was young, and this proved of advantage to him in the contest. His two opponents, being too large to get into the tubs had to lie across them, while Ernest sat like a Turk on the bottom of his little circular craft.
The race began. Ernest's position made a ballast for his vessel that enabled him to keep it steady while he worked it through the water. As soon as the tubs were well started Ernest began splashing water in the faces and eyes of his opponents, at the same time pushing himself well to the front. His opponents could not retaliate without upsetting. Their only course was to get out of reach of the flying water, and while they were moving sideways Ernest was going straight toward the pole that marked the end of the race. The fun was great and so was the cheering when the little fellow won the prize.
Then came the egg race. The arrangement for this contest consisted of placing a dozen eggs ten feet apart in a line extending from a starting point. There being three contestants, three lines were formed. The runners were required to go out from the starting point and bring in the eggs, one at a time, and place them on the ground. To win was to bring in all the eggs first and have the fewest broken ones in the pile. Ernest and Truc Vessey and Chas. Detlef were in this race. It was mainly a matter of speed and dexterity. So close was the race that all three of the runners were going in with the last egg at the same time. The crowd had done a vast deal of yelling that day but they had yells enough left to wake the echoes from all the surrounding hills when Charley Detlef placed his last egg by the starting pole first, and was declared the winner.
Then came some foot races and other sports, the celebration closing with fireworks in the evening. It was a jolly day for every one, so much so, in fact. that it was repeated the next year.
I had come to Crow Lake to get the school and civil township records. Ilarry Bogardus, being the clerk for both organizations. I was enabled to examine the books without further traveling.
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It was while searching these records for whatever might be of interest that I discovered the origin of the South Dakota Township Fireguard law. At the annual town meeting held on the first day of March, 1892, S. H. Melcher proposed this plan for Crow Lake township, in all respects the same is that imbraced in the Cleveland bill that passed the legislature the next winter. The plan was not adopted fully until the next year when a tax of ten mills was voted to carry it into effect. Having completed the examination of the records I spent a day looking about the old town and vicinity.
Changes in an old community are often interesting only because of their suggestions of previous conditions.
From 1893 to 1897 Crow Lake was as dry as the proverbial "powder house" -- or rather the hollow where the old lake had been-and during those years a well traveled road ran east straight across the valley. 1 ยท followed the old road from Bogardus' store to the bank of the lake and looking off across the water an open way through the grass and tall rushes was plainly visible, though water from two to ten feet in depth has cov- ered the old road during the past twelve years.
This like the other old trails is fenced up, now, only one of the cross- country roads being still in use. There is nothing that more effectually impresses one with the thought that he and things about him are growing old, than the sight of an old road with a fence across it. This possibly had something to do with the old common law road by prescription. That fence cuts the old off from the new. Beyond it lies the great field of memory. It was this that caused Gault to write to his brother in the stanzas of that beautiful poem "Twenty Years Ago."
"I've wandered to the village, Tom, I've sat beneath the tree, Upon the school house play ground, Tom, That sheltered you and me. But none were left to greet me, Tom, And few were left to know, Who played with us upon the green, Just twenty years ago."
Many other changes, besides the old roads have occurred. The house once occupied by Jack Vessey, the resident partner of the firm of Vessey &Albert, has been moved to the Anton Reindl farm on section 20. The old store is now a sheep barn; the building that was once the office of the Crow Lake "Homesteader" and the residence of its editor, Mr. Pooley, is now some where in Buffalo county; the school house that stood on the west side of the street has been moved to the northeast corner of
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the township; the frame building with its sod addition, at one time the village restaurant, is now a stable, but minus the sod addition. I spent the night with Mr. Barnum, the mail carrier, in the house built by A. M. Allyn, the first settler in the town, and where Mrs. W. R. Annis, now of Viola township, taught the first school in the old village. The old black- smith shop of Fred Wood was moved to Wessington Springs. The old store building and residence of J. T. McGlashan is still where he built it, has just received a new coat of paint and contains a stock of goods that proves a great convenience to the people who go there for their mail and groceries.
N. J. DUNHAM, The Author.
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APPENDIX.
The following articles belong in this volume, though not history in the strict sense of the term. The first-"The Evening Glow"-is a beau- tifully told story of early life in Wessington Spring, the characters in which will be readily recognized by all old settlers. The author, Mrs. Maude Campbell Cotton, of Lake Bluff, Chicago, is a daughter of Rev. J. G. Campbell, for many years a resident of Jerauld county.
The last article is an attempt to trace one of the old roads that led from the town to the seminary and on, northwest, into the country, in the old days, before the railroad came to Wessington Springs.
THE EVENING GLOW.
Maude Campbell Cotton.
The County Commissioners had a problem before them-what was to be done with Granny Smith. Uncle Jimmie Smith had been suddenly released from his hard and unequal struggle with the world, and was having the first quiet rest of the whole seventy years of his life, so poor old Granny was left entirely alone, with no one of kin nearer than her old home in England.
Some strange fate had tempted these two childless and friendless old people some ten years before to come to the new country of South Dakota. where "land was to be had for the taking and all the dreams of a care- free existence realized." It had been a hard struggle all along-there had been crop failures, misfortunes with the stock, the cattle and horses which had not succumbed to the rigors of the new climate and the in- sufficient food, had been taken to satisfy mortgages, so that Uncle Jini- mie's widow found herself with a partially cultivated quarter-section of land, two horses, four cows, a few chickens, and various pieces of ma- chinery needed in carrying on the work of the farm. Plainly enough she could not care for herself --- there was no one to care for her. This new
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county in a new state had nothing in the nature of poorhouse-beside, she was not a pauper, but the owner of a farm, and its equipment, however meager.
Accordingly the suggestion had been made to the county authorities that her farm be turned over to them under condition that she be cared for during her lifetime. After much discussion and inany trying visits from the old lady, the decision was made to accept the bequest, and work was immediately begun upon a suitable dwelling within the borders of the town of Walsington Falls, the county seat. One room, 12x14 feet, comprised the house, but what a paradise it seemed to Granny. She could scarcely be called prepossessing, yet the little old face, crisscrossed by many wrinkles, the faded blue eyes, with no trace of softening brow or lash, seemed to grow youthful as she watched over the building of this new home. Here for the first time in her life she was to experience the joy and freedom of being mistress of a home. Jimmie had been master and mistress both all these years, and while she had grown well accus- tomed to that state of affairs, there was considerable excitement over the new era.
Now, also, for the first time in her life she was allowed to handle money-actually to make purchases upon her own responsibility. A small sum was allowed her each month for her living, and while at first the joy of possession with privilege of spending, involved her in difficulties- even in financial embarrassment-yet what could one expect of a child of sixty-eight, with those years of repression behind her.
The tiny home was soon arranged-bed in one corner, table, holding her Bible and one or two other books, beside it, with the two rocking chairs disposed at the foot, beside the south window,-this end was parlor and bed room. The stove-a range-occupied the middle of the room, giving heat to the parlor, and furnishing opportunity for the necessary work of the kitchen, which was in the opposite end of the room. The dining table, with its lonely chair, stood beside the north window, on the line between the divisions, and through windows and door to east, south and west streamed the warm prairie sun and the fresh prairie breeze.
The new situation brought many pleasures and undreamed of privi- leges to the little old lady, but her chief delight soon grew to be "going to church." The little home was near church and parsonage, and the sound of the bells always found her ready, and her seat the first one filled. The minister, however stormy the day, was always sure of one good lis- tener, and soon grew to depend upon that wrinkled. upturned face. puckered with anxiety as she tried to follow him wherever he wandered. Unconsciously. in his effort to make his message clear and simple for this untutored soul, he grew into greater strength, and his people remarked
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