History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 102

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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The Speaker: "The right of a delegate to take part in debate is as broad as that of any member of the House. The right to make motions follows necessarily, because it is on a motion that debate is entertained. If you strip the delegate of the right to make motions you logically strip him of the right to debate, because all of the debates of the llouse are upon motions in some form. But beyond that point, as the gentleman from Indiana ( Mr. Niblack ) will perceive, the function differs, and the privilege of voting is reached."

Mr. Niblack: "The question in my mind is whether the calling for a division can be considered to be more than a motion."

The Speaker: "It is different from a motion in the points to which the chair has adverted. The precedents on the general question involved are not numerous but they sustain the ruling of the chair. The immediate predecessor of the present occupant of the chair would not accept the objection of a delegate, and in the opinion of the chair it is not competent for a delegate to make an undebatable motion, as that the House adjourn, or that a bill lie on the table."

DAKOTA LEGISLATURE IN EXTRA SESSION

An extra session of the Legislature of Dakota was held in April, 1871. for the purpose of enacting a law to authorize the issuing of county and township bonds for the purpose of aiding the construction of railroads in the territory. The pro- ceedings of that memorable session, and a full account of the railroad building done under the law enacted is given in another chapter devoted to early railroad enterprises in the territory. A perusal of the incidents related in that chapter will indicate that the attention of the early settlers, who were all scattered over a half dozen organized counties and one or two that were not organized, was engrossed with the railroad projects mentioned, and in anticipating the many benefits that would acertte to all sections when railroad facilities were afforded.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

During the summer of 1871 a company of distinguished journalists and cor- respondents visited the Red River of the north country. The Northern Pacific Railway was then in process of building across the State of Minnesota ; capi- talists from Europe were in this country investigating its merits, and many of the leading newspapers were systematically engaged in promoting the great enter- prise, which was viewed as a national affair of the first importance not only in a commercial light but as the medium through which a vast empire of mineral and agricultural areas were to be brought within the range of occupation and development by a civilized and aggressive people. The party to make this jour- ney included the then renowned traveler, Bayard Taylor, who represented the

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New York Tribune, then one of the greatest of American newspapers, conducted by the greater moulder of public opinion, Horace Greeley; Governor Hawley, of Connecticut, for the Hartford Courant, of extensive influence with the capi- talists of New England ; Colonel Knox, for the New York Herald, of world-wide fame as a newspaper : William Cullen Bryant, for the Springfield (Mass.) Repub- lican-Bryant was then in the zenith of his active life as a journalist, poet and author ; Governor Bross, for the Chicago Tribune, an eminent editor and politician and a newspaper of national reputation and influence ; Samuel Jones, of the New York Times, and Major Bundy, of the New York Mail. The party started from Duluth, which point they had reached by steamer ; thence over the new Northern Pacific to the end of the track: the party then returned to St. Paul from which place they took the St. Paul and Pacific for Breckinridge-the latter leg of the journey to the head of Red River by stage, the road not being completed to the Red River Point but was finished and opened a few weeks later. At Breckinridge the party boarded a Red River steamer and steamed down to Winnipeg or Fort Garry, returning by the same or a similar craft to a point on the Red River near where the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed it ; thence by overland coaches to the end of the track of the Northern Pacific, where they boarded a construction train for home. It was a part of the program of this exploring expedition, taken for the purpose of investigating and publishing to the world some facts regarding the natural resources and natural wealth of the country, that the same party would make a journey up the Missouri River by steamboat, and possibly up the Yellow- stone the same season, but this portion of the trip was postponed indefinitely.

TEXT BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS

Under the law then in force it was the duty of the territorial superintendent of public instruction to select the text books for the common schools of the territory and publish them in the territorial newspapers. The following list was selected by the Hon. John W. Turner, the superintendent, in November, 1871; McGuffey's New Eclectic Speller : McGuffey's New Primary Charts ; McGuffey's New Eclectic Readers; McGuffey's New Eclectic Speakers; Eclectic Penmanship ; Norton's Elements of Philosophy : Cole's Institute Reader : Harvey's Elementary Grammar; Harvey's English Grammar ; Ray's Series of Algebras; Huxley's and Yeoman's Physiology ; Cornell's Geographies ; Quackenboss's Arithmetic ; Quack- enboss's Histories of the United States.

In the winter of 1870-71, there were but twenty-eight schools kept in the various counties in the territory. Eleven of these were in the County of Union ; six in Clay County : five in Yankton County ; two of which were private schools in the city : four in Lincoln County ; one in Bon Homme, and one in Minnehaha.

SURVEYING THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY

The boundary line between the United States and British America had not been definitely established as late as the close of the year 1871, It was a matter of great importance to the Territory of Dakota. fixing as it would the northern boundary of the territory; and in his message to Congress at the opening of the session in December, 1871, President Grant said :

1 again renew my recommendation for an appropriation to determine the true position of the forty-ninth parallel of latitude where it forms the boundary between the British North American possessions and the United States from the Lake of the Woods, Minnesota, to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. The early action of Congress on the recommendation named, would put it in the power of the war department to place a force in the field during the next summer.

REMARKABLE PRAIRIE FIRES

In the early days of October, 1871, the settled portions of the territory were visited by a number of most destructive prairie fires exceeding in scope, fury and

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damage, any that had been known since the settlement of the country. The year 1871 was one of great conflagrations elsewhere, surpassing in their magnitude, intensity and destructivness, all precedent. The great Chicago fire that occurred about that time, was a most appalling disaster and enlisted the sympathy and active benevolence of the people of the civilized world. It yet remains in the annals of the world's disasters as one of the most deplorable conflagrations that ever visited the abodes of a civilized people. There were also forest fires in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, of unprecedented extent, that not only destroyed extensive lumber districts, but swept away entire towns, and called for the sacrifice of many lives. The smoke from these fires hung like a pall over half the area of the states where they occurred. In Dakota there were no forests, but there were millions of acres of wild prairie grass, and it at times appeared that the air acted the incendiary, so inexplicable was the origin of these fires; and so intense their heat that it was impossible to remain near them without danger of burning or suffocation, and their speed as they swept over the prairies was abso- lutely frightful. An ordinary fire-guard or a public road that the settlers had grown accustomed to regard as an effectnal barrier to the progress of these scourges, proved no obstacle whatever. Even the James River and the Ver- million were unable to successfully oppose them and were crossed at various places, the flames appearing to leap across the streams as if drawn or attracted by a powerful magnet. There is little doubt that the fires wherever they occurred during that season were out of the ordinary course of Nature. It was remarked that the Chicago fire exhibited phenomena never observed before, especially with regard to the intensity of the heat, which far in advance of the flames, seemed to cause spontaneous ignition. Many structures were observed to burst out in flames that were two or three blocks in advance of the visible conflagration. Parties who attempted to combat these Dakota prairie fires could not approach the burning grass near enough to work with any effect-the blistering heat moved along like a wall far in advance of the devouring flames.

The farmning communities suffered great loss from this calamity. In many instances the fires had swept away the entire property of individual farmers, including dwellings, barns, well filled wheat bins and corncribs, and thousands of live stock. To hundreds of the husbandmen it brought penury and suffering, having burned every thing except the clothes they wore. So general was this destitution, and in so many cases so complete, that the citizens of the several villages and trading points, including the cities, within the territory, organized relief associations which were active during the succeeding fall and winter in extending needed assistance to the unfortunate sufferers.

An incident growing out of this lamentable event deserves mention here as showing again that "one touch of Nattire makes the whole world kin." It had been charged that a party of Yankton Indians were responsible for setting out the prairie fires in Bon Homme County. Great damage had resulted to the settlements, and deep indignation felt toward any who were charged with hring the prairie. The report came to the ears of some of the Yankton Tribe. It was stoutły denied ; and the charge being investigated by the agent, Maj. S. D. Web- ster, a Christian gentleman, it was proven that the Indians were innocent of the offense. But perceiving that a great calamity had fallen upon the white set- tlers, and mtich suffering entailed that would be much more severe during the approaching winter months, the Indians made a contribution of Sioo for the relief of the needy, transmitting the money with the following letter :

Yankton Agency, D. T., October 24. 1871.

G. W. Kingsbury, Esq .. Yankton. D. T.

Sir : I have the honor to enclose to you. to be handed to the committee for the reliei of the sufferers from prairie fires in the counties of Bon Homme and Yankton, a check for $100. This is presented by and in behalf of the Yankton Sioux Indians.

Pa-da-ni-a-pa-pi, the "One Struck by the Ree." said :

"My Father: I come to you to say that Ispeak for my tribe, and to deny that the Yanktons were the ones who set fire to the prairies. But I am sorry that any sh will suffer,

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and so I wish for my tribe to have something sent to help them. I am clothed and have enough to eat. I want something sent that they may have food, and to show that I feel for them. The Yanktons wish to be good neighbors."

It is in accordance with this wish of the people, expressed by the head chief, that I transmit the amount of $100. I am, sir, very respectfully, &c.,

S. D). WEBSTER, U. S. Indian Agent.

There was that connected with this generous gift that seemed to atone for many injuries the Indians had been charged with inflicting upon the pale-faces, and it certainly modified the popular prejudice against the red people because of their presumed thoroughly inhuman proclivities.

EX-VICE PRESIDENT HAMLIN

About the middle of September, 1871, the people of Dakota were entertained with a visit from Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, then a United States senator, and vice president during Abraham Lincoln's first term as President. The sena- tor visited all the points on the Missouri River as far west as Springfield, and was very cordially received and hospitably entertained by the people. His wife accompanied him, and his daughter. the wife of the secretary of the territory, Mrs. George Alexander Batehelder, resided at Yankton at that time. Mr. Hamlin made a number of brief addresses while on his tour, in which he pre- dicted a prosperous future for Dakota.

THE INDIANS

While the hostility of the northern Sioux Indians along the Yellowstone River was directed toward the Northern Pacific Railroad enterprise, the same tribes were at war with the Gros Ventres and Mandan tribes, who were at peace with the whites and had always maintained a friendly attitude. It is altogether prob- able that the hostiles were instigated in their warfare against these peaceable Indians by a prejudice they entertained against all of their own race who were on friendly terms with the whites. During the summer quite a serious battle occurred near the Milk River Agency where the upper Sioux rendezvoused, between the Sioux and a large party of Gros Ventres in which a prominent Sioux chief, Standing Buffalo, was killed. This Standing Buffalo was a Santee and was personally inclined against hostilities, but his people at that time mainly refugee Santees from Minnesota, were for war and persuaded their chief to lead them. The battle was a fierce one, with heavy losses on both sides-the com- batants ceasing to fight, overcome by exhaustion. Neither side could claim a victory which left the way open to renew the combat whenever opportunity offered. The Gros Ventres, while good and reliable warriors, were not disposed to war, and in their conflicts with the Sioux, the latter were as a rule the aggressors.

George P. Belden, a famous writer of frontier affairs and author of the "White Chief," a popular border romance, was shot and killed while riding alone eight miles below Grand River near a little spring on the Moreau Trail, August 31. 1871. His body was found two days after and buried at the Grand River Agency. The shooting was doubtless done by a lone Indian who seeing Belden dismount for the purpose of getting some water, shot him through the head, then firing two more shots in his head, mounted Belden's mule and rode away.

An order was issued in 1871 by General Stanley, commanding the District of Dakota, requiring a large number of wood-choppers to withdraw from the Sioux Reservation and wood camps along the Upper Missouri. The order was based on an article in the Treaty of 1868, which the Indians complained had not been enforced. The wood-choppers were accused of hunting on the Indian lands and destroying much game which the Indians claimed they needed for their sub- sistence ; it was further alleged that the Indians should have the patronage of the

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steamboats that purchased fuel at these points on their reservation, which would come to them if the whites were excluded, an indication that the Indians were preparing to take hold of their industrial life in earnest.

GENERAL ITEMS

The existence of a fairly good quality of coal was discovered on the Dakota line of the Northern Pacific Railway, in 1872, by the civil engineers under Gen- eral Rosser, who were extending the surveys for that national highway west of the Missouri. Surveying parties were the first to use it in their camps, and found it a fairly good fuel where timber was lacking.

A party of United States deputy surveyors from the surveyor general's office of Dakota visited the northern part of the territory in the fall of 1871. and laid out several townships along the line of the proposed Northern Pacific Railway from Fargo west including the fertile Cheyenne Valley. The party was in charge of J. C. Blanding and J. Q. Burbank, and its corps of assistants included John Cunningham, William Brown, H. W. Jarvis and John Gill.

The St. Paul and Pacific Railway reached the Red River of the North at Breckinridge, Minnesota, during the summer of 1871, and the line was opened for traffic to the headwaters of Red River. From that time for several years the steamboat industry flourished in the Red River Valley. A rush of immigration followed and a new town called Chahinka or Richville was founded on the Dakota side by Mr. Rich. The name was changed to Wahpeton some time later. Folsom Dow, W. E. Root, J. C. Blanding and J. Q. Burbank, who had been among the Dakota pioneers of the Missouri Valley, took up claims adjoining, and a county named Richland was carved out by the Legislature 1870-71, which was the third county organized north of the 46th parallel in Dakota Territory ; Kittson being the first, Pembina, the second, reorganized in 1867.

The Dell City Journal began its career in October, 1871. It was owned and published by J. C. Ervin, at Dell City, Minnehaha County. Dell City afterwards became Dell Rapids, and for a few years maintained a commendable rivalry with Sioux Falls for commercial and manufacturing and stone producing supremacy.

The Springfield Times by L. D. F. Poore, and the Sioux Falls Pantagraph. by W. F. Kiter, were launched on "the uncertain sea of journalism" in 1871. The Pantagraph, after a few years of strenuous effort, changed owners and its title. and became the Sioux Falls Press. The Times has flourished and promises to hold out indefinitely, having an excellent local support which it has enjoyed from the beginning.

In January, 1871, the number of practising physicians in Dakota Territory was nineteen, a fact that was vauntingly referred to in the territory's immi- gration literature as an inducement to homeseekers who desired to find a sani- tarium to reside in. Doctors who had no means of support outside the practice of their profession were warned by the experience of a Yankton practitioner to avoid the territory-because this particular physician had had but one case since hanging out his sign, and that was a job of digging postholes. He subse- quently became a popular physician, as the growth of population brought with it many partial invalids from the malarial and humid regions of the East.

The Missouri River packet and freight steamboat, Ida Reese, while on her way to Fort Benton, struck a snag and sunk in shallow water, just above Fort Thomp- son, on the night of the 18th of June. 1871. The boat was heavily loaded with a valuable cargo of Indian goods belonging to the Government, and sutler's goods belonging to the Durfee & Peck Transportation and Trading Company. The value of the boat was $20,000 ; and the value of the cargo was estimated at $100,- 000. The boat was insured for $12.000. Large quantities of whisky and bacon were in the hold, and these were saved without damage, especially the former, which was waterproof, and belonged to Montana parties.

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A wagon road from Yankton to Sioux Falls was laid out in the fall of 1871. The assessment of real and personal property in Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls Village included, in 1871, amounted to $15.320 for realty, and $43,014 for per- sonal property. It will be understood that Minnehaha County, in point of settle- ment, was two years old, the Falls and a large section of the county having been occupied for seven years as a military reservation or being within the zone of Indian hostilities.

The County of Minnehaha improved considerably during the year 1871, securing a number of new homesteaders, while the Village of Sioux Falls made encouraging advancement. Richard F. Pettigrew, of Wisconsin, had recently settled there, and was a very enterprising young man, and had come in from Grant County, Wisconsin, the year before. Charles K. Howard, O. B. Iverson, John Langness, Captain Thompson, Albert Fennecy, John McClellan, Nye Phil- lips, Mr. Walker, who was the sheriff, and William Van Eps, a merchant, were all public-spirited young men who had confidence in the future of the embryo metropolis.

Agricultural fairs were held in the fall of 1871 in the counties of Clay, Yank- ton, and Bon Homme. and were all creditable exhibitions.

In 1871, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was in her prime, and it may be claimed with fairness that she was the most famous as well as most highly esteemed woman in either hemisphere, unless we except the model Queen of Great Britain, Victoria. Mrs. Stanton was devoting her life to the amelioration of her sex to the great benefit and advantage of womanhood in general, and issued to her sisters throughout the world an invitation to send to her an account of any "remarkable or unusual achievements" by women. A Dakota lady, at Elk Point, deeming herself as coming within the limit of "unusual achievement," notified Mrs. Stanton that she had presented her husband with four children within ten months.

TURNER COUNTY ORGANIZED

The County of Turner, forming one of the second tier of counties on the south, in the Territory of Dakota, was taken from the counties of Lincoln and Hutchinson, an equal, or about an equal, portion from each. The boundaries of the county were defined by act of the Legislative Assembly, approved January 13, 1871, as follows :

Beginning at the southeast corner of Hutchinson County; thence north along the east boundary of said county to the north line of town 100; thence east along said township line to the west boundary of range 51 ; thence south along said range line to the north line of Clay County ; thence west along said county line to the east boundary of Yankton County; thence east along the north boundary of said county to the place of beginning.

The law further provided that William W. Aurner, Vale P. Thielman, and Lewis H. Elliott, should be the first county commissioners, and C. S. Scott, reg- ister of deeds; and located the county seat on the southeast quarter of section 9, township 97, range 55; to be known and designated as Swan Lake City.

The county embraced eighteen congressional townships; its surface is slightly rolling except where broken by the Vermillion River, Turkey Ridge and other creeks, and even with this exception it was the claim of the pioneers, who as a rule are quite well informed regarding the topography of the county wherein they have located, that practically every acre of the 415,000 in the county, was tillable. The soil is deep and rich, famous as a corn and fruit soil. It is a well watered section, having the Vermillion River which enters the county from the northi near the center and trends towards the eastern border, having a valley from one to three miles wide : also a stream called the West Fork. a tributary of the Ver- million, which enters the county from the northwest and crossing diagonalh, empties into the Vermillion proper two or three miles west of Parker. Turkey

R.F.Pettigrew Land Office

First Frame Building in Sioux Falls Sioux Falls as it was in June 1871

The Fort Dakota barracks at Sioux Falls, 1865, and the first frame building after the fort was abandoned in 1-69

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Ridge Creek enters the county from Hutchinson on the west, and passes through the center and southeastern portion to Centreville where it empties into the Ver- million. There are several small creeks tributary to both the Vermillion and its branches, and also to Turkey Ridge Creek.

llon. John W. Turner, one of the pioneers of Dakota Territory and among the first to settle in Turner County, which had been named in his honor, was probably the oldest person in Dakota Territory in 1871. when he was engaged in building grist-mills in the Vermillion Valley, and had just been elected to the position of territorial superintendent of public instruction on the democratic ticket. It was at this election that the republicans were divided and ran two territorial tickets and were defeated by the democrats under the leadership of Armstrong. Mr. Turner was born on the 23d of February, 1800, at Western, Oncida County, New York, in a dwelling owned by Gen. William Floyd, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He received very little education during his boyhood, and on reaching his twelfth year he entered a store as clerk in the Village of Herkimer, New York. In the year 1819, he removed with his father to Oswego County, and assisted him in the erection and operation of a grist-mill. Here our subject became enamored with politics, and his first political appointment was deputy sheriff and keeper of the jail in Oswego County. While holding these positions he was appointed inspector of customs for the Oswego District, by Pres. Andrew Jackson, and continued in that position eleven years. He was also deputy United States marshal for the Northern District of New York at the time of the Canadian rebellion, and actively employed in protecting American shipping interests on the lakes. In 1846 he removed to Michigan and engaged in the lumber trade, which he continued for twelve years, when he was elected sheriff of Saginaw County, and closed out his other affairs. He studied law during his term as sheriff, and was admitted to practice at the close of his official services.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 102

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198