History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 113

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

USA > South Dakota > History of Dakota Territory, volume I > Part 113

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accompanied with a formal demand upon the said Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, to deliver up possession forthwith of the said Sioux City & Dakota Railroad and its property to the said directors owning and controlling, holding a majority of the said stock, as aforesaid.

D. C. BLAIR,

Director and Vice President of the Sioux City & Dakota Railroad. JOHN I. BLAIR AND WALTER C. LARNED, Directors. S. P. WISNER, Secretary, pro tem.

On the 17th of April, 1880, an action was begun in the District Court of Yankton County by Mr. Blair in his own behalf and in behalf of all the stock- holders interested with him, asking an injunction to restrain the Milwaukee com- pany from exercising the function of manager of the road, and requesting the appointment of a receiver. Gamble Brothers, of Yankton, represented Mr. Blair as attorneys. At the same time Mr. Blair's complaint was filed, setting forth mainly :

That negotiations had been pending last November, in which the Milwaukee Company had endeavored to purchase of Mr. Blair the Dakota & Sioux City lines, but were not successful for the reason that Mr. Blair refused to sell.

That in the summer of 1879 a contract was made between the Sioux City & Dakota Railroad Company of the first part; and the Chicago & Northwestern; the Illinois Central, and the Sioux City & Pacific, of the second part, by which the Dakota lines were to receive a 10 per cent drawback or profit on all freight shipped on either of the three roads; further, that the three roads agreed to ship iron for the Dakota lines at a very low rate.

That Blair and Wicker had agreed for an extension of the Dakota Southern branch for a distance of 150 miles north or northeast of Yankton, which would bring increased business.

That Blair had built the extension of the . Pembina line from Beloit to Sioux Falls, a distance of 221/2 miles; no other person furnishing any money, at a cost of about two hundred thousand dollars.

That in order to defraud Blair of his interest, a secret understanding was entered into between Wicker and Milwaukee officials, that a directors' meeting of the Sioux City & Dakota Company should be called on March 20, 1880, and that control of the road should be passed over to the Milwaukee; that a mortgage should be given on the Beloit extension to Sioux Falls for about one hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars; and that shares amounting to about one hundred and seventy-six thousand dollars should be issued to Alexander Mitchell, or someone in the interest of the Milwaukee Company; the mortgage to contain a provision that if interest was defaulted for thirty days, the entire mortgage to become due and be foreclosed.

That Blair was not informed that such proceedings were intended at such meeting. That four directors of the company met at such meeting, to wit: C. G. Wicker, W. W. Brookings, George E. Merchant, and N. B. Briggs; and that S. S. Merrill. manager of the Milwaukee, and John W. Carey, solicitor, were present, and came with the bonds printed and prepared and a trust deed prepared and acknowledged by John Johnson, a person in the interest of the Milwaukee, two days prior, in Milwaukee. That resolutions were passed ; bonds executed that night, and mortgage recorded the same night; and Mr. Wicker trans- ferred to Mitchell all his stock; and the road was fraudulently turned over and taken possession of by the Milwaukee.

That the lease provides for a rental of 40 per cent of the gross earnings.

That the Milwaukee Company has entire control of the freight passing over the road, and it is for their interest to ship nearly all of it on a competing line running to Running Water, owned by the Milwaukee, and to turn all freight coming by way of Sioux Falls east from Canton. That as there is no guarantee that there will be any freight on the Dakota lines-it being in the interest of the Milwaukee to ship on their own lines-the 40 per cent rental may be reduced by the Milwaukee to a mere nominal sum, rendering the stock of Blair and others, practically worthless.

That the real object of the Milwaukee in securing this control, was to defeat the extension north from Yankton, of the Sioux City & Dakota line, and give the Milwaukee entire monopoly of the railroad business in Southern Dakota.

The Supreme Court of the territory was in session at the time this complaint was entered, and a decision on its application was not expected until its adjourn- ment. In the meantime the Dakota lines were operated by the Milwaukee management.

The case of Mr. John I. Blair against the directors of the Sioux City and Dakota Railroad Company was heard by Judge Peter C. Shannon, chief justice. on the 19th of June, 1880. Mr. Blair asks the court to enjoin the Milwaukee

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company from operating the road, and also for an order setting aside the lease to the latter company. The demand for a receiver had been withdrawn by Blair at the hearing in May.

The proceedings at this hearing were interesting as showing some of the details of prior transactions. When Mr. Blair secured an interest in the Dakota Southern and Pembina roads he purchased 3,100 shares of preferred stock for 15 cents on the dollar, and 4,776 shares of common stock for 71/2 mills on the dollar, making his total investment by which he secured 52 per cent of the stock on the two roads named for $50,000. Hc afterwards furnished the money for the construction of the road from Beloit to Sioux Falls, about two hundred thousand dollars, a distance of 221/2 miles. Mr. Blair had presented the draft for $198,000, sent him by Mr. Wicker, which had been paid.

At a meeting of the board of directors of the Sioux City and Dakota Company held June 12th, it was ordered that the president, Mr. Wicker, proceed to con- struct what is known as the Elk Point cut-off, and also a line from Yankton to Scotland, and to issue stock and mortgage bonds upon said extensions to the amount of $8,000 per mile, and directing that the bonds shall not be sold for less than 90 cents, or the stock for less than 25 cents on the dollar. At this stage J. R. Gamble, attorney for Mr. Blair, served upon the directors an order from the District Court enjoining them from the issue of the proposed stock. Mr. Blair still had $50,000 interest in the road represented by his 52 per cent of the stock.

In this hearing Mr. Blair asks for a restraining order upon the ground that the directors of the Sioux City and Dakota Railroad Company and the Milwaukee company, by the proposed issue of stock are actuated by a motive to fraudulently deprive him of the control of the former road to which he is lawfully entitled by the ownership of the 52 per cent of its stock. The defendants on the other hand deny any such intention. They aver that their only desire is to add to its facilities and value, and to enable them to do this they propose to follow the policy practiced by railroad corporations- issue stocks and bonds upon which to raise the money required. Bartlett Tripp and General Carey in their argu- ment, stated that they would agree to a stipulation that the proposed issue of stock should be put up at auction and so sold to the highest bidder. If this was not satisfactory then they would agree- and they made a written proposition to this effect-that the court should make an order that the stock on the Elk Point cut-off on the line from Yankton to Scotland, should not be sold for less than 100 cents on the dollar ; that Mr. Blair should have an opportunity of taking it at that price, and if he did not choose to do so, then the Milwaukee company would take it dollar for dollar, furnish the money, and cause the immediate construction of the line from Yankton to Scotland.

The closing arguments indicated that the whole matter depended on the validity of the lease, and the roads and the court took the whole matter under consideration.

As a counter-proposition for the building of the Yankton-Scotland line, Mr. Blair authorized the statement from him that if the Milwaukee line desires to build that line, he ( Blair) will furnish one-half the money required. without the issue of stock or bonds, and when the questions now in court are decided, if they are decided against him then the Milwaukee company is to refund to him the money he puts in and own the road; but if the decision is in his favor he will pay to the Milwaukee company the money it has advanced and he will own the road. The Milwaukee company declined to accept this proposition.

As there was substantial sentiment among the citizens of Yankton in favor of the speedy completion of the Scotland line, these propositions for building the road from each of the litigants, werc doubtless intended to throw the responsibility for the delay on the "other fellow."

In July following Judge Shannon rendered his decision on the application of Mr. Blair for an order restraining the Sioux City and Dakota from building the

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line to Scotland and issuing bonds and stock for that purpose. The judge denied the order, and left the company free to proceed with their plans for the con- struction of that line.

This decision of the court was followed a month later by a sale of Mr. Blair's interest in the Sioux City and Dakota lines and the abandonment of litigation. The Milwaukee company became sole owners of the lines, and sole monarch of the railway transportation interests of Southeastern Dakota-a posi- tion it has not since relinquished.

A reorganization meeting was held at Yankton, about the 27th of July in the directors car of the Milwaukee road (having adjourned from the depot ), at which the resignations of the old board of directors of the lines were received and accepted, Mr. Blair and Mr. Wicker included. A new board of directors was chosen consisting of Alexander Mitchell, M. Meyers, S. S. Merrill, J. W. Carey and W. C. Vanllorn, to which were added W. W. Brookings and Geo. E. Merchant, representing Dakota. Mitchell was elected president of the road and Carey vice president. P. M. Meyers was elected secretary. The matter of extending the line to Scotland was favorably considered, but nothing definite was done. The termination of this contest was not advantageons to Yankton ; it would have been vastly better served had Blair been successful, for in that case Yankton would have gained the Milwaukee which at that time was under construction from the Big Sioux; which would have given it a competing line to Chicago. When the Milwaukee absorbed Mr. Blair's Dakota Southern interest it dropped this extension leaving the road bed partially graded.

Mr. Blair did not handle his advantage in Southeastern Dakota with his accustomed shrewdness and ability. Ile had the entire territory south of Sioux Falls and a line extending west from that point, in his own hands at the opening of 1879, and doubtless this advantage was apparent to him when he secured the majority ownership in the Wicker properties. He had also the entire transporta- tion interests of Sioux City, except the steamboat lines, under his control, and yet his competitor was able to wrest all his Dakota holdings and exclude him from the field in a little more than a twelvemonth after it entered the territory. The Milwaukee was aggressive and adventurous-Mr. Blair was timid and uncertain. He apparently failed to realize even partially what the development of this country would do for the transportation interest. He had also passed the age when ambition seeks for aggrandizement ; he had been a great force in the railway development of lowa where he was given a clear field and little opposition ; but when he came against uncompromising competition in his own field he lacked the combative qualities essential to success.

Our history has followed the legal steps of this famous case through the courts to the highest tribunal in the Government, in order to clear away any erroneous opinions that may linger in the minds of any portion of our people regarding Yankton County's responsibility for the delay in paying the interest on the bonded debt ; and also to show that the people of the county had no part in instituting any legal proceedings that might have resulted in invalidating the bonds. In other words the people had never harbored any purpose, even remotely, of repudiating the debt. The most that can be urged in favor of such a charge is, that long after the collection of the interest payable on the railroad bonds had been enjoined by the court, and in the new light which the litigation had furnished. there were many who saw a probability of relief from the debt through Congress providing for its payment, inasmuch as the territory had been denied the aid of a grant of land to any of her territorial railroad enterprises, while such favors had not been withheld from other territories and states contiguous to Dakota.

CHAPTER LIV DAKOTA VIEWED FROM THE MISSOURI RIVER-WARM DELEGATE CONTEST

1872

A VOYAGE UP THE MISSOURI RIVER FROM YANKTON TO BISMARCK-INDIANS AND INDIAN AGENTS ALONG THE ROUTE-THE TIMBER CULTURE ACT-WILLIAM WELCH AND OTIIERS VISIT THE SIOUX-NORTHERN DAKOTA A NEW FACTOR IN POLITICS-PRESIDENTIALELECTION-CANDIDATES-TERRITORIAL ELECTION-CON- VENTIONS-NAMES OF DELEGATES AND CANDIDATES-THE LIBERAL REPUBLICAN PARTY-HORACE GREELEY ABANDONS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY-NOMINATED BY THE LIBERALS AND SUPPORTED BY THE DEMOCRATS-PRESIDENT GRANT RE- NOMINATED-ANTI-GREELEY DEMOCRATS NOMINATE O CONNOR AND ADAMS- JUDGE BROOKINGS AND COLONEL MOODY RIVAL REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR DELEGATE-ARMSTRONG RENOMINATED BY DEMOCRATS-ARMSTRONG ELECTED -DELEGATES TO NATIONAL CONVENTION-GENERAL BEADLE REPUBLICAN NA- TIONAL COMMITTEEMAN-L. D. PARMER DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEMAN-WHEAT AND FLOUR.

INDIAN AGENCIES AND INDIANS

A journey by way of the Missouri River to the Indian agencies and military posts bordering that strcam in 1872, which at that time was a great commercial artery sustaining a fleet of seventy-five steamboats, was undertaken by a party composed of those desirous of getting some information at first hands concerning the condition of the Sioux Indians, who were then officially located along the river, but the great majority of each tribe was off in the interior on their summer hunt. These Indians, at this time, were presumed to be taking their initial steps in learning something of the white man's ways of living and making a living. The Government was exerting its authority to make succeessful the new "peace policy," but had not made much progress in inducing the Indians to adopt the industrial features of the new plan and the Spotted Tail and Red Cloud Indian agencies had not yet been settled in a permanent locality, but were being located satisfactorily during this season. Entering upon their errand at the Santee agency, opposite Springfield, Dakota, the scribe selected by the party of journey- ing inquisitors, made notes, as follows :

On the Nebraska side we come to the first Indian agency, that of the Santee Sioux. This is a portion of the tribes which were engaged in the massacre of whites in Minnesota several years ago. (Little Crow's, 1862.) They give the most promise of civilization at present of any portion of the great Sioux family. They number about one thousand, and are in charge of the Friends, though the Presbyterians and Episcopalians have missions there with schools and churches.

A. M. Janney, agent of the Santee Sioux Indians, resigned that position in June, 1871, and J. P. Webster, another Quaker brother from Pennsylvania, succeeded him. The Quakers had been conceded, under the new peace policy of President Grant, the care and instruction of all the Santee Sioux, together with the management of their intercourse with the Government; and their administration during the two years' incumbency of Mr. Janney, had disclosed their fitness for governing the savage people successfully. The

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Santees had made surprising advancement in the brief time they had been under the tutelage and direction of the peace loving sect that, under William Penn, had rescued Pennsylvania's tribes from barbarisin without resort to war, and the practical adaptation of the Penn policy among the Santees had been crowned with a success as complete as it was gratifying, especially to the Quaker brotherhood.

The Indians dress to a considerable extent in citizen's clothes-are quite industrious- for Indians, and many of them live in log houses instead of tepees. A large portion of their lands have been allotted to them in severalty. Some three years ago a number of families of this tribe, dissatisfied with the delay in allotting their lands, left their reserva- tion and took homesteads on the Sioux River in Moody County. In doing so they renounced all tribal relations, and considering the obstacles they had overcome have succeeded won- derfully. They had nothing but their bare hands, with a few axes and agricultural imple- ments to begin with, but they have built houses, and have raised enough to sustain them- selves. The settlement now comprises about fifty families ; they have schools and churches, and are good sober citizens. They certainly deserve encouragement. This is the first and so far as we are aware, the only instance where Inchians have voluntarily left their reser- vation, where they were furnished food and clothing, and have in so short a time become entirely self-sustaining.

A few miles above the Santee Agency is the mouth of the Niobrara River, which enters the Missouri from the west and formed the southern boundary of Dakota for some two hundred miles. (This was an error. The Niobrara formed the southern boundary as far west as where it received the waters of the Keha Paha, thence up that stream to the 43d parallel and thence west along that parallel.) Lying north of the Niobrara and west of the Missouri the Ponca Indians have a reservation of 75,000 acres. As they num- ber but about 750 persons this gives them about 100 acres each. They have 400 acres under cultivation, and last year raised 600 bushels of wheat and about 6,000 bushels of corn. The agency is in charge of the Episcopal Mission, with Maj. A. J. Carrier as agent, and the Indians are well advanced toward civilization. They are not Sioux and bear no relation to them but one of unremitting enmity. Hemmed in as they are by their natural enemies. they are liable to raids from hostile bands west of them and neither their ponies or scalps are safe if they get away many miles from their agency. They were once a powerful tribe, and are yet large and well built, and the superior, both in strength and courage, to the Sioux. They are very nearly self-sustaining and live almost exclusively in log houses, receiving less assistance than any tribe on the river. Living in constant fear of the Sioux, however, and being so few in number, they have not much ambition for the future, and the tribe has seen its best days.

Directly across the Missouri, on the eastern shore, is the reservation of the Yankton Sioux. It extends thirty miles up the river to a point opposite Fort Randall, and contains 400,000 acres. The tribe numbers nearly two thousand and is entirely peaceable and advanc- ing toward civilization. The Episcopalians and Presbyterians both have churches at Greenwood, the agency, and schools at several places on the reservation. Many of the Indians live in log houses, but they only take moderately well to farming.

The first military post is that of Fort Randall. It is 100 miles by river and seventy- five by land from Yankton, the capital. It is in command of Col. Elmer S. Otis, and is situated on the west bank of the river. Twenty miles above the fort is the Whetstone Agency, which was one of the most important on the river until last year, when the main agency, with all of Spotted Tail's Indians, was removed about one hundred and twenty-five miles west to a new location on the Rosebud Creek, a tributary of White River. Some few Indians remain at the old agency. We doubt if the transfer of this agency was really a good one. It certainly was not for the Government, which has now to transport the Indian goods so far overland; and the Indians, who had shown strong indications of civilization, and had many advantages which they are now deprived of, are now located so near the hostile tribes that it will be hard for them to behave themselves. even if they want to be good. But the removal was made at the urgent demand of a very large majority of the Indians with Spotted Tail, its insistent advocate.

We are now coming to the Indian country where white men are regarded as intruders, and where their scalps are at a premium.

White River empties into the Missouri at about latitude 45 degrees and 30 minutes, and is one of the most important tributary streams of this section. Spotted Tail's Indians are known as Brules of the Platte. Closely allied to these are the Lower Brules, who crop out along the Missouri above the mouth of the White River. They have a sub-agency on the west side of the Missouri eight miles below Crow Creek or Fort Thompson, the main agency being at the latter place. The Lower Brules are not nice Indians by a good deal and do not civilize very fast.

At the main agency at Crow Creek, or Fort Thompson, which is on the east side of the river, the lower Yanktonnais band is located. These Indians are much better disposed than the Lower Brules, and considering surrounding discouragements they promise exceed- ingly well. They are fortunate in having a model agent-Maj. 11. F. Livingston-who has charge. He has been among them several years, at first as their physician, and has their entire confidence and respect. Ile is painstaking, ready to listen to them, and has reached that point where they know that his "No" is the end of the matter. Ile has demon- Vol. 1-42

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strated most satisfactorily the true theory of managing Indians by his own course towards some of the worst on the river. IIe has made them but few promises, but these he has kept, and while holding them just as scrupulously to their work, none of their requests liave been too insignificant to receive his attention. A good Indian agent is a very difficult thing to find. Between the eastern theorist, who has no real knowledge of Indian character, and the western man, who "knows all about him" and believes him a scoundrel through and through, the redskins are being treated to a great variety of training, and are having a pretty good chance to study white men.

Two hundred miles above Fort Randall by stage road, and about three hundred by river, is Fort Sully, Crow Creek being about half way between the two. Fort Sully is the finest and best built military post on the river, and is headquarters of the military division. General Stanley, who is in cominand, is now absent in charge of the exploration party which left Fort Rice recently. The military escort comprises a force 1,200 strong, well armed and equipped, the object being to furnish safe conduct to General Rosser and his party of engineers in search of a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad west of the Missouri. The Indians feel intensely hostile towards them and would do them serious damage if they dared to. Fort Sully is in communication with Sioux City by telegraph, and keeps pretty well posted regarding the affairs of the world at large. They have the press reports telegraphed through from Yankton every morning. The officers indulge in fine horses and hunting dogs, and have a decidedly active world of their own.

Fifteen miles above Sully, on the west bank, we come to the "worst agency on the river"-Cheyenne. The Indians here have never been anything else than hostile; but they have been going backward rather than forward of late. They have had for a year or more an agent from New York City, a theorist, who promises well but performs wretchedly. He was soon at loggerheads with the military and with all the white men there. When we left. the arrival of his successor on the boat behind us was anxiously looked for. I do not imagine he was a bad man at heart, but he was made up of theories which would not work, and he was incensed and provoked because they would not. Matters had reached that condition when two soldiers had been waylaid and shot within a week before our arrival, and the Indians had engaged in a genuine war dance on last ration day. When it is considered that some seven thousand Indians draw rations here, the situation cannot but be regarded as serious. For some miles below, the villages, composed of canvas tents and tepees, dotted the hillsides, while their horscs could be numbered by thousands. It is in these horses or ponies that the wealth of these wild Indians is counted. They do not pretend to plant anything, and they raise no other kind of stock except dogs. Many of their ponies are small, trim and neatly formed, but most of their horses are "American" ones. They are not anxious to sell them but a fair one can be bought for from forty to fifty dollars, the money afterward going to the post trader for about half its value in beads and blankets. A motley crowd of five or six hundred gathered at the landing place of the boat, and we had an opportunity of witnessing a bit of tomahawking done scien- tifically. Two squaws were standing with the crowd quite near the boat, when one sud- denly drew her tomahawk and attacked the other. The first blow cut a piece out of the side of her head, and the second was still better aimed, but her weapon caught in her blanket and the blow fell short. By this time the warrior squaw was secured. and the wounded one taken away to be treated. We afterwards learned that the cause of the quarrel was the old story of jealousy. An old chief, Lone Horn, had one old squaw and took another not so old. He seemed to like the younger one best. The older one grew jealous, concluded to kill her rival, and undertook to do this in as public a manner as possible. We learned some time later that Lone Horn, in order to get rid of his domestic troubles, abandoned both and made a new alliance.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 113

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