History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 118

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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There were forty-three memorials to Congress, most of them relating to mail routes and mail service : one for a land office in the Big Sioux Valley; one for opening up the Black Hills Region ; for a grant of land to the Dakota Cen- tral Railway, and also to the Vermillion Valley and North Pacific Railway : and also to the Dakota, Black Hills and Eden Railway; also to the Eden, Sioux Falls and Kampeska Railroad; also to the Dakota, Pacific and Missouri River Railroad : also to the Grand Trunk Railroad; also to the Sioux City, Richland and Northern Pacific Railway : also to the Dakota and Northwestern Railroad ; also for bridges over the Sioux. Vermillion, Dakota and Red rivers; to construct a wagon road in the valley of Red River; to remove obstructions in the Red River ; asking that Yankton be made a port of entry, and a marine hospital be established there.

MAJOR GENERAL HANCOCK-FORT BENNETT BUILT

Major General Hancock, commanding the Military District of Nebraska, Minnesota and Dakota, accompanied by ex-Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky ; Colonel Merriam, of St. Paul, and Colonel Russell and Captain Heath, of Han- cock's staff, made a tour of inspection of the Upper Missouri forts in the fall of 1872, after the return of the Sheridan party. As the steamboat Western. upon which the party was traveling, put into Yankton and remained a part of the day, a number of the citizens, including Gen. Edwin S. McCook, Mayor F. J. Dewitt, Banker P. P. Wintermute and Hon. Charles H. MeIntyre, entertained the visitors with a carriage ride, and gave them an opportunity to meet the people. In a brief interview General Hancock stated that he had no apprehen- sions of serious trouble with the Indians, and the only formidable disturher of peaceful relations was the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad west of the Missouri; but a war could be easily avoided by approaching the unruly tribes in a proper spirit, letting them see that their opposition cannot prevent, or even delay the building of the road ; but by their help and peaceful disposition it would be easier and cheaper. and much more profitable to the Indians who should be liberally treated from the outset. it being a hundred-fold better and more economical to purchase the good-will and peace of the Indians than to fight with them, and chase them and slaughter them: for then they would be a constant irritation even after the road is completed and trains running ; for they could then do much more harm and cause greater destruction to life and property than at present. No pains were to be spared to make a satisfactory arrangement with the natives.

In 1872 a military post was erected at Cheyenne Agency, called Fort Ben- nett. It was not far from Fort Sully but on the opposite or west side of the river. The situation in the Indian country was of that threatening character that emergencies were apprehended in the vicinity of the Cheyenne Ageney call- ing for summary action by the military which would not admit of the delay inci- dent to obtaining relief from Fort Sully. The Cheyenne Ageney supplied rations to about five thousand Indians who made that their supply depot, and many of these were known to have "had hearts" toward the whites. The Sioux, at this time, all through the upper country, manifested many hostile symptoms, growing ont of the construction of the North Pacific Railroad, and military men freely

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predicted an Indian war, in which the Indians would have to be severely broken in spirit before the Upper Missouri would be free from the menace of Indian depredations and whites could with safety travel through the country, or steain- boats could navigate the Missouri free from molestation. Of the nearly five thousand Indians at Cheyenne, 1,800 were counted as hostile, though they visited the agency on issne days and drew their rations. Nearly three thousand who be- longed at this agency were inclined to practice the arts of peace and civilization, and obey their treaty. The Government built about two hundred frame houses on the reservation for this peaceable class, which were all occupied by the more advanced and industrious families, and were furnished with chairs, tables, bed- steads, and stoves.

Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, commanding the military Department of Missouri : Maj .- Gen. D. H. Rucker, chief quartermaster Department of Missouri; Colonel McPheely, chief of the commissary department : Col. Mike Sheridan, a brother of the general's: Colonel Tahrar and Gen. Frank Sherman, of Chicago, with Lient. Fred Grant, son of the President, paid a brief visit to the capital of Dakota on Sunday, September 22, 1872. The party had been up the river on a tour of inspection as far as the Northern Pacific Crossing, and were returning. Yankton citizens entertained them with a band of music, a carriage ride, and a reception at the home of P. P. Wintermute, which stood on the northwest corner of Eighth and Green streets. The party was traveling on the steamboat Western. Capt. Sanford B. Coulson.

While the fur trade of the Upper Missouri had steadily declined from about 1864. it continued for many years after that date to be of such importance as to engage the attention of enterprising business men. One of the last parties that carried on the traffic on an important scale was the firm of Durfee & Peck- Geo. H. Durfee and C. K. Peck, both of lowa, and men of superior business ability. They owned a line of steamboats and a number of trading posts in the Upper Missouri country, the best known being Fort Peck above Fort Buford. Their business in 1872 amounted to about a quarter million dollars. They took in 24,000 antelope skins; 8,000 deer: 10,000 buffalo: 500 elk: 2,000 wolf; 600 beaver: and 1,000 fox. The fur business rapidly diminished as a consequence of building the Northern Pacific Railroad west of the Missouri ; the country it traversed being one of the most prolific fur producing sections in the Northwest.

UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE AT YANKTON

The Fourth United States Land District in Dakota Territory was defined and named hy act of Congress in 1872, while Mr. Armstrong was delegate, and the land office of the district was located at Yankton. During the summer, Hon. George II. Hand. of Dakota, was appointed register, and Hon. Lott S. Bayless, of Terre Haute, Indiana, was appointed receiver, and the office was opened for business on Wednesday, July 24, 1872. The district was bounded as follows: "Beginning at a point on the north bank of the Missouri River at the intersec- tion of the line between ranges 52 and 53: thence north along said range line to the 46th parallel of north latitude : thence west along said parallel to the line between ranges 57 and 58: thence south along said range line to the Missouri River: thence easterly along the north bank of said stream to the place of beginning." The district was officially designated as the "Dakota Land District," and the office was located at Yankton, then capital of said territory.

Mr. Bayless had quite an experience in endeavoring to get a federal posi- tion in Dakota with the aid of Governor Burbank. He was nominated by the President to be surveyor general of Dakota in place of General Beadle, who being apprised of the matter succeeded in checkmating the proposed change. This was in 1871. Mr. Bayless was subsequently appointed assessor of Dakota in place of G. W. Kingsbury, whose term had not expired, and who also visited Washington and was reinstated by President Grant. He was next appointed

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receiver of the new land office at Yankton, where he did not come in contact with an unwilling predecessor, and he was duly confirmed. He was about eighty years old when appointed, but was quite vigorous-a hale old gentleman, born during the closing years of the eighteenth century; fond of relating his experi- ences in the political field which covered a half century of active participation. lle was an enthusiastic and successful gardener, and never failed to have an attractive exhibit from his ample garden, cultivated by himself, at the county fairs.

FIRST DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER- LAND SURVEYS IN THE NORTHI

The Dakota Herald was established at Yankton in 1872. Maris Taylor, of Yankton, and T. F. Singiser, late of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, were the edi- tors and proprietors. It was a weekly publication and the first democratic paper published in the territory after its organization, with the purpose of making it a permanent enterprise. The Ilerald had purchased a very complete and entirely new plant. Prior to this Joseph II. Taylor, an elder brother of Taylor of the Herald firm, had published the Dakota Democrat at Yankton for a few months during the campaign of 1868, when there were five candidates for Congress in the field, renting the material used from the Union and Dakotian office.

Twenty thousand dollars were expended for land surveys in Dakota Territory in 1872, one half of which sum were expenses for the surveys in the Valley of the Red River of the North. The total amount of land in the territory surveyed up to the close of the year was a little over six and a half million acres, leaving over ninety million acres to be surveyed. In 1872 the work of surveys along the line of the Northern Pacific was begun. Here the railway company had been given every odd numbered section for twenty miles on either side of their road, and it became necessary to make the surveys in order that settlers might be able to select their claims on Government land. The railroad company did not place its land on the market during this year.

The Excelsior Flour Mills were build at Yankton in 1872 by D. T. Bramble, and William Miner, of the firm of Bramble & Miner and William Bordino and John O. Bates. The building was constructed of chalk-rock, and after over forty years of use is apparently as sound and durable as when first constructed.

The officers of the Vermillion Valley and Northern Pacific Railway elected in 1872 were J. W. Turner, president ; M. D. Thompson, vice president ; F. Mc- Kercher, secretary ; V. E. Prentiss, treasurer ; E. W. Skinner, general superin- tendent ; 11. J. Austin, chief engineer ; and Dryden Smith, attorney. James Mc- Henry, Henry Newton, Jesse L. Fish, Chas. H. True, and the president, vice president and secretary composed the board of directors.

The final settlement of the Frost-Todd suit in 1872 involved about seventy- five thousand dollars, all in real property. It consisted of ninety lots in the City of Yankton; twenty-four blocks in an addition adjoining the city on the north : 476 acres of land in Smutty Bear Bottom: 325 acres at the James River Bridge, east side, and forty acres in Union County near the Government bridge over the Big Sioux. There had been a suit in court for some years concerning a division of the property, but this settlement was between the heirs of General Todd and Colonel Frost out of court. Judge Brookings is credited with bringing about the settlement.

MINOR NOTES OF IMPORTANCE

At this session of the Legislature the time for holding the general election was changed from the second Tuesday of October to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The time of the meeting of the Legislature was also changed from the first Monday in December to the first Monday of January following the election.

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In 1873 Congress enacted a law increasing the pay of members of the ter- ritorial legislatures to $6 a day and mileage-the president of the Council and speaker of the House to have $to per day. The officers allowed were a chief clerk at $8 per day ; assistant clerk, sergeant-at-arms, doorkeeper, messenger and watchman, $5 per day. Governors, $3,500 per annum, and secretaries, $2,500. Territories were prohibited from enacting any law by which this compensation could be increased.

By executive order the United States Land Office at Vermillion, the first land office established in the territory, was removed to Sioux Falls, June 1, 1873. B. F. Campbell was register, and J. M. Washburne, receiver.

Senator Hitchcock, of Nebraska, was the author of what was known as the "Timber Culture Act." which passed Congress in 1872.

The southern portion of Dakota was visited by a slight earthquake at 1I o'clock on the morning of October 9, 1872. It was felt quite sensibly in all the towns and at the military posts but no damage resulted.

A Territorial Teachers' Institute was held at Yankton during the first week in December, 1872, under the direction of Prof. Nathan Ford, superintendent of the city schools.

The Sioux Falls Pantagraph, by W. F. Kiter, late of Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he had conducted the first book-bindery in Western Iowa for about fifteen years, was first issued April 11, 1872. It was the first newspaper published in the Big Sioux Valley after the organization of the Territory of Dakota.

Warren Cowles, United States district attorney for Dakota, died at his home in Vermillion on Wednesday, August 28, 1872. Mr. Cowles was appointed to the office from Pennsylvania by President Grant and moved to Dakota in 1870.

CHAPTER LVI THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD 1872 and Later

THE STORY OF THE NORTHIERN PACIFIC RAILROAD PRESIDENT MONROE'S EXPEDI- TION- CONGRESS AUTHORIZES TIIREE ROUTES SURVEYED-JOSIAII PERHAM. OF MAINE, PATRIARCHI OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC-CONGRESS GRANTS CILARTER AND LAND IN 1864-JAY COOKE BECOMES FINANCIAL AGENT IN 1869-CONSTRUC- TION BEGUN IN MINNESOTA IN 1870-REACHIED MOREHEAD, ON THE RED RIVER OF TIIE NORTII, IN 1872-FIRST TRAIN-THE BRIDGE AT FARGO-LOCOMOTIVE ENTERS NORTH DAKOTA JUNE 8, 1872-FARGO FIRST NAMED "CENTRALI.\ BY THE SETTLERS -- SURVEY ACROSS DAKOTA-INDIANS ANNOY ENGINEERS-JAMES- TOWN AND FORT WM. II. SEWARD-SITTING BULL ITEADS THE INCORRIGIBLES- STRONG MILITARY FORCE ORGANIZED TO GUARD RAILWAY WORK-THE STANLEY EXPEDITION-FORT MCKEAN BUILT ON THE MISSOURI-HARD TIMES AND RUMORED FINANCIAL TROUBLES OF JAY COOKE-SILVER DEMONETIZED-BUR- LEIGHI COUNTY-HISTORICAL SURROUNDINGS-ORGANIZATION-BISMARCK RE- CEIVES ITS TITLE FROM THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR-COOKE'S FAILURE-TEM- PORARY SUSPENSION OF WORK ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC-WORK RESUMED IN 1878 THE GREAT BRIDGE AT BISMARCK-A DISTANCE TABLE-CASS COUNTY ORGANIZED.

In the year A. D. 1819 during the administration of President James Monroe, an expedition was sent up the Missouri River to determine or to acquire fuller information regarding the great water course, and also to explore the Yellow- stone and the sources of that river which was regarded as the largest tributary of the Missouri. The expedition performed its mission with the aid of mackinaw boats, steamboats not having come into use on the Missouri at that time. The conclusion of the explorers was, substantially, that the Yellowstone appeared to present fewer obstacles to navigation than did the Missouri above the mouth of its principal tributary. The exploring party also made note of the natural resources of the country, particularly its soil, timber, and grasses, and its various streams, all of which received favorable mention.

The fur trade, however, and the protection of American traders from the illicit traffic conducted by the agents of the Hudson's Bay and Northwestern companies, which had virtually controlled the Upper Missouri fur industry from the beginning was the probable ulterior and most important purpose of the expe- dition. The Yellowstone Valley could be more securely and economically con- trolled in the interest of the licensed American traders than the Missouri country beyond which owing to its location and the natural surface or topography of the intervening country could be easily reached by foreign traders from the Assina- boine River in British America.

Since the close of the War of 1812, American traders backed by the officers of the army and Indian superintendents had made frequent complaints to the authorities at Washington of the lawless aggressions of the British Company, affirming also that they took advantage of their intercourse with the American Indians to poison their minds against the young republic of the United States.

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NORTHERN PACIFIC BRIDGE, MISSOURI RIVER, BISMARCK

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This exploration with others that followed were of the greatest value in de- termining the shortest route across the continent, when the building of a railway to unite the Atlantic and Pacific coasts came to be considered many years later. No sectional rivalry existed at the time of these earliest explorations. There was no basis for sectional interests such as existed a quarter of a century later, and the substantial information obtained largely favored a northern route to the Pacific from the western coast of Lake Superior, or a route up the Missouri Val- ley from the mouth of the stream. Each of these routes had its friends; but the Lake Superior proposition had the greater number of able advocates. It was believed to be many hundred miles shorter than any rival route that could be suggested, and would cross the Rocky Mountains by a more favorable pass ; while the character of the country bordering it was discovered to be as desir- able, in great part, for agricultural purposes as that of the middle and eastern states. Prior to the enactment of the Union Pacific charter, the northern route was a powerful candidate for the favor of the Government, and might have been selected but for the strong commercial lead and political influence then held by San Francisco and the great commercial emporiums east of the Mississippi; at the time the measure was being considered by Congress the great Civil war was pending : there was a feverish anxiety to hurry the construction of the road in order to favorably influence the union sentiment on the Pacific coast; and not least of the obstacles encountered by the advocates of the northern route was the lack of any reliable information regarding the sea ports of Oregon and Washington.

The route via Central Nebraska was looked upon as accommodating the country south as well as north much more amply than would a road built along the 45th or 46th parallel of latitude. Looked upon from this viewpoint at a time when this vast northwest of our country was not only unpeopled, but only partially explored, and its resources largely conjectural, it is not difficult to · account for the decision of Congress, under all the circumstances, favoring the more southern route for the Union Pacific. But that the northern route had grown in public favor as the result of the agitation and further information obtained, especially in the northern states is sufficiently attested by the action of Congress, two years later in granting a charter to the Northern Pacific.

As early as 1853 Congress authorized the survey of three routes to the Pacific, the work to be performed by army engineers. The purpose of the sur- veys was declared to be "to ascertain the most practicable route from the Missis- sippi River to the Pacific Ocean." The three routes proposed were one ter- minating at San Diego, California; this was the southern route. The second or middle route terminating at San Francisco; and the third or northern route at the straits of San Juan Je Fuca, on Puget Sound. Jefferson Davis was at that time secretary of war, and selected the engineers to make the surveys, and probably named the initial points on the Mississippi River. The result of the surveys so far as they were completed are said to have favored the northern route, though the secretary of war, being a radical southern man, was presumably prejudiced against it and did not permit the execution of the survey from St. Paul, Minnesota, to the Rocky Mountains, although the surveyors of the west- ern end of the proposed route, among whom were Capt. George B. MeClellan and Capt. John Pope, afterwards famous generals, reported an excellent route from the head of the Missouri River across the Rockies to Puget Sound. The result of these surveys was to add largely to the general stock of information respect- ing the western portion of the country, and enough had been learned of a semi- official character to satisfy well-informed people that the northern route was the shortest and most practical, and not inferior in valuable natural resources.

The continental railway agitation was kept up in a desultory manner until the breaking out of the Civil war-the slavery question, and the Kansas troubles, as political questions overshadowing all other questions in the councils of our National Legislature. Finally, in 1864, two years after the Union Pacific had

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been authorized, Congress granted a charter to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company authorizing the construction of a railroad and telegraph line, begin- ning at a point on Lake Superior in the State of Minnesota, thence westerly by the most feasible route within the Territory of the United States, on a line north of the 45th degree of north latitude to some point on Puget Sound. The charter granted right-of-way and every other section of land for twenty miles on each side of the road except mineral lands. The charter named a board of incorporators, consisting of two members from each state and two from the Territory of Dakota, to wit: Hon. John B. S. Todd, of Fort Randall, and Hon. M. K. Armstrong, of Yankton, representing the territory as members of the board. This board met in Boston in September, 1864, organized, and elected Josiah Perham, of Maine, its first president. Mr. Perham had been foremost as an advocate of the enterprise for many years, and prior to the present organiza- tion had obtained a charter for a Northern Pacific Railroad from the State of Maine, and had gone before Congress with a memorial for a land grant in aid of his proposed continental highway. Willard Sears was elected vice president at the same meeting; Abiel Abbott, secretary : and J. S, Worthington, treasurer. Stock subscription books were opened at this meeting, over twenty thousand shares of stock subscribed, and the first assessment of $10 per share paid down by the subscribers, placing over two hundred thousand dollars in the treasury. A meeting was then called of the stockholders and was held the following Decem- ber also in Boston, when the following named thirteen directors were chosen : Josialı Perham, J. S. Withington, A. W. Banfield, Philander Reed. Ogden Holt, Richard B. Sewall, Willard Sears, Abel Abbott, Nathaniel Greene, Jr .. P. J. Forristall, John A. Bass, James M. Beckett, and Oliver Frost. Mr. Perham was elected president of the dierctorate and of the company.

Following these proceedings there was a period of five years during which no progress was made in the actual construction work of the road. The directors and stockholders were all wealthy men and leaders in great enterprises : but the construction of the Northern Pacific would need many millions of money more than they could supply from their personal resources. It was confidently ex- pected at the time that Congress would extend the same substantial assistance to the Northern Pacific that the Government had already given to the Union Pacific : but Congress, when appealed to for aid, declined to do more than it had already done. The aid extended to the Union Pacific was represented as an emergency case wherein the Government and the whole people of the coun- try were vitally interested, and to such an extent that the Government itself would have built the road had it not been that a private company was willing to undertake it. Congress further discovered that public opinion had become greatly modified respecting the policy of land grants and other subsidies to rail- ways, and had set its face irrevocably against the policy; from that time no further aid, even that of land grants, was extended to any railway enterprise.

The friends of the great project, however, did not despair. They continued their efforts, though amid many discouragements. In 1866 J. Gregory Smith, of Vermont, was elected president of the company, and Edwin T. Johnson, of Connecticut, an early and enthusiastic advocate of the road, appointed engineer- in-chief. But the "sinews of war" were not forthcoming. It was estimated that the land grant to the company amounted to over fifty million acres, covering an area. if compact, greater than one-half the Territory of Dakota. But the entire West was at that time a vast empire of public lands, free to all who would take advantage of the liberal land laws : and the men of wealth, both in our own and foreign countries seemed disposed to look with distrust upon the value of the Northern Pacific land grant as an inducement for investment that promised any returns to the generation of people then inhabiting the civilized portions of the world.

In the summer of 1869 a reconnaissance survey of the proposed line of the road through the Territory of Dakota was made by Governor Marshall, of Min-

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 118

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