History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 120

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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MAIN STREET, BISMARCK. ISPS The place was then called Edminton

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decide where to locate. Messrs. Bly and Prescott, of Brainerd, Minnesota, had a sawmill near the month of Apple Creek, about seven miles below Edwinton. Edwinton was called the "railroad town" by many.

It was estimated that there were about two hundred persons in all these embryonic settlements, 'and all who were lawfully entitled to and desired to take a claim, had made a squatter's settlement, and as this sort of settlement was regarded as precarious, and only to be defended against "claim jumpers" by physical force, a large number of the better class of settlers entered into an organization called the "Apple Creek Settlers Association," as the claims taken were largely in the magnificent fertile valley of that name, and elected as officers, John J. Jackman, president ; John H. Richards, secretary ; and Fred W. Edgar, recorder, and for an executive committee, Judge Charles H. McCarthy, J. M. Gihnan, and Charles Anderson. This association a little later, acting through Jackman, MeCarthy and Edgar, petitioned the governor to organize the county, and Chas. H. McCarthy, J. Il. Richards, and Ed Donahue, were recommended for appointment as county commissioners. These settlements were at that time in Buffalo County, one of the largest counties in the territory, extending from the northern line of Charles Mix County up the channel of the Missouri River to the western boundary of Dakota. thence up said boundary to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude ; thence east along said northern boundary to the ninth guide meridian : thence south to the northern boundary of Charles Mix : thence west to the point of beginning. Gann Valley had been made the county seat of Buffalo County in 1871. and the county duly organized by the governor. This appears to have been unknown to the members of the Apple Creek organization, until their petition was replied to by the governor. The association adopted a memorial for the survey of the public lands, which had not yet reached so far into the wilderness as Edwinton. The grass crop, in that region was luxuriant, and considerable land would have been broken and sod-erops planted, but there had been no seed shipped in; there was but one plow in all the settlements, and nothing in the nature of seed but potatoes. These were bought at Fort Rice at $6 a bushel, and only a small number of half acre patches were planted.

The Indians did not trouble the whites on the east side of the river, but gave warning that none must venture to the western bank for the purpose of "squatting.'

At this time the government was engaged in building a military post on the west bank of the river a couple of miles below Edwinton. It was named Fort MeKean, in memory of Col. 11. Boyd Mckean, of the Pennsylvania volunteers, who fell at Cold Harbor during the Civil war. Two companies of troops were stationed there.

General Sheridan, who had been on a tour up the Missouri during the summer and fall of 1872, was very much dissatisfied with the location of Fort Mckean. The site for the fort had been selected on the peak of a barren bluff, where the winds, the general claimed, "perpetually blew with a hurricane's strength," so that men could hardly keep their feet without some strong support : beside being cokl, almost constantly uncomfortable, and infested by myriads of bloodthirsty mosquitoes in season. Water coukl not be had unless hauled a mile and a half up-hill. The commanding general concluded that the selection had been made without due consideration ; safety or the case of defense being the only feature that had been given weight, and decided that no further improve- ments should be made there. A less objectionable locality near by was resolved upon for the erection of the permanent fort. This led to the erection of Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1873, and Fort MeKean was abandoned.

As carly in the season of 1873 as the condition of the ground would permit. work was resumed on the unfinished portion of the railway line terminating at the Missouri River.

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The track reached Bismarck on the 4th of June, 1873, and the road was opened for traffic the 15th of July following ; Bismarck was 450 miles from Duluth, the eastern terminus of the railway.

An early description of Bismarck before the townsite was overgrown with improvements, gave its situation two miles from the Missouri River. In front . of the town was a flat that was annually inundated by the rise in the river. The main street was on a terrace about four feet higher than the flat but high enough to be immune from submersion ; this first terrace extended back about six hundred feet to a second terrace, rising fifteen feet above the first, and reaching back about a mile where it joined with the undulations of the rich rolling prairie characteristic of a large portion of Dakota. South about eight miles, where the high prairie terminates in a bluff, probably fifty feet high, facing the village, is the Valley of Apple Creek about eight feet above the level of the river.

Apple Creek is somewhat famous as the stream along which General Sibley chased the Indians on their retreat from east of the Missotiri, in 1863. It is about seventy-five miles in length, its course nearly east and west, heading not far from James River. The valley was claimed to be one of the finest agricultural tracts in the territory, and was heavily timbered in the days of the early settlement of that portion of Dakota.

The County of Burleigh, located on the east bank of the Missouri River, north of the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude, was originally taken from the County of Buffalo by the Legislature of 1872-73, and given the following boundaries ; act approved January 4th :

Beginning at the intersection of the range line dividing ranges 75 and 76 with the elev- enth standard parallel; thence west on said standard parallel to its intersection with the Missouri River ; thence down said river on the main channel to the intersection of the town- ship line between townships 129 and 130; thence east on said township line to its intersection with the tenth guide meridian; thence north on said last named guide to its intersection with the ninth standard parallel; thence west to the line between ranges 75 and 76; thence north on said last mentioned range to the point of beginning; shall be, and the same is hereby, constituted and made the County of Burleigh.

It has its name from Hon. Walter A. Burleigh, the second delegate to Congress from the territory, who removed from Pennsylvania to Dakota, with his family in 1861.

Mr. Burleigh at that time held the office of United States agent of the Yankton tribe of Sioux Indians, located on a reservation in Charles Mix County, Dakota.

Burleigh County was organized July 9, 1873, Governor Burbank appointing James A. Emmons, John P. Dunn, and William Mercer. There was considerable rivalry in the county as to who should be appointed to these important positions, growing out of diverse real estate interests, and the parties finally compromised by an arrangement that gave to each interest a commissioner, and when this was done the governor was prevailed upon to start the machinery of county govern- ment in motion. Prior to this he had received petitions and also remonstrances, showing much factional or sectional strife among the voters of the county.

The commissioners so appointed met at Bismarck on the 9th of July following and completed the county organization by appointing Daniel Williams register of deeds and county clerk; J. S. Caville, probate judge and county treasurer ; John E. Wesson, county attorney ; William Woods, sheriff. Bismarck was made the temporary county seat.

At the annual election held in November following, the county elected its county officers, choosing for county commisisoners, T. P. Davis, John P. Dunn, and W. H. Mercer : register of deeds. J. H. Richards ; sheriff. John White ; judge of probate. E. N. Corey ; county treasurer, W. B. Watson.

The law defining the boundaries of Burleigh County provided that "the county should have jurisdiction for all purposes as far south as the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude, over the strip of country south of its defined limits."

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The extension of the Northern Pacific Railway west of Bismarck was long delayed, due chiefly to lack of funds : but seriously hindered by the hostility of the Indians under Sitting Bull; and it may be fairly claimed that this latter obstruction would not of itself have been of sufficient importance to have delayed the construction of the line across Western Dakota and Eastern Montana : though in the event that the railway authorities had been prepared to proceed it is presumed the Government would have cleared the way of Indian opposition by a much more determined war policy than was pursued. The terminus of the road remained at Bismarck until 1881, nearly seven years, during which period the city enjoyed much prosperity from its river business, as nearly all the Indian agencies and military posts together with a large share of the Montana traffic was supplied by steamboats during the season of navigation, from Bismarck. And in the meantime immigration was active and the agricultural lands of Burleigh and adjoining counties received thousands of settlers.

An Old Settlers Association was organized at Bismarck January 15, 1874. The names of charter members whose settlement was prior to the coming of the railroad was 168. John J. Jackman was elected president of the society, and HI. M. Davis corresponding secretary.

Burleigh County is embraced in, and in the vicinity of many sections and points of historical interest. Its Apple River, east of the Missouri, is seventy-five miles long, heading almost due east and near the James River. It was down this valley in 1863, that the Sioux Indians retreated, pursued by Sibley's forces, and made their way in canoes across the Missouri and out of harm's way. Heart River, on the west. opposite Bismarck, is 100 miles long. It heads near the Bad Lands and the Little Missouri, a fine stream, well timbered ; and near its head- waters was fought the battle of Killdeer Mountain between General Sully's forces and the Sioux, in 1804. Burnt Creek, the scene of the slaughter in 1862 of a boat load of returning miners from Montana, numbering about twenty, is an east side tributary of the Missouri, ten miles above Bismarck. The stream is twenty miles long. Opposite Burnt Creek is Square Butte Creek, fifty miles in length. A few miles above the Square Buttes (old name), commence the cele- brated Painted Woods. Here was found a large body of timber on both sides of the Missouri, including in its variety, oak, ash, elm, and cottonwood. The woods were famous for their herds of elk, deer, antelope, and were the winter home of thousands of buffalo. Wild fruits abound in the timber. At the north end of Painted Woods Valley, on the east side of the Missouri, is Medicine 1.odge Lake, covering 7,000 acres, a beautiful sheet of water, fed by creeks. Oak and cottonwood lined its pebbled shores. It was a favorite resort for the Indians, and in the vicinity a battle ground where the Arickarees dared to meet the Sioux in battle. Twenty miles above this lake on the west side, are the ruins of old Fort Clark, named for Captain Clark, of Lewis and Clark, and built for a trading post about 1812, by a company of which Clark was a member. Mandan Lake is a few miles below the ruined fortress. Seven miles above Fort Clark, on the west side, comes in Great Knife River, a clear water stream. 125 miles long. heading near the Little Missouri. Fort Stevenson was on the east side of the Missouri above the mouth of the Knife, about ten miles, and twelve miles below Old Fort Berthold, the famous trading post of the Upper Missouri. Snake Creek, on the east side. is the only eastern tributary of the Missouri, for a long distance.

During the preceding year of 1872 there had been much uncertainty in the public mind of that settlement as to the precise locality on the Missouri River where the railroad company would fix its terminal point, and hundreds of people desirous of etsablishing some line of business or desirous of making an investment. had reached the vicinity with the intention of locating. This uncertainty gave an opportunity for much speculation in townsite properties, and places named (ar) . ton. Zheba, and Burleigh City, were laid out and eligible locations sold at remuner- ative prices. Tents, and some small frame or log structures, were put up, so that each of these points had its cluster of improvements and business center. Stres

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and saloons were opened and considerable business transacted. The steamboats had brought up a large amount of building material and merchandise from Sioux City and Omaha, so that these places were abundantly supplied with articles for traffic.

General Rosser, chief engineer of the eastern division of the Northern Pacific, which embraced the country between Bismarck and the point on the Yellowstone where it was designed to strike that stream, had not been able to secure a prac- ticable route through the country west of the Missouri, and presuming that the construction of the road would be continued west the following year, he felt compelled to find a route during the season of 1873, so that the work of con- struction might go forward. He was successful in doing this under the protection of the troops, and reported to the company that he had not only found a perfectly practicable route, but had shortened the distance made by previous surveys, twenty-one miles.

The Northern Pacific, however, was doomed to several years delay-a delay not due to Indian opposition at all, but to the misfortunes that had overtaken its financial agent who, being unable to negotiate his securities was obliged to relinquish the work, financially ruined, but with unstained integrity.

During the summer of 1878 a party of Northern Pacific Railroad officials including Dorrillus Morrison, John Ross, General Rosser, chief engineer, and others, accompanied by a military escort to protect the party against Indian raids, made an inspection trip along the line of the Northern Pacific west of Bismarck as far as the point where the survey of the railroad line struck the Yellowstone River returning without meeting with any Indian hostilities, and arriving at Bismarck about the middle of August. The authorities of the Northern Pacific were at the time contemplating resuming work on the line west of the Missouri, and this reconnoitering and inspection partly reported that they found the country superior to that between Bismarck and Fargo. The so-called Bad Lands they found covered with the most nutritious grasses, and the whole stretch of country. for a distance of 200 miles, well watered, with plenty of good coal and considerable timber. Over one hundred and fifty miles of the line lay in Dakota, coal prospects were, apparently inexhaustible. The plan under contem- plation at this time by the Northern Pacific officials was one to utilize the land grant west of the. Missouri reaching to the Yellowstone, aggregating about five million acres, for the purpose of raising funds to build that portion of the road.

Grading west of the river was started during the fall of 1878, and there was no further interruption of the work until the line was completed.

The annual meeting of the company was held in September when the following named directors were elected: Charles B. Wright, Pennsylvania; Frederick Billings, Vermont; George W. Cass, New York; Charlemagne Tower, Penn- sylvania : J. C. Ainsworth, Oregon : George Stark, New Hampshire; Joseph Dilworth, Pennsylvania : Alexander Mitchell, Wisconsin ; Johnston Livingstone, New York: J. Fraley Smith, Pennsylvania ; John D. Dennison, Maryland; Ben- jamin P. Chaney, Massachusetts ; Richard L. Ashhurst, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wright was re-elected president of the company.

A contract had been let for grading 200 miles west of Bismarck.

In 1879, just prior to the resumption of work on the Northern Pacific west from Bismarck, the Dakota Legislature was prevailed upon to re-define the boundaries of Burleigh County in order to extend its jurisdiction to the west side of the Missouri, and on February ioth of that year an act was approved giving new boundaries to the county, as follows :

Beginning at the southeast corner of township 137, between ranges 73 and 74: thence north to the eleventh standard parallel ; thence west along said parallel to the west bank of the Missouri River; thence south along the west bank of said river to a point where the range line between 83 and &4 produced would intersect said river: thence south to the southwest corner of township 137, range 83; thence east along the ninth standard parallel to the place of beginning.

FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, OPPOSITE BISMARCK. 1823

HOLDING DOWN A CLAIM

Third SL. in 1876 grand Forks y. Dak.

GRAND FORKS, NORTHERN DAKOTA, 19;6

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As there was no lawful organization on the west side at the time, the purpose of this act, probably, was to furnish the law-abiding element at Mandan and surroundings such protection as the laws of the territory afforded, which could be easily accomplished by extending the jurisdiction of Burleigh County.

Track laying across the ice on the Missouri River, at Bismarck, was com- pleted and the first train crossed on the 18th of February, 1879. The track started below the steamboat landing at Bismarck, and ran northwest across the Missouri to the mouth of Heart River, a distance of nearly three miles, to the new Town of Mandan, the starting point of the Pacific extension.

Mandan was laid out on land claimed by F. F. Girard, an old pioneer and Indian trader who had secured the land from an Indian called Strong Bear or Posey, who settled on the land before the land surveys and, as he claimed, before the land grant was made to the railroad company. But when the land surveys were made it was found that the Girard claim was in an odd numbered section, and was taken possession of by the railroad company and the Town of Mandan was laid out. Girard's claim was too precarious to risk a law suit to defend it.

BRIDGING THE MISSOURI

The first effort for the construction of a railroad bridge over the Missouri River at Bismarck, on the Northern Pacific Railroad, was made in the spring of 1880, and surveys were made of the Missouri River and its approaches at that point. Gen. Adna Anderson, chief engineer, who was directing these surveys, intended to submit the proposition of bridging or tunneling the Missouri to the directors of the company, and the indications at that time, May, 1880, were favor- able to the tunnel.

Mr. Frederick Billings, who had become president of the company-a man of great wealth and enterprise, informed the public later that his engineers had reported in favor of a high bridge, to be constructed near the river warehouse of the company. It was proposed first to narrow the channel of the river to 1,200 feet by constructing a dyke from the west side. The engineer had been instructed to build the dyke during the season of low water and during the fall of that year. The bridge was to be seventy feet above low water : to be built in five sections, three of 400 feet, and two of 100 feet. The dyke which was built that fall, was 1,700 feet long. The Eads scheme of mattresses were used in its construction. The foundation for the abutments of the bridge was a solid blue clay forty feet below the low water mark. The cost of the structure completed was estimated at over one million dollars, and it was claimed that it would rank among the great bridges of the world.

The practical work of building the bridge went forward from that time. It was built upon the truss system of bridge architecture, three main truss spans resting on four ample piers, two of these founded on bed rock in the main channel of the river, the other two located on the cast and west shore, the mainland connections made by two inverted truss spans each 150 feet in length. The main spans are 400 feet long cach, and the total length of the bridge is 1,500 feet. The bridge was completed and opened for traffic in October, 1882.

The length of the bridge from bank to bank was 2,600 feet or nearly half a mile. The material of the bridge structure is steel and iron. It was estimated that it would sustain a weight of 1,000 tons. Work was begun on the bridge proper in AAugust, 1881, and it was completed in the early fall of 1882. The stone work was all completed in June, 1882. Four piers were sunk in the channel of the river by pressure, fifty-six feet below the low water level, where a bed of hard clay was reached. In the construction of these piers, 8,000 yards of granite and the best western Portland cement was used. The caisson employed in the work was To feet long and 25 feet wide. From the bottom of the stone work to the summit is 100 feet with a finish of ten feet solid. On the east shore of the river is an abutment from which the bridge swings to the first pier. On the west there is also another similar abutment. The spaces between the abnt-

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ments and the nearest pier are about two hundred feet in length, and between the center piers 400 feet. The piers were said to be the best and inost substantial of any on the Missouri River. The work was done under the direction of George S. Morrison, engineer in chief, and HI. W. Parkhurst, resident engineer.

Prior to the construction of the bridge, the cars were crossed in the season of open water on flat boats, and in the winter, when the ice became strong enough to support the immense weight, a railway track was laid over the ice, a distance of about three miles, and trains crossed with little delay. These methods were expensive, involved an enormous amount of labor which had to be repeated each year, and the traffic of the road had increased to such an extent that it was difficult to accommodate it by these methods of crossing the stream.

In November, 1880, the directors closed an arrangement with a syndicate of American and European bankers, under which the syndicate furnished forty million dollars for the completion of the road. The rails were laid to the Yellowstone, at Glendive, about December 1, 1880, and up that stream to Fort Keogh or Miles City at the mouth of Tongue River during the winter following which was favorable for outdoor work. There were then about eight hundred miles of road to be built; 600 miles in crossing the great Territory of Montana.

The workmen on the line, in 1880, west of Bismarck, were escorted by the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, ten companies, under command of Maj. Lewis Morrill.

The Northern Pacific reached the boundary line between Dakota and Mon- tana, November 1, 1880, and the event was celebrated by a gathering of notables from both territories and the chief officers of the company. The division line was marked by the driving of two silver spikes-one marked Dakota and the other Montana. Appropriate addresses closed the exercises. Ex-President Grant was a guest of the railway people on this occasion.

The grand highway to its western terminus at Portland, Oregon, was com- pleted and opened about the time that the Bismarck bridge became a part of the line, October, 1882, and the two events gave occasion for great rejoicing and the driving of the golden spike.

The mileage of the road was as follows: Duluth to Red River of North, 250 miles; Red River to Missouri River, 200 miles; Missouri to Yellowstone, 250 miles ; Yellowstone to Helena, 400 miles ; Helena to Lake Pend d'Oreille, 320 miles ; Lake Pend d'Oreille to Crossing of Columbia River, 210 miles; along Columbia River to Koloma, 250 miles; Kolama to Puget Sound, 90 miles; total, 2,000 miles.

FARGO AND CASS COUNTY

Fargo, or Centralia, was founded early in the year 1872. Its supposed site had been occupied during the winter and early spring by a motley collection of tents, shanties, and an occasional frame structure. A party who visited the place in February, 1872, from Moorhead, described it as follows:

It consisted of an avenue, street, lane or alley, either name applicable, extending from the Red River westward through the timber, some 80 or 100 rods. The river was frozen over but the ferryman's tent stood on the river bank occupied by the ferryman, who was impatiently waiting for the ice to move, which it may not do before the Ist of May. A little further on was tent No. 2, bearing the sign, "Ells-worth House. by Mrs. Church," Opposite is a small wooden building, labelled "Pacific Hall" Passing tents on either side one comes upon another small frame edifice occupied by "Gordon J. Keeney Esq., Attorney at Law. Notary Public, and Land Agent." A little further, after passing a number of tents, one finds the blacksmith shop of "Ross & McCherny," and a little further on the left, hotels Nos. 1 and 2. i.e., the Fargo Hotel, and the Provincial House. Arriving at this latter hostelry, the head of "Fargo Avenue." is reached, after passing sixteen tents and a few small frame buildings. To the right of the Provincial are three tents where Mr. George Bricknell. super- intendent and engineer, has his headquarters. Walking west from "Fargo Avenue," about one hundred rods, Canvas Town No. 2 is reached, which is locally known as "Headquarters." On the right is a tent occupied by the agent, J. H. Stone; on the left the "Mess House" adjoining which is the telegraph office, W. G. Collins, operator, and Mr. Il. C. Davis, store-

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 120

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