History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 15

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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Commencing at the 46th parallel of north latitude and traveling north along the valley, in Dakota, one will cross first the Wild Rice, coming from the southwest, then the Cheyenne, coming also from the southwest. The Cheyenne is one of the most important rivers in the northern portion of the territory and wholly within the boundaries of the territory. It rises near Devil's Lake and waters nearly a third of that section of the territory; it is skirted with fine timber for more than two hundred miles from its mouth. It is called the Cheyenne River of

* This White Earth River formed the northwestern boundary of the Territory of Minnesota.

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

the North to distinguish it from the Big Cheyenne of Southern Dakota, and drains a greater area than any other of the Northern Dakota streams excepting the Red River. It rises about ten miles southwest of Fort Totten, and after coursing in and out in a southeasterly direction for about two hundred miles, river measure, it turns abruptly north from near the 46th parallel and following the general course of Red River, debouches into that parent stream a few miles below Fargo, at a point 250 miles by river south of Pembina. The valley of the Cheyenne was early noted for its luxuriant grasses, indicating a superior soil, and for its small forests of oak, hickory and walnut, which in great part were felled by the early settlers for buildings and fuel. The Cheyenne is an important historical boundary line, marking with its tributaries, in Dakota, the northeastern extremity of the Louisiana Purchase.

The River St. Jacques or James River, named by the act of Congress organ- izing the Territory of Dakota the "Dakota River," is over three hundred miles in length, and has its rise a few miles southwest of Devil's Lake in North Dakota; passing thence through the counties of Foster. Stutsman, La Moure and Dickey, North Dakota, it enters South Dakota a few miles west of the northeast corner of the County of Brown, passing thence through Brown, Spink, Beadle, Sanborn, a portion of Davison and Hanson, through Hutchinson, entering Yankton County near the northwest corner and running diagonally through the county, falls into the Missouri about six miles west of the southeast corner of the county. The river resembles somewhat an immense ditch excavated by artificial means, the cur- rent being broken by no falls or rapids, and its clayey banks are permanent and quite uniform in height. The windings of the stream are all long and gradual and bend with as much regularity as the windings of a canal. Occasionally the stream spreads out into the dimensions of a lake, affording ample sea room for small steamers, and the first 100 miles of the river could be easily navigated during the spring and summer when there is an average depth of water in a permanent chan- nel of about ten feet. The uniform width of the river for about one-third of its length from its mouth, is about one hundred and fifty yards, and the water being confined within the banks moves very slowly and smoothly. The fall does not average over a foot to the mile. The bottom lands seldom equal a mile in width and are among the most fertile and productive in the United States, while the highlands bordering the valley are equally productive though lacking the depth and probably the strength and durability of the bottom soil.

While Congress has decreed that the name shall be "Dakota," one seldom hears it called by that name, and it is very probable that there are thousands of Dako- tans who would not recognize the river under that title. The popular name is the "Jim" but the name "James" is used in public addresses, and by those in charge of the educational interests of the state, and also by that numerous class of estimable. people who abhor a "nickname" under any guise.

The Pembina River is a favorite waterway in the extreme north and nearest of all streams to the international boundary. For more than thirty miles from its mouth, it was sparsely settled and cultivated nearly a century ago and a thriving village stood upon its banks. It runs very close to and parallel with the interna- tional boundary line, and empties its waters into the Red near where the City of Pembina, on the northern border, is situated. The soil of the valley is called a black clay loam, partly alluvial and partly a deposit of decayed vegetation. The dark surface soil is generally about two or three feet in depth. The subsoil is principally clay. The land cannot be excelled as far as native fertility and dura- bility is concerned. It has not only the elements of extreme productiveness, but is also capable of sustaining a long cultivation without the addition of manure.

The valley through which the Cheyenne River flows is no less valuable and pos- sibly superior in natural beauty to the Red, having a greater topographical variety. The Mouse River also drains a large section of Western North Dakota, and empties its waters into the Assineboine in British America. (See Report of Bis- marek Railroad Committee.)

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

The Little Muddy empties into the Missouri River from the north, about twenty-five miles above Fort Buford, and was noted for its heavy forests of good timber, for which the soldiers who were stationed at Fort Buford in the early days can vouch, for they cut thousands of logs from its wooded banks and rafted them down to the fort. A portion of these logs measured 45 inches in diameter, and were go to go feet in length, and perfectly straight.

The Big Muddy empties into the Missouri eighteen miles above the Little Muddy, and forty-three miles above Buford. It is well timbered but not as densely as the Little Muddy. Both streams have their source near the interna- tional boundary, but are not regarded as important tributaries of the Missouri.

The water-shed or elevation that divides the water courses flowing north and south is situated largely in North Dakota. Starting at Lake Traverse, it trends west of north and northwest to very near the Devil's Lake region, southwest of which the James River has its sources, and on in the same direction, crossing the territory's northern boundary near the northwest corner.

The Devil's Lake or Lake Minnewaukan (Spirit Water of the Dakota In- (lians ) was the largest lake in Dakota Territory. It covers an area of nearly 100 square miles, and is probably the most romantic spot, including its natural at- tractions, in the northern state. Its bed and beach is composed of fine gravel. It has no visible outlet, but is supposed to have subterranean drainage into Cheyenne River. It is situated in the north central section of the northern portion of Da- kota Territory. It is eighty miles long and from three to twenty miles in width, and from fifty to two hundred feet in depth. Its altitude above the ocean is set down as 3,000 feet. It has a firm rock bottom, and its waters are clear and cold and palatable. Its shores are well timbered with valuable species of wood, and in the early days these forests sheltered large herds of deer, bears were numerous and fur animals abounded. It was a famious region in the earliest explorations of the Northwest, and a favorite resort of both the Chippewa and Sioux Indians, and furnished the battle ground for many a conflict. Fort Totten was built at this lake in 1868, or partially built, the improvements being of brick which were manufactured near the site of the post.

FIRST SURVEYS

The first surveys made by the Government in Dakota were made by two sur- veyors named James Snow and Stephen Hutton, who under a contract with the government surveyed and marked the eastern boundary of the Territory of Dakota from Big Stone Lake to the Iowa line. The Big Stone Lake boundary had been defined by the act admitting Minnesota into the Union. Snow and Hutton ran the boundary line south from Big Stone to the Iowa line a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles, marking the boundary with four cast iron monuments. This work was done in the summer of 1859. The same season the United States surveyor general at Dubuque let a contract to a surveyor named Neely to run the township lines in the southeastern part of the territory covering the Big Sioux from its mouth to Canton or above and extending west nearly to the Vermillion River, embracing about eighty townships. Thos. J. Stone of Sioux City had a contract for subdividing these townships and probably did some of the work during the fall of 1859.

In the spring of 1860. Congress having appropriated $10,000 to be disbursed by Surveyor General Lewis of the Dubuque office, that official was induced to expend the entire amount in surveying the newly acquired public lands in South- era Dakota, and a contract was awarded by General Lewis to Ball and Darling, a firm of land surveyors, who were very close to the throne in the surveyor gen- eral's office, to do this work. Mr. William Miner, afterward and for over a quar- ter of a century the junior member of the mercantile firm of Bramble & Miner of Yankton, was a member of this party of surveyors. Being a surveyor himself, he had gone from his home to Dubuque for the purpose of procuring a contract,

WILLIAM MINER

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

but as there was only enough of the appropriation to satisfy the Ball and Darling people, he engaged with the successful contractors and assisted in the work during that season.

Mr. Miner relates that the surveying party left Dubuque late in May, 1860, with a team and covered wagon loaded with their surveyor's instruments, pro- visions, etc., and drove across the State of lowa; a great part of the way, and more especially the western half of the state from Fort Dodge west, being desti- tute of any road, just the naked bald prairie which supported an abundance of big game. Mr. Miner says :

There were eight in our party, and all except the one whose turn it was to drive the wagon, walked the entire distance. We had, in some respects, quite a notable party, made up as follows : John Ball, E. N. Darling, for many years after a well known civil engineer in Washington, D. C .; Bill Jones, son of United States senator from lowa; Warner Lewis, son of Surveyor General Lewis (both Jones and Lewis, when the war broke out in 'of, went south and enlisted in the Confederate army and I think both came to grief at Vicksburg) ; Miner Lorrimer, son of one of the best known business men of Dubuque; Thomas C. Powers, for many years after head of the firm of Powers Bros., Indian traders, and one of the first United States senators from the State of Montana; Horace J. Austin, for over forty years one of the best known and respected citizens of Dakota, residing and doing business at Vermillion (Mr. Austin died at Pierre during the session of the Legislature of 1803), and myself. Our instructions for doing this work were to go to a point on the Big Sioux River, about thirty miles north of Sioux City, where a standard line of lowa surveys stopped on the Big Sioux, and between townships 94 and 95 north, and run that standard west until it came to something, either the Missouri River or the Yankton reservation. ( The latter is what it hit near the old Sherman ranch on Choteau Creek.) Then to do enough town line and subdivision work to use up the money, the work to be done being largely discretionary with us. We were also ordered to note and define the grants designated and selected at different localities by Frost, Todd & Co .; Charles F. Picotte, who had a grant of one section by the treaty at Yankton, and I think a few other grants in the Sioux Point region. Following our instructions we ran all the town lines between our standard line and the Missouri River and subdivided two fractional townships at Yankton, two at Vermillion, one at Elk Point, if I recollect right, and finished up late in the fall with a foot of snow on the ground by running all the subdivision lines in Big Sioux Point. Austin and myself bid the party adieu at Sioux City when they left for Dubuque with their team and wagons, and we went back to Yankton, on foot, of course, to take our chances for something to eat over the winter, and it was not a very brilliant chance either. D. T. Bramble had put up a little frame building on the levee near the foot of Walnut Street, and opened up a small store in it. I got a chance to bunk with him and we got our bacon and corn bread at the log dirt roof ranch which was presided over by Mrs. Il. C. Ash, who, I venture to assert, could get up a better meal with a very limited stock and assortment of provisions than any woman in Dakota.

With these surveys completed the pre-emptors were enabled to adjust their boundaries under the direction of Surveyor Armstrong. The former "squatter boundaries" that had governed were found to be three chains too far south and four chains too far east.

The land surveys under the United States are uniform and done under what is known as the "rectangular system." This system of surveys was reported from a committee of Congress before the United States Government came into exist- ence, May 7, 1784. The committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, chairman ; Messrs. Williamson, Howell, Grey and Reas.

This ordinance required the public lands to be divided into "hundreds" of ten geographical miles square, and those again to be sub-divided into lots of one mile square each, to be numbered from i to 100, commencing in the northwestern corner and counting from west to east and from east to west continuously ; and also that the lands thus subdivided should be first offered at public sale. This ordinance was considered, debated and amended ; and on the 3d of May. 1785, 01 motion of Mr. Grayson, of Virginia, seconded by Mr. Monroe, the size of the townships was reduced to six miles square. It was further discussed until the 20th of May. 1785. when it was finally passed.

The origin of the system is not known beyond the committee's report. There had been land surveys in the different colonies for more than a hundred years ; still, the method of granting land for settlements in vogue in all the colonies was

IHISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

in irregular tracts, except in the colony of Georgia, where, after 1733, eleven townships of 20,000 square acres each were divided into lots of fifty acres cach. The act of cession of the State of Virginia of her western territory provided for the foundation of states from the same not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square.

This square form of states may have influenced Mr. Jefferson in favor of a square form of survey, and besides the even surface of the country was known, the lack of mountains and the prevalence of trees for marking it also favoring a latitudinal and longitudinal system. Certain east and west lines run with the parallels of latitude and the north and south township lines with the meridians.

The system as adopted provided for sale in sections of 640 acres, one mile square. In 1820 a quarter-section, or 160 acres, could be purchased. In 1832 sub-divisions were ordered by law into 40-acre tracts, a quarter-quarter-section to settlers, and in 1846 to all purchasers. On May IS, 1796, the ordinance of May 20, 1785, was amended; also on May 10, 1800, on the introduction of land offices and credit sales, and on February 11, 1805: April 24, 1820; April 5. 1832; and May 30. 1862. ( For existing laws on surveys see Chapter IX, United States Revised Statutes, "Surveys of the Public Lands," sections 2395 to 2.413. )

Since the inauguration of the system it has undergone modification in regard to the establishment of standard lines and initial points, the system of parallels or correction lines, as also of guide meridians, having been instituted, contributing largely toward its completeness.

The cessions of the several states were organized from time to time into geo- graphical divisions by the laws creating them and the lands were ordered to be surveyed, including lands to which the Indian title had been or would be extin- guished. The same proceeding took place with purchased territory in 1803, 1819, 1818. 1850 and 1853.

The extension of the surveys being authorized by Congress over a district of country, the commissioner of the general land office directs the surveyor general of the district, whose office is created by law prior to extending the surveys, to begin the same.

PUBLIC LANDS-TIIE . NUMBER OF ACRES

Dakota's boundaries enclosed a compact body of public lands, every acre of which belonged to the Government of the United States (subject to the Indian titles ). no portion having been alienated by grants executed by its prior sove- reigns. Its original boundaries included about two hundred and twenty-four million acres, and at the time of its organization was the largest compact body of public lands wholly owned by the Government, except the Territory of Alaska, then belonging to the national Government. An early public document informs us that in the very infancy of the nation, before the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the ownership and control of public lands was the chief obstacle to the I'nion. The difficulty was finally magnanimously adjusted by the proprietor states transferring their outlying lands to the general Government-New York, first, in 1781 : Virginia, in 1784, with a cession of the Great Northwestern Terri- tory, the provisions of which cession have been so frequently and authoritatively quoted in the steps taken by Dakota to secure statehood. Massachusetts fol- lowed in 1785; and Connecticut, Georgia, North and South Carolina and other states surrendered their claims shortly after.

By the treaty of peace with England in 1783, at close of the Revolutionary war, the western boundary of our nation was fixed at the middle of the Missis- sippi River, and the outlying lands then belonging to the states in severalty, and ceded to the general Government as above stated, amounted to two hundred and twenty-six million acres (about two million acres more than was comprised within the original Territory of Dakota). By the treaty with France in 1803 (Louisiana Purchase) ; the treaty with Spain in 1818 ( Florida and west of the

LIGNITE BED IN BILLINGS COUNTY. DAKOTA Thirty-three feet in thickness

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Mississippi) ; the treaties with Mexico in 1848 and 1853 (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and part of Utah) ; and the treaty with Russia in 1867 (Alaska), the public domain was increased over seven-fold, adding about one billion six hundred and nine million acres to the national territory. The United States thus became possessed of a total of one billion eight hundred and thirty- four million acres of land ; a domain sufficiently ample to make twenty-five coun- tries each of the size of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales combined, capable of supporting a population estimated at seven hundred and twenty million of people of the average density of Great Britain or nearly half the population living on the globe in the year A. D. 1870. In the early days of our Republic the public lands were chiefly regarded as a possible source of public wealth in the dim future; but under the stimulating influence of growth and development, the Government has been led to make use of them to accelerate their occupation and settlement by civilized people, by liberal land laws; by generous donations to induce public improvements ; and to foster and encourage popular education. In 1870 about four hundred and forty million acres had been disposed of by sale, pre-emption and homesteads, and grants to railroads, etc. The surveyed land then on the market and ready for settlement, was estimated at seventy million acres ; and the area unsurveyed at one billion and three million acres.

During the first eleven years of our constitutional government land was taken up at the rate only of 100,000 acres a year. In 1806, the sales realized' $705,245. During the War of 1812 the sale fell off, but with the return of peace they improved, and in 1819 amounted to about three million dollars. The sales for 1835 aggregated thirty-five million dollars; and the next year following twen- ty-one million dollars, the largest year's sales made in our public land history. In 1842 the sales diminished to about one million. From 1850 to 1855, they averaged about ten million dollars a year. In 1862, the War of the Rebellion being on, they amounted to $125,048, the lowest of any year previous to 1890. Since the war they have slowly increased, averaging about three million dollars a year.

The wise policy of setting apart a portion of the public lands for the benefit of common schools and the cause of education is one original with this Gov- ernment, and has been of great service to the cause of education in the western states. The Territory of Dakota was not permitted to make any sale of these lands ; but the common school lands in the two states of North and South Dakota inherit about ten million acres which is conservatively valued at one hundred million dollars. Public lands have also been generously donated in endowing our state educational institutions; and those of a charitable and penal character. Agricultural colleges have also been greatly aided by land endowments.

PRE-EMPTIONS

What was known as the pre-emption law, passed by Congress in 1841, was the first enactment that offered an inducement for settlement upon the public lands. Under this law any citizen of the United States or a single woman of lawful age, and persons of foreign birth who had declared their intention to become citizens, were permitted to settle upon and claim 160 acres of the public land, as a pre-emption right, under which right he was entitled to enter his land at any time after six months from settlement and before the expiration of five years, by paying therefor at the land office $1.25 an acre. Before making his final proof the foreign born claimant was required to become a citizen. Bounty land warrants good for 160 acres of the public domain, given to veteran soldiers of the Mexican and other wars, were abundant in the years prior to the rebellion and were receivable by the Government in payment of these pre-emptions. Resi- dence upon the tract claimed and some improvements to indicate good faith, were required under the pre-emption law.

IHISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

The homestead law was passed in 1862. It extended to the same classes of people, the right to a homestead on the public domain not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres. Title to the homestead could be acquired by a continuous resi- dence of five years, and the payment of $14 entry fees, or after six months actual residence and suitable improvement the claimant could commute his homestead entry by payment of $1.25 an acre. This law gave a great impetus to the settle- ment of the West.

The belief was quite prevalent that one great if not insuperable obstacle to the settlement of the vast prairies of Dakota and other public land sections was the lack of timber-that if this coukl be supplied the country would fill up with a desirable class of citizens. Congress in order to meet this condition as far as could be done, by encouraging legislation, enacted a law, in 1873, known as the Timber Culture Act, amended in 1874 and again in 1878, which gave to any party, being the head of a family, or over twenty-one years of age, a citizen of the United States, who shall plant, protect, and keep in a healthy and growing condition, for a period of eight years, ten acres of timber, on any quarter section of any of the public lands of the United States, or five acres on any legal sub- division of eighty acres, or 21/2 acres on any legal sub-division of forty acres or less, a patent to the whole of said quarter section, or of such legal subdivision of eighty, or forty, or less, as the case may be, at the expiration of said eight years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two credible witnesses, and a full compliance with the further conditions of this act ; Provided, That not more than one-quarter of any section shall be thus granted, and that no person shall make more than one entry under the provisions of the act.

The further provisions of the law provided that the applicant should make an affidavit similar in substance to the affidavit made in homestead cases, with the addition that the land claimed is wholly devoid of timber. The applicant was required to pay $10 to the land officers where the claim embraced a full quarter section, and a proportionate amount for an eighty acre tract or a sub-division. It was further stipulated in what manner he should cultivate his timber tract ; the number of trees to the acre, and in case the young plants were at any time destroyed by grasshoppers or by extreme drouth the time limit of eight years was extended ; there were various other directory provisions; and when the appli- cant came to make final proof, provided he could prove by his witnesses that not less than two thousand seven hundred trees had been planted on each acre so cultivated, and at the time of making proof there were 625 living and thrifty trees on each acre, he was entitled to a patent for the land upon paying the land office fees.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 15

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