History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 20

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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In addition to the foregoing, the statement or report contains the operations of a party that had been sent over into the Missouri country to locate townsites. According to the report :

The expedition in charge of Messrs. Brawley and Smith, which left this city in June, have ere this time planted the flag of the Dakota Land Company on each valuable site that can be found between the mouth of the Big Sioux and old Fort Lookout on the Missouri, and on the James, Vermillion and Wanari (Choteau Creek) rivers. They have sounded to the points to which steamers may practically run, and there have also commenced the nuclei of towns. Their movements will be seconded by the more timid and adventurous, and the way being paved. a lively emigration will follow up. This party went down the river from Sioux Falls City by boat in the latter part of June on their way to the Upper Missouri. There are more than two thousand miles of navigable waters within the ceded portion of Dakota, and this company will have already secured the most desirable centers for trade and commerce, and governmental organization on all these rivers.

Any explanation of this unwonted activity in the location of townsites lies in the then prevailing speculative fever in western towns and lands. The new western states and territories had been the theater of exciting and profitable ventures in real estate, the market for the property being found in the eastern states. The Dakota Land Company located its selections with half breed scrip. This speculative interest had grown up during the early settlement of Kansas and its border war between the free state and pro-slavery parties. The people of all the states were warmly interested in this struggle, and this catised a large western emigration out of which real estate, whether farming lands or townsites, was in great demand.

The members of the Sioux Falls Legislature elected in September met at Sioux Falls in October and elected Samuel Masters governor, and passed a memorial to Congress praying for the organization of the territory. The pro- ceedings of the Sioux Falls government were quite extensively published and must have led many people to believe that Dakota was duly organized and may have induced the immigration to the Missouri Valley during that year which came in only to be driven off by the military later.

Mr. S. J. Allbright of St. Paul established a weekly newspaper at the Falls in 1858 which he called the Dakota Democrat. It was the first newspaper pub- lished in what afterwards became Dakota Territory. As Mr. Allbright declares, his purpose in starting a paper at that time was in order to be on the ground when the territory was organized and Sioux Falls made the capital, in order to get the public printing, which he estimated would be worth several thousand dollars a year.

The Sioux Falls Legislature met again during the fall of 1859 and Governor Masters having died, Wilmot W. Brookings was chosen governor. The treaty with the Yanktons had been ratified and settlers were coming in to the Missouri slope country and taking up land. Already the population of the Missouri Valley was far ahead of the Big Sioux. It was apparent that if Sioux Falls was to stic- ceed in her ambition, "delays were dangerous" and much depended upon the territory being organized at the earliest day possible, because of strong indications that there would be a change in the political complexion of the administration and in Congress at the election the following year, 1860, which in all probability would retire from influential positions a number of the prominent friends of Sioux Falls.

Strenuous efforts were made by those interested during the fall and winter of '59 but no results were obtained, and grave misgivings took the place of hope among the stout-hearted pioneers on the Sioux. It may be that the influence of the Yankton and Sioux City "rings" had been used to its detriment, for shortly after this failure the contest seems to have been dropped; the townsite leaders in great part returned to their former abiding places and the newspapers ceased to be published for a time. There were a number of the early settlers, however, who refused to acknowledge defeat, including W. W. Brookings, Dr. J. L. Phil- lips. Amos F. Shaw, John McClellan, George P. Waldron, Henry Masters, and

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J. B. Amidon and family, who held on to their property and remained until com- pelled to leave during the Indian raids of August and September, 1862, following the Little Crow massacre.

There were even in these earliest days, as shown by the newspapers, manifesta- tions of rivalry between Sioux City and Sioux Falls, and it would seem that the leading interests of the lowa town were not in sympathy with the ambition of the active pioneers at the Falls of the Sioux.

DAKOTA'S FIRST DELEGATE, W. W. KINGSBURY

When Minnesota was admitted into the Union as a state in 1858, with its present boundaries, there was left a large portion of the former Territory of Minnesota outside the state on the west, including all of the present Territory of Dakota east of the Missouri River, that was left in a chaotic political condition. Minnesota had, while yet a territory, in 1857 elected Hon. W. W. Kingsbury as her delegate in Congress for two years, or until March 4, 1859, and Mr. Kings- bury was holding the seat at the time the state was admitted in 1858. About this time ( 1858) Mr. Alpheus G. Fuller appeared in Washington claiming that he had been appointed delegate to Congress from the aforementioned ontlying territory, which his credentials designated as the Territory of Dakota. As Mr. Kingsbury disputed the Fuller title, and claimed that he was the delegate from the Territory of Minnesota which still existed in the portion not included within the boundaries of the state, the matter was taken up by the House, and Mr. Cavanaugh, a member, on May 28, 1858, presented a resolution reading as fol- lows: "Resolved, That the Committee on Elections be authorized to inquire into and report upon the right of W. W. Kingsbury to a seat upon this floor as delegate from that part of the Territory of Minnesota outside the state limits."

Mr. llarris, of Illinois, presented the credentials of Alphens G. Fuller as delegate from the same territory.

As reported in Volume 46 of the Congressional Globe, the whole matter was referred to the Committee on Elections. On June 2d Mr. Harris, chairman of the committee, submitted the majority report, holding that Mr. Kingsbury was legally elected delegate, on October 13, 1857, and that the admission of a state formed out of a part of that territory did not annul the election. The case of H. H. Sibley was cited. Mr. Sibley was elected delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin after the State of Wisconsin was admitted. He was elected from that portion of the territory not included in the state, and was allowed to take his seat by a vote of 124 to 62. In concluding, the report recommended that Mr. Kings- bury be allowed to retain his seat, and that the memorials of Mr. Fuller be given no further consideration.

A minority report, signed by Messrs. Wilson, Clark and Gilmer, decided in favor of Mr. Fuller. This report stated that Mr. Kingsbury was elected by the voters of the territory now comprising the state, and that those living in that part of the territory not included in the state were not allowed to vote. (This was denied by the majority report. ) It was also held by the minority that Mr. Kings- bury lived in the State of Minnesota, not in the part of the territory left outside the state.

Mr. Fuller, in the course of his petition for a seat, said that he came "without form of law, but on the inherent principle of self government and protection."

Mr. Harris contended that it was not necessary for the delegate to live in the territory which he represented.

Israel Washburne, of Maine, supported Mr. Harris, declaring that there was both a state and a territory of Minnesota.

Mr. Jones, of Tennessee, held that there was no Territory of Minnesota, and hence that no one was entitled to a seat as delegate.

After much discussion, the majority report was adopted as before stated, and Mr. Kingsbury held his seat until March 4. 1859. Hle was therefore the first

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delegate to represent that portion of Dakota Territory cast of the Missouri River that had formed a part of the Territory of Minnesota.

Sioux Falls had postal facilities as early as 1858 and received a mail twice a month from Henderson, Minnesota. Byron M. Smith was postmaster. About the ist of March, 1859. a change for the better was made when the service was transferred from Henderson to Sioux City and thereafter the mail was delivered once a week by a man on horseback.

The effort to secure the organization of the Territory of Dakota in the interest of the Big Sioux Valley continued intermittently during the winter of 1859-60, but relaxed during the latter year, and the settlement made no progress during that or the following year of 1861.

In 1862, in August, the Little Crow Indian outbreak occurred in Minnesota, which was followed by a general Indian war. The hostile savages, being driven from Minnesota into Dakota, separated into small war parties and made a descent upon the Dakota settlements. Sioux Falls received the first fatal blow. losing two of its most valuable citizens, Judge J. B. Amidon and his son, who were killed while at work cutting hay.

These persons had gone out from their home in Sioux Falls in the morning intending to spend the day in the field. Night came and they did not return, which gave Mrs. Amidon much uneasiness and alarm, and she notified Lieutenant Bacon, who immediately instituted a search. The oxen were discovered fastened to the wagon, but neither Amidon nor his son could be found that night. At daybreak on the 26th the search was again undertaken and soon resulted in find- ing the bodies of both. The judge was found lying upon his face with a bullet wound in a vital place, and his son some distance away in a field of corn, to which he had probably fled upon being attacked. His body was perforated by ten or twelve arrows, which he had evidently pulled from his flesh and laid beside him before he died. The circumstances of the killing could only be conjectured. It was supposed that the Indians were concealed in the cornfield and by some device decoyed the son near their hiding place and then poured a volley of arrows into him ; the father hearing the cries, started to his relief and was shot down with a bullet. The savages then made off without disturbing the oxen and wagon. their object having been attained apparently in the killing of the palefaces. The soldiers made an ineffectual effort to find the Indians, and their camp near town was fired into by a small band of mounted warriors, while the troops were out on this search. The Indians then made their way into the river bottom, which was covered with grass as high as a man's head, and with young timber, and werc able to successfully elude the troops. At this time nothing was known at Sioux Falls of the Minnesota outbreak. This intelligence reached Yankton, however. and led Governor Jayne to dispatch two couriers to Lieutenant Bacon apprising him of the hostilities, and ordering him to evacuate the place and move the in- habitants to Yankton forthwith. it having occurred to the governor that the Indians who were driven out of Minnesota would strike for the Dakota settle- ment, which proved to be the case. This evacuation order was received on the 28th, and was put into execution the same day, the settlers reaching Yankton on the 30th, and bringing with them most of their personal effects. The Indians entered the Village of Sioux Falls very soon after the whites left and burned and destroyed all the improvements they were able to demolish and burn. The stone buildings defied their destructive efforts, though fires were kindled in all of them.

The Sioux Falls settlers who removed to Yankton at this time were W. W. Brookings, George P. Waldron and his family, Berne C. Fowler and wife ( Mr. Fowler had been carrying the mail from Yankton to Sioux Falls during the sum- mer). James W. Evans, Barclay Jarrett, Charles S. White and family, William Stevens and John McClellan.

Amos Shaw went to Vermillion and Dr. J. L. Phillips and Henry Masters and wife to Dubuque.

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Lieut. James Bacon, of Company A, Dakota Cavalry, was in Sioux Falls at the time the Indians attacked and killed Judge Amidon and his son. He was in command of forty men of his company, and according to his own statement was encamped on the present site of the Cataract House. The Amidons were massa- cred in a cornfield adjoining the settlement on the north. Mr. Bacon relates thic incident :

The shots which killed the men were plainly heard by myself as I was sitting at the lower fall in the river fishing, but thinking it some of my men hunting ducks in the slough, I paid no attention to it. About 10 o'clock that night, Mrs. Amidon came to my tent and reported the absence of her husband and son, expressing a fear that they had been killed by the Indians. At that time those here knew nothing of the Minnesota massacre. Search was made for the missing men that night, but owing to the intense darkness it was postponed until day- light when the bodies were found. The son, who was a hunchback, had a dozen arrows sticking in his hump. After removing the bodies to his camp, the lieutenant, with twenty-five men, took the trail of the raiders, who were a band of a dozen warriors from the Minnesota hostiles. The trail led around the north side of the penitentiary bluff, and upon reaching a point in view of the present site of the city, the Indians were discovered firing upon the boys in camp. We went to the relief of our comrades, and the Indians, who were afoot, struck west, crossing Covell's slough, and by that means escaped, as we were mounted and unable to follow. The Indians returned the same night and attempted to stampede our horses, but we were prepared for them and they abandoned the effort.

Next day I received orders from Yankton to evacuate Sioux Falls, and bring all the settlers to Yankton. The civilian population of the city on that date embraced only three families, namely, Mrs. Judge Amidon's remaining family, Capt. George P. Waldron and family, and a man named Foster and his family. Judge Brookings had left the place the day before the raid.

While the occupation of the country in the Sioux Valley by the whites, incluid- ing Sioux Falls, and the initial settlements in the Missouri Valley at Yankton and opposite Fort Randall was contemporaneous, there appears to have been no concert of action between the communities, nor does it appear that either section was aware that there existed any other settlement in the proposed territory. Even as late as 1859, when the Sioux Falls parties were straining every energy to secure the organization of the territory, and even went so far as to hold an election and elect a congressman and territorial officers, the communities then existing on . the Missouri at Elk Point, Vermillion, Yankton and Bon Homme appear to have been totally oblivious of these proceedings, while Sioux Falls, where a news- paper was occasionally published, was apparently in blissful ignorance of what was transpiring on the Missouri, and laboring under the impression that the Missouri country was an uninhabited wilderness, sent a party of men represent- ing the Dakota Land Company to explore the Missouri Valley for the purpose of locating townsites. We infer from this adventure that the Sioux Falls people must have looked upon the Missouri Valley at that time as unoccupied.

It is probable, however, that the leaders of each section who were engaged in promoting the organization of the territory before Congress were informed of the ambition of a rival, and used "all honorable means" to checkmate him.

Sioux Falls and the Big Sioux Valley country north were made the Second Representative District by the proclamation of the governor calling the first election in 1861. At the election held in September of that year George P. Wal- dron received ten votes for member of the House of Representatives and James McCall one. Waldron was declared elected. W. W. Brookings, for councilman, received 9 votes: Cole, 5 : and Wixson, 3, indicating that there were less than twenty voles in the representative district at that time.

In the Minnesota Historical Society Collections, 1895-98, will be found a sketch of the "First Organized Government of Dakota," written by Samuel I. Albright, then of New York, at the solicitation of Judge Charles F. Flandrau, of Minnesota, prefaced by an explanatory note by the judge, who says that the Sioux Falls settlement "presents the only actual attempt (except one earlier instance) to form a government on the principles of 'squatter sovereignty,' pure

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and simple, that has ever occurred in this country." Judge Flandran then pro- ceuds with his preface :

When Wisconsin was admitted into the Union of States, in the year 1848, the St. Croix River was chosen as its western boundary, leaving ont the part of the County of St. Croix which lies between the St. Croix River and the Mississippi. Within the large territory so abandoned were the towns of Stillwater, St. Paul, St. Anthony Falls, and several other settlements. The inhabitants of this region at once set about finding some government for themselves, and decided that the remnant of Wisconsin Territory so deserted was still the Territory of Wisconsin. Governor Dodge, who was the governor of the territory, had been elected United States senator of the new State of Wisconsin, which left Mr. John Catlin, secretary of the territory, ex-officio governor of what was left of it. Mr. Catlin lived at Madison, and was invited to come to Stillwater and proclaim the territory still existent. He did so, and called for the election of a delegate to Congress. Henry H. Sibley was elected and when he arrived at Washington was acknowledged and given a seat as delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin, after which the Territory of Minnesota was, on March 3, 1849, duly organized, with its domain extending from the St. Croix to the Missouri.

When Minnesota, on the 11th day of May, 1858, was admitted into the Union, its western boundary was fixed by the Red River of the North and a line extending south from the foot of Big Stone Lake to the north line of lowa, thus leaving ont all the land extending west of this line to the Missouri River, which now belongs to the two Dakotas. The situation was identical with that presented on the admission of Wisconsin. Anticipating this condition, a number of enterprising men, a year previous, had determined to improve the opportunity of organizing a new territory out of the remnant which would be left of Minnesota, and to avail themselves of the advantages of being proprietors of the capital city and several lesser ones that might become the seats of the university, penitentiary, and other public institutions of the new territory. They did not adopt the plan that was so successful in the case of Wisconsin, by calling upon the governor to order an election for a delegate, for the reason, undoubtedly, that until the year 1857 there were no inhabitants of the remnant, save those residing at Pembina at the extreme north, who could hardly claim to be of sufficient importance to ask that they be recognized as a separate govern- ment, but, instead, they boldly took possession of the country with the determination of creating an entirely new government with the aid of Congress.

It must be remembered that Mr. Buchanan was then President, and that Minnesota was strongly democratic in its politics; but the republican party, then in its infancy, had gained great strength in Congress, and entertained hopes of electing the next President, which it did in 1860. This condition of things militated against the organization of a new territory, the officers of which would be democratic, and prevented the realization of the hopes of the adventurers who first settled in Dakota.

When the Sioux Indian war broke out in 1862, the remaining settlements on the Big Sioux were abandoned, and all the improvements were destroyed by the Indians. Shortly after the termination of the Indian war. a military post was established on May 11, 1865, at Sioux Falls for the protection of the surrounding country. This post, which was called "Fort Dakota." consisted of one company of cavalry at one time, and of infantry at another time, and was maintained until June 18, 1869, when it was abandoned, nothing remaining but the quarters occupied by the troops, and two men, Mr. C. K. Howard and Ed Broughton, who had acted as sutlers for the post. They operated a small trading house and dealt with the Indians. Broughton lived in the stone house on the river bank, which was built by the settlers from Minnesota. A few settlers found their way into the valley while the troops were there-a Mr. Jeptha Douling and his family. and several others. They supplied milk and vegetables to the soldiers.

This state of things continued until about June, 1869, when R. F. Pettigrew located at the falls. He found lying upon the rocks the platen of the newspaper press that had been used in the issue of the "Dakota Democrat" and has preserved it until the present time. Mr. Pettigrew has been very prominent in the progress of Dakota. He represented it in Congress as territorial delegate, and is now serving a second term as United States senator from South Dakota. I am indebted to him for some of the facts in this narrative.

About the year 1871, a brother of Senator Pettigrew found his way into the valley of the Big Sioux and located on the old site of Flandrau, about thirty-five miles above Sioux Falls, which town the old company had named in my honor. There was then no vestige of the former settlement. But a few Sisseton Indians were living there, and a man named Lew llulett, a trapper, had built a shack in which he carried on a small trade with the Indians.

The site of Medary, one of the old locations, still farther up the river, was lost, and a new town by the same mme was started a few miles from the old one: but that has also disappeared and the present town of Brookings, on the railroad. about six miles away, has taken its place. Since the second settlement of the valley of the Big Sioux, which may be said to have commenced about the time of the arrival of Mr. Pettigrew in 1869, the growth and progress of the country has been marvelous, and the success of the principal

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selections of sites for cities made by the original settlers-Sioux Falls, Flandrau and Brookings, the successor to Medary-proves conclusively the sagacity of these pioneers, as they are now all prominent localities in South Dakota. CHAS. E. FLANDRAU.

The following letter, written by Charles E. Flandrau, of the Dakota Land Company, regarding the operations of that organization, will prove of interest :

St. Paul, Minn., September 3, 1879.

Edward Ely, Esq., Winona, Minn.

Dear Sir :

In response to your letter of August 15, 1879, asking me for information concerning the origin and early history of the Town of Flandrau, in Dakota Territory, I am glad to say that I am in possession of the facts you seek to know and that I give them to you with pleasure because there seems to be a good deal of misapprehension among the people of that place about its origin. Being somewhat of an "old settler," I take great interest in all that concerns the history of this portion of the Northwest, and like to see the facts correctly stated. It happened thus: In the early part of the year 1857 we all felt pretty sure that the State of Minnesota would be admitted into the Union upon what we then called the "north and south" line of division, which was the line finally adopted. There was a strong party in favor of a state upon the "east and west" line of division which would, if adopted, have cut the territory in two upon a line just north of Minneapolis, making the state out of the south portion and leaving the territory or remnant north of that line.

You will remember that when Wisconsin was admitted on the western boundary of the St. Croix River, it left all the country west of that river in an unorganized condition, and that the inhabitants held a convention and elected Gen. H. H. Sibley as a delegate to Congress as an experiment, and that he was admitted to a seat and the act of Congress of 1849 was soon after passed organizing the Territory of Minnesota. We anticipated just such a con- dition of things on the admission of Minnesota, and concluded we would occupy the territory west of the new state, send a delegate to Congress, secure the capital, university, penitentiary and other public buildings at our own towns and make a good speculation out of the enter- prise. To enable us to accomplish this a corporation was organized, under an act of the Legislature of the Territory of Minnesota, passed May 23, 1857, which was entitled "an act to incorporate the Dakota Land Company." The original incorporators were W. H. Nobles, J. R. Brown, A. G. Fuller, S. A. Medary, Samuel F. Brown, James W. Lynch. N. R. Brown, F. J. Dewitt, and F. Freiderich. The corporation was vested with full powers for the purchase and entry of land, and the doing of anything that was necessary to establish towns and cities anywhere in the territory or future state.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 20

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