History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 27

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

USA > South Dakota > History of Dakota Territory, volume I > Part 27

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The first death after the beginning of white settlement in Dakota occurred on the 16th of September, 1859, and was caused by a prairie fire. The grass was abundant and frosts came quite early, prairie fires lighting up the horizon at night in every direction. On the date named a squad of soldiers from Fort Ran- dall with an ox team were passing over the trail made by Lieutenant Warren's ex- pedition years before, about three miles north of Yankton, on their way to the Government ferry on the Jim, when they were overtaken by a prairie fire, and one of the boys fatally burned and another seriously. Armstrong, in his Yankton history tells us that "it was after dark when the party reached the ferry with the dying man and called for the boat. While crossing the river a groan was heard in the wagon, and the suffering man was dead. In the morning he appeared to be burned black as a coal, his skin cleaved from his flesh and his teeth dropped from his mouth. A rude coffin was constructed during the day and his charred Vol. 1-10

116

IIISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

remains placed in it and 'when the sun grew low and the hill shadows long,' he was borne away to a neighboring summit near the old Sioux Falls road, where his companions slowly and sadly lowered him into his grave and to a long unsuf- fering sleep." A rude board was put up to mark his final resting place but his name was not preserved by the settlers.

Downer T. Bramble, at the time a member of the Legislature of Nebraska from Dakota County, and who had been keeping a general store at Ponca, came up to Yankton early in the fall of 1859. Mr. Bramble had been contemplating a removal to Yankton as soon as the Indian question was out of the way, and made preparations while here for the erection of a building in which to conduct a general store business. Ile selected a site at the foot of Walnut Street, taking the southwest corner of that block, his structure fronting south. This was the first frame building erected in the town or county, and the lumber entering into its construction was hauled up from St. James, Nebraska. It was a one-story building, about 24 by 80. Mr. Bramble found it necessary to plaster it in order to render it comfortable and protect his freezable merchandise, and as a matter of experiment as well as necessity used a plaster made from the native chalk rock.

As the builders who came after him did not imitate his example, it is safe to conclude that the experiment did not result in recommending chalk rock for such purposes. But it served to keep out the cold. This building became some- what historic. It was used for mercantile purposes until the fall of 1861, when the growing business of the merchant demanded more commodious quarters. It then became the executive office of Dakota and was the political head center of the ruling party for a number of years. It housed the surveyor general's office as well as the executive at the same time, and an addition was made to it which was occupied by the secretary of the territory and the territorial library. It was the meeting place for a few weeks for one of the early bolting Legislatures. At the time it was built the only other buildings on the townsite were the Indian trading post, so-called, and another log structure built by Charley Picotte in the neigh- borhood of Picotte Street and the river front, and occupied by himself and his Indian family ; and the Ash Hotel, composed of a number of log buildings, at the corner of Broadway and Third streets.

On the 12th of October, 1859. Moses K. Armstrong, a surveyor and civil engi- neer and brother of the Thomas Armstrong who was later the lieutenant governor of Minnesota, in company with William Thompson, a carpenter and builder, and George Grafft, reached Yankton from Minnesota, making the journey with a big prairie schooner propelled by oxen, and went into camp on the east bank of the James River near the ferry landing. Water and feed for stock were both very convenient and very abundant, more so on the Jim than around the Yankton trading post, while the society was just as select and the Indians fully as numero11s.

If the reader has never experienced the novelty of camping in the vicinity of a large body of Indians "at home" then he has got a very novel and entertaining experience in store for him. The Indians are superstitious and are by nature and habit early risers.

THE INDIAN IN HIS DOMESTIC RELATIONS

The dawn of day is an event in every well regulated tepee. It is then that the Indian arises and dons his abbreviated garment. He then speaks out in a loud voice, as though talking to some one inside the tepee, saying something after this fashion: "Wakan Sica !- Wakan Sica! Wakan Wakan, Wati etanhan, Kikoda Yo! Wakan Sica!" being translated means, "Bad devil, bad devil. devil ; get you gone from my door, O, bad devil." No sooner has this jargon been started in one tepee than it is taken up and repeated by the neighbors and soon the whole camp resounds with a perfect babel of voices shouting this refrain with a good deal added to it. This however does not terminate the early rising exercise. The

SIOUX INDIAN GRAVE, 1850

PONCA INDIANS BOATING ON PONCA CREEK

SIOUX PAPOOSE ASLEEP BOUND IN CRIB

YANKTON INDIAN AGENCY

BULL-BOAT MADE BY SIOUX INDIANS

SIOUX SQUAW'S CURING HIDES AND MAKING BUCKSKIN

147

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

talking inside the tepees continues until it is fairly light, but not an Indian will be seen out of doors, and in the meantime hundreds of dogs have been aroused, yelping and barking and pouring forth a torrent of noise that it is impossible to describe. It is said that this early rising custom prevails largely among all bar- barous and semi-civilized savages, and that its object is to drive away the evil spirits who during the night have entered the village and are gathered at the entrance of each tepee prepared to seize and destroy the first person who comes forth in the early morning. The noise is sufficiently terrifying to effectually accomplish this purpose, for when it gets light enough to enable one to discern objects out of doors, it is discovered that every devil has vanished out of sight. The Indians are now ready to begin the serious work of the day and the squaws are aroused for that purpose. They light the fires, and make ready the frugal breakfast.

This peculiar custom of the uncivilized savage can be remotely associated with the devotional morning service in all enlightened Christian households where the family gather to implore God's blessings through the day, and pray that He lead them not into temptation but deliver them from evil. Possibly this custom of the modern Indian is a relic of an ancient ceremony when their ancestors besought the Great Spirit to deliver them from evil.

Necessity had taught the Indian very little regarding the construction of a domicile or in furnishing it. Their domiciles are called "tipis," pronounced "tepees," and ordinarily are a conical structure, eight or nine feet high and twenty- five or thirty feet in circumference at their base, sloping to a pointed peak where an aperture a half foot in diameter is left through which the smoke escapes. The wall of the tipi is composed first of poles set on the ground in the shape of a circle and gathered together at the top, leaving the aperture before mentioned for chim- ney purposes. These poles support a wall of ducking or canvas fastened to- gether with stout thread or sinews, and before these were procurable. the skins of the animals slain in the chase were used for this purpose and are yet to a limited extent by the chieftains.

These canvas or other coverings are fastened to the earth and also securely tied at the top with an opening left at one point for a low entrance. This com- pleted the domicile proper. Inside the furnishings are of the plainest and simplest that can be suggested. Around the circle near the canvas were bestowed the sleeping quarters and it was surprising the number that could be accommodated with lodging accommodations in one of these primitive abodes. In the center of the room and directly under that small aperture in the roof are two forked stakes driven into the earth about three feet apart, a pole or an iron rod stretched across between the stakes supporting a good sized camp kettle in which the family cook- ing is done. Underneath the kettle the fire is kindled when it is needed. The squaw-wife has the management of the household. she also procures the fuel, builds the fires, and tradition informs us performs all the manual labor necessary to keep the establishment in proper order and free from debt. Her Hilinakee, as she designates her liege lord and master, does the fishing and hunting, and smoking and trading, and represents the family and its dignity on all occasions. As a rule there is peace in the family there are very few domestic infelicities. The marital vows, in most tribes, are held sacred and the "Ililinakee" and his "Tawiau" move along in their allotted spheres in a quiet, peaceful, contented and reasonably happy way. The instances where this is not the case are the exceptions to the rule, and one case of infelicity never fails to attract much more attention than the straightforward and honorable course pursned by hundreds of others. That the women perform what we term the work or the drudgery is to a certain extent true, but it is not put upon her by a hard-hearted brute of a husband; it is the result of ages of custom, and is considered no hardship: for the Indian squaw residing in the tepee would not perform as much manual labor in a month as the ordinary domestic in a civilized white family would perform on a washing day or a cleaning house day. Where the Indian family was so

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

situated that it could till a patch of ground, the squaw usually attended to the planting, cultivating and harvesting, but there was not a great amount of it at any time to be done and the warrior husband would in the meantime be occupied in the chase or on the warpath, securing game or the spoils of a successful battle for the subsistence of his family.

The writer has no desire to defend the Indian custom of keeping the squaw in a menial situation and as using her simply as a bearer of burdens, which with- out any extenuation has obtained credence in the publie mind; but where this matter is examined free from prejudice and also free from popular notions which have never had any legitimate ground to stand upon, it will be seen that the large majority of Indian women have much less to complain of in their domestic relations than the majority of white women who are subjected to a life of penury, toil and privation by their worthless husbands. Our ordinary police courts in all communities disclose a condition of marital troubles and hardships that you would search in vain to parallel or to approach among any tribe of Indians.

Regarding the influence exerted upon the Indians by the pioneer whites who intermarried with Indian women and thus practically became members of the tribe, there may be diversity of opinion, but observation must have taught that in the great majority of instances the white individual was not improved by the association and the same may be said of the Indian. The motives, ordinarily, that led the white person to abandon civilization and seek a domestic career among a savage people and cling to such life from choice were not such as sway the minds of men of good inclinations and ordinary ambition. There may have been a few instances where persons who were the victims of unrequited affection or had suffered some monstrous reverse of fortune, sought surcease for their afflicted minds among these strange, and to a civilized person, totally uncongenial people whom we call savages; but the great majority seemed to have taken to it because of predilection and possibly in verification of the theory that civilized man, or many of them, following their natural impulses and asking guidance from no higher power or more potent source, will retrograde and deteriorate rapidly to the savage state, divested of the environment and virtues of civilization ; and obtaining no recompense by securing the virtues of the savage-leaving him virtueless a moral wreck; if in fact he had not touched this condition before his association with the Indian squaw, for we know that he would not be led to his most abhorrent vices by any example or precept furnished him by the savage. The worst characters on the frontiers-the most reckless and violent-were white skinned men who had been trying to live and talk like the Indians and swagger and swear like brutes. The most calamitous evil growing out of this association was the lasting impression these examples made upon the mind of the untutored and unartful savage regarding the white race. The great majority of these aboriginal people had known nothing of the pale face-many of them may never have seen a white man except those who had obtruded themselves into their society-they could not journey to the abodes of the better and higher civiliza- tion, and that civilization had not come to them-so that this preliminary acquaint- ance with the white race left in his mind a prejudice hurtful and radically unjust toward all white people. The savage nature is not on that account unclean or impure. The Indian, almost as a rule, would be found as possessing sterling traits of character; high-minded, truthful; actuated by commendable motives : governed by good rules that might be termed principles, and while he could be extremely cruel and utterly merciless in dealing with a foe, his nature revolted at the coarse unbridled licentiousness and rank dissipation of his white tribal relative, and he was seldom found participating in his degrading conduct.

A large quantity of hay belonging to the pioneers was destroyed in the fall by the prairie fires which were quite fierce and swept over a large area. The set- tlers who had animals to feed through the winter cut a second supply in the marshes and lowlands in October. It was not merchantable hay, but it was much better than no feed.

ASH HOTEL, YANKTON, 1566

149

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Armstrong and Thompson, new arrivals from Minnesota before mentioned, had gone into camp on the James River upon their arrival in the territory, and re- mained there for a number of weeks before removing to the settlement in town. They were so encamped during the season of these prairie fires, and came very near losing their winter's stock of provisions and tent. The fire assailed them in the dead of night while they were sound asleep, and had eaten away a portion of the tent before the heat aroused them. Mad Bull's band of Yanktons were in camp near and the squaws who, after the Indian custom do all the hard work, were engaged in fighting the fire with wet blankets when Armstrong awoke. The Indian women in their strange and scant attire, in the glare of the furious flames which they were making frantic efforts to subdue, looked more like a band of Tam O' Shanter witches than human beings. Thompson. Armstrong's roommate. was awakened by the ridge pole of the tent falling upon his head. Hle glanced toward the blazing prairie and the squaws and, supposing the Indians had attacked their camp, sprang to his feet with a yell and started on a keen run for the river under the impression that he had been hit on the head with a tomahawk.

A census of the inhabitants of Yankton in October, 1859, would have shown the following named pioneers: W. P. Lyman, Chas. F. Picotte, Samuel Morti- mer, James Witherspoon, James M. Stone, David Fisher, Lytle M. Griffith, Joseph R. Hanson, Frank Chapel, J. S. Presho, Enos Stutsman, Moses K. Armstrong, William Thompson. Obed Foote, William Werdebaugh, Otis B. Wheeler, Horace T. Bailey, George Pike, Jr., A. B. Smith, Samuel Jerou and William Houston, an eccentric educated man who was locally designated as "Old Yank." And there were in addition the following named settlers in the valley of the lower James River: Jolin Stanage, Felix LeBlanc, John Lefevre ( Old Dakota). L. G. Bour- ret, FF. Johnson, M. Minde, L. Hanson, John Alseth, John Betz, Henry Arend, Thomas Frick, William Neuman, Ole Olson and John Claude.

There were also three white women, wives of the settlers, Mrs. Stanage, Mrs. Frick and Mrs. Arend ; five children, one son and one daughter of Stanage, John and Mary, two sons of Arend, Henry and Chris, and Mary, a daughter of Thomas Frick.

W. P. Lyman had taken a claim adjoining the townsite on Smutty Bear bot- tom which he improved and cultivated, and Judge Presho had also taken a claim adjoining the town on the west.

In July, 1859. John Stanage with his wife and two children, John and Mary. with two yoke of oxen, two new wagons, a few cows, a breaking plow and a good supply of provisions reached the east bank of the James River near the Gov- ernment ferry and went into camp. Mr. Stanage had been a soldier in the regular army but his term of five years ended in '57 at Fort Pierre, and he had then taken employment in the quartermaster's department after his discharge, and remained until '59, when he resolved to start out for himself : went down to Sioux City by steamboat, outfitted as above stated, and returned as far as the Valley of the James, where he soon selected a location, and fell to work getting out house logs and constructing a pioneer home. He was the first settler on the James, in fact he was the first farmer probably in the Territory of Dakota to settle upon his land and cultivate the soil as his sole occupation. His wife was then the only white woman in the territory outside of Fort Randall and Sioux Falls and Fort Abercrombie, and we know of none others in the territory west of the Big Sioux except those at Fort Randall. Their only neighbors were the Yank- ton Indians, a number of whom Mr. Stanage employed to help him in his build- ing operations. The Indians were perfectly well disposed, and Mr. Stanage, hav- ing learned their language while in the military service, had no trouble in nego- tiating with them. About the same time Felix LeBlanc, who had been appointed blacksmith at the Yankton agency, selected his claim near Mr. Stanage and em- ployed an old Frenchman named LaFevre who was better known as "Old Da- kota" to open up the farm and improve it. LeBlane was making $150 a month at the agency and for the time being concluded to run his farm by proxy, though

150

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

his wife and children came down to the claim two or three times a year in order to keep within the law's restrictions as to residence, and during these visits Mrs. LeBlane would do some cooking for the old Frenchman which he did not relish, because he didn't want any women around. Ile was an expert cook and a fine farmer and could see no possible use for a woman on general principles. He was a confirmed bachelor and quite an eccentric character. Henry Arend and Thomas Frick, John Betz, and Robert Buckheart took claims a little later on this side of the James River in the vicinity of the ferry. It would seem that Ireland, Canada, Norway, Germany and Dakota were all represented in these settlements. Stanage put in a good rope ferry at his place the same fall; this was about a mile below the first ferry put in by Lyman, and "Stanage's Crossing" became popular in after years and the major portion of the travel patronized him, especially emi- grants and freighters who found the camping privileges much superior. LeBlanc a few years later built a bridge at his claim and the ferries were then sent farther north and west.

Henry Clay Ash, of Sioux City, a whole souled, genial Hoosier, born and bred, and possibly the most popular of all the early pioneers, came to Yankton carly in October and put up two log buildings on the site of the present Merchants Hotel, and on Christmas eve following, at the close of a very cold day he came from Sioux City with his family, and the Ash Hotel was opened on Christmas, 1859, in the log structures. Mrs. Ash was the first white woman to take up an abode in Yankton.

The first jury trial in Dakota took place in Yankton in March, 1860. In the absence of local law, the "Yankton Claim Club" furnished the procedure and the rules. The case to be decided was a claim contest between W. P. Lyman and George Gillmore, a new comer. The land in dispute was a traet in Smutty Bear which a few years later became the home of Jacob Branch and family. The judge was M. K. Armstrong, Enos Stutsman was Lyman's lawyer, while Gill- more, of Hanson's Nebraska party, seems to have appeared in his own behalf, there being no attorney, except Stutsman, among the settlers. The jury was composed of D. W. Whitmer, Robert Crippen and P. Dupuis. The witnesses who testified were J. R. Hanson, Horace T. Bailey, Chas. Picotte, and James Falking- berg. The case was given to the jury after able arguments by both parties, who returned a verdict in favor of Lyman, and that ended the case. There was no higher court for Gillmore to appeal to and the verdict seemed to be generally upheld by the settlers.

FIRST BLIZZARD VICTIM

The winter of 1860-61 was extremely rigorous, especially the closing weeks. No known record was kept but the cold was intense for a long time, snows were frequent, high winds prevailed, and the drifts were colossal. It was a long, bliz- zardy winter and Geo. D. Fiske, the first white resident of Yankton, was frozen to death on the night of the roth of February, during a scathing, blinding bliz- zard. Mr. Fiske came to Yankton in 1858 in the employ of Frost, Todd & Com- pany and for some time represented that firm at this point. He had not been in this employ, however, for about a year before his death, and had spent a good portion of the summer and fall of 1860 at the little settlement of Frankfort on the Nebraska side. He was stopping with Wm. Thompson at the latter's claim cabin that winter. This cabin was situated in the vicinity of Valentine's old home northwest of and adjoining Yankton, where Thompson had made a pre- emption. On the night Fiske met his death, he was down town, and during the evening and while the storm was fiercely raging he called at the Ash Hotel to rest awhile. He told Mr. Ash he was on his way out to Thompson's and he was met by a vigorous protest from that gentleman, who with great earnestness urged him to give up any such attempt for the night, as the chances were a hundred to one that he would perish. The wind was howling and the air was literally filled

MR. AND MRS. JOIIN STANAGE Settled in Vankton County on "Jim" River in 1859

MR. AND MRS. HENRY C. ASH

Mrs. Ash. the first white woman to come to Yankton, arrived on Christmas day, 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Ash built and ran the first hotel in Yankton.

151

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

with the flying snow. It would have been a dangerous storm to face in daylight, and in this case the way to Thompson's was a good three-fourths of a mile over a trackless prairie without a sign of habitation between, and the eddying and whirling snow so violent as to literally take one's breath away and to cause such confusion of the senses as to make it impossible to keep in any certain direction. The wind at times would seem to come with equal force from every point of the compass. Ash pleaded with him to abandon his intention, but the man was stub- born and determined to go. He told Ash he could make it and finally started out. He must have lost his way very soon after leaving the hotel, and instead of head- ing for Thompson's he made his way west up the slope of the hill until he reached a spot just north of Judge Presho's old cabin, where he fell exhausted and died. His body was found the next day after the storm by a searching party. Arm- strong in his early history tells us that his funeral was the first in the county and in the absence of a clergyman the solemn ceremonies were performed by his young friends and companions. This was the first death in Yankton and the second in the county, both resulting from fire and storm. Mr. Fiske was a south- ern man but from what place or even state was not known among his acquaint- ances here. He was a good business man and popular with the settlers. He was buried in a plat of ground near Thompson's cabin, and here for a number of years those who died in Yankton were buried. Cemetery grounds were afterwards donated by Picotte on College Hill and these carly interments were removed to the new burial place.

H. C. Ash was one of the searching party that discovered the lifeless remains of the unfortunate man and assisted in preparing his body for burial. Fiske had worn a pair of leather mittens the night he was frozen and when found his hands were tightly clenched and held a small ball of ice that had formed from the snow he had gathered in his mittens. These mittens were left at the Ash Hotel and as no one cared to take them away Mr. Ash placed them on a shelf where they would be out of the way, as he didn't feel like throwing them into the street. He never had any desire to interfere with them, and denies that he is in the least superstitions, but says that for a number of years after. these mittens would turn up before him in the most unexpected places and at the most unsea- sonable times, and he could never account for it.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 27

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