History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 32

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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President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1861. In the following month of April he made the following appointments for the Terri- tory of Dakota :

Governor, Dr. William Jayne, Springfield, Ill .; secretary, John Hutchinson, Minnesota ; chief justice, Philemon Bliss, Ohio ; associate justice, J. P. Williston, Pennsylvania ; associate justice, Joseph L. Williams, Tennessee; United States district attorney, W. E. Gleason, Maryland ; United States marshal, William E. Shaffer, Missouri ; surveyor general, George D. Hill, Michigan.

On the 6th of June, 1861, the Weekly Dakotian was issued at Yankton by the Dakotian Printing Company, composed of Frank M. Ziebach and William Freney, both young journalists and practical craftsmen from Sioux City, where they were engaged in the publication of the Sioux City Register, a democratic weekly newspaper, and the only paper at that time published in Northwestern Iowa. The Dakotian was the first newspaper published in the Territory of Da- kota after the passage of the organic act. The office of publication was in the log building on the west side of Broadway, near Second Street, built in 1859 by John Patterson. Mr. Frank M. Ziebach was the editor and did a good portion of the mechanical labor besides. IIe was a number one journalist and a master printer. He needed to have a thorough knowledge of the printing art in order to overcome the many difficulties that are met with in establishing and printing a newspaper in a frontier settlement.

During the month of June, 1861, Newton Edmunds reached Yankton from Ypsilanti. Michigan. He came to open up the office of surveyor general, of which he was chief clerk, and set the machinery in motion for the surveying of the public lands. Mr. Edmunds secured office accommodations in the Bramble build- ing. corner of Front and Walnut streets, known on the early plats as Elm Street.

On the 27th of August, 1861, the surveyor general issued the following notice :

By direction of the honorable commissioner of the general land office, bearing date of July 29, 1861, the surveyor general of this territory is directed to receive dectaratory state- ments of settters until the opening of the local tand office. Notice accordingly is hereby given that this office is now open for the reception of such declaratory statements which may now be filed in this office as fast as the surveys are completed and townships platted. G. D. 1lit.I., Surveyor General Dakota Territory.

By N. EDMUNDS, Chief Clerk.

175

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

William Jayne, the new governor, came in June, accompanied by William Shaffer, United States marshal, and established the executive office in a log structure on Broadway, opposite the .\sh Hotel. This log structttre thus became the first capitol building of Dakota, inasmuch as the governor began the work of organization in that humble structure, and made it his domicile, official and personal, for a number of weeks. He had no authority to locate the capital and the organic act gave no direction as to the seat of government further than to authorize the Legislative Assembly to locate it. As the Legislative Assembly was not yet in existence, the governor carried the seat of government with him and issued his proclamations and official documents from the "Town of Yankton."

VOTING POPULATION IN 1861

The governor proceeded without delay to set the wheels of government in motion. His first official act was the appointment of persons to take the census of the territory. He appointed Henry D. Betts, Wilmot W. Brookings, Andrew J. Harlan, Obed Foote, George M. Pinney and J. D. Morse census agents. He assigned to 11. D. Betts that portion of the territory embracing all the settlements on or contiguous to the Red River and at St. Joseph and vicinity. Wilmot W. Brookings was assigned to the Sioux Falls district, embracing settlements on the Big Sioux River north of the Brule Creek settlement and south of the Big Stone Lake. Andrew J. Harlan was assigned to that part of the territory embracing all the settlements from the Brule Creek settlement to the mouth of the Big Sioux, and all settlements on the Missouri River between the mouth of the Big Sioux and east of the line between ranges 53 and 54, the west boundary of Clay County. Obed Foote was assigned to that part of the territory lying on the Missouri bounded on the east by the range line between ranges 53 and 54, and bounded on the west by the range line between ranges 57 and 58, the west boundary of Yankton County. George M. Pinney was assigned to that part of the territory lying on the Missouri bounded on the east by the range line between ranges 57 and 58, and bounded on the west by Choteau Creek. J. D. Morse was assigned that portion of the territory lying between the Missouri and Niobrara rivers, and that portion on the Missouri bounded on the east by Choteau Creek, and running west and north to include the Pease and Hamilton settlements.

The following is a summary of the census returns filed with the executive :

RED RIVER DISTRICT

Whole number white males. 51

Whole number of white females. 28 79

Mixed males 264

Mixed females 260

524

VERMILLION AND THE BIG SIOUX DISTRICT

Brule Creek

Whole number white males 31

Whole number white females. 16

Point on Big Sioux

Whole number of white males 47

Whole number of white females 32

Half breeds 25

10.1

Elk Point

Whole number white males

Whole number white females. 21

Half breeds

Vermillion

Whole number white males. 152

Whole number white females. 106

llalf breeds

265

Bottom and Clay Creek Whole number white males 131

Whole number white females. 88

2IC

WILLIAM JAVNE

First Territorial Governor

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Sioux Falls District Whole number white males 50

Whole number white females.

Yankton District

Whole number white males Whole number white females. 278

Half breeds 287

Bon Homme District.

Whole number white males 102

Whole number white females VI

163

WESTERN DISTRICT

Pease and Ilamilton Settlements. White population 5,3

Half breeds

128

181

Fort Randall

Whole population 210

210

Yankton Agency

White population

Ilalf breeds

Ponca Agency and Vicinity White population 95

Italf breeds 34 120

Total population of territory 2.376

Upon receiving these returns the governor expressed himself as dissatisfied with the returns from the Red River as being underrated, because a large number of the settlers were off on their annual summer hunt; and he regarded the re- turns made by Mr. Morse of the Western district overrated, and that the agent had been deceived by representations made to him.

The report of the census taken by the Federal Government in 1860, which was the year following the treaty with the Yanktons and also the year preceding the passage of the organic act, gave to the Territory of Dakota the following agri- cultural and livestock productions: Eighty-four horses, 19 mules, 286 milch cows, 318 working oxen, 338 other cattle, 22 sheep and 287 swine. In grain and other farm products, 915 bushels of wheat, 700 bushels of rye, 20,296 bushels of corn, 250 bushels of oats, 286 bushels of peas and beans, 9.480 bushels of potatoes, 1,670 pounds of butter, 1,122 tons of hay and 20 gallons of maple molasses. Number of white population, 2,128. This was supposed to represent the entire area afterward included within the boundaries prescribed in the or- ganic act.

According to the census of 1860. the Territory of Dakota contained a popula- tion of 2.376, and of this number the Pembina country contained 1,606, consid- erably more than half, but the Pembina population had a much greater proportion of mixed-bloods than the other portions of the territory in the south.

William E. Gleason, the attorney general of the territory, was the next to arrive after the governor. Mr. Gleason was rather a fastidious gentleman from Maryland-a staunch, southern republican of the Henry Winter Davis school. His apparel fitted his station and tradition has it that he came crowned with a stovepipe hat. The governor, aware of the limited accommodations in town, courteously invited him to share his quarters in the humble structure of cotton- wood logs, and Mr. Gleason graciously accepted, conceiving that he could stand anything a governor could. So he placed his effects in the gubernatorial chamber and lodged in his official apartments. Mr. Gleason's first concern was to find water and a suitable vessel for a wash basin, which the executive office had strangely neglected to provide. Some wag related that the governor, when ap- pealed to by the attorney, told him that there was an abundance of water in the Missouri, pointing toward the river, which was free to all. Mr. Gleason proved himself a very capable official and a genuine southern gentleman, nevertheless.

Yankton appears to have been selected as the rendezvous for the newly ap- pointed federal officials prior to their coming to the territory. Vol. 1-12

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Reference has been made to the organization of a provisional government at Sioux Falls and the earnest efforts of the pioneers there to secure an organization of the territory in their interest, which is treated at length in former chapters. Their efforts seem to have been intelligently and aggressively directed, and their failure was due to conditions beyond their control. Had the organization come a year carlier, as the Sioux Falls parties anticipated, while Buchanan was president, it would probably have been Sioux Falls and not Yankton, for the reason that the governor and other leading democrats of Minnesota, and many of Iowa, who stood high in the councils of the party, were active in its support. The appoint- ment of Governor Jayne gave Yankton a valuable advantage. He was from Springfield, Ill., the home of the President, and a personal friend. Captain Todd, who had been at the head of all the movements on the Missouri slope leading up to the organization, was also a former Springfield man and a cousin of Mrs. Lincoln. There is no doubt that Captain Todd, who had high hopes of Yankton, and had arranged to enter the townsite under his treaty privilege, and who was also a very skillful plan maker, had arranged the place of rendezvous at Yankton, for hither all the federal officers came in the beginning. It will be admitted by all unprejudiced people that Yankton possessed natural advantages of a superior and prepossessing character that would have exerted a favorable influence on the minds of unbiased men who were looking for an official and domestic residence, but at that day its natural advantages comprised about all its possessions.

The census having been returned, the governor proceeded to issue a proclama- tion dividing the territory into legislative districts and calling an election for members of the Legislative Assembly and a delegate to Congress, and a second proclamation creating the judicial districts and assigning the judges. These proclamations are here given in full :

PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLE OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Whereas, the Organic Act organizing a temporary government for the Territory of Dakota, has provided for the election of one delegate to Congress and for a Legislative Assembly consisting of nine councilmen, whose term of office shall be two years, and thirteen members of the House of Representatives, whose term' of office shall be for one year ; and whereas,

In pursuance of the provisions of the Organic Act, I have caused to be taken a census, or enumeration of the inhabitants of said Territory, and upon said census returns, I have divided and apportioned the said Territory into Council and Representative districts, as follows, to-wit :

All the portion of the Dakota Territory lying between the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River, and bounded on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty and fifty-one, and that portion of the Dakota Territory lying west of the Red River of the North and including the settlement at and adjacent to Pembina and St. Joseph, shall compose the First Council District, to be entitled to two Councilmen.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded by the Vermillion River on the west and bounded on the east by the range line dividing ranges fifty and fifty-one. shall compose the Second Council District, and be entitled to two Councilmen.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded by the Vermillion River on the east and bounded on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty-three and fifty-four, shall compose the Third Council District, and be entitled to one Councilman.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by the range line dividing ranges fifty-three and fifty-four, and bounded on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty-seven and fifty-eight, shall compose the Fourth Council District, and be entitled to two Councilmen.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by the range line dividing ranges fifty-seven and fifty-eight, and bounded on the west by Choteau Creek, shall com- pose the Fifth Council District, and be entitled to one Councilman.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by Chotean Creek and on the west by a line west of and including that settlement known as the Hamilton Settlement, and also that portion of Dakota Territory situated between the Missouri River and the Niobrara River, shall compose the Sixth Council District, and be entitled to one Councilman.

All that portion of Dakota Territory situated between the Missouri and the Big Sioux rivers, and bounded on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty and fifty-one, and bounded on the north by the township line dividing townships ninety-four and ninety-five, shall compose the First Representative District, and be entitled to two Representatives.

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

All that portion of Dakota Territory lying west of the Big Sioux River and bounded on the south by the township line dividing townships ninety-four and ninety-five, and on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty and fifty-one, and on the north by a line drawn due east and west from the south end of Lake Preston, shall constitute the Second Repre- sentative District, and shall be entitled to one Representative.

All that portion of Dakota Territory lying on the Red River of the North, including the settlements of St. Joseph and Pembina, shall compose the Third Representative District, and be entitled to one Representative.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded by the Vermillion River on the west, and bounded on the east by the range line dividing ranges fifty and fifty-one, shall compose the Fourth Representative District, and be entitled to two Representatives.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded by the Vermillion River on the east, and bounded on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty-three and fifty-four, shall com- pose the Fifth Representative District, and shall be entitled to two Representatives.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded by the range line dividing ranges fifty- three and fifty-four on the east, and bounded on the west by the range line dividing ranges fifty-seven and fifty-eight, shall compose the Sixth Representative District, and be entitled to two Representatives.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by the range line dividing ranges fifty-seven and fifty-eight, and on the west by Choteau Creek, shall compose the Seventh Representative District, and be entitled to two Representatives.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by Choteau Creek, and bounded on the west by a line drawn west of, and to include the settlement known as the Hamilton Settlement, and also that portion of Dakota Territory situated between the Missouri and Niobrara rivers, shall compose the Eighth Representative District, and be entitled to one Representative.

Now, therefore, I. William Jayne, Governor of said Territory, by authority vested in me by the Organic Aet, do proclaim that an election will be held on Monday, the 16th day of September, 1861, for one Delegate to Congress, and nine Councilmen, and thirteen members of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected in the several districts as above apportioned. At which election the polls shall be opened at 9 o'clock A. M., and close at 6 o'clock P. M.

I do hereby establish, in the aforesaid district, the following places for voting :

In the first Representative District, at the dwelling house of Thomas Maloney, and do appoint as Judges of Election thereat, William Matthews, James Summers and Thomas Maloney; and also at the hotel of Eli Wixson, in Elk Point, and do appoint as judges of election thereat Sherman Clyde, William Frisbie and K. P. Romme.

In the Second Representative District, at the house of William Amida, and do appoint as judges, George B. Waldron, Barney Fowler and John Kelts.

In the Third Representative District, at the house of Charles LeMay, in the town of Pembina, and do appoint as judges, Charles LeMay, James McPetridge and H. Donelson ; also at the house of Baptiste Shorette in the town of St. Joseph, and do appoint as judges, Baptiste Shorette, Charles Bottinau and Antoine Zangran.

In the Fourth Representative District, at the house of James McHenry, and do appoint as judges, A. J. Harlan, Ole Anderson and A. Eckles.

In the Fifth Representative District. at the house of Bly Wood, and do appoint as judges, Ole Oldeson, Bly Wood and Ole Bottlofson.

In the Sixth Representative District, at the house of Frost Todd & Company, and do appoint as judges, M. K. AArmstrong, Frank Chapel and J. S. Presho.

In the Seventh Representative District, at Herrick's Hotel in Bon Homme, and do appoint as judges. Daniel Gifford, George M. Pinney and George Falkingberg.

In the Eighth Representative District, at the house of F. O. Pease, and do appoint as judges, J. V. Hamilton, Benjamin Estes and Joseph Ellis; and also at Gregory's Store, and do appoint as judges, Charles Young, James Tufts and Thomas Imall.

If one of the Judges of Election be absent or decline to serve, the two judges present shall select a third person, to act as judge, but if two or more judges be absent or decline to serve, then a majority of the voters present will elect persons to fill such vacancies.

A majority of the judges at each election poll will select two competent persons to act as Clerks of Election.

The voting shall be by ballot and the qualifications such as are prescribed by the Organic Act, to-wit :

Every free white male inhabitant of the United States above the age of 21 years, who shall have been a resident of the Territory at the time of the passage of the Organic Act. shall be entitled to vote at the first election, provided that the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States, and those who have declared by oath their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the Con- stitution of the United States.

Every voter shall be required to vote in that district in which he resided at the time of the issuing of this proclamation.

180

IHISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

The judges and clerks are required to observe the following regulations :

ist. On the morning of election, the first judge of the list will administer to the other two judges the oath of office by me prescribed, and one of the other two having been sworn shall administer the like oath to the first on the list.

end. llaving taken the oath, they will appoint two clerks, who shall take before one of the judges, the oath by me prescribed.

3rd. The ballots will be deposited in ballot box furnished.

4th. The judges will not receive the vote of any person, unless they believe that the person offering to vote is entitled to vote by the Organic Act, and should his right be doubted by the judges, or shouldl he be challenged by any person, the vote will not be received unless the person offering to vote shall state under oath (administered by one of the judges), that he is a free white person and a citizen of the United States, or has ou oath declared his intention to become such, that he is 21 years of age and that he resided in this Territory on the 2nd day of March, 1861, when the Organic Act was passed, and that he has not voted previously on that day.

5th. The Clerks of the Election shall record in two separate books by me furnished, the name of each person voting, as it shall be given him by the judges, and shall certify to the correctness of the list of votes polled.

oth. Immediately after closing the polls the judges and clerks shall proceed to count the votes, and shall set down in the poll books the number of votes cast for each person, and for what office and certify to the same.

7th. After the votes shall have been counted, they shall be replaced in the ballot box, the box and ballot box sealed, and together with the certificates of the judges and clerks, shall be taken by one of the judges or clerks to the Governor of the Territory, at Yankton, Dakota Territory.

In testimony whereof I have subscribed my name and caused my seal to be affixed. Done at the Town of Yankton, this 29th day of July in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-one.

By the Governor,

WILLIAM JAYNE.

JOHN HUTCHINSON, Secretary of the Territory.

It will be observed that this proclamation calls for a delegate to Congress and members of the Legislative Assembly only. There were no counties, no local laws, and therefore no territorial or county offices to be filled. Those were to be provided by the Legislative Assembly yet to be held.

PROCLAMATION

1. William Jayne, Governor of Dakota Territory, by the authority vested in me by the Organic Act, do hereby proclaim that the said Territory shall be divided into the following named and described Judicial Districts :

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by the east line of the Terri- tory; on the west by the range line dividing ranges 53 and 54 (the line dividing Day and Yankton counties ), and on the north by the north line of the Territory, shall constitute the First Judicial District.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the east by the range line dividing ranges 53 and 54: on the south by the south line of the Territory ; on the west by the range line dividing ranges 57 and 58 (the line dividing Yankton and Bon Homme counties), and on the north by the north line of the Territory, shall constitute the Second Judicial District.

All that portion of Dakota Territory bounded on the cast by the range line dividing ranges 57 and 58; on the south by the south line of the Territory; and on the north by the north line of the Territory, shall constitute the Third Judicial District.

1 do declare that L. P. Williston has been assigned as Judge of the First Judicial District. and that the place for holding the terms of Court will be at Vermillion ; that Philomon Bliss has been assigned as Judge of the Second Judicial District, and that the place for holding the terms of Court will be at Yankton, and that Joseph L. Williams has been assigned as Judge of the Third Judicial District, and that the place for holding the terms of Court will be at Bon Homme.

In the First Judicial District Court will be held commencing on the first Monday in August, 1801, and thereafter there will be holden annually, two terms of Court, the first commencing on the 3rd Monday in May and the second commencing on the 3rd Monday in September.

In the Second Judicial District, Court will be held commencing on the 3rd Monday in August, 1861, and thereafter there will be holden annually two terms of Court, the first commencing on the first Monday in May and the second commencing on the first Monday in September.

In the Third Judicial District, Court will be held commencing on the 3rd Monday in August, 1861, and thereafter there will be holden annually two terms of Court, the first

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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

term commencing on the third Monday in April, and the second term commeneing on the third Monday in October.

There will be holden annually at the Seat of Government of the said Territory, one term of the Supreme Court, commencing on the first Monday in June.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the said Territory to be hereunto affixed. Done at the Town of Yankton this 30th day of July, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-one.

By the Governor,

Attest, JOHN HUTCHINSON, Secretary of the Territory.

WILLIAM JAAYNE.

The reader will observe that the districts had their southern boundary on the Missouri River and the northern boundary on the international boundary line.

PEN PORTRAITS OF FIRST TERRITORIAL OFFICERS

Of the first federal officials Judge Bliss was the patriarch in point of years, and the frosts of age had already grizzled his finely shaped head, and a full beard of corresponding whiteness covered his cheeks and chin. He did not cultivate a mustache. The judge was a finely formed man, full six feet tall, but his studious habits more than the encroachments of age had already given him a slightly stooping posture. He was a lawyer of ability, a quiet, deliberate man and self possessed at all times. As a judge he gained the confidence of the settlers on sight. He was about fifty years of age, but appeared considerably older.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 32

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