History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 25

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. I > Part 25

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CHAPTER XXIX

THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS.

When, as has been elsewhere indicated, the Yankton Indians, on the 10th day of July, 1859. finally accepted and ratified the treaty of 1858 by removing to the reservation there were a large number of immigrants waiting upon the Ne- braska shore to come over and possess the goodly land. Promptly with the removal of the Indians they thronged across the river and made loca- tions, the more speculative settling upon the town sites, as at Elk Point, Vermillion, Yankton and Bon Homme, while the sturdy Norwegian farmers selected the rich bottom lands between the James and the Vermillion, the chief settle- ment being made in the neighborhood of Meckling.

It is unfortunate that a complete roster of those who entered that day has not been kept, but at this date it is in evidence that many whose names have been most honorably distinguished in Dakota territory and state entered upon that day, or immediately afterward. At Bon Homme we find John H. Shober, S. G. Irish, George M. Pinney, the Rounds and Rufners. At Yankton, Moses K. Armstrong, A. T. McLees, Enos Stutsman, J. S. Presho, Frank Chappell, David I. Fisher, Downer T. Bramble, J. M. Stone, William P. Lyman, Sam Mortimer, George Pike, Jr., L. M. Griffith, Joseph R. Hanson, Henry C. Ash, William Bordeno, William H. Werdebaugh, George D. Fiske, Sam Jereau, A. Mauxsch, W. N. Collamer, Henry T. Bailey and James Wither- spoon were among those who entered upon the town sites on July 10th. Mrs. Henry C. Ash was

the first woman to take up her home in Yankton, but her arrival is modern, as she did not get there until Christmas, 1859. The pioneers of Vermillion are the Browns, Robinsons, Jewells, Phelps, McHenrys, Miners, Van Meters, Deuels, Boyles, Taylors, Dr. Caulkins, the Woods and the Benedicts. Among the Meckling farmers we find the familiar names of Olson, Bottolfson. Myron, Sampson, Nelson, Jacobson and Jessen. At Elk Point, Eli B. Wickson appears to have, single-handed, held the boards.

There was already a well-established stage road from Sioux City to Fort Randall, and each of the points indicated afforded convenient stage stations along this route, where hotels were established and trade with the settlers and In- dians made a demand for stores. There was no sawmill nearer than Sioux City, so that most of the structures were rudely built of logs with roofs of swale hay, thatch or earth, but they were warm and comfortable. It was too late to make any sort of crop in 1859, but hay was abundant for stock and every possible preparation was made for a crop the next year and from every report the settlers went into their first winter contented, comfortable and hopeful. They were chiefly young, hardy and vigorous people and it is always to be remembered, to their great credit, that, notwithstanding the stern demands upon them to provide shelter and food, that from the beginning they were not unmindful of the higher demands of religion and education. On the very first Sabbath in the new land the Nor-

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wegians about Meckling gathered for prayer and religious counsel and during the latter part of the succeeding winter a school, taught by Dr. Caulkins in the upper story of McHenry's hotel, was provided and most of the children of the settlement gathered into it.

The only newspaper published in Dakota at that time was the Dakota Democrat at Sioux Falls, and it studiously refrained from any men- tion of the Missouri river settlements and in fact said very little of local affairs at the Falls. How- ever it reveals enough to let us know that the settlers, in addition to the necessarily rough liv- ing of the pioneer period, indulged in many social

Line of Stockade 650 Pt

ALLEY

ASH HOTEL

BLOCK

HOUSE

Gate

BROADWAY

DAKOTIAN

OFFICE

Fourth Street

ALLEY

050 Ft.

CEDAR ST.

Small Gate

650 Ft.

STOCKADE AT YANKTON, 1852.

diversions and found much of real enjoyment. A side light on one of the diversions of this first winter is thrown by a letter written by J. B. Greenway to the Sioux City Register of January 6, 1860. The Dakota Democrat had mentioned with some eclat a cotillion party given at the Dakota House, Sioux Falls, on the New Year eve. Greenway had not been invited and sought solace for his injured feelings by showing the function up in the print of the newspaper of the hated rival city. Relieved of its somewhat picturesque orthography, Greenway's letter is as follows :

Dear Sir: You will see in our Sioux Falls City eight-by-ten a publication of a cotillion party at the Dakota House on Friday, the 30th of December, 1859, given by Mr. Cooper. Mr. S. J. Albright did not say to you in his publication that he occupied the Dakota House with Mr. Cooper and was foreman in the above mentioned shindig and also Mr. Stuart, a print- er in S. J.'s employ. But we do not wonder at S. J. aud Stuart withdrawing their names from the party, for the facts are it was a beggar dance. They first went round to the neighbors and begged the provis- ions. These are facts. Mr. James Allen gave the flour and spice; J. B. Jarrett gave the lard to shorten the pound cake. Their pound cake was shortened with fat and sweetened with coarse brown sugar and their doughnuts were fried in tallow. With coffee, that was their supper. They had not an egg nor a drop of milk, nor a pound of butter. There were but three ladies present. I presume they had a consider- able of a stag dance, for it was hut a short time after supper that those two married ladies and also Mrs. 's hired girl left them to have a stag dance of it.

Occasional letters from Yankton and Ver- million, also published in the Sioux City Register at this period, tell of pleasant social affairs along the Missouri. In one of these letters is given a list of the periodicals and newspapers received regularly by Yankton subscribers, the list com- prising most of the standard newspapers and magazines of that date.

Early in January, 1860, the first regular minister arrived in Dakota and held services in the settlements along the river. This minister was Rev. Charles D. Martin, of Nebraska City, Nebraska, a Presbyterian. He held his first service in Bramble's store. His pulpit was a barrel of whiskey and his text Proverbs 11; 13, "Wealth gotten by vanity shall diminish; but he that gathereth by labor shall increase." The first hymn was "Old Hundred," and Maj. Joseph R. Hanson, Moses K. Armstrong and L. M. Griffiths led the singing. It does not appear that he organized a church at Yankton, but a few days later he preached in Vermillion and met with such encouragement that he conducted a series of meetings there and organized a church society and in the following June erected the first church edifice in Dakota on the bottom at Vermillion. This was a very humble affair, built of logs, with

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a roof of poles and earth, but the people were proud of it and especially so when the in- defatigable pastor secured a bell for it. This bell, however, was not mounted, but was placed beside the church where it was rung for services, but unfortunately was broken so that its voice was not particularly musical. Except the bell at Fort Pierre, this was probably the first in Dakota and certainly the first for church purposes.

In October, 1860, the Methodist Episcopal church came as a pioneer into the Dakota field. The territory was attached to the Upper Iowa conference and was placed under the supervision of Rev. George Clifford, presiding elder of the Sioux City district. Elder Clifford assigned Rev. S. W. Ingham, a young minister, to ride the South Dakota circuit. Mr. Ingham entered upon his work October 12, 1860, equipped in true old-fashioned Methodist style, with horse and saddle-bags. He notes that at that date Elk Point consisted of two log cabins of inferior construc- tion and two of a better class in course of con- struction. On the next Sunday Mr. Ingham preached in the dining room of Mulholland's tavern, Vermillion, to a congregation of twenty persons from the text, Romans 1 : 16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." The next Sunday he preached the first Methodist sermon, in Yankton, occupying Gen. J. B. S. Todd's office. His congregation, which promised to be large, dwindled to seven persons owing to the fact that a steamboat whistled into port just as the services began. Mr. Ingham tells us that at this time, when Yankton was more than a year old, that it consisted of three log cabins with dirt roofs and two frame buildings.

On the succeeding Wednesday Mr. Ingham journeyed to Bon Homme, where he united Miss Bradford and Samuel Grant in marriage. This was the first marriage in the territory west of James river and the second in the territory, the first having been that in which Minor Robinson, of Vermillion, was the groom.

In the month of May, 1860, the settlers at Bon Homme village erected a small school build-

ing in which Miss Emma J. Bradford taught the children of the neighborhood. This was the first schoolhouse built in Dakota. It was fourteen by sixteen feet in size and had a rail and dirt roof. The desks were made from lumber of an old wagon box. The seats were log puncheons with sticks stuck in auger holes for legs. John H. Shober was at the head of the movement for the building and maintenance of the school.

The weather during this first year of settle- ment was freaky and much of it unpleasant. High water and continuous rains made the roads on the Missouri bottom very difficult. There were several storms of unusual severity during the first winter, during one of which, occurring in January, 1860, George D. Fiske, the local manager for Frost, Todd & Company, was frozen to death, his being the first death to occur among the Missouri valley settlers.

No difficulty was experienced with the Indians. The Yanktons observed their treaty with reasonable care and when they left the reservation their association with the whites was friendly. Inkpaduta hovered about in the in- terior of Dakota and occasionally made a raid on some of the more exposed settlements to run off stock, but there was no blood shed. The Santees, from Minnesota, were the most, usual visitors, but relations with them were pleasant. About seventy-five of these Santees under Hisayu, the Indian whom Dr. Williamson sent with the warn- ing to the settlers at Medary in 1858, wintered at Elk Point and Eli Wixson carried on a profit- able trade with them. The old Indian died be- fore spring under circumstances which led Mr. Wixson to believe he had been poisoned.

Trapping, Indian trade and land surveying were the common pursuits. Except for the Nor- wegians of the Missouri flats between the Jim and the Vermillion, there was little real farming. Nevertheless the settlers were plodding along with high hopes for the development of the ter- ritory and the genuine Dakota spirit, which has come to be recognized as a dominant force in the Northwest, had already taken a firm hold.

CHAPTER XXX

DAKOTA TERRITORY CREATED.

While the representatives of the Sioux Falls government were making so strenuous efforts to break into congress, citizens of other portions of the Dakota land were not idle. No sooner was the reservation opened and settlement under- taken in the Missouri valley than Captain J. B. S. Todd-who two years before had resigned his commission in the regular army, where he had done acceptable service, particularly at the battle of Blue river on September 3. 1855, where he led his troops with commendable gallantry, to take up a commercial and political career. He was a member of the firm of Frost, Todd & Company, who had secured the right from government for the exclusive trade with the Yanktons-began to systematically agitate for the erection of a ter- ritorial government. He promoted public meet- ings to memorialize congress upon the subject and in November, 1859. held such meetings at Bon Homme, Yankton and Vermillion where strong pronunciamentos were promulgated. Armed with these memorials Captain Todd, who by this time, through the courtesy by which civil- ians on the frontier obtained promotion in mili- tary honors, had, anticipating the title he was to earn in the first years of the Civil war. become "General" Todd, proceeded to Washington and besieged congress for the creation of the territory. When he returned at the close of the long term, in August. 1860, the Sioux City Register, which appears to have been his particular newspaper exponent, says that he succeeded in placing the matter before congress in so favorable a light

that the passage of the bill at an early date was already assured. This assurance seems justified, for before the close of the ensuing short term the bili did pass, though how much Captain Todd had to do in bringing about that consummation is not revealed by the record.

What does appear reveals the following facts : On December 30. 1859. Senator Henry M. Rice, of Minnesota, gave notice that it was his inten- tion to, on some future day of the session, ask leave to introduce a bill for the temporary gov- ernment of the territory of Dakota and for es- tablishing the office of surveyor general therein. On January 24. 1860, Senator Rice introduced a resolution instructing the committee on terri- tories to report a bill for the organization of Dakota, etc. On February 15. 1861. Senator James S. Green, of Missouri, chairman of the committee on territories, reported senate bill No. 562, which passed both houses with some amend- ments and was approved by James Buchanan. President of the United States. on March 2, 1861, and by its provisions Dakota territory was created.

Dakota territory as so created extended from the present eastern boundaries of North and South Dakota to the main range of the Rocky mountains, with the provision that all unre- linquished Indian lands within such boundaries should comprise no part of such territory, so that in point of fact, while the boundaries embraced a vast empire, Dakota territory at the date of its creation really comprised only the small portion

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of southeastern South Dakota relinquished by the Sisseton and Yankton treaties. The bill pro- vided for the appointment by the President of a governor, secretary, supreme court and marshal and surveyor general. The governor was en- powered to take a census, make a legislative ap- portionment and appoint an election for legisla- ture and delegate to congress. The legislature was to consist of nine councilmen and thirteen representatives. The legislature was to convene at such time and place as the governor might ap- point, and the legislature and governor were em- powered to fix by law a permanent seat of gov- ernment. The governor was made ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs and received fifteen hundred dollars per year as governor and one thousand dollars as Indian superintendent. The act further provided that every free white male who resided in the territory at the time of the passage of the act should be entitled to vote. The jurisdiction of the several courts were de- fined, particularly as to the exercise of the writ of habeas corpus. The bill created the surveyor general's office and also the "Yankton land dis- trict," and concluded with this piece of legislation, which has been studiously disregarded ever since : "And be it further enacted, that the river in said territory heretofore known as the 'River aux Jacques,' or 'James river,' shall hereafter be called the 'Dakota river.'"

Very promptly upon his accession to office President Lincoln appointed the officers for Dakota territory provided by the organic act. For governor he selected his friend and neighbor, and family physician at Springfield, Dr. William Jayne. Dr. Jayne was at that date but thirty-five years of age, but he had strongly impressed him- self upon Lincoln.

In addition to- Lincoln's own predisposition in relation to Jayne, his appointment was also strongly supported by Dr. Jayne's brother-in- law, Senator Trumbull.

For secretary, John Hutchinson, of Min- nesota, a member of the famous family of singers, was chosen. Philomen Bliss, of Ohio, an emi- nent lawyer, whose name is still familiar to the profession everywhere, as the author of a stand-

ard work on code pleading, was appointed chief justice, and L. P. Williston, of Pennsylvania, and J. L. Williams, of Tennessee, were made the associate justices. The other appointments were W. E. Gleason, of Maryland, attorney general ; G. D. Hill, of Michigan, surveyor general ; W. F. Shaffer, of New York, marshal ; Walter A. Bur- leigh, of Pennsylvania, agent of the Yanktons ; H. A. Hoffman, of New York, agent of the Poncas; H. A. Kennerly, register, and Jesse Wherry, receiver of the land office. By pre- arrangement, these appointees rendezvoused at Chicago and arrived in the territory early in June.

The people of Dakota were on the quivive in anticipation of their arrival, for not only were they honestly anxious to again be under the pro- tection of a duly organized government, but like- wise the action of these officials would have a powerful influence in determining the seat of the territorial government. Therefore it was in- cumbent that every civility be shown them by the respective aspiring communities. It does not ap- pear that Sioux Falls longer aspired to capital honors, but Vermillion, Yankton and Bon Homme were eagerly in the contest and when it was announced that Governor Jayne was en- route and would pass through Vermillion upon a certain day an elaborate banquet was prepared in his honor and his coming anxiously awaited. Presently a dignified looking gentleman, driven in a carriage, arrived from Sioux City way and he was received by the committee and escorted to the banquet hall where feasting, toasts and speeches were the order and high good feeling abounded. While the banquet was in progress the carriages bearing the Federal officials passed through the village and on to Yankton. The gen- tleman whom the citizens of Vermillion were so elaborately entertaining was a newcomer, Mr. Bigelow, who, appreciating the humor of the situation, did not give himself away. So pleased was he with his reception that he concluded to remain, and he spent the remaining years of his life in Vermillion, where he died in 1900, univer- sally esteemed and by every one hailed as "Gov- ernor" Bigelow. Governor Jayne, quite oblivious

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of the ovation which his constituents at Ver- million intended for him, passed on to Yankton, which he made the seat of his operations. His first act under the powers vested in him by the organic act was to take a census. This count re- vcaled a total white population of two thousand four hundred and two people. Next, on the 13th of July, he issued a proclamation dividing the

TWO LANCE, Brule.

CHAS. PICOTTE, Half-breed.

territory into judicial districts. The division was made so as to leave Vermillion, Yankton and Bon Homme in different districts. Chief Justice Bliss was assigned to the Vermillion district, and Justices Williston and Williams, respectively, to Yankton and Bon Homme. On July 29th Governor Jayne issued his second proclamation, subdividing the territory into legislative districts and appointing a general election to take place on

September 16th for delegate to congress and members of the legislature.

While giving attention to these preliminary matters in the organization of the territory, Governor Jayne and Attorney General Gleason took up their abode in an unpretentious log cabin located on the east side of Broadway, midway between Third and Fourth streets. Hon. George W. Kingsbury, in writing of this period, says : "It is a tradition handed down by the early dwellers of the soil that the joint tenants did not dwell together in peace and unity. Glea- son was a young and delicate Marylander. and rebelled somewhat because he was required to keep the executive mansion in order and also to furnish, from the river, water for toilet pur- poses for himself and the Governor. The Gov- ernor felt that this much was due from a subordinate official, while it afforded the attorney general, whose salary was but two hundred and fifty dollars per year, an opportunity to pay in part for such respectable accommodations and high social connections, features of the case which the high-born Marylander was inclined to think had been overestimated. Other and more appropriate accommodations for the officials were fitted up, the first executive mansion was abandoned, and a source of exquisite amuse- ment to the fun-loving pioneers of the rough and ready school who then predominated, was abruptly terminated."

Almost immediately Dakota found herself in the throes of a desperate political conflict over the delegateship. Two newspapers had already been established ; the Weekly Dakotian, at Yank- ton, was first issued on the 6th of June, by Frank M. Ziebach and William Feeney under the name of the Dakotian Company. Early in July the Dakota Republican was established at Vermillion hy Bedell & Clark, for this purpose borrowing the material which had formerly been used in the publication of the Dakota Democrat at Sioux Falls City.

Captain J. B. S. Todd had long been a can- didate for the position. As early as September 15, 1859, the Sioux City Register announced : "Captain J. B. S. Todd, of Dakota Territory, is

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

sojourning in the city. We are glad to find him in the enjoyment of good health and manifesting his usual energy in behalf of the interests of Dakota. He will probably be a candidate at the approaching election for delegate to congress and, if so, will undoubtedly be elected. He is just the man for the place, under whose super- vision the interests of the territory and welfare of the settlers would be greatly enhanced." With the proclamation for the election he announced himself as an independent candidate and began his campaign, supported by the Dakotian. On June Ist a mass convention of the Union party met in Vermillion and placed in nomination A. J. Bell, who was supported by the Dakota Re- publican. This made a very symmetrical layout, but when Charles P. Bouge, of Sioux City, Iowa, announced his independent candidacy the fun be- gan in earnest. Bouge had no newspaper organ, but he was energetic and drove a great deal among the voters. It is said that his wife, who was a somewhat spirited woman, was strongly

opposed to his candidacy and being a good horsewoman followed her husband when out campaigning and undid his work as fast as he accomplished it. The settlers were generally strangers to each other, but all were more or less acquainted with the reputation of Captain Todd and the election proved his popularity. Of the 585 votes cast, Todd received 397, Bouge IIO and Bell but 78. After the election the newspapers suspended publication and the federal officers returned to their homes for the winter.

Early in 1862 Rev. Melanchthon Hoyt, an Episcopal clergyman, removed to Yankton and erected a building at the corner of Fourth and Linn, for church purposes. Mr. Hoyt had pre- viously lived in Sioux City and had from early in 1860 held occasional services in the Dakota river towns. On one of these trips in the sum- mer of 1860 he was accompanied by Right Rev. Joseph C. Talbot, missionary bishop for the Northwest Territory. .

CHAPTER XXXI

FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.

The organization of the territory by congress in the spring of 1861 had served to attract wide attention to the new land of the northwest and with the assurance of a stable government a new immigration set in, so that before the ensuing winter settled down there was a good fringe of settlers along the lower river and the Sioux and with the opening of the spring of 1862 the inflow of homeseekers was renewed. There was a good deal of steamboating on the river, but a re- markably few settlers came in that way, by far the larger number driving in with their own conveyances.

Governor Jayne had called the legislature to convene on St. Patrick's day, March 17, 1862, and was himself on the ground for that event. The council of this first legislature consisted of the following gentlemen, whom we have seen were elected on the 16th of the previous Septem- ber : Henry D. Betts, John W. Boyle and Jacob Deuel, of Vermillion ; Downer T. Bramble and Enos Stutsman, of Yankton; W. W. Brookings, of Sioux Falls ; A. Cole, of Brule Creek ; J. Shaw Gregory, of Fort Randall, and John H. Shober, of Bon Homme, nine in all. The house was com- posed of thirteen members as follows: Bon Homme, George M. Pinney and Reuben Wal- lace ; Elk Point, Christopher Maloney and John C. McBride ; Vermillion, A. W. Puett, Lyman Burgess, J. A. Jacobson and Bligh E. Wood ; Yankton, Moses K. Armstrong and John Stanage; Pembina, Hugh S. Donaldson; Fort Randall, John L. Tiernon; Sioux Falls, George

P. Waldron. The house was provided with quar- ters in the building erected by Rev. Melanchthon U. Hoyt, for the accommodation of the Episco- pal flock, at the corner of Fourth and Linn streets, and the council being quartered in the residence of William Tripp, at Fourth and Broadway. To the settlers the convening of this body was a momentous event and the destiny of ambitious men and aspiring communities hung upon its action and much depended upon the preliminary organization. In this re- spect the Yanktonians, by reason of their environment and local influence, had a distinct advantage, as it also had perhaps in represent- atives more trained in public affairs.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 25

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998