History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 42

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 42

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Arkansas Bill, a notorious desperado, was shot to death by a sheriff's posse at Pierre on November 18th.

CHAPTER LIII

THE HARD WINTER OF 1880-81.

The great blizzard of the middle of October, 1880, was the initial performance of a winter unprecedented, and never succeeded in severity, in the history of Dakota or the northwest. Heavy snows and severe storms came at frequent inter- vals, rendering train service unreliable and un- certain, hindering the removal of crops and the shipment into the country of supplies of fuel and groceries. Early in January on many lines train service became utterly impracticable. It was be- fore the invention of the rotary snow plow, and the constantly accumulating masses of snow blown back and forth by violent winds filled the cuts to a vast depth. More than eleven feet of snow fell during the season and all of it remained in the country, there being no thawing weather. Hundreds of snow-shovelers were employed by the railways leading to Dakota. They would attack a drifted cut, and shovel the snow out and into great banks upon either side. The winds of that night would possibly fill the enlarged cut to the brim, and another day's work would sim- ply result in raising the banks higher, making place for deeper drifts. In this way mountains of snow were built up over the tracks in the very places where the greatest effort was made to open them. Even in the open places it was no un- common thing to find the telegraph wires buried under the snow.

On the 2d of February, when it appeared that nature had exhausted all of her resources in supplying material for drifts, a snow storm set in which continued without cessation for nine

days. In the towns the streets were filled with solid drifts to the tops of the buildings and tun- neling was resorted to to secure passage about town. Farmers found their homes and their barns completely covered and were compelled to tunnel down to reach and feed their stock. Among the homesteaders, "straw barns" were very popular, affording a cheap and comfortable protection for stock and these became hidden under the general level of the snow on the prairies and a favorite method of reaching stock stabled in this way was through a well sunk di- rectly down from above, through which proven- der was carried in. The supply of fuel and ne- cessities for living were soon exhausted. There were few mills in the country and flour soon was not obtainable, but there was wheat in abun- dance and it was ground into a sort of graham in coffee mills. The farmers burned hay and in the towns the lumber from the yards, small buildings, bridges, fences, particularly the snow fences along the railways, were burned. One of the great inconveniences was the lack of oil for lighting. The country was new and the produc- tion of lard and tallow only as yet nominal. The kerosene at the stores lasted but a few days after the trains stopped, and many families were com- pelled for several months to sit in darkness. In every town the business men organized them- selves into relief committees to see that there was an equitable distribution of such supplies as could be secured, and they extended their relief work over all of the adjacent territory so that all

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were supplied, and, while there was great hardship, there was very little real suffering. Several families would colonize in one habitation to save fuel. The people were as a rule young and healthy, and it is the almost universal testi- mony of the pioneers that they have never gotten more real enjoyment out of a winter than they did from the winter of the big blockade. Shortly after the big snow of February, a thaw came of sufficient power to soften the surface of the drifts and an immediate freeze followed forming an impenetrable crust and thereafter sleighing was superb. . This condition continued until the 26th of April. Up to this time it seemed as if the spring sun made no impression whatever, but upon the day mentioned the break came and in twenty-four hours the snow was resolved into water and the prairies became one vast lake. As it drained away the streams became torrents, sweeping everything before them. Fortunately in the new settlements there were few valuable improvements along the streams to be lost, but in Sioux Falls the loss was great, aggregating about one hundred and thirty-five thousand dol- lars. Previous to this, however, a great disaster from floods had befallen the Missouri valley, wreaking its greatest damage upon Yankton and Vermilion. While the drifts and the ice re- mained unbroken by the spring sunshine in the Dakota region the breakup occurred at the usual season in the upper country, thus precipitating upon the lower region a winter flood. About the 20th of March the high water, bearing the broken ice from the upper river, reached the vi- cinity of Yankton, but it was not until the even- ing of March 26th that it had affected the deeply frozen ice bridge at Yankton, which then gave way with scarcely a moment's warning. At once the water rose with incredible rapidity and in a few moments the banks were full. The vast stream of grinding ice continued to sweep by upon a constantly raising tide until the evening of March 29th, when the ice gorged at Hagin's bend, a dozen miles below Yankton, and the pack was held back as far as Springfield. It re- mained stationary until after eleven o'clock next

morning, when the river of ice, rods in height, seemed to tower over the levee. At that time a shiver agitated the vast mass and with a mighty roar it moved down the stream. At the same time the water began to rise. Faster and faster it came until it could be seen to creep up the banks. Fifteen steamboats were on the ways at Yank- ton. Great cakes of ice went hurtling against them, crushing holes in their sides, snapping im- mense hawsers and tossing the "Black Hills," the "Helena" and the "Butte" into a common jumble. The water poured over the railroad track and hurled the "Livingstone" clear across that barrier and carried the "Nellie Peck" and "Penina" far inland. Finally it broke all bounds and poured into the city. All of lower Yankton was instantly flooded, and the flourishing village of Green Island, just across the narrow channel fronı Yankton, on the Nebraska side, was utter- ly destroyed, and for the past twenty-two years the main channel of the Missouri has swept over the spot where Green Island formerly prospered.

To persons even who are familiar with the awful power of the mighty river in ordinary seasons, the irresistible majesty of its action on this occasion is beyond comprehension. After the rise above described the river rapidly sub- sided and on Thursday, the 31st, Friday and Saturday, it remained within its banks and the residents regarded the trouble as over and many began to move back into their deserted and flood- swept homes. On Sunday morning another gorge formed at the bend and immediately the imprisoned ice filled the stream from bank to bank and piled up in places to a height of ninety feet. The gorge held firmly until the evening of Tuesday, April 5th, when it again broke and, as before, was followed by the flood which this time reached the great height of forty-one feet above low water. From Yankton the entire bot- tom eastward to Vermilion and below was a scene of awful desolation. The citizens of Yank- ton, under the lead of Captain A. W. Lavender, an experienced sea-captain, organized boating parties and invaded the ice-packed ocean, res- cued the inundated people and fortunately not a

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single life was lost. At Meckling the settlers gathered in a grain elevator and were imprisoned there for several days.

But while the suffering and the loss at Yank- ton were so aggravated, it was at Vermilion that the great weight of the disaster fell. The original town was built below the hill, a few hundred feet below where the Milwaukee depot now stands. At about midnight on Sunday even- ing, March 27th, the ice broke up at Vermilion, but almost immediately gorged at the bend five miles below town. The rapidly accumulating water began almost instantly to pour through the streets and a fire alarm was turned in to arouse the people, and every one escaped to the highland with such effects as they could gather up. The water then subsided somewhat and no further fear was felt until Thursday morning, the 31st, when it again rose rapidly and by nine o'clock the buildings began to float away. That day and night forty buildings floated off. At this time a fierce blizzard was blowing, making it almost impossible to handle the boats in rescu- ing property. For two weeks the town site was flooded. The Standard's account of the visitation concludes : "Vermilion and the farmers on the bottom lands in Clay county were probably the worst sufferers in Dakota. The tract of country lying between Vermilion and Gayville was swept clean of everything. Houses, barns, fences, cat- tle, horses, hogs and sheep were destroyed, leav- ing the farmers and their families little else than the clothing upon their backs and their bare lands without teams, farming implements or a grain of seed to commence' farming operations with. Three-fourths of the town of Vermilion was de- stroyed. One hundred thirty-two buildings were totally destroyed and many others wrecked. The total value of the property destroyed was about one hundred and forty thousand dollars." Fortunately no lives were lost.

It would seem that the terrible winter and the great disasters following would have had the effect of suspending immigration to Dakota, but no such result followed. Everywhere the prospective settlers were gathered, awaiting the raising of the blockade that they might flock in

and, except in the flooded section along the Mis- souri, the territory was blessed with an abun- dant harvest.

The railroads continued the work of gridiron- ing Dakota. The Milwaukee completed its line from Webster to Aberdeen, reaching the latter town on July 5th. Its Southern Minnesota line was extended west as far as Howard. The James valley line of this road was built south from Aberdeen to Ashton. The Northwestern was finished from Huron to Ordway, and work was begun on the Sioux Valley line north from Brookings.

On September 8th of this year the first ar- tesian flow was struck in Dakota, at Yankton. The subject had been long under discussion but to Isaac Piles belongs the credit of having been first to take active steps to bring the matter about. After spending a Sunday afternoon at the home of Judge Samuel A. Boyles, in company with Judge Ellison G. Smith, now of the first circuit, the artesian well proposition having been talked over in a speculative way, Mr. Piles returned to his home and that night resolved to undertake to interest enough of the business men of Yank- ton in the matter to make an experimental trial. He went in the morning to Gen. W. P. Dewey, who wrote a stock subscription paper for the proposed organization of the Yankton Artesian Well and Mining Company, fixing the shares at five hundred dollars each, and Mr. Piles started out with it. Judge E. T. White became inter- ested at once and with Mr. Piles they obtained about eight thousand dollars in stock subscrip- tions. The company was organized, a contract entered into on January 4, 1881, with Mars & Miller, of Chicago, to sink a well to the depth of one thousand five hundred feet if necessary, for which they were to receive four dollars per foot. The success of this enterprise induced the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway to undertake a well at Aberdeen and a good flow was secured at nine hundred and eighty feet, being the sec- ond of the thousands of wells which now spout all over South Dakota.

The legislature convened early in January and organized with George H. Walsh, of North

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Dakota, and E. B. Dawson, of Vermilion, as president and clerk of the council, and J. A. Harding, of Deadwood, and Frank J. Mead, of Bismarck, speaker and clerk of the house. It was an uneventful session. The penitentiary was located at Sioux Falls and fifty thousand dollars of bonds issued for its construction, being the first Dakota bonds offered for sale.

Aurora county was organized August 8th and Day county on December 5th.

At a meeting of the Association of Congrega- tional churches of Dakota held at Canton in June, it was resolved to establish a college at Yankton. This action was the result of the strong advo- cacy of Dr. Josph Ward, of Yankton, who ten years before had founded Yankton Academy, which subsequently became the foundation of the splendid city school system of Yankton. The college was duly established in conformity with

this resolution and opened for classes in Sep- tember of that year.

Gall and Sitting Bull, it will be recalled, fled to Canada, and had continued to hang along the border, tantalizing the soldiers of General Miles, who were constantly on the watch for them. In the spring of 1881 Gall returned to the Ameri- can side and after a sharp encounter with the troops on Poplar river he surrendered and was taken to Standing Rock agency, where he was paroled and returned to the home where he was born, on Oak, or Rampart creek, where he re- mained until his death, a friendly Indian. Sitting Bull, learning of the surrender of Gall, appeared at Fort Buford and surrendered. He was taken prisoner to Fort Randall, where he was kept un- der surveillance until the summer of 1883, when he was returned to his people at Standing Rock, making his home on Grand river, South Dakota.

CHAPTER LIV

1882-A YEAR OF POLITICS AND BOOM.

The terrible winter of 1880-81 was followed by the other extreme in 1881-82. There was sim- ply no winter at all. Day after day and week after week Dakota was flooded by the glorious sunshine. In every month plowing was done. Men drove throughout the winter without over- coats, the cattle fed in the open and waxed fat upon the luxuriant, sun-cured grasses. In Feb- ruary seeding began and by the middle of March the most of wheat seeding was completed.

At the time of the vernal equinox a flurry of snow came, but it disappeared in a few days and spring broke in full beauty before April. All through the winter the inflow of immigrants continued and with the advent of spring the flood of immigration became a deluge. It is probable that more Dakotans date their residence here from 1882 than from any other single year. The available public lands were well-nigh ex- hausted this season and the prairie villages rap- idly became metropolitan. A curious situation grew up. At that date the most astute could not tell with certainty where the chief centers of population were to be, and in every village were gathered a band of strong men de- termined to make that village the ulti- mate metropolis of the section, and in conse- quence the rivalry was intense. No place was so inconsequential but that it aspired to be the county seat, and frequently, likewise, the capital of the future state. As illustrations of the condi-

tion then existing, Ordway, now only a flag sta- tion, was supposed to possess vast advantages over Aberdeen, and Bigstone City patronized Milbank as a promising suburb.

Out of these conditions there grew up fierce contests for advantage, and county seat fights were precipitated which in some instances nearly disrupted the community. Men of power, who were capable of meeting the great captains of industry upon equal terms, or who would have graced the senate of the United States, threw themselves with all the spirit of their strong per- sonality into these figths for urban supremacy. During this period Milbank won the county seat from Big Stone, Chamberlain from Brule and Salem from Bridgewater, in each instance the fight resulting in the utmost ill feeling and heat of passion.

The development of the mining interest in the Black Hills kept pace with the agricultural development on the east side. For the month of August of this year the Homestake mine alone produced three hundred thousand dollars, and it may be stated that it has not produced less in any subsequent month down to the date of this writing.

At Huron, on the 27th of July, the Southern Dakota Press Association was duly organized, with John Cain, of the Huron Times, president, and George W. Hopp, of the Brookings Press, secretary. Among those taking part in the or-

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ganization were N. C. Nash, still with the Can- ton News; J. F. Stahl, of the Madison Leader ; Gen. S. J. Conklin, then editor of the Watertown News, and Porter Warner, now deceased, editor of the Deadwood- Times.

Three Dakota men, John D. Cameron, the Sioux Falls banker, E. E. Carpenter, a railroad promoter of Canton, and William D. Russell, of Yankton, entered into a conspiracy to defraud the government by the issue of a large amount of land scrip, known as Santa Fe scrip. They got their stock issued all right, but were appre- hended and imprisoned. They were tried at Yankton and again at St. Louis, but finally es- caped conviction. The conspiracy created a na- tion-wide sensation and had much to do in injur- ing the reputation of Dakota securities.

On the 2d of October United States land offi- ces were opened at Aberdeen and Huron. About one thousand filings were made at each office upon the opening day.

On November 15th, Brave Bear, the Indian who killed Joseph Johnson, of Cheyenne river agency, while enroute to the home of his broth- ers in Brown county in April, 1879, was hanged at Yankton.

The politics of the year centered around the delegate nominations. Senator Pettigrew was a candidate for renomination and was opposed by George H. Hand, of Yankton. The pre-con- vention campaign was a most exciting one. John R. Raymond, of North Dakota, was also a can- didate and when the convention assembled at Grand Forks on September 6th it was found that Raymond held the balance of power. There were many contests, but upon the face of the returns Hand appeared to be the leading candi- date. After a good deal of milling Senator Pet- tigrew made a quick turn, throwing his strength to Raymond and giving him the nomination.

The Democrats met at Mitchell on Septem- ber 27th and nominated William R. Steele. of Deadwood, who had formerly been the delegate from Wyoming. After the adjournment of the convention, Mr. Steele, who was not present,

telegraphed, declining the honor, whereupon Judge Brookings obligingly consented to the use of his name for the thankless position. The elec- tion resulted in the election of Raymond by more than thirty thousand majority.

The legislative elections developed a good deal of hard feeling and several contests. At that time all of the north half of South Dakota constituted a single legislative district, with one councilman and two representatives, and here a split occurred among the Republicans and a con- test before the legislature.

In September the Sioux Falls Daily Press was born.

Near the beginning of this year Spotted Tail, the renowned Brule Sioux chief, was shot and killed at Rosebud agency by Crow Dog, a sub- chief of the Oglalas. Spotted Tail, with all his good qualities, was in his private life a lecherous rake. He had seduced the wife of Crow Dog. who promptly shot him. Dr. DeLorme W. Rob- inson, the biographer of Spotted Tail, says of him: "From the standpoint of civilized opinion, Spotted Tail was in many respects one of the greatest red men of the past century. Dur- ing the turbulent and exciting period of first oc- cupancy of the Black Hills by the whites, Spot- ted Tail proved himself a reliable friend of the government and a judicious adviser of his own race. * * His fine intelligence, rare tact and courageous leadership had much weight in lim- iting the influence of the more hostile chiefs, and secured for the Sioux nation the best possible terms for the relinquishment of their claim to the coveted region. He was not a hereditary chief. but rose from the ranks. *

* He became a

much beloved leader of his band and a power among all the branches of his Dakota kindred. * * In the midwinter of 1876-7 he made a long tour to the camp of his nephew, Crazy Horse, on the Powder river, and finally prevailed upon him to abandon the war path and come to the agency. * * As an orator, diplomat and acute and powerful reasoner few Indians have excelled him. He is said to have been dignified

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and commanding, and, for one of his race, pos- sessed great kindness of heart and mature judg- ment. * * With the probable exception of his great Oglala contemporary, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail's career is more conspicuous for conscien- tious and intelligent loyalty and devotion to what he considered the interests of his people than

any other chief." Captain Burke, in his well known work, "On the Borders with Crook," says of Spotted Tail: "Spotted Tail was one of the great men of this century, bar none, red, white, black or yellow. When Crow Dog mur- dered him the Dakota nation had good cause to mourn the loss of a noble son."

CHAPTER LV

1883-A YEAR OF GREAT ACTIVITY.

Eighteen hundred and eighty-three will al- ways be remembered as one of the periods of greatest activity in the history of Dakota, not only for the great extent of railroad building, of homesteading and town booming, but for great political movements which have left their im- press upon the fundamental organization of the commonwealth. In that year, too, the capital was removed from South Dakota to North Dakota, an event which disturbed the relations of the two sections and did much to strengthen the senti- ment for division. As vital as was the necessity for division ; a necessity which was rooted in the inherent rights of generations yet to live; a ne- cessity which looked ahead for hundreds of years and involved the equilibrium of the nation in the upper house of congress in the future time when the west shall equal the east in population ; still it is most probable that but for the antagonisms which grew out of the capitol removal, the people would have grown weary of the long wait for recognition and accepted statehood as a whole.

The season opened with the legislative session. Even before this the conviction had become deep seated among the people that Governor Ordway was "on the make." That he proposed to use his official position to further his own pecuniary in- terests and that conviction was strengthened al- most every day he remained in office. In the or- ganization of the many new counties, rumors had gained currency that the Governor was ap- pointing boards of commissioner, foreordained to locate county seats at villages or upon lands

in which his excellency's friends, relatives or busi- ness associates had a large interest. Therefore when the legislature convened and capitol re- moval began to be agitated, the belief that Gov- ernor Ordway would exert his official influence to direct legislation upon lines which would prove personally remunerative found general lodgment in the minds of the residents of the southern portion of the territory who were con- versant with the trend of affairs. The legisla- ture was largely composed of adventurous and ambitious men, many of them but newly arrived in the territory and all of them exceedingly loyal to their home communities and feeling in duty bound to bring home something in the way of ter- ritorial institutions. One must take into account the unnatural condition which possessed the pub- lic mind in the Dakota of that day, due to the unprecedented development. Established ideas of the relation of things were quite overthrown. Conservatism simply did not exist. Hope, al- ways a dominant factor in Dakota, was at that boom period simply boundless ; and it was with these hopeful, adventurous, ambitious men that the thrifty governor apparently found his best opportunity.

From the first day of the session there was talk of capital removal, and it was thought that Grand Forks would make a strong fight for the prize, but, to the surprise of everyone, George H. Walsh, the member from Grand Forks, intro- duced a hill removing the capital to Huron, and he made a persistent and consistent fight for its

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passage. For some days it seemed that he might meet with success, but presently the other ambi- tious communities pulled themselves together and sent embassies to the capital to protect their in- terests. Bismarck, Fargo, Pierre, Mitchell and Sioux Falls were all represented and it soon be- came apparent that unless an equivalent in the way of the distribution of territorial institutions was made that no single town could get a capital removal bill through. At this juncture Governor Ordway proposed that a bill be passed providing for the appointment of a commission to locate the capital at the town offering the greatest induce- ments in the way of cash bonus and land. This appeared to be an eminently fair proposition, placing all of the towns upon an equality. The bill left the naming of the commission to the Gov- ernor, but it was amended upon passage to name the members, which were as follows: John P. Belding, of Deadwood; H. H. DeLong, of Can- ton; Alex. Hughes, of Elk Point ; Alex. McKen- zie, of Bismarck; George A. Mathews, of Brook- ings ; C. H. Meyers, of Redfield ; B. F. Spalding, of Fargo; Dr. Scott, of Grand Forks; M. D. Thompson, of Vermilion. The bill provided that they were to consider no bid unless in cash or land it should be worth one hundred thou- sand dollars, which sum should constitute a build- ing fund. There should be not less than twenty acres of land for a capitol site and the commission were empowered to locate the permanent capital and then proceed to erect a capitol building. A great legislative combine was formed which re- sulted in the passage of the bill, but with it and incident to it a new penitentiary was located at Bismarck and fifty thousand dollars appropri- ated for it; a deaf mute school at Sioux Falls, at twelve thousand dollars; agricultural college at Brookings, thirty thousand dollars; North Da- kota University at Grand Forks, thirty thousand dollars ; Hospital for the Insane, Jamestown, fif- ty thousand dollars ; endowment of the territorial university at Vermilion, thirty thousand dollars ; improvements at the Sioux Falls penitentiary, thirty thousand dollars; and at the Yankton asy- lum, seventy-seven thousand five hundred, for all of which bonds were authorized, making a total

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 42

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