History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 46

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

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The legislature convened on the second Tues- day of January and remained in session sixty days. Smith Stimmel, a North Dakota man and cousin of James G. Blaine, was president of the council and Hosmer H. Keith, of Sioux Falls, speaker of the house. Among the strong and well known South Dakotans in this session were Coe I. Crawford, E. C. Ericson, Robert Dollard, James Halley, A. L. VanOsdel, Frank R. Aiken, Joseph M. Greene, S. P. Howell, Harry Hunter, Frank A. Morris and A. W. Campbell. The ses-

sion was a constant fight between the legislature and Governor Church, who exercised his veto power upon most of the bills which came to him, but which were passed over his head by the so- lons. In anticipation of immediate statehood, very little was accomplished.

President Harrison was inaugurated upon the 4th of March and seven days later he appointed Arthur C. Mellette governor of Dakota territory. During the winter a good many prominent Da- kotans were assembled in Washington and a com- bination was entered into between Messrs. Moody, Mellette, Pettigrew, Edgerton and Gif- ford on these lines : Mellette was to be governor of the territory and state, Moody and Petti- grew were to be senators, Gifford, one of the congressmen, and Edgerton, judge of the fed- eral court for the newly created district of South Dakota. The agreement extended also to the principal appointive officers in the territory. Mellette speedily relieved Church and his famous cabinet and appointed J. M. Bailey, treasurer ; J. C. McManima, auditor; Johnson Nickeus, of Jamestown, attorney general; superintendent of schools, A. Sheridan Jones ; railway commission- ers, Judson LaMoure, Harvey J. Rice and John H. King; public examiner, T. E. Blanchard, all of whom continued in office until the admission on the 2d of November.

The election for constitutional delegates was held the second Tuesday in May and the Sioux Falls constitution was ratified by a large majority so that it only devolved upon the convention

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which assembled at Sioux Falls upon July 4th to change the name from Dakota to South Dakota, make a new legislative and judicial apportion- ment and arrange for the division of the terri- torial property and debts with North Dakota.

No sooner was the enabling act passed than a fierce contest grew up for the location of the temporary seat of government. Chamberlain, Huron, Mitchell, Sioux Falls, Redfield and Wa- tertown entered the race, but Redfield withdrew before the election in favor of Huron. This fight was carried to the point of desperation and intro- duced a line of corrupt practices which was most demoralizing and from which the state was long in recovering. Each town exerted itself to the utmost and spent money lavishly, involving heavy debts which are in some instances a handicap to this day. Governor Mellette headed the Repub- lican ticket and P. F. McClure, of Pierre, who had won prominence as immigration commis- sioner, was the Democratic candidate, Mellette winning by a majority of thirty thousand.

A vigorous campaign for prohibition was made and the separate article became part of the constitution by a majority of 5,724.

Pierre was the successful aspirant for the temporary seat of government, receiving 27,096 votes against 14,914 for Huron, 11,970 for Wa- tertown, 7.506 for Mitchell, 11,765 for Sioux Falls, and 2,414 for Chamberlain.

On the 15th of October the legislature assem- bled at Pierre and elected Gideon C. Moody and Richard F. Pettigrew senators and adjourned to await the proclamation of admission, which was made by President Harrison on November 2d and that day all of the state machinery was set in operation. A few days later President Harri- son appointed Alonzo J. Edgerton judge of the federal district court for the district of South Dakota, a position he held with honor until his death in August. 1896.

Eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, the year of statehood, was probably the hardest year in the history of Dakota, not excepting the great grasshopper year of 1875. With that year began the period of reverses which cut our population, destroyed our credit and for a time mnade Dakota

a name of ill repute. Several causes contributed to this situation. A great drought came upon the land, practically destroying the crop. In some localities the people who were depending solely upon the wheat crop were left absolutely destitute and dependent upon public charity. They were beginners in a new land, had not yet accumulated a surplus, and on the reverse were as a rule deeply involved in debt. The mistaken liberality of our exemption laws deprived them of credit, for as a rule they were among strangers and had not yet established credit through the proven rectitude of their lives and therefore had been compelled to mortgage their personal prop- erty to obtain money and if they had obtained title to their homesteads, in most cases they, too, were mortgaged. Moreover a very large per- centage of the homesteaders were not practical farmers, but had left professional life or positions in shops and stores to take the free land of Da- kota. Their sole dependence was the crop, and when that failed their situation was truly pa- thetic. Thousands abandoned their homesteads, surrendered their mortgaged chattels and left the state, carrying with them a tale of woe which was disseminated throughout the country. The opin- ion everywhere was that Dakota was a failure. Of course interest upon farm mortgages was de- faulted, bringing bankruptcy to the trust and mortgage companies who had negotiated them and in turn loss to the eastern banks and lend- ers. During the palmy days of the boom many enterprises were undertaken in the progressive towns supported by eastern capital and these came tumbling about the ears of the projectors. All of these conditions contributed to bring about a situation of utter demoralization.

The first necessity, however, was to provide food for the starving, and to this task Governor Mellette devoted himself with the utmost energy. To satisfy himself of the real need, he drove for . many days among the destitute homesteaders, visiting them in their homes and drawing from them the reluctant story of their awful need. Learning of the necessity from his own observa- tion, he called the people together in the larger towns and appealed to theni to provide succor.

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It was little that could be done at home. Even the ordinarily well-to-do found their means taxed to the utmost to provide for their own. Governor Mellette then went to Chicago and other eastern points and appealed for assistance for the desti- tute, pledging himself that every dollar donated should go directly to the relief of the needy and that not one cent should be used for the admin- istration of the fund. The response was gener- ous and all actual suffering was averted. The cost of administering this relief fund, amounting to several thousand dollars, Governor Mellette paid from his own purse.

Governor Mellette's conduct, highly praise- worthy as it was, called down upon him the male- dictions of the boomer element of the towns, who held him responsible for the ills that had befallen the state, and he was made the subject of shame-

ful abuse, but he was not deterred from the per- formance of his plain duty, though it cost him his political standing in the state.

Aside from the statehood accomplishment and its incidental political features and the drought and its consequences, 1889 was uneventful. Rail- road building was at a standstill and no new building of any kind was projected after the harvest time. The general health of the people was excellent, a blessing that was duly appre- ciated in that year of the beginning of the dark age in South Dakota.

On November 2, 1889, the very day of the admission of South Dakota, a proposition for which he had unwearily labored, Joseph Ward, president of Yankton College, died. No other man has more strongly impressed himself upon South Dakota for good than he.

CHAPTER LXII

THE FIRST YEAR IN SOUTH DAKOTA.

As will be apprehended from the previous chapter, the first year of South Dakota's existence as a state was not a very hopeful period. Not only were the people laboring under the despond- ency of the crop failure and its incident hard- ships of the previous year, but the crop of 1890, too, was but little improved over the disastrous failure of 1889. Prices were, however, very good and even in the single year the effort to find other dependence than wheat growing had re- sulted in a beginning in dairying and poultry, which helped out many a larder which otherwise would have been destitute. It is the testimony of many who passed through that awful experi- ence that poultry was the first resource that brought something of comfort and better living. "Everything on the place was mortgaged and had to go, except the chickens," has been declared to the writer by so many of the pioneers who stuck it out, that he is forced to the conclusion that the hen was a large factor in the salvation of Dakota from utter collapse. But it required several years to recover and to discover the means of permanent prosperity, through diversified crops, live stock and dairying. Even those who clearly saw the way were unable from lack of means to do more than make a small start in the right direction and gradually grew into better things.

The census taken as of the first of June gave the state 328,808 people. The loss of population for the previous year must have been consider- able.

This year the Elkhorn division of the North-

western Railway completed its line into Dead- wood, and the Burlington & Missouri River, which had entered the state from the southwest corner the previous year, pushed its line up into the central hills as far as Custer, and its branch to Hot Springs was completed.

The first state legislature, which convened in January, 1890, was the strongest body of solons the state has had. The ablest men in each com- munity felt something of pride in sitting as mem- bers of this first body and we find in the roll the names of a surprisingly large number of individ- uals who stand at the very front in the state's citizenship to this day. The session was largely devoted to providing the necessary legislation to facilitate the operations of the new state, and give life to the provisions of the constitution. The powers and duties of the regents of educa- tion and the board of charities were prescribed, the manner of bringing actions against the state defined and the duties of the constitutional offi- cers limited in a greater or less degree. The old territorial laws which were not repealed were made applicable to state conditions and the neces- sary appropriations made to maintain the state and institutions. The power of the state to pro- vide directly for the destitute was discussed, but the weight of opinion was that the state had not the power under the constitution and Governor Mellette was strongly of that mind. The draft- ing and passage of a prohibition law to make the constitutional provision effective was one of the most serious tasks and occupied a great deal of

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time. Three new offices were created, commis- sioner of labor and statistics, engineer of irriga- tion and mine inspector. Sutton E. Young, of Sioux Falls, was speaker of the house.

The crop failure from drought brought the subject of irrigation into great prominence and many meetings were held at different points to discuss the topic and devise the best means of utilizing the artesian waters for that purpose. Congress appropriated twenty thousand dollars to make an irrigation survey of South Dakota and the work, by Prof. Darton, was the means of gathering a vast amount of information relat- ing to the probable extent and supply of artesian water.

In July the State Editorial Association, as the guests of the city of Pierre, made the overland trip from Pierre to the Black Hills, returning by the Elkhorn Railway.

Under the constitution the state officers are elected bienially upon the even numbered years and in consequence a new election fell in the au- tumn of 1890.

The Farmers' Alliance movement had pros- pered and during the hard times had taken a strongly political cast. It was under the leader- ship of Henry L. Loucks, a most skillful propa- gandist and by this time had become a genuine ground-swell. The discouraged farmers, over- whelmed with reverses, were easily led to look for comfort in proposed political reforms and on the 9th of July a convention met at Huron to con- sider the political situation. There, after some deliberation, it was resolved to project a third party movement to be known as the Independent party, but popularly known as the People's party, or Populists. Mr. Loucks was nominated for governor, and F. A. Leavitt and Fred Zipp for congress. The Democrats met in Aberdeen and nominated Maris Taylor for governor and F. A. Clark and W. Y. Quigley for congress.

The hostility to Governor Mellette, engen- dered by his efforts to provide for the destitute, led to an active campaign against his nomination, but this oppositon was wthdrawn before the con- vention assembled at Mitchell on August 20th. Mellette was renominated for governor and John

R. Gamble and John A. Pickler for congress. At this convention W. W. Taylor received his first nomination for state treasurer. The cam- paign that followed these nominations was spir- ited and owing to the demoralization incident to the coincident and the previous capital campaigns was exceedingly uncertain and difficult to accu- rately measure. At the admission of the state Mr. Moody had drawn the short term in the sen- ate, and consequently a senatorial campaign was also involved.

Pierre and Huron were engaged in a furious contest for the permanent seat of government. Watertown had essayed to enter the fight, but had been subsidized by Huron to remain out of the race. Corruption was carried to the limit in securing votes in this contest.

The election in November resulted in the choice of the Republican ticket by thirty-five thousand, to twenty-five thousand for the Popu- lists and eighteen thousand for the Democrats, the Populist strength having been drawn from both of the old parties, the Republicans contrib- uting four-fifths and the Democrats one-fifth.

In the choice of the legislature, however, the Republicans were not so fortunate. On the face of the returns the Democrats and Populists com- bined had an even show, with one Republican elected upon an independent ticket holding the balance of power. Several contests were inaug- urated on both sides which the legislature was called upon to decide.

Pierre won over Huron, by a vote of forty thousand against twenty-seven thousand for Hu- ron.

As if drought and famine were not enough to try out the pioneers of the new state, the fall of 1890 brought to our very door a great Indian uprising which resulted in a vast tragedy. In a degree, this uprising was an incident of the drought, though it was in a greater measure predicated upon other circumstances. The ex- tremely dry weather, however, had destroyed all the Indians' little efforts at agriculture and gar- dening with which they had for several years supplemented the rations issued to them by the government. Uncle Sam is not quick to adjust

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himself to changed conditions and it was diffi- cult to make him understand at once why the rations which were sufficient in 1888 were not adequate in 1889 and 1890. The Indians had felt the pinch of hunger and were restive under the situation. At this juncture the South Dakota Sioux were visited by emissaries of tribes west of the Rocky mountains who, inspired by fanat- ical superstitions, represented to them that the Messiah of the Indians was about to return to earth and restore the old free life, with game and buffalo in abundance, while the whites were to be driven from the earth. Early in November delegates were sent by the South Dakota bands to attend a gathering of choice spirits at Pyramid lake in Utah, where it was represented that the Messiah was to appear. These delegates stole away from the agencies and made remarkable progress to Pyramid lake, where they met repre- sentatives of sixteen other tribes, some of them having traveled fourteen hundred miles to reach the rendezvous. It almost surpasses belief, but it is nevertheless true that these delegates, called without telegraph or written message, had started from points a thousand miles remote from each other and had arrived at the rendezvous at the appointed time. There the pretended Messiah ap- peared to them and made to them great promises. The youth of all the older Indians was to be re- newed so that no man among them would be more than forty years old. Everything was to be restored as it was in former times before the white men came. That medicine men would be sent among them to cure with a touch all of their wounds and sickness so that they would live forever. He then taught them to dance the ghost dance and sent them back to their tribes.

Short Bull, an Oglala, was the leader of the Dakota delegates. His home was at Pine Ridge. He was a hostile, or heathen Indian, as distin- gnished from the friendly fellows who thronged about the agency. He came home and at once began to teach the doctrines of the new Mes- siah to the chiefs and the dance to the young men. At first he told him all the mysterious changes would come in two seasons, but as the Indians took up the new doctrine and became frenzied in

the dance, which they carried to the extreme, dancing for days in succession without rest or food until dropping down from sheer exhaustion, Short Bull, who at first was but a John the Bap- tist, announcing the coming of the Messiah, grew bolder and proclaimed his own divine and mirac- ulous power. His first act was to set ahead the date of the uprising, which was to be a prelimi- nary to the grand restoration, one year, that is to the fall of 1890, which by this time was al- ready at hand. He then commanded all the war- riors to assemble in the Bad Lands on White river in November. While the dancing and ex- citement was largely confined to Pine Ridge, the Sioux at the other agencies were uneasy and in- clined to listen to Short Bull's runners who were constantly among them. This is particularly true of the wild Indians belonging to the Cheyenne river agency, who lived back on Cherry creek, and the Uncpapas on upper Grand river. Al- most immediately the Indians started for the Bad Lands, looting the homes of the farmer Indians as they went and forcing many peaceably inclined ones to join them. They made a camp near the mouth of Pass creek, where in a short time three thousand of the dancers were assembled. Dr. D. F. Royer, the agent at Pine Ridge, first be- came alarmed about the middle of the month and General Miles, in command of the department of the Northwest, had sent strong detachments of troops under General Brooke to Pine Ridge and Rosebud, but no general alarm was felt in the state until the 24th of November when Scotty Philip came in from his ranch on Bad river to inform Governor Mellette that an outbreak was imminent at any moment. Governor Mellette telegraphed this information promptly to General Miles, who at once strengthened the force at the agencies and a cordon of troops were placed along the Cheyenne from the Forks up to the Elkhorn railway crossing and down that line toward Chadron as a protection to the Black Hills, and strong garrisons were posted at Forts Bennett and Sully and at Fort Yates. Little danger was apprehended from the Indians at Cheyenne river agency proper. In fact the lead- ing Indians there could confidently be depended

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upon to assist in the protection of the frontier ; but there was some cause for apprehension that the Uncpapas on Grand river who came under the direct personal influence of Sitting Bull, might make a dash across the river among the settlers, the force at. Fort Yates was kept on the qui vive and Governor Mellette armed the militia in Wal- worth and Campbell counties and they were some time kept under marching orders under the com- mand of Col. Thomas Orr. General Miles estab- lished his headquarters at Rapid City. The pol- icy of the army was to force the Indians back to the agency without a conflict. To this end ef- forts were put forth to create dissensions among the Sioux themselves and so weaken their strength.

Among the Uncpapas it was believed that the chief disturber was old Sitting Bull himself and that if he could be placed under arrest, his followers would remain quietly at the agency, or at least upon the reservation and the excitement would soon die out. Sitting Bull had spent a season or two as an attraction in the Wild West show of "Buffalo Bill" Cody and General Miles was of the opinion that Cody would have greater influence with him than any other white man. Cody was therefore sent to Standing Rock to coax the old medicine man to come in on the 25th of November, but the Indians, suspecting his mission, sent the showman off on a fool's errand to find Sitting Bull at a point a long distance from where he actually was, and after chasing about in a vain hunt for him, Cody gave up the mission. This attempt to draw off the old dis- turber having failed, the war department, being unduly fearful of Sitting Bull's power, it was de- termined to arrest him at all hazards and the commandant at Fort Yates was instructed to ef- fect his arrest without delay. Consequently on the evening of December 10th Major McLaugh- lin, the agent at Standing Rock, selected a body of Indian police in whom he had confidence, to go out and make the arrest. They were to be supported by Captain Fechet with a detail of troops. Sitting Bull's home was in a substantial log house located on Grand river, in South Da- kota, not far from the mouth of Rock creek and

about thirty-five miles southwest of Standing Rock. The police, closely followed by the troops, left the agency about midnight, on the night of the 10th and made a rapid drive to Sitting Bull's where they arrived about four o'clock in the morning. The police arrived first and going directly to the house found the old man asleep in bed ; they awakened him and told him their busi- ness and advised him to submit peaceably. He was indignant and raised a cry of revolt which speedily drew about him a strong force of his followers, who opened fire upon the police and a desperate fight ensued in which six of the police- men and Sitting Bull himself were killed. The hostiles were vastly in the majority and it is probable that the entire body of policemen would have been wiped out had not Captain Fechet arrived at the moment the fight was at its height and, quickly mounting a Hochkiss gun, soon drove back the hostiles and rescued the remain- ing policemen. Most of the remaining hostiles gave up at once, but some of them started for the Short Bull camp in the Bad Lands, but were in- tercepted on the Cheyenne, and, with the excep- tion of thirty, who made their way to the White river, were placed under arrest and in a short time returned to Standing Rock. The hostile element among the Cheyenne river Indians were chiefly in the band of Hump, out on Cherry creek. Hump was considered to be particularly formidable and his location too was such that he made a strong link in the line of communication between the hostile Oglalas and the Uncpapas. Captain Ewers, of the Fifth Infantry, had dur- ing his residence at Fort Bennett, became a strong. friend of Hump's. At this time Ewers was stationed in Texas, but he was sent for and, proceeding to Fort Bennett, drove at once out to Hump's camp, sixty miles away, on Cherry creek, without troops and unarmed. Hump was twenty miles from home, but a runner went to him and he at once came in to see his old friend. Captain Ewers explained the situation to him and asked him to accompany him to Fort Ben- nett. To this Hump at once assented and took his people down to the fort, where they remained peaceably until the troubles were over, Hump

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himself joining General Miles' forces and rendering effective service as a scout. One of the sub-chiefs, however, did not come in, but started to join Short Bull. This was Big Foot, who with certain scattered hostiles from the Cheyenne and Grand River, rounded up one hun- dred and sixteen men and, though once appre- hended by Captain Summers, they by a subter- fuge evaded him. When Colonel Sumner had intercepted Big Foot near the Cheyenne on De- cember 22d, he promised to return with his peo- ple to the Cheyenne river agency, but on that night escaped and started south to join Short Bull. This fact was at once communicated to headquarters and orders were tele- graphed to General Brooke at Pine Ridge to intercept Big Foot and place him and his warriors under arrest. In the mean- time Short Bull had become more reason- able and had determined 'to return to the agency, and on the night of December 29th had arrived within six miles of Pine Ridge. On the 28th of December Major Whiteside, under orders from General Brooke, met Big Foot and his band near Porcupine creek and demanded his surrender. Big Foot and his band of one hundred and six warriors and their women and children submitted without resistence. Ten

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 46

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