History of southeastern Dakota, its settlement and growth, geological and physical features--countries, cities, towns and villages--incidents of pioneer life--biographical sketches of the pioneers and business men, with a brief outline history of the territory in general, Part 10

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Sioux City, Ia., Western Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 404


USA > South Dakota > History of southeastern Dakota, its settlement and growth, geological and physical features--countries, cities, towns and villages--incidents of pioneer life--biographical sketches of the pioneers and business men, with a brief outline history of the territory in general > Part 10


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


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34


H. P. Hanson, established in 1878; removed in 1879.


R. B. Struthers, established in 1878; removed in 1879.


C. F. Sischo, west side Phillips ave., near 8th street, established February. 1880.


Oscar Ericsson, west side Phillips ave., near 10th street, estab- lished April, 1880.


D. J. Turner, corner Phillips ave. and Ninth street, established July, 1880.


PHOTOGRAPHERS.


Hudson & Munson. established May, 1878; sold to Munson in 1879.


9S


HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.


John M. Munson, successor to Hudson & Munson, east side Phillips ave .. near 10th street, established August, 1879.


E. J. Brown, established Sept., 1878, sold to H. Easton in 1879.


H. Easton, established in spring of 1879, sold to Dunn & Eas- ton in 1881.


Dunn & Easton, successors to H. Easton, west side Phillips ave., near 7th street, established June, 1873.


In addition to these parties a car used occasionally to visit Sioux Falls in an early day, A. Loneous and C. Foss being the operators.


SHOEMAKERS AND DEALERS IN BOOTS AND SHOES.


J. J. Hancock, established in the old barracks in the summer of 1871; afterward removed to west side Phillips ave., near 9th street, continued the business till July. 1877.


N. Boucher, established in August, 1872, continued about four years.


D. Tharaldson, east side Phillips ave., near 10th street, estab- lished November, 1876.


J. F. Redfield, established July, 1878, discontinued business July, 1880.


C. R. Tate, established April, 1878, continued only a few months. (). Olson, established Angust, 1878, continued abont a year.


H. Julson, established in 1876, continued but a few months.


W. C. Hopkins, east side Phillips ave., north of 10th street, es- tablished in spring of 1878.


D. S. Glidden, east side Phillips ave., near 9th street, established November, 1878.


W. Lloyd & Sons, west side Phillips ave., south of 9th street, established April, 1879.


W. Rabe, east side Phillips ave., north of 9th street, established November, 1879.


J. M. Entzminger. Cataract block, established, September, 1880. GROCERIES.


C. B. Culbertson. established December, 1873, continned about a year.


John Henjum, west side Phillips Ave., south of 10th st. Estah- lished May. 1877.


Lockwood & Jeffrys, established December. 1873, continued about a vear.


T. T. Cochran, wholesale and retail groceries. corner Phillips Ave. and 8th St., established September, 1877.


A. W. Ogden. established April 1878, continued till April 1879.


I. K. Buck, west side Phillips Ave., south of Ninth street, estab- lished November, 1878.


E. J. Brown, established September, 1878, continued till spring of 1879.


J. M. Murray, established in fall of 1878, continned till fall of 1879.


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SIOUX FALLS.


A. Clendenning, established October, 1878, continued about a year.


P. F. Thompson, Tenth street, east of Phillips Ave., established Deceniber, 1878.


M. Gerin, west side Phillips Ave, near 9th st., established Jann- ary. 1879.


Kamph & Hage. established March, 1880, continued till January Ist, 1881


Webb & Matteson, west side Phillips Ave., north of Sth st., es- tablished, October, 1881.


Leavitt Bros., established May, 1STS. Sold out in October, 1881.


W. A. Noble, successor to Leavitt Bros., west side Phillips Ave. near Sth st., established October, 1879.


BAKERIES AND RESTAURANTS.


Geo. Bordman, began business in the old barracks in June, 1873; continued with occasional intervals until 1879.


A. J. Hayes, bakery and restaurant, east side Phillips Ave .. near 8th st., established November, 1879.


P. Hall, City Bakery and Restaurant, west side Phillips Ave. near Sth st .; established April, 1880.


A. Palm, restaurant, Phillips Ave. north of 8th st .; established. July, 1881.


C. Weihe, Vienna Bakery, established Feb'y, 1880, continued but a few months.


MEAT MARKETS.


A number of persons have opened meat markets in Sioux Falls who, after a time, have closed their markets and either engaged in other businesses or removed from the place. Those that can now be called to mind are Castor & Blades, here in 1873-4; Castor & Chamberlain, 1874-5; W. Hauser, 1875; Otto Anderson, 1875; G. C. Gladwyn, 1876-7: G. W. Bainbridge, 1877; T. C. Allen, 1878; John Zente, 1879. Those now in business are:


C. K. Howard. 10 st .; established fall of 1873.


J. B. Peterson & Co., 9th st .: established November, 1878.


H. H. Carroll, east side Phillips Ave., north of 9th st., establish- ed in June, 1881, as Carroll & Pattee.


Michael & Roberts, west side Phillips Ave., near 7th st .. estab- lished August, 1881.


FLOUR, FEED. ETC.


In the fall of 1877, D. T. Scott opened a flour and feed store on the west side Phillips Avenue, which he continued for about a year when he formed a partnership with W. C. Boyce and moved across the Avenne. In October, 1879, Mr. Scott disposed of his interest to Messrs. Boyce, Fairbanks & Co .; August 1st. ISSO, this last mentioned firm sold to W. C. Boyce & Co .- W. C. Boyce and W.


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HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.


H. Byran-who still continue the business, east side Phillips Avenue, between Ninth and Tenth streets.


W. W. Johnson, east side Phillips Avenue, north of Eighth street, established May, 1879. Mr Johnson also deals in hides and wool.


GUNS, ETC.


G. K. Gunderson, east side Phillips Avenue, north of Ninth street, established September, 1880.


HARNESS MAKERS, ETC.


John MeKee, west side Phillips Avenue, north of Ninth street, established in 1871.


N. E. Cisna, established in spring of 1877; continued about two years.


N. L. Anderson, east side Phillips Avenue, near Tenth street; established September 1878.


F. Wesser, east side Phillips Avenue, near Eighth street, estab- lished November, 1879.


CHINESE LAUNDRY.


Sang Lee, on alley between Eighth and Ninth streets: estab- lished in spring of 1880.


TOBACCO, CIGARS, ETC.


A. T. Fleetwood. east side Phillips Avenue, south of Eighth street. Since April, 1879, the firm has been Fleetwood & Lloyd, and located in post office building.


D. J. Fisher, cigar factory; established June, 1879, continued about a year.


F. F. Angel & Son, cigar factory, east side Phillips Avenue, south of Eighth street: established September, 1879.


Henry Pontz, cigar factory, west side Philips Avenue, just south of Nineth street; established August 1880.


NEWS, STATIONERY, BOOKS, ETC. ,


E. T. Mallory, established June. 1873, continned about a year. C. O. Natesta, established November 1873; sold to Mr. Russell in January. 1879. who sold to S. M. Bear & Co., in March, 1879. S. M. Bear, & Co .. west side Phillips Avenue, next door north of Cataract block: established March, 1879.


F. W. Farwell, established April, 1878; continued the business until November. 1878.


Fleetwood & Lloyd, Post office building; established April, 1879. BANKS.


J. D. Cameron, established the first bank in Sioux Falls in May, 1874. He continued the banking business for about two years, when he devoted his entire attention to the real estate business.


T. R. Crandall & Co., came to Sioux Falls in June, 1874, pre- pared to open the Minnehaha County Bank, but sold their material to J. D. Cameron before opening an office.


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SIOUX FALLS.


J. B. Young, established the Sioux Falls Bank in August, 1876, In June, 1877, H. L. Hollister purchased an interest in the busi- ness; from that time until the organization of the First National Bank, the bank was known as the Sioux Falls Bank of J. B. Young & Co.


The First National Bank of Sioux Falls, was chartered April 1st, 1880, with J. B. Young, President; R. F. Pettigrew, Vice President and H. L. Hollister, Cashier. The capital stock-$50,000 -being owned as follows: H. L. Hollister, $20,000; J. B. Young. $16,000; R. F. Pettigrew, $3,000; J. Schaetzel, $3,000; C. K. Howard, $2.500; N. E. Phillips, $2,500; C. F. Webber, $2,000; C. G. Walts, $1,000.


R. Nation, established the Citizens Bank in September, 1878; sold to Hills & Beebe in 1881.


Hills & Beebe, Citizens Bank, corner Phillips Avenue and Tenth street; established February, 1881.


Easton & Mckinney, established November, 1880; sold to Mc- Kinney & Scougal in 1881.


Mc Kinney & Scongal, successors to Easton & Mckinney, corner Phillips Avenue and Eighth street; established in summer of 1881.


BRICKYARDS.


The first kiln of briek manufactured in Sioux Falls was burned by D. H. Talbot, now of Sioux City, in June, 1873, on Frank street, just east of where the Worthington & Sioux Falls Railroad now crosses. In the summer of 1874, D. H. Talbot and John D. Cam- eron burned several kilns of brick on the east side of the river, near the bluffs.


Bayse & Kindred, Frank street, east of Eighth Avenue, estab- lished September, 1877; sold to Kindred in 1878.


N. B. Kindred, established July, 1878; yard in the southeast part of the town.


D. Donahoe, established in summer of 1879; yard near the river, east end of Frank street.


BREWERY.


Knott & Nelson, established in summer of 1874, sold to Knott & Co. in fall of 1874.


G. A. Knott & Co .- G. A. Knott and C. K. Howard-successors to Knott & Nelson, established in fall of 1874; located on bluffs at north end of Main street.


WHOLESALE LIQUORS.


H. Gilbert, east side Phillips Avenue, near Ninth street; estab- lished June, 1873.


J. Q. Houts, corner Phillips Avenne and Ninth street; estab- lished as a branch house of Ohlman & Co., in April, 1878.


T. T. Cochran, corner Philips Avenue and Eighth street; estab- lished September, 1877.


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HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.


FURNITURE.


1. C. Dixon, established in spring of 1872: corner Main and Eighth streets: moved to Brown block, west side Phillips Avenue, near Eighth street, in 1880.


Weston & Petterson, established July 1874; sold to A. Petterson in 1880.


A. Petterson, successor to Weston & Petterson: corner Phillips Avenue and Tenth street; established October, 1878.


Nichols & Kinney, established November, 1880; continued the business but a few months.


HARDWARE.


W. S. Bloom, corner Main and 8th streets, established in 1870; had groceries in connection, continned about a year.


Win. Van Eps, corner Phillips ave. and Sth street, established in spring of 1871.


F. J. Cross, established in the fall of 1872 in the old barracks. In the spring of 1873, with N. E. Phillips, under firm name of Phillips & Cross, commenced business on west side Phillips ave., between 9th and 10th streets; sold out in spring of 1874.


Phillips & Brown, successors to Phillips & Cross, established in spring of 1874. sold to Buck & Bro., in 1878.


I. K. Buck & Bro., successors to Phillips & Brown, established September, 1878, sold to Graves & Taylor in 1879.


Graves. & Taylor, successors to I. K. Buek & Bro .. established March. 1879. sold to Taylor in 1881.


F. W. Taylor, successor to Graves & Taylor, Howard & Taylor block, corner Phillips ave. and 10th street, established June, 1881.


W. S. Kimball, established July, 1873, continued about a year.


T. F. Leavitt & Co., west side Phillips ave., north of 9th street, established December, 1876, had grocery stock when first started; the style of the firm has been changed to Leavitt & Vincent.


E. Larson, west side Phillips ave., south of 9th street, estab- lished April, 1877.


H. A. Cadd, established April, 1876, moved to Dell Rapids in 1877.


G. W. Howard. established June, 1878, moved away in 1880.


O. S. Swenson, west side Phillips ave .. between 9th and 10th streets, established in the fall of 1880.


BLACKSMITHS, WAGON MAKERS, &C.


Z. P. Herrick, blacksmith, south side 8th street, near the river, established in fall of 1871.


True Dennis, blacksmith, established in 1871, continued the business until 1878.


T. H. Pruner, blacksmith, established September, 1877. Shop was first located on 9th street near the river, thence moved to near 10th street bridge, and again to west side Phillips ave., near 7th street. where he is now located.


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SIOUX FALLS.


W. N. Dillabough, wagon shop, established in 1872; continued until 1878.


A. Anderson, Sth street, east side of river, established October, 1878.


E. Jenson, blacksmith, east side of river, established October, 1878; when first established had wagon shop in connection, lost in flood of 1881.


Norton & Murray, brick shop, east side Phillips ave., between 9th and 10th streets, established November, 1878; have a wagon shop in connection.


Stringham & Gillett, corner 10th street and Island ave., estab- lished May, 1878; Have a wagon shop in connection.


LUMBER.


Wm. Van Eps was one of the first to start a lumber yard in Sioux Falls, which he continued until the spring of 1874.


Edwin Sharpe & Co., began business in Sioux Falls in the sum- mer of 1872, at the corner of Main and Eighth Streets. Upon the advent of the railroad the yard was moved to the east side near the . St. Paul depot. where they still continue business.


Roderick & Brown, established in May, 1873; corner Phillips Avenue and Tenth streets; sold out in spring of 1874.


B. F. Roderick, successor to Roderick & Brown, established in spring of 1874. In 1878 removed to the east side of the river. at the crossing of Eighth street and Pembina railroad. His entire stock was swept over the falls in the flood of April 1881. The stock recovered was sold to other parties and Mr. Roderick now devotes his entire attention to the grain business.


Bates & Son, near Tenth street bridge, established in January, 1877; stock bought by Sharpe & Co. in 1879.


I. N. Waples, Phillips Avenue, near Seventh street; established in spring of 1878. continued about a ye ur.


W. R. Bourne (N. C. Foster & Co .. ) erst side: established Octo- ber 1878; stock bought by Sharpe & Co., in 1880.


"Badger" lumber yard, east Eighth street, near river; established in 1880; stock lost in flood of 1881.


J. W. Parker & Son, corner Main and Seventh streets; established October, 1879.


A. A. Grout, Minneapolis Lumber yard; established August, 1878; north side east Eighth street, after the flood of April, 1881, moved to higher ground on south side of Eighth street, east side, where he still continues business.


H. W. Ross, Oshkosh yard; Eighth street, east side, near St. Paul elevator, established September, 1580.


COAL, WOOD, LIME, ETC.


D. A. Brown opened a coal vard and lime house near St. Paul el- evator, in September 1878. He afterwards sold to R. G. Parmley & Co.


164


HHISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.


R. G. Parmley & Co., coal, wood and lime, near St. Paul elevator; established November, 1878.


W. C. Boyce, wood and coal. also dealer in carriages, established in summer of 1878. In November, 1878, associated with D. F. Scott, under firm name of Scott & Boyce, and included flour and feed. October 1st, 1879, firm changed to Boyce, Fairbanks & Co. August 1st, 1880, firm changed to W. C. Boyce & Co .- W. C. Boyce and W. H. Bryan-east side Phillips Avenue, between 9th and 10th streets.


C. E. Place & Co., wood and coal in connection with draying; established in spring of 1880; west side Phillips Avenue, corner 11th street; in spring of 1881, yards removed to 7th street, near railroad track.


Smead & Alguire, wood and coal; east side Phillips Avenue, just south of 10th street; established in the spring of 1880.


A. A. Gront, wood, coal and lime in connection with lumber business; established in fall of 1878.


E. Sharpe & Co., wood and coal in connection with lumber yard; established in 1872.


B. F. Roderick, wood and coal in connection with lumber yard: established in fall of 1878.


AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.


C. K. Howard, establishel this part of his business in 1870.


Wm. Van Eps. established in 1871.


G. C. Lawton, established May, 1873. continued about a year.


Skinner & Austin, established May, 1873. 'A. J. Skinner suc- ceeded the firm in 1874, and continued about three years.


O. & K. Thompson, east side Phillips Ave., between 9th and 10th streets; established June, 1875. K. Thompson succeeded the firm in June, 1878, and continues the business.


Gilman & Dick, established in spring of 1877, continued about a vear.


C. M. Bance, established in spring of 1879; continued about a year.


Stringham & Gilett, agricultural implements and manufactur- ers of wagons, corner Tenth st. and Island Avenue; established May, 1878.


Norton & Murray, agricultural implements and manufacturers of wagons, east side Phillips Ave., near 10th st., established No- vember, 1878.


LIVERY STABLES.


Callender Bros .. east side Phillips Ave., near 8th st., established in spring of 1873. sold to W. E. Willey in 1880.


W. E. Willey, successor to Callender Bros., east side Phillips Ave., near Sth st .. established in spring of 1880.


P. P. Peck, established April. 1874, east side Phillips Avenue, north of Ninth street. In 1877 moved south about a block on


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SIOUX FALLS.


same street, and in 1879 moved to corner Main and 9th streets. where he is permanently located.


Dodge & Carson, established September, 1878; sold to P. P. Peck in 1879.


Bersie Bros .. established in summer 1879; continued until 1881.


J. P. Tufts, main street near 6th, established in spring of 1880,


Queen City Livery stables, corner Main and 10th streets. established August, 1881, by Jac Schaetzel, Jr., is a model livery for the West. The building is 40 by 72 feet, two stories high .- The first story contains stalls for thirty horses, well, mixing troughs for feed, &c. On the second floor is the carriage room. office, sleep- ing room for the hostler, closets for robes, &c. The third floor is for hay and feed and furnishes ample room for storing 1.000 bushels of oats, four or five tons of bran and seventy tons of hay, besides room for machinefor cutting the feed.


LIFE AND FIRE INSURANCE.


Briggs & Robinson, established a general insurance agency in Sioux Falls in February, 1879. They represent fourteen different companies and devote their entire attention to the business of in- surance. Office over Post Office.


Geo. W. Lewis, office over first National Bank, established in 1879. Does a general insurance and loaning business.


The various professions have been fully represented in Sioux Falls from the time of its first settlement. We give the names and dates of the establishment of the different parties in chronological order so far as possible. Unless otherwise specified, they are still in business in the city:


PHYSICIANS.


J. L. Phillips, summer of 1869; Joseph Roberts, fall of 1872; removed to his farm in 1874. died in 1881. J. C. Morgan, May, 1873; S. Olney, Aug., 1877. Dr. Olney formed a partership with L. O. Tanner, in spring of 1879, which last but a few months, Dr. Tanner removing from the city. E. P. Allen, April, 1878; re- moved in 1880. E. Watson, Sept. 1878; A. L. Marcy, April, 1879; H. J. Cate, January. 1880, moved in October, 1880. J. B. LeBlond, May, 1880; Harry Stites, July, 1881.


RESIDENT DENTISTS. Peter Bush, spring of 1878; E. Bedford, July, 1881.


LAND AGENTS.


A. Gale, fall of 1871.


T. H. Brown, July. 1872.


E. A. Sherman. July, 1873.


J. D. Cameron. June, 1874. Jac Schaetzel, Jr., January, 1876.


F. S. Emerson, January, 1878.


E. E. Sage, December, 1878.


L. D Henry, October, 1880.


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HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.


In this connection we would remark that all the attorneys give more or less of their attention to real estate business.


ATTORNEYS.


R. F. Pettigrew, September, 1869.


John Bippus, May, 1870.


W. R. MeLaury, October, 1870; removed June, 1876.


M. Grigsby, July. 1872, now Grigsby & Wilkes.


E. G. Wheeler. May, 1873; removed in 74.


C. H. Winsor, June, 1873.


C. J. Hadley, December, 1873; removed in '74.


T. R. Kershaw. June, 1877: now Kershaw & Flagg.


C. W. McDonald. June. 1877.


A. M. Flagg, Sept. 1877: now Sherman & Flagg.


W. W. Brookings, fall of 1877.


E. Parliman, fall of 1877: now Parliman & Frizzell.


L. M. Estabrook, spring of 1878.


F. L. Boyce, spring of 1878.


G. P. Cross. April. 1878.


J. A. Wilson, June. 1878: removed in 1879.


A. Frizzell, June. 1878. now Parliman & Frizzell.


L. C. Hitchcock, Inne. 1878, removed in 1880.


R. J. Wells, August. 1878.


Wall & Disney, October, 1878. removed April, 1879;


WV. A. Wilkes, November, 1878, now Grigsby & Wilkes. L. S. Swezey, fall of 1879.


E. G. Wright. October. ISSO.


T. J. Wolf. fall of 1880.


Bottum & Dawes, fall of 1880.


Coughran & McMartin, fall of 1880.


Free & Polk, fall of 1880.


Clark & Fairfax, spring of 1881.


C. H. Wynn, June. 1881.


In addition to the business here enumerated. Sioux Falls has a full quota of carpenters. masons and workmen in all the trades.


DELL RAPIDS.


Dell Rapids is one of the growing and substantial towns of the Sioux Valley, with a well developed country around it, and with prospects of the most gratifying certainty. The town is the out- growth of actual necessity; it is the supply which a demand has created, a town which has been made by the surrounding country, and which has kept pace with the settlement of the agricultural community from which it derives its support. As nearly every community of Dakota has at least one prominent natural feature,


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DELL RAPIDS.


by means of which the attention of tourists is attracted, so it is with Dell Rapids, the town itself taking its name from the re- markable freak of Dame Nature in close proximity which is every- where known as


THE DELLS.


A visit to this picturesque locality will well repay the lover of the strange and beautiful. The Dells have been aptly termed the safety-valves of the water-power at Dell Rapids. Beginning at a break in the Big Sioux River, on the south bank, opposite the town. at first the Dells present the appearance of a rivulet flowing out of the main body of water, taking a circuitous direction to re- unite with the parent stream some two and one-half miles further along its eccentric course. Yet only in the higher stages of its waters does the Sioux overflow the dam across the aperture be- tween itself and the Dells, and it becomes instantly apparent that it is not from the river that this peculiar branch, which is not a branch, obtains its water supply. Investigation determines that the Dells are fed by invisible springs, indefinite in number and indefinable in volume, which maintain in the bed of this curious stream an average depth of about eleven feet, although a mach greater depth is found in various places. As you progress along the banks of the Dells, you notice increasing accumulations of the well known Big Sioux quartzite in its dull red and leaden colors; the banks grow more and more precipitous: the rocks are heaped strata upon strata in immeasurable quantities. and take on fantastic shapes and unreal formations; the Dells deepen into a gorge, far down into the bottom of which the waters, taking their hues from the sky above them, creep along in almost imperceptible ripples. Overhead, pile on pile, hangs the rugged quartzite, shelving out over the liquid blue beneath: in the sides of the rocky banks in- numerable swallows build their nests, while above them shrubbery elings and cacti grow, seemingly nurtured in a soil of adamant. Perhaps the highest perpendicular point, from the summits of the overhanging rocks to the waters below, is very nearly forty-five feet ; but so precipitous is the descent, and so grotesquely wild the aspect, that it is no wonder the majority of tourists report the height much greater. Descending a fissure, gazing down which dlescent seemed impossible, the writer pushed off in a rude canoe and paddled for some distance under the overshadowing banks. Here, indeed. looking upward, the impression was intensified, and


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HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA


t was possible to imagine the gigantie forces which in some grand upheaval had torn these banks apart and given to them with whim- sical violence their strangely weird formations.


The town itself is located on the north bank of the river, upon a gradually ascending upland. The townsite as ultimately agreed upon is on the southeast quarter of section 9, town 104, range 49, and is distant about twenty miles north of Sioux Falls.


The year 1871 witnessed the beginning of the settlement. In that year Dennis Rice, Byron D. Graves, Cash Coates, Gilbert Rice. E. F. Metcalf, Peter Morse, R. S. Alexander and Albion Thorne, recognizing the advantages of the location, took meas- ures for the acquisition of property in the vicinity of the Dells. Complications which grew out of the disposition of the claim con- taining the present mill-site, in no small measure affected the future of Dell Rapids, which but for divers and sundry circumstances would in all probability have been the County Seat of Minnehaha County, as it was advantageously located with reference to the county limits at that time. Out of these and other complications grew a contest as to what should be the townsite of the future city, four different sites being laid out in 1872, the owner of each of which zealously strove for his own interests as against the others, which rivalry. while grounded in human nature and justi- fiable from an individual standpoint, nevertheless could not fail to have its effect upon the growth of the vigorous young community. Happily, the matter was finally compromised in 1875, by which compromise two of the four townsites were consolidated and the other two abandoned.


In the winter of 1871 an order to commence mail service at the Dells on the 1st of January, 1872, was received. Albion Thorne was appointed Postmaster. As evidence of the scanty population at that time, it may be mentioned that it required the entire nnm- ber of male inhabitants to furnish the requisite bondsmen and assistants for the Postmaster. Lewis Hewlitt was the first mail carrier on the route from Sioux Falls. Hewlitt made his first ap- pearance in that capacity on the 25th of December, 1871. On that day the entire population of the settlement ate Christmas dinner at the house of Postmaster Thorne. The company num- bered thirteen in all, and was composed of the following persons: Albion Thorne, wife and daughter; Dennis Rice, wife and daughter;




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