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 4
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA.
scape. Now think of this magnificent tract of country upon which nature seems to have showered her greatest favors and exhausted her choicest powers, as being already, though as yet only in its earliest infancy, dotted with thriving and prosperous towns, most of them excellent market places; as consisting of millions of acres of land as fertile as the far-famed valley of the Nile, with scarcely a mile of waste land in its whole extent; as being intersected east and west by seven lines of railroad, four of which have already crossed it and entered the Missouri valley on the west, while two north and south lines are being rapidly constructed, which taken together will give it immediate and rapid connections with all the best markets of the East. Look for a moment at this situation, and then add the facts, that of all these broad acres, attended by these almost incredible advantages, not a tithe has as yet been ap- propriated by the actual settler; that no speculator can get posses- sion of a single acre of this goodly domain, except as he purchases from the settler. and that settlement is all that is required to pos- sess it, and it will be readily seen that nothing short of a providen- tial intervention can keep the tax-ridden, overcrowded, and sorely burdened people of the East out of it."
The same writer observes: "Truly, in spite of prophetic fore- bodings, 1881 has been a red letter year for Dakota, and especially for this portion of the Territory. While the regions to both the east and west of us have, during the season, been alternately parched with scorching droughts, and submerged by devastating floods, we have enjoyed refreshing showers, and tempered sunshine, so equally distributed as to cause all products, both indigenous and cultivated, to flourish in a degree truly remarkable.
The growth of vegetation upon our fertile prairies this year has been really marvelous. In this valley immense crops of corn, po- tatoes, flax, roots, etc., have been raised upon the raw prairie sod, broken last spring, while upon those lands which had been culti- vated for some years, the yield, even with little attention, was far in advance of the most sanguine expectations of the settlers. It is no wonder that our people are prosperous, happy, energetic, con- tented and confident. They have before their eyes, in tangible form, and within easy reach, all the elements of abundant pros- perity and actual independence, and it is only natural that their universal message to their friends in the East should be, not as in the case of many western emigrants, 'Send us money with which
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA.
to get out of this accursed country, but come to Dakota, and share our prosperity, and enjoy with us the remarkable benefits to be derived from the rapid and vigorous development of one of the grandest commonwealths that ever has been, or ever will be, carved out of the great Northwest."'
DAKOTA'S CLAIMS TO STATEHOOD
Apropos of the immediate probability of Dakota's admission into the Sisterhood of States, another observant writer, has the following remarks to offer: "The scheme of making Dakota a State is not a wild one. Political expediency may suggest it, and a majority of one may carry it through the Senate, but sufficient merit is not lacking. A Territory that builds 865 miles of railroad in a single year-1880-must be a region of some wealth, present or prospective. The Northern Pacific traverses the width of the Territory, from Fargo to Montana line, 375 miles; the same road has completed and is operating fifty miles of road north from Cas- selton; the Fargo-Southwestern branch has been located, and the graders have been busy all fall; the Jamestown branch has been surveyed in a northerly direction, and the contract for grading twenty-five miles let and partly filled. The Milwaukee has built one branch to the Missouri in Southern Dakota, and has purchased the right of way through the Big Sioux reservation to the Black Hills. The same road has completed the Hastings & Dakota divis- ion to Aberdeen in the James River Valley, a distance of 120 miles west of the Minnesota line; more grading and roadbed by the same line, here and there, north and south through the James Valley, indicating a practical intention to furnish ample transpor- tation facilities for that rich valley. The Chicago & Northwestern is operated to Fort Pierre on the Missouri, and like the Milwaukee, has purchased its right of way to the Black Hills, is also building northwest from Lake Kampeska and north and south, through the James Valley, keeping step with its great rival, the creation of Mitchell and Merrill; roads connect Sioux City and Yankton and Sioux City and Sioux Falls, and Marion Junction and Yankton. The Manitoba line has built from Breckinridge on the Red River, and west and north fifty miles, crossing the Northern Pacific near Casselton; has also completed in a jiffy the eighty miles of road
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA.
between Grand Forks and Fargo and has started west from the former place a line across the Territory to Fort Buford at the mouth of the Yellowstone. And still there are several more rail- way enterprises crystalizing that we could mention if we desired to color this showing. And don't forget the Missouri and Red River are equivalent to two railroads.
"The population, 5,000, and wealth of Deadwood and the half- dozen towns of the Black Hills tributary, are known to all men. There are mines in this region that cost $1,500,000 to develop. One of them, the Homestake, even boasts the Corliss engine that was the wonder of the Centennial Exposition. The production of the Hills is counted by the millions.
"Bismarck, with her 3,000 people, twenty steamboats, commerce radiating with all the points of the compass, and her big bridge over the Missouri, costing $1,000,000. is a conspicuous item in Da- kota's assets.
"Fargo, with her 4,000 or 5,000 people, elevators, water works, gas works, street railway, three railroads, twenty-one additions to the original town plat, and unprecedented growth year after year, will not be denied her importance even by the Bourbon of Bourbons.
"Sioux Falls, the metropolis of the beautiful and rich Sioux Val- ley, has her 3,000 people, and a water power the first in importance in Dakota, driving three or four flouring mills that would not be out of place in Minneapolis. In fact, the Queen Bee is believed to be on a par with the best equipped mill in the Flour City."
"Yankton, the mother of the others, and capital of the Territory, with 3,500 people; Grand Forks with nearly 3,000, and Mandan, Wahpeton, Jamestown, Valley City, Tower City, Casselton, Pem- bina, Watertown, Huron, Pierre, Canton, Vermillion and Elk Point, with none of them enumerating at present less than 500 people, swell the ranks of the towns to the requirements of tate- hood.
"As feeders to these towns there are scores of villages with fifty to four hundred inhabitants. Some of them are more than feeders - they are little centers of themselves. All the towns over five hundre l inhabitants are not named in the above list. A village of one hundred inhabitants grows so fast that a semi-annual census could not keep us posted.
"The Black Hills furnish the mines; Southern Dakota a varied agriculture, including fine water-power for manufacturing, and
Eellaura
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA.
Northern Dakota the largest wheat fields in the United States, outside of California, where everything is more marvelous than in any other land. The wheat and gold shipments prove the produc- ing capacity of the Territory. There are probably no two opinions upon that head. If we can raise gold and wheat, we are on a specie basis, and are entitled to a respectful hearing.
"We cite in proof of the Territory's agricultural popularity, the records of the local land offices: The first day the Grand Forks office opened in May, 1880, the officers received the largest num- ber of entries ever known at a local land office in a single day. They earned their salaries, $6,000, the first week, and had to work the rest of the year for nothing. That is, their fees and commis- sions footed 'maximum,' and if business had totally ceased after the first week, they would have received just as much for their week's work as they did for a year. From the day of opening to the present, the rush has been on. The establishment of the Grand Forks office was intended as a relief to the Fargo office, but there has been no relief. Business this year has been larger than ever. It is as much of a necessity as the Grand Forks office was. If one is established this winter by Congress, you will see the first day's work at the Grand Forks office duplicated and a whole year's business about equal to that of the first offshoot of Fargo. Any Senator who will study the land office records of Dakota for a few hours will find overwhelming proof of her settlements past, present and prospective.
The total business for the year ending June 30, 1881, has not yet been made public by the Commissioners of the General Land Office, but the increase over 1880 will be very creditable, and far in excess of any other State or Territory in the West. The local offices, at Bismarck, Deadwood, Fargo, Grand Forks, Mitchell, Watertown and Yankton, all did a larger business, and the aggre- gate must necessarily show the increase claimed. During the year ending June 30, 1880, the aggregate number of acres disposed of in the United States under the homestead, timber culture and pre-emption laws, was 9,166,918; of that amount Dakota's aggre- gate was 2,268,809-nearly one-fourth of the total. Kansas was second to Dakota; her aggregate being 1,524,905. Nebraska was third, with 1,327,038 acres. Minnesota fourth, with 852,266 acres. Colorado, the Centennial State, only foots up 187,796 acres; Oregon, 240,058 acres; Washington, 421,617 acres. This
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA.
year, ending last June 30. Dakota will be 1,000,000 acres ahead of Kansas at least; and more likely 1,500,000."
The total area of Dakota is about one hundred and fifty-six thousand square miles, and its present population is, as we have seen, not less than two hundred and thirty thousand white people, exclusive of the Indians and other races. That the soil, the climate and other attractions of this vast and favored region, are not overestimated, is proven by the unprecedented growth of its population of late years. Nothing that the historian could write, would add to the wonderful showing which is made by the simple presentation of the facts in connection with the settlement and development of the mighty Empire of Dakota; for Empire it is, in all that goes to make up a powerful, populous and prosperous Commonwealth-in all that contributes to the establishment of enlightened progress, of culture and refinement, of wealth and healthful social, civil and physical conditions. An Empire, in- deed, in all these things-but a great Republic in the rational development of true liberty of sentiment, freedom of action, and unhampered incentives to the pursuit of the True, the Substantial, the Beautiful and the Good.
What the future of Dakota shall be, is not within the writer's province to predict. Surely, it is searcely possible to be over-san- guine, in view of the facts already assured. Surely, no observant citizen of this great Commonwealth can be thought otherwise than most reasonably justifiable in "pointing with pride" to the grand Past, the mighty Present and the incalculably promising Future of the "Land of the Dacotahs."
SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.
THE SIOUX FALLS SETTLEMENT.
In the latter part of the summer of 1856, Dr. J. M. Staples. of Dubuque, Iowa, while on a tour of the Upper Mississippi, ob- tained a copy of Nicollet's Travels in the Northwest, in which was a description of the Falls of the Big Sioux River, called by the Indians "Te-han-kas-an-data," or the "Thick-Wooded River." The Doctor was immediately struck by Nicollet's graphic descrip- tion of this favored and picturesque region; and, the land and town speculative fever at that time running high, he at once set about forming a company to secure so desirable a location. The result was the organization of the Western Town Company, of Dubuque, Iowa, composed of Dr. J. M. Staples, Mayor Hethering- ton. Dennis Mahoney, editor of the Herald, of Dubuque; Austin Adams, now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Iowa; G. P. Waldron, William Tripp, and several others whose names are unknown to the writer.
Towards the close of October, 1856, the Company employed Ezra Millard, of Sioux City, Iowa, now President of the First National Bank of Omaha, to find the coveted Falls of the "Thick Wooded River," and to take up three hundred and twenty acres of the land contiguous, under the land laws of the United States, for a townsite, in the name of the Western Town Company. In the early part of November following. Mr. Millard, in company with D. M. Mills, who lived a few miles north of Sioux City, set out for the promised land. After wandering for several days along the east bank of the Big Sioux River, at twilight of a rainy, dis- mal day, the explorers drove down Prospect Hill, near the beauti- ful little island at the head of the Falls, greatly delighted at find- ing the object of their search. But their delight was brought to a sudden termination, as before they could alight, several Indians appeared upon the scene. Taking their horses by the head, and turning them about-face, the noble red men suddenly ordered the astonished travelers to depart. Believing discretion the better part of valor, Messrs. Millard and Mills stood not upon the order of going, but left at once, retracing their steps as far back as
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.
Split Rock River. a branch entering the Big Sioux from the north- east, about twelve miles below the Falls. Here they passed a sleepless night, the cool, gray dawn finding them on their way back to Sioux City, where they in due time arrived. with scalps intact.
Six weeks later, Mills returned with another party, and in the name of the Western Town Company, took possession of three hundred and twenty acres of land, consisting of what now consti- tutes the northeast quarter of section 16, and the northwest quar- ter of seetion 9, in town 101 north, of range 49 west, and for him- self, the northwest quarter of section 16, and built a log cabin, ten by twelve feet in dimensions, on Brookings Island at the head of the Falls. The party then returned down the Sioux for the winter.
In May, 1857, Jesse T. Jarrett. John McClellan and Messrs. Farwell and Oleson, representatives of the Western Town Company visited the Falls. for the purpose of holding and improving the townsite, and commenced the construction of a small stone house, near the river immediately above the Upper Falls. These gentle- men had been at the Falls but a few days, when a number of rep- resentatives of the Dakota Land Company, of St. Paul, put in an appearance.
The Dakota Land Company was chartered by the Legislature of Minnesota Territory, in the winter of 1856-7, its objeet being to push out into the proposed new Territory of Dakota. and secure some of the best locations for future towns. To this Company we are indebted for all that part of Dakota cast of the Big Sioux River; for in the original enabling act to admit Minnesota as a State, the western boundary extended to the Big Sioux River; but, as there was no land west of the river from which the Indian title was extinguished. the Dakota Land Company procured an amend- ment to the act, having the western boundary run due south from the foot of Big Stone Lake to the Iowa State line. leaving some thirty miles east of the Big Sioux, from which the Indian title had been extinguished, to commence the new Territory.
The representatives of this Company left St. Paul by steamer in May. 1857, with banners flying and bright expectations looking Dakotaward. Proceeding by boat to New Ulm, they took teams from that point to Dakota. The original incorporators of the Da- kota Land Company were: W. H. Nobles, J. R. Brown, A. G.
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SIOUX FALLS SETTLEMENT.
Fuller, S. A. Medary, Samuel F. Brown, James W. Lynd, N. R. Brown, F. J. De Witt, Baron F. Friedenriech, B. M. Smith, A. Gale, Parker Paine. Thomas Campbell-and others were also mem- bers of the Company. The party at once proceeded to the Big Sioux River, in what is now Brookings County, and located the town of Medary, named for the then Governor of Minnesota Ter- ritory; which town they intended to be the capital of the new Ter- ritory to be formed out of the western half of Minnesota Territory. From Medary they journeyed down the river, locating the town of Flandrau, named in honor of Judge Flandran, of St. Paul, and then pushed on to Sioux Falls, where they found themselves anti- cipated, the prize having already been secured by the Western Town Company, of Dubuque. Not to be crowded out, however, the Dakota Land Company took up three hundred and twenty acres of land south of the Falls, where Gale's Addition is now located, to which they gave the name of Sioux Falls City. James L. Fiske and James McBride were left to hold this location. Capt. Fiske afterwards became somewhat famous by leading parties across the country to Montana, having been once, for a number of days, surrounded by a band of hostile Indians, and at different times encountering the perils incident to so venturesome a life. Fiske and MeBride constructed a log house on the Dakota Land Company's town site. it being the third house ever built at the Falls. This company also took six hundred and forty acres of land at the mouth of Split Rock River, naming the location Eminiza, and built a house thereon.
Everything went smoothly with the pioneers until the latter part of July, the population of Sioux Falls at that time consisting of only five persons, Mcclellan. Farwell. Oleson, Fiske and McBride, when the troublesome Indians again put in an appearance to mar the prospects of the embryo " Lowell of the West." About that time the savages appeared at Medary in large numbers, stopping Col. Noble's party of fifty men, who were engaged in laying out a wagon road from Fort Ridgley to South Pass, and threatening all the settlements on the Big Sioux River with the cloud of war .- The Dakota Land Company immediately withdrew all their em- ployes, thus leaving Mcclellan, Farwell and Oleson, the sole occu- pants at Sioux Falls. These gentlemen also, recognizing the un- healthy condition of the impending storm, placed their personal effects in a canoe at the foot of the Falls, and in search of a more
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HHISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.
congenial latitude, began the navigation of the Big Sioux to its mouth, which they reached after several days, safely arriving at Sioux City, lowa. This was probably the first time the Big Sioux was ever navigated to its mouth by white men.
Thus was the Sioux Valley once more left to the undisputed pos- session of the red man, who, reversing the poetical order of things, " followed close on the track " of the pale face.
On the 17th day of August, 1857, Jesse T. Jarrett. J. L. Phil- lips, W. W. Brookings, S. B. Atwood, A. L. Kilgore, Smith Kin- sey. John McClellan, Callahan and Godfrey. in the employ of the Western Town Company, started from Sioux City. Iowa. for Sioux Falls. The party traveled with one horse- and two six-ox- teams, carrying machinery for a saw-mill, a quantity of imple- . ments and provisions for starting a town. Jesse T. Jarrett was the agent of the Company in charge. At Rock River, they were joined by D. M. Mills. The progress of the party was slow, as the teams were heavily laden, and it was often necessary to bridge creeks before crossings could be effected.
At noon of the 27th of August, the party arrived at the sum- mit of Prospect Hill, and for the first time (to all save Mills, Jarrett and MeClellan), the Falls in all their grandeur and beauty burst upon their sight. A doffing of hats, and three hearty cheers, and the party drove down the hill. camped north of the island, and spent the remainder of the day in explorations. The day following the members of the party selected claims, each for himself, and on the morning of the third day, Messrs. Jarrett, Mills, Atwood and Godfrey started back to Sioux City for more provisions, leaving the other six at work, building a mill, house and store, cutting hay and otherwise preparing for winter. In ten days, Jarrett re- turned in company with Dr. J. M. Staples, of Dubuque, one of the Directors of the Company.
Jarrett, the agent of the Company, was one of those passionate men, whe, by their very natures, are unfitted to be good leaders, and had already become involved in trouble with some of the em- ployes. Dr. Staples, having been sent out with authority to make a change, at once appointed W. W. Brookings agent in place of Jarrett. From this time on, everything went smoothly, all being busy preparing for winter, until about the 10th day of October. Indians had been seen but once, and these only by Brookings and Kilgore, who, while out exploring, about five miles up the river,
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SIOUX FALLS SETTLEMENT.
suddenly ran across a party of Indians close to their camp. Both parties at once beat a retreat.
At sunset, in the evening of October 10th, about a dozen mounted Indians, covered with war-paint, swooped down over the bluffs, surrounded the only pair of oxen at the place at the time, and amid yells and war-whoops, hurried them away before any steps could be taken to prevent them. As there were but six per- sous at the Falls at the time, and they almost wholly unacquainted with frontier life, the serions nature of the apprehensions felt at this occurrence may be better imagined than described. Never- theless, four of the party undertook to follow the redskins, return- ing at nightfall from their unsuccessful pursuit. Certain it is, there was but little sleep at the camp that night. Agent Brook- ings, who was absent at the time of the startling occurrence, re- turned the next morning, and was a welcome comer, as every man counted in such emergencies. It will be remembered that this was the year following the Spirit Lake Massacre, only eighty miles east of the Falls, and the Sioux Indians were known to be more or less hostile. No Indians, however, again appeared until mid- winter.
The middle of October brought, as an addition to the population at the Falls, a party of seven of the Dakota Land Company, who immediately began preparations for the winter. The beginning of winter found three dwelling houses erected; one of stone, a store, a saw-mill, and the following population: W. W. Brookings, J. L. Phillips, John McClellan-at present (1881) residents of Sioux Falls-L. B. Atwood, A. L. Kilgore, Smith Kinsey, Charles Mc- Connell, R. B. Mckinley, S. D. Brookings, E. M. Brookings, of the Western Town Company; James L. Fiske, James McBride, James M. Evans, James Allen, William Little, C. Merrill, of the Dakota Land Company-sixteen in all.
The early part of winter was employed in cutting and drawing logs to the mill. In January, Messrs. Brookings and Fiske visited Sioux City and brought back a mail. A very heavy rain storm oc- curred in the latter part of January, raising the streams so as to overflow much of the bottom lands.
On the first day of February, Messrs. Brookings and Kinsey started out to secure for the Western Town Company the site whereon the city of Yankton now stands. On reaching Split Rock River, twelve miles below the Falls, as then traveled, they
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.
found the water very high; but as they were on horseback, they succeeded in erossing the stream, getting somewhat wet in the operation. Changing part of their clothing, they pushed on, at night reaching Rock River. fifty miles from the Falls, where they camped. That night a "Dakota blizzard" set in, and in the morn- ing it was found impossible to eross Rock River, as the water was fifteen feet deep, and it was raining heavily: so that it became necessary to retrace their steps, to do which they were compelled to face a fierce, cold and blinding wind. So cold and piercing was the wind, that it was impossible to face it on horseback; con- sequently, they were obliged to dismount, and putting their horses ahead, run to keep from freezing. At seven o'clock in the even- ing, Split Rock River was reached. The Ford was frozen over, but not enough to bear the weight of the horses; and it was found necessary to break a ford through the ice, in doing which Mr. Brookings fell through into the river and was thoroughly drenched. With the thermometer 28 degrees below zero. the hor- rors of such a bath may be imaginel. It was only by means of extraordinary effort that Mr. Brookings was enabled to regain the shore, on reaching which he found the only way to prevent ab- solutely freezing to death was to run for his life, which he did throughout all that terrible night, arriving at the Falls at nine o'clock the next morning. in a fearfully frozen condition: so much so. indeed, as to necessitate confinement to the house for a period of six months.
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