USA > South Dakota > The Baptist history of South Dakota > Part 10
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Our church work over the entire field was greatly hindered because of the destitution that followed the grasshopper plague. But the Home Mission Society gave us counsel and help. Rev. J. N. Webb, D. D., dis- trict secretary for Nebraska and Dakota, visited us, and inspired us with hope and courage. Through the help received from the society I was enabled to remain on my field. Late in 1875 we had a precious revival at Elk Point. This greatly strengthened the church, the membership being about doubled. About this time I became associated also with the Portlandville church (now Akron) in pastoral work. This arrangement con- tinued as long as I remained pastor at Elk Point. Plans were almost completed to build a chapel for the Port- landville church when, in July, 1876, another grasshop-
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per scourge came, and the prospective crop, then so fair, were swept away and the people were left stranded again. This visitation was not so serious as the one in 1874, because it came later, and some of the small grain had been secured. The financial crisis of 1873 was felt, of course, in this new country, but all the disad- vantages of hard times were greatly intensified by the loss of crops resulting from the grasshopper plague. Any advance in work along missionary lines was seri- ously hindered, the number of churches did not increase, and there was not much growth in population by immigration.
Early in 1877 I resigned at Elk Point, quite uncertain whether I should remain longer in the territory. One thing helped to hold me here. I had built a good house at Elk Point, and it was very difficult at that time to sell property. Having supplied for a few months the church at Cherokee, Ia., I was urged, in August, 1877, to go to Yankton. Repeated previous failures to suc- cessfully establish the Baptist cause at the capitol of the territory made me hesitate to attempt the work. The importance of the field, its needs, and the urgent solicitation of Dr. Webb, decided for me the question of duty. Once upon the field I found the situation even worse than I had supposed. The only place of meeting was an old, out-of-the-way, empty store-room. The little church was rent in twain. Influential citi- zens, who had come to Yankton as Baptists, went into the Congregational church, which was then strong and popular. In the matter of support the Home Mission Society was to become largely responsible. After re- maining on the field five months we were notified that the society could no longer support the work at Yank- ton.
This action decided my course for several coming vears. Early in 1878 I decided to perfect the title to the land on which I had filed in 1874, in Turner county, and moved my family to the homestead. I, however, continued services at Yankton for half of the time, and as the Vermillion church was without a pastor. I con-
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sented to supply it. These trips to Yankton and Vermillion were made weekly by team. In August, 1878, I was again urged to take up the work at Yank- ton, under appointment as missionary of the Society. In answer to the request of Dr. S. S. Cutting. then Corresponding Secretary of the Society, I said: "I am now on my homestead, forty-five miles distant from Yankton, and the Yankton church ought to have a man on the field seven days in the week." To this he re- plied: "We know the situation, and if we cannot do what we would, we must do what we can." I again be- came a missionary of the Society, on the understanding that the church should build a place of worship. So I once more began work in Yankton, driving weekly from my home in Turner county. During the winter of 1878-9, which my family spent in eastern Iowa, I stayed at Yankton. The territorial legislature were there in session, and I was elected chaplain of the lower house. The little salary received for this service greatly aided me in tiding over the hard places. The building of the house of worship was carried on, as best we could under adverse circumstances. My last preaching service was held in it as I closed the year of my appointment, in August, 1879. On the following Sunday the new pastor, Rev. T. J. Brownson, and his wife, took up the lines of work. I have never been sat- isfied with what was accomplished during my stay at Yankton. The Baptist cause began there under as favorable conditions as any of the other denominations, but serious difficulties and divisions soon made it a very unpromising field.
In 1879 a new era began in the history of Dakota. A new inspiration pervaded all departments of life. Our Baptist cause shared in the benefits of this new order of things. This was the year of unusual activity in building lines of railroad in the territory. Almost everywhere could be seen civil engineers and surveyors marking out the lines of proposed railroads. There was great rivalry between the "Northwestern" and the "Milwaukee" systems, each trying to pre-occupy
REV. J. P. COFFMAN.
IS74-1894.
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the field. The hard times beginning with the panic of 1873, and the effects of the grasshopper plagues in 1874 and 1876 had been keenly felt, but in 1879 everything was changed. At this time very little was being done by the Home Mission Society in the territory. The new order of things and new financial conditions were being felt on every hand. Great crowds of settlers were coming to Dakota, and many new settlements were calling for missionary help.
In the summer of this year the few Baptist ministers who were then in the territory, felt the very great necessity of more aggressive work on this growing field by the Home Mission Society, and a conference was held at Sioux Falls, at which there were present Revs. A. W. Hilton, H. E. Norton, V. B. Conklin, J. F. Merriam, and myself. After a full discussion of the situation, a committee was appointed to prepare an appeal to the board in New York, laying before them the great field and its rapidly increasing needs. the hundreds of miles of new railroads being built, and the scores of new towns rising like magic on the prai- ries. I wrote the appeal. It was long and earnest. The result soon followed. Rev. William M. Haigh, D. D., of Chicago, western secretary of the society, was requested by the board to visit Dakota. He was soon on the field, and saw the situation and its increas- ing needs. It was not long until we had a general mis- sionary, Rey. Edward Ellis, and soon began the aggressive work of the Home Mission Society in behalf of the Baptist cause in Dakota, which has been carried on ever since.
During 1880 and the latter part of 1879 circum- stances kept me closely at home. I did no pastoral work, but preaching services here and there were ren- dered "without money and without price." Late in 1880 the country experienced one of the severest storms ever known in its history. On the 15th of Octo- ber, about noon, a fearful snowstorm came, which lasted two days and nights. This was the beginning of the hard winter of 1880-1, when we were shut in
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most of the time. The interruption of trains was fre- quent until the last of January, and then it was com- plete. The mail train on the Milwaukee road went east past my house on the night of January 29. The next time that I heard the whistle of an engine was on April 14. To add to the general discomfiture, when the snow blockade was lifted, the melted snows caused such floods of water that nearly all of the bridges in the country were swept away. Under these circum- stances but little missionary work was possible for several months. In the early summer, however, active work for the Lord was resumed.
In July of this year. 1881, I was requested by Rev. Edward Ellis to go to Mitchell, and look after Baptist interests there. I did so, and preached the first Baptist sermon in Mitchell, July 17. The services were held in a little Presbyterian chapel, the only church build- ing there, except one belonging to the Catholics. I found from fifteen to twenty Baptists and the number was being increased by the continual coming of new settlers. At one of these meetings I first met Deacon B. Morse, whose presence and helpfulness were ever after a benediction to me while working on that field. The Episcopal house of worship was soon finished, and we were able to occupy the school house one-half of the time. After the following May we were able to use the school house every Sunday, and so all, instead of one- half of my time was given to that field. The attendance and interest increased at these services. The Baptist church at Mitchell was organized November 17, 1881. with fourteen members. Others soon after identified themselves with the organization. After considerable difficulty desirable lots were secured, on which was afterwards built the present house of worship. Mv services at Mitchell continued until September, 1882. when Rev. S. J. Winegar was called as pastor.
Immediately after this I went with Rev. Edward Ellis, to Alexandria, where urgent appeals had been made for the Baptists to build a house of worship. Such promises were made as encouraged the effort to
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build. The building was erected, supervised wholly by General Missionary Ellis. I continued to preach at Alexandria until May, 1883. In May or June the house was completed and dedicated. A brother from the east had just come to serve as pastor and push on the work. He was present at the dedication, and on the Sunday following. Then, being overcome by homesickness, because he found there "no mountains, or hills, or trees," he left suddenly for his eastern home. An- other man was secured, Rev. Thomas Dvall. A tide had however, set in against our cause at Alexandria, and under these adverse conditions others came and occupied the field. In the winter of 1883-4, I was asked to take up the declining cause there. I spent some time on the field, and then gave it up as a hopeless undertaking.
In the fall of 1884, the little church at Hurley asked me to take hold of the work there, and become pastor, serving them as best I could, while living on my home- stead. This I consented to do, and I was associated with that field until the close of 1885. Rev. J. J. Mc- Intire were then living at Hurley, where he and his wife were teachers in the public schools. The home of Rev. E. Sill, was also there. These brethren were helpers during all of the time of my service at Hurley. During this period we had a precious revival, and many were added to the church.
Near the close of this service, the church at Akron, formerly Portlandville) opened correspondence with reference to my becoming pastor of that church. I had been considering the question of leaving my farm, and again giving my time wholly to pastoral work, and this call, together with the advice of some good breth- ren helped me in reaching a decision. I moved to Akron in February, 1886. In the fall of that year began the great revival, which, with our church, con- tinued a full vear.
CHAPTER XV.
REV. G. S. CLEVENGER.
The historical and biographical sketches published in several preceding chapters have reference mainly to the work as witnessed and shared in by those who served as missionary pastors during the first and sec- ond decades. The following sketch is furnished by Rev. G. S. Clevenger, who came early in the third de- cade. Several churches had been organized, and the work was becoming well established in a number of the southern counties of Dakota, but in the central and northern portion of the state, everything was compar- atively new. A few churches, one or two years old, were in existence, but many more were needed, and the greater part of the state was distinctively missionary ground.
Mr. Clevenger's destination on coming to Dakota was Sioux Falls, but on his way he visited Brookings, and was urged so strongly to become the shepherd of the little flock there that he consented to remain. During an active and successful pastorate of six years, the the Baptist cause at Brookings became well established. and, so far as possible, missionary services were ren- dered at other localities, especially at Elkton and Bushnell. On some of these mission fields there are now prosperous churches. At the close of his labors at Brookings he settled at Vermillion, and afterwards at
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Rapid City, and he is now pastor at Pierre. During the Spanish-American war he was chaplain of the Third United States Cavalry Regiment.
At the time of the annual meeting of the South Dakota Baptist Convention, at Madison, in 1894, a historical session was held on the shore of Lake Madison, where the convention was organized, in Baker's barn, in 1881. A number of pioneer workers were present, and the session was devoted to historical papers and addresses. Among the interesting historical reminiscences were those furnished by Mr. Clevenger, in the following paper.
It would give me great pleasure to meet the pioneer ministers of Dakota, and with them recall the past, and I have been cherishing the hope that I might be able to do so, but circumstances over which I have no control prevent me. At the last moment I sketch some recol- lections to show that I have not forgotten your kind invitation. When I ask myself the question, who will probably be present, of those who were actively en- gaged in ministerial work in Dakota in the early '80's. it dawns upon me that the number will be very small. Some have gone to their eternal home, and others have left the state.
I came to Dakota in June, 1882. I never had been west of Columbus, Ohio, and hence had never seen a prairie. I came from western New York, a section of country that is strongly Baptistic. There we had our ministerial unions. We exchanged pulpits. There was no lack of ministerial association and fellowship. To say that our experience was new and strange when we settled in Brookings, in September, 1882, feebly expresses our feelings at that time. Except our good brother Ross, who was then located at Oakwood, there was no Baptist church west of us until we reached Huron; none to the north until we reached Watertown; and none south until we reached Egan or Dell Rapids. I do not remember my eastern boundaries. Our
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church at Brookings numbered nine members. As near as I can express it there was a mingled feeling of loneliness and fascination. We were lonely because we were so isolated; fascinated at the thought of lay- ing foundations, and cherishing the hope that the little hamlets would soon be cities, and the little churches large ones. I think we may say that we lived largely by hope.
The annual meeting of the state convention, which was held at Sioux Falls the following October, fur- nished the first privilege I had of meeting my brother ministers. I think I had met no one up to that time except Rev. Walter Ross. At that meeting we dedi- cated the present Baptist church building at Sioux Falls. There we discovered the necessity of an edu- cational institution for Dakota. The speeches were enthusiastic. They were just such as only young men, with little or no experience on new fields, could make. Then we discovered the greater needs of Dakota. We pictured to ourselves how cities would spring up by magic all over the prairies, and we must take them for Christ and the Baptist denomination. It was a convention, though small, that was brimful of hope. We discovered different methods of doing mis- sionary work. Our dear brother Ellis, thought we ought to reach out and become bishops for miles around. Some of us, with our eastern ideas, did not know how it was possible to hold a center, and spread ourselves over the prairies. That convention did me a great deal of good. It was the first step in the pro- cess of westernizing me.
During the convention we ordained our good brother, Jacob Olson. He was a spare, boyish looking Nor- wegian. His speech was broken, and it was difficult for him to make himself understood. He had had but little training in the schools, but there was a genuine- ness and abundant common-sense about him which won our hearts, and we ordained him. Time has proved that we made no mistake, for who has stood more faith- fully at his post than he? I recall a number of friend-
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ships formed at that convention which I have always cherished, with Coffman, Winegar, Ellis, Freeman. Norton, Cressey and others. Orcutt and Adams I had known in Denison University. Ross I had met before coming to Sioux Falls.
We returned to our small fields determined to lift up the standard of the Lord in godless Dakota. It seemed that the people had come to Dakota for every- thing else but religion. Stores were open, and busi- ness was conducted on the Sabbath, in the various towns, about as on any other day. This worldliness on the part of Christian people made progress in the churches for a time very slow. There were no sweep- ing revivals reported in 1883, in what is now known as South Dakota. Outside of Vermillion, which was then what might be called an old church. there were only fifty-three baptisms reported for the whole of South Dakota. At that time there were thirty-one churches in the Southern Dakota and the Sioux Valley asso- ciations.
It was a period of gathering together and organizing the forces, of pouring the gospel into the church mem- bers, and leading them back to their first love: a period most trying to the pastor. Some pastors who came from the east became greatly discouraged, and some even resigned at the end of six months and went back east again. It would be interesting to follow the dif- ferent fields in their vicissitudes, but that would make a book. I sincerely hope that ere this present genera- tion passes away, some one will give us a history of the Baptists of South Dakota. Such a history would record many triumphs, and at the same time would record many heroic struggles on the part of pastors and their wives, in holding their fields. I could write page after page of struggles which have come under my own observation. If I were with you I should be tempted to relate some of them, but I must forbear. These struggles arose mainly because the people of Dakota have passed through such vicissitudes.
After seven years of work in eastern Dakota, we
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came to the Black Hills. Again we plunged into the wilderness. When we reached Rapid City in July, 1889, we found a little band of ten persons organized into a Baptist church. They did not possess even a singing book. I found a little band of about a dozen at Deadwood with Rev. E. Purvis trying to lead them. This was all there was in the entire Black Hills in the shape of Baptist churches. There was not a Baptist church building in the Hills. The struggle in securing houses of worship and building up congregations was similar to that in eastern South Dakota, only more severe. The same period of gathering, organizing and leading God's people back to their first love had to be entered upon here. I am glad to say that we now have houses of worship at Deadwood, Custer City, Hot Springs, Lead City and Rapid City. We have also church or- ganizations at Hill City, Oelrich and Beaver Basin. We have now reached a point where I think we may say that the Baptists have come to stay. I hope that in the near future there may be sweeping revivals in all these towns, and place the churches upon a high spirit- ual plane. Owing to the financial depression and the fact that the Home Mission Society must cut down appropriations this will be a difficult vear for the churches to support their pastors. I presume the same will be true in the eastern part of the state.
As I think of what has been accomplished in South Dakota, during the past twelve years, for our denomi- nation, I thank God and take fresh courage. At first thought it may seem small. When I first came in 1882, I think that our churches numbered about one thou- sand members in all, perhaps not so many. (The number reported that year was 846.) To-day (1894) we must have nearly five thousand. (5009.) South Dakota has passed through severe trials, and as a consequence there have been many removals. Many of the churches have now very few of their first members. When we take into consideration the circumstances, I feel that we ought to be profoundly thankful to the great head of the church. Surely He has been in the midst of the
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candlesticks in South Dakota. I feel that we should be grateful to our beloved Home Mission Society for their steadfast help. I feel also that the churches of South Dakota owe the state superintendent of missions a debt of gratitude for his patient, faithful and wise leader- ship through these most trying years. May our kind Father continue His blessings to the pastors and churches of South Dakota.
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CHAPTER XVI.
THE BLACK HILLS.
The Black Hills are located mainly in South Dakota. but they extend across its western boundary into Wyoming. Including the adjacent foot hills they cover an area of from seven to eight thousand square miles. Their greatest length about one hundred miles from north to south, and the average breadth is nearly sixty miles. They rise above the almost boundless plains like an island in mid-ocean. A study of the geology of this wonderful region clearly shows that in the mighty upheaval which produced this conglomeration of moun- tains and hills, the central nucleus or core was Harney Peak, having an elevation of nearly 8,200 feet. This is a mountain of nearly solid granite. Standing on its . summit the tourist beholds a magnificent view of this great mountainous "Island of the Plain:" while the more closely observing geologist is studying a rare illustration of the various strata which once lay above the fundamental granite, but now, since the volcanic uplift, dipping outwardly on all sides, and their out- cropping edges succeeding each other in concentric rings.
The numerous mountains of the Black Hills were not grouped nor classified into ranges. They were up- heaved promiscuously, each one seemingly being re- sponsible only for itself. It is not surprising that this
DEACON T. A. B. DEXTER. 1877-150g.
PIONEER BAPTIST IN THE BLACK HILLS.
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vast region has become a specially interesting study among geologists and mineralogists, and is often re- ferred to as a geological freak. The rocky mountains and hills, scarred and blackened by volcanic action, and covered, as most of them are, with immense forests of dark pine trees, naturally suggested to the Indian tribes who first dwelt here, a significant name, which their more civilized successors have never attempted to change, "The Black Hills."
The original inhabitants of the Black Hills were the Crow Indians. After securely holding possession of them for many generations, they were driven eastward, probably a century ago, by the Sioux Indians, and these, in comparatively recent years, have had to give way to the encroachments of the white race, assisted by governmental influence. No details concerning the Black Hills were known until military expeditions were sent to explore them. The first of these was sent out in September, 1857, under the command of Lieutenant afterwards Major General) G. K. Warren. This ex- pedition was accompanied by a well-known geologist and naturalist, Dr. F. V. Hayden. On account of the hostile attitude of the Indians, only a small portion of the country was explored, and the effort to penetrate further was unsuccessful. The second exploring ex- pedition was sent to the Black Hills in 1874, under the command of General Geo. A. Custer. It covered a period of about three months, and was successful in securing for the goverment information concerning the extent, and some of the resources, of that wonderfully interesting country.
The existence of gold in the Black Hills was prob- ably known to the Indians, but if so they carefully guarded the secret. Nuggets of gold were occasion-
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ally shown by Indians to white men whom they knew. and who were considered as friends, but they would . not reveal the places where they were found. In 1889 the author heard Sitting Bull, one of the best known chiefs of the Sioux Indians, complain that the Great Father at Washington had kept them in ignorance of the existence of gold in that country until they had ceded the Black Hills to the government, and were removed to the Sioux Indian reservation. But this was only one of a series of complaints. It is likely that they knew that gold was there, but they did not know the value of the treasure that glittered in the sand and gravel along the streams in their mountainous home. The outside world was in ignorance of its existence. If adventurous white men ever penetrated the hills, they never returned to tell what they had seen and learned. It is claimed for Dr. F. V. Hayden, the geol- ogist who was with the Warren expedition in 1857, by Charles Picotte, an educated half-breed Yankton Indian who accompanied him, that he discovered gold while examining some rock formations near Bear Butte, but if such a discovery was made, it was not made public.
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