R.
FheHerdLd.Grninct Forks,K,D,
HISTORY
OF
THE RED RIVER
VALLEY
PAST AND PRESENT
Including an Account of the Counties, Cities, Towns
and Villages of the Valley from the Time
of Their First Settlement and
Formation
BY VARIOUS WRITERS
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED
HERALD PRINTING COMPANY
GRAND FORKS
C. F. COOPER & COMPANY
CHICAGO
1909
INTRODUCTION.
" Genuine history is brought into existence only when the
historian begins to unravel, across the lapse of time, the living
man, toiling, impassioned, entrenched in his customs, with his
voice and features, his gestures and dress, distinct and complete
as he from whom we have just parted in the street." A history
of a people which has passed away is the effort to make the past
the present; to revivify the dead and present every phase of
actual life as it once existed, with all its bad and good, its bless-
ings and its sufferings; the home life, the public highway, the
street, the field, men and women privately, collectively, at work
and at play, socially and morally, as they once were here in the
struggle for life. A picture most difficult, perhaps about impossi-
ble to draw. Hence, to approach this perfection in any respect,
will make a valuable book, and one whose lessons will remain
perpetually to the coming generations.
A history of a people must, therefore, carefully consider the
race, the epoch, and the climate and soil and their combined
effects in elucidating the causes, after the facts have been collated.
Where the period of time covered by the story is short — only a
little more than a generation — as in the history of this valley,
the effects flowing out from these causes become shadowy and
indistinct — more difficult to trace out and fix clearly to the view,
in due ratio to the brevity of the period which comes within the
purview of the writer.
These conceptions of history were unknown to our fore-
fathers. They wrote of all men, looking always from the same
standpoint, and from their abstract conceptions, exactly as
though all men, of all ages, climes and surroundings, were exactly
INTRODUCTION.
the same. Their conceptions and conclusions were abstract and,
like their philosophy, were metaphysical, and whence comes the
fact that real history is a modern discovery; not wholly but
mostly so.
So far as we can know, everything in all nature — the whole
mental and physical world — is a growth, not in a single instance
a miraculous bursting into the full bloom of existence. And
that growth is governed by omnipotent laws. To know these
laws and apply them to man, to the family, to society, to the
community, to the state, to the race, is the exalted work of the
historian.
In a historical point of view, then, "The present is com-
pleting the past, and the past is explaining the present." And
this becomes plain and its value incalculable in so far as we may
from the records and data that come to our hands be enabled to
point out the laws of growth that have led us to where we
now are.
Everything is a growth — a development — a passing from the
simple to the complex. Thus it commences with the legends, then
the traditions, the chronicles, the annals, and last, the history.
Our people are agricultural in their pursuits. The Red River
Valley will be the storehouse and granary of the world. It can
always say to hungry man, "In thy Father's house is enough
and to spare." With its wholesome and generous products, it
will freight the ships whose sails will fleck every sea. Teach the
people to read the secrets of the soil, and give them cheap trans-
portation and the unobstructed and free markets of the world,
and then, indeed, will come that boundless wealth which nurtures
those master spirits among men who shape and fix the proud
destiny of civilization.
"Where once slow creeping glaciers passed
Resistless o'er a frozen waste,
Deep rooted in the virgin mould
The dower of centuries untold."
The Grand Forks Herald and the Cooper Publishing Com-
pany have collaborated in producing this history of the famous
Red River Valley, and wish to acknowledge and give due credit
INTRODUCTION.
to the following named authors who have contributed to this
work from their scientific research historical facts and personal
reminiscences extending from the very earliest records of this
region down to the present time :
Warren Upham, Prof. E. J. Babeock, George B. Winship,
Prof. H. L. Bolley, Prof. J. H. Shepperd, George N. Lamphere,
B. G. Skulason ; Sveinbjorn Johnson, M. A. ; J. R. Cole, Webster
Merrifield, Thomas D. Walker, Hon. James Twamley, Rt. Rev.
Bishop Shanley, Rt. Rev. Bishop Cameron Mann, Rev. E. H.
Stickney, Gen. A. P. Peake, William H. White, H. V. Arnold,
A. H. Laughlin, Moorhead Independent, Hon. James H. Sharp,
Prof. R. Bogstad, Mattie M. Davis, J. T. Mattson, Hon. William
Watts, A. A. Miller, E. E. Mclntire, William Robinson, Hon.
R. J. Montague, Edward Ballintine, Edward Nelson, Kittson
Enterprise, John Mahon, William M. House, Gordon J. Keeney,
C. G. Baearnstern, Fargo Forum, S. G. Roberts, Hon. Ed. Pierce,
and Peter H. Konzen.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Aaker, Hans H 456
Administration Building, Agricultural College 308
Beecher, David 342
Belcourt, Father 390
Blaisdell, Alfred 112
Campus and Entrance Agricultural College 302
Carmody, Hon. John 124
Chemical Laboratory Agricultural College 312
Cooper, E. C 86
Crum, Taylor 136
Drive Near Devils Lake 18
Engineering Building, Agricultural College 318
Engineering Bldg., Chemical Laboratory, Agricultural College. . 322
Fargo College 524
Farm Scene in Red Eiver Valley 54
First Church in Eed River Valley 410
Fisk, Hon. Charles J 100
Francis Hall, Agricultural College 326
Gilbreath, W. C 148
Gray, Enos 484
Haggart, John E 180
Hanna, Louis B , 196
Hazlett, L. C 572
Hill, James J Frontispiece
Hubbard, Newton K 534
Kelley, J. Nelson 560
Kennedy, James 490
Later Farm House 44
7
8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Lewis, Eobert S 260
Library, Laboratory Agricultural College 330
Linwell, Martin 160
Mathews, James H 248
McCoy, Eobert H 174
McDonald, Aaron 272
Murphy, M. F 542
On Tongue Eiver 24
Peake, Gen. A. P 462
Pembina Eiver and Mountains 32
Poupore, Joseph E 216
Price, W. J 478
Eoberts, S. G 500
Eoberts, Mrs. S. G 510
Sarles, E. Y 232
St. Luke's Hospital, Fargo 518
Settlers Sod House 62
Shanley, Et, Eev. Bishop 378
Skulason, Bardi G 552
Spaulding, Hon. Burleigh F 284
Stevens, J. E 422
Talcott, Frank S 296
Tributary to the Eed Eiver , 38
Turner, James 436
Twamley, James 74
Twichell, Treadwell 358
White, William H 470
Worst, John H . 446
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE BED RIVER VALLEY 15
By Warren Upham.
Topographic Features. The Archean Era. Paleozoic Time.
Mesozoic Time. Cenozoic Time. The Ice Age. Glacial Lake
Agassiz. Length of Time Since the Ice Age.
CHAPTER II. TOPOGRAPHY 32
By E. J. Babcock.
Turtle Mountains. Devil's Lake. Drift.
CHAPTER III. CREATION OF THE DAKOTA TERRITORY AND STATEHOOD. 41
Election Notice. Territorial Government Granted. Territorial
Officers. Territorial Voting Precincts. First Territorial Legis-
lature. North Dakota as a State. Official Vote for Governor.
Proclamation of Admission. Governors. Lieutenant Governors.
Secretaries of State. Auditors. Treasurers. Attorney Generals.
Superintendent of Public Instruction. Commissioners of Agri-
culture and Labor. Commissioners of Insurance. Commissioners
of Railroads. Judges of Supreme Court. Judges of District
Courts. First Session State Legislature.
CHAPTER IV. FORTY YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE RED RIVER
VALLEY 73
By George B. Winship.
Visit Robert Dale Owen. First Post Office. Pembina County
Organized. Episode on the Red River. Northern Pacific Rail-
road Completed to Moorhead. Permanent Settlement. First
Telegraph Line. Winship Established the Acton News. First
Judicial District. First Religious Services. Fargo and Moor-
head. Drouth of 1872. Development of River Traffic. United
States Land Office at Pembina. Coming of the Scandinavians.
United States Land Office at Grand Forks. Close of Claim
Shanty Period— 1883.
CHAPTER V. OLD SETTLERS ' ASSOCIATION 96
Old Settlers' Organization. List of Membership. Date of
Meetings. Eligibility. Historical Data. Incorporation. By-
Laws. Officers and Directors. Reunion June 12, 1900. Pro-
gramme. The Old Sod Shack. Senate Bill 196. Report of
Auxiliary Organizations. Purchase of a Park Site. Annual
Meeting 1896 at Fargo.
CHAPTER VI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED. 133
Incidents. Early Settlement North Dakota. Old Time Wedding
Festivities. Old Timer's Story. R. M. Probstfield. The Oldest
Settler. Edwin Griffin. Fort Abercrombie a Place of Refuge.
The Siege. Winship Hotel. Budge's Tavern.
9
10 CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII. BOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN NORTH DAKOTA 185
By H. L. Bolley.
First Regular Collection. Potato Scab. Results of Investigation.
Formaldehyde Treatment of Seed Grain. Bacteriological Study.
Tree Planting.
CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY 194
By Prof. J. H. Shepard.
Geological Formation. Wonderful Fertility. Early Crops. Primi-
tive Agricultural Implements. Early Settlements. Tests. Crop
Evolution. Early Mail Routes. Early Doubters. Convincing
Argument. Coming of the Railroad. Bonanza Farms. James
Hole's Experiments. North Dakota Experimental Station.
Diversification of Crops. Red River Valley Potato. Growing of
Tame Grasses. Gardening and Fruit Growing. Drainage Benefits.
Grain Growers and Other Associations. Farmers' Institute.
CHAPTER IX. WHEAT RAISING IN RED RIVER VALLEY 212
By Hon. George Lamphere.
Description of Red River Valley. Wheat Raising in the Selkirk
Settlement. Early Flouring Mills. Grasshoppers. First Mail
Route. First Wheat Raising. Pioneer Farmers. Early Wheat
Raising near Fort Abercrombie. Dalrymple Farm. Grandin
Farm. Increase in Population and Wealth. Cause of Occasional
Failures. Railroad Freight Rates. Old and New Methods of
Wheat Farming. Statistical Tables. Charles Cavalier's Letters.
Greatness of Minnesota Resources.
CHAPTER X. NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS 246
By B. G. Skulason and Sveinbjorn Johnson, M. A.
Norwegians in the Red River Valley. Date of First Settlement.
N. E. Nelson First Norwegian Settler in North Dakota. Nor-
wegians the Most Numerous of the Foreign Born Citizens of the
Valley. Political Importance of the Norwegians. Icelanders in
the Red River Valley. Fallacy of Popular Ideas Concerning
Iceland. Historical Facts. First Settlement in Wisconsin. First
Settlers in the Red River Valley. A Progressive People.
CHAPTER XI. THE INDIANS 259
By J. R. Cole.
Origin. Different Tribes. What Different Writers Say About
Them. Religious History. The Indian Legends. Mortality.
Indian as a Farmer. Industrial Schools. Little Fish, Last of
the Chiefs.
CHAPTER XII. THE Sioux WAR 280
Violation of Treaties and Thieving Indian Agents Cause of the
Outbreak. Chief Little Crow. Beginning of the Massacre.
Sibley's Expedition. Defeat of Chief Little Crow. Alice Nelson
Page. Synopsis of the Indian Case. Losses Not Reimbursed.
CHAPTER XIII. HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE RED RIVER
VALLEY 298
By Webster Merrifield.
University of North Dakota. North Dakota Agricultural College.
State Normal Schools. Mayville Normal School. Valley City
Normal School. State School of Science. Fargo College. Wesley
College.
CONTENTS 11
CHAPTER XIV. THE RIVER CART 332
A Trip to Black Hills by Ox Cart. Yung Bear's Ox Cart.
Transportation by Sledge. Travoise and Cart Dog Train. Stage.
CHAPTER XV. BOATING ON THE RED RIVER 339
Captain Alexander Griggs. Captain C. B. Thimens. Ballad of
the Red.
CHAPTER XVI. RAILROADS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY 346
Northern Pacific Railroad. Great Northern Railroad. The
Steamships Dakota and Minnesota.
CHAPTER XVII. HARVESTING MACHINES IN RED RIVER VALLEY 356
Passing of the Selfrake Reaper. Red River Valley Trial Ground
for Harvesting Machinery.
CHAPTER XVIII. LUMBER AND TIMBER 361
By Thomas B. Walker.
The Importance of Timber Culture. Probable Substitutes for
Lumber.
CHAPTER XIX. HUDSON BAY FUR COMPANY 370
By James Twamley.
Charter of the Hudson Bay Fur Company. Lord Selkirk's
Colony. Business Method.
CHAPTER XX. CHURCHES 376
CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NORTH DAKOTA.
By Rt. Rev. Bishop Shanley.
Discovery of the Red River Valley. Catholic Missions in the
Valley. Arrival of the First Missionary Priests at Ft. Douglas,
1818. Location of Ft. Douglas. Third Destruction of the
Colony by Grasshoppers. Encouragement from Lord Selkirk.
Death of Lord Selkirk. Consolidation of Northwest and Hudson
Bav Fur Companies. Abandonment of Mission at Pembina.
Great Flood of 1826. Arrival of Fathers Aubert and Tache.
Arrival of Father Belcourt. Narrative of Bishop Tache.
Chronology of the Church. Diocese of North Dakota. Correc-
tion of Historical Errors.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN RED RIVER VALLEY.
By Rt. Rev. Bishop Cameron Mann.
Rev. J. C. Talbot, Missionary Bishop of the Northwest. Per-
sonnel of the Early Missionaries of the Church of the Valley.
Rev. Cameron Mann Made Bishop in North Dakota. Establish-
ment of the North Dakota Sheaf. Growth and Present Status
of the Church. Baptist Church. Ordained Baptist Ministers in
the State. Presbyterian Church. Presbyterian Church of
Bismarck.
HISTORY OF CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
By Rev. Edwin H. Stickney.
CHAPTER XXI. NEWSPAPERS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY 441
By George B. Winship.
First Newspaper Published in the Red River Valley. Summary
of Red River Valley Newspapers.
CHAPTER XXII. POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY 450
By George B. Winship.
Early Legislation. Railroad Land Grants. Drainage. Industrial
and Charitable Institutions. Capital Removal. Prohibition.
Louisiana Lottery. Political Reminiscences.
12 CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIII. NATIONAL GUARD OF NORTH DAKOTA 461
By Gen. A. P. Peake.
CHAPTEE XXIV. EARLY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 463
By William H. White.
Early Settlement. Narrative of George Northrup. Early Per-
manent Pioneers. Eival Land Companies. Organization of the
County Seat. First County Officials. Centralia the First Post
Office. Growth of Towns and Cities of the County.
CHAPTEE XXV. HISTORY OF FARGO 485
City and Origin of the Name. Location. Organization. Early
Events. Puget Sound Land Company. Quieting of Indian Title.
First Township Plat. Father Genin's Mission House. Busy
Summer of 1872. Organization of Fargo Township. Completion
of the Courthouse. Masonic Temple. Street Eailways. Great
Fire of 1893. Names of Mayors. Navigation of the Eed Eiver.
Fargo of Today. Banks and Banking. Commercial Club. The
Press. Cass County Agricultural Society. State Fair Association.
Educational History. St. John's Hospital. St. Luke's Hospital.
Osteopathy Infirmary. Commercial. Churches. Casselton.
Tower City. Buffalo.
CHAPTEE XXVI. GRAND FORKS COUNTY 537
By H. V. Arnold.
Historical Outline. Aborigines. Mound Builders. Fur Compa-
nies. Selkirk Colony. Isolation of the Country. Major Long's
Expedition. Old Times in the Valley. Jean Nicollet. Buffalo
Hunt. Traders and Trappers. Major Woods. Captain Pope.
Political Eepresentation. Grip of the Fur Trade. Beginning of
Eed Eiver Steamboat Era. Episode of the Freighter. First
Steamer on Eed Eiver. Stage Line. Hatche's Battalion. Cun-
ningham's Expedition. Disappearance of the Buffalo. Manitoba
Opened Up. First Settlement. Old Cart Trails. Organization
of the County. U. S. Land Office. Timber Settlements. North-
wood Settlements. Turtle Eiver Township. Bachelor's Grove.
Forest Eiver Settlement. Old Wagon Trail. Fort Trotten Trail.
CHAPTEE XXVII. GRAND FORKS CITY 613
The Post Office. City Schools. Churches. Deaconess Hospital.
Manufacturers. Hotels and Early Boardinghouses. Fire Depart-
ment. Water Works. Commercial.
CHAPTEE XXVIII. CITY OF LARIMORE 635
By H. V. Arnold.
CHAPTEE XXIX. HISTORY OF PEMBINA AND CAVALIER COUNTIES 650
By John Mahon.
Early History of 1799. Farming Began 1810. Joe Eolett.
Squatter Settlers. County Organized. Cavalier County Organ-
ized. Early Settlers. Tragedy of Alga. Natural Scenery.
Eeminiscenees of Fifty Years.
By Mrs. Cavalier.
CHAPTEE XXX. NELSON COUNTY 668
Location. Physical Aspect. Eailroads. Organization of County.
Shipping Point. Valuation. Schools. County Officers.
CHAPTEE XXXI. WALSH COUNTY 675
Description by Walsh County Eecord.
CONTENTS 13
Eeminiscences by Early Settlers. Bush of 1880 and 1881. Be-
ginning of Grafton. First Church. First School. First News-
paper. County Organization. Origin of Names. First Perma-
nent Settlement. Biography, Cashel & Cooper.
CHAPTEE XXXII. TRAILL COUNTY 689
The First Claim. First Election. Organization and County Offi-
cials. County Seat Contest. Strong Hold of Prohibition.
Present Members of Legislature. County Officials.
CHAPTER XXXIII. EICHLAND COUNTY 693
By William M. House.
Favorable Location. Era and Drainage. Early Settlement.
Organization. First County Officials. Wonderful Growth. Fort
Abercrombie.
CHAPTEE XXXIV. BARNES COUNTY 700
Valley City. The First Settlement. County Organized as Bur-
bank. County of Barnes Organized. First Election. First Taxes
Paid. Valley City Incorporated. M. E. Church. Lodges. News-
papers. Public Schools. Normal School. Old Settlers. Descrip-
tion of the County. Statistics. Villages.
CHAPTEE XXXV. EANSOM COUNTY 707
By A. H. Laughlin.
Agricultural Possibilities. Old Landmarks. Fort Eansom.
County Organized. District Courts. Historical. Oswego Colony.
Sibley Trail. Fourth of July on Cheyenne. Camp Hayes. Gold
Excitement of 1883. Schools. City of Lisbon. Churches. Old
Soldiers' Home. Buttz and Colton Contest. Bench and Bar.
Sheldon, Enderlin and Other Villages.
CHAPTEE XXXVI. MINNESOTA 788
From Moorhead Independent.
A Poem in Prose. Geographically Considered. Early Patriotism.
Natural Eesources. Diversified Farming. School Land. Soil and
Climate. School System. Minnesota as a Summer Eesort.
Opportunities. State Fair.
CHAPTEE XXXVII. CLAY COUNTY 798
By Hon. James H. Sharp.
Crossing the Eed Eiver by the Northern Pacific Eailroad. Andrew
Hole's View of Country. First Sale of Government Land. Some
Early Settlers. Primitive Transportation. Clay County Organ-
ized. First County Officers. Present County Officers. Lively
Times of 1872. Steamboat Line. Descriptive Moorhead. Fire
Department. Commercial Club. Public Schools. Normal School.
Concordia College. Swedish Hospital. Darrow Hospital.
Churches. The Press. Banks and Banking. Glyndon. Kurtz.
Hawley. Sabin. Georgetown. Barnesville. Ulen. Comstock.
CHAPTEE XXXVIII. MARSHALL COUNTY 831
Organization. First County Officers. Great Northern Eailroad.
First Grand Jury. Organization of Townships. District Judges.
Some Old Settlers. Public Schools. City of Warren. Churches.
Schools.
CHAPTEE XXXIX. HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY 860
By Hon. William Watts.
Boundaries and Area. General Character of Surface. Early
Settlement. The Eailroad. Steamboat Traffic. Pioneer Life.
14 CONTENTS
County Organization. Town Organization. Railway Extension.
Fisher's Landing. Some of the Pioneers. Revival of Immigra-
tion. The Railroad Land Grant. Large Farms. The French
Colony. Rapid Settlement. Judicial History. Bar Sketches.
United States Land Office. Sketches of Officials. ^ Political
History. County Division. Farming Methods. Population. Val-
uation. Officers. Military. Schools. Banks and Banking.
CHAPTER XL. CITY OP CROOKSTON 887
Public Schools. Experiment Farm. School of Agriculture.
Eclectic Business College. Lodges. Churches.
CHAPTER XLI. HISTORY OF WILKIN COUNTY 908
By Edward Ballentine.
Location. Organization and Change of Names. Boundary.
Early Water Transportation. First Permanent Settlement. De-
struction of Breckenridge. Some Early Settlers. First Farm in
Wilkin County. Building of the Railroad. Location of Towns.
Blizzard of '79. Railroad Bonds. Physical Aspect of the
County. Drainage Ditches. Population. Transportation. Schools.
CHAPTER XLII. HISTORY OP KITTSON COUNTY 923
By Edward Nelson.
Origin. Organization of Townships. Churches. Banks and
Banking. County Building. County Officers. Schools. News-
papers. Hallock. St. Vincent. Bench and Bar. Lower Red
River Valley. Immigrants. Wheat. The Swiss. Transporta-
tion. Climate. Wild Fruits.
CHAPTER XLIII. HISTORY OP NORMAN COUNTY 967
Location. Population. Post Offices. Cities and Villages. In-
dustries. Banks and Banking. The Press.
CHAPTER XLIV. BIOGRAPHICAL. . . 973
HISTORY
OF
THE RED RIVER VALLEY
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
By
Warren Upham,
Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, Formerly Assistant
on the Geological Surveys of New Hampshire, Minnesota,
the United States, and Canada.
Topographic Features.
The Red River of the North, so named to distinguish it from
the Red river of Louisiana, flows through an exceedingly flat
plain, which descends imperceptibly northward, as also from each
side to its central line. Along the axial depression the river
has cut a channel twenty to sixty feet deep. It is bordered by
only few and narrow areas of bottomland, instead of which its
banks usually rise steeply on one side, and by moderate slopes
on the other, to the broad valley plain which thence reaches
nearly level ten to twenty-five miles from the river. Its tribu-
taries cross the plain in similar channels, which, as also the Red
15
16 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
river, have occasional gullies connected with them, dry through
most of the year, varying from a few hundred feet to a mile or
more in length. Between the drainage lines, areas often five to
fifteen miles wide remain unmarked by. any water courses. The
highest portions of these tracts are commonly from two to five
feet above the lowest.
This vast plain, twenty-five to fifty miles wide and 300 miles
long, lying half in Minnesota and half in North Dakota, thence
continuing into Manitoba and so stretching from Lake Traverse
and Breckenridge north to Lake Winnipeg, is the widely famed
Ked River valley. The material of the lower part of the valley
plain, shown in the banks of the Red river and reaching usually
five to fifteen miles from it, is fine clayey silt, horizontally strati-
fied ; but at its south end, in Traverse county and the south half
of Wilkin county, Minnesota, through the adjoining part of
Richland county, North Dakota, and upon large areas of each
side of this plain, it is mainly unstratified boulder clay, which
differs from the rolling or undulating till of the adjoining region
only in having its surface nearly flat. Both these formations are
almost impervious to water, which, therefore, in the rainy season
fills their shallow depressions, but none of these are so deep as
to form permanent lakes. Even sloughs which continue marshy
through the summer are infrequent, but where they do occur, as
on some of the streams tributary to the Red river, they cover
large areas, sometimes several miles in extent.
In crossing this almost perfectly level valley on clear days,
the higher land at its sides, and the groves along its rivers, are
first seen in the distance as if their upper edges were raised a
little above the horizon, with a very narrow strip of sky below.
The first appearance of the tree tops thus somewhat resembles
that of dense flocks of birds flying very low several miles away.
By rising a few feet, as from the ground to a wagon, or by nearer
approach, the outlines become clearly defined as a grove, with a
mere line of sky beneath it.
Besides this mirage, the traveler is also reminded, in the same
manner as at sea, that the earth is round. The surface of the
plain is seen only for a distance of three or four miles; houses
and grain stacks have their tops visible first, after which, in
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 17
approaching, they gradually come into full view; and the high-
lands, ten or fifteen miles away, forming the side of the valley,
apparently lie beyond a wide depression, like a distant high coast.
On nearly all the area drained by the Red river the glacial
drift is so thick that no exposures of the underlying rocks have
been found. Along the flat valley plain, the average depth of the
drift is from about 100 to 200 feet. The prominent topographic
features of all this region are doubtless due to the form of the
underlying rock surface, upon which the drift is spread in a sheet
of somewhat uniform thickness. Subaerial denudation and stream
erosion, during the Tertiary era and the early part of Quater-
nary time, preceding the Ice Age, had sculptured this broad and
flat valley trough and the inclosing uplands which on each side
gradually rise 200 to 500 feet above the valley.
Lakes in northern and central Becker county, Minnesota,
forming the sources of Otter Tail river, the head stream of the
Red river, are 1,400 to 1,500 feet above the sea ; Otter Tail lake,
1,315 feet; Lake Clitherall, 1,334; and the East and West Battle
lakes, 1,328. The Red river at Fergus Falls descends about eighty
feet in three miles, from 1,210 to 1,130 feet; at Breckenridge and
Wahpeton its height at the stage of low water is 943 feet; at
Moorhead and Fargo, 866 feet ; at Grand Forks, 784 ; at St. Vin-
cent and Pembina, 748; and at the city of Winnipeg, 724 feet
above the sea.
The range between the lowest and highest stages of the Red
river much surpasses that of any other river in Minnesota or
North Dakota. At Breckenridge and Wahpeton the range is
about fifteen feet, but it increases rapidly northward, becoming
thirty-two feet at Moorhead and Fargo, attaining its maximum
of fifty feet near the mouth of the Sand Hill river in the south
part of Polk county, Minnesota, and continuing nearly at forty
feet from Grand Forks to the international boundary and Winni-
peg. Floods rising nearly or quite to the high-water line thus
noted have been rare, occurring in 1826, 1852, 1860, 1861, and
1882. They are caused in the spring by the melting of unusual
supplies of snow and by heavy rains, and often are increased by
gorges of ice, which is usually broken up along the southern
upper portion of the river earlier than along its lower course.
18 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
These floods attain a height only a few feet below the level of the
adjoining prairie where that is highest, and along the greater part
of the distance between Fargo and Winnipeg the banks are over-
flowed and the flat land on each side of the river to a distance of
two to four miles from it is covered with water one to five feet or
more in depth.
The Archean Era.
Granite, syenite, greenstone, gneiss, and schists, belonging to
the Archean or Beginning era, reach on the northern boundary
of Minnesota from Gunflint and Saganaga lakes west to the Lake
of the Woods. They thence extend south upon a large part of
St. Louis and Itasca counties to the Vermilion and Mesabi ranges,
famed for their immense deposits of iron ore.
A narrow Archean belt continues from this great area south-
ward, mostly covered by the glacial drift, and expands into a
second large area of these rocks in central Minnesota, reaching
from Todd, Morrison and Stearns counties northeast to Carlton
county and south to New Ulm. The extensive granite quarries
near St. Cloud and Sauk Eapids are in this area.
The same rocks also underlie a large district west of New Ulm,
extending to the western boundary of Minnesota, mainly covered
by Cretaceous beds and glacial drift. In that part of the Minne-
sota Eiver valley, channeled about 150 feet below the general
level of the country, the Archean granites and gneisses are seen
in many and extensive outcrops, and have been much quarried at
Ortonville, near the mouth of Big Stone lake.
Archean time, during which these oldest rocks were formed,
was exceedingly long, perhaps equalling all the later eras. Its early
part may be termed azoic, from the absence of any evidences that
the earth or the sea then had either plant or animal life.
Paleozoic Time.
Next after the Archean was a very long era characterized by
ancient types of life, as its name Paleozoic signifies. The chief
divisions of this era have been named by geologists the Cambrian,
Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian periods, succeed-
ing each other in this order.
GEOLOGICAL HISTOEY 19
In journeying from south to north along the Red River valley,
the first rock exposures found are Lower Silurian strata, chiefly
magnesian limestones, which outcrop in Manitoba at numerous
localities twelve to twenty miles north-northeast of Winnipeg,
and similar outcrops, probably in part of Upper Silurian age,
which rise above the general surface of drift five to twenty miles
northwesterly from Winnipeg and at about the same distance
west of the river. Farther north, Lower Silurian rocks are ex-
posed on many of the islands of Lake Winnipeg and along its
western shore, but no exposures of the underlying Cambrian beds,
which are penetrated by the artesian well at Grafton, North
Dakota, have been found in this region. Against the western
border of the folded and eroded Archean rocks the Lower Silu-
rian formations repose with nearly horizontal stratification. Their
general dip, varying from a few feet to ten feet or more per mile,
is westward, at right angles with the axis of Lake Winnipeg and
the line of junction of the Archean and Paleozoic rocks.
West of these Lower Silurian strata, rocks of Devonian age,
mostly pale-gray or bluff magnesian limestones, occur on Lakes
Manitoba and Winnipegosis, as reported in 1884 by Dr. George
M. Dawson; ''and it is probable," he wrote, "that the intervening
formations will be found to be extensively developed in the Lake
Winnipeg region as it is more fully examined."
Subsequent exploration of this region by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell
resulted in the discovery of Upper Silurian strata, containing
fossils characteristic of the Niagara formation, on the lower part
of the Saskatchewan river and on the east side of Lakes Mani-
toba and Winnipegosis. All the Paleozoic formations in the lake
region of Manitoba, from the St. Peter sandstone to the highest
Devonian beds exposed, are stated by Mr. Tyrrell to be "practi-
cally conformable and almost undisturbed throughout."
This region has no Carboniferous nor Permian strata, belong-
ing to the closing periods of Paleozoic time. If any sediments
were then laid down here, they have since been eroded and re-
moved during long ensuing ages, when the basin of the Red river
was a land surface. Probably it stood above the sea, receiving no
marine nor estuarine deposits, but undergoing slow erosion by
20 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
rains, rills, and rivers, bearing sediments away, during the Car-
boniferous period and onward until the Cretaceous period.
Mesozoic Time.
Through the early and greater part of the Mesozoic era, so
named from its intermediate types of plants and animals, this
river basin appears to have been a land area, receiving therefore
no additions to its rock formations. The floras and faunas of
this time were gradually changed from their primitive and ancient
characters, called Paleozoic, but had not yet attained to the rela-
tively modern or new forms which give the name Cenozoic to
the next era.
Toward the end of the Cretaceous period, in late Mesozoic
time, this area was again mostly depressed beneath the sea. Fre-
quent outcrops of Cretaceous shales and sandstone, continuous
from their great expanse on the western plains, occur in some
parts of central and southern Minnesota ; and in numerous other
places, deep wells, after passing through the thick covering of
glacial drift, encounter these Cretaceous strata, which sometimes
are found to reach to a thickness of several hundred feet. Fur-
ther evidence of the eastward extension of the Cretaceous sea
upon this state is afforded in its northern part by Horace V. Win-
chell's discoveries of Cretaceous shales in place on the Little
Fork of the Rainy river and on the high Mesabi iron range.
During the following Cenozoic era, when this was a land
region subjected to erosion, its Cretaceous deposits were largely
carried away; but a remaining portion, in some tracts having
considerable depth, probably still lies beneath the drift on the
greater part of the western four-fifths of Minnesota. Concerning
its eastern limit, Professor N. H. Winchell writes: "A line
drawn from the west end of Hunter's Island, on the Canadian
boundary line, southward to Minneapolis, and thence southeast-
wardly through Rochester to the Iowa state line, would, in gen-
eral, separate that part of the state in which the Cretaceous is
not known to exist from that in which it does. It is not here
intended to convey the idea that the whole state west of this line
is spread over with the Cretaceous, because there are many places
where the drift lies directly on the Silurian or earlier rocks ; but
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 21
throughout this part of the state the Cretaceous exists at least
in patches, and perhaps once existed continuously."
Farther north, along the west line of the lower part of the
Red River valley and of Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis, Cre-
taceous beds rest upon the Lower and Upper Silurian and Devo-
nian strata that form the floor of this broad, flat valley, beneath
its glacial, lacustrine, and fluvial deposits. Thence northwest-
ward to the Mackenzie river and the Arctic ocean, Cretaceous
formations border and overlie the west part of the Silurian and
Devonian belt. West from the Red river, the Cretaceous area in
North Dakota and Montana, and in the Dominion of Canada, has
a width of 600 to 700 miles, including the entire region of the
elevated plains, and terminating at the east base of the Rocky
mountains.
Cenozoic Time.
Ever since the uplift of the Red River basin from the Creta-
ceous sea, it has stood above the sea level and has received no
marine sediments. It was instead being slowly sculptured by
rains and streams through the long periods of the Tertiary era;
and during a part of the relatively short Quaternary era it was
deeply covered by snow and ice similar to the ice-sheets that now
envelop the interior of Greenland and the Antarctic continent.
These two eras, or principal divisions of geologic history, may
be here classed together as a single Cenozoic era, distinguished
by the evolutionary creation of new and present types of life.
Nearly all the plants and animals of the preceding eras have dis-
appeared, as also many that lived in the early Cenozoic periods,
while new species succeeding them make up the present floras
and faunas.
The creation of man, his dispersion over the earth, and his
development in the white, black, yellow, and red races, took place
during the later part of Cenozoic time, which is often called the
Pleistocene (meaning the newest) period or the Quaternary era.
Finally the dominance of mankind in the history of the earth,
with utilization of its vast resources, forms another grand time
division which has been called the Psychozoic era, distinguished
by the higher life and dominion of the mind or soul. Thus the
22 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Tertiary, Quaternary, and Psychozoic divisions of time are suc-
cessive parts of the Cenozoic era, continuing to the present day.
Kains, rills and rivulets, creeks and rivers, have been slowly
but constantly wearing away the Cretaceous formations of the
Northwest since their elevation above the sea and the drainage
of the immense Laramie lake, which for a long period covered
much of their area. When these marine and lacustrine deposits
were first raised to be dry land, they had a monotonously flat
surface ; and they probably extended east, as we have seen, over
the entire basin of the Bed Eiver of the North and of the great
lakes of Manitoba, from which they now reach to the Rocky
mountains. The greater part of the present Cretaceous area,
though eroded far below its original surface, is flat, undulating,
or only moderately rolling, and constitutes a broad expanse
of plains with very slow ascent westward. But here and there
isolated areas of much higher hilly land, as the Turtle mountain,
consist of remnants of horizontal Cretaceous strata which else-
where have suffered denudation over all the surrounding country.
The plains have been formed by the erosion of this vast area to a
uniform base-level, excepting only the isolated hilly tracts of com-
paratively small extent, which serve to show that on the eastern
part of the plains, in North Dakota and southwestern Manitoba,
a thickness of not less than 500 to 1,000 feet of the Laramie, Fox
Hills, and Fort Pierre formations has been carried away.
When the depth and great extent of this denudation are
compared with those of the subsequent erosion which formed
the Eed River valley and the lowland adjoining the Manitoba
lakes by the removal of the former eastern part of the Creta-
ceous plains to the limit of the great escarpment west of this
valley, the early base-leveling seems probably to have occupied
the Eocene and Miocene periods, with nearly all of the Pliocene,
comprising nine-tenths or a longer portion of the whole Ter-
tiary era.
At the time of the later uplifting of the plains near the end
of the Pliocene period, this great base-leveled region appears to
have stretched from the Rocky mountains to the Archean hills
of northern Minnesota, and to have included also the expanse
of flat or only moderately undulating country which slowly falls
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 23
from Lake Winnipeg and the upper part of the Nelson river
toward Hudson bay.
The eastern margin of these plains was then subjected to
renewed erosion, removing the mostly soft Cretaceous strata upon
a width of a hundred miles or more and to a depth westward of
several hundred feet. Previous to this new cycle of active work
by the streams, Riding and Duck mountains in Manitoba stood
above the general level, like Turtle mountain and other isolated
high areas farther west; and the maximum depth of the late
stream-cutting by which the trough of the Red River valley was
formed is approximately measured by the height of the Pembina
Mountain escarpment, which rises 300 to 400 feet from its base
to its crest along its extent of about 80 miles. The greater part
of this erosion we must attribute to the probably long time of
elevation preceding, and finally at its climax producing, the ice-
sheet of the Glacial period. So far as can be discerned, the entire
hydrographic basin of the Red river may have continued, through
all these vicissitudes of changes of level, excepting when it was
wholly or partially ice-covered, to be drained in the same north
and northeast direction as during the Tertiary era and at the
present day.
Tertiary and early Quaternary erosion had sculptured the
grand features of this river basin, and its whole extent probably
had approximately the same contour immediately before the accu-
mulation of the ice-sheet as at the present time. The surface
of the feldspathic Archean rocks was doubtless in many places
decomposed and kaolinized as it is now seen where they are
uncovered in the Minnesota River valley, and as such rocks are
frequently changed to a considerable depth in regions that have
not been glaciated. On these and all the other rock formations
the ordinary disintegrating and eroding agencies of rain and
frost had been acting through long ages. Much of the loose
material thus supplied had been carried by streams to the sea,
but certainly much remained and was spread in general with
considerable evenness over the surface, collecting to the greatest
depth in valleys, while on ridges or hilltops it would be thin or
entirely washed away. Except where it had been transported
by streams and consequently formed stratified deposits, the only
24 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
fragments of rock held in this mass would be from underlying
or adjoining rocks. The surface then probably had more small
inequalities than now, due to the irregular action of the processes
of weathering and denudation, which are apt to spare here and
there isolated cliffs, ridges, and hillocks ; but most of these minor
features of the topography have been obliterated by glacial
erosion or buried under the thick mantle of the drift.
The Ice Age.
The last among the completed periods of geology was the Ice
age, most marvelous in its strange contrast with the present time,
and also unlike any other period during the almost inconceivably
long, uniformly warm or temperate eras which had preceded.
The northern half of North America and northern Europe then
became enveloped with thick sheets of snow and ice, probably
caused chiefly by uplifts of the land as extensive high plateaus,
receiving snowfall throughout the year. But in other parts of
the world, and especially in its lower temperate and tropical
regions, all the climatic conditions were doubtless then nearly as
now, permitting plants and animals to survive and nourish until
the departure of the ice-sheets gave them again opportunity to
spread over the northern lands.
High preglacial elevation of the drift-bearing regions is known
by the depths of fjords and submerged continuations of river
valleys, which on the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific coasts of the
north part of North America show the land to have been elevated
at least 2,000 to 3,000 feet higher than now. In Norway the
bottom of the Sogne fjord, the longest and deepest of the many
fjords of that coast, is 4,000 feet below the sea level. Previous
to the Glacial period or Ice age, and doubtless causing its abun-
dant snowfall, so high uplift of these countries had taken place
that streams flowed along the bottoms of the fjords, channelling
them as very deep gorges on the borders of the land areas.
Under the vast weight of the ice-sheets, however, the lands
sank to their present level, or mostly somewhat lower, whereby
the temperate climate, with hot summers, properly belonging to
the southern portions of the ice-clad regions, was restored. The
ice-sheets were then rapidly melted away, though with numerous
ON THE TONGUE RIVER
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 25
pauses or sometimes slight readvances of the mainly receding
glacial boundary.
On certain belts the drift was left in hills and ridges, accu-
mulated during this closing stage of the Glacial period along
the margin of the ice wherever it halted in its general retreat or
temporarily readvanced. Upon the greater part of Minnesota and
North Dakota the only hills are formed of this morainic drift,
ranging in height commonly from 25 to 75 to 100 feet, but occa-
sionally attaining much greater altitude, as in the Leaf hills of
Otter Tail county, Minnesota, which rise from 100 to 350 feet
above the moderately undulating country on each side.
Unstratified glacial drift, called till or boulder clay, which
was laid down by the ice-sheet without modification by water
transportation, assorting, and deposition in beds, forms the sur-
face of probably two-thirds, or a larger part, of these states and
of Manitoba. It consists of boulders, gravel, sand, and clay,
mingled indiscriminately together in a very hard and compact
formation, which therefore is frequently called "hardpan." The
boulders of the till are usually so plentiful that they are sprinkled
somewhat numerously on its surface ; yet there are seldom more,
on the large portions of the country which are adapted for agri-
culture, than the farmer needs to use, after clearing them from
his fields, for the foundations of buildings and for walling up his
cellar and well. They are rarely abundant enough to make walls
for the inclosure of fields, as in New England.
The moraine belts of knolly and hilly till have far more abun-
dant boulders than are found on its more extensive comparatively
smooth tracts. Wherever the vicissitudes of the wavering climate
caused the chiefly waning border of the ice-sheet to remain nearly
stationary during several years, the outflow toward the melting
steep frontal slope brought much drift which had been contained
in the lower part of the ice, heaping it finally in hills and ridges
along the ice margin. Twelve of these marginal belts of drift
knolls and hills have been traced in irregularly looped courses
across Minnesota, as described and mapped in the reports of that
state ; and west of the Red River valley these knolly drift belts
continue through the northeastern half of North Dakota, and
onward across the international boundary.
26 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
About a third part of the entire mantle of drift consists of the
deposits called modified drift, being waterworn and stratified
gravel, sand, and clay or silt, which were washed away from the
drift upon and beneath the retreating ice-sheet by the streams
due to its melting and to accompanying rains. Hillocks and
ridges of gravel and sand (called kames and eskers), sand pla-
teaus and plains, and the valley drift (varying from very coarse
gravel to very fine clay, often eroded so that its remnants form
terraces), are the principal phases of the modified drift. In being
derived directly from the ice-sheet, these deposits had the same
origin as the glacial drift forming the common till and the
greater part of the marginal moraines ; but they were modified,
large boulders being not included, while the gravel and finer
portions were brought, further pulverized or rounded, and
assorted in layers, by water.
Glacial Lake Agassiz.
When the departing ice-sheet, in its melting off the land from
south to north, receded beyond the watershed dividing the basin
of the Minnesota river from that of the Red river, a lake, fed
by the glacial melting, stood at the foot of the ice fields, and
extended northward as they withdrew along the valley of the
Red river to Lake Winnipeg, filling this broad valley to the height
of the lowest point over which an outlet could be found. Until
the ice barrier was melted on the area now crossed by the Nelson
river, thereby draining this glacial lake, its outlet was along the
present course of the Minnesota river. At first its overflow was
on the nearly level undulating surface of the drift, 1,100 to 1,125
feet above the sea, at the west side of Traverse and Big Stone
counties; but in the process of time this cut a channel there,
called Brown's Valley, 100 to 150 feet deep and about a mile
wide, the highest point of which, on the present water divide
between the Mississippi and Nelson basins, is 975 feet above the
sea level. From this outlet the valley plain of the Red river
extends 315 miles north to Lake Winnipeg, which is 710 feet
above the sea. Along this entire distance there is a very uniform
continuous descent of a little less than one foot per mile.
The farmers and other residents of this fertile plain are well
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 27
aware that they live on the area once occupied by a great lake,
for its beaches, having the form of smoothly rounded ridges of
gravel and sand, a few feet high, with a width of several rods,
are observable extending horizontally long distances upon each
of the slopes which rise east and west of the valley plain. Hun-
dreds of farmers have located their buildings on these beach
ridges as the most dry and sightly spots on their land, affording
opportunity for perfectly drained cellars even in the most wet
spring seasons, and also yielding to wells, dug through this sand
and gravel, better water than is usually obtainable in wells on
the adjacent clay areas. While each of these farmers — in fact,
everyone living in the Red River valley — recognizes that it is an
old lake bed, few probably know that it has become for this
reason a district of special interest to geologists, who have traced
and mapped its upper shore along a distance of about 800 miles.
Numerous explorers of this region, from Long and Keating
in 1823, to General G. K. Warren in 1868 and Professor N. H.
Winchell in 1872, recognized the lacustrine features of this val-
ley ; and the last-named geologist first gave what is now generally
accepted as the true explanation of the lake's existence, namely,
that it was produced in the closing stage of the Glacial period
by the dam of the continental ice-sheet at the time of its final
melting away. As the border of the ice-sheet retreated north-
ward along the Red River valley, drainage from that area could
not flow, as now, freely to the north through Lake Winnipeg
and into the ocean at Hudson bay, but was turned by the ice
barrier to the south across the lowest place on the watershed,
which was found, as before noted, at Brown's Valley, on the west
boundary of Minnesota.
Detailed exploration of the shore lines and area of this lake
was begun by the present writer for the Minnesota Geological
Survey in the years 1879 to 1881. In subsequent years I was
employed also in tracing the lake shores through North Dakota
for the United States Geological Survey, and through southern
Manitoba, to the distance of 100 miles north from the inter-
national boundary, for the Geological Survey of Canada. For
the last-named survey, also, Mr, J. B. Tyrrell extended the explo-
ration of the shore lines, more or less completely, about 200 miles
28 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
farther north, along the Riding and Duck mountains and the
Porcupine and Pasquia, hills, west of Lakes Manitoba and Winni-
pegosis, to the Saskatchewan river.
This glacial lake was named by the present writer in the
eighth annual report of the Minnesota Geological Survey, for
the year 1879, in honor of Louis Agassiz, the first prominent
advocate of the theory of the formation of the drift by land ice.
Its overflowing river, whose channel is now occupied by Lakes
Traverse and Big Stone and Brown's Valley, was also named
by me, in a paper read before the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, at its Minneapolis meeting in 1883, as
the River Warren, in commemoration of General Warren's ad-
mirable work in the United States Engineering Corps, in publish-
ing maps and reports of the Minnesota and Mississippi river
surveys. Descriptions of Lake Agassiz and the River Warren
were somewhat fully given in the eighth and eleventh annual
reports of the Minnesota Geological Survey, and in the first,
second and fourth volumes of its final report; and more complete
descriptions and maps of the whole lake, in Minnesota, North
Dakota and Manitoba, were published in 1895 as Monograph
XXV of the United States Geological Survey.
Several successive levels of Lake Agassiz are recorded by
distinct and approximately parallel beaches of gravel and sand,
due to the gradual lowering of the outlet by the erosion of the
channel at Brown's Valley, and these are named principally from
stations on the Breckenridge and Wahpeton line of the Great
Northern railway, in their descending order, the Herman, Nor-
cross, Tintah, Campbell, and McCauleyville beaches, because they
pass through or near these stations and towns. The highest or
Herman beach is traced in Minnesota from the northern end of
Lake Traverse eastward to Herman, and thence northward, pass-
ing a few miles east of Barnesville, through Muskoda, on the
Northern Pacific railway, and around the west and north sides
of Maple lake, which lies about twenty miles east-southeast of
Crookston, beyond which it goes eastward to the south side of
Red and Rainy lakes. In North Dakota the Herman shore lies
about four miles west of Wheatland, on the Northern Pacific
railway, and the same distance west of Larimore, on the Pacific
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY 29
line of the Great Northern railway. On the international boun-
dary, in passing from North Dakota into Manitoba, this shore
coincides with the escarpment or front of the Pembina Mountain
plateau; and beyond passes northwest to Brandon on the Assini-
boine, and thence northeast to the Riding mountain.
Leveling along the upper beach shows that Lake Agassiz, in its
earliest and highest stage, was nearly 200 feet deep above Moor-
head and Fargo; a little more than 300 feet deep above Grand
Forks and Crookston ; about 450 feet above Pembina, St. Vincent,
and Emerson : and about 500 and 600 feet, respectively, above
Lakes Manitoba and Winnipeg. The length of Lake Agassiz is
estimated to have been nearly 700 miles, and its area not less than
110,000 square miles, exceeding the combined areas of the five
great lakes tributary to the St. Lawrence.
After the ice border was so far melted back as to give outlets
northeastward lower than the River "Warren, numerous other
beaches marking these lower levels of the glacial lake were
formed ; and finally, by the full departure of the ice, Lake Agassiz
was drained away to its present representative, Lake Winnipeg.
While the outflow passed southward, seventeen successive
shore lines, marked by distinct beach ridges, were made by the
gradually falling northern part of this lake ; but all these, when
traced southward, are united into the five beaches before noted
for the southern part of the lake. During its stages of north-
eastern outflow, a lower series of fourteen shore lines were made.
Thus Lake Agassiz had, in total, thirty-one successive stages of
gradual decline in height and decrease in area.
The earliest Herman beach has a northward ascent of about
a foot per mile, but the lowest and latest beaches differ only
very slightly from perfect horizontality. It is thus known that
a moderate uplift of this area, increasing in amount from south
to north, was in progress and was nearly or quite completed
while the ice-sheet was melting away. Before the Glacial period,
all the northern half of our continent had been greatly elevated,
producing at last the cold and snowy climate and the thick ice-
sheet ; in a late part of that period the land was depressed under
the weight of the ice, which in consequence melted away; and
latest, at the same time with the departure of the ice-sheet, the
30 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
unburdened land rose a few hundred feet, the uplift having a
gradual increase toward the central part of the country formerly
ice-covered.
In comparison with the immensely long and ancient geologic
periods that had preceded, the final melting of the ice-sheet, the
deposition of its marginal moraines and other drift formations,
its fringing glacial lakes, and the attendant uplifting of the land,
occupied little time and were very recent. The entire duration
of Lake Agassiz, estimated from the amount of its wave action
in erosion and in the accumulation of beach gravel and sand,
appears to have been only about 1,000 years, and the time of its
existence is thought to have been somewhere between 6,000 and
10,000 years ago.
Length of Time Since the Ice Age.
In various localities we are able to measure the present rate
of erosion of gorges below waterfalls, and the length of the post-
glacial gorge divided by the rate of recession of the falls gives
approximately the time since the end of the Ice Age, and since
the geologically brief existence of this great glacial lake. Such
measurements of the gorge and Falls of St. Anthony on the Mis-
sissippi river at Minneapolis by Professor N. H. Winchell show
the length of the Postglacial or Recent period to have been about
8,000 years; and from the surveys of Niagara Falls, Professor
G. F. Wright and the present writer believe it to have been 7,000
years, more or less. From the rates of wave-cutting along the
sides of Lake Michigan and the consequent accumulation of sand
around the south end of the lake, Dr. E. Andrews estimates that
the land there became uncovered from its ice-sheet not more
than 7,500 years ago. Professor "Wright obtains a similar result
from the rate of filling of kettle-holes among gravel knolls and
ridges, and likewise from the erosion of valleys by streams tribu-
tary to Lake Erie; and Professor B. K. Emerson, from the rate
of deposition of modified drift in the Connecticut valley at North-
ampton, Mass., thinks that the time since the Glacial period can-
not exceed 10,000 years. An equally small estimate is also indi-
cated by the studies of Gilbert and Russell for the time since the
highest rise of the Quaternary lakes, Bonneville and Lahontan.
GEOLOGICAL HISTOEY 31
lying in Utah and Nevada, within the Great Basin of interior
drainage, which are believed to have been contemporaneous with
the great extension of ice-sheets upon the northern part of our
continent.
Professor James Geikie maintains that the use of paleolithic
implements in the Stone Age had ceased, and that early man in
Europe made neolithic (polished) implements, before the reces-
sion of the ice-sheet from Scotland, Denmark, and the Scandi-
navian peninsula ; and Prestwich suggests that the dawn of civili-
zation in Egypt, China, and India may have been coeval with the
glaciation of northwestern Europe. In Wales and Yorkshire the
amount of denudation of limestone rocks on which boulders lie
has been regarded as proof that a period of not more than 6,000
years has elapsed since the boulders were left in their positions.
The vertical extent of this denudation, averaging about six inches,
is nearly the same with that observed in the southwest part of
the province of Quebec by Sir William Logan and Dr. Eobert
Bell, where veins of quartz worn by glaciation stand out to
various heights not exceeding one foot above the weathered
surface of the inclosing limestone.
From this wide range of concurrent but independent testi-
monies, we may accept it as practically demonstrated that the
period since the ice-sheets disappeared from North America and
Europe, and also since Lake Agassiz existed in the Red Eiver
valley, measures some 6,000 to 10,000 years. Within this period
are comprised the successive stages of man's development of the
arts, from the time when his best implements were polished stone,
through ages of bronze, iron, and finally steel, to the present time,
when steel, steam, and electricity bring all nations into close
alliance.
CHAPTER II.
TOPOGRAPHY.
By
E. J. Babcock,
Dean, College of Mining Engineering, State University,
North Dakota.
The topography of the Red River valley cannot be fully con-
sidered apart from that of the state as a whole, since the topog-
raphy of the eastern part of the state blends into and forms a
part of that of the central and western portion of the state. In
common with most of the great prairie districts west of the
Mississippi river, the Red River valley, and, indeed, North Dakota
as a whole, presents no great extremes of altitude and no very
marked feature of topography. Like a large part of the Great
Plains, it is principally characterized by the vast expanse of
nearly level or rolling prairies. In the main the land is well
supplied with surface water by several river systems and numer-
ous small lakes. The four most important rivers are the Red
River of the North, along the eastern boundary of the state, the
Missouri river in the western part, and the Sheyenne and James
rivers in the central portion of the state. Nearly all the streams
within the limits of North Dakota are sluggish, rather shallow,
and often muddy. As might be expected from the geology, they
lack the falls and cataracts and the sparkling character of the
streams of a more rugged and rocky country.
The state, however, is not without a modest variety of surface
features, for there is not only the very level plain of the valley
of the Red River of the North and the districts west and south-
32
TOPOGRAPHY 33
west, but there is much beautiful rolling prairie, especially be-
tween the Pembina and Turtle mountains on the north and
Sheyenne river on the south. Along the Souris and Missouri
rivers, toward the northwest, are undulating plateaus, and in the
southwestern portion of the state are the more extensively eroded
surfaces, which in some localities present in miniature the wild-
ness and picturesqueness of the Grand Canyon district of the
Colorado. While no very marked natural divisions can be traced,
the surface may in a general way be classified topographically as
follows: Red River valley, Pembina and Turtle Mountain high-
land, central rolling prairie, and the western coteau of the
Missouri.
The Red River valley lies along the eastern boundary of North
Dakota and comprises a tract from twenty-five to seventy miles
wide, extending across the state from south to north. This whole
area is very nearly a level plain, rising slightly on both sides
of the stream which gives its name. The river flows somewhat
east of the central portion of this flat bottom in a general course
from south to north. Its channel is winding, as is common to
streams flowing slowly through clay and other easily eroded
material. The banks of the stream, which are mostly of fine silt
and clay, rise rapidly on both sides to from fifteen to forty-five
feet above the water. Most of the tributaries are small and cross
the plain in similar channels, which frequently widen out in the
spring into little ponds, that nearly always become dry by early
summer. The drainage is gotten principally by these tributary
gullies, which, though small, are of great advantage in carrying
the spring floods and, later in the season, in furnishing good
pasture land.
The valley has a very uniform descent toward the north, but
so slight as to be entirely imperceptible to the eye. The inclina-
tion usually ranges from about six inches to two feet to the mile.
At Wahpeton the surface is about 960 feet above the sea level ;
near Fargo, 900 feet; near Grand Forks, about 830 feet; and at
the international boundary, about 790 feet. Toward the west
the ascent from the river is somewhat more rapid, averaging
from 50 to 75 feet to the mile for the first 25 miles. Near the
boundary line a distance of 30 miles west of the river brings one
34 HISTOEY OF RED EIVEK VALLEY
to the edge of the valley at the Pembina mountains, which rise
from 300 to 350 feet above the surface. West of the river from
25 to 50 miles the ascent becomes quite rapid as the various ridges
of the glacial deposits are passed, until, going beyond the Red
River valley, the central portion of the state is reached.
The Red River valley is immediately underlain by alluvial
clays, modified drift, sand and gravel. With this remarkably
strong subsoil and equally remarkable deep and rich upper soil,
there is good reason for the fertility which has characterized this
region. A large variety of prairie grasses grow with great luxu-
riance in this valley, but it is especially noted for its large yield
of superior quality of wheat. There is considerable timber skirt-
ing the banks of the Red river, but very little away from the
stream.
Going west about thirty miles from the Red River of the
North near the international boundary, one reaches an area rising
abruptly from the gentle inclination of the valley to a height
from 400 to 600 feet above the Red river. This elevated land
stretches many miles northward into Canada, and southward
forms a gradually descending plain far into the central part of
the state. In its northeastern portion this elevated tract is
known as the Pembina mountains. Toward the west the eleva-
tion increases slightly, occasionally interrupted by low land, until
it practically unites with the Turtle Mountain highland west of
the Pembina mountains. Topographically, as well as geologically,
these two elevations should be considered together.
Along the northern part of the eastern slope of the Pembina
mountains the elevation presents the appearance of a prominent
wooded bluff, rising from 250 to 350 feet above the surrounding
level, and extending in a nearly direct line toward the south.
This ridge gradually decreases in elevation, until at its south-
eastern extremity it is scarcely more than fifty feet above the
country around, and then it is lost in the rolling prairie. Along
the eastern edge of the escarpment the elevation above the sea
ranges from about 1,100 feet in the eastern part to 1,500 feet in
the northwestern.
The eastern face of this escarpment is frequently scarred by
deep transverse ravines running back from the edge of the hills
TOPOGRAPHY 35
from one to fifteen miles toward the west. Nearly all of these
valleys are covered with small timber, and in the spring contain
small streams, which in most cases become nearly dry in summer.
Along the sides of these gullies are numerous springs of good
water (usually slightly impregnated with sulphur and lime). In
summer these springs become the main supplies which keep up
the brooks. There are only three or four streams worthy of
mention along the eastern slopes of the Pembina mountains. In
the northern part the Little Pembina has cut a channel through
the drift and clay from 50 to 350 feet in depth. This stream
flows about ten miles east and from four to six miles north into
the Big Pembina river near the international boundary line. For
most of its way the stream occupies a very narrow, winding bed
in a valley from one-quarter to one-half mile wide, and usually
300 feet or more deep. The stream is fed for a large part of the
year by numerous springs. The ravine through which it passes
is well supplied with small timber (cottonwood, poplar, and oak).
There are many charming views along this stream.
A few miles south of the Little Pembina river is the Tongue
river, which presents general characteristics much like the Little
Pembina, but which flows a much shorter distance through the
Pembina highland. Ten or twelve miles south of the Tongue river
is the north branch of the Park river. The three branches of the
Park flow through the descending southern portion of this eleva-
tion and, as would be expected, have shallower and narrower
banks and much slower currents. The banks have but few trees.
The most important stream of this region is the Pembina river,
which flows through the mountains near the international boun-
dary line. This river rises far to the west, near the Turtle moun-
tains, and flows in an easterly direction, through Manitoba and
North Dakota, into the Red river near the town of Pembina.
In a direct line this distance is probably 120 miles or more, but
by the actual length of the stream it is much greater, since its
course is quite circuitous. A large portion of its channel has
been cut through the Turtle and Pembina Mountain highland.
Its banks are from 50 to 350 feet high, and the valley varies in
width from a few rods to nearly a mile. Along the deepest part
of the valley, toward the eastern part of the Pembina mountains,
36 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the banks are high and rugged and well covered with small trees.
At Walhalla the river flows out of the higher part of this eleva-
tion, through a low ridge of drift and clay, into the Red River
valley. From Walhalla back several miles to what is known as
the ''Fish Trap" the river has a very rapid current. At the latter
place there is a good water-power, and at Walhalla a small part
of the power is utilized for milling. From its source to Walhalla
the river falls about 700 feet, and from Walhalla to the mouth,
about 185 feet.
From the ravines of the streams along the eastern edge, bor-
dering the Red river, the crest of the Pembina mountains forms
a treeless, rolling plateau stretching away toward the west. Over
most of this tract, between the Pembina and the Turtle moun-
tains, a distance of about 100 miles, there is very little to note
except that it is a high prairie. There are but few streams and
lakes, or other marked surface features. This whole region is
usually productive of good crops of small grain. This section is
well supplied with a variety of excellent prairie grasses. Toward
the western edge of this belt there is a gradual elevation ap-
proaching the Turtle mountains, and a slight descent toward
the south. The .southern slope shows a very gentle drainage
system, beginning near the base of the Turtle mountains, and
becoming more pronounced as it extends farther into the Devils
Lake basin. In fact, this basin is the natural drainage reservoir
for the waters of the larger part of the northern highland just
discussed. There are no streams worthy of mention along the
western part of this district, except those which, like the Pembina
river, have their sources on the northern side of the Turtle moun-
tains in Canada. While there is no river drainage to the south
worth mentioning, there is certainly a great surface and sub-
surface drainage toward the south. Doubtless much water slowly
percolates through the drift and upon and in the cretaceous
clays from this elevation toward the basin in which Devils Lake
is situated.
The Turtle mountains proper form a high rolling plateau
about forty miles long by thirty miles wide, its longer axis being
east and west. The surface rises gradually from all sides, but
within one or two miles the elevation suddenly increases until it
TOPOGEAPHY 37
reaches a height of 300 to 400 feet above the surrounding country.
The sides of the hills are nearly treeless, but among the hilltops
there is a good deal of small timber. The Turtle mountains pre-
sent a very broken outline on account of the large number of
subordinate hills and ridges. The highest of the buttes reaches
an elevation of perhaps 2,000 feet above the sea, or 600 feet
above the surrounding country. The top of the mountains has a
beautifully rolling surface covered with trees and dotted with
lakes and ponds. Many fine farms are located here. Near the
central part of these hills is the attractive little Lake Metigoshe.
The Turtle mountains consist of a mass of Cretaceous and
Laramie slates and clays which have escaped erosion and are
covered with a thin layer of drift material. This material is,
however, somewhat cut out on top of the plateau, and thus is
formed a great gathering reservoir. No doubt a large amount
of the water flowing in the brooks and from the numerous springs
has gradually seeped through the clays and sand to the hillside,
where it emerges as springs. The Turtle Mountains district cer-
tainly is to a greater or less degree connected with the under-
ground water supply of the prairies to the south.
Looking toward the south from the heights of the Turtle
mountains, one has spread out, 400 feet or more below him, a
beautiful view of a gently rolling prairie region dotted with small
farm-houses surrounded occasionally by planted groves. As far
as the eye can reach, this undulating surface extends, gradually
decreasing in elevation as it approaches Devils Lake. From
points farther east, toward the Pembina mountains, a similar
though less marked descent toward the south is noticeable. So,
as has been said, the Devils Lake region becomes the natural
gathering basin for this northern highland district. This basin
has flowing into it only small streams, for the most part coulees,
which often become dry in the summer. There are very many
of these shallow water courses, now mostly dry, which were
doubtless at one time very important factors in draining the
northern district and in maintaining the supply of surface water
in and about Devils Lake. When the land was thickly covered
with prairie grass, the latter apparently served as a thatch, which
prevented the water from soaking into the soil. This, of course,
38 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
allowed more water to accumulate in the coulees, and eventually
in the lake basin. As the land was put under the plow, more
of the water which fell as rain percolated through the soil, and a
smaller proportion ran away as surface water. Thus there seems
to be good reason for the noticeable decrease in the quantity of
water in the lakes and ponds of this region.
Many of the coulees originate in the Turtle mountains and
flow toward the south, but their course is generally very winding.
They vary in size from wide sags only two or three feet deep, to
narrow channels 50 to 100 feet wide and with banks 25 feet high.
When water is not flowing through them, small ponds are fre-
quently left. The wider portions usually make valuable hay and
pasture lands.
In the northern and northeastern part of this region the
streams cut through a rich and rather clayey soil and a strong
blue-clay subsoil which is largely mixed with drift material.
Toward the west, from Cando to Eugby, and for some distance
west and south of Eugby, the surface is somewhat more rolling,
and the soil has a larger proportion of sand. The natural drain-
age of this region is toward the southeast, and from Eugby there
is a well-marked drainage to the Sheyenne and James rivers.
This old tributary to these rivers is now usually dry. There are,
however, a few ponds and lakes left, notable among which is the
Girard Lake, a body of water perhaps three miles long and from
one mile to two miles wide.
Girard Lake and several smaller lakes, which were evidently
at one time parts of it, show in many places, by their marked
shore lines and deposits, a period when the water was from ten
to thirty or forty feet higher and spread over an area several
times as great as that now occupied. This old lake had a very
irregular shore line ; its length was probably greatest from north-
west to southeast. In many places now several feet above the
water level are two or three lines of boulders and gravel, and
occasional stumps of silicified wood. There is no doubt that this
lake had its outlet to the Sheyenne river and upper feeders of
the James river. That these conditions remained nearly constant
for some time is evident from the character of the old shore
deposits as well as from the banks of the upper Sheyenne river.
TOPOGRAPHY 39
By far the most characteristic feature of this part of the state
is Devils Lake and surrounding country. The lake lies along
Ramsey and Benson counties, with its length extending east and
west. Taking the lake with its arms, some of which are nearly
dry or separated by portions of land, but which properly belong
to the lake, the length would be about twenty-four miles and the
width average perhaps between four and seven miles. There was
unquestionably a time, early in the history of the lake, when it
occupied two or three times its present area. The old shore lines
indicate that its water level must have been from twenty to forty
feet above that of today. Now the water is from twenty-five to
thirty feet deep, away from the shore, as indicated by a number
of soundings. The southern shore of the lake, which is often
thickly strewn with large boulders, rises rather rapidly into a
high, rolling country whose surface is broken by numerous steep
knobs, some of them 200 to 275 feet above the water level. The
western part of this tract is included in the Sioux Indian reserva-
tion. The northern, western, and eastern shores rise gradually
from the water's edge, for several miles back from the lake. The
old lake extended much farther north and west, as may well be
seen by the old bays which are now dry or are only moist enough
for good meadows. The lake is now fed by the immediate sur-
face drainage, which is usually carried by a few coulees. A large
part of the water which formerly drained into the lake from a
distance has been cut off by the cultivation of the prairie land.
As a result, the shallower parts of the lake have, within the last
fifteen years, dried up, and the water area has thus been very
much reduced. It does not seem probable, however, that a pro-
portional decrease will follow within the next fifteen years.
The central portion of the state south of Devils Lake is
drained by the Sheyenne and James rivers. The Sheyenne rises
about thirty miles west of Devils Lake and flows in a very wind-
ing channel for about 900 miles toward the east ; then it takes a
course nearly due south for about 100 miles, until, twenty miles
or so from the southeastern limit of the state, it turns north-
easterly into the Red River valley and empties into the Red river
a short distance above Fargo. It will thus appear that the Devils
Lake region has in a way its ultimate drainage into the Red River
40 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
valley. For the greater part of its course the stream is narrow,
its channel being cut through yellow and blue clay. Often the
banks are strewn high up on the sides with glacial debris. They
vary greatly in height, from a few feet near the mouth, to eighty
or ninety feet near the upper waters. Along parts of the river
course there are well-marked terraces, wrhich were doubtless
formed when the stream was an outlet for the glacial lake region
to the north. The western part of the country drained by the
Sheyenne river is a high, rolling prairie, often from 1,300 to 1,600
feet above the sea. The soil is very rich and, when there is a fair
amount of rainfall, produces an abundant crop.
Some of the small streams which form the headwaters of the
James river are southwest of Devils Lake and within a few miles
of the source of the Sheyenne. At this place the two rivers are
separated by a ridge several miles wide. The country around the
western tributaries of this river is much the same as that about
the Sheyenne river. The two rivers doubtless joined in the work
of draining the early glacial lakes. The James river flows for
about 150 miles in a southeasterly direction until it crosses the
state line into South Dakota. The general character of the stream
and of the surrounding country is much the same as that of the
Sheyenne river. The surface to the south is rather more level and
of much lower altitude. The channel is cut through clay and
drift, but the soil and subsoil have a larger proportion of sand
than is found farther north.
Any one who will thoroughly consider the surface appear-
ance presented over nearly all the eastern part of North Dakota
will be impressed with the fact that some widely operative and
powerful agency, within a comparatively recent geologic period,
has been shaping surface features and accumulating, mingling
and distributing over large areas the immense amount of uncon-
solidated foreign material which covers to a considerable thick-
ness earlier stratified formations.
One of the most characteristic deposits within North Dakota
is the drift which is spread over a large, part of the state east
of the Missouri river. This deposit is made up largely of sand
and clay mingled with gravel and boulders, presenting a hetero-
TOPOGRAPHY 41
geneous mass totally unlike the sedimentary formations upon
which it lies.
The embedding material is usually thick sheets of blue and
yellow clay, sometimes alternating with beds of sand and gravel,
in both of which are scattered large blocks of various kinds of
rocks, sometimes weighing several thousand pounds. These boul-
ders are frequently smoothed and scored with fine parallel
scratches. A knowledge of the character of these rock masses,
and a familiarity with some of the rocks outcropping farther
north in Canada, leads us to believe that the debris was trans-
ported from northern regions. Much of the limestone found in
the drift in the northern part of the state was undoubtedly taken
from the beds which outcrop about Lake Winnipeg. A study of
well excavations and the channels eroded by streams shows that
this drift material has covered an old land surface. In some
places in the Red River valley, drift and alluvial deposits reach
to a depth of 300 to 350 feet. In the northern and western part
of the state the thickness is commonly from 30 to 100 feet.
The agent which accomplished this gigantic work must have
been a great, slowly moving ice-sheet similar to that which now
covers a large part of Greenland. This vast ice-sheet, which in its
northern portions, at least, must have been very deep, tore away
exposed rock ledges and enveloped and bore along with it the
loose material with which it came in contact. This debris was
frozen into the ice and, under the enormous weight above it,
became a mighty grinding power, and as it moved slowly but
irresistibly onward from the north, the enclosed rock masses
were worn away to smaller fragments, pebbles, sand and clay,
and all mixed with surface clay and soils. Thus was formed,
during the long ages of the Glacial period, an enormous amount
of this rock refuse, which, with the return of a warmer climate
and the melting of the ice-sheet, was intermingled and spread far
and wide. This material, by reason of its variety of composition
and depth of deposit, is well calculated to become the foundation
of the rich soil so characteristic of the eastern and central part of
North Dakota.
The drift deposit is sometimes divided into till or boulder
clay and stratified drift. The till is naturally lower, and consists
42 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
of a heterogeneous mass of clay, sand, pebbles, and even large
rock masses. The larger rocks are usually more angular than
those in the upper stratified material, and frequently show glacial
marks. The till is probably derived from the material which was
frozen into the lower portion of the ice-sheet and was dropped
as the ice melted. No doubt large floating icebergs which had
stranded and melted frequently dropped their loads of rock
material over a partly stratified drift. In the central part of the
state, in the Devils Lake region, the till is found commonly at a
depth of fifteen to thirty feet, and usually continues for fifty feet
or more. A great number of shallow wells derive their supply of
water from this deposit.
The stratified drift is found immediately overlying the till.
It is composed usually of fine blue and yellow clay, which in
many places is quite free from pebbles or boulders, and shows
unmistakable evidence of stratification. This material forms a
thick deposit immediately under the soil in the Red River valley,
along valleys of several other streams in the eastern part of the
state, and over many portions of the Devils Lake drainage basin.
The boulders and pebbles which are found in this upper modified
drift show clearly, by their smooth and rounded surface, that
they have been water-worn. The stratification probably took
place after the retreat of the ice-sheet, when the water from the
melting ice had formed great lakes which filled the river valleys
and lower ground and spread out over large tracts of nearly
level land.
The various drift deposits which have just been mentioned
indicate that a very large area in North Dakota was at a late
geological period covered by a great sheet of ice which stretched
far away to the north into Canada. With a change in climatic
conditions, the ice began to melt along its southern border, and
the water, being banked on the north by the great ice barrier,
gradually formed a glacial lake on the southern boundary of the
sheet. As the glacier continued its retreat to the north, the extent
and depth of the lake increased, the water spreading out over
the Red River valley, and, finding no other outlet open, at last
overflowed the height of land near Lake Traverse, making its
way through that lake and Big Stone Lake into the Minnesota
TOPOGRAPHY 43
river, and thence into the Mississippi. Finally, however, the ice
melted far enough toward the north to open a natural outlet
through Lake Winnipeg and Hudson bay, when it began forming
the present valley of the Red river. The total area covered by
this great lake, known as Lake Agassiz, has been estimated by
Warren Upham at 110,000 square miles, over which the water
often reached a depth of 500 to 700 feet. The area covered in
North Dakota was about 6,000 to 7,000 square miles. After the
opening of the northern outlet, Lake Agassiz was rapidly drained.
In the low land of the Winnipeg basin, however, a large body
of water was left, a portion of which forms the present Lake
Winnipeg.
The former presence of this body of water is recorded in three
ways — i. e., by lacustrine sediments, by extensive alluvial and
delta deposits, and by corresponding extensive erosion. The fine
silt and clay which are so characteristic of the Red River valley
were undoubtedly deposited from the sediment of Lake Agassiz
and the many glacial rivers which brought debris into this basin
from the surrounding higher land. The water of the glacial Red
river gradually narrowed, but being much deeper in the central
portion of the valley, it remained there a longer time, and thus
gave opportunity for a thicker deposit of sediment than is found
along the old lake margin. Mr. Warren Upham has traced a
series of beaches marking clearly the extent of Lake Agassiz at
its various stages. The streams which flow through the lacustrine
sediments usually have narrow and shallow banks, but the valleys
of those streams which flow into the basin of Lake Agassiz are
commonly deep and wide, showing much erosion. This is par-
ticularly noticeable of the streams flowing from the Little Pem-
bina and Pembina rivers. Along the eastern escarpment of the
Pembina mountains the erosive action of the old lake is clearly
seen in the almost cliff-like ascent of the Cretaceous tablelands.
But Lake Agassiz was not the only glacial lake by which the
surface of the level prairie of North Dakota was modified. In
the central part of the state there were probably several lakes at
various periods following the glacial epoch, which were formed
from the melting of arms of the ice-sheet. One of the most impor-
tant of these was glacial Lake Souris. Devils Lake and its imme-
44 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
diate drainage basin is doubtless a remnant of one of these lakes.
The Sheyenne and James rivers were probably started, and high
bluffs along the western portion of these streams washed out,
during the time when districts to the north, about Devils Lake,
and to the west, being flooded by the melting ice, were drained
of great quantities of water by these rivers. All through the
eastern and central portion of the state, the ice-sheet, the lakes,
and the river torrents formed by the melting ice, exerted a
powerful influence in giving fertility to the soil and final shape
to the surface of our North Dakota prairies.
CHAPTER III.
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY— AND STATEHOOD.
The admission of Minnesota in the Union in 1858 left out Pem-
bina county, embracing the Red River valley, afterwards part
of North Dakota, and which formerly belonged to Minnesota
when it was a territory. Pembina had been for some years repre-
sented in the Minnesota territorial government, and the county
of Big Sioux, embracing the Sioux Falls region, had been organ-
ized by the same authority. In 1849 there were in Pembina
county 295 males and 342 females, as reported by Major Wood
and Captain Pope, of the United States Army, who established
the military post at Pembina at that time. In 1856 the Indian
title to 25,000 square miles, embracing the Big Sioux country,
having been extinguished, and that immense tract of land opened
to settlement, there was a rush of settlers to that locality from
1857 on to 1862, from Minnesota and Iowa, principally.
Election Notice.
"At a mass convention of the people of Dakota territory,
held in the town of Sioux Falls, in the county of Big Sioux, on
Saturday, September 18, 1858, all portions of the territory being
represented, it was resolved and ordered that an election should
be held for members to compose a territorial legislature.
"Dated at , this twentieth day of September, A. D., 1858."
In accordance with the notice the election was held for mem-
bers of the provisional legislature and delegate to congress. A. G.
Fuller was chosen to fill the last named office. The legislature
thus elected met at Sioux Falls in the winter of 1858-59 and
organized by the choice of Henry Masters as president of the
council and ex- officio governor, and S. J. Albright as speaker of
45
46 HISTORY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
the house. The session lasted but a few days. Governor Masters
died a short time after this, and is said to have been the first white
man to die in the valley.
In the meantime the settlers in the southern part of the coun-
try called a convention to meet at Yankton, which assembled at
the at that time uncompleted store of D. T. Bramble, November 8,
1858. Mr. Bramble was chosen chairman and M. K. Armstrong
secretary of the meeting. Captain J. B. S. Todd, Obed Foote and
Thomas Frek were appointed a committee to draft a set of reso-
lutions. It was determined to memorialize congress for authority
to organize as a territory, and for this purpose a committee
consisting of Captain J. B. S. Todd, G. D. Fiske and J. M. Stone
was appointed to draw up the petition. The next day a similar
meeting was held at Vermillion, of which J. A. Denton was chair-
man and James McHenry secretary. Captain J. B. S. Todd was.
appointed by the people in mass meeting assembled, at both
places, to carry their petition to Washington and lay before the
congress of the nation the wishes of the people. In response to
their desires a bill looking to the organization of the territory of
Dakota was introduced in the senate, but no action was taken
upon the matter at that session.
In the fall of 1859 another attempt was made toward terri-
torial organization, and another legislature chosen. J. P. Kidder
was elected delegate to congress; S. J. Albright was elected
governor, but was returned as a member of the legislature, of
which body he was chosen speaker of the house; "W. W. Brook-
ings, elected president of the council, was declared ex-officio
governor. Memorials to congress were again prepared and given
to Mr. Kidder to lay before that body. On his arrival in Wash-
ington, and claiming admission to that congress as a delegate,
it was denied him, he failing of securing his seat by but a few
votes, however. At that time politics ran high and the strife
between the parties was intense in this country, then just on the
eve of the most stupendous civil war in the history of nations.
Everything in our national council was more or less subservient
to the main question, slavery, its extension or non-extension. The
Republican members of congress insisted upon the insertion in
the organic act instituting the new territory of Dakota, a clause
CEEATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 47
prohibiting the introduction of slaves, as such, into the territory.
That aroused the southern members, whose solid opposition nulli-
fied the wishes of the people of Dakota.
Territorial Government Granted.
The now thoroughly aroused settlers again made a strong
effort to force recognition from the federal government. Decem-
ber 27, 1860, a representative convention assembled at Yankton
to take action in the matter. On the 15th of January, 1861, a
lengthy and earnest appeal to the government was adopted
by this body, to which was appended the names of 578 citizens
of the wished-for territory. Copies were forwarded to |the
seat of federal government at Washington and laid before both
houses of congress. At the most stormy session of the national
council, a bill organizing the territory of Dakota was intro-
duced, and most of the members from the southern states
having in the meantime withdrawn on the eve of rebellion,
opposition to the bill ceased and it passed both houses.
On the 2nd of March, 1861, President Buchanan signed the
act, and the territory of Dakota at last entered upon its
legal existence. The bill organizing the same was passed by
the senate February 26, and the house March 1. Dakota at that
time embraced an area of over 350,000 square miles, and included
all of Montana, "Wyoming, and part of Idaho. These were subse-
quently detached, the last change of boundaries being made in
1873 in readjusting the line between Dakota and Montana.
Territorial Officers.
No officers were appointed by the outgoing administration,
but in May, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln commissioned
William Jayne, of Illinois, first governor. About the same time
the following territorial officers were appointed: John Hutchin-
son, of Minnesota, secretary; Philemon Bliss, of Ohio, chief jus-
tice ; Lorenzo P. Williston, of Pennsylvania, and Joseph L. Will-
iams, of Tennessee, associate justices ; William E. Gleason, United
States district attorney; William T. Shaffer, of Illinois, United
States marshal; and George D. Hill, of Michigan, surveyor-
general.
48 HISTOBY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
W. A. Burleigh was appointed agent at the Yankton Indian
reservation, and H. W. Gregory to that of Ponca.
Governor Jayne was a resident of Springfield, 111., at the time
of his appointment, and was engaged in the practice of his prof es-
-sion, medicine. He enjoyed the intimate friendship of Abraham
Lincoln, who esteemed him highly and thus sought to honor.
Governor Jayne and his secretary arrived at Yankton, May 27,
1861, that having been designated as the territorial capital, and
opened the executive office in a log cabin opposite Ash's tavern.
The surveyor-general's office was located at first in Bramble's
building. The first official act of the new governor was the
.appointment of agents to take a census of the new territory
upon which to base the apportionment for representation in the
general assembly, and the following were named: Andrew J.
Harlan, for the district east of the Yermillion river and south of
Sioux Falls ; W. W. Brookings, for the Sioux Falls district ; Obed
Foote, for the Kankton district, which extended westerly from
the Vermillion river to Yankton ; George M. Pinney, for the Bon
Homme district; J. D. Morse, for the country on the Missouri
river north of the Niobrara river; and Henry D. Betts for the
country of the Red River valley. These gentlemen made a report,
according to one account, showing a population in what is now
North Dakota, entire whites, 76; of mixed breeds, 514, making
a total of 590. In what is now South Dakota the same authority
gives as the population: Whites, 1,140; half-breeds, 46; or a
population for the entire territory, excluding Indians, of 1,775.
Other accounts place the whole number of people in the entire
territory at that time at 2,879, and the commissioner of immigra-
tion, in his report for 1887, places it for the year 1860 at 4,837,
basing his figures upon the census report of the general govern-
ment for the year mentioned.
On the 13th of July, following his installation into office, the
governor made an apportionment of the territory into three judi-
cial districts, as follows : All that part of the territory of Dakota
lying east of the line between ranges 53 and 54 west of the fifth
principal meridian, should be known as the first judicial district,
and should be presided over by Hon. L. W. Williston; all that
part of the territory lying between the line dividing ranges 53
CREATION OF DAKOTA TEREITOEY 49
and 54 and the line dividing ranges 57 and 58, was designated
as the second district, and Hon. Philemon Bliss assigned to pre-
side over its judicial functions. The third district was consti-
tuted of the west part of the territory and presided over by
Judge Joseph L. Williams. By a proclamation dated July 29,
1861, the governor established legislative districts throughout the
territory and apportioned the representation as follows:
"All that portion of Dakota territory lying between the Mis-
souri and Bix Sioux rivers, and bounded on the west by the range
line dividing ranges 50 and 51 west and that portion of Dakota
territory lying west of the Red River of the North, and including
the settlement at and adjacent to Pembina and St. Joseph, shall
comprise the first council district, and be entitled to two
councilmen.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded by the Ver-
million river on the west and on the east by the line dividing
ranges 50 and 51, shall compose the second council district, and
be entitled to two councilmen.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded by the Ver-
million river on the east, on the west by the line dividing ranges
53 and 54 west, shall compose the third council district, and be
entitled to one councilman.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded on the east by
the line dividing ranges 53 and 54, and on the west by the line
dividing ranges 57 and 58 west, shall compose the fourth council
district, and be entitled to two councilmen.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded on the east by
Choteau creek and on the west by a line west of and including
that settlement known as the Hamilton settlement, and also that
portion of Dakota situated between the Missouri and Niobrara
rivers, shall compose the sixth council district and be entitled
to one councilman.
"All that portion of Dakota territory situated between the
Missouri and Big Sioux rivers and bounded on the west by the
line dividing ranges 50 and 51 west, and bounded on the north
by the line dividing townships 94 and 95 north, shall compose
the first representative district, and shall be entitled to two
representatives.
50 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
''All that portion of Dakota territory lying west of the Big
Sioux river and bounded on the south by the line dividing town-
ships 94 and 95, and on the west by the line dividing ranges 50
and 51, and on the north by a line drawn due east and west from
the south end of Lake Preston, shall constitute the second repre-
sentative district, and be entitled to one representative.
"All that portion of Dakota territory lying on the Red River
of the North, including the settlements at St. Joseph and Pem-
bina, shall compose the third representative district, and be
entitled to one representative.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded by the Ver-
million river on the west, and on the east by the line dividing
ranges 50 and 51, shall compose the fourth representative district,
and be entitled to two representatives.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded by the Ver-
million river on the east and on the west by the line dividing
ranges 53 and 54, shall compose the fifth representative district,
and be entitled to two representatives.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded on the east by
the line dividing ranges 53 and 54, and on the west by the line
dividing ranges 57 and 58, shall compose the sixth representative
district, and be entitled to two representatives.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded on the east
by the line dividing ranges 57 and 58 west, on the west by
Choteau creek, shall compose the seventh representative district,
and be entitled to two representatives.
"All that portion of Dakota territory bounded on the east by
Choteau creek, and on the west by a line drawn west of and to
include the settlement known as the Hamilton settlement; and,
also, that portion of Dakota territory situated between the Mis-
souri and the Niobrara rivers, shall compose the eighth repre-
sentative district and be entitled to one representative."
In the same proclamation the new executive appointed the
following polling places for the use of the citizens in the various
parts of the territory. To quote his own words :
"I do hereby establish in the aforesaid districts the following
places for voting:
"In the first representative district, at the dwelling house of
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 51
Thomas Maloney, and do appoint as judges of election thereat
William Matthews, James Somers and Thomas Maloney; and
also at the hotel of Eli Wilson, in Elk Point, and do appoint as
judges thereat Sherman Clyde, William Frisbie and K. P. Ronne.
In the second representative district, at the house of William
Amidon, and do appoint as judges G. P. Waldron, Barney Fowler
and John Kelts. In the third representative district at the house
of Charles Le May, in the town of Pembina, and do appoint as
judges Charles Le May, James McFetridge and H. Donelson;
and also at the house of Baptiste Shorette, in the town of St.
Joseph, and do appoint as judges Baptiste Shorette, Charles
Bottineau and Antoine Zangreau.
"In the fourth representative district, at the house of James
McHenry, and do appoint as judges A. J. Harlan, Ole Anderson
and A. Eckles. In the fifth representative district, at the house
of Bly Wood, and do appoint as judges Ole Olson, Bly Wood and
Ole Bottolfson. In the sixth representative district, at the office
of Todd & Frost, and do appoint as judges M. K. Armstrong, F.
Chapel and J. S. Presho. In the seventh representative district,
at Herrick's hotel, in Bon Homme, and do appoint as judges
Daniel Gifford, George M. Pinney and George Falkenburg. And
in the eighth district, at the house of F. D. Pease, and do appoint
as judges J. V. Hamilton, Benjamin Estes and Joseph Ellis, and
also at Gregory's store, and appoint as judges Charles Young,
James Tufts and Thomas Small."
About this time the various candidates for the position of
delegate to congress began to come forward and make efforts to
capture that office.
Prominent among the settlers at that time was Captain John
B. S. Todd, an ex-army officer and a relative of Mrs. Lincoln's,
a man who was a leader in the movement toward organization,
and filled a foremost place in the opinions of his friends and
neighbors ; he was the leading candidate. The opposition to him
crystallized and settled upon A. J. Bell as their choice. Later
Charles P. Booge, then in business at Sioux City, but who claimed
a residence within the territory, announced himself as a candidate
for the same office.
The election, which was held Monday, September 16, 1361,
52 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
resulted in the election of Mr. Todd, who. received 397 votes. A.
J. Bell received 78 votes and Charles P. Booge 110.
The first territorial legislature, which was chosen at this
election, met at Yankton, March 17, 1862, and continued in ses-
sion until May 15, following. The membership was as follows :
Council— John H. Shober, H. D. Betts, el. W. Boyle, D. T.
Bramble, W. W. Brookings, A. Cole, Jacob Deuel, J. S. Gregory
and Enos Stutsman.
House — George M. Pinney, Moses K. Armstrong, Lyman Bur-
gess, J. A. Jacobson, John C. McBride, Christopher Maloney, A.
W. Puett, John Stanage, John L. Tiernan, Hugh S. Donaldson,
Reuben Wallace, George P. Waldron and B. E. "Wood.
On their organization the council chose the following officers :
J. H. Shober, president; James Tufts, secretary; E. M. Bond,
assistant secretary; W. R. Goodfellow, engrossing and enrolling
clerk; S. W. Ingham, chaplain; Charles F. Picotte, sergeant-at-
arms; E. B. Wixon, messenger, and W. "W. Warford, fireman.
The house, on organization, selected as their officers : George M.
Pinney, speaker ; J. R. Hanson, chief clerk ; J. M. Allen, assistant
clerk ; D. Gifford, enrolling clerk ; B. M. Smith, engrossing clerk ;
M. D. Metcalf, chaplain; James or M. H. Somers, sergeant-at-
arms; A. B. Smith, messenger; and Ole Anderson, fireman.
The second general election was held September 1, 1862, and
in some parts of the territory considerable excitement prevailed.
The board of canvassers gave the rival candidates for the posi-
tion of delegate to congress, William Jayne and J. B. S. Todd,
237 and 221 votes respectively, they for some reason throwing
out the vote of Bon Homme and Charles Mix counties. The Red
river valley apparently made no returns of this election. Gov-
ernor Jayne was declared elected to congress, but a contest for
the seat was instituted by Captain Todd before congress, and
the latter, proving his case, was given the place.
Captain Todd served in the capacity of delegate to the
national house of representatives during the years 1861 and
1863. He was succeeded by W. F. Burleigh, whose term of
service was from 1864 to 1869 ; S. L. Spink, 1869-71 ; Moses K.
Armstrong, 1871-75; J. P. Kidder, 1875-79; G. G. Bennett,
1879-81; R. F. Pettigrew, 1881-83: J. B. Raymond, 1883-85;
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 53
Oscar S. Gifford, 1885-88; and George A. Matthews, 1888-89,
successively filled this high office.
Dr. William Jayne, the first governor of Dakota territory,
occupied the position of first magistrate for two years, being
succeeded in 1863 by Newton Edmunds. In 1866 Andrew J.
Faulk was appointed governor, and remained in that office until
1869, when he gave way for John A. Burbank. The latter 's term
of service was from 1869 to 1874. John L. Pennington, the next
incumbent, served until 1878. His successor, William A. Howard,
was appointed and qualified for the office. Governor Howard
died April 10, 1880, while still in the gubernatorial chair, and
Nehemiah G. Ordway, of New Hampshire, was appointed to fill
the vacancy. The latter 's term of service expired in 1884. Gil-
bert A. Pierce, the next appointee, filled the position from 1884
till 1887, when he, in turn, made way for his successor, Louis
K. Church. In 1889 Arthur C. Mellette became governor of the
territory by appointment, and was the first governor of the state
of South Dakota by election.
Of the secretaries of the territory of Dakota the first one
appointed was John L. Hutehinson, who continued in office from
1861 until 1865 ; he was succeeded by S. L. Spink. The latter
held the position until 1869. During the latter year Turney M.
Wilkins was appointed and held the office until the following
year, when George A. Batchelder was appointed to the place.
Edwin S. McCook was appointed in 1872. He was assassinated
by Peter P. Wintermute in September, 1873. The next to fill
the position was Oscar Whitney, who held the same from the
date of his predecessor's death until the appointment of his suc-
cessor, George H. Hand, in 1874. The latter remained in office
until 1883, when he was succeeded by J. M. Teller. In 1886
Michael McCormack was appointed Mr. Teller's successor, and
was succeeded, in 1889, by L. B. Richardson, who was the last
to be appointed to that office.
Presidential appointees who filled the important office of chief
justice during territorial days were : Philemon Bliss, 1861-64 ;
Ara Bartlett, 1865-69; George W. French, 1869-73; Peter C.
Shannon, 1873-81 ; A. J. Edgerton, 1881-85, and Bartlett Tripp,
1885-89.
54 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Of those who acted as associate justices while the territory
was in existence, the following is a list, with the date of their
services. Many of them will be recognized as prominent mem-
bers of the Dakota bar before and after their terms upon the
bench, and others occupied more exalted positions. They were:
S. P. Williston, 1861-65; J. S. Williams, 1861-64; Ara Bartlett,
1864-65 ; W. E. Gleason, 1865-66 ; J. P. Kidder, 1865-75 ; J. W.
Boyle, 1864-69 ; W. W. Brookings, 1869-73 ; A. H. Barnes, 1873-81 ;
G. G. Bennett, 1875-79; G. C. Moody, 1878-83; J. P. Kidder,
1878-83; C. S. Palmer, 1883-87; S. A. Hudson, 1881-85; William
E. Church, 1883-86; Louis K. Church, 1885-87; Seward Smith,
1884; W. H. Francis, 1884-88 ; John E. Garland, 1887-89 ; William
B. McConnell, 1885-88; Charles M. Thomas, 1886-89; James
Spencer, 1887-89 ; Roderick Rose, 1888-89 ; L. W. Crofoot, 1888-89 ;
Frank R. Aikens, 1889. Of these Judge J. P. Kidder died while
in office in 1883, and was succeeded by C. S. Palmer, of Vermont.
Of those who filled the important position of United States
district attorney during the twenty-eight years of Dakota's ter-
ritorial government the following is the roll, together with the
years of their services : William E. Gleason, 1861-64 ; George H.
Hand, 1866-69 ; Warren Coles, 1869-73 ; William Pond, 1873-77 ;
Hugh J. Campbell, 1877-85 ; John E. Carland, 1885-88 ; William
E. Purcell, 1888-89, and John Murphy, 1889. William Pond died
while in office in 1877.
During the same time the office of United States marshal was
filled by the following parties : William F. Shaffer, 1861 ; G. M.
Pinney, 1861-65; L. W. Litchfield, 1865-72; J. H. Burdick,
1872-77 ; J. B. Raymond, 1877-81 ; Harrison Allen, 1881-85, and
Daniel Maratta, 1885-89.
The office of commissioner of railroads of the territory was
held successively by the following named: William M. Evens,
chairman ; Alexander Griggs and W. H. McVay, in 1886 ; Alex-
ander Griggs, chairman, A. Boynton and N. T. Smith, in 1887;
Judson LaMoure, chairman, John H. King and Harvey J. Rice.
The latter were the last board prior to the admission of Dakota
to a place in the federal union as a state.
The surveyor- generals during the same time were: George
D. Hill, 1861-65; William Tripp, 1865-69; W. H. H. Beadle,
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 55
1869-73 ; William P. Dewey, 1873-77 ; Henry Experson, 1877-81 ;
Cortez Fessenden, 1881-85; Maris Taylor, 1885-89, and B. H.
Sullivan, 1889.
The second legislature met at Yankton, December 1, 1862,
and continued in service until January 9, 1863. Its membership
was as follows:
Council — Enos Stutsman, president ; W. W. Brookings, Austin
Cole, John W. Boyle, Jacob Deuel, D. T. Bramble, J. McFetridge,
John H. Shober, J. Shaw Gregory and H. D. Betts.
House — A. J. Harlan, the speaker, who resigned December
16, and was succeeded by Moses K. Armstrong; L. Bothun, J. Y.
Buckman, H. S. Donaldson, M. H. Somers, Edward Gifford, J. A.
Jacobson, R. M. Johnson, G. P. Waldron, Knud Larson, F. D.
Pease, A. W. Puett and N. J. Wallace.
The third session of the territorial legislature was convened
at the capital, December 7, 1863, and continued to transact public
business until January 15, 1864. Its membership was made up
of the following named :
Council — Enos Stutsman, president; J. M. Stone, G. W.
Kingsbury, J. 0. Taylor, M. M. Rich, John Mathers, Lasse Bothun,
Hugh Compton, Franklin Taylor, D. P. Bradford, J. Shaw Greg-
ory and John J. Thompson.
House — A. W. Puett, speaker; L. Burgess, Ole Bottolfson,
E. M. Bond, William Shriner, 0. L. Pratt, John Lawrence, Henry
Brooks, L. A. Litchfield, W. W. Brookings, Knud Larson, Wash-
ington Reid, P. H. Risling, E. W. Wall, Jesse Wherry, Peter
Keegan, N. G. Curtis, Asa Mattison, B. A. Hill, Duncan Ross and
Albert Gore.
The fourth legislature commenced its existence at Yankton,
December 5, 1864, and remained in session until January 13,
1865. The following named were borne on its roll of membership :
Council — Enos Stutsman, president ; J. M. Stone, G. W. Kings-
bury, J. 0. Taylor, M. M. Rich, John Mathers, Lasse Bothun, Hugh
Compton, Franklin Taylor, D. P. Bradford, J. Shaw Gregory and
John J. Thompson.
House — W. W. Brookings, speaker; L. Burgess, L P. Burg-
man, A. Christy, B. W. Collar, Felicia Fallis, J. R. Hanson, Peter
Keegan, George W. Kellogg, P. Lemonges, John Lawrence, M.
56 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
M. Mattheinsen, Helge Matthews, Francis McCarthy, John W.
Owens, G. W. Pratt, "Washington Reid, John Rouse, William
Shriner, George Stickney, John W. Turney and E. W. Wall.
The fifth session of the Dakota territorial legislature convened
at Yankton December 4, 1865, and adjourned the 12th of the
following month. It had as members :
Council — George Stickney, president ; M. K. Armstrong, Aus-
tin Cole, G. W. Kingsbury, Charles LaBreeche, Nathaniel Ross,
Enos Stutsman, 0. F. Stevens, John J. Thompson, John W. Tur-
ner, A. L. Van Osdel and Knud Weeks.
House— G. B. Bigelow, speaker; T. C. Watson, E. C. Collins,
William Walter, Michael Curry, Michael Ryan, James Whitehorn,
H. J. Austin, Amos Hampton, Frank Taylor, James McHenry,
Joseph Ellis, A. M. English, Jacob Brauch, H. C. Ash, S. C. Fargo,
W. W. Brookings, Jonathan Brown, J. A. Lewis, Charles H. Mc-
Carthy, William Stevens, Edward Lent, George W. Kellogg and
Charles Cooper.
The sixth session convened December 4, 1866, and adjourned
January 12, 1867. Its membership was as follows :
Council — Moses K. Armstrong, president; Austin Cole, A. G.
Fuller, G. W. Kingsbury, Charles LaBreeche, J. A. Lewis, D. M.
Mills, Nathaniel Ross, 0. F. Stevens, John J. Thompson, John W.
Turner, A. L. Van Osdel and Knud Weeks.
House — J. B. S. Todd, speaker; H. C. Ash, Horace J. Austin,
D. T. Bramble, W. N. Collamer, Michael Curry, Hugh Fraley,
Thomas Frick, I. T. Gore, William Gray, Hans Gunderson, M. U.
Hoyt, Daniel Hodgden, Amon Hanson, R. M. Johnson, George
W. Kellogg, Vincent LaBelle, Charles H. McCarthy, N. C. Stevens,
William Stevens, John Trumbo, Franklin Taylor, Eli B. Wixon
and Kirwin Wilson.
The seventh legislature was convened December 2, 1867, and
adjourned January 10, 1868. The following were the members:
Council — Horace J. Austin, president; W. W. Brookings, W.
W. Benedict, Aaron Carpenter, R. J. Thomas, Hugh Fraley, R. R.
Green, A. H. Hampton, George W. Kellogg, J. A. Lewis, Charles
H. Mclntyre, D. M. Mills and C. F. Rossteucher.
House — Enos Stutsman, speaker; William Blair, William
Brady, F. Bronson, Jacob Brauch, Jonathan Brown, Caleb Cum-
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 57
mings, Michael Cimy, F. J. DeWitt, Martin V. Farris, Felicia
Fallas, I. T. Gore, Hans Gunderson, Amos Hanson, M. U. Hoyt,
John L. Jolley, James Keegan, G. C. Moody, T. Nelson, Michael
Ryan, Calvin G. Shaw, John J. Thompson, J. D. Tucker and
Thomas C. Watson.
The eighth legislature met in session at Yankton, December
7, 1868, and adjourned January 15 following. The roll of mem-
bership was as follows :
Council — N. J. Wallace, president; Horace J. Austin, W. W.
Benedict, W. W. Brookings, Aaron Carpenter, Hugh Fraley, R.
R. Green, A; H. Hampton, George W. Kellogg, J. A. Lewis,
Charles H. Mclntyre, C. P. Rossteuscher and B. E. Wood.
House — G. C. Moody, speaker; Alfred Abbott, C. D. Bradley
G. G. Bennett, Calvin M. Brooks, Jacob Brauch, John Clementson,,
N. G. Curtis, J. M. Eves, J. Shaw Gregory, J. T. Hewlett, 0. T.
Hagin, John L. Jolley, A. W. Jameson, Hiram Keith, James Kee-
gan, Lewis Larson, Knud Larson, J. LaRoche, Joseph Moulin,
Charles Ricker, Enos Stutsman, M. H. Somers and R. T. Vinson.
The ninth session of the territorial legislature was convened
at Yankton, December 5, 1870. It continued until January 13,
1871. Its members were :
Council — Emory Morris, president; M. K. Armstrong, Joseph
Brauch, W. W. Cuppett, Hugh Fraley, Silas W. Kidder, Nelson
Miner, Charles H. Mclntyre, J. C. Kennedy, W. T. McKay, James
M. Stone and John W. Turner.
House — George H. Hand, speaker; Charles Allen, V. R. L.
Barnes, F. J. Cross, C. P. Dow, A. P. Hammond, John Hancock,
William Holbrough, 0. B. Iverson, H. A. Jerauld, James Keegan,
J. LaRoche, Nelson Learned, A. J. Mills, E. Miner, Noah Wherry,
R. Mostow, S. L. Parker, Amos F. Shaw, Philip Sherman, John
C. Sinclair, Ole Sampson and E. W. Wall.
The tenth legislature of the territory convened in regular ses-
sion at Yankton, December 2, 1872, and adjourned January 10,
1873. The following named constituted the membership :
Council — Alexander Hughes, president; D. T. Bramble, E. B.
Crew, H. P. Cooley, J. Flick, John Lawrence, Nelson Miner,
Joseph Mason, J. Gehon, Charles II. Mclntyre, 0. F. Stevens^
Enos Stutsman and Henry Smith.
58 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
House— A. J. Mills, speaker ; Samuel Ashmore, Ole Bottolf son,
John Becker, Jacob Brauch, Newton Clark, N. B. Campbell,
Michael Glynn, William Hamilton, James Hyde, Cyrus Knapp,
T. A. Kingsbury, Judson La Moure, E. A. Williams, Ephraim
Miner, George Norbeck, Joseph Roberts, A. B. Wheelock, 0. C.
Peterson, Jens Peterson, Silas Rohr, Martin Trygstadt, J. W.
Turner, John Thompson, B. E. Wood and W. P. Lyman.
The eleventh legislature convened at Yankton, December 7,
1874, and remained in session until January 15, 1875, when it
adjourned. The members were :
Council — John L. Jolley, president; A. J. Austin, Jacob
Brauch, Philip Chandler, Benton Fraley, W. G. Harlan, John
Lawrence, A. McHench, M. Pace, N. W. Sheafe, 0. F. Stevens,
Clark S. West and E. A. Williams.
House — G. C. Moody, speaker; H. 0. Anderson, George Bos-
worth, Hector Bruce, J. L. Berry, L. Bothun, Michael Curry,
Desire Chausse, J. M. Cleland, Patrick Hand, John H. Haas, Knud
Larson, Joseph Zitka, H. N. Luce, W. T. McKay, Henry Reifsny-
der, Amos F. Shaw, C. H. Stearns, Ira Ellis, L. Sampson, S.
Sevenson, A. L. Van Osdel, M. M. Williams, Scott Wright, James
M. Wohl and 0. B. Larson.
January 9, 1877, at Yankton, the twelfth legislature of the
territory met in session and continued to transact the public
business until February 17, following. As the country was rap-
idly filling up the number of members increased and the amount
of business became of larger volume. This general assembly
was composed of the following named gentlemen :
Council— W. A. Burleigh, president; Henry S. Back, M. W.
Bailey, William Duncan, Hans Gunderson, Judson LaMoure, Nel-
son Miner, A. J. Mills, Robert Wilson, R. F. Pettigrew, J. A.
Potter, C. B. Valentine and J. A. Wallace.
House— D. C. Hagle, speaker ; J. M. Adams, A. L. Boe, H. A.
Burke, J. Q. Burbank (who was awarded the seat held by D. M.
Kelleher, during the session), W. H. H. Beadle, T. S. Clarkson,
G. S. S. Codington, W. F. Durham, A. G. Hopkins, M. 0. Hexom,
E. Hackett, D. M. Inman, Erick Iverson, Charles Maywold, F. M.
Ziebach, Hans Myron, John Shellberg, John Falde, D, Stewart,
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 59
Asa Sargent, John Tucker, Franklin Taylor, John Thompson, C.
H. Van Tassel and S. Soderstrom.
The thirteenth legislature held its session at Yankton, from
January 14, 1879, until February following. The roll of mem-
bers was as follows :
Council — George II. Walsh, president; "William M. Cuppert,
M. H. Day, Ira Ellis, Newton Edmunds, W. L. Kuykendall, Nel-
son Miner, Robert Macnider, R. F. Pettigrew, S. G. Roberts, Silas
Rohr, C. B. Valentine and H. B. Wynn.
House — John R. Jackson, speaker; Alfred Brown, J. Q. Bur-
bank, P. N. Cross, D. W. Flick, A. B. Tockler, John R. Gamble,
Ansley Gray, Hans Gunderson, P. J. Hoyer, Ole A. Helvig, 0. I.
Hoseboe, A. Hoyt, S. A. Johnson, John Langness, A. Manksch, J.
M. Peterson, Nathaniel Whitfield, Michael Shely, A. Simonson,
James H. Stephens, D. Stewart, Martin M. Trygstadt, E. C. Wal-
ton, J. F. Webber and Canute Weeks.
The fourteenth legislature held its session from January 11
to March, 1881, at Yankton, with the following list of members :
Council — George H. Walsh, president; M. H. Day, Ira W.
Fisher, John R. Gamble, John L. Jolley, J. A. J. Martin, J. O'B.
Scobey, Amos F. Shaw, J. F. Wallace, John Walsh, G. W. Wiggin
and John R. Wilson.
House — J. A. Harding, speaker; James Baynes, F. J. Cross,
G. H. Dickey, L. B. French, C. B. Kennedy, P. Landman, J. H.
Miller, Knud Nomland, V. P. Thielman, A. Thorne, P. Warner,
S. A. Boyles, W. H. Donaldson, E. Ellefson, John D. Hale, D. M.
Inman, Judson LaMoure, S. McBratney, I. Moore, S. Rohr, D.
Thompson, A. L. Van Osdel and E. P. Wells.
On the organization of Dakota as a territory in 1861, Yankton
was designated as the territorial capital and the seat of the
executive and legislative branches of the government. There
the legislature had up to this time held their sessions, but the
fifteenth general assembly which met at Yankton, January 9,
1883, and remained convened until March 9, following, was the
last to do so. The members of this general assembly were the
following :
Council — J. O'B. Scobey, president; F. N. Burdick, J. R. Jack-
son, F. M. Ziebach, F. J. Washabaugh, S. G. Roberts, H. J.
60 HISTOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Jerauld, William P. Dewey, E. H. Mclntosh, G. H. Walsh, J.
Nickeus and E. McCauley.
House — E. A. Williams, speaker; Ira Ellis, M. C. Tychsen,
John Thompson, W. B. Robinson, R, C. McAllister, F. P. Phillips,
G. W. Sterling, W. A. Reinhart, E. M. Bowman, G. P. Harvey,
D. M. Inman, H. VanWoert, J. B. Wynn, B. R. Wagner, John
C. Pyatt, George Rice, W. H. Lamb, J. W. Nowlin, A. A. Choteau,
0. M. Towner, B. W. Benson, L. J. Allred and N. E. Nelson. This
legislature had before them a bill authorizing the changing the
seat of government of the territory to some more central and
convenient point. This bill was passed by which was created a
commission for the purpose of selecting and locating the new cap-
ital. This committee was composed of the following named gen-
tlemen: Alexander McKenzie, Milo W. Scott, Burleigh F.
Spaulding, Charles H. Myers, George A. Matthews, Alexander
Hughes, Henry M. DeLong, John P. Belding and M. D. Thompson.
The commission was convened in a session at the city of Fargo
during the summer of 1883, to hear the different advantages of
site as put forth by the various claimants for the capitalship.
Excitement was rife, but after a long and patient hearing the
board reached a conclusion, and June 2, 1883, located the future
territorial capital at the, then, rising city of Bismarck.
According to the act of the legislature passed at the last ses-
sion, as above narrated, and the action of the committee then
appointed, the sixteenth assembly was convened at Bismarck,
January 13, 1885, and continued in session in that city until
March 13 following. A list of its members is as follows :
Council — J. H. Westover, president; A. C. Huetson, William
Duncan, John R. Gamble, A. S. Jones, B. R. Wagner, A. M.
Bowdle, R, F. Pettigrew, George R. Farmer, H. H. Natwick, C.
H. Cameron, J. P. Day, A. B. Smedley, V. P. Kennedy, F. J.
Washabaugh, S. P. Wells, Charles Richardson, J. Nickeus, C. D.
Austin, D. H. Twomey, G. H. Walsh, John Flittie, Judson La-
Moure and P. J. McLaughlin.
House— George Rice, speaker; Ole Helvig, John Larson, Eli
Dawson, Hans Myron, A. L. Van Osdel, Hugh Langan, J. P.
Ward, J. H. Swanton, A. J. Parshall, Mark Ward, C. E. Huston,
H. M. Clark, P. L. Runkel, J. M. Bayard, H. W. Smith, W. H.
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 61
Biddell, John Hobart, J. C. Southwick, V. V. Barnes, J. A.
Pickler, J. T. Blakemore, G. W. Pierce, M. L. Miller, G. H. John-
son, M. T. DeWoody, E. Huntington, F. A. Eldredge, A. L.
Sprague, E. W. Martin, H. M. Gregg, A. McCall, E. A. Williams,
W. F. Steele, Henry W. Coe, J. Stevens, S. E. Stebbins, P. J.
McCumber, H. S. Oliver, T. M. Pugh, E. T. Hutchinson, W. N.
Roach, C. W. Morgan, J. W. Scott, D. Stewart, H. Stong, H. H.
Ruger, P. McHugh.
The seventeenth legislature, composed of the following named,
was in session from January 11 until March 11, 1887 :
Council — George A. Mathews, president ; Roger Allin, William
T. Collins, John Cain, W. E. Dodge, E. W. Foster, Melvin Grigsby,
Alexander Hughes, T. M. Martin, P. J. McCumber, C. H. Sheldon,
E. G. Smith, J. S. Weiser, T. O. Bogart, A. W. Campbell, P. C.
Donovan, E. C. Erickson, H. Galloway, G. A. Harstad, J. D.
Lawler, C. D. Mead, E. T. Sheldon, F. J. Washabaugh and S. P.
Wells.
House — George G. Crose, speaker ; Fred H. Adams, John Bid-
lake, J. W. Burnham, D. S. Dodds, Thomas M. Elliott, D. W.
Ensign, J. H. Fletcher, F. Greene, A. A. Harkins, C. B. Hubbard,
J. G. Jones, James M. Moore, T. F. Mentzer, C. I. Miltimore,
John D. Patton, D. F. Royer, J. Schnaidt, F. M. Shook, D.
Stewart, E. W. Terrill, J. V. White, Wilson Wise, L. 0. Wyman,
Frank R. Aikens, W. N. Berry, A. M. Cook, M. H. Cooper, John
R, Dutch, John A. Ely, William H. Fellows, J. T. Gilbert, William
Glendenning, W. J. Hawk, John Hobart, R. McDonell, F. A.
Morris, H. J. Mallorey, J. H. Patton, A. J. Pruitt, W. R. Ruggles,
D. W. Sprague, A. S. Steward, B. H. Sullivan, C. B. Williams,
James P. Ward, E. A. Williams and John Woltzmuth.
The eighteenth and last territorial legislature was convened
at the capital, Bismarck, January 8, 1889, and remained in ses-
sion until March 9. It enacted one hundred and twenty general
laws, including thirty-four amendments and two repeals. Also
nineteen joint resolutions and memorials. The membership rolls
bore the following names :
Council — Smith Stimmel, president ; R. Allin, Irenus Atkinson,
Peter Cameron, A. W. Campbell, M. H. Cooper, C. I. Crawford,
Robert Dollard, E. C. Erickson, S. L. Glaspell, James Halley, G.
62 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
A. Harstad, Alexander Hughes, Eobert Lowry, Hugh McDonald,
John Miller, J. H. Patten, David W. Poindexter, Joseph C. Eyan,
C. A. Soderberg, G. H. Walsh, F. J. Washabaugh, James A.
Woolheiser and A. L. Van Osdel.
House — Hosmer H. Keith, speaker; F. H. Adams, Frank E.
Aikens, Joseph Allen, C. H. Baldwin, E. L. Bennett, E. H. Berg-
man, B. F. Bixter, J. W. Burnham, A. D. Clark, J. B. Cook, T. A.
Douglas, Thomas Elliott, J. H. Fletcher, J. M. Greene, A. J.
Gronna, S. P. Howell, Harry F. Hunter, J. G. Jones, I. S. Lamp-
man, W. S. Logan, Frank Lillibridge, H. J. Mallory, P. McHugh,
Edwin McNeil, C. J. Miller, F. A. Morris, C. C. Newman, P. P.
Palmer, A. L. Patridge, H. S. Parkin, John D. Patten, 0. C.
Potter, D. M. Powell, M. M. Price, William Eamsdell, D. F.
Eoyer, G. W. Eyan, H. H. Sheets, J. 0. Smith, W. E. Swanston,
C. J. Tfude, John Turnbull, N. Upham, 0. E. Van Etten, J. B.
Wellcome, D. E. Wellman, J. V. White.
North Dakota as a State.
The first legislature to meet at Bismarck, the capital of the
territory of Dakota, was in 1885, from January 13 to March 13.
The last legislature of the territory assembled January 8, 1889,
and adjourned on the 9th of March, 1889. ''An act to provide
for the division of Dakota into two states and to enable the people
of North and South Dakota, Montana and Washington to form
constitutions and state governments and to be admitted into
the Union on an equal footing with the original states," came in
under the omnibus bill of February 22, 1889, which embodies the
several measures introduced for the admission of the northwest
territories. Constitutional conventions were accordingly held at
Sioux Falls and Bismarck, assembling July 4, 1887. The officials
for North Dakota were as follows :
President, F. B. Fancher, Jamestown; chief clerk, John G.
Hamilton, Grand Forks; enrolling and engrossing clerk, C. C.
Bowsfield, Ellendale.
The roll of membership of this constitutional convention was
the following, together with the county they represented:
Eoger Allin, of Walsh ; John Magnus Almen, of Walsh ;
Albert Francis Appleton, of Pembina; Therow W. Bean, of Nel-
THE SETTLER'S SOD-HOUSE
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 63
son; James Bell, of Walsh; Richard Bennett, of Grand Forks;
Lorenzo D. Bartlett, of Dickey ; David Bartlett, of Griggs ; Wil-
liam D. Best, of Pembina ; Charles V. Brown, of Wells ; Andrew
Blewett, of Stutsman; William Budge, of Grand Forks; Edgar
W. Camp, of Stutsman; Eben Whitney Chaffee, of Cass; John
Emmett Garland, of Burleigh; Charles Carothers, of Grand
Forks; Horace M. Clark, of Eddy; William J. Clapp, of Cass;
Joseph L. Colton, of Ward ; James A. Douglas, of Walsh ; Elmer
E. Elliott, of Barnes ; Frederick B. Fancher, of Stutsman ; George
H. Fay, of Mclntosh; Alexander D. Flemington, of Dickey;
James Bennett Gayton, of Emmons; Benjamin Bush Glick, of
Cavalier ; Enos Gray, of Cass ; Alexander Griggs, of Grand Forks ;
Harvey Harris, of Burleigh; Arne P. Haugen, of Grand Forks;
Marthinus F. Hegge, of Traill; Herbert L. Holmes, of Pembina;
Albert W. Hoyt, of Morton; Martin N. Johnson, of Nelson;
William S. Lauder, of Richland ; Addison Leech, of Cass ; Martin
V. Linwell, of Grand Forks; Jacob Lowell, of Cass; Edward H.
Lohnes, of Ramsey; Michael K. Marriman, of Walsh; J. H.
Mathews, of Grand Forks; Olney G. Meecham, of Foster; John
McBride, of Cavalier; Henry Foster Miller, of Cass; Samuel H.
Moer, of La Moure; James D. McKenzie, of Sargent; Patrick
McHuh, of Cavalier; Virgil B. Noble, of Bottineau; Knud J.
Nomland, of Traill; James F. O'Brien, of Ramsey; Curtis P.
Parsons, of Rolette ; Albert Samuel Parsons, of Morton ; Engebret
M. Paulson, of Traill; Henry M. Peterson, of Cass; Robert M.
Pollock, of Cass; John Powers, of Sargent; Joseph Powles, of
Cavalier; William E. Purcell, of Richland; William Ray, of
Stark; Robert B. Richardson, of Pembina; Alexander D. Rob-
ertson, of Walsh; Eugene Strong Rolfe, of Benson; William H.
Rowe, of Dickey; Andrew Sandager, of Ransom; John Shuman,
of Sargent ; John W. Scott, of Barnes ; John F. Selby, of Traill ;
Andrew Sloten, of Richland ; Burleigh Folsom Spalding, of Cass ;
Reuben N. Stevens, of Ransom; Ezra Turner, of Bottineau;
Elmer D. Wallace, of Steele; Abram Olin Whipple, of Ramsey;
J. Wellwood, of Barnes; and Erastus A. Williams, of Burleigh.
The meeting was called to order and the following named
made officers of the convention : F. B. Fancher, president ; J. G.
Hamilton, chief clerk; C. C. Bowsfield, enrolling and engrossing
64 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
clerk; Fred Falley, sergeant-at-arms ; J. S. Weiser, watchman;
E. W. Knight, messenger; George Kline, chaplain; and R. M.
Tuttle, official stenographer.
The convention was in session some six weeks, adjourning
August 17, 1889, during which time they formed a constitution
which was submitted to the voters of the new state for their
ratification or rejection. The election for this purpose and for
the election of state officers took place upon October 1, 1889.
and out of a total vote cast of 35,548, those in favor of the
adoption of the constitution were 27,441, while those against it
were 8,107.
Official Vote for Governor.
The following will show the official vote by counties for the
•office of governor, at this, the first state election :
John Miller, Roach,
Counties — Rep. Dem.
Barnes 1,191 498
Burleigh 771 322
Benson 467 111
Bottineau 335 304
Billings 45 14
Cass 2,712 1,411
Cavalier 647 534
Dickey 1,087 506
Eddy 241 161
Emmons 391 78
Foster 235 131
Grand Forks 1,929 1,263
Griggs 346 205
Kidder 259 88
La Moure 594 235
Logan 77 13
Morton 680 335
McHenry 219 68
McLean 223 41
Mclntosh 375 20
CREATION OF DAKOTA TEERITOEY 65
Mercer 70 15
Nelson 628 260
Oliver 28 48
Pembina 1,553 1,241
Pierce 181 46
Richland 1,199 771
Ransom 998 261
Ramsey 779 343
Rolette 250 238
Stark 432 182
Stutsman 818 603
Steele 546 92
Sargent 1,027 216
Traill , 1,524 469
Towner 184 244
Walsh 1,842 1,100
Wells 186 152
Ward . 296 114
Total 25,365 12,733
Majority 12,632
Proclamation of Admission.
On November 2, 1889, President Harrison issued his procla-
mation reciting the different provisions in the act authorizing
the formation of the state, and showing that the same had been
duly complied with, concluding: "Now, therefore, I, Benjamin
Harrison, president of the United States of America, do, in
accordance with the act of congress aforesaid, declare and pro-
claim the fact that the conditions imposed by congress on the
state of North Dakota to entitle that state to admission into the
Union have been ratified and accepted, and that the admission
of the said state into the Union is now complete.
'Mn testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the
66 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
city of Washington this second day of November, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, and of
the independence of the United States of America the one hun-
dred and fourteenth.
"By the President, Benjamin Harrison.
"James G. Blaine,
"Secretary of State."
Since admission the state of North Dakota has had the follow-
ing state officers:
Governors.
(First state officers qualified November 4, 1889.)
John Miller 1889-90 Frederick B. Fancher. .1899-00
Andrew H. Burke 1891-92 Frank White 1901-02
(b) Eli C. D. Shortridge 1893-94 Frank White 1903-04
Roger Allin 1895-96 E. Y. Sarles 1905-06
*Frank A. Briggs 1897-98 (b) John Burke 1907
(a) Joseph M. Devine. .1898
*Died in office, July, 1898.
(a) Served out unexpired term of Governor Briggs.
Lieutenant Governors.
Alfred M. Dickey 1889-90 Joseph M. Devine 1899-00
Eoger Allin 1891-92 David Bartlett 1901-02
(b) Elmer D. Wallace. .1893-94 David Bartlett 1903-04
John H. Worst 1895-96 David Bartlett 1905-06
Joseph M. Devine 1897-98 E. S. Lewis 1907
Secretaries of State.
John Flittle 1889-92 E. F. Porter 1901-02
Christian M. Dahl 1893-96 E. F. Porter 1903-04
Fred Falley 1897-98 E. F. Porter 1905-06
Fred Falley 1899-00 Alfred Blaisdell 1907
CEEATION OF DAKOTA TEKKITOBY 67
Auditors.
*John P. Bray 1889-92 A. N. Carlblom 1899-00
(a) Archie Currie 1892 A. N. Carlblom 1901-02
(b) A. W. Porter 1893-94 H. L. Holmes 1903-04
Frank A. Briggs 1895-96 H. L. Holmes 1905-06
N. B. Hannum. . . .1897-98 H. L. Holmes. . . .1907
*Kesigned.
(a) Appointed to fill vacancy, September 10, 1892.
Treasurers.
L. E. Booker 1889-92 D. H. McMillan 1901-02
(b) Knud J. Nomland. .1893-94 D. H. McMillan 1903-04
George E. Nichols 1895-96 Albert Peterson 1905-06
George E. Nichols 1897-98 Albert Peterson 1907
D. W. Driscoll 1899-00
Attorney Generals.
George F. Goodwin 1889-90 John F. Cowan 1899-00
C. A. M. Spencer 1891-92 0. D. Comstock 1901-02
(b) W. H. Standish. . . .1893-94 C. N. Frich 1903-04
John F. Cowan 1895-96 C. N. Frich 1905-06
John F. Cowan. . . .1897-98 T. F. McCue. . . .1907
(b) Democrats. All others republicans.
Superintendents of Public Instruction.
* William Mitchell 1889-90 John G. Halland 1899-00
*W. J. Clapp 1890 Joseph M. Devine 1901-02
John Ogden 1891-92 W. L. Stockwell 1903-04
(b) Laura J. Eisenhuth . 1893-94 W. L. Stockwell 1905-06
Emma B. Bates 1895-9"6 W. L. Stockwell . . .1907
John G. Halland.. ..1897-98
^William Mitchell died March 10, 1890, and W. J. Clapp was
appointed to fill the unexpired term.
HISTOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Commissioners of Agriculture and Labor.
H. T. Helgeson 1889-92 R. J. Turner 1901-02
(b) *Nelson Williams .. 1893-94 R. J. Turner 1903-04
A. H. Laughlin 1895-96 W. C. Gilbreath 1905-06
H. U. Thomas 1897-98 W. C. Gilbreath 1907
H. U. Thomas.. ..1899-00
*Appointed; Adams, who was elected, failed to qualify.
Commissioners of Insurance.
A. L. Carey 1889-92 Ferdinand Leutz 1901-02
(b) James Cudhie 1893-94 Ferdinand Leutz 1903-04
Fred B. Fancher 1895-96 E. C. Cooper 1905-06
Fred B. Fancher 1897-98 E. C. Cooper 1907
George W. Harrison. . .1899-00
Commissioners of Railroads.
George S. Montgomery . 1889-90 John Simons 1899-00
T. S. Underbill 1889-90 L. L. Walton 1899-00
David Bartlett 1889-90 Henry Erickson 1899-00
George H. Walsh ...... 1891-92 J. F. Shea 1901-02
George Harmon 1891-92 J. F. Youngblood 1901-02
Andrew Slotten 1891-92 C. J. Lord 1901-02
(b) Peter Cameron. . . .1893-94 J. F. Shea 1903-04
(b) Ben Stevens 1893-94 C. J. Lord 1903-04
(b) Nels P. Rasmussen. 1893-94 A. Schatz 1903-04
John W. Currie 1895-96 C. S. Deisem 1905-06
John Wamber g 1895-96 Erick Staf ne 1905-06
George H. Keyes 1895-96 John Christiansen 1905-06
George H. Keyes 1897-98 C. S. Deisem 1907
L. L. Walton 1897-98 Erick Staf ne 1907
J. R. Gibson 1897-98 Simon Westby 1907
(b) Democrats. All others republicans.
CREATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY 69
Judges of Supreme Court.
At the first state election, October, 1889, Guy C. H. Corliss,
Alfred Wallin and Joseph M. Bartholomew, were elected judges
of the supreme court for terms, respectively, three, five and seven
years, and by lot it was determined that Judge Corliss should
serve the three years term, Judge Bartholomew for five years and
Judge Wallin for seven years. Each served and others have
been elected as follows:
Guy C. H. Corliss, of Grand Forks, for the term of six years
commencing December, 1893.
J. M. Bartholomew, of LaMoure, for the term of six years
commencing December, 1895.
Alfred Wallin, of Fargo, for the term of six years commenc-
ing December, 1897.
N. C. Young, of Fargo, for the term of six years commencing
December, 1898. Re-elected for the term of six years commencing
December, 1904. Resigned, 1906.
Guy C. H. Corliss resigned 1898 and N. C. Young was ap-
pointed to fill the unexpired term, and then elected in 1898.
(b) David Morgan, of Devils Lake, for the term of six years
commencing December, 1900. Re-elected in 1906.
John M. Cochrane, of Grand Forks, for the term of six years
commencing December, 1902. Died July 20, 1904. Edward
Engerud, of Fargo, was appointed to fill unexpired term.
Edward Engerud, of Fargo, for the term of six years com-
mencing December, 1904. Resigned, 1907.
John Knauf, Jamestown, appointed to succeed N. C. Young,
resigned. Served until December 15, 1906.
(b) C. J. Fisk, Grand Forks, elected 1906, to fill unexpired
term of N. C. Young.
B. F. Spalding, Fargo, appointed 1907, to fill unexpired term
of Edward Engerud.
Judges of District Courts. Terms expire
First District— (b) Charles F. Templeton 1896
First District— (b) Charles J. Fisk* 1908
First District— (b) Charles F. Templeton** 1908
Second District— (b) David E. Morgan 1900
70 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Second District — John Cowan 1908
Third District— (b) Wm. B. McConnell 1896
Third District— Charles A. Pollock 1908
Fourth District— W. S. Lander 1906
Fourth District— Frank P. Allen 1908
Fifth District — (b) Roderick Rose 1896
Fifth District— S. L. Glaspell 1906
Fifth District— Edward T. Burke 1908
Sixth District— W. H. Winchester 1908
Seventh District— Q. E. Sauter 1900
Seventh District— W. J. Kneeshaw 1908
Eighth District— L. J. Palda 1904
Eighth District— E. B. Goss 1908
(b) Democrats. All others republicans.
*Appointed judge supreme court, 1906.
**Appointed to fill vacancy by election of C. J. Fisk to su-
preme court.
First Session of the Legislative Assembly Since Statehood.
Convened November 19, 1889, and adjourned March 18, 1900.
The membership was as follows :
Senate.
Lieutenant Governor Alfred Dickey, President.
C. C. Bowsfield, Secretary.
Members.
Judson LaMoure, H. J. Rowe,
*A. F. Appleton, *H. R. Hartman,
Roger Allin, Andrew Slotten,
* James H. Bell, Andrew Helgeson,
J. E. Stevens, Andrew Sandager,
*M. L. McCormack, Samuel A. Fisher,
George B. Winship, J. 0. Smith,
W. H. Robinson, D. S. Dodds,
John E. Haggart, *John McBride,
CKEATION OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
71
*R. D. Cowan,
E. L. Yeager,
W. E. Swanston,
F. G. Barlow,
Bailey Fuller,
H. S. Deisem,
*M. E. Randall,
J. H. Worst,
C. B. Little,
Anton Svensrud,
E. H. Belyea,
George Harmon,
N. C. Lawrence.
^Democrats. All others republicans.
House.
David B. "Wellman, Speaker.
J. G. Hamilton, Chief Clerk.
Members.
John H. Watt,
R. B. Richardson,
*H. L. Norton,
John Stadleman,
John H. McCullough,
A. N. Foss,
John Montgomery,
A. 0. Haugerud,
Alex. Thomson,
Franklin Estabrook,
Nels Tangberg,
George H. Walsh,
*L. F. Zimmer,
A. P. Haugen,
Ole T. Gronli,
Roderick J. Johnson,
*0. T. Jahr,
J. F. Selby,
H. H. Strom,
E. S. Tyler,
F. J. Thompson,
Eli D. Mclntyre,
N. B. Pinkham,
John 0. Bye,
H. D. Court,
Frank J. Langer,
W. W. Beard,
R. H. Hankinson,
R. N. Ink,
A. 0. Heglie,
E. W. Bowen,
W. S. Buchanan,
R. N. Stevens,
J. L. Green,
Duncan McDonald,
C. J. Christiansen,
W. H. H. Roney,
Chris. Balkan,
Ole E. Olsgard,
*W. H. Murphy,
*F. R. Renaud,
James Brittin,
G. E. Ingebretsen,
D. P. Thomas,
James McCormick,
C. A. Currier,
2 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
D. B. Wellman, W. L. Belden,
Luther L. Walters, E. A. Williams,
George Lutz, George W. Rawlings,
John Milsted, James Reed,
L. A. Ueland, A. C. Nedrud,
W. B. Allen, A. W. Hoyt,
A. T. Cole., P. B. Wickham,
George W. Lilly, C. C. Moore,
*Democrats. All others republicans.
CHAPTER IV.
FORTY YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE RED RIVER
VALLEY.
By
George B. Winship.
The date of the permanent settlement of the Red River
Valley may properly be fixed in the spring of 1871, when with
the establishment. of a line of stage coaches by Blakely & Car-
penter, of St. Paul, between Fort Abercrombie and Winnipeg,
or Fort Garry, as the northern frontier post was then known,
together with the initial trip of the steamer Selkirk, built at
McCauleyville the previous winter, the first actual settlers took
up their abode here with the intention of making this fertile
valley their permanent home. It is true there were a few set-
tlers at different points prior to 1871 — notably a small settlement
at Breckenridge, which place was surveyed and platted by real
estate speculators in 1856, who saw visions of railroad enter-
prises permeating the entire Northwest. These promoters hailed
from Kentucky, and they had extensive interests in different
sections of northern Minnesota. The railroads failed to mate-
rialize, however, and the development under their auspices was
also visionary. R. M. Probstfield and J. M. Hutchinson settled
at points on the Red river north of the present city of Moorhead
as early as 1857, and the Georgetown settlement still farther
down the river, which, by the way, was but a trading post built
by the Hudson Bay Fur Company, is another point where white
men located antedating postoffices. At Pembina and along the
Pembina river to St. Joe were also settlements composed largely
of half breeds, whose avocation was principally buffalo hunting
73
74 HISTOEY OF BED EIVER VALLEY
and serving the Hudson Bay, Northwest and other fur trading
companies in various capacities. This northern settlement, with
Pembina as its base, is older than any other in the Northwest —
along the border line — as it began almost simultaneously with
the Selkirk colony in Manitoba as early as 1800. Practically
from this date until 1871 there was little progress made in the
settlement of this vast empire.
The commercial relations of this new Northwest with other
sections of the country began about 1835, when trips were made
to St. Louis by dog train and ox cart for merchandise in ex-
change for furs. Then for some time Prairie du Chien, Wis.,
was the nearest supply point and in the early 50 's St. Paul.
Minn., became the base of supplies. The trade of the Red River
Valley was held by St. Paul for many years, until the stage
coach and steamboat and railroad moved northward and sup-
plan,ted the dog train and ox cart as mediums of transportation.
Brief mention may be made at this point of a number of inter-
esting events antedating the actual beginning of the permanent
settlement here, but which nevertheless have some connection
with the subsequent history. In 1842 Joseph Rolette came from
Mendota, Minn., to Pembina, to look after the American Fur
Company's extensive interests which were for some time centered
there. In 1843 Norman W. Kittson came from St. Paul to Pem-
bina and established a post for fur trading. Several years later
Canadian traders set up a post two miles from Pembina and
attempted to secure some of the trade coming there, but Joe
Rolette with a force of employes tumbled their goods out, fired
their building and drove them back across the boundary line.
For years there was much friction between the traders of the
two countries.
In 1849 Robert Dale Owen visited the Red River Valley and
made several canoe voyages up and down the river. He was
accompanied by Capt. John Pope, of the army engineering corps.
Their report resulted in the war department dispatching Major
Woods here a year later to select a site for a military post on
or near the international border. A site was selected at Pem-
bina, but the actual construction of the post was not undertaken
until ten years later.
JAMES TWAMLEY
FOETY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 75
The first postoffice in North Dakota was established at Pem-
bina in 1851, with Norman "W. Kittson as postmaster. Charles
Cavalier was during the same year appointed deputy collector
of customs at Pembina and was assistant postmaster and had
charge of the office. Later Cavalier was appointed postmaster,
a position he held for nearly half a century, and was succeeded
by his son, E. W. Cavalier, who is still in charge of the office.
In 1852 Kittson removed to St. Joe and established a trading
post there, which he conducted for many years and amassed
large wealth. Kittson was elected to the territorial council in
1862. Joe Rolette was elected to the lower house in 1863 and
Antoine Gingras was re-elected.
The fur trade of the Northwest developed to considerable
proportions between 1855 and 1870 and several hundred carts
were employed in the traffic between Pembina, St. Joe and St.
Paul. In 1859 Capt. Russell Blakely and others bought the
steamer Freighter at St. Paul and took it up the Minnesota
river with the purpose of transferring it over to the headwaters
of the Red river during the spring floods. The effort was almost
successful, but the waters receding before the task was com-
pleted the boat was stranded a short distance from the river and
was finally abandoned there. Later in the year, however, the
steamer Anson Northurp was built opposite the mouth of the
Sheyenne river, and made the first steamer trip to Fort Garry
in Canada. Later the boat was named the Pioneer.
Fort Abercrombie was established in 1859. It was abandoned
a year later, but was rebuilt and again occupied in 1860. A
Hudson Bay trading post was established at Georgetown in 1859
with James McKay in charge. The steamer International was
built at Georgetown in 1861. The Sioux outbreak in 1862, besides
frightening away settlers from the valley, interfered with the
river traffic for a few years, but during the latter sixties the
trade between Georgetown and Fort Garry by means of steam-
boats and lighters was resumed and in addition to the carrying
of furs from the north large quantities of merchandise for traders
and settlers in Canada were transported, being freighted over-
land from St. Paul to Georgetown. At this time there were a
number of people living along the river at various points, but
76 HISTOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
they were there incidentally to the river traffic and the fur trade
and not as permanent residents.
Following the fearful Sioux outbreak in August, 1862, the
siege of Fort Abercrombie and the atrocities committed by the
Indians, most of those who had been temporary residents of the
valley took their departure, evidently not caring to risk further
depredations by the Sioux. Several demonstrations were made
by the military authorities, besides punishing the leaders of the
outbreak. Major Hatch with a detachment from Fort Snelling,
known as Hatch's battalion, traversed the valley in the fall of
1863, remaining at Fort Pembina during the winter, and returned
to Fort Snelling in the spring of 1864. Later in the same year
Major Cunningham conducted a military expedition to Devils
Lake, and thence to the Red River valley, and then back to the
fort. It was some years, however, before the effects of the Indian
scare gave place to returning confidence.
In 1867 Pembina county was organized, comprising most of
the eastern part of North Dakota. Charles Cavalier, Joseph
Rolette and Charles Grant were the first commissioners. They
appointed John Harrison as register of deeds, William Moorhead
as sheriff, James McFetridge judge of probate, and John Braease
superintendent of schools.
The mail service was extended from Fort Abercrombie to
Pembina, carts being used in the summer and dog trains in the
winter. In 1868 Nick Hoffman and August Loon established a
mail station near the present residence of Judge Corliss in Grand
Forks, and in 1870 a postoffice was established at "Le Grand
Fourche," with Sanford C. Cady as postmaster, and the post-
office was named Grand Forks. Mr. Cady is still a resident of
Grand Forks county. The office was established for the con-
venience of those engaged in traffic along the Red and Red Lake
rivers, although there were but few settlers living at Grand
Forks at that time.
The movements towards the settlement of northwestern Can-
ada during the early seventies was an .influential factor in the
development of the Red River valley. The province of Mani-
toba was without rail connections with the East, and the most
available route for emigrants who began pouring into that coun-
FORTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 77
try in 1870, following the acquisition of title to the Hudson Bay
Company land by the government, was by rail to St. Cloud, Minn.,
thence by stage to McCauleyville, Minn., and then down the Red
River valley to Fort Garry, or Winnipeg, which came into exist-
ence near the site of the old fort in 1863. The Hudson Bay Com-
pany had discouraged immigration to its domain, and the pioneer
steamers which had been in commission on the Red river between
1860 and 1870 found comparatively little business except the
transportation of supplies for employees of the fur company and
merchandise for its trading-posts, which were numerous over
northwestern Canada. With the opening up of the country to
settlement, however, the conditions soon changed and a very
extensive traffic developed. The emigrants pouring into the
Canadian domain required lumber and other building material,
and household and other supplies. These were shipped to St.
Paul by rail, and from the terminus of the railroad there were
freighted to the Red River valley by ox carts, and from Mc-
Cauleyville to Winnipeg by steamboat and flatboats. During
1870 no less than forty flatboats, or scows, were constructed at
McCauleyville, with a carrying capacity of from ten to forty
tons each. These were floated down the river to Winnipeg,
where they were taken apart after being unloaded, and the lum-
ber in them sold. The river presented a busy scene with its
numerous fleets of scows as well as several steamers plying up
and down.
A large proportion of the freight en route from St. Paul and
other eastern points to Winnipeg, or Fort Garry, as the place
was generally known, passed through the hands of James J. Hill,
at that time engaged in the warehouse and forwarding business
in St. Paul. Impressed by the rapidly growing traffic, with
doubtless some conception of its possible magnitude in the future,
Mr. Hill in the spring of 1870 made a trip to Winnipeg by dog
train conveyance, and was so convinced of the future of the traffic
that on his return he forthwith undertook the construction of a
steamboat for the traffic. He commissioned Captain Alexander
Griggs, a Mississippi river boatman, to build the steamer Selkirk.
Captain Griggs left his home in Henderson, Minn., in July, 1870,
with a crew of boat carpenters and timber cutters, and, pro-
78 HISTOEY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
ceeding to the Otter Tail river, one of the headwaters of the Eed,
they began the work of felling the trees for the boat, and also
for a number of fiatboats. The timber was rafted down to
McCauleyville, where the work of construction of the steamboat
was commenced early in the winter. During the fall Captain
Griggs was engaged in freighting merchandise down the Red
river in flatboats. It was while he was engaged in this work that
an episode occurred which had its bearing on the future history
of Grand Forks. The writer of this sketch happened to be tem-
porarily engaged at the same time in the river traffic, and late
in October loaded two flatboats, one of ten tons and the other of
forty tons capacity, with merchandise at McCauleyville, for
A. W. Stiles, post trader at Pembina, by whom he was employed.
Captain Griggs was at the same time loading a fleet of flatboats
destined for Fort Garry. A good-natured but nevertheless lively
rivalry existed between the different crews as to the facility with
which their boats could be handled. At this time, when the
writer's crew had their two flatboats finally loaded and set out for
Pembina, Captain Griggs' crew had about half a day's work
before the loading of its fleet could be completed ; but the crew
boasted, with more or less vehemence, that they would overhaul
the rival fleet before reaching Pembina. Our fleet met with no
difficulty in its passage down the river until Goose Rapids were
reached, where, on account of low water and a rocky channel,
the entire cargo had to be reloaded on a "lighter," which was
carefully towed over the rapids. Two days elapsed before this
work was accomplished. On the evening of the second day the
shouts of men were heard up the river, and we knew that Griggs'
fleet had reached the head of the rapids. Confident of main-
taining our lead, and exhausted by the hard work of the past two
days, we determined to tie up for the night and enjoy needed rest
and sleep. Before morning a violent sleet and snow storm raged.
The smaller flatboat, which had been loaded down heavily, filled
with snow and water, with the result that a portion of the cargo,
consisting, specifically, of kegs of beer, washed overboard, and
when daylight dawned the kegs were floating down the river on
their own account. The boats started out and succeeded in
picking up all but one of the kegs, which escaped observation. It
FORTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 79
appears that the stray contraband package was espied by some
member of the Griggs expedition following, was taken on board,
and a jollification ensued, with the result that more or less of
the crew were soon out of commission, and Captain Griggs found
it necessary to tie up his fleet when the forks of the Eed and
Red Lake rivers were reached, and wait for the effects of the
accident to be overcome. In the meantime the weather turned
cold, and while the small fleet was able to reach Pembina, Cap-
tain Griggs' boats were unable to proceed any farther, on account
of the river freezing over. The boats were finally unloaded, the
freight piled on the shore, and lumber from the boats used in
building a shed over them. This occupied several days, and Cap-
tain Griggs appears to have come to the conclusion that the site
offered attractions for a future town. He took possession of a
quarter section, which afterward became the town site, by the
" squatter" process, and began improvements to the extent of
partially erecting a log house. His chief clerk, Howard R.
Vaughan, also took possession of a "claim" adjoining Captain
Griggs' land on the north and including the Riverside Park sec-
tion of the present city. Having done this, Captain Griggs re-
turned to his home in Henderson, Minn., leaving Vaughan to
begin the work of construction of the steamboat. While at home
Captain Griggs interested a number of other residents of Hen-
derson in the establishment of a town on the site of the present
city of Grand Porks.
It will be noted that the entire history of the valley has had
to do with the incidental occupation of various points along the
river as a part of the fur traffic and of the transportation of
supplies for the settlers in Canada and the occupants of the
various military and trading posts of the Northwest. It is prob-
able that actual settlement in the Red River valley would have
followed the exploitations of the Kentucky company in 1856
were it not for the great financial panic of 1857 and the political
agitation which led to the breaking out of the war in 1861. Un-
doubtedly this company intended to colonize certain localities
in the Northwest on a large scale, but before it had fully inaugu-
rated its scheme the great disturbance referred to ensued, the
result being postponement of settlement for fifteen years. In
80 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
1871 great impetus was given to immigration by railroad enter-
prises then under way. The Northern Pacific railroad was under
construction from Duluth westward, and was completed to the
Red river at Moorhead late in the fall of 1871. The St. Paul &
Pacific road was also extended to Breckenridge and a branch
northward to St. Vincent was under construction. But the most
important factor of all was the acquirement by the Dominion of
Canada of the governmental rights of the Hudson Bay Company
(in 1871) to the territory lying on the northern border, known
as Prince Rupert's land, which had a wide influence on the early
settlement of the Red River valley. The influx of immigrants
had hardly commenced, however, when the Jay Cooke failure
in 1873 and the great grasshopper scourge of 1874 to 1876 mate-
rially checked the movement, which did not revive in any great
degree for several years.
As has already been noted, such settlement as the Red River
valley had attained previous to 1870 or 1871, was of a temporary
character and related in but a slight degree to the subsequent
development. Some of the early sojourners here, who came to
the valley originally because of the river traffic or fur trade,
remained until after the fur trade had dwindled to insignificance
and the traffic of the river boats had been largely absorbed by
the railroads. Several of the stage stations established along
the river between Georgetown and Pembina furnished temporary
accommodations for the settlers coming into the valley later ; but
Georgetown, Frog Point, Belmont, Turtle River, Kelly's Point
and Thirty-Mile Point are but reminders of the past. The Grand
Forks stage station of forty years ago occupied a site about half
a mile distant from the commodious caravansaries of the present
city, and the site thereof is occupied by the palatial residences on
Reeves avenue.
The military post at Fort Abercrombie was abandoned soon
after the permanent settlement of the valley began, but the post
at Pembina was occupied for a score of years later, and the
customs office at Pembina remains to this day, as a tie binding
the old settlements to the new. And Pembina alone has an
unbroken record of habitation dating back more than forty
years. McAuleyville, once the scene of great activity as the
FORTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 81
head of navigation for an international highway of more than
500 miles in extent, and as the site of the first manufacturing
enterprise in the valley, in the form of a sawmill where material
for the early boats and some of the early building structures was
cut, is now all but forgotten.
The establishment of the line of stages between Fort Aber-
crombie and Winnipeg, already mentioned, furnished temporary
occupation for a number of station agents and attaches, who
remained, entered other occupations and became permanent resi-
dents; likewise some of the number who were engaged in the
river traffic. Gardens and fields of greater or less extent were
cultivated in connection with the stage stations and military
posts, and the marvelous fertility of the valley soil gradually
became known outside, and during the early seventies the ad-
vance guard of the throng of actual settlers who followed a little
later occupied claims here and there along the river. The con-
struction of the Northern Pacific railroad from Duluth toward
the Red River valley attracted quite a number of settlers to the
vicinity of Moorhead and Fargo in 1871 and 1872, the prospective
location of a town at the crossing of the Red river by the railroad.
A number of families by the name of Hicks located near the
present village of Hickson, in Cass county, in 1869. Ole Stand-
void came from Douglass county, Minnesota, and located in the
spring of 1870. Lars, Paul and Morten Mortenson located near
the mouth of the Sheyenne river the same year, and D. P. Harris
located in that section during the winter of 1870-71. Walter
J. S. Traill was placed in charge of the Hudson Bay company's
interests in 1870, with headquarters at Georgetown. He ap-
pointed A. H. Morgan agent at Belmont, and Asa Sargent was
located at Caledonia about the same time.
One of the first permanent settlers in Grand Forks was George
W. Aker, who is still a resident of the city. Mr. Aker came from
Milwaukee to McCauleyville in September, 1870, and was engaged
in teaming from that point during the fall. In February, 1871,
H. R. Vaughn, who had been employed during the winter build-
ing the steamer Selkirk at McCauleyville, secured an appoint-
ment in the custom office at Pembina and took his departure for
that point. Aker accompanied him as far as Grand Forks, and
82 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
en route agreed with Vaughn to hold the latter 's claim, compris-
ing a portion of the present city of Grand Forks, for him. Aker
built a log house near the site of St. Michael's hospital, which
was for years one of the landmarks of the city as the first per-
manent residence in Grand Forks. Mr. Aker fulfilled his part
of the agreement with Vaughn, but Vaughn finally turned the
claim over to Aker as a part of his compensation for time
employed in holding the same.
About the first of April, 1871, a party consisting of Thomas
Walsh, Burton Haney, James Jenks and Alexander Blair, in
accordance with an arrangement with Alex Griggs, left Hender-
son, Minn., bound for Grand Forks. They took with them the
equipment for a small sawmill and a stock of general merchan-
dise, which they freighted over to Georgetown. Arriving there,
they found the river open but the steamer Selkirk not yet in
commission. A flatboat was hastily constructed, and, loading
their outfit thereon, they floated down the river, arriving at
Grand Forks April 15. Putting a floor, roof, window and door
on the cabin partially constructed by Captain Griggs, they made
it their temporary abode until they could construct other quar-
ters. The sawmill machinery was set up and after the mill was
constructed they erected several other buildings, including a
general store building which was occupied by the firm of Griggs
& Walsh. The steamer Selkirk was launched April 12 and
reached Grand Forks on the 18th, in command of Captain Alex.
Griggs. The Selkirk brought a number of passengers, and among
those who came here on that and subsequent trips who were
identified with the growth of Grand Forks were James Elton,
D. M. Holmes, M. L. McCormack, Joseph Greenwood, D. P.
Reeves, 0. S. Freeman and others. John Stewart took charge of
the stage station about the same time, and succeeded Sanford
Cady as postmaster. John Fadden located a claim south of
Captain Griggs' and was for a number of years in charge of a
ferry across the river just below the mouth of the Red Lake river.
He also ran the Northwestern hotel for a while, and was one
of the active men of the community.
During the spring of 1871 there was marked activity in the
valley, occasioned by the extension of the Blakely & Carpenter
FOETY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 83
line of stage coaches from Fort Abercrombie to Winnipeg. The
suppression of the Kiel rebellion by the forces of General Wolse-
ley, the establishment of stable government in the province of
Assiniboia, and the influx of settlers from the Canadian mari-
time provinces made speedier and better communication an im-
perative necessity. Four-horse coaches moved up and down the
valley every day. The roads were improved and bridges built
across the little streams, and by the middle of May the system
was in good working order. The relay stations erected at con-
venient points along the route soon became centers of small
settlements. Down the valley from Abercrombie there was a sta-
tion at Hutchinson's ferry, kept by J. M. Hutchinson; then at
Georgtown (Mr. Sterns kept the hostelry) ; at Elm River (Ned
Griffin) ; at Goose River (Asa Sargent) ; at Frog Point (Howard
Morgan) ; at Grand Forks (John Stewart) ; at Turtle River
(Budge & Winship) ; at Kelley's Point (Andrus & Kelly) ; at
Thirty-Mile Point (James Hastings and Hugh Biggerstaff) ; at
Twelve-Mile Point (Frank La Rose), and at Pembina (Antoine
Girard and George F. Potter). For the first year or two these
stations were of the crudest and most primitive construction,
but they furnished shelter and food for the traveler, and were
more appreciated than are the comfortable, hotels along the same
route at this time. The Turtle River station, where the town
of Manuel is now located, was a sample structure. It was made
of logs and roofed with sod cut from the virgin prairie. After
the rains had washed most of the sod off, the thatching process
was resorted to, long, rank reeds being cut from nearby marshes
and muddied on by the sticky clay so abundant in the Red River
valley. There was one window and a door in the building, but
no floor the first year, and no stove or other household furni-
ture. Cooking was done in a fireplace made of clay dobies, and
meals were served on an improvised table constructed from such
material as could be found in the nearby bush. Notwithstanding
their primitivenes, these stations were comfortable in the coldest
days of the winter. Roaring fires in the fireplaces radiated both
heat and cheer, and travelers invariably paid, without complaint,
fifty cents per meal, and the same amount for the privilege of
sleeping on the floor.
84 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
During the year 1871 a telegraph line was constructed from
Fort Abercrombie to "Winnipeg, and thus another progressive
step was made which brought the sparsely settled valley some
nearer the civilized centers of the East. During this same year
the first settlers located on the Red Lake river opposite Grand
Forks, the Coulter and Fleming families being among those
locating. Later "W. C. Nash, the Nesbit brothers, and others
joined the settlement, and by 1875 it was one of the most thriving
communities in the Northwest. Mr. W. C. Nash's settlement in
the valley dates from the early sixties, when he engaged in busi-
ness both at Abercrombie and Pembina. He has been a resident
of the country ever since, and at present owns one of the finest
farms in the valley, adjacent to the city of East Grand Forks.
The nucleus of an early settlement was started at Acton, in
Walsh county, in 1878, when Budge, Eshelman & Anderson
opened a general merchandise store at that place. This was the
gateway to the Park River country and was an important trade
center until cut off by the completion of the St. Paul, Minne-
apolis & Manitoba road to Graf ton. Antoine Girard, Thomas Parr
and F. M. Winship were among the early settlers of Acton. Mr.
Winship established a weekly paper, "The Acton News," in 1880,
which was afterward moved to Graf ton and merged with the
"Times" and now known as the "News-Times." Among the
first settlers at Grafton were Thomas E. Cooper, Nathan Upham
and Jacob Reinhart, whose settlement antedates the arrival of the
iron horse. Farther up Park river was a settlement known as
Kensington, C. H. Honey, E. 0. Faulkner and the Cade brothers
being among the early locators.
A judicial district, comprising the eastern portion of the
present state of North Dakota, was established by the legislature
of the territory during the session of 1870-71, and Pembina was
designated as the place of holding court. The first session was
held there in 1871, and Judge George W. French presided. George
I. Foster was clerk of court; L. H. Litchfield and Judson La
Moure, who had recently arrived from the southern part of the
territory, were assistant marshals; Warren Cowles was United
States attorney. This was the first court held in North Dakota.
When the engineers of the Northern Pacific railway, early in
FORTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 85
July, 1871, finally, after several feints, located the crossing of
the Red river where the bridge was later built, a number who
had been holding claims at points along the river, in hopes of
owning the town site, abandoned their claims and moved else-
where. It was found that men in the employ of the Superior
Land Company were in the possession of nearly every claim in the
vicinity. The land company later withdrew and the railroad com-
pany received title to section six, and section seven was divided
among S. G. Roberts, Patrick Devitt, A. J. Marwood, Gordon J.
Keeney and Harriet Young. The town of Moorhead was laid
out. Fargo was not platted until a year later, but during the
fall of 1871, owing to the high prices of lots in Moorhead, many
moved across the river to ''Fargo in the timber" and squatted
there for the winter. Terrence Martin opened up a store in a
tent, which was the first mercantile enterprise in the state, except
those connected with the fur posts, military posts and stage sta-
tions. It was discovered that the land on the west side of the
river at Fargo was Indian land, and this deterred actual settle-
ment there for some time. It was not thrown open to settlement
until 1873. Peter Peterson and Roderick Nelson took squatter
claims in the country just north of Fargo in 1871. C. A. Roberts
and John E. Haggart were also among the number who took
claims in the vicinity. A. J. Harwood and G. J. Keeney together
established in 1874 "The Fargo Express," the first newspaper
in the valley.
Job Smith located on the site of the present city of Moorhead
about 1868 and for some time kept a stage station there. Andrew
Holes came to the valley in 1869 and was engaged with the first
public surveys on the east side of the river. Later he was em-
ployed by Jay Cooke and others in locating land for them, with a
view to securing it on the advent of the Northern Pacific. He
made his headquarters with R. M. Probsfield, who had located
three miles north of Moorhead some years before. When the
engineers finally decided On the crossing which was adopted by
the Northern Pacific, Holes arranged with Smith to prove up on
his claim, and then purchased it of him for the railroad mag-
nates. The engineers had run several false lines, one to Probs-
field's, which became known as Oakport, and one as far north
86 HISTOEY OF RED EIVEE VALLEY
as Georgetown. Quite a number of prospective business men
of the crossing town were watching the engineers' movements,
with a view of locating a claim at just the right point. Among
the number were Jacob Metzger, Peter Goodman and D. P. Harris,
who had been engaged in the fur trade, and Dennis Hanafin.
S. G. Comstock was with the construction company of the rail-
road. Alex. Gamble, James Holes, John Kinan, Jens Johnson,
Ole Lee, Ole Matheson and others located along the west side of
the river. Andrew Holes located a claim where Fargo stands,
and later bought several other claims, and the town site company
scripped the land on the west side of the river, comprising
several quarter sections. James Culbertson, 0. N. Olsgaard, Tver
Johnson and others located at the mouth of the Sheyenne river.
The Puget Sound Land Company scripped considerable land
in the vicinity of Fargo and Moorhead, and at a meeting of the
company held in September, 1871, Fargo was named in honor
of William G. Fargo, of the Wells-Fargo Express Company, and
Moorhead was named in honor of William G. Moorhead, of the
Northern Pacific directory. A postoffice had been previously
established at Fargo, by the name of Centralia, with G. J. Keeney
as postmaster, but the name was afterwards changed to Fargo.
The Fargo town site was surveyed and platted in 1872. The
first building in Fargo was erected by J. S. Mann in 1871 and was
occupied as a hotel by Mann and A. H. Moore. The Headquarters
hotel was commenced in 1871, but was not finished and occupied
until a year later. It w&s opened by J. B. Chapin, April 1, 1873.
E. Sweet erected the second building late in 1871 and occupied
it as a headquarters for the bridgebuilders. The Sherman house
was erected by Terrance Martin and opened July 4, 1873. Mann
& Maddocks opened the first store in Fargo, except the tent store
of Martin, in a building they erected in the spring of 1872. The
rails were laid to Moorhead on the Northern Pacific on Decem-
ber 12, 1871. The first preaching services in Fargo and Moor-
head were held by Eev. 0. H. Elmer in 1872. At the close of
the year 1872 the two or three hotels, a wagon and blacksmith
shop, two or three saloons, the engineers' headquarters, and
several tar-paper shacks and tents constituted all there was of
Fargo.
E. C. COOPER
FOETY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 87
Cass county was organized in 1874 and was named after
General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, who was at that time president
of the Northern Pacific railroad. Construction work on the North-
ern Pacific moved westward during 1871 and 1872, and a few
settlers located along the line. D. D. McFadgen and Richard
McKinnon opened a hotel on the site of the present Valley City
in 1871, and the town later was built up there.
Grand Forks was in 1871 in Pembina county, which then in-
cluded most of the eastern portion of the present state. The
commissioners of the county in 1871 created new voting pre-
cincts. Grand Forks was made the polling place of a district
the northern boundary of which was the Park river, the western
boundary the western limits of the county, and the southern
boundary the Goose river. Thomas Walsh, Sanford Cady and
John Fadden were appointed judges of election.
The year 1872 was a somewhat disastrous year to the valley.
Scarcely any rain fell from the first of May until late in the fall.
Vegetation dried up and turned brown early in August. Early
in September prairie fires raged all over the valley and left the
surface of the ground blackened and desolate. It was indeed
little wonder that General Hazen, who was sent out by the gov-
ernment that summer to investigate the resources of the country
through which the Northern Pacific railway passed, reported
that it was a barren waste, fit only for Indians and buffalo. The
following winter there was a very heavy snowfall, and a serious
flood in the spring, and then came the financial panic.
Frog Point, now Belmont, which was established as a Hudson
Bay post in 1871, was for several years the head of navigation
and an important shipping point for the river traffic. A. M.
Morgan had charge of the post there, and Asa Sargent was in
charge at Goose River, now Caledonia. Later, after the Hudson
Bay Company retired, Caledonia became the shipping point for
the settlers coming into Traill county, and was at one time in
the seventies a town of 300 population. A. M. Morgan was
engaged in business there, and also J. E. Paulson, John Sundt,
M. Shelly and E. T. Jahr. When the railroad was built from
Grand Forks to Fargo, later, Hillsboro supplanted Caledonia,
88 HISTOEY OF EED KIVEE VALLEY
and the most of the business men there moved over to the new
town.
The Hudson Bay Company moved its headquarters from
Georgetown to Grand Forks in 1873 and bought the Griggs &
Walsh store, and also the sawmill. The company also erected
the Northwestern hotel. "W. J. S. Traill was in charge of the
company's store, and Frank Viets, who had opened a hotel at
Georgetown in 1870 in the post building, took charge of the
Northwestern hotel.
The new territorial legislature of 1872 passed a bill creating
several new counties, among them Grand Forks, Cass, Eichland,
Cavalier, Ransom, Foster, LaMoure, Renville and Stutsman. The
act was signed by the ' governor January 4, 1873. John W.
Stewart, Ole Thompson and G. B. Winship were named as the
first commissioners. Thompson failed to qualify, and in July,
Messrs. Stewart and Winship named 0. S. Freeman to fill the
vacancy, and the board proceeded to the organization of the
county. J. J. Mullen was appointed register of deeds and county
clerk; Thomas Walsh, judge of probate; 0. S. Freeman, county
attorney and superintendent of schools; Alex. Griggs, treasurer,
and Nick Hoffman, sheriff. The organization was allowed to
lapse, and' a reorganization was effected in 1874, Governor Bur-
bank appointing D. P. Keeves, G. A. Wheeler and Alex. Griggs
as commissioners. They completed the organization in March,
1875, by the appointment of James Elton as register of deeds;
Nick Hoffman, sheriff; Thomas Walsh, treasurer and judge of
probate; George A. Wheeler, superintendent of schools.
The failure of Jay Cooke in 1873 and the financial crash which
followed not only had the effect of causing a suspension of work
on the extension of the Northern Pacific through North Dakota,
but retarded, to a great extent, immigration, which had begun
populating the valley ; and it was a number of years before there
was again a movement in this direction. Grand Forks remained
but a struggling village of one or two hundred population. Fargo
had not very much the better of it in this respect, and the other
towns of the valley were but mere hamlets. A large proportion
of the land within a few miles of the Eed river had been filed
on by prospective settlers or speculators, who used scrip, but
I
FORTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 89
comparatively little farming was being done anywhere in the
valley. There was no market here for grain, and no railroad
near enough to haul out grain if it had been marketed. Some
small areas farther south in the vicinity of Fargo were being
cultivated and the surplus products shipped out over the North-
ern Pacific. In 1876 Frank Viets erected in Grand Forks a
hotel, for years known as the Viets house, and now the Hotel
Hall. He also erected a flour mill, and this gave some little
impetus to the cultivation of wheat, but it was some years before
the tributary population became numerous enough to keep the
wheels grinding steadily, although the capacity was but fifty
barrels at first.
The river traffic developed to considerable proportions be-
tween 1875 and 1880. A boat yard was established in Grand
Forks by D. P. Reeves, and the steamer Sheyenne was built here,
and later other steamers. The steamers Minnesota and Manitoba
were built at Moorhead in 1875. About the same time N. W.
Kittson and others organized the Red River Transportation Com-
pany, which has been in business and navigating the river con-
tinuously ever since. The steamer Alpha was built by the com-
pany at McCauleyville, and later the steamer Alsop was built by
H. W. Alsop, of Fargo. He also bought the steamer Pluck, at-
Brainerd, transported it by rail to Moorhead, where it was
lengthened and again launched. These boats were later bought
by the Red River Transportation Company, and subsequently the
same company constructed the steamer Grand Forks and numer-
ous barges. In addition to the steamboats plying the river,
numerous flatboats were in commission hauling north-bound
freight, the boats being taken apart and the lumber sold at the
end of the trip.
In 1872-73 the St. Paul & Pacific railroad, which had built a
line to Breckenridge, constructed a line from Glyndon, on the
Northern Pacific, extending south to Barnesville and north a
few miles to Crookston. Then the enterprise lagged, as a result
of the financial troubles, and nothing more was done for several
years. In the meantime the Canadian Pacific road was being
built in detached sections, and the contractor who had charge
of the building of a division extending east from Winnipeg-
90 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
arranged to have the rails and other supplies shipped over the
Northern Pacific to Moorhead and thence down the river to
Winnipeg on flatboats. Large quantities were shipped in this
way during 1875 and 1876. In 1877, owing to trouble encoun-
tered during low water in getting over the bar at Goose Rapids,
arrangements were made with the St. Paul & Pacific road, and a
spur track was built from Crookston to Fisher's Landing, which
has since become Fisher, and the rails and other supplies were
loaded on barges there instead of at Moorhead. The new shipping
point became the head of navigation for a number of years, a
large volume of traffic being handled in that way, the steamboats
also taking Canadian-bound passengers from the railroad at that
point. Thousands of settlers, both those who located in north-
western Canada and those stopping in North Dakota, came in by
way of Fisher's Landing.
This story at this point makes Grand Forks perhaps unduly
conspicuous, but the history of the valley during these years
was mostly made up of events at Grand Forks, at the Fargo and
Moorhead settlements, and at Pembina, which was then the base
of the fur trade and of military operations, as well as the customs
service. Grand Forks at the end of its first five years' existence
was a town of less than 200 population. (The accompanying
engraving, made from a sketch by Thomas Lawson in 1874,
shows, as a matter of fact, all there was of the town, except a
few scattered log cabins along the timber here and there.)
The United States land office was opened at Pembina in 1874,
and during the same year the government land adjacent to Grand
Forks was opened to settlement. Among the first entries of
land made in this vicinity were the filings of Alexander Griggs,
0. S. Freeman, John Fadden, Sr., and J. S. Eshelman. The first
school in this section was opened in Grand Forks in a log shack
late in 1874, with Miss Hattie Richmond as teacher. The teacher
was paid by private contributions. Early in 1875 a school
building was erected at a cost of $500, and Rev. William Curie, a
Methodist minister sent here from the Iowa conference, was
placed in charge. There were not over a dozen pupils at that
time. "The Grand Forks Plaindealer" was established in July,
FORTY YEARS7 DEVELOPMENT 91
1875, by George H. Walsh, and was for some years published
weekly.
The first church building in Grand Forks, and one of the first
in the territory, except a number of Catholic mission chapels
established for the Indians earlier, was that of the Methodist
denomination. It was a small frame building and stood near
the site of the present Methodist church. The first religious
service here of which there is a record was held in Captain Alex.
Griggs ' house, February 11, 1872, by Rev. 0. H. Elmer, in charge
of the Presbyterian mission at Moorhead.
During the early seventies, settlers from Iowa, a large pro-
portion of whom were Scandinavians or of Scandinavian descent,
began coming into the territory and locating mainly along the
streams tributary to the Red river, the Goose, Sheyenne and
others, and beginning operations on a small scale in the way of
opening farms. So well satisfied were these pioneer settlers, in
the main, that their neighbors and countrymen whom they had
left behind profited by their advice and came also in steadily
increasing numbers. John Lindstrom came from Northwood,
Iowa, in the fall of 1870, locating at the mouth of the Sheyenne.
His nearest neighbor was at that time sixteen miles down the
river. In 1873, with his brother Lars, he located near North-
wood, in Grand Forks county. Halvor Solem, Nels Korsmo,
and others located in that vicinity in 1874. In 1876, Peter
Thinglestad, Hans Thinglestad, Paul Johnson, Andrew Nelson,
and others, all from the vicinity of Northwood, Iowa, located in
the vicinity of the present village of Northwood, in this state,
in 1875 and 1876. These early pioneers hauled the surplus grain
they raised to Caledonia or Grand Forks for shipment. Ox teams
were largely the motive power used, and farming under such
circumstances had its drawbacks. The fertility of the soil asserted
itself, however, and the further fact that here was an empire of
the richest soil to be found anywhere, and all ready for the
plow, awaiting occupation as a gift from Uncle Sam. The effect
of the financial panic was disappearing, and railroad construc-
tion towards North Dakota had been commenced again. These
and other results attracted a large immigration into the terri-
tory during 1878 and 1879 and the following years. New towns
92 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
and villages came into existence, and the Red River valley, after
lying dormant, as it were, so long, began to take on new life.
The St. Paul & Pacific railroad, which had been built from
St. Paul to Melrose before the panic of 1873, was extended in
1878 to Barnesville and connection made there with the branch
extending up the east side of the Red river to St. Vincent. During
the same year James J. Hill became the general manager. In
1879 the road was reorganized as the St. Paul, Minneapolis &
Manitoba. The spur which had been extended from Crookston
to Fisher's Landing was extended to East Grand Forks, and
during the following winter the river was bridged and Grand
Forks became connected by rail with the outside world. The
north line was also extended to St. Vincent, at the international
boundary line. The line was built south from Grand Forks as
far as Hillsboro. The Northern Pacific was extended to the
western boundary of the territory, and other lines were being
surveyed. In 1880 Fargo and Grand Forks were connected by
rail, and Hillsboro, Reynolds, Buxton, and other thriving towns
located between, were growing. The United 'States land office
was opened in Grand Forks, April 20, 1880, with B. C. Tiffany
register and W. J. Anderson receiver, and this place became the
headquarters and fitting-out point for settlers locating to the
west and north of Grand Forks. In 1881 the work of the exten-
sion of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railway west and
also north from Grand Forks was begun. Settlers were pushing
out beyond the railroads, however, and more were coming in by
every train. Fargo and Gand Forks, as well as the younger cities
of the. valley, were growing rapidly, and new towns were appear-
ing here and there over the rapidly settling territory. Grand
Forks was incorporated as a city in 1881, with W. H. Brown
as the first mayor. The census that year gave the place a popu-
lation of 1,700. Many of the settlers coming into the valley
found temporary quarters in the city, and it was almost impos-
sible to build hotels and boarding-houses fast enough to accom-
modate the incoming settlers. Large quantities of merchandise
in the way of settlers' supplies were required, and the business
of the railroad towns doubled and quadrupled during these years.
In 1881 the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba road was ex-
FORTY YEARS' DEVELOPMENT 93
tended northward from Grand Forks to Grafton, and the west
line was extended to Bartlett, in Nelson county. Still another
line was extended north from Wahpeton to Larimore, and the
Northern Pacific built from Casselton north to Mayville. Graf-
ton, Mayville, Lakota and other towns became supply points, and
settlers from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and
other states, and from Ontario, came into the valley and pushed
out into the unoccupied territory. In 1882 the railroad lines were
extended north to the boundary line at Neche, and west to Devils
Lake, bringing more thriving towns into existence.
As the settlement of the valley proceeded, it became notice-
able that arrivals from different sections were locating in settle-
ments together to a large extent. In addition to the numerous
immigrants from Scandinavian countries and from Ontario, which
were scattered throughout the valley, there might be seen here
and there groups of settlers coming from widely separated cor-
ners of the earth. In western Grand Forks county were large
numbers of farmers from the vicinity of Niagara, New York, and
naturally North Dakota soon had a Niagara of its own. In west-
ern Walsh county a large number of settlers from Bohemia
were found. In eastern Walsh county was a large settlement of
French. Over in Pembina was a large colony, of settlers from
Iceland, and in other sections settlements of Germans, Scotch and
other nationalities were represented.
S. G. Comstock and A. A. White made an arrangement with
the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railway to handle the town
sites along the extensions, and platted a large number of the
towns along its various lines.
Hillsboro, which was platted in 1880, was made the county
seat of Traill county. In September, 1880, A: H. Morgan and
James Rogers erected the first store building there, and A. H.
Morgan and J. E. Paulson were the first to engage in business.
The place was first named Hill City, in honor of James J. Hill.
Grafton was platted in 1881 and was named after Grafton,
N. Y., by Thomas E. Cooper, one of the pioneer settlers of Park
river. It was made the county seat of Walsh county. The county
was named after George H. Walsh, who was at that time speaker
of the house of representatives.
94 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
In 1882 the Northern Pacific and Mr. James J. Hill arrived at
an understanding as to the territory of the two systems, and as a
result the Northern Pacific relinquished its branch extending
north from Casselton and discontinued construction northward
from Portland in Traill county, and for years Mr. Hill's lines kept
out of Northern Pacific territory west.
By the close of 1883 practically all of the arable land in the
valley had been taken by settlers, and a large part of the terri-
tory was under cultivation. The surplus of settlers was pouring
on westward into the upland counties and going out farther and
farther from the railroad lines.
The first rush of the claim shanty period over, the settlers
on the prairie lands set themselves about their chosen occupation
of farming. The temporary settlers, consisting of clerks and
mechanics, merchants, teachers, professional men and others, who
had taken "claims" because of possible quick pecuniary returns
rather than with any intention of engaging in actual farming
themselves, relinquished them to others, for a consideration, or
obtained what money they could in the way of loans, and they
afterwards fell into the hands of other owners.
The so-called timber culture law, which was later abolished,
proved of immense value to the valley as an incentive to the plant-
ing of trees, and hundreds of settlers who planted five or ten acres
of trees, at first merely in order to secure title to the land, found
later that they could not have made a better investment of either
time or money, and the magnificent groves of timber resulting
have, in fact, changed the face of the earth, influenced the cli-
matic conditions, and added literally millions of dollars to the
value of the lands.
The farming in the Red River valley during the first twenty
years of occupation was of a most primitive kind. The use of a
breaking-plow the first season, and of the cross-plow, the drill,
the harvester and the threshing machine, in one continual round,
yielded rich returns of wheat and other cereals. But slight
attention was paid to other branches of farming, and money
came easy to the farmers. The small shanties gave place to
substantial farm-houses, and the temporary stables gave place in
time to commodious barns and machinery sheds. However, there
FORTY TEAKS' DEVELOPMENT 95
was a perceptible diminution in returns from the early farming
methods, and gradually the farmers of the valley found it neces-
sary to take up improved methods of farming and raise stock and
otherwise diversify their farming in order to secure the best
results.
The development of the cities and towns of the valley has
scarcely kept pace with that of the farming interests, although
there has been a steady growth in this direction, and Grand
Forks, Fargo, Larimore, Grafton, Hillsboro, Mayville and the
other principal cities of the valley have within the 'past few
years taken on metropolitan proportions. The extension of new
lines of railway out over the valley in every direction have within
the past few years placed Grand Forks and Fargo at an advan-
tage as railroad distributing centers, and both have built up a
large trade with outlying territory. The outlook for the years to
come in the valley could hardly be brighter than it is today,
and it will continue, as in the past, to be one of the most pros-
perous sections of the country.
CHAPTER V.
THE OLD SETTLEES' ASSOCIATION.
The history of a state or nation is that of the people who
made it a state or a nation. The history of the Red River valley,
to a very large extent, is that of those pioneers of Dakota who
settled first in this portion of that state, and whose doings have
been to some considerable extent chronicled in their own author-
ized publications. In order that a full history of this important
society may be preserved, and because of the importance of those
meetings, we have copied largely from their authorized records,
and they are as follows :
The Old Settlers' Association.
December 27, 1879, about twenty old settlers of Grand Forks
• and vicinity met at McCormack's and Grigg's hall, Grand Forks,
for. the purpose of organizing an old settlers' association. R. M.
Probstfield was elected president and George B. Winship secre-
tary. J. J. Cavanaugh was elected treasurer. The following old
settlers responded to the call for a contribution of twenty-five
cents each to pay the expenses incidental to the organization, viz. :
Alexander Griggs, 0. S. Freeman, W. C. Nash, James Hanrahan,
James Jenks, Z. B. Hunt, Ed. Williams, D. P. Reeves, Burt Haney,
R. M. Probstfield, William Blair, Thomas Walsh, C. W. McLaugh-
lin, William Budge, James McCrea, George Akers, Matt Mc-
Guiness, N. Hoffman, J. J. Cavanaugh, M. L. McCormack and
George B. Winship.
M. L. McCormack, W. C. Nash and Thomas Walsh were
appointed a committee on arrangements for the meeting for
organization.
A committee was also appointed on invitation for the several
96
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 97
localities as follows: Grand Forks county, Alex. Griggs, D. P.
Reeves, Matt McGuiness; Wilkin county, J. R. Harris, D. Mc-
Cauley, Mr. Phelps ; Clay county, R. M. Probstfield, E. R. Hutch-
inson, C. P. Slogy; Polk county, James Jenks, E. M. Walsh and
John Ireland; Kittson and Marshall counties, F. Brawley, J. W.
Stewart, A. W. Stiles ; Pembina county, Charles Cavalier, William
Budge and N. E. Nelson ; Traill county, A. Sargeant, C. M. Clark,
George Weston; Cass county, J. B. Chapin, Jacob Lowell, Jr., and
George Egbert; Richland county, M. T. Rich and two others to
be named. February 4 next was fixed as date of meeting for
organization. At that meeting the following were elected officers
of the association, viz. : President, R. M. Probstfield ; vice presi-
dents, Asa Sargeant, of Traill, N. E. Nelson, of Pembina, and J. R.
Harris, of Wilkin; secretary and treasurer, George B. Winship,
of Grand Forks ; executive committee, Frank Veits, J. S. Eshel-
man and M. L. McCormack, of Grand Forks.
Letters were read from J. J. Hill, General H. H. Silbey, ex-
Senator H. M. Rice and N. W. Kittson, of St. Paul. W. G. Wood-
ruff, M. L. McCormack and J. S. Eshelman were appointed a
committee on by-laws.
The following members paid the membership fee of $1, viz. :
W. C. Nash, John Fadden, E. Williams, R. Fadden, Joseph Hanra-
han, George Akers, Z. B. Hunt, William Fleming, George Ames,
George B. Winship, Alex. Griggs, Jacob Rheinhart, William
Budge, R. Coulter, L. Surprise, M. Flarry, N. Hoffman, J. Jenks,
M. L. McCormack, F. Veits, J. S. Eshelman.
December, 1881, the old settlers again met in the court house
at Grand Forks, and the following answered to the roll call : Burt
Haney, John Fadden, D. F. Brawley, H. R. Vaughn, Richmond
Fadden, Edward Williams, James Jenks, W. P. Blair, J. Green-
wood, George H. Ames, Nick Hoffman, Z. M. Hunt, Thomas
Walsh, Michael McGuinness, Joseph Hanrahan, William Budge,
M. L. McCormack, 0. S. Freeman, W. C. Nash, George W. Akers,
Frank Veits, George B. Winship, Michael Ferry, John Island,
Leon Surprise, J. S. Eshelman, Robert Coulter, Alex. Griggs,
R. M. Probstfield. E. R. Hutchinson. The following officers were
elected: President, D. F. Brawley, St. Vincent; vice-president,
Howard R. Vaughn, Pembina ; second vice-president, Alex. Griggs,
98 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEK VALLEY
Grand Forks; third vice-president, James Holes, of Cass; secre-
tary, George B. Winship, Grand Forks; executive committee,
Charles Cavalier, N. E. Nelson and Judson La Moure. It was
voted that all who settled in the Eed Eiver valley prior to Sep-
tember 1, 1873, should be eligible to membership.
A later meeting was held at Pembina, probably in 1882. At
this meeting the following were present : Hugh 0 'Donnell, Charles
J. Brown, A. Carl, A. Watson, Alex. Griggs, S. W. Ferry, Charles
Crawford, 0. S. Freeman, Eobert E. Ewing, M. L. McCormack,
A. C. McCumber, H. E. Vaughan, S. C. Cady, Jacob Eheinhart,
Charles Cavalier, W. J. S. Traill, A. W. Stiles, William Camp,
E. Armstrong, George B. Winship, Burt Haney, Frank Myrick,
Captain Aymo, Judson La Moure, N. E. Nelson, Norman Gingras,
Andrew T. Nelson, Thomas Walsh, D. F. Brawley, John Fadden
and F. T. Bradley. At this meeting Bradley was elected presi-
dent, and E. Fadden, N. E. Nelson and J. B. Chapin vice-presi-
dents. J. F. Termant, of West Lynn, was elected secretary and
G. B. Winship treasurer. This organization was allowed to lapse,
and ten years later, viz., December 10, 1891, the society met again
at Grand Forks for organization. George B. Winship called the
meeting to order; D. M. Holmes was secretary. N. K. Hubbard,
Frank Veits, Charles Cavalier, 0. H. Elmer and John Erickson
were appointed a committee on permanent organization. They
reported a plan of organization and that all settlers in the valley
prior to December 31, 1875, should be eligible to membership.
Vice presidents were to be elected from each of the Eed Eiver
valley counties, as follows: Pembina, Charles Cavalier, Traill,
Asa Sargeant ; Cass, Jacob Lowell ; Eichland, Hans Myhra ; Polk,
0. H. Elmer ; Clay, John Erickson ; Wilkin, Daniel McCauley.
There was no meeting of the association for ten years, when
they again met at Grand Forks for the purpose of reorganization,
December 10, 1891, George B. Winship being elected president
and D. M. Holmes secretary. N. K. Hubbard, 0. H. Elmer, John
Erickson, Frank Veits and Charles Cavalier were appointed a
committee on permanent organization.
This committee limited membership to those who settled in
the Eed Eiver valley prior to December 31, 1875. Charles Cava-
lier, of Pembina; A. Sargeant, of Traill; Jacob Lowell, of Cass;
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 99
Hans Myhra, of Richland ; 0. H. Elmer, of Polk ; John Erickson,
of Clay, and David McCauley, of Wilkin, were elected vice-
presidents. J. W. Taylor, Robert Patterson, W. G. Fonseca, and
E. L. Barber, of Manitoba, were elected honorary members. The
membership fee was fixed at $2 and the receipts were, for mem-
bership, $102; from the old association, $32, and from banquet
tickets for invited guests, $25. The local committee turned into
the treasury the sum of $24.75. The banquet at the Dakotah hotel
cost $84, the music for the hall, $50, and printing and other
expenses consumed the balance.
Those present were George B. Winship, D. M. Holmes, J. B.
Chapin, Jacob Lowell, N. E. Nelson, Robert Ewing, H. R. Vaughn,
Richmond Fadden, P. P. Nokken, H. C. Myhra, Asa Sargeant,
P. S. Kelly, Halvor Thoraldson, E. M. Walsh, "W. H. Moorhead,
M. D. Campbell, George A. Wheeler, Thomas Campbell, Edward
O'Brien, James A. Jenks, N. K. Hubbard, Z. M. Hunt, J. G.
Hamilton, John W. W. Smith, Thomas Walsh, W. H. Brown,
Michael Ferry, George H. Walsh, James Duckworth, William
Camp, Frank Veits, Joseph Jarvis, Casper Mosher, George H.
Fadden, John Erickson, C. Cavalier, John N. Harvey, James Elton,
0. H. Elmer, J. T. Taylor, R. Patterson, Ed. Williams, George A.
Wheeler, Jr., B. Haggerty, James K. Swan, W. J. Anderson, John
0. Fadden, G. G. Beardsley, Philip McLaughlin, George E. Jack-
son, Walter J. S. Traill, Judson La Moure, John Kabernagle.
At the Moorhead meeting, December 7, 1892, there was a
goodly number present, but the records do not show who partici-
pated. The receipts for membership fees, however, were $48.
George B. Winship was elected president; N. K. Hubbard (Cass),
John Herrick (Richland), James Nolan (Wilkin), Asa Sargeant
(Traill), 0. H. Elmer (Polk), and Charles Cavalier (Pembina),
vice-presidents. Ransom Phelps was elected local secretary and
Breckenridge was chosen as the next place of meeting. Mrs. J. S.
Harris was appointed to procure certain manuscripts in the hands
of Dr. Harvey relating to the early history of the Red River
valley.
At the Breckenridge meeting, December 6, 1893, George B.
Winship, Grand Forks; Job and Frank Herrick, Abercrombie;
James Nolan, McCauleyville ; John Erickson, Moorhead ; H. C. N.
100 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Myhra, Kongberg; N. D. and Frank J. Smith, Breckenridge.
answered to the call of the roll. Twenty old settlers responded
to the invitation to join the society, their names and date of
settlement being as follows :
Frank Doleshy, Wahpeton, 1873; Folsom Dow, Wahpeton,
1871; Benjamin Taylor, Wahpeton, 1872; Samuel Taylor, Wah-
peton, 1872; Frank Forneck, Wahpeton, 1871; Wenzel Meck-
nesh, Wahpeton, 1872; August Horfs, Hankinson, 1874; Charles
Bladow, Hinkinson, 1874; Frederick Hoefs, Hinkinson, 1874;
August Berntd, Hankinson, 1874; Eric A. Lein, Dwight, 1875;
John Myhra, Dwight, 1870; Edward Connelly, Breckenridge,
Minn., 1858; Edward R. Hyser, Breckenridge, Minn., 1871;
D. Wilmot Smith, Breckenridge, Minn., 1871; Peter Hansen,
Breckenridge, Minn., 1871; Aaron B. Lichter, Breckenridge,
Minn., 187- ; Hans Martinson, Rothsay, Minn., 1871; Anthony
Nolan, Brainerd, 1867.
The following gentlemen were elected honorary members :
T. E. Kenestow, 1885; E. Mattison, 1879; Joseph Gunn, 1882;
Henry Champion, 1878, all Breckenridge; and William W. Tag-
gart, Campbell, 1878, and George McKee, Campbell, 1879 ; William
M. James, editor "Telegram," Breckenridge, 1882; Fred Falley,
editor "Globe," Wahpeton, and H. M. Morrill, editor "Gazette,"
Wahpeton, and Frank J. Smith, Breckenridge.
The following officers were elected: President, Edward Con-
nelly, Breckenridge; vice-presidents, W. W. Bodkin (Clay), B.
Sampson (Polk), Charles Cavalier (Pembina), Frank Veits
(Grand Forks), Asa Sargeant (Traill), N. K. Hubbard (Cass),
Folsom Dow (Richland) ; secretary, Frank J. Smith, Brecken-
ridge; treasurer, John Erickson, Moorhead. Fargo was selected
as the next place of meeting. Resolutions of condolence were
offered on account of the death of James R. Harris and John W.
Taylor. After paying all debts, the society voted $10.50 remain-
ing in tHe treasury to the Ladies' Aid Society, which had provided
the banquet.
At the Fargo meeting, December 6, 1894, the attendance
was large and twenty new members were added, viz. : N. B.
Pinkham, S. F. Crockett, C. B. Thiemens, D. E. Herrick, John E.
Haggart, G. A. Barnes, Arthur Bassett, H. G. Stordock, S. G.
HOX. CHARLES J. FISK
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 101
Roberts, Joseph Prevost, C. A. Lounsberry, Frank Whitman,
Evan S. Tyler, Alex. Gamble, Edwin Griffin, W. H. White, A. H.
Morgan, William O'Neill, Martin Hector, A. G. Lewis, G. J.
Keeney. The following old members were present and paid their
dues: James Holes, Jacob Lowell, Harry O'Neill, G. B. Win-
ship, A. McHench, W. H. Brown, E. R. Hutchinson, Job Herrick,
Frank Herrick, P. Kelly, Frank Veits, Jacob Rheinhart, W. J.
Anderson, J. A. Jenks, James Nolan, James Elton, R. M. Probst-
field, J. H. Shard, F. J. Smith, S. G. Comstock.
The following officers were elected: N. K. Hubbard, Cass,
president ; vice-presidents, R. M. Probstfield (Clay), Charles
Cavalier (Pembina), W. C. Nash (Polk), George B. Winship
(Grand Forks), C. W. Morgan (Traill), James Holes (Cass),
Frank Herrick (Richland), Edwin Connelly (Wilkin) ; secretary,
B. F. Mackall, Moorhead ; treasurer, Will H. White, Fargo. C. A.
Lounsberry, S. G. Roberts, George B. Winship, S. F. Crockett,
E. S. Tyler, Charles Cavalier and David McCauley were appointed
an historical committee to gather data and facts in regard to the
early settlement and history of the Red River valley.
S. G. Comstock, S. G. Roberts and A. McHench were appointed
a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws.
A banquet was given in the evening at the Hotel Metropole,
an elaborate program having been provided. The principal ad-
dresses were by Hon. S. G. Comstock, Hon. R. M. Probstfield,
George B. Winship and G. J. Keeney. It was voted to hold the
next meeting at Grand Forks. Since this meeting H. G. Stordock
and James A. Jenks have passed away.
The register of the old settlers shows the names, date and
place of settlement of those who are or who have been members
of the society.
The association met at Grand Forks, December 26, 1895,
George B. Winship presiding in the absence of President Hub-
bard, on account of illness. President Hubbard 's address was
read by Colonel C. A. Lounsberry. Those present were H. E.
Maloney, James Colosky, C. F. Getchell, James Twamley, C. L.
Gordon, Jorgen Howard, Frank Williams, Robert Anderson, C. W.
Morgan, D. Perkins, A. Barlow, F. A. Wardell, J. E. Sullivan,
A. H. Barlow, James Nesbitt, D. McDonald, James Smith, John
102 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Kinan, William Skinner, Gus Williams, Thomas McVitre, 0.
Osmond and Christopher R. Coulter.
Colonel Lounsberry, from the historical committee, reported
the work done by his committee, which included the establish-
ment of "The Record" for the purpose of gathering historical
data, and was accorded a vote of thanks. The names of H. G.
Stordock, James A. Jenks and John Island were entered on the
death roll and suitable resolutions of respect and condolence
adopted.
The following officers were elected : President, Frank Veits ;
vice-presidents, W. H. Moorhead, Pat Kelly, Jacob Rheinhart,
E. R. Hutchinson, Robert Coulter, James Nolan, Job Herrick;
treasurer, D. M. Holmes; secretary, George B. Winship.
Those who settled in the Red River valley prior to December
31, 1877. were voted eligible to membership.
The sixth annual meeting of the reorganized association was
held at Pembina, December 18, 1896. The following members
were present : W. H. Brown, Judson La Moure, Joseph Colosky,
C. A. Lounsberry, John Hater, E. K. Cavalier, Charles Cavalier,
John Otten, James Carpenter, Frank Russell, George Allard,
F. A. Hart, Joseph Desloria, Andrew Cragin, Peter Hogan, Milo
Fadden, H. E. Maloney, Frank Myrick, George B. Winship, Joe
Parent, W. H. Moorhead, Fred Delisle, Joseph Morin, W. J.
Kneeshaw, Thomas J. Neilson, Bradne Johnson, John Hogan,
F. A. Wardwell.
It was ordered that all persons who settled in the Red River
valley prior to July 1, 1879, should be eligible to membership,
and that a permanent secretary should be elected. The secretary,
president, and George B. Winship were appointed a committee
on constitution and by-laws and were directed to take whatever
steps were necessary to secure the incorporation of the association
under the laws of North Dakota.
Frank Veits was elected president; W. H. Moorhead, G. S.
Barnes, James Carpenter, Pat Kelly, E. R. Hutchinson, Robert
Coulter, James Nolan and Job Herrick, vice-presidents; D. M.
Holmes, treasurer, and C. A. Lounsberry, secretary.
The association was finally incorporated by the action of the
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 103
seventh annual meeting, of which the proceedings are herewith
published.
The seventh annual session of the Old Settlers' Association
of the Red River Valley was held at Grand Forks, N. D., Septem-
ber 29, 1897, the opening meeting being held at the court house.
There were over a hundred pioneers in attendance and the meet-
ing was a most enjoyable one. At noon an elaborate spread was
served at the Ingalls, Mrs. Maloney in charge.
After reading the minutes of the last regular meeting they
were approved.
C. A. Lounsberry, from the committee on articles of associa-
tion and by-laws, reported the draft of the articles and by-laws,
which were adopted ; and the president, secretary, treasurer, and
three vice-presidents, later selected for the purpose, were directed
to cause the articles of association to be properly executed and
filed with the secretary of state.
James K. Swan, of Grand Forks, was elected president for
the ensuing year upon the unanimous vote of the association.
D. M. Holmes, of Grand Forks, was re-elected treasurer for
the ensuing year.
James Nolan, of Wilkin county, Thomas McCoy, Traill county,
and James Carpenter, Walsh county, were elected vice-presidents
for their respective counties and designated to sign the articles
of association in connection with the president, secretary and
treasurer.
Joseph E. Cronan (Cass), George E. McCrea (Pembina),
William Skinner (Polk), Job Herrick (Richland), W. J. Bodkin
(Clay), and E. E. Corliss (Otter Tail county), were elected vice-
presidents for their respective counties.
The secretary was directed to draft and cause to be pub-
lished suitable memorials of the old settlers who have passed
away during the past year.
Upon motion of P. McLaughlin, a vote of thanks was tendered
to Hon. Frank Veits, the retiring president, and to other officers
for their services.
J. K. Swan, president-elect, was introduced, making suitable
remarks.
104 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Mrs. Charles Cavalier and Miss Lulah Cavalier were elected
honorary members of the association.
Letters were read from R. C. Burdick, of St. Paul, a settler of
1853, and Charles Cavalier, Pembina, a settler of 1851, and a
telegram from M. H. Morrill, expressing regret at their inability
to be present.
The register showed the following in attendance, and their
date of settlement :
Hugh Parr, Kelly's Point, 1876; James O'Reiley, Grand Forks,
1879: Donald Stewart, Forest River, 1878; Alexander Oldham,
Grand Forks, 1877; H. H. Strom, Traill county, 1878; C. 0.
Maloney, Grand Forks, 1875; John Swift, Grand Forks, 1874;
William Code, Park River, 1878 ; James Pette, Grand Forks, 1878 ;
M. C. Gaulke, Grand Forks, 1878; Thomas Nisbet, Mallory, Minn.,
1878; William H. Standish, Polk county, Minnesota, 1879; Louis
A. Lhiver, Grand Forks, 1878 ; M. Addison, Grand Forks, 1879 ;
H. D. Cutler, Grand Forks, 1879 ;'H. Arnegaard, Hillsboro, 1871;
M. D. Chappell, Grand Forks, 1873; L. M. Anderson, Pembina,
1872; M. L. Enright, East Grand Forks, 1872; Peter Gannau,
Frog Point, 1871; H. P. Ryan/Grand Forks, 1878; George F.
Whitcomb, Fort Abercrombie, 1865; C. A. Lounsberry, Fargo,
April 4, 1873 ; George J. Longfellow, Fargo, 1879 ; William Acker-
man, Abercrombie, 1866 ; John 0 'Leary, Grand Forks, 1878 ;
Michael Byrne, Grand Forks, 1877 ; Thomas Gray, Grand Forks,
1875 ; Thomas McCoy, Forest River, 1877 ; D. J. Lemery, Forest
River, 1878; J. P. Walsh, Grandin, 1878; Henry Gotzian, Grand
Forks, 1879; Michael Maguire, East Grand Forks, 1878; A. L.
McCallum, Fisher, 1879; Peter Stoughton, Grand Forks, 1877;
J. E. Cronan, Walsh county, 1872; George A. McCrea, Drayton,
1879; John 0. Fadden, Grand Forks, 1873; John Fadden, Sr.,
Grand Forks, 1873; A. W. Edwards, Fargo, 1878; Richmond
Fadden, Grand Forks, 1873; Joe Laport, Larimore, 1873; E. E.
Corliss, Fergus Falls, 1870; Captain George C. Whitcomb, Pem-
bina, 1863; Samuel Berg, Ojata, 1872; William Cook, Pembina,
1877 ; August Nelson, East Grand Forks, 1877 ; William Fletcher,
Grandin, 1878; John Rea, East Grand Forks, 1872; M. J. Moran,
Grand Forks, 1878; M. L. Adams, Grand Forks, 1879; C. A. Allen,
Grand Forks, 1878 ; Fred Freeman, Thompson, 1878 ; Thomas L.
I
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 105
Lawson, Jr., Grand Forks, 1879; John McDonald, Fargo, 1871;
George A. Glenn, Winnipeg, 1873 ; George B. Winship, Aber-
crombie, 1867; Job Herrick, Abercrombie, 1868; P. McLaughlin,
Fargo, 1874 ; James Duckworth, Grand Forks, 1875 ; A. H. Barlow,
Grand Forks, 1876 ; J. G. Hamilton, Sisseton agency, 1875 ; Robert
Anderson, Grand Forks, 1874; J. M. Stoughton, Turtle Eiver,
1876; Joseph A. Barlow, Grand Forks, 1876; William Skinner,
Clay county, Minnesota, 1878; M. J. Fadden, Grand Forks, 1871;
Thomas Walsh, Grand Forks, 1871; J. E. Sullivan, East Grand
Forks, 1875; James Nolan, McCauleyville, 1865 ; D. McDonald,
Grand Forks, 1878; D. M. Holmes, Grand Forks, 1871; James
Carpenter, Forest River, 1878; William H. Brown, Grand Forks,
1877; George H. Walsh, Grand Forks, 187*5; James Twamley,
Grand Forks, 1876 ; James K. Swan, Grand Forks, 1874 ; Joseph
Jarvis, Fisher, 1872; James Elton, Georgetown, 1875; John Har-
vey, Grand Forks, 1874 ; Robert Coulter, Mallory, 1871 ; John 0.
Fadden, Sr., Grand Forks, 1871 ; Frank Veits, Georgetown, 1870 ;
Mrs. Frank Veits, Georgetown, 1870; W. J. Anderson, Grand
Forks, 1875 ; Albert Schmidt, Wilkin county, 1869 ; P. P. Chacey,
Fargo, 1877; John Cole, Grand Forks, 1878; E. K. Cavalier,
native, Kildonan, 1858; James H. Mathews, Grand Forks, 1878;
Ruth J. Chacey, Fargo, 1877 ; John McDonald, Forest River, 1878 ;
John R. Woods, Forest River, 1879 ; Louis Stillmaker, Grand
Forks, 1879; F. A. Hart, Pembina, 1879; Thomas Knox, Elm
River, 1878; Gunder Howard, Moorhead, 1872. Mrs. Frank
Veits, 1870, and Captain Whitcomb, a settler of 1863, were ad-
mitted to honorary membership.
Articles of incorporation of the Old Settlers' Association were
drawn up in 1897 and are as follows :
Article I. This corporation shall be known as the Red River
Valley Old Settlers' Association, and is incorporated under Sec.
3183, Revised Codes of North Dakota.
Article II. The general offices of this association shall be at
Fargo.
Article III. This association shall exist for a period of forty
years.
Article IV. The number of directors of this association shall
106 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
be eleven, but the following shall constitute a first board of
directors and shall execute these articles :
President — James K. Swan, Grand Forks, N. D. Vice Presi-
dents— James Nolan, Wilkin county, Minnesota ; Thomas McCoy,
Traill county, North Dakota; James Carpenter, Walsh county,
North Dakota. Secretary — C. A. Lounsberry, Fargo, N. D. Treas-
urer— D. M. Holmes, Grand Forks, N. D.
Article V. This association may become subordinate to a
state organization of old settlers; and associations subordinate
to this may be organized in each of the Red River Valley counties
in Minnesota and North Dakota, having purposes in harmony
with this organization.
Article VI. This association may hold real and personal
property not exceeding in value $10,000. It may receive bequests
for the purpose of establishing an historical and biographical
library, for preserving its records, publishing its proceedings,
biographical sketches, etc. When dissolved its property shall
be turned over to the state for historical and library purposes.
Article VII. The private property of the members of this
association shall not be liable for its debts.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and
seals this 29th day of September, 1897.
James K. Swan, [Seal]
James Nolan, [Seal]
Thomas McCoy, [Seal]
James Carpenter, [Seal]
C. A. Lounsberry. [Seal]
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA,
ss
County of Grand Forks,
On this 29th day of September, 1897, personally appeared
before me James K. Swan, James Nolan, Thomas McCoy, James
Carpenter, C. A. Lounsberry and D. M. Holmes, who, being duly
sworn, doth each for himself say that he is an officer and director
of the Red River Valley Old Settlers ' Association, and that these
articles of association are executed in accordance with a majority
vote had at a regularly called meeting of said association held
I
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 107
at Pembina, N. D., December 18, 1896, and that a regularly called
meeting of said association held at Grand Forks, September 29,
1897, by a majority vote they were especially designated to sign
and file said articles of association. J. G. Hamilton,
Notary Public, Grand Forks County,
North Dakota.
By-Laws of the Red River Valley Old Settlers' Association.
Section I. The officers of this association shall be a president,
vice president from each county in the Red River Valley in Min-
nesota and North Dakota, excepting the county from which the
president may be elected, a secretary and treasurer. The officers
excepting the secretary shall be elected annually r but shall hold
until their successors are elected. The secretary shall be elected
for a term of six years and the first secretary shall be Colonel
Clement A. Lounsberry, who was made permanent secretary by
the meeting which ordered this incorporation, at Pembina, De-
cember 18, 1896. The secretary may appoint a deputy to act in
case of his absence. Officers shall be elected by ballot at the
annual meetings in June or September, and a majority of mem-
bers shall elect.
Sec. II. The annual meetings of this association shall be
held in the city of Grand Forks at such time in June or Septem-
ber as the executive committee consisting of the president, secre-
tary, treasurer and two vice presidents, or a majority thereof,
may direct, unless otherwise ordered by a majority vote at the
annual meeting preceding, or by a majority of all of the directors
at a meeting of which thirty days' notice of time and place shall
be given by publication, in Fargo and Grand Forks daily papers.
The annual meeting of the directors shall be at the general
office in Fargo on the first Tuesday in May of each year.
Sec. III. In addition to the directors named in the articles
of association the following shall be vice presidents and directors,
completing the first board of directors, viz. :
Joseph E. Cronan, Cass county, North Dakota.
George E. McCrea, Pembina county, North Dakota.
William Skinner, Polk county, Minnesota.
108 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Job Herrick, Richland county, North Dakota.
W. J. Bodkin, Clay county, Minnesota.
Sec. IV. Vacancies in the board of directors or officers may
be filled by appointment at any regular or called meeting of the
board of directors. Any officer may be removed for neglect of
duty by a majority vote of the directors at any regular or called
meeting.
Sec. V. The president, secretary, treasurer and two vice
presidents shall constitute a quorum of executive committee, and
five shall constitute a quorum at any meeting of the board of
directors. Any officer or vice president may in writing designate
any member of this association to act in his stead at any regular
or called meeting of the executive committee or board of directors.
Sec. VI. It shall be the duty of the president to preside at
all meetings of the association, or of the board of directors or
executive committee. He may designate any vice president to
act in his stead in case of his absence. He shall countersign all
warrants drawn upon the treasurer. It shall be the duty of the
vice presidents to attend all regular or called meetings of the
directors and to labor to promote the general interests of the
association in their respective counties. They may organize the
qualified settlers in their respective counties into an association
subordinate to this and cause their names to be enrolled upon the
register of this society upon payment of the required fee, the
necessary data being supplied. They shall receive and forward
names and fee to the secretary of all who apply to them for this
purpose.
The treasurer shall receive all funds from the hands of the
secretary and when requested so to do from members of the
association on account of registration and dues, mailing a dupli-
cate receipt therefor to the secretary in order that proper ac-
counts may be kept with the members. He shall pay out the
funds upon the order of the Secretary, countersigned by the
president, as may be ordered from time to time by the executive
committee, the board of directors or tjie association in annual
convention. He shall make annual report for each fiscal year
ending May 30.
The secretary shall keep the records of the association and
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 109
the minutes of all meetings of the association, directors or execu-
tive committee. He shall publish the proceedings together with
biographical sketches of the members who have died during the
preceding year, with portraits where possible, and such other
sketches as may be deemed of interest, provided that no expense
which the annual dues and registration fees or other funds in
the hands of the secretary or treasurer or dues or fees to be paid
will not liquidate. He shall make semi-annual report closing
on the last day of January and July of each year, and supple-
mental report for the months intervening between his last report
and the time of the annual meeting, for the information of the
association in annual convention. Pie shall receive and receipt
for the registration fees from joining members and for dues and
pay the same over to the treasurer. He shall issue a certificate
of membership to each of those who have heretofore paid the
membership fee and enroll their names in substantial form upon
the permanent rolls of this association.
Sec. VII. Any person who was a settler in the Red River
Valley prior to July 1, 1879, shall be entitled to membership in
the Red River Valley Old Settlers' Association upon payment of
$1 registration or joining fee, provided that those who have here-
tofore paid a membership fee in the Red River Valley Old Set-
tlers' Association shall be registered as members upon furnishing
the secretary data as to their date of settlement, where settled,
present residence, date and place of birth, and occupation. The
annual dues shall be 50 cents, payable on or before the time of
annual meeting. Members in arrears for dues shall not be enti-
tled to vote or to receive copies of the published proceedings or
other publications issued by this association. The registration
fee shall cover the dues for that year. Persons who settled in
the Red River Valley prior to June 30, 1869, shall be enrolled
as honorary members if they so desire, and when so enrolled shall
be exempt from dues and from the registration fee. Wives and
daughters of old settlers, if born prior to July 1, 1879, may be
enrolled as honorary members, the necessary data for such enroll-
ment being furnished the secretary.
Sec. VIII. The order of business at the annual meeting shall
be as follows :
110 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Registration of new members, and payment of dues, the books
being opened for that purpose one hour before the time set
for the meeting.
Call to order.
Reading the names of those who have registered upon joining
or the payment of dues.
Reading minutes of the last meeting.
Death roll of the previous year.
Reports of secretary and treasurer.
Annual address of president.
Reading papers and communications from absent members.
Motions and resolutions.
New business.
Election of officers.
Installation of officers.
Visiting.
Banquet. Five minute addresses. Good-bye.
Adopted at annual meeting September 29, 1897.
Official Minutes.
The annual reunion of the old settlers of the Red River Valley
held in Park River, N, D., Tuesday and Wednesday, June 12 and
13, 1900, was a merry and a most enjoyable one. The town was
theirs and they were justified in anticipating a cordial reception.
They were together for two days. Nearly every one of the Red
river pioneers had at one time lived in a sod shanty, and begin-
ning life at that stage of prosperity they had grown as they
progressed to be men of appreciative and grateful natures — and
that is what they are.
The citizens commenced decorating the business places and
residences early Tuesday morning, and by the time the south
train arrived the town presented an appearance of a Fourth of
July celebration, lacking only in the noise of bombs and firearms.
The band met the settlers at the train and escorted them up
town. The forenoon was devoted to shaking hands and arrang-
ing for the entertainment of the visitors. About sixty were
present at the business meeting of the association in the
afternoon.
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 111
Business Meeting— First Day.
The annual business meeting of the Red River Valley Old
Settlers ' Association was held in the Masonic hall at 1 :30 p. m.
In the absence of President Mager, James Twamley, of Grand
Forks, was elected chairman, Secretary Col. C. A. Lounsberry, of
Fargo, being present.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved.
The following members joined the association here and paid
their dues :
N. 0. Clemetson, Dundee.
Mons Monson, Grafton.
John T.NDaley, Mandt.
Benjamin Code, D. F. Booth, Joseph Coulter, Archie C. Thomp-
son, Ropert Coulter, Inkerman Davis, Sandy A. Bruce, J. Morley
Wyard, James F. Smith, Robert Arnott, James E. Code, Thomas
Wadge, John Holmes, William E. Wadge, George Dobmeier,
George M. Bruce, H. I. Heterington, L. S. Carruth, Park River.
James Gilby, Grand Forks.
Ole G. Manderud, A. 0. Mandt, A. I. Anderson, Mandt.
Oscar C. Clemetson, Henry Clemetson, Dundee.
H. J. Hagen, Abercrombie.
Nels M. Midgarden, Claus A. Dahl, Nash.
John Woods, Forest River.
Patrick Berrigan, Ardoch.
A. H. Walker, Hoople.
Gunder Midgarden, Grafton.
The following members are reported as having paid the
annual dues:
J. A. Delaney, Grafton.
James Twamley, George B. Winship, W. J. Anderson, Thomas
Nesbit, James Elton, Grand Forks.
Col. C. A. Lounsberry, Fargo.
A. Code, W. Code, G. K. McEwan, John Wadge, Park River.
Albert Schmidt, Abercrombie.
James T. Carpenter, James Carpenter, Forest River.
Peter Stoughton, Stoughton.
J. E. Sullivan, East Grand Forks.
Total receipts, $55.00.
112 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
The secretary reported that he had secured the certificate
of incorporation of the Red River Valley Old Settlers' Associa-
tion, as directed by the meeting at Grand Forks in 1898.
The deaths of old settlers reported were: Alex Oldham,
Grand Forks, and Francis Thomas, Pembina.
President Twamley was requested to prepare a memorial to
be inserted in the minutes of this meeting in memory of Alex
Oldham and a sketch of Francis Thomas by Charles Cavalier
was ordered printed in the minutes.
Letters were presented and read from J. F. Mager, C. W.
Andrews, Charles Cavalier and J. C. Kennedy.
President Twamley reported the action taken in the matter
of the adoption of an insignia for the society and it was ordered
that the old log cabin of Hon. Charles Cavalier be adopted as
such, and that the secretary procure 100 or more badges bearing
this insignia and 100 or more buttons for the next meeting.
Upon a suggestion of Peter Stoughton the members were
urged to make report to the secretary, C. A. Lounsberry, Fargo,
upon the occasion of the death of any member of the association,
giving data necessary for a suitable memorial to be carried into
the records.
Thomas Bolton, a settler of 1881, requested the privilege of
speaking, he not being eligible to membership. He called atten-
tion to the fact that many new settlements and towns, including
Grafton, were established in 1881 and urged the association to
so amend its by-laws as to make the settlers of '81 eligible. .
An amendment to the constitution and by-laws was adopted
whereby all settlers in the valley prior to December 31, 1881,
were made eligible to membership.
This motion was followed by adding to the list the following
new members :
Thomas Bolton, Robert Stewart, D. E. Towle, E. Reeve Clax-
ton, John A. McCombs, H. A. Pomranke, Michael Hylden, J. J.
Irwin, Park River.
The officers elected for the ensuing year were:
President — James Twamley, Grand Forks.
Vice Presidents — Charles Cavalier, Pembina county, North
Dakota.
\
THE OLD SETTLERS7 ASSOCIATION 113
John E. Haggart, Cass county, North Dakota.
James E. Sullivan, Polk county, Minnesota,
Albert Schmidt, Riehland county, North Dakota.
S. G. Comstock, Clay county, Minnesota.
D. McCauley, Wilkin county, Minnesota.
H. H. Strom, Traill county, North Dakota.
James Carpenter, Walsh county, North Dakota.
Treasurer — J. Morley Wyard.
The secretary announced the appointment of J. Morley
Wyard as assistant secretary for the ensuing year and requested
members to pay their dues to him in order to provide means for
printing proceedings of the association.
The plans for holding the eleventh annual meeting being under
discussion, J. A. Delaney moved that the said meeting be held
at Grafton in June, 1901. Albert Schmidt moved to amend by
striking out Grafton and inserting Wahpeton. The amendment
was lost by ID ayes and 24 noes, and Grafton was chosen the
next place of meeting, the date in June to be selected by the
executive committee.
The following bills were allowed :
C. A. Lounsberry $ 5.75
Charles H. Lee 16.00
The following honorary members were admitted to the asso-
ciation :
Mesdames George Dobmeier, E. Reeve Claxton, T. Bolton,
Michael Hylden, Albert Schmidt, Andrew Walker, John T. Daley,
A. I. Anderson, Archie Thompson, J. A. Delaney, Joseph Coulter,
James Twamley, Anna McGlinch, Robert Stewart, D. E. Towley,
L. S. Carruth, J. J. Irwin, G. B. Winship, Nels Midgarden, Ole
G. Manderud, John Holmes, Robert Arnott, James Carpenter,
C. A. Lounsberry, M. Halliday, J. J. Smith, J. E. Sullivan, John
Woods, H. J. Hagen, William Code, E. R. Swarthout, Thomas
Wadge, Benjamin Code, Raymond G. Anderson, N. 0. Clemetson,
Peter Stoughton, George Stead, H. T. Hetherington, A. E. Wadge,
John Wadge, E. Townsend, F. T. Waugh, Harry A. Holmes,
Misses Anna Daley, Ella and Alma Daley, Ida Anderson, Anna
Carpenter, Edna Twamley, Lila and Blanch McGlinch, Mabel
114 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Booth, Jennie Woods, Maude McEwan, Elizabeth Code, Maggie
Code, Agnes Brown, Virginia Anderson, Galena Clemetson,
Caroline Clemetson.
At 4:30 p. m. the settlers assembled in the park, where an
address of welcome was delivered by Rev. Strachan, who offered
the freedom of the city to the visitors. Mr. James Twamley
responded on behalf of the old settlers and thanked the citizens
for the elaborate preparations made for their entertainment.
Following this was a banquet given in the opera house. This
was a luxurious affair. There were numerous toasts and re-
sponses and several vocal solos and recitations. There were
many amusing and interesting incidents related. Every number
on the programme was heartily applauded. The following is the
programme and song by M. E. Quigley dedicated to the Old Set-
tlers' Association:
Quartette, "The Midnight Fire Alarm'*'
..Mmes. Matteson and Wadge, Messrs. Wyard and Quigley
Recitation . Miss Nettie Honey
Toast, "The Old Settler" James Twamley
Toast, "The Sod Shanty" James Carpenter
Song and Quartette ."The Old Sod Shack"
Toast, "The Red River Valley" George B. Winship
Toast, "Woman, Her Influence and Beauty". .George K. McEwan
Toast, "The Young Settler" W. E. Hoover
Recitation Miss Maud McEwan
Vocal Solo B. F. Green
Col. Lounsberry, C. D. Lord, Nels N. Midgarden and Mrs.
Harry A. Holmes were also called upon to say a few words. All
responded with short interesting talks on matters incidental to
the early history of the valley. Mrs. Holmes was the first white
child born in the valley.
The Old Sod Shack.
It was builded on the prairie ;
Was not sheltered by a tree ;
Where the wild flowers bloomed about it
And the wild winds whistled free.
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 115
Its walls were made of sod,
Of which there was no lack,
And poplar poles for rafters
In the old sod shack.
Chorus.
Though nearly vanished now,
It brings our mem 'ry back ;
For we once had homely comforts
In the old sod shack.
Oh, it cost us very little
To uprear our domicile;
A little patient labor
And our house was up in style;
Small need there was for nails,
And we owed no lumber-jack
For the shingles on the roof
Of the old sod shack.
It is nearly out of use,
And its place is taken by
The more pretentious mansion
With shade trees planted nigh.
But North Dakota's hist'ry
"Will be surely off the track
If no page is written there
For the old sod shack.
Let us kindly think upon it
As our way through life we take ;
Let us treasure up these mem'ries
For old friends' and friendships' sake;
May the last chip from our mem'ry,
Which old Time will surely back,
Be the one that bears the image
Of the old sod shack.
A grand ball in the opera house concluded the day's merri-
ment.
116 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Second Day.
The band was out early and played a number of selections in
the streets while the old settlers gathered at the Masonic hall to
conclude the work of the adjourned business meeting of the
previous day.
The meeting was called to order by President Twamley. After
some discussion on the matter of classifying the members into
four degrees, the following names and dates were decided for
each class:
All coming to the valley prior to July 1 of each of the follow-
ing years:
1871— "Cat Fish" class. 1876— "Dog Train" class. 1879—
"Ox Cart" class. 1881— "Stage Coach" class. It was decided
that the association have buttons made to indicate the different
degrees.
The following were the new members admitted during the
morning's meeting:
0. A. Trovatten, John L. Main, John Peterson, Thomas A.
Catherwood, John A. Gemmill, J. D. Gemmill, Robert Johnson,
D. White, Robert Brett, Harry Peoples, John Lewis, George F.
Honey, William M. Bruce.
Honorary Members.
Mrs. Harry Peoples, Mrs. J. A. Gemmill, Mrs. J. D. Gemmill,
Mrs. Duncan White, Mrs. George F. Honey, Mrs. Thomas A.
Catherwood, Mrs. 0. A. Trovatten, Mrs. Robert Brett, Mrs. John
Lewis, Mrs. William M. Bruce.
A drive through the city followed, which occupied about two
hours, and the visitors were shown the beauties of the city.
Sides were chosen for the tug-of-war between the old settlers.
Col. C. A. Lounsberry held one end of the string and Thomas
Nesbit, of Polk county, the other end. Three trials were made
and the Colonel won.
John H. Peterson, of Golden Valley, was the victor in the 100-
yard foot race for old settlers over fifty years of age, and carried
away the elegant trophy cup. Pat Stoughton came in second
and George B. Winship, of the Grand Forks Herald, third. J. E.
Sullivan and Thomas Nesbit, of Polk county, Robert Johnson and
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 117
Col. Lounsberry also started, but they were not so speedy as the
winners, as the result shows.
The boys' sack race was won by H. Halldorson and Arthur
Soil, second. The barrel race by George Martin and Fordyce
Code, second. Emmett and John Dougherty won first and sec-
ond in the bicycle race. Walter Nelson won the foot race.
At one o'clock the band headed the procession to the ball
grounds, where Cooperstown and Park Eiver were billed to give
the spectators a good exhibition of the national game. The teams
lined up and the game was called and lasted a little over two
hours, the score standing 8 to 10 in favor of the Cooperstowns.
The two days' session was terminated in the evening by a
concert in the opera house. Those of the old settlers who re-
mained thoroughly enjoyed the last number of the two days'
programme of the tenth annual session. The Misses Wilma and
Ruth Anderson again won plaudits from those sensitively re-
sponsive to the charms of classic music. The other numbers of
the programme were also enthusiastically received. The follow-
ing is the programme:
Piano Solo — Polonaise (the major) Chopin
Miss Wilma Anderson.
Vocal Solo .-
Mr. M. E. Quigley.
Violin Solo — Rondo Capricioso Saint-Saens
Miss Ruth Anderson.
Recitation On the Other Train
Mrs. R. C. Cliff.
Piano Solo — (a) Filense (Spinning Song)
(b) Waltz Van Dooren
Miss Wilma Anderson.
Vocal Solo
Mrs. B. C. Matteson.
Violin Solo — Serenade (Andaluza)
Miss Ruth Anderson.
Sarasate
Recitation
Miss Maude McEwan.
118 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
Piano Solo— Last Hope Gottschalk
Miss Wilma Anderson.
Vocal Solo
Mr. G. E. Kermott.
Violin Solo—Romance Rubinstein
Miss Ruth Anderson.
Something
Dr. R. C. Cliff.
The Mandt band furnished the music for the festive occasion
and earned considerable praise from the people while here.
The number of old settlers in attendance the last day was
about 100. A large number was expected, but attractions in
other towns on those dates prevented a good many from
attending.
The first session of the eleventh annual meeting was called to
order in Grafton at 10 a. m., on Wednesday, June 12, 1901, with
President James Twamley in the chair.
In the absence of Secretary Lounsberry, C. W. Andrews, of
Walhalla, was made temporary secretary and the following mem-
bers reported present:
D. W. Driscoll, H. A. Ball, J. A. Delaney, C. G. Jackson, David
Hogg, N. N. Midgarden, Gunder Olson, Iver Dahl, Andrew H.
Walker, Grafton.
Thomas Bolton, John Peterson, Henry N. Clemetson, N. 0.
Clemetson, Park River.
James Carpenter, John Woods, Forest River.
A. Smith, H. J. Hagen, Abercrombie.
James Twamley, George Richards, Andrew Kemble, Grand
Forks. C. W. Andrews, Walhalla.
After the appointment of committees the place of next meet-
ing was discussed and it was decided to meet in the city of
Wahpeton, N. D. On motion the president and secretary were
authorized to fix the date of the meeting, which shall be held
during the month of June, 1902.
The election of officers was next in order. A communication
from Col. C. A. Lounsberry, the permanent secretary, was read
in which he stated it was impossible for him to control his time
I
THE OLD SETTLEES' ASSOCIATION 119
and attend to the duties of the office and requested that someone
who was able to give more attention to the affairs of the asso-
ciation be elected secretary.
The elections resulted in the choice of H. J. Hagen, of Aber-
crombie, for president and D. W. Driscoll, of Grafton, for treas-
urer. C. W. Andrews, of Walhalla, was elected permanent secre-
tary. The new officers were installed by the retiring president
and after some appropriate remarks President Hagen appointed
the following vice presidents :
Pembina County — Judson LaMoure.
Walsh County — James Carpenter and W. C. Lestikow.
Grand Forks County — James Twamley.
Traill County — Asa Sargent.
Richland County — H. C. N. Myhra.
Cass County — C. A. Lounsberry.
Wilken County, Minnesota — Peter Hansen.
Mr. T. E. Cooper presented to the association a copy of the
early history of Grafton and Walsh county and also a paper
containing a sketch of the life of Mr. Jacob Rhinehart, an early
settler of Walsh county. The same were accepted and a vote
of thanks tendered Mr. Cooper, who was, on motion, made a
regular member of the association and his wife an honorary
member.
The names of those who had died during the year were read
and the secretary was instructed to prepare suitable obituary
notices and publish same in the Journal. The following is the
list:
Mary Ann Woods, wife of John Woods, at Forest River, April
24, 1901.
David McAuley, of McAuleyville, July, 1900, aged 75 years.
Edward Connolly, March, 1901, aged 65 years.
J. W. Blanding, March, 1901, aged 82 years.
Alex. Oldham, Grand Forks.
The secretary reported receiving from J. Morley Wyard, for-
mer treasurer, $54.25, which, with the $172.50 received from dues
and new members, constituted the receipts for the year, $226.75.
Letters regretting their inability to attend the annual reunion
120 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEK VALLEY
were received and read from Col. C. A. Lounsberry and Charles
Cavalier.
On motion it was ordered that the secretary prepare a roster
of the association having the names printed in alphabetical
order and with a copy of the journal, which was also ordered
printed, sent to each member who has paid his membership fees
and dues. The secretary was authorized to have the necessary
printing done.
Moved that the association badge be the Log Cabin, Red
Kiver Cart and Ox with Old Settlers and R. R. V. A., date De-
cember 31, 1881, a general badge for the association, and for
each different date as per minutes of the association at Park
River session, an emblem corresponding to same, "Catfish," "Dog
Train," "Ox Cart" and "Stage Coach."
Moved that the secretary receive ten per cent, of all moneys
paid, as his salary.
A hearty vote of thanks was extended to the citizens of Graf-
ton, the committee on arrangements, the ladies of the Relief
Corps, Professor Deeks and D. C. Moore, who acted as mayor in
the absence of Mr. Lestikow, for their untiring efforts to make
the meeting a pleasant success.
At 6 :30 o 'clock Wednesday evening the visitors were invited
to the armory, where a sumptuous dinner had been provided by
the members of the W. R. C. About two hundred persons sat
down to the feast and it was indeed a happy gathering. Short
addresses were made by President Hagen, Messrs. Stockwell,
Twamley, Toombs, Cooper, Andrews, James Carpenter and others,
and H. A. Ball sang "My Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim"
in his usual happy manner and the whole company joined in the
chorus. D. C. Moore acted as master of ceremonies and spoke
briefly in closing this part of the programme. After everyone
had been thoroughly satisfied with the good things prepared by
the ladies, the company joined in singing "America." Professor
Deeks, of Grand Forks, was present and kindly consented to
operate the piano. The dancing was continued for an hour or
so, and those who did not care to indulge spent the time in mak-
ing acquaintances and talking over old times. Altogether it was
a very pleasant affair.
THE OLD SETTLEES' ASSOCIATION 121
Sessions were held Thursday, but these were mostly of a
social nature. The visitors left in the evening for their homes,
feeling that two days had been well spent and expressing them-
selves as delighted with the entertainment given by the citizens
of Grafton.
The twelfth annual meeting was called to order by H. J.
Hagen, president of the association, in the opera house, Wahpe-
ton, at one o'clock p. m., June 26, 1902. Prayer was offered by
the Kev. G. H. Davies, of Wahpeton, after which Mayor Bade
presented Hon. W. E. Purcell to the meeting, who delivered the
address of welcome.
The Wahpeton band assisted in the opening exercises with
music. After the conclusion of the address, at about three p. m.,
all (not memebrs of the association) were requested to retire to
allow the old settlers to transact the routine business of the year
and the ladies were invited to go to Schuler Hall, where a special
programme had been prepared for their entertainment. This
was a special feature gotten up by the ladies of Wahpeton for
the entertainment of the old settlers' companions and their fam-
ilies, who are honorary members of the association, and was
greatly enjoyed by all.
Handsome rugs had been laid upon the floor, fine easy chairs
provided in abundance, small tables and stands placed here and
there, screens artistically arranged to form cosy nooks, and the
room made as much as possible to take on the semblance of a
parlor. Charming young ladies presided over the handsome and
enticing frappe bowls.
A fine musical programme had been provided and the visitors
enjoyed it greatly. Mrs. Meckstroth sang a contralto song; the
Misses Purdon and McKean played four-hand pieces, and the
ladies' quartette, comprising Miss Beeman, Mesdames Bassett,
Davidson and Meckstroth, sang choice selections. The visitors
plainly showed their delight.
At the business meeting the first thing on the programme was
the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, held at Grafton,
which were read by Assistant Secretary, the Hon. Folsom Dow,
and on motion were approved as read. The acting secretary then
read the death roll for the preceding year, as follows :
122 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
J. A. Delaney, Grafton, N. D.; Maj. E. A. McGlone, Devils
Lake, N. D.; John J. Hurley, Walhalla, N. D.; John 0. Fadden,
Sr., Arvilla, N. D. ; William James, Bathgate, N. D. ; William Har-
vey, Jr., Earnest, N. D.; R. McGregor, Grafton, N. D.; M. L.
Adams, Grand Forks, N. D. These are all the names received
to date by the secretary of members having died during the
preceding year.
In the address made at this meeting the speaker reviewed in
part the history of the association. In the latter portion of his
speech he said:
"At the Fargo meeting in '94 it was resolved that a commit-
tee be appointed to procure facts concerning the early settlements
and history of the Red River Valley. This committee consisted
of C. A. Lounsberry, George B. Winship, S. G. Roberts, S. F.
Crockett, E. S. Tyler, Charles Cavalier and David McCauley. A
committee was also appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws
for the association.
"At the Grand Forks meeting in '95, Col. Lounsberry, chair-
man of the historical committee, reported the work done by this
committee, which included the establishment of the 'Record' for
the purpose of gathering historical data. The date for eligible
membership was advanced to settlers of the Red River Valley
prior to December 31, 1877.
"Pembina, December 18, 1896, when it was ordered that those
who had settled in the valley prior to July 1, 1879, should be
eligible to membership, and a permanent secretary be elected.
Col. C. A. Lounsberry was made secretary.
"Articles of association and incorporation were concluded by
the action of the seventh annual meeting, which was held in
Grand Forks, September 29, 1897. Under the association arti-
cles, 'This association shall exist for a term of forty years, and
the directors shall be eleven in number, and may hold real and
personal property not exceeding in value ten thousand dollars.
It may receive bequests for the purpose of establishing a his-
torical and biographical library for preserving its records, pub-
lishing its proceedings, biographical sketches, etc., and when dis-
solved its property shall be turned over to the state for his-
torical and library purposes.'
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 123
"Wives and daughters of old settlers, if born prior to July 1,
1879, were made eligible to be entered on the roll as honorary
members.
"The historical committee reported that Charles Cavalier was
the first white settler to have a patent for North Dakota land.
'Jim' Hill was the second purchaser of real estate in North
Dakota."
C. W. Andrews, the secretary, reported at this meeting that
the books and papers of the association, together with the minute
book and all papers of the Park River Association, were destroyed
at the big fire that occurred there in 1900.
The death roll report at this time consisted of: Hon. J. A.
Delaney, Grafton, N. D. ; Major E. A. Maglone, Devils Lake, N.
D.; John J. Hurley, Walhalla, N. D.; John 0. Fadden, Sr.,
Arvilla, N. D. ; William James, Bathgate, N. D. ; William Harvey,
Jr., Ernest, N. D.; R. McGregor, Grafton, N. D.
At a meeting of the executive committee held at Grand Forks
December 20, 1902, at which the officers of the association and
other members were present, H. J. Hagan presented a map of
old Fort Abercrombie, and a letter of suggestions from Albert
Schmidt, of Abercrombie, as to how the old location could be
utilized as a site for the Old Settlers' Historical Museum.
The secretary presented the claims of Walhalla as such a
site, offering to donate from one to five acres of land for the
location and assuring the committee that any old historical build-
ings in the locality would be freely given them to move to their
premises in case they accepted a site in Walhalla.
It was moved and seconded that Mr. Andrews be tendered
a vote of thanks for his liberal offer of land at Walhalla for
the benefit of the Old Settlers' Association.
John Nelson, who settled at Breckenridge in 1873 and is at
present receiver of the Grand Forks land office, was made a
member of the association and his wife was elected an honorary
member.
It was moved and seconded that the general secretary send
samples of the Journal to the Agricultural College at Fargo, the
University at Grand Forks, the Red River Valley University at
124 HISTOEY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
Wahpeton, the secretary of state and the normal schools at
Valley City and Mayville. (Which has since been done.)
It was moved by George B. Winship that the president, secre-
tary and Col. Lounsberry be a committee of three for the pur-
pose of conferring with the State Historical Society and prepare
a memorial to the state legislature asking for the appropriation
of $1,000 as a nucleus for the purpose of purchasing sites, put-
ting up buildings, procuring historical relics and maintaining
same, and that the bill be presented at the coming session of the
legislature, if possible, by Hon. Judson LaMoure, said appropria-
tion to be expended by the Historical Society in conjunction
with the Red River Valley Old Settlers' Association.
This memorial was drafted and presented to Mr. LaMoure,
who, by the unanimous consent of the senate, introduced the
following :
Senate Bill No. 196.
For an Act to Provide for the Contribution, Purchase and Cus-
tody of Historical Sites and Relics in the State of North
Dakota and to Appropriate Money Therefor.
Be It Enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of North
Dakota :
Section 1. The State Historical Commission may from time
to time, receive contributions of historical sites and relics, or
money for the purchase of such sites and relics, and may purchase
such sites and relics. It may purchase not exceeding ten acres
of land, embracing the site of old Fort Abercrombie, in Richland
county, at a cost not exceeding $500: and not exceeding ten
acres of land, embracing the site of the first Christian mission
grounds, at Walhalla, in Pembina county, at a cost not exceeding
$500. When land shall be contributed or purchased as herein
authorized for historical purposes, the title shall vest in the
state of North Dakota, and the land may be placed in the custody
of the Old Settlers' Association of the respective counties in
which said sites are located, and may be improved and used by
them for public park purposes and for the accumulation and care
of relics of historical interest. When relics are contributed or
purchased they shall be placed in the custody of the State His-
HOX. TOHN CARMODY
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 125
torical Commission and those of a local historical nature may be
leased to the County Old Settlers' Association, where proper pro-
visions have been made for their care and preservation. Money
contributed for the purchase of historic relics or sites shall be
placed in the hands of the state treasurer and shall be paid out
on the warrant of the state auditor when approved by the State
Historical Commission, or a majority of its members.
Sec. 2. There is hereby appropriated for the purpose of this
act, the sum of $1,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary
out of the money in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Provided, that before said appropriation shall be available there
shall have been placed in the hands of the treasurer of the state
of North Dakota, to the credit and for the use and benefit of said
State Historical Commission, the sum of one thousand dollars
($1,000) as a contribution from interested persons for carrying
out the provisions of this act.
The above bill was referred to the committee on resolutions,
and through the untiring efforts of Hon. Judson LaMoure, Presi-
dent William H. White and Hon. James Twamley, was passed on
its third reading. .
On motion the meeting adjourned until June 6, 1893.
The directors of the association met, as provided for in the
constitution of the association, at the Waldorf hotel in Fargo,
N. D., at 9 :30 a. m., June 6, 1903.
There was present the president, William H. White, the
secretary, C. W. Andrews ; James Holes, vice president from Cass
county; N. J. Hagen, vice president from Richland county; Asa
Sargent, vice president from Traill county. A quorum being
present, the business of the meeting was taken up and transacted.
It was decided that the county officers should apply to the
general secretary for all printed blanks and supplies needed.
The report of the treasurer, showing a balance of $161.55
in the treasury, was received and the report approved.
On motion it was decided that county treasurers should ren-
der full reports to the general secretary of all moneys collected.
Vice President Holes reported the organization of the Cass
county auxiliary on June 10 with a very interesting meeting.
Many new members were secured and old members paid up, net-
126 HISTOEY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
ting the organization $114.50 from dues and fees. He reported
750 people in Cass county who were eligible to membership.
Vice President Hagan reported plans for a big meeting at
Abercrombie on June 17, and thought they would have 90 new
members before that time, and expressed the opinion that their
enrollment would reach 300 before the meeting was over. There
are a great many people in Richland county who settled there
during the years 1870 to 1875.
Vice President Sargeant, of Traill county, made no report,
but recommended that the counties work together and help each
other in their work as much as possible, the general executive
keeping in touch with each county organization.
It was moved by H. J. Hagan that we do not have an annual
meeting this year, but assist at the Abercrombie and Walhalla
meetings, the officers to be elected at the Abercrombie meeting
and installed at the Walhalla meeting. The next annual meeting
to be held at Fargo in June, 190-1. After discussion the motion
was approved.
The general secretary was instructed to get out a uniform
set of record books, receipts, order book and report blanks and
have a supply printed so as to be able to supply each county
upon demand.
It was moved by James Elton, of Grand Forks county, and
seconded by H. J. Hagen, of Richland county, that a vote of
thanks be given the Hon. Judson LaMoure for his efforts in
securing the passage of the bill appropriating state funds for
the purchase of historical sites for the use of the Old Settlers'
Association.
It was moved by H. J. Hagen that a site be purchased at
Abercrombie comprising part of the grounds of the old fort as
per diagram herewith submitted and marked exhibit A, at a
cost of $75.00 per acre. The motion prevailed and H. J. Hagen,
George Hammer, of Abercrombie, and Charles E. "Wolfe, of Wah-
peton, were appointed a committee to purchase site.
On motion adjourned to meet at Abercrombie June 17, 1903.
The thirteenth annual meeting was held at Abercrombie July
17, 1903. The meeting being called at the same time and place
as the organization of the Richland County Auxiliary, no business
I
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 127
was attempted but the receiving of reports of officers and the
annual election. W. H. White, the president, called for the
order of business.
The officers elected at this meeting were:
President — L. B. Gibbs, of Grand Forks.
Secretary — C. W. Andrews, of Walhalla.
Treasurer — D. W. Driscoll, of Grafton.
After the installation into office of President Gibbs, the fol-
lowing vice presidents were appointed by him :
T. R. Shaw, Pembina county.
J. L. Cashel, Grafton, Walsh county.
George B. Winship, Grand Forks county.
E. Y. Sarles, Traill county.
George I. Foster, Cass county.
A. D. Stephens, Polk county, Minnesota.
A. P. Mclntyre, Marshall county, Minnesota.
On motion the association adjourned to allow the members
to be present at the ceremonies attending the dedication of the
Old Settlers' Park, the association to meet in 1904 on call of the
president and executive committee.
Wednesday, July 17, was a red-letter day for Abercrombie.
The sun rose cloudless from the eastern horizon and seemed to
smile an approval upon the handsomely decorated town of Aber-
crombie with its big tent, new park and new school house. Early
in the day teams began to come in from every direction drawing
loads of people. The train from Fargo unloaded scores of set-
tlers and their families and were met by the famous Kindred
band and the reception committee at the depot, who gave them
to understand that the town was theirs. The trains also from
Wahpeton were loaded with people for the celebration, and by
noon between 2,500 and 3,000 guests were in our village. The
first on the programme was to form in line at the depot and
march to the new school house, the procession being headed by
the Galchute and Kindred bands ; marched to the new structure
and with due ceremony the school board, conducted by W. C.
Scoville and C. J. Monson, directed the laying of the keystone
to the new building. After prayer by Rev. Edwards and singing
by the young ladies, Albert Schmidt, the first school director of
128 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Abercrombie, was very appropriately chosen to perform the
work, which he did in a very graceful manner. He also gave a
brief history of schools in Abercrombie township. He was fol-
lowed by an address by Hon. W. L. Stockwell, state superinten-
dent of public instruction, which was eloquent, enthusiastic and
inspiring from first to last, and was enjoyed by all. The pro-
cession then marched to the new park, where Olaf Bjorke, chair-
man of the township board of supervisors, addressed the settlers
in a very eloquent manner. He was followed by Hon. P. J.
McCumber, United States senator from North Dakota. He gave
a brief history of the Dakotas, tracing them from the glacial
period and Lake Agassiz to their present grandeur. His speech
was eloquent and enthusing and was enjoyed by fully two thou-
sand people. After his address the guests were directed to the
large tent where dinner was served free to all. Mrs. Hammer,
Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Hagen, Mrs. Munger and other ladies, assisted
by several gentlemen, ably waited on the big crowd until all had
dined.
After dinner W. H. White called the meeting to order and
announced its object. After prayer by Rev. Edwards he called
upon John D. Benton, of Fargo, who responded in his well-
pleasing manner, also Mr. Hubbard, the man who started J. J.
Hill in business and gave him $5 for hauling his trunk from
McCauleyville to Moorhead, way back in the fifties. Mr. Hub-
bard was one of the first settlers of Fargo and is well known
here. Judge Lauder was called and delivered a very able address
in which he paid due tribute to the people of Abercrombie for the
elaborate preparations for the old people's comfort. The ad-
dress of welcome was given by Hon. G. A. Hammer. He gave all
to understand that neither time nor money had been spared to
make a pleasant meeting for the old settlers and that they were
heartily welcome to our hospitality.
Mr. Holes, of Fargo, responded very pleasantly and made
appropriate remarks upon the occasion. Mrs. Woodbury read
the state song composed by Mrs. Slaughter. H. J. Hagen deliv-
ered a well-worded address. Other old settlers responded and
all present enjoyed their speaking.
Next came the election of officers. H. J. Hagen was elected
THE OLD SETTLEKS' ASSOCIATION 129
president of Eichland County Old Settlers' Association and
Anton Mikche vice president for the coming year, Hon. George
Van Amain secretary and K. L. Johnson treasurer.
Supper then was ready and Mrs. C. "W. McCauley had been
chosen toast mistress. She was right at home in the position and
made things lively by enthusing the crowd with her ready wit
and humor. She called upon the following, who responded to
the different subjects assigned them: Senator McCumber, "The
Pioneer Citizen ; ' ' County Attorney Schuler, * ' The Improvements
of the Day;" W. H. White, "The Old Settler Financially;" James
Holes, Fargo; C. W. Andrews, "The Old Settler Industrially;"
Col. Benton, "The Old Life and the New;" J. A. Johnson, ex-
mayor of Fargo, "The Ladies Past and Present;" 0. J. Hagen,
"What the Old Settlers Stand for." J. Q. Burbank, county sur-
veyor, responded to a toast very gracefully and Alex Stern was
called on, but was too busy with his supper to respond. All in
all everybody enjoyed the occasion and Abercrombie people feel
amply repaid for their trouble.
The fifteenth annual meeting of the association was held at
Grand Forks, N. D., June 27, 1905, with President L. B. Gibbs
in the chair.
The death roll for this year includes the names of: D. W.
Driscoll, Graf ton; William A. Ackerman, Grand Forks; George
Eichards, Grand Forks; Andrew Kimble, East Grand Forks;
Peter Ferry, Turtle Kiver ; Mrs. Barney Haggerty, Grand Forks ;
Mrs. Ann Martin, Grand Forks ; Mrs. D. McDonald, Grand Forks ;
Mrs. C. Coulter, Mallory.
Fraternal letters from the following persons were received
and read: Hon. W. E. Purcell, of Wahpeton; D. A. Hogg, of
Graf ton; T. E. Shaw, Pembina; Mrs. Carrie W. McCauley, of
McCauleyville, Minn. ; President J. J. Hill, of the Great Northern
Eailway Company; Colonel A. W. Edwards, of Montreal; Sen-
ators Hansbrough and McCumber, and Congressman Gronna, of
Lakota, and Congressman Steenerson, of Crookston, and Gov-
ernor E. Y. Sarles.
Secretary Andrews addressed the meeting in reference to a
collection of relics by the association. Through the efforts of the
association the state had appropriated $500.00 for the purchase
130 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
of a historical park site at Walhalla and a like amount for Aber-
crombie. Five acres have been purchased at both points, both
historic ground and adapted for permanent park purposes. It
is designed to make these as beautiful and attractive as possible.
At Walhalla one of the old warehouses built by N. W. Kittson
sixty years ago is still standing and this will be moved to the
park, fitted up suitably as a museum for relics, and the nucleus
of a collection has been already formed. Secretary Andrews had
secured a Ked river cart made by Red Bear in 1848, which has
been exhibited at the St. Louis fair and is now on exhibition at
Portland. This has been donated to the association for the
Walhalla museum and another cart built by M. Dupre in 1862
has been donated to the Abercrombie collection by Secretary
Andrews.
Secretary Andrews urged that all take an interest in making
a valuable collection of relics which should form the association's
record.
Hon. W. H. White, of Fargo, vice president for Cass county,
a former president of the parent association, addressed the
society on the subject of the county auxiliaries. Mr. White had
been largely instrumental in having the county auxiliaries organ-
ized, but felt that perhaps it was a mistake. He urged that the
county auxiliaries should not be allowed to detract in any man-
ner from the parent association, nor to take its place, to any
extent, but instead, its object should be to build up the Red
River Valley Association.
Vice President H. J. Hagen, of Richland county, and others
expressed the same sentiment. Secretary Andrews said that it
was very necessary to have a secretary of each of the county
auxiliaries who would co-operate with the general secretary.
The matter of the election of officers was taken up and a dis-
cussion ensued as to the form. A motion offered by the Hon.
John D. Benton that the association elect a president who should
nominate twelve vice presidents, one for each of the counties in
the Red River valley, eleven of whom should be named as the
directors, and these nominations to be ratified by the association,
was adopted.
After a concert in the evening the old settlers joined heartily
THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION 131
in a dance, the company making a merry time until 1 o'clock in
the morning.
The annual meeting of the Red River Valley Old Settlers'
Association for 1906 was held in the Masonic Temple at Fargo,
N. D., July 24, 1906, with an attendance of more than 300 persons.
The meeting was called to order by the president, Thomas
Baker, Jr., who introduced Mayor J. A. Johnson, who delivered
an address of welcome. Mayor Johnson spoke feelingly of early
days, of those whom he met when he came to Fargo twenty-seven
years ago, of the enterprise and enthusiasm of the people, of the
willingness to back up any scheme for the advancement of the
city ; men put up five or ten dollars then, where today they would
not put up one, of the value of these meetings from an historical
point of view, and reminded the members that much of historical
interest would be lost if not placed on record while they were
living.
An interesting address was given by Mr. H. A. Tagen and
remarks were also made by Colonel Ball, S. G. Roberts, L. B.
Gibbs, James Twamley, C. W. Andrews, J. Schmidt and N. K.
Hubbard. Colonel Morton also gave an interesting address in
which he told of his first coming to Fargo in 1875, being twenty-
four hours on the train from St. Paul to Fargo, of his investments
in land within ten miles from Fargo, at prices ranging from
$96.00 to $200.00 per quarter, land that now, thirty years after,
brings $4,000.00 to $5,000.00 per quarter and even more. Colonel
Morton is a good story teller and his stories of Mayor Chapin,
Major Edwards and others were keenly appreciated by the old
settlers present.
At the conclusion of the programme, William Anglin, of
Crookston, was elected president of the association and Crookston
was selected as the next place for the meeting.
Report of the Secretary-Treasurer.
During the year just closed, the Red River Valley Old Set-
tlers' Association has held one general meeting at Grand Forks
under the auspices of the Grand Forks County Association, which
was largely attended by the old settlers of Grand Forks county
and also many members from over the state and from Minne-
132 HISTOEY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
sola. There were also held meetings of county organizations for
Pembina and Walsh counties at Walhalla; of Richland county
at Christine on June 8, 1905, and again at Wyudmere on June
14 and 15, 1906. The Polk County Association held a meeting
at Crookston. The meetings were well attended and thoroughly
enjoyed.
Not so many new members were received this year as in
former years and many old members have failed to pay their
dues. Some of the county secretaries do not realize the im-
portance of reporting to the general secretary all the members
enrolled and dues collected. It is particularly important to
report the present address of each member, so that notices may
be sent from time to time from the general secretary's office.
The books of the general secretary show a membership as
follows: Pembina and Walsh counties, 177 members; Grand
Forks county, 120 members ; Cass county, 107 members ; Richland
county, 116 members; Polk county, 51 members; a total of 571
members, but I think that there are many members whose names
do not appear on the general secretary's books.
During the past year we have received $500.00 from the state
of North Dakota to aid in fitting up the park at Walhalla, under
the auspices of the Pembina and Walsh County Associations.
The grounds have been purchased and the old warehouse built
in 1852 and used by Commodore Kittson in his fur trading busi-
ness, has been purchased, repaired and placed in the park, and
other improvements made.
CHAPTER VI.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS
DECEASED.
By Old Settlers.
And Incidents in the Early Settlement of North Dakota.
Major William Camp was a native of Philadelphia, Pa., but
a man of the world, an all-around cosmopolitan, genial and pleas-
ant. He had visited all parts of the United States and was a
close observer, and having a very retentive memory he possessed
a wonderful fund of information. He was not avaricious, but he
gained a competence and never wanted for any of the comforts
of life. He went to California in 1849, remaining several years,
having good success in mining, and might have taken his ease
during the remainder of his life on the accumulated dust, but
he divided his means among friends, retaining only enough to
return to the gold fields, where he again gained a competence
which he in part divided with the same generous spirit as before.
Being a brother-in-law of Colonel John Hancock, he came to
Pembina in 1870 and took a pre-emption claim near old Fort
Pembina, and settled down to the life of an amateur settler, cul-
tivating a large garden in the early morning and other odd times,
but really spending most of his time angling for Red river salmon,
as the catfish and gold eyes were called. He was an expert in
this line — a worthy son of Walton — indeed it was believed he
could have given old Sir Izaak points. As he fished for pastime
and required but few for his own use, his neighbors came in for
the lion's share of the fruits of his sport. He seemed to have a
magnetic influence on the fish and would haul them in when
those on the same stream above and below got no bites, but
133
134 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Major Camp was happy even though it sometimes happened that
even his bait would not tempt the fish, in the contemplation of
his former successes or of the good time to come. He was not a
Nimrod. Indeed, I doubt whether he ever fired a gun or a pistol.
He absolutely knew nothing of shooting, and never carried a
gun or knife during all of the rough scenes he had passed through.
He was at all times genial and pleasant. In his home he had a
favorite cat which followed him into the fields where he was at
work. When the cat died the usual sign of mourning was placed
on the shanty door. The children, especially the little girls,
were always his friends, and the dimes he spent on the little ones
would have more than paid his taxes. Sometimes he would prom-
ise them the first nickel he should find or a nickel when "the
pigs got fat enough to kill." One day when he had given the
same old bluff for about the eleventh time, one of the little girls
told him he could lie faster than a horse could run, which was
all the same to the Major. He had no enemies and was liked by
all. He was a good conversationalist and could tell any number
of good stories. He had many quaint sayings. "Up is up and
down is down; right is right and right wrongs no one," was a
common one. Again he would remark: "The young may die;
the old must." Frank Hart quoted this on him a few days be-
fore his death and finally succeeded in getting him to make a
will. It is in favor of Colonel John Hancock. The estate con-
sists of $2,000 or more in money and considerable in mortgages.
His death was painless and without a struggle and he was buried
by the Free Masons in the beautiful cemetery at Pembina, where
it is hoped his friends will erect a suitable monument at an early
day. A good citizen, a kind friend, a noble man has gone to his
rest.
In his sober and conversational moments the Major but sel-
dom flickered out; but when in a mellow mood, as he sometimes
would get, he would burst out in a melodious strain in a high,
low or flat tone, as the humor took him, with "Mary of Argyle,"
and keep it up for hours, and in part of it the Swiss Nightingale
would be in a total eclipse. This, to the knowledge of your corre-
spondent, was all the song he tried his vocal powers on.
Now and then he would illustrate a subject he was speaking
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 135
on by a quotation from Shakespeare or some noted poet, thus
demonstrating that he was not the subject that was only "fit
for bar-room stratagem and sports."
Old Time Wedding Festivities. By Charles Cavalier.
When we had returned to the house, which was filled with
over sixty happy couples, all nicely and tastefully and some
richly attired, I must say I never saw a more genteel lot of people,
and there was beauty galore, and a finer party of ladies, com-
bined with much beauty, I never saw. The supper was a grand
affair, the table was loaded with all the substantials and luxuries
of civilized 'life with much of hunter's skill, which all ate with
the appetite of us northerners, while toasts and speeches were
made by some of our home talent. Supper over, the tables cleared
and teeth picked, all by nine o'clock, then the room was cleared
for the dance, fiddlers tuned up, and the young beaus hunted
their partners. This pastime was one I shall never forget, for it
was kept up all night, some of them singing, "We won't go home
till morning," nor did they, the most of them, and did not see
bed until the next night. Thus ended our old-time wedding of
the Red river of North Dakota. Times are changed and the pro-
gramme is now of another scale.
On the 16th of March, 1857, we left the good old home of
my wife on our return to St. Joseph, N. D. My father-in-law,
Mr. Murray, accompanied us part of the way and my wife's
brother, James, returned with us to St. Joseph. Arriving at
Narcisse Marion's, I was to take my own dog team, managed by
Commodore Paul Bouvier, same as on the voyage down. We bade
our old friend Marion and wife good-bye that day after dinner,
Paul leading with the dogs. Sandy Dahl, next with my wife on
board his train, followed by Mr. Murray and James. Having a
good road and a fine day for travel we went along kiting and
arrived in good time at our intended camping place at Old
Dauphinais. Mr. D. in his young days was a Canadian voyageur,
but after his marriage with a half-breed girl he settled down to
pastoral and agricultural life, but leaving his home twice a year,
he took the plains as a hunter of buffalo and other game, return-
ing in June with his carts laden with pemmican and buffalo cow
136 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
pelts with which to make robes. My father-in-law and the old
man having been hunters together in their young days, they
swapped the usual yarns of hunting exploits until they talked
me to sleep. Next morning we took an early and substantial
breakfast and bade adieu to Mr. Murray and our host, Old Dau-
phinais, of whom I may say in passing, that he was in a prosper-
ous way, having some sixty head of horses, over forty horned
cattle; sheep and chickens, and eighteen or twenty children;
but to resume our journey, we had fine weather that day, though
it commenced thawing the day we arrived at Pembina. That
night we camped at Two Little Points, and had a pleasant and
comfortable time. The next day we reached Pembina. Mr.
Murray and I were treated to the best they had in the larder
and the old custom in those days of sipping port wine until late
bedtime. The next day early, having bid our friends good-bye,
we endeavored to make a good spell before it commenced thaw-
ing, and by so doing we arrived at St. Joseph before dark and
were welcomed by our friends with a fusillade of twenty or more
N. W. Trading Company's flint-lock guns, all of which did me
good to take in.
An Old-Timer's Story.— Senator R. M. Probstfield.
One of the most interesting characters among the early set-
tlers of the Eed Eiver valley is Kandolph M. Probstfield, farmer,
living on the Eed river just below Moorhead. Mr. Probstfield
came in advance of civilization, before the stage lines and steam-
boats, before the United States surveys, before the railroads, and
before Moorhead and Fargo were born in thought even.
Born near Muenster-Mayfield, Germany, November 9, 1832,
Mr. Probstfield came to the United States when a lad of nine-
teen. He resided a while in Wisconsin and northern Michigan,
where he was engaged in lumbering, and in Milwaukee a month
or so, and came to St. Paul in 1853. The Big Timber country
was then unsurveyed, and he went into the wilds near what
is now Mankato and took up a claim which fell on school lands,
and he gave it up. In September, 1853, he went down the Missis-
sippi from St. Paul on a lumber raft to what is now Wabasha,
and thence to Galena, 111., by steamer, where he located in the
TAYLOR CRUM
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 137
wood business. He returned to St. Paul in the spring of 1854.
He was an active politician in those days, and, though a Demo-
crat, was instinctively opposed to human slavery, and went south
in order to observe the working of that system. He run on the
Ohio and Mississippi between Pittsburg, Cincinnati and New
Orleans, and finally shipped on the Prometheus as a cabin boy
and went to Nicaragua at the time of Walker's filibustering
expedition. Crossing over the isthmus, he went to San Francisco.
Returning to the Mississippi and Ohio, he was again employed,
this time as a roustabout, and came up the river in the spring of
1856, as soon as the ice would permit. The river was frozen from
Cairo to St. Louis and below that for many miles filled with
floating ice.
Speaking of the winter of 1856, the editor of "The Record"
was then in Ohio and made thirteen weekly trips carrying the
mail from Hicksville, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Ind., on runners, after
the first of January. There was good sleighing on the first of
April, and the old people who used to live on the Susquehanna,
in New York, told stories of deep snows and blizzards which out-
blizzard the severest Red River valley weather.
Returning to Minnesota, Mr. Probstfield became interested in
a hotel at Chisago City, where he prospered, but, meeting with
unexpected difficulties through a partner, left there in 1857 and
was thereafter employed for a time clerking in a grocery store
in West St. Paul, where he became active in politics, was super-
visor, assessor, collector, etc.
Minnesota had voted $5,000,000 in bonds to promote the con-
struction of railroads, and these bonds were made the basis for
the issue of currency by state banks. The bonds fell in value,
the banks broke, and the people who had either bonds or alleged
money, lost, Probstfield being one of the losers.
Preceding the panic, there had been an era of speculation in
town sites, and several were located on the Red river, among them
Lafayette and Sheyenne City, located near the mouth of the
Sheyenne. The eastern states were flooded with circulars of
paper cities. They would be located on some prominent stream,
and laid out into blocks and lots, the plats showing beautiful
parks, steamboats, prospective railroads, and thriving commer-
138 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
cial marts. People in the East were offered lots for $2, just the
cost of making out the transfer and recording the deeds, the
alleged object being to secure settlement, which would make the
reserved lots of great value ; but in this case no lots were sold.
Stories had come back of the rich agricultural lands in the
Red River valley, and, wanting to get beyond the confines of
civilization, perhaps where he could contemplate his losses unmo-
lested— for the true German wants to be let alone in his miseries,
but is always ready to share his joys — he started for the Red
River valley, February 26, 1859.
Accompanying him were George Emerling and Gerhardt Lulls-
dorf. George Emerling afterwards kept a hotel in Fort Garry,
now Winnipeg, and later settled at Walhalla, where he built the
first flouring mill in North Dakota. He died at Walhalla of
smallpox. With the true instincts of the pioneer settler, Emer-
ling took in one sick of this dread disease, because others pro-
nounced him unclean, and gave his life for the care of him.
Lullsdorf engaged in the hardware business in Mankota after-
ward, where he was associated with John F. Meagher.
The journey to the Red river was a hard one in many respects.
The winter was much such a winter as this until March. There
was snow until they reached Sauk Rapids. At what is now Little
Falls, or near there, at Luther's, they left their wagon and
took sleds.
Crow Wing, fifteen miles below what is now Brainerd, was
the outside settlement, except that there was a land office at
Otter Tail City. The settlers there were Duncan and James
McDougall and one Van Ness, who married part blood daughters
of John McDonald, who was an Indian trader at that point, and
the two land officers. Duncan McDougall still lives in the country
near Richwood, on the reservation in Becker county, Minnesota.
On the way from Otter Tail they caught up with Anson
Northrup's expedition en route to the Red river for the purpose
of building a steamboat. Desirous of opening trade with the
Hudson Bay interests, the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce had
offered a bonus of $10,000 for the construction of a steamboat
on the Red River of the North, and Anson Northrup had under-
taken to earn that money. His expedition consisted of forty-
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 139
four men and a large number of ox teams. Baldwin Olmstead,
Lewis Stone and George Stone were interested with Northrup
and were leading characters in the expedition. The machinery
was from the old North Star, which run on the Mississippi above
Minneapolis.
The snow had become very deep, and it was snowing every
day. About March 12 the expedition was out of hay, and Probst-
field went to the south end of Otter Tail lake, and it took three
days for the trip. The snow was three feet deep and more com-
ing. Reaching Oak lake, they could go no farther, and were com-
pelled to cut down trees to enable their ponies to live. So far
they had followed the Hudson Bay and half-breed cart trails.
From there they must try an unknown country, buried in snow,
and it took several days' exploration before they dared to strike
out. After ten days' waiting, the Northrop party caught up with
them, and, the explorations having been completed, they struck
out for the mouth of the Sheyenne, about ten miles north of
Fargo and Moorhead. They struck the Buffalo, six miles east
of the Red river, March 31, 1859, and Probstfield rode into Lafay-
ette, as this point was then generally called, late in the evening,
for provisions, the whole party being out of supplies. Edward
Murphy, from Montreal, and Charles Nash and Henry Myers,
from New York, were then living there. Across the river two
men were holding down a town site, known as Dakota City, for
Pierre Bottineau and others, of Minneapolis. The men were
Frank Durant and David Auger. That was before Dakota was
created, and the territory was unorganized and unattached.
Richard Banning, a brother of William L. Banning, well
known in Minnesota history, lived one and a half miles north of
Lafayette, holding down the town site of Sheyenne City. One-
half mile farther north, George "W. Northrop and his partner,
Cloren, lived in a nameless city. Northrop was a great hunter
and trapper, and was often employed by English noblemen to
accompany them on buffalo hunts. He was killed under General
Sully during the Indian war, July 28, 1864. Ten miles south of
Sheyenne, where Mr. Probstfield now lives, then known as Ten-
Mile Point, Robert Davis then resided. Eighty rods north of him
was the home of John Hanna. Ed. Griffin, now living at Fargo,
140 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
and James Anderson, alias Eobinson Crusoe, were also in the
vicinity, Griffin at the mouth of the Wild Eice. There were two
companies of soldiers at Abercrombie.
This was before Georgetown was established, and these were
practically all of the white settlers south of Pembina in the Eed
Eiver valley.
Probstfield succeeded in obtaining supplies at Lafayette, con-
sisting of pork and flour, and the night was spent baking bis-
suit. He started on the return early, and the hungry men soon
had relief. That night the expedition reached Lafayette — the
mouth of the Sheyenne — and in a few days the machinery, which
had been left at various points en route, owing to the bad roads,
was brought in.
A pit was dug and men set to work with a whip-saw to cut
lumber for the boat. By this process two men could cut about
250 feet per day if the timber was frozen. When not frozen, not
more than 175 feet could be cut. It was a tedious process, but
the material was supplied by and by, and the hull of the boat com-
pleted. After the completion of the hull it was run up to Aber-
crombie, where the cabin was put on. There was plenty of busi-
ness on the river, but Northrup had trouble enough of his own,
and proceeded to St. Paul, where he collected his bonus for the
construction of the boat and then tied her up. He had agreed to
put a boat on the Eed river, but not to run her, and by refusing
forced her sale to Blakely & Carpenter.
April 22, 1859, Mr. Probstfield left on his return trip for St.
Paul. He was accompanied by Eobert McNeil, who had four
horses and a Eed Eiver cart ; James Eyan and David Augie also
accompanied the party.
Northrup had exhausted his resources in his boat-building,
and his old-time credit was gone, and as Probstfield had depended
upon his orders for supplies, he found slim picking on his way
back. He found Northrup 's family at St. Anthony and brought
them the first intelligence they had from him since he left them
early in February for his Eed Eiver expedition. The deep snows
gave swollen streams and bad roads, but they reached their desti-
nation seventeen days out from the Eed river, and started back
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 141
in July. Adam Stein returned with Mr. Probstfield, and they got
back to the Red river about the 12th of July.
In the meantime the stage line had been extended to Aber-
crombie from St. Cloud, and about August 1 it was extended to
Georgetown, which had been established as a station of the
Hudson Bay Company. From thence freight was shipped to Fort
Garry by team or steamer, and from there to other Hudson Bay
Company points. James McKay located Georgetown. He was
in charge of the Hudson Bay Company train. A warehouse was
built the following winter, and the next year a hotel and a store
to supply the men with their needs, but not for general trade.
Prior to 1860 one range of towns had been surveyed along
the Red river up to Town 144, as far north as Wild Rice. Wilkin
county was known as Toombs county and Clay as Breckinridge.
Robert McKenzie was the first in charge of Georgetown. He
was a part-blood Cree, a most excellent gentleman. In December,
1859, he accompanied a party of Hudson Bay people as a guide.
A few miles south of Pembina the party run out of supplies and
McKenzie went to Pembina for relief; failing to return, they
pushed on to Pembina, and, finding that he had not been there, a
searching party found him frozen to death about seventeen miles
south of Pembina. The thermometer had ranged from 30 to 40
degrees below zero for several days, with a strong northwest
wind.
James Pruden was the next in charge at Georgetown. He
was the reverse of McKenzie in almost everything. The men
mutinied under his ill treatment, and he found it prudent to leave.
He was succeeded by Alex. Murray, a most capable and efficient
gentleman. He was in charge until September, 1862, when the
post was evacuated for a time because of the Indian war. There
were about thirty men employed at Georgetown at the time,
erecting buildings, making hay and attempting to farm, about
twenty acres being under cultivation at the time. The first crop
was put in in 1861, but the season was late, owing to the floods
of that year, and the next year it was abandoned because of the
Indian outbreak, and never harvested.
Georgetown was re-established in 1864, and in 1865 Mr.
Probstfield took charge and remained in charge from that time
142 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
till 1868. He was postmaster at Georgetown from 1864 to 1869.
Oscar Bentley was in charge of the post in 1864 and until Mr.
Probstfield succeeded him.
D. P. Harris, killed by burglars in Minneapolis ; Henry Gager,
now residing at Bismarck, and the two Bentleys, came to the post
in 1864.
The International was built at Georgetown in the spring of
1862. On her first trip down the river from Georgetown she car-
ried a party of Frazier River adventurers, among the number
Andrew Holes, of Moorhead. The machinery was from the old
Freighter, which was attempted to be sent up the Minnesota
through Lake Traverse and Big Stone lake to the Red river ; and
had the boat started earlier the feat could have been accom-
plished, the water being so high during the spring of 1861. But
she was left aground in the outlet of Big Stone lake, and in the
winter of 1861-2 her machinery was hauled by team to George-
town, under much the same conditions as Northrup had hauled
his boat from the Mississippi, except that she was moved over a
timberless and uninhabited country from the mouth of Mustinka
creek, where she had wintered.
In September, 1860, Mr. Probstfield went to Europe. Three
brothers and two cousins returned with him. They were delayed
several weeks the next spring, but when they came to the valley
in 1861 they brought five yoke of cattle, ten cows and thirty head
of young cattle. They left St. Paul, May 25, and reached the
Red river, June 22. They carried a long rope with which to
pull their wagons through the sloughs, carrying their loads
over the best way they could, locating on section 32, township
142, range 48, one-half mile south of where Georgetown was
situated.
In 1862 Mr. Probstfield purchased twenty-four head of sheep.
They came from Fort Garry, and cost $100 in gold. They came
on the first return trip of the International. The freight was $40.
Eighteen hours after their arrival all but one were killed by
Hudson Bay dogs, and the other one was killed during their
absence from Georgetown at the time of the evacuation.
Two of his brothers entered the army — Justus P., in Com-
pany G of the Fourth Minnesota, and died at the New House of
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 14b
Refuge in St. Louis, October 30, 1863. Anthony enlisted in
Company D, Fifth Minnesota, and died at Jefferson Barracks,
twenty days before his brother. Anthony had served in the Prus-
sian army as an artilleryman, and did effective work at the siege
of Abercrombie. One shot fired by him struck a house occupied
by Indians besieging the fort and killed four. The other brother
was employed as a carpenter at Abercrombie. He died in Mis-
souri in 1894. The cousins left the country on account of the
Indian troubles. One is in or near Portland, Ore., the other in
Los Angeles, Cal.
In September, 1861, Mr. Probstfield went to South Bend, Ind.,
where he was married to Catherine Goodman, a sister of Peter,
Joseph and Adam Goodman, now at Sheldon, who were also early
settlers in the Red River valley. After the wedding they drove
from St. Paul in an ox team and covered wagon to Georgetown,
taking eighteen days for the trip. Mary Probstfield, their first-
born, was a babe when the exciting events of the Indian war
which followed occurred.
The years 1859 and 1860 had been years of hardships. There
had been the flood of 1861, the late season, and the excitement
of the war. The Sioux, then occupying the lake and big timber
regions, were angry and threatening, and the Chippewas were
clamoring for treaty rights. There was bad blood between the
Chippewas and the Crees, and when the war spirit is on the
Indian, or his heart is bad, there is no telling where or when he
will strike.
Finally the expected happened. The settlers at Breckinridge
were massacred and Fort Abercrombie, which contained two
companies of troops and such settlers as could be alarmed and
brought in for safety, was besieged.
The first news reached Georgetown on the night of August 22,
1862. Two companies had previously been stationed at George-
town, but they had been withdrawn and the post was defenseless.
About midnight, Mr. Probstfield was .aroused by loud knocking
at his door by George Lullsdorf and E. R. Hutchinson, with
orders to dress quickly and hurry to the post for safety. There
they found consternation, panic, confusion, frightened men and
weeping women. The night was passed in terror. A Hudson
144 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Bay Company train had arrived that night loaded with goods for
the north, and with the men of this train and those at the
post, and the settlers who had come into that point, they mus-
tered forty-four men able to bear arms. They had thirty-three
guns — good, bad and indifferent — including some old flintlocks,
but there was an abundance of ammunition in the stores for
shipment north. Norman W. Kittson was there in charge of
the Hudson Bay Transportation interests, and the International
lay at the landing.
The organization was perfect, and for two weeks or more
they kept up their constant vigil, the outposts being relieved
every two hours. The windows and doors of the buildings were
barricaded with plank, provided with portholes. A bastion was
thrown out at the corner, with room for six men, and thus pre-
pared and armed for defense, they waited, debating as to which
way to retire. They knew Abercrombie was surrounded and that
several men escorting couriers out of the fort had been killed,
and so they decided to go north and reach safety at Fort Garry,
if possible.
"The crossing of the river that night at Georgetown," says
Mr. Probstfield, "is one I shall never forget. The sufferings, the
anxiety, the terrors, and the disappointment, to me were of all
events most deeply impressed upon my mind. We had all worked
all night, most of us like heroes — I thinking only of the safety
of the whole, regardless of self or of my family even, except
as our interests were bound up in the whole ; and at last I found
myself alone with wife and babe, team and goods, without a soul
to help, excepting the almost sick and physically helpless Alex-
ander Murray, the agent of the company, who with us was the
last to leave. Team after team was ferried across the stream,
and as the work of evacuation progressed, the panic increased,
and when we came to cross it required considerable persuasion
to have the ferry returned for us. ' '
They camped out of rifle range from the timber, about one-
half mile from Georgetown on the Dakota side, and so great
was the exhaustion that every soul fell asleep and the camp was
left without the slightest protection. At noon they reached Elm
river, and as they were preparing or eating their dinner, Pierre
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 145
Bottineau came in from Abercrombie and informed them of the
conditions there, and that he had seen Indians prowling around
near Georgetown. This created another panic, and those who
had not had their dinner, desired none, and they hurriedly broke
camp and hurried on. Various propositions were made, among
them one for the women and children to go on with the horse
teams, while the men would bring on the train; but as human
life was regarded of the greatest value, the party moved on with
the greatest caution, reconnoitering the Goose and other streams
where there was timber before attempting to cross, always throw-
ing the train into corral when stopping. They crossed the Goose
late next day and were encouraged by meeting fifteen well armed
and thoroughly equipped horsemen from Pembina, who had been
sent out for their relief. Among the party were Joe Rolette,
Hugh Donaldson, William Moorhead and others well known then
to Probstfield. Pierre Bottineau returned with them, having gone
on for relief.
The International had left for Fort Garry the evening of
the evacuation of Georgetown, having on board the family of
Alexander Murray and other women and children from the post,
Commodore Kittson and others. The river being low, the boat
was grounded about six miles by land below Georgetown, at what
is now Caledonia ; therefore it became necessary to dispatch some
teams to remove the women and children from the boat, together
with the crew and some of the more important goods. Two men
were left in charge of the boat as watchmen. They were Joseph
Adams and Robert Scrambler. Mrs. Scrambler remained with
her husband. A barge attached to the boat was loosened and
floated down the river in charge of E. R. Hutchinson.
At the camp the wagons were in corral and every man was
on the alert. About eleven at night, when the party was momen-
tarily expected to return, an Indian yell was heard that was
simply hair-lifting. Every man was on his feet, and every rifle
cocked, when the voice of Hugh Donaldson assured them there
was no danger. The yell came from Pierre Bottineau, who was
in a playful mood from what he had found at the boat, the sale
of which is now prohibited in North Dakota.
The next night the expedition camped at Frog Point, now
146 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Belmont, and as had been the case before, everybody went to
sleep, without outposts or other guards, and the next night three
miles south of Grand Forks. A meeting was then called to con-
sider necessary measures of safety, and as nothing seemed likely
to be accomplished, Probstfield left the meeting, declaring that
he would go no farther with them, but saying they could call him
when his turn came to stand guard, if they determined to put out
guards. He was called at five next morning to go on duty, and
stood his trick, but refused to go further with the expedition.
In the meantime they had learned that there were several hun-
dred Chippewa Indians at Grand Forks, hungry and desperate,
who were waiting to meet Governor Ramsey and others, who
were to treat with them, but who had been delayed by the Indian
outbreak. These Indians captured the expedition, took what
they wanted to eat, but harmed none of the party, which went on
to Pembina.
Stephen Wheeler, who worked for C. P. Lull, who was keeping
a hotel at Georgetown up to the time of the outbreak; William
Tarbell; Ed. Larkens, known as "Lige," his wife, an Indian
named Marceau and his wife; Mrs. Commisanze and Mrs. E. R.
Hutchinson, remained with Probstfield. Lull, his wife and child,
were with other settlers at Abercrombie. Mrs. Hutchinson was
escorted to the barge and went on down the river with her
husband.
The first camp on the way back was eight miles south of Grand
Forks, and they made their way slowly, remaining several days
at some places where the ducks and geese were abundant. When
within eight miles of Georgetown, Tarbell went on alone to re-
connoiter, telling the party not to come if he failed to return.
The hours of waiting were long and anxious ones. The relief to
mind was great when, just at nightfall, Tarbell returned, having
been delayed by reason of the boat being on the Georgetown side
and filled with water. It was after dark when they reached
Georgetown, but the only harm done in their absence was by the
train dogs to the sheep, all of which had been slaughtered.
From that time on they led a humdrum life, not free from
anxiety and alarm. On one occasion, especially, the dogs set
up such a howling and barking, and kept it up so long, that there
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 147
was little room to doubt but that Indians were about. In the
morning the tracks of a dozen or more horses and mules ridden
by the party were seen. They had passed directly through the
village.
The expedition which went to Fort Garry returned about the
middle of October. A detachment of troops was sent down with
them. Captain T. H. Barrett was in charge, and importuned
Probstfield 's party to return with him to Fort Abercrombie, but
they refused.
That fall and winter Probstfield was in correspondence with
General A. H. Sibley as to reinforcements for the frontier for
the coming spring. Sibley urged him to remain with his family
as an encouragement to others to return to the valley. He urged
that the condition of the war in the South was such that troops
must be sent south instead of being held for service on the fron-
tier. Notwithstanding this correspondence, March 17 a detach-
ment of troops came to Georgetown with orders from General
Sibley to remove all of the settlers to Fort Abercrombie, with
special orders to arrest Probstfield if necessary. The detachment
was in charge of Lieutenant Tyler. But all were then glad
enough to seek safety. Probstfield remained at Abercrombie
until June 22, when, having some differences with Major G. A.
Camp over a claim for a cow wantonly killed by a soldier, the loss
of which Camp insisted he should bear as one of the misfortunes
of war, he was given twenty-four hours to leave the fort. He
left in six and went with his family to St. Cloud, arriving there
July 4, 1863. He returned in the fall with Hatch's battalion, to
take charge of his hay, which the army appropriated, and, as in
the case of the cow, Major Camp refused to approve the vouchers,
and the claim is still unsettled.
Mr. Probstfield became helpless from rheumatism and re-
turned to his family in St. Cloud, returning to the valley in May,
1864, and took charge of the hotel at Georgetown, and the next
year took charge of the post, where he remained until 1869, when
he took up his residence in Oakport, where he now resides.
Oakport became the principal point of interest on the Red
river in 1871, until the crossing of that river by the railroad was
located.
148 HISTOEY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
Proving up on his land in 1871, Mr. Probstfield moved to the
mouth of Red Lake river, East Grand Forks, renting his hotel
to Major William Woods, who joined the Jackman expedition
to Bismarck in the race for that town site, and left without
warning, in May, 1872, and Mr. Probstfield was compelled to
return and take charge of it, his family returning in November.
The first county commissioners of Clay county, then known
as Breckinridge, were R. M. Probstfield, E. R. Hutchinson and
Richard Banning. This was in 1860, but owing to the Indian war
the organization lapsed. The name of the county was changed
to Clay, and it was not again organized until the Northern
Pacific railroad reached the Red river.
Mr. Probstfield has served the public as assessor, treasurer,
clerk, school director, county commissioner, member of the
senate, and in other capacities, and notwithstanding his well-
known integrity and patriotic services, was twice defeated for
the legislature, but is consoled by the reflection that there is no
disgrace in defeat.
The Oldest Settler. By Edward Griffin.
Forty years ago the country was given to town site specula-
tion. Title being secured to government land, from the railroads
in some instances, a town site would be laid out and lots put on
the market for sale, a thousand miles away. Very often the
formality of securing title was dispensed with. Government land
was platted or imaginary tracts laid out, and advertisements
sent broadcast over the country, offering lots free for the expense
of making the deed and recording. Many of the towns were in
good faith, and gift lots were placed because it was believed
that good would be accomplished by that means.
North Dakota had then been occupied by Indian traders for
many years. There were no settlers for agricultural purposes.
The Red River valley was already famous for its richness of soil
and for its vast herds of buffalo.
In June, 1858, Walter Hanna, Robert David and myself left
Hastings, Minn., and on the 4th day of July arrived at a point
on the Red river seven miles south of Moorhead, at a point after-
wards known as East Burlington, and there we laid out a town
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 149
site. Fort Abercrombie was laid out in August of that year.
That year our party sought refuge for the winter, in connection
with a town site party from St. Paul, at a point called Lafayette.
Charles Nash, Henry Brock and Harry Myers were employed to
hold that town site. Bottineau had three men holding a town
site on the Dakota side at the mouth of the Sheyenne river.
Harry Banning, Eichard Banning and George Myers were hold-
ing a town site at Banning 's point, one mile south of the Shey-
enne. George W. Northrop, the famous scout, with a trapping
party, was holding a claim one mile north of the Sheyenne, mak-
ing fifteen men within three miles of each other on what was then
the extreme frontier. Christmas day was duly celebrated by the
town site neighbors.
In the spring of 1859 the steamboat Anse Northup was built
at Georgetown. E. E. Hutchinson, who still lives at Georgetown,
came that year and helped to build her. E. M. Probstfield raised
cabbages and made sauerkraut and got comparatively rich on
the high prices he was able to secure for his products. The Anse
Northrup made the first trip to Abercrombie in June that year.
The Hudson Bay Company established their post at Georgetown
in August, 1859. Eobert McKenzie, who was frozen to death in
1860, was in charge. Edward Connolly, Adam Stein and Lewis
Lewiston were in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company. I
helped Adkinson make improvements where Moorhead now
stands, in 1859. Charles Slayton and wife came to the valley
July 15, 1859. Slayton built a house one mile north of Moor-
head, but left in 1861. Lewis Lewiston built a house in 1860,
where Moorhead is now, which was known as Burbank station,
and raised 100 acres of oats in 1861. This was the first crop of
oats raised in the valley. He was in Abercrombie with his wife
and children during the memorable siege in 1863, when Edward
Wright was killed. William Eounsvel came in 1860, and built
half a mile from Probstfield 's. Zere B. Slayton settled one mile
north of Moorhead, and the first white child born in the valley
was in his family, April 20, 1861. That year the valley was
flooded. There was only about 100 acres where Moorhead is
that was not covered with water. The water was two feet deep
150 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
in the Slayton house, and seemed to cover the whole country on
the Fargo side.
Edward Buckmaster came in 1864 and stopped at McCauley-
ville. Three men were killed by the Indians that year seven miles
south of Moorhead. Jud. Stebbins and one other escaped. In
1862 I went to Hastings and joined the Minnesota Mounted
Eangers and served fourteen months in Company G and was on
the Sibley expedition and in three battles. In September, 1862,
the Indians killed a family of five at the old crossing on Otter
Tail river. One old lady left for dead literally crawled fifteen
miles to Breckinridge, living on frogs several days, suffering
almost untold horrors on the trip. George Whitford left George-
town afoot and alone for Abercrombie in 1862, and has never
been heard of since. He was supposed to have been killed.
George Northrop was on a hunting party with Sir Francis
Sykes in 1861, and received a present of a gun from Sir Francis
valued at $200. The next year he was out with another hunting
party. The Indians surrounded them, took their guns and cloth-
ing from them, and sent them back from the Devils Lake country
in Indian costume. Northrop plead for his gun, but they
took it in.
July 5, 1863, Sibley 's command arrived at the big bend of the
Sheyenne. It was unmercifully hot and dry. The ground was
without a particle of moisture, and the grasses parched. One
of the men went out as a water witch and with a crotched stick
located a spring on the dry, hard prairie, which was opened by
digging only two feet. It was here that Fort Eansom was located,
and the spring is said to supply pure, fresh water to this day.
During much of that campaign the men were compelled to
cut grass in the sloughs with jackknives for their animals. When
the expedition came back in the fall they found rich, green grass
about six inches high all along the Maple and other points in
Cass county, from heavy rains during their absence. I crossed
the Eed river at Abercrombie that fall on foot without wetting
ray feet, the river was so nearly dried up, and the deepest place
in the upper Mississippi was not to exceed three feet. The
winter of 1863 was so open that 200 condemned horses from the
Sibley expedition wintered on the prairies, without a mouthful of
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 151
food being provided for them, and came out tat the next spring.
The summer of 1867 was also a very dry one ; most of the lakes
were very dry. But in July the heavens were opened and a
rainfall came that raised the smaller lakes about five feet.
In 1869 they had another blizzard. They did not come very
often, and never lasted over three days, but they attended to
business while pretending to be on duty. David McCauley and
Mr. Hicks, for whom Hickson was named, were with me during
the storm. Hicks employed a dog train to take him back home
to Alexandria. It took McCauley a week to get back to the fort
at Abercrombie. In the fall of 1870, twenty Norwegian families
settled on Stony Brook and lived in dugouts that winter. They
were all snowed under, but tunneled out and lived comfortably.
Stony Brook is east of the river on the old Abercrombie
stage road.
I remained in the country — trapping, hunting and trading,
keeping stage station, etc. — until I settled on a farm at Elm
river in 1872, occupying one of the abandoned houses built by
Lowell's townsite party in 1870, where I remained until I settled
at Fargo.
Forty years ago the two-wheeled wooden carts were in use
for hauling Hudson Bay goods from St. Paul to Winnipeg, and
rawhide harnesses more durable than ornamental were in general
use. Dried buffalo meat and pemmican were sold by the pound
in Hudson Bay stores.
Walter Hanna broke the first acre of Red River sod, July 10,
1858. The first acre of potatoes was raised by Richard Banning
in 1860. The first job of threshing done in the valley was at
McCauleyville in 1866, by David McCauley. The machine came
from Osakis, Minn., to thresh thirty acres of oats. From 1864 to
1870 David McCauley was the leading business man in the valley.
The spring of 1864 McCauley purchased from the government 200
barrels of pork at less than $1 per barrel and sold it for $20 to
$40. In 1866 he furnished the government 1,000 tons of hay at
$35 per ton. In 1867 he was the owner of the first steam sawmill
in the valley, and was proprietor of the first store that dealt in
general merchandise, and at the present time is a Red River
valley farmer.
152 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
In 1860 George W. Northrop escorted two ladies that came
from England to Winnipeg. The conveyance was a flatboat. On
the trip down, one morning a small party of Chippewa Indians
fired several shots at him and his fair companions. George asked
why and what reason they had for shooting at him. Their answer
was: "You must not talk our enemy's language if you don't
want to be shot at." The ladies were going to Winnipeg to make
good their matrimonial contracts.
In the summer of 1859, on the first trip the Burbank Stage
Company made to the valley, between Dayton and Abercrombie,
on the old half-breed trail, there was a great curiosity noted by
the travelers. It was about two acres of buffalo bones, where
there had been a buffalo hunter's camp a year or two before, for
the purpose of making dried buffalo meat and pemmican. There
were many theories advanced as to how the bones came there.
One would say that they were killed by wolves; another, that
they were frozen to death in a blizzard. Captain Blakeley, of the
stage line, said: "Hell, they were drowned in one of the Red
River valley floods."
Forty years ago the Red River valley was as wild as nature
made it. Today it is famed throughout the world and is the best
known wheat-growing country. Forty years ago the buffalo, elk,
bear, fish and game were relied upon by nature's children for
food, and there was none to monopolize.
Forty years ago the first frame building of the valley was
erected. It was a two-story building at Breckinridge. To-day
the country is studded with cities and farm houses and raises
annually 50,000,000 bushels of wheat.
Will the Red River valley improve as much in the next
forty years as it has in the past, is the question that has been
often asked. Science, education and advancement go hand in
hand and mother nature is our teacher and our guide. Science
in the next forty years will cut a greater figure in farming
than we think. Forty years hence farm machinery will be run
by electricity; capital and labor will march with a steady step,
side by side, and the valley will be one grand theater of enter-
prise and beauty. Fargo will be a city that can boast of 75,000
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 153
population and the generation unborn can look upon the present
metropolis with pride.
Note — George W. Northrop was a sergeant in Company C,
Brackett's battalion, and was killed in action on the headwaters
of the Little Missouri, July 28, 1864. He received eight or ten
wounds, one of which pierced his heart. About 2,000 troops
were engaged, the total loss was five killed and ten wounded,
of which Brackett lost two killed and eight wounded. Sully
reports from 100 to 150 Indians killed, and Brackett that he
counted 27 in front of his command, besides seeing the Indians
carry away many of them. Northrop was one of the most popu-
lar of the noted frontiersmen, and before enlisting was employed
as a guide by military expeditions, hunting parties, etc.
Fort Abercrombie — The Place of Refuge for the Early Settlers —
The Siege.
Fort Abercrombie was established in 1858, on the west bank
of the Red river, now in Riehland county, and about 15 miles
from where Wahpeton is located. The post was abandoned after
an occupancy of little over a year, and the property sold at a
great sacrifice. It was rebuilt in July, 1860, under command
of Major Day. In July, 1861, the major with his two companies
were ordered to Washington. Major Markham with his two
companies took command. In 1862 all full regiments were or-
dered south to join the United States forces, and Capt. Inman,
a Baptist clergyman, was the next in command, with companies
from the Fourth regiment, stationed at Fort Snelling. He soon
left for the front, crossing the Red river on the ice, and Captain
Vanderhock, with two companies of the Fifth Minnesota Volun-
teers, took command. On the 19th day of August, 1862, the
Indian massacre began at the old town of Breckenridge, where
the hotel was burned and a number lost their lives, among them
one by the name of Russell. In one week the attack was made
on the fort. The stage driver, Charlie Snell, was killed in the
hotel at Breckenridge, and, a chain being fastened around his
body, the Indians dragged it around the well with demoniac
hate until a deep path was made by the repeated operation.
The Saskatchewan and Fort Garry mail bags were gutted and
154 HISTOKY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
the mail scattered in every direction over the prairie ; mail from
the McKenzie river was also intercepted. The soldiers, with
Judge McCauley, gathered up as much of the mail as possible,
and it was forwarded to its destination. A family at "Old
Crossing," on the Otter Tail, sixteen miles from Breckenridge,
was attacked and a man by the name of Scott killed ; his mother
was badly wounded, but was brought to the fort and cared for
until she fully recovered. A boy about twelve years of age was
captured by the Sioux and carried into captivity, but finally
ransomed through the agency of a Catholic priest, and sent to
St. Louis to his grandparents. It is reported that Mr. Stone
and Judge McCauley were lodging together in the fort when
there was an alarm that the Indians were about making an
attack, and all were up and ready in a short time. None were
more deliberate and thoughtful at this time than Judge Mc-
Cauley, who got out of bed and carefully attended to his toilet,
putting on his paper collar with excellent precision and correct
adjustment of necktie, when the announcement was made that
the alarm was false. "No doubt," he said, "I was impressed
that it was unnecessary to hurry much. The judge has heard
of his respect for toilet many times since ; it is a good joke, but
he takes it all in good part. At this time some seventy persons
had come to seek protection in the fort, and all were ordered to
do military duty. A train of seventy teams with Indian goods
and supplies that was going to Eed lake came to the fort for
protection, and all the men were organized into a company. It
was estimated that there were 1,500 Indians surrounding the fort
waiting for a good chance to make a furious assault. For weeks
there had been no mail from St. Paul or the outside world, and
everybody was anxious to know the facts about the rebellion.
A brave citizen by the name of Walter S. Hill offered to take
the chances of carrying the mail to St. Paul, providing he could
be furnished with a fleet horse and an escort of soldiers to pro-
tect him until he was out on the broad prairie beyond the strip
of woods on the creek east of McCauleyville. A call was made
for volunteers to act as an escort, and thirty-two responded to
the call. At this time there were Indians in ambush just across
the river from the fort, and some had been using their sharp-
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 155
shooters from the tops of trees. An attack on the outward bound
escort was expected, but all was still and not the turn of a leaf
was heard. Hill was soon flying toward St. Paul with his fleet
charger, loaded with news from afar for many anxious ones who
had become weary of looking in vain for many long weeks. Hill
was successful in his undertaking. As the escort was returning,
an attack was made on the brave thirty-two, and two of the
number were shot, Edward Wright and a soldier by the name of
Shulty, and the remainder scattered and came straggling into
the fort as best they could. Mr. Shulty, when found, had his
head cut off, also his arms and legs, and he had been disem-
boweled by the incarnate demons, his head being coffined in the
abdominal cavity. Mr. Wright was also badly mutilated, and his
father was exceedingly furious at the post commander because
he had not prevented the awful tragedy from taking place. At
one time a party was organized to go and drive in stock that
was some twelve miles below the ferry crossing. A half-breed
Chippewa gave a war whoop which was well understood by the
Sioux, and he was riddled with bullets. A Mr. Lull was in
advance, and was shot through the leg. All turned back with-
out venturing further. The firm of Harris, Whitford & Bentley,
who were engaged in the transportation of goods from St. Paul
to this point and thence by flat boat to Fort Garry, had a farm
south of Abercrombie on the Minnesota side. This was in 1862.
They put in the government herd fourteen yoke of oxen and
eight head of horses for protection; but the wily Sioux sur-
rounded and took possession of them, driving them to the Indian
headquarters. The total number of the herd was three hundred.
The first attack having been made, Mr. Whitford, in company
with Mr. Harris, was killed on his way from Fort Garry to Fort
Abercrombie. He had $5,000 of the Hudson Bay Company's
drafts. This firm was ruined by loss of $14,000 ; afterward, how-
ever, the government paid the company $9,000. The fort was
besieged full seven weeks, when about two thousand men, under
Captain Burger, came to relieve the imprisoned and strengthen
the fort. On the return of a part of this force to St. Paul about
seventy-five women and children were transported. It appears
that Edward A. Stokes, the man who assassinated Jim Fisk, had
156 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
been out on the plains hunting, and he came to the fort with
others for protection, and was with the escort which was under
military protection en route for St. Paul. Truly wonders will
never cease! There were four companies left at the fort to
protect it after the escort had left, which took place in October,
1862. Captain Burger was relieved, and Major Camp took com-
mand; he was shortly relieved by Captain Chamberlin of Hatch's
battalion, who was finally superseded by General C. P. Adams,
now of Hastings, Minn., who was in command until 1866. Then
Major Hall, of the Tenth United States Infantry, took command
and General Adams was ordered back to be mustered out of the
service. The United States mail was carried under military
escort until the year 1866. The fort was kept up until 1877,
when it was abandoned, and in 1878 the government buildings
were sold and scattered over the prairie, where, with repairs,
they made homes for some of the early settlers.
The following named persons were the post commanders at
Fort Abercrombie from the time of its establishment until it
was abandoned: General Abercrombie, Major Day, Captain
Markham, Captain Inman, Captain Vanderhock, Captain Burger,
Captain Pettier, Major Camp, Captain Chamberlain, General C.
P. Adams, Captain Whitcomb, Major Hall, and General Slidell.
Changes were frequent at first because all were needed South
as fast as they could be spared.
Nick Huffman was in the fort during the siege. Before his
death he prepared the following facts for the Red River Valley
Old Settlers' Association:
''On my first trip to the Red River valley, early in the spring
of 1860, four of us left St. Cloud, Minn., with the first stage
coach that came through to Georgetown. The first day we
reached a hotel kept by Baptiste Rounsvel at Cold Springs.
The roads were bad and there were no bridges across the streams.
We carried oats enough for the round trip. This obliged us to
unload quite often. A fence rail was carried along to lift the
stage out of the mud. Next night we found good comfortable
quarters at a place kept by Mr. Stewart at what was called
Stewart's crossing. We forded Sauk river two or three times,
driving to what was then called West Union. There was no
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 157
settlement then at what is now Sauk Center. At Chicos lake,
Madson Gordon kept a station in a small shack. Fish was the
principal article of food. The next day we reached Alexandria.
The roads were if possible worse than they had been before we
struck the timber. A Mr. Gregory, his wife and two sons, kept
the station at Alexandria in a little log shanty. Van Dyke kept
the postoffice and there was a man living there named Hugh.
The next day we went to Evansville, where John Carter was
building a station. We slept that night on the soft side of a
board, but the supper was all that we could wish and we did
it justice. We stopped next night about eight miles south of
Fergus Falls, where Mr. Wright and four sons lived. Mr.
Wright had a dam for a saw mill, built that winter before, which
made excellent fishing, and we had plenty of sturgeon.
"From there we went to Breckenridge, a mile or so from the
present site. Here was Mr. Bentley, Mark Carpenter and Sam
Carpenter at work on a big hotel. It was three stories and
basement. I should think it was big enough for Chicago in
those days. There was also a saw mill to cut the lumber for
the hotel and they had men in the woods to get out the logs.
Breckenridge was a decidely busy place. We left next day for
Abercrombie, but the fort was changed, so we stopped with J.
R. Harris in a small shanty where a man by the name of William
Gilpatrick and an old Irishman was stopping and selling whiskey
to the Indians, who, it was claimed, was afterwards drowned by
the Indians.
"We started for Georgetown the next day, but as it was too
long a drive to make in one day we got supplies from Gilpatrick.
About midway we found a townsite. There was a shanty, but
no roof on it. It was called Burlington. (It was about the
mouth of the Sheyenne and Ed Griffin, now at Fargo, was inter-
ested in it. — Ed.) That was the first night I ever slept out of
doors without a blanket. We were a little short on supper and
breakfast, but reached Georgetown next day all right. Here
there were ten or fifteen men, Dutch, Swedes, English, French,
Scotch and Indians, employed by the Hudson Bay Company.
They had plenty of supplies and little to do but to eat. We had
roast pork and other good things. After about a week they all
158 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
went away but me and three others. We remained another week,
when a new boss came up from Fort Garry. By that time I was
good and tired of Hudson Bay Company employment and left
on foot for St. Cloud, but only got to where Moorhead now is.
Lewiston kept the stage station there. It was then called
Burbank.
"I worked about a month here and then went south to what
was called Campbell station. Stations had been built along the
road and teams by the hundred were hauling freight for Fort
Garry and Georgetown. The old steamer Ans Northrup was then
making regular trips from Georgetown to Fort Garry. There
was life and good pay everywhere. John Campbell and Bill
Kerr was batching at Campbell station. I got work and good
pay haying. Captain Munn sent for me to work on the steam-
boat, which they then called the Pioneer. There was no pleasure
in this, as the water was low and the men had to haul on the
lines all day and chop wood all night by lantern, and we had a
hard time to get the boat to Georgetown.
"There was an old steamboat lying in the Minnesota river
six miles below Big Stone lake, which was intended to come
over into the Red river in 1857. There was a big flood in the
Minnesota river and Captain Davis thought he could run the
old Freighter, for that was the name of the boat, into the Red
river, but the waters went down and the boat was left stranded.
The boat was sold at sheriff's sale and was bought by Burbank
of the stage company. There was a Welshman left in charge of
the boat and here he stayed nearly four years away from wife
and children with nothing to eat, only what he could hunt or
fish.
"In the fall of 1860 we took a lot of teams, wagons and tools,
under orders from Burbank, and took the boat to pieces and
brought it to Georgetown. We found the boat and the little
Welshman all right. His hair had over three years' growth
and his whiskers were long. You may be sure his clothes were
not of the latest fashion or in first-class condition. Coffee sacks,
window curtains, etc., had been used to keep him covered. We
divided up our clothes with him, but they were not good fits,
as he was so small.
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLERS DECEASED 159
"A second trip was necessary for the machinery. There were
two big boilers, but we brought them safely to Georgetown,
where the boat was rebuilt. We did not reach Georgetown till
after Christmas with the last load and the weather was very cold.
The water was bad and the men suffered a great deal. There
were then several hundred head of oxen at Georgetown used in
freighting and we took a new outfit and went to Alexandria and
hauled freight to Georgetown, to be sent on down the river the
next summer to Garry. The roads were bad, there was a heavy
crust on the snow and many of the men were snow blind. Many
of the cattle died on the road. We got back, however, just
before the spring break up in 1861.
"That spring was very high water, the whole valley was
flooded, and there was hardly any land in sight. There were no
crops that year, but plenty of hay. We all went on the boat in
the spring, with Captain Brand, Pilot John K. Swan, and the
usual crowd of 'rousters.' We run by day and chopped wood
by night, as the Indians did not allow any wood choppers to
stay on the river, and so the boat had to get its own wood. The
Indians owned the whole country then. It was steamboating
under difficulties, as the Indians were inclined to be hostile and
took everything from the settlers. The whole crew soon gave
out and had to quit. We built a saw mill, and in 1861 boat
building became a leading industry at Georgetown. That fall I
went back to my old friends Campbell and Kerr and helped them
in haying, and then went to St. Cloud. I staged all the next
summer from Campbell's station, until the Indian outbreak of
September, 1862.
"We were twelve miles north of Abercrombie at the stage
station when we heard that the Indians were getting on the war
path, but old frontiersmen are not apt to believe Indian rumors,
especially if they come from immigrants. However, Campbell
and myself were in the habit of sleeping on the prairie some
distance from the house, but Kerr used to sleep upstairs in the
house we had built that summer. He would go up stairs and
pull the stairs up after him and we thought all safe. In daytime
we would go about our work. One night a courier came from
the fort and warned us that the Indians were killing everybody
160 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
in the country, so we picked up our household goods and our
cattle and got everything ready to go to the fort that night,
but we only got about half way when night came on and we had
to stop. We got but little sleep and went on early to the fort,
where there were men working for J. K. Harris. I went to see
my old friend Russell, who was at the crossing the year before,
but he had rented a big hotel at Breckenridge. Scott was run-
ning the old crossing place. Scott was killed by the Indians.
The next day I started for Breckenridge. No one had seen any
Indians yet. When we got to Breckenridge two blood-thirsty
fellows were in the house. They were the first I had seen for a
long time. I told the people that the Indians were killing all
of the whites and they had better go with us to the fort, but
they laughed at me and said I was foolish. The Indians made
them believe they were to have a big dance and were coming
for that purpose. Russell had three men working for him. One
of them had a wife and two children. The woman was cooking
and the men haying, much hay being required, as hundreds of
teams were engaged in freighting for the government and the
Hudson Bay Company.
"I proposed to kill the two Indians in the house and to take
the woman and children to the fort. By this time we could see
the Indians across the river, coming toward the house. We got
the woman and children to come with us, but neither Russell
nor the men would go. The woman and her husband, the chil-
dren and their father parted as they would if only to be sep-
arated for a few hours. I have been sorry a hundred times that
I did not kill the two Indians as I proposed to do. I think it
might have saved the life of Russell and his three men.
1 'We got to the fort and reported what we had seen and
a party was organized to go to Breckenridge. Ten of us
started out on horseback under the guidance of a half-breed
because we hoped we might yet save our friends. It was
late when we got half a mile from Breckenridge. In cross-
ing a cooley our horses began to snort and the breed got off
to see what was the matter. He said they had killed an ox and
from appearances we were about to fall into a trap and advised
us to go back.
MARTIN V. LIN WELL
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 161
''We returned for another start in the morning, as it was
then very late. They then took a government mule team and
some spades and shovels to fortify in case of need. I was on
guard and so could not go with them. They found Russell and
his companions had been butchered by the Indians. Rounseval,
the half-breed, told me they had dragged their bodies around,
up and down the stairs, and about the premises by means of a
chain from the well, which they hitched to their feet, until there
was little left of them. The hotel, partially completed, was never
finished. I have never been in Breckenridge since.
"While the boys were engaged in burying the remains they
thought they could see an Indian in the saw mill, so Rounseval
went to see if that was the case. The mill was half a mile away.
He found an old lady by the name of Scott, who had been living
with her son. Her son was killed and her grandson taken pris-
oner. She had a bullet wound in her breast and had crawled
on her hands and knees sixteen miles to the mill. She also told
the boys where they would find the body of Joe Snell, a stage
driver, three miles out from Breckenridge. They buried the
body of Snell and took the old lady to the fort. On the way in
the Indians attacked them and killed the teamster, named Ben-
nett, and came very near taking Captain Mull's wagon contain-
ing the old lady. But Rounseval made a charge and brought
back the team, the old lady and the body of Bennett. They
buried Scott the next day.
"We had seen no Indians around the fort, but were fortify-
ing and preparing for the attack which we all felt must come.
About fifty citizens were organized as a company under Captain
D. T. Smith, quartermaster, I Company of the Fifth Infantry,
and Captain John Vanderhorck's company, "D," I think, con-
stituted the garrison. The fort was hard to fortify. There was
a stockade along the river. The headquarters was on the prairie.
Also the quarters for one company. We fortified the company
quarters, using the barrels of pork and corn beef and flour in
part for the purpose, with cordwood and earth. The women and
children and the sick and the picket guards also had special pro-
vision made for them. The wagons were strung in line and the
little four-pounders were made ready for action. Headquarters
162 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
were abandoned at night and most of the officers roomed where
the sick woman was.
''We had not seen any Indians yet about the fort. We had
a longing for our old haunts. Campbell, Kerr and I took a mule
team one Sunday to go to their ranch. Hiram Stone furnished
the team. The boys left a lot of hay and I had left something
under the hay that I wanted, especially as I had been working all
day and standing guard all night. Some good brandy, therefore,
seemed desirable, even if there was some risk in getting it. We
got the brandy and started for the fort. When we got within
about three miles of the fort we found the Indians had driven
away all the loose stock belonging to the fort, including mules,
horses, beef cattle and the stock of the settlers. This included
a big drove of beef cattle on the way to Grand Forks, where the
governor and Major Collins were to exchange them with the
Red Lake Indians for the Red River valley, including the country
as far west as Devils Lake, east to Thief River, north to Pembina
and south to about where Halstead now is.
"Seeing the Indians from an opening in the timber and
thinking they had captured the fort we felt pretty blue, but
meeting some of the boys at Whiskey creek we learned that they
had simply raided the stock. They came near the fort. Those
in the fort remained to protect the women and children rather
than save the stock, thinking that a trap might be set for them.
They let the Indians have the beef and we got along very well
with salt pork.
"The captain doubled the guard. This put nearly every
man on duty and increased the difficulties of our situation. We
made a high stockade of cordwood and barrels of pork and beef,
which was to be the last resort in case of our failure to repel the
attack, but as good luck would have it we held the fort during
the siege, which lasted about six weeks.
"The first attack was in a day or two after they drove the
stock away. I will never forget the occasion. They came upon
us before the break of day. When they gave the first volley on
our pickets it was yet dark. None were hurt. They made an
attack on the barns located south of the fort. The hay was near
the barns, two of which were built of poles and hay. The others
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 163
were dug-outs. There were a good many horses in the dug-outs.
All of the best ones were here, as the Indians drove off all that
got on the prairie. The Indians made for the barns and fired
the hay and the straw stables. It was our first battle. We were
poorly armed and no discipline. The orders were to fall in line
on the parade ground when attacked, and await orders. So there
was where we went, but what orders could be given in the ex-
citement of that moment? The bullets were flying everywhere,
the Indians were whooping and yelling and the men did the
most natural thing in the world. Every man made a break for
himself, some running to the barns and others to the old saw-
mill, which stood north of the fort close to the river ; and so we
scattered in all directions, but anyway our boys were not slow
in getting back to the stables. It was the horses the Indians
were after, but they did not get many. They got into the stables
and we were after them. When I got there Edward Wright was
having a tussle with one of them. Wright run his bayonet
through Mr. Lo 's leg and had him pinned to the floor. I finished
him by putting a bullet through his heart. That is the only
Indian I could say for sure that I killed, but I have shot at a
good many."
Here the story as written by Huffman's own hand ends. The
siege lasted six weeks. There were many exciting attacks and
many soirees during those weeks of anxiety.
Winship Hotel— Budge 's Tavern.
When Pembina was little, before Grand Forks, Fargo and
Moorhead were born, George B. Winship strayed in from the
south via Abercrombie, and Billy Budge from Scotland via
Hudson's bay, and meeting at Pembina in 1871, where George
was engaged as clerk in the sutler's store, they concluded to
form a partnership and enter into business. They selected a
point on the stage line between Grand Forks and Pembina known
as Turtle river, where they erected a log cabin and put in a
list stock of those things essential to life for man and beast
and opened up a hotel. The old-timers all credit them with hav-
ing kept an excellent stopping place, one of the best on the line,
and both were popular and have since prospered in this world's
164 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
goods. Winship conducts the leading daily and owns the best
business block in the state. He has served his city in various
capacities and represented his county in the state senate. Budge,
too, has been in public life. He was a member of the constitu-
tional convention and owns an elegant home. Budge is inter-
ested in banking and milling and everything else that tends to
build up the state. Both have interesting families who, with all
others, will doubtless enjoy the following amusing account of
their early exploits condensed from a sketch by Clarence Web-
ster, in the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1886.
After erecting their cabin, which was the only human habi-
tation in 1871 between Grand Forks and Pembina, unable to
agree on the name for their place, as the story runs, they agreed
to label it " Winship 's Hotel," so as to meet the view of those
coming from the south, and that "Budge's Tavern" should be
the sign displayed for the observation of those coming from the
north. They disagreed in many things, but united in one, "We
are not here for our helth" was to be conspicuously printed on
a card to be hung on the wall over the fireplace. "God Bless
Our Home," and others of that nature were not fashionable
then. The early settlers were practical sort of fellows, who be-
lieved in informing people just where they were at and what
was expected of them.
Budge was an expert in turning the flapjacks, while Winship
was equally good as a valet de chambre at both house and barn,
Budge assisting, however, between meals. Both were excellent
collectors and usually insisted that there must be an understand-
ing as to the pay before any of the supplies had been consumed.
It is said that they each warned the travelers not to pay the
other, resulting in occasional loss on the grounds that it was
unsafe to pay either. They had a monopoly and like all monopo-
lists were independent and when there were any objections to
paying $2 for flapjacks a la Budge and stable accommodations
a la Winship the fortunate objector was invited to read the card
over the fireplace and move on. Sometimes Budge suggested
that the man who objected to paying a dollar for a white man's
meal could fill up on marsh hay at half price.
It sometimes happened that objections were made to the
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 165
economical spelling of the word health in the sign upon the wall.
If the kick was made to Budge he added a half to the bill for
extras. If it was commented on before Winship, with great
presence of mind he always remarked that the proofreader must
have been drunk as usual when they went to press with it.
Neither proposed to allow the other to get ahead of him.
They made a nightly division of the cash and had a definite
understanding as to the division of labor. Each in turn was to
build the fires, and in order that there might be no mistakes
they arranged a calendar and placed at the foot of the bed.
Commencing with B. W. B., alternating with W. B. W., there
were thirty sets of initials, representing each day in the month.
When Winship had built the fire he rubbed out the last initial
and Budge did the same when it came his turn. The crossed
letter always settled the question as to who was to get up next
time and indicated the day of the month.
One morning Budge got up and built the fire, cancelling the
B. It was a roasting fire, made especially for a temperature of
30 below. The frail chimney, built of sticks and mud, sur-
mounted by a barrel, caught fire. Soon the fire spread until
Winship 's end of the building was burning at a lively rate. Win-
ship poked his elbow in Budge's side, he having fallen asleep,
who, thinking that a mule had kicked him, yelled, ''Whoa."
Another nudge partially awakened him, when Winship said,
"Billy, she is afire again." Budge protested that he had spoiled
the slickest dream that he had ever had and that he would have
had it all fixed in a minute more if he had been left alone, besides
he didn't see why he should be disturbed. He wanted to sleep.
''The fire is spreading," said Winship. "Better get up and
put it out while you can do it easy. It is your turn to get up."
"It ain't my turn to get up," said Budge. "The B. is crossed
out."
"It is your fire," said Winship, "you built it, you had better
put it out. It's getting too hot."
Budge insisted that the fire was Winship 's by right of dis-
covery and he must take care of it.
Higher leaped the flames, closer and closer it came to the
Scotchman, who was insisting upon his rights to sleep undis-
166 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
turbed after building the fire. His own part of the shanty was
ablaze. Coals were dropping down on the robes under which
they had been sleeping. Winship drew the robe over his head.
Finally Budge proposed that they both get up. ''That is
reasonable," replied Winship, "why didn't you think of that
before?"
They both got out. Some of the bacon and other things were
saved.
By this time Grand Forks had begun to grow. Both went
to the Forks and entering on separate lines succeeded in business.
Winship sometimes undertakes to tell the story and Budge
tries to correct the proof, but giving up in despair, simply writes
on the margin, "There are other liars in the valley besides
yourself. ' '
The Guests of God.
"Why should we wear black for the guests of God?" —
Ruskin.
From the dust of the weary highway,
From the smart of sorrow's rod,
Into the royal presence
They are bidden as guests of God.
The veil from their eyes is taken,
Sweet mysteries they are shown,
Their doubts and fears are over,
For they know as they are known.
For them there should be rejoicing
And festival array,
As for the bride in her beauty
Whom love hath taken away —
Sweet hour of peaceful waiting,
Till the path that we have trod
Shall end at the Father's gateway,
And we are the guests of God.
— Mary F. Butts, in Youth's Companion.
James Anderson DeLaney, who died at his home in Grafton
April 2, 1902, at the age of 75 years, was born March 17, 1827,
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 167
in the north of Ireland, that refuge of Huguenots when so cru-
elly driven from France. His father was a descendant of these
exiles. His mother, . Mary Anderson, was of Scottish descent.
He was brought to America while a young child, growing up on
the banks of the St. Lawrence. He early went to Philadelphia,
where he was apprenticed to learn coach building. Returning,
he embarked in a successful mechanical business in Peterboro,
Ontario, where, at the age of 23, he married Miss Anne Wilson.
His prosperity was interrupted by an unfortunate fire. Undis-
mayed, he began again in Smith's Falls, where, by help of older
sons, he soon acquired a fortune. Another disastrous conflagra-
tion swept away his gains and he then determined to seek a
new venture in the West. Thus in '78 he became a member of
the pioneer band in the "land of the Dakotas." He aided ma-
terially in founding Grafton, selling the townsite as surveyed.
At the mature age of fifty-four he applied himself to reading
law and was admitted to the bar in the United States court at
Washington, D. C.
Having lost his companion some years since, he married a
lady near his own age of New England birth, who happily cared
for and cheered the last declining years of his life, in which
he has suffered much but very patiently. She, with his four
adult sons, survives him. Mr. DeLaney expressed himself as
fortified and supported by the Christian's hope.
Funeral services were held at his home in Grafton April 4th.
His remains were sent to Grand Forks for burial in the family
plat, where a monument already stands. Revs. Twichell, Mc-
Donald and Newcomb officiated. The pall bearers were Messrs.
James McDonald, J. L. Cashel, Peter Cooper, H. H. Mott, Provost
and J. A. Douglas.
Biographies of Old Settlers Deceased— Continued.
Charles Turner Cavalier (by Hon. George B. Winship). Yes-
terday morning there was profound sorrow in Grand Forks when
the news was received of the death of Charles T. Cavalier, of
Pembina, a man known to every old settler in the Red River
valley. Charles Turney Cavalier died at his home in Pembina
at midnight on Sunday, July 27, aged eighty-four years, four
168 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
months and twenty-two days, and thus passed to the great beyond
the earliest white resident of North Dakota, and also one of the
earliest and oldest of the settlers of Minnesota.
Though naturally suffering to some extent from the infirmi-
ties of advancing age, yet his mind was bright and he was phys-
ically active to the very last. His last illness was only twelve
hours, and a few minutes before his death he was upon his feet.
He ate his usual breakfast on Sunday morning, and on Saturday
was walking about town, though not feeling very well.
He had no desire to live longer. He felt and often expressed
himself that he had lived his life and could be of no further
use in the world, though he was willing to wait until he was
called. He died as he would have wished, without that long con-
finement on a bed of suffering, which would have been so irksome
to one of his active outdoor habits.
A complete history of Mr. Cavalier's life would be a history
not only of North Dakota, but would include that of the whole
of this now great Northwest; for when he started westward,
Illinois was the frontier state and Chicago had a population of
only 5,000.
The following short sketch is intended mostly as a matter
of dates, and the reader will be able to realize from these how
large a part this modest, kindly old pioneer has taken in laying
the foundations of these great states of Minnesota and the
Dakotas :
Mr. Cavalier was born in Springfield, Ohio, March 6, 1818,
and was the son of Charles and Rachel (Trease) Cavalier, natives
of Maine and Pennsylvania. He attended public schools until
he was seventeen, and then removed to Mount Carmel, 111., and
learned the saddler's trade. He came west, down the Ohio, via
St. Louis, then a city of 18,000, by steamboat, and thence up
the Mississippi to St. Paul, landing there in May, 1841. The
succeeding year he went through the Minnesota wilderness to
Fond du Lac, near the present city of Duluth. St. Paul at that
time was a village with a church and a few French people. At
Minneapolis a government sawmill was operated by soldiers from
Fort Snelling. Mr. Cavalier opened the first harness shop in
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 169
St. Paul. A few years later he sold out the harness shop and, in
company with Dr. Dewey, established the first drug store.
November 6, 1849, Governor Ramsey appointed Mr. Cavalier
territorial librarian, which position he held until October, 1850,
when he was appointed by President Millard Fillmore as col-
lector of customs for the district of Minnesota and inspector
of revenue for the post of Pembina. In pursuance of this ap-
pointment he came to Pembina, and crossed the Red river on
August 16, 1851, so that at the time of his death he had been
here nearly fifty-one years, and over sixty-one years since he
landed at St. Paul.
While the duties of collecting revenue at that early period
were not in themselves very exacting, yet Mr. Cavalier's position
was really far more than a simple collector of revenues. He was,
in fact, a sort of general government agent among a large popu-
lation of semi-nomadic half-breeds and wandering Indian tribes.
The feuds of the rival fur companies and private traders, the
Sioux massacre, the subsequent events, the first Riel rebellion,
the political organization and the opening up of this valley to
settlement and commerce, were all incidents of Mr. Cavalier's
leading position as a government official and early settler.
Mr. Cavalier occupied the position of collector four years,
and then turned his attention to trade. He had a store for a
time at Walhalla, and also at Fort Garry, returning to Pembina
in 1864, where he has since resided. In that year the first post-
office was started and Mr. Cavalier was appointed postmaster,
which office he held until 1885, when he was succeeded by his son,
E. K. Cavalier, who is the present postmaster.
In addition to his official duties, Mr. Cavalier was also asso-
ciated with Commodore Kittson and W. H. Forbes at one time,
and with Messrs. Kittson, Culver Farmington and Sargent in
the fur trade for many years. These years were doubtless the
most exciting ones in a life replete with adventurous incident.
It was during this time that he made regular trips to St. Paul
with trains of from 80 to 100 pelts. These trips were long and
wearisome and often dangerous from bands of roving Indians and
standing stampeding herds of buffalo.
Mr. Cavalier in 1863 returned to Pembina, he having, in the
170 HISTOEY OF RED EIVEE VALLEY
discharge of his business cares, resided both at St. Joseph, about
thirty miles to the westward, at the foot of the Pembina moun-
tains, and at Winnipeg. The original plat of the city of Pem-
bina was laid out by Mr. Cavalier, and this was added to in the
shape of an extensive addition in 1878, when railroad connec-
tions with the centers of trade showed the need of enlarging the
limits of the city.
In his earlier days Mr. Cavalier was a regular correspondent
of the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D. C. His sketches
of pioneer days and graphic descriptions of scenes and charac-
ters are the delight of his friends and neighbors and the old set-
tlers generally. These sketches, which have been mostly for
local papers, are in the plain, blunt, straightforward and to-the-
point style of the western plainsman, but have a deep under-
current of humor wholly his own.
Mr. Cavalier married Miss Isabella Murray, of Kildonan,
Man., March 13, 1857. Five children were born to them, of
whom there survive Edmund K., Albert D. and Lulah Cavalier,
who with their mother reside at Pembina.
The funeral was held on Thursday, services being held at
Grace church, Pembina, at two p. m. Many old friends of Mr.
Cavileer from Grand Forks and other points in the state attended.
Alexander Griggs, "the Father of Grand Forks," was widely
known in the Northwest. He was born in Marietta, Ohio, in
October, 1838, and was the son of William and Esther Griggs.
He removed with his parents when a boy to St. Paul, Minn., and
later his family removed to Grand Forks, where his parents died.
In December, 1865, Mr. Griggs was married to Miss Ettie I.
Strong, a native of Brooklyn.
Mr. Griggs was reared and educated in St. Paul, but at an
early age began running on the boats of the Mississippi river,
and at the age of twenty had been promoted to the command
of a boat. He continued there until 1870, and then in company
with others went to the Eed river with a view of establishing a
line of steamers to ply between Winnipeg and Fargo. In 1871
the company was organized and was known as the Hill, Griggs
& Co. Transportation & Navigation Company. This year he went
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 171
to where Grand Forks is now located and entered a claim to
the land on which is now located the old town of Grand Forks,
he giving it that name on account of the junction at this place
of the Red Lake river with the Red River of the North. He con-
tinued to run a line of steamers on the latter river between Grand
Forks and Winnipeg until 1890.
He was always active in the upbuilding of his adopted home
city and state ; was one of the founders of the Second National
Bank, and was the active president for many years. He was
also president of the First National Bank of East Grand Forks
for a number of years, establishing the gas works of the city in
company with William Budge, and was a large owner of shares
in the Grand Forks roller mills. He served the state as railroad
commissioner for some years, was the third postmaster of Grand
Forks, and was mayor of the city. His active, energetic life and
public spirit endeared him to the people of the city and state, and
his counsel was always eagerly sought. In December, 1892, on
account of failing health, he left here and located on the upper
Columbia river, where he established a line of boats for passen-
ger and freight transportation service. The change of location,
however, failed in its object, the regaining of health, and he suc-
cumbed on the 25th of January, 1903.
John R. Jardine was born at Haysvale, Ontario, January 22,
1846, his parents having emigrated to this place from Dumfres-
shire, Scotland, during the previous year. In 1850 the family
removed to Bruce county, Ontario, where Mr. Jardine remained
until he came to Fargo, N. D., March 12, 1880. At Fargo, that
same year, his only child, John A. Jardine, was born. When
first coming to Fargo, Mr. Jardine took a homestead, but devoted
his time to bridge construction, being one of the best known
bridge-builders in the state. He died at Fargo, July 11, 1906,
after a brief illness, suffering from an abscess, which was not
thought to be serious until the morning of his demise. He was
a member of the Presbyterian church and a prominent Mason.
He was one of the sturdy Scotch pioneers, whose word was
always as good as his bond.
Dennis W. Driscoll was born at Guelph, Ontario, on Septem-
ber 22, 1849, and was the son of John J. and Julia Driscoll,
172 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
natives of Canada. His father died during Mr. Driscoll's infancy,
and in 1856 he removed with his mother to Detroit, Mich., where
he received his early education. In 1870 he removed to Boone
county, Iowa, where he worked at the potter's trade until 1875,
when he removed to La Crosse, Wis., and engaged in the farm
implement business. He came to North Dakota in 1879 and
located at Pembina, where he became a member of the firm of
Johnson, Holmes & Co., agricultural implement dealers.
When Walsh county was formed in 1881, he went to Acton
in the interests of the company, and later in the same year he
took up his residence in Grafton, where he lived up to the time of
his death, with the exception of about six and one half years,
which he spent on his stock farm in Acton — from 1890 to 1897.
In 1882 Mr. Driscoll was married to Miss Clara K. Hogg, a
native of Nova Scotia.
Mr. Driscoll's sterling qualities were recognized by his party
in 1898, and he was nominated and elected to the office of state
treasurer, which office he held for one term, filling it with hon-
esty and fearlessness to a degree that has seldom been equaled,
and never excelled in this state. At the time of his death he
was treasurer of the Old Settlers' Association, which association
he helped to organize. He was a member of the Presbyterian
church and belonged to the Masonic fraternity, being a charter
member of Grafton Chapter, E. A. M. During late years he had
followed the real estate and insurance business, and was always
foremost in the projects tending to the betterment of our city
and the surrounding country.
Mr. Driscoll passed away from this earth to that land from
whose bourne no traveler returns, on Saturday evening, February
4, 1904, at his home in Grafton, and none of all those who had
known him during life has a word save of respect for him living
— and regret for him dead. His life as a public servant, as a
private citizen, and as the head of a household, was above re-
proach— each act of his life being the page of an open book, the
story of a life well lived.
Mr. Driscoll had been in failing health for six months previous
to his decease, the immediate cause of his death being heart
failure.
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 173
William Campbell was a native of the isle of Islay, Scotland,
being born there in 1826, and resided with his parents there until
he was about fourteen years of age, when, with a brother, he
came to Canada, working in and near Collingwood, and when of
sufficient age he took up land near that place, which he farmed
a number of years.
In 1879 he removed with his family to Pembina county, he
and his sons taking up land north of Bathgate. He was a hard-
working man, careful in business transactions, and successful
beyond the average, gaining a competency and retiring from
active farming operations in 1897. He was taken with heart
failure in February, 1906, and on the 30th day of March, 1906,
died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles H. Lee, at Wal-
halla, N. D. Mr. Campbell was greatly respected by all who
knew him, and he was sought by many for his advice. In sick-
ness he was always first at his neighbor's and last to leave. Hun-
dreds of friends in Pembina county regretted his death and have
reason to remember the kindly, sympathetic old friend.
William J. Anderson was born in Elgin county, Canada, May
20, 1854. He was reared and educated in Le Sueur county,
Minn., going there with his mother, and in 1862, on account of
the Indian troubles in Minnesota, they moved to St. Paul, where
Mr. Anderson attended the public schools. He followed various
callings until 1875, when he came to Grand Forks as the agent
for the Red River Transportation Company, and the following
year was elected justice of the peace. He continued with the
transportation company until 1879, and the following year was
appointed receiver of the Grand Forks land office. He opened
the office April 20, 1880, and worked in that capacity eight years.
He then began the study of law and was admitted to the bar
in 1887.
He was elected county auditor in 1888 and served four years.
He was an efficient and popular public official. He was elected
mayor of Grand Forks in 1890 and served two years, and he
always proved himself worthy of the confidence placed in him
by the people. He was one of the judges at the World's Fair
Columbian Exposition in 1893, in the agricultural department.
174 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
He was married in 1879 to Josephine Russell, a native of Wis-
consin. Two children were born, Raymond G. and Virginia E.
About a year before his death Mr. Anderson was appointed
deputy auditor in the postoffice department and took up his resi-
dence at Washington, D. C., where he died suddenly on Feb-
ruary 9, 1906. He left a widow and one daughter, Mrs. Fred I.
Lyons, of Bowbells, N. D., and a son in Washington.
Mr. Anderson was a member of the Masonic fraternity, being
a Knight Templar, and he also held membership in the Knights
of Pythias, of which order he was deputy grand chancellor at
one time.
Politically he was a Republican, and had been identified with
the movements of that party during his entire career. He had
been president of the Old Settlers' Association of the Red River
Valley, and was one of the best known citizens of the state.
William Ackerman, auditor of Grand Forks county, died
shortly after seven o'clock last night, at the family home on
Chestnut street.
While this announcement had been anticipated for several
days, it was no less a shock to the citizens last night when it
was announced that the dean of the court house official family
had been summoned to his long home.
Familiarly known as "Bismarck," from the fact that he was
a native of Germany, Mr. Ackerman probably enjoyed as wide
an acquaintance as any man in the county, and the announce-
ment of his death will carry sorrow into every home in which he
was known either personally or because of his long service to the
county, covering a period of eighteen years or more.
"Bismarck" Ackerman was one of God's own noblemen, a
splendid type of man who came to a new country at an early age,
fought for his adopted country through the Civil War and at
its close re-enlisted for a service that covered almost a score of
years, carrying him through the period of Indian outbreaks that
characterized the early settlement of North Dakota, he being
located with his regiment at Fort Abercrombie for several years.
Had Mr. Ackerman lived until August 20 of this year he
would have been sixty years of age. He was born in the Grand
ROBERT H. MCCOY
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 175
Duchy of Hesse, Germany, and came to this country when quite
young.
He enlisted in the volunteer service in New York state, in
Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-first N. Y. Volunteers, on
November 20, 1863, and was honorably discharged July 26, 1865.
Immediately at the close of the war of the rebellion he re-enlisted
in the regular army, being stationed at Fort Abercrombie for
several years, and later going to Texas, where he served as a
clerk at department headquarters. His final discharge from
the army was on March 3, 1885, and shortly after that time he
came to North Dakota and located at Larimore, where he lived
several years. From there he went to Lakota, where he assisted
in opening the books of Nelson county. He came to Grand Forks
in 1887, and his first employment was in the office of the register
of deeds. From there he went to the office of the clerk of the
district court, and from there to the office of the county auditor,
being appointed deputy auditor by W. J. Anderson. In that
capacity he served until 1900, when he was elected county
auditor, being re-elected at the general election last year.
Mr. Ackerman was married while stationed at Fort Aber-
crombie to Miss Martha Anderson, who survives him, together
with seven children — Mrs. George Nelson, William C., E. C.,
Andrew, Ella, Nellie and Earl, the youngest thirteen years of age.
Every member of the family was at home when the final
summons came, making the first break in the household circle.
Mr. Ackerman was a prominent member of Willis A. Gorman
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he served in various
official capacities. He was department commander for North
Dakota and was adjutant for several terms. He was also a
member of the Masonic lodge, as well as the Elks and Eagles,
being the first president of the latter lodge.
His discharge from the Civil War service shows that he was
engaged in the battles of Fish Bend, Sabin Crossroads, Pleasant
Hill, in Louisiana; Harper's Ferry, Md. ; Berry ville, Misher's Hill
and Cedar Creek, in Virginia.
Mr. Ackerman was a man of the strictest integrity, a capable
official, and a man who had aided during his residence in the city
176 HISTOEY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
in every act that helped to build up the municipality, serving for
nearly a dozen years as a member of the city council.
In his death the city loses a good citizen, the county a capable
and painstaking official, and his family a kind and indulgent
husband and father — a man who was wrapped up in a family
that now has the entire sympathy of the citizens of county and
city in their bereavement. — "Grand Forks Herald" of May
17, 1905.
John D. Wallace settled at Drayton, N. D., in 1881, and until
two years ago had been one of the most prominent and best
known citizens of Pembina county. He was a man strong in body
and strong in mind. In public affairs of his own town, county
and state, he took a leading part. In addition to numerous
municipal and school district offices, he served two terms in the
legislature and two terms as county judge of Pembina county.
He was a strong supporter of the prohibition law and all laws
that tended to uplift the public socially and morally. He was
a member of the Methodist church, and here, as elsewhere, he
was an earnest worker and leader. In every respect he was a
manly man. As a friend, he was one who was always steadfast
and to be depended on. He was open and above board in all
his dealings, and every one might always know where he stood,
politically or upon any other question. In his home town no
man was more alive to local interests or tried harder to build up
the city. He was always a good citizen, and entered heartily
into all good enterprises.
In the latter part of his life here he was stricken with a kid-
ney trouble. The news from California reports that he suffered a
minor operation from which he had about recovered when kidney
trouble set in and he died in a short time.
In California he has two brothers, Albert and Frank, and a
sister, Mrs. R. H. Young, wife of a former editor of "The Pem-
bina Pioneer Express." His immediate family consisted of four
boys by his first wife, a daughter, Mrs. Dr. Healy, of Grand
Forks, and a boy and girl by his second wife, who survives him.
Two of Mr. Wallace's sons were soldiers in the First Minnesota
in the Philippines, and a brother was killed in the war with Spain.
As a husband and father Mr. Wallace was particularly kind and
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 177
loving, and spared no pains to give his children the best possible
education. Mr. Wallace was an honored member of the Masonic
order and was also a Workman. He was made a Mason in the
Pembina lodge, and afterward assisted in forming the Drayton
lodge as a charter member.
A good man has gone.
James H. Bosard was born at Osceola, Pa., April 21, 1845, and
died November 1, 1907. He was a son of Colonel Andrew K. and
Hittie Bosard, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter
of New Hampshire. His father was a farmer and cabinetmaker
and was assistant provost marshal in Pennsylvania during the
rebellion. He was a colonel of the Pennsylvania state militia
for some time. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and
served in the war of 1812 as a non-commissioned officer. James
H. Bosard was educated in the public schools of his native state
and graduated from the Pennsylvania state normal school. After
graduation he taught school for two years in New York, and in
1868 began reading law in the office of M. F. Elliott at Wells-
borough, Pa. He was admitted to the bar in 1870 and engaged
in the practice of law for seven years as a partner of Elliott.
Mr. Bosard came to Grand Forks in May, 1879, and had been
a resident of the city and engaged in the practice of his profes-
sion here ever since. He had long been recognized as one of the
foremost members of the state bar, and had been identified with
much important litigation. He was also in constant demand
as counsel in outside litigation. He was state's attorney of
Grand Forks county in 1891-2 and city attorney of Grand Forks
in 1894-5.
Mr. Bosard was for several years the honored president of
the North Dakota Bar Association, and was for some time also
vice-president for North Dakota of the National Bar Association.
Mr. Bosard was a lifelong Eepublican and took an active
part in the councils of his party. He was a forceful and enter-
taining platform speaker and his services were always in demand
during a political campaign. He was the Republican nominee
for district judge in 1904, but was defeated by Judge Fisk.
Mr. Bosard engaged in farming, besides looking after his
extensive law practice, and made a specialty of dairying. He
178 HISTOBY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
was widely known as one of the leading breeders of Jerseys in
the Northwest. He was one of the directors in the State Fair
Association and of the Grand Forks County Agricultural Asso-
ciation. He devoted largely of his time and ability towards pro-
moting the success of these enterprises.
Mr. Bosard was a member of the Masonic fraternity, having
passed the Knight Templar degree, and was also a prominent
member of the Foresters.
Mr. Bosard was married in 1872 to Miss Rebecca Faulkner,
of Erie, Pa. He leaves a widow and six children — Florence H.,
now Mrs. J. Sidle Lawrence, of Los Angeles, Cal. ; Robert H.,
now practicing law at Minot ; Helen D., now Mrs. diaries Farns-
worth, wife of Major Farnsworth, U. S. A., stationed at Fort
Wayne; Gerald F. ; Sarah K., now Mrs. Ray Jackson, of Grand
Forks, and Daphne.
Rev. John Scott. Few names are better known to the pioneer
residents of the Red River valley than that of the Rev. John
Scott, who was for years engaged in ministering to the spiritual
wants of the early residents of the northern part of the present
state of North Dakota. Mr. Scott was born in Northumberland,
England, December 22, 1824. He came with his parents to
Canada, the family locating in the county of Durham. After
attending school there he engaged in teaching and provided
himself with means to enter college. He graduated from Hamil-
ton College, and then offered himself to the Presbyterian Board
of Missions for missionary service. He was appointed to take
charge of the field at Bath, Canada. He was married just before
commencing his work, and through more than a half century of
missionary effort his wife labored with him in missionary work.
He remained at Bath for six years and was then sent to Napance,
where he was stationed eighteen years. Emerson, Manitoba, was
his next appointment, and he was in charge there for ten years,
preaching also part of the time at Pembina. He became a resi-
dent of North Dakota in 1884, preaching at Walhalla, and also
occasionally at the military post at Pembina. From 1892 to 1894
he was pastor at Pembina, when he was compelled by failing
health to relinquish his pastorate. He devoted much time and
zeal to the establishment of a sanitarium and hospital, but did
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 179
not live to see his project realized. A hospital was established
soon after his death at Hannah.
In 1876 and for several years thereafter Mr. Scott was chap-
lain of the military post at Pembina. He also frequently
preached in the village, before there was any church there except
the Catholic mission. William Moorhead was at that time the
proprietor of a saloon known as the "Bobber's Roost." Mr.
Moorhead threw open his saloon for his services, and Mr. Scott
has remarked that he never had more attentive or courteous
audiences to hear his preaching than gathered at Robbers' Roost.
Mr. Scott frequently made preaching trips as far west as the
Turtle mountains, making the journey of two or three weeks,
usually with pony and buckboard. His stopping places en route
usually included John Otten's, at Smugglers' Point, about twenty
miles west of Pembina ; William Hyde 's, at Hyde Park ; 0. Neil-
son 's, at Bay Center; and at St. Joe he was entertained by J. P.
Mager, H. A. Mayo, Mrs. Emmerling and others. Later, while
stationed at Walhalla, Mr. Scott was instrumental in securing
ground for a cemetery and monuments to mark the resting-places
of the martyred missionaries of 1852.
Hon. John E. Haggart, deceased, formerly United States mar-
shal for North Dakota, was one of the leading men of the state.
He was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, April 19, 1846,
a son of John and Mabel (Northrop) Haggart, also natives of
the Empire state. The grandfather, Gilbert Haggart, was born
in Glasgow, Scotland, and on his emigration to the United States
located in New York, where he followed farming throughout life.
The father was also an agriculturist, was major in the state
militia, and was quite a prominent man in New York. He was
twice married and had three sons.
Reared on the home farm in much the usual manner of
farmer boys of his day, John E. Haggart was educated in the
country schools. In 1863 he entered the employ of the govern-
ment in the coast construction corps, and spent about a year and
a half with the Army of the Potomac, after which he returned to
New York. In 1867 he came west and crossed the plains, start-
ing from Leavenworth, Kan. The following winter was spent in
southern Colorado and New Mexico, and he then came to what is
180 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEK VALLEY
now Wyoming, where he conducted a lumber yard for the Union
Pacific railroad until 1870. In 1871 he landed four miles below
the present city of Fargo, N. D., and in August of that year took
up a claim on the Sheyenne river. He was one of the most
extensive land owners in the state, having 1,960 acres in all in the
home farm. He raised from 35,000 to 40,000 bushels of wheat
annually, and in 1898 harvested 37,750 bushels. He was one of
the thirteen to organize and put in operation the Fargo Southern
railroad, of which he was a director.
In 1875 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Haggart and
Miss Betsy J. Hertsgaard, and to them were born nine children,
as follows : Gilbert W., Mabel E., Maggie I., John C., Estella M.,
Alexander M., George E., William H. R., and Daniel.
Mr. Haggart was the first man to be made a Mason in this
state, being initiated into the order in 1873, from which time
he was a Koyal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, a thirty-second-
degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of the Ancient Ac-
cepted Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was a
stanch supporter of the Republican party and served on the
county and state central committees. In 1874 he was elected
sheriff of Cass county, and filled that office for twelve consecu-
tive years in a most capable manner. He was elected the first
city marshal of Fargo, and in 1889 was elected to the state senate,
of which he was a prominent and influential member until 1898,
when he resigned to accept the office of United States marshal
for North Dakota. He was well qualified to fill that office, as he
had previously served as deputy for eight years. He filled a
number of other public positions of honor and trust, being a mem-
ber of the state prison board and other important boards. He also
assisted in locating the agricultural college at Fargo, and did
much to help that institution, introducing in the senate all the bills
in its behalf, including the one on which the college has been
erected. Himself a farmer, he early saw the benefits of such an
institution, and there was not one who felt more closely asso-
ciated with the institution than he did. As senator from the
third judicial district he wielded an influence that secured its
location at Fargo, and he bent every energy to the upbuilding of
that institution.
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 181
September 22, 1905, John E. Haggart passed from this life to
that of rest, leaving behind a multitude of friends. His death
was sudden and he is mourned by a host of sorrowing ones left
to bless his memory.
Major Alanson William Edwards was born in Lorain county,
Ohio, August 27, 1840, and his father removed his family to
Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1848.
Major Edwards attended the county schools and was a stu-
dent at McKendree College, Lebanon, 111., in 1856-7. After leav-
ing school he was railroad and express agent and telegraph
operator, and when the war broke out was the operator at Gilles-
pie, 111., and one night, while he sat in his office, he heard the
telegraphic instrument click off that famous message of General
Dix, "If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot
him on the spot." The event fired his patriotism, so that on the
first call for troops, April 15, 1861, he volunteered, but was
rejected, as he weighed some 300 pounds. He continued with the
railroad company until 1862, when he enlisted and. went into
Camp Palmer at Carlinville, 111.
General Charles Ewing, who was a brother-in-law of General
Sherman, then a captain in the regular army, was the one to
muster in the One Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois Infantry,
and young Edwards made out the muster rolls, a« he was an
expert penman. Captain Ewing inquired who had made up the
rolls, and, on being informed, asked Edwards to read off the
names as he watched the men move off. When the name of an
absentee was called, there being no response, Captain Ewing
would step up to Edwards' shoulder, put a check opposite the
name on the roll, and when he filled out the muster rolls, would
draw a red line through the names of all the men where a check
mark appeared. Young Edwards took lunch with Captain Ewing,
who told him he could not muster him into the army because of
his weight, and so when it came to calling the roll of Company I,
Edwards skipped his own name, and as there was no check mark
opposite, he was duly mustered into the service by Captain
Ewing.
Two years afterwards he was adjutant-general on General
Vandeveer's staff, who commanded the district of Marietta. He
182 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
had often met General Sherman and knew him well, and General
Sherman and staff, which included General Ewing, came to the
headquarters of General Vandeveer, and Sherman said, "Ed-
wards, you know my brother-in-law, Charlie," and then, turning
to Ewing, said : ' ' General Ewing, this is Captain Edwards. ' ' Gen-
eral Ewing looked at Edwards and said: "No, I have never met
the captain before." An hour or so afterwards, General Sherman
and staff came to dine at the headquarters table, and General
Sherman said: "Edwards, how is that about Charlie mustering
you into service?" and the major told the story, which was
greatly enjoyed by all, with the possible exception of General
Ewing.
Major Edwards served in the western army as a private, be-
ginning at Columbus, Ky. He was a clerk in the office of the
adjutant-general of the district of Jackson, and for General G. M.
Dodge at Corinth, Miss.
In April, 1863, by order of the war department, General
Dodge organized the First Alabama Cavalry from loyal refugees
driven from their homes in the mountains of northern Alabama
by Confederate conscripting officers, and Edwards was appointed
lieutenant-adjutant and promoted to captain of L troop. He
served with General Vandeveer as A. A. A. G., district of Rome
and of Marietta, Ga., and was on Kenesaw mountain with Gen-
eral Sherman when he signaled General Corse to "hold the fort,"
while Captain Flint, of Company E, First Alabama Cavalry, was
aide to General Corse and wrote, at Corse's dictation, the answer
about "losing his cheek, but able to whip all h — 11 yet."
On the march through Georgia to the sea, Major Edwards com-
manded Company M of his regiment and for thirty-seven days
did not draw a ration, but gained some fifty pounds in weight.
At Savannah he was detached from his company by order of
General Sherman and assigned to duty A. A. G. Ninth division,
Fifteenth corps, and served with General Corse until after
the grand review at Washington, being finally mustered out by
order of the war department, July 11, 1865. He was breveted
major by order of congress, March 18, 1865, "for gallant and
meritorious service in the field."
Major Edwards was present at the preliminary meeting of
SKETCHES OF OLD SETTLEES DECEASED 183
the officers of the Army of Tennessee to organize this society
at Raleigh, N. C., April 25, 1865, and he became a member of the
G. A. E. in Post No. 6 at Bunker Hill, there being only five earlier
posts organized.
He returned to his old Illinois home after the war and resus-
citated "The Union Gazette" at Bunker Hill, a paper he pub-
lished before going to the war, which suspended while he was
away. In 1868 Major Edwards secured an interest in "The
Carlinville Free Democrat," a Eepublican paper started by Sena-
tor John M. Palmer, and was made warden of the Illinois state
penitentiary by the governor for the term of 1871-2.
After the big fire in Chicago he went into business in that
city and was a member of the Board of Trade from 1875 to 1878.
He went to the Black Hills in 1876, going out via Fargo, and
returned to this city in 1878 and started "The Fargo Eepub-
lican," being associated with Dr. J. B. Hall. He later sold "The
Eepublican" and started "The Daily Argus" in 1879.
Territorial Governor Pierce appointed Major Edwards super-
intendent of the semi-decennial census of Dakota territory in
1885, and in 1886 he was elected mayor of the city of Fargo.
He was largely instrumental in organizing the original board
of trade in the city of Fargo in 1879, and was its secretary for
some time.
He helped to organize the Fargo Southern Eailway Company,
which organization constructed 122 miles of road from Fargo to
Ortonville, and was elected secretary and assistant manager. The
road was built in 1883-4 and is now a part of the Milwaukee
system.
Major Edwards was a member of the first board of the North
Dakota penitentiary and was made its president and directed the
construction of the nucleus of the present building.
He was elected a member of the state legislature in 1895 and
received credit for maintaining the prohibition law, though strong
efforts were made to secure its repeal.
Major Edwards left "The Argus" in 1891 and started "The
Daily Forum," November 17 of that year, in connection with
Mr. Plumley, and in 1894 "The Forum" purchased "The Eepub-
184 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
liean," the first paper started by the major, and the two were
consolidated.
In March, 1902, the major was made American consul-general
at Montreal, which position he resigned July 1, 1906, in conse-
quence of poor health, and returned to Fargo, where he has since
resided.
The major married at Carlinville, 111., in 1870, to Elizabeth
Kobertson, and they have six sons and one daughter, all living.
The sons are Harry Goodell, stenographer for the district court
at Fargo; William Eobertson, advertising manager of "The
Forum"; Alanson Charles, living in New York city; John Palmer,
assistant manager of "The Forum"; George "Washington, musi-
cal instructor in Danville (Ky.) Female Seminary; Eichford Eob-
erts, collector in this city; and the daughter is Marie Eosenfeld
Belknap, who also resides in Fargo.
Major Edwards had always taken much interest in politics
and was known as a hard fighter. He once said: "I know no
reason to be ashamed of my record in the war, or as a citizen.
No man can be — for something — without antagonism. I am in-
clined to a doctrine of being for my friends — and — the other
fellow."
During his residence of thirty years in Fargo, no one has done
more to build up the territory, the state and the city than Major
Edwards, and his death, which occurred February 14, 1908, was
sincerely mourned by an extremely wide circle of warm admirers.
His work, however, lives after him.
CHAPTER VII.
BOTANICAL INVESTIGATION IN NORTH DAKOTA.
By
H. L. Bolley,
Professor Botany and Zoology of North Dakota Agricultural Col-
lege and Botanist and Plant Pathologist of North
Dakota Experiment Station.
Previous to the admission of North Dakota as a state very
little had been done in the line of botanical investigation aside
from the Pacific Railway surveys, which included a geological
and biological section and record the observations and collection
of a large number of plants characteristic of the Dakotas, as well
as of the great plains to the southward. I find no account of
any botanical collections within the state until 1889, when we
have a short record made by A. B. Seymore, now of Harvard, en-
titled "A List of Fungi Collected in 1884 Along the Northern
Pacific Railroad." The list includes collections made under
date of August 21 to September 23, and the points visited were
the ones along the railroad from St. Paul to Sand Point, Idaho.
The plants listed in this publication for North Dakota are taken
from points near Fargo, Valley City, Jamestown, Bismarck and
Mandan, and include the following groups: Chytridiaceae, Pero-
nospereae, Erysipheag, Uredineae and Ustilagineae. The publica-
tion, essentially a list, names some of the most important of the
native rusts and smuts found in the state and is recorded in the
proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. 24.
The next regular collection of which we have definite record
was undertaken by Prof. Patton, of the University of North Da-
185
186 HISTOKY OF BED EIVER VALLEY
kota, and Prof. C. B. Waldron, of the North Dakota Agricultural
College. During the summer of 1890, the Agricultural College
established under the management of temporary board, and Mr.
Waldron was hired to begin preliminary work. As there were
no buildings or other equipments, the summer was spent in va-
rious parts of the state, in company with Prof. Patton, making
notes upon the native grasses. The collections made at that time
are now a part. of the University Hervarium and formed the
nucleus for the herbarium of the North Dakota Agricultural Col-
lege and Experiment Station. This collection listed many of the
native grasses of the state and was afterwards much enlarged
by the collections made by Prof. H. L. Bolley and assistants in the
years 1890-1893. This study of native grasses showed that the
state was possessed of a very extensive generic flora of valuable
forage plants. In all, as completed, the grasses of the state re-
port for this collection up to 1893 showed some fifty genera and
124 species. The collection was afterward developed to form an
extensive herbarium collection at the Agricultural College, con-
sisting of many duplicates collected from almost all the various
topographic regions of the state, the object being, as quickly as
possible, to learn the character of the native grasses before they
should be disturbed by cultivation following the influx of set-
tlers. Besides the herbarium specimens which have been of much
value as exchange specimens in enlarging the herbarium, there
was also made a bunch collection so taken as to show the root
systems, leaves and fruits of each of the native grasses. These
were photographed while fresh and cured in a dry room in the
absence of sunlight, thus leaving the specimens their normal
color. This fine collection was prepared for exhibit at the
World's Fair in Chicago, by Prof. H. L. Bolley and Mr. A. B.
Lee, then principal of the Fargo High School. The fair commis-
sion prepared a beautiful set of oak cases and the collection was
put under glass and attracted world wide attention. It was of
special use to the state at that time in convincing the people of
the eastern and southern states of the grass growing powers of
our North Dakota prairies.
At the University of North Dakota much attention has been
given to the teaching of botany under able direction of Prof. M.
BOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS 187
A. Brannon, but this teaching work has been so exacting upon
the working force that investigation has necessarily suffered.
The same statement might apply to the others of the newer edu-
cational institutions of the state. Prof. Brannon has published
a number of botanical papers of considerable interest to students.
One of the papers on the "Distribution of the Spermatophytes of
North Dakota in Relation to the Drainage Basins of the State,"
was issued in the University Student in the year 1899. Prof.
Brannon also published through the department of agrostology
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in the year 1897, a report
upon grasses and forage plants of North Dakota. This report
was afterwards reissued in the report of the North Dakota Com-
missioner of Agriculture in 1898. A number of university pro-
fessors have published many important papers upon matters of
investigation in scientific journals, including "The Annals of
Botany," "Botanical Gazette and Science."
At the State Normal, Miss Perrine has made extensive collec-
tions of plants of the state and built up a herbarium of consider-
able interest, containing, besides a collection of the native plants
of the state, many plant specimens, collected by Miss Perrine in
other regions.
A number of the best high schools of the state, including those
of Fargo, Grand Forks, Larimore, Jamestown and Dickinson,
are fairly well equipped and are now giving good primary train-
ing in botanical science, which must eventually have a strong in-
fluence upon the future of botanical investigation in this state.
At the Agricultural College of North Dakota Prof. H. L.
Bolley has been in charge of the botanical work since the per-
manent organization of the college and experiment station. At
that time Prof. C. B. Waldron at his own request was made
horticulturist and entomologist of the college and station. Just
previous to the time of organization of the institution the head
of the botanical department was assistant botanist of the Indiana
experiment station and chanced to receive from Prof. Seymore
his interesting pamphlet upon fungi collected along the route of
the Northern Pacific railroad and being, at that time, much in-
terested in the rusts and smuts of cereal grains and grasses, the
little pamphlet regarding the specimens found in North Dakota,
188 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
associated with that of the extended grain fields which this new
state was opening up, largely inclined the writer to consider the
tender of the position now held at the agricultural college.
Because of facilities furnished by the government agricul-
tural experiment station, it has been possible to conduct some
botanical investigations which have proven of much interest to
the people of the state and, in some cases, the work has been
effective in improving farming methods throughout the agricul-
tural world. There has been one other element which has greatly
aided in the development of these investigations, namely, the even
quality of the soil on the experimental plots and the further fact
that much of the land throughout the state is practically virgin.
The writer quickly recognized in these conditions a new field for
the study of plant diseases in regard to farm crops, especially
cereals. These are grown on such an extensive scale and, as the
lands are yet new it was comparatively free from crop disease
characteristic of older states. For example, in the early nineties
potato scab, rot and blight were to be found only in garden
plots and where potatoes had been grown upon the same area
for a number of consecutive years. It was easy, therefore, to
plan experiments regarding the influence of certain chemicals
as applied to soil and as applied to seed tubers, looking towards
the determination of the cause of the disease and the means
essential to prevention. The writer while at the Indiana ex-
periment station, had already demonstrated that potato scab was
of parasitic origin ; and under the fine conditions afforded by the
experiment station plots in the new land of North Dakota, it
was quickly demonstrated that the disease could be controlled
by the use of proper seed tuber treatment. The results of these
experiments, covering a number of years, are that practically all
potato growers who practice intensive and extensive cultivation
now treat their seed tubers either by the corrosive sublimate or
the formaldehyde methods, originated at this experiment station.
The original method of treatment was known as corrosive subli-
mate method, in which one ounce of this chemical was used to
each six gallons of water and the potatoes soaked for an hour and
one-half before cutting. Later, after the formaldehyde treatment
BOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS 189
for smut was discovered, it was found also to be satisfactory for
this work with potatoes.
Few lines of botanical investigation have given economic re-
turns to the people equivalent to those brought about by the de-
velopment of the formaldehyde treatment of seed grain for the
prevention of cereal smuts. It took continued investigation and
experimentation covering a period of practically nine years be-
fore the people of the northwest generally accepted the method
proposed. It is now universally used by the cereal growers
throughout the world. The treatment consists essentially in the
moistening of seed grain over the entire surface with a solution
of formaldehyde made at the strength of one pound to forty-five
gallons of water. This treatment is now used for disinfecting
all sorts of seeds, including flax, all cereals, garden seeds and
grass seeds. It not only has been found effective against smuts
but practically eliminates every other type of fungus disease
which attacks by way of the seed at the time of germination.
The treatment has largely replaced the original method of pre-
venting potato scab. The only time in which the treatment is
not effective is in the case of seeds which are internally attacked,
as in the case of some of the flax diseases or when soil is already
contaminated, as in the case of loose smuts of wheat and corn
and potato scab on land badly infected. Continuous series of
investigation, however, prove that if seed potatoes or seed grain
is treated every year that these diseases finally disappear from
the land. Extensive experiments were necessary in order to
demonstrate the strength of solution which could be used with-
out injury to the various types of seeds and still be destructive
to the germs of disease. The formaldehyde treatment owed its
discovery to the observed facts that treatments in previous use
brought reduced yields and, in the case of oat smut, to the fact
the spores of the disease were found to be inside of the husks.
The effort was to find a chemical which would reach these with-
out destroying the seed, trying a number of volatile oils and
finally gases. This last line of work was so leading in its char-
acter that formaldehyde, a gas in solution, was finally selected
for trial with splendid success.
One can get a fair conception of the money value of such
190 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
experimental work by going out into the field of oats or of wheat
and observing the percentage of stools which are attacked. He
will there find, in the case of untreated grain, very often as high
as 10 to 20 per cent of the oat crop destroyed. A very con-
servative estimate would be 2 per cent for the average year,
previous to the proper practice of seed disinfection. The annual
value of the oat crop of the United States approximates $350,-
000,000. The spring wheat crop of the United States approxi-
mates 500,000,000 bushels per year and the winter wheat crop
approximately 250,000,000 bushels. Stinking smut of wheat has
been known to take 50 per cent of the crop and previous to the
introduction of treatment, 2 per cent of the crop would be a very
conservative estimate for damages wrought. The potato crop
of the United States reaches annually the value of $200,000,000.
The damage by disease known as scab may readily be placed at
from one-tenth to one-twentieth of the crop where untreated.
In treated crops the yield is increased at least one-tenth, includ-
ing the extra value added because of the smooth character of
the potatoes.
The next important investigation of the Department of
Botany of the experiment station, in point of time, was placed
upon the disease of flax. Several types of fungus were discovered
new to literature of diseases and methods of making use of the
formaldehyde treatment for the prevention of this disease have
been determined and are now in use by the farmers of the north-
west ; indeed, by nearly every flax growing country in the world.
Previous to these investigations, it was supposed that soil grew
tired of the flax crop, becoming exhausted in its good elements.
This theory has been wholly disposed of and people are grad-
ually learning that the flax crop is no more destructive to the
soil than other grain crops ; in fact, not quite so exhausting. The
discovery makes it possible for the flax crop to become a per-
manent one in any community. Numerous other lines of botan-
ical investigation at the experiment station, though of lesser im-
portance, add much to the knowledge of the farmer regarding
crop rotation and production. The investigations upon tree feed-
ing and tree medication have attracted much interest in the
fruit growing regions and the organization of methods of field
BOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS 191
spraying for the eradication of mustard, king-head and other
weeds without injury to the growing crops, it is believed will
prove to be of even more an economic success in extensive cereal
culture regions than has marked the development of the formal-
dehyde treatment. It has been recognized that the treatment is
absolutely reliable for the eradication of the common weed
known as mustard. This alone means several millions of dol-
lars to the farmers of North Dakota per year, and practically all
other weeds which are wet by the solution are largely destroyed
at the same time. While Canada thistle cannot be killed with
one application, it is believed that the farmers have found in this
method of attack a means which eventually will rid the land of
this pest.
Extended bacteriological studies have been made of the soil
of North Dakota and the experiment station workers are now
able to give forth quite definite information regarding proper
means of handling the crop as to crop rotation, soil fertilization,
etc. More time has been given to the study of the problem of
rusting of cereal grains than to any other question. So far it
has been impossible to name specific treatments which are as
directly effective as those indicated for some of the other crop
diseases. The knowledge obtained, however, is of none the less
value. The rust of cereal grains, including flax, have been worked
out fully as to their life histories, and extensive experiments
have been conducted with a view to a statement of working prin-
ciples of agriculture which will be most effective in controlling
this destructive parasite. These ha;ve been published in outline in
Bulletin 68 of the North Dakota Experiment Station and it is
believed that, if the farmers practice the general principles there
laid down, the rust scourges in this region will be very largely
eliminated. The breeding methods advised indicate clearly that
it will be possible not only to get flax which is resistant to wilt
disease and soil troubles, but to procure wheats sufficiently resist-
ant to rust to mature crops of seed unreduced in yield.
It would be a matter of negligence on the part of the writer
should he fail, at this time, to call attention to the many investi-
gations being conducted along agricultural and horticultural
lines upon matters of plant production which are essentially
192 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
botanical in all features. Botanical investigation is no longer a
narrow one embodying only the ideas of plant classification and
indefinite philosophical teachings, but embraces all those fields
of practical work which use plant materials or are concerned
with the production of crops whether horticultural or agricultural.
In the matter of tree planting in the state, the first experiments
were gradually carried out under the "tree claim" act by settlers
as best they could under the conditions. The writer has often
heard this act of congress highly criticized as unfortunate and
as having done little good. Personally, I am not of that opinion.
A great many mistakes were made in the planting and some
mistakes were made in selection of kinds of trees to be planted
and doubtless many persons obtained land under the act who did
not wholly fulfill the requirements. Nevertheless, to-day the
state is dotted throughout the whole eastern half by many fine
groves of trees, in part breaking the bleak winds of winter and
certainly tempering the atmospheric conditions at many local
points during the summer season. Furthermore, the eye does
not of necessity now have to rest upon a bleak expanse of terri-
tory. Over a larger portion of the state these groves may be
seen in all directions and though they may not have quite reached
the requirements of the law they stand as mute advisers to
those who would like to add to the wealth and beauty of the state
by further planting. Fortunately, the state and the general
government has liberally provided for present and future inves-
tigations in tree culture. At the Agricultural College continuous
experimental plantations are , being placed and arrangements
have been made for teaching and investigation in forestry at the
Forestry School located at Bottineau. Prof. Waldron in the
eighteen years in which he has been at work at the Agricultural
College, has, I believe, demonstrated that North Dakotans need
not have any feeling of fear in regard to the future of tree plant-
ing and tree culture in the state. The college ground from this
time forward will present an object lesson of the trees and shrubs
which may be utilized and of the methods most satisfactory in
developing them. In the lines of pure horticulture and vegetable
growing, progress has been made and many kinds and varieties
have been tested and developed and proved to be hardy and satis-
BOTANICAL INVESTIGATIONS 193
factory producers of fruits and vegetables. Along agricultural
lines numerous varieties of the different sorts of cereals have
been tested and those which have given promise have been put
under special breeding tests by the department of agriculture at
the Agricultural College, and many new varieties more especially
suited to the cropping conditions of the state have been bred
and increased for distribution to the farmers of the state.
Botanical investigations in the state it is believed may be
said to have been not only productive in its results but progres-
sive, and to be indicative of rapid and highly remunerative
growth in the near future.
CHAPTER VIII.
HISTOEY OF AGRICULTURE IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
By
Prof. J. H. Sheppard.
The Red River Valley has not improperly been called the Nile
of the New World. Nature set apart this valley in the making
for a fertile country. The great glacier powdered and ground
the rock substance into so fine a dust that it retains the moisture
and preserves the plant growth in the splendid way that a clay
soil and sub-soil always help the growth of small grain crops.
The slopes and descents were such as to bank up the water
in the great Lake Agassiz, so that the finest of the assorted
particles that were being carried by the running water were de-
posited for the soil of the Red River Valley.
The geologist tells us that for a long time the water over-
flowed south and drained off through the Mississippi River and
its tributaries as it passed over the edge of a great basin where
all current had ceased in it and the finest of the sediment had
settled in the still water. Later when the ice receded by thawing,
the water drained north through Lake Winnipeg and Hudson
Bay. The glacial water from the higher lands thus deposited
its finer sediment before overflowing the northern dam formed
by the retreating ice sheet, thus causing another layer of deposit
of the finest sediment which the slowest moving water carries in
suspension.
Conjecture alone tells us what next occurred, but it was
probably not long before grass sprang up and clothed the soil
with a verdure that annually turned back great tussocks of stems
and leaves to decay and become incorporated with this fine
.grained soil. This process evidently continued for ages, season
after season, as few soils contain so much humus and decayed
194
AGRICULTURE 195
vegetable matter as that of the Ked River Valley. The highly
plumed vetch and other leguminous wild plants, which still dot
our unbroken prairies, must have entrapped air nitrogen season
after season through the centuries, which have come and gone
until the land was almost surcharged with that material so
precious to the crop producer.
The buffalo had his part in adding fertility by consuming
the grass and other forage and by adding to the soil the last
balance of the sum total of the fertility which he had taken from
it when he left the world and his great brown carcass lay silent
and spectre-like on the prairie. This mass of buffalo flesh and
bones gradually returned to the soil the fertility which had been
gathered; first by the flesh and skin decomposing, then the hair,
the bones, and finally the hoofs and horns. Thus gradually year
by year the deceased buffalo gave back the plant food ingredients
which he had gathered up, in the economic and gradual manner
followed by the modern benefactor, who is considered most wise
in his offerings to charity. The badger, jack-rabbit, gopher, and
multitudinous smaller beasts have added their pittance of fertility
as time has passed in similar manner to that described for the
buffalo, and while the quantity added by each individual may
seem infinitesimal, in the aggregate it represents a large factor
in the production of the highly fertile soil of the Eed River
Valley. Our older settlers recall the time, when a man could
sell his labor for good wages by gathering buffalo bones to be
shipped east for commercial fertilizers, which must mean that the
entire fertility of which these are the last remnants must have
been no mean factor in the source of supply.
The Hudson Bay Fur Company established trading posts at an
early date and while this very indirectly concerns the agriculture
of the valley, it aided by proving to all men that it was possible
to live with a considerable degree of comfort in this section
of the country.
A Scotch gentleman — Lord Selkirk — purchased Red River
Valley land in 1811 and the following season sent a colony of
Scotch refugees to settle upon it and engage in agricultural pur-
suits. They experienced great trouble with the Indians and with
the fur trading companies, as both looked upon them as intruders.
196 HISTOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
In 1817 Lord Selkirk came to the colony bringing them agri-
cultural implements and seed grain. The season was far advanced
when he arrived and while the settlers broke land and seeded
grain, the season was too far advanced and the conditions too
severe to secure a crop, and the records state that they moved
to the vicinity of Pembina — where the hunting was good — to
spend the winter. The following spring they returned to Fort
Garry, the point which they had left the previous season, pre-
pared the land and sowed a crop. The grain sprang up in a
manner which gladdened the hearts of this much vexed pioneer
band, but a swarm of locusts settled down upon it and destroyed
every vestige of it in a single night. These locusts laid their eggs
in the soil of Selkirk's land and as a result were more numerous
in the year 1818 than they had been the previous season. The
growing of crops was consequently impossible. Again this colony
moved to Pembina to live upon the products of the chase.
That season Lord Selkirk purchased two hundred fifty
bushels of seed grain from the United States and brought it in
for the use of the colonists. This wheat cost Lord Selkirk a
thousand pounds sterling. He secured the seed wheat together
with some seed oats and barley at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
and transported it from that point to Fort Garry, by boat. The
boat was brought up the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers to
Lake Traverse and from there into Big Stone Lake, where through
good fortune the water was unusually high, so that the passage
was safely made. From that point the shipment passed down the
Red River to old Fort Garry, where it was received by the
Scotch settlers with great rejoicing. This shipment of wheat
is said to be the original source of supply of the Scotch fife wheat
of the Northwest. The seed was sown by the colonists in
1820 and brought a good crop — the first grain crop produced
in the Red River Valley.
This stubborn Scotch colony remained and prospered in the
region of Fort Garry and their descendants are said to occupy
that portion of the Red River Valley to this day.
The plows of that time were crude, being of the old British
type and constructed entirely of iron. They were also of unusual
length, measuring from ten to twelve feet from the tip of the
LOUIS B. HANNA
AGRICULTURE 197
iron handles to the extremity of the beam. The share is said
to have been shaped like a mason's trowel and the net results
of the efforts of the colonists with this crude implement has well
been called a "scratched" soil.
The success of the Selkirk colony was such that after the
season of 1820, they were never without wheat enough to supply
the Hudson Bay Company for their outposts, what they needed
for their own use, and to allow them to follow the frugal plan
of retaining enough for food and seed to carry them over a two
year period, in case a second scourge of locusts should overtake
them.
Their grain was cut with sickles and bound with willow withes.
The colonists followed the old country practice of stacking their
grain in the barnyard, vying with one another in the excellence
of the stacks produced and casual visitors report that in calling
at their homes, you could not fail to be impressed with their
great thrift upon seeing wheat, oats, barley and field peas snugly
stacked in their barnyards. They threshed their grain with
flails during the winter season and cleaned it from the chaff by
the laborious winnowing process. Later in their experience they
were so thrifty as to supply flour to the settlers, who established
themselves at points further south in the valley. Their mills
were run by wind power and their bolting apparatus was very
crude, but their patrons were delighted with the source of
supply and they had no difficulty in affecting business arrange-
ments nor in selling their products.
In 1851 another settlement was begun in the Red River Valley
at Pembina. On this date, Mr. Charles Cavalier arrived and
induced a number of persons to settle a colony in the vicinity
of Pembina. There is said to have been only four white men in
the community and nearly two thousand halfbreeds represented
the balance of the settlement. The halfbreeds were descended
from the Hudson Bay employees, who had been working in this
country for half a century at that time.
Charles Cavalier set out promptly to learn all he could from
the Selkirk settlers and after visiting nearly every family en-
gaged in farming in the community, he pronounced it the most
prosperous and want-satisfied settlement which he had met. He
198 HISTOKY OF EED EIVEK VALLEY
stated, however, that the French halfbreeds at Pembina, pro-
ceeded on the basis of never carrying a surplus and otherwise
intimated that they were rather unthrifty. Mr. Cavalier states
that he counted fifteen windmills used for grinding flour in the
Selkirk settlement in 1851. He also states that while the bolting
apparatus was not of the best, that the flour was sweet and made
bread of a very high quality. It thus seems that as early as 1851,
the flour from the Scotch fife No. 1 hard wheat made a favorable
impression.
The Pembina settlement secured a supply of No. 1 hard seed
wheat, oats, barley and field peas from the Selkirk colony, in
addition to a supply of flour. The flour was sold to them at ten
shillings per hundred weight.
Scourges of grasshoppers occurred in the settlement occa-
sionally and were very severe. Wild pigeons, blackbirds, and
other feathered visitors took toll from their grain crops according
to the reports, but they state that the soil produced abundantly
and there was enough grain for all. Thus the Red River Valley
seemed at this early date and with the crude tillage given by
the halfbreeds to have proved itself capable of producing crops
in great abundance and of impressing those who were the bene-
ficiaries of its fruitfulness.
For a time the Pembina settlers in most part adopted a very
simple and short system of crop rotation, if it may be dignified
by that name. In any event, the plan supplied them with a
reasonable amount of food and was suited to the ideas of the
large halfbreed element of the population. Their cropping system
consisted in planting potatoes and caring for them until late
summer, or until such time as the buffalo herd would be in good
condition for slaughter. The entire settlement would then effect
an organization, elect or choose some of the older men as officers,
send out a detachment of scouts to locate the buffalo herd and
upon their return with a favorable report, set out to secure a
supply of meat for their families. The officers or captains were
mounted on their poorer horses and it was a rule of the organiza-
tion that no man should advance faster than these officials, which
plan gave all members of the organization a chance to get a
supply of buffalo to take home. They advanced cautiously until
AGRICULTURE 199
they got near the herd, then at the signal, each man set out after
them, securing as many as he could. The matter of deciding who
the carcasses belonged to, which were left on the prairie as each
hunter pursued the herd, killing one after the other, was rather
readily determined by their being in continuous strings or lines.
According to their records, at least, there was no trouble in
making their settlements. Bargains were frequently made during
the hunt, when a hunter with a poorer or slower horse could come
up to one who had a larger detachment of buffalo ahead of him
than he could hope to kill, by which the unfortunate secured the
right to aid in the slaughter for a specified sum and receive half
of the product from that time forward. A procession of Bed
River carts followed the hunters and after slaughter was com-
pleted, the buffalo were dressed and the meat loaded into the
carts and taken back to Pembina, cured and put down for future
use.
At the proper time the potatoes were dug and pitted in prep-
aration for winter. Latet* in the fall, after this process was
completed the buffalo hunt was again put on, after which the
season's work was completed. This three crop system of rotation
enabled the early Pembina settlers to live with no uncertainty
as to a supply of food and they subsisted in comfort if not in
luxury.
In the early fifties a mail route was established between
Fort Garry, the Selkirk settlement, and Fort Abercombie and
was soon extended to Breckenridge. The mail stations enroute
mentioned south of Pembina are Frank La Rose, Twelve mile
point, Bowesmont, Longpoint, Hugh Biggiotoff, Kelly point,
Turtle River, Jo. Caloskey, Grand Forks, John Stewart, Buffalo
Coulie, Frog Point, Goose Prairie, A. Sargent, Elm River, John-
son, Georgetown, Hudson Bay Company, Oak Point, 24 mile
point, McCouleyville, and Breckenridge. This mail route was
made by dog train and while there were settlers at each point,
no grain was grown at any of the above named stations and
contractors hauled their feed supplies from St. Cloud.
This bit of history affects agriculture to the extent that it
shows the lack of faith of the early settler in the capacity of
the Red River Valley soil to produce a crop and possibly also
200 HISTOKY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
in the live stock in the form of dogs, which were used as motive
power by the mail-carriers. These dogs were graded in price
according to their intelligence and capacity. They were driven
in three dog-tandem teams and a good leader was worth $20.00,
while dogs not thus capable were worth $10.00 or less.
In the early sixties, General Sibley was sent by the War
Department to drive the Indians back on the Minnesota frontier,
where they were harrassing the settlers. He did so and after
finishing his season's warfare, wrote up a brief report of his
expedition, in which he went out of his way to say, of this plains
country, which at least included the Red River Valley: "It is
fit only for the Indians and the devil."
In 1899, the writer met J. C. Simpson, then Mayor of Fremont,
Nebraska, who related that in the fall of 1871, he was in Moor-
head, Minnesota, then the end of the Northern Pacific road. He
heard the conversation of business men there and in St. Paul,
and stated that it was the general opinion of conservative busi-
ness men that the soil of the Red River Valley was sour, cold and
of no value for agricultural purposes, other than grazing. While
in Moorhead, a soldier from Ft. Abercrombie strolled into the
hotel carrying a common grain sack in his hand and after standing
about in the bar-room for a time, poured out about a peck of
vegetables, radishes, beets, onions, etc., of very fine quality, on
the floor saying, that he had grown them at Ft. Abercrombie.
The guests of the hotel were very much interested and crowding
about the soldier, looked over the vegetables in great surprise.
Their exclamations were very pointed and in the case of some
there was evident doubt of the statement that he had actually
grown them at Ft. Abercrombie. A little later a man who was
slightly under the influence of liquor approached the soldier and
said: "You say you grew those vegetables at Ft. Abercrombie?"
"Yes." Again he repeated the question and was answered in
the affirmative. Then with an oath he said: "If you say you
grew those at Ft. Abercrombie, you are a liar." Upon hearing
which the soldier whipped out a revolver and sent the doubter
to another world. Mr. Simpson was a revenue collector at the
time and must have been a man of more than ordinary judgment,
and he like the rest was surprised and even doubtful as to
AGRICULTURE 201
whether any soil in the Red River Valley would ever produce
crops of value in the form of those exhibited by the soldier.
In the fall of 1871, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific
railroads reached the Dakota line, and the next season began to
extend their roads in North Dakota. Upon entering this state
the Northern Pacific was given a very large grant of public land
as a bonus for putting in their system of road.
As a result of the failure and bankruptcy of Jay Cook, the
great railroad magnate, in 1873, a panic in Northern Pacific stock
resulted and the price of it became exceedingly cheap. In conse-
quence the lands granted for the Northern Pacific road were sold
at a very small pittance.
In 1875, Oliver Dalrymple secured an equipment and financial
support in St. Paul and proceeded to the Red River Valley to
begin farming operations. It is said that the business men of
St. Paul considered it a wild goose chase, a scheme of the most
hazardous sort, and a sheer waste of time and money to engage
in extensive farming operations in such a country. Mr. Dalrymple
secured Northern Pacific land at a cost of from 40 to 60 cents per
acre and succeeded with one or two other gentlemen in getting
control of 75,000 acres of it. He put in his first crop in 1876, upon
the growth and harvest of which the fame of the Red River
Valley as a farming country was liberally advertised. The
Northern Pacific railroad seeing a chance to have the country
tributary to their lines develop into a prosperous community
which would be profitable to them, lent their good offices in adver-
tising the results secured by Oliver Dalrymple. As one of the
early settlers put it : ' * Mr. Dalrymple turned over the sod, sowed
a crop of wheat on it, got a magnificent yield and then we all
come." Not long ago Mr. Dalrymple said relative to his farm:
"The land immediately took on a value of $5.00 per acre in 1875
— and has increased a dollar per acre per annum since, and has
a present value of from $30.00 to $40.00 per acre. In my judg-
ment it will continue this rise in value at the same rate during
the next twenty-five years." Mr. Dalrymple has continued to
operate on a large scale, but has diversified his crops recently to
a very great extent. Not long ago the report of the farm showed
that they were growing a thousand acres of corn per year, which
202 HISTORY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
indicates that they are adopting the better methods of maintaining
soil fertility as insuring a permanent agricultural production.
Before the railroad had reached Fargo, so that the townsite
was located, James Holes, filed on a homestead beside what later
proved to be the townsite and he was the first to develop a market
gardening business in the upper part of the valley.
J. L. Grandin heard of the settling and development of the
new country and remembered that his firm had taken some
Northern Pacific stock as security, which had never been re-
deemed and which he had stowed away in their vault as well-
nigh, if not entirely valueless paper. Taking this stock from the
pigeon holes, he proceeded to North. Dakota and placed it on
land. He started a second enterprise on similar lines to those
under way by Oliver Dalrymple, and seconded the evidence in
favor of the value and possibilities of the new country. The
levelness of the land, the ease with which it could be broken
and tilled, the high degree of productiveness and its rapid increase
in value, all helped to make these large enterprises extremely
popular and profitable. The increase in value of land alone, quad-
rupled the capital in a very few years, which followed by the
steady advance of a dollar an acre per annum has never left the
owner in doubt about the value of the investment.
Mr. James J. Hill, President of the Great Northern Railroad,
early became familiar with the Red River Valley region and was
strongly impressed with its value and its possibilities. He is also
a great believer in permanent high grade agriculture and has
constantly argued and aided in every way possible the farming
of the Red River Valley region. While he has probably never
plowed a furrow nor seeded an acre of land in this section of
the country, he has been a great aid to the agricultural develop-
ment through the means mentioned above.
After a short while the valley was filled with settlers who
engaged in farming operations, particularly wheat growing, but
for two decades little attention was paid to the seed used or to
the preparation of the land, other than plowing and harrowing it
preceding the planting of the grain. The only rest or change
which was administered to the soil was an occasional fallowing.
In the early eighties James Holes of Fargo began work upon
AGRICULTURE 203
fife seed wheat improvement, and at about the same time his
irteighbor, L. H. Haynes, began a similar but a more scientific and
systematic improvement of blue stem wheat.
Mr. Holes found a splendid single plant of fife wheat growing
in an oat field and saved the seed from it. This foundation plant
was the progenitor of a splendid lot of fife seed wheat which was
grown under rotation and careful farming methods, and kept
(it) pure and made (it) of high grade and quality. It was sent
out in large quantities by Mr. Holes and became the chief fife
seed wheat of the valley. Many other men such as D. L. Wellman,
Frazee, Minn. ; Thomas Bolton, Park River, N. D. ; Messrs. Rysting
and Houston, together with many others followed the two gentle-
men first named, in keeping up a high standard of seed wheat for
planting in the valley and elsewhere in the adjoining states.
L. H. Haynes work on the blue stem variety was very sys-
tematic and scientific in conception and prosecution. The seed
was planted a berry in a place in order that he might study the
entire plant and so that each should have the same conditions
under which to grow and also that he might keep a pedigree
record of the performance of the individual plants, generation
after generation. The greater portion of the seed from the best
plants was sowed in rows, that which the best rows produced
in small plats, their product upon larger ones, and then it was
taken to his fields which had never been seeded to any other grain
than Haynes pedigreed blue stem. Mr. Haynes had no criticism
from his purchasers on the lines of not sending out pure blue
stem and as he did good farming there is no record of criticism
from a purchaser on the point of foul seed. Mr. Haynes had a
warehouse in Fargo and shipped in his grain from the west edge
of the valley, screened it and had it sacked and shipped from
the warehouse under his personal supervision. The fame of his
pedigreed wheat spread far and wide, and he shipped large
quantities of it to other states and some even to other countries.
He was very much interested in disseminating good seed grain
and apparently took as much pleasure in shipping a few sacks
to a small farmer who wished a start of seed as he did in sending
a carload to a large land owner who wanted to seed it on a
thousand acres.
204 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
In October, 1890, the North Dakota Experiment Station was
established at Fargo, in the Red River Valley, and in '92 began the
work on wheat breeding and seed improvement for that region.
This institution gathered, from every known source, seed grain
of all kinds, especially wheat, and after a thorough trial found
that the fife strain descending from Mr. Holes' breeding but
modified to some extent by some of the other breeders, and the
strain descending from the Haynes Pedigreed Blue Stem were the
best available and hence used them as foundation stock. The
work of this institution has continued from that time to this
upon lines similar to those instituted by Mr. Haynes, except that
improved and more rapid methods of planting, harvesting and
caring for the single plants have been instituted and a more
comprehensive and complete pedigree record has been kept. At
this date after seventeen years of work by the Station, the pedi-
grees of its stronger yielding wheats of both the fife and blue
stem strains, trace to the Haynes and Holes foundation stock.
North Dakota Experiment Station No. 66, a variety of fife wheat
which has been disseminated very widely through the valley
and Minnesota 163, both sprang from the nursery at the North
Dakota Experiment Station and trace to the Holes fife wheat as
foundation stock. They have been phenomenal yielders, out-
doing their parent sorts by two bushels or more per acre and
now produce nearly the entire fife wheat crop of the valley.
The Minnesota Station has been very active since about 1890
in an attempt to improve seed grain for the State of Minnesota
and has given considerable direct attention to the Red River
Valley, having as early as 1891, grown wheat at Glyndon, Minn.,
in order to have it under Red River Valley conditions. Later,
it established a sub-experiment station at Crookston, in order that
the wheat varieties might be given special study on Red River
Valley soil.
Experiment Station activities in seed improvement have not
been limited to wheat, as North Dakota No. 388 Tartarian; No.
666, Sixty Day varieties of oats; No. 871 and No. 172, barley;
No. 100 and No. 950, or Golden Dent corn ; No. 155, flax ; No. 39 and
No. 47, potatoes, attest. This experiment station activity in
seed improvement has added materially to the agricultural possi-
AGKICULTUKE 205
bilities of the state and probably accounts for the maintenance
of the grain yield during the first twenty-five years of actual
cropping. The efforts of the North Dakota Station in attempting
to produce strains of wheat immune to rust and of flax, immune to
the flax wilt, indicate the activity of these institutions in their
attempt to produce valuable sorts of grain capable of meeting
the necessities of the region.
Diversification of crops has been studied by the crop growers
during the past ten years. Twenty-five years ago a man that
spoke of stock on a North Dakota farm was understood to mean
work horses and mules. Live stock is still too scarce in the Red
River Valley, but enough cattle, sheep and hogs are kept for the
term live stock to be applied more widely than to work horses.
The advent of successful corn and clover growing which are
discussed later have been largely responsible for the change.
Weeds have begun to encroach upon Red River Valley farmers,
who have not diversified their crops and their soil has de-
teriorated in fertility and in mechanical condition.
As already noted potatoes were grown in the valley as a part
of the cropping system by the Selkirk settlers at a very early
date and exclusively by the Pembina settlers a little later.
The North Dakota potato has enjoyed an enviable reputation for
quality for some years. Seed potatoes from the valley are
shipped as far south as Memphis Tenn., and Kansas City, Mo.,
in considerable quantity. The potato bug and potato diseases
have finally come into the valley, but are not yet serious as com-
pared with most other potato growing regions.
Dairy interests in the valley have slowly but gradually de-
veloped and with the incoming of the diversification of crops,
they are making more rapid advancement. Dairying is destined
to be a more important industry as time passes, since conditions
prevail here which produce the highest quality of dairy products.
Gradually the growing of corn is coming into the cropping
scheme of the Red River Valley farmer as a means of securing
cheap roughage to carry his live stock through the winter, to
put his land in high mechanical condition, free it from weeds,
and, as a result of all these features, improve the yield of the small
grain crops which follow. The early settler would not believe
206 HISTOBY OF EED BIVEB VALLEY
that a variety of corn existed which would ripen in this northern
latitude, but recent school childrens' contests of corn growing,
exhibits made at fairs and at the corn show more recently held,
thoroughly demonstrate how mistaken was* the idea of the
early settler. The North Dakota Experiment Station has dis-
covered that a simple change to corn or potatoes every fourth
season as compared with continuous cropping to wheat will
produce as much total grain as continuous wheat seeding will
do.
Bed clover has gradually found its way into the Bed Biver
Valley and seems to be very much at home in this region. The
early settler found that clover did only fairly well with him
and gave up the growing of it as a practical crop for the state.
The North Dakota Experiment Station made regular and very
successful trials with it, found that in most cases the land did
not need inoculation with the tubercle bacteria and finally in-
duced the farming population gradually to attempt the growth
of red clover for a second time in the history of the valley. A
wave of red clover is just now passing over the valley and
scarcely a community can be found that does not have one or
more fields of it growing in thrifty condition. Some have been
discouraged with it because of the fact that it frequently winter
kills the second season, but this can scarcely be considered un-
fortunate since the regular plowing up of the clover fields, means
that a rotation of crops is assured on all the fields of the farm
and that the yield of grain will consequently be increased.
Alfalfa is now being tried in various parts of the Bed Biver
Valley and while many places are not sufficiently well drained
for this crop to succeed, it is making a very good showing in
many sections where it is planted in reasonably well located soil
and it is probably destined to have a part in the cropping sys-
tem of North Dakota, in a small way at least.
Gardening and fruit growing have received very slight at-
tention from the Bed Biver Valley farmers until the immediate
present. Only a few of the earlier settlers put out shelter belts
of trees and without such protection, the growth of small fruits
is difficult if not impossible. During the last few seasons, the
growing of strawberries, currants, gooseberries, and raspberries
AGKICULTUKE 207
has greatly increased and fruit growing seems to be a very
contagious operation, since it adds to the list of supplies avail-
able to the farmers' family, a luxury which could not be pur-
chased on the market under any consideration.
While gardening, as already noted, was taken up by some
of the very early settlers in the vicinity of the larger towns,
it has had a slow growth and it is doubtful whether the towns
and cities of the valley even now are amply supplied with this
class of products, grown in their immediate vicinity. Agri-
cultural operations in the valley have been so simple, easy, and
have been practiced on such a wholesale scale that our people
have been slow to take up anything that could be considered
tedious or irksome and, as a consequence, this very lucrative
business has been seriously neglected. Just at this time, how-
ever, a number of persons in the vicinity of the larger centres
in the valley have taken up market gardening operations upon
a rather extensive scale and the dawn of a new era in this line,
seems to be at hand. Celery of a very high grade is easily pro-
duced on Red River Valley land and is said by experts to be
equal to that produced in the vicinity of Kalamazoo, Mich.
The cultivation of timothy has been limited in general to
the timber claims, planted by the early settler to secure a quarter
section of land. A few of the more thoughtful land owners have
groves of great value and, while the best judgment has not been
used in the class of trees secured, the land which has been
devoted to tree growth has in the aggregate produced as much
value per acre per annum, as that which has been sown to small
grain and other sale crops. With cedar fence posts selling at
18 to 25 cents apiece and with wood bringing from $6.00 to
$8.00 a cord, a cutting from one of these older tree plantations
brings in a large harvest in value and can be properly taken care
of at a time when the activities of the farm are the lightest of
any season in the year.
Drainage has been a mighty problem in the Red River Valley
during years of irregular precipitation. The settlers are rapidly
learning to co-operate in putting in open ditches and strong
water carrying major channels into which the individual laterals
may be drained. The United States Government and the experi-
208 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
ment stations located at Fargo and Crookston are co-operating
in making a study of the feasibility of under drainage. The
matter of putting in drainage systems under public supervision
and under specific taxation of the land benefited is gradually
being equitably adjusted and will soon doubtless be worked out
in such reasonable form as to be readily accepted by the inter-
ested parties.
With this fertile section of country thoroughly drained, it
will prove the most reliable cropping region in the Northwest,
if not indeed, in the entire country. The history of this drainage
progress has been first a series of efforts on private account,
later a co-operative plan of building good roads, well rounded
up with helpful drainage ditches at each side upon each section
line. Numerous plans for co-operation have been tried, many
of which are successful in removing the surplus water from the
land, but were unsatisfactory to those concerned by reason of
their believing them to be unfair in the pro-rata of taxes levied,
in proportion to the benefit received. Many plans for compre-
hensive drainage have been tried, but it must still be considered
in the evolutionary stage. An item of public interest which
represents so much of added production and consequent wealth
to an entire community must soon find a basis for adoption.
When the Red River Valley is once drained of surplus water
and the suggestions given above for the growing of corn, leg-
uminous crops, and the keeping of live stock, put into practice,
its production of grain in a ten year period should be increased
at least fifty per cent.
The Red River Valley does not lend itself to irrigation and
ordinarily does not suffer from the lack of such a system. The
fine grained soil of the valley is extremely retentive of moisture
and seldom suffers from drouth where it has been reasonably
cropped and cultivated during the years preceding the time when
the light rainfall occurs.
The valley has many organizations which influence agri-
culture, that are of joint service to this and all other regions of
the commonwealth to which the two halves of the valley belong.
Prominent among these is the Grain Growers' Convention, now
nearly a decade old, which is an organization held together by
AGRICULTURE 209
strictly common need and interest. It has neither by-laws nor
constitution, adjourns subject to the call of its officers annually,
but is strongly attended and wields a mighty influence for the
betterment of agricultural conditions in the valley and all other
sections embraced by the organization.
The Live Stock Breeders' Association of North Dakota, Min-
nesota, and Manitoba are three organizations which are rendering
splendid service for the agriculture of the Red River Valley.
The Poultry Breeders' Associations of the three common-
wealths also represent agricultural productive features of the
Red River Valley, which are in the aggregate of great value.
Potato growers' associations which have sprung up in the
Red River Valley are dual in their purpose, embracing the fea-
tures of exchanging ideas and gaining information and of co-
operation in matters of marketing their products. They have
proven most helpful in both these directions and with all have
been very helpful to the districts in which they have been
formed.
Three dairymen's associations have taken an interest in the
Red River Valley and while the citizens of this region have
been slow to take to that type of production, these organizations
should be credited with the good they have done, for the cause
they represent and for having laid the foundation for the future
development of a lasting and lucrative feature of agricultural
production.
Horticultural societies representing the states and province
which embrace the Red River Valley have been active in season
and out of season in their endeavor to improve the horticultural
conditions and to stimulate the production of horticultural crops
in this region. These organizations deserve great credit for
their activity, ingenuity and persistence and while their tangible
results are not as great as might reasonably have been expected,
the future citizen of the valley owes them a debt of gratitude
which will never be paid.
The corn growers of the upper valley have during the last
ten years gradually taken on activity, and while they have not
yet effected permanent organization, they have held corn shows,
and interested growers in exhibiting at fairs and shows, in such
210 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
a way as to form all the preliminaries which precede effective
and_ active agricultural organizations. The interest which has
been aroused by the extension departments of the North Dakota
Agricultural College and the Minnesota University, in school
gardens and agricultural crop growing contests which have
centered strongly about corn have been features of agricultural
organizations, which must not be overlooked in recounting the
effect of organized agricultural movements in the Red River
Valley.
Among the state and provincial organizations for the benefit
of agriculture, the numerous county fairs, which dot this level
region, the state fair of North Dakota and the Winnipeg Ex-
position of Manitoba, represent this very effective form of agri-
cultural education and stimulation for the Red River Valley
region and do their work in a very exhaustive way.
The Agricultural College of North Dakota at Fargo, with the
Government Agricultural Experiment Station for the State of
North Dakota, the Agricultural School and Minnesota Sub-Ex-
periment Station at Crookston, and the Manitoba Agricultural
College at Winnipeg, represent educational and investigational
institutions in the interests of agriculture in the valley territory.
What these institutions have meant for the uplift of agriculture
in the valley cannot be measured. And it is but fair to guess
that they have only passed through the preliminary stages of
their usefulness to this great agricultural region.
The Farmers' Institute of Minnesota has been doing work in
the Red River Valley for a score of years, and that of North
Dakota has been in active form for a decade. Manitoba has a
similar form of organization which is doing a like kind of active
work in the interests of grown-up farmers, their wives and
families. This form of state education reaches productive agri-
cultural citizens who are beyond school age. It touches briefly
on the problem with which he is most concerned or by which
he is perplexed at the time when this traveling corps of in-
structors visits him. The direct effect of this educational organ-
ization on the production of the valley is probably the greatest
of any single organization — if I may be pardoned for assuming
to assign specific degrees of benefit and influence to a single
AGRICULTURE 211
item of organization by itself — in point of fact, all of the agri-
cultural organizations in this region work in harmony and largely
with a unity of purpose. The farmers' institute corps use the
facts secured by the investigator, translate them into the
language of the crop producer, leave out the technical features,
in which he is not interested and cannot understand, and fre-
quently show more explicitly than the experimenter knew how
these elements of information may be applied to the production
of agricultural wealth. The various agricultural organizations
are attended by the farmers' institute corps and the specific
information brought out in their discussions along particular
lines of agriculture are carried through the community and dis-
seminated from point to point until all of the citizens are ap-
prised of the new methods discovered or of the revision of the
old which have lately been brought out.
The Red River Valley has been traversed by white men for a
century. Eighty years ago it demonstrated its capacity to pro-
duce potatoes and grain crops under reasonable conditions and
has consistently done so ever since.
Geologic forces combined to give it a soil of fine grain, level
and almost wholly devoid of waste land. Its capacity for
production is not known, since intensity of cultivation and
diversity of crops will bring results and show capabilities not now
anticipated.
Sufficient time has not elapsed to write more than an intro-
duction to the history of the Red River Valley. He who records
its status a century hence will look upon this as a generation of
squatters, who have not been surrounded by a dense enough
population to enable them to develop its resources to even a
moderate degree.
Organizations in the interests of agriculture in the Red River
Valley are numerous and effective, which fact cannot fail to aid
in improving the production of the country. The population
is increasing and the farming is slowly growing more intense,
both of which changes indicate that increased production may
be anticipated.
J. H. Shepperd, North Dakota Agricultural College.
CHAPTER IX.
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING IN THE RED RIVER
VALLEY.*
By Hon. George N. Lamphere.
Published in the Minnesota Historical Society Collections,
Volume X, 1905.
Description of the Red River Valley.
I have not deemed it entirely relevant to my subject to discuss
the topography, the geology, or the aboriginal inhabitants of the
Red River valley. And for another reason than its relevancy, I
have omitted any discussion thereof because they have hereto-
fore been treated by the honored secretary of this Society, War-
ren Upham, in a paper read at its annual meeting in 1895 (Min-
nesota Historical Society Collections, vol. VIII, pages 11-24).
The Red River valley, as this term is commonly used, is a
broad and flat prairie plain reaching ten to twenty miles on each
side of the Red River of the North, having thus about half of its
expanse in Minnesota and the other half in North Dakota. It
extends three hundred miles from south to north, continuing in
Manitoba to Lake Winnipeg. Inclosed by the higher land on each
side, and pent in at the north by the barrier of the receding ice-
sheet at the end of the Glacial period, this valley plain was cov-
ered in that geologic epoch by a vast lake, which, with the com-
plete disappearance of the ice-sheet, was drained away to Hudson
bay. To this glacial lake Mr. Upham has given the name of Lake
*An Address at the Annual Meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society,
January 8, 1900.
212
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 213
Agassiz; and its survey and description are the subject of a vol-
ume prepared by him and published by the United States Geolog-
ical Survey. The closing chapters of that work should be con-
sulted by any who seek information concerning the general ag-
ricultural capabilities of this very fertile district, or concerning
its water supply and its hundreds of artesian wells.
Wheat Raising in the Selkirk Settlement.
The beginning of wheat raising in the Red River valley was
in the Selkirk settlement north of the boundary line, near Fort
Garry, now Winnipeg.
In 1811 the Earl of Selkirk purchased from the Hudson Bay
Company a vast tract of land in Manitoba, including the land
afterward occupied by the Selkirk settlement. The purchase was
subject to the Indian claim to its title. About the time of this
purchase there was a compulsory exodus of the inhabitants of
the county of Sutherland, Scotland, from the estates of the
Duchess of Sutherland; and Lord Selkirk took a large number
of these evicted persons under his protection and forwarded them
to settle on the land he had purchased on the Red River. They ar-
rived on the bay in the fall of the year, and spent the winter at
Churchill, on the western shore of the bay. In the following
spring they advanced inland, crossed Lake Winnipeg, and ascend-
ed the Red River of the North. They intended to make their home
at the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red rivers, but on arriv-
ing there found that the X. Y. and the Northwest Companies of
Canada, which were opponents of the Hudson Bay Company,
regarded them as invaders and also as proteges of the latter.
The Indians also objected to the cultivation of their hunting
grounds, and were instigated to hostile proceedings against the
newcomers by the representations of the Canadian companies.
The year 1812 passed without any satisfactory progress being
made toward settlement, and the immigrants spent the following
winter in great distress at Pembina, whither they were driven by
the Indians. By some means, however, they were able to mollify
their opponents, and were permitted to return in the spring. They
built log houses and began the cultivation of the land on the bank
of the river. Within a year they were attacked by the partisans
214: HISTOKY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
of the companies, who burnt their houses and killed some of their
number. Afterward, being reinforced by a company of additional
immigrants from Scotland, the settlers returned to the places from
which they had been driven, and recommenced their labors. The
hostility of the companies toward these poor immigrants was
continued, their property was destroyed and men were captured
and killed. At length, on June 19, 1816, the adherents of the two
parties met at Seven Oaks, in the center of the settlement, under
such circumstances that a small battle occurred, in which about
twenty men, among whom was Governor Semple, were killed.
In 1817 Lork Selkirk came over and visited the settlement.
Besides having a desire to see how the settlers were prospering,
he desired to negotiate for the extinguishment of the Indian title
to the land he had purchased. After much difficulty he negoti-
ated a treaty with the Chippewas and Crees, which treaty was
signed July 18, 1817. The consideration was the annual payment
of 200 pounds of tobacco, half to the Chippewas and half to the
Crees. The conditions in the territory at this time were so
wretched that the Canadian government interfered and appointed
a commissioner to make investigation, who recommended an am-
icable settlement and a union of interests by the companies, which
had been reduced to the verge of bankruptcy. It was a long time,
however, before action was taken. Lork Selkirk died in 1821,
and the Right Honorable Edward Ellice succeeded to his rights.
He was one of the principal stockholders of the Northwest Com-
pany, and the Canadian government consulted with him and
under its auspices he instituted negotiations, which, after many
difficulties, resulted in a harmonious union between the Hudson
Bay Company and the Northwest Company, the latter having
before combined with the X. Y. Company. This agreement went
into effect in 1821, and from this date the opposition to the settlers
was withdrawn.
Lord Selkirk, on his arrival in 1817, had provided the set-
tlers with agricultural implements, seed grain, and other neces-
saries, but the season was so far advanced that little produce
was grown in 1817 and a famine ensued. The people again re-
turned to Pembina, where they passed the winter, subsisting as
best they could on the produce of the chase. The next spring
HISTOEY OF WHEAT RAISING 215
they went back to their lands, ploughed and seeded them, and
entertained high hopes for a bountiful harvest, but were to be
sorely disappointed, as an army of locusts made its appearance
and in one night destroyed every vestige of verdure in the fields.
The locusts left their eggs and in 1819 were more numerous than
in the preceding year, making agriculture impossible. The set-
tlers again took refuge at Pembina, and Lord Selkirk imported
250 bushels of seed grain from the United States at an expense of
£1,000, and this, which was sown in the spring of 1820, produced
a plentiful crop in the autumn of that year. Thus it may be said
that the first wheat that was ever successfully grown and har-
vested in the Red River valley was in the season of 1820 by the
Selkirkers. I am principally indebted for the facts as above set
forth to the book entitled "Red River, " by J. J. Hargrave, printed
by John Lovell, Montreal.
The methods of cultivation in the Selkirk settlement were
rude and primitive. Their plow was English or Scotch, made all
of iron from the tip of the beam to the end of the handles, and
was ten or twelve feet long. Its share was shaped like a mason's
trowel. With this drawn by one horse, enough ground was
scratched every spring to raise suificient wheat to feed all the
blackbirds and pigeons in the Red River valley, and leave a sur-
plus large enough to meet the wants of the people of the settle-
ment ; also to sell to the Hudson Bay Company all they needed for
their outposts in the British Northwest possessions, and still leave
a surplus sufficient for food and seed for two years, which was
stored up to be used in case of emergency or failure of crop in
the coming seasons. The grain was cut with sickles, the bundles
tied with willow withes and stacked in the barnyard, to be flailed
out during the winter and cleaned by the winds, men, and women
and children all giving a helping hand in this work.
In August, 1851, Charles Cavalier arrived at Pembina. At
that date the Red River valley, except the Selkirk settlement, was
a howling waste throughout its whole length and breadth. Then
there were only four white men in that section, namely, Norman
W. Kittson, Joseph Rolette, George Morrison, and Charles Cav-
alier. There were 1,800 to 2,000 half-breeds, and Mr. Cavalier
says that, as he was born among the "Wyandotte Indians in Ohio
216 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
and brought up near them, the Indians at Pembina were not much
of a curiosity to him, but the half-breed was a new phase of the
genus. "To this day," says he, "I have not fully made up my
mind whether the cross between the white man and the red man
was much of an improvement, as with but few exceptions the
Indian blood predominates."
In those early days bread was a rarity, and pemmican, dried
buifalo meat, fish and a few potatoes constituted the food supply.
Charles Cavalier and Commodore N. W. Kittson planned a trip
to the Selkirk settlement, where they were told they would find
bread in abundance. They set out in the same year (1851) and in
a day and a half's sail down the river in a canoe reached Fort
Garry and St. Boniface, where they received a hospitable wel-
come from Vereck Marion, Mr. Kittson 's father-in-law. They
visited the Roman Catholic bishops and clergy and found them
pleasant and agreeable gentlemen. They also visited the Sisters
of Charity at the hospital, who gave them a warm welcome and
showed them through the whole establishment. Kittson having
returned to Pembina, Mr. Cavalier, in company with Mr. Marion,
visited the office of the Hudson Bay Company, where they met
also Major Campbell, who was in command of a company of
British xtroops stationed near Fort Garry. With Marion, who was
an old settler and acquainted with every one, Cavalier went on a
tour of inspection and gathered all the information possible in
his limited time in order to tell his friends on his return about
this isolated, almost unheard-of community, and how they made
life endurable in their frigid northern climate.
From Fort Garry to the Lower Fort the two men called at
almost every house, and found a happy, prosperous, English-
speaking people, mostly of Scotch descent from the immigrants
sent over by Lord Selkirk. A few of other nationalities were also
there. They were very kindly and hospitable people. The two
men called upon Bishop Anderson of the English church, and
found him to be "a fine old English gentleman all of the olden
time." With him they visited the colleges, one for males and the
other for females, where the youth received a classical education,
and which institutions are still in existence. Here Mr. Cavalier
first met Donald Murray, one of the original Selkirk settlers, who
JOSEPH R. POUPORE
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 217
had once settled at South Pembina and had remained there until
it was determined to be south of the international boundary line,
and whose daughter is now Mr. Cavalier's wife. Mr. Cavalier
somewhat enthusiastically says that his impression at that time
was that he had never seen a more prosperous community in the
States than was the Selkirk settlement. There was not a family
that was not well off as to all the wants of life. The latch string
of every door hung on the outside, and all who called were wel-
come to the best the larder contained, and when leaving were
asked to come again. Sectarianism was unknown among them,
there being only one church, the Episcopal. Though the Scotch
were mostly Presbyterians, yet when Dalton Black settled among
them and an Episcopal church was built for them, there was no
ill feeling shown on either side. Their houses were all built of
logs and built for comfort, convenience, and warmth. Many of
them are yet occupied, but the changes caused by Canadian im-
migration have had a large influence in changing their manner
of life. However, they are today the same good people and live
up to their religion.
The half-breeds of the Selkirk settlement, speaking1 English,
are not nomads like those of French extraction, but take to the
ways of their fathers and are workers and tillers of the soil.
Nearly all have homes and lands of their own, educate their chil-
dren, and have something laid by for a rainy day; while the
French half-breeds, who are mostly of the Roman Catholic faith,
believe that "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
As the harvest of that season (1851) was nearly finished and
the barnyards were filled with large and bountiful stacks of wheat
and barley, and a stack or two of oats and peas, it was a rich
sight, and there was no fear of starvation for two or more years,
even should the crops fail. The land system, which gave a strip of
land six chains wide fronting the Red River and extending back
two miles, gave the settlement the appearance of a long, strag-
gling village along the road from Fort Garry to the Lower Fort ;
and as the dwellings, barns and stock were in close view all the
way, the picture was a most beautiful and interesting one, such
as is nowhere seen in the States and rarely even in old Europe.
The Selkirkers generally had large families and old and young
218 HISTORY OF EBD EIVER VALLEY
worked together on the homesteads. While like other farmers
they suffered from drouth, grasshoppers, and frosts, yet they
usually secured good crops, and saved a reserve for two or three
years, an amount for seed, and sold the surplus to the Hudson
Bay Company. Occasionally they would have poor crops and
perhaps be compelled to use their reserve, or even to borrow from
the Hudson Bay Company for seed and food. The company,
whose interest it was to be liberal, as they depended upon these
farmers for their supplies of wheat for their support, loaned wil-
lingly, but required the payment from the succeeding crop. A
government never existed, in the opinion of Mr. Cavalier, that
got on better with settlers than the much abused Hudson Bay
Company.
Early Flouring Mills ; Grasshoppers.
At that time, as before noted, all grain was cut with sickles
and bound with willow withes by the women and children.
Wheat, barley, and oats, were threshed on a barn floor with a
flail during the winter season, and were winnowed with a large
wind scoop resting on the breast ; and it was remarkable how fast,
with a good wind, the grain could be cleaned. The wheat was
ground in large windmills, bolted fine and clean, and made excel-
lent bread. The flour was not like the flour of these days, and
modern cooks would probably turn up their noses at it, but it was
to the taste as good as our best.
Mr. Cavalier in his rambles on that trip counted fifteen wind-
mills, all grinding out flour at a lively rate, which at that time
sold for eight or ten shillings per hundred weight.
The old settlers told of a grasshopper scourge at a date for-
gotten by them, that made a clean sweep of every growing thing,
and that grasshoppers were piled up by the winds and waves four
feet deep on the shores of lake Manitoba and Shoal lake. They
stated that after the grasshoppers had done all the damage they
could, as everything was eaten, the Catholic clergy got up a pro-
cession and said prayers, and on the next day the hoppers quit
hopping, took to their wings, and flew away to the northward
and were seen no more.
Mr. Cavalier says the first time he saw grasshoppers was in
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 219
1854. He was in camp one night on White Bear Lake, now lake
Whipple, and took an early start toward St. Cloud. It had rained
during the night and all were wet, so at nine o 'clock they turned
out on the bank of Long lake and spread their clothes and other
things to dry. They made a fire to cook breakfast. Mr. Cavalier,
on looking around for his blankets, etc., saw nothing but a squirm-
ing mass of grasshoppers, all as busy as if they had struck a
bonanza. They were not able to get out of that mass of grass-
hoppers until they had traveled about twenty miles. On the re-
turn they struck them at St. Cloud, and they had cleaned the
country quite thoroughly on their flight east. On crossing the
Red River and between that and the Wild Rice river they struck
the forerunners of another cloud of grasshoppers, and did not get
clear of them until they arrived home at St. Joseph, now Walhalla.
For gluttony the hopper takes the cake, Mr. Cavalier says, and
relates that they ate the seat of his saddle and the tops of his
boots. He threw a plug of tobacco to them, and within an hour
they had eaten that.
In 1870 another visitation of grasshoppers appeared, and in
that year and the year following their ravages were disastrous.
In 1874 they came again and stayed three years, eating every-
thing in the Red River valley, and the settlers were obliged to
haul their flour from St. Cloud. Minneapolis and St. Paul sent
relief to carry the poor through, which saved many from actual
starvation.
Thus the Selkirkers, with the simplest and rudest of agricul-
tural implements, were always prosperous, and want was un-
known among them. Through them we learned that the Dakota
lands were not the barren wastes and howling desert of dry,
drifting sand that our school books had taught us, and that the
Red River valley contained a mine of wealth greater than any
discovered mine of silver and gold. This we were slow to realize,
but have at length made the Red River valley the most bountiful
granary of the world. The windmills of that famous pioneer
settlement have done their last grinding; most of the old hand
labor implements have been laid aside; and the new and im-
proved forms of farm machinery, so efficient and so exact as to
give almost the appearance of having human intelligence, have
220 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
taken their place. These are run or propelled by horse and steam
power, and the labor of one man has become as that of many.
Mr. Cavalier reminiscently says: "I was here for years living
by the proceeds of the chase, never dreaming that this mode of
livelihood would ever cease, or that the millions of buffaloes that
roamed the prairies would ever be exhausted, and that we old
settlers would soon be seeking other means of support."
The settlers south of the line had to depend upon the Selkirk
settlement for their bread and butter. Old Father Belcourt, of
St. Joseph, near the Pembina mountain, a Catholic priest, and a
rustler in all things for himself first and for his people next, built
a bull mill at his mission at St. Joseph and ran it a few years
with oxen, and ground what little wheat the half-breeds raised.
With no bolt to take the bran out of the flour, it had to be run
through sieves or eaten husks and all. The half-breeds did not
furnish wheat enough to make the mill pay, and they could not
be induced to greater industry, so that the good old man had to
give the mill up. The result was that the half-breeds returned
to the coffee-mill or ate the grain raw or roasted. That mill was
the first. George Emerling and John Mayn built the next, and
that mill is now one of the paying concerns of Pembina county
at "Walhalla, having all the new improvements in merchant mills.
First Mail Route.
The first public business tending to civilization was the estab-
lishing of a monthly mail between Pembina and Fort Aber-
crombie. It was a kind of go-as-you-please, sometimes on foot,
with the mail bag on the man's back, sometimes by horse and cart,
and by courier, any way so that the mail was carried, and in those
days it was never behind time. At least the contractor never was
docked or fined. From Pembina the mail was taken to Fort
Garry, and that office had to use Uncle Sam's stamps. From Fort
Garry the route was to Fort Abercrombie and run by dog trains,
horse and cart, and one year by ox cart, as all the horses from
St. Cloud to Fort Garry died or were rendered useless by an
epidemic. Sometime in the sixties Captain Blakeley and Carpen-
ter secured the contract to carry the mail from St. Cloud to
HISTOEY OF WHEAT EAISING 221
Georgetown on the Ked Eiver, and afterward had it extended to
Fort Garry, Selkirk settlement.
The following is a list of the stations. Beginning at Pembina
and going up or south, the first station was Frank La Eose's, at
Twelve Mile Point; next were Bowesmont and Long Point, near
Drayton, Hugh Biggiotoff; and Kelly Point, now Acton. Kelly
was an old driver and gave it up. Gerard was station agent as
long after as the route was in existence. Beyond were Turtle
Eiver, Jo Caloskey ; Grand Forks, John Stewart first, and several
others afterward; Buffalo Coulie, unknown; Frog Point, un-
known; Goose Prairie, A. Sargent; Elm Eiver, Johnson; George-
town, Hudson Bay Company ; Oak Point, unknown ; Twenty-four
Mile Point, McCauleyville, and Breckenridge. At none of the
above stations was a handful of grain raised. The contractors
hauled all their oats from St. Cloud. The above named points
were all the settled points, and there was not a settler elsewhere
on the river from Breckenridge to Pembina.
Steamboats on the Bed River.
In 1858, Anson Northup got the steamboat Pioneer in suc-
cessful operation. Mr. Cavalier says he was then living at St.
Boniface, Selkirk settlement, and with his wife made a trip on
her to Lower Fort Garry, and he says that the settlers on the
bank of the river were as much surprised as were the Indians in
their villages on the Minnesota river at the first boat when she
steamed up to Mankato. It was a perfect circus all the way down.
The International made her appearance within three or four
years afterward as a freight boat for the Hudson Bay Company,
ostensibly owned by Commodore N. W. Kittson, and was used as
long as there was need of a boat on the river. She was all the
time under the command of Captain Frank Aymond, a St. Louis
Frenchman from Ville Eoche, and he was an excellent captain.
Since leaving the river he has been living on his farm some four
miles above Neche on the Pembina river, where he expects to pass
the remainder of his days to a happy old age.
The Selkirk came next. She was built by James J. Hill ; and
other boats were built to supply the increased demand. Then
followed the combination known as the Eed Eiver Transportation
222 H1STOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Company, which did business under that head until the railroads
successfully shut off river navigation.
The amount of business that these boats accomplished was
astonishing, and yet they did but little, perceptibly, toward set-
tling the country, as there were only three or four points on the
river that showed a beginning of what was to come. From Fargo
and Moorhead to Grand Forks there were only a few settlers;
and from Grand Forks to Drayton a few had settled to stay.
Bowesmont was a steamboat landing, but never has amounted to
much. Then Joliette commenced to grow and is now quite a
prosperous community, and, last but not least, Pembina. Back
from the river there was no settlement and without the aid of
railroads it would have taken an age to build up the country to
what it now is.
Prior to 1878 there had been a few shipments of wheat, which
had been picked up along the river by the boats. Frank C.
Myrick, who was in the commission business from 1864, made
the largest shipment on one of the boats ever made from Pembina.
It amounted to 500 bushels of wheat, which he had collected from
the back country on the Pembina and Tongue rivers. From Grand
Forks to Pembina settlers came dropping in by families one at
a time, and all came with the idea that wheat was the only staple
to be cultivated in the Red River valley, all of which they had
learned from the remarkable crops raised in the Selkirk settle-
ment with primitive tools for cultivation, yielding from twenty
to fifty bushels per acre. In one instance by garden cultivation
as an experiment on the ground of Deacon James McKay, the
yield was seventy-five bushels to the acre. If such crops are
raised in Selkirk with the imperfect cultivation, why may we not,
they reasoned, do the same or better with improved machinery
farther south in the valley ? For a few years they did so, and they
continued to do well as long as they confined themselves to the
extent of land they could properly cultivate. But greed was
their worst enemy. If 160 acres panned out so well, why would
not a section do better? And there they made a mistake, as will
be explained later.
HISTOEY OF WHEAT RAISING 223
First Wheat Raising Near the Pembina River.
During the period thus far traced, no wheat was raised south
of the international boundary line. The settlers there lived on
fish, flesh, and fowl. They raised all the garden vegetables
needed, and bought flour from the Selkirk settlement. For fresh
meat they depended upon the plains, and were seldom out of a
supply. Barley was raised for horse feed, and some oats were
raised, but the blackbirds devoured most of the oat fields. Hav-
ing no mills to grind wheat, the settlers on the south side of the
line raised none, but did raise squaw corn for roasting ears. The
few cattle were kept on hay in winter, and the Indian ponies dug
theirs out of the snow, save in a period of unusually cold weather
and deep snows, when they were fed hay.
In 1871 or 1872, Charles Bottineau, who had tilled ten acres
to garden, seeded it to wheat, and claims to have raised fifty
bushels of No. 1 hard wheat to the acre upon it. His place was
four miles above Neche on the north side of Pembina river. Two
years later Charles Grant, two miles west of Pembina, raised a
small field of wheat, and claims to have averaged forty bushels
to the acre, all of which they hauled to the Selkirk settlement
to have it ground. A man named Vere Ether came to Pembina
at the beginning of Kiel's rebellion (1869), and was stopped at the
boundary line by Kiel's scouts. They sent him back to wait for
a more convenient time. He was persuaded to take a preemption
on the Pembina river a few miles east of Neche. He opened up
his farm and was the first settler there who made wheat-raising
his chief employment. He always had good crops, in good seasons
forty bushels per acre and never less than fifteen bushels.
Pioneer Farmers Near Moorhead and Fargo.
One of the oldest settlers and farmers in the Red River
valley, south of the international line, is Honorable R. M. Probst-
field, now living on his farm three and a half miles north of
Moorhead. He came to the valley in 1859, and located at the
mouth of the Sheyenne river, about five miles south of George-
town. In October, 1860, he went to Europe, and returned in the
spring of 1861, but, owing to the flooded condition of the valley
224: HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
that spring, he was unable to reach his location until June 10th.
At that time parties by the name of Roundsville and Hanna were
on the land where Mr. Probstfield now lives, and that spring they
sowed a little wheat and planted potatoes. Roundsville and
Hanna were called away and they made arrangements with Mr.
Probstfield to harvest the wheat and1 dig the potatoes, but the
Chippewa Indians threatened to drive them away and kill their
stock. The wheat was destroyed by hail. Mr. Probstfield dug
the potatoes. He had brought some cattle from St. Paul, and
that fall he cut some hay on the place now occupied by Jacob
Wambach. The Indians never molested them, as, after the troops
at Fort Abercrombie had given them a whipping, they went north
into the British possessions. In the fall of 1861 he went to the
post at Georgetown, and lived there until March, 1863, when
General Sibley ordered all whites to go to Abercrombie. This was
owing to the Indian uprising. He remained at Abercrombie until
June, 1863, when he was ordered by General Sibley to remove to
St. Cloud, where he remained until May, 1864, when he returned
to Georgetown. The Indians had burned his buildings on the
Wambach place, on the Buffalo river near Georgetown. He then
opened a boarding house in one of the Hudson Bay Company's
buildings at Georgetown, and was appointed postmaster. There
were twenty-five men there at work building barges, who lived
in the military quarters and boarded with him.
From 1864 to 1868, Mr. Probstfield was the Hudson Bay Com-
pany's agent at Georgetown. In 1862 the company seeded some
wheat, but it was not harvested, owing to the abandonment of
the post on account of the Indian scare. The company leased
its boat, the International, to Harris, Gaeger, Mills & Bentley,
until the post was again opened in 1864. Roundsville and Hanna
having abandoned their farm, in Oakport, Mr. Probstfield took it
as his homestead and occupied it in May, 1869, where he has
ever since lived. There were seventy-one acres in the place, and
he afterwards purchased additional land at $1.25 per acre. In
1869 he broke land for a garden, and seeded oats and barley and
planted potatoes. He also kept live stock. As there were no
threshing machines or mills in the country, it would not pay to
raise wheat. In 1874, the Hudson Bay Company brought a
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 225
thresher, a horse power machine, and the company's agent at
Georgetown, Walter J. S. Traill, offered to thresh any wheat that
was grown. Mr. Probstfield accordingly broke up fifteen acres
and seeded it to wheat, harvesting twenty-eight bushels per acre,
which was sold at about $1.50 per bushel. I should have remarked
that during the years 1870 to 1873, Mr. Probstfield cultivated ten
acres to oats, barley, corn and garden. Moorhead and Fargo
had begun to be established in 1871, and these places afforded an
excellent market for all the produce grown.
Nels Larson raised some wheat also in 1874, on land about
two miles north of Moorhead, now known as Dr. Brendemuehl 7s
farm. Ole Thompson, Hogan Anderson (Hicks), and Jens An-
derson raised wheat south of Moorhead the same year. This
wheat was sold to an elevator in Fargo that was built before
Bruns & Finkle had built their large elevator and mill in Moor-
head.
In 1875, Mr. Probstfield again raised wheat, and the number
who were engaged in the industry considerably increased that
year. In the spring of that year a number of Norwegians from
Houston county came up and looked at land on the Dakota side
between Georgetown and Argusville. Finding the land very wet
by overflow of the river, they returned to the Minnesota side,
and Mr. Probstfield, meeting them, asked where they were going,
and they replied, "Back to Houston county." He was cultivating
potatoes, and he said to them that if they would put two young
men to work in his place, he would go with them and show them
good land .that had been surveyed. They agreed, and he took
them over to the Buffalo river about six or eight miles east, where
they located. There were six or seven families, and among them
were Ole Thortvedt, Ole Tauge, Torgerson Skree, Ole Anderson,
and others. They were delighted with the location and land, and
they or their descendants are still there and prosperous. A. G.
Kassenborg, A. 0. Kragnes, and B. Gunderson and others, came
a little later, and located on the Buffalo river. Jacob Wambach
came in 1874, with his father-in-law, Joseph Stochen. Contem-
porary with Mr. Probstfield was E. R. Hutchinson, who settled
where he still resides, about two miles south of Georgetown on
the river. The boom began about 1878, when the immigration
226 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEK VALLEY
into the valley was very large. Wheat sold for $1 and above until
about 1882, and it fell until it reached the low price of 42 or 43
cents.
One of the oldest settlers in the valley on the Dakota side
and one of the most successful farmers is James Holes. He came
in July, 1871, and bought out the claim of Ole Hanson, who had
a cabin on the west bank of the river about one mile north of the
Northern Pacific surveyed line. Hanson had a small patch of
corn and potatoes. No corn was secured that year, and Mr.
Holes says he dug about half a barrel of potatoes. The Northern
Pacific railroad had laid tracks in the fall of 1871 to the east side
of the river, to a point where Moorhead now stands. There was
no bridge as yet, and owing to want of timber the bridge was not
built until the summer of 1872. The first engine crossed the river
July 4 (or June 6), 1872. Mr. Holes states that the freight
charges for wheat to Duluth at that time were prohibitory and
this discouraged the growing of it. He interviewed the general
manager and made such representations to him. The charge then
was $99 for 20,000 pounds. This was exactly 30 cents per bushel.
The company soon after (in 1873) made a considerable reduction.
In 1872 Mr. Holes had the largest cultivated field in Cass county.
It was cropped to oats, potatoes, and garden vegetables, and con-
tained twenty-four acres. There were good markets, and Mr.
Holes shipped his produce to Fort Buford, Bismarck, Winnipeg,
and Glyndon. In 1873 he pursued the same employment. In 1874
he seeded fifteen acres of wheat, and harvested twenty bushels per
acre. The season was dry, and, as the land had been gardened, it
blew out badly, which caused a rather light yield for those early
years. The wheat was the Scotch Fife variety, and he sold it for
seed. In 1875 his acreage of wheat was about the same, but hav-
ing in 1876 broken 150 acres, in the spring of 1877 he seeded 175
acres to wheat and secured an average of twenty-seven and one-
half bushels per acre, which he sold at $1 per bushel. As this
wheat was raised on land worth $5 per acre, the profit was large.
From 1878 to 1893, Mr. Holes yearly increased his acreage
of wheat until he had reached 1,600 acres, which has been about
the extent of his yearly wheat cultivation since. His land is now
worth $30 per acre. The poorest field he ever harvested was ten
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 227
bushels per acre, and the best forty-four bushels. His average has
always exceeded ten bushels, but never exceeded twenty-seven
and one-half bushels. The price has ranged from $1.50 to 45 cents
per bushel. Grasshoppers prevailed from 1871 to 1877, and
wreaked more or less damage every year. In May, 1876, the
settlers burned the young grasshoppers in the prairie grass, which
checked them; and in 1877 they all flew away, and this part of
the valley has not been troubled with them since. Mr. Holes'
crops have, in the twenty-eight years of his residence here, been
injured by hail four seasons. The most disastrous hailstorm was
last season, when he lost, as he figures it, about 16,000 bushels
of wheat by hail. Mr. Holes states as his judgment, formed after
long experience, that wheat can be produced at a profit in the
valley when properly cultivated, excluding from the calculation
the advance in price of land, and that the valley is one of the
best in the United States for profitable farming.
Moorhead was the terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad
for a period of two years, and a large amount of freight was
transferred at that point for transportation down the Red River
to Winnipeg and other places. At that time nine steamers were
plying on the river, and a number of flatboats were used in con-
nection. An eye witness has informed me that he has seen as
many as eleven hundred Mennonite immigrants camped at Moor-
head and bound for Manitoba and the Northwest Territory, who
pitched their tents on the banks of the Red River, awaiting trans-
portation by boat down.
In May, 1871, there were a few settlers at Glyndon, Muskoda,
and Hawley, and a few along the Red River within the present
limits of Clay county. The very earliest settlements were made
at Georgetown by Adam Stein, R. M. Probstfield, and E. R.
Hutchinson, who became husbandmen and tillers of the soil. We
have the gratification of knowing that they are still living wit-
nesses of the fertility of the Red River valley soil and the health-
fulness of the climate, and moreover of the fecundity of mankind
when under the influence of both these. Mr. Hutchinson is the
father of seventeen children, Mr. Probstfield of thirteen, and Mr.
Stein of eight.
It may be of interest to my hearers to learn the particulars as
228 HISTORY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
to how it happened that these three pioneers drifted into what
is now one of the most famous agricultural regions in the world,
but which was then a dreary waste uninhabited save by Indians
and roamed by wild beasts. In March, 1859, a party of capital-
ists, consisting in part of Messrs. Peter Poncin, Welch, and Bot-
tineau, of Minneapolis, and Barneau, John Irvine, and Freuden-
reich, of St. Paul, explored the Red River country; and their in-
vestigations convinced them that a point at the mouth of the
Sheyenne river, about fourteen miles north of the present site of
Moorhead, was the head of navigation of the Red River, and they
judged that it was the natural point for a townsite. They there-
fore covered a plot of land at the point named on the Minnesota
side of the Red River with scrip, and laid out a town which they
named La Fayette, and they sold a great many shares in this
townsite to parties east. On the site they built a large log house,
which they intended for a tavern. At this time Mr. Probstfield
was in business at St. Paul in partnership with George Emerling,
and the townsite owners induced Mr. Probstfield to go up to La
Fayette. He remained there for a year or more and soon after
preempted a claim on the south side of Buffalo river, not far
from Georgetown. In 1864 he went into the employ of the Hud-
son Bay Company at Georgtown, where they had a warehouse
and trading post.
Mr. Stein was induced in July, 1859, to go to La Fayette, and
he afterwards preempted a claim near Georgetown. His first
work was in cutting prairie grass and making hay, which he sold
to the Hudson Bay Company; and later he worked in erecting
buildings at Georgtown for that company. In December, 1861,
Mr. Stein enlisted as a soldier in the Fourth Minnesota regiment
and served through the Civil war. After his return from the
war, he settled on land near the Hudson Bay Company's build-
ings at Georgetown, and has been a farmer there ever since.
The first steamboat on the Red River was built at La Fayette,
the materials for which were transported across the country from
Crow Wing on the Mississippi, where the steamer North Star
was broken up for that purpose. The new boat was named the
Anson Northup. With the party who came across the country
with those materials was E. R. Hutchinson, who helped to build
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 229
the boat, and for a number of years he was engaged in boating
on the Red River and building boats thereon and also on the Sas-
katchewan. Mr. Hutchinson afterward became a farmer and pre-
empted land not far from the old site of La Fayette, where he
now lives. I have related in another place how Mr. Probstfield
became one of the first farmers in the valley. Besides these three
men on the north of the line of the Northern Pacific railroad there
were on the south Jens Anderson and his brother, about three
miles south of Moorhead. Ole Thompson made settlement about
the same time on the river about eleven miles south.
Early in the spring of 1871 Henry A. Bruns went from St.
Cloud to Brainerd, which was then the western end of the North-
ern Pacific railroad track. From Brainerd he rode to Oak Lake,
at the engineers' headquarters of the road, where he met General
Thomas L. Rosser. The Northern Pacific had surveyed its line
to the Red River at a point some twenty-eight miles below Moor-
head. Mr. Bruns was prospecting, looking for business chances.
He then returned to St. Paul, bought a load of provisions and
ready-made clothing, and hauled them to the Red River. Where
Mr. Probstfield 's house now stands (about three and a half miles
north of Moorhead), he found an encampment of tents, and here
he met H. G. Finkle, J. B. Chapin, and John Haggert. This was
about June, 1871. Mr. Bruns opened out his goods in a tent, and
formed a partnership with Mr. Finkle. They remained at this
point (Oakport) until September, when, the townsite of Moor-
head having been staked out, all those at Oakport removed there-
to. At Moorhead they did business in tents all winter. In March,
1872, Mr. Bruns went to McCauleyville and bought a lot of
lumber, hired teams, and hauled it to Moorhead. Bruns & Finkle
then erected a frame building, of 21 by 50 feet. They continued
to do business in this building until 1877, when they built a large
brick store.
We have given this somewhat lengthy introduction of Mr.
Bruns into this history for the reason that he was a pioneer in
promoting the industry of wheat raising in the Red River valley.
In the winter of 1871-2, Mr. Bruns purchased 500 bushels of seed
wheat, which he gathered along the Minnesota river and farther
south and east, and transported it hundreds of miles by sleds.
230 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
which wheat he distributed among the farmers of Clay and Nor-
man counties, Minnesota, and Cass and Traill counties, Dakota.
The facilities for raising wheat that year being poor and the
grasshoppers very destructive, there was no surplus from the
harvest in excess of the amount required for seed the next year.
Early in 1874, Mr. Bruns organized a stock company which
erected the first flouring mill and sawmill. This mill soon demon-
strated that the wheat of the valley was of superior quality for
making strong flour and excellent bread. The flour was awarded
the first premium at the Minneapolis and Minnesota State fairs
two consecutive seasons. The sawmill cut timber for the construc-
tion of the steamboats, the Minnesota and Manitoba, built at
Moorhead in 1875, by the Merchants' Transportation Company, of
which James Douglas, brother of John Douglas of St. Paul, was
president. They were the best boats ever on Red River. This
assisted in opening up Manitoba and the Northwest Territory
markets. Later the Upper Missouri and Black Hills countries
were secured, and later still the Yellowstone country, as markets
for the flour of this mill. It created a market for the wheat pro-
duced within a wide radius, and for a number of years took all
that was offered, rarely giving less than $1 per bushel.
In 1878, Bruns and Finkle, seeing the necessity for more
storage for the rapidly increasing production of wheat, erected a
large steam elevator at Moorhead, with a capacity of 110,000
bushels. It was the first steam elevator built in the Red River
valley. Mr. Bruns informs the writer that in the fall of 1873 he
shipped the first carload of wheat from the Red River to Lake
Superior, which, by personal hard work in cleaning, was graded
No. 2, though it certainly was No. 1, none like it ever having been
shipped in the history of the world before. Mr. Bruns, in a per-
sonal letter, says: "In the fall of 1874 I commenced to grind
about all the wheat then grown in the Red River valley, and in
the fall of 1875 I gathered wheat and other grain, not as before
by the thousand but by the tens of thousands of bushels, and with
wheat and flour of my own grinding supplied the Canadian gov-
ernment and Mennonites with seed and bread throughout Mani-
toba."
Of the pioneer farmers who broke land extensively and opened
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 231
farms in Clay county are John and Patrick H. Lamb, Franklin J.
Schreiber, G. S. Barnes, Lyman Loring, George M. Richardson,
Captain W. H. Newcomb, A. M. Burdick, W. J. Bodkin, and
Charles Brendemuehl.
Early Wheat Raising Near Fort Abercrombie.
Wheat was grown near Abercrombie, on the east or Minne-
sota side of the river, in what is now Wilkin county, about as early
as anywhere in the valley, except in the Selkirk settlement and
in Pembina county, North Dakota, then the Territory of Dakota.
Probably the first man to sow and harvest wheat in the upper
or southern part of the valley was Honorable David McCauley.
I append herewith his narrative just as he has given it to me.
"I came to Abercrombie July 17, 1861, to act as post sutler,
postmaster, and agent for the Northern Transportation Company.
In the spring of 1862, I sowed a few acres of barley, planted
potatoes, and opened up a garden, which were destroyed by the
Indians in August. In the spring of 1864, I crossed over on the
Minnesota side of the river opposite to the fort and commenced
farming. In 1865 I sowed some seventy-five acres of oats and
planted a few acres of potatoes, and continued to sow and plant
the same crops until 1871. There was no market for wheat until
that time, nor until the railroad reached Moorhead or Brecken-
ridge. In the spring of 1872 I put in a few acres of wheat, and
have continued the same up to the present time. This season
(1899) I raised 10,000 bushels of wheat. In the earlier years the
yield of wheat was about the same as now. The land that I
cultivated in 1865 has been cropped every year since except three,
and the yield in 1899 was as good as I have known it. I know
of no wheat being sown in the valley earlier than mine. The
following are some of the men who sowed wheat soon after I
did: Edward Connolly and Mitchell Robert, Breckenridge ;
Loure Bellman, J. R. Harris, and J. B. Welling, McCauley vill e ;
Frank Herrick and John Eggen, Abercrombie. In the early days
the only market for oats and potatoes was Fort Abercrombie."
Development by Railroads.
Prior to 1878 there were no settlements away from the Red,
Red Lake, and Pembina rivers, in the lower or northern portion of
232 HISTOKY OF EED KIVEE VALLEY
the valley, so that, in treating of the Minnesota side north of the
Northern Pacific railroad, it is apparent that no wheat was grown
on that side (except near Moorhead) until the completion of the
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railroad (now the Great North-
ern) to St. Vincent, when immigration set in, bringing settlers
to many stations, who at once began to break land and sow it to
wheat. The district between the railroad and Red River was
first settled.
It is a fact, which none will dispute, that the building of rail-
roads into and through the valley has been the most important
factor in settling the country and developing the resources of
this fertile plain. Without these it would today be practically un-
populated and undeveloped, as it remained for fifty years after
the Selkirk settlers had demonstrated its adaptability to cultiva-
tion. There might have been a fringe of settlements along the
streams, but without more efficient means for transporting wheat
and other agricultural products to market, there could not have
been any great development and production.
The Dalrymple Farm.
Another leading factor in settling the country has been the
so called bonanza farms. Those demonstrated on a large scale
the practicability of producing wheat at a profit on the flat lands
of the valley. They advertised the results of great operations,
and made known to the world the wonderful possibilities of the
region.
The first of these was the Dalrymple farm, eighteen miles
west of the Red River, opened up in 1875 and subsequent years.
A brief description of this farm may be of interest. In the year
1875, a number of large holders of the bonds of the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company, supposed to be the Grandin brothers,
Messrs. Cass, Howe, and Cheney, who had taken the bonds at par
and which were then worth only ten cents on the dollar, deter-
mined to save as much as possible, and exchanged the bonds for
a great block of the company's lands in the Red River valley. In
March, 1875, Oliver Dalrymple, an experienced farmer of Minne-
sota, examined the land and became convinced of its value for
wheat growing. He therefore entered into a contract with the
E. Y. SARLES
HISTOKY OF WHEAT KAISING 233
owners to test the merits of the soil, the terms of which contract
are understood to be that they were to furnish the stock, imple-
ments, and seed, with which to cultivate the land, and were to
receive in return seven per cent, on the amount invested, Dal-
rymple to have the option of paying back the principal and inter-
est, at which time he was to be granted one-third of the land. In
that year be broke 1,280 acres, and his first harvest, in 1876, yield-
ed 32,000 bushels of the choicest wheat, or an average of a little
more than twenty-three bushels per acre.
As soon as the results of Mr. Dalrymple's experiment became
known, capital began seeking the depreciated railroad bonds and
exchanging them for land, and labor flocked from adjoining
states to preempt government land. In May, June, and July,
1879, the sales of government land amounted to nearly 700,000
acres, and during the year, 1,500,000 acres were taken on home-
stead, preemption, and tree claims in Dakota.
The Dalrymple holdings comprised some 100,000 acres in all,
and in 1878 the wheat acreage had been increased to 13,000 acres ;
and it was increased from year to year until in 1895 there were
some 65,000 acres under cultivation. The cultivated land was
subdivided into tracts of 2,000 acres, each tract being managed
by a superintendent and foreman, with its own set of books.
Each estate had suitable and complete buildings, consisting of
houses for superintendent and men, stables, granaries, tool-houses,
and other buildings. As a matter of course, to carry on the
Dalrymple farm required the services of a large number of men
and horses, the use of many plows, harrows, seeders, harvesters,
threshers and engines, wagons, and other implements and tools.
A settlement was effected in 1896 and years following, Mr.
Dalrymple taking his share, and the great farm was divided and
now comprises, besides the Dalrymple, the Howe and Cheney
farms, and perhaps others.
The Grandin Farm.
Another bonanza farm of large extent was the Grandin farm
consisting of 38,000 acres, of which 14,000 acres in and around
Grandin, and 6,000 acres near Mayville in Traill county, North
Dakota, are now under cultivation. The first crop of wheat was
234: HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
grown and harvested on this farm in 1878. This farm was oper-
ated in a similar manner as the Dalrymple farm, being divided
into tracts of 1,500 acres, managed by a foreman. The two farms
employ some 300 men and 300 horses, and use 100 plows, 50 seed-
ers, 75 binders, 10 separators, and 10 engines, etc. The average
yield of wheat on this farm has been 17 bushels per acre. In
1899 a severe hailstorm destroyed eight sections of wheat on this
farm, which was ripe for the harvest. That was the only wide-
spread damage that has occurred to the crops of the farm in the
twenty-one years it has been operated.
There are a number of other bonanza farms on both sides of
the river, as the Lockhart and Keystone farms, respectively in
Norman and Polk counties, Minnesota, and the Dwight, Fairview,
Cleveland, Downing, and Antelope farms in North Dakota. In
fact, large farms have been opened in all the twelve counties,
farms comprising three to five sections of land. They have served
their purpose, and many of them have been reduced or divided
and sold.
Increase of Population and Wealth.
It is interesting to note the rapid growth of population and
wealth that has taken place in the Red River valley within thirty
years. In that time many cities, villages, and hamlets, have been
established and builded, some of which have grown until they
may fairly be denominated as magnificent and metropolitan. It
is hardly needed to name Fargo and Moorhead (one city in a
commercial and social sense, although situated in different
states) ; Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, similarly situated;
and likewise Wahpeton and Breckenridge. Pembina and St. Vin-
cent also are somewhat similarly situated, though more distant
from each other. Besides there are Crookston, on the Red Lake
river, Hallock, Warren, Ada, and Barnesville, in Minnesota, Graf-
ton and Hillsboro, in North Dakota, and many others of less note
in both states.
In 1870 the population of the twelve counties was about 1,000.
In 1880 it was 56,000. In 1890 it was 166,000. In 1900 it is esti-
mated to be 350,000. The valuation of property in the valley in
1870 was zero. At this date it is estimated at not less than
HISTOEY OF WHEAT RAISING 235
$100,000,000; and I am speaking of assessed valuation, which is,
as a matter of course, far short of actual valuation.
Causes of Occasional Failures.
While there has been a somewhat remarkable development of
the wheat growing industry in the Red River valley, and it is
undisputed that its soil and climate are as favorable as any in
the United States, and perhaps in the world, yet many industrious
men have scored failures. In every employment, business, or
industry, failures sometimes occur; and therefore, if they have
occurred in raising wheat where the conditions are favorable, it
is not surprising. It is also clear that such failures are chargeable
to the mistakes of the men so engaged, rather than to the country.
From a long observation of the methods employed and of the
equipment of those who have pursued the work, I am of the opin-
ion that the chief cause of failure has been the fact that men
have undertaken larger tasks than their means warranted. In
the early years of the settlement of the valley men were infected
as with a craze. Wheat was selling at a dollar and upwards per
bushel, while land could be had by paying the government fees
for making entry, or by purchase at $5 per acre. Stories of large
yields and high prices were circulated, and many believed that
they could make themselves rich in a few years by raising wheat.
Many embarked in it on borrowed capital, secured at high rates
of interest ; and some capital is needed although no payment of
money was made in advance on the land. It must be broken and
seeded, the crop harvested, threshed, and marketed. To do this
requires horses, implements, and hire of laborers. Many men,
doubtless, who have commenced in this way have succeeded ; but
this result has been accomplished by superior skill, economy, good
business management, and fortuitous circumstances. By far the
greater number have failed in the end. They may have won some
success for a year or more, but, when they found themselves
ahead, greed got the better of their foresight and judgment, and
they have contracted for more land and larger equipment. Then
a year of light yield, of damage by flood, drouth or frost, and a
fall of price in conjunction, have succeeded, which has greatly
diminished the value of their harvested crop ; while the labor bills,
236 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the payments for machinery, the interest on borrowed capital,
have piled up, and so the failure comes.
If these men had been satisfied to let well enough alone, if
they had continued to cultivate what they might have done with-
out hiring much help or buying additional machinery, they would
have weathered the unfavorable years, as their obligations would
have been small, and as to obtaining a living, there is no question
but that they could have done that, though their entire crop was
a failure. They could have found work with their horses among
their neighbors ; they could have cut hay on the wide prairies and
have hauled it to market, or found employment sufficient to keep
themselves and families, in a score of ways.
It has been the undue haste to get rich, the reaching out and
covering more land than they had means of doing, except on bor-
rowed capital, that has been the ruin of so many. This inclination
has also had another injurious effect. It has produced poor culti-
vation, careless plowing and seeding, harvesting and threshing
at unseasonable times, and general slighting of work, instead of
thorough, timely and skillful cultivation, which always brings its
reward, but the other kind never.
Better and More Diversified Cultivation Needed.
I am of the firm opinion that, whereas the average of wheat
produced from an acre of land in the valley is about fifteen bush-
els per acre, or in some years a little more, it could be raised to
28 or 30 bushels; and that, while there are now produced crops
ranging from 12 to 30 bushels per acre, there could be secured 30
to 40 bushels almost invariably. I am confirmed in this opinion
by numerous instances where small fields which have been espe-
cially treated and cultivated, sown to wheat, have produced 35 to
40 bushels per acre. Thus we have seen pieces which had been
cultivated to roots, potatoes, garden vegetables, etc., in previous
years, the cultivation of which crops has required deep tillage,
frequent stirring of the ground with plow or cultivator, and other
pieces which had been seeded to timothy and pastured, being
plowed and sown to wheat, produce 35 and as high as 42 bushels
per acre in years when the adjoining large fields did not average
more than 16 or 18 bushels per acre.
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 237
And so the conclusion is drawn that when the valley becomes
more thickly settled, the value of land higher, compelling to bet-
ter cultivation, and in less extensive tracts, no man undertaking
to exceed 320 acres, the yield per acre will be increased. When
this time comes, it will be accompanied also with more diversified
farming. There will be flocks and herds, milk and butter, eggs
and fowl, beef, pork and mutton, etc.; and then the Red River
valley will be, according to its extent, the most productive region
in the whole country.
Railroad Freight Rates and Legislation.
Along in 1883, or 1884, the price of wheat at Red River points
having fallen to about 60 cents, there was little or no profit in its
production and in many cases a considerable loss, which caused
great uneasiness and dissatisfaction among the farmers. They
looked about them for some relief, and, as the cost of transport-
ing wheat to the terminal points was the same, namely, 25 cents
per hundred pounds, or 15 cents per bushel, as when wheat sold
for $1.00 or more per bushel, they were of opinion that the freight
charge should be reduced. They thought that the railroad com-
panies might fairly be called upon to share with them some of the
loss that they sustained. Appeals to the companies for reduction
were without effect. Therefore the farmers resolved to secure a
reduction, and other reforms, connected therewith, by political
action, and they began holding meetings, where the whole matter
was discussed and resolutions passed. A good deal of complaint
was also made against the alleged close alliance that existed be-
tween the railroad companies, the elevator companies, and the
millers' association, by which every producer was compelled to
pass his wheat through an elevator and pay its charges for hand-
ling, which fixed its grade, and he generally had to sell it to the
elevator at such a price as the company owning the elevator might
give. The farmer wanted the right to load on cars and ship direct
to a terminal market. This agitation had its birth in Clay county,
and it extended throughout the wheat-raising districts of the
state. It was the promoting cause for the organization of the
Farmers ' Alliance, which afterward became a political party, and
238 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
evolved into the People's party. It had its effect, and the legisla-
ture, in its session of 1885, passed an act, approved March 5, 1885,
which regulated railroads and provided for the board of railroad
and warehouse commissioners.
Briefly stated, the law provided that the railroad companies
should make annual reports to the board of commissioners, show-
ing amount of stock subscribed, amount of assets and liabilities,
amount of debt, estimated value of roadbed, of rolling stock, of
stations and buildings, mileage of main tracks and of branches,
tons of through and local freight carried, monthly earnings for
carrying passengers and freight, expenses incurred in running
passenger and freight trains, and all other expenses, rate of pas-
senger fare, tariff of freights, and many other minor particulars
and things ; and the commission was authorized to make and pro-
pound any other interrogatories relating to the condition, opera-
tion and control of railroads in this state, as might be necessary,
and they were empowered to make investigation, examine books,
etc. ; and proper penalties were provided for in case of refusal of
companies to furnish the information demanded. It also required
every railroad company to permit any person or company to build
and operate elevators at any of its way stations. It compelled
railroads to furnish cars on application for transporting grain
stored in any and all elevators or warehouses without discrimina-
tion. It prohibited extortion and discrimination in rates, and
also empowered the commission to notify any railroad company
of any changes in rates, or in operation of roads, that in their
judgment ought to be made for carrying passengers or freight,
and, in case of refusal of the company to make them, to institute
suit to compel such changes or reductions.
At the same time the legislature passed an act to regulate
elevators and warehouses, and for the inspection and weighing of
grain. The main provisions of this act may be stated as follows :
Declaring all elevators and warehouses at Duluth, Minneapolis,
and St. Paul, public; requiring their proprietors to take out
license ; providing that such elevators and warehouses shall re-
ceive grain for storage without discrimination, to give receipts
therefor, to deliver the grain or return the receipt ; requiring the
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 239
owner or lessee to make and post weekly in a conspicuous place
a statement of kind and grade of grain received, to send a report
daily to the state registrar, and to publish rates for storage ; pro-
hibiting the mixing together of grain of different grades; pro-
viding for the appointment of a state weighmaster and assistants,
who shall weigh grain at points where it is inspected; providing
for the appointment of a chief inspector and of deputy inspec-
tors, for the inspection and grading of grain under such rules as
the commission shall prescribe, for which inspection a fee shall
be collected sufficient to meet the expenses of the service; and
providing that the commisison shall establish Minnesota grades
and publish the same.
Under these laws and amendments thereto, it is well known
and undisputed that there has been much more freedom in the
shipment of wheat and other grain than before. Farmers have
since been able to order cars to a side track and load them from
their wheat fields, or otherwise, whence they are hauled to such
market as they shall designate. The commissioners have, under
the law, defined and established grades of wheat, and the inspec-
tion is made at the terminals in accordance therewith, and the
wheat is also weighed.
The operation of this law seems to have been beneficial and
satisfactory for the most part. The season of 1898 was an excep-
tion, when it was charged that the grades were suddenly stiffened,
by which the producer lost one or more grades, or from 4 to 7
cents in value per bushel of wheat, and that this stiffening was
without just ground. These charges also originated, as the agita-
tion for reduction of freight charges had done, in Clay county,
and were made an issue in the state election that year ; and it is
believed that, as Honorable John Lind, the candidate for gov-
ernor of the Democrats, Populists, and Silver Republicans, cham-
pioned them, it gave him many votes. They were substantially
verified by an investigation made by a joint committee of the
legislature.
The freight on wheat, in cents per 100 pounds, since the settle-
ment of the Red River valley, from different primary points to
Minneapolis and Duluth, has been as follows :
240 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
To Minneapolis. To Duluth.
Sept. Oct. July Sept. Oct. July
Various 1, 9, 21, 1, 9, 21,
Dates 1891 1895 1898 1891 1895 1898
1873
Morris 28c. 12 12 12 15 15 14}
1872
Breckenridge 35 14 14 13 15 15 14}
1880
Crookston 27 16J 16} 14 16} 16} 14
1880
St. Vincent 35 18 18 16 18 18 16
1881
Moorhead 25 15} 15} 14} 15} 15} 14}
1881
Fargo 25 15} 15} 14} 15} 15} 14}
1881
Glyndon 25 15} 15} 14 15} 15} 14
1881
Fergus Falls 23 14 14 13 14} 14} 14
Old and New Methods of Wheat Farming.
Since the first wheat was grown in the Red River valley, a
revolution has occurred in plowing, seeding, harvesting, and
threshing. By the old method of plowing, with the best plow
and horses, one man with a 14-inch walking plow and a pair of
good horses, might plow two and a half acres of land in a day.
Now one man with a gang plow, turning 28 inches, and drawn
by four .horses, can plow four and a half acres. The area is not
quite doubled for the reason that the speed is somewhat slackened
by increased weight, the driver riding on the plow, thus render-
ing the labor much easier to him.
By the old method of seeding by hand one man could sow
sixteen acres in a day, and the land had to be harrowed and
dragged, often with tree tops, to smooth it. Now with a drill,
drawn by four horses, one man will put in twenty-five acres and
HISTOEY OF WHEAT RAISING 241
no harrowing is necessary afterward, although many harrow the
land previous to seeding.
By the old method of cutting grain with a cradle a good man
could cut four acres, while it required another man to rake and
bind it. Now with the best binder, drawn by three horses, he
can cut sixteen acres, and the machine binds it, and carries along
a number of bundles and drops them in rows.
In threshing there is even more disparity in the amount ac-
complished by modern machinery over the old methods. In fact,
the difference is so great that a comparison is not worth while.
With the best and largest threshing machine, 3,500 bushels of
wheat can be threshed in a day. Thus on land producing an aver-
age of 20 bushels per acre, one day's work will thresh the wheat
grown on 175 acres. The area of land covered in a day will be
more or less than this, according to the average yield per acre.
To operate this machine, which is provided with a self-feeder and
an automatic band-cutter, also a blower which stacks the straw,
only four men are required. To haul the bundles to the machine
requires eighteen men and twenty horses, or ten wagons with two
horses to each. The number of men and horses and wagons re-
quired to do the hauling of the threshed wheat from the machine
to the granary, elevator, or cars, depends upon the distance to be
traversed. It costs at the present time ten cents per bushel to
thresh the wheat and load it into wagon tanks.
Wheat Production and Its Value, 1898.
I have gathered the statistics of wheat acreage and yield for
1898 from the most reliable sources obtainable, namely, from the
county auditor's office of each county which lies partly or mainly
in the Red River valley south of the international boundary.
Some of the officers reported that the statistics on this head as
furnished by the assessors were not full, owing to the failure of
some of the assessors to make returns ; but in these cases, at my
request, the auditors furnished me with estimates based upon
other sources of information. Therefore, although the figures in
the following table cannot be claimed to be absolutely correct,
they approach accuracy, and, it is believed, are in no case
excessive.
243
HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Acreage and Production of Wheat in 1898 in the Counties of the
Red River Valley.
Counties in Minnesota.
Acres. Bushels.
Wilkin 126,418 1,896,270
Clay 210,440 3,367,040
Norman 166,377 2,438,662
Polk 347,346 4,862,844
Marshall 186,716 2,614,024
Kittson 142,857 2,000,000
1,180,154 17,178,840
Counties in North Dakota.
Acres. Bushels.
Richland 226,720 3,057,714
Cass 495,499 7,916,896
Traill 271,907 5,371,129
Grand Forks 329,498 5,676,322
Walsh 257,500 3,960,175
Pembina 258,211 4,956,680
1,839,335 30,938,916
Total 3,019,489 48,117,756
Assuming that the average price of wheat for the year's crop
at points of production was 60 cents per bushel, the value of the
crop for 1898 to the producers was $28,870,653. This sum meas-
ures the wealth-creating value of this one staple for the year
named. But this is not the whole story. The wheat farmers of
the twelve Red River valley counties produced a greater value.
They added a much larger amount than nearly twenty-nine mil-
lion dollars to the wealth of the country. I assume that this
crop was transported either as wheat or flour to New York. As
a matter of course, not all of it was actually carried direct to New
York, but a large part of it was carried to that port, either for
domestic consumption or for export ; and it is fair to assume that
HISTORY OF WHEAT RAISING 243
it would cost on the average as much in local freights and han-
dling charges to distribute the other portion to the consumers
throughout the country as to carry it through to New York. The
cost of carriage to New York by all rail is about 241/4 cents per
bushel ; partly by rail and partly by lake and canal it is about 20
cents. Basing the calculation on a rate of 21 cents (arbitrarily
found, for it is difficult to figure on an average rate for the
year accurately, owing to the fluctuations in the lake and canal
rate, or to ascertain the amount shipped by that route and the
amount shipped by rail), the added value is $10,104,728. This
increased value is properly assigned to the wheat, for the wheat
pays the whole cost of marketing it. This large sum of ten mil-
lion dollars was earned by the railroads, elevators, inspectors and
weighers, boats, transferers, etc., which gave employment to large
numbers of men. Thus the wheat produced in 1898, by the
farmers of these twelve counties, which include the part of the
Red River valley in the United States, added to the wealth of the
country some thirty-nine millions of dollars ; and in the year 1899,
just past, it is probably nearly as much.
An explanation is needed, however, as to the actual cash price
received by the producers for their crop of wheat for the year
1898. I find upon a careful examination of the price paid at
Moorhead that the average price for the year was about 57 cents
per bushel ; that its average price for the four months of Septem-
ber, October, November and December, 1898, was 55 cents; and
for the remaining eight months of the year, from January to
August, 1899, the average price was 59 cents, making an average
for the year of 57 cents per bushel. It is a fact which must be
recognized that the producers in the section I am treating of sell
the bulk of their crop in the four months prior to January 1 ; so
that I will make the calculation of value of the crop produced in
the twelve Red River valley counties on this basis of its average
local price for that period, which shows as follows: 48,117,756
bushels at 55 cents is $26,464,765.80. This is the minimum amount
of value, as, for such part of the crop as was sold by producers
after January 1, 1899, four cents more per bushel on the average
was realized. This explanation does not affect the foregoing
argument so far as it relates to the increased value of the wheat
244 HISTOEY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
at points of consumption and export, all of which must be in-
cluded in any calculation as to the wealth-creating value of the
crop.
Letter from Hon. Charles Cavalier.
I have mentioned Charles Cavalier, of Pembina, who has taken
great interest in my labors in gathering materials for this paper,
and who has given me much valuable assistance. In further
acknowledgment thereof, and in compliment to him, I desire to
embrace herein a portion of a recent letter of his to me as follows :
"It would be a pleasant thing for me to be present with them
[meaning this annual meeting of the society] and see some of the
old faces of fifty years ago, but alas, the infirmities of eighty-one
years forbid it. Present my respects to them, and tell them that
though far away, I am with them in mind if not in body. I still
keep up an occasional correspondence with my old friend, A. L.
Larpenteur, and through him I hear from Bill Murray and others
of the old timers, and I see occasionally the name of ex-Governor
Ramsey, for whom I have a high regard and a warm spot in my
heart. He appointed me first territorial librarian, and has in
many instances aided and befriended me. May he live until he
learns to enjoy the good things of this footstool of God, and then,
after his life of usefulness and goodness, tranquilly fall asleep and
awake in the kingdom prepared for him and all of us who have
kept God's commandments or tried to do so. Such is the wish of
this old settler whose mundane existence of close onto eighty-one
years has been one of pleasure and enjoyment far exceeding its
many ills and misery. My health is now tolerably fair."
Greatness of the Resources of Minnesota.
I have not found it practicable to treat wheat-growing as a
state- wide industry, owing to its magnitude, and have confined
myself strictly to the subject assigned to me, which has necessi-
tated as much labor and research as I have been able, while edit-
ing a daily and weekly newspaper, to devote to it. With more
abundant leisure I might properly have touched upon the expan-
sive prairies of the state, both level and rolling, and told some-
thing of their productions, not only of their wheat, which makes
HISTOEY OF WHEAT EAISING 245
the best bread ever eaten by man, but of their rye, oats, barley,
corn, flax-seed and potatoes; of their green meadows, which
abound with luxuriant grass and furnish food for countless flocks
and herds, and of the Minnesota cow, whose milk, after being
treated in the creameries, makes the very best butter known to
civilization; of the fruit orchards, gardens, flowers, shrubbery,
etc., together with the neat and cozy dwellings that dot them o'er
and are the homes of a hardy, happy and prosperous people.
I might have touched upon the great extent of forests, from
which have been taken so many millions of feet of the best white
pine and hardwood lumber, adding largely to the wealth of the
state, and which are not yet exhausted.
I might have told of the iron mines, which, for richness and
extent, have been one of the marvels of the closing part of the
nineteenth century, and which are yet, maybe, to exceed the most
sanguine expectations of enthusiasts ; of the mighty river having
its rise in our state, whose commerce has been so great a factor
in the making of the history of the North American continent,
and advancing its civilization; and of the smaller rivers, which
are interesting in other ways.
I might have dwelt at length upon the surpassing beauty of
the state 's landscape, whose ten thousand lakes are bordered by a
superb growth of primeval forest timber, through whose foliage
the pure air of a wholesome climate sings a ceaseless lullaby to
exhausted humanity, which seeks quiet and rest upon their bosom.
In these lakes the finny tribe leap and splash and entice the skill
of the expert angler, as well as the efforts of the novice, affording
the most exquisite enjoyment and the most health-giving and re-
cuperative recreation that man is blessed with, and whose skill,
good luck, or patience is rewarded by the catch of as good food
fish as swim.
And, lastly, I might have said that this great, resourceful and
fertile state of ours, at the age of fifty years, contains a population
of nearly two millions of as intelligent, generous, brave, and at
the same time as gentle, industrious, progressive and patriotic
people, as can be found in any state in all this broad land.
CHAPTER X.
NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS IN THE RED RIVER
VALLEY.
By
B. G. Skulason and Sveinbjorn Johnson, M. A.
Norwegians in the Red Eiver Valley.
In a sketch as limited as this must necessarily be, an account
of the Norwegians 'in the Red River valley will be very incom-
plete. If this branch of the northern race were to be treated as
the scope and magnitude of the subject demand, in all the area
traversed by the Red river, the result of such a labor would fill
a volume. Even within the territory selected, North Dakota and
Minnesota, the extent of the topic does not allow this article to
pretend to be more than a modest introduction.
In the first quarters of the nineteenth century the concentra-
tion of land in the hands of a few had become quite complete in
Norway. To a great extent cultivation was carried on by a small
portion of the population and even then not to the full capacity
of the soil. With this economic condition the people gradually
became dissatisfied and in it may be found one of the causes of
emigration. The significance of this fact becomes all the more
apparent when it is considered that twenty-five per cent of all
Scandinavians who come to this country engage in agriculture
(0. M. Nelson, Minneapolis). The unlimited supply of free land
in the United States together with the liberal wages of labor as
compared with the prevailing scale of European countries proved
a powerful inducement to the landless and laboring classes. In
addition many were dissatisfied with the somewhat intolerant
246
NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS
247
character of the laws concerning the state religion. Though these
regulations on the whole were not seriously oppressive, yet with
the causes above mentioned they gave impetus to the rising tide
of discontent which culminated in emigration.
Norwegians gained acquaintance with this country mainly
through correspondence. In the early part of the century a few
sailors and adventurers had located in the United States. These
communicated with friends and papers in the old country, thereby
spreading a knowledge of the United States and of her oppor-
tunities. Then, in 1839, Ole Rynning published "True Account
of America," which was almost universally read. In addition,
steamship companies prepared accounts of America which they
assiduously circulated in Norway and other European countries.
From these sources, then, Norwegians had acquired information
concerning the United States sufficient to inspire them with
confidence in her possibilities.
The first immigrants from Norway settled in the Eastern
states and on the frontier, following the same as it gradually
expanded towards the west. According to the census of 1850
seven Norwegians were then living in Minnesota, but it was not
until after 1852 that they began to settle permanently in that
state. One of the first settlers was Tosten Johnson, Houston
county, who came from Norway in 1851 and to Minnesota in
1852. From this date the influx of Norwegians continued un-
abated. Some came directly from Norway, while many came
from other states. The first Norwegians in Lac qui Parle county
came from Fayette county, Iowa, in 1869, led by P. J. Jacobsen.
Similarly the first Norwegian settlers in Lincoln county had
previously lived in Boone county, Illinois, having moved thither
from Wisconsin in 1847. The other counties along the Red river,
and every part of the state where Norwegians are found, were
thus settled by Norwegians from Iowa, Wisconsin and other
states. They drifted with that westward sweeping tide of popu-
lation the rize of which has been unchecked until it subsides
again on the quiet shores of the Pacific.
According to Martin Ulvestad (Normaendene i America, Min-
neapolis, 1907), the first Norwegian to establish a home in North
Dakota was N. E. Nelson, father-in-law of the noted politician,
248 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Judson Lamoure, and customs collector at Pembina in 1869. His
farm was in Pembina township. Two other Norwegian settle-
ments were formed in this county, one near St. Thomas and the
other in Park township, west of Hensel, in 1880 and 1881 respec-
tively. Norwegians in this county are comparatively few, their
settlements lying in the counties to the south and west.
Among the first Norwegian settlers in Walsh county — the
next south of Pembina along the Red river — were O. M. Dahl and
Ole Helgeson. They settled near the present site of Nash, in
1878. At this date, says Dahl, the only people in the neighbor-
hood were a few metisse near the Red river. In this county a
large percentage of the population is of Norwegian descent, they
ranking the highest of the foreign born, the Canadians alone
excepted (State Hist. Society, N. D., Vol. 1, p. 190).
In 1872, the Norwegians Halvor Hansen and Halvor Bentru
settled in Grand Forks county. Two years later eight families
arrived from Northwood, Iowa, and settled near the Goose river.
At this date the nearest market was Fargo, where the farmers
sold their produce. Horses were then a luxury which few could
afford and oxen were generally used in doing the work con-
nected with the farm. Of the foreign born population in this
county the Norwegians are most numerous, while only one other
county in the state, Traill, has a greater number of people of
Norwegian extraction.
In Traill county — next south of Grand Forks — the foreign
born Norwegians are more than twenty-five per cent of the total
population. It ranks first in the state in the number of its
Norwegians and Cass, next south, third.
In 1870, a number of Scandinavians came from Dunn county,
Wisconsin, and settled in Richland county near Ft. Abercrombie.
Among these were Einar Hoel and Arnt Skarvold. The nearest
market was Alexandria, one hundred miles away. This distance
was traveled by oxen. Many of the settlers were employed at
the fort and on boats on the Red river. At this time there were
about three hundred soldiers at the fort, hence farmers found
here a convenient market for some of their farm and dairy
products.
From the few facts here given it appears that in all the
JAMES H. MATHEWS
NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS 249
counties of the Red River valley bordering on the Red river
the Norwegians are the most numerous of the foreign born
population. Indeed, in the entire southeastern corner of the state
embracing twelve counties, extending from Walsh on the north
to the state boundary line on the south, the Norwegians are the
predominating element of the foreign born population. Again,
from Grand Forks county on the east to the western extremity
of "Ward, through an unbroken line of six counties, the same
fact appears. According to the census of 1900, the foreign born
Norwegians in some of these embraced over twenty-six per cent of
the total population, and, this, of course, leaves out of consid-
eration all those of Norwegian parentage, born in this country.
In many townships in these counties the nationality of over
ninety per cent of the landowners is Norwegian.
If by reason of their numbers the Norwegians on the North
Dakota side of the Red river have become important, they have
in Minnesota become a power always to be reckoned with. Polit-
ically they are the strongest foreign element in the state and any
candidate for a state or United States office, who by some im-
politic word or deed has aroused their antagonism, may well
have misgivings as to the success of his political aspirations.
The distinguished Senator Knute Nelson is a Norwegian and rep-
resents no more ably the state of Minnesota that he well typifies
the sterling qualities of his race. The representatives Steenerson
and Volstad, the latter of whom is one of the ablest lawyers in
the lower house of congress, are Norwegians. Similarly, one of
North Dakota's representatives, A. J. Gronna, is a Norwegian,
and two or three of the state officers come from the same stock.
In North Dakota a Scandinavian League has been organized
and already gives promise of exerting considerable influence on,
if not giving direction to, the current of North Dakota politics.
In Minnesota 170 Norwegians have set in either branch of the
state legislature since 1857-58 and in 1869 Colonel Mattson was
elected secretary of state, being the first Norwegian to fill a
state office.
The political importance of the Norwegians in the Red River
valley, then, can scarcely be overestimated. Their numbers alone
are ample proof of this statement. But even were their numeri-
250 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
cal rank much lower than it is, the energy and ambition that
for centuries have been characteristic of the race would be
inconsistent with an attitude of indifference toward the problems
that from time to time agitate the public mind. Of political
apathy no one will venture to accuse them. The league referred
to in another paragraph bespeaks at least a passing interest in
public affairs.
Though the Norwegians in the valley are energetic farmers
and ambitious in politics, they are far from being unmindful of
the interests of education. Of the students annually at the
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, over thirty per cent
are Scandinavians, principally Norwegians and Icelanders.
Through the efforts of the Norwegian Synod, aided by the
munificence of individuals apart therefrom, several Norwegian
schools have been established in the Red River valley. A mere
mention of a few of these is all the scope of this article allows.
Among the more important ones are Augsburg Seminary, Min-
neapolis, moved thither from Marshall, Wis., 1879; St. Olaf's
College, Northwood, opened in 1875; Concordia College, Moor-
head; Glenwood Academy, Glenwood, all in Minnesota; Grand
Forks College, Grand Forks, N. D., and others in different parts
of the valley. Some of these are women 's schools exclusively,
but most do work intended to prepare students for entrance into
advanced theological institutions.
Of the readiness with which Norwegians adapt themselves
to American conditions and absorb American ideas, but little
can be said in this sketch. While a considerable number of old
country customs still survive and indeed show few symptoms
of lessening vitality, yet it is apparent that, like other races
that have come to this country, they cannot long resist the cur-
rents of our complex national life that inevitably lead to Ameri-
canization. Their parochial schools tend to stimulate an interest
in and to prolong the survival of the Norwegian language and
literature. But these are not maintained in all communities.
But it is the Lutheran church that is the most powerful agent
in counteracting the forces that work for assimilation. But even
her efforts seem insufficient to stem the tide which threatens to
sweep old world customs into oblivion. Formerly services were
NORWEGIANS AXD ICELANDERS 251
invariably conducted in Norwegian. But now she must conform
her practices to the demands of the people and in towns, at
least, services are frequently carried on in English. Though
this does not necessarily mean that Norwegian has been lost by
the majority, yet it is a fact that reading or speaking knowledge
of the language has ceased to be universal, and that even with
young people who come from communities where Norwegians
abound. Undoubtedly the one force most effective in pushing
Norwegian into the shade is the public school system of the
country. The young are here trained in English, the language
of whatever business or profession they may enter. Whether
this process will continue until Norwegian becomes a dead tongue
is a matter of conjecture, but however that may be, the fact
cannot be denied that the forces which make for such a con-
summation are powerful indeed.
Icelanders in the Red River Valley.
Outside the Red River valley and in some localities thereof
Iceland and Icelanders are quite meaningless terms. In the minds
of the mass and even of those who pretend to possess considerable
education, the mental pictures called into being by these words
are distorted, vague and false. The ignorance of almost every
historical and ethnological fact connected with the people of
this rock ribbed island of the midnight sun frequently assumes
grotesque and ludicrous forms. It may somewhat moderate the
severity of our judgment of those whose range of knowledge is
no wider than this that prejudiced and superficial accounts of
writers of travel have found their way into print where Iceland
is regarded as a curiosity in spite of the fact that she has a his-
tory, a literature and mythology no less interesting and imposing
than those of classic Greece. (An example of such accounts is
"Visit to Iceland," by Ida Pfeiffer, 1852, and "Faroes and Ice-
land," by Nelson Annandale, 1905, the latter author, though
writing in the name of science, being equally erroneous in his
facts and his conclusions.) In view of this condition, therefore,
a few historical facts concerning the original home of the people
must be referred to before proceeding with an account of the
Icelanders in the valley.
Iceland was discovered by people from Norway about 874
252 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
and settled by Scandinavians soon thereafter. There having been
no aborigines to conquer or assimilate, the present inhabitants
of the island are of purely Norse extraction except in so far as
some of the pioneers had mixed with the Celts in Ireland prior
to their location in Iceland.
The cause of emigration from Norway was the activity of
Harold the Fairhaired in consolidating the small kingdoms under
his personal rule. This unification was inconsistent with the
ideas of liberty cherished by Norse chiefs and vikings. The
clash between the prerogatives of kingship and the principles of
liberty was inexorable. The defeated chiefs went to Iceland,
where Harold could on no pretext presume to exercise dominion.
In 1262, having been a republic for nearly four hundred years,
Iceland entered into a voluntary union with Norway, voidable
if the latter, in the judgment of the "best men," should violate
the terms of the compact. Later, under the Calmar treaty, the
Scandinavian countries — Norway, Sweden and Denmark — were
united under the Danish crown and Iceland became a part of
the union. In 1814 when Norway was transferred to Sweden by
the congress of Vienna no disposition was made of Iceland and
she has since remained under the jurisdiction of Denmark.
The island has suffered all the miseries tyranny entails. Lying
in the lap of the Arctic circle and frequently enveloped in Arctic
ice, the natural produce of the island could not meet the needs
of the people. But Denmark had a forced monopoly of Icelandic
trade. The people were forbidden to trade with anyone not a
subject of Denmark. The foreigner thus dictated the price at
which he bought as well as that at which he sold. This unnatural
economic condition, coupled with the fierce winters of some years,
caused much suffering. In some years great numbers perished
from starvation. The responsibility for this tragic condition
rests partly with the relentless hand of nature and partly with
the cruel greed of the Danish crown. Discontent developed from
year to year and the constitutional strife between Denmark and
the island continued with ever increasing intensity. At last the
king had to yield. In 1874 a constitution was granted to Iceland.
But it was a tardy concession. The fever of emigration had set
in and has not yet run its course.
NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS 253
In 1871 four Icelanders went to Wisconsin. These were soon
followed by others. In 1873 another party landed on Canadian
soil, remaining for two years in Toronto and going thence to
the present site of Gimli, Manitoba, on the west shore of Lake
Winnipeg. Letters were exchanged and hundreds of people emi-
grated, some joining the settlement on Washington Island, Wis-
consin, others that near Lake Winnipeg. In 1876 two Icelandic
colonies of considerable size were in the course of development
in the Western hemisphere. The first settlers in the Eed River
valley — in Lyon county, Minnesota, and Pembina county, North
Dakota — were drawn from these.
The history of any permanent colony is always closely con-
nected with that of the church. To this elementary principle of
social progress the Icelandic colonies are no exception. In
1876 Pall Thorlaksson, who at the time was serving a Lutheran
congregation in Wisconsin, was called by the Icelanders near
Lake Winnipeg to serve them in a professional capacity. When
coming down the Red river, he was much impressed with the
agricultural possibilities of the country on either side. His con-
fidence in the latent resources of the Dakota plains was further
increased by the remarks of the captain of the boat, who made
no attempt to conceal his faith in the future of the valley. On
reaching the colony Rev. Mr. Thorlaksson was at once convinced
that the land selected by his countrymen would never yield the
reward due them for their toiL The country was low, marshy
and generally quite heavily timbered. But these facts discour-
aged all hope of progressive farming, since the settlers were poor
and without agricultural experience. Discontent had begun to
develop, which was rather increased than diminished by the
passage of time. The climax of unrest was reached with the
smallpox epidemic during the winter of 1876-77 and many now
determined to leave, as soon as possible, the place that must
forever be associated with the keenest suffering and sorrow of
their lives. Accordingly in 1878, Johann P. Hallsson, Jon
Horgdal, Jonas Jonasson and others left New Iceland, as the
settlement was called, and located in Pembina county, about nine
miles west of Cavalier, and where the postoffice of Hallsson now
864 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
stands. The log cabin erected by J. P. Hallsson is still standing
in the village.
This colony rapidly expanded in all directions. Settlers came
from Lake Winnipeg and Wisconsin, the first from the latter
coming in 1880. The Icelanders from Washington Island settled
around the present site of Gardar, Pembina county. Having
acquired considerable property in Wisconsin, the people of the
Gardar community soon ranked among the most prosperous
Icelanders in the valley.
The first Icelandic settlers in Lyon county, Minnesota, came
from the Wisconsin colony in 1873. Hon. E. H. Bergman — the
first Icelander in America to sit in a representative legislative
assembly, being a member of the last territorial legislature of
Dakota — was among the pioneers. In 1880 he settled near
Gardar, in Pembina county, where he has remained ever since.
This colony grew by additions from Wisconsin and directly from
Iceland. Many Icelandic business and porfessional men now
live in the city of Minneota, Lyon county, Minnesota. The only
Icelandic paper in the United States, the Vinland, is published
here. The publisher of the weekly Minneota Mascot is an Ice-
lander. There are three lawyers, one doctor and a Lutheran
minister in the city, all of whom are Icelanders. The most promi-
nent business men of the place are Icelanders. This colony has
reached a high degree of prosperity. The people have a reputa-
tion for industry and business integrity that reaches far beyond
the limits of the county.
It is impossible within the limits prescribed to detail the
history of the Icelandic settlement in Pembina county, North
Dakota. It grew steadily until now it numbers between two
and three thousand people. From it have gone families who
became pioneers in other Icelandic settlements in Cavalier, Bot-
tineau, Ward and McHenry counties, North Dakota, Roseau
county, Minnesota, at several points on the Pacific coast and in
the provinces of Northwest Canada. They suffered all the priva-
tions of pioneer life, intensified by extreme poverty in the early
years of settlement. During the winter of 1879-80, the prospects
of the colony were the darkest in its history. Indeed, without
the aid given by Pall Thorlaksson, who assumed heavy personal
NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS 255
liabilities in obtaining provisions for the settlers, it is difficult to
see how they could have secured the necessities of life. But this
unselfish man provided not only for the material needs. He
passed from man to man and house to house, comforting the
sick and inspiring hope where despair had entered. Though he
felt the hand of a fatal disease upon him, he spared 110 effort to
bring the colony safely over this critical period. He died (in
1882) in the happy assurance that the colony was out of danger.
The nearest market of this colony in the pioneer days was
St. Vincent, Minnesota, about fifty miles from the central point of
the settlement. Wheat was hauled thither by oxen. This was
a slow and often dangerous process, for robberies were not infre-
quently committed. In 1881 the Great Northern was built through
St. Thomas, Glasston and Hamilton, thereby bringing the grain
market nearer the settlement. Later still the same company built
a road through Hensel to Cavalier. The grain market was now
within easy reach of any settler in the colony.
The people came from Iceland with habits of industry firmly
established and as a result they have been successful in whatever
occupation has engaged their attention. Prosperous business
enterprises are conducted by Icelanders in the cities of Pembina
and Cavalier, and the villages of Akra, Hensel, Hallasson, Moun-
tain and Gardar. As farmers they have met with equal success.
Concentration of land, however, is steadily increasing. But this,
in most instances, is not the result of individual failures. For
reasons easy of ascertainment, but which space does not allow
us to enumerate, farmers from time to time sell their land and
move to the Canadian Northwest or to the Pacific coast.
On the whole the people seem progressive in their ideas.
They readily adopt the latest and most approved methods or
implements in whatever business or industry they may be en-
gaged. Every modern convenience is valued according to its
merits. Rural mail routes run through the settlement in different
places. Likewise, rural telephones have become general through-
out the length and breadth of the colony. A few years ago the
Edinburg and Gardar Telephone Company was organized largely
through the initiative of Hon. E. H. Bergman. This company
extended its wires through the Icelandic townships of Gardar and
256 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Thingvalla. Later lines were built among the Icelandic farmers
of Park and Akra townships, by another company, however.
In religion the Icelanders of the Red River valley are
Lutherans. Pall Thorlaksson organized congregations as fast as
settlements were formed. There are now eight congregations in
Pembina and Cavalier counties, served by two pastors — H. B.
Thorgrimson, Akra, and K. K. Olafsson, Gardar. The congrega-
tions in the Icelandic colony in Lyon county, Minnesota, are
served by Rev. B. B. Jonsson. All the organizations belong to
the Icelandic Lutheran Synod of America, which meets in con-
vention every year. Services are uniformly conducted in the
Icelandic language.
The influence of the church is the power which the forces of
assimilation find most difficult to overcome. She is the strongest
link in the chain of customs and traditions which connects the
new environment with the old. With her, it seems, rests the fate
of the Icelandic language. If she can always successfully insist
upon the performance of all her ceremonies, the most important
of which, in this connection, is the confirmation, in Icelandic, the
disappearance of the language as a living tongue will be syn-
chronous with the decay of the church itself as an active factor
m the life of the people. But if English ever becomes the.
language spoken from the pulpit or recited from the catechism,
Icelandic will find a place in the catacomb of dead tongues.
It may be asserted with the utmost confidence that should
Icelandic be forgotten it would be a great loss to the people.
Aside from the general advantage of knowing more than one
language, the literature of Iceland ranks with the best of classical
times. The poetry, mythology, history and laws of Scandinavia
were written and preserved by Icelanders about the thirteenth or
fourteenth century. Old Norse literature is rapidly becoming
an object of deep interest to students and scholars. Scholars
like Professor Carpenter, of Columbia University, and R. B.
Anderson, of Wisconsin, poets like Gray, Morris, Bayard Taylor
and Longfellow have found in this rugged lore of the North,
pleasure and inspiration. During the long winter nights in
Iceland this literature is read by every fireside. The result is
NOEWEGIANS AND ICELANDEKS 257
that every Icelander upon reaching his majority is familiar with
the Sagas and history of the times when his island was a flour-
ishing republic. The time is already approaching in Europe and
America when a general education is regarded incomplete until
one has imbibed from this Mimir of Northern culture.
One of the inducements to emigration from Iceland was the
public school system of this country. The Icelanders in the valley
have fully availed themselves of its opportunities. Of the higher
education the same is true. Of the students from Pembina county
who attended the University of North Dakota in 1906, twenty-
eight per cent were Icelanders, while not more than thirteen per
cent of the population of the county are of Icelandic extraction.
Of the public school teachers of this county in 1906, nineteen
per cent were of this nationality.
In politics the Icelandic vote in Pembina county has changed
from democratic by a large majority in 1892, to overwhelmingly
republican in 1906. (State Historical Society, Vol. I, p. 125.)
The people take an active interest in public affairs. Eight dif-
ferent Icelanders have sat in either branch of the state legisla-
ture and four were elected to fill county offices in 1906 — one
commissioner, treasurer, clerk of court and state's attorney.
The state's attorney of Lyon county, Minnesota, is an Icelander.
The same is true of the state 's attorney of Cavalier county, North
Dakota. In Winnipeg, where several thousand Icelanders live,
they have sat in the city council and two are now members of
the provincial parliament. The plea that a candidate for a public
office is a countryman of theirs avails but little. Their partisan-
ship is generally as uncompromising as that of the typical
American politician.
No spirit of clannishness or isolation is discernible in the
attitude of Icelanders toward public affairs. They have formed
no associations, which, whatever their ostensible object, must
from their very nature, tend to segregate and individualize the
interests of their nationality. The general idea seems to pre-
dominate that first and last they are American citizens. They
have been loyal and law abiding in the past and whatever crises
our country may come to in the future they will not prove
258 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
recreant to the duties owing to the flag. While all respectable
Icelanders take an honest pride in the island of their birth and
where their ancestors peacefully repose, they do not forget that
they owe primary obligations to their adopted country which
they neither attempt nor desire to evade.
CHAPTER XI.
THE INDIANS.
By
J. R. Cole.
Their Origin— Different Tribes and What Different Writers Say
About Them.
Philologists are coming to the conclusion that North American
Indians belonged originally to the great Aryan family of Europe
and Asia, and books at this time are being published in advocacy
of this claim. James Freeman Clarke, in his work on the "Ten
Great Religions of the World," gives the Indian word "tak,"
meaning hatchet, which is derived from "takshami," Sanskrit;
"tasha" in Zend; "tash," Persia; "tuagh" in old Irish. In
like manner many words have been found allying the Indian
tongue with the Latin, Greek, German, Scandinavian, Celt, Hindu
and Persian, so that there seems to be some reason for maintain-
ing a brotherhood of the red man with the Indo-European family,
if relations by blood can be maintained on linguistic grounds.
T. S. Denison, of Chicago, persists in this claim and is about
to issue a book from the University press, giving several thousand
words from the Indian language to support this argument.
In itself philology is weak, however, when attempting to
prove a blood relationship. It may establish the fact that the
Indians originally occupied lands within Aryan territory, and
that they all spoke a common language once, but that does not
prove that they had a common origin. The English are German
by descent, but are French, philologically speaking.
As long as monogenists of the Max Muller, Dr. Taylor, Baron
259
260^ HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Bunsen and Professor Sayce class differ among themselves as to
the locality of the Aryan cradle bed, similarity of language will
do as little for the Indian as for the Roman, Greek, German or
Celt in that particular. But as a scientist, Muller says :
"We can not derive the Malay from the negro, nor the negro
from the Malay. We can only conceive how this can be." He
also says: "We can not derive the Hebrew from the Sanskrit
nor the Sanskrit from the Hebrew," and he could have said
also : ' ' We can not derive the Indian from the Hebrew, nor the
Hebrew from the Indian."
"The skull is the least variable characteristic of race," says
Broca, the father of the science of crainoscopy, and when we
remember that the racial characteristics of the Indian is as stub-
bornly persistent in them as in that of any other type of the
human kind, we may infer that once an Indian always an Indian,
is as true as the truism, once a Jew always a Jew.
That types are persistent is no more a scientific fact than a
biblical one, and that is in accordance with that inexorable law of
"kind after kind." Anthropologists have proven from the long
headed skulls taken from the long barrows of England or from
the row graves of Germany and other prehistoric burial places,
deposited there in Palaeolithic ages; and broad-headed skulls
from other graves in Neolithic times, that skulls, in spite of the
laws of differentiation, do not change.
Once doliochocephalic or orthognathous or brachycephalic or
prognathous, always so.
The creator of all mankind who set the bounds of the heathen
and made him with a facial angle and a cephalic index suitable
only for his particular race, designed it that way. That is the
way it has been from the beginning. It was of a "kind after a
kind" with the red man the same as with the white man. The
Indian with his reddish copper-colored skin, long, coarse, lank,
black hair, never crisping like that of the negro, nor curling
like that of the whites, non-Hebraic nose and eyes, arched cheek
bones, extraordinary insensibility to bodily pain, and with facul-
ties of sight, hearing and smell remarkably acute, comes under a
class as a nation of people with a type peculiar only to his own
race. This we know lays claims to a plurality of origin for the
ROBERT S. LEWIS
THE INDIANS 261
human family, but that too we claim is biblical as well as
scientific.
The religious history of the Dakotas, like that of Zoroaster,
runs back into Palaeolithic times. Oanktayhee was the Jupiter
Maximus among all the gods of the Indians. Out of reverence
for this object of worship and adoration the Dakotas preserved
the bones of the mastodon in the medicine bag with the greatest
care. But the mastodon lived in pre-glacial times only. In
America its bones have been found at Fort Ancient, Ohio, asso-
ciated with the skeletons of the Mound Builders, the ancestors
of the red men. It would be about as difficult to derive an Indian
of the Pleistocene age from a Jew of the Palestine era, at the
time Adam and Eve delved in the Garden of Eden, as it would
be to get a blackbird that flew around Noah's ark out of a goose
egg laid yesterday.
Space will not permit us, but proof can be given that the
monogonist has translated the Genesis account of man to make
Adam the husband of Eve, the parent head of the human race,
but in doing so he has made Moses say many things not true to
the original Hebrew record of that account. Believing, therefore,
that the Indian had his own cradle-bed the same as the Jews
had, we are of the opinion he is indigenous to North America,
if not anthoctonous to that soil the same as the Hebrew is to
Palestine or the negro is to sunny Africa.
In this sketch we are concerned with the history of the
Sioux, Dakota and the Cheyenne tribes only.
Rev. Edward Duffield Neill in his history of Minnesota says :
"The Dacotahs, like all ignorant and barbarous people, have but
little reflections beyond that necessary to gratify the pleasure
of revenges and of the appetite. It would be strange to find
them heroes ; while there are exceptions, their general character-
istics are indolence, impurity and indifference to the future."
Clark says : "In mental, moral and physical qualities I consider
the Sioux a little lower but still nearly equal to the Cheyennes,
and the Teton are the superior branch of the family."
The Sioux exercised lordship over all the neighboring tribes
with the exception of the Ojibwa, who were able to drive them
westward from the headwaters of the Mississippi and the Sioux
262 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
in turn drove the Cheyennes away, who were at one time a
powerful nation of the Northwest and who dwelt on a branch of
the Red river. They were at deadly enmity with the Sioux, but
being less powerful than their adversary, were driven across the
Missouri and being still pursued by the Sioux, took refuge finally
in the Black Hills near the upper waters of the Cheyenne river.
The Cheyenne Indians when first known to the whites lived
on the Cheyenne river, a branch of the Red River of the North.
They are sometimes termed Dog-eaters from their fondness for
the flesh of that animal and sometimes known as "Cut Wrists"
from that form of mutilation which they practice on their dead
enemies. On account of wars with the Sioux they moved south
and encamped for a few years on the Little Cheyenne, then
later on the Big Cheyenne near the Black Hills. While in the
Black Hills they were at war against the Sioux, the Mandans,
and sometimes against the Aricarees. They formed an alliance
finally with the Arapahoes, old residents of the North Platte
country.
A writer says : ' ' Other races of Indians once people the
territory now embraced within the state of North Dakota.
Among these were the once powerful and numerous people called
the Mandan, whose place of residence was west of the Missouri,
and about whom so many interesting tales are told by George
Catlin, the artist explorer, who spent years in their villages.
These singular people, of whom there is scarcely a trace left, were
of a different race, evidently, from those who surrounded them.
They were of a much lighter color and more agreeable features
than Sioux, Pawnee or Omaha, and had a rude civilization. In
the making of pottery, the weaving of blankets and other
mechanical employments they developed considerable skill. Many
of their singular customs were peculiar to them, and conjecture
has run rife in trying to account for their being. Many theories
have been advanced, as is usual in all these cases, some believing
them to be a degenerate remnant of the prehistoric races of this
continent; others that they are the descendants of some white
people wrecked on either coast and who have drifted inland.
One of the accounts of this head states that they are descendants
of the female captives of a former race, who were spared from
THE INDIANS 263
the wholesale massacre meted out to the rest of their people. The
Indians of the plains say that the Mandans were originally
white, the women having long, fair hair, and the men long, blonde
whiskers. They were numerous and possessed all the land, having
cities, towns and villages. They had farms and herds of buffalo
or bison. The story is that they were all cut off by the Abenaznis,
the forefathers or forerunners of the Indians. Only a few women
out of the race were spared to become the wives of their captors.
But when their children were grown they livd with them apart,
kept aloof, and thus grew up a separate race. If this account is
reported correctly, and probably it is, may not the white people
of this Indian legend have some connection with the wanderings
of that semi-civilized race, the Aztecs, who finally settled in
Mexico about the year 1200? They, too, were of a higher color
than the other Indians and had considerable civilization."
E. R. Steinbrueck, Mandan, North Dakota, thinks that the
Mandans came originally from Ireland. He cites some authorities
in support of that argument, which, if proven, only goes to show
that this race of the red man came from the Arctic regions,
having been driven out by the ice age to more delectable climes
farther south. At the beginning of the glacial era the fauna
and the flora occupied regions around the north pole, but when
frozen out a migration southward was made. It is not improb-
able that the Mandan at that time occupied some extended area
within the boundary of the Indo-European country, and after-
wards migrated to American soil.
A very good account of the Dacotah Indians is given in the
Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota. " These
savages are of an entirely different group from those found
throughout New England and along the banks of the Mohawk
and Susquehanna. Although they have many customs in common
with the tribes that once dwelt to the east of them, yet their
language and many peculiarities mark them as belonging to a
distant race. . When they were first noticed by the European
adventurers, large numbers were found about the head of Lake
Superior and on throughout the lake region of what is now
Minnesota and Manitoba. The name by which they call them-
selves, Dacotah, signifies allied or leagued. The name Sioux,
264: HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
often written Scioux or Soos, by which they are better known,
was given them by early travelers in that country. For cen-
turies there had raged a relentless war between the Dacotah and
the Ojibiways, or Chippewas, and these latter always designated
their opponents by the name of Nadowessioux or Nadowaysioux,
signifying enemies. The historian Charlevoix, who visited the
Northwest in 1721, in his 'Annals of New France,' says: 'The
name of our own making, or rather it is the last two syllables of
the name Nadowessioux, as many nations call them.' There has
been suggested by a local writer, who had excellent opportu-
nities to learn of such matters, that the name Dacotah, instead
of meaning allied, has an entirely different derivation, and one
so plausible that its insertion here may not be out of place. It
is as follows : The Sioux Indian, like so many of his red brethren,
has for centuries been in contact with the missionaries, many of
whom were French priests, and has been associated with the
Canadian voyageurs and has learned to like and speak the French
language, and they take pride in speaking the 'priest language,'
as they call it. When the Anglo-Saxon first came among these
people, on his asking what tribe did he, the Indian belong to, and
where did he live, the Dacotah, probably with wide-sweeping
gesture so common to the race, answered shortly, Sioux du Coteau,
meaning Sioux of the Hills. His total ignorance of the French
tongue, and his having no idea of its use by a savage, led the
uneducated American or Englishman to conclude that it was an
Indian name, and it was accordingly handed down in its present
form of Dacotah.
"The Dacotah was an allied race, however, they often giving
themselves the name of Ocetisakowin, or the Seven Council Fires.
The principal members of this league were seven tribes or sub-
divisions, many of whom had their home in what is now Minne-
sota in an early day, but who, driven back by the advancing
whites, took up their residence in Dakota. Some of them, how-
ever, were found dwellers on the broad plains of the Dakotas,
and had been for a long time previous to the advent of the white
man.
"The principal sub-nations, or tribes, who made up the league,
THE INDIANS 265
and who held annual councils for the general good, were as
follows :
"The M 'dewakantonwans, or those who live in the village
of the Spirit Lake, evidently Mille Lac, in Minnesota, where they
formerly had their residence.
"The Wahpekutewans, or villages of the leaf shooters, a name
of uncertain derivation, but probably from the shape of their
stone arrow heads, which were broader and more leaf-like in
shape than the others.
"The Wahpetonwans, or villages in the leaves of the woods,
pointing to their abode being in the forests of Minnesota about
the Little Rapids of the Minnesota river. From there they were
removed finally to the reservation- about Big Stone lake.
"The Sissitonwans, meaning villages of the marsh, a people
who lived at one time on the west bank of the Mississippi river.
All these four sub-tribes went, also, by the general name of
Isanyati or Isantees. This name is identical with the Issati of
Hennepin. The name grew out of the fact that they once lived
on or near Isantandi or Knife lake, one of the Mille Lacs. It is
asserted that the lake drew its name from the stone on its banks,
which the primitive Indians sought to make into knives (isan).
"The other tribes in the league were the Minnekanye
Wogopuwans, or the villages of those that plant by the water.
The Ihankwannas, the band of the end village, a people whose
name, corrupted by the white people into Yanktonnias or
Yanktons, gave its title to the city which was the capital of the
territory for many years, Yankton. This tribe dwelt . in the
country between the Red river and the Missouri, and were its
sole masters for some time. It was subdivided into several sub-
tribes: Hunkpatidans ; Pabaksa, or Cut Heads; Wazikutes, or
Pine Shooters, and Kiyuksa, those who divide or break the law.
According to the Indian traditions, the Hohays, or Assinboine
of the country just north of Dakota, were a part of this branch.
"Tetonwans, who were the undisputed masters of the land
west of the Missouri river, to the Rocky mountains. These, also,
were closely allied with the Cheyennes and Arickarees, with
whom they formed many marriage alliances. Among the divisions
of this powerful branch of the Dacotah nations were the Sicauu
266 HISTORY OF EED IUVER VALLEY
or Burnt Thighs, called usually the Brule Sioux, after Father
Brule, a French priest; Itazipeho, or Sans Arc, without bows;
the Sihasaps, feet that are black; the Oehenonpa, two kettles or
boilers; Ogallahs, wanderers in the mountains; Minnecoupoux,
those who plant by the water ; and the Onkpapas, they that dwell
by themselves.
"These people were, evidently, banded together at a very
early day, for, in the history of the mission at La Pointe, on
Lake Superior, one of the fathers, in writing of the Dacotahs,
says: 'For sixty leagues from the extremity of the Upper Lake,
toward sunset; and, as it were, in the center of the western
nations, they have all united their force by a general league.'
''Polygamy is common among them. They are very jealous,
and sometimes fight in duel for their wives. They manage the
bow admirably and have been seen several times to kill ducks
on the wing. They make their lodges of a number of buffalo
skins, interlaced and sewed, and carry them wherever they go.
They are all great smokers."
From a work called "Dakota Dictionary," published by the
United States government in 1853, under the auspices of the
Smithsonian Institute, a book written by Rev. S. A. Riggs, a
worthy man who labored for years as a missionary among the
Sioux, has been gathered a few facts. Mr. Riggs says, in speaking
of the Dacotah tongue:
"In the language as spoken by the different bands of those
properly denominated Dakotas, some differences exist. The inter-
course between the Indewakantonwans of the Mississippi and
lower Minnesota, and the Wahpetonwans, Wahpekutes and a
part of the Sissitonwans family has been so constant that but
slight variations are discoverable in their manner of speaking.
In some instances where the Wahpetonwans use d, some of the
Indewakantonwans so modify the sound that it becomes t, and
where the former use h, the latter sometimes employ n. As a
matter of course, some few words have currency in one band
which are not used, perhaps not generally known, to the others ;
but none of the dialectical variations are of such a kind as to
impede the free intercourse of thought.
"The Sissitonwans of Lake Traverse and the prairie present
THE INDIANS 267
more differences in their speech. One of the most marked of
these is their use of na for dan, the diminutive termination.
As there is less frequent intercourse between them and the
Isanties, their provincialisms are more numerous; and from
their connections with the Ihanktonwans of the prairie they have
adopted some of their forms of speech.
"The chief peculiarity of the Ihanktonwan dialect, as com-
pared with that of the Dakotas of the Minnesota valley, is the
almost universal substitution of k for h. The Tetonwan dialect
exhibits more striking differences. In it the g, hard, is used for
the h of the Isanties and k of the Ihanktonwans, and rejecting
d altogether, they use 1 in its stead.
"By the bands of Dakotas east of the James river, hard g
is not heard except as a final in some syllables where contraction
has taken place, and 1 does not occur. Thus, to illustrate the
foregoing, Canpahinihona, a cart or wagon, of the Wahpetonwans,
becomes cunpunminera in the mouth of an Indewakautonwan,
canpakmekma in that of an Ihanktonwan, and campazmigma
with a Tetonwan. Hda, to go home, of the Isanties, is kda in the
Ihanktonwan dialect and gla in the Tetonwan."
The Sioux counts years by winters, and computes distance
by the number of sleeps or nights passed upon a journey. Their
months are computed by moons, and bear the following names :
Witeri, January, the hard moon ; Wicatowi, February, the raccoon
moon ; Istawicayazanwi, March, the sore eye moon ; Magaokadiwi,
April, moon when geese lay eggs, sometimes called Wokadiwi,
and also Watopapiwi, or the moon when the streams are naviga-
ble; Wojupiwi, May, planting moon; Wajustecasawi, June, the
moon when strawberries are red; Canpasapawi and Wasunpawi,
July, moon when choke cherries are ripe and moon when geese
shed their feathers; Wasutonwi, August, harvest moon;
Psinhnaketuwi, September, the moon when rice is laid up to dry;
Wiwajupi, October, drying rice moon ; Takiyurawi, November,
deer rutting month; and Tahecapsunwi, December, the moon
when the deer sheds his horns.
The legends of the Dakotahs are numerous. While some
are puerile, a few are beautiful. One of them tells of Eagle Eye,
the son of a great war prophet, who lived more than a hundred
268 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
years ago, and who was distinguished for bravery. Fleet, ath-
letic, symmetrical, a bitter foe and a warm friend, he was a
model Dakotah. In the ardor of his youth his affections were
given to one who was, also, attractive, whose name was Scarlet
Dove. A few moons after she had become an inmate of his
lodge, they descended the Mississippi with a hunting party and
proceeded east of Lake Pepin. One day while Eagle Eye lay
hidden behind some shrubbery, waiting for a deer, a comrade's
arrow pierced the leafy covert and struck him to the heart. With
only time to lisp the loved name, Scarlet Dove, he expired.
For a few days the widow mourned and gashed her flesh, as
was the custom upon such occasions, then, with the silence of
woe, wrapped her beloved in skins and placed him on a tem-
porary scaffold. The Sioux do not bury their dead, but place
them on a scaffold above the earth or in the tree tops. Under-
neath the resting place of Eagle Eye sat Scarlet Dove until the
party was ready to return to their own place. Then, taking down
all that was left of the husband of her heart, she patiently carried
it back to their home. On her shoulders she carried her burden,
and each night when the party camped she built a temporary
resting place above the earth for his beloved remains. When
she reached the Minnesota river, a hundred miles from where he
lost his life, the patient woman rested. Going into the forest,
she brought poles forked and poles straight, and forthwith she
built a permanent burial scaffold on a beautiful hill, opposite
Fort Snelling. Having placed the body upon this elevation,
according to the customs of her race, with the strap with which
she had carried her precious burden hanged herself to the
scaffold and died.
Another from the same source is one told by the Indians of
the Missouri:
"The Great Spirit, at an ancient period, here called the
Indian nations together, and, standing on the precipice of the
red pipe-stone rocks, broke from its wall a piece, and made a
huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked over them
to the north, the south, the east and the west, and told them
that this stone was red — that it was their flesh — that they must
use it for their pipes of peace — that it belonged to them all, and
THE INDIANS 269
that the war-club must not be raised on its ground. At the
last whiff of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the
whole surface of the rock for several miles was heated and
glazed; two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women
(guardian spirits of the place) entered them in a blaze of fire,
and they are heard there yet (Tso-me-cos-too and Tso-me-cos-to-
wan-dee), answering to the invocations of the high priests, who
consult them when they visit the sacred place."
Ali^e Nelson Page visited Fort Totten, North Dakota, recently
and gathered much valuable information about the Indians which
was published in the Herald June 13, 1908. Her data was ob-
tained largely from Father Jerome, in charge of St. Michael's
Indian Mission at Fort Totten, and from Indians in the vicinity
of that fort. The writer's vivid description of Indian life when
speaking of the Dakotas carries with the sketch a note like that
of a death knell sounding the existence of the dusky race for
the last time. The sketch is historical and, including that of
Chief Little Fish, the last great warrior of a Sioux nation, is
inserted in this place. The writer says:
The rapidity with which this band of Indians is dying out is
pathetic and the mortality on all of the western reservations is
great, according to the Indian agents. On the Fort Totten reser-
vation the role of 1892 for the distribution of lands counted 1,145
men, women and children. The last role for the distribution
of this $788,000 judgment against the government was 900, and
it must be remembered this includes all who are living of the
enrollment of 1892 as well as those born since.
The mortality is greater among the young than among the
older ones, and wherein they have nearly as many children as
they used to there is some race suicide among them with the
development of higher civilization, especially in the last five years.
The children that are born are not properly cared for. The
Indian mothers have learned it is not necessary to nurse their'
babies, that they can be fed from a bottle as well as the old way.
Of course they have no idea of sterilization of either milk or
bottle and if they had would be too lazy to use it. The easiest
way to them is a bottle that holds the most and a long rubber
tube. From this the papoose is fed anything from diseased milk
270 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
to thick soup, which of course is murder to the delicate little
stomachs and dysentery carries them off quickly.
Dead Are Remembered.
There is a pretty little burying ground near the Old Mission
011 the reservation that is rapidly filling up. Every grave is
carefully marked, some with very handsome marble monuments
and others with a simple cross of white wood or stone. If the
relatives of a dead Indian have a dollar it will go for a monument
or mark of some kind though they starve for days after. Or if
they have no money and the dealer in tombstones will trust them
one is bought far beyond their means.
The restricted way in which the Indian lives is responsible for
the dying out of the race. The teaching the white man has
thought for their own good is proving their undoing physically
and morally in many ways. As good old Chief Little Fish says :
"My young people learn quicker the bad ways of the white man
than his good."
Reasons for Mortality.
Instead of having the great plains that abounded with buffalo
and wild game of all kinds to roam over and a sheltered nook in
the forest to erect their tepees during the winter they are
restricted to a few acres of land on which the game has long
since ceased to exist. The manner in which they live in their
ignorance would kill off the white man just as readily. They
must live on their own land and often their little cabins are
erected on the open prairie without shelter of any description.
Imagine human beings living, a family maybe of from four to ten
or twelve, in two rooms and these with every crack and crevice
practically hermetically sealed against the cold blast.
The sanitary conditions are awful. When they do go outside
cold is caught easily, pneumonia sets in and then the terrible
white plague which is so prevalent among them, gets an easy
hold on their constitutions. The mortality is the greatest from
this disease. A rumor has been current for a number of years
that syphilis was prevalent among them and the mortality was
THE INDIANS 271
as much or more from this than any other cause. This is denied
by the reservation doctor. He says there is little of it among
them. Tuberculosis is their curse and their manner of living an
aggravation of the disease.
Failure as Farmers.
A few years ago it was thought the Cut Head Sioux would
make good farmers and tillers of the soil and while they were
under the strict surveillance of the government they were so,
and quite self-supporting. Major McLaughlin, Indian agent from
Washington, D. C., who used to be Indian agent at the Fort
Totten reservation, is quoted as saying on his last visit there,
they were not as good farmers as they were ten years ago. Then
they were under the direct control of the Indian agent and there
were what they called "Boss Farmers" going constantly among
them, teaching them to farm with the uses of modern machinery
which the government provided them with, and although they
had to be coaxed along like children, they made reasonable prog-
ress as agriculturists, but now are retrogressing. Since the
settlement with the government in 1892, when the last land allot-
ment was made, the Cut Head Sioux were made citizens with
the right of ballot. Since that time they have been left more to
their own devices and the result has been disastrous.
Proverbially lazy, improvident as to future, one wonders how
they exist. Some of them have a small annuity from the govern-
ment, but it is never in their hands longer than it takes to get
from the post to the traders, and then it is never spent in laying
away a stock of any kind of provision against a future need.
There will undoubtedly be hardship among them this winter for
what little grains were put in were burned out with the drouth.
A few of them have good gardens and can put away a stock of
vegetables for the winter, and for a time these will be the popular
Indians on the reservation among their kin. Their cabins will be
the gathering place for poorer relatives and neighbors. This
hospitality is always dispensed as long as there is anything to
eat. During the coldest weather a number of families will coop
themselves up in one little cabin for weeks at a time.
272 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Felt Drouth Coming.
The most trivial reason is an excuse for not putting in their
land. A bit of broken machinery, a lamed horse, an ailing rela-
tive, will stop all farming operations. One astute old Indian
when questioned about his crops this year said he did not put any
in because he knew there was going to be a drouth, a bit of
wisdom many a white man would like to possess.
There is a splendid Indian industrial school at Fort Totten.
When the old fort was abandoned by the troops eighteen years
ago it was turned over to the Indians by the government for this
purpose. Each year the school has turned out a number of grad-
uates and where they have not had to return to their homes, and
have been trained instead out in the world, they have made good
citizens and are quite self-supporting.
C. M. Zeibach, for sixteen years in the Indian service with
thorough knowledge of their characteristics and requirements,
makes a splendid superintendent and is agent on the reservation
as well. The original school from which the Industrial school
grew was the Old Mission, established by the Catholics in 1863.
This burned and a newer, larger mission took its place. After-
ward another even larger mission was built where the children
have been taught by the Grey Nuns and Father Jerome, the
priest in charge.
When the industrial school proper was established at the post
the government retained control of the mission and consolidated
the schools, leaving the Grey Nuns and Father Jerome still in
charge of the mission. To the mission is sent the Sioux Indian
children, most of whom are full blooded, and to the post are sent
the Chippewa children, most of whom are half breeds from the
Turtle mountain reservation. After a trial it was found necessary
to separate them in this way in order to preserve peace among
them, for the remains of the old feuds between the Chippewa and
the Sioux, who were always deadly enemies, would crop out.
Last year there were enrolled 140 boys and 145 girls of ages
ranging anywhere from five to twenty. They are not carried in
their studies beyond the eighth grade, but are all taught useful
trades.
AARON MCDONALD
THE INDIANS 273
The boys are taught the harness-making, tailoring, carpen-
tering, farming and engineering trades, and the girls dressmaking,
domestic science, laundry, baking, etc. A corps of forty-five
teachers, some of them of Indian descent, educated either at Car-
lisle or Haskell, and a few cultured white men and women
comprise the faculty.
Blood Always Tells.
The children are most of them musical and pick up the refine-
ments of life quickly, but strange to say they drop them as
quickly when they go back to their homes, at least the greater
number of them do. There are some exceptions but they are few
and far between. If allowed they will absorb a great deal of
higher education with evidently a good understanding, but with
no idea of putting it to any practical purpose. One superin-
tendent is quoted as saying that this had been one trouble with
the teaching of an Indian, too much time had been given to giving
him a champagne education with only a beer salary to maintain
it with, and the immediate result when the Indian gets once more
among his own and sees the impossibility of remedying things
there he loses hope, and the result is disastrous.
This superintendent's idea was to teach the Indian a 'simple
trade and above all to work. Some of the graduates turned out
in recent years, especially of the half or quarter breeds, have
gone farther with their educations, entered some of the eastern
universities and in a number of instances turned out good pro-
fessional men and women. They are employed on the different
reservations and at some of the posts and towns adjacent to
reservations have set up in business for themselves. In such
instances as this they have turned out well but where they must
go from the industrial school back to their homes on the
reservation not much has been accomplished.
The children are allowed two months at home each summer,
when they have homes, and if they have not they are kept at the
school. It generally takes a week to get them straightened out
when they come back to the school in the fall. Their clothes will
be ragged and dirty and they are oftentimes covered with vermin,
making much work for the matrons and teachers.
274 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
But when once in line and in working order again they are
easily managed and some of the teachers with experience teaching
the white children claim they are more tractable and easily man-
aged than the white, and fully as easily taught. Some of their
work is beautiful, especially of the girls. Their sewing is a work
of art and the boys do good work, too. They take more to some
trades than others. Harnessmaking appeals to them and Super-
intendent Zeibach is in possession of a magnificent set of harness
made by one of the boys at the industrial school that in point of
workmanship is perfect. He would not take a considerable sum
for it.
The education of the Indian is a problem, and has been for
many years to the government, but if the mortality is as great
on other reservations as at Fort Totten, it is a problem seemingly
of not many years' duration.
Story of Little Fish.
The old saying: "There is no good Indian but a dead one,"
does not apply in all cases, at least not in that of Chief Little Fish
of the Cut Head Sioux at the Fort Totten Indian reservation in
North Dakota, according to all reports of him from both his own
people and the whites.
Little Fish or ' ' Tiawashti, " meaning in English, Pretty Lodge,
has passed the allotted three score years and ten of man and will
shortly celebrate his eighty-fourth birthday. He is greatly
beloved by his own people and respected by the whites and it is
writh sadness they speak of the time when he will be no more
among them. With his demise will go a picturesque old figure
among the Indians and the last of the chiefs of the Cut Head
Sioux of the Dakotas, since the death of the great Chief Wanita,
who may be in point of valor outrivaled Little Fish, but never
in natural goodness. Old Wanita passed away about ten years
ago on the Fort Totten reservation and a handsome monument
in the Indian burying ground there stands as a memorial to
him.
Not Great Warrior.
Some magazine and newspaper writers of late years have
written of Little Fish and described him as an hereditary chief
THE INDIANS 275
of the Sioux and told great tales of fights and skirmishes, always
describing him in these as a great warrior, which according to
Little Fish himself and those among whom he has lived for fifty
years and over, is not true. In fact he has always been a very
peaceful Indian and as to his antecedents, he is very vague on
this point himself.
As a sketch produced here of him would indicate, he is of
mixed blood and according to an old Indian trader who has
known him for fifty years, he must b*e a mixture of Sisseton
Sioux and French. There is lacking in his features the high cheek
bone, the full broad, coarse mouth, and the raven straight hair
of the full blood Sioux. Instead, he has the more refined features
of the French, but the swarthy skin of the Indian. His hair is
snow white and shows a little inclination to ripple, which is very
unlike the Indian. This all with some marked characteristics
of the Sissetons, according to traders who have studied them and
lived among them for years, would indicate a mixed blood.
How He Became Chief.
According to old members of the tribe and his own story,
when a mere boy he wandered from some part of the Canadian
country into Minnesota, where he met a band of the Cut Head
Sioux who accepted him as their own. He could tell but little of
whom his people were. Years afterward events transpired that
made these Indians accept him as their chief. In the early sixties
the colonel in command of Fort Totten found Little Fish with a
band of 300 of his people camped near the Missouri River. There
was a famine among them, the winter had been a terrible one
and they were starving and freezing to death. When the com-
mander and his soldiers approached, with a thought to locate
some Indians who had been committing depredations among the
white settlers, it was here Little Fish's powers of oratory were
discovered. His appeal and statement of the condition of his
people was strong and eloquent. The Indians' seeming depend-
ence upon him, his wisdom and his influence, made the com-
mander acknowledge him as chief. From this on, this particular
band of Indians called him chief and the whole tribe afterward
accepted him as such, as did the government.
276 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Respected at Washington.
When some of the treaties of the late sixties and the early
seventies were made with the Cut Head Sioux and the govern-
ment, the name of Little Fish appeared on them formally as
chief of this tribe. Far from being a warrior of note, he has
always stood for peace, both among the different tribes and the
whites and he says he has always tried to live according to the
precepts of the great white chiefs in Washington and to govern
his people accordingly. At different times with members of his
tribe he has visited Washington and the government officials have
always found him tractable and reasonable in his demands for his
people.
There are people who claim Little Fish took part in the
terrible massacre of '62 near Alexandria, Minnesota, but this
Little Fish strenuously denies, and his life among the Indians
and the whites would indicate the truthfulness of what he says,
that he has always been a peaceful Indian and tried to lead his
people in the path of rectitude. He says the nearest he came to
being in the Indian uprising, and this is vouched for by an old
Indian trader, was that of the winter of '62. He, with a small
band of hunters with their wives and children, went west and
camped near old Fort Ransom. Some of the more hardy hunters
leaving the women and children behind, went on further into
Montana looking for big game. After a week's absence they
started back and were met half way by some of those they had
left behind hastening to notify them of the uprising and that
their people were being rapidly cut down by the soldiers and
white settlers. The whole band started back toward Minnesota
and met another band of Indians coming west who had been
whipped and vanquished.
Little Fish Advises Peace.
After due council Little Fish advised them to quietly seek
their own camping grounds, obey the mandate of the whites,
accept their defeat and make the best of such lands and rations
as the government would give them. It was greatly the influence
THE INDIANS 277
of Little Fish when he went back among them that they settled
down as quietly and peacefully as they did.
Has One Child, a Son.
For over fifty years he has lived on the Fort Totten reserva-
tion and his life there has surely been indicative of a peaceful
disposition. He is known far and wide as a good Indian, a man
of his word both to white and red men, and a Christian. He is a
devout Catholic. This faith he embraced years ago and according
to the priest who has been in charge of the mission at the reserva-
tion for over thirty years has been one of his best parishioners,
and a faithful attendant at services. He has been married twice
and has had quite a family of children, of whom but one son
survives. A number of grandchildren are living about the reser-
vation and with an older one of these he makes his home. They
have a cozy little farm home about six miles out from the fort
and near the old mission, where they farm and raise enough
grains for their simple uses and to feed a few head of good stock.
A small annuity comes from the government every quarter, but
even if this were not forthcoming Little Fish would be well
cared for by his own or the white men about who are really fond
of the old Indian.
Since with the members of his tribe he has been made a citizen
of the United States with the last settlement of the government
in the way of land allotments, the old chief has turned to be quite
a politician and is proud of the fact he can cast his ballot as the
white man.
How the Chief Votes.
When he comes to vote it is with great pomp and ceremony.
He must have his interpreter tell him, over and over again, of
the different qualities of the different candidates for office. He
then casts his ballot as he chooses, always giving a good reason
why he voted and why his man should be elected, showing that
after all he has carefully weighed the matter in his own mind.
Most Indians are easily led when it comes to politics and it is
said the last man to approach them with a bribe is the one who
gets their vote, but not so with Little Fish. Those who have tried
278 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
say his vote cannot be bought. Since the beginning of the
Chautauqua sixteen years ago, one or two days have always been
designated Indian days. Led by Little Fish, all the Indians come
over from the reservation for the event.
Famed for His Oratory.
A picturesque feature of one day has always been a speech
in the great auditorium by the old chief. He is famed for his
oratory and thousands will gather to hear him. He always speaks
words of wisdom, and recites through an interpreter interesting
and instructive reminiscences of the happy hunting days when
great herds of buffalo and antelope roamed the plains of the
Dakotas. But, this year this was one of the features most missed
at the Chautauqua assembly. Little Fish came over with his
people but had to decline to give his annual speech on account of
his feebleness. It was a matter of great regret to the visitors and
a pathetic demonstration to his people, who sadden when they
speak of the time that he will be among them no more, that his
days are numbered and that shortly he will be called to join the
good Indians who have gone before him to the happy hunting
ground.
At the Chautauqua this summer when the old chief posed for
his picture, a silver medal was brought from around his neck, that
it might show more in the picture. Many questions were asked
about this medal, but only elicited the information that it was
given to some one of his forefathers for valor by King George
the Third and it bears the portrait of the king on one side and
that of an Indian chief on the other, with the inscription, accord-
ing to the interpreter, in the Indian tongue, "For valor, from his
Majesty King George the Third." To what forefather this was
presented could not be learned from Little Fish and it was with
regret the gift could not be traced, for undoubtedly its history
would recall tales of romance and history and establish without
doubt Little Fish's antecedents.
Last of the Chiefs.
With the passing of this old chief, and the time can not be
many moons away, will go the last of the chiefs of the Cut Head
THE INDIANS 279
Sioux Indians. While the old man's mind is still alert and keen,
physically he is failing quite rapidly. And when he is gone there
will be no more chiefs, for the government recognizes none and
it is hardly likely the Indians will elect another, although some
of the tribe feel they may accept a grandson of Little Fish as a
sort of honorary chief. This is hardly likely and even so his
influence would be of little moment among them for he has not
the natural powers of leadership of his good old grandfather.
CHAPTEE XII.
THE SIOUX WAR.
Early in the fifties, the United States Government made a
treaty with the Indians of the Northwest granting rights that
the agents of the government were not long in getting away from
them. But as for these red Ishmaelites whose hand was against
every man and every mqn's hand was against them, they lived
without tilling the soil, and when on the warpath spared no foe
in mercy. That was their loftiest ambition, and as they had
taken up the sword, their fate was to die by the sword, and the
treachery of government agents was one way by which they came
to their untimely end.
The subjugation and almost utter annihilation of the red man
of the Sioux war and other wars, culminating in the death of
Custer and his little army of faithful followers, on the 25th of
June, 1876, furnishes probably the finishing episodes of the last
two hundred years or more of Indian warfare. That terrible
uprising of the Dakota Indians in the summer of 1862, and conse-
quent deaths of seven or eight hundred defenseless settlers in
Minnesota and the Dakotas, is the last, we hope, of the dark
spots to be found in the history of the aborigines of our country.
Like the devastation of a great plague this trouble with the
Indians was far and wide. It reached from the Iowa line north to
the international boundary line, and from the central part of
Minnesota west as far as the white settlers could be found,
involving all in the Northwest, north of Iowa, and including a
population at that time exceeding fifty thousand people.
The causes which led to this outbreak are complicated, but
one cause, and the principal one, goes back to the treaty
of Traverse des Sioux, July 23, 1851, between the United States
280
THE SIOUX WAR 281
and the Sissitonwans or Sissitons and the Wahpetonwans, when
$275,000 were to be paid their chiefs and the further sum of
$30,000 was to be expended for the tribes' benefit in Indian
improvements. By the treaty of Mendota, dated August 5, of the
same year, the M 'dewakantonwan and the Wahpekutewan Sioux
were to receive the sum of $200,000, to be paid to their chiefs
and for an improvement fund of $30,000. These several sums,
amounting in all to $555,000, these Indians claimed was never
paid except in some trifling sums expended in improvements on
the reservation. Thievery was then rife among the Indian agents
and political employes of the Indian bureau, and no doubt there
was much that was true in these claims of the savages. The
Indians grew more and more dissatisfied and freely expressed
themselves in council and to the agents. In 1867 the Indian
department at Washington sent out Major Kintzing Prichette,
a man of large experience and unsullied integrity, to investigate
the cause of the ill feeling. In his report, made to the department
the same year, the Major says: "The complaint that runs
through all their councils points to the imperfect performance
or non-fulfillment of treaty stipulations. Whether these are well
or ill founded it is not my premise to discuss. That such a belief
prevails among them, impairing their confidence and good faith
in the government, cannot be questioned."
In one of these councils, Jagmani, a chief, said : "The Indians
sold their lands at Traverse des Sioux. I say what we are told.
For fifty years they were to be paid $50,000 each year. We
were, also, promised $30,000 and that we have not seen."
Another chief said that by the treaty of Traverse des Sioux
$275,000 were to be paid to them when they came upon their
reservation ; they desired to know what had become of it. Every
white man knows that they have been five years upon their
reservation, and yet we have heard nothing of it.
Alexander Ramsey, then governor of the territory of Minne-
sota, and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, was charged
with having paid over the greater part of the money appropriated
under the fourth article of the treaty of July 23 and August 5,
1851, to Hugh Tyler, and Judge Young having been sent out
by the government to investigate this charge, made this report:
2S2 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
"Of $275,000 stipulated to be paid by that treaty of July 23,
1851, the sum of $250,000 was delivered over to Hugh Tyler by
the governor for distribution among the traders and half-breeds,
according to an arrangement made by the schedule of the 'Traders'
Paper' dated at Traverse des Sioux, July 23, 1851. The payment
of this money to the traders and not to the Indians, and besides
that $55,000 Hugh Tyler deducted as a brokerage fee, was what
rankled in the breasts of the savages."
Major Galbraith, Sioux agent at the time, says, after enumer-
ating various causes that helped to swell the enmity in the bosom
of the savages, "that they (the Indians) knew that the govern-
ment was at war, and seeing the illustrated papers at all the posts
and trading places, could see that the tide of battle was setting
against the ' Great Father. ' ' ' The Major further adds :
"Grievances such as have been related, and numberless others
akin to them, were spoken of, recited and chanted at their
councils, dances and feasts, to such an extent that, in their
excitement, in June, 1862, a secret organization known as the
'Soldiers' Lodge,' was founded by the young braves of the Lower
Sioux, with the object, as far as I was able to learn through spies
and informers, of preventing the traders from going to the pay-
table, as had been their custom. Since the outbreak I have
become satisfied that the real object of this lodge was to adopt
measures to clean out all the white people at the end of the
payment."
One cause of the outbreak had its origin near what was once
known as Spirit Lake — or the lake where spirits dwell — on the
dog plains of northwestern Iowa. This lake, which is the largest
in, the state of Iowa, was the early home of the M 'dewakantons,
one of the four groups or bands of the Santees, supposed parent
stock of the Sioux or Dakota nation of Indians. But being
driven out from that place by a more powerful tribe of Indians,
they moved to other homes that they established along the rivers
of what is now western Minnesota. But nothwithstanding the
fact that the Santees had ceased to occupy the lands around
Spirit Lake, they still claimed the right of possession, and this
right was conceded by the government at Washington in a treaty
with these Santees held August 5, 1851. That treaty also secured
THE SIOUX WAR 283
them pay not only for the country about Spirit Lake, but for the
entire valley along the Little Sioux River that meanders from
that lake for 120 miles before it pours into the Missouri. Inkpa-
dutah occupied this valley of the Little Sioux River. He was
chief of a little band of warriors. These Indians found near the
present town of Cherokee, Minnesota, abundance of elk, deer, and
water game. Inkpadutah had counciled with his tribe against
the selling of these lands in the Sioux valley and he determined
to reoccupy them, and this was the condition of affairs when in
1855 and 1856 the northwestern part of the state of Iowa was
being settled by the whites. Sioux City, on the Iowa side of the
line, at the mouth of Big Sioux River, became the center point of
trade for hundreds of miles around, and the valley of the Little
Sioux River became the homes of many of these pioneers. The
village of Smithland, located near the bluffs of the Missouri, was
one of the settlements in this valley and about eighteen miles
from the mouth of the Little Sioux River, where it emptied into
the Missouri. The homesteaders of this place harvested their
second crop here in 1856, and it was in the spring of that year
Inkpadutah and his band crossed over the head of the Des Moines
and spent the principal part of the summer hunting and fishing
along that stream. As the autumn days approached flocks of
geese and ducks furnished the supply for these hunters, but it
also brought a feeling of intrusive resentment among the whites.
By the middle of December Inkpadutah and his band had arrived
at the outskirts of the settlement at Smithland and camped near
the house of farmer Livermore, about three miles from the village.
They did not make themselves disagreeable by intruding in any
way upon the rights of the white settlement, but they were
good hunters and their success in securing game excited the
envy of the pale face and this was the cause of their being driven
from their hunting grounds finally. On St. Valentine's Day the
more boisterous of the new settlers met and after talking over
the situation thirty of them assembled in Smithland and held a
council of war. For one cause and another, based on envy more
than on fact, they formed a company and after marching up to
the reds' camp in military style, compelled the Indians to give
up their guns and then ordered them to leave the country as
284 HISTORY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
fast as they could go. Deprived of their arms and with snow
nearly two feet deep, the Indians found the winter a "hard one"
indeed. Inkpadutah, through his interpreter, Half Breed Charley,
made a protest against the wrong done them by the white folks,
but all to no avail. They were told to go to the Omahas, but the
chief's reply to this was that to do that unarmed was to go to a
speedy death. But the Smithlanders were firm, and another order
from the leader of the whites sent their tepees tumbling down over
the heads of sucking babes as well as tottering belledames, when
the march of the last of the red occupants of Little Sioux valley
to the land of destruction and despair was forcibly begun. The
march was continued from the 20th of February through packed
snow, the infuriated band becoming demons as they proceeded.
From the 8th to the 15th of March this once peaceful and
inoffensive band destroyed over forty white people about the
lakes, making no exception as to age or sex.
Little Crow, head chief of the Indians, longed for vengeance.
In the brain of this Indian Napoleon was concocted a scheme for
the utter extermination of the white race of the Northwest. It
was at the Yellow Stone agency, near Mankato, Minnesota,
where the secret organization had its headquarters, and where a
plot was hatched by this bold chief for a simultaneous uprising
of the Indians upon a given signal to massacre the whites. But
for the impatience of a few braves the loss of life would have
been thousands instead of hundreds. This untoward movement,
unfortunate for the plans of the great chief, Little Crow, is told
thus by one of the writers of that war :
"One lovely Sunday, August 17, 1862, four Indians from the
Yellow Medicine agency, who had been on the trail of a Chippewa,
the murderer of one of their tribe, after an unsuccessful pursuit,
reached, on their return, the cabin of a man by the name of
Robinson Jones, in the Big Woods of Minnesota, in what is now
the town of Acton, Meeker county. This man was a sort of trader
in a small way, and is supposed to have carried on an illicit trade
in liquors with the Indians. His family consisted of himself, wife,
an adopted child and a young girl. The Indians sauntered up to
the cabin and, after some palaver, demanded drink, which they
obtained. They demanded more, which they, it is supposed.
HON. BURLEIGH F. SPAULDING
THE SIOUX WAR 285
were, for some reason, refused, and finally went away into the
leafy shades of the forest that surrounded the place. Jones and
his wife shortly after left for the house of Mrs. Jones' son by a
former marriage, Howard Baker, who lived about half a mile
distant. At Baker's cabin they found one Viranus Webster and
his wife. These young people were journeying further west in
search of a home, and had stopped to rest. Claiming hospitality
of the young Mr. Baker, it was accorded with free will, and the
two families fraternized in the true spirit of the western pioneer.
Shortly after Jones and his wife arrived there, the men folks,
who were sitting around outside the house, saw three Indians,
gun in hand, approach. On their coming up to the little group
of white men the usual salutations took place. After a little time
the proposition was made that they all shoot at a mark, and the
guns of the party were brought out. The victory in this case,
as is nearly always the case when marksmanship between whites
and redskins is a question, was with the settlers. This seemed
to nettle the Indians. Propositions to trade guns between a red
and white man now ensued. In the meantime the Indians loaded
their guns while the white men stood around with empty weapons.
Suddenly, without warning, one of the Indians raised his gun
and fired at Jones, mortally wounding him. Webster was killed
by another. Mrs. Howard Baker, hearing the firing, came to the
door with her infant in her arms, and upon her appearance one of
the savages raised his gun to shoot her, but her husband, with
the chivalry of a knight of old, threw himself in front of the
rifle, and, receiving the discharge, fell dead. The women retreated
into the house. The young wife, inadvertently, stepped into an
opening and fell into the cellar and thus saved her life. Mrs.
Jones was also shot by one of the red fiends. These latter soon
left the vicinity to spread the news, stopping on their way at the
Jones cabin and killing the girl left there. They shortly after
stole a team of horses and wagon and made their way south.
"When the news reached the redskins at the agency, which
it did long before the whites had an inkling of it, it created a
sensation. The gauntlet had been thrown, war had been declared,
and they must go forward or give up their plans. The Soldiers'
Lodge was at once convened. The war spirit of the younger
286 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
members was for an immediate rising. In vain Little Crow and
his friends, the elders of the tribes, pleaded for delay, urging
the want of time to perfect their plans, and to send the token of
war to the other tribes. No, war and at once was the wish of the
majority, and war it was. At early dawn the meeting broke up
and the massacre of the whites began. At the agency blood was
shed and all the red fiends started off on the warpath to slay the
whites."
On the 23d of August, 1862, the Indians commenced hostilities
in the valley of the Red River of the North. But part of the
little garrison was at Fort Abercrombie at the time and a part
of the command at Georgetown, Minnesota, and the east bank of
the river, fifty miles north. They had been sent there for the
purpose of overawing the Indians in that vicinity, who had
threatened some obstruction of the navigation of the stream and
to destroy the property of the Transportation Company. The
interpreter at the post, who had gone to the Lower agency at the
time of the payment of the Indians, returned on the 20th of
August and reported to his commanding officer that the exaspera-
tion of the Indians was increasing and that he expected hostilities
to be commenced in the near future. Action was at once taken
to guard against a surprise; guards were doubled and every
effort made to put the little post in proper shape for defense.
About this time officers of the government were on their way
with a train of some thirty wagons, loaded with goods and
attended by about two hundred head of cattle, toward the lodge
of the Red Lake Chippewas, to conclude a treaty with these
tribes. They had arrived, about this time, in the neighborhood
of the fort.
On the morning of the 23d of August word was brought to
the commander of the post that a band of five hundred Sioux had
crossed the Otter Tail River with the intention of cutting off
and capturing the train and cattle. Word was sent at once to the
train to come into the fort, which they quickly did. Messengers
were also sent to Breckenridge, Old Crossing, Graham's Point
and all the principal settlements telling the people to flee to
the fort, as the garrison was too small to do much else than
defend that post and could not afford protection to the scattered
THE SIOUX WAR 287
villages or settlers in the vicinity. The great majority of the
settlers paid heed to the warning and the same evening the most
of them] had arrived at the fort and had been assigned such
quarters as could be furnished them. Most, if not all, of these,
dwelt upon the east side of the river, in Minnesota, as but few
settlers had then located on the west side, south of Pembina, as
is shown elsewhere.
Several men, among them being a Mr. Russell, however, pre-
ferred to stay at Breckenridge, and took possession of a large
hotel building and therein undertook to defend themselves and
their property, but foolishly threw away their lives in the attempt.
On the evening of that same day a scouting party of six men
found that the place was in the hands of a large body of Indians,
and being pursued, made a hasty retreat. On the 24th a recon-
noissance was made by a larger party but the place was found
deserted by the Indians. The bodies of three men who had
undertaken its defense were discovered horribly mutilated. They
had been dragged around by chains bound to their ankles until
killed. An old lady by the name of Scott with a bullet wound in
her breast had crawled on her hands and knees to the mill that
was about a half mile from the hotel. Her son and grandson
had been killed by the Indians. She told the boys where they
would find the body of Joe Snell, a stage driver, three miles out
from Breckinridge. After the burial of these bodies the old. lady
was taken to the fort, but on the way they were attacked by
the Indians, killing Bennett, the teamster, and nearly capturing
Captain Mulls' wagon, containing the old lady. But Rounseval,
the half-breed, made a charge and brought back the team, the
old lady and the body of Bennett.
Over fifty men had now taken refuge within the garrison.
The fort was hard to fortify. There was a stockade along the
river, while barrels of pork and corned beef and flour, in part
with cordwood and earth were made use of to fortify the
company's quarters.
About this time some thousand or fifteen hundred savages
gathered around the fort, determined on a capture of the pro-
visions and a slaughter of its defenders. On the 25th of August
a messenger was dispatched to headquarters for assistance, but
288 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
owing to the stress of the war at the South most of the able-
bodied men were away at the front. In this condition, with
occasional skirmishing, that state of affairs continued for some
time. On the 30th of August a party driving some stock from
Old Crossing were fired into by some Sioux in ambush. One of
their number was killed and a wagon, five mules and camp
equipage was lost. About 2 o'clock this same afternoon the
Indians captured about two hundred head of cattle, a hundred
head of mules and horses that were grazing in the rear of the
fort, but some fifty head of these cattle were recovered on
September 2.
On September 23 the garrison was suddenly called to arms
by the report of alarm shots fired by the sentinels in the vicinity
of the stock yards belonging to the post. The firing soon became
sharp and rapid in that direction, developing the fact that the
enemy were advancing upon that point in considerable force.
Commands were issued for all those stationed outside to fall
back within the fortifications. About the same time a couple of
the haystacks were discovered to be on fire. The settlers,
emboldened by the sight and inflamed by the thoughts of seeing
their remaining cattle carried off or destroyed before their eyes,
rushed, with great hardihood and ardor for the stables, and as
the first two entered on one side two Sioux entered from the
other. The foremost of the white men killed one of the Indians
and capturd his gun. The second white man was shot in the
shoulder by his red antagonist, but notwithstanding that shot
he finished the Sioux with his bayonet. Two horses had been
taken from the stable and two killed. The conflict was kept up
for three hours, during which three of the little garrison were
wounded, one mortally, by shots from the enemy. The post
commander was severely wounded in the right arm by an acci-
dental shot from one of his own men. After a brisk skirmish the
Indians were forced to retire, without having been able to effect
an entrance into the fort or to carry off the stock, which seemed
to be the main object of the attack.
A second attack was made on Saturday, September 6. About
dawn, the Indians' favorite time for an onslaught, about fifty
Indians, mounted on horseback, appeared on the open prairie,
THE SIOUX WAR 289
in the rear of the fort. It was evidently their intention, by boldly
defying the garrison in this manner, with a small force, to tempt
the troops to leave the fortification and march out to punish them
for their temerity. By thus doing it would be giving the redskins
the chance to take them at a disadvantage. Foiled in this plan,
for there were shrewd and experienced heads within the fort
who were a match for the Indian craft outside, the Sioux threw
off all disguise and, displaying themselves in large numbers in
different directions, entered upon a conflict. Their principal
object of attack in this, as in former instances, was the stables
of the government. They seemed to be possessed with the idea
of getting hold of the remaining horses and cattle at almost any
sacrifice.
The stables were upon the edge of the prairie, with a grove
of heavy timber lying between them and the river. The Sioux
were quick to grasp the advantage of making their approach
from the latter direction. They had gathered in great numbers
and were determined to capture the fort. But their yells and
warwhoops did not avail much. One chief after an attempt or
two to get the Indians to boldly make a rush from the timbers
through the intervening space to the stables of the fort for the
stock gave it up. The withering volleys from the fort had begun
to have some influence on savage bravery.
About this time efforts were being made at St. Paul for the
relief of the fort. Captain Emil Buerger was appointed to take
command of an expedition from headquarters, with that end in
view. With a force of about 250 men under the commands of
Captains George Atkinson and Eolla Banks, together with some
sixty men from the Third Volunteer Infantry, under Sergeant
Dearborne, constituted his command. In the meantime two com-
panies of soldiers under Captain George W. McCoy, and Theodore
H. Barrett, were also marching to the relief of Fort Abercrombie.
These forces had reached a point within sight of Red River, when
they observed a dense smoke in the direction of the fort. The
impression was that they had arrived too late and that the fort
had fallen beneath the attacks of the Indians, but Old Glory was
soon afterwards seen waving above the battlements, and the
hearts of the soldiers were greatly cheered up by the sight of that
290 HISTOKY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
old flag. The Indians had set fire to the prairie with the design
of cutting off the crossing of the river by the relieving column.
After some little skirmishing Captain Buerger with a part of the
Third regiment pursued the Indians, who now began to retreat,
going in the direction of Wild Rice and making good their escape.
The scene of these last moments of the siege as described by a
lady who had been in the fort during all those weeks waiting for
the coming of relief is as follows :
"About 5 o'clock the report came to quarters that the Indians
were again coming from up toward Bridge's. With a telescope
we soon discovered four white men, our messengers riding at
full speed, who upon reaching here informed us that in one-half
hour we would be reinforced by 350 men. Language can never
express the delight of all. Some wept, some laughed, others
hallooed and cheered. The soldiers and citizens here formed in
line and went out to meet them. We all cheered so that the next
day more than half of us could hardly speak aloud. The ladies
all went out, and as the soldiers passed cheered them. They
were so dusty I did not know one of them. ' '
No more Indians were seen about the fort until September 26,
when, as Captain Freeman's company were watering their horses
at the river, a volley was fired at them by a party of Sioux in
ambush. A teamster with the expedition was hit and mortally
wounded. The soldiers being unarmed could not reply, but
from the log building and breastworks of the fort a brisk fire
was opened up and several of the Indians were seen to fall. At
one time two Indians were seen skulking near the river, and
they were fired upon by men on the fortifications and seen to fall.
Whenever the Indians congregated near the fort or within range,
a shell from the howitzer (the Indians call a shell, rotten bullet),
would fall among them and cause them to withdraw hurriedly.
A detachment composed of Captain Freeman's mounted men,
fifty soldiers of the Third regiment, and a squad in charge of a
howitzer were ordered in pursuit of the savages and started over
the prairie, up the river. About two miles away they came upon
the Sioux camp, but the red warriors did not stay to contest its
possession but fled in haste and consternation. A few shots were
fired at them which they answered with yells of defiance. A shell
THE SIOUX WAE 291
from the howitzer, however, quieted their noise and added to
the celerity of their retreat. Their camp was taken possession of
and the valuable part of the result of the savages' looting taken
to the fort. The balance was burned on the spot. This was about
the last skirmish with the redskins around Fort Abercrombie.
In the meantime steps had been taken at headquarters to
punish the Indians for depredations and murders. Governor
Ramsey exerted himself in the work and appointed Colonel
Henry H. Sibley, a soldier of experience in Indian warfare, who
having hastily gathered some four hundred men of the Sixth
Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, started August 20 for the scene of
butchery. While at Fort Ridgeley drilling his forces the Colonel
learned that the Indians had gathered in all their scattered bands
and were concentrating to oppose his forward movements. They
did not have long to wait. A detachment under the command
of Major J. R. Brown, who had been to Birch Coulie to give a
decent burial to fifty-four bodies, were attacked about half past
four in the morning of September 2. It was one of the most
fearful battles of the Sioux massacre, the loss of men being
twenty-three killed, or mortally wounded, forty-five severely
wounded, and nearly ninety horses shot down. The report of the
volleys of musketry was heard by Colonel Sibley eighteen miles
away but he marched in time to the relief of the struggling
detachment. After the battle Little Crow commenced his
retreat up the Minnesota toward the Yellow Medicine. September
16 Colonel Sibley ordered the advance of his whole column, which
had now been considerably increased by the addition of the Third
Infantry, and on September 22 he reached Wood Lake, where the
Indians suffered great loss in a battle begun by them, 300 strong,
in a four hours' furious battle. Colonel Sibley only lost four
men and fifty wounded, but fourteen of the Indians were killed
and left on the field, but probably as many more were carried
away. Disaster after disaster overtaking the Indians, the war-
riors now began to turn against their leaders and sue for peace.
On the day the battle at Wood Lake occurred a deputation from
the Wahpeton band came in under a flag of truce asking terms
of peace. These terms of peace required them to give up their
captives. Of these there were 107 pure white, and 162 half-
292 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
breeds, mostly women and children. Other tribes also soon came
in and surrendered.
A military commission tried most of the Indians who gave
themselves up and found 321 guilty of murder, rapine, arson,
larceny and other crimes. Three hundred and three were recom-
mended for capital punishment, and the rest to various terms of
imprisonment. A mistaken policy upheld by those in the East,
stayed the hands of Justice and those who had lost their all by
that bloody, merciless massacre, only had the pleasure of know-
ing that but thirty-eight of the ring leaders were to be hung at
Mankato, December 26, 1862.
After the defeat at Wood Lake, Little Crow and his band
retreated in the direction of Big Stone Lake, some sixty miles
westward. Sibley sent after them a messenger saying he w'ould
pursue the deserters and that their only chance was to return at
the earliest moment and with their families give themselves up.
By the 8th of October some two thousand had made a voluntary
return and surrender. Parties were sent out now to close up the
conflict. Various bands of Indians were then rounded up by
Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, who with his 250 men pursued
them through South Dakota and brought in large numbers of
them. It having been decided by the military authorities at
Washington to inaugurate a second campaign against the sullen
ones not yet reduced to submission, Major General John A. Pope,
commanding the Department of the Northwest, decided that
General Sully, commanding the upper district of the Missouri,
and General (formerly Colonel) Sibley, commanding the district
of Minnesota, should march with a large force against the Indians
as early in the summer of 1863 as practicable. The objective
point of both commands was Devil's Lake. One column was to
proceed from Sioux City, on the Missouri River, and the other from
some point on the Minnesota river. General Sully 's force was
cavalry, Sibley 's of the Sixth, Seventh, and parts of the Ninth
and Tenth Minnesota Infantry, and companies of the Minnesota
Mountain Rangers, and the Third Minnesota Battery Light Artil-
lery. At the appointed time General Sibley moved forward with
his command, finally reaching Devil's Lake, but found no Indians.
Leaving his footsore and sick in a strongly entrenched camp on
THE SIOUX WAE 293
the banks of the Upper Sheyenne, he took the greater part of
his forces and started towards the Missouri Eiver; and, having
found a camp of several hundred warriors, he gave them battle,
defeating them badly. "With a resistless force he pursued the
foe, always entailing great loss upon them, until his last battle
with them), July 29, 1863, four miles south of the present state
capital, Bismark, he gave them such a punishment that the name
of Sibley has been a good one among the Sioux Indians ever
since. That was the last battle of the Sioux war. Little Crow,
the instigator of the massacre, returned to his old home, but
Chauncey Lamson, a settler who lived in the neighborhood of
Hutchinson, caught sight of the chief and his son in the timber
in the southern part of Meeker county, Minnesota, and shot him.
The son fled. The massacre commenced in Meeker county, and
ended there. It began with Little Crow and ended with him.
Alice Nelson Page, speaking of the $110,000 to be distributed
from the government among the Sioux Indians on the Fort Totten
reservation before November, 1908, gives a synopsis of the case
brought in court by the Indians. The entire sum obtained in the
original judgment is $788,000, which will be distributed to the
three bands of the Sioux, the Cut Heads at Fort Totten, and the
Wahpetons and Sissetons at the Sisseton agency in South Dakota.
The writer says :
Indians' Claim.
"By the terms of the treaty with the different bands of the
Sioux Indians of July 23, 1851, the United States agreed, in con-
sideration of the cession of over 32,000,000 acres of land, to pay
to the Indians the sum of $1,665,000 at the several times and
places and in the following manner : $275,000 to the chiefs of the
band to enable them to settle their affairs and comply with just
engagements to remove themselves to the country set apart for
them by the government, $30,000 for the establishment of manual
labor schools, erection of mills and blacksmith shops, opening
farms, fencing and breaking land, and for other beneficial pur-
poses, and the balance of the sum of $1,665,000 ($1,360,000) was
to remain in trust with the United States, and 5 per cent interest
paid annually for fifty years, beginning with July 1, 1852; and
after this, setting apart a reservation for the Indians, was stricken
294 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
out by the Senate in the ratification of the treaty, the United
States agreed, in the amendment of this, to pay the Indians
10 cents per acre for the lands embraced therein (1,120,000 acres)
amounting to $112,000, which was to be added to the original
trust fund of $1,360,000, making a total of $1,472,000, the total of
which yielded an annual interest of $73,000.
Clause Inserted.
According to the Indians, notwithstanding the agreement of
the United States to pay to them the considerations named in
this treaty, their ignorance was taken advantage of and a clause
inserted in the treaty, without their knowledge or consent, pro-
viding the interest on the sum agreed to be paid to them for fifty
years should be in full payment of the balance principal and
interest, so that on July 1, 1902, the sum of $1,472,000 went to
the United States absolutely, and the Indians never received any
portion of it. The government took both lands and the considera-
tion agreed to be paid therefor for it and the Indians demanded
that by every principle enunciated by the highest judicial tri-
bunals of the country they were entitled to the interest on the
amount of the principal sum withheld from them; they further
alleged that of the $275,000 agreed in the treaty to be paid to
the chiefs of the tribes, $250,000 was paid by a representative of
the United States, to one Hugh Tyler, a stranger in the country,
contrary to their wishes and against which they protested in
violation of the treaty's stipulation and the act of congress mak-
ing the appropriation. By the act of congress February 16, 1863,
the lands and annuities of the Indians were declared forfeited to
the United States ; and by another act of March 3, 1863, the presi-
dent was authorized and directed to set apart for these bands of
Indians a tract of unoccupied country outside the limits of any
state, in extent to assign each member of the band eighty acres of
good agricultural land. The bands numbered at that time 4,524
Indians and the quantity of land directed to be assigned them
amounted to 361,920 acres. They claimed the act of Congress
was never complied with and the lands were never set apart for
them as directed, and they were therefore entitled to payment
for these lands.
THE SIOUX WAR 295
Tyler Made Good Haul.
Of the $70,000 authorized by the third article of the treaty of
1858 with the Indians to be used by them in their discretion and
open council, for payment of their just debts and obligations,
$55,000 was paid to this man Hugh Tyler for getting the treaty
through the Senate, and for necessary disbursements. In 1857 a
trader pretending that he was getting the power of attorney to get
back the money which had been paid to the traders out of the
funds provided by the treaty of 1851 obtained the signatures of
the Indians to vouchers by which they claim he swindled them
out of $12,000. These bands of Indians have always said they
remained loyal to the government during the outbreak of 1862
and many of them claim to have rendered valuable services to
the government during the time of the outbreak, acting as scouts
and soldiers, and of the 4,524 Indians at that time, only 124 ever
took any prominent part in the outbreak. This was found by
Justice Nott of the court of claims in the case of the Sisseton and
Wahpeton Indians against the United States. By the forfeiture
act of 1863, Congress fixed $100,000 as the amount to be paid out
of the annuities of these bands of Indians to white settlers
on account of damages sustained by reason of this outbreak. The
court of claims and the supreme court of the United States, in
the final hearing of this case charges the sum; of $586,328.95
against the annuities of the Indians in payment of damages
resulting from the outbreak, in direct violation of the positive
terms of the act of 1863 and of sections 2097 and 2098 of the
United States Eevised Statutes. The Indians contended this to
be unjust and unreasonable to charge any portion of the damages
against annuities of the loyal members of the Sisseton and
Wahpeton bands.
Are "Farmer Indians."
These bands of Indians claimed to be farmer Indians and by
their thrift and industry had well improved farms, with all the
necessary outbuildings, machinery and tools for cultivating them
and also had at that time large herds of stock.
As the result of the outbreak of 1862 the Indians claimed
296 HISTOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
that they lost $425,000 and $70,000 worth of their crops were
taken to subsist the troops of the United States, a total of
$495,000 which was vouched for in the report of the commission
of Indian affairs for the year 1863. The treaty of February 19,
1867, was made with the loyal members of these Indians, those
who took none but a friendly part in the outbreak. It was pro-
vided by an amended article of this treaty that Congress would
from time to time, at its discretion, make such appropriations as
might be deemed requisite to enable the Indians to return to an
agricultural life under the system in operation on the Sioux
reservation in 1862.
Losses Not Reimbursed.
The Indians claim Congress from time to time appropriated
the sum of $464,953.40, being $31,006.60 less than the amount of
their losses during the outbreak. It was evident from this treaty
and from the circumstances which brought it about that it was
the intention of Congress in this way to reimburse the Indians
for the losses sustained by them during the outbreak, and it was
so understood by the Indians. They further claimed that the
court of claims and the United States Supreme Court in the final
determination of their case charged the sum of $464,963.40
against their annuities in direct violation of the terms made.
The courts in one case charged against their annuities $200,000
appropriated for subsistence while the records of the Interior
Department showed that the whole sum was expended for the
benefit of the Medawakanton and Wahpakwota bands of Indians.
By an agreement made in 1872, the Indians ceded to the United
States their lands in Dakota (now North and South Dakota),
except two reservations, for the sum of $800,000. The commis-
sioners who negotiated the agreement estimating the area ceded
at 8,000,000 acres, fixing the price at 10 cents per acre.
It has since been ascertained that the area contained in said
cession is largely in excess of the estimation made by the com-
missioners, and for which excess the Indians claimed they were
entitled to payment. By article two of the treaty of February 19,
1867, the Indians claimed they ceded to the United States the
right to construct wagon roads, railroads, mail stations, telegraph
FRANK S. TALCOTT
THE SIOUX WAR 297
lines and such other improvements as the government might
require, over and across the land described in the treaty. The
Northern Pacific Eailroad Company secure a right of way of 200
feet in width on each side of its road for seventy miles over and
across the lands of these Indians, including all the necessary
grounds for station buildings, work shops, depots, machine shops,
switches, side tracks and turntables and water stations, for which
cession the Indians claimed they never received any consideration,
and for which they felt entitled to payment.
CHAPTER XIII.
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE RED RIVER
VALLEY OF NORTH DAKOTA.
By
Webster Merrifield,
President of the University of North Dakota.
The University of North Dakota.
The history of higher education in North Dakota dates from
the passage through the legislature, February 23, 1883, and its
approval by Governor Ordway four days later, of the bill creating
the University of North Dakota. Dr. "W. T. Collins, at that time
a citizen of Grand Forks, seems to have .been the first to entertain
the idea of securing a public institution of higher education for
North Dakota, or at least for Grand Forks.* The territorial legis-
lature, as early as 1881, established a territorial university at
Vermillion and provided conditionally for the establishment of
five normal schools ; but all of these were to be located in that
part of Dakota territory which subsequently became the state of
South Dakota. In a letter addressed to Hon. George H. Walsh,
member of the territorial council from Grand Forks county, under
date of January 8, 1883, Dr. Collins suggested that the former
make an effort to secure a territorial normal school for Grand
Forks. Mr. Walsh answered in part as follows :
*Note: Since this chapter was put in type, Hon. James Twamley of Grand
Forks, a member of the First Board of Eegents of the University, has stated
to the writer that he was the first one to suggest a territorial university for
Grand Forks. He claims to have made the suggestion to Governor Ordway
several months prior to the date of Dr. Collins' letter of January 8, 1883,
to Mr. Walsh.
298
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 299
' ' Territory of Dakota, Council Chamber,
Yankton, D. T., January 17, 1883.
W. T. Collins,
Grand Forks,
My Dear Sir: —
In reference to a normal school, the governor is not favorably
inclined, as you can see by his message. How would an agricul-
tural college or university, with a section providing for a normal
department, do? I think probably that the governor would be
more favorable to an institution of this kind.
Respectfully,
George H. Walsh."
The suggestion of a university instead of a normal school
seems to have impressed Dr. Collins favorably and he at once
wrote Mr. Walsh strongly urging the university idea. On Febru-
ary 8 Dr. Collins received another letter from Mr. Walsh, dated
February 1, 1883, asking to have a bill prepared for the proposed
university and forwarded to him for introduction. Dr. Collins
at once set to work to draft a bill which he forwarded by express
to Mr. Walsh at Yankton on February 10.
After writing his letter of February 1 to Dr. Collins, Mr.
Walsh was called to St. Paul and while there learned that another
member from the northern half of the territory had a bill in
preparation for the location of a university at Jamestown. On
learning this, Mr. Walsh at once returned to Yankton and, not
finding the expected bill from Dr. Collins, had a bill (probably
the Wisconsin bill) copied and introduced. This bill, materially
amended after its introduction, is the present organic act of the
university.
Following the passage of this bill, Mr. Walsh introduced and
secured the passage of another bill appropriating $30,000.00 to
the university provided the citizens of Grand Forks should con-
tribute a site of not less than ten acres of land, and also a sum of
not less than $10,000.00 for the erection and equipment of an
astronomical observatory. To carry out the provisions of the
two bills just described a board of regents was appointed by
Governor Ordway consisting of Dr. W. T. Collins, Dr. C. E. Teel
300 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
and Mr. James Twamley, of Grand Forks; Dr. R. M. Evans, of
Minto, and Mr. E. A. Healy, of Dray ton— Messrs. Healy, Teel
and Twamley for a term of four years and Messrs. Collins and
Evans for a term of two years. The appointments were promptly
confirmed and the new board, having qualified, held its first
meeting at the city hall, Grand Forks, on the 21st of April. A
temporary organization was effected by the election of C. E.
Teel as president and "W. T. Collins as secretary.
At this meeting it was decided to advertise for tenders for
a site for the university, and also for plans and specifications
for the new building.
At the next meeting of the board, May 16th, a code of by-laws
was adopted, the tender of twenty acres of land and $10,000 for
the erection and equipment of an astronomical observatory, made
by Messrs. William Budge, M. Ohmer and John McKelvey, was
accepted, and plans were adopted for the new building. Ground
was broken May 25th and the contract for the construction of
the new building was let August 15th to E. P. Broughton, of
Minto, for $32,500. The cornerstone was laid, with imposing
ceremonies, October 2, 1883, the program being arranged and
carried out under the auspices of the Acacia Lodge of Free
Masons of Grand Forks. Among the many distinguished guests
present were : The governor of the territory, Hon. N. G. Ordway,
who made an address, and Hon. D. L. Kiehle, superintendent of
public instruction for Minnesota, who was the orator of the
occasion, taking for his theme ''Intelligence the Basis of Chris-
tian Civilization."
The new building progressed without adverse incident and
was so far completed as to be opened for the reception of students
September 8, 1884. The first year's faculty consisted of William
M. Blackburn, D. D., recently of Cincinnati, Ohio, president and
professor of metaphysics; Henry Montgomery, B. S., M. A.,
recently of Toronto University, professor of natural science;
Webster Merrifield, B. A., recently a member of the faculty of
Yale University, assistant professor of Greek and Latin; and
Mrs. E. H. Mott, preceptress and instructor in mathematics and
English. The enrollment during the first year was seventy-nine
students, classified as follows :
HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION 301
Senior preparatory 10
Junior preparatory 18
Special students (mainly of seventh and eighth
grades) 51
Total 79
In the absence of all students of college rank, most of the
members of the instructional force were called upon to give
instruction in departments other than those over which they had
been called to preside. At the end of the first school year Presi-
dent Blackburn resigned to accept the presidency of the Presby-
terian College at Pierre, D. T., and Mrs. Mott also resigned her
position as preceptress. Professor Henry Montgomery served as
acting president for two years, and Miss Jennie Allen, principal
of the Grand Forks high school, was elected to succeed Mrs.
Mott as preceptress. Professor John Macnie, M. A., a graduate
of Glasgow and Yale universities, and Professor Horace B. Wood-
worth, a graduate of Dartmouth College and for many years a
Congregational clergyman, were elected to the faculty at the
close of the first year, the first as professor of French, German
and English, and the second as professor of mathematics, physics
and astronomy. Both of these men remained with the university
for twenty years or more.
In September, 1887, Colonel Homer B. Sprague, Ph. D., a grad-
uate of Yale, formerly professor of English at Cornell University,
and at various times the head of several well known institutions
of higher and secondary education in New York, New England
and on the Pacific coast, was elected to the presidency. Colonel
Sprague had served as a commissioned officer throughout the
Civil War, and was well known as a writer, as a popular platform
orator, and particularly as editor of numerous poems and plays
of Milton and Shakespeare.
Colonel Sprague 's greatest service to the university during
the three years that he held the office of president consisted in
his making the institution known through the addresses and plat-
form lectures which he gave in great numbers throughout the
state. During his administration the attendance, which had for
302 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
various reasons fallen from seventy-nine the first year to forty-
eight and seventy-five respectively the two succeeding years, rose
to ninety-eight and one hundred ninety-nine respectively during
the first two years of his presidency. During his administration
the faculty also increased from nine to fourteen members. In
March, 1891, Colonel Sprague resigned the presidency to assume
the management of a young ladies' school in California, and
Webster Merrifield, professor of Greek and Latin, was elected
as his successor, first as acting president, and then, at the follow-
ing commencement, as president of the university. Under Presi-
dent Merrifield Js administration the university has experienced
in full measure the vicissitudes of fortune. The governor's veto
of the university appropriation and that of the two normal
schools in 1895, on the ground that the state's revenue was
insufficient to provide for the maintenance of the state educa-
tional institutions, threatened for a time the very existence
of the institution; but, once recovered from the shock of sur-
prise, the citizens of Grand Porks and of the northeastern portion
of the state rallied to the support of the university under the
leadership of Hon. William Budge, a local member of the board
of trustees, and what at first threatened to be an irreparable
calamity proved a blessing in disguise, winning to the cordial
support of the institution many whose attitude had hitherto been
one of lukewarmness or indifference.
The appropriation of 1897, following Governor Allen's veto,
was fairly liberal, and in 1899 came the passage of the two-fifths
mill bill, giving the university, for the first time, an income not
only fairly adequate to her needs, but one which is permanent
and increases with the growth of the state in wealth and with
the growing demands made upon the university in consequence.
During the first year of President Merrifield 's administration
the attendance numbered 151. For the few years following, the
annual increase in attendance was small, owing to the fact that,
instead of being, as heretofore, the only state educational institu-
tion, it was now one of four such institutions, the agricultural
college and the two state normal schools having been opened for
the reception of students in September, 1891.
The growth of the university in student attendance, in the
Is
O
ci >
r 525
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 303
number of graduates and in the number of instructors, is indi-
cated in the following tables :
Student attendance, 1884-5 79
Student attendance, 1887-8 99
Student attendance, 1890-91 151
Student attendance, 1893-4 156
Student attendance, 1896-7 265
Student attendance, 1899- '00 306
Student attendance, 1902-3 413
Student attendance, 1905-6 733
Student attendance, 1907-8 861
Beginning with 1895 the attendance in the summer session is
included in the total enrollment.
Engi-
Law. neering. Total.
008
8
18
23
6 .. 28
25 6 55
31 11 93
*Changed to Teachers' College in 1907.
Number of Instructors.
1884 4 1887 9
1890 14 1893 21
1896 13 1899 23
1902 38 1905 49
1908 ' 65
The total number of graduates, including the class of 1908,
is 566 ; total number of diplomas granted, 626.
Upon the admission of North Dakota to statehood, the Uni-
versity received a grant of 126,080 acres of public land from
Year.
1889
Graduates.
Liberal
Arts. Normal.*
8 0
1893
6 2
1896
15 3
1899
10 13
1902 .
12 10
1905. .7.
11 13
1908..
22 29
304 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the federal congress — 40,000 acres of this grant going to the
School of Mines, which had been united with the university under
the provisions of the constitution of the state.
Organization.
Under the provisions of the organic act creating the Uni-
versity, the following colleges and departments have thus far
been established. The numerals and letters following the name
of each college indicate the year in which it was organized and
the degrees granted by it :
I. College of Liberal Arts, 1883 ; B. A., M. A.
II. Teachers College, 1907 (successor to the Normal College
established by law as a department of the University in
1883) ; B. A.
III. College of Mining Engineering, 1898 ; E. M.
IV. College of Law, 1899; LL.B.
V. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
1901 ; M. E.
VI. College of Medicine, 1905.
VII. Model High School, 1908 (successor to the Preparatory
Department, 1884, and School of Commerce, 1901.)
At the legislative session of 1907 a Public Health Laboratory
was established and located at the University in charge of a
resident director.
Government.
The government of the university is vested in a Board of
Trustees, five in number, who are appointed by the governor and
confirmed by the senate, and who hold office for a term of four
years each. It is the duty of the trustees to determine the policy
of the university in all its departments and to act as conserva-
tors of the interests of the state in all matters pertaining to the
university.
Buildings and Grounds.
The university is housed in eleven substantial buildings
located on the university campus, which is situated one mile
west of the city limits of Grand Forks on the main line of the
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 305
Great Northern Railway. These buildings, with the dates of
their erection, are as follows:
Main building, 1883-4; Davis Hall (a young women's dormi-
tory), 1887; Macnie Hall (a young women's dormitory), 1893,
greatly enlarged and named Macnie Hall in honor of Prof. John
Macnie, professor emeritus of French and Spanish, 1907; Budge
Hall (men's dormitory, named in honor of Hon. William Budge),
1899; Power House, 1899; Science Hall, 1902; Mechanical Engi-
neering building, 1902; President's House, 1903; Carnegie
Library, 1907 ; Gymnasium, 1907 ; School of Mines building, 1907.
The Law School occupies, for the present, rented quarters in
the city of Grand Forks. The university campus contains 100
acres, forty acres of which, lying east of the English Coulee,
have been handsomely laid out in walks and drives and orna-
mented with trees, shrubs and flowers. Of these forty acres,
twenty were given to the university by President Merrifield in
1906. It is expected that the sixty acres west of the English
Coulee will eventually become the university athletic field. The
university is connected with the city of Grand Forks by means
of a trolley line making half hour trips daily, and also by means
of the main line of the Great Northern Railway.
The Affiiliation Plan.
No history of the University would be complete which failed
to make mention of the movement looking to the grouping of
the church schools of the different religious denominations of
the state about the State University. In 1906 the trustees passed
a resolution inviting all educational agencies of the state to
make use of the educational facilities afforded by the State Uni-
versity to whatever extent it might serve their convenience to
do so. Acting upon this invitation, the Methodist Church of
North Dakota in 1906 removed its educational institution (Red
River Valley University) from Wahpeton to a new location
adjoining the State University, changing the name of the same
(except that it retains the old title for corporate purposes) to
Wesley College. For a more detailed account of this movement
the reader is referred to the History of Wesley College narrated
in later pages of this chapter.
306 HISTORY OF EED BIVER VALLEY
The Baptist Church of North Dakota has committed itself
to some form of association with the State University in the
carrying on of its educational work. It is understood also that
the Presbyterian Church of North Dakota has a similar proposi-
tion under advisement. The plan has received wide attention
and approval throughout the country as offering the wisest
solution as yet proposed of the problem of the co-operation of
church and state in the great work of education — particularly in
the newer states in which the several religious denominations
have not yet committed themselves to elaborate and expensive
independent educational plants.
Gifts.
In May, 1906, Mr. Andrew Carnegie gave to the University,
through President Merrifield, the sum of $30,000 for the erection
of a library building on the University campus. In 1907 Mr.
James J. Hill gave the University, through Dr. James E. Boyle,
of the department of Economics, the sum of $3,500 to be used in
the purchase of books on railway transportation and allied sub-
jects. At the annual meeting of the trustees in June, 1907,
President Merrifield donated to the University the twenty acres
of land lying immediately to the east of the main campus, the
gift being without conditions as to the use to be made of it. The
trustees accepted the gift and have used the land in extending
the main University campus to the east. Messrs. Patton and
Miller, at the request of the trustees, have drawn plans for the
larger campus, and the new Carnegie library and the new School
of Mines building have been erected on the land donated by
President Merrifield.
North Dakota Agricultural College.
An agricultural college was first located at Fargo, Cass county,
in 1883 by act of the Territorial Legislature, when the university,
the Hospital for the Insane and the penitentiary were respec-
tively located at Grand Forks, Jamestown and Bismarck. The
act locating this college at Fargo named a board of trustees, and
imposed conditions as to procuring a tract of land for the same.
The importance of this institution did not then appeal to the
HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 307
people of Fargo ; the trustees would not qualify, and nothing was
done. The author of the act (S. G. Roberts, of Fargo), believing
that such an institution would in the future be of the greatest
importance and benefit to the development of an agricultural
country, succeeded in having an act passed by the Territorial
Legislature, in 1885, reenacting and continuing in force the act
of 1883, thereby keeping the location of the college at Fargo
until 1889, when the Constitutional Convention, assembled at
Bismarck, permanently located, and the following Legislative
Assembly of the newly admitted State of North Dakota perma-
nently established it at Fargo under the name of the "North
Dakota Agricultural College."
The last named act provided for the organization of the col-
lege, erection of buildings, etc., to make effective the provisions
of the Morrill Act of 1862, having for its purpose the education
of the industrial classes in the science of agriculture and the
mechanical arts.
The Morrill Act gave to each state and territory 30,000 acres
of land for each member of Congress representing that state or
territory. North Dakota, when admitted to statehood, was
entitled to three representatives (two Senators and one member
of the lower house), and accordingly received 90,000 acres of land
under the Morrill Act for the endowment of a state agricultural
college.
The ' * Enabling Act, ' ' under which North Dakota was admitted
to statehood, gave the state 40,000 acres of land in addition to
that given under the Morrill Act, making a total of 130,000 acres.
The legislative act establishing the college also endowed it with
the section of land immediately northwest of the city of Fargo
on which the college is located. The same act provided an appro-
priation of $25,000 for buildings and equipment. Under the
Morrill Act of August 30, 1890, each state agricultural college
receives $25,000 annually from the federal government. Begin-
ning with the year 1908, the Nelson Amendment increases this
appropriation by $5,000 annually until, in 1912, each state agri-
cultural college will receive $50,000 annually from the federal
government.
308 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
The Hatch Act of March 2, 1887, gave each state $15,000
annually for a state experiment station, and the Adams Act of
March 16, 1906, provided for an increase of that amount to
$20,000 for the year ending June 30, 1906, and for an increase of
$2,000 yearly thereafter until, in 1911, the yearly appropriation
will amount to $30,000, making a total of $80,000 received an-
nually from the federal government by each state agricultural
college and experiment station. This handsome income is sup-
plemented by an annual appropriation from the state of a fixed
tax of 20/100 of a mill on the assessed valuation of the state for
purposes of taxation.
By constitutional and statutory provisions, the college lands
cannot be sold for less than $10 per acre. The land grant of the
State Agricultural College will thus yield a permanent endow-
ment considerably in excess of $1,300,000, as the lands already
sold have yielded an average price considerably in excess of $10
per acre. Only the annual income from this endowment may be
expended by the college, the state, under the terms of the
"Enabling Act," being required to guarantee the perpetuity of
the principal derived from the sale of all the institutional lands
received from the federal government upon admission to state-
hood.
The college was organized October 5, 1890, with Hon. H. F.
Miller, of Fargo, as president of the first board of trustees. H. E.
Stockbridge, Ph. D., was elected the first president of the college.
The faculty and officers for the first year numbered eight mem-
bers besides the president. The institution was opened for the
reception of students September 8, 1891, in rented rooms in the
basement of the main building of Fargo College. There were five
students in attendance on the opening day, and 122 were enrolled
during the first year. The present Administration Building was
so far completed as to be ready for occupancy January 1, 1892.
This building contains the offices of administration, the chapel
and various class rooms. It also contained originally the library
and laboratories. Other buildings have been added from time
to time out of special appropriations made by the legislature for
building purposes until now (1908) the college has seventeen
HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION 309
buildings in all, some of them being among the finest college
buildings in the northwest. Among the more important buildings
are the following:
Administration Building, Mechanical Building, Science Hall,
Francis Hall (for class rooms and laboratories), new heating
plant, horse barn, cattle barn, the Chemical Laboratory, Carnegie
Library, Engineering Building, Mill and Flour Testing Labora-
tory, and Horticultural Green House. The last and finest of all
the buildings is the new Engineering Building, for which the
legislature of 1907 appropriated $65,000.
In 1901 the legislature passed the so-called Newman Bill,
under the provisions of which a permanent tax of one mill was
levied upon the assessed valuation of the state for the purpose
of maintaining the educational institutions of the state. Under
the terms of this act the Agricultural College receives one-fifth of
the entire proceeds of the tax, yielding for the year 1908 $42,500.
This may be used only for maintenance. The legislature makes
special appropriations from time to time for buildings. The
special appropriations made to the Agricultural College by the
Legislative Assembly of 1907 amounted to $102,000 for buildings
alone.
In 1895 President Stockbridge was succeeded in the presi-
dency by Col. J. B. Power, a practical and successful farmer of
the state on a large scale. In 1895 Hon. J. H. Worst, LL.D., a
former lieutenant governor of the state and a member for some
sessions of the Legislative Assembly, was elected president. Most
of the growth of the Agricultural College has been made under
President Worst's exceedingly able and energetic administration.
During the first year of President Worst's administration there
were 185 students enrolled. During the year 1906-7 there were
818 students in attendance and 55 enrolled in the correspondence
course. The great majority of these were enrolled in the short
courses. These short courses are exceedingly practical and use-
ful, and through them the Agricultural College is gradually
transforming the agriculture of North Dakota. During President
Worst's administration the teaching staff has increased from less
than a dozen members to more than forty, and the number of
separate departments from five or six to fourteen. The alumni
310 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
number forty-nine members. Five full courses of study of four
years each are provided for, each leading to the degree of
Bachelor of Science, viz. : Agricultural, mechanical engineering,
civil engineering, scientific, and pharmaceutical chemistry. The
degree of Master of Arts is also conferred for graduate work.
Several members of the college faculty, notably Professors
Bolley and Ladd, have won a national reputation, the former for
his original contributions to the knowledge of the cause and cure
of flax wilt, the latter for his remarkably vigorous and efficient
work as pure food commissioner for North Dakota, in which field
North Dakota is generally recognized as having done pioneer
work under the able direction of Professor Ladd.
Under the wise direction of President Worst, the Agricultural
College is doing much to transform agriculture in our state from
a make-shift into a profession based upon strictly scientific
principles.
State Normal Schools.
That the Dakotas were to have normal schools was predeter-
mined. All Western states had been providing for them and
they clearly met a definite need of the times. The only question
that would interest an antiquarian is how the schools came to
be where they are. This is a long story, and no one is in pos-
session of all the facts.
The prominence of the normal school idea in the minds of
the people is clearly shown in the legislation which took place
in the territorial legislature of 1881, providing for the location
of five normal schools, all of them, however, in South Dakota,
and all upon the condition that the towns or cities where they
were located should furnish a site comprising 160 acres, with
the evident intention of producing an endowment fund by the
sale of lots.
Division of the territory had already been talked of and in
1883 Bother normal schools were located, nearly all of them in
North Dakota; one at Pembina, one at Minto, one at Larimore.
These, likewise, were upon the condition of a donation of 160
acres of land by each of the towns. This condition in each case
HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION 311
seems never to have been met, either through indifference of the
cities themselves or inability.
Meantime the people of Milnor, finding it so easy to locate
normal schools, organized and established what they called the
Territorial Normal School, maintaining the same by contributions
from their own people, in the expectation that when the division
of the territory was realized, they, having a real working normal
school, would be the first community to be recognized under
the new constitution. They had called a veteran teacher and
educational writer, John Ogderi, to the headship of their insti-
tution. He was assisted by Emma F. Bates. Both of these indi-
viduals were afterwards superintendents of Public Instruction,
and both had much to do with the early history of the normal
school at Valley City.
Two of the normal schools in South Dakota were by this
time organized and maintained by the Territory of Dakota. In
the report of the Territorial Board of Education to the governor
and legislature in 1888, written by the present president of the
State Normal School at Valley City, speaking of the normal
schools then in existence, the writer says: "We desire to call
your attention and that of the legislature to the pressing need
of a normal school at some central and accessible point in North
Dakota. At present there is no public school in that section
where teachers can be trained for thorough work in our common
schools." Everyone now felt that the division of the territory
was assured, and the people of North Dakota were anxious to
duplicate the institutions of South Dakota. The legislature to
which this report was made had been elected. A member thereof
from LaMoure, anxious to do something to commend himself to
his constituents, directed covetous eyes toward the normal school
at Milner, and decided to introduce a bill in the Territorial
Council to locate a normal school at his city. In furtherance of
this plan, he wrote to the Hon. Hkigh McDonald, of Valley City,
a member of the Territorial Council, soliciting his assistance.
Whereupon Mr. McDonald thought it would be a good plan to
secure something for his people and introduced a bill in the
winter of 1889 locating the North Dakota Agricultural College
at Valley City. This bill passed both branches of the legislature,
312 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
but was vetoed by the Democratic governor, Louis K. Church.
Inasmuch as the Agricultural College had been on two or three
occasions located at Fargo — though nothing had been done to
organize it there — the Fargo influence took alarm at the success
of Mr. McDonald. Accordingly, when the federal act was
passed permitting division, and providing for the formation of
the constitution, the Fargo influence was quite willing that Valley
City should have a state institution other than the Agricultural
College. When the Constitutional Convention was organized,
Hon. H. F. Miller, of Cass county, was made chairman of the
Committee on Public Institutions and Buildings, and to this
committee was referred the whole question of the location of
public institutions. Fargo, of course, wanted the Agricultural
College. Several of the state institutions were already located.
It was soon conceded that Valley City should have a state insti-
tution, and as the most valuable thing left was the normal school,
the location of a North Dakota state normal school was conceded
to Valley City. But some opposition to the bill providing for
the location of all the institutions developed in the convention,
and in order to assure the passage of the report of the majority
of the Committee on Public Institutions, it was deemed advisable
to placate another section of the state by locating a second
normal school at Mayville, in order thereby to secure a few
additional votes in the convention. The report of this committee
was adopted on the 16th of August, 1889, after a protracted and
somewhat bitter debate, the opposition conning mainly from com-
munities not to be recognized in the distribution of institutions.
The federal government had made an appropriation of 80,000
acres of land for the support of normal schools, and the Consti-
tutional Convention assigned 50,000 acres to the Valley City, and
30,000 acres to the Mayville normal.
Mayville Normal School.
The State Normal School at Mayville was established by the
Constitutional Convention of this state and made a part of the
public school system. It was endowed with 30,000 acres of land,
the provisions of Article XIX of the State Constitution.
GLIMPSE OF THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 313
It opened its doors to students in the city hall in 1890. Later
it occupied rooms in the public school building until late in
1893, when, its own building being completed, it removed to it.
The Normal School Building.
At a meeting of the Board of Management in October, 1891,
it was agreed to purchase of Mr. Boyum ten acres from his
tract of land fronting on K street, at $80 an acre. This was to
be used as a site for the normal school.
On April 29, 1892, the contract for the erection of the outside
of the building was awarded to John A. Weedal of Wilmar,
Minn., according to plans and specifications made by Architect
T. D. Allen. The contract price of the new building was to be
$17,650.
Work began at once and was completed in November. During
1893 contracts were entered into to complete the different stories
and entrances of the building by F. Field, of Mayville, for the
sum of $6,095.
In August, 1893, bids for heating and ventilating the building
were accepted from the firm of Saxton-Philips Company, of Min-
neapolis, for $3,693.
In November, 1898, the matter of enlarging the present build-
ing for the better accommodation of students came before the
Board of Management, and it was decided to ask the legislature
for an appropriation for this purpose. On March 20, 1905, the
ninth legislature appropriated $45,000 to make an addition to
the old building. On April 12, 1905, the contract was awarded
to Johnson & Powers, of Fargo, under plans and specifications
made by W. C. Albrant, of Fargo. This addition was completed
in the fall of 1907, after an additional appropriation had been
made by the tenth legislature of $15,000.
The tenth legislature also appropriated $20,000 for the erec-
tion of a woman's dormitory and this building is under process
of construction, the contract having been awarded to Johnson,
Anderson & Johnson, of Fargo, according to plans and specifica-
tions, made by Hancock Bros., of Fargo, N. D.
314 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Management of the School.
The first president of the school was James McNaughton, and
he had a faculty of four members. Students enrolled during the
year 1891-2 numbered eighty-five in the normal department.
The second year of the school the faculty numbered nine
members, including the president of the school, and students
enrolled in the normal department numbered 145.
The second president was L. B. Avery, 1893-1895.
The third president was J. T. Perigo, 1895-1897.
The fourth president was Joseph Carhart, 1897-1907.
The fifth president is Thomas A. Hillyer, 1907.
Graduates.
The following list shows the number of graduates in the dif-
ferent years :
1895, 15; 1896, 13; 1897, 7; 1898, 3; 1899, 13; 1900, 20;
1901, 15; 1902, 22; 1903, 21; 1904, 26; 1905, 33; 1906, 54; 1907, 48.
Miscellaneous.
November 23, 1899, the school was presented with $1,000 by
Mr. Grandin for the purpose of starting a reference library. At
different times books were received from friends of the school
and various appropriations have been made by the state for the
purchase of books. The library now numbers about 3,100 vol-
umes.
In January, 1901, permission was gained to use the city
schools for practice purposes.
Valley City Normal School.
In the first state legislature a bill was introduced by Hon.
Duncan McDonald, who was a member of the lower house, pro-
viding for the organization and establishment of a normal school
at Valley City. This bill passed and received the executive
approval March 8, 1890, but as it carried no appropriation, little
could be done in starting a school. Therefore, the people of
Valley City contributed funds sufficient to open school in a small
way on the 13th of October, 1890, in a room of the public school
HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 315
building rented for the purpose. The Rev. J. W. Sifton, a local
pastor, was made principal. In the succeeding legislative assem-
bly, that of 1891, Frank White, since governor of the state, intro-
duced a bill to provide for the erection, operation and manage-
ment of the normal schools of the state. After being considered
by the various committees and both branches of the legislature,
this bill, under which the normal schools of North Dakota have
since worked, was approved March 7, 1892. About the same
time Senator Joel S. Weiser introduced in the senate a bill pro-
viding $5,000 for the Valley City Normal School. This passed
and was approved March 2, 1891, and furnished means whereby
Principal J. W. Sifton was able to open the school in rented
quarters in the fall of that year, when a school session of nine
months was held.
In 1897 the diploma of the normal school was made a county
certificate of the first grade ; after two years ' experience, a state
normal certificate ; and after three years ' experience, a life pro-
fessional certificate. By an act of 1905 the law regarding diplomas
was slightly changed, making the diploma a state certificate of
the second class, good for three years, and then permitting the
issue of a life professional certificate when the holder thereof
has been successful. Another slight amendment to the normal
school law was made in 1901, when the members of the Board
of Management, heretofore acting without pay, were granted $3
per day in addition to their necessary expenses.
The effort to maintain all of its institutions had cost the
young state a tremendous struggle. Every possible method of
relieving the situation was considered; finally, in 1901 the school
was by definite act made a part of the public school system and
an especial annual levy of a one mill tax on each dollar of the
assessed valuation of the property of the state was authorized
in support of the state educational institutions, and the income
from 12-100 of this mill tax was assigned to the Valley City
State Normal School. Also, 10,000 acres of the government grant
to normal schools was ordered sold in order to produce an in-
come for the schools from this source. This legislation was
really constructive and placed the educational institutions of
the state, the normal school at Valley City included, on a firmer
316 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
basis, and here began what might be called the era of expansion
of the normal schools. They were relieved from the anxieties of
annual appropriations and, the prosperity of the state increasing
rapidly, the value of their land, of course, increased pro rata and
soon began to produce a handsome income.
But funds from both these sources were for maintenance.
The school must have buildings, equipment and improvements.
Its students were increasing rapidly in numbers and the demand
for a broader form of work required greater facilities. In 1903
an act was passed authorizing the institution to bond its lands
for the purpose of securing an additional building for school
work and a dormitory. When these buildings were well under
way, the state treasurer, Hon. Dan McMillan, declined to
pay out money on the account of the board of university and
school lands, to whom the bonds had been sold, and the ques-
tion was thrown into the Supreme Court, which decided that
the bonds were illegal. The emergency board of the state came
to the rescue with an appropriation of $20,420, and the balance
of the debt incurred by the erection of the two buildings was
carried over to the next legislature. Since that time, however,
definite appropriations have been made for the erection of
buildings.
The Building Record.
As indicated above, the school began its career in a room
rented from the public school in the fall of 1890. Scarcely more
than a half dozen were present the first day, nearly all of whom
were from Valley City families. Several of these, however,
graduated from the normal school, and have been teachers in
the state for many years. The second year, October 13, 1891,
the school re-opened under the principalship of Rev. J. "VV. Sifton,
in quarters rented for the purpose in a building which afterwards
was occupied by the Salvation Army, and more recently by the
Valley City Bottling Works. The rooms, however, were com-
fortable and well adapted to the use of the school. Meantime,
Prof. John Ogden had become superintendent of public instruc-
tion and had taken a great interest in the development of the
state's normal schools. Emma F. Bates, also previously con-
HISTOKY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION 31?
nected with the Territorial Normal School at Milnor, had been
brought over to Valley City at the suggestion of Mr. Ogden to
assist Principal Sifton. The school showed considerable growth,
and by the 1st of January, 1892, Lura L. Perrine, then teacher
at Oakes, was brought to the school as a regular teacher, and
Mr. M. W. Barnes, a teacher in Barnes county, having special
qualifications for the teaching of penmanship, came to the school
twice each week during the winter term to give lessons in pen-
manship. A bill having passed authorizing an issue of bonds to
the amount of $20,000 for building purposes, a site was secured
in the south part of the city and the erection of a building begun.
The usual struggle incident to the location of a public institu-
tion in a Western city had been experienced. Three members
of the board were residents of Valley City, each the partisan of
a different site; it therefore devolved upon the non-resident
members, Hon. J. W. Goodrich, of Jamestown, and Thomas
Elliott, of Elliott, to determine the location of the building. At
first there was much opposition to the location chosen, but no
one now outside or inside of Valley City Would have it changed.
A commodious building, costing about $25,000, was completed
on the 6th of December, 1892. Little was done for many years
to add to this building. The state was now passing through an
era of hard times. In 1895 Gov. Roger Allen vetoed appropria-
tions for the support of the school with the exception of $4,600,
enough to provide a custodian of the building and keep it warm
for winter. No building was undertaken until 1903, when the
west wing, or Science hall, was erected and the dormitory under-
taken. Meantime, however, the board had purchased a large resi-
dence in the southwestern part of the city, known as the Olsby
house, with seven acres of land, and had started a dormitory in a
small way. In 1905 another appropriation was secured for the
Model school, which is now known as the East wing, and in 1907 a
further appropriation for the erection of an auditorium. Thus,
in the space of five years, three great buildings have been added
to the original plant for school purposes and two dormitories
provided.
The original site comprised ten or eleven acres at the very
edge of the city. This site has been increased by the purchase
318 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
of the seven acres above referred to for dormitory purposes, two
lots on the east of the grounds and fronting on Sunnyside ave-
nue, thirteen acres to the southeast of the main grounds and
twenty-five acres extending across the entire quarter section and
lying south of the grounds.
The School and Its Work.
As revealed by the foregoing, Rev. J. W. Sifton was the first
principal, through a short term beginning in 1890 and through
part of the year beginning 1891. In April, 1892, he resigned,
leaving the school in the hands of Emma F. Bates and Lura L.
Perrine. The board now began to look for his successor and
attention was attracted to Prof. George A. McFarland, of the
State Normal School at Madison, S. D., who had been a member
of the territorial board of education, 1887 to 1889, and was well
known by the educators of both sections of the territory. He
was written to and came on for a conference with the board of
management in May, 1892, was engaged and assumed the duties
of principal the 1st of August of that year. The school opened
its third session on the 28th of September, 1892, with twenty-
eight students present. The principal was assisted by Emma F.
Bates, Lura L. Perrine, M. W. Barnes and Amanda Harmon, who
conducted a kindergarten, the latter partly independent and
partly under the auspices of the normal school. On December
6 of that year the new building was occupied. The dedication
was a great public event. The governor, most of his advisers,
and other public officials, prominent educators and others were
present and gave addresses.
In 1893 the school re-opened, and the catalogue shows a fac-
ulty of nine, among whom are Elsie Hadley, instructor of mathe-
matics, afterwards well known to the state as Mrs. Frank White.
At the end of this year the first class was graduated, and con-
sisted of three students : Maud Bronson, of Jamestown ; Lenora
Arestad, of Cooperstown; and Jennie F. MacNider, of Bismarck.
In 1894 the names of Joseph Schafer and Cora M. Rawlins
appeared on the faculty roll for the first time. Mr. Schafer was
afterwards a candidate for superintendent of public instruction,
and Miss Rawlins, after thirteen years, is again a member of the
ENGINEERING BUILDING, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 319
faculty. At the end of that year a class of eleven was gradu-
ated, one of wjiom is Miss Alice J. Fisher, at present a critic in
the primary department, and another Miss Ellen Matteson, county
superintendent of Eddy county. This was the largest class to
graduate until June, 1902. In 1896 there were five; in 1897,
nine; in 1898, one; in 1899, four; in 1901, ten; in 1902, eighteen;
in 1903, thirty-three ; in 1904, thirty-three ; in 1905, forty-eight ;
in 1906, sixty-nine ; and in 1907, eighty-nine. The rapid growth
in the number of students and graduates is, undoubtedly, due
to the fact that early graduates were thoroughly qualified for
the positions they accepted and demonstrated in their work the
value of the institution. Many of these students have since risen
to eminence. In the class of 1896, for instance, were several
who were in the school the day it opened. Several of them have
taught successfully, since graduation, in the schools of Valley
City. In 1897 the class included Mr. E. R. Brownson, for several
years superintendent of schools at Williston, later county super-
intendent of the schools of that county, and more recently a
leading business man of Williston and a member of the board of
management of the state normal school at Valley City. Mr.
Christian Westergaard is the only member of the class of 1898.
He is at present occupying a position as instructor of farm me-
chanics in the University of California, and lecturer before the
farmers' institute of that state. To name others individually
would lead to details not intended in this article, and for which
there is no space.
In the fall of 1899 the faculty was increased from eight to
ten ; in 1901, to eleven ; in 1902, to fourteen ; in 1903, to sixteen ;
in 1904, to eighteen; in 1905, to twenty-five; until at the present
time the total number of teachers employed is thirty-one, the
student body having increased, within the memory of the present
president, from five, on the 25th day of May, 1892, to 537 in
February, 1908, in the normal department. Including the model
school, the summer school, and other departments of its work,
the school serves over one thousand people each year. Its gradu-
ates are found in all parts of our state and many have found
profitable employment in other states.
Its income has increased from $5,000 for the first and second
320 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
years of its existence to about $50,000 a year, and yet, with this
marvelous growth in financial support, building and equipment,
it has not been able to keep pace with the demands made upon
it by the young people of the state for a proper vocational
training.
State School of Science. .
(Academy of Science.)
Among the educational institutions located by the constitu-
tion was "a scientific school or such other educational or chari-
table institution as the legislative assembly may prescribe at
the City of Wahpeton, County of Richland, with a grant of
40,000 acres of land." In accordance with this provision of the
constitution, the legislative session of 1903 established a state
school of science with location at Wahpeton. The school was
organized and formally opened for the reception of students in
rented rooms in the building owned and occupied by the Red
River Valley University in September, 1903. Prof. Earle C.
Burch, teacher of science in the Fargo high school, was elected
the first president. Upon the removal of the Red River Valley
University to Grand Forks in 1905, the Academy of Science
purchased its building, an appropriation being made for this
purpose by the legislative assembly. In addition to this building,
there was erected, in the summer of 1905, a commodious and
substantial one-story building of cement blocks, 30x70 feet in
dimensions, for the accommodation of the department of mechan-
ical engineering. In it are located the machinery, wood and
forge shops. A commodious building to be used as a gymnasium
was erected in the summer of 1907.
The early appropriations to the school for maintenance were
meagre, but upon the passage of the so-called Purcell bill (1907)
providing for a redistribution of the mill tax, the Academy of
Science was admitted to a participation in the benefits of the
tax and was given 4/100 of a mill as its share. The legislative
assembly of 1907 also more specifically defined the scope of the
school in the following terms :
"The North Dakota Academy of Science, heretofore estab-
lished at Wahpeton, is hereby continued as such. The object of
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 321
the academy shall be to furnish (such) instruction in the pure
and applied sciences, mathematics, languages, political science
and history as is usually given in schools of technology below the
junior year, the chief object being the training of skilled work-
men in the most practical phases of applied science. A general
science course may also be offered consisting of three years ' work
above the high school course. Upon the completion of either of
the above courses, the board of trustees may grant appropriate
certificates of the work accomplished."
The Academy of Science offers three-year courses in general
science and two-year courses in mechanical, electrical and civil
engineering, and offers in addition a preparatory course of three
years and a commercial course. During the school year of
1906-7 the faculty of the school numbered eight members and
seventy-eight students were enrolled, exclusive of 110 enrolled
in the summer school.
Fargo College.
Fargo College has its source in an idea. That idea is the
necessity of the Christian college for the perpetuity of our free
institutions and democratic form of government. In fulfillment
of this idea, the first "General Association of Congregational
Churches" meeting at Fargo, October 18, 1882, adopted a reso-
lution appointing a committee to take steps toward founding
Christian academies in the territory. At the next meeting
$1,400.00 was pledged for the founding of a Christian college. At
each subsequent meeting the matter was considered, and in July,
1887, the association accepted the invitation of the citizens of
Fargo to locate there. In the same month the college committee
of the association united with them certain others who became
the original board of incorporators, by whom, and from whose
number, the Board of Trustees are chosen. The certificate of
incorporation was issued by the secretary of the territory March
28, 1888.
In the fall of 1887, Professor F. T. Waters was engaged as
principal, and about October 1 Fargo College began its work
with a few scholars in the McLauch block on Eighth street. The
first student was a red-headed young man, later county superin-
322 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
tendent, from the western part of the state. The college has had
four presidents previous to its present leader. The first was
Rev. G. B. Barnes, who was elected in November, 1888. He was
succeeded by Dr. R. A. Beard, now pastor of the First Congre-
gational Church of Fargo, whose term began September 1, 1892.
Rev. H. C. Simmons, then superintendent of home missions, was
elected July 28, 1894, and died suddenly December 21, 1899. Rev.
J. H. Morley began his term February 1, 1900, and his resignation
took effect January 1, 1906. President Vittum began his work
early in January of 1907.
The first principal, as stated above, was F. T. Waters. He
remained until the spring of 1891 and seems to have been suc-
ceeded by Professor Burdick. In September, 1892, A. D. Hall
became principal and was succeeded in the summer of the fol-
lowing year by Professor E. T. Curtis, who served the college
until September, 1895, when W. A. Deering came with the title of
dean and remained until September, 1897. P. G. Knowlton then
became dean and held the position until the fall of 1904, when
Professor H. W. Fiske succeeded him. Dr. F. E. Stratton began
his work as dean in the fall of 1906.
Miss L. Belle Haven was the first preceptress. Miss Sheldon,
now wife of Professor Bolley, of the Agricultural College, came
in 1893. Miss Annie Adams was dean of women from the fall of
1897 until the summer of 1902, and was succeeded by Miss
Jennette E. Marsh, who remained two years, as did her successor,
Miss Alice N. Baldwin. The present head of the women's
department, Miss Margery J. Moore, assumed the office in
September, 1906.
After remaining in the rented rooms on Eighth street for a
short time, the work was carried on in what was then called the
Garfield block on Ninth street, near the Methodist church, until
the college entered its present home in Jones Hall in the spring
of 1890. Jones Hall was made possible by the gifts of Mr. James
Gould and his sister, Mrs. Bassett, who became interested in the
college through the efforts of Rev. Mr. Phillips, now at James-
town. It was named in memory of their brother-in-law, George H.
Jones, and cost about $35,000. It was dedicated October 7, 1890.
Dill Hall, named in honor of its largest giver, contains the
n o
O ffi
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 323
gymnasium, Y. M. C. A. room, several lecture and recitation
rooms and the science laboratories. It was first occupied in
January, 1908.
Provision was made for the study of music from the beginning,
and Professor E. A. Smith was in charge of that department
until the close of the year 1899-1900. His plans for a conservatory
were carried out by Professor J. C. Penniman, who remained until
the close of the college year, 1894-95, when he was succeeded by
Professor George, who is still in charge.
A business department was organized in September, 1891,
and was continued until the year 1900, when it was made an
integral part of the regular work of the college.
In November, 1894, Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago, offered to
give $50,000 toward the permanent endowment of the college on
condition that $150,000 additional be raised by the college,
authorities. President Simmons took up the work of raising the
money at once and labored most earnestly for its completion until
his death in December, 1899. Not until the close of 1902, under
his successor, President Morley, was the condition met. On the
evening of January 11, 1903, was held the banquet to celebrate
the completion of the first permanent endowment fund of $200,000.
The first class graduated from the college in June, 1896, and
numbered three, Miss Curtis, Donald G. Golo and James Mullen-
bach. According to the catalogue of 1890-91, the college enrolled
two freshmen, twenty preparatory students and forty-one English
students. In all thirty-three students have graduated from the
regular college course. The first permanent regular faculty was
engaged in the fall of 1889. The following embodies the faculty
pages of the catalogue of 1890-91:
"Third annual catalogue. President, Rev. G. B. Barnes, pro-
fessor of mental and moral philosophy. F. T. Waters, principal,
and professor of Latin language and literature, English literature
and kindred branches. Rev. G. S. Bascom, professor of Greek
language and literature. Worollo Whitney, professor of mathe-
matics, political economy, and the natural sciences. Bertha
Hebard, principal of ladies' department, professor of modern
languages, rhetoric and history. E. A. Smith, director of conserv-
324 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
atory of music, teacher of piano and harmony." Surely "There
were giants in those days."
In January, 1907, Edward March Vittum, D.D., was elected
to the presidency. President Vittum is a graduate (B.A. and
M.A.) of Dartmouth College and (B.D.) of Yale University. He
has occupied a number of pastorates in the Congregational church
in Connecticut and Iowa, his last pastorate being at Grinnell
College, Grinnell, Iowa.
The instructional force of the college numbers (1908) twenty
members, and the student enrollment 310, of whom forty-six are
enrolled in the college, sixty-eight in the preparatory department
and the remainder in the conservatory of music. The graduates
in 1907 numbered nine, all taking the A.B. degree.
Wesley College.
Among the first questions that concerned the pioneer Meth-
odists of North Dakota was that of education. The Red River
Institute had been located at Fargo in the early eighties — though
it was never formally opened — and this institution received the
endorsement of the Mission Conference at its first session in 1884
and again in the succeeding year. The North Dakota Annual
Conference, in its first session, held in 1886, and again in 1887,
earnestly advocated the need of an institution of higher learning,
and this action was heartily supported by the Lay Electoral
Conference.
Each year the matter was brought up and in 1890 a committee
was appointed and directed to act "under certain conditions and
within a fixed time." The project took definite form in the
following resolution:
"Resolved, 1, That the committee chosen to locate a college in
the North Dakota Conference, shall give every place the oppor-
tunity of making a new bid or increasing a bid already made,
and that on the 20th of January, 1891, all bids shall be in and no
bid shall be received thereafter, and not later than March 1, 1891,
the committee shall decide as to which bid they will accept, and
that no bid shall be accepted of less than eighty acres of land,
or its equivalent, and $10,000 in money.
"Resolved, 2, That the committee shall consist of the presid-
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 325
ing elders and one member and one layman from each district,
with the bishop residing at Minneapolis ex-officio chairman, and
that the bishop and his cabinet be requested to present nomina-
tions for the balance of the committee at the closing session of
the conference."
The articles of incorporation bear the date February 25, 1891,
and the institution was named "The Red River Valley
University. ' '
As the city of Wahpeton had offered a tract of eighty acres
valued at $4,000, and a cash donation of $21,000, including
$10,000 from a Chicago friend, Mr. J. Q. Adams, that city was
selected as the site of the future institution. Rev. J. N. Fraden-
burgh, Ph. D., D.D., was elected the first president of the college,
and under his administration the work of building was begun,
the foundation being completed June 25, 1891. In this same year
a faculty of four teachers was selected to carry on the work of
instruction. The heroism of devotion of these friends of the
struggling school, in the interests of the future commonwealth,
deserves the highest praise and even veneration. No complete
list could be given here, but, among others, the early records
often mention such names as Larimore, Lynch, White, French,
Adams, Plannette, and others worthy of mention, and many
smaller gifts and services are equally precious in that they reveal
the spirit and will of the citizens of the state. Their sacrifices
and high ideals remind us of the doughty Hollanders who, offered
exemption from heavy debts or the gift of a university, chose the
latter.
In June, 1892, Dr. Fradenburgh felt it his duty to accept a
call to another field and Rev. M. V. B. Knox, D.D., was chosen
to succeed him. In the following October the college was for-
mally opened and wor£ was begun. Rev. D. C. Plannette, who
from the first had aided the work, accepted an appointment as
financial agent and began again a systematic canvass of the
state. The records show a gift of $500 from far-away Rhode
Island. This first year the attendance aggregated eighty, rising
the next year to 115, and 120 in the year following.
In 1900 Rev. E. P. Robertson, A.M., D.D., was called to the
presidency. Under his leadership more money was raised, debts
326 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
were paid, the plant improved, and the enrollment was increased.
In 1904-05 the attendance was 284, classified as follows:
College, 18; academy, 57; commercial, 49; music, 160.
Total, 284.
About this time President Merrifield, of the University of
North Dakota, in an address before the annual conference in
session in Grand Forks, March, 1900, discussed the university-
college affiliation idea, and at the close extended to the Methodist
church of the state an invitation to move their college to a loca-
tion adjoining the State University and to make such use of the
facilities of the State University as might seem feasible. Moral
obligations to certain benefactors and to the citizens of Wahpeton
prevented action at the time, but in 1904, after some twelve
years of successful work, the officials and friends of the university
began to consider the advisability of accepting the overtures of
the State University to remove its location to Grand Forks. The
reasons for such action were: (1) The strength of the denomina-
tion in the northern and western parts of the state ; (2) Unlike
the older states, North Dakota was still sparsely settled, and
multiplicity of institutions seemed unnecessary; (3) As the mem-
bers of the denomination, in common with other citizens of the
state, contribute to the support of the State University, it seemed
wise to make use of the facilities thus afforded; (4) Though suc-
cess had been achieved, it seemed to the patrons of the school
that in the new location, under new conditions, the same expendi-
ture of effort would be productive of larger results; (5) By con-
centration of energies, the college could render to the church a
larger service in this new field, which was more centrally located,
and in a section where a large Methodist population was to be
found. In January, 1905, the heads of the two institutions met,
and, after deliberation, came to an agreement on the now historic
memorandum which has become the basis of cooperation :
Whereas, the State University is in theory the university of
all the people of the state, and is supported by the taxes of the
members of the several denominations as well as by the other
citizens of the state, it would seem to be appropriate and fitting
that the churches of the several denominations in the state should
avail themselves of the privileges which belong to their members
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 327
as citizens of the state and should use, to whatever extent may
seem desirable in the conduct of their educational work, the
facilities afforded by the State University.
It is recognized that the State University is a civic institution
and has for its mission the training of the youth of the state for
efficient service as citizens. It is recognized, also, that the dis-
tinctive object of the church in maintaining schools of its own is
to insure trained leadership in religious and denominational work.
There is, therefore, logically no conflict between their respective
missions, for the same young people are to serve in both these
capacities. These two missions being in no sense antagonistic,
but supplementary, it would seem the part of wise economy that
these two educational agencies should avail themselves, so far as
possible, of the facilities and appliances of each other in the
working out of their respective missions, keeping always in view
the principle of the separation of the church and state in so far
as regards the control and expenditure of the financial resources
of each.
Accepting the foregoing principles as fundamentally sound,
the University of North Dakota cordially invites the people of the
various denominations of the state to the consideration of a
plan under which the members of the several denominations,
while preserving their denominational identity and maintaining
separate institutions for such educational work as they may deem
necessary, shall join, as citizens, in patronage of the State Uni-
versity as the common agency for the higher education of the
youth of the state.
As a basis of cooperation between the State University and
the Methodist church of the state, the following suggestions seem
practicable :
1. That the Methodist church change the name of its insti-
tution from Red River Valley University to Wesley College.
2. That a building or buildings be erected in near proximity
to the State University but on a separate campus to include a
guild hall, such recitation rooms as may be required for the work
proposed, possibly dormitories for young men and young women,
and a president's house.
3. That the course of study may be :
328 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
(a) Bible and church history, English Bible, New
Testament Greek, Hebrew, Theism, and such other subjects as
the college may elect in pursuance of its purpose.
(b) A brief course that may be designated as a Bible
normal course, intended especially to fit students to become
efficient Sunday school teachers and lay workers, and upon the
completing of which certificates of recognition may be granted.
(c) Instruction in music and elocution may be given
if desired and appropriate certificates granted.
(d) Guild hall lectures.
4. That the State University grant for work done in subjects
included under (a) above, such credit toward the B.A. degree as
it gives to technical work done in its own professional schools
and to work done in other colleges of reputable standing. Like-
wise, Wesley College shall give credit for work done in the State
University in similar manner as preparation for any degree or
certificate it may offer.
5. Each institution shall have full control of the discipline
of students upon its own grounds.
6. It shall be deemed proper for students to take degrees
from both institutions if they so desire.
WEBSTER MERRIFIELD,
EDWARD P. ROBERTSON.
University, N. D., Jan. 9, 1905.
The year 1905-06 was spent in securing additional funds. As
the citizens of Wahpeton had given a considerable share toward
the founding of the school, it was felt that this property should
be disposed of to the advantage of the city of Wahpeton.
Accordingly the land with the building, estimated at $45,000,
was transferred to the State Science School, located in the same
city, for the sum of $20,000, the balance, $25,000. being pledged
by the city of Grand Forks.
In the fall of 1906 work was resumed under the educational
name of Wesley College, though for business purposes the old
corporation name, "Red River Valley University," is retained.
The lines of activity developed are precisely those laid down in
the memorandum :
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 329
1. The purpose of the instruction given in Wesley College
School of Arts is to provide, in cooperation with the University
of North Dakota, courses that may be counted toward the degree
of Bachelor of Arts. This will include such courses as, though
properly arts courses, are not offered in the university itself.
The requirements of the degree in arts are equivalent to
those of the University of North Dakota and meet the standards
established by the university senate of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
Candidates for a degree from Wesley College may elect work
in either the university or Wesley College, provided that the
options from the college equal at least eight units toward the
total number of units necessary for the degree. In like manner
the university accepts credits from Wesley College equivalent to
one year's full work.
2. It is the purpose of the School of Music to maintain high
standards of instruction, and in the interests of higher musical
education to make the cost as low as in any conservatory offering
work of equally high grade. It is the desire of the management
to bring the advantages of the school within the reach of the
largest possible number of deserving students. It is not the pur-
pose of the school to secure a large attendance for the sake of
numbers only, but to work for artistic development in those who
give evidence of musical talent. Regarding music not as a mere
accomplishment, but as a serious study deserving a high place
in the public esteem, the trustees and faculty of Wesley College
propose to give the people of the Northwest an opportunity for
conservatory training of a high order.
3. It is the purpose of the Bible Normal School to provide
opportunity for persons engaged in church and other forms of
religious work, who, though not planning to take a college course,
are desirous of making further preparation. The courses offered
below will, it is believed, furnish such equipment. They must not
be confounded with the courses in Wesley College leading to an
academic degree.
4. The Wesley guild has been formed in order to effect a
closer fellowship among the Methodist students of the university
and Wesley College and to cultivate a more intelligent apprecia-
330 HISTORY OF RED PJVER VALLEY
tion of the principles of the church. From time to time distin-
guished representatives of the denomination are the guests of the
guild that the young people may have an opportunity to meet
and become acquainted with the leaders of the' church and to
learn first-hand what the denomination stands for.
5. The tenth month of the academic year is to be devoted
to institute work throughout the state, at such points and for
such periods as may seem wise.
When a student has passed the stated requirements for college
graduation he is granted the degree of Bachelor of Arts by
Wesley College provided he has at least eight full credits taken
in Wesley College. Such students may also be a graduate of the
State University provided he has met the requirements. In that
case he may graduate from both institutions without additional
cost of time. It is clear that Wesley College enjoys no rights
in relation with the State University that are not equally open
to all other colleges that may choose to become associated on the
same plan.
No tuition fee is charged in either the State University or
School of Arts of Wesley College. This is an important consid-
eration for the average student when choosing a college. Here,
in one opportunity, is offered the best that state and church can
provide in their respective fields of instruction, and offered free
excepting a small registration fee.
The attendance the first year was 124, as follows (the Acad-
emy and School of Business being discontinued to avoid duplicat-
ing the work of the State University) : Arts (college), 21; music,
106; (duplicates, 3).
The accepted plans of the architect provide for a group of
nine buildings so connected or related as to form three sides of
a quadrangle, open toward the university campus on the south.
The first building, Sayre Hall, so named in honor of the chief
donor, Mr. A. J. Sayre, a member of the board of trustees, and
a staunch friend of the college, was occupied in September, 1908.
It is a four-story structure of reinforced concrete, fire-proof, with
modern equipment, steam heat, electric lights, hot and cold water
in every suite, and lavatory on every floor.
Thus has been inaugurated, after years of devoted effort, a
o
r K
H W
g 5
HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 331
movement destined, as leading educators are free to say, to
become one of the most significant and far-reaching of the
century.
Note.
The writer makes acknowledgment to The Agassiz, published
by the junior class of the Agricultural College; to President
Thomas A. Hillyer, of the State Normal School at Mayville; to
President George A. McFarland, of the State Normal School at
Valley City ; to Dr. P. G. Knowlton, of Fargo College, and to Dr.
Wallace N. Stearns, of Wesley College, for valuable information
contained in this chapter. The portions of the chapter relating
to the Mayville Normal School, the Valley City Normal School,
Fargo College, and Wesley College, are printed substantially in
the form in which they were prepared by Messrs. Hillyer,
McFarland, Knowlton and Stearns, respectively. President
McFarland also wrote the matter which appears under the head
of " State Normal Schools."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EIVEE CAET.
A Trip to the Black Hills by Ox Cart. Yung Bear's Ox Cart
Transportation by Sledge, Travoise, and Cart.
The well-known ox cart of the Eed Eiver Valley first came
into use at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The journal
of Alexander Henry when speaking of this vehicle says : ' ' Very
little if anything is known of the Eed Eiver country between
1799-1809, the period immediately prior to the establishing of
the colony of Lord Selkirk.
In September, 1801, Henry sent out a party of men under
John Cameron to Grand Forks to establish a trading post, and
writes: "None of my neighbors have a horse; all their trans-
portation is on their men's backs." At the time the original
Eed Eiver cart makes its advent, the record again says: "Men
now go again for meat with some small low carts, the wheels of
which are of one solid piece sawed from the ends of trees whose
diameter is three feet. These carriages we find are more con-
venient and advantageous than to load our horses on the back,
and the country being so smoothe and level we can make use of
them to go in all directions." A year later the writer gives us
a description of a cart somewhat in advance of the original one,
but yet not exactly like the one now in the museum at Bismarck :
"We require horses to transport the property, of which we now
have a sufficient number for all purposes, 'and a new sort of a
cart.' They are about four feet high and perfectly straight, the
spokes being placed perpendicularly without the least bending
outwards, and only four in each wheel. These carts will carry
about five pieces, and all drawn by one horse."
332
THE RIVER CAET 333
The following description of Yung Red Bear's cart and har-
ness, which was loaned to the State Historical Society by C. W.
Andrews of Walhalla, is taken from the Fargo Forum, October 4,
1907. It says :
"A number of years ago the government began to give to the
Indians an iron-tired cart and Mr. Andrews knew that it was
only a question of time when the famous Red River cart would
be a thing of the past. So he asked his brother to drive across the
country to the Turtle mountains and pick up one of the old carts.
He bought this cart of Yung Red Bear, who said his father made
it in 1848. The harness, which is equally valuable as a relic, is
sewed with sinew and was made in 1869. The cart has made a
number of trips to St. Cloud, Minn., and the Turtle Mountains.
"These carts were the freighters of the pre-locomotive days
and were a common sight in this great northwest. They were made
wholly of wood without a scrap of iron or steel. The ax and the
augur were the only tools used in its construction and with the
aid of rawhide any break could be mended at once. The old
settlers tell us that it was a common sight to see hundreds of these
in a train wending their way across the prairie. The cart could
hold about 1,000 pounds of freight, but generally a much lighter
load was carried. One characteristic which the old settler never
fails to mention is the piercing squeak of the cart wheels. This
noise could be heard for miles and this inborn mark was never
eliminated. The question is asked many times why these carts
disappeared so suddenly from us and the answer generally given
by the old settler is that they were used to build some campfire or
heat some cabin."
A Trip to the Black Hills for Gold by Ox Cart.
On February 4, 1876, a party from Grand Forks made a trip
to the Black Hills in ox carts in search of gold. They left Grand
Forks, February 4, and reached their destination about the
middle of April, going by the way of Bismarck. The party con-
sisted of D. M. Holmes, William Budge, J. S. Eshelman, George
Fadden, Thomas Hall, Peter Girard, W. C. Myrck, James Mul-
ligan, James Williams, A. F. McKinley and Al Wright. They had
five teams and made the journey in good shape, traveling a dis-
334 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
tance of about 500 miles. After a stay of two or three months
some of the party came back and some of them are there yet.
The Grand Forks party received quite an addition to their number
when they reached Bismarck, there being now besides ox carts,
horses, and a drove of cattle, about fifty persons in all. Owing
to heavy rains and deep mud the journey became a tedious one
and progress was so slow they often camped almost within sight
of the fires made the night before. They had not a few bitter
experiences with the Indians also. In an encounter with the red-
skins at Big Meadow they lost several cattle, had one man killed,
and two wounded. It was the rule of the party to keep a guard
night and day, and so trying were the exactions of the journey,
most of the goods became despoiled before they reached Dead-
wood. One man started with 2,800 pounds for his load, but went
into the city of his destination leading his horse and carrying the
harness. In the mining business experiences varied. As a gen-
eral thing more money was made at something else than by
digging nuggets of gold. One old miner, however, struck it right.
His name was Ward. He discovered a ledge which he sold for
$25,000, but he stayed at the gaming table that night until he
lost it all, not an unusual experience among miners in that day.
In his journal, under date of October 3, 1802, Mr. Henry
writes the following description of the first Red River cart train :
"M. Langlois started for Hair Hills. This caravan demands
notice to exhibit the vast difference it makes in a place where
horses are introduced. It is true they are useful animals, but, if
we had but one in the northwest we should have less laziness, for
men would not be burdened with families, and so much given to
indolence and insolence. * * * But let us now take a view of
the bustle and noise which attends the present transportation of
five pieces of goods. The men were up at the break of day, and
their horses tackled long before sunrise, but they were not in
readiness to move before 10 o'clock, when I had the curiosity to
climb up to the top of my house to examine the movements and
observe the order of march. Anthony Payet, guide and second
in command, leads off with a cart drawn by two horses, and
loaded with his own private baggage, bags and kettles. Madame
Payet follows the cart with a child one year old on her back,
THE RIVER CAET 335
and very merry. C. Bottineau, with two horses and a cart loaded
with one and a half packs, his own baggage, two young children
with kettles and other trash hanging to his cart. Madam Bot-
tineau, with a young squalling child on her back, which she is
scolding and tossing about.
"Joseph Dubord goes on foot, with his long pipestem and
calumet in his hand. Madam Dubord follows her husband carry-
ing his tobacco pouch.
"Anthony Thelliere, with a cart and two horses loaded with
one and a half packs of goods and Dubord 's baggage.
"Anthony LoPoint, with another cart and two horses loaded
with two pieces of goods and baggage belonging to Brisbois,
Jessemin and Poulliote, and a kettle suspended on each side.
Jessemin goes next to Brisbois with gun, and pipe in mouth,
puffing out clouds of smoke. Mr. Poulliote, the greatest smoker
in the northwest, has nothing but pipes and pouch. These three
fellows, having taken the farewell dram and lighting fresh pipes,
go on, brisk and merry, playing numerous pranks. Don Liver-
more, with a young mare, the property of M. Langlois, loaded
with weeds for smoking, and an Indian bag. Madam's property,
and some squashes and potatoes, and a keg of fresh water and
two young whelps.
"Next comes the young horse of Livermore, drawing a traville
with his baggage, and a large worsted mashqueucate belonging
to Madame Langlois. Next appears Madame Cameron's young
mare, kicking and roaring, hauling a traville which was loaded
with a bag of flour and some cabbage, turnips, onions, a small
keg of water and a large bottle of broth. M. Langlois, who is
master of the band, now comes, leading a horse that draws a
traville nicely and covered with a new painted tent, under which
is lying his daughter and Mrs. Cameron, extended full length
and very sick. This covering or canopy has a very pretty effect.
Madam Langlois now brings up the rear; following the traville
with a slow step and melancholy air, attending to the wants of
her daughter. The rear guard consisted of a long train of dogs,
twenty in number. The whole forms a string nearly a mile long
and appears like a large band of Assiniboines. "
336 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Mail, Passenger and Freight, by Dog Train, Ox Cart and Stage.
Prior to 1800 the dog sledge was used chiefly in the Red
River Valley in the winter and the travois in summer, as a means
of transportation. The dog sledge was much like a toboggan —
flat-bottomed — had a dashboard in front, and was wide enough
to seat one person, and each sledge was drawn by three dogs.
There were frequently as many as twenty-five sledges in a train.
The dogs were held in check by a cord and responded to a motion
of the whip or hand. They were fed a pound of pemmican once
a day after the day's work had been done. A trained leader was
worth $20. Their life of usefulness on the trains ran from eight
to twelve years. A dog sledge would carry about 400 pounds.
A gaily caparisoned sledge, neatly harnessed dogs covered with
bells hurrying across the pathless, snowy wastes of the plains or
over the ice, going at the rate of forty or more miles a day, was
not an unusual sight in the Red River Valley. At night the
party, with their sledges, camped in the shelter of a clump of
trees or bushes and built their campfire, then each in his blankets,
often joined by the favorite dog as a companion for heat, sought
rest for the night, with the thermometer often forty degrees
below zero.
The travois was used by the early traders in the Far AVest
for transporting burdens long distances. The travois spoken of
by Captain Henry consisted of two stout poles fastened together
over the back of the horse, with their lower ends dragging on the
ground. It could be used for transporting about 400 pounds,
or a woman and two or three children. The travois was the
product of the needs of the prairie, and was an Indian mode of
conveyance on land.
Under the regime established by Governor Simpson, the great
winter event at Red River was the leaving of the northwest
packet about December 10th. By this agency every post in the
northern department was reached by sledges and snow shoes.
A box with the important missives was fastened on the back
of the sledge. One packet ran from Fort Garry to Norway
House, a distance of 350 miles. At this point another packet
ran eastward to Hudson Bay, while still another ran from the
THE RIVER CART 337
Norway House up the Saskatchewan to the western and northern
forts.
The runners on these packets underwent great exposures,
but they were fleet and athletic and knew how to protect them-
selves in storm and danger. The Red River cart made its appear-
ance in 1801. The wheels were large, being five feet in diameter
and three inches thick. The felloes were fastened to one another
by tongues of wood; the hubs were thick and strong; every part
of the vehicle being made of wood — axles, wheels, even the truck
pins — no iron whatever being used. It was a two-wheeled
vehicle, with a box frame tightened by wooden pegs and fastened
by pegs poised on the axle. The price of a cart in Red River of
old was two pounds.
The carts were drawn by single ponies, or in some cases by
stalwart oxen. These oxen were harnessed and wore a collar.
Heavily freighted carts made a journey of about twenty miles a
day. The Indian pony, with a load of 400 or 500 pounds behind
him would go at a measured jog trot of fifty or sixty miles a
day. A train of carts of great length was sometimes made to go
upon long expeditions. A brigade consisting of ten carts was
placed under the charge of three men. Five or six brigades were
joined in one train, and this was placed under the charge of a
guide, who was vested with great authority and rode horseback.
At one time a train of 500 carts left St. Paul laden with goods
for the Canadian Northwest. One of the most notable cart trails
was that from Fort Garry to St. Paul, Minnesota. On the west
side of the river the road was excellent, through Dakota territory
for some 250 miles, and then, by crossing the Red River into
Minnesota, the road led for 200 miles down to St. Paul. At the
period when the Sioux Indians were in revolt and the massacre
of the whites took place in 1862, this route was dangerous, and
the road, though not so smooth and not so dry, was followed on
the east side of the Red River.
Every season about 300 carts, employing about 100 men,
started from Fort Garry for St Paul, or in later times to St.
Cloud. The visit of these bands coming with their wooden carts
and harnessed oxen, bringing huge bales of precious furs, always
338 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
awakened great interest. At Fort Garry was a wide camping
ground for traders. It was a sight to be remembered to see some
of those trains get started. Sometimes they lingered day after
day before going. But finally, after much leavetaking, the great
train would start. Then the hurry of women and children, the
multitude of dogs, the balky horses, the restless ponies, as well
as the gaily caparisoned ones, made that occasion a picturesque
one ; and then the creaking of the wooden axles began, each cart
contributing its share, that could be heard by those left behind
until they had gotten a mile away.
One time a train of 500 carts left St. Paul laden with goods
for the Canadian Northwest.
Following the travois and the Red River cart came the stage
and the transportation companies. There was no mail route
from North Dakota to Winnipeg then, or Fort Garry prior to
1871. But in the spring of that year the stage route was extended
from Georgetown to Winnipeg. Captain Russell Blakely, of St.
Paul, having been given a contract to run a mail coach, ran the
first stage into Winnipeg September 11, 1871. In 1878, a railroad
having been built into Winnipeg, the stage and transportation
company transferred its line to Bismarck.
CHAPTER XV.
BOATING ON THE RED RIVER.
The Red River of the North is neither wide nor deep, but
navigable from Wahpeton to its mouth. It is 186 miles from
Wahpeton to the international boundary line, but the river is
so crooked a boat travels nearly 400 miles in going that distance.
At its ordinary stage the river at Wahpeton is 943 feet above sea
level; the altitude of Lake Winnipeg is 710 feet, hence the falls
of the navigable part of the river is 233 feet. The range between
extreme high and low water is as follows: Wahpeton, 15 feet;
Fargo, 32 feet ; Belmont, 50 feet ; Grand Forks, 44 feet ; Pembina,
40 'feet, and at Winnipeg, 39 feet. The maximum point of
extreme high water is at Belmont, because of the narrow channel
of the river between high banks. The years in which extra-
ordinary floods have occurred in Red River and been recorded
are those of 1826, 1852, 1860, 1861, 1862 and 1897.
Appropriations in the interests of navigation on the Red River
were begun in 1876. The first boat on the Red River was the
Anson Northrup. Originally it was the North Star and did
service on the Mississippi river. It was bought by Anson
Northrup, taken up the river and laid up at Crow Wing. In the
winter of 1859 it was overhauled and lumber and machinery were
transported across to Lafayette at the mouth of the Cheyenne.
Thirty-four teams were employed in this hauling. When the
work was completed the boat was launched and christened the
Anson Northrup. On May 17, 1859, it left for Fort Garry, now
Winnipeg, and arrived at the latter place June 5, 1859. After
her return to Abercrombie with twenty passengers, Captain
Blakely was coolly informed that as the boat had earned the
339
340 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
bonus of $2,000, the amount offered by the Chamber of Commerce
of St. Paul to the first boat to navigate those waters, they could
buy it, as there was no money in running it. She was afterwards
purchased by J. C. Burbank for the Minnesota Company.
In 1898 Nicholas Huffman, one of the pioneer settlers of the
Red River . Valley, read a paper at the old settlers meeting in
which he said :
"There was an old steamboat lying in the Minnesota river,
six miles below Big Stone lake, which was intended to come over
into the Red River in 1857. There was a big flood in the Minne-
sota river and Captain John B. Davis thought he could run the
Freighter — for that was the name of the boat — into the Red
River, but the waters went down and the boat was left stranded.
The boat was sold at sheriff's sale and was bought by J. C.
Burbank, of the stage company. There was a Welshman left in
charge of the boat, and here he stayed nearly four years away
from wife and children, with nothing to eat only what he could
hunt or fish.
"In the fall of 1860 we took a lot of teams, wagons and tools,
under orders from Burbank, and took the boat to pieces and
brought it to Georgetown. We found the boat and the little
Welshman all right. His hair had over three years' growth and
his whiskers were long. You may be sure his clothes were not
of the latest fashion or in first-class condition. Coffee sacks,
window curtains, etc., had been used to keep him covered. We
divided up our clothes with him, but they were not good fits, as
he was so small.
"A second trip was necessary for the machinery. There were
two big boilers, but we brought them safely to Georgetown, where
the boat was rebuilt. We did not reach Georgetown till after
Christmas with the last load, and the weather was very cold.
The water was bad and the men suffered a great deal."
The Minnesota Company mentioned above was the result of
the mail contract letting in 1858, and was organized by J. C.
Burbank, Russell Blakely and others. They had the contracts
for carrying the mail from St. Paul to Fort Abercrombie and
other northwestern points. They proposed to open roads and put
BOATING ON THE EED RIVER 341
on stages to run from St. Cloud via Cold Springs, New Munich,
Melrose, Winnebago Crossing, Sauk Rapids, Mendota, Osakis,
Alexandria, Dayton and Breckenridge, to Fort Abercrombie.
The party left St. Cloud in June, 1859, to open this route. Accom-
panying the expedition, besides teamsters, bridge builders, station
keepers and laborers, were Misses Elenora and Christiana Sterling,
from Scotland; Sir Francis Sykes and others. Northrup having
refused to operate the steamboat, those bound for the north,
including the baronet and the ladies, caused to be built a flatboat
at Abercrombie, and they went down the river in it to Fort
Garry. George "W. Northrup was in charge of this, one of the
first boats of the Red River.
Captain Alexander Griggs, the "Father of Grand Forks,"
was engaged in navigation throughout the Red River district,
and was identified with the financial growth of the city of Grand
Forks and vicinity.
He was born at Marietta, Ohio, in October, 1838, and was a
son of William and Esther (McGibbon) Griggs. He removed
with his parents to St. Paul, Minn., when a boy, and later his
family removed to Grand Forks, where his parents died. He was
reared and educated in St. Paul, and at an early age began
running on the boats of the Mississippi river, and at the age of
twenty years was given command of a boat. He continued there
until 1870, and then, in company with others, went up the Red
River to Fargo with a view of establishing a line of boats, and
during that year the Hill, Griggs & Company Navigation Com-
pany was formed. In 1871 Mr. Griggs went to where Grand
Forks is now located, and he entered a claim to the land on which
the old town is located, and named the place Grank Forks on
account of the junction of the two rivers. He continued to
operate a line of boats between Grand Forks and Winnipeg for
many years and continued in command until 1890. He was
always active in the upbuilding of the town of Grand Forks,
and was one of the founders of the Second National bank, of
which institution we has president for many years. He also
acted in the capacity of president of the First National bank of
East Grand Forks for some years, and established the gas works
342 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
in company with William Budge, and was also a large owner
in the Grand Forks roller mill. He served as railroad commis-
sioner for some years, and was the third postmaster of Grand
Forks and was mayor of the city. He assisted in building the
two bridges across the river, and by his hearty support and
influence endeared himself to the people as a man of active
public spirit. In December, 1892, Mr. Griggs left Grand Forks
on account of failing health, and afterward engaged in boating
on the Upper Columbia river.
Captain Griggs married December 27, 1865, in Minnesota, to
Miss Ettie I. Strong, a native of Brooklyn. Eight children,
seven of whom are now living, have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Griggs, named as follows : Lois, now Mrs. W. H. Pringle ; Ansel ;
Jennie; Esther; Bruce; James and Clifford. Captain Griggs
moved his family to the state of Washington, where he died.
Captain Charles B. Thimens, at one time superintendent of
the waterworks at Fargo, was an old steamboat captain on the
Red River for many years.
In the fall of 1851 Mr. Thimens landed in St. Paul, Minn.,
and soon began lumbering on the Rum river. Later he turned
his attention to steamboating on the Mississippi and Minnesota
rivers and followed that pursuit for thirty years, becoming pilot
and captain, and also part owner of vessels for several years.
For five years he was in the quartermaster's department during
the Civil War, carrying troops and supplies up and down the
river. In 1874 he went to Moorehead, Minn., and took charge of
a boat for the Red River Transportation Company, running
between Moorehead and Winnipeg, Manitoba, for fourteen years.
He was next connected with the Grandin line of boats, carrying
grain to Fargo and Moorehead, and remained with that company
until 1893. In 1882 he took up his residence in Fargo, where he
has since continued to make his home.
Captain Thimens was in charge of the Freighter on the
Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. This boat was sold to the
Hudson Bay Company and her machinery was put into the
International, built at Georgetown in 1860. The International
was successfully run on the Red River for many years. In 1871
DAVID BEECHER
BOATING ON THE RED BIVEPi 343
the Selkirk was built at McCauleyville by Captain Alexander
Griggs and James J. Hill. She was operated for general traffic,
while the International had been operated by and for the Hudson
Bay Company. In 1872 the two lines were consolidated and run
under one management. The company was styled the Red River
Transportation Company and they built the Cheyenne and Dakota
at Grand Forks and the Alpha at McCauleyville. Captain M.
L. McCormack was interested in the latter. In 1875 the mer-
chants at Winnipeg built the Minnesota and Manitoba at Moore-
head under the management of James Douglas, the old time
Moorehead postmaster and merchant. One of them sunk and
soon passed into the hands of the other company. As an oppo-
sition line they were a failure. The next was the Grandin, built
at Fargo, together with a line of barges which hauled wheat from
the Grandin farm to the railroad at Fargo. The Alsip brothers
built the Pluck on the Mississippi and brought her over on the
cars from Brainerd, and in 1881 they built the Alsip. They also
built a number of barges and boats and operated them from
Fargo until 1885 or 1886.
The valley of the Red River has been very fertile, supplying
sufficient produce for freight on boats. During the years of steam-
boating the whole of North Dakota was in one county — Pembina.
In the year 1871 the Selkirk and one barge did the whole business,
which amounted to 150 tons. In the year 1874 they had 10,000
tons. In the second year they employed three steamers instead
of one, and in the fourth year seven steamboats and twenty
barges. In 1882 the amount of freight that was shipped on the
river from Pembina to Fargo was 63,303,673 pounds, while mil-
lions of feet of logs were annually run down the river to Grand
Forks.
A Ballad of the Red.
Patrick H. Donohue, of Grant Forks, an old riverman, has a
decided talent for versification. The following ballad was com-
posed by him and it will commend itself to the general reader by
its pleasing jingle, and to the old timer by its allusions to scenes
and incidents once familiar, but rapidly being forgotten :
344 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Now again 'tis lovely May, by the riverside I stray,
And the song birds sing around and overhead,
And I watch the river flow as I did long years ago
When the Selkirk in her glory sailed the Red.
As I watch the river flow, I think on the long ago
When each pioneer was granted a homestead
In the land so bright and new, in the land so fair to view
In the valley of the famous River Red.
Then the Selkirk in her prime, on the river made good time
And her passengers admired her as she sped
Through the valley bright and new, through the valley fair to
view
On the bosom of the famous River Red.
Fancy hears the tinkle ting of her bells as they would ring
For to start or stop or back or come ahead,
And the sounding of her gong, as they steamed her extra strong
Through the waters of the famous River Red.
And now it comes to mind, how each woodpile they would find
And load up enough to keep her furnace fed
As she sailed from side to side down or up the ruby tide
Landing pioneer along the River Red.
Men of fame and high renown, on the Selkirk then sailed down
To find out its great resources they were led
That they might see and write, of the fertile vale so bright,
Lovely valley, flowery valley, River Red.
Now to you I will relate, 'twas in Minnesota state
That they built the Selkirk near the river bed.
It was at McCauleyville, just below the old saw mill,
That they built and launched the Selkirk on the Red.
But the Selkirk is no more, for upon Dakota's shore
She was wrecked and never more can come ahead.
BOATING ON THE KED EIVEE 345
But some relics of her still lie near a murmuring rill
In the willows by the famous River Red.
She will never sail again, for the ice cut her in twain,
And no more upon her decks can old friends tread
As they trod in days of yore, as she sailed from shore to shore,
Landing pioneers along the River Red.
I recall to mind today, some old friends who went away,
Pioneers who went where bounden duty led,
Friends who came here to reside, when the Selkirk in her pride
Towed her barges filled with grain upon the Red.
Friends are leaving one by one, pioneers have gone,
Some have gone to other lands and some are dead,
Some of them are laid to rest, in the East, North, South and West,
And some others rest beside the peaceful Red.
Then, good-bye old friends, good-bye, for the dear old days we
sigh,
And live o'er again some youthful years now fled,
And we'll often call to mind, happy days we left behind
In the valley of the famous River Red.
As I muse and watch the stream, here and there a fish doth gleam,
And the song birds sing around and overhead,
And I watch the river flow, as I did long years ago,
When the Selkirk in her glory sailed the Red.
Grand Forks. — P. H. Donohue.
CHAPTER XVI.
RAILROADS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
The Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern, and other
lines for the transportation of the products of this portion of the
state of North Dakota, have been the forerunners of the settle-
ment of the Red River valley. The transportation problem, by
the incoming of these roads, settled the question as to the advis-
ability of farmers locating in the state, and to the foresight and
public spirit of James J. Hill and others, who paved the way for
a commonwealth by the building of these roads, all honor is due.
The six or seven hundred thousand people of North Dakota
could hardly depend upon the dog sledge and the travoise of
former times, especially when it is an undisputed fact that the
freight trains of these railroads are the longest and carry the
heaviest burdens of any trains in the world. Between 1846 and
3865 many thousands of Red River carts were engaged largely
in the transportation of the furs and buffalo hides which consti-
tuted the chief products of North Dakota to St. Paul. The
navigation of the Red River began in 1859, and as many as a
dozen steamboats were engaged in the traffic, but with the advent
of the railroads the steamboat trade fell off rapidly. And the
stage lines did a large business also in the valley until supplanted
by the railroads.
The Northern Pacific Railroad.
Dr. Hartwell Carver was the person who first conceived
and publicly advocated building a railway across the American
continent. The first suggestion of a railroad across the Rocky
mountains occurred to him while in Europe in 1832, while cross-
346
EAILEOADS OF THE EED KIVEll VALLEY 347
ing the Alps on the Simplon road built by Napoleon. But it was
not until the year 1845 when Asa Whitney began to direct public
attention to the project that any interest in the matter was
taken. In 1854 Edwin F. Johnson, of Middletown, Connecticut,
published a book with a map advocating the claim of the northern
route to the Pacific.
The public mind having persistently urged the necessity of
such a national highway, congress passed the act of March 3,
1853, which directed that the secretary of war should cause to be
surveyed by an army of engineers the western country to ascer-
tain the most practical route from the Mississippi river to the
Pacific ocean. Jefferson Davis was the secretary of war, and he
designated the several chiefs charged with the survey. These
surveys were all successfully conducted except that under Captain
Gunnison on the line of the thirty-eighth parallel. He, together
with thirteen of his men, were massacred by the Indians in
October, 1853.
The northern route was in charge of Governor I. I. Stevens, of
Washington territory. Among his assistants were Lieutenant
George B. McClellan, and Captain John Pope. While Governor
Stevens' survey proved this route feasible, Secretary Davis,
however, was not disposed to give the northern route the chance
its merits demanded.
The people of Minnesota and the citizens of St. Paul became
advocates of the Northern Pacific route and on July 10, 1857,
held a meeting advocating the necessity of building a road over
that line. On July 21, 1864, Abraham Lincoln signed the charter
granting the building of the road. Joseph Perham was the first
president of the Northern Pacific. In 1866, J. Gregory Smith, of
Vermont, became president. In 1869 Jay Cooke & Co., of Phila-
delphia, took the financial agency, and on Thursday, the 18th of
September, 1873, the banking house of this company closed its
doors. The foreclosure found this company in the fall of 1873
in the possession of about 550 miles of completed railroad. Of
these 350 extended from Duluth to Bismarck, and on the Pacific
division 105 miles extended from Kalama, on fhe Columbia river,
to Tacoma, on Puget Sound. It had earned 10.000,000 acres of
348 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
land. But the Cooke failure having overtaken them the paralysis
of the enterprise was made complete.
George W. Cass now became president, and another appeal
was made to congress, May, 1874, but the appeal was in vain.
On the 16th of April, 1875, the United States Court of New
York appointed a receiver of the Northern Pacific Railroad
Company and on the 12th of May the trustees and bondholders
applied for a final decree of sale, which was granted. Charles
B. Wright was president in 1877, and in the year 1878 wheat
farming in Central Dakota had become very active and profitable.
The five successive harvests along the line of the road encouraged
the work of construction, which had been suspended for six
years.
After the fall of Jay Cooke & Co. an epoch memorable in
the history of the Northern Pacific followed. Frederick Billings
had become president of the company and under his administra-
tion the public had resumed faith in the enterprise. A sale of the
road was made by him to a syndicate consisting of Drexel,
Morgan & Co., Winslow Lanier & Co., and August Belmont & Co.,
of $40,000,000 of general first mortgage bonds. The hand of
Henry Villard soon after this became a power in the destiny of
the road. Villard becoming alarmed at the purposes of the
Northern Pacific Company to extend their road to Portland, on
the north side of the Columbia river, and thus crowd out his
railroad interests on the Pacific coast, conceived the idea of
buying out a controlling interest in the great road, and with
this end in view organized the celebrated "blind pool," in which
daring scheme his friends were asked to place millions of money
in his hands for an unknown purpose. Confidence being the only
basis for the transaction, no receipt for money was given. When
the Villard combination had secured control of the Northern
Pacific, Mr. Oakes, president of the Consolidated Railway &
Navigation Companies in Oregon (companies endangered by the
success of the Northern Pacific), was made vice president and
executive manager, and to his ability we are indebted for the
marvelous rapidity with which the last 800 miles of the Northern
Pacific was completed.
RAILBOADS OF THE BED EIVEIi VALLEY 349
Villard and Oakes now became the financiers and the execu-
tive managers of all the lines in Washington and Oregon and of
the Northern Pacific besides. They now became the head of all
these combinations and they furnished means to build branches,
which the Northern Pacific, under the charter, had not the power
to do, and thus prevent the encroachment of rival lines. To
Villard belongs the honor of completing an enterprise equal to
one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The total length of the
main line of the Northern Pacific from Duluth to Puget Sound,
is about 2,000 miles. Its total cost was over $100,000,000. The
road has many important connections and branches in North
Dakota. Among these are the Red River and Winnepeg branch
from the state line to the international boundary line, with a
length of ninety-six miles; Fargo and Southwestern Fargo to
Edgerly, 108 miles ; branch from Jamestown to La Moure, forty-
eight miles ; Valley Junction to Oakes, fifteen miles ; and, includ-
ing all the branches, the Northern Pacific has a trackage in
North Dakota of main line and branch lines, all told, of 786.01
miles.
The officers of the company at the present time are Howard
Elliott, president; James J. Hill, vice president; C. A. Clark,
treasurer.
In about 1886 the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Sainte Marie
railroad extended their Minnesota division across the boundary
line at Fairmont, Richland county, and constructed a line west-
ward to Ransom in Sargent county. In the '90s this same com-
pany constructed a road from Hankinson, Richland county, to
Portal, Ward county. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
road Company also built a branch from Ortonville, Minnesota,
to Fargo.
The Great Northern Railway.
In 1857 a land grant was made by Congress to the territory
of Minnesota to aid in the construction of a railroad from Still-
water by way of St. Paul to Big Stone Lake, with a branch line
to the navigable waters of the Red River via St. Cloud and Crow
Wing. The grant was for six sections of land for every mile of
350 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
road. The town of Breckenridge was designated as the terminus
of the main line and St. Vincent as the terminus of the branch.
After this the Minnesota & Pacific railroad was organized and the
line located, and to encourage the enterprise after Minnesota
was admitted as a state she issued bonds in aid of several railroad
enterprises, taking liens on the roads as security. The first road
built in the state was the St. Paul & Pacific railroad, between
St. Paul and St. Anthony, now Minneapolis, which was opened
to traffic in 1862. In 1866 this line was extended from St. Paul
to Elk River, thirty miles distant, and, in 1866, it was further
extended to Sauk Rapids.
About this time Mr. James J. Hill, then the St. Paul repre-
sentative of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad, also the owner of
the Red River Transportation Company, became very much
impressed with the importance of the commercial future of the
Northwest. In conjunction with N. "W. Kittson, another of the
pioneers of the transportation business in North Dakota, plans
were formed for the purchase of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad
and the reorganization of the Railroad Company, later the Great
Northern, was completed May 23, 1879, under the name of St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railroad, and that was the begin-
ning of an era of development, progress and prosperity unpar-
alleled in the United States.
George Stevens, of Montreal, was the first president of the
new company, but in 1882 he was succeeded by James J. Hill,
who has held the position until a few months ago, when he was
elected chairman of the board of directors, being succeeded as
president by Mr. L. W. Hill.
The line down the east side of the Red River was known as
the St. Vincent extension, and was extended to a connection
with the Breckenridge line at Barnesville in 1877, and to the
Canadian border in 1879, connecting there with the Canadian
Pacific. The line between Barnesville and Melrose was completed
to the Red River during the same year. The bridge was built
during the winter and in January, 1880, Grand Forks was con-
nected with the outer world by rail and North Dakota has its
second road. In 1880 the line was extended west to Ojata,
BAILBOADS OF THE EED 1UVER VALLEY 351
twelve miles, and south to Hillsboro. In July, 1880, the road
crossed the Red River at Wahpeton, and was built north to Fargo.
In May, 1881, Fargo and Grand Forks were connected by rail,
and in December, 1881, the line north from Grand Forks was
opened to Grafton. The west line was also extended to Larimore.
In 1882 the north line was extended to Neche, and the west line
to Bartlett.
Soon after this Mr. Hill's magnificent project of extending
the road to the Pacific Coast took shape. The great undertaking
reached Minot in 1886, and the western boundary of the state
in 1887.
The Great Northern now has a total trackage of over 1,200
miles within the state of North Dakota. In 1882 the road had
1,007 miles of track, and in May, 1907, over 6,500 miles of track
were being operated. Within the past few years the Great
Northern has placed in service several fine passenger trains,
notably the Winnipeg Limited and the Oriental Limited. The
Winnipeg Limited is in daily service between the Twin Cities
and Winnipeg. The compartment observation car, standard
sleepers and coaches and dining car are the very best cars
builders produce.
The Oriental Limited is a daily train between St. Paul, Min-
neapolis, and Spokane and Seattle, with connections for all
Puget Sound points. The splendid equipment used in this train
place it in the front rank of the famous trains of the world.
The depots at Grand Forks and Fargo for the Great Northern
are the finest between St. Paul and the city of Spokane, while
the yards of the company at Grank Forks are the largest and
most complete on its system outside of its terminals.
The North Dakota Magazine says : ' ' Following the grant of
land to the three Pacific railroads, congress granted to the state
of Minnesota ten sections of land per mile to aid in the construc-
tion of certain lines of railroad in that state including the main
lines of the Great Northern railroad. The state had also granted
certain swamp lands and a subsidy in bonds to aid in the con-
struction. After the construction of the main line to Brecken-
ridge, which it reached in October, 1871, beating the Northern
352 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Pacific in the race for the Red River valley by two and a half
months, and the construction of the St. Cloud line to Sauk
Rapids, which it reached in 1865, the road became bankrupt and
the road passed into the control of a syndicate organized by
James J. Hill, to whom the grant was finally transferred by the
state of Minnesota. The construction of the St. Cloud line was
commenced in 1862, when ten miles was built from St. Paul to
Minneapolis, and it was completed to Sauk Rapids in 1865. The
Breckenridge line was commenced in 1867 and was completed, as
stated, to Breckenridge in October, 1871. The St. Cloud line was
extended from Barnesville to Fisher's Landing in 1877, and
December 2, 1878, the track layers joined the rails of the Cana-
dian Pacific, giving a through line to Winnipeg, the connection
having been made from Breckenridge to Barnesville. In 1880 the
road was extended from Crookston to Grand Forks, and from
thence on west to the Pacific Coast by successive stages. This
system was at first known as the St. Paul & Pacific, then as the
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, taking its present name, The
Great Northern, in 1890.
"The land grant of the Northern Pacific doubled when the
road crossed the Red River; that of the Great Northern ceased
when the road left the limits of Minnesota. The Northern
Pacific pushed rapidly westward, relying upon its through traffic
to build up its business and take care of its bonded indebtedness ;
the Great Northern relied upon the resources of the country,
building spurs and branch lines, reaching out for business, send-
ing out agents to bring in people to possess the land. Practically
all of the lands along its line were free lands, while half of the
lands along the Northern Pacific were not subject to homestead
entry. In the early days the Northern Pacific was built and
operated with reckless extravagance; the Great Northern was
noted from the beginning for its economical administration and
since its management passed into the hands of James J. Hill,
who developed and built up its several systems, it has had no
set back of any nature, and today the stocks of that company
are quoted higher than any other stocks of any class on the
market, the New York quotation being for Saturday, November
EAILEOADS OF THE RED EIVEE VALLEY 353
10, 1906, 322V2 ; m railroad stocks the Northern Pacific stood
next, at 220, higher than any other, excepting the Great Northern
alone. The Northern Pacific has done much for the development
of the country through which it passes; the Great Northern has
done more.
"The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie railroad, more
familiarly known as the "Soo," has also done much for the
development of North Dakota. Its lines, too, were extended
without a bonus and without a land grant, and are being pushed
in competition with the Great Northern to almost all parts of the
state. They have been extended through the southern part to the
capital and on north to the coal fields, and from the southeastern
portion diagonally across the state, and from the east to the
western part through the northern counties, entering upon a
rivalry with the Great Northern, born of the rivalry which has
always existed between St. Paul and Minneapolis, the leading
spirits of the Soo residing at Minneapolis, while the home of
James J. Hill is -at St. Paul, where he began life as a humble
clerk.
"The Chicago & Northwestern railroad enters the state at
Oakes. What it may do in the way of development remains to be
seen. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul has a line to Fargo,
and also enters the state at Ellendale, passing on northward
toward the Northern Pacific, which it is likely to cross in Stuts-
man county and again in Burleigh, the latter line being an
extension from Eureka in South Dakota. It will also enter the
southwestern part of the state, passing through Hettinger and
Bowman counties."
This sketch is hardly complete without some notice being
made of the large steamers, Dakota and Minnesota, built in 1879,
that plied between Seattle and the Old World. It was Mr. Hill's
purpose to seek customers for our food products across the
ocean, and his ambition was to carry flour from Minneapolis to
Hong Kong for forty cents a hundred, when the rate from Minne-
apolis to New York was twenty-five cents. In this connection
we can do no better than make a clipping from the Grand
Forks Silver Anniversary Edition, published in 1879, and that
354 HISTORY OF RED RIVER V ALLEY
we may better understand something more definite about the
comprehensive plans for the development of the Northwest at
the risk of commerce, by the projection of this great enterprise
whose spirit went beyond mere personal gain. A few words
will also be inserted about Mr. Hill himself. This article when
speaking of this railroad magnate when beginning in business,
says:
"H. P. Hall, the veteran newspaper man of St. Paul, says
that when he first came to St. Paul James J. Hill was one of the
characters on the levee, where he was employed as a check clerk
by a firm of warehouse men at a salary of $60 per month. His
duty was checking freight from the manifest of the steamboats
as the roustabouts brought it from the boats for storage in the
warehouse. When the first railroad started in St. Paul, the old
St. Paul Pacific, Mr. Hill became the station agent, under con-
tract to handle all the traffic at so much per ton. Then when the
railroad was extended north to the big woods country Mr. Hill
made an exclusive contract with the railroad by which he alone
could bring wood into the city at a given rate per cord. Wood
was the only fuel to be secured there at that time. He made his
prices reasonable and was soon doing a large wood business and
later engaged in general warehouse business, and from that into
the steamboat business on the Red River. From that to the
railroad business.
Launching the Dakota.
The launching of the steamship Dakota in February last at
New London, Conn., was an event of more than ordinary interest
to the people of North Dakota and of the entire northwest. The
Dakota is the second of the two great steamships, the largest in
the world in carrying capacity, building for the Great Northern
Steamship Company. These great ships are the outcome of a
project of James J. Hill for carrying the products of the north-
western states to Japanese and Chinese markets, and within a
few months the Dakota and her sister ship, the Minnesota, now
Hearing completion, will be engaged in Pacific ocean traffic.
By invitation of President Hill a party of northwestern people
EAILEOADS OF THE EED EIVBB VALLEY 355
attended the launching, and Miss Mary Bell Memington, repre-
senting the University of North Dakota, christened the majestic
craft as it took its first plunge into its native element. The
editor-in-chief of The Herald was included in the party attending
the ceremony. Two Great Northern sleepers were attached to a
Burlington train which left St. Paul on the evening of Feb-
ruary 3, bound for Chicago, under the charge of C. E. Stone,
assistant general passenger agent of the Great Northern Railway,
and containing the guests of President Hill.
The party reached New York Friday evening and early Sat-
urday morning took a special train provided by President Mellen
of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, for New Lon-
don. The train consisted of ten coaches, all filled with guests of
President Hill, including the North Dakota delegation at Wash-
ington and others to the number of several hundred. ' '
The following sketch by The Herald fully describes these
boats :
' ' The Dakota and Minnesota are each 630 feet long, or nearly
an eighth of a mile, and 73 feet 6 inches beam. They have five
complete decks the whole length of the ships and three passenger
decks above in the superstructure. To transport a full cargo of
one of these ships 2,500 freight and passenger cars of ordinary
size would be required, or 125 trains of twenty cars each. They
will carry provisions for 1,500 people for a month and 5,000 tons
of coal. The height from the keel to the navigating deck is 88
feet, or equal to a seven or eight story building. The ships will
have all improvements that modern science can suggest. They
will be electrically lighted and heated and their cargoes will be
handled by electric power. Their engines will have an indicated
horsepower of 4,800 each with a steam pressure of 230 pounds.
The smokestacks are elliptical in shape, 16x13 feet, and 124 feet
high. The ships will have complete refrigerating and ice-making
plants of large capacity. The Minnesota is now rapidly nearing
completion and the Dakota is to be ready this winter to make
her first journey of many thousand miles around Cape Horn to
Seattle, and thence to engage in commerce with the orient."
CHAPTER XVII.
HARVESTING MACHINES IN RED RIVER VALLEY.
The introduction of the mower and reaper into the Dakota
territory, particularly the Red River valley of the North, dates
back to about as early a period as we have any authentic record
of settlers in that country. Fort Abercrombie was located at the
head of the Red River in what is now Richland county, North
Dakota. There was a settlement at that point as far back as the
early '60s under the protection of this fort. These farmers, in
addition to cultivating a small area of land, put up hay under
contract for the government. About this time there were some
scattering settlers in the Red River valley near the Canadian
line. The Hudson Bay Fur Company purchased mowing machines
in St. Paul and sold them to these settlers. The machines were
hauled overland by wagon trains to the head of the Red River
valley, and were taken north by boat down the river to the fur
company's post.
After the Northern Pacific railroad was completed to Fargo,
many settlers commenced to flock to what is now the Red River
valley. This was in the late '60s and early '70s. Many of these
settlers took mowers and reapers with them, while others pur-
chased machines in St. Paul, which point at that time was the
general headquarters for machine companies in the West, As
the settlers commenced to cultivate farms and open new lands
in the Red River valley, and as emigrants began to flock in at a
pretty lively rate, many representatives of the several mowing
and reaping machine companies invaded this territory and estab-
lished agencies throughout the Red River valley. During this
period the different companies operated from St. Paul and Min-
356
HARVESTING MACHINES 357
neapolis, but later as the trade grew and the demand for machines
became greater, several of the reaping and mowing machine com-
panies established headquarters in Fargo, Grand Forks and
other points in the valley.
During the period from 1875 to 1881, North Dakota enjoyed
an enormous influx of farmer emigrants who made the raising
of wheat a specialty, and this, of course, developed a very large
demand for both grain and grass cutting machines. Before this
time there was a small settlement of farmers in the vicinity of
Fort Totten, which is located near Devil's lake. These settlers
went in there a little later than those around Fort Abercrombie.
The farming operations there were carried on very much the
same as those in the vicinity of Fort Abercrombie — the farmers
used mowing machines and put up hay for the military post.
These machines were also purchased in St. Paul and hauled over-
land by wagons. In 1879 several of the different harvesting
machine companies, some of which comprise the present Inter-
national Harvester Company of America, opened branch houses
in Fargo, some locating their branches at Grand Forks in order
to place their stock of extras and machines near the settlements,
and the machine trade was worked from these points.
After the passing of the self-rake reaper, such of the several
harvesting machine companies as manufactured wire binders
and harvesters sold that class of machines and enjoyed a large
trade. Later the twine binder replaced both the reaper and the
wire binder, as well as the old hand harvester. Some of the prin-
cipal companies that now comprise the International Company
had branch houses at Fargo and Grand Forks, and they were all
located there as early as 1883, or 1884, with general agencies that
worked the trade through the Red River valley, and as far west
in Dakota as there were settlers to be found. In 1879 there were
four or five regularly established local agencies as far west as
Bismarck, which was then the terminus of the Northern Pacific
railroad. Indeed, it may be said that there was more activity in
the binder and mower business in the Red River valley at that
time than there has been at any time since. In those days the
farmers devoted unusually large areas to the growing of small
358 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
grain crops, and, naturally, there was a very large demand for
harvesting machines.
As early as 1880 all the harvesting companies that have been
merged into the International Company, except the Piano Com-
pany, maintained regularly established branch houses in either
Fargo or Grand Forks. The Piano company was represented
later. In other words, the Champion, Deering, McCormick, Mil-
waukee, Osborne and Piano machines made possible the develop-
ment of the northwest country. These machines were improved
with the development of the Red River valley.
This great valley is the birthplace of many of the more impor-
tant improvements that have been made on agricultural machines
during the last quarter of a century. It is here that the manu-
facturers sent their new machines for field trials, because they
knew full well that if a machine would work successfully under
the varying conditions to be found here it would work success-
fully anywhere. One improvement suggested another, and not
infrequently unusual conditions were encountered that necessi-
tated an entirely new machine or implement. In this way the
whole varied line of modern agricultural machines and imple-
ments was gradually developed and perfected. Few realize how
extensive the modern requirements of the North Dakota agricul-
turist have grown to be in the line of machines and implements.
In addition to the binders and mowers already referred to, the
Red River valley agriculturist today cannot carry on his farming
operations without headers, header-binders, hay tedders, self-
dump hay rakes, sweep rakes, hay loaders, hay stackers, hay
balers, feed grinders, cream separators, gasoline engines, manure
spreaders, wagons, threshing machines, tillage implements, and
binder twine, all of which this company is supplying.
The development of this line of machines has brought about a
consequent development of means to care for the distribution of
them, and at Grand Forks and Fargo there have been erected
immense brick warehouses of modern construction of sufficient
capacity to house thousands of these machines and accessories to
supply the demand for quick shipment to the hundreds of
agencies throughout this district. These permanently constructed
TREADWELL TWICHELL
HARVESTING MACHINES 359
buildings are a credit to the company as well as an ornament
James J. Hill is at St. Paul, where he began life as a humble
to the state and cities in which they are located, and enable the
company to keep on hand at all times to supply the needs of the
farmers duplicates of every part of the machines, which consti-
tutes a very great saving of time in making repairs when a break-
age from any cause occurs in the harvest or hay field or any
other field of operation.
This development has not only extended to the Red River
valley but the company has opened and is maintaining immense
warehouses and general agencies at Minot, Bismarck and other
points in the state, and is giving employment to thousands of
men who are continuously reaching all industries in caring for
the very large trade that has developed.
Half a century ago this whole region was a howling wilder-
ness, but with indefatigable pluck and infinite skill the sturdy
sons of this valley have carved out an empire. Today North
Dakota has a population of nearly 500,000. There are approxi-
mately 50,000 farms, embracing 15,000,000 acres of land under
cultivation. In 1906 this state devoted some 5,000,000 acres to
growing wheat and produced 75,000,000 bushels of that cereal,
valued at upward of $52,000,000. In the same year some 50,000,-
000 bushels of oats, worth $10,000,000, were grown in the state.
The figures covering the hay crop are not available, but the value
of the hay crop in North Dakota is perhaps greater than that
of the wheat and oats crops combined.
The rapid settlement of the Missouri slope country, and the
successful gathering of their immense harvests, would have been
impossible without these improved machines. The great farms
where the furrow is plowed for miles and where the line of bind-
ers sweep across wheat fields embracing thousands of acres was
made possible by the use of these machines. The hay fields were
so large that means had to be found to handle the crop faster
and to better advantage. The several companies that now com-
prise the International company were quick to recognize the
needs of the agriculturists in this new country, and they blazed
the trail across the vast stretches of valley lands that was after-
wards followed by the railroads.
360 HISTOEY OF EED E1VER VALLEY
It is therefore not difficult to understand that the development
of the Eed Eiver valley, which is now North Dakota, is due in
no small measure to the several harvesting machine companies
that now comprise the International company. Their representa-
tives closely studied the requirements of the farmers and fur-
nished them grain and grass cutting machines so that it was
possible for them to harvest their crops. Indeed, it is not too
much to say that the Red Eiver valley could never have raised
and harvested such enormous crops, and this great valley would
never have become so famous in history as the bread basket of
the world, had it not been for the various harvesting machine
companies that supplied the binders and mowers to harvest the
crops. During the pioneer days the reaper moved civilization
westward at the rate of thirty miles a year, and it was the reaper
that enabled the early settlers of the great Eed Eiver valley to
achieve their industrial independence.
CHAPTER XVIII.
LUMBER AND TIMBER.
By
Thomas B. Walker.
North Dakota is one of the four large central states, of almost
entirely prairie lands, the other three comprising South Dakota,
Nebraska and Kansas, which are all practically untimbered ex-
cepting small areas of hardwood lands in Kansas and Nebraska,
which are now practically denuded, and a small area of pine in
the Black Hills of South Dakota. These four states, with portions
of Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota and a small portion of
Wisconsin and Indiana, constitute the great open prairie land
district of the central portion of the United States. This ex-
tensive territory covers an area of about 522,000 square miles of
rich agricultural land, subject to cultivation and abundant crops
without irrigation. Of this North Dakota covers an area of about
70,000 square miles. The easterly half of this consists mainly
of agricultural land, while the westerly half is largely a grazing
area, more or less of which is subject to cultivation. The Red
River valley, which bounds the state on its entire eastern bound-
ary, covers an area of nearly seven million acres, and consists
of some of the richest and most productive land in the world.
The state produces now nearly 10 per cent of the wheat and
oats and about 40 per cent of the flaxseed raised in the United
States. There is now under cultivation only about 16 per cent of
the entire area. When the state is developed as fully as it may
be expected in the course of the next twenty-five years there
should be under direct cultivation, exclusive of pasture lands
and timber culture land, 32 to 40 per cent of the entire area, ex-
361
362 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
elusive of hay and grazing land, which will probably bring the
total crop production up to two or three times what it is now pro-
ducing, exclusive of the large amounts of stock and dairy
products.
North Dakota, not having, a timber supply of its own, has
relied upon the pine lands of Minnesota and Wisconsin in large
part for its building timber. Its supply of hardwood for its fur-
niture, tools, implements and machinery made of hardwood has
come from that extensive tract embracing large parts of Texas,
Arkansas, Missouri, the southern part of Illinois, most of Ten-
nessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, portions of southern or central
Minnesota, and Wisconsin, southern Michigan and portions of
West Virginia, the western part of Pennsylvania, the west half
of Virginia, and the westerly portion of North Carolina.
This great hardwood timber tract, embracing an area of about
507,000 square miles or 324,000,000 acres, has furnished the sup-
ply of hardwood lumber for this country and is the foundation
of extensive manufactures of hardwood products that have gone
into foreign trade. But these lands, to the extent of more than
four-fifths, have been denuded of their timber. A very large
fractional part has been wasted and burned to clear the land in
order to reach the soil. The timber was an incumbrance which
has worn out in the most severe service countless multitudes of
industrious farmers, the first generation of whom, as early set-
tlers, devoted their lives to clearing away and getting the soil
ready for producing crops.
In this respect the timber has been far more of a drawback,
and made the early settlements less successful than in the prairie
area, where breaking the sod required much less work and time
than clearing up the timber lands. And when the prairie was
once broken the vast aggregate of old stumps that would take a
generation to remove were not an incumbrance as in the timber
lands.
The advantages from living amongst the hardwoods, as against
the prairie states, furnished an advantage in the way of logs out
of which to build the houses, stables and fences, and fuel. But
in general the farmers of the timber states were much slower in
gaining a comfortable home and abundant or sufficient means to
LUMBER AND TIMBEK 363
make them independent of debt and to supply them with the nec-
essaries, comforts, conveniences and even luxuries of life.
The prairie farmers have, to a very unusual extent, prospered
and become full handed, and are now really the principal bankers
who supply the money in the cities of the middle West, through
the agency of the country banks in which the farmers deposit
their large surplus of money. A large part of the money used in
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas
City is supplied by the small banks throughout these states, who
buy commercial paper and in this way are enabled to pay the
farmers interest on their deposits. The mortgages have been prac-
tically all paid and the farmers in large part freed from debts or
obligations, and have met with a prosperity such as has never in
the history of the world reached as extensive a class of cultivators
of the soil as here in the prairie states.
One of the principal things which led to the successful de-
velopment of these states was the very cheap lumber supply, both
of the pine and hardwood. But now the pine timber supply of
Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as Michigan, Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania is in large part ex-
hausted, there being perhaps not more than ten or fifteen per cent
of the original amount of timber now standing.
The southern pine has been only fractionally cut, but is be-
ing very rapidly consumed by the heavy demands of a constantly
increasing use of lumber and wood products.
This southern pine will probably furnish something of a sup-
ply for the main portion of the United States for the next fifteen
or twenty years, but during that time, the remaining pine and
hemlock of Minnesota and Wisconsin will afford a limited supply
for five or ten years.
The southern pine belt is so far distant from North Dakota
that after Minnesota and Wisconsin cease to be able to furnish
the supply, which will be but a few years, the Kocky Mountain
region, will be drawn upon for many years until that limited sup-
ply becomes exhausted. Then the Pacific Coast states — Wash-
ington, Oregon and California — will be drawn upon. These lat-
ter pine areas will be sufficient to furnish a reasonable supply
for probably twenty-five or thirty years, and if intelligent
364 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
methods are continued by the counties, states and general gov-
ernment in the handling of these mountain forest lands, a con-
tinued supply through re-foresting can be produced that will,
to some extent, furnish wood for supplying those needs that can-
not be met by other substitutes.
The remnant of the great hardwood forests will practically
disappear within the next very few years, and when this is ex-
hausted there is no western hardwood area as there is of the
pine, to continue the supply. So that this hardwood question is
one that is likely to be of as great importance as that of the
pine.
The resources for securing any further stock of hardwood
must be made by re-foresting both on the non-agricultural avail-
able lands throughout all the states, where a timber crop can be
grown, but also to cultivate and grow timber to more or less
extent on agricultural lands.
Timber is reproduced by slight drafts on the soil, but to large
extent upon the air and water, and in this way it is a renewal of
the soil and will tend to lengthen out the agricultural life of
farming lands that have been more or less exhausted or where
it is of poor quality for farming purposes.
And while in North Dakota the larger part of all the land can
be cultivated, yet a fractional part might as profitably be used
for producing timber for lumber, both as building material and
other purposes for which it is available and essential, as to at-
tempt to use it all for agricultural purposes.
The timber supply is becoming exhausted so rapidly, that
unless the states generally take up the question of re-foresting
and this without much further delay, it will become practically
impossible to obtain a sufficient supply to meet the absolute needs
in the way of lumber for building and for furniture, implements,
etc., independent of other very necessary uses for which wood is
now used. And this will come not only to be an inconvenience
but to bring so much less of the comforts and conveniences of
life, that living will be on a much lower scale than has prevailed
in the past. In fact, lumber is of far greater importance and a
more essential necessity than we are accustomed to realize. And
it now appears that while re-foresting and the production of a
LUMBER AND TIMBER 365
stock of lumber is much discussed by forestry associations and
presidential conferences and by newspapers and periodicals and
by congress and state legislatures — politicians and orators gen-
erally— practical forestry will not be entered upon with sufficient
energy and promptness by the general government, the states
and the farmers, in sufficient numbers to meet the imperative de-
mands of the comparatively near future. When the supply is so
far exhausted — ti.e needs so urgent — and it becomes understood
by the men who have surplus acres which they can devote to
raising timber that it can be produced with a good return for the
use of the land and the labor and expense devoted to this crop,
the raising of timber will be entered upon in a practical way, to
furnish, in the course of time, a limited supply.
There are two facts or features that will develop in the future
that will make the occupation of tree raising and lumber produc-
ing a profitable enterprise. Lumber will considerably increase
in price from now until the present stock is practically consumed.
This increased price of lumber will make forestry more profitable
in consequence of increased value of the lumber, and when the
further consideration is added — that lumber will be much more
economically manufactured whereby a log will be made to pro-
duce a much greater amount of lumber that will sell at a much
greater price — the two features will make timber culture and
lumber producing more profitable.
The processes whereby lumber will be so much more econom-
ically cut, will be the exceedingly thin veneer cutting saws, or
probably still more economical processes of using planing knives,
to cut the thin lumber without the waste of sawdust. These
thin veneers of lumber will be glued or cemented into a thicker
piece by placing two layers of the thin lumber parallel and an-
other one crossways between them, putting the better grade of
lumber on the outside and the commoner qualities inside and on
the bottom. These three thicknesses of lumber will not need to
make more than three-eighths of an inch, for what will be used
for ordinary boards. For such purposes as will require thicker
lumber, more layers of the thin lumber can be put together, mak-
ing for flooring enough to make a thickness of three-fourths of
an inch, putting the lower grade of lumber out of sight, and
366 HISTOKY OF RED RIVEK VALLEY
making the upper sheet a thicker — perhaps one-fourth of an
inch — in order that the wear may not cut away the upper one
too early.
And it is probable also that another method of making the
composition board will be by using cotton cloth as an interior
sheet to form part of the composition board by being strongly
glued in between two or more outer sheets of wood. In other
words, to use a cloth sheet in place of one of the thin wooden
sheets above noted. This cloth with the glue filling will form a
strong binding, give strength and toughness and elasticity suf-
ficient to take the place of boards for most uses. Or three or
more sheets of wood can be used with two sheets of thin cloth
filling. When composition boards so made are painted, oiled or
varnished either on one or both sides, the latter in general more
preferable, it will furnish very satisfactory material for a large
part of the constructions where lumber is ordinarily used. And
being thinner and weighing less than the ordinary thick lumber,
it can be produced, transported and sold for less per thousand
feet than usual thickness lumber.
It is probable that the superstructure of buildings will be
largely made from cement, brick or stone and the joists and
floor timber will be made of lumber cut with thin saws, or per-
haps with planing knives and made into a composition lumber
that will need to be made of sufficient thickness to carry the load
placed upon them.
Doors will be made of a composition probably almost alto-
gether of thin boards cemented together as above outlined. The
machinery for cutting thin lumber will in general be made of
much smaller logs than that which has come from the natural
forests. Another feature of the future lumber supply which
will also aid in making timber culture more profitable and de-
sirable, will be improved methods of making thick paper boards
of wood pulp, after the general manner that is used in making
printing and wrapping paper, and paper board. Sheets of any
reasonable thickness and of sufficient strength and solidity to
be used for general purposes where boards are now employed can
be made from any sized trees, from saplings four or five inches
in diameter up to full sized saw timber. The pulp, to make a de-
LUMBER AND TIMBER 367
sirable quality, would require partly chemical pulp fiber mixed
with a certain proportion of ground wood pulp, the toughness
and durability depending in large part upon the proportion of
the former. Some manner of adhesive sizing may be mixed with
the pulp in forming the board that will make it harder, stronger
and more durable. Lumber made in this way, of one-fourth or
one-half of an inch in thickness, could probably be purchased at
a price of from $20 to $30 per thousand feet, surface measure,
and give a very good return for the use of the land, the labor,
and expense in raising the trees and producing the lumber. And
although this price is above that which has prevailed and above
that for some years to come, as a price for common grades of
lumber, yet it will be within the range of the prices that will
prevail in the course of the next twenty years or by the time any
crop of timber could be raised, starting in at the present time.
Lumber manufactured from cultivated trees, either in the
way of being cut with thin saws or planing knives or from wood
pulp, can use profitably small logs and in which less expensive
neighborhood mills can be used to good advantage by the farm-
ers or local business men to furnish employment for considerable
numbers and produce it as economically and with as little ex-
pense as could be done in larger plants, where large capital is
necessarily employed, as at the present time and with the methods
now used.
The manufacture of paper board lumber can also be pro-
duced with what will probably be much improved methods of
dissolving the wood fiber if not in producing the ground wood
pulp. A crop of rapidly growing timber planted at the present
time will yield in the course of eighteen to thirty years to pro-
duce timber from the size of telegraph poles, or eight and ten
inches in diameter to that which will then be considered respect-
able sized saw logs from trees fifteen to twenty-two inches in
diameter. Timber raised of this smaller size and grown thicker
together may be as profitable as to wait for larger growth. The
stumps of the smaller trees can be removed more readily than the
larger ones, and will not be in the way any more, if as much, in
replanting among them.
The farmer who has the ordinary sized quarter section farm
368 HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
might very profitably lay off about one-eighth part of his land
or a twenty-acre piece to plant in timber as early as he can ac-
complish it.
The kind of timber most profitable to cultivate is a question
that will need particular consideration, and for this and other
matters pertaining to forestry, and to furnish a bureau of in-
formation and advice, a commission of one or more should be
appointed, whose investigations and studies of forestry in this
and other countries should furnish the people sufficient informa-
tion to enable them to determine the kind of timber that would
nourish to the best advantage and be the most profitable to cul-
tivate.
In the westerly part of the state it is probable that spruce or
pine will be the most desirable crop; in the eastern half certain
grades of hardwood, perhaps white and black ash, and for boards
and building lumber, poplar, with perhaps some lighter varieties
of pine and spruce. The lumber producing trees must be of a
quality that will not warp and twist, as it will make lumber of
little value, such, for instance, as the cottonwood and the water
elm. The red elm might perhaps be serviceable.
North Dakota, with its large individual holdings of land,
prosperous condition of the farmers, who can afford to wait for
a term of years for the returns from land appropriated and
money and work devoted to cultivating timber, either for them-
selves or their children, should promptly take up the question of
reforesting, which can be done equally well there, as in any of
the states, and in such manner that it will not draw too heavily
on the resources of the settlers for the next ten or twenty years.
Such timber growth will make a far more agreeable country to
live in — act as a wind break and a protection for cattle in storms,
in addition to furnishing a supply of fuel from trimmings of
the trees and the future supply of lumber at what will be a
profitable investment as a return for the use of the land, the
labor and expenditures.
This co\irse will aid materially in bringing prosperity and
comfortable conditions for the coming generations, without
which, in this state, as in the country generally, a failure to
enter upon reforesting will result in a condition of not mere in-
LUMBER AND TIMBER 369
convenience, but of hardship that will reduce the comforts of
living far below that which has prevailed or that would take
place if reforesting is entered upon with sufficient general prac-
tice to insure a reasonable supply of timber to cover the neces-
sities for comfortable living in future years.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE HUDSON BAY FUR COMPANY.
By
James Twamley.
Trade and commerce are the forerunners of civilization. It
has blazed the way for the missionary and made it possible for
him to reach the hearts of the heathen. Men have deprived them-
selves of the comforts of home and friends and risked their lives
and health in the interest of trade. Corporations and trusts have
been formed for the purpose of introducing the products of one
nation to another who was unable to produce the same line of
goods.
Thus we see Germany, France and England controlling the
trade of a large part of the globe. It brings the Christian and
the heathen together. When their interests are at stake, trade
has made it possible to soothe the savage breast. This we see in
North Dakota as well as in Africa, China and Japan.
The Hudson Bay Fur Company was chartered by Charles II
on May 2nd, 1670. The charter gave unlimited powers to con-
trol all trade of that country that lay within the entrance of
Hudsons straits, if not actually possessed by British subjects or
any other Christian prince or state. All was called "Rupert's
Land" as a compliment to Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles.
The gentlemen adventurers, as they were called, were King
Charles, Prince Rupert, the Duke of York and the Duke of Marl-
borough. They hoped to find a shorter route to India, or a
Northwest passage. Some estimate of the company's power may
be imagined when it is known that it had authority over one-
third of the whole North America to hold as absolute proprietors
370
THE HUDSON BAY FUR COMPANY 371
with power, not only governing their own officers and servants,
but all people upon the land.
The Indians had absolute trust in the good faith of the com-
pany and much credit is due the company that its methods were
so honest. They made enormous profits on their merchandise
by exchanging the skins of the mink, beaver, coon and fox for
a few beads, ear pipe and wampum. The promises made were
kept, the company's word was reliable and the Indians were
oftentimes the best friends the company had. Naturally the
operations that are most interesting to the North Dakotan are
those pertaining to the Red River valley. It was not until 1799
that the Red river proper was taken possession of. Lord Sel-
kirk, a Scottish nobleman, had a great scheme for colonizing the
interior of North America. He finally determined to do it by
means of the Hudson Bay Company. He had patriotic and lofty
aims, but these could not all be carried out.
In May, 1811, he, with friends, purchased land on the Red
River of the North with a view to settling a colony there. They
were to assume the expense of transporting, governing and pro-
tecting the colonists, and provide them with the essentials to be-
come established. One hundred and ten thousand square miles
of fertile land on the Red and Assiniboine rivers were secured in
June, 1811. A company numbering about seventy started from
Orkney islands. Captain McDonald, who was chosen to assist
Lord Selkirk, brought oats, barley and potatoes, as well as cattle
and poultry. Lord Selkirk was seeking new colonists all the
while, and he started another company the next year, but only
fifteen or twenty reached the Red river in the fall of 1813, as a
fever caused the death of many.
Governor McDonald had taken a number of colonists to Pem-
bina during 1812, where buffalo could be had. Ninety-three per-
sons from the Orkney islands reached the Red river the next
year. Long before this time the North West Trading Company,
a powerful rival of the Hudson Bay Company, which had been
carrying on a keen rivalry, induced 150 of the colonists to go to
Canada. Shortly after they were induced to return, having had
some trouble with the rival company, and pioneer hardships all
372 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
helped to prevent the growth and development of the colony.
However, in time permanent settlements were made.
Trading was carried on -between all the country lying be-
tween Fort Garry, Winnipeg and St. Paul. It was an interesting
sight to see the long line of Red river carts, a vehicle made with-
out a particle of iron, bound together by wooden pins and pegs
and strapped by the sinew of the deer, lubricating oil being very
scarce in the settlements. You could hear these carts for miles
as the oxen winded their way across the plain.
In the winter the dog train and sled took the place of the
cart and ox. The pioneers wrapped warmly in their furs, bounded
over the frozen ground, bringing their furs to exchange for the
products of the mill and factory. The Hudson bay trading post
was an interesting place. The clerks soon managed enough of
dialect to trade with the Indians, as the latter would not conde-
scend to speak English, even when it would be to his advantage.
The clerks had a mongrel language of their own by which they
made known their ideas to the Indians.
Since the company had to protect its property, numerous
forts were built along the frontier. Some of these are still in
existence. The work of the Hudson Bay Fur Company is not
over. Wherever the new posts of the company are opened, push-
ing fartherest into the frontier, may be found the officers of the
Hudson Bay Fur Company. Its center is still, as it always has
been, in London, England. It is to be admired for its progres-
siveness, its business ability, and the honor it has shown in deal-
ing with the natives. Truly it is, as it has been called, "The
Great Company."
Having ample capital for the prosecution of their business,
they conceived the idea of extending their relations with the
original settlers of our country, who were the best fur collectors
in the world, and established posts at Grand Forks, Frog Point,
Goose River and Georgetown. The base of supplies was Grand
Forks, and from this point they supplied their sub-stations, and
while they did a large business with the white residents, they
captured nearly all the fur that was brought into Grand Forks
and her sub-stations. They were shipped to London to be dressed
and made up, and returned to this country, as we were not sup-
THE HUDSON BAY FUR COMPANY 373
posed to know how to tan a skin. The Hudson Bay Fur Company
employed the best men they could find and paid liberal wages,
because they were making a magnificent profit on their goods,
and the fur business was about all gain, London being the head-
quarters for the world on fur, as on many other articles. They
dictated the price, they bought cheap and sold high, and today,
while the English as a class wear very little fur, they dictate
the price of the fur market for the world. The freight rate is
in their favor, their goods are carried on English vessels that
are subsidized by the government, which virtually kills all com-
petition on freight rates, and puts our American vessels prac-
tically out of business. England has her agents in every part
of the world employed in all kinds of trade and commerce that
leads to London as the fountain head of the world, with her un-
limited capital and her subsidized vessels, England stands with-
out a rival today before the nations of the world.
The Hudson Bay Fur Company buy for a few cents our musk-
rat, take it to London, dress it and return it to us as Aleutian
seal or river mink, likewise they take our skunk, dress it and
return it as martin. Also our rabbit or Belgian hare comes back
from London as Coney, near seal or electric seal, and our weasel
as ermine. So we see what we are paying for this work and
getting paid for our furs, with a great big balance in favor of the
Hudson Bay Fur Company. In this way they have accumulated
an immense capital and their profits beat anything on record in
the United States. Today they own a large part of the North-
west Territory. They had the first white men to settle this coun-
try and also the new Northwest. They have hundreds of agents
scattered all over the country and hundreds of miles off the road,
but constantly in communication with the parent company. The
Hudson Bay Fur Company built their own telegraph line into
Grand Forks and operated it in the interest of the people up to
the time the Great Northern came to the valley, and there the
Hudson Bay dressed back from civilization and up to the present
time is doing a large fur trade in the Northwest territories.
Although they also handle a large amount of all kinds of mer-
chandise outside of the fur business and the outlook at the pres-
ent time as regards the transportation problem would seem to
374 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
favor the Hudson bay route to Liverpool, naturally the nearer
one gets to the pole, the shorter is the distance across the world.
Thus from Japan to Liverpool by way of San Francisco is fully
eleven thousand miles. But the Vancouver-Montreal route takes
a thousand miles off this. Going by Prince Ruperts, the new
Grand Trunk terminus saves another seven hundred miles, and
last of all comes the new projected route by way of Prince Ru-
pert and Hudson bay, which reduces the Japan-Liverpool jour-
ney from eleven to eight thousand miles. It is estimated that a
railroad to Hudson bay would move Liverpool 2,000 miles nearer
to western shippers. At the present time six different charters
have been granted in connection with Hudson bay, schemes Wil-
fried Laurier, the premier, declares that if the standing offer
of 12,000 acres of land per mile is not found sufficient encourage-
ment, other means must be adopted such as making the Hudson
bay route both railroad and steamship a national undertaking.
Of course the Hudson Bay Fur Company is greatly interested in
the development of this new route, as a big saver of time and
distance between the new land and the mother country.
Governor Graham, of Winnipeg, had supervision over the
Hudson Bay business at Grand Forks and looked after their in-
terests. They built the old Northwestern hotel, which was lo-
cated on corner of Demers avenue and Third street. This they
sold to Peter Carrol, who afterwards traded it for a farm. It is
now a part of the Arlington Park hotel, owned by Colonel Knud-
son. The headquarters of the company were located on the cor-
ner of Third street and Kitson avenue, the present site of the
Union National bank.
Walter J. S. Trail was the local manager of the company at
Grand Forks, which position he held for years, and was succeeded
by Frank Veits, who afterward purchased the stock of goods
when the company concluded to withdraw their business from
this side of the line. Mr. Veits was succeeded by Veits & Twam-
ley, who conducted the business for years on the corner of
Demers avenue and Third street, and were the first wholesalers
of merchandise in North Dakota, long before the St. Paul & Pa-
cific, now the Great Northern railroad, reached Grand Forks.
Mr. Twamley was engaged in the wholesale business all his
THE HUDSON BAY FUR COMPANY 375
life until he came to Grand Forks in the year 1876. Captain Hoi-
comb purchased the real estate of the company as a speculation,
and he sold it to John McKelvey, who disposed of it in small
parcels.
The Hudson Bay Fur Company extended many favors to the
early settlers of the Red River valley ; carrying an immense stock
of goods they were in a condition to grant all the accommoda-
tion asked for. The writer of this article sold them at one time
about $75,000 worth of goods and all were shipped to Grand
Forks. This was the largest bill ever shipped from St. Paul to
any one house, and I doubt if Chicago can show a better record.
Thus endeth the reading of the chapter. Long may the Hud-
son Bay Fur Company live in the memory of the old settler.
CHAPTER XX.
THE CHURCHES.
The Catholic Church in North Dakota.
By
Rt. Rev. Bishop Shanley.
The following notes on the early history of the Catholic
church in North Dakota are written for the two-fold purpose of
preserving the truth, and of enabling the future historian of our
state to compile an accurate record of the interesting doings of
the pioneers in this field. The facts related in these notes may
be taken as reliable. They are drawn from the letters of Lord
Selkirk, the founder of the Winnipeg colony; of Bishop Plessis,
of Quebec, who sent the Catholic missionaries to the Red river
country; of Father Provencher, the first missionary in this land,
and first bishop of St. Boniface, Manitoba ; from the life of Pro-
vencher, by Dugas; the "Memoirs of Archbishop Tache," the
"Catholic Directory" (an official year book of the church), the
church records of Pembina, the personal recollections of Father
Lacombe, who came to Pembina in 1849, and who is now vicar
general of the diocese of St. Albert, residing at Calgary, and
from other equally trustworthy sources.
These notes were written by me in February, March and
April, 1902, and published in the "Grand Forks Herald."
A writer in volume I of the North Dakota Historical Society's
publications, printed in 1907, has borrowed very liberally from
my work, without giving any credit. This remark is necessary
to protect myself from the possible charge of stealing my own
work.
376
THE CHURCHES 377
The Catholic church entered North Dakota about the same
time and in the same way that it entered Manitoba. A brief
sketch of the first settlements in that place and of the establish-
ment of the church there is, therefore, not out of place in these
notes.
The Red river country was discovered in 1734 by the French
chevalier, Gauthier Varennes de la Verandrye, who left Lake
Nipigon in 1731, passed by Rainy lake, where he built Fort St.
Pierre, came to Lake of the "Woods, where he built Fort St.
Charles, and arrived in 1734 at the mouth of the Winnipeg river,
where he built Fort Maurepas, leaving men in the different forts
to carry on trade in furs with the Indians. The chevalier was
the first competitor with the Hudson Bay Company, to whose
business he did no inconsiderable damage in a territory which
from 1670 to the time of de la Verandrye 's arrival had been
commercially tributary to the company, but which does not ap-
pear to have been ever visited by any of the company's agents,
the Indians carrying their furs from the interior to the com-
pany's posts on the sea coast.
After the cession of Canada to England in 1763, de la Veran-
drye's forts and trading posts were abandoned, and the French
traders, with rare exceptions, ceased visiting the country until
1784. In the winter of 1783-84 some French-Canadian capitalists
of Montreal organized the Compagnie du Nord-Ouest — the North-
west Company — which took possession of the immense tract be-
tween the American line and Lake Athabasca, and the Ottawa
river and the Pacific ocean. By the beginning of the nineteenth
century the new company had become a most formidable rival of
the Hudson Bay people, whose shares, once held at $200 piastres,
were sold in 1808 at $50, and who in self protection was forced
to leave the seaboard and go into the interior in search of busi-
ness, building forts and trading posts wherever the Northwest
company was located. The employes of the Hudson Bay com-
pany were chiefly Scotch and English, those of the Northwest
mainly French-Canadians. In 1806 the Northwest company had
in its different forts and trading posts and traveling among the
Indians more than 1,200 employes, most of them French-Cana-
dians. Some of these employes, nearly all of whom were Catho-
378 HISTORY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
lies, married Indian women. This is the origin of the compara-
tively few half-breed families who were in the country when the
missionaries arrived. According to Fathers Provencher and
Dumoulin, the first missionaries, the vast bulk of the population
at their coming was Indian. The Sauteux and Cris lived in the
neighborhood of the Red river. From the Red river west to the
Rocky mountains, between the Assiniboine and the Saskatche-
wan, were Cris, Assiniboines and Blackfeet — while north of the
Saskatchewan were some Cris and the Montagnaises. After the
coming of the priests marriages between the whites and the na-
tives became more frequent, and the great increase of the half
breed race dates from that period.
Whatever some may say of the Canadian voyageurs, it seems
quite certain that their general influence on the natives was good.
At least they prepared the way for the missionaries, who found
little difficulty in making good and fervent converts among them.
In the year 1810 a Scotch Protestant gentleman, Thomas
Douglas, better known as Lord Selkirk, who owned about 40
per cent of the Hudson Bay Company's stock, obtained a grant
of the lands along the Red river which the company claimed, and
immediately set about establishing a colony there. The North-
west company at once set up a claim to the lands in question.
Nevertheless, Selkirk's agent. Miles McDonell, left Scotland in
the spring of 1811 with a number of families en route for the Red
river, where they arrived in the autumn of 1812. The place
chosen for the colony was about forty miles from the mouth of
the river. In the beginning of 1813 the colony was composed of
about 100 persons, and in September, 1814, it numbered nearly
200 souls.
Meanwhile the Northwest company, who had protested against
Selkirk's right to the lands, endeavored to arouse the Indians
against the colonists, but finding their efforts futile, the principal
officers of the company met at Fort William on Lake Superior in
the spring of 1814 and resolved on the destruction of Selkirk's
settlement, which was actually effected the following June, some
of the colonists being sent to Upper Canada, others going to the
country north of Lake Winnipeg. Selkirk, who was in Europe
• HOP SHAN LEY
THE CHURCHES 379
at that time, learned of the destruction of his colony only when
he reached New York in the autumn of 1815.
The north-bound refugees met Colin Robertson, a trusted
clerk of Selkirk, at a Hudson Bay post, and were induced by him
to return to the Red river, where new colonists soon arrived from
Scotland, and in the autumn of that year, 1815, the colony again
numbered 200 souls.
The troubles with the Northwest company, which followed in
1816, and the causes which produced them, are a subject of con-
troversy, and do not enter into the purpose of these notes. Suf-
fice it to say that on June 19 Selkirk's colony was destroyed the
second time by the Northwest company, and the colonists brought
as prisoners to Fort William.
Upon hearing of the first disaster to his colony Lord Selkirk
hastened from New York to Canada to secure troops for the
protection of his colony. In January, 1816, Selkirk heard of the
return of his colonists to their farms, and in the spring of the
same year with about 100 soldiers he left Montreal for the Red
river. Envoys whom he had sent to announce his coming to the
colonists, hearing on their way of the second disaster, met Sel-
kirk at Sault Sainte Marie, and gave him the details. Selkirk
proceeded to Fort William, took the fort on August 14, and estab-
lished his winter quarters there, a large detachment of his sol-
diers going to the settlement by way of Red lake, an unusual route,
to avoid detection by the enemy. They reached the Red river at
the end of December. On January 6, 1817, taking advantage of
a raging blizzard, Selkirk's troops surprised and captured Fort
Douglas, and re-established his authority in the colony. The fol-
lowing spring Lord Selkirk arrived in the colony. He induced
many of the Canadian and Scotch settlers to return. He divided
the land among the soldiers, and his other followers, and pre-
pared to return to Canada in the fall of that year.
Such was the political and social condition of the Red river
country in the year 1817, the year preceding the establishment
there of the Catholic church.
Towards the end of October, 1817, Lord Selkirk left the Red
river to return to Canada. From his dealings with the people of
the country, Canadians, half breeds and Indians, he had become
380 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
profoundly convinced of the need of religious influence for the
success of his work. Moreover, many of the Canadian voyageurs
clamored for priests. Lord Selkirk took advantage of these good
dispositions, and advised the people to address a formal request
for missionaries to the bishop of Quebec, promising to use his
influence to secure its granting.
Mr. Samuel Gale, who had spent one summer at Red river,
and who was an intimate friend of Bishop Plessis, visited the
bishop in January, 1818, at Lord Selkirk's request, to urge the
appointment of missionaries. A few days later the formal peti-
tion of the Red river Catholics was presented to the bishop by
Mr. Charles de Lotbiniere. On February llth, 1818, Bishop
Plessis addressed to Mr. Gale the following letter:
"Quebec, Feb. 11, 1818.
"Sir: I have received from M. de Lotbiniere the request that
you have had the kindness to transmit to me in behalf of the
inhabitants on the Red river. No one is more convinced than I
of the incalculable benefits that can result from the establishing
of a permanent mission in that place, abandoned up to the pres-
ent to all the disorders that ignorance and irreligion beget. I
have, therefore, decided to second with all my might a project
so praiseworthy, and in which you have taken so active a part.
Among my clergy there will be found priests who will consecrate
themselves to this good work, with no other motive than that of
procuring the glory of God and the salvation of those poor
peoples.
"Permit me to thank you for the encouragement you give to
this enterprise, and to subscribe myself, etc., etc.,
"— J. Octave (Plessis),
"Bishop of Quebec."
It is to be noted that two years before, in 1816, Bishop
Plessis had commissioned Father Tabeau, the parish priest of
Boucherville, Canada, to visit the Red river and to report on the
advisability of opening there a permanent mission. Owing to
the troubles in the colony, Father Tabeau failed to reach the
Red river. It is quite probable that the Northwest company in-
THE CHUECHES 381
fluenced his views somewhat. At any rate, in his report to
Bishop Plessis, which reached the bishop only in March, 1818, he
opposed the founding of a permanent mission there, and sug-
gested that for the time being it were better to send a priest once
a year to visit the trading posts, and to wait for the complete
pacification of the country before establishing permanent mis-
sionaries in it.
But Bishop Plessis thought otherwise, influenced, no doubt,
by the following letter from Lord Selkirk, written in 1816 :
"Montreal, April 16th, 1816.
"To His Grace, Mgr. Plessis, Bishop of Quebec.
"Monseigneur: I have been informed by Mr. Miles McDon-
nell, former governor of the Red river, that in a conversation
which he had with Your Grace last autumn he has suggested to
you to send a missionary into this country to give the helps of re-
ligion to a large number of Canadians, who are established there,
and who live after the manner of the savages, with the Indian
women whom they have married. I am convinced that an intelli-
gent ecclesiastic would do an incalculable good among those peo-
ple, in whom the religious sentiment is not extinct. With the
greatest satisfaction I would co-operate with you for the success
of such a work; and if Your Grace wishes to choose a suitable
person for the undertaking I do not hesitate to assure him of my
consideration and to offer him all the help Your Grace may
judge necessary. I have heard that Your Grace intended to send
this spring two ecclesiastics to Lake Superior and to Rainy lake
to meet the voyageurs who are in the service of the Northwest
company, when they return from the interior. Since all those
people are in great need of spiritual help, I am happy to learn
this news; nevertheless, if you permit me to express an opinion,
I think that a missionary residing at the Red River would better
realize your pious design; for from that place he could easily
visit during the winter the trading posts on Rainy lake and on
Lake Superior at the time when the people is assembled in great
numbers.
"Meanwhile, if Your Grace does not find this arrangement
practicable at present, I believe that an ecclesiastic who would
382 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
be ready to leave Montreal at the opening of navigation to go to
Rainy lake could do a great deal of good. Mr. McDonnell must
put himself en route in his canoe immediately after the ice melts,
so that he may arrive at the Red river towards the end of May
or the beginning of June. He would be very happy to have with
him the company of a missionary who might sojourn some weeks
with the Canadians of the Red river before the return of the
voyageurs of the northwest to Rainy lake and Lake Superior.
"I have the honor to be, etc., etc., — Selkirk."
The bishop's answer to the above letter has probably been
lost. At least Dugas, in his life of Bishop Provencher, to whom
I am indebted for the above correspondence, makes no mention
of it. But by the 21st of February, 1818, ten days after his letter
to Mr. Gale, Bishop Plessis had chosen his missionaries for the
Red river. Rev. Joseph Norbert Provencher, pastor of Kamou-
raska, in the diocese of Quebec, and Rev. Joseph Severe Dumou-
lin, who, as we shall soon see, was the first priest, whether resi-
dent or missionary, in North Dakota.
Bishop Plessis having chosen his missionaries, wrote to Lord
Selkirk :
"My Lord: Nothing could better meet my views than the
request brought to me last January by Mr. Gale in behalf of the
inhabitants of the Red river. I am filled with consolation at the
thought of the solid establishment of a Catholic mission which
may become of incalculable importance to the vast territory sur-
rounding it. The protection of Your Lordship, the interest taken
in it by the governor-in-chief, the zeal of the most reputable citi-
zens of Montreal, the subscriptions already received, all those
things convince me that Divine Providence favors the enterprise.
On my part, I could not see with indifference so large a number
of souls, redeemed at the price of the blood of Jesus Christ, lost
every day for the lack of having some one to form their faith
and direct their morals.
"The two priests whom I send there with a catechist will es-
teem themselves very happy if the Father of Mercies deign to
accept their success and give some blessings to their labors."
THE CHURCHES 383
The catechist mentioned in the above was Mr. William Edge,
the first school teacher in North Dakota. He had charge of the
school which Father Dumoulin opened in Pembina, of which men-
tion shall be made later.
To provide for the stability and maintenance of the new
mission Lord Selkirk executed in due form two contracts, by the
first of which he gave twenty-five acres to the mission for a
church ; the second conveying to the mission a tract of land four
miles in length by five miles in width. These contracts are signed
by Lord Selkirk, J. 0. Plessis, Bishop of Quebec; Roux, priest;
J. N. Provencher, priest ; Severe Dumoulin, priest ; S. de Beaujeu,
priest, and H. Heney.
The bishop of Quebec gave Father Provencher the powers of
a vicar general, and drew up for his guidance in his new difficult
mission an admirable letter of instructions, which, notwithstand-
ing its length, I translate in full. It shows the prudence and
knowledge of Bishop Plessis. It is entitled, " Instructions Given
by Mgr. J. 0. Plessis to MM. J. N. Provencher and J. N. S.
Dumoulin, Missionary Priests for the Territories of the North-
west":
"1. The missionaries must consider the first object of their
mission to be to withdraw from barbarism and from the disorders
consequent thereon the savage nations spread over the vast
country.
"2. The second object (of this mission) is to give their at-
tention to the bad Christians who have adopted the customs of
the savages, and who live in licentiousness and in forgetfulness
of their duties.
"3. Persuaded that the preaching of the gospel is the most
assured means of obtaining these happy results they shall neglect
no occasion to inculcate the gospel's principles and maxims,
whether in their private conversations or in their public instruc-
tions.
"4. To make themselves at once useful to the natives of the
country to which they have been sent they shall apply themselves
from the moment of their arrival to the study of the savage lan-
guages, and shall endeavor to reduce those \anguages to regular
384 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
principles so as to be able to publish a grammar after some years
of residence.
'•'5. They shall prepare for baptism with all possible haste
the infidel women who are living in concubinage with Christians
in order to change those irregular unions into legitimate mar-
riages.
"6. They shall devote themselves with particular care to the
Christian education of the children, and to this end they shall
establish schools and catechism classes in all the settlements they
shall have occasion to visit.
"7. In all places remarkable either by their position, or by
the transit of the voyageurs, or by the gatherings of the savages,
they shall take care to plant high crosses, as it were, to take pos-
session of those places in the name of the Catholic religion.
"8. They shall often repeat to the people to whom they are
sent how severely this religion enjoins peace, meekness, and
obedience to the laws of both state and church.
"9. They shall make known to them the advantages they
possess in living under the government of His British Majesty,
teaching them by word and example the respect and fidelity they
owe to their sovereign, accustoming them to offer to God fervent
prayers for the prosperity of His Most Gracious Majesty, of his
august family, and of his empire.
"10. They shall maintain a perfect equilibrium between the
reciprocal claims of the two companies — the Northwest and the
Hudson's Bay — remembering that they are sent solely for the
spiritual welfare of the people from whose civilization the advan-
tage of both companies must result.
"11. They shall fix their abode near Fort Douglas on the Red
river, shall build there a church, a dwelling and a school; they
shall derive their support as far as possible from the lands given
to them. Although this river as well as Lake Winnipeg,
into which it empties, is in the territory claimed by the Hudson
Bay company, they shall not be the less zealous for the salvation
of the clerks, employes, and voyageurs in the service of the North-
west company, taking care to go whithersoever the care of souls
shall call them.
"12. They shall give us frequent and regular information
THE CHUECHES 385
of all that can interest, retard or favor the purposes of the mis-
sion. If, notwithstanding the most impartial conduct, they find
themselves hampered in the exercise of their functions, they shall
not abandon their mission before having received our orders.
"— J. 0. Plessis,
"Bishop of Quebec."
Guided by those instructions, empowered by the proper church
authority, to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and protected
by Lord Selkirk, Father Provencher bade farewell to his parish-
ioners of Kamouraska April 16th, 1818, and set forth to plant
the church on the banks of the Red River of the North.
At noon on Tuesday, May 19, 1818, the first missionaries of
the Red river, Joseph Norbert Provencher and Sever Norbert
Dumoulin with the catechist, bade adieu to Canada. En route they
wrote to Bishop Plessis from Petite Nation, May 24; Drummond
island, Lake Huron, June 8; Pointe Meuron (Fort William),
June 20 and June 23, and Rainy Lake July 6. On July 15 at
Rainy Lake they planted a large cross and baptized seventeen
children.
The canoes left Rainy Lake the 6th of July, and on the 14th
they were at the mouth of the Winnipeg river. The missionaries
halted there the greater part of the day and baptized sixteen
children — the first baptisms in the Red river country. The 15th
of July they entered the mouth of the Red river.
On the morning of the 16th of July a messenger on horseback
made the rounds of the colony, to notify the people to assemble
at Fort Douglas about 4 o'clock that afternoon to welcome the
missionaries. At 5 o'clock p. m., the 16th of July, 1818, Fathers
Provencher and Dumoulin stepped on the banks of the Red river
at Fort Douglas, and the Catholic church began in the immense
region now known as North Dakota, Manitoba, Assinobia, Al-
berta, Saskatchewan, Athabasca, Mackenzie and Keewatin.
The whole colony was assembled at the landing, and Father
Provencher in a touching address at once made known to them
the object of his mission. He announced the times at which ser-
vices would be held, and in conclusion he requested the mothers
386 HISTOEY OF RED EIVER VALLEY
to come to the fort the following day with their children under
sixteen years of age to have them baptized.
Fort Douglas, as St. Boniface was then called, was on the
right bank of the Ked river. The hospitality of the fort was ex-
tended to the missionaries. A large room in the fort served as a
temporary chapel.
The first Sunday after their arrival a high mass was cele-
brated in this cradle of Catholicity in the far northwest. Father
Provencher being the celebrant and preacher, while Father Du-
moulin constituted the choir. The preacher announced that on
the following day the work of instructing the people in religion
would begin. Adults and children were invited to attend these
instructions at Fort Douglas twice a day. He also urged the
colonists to take immediate steps toward providing a dwelling
for the missionaries.
The following day, July 20, 1818, Father Provencher wrote
to Bishop Plessis :
"We are at our destination. We arrived here at 5 o'clock
p. m., the 16th of July. We were all very well received by Mr.
McDonell, governor of the place, who seems to be a good man,
and who is a Catholic. It is said that he is to leave here this
fall. I shall be sorry. My last letter was dated from Rainy lake,
whence we departed July 6. Thence we descended Rainy Lake
river, passed Lake of the Woods and entered Winnipeg river at
the point where Mr. Keveney was killed. I saw his bones, which
were covered only with wood.
"From Lake of the Woods we fell into the Winnipeg river,
remarkable for its windings, its rapids, its falls, its portages. It
brought us to the lake of the same name. There we found a fort
of the Northwest company. We remained there three-fourths of
a day and baptized sixteen children.
* * At the mouth of the Winnipeg river we met the canoes from
Athabasca, with about 150 men. I had wished to meet them at
Rainy lake, but they reached there only fifteen days after our
departure. We have announced to them our visit for next year.
"We have been very well received everywhere. From Winni-
peg river to Fort Douglas we have traversed eighteen leagues of
lake and have ascended the Red river eight leagues.
THE CHURCHES 387
"This country is really beautiful. The river is sufficiently
wide. It is bordered with oaks, elms, ivy, poplars, etc. Behind
this border of timber are boundless prairies. The soil appears
to be excellent. Wood for building is rare, at least good wood.
"We must set about building. A chapel is a pressing need, be-
cause there is no fit place for the people to assemble.
"The site for the church is beautiful. It is situated facing
the forts of the Northwest and Hudson Bay companies, from
eight to ten acres distant from each, and about fifteen acres from
Fort Douglas. At present there are no savages here. Every one
seems pleased with our arrival, and all appear to be desirous to
profit by our instructions."
At a later period Father Provencher, speaking of the agri-
cultural conditions in the Red river in 1818, said:
"The cultivated fields were not much larger than garden
beds. The settlers planted as much to raise seed as to enjoy the
fruits of their labor; for it was very expensive to import grain
into the country. But the little they raised in their garden-bed
farms in 1818 was destroyed by a disaster which led to the estab-
lishing of the Catholic church in North Dakota."
On the 3rd of August, three weeks after the arrival of the mis-
sionaries, clouds of grasshoppers descended on the fields and in
a trice devoured nearly everything. The few grains of wheat re-
maining barely sufficed to seed the garden-bed farms the follow-
ing spring. To add to the misfortune, the grasshoppers deposited
their eggs, thus insuring another scourge the next year.
"On the 12th of August there arrived a number of families
sent by Lord Selkirk. These families, finding the fields ravaged
by the grasshoppers, refused to remain at Fort Douglas. Fear-
ing a famine in the winter they went up the river to Pembina,
where a few Canadians and half-breeds were already settled.
Its proximity to the hunting grounds attracted many hunters
to this place each autumn. They passed the winter there with
their families, leaving in the spring to spend the summer on the
prairies. From Pembina Father Provencher obtained his supply
of meat during his first years on the Red river.
The growth of the Pembina settlement necessitated the pres-
ence of a priest there. Pembina became for a time more import-
388 HISTOKY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
ant than St. Boniface, the name by which the Fort Douglas colony
is to be henceforth known. In fact, St. Boniface was for a time
almost abandoned. Both companies built forts at Pembina, and
the people clamored for a resident priest. Provencher, therefore,
sent Father Dumoulin to Pembina in the month of September,
1818, with instructions to pass the winter there. The month of
September, 1818, marks the birth of the Catholic church in North
Dakota.
In January, 1819, Father Provencher visited Pembina to ex-
amine into the condition of the new parish. He found everything
in excellent order. A school with sixty pupils in attendance was
already in operation under the charge of William Edge, and
preparations were being made to build a chapel and presbytery
in the spring. Since his arrival — from September to January —
Father Dumoulin had baptized fifty-two persons and rehabili-
tated a large number of marriages. He had also succeeded in
grouping around the site of the new chapel about 300 souls.
About this time he wrote to Bishop Plessis:
"I have here (Pembina) 300 persons with me, whilst the vicar
general (Provencher) has only fifty at St. Boniface."
Father Provencher also wrote to the bishop: "That post
(Pembina) is for the present very important. From there I with
all the colony receive all my provisions. I shall continue to
build there."
Again in the month of July. 1819, Father Provencher writes :
"My chapel at St. Boniface is almost squared. It will be 80x35
feet. At Pembina we have a shop (une boutique) 24x18, a
presbytery 40x27 and we have hauled the timber for a chapel
60x30. When I learn from your Grace about the lines which
place Pembina on American territory disquiets me a little, and
disarranges my plans. Nevertheless I shall continue to build
there, for Father Dumoulin must pass next winter there."
In June, 1819, Father Dumoulin went to Rainy Lake to give
a mission to the voyageurs from Athabasca who gathered at the
lake every spring. Returning to Pembina in August he learned
that the grasshoppers had again devastated the St. Boniface
fields, this time destroying all vegetation, even to the bark of
the trees. Again was there an exodus from St. Boniface to Pern-
THE CHUECHES 389
bina. Father Provencher wrote the bishop: "Every one is busy
looking for food. The families are abandoning St. Boniface to
go to Pembina that they may be nearer to the hunting grounds.
We are put to great expense for food. Having nothing but meat
to eat, we require much of it, and we lose a great part of our
time in carting this meat from the prairie. And so the work
lags."
The schools at St. Boniface and Pembina continue to flourish.
In the spring of 1819 Father Dumoulin wrote to Bishop Plessis
that most of the children attending the Pembina school knew
how to read, and knew by heart the letter of the Catechism. At
St. Boniface Father Provencher even had a class in Latin.
In June, 1819, Father Provencher wrote to the bishop: "See
to it that the missionary and the catechist who come here next
spring know English so that they may be useful to the Catholics
who speak only that language, and that they may also gain from
the Protestants more honor for religion and its ministers. It is
moreover necessary that those who come here be men whom one
can place anywhere ; for here it is necessary to fuse the functions
of Martha and Mary. One must direct the spiritual and the tem-
poral. If they are men who know nothing of building or of
directing others in such matters they are of no use. The first
one who offers is not fit to work here. We require grave and
serious men, and men above all suspicion. In a word, we need
men of judgment and ability, but at the same time full of zeal
and piety. I consider Father Dumoulin a good missionary."
The poverty of the colony obliged Father Provencher to
spend the winter of 1819-20 in Pembina with Father Dumoulin.
Almost every one had left St. Boniface for the winter. He re-
mained in Pembina until May. In the month of July Dumoulin
went to Hudson bay to visit the Catholics in those regions, Pro-
vencher remaining in charge of St. Boniface and Pembina. On
August 7, 1820, another missionary, Father Pierre Destrois-
maisons, accompanied by a catechist, Mr. Sauve, arrived from
Quebec, and on August 16, Father Provencher left for Quebec
to present his report of the missions to his bishop.
Just before his departure he had seen the colony destroyed
for the third time by the grasshoppers. Seed wheat had been
390 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
brought at great expense from Prairie du Chien. The season
was most favorable, everything promised well; past misfortunes
were forgotten, when on July 26, innumerable grasshoppers again
covered the whole colony. Discouragement seized on everyone,
and many spoke of leaving the Red river forever.
When Lord Selkirk heard of the warm reception of the mis-
sionaries in his settlement he wrote to the Bishop of Quebec :
"Monseigneur: During my recent trip through Upper Can-
ada I had the pleasure to receive letters from the Red river an-
nouncing to me the arrival of Fathers Provencher and Dumoulin.
These letters, as well as the verbal report which I have received
from M. de Lorimier on my arrival here, convince me that the
inhabitants, and above all the old Canadian voyageurs with their
half-breed families, have manifested the best disposition to profit
by the instructions of the missionaries, and that the savages also
have shown them such respect as gives reason to believe that
they will exhibit the same docility. I hope that this happy
presage may be confirmed by the report that the missionaries
have no doubt made to your lordship.
''Reflecting on the circumstances which have been communi-
cated to me, it has seemed to me that if they were known in
England, one might obtain assistance from there which would
give a more solid support to the establishment of the mission.
There are many Catholics of the most distinguished families of
England (and I doubt not that one would find some Protestants)
who would glory in contributing to the maintenance of a mis-
sion of this kind, once they were assured of the good that may
result from it. If I were authorized to communicate this assur-
ance on the part of your lordship based on the report of the
missionaries themselves, I have full confidence that one would
find in England the means to produce a most favorable result.
I have heard recently that there is some probability that Upper
Canada may be erected into a separate diocese. If this division
takes place I hope that the Red river may still remain in the
diocese of Quebec. It would pain me indeed if this nascent foun-
dation did not remain under the jurisdiction of your lordship,
under which it has so happily begun.
FATHER P.ELCOURT
THE CHUECHES 391
"I remember that in Quebec last spring your lordship sug-
gested that in the course of time those distant countries would
become an independent foundation; but pending the increase of
population necessary to support without outside help a separate
establishment, it seems to me that all those savage countries
ought to be subject to Quebec, since the Catholics there speak
only French, and since, for that reason, Upper Canada could
not form subjects fitted to fulfill the duties of the ministry in
those regions.
"I have the honor to be, etc., etc., — Selkirk."
Father Provencher left the Red river August 16, 1820, on a
trip to Canada. Bishop Plessis had been in Eome in the spring
of the same year, and, without informing Father Provencher,
had induced the Holy See to appoint him Coadjutor-Bishop of
Quebec, with the title of Bishop of Juliopolis, an ancient episco-
pal see in Galatia. The papal bull making this appointment is
dated Feb. 1, 1820. When Father Provencher presented him-
self to Bishop Plessis in the end of October, the bishop handed
him the official Roman document, conferring on him the new and
unexpected dignity. Provencher protested long and stoutly, but
in vain, against accepting the burden of the episcopate. A con-
fidential letter written by him to Bishop Plessis on the subject
January 16, 1821, gives us a clear insight into the character of
this true missionary priest.
Among other things he writes: "What can this poor bishop
of Juliopolis (such was his title), without learning, without vir-
tue, without experience, without knowledge of business affairs,
do ? Naturally timid, loving a retired and solitary life, he might,
indeed, make a poor monk, engrossed in sanctifying himself;
but never can he make a man of affairs ; never above all a bishop,
who has time to think of himself only after he has thought of
others. You have shown him a road that leads him to his de-
struction, and that shall lead all to loss. It is a question of found-
ing a church. Have you thought of that? Poor church; how
badly founded you shall be! In truth I do not see how I can
accept a burden so plainly beyond my strength. You have too
good an opinion of me, Monseigneur; you believe me capable
392 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
of all things ; you think that you know me, and I, too, thought that
you knew me. Reared by you, so to speak, could I have ever
suspected that you could dream of elevating me so high? (Eleve
par vour, pour ainsidire, aurais-je jamais pu soupconner que
vous songiez a m' clever si haut.) Entering the ranks of the
clergy, I have always allowed myself to be guided by my supe-
riors, without hesitating or murmuring. I have done this pas-
sably well, I believe. Distrusting my youth, and confiding in
your prudence, I have sacrificed everything to fulfill, I will not
say your orders, for you have never given me a command, but
your known will. I do not complain of you. You have always
given me more than I deserved. I have had desirable places.
Even in the Red river country, although it was less advantageous
from every point of view, I have always known your good will
towards me. You made me vicar general. That was already
too much. I accepted the office because you wished to give a lit-
tle lustre to that new mission. Some murmured at my promo-
tion. They were altogether wrong. Why did you not stop at
that ? Why put me at the head of the clergy when I can scarcely
hold myself up in my actual state. My God ! Why am I not still
in the simple rank of the vicaires! (assistant priests). Then no
one would think of me. Alas! As I advance more in age than
in virtue, must I regret my state in life to which I have been at-
tracted since childhood? Do not believe that it is fear of suf-
ferings and fatigue that makes me speak thus. I did not become
a priest to amass riches. I will go, if necessary, and consecrate
my youth to the Red river, but as a simple priest. Speak, and
I will obey. But the bishopric is another thing. Never can I
persuade myself that I was born to be raised to so high a rank.
Rome has spoken. I am full of respect for the Chair of St. Peter.
But Rome has spoken on your word. The Holy Father does not
know me, and I am sure he never would have appointed me, if
he knew me.
"I open my heart to you today, after having reflected natur-
ally before God. You are the only one to whom I can speak
frankly, and you are against me."
In another letter, dated March 19, 1821, Father Provencher
assured the bishop of his acceptance of the office in these words :
THE CHUECHES 393
"Trembling I accept the burden imposed upon me in punishment
of my sins." He was consecrated bishop in the parish church at
Three Rivers May 12, 1822, the Sunday before the Feast of the
Ascension, and set out for the Red river on the 1st of June.
During his sojourn of nearly two years in Canada Bishop
Provencher had not neglected the religious interests of the Red
river colony. His one desire was to obtain good priests for his
missions. He visited the ecclesiastical seminaries, and exhorted
the young priests and students to volunteer for the work; but
despite all his efforts he succeeded in securing only one candi-
date, Mr. John Harper, a student in the seminary of Quebec,
twenty-one years of age, who was ordained priest at St. Boniface
by Bishop Provencher November 1, 1824 — the first priest or-
dained in the northwest. Father Harper remained in the dio-
cese of St. Boniface until August, 1831, doing excellent service
for the missions. For several years he conducted a very good
school at St. Boniface.
Bishop Provencher reached St. Boniface August 7, 1822, to
face new and unexpected troubles. The edict had gone forth
from the Hudson Bay company that the priest must be with-
drawn from the flourishing mission of Pembina, for the reason
that it was on American territory. The death of Lord Selkirk,
April 8, 1820, which led to a consolidation of the Hudson Bay
and Northwest companies in June, 1821, deprived the world of a
great man and the Catholic church in the Red river country of
a very true friend. Selkirk's legal executor, his brother-in-law,
Mr. Halkett, visited the colony in the spring of 1822. He re-
mained three weeks at the Red river, and had left for Hudson
bay only a few days before the return of the bishop, for whom
he left a letter making known his intentions on the subject of
Pembina. In this letter Halkett reprimanded the missionaries
severely for having established the Pembina mission, maintain-
ing that it injured St. Boniface, and that in so doing they had not
corresponded with the wishes of Lord Selkirk. Bishop Proven-
cher answered Halkett 's letter August 10, sending his reply by
courier to Hudson bay. He wrote :
"The Bishop of Quebec gave me an intimation about your
intentions about Pembina before my departure from Quebec.
394 HISTOKY OF BED BIVEK VALLEY
"I see clearly that the reasons you have for abandoning that
post are good, but the execution is not so easy as you think.
Perhaps one may accomplish it by degrees.
"The emigration (from Pembina) is absolutely impossible
this year, because no one is anxious to come and establish him-
self at St. Boniface to die here inevitably of hunger. For from
St. Boniface being able to support the emigrants from Pembina,
it will be necessary for a part of the inhabitants of St. Boniface
to go to Pembina again this winter to find whereon to live.
We cannot leave that place this autumn. At the earliest we may
abandon it next spring. From now to that time we shall try to
make the people of that locality understand the necessity of
moving from American territory.
"When we established ourselves there we could not foresee
that a treaty between England and the United States would
place Pembina on the American side. The late Lord Selkirk, in
asking for Catholic priests, meant, no doubt, that it was for the
instruction of all the Catholics of the place, and above all the
Canadian half-breeds. Now the greater part of the Catholics and
all the half-breeds were at Pembina, and absolutely could not
leave that place to come to St. Boniface, where they could not
have lived. It was necessary to go to them there. The agents
of the colony approved the plan at the time openly. We must
suppose that they were sufficiently instructed as to Lord Sel-
kirk's intentions to put us en rapport with them. We have made
heavy expenditures at Pembina, because we were given to under-
stand that Pembina would be maintained as well as St. Boniface.
For four years no one has said a word against this arrangement,
and this is what has drawn so many people to that point, who if
they leave Pembina today will be more destitute than when ar-
riving in the country.
"I agree that it would have been better to have built at St.
Boniface than at Pembina; but it was impossible for us to do
so, for lack of provisions which it was very difficult to secure at
St. Boniface.
"Rest assured that I will do all in my power to make the
colony prosper. For that I have in my hands only the arms of
THE CHUECHES 395
religion, which, indeed, are most strong. I will make the best
possible use of them."
In his reply to the above, dated August 30, Mr. Halkett tells
the bishop that he hopes to see his views on Pembina adopted to
the letter, and threatens to complain to the authorities in Eng-
land, if there is any delay in executing his orders.
In January, 1823, the bishop went to Pembina. He announced
to the people that he was forced to recall Father Dumoulin, and
that they must remain without a priest to instruct them. Some of
the people determined to stay in Pembina; others went to the
Canadian side and founded the Parish of St. Francis Xavier, and
others went to Fort Snelling, Minn., and eventually founded St.
Paul. Father Dumoulin, broken-hearted at the ruin of all his
labors, obtained permission from the Bishop of Quebec to go to
Canada, with the firm intention of returning to the Red river
after a short vacation. He left in August, 1823. He never saw
the Red river again. He died a holy death in Canada in 1853.
Beltrami, writing from Pembina August 10, 1823, says: "The
only people now remaining (in Pembina) are the Bois-brules,
who have taken possession of the huts which the settlers aban-
boned. Two Catholic priests had also established themselves here,
but as neither the government nor the company gave them any
means of subsistence, they went away; and the church, con-
structed like all the other buildings of trunks of trees, is already
falling into ruin. * * * Lower down, at Fort Douglas, there
is still a bishop, Monsieur Provencais. His merit and virtues are
the theme of general praise. I was told that he does not mingla
politics with religion, that his zeal is not the offspring of ambi-
tion, that his piety is pure, his heart simple and generous. He
does not give ostentatious bounties at the expense of his creditors ;
he is hospitable to strangers; and dissimulation never sullies his
mind or his holy and paternal ministry. Yesterday * * *
the boundary which separates the territories of the two nations
was formally laid down, in the name of the government and the
president of the United States."
Keating, who was the geologist and historiographer of the
United States Commission under Major Long in 1823, which
determined the boundary line, writes of Pembina: "The Hudson
396 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Bay company had a fort here until the spring of 1823, when
observations, made by their own astronomers, led them to sus-
pect that it was south of the boundary line, and they therefore
abandoned it, removing all that could be sent down the river
with advantage. The Catholic clergymen who had been sup-
ported at this place was at the same time removed to Fort Doug-
las, and a large and neat chapel built by the settlers for their
accommodation is now fast going to devay. The settlement con-
sists of about 350 souls, residing in sixty log houses or cabins."
Keating also states that the people "appeared well satisfied that
the whole of the settlement of Pembina, with the exception of a
single log house, standing near the left bank of the river, would
be included in the territory of the United States. ' ' The members
of the expedition were entertained by Mr. Nolen, whose daugh-
ters afterward taught school in St. Boniface.
Joseph Severe Norbert Dumoulin, the first missionary priest
in North Dakota, was born at St. Anne, Isle of Montreal, Decem-
ber 5, 1793. He was educated in the seminary of Nicolet, and
ordained priest February 23, 1817. He left Canada with Father
Provencher for the Red river missions May 19, 1818, and in Sep-
tember of the same year settled in Pembina, by command of
Father Provencher, as pastor of all the Indians, half-breeds and
Canadians thereabouts. He built there a presbytery and a church,
and opened there under charge of William Edge, the first school
in this state. He was universally loved. "Father Dumoulin,"
writes Bishop Provencher, "is a good missionary."
The departure of Father Dumoulin for Canada left Bishop
Provencher with one priest, Rev. Richard Destroismaisons, and
one candidate for the priesthood, John Harper. Mr. Edge, first
school teacher in Pembina, went back to Canada in 1820, and was
succeeded by Mr. Sauve. Mr. Harper on his arrival took charge
of the school at St. Boniface during the winter months. What
became of Mr. Sauve the records fail to disclose. It is probable
that he left the country when his school was closed in 1823. The
care of the Pembina flock was not abandoned. Father Destrois-
maisons continued to visit there at times, and in the spring Mr.
Harper accompanied the hunters to the chase. The hunting was
on the North Dakota prairies from the Red river to the Missouri.
THE CHUECHES 397
Wherever the chase led there went the priest, and it is safe to
assert that the first missionaries, beginning with Dumoulin, had
visited in these hunting expeditions nearly all of the state be-
tween those two rivers.
The good effected by the missionaries is told by the following
extracts from the minutes of a meeting of the Hudson Bay Coun-
cil held at York Factory July 2, 1825 :
11 Great benefit being experienced from the benevolent and
indefatigable exertions of the Catholic missionaries at Red river
in welfare of the moral and religious instruction of its numerous
followers, and it being observed with much satisfaction that the
influence of the mission under the direction of the Right Rev-
erend Bishop of Juliopolis has been uniformly directed to the best
interests of the settlement and of the country at large, it is
"Resolved, That in order to mark our approbation of such
laudable and disinterested conduct on the part of said mission, it
be recommended to the honorable committee that a sum of thirty
pounds per annum be given towards its support."
The struggling mission soon found use for the company's con-
tributions. In the spring of 1825 the water in the Red river over-
flowed its banks, inundating all the low places, but not doing
great damage. Such a thing had not occurred since the arrival
of the whites in the country. The Indians related, says Dugas,
how one spring long ago the water had covered the prairies, but
no one knew the date of that flood. On October 15, 1825, snow
fell abundantly. The winter was one of the most severe ever
experienced in the country. The oldest inhabitants remembered
nothing like it in twenty-five years. Spring carne late. A cold
north wind prevailed all through April. The snow began to melt
about the first of May, and on May 5 the ice broke. The water
was already over the river banks. The river continued to rise
until May 20. It reached a height of forty feet above the ordinary
summer level. Almost everything about St. Boniface was de-
stroyed. Two hundred and fifty persons, most of them colonists
whom Lord Selkirk had sent from Canada, left St. Boniface for
the United States, some of them settling around Pembina, others
going to Fort Snelling, near St. Paul. This is, I believe, the first
Red river flood on record. The second flood of record occurred
398 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
in 1852, and is graphically described by Bishop Provencher in a
letter to Bishop Bourget, of Montreal. The water this time was
eighteen inches lower than in 1826, but the damage done was in-
calculably greater. The last flood of 1897 is fresh in the minds
of not a few who read these notes. The writer has vivid recollec-
tions of it.
In 1827 Father Destroismaisons, the second pastor of the Pern-
bina mission, which he visited at times from 1823 to 1827, returned
to Canada. He was born at St. Pierre January 12, 1796, educated
at the Seminary of Quebec, ordained to the priesthood October
17, 1819, and came to the Red river in 1820. During his seven
years on the mission Father Destroismaisons learned the Chip-
pewa language, though he never labored in the Indian missions.
He was a worthy successor of Father Dumoulin. After Father
Destroismaison 's departure the care of Pembina devolved on Rev.
John Harper.
In January, 1829, Bishop Provencher opened a school for girls
at St. Boniface. This school was given in charge to two young
ladies named Nolen, residents of Pembina, whose father was an
old inhabitant of the northwest, and Pembina 's most respected
and prominent citizen. The young ladies seem to have been quite
accomplished. They had been educated in the best schools in
Canada. Thus North Dakota, perhaps, gave to Manitoba its first
lady teachers. In August, 1830, Bishop Provencher again de-
parted for Canada in search of priests, and to collect funds to
build a cathedral, leaving young Father Harper in charge of the
whole vast field.
On his return trip Bishop Provencher was accompanied by
Rev. George Anthony Belcourt, who had been ordained in Nicolet
Seminary, and who has the distinguished honor of being the
second resident priest in North Dakota. Father Belcourt arrived
with the bishop at St. Boniface June 17, 1831. Father Harper
then returned to Quebec. In 1833 Rev. Charles Poire and Rev.
John Baptist Thibault were ordained at St. Boniface. Before
coming to the missions Father Belcourt, who was gifted with rare
linguistic talent, had applied himself to the study of the Algon-
quin language, which closely resembles the Chippewa, and to
him was assigned the Indian missions. He soon acquired so per-
THE CHURCHES 399
feet a knowledge of the language as to enable him to compose a
grammar and dictionary, which were corrected and published
after his death by Father Lacombe. He was for many years the
teacher of Indian to the young missionaries. In 1838 another
priest in the person of Rev. Arsene Mayrand was added to the
missionary band, which was further augmented by the arrival in
1841 of Rev. Jean Ed. Darveau, a most zealous and talented young
priest, who was drowned in Lake Manitoba June 4, 1844. All of
these clergymen attended at times to the Cathqlics at Pembina,
and accompanied the hunter whenever they could from 1831 to
1848, when Father Belcourt became resident pastor at Pembina.
In 1837 Rev. Modeste Demers, who afterwards became first bishop
of Vancouver, labored in the Red river missions. In 1838 Rev.
Francis Norbert Blanchet, first bishop of Oregon City, spent some
weeks on the Red river, leaving on July 10 with Father Demers
to plant the church in Oregon by advice of Bishop Provencher.
The journey of these two young priests from St. Boniface to
Vancouver lasted four months and fourteen days. They reached
Vancouver November 24. They were the first priests to cele-
brate mass on the Saskatchewan. There is no evidence at hand to
show that either of them officiated in North Dakota.
In 1844 Bishop Provencher secured two more young priests,
Rev. J. F. Lafleche, who in February, 1867, was consecrated
coadjutor bishop of Three Rivers, to which see he succeeded
April 30, 1870, dying July 14, 1898, and Father Bourassa. These
gentlemen, accompanied by a small community of Grey Nuns,
landed at St. Boniface June 21, 1844. On the 24th of June the
following year came Father Aubert, an Oblate father, and Rev.
Mr. Tache, the future archbishop of St. Boniface, who became
coadjutor bishop of St. Boniface September 22, 1870, and who
died at St. Boniface June 22, 1894, after forty-nine years of a
most self-sacrificing and successful apostolate. Bishop Tache
was a distant relative of de La Verandrye, the discoverer of the
Red river country. In his valuable work, "Vingt Annes de Mis-
sion dans Le Nord Ouest de L'Amerique," Bishop Tache gives it
as his opinion that the first missionary of the diocese of St. Boni-
face was a Father Messager. "It was he at least," writes Bishop
Tache, "who in 1731 accompanied Varennes de La Verandrye in
400 HISTORY OF BED B1VEB VALLEY
his first expedition. ' ' We have seen that de La Verandrye reached
the Red river only in 1734. It is interesting, however, to know
that there was a priest with him in 1731. In his report to the
governor general of New France, de La Verandrye states that
this priest, who, by the way, was a Jesuit, and whose name is
spelled Messaiger, fell sick in 1733 and returned to Montreal that
year with de La Verandrye 's nephew. He never visited the Red
river.
With the arrival of Fathers Aubert and Tache (who were or-
dained at St. Boniface October 12, 1845), the future of the mis-
sions was secured. These two gentlemen were members of a con-
gregation of priests known as the Oblates of Mary Immaculate —
whose superior had promised Bishop Provencher to supply him
with the requisite number of priests to develop and care for the
arduous missions of the north. Father Tache is of particular in-
terest to the historian of the chuch in North Dakota, inasmuch
as he labored in this state, and was for many years vicar general
of the American bishops, Grace, Seidenbusch, Marty and Shanley,
who have exercised jurisdiction over this part of the church from
1859.
The following is a list of the missionaries who came to the
country at Bishop Provencher 's request before the advent of the
Oblate fathers, and all of whom, except Demers, had something to
do with church work in North Dakota :
Severe Dumoulin— 1818-1823.
Th. Destroismaisons— 1820-1827.
John Harper— 1822-1831.
Fr. Boucher— 1827-1833.
G. A. J. Belcourt— 1831-1859.
Charles Ed. Poire— 1832-1839.
J. B. Thibault— 1833-1879.
M. Demers— 1837-1838.
Jos. Arsene Mayrand — 1838-1845.
Jos. F. Darveau— 1841-1844.
J. Lafleche— 1844-1856.
Jos. Borassa— 1844-1856.
Fathers Aubert and Tache were the last missionaries to enter
THE CHUECHES 401
the Red river country by way of the lakes. In 1843 on his journey
to Canada Bishop Provencher crossed the prairies with a caravan
of Red river carts in the employ of either Joe Rolette or Norman
W. Kittson. The trail was by Otter Tail lake, the Sauk valley,
thence along the Mississippi to St. Paul or Mendota. Another
trail opened about the same time and followed for some years
by Kittson 's carts led by Lake Traverse. The Sauk trail later on
became a stage road, and at a later period a railroad. The Red
river caravans, which increased from six carts in 1843 to 102 in
1851, and to 600 in 1858, were very often accompanied going and
coming by a priest. The average daily march of the caravan was
about fifteen miles. The priest said mass nearly every morning.
The writer, who was a sanctuary boy in the St. Paul cathedral
from 1858 to 1867, serving mass there almost daily, had the pleas-
ure of meeting many of the Red river missionaries of those early
days, and often heard them relate the incidents of their trips
over the prairies. To the Red river carts and to the hunting ex-
peditions from Pembina and from St. Joseph, which brought the
missionaries over every county of the state between the Red river
and the Missouri, is due the spread of the knowledge of the
Catholic church, and its civilizing influence among the Indians
in North Dakota. As early as the autumn of 1842, Father
Ravoux had made some beginnings of a mission among the Sioux
at Lake Traverse. It was Father Ravoux who instructed, bap-
tized and assisted on the scaffold thirty-three of the thirty-eight
Sioux who were hanged at Mankato, Minn., December 26, 1862,
for their work in the Minnesota massacre of that year. The sway
of the priest over the savages of Minnesota and North Dakota
had been established to quite an extent before Fort Abercrombie
(1858) or Fort Totten (1867) were built on our prairies. Bishop
Lafleche, of Three Rivers, who left the Red river in 1856, often
jokingly claimed that he was the pastor of Wild Rice, ten miles
south of Fargo, because he has so often officiated there for the
Canadians, half-breeds and few Indians of that vicinity. In fact,
before 1856 mass had been said often in every camping place
from Lake Traverse to Pembina.
On May 8, 1847, Rev. Henry Faraud, an Oblate father, was
402 HISTOBY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
ordained, and in the fall of that year it fell to his lot to accom-
pany the hunters. Bishop Tache in his "Vingt Annees," page
20, says: "A considerable number of the population of the Red
river go twice a year onto the immense plains south and west of
this colony (that is, in North Dakota), to hunt bison. The hun-
ters, who always number several hundred, bring with them their
whole family and live during four months of the summer in large
camps. The numerous dangers inherent to the chase, and the
more numerous and more regretable dangers of camp life, make
the presence of a priest indispensable in those expeditions, during
which one can always exercise a ministry both active and fruit-
ful. There are many children who can receive religious instruc-
tion only then. The hunters ask for a priest to accompany them,
and their request is always granted when possible. This is what
we call in this country ' going to the prairies. ' '
On November 30, 1864, Father Faraud was consecrated bishop
and appointed to the new vicariate-apostolic of Athabasca-Mc-
Kenzie. He died September 26, 1890.
In 1848, in default of a priest, Brother Dube, a lay brother,
went to the prairies twice. The good brother deserves to be
numbered among the pioneer evangelizers of North Dakota. In
1849 the work on the prairies was confined to Fathers Maison-
neuve and Tissot. By this time the number of priests on the
Canadian size sufficing for the missions there, Father Belcourt
with the permission of Bishop Provencher, to whom he belonged,
crossed the line and took up his residence at Pembina.
In 1827 a robust, talented, pious and zealous young priest,
twenty-four years of age, at the time pastor of Ste. Martine, dis-
trict of Montreal, cheerfully volunteered for the Red river mis-
sions. His offer was not accepted until 1831. This priest was
George Anthony Joseph Belcourt, who arrived at St. Boniface
with Bishop Provencher June 17, 1831, and remained in the Red
river country twenty-eight years, a large portion of that time be-
ing given to missionary work in North Dakota. On March 15,
1859, Father Belcourt performed his last ministerial act in the
Red river country, the baptism of Gabriel Grant. It is to be
hoped that some one equal to the task may some day give us a
life of this great missionary, who, of all the priests of pioneer
THE CHUKCHES 403
days in North Dakota, from whatever point of view we consider
him, was the most worthy of honor. The only writings of Bel-
court the author has been able to obtain are the church records
of St. Joseph from August 14, 1848, to March 15, 1859. These
records are accurately and neatly written, showing that the good
priest was very attentive even to the minor details of his sacred
calling. His letters to Bishop Provencher no doubt perished in
the burning of the episcopal residence at St. Boniface in 1860.
The details here given of his work previous to August, 1848, are
mainly from Dugas' life of Bishop Provencher.
Father Belcourt was the first priest on these northern missions
to acquire a knowledge of the Indian language. Before 1833 he
had composed an Indian grammar and dictionary which are still
in use as standard works. During the seventeen years he spent
in the diocese of St. Boniface he was teacher of Indian to all
the missionaries, without exception. He was the first priest who
formed and cared for an exclusively Indian congregation in the
Red river district. He founded the mission of Baie St. Paul on
the Assiniboine in 1834. He visited the savages at Rainy Lake
in 1838, and after surmounting many difficulties, succeeded in
gaining their confidence and established a mission among them.
The Indian mission of Wabassimong on Winnipeg river was his
work, and in 1840 he began the mission of Vaie des Canards on
Lake Manitoba.
In 1846, after having transferred his flourishing mission of
Wabassimong to the Oblate fathers, the "intrepid" Belcourt, as
Bishop Tache calls him, "went to the prairie" with the hunters.
Wherever hard work and total sacrifice of self were demanded,
there Belcourt was sent, and there he gladly went. A true soldier
of the cross, he never questioned the command of his superior.
A zealous missionary, he sought his reward, not in the applause
of men, but in the approval of his Divine Master. Not one line
from Belcourt 's pen in praise of himself or of his work can be
found, and the facts given in this short sketch were gathered
by Dugas from the episcopal archives of Quebec and Montreal,
the recollections of the old missionaries, and the reports of the
old settlers among whom Belcourt worked.
The oldest extant record of baptisms, marriages and deaths
404 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
in this state was kept by Belcourt, from August 14, 1848, to
March 15, 1859. The first baptism recorded in this book is that
of Francis Cline, son of Francis Cline and Hester Aleck, his wife ;
the sponsors being Michael Cline and Magdalene Beauchemin —
date August 14, 1848. From that date down to the present a full
record of all the Catholic baptisms and marriages in Pembina,
Walhalla and Leroy has been kept, and the books containing
said records are in possession of the bishop of Fargo. In Bel-
court's record there are entered 617 baptisms and seventy-eight
marriages. Of these Father Lacombe performed seventy-nine,
Father Fayole sixty-four, and Belcourt 552.
In 1848 Belcourt settled in Pembina, where he resided a few
years, afterwards removing to the mission of St. Joseph, the pres-
ent site of Walhalla. Father Lacombe found him in Pembina in
1849. In a letter to Archbishop Ireland, dated June 12, 1901,
Father Lacombe, who spent two years in Pembina with Father
Belcourt, writes: ''After my ordination to the priesthood by
Bishop Bourget (of which I celebrate tomorrow the fifty-second
anniversary) I left Montreal for Pembina. It was Father Bel-
court who had determined my choice of that mission. It was in
June, 1849. I arrived in Pembina in November of the same year
. . . and devoted myself to the study of the Chippewa lan-
guage during that whole winter under the able direction of my
companion, Father Belcourt. The following spring I left with
the caravan of hunters, half-breeds and savages, for the famous
hunting trip over the vast prairies on the Coteau of the Missouri
and the Turtle mountains, where we spent the summer in chasing
buffalo and preparing our provisions of dry meat. Other pens
more able than mine have described those hunts in which thou-
sands of buffalos were killed by the brave, skillful and renowned
nimrods. During those excursions the priest was not only the
pastor of souls, but he was also the magistrate, the doctor, and
the one who decided all cases without appeal. How happy I
was on this wandering mission, with those hundreds of families
who were so devoted to the priest. I believed myself to be a
new Moses leading his people in the desert. In the autumn re-
turned to Pembina. I rested from my travels, laboring with
Father Belcourt."
THE CHURCHES 405
Beginning with 1849 the Catholic Directory tells the story of
the Pembina mission and the missions in that neighborhood, so
far as the priest in charge is concerned. The Catholic Directory
is an official guide book of the priests in the United States, com-
piled by the bishops of the different dioceses, and giving the
name, location and occupation of every priest in good standing
in the whole country every year. The non-appearance of a priest 's
name in the Directory is a sign either that he has left the country,
or that he is no longer in the ranks of the ministry, or sometimes
of both. The Directory comes out in the beginning of each year.
Pembina first appears in the Catholic Directory of 1849, under
the heading "Diocese of Dubuque," to which diocese it then
belonged. The Directory says : "Pembina (sic) Mission. Anew
mission has just been commenced here, where there is a settle-
ment of about 500 half-breeds from Red river. It is about 600
miles northwest of the falls of St. Anthony, and promises to in-
crease rapidly." This refers to the condition of Pembina in 1848.
In 1850 the Directory says: "Pembina Mission, Minnesota
Territory, Church of the Assumption. — This settlement is com-
posed of 500 half-breeds, from Red river. Rev. Geo. Ant. Bel-
court and Rev. Albert Lacombe. These two clergymen attend
several Indian missions in those remote northern regions." It
is to be noted that Belcourt is the way the grand old pioneer
spells his name in his records.
The Directory of 1851 is a reprint of 1850 as concerns Pem-
bina.
In 1852, under the report of the diocese of St. Paul, the Di-
rectory has: "Pembina, Church of the Assumption. Very Rev.
Joseph Bellecourt. Sermon in English, French and Chippewa."
1853 — A reprint of 1852.
1854 — "Pembina-St. Joseph's. Very Rev. Joseph Bellecourt,
who founded this prosperous mission, which numbers more than
1,500 Catholics, mainly half-breeds. There is a school directed
by some Sisters of Charity. This place promises to become very
important, being the first post on the lands of the United States
close by the British possessions and the Selkirk settlement. The
first settlement of Pembina, twenty miles from St. Joseph, pos-
406 HISTORY OF EED EIVEB VALLEY
sesses a large log church under the title of the Assumption. It
is visited from St. Joseph.
This excerpt shows that Father Belcourt had moved his head-
quarters to Walhalla, or, as it was then called, St. Joseph, some
time in 1853.
1855 — Report same as 1854, except that Rev. John Fayole is
mentioned together with Father Belcourt.
1856 — Same as 1855, -except that Rev. John Fayole's name is
omitted. He had been changed to Little Canada, near St. Paul,
and the sisters in charge of the school are called Sisters of the
Propagation of the Faith. They are mentioned as follows:
"These sisters, seven in number, conduct an English, French and
Indian school, and by their knowledge of the languages used by
the different tribes they are particularly qualified for the instruc-
tion of persons of their own sex and of children. They have 100
pupils in their schools. They receive boarders at the rate of
$30.00 for six months. These sisters intend, as soon as circum-
stances permit, to extend their charitable labors to the sick."
1857— A reprint of 1856.
1858— "Pembina, on the N. Red river; St. Joseph 's— Rev.
Joseph Belcourt. Convent and academy of the Sisters of the
Propagation of the Faith, seven sisters."
1859 — "Pembina (sic) on the Red River of the North, in the
new Territory of Dacotah ; St. Joseph, (service in French, English
and Chippewa), Rev. Joseph Belcourt. Church of the Assump-
tion, twenty miles northeast from Pembina, in the state of Minne-
sota (half-breeds and Canadians), Rev. Joseph Goiffon."
"Sisters of the Propagation of the Faith. This new order of
sisters has been established especially for the instruction of chil-
dren amongst the numerous half-breeds and the Indian tribes in
the northern part of the diocese, as soon as their means will per-
mit. They have now charge of St. Francis Xavier Academy at
Pembina, on the Red River of the North, Dacotah Territory.
Sister Francis Xavier, superior."
Some time in 1853 Father Belcourt changed his residence from
Pembina to the present site of Walhalla, which was then known
as the mission of St. Joseph. There he built a church, school,
presbytery and flour mill, the first mill in the state, thus taking
THE CHUECHES 407
an active part in the industrial as well as in the religious develop-
ment of the country. From Pembina or St. Joseph he traveled in
all directions over the state, leaving in many places lasting re-
sults of his good influence. He evangelized the whole of the Tur-
tle mountain region, and on the summit of the highest peak in
those hills, Butte St. Paul, six miles east of the city of Bottineau,
he planted the symbol of man's redemption. To Belcourt's work
is mainly due the present civilization of the Chippewa Indians
in this state and across the line. And if in 1862-63 the Chippewa
nation did not join the Sioux in their war against the whites it
is largely, if not altogether, owing to the lessons of Father Bel-
court and Father Andre of North Dakota, and Father Pierce of
Crow Wing, Minnesota. If any Catholic priest more than another
has done meritorious and lasting work for the benefit of this
state, George Anthony Joseph Belcourt is the man.
Among the benefactors of the church in Pembina and St.
Joseph in the days of its infancy, Joseph Rolette, Anthony Gin-
gras and N. "W. Kittson deserve special mention. Rolette and
Gingras were Catholics, and Kittson was married to a Catholic
wife. For many years those three gentlemen represented the
county, at that time almost co-extensive with the present state,
in the territorial legislature of Minnesota, at one time walking
all the way from Pembina to St. Paul. In the state capitol of
Minnesota is a picture of Rolette, with the inscription: "Hon.
Joseph Rolette, who saved the capitol to St. Paul by running
away with the bill to remove it to St. Peter in 1857." Mr. Ro-
lette's son Joseph is a resident of Belcourt, N. D., and is well
known as an Indian interpreter. Mr. Norman Gingras, a highly
esteemed citizen of Leroy, is a son of Antoine Gingras, and some
of Mr. Kittson 's children were born and baptized in Pembina.
Father Belcourt was born at Baie du Febvre, Canada, April
23, 1803, educated in the Nicolet seminary, and ordained priest
March 10, 1827. He came to the Red river with Bishop Proven-
cher in 1831, and returned to Canada in 1859, where he continued
to labor zealously and successfully until 1874. He died at Shed-
iac, New Brunswick, May 31, 1874, and was buried at Memrem-
cook. He was North Dakota's greatest pioneer priest.
In September, 1859, Rev. Joseph Goiffon assumed pastoral
408 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
charge of the Pembina mission, to which St. Joseph was added
in March, 1859, after the departure of Father Belcourt. During
Father Goiffon's pastorate he was assisted at times by Father
Ravoux from St. Paul, and by Fathers Thibault, Simonet, Oram
and Andre from St. Boniface, whose names appear in the baptis-
mal and marriage records. In November, 1860, Father Goiffon
was caught in a blizzard near the present town of Neche. He re-
mained on the prairie for five days, his only food being the frozen
raw flesh of his horse, which had died from exposure. On the
fifth day a party under the lead of Pierre Bottineau found him
and brought him to a place of shelter, where one leg and a part
of the remaining foot were amputated. Father Goiffon is still
living, hale and hearty, and has charge of the parish of Mendota,
in the suburbs of St. Paul. He left the Red river in September,
1861. Everybody in Ramsey county, Minnesota, knows and loves
good Father Goiffon. I have often asked him to write his Pem-
bina experiences, but so great is his dislike of notoriety that he
has always refused.
In 1859 Father Mestre, an Oblate father, went on the annual
hunting expedition, and was instrumental in concluding a treaty
of peace that year between the Red river half-breeds and their
fierce enemies, the Sioux ("Vingt Annees," page 117).
In October, 1861, the missions of Pembina and St. Joseph were
given by Bishop Grace, of St. Paul, to the Oblate fathers, and
Rev. P. Andre, whom Bishop Tache calls "ce jovial et bon
Breton," was duly installed as pastor, and officiated in that
capacity until August 31, 1864. In Mr. A. P. Connolly's book,
"The Minnesota Massacre — 1862," page 221, we read: "Camp
Atchison was the most important of all the camps on the whole
route. It was here that the General (Sibley) was visited by some
300 Chippewa half-breeds, led by a Catholic priest named Father
Andre, who told him that the Indians, hearing that General Sully,
who was marching up the west side of the Missouri with a large
body of troops, was delayed on account of low water, were de-
flecting their course in the hope of being reinforced by the Sioux
inhabiting the country west of the Missouri." Camp Atchison,
Connolly says, was located about fifty miles southeast from
THE CHUECHES 409
Devils Lake. Connolly was a member of the Sixth Minnesota
regiment, and an eye witness to what he relates.
In his "Vingt Annees," page 185, Bishop Tache narrates the
same episode as follows: " During the hunt on the prairie the
half-breeds of St. Joseph, who accompanied Father Andre, met
an American army under command of General Sibley, who were
pursuing the Sioux to punish them for the horrible massacre of
1862. Our half-breeds, drawn up in line, with their missionary
at their head, advanced to the camp of the brave sons of the
Union. Arrived at the tent of the general, at the very foot of
the starry banner, Father Andre, mounted on his mettlesome
charger and surrounded by his incomparable half-breed cavaliers,
delivered to the general and to the American flag a veritable
"discours en selle," a chef-d'oeuvre of military eloquence. He
won the heart of the general and his staff. In the month of De-
cember the humble missionary of St. Joseph received his diploma
as military agent from the United States government for the
pacification of the Sioux. The good father, astounded by the
unexpected fruits of his eloquence, came to St. Boniface to exhibit
his parchments and to receive instructions for his new and im-
portant mission. A few days later, in the middle of winter, he
traveled over the immense plains south of St. Joseph in search of
the Sioux chiefs to whom he wished to render the great service
of saving them from destruction by reconciling them with their
offended government." The United States recompensed Father
Andre liberally for his services. If his efforts at pacification
failed of complete success, the fault was none of his, and the
government recognized this fact. Father Andre's mission of
peace took place in 1862.
During Father Goiffon 's administration seventy-four baptisms
and eight marriages were performed in Pembina, as follows:
Oram 1, Thibault 2, Ravoux 3, Andre 18, and Goiffon 58.
In the same period 118 baptisms and 14 marriages were per-
formed at St. Joseph, as follows : Goiffon 84, Ravoux 2, Thibault
20, Simonet 26 — thus giving 22 marriages and 192 baptisms in
those two missions in three years. The significance of these sta-
tistics as to population appears by comparing them with those
of a large Catholic parish of today. In the three years ending
410 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
December 31, 1901, the baptisms in the large parish of St. Michael,
Grand Forks, were 124, and the marriages 35.
In September, 1861, Rt. Rev. Thomas L. Grace, bishop of St.
Paul, to whosa diocese Pembina then belonged, visited the mis-
sion and administered confirmation. Before leaving Pembina
Bishop Grace gave the pastoral care of the Missions of Pembina
and St. Joseph with all their dependencies to the Oblate fathers
from across the line, who took charge of them in October, a
charge they faithfully fulfilled until the 9th of April, 1877. Dur-
ing that period the following priests were employed in those
missions :
St. Joseph— L. X. Simonet, April, 1861, to June, 1861; A.
Andre, October, 1861, to September, 1864; H. Germain, intermit-
tently from November, 1862, to February, 1865 ; J. B. E. Richer,
August, 1864, to April, 1869 ; V. Vergeville, March, 1865, to May,
1865 ; H. Leduc, September, 1865, to December, 1865 ; L. LeGoff ,
October, 1866, to April, 1867 ; A. Laity, January, 1868, to May,
1868 ; J. M. J. LeFloch, November 6, 1868, to April 9, 1877 ; J. D.
Fillion, August, 1877, to September 17, 1877; Ignatius Tomazin,
December, 1877, to January 10, 1878; J. D. Fillion, March, 1878;
Michael Charbonneau, one visit in September, 1877, and another
in March, 1878 ; Louis Bonin, March 31, 1877, to October 2, 1887.
Pembina— H. Leduc, January 9, 1866, to May 19, 1867 ; A. Le-
geard, December 29, 1867, to June 20, 1868 ; J. B. E. Richer, No-
vember 3, 1868, to May 6, 1869 ; J. M. J. LeFloch, September 12,
1869, to December 15, 1869; L. Simonet, April 17, 1870, to
April 16, 1877 ; J. D. Fillion, one visit in August, 1877 ; Michael
Carbonneau, one visit in December, 1877; Ignatius Tomazin, one
visit in January, 1878; Michael Carbonneau, one visit in May,
1878 ; Louis Bonin, June 22, 1878, to April 4, 1889. Father Bonin
was followed in Pembina April 25, 1880, by Rev. John Considine,
at present pastor of Minto.
Thus from 1818 to 1880, thirty-three priests and four bishops
had labored in the Pembina district of North Dakota.
On November 13, 1873, Father LeFloch transferred the head-
quarters of the St. Joseph mission from Walhalla to its present
location at Leroy. Up to 1873 there had been no exclusively In-
dian mission in North Dakota.
THE CHURCHES 411
On his way to the Rocky mountain tribes Father DeSmet had
stopped for a few days with the Mandans on the Missouri, and
had baptized a few children, among others Martin Good Bear
and Joseph Packinaw, who are today leading business men at
Fort Berthold. But Father DeSmet founded no mission there.
The history of the Indian missions shall be told in another
article.
Up to the year 1867 the history of the Catholic church in
North Dakota is confined to the Pembina district. In 1867 a
small mission was begun in the neighborhood of Fort Abercrom-
bie, which was attended from time to time by Rev. J. B. Genin,
who resided from 1867 until 1873 in McAuleyville or Moorhead.
In August, 1873, he was appointed pastor of Duluth, where he
remained till 1882. From 1882 till 1889 his name does not appear
in the Catholic Directory. The first mention of Father Genin as
a priest in the northwest occurs in Archbishop Tache's "Vingt
Annees" under the year 1865, page 227, as follows: "The 25th
of April (1865) Monseigneur de Anemourt, accompanied by
Fathers Genin, Tissier and Le Due, and by Brothers Lalican,
Hand and Mooney, left Montreal for the Red river, and the 24th
of May the clergy and the Catholic population of the colony had
the happiness to see the pious caravan arrive." The second men-
tion of him is on page 231: "He (Bishop Farand) departed, ac-
companied by Father Genin and Brother Boisrame." On page
241 of the same work Father Genin is mentioned for the third
and last time, where it is stated that on June 27, 1866, Father
Genin was located in the vicariate of Athabasca, Mackenzie.
The story of the growth of the church from 1865 to 1890 is
told by the Catholic Directory.
The Directory for 1865 says: Missions of half-breeds and
Chippewas at Pembina and St. Joseph, Red River of the North,
Rev. Pere Andre and Pere Germaine.
1866 — Same as 1865, except Rev. Andre omitted.
1867— Same missions, Rev. F. Richer, 0. M. I., and Rev. F.
Le Due, 0. M. I.
1868, 1869, 1870 and 1871 same as 1867.
1872 — Dakota Territory:
St. Joseph— Rev. J. B. Lafloch, 0. M. I.
412 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Pembina — Rev. F. Simonet, 0. M. I.
Other stations in the northern counties visited" by Oblate
fathers :
Yankton — Rev. V. Sommereisen.
Adolescat — Rev. C. Boucher.
Stations in the southern district visited by Rev. V. Sommer-
eisen.
1873.
Same as 1872, except Adolescat, Rev. C. Boucher, Rev. P. J.
Bedard.
1874.
Same as 1872, except Vermillion visited by Rev. P. J. Bedard.
Bloomingdale — Rev. V. Sommereisen.
Fort Totten— Rev. L. Bonin.
1875.
Same as 1874, except :
Fort Totten — Rev. L. Bonin.
Fort Totten agency, chapel and school — Rev. L. Bonin. School
taught by Sisters of Charity from Montreal.
1876.
Vicariate of northern Minnesota erected by papal brief Febru-
ary 12, 1875, comprising besides a portion of Minnesota that part
of Dakota Territory lying east of Missouri and White Earth
rivers, and north of the southern line of Burleigh, Logan, La
Moure, Ramsey and Richland counties.
Rt. Rev. Rupert Sidenbusch, bishop of Halia in partibus in-
fidelium, consecrated May 30, 1875.
Dakota Territory.
St. Joseph Church— Rev. J. B. Lafloch, 0. M. I.
Pembina Church — Rev. F. Simonet, 0. M. I.
Fort Totten — Rev. L. Bonin.
Bismarck Church — Attended from Duluth by Rev. J. B. Genin.
Jamestown attended from Duluth.
Holv Cross from Moorhead.
THE CHURCHES 413
Devil's Lake Agency, Chapel and School — Rev. L. Bonin. The
Grey Nuns of Montreal direct the school.
1877.
Indian mission at Standing Rock founded under care of Abbot
Martin Mart, 0. S. B., and Revs. Jerome Hunt and Claude Ebner,
0. S. B.
Bismarck, Forts Lincoln and Rice attended from Standing
Rock.
St. Joseph and Pembina — Rev. Ignatius Tomazin.
Holy Cross attended from Moorhead by Rev. Joseph Buh.
1878.
Resident priest in Bismarck, Rev. Chrysostom Foffa, 0. S. B.
Jamestown attended from Bismarck.
Mission at Grand Forks begun by Rev. J. Hubert, receives
resident pastor, Rev. Louis L'Hiver.
1879.
Vicariate apostolic of Dakota, erected by papal brief August
12, 1879, Rt. Rev. Martin Marty, 0. S. B., appointed first vicar
apostolic. Consecrated bishop of Tiberius February 1, 1880.
Missions established at Mandan and Fort Buford in 1879.
Standing Rock Agency — Rt. Rev. Martin Marty, 0. S. B. ;
Father Jerome and Father Casper, 0. S. B.
Walhalla and Pembina — Rev. L. Bonin.
Fort Totten — Rev. Claude Ebner, 0. S. B.
Bismarck — Rev. Chrysostom Foffa.
Jamestown attended from Bismarck.
Holy Cross attended from Moorhead by Revs. L. Spitzelber-
ger and Rev. James A. McGlone.
Grand Forks attended by Rev. L. L'Hiver.
1880.
Bismarck — Rev. C. Foffa, 0. S. B.
Stations attended: Fort Buford, Fort Lincoln, Mandan and
Jamestown.
Fort Totten— Rev. Claude Ebner, 0. S. B.
414 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
Fort Yates— Eev. J. A. Stephan, Eev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B. ;
Rev. L. Hendrick.
Grand Forks — Eev. L. L'Hiver.
Walhalla — Eev. L. Bonin. Attends Pembina also.
Priests — Twelve.
Churches and Chapels — Twenty.
1881.
Et. Eev. Marty, 0. S. B., consecrated February 1, 1880. Eesi-
dence, Yankton.
Acton — Eev. J. W. Considine.
Bismarck — Eevs. B. Bunning and P. J. Keenan.
Casselton — From Moorhead.
Elm Eiver, Traill County — From Moorhead.
Fargo — Eev. A. J. Bernier.
Ft. Abercrombie — From Fargo.
Fort Lincoln — From Mandan.
Ft. Yates— Eev. J. A. Stephan.
Grand Forks — Eev. L. L'Hiver.
Holy Cross — From Fargo.
Hyde Park, Pembina County — Eev. L. Bonin.
Jamestown — Eev. George Hepperle.
Mandan — Eev. P. Cassidy.
New Buffalo — From Fargo.
Park Eiver (now Oakwood) — From Hyde Park.
Pembina — Eev. Michael Horgan.
St. Andrew's — From Acton.
St. Boniface, Eichland County— From Wahpeton.
Valley City — From Jamestown.
Wahpeton — Eev. A. Bergmann.
1882.
Eesidence of vicar apostolic, Yankton.
Bismarck— Eev. E. P. Eettenmaier, 0. S. B.
Casselton — From Fargo.
Elm Elver — From Fargo.
Fargo — Eev. J. A. Stephan.
Ft. Abercrombie — From Holy Cross.
THE CHUKCHES 415
Ft. Lincoln — From Mandan.
Ft. Totten — Rev. Michael Horgan.
Ft. Yates — Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B.
Grand Forks — Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Holy Cross — Rev. L. Bonin.
Jamestown — Rev. Thomas Galvin.
Mandan — Rev. P. Cassidy.
New Buffalo — From Fargo.
Seven Dolors, Ramsey County — Rev. S. Caren.
Park River (Oakwood)— Rev. J. F. Malo.
Pembina — Rev. J. Lerche.
St. Andrew's, Pembina County — From Pembina.
St. Boniface, Richland County — From Wahpeton.
St. Claude, Rolette County — From Fort Totten.
Turtle River — Rev. J. AY. Considine.
Valley City-yFrom Jamestown.
Wahpeton — Rev. George Hipperle.
1883.
Residence of vicar apostolic, Standing Rock Agency.
Ardoch — From Manvel.
Bismarck— Rev. E. P. Rettenmaier, 0. S. B.
Casselton — From Fargo.
Elm River — From Fargo.
Ft. Totten — Rev. S. Caren.
Ft. Lincoln — From Mandan.
Ft. Yates— Rev. H. Hug, 0. S. B.
Grafton — From Oakwood.
Grand Forks— Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Hyde Park — Rev. L. Bonin.
Jamestown — Rev. F. Flanagan.
Mandan — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Manvel — Rev. J. W. Considine.
Minto — From Manvel.
New Buffalo — From Fargo.
Seven Dolors, Devil's Lake — Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B.
Olga— Rev. C. St. Pierre.
Pulaski — From Manvel.
416 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Oakwood — Rev. J. Fertier.
Pembina — Rev. J. Lerche.
St. Andrew's, Pembina County — From Pembina.
St. Benedict's (Holy Cross) — Rev. A. J. Bernier.
St. Boniface, Richland County — From Wahpeton.
Valley City— Rev. S. Haddock.
Veseleyville — From Manvel.
Wahpeton — Rev. G. Hipperle.
1884.
Residence of vicar apostolic, Jamestown.
Bismarck — Rev. E. P. Rettenmaier.
Fargo — Rev. F. Flanagan.
Grand Forks — Rev. Bernard W. Ahne.
Jamestown — Rev. J. A. Stephan.
Larimore — Rev. Thomas M. Cahill.
Mandan — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Manvel — Rev. J. W. Considine.
Olga — Rev. C. St. Pierre.
Pembina — Rev. James Quinlan.
St. Benedict's, Cass County — Rev. A. F. Bernier.
Pulaski — Rev. A. Michwakowski.
St. John, Rolette County — Rev. J. F. Malo.
St. Joseph, Pembina County — Rev. L. Bonin.
Tarsus, Bottineau County — Rev. U. Brunelle.
Valley City — Rev. Peter Flanagan.
Wahpeton — Rev. G. Hipperle.
Stations attended: Bathgate and Chevalier, Casselton, Oriska,
Sanborn, Grafton, Crystal, Neche, St. Boniface and Sisseton
Agency, St. Anthony, Buxton, Hillsboro, Devil's Lake, Dickinson,
Ft. Buford, Ft. Lincoln, Stanton, Taylor, Dawson, Ft. Stephen-
son, Painted Woods, Williamsport, Elm River, Ft. Ransom, Lis-
bon, New Buffalo, La Moure, Minto.
Indian Missions.
Fort Totten — Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B. ; Rev. Jurus and
Brother Giles. Standing Rock — Rev. Henry Hug and Claude
Ebner.
THE CHUKCHES 417
1885.
Residence of vicar apostolic, Yankton.
Bismarck— Rev. E. P. Rettermaier, 0. S. B.
Dunseith — Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Fargo — Rev. S. Maddock.
Grafton — Rev. James Conaghan.
Grand Forks — Rev. Bernard W. Ahne.
Jamestown — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Larimore — Rev. Francis Flanagan.
Lisbon — Rev. M. Tierney.
Mandan — Rev. Martin Schmitt, 0. S. B.
Manvel — Rev. Thomas O'Reilly.
Olga— Rev. Cyril St. Pierre.
Oakwood — Rev. Francis Hamet.
Pembina — Rev. John McGuinnis.
Pulaski — Rev. A. Michwakoski.
St. Benedict's, Cass County — Rev. .
St. John, Rolette County— Rev. J. F. Malo.
St. Joseph, Pembina County — Rev. L. Bonin.
Tarsus — Rev. U. Bruenelle.
Valley City — Rev. Herman Jasper.
Wahpeton — Rev. George Hipperle.
Missions with churches attended: Ardoch, Minto, Bathgate,
Casselton, Leonard, Oriska, Sanborn, Cavalier, Walhalla, Neche,
St. Boniface, St. Joseph, St. Claude, Veseleyville.
Missions without churches attended: Arvilla, Buxton, Hills-
boro, Burnt Creek, Dawson, Ft. Stephenson, Painted Woods, Will-
iamsport, Crystal, Dickinson, Glen Ullin, Taylor, Elm River,
Grandin, New Buffalo, Ft. Ransom, Lamoure, Sheldon, Harris-
burg, St. Anthony, Winona, Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B., and two
brothers; Rev. Claude Ebner.
1886.
Residence of vicar apostolic, Yankton.
Bathgate — Rev. Edward Kenny.
Bismarck — Revs. Bede and Paul.
Devils Lake — Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B.
418 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Dunseith — Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Fargo — Rev. S. Haddock.
Grafton — Rev. Peter Flanagan.
Grand Forks — Rev. C. Mitzger.
Jamestown — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Larimore — Rev. Francis Flanagan.
Lisbon — Rev. H. Tierney.
Mandan — Rev. Hartin Schmitt.
Hanvel — Rev. J. W. Considine.
Olga— Rev. C. St. Pierre.
Oakwood — Rev. Francis Hamet.
Pulaski — Rev. .
St. Benedict's, Cass County — Rev. Alfred Vigiaut.
St. John— Rev. J. F. Halo.
St. Joseph, Pembina County — Rev. L. Bonin.
Tarsus — Rev. U. Bruenelle.
Valley City — Rev. Hermann Jasper.
Wahpeton — Rev. G. Hipperle.
Hissions with churches attended : Ardoch, Casselton, Sanborn,
Cavalier, Neche, St. Boniface, St. Joseph, St. Anthony, St. Claude,
Veseleyville, Walhalla.
Hissions without churches attended: Arvilla, Harrisburg,
Burnt Creek, Dawson, Ft. Stephenson, Painted Woods, Williams-
port, Buxton, Hillsboro, Crystal, Gardar, Park River, Dickinson,
Ft. Buford, Ft. Lincoln, Glen, TJllin, Taylor, Elm River, Grandin,
New Buffalo, Ft. Random, Lamoure, Ransom, Sheldon, Lake
Doyle, Langdon, Hinto, Winona.
Fort Totten — Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B., and two brothers.
Standing Rock — Rev. C. Ebner.
1887.
Bathgate — Rev. Nicholas Flawmang.
Bay Centre — Rev. L. Bonin.
Bismarck — Rev. Wolfgang Steinbogler.
Bottineau — Rev. U. Bruenelle.
Devils Lake— Rev. Claude Ebner, 0. S. B.
Dunseith — Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Fargo — Rev. Sylvester Haddock.
THE CHUECHES 419
Grafton — Rev. E. Kenny.
Grand Forks — Rev. E. Metzger.
Jamestown — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Larimore — Rev. Francis Flanagan.
Lisbon — Rev. M. Tierney.
Mandan — Rev. Martin Schmitt, 0. S. B.
Manvel — Rev. J. W. Considine.
Michigan City — Rev. James Kelly.
Oakwood— Rev. 0. J. Barrett.
Olga — Rev. Francis Hamet.
Pulaski — Rev. D. Kolassinski.
St. John— Rev. J. F. Malo.
Valley City — Rev. Hermann Jasper.
Wahpeton (St. John) — Rev. George Hipperle.
Wahpeton (St. Adalbert) — Rev. W. Dorrak.
Wild Rice— Rev. A. F. Bernier.
Veseleyville — Rev. .
Missions with churches attended: Bechyn, Pisek, Casselton,
Cavalier, Pembina, Conway, Arvilla (no church), Dickinson, Glen
Ullin, Medora, Ft. Buford, Ft. Lincoln, Taylor, Ellendale, Spirit-
wood (no church), Sheldon, Ft. Ransom, Lamoure, Leonard, Ran-
som, St. Boniface, St. Anthony. St. Claude, St. Thomas, Walhalla.
Missions without churches attended: Burnt Creek, Dawson,
Ft. Stevenson, Painted Woods, Williamsport, Buxton, Hillsboro,
Elm River, Grandin, New Buffalo, Harrisburg, Lake Doyle, Lang-
don, Villand (McHenry county), Winona.
Indian Missions.
Ft. Totten— Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B.; Rev. R. O'Grady,
0. S. B., and two brothers.
Fort Yates— Rev. Bede Marty, 0. S. B.
1888.
Bathgate — Rev. J. B. Champagne.
Bismarck — Rev. Wolfgang Steinkozler, 0. S. B.
Casselton — Rev. Henry Schmitz.
Devils Lake— Rev. Claude Ebner, 0. S. B.
Dickinson — Rev. Ambrose Lethert, 0. S. B.
420 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Dunseith — Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Fargo — Rev. D. V. Collins.
Grafton — Revs. E. Kenny and J. Hynes.
Grand Forks — Rev. E. J. Conaty.
Jamestown — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Larimore — Revs. F. Flanagan and P. J. Connolly.
Laureat — Rev. C. Scollen.
Lisbon — Rev. M. Tierney.
Mandan — Rev. J. G. Penault.
Manvel — Rev. J. W. Considine.
Michigan City — Rev. James Durward.
Oakwood — Rev. 0. J. Barrett.
Olga — Rev. J. 0. Comptois.
Pulaski — Rev. D. Kolassinski.
St. John — Rev. J. F. Malo.
Tarsus — Rev. U. Bruenelle.
Valley City — Rev. H. Jasper.
Veseleyville — Rev. .
Wahpeton (St. John) — Rev. G. Hipperle.
Wahpeton (St. Adalbert)— Rev. "W. Dorrak.
Wild Rice— Rev. A. F. Bernier.
Missions with churches attended : Ardoch, Minto, Bay Centre
(St. Joseph), Cavalier, Neche, Pembina. Bechyn, Pisek. Conway,
Arvilla (no ch.). Glen Ullin, Medora, Taylor. Lidgerwood, Gen-
eseo, St. Anthony. Sheldon, Ft. Ransom, Lamoure, Ransom.
Spiritwood. Walhalla, Lake Doyle, Langdon. Buxton, Hillsboro.
Burnt Creek, Dawson, Ft. Stephenson, Painted Woods, Williams-
port, Elm River, Grandin, Leonard, Buffalo, Ft. Buford. Har-
risburg, Villand.
Belcomb — Rev. L. Bonin and Sisters of Mercy.
Ft. Totten— Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B., and Rev.- F. Wilder-
kehr, 0. S. B.
Standing Rock — Revs. Bede Marty and Bernard Strassmaier.
0. S. B.
1889.
Bathgate — Rev. J. B. Champagne.
Bismarck — Rev. Wolfgang Steinbogler, 0. S. B.
THE CHURCHES 421
Casselton — Rev. Henry Schmitz.
Devils Lake — Rev. Vincent Wehrle, 0. S. B.
Dickinson— Rev. A. Lethert, 0. S. B.
Dunseith — Rev. L. L'Hiver.
Ellendale— Rev. M. Haulay.
Fargo— Rev. D. V. Collins.
Grafton — Rev. E. Kenny.
Grand Forks — Rev. E. J. Conaty.
Jamestown — Rev. P. Cassidy.
Larimore — Rev. P. J. Connolly.
Laroy — Rev. C. St. Pierre.
Laureat — Rev. 0. J. Barrett.
Lisbon — Rev. M. Tierney.
Mandan — Rev. J. G. Persault.
Michigan City — Rev. J. B. Genin.
Minto — Rev. J. W. Considine.
Neche — Rev. A. Leblanc.
Oakwood — Rev. J. L. Hella.
Olga— Rev. L. A. Ricklin.
St. John— Rev. J. F. Malo.
St. Thomas— Rev. E. B. Coffey.
Tarsus — Rev. U. Bruenelle.
Wahpeton— (St. John.)— Rev. P. Albrecht.
Wahpeton— St. Adalbert— Rev. W. Dorrak.
Wild Rice— Rev. A. F. Bernier.
Missions attended: Ardoch, Manvel; Arvilla, Conway;
Bechyn, Pisek; Burnt Creek, Dawson, Ft. Stephenson, Painted
Woods, Williamsport ; Buxton, Hillsboro; Cavalier; Elm River,
Grandin, Buffalo; Ft. Buford, Minot; Ft. Ransom, La Moure,
Leonard, Ransom, Sheldon; Geneseo, Webber (now Havana);
Glen Ullin, Taylor; Grimfield, Medora; Harrisburg; Lake Doyle,
Langdon, Walhalla; Oriska, Sanborn; Pembina; St. Anthony;
Spiritwood; Villand; Winona.
Bel Comb — Rev. Th. Maginnis.
Ft. Totten— Rev. Jerome Hunt, 0. S. B., and Rev. F. Wierder-
kehr, 0. S. B.
Standing Rock — Rev. Bede Marty, 0. S. B.
In 1889 the state of North Dakota was formed into a diocese,
422 HISTORY OF EED KIVER VALLEY
called then the diocese of Jamestown (now Fargo) and the writer
of these lines was consecrated first bishop of the new diocese on
December 27 of the same year, and took charge at once of the
administration. Perhaps in the future some other pen may tell
the events of my administration. Suffice it to know that in
January, 1889, I found in North Dakota thirty priests, no eccle-
siastical students, forty churches, and a Catholic population of
19,000, of whom about seven thousand were Indians. The Cath-
olic Directory of 1890 gives other figures, but the above are
correct. In January, 1908, I was able to report for the Directory,
one hundred two priests, among them one Abbot, two hundred ten
churches and a Catholic population of 65,571. Twenty-three
students belonging to the diocese are now in various seminaries.
It is to be regretted that the first volume of the "Report
of the Historical Society of North Dakota" should contain such
arrant nonsense as is found on pages 202, 203, 212, 219 and 223
of that publication. On those pages the reader is informed that
LaSalle, the explorer, was a priest and a Jesuit; that Hennepin
ministered for several years to the nomadic tribes of these
regions; that in 1780 there were Catholic priests located at Pem-
bina ; that oblates of St. Mary the Immaculate were in the coun-
try before 1815; that Fort Douglas was at Pembina, instead of
Winnipeg ; that Father DeSmet preached to the Mandans in 1830 ;
that Bishop Tache was a member of "the religious Order Juli-
opolis at St. Boniface"; that the Catholic priests at times used
pemmican as a substance (no doubt the author wrote "substi-
tute") for bread in the administration of the holy communion;
that a certain priest operated in these regions without reference
to ecclesiastical law, commissioned as he was by the Pope, and
supported by the "College de Propaganda Fide"; that said priest
built the chain of churches from Duluth to Bismarck, together
with a multitude of other equally false assertions. Before con-
cluding these notes, therefore, I deem it proper to correct at least
some of the inaccuracies in that exceedingly inaccurate farrago
entitled, "Leaves from Northwestern History," to which our
State Historical Society unfortunately has given its imprimatur.
First — LaSalle was neither a priest nor a Jesuit. He was born
in 1643 and sailed for Quebec in the spring of 1666, being twenty-
THE CHUECHES 423
three years of age. It is not even certain that LaSalle ever
attended a Jesuit school. It is certain that he hated the Jesuits.
He may have entered the Jesuit novitiate. It is certain that he
never became a member of the society.
Second — Father Hennepin never set foot on North Dakota
soil, and never did missionary work even in Minnesota. In com-
pany with LaSalle, Hennepin left Fort Niagara in 1679 and
journeyed by water as far as Fort Crevecoeur, on the Illinois
river, a little south of the present site of Peoria. He parted from
LaSalle on the last day of February, 1680, with a small party, for
the purpose of exploring the Upper Mississippi. On the 31th or
12th of April, 1680, Hennepin and his companions were captured
by a war party of 120 Sioux in the neighborhood of the Black
river, Wisconsin. They were brought by their captors up the
Mississippi to the Rum, and up the Rum to the Indian villages
at Mille Lacs, Minn., which they reached about the 5th of May.
During his captivity, Hennepin did not exercise any priestly
functions, except on one occasion to baptize a sick infant just
before its death. "I could gain nothing over them," he writes,
''in the way of their salvation, by reason of their natural stu-
pidity." He could not say mass because his chalice and vest-
ments had been taken from him. At the end of September, 1680,
Hennepin left Minnesota, journeying by way of the Wisconsin
and Fox rivers to Green Bay, and thence to Mackinaw, where
he spent the winter with the Jesuit Father Pierson. In the
spring of 1681 he returned to Quebec, and by the end of that year
he was in France. Hennepin 's mission in the Northwest consisted
of five months captivity among the Sioux and the baptism of
one young infant.
Third — There is not a shred of evidence to show that any
Recollet father, or any priest or any branch of the Franciscan
order, ever came into the boundaries of this state to exercise
the Catholic ministry before 1880. In 1615 Father LeCaron, and
a few years later Father Sagard, both Recollets, came as far West
as the eastern shore of Georgian Bay, on Lake Huron — no further.
LeCaron 's trip is described by Parkman in the thirteenth chapter
of his "Pioneers of France in the New World." Father Sagard
wrote a description of his own travels.
424 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Fourth — De LaVerandrye 's reports to the governor general
of New France are published in the sixth volume of Margry's
"Discouvertes des Francais dans L'Amerique Septentrionale, "
which volume contains also the reports of De LaVerandrye 's son,
of Jacques LeGardeur de Saint Pierre, and of other explorers
subsequent to 1751. In these reports four priests are mentioned :
Messaiger, who returned to Montreal from Fort St. Charles, Lake
of the Woods, in 1733, the year before the discovery of the Red
river ; Father Auneau, who was killed by the Sioux in 1730, about
seven leagues from Fort St. Charles, but who is not said to have
gone to the Red river; Father Coquart, who was at Fort St.
Charles in 1743, and who was probably at Fort de la Reine in
October of that year; and Father La Morenerie, who in 1751
accompanied Jacques LeGardeur to Fort de la Reine, and imme-
diately returned to Mackinaw, finding himself totally unfit for
the rough life. LeGardeur states that Father Morenerie did no
missionary service. No priest, so far as the records and Coquart 's
own reports show, accompanied De LaVerandrye or his son on
iheir trips to the Mandans and the Rocky mountains.
' ' Claude Godef ry Coquart was born at Melun, France, Febru-
ary 2, 1706, and, after the usual term of studies, was ordained
as a Jesuit priest. He came to Canada about 1738, and prob-
ably spent the next three years at Quebec. In 1741 he was sent
as Chaplain to LaVerandrye 's expedition (vol. 68, note 46) ; but
owing to certain jealousies and intrigues the explorer was forced
to leave Coquart at Michellimackinac for a time. He remained
there probably until August, 1743; and, during the interval be-
tween that date and July 21, 1744 (when his signature again
appears upon the church register at Michellimackinac), he was
able to execute his earlier project, and made a journey with La
Verendrye to Fort La Reine. In the spring or early summer of
1744, he must have returned from his journey, probably follow-
ing LaVerendrye homeward when the latter was compelled to
resign his position as commandant in the Northwest. In 1746
Coquart was assigned to the Saguenay mission, where he labored
until 1757. He then returned to Quebec, remaining there until
the conquest. After the event, Coquart and Germain attempted
to settle in Acadia, but the English authorities compelled them to
THE CHURCHES 425
leave that province. Coquart then resumed his labors in the
Saguenay mission, where he spent the rest of his life ; he died at
Chicoutimi July 4, 1765. An Abenaki grammar and dictionary
remain as monuments of his linguistic labors."
(Jesuits relations, vol. 69, page 289-90; note to page 79.)
Fifth — It is not true that Catholic priests were to be found
wherever trading posts were established prior to the arrival — or
even after the arrival — of Fathers Provencher and Dumoulin in
1818. Whoever has read these notes attentively must have ob-
served that from 1818 to 1844 Bishop Provencher found great
difficulty in securing even one priest to assist him in ministering
to the people between the Red river and the Rocky mountains,
and from the boundary line to the Arctic ocean.
Sixth — Previous to 1844 the Oblates of Mary Immaculate had
nothing to do with the missions in the northwest. Bishop Proven-
cher was not an oblate. The society of priests and brothers
known as the Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a congregation
founded at Marseilles, France, by Rev. Charles Mazenod in the
year 1815. After laboring in the Red river country twenty-six
years — from 1818 to 1844 — Bishop Provencher brought to his aid
the Oblates, who from 1844 to the present day have done noble
work for religion in the British possessions and North Dakota.
Seventh — The Selkirk settlement was at "Winnipeg. Fort
Douglas was built there and named after Thomas Douglas, Lord
Selkirk.
Eighth — Father DeSmet's first visit to the Rocky mountains
was in 1840. (See Palladino's Indian and White in the North-
west, page 23 et seq.) He made several trips subsequently up and
down the Missouri river, and stopped sometimes at Standing
Rock and Fort Berthold.
Ninth — There is no such religious order in the Catholic Church
or in any other church as the "order of Juliopolis at St. Boni-
face." Bishop Tache was an Oblate of Mary Immaculate. Bish-
op Provencher 's official title was "Bishop of Juliopolis." Juli-
opolis is the name of a city.
Tenth — The name Pembina was in use long before mass was
celebrated in this state. The name has no reference whatever
to the Holy Eucharist, or to the sacrifice of the mass, or to any-
426 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
thing Catholic. No Catholic ever called the Holy Eucharist
"blessed bread" — ''pain beni." As long ago as 1823 Keating
settled the derivation of the word Pembina. It means cranberry.
The statement that priests used pemmican instead of bread in
the celebration of mass surpasses anything in the line of self-
satisfied ignorance I have ever read or heard.
Eleventh — There never was any question as to the ecclesias-
tical jurisdiction over the territory comprised in what is now
known as North Dakota, and no missionary apostolic was ever
appointed by the holy see to look after the interests of the church
hereabouts. Father Lacombe is still living, and he published
Belcourt's grammar and dictionary after Belcourt's death. Bish-
op Cretin was never in Canada. He was first a priest in Ferney,
France — the home of Voltaire; then a priest of the diocese of
Dubuque, la. ; then first bishop of St. Paul. For a time he gave
Father Belcourt the powers of a vicar general. The "College
de Propaganda Fide," Rome, never gave a cent to any priest or
layman in this or any other country. There is no such institution
on God's footstool as the "College de Propaganda Fide." The
congregation of the Propaganda, Rome, never gave a missionary
in these parts any financial aid. The Association in Lyons and
Paris for the Propagation of the Faith has helped and still helps
the bishops of some needy dioceses to maintain their clergy. This
help is always given through the bishops ; never direct to the
missionary. The reason for this is obvious. Father Chebul built
the first church at Duluth in 1870. It was burned a few years
ago, and the present cathedral was built by Bishop McGolrick.
T. R. Foley built the Aitkin church in 1883. In 1873 Father
George Keller built the first Catholic church in Brainerd. The
church in Perham was built by Father Spitzelberger, who also
paid for the first church in Moorhead. The Methodist congrega-
tion built the first church used by the Catholics in Fargo, which
served as the cathedral till 1899. Father Spitzelberger built the
first church in Casselton, Father Haddock the first church in Val-
ley City, Father Flannigan the first church in Jamestown. The
church in Buffalo was built by Father Quillinan, the Sanborn
church by Father Schmitz, and in 1876 Bishop Marty collected
the money to pay for the old church in Bismarck.
THE CHUECHES 427
This list includes all the Catholic churches between Duluth
and Bismarck up to 1890, with the exception of the church at
Detroit, Minn. The first rule of historical writing is to know the
facts. The second is to tell them truthfully.
The Episcopal Church in the Red River Valley.
By
Rt. Rev. Bishop Cameron Mann.
This historical sketch cannot possibly be a large one ; for the
beginning of the Episcopal church in the Red River Valley was
not very long ago, its growth has not been rapid, and its achieve-
ments have been neither many nor great.
And, even as to what did occur and was accomplished, it is
hard to present any full report; for the data preserved — or at
least accessible— are extremely scanty.
So, all that I can give is the merest outline ; unless, indeed, I
should gather bunches of small details of parochial and mission-
ary happenings, such as are chronicled in this or that old news-
paper. But these, while they might serve as footnotes for a big
history, do not describe the current of events. That, briefly
stated, is as follows :
In 1860 the Rev. J. C. Talbot was made missionary bishop of
"The Northwest." His territory included the present North Da-
kota. But he never got there; which was of small consequence,
since at that time hardly anybody else, for whom he might min-
ister had arrived. The white settlement of the region began with
"the sixties."
In 1865 the Rev. R. H. Clarkson, clarum et venerable nomen,
was made bishop for the territories of Nebraska and Dakota. In
1870 three years after Nebraska became a state, the diocese of
Nebraska was fully organized and Bishop Clarkson became the
diocesan. He still, however, retained his office as the missionary
bishop of Dakota. He was somewhat relieved, in the care of his
enormous jurisdiction, by the consecration in 1873 of Rev. W. H.
Hare, who took charge of the immense Indian missions, mostly in
what is now South Dakota, with the title of Bishop of Niobrara.
Bishop Clarkson was most zealous and assiduous in his labors.
428 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
But, so far as Dakota was concerned, they went mostly along the
course of the Missouri river, which was in these days the chief
line of travel. Thus he visited Bismarck several times ; but Fargo,
Grand Forks and Wahpeton only once.
The earliest Dakota convocation journal in my possession,
that of 1877, gives no evidence of any parish or mission estab-
lished in the Red River Valley, except Christ church, Fargo. But
neither clergyman nor lay delegate from the parish was present.
In the convocation of 1878 Fargo is credited with two delegates
and Grand Forks with one. But at neither place was there a
rector. Both, however, had had the services of various clergymen,
who did good, but brief work. In the journal of 1880, the Fargo
parish appears under its present name of "Gethsemane, " with
fourteen communicants, and Grand Forks shows a parish, under
the present name "St. Paul's," with eleven communicants.
It is regrettable that the convocation journals for the majority
of Bishop Walker's years have perished, if they were ever printed.
A valuable periodical, "The North Dakota Churchman," edited
by Rev. F. B. Nash, of Fargo, was published monthly from Au-
gust, 1887, to July, 1892, and again from January, 1893, to June,
1894. Its files contain a mass of interesting information.
Church building in the Red River Valley went on quite
quickly. Between 1885 and 1893, churches were erected at Bath-
gate, Buffalo, Casselton, Forest River, Grafton, Larimore, May-
ville, Pembina, St. Thomas, Wahpeton and Walshville.
But the great trouble was to supply these places with clergy-
men. Often the folds stood unused for years, and the flocks were
scattered.
It must also be remembered that most of the immigration to
the valley came either from Scandinavian lands, or from those
parts of the United States where the Episcopal church is weakest.
We gained little by the coming in of such settlers. Even the
Canadians, many of whom naturally belonged to us, when they
found services infrequent and ministers scarce, betook themselves
to other religious bodies. Had there been a sufficient staff of
priests in those days, the present strength of the Episcopal church
in the Red River Valley would have been tenfold what it is. But
the bishop could not get them.
THE CHURCHES 429
Some noble men there were whom I would like to biographize,
were there space for it — such as Peake, Nash, Currie, Sheridan,
Gesner — men of ability and devotion. But the fact remains that
these men were few.
After Bishop Walker's departure, North Dakota was in charge
of the Rt. Rev. J. D. Morrison, bishop of Duluth, until, in 1899,
the Rev. S. C. Ldsall, of Chicago, was consecrated its bishop.
Bishop Morrison, at much personal inconvenience, gave a
good deal of time to the Red River Valley, but necessarily his own
district demanded the greater part of his attention and toil.
Bishop Edsall's too brief episcopate — he was translated to
Minnesota in 1901 — was marked by a vigorous advance.
He revolutionized things in Fargo. The parish was changed
to a cathedral organization; the present large church and
the bishop's house were built; the Rev. H. L. Burleson
became dean. At Grand Forks the Rev. J. K. Burleson, and
at Larimore the Rev. E. W. Burleson, became rectors. Other effi-
cient priests were brought in, and the vacant cures were filled.
The business of the district was systematized and the feeling of
the laity was kindled with a new enthusiasm.
In all this the Red River Valley parishes and missions shared
largely — perhaps chiefly, for the bishop necessarily spent most of
his time there. St. Peter's church, Park River, was built, and
several rectories were acquired.
In 1901 the Rev. Cameron Mann, of Kansas City, was made
bishop, and in January, 1902, he took up his residence in Fargo.
During his term there has not been much change in the valley
condition of the Episcopal church. The notable advances have
been made farther West. However, a beautiful church was built
at Langdon; a fine rectory at Park River; and there have been
growth and improvement generally. Also should be stated the
establishment of a monthly paper, "The North Dakota Sheaf,"
published in Fargo; it has taken an enviable rank amongst the
periodicals of its class.
The present statement of the Episcopal church in the Red
River Valley is ten clergy, fifteen churches and nine rectories.
It is not a large showing. Still, statistics do not generally give
the most important facts — the vital ones. And, looking both at
430 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the past and the present, one can fairly say that a good work has
been done and is doing — though hopeful that the future may see
larger toil and larger results.
The latter had a rector, Rev. W. P. Law. The journal of 1881
presents Mr. Law still at Grand Forks, and Rev. B. F. Cooley as
rector at Fargo. All these convocations were held at Yankton.
A very small wooden church was erected at Fargo in 1874;
it was enlarged in 1881, during Mr. Cooley 's ministry. The church
at Grand Forks was erected in 1881 during Mr. Law's ministry
Built of brick, it still stands, though it has been enlarged.
In 1880 the clergy and laity of Dakota petitioned the general
convocation of the Episcopal church to admit the territory as a
diocese, which would of course elect a bishop. After prolonged
debate this request was denied by a small majority in the house
of deputies, though the house of bishops favored it. At that time
Dakota reported twelve clergymen and 412 communicants.
In 1883 the Dakota convocation met in Sioux Falls. Rev. B.
F. Cooley, of Fargo, and Rev. E. S. Peake, of Valley City, were
present; also T. Donan, of Fargo. Naturally, there was a much
larger attendance from the southern part of the jurisdiction.
It was resolved to petition the general convention to divide Da-
kota into two missionary districts and to appoint a bishop for
each. Bishop Clarkson resigned the office he had so self-sacrific-
ingly held, and gave himself entirely to the work in Nebraska.
The general convention, meeting in October, 1883, acceded to
the petition, and created the two missionary jurisdictions of
" North Dakota" and "South Dakota," separating them by that
line of which the petition had said, "It is confidently expected
that the Territory of Dakota will soon be divided on the 46th
parallel of latitude."
But this "expectation" had to wait some six years for its
fulfillment. And it is an interesting fact that the Episcopal
church .made a "North Dakota" in its present size and shape half
a decade before the United States did. At this time North Dakota
reported four church buildings and five clergymen. Of course,
services were held in a score of places where no church stood.
The Rev. William D. Walker, of New York City, was chosen
bishop for the new jurisdiction, by the general convention. He
THE CHURCHES 431
was consecrated December 20, 1883, and soon entered upon his
work, making Fargo his home city.
Three years later he reported fifteen clergy, forty-two mis-
sions and 867 communicants. He held his position until 1896
when he was translated to Western New York.
One of the striking features of his career was the "Cathe-
dral Car," in which he could travel about and hold services. It
attracted much attention, but was too cumbrous and expensive.
It could run only by courtesy of the railroads ; and they, as their
business increased, grew less and less inclined to haul this car
for nothing. Of course the bishop could not afford to pay for its
transportation, so it fell into desuetude. But it really did valu-
able advertising; it brought the bishop of North Dakota before
the world; it caused many substantial gifts to his work. Most
of the beautiful little stone churches which were erected during
his episcopate were largely paid for with money from the East;
and this "car" helped to draw that money.
Baptist Church.
The growth of this denomination has been exceedingly grati-
fying to its members and the church property has gradually
increased until it reaches into the hundreds of thousands. The
increase in membership has been constantly growing until today
it stands well in numerical strength.
At the close of the year ending July 30, 1907, the report
showed that it had thirty pastors, twelve who were occupied in
ministerial work, six who are engaged in special work, and eight
licentiates, or a total of fifty-six who were valiant laborers for
the cause. There are fifty-three churches, valued at $191,430,
and twenty-eight parsonages whose estimated value is $35,772.
It has a membership of 4,161 and its Sunday schools show an
enrollment of 3,164 scholars.
Churches Organized.
Dane-Norwegian, Ruso, July 21, 1906, twelve members; Wa-
lum, "Walum, November 21, 1906, fourteen members ; Norwegian,
Gladys, June 7, 1907, eleven members; Glenburn, Glenburn, July
7, 1908, eighteen members.
43& HISTOEY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Houses of Worship Dedicated.
Coal Harbor, Swedish Conference, July 7, 1907; Bismarck,
North Dakota Association, July 28, 1907.
Ministers Ordained.
Alfred F. Ham, Bottineau, June 11, 1907.
Ordained Baptist Pastors in the State.
Name. Postoffice.
Anderson, W. L Jamestown
Bens, H. G Lehr
Bischoff, C Danzig
Burgdoff , George Lehr
Batchelor, iSamuel Cooperstown
Brasted, Alva J Lisbon
Borsheim, S. 0 Hillsboro
Bornschlegel, George Medina
Breding, Olaf Powers Lake
Bronnum, Andrew A Valley City
Carlton, B. L Fargo
Presbyterian Church.
In the state of North Dakota there are 120 Presbyterian
ministers, 185 churches, with about fifty preaching stations.
Already there are 132 church buildings and sixty-two manses.
The value of the church, manse and educational property together
is approximately $800,000. The church membership is about
6,500 and the Sunday-school membership about 8,000. The money
contributed annually for the support of these churches is about
$130,000. The work has been growing very rapidly in recent
years and the prosperity is shown in that the churches have
increased their offerings to the Board of Home Missions about
100 per cent the last year.
Presbyterian Church, Bismarck.
The First Presbyterian church of Bismarck is the oldest church
of that denomination in the state. Thirty-five years ago on the
THE CHURCHES 433
llth day of May, with the advent of the Northern Pacific rail-
road, when Bismarck was little more than a camp, the first
religious services were held. The place was a large tent used
for gambling and saloon purposes, a striking contrast, by the
way, to the present modern structure valued at $30,000, one of
the finest church buildings in the state.
A valuable addition to the church was completed last fall. A
commodious Sunday-school room, seating 300 persons, a fine read-
ing-room and libary, a large basement, suitable for gymnasium
and social purposes, are now a part of the church's equipment.
During eight months of the year the church reading room is open
every evening. A boy's athletic association, and a girl's gym-
nastic club are among the various lines of activity that this live,
up-to-date church is pursuing.
In October the Presbyterian Synod, a state gathering, will
meet in the church and will fittingly celebrate the first thirty-five
years of its history.
The pastor, Rev. Chas. W. Harris, is a Lafayette man, class of
'95, and Princeton Seminary, class of '98. He has been ten years
in the state and has never regretted North Dakota as a field
of labor. He rejoices in its opportunities and believes in its
future.
History of Congregationalism in the Red River Valley.
By Rev. Edwin H. Stickney, Fargo, N. D.
Congregationalism has had to do with the very beginnings of
Christian work in the valley. Probably the first Christian mis-
sionary in it limits, unless perhaps a Roman Catholic priest, was
such. Rev. David B. Spenser, a Congregational minister, who
labored for a time among the Indians of the northern part of
Pembina county about the years 1853 and 1854, and whose wife,
a most worthy Christian worker, was murdered by the Indians
August, 1854, near where Walhalla is now situated. After her
death the work was given up.
Few settlements were made in the valley previous to 1870, and
these few were up and down the Red river in connection with the
Hudson Bay trading posts. With the completion of the N. P.
434 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
R. R. to Fargo in 1871, and the beginning of a village on the
west side of the river, attention began to be turned toward these
parts of the territory. The first Congregational missionary to
visit this region was Rev. Hiram N. Gates, who had also done work
along the line of the N. P., farther east, in Minnesota.
As early as 1870 the Congregationalists did work at Breck-
enridge, Minn., and in connection with this point work was begun
at Wahpeton, N. D. At Breckenridge a Congregational church
was later organized, and in 1876 a house of worship was erected.
After a time the work was given up, and the building sold. The
next place was Glyndon, where Congregational, though nomi-
nally Union work, was commenced as early as 1871, and a church
was organized in 1872. Another nominally Union, though prac-
tically Congregational, work was commenced at Hawley in 1873,
and a Union church was organized that year. Early in 1878 Con-
gregational work was commenced at Crookston and a church was
organized that year. In 1882 a Congregational church was estab-
lished through the efforts of Rev. John A. Wells at Ada; and the
same year Rev. S. H. Barteau did work at Argyle, Euclid, Angus
and Stephen, but permanent work was established only at Stephen
and this was given up in 1893. In 1881 Congregational work
was established at St. Vincent, but later given up. In 1885 a
Congregational church was established at Barnesville, in 1894
at Moorhead, 1898 at Felton, in 1901 at Ulen and in 1907 at Ar-
gyle. All of these churches, except at Argyle, have commodious
houses of worship, and are doing excellent work.
The first permanent work on the North Dakota side of the
river, performed by a Congregational missionary, was done at
Wahpeton. Services were followed up here and at Breckenridge,
Minn., with greater or less regularity for years, and held in any
vacant room or hall that could be found.
September 10, 1881, Rev. 0. C. Clark, who had labored pre-
viously in Minnesota, took up the work at Fargo. Mr. Clark
took hold of the work with great energy, and under his lead a
council was held November 2, and the First Congregational church
of Fargo was organized with twenty-two members. This council
was an event of the very greatest importance in the history of
Congregationalism in North Dakota. It was stated before the
THE CHURCHES 435
council that there was not a place for this denomination in this
state; but after careful deliberation it was unanimously decided
that there was a place for what Congregationalism stands for.
Rev. Clark continued as pastor for a year, and also went out to
Harwood and commenced work. After Mr. Clark resigned, he
built a chapel on the north side, which eventually developed into
Plymouth church. In December, 1882, Rev. R. A. Beard of Brain-
erd, Minn., was called to the pastorate of the First church. Under
his lead the church was greatly strengthened, a house of worhsip
built, and it became self-supporting. Mr. Beard's services were
most helpful in connection with the establishment of Fargo Col-
lege, to which allusion will be made later. In July, 1888, he
resigned, and Rev. Vernon N. Yergin took up the work. On the
morning of July 7, 1890, the disastrous wind storm that swept
over the city so injured the house of worship that its further
use was unsafe. Mr. Yergin at once devoted himself to the work
of building a new brick church, costing $16,000. With the timely
aid of a loan from the Building Society, the church was com-
pleted and dedicated in February, 1892. The next pastor was
Rev. Joseph F. Dudley, D. D., who was just closing a most suc-
cessful pastorate of twenty-six years with the First Congrega-
tional church of Eau Claire, Wis. He commenced his pastorate
September, 1895. He was. a most careful and judicious pastor,
but, owing to ill health, he resigned and closed his labors July,
1901. The church then called Rev. C. H. Dickinson as their pas-
tor. He came to the work in the prime of life, and took hold
of the work with great .energy, and also proved a strong addi-
tion to the Christian forces in the state. In 1906 Rev. R. A. Beard
was again called to take up the work, and was gladly welcomed
back by his many friends in the church and state.
In May, 1882, Rev. Henry C. Simmons, of Walnut Grove,
Minn., was commissioned by the Home Missionary Society as a
general missionary for North Dakota. He came upon the field at
once, and spent his first Sunday at Larimore. The weather had
turned suddenly cold, and snow had fallen during the previous
night, but despite this unfavorable condition of things Superin-
tendent Simmons hustled around, found a place for meeting and
organized a church of seven members. This church was subse-
436 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
quently given up, because he could not find a man to take the
place. As soon as Superintendent Simmons took the work it
began to be evident that Congregationalism was making a place
for itself in this new territory.
Among the places organized that first summer was Mayville,
Hope, Harwood and Grand Forks. Mr. Simmons had most excel-
lent judgment in the planting of churches, seldom locating one
where later it was not shown that his decision was wise. Each
year was marked by decided gains, though often not nearly as
much was done as would have been if there had been more mis-
sionary money. In August, 1894, he was elected president of
Fargo College, and from that time gave only half of his time
to the Home Missionary work. In May, 1897, he resigned from
the superintendency of Home Missions and gave his whole time to
the college.
Rev. John L. Maile succeeded Mr. Simmons as missionary
superintendent in North Dakota and he served the state for two
years, when failing health necessitated a change to a warmer
climate. Mr. Maile was a man of most beautiful Christian char-
acter, and made a warm place for himself in the hearts of the
churches.
Superintendent Maile was succeeded by Rev. Gregory J. Pow-
ell, in October, 1899, and he has since held the position. Mr.
Powell has always been on the alert to push forward our Con-
gregational interests.
At the time that an attempt was made to establish the Louisi-
ana lottery in the state, the Congregational churches and pastors
were second to none in their interest .and service in the matter.
Superintendent Simmons was aroused as perhaps he never was
before in his life, and threw himself into the struggle with all
his might. He probably contributed more than any other man
to its defeat, unless it be honest John Miller, the governor, whom
the little Congregational church at Dwight had raised up to be
the first governor of North Dakota.
The first fellowship meeting in the valley, and which arranged
for the organization of the General Association of Congregational
Churches in North Dakota, was held in Fargo October 16 and 17,
1882, and was an occasion of great interest. It immediately fol-
JAMES TURNER, SR.
THE CHURCHES 43?
lowed the meeting of the Minnesota state association. The ser-
mon was preached by Rev. John H. Morley, of Winona, Minn.
Among those present were Rev. Walter M. Barrows, D. D., of
New York, senior secretary of the Home Missionary Society, and
many brethren from Minnesota. The brethren from North Da-
kota were present in good numbers. This meeting was devoted
to quite an extent to the cause of Christian education, and allu-
sion will be made to it in connection with Fargo college. Rev.
A. J. Pike was moderator of this gathering, and entered most
heartily into its spirit. A trip was made as far north as Grand
Forks, and steps were taken to establish a Congregational church
in that thriving new city.
In connection with the early history of the church at Grand
Forks is the pastorate of Rev. A. L. Gillette, now professor in
Hartford Theological Seminary. Mr. Gillette took up the work in
the spring of 1885, and entered into it most energetically. That
season a neat and commodious house of worship was built, cost-
ing about $5,000. A nice pipe organ was also secured through
the efforts of the pastor, and was the first one installed in a Con-
gregational church in North Dakota. Mr. Gillette did a splen-
did work during his pastorate, which lasted something over two
years. While the church had in it some very strong men, a part
of the membership got discouraged and in 1898 gave up and sold
the building. The giving up the church at Grand Forks was a
great loss to our cause, and especially in the northern part of the
state. We have again started work at Grand Forks, and now,
under the faithful work of Rev. J. H. Batten, pastor, it is gain-
ing ground rapidly.
Rev. W. B. D. Gray, then superintendent of Congregational
Sunday-school and Publishing Society in South Dakota, was pres-
ent at the state association in 1886, which was held at Grand
Forks. He presented the question to the brethren of having a
superintendent for North Dakota. They most heartily favored
the plan, and it was suggested that Rev. William Ewing, then
pastor of the Plymouth church, Fargo, was the man for the posi-
tion. Mr. Ewing was duly appointed, and entered upon his
duties April 1, 1887. His genial way, his quiet persistence, his
good judgment and business capacity greatly endeared him to his
438 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
brethren, who were very sorry to have him leave the state, but
in August, 1891, he resigned and accepted a similar position in
the state of Michigan. His work in North Dakota was productive
of the best results.
In March, 1889, Kev. E. H. Stickney, of Harwood, was appoint-
ed a missionary of the Congregational Sunday-school and Pub-
lishing Society. He accepted and entered upon the duties at once.
For the first year he gave his whole time to the Sunday-school.
From that time he gave one-half of his time to the missionary
work until September, 1891, when upon Superintendent Ewing
leaving the state he was appointed superintendent in his place,
and has continued in that position to the present time.
At the meeting of the State Association in 1883, the matter
of Christian education again received careful attention. After
a full discussion it was unanimously voted that in the judgment
of this association the time had arrived when it was expedient
to establish within its bounds an institution of learning under
the control of our denomination, and to this end a committee was
appointed to receive proposals for a location and take such other
preliminary measures as might be necessary. The association
then engaged in a season of prayer with reference to the estab-
lishment of the proposed college. Subscriptions were taken in its
behalf and $1,400 were subscribed. In 1886 at the meeting of the
General Association at Grand Forks, the committee reported that
taking everything into account they believed that Fargo was the
most advantageous place for its location. The committee to
secure the incorporation of the college consisted of Revs. H. C.
Simmons, R. A. Beard, G. B. Barnes, Thomas Sims, A. L. Gillette,
A. J. Pike, L. R. Casey, Esq., D. B. Clayton, Esq., and Rev. Wm.
Ewing. The school was opened October 4, 1887, in the Masonic
block, with Prof. F. T. Waters as principal. In this modest, un-
pretending way Fargo college began its work. Another event of
very much importance about this time was the election of Rev.
G. B. Barnes as president of the institution, in August, 1888. The
election of a president indicated the progress that the institution
was making, and President Barnes took hold of the work with
much energy and enthusiasm, going East and making many
friends for the college. These early years abounded in struggles
THE CHURCHES 439
and burdens, and it seemed as though there was nothing else
but one continued burden. But the year 1889 brought light and
encouragement as no preceding year had; for, through the gen-
erosity of James P. Gould, of Buxton, and his sister, the college
received a bequest easily worth $35,000. With these generous gifts
steps were taken early in the year 1890 for the erection of a col-
lege building, and it was called the George H. Jones Hall, in honor
of a deceased brother of Mr. Gould. Through gifts from J. Q.
Adams, Esq., and Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago; James J. Hill,
and the Congregational Educational Society, the college was still
further helped. Dill Hall was built in 1907 through the liberality
of M. T. Dill, of Prescott, Wis., Dr. Pearsons and others. The
Fargo College Conservatory of Music was founded in 1887, and
since that date has advanced steadily until today it is one of the
leading schools of music in the Northwest. In June, 1892, Presi-
dent Barnes resigned and Rev. R. A. Beard, D. D., succeeded to the
presidency. The following years were trying ones in the business
circles, but President Beard was hopeful and courageous in it
all. But, as he was much devoted to the pastorate, in the sum-
mer of 1894 he resigned to accept a call to Pilgrim church,
Nashua, N. H. By common consent, as it were, all eyes turned
to Superintendent Simmons, and he was elected president. These
w^ere very dark days for the college, and it seemed at times as if
it would have to close its doors, but President Simmons labored
hard and faithfully. While working to raise the endowment,
President Simmons, on December 20, 1899, without a moment's
notice dropped dead. The blow was a very heavy one to bear,
but friends rallied to the support of the college, and it was
saved.
Rev. John H. Morley, L. L. D., of Minneapolis, was the next
president. He took hold of the work with great enthusiasm and
courage, and pressed it forward as rapidly as he could. In Janu-
ary, 1907, Rev. Edmund M. Vittum, D. D., of Grinnell, la., was
chosen president and is proving most efficient.
Congregationalism, as we have seen, had small beginnings in
the valley. There has never been a large Congregational ele-
ment and for the most part the churches are made up more of
persons who were not originally Congregationalists than those
440 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
who were. Congregationalism has entered most heartily into the
work of building up the Redeemer's kingdom. She has always
sought to co-operate with her sister denominations in this great
wrork, and to her belongs much credit for the splendid results that
have already been accomplished, as well as the promise of greater
ones in the coming years.
CHAPTER XXI.
NEWSPAPERS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
By Geo. B. Winship.
The first publication of any kind in the Red River Valley was
a little missionary paper issued near the middle of the last
century at St. Joe, or Walhalla, as it is now named, by Father
Belcourt, a Catholic missionary. Father Belcourt had sent to
him a small press on which he printed occasionally a little paper
in the French language, descriptive of his work among the
Indians. So far as known, no copies have been preserved.
The "Bismarck Tribune," the pioneer newspaper of North
Dakota, was first issued on July 6, - - by Col. C. A. Lounsberry,
and its publication has been continued without intermission until
the present time. The Northern Pacific railroad had then been
completed only as far as Moorhead. Construction of this line
toward Bismarck was under way, but the line was not open for
traffic. The town, a typical frontier tent settlement, had been
laid out. Colonel Lounsberry had first visited the valley in April
of that year as a representative of the "Minneapolis Tribune,"
with the purpose of securing material for an article for the
"Tribune," descriptive of the construction of the road and the
development of its territory. On his return he arranged for the
shipment of a printing plant to Bismarck, and he returned and
started the "Tribune." In 1878 he sold out to M. H. Jewell and
Stanley Huntley. The "Tribune" company, with Mr. Jewell at
its head, still publishes the paper.
In 1873 William Thompson started the "International" at
Fargo, but the time was not ripe for newspaper work in the valley
and the paper lasted but a few months.
441
442 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
One of the directors of the Wells, Fargo Express Company
had offered a bonus of $500 for the publication in Fargo of a
paper to be called the "Express." In order to secure this bonus,
A. H. Moore and Seth Boney started a paper under that name.
The first issue was printed on June 7, 1873, at Glyndon, on the
press of the * ' Gazette. ' ' A number of issues were published, but
as the paper was not printed in Fargo the bonus was not paid.
Later, G. J. Keeney and A. J. Harwood bought a news press and
job press, set them up in Fargo and, on January 1, 1874, turned
out the first number of the regular Fargo "Express." The office
was a 12x14 structure, unplastered. and it stood in the middle of
what is now Broadway, just north of N. P. avenue. The "Mir-
ror" was started the following year by E. S. Tyler. In that year
E. B. Chambers, publisher of the Glyndon "Gazette," moved
his plant to Fargo, bought out the two Fargo papers, and con-
solidated the three under the name of the "Times." In 1878 the
"Times" became the "Republican," under the management of
Major A. W. Edwards and J. B. Hall.
In Moorhead the Red River "Star" had been established by
W. D. Nichols, who won the distinction of being the first Red
River Valley editor to suffer for conscience' sake. He had pub-
lished an article reflecting on the military branch of the govern-
ment, and Captain Wishart, of the Twentieth Infantry, stationed
at Fort Seward, near Jamestown, made a special trip overland to
Moorhead in the winter of 1872-3, to remonstrate with the editor.
The meeting is said to have been an eventful one, but when the
dust settled the captain was discovered in the street, while the
editor could be seen through the broken windows sweeping type
from the floor into a dust pan, and quietly smoking his pipe, to
which he had clung all through the fracas.
On July 6, 1874, the first number of the Grand Forks "Plain-
dealer" was issued by Geo. H. Walsh. Mr. Walsh had published
the West St. Paul "News," but it had been discontinued. He
came to Grand Forks in the employ of the steamboat company,
and, believing that he saw an opening for a paper, had the old
"News" material shipped overland and by boat to Grand Forks.
Two years later he sold the paper to N. W. Spangler, who was
succeeded after a couple of years by D. McDonald and Frank
NEWSPAPERS OF RED RIVER VALLEY 443
Witt. Walsh regained possession again, and in 1880 he sold out
to W. J. Murphy, who started a daily edition in 1881. In 1882
the plant was burned, but it was immediately replaced. In 1889
Mr. Murphy sold the "Plaindealer" to a company organized by
Rev. H. G. Mendenhall, then pastor of the Presbyterian church,
now holding a pastorate in an eastern city. Associated with him
were S. S. Titus, J. Walker Smith, John Birkholz, A. S. Brooks
and other local men. Mr. Mendenhall took an interest in politics
and liked newspaper writing, but he wearied of the drudgery
connected with the work, and soon retired from active connec-
tion with the paper. After several changes in administration,
the "Plaindealer, " with its Associated Press morning franchise,
was sold to the Herald Printing Company. After this the "Her-
ald" became the morning paper and the " Plaindealer " the even-
ing publication. More changes followed. W. D. Bates secured
an option on the paper, and published it for a short time. He
was succeeded by Geo. H. Teague as business manager, and Brad
Hennessy as editor, though W. L. Wilder was the responsible
backer of the institution. James Ward followed as manager, and
a little later the paper was sold to E. C. Carruth and W. E.
McKenzie, of Crookston. Mr. Carruth moved over and took
personal charge. In 1905 A. D. Moe, who had been publishing a
stock market paper at South St. Paul, bought the "Plaindealer,"
and after a little over a year he sold out to a new company headed
by C. A. McCann. This company was followed by another
headed by Geo. E. Duis, the name of the paper was changed to
the "Evening Press," and it became a Democratic paper. In
1908 the paper was discontinued, and the plant was moved to
Fargo to be used in starting the new Fargo "Daily News."
In 1878 Major A. W7. Edwards, who soon became one of the
best known newspaper men in the Northwest, with J. B. Hall,
established the Fargo "Republican," which absorbed the
"Times," In 1879 Major Edwards retired from the "Repub-
lican" and established the "Argus," the first daily paper to be
issued in North Dakota. President Hill, of the Great Northern,
aided in financing the enterprise, and after a few years, by reason
of the inability of Major Edwards to meet maturing obligations,
Mr. Hill became the sole owner of the paper. Major Edwards,
444 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
with H. C. Plumley, established the "Forum" in 1891, and the
"Forum" absorbed the "Republican," which Edwards had estab-
lished years before, and which had passed into the control of
J. J. Jordan.
The career of the "Argus" was a stormy one. Mr. Hill em-
ployed several men to manage the paper for him, the Republican
state committee took a hand, and practically every man who was
ever engaged in newspaper work in Fargo served time on the
"Argus." In 1898 the Fargo "Morning Call" was established
by J. J. Jordan, and it soon absorbed the "Argus." In March,
1909, the "Call" was bought out by the "News," which had been
established the preceding summer as a Democratic daily.
The Grand Forks "Herald" was established by Geo. B. Win-
ship in 1879. The material from which the paper was published
had been used for two years in the publication of the Caledonia,
Minn., "Courier," and the publisher hauled it to Grand Forks
by wagon. The first issue was printed on June 26, 1879, and the
paper has been under an unchanged management since that time.
In 1881 the "Daily Herald" was issued, the paper being then
an afternoon publication. Since the change with the "Plain-
dealer," already referred to, the "Herald" has been a morning
paper. Several years ago, in order to provide for the extension
of its business, the business was incorporated, with a capital of
$40,000. Increased later to $50,000. This has since been doubled.
Geo. B. Winship is president of the company; E. E. Rorapaugh,
vice-president ; H. L. Willson, treasurer and manager, and Geo.
C. Gladen, secretary. W. P. Davies is managing editor of the
newspaper, and W. L. Dudley, associate editor. The "Herald"
is published in its own building, and the company carries on a
large bindery, job, bank and office supply business.
In the fall of 1879 Dr. S. B. Coe started the Valley City
"Times," which was later consolidated with the "Record," a
paper established in 1886. S. A. Nye, for several years editor of
the Devils Lake "Inter Ocean," bought the "Times-Record" in
1899, and sold it in 1906 to a local stock company. The paper
is now edited by F. E. Packard. F. A. Ployhar is business
manager.
In 1880 the Casselton "Reporter" was founded by F. E. Kil-
NEWSPAPERS OF PiED RIVER VALLEY 445
bourne. C. E. and H. II. Stone bought it in 1892, and in 1895 they
sold it to Franklin Potter.
Col. W. C. Plummer established the Cassefton ''Republican"
in 1883, and he published it until 1894, when it was merged with
the "Reporter."
The Caledonia "Times" was established as a weekly in 1880,
by A. B. Falk, who continued the publication there for several
years. When Hillsboro was made the county seat of Traill
county the paper was moved there, but was finally discontinued.
The Acton "News" was established as a weekly in 1880, by
Frank M. Winship. Acton was then a thriving trading point in
Walsh county, being located on the river, but the extension of the
railroad north from Grand Forks drew trade away from it, the
town was deserted, and the plant was taken to Grafton, where the
"News" was continued. Subsequently it was merged with the
Grafton "Times," under the name of the "News and Times."
In 1878 P. A. Getchell established the Pembina "Pioneer."
The paper was bought in 1881 by R. H. Young. The Pembina
"Express" was established in 1883 by F. A. Ward-well, with whom
George Thompson became interested. Within a few years the
two papers became consolidated under the name "Pioneer
Express," and the combined paper has been published under the
management of Wardwell & Thompson ever since.
The Mayville "Tribune" was established in 1881 by James
HcCormick. In 1884 it was purchased by E. I. Smith, and in
1891 it was bought by its present proprietors, Larin Bros.
In the spring of 1882 H. C. Hansbrough, afterward United
States senator, with a partner named Briscoe, established the
Grand Forks "Morning News" as a morning newspaper. Later
it was changed to an evening paper, but it lasted but a few
months, and the plant was moved to Devils Lake, where the
' ' Inter Ocean ' ' was started. The ' ' Inter Ocean ' ' is still controlled
by Mr. Hansbrough.
The Larimore "Pioneer" was started in 1882, by W. M. Scott,
who had been connected with the Grand Forks "Herald" for
some time. Mr. Scott sold out and moved West, and the paper
passed into the hands of H. F. Arnold, who also bought out the
"Leader," established by S. F. Mercer.
446 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
The "Broadaxe" was started in Fargo in 1882, and after a
number of years it was moved to Lidgerwood, where it is now
published by John Andrews. The St. Thomas " Times" was estab-
lished in 1883, by Hager Bros. It is still published by Grant
Hager, of the original firm, who has added to his possessions the
Grafton "Record," a paper published for many years by E. H.
Pierce.
C. E. Stone started the Wheatland "Eagle" in 1884, and sold
it later^ to Wellington Irysh.
The Casselton "Blizzard" was established in 1884, but it was
discontinued after a few months.
The Buffalo "Express" was founded in 1888, by B. S. Griffith,
who was succeeded by George S. Townes, who has since removed
from the state.
The "Tidende, " a Scandinavian paper, was established at
Grand Forks in 1885. It was later removed to Minneapolis, and
is now published there.
The Fargo "Morning Sun" was started in 1893, by William
Matheson, but it flickered out in about a year.
The "Commonwealth" was established at Bismarck in 1889
and moved to Fargo some years later, being conducted by E. J.
Moore, now Grand Recorder of the A. 0. U. W. In 1894 it passed
into the control of the populists, and made a strong fight for that
party. It was then managed by Fred Huth, Charles Foust, and
Elmer Evans. Later it was published by Frank Irons and Frank
Cage, and it was finally discontinued.
The "Daily News" Company, with W. R. Bierly at its head,
established the Grand Forks "Daily News" in 1889. For sev-
eral years the paper was very active in politics, and it did vig-
orous work for the populists. About the beginning of 1896 the
paper passed from the control of Mr. Bierly, and after a pre-
carious existence of a few months, it was taken over on July 1
by a new company, which had been organized to promote the
cause of Senator Hansbrough and his associates in that campaign.
The daily edition of the paper was suspended immediately after
the re-election of Senator Hansbrough, in January, 1897, and the
weekly died a natural death about a year later.
In 1890 the "Sunday Leader" was established at Grand
JOHN H. WORST
NEWSPAPERS OF RED RIVER VALLEY 447
Forks by W. M. Grant, a member of the "Herald" staff. Grant
was a vigorous and picturesque writer, and the paper was a lively
one while it lasted, but there was no field for it, and it was dis-
continued after a few months.
The "Normanden," a Scandinavian paper, was established in
Grand Forks in 1888. For several years it was under the man-
agement of H. A. Foss, and under his management it stirred
things up in every political campaign. There have been several
changes in management, but the paper has for ten years been
operated by a stock company of which P. 0. Thorson is the
principal member. It has broadened out until it is one of the most
influential and widely circulated Scandinavian papers in the
country.
The Fargo "Posten," another Scandinavian paper, was estab-
lished in 1889 by F. Kopperdahl. It was succeeded by the
"Dakota," and later by the "Farm," which is published by A. A.
Trovatten.
In 1898 Frank Wilson established, at Bath gate, a paper which
he printed on pink stock and called the "Pink Paper." The
paper has been one of the most vigorous Democratic papers in
the state.
For several years A. T. Cole has published the "Searchlight"
in Fargo. The paper is a weekly political publication, and it
has wielded considerable influence.
The "Record" was established at Fargo in 1894 by Colonel
Lounsberry. It was a monthly magazine devoted to historical
and descriptive matter, and it was a very interesting publication.
It was issued for several years, but the removal of its proprietor
to Washington and the difficulty of getting any one to handle it
made it necessary to discontinue it.
The "Evening Times" was established at Grand Forks in 1906
by a stock company headed by Senator Hansbrough. The paper
covers the evening field for the northern part of the valley. J.
D. Bacon is president of the company, and the paper is managed
by N. B. Black. Geo. W. Davis is editor.
In addition to the valley papers, there have been many pub-
lished in other parts of the state. The Jamestown "Alert" was
founded in 1878 by Marshall McClure. Ten years later he sold
448 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
out, and after establishing papers at Devils Lake and Williston
he went to Colorado. Returning about 1902 he started the Minot
"Optic." Later he started the "Politician" in Fargo, but the
paper did not succeed. McClure died in 1906, after being out of
the newspaper business for some little time.
The Jamestown "Capital" was published in 1882 by Will H.
Burke.
Wesley Morgan established the Ellendale "Leader" in 1882.
The LaMoure "Chronicle" was established in 1883 by Frank-
lin Potter, who disposed of it to the present proprietor, Walter
Taylor;-
During the past few years papers have sprung up all over
the central and western part of the state.
The papers now published in the North Dakota valley counties
are:
Richland County — "Globe-Gazette," Wahpeton; "Times,"
Wahpeton: "News," Fairmount; "Reporter," Walcott; "Mon-
itor," Lidgerwood; "Broadaxe," Lidgerwood; "Pioneer," Wynd-
mere; "Enterprise," Wyndmere; "Herald," Abercrombie;
"News," Hankinson.
Cass County— "Express," Buffalo; "Herald," Hunter; "Tri-
bune," Kindred; "Eagle," Wheatland; "Forum," Fargo;
"News," Fargo; "Reporter," Casselton; "Topics," Tower City;
"Record," Page; "Fram," Fargo; "Searchlight," Fargo.
Traill County— "Banner," Hillsboro; " Statstidnde, " Hills-
boro; "Blade," Hillsboro; "Fremtiden," Hillsboro; "Tribune,"
Mayville; "Farmer," Mayville; "Republican," Portland; "Free
Press," Hatton.
Grand Forks County— "Herald," Grand Forks; "Times,"
Grand Forks; "Normanden," Grand Forks; "Pioneer," Lari-
more ; ' ' Gleaner, ' ' Northwood ; ' ' Times- Vidette, ' ' Inkster ; ' ' Sun, ' '
Reynolds.
Walsh County— "Record," Grafton; "News and Times},"
Grafton; "Gazette-News," Park River; "Journal," Minto; "Tri-
bune," Edinburgh; "Republican," Park River; "Times," Fair-
dale; "Budget," Adams; "Enterprise," Adams; "Citizen," Con-
way; "Posten," Grafton.
Pembina County — "Pioneer-Express," Pembina; '* Times,"
NEWSPAPERS OF EED RIVER VALLEY 449
St. Thomas; "Pink Paper," Bathgate; "Echo," Drayton;
"Chronicle," Cavalier; "Chronotype," Neche; "Mountaineer,"
Walhalla; "Call," Crystal; "Independent," Hamilton.
The principal papers published in the Minnesota section of
the valley are :
Wilkin County — "Telegram," Breckinridge ; "Gazette,"
Breckinridge.
Clay County — * ' Review, ' ' Barnsville ; ' ' News, ' ' Glyndon ;
"News," Moorhead.
Norman County— "Herald," Ada; "Index," Ada.
Polk County — "Journal," Crookston; "Times," Crookston;
"Valley View," East Grand Forks.
Marshall County — "Banner," Argyle; "Leader," Stephen;
"Register," Warren; "Sheaf," Warren.
Kittson County— "Enterprise," Hallock; "New Era," St.
Vincent.
CHAPTER XXII.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
By
Geo. B. Winship.
When the state of Minnesota was organized in 1858 only that
portion of the Red River valley east of the Red river was included
in it, and the western section was left for several years without
any government whatever, save that exercised by the federal
government. Nor was there, then, much need for local govern-
ment, for there was little to govern, and few there were to exer-
cise the rights of government. The entire territory known as the
Red River valley was destitute of white population save for
occasional mission bands, groups of fur traders and soldiers sta-
tioned in the northwest for the purpose of holding in check the
Indians, who were at times unruly, and whose uprising in 1862
resulted in the massacre of several hundred settlers who had
located farther south. The flight of the hostile Sioux into Da-
kota doubtless held back for several years the settlement of the
entire valley.
But with the pacification of the Indians and the throwing out
of transportation lines came the advance guard of permanent
settlement. The valley was the thoroughfare through which
passed a trade of considerable volume before it became the home
of a stable population. The canoe of the Indian was followed
by the boat of the voyageur. Then came the freight carrying
scow and the steamboat, all bearing goods between St. Paul and
Fort Garry, while the traffic by land was carried by the dog
sledge, the ox cart, the regular stage and finally by the railroad
450
POLITICAL HISTOEY 451
train. It was chance freighters who became the first permanent
settlers.
The political history of the two sides of the river differs-
widely in character. The men who established homes in the
North Dakota counties of the valley constituted the bulk of the
population of their territory. Their section was of greater
wealth, greater density of population and greater political im-
portance than any other portion of the political division to which
they belonged. The Minnesota part of the valley was the oppo-
site of all this. While it was still destitute of people the state
of which it was a part was organized, all the forces of govern-
ment were established and its machinery was put in operation.
Several railroads traversed the southern portion of the state,
and many steamboats plied the rivers. Cities of considerable
size had sprung up, and a farming population, fairly numerous,
thrifty and progressive, had been creating taxable wealth for
years before the Red River valley was discovered by its first
permanent inhabitants.
These settlers, therefore, did not influence the legislation of
their state as they would have done had the entire state been
settled at approximately the same time and under the same con-
ditions. Laws and customs existed ready for them to utilize as
needed, or to be modified for their convenience as need might
arise.
Without question the most important early legislation affect-
ing the Minnesota side of the valley was that enacted by Con-
gress giving a land grant to the St. Paul & Pacific railway. This
was important to the valley, first, because it resulted in the build-
ing of a railroad through the valley counties, and second because
through its operation half the land in the valley proper east of
the Red river passed into the hands of the railroad company,
and later into the possession of private parties, without being
subject to the regulations of the homestead law. Similar con-
ditions prevailed in that section of the valley in North Dakota
which is crossed by the main line of the Northern Pacific, but
no grants of lands were made to railroads in any other part of the
valley.
Perhaps the one class of state legislation in which the valley
452 HISTORY OF HED IUVER VALLEY
counties on both sides of the river have been most profoundly
interested because of the influence of such legislation on agricul-
tural development is that pertaining to drainage. The fall of
the land toward the river is slight, and water courses are few
and tortuous. In seasons of abundant rainfall large areas of
land, exceedingly fertile, and generally arable, have been flooded
at critical periods of the crop season, and the process of drying
off in the spring has been impeded until the season is far ad-
vanced. The work of drainage could not be carried on by in-
dividual farmers, as trunk ditches were needed which must be
built each at the expense of a large district. It was imprac-
ticable to collect from those benefited the cost of the improve-
ment in a lump sum, as this would have imposed hardship on
nearly all concerned. The plan was accordingly devised of or-
ganizing drainage districts which could issue long time bonds
to raise money for drainage work, the debt being paid gradually
by taxes in proportion to benefits conferred. A plan apparently
so simple was not quickly or easily worked out, and the legisla-
tures of both states found many obstacles in the way. Since
about the year 1900, however — a little earlier in Minnesota —
there have been in operation in both states laws governing the
subject of drainage, and these laws have passed the most rigid
scrutiny of the courts, and drainage bonds are now among the
securities most eagerly sought by investors. The result has been
the wide extension of drainage work all through the valley, and
the greater productiveness of many thousand acres.
Aside from this subject the Minnesota portion of the valley
has been interested in the general political progress of the state,
and in legislation incident to the growth and development of
the territory, such as the organization of new counties, the crea-
tion of congressional and legislative districts, and the adminis-
tration of local affairs. The valley has been chosen as the site
for several important public institutions, among them a school
for defectives at Fergus Falls, a state normal school at Moor-
head, and an agricultural experiment station at Crookston. It
has given the state some of its most capable lawmakers, able
jurists and useful members of railroad, tax and other commis-
sions and educational boards.
POLITICAL HISTORY 453
The history of the North Dakota counties of the valley is
merged in that of the state, though, on account of the fact that
in North Dakota population and wealth had their beginnings in
the eastern counties, the people of these counties exercised a
greater influence on the political history of their state than was
the case in Minnesota, where the valley counties were among the
latest to be settled. The North Dakota portion of the valley, and
all that section of the state lying east of the Missouri, has had
a varied political history. Charles II, with a princely generosity
which delighted in giving away what did not belong to him, in-
cluded most of the present state of North Dakota in his grant to
Prince Rupert which formed the basis of the subsequent gigantic
operations of the Hudson's Bay Company. LaSalle, disregarding
the paper title which purported to convey the territory, took pos-
session of it in the name of France, and with the rest of the
Louisiana territory, it was ceded to Spain in 1763, receded to
France in 1801, and sold to the United States in 1803. In Octo-
ber of that year the territory was divided, the southern half be-
ing known as the territory of Orleans, and the northern as the
district of Louisiana. In 1805 the district became an organized
territory with a set of administrative officers appointed in Wash-
ington, and in 1812, under the name of the territory of Missouri,
it was made partially self governing, the residents being per-
mitted to elect a legislature. In 1834 there was created the terri-
tory of Michigan, including eastern North Dakota, and in 1846
the western portion of this was organized as the territory of
Wisconsin. In 1849 Minnesota territory was formed, including
eastern North Dakota. In 1858 the state of Minnesota was or-
ganized, and the Red river was made its western border. Ne-
braska territory then included the country west of the Missouri,
and the creation of the state of Minnesota left all that section
between the Missouri and the Red rivers stranded high and dry,
without government and without legal existence.
The territory of Dakota was organized in 1861, and included
the present states of North and South Dakota, Montana, and
parts of Idaho and Wyoming. The signing of the bill creating
the new territory was one of the last official acts of President
Buchanan, and the appointment of territorial officials became
454 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
the duty of President Lincoln. Dr. William Jayne, of Illinois,
was the first governor, and J. S. B. Todd became the first dele-
gate to Congress. According to the census taken under the
direction of Governor Jayne the population of the entire terri-
tory was 4,837. This included whites and Indians. In North
Dakota there were 51 white males and 42 white females, and a
total mixed and Indian population of 524. No counties were
organized in North Dakota until the legislative session of 1867,
when all of eastern North Dakota was organized as Pembina
county. From this county all others in the valley have been
carved. The first voting precincts established were at Pembina,
St. Joseph (now Walhalla), Park River, Dead Island (Cavalier
county), Poplar Creek (Nelson county), and Sheyenne (Richland
county) .
Governor Jayne was succeeded in turn by Newton Edmonds,
Andrew J. Faulk, John A. Burbank, John L. Pennington, William
A. Howard, Nehimiah G. Ordway, Gilbert A. Pierce, Louis K.
Church and Arthur C. Mellette.
As the territory increased in population the demand for a
political readjustment became stronger. The first step in this
direction was taken on the passage of a bill authorizing the re-
moval of the territorial capital from Yankton to a city to be se-
lected by a board of commissioners. The commissioners ap-
pointed were Alexander McKenzie, M. W. Scott, Burleigh F.
Spalding, Charles H. Myers, George A. Mathews, Alex Hughes,
John P. Belding and M. D. Thompson. Bismarck was chosen as
the new capital, donating, according to the terms of the bill,
160 acres of land for a capital site and $100,000 for building pur-
poses. Then followed a campaign for territorial division, result-
ing in the division of the territory along the forty-sixth parallel,
and the admission of the state, together with South Dakota. Mon-
tana and Washington. The bill for this purpose was signed by
President Harrison on February 22, 1889. The framing of the
new constitution was a matter of considerable difficulty, and
one in which the valley counties, with their neighbors, took active
interest. Many subjects were covered, but the two in which the
greatest interest was shown were the number and location of the
public institutions and the prohibition clause, which latter was
POLITICAL HISTORY 455
submitted on a separate ballot. The institution question was
settled by a distribution, liberal, if not lavish, which has created
a situation of some perplexity when the legislature has been
obliged to apportion the available revenues among many needy
applicants. However, the adjustment was made in the conven-
tion, and there the decision was reached to submit the prohibi-
tion clause as a separate proposition. At the election held Octo-
ber 1, 1889, the constitution was ratified, the prohibition clause
was adopted, and the first state officers were elected. These
were : John Miller, governor ; Alfred Dickey, lieutenant governor ;
John Flitte, secretary of state; John P. Bray, auditor; L. E.
Booker, treasurer ; George F. Goodwin, attorney general ; William
Mitchell, superintendent of public instruction; H. T. Helgesen,
commissioner of agriculture; A. L. Carey, insurance commis-
sioner, and George S. Montgomery, T. S. Underhill and David
Bartlett, railroad commissioners. H. C. Hansbrough was elected
representative in congress, and at the ensuing legislative session
which met at Bismarck November 20, 1889, Gilbert A. Pierce,
retiring governor, was elected United States senator for the short
term, and Lyman R. Casey for the long term.
The greatest struggle in the history of the state took place in
the first legislative session, over the proposal to admit the Louis-
iana lottery to the state. The Louisiana charter of the company
was about to expire, and it was known that it could not be re-
newed there. Its business was immensely profitable, and it was
to be continued at all hazards. The old states would have none
of it, and the new ones were canvassed carefully. North Dakota,
in the opinion of the lottery management, was the most promising
field offered. Its population was small and its people poor. It
entered upon statehood carrying a debt which was heavy for it
to bear. It had established numerous and costly institutions. To
raise revenue sufficient to meet the necessary cost of government
would mean the imposition of heavy taxes. With these condi-
tions prevailing in the new state the lottery company came for-
ward with the most glittering offers. It would liquidate the
state debt ; it would contribute annually a sum sufficient to main-
tain the school system; it would provide seed grain for farmers
who had met with hardship. It would erect in a North Dakota
456 HISTORY OF EEU E1VER VALLEY
city a magnificent office building which would be an architectural
ornament, and in which should be employed the hundreds of
clerks needed to carry on the company's business. It came to a
people who felt the pinch of poverty with all these offers, and it
caused them to be presented in detail before the legislature. The
lottery bill passed the house and the senate, and Governor Miller,
who had been one of its most vigorous opponents, vetoed it. Its
advocates could not muster strength in the senate to pass it over
the veto, and it was dead. The fight over the bill was especially
warm in the valley, because, while the sentiment of the people
was decidedly against it, the company had been at work indus-
triously in Grand Forks and Fargo, representing in each city
that that city was to be the home of the company, and that there
was to be built its palatial building and there its money was to
be spent. The subject was forever closed by the adoption, in
1894, of a constitutional amendment prohibiting lotteries in the
state.
The session of 1889-90 was devoted largely to the enactment
of financial legislation. In addition there were passed bills pro-
viding for the annual exhibition of state products at Grand Forks ;
granting bounties on state manufactured twine, beet sugar and
starch, these being repealed in 1901, and carrying out the intent
of the prohibition section of the constitution.
Governor Miller refused to be a candidate for re-election, and
Andrew H. Burke was elected to succeed him, Roger Allin being
elected lieutenant governor.
In the session of 1891 H. C. Hansbrough was elected United
States senator to succeed Senator Pierce, and M. N. Johnson was
elected to the national House of Representatives. This session
was -marked by a vigorous attempt' to secure the resubmission of
the prohibition law, a resolution to that effect being passed in
the house by a vote of 32 to 29, and in the senate by 16 to 15.
The senate subsequently reconsidered its action, and by a vote
of 18 to 12, voted to expunge the subject from the records.
In June, 1892, an extra session of three days was held for
the purpose of remedying defects in the election laws, there
having been no arrangements made for the election of presiden-
tial electors, and the provisions for the election of state and local
HANS H. AAKER
POLITICAL HISTORY 457
officials being faulty. In addition to election laws there were
passed bills requiring the erection of loading platforms by rail-
road companies, and increasing the appropriation for the World's
Fair in Chicago from $25,000 to $37,500.
At this time the wave of populist sentiment was sweeping
over the south and west, and the influence of the movement was
felt in North Dakota. The state was normally Republican by a
large majority, and a Republican nomination was considered
equivalent to an election. Governor Burke was a candidate for
renomination. The Farmers' Alliance element wanted a candi-
date who, in their opinion, would more faithfully represent the
agricultural interests of the state, and supported Roger Allin for
the nomination. Burke was renominated in the convention, and
was defeated at the polls by E. C. D. Shortridge, who received
the combined Populist and Democratic vote.
The session of 1893 was marked by a series of contests be-
tween the fusion governor and the Republican legislature, chiefly
over executive appointments, and these contests resulted in law-
suits which, ultimately, were decided against the governor by
the Supreme court. The senatorial contest of that year was a
memorable one. Senator Casey's term was about to expire, and
the Republicans in the legislature found it impossible to agree on
his successor. After weeks of balloting a group of Republicans,
headed by members of the Cass county delegation, agreed to join
the Democrats and elect Colonel John D. Benton, of Fargo, a
Democrat. This action was forestalled by the action of Repub-
licans from the northern part of the valley, who cast their votes
for William N. Roach, of Grand Forks county, another Democrat,
who was elected on the seventy-second ballot. This election was
highly important from the standpoint of national politics, as the
election of Roach gave the Democrats the one vote needed to
control the national Senate, thus giving them control at that
time of House, Senate and executive.
In 3894 the Republican convention heeded the demand which
it had ignored two years before, and nominated Roger Allin 'for
governor. He was elected and served for two years. The
finances of the state were in bad condition. Crops hacl been fair,
but there had been a tremendous falling off in prices, and times
458 HISTOEY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
were hard. The legislature was unable to agree on a list of ap-
propriations which would come within the probable revenues of
the state, and the executive veto reduced the appropriations for
several of the public institutions to the vanishing point. This
action by the governor, and the causes leading up to it, formed
the subject for acrimonious discussion for years.
Governor Allin was succeeded by Frank A. Briggs, who was
elected in 1896, and who died in office in 1898. Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Devine served the remainder of the term. The campaign
of 1896 was an unusually vigorous one. The currency question
had loomed up for some time, and free silver was for a time very
popular. The Democratic party was committed to it, and many
prominent Eepublicans were of the same mind. Gradually a
change came about, and the vote of North Dakota that fall was
emphatically in favor of the single gold standard. During the
summer the chances of Senator Hansbrough's election had not
been considered good, but his friends succeeded in organizing the
legislature in his interest, and he was returned.
During the years that had elapsed since statehood many bills
had been passed for the purpose of making effective the prohibi-
tion clause of the constitution. Much of this legislation was
enacted at the instance of the State Enforcement League, an
organization having its headquarters and most of its member-
ship in the valley, but which has since spread over the entire
state. In the session of 1897 there was made the last determined
assault on the law which gave promise of success. The law as it
stood provided that offenders should be subjected to ''fine and
imprisonment." A bill changing this to "fine or imprisonment"
was passed through the legislature during the confusion of the
closing days of the session. This was vetoed by Governor Briggs.
The bill caused excitement all over the state, and it has always
been currently reported that a large sum of money, generally said
to be $20,000, was sent to Bismarck to aid in its passage. Since
then each session has seen the enactment of laws tending to
strengthen the prohibition provision, and to facilitate its enforce-
ment.
F. B. Fancher was elected governor in 1898. Perhaps the
one legislative act of the session of 1899 of more than routine
POLITICAL HISTORY 459
importance was the amendment of the divorce law. Divorces
had been granted to persons who had instituted suit after only
three months' residence in the state, this being all that was re-
quired by law. This made North Dakota the dumping ground for
a great deal of the matrimonial discontent of the nation. Per-
sons whose only business in the state was to secure divorce were
numerous, and the "industry" was vigorously defended on the
ground that it brought to the state large sums of money which
would certainly be spent somewhere, and which might as well
be left here as elsewhere. Grand Forks and Fargo, in the valley,
and Mandan, in the western part of the state, were centers of
the divorce business. For several years the reputation of the state
had been suffering because of the laxity of our divorce regula-
tions, and the legislature, in 1899, effected a marked improvement
by making a year's actual residence necessary before suit for
divorce could be instituted. The immediate marriage of divorced
persons has also been prohibited, and this has had a wholesome
effect.
The term of United States Senator Roach expired in 1899, and
P. J. McCumber was elected to succeed him.
In 1900 Governor Fancher was renominated by the Repub-
lican convention, but before the campaign had well started he
resigned, as he had determined to move to California, and his
place on the ticket was taken by Major Frank White, who had
been nominated for lieutenant governor. He was elected, with
his entire ticket. Governor White was renominated and re-
elected in 1902, and was succeeded in 1904 by E. Y. Sarles, who,
in 1906, was defeated by John Burke, Democrat, and the latter
was re-elected in 1908.
During these later years political movements have been more
and more influenced by the western population. The Red River
valley is no longer the only populous or wealthy section. New
counties have been organized in the west, and old ones have
grown immensely in voting strength. The most important finan-
cial legislation in recent years has been that authorizing the in-
vestment of the permanent school funds in municipal and drainage
bonds, as well as in the securities authorized originally by the
constitution.
460 H1STOKY OF KED KIVEK VALLEY
The demand for more direct participation by the people in
the making of their laws has found expression in two important
movements. First, there has been a growing demand for the
adoption of the initiative and referendum. In 1907 a resolution
for a constitutional amendment for this purpose passed the legis-
lature, and this came before the legislature of 1909 for approval
in order that it might be submitted to the people at the next elec-
tion. Because it applied to constitutional amendments as well as
to statutory law, objection to it came from two sources. One
group of people feared the general result of facilitating constitu-
tional amendments of any kind. Another, comprising the most
active prohibitionists, felt that the proposed change would endan-
ger the prohibition law. The resolution failed, therefore, in
1909, and no substitute passed.
The other movement referred to was that for the adoption of
the direct primary nominating system. Bills for this purpose
were introduced in the legislature of 1899, and at each session
thereafter. Both parties, in their conventions, committed them-
selves to the plan. In 1905 a law was passed providing for a
limited application of the direct primary, and in 1907 the plan
was made to include all candidates from senator down. The law,
though admittedly defective in many particulars, was not
amended in 1909.
These years have also witnessed the absorption of the populist
organization by the Democratic party, although many of the
populist voters have returned to the Republican party, from
which they had seceded.
GEN. A. P. PEAKE
CHAPTER XXIII.
NATIONAL GUARD.
By
General A. P. Peake.
The National Guard of the Territory of Dakota was organized
in 1883 to 1885, during the administration of Gov. Gilbert A.
Pierce, consisting of two regiments of infantry, to which was
later added a battery of light artillery.
The first company organized was Company "A" of the First
Infantry, known as "The Governor's Guards," and located at
Bismarck, the then capital. The first camp was held in Septem-
ber, 1885, .at Fargo, and was followed by a camp at Aberdeen in
1886, one at Huron in 1887, and the last territorial camp at
Watertown in 1889. Upon the division of the territory, the First
Infantry Regiment of Dakota National Guards was reorganized,
and William A. Bentley, of Bismarck, who had been colonel of the
First Infantry Territory National Guard, became its colonel.
Shortly after this two troops of cavalry, under Major W. H.
McKee, were organized, and with Battery "A" constituted the
state guard for the new state of North Dakota. The first state
camp was held at the east end of Devil's Lake in September, 1891,
under command of Elliot S. Miller, then colonel of the First
Infantry. The second such camp was in Jamestown in the sum-
mer of 1904. In 1905 Colonel Miller became adjutant general,
and was succeeded in the colonelcy by Amasa P. Peake, who
remained colonel until January 7, 1909, when he was succeeded
by the present colonel, "William C. Treumann.
In April, 1898, eight companies of the regiment were ordered
into camp at Fargo to prepare for the service of the United States
461
462 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
in the war with Spain. After fifteen days of vigorous preparation
and active drilling under Colonel Peake's direction, the two bat-
talions, under Majors White and Fraine, were mustered into the
service of the United States as the First North Dakota Volunteer
Infantry, and the command was turned over to Lieutenant Colonel
"W. C. Treumann. The record of the two battalions serving as
United States volunteers was excellent, and upon their return to
the state in September, 1899, after a year's service in the Philip-
pines they again took their places in the National Guard organ-
ization.
Since 1900 camps of instruction or maneuver camps have been
held regularly each year, and in August, 1908, the First Infantry
Regiment was ordered into maneuvers at American Lake, south
of Tacoma, Wash., where a most excellent record was made and
high efficiency shown by officers and men.
At the present time the guard consists of one regiment of
infantry, twelve companies, a band, and one battery of light
artillery armed with two three-inch breech-loading field guns.
Five of the companies have armory buildings which are a
credit to both themselves and the municipalities in which they
are located. Four more such buildings will be erected during the
next two years, and by the close of 1912 every organization is
expected to have a permanent and well equipped armory.
CHAPTER XXIV.
EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENTS OF CASS COUNTY.
By
William H. White.
The history of Cass county, in common with other portions
of the Red River valley, prior to 1862. is a history of the Chip-
pewa and Sioux Indians, the fur traders, hunters and trappers,
and of the noble and self-sacrificing missionaries of the Catholic
church. Long before the dawn of civilization, in that section
of the country which is now designated as Cass county, the savage
tribes that traversed the great forests of Minnesota, and the
horse-riding nomads of the prairies of Dakota, met here in deadly
struggle for supremacy, giving up their lives in bloody conflict,
as their, now almost destroyed, remains, deposited in the Indian
graves, a few miles south of Fargo, will attest. That section of
Cass county adjacent to the point where the Wild Rice river
empties into the Red river, was the center of the arena of the
struggles between these Indian tribes. An important factor in
the settlement of these deadly feuds, has been the harmonizing in-
fluence of the Catholic church, which stood as a bulwark between
the Chippewa and the Sioux, and in evidence of its influence, a
great cross was erected not far from the present site of the vil-
lage of Wild Rice, which, for many years, could be seen by the
advancing pioneer. This cross stood out like a sentinel, the only
object on a vast expanse of country, giving notice to the coming
settler, that through its influence for peace, the country was
made ready for the incoming of the white race. It was the only
object to guide the wanderer, as many living today will remem-
ber with gratitude.
463
464 H1STOKY OF UED EIVER VALLEY
Closely following upon the vanishing trail of the Indians,
came the United States troops from the south, and the fur trad-
ers, trappers and hunters, from the north, taking possession of
the country, unwillingly relinquished by the aboriginal savage.
As early as 1858 Fort Abercrombie was established on the
west bank of the Red river, a few miles below and guarding the
southern boundary of Cass county, and was rebuilt and strength-
ened in 1860, as a protection against the aggressions of those
Indians whose final struggle for supremacy, culminated in the
massacre of 1862.
The Hudson Bay Company established its southernmost out-
post near the northern boundary of Cass county, at Georgetown,
and, co-operating with the United States troops at Fort Aber-
crombie, became a military post, for the protection of its French
voyageurs, fur traders, half-breed hunters and trappers, and was
maintained until the company was forced, temporarily, to with-
draw, by the Indian aggressions of 1862. It was, however, again
established in 1864, and became the gateway through which the
early white settlers came into the northern portion of Cass
county.
As early as 1859 a small steamboat called the "Anson North-
rup," was put together, at the mouth of the Cheyenne river, and
was run between Fort Abercrombie and Fort Garry. The specu-
lative element of the early white arrivals made itself felt in Cass
couhty, also, as early as 1859, for during the construction of the
steamer "Anson Northrup," at the mouth of the Cheyenne, a
townsite was laid out by Mr. Peter Bottineau and Mr. Russell,
of Minneapolis, and was called Dakota City. A German by the
name of Henry Block, and two Frenchmen, by name Frank
Durand and David Auge wrere employed by Messrs. Bottineau
and Russell, to hold this townsite, which they did, until they
were driven away by the Indians, in the outbreak of 1862.
The element of chivalry, and bravery also, was not lacking,
in those early days. This was amply exemplified in the wonder-
ful character and exploits of one who should have a larger place
in history than is accorded to him. Mr. George Northrup, a
young man of fine education, and a refined nature ; but also, a
nature longing to accomplish great and unique deeds, in Indian
EARLY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 465
warfare, traversed this Indian country alone, unguarded and un-
protected, save by the curious habit of drawing after him a small
cart, containing articles of barter for the Indians. So strange
seemed this action, to the Indians, that he became noted through-
out the Indian country by the name of the * ' Man-that-draws-the-
handcart. " Mr. Northrup, by his brave and startling plans of
defense and caution, succeeded in saving the lives of a large
party of English gentlemen of science, sent to the Red River
valley in 1861 by a scientific society for research. Two Scotch
ladies, one of them betrothed to an officer of the Hudson Bay
Company, owed their safety, if not their lives, to his gallant and
venturesome plans for their safe deliverance at the Hudson Bay
Company's post at Georgetown. An English baronet owes to
Mr. Northrup his safe conduct through the Indian country, be-
tween Fort Abercrombie and Georgetown, at a time when only
the superstition of the Indians, growing out of his unique habit
of drawing the little handcart, saved them both from massacre.
In the winter of 1860 George Northrup was engaged in the
arduous task of carrying the mail from Fort Abercrombie to
Pembina, a 200-mile land journey, over a country without habita-
tion. The journey was made with dog sleds, along the western
bank of the Red river, through Cass county, and other counties
to the north, the thermometer often reaching 40° below, and
sometimes touching 50° below zero, and, like other voyageurs, he
sometimes had to lie down in the snow, with his sledge dogs close
against his body, to gain from them the added warmth necessary
to keep him from freezing, during the fearful blizzards which
prevailed through this winter.
The State Historical Society of Minnesota has collected and
preserved much historical data, relative to George Northrup,
which portray his remarkable characteristics.
During 1864 settlements were made in what is now Wiser
township of Cass county, across the river from the Hudson Bay
Company's post, at Georgetown, by the fur traders, hunters and
trappers, in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company at this point.
Peter Russell erected substantial log buildings, as headquarters,
for the purpose of trading with the Indians and trappers, along
the Red river and its tributaries, the Cheyenne and Wild Rice
466 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
rivers. He afterward sold these buildings, and the squatters'
right to the land upon which they were located, to a Frenchman
named Marchaunt, who continued the trading post for three
years, then selling it to a French half-breed designated by the
title of " French Jake." This French half-breed remained until
1870, thus forming a connecting link between the occupation by
the trappers and hunters, and the first pioneers who came to Cass
county for the purpose of establishing homes and tilling the soil.
Other settlements were made by fur traders and trappers north
of Peter Russell's headquarters, extending to the mouth of Elm
river, and to the south extending to the mouth of the Cheyenne
river. The Hudson Bay Company abandoned the post at George-
town during the Indian outbreak of 1862, but re-established the
post, during 1864, and their business was placed in charge of
R. M. Probsfield, who faithfully managed its affairs, between
1864 and 1868, trading with the Indians on both sides of the
river. Mr. Probsfield is now living on his farm north of Moor-
head, Minn., and is well known to the present generation.
Of the early permanent pioneers of Cass county can be classed
as first, Mr. Martin Schow and Mr. Matt Hammes, who took up
claims at the mouth of the Elm river early in 1870, Mr. Schow
cultivating and remaining upon his claim until his death, two
years ago. His descendants still own and occupy the homestead.
Later in 1870, claims were made at the mouth of the Elm river
by Mr. Jacob Lowell, Jr., who retained it as his home until he
removed to the location south of Fargo in 1871. N. K. Hubbard,
also, at Georgetown, in 1870, filed upon a claim near the mouth
of the Elm river, but relinquished it before the close of the year,
owing to his removal. Mr. D. P. Harris, Jacob Metz and Peter
Goodman filed upon claims in 1870 near the mouth of the Chey-
enne river. Ole Stranwell in 1870 took up a claim near the mouth
of the Buffalo river in Cass county, and his descendants are
living upon it today. Of the early settlers of the southern por-
tion of Cass county, the names and dates of settlement are as fol-
lows:
Nils Arentson, Hickson, July 12, 1870.
C. 0. Bye, Hickson, July 21, 1870.
John Rustad, Kindred, September 1, 1870.
EAELY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 467
The Hicks family at Hickson, early in 1870.
B. C. Anderson, Wild Rice, October 15, 1870.
Simon Hanson, Kindred, 1870.
Considering the fact that up to 1872, barely wheat enough
was raised to make bread for the then thinly settled counties of
Dakota, and that the Red River valley was generally believed as
late as 1868 to be a barren country, when we realize that the
pioneers above mentioned, who first reached the western shores
of the Red river, were menaced by Indians on a boundless prairie ;
that hardships and dangers surrounded them, by night and by
day; when we think of these and other mighty obstacles that
thwarted them in their labors to develop the country, their his-
tory and the record of their success, reads like fiction rather than
actual experience. Yet, to tell of their experiences, their modes
of living, their view-point of the Dakota of that early day, and
their anticipation of the civilization which was to be brought
into the country with the railroads, is to recount the courage and
faith of the early settler, and the success which inevitably follows
upon efforts, sacrifices and energies directed as were theirs.
Early in the seventies, Cass county and the country surround-
ing it was still an Indian reservation, inhabited by the Sisseton
and Wahpeton bands of Sioux Indians. No title under these con-
ditions could be acquired to any public lands, under United
States laws. However, the enterprising and aggressive spirit of
a people who have always gone to the fore in all work for the
development and betterment of the race, inbued with the deter-
mination to crowd the red man farther west, and to demonstrate
in the history of this new state, the survival of the fittest, un-
baffled by conditions, took possession, and, succeeding the scat-
tering settlements of the period intervening between the first
arrivals, and the year 1871, the first white settlers located where
is now the city of Fargo, which claims the honor of thus serving
as the gateway to permanent settlement in Cass county.
As the Northern Pacific railroad was, of necessity, the primal
force or agency in the development of this region, preparatory
action on the part of its management necessarily superceded and
influenced the incoming settler. In 1870, therefore, being ex-
tended west from Lake Superior, surveying parties brought the
468 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
line of the road to and through the Red River valley east of the
Red river. Prospectors followed closely after, anxious to profit
by what might be learned of the intentions of this corporation.
The point at which the Northern Pacific railroad should cross the
river was to be the pivotal point in the fortunes of many. Among
these prospectors came N. K. Hubbard and Frank Veits, the lat-
ter acquiring by purchase the log hotel at the old Hudson Bay
post, at Georgetown, then occupied by Adam Stein. Considering
indications favorable at Elm river at its mouth for the crossing
of the Red river by the railroad, Messrs. Hubbard, Jacob Lowell,
Jr., Andrew McHench, H. S. Back, George H. Sanborn and some
others settled there, a part of them remaining during the winter
of 1870 and 1871. A suspicious line, the following spring, run-
ning from Muskoda to a point a few miles north of Moorhead,
excited the fears of the Elm river settlers, subsequently known
as Bogusville, its name indicating the fact that this action on the
part of the railroad management was meant to serve as simply
a ruse to disguise their actual purpose. Still another line, with
evidently the same intention, was run to the mouth of the Wild
Rice river. These several surveys, and the uncertainty attending
the ultimate use to which the company might decide to place
them, was the occasion of much interest among those eager to
profit by the action of the road. Thomas H. Canfield, president
of the Puget Sound Land Company, had arrived for the purpose
of locating the crossing, and the point at Elm river had primarily
been the intentional one, had not factors arisen obliging a change.
Deciding on the point eventually selected, Mr. Canfield took steps
to make final proof and purchase the land. On the east side of
the Red river, land was purchasable; on the west side, in Cass
county, the odd sections were secured by land grant, but title
to the even numbered sections could be obtained only by actual
settlement, and the exercise of the homestead or pre-emption
right, or by scrip location, and scrip could only be located on
unoccupied lands. Opposed to the Puget Sound Land Company
were the shrewd men, above mentioned, who had arrived in 1870,
in advance of the land company. In June, 1871, Major G. G.
Beardsley, accompanied by three Scandinavian settlers, located
on the townsite of Fargo, having, it is reported, previously bought
EARLY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 469
off a man, by the name of Mike Harburg, who had "squatted"
on what is now the beautiful "Island Park" of Fargo, giving
him in payment of his relinquishment a yoke of oxen, a cow and
$100 in cash. Mr. Beardsley began making improvements, but
did not announce his connection with the townsite company, in-
deed, endeavored to disguise the fact, but the prospectors, ever
on the alert, being suspicious of him, decided to locate imme-
diately in his vicinity, and Jacob Lowell, Jr., settled on a claim,
becoming the first bona fide settler near Fargo. Mr. Back and
Mr. McHench almost immediately did the same. By this time
the identity of Major Beardsley, as representative of the town-
site company was fully established. The three accompanying
him were hired to hold the land until scrip could be secured.
The land proved to be covered by an old Indian title, and when
that was satisfied, the claims of actual settlers were first recog-
nized. The lands, however, did not become subject to entry until
September, 1873. Ole Lee, among the earlier settlers, came in
April, 1871, settling on what was later known as the Island Park
addition to Fargo. When filings were made in and around Fargo,
settlements, according to Colonel Lounsberry's statistical report,
were as follows :
Harry Fuller, June 15, 1871.
Jacob Lowell, Jr., July 2, 1.871.
Andrew McHench, July 3, 1871.
Jacob Lowell, Sr., July 5, 1871.
Charles Roberts, July 8, 1871.
James Holes, July 26, 1871.
J. E. Haggart, August 8, 1871.
A. H. Moore, August 19, 1871.
A. J. Harwood, August 22, 1871.
Others followed closely after. Charles Roberts is the father
of the first white child born in Cass county, Lee Roberts, now a
resident of the county seat. Fargo. The Charles Roberts claim is
now practically in the heart of the city of Fargo. Jacob Lowell's
adjoins the city. Fuller's, later known as Eddy & Fuller's Out-
lots. Sanborn's is one mile south of the city.
G. J. Keeney reached Fargo July 5, 1871, and in March, 1872,
located his claim, which extended from Northern Pacific avenue
470 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
to Sixth avenue, north of the Great Northern depot, and from
Broadway to the river. Messrs. Keeney and Devitt afterward
made a joint entry of this land.
Thus, in 1871, the foundation of the county seat of Cass
county was laid, but the city of Fargo was not platted until Octo-
ber, 1873. The survey, was made by Joseph E. Turner, and the
plat of Fargo was the first instrument filed for record in the
office of the register of deeds of Cass county, January 2, 1874.
The organization of Cass county was effected in the fall of 1873 ;
Newton Whitman, W. H. Leverett and Jacob Lowell, Sr., were
the first county commissioners. Andrew McHench was the first
county superintendent of schools, Terence Martin the first regis-
ter of deeds and H. S. Back county judge.
According to the best information obtainable, the following
named settlers, now resident in Cass county, arrived within its
borders upon the dates herein designated, and with present post-
office address as follows:
Paul Mortinson, Harwood. August, 1870.
Andrew Anderson, "Wild Rice, October 15, 1870.
Ole Martinson, Hickson, 1870.
A. W. Blackburn, Fargo, January, 1871.
Hans Hoglund, Harwood, April 14, 1871.
August Landblom, Harwood, April 14, 1871.
Mrs. Andrew McHench, Fargo, April 30, 1871.
Knute Iverson, Kindred, April, 1871.
Peter Kyllo, Harwood, April, 1871.
N. B. Pinkham, Fargo, April, 1871.
J. M. Bender, Harwood, May 1, 1871.
S. V. Hoag, Fargo, May 14, 1871.
Henry Larson, Gardiner, May, 1871.
John Deacon, Fargo. May, 1871.
Peter Trana, Kindred, May, 1871.
George I. Foster, Fargo, May, 1871.
Hans Larson, Argusville, May, 1871.
Peter Cossette, Wild Rice, May, 1871.
C. C. Furnberg, Osgood, spring, 1871.
Mrs. A. K. Solberg, Wild Rice, June 1, 1871.
Mrs. J. E. Haggart, Fargo, June 2, 1871.
1
ito*
WILLIAM H. WHITE
EARLY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 471
John E. Headland, Fargo, June 5, 1871.
T. P. Borderud, Kindred, June 20, 1871.
0. P. Borderud, Kindred, June 25, 1871.
A. P. Borderud, Davenport, June 25, 1871.
Thomas McKenzie, Wild Rice, June, 1871.
Amund Trangsrud, Kindred, June, 1871.
Axtel Trangsrud, Kindred, June, 1871.
Knute Hertzgard, Kindred, June, 1871.
C. L. Mattison, Fargo, July 1, 187.1.
Mrs. C. A. Roberts, Leonard, August 8, 1871.
William Roberts, Leonard, August 8, 1871.
Mrs. R. J. Wisnals, Hickson, August 10, 1871.
Hans Knudson, Harwood, August. 1871.
Cornelius Haley, Fargo, September 10, 1871.
T. J. Haley, Fargo,. September 30, 1871.
A. H. Clemenson, Horace, October 12, 1871.
G. H. Clemenson, Horace, October 12, 1871.
J. W. Hodges, Fargo, October 15, 1871.
J. 0. Halsten, Harwood, October 24, 1871.
James S. Campbell, Fargo, October, 1871.
C. Fredrickson, Horace, October, 1871.
A. F. Pinkham, Casselton, October, 1871.
Arthur Sauvageau, Wild Rice, November 1, 1871.
Joseph Denis, Wild Rice, November 1, 1871.
John G. Nelson, Horace, November 1, 1871.
L. Beaton, Fargo, November, 1871.
P. 0. Ingebriktson, Harwood, November, 1871.
Mrs. P. 0. Ingebriktson, Harwood, November, 1871.
Frank Raspberry, Fargo, fall, 1871.
C. W. Darling, Fargo, fall, 1871.
Nels Olson, Harwood, fall, 1871.
Harry O'Neill, Fargo, December 25, 1871.
Charles FarrelL Fargo, 1871.
Martin E. Johnson, Horace, 1871.
C. L. Powers, Casselton, 1871.
Designated by the name of Centralia, the first postoffice was
established in Cass county, in September, 1871, G. J. Keeney be-
ing appointed postmaster. Two years later, in 1873, the name of
472 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the post office was changed to Fargo. Mr. George I. Foster, about
the same date, was appointed court commissioner.
The central figure in the county seat — Fargo — and, until re-
cent years, an ancient landmark, the Headquarters hotel, was
begun in 1871, completed in 1872, and opened in the spring of
1873 by J. B. Chapin. This building was burned in October,
1874, being rebuilt in a very short time after the fire, by N. K.
Hubbard. The opening was the occasion of great festivity. This
hotel was, as its name implies, "headquarters" for the settlers
of the county. A sentiment of friendliness and good fellowship
existed, at this early date, among all within the borders of the
state, and the friendships formed in this epoch-making period of
its history, have continued to the present time, a bond to unite
all who have, together, borne the hardship and reaped the re-
wards of their labors.
Near the site of the present water-works plant still stands the
first house built in Fargo. It was constructed of logs, by A. H.
Moore, in 1871. It was intended for a home, but served, for a
time, the purposes of a hotel, until the opening of the headquar-
ters in 1873. The formal establishment of the land office was
effected in 1874, with Thomas L. Pugh, receiver, and C. B. Jor-
dan, registrar. At this time the settlers who had made formal
entry of claims were allowed to "prove up" on their lands, with-
out further interference on the part of the Puget Sound Land
Company. In, at the beginning, making the first plat of Fargo,
what is now known as Island Park, was, with the rest, divided
into lots. Mr. J. B. Power, then general agent of the Northern
Pacific land department, was approached by Jacob Lowell, Jr.,
with the suggestion that the portion of Island Park addition
lying south of Second avenue, be deeded to the county-seat by
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, for park purposes, and
it is to the interest and effort of these gentlemen that the city
of Fargo is indebted for the attractive vacation grounds so appre-
ciated by its citizens.
The first school in Fargo held its session in the winter of 1873
and 1874. It was a private enterprise, and taught by A. F. Pink-
ham. Following this, the first school board was elected, in the
spring of 1874, comprising three officers, namely, those of director,
EARLY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 473
treasurer and clerk, filled by S. G. Roberts, Patrick Devitt and
A. A. Plummer, respectively. A building was purchased, then
located on a lot, which was donated, for the purpose, by the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company, on the land where the Uni-
tarian church of Fargo now stands.
Advancing, by degrees, in the progress toward civic growth,
in the spring of 1875, in the office of S. G. Roberts, a meeting of
the citizens was called to organize a city government, in accord-
ance with the legal requirements of the legislature of the state.
The estimated population of the county seat at this date, 1875,
was 600, and elected to administer its government, were a mayor,
Mr. George Egbert; treasurer, W. A. Yerxa, and city clerk, Ter-
rence Martin.
In noting the inauguration and growth of Cass county in the
beginning of its history, special note is, of necessity, made, of
its county seat, as the point at which or through which permanent
entrance was effected into the county, bringing civilizing in-
fluences into the state, and making possible the growth and de-
velopment of the county. As the beneficial effects have broad-
ened, other towns and villages have sprung up, developed and
have become in themselves live factors in the advancement of the
interests of Cass county. Without the railroads this expansion
would have been impossible. Crossing the Red River of the
North at Fargo, the progress of the Northern Pacific railroad,
considering the obstacles encountered, was rapidly made, and as
its track marked the undeviating line of advancement westward,
new villages and towns speedily dotted the prairies, in its imme-
diate vicinity, bringing life and activity to a region before un-
trodden by the foot of civilized man. Mr. Jay Cooke's financial
embarrassments, in 1873, temporarily retarded the progress of
the railroad, and it was, ultimately, carried on to completion by
Mr. Villard. The opening up of the country, its development,
agriculturally, commercially, financially and numerically, in-
deed, Cass county itself, with all that it represents, stands today,
a most gratifying evidence of the civilizing and expanding power
of the railroads. Beside the development growing out of the
agency above mentioned, traffic, in the early days, with no rail-
roads, was by way of navigation on the Red river, the river,
474 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
navigable to Fort Garry, furnished the one means of transpor-
tation. It suggested a novel sight to see, at the levee at Fargo,
at a time when the Indian still held legal possession, and the
buffalo roamed the prairies, several steamers with their barges,
loaded with freight, with many immigrants, too, accompanying
them. Lumber, and necessities generally, were transported in
this way. The spirit which led men to meet such hardships, and
to so indefatigably labor to overcome them, has evolved char-
acter, such as the pioneers of Cass county embody and represent,
and has brought to the county the enviable reputation it today so
justly merits. The history of this county, in its inception, is de-
pendent upon, and is the outgrowth of events, as herein noted,
and centers about Fargo, and the adjacent settlements on the
river. As the Northern Pacific railroad, carrying civilization in
its progress, wakened the echoes westward, other towns (as we
have said) sprung up, and in Cass county alone over twenty
towns and villages show the result of this agency of develop-
ment. Some of these are : Casselton, with in 1886 a population of
1,365; Tower City, 763; Wheatland, 370; Buffalo, 319; Mapleton,
210; Wild Rice, Everett, Argusville, Harwood, Gardner, Durbin,
Grandin, Leonard, Horace, Hunter, Page, Davenport, Kindred,
Hickson, Arthur and Ripon, had, at this date, a prosperous be-
ginning. Other towns have since come into existence, and these
mentioned above have achieved substantial growth, having in
many instances become metropolitan in commercial and financial
importance, second only to the county seat.
Multiplied influences and interests have united as agencies,
in the continued growth of this favored section of North Dakota,
with, where only the barest necessities of life were available, now,
not only in the chief city of the county, but in all the others with-
in its bounds, all the appliances which most recent developments
of science have made possible, electric lights, waterworks, city
railways, good roads and the most approved methods of sanita-
tion and of heating. The presence and necessity of its many
banking institutions, and wide commercial interests, also attest
its enlargement. Complex conditions, growing out of insistent
need, have brought about this development, in a Comparatively
short period of time. A period which less aggressive and more
EAELY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 475
deliberate peoples would have considered inconceivable. But a
matter of a few years has intervened between the period of utter
desolation, and the present, when throughout this section waving
grain fields, in billowy undulations, extend on and on, until their
limits are lost in the horizon, and, as they become ready for the
harvest, empty their golden grain into the bread-basket which
feeds the world.
Close following upon the incoming of the first settlers, came
Christianizing influences, a much needed instrumentality, in a
period of disorganized social conditions. True to his principles,
and imbued with the spirit of his master, the Christian minister
came, at this early date, meeting, right nobly, the needs of the
times, and with tact, judgment, and unwavering energy, count-
ing no hardships too great, in the fulfillment of his mission. In
these early times society was complex, and while many upright
and able men led, in the van, others with less fixed standards
of morality, were largely represented, and these, in many in-
stances were keen of intellect, and aggressive in action, creating
the need of an intellectual as well as a moral force, in those
who should endeavor to instill principles of Christianity, and
Christian methods of living, in a mixed community such as any
new civilization creates. The intellectual ability of the pioneers
in Christian work, in Cass county, combined with their active
Christian warfare against the vices incident to the period, was
second to none who have since come to forward, develop and
bring to a harvest of large results, this great factor in the de-
velopment of any country. The Catholic church, always an
early, able and aggressive force, was represented in its work, at
the river points of this country, in the earliest period of its his-
tory. The growth of the work is apparent throughout its boun-
daries. An imposing cathedral is located at the county seat, and,
leading and directing the work of Catholicism in the county and
throughout the entire state, Bishop Shanley wields today an
influence far-reaching in its results. For the accomplishments
achieved by this agency for the uplift of mankind, in the interval
between the early history of the county and the present time,
you are referred to the able and explanatory articles on this
subject written and published from time to time, by Bishop
476 HISTORY OF BED EIVER VALLEY
Shanley, a man not only a capable exponent of the doctrine, but
a practical demonstrator of its benefits to his fellowman.
Protestant Christianity, ever a power in a new community,
carne with the earliest arriving settlers. The first protestant
religious service was held in a tent, in Fargo, as early as 1871,
for Fargo, at this time, was but a city of tents. This service was
conducted by the Rev. 0. H. Elmer, resident Presbyterian mis-
sionary, on the east side of the Red River, at Moorhead. Very
soon after, the Rev. Father Gurley and Rev. Mr. Webb, of the
Methodist church, arrived for missionary work, and with peculiar
adaptability for the work, laid, at that time, the foundation of
Methodism in the new state. Mr. Webb held services, regularly,
in Pinkham's hall, in 1873, and his congregations included many
not supposed to frequent places of divine worship. These, how-
ever, were generous in furnishing financial aid, and, in these
early days, the problems growing out of the use of "tainted
money," had not come to vex the early settlers. Aggressive
and progressive work, left no time for introspective deliberations,
and the faro dealer's money was received and applied, with no
special thought as to the source from which it came. The Episco-
pal denomination began the first church building in 1873, but
it was some time later in reaching completion. It has since been
replaced by a commodious cathedral. In 1874 the first Methodist
church was built, and under the ministrations of its pioneer
ministry, and the devoted aid of the laity, became, from the first,
a force in the community, until, today, the third structure, on
the original site, is among the most attractive edifices in the
state, with a membership numerically, and financially strong
enough to ably carry on the work, so auspiciously begun. This
church proved to be the mother church, of its denomination, in
the county and state, and from it have gone out, to the sur-
rounding towns, those who have advanced the cause, through-
out the state. Affiliated with this denomination, in the early
history of the county were other orthodox denominations, and,
as numerically and financially they were able, the Presbyterians,
Baptists and Congregationalists erected houses of worship. As
the population increased, especially at the county seat, and
foreign nationalities came to Cass county, in large numbers,
EARLY HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY 477
various Lutheran, German, Norwegian, and Swedish churches
were in demand, and sprung up on every hand. Today the
county seat of this flourishing section, is a city of churches, and
its neighboring towns, in comparison of population, in no way
behind, in this particular.
That the press has been a developing force in the county, all
who have followed its history must recognize, the vicissitudes
attending the beginnings, growth, and influence of the news-
papers, have been varied, but they have moulded public opinion,
and, (if success be measured by results), not unwisely. "The
Fargo Express," under the management of A. J. Harwood and
G. J. Keeney, was the first newspaper, printed in Fargo, January
1st, 1874. The same year the "Fargo Mirror" was started by E. D.
Barker. In 1876 these two papers consolidated, and under the
caption of the "Fargo Times" was managed by E. B. Chambers,
as editor and proprietor. The "Red River Independent," estab-
lished in 1878 was also taken by Mr. Chambers, who sold it two
years later, and after six months by the new management, it was
discontinued. The plant, however, was sold to the "Fargo Re-
publican" which had been established by Major A. W. Edwards
and J. B. Hall as a semi-weekly, in 1878. Very shortly after,
Major Edwards, retiring from the management of the "Republi-
can," in November, 1879, established the "Daily Argus," a morn-
ing paper, the "Republican," an evening daily paper, being then
owned by A. C. and J. J. Jordon. After a lapse of years, in
November, 1891. Major A. W. Edwards, and with him H. C.
Plumley, started the Fargo Forum, buying in 1894, and combin-
ing with it the "Republican." The "Call" was established in
1898 by J. J. Jordon. The "Fargo Forum" is at this date a
weekly as well as a daily publication, and the "Call" a daily
publication. Their advertising columns are indicative of the
enterprise and progressiveness of the business men of the county.
Other newspapers of Cass county, identified with, and contribut-
ing to its growth are the "Fargo Daily News," "Fargo Journal,"
"Fram," "Searchlight," "Die Staats Press." These are pub-
lished at Fargo. "The Reporter," at Casselton; "The Express,"
at Buffalo; "The Eagle," at Wheatland; "Tower City Topics,"
at Tower City; "Herald," at Hunter; and "Record," at Page.
478 HISTOBY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
At no time, from its earliest history, has the county been with-
out the representation which the press affords, and the wide and
favorable reputation of this county, has been largely advanced
by the wide-awake newspaper men.
The early settlers of Cass county, men of brain as well as of
brawn, placing high value on educational advantages, necessary
for those who were to be the coming citizens of this region, be-
ginning with one small private school, have developed a system
of public school education, not only at the county seat, but
reaching out to towns and villages, and furnishing even in the
farming districts, at convenient locations, a school properly
equipped for all requirements. The advantages of a public school
education are within the reach of all, and the system of instruc-
tion is not only the pride of the county, but has won an enviable
reputation abroad. Representing and contributing to the needs
of the county, in this particular there is, in Fargo, a commodious
and imposing High School building, equipped in every way with
the latest and best appliances for effective and advanced work.
Tributary to it are ten or more graded schools, housed in sub-
stantial brick structures, all presided over by able instructors.
Besides this general system, there is the Fargo College, estab-
lished in 1887, a Congregational institution; several business
colleges ; Sacred Heart Academy and Convent school ; a flourish-
ing high grade school, under the auspices of the Lutheran church ;
and the admirably conducted Agricultural College and Experi-
mental Station.
The rapid progress made along these lines, in Cass county,
attest the breadth and foresight of those responsible for the
early, constructive, work, in the beginning. High schools with
their tributaries, are in all towns of any size in the county and,
in the aggregate, number nearly, or quite, two hundred, with a
total value of school property in the county of close on to two
hundred and forty thousand dollars.
In noting the prosperity and phenomenal growth of Cass
county, and the factors which have combined for its accomplish-
ment, consideration must be given the natural causes, which have
been an underlying factor of its growth, making all other forms
of development possible.
1
EAELY HISTOKY OF CASS COUNTY 479
In this county is, perhaps, the richest area of wheat growing
soil to be found in this country, its grain being of the finest grade,
and the yield, averaging from year to year, greater than is possi-
ble in less favored sections. While the seasons, embracing seed-
time and harvest, are shorter than in more southern countries,
soil and climate combine to bring about results, which lighter
soil fails to produce. Being about forty-two miles square, Cass
county shows almost every acre tillable, aside from the timbered
stretches along the rivers, and where tree claims have been
planted. Up to twenty years ago, when the county was young,
the yield of wheat was estimated as upwards of seven hundred
eighty thousand bushels.
The county, named for General G. W. Cass of New York, an
ex-president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, claims this gentle-
man among the first farmers, he being the principal owner of
Cass farm, which together with the Cheney farm, comprised, in
the earlier period, what was known as the Dalrymple farm. This
vast estate demonstrated, in results what executive ability can
produce, but, as the population of the agricultural districts in-
creased, the benefit arising from smaller areas, and more diversi-
fied farming, was proven, to the satisfaction of the many pros-
perous farmers, whose well tilled farms, make an agricultural
garden of the county. The wealth of arable soil in this county
was unknown to those of the east, until after the arrival of the
railroads. With a fear of the Indians, they were slow to investi-
gate, and it was not until 1872, that news of the fertility of this
region, was spread abroad, before this, however, the early set-
tlers realized that wheat could be profitably raised, in large
quantities, as soon as transportation facilities were afforded.
The first wheat, sown by the acre, was harvested in 1872, by
Jacob Lowell Sr. and N. Whitman, who came to Dakota in 1871.
Jacob Lowell, Martin Schow, Ole Stranwell, Peter Goodman
and D. P. Harris were among the first white settlers to open up
farms in Cass county. Mr. Goodman located three miles down
the river from Fargo, in 1870, and lived there for nearly three
years. Harris located about four miles down the river, a month
or two later. Agricultural development marks, as has been
480 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
shown, the beginnings of prosperity in the county, out of which
has come all subsequent expansion and growth.
Farming has become almost an exact science. The richness of
soil and its adaptability to variety in production, combined with
a climate so well suited to the growth of grains, generally,
enables the progressive farmers to look, with a degree of cer-
tainty, to a harvest, commensurate with efforts put forth. These
facts, attracting the attention of people in all sections of the
country, and in the lands beyond the seas, have contributed to
the prosperity of Cass county, as we see it in evidence today.
Thriving farms and homes form a continuous connection between
its populous towns and villages, bringing to them the prosperity
which has become not only permanent but progressive. If not
the ideal realization of the "Promised Land," it is to the sturdy
and industrious Scandinavians, who have come to this region
seeking homes, the embodiment of success, and for all effort put
forth, abundant and gratifying returns have been the reward.
Encouraged by this, their brothers and friends have followe'd
them, and, today, in all branches of trade and labor they may be
numbered among our useful and upright citizens.
History, strictly speaking, deals with the past, and this record
recounts, more particularly, the earliest influences which have
contributed to the substantial and gratifying growth of Cass
county. But, in an age, strenuous in life and action, history of
each day in the making, and the facts and accomplishments of
the present, become of historical interest in the immediate future.
There are on record, at this date, in the office of the Secretary
of the Old Settlers Society, of Cass county, of those now living in
the county, tabulated lists of arrivals, as follows :
In 1872— Forty-One. In 1877— Thirty-Five.
In 1873 — Twelve. In 1878 — One Hundred Twenty-Two.
In 1874— Eleven. In 1879— One Hundred Thirty-One.
In 1875 — Seventeen. In 1880 — One Hundred Sixty-Three.
In 1876 — Twenty-Nine. In 1881 — One Hundred Thirty-Nine.
EAELY HISTOEY OF CASS COUNTY 481
Cass County Pioneers.
William H. White, Secretary of the Old Settlers' Society, Pub-
lished in "Fargo Forum," September 21, 1907, a List of
the Old Settlers and the Time of Their Arrival in
the County, Who Settled in the Valley
in or Prior to 1871, Became Entitled
to the List Known as
"The Honorable Aristocracy of the Catfish."
(See Mr. Keeney's letter.)
Admitted those who settled in the Red River valley or prior
to 1871 ; Matt Hammes, May, 1867 ; N. K. Hubard, September 30,
1870; Jacob Lowell, October 11, 1870; August Landblom, April
14, 1871; Andrew McHench, April 30, 1871; Mrs. Andrew
McHench, April 30, 1871; N. B. Pinkham, April, 1871; George
I. Foster, May, 1871 ; Hans Larson, May, 1871 ; Mrs. J. E. Haggart,
June 2, 1871; G. J. Keeney, June, 1871; Thomas McKenzie, June,
1871: James Holes, July 18, 1871; Mrs. R. J. Wisnals, August 10,
1871 ; A. E. Froene, September, 1871 ; P. 0. Ingebriktson, Novem-
ber, 1871 ; Mrs. P. 0. Ingebriktson, November, 1871 ; Frank Rasp-
berry, Fall, 1871 ; Charles Farrell, 1871.
"Voyageurs by the Dog Train."
Those who arrived in the Red River valley during 1872 and
up to 1876 inclusive : David Rae, March 11, 1872 ; J. C. Probert,
April 7, 1872 ; T. C. Comstock, April U, 1872 ; Ella J. Comstock,
April 14, 1872; William H. White, April 15, 1872; H. H. Leverett,
May, 1872; M. Hector, May, 1872; Charles Whitman, June 2,
1872; John 0. Bye, June 26, 1872; M. J. Flatla, June 28, 1872;
Leslie H. Low, July 15, 1872; Andrew J. Headland, July 20, 1872;
C. A. Camden, September 10, 1872; F. Boman, September 15,
1872; John Dodd, December, 1872; Mrs. H. J. Rusch,
1872; Evan S. Tyler, March 1, 1873; C. A. Louns-
berry, April 4, 1873; Sarah B. Lounsberry, April 4, 1873;
P. Elliott, April 20, 1873 ; C. B. Thimens, April, 1873 ; Mrs. J. C.
Probert, July 13, 1873 ; .Mrs. Thomas McKenzie, September, 1873 ;
Andrew Johnson, June 7, 1874; L. P. Jensen, Spring, 1874; Mons
482 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Monson, July 29, 1874; Augustus Roberts, Summer, 1874; Peter
Madison, October, 1874; Peter Stewart, November 1, 1874; Dr.
F. L. Richter, 1874; C. H. Thompson, April 15, 1875; Hector G.
Barnes, May 6, 1875 ; Mrs. Mary J. Swift, December 1, 1875 ; Mrs.
Bessie A. Hyslop, December 1, 1875 ; Richard Fields, March, 1876 ;
Mrs. Andrew Johnson, April 30, 1876; J. H. McGuire, May 19,
1876 ; Stevenson Dunlop, May, 1876 ; J. J. Mclntyre, June, 1876 ;
Mrs. J. J. Mclntyre, June, 1876; J. Lowell, Jr., September 13,
1876.
"Pioneers of the Ox Cart."
Those who came into the Red River valley during 1877 and up
to 1879 inclusive: William Stapleton, February, 1877; John
Hass, May 7, 1877 ; C. B. Bearnstein, July 5, 1877 ; E. E. Redmon,
August 1, 1877 ; Albert B. Guptill, August 12, 1877 ; George Q.
Erskine, September, 1877; Stephen H. Hoag, October 16, 1877;
Lincoln P. Chancey, October, 1877; P. P. Chancey, December,
1877 ; Mrs. P. Olson, 1877 ; E. C. Eddy, January 7, 1877 ; W. W.
Smith, March 1, 1878 ; George E. V. McCormick, March 12, 1878 ;
S. J. Hill, March 22, 1878 ; F. E. Palmer, March 29, 1879 ; Mrs. C.
M. Palmer, March 29, 1878 ; E. H. Palmer, March 29, 1878 ; F. P.
Pinkham, March 31, 1878; Claus A. Johnson, March, 1878; Dr.
E. M. Darrow, April 11, 1878 ; George E. Nichols, April 12, 1878 ;
Walter Thomson, April 27, 1878; Frank J. Thompson, April,
1878 ; J. W. Morrow, Spring, 1878 ; Charles H. Mitchell, Spring,
1878; William Hauser, May 5, 1878; H. F. Miller, May, 1878;
James B. Radford, June 26, 1878 ; A. 0. Rupert, June 30, 1878 ;
Albert Still, June 4, 1878 ; Mrs. David Still, July 4, 1878 ; J. E.
Landblom, September 10, 1878; Ferdinand Luger, October 15,
1878 ; Sam Matthews, October 29, 1878 ; James B. Crucial, Octo-
ber, 1878; John W. Searing, November, 1878; J. D. Vowles,
December 31, 1878 ; W. F. Ball, December, 1878 ; John Schlanser,
December, 1878; John L. Gunckle, 1878; Ira Eddy, January,
1879; James A. Chesley, March 10, 1879; George A. Kingsley,
March 13, 1879; C. E. Robbins, March 22, 1879; F. J. Stumpt,
March 23, 1879 ; B. F. Osborne, March 29, 1879 ; Mrs. M. Emmons,
March 31, 1879 ; M. S. Mayo, March 29, 1879 ; Peter Westlund,
March, 1879; John Hay, March, 1879; James H. Judd, March,
1879; Mrs. John Monson, March, 1879; James B. Judd, March,
EAELY HISTOBY OF CASS COUNTY 483
1879 ; Michael Corrigan, April 1, 1879 ; D. B. Shotwell, April 30,
1879; Alex M. Anderson, April, 1879; Samuel McHenry, April,
1879; Mrs. C. F. Amidon, Spring, 1879; Henry G. Fish, May 11,
1879; Mrs. Bertha Luther, May 12, 1879; Otto M. Luther, May
12, 1879; Hedwig Luther, May 12, 1879; C. B. Wade, May 15,
1879 ; Peter Pastoret, May 30, 1879 ; Eugene J. deLendrecie, May,
1879 ; J. G. Ball, May, 1879 ; Frank G. Ball, May, 1879 ; Mrs. C.
A. Wheelock, May, 1879 ; C. H. Porritt, June 7, 1879 ; George F.
Miller, June 7, 1879 ; 0. J. deLendrecie, June, 1879 ; R. A. Thomp-
son, June, 1879; C. E. Webster, June, 1879; Bella M. Webster,
June, 1879; A. A. Trovatten, June, 1879; K. Enerson, August 5,
1879; Rev. R. J. Wisnals, September 9, 1879; John M. Fisher,
September 6, 1879 ; Mrs. D. B. Shotwell, September, 1879 ; Wayne
G. Eddy, October 17, 1879; R. B. Boyd, October, 1879; F. A.
Irish, November 28, 1879 ; C. B. Chacey, November, 1879 ; A. W.
Edwards, Fall, 1879; Mrs. Abbie Best, December 10, 1879; Mrs.
Augusta Kennedy, December, 1879 ; John Young, 1879.
"Passengers by the Stage Coach."
Those who reached the Red River valley during 1880 and
1881 : H. P. Lough, January 1, 1880 ; Rudolph A. Richter, Janu-
ary 15, 1880 ; T. J. Flamer, February 5, 1880 ; Edward A. Perry,
February 20, 1880; Thomas Baker, Jr., March 4, 1880; James
Kennedy, March 17, 1880 ; Mrs. E. A. Fitzgerald, March 18, 1880 ;
Mrs. Thomas E. Dunn, March 18, 1880; Burleigh F. Spaulding,
March 31, 1880; F. L. Stanley, March, 1880; Mrs. Mary Burritt,
March, 1880 ; Henry O. Burritt, March, 1880 ; Mrs. G. M. Huffaker,
March, 1880; John Wergin, April 1, 1880; Mrs. John Wergin,
April 1, 1880; C. H. Laizure, April 9, 1880; J. F. Schoeninger,
April 10, 1880 ; Theron D. Platt, April 20, 1880 ; Grace R. Platt,
April 22, 1880; Eugene Sauvageau, April 28, 1880; Samuel
Sauvageau, April 28, 1880; Joseph Sauvageau, April 28, 1880;
Octave Sauvageau, April 28, 1880; Julius Sauvageau, April 28,
1880 ; Hubert Sauvageau, April 28, 1880 ; H. G. Edwards, April,
1880; Henry Krogh, Spring, 1880; Mortimer Webster, May 1,
1880; H. J. Rusch, May 2, 1880; Adam Spotts, May 10, 1880;
W. R. Lasencke, May 22, 1880; J. P. Edwards, March, 1881; Mrs.
William Hauser, June 1, 1880; H. A. McConville, June 15, 1880;
484 HISTOEY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
Charles B. Miller, June 23, 1880 ; Mrs. Charles B. Miller, June 23,
1880 ; F. W. Pearson, June 24, 1880 ; Mrs. A. W. Edwards, June,
1880; Mrs. Marie E. Belknap, June, 1880; William R. Edwards,
June, 1880; Louis Totop, June, 1880; Andrew Thomaier, July 3,
1880; Thomas McCulloch, July 9, 1880; Mrs. Peter Madison,
July 14, 1880; H. C. Stebbins, July, 1880; Charles A. Morton,
July, 1880; Mrs. J. L. Angell, August 12, 1880; Elizabeth Lind-
say, August 26, 1880; Mary Lindsay, August 26, 1880; P. G.
Tozier, September 1, 1880; Emma Tozier, September 1, 1880;
Elizabeth Nichols, September 30, 1880; A. E. Bestic, September
10, 1880; Peter Pickton, September, 1880; Mrs. Peter Pickton,
September, 1880 ; Fannie E. Pickton, September, 1880 ; Harry E.
Magill, September, 1880 ; Isaac P. Clapp, October 14, 1880 ; Mrs.
W. C. Shurlock, October 21, 1880 ; Harald Sunde, October, 1880 ;
James H. Morrow, October, 1880; Frank L. Gage, December 1,
1880; C. R. Meredith, February 22, 1881; Mrs. M. M. Logan,
March 27, 1881 ; Mrs. Frank Marsh, March 27, 1881 ; Mrs. H. C.
Plumley, March, 1881 ; James D. Carpenter, March, 1881 ; Stewart
Wilson, March 27, 1881; W. H. Aymar, April 2, 1881; H. C.
Plumley, April 12, 1881; Frank McKenzie, April 13, 1881; Mrs.
Josephine Tour, April 20, 1881; George D. Brown, April, 1881;
Sarah G. Thimens, April, 1881; Anna D. Tyler, April, 1881; Jed
L. Angell, May 11, 1881; George R. Freeman, May 21, 1881;
James E. Johnson, June 10, 1881; Russell P. Freeman, July 1,
1881; Charles A. Pollock, July 8, 1881; Phillip Tessier, July,
1881 ; Ovid Tessier, July, 1881 ; Joseph Tessier, July, 1881 ; J. P.
Birchall, August 1, 1881; E. D. Angell, August 5, 1881; S. M.
Edwards, August 20, 1881; Mrs. Isabelle Wilson, August, 1881;
Robert J. Wilson, August, 1881; Edward A. Wilson, August,
1881; John B. Wilson, August, 1881; Mrs. Frank McKenzie,
August, 1881; Mrs. J. W. Kelly, September 1, 1881; Dan S.
Stewart, September 29, 1881 ; Cora D. Stanford, October 27, 1881 ;
Earle N. Stanford, October 27, 1881; Mrs. May O'Shea, October
27, 1881; Dr. L. C. Davenport, November 1Q, 1881; Las. C.
McKendry, November 25, 1881; Mrs. S. G. Magill, November,
1881; Mrs. E. R. Orchard, November, 1881; A. L. Moody, Fall,
1881; J. B. Folsom, Fall, 1881; Taylor Crum, December, 1881;
Harry J. Hammes, 1881 ; Sarah G. Thimens, 1881.
ENDS GRAY
CHAPTER XXV.
CITY OF FARGO.
Fargo was named for Hilliard G. Fargo, a prominent director
of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and founder of the
"Wells-Fargo Express Company. The early history of this now
peerless city of the prairies, begins with the entrance of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, there having been no white settle-
ments previous to that time, on account of its great distance from
trading points, and with no means of holding communication or
traffic with them, as the lakes and navigable rivers have afforded
most of the pioneer settlements in other sections of the country.
As soon as the Northern Pacific Railroad Company had fully
decided to extend their road West from Duluth into Dakota
Territory, a new corporation, the Puget Sound Land Company,
was formed, among the personnel of whose stockholders were
several of the railroad officials.
The intention of this corporation was the platting or laying
out of townsites at the junction of the railroad with each of the
principal streams crossed by it. The city to be built at the cross-
ing of the Red River, was looked upon by nearly every one as of
great importance, for, being at the head of navigation on that
stream, and in the center of a very rich agricultural district, it
was looked upon with certainty to become a great city in time.
The representatives of the Puget Sound Land Company forcibly
denied that they possessed any inside information as to the loca-
tion of the crossing of the Red River by the Northern Pacific
railroad, yet the apparent good judgment shown by them in
selecting the site of its crossing on the Mississippi and Ottertail
rivers and the fact that many of the stockholders were officials
of the railroad company, gave rise to the belief that the location
of the proposed crossing was known to them.
The lands, however, along the Red River of the North, were
485
486 HISTORY OF EED BIVER VALLEY
as yet unsurveyed, and to gain title to them, it became necessary
to make actual settlement, unless it should so happen that the
ground desired should prove to be an odd section, when it be-
came the property of the railroad company under its grant, and
in that event could be readily transferred. An army of followers
nocked here and there along the projected line of the road,
locating at every available crossing of a stream. The agents of
the townsite company were everywhere, it being their business
to mislead and to mislocate the adventurers, that they might
secure to their company the most desirable tracts. Everyone
was suspicious of his neighbor and was watching everybody else.
During the fall of 1870 several deceptive moves were made,
and the road displayed seemingly unmistakable signs of crossing
at a point some miles below Fargo, since known as Bogusville.
It was believed by some of the wiser ones that this settlement
was made for the purpose of misleading the would-be townsite
owners and accordingly Jacob Lowell, Jr., Henry S. Back, and
Andrew McHench decided to keep a sharp lookout for the first
indications of the railroad crossing. From early in April until
the 29th day of June, they patroled the banks of the Red River,
Lowell, from the mouth of the Wild Rice river to that of the
Sheyenne ; back, from the Sheyenne to Georgetown, and McHench
from Georgetown to the Elm river, each making a trip every day.
On the 29th day of June, Mr. Lowell found, on his trip, a person
calling himself ''Farmer Brown," accompanied by three Scandi-
navian ''settlers" who had squatted on what afterwards proved
to be the present townsite of Fargo.
"Farmer Brown" wore well worn overalls; his face was sun-
burnt; he wore a brown hickory shirt, and an old brown hat,
and sat with such ease and unconcern upon the handles of his
plow, and talked so wisely and interestingly of the great capacity
of the Red River soil for wheat, but Mr. Lowell had his doubts as
to the fellow being a farmer at all. "Brown, Brown," soliloquized
Mr. Lowell, "seems to me I have heard of Farmer Brown before;
a fellow by that name used to run a three card monte game at
Oak Lake, besides this fellow is too slick for a farmer." So Mr.
Lowell hastened to give the alarm to his partners, Back and
McHench, who were patroling the river, as before stated. A
CITY OF FARGO 487
consultation of the three was held and it was unanimously agreed
that "Farmer Brown" knew more about locating townsites than
he did of farming, and Mr. Lowell declared his intention of
locating "right here."
On July 1, 1871, Jacob Lowell, Jr., took his claim on the
Southwest-quarter of section 18, township 139 north, range 4$
west, on this date, thereby becoming the first bona fide settler
of Fargo. A few hours later Henry S. Back followed his example.
July 2, Andrew McHench located near the claim of Messrs.
Lowell and Back. By this time it became generally known that
"Farmer Brown" was none other than G. G. Beardsley, a sur-
veyor in the employ of the Puget Sound Land Company, whose
duty it was to make script locations for that company. The
three Scandinavian "settlers" who accompanied him were hired
to hold the lands upon which they had settled until script could
be secured, when they were to be transferred to the townsite
company.
A stampede followed and it was at once realized that a bitter
fight would be made over the title to these lands, but no founda-
tion could be laid for a contest in the land office until a legal
survey and the return of the plats to the land office at Pembina
had been effected. The contract for the survey of these lands
had been let in May, 1871, to Joseph W. Blanding, who sub-
divided eighteen townships along the river from Wahpeton to
Georgetown. The plats were sent to the General Land office in
December, 1871, but were not approved and returned to the local
office at Pembina, until July 25th, 1873. Pending the survey the
claimants to these lands settled down to spend their time in peace
until such time as their right could be passed upon by the Land
Department at Washington.
Settlements were made at a point on the Darling farm, above
Fargo, where a ferry was established and several stores and a
saloon were opened. No regard was given to a possible prior
occupancy by the Puget Sound Land Company men, who could
not be bona fide settlers if they were working in the interests of
the Puget Sound Land Company. Charles Roberts made settle-
ment on his claim July 8th, 1871; Harry Fuller June 15th; Jacob
Lowell, Sr., July 5th; Gordon J. Keeney July 5th, located, but not
488 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
on the land finally claimed by him, and which latter location
afterwards became a part of the townsite of Fargo ; James Holes
July 26th; A. J. Harwood August 22nd; Pat Devitt November
26th; A. H. Moore, August 19th; S. G. Roberts, January 7th,
1871 ; Harriet Young July 5th.
The ferry on the river was moved down to a point near where
the Northern Pacific Railway bridge is now, and General Rosser,
who was at the head of the Northern Pacific Engineer Depart-
ment, crossed the river and established his headquarters at a point
where the Davis Block now stands. Rosser had been a general
in the Confederate army, and he laid out his camp with all the
exactness of a West Pointer who had seen service. The Commis-
sary Department was in charge of Hubert Smith, who was after-
wards killed by the Indians on the Cook trail west of the Black
Hills. There were some fifty tents used for various purposes,
office, residence, sleeping quarters, mess rooms and quarters for
the men. General Rosser and many of his attaches had their
wives and families with them, in camp during the winter, and
there was all the excitement and activity that one finds at a
typical military post on the frontier.
At a point where the "Waldorf Hotel now stands were con-
structed extensive underground stables for the accommodation
of the large number of horses used in the transportation of sup-
plies from the end of the road, which at this time was in the
vicinity of Oak Lake, and General Rosser 's headquarters were
just east of the stables.
The hamlet numbered about thirty families and through the
enterprise of G. J. Keeney was given the dignity of a name —
Centralia — and a postoffice was established "at the crossing of the
Northern Pacific railroad over the Red River of the North. ' ' Mr.
Keeney was appointed postmaster and placed over the door of his
ten by twelve office a sign bearing the words "Post Office," "Law
Office" on the door, and "Land Office" in the window. Charles
Mulherin established a grocery store in a tent close by. Mulherin
was afterwards tied to his wagon and burned by the Indians, on
the upper Columbia river. George Egbert, afterwards the first
Mayor of Fargo, occupied a tent directly opposite. At the right
was the tent occupied by George Peoples, afterwards Mayor of
CITY OF FARGO 489
Bismarck, and later of Mandan. The tent of Terrance Martin,
in which he had a grocery store, and the boarding tent of A.
Pinkham were both located near by.
This little hamlet was situated near lower Front street on
the river bank. The first store was built by Haddocks and Mann
during the fall of 1871. They failed and were succeeded by N. K.
Hubbard and E. S. Tyler.
The Headquarters Hotel built by the Kailroad Company was
commenced in 1871, completed in 1872, and used as headquarters
by the Eailroad Company; it was opened as a hotel by J. B.
Chapin on April 1st, 1873. It was a large wooden structure
situated where the electric light plant now stands and was de-
stroyed by fire in 1874; after the destruction of this original
Headquarters Hotel, a new one bearing the same name was erected
on the same site, by Messrs. N. K. Hubbard and E. S. Tyler.
This was the only building of any consequence located within
the burned district that escaped destruction by fire in 1893, only,
however, to succumb to flames eight years later.
The first house built in Fargo was the Henry Hector residence,
constructed in 1871 of logs cut in what is now Island Park, by
A. H. Moore and J. S. Mann. It was constructed for a residence
and used as a hotel until the Headquarters was opened to the
public in 1873.
Mr. Moore was for some time Deputy United States Marshal
for North Dakota, and there are several men now living and
prominent in North Dakota, who in the early days of Fargo have
worn the handcuffs and shackles in and about the old house.
Major Bell, Colonel Wishart, Colonel Wheaton, Captain Patter-
son of the United States Army and many others have been guests
in the house and found welcome rest in the low roofed chambers
above.
As winter of 1871-1872 approached, what was afterwards
known as Fargo sprang into existence in the timber. The point
of land from the ferry landing on the river, to about where
Second Street South intersects Front, was heavily timbered, and
into this point from the east poured hundreds of people known
in the early days, as the end of the track gang. These people
always kept just ahead of the construction crew, and had made
490 HISTOEY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
their last move for the season, from Oak Lake, and settled down
at this point to endure, as best they could, the rigors of a North
Dakota winter. They lived in rudely constructed log cabins,
tents and dugouts. These dugouts were holes in the ground, ten
or twelve feet square and roofed over with brush and sod. If
dug after the last freeze-up and abandoned before the thaw in
the spring, a very small amount of fuel would keep them warm
and comfortable. Many of these people opened saloons. A large
tent was erected and used as a dance hall and became the center
of attraction for most of the settlers.
Puget Sound Land Company.
The Puget Sound Land Company had been all activity while
the settlers were living in fancied security. In order to make
their script locations, it was absolutely necessary to dispossess
and remove from the land, the settler and the squatter. Through
George Sweet, of St. Cloud, they discovered that the Dakota side
of the Red River, at this point, was, in fact, a part of the Sisseton
and Wahpeton Sioux Indian Reservation, and they secured the
issuance of an order from the Department at Washington, di-
rected to the United States Marshal of Dakota, for the removal
of all trespassers upon these lands, and for the arrest of all those
engaged in the sale of spirituous liquors. On February 24th a
company of troops arrived from Ft. Abercrombie and were given
shelter at General Rosser's headquarters. A great deal of curios-
ity was caused by their arrival, and G. J. Keeney and Rock
Coffer were delegated by the citizens of "Fargo in the Timber"
to go to General Rosser's headquarters and ascertain, if possible,
the cause of their arrival. General Rosser sent the delegates
back to the settlement with the impression that it was Indians
on the upper Sheyenne that brought the soldiers thither, but the
next morning at about four o'clock, Fargo in the timber awoke
to find a sentinel soldier stationed at each and every door of log
hut, tent or dugout, and the river bank patroled by guards.
A few escaped, but little resistance was made and to the great
surprise of officer and soldier and especially to the surprise of
Deputy United States Marshal Luther, the arrest of the whole
settlement of "Fargo in the Timber" was looked upon as a huge
/p ,
^ccMsyM6V2>i^-
^
CITY OF FARGO 491
joke. Deputy Marshal Luther had warrants for the arrest of
those engaged in the sale of spirituous liquor. All liquors, cigars
and saloon fixtures were confiscated; the settlers and squatters
for whom no warrants had been issued were ordered to get them-
selves and their belongings forthwith across the river to the
Minnesota side. Those who were under arrest were arraigned
before United States Commissioner George I. Foster, and most
of them were bound over for trial at Pembina.
The detachment of troops from Fort Abercrombie were re-
turned to their post and the Deputy United States Marshal
started for Pembina with his prisoners, declaring that any
settler or squatter found on the Dakota side of the Red River on
his return, would be arrested as a trespasser on an Indian Reser-
vation, and his buildings and belongings burned, but H. S. Back
and Jacob Lowell succeeded in communicating with Governor
Austin of Minnesota, in time for the Governor to wire United
States Senators Windom and Ramsey at Washington, to secure
an order from the Attorney General, allowing the actual bona fide
settlers to remain in possession of their land, until such a time as
a treaty could be entered into with the Sisseton and Wahpeton
Sioux Indians, looking to the extinguishment of their title.
This was done and Commissioners were appointed to negotiate
a treaty with the Indians, which was finally signed at Sisseton
and ratified by Congress on the 3rd day of June, 1873. The Land
Office plats of these lands which had been completed nearly two
years before were forwarded to Pembina, but even then the
settlers on the townsite of Fargo were frankly told by the
Register of the Land Office that they could not make entry.
Again the authorities at Washington were appealed to and in
September, 1873, the Register entered up the filings in the books
of the office, without any explanation as to why they had been
refused in the first instance. He then took the first stage, leaving
Pembina for the South, and the Land Office at Pembina was out
of business, until early in September, 1874, when it was opened
at Fargo, with C. B. Jordan as Register and Thomas L. Pueh,
Receiver, when the bona fide settlers, who were, in fact, the only
ones who had made entry, were in due time allowed to prove up
on their lands, without further contest on the part of the Puget
492 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Sound Land Company. A. H. Moore and Charles Roberts, being
on railroad land, their settlements were contested, Mr. Roberts
acquiring by purchase what afterwards became C. A. Roberts
Addition to the City of Fargo.
Pending the extinguishment of the Indian title matters had
remained very quijet in Fargo. On January 1st, 1872, the first
locomotive reached the banks of the Red River of the North, on
the east side, and on June the 4th, 1872, the bridge was com-
pleted and the first crossing made. To Washington Snyder,
engineer, Ellis Cameron, fireman, Captain R. H. Emerson, engi-
neer of the snow plow, and C. W. Black, conductor of the train,
belongs the honor of being the first to drive the iron horse of the
Northern Pacific through to the Red River of the North.
The second store was erected and opened in 1872 by Pashley
& Martin. During the spring of 1872 the name of the hamlet of
Centralia was changed to Fargo, in honor of William G. Fargo,
a prominent director of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company,
and known throughout the country as the founder of the Wells-
Fargo Express Company.
The population grew rapidly and realizing that provision
should be made for the education of their children, and a place
of worship provided for all, a private school was opened by Miss
Mercy Nelson, a young lady of fifteen years. This school was
located in a log cabin which stood near Harry Moore's shanty.
The next term of school was taught by Frank Pinkham in the
Pinkham building, situated near the foot of Front street. The
first religious services enjoyed by the people of the settlement
were conducted by Rev. Howard at the residence of Dr. Forbes
on his claim three miles north of town, this residence being a tent.
First Townsite Plat.
The first plat of the townsite was filed by the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company on January 2nd, 1874. In the first plat sub-
mitted for the approval of the company, what is now Island Park,
was platted as lots. This coming to the attention of Jacob
Lowell, Jr., he suggested to Honorable J. B. Powers, then General
Agent of the Northern Pacific Land department, that that por-
tion of Island Park lying south of Second avenue, be deeded to
CITY OF FARGO 493
the City of Fargo by the Railroad Company, for park purposes,
and it is to Jacob Lowell, Jr., and to Honorable J. B. Powers
of the Ellendale farm that Fargo is indebted for this tract of
land. E. S. Tyler deeded to the city for park purposes blocks
19 and 20.
Father Genin Mission House.
Father Genin Mission House on the Red River above Fargo,
(Dakota side), established in 1866. afforded the only oportunity
for regular Christian worship up to about the fall of 1872, when
the Episcopal church was commenced, but not completed. How-
ever, services were held with more or less regularity, B. F.
Mackall, as lay reader, officiating in the absence of the regular
clergymen. Services were also held in Pinkham's Hall, since
known as No. 27. It was in Pinkham's Hall, erected by A. F.
Pinkham in 1873, that the noted meeting occurred, to which
Uncle Chapin urged everybody to go. The hall was filled to
overflowing, and a great many had to stand during the services.
Mr. Chapin wanted to impress upon Brother Webb, a traveling
missionary for the Methodist church, that Fargo was of more
importance than Moorhead, and was the proper place for the
Methodist church to be erected, and in order to insure a large
congregation, procured of Mr. Hubbard, of Moorhead, $100 in
fifty-cent pieces, which he distributed about among the floating
population of Fargo and Moorhead, to any one who would pledge
themselves to attend the service. But to 0. H. Elmer, Presby-
terian minister, of Moorhead, should be given the honor of hold-
ing the first Christian service within the present city limits of
Fargo, December 14, 1871. These services were held in the board-
ing tent of A. F. Pinkham. Quite a number were present, and.
to add to the congregation if possible, James Stack took the
dinner bell and going up and down the trail to Fargo in the
Timber, he announced in a loud voice, the time and place where
services would be held.
During January, 1872, a log jail was constructed at the inter-
section of First street south and Fourth avenue, to safeguard
the United States prisoners until they could be taken to Pembina
for trial. This jail was surrounded by a high stockade and was
494 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
usually well filled. Several sensational escapes were made during
the winters of 1872 and 1873, but the most noted of all occurred
in the early spring of 1874, when there were sixteen prisoners in
confinement, six of whom were charged with murder in the first
degree. Among the prisoners was a friend of "Gold Smith
Maid/' who in some way entered the stockade gate, bored a hole
through the outer and inner doors of the guard room, which were
securely locked, and chloroformed the guards. They were found
in the morning sitting at the table in the guard room, sound
asleep. They had been playing cards, and still held the last deal
in their hands. The prisoners were all gone but one, who was
too large to get through the window and too fat to have climbed
over the stockade if he had done so.
During the summer of 1872 the population increased and
many business enterprises were launched. The ' ' Duluth Tribune ' '
of July 15th, that year, published a letter from G. J. Keeney, in
which he said of Fargo : ' ' The Headquarters Hotel is nearly com-
pleted and the Railroad Company is sinking an artesian well.
Eustis and Ward are manufacturing brick, to be used by the
railroad company in erecting a round house, passenger depot,
freight houses and a machine house at this place." Reference is
made to the hotel of Mann £ Moore, to the Sherman House, as a
first class two story hotel, kept by Martin & Pinkham, to the
Headquarters of General Rosser, the store of Mann & Maddox
in which was the law office of G. J. Keeney, and near by the
wagon shop of N. W. Whitman.
Organization of Fargo Township.
A Petitioning of Organization of Fargo Township — Completing
and Furnishing Court House, Masonic Temple, Street Rail-
ways— The Great Fire of 1893 — Organization of the
City of Fargo and Names of Mayors of Fargo.
Navigation of the Red River
of the North.
A petition for the organization of Fargo township was pre-
sented and granted on November 19, 1874. The County Com-
CITY OF FAKGO 495
missioners at a meeting held October 12, 1874, passed resolutions
to enter into an agreement with the Northern Pacific Railroad
Company, N. K. Hubbard and Evan S. Tyler, releasing from taxa-
tion for six years, a hotel which they were to erect on the
ground formerly occupied by the old Headquarters Hotel which
had been recently destroyed by fire, providing that the Railroad
Company and Hubbard and Tyler would furnish suitable rooms
and accommodations for use of the board as an office. At a
meeting held on December 5th, 1874, N. Whitman was authorized
to negotiate the sale of bonds to the amount of $15,000, as au-
thorized for the completion and furnishing of the Court House
and Jail. At a special election held on November 16th, that year,
the $15,000 of bonds authorized by the special elections of Feb-
ruary 14th, and November 16th, not all having been disposed of,
bonds seven, eight, nine and ten were turned over to Whitebeck,
Potter & Co., of Minnesota, in settlement of the amount due them
on their contract for the erection of the Court House, at eighty
cents on the dollar, and the contract was cancelled. This set-
tlement was made on December 30th, 1874.
Court House.
The first county court house used by the Cass county officials
is the building now known as the Birchall flats, situated on the
corner of First avenue and Seventh street south; this building
was originally located on the site of the present new and elegant
court house ; was moved to the corner of Seventh and Front streets,
where it was occupied by the Government Land office. To make
room for the Northern Pacific depot it was moved October 4, 1886,
to Eighth Street North, and sold to the Y. M. C. A. for $500. It
was subsequently moved to its present location and converted
into an apartment house. The second court house was built in
1884 and destroyed by fire November 17, 1904 ; this second build-
ing was replaced as soon as possible at a cost of $200,000, and
was occupied August 1st, 1906. It was erected by Johnson and
Powers of Fargo. It is the pride of the city and is complete in all
its appointments.
496 HISTOBY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
Masonic Temple.
The largest Masonic Temple in the United States is in Fargo,
exclusive of Philadelphia being the largest. The cornerstone
was laid June 7, 1899. Special pride is taken by our citizens in
showing visitors to the city through this beautiful structure, it
is complete in every detail and is the source of amazement and
surprise to those who see it for the first time.
Street Railways.
The first street railway in Fargo was built in 1882 by Evan
S. Tyler, Charles T. Yerkes and others ; this was a horse car
line and ran on Broadway, Front and Ninth street South. The
line continued in operation two years when the barns and cars
were destroyed by fire and were never re-built ; a portion of the
track was torn up and a portion covered up.
In 1904 the electric line of the Fargo and Moorhead Street
Railway Company was built and put in operation on Thanks-
giving Day of that year. The officers and stockholders are resi-
dents of Fargo. The line is well equipped and is liberally
patronized, good service is given and affords convenient means
of transportation throughout Fargo and Moorhead — L. B. Hanna
President, W. A. Scott Vice President, J. W. Smith Treasurer,
W. C. Macfadden Secretary, C. P. Brown General Manager.
The Great Fire of 1893.
Fargo was in the height of her prosperity, new industries were
being considered, large buildings were being constructed, and
everything seemed to point to a period of more than usual
success. The firemen were arranging for their annual tourna-
ment to be held on the 13th of June, when, like the tolling of a
death knell, the fire alarm, called our firemen to the store of
Mrs. R. Herzman, on Front street, where a small fire had started.
This was at 2:15 in the afternoon of June 7, 1893. The wind
was blowing a perfect hurricane from the south. In less than
five minutes after the first alarm was turned in, the whole build-
ing in which the fire originated was a mass of seething flames.
Seeing the futility of attempting to save this building, the fire
CITY OF FARGO 497
companies, aided by the Moorhead Fire Department, which had
by this time come to the rescue, turned their attention to the
surrounding buildings, and by persistent and heroic efforts pre-
vented the spread of the fire to the west, saving the United block
and the Davis block. On the east, the flames rushed down
through the entire block to Fifth street. On the north side of
the street stood the mammoth frame warehouse of Magill & Com-
pany, which in less time than it takes to tell, was enveloped in
flames.
From this point the fire spread, all efforts to control it being
of no avail. Those who had property that could be moved called
on the crowds to help them. Every available team and vehicle
was pressed into service; vacant lots became storerooms; every-
where could be seen wagons piled with furniture, merchandise,
books — all in utmost chaos. No one was idle, but not a wheel
turned in the many manufacturing plants of the city; all left
their daily labors for the more important task of saving the
property of their fellow-citizens and neighbors.
To follow the exact course of the fire would be impossible.
Leaving the Magill warehouse, it spread east and north, and
from now on there seemed to be no hope for the east side of
Broadway, for the flames leaped from one building to another.
From the warehouse the flames shot across the Northern Pacific
tracks to the Northern Pacific elevator building, leaping thence
to the handsome Red River Valley National Bank building, and
from there ran both east and north, destroying all the large ma-
chinery warehouses on the east, and on the north the Smith
block, the Opera House block, and all the intervening buildings,
until the insatiable monster reached the new Bristol & Sweet
block and the Republican building. These, like the rest, were
doomed. In a few minutes, as it were, they fell with the rest,
opening the road for the destruction of that old pioneer, the
Keeney block. This, with the three brick veneered buildings on
the north, vanished in a few moments.
In the meantime, the residence portion lying between Broad-
way on the west and Fourth street on the east, and running
north fully a mile from the starting point succumbed to the
ravages of the fire ; and here perhaps, the most pitiful scenes of
498 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the whole day occurred. In this portion of the city were the
little homes of laboring men — not so valuable in dollars perhaps,
but their homes. Little or nothing was saved, the buildings
being mainly frame structures, and the warning too short to
allow of removing their contents.
In its fury the fire quickly destroyed the magnificent Citizens
National Bank building, Alec Stern 's block, the Elliott House, the
City Hall and the Yerxa Hose House.
Toward the north it rushed with ever-increasing fury through
the block of frame stores on the west side of Broadway, to the
new brick building occupied by Kops Brothers, Ehrman and E.
A. Perry, and containing the elegantly appointed K. of P. Hall.
These, like their companions over the way, were swept down in
less than ten minutes. From here the flames spread to the grand
old Chapin or Masonic block, which contained the sacred records
and archives of the Masonic Grand Lodge of the State. It met
its doom, soon to be followed by two of the finest buildings in
the state, the Hagaman block, occupied by E. M. Raworth &
Company, wholesale grocers, on the ground floor, and the Odd
Fellows and numerous other societies on the third. The Columbia
Hotel, the pride of the Northwest, the finest hotel west of the
Mississippi, also went down. From here its path lay through
dwelling houses on the west and a few business blocks on the
east, till it finally spent its fury at the tracks of the Great North-
ern railway.
The next morning a large meeting of citizens was held in
the Y. M. C. A. building, relief committees were appointed, and
several thousand dollars subscribed to the relief fund. Before
night nearly all the unfortunates had been provided for, the
committees worked unceasingly, for days distributing funds and
supplies contributed from all over the country.
The property destroyed was variously estimated at from
$4,000,000 to $5,000,000. For two weeks the fire insurance ad-
justers were busy adjusting losses. In the meantime, on all
sides, plans for new buildings were being discussed, and tem-
porary quarters erected. Nothing daunted our citizens, they
were determined to rebuild their city larger and better than
CITY OF FARGO 499
before, and it is conclusively shown today, that they have made
their promise good.
Organization of the City.
The City of Fargo was organized April 12th, 1875, pursuant
to the incorporating act of the Legislature of Dakota Territory
of January 5th, 1875.
The organization was effected at a meeting held in the city
office of S. G. Roberts, at which time the following officers who
had been previously elected, were installed: Mayor, George
Egbert; Marshal, John E. Haggart; Clerk, Terrance Martin;
Treasurer, W. A. Yerxa ; President of the Council, S. G. Roberts ;
Aldermen, W. D. Maddocks, Patrick McCarty, A. C. Kvello, C. A.
Stout, E. A. Grant and S. G. Roberts.
At a meeting of the council held April 15, 1875, the following
appointments were made: Street Commissioner, Robert Pontet;
City Attorney, S. G. Roberts ; Justice, E. B. Baker ; City Engineer,
J. P. Knight.
The following gentlemen have served the city as mayor for
the years named: George Egbert, 1875 to 1880; Evan S. Tyler,
1880 to 1881 ; J. B. Chapin, 1881 to 1882 ; W. A. Kindred, 1882
to 1883 ; W. A. Yerxa, 1883 to 1885 ; J. A. Johnson, 1885 to 1886 ;
Charles Scott, 1886 to 1887; A. W. Edwards, 1887 to 1888; Seth
Newman, 1888 to 1890; W. F. Ball, 1890 to 1892; Emerson H.
Smith, 1892 to 1894; W. F. Ball, 1894 to 1896; J. A. Johnson,
1896 to 1902; W. D. Sweet, 1902 to 1904; A. L. Wall, 1904 to
1906; J. A. Johnson, 1906 to 1908; Peter Elliott is the present
incumbent.
Navigation on the Red River of the North.
By
Gordon J. Keeney.
In the year 1857 the "Ans Northrup" was brought up the
Mississippi and Crow Wing rivers to a point on the Crow Wing
river in Minnesota, where the Northern Pacific crosses that
stream ; there the machinery was removed and placed on wagons ;
the hull of the steamer was placed on a large sledge, and, with
500 , HISTOBY OF RED BIVER VALLEY
oxen was brought overland to the Red River of the North. One
can but admire the pluck and energy of men who would under-
take such a task; but they were endowed with the necessary
qualification, and, without settlers to guide them entered the
Minnesota forests, their progress was slow, and after days of
toil, they lost their bearings and came to a stop near the present
site of Detroit, Minn. George Hutchinson, of Georgetown, was
sent out from there by the chief agent of the Hudson's Bay
Company with instructions to locate the party and steer them
in. They finally reached Georgetown and the craft was put to-
gether at that place and made its maiden trip to Fort Garry
and return. The blowing of the whistle was a source of annoy-
ance to the Indians and they greatly objected to it, threatening
many things, unless it was stopped, their objection to it was,
that it frightened away the buffalo. An arrangement was finally
made and agreed to, with the Chief Red Bear, of the Turtle
Mountain Indians, and others, that it was to be blown only on
departure and arrival from Georgetown, Pembina and Fort
Garry. The firing of the morning and evening guns at Fort
Pembina and Abercrombie was discontinued for the same reason.
In 1859, and at the time of the high water of that year, an
attempt was made to place another steamer on the Red River
of the North. Subsequently a boat named the "International"
was brought up the Minnesota river and into Big Stone Lake,
with the idea of running it over the divide into Lake Traverse
before the high waters had receded; thence down the Boise De
Sioux and into the Red River at Breckenridge. The pilot mis-
taking a coulee for the main channel, resulted in the boat being
left on the Dakota prairie, high and dry. This great misfortune
made it necessary to remove the machinery, which, together with
the hull, was conveyed by wagons to Fort Abercrombie, about
thirty miles south of Fargo, and in 1860 it was again put to-
gether and the "International" made its first trip to Fort Garry.
This boat was engaged in the transportation of the Hudson's
Bay Company trade between Georgetown and Fort Garry and
other points down the river, and never returned to Fort Aber-
crombie.
The "International" in 1872 made one trip as far south as
CITY OF FARGO 501
Holy-Cross Mission, returning to Fargo, where it was loaded
with Hudson's Bay Company freight, a large portion going to
Fort Garry with a few packages for York Factory, on Hudson
Bay.
James J. Hill, foreseeing the great possibilities of the Red
River country, together with Alexander Griggs, built the
steamer Selkirk, and several barges at Fort Abercrombie. This
was in 1870 and 1871 ; and in May, of 1871, the first trip north
was made, and Mr. Hill and George I. Foster were passengers.
Fargo became the Southern terminus of river navigation upon
the completion of the Northern Pacific to the Red River and the
Selkirk made but one trip as far south as Holy-Cross Mission
after that time. While the Selkirk was being hurried to com-
pletion at Fort Abercrombie, the Dakota was -being built at
Grand Forks. Immediately upon the completion of the Dakota
the Sheyenne was also built at Grand Forks, and was the only
side-wheel steamer on the river. A short period subsequent to
the Sheyenne 's completion, that boat, together with the others,
excepting the Ans Northrup, which had been dismantled at Fort
Garry, were purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company and were
known as the Kittson line of Red River boats, which were run
on regular time between Fargo and Fort Garry. This consolida-
tion affected both passenger and freight rates and they were
advanced to an exorbitant point. It was stated on good author-
ity, that the steamer Sheyenne realized in a single trip from
Fargo to Fort Garry, covering eight days, a net profit sufficient
to cover the cost of her construction entire, including her three
barges.
On account of the excessive charges of the Kittson line, the
Red River Transportation Company was organized by Mr. James
Douglass (he acting as president). Two fine steamers, the Minne-
sota and the Manitoba were built at Fargo in 1874, under the
direction of John S. Irish, who was subsequently in charge of
the construction of most of the boats built on the Red River.
When these boats and barges were completed a rate war was
started by the Kittson line, and the freight and transportation
charges were reduced to a point below the cost of handling.
The Manitoba was sunk by one of the Kittson line boats and
502 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
with the loss of her valuable cargo it was a great loss to the
Red River Transportation Company, and they were forced out of
business.
The Kittson line purchased their boats and barges, raised and
restored the Manitoba and before the close of navigation had
earned enough in profits by advancing freight rates to more
than pay their actual cost to the Kittson line.
The entire line of boats were taken to the far North upon the
completion of the Great Northern railroad, as steam-boating and
water traffic ceased to be profitable.
It is said that the machinery of the "International" is in a
boat on the McKenzie river; the whereabouts of the other boats
is not positively known, except the Sheyenne, which is said to
be on Lake Athabasca, and it was rumored that the Manitoba
was burned on Lake Winnipeg. In any event, the peaceful
slumbers of old Red Bear are not disturbed by the shrill whistle
of a Red River steamboat; the cry "Steamboat coming" is no
longer heard on the streets of Fargo; the buffaloes have de-
parted and in the place of a steamboat town there is a large,
bustling, modern city that holds a prominent place among the
commercial, industrial and financial centers of the country, and
in the near future is destined to be of vastly more importance.
Since writing the article entitled "Navigation of the Red
River of the North," matters have developed, in reference to the
navigation of the Red River, making it of national importance,
he proposed opening up of the Hudson Bay route by the
Canadian government and making the city of Winnipeg a sea-
port.
Chief Engineer Armstrong, in a report made recently, is
favorable to the practicability of the enterprise. Mr. Armstrong
has been engaged since last October in surveying for two lines
of railroads, from Winnipeg to Hudson's Bay, one to Fort
Churchill and one to Nelson Bay. He is in favor of the construc-
tion of the latter route, because he finds that it would be feasible
to construct a ship canal in the vicinity of Nelson river, which
would enable ocean going vessels engaged in foreign trade to
enter Lake Winnipeg from Hudson's Bay. There is already
a channel of thirty-three feet, from Lake Winnipeg to the south
CITY OF FAEGO 503
end of the lake. From that point, a channel might easily be made
along the channel of the Red River of the North to Winnipeg;
when this is accomplished, all of the grain destined for foreign
markets raised in the two Dakotas, Minnesota, and the Canadian
Northwest, will go by the way of the Hudson Bay route. All
of the stock shipped on the hoof, destined for the foreign mar-
ket, would go by the Hudson Bay route. The day is not far dis-
tant when the Red river, on the American side of the line, is des-
tined to play an important part in the future development of
Minnesota and the two Dakotas.
Fargo of Today.
A Compendious and Descriptive History of Fargo of Today.
The population of Fargo, as shown by the last census of 1905,
was 12,500. At the present writing, 1909, it is estimated to be
in the vicinity of 14,500.. The buildings, public, business and
private, convey the impression of wealth and solidity; wealth
by the attractiveness of their architecture, and solidity by their
substantial build. The structures in the business sections are of
brick, as a rule, and from two to five stories high. The diversity
of architecture gives the visitor something to think about, and
all in all, he is pleased by appearances. The business streets have
sidewalks of cement blocks, or asphalt, while the streets are
paved with cedar blocks. There are many imposing buildings,
especially the implement houses, one of the largest has a floor
space of 100,000 square feet with 30,000 square feet of platform
room.
Among public buildings, the United States court building,
occupied jointly by the courts, postoffice and landoffice, is an
ornate structure of cream brick, and cost $90,000. The business
of the various departments occupying the building grew beyond
the expectation of the builders, and an addition was built as
large as the original building, for which congress readily gave
$100,000. The county has a fine court house, constructed of stone
in 1906 at a cost of $200,000. There are many handsome business
blocks, a list of which would make a long roll.
While the business and public buildings of the city are
504 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
worthy of a prosperous community, it is in the residences of the
citizens, many of whom came when the city was in its infancy
and have gathered competency through their energies and intel-
ligence.
Fargo will compare with any city twice its size in respect to
pretty homes. The domestic architecture applied to the city
cannot be described in detail. Even in the humbler homes may
be seen many instances of unusual taste.
Numerous church edifices furnish places of worship for the
different church organizations and Fargo is the See city of the
Roman Catholic and Protestant Episcopal churches.
The city is well provided with means of protection against
loss by fire, the volunteer fire department having been superseded
by a paid department, which is furnished with a first class engine
and other apparatus, and has gained a degree of efficiency that
has been the means of securing a material reduction of insur-
ance rates by the different companies doing business in the city.
North Dakota has a drastic prohibition law which is strictly
enforced in Fargo. Prohibition is a part of the constitution of
the state, and that cannot be changed excepting by means of a
constitutional convention, or by amendment to the constitution.
If by an amendment, one legislature must propose it and the
next, meeting two years later, must submit the matter to a vote
of the people to be taken still two years later. Therefore the
question must come before the people at three successive elec-
tions, and the agitation must cover a period of six years. The
liquor element has never been strong enough in the legislature
to submit the question to a vote of the people, and each attempt
has been followed by legislation intended to strengthen the law.
The sentiment for prohibition has in the meantime been growing,
and the law has been generally enforced throughout the state.
Fargo today is a great little city, — the commercial, educational,
religious, social and political center of the state. It is constantly
growing and almost every item of statistics by which compari-
sons may be made of one year with another shows a steady, rapid
and natural growth. The clearing house transactions of 1905
reached the enormous sum of $32,750,000, which amount is in
excess of that of any other city of a similar population. This
CITY OF FARGO 505
enormous sum was largely due to the consolidation of the Fargo
banks. The clearing house transactions from April 1st, 1908,
to April 1st. 1909, were $32,212.280.09. The volume of farm
implement business in 1906 was more than $8,000,000, being
greater than that of any other city in the world. The postoffice
receipts at Fargo in 1888 — twenty years ago — were $21,255.29.
The receipts for 1906 were $67,051.20; for 1907, $86,418.98; for
1908, they were $99,657.60. The wholesale and jobbing interests
are rapidly increasing and also exceed in volume those of any
other city of the size of Fargo. Not only is the business of each
individual wholesale house increasing, but additional houses are
being established, and many of the largest manufacturing and
jobbing houses of other cities have established branch houses
here, a fact that proves beyond a doubt the importance of Fargo
as a commercial point.
Banks and Bankers.
The history of banking in North Dakota has been one of
steady growth and prosperity, beginning with the original -bank
known as the Harwood & Hummel Bank, which opened for
business in Fargo in the fall of 1877 as a private bank, on down
through the succeeding years until the present time (1909) we
find 568 banking institutions in the state divided as follows:
130 National Banks, 435 State Banks, and three Trust Companies.
That this remarkable growth has been along the line of con-
servative, intelligent methods is shown in the fact that during
the so-called panic of 1907, probably the worst ever experienced
by the bankers of the country, not a single bank in the state
failed and only one bank was closed temporarily.
The First National Bank of Fargo
was organized in 1878 by Evan S. Tyler, N. K. Hubbard, M. B.
and George Q. Erskine and E. B. and E. C. Eddy with a capital
stock of $75,000.00. E. B. Eddy was the first President and E.
C. Eddy was the first Cashier ; after the death of Mr. E. B. Eddy,
E. C. Eddy was made President and C. E. Bobbins Cashier; sub-
506 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
sequently M. B. and George Q. Erskine served the bank as Presi-
dent, George Q. Erskine being succeeded by J. W. Smith, at which
time Honorable L. B. Hanna was made Vice President and S. S.
Lyon, Cashier. The bank did a flourishing business for a great
many years under the latter management until they sold out to
the Red River Valley National Bank, January 1st, 1906.
About the time of the organization of the First National a
private institution called the Bank of Fargo was started by J. F.
Hummell and A. J. Harwood; this institution subsequently came
under control of Charles Sweatt and H. F. Miller and under
their management became an important financial institution
which was subsequently re-organized as the Citizens' National
Bank, but failed in 1896.
The Red River Valley National Bank was organized in 1881
with L. S. Follett as President, Stephen Gardner, Vice President,
and L. W. Follett, Cashier. Capital stock, $100,000. J. W. Von
Neida succeeded L. S. Follett as President, he being succeeded
by R. S. Lewis in 1901, when Mr. Von Neida was made Cashier;
F. A. Irish had served the bank as assistant Cashier ten years
previous to this time, and was made Cashier in 1905. Mr. Lewis
had been connected with the institution for a great many years
prior to being made President, having held nearly every position.
He was succeeded as President by Robert Jones in 1904, when E.
J. Weiser was made Vice President. The Red River Valley
National and the First National were consolidated January 1,
1906. Robert Jones as president, E. J. Weiser, vice president,
and F. A. Irish, cashier.
At the present writing. 1909, L. B. Hanna is president; E. J.
Weiser, vice president ; F. A. Irish, cashier ; L. R. Buxton, assistant
cashier; S. H. Manning, auditor. The present capital and sur-
plus are $325,000, and the deposits $3,000,000. The directors are
Thomas Baker, Jr., Peter Elliott, L. B. Hanna, F. A. Irish, James
Kennedy, R. S. Lewis, Peter Luger, J. A. Montgomery, A. L.
Moody, W. A. Scott, J. W. Smith, J. S. Watson and E. J. Weiser.
The Merchants State Bank was organized in August, 1890,
with Hon. B. F. Spalding as president and L. S. Champine cashier,
the capital stock being $50,000, which was increased to $100.000
in 1893. Hon. John D. Benton wTas made president in 1894 and
CITY OF FARGO 507
N. A. Lewis vice president. Mr. Lewis was made president in
1898. H. W. Gearey was made cashier in 1896 and promoted to
the vice presidency in 1906, S. S. Lyon succeeding him as cashier.
The institution was made a national bank in April, 1906. Its
present officers are : President, N. A. Lewis ; vice president, 0. G.
Barnes; vice president, H. W. Gearey; cashier, S. S. Lyon; di-
rectors, J. D. Benton, Stewart Wilson, W. P. Porterfield, S. S.
Lyon, W. F. Ball, Stevenson Dunlop, O. G. Barnes, Alex Stern,
H. W. Gearey, N. A. Lewis ; and its capital $100,000 and surplus
$50,000.
The Northwestern Mutual Savings and Loan Association was
started in June, 1893, by Herbert L. Loomis and R. A. Shattuck,
teller and cashier, respectively, in the Citizens National Bank;
there was no capital paid in. Their assets amounted to $2,513.
In 1896 Mr. Loomis was made secretary and treasurer and
assumed the actual management, with assets amounting to $30,-
458, and on June 30, 1906, they were $718,961, and the present
writing, 1909, they are $1,100,000.
The present officers and directors are as follows: President,
W. C. Macfadden; vice president, George B. Runner; general at-
torney, W. B. Douglas; secretary and treasurer, Herbert L.
Loomis; assistant secretary and treasurer, H. H. Wooledge; di-
rectors, W. C. Macfadden, A. L. Wall, W. B. Douglas, L. B.
Hanna, George B. Runner, W. 0. Olsen, H. L. Starling, Herbert
L. Loomis.
The Fargo National Bank was organized in 1897 with Martin
Hector as president ; O. J. de Lendrecie, vice president, and W. C.
Macfadden, cashier, with a capital stock of $50,000. Mr. Mac-
fadden resigned as cashier in 1904 and was succeeded by George
E. Nichols. The present officers are following: President, Martin
Hector; vice president, 0. J. de Lendrecie; cashier, G. E. Nichols;
and the present directors are Martin Hector, O. J. de Lendrecie,
G. E. Nichols, John S. Watson and S. G. Wright.
The Northern Trust Company was organized February 1,
1902, with a capital stock of $100,000. Ed Pierce, president;
George H. Hollister, vice president; B. I. Keating, secretary; H.
P. Beckwith, treasurer.
Its present officers are G. H. Hollister, president ; J. G. Thomp-
508 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
son, vice president; B. G. Tenneson, second vice president; B. I.
Keating, secretary; P. AV. Clemens, assistant secretary; H. P.
Beckwith, treasurer.
The Commercial Bank was organized in June, 1904. W. C.
Macfadden, president; Frank C. Gardner, vice president, and H.
C. Plimpton, cashier. Capital stock, $50,000.
The Commercial Club of Fargo.
By
C. G. Baernstein, Secretary.
Incorporated August 14, 1902, by the following named gentle-
men : R. S. Lewis, L. B. Hanna, W. D. Sweet, J. C. Hunter, A. L.
Wall, H. C. Plumley, T. A. Whitworth, W. J. Price, H. Harring-
ton, Geo. W. Wasem, S. G. Wright, C. A. Eberhart, Morton Page,
W. C. Macfadden and H. W. Gearey.
On September 12, 1902, the following officers were elected of
this organization:
President — R. S. Tyler.
First Vice President — A. L. Wall.
Second Vice President — J. C. Hunter.
Secretary — E. S. Tyler.
Treasurer — W. C. Macfadden.
The purposes for which the corporation is formed are as fol-
lows :
To encourage and promote the commercial and manufacturing
interests of the city of Fargo; to foster and encourage through
social intercourse a public spirit and feeling of loyalty to the
city; to promote the growth, development and beauty of the
city; to assist in making it a city of homes; to develop the job-
bing and wholesale interests of the city; to encourage manufac-
turing within its limits; to advise and assist in municipal im-
provements looking to the accomplishment of the aims hereto-
fore set forth ; to own real estate on which a home may be built
for said club and to establish such social features as will assist
in carrying out the aims of the corporation.
R. S. Tyler held office as president for a short time, as his
death occurred on January 8th, 1903. On June 2, 1903, the fol-
CITY OF FARGO 509
lowing officers were elected: President, J. C. Hunter; first vice
president, A. L. Wall; second vice president; L. B. Hanna; secre-
tary, George H. Phelps ; treasurer, W. C. Macfadden. J. C. Hun-
ter served as president until June 13, 1905, when R. S. Lewis was
elected and has held the position to this time.
This club has at all times been in good financial condition
and has contributed very largely to the success and welfare of
this city, as well as the state at large, having succeeded in pro-
curing railroad rates and other vital purposes for the prosperity
of the same.
The Press.
William G. Fargo, having offered a premium of $500 for the
establishment of a newspaper in Fargo, to be called the Fargo
"Express," Messrs. A. H. Moore and Seth Boney, in order to
secure the bonus, started a paper under that name, the first issue
being printed June 7, 1873, on the press of the Glyndon "Ga-
zette." The paper appeared regularly until the end of the year,
but on account of it not being printed in Fargo, the bonus was
withheld, and was subsequently attained by Messrs. G. J. Keeney
and A. J. Harwood, who purchased and installed a printing press,
and the first paper, "The Fargo Express," actually printed in
Fargo, came out January 1, 1874. The office of the Fargo "Ex-
press" stood in the middle of Broadway at the intersection of
Northern Pacific avenue, and while the paper was not a financial
success, it left its mark on the affairs of Fargo, and will be re-
membered as a potent factor in the early history of the city and
state.
During the same year the Fargo "Mirror" was established
by Evan S. Tyler. Both these papers were subsequently pur-
chased by E. B. Chambers, publisher of the Glyndon "Gazette,"
who moved his printing office to Fargo, merged them under the
name of the Fargo "Times," which he published for several
years. In 1878 the Fargo "Times" passed into the possession
of Major A. W. Edwards and Dr. J. B. Hall, who changed its
name to that of the "Republican." On November 17, 1879, the
"Argus" was established by Major A. W. Edwards.
H. C. Plumley became associated with Major Edwards in
510 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
1881 and they continued the publication of the "Argus" until
1891.
After the "Argus" passed out of the hands of Major Edwards
and into the control of J. J. Hill, it was managed successively by
George K. Shaw, for a short time, then by Gage & Irons, later
passing to the management of a syndicate headed by K. D. Hos-
kins as business manager, who had purchased it of J. J. Hill. In
1897 A. B. McDonald purchased the "Argus" and conducted it
for about a year, at which time he disposed of it to Messrs. Hall,
Lavalle and F. G. Jordan, who managed it for about six months,
at the end of which time it was turned back to A. B. McDonald,
who sold it to J. J. Jordan, who consolidated it with the "Morn-
ing Call," which he had established in 1898. Mr. Jordan owned
and conducted the paper from that date until March 15, 1909,
when he sold it to the News Publishing Company.
The "Morning Call" was established in 1898 by J. J. Jordan,
who edited and published it until March 15, 1909, when it was
sold to the News Publishing Company, who merged it with the
"Daily News" under the title of Fargo "Daily News," "Morn-
ing Call" and Fargo "Daily Argus."
"The Forum" was established in 1891 by Major A. W. Ed-
wards and H. C. Plumley, and in 1894 it absorbed the "Repub-
lican" and it has since gone under the name of the Fargo "Forum
and Daily Republican," as a daily and weekly paper. It was
incorporated March 19, 1900, under the title of The Forum Print-
ing Company ; H. C. Plumley president and general manager.
The Edwards brothers, sons of the late Major Edwards, have
grown up in the business in this city and are entitled to full
credit for much of the success of the "Forum."
"Fram," Norwegian Weekly. "Red River Posten," the first
Norwegian newspaper, was established at Fargo in the spring of
1879 by M. Wisenberg. It was continued under different man-
agements until 1883, when it was sold to Julseth & Myhra, and
merged with the "Norske Amerikaner." This paper was con-
tinued until the fall of 1884, when it was sold at sheriff's sale and
taken to St. Paul and turned over to "Nordvesten."
On January 24, 1885. P. T. Julseth got out the first sisue of
"Fargo Poste" and he continued to publish it until the fall of
MRS. S. G. ROBERTS
CITY OF FAEGO 511
1888, when the paper was sold first to a syndicate and afterward
to Glaus A. Glasrud, who continued it until in April, 1889, when
he sold it to A. A. Trovaten.
A. A. Trovaten went into partnership with P. T. Julseth as
publishers of "Fargo Posten" in April, 1887, but sold out his
interest to Mr. Julseth a year later, and in June, 1888, com-
menced to publish "Vesten. " This he afterward merged with
"Fargo Posten" and "Nordlyset" (for a time published by Mr.
Bierley in Grand Forks) and called it "Dakota." This paper
was published by him until April 1, 1895, when he sold it to
Stavnheim and Henning. Henning sold his interest to A. Nor-
man, and "Dakota" was published by this firm until 1898, when
a consolidation took place between "Fjerde Juli," published at
Grand Forks; "Rodhuggeren," published at Fergus Falls, and
"Dakota," published at Fargo, and "Fram" was established,
and was published by a co-partnership consisting of 0. E. Hagen,
of Crookston ; Torkel Oftelie, of Fergus Falls, and A. E. Norman,
L. Stavnheim, I. H. and O. H. Ulsaker, of Fargo, until July, 1903,
when A. A. Trovaten bought out a large interest in the paper
and formed a corporation of which he became president and man-
ager. A. A. Trovaten is still in control, as manager and editor.
Cass County Agricultural Society.
It was during the fall of 1873 that this society was organ-
ized, with James Holes, president. In October a fair was held in
a building occupying the present site of the European hotel.
Quite a remarkable exhibit was made in the way of agricultural
products, mostly from the gardens of James Holes, Harry Fuller,
A. McHench, Wm. H. Leverett, S. V. Hoag and Peter Englebret-
son. There was also quite a display of vegetables, especially of
corn, from the gardens of Charles Grant and Charles Bottineau,
on the Pembina river, as well as from the gardens of Ft. Pembina ;
also from the gardens at the British post across the line in Mani-
toba, at that time garrisoned by troops of the British army. The
Northern Pacific Railroad Company availed itself of this oppor-
tunity to advertise the Red River valley.
512 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
State Fair Association of Fargo.
North Dakota State Fair Association, of Fargo, is known by
the above title and was created in 1905. it having acquired a
clear title to not less than seventy acres of land. It has invested
more than $5,000 given it by the state of North Dakota in per-
manent improvements for the year 1908, and since the associa-
tion's first report, December 21, 1906, it has offered and expended
in premiums more than the sum of $5,000 required to be expended.
The corporation shows that amounts, greatly in excess of the state
appropriations for premiums, has been returned to the people as
a reward for their industry in enhancing the state's resources.
The Educational History of Cass County, N. D.
By
Mattie M. Davis.
Some of the early records were either burned with the court
house in 1903 or not deemed of sufficient moment to be kept, and
it seems impossible to give a complete history of the educational
growth in the county.
From the old records in the office of the county auditor we
find that A. McHench was the first county superintendent of Cass
county. He was appointed February 16, 1874, by the governor
of the territory of Dakota. He organized school district No. 1
(Fargo), which extended from the Red river on the east, north,
west and south way beyond the present school boundaries of the
district which has been re-arranged to conform to the city limits.
The first school house site was the lot now occupied by the
Unitarian church. The building faced the south, and was added
to in the form of a court as the school increased in size, and the
original building is now at the foot of Third street South.
The first teacher licensed to teach by Superintendent Mc-
Hench in the public schools was Miss Giddings, followed later
by George Traut. Mr. McHench served only a few months, as
he was elected a member of the legislature at the election in
November, 1874. At this time J. R. Jones was elected superin-
tendent Qf schools. He was followed by S. G. Roberts, who in
CITY OF FARGO 513
turn was succeeded by Jacob Lowell, Jr. Each served one term.
The successor of Mr. Lowell was E. W. Knight. Following Mr.
Knight was James S. Campbell, who served twq terms. Novem-
ber, 1882, B. F. Spaulding was elected and served one term.
November 4, 1884, J. F. Gleason was elected and served until suc-
ceeded by Judge William Mitchell, who served until the terri-
tory became two states and Judge Mitchell was elected as the
first state superintendent of public instruction. When Mr.
Mitchell was made state superintendent, William J. Clapp was
appointed county superintendent and served until the death of
Mr. Mitchell, during the first session of the legislature, when Mr.
Clapp was appointed to the office of state superintendent, and
J. F. Callahan completed the term and was twice elected after-
ward, serving until the election of Robert Butler in 1894. Mr.
Butler served two years and on November 3, 1896, Mattie M.
Davis was elected and is the presenf county superintendent
(sixth term). A. McHench, Jacob Lowell, S. G. Roberts, James
S. Campbell, Judge Spaulding, William J. Clapp and J. F. Calla-
han still reside in the county.
From the first, the district system prevailed in Cass county.
These were organized slowly as the need of school privileges ap-
peared until the four years from 1878 to 1882, during the super-
intendency of James S. Campbell, when a large number were or-
ganized. At present we have 120 school districts, varying in size
from that of district No. 7 (Mapleton), which has fifty-seven
sections, to No. 96, which lies on the north side of Fargo and con-
tains one section and three lots. Several of these districts have
a central building and provide transportation for the pupils.
There are 216 schools and departments outside the city of
Fargo. These are cared for by 600 school officers, each common
district having a board of three directors, a clerk and a treasurer.
School buildings, on the average, are in good repair. Those of
the graded schools are nearly all modern, while several of the
country schools have installed heating and ventilating plant and
others are planning to put them in soon.
The school officers and patrons generally are willing to pay
for good work in the school-room to supply books and whatever
seems to be of real use in the education of the children.
514 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Fargo Public Schools.
Taken from the Forum.
One of the surest indications of a city's pride and progressive-
ness or lack of it is always to be found in the condition of its
public schools. The educational system of a city is one of the
first things to be investigated by those who are looking into a
city's standing. It is like the bank account of a merchant upon
which his credit largely depends. Judged by this standard, Fargo
must be regarded as one of the most prosperous and progressive
cities in the country, for its educational system surpasses in ex-
cellence and completeness the systems of many cities several
times its size. From the primary department through the high
school, it is of the most modern and best.
Occupying eight large buildings which are fully equipped and
fitted up in the most approved style for school purposes, the
pupils of the Fargo public schools number nearly 3,000, while the
corps of instructors number over seventy. The present valuation
of the school property is estimated to be about $300,000, and it
costs in the neighborhood of $100,000 each year to run this great
system. Of this sum about $30.000 is secured from the state and
the remainder is appropriated by the residents of the city through
taxation.
The largest school building in the city is the central building,
and this, together with the high school building, which adjoins it,
is beautifully located on a fine piece of property, covering an
entire block of ground in the heart of one of the best residence
districts of the city. The buildings are of brick and are sur-
rounded by a large campus, which is bordered with a beautiful
growth of trees. The various graded schools of the city are also
very well situated.
That the policy of the board of education is progressive and
the schools are being kept up-to-date in every particular is evi-
denced by the number of improvements which are being made.
Within the past three years one new school building has been
built and four-room additions have been made to two schools
already erected. A remarkable feature of these building opera-
tions, and one which illustrates the rapid growth of the city, is
I
CITY OF FARGO 515
the fact that the Roosevelt school, a four-room building which
was erected in 1904, had to have an addition of equal size made to
it two years later. The vacuum system of heating and the Van
Auken system of ventilation have been installed in several of the
grade buildings and also in the high school and central buildings.
The course of study offered in the high school is one of the
most complete to be found anywhere. In addition to the usual
classical and scientific departments, a well equipped manual
training department was established two years ago and a full
commercial course will be instituted next year. The attendance
at the high school is large, and the students are guided through
the paths of learning by a dozen scholarly and competent in-
structors.
One of the most practical improvements made in the public
school system was the installation of a regular office for the
transaction of the routine business connected with the adminis-
tration of the schools. This has resulted in the appointment of
a regular secretary and has greatly systematized the work of ad-
ministration, enabling the board to save a considerable sum in
text books alone.
Fargo College.
Is an exponent of Congregationalism and was established in
1887. It ranks among the leading educational institutions of the
state. Rev. E. M. Vittum is president. See chapter on higher
education.
Fargo has a splendid free library, the gift of Andrew Car-
negie.
Dakota Business College was opened by F. L. Walkins, March,
1891, with five pupils.
Aaker's Business College was established by H. H. Aaker,
October 27, 1902, with three pupils. Since their establishment
they have enrolled several thousand, hundreds of whom have
been placed in clerical positions. The equipment of the business
colleges mentioned above rank second to none in the West.
The Young Men's Christian Association of Fargo was organ-
ized in 1886, a certificate of corporate existence being issued Octo-
ber 29 of that year by M. L. McCormack, secretary of Dakota
516 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
territory. The organization has been an active one since that
time and has a new home costing $60,000. Charles J. Allen is
the general secretary. The good work of the institution has
been very materially increased since the opening of the new build-
ing.
St. John's Hospital.
In April, 1900, six sisters of St. Joseph, all of them being
experienced and trained nurses, opened a hospital in a modest
way in the residence formerly occupied by Bishop Shanley.
After three years of experiment on so limited a scale, their in-
stitution had proven itself so much a public necessity that they
decided upon a new and spacious building, commensurate with
all the demands of modern surgery and medicine. They accord-
ingly set about the undertaking, with the result that on Novem-
ber 1, 1904, the present handsome structure in Island Park, the
most beautiful portion of the city of Fargo, was formerly dedi-
cated. It has a nursing staff of fifteen sisters and many lay
trained nurses have been added. Its grounds comprise about
twelve acres, and in the center of this beautiful woodland stand
the commodious and imposing hospital buildings. The city rail-
way of Fargo and Moorhead passes within one block of the hos-
pital doors. No more fitting site for an institution of the kind
can be found in North Dakota. The building itself is entirely
used for hospital purposes, the heating plant, lighting plant,
laundry and kitchen being in separate buildings. The ground
floor of the hospital comprises six private rooms, two medical
wards, surgical emergency dressing room, chemical laboratory,
nurses' dining room, linen closets, etc., also offices, reception
rooms and seven private rooms, all elegantly furnished by friends
of the institution. On the first floor also are the hospital internes'
rooms. On the second floor are ten private rooms and one med-
ical ward. The third floor has three private rooms and two sur-
gical wards, a consultation and dressing room for surgeons, also
operating room and sterilizing room. In connection with the
hospital a training school for nurses is maintained. It requires
a full course of three years for graduation. Each floor is in
charge of a graduate sister nurse. The larger part of the patients
CITY OF FARGO 517
cared for at St. John's hospital are surgical cases, about 15 per
cent only being medical patients. From the day of its completion
to the present the rooms and wards of St. John's hospital have
been in demand.
Sacred Heart Academy.
Located in the most beautiful residence portion of the Gate-
way City is the Sacred Heart academy, which is conducted by
the good Presentation Sisters, and it is one of North Dakota's
most popular institutions for the education of young women. The
grounds of this academy are large and afford ample facilities for
outdoor exercise, while on every side the beauties of nature ap-
peal to the students, whose minds respond to the elevating influ-
ences. Sacred Heart academy occupies a large three-story struc-
ture, and is amply equipped and furnished for the accommoda-
tion of students. For careful and thorough training of young
women there is no institution of learning in this country that is
ahead of Sacred Heart. All the leading branches are taught and
special attention is given to music, drawing, painting, stenog-
raphy and typewriting. The sisters pride, themselves on their
students ; they show them the right way, and when they are
graduated they have learned the greatest lesson of all lessons,
which makes them good, pure and lovely women. The enroll-
ment at this institution is usually large. Many day pupils are
taken in and they receive the same careful, painstaking and
motherly training as do those who board and live at the academy.
In connection with Sacred Heart academy is St. Aloysius school,
which is a preparatory school for young boys. Its advantages
are appreciated by parents and guardians and it has a large at-
tendance. Tuition is reasonable. The directress of the Sacred
Heart academy will be pleased to furnish any additional infor-
mation.
St. Luke's Hospital.
The following persons assembled at No. 10 Broadway, over
Christiansen Drug Company's store, March 22, 1905, to talk over
the matter of building a Lutheran hospital in Fargo :
518 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Dr. Nels Trounes. Lars Christiansen.
Dr. Olaf Sands. W. 0. Olson.
Dr. C. Kachelmacher. Rev. A. 0. Foukalsrud.
A. A. Trovaten. S. Romsdahl.
The matter was fully discussed and all present deemed it
proper and advisable that such a hospital should be built. The
next meeting was held May 23, 1905, in Aaker's hall, Fargo,
when the organization was completed and the following gentle-
men were elected as the first board of directors :
Rev. A. 0. Foukalsrud. Lars Christiansen.
Rev. S. Romsdahl. W. 0. Olson.
Rev. N. 0. Grunden. Rev. K. Dalager.
Dr. C. Kachelmacher. Rev. A. Wold.
Judge A. G. Hanson.
The name of the association was to be known as the Lutheran
Hospital Association of Fargo, N. D. A stock company with
$50,000 capital, par value of shares $25 each.
The hospital is located corner Eighth avenue North and
Broadway, and has been in operation since February, 1908. It
has fifty beds and an addition of fifty more is planned for. It
has been a great success from the start, being full of patients
most of the time.
Fargo Infirmary of Osteopathy. This institution was estab-
lished 1897 and since that time has had a most successful career.
They occupy a large building on Eighth street for their in-
firmary. Drs. Bayse and de Lendrecie are the resident physi-
cians, and give the treatments personally.
Commercial.
Walker Bros. & Hardy, printers and book binders, established
several years ago. The plant includes printing presses, modern
and artistic type, and stitching machinery, etc. In 1906 the
plant was damaged by fire, which necessitated the remodeling
of plant and building. The firm executes a high class of work,
job printing, lithographing and engraving. They manufacture
blank books, stationary and office supplies. C. P. Walker, presi-
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL, FARGO
CITY OF FAEGO 519
dent; E. P. Walker, vice president; J. F. Walker, treasurer, and
J. P. Hardy, secretary.
Hubert Harrington, engaged in the hardware business since
1881, he has a spacious and well arranged store and carries a
large stock, consisting of heavy hardware, mechanic's tools,
stoves, house furnishing goods, etc.
Luger Furniture Company. The founder of this large estab-
lishment is Ferdinand Luger, Sr., who began business in a small
way in 1878. The other members of the company are Peter, F.
F. and J. D. Luger.
Fargo Bridge and Iron Company. This concern has all the
accessories and appliances for the building of steel, combination
and wooden bridges, and all kinds of structural work. F. E.
Dibley is president and treasurer/
Fargo Cornice and Ornament Company. This company was
established in 1886. They are manufacturers of copper cornices,
gutter and skylights, and make a specialty of roofing. They do
the major part of this kind of work in Fargo. The business is
managed by George Rusk.
0. J. de Lendrecie, Department Store. This store is the larg-
est of its kind in Fargo, of which Mr. de Lendrecie is the pro-
prietor and owner. He came to Fargo in 1879 and established
his present business.
Fowt & Porterfield is one of the leading drug houses in Fargo.
Mr. Porterfield is the sole proprietor and owner. They carry
the largest stock of drugs in the state, and while not claiming
to be a wholesaler, he fills orders to other druggists to the amount
of many thousands of dollars per annum.
Christiansen Drug Company. On November 15, 1881, Mr.
Christiansen purchased a drug store in Fargo located at what was
then known as No. 27 Front street. He left in charge of it Mr.
Ole Moe and returned to Fountain, Minn., and resigned his posi-
tion as manager for Mr. Tibbetts of that place; returning to
Fargo, December 3, 1881, to take charge of his own store. The
store became too small, and he leased the building, corner of
Fourth street and Front, remaining there until December 1, 1899,
when he removed to his present location, No. 10 Broadway, which
building he erected.
520 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Mr. Lars Christiansen was born in Ringsaker, Aasmarken's
Annex, November 22, 1855 ; was confirmed at the age of fifteen ;
worked as a clerk for two years in a country store ; started for
America in 1873, arriving in Lanesboro, Minn., September 13
same year; worked on farm a little over a year, when he entered
the service of J. P. Tibbetts, druggist at Preston, Minn., and re-
mained with him until 1881.
T. M. Swem, Photographer. Mr. Swem's studio is located on
Broadway, and is a handsome and attractive gallery, and al-
though he has only been in Fargo eight years, his reputation for
beautiful work is unexcelled and he is widely known throughout
the state.
North Dakota Metal Culvert Co. The factory of this company
is located on Northern Pacific avenue. They manufacture gal-
vanized corrugated metal culverts, and in addition make water
conduits, well curbing and sewers. The officers of the company
are W. H. Ristine, president; E. H. O'Neall, vice president; H. H.
Jenkins, secretary and treasurer.
Bristol & Sweet Harness Company. This concern is the largest
of its kind in Fargo, who are exclusive jobbers and manufac-
turers of harness, horse collars and saddlery. The business was
started in 1881, and has grown extensively in the past twenty-
eight years, its trade extending throughout the northwest. Its
officers are F. A. Bristol and Colonel W. D. Sweet.
W. H. White Lumber Company. This company was estab-
lished in 1873 and incorporated in 1899. Mr. White is the oldest
continuous lumber merchant in North Dakota and is entitled to
the distinction as one of the most progressive. For thirty-seven
years he has been identified with the business interests of Fargo.
He owns and operates twenty-three lumber .yards in the Red
River valley. The officers of the company are William H. White,
president ; A. A. White, vice president ; Robert McCulloch, secre-
tary and treasurer.
Hancock Bros. This firm have been engaged in active busi-
ness in Fargo for the past twenty-five years, and during that time
have planned many of the finest residences, blocks and public
buildings of this city. The Gardner hotel, the finest hotel this
side of Chicago, wTas planned by this firm.
CITY OF FARGO 521
James A. Chesley was born at Mancton, New Brunswick, Can-
ada, January 24, 1851, and is the son of Robert A. and Elizabeth
(Albee) Chesley. His father was a Methodist minister and spent
his entire life in Canada. Our subject attended the common
schools, and finally attended the Mount Allison college. In 1869
he became the bookkeeper of the lumber concern, Farnham &
Lovejoy, and in 1879 he came to Fargo and opened a yard of his
own. By his honorable methods, he has built up a large business.
In 1876 was celebrated in Minneapolis the marriage of Mr. Ches-
ley and Miss Emma F. Jones. Four children have been born to
them, Mary E., Eva J., Julia A. and Samuel L.
Real Estate, Loans and Mortgage Companies.
Wheelock & Wheelock is an incorporated company whose
business was established about twelve years ago. The firm are
extensive dealers in North Dakota real estate exclusively, and
they have been directly responsible for many hundreds of actual
settlers in the state.
William J. Lane, Real Estate and Loans. Mr. Lane does a
large business in real estate and loans; coming to Fargo in 1886,
was connected with the First National bank for eleven years.
He then identified himself with Fargo Loan Agency. In 1902 he
commenced business for himself, making a specialty of Fargo
City property and first mortgage loans.
W. D. Hodgson, Real Estate. Mr. Hodgson has been one of
the leading real estate dealers in Fargo for twelve years.
Northwestern Mortgage Security Company. This company
was incorporated about seven years ago, as a successor to Jacob-
son & Co., which firm established the business twelve years ago.
The officers of this company are T. Jacobson, president; Charles
E. Miller, vice president; E. A. Engebretson, secretary and treas-
urer.
John B. Falsom, who deals extensively in real estate, his
sketch will be found elsewhere in this work.
Red River Valley Mortgage Co. This company was estab-
lished some twenty-two years ago. They make a specialty of
loaning money on improved farms throughout the state, and own
and control some of the finest improved farms in the valley. W.
522 HISTORY OF BED RIVER VALLEY
H. Wright, president; W. E. Gates, vice president; D. B. Holt,
treasurer; J. D. Wooledge, secretary.
Hotels of Fargo.
The first hotel was built in the fall of 1871 by Moore & Mann.
It was a log structure and was operated by A. H. Moore. It has
been clapboarded since and is now the home of Henry Hector.
Sherman House. This hotel was built by Clarence Martin and
Frank Pinkham. It is now called the Merchants. J. E. Burreson
is the proprietor.
Headquarter Hotel. The Headquarter hotel was built in
1871 by the Northern Pacific railroad, and most of the material
used in its construction was hauled on sleds from Oak Lake, the
terminus of the railroad at that time. It was occupied entirely
by the employees of the railroad for a time, when Mr. J. B. Chapin
became proprietor. It was burned in 1875, and immediately a
new house was built and run by N. K. Hubbard and E. S. Tyler.
This house was known far and wide, and was largely patronized.
Martin House was built by Clarence Martin, on the ground
now occupied by the Waldorf hotel. Mr. Martin ran it for years.
It finally burned.
Continental Hotel was owned and operated by J. B. Chapin.
It was located at Second avenue and Broadway. This house
was destroyed by fire.
Elliott Hotel. The Stanton house was located on Northern
Pacific avenue, and when Mr. Elliott took it, he changed that
name to Elliott hotel. The present Elliott hotel is on Broadway,
and Mayor Elliott is the proprietor.
Fargo House. This hotel was built in the eighties and rebuilt
and newly furnished throughout recently. The property is owned
by the Hon. James Kenedy.
Columbia Hotel was built by a syndicate and was located at
the corner of Second avenue and Roberts street. Its first land-
lord was G. J. Kissner, and it burned in the great fire of 1893.
Samuel Mathews was then the proprietor.
The Waldorf Hotel was built by Mr. Wise. This house has
been a profitable investment for its owner, and with the excep-
CITY OF FAEGO 523
tion of one instance, it has been profitable to the proprietor. It
is a well managed house, and has a large patronage. Keller and
Boyd are the proprietors.
Metropole Hotel was built by Edward E. Cole soon after the
fire of 1893. This house enjoys a large patronage and is first
class in every particular. E. E. Cole, Esq., is the proprietor.
The Prescott Hotel was built by Major Edwards and Charles
Roberts for a printing plant, and the Fargo "Argus" was pub-
lished here for ten years. It was then made into a hotel and
named the "Martin," and was run by Clarence Martin for four
years. The Prescott is named for its present proprietor, William
Prescott. It is a good, comfortable, homelike hotel, and enjoys a
large patronage.
Gardner Hotel. This magnificent structure, recently erected,
is the most elegant hostelry in the Northwest. It was designed
by home talent, the Hancock Bros., of Fargo, and was built by a
syndicate. Under its present management its success is assured.
George H. Habner, manager.
Fargo Churches.
Gethsemane Cathedral. While Fargo was still a city of tents,
the first church service was held in the tent of the chief engineer
by the Rev. J. A. Gilfillan. then rector at Brainerd.
In 1873 Bishop Clarkson of Nebraska, to whose jurisdiction
this territory belonged, sent the Rev. Mr. Henry to Fargo.
Though he remained but a short time he gave the mission its
start. The railway loaned him a tent which was set up on the
prairie near the present junction of N. P. avenue and Broadway.
When the company needed this tent the use of "Pinkham's
Hall," a small wooden building at the corner of Front and Third
streets, was secured. Here, after the departure of Mr. Henry,
lay-services were faithfully continued by Mr. B. F. Mackall, of
Moorhead. This first mission was known as "The Church at the
Crossing."
In 1873 the Rev. H. C. H. Dudley became "Missionary on the
line of the Northern Pacific railroad," having his home at De-
troit, Minn. For two years his work covered five hundred miles
of the railway with the charge of a number of towns, including
524 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
Fargo. It was during this period — Mr. Mackall still acting as
lay-reader — that the first church was built. Begun in the sum-
mer of 1874, on land given by General Cass, it was the scene of
the first Episcopal visitation to the state, made by Bishop Clark-
son in the fall of that year.
Mr. Dudley died of acute pneumonia on Ascension Day, 1875,
and was succeeded by the Rev. Richard Wainwright, who made
his headquarters at Fargo and first occupied the rectory, built
that summer. He remained for two years. After his resignation
in 1877 several clergymen rendered temporary service.
On Easter day, 1881, the mission was organized into an inde-
pendent parish, and in August the Rev. B. F. Cooley was called
as rector. Under him the church was enlarged and beautified,
the bell and the organ which are in present use being then se-
cured, together with other furnishings.
In 1883 Bishop Walker, first bishop of North Dakota, chose
Fargo as his see city, and when Mr. Cooley resigned in 1885, the
bishop took temporary charge of the parish. In August of the
following year Rev. F. B. Nash became rector and remained until
September, 1895. To the energy, ability and devotion of his ser-
vice the parish owes much. These were fruitful years of rapid
growth. In September, 1895. Mr. Nash resigned and for nearly
two years Bishop Walker was in charge of the parish, assisted
during the latter portion of the time by the Rev. Irving McElroy.
In August, 1897, Rev. Roderick J. Mooney became rector, and
under him the present Catholic structure was built. The open-
ing service was held January 11, 1900. Bishop Walker — who in
1898 had been transferred to western New York — joined with
Bishop Edsall, his successor, in setting apart the structure to its
sacred uses. As there is still a debt upon the Cathedral it has
never been consecrated.
In May, 1900, Mr. Mooney resigned the rectorship, Bishop
Edsall taking temporary charge. In August of that year a
change was made from a parochial to a Cathedral organization,
and on September 1 Gethsemane church became the Cathedral of
North Dakota. The Rev. Hugh. L. Burleson, the first dean, was
installed on Sunday, November 3, 1900.
In 1901 Bishop Edsall was elected to the diocese of Minnesota,
CITY OF FARGO 525
and was succeeded by Bishop Cameron Mann, who formally took
his seat in his cathedral on the first Sunday in January, 1902.
Many improvements have been made in connection with the
cathedral property, the enlargement of the organ and the laying,
on the entire property, of permanent cement walks. Better fur-
niture for the sanctuary, and there is a small fund on hand
toward the building of a parish house.
In February, 1906, a disastrous fire threatened the destruction
of the entire cathedral. The loss was covered by insurance, and
the destroyed vessels and vestments have been replaced, so far
as such things can be.
The great event of the year just past has been the assembling
in Fargo at Gethsemane cathedral, of the missionary council of the
sixth department. This was a notable and successful gathering.
The Clergy.
Right Reverend Cameron Mann, D. D., bishop.
Very Reverend Hugh L. Burleson, S. T. B., dean.
First Presbyterian Church. In 1878 the First Presbyterian
church was organized and in the same year, the first church build-
ing was erected, on the site of the present church. As the city
continued to grow their church proved too small for the large
attendance, and in 1907 the new structure was completed and it
was dedicated on April 7 of that year. Rev. C. B. Stevens, the
first pastor, organized the church, the first Presbyterian church
in Fargo. He died in March, 1882. Rev. H. A. Newell remained
about three years and was succeeded by Rev. D. E. Bierce, then
Granville Pike, D. W. Day and the present pastor, Rev. C. R.
Adams.
Broadway Methodist Church. The Broadway Methodist
church was organized in October, 1889, and three years after-
wards a lot was purchased on Roberts street, on which a church
was built, which was dedicated January 1, 1893, the same year
of the Fargo fire. Work was immediately commenced on a new
church which was finished and dedicated December 26, 1893.
The congregation outgrew this church, and it was sold, and the
property on Broadway was purchased in 1903, and the present
526 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
edifice was erected in 1904. The following are the names of the
pastors :
C. W. Cable, 1889-1890. Rev. Mr. Kline (supply), 1901-
D. C. Plannette, 1890-1893. 1902.
J. A. Strachan, 1893-1895. C. E. Vermilya, 1902-1905.
C. A. Macnamara, 1895-1899. A. A. Graves, 1905-1906.
G. A. Henry, 1899-1901. J. W. Danford, 1906-1907.
M. V. B. Knox (supply), 1902. J. S. DeLong, 1907-1909.
First Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. James Gurley was
the first Methodist minister to preach in this territory; he itin-
erated between Duluth and Fargo in 1871 and 1872. He was
followed by Rev. John Webb in 1873.
The First Methodist Episcopal church of Fargo was the first
church building to be erected in North Dakota. It was built in
1874 at a cost of $1,200.
The legal organization of the church was effected July 20,
1874. There were present Rev. J. H. Christ, Rev. John Webb,
James Douglas, of Moorhead, Minn., Alonzo Plummer, Mrs.
Alonzo Plummer, Miss Emma Plummer and William H. White.
A board of trustees was elected, consisting of William H.
White, N. K. Hubbard, Alonzo Plummer and G. I. Foster. Will-
iam H. White was elected president of the board and has con-
tinued in that position to the present time. Mr. White was the
only member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Fargo, and as
this was the first church to be organized in the state, he has the
distinction of being the first man to have his church membership
within the bounds of the state.
The first church building was replaced by a larger edifice,
costing $5,000, which was opened for worship Christmas, 1880.
In 1881 the Minnesota conference held its annual meeting in
Fargo, Bishop Cyrus D. Foss presiding.
The first session of the Dakota mission conference was held
in Fargo in 1884, Bishop Charles Fowler presiding.
In 1887 the North Dakota annual conference held its first ses-
sion in Fargo.
In the summer of 1894 fire partially destroyed this church
building.
CITY OF FAEGO 527
The present church building was dedicated August 21, 1898,
by Bishop Isaac "W. Joyce.
The Rev. J. B. Starkey was the first regular pastor stationed
in Fargo. He began his work with five members, of whom Mrs.
Elvira Cooper, Mrs. G. T. Foster and Mr. William H. White are
still members. The Sunday school was organized in 1873 with
about twenty members, W. H. White being the superintendent.
He was succeeded in 1881 by T. S. Quincey. Other superintend-
ents have been Smith Stimmel, William Mitchell, W. P. McKinr
stry, S. B. Clary, Dr. C. N. Callander and Robert McCulloch.
Following are the ministers, and date of appointment: Rev.
James Gurley, 1871, general missionary to the Northwest; Rev.
John Webb, general missionary, 1873; Rev. J. B. Starkey, 1875,
first regular pastor ; Rev. M. Barnet, 1878, did not reach the field ;
Rev. H. B. Crandall, 1878; Rev. C. F. Bradley, 1879; C. N.
Stowers, 1880; Rev. S. B. Warner, 1881; Rev. M. S. Kaufman,
1882; Rev. S. W. Ingham, 1888; Rev. G. S. White, 1888; D. W.
Knight, 1889 ; Rev. Eugene May, 1891 ; Rev. W. H. Vance, 1896 ;
Rev. H. G. Leonard, 1901, who is the present pastor.
The First Baptist Church was organized in 1879 with twenty-
six members ; services were held in Chapin hall for a time, and
McHench hall, and while their first church was being built, ser-
vices were held in the old school house, where the Unitarian
church now stands. In 1881 they moved into their church and
the organization was incorporated July 20 of the same year.
There was no regular preacher at that period. Rev. George B.
Vosbergh preached for them for three months ; then he was suc-
ceeded by the first regular pastor, Rev. E. B. Haskell, who re-
mained for three years. C. F. Hopkins came next, for a year.
W. D. Holt was here during the summer of 1884. Rev. S. W.
Stevens, three years ; Rev. M. Barker, one year ; Rev. J. W. Davies,
one year ; L. Van Horn, three and a half years ; Rev. H. M. Cook,
three years ; Rev. W. L. Blanchard, two and one-half years ; Rev.
W. W. Reed, three years; Rev. F. A. Hayward, through whose
efforts the present church was erected, remained about three
years. This church was dedicated May 14, 1905. Rev. Herbert
Tilden is the present pastor.
First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church. This organi-
528 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
zation had its birth in Moorhead, Minn., October 4, 1872, and
the same year was incorporated. The following year, 1873, they
erected a church in Moorhead, where services were held until
about 1878; in that year a committee was appointed to look for
land in Fargo for the building of a church; preaching was trans-
ferred to Fargo and they were without a church for some time.
In 1893 a building was purchased, known as the Island Park hall,
and that was repaired and fixed up and where services were held
for two years.
In 1895 the present edifice was built.
The following are the pastors from organization: Neils Th.
Ylvisaker, the first pastor; J. Hellisdveidt, Rev. Mr. Ford, J. D.
Bothne, J. 0. Hougen, J. J. Heie, G. A. Larsen and A. 0. Fonkals-
rud.
St. Paul's Evangelican Lutheran Church. This church
affliated with the synod of the Norwegian-Evangelical-Lutheran
church in America, usually called the Norwegian synod. After
the First Norwegian-Lutheran church, present pastor, Rev.
Foukalsrud, seceded from the Norwegian synod in the early
eighties (because of a doctrinal controversy). This denomina-
tion did not carry on regular church work in Fargo until 1903,
when a congregation was organized by Rev. J. G. Rugland August
3, 1903. In 1904 the Swedish-Lutheran church building was
bought and moved to its present location. Pastors: J. G. Rug-
land, E. A. Boyd, D. G. Jacobson.
The Scandinavian Baptist Church. The Scandinavian Baptist
church was organized in 1884 and the first church was built on
First avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets South. It was
incorporated February 25, 1888. The name of the church was
changed February 24, 1900, to Norwegian Baptist church, and
in 1892 was moved to Fourth street and Second avenue North,
where in 1900 the church was rebuilt and enlarged to what it
now is. The ministers who have served the church during that
time are as follows : J. A. H. Johnsen, T. O. Wold, L. I. Ander-
sen, J. B. Sundt, C. W. Finwall, J. A. H. Johnsen, N. G. See, J. B.
Sundt.
Swedish Baptist Church. This church was organized Septem-
ber 2, 1891, and the church edifice was erected in 1893. It was
CITY OF FAEGO 529
just completed, when the great fire of that year destroyed it.
Work was immediately commenced on another building, and in
a short period was completed. On the 31st of March the church
celebrated the burning of its mortgage, and is now free and clear
of debt. The following have been its pastors : Rev. 0. Lind,
Rev. L. W. Linder, Rev. Mr. Johnson, Rev. Frank Liljegren, Rev.
B. L. Carlton.
Swedish Lutheran Church. The church was organized in
1891 and incorporated in. 1892. Rev. S. A. Lindholm was the
first pastor. Services were held in the first church building until
1905, when they moved into their new building. The old church
building was disposed of. The present church has a membership
of 252. Ministers : Rev. S. A. Lindholm, Rev. E. Lund, Rev. J.
A. Nyvall, Rev. J. Frangen, Rev. Mr. Palmer, Rev. N. 0. Grunden.
St. Mark's English Evangelical Lutheran Church. Lutheran
services in the English language were held occasionally in Fargo
during the summer and fall of 1885, but there being no resident
pastor, no organization was effected. In the spring of 1886 Rev.
W. F. Ulery, missionary of the general council, arrived and imme-
diately entered upon the work of securing ground and materials
for a church building. The corner-stone was laid on July 25,
1886, with appropriate services, the missionary in charge being
assisted by the Revs. G. H. Trabert, D. D., A. J. D. Haupt and
W. K. Frick. The work of building was pushed forward as fast
as possible, and on November 28, 1886, St. Mark's English Lu-
theran church was dedicated to the service of the Triune God.
The growth of the mission during the first year of its history
was slow. The first regular communion service was held on
Easter Sunday, 1887, at which service ten persons communed.
On April 17 of the same year a provisional organization was made,
«t constitution read and considered, and temporary officers elected.
The organization was completed on May 18, 1887, at which time
the constitution was adopted, and a church council elected.
In July, 1887, Rev. Ulery resigned, and was succeeded by Rev.
G. H. Gerberding, D. D., in August of the same year. During
Dr. Gerberding 's pastorate the mission continued growing in
membership and in its financial operations, both for local ex-
penses and for the various benevolent objects. The Sunday
530 HISTOKY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
school soon outgrew its accommodations, and an addition 12x18
feet was built onto the rear of the church, used as a class room
for the primary department. Dr. Gerberding served the congre-
gation until August, 1894, and in October following was suc-
ceeded by Rev. H. K. Gebhart, followed by John A. Zundel. W.
A. Ulrich is the present pastor.
Pontoppidan Norwegian Lutheran Church. This church was
organized in 1878 by the Rev. Christian Wold, who was its first
pastor, and continued as such until 1884. The first church build-
ing was burned in 1893, and they immediately proceeded to erect
a new church building. The next pastor was J. H. Brono. He
served the church until 1903, excepting the year 1891 to 1892,
when he was with a church in Minnesota. Rev. S. Romsdahl was
the next pastor, and is at the present time.
German Evangelical Association. There was no regular
church of this denomination in Fargo in the early days, although
as early as 1873 ministers were sent here from the Minnesota
conference, and from the Minneapolis district. It wasn't until
1879 that there was any regular established church, when the
present structure was erected. Ministers: Rev. C. W. Stegner,
Rev. E. F. Movius, Rev. J. Kienholz, Rev. C. Brill, Rev. W.
Suckow, Rev. E. Oertli, Rev. S. F. Brown, Rev. E. Bectchel, Rev.
J. Brookmuller, Rev. H. Lowen, Rev. L. N. Bingaman.
The Jewish Synagogue. The Fargo Hebrew congregation
was organized about 1894. They have held services for several
years in Union hall. The new and beautiful Temple is now near-
ly completed, and the lower, or first floor, will be used as a day
school, and for private meetings of the congregation. They have
no settled pastor as yet.
Representative Old Settlers.
J. B. Chapin was born in Genesee county, New York, January
22, 1822, resided in his native state until 1852. In 1871 Mr.
Chapin came on to the Red river, locating, first, at Oakport, and
then at Moorhead, where he engaged in the hotel business, and
in 1873 came to Fargo to take charge of the Headquarter hotel.
In 1874 he had the largest tract of land in Cass county under
cultivation. Chapin never did anything by halves ; his farm
CITY OF FAEGO 531
eventually became part of the city; raised as high as 30,000
bushels of wheat per annum. He engaged largely in building
and in real estate operations. He built the opera house, blocks
and stores and residences, including the Continental hotel. He
was mayor, 1880-81, and it is said that he did more than any
other man for the booming of Fargo.
Andrew McHench was born in New York in 1832 and moved to
Ohio in 1854. He graduated at Antioch college when the vener-
able Horace Mann was president. In 1857 he located at Hen-
derson, Minn. There he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. He
went to Minneapolis in 1866 and from there to Bed Eiver valley,
in the fall of 1870, settling at Elm river with his family in the
spring and at Fargo July 3, 1871. Here he plowed two acres of
his claim in 1871, raised his first crop of grain in 1873 and brought
the first reaper to the valley. Mr. McHench has been promi-
nently identified with almost every public enterprise here since
the city of Fargo was founded. The need of space will not per-
mit us to say all that we would like to about him.
James Holes was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania,
January 29, 1845. He located in Fargo July 18, 1871. Educated
in common schools of Pennsylvania and New York; married in
1887 to Ehoda Harrison and they are the parents of three chil-
dren. Mr. Holes is an independent in politics. His name and
what he has accomplished, appears so frequently in these vol-
umns, that a longer sketch would be superfluous/
Captain George Egbert was the first mayor of Fargo, and
served five terms consecutively. He was born in Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1820. He was largely en-
gaged in mining, in his early life ; located at Fargo July 5, 1871.
In connection with George Benz, of St. Paul, built the first brick
block in our city in 1878. Previous to this he built the best frame
business building in Fargo, and which was used at that period
for a Masonic lodge. He was interested in the Egbert, Haggart
& O'Neil addition to Fargo, and in the $16,000 hotel erected
thereon.
John E. Haggart came to the county early in 1871, and in
August located the Haggart farm, five miles west of Fargo. In
1872 an election was held to recommend a candidate for appoint-
532 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
ment as sheriff. Mr. Haggart received eighty-five out of the nine-
ty-four votes cast. He was away, however, when the county was
organized, and another was appointed. In 1874 he was chosen
sheriff by a vote of 216 to 91 ; in 1876 by 300 to 12 ; in 1878 by
869 to 1; in 1880 by 1,235 to 0; in 1882 a practically unanimous
vote, and in 1884 by 2,915 to 1,271 for his two opponents. Mr.
Haggart was deputy United States marshal most of the time for
twelve years. His name appears many times in the history of the
valley.
Terrance Martin moved up a stock of goods from the Pacific
Junction and established the first store at Fargo. This was in
November, 1871. In 1872 he built the Sherman house, which was
replaced by the late one in 1877. He was a Democrat, held the
office of register of deeds. He farmed extensively.
Harry O'Neil was born in Liverpool in 1839 and came to New
York in 1859. He passed five years in the Hudson River railroad
office, and later was employed with the construction or operation
of the Union Pacific road. In 1871 he came to Fargo, locating
here in December. Possessing great faith in Fargo and its
future he erected houses and blocks and was engaged with Chapin
in the building of the Continental hotel, and was connected with
Haggart and Egbert in the construction of the Windsor; was a
subscriber to the stock of the iron works, electric light, street
cars, etc. At the present time, his interests are large and varied.
Gordon J. Keeney was born in Erie, Monroe county, Michigan,
in 1846. After graduating from the law department of the
Michigan university, he was admitted to practice in that state.
He came to Minnesota, was admitted at St. Paul, and went to
Duluth and opened a law office, but the farther West appealed to
him, and in 1871, July 5, he crossed the Red river on a raft four
miles north of where Fargo is now. Mr. Keeney secured the
appointment of United States postmaster at a point on the river,
near the crossing of the Northern Pacific railroad, and estab-
lished his office on what afterwards became his homestead, and
part of the town site of the city of Fargo. In 1872 he was ad-
mitted to the bar of North Dakota and received the appointment
of United States attorney for the third district Territory of
Dakota, which position he held two years. Associated with A. J.
CITY OF FARGO 533
Harwood, he edited and published the "Fargo Express." He
was active in the organization of the forming of the County of
Cass. Mr. Keeney was very prominent and active in the building
up of Fargo and was a close second to Mr. Chapin. He has al-
ways kept well posted in the affairs of his adopted town and is
looked upon today as the historian of Fargo.
S. G. Roberts was born at Brooks, Waldo county, Maine, in
1843, lived on a farm until the age of sixteen, enlisted in the
Seventeenth Massachusetts Infantry in 1861, admitted to the
bar at Minneapolis in 1871. He came to Fargo in January, 1872
(see sketch elsewhere in this work).
Hon. Nahum B. Pinkham. — Mr. Pinkham was born in Anson,
Somerset county, Maine, August 21, 1842, reared and resided
on a farm until 1868, with the exception of the time spent in the
Civil war. He enlisted in 1863 and served in Company H, Nine-
teenth Maine Regiment until the close of the war. He passed
a long and honorable service and was wounded at the battle of
Spottsylvania. In 1871 he came to Cass county, Dakota, and
took up land, as a homestead ; he was admitted to the bar at the
first term of court, but he has made farming his chief business.
He was married February 6, 1875, to Miss Rose E. Knapp ; they
have five children. Mr. Pinkham was the first county attorney
elected in Cass county, and was in the legislature in 1889, and
1890 in the senate.
Clement A. Lounsberry. — Colonel Lounsberry was born of
New York and New England ancestry in De Kalb county,
Indiana, March 27, 1843. When the War of the Rebellion broke
out, Colonel Lounsberry was a homeless boy, working on a farm
in Michigan. He enlisted as a private and was at Alexandria the
morning Ellsworth was killed and was with Grant in his last
campaign. Colonel Lounsberry 's war record is a brilliant one,
and want of space prevents giving his entire record, which has
already been given in "Michigan in the War," published by
the state of Michigan. In civil life, Colonel Lounsberry was
four years County Auditor of Martin county, Minnesota; ten
years postmaster at Bismark ; four years director on the peniten-
tiary board, and for many years has been a special agent of the
land office. To Colonel Lounsberry is due the credit of estab-
534 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
lishing the first newspaper in North Dakota, and is widely known
as a newspaper writer, author and publisher. He conducted the
"Bismark Tribune" for years, the "Record-Magazine" at Fargo,
and at the present time is a generous contributor to magazines,
books and papers. The statement can truthfully be made that
Colonel Lounsberry is the historian of our state.
Jacob Lowell came to Fargo October llth, 1870, in company
with H. S. Back. Mr. Lowell played an important part, not only
in the early history of Fargo, but in its growth and development.
Newton K. Hubbard was born in Hampden county, Massachu-
setts, December 17, 1839, the son of George J. and Marian
(Adams) Hubbard, natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
His father was a farmer and passed his life in New England, and
reared a family of five children. His paternal grandfather was
Captain George Hubbard of Revolutionary fame, and was a
member of the Connecticut troops. Mr. Hubbard of this sketch
attended the schools of his native state and the Providence-
Conference-College in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He taught
school in Painesville, Ohio, until the spring of 1861, when he
enlisted in Company D, Seventh Ohio Volunteers. He saw serv-
ice of three years and three months, first with the Army of the
Potomac, and later with the Army of Tennessee. He was taken
prisoner and confined nine months, and was finally exchanged
in the spring of 1863. He was in many engagements after that,
and was finally mustered out at Cleveland, Ohio. Later Mr.
Hubbard made his home in Geneva, Ohio, and in 1870 went to
Duluth, Minnesota, and in the fall of the same year came to the
Red River valley and located on the Elm River and carried the
dispatch from Mr. Cook, which located the railroad at that place.
In company with Jacob Lowell he located at that point.
In 1871 he purchased at St. Paul a stock of general merchan-
dise and under the firm name of Hubbard & Raymond opened
a store at Oak Lake, and successfully carried on stores at
Brainard, Moorhead, Glyndon and Jamestown. At the end of
two years the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Hubbard re-
mained in business in Moorhead for some time. In 1874 he
formed a partnership with his bookkeeper, E. S. Tyler, and they
opened a store at Fargo. This continued until 1882. Mr. Hub-
NEWTON K. HUBBARD
CITY OF FARGO 535
bard had previously disposed of his store at Moorhead, and
Hubbard and Tyler built the Headquarters Hotel in sixty days.
He bought Mr. Tyler's interest in 1880 and conducted it success-
fully, and sold it out in 1882. For some years after that he was
in the real estate and banking business and was one of the
organizers of the First National Bank. In 1875 Mr. Hubbard
was married to Elizabeth C. Clayton, and they have had one
daughter.
Edward M. Darrow, M. D. The pioneer physician and sur-
geon of Fargo and the Red River valley was born in Winnebago
county, Wisconsin, January 16th, 1855, the son of Daniel C. and
Isabelle (Murry) Darrow.
Dr. Darrow was reared in his native town, where he at-
tended school. In 1874, before leaving college, he began the
study of medicine, and the following year entered the Rush
Medical College of Chicago, from which he graduated in 1878.
He commenced to practice at Fargo the spring of that year
and has practiced his profession here continuously since.
Casselton.
The first settler was Mike Smith, a German of Minneapolis,
who in 1874 had charge of timber planting for the railroad com-
pany under Colonel John H. Stephens, and made his headquarters
here. Some of the trees which he planted are still standing on
the right of way. Thirty-two years ago Casselton was a "Cattle
Station" and was supplied with mail three times a week. The
postoffice was a dug-out underground, there were two other sod
shanties. Casselton today is the second city in population and
trade in Cass county. It is largely the outgrowth of the bonanza
farming which was inaugurated in the immediate vicinity by
Messrs. Cass, Cheney and others, through Oliver Dalrymple.
Casselton of today was incorporated in 1883 and its population
at the present time is about 2,000. It is surrounded by the best
farming land, and has scores of farms. The Dalrymple interests
cover thousands of acres. The churches of Casselton are the
Presbyterian, Episcopal, Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist. It
has a high graded school, an opera house, two grain elevators,
three banks, three hotels, a flour mill with a capacity of 700 bar-
536 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
rels per day, a public library, fire department and electric light
plant, and a weekly paper, the "Reporter." The Great Northern
Railway Company has a large roundhouse and freight yard,
bringing to the city employment for a large number of men.
Tower City.
The first settlement at Tower City was made in 1879. George
H. Ellsbury laid out the town site, on land purchased for the
purpose, of Charlemagne Tower, of Philadelphia, who was a
prominent capitalist and director of the Northern Pacific Rail-
road Company. The town was named in honor of him. The soil
of the country about Tower City is similar to that about Fargo,
except that it contains more lime, and it is from twenty to thirty-
six inches in depth.
Tower City was incorporated in 1881 and its population is
about 725. It enjoys the benefits of a graded school, three
churches, two hotels, a bank, a creamery, four grain elevators,
a tow mill, stores and shops, a weekly newspaper, the "Topics,"
and a library. Tower City has a famous mineral water called
Hydalsu. It is recommended by physicians for rheumatism and
dyspepsia.
Ellsbury Lake contains ten acres and in the center is a four-
acre lake, with an average depth of six feet. Villard Park is also
an attractive feature.
Buffalo.
Buffalo was formerly called New Buffalo and was platted in
1881. It has a population of about 600. It sustains three
churches, Catholic, Presbyterian, and Episcopal, has four grain
elevators, and an opera house, a weekly newspaper, the "Ex-
press," a $10,000 school building, a bank, hotel and commercial
establishments. Buffalo exports grain, produce and live stock.
CHAPTER XXVI.
GRAND FORK COUNTY AND HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF
THE RED RIVER VALLEY.
By
H. V. Arnold.
Historical Outline.
Without reckoning anything on the visits to the valley of
Verendrye and DuLuth prior to the middle of the last century,
it may be said that the past hundred years of its history presents
two very distinctly marked epochs. The first of these is that
characterized by the domination of the fur trading interests,
politically represented by the government of the country as
exercised by the Hudson Bay Company ; the second epoch is that
marked by the settlement of the valley by the present popula-
tion, its development, and founding of the state of North Dakota
and the province of Manitoba, with the organization of their re-
spective governments ; including also the occupation and develop-
ment of that part of the valley that lies in Minnesota. This epoch
has not yet been succeeded by any other, though an industrial
and manufacturing era, to some extent, with a greater popula-
tion, will be apt to constitute the characteristic features of the
next epoch, while agriculture and its associated commercial
operations will doubtless remain the chief sources of the wealth
of the valley.
It must not be supposed that when the settlement of the valley
by an agricultural population had its beginning, its old epoch
abruptly terminated and its new one began. Generally speak-
ing, there is no abrupt termination of any one epoch and begin-
537
538 HISTORY OF EED EIVEE VALLEY
ning of another. A transition period will likely ensue. The old
epoch insensibly shades into, and is absorbed by the new one,
each having its characteristic phase of life. Radical changes
may ensue so as to bring about another and different state of
things, but these are the growth of time. There is a gradual, a
slow change to new conditions, and no one can say just when a
previous era has ended and a new one has been ushered in.
The Aborigines.
In early times the plains of North Dakota formed a great
range for the buffalo. The bison was a migratory animal, and
in winter ranged southward to northern Texas. The increasing
warmth of spring, which in that latitude ensues early, urged
these animals to take to their northwardly leading trails, and
they migrated in vast herds. By the month of June or earlier,
they reached the Red Viver valley.
The Dakotas, and much of the state of Minnesota, was former-
ly the domain of the allied tribes called the Sioux. The eastern
part of this state was occupied by the Yankton sept of the Sioux
nation, although the Wahpetons and Sissetons were located
at Lake Traverse later than the middle of the century. In north-
ern Minnesota were the Chippeways, and to the north of our
boundary dwelt the Crees, Saulteaus and Assiniboines. These
latter tribes were often at war with the Sioux and made the
northern part of this state their battle ground. The Wahpetons
and Sissetons were accustomed to make journeys to the north
along Red river and as far as the Pembina river, to hunt the
buffalo and to wage their predatory warfare against the north-
ern tribes, including the Chippeways. During these journeys
back and forth, the site of Grand Forks was one of their con-
venient camping places and an advantageous point to lay in wait
for the scalps of members of the last named tribe.
The Indian tribes between the Mississippi and Rocky moun-
tains largely derived their subsistence by hunting the buffalo.
These animals furnished them with robes and, in a measure, a
living. But people in the savage state who depend on hunting
and fishing for subsistence can never form communities com-
prising a numerous, much less a dense population. Their mode
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 539
of life, exposure and liability to famine and their almost constant
warfare with other tribes, has a tendency to thin their numbers.
"Comparative few Indians," says Warren Upham, "were able
to derive their subsistence by hunting and fishing upon the area
of Lake Agassiz or in any other region. Probably their number
living at any one time upon the portion of the lake area within
the United States did not exceed 5,000.*
Mound Builders.
At a period that was long anterior to the occupation of this
region by the hunting tribes that were known to the whites,
there lived other tribes here of whom Upham remarks that they
"probably lived more by agriculture and less by the chase," and
who built the mounds found in the country, to some extent, by
the first settlers. The builders of these mounds appear to have
been offshoots of the ancient race known by their works as the
Mound Builders. Where they were the most numerous, as in the
Ohio and Mississippi valleys, they were sufficiently advanced to
make rude pottery, build fortifications on a large scale, also tem-
ple mounds and other earthworks. They also fashioned native
copper obtained in the Lake Superior region, or picked up more
sparingly from the glacial drift, into various utensils, but they
do not appear to have been able to smelt it. They must also have
possessed considerable skill in other arts, but at their best the
superiority of the Mound Builders that occupied the Red River
valley over the later Indian tribes was but slight, and even in
the Mississippi valley their handicraft was not at all comparable
to that of the aboriginal races of Mexico and Peru.
It seems to be pretty well established that the Mound Builders
were not racially distinct from the Indians and were probably
the ancestors of tribes that were still existing within the present
century, as the Mandans, for example. This early progress of
the red race was probably due to intercourse with Mexico and
Yucatan, also to early migrations of the race from those coun-
tries. Such advancement as they were making appears to have
been interrupted several hundred years before the discovery of
* The Glacial Lake Agassiz, p. 616.
540 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
America by reason of the appearance east of the Mississippi of
the bison, an event in the animal world that changed the pop-
ulation from semi-agriculturists into bands of nomadic hunters,
thus terminating any farther progress toward civilization.
Relics of the occupation of this part of the state by the later
Indian tribes, notwithstanding their recent possession of the coun-
try, have not been so abundantly found here as in some of the
middle western states where the red men evidently were more
numerous. Still, since the settlement of this state, arrow-heads,
tomahawks, mortars and pestles and other stone implements have
been picked up on the prairies in considerable numbers. It
should be remembered that the states in which these relics of
aboriginal life have been most abundantly found were originally
more or less forested, and in wood districts the implements were
more easily lost than in the open prairie regions. Moreover, the
prairies were annually burned over by the Indians, and until the
grass grew again, things lost upon the surface were easily seen
and recovered.
The Fur Companies.
In 1670, the Hudson Bay Fur Company was granted a charter
!by Charles II, of England, giving to Prince Rupert and fourteen
other members, their heirs and assigns, the right to the sole
trade of the region around Hudson and James bays. The com-
pany began to establish themselves on these bays toward the
close of the same century. Nearly a century more, however,
passed before we read of the Red River valley being occupied
either by this company or by any other of which the members
were British subjects. In the meantime exploring and trading
expeditions of the French, coming from Canada by way of the
Great Lakes, penetrated the Northwest as far as the Red River
valley and even much farther west.
About the year 1679, Sieur DuLuth, who was conducting
trading operations in the country around the head of Lake Su-
perior, made a brief and probably hasty expedition across north-
ern Minnesota, reaching some point inland about Lake Winnipeg.
After DuLuth, Sieur Verendrye, his sons and nephew Jor-
emaye, next penetrated the country to the valleys of the Red,
GRAND FOEKS COUNTY 541
Assiniboine, Missouri and Yellowstone rivers for the purpose of
trade and exploration, and they built a post or two on the Assin-
iboine. These operations were continued between the years 1731
and 1743. The conquest of Canada by the English in 1759 ter-
minated French exploration, but the work of the missions and
operations of individual traders still continued.
The first settler on North Dakota soil is claimed to have been
a Canadian French trader who located at Pembina in 1780.
While his name has not been preserved, the fact is nevertheless
mentioned by Professor Keating, the chronicler of Major Long's
expedition. This party found the trader still living at Pembina
43 years subsequent to the period of his location at that place.
In 1784 David Thompson, a person of some scientific attain-
ments, entered the service of the Hudson Bay Company and was
appointed clerk. Later he was employed by the Northwest Com-
pany as explorer and geographer. He was also an accomplished
astronomer. In 1797 he visited the valleys of the Red, Assini-
boine, Mouse and Missouri rivers. He was also sent by the
Northwest Company to visit the Missouri and the sources of the
Mississippi for the purpose of making geographical and astro-
nomical observations. In 1798 he was at Cass lake, in Minnesota,
and fixed the latitude of the company's post at that point. He
also fixed and recorded the latitude and longitude of many points
throughout the Northwest.
The Northwest Fur Company was organized at Montreal in
1783. Their chief stronghold in the Northwest was Fort William
on Lake Superior, now Port Arthur. Here, every autumn, the
coureus des bois, or men of the woods, and other employees of
the company were accustomed to gather, spend their earnings
for liquors and luxuries, and hold high carnival. The Northwest
Company controlled most of the fur trade of the Red River val-
ley. Captain Alexander Henry, an officer of this company, came
to the valley in 1799 and was engaged in establishing trading
posts. In the winter of 1797-8 a Canadian French trader named
Chabollier built a post at Pembina, but \vhen Captain Henry
visited that point in 1800, he found the post unoccupied, and pro-
ceeded to establish his headquarters there.
About this time Captain Henry had a post built on the Pern-
542 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
bina river about nine miles below the point where the stream
issues from the Pembina mountains, which in those times were
called the Hair hills. This post was soon afterward removed
farther up the river to the vicinity of the site of St. Joseph, now
the village of Walhalla, where, as Captain Henry says, "the
waters of the Paubian leave the steep hills. ' '
On September 8, 1800, Captain Henry selected the site for a
trading post on the plain between the Red and Park rivers, and
not far from the mouth of the latter stream. One year later, to-
wit, in September, 1801, he sent a party of men to build another
on the site of Grand Forks. This post, however, was not long
maintained.* At this time Captain Henry's party consisted of
eighteen men, four women, and four children. Of the men, one
was his clerk, and another acted as interpreter in dealing with
the Indians. The same month and year, Thomas Miller, of the
Hudson Bay Company, with eight Orkney men arrived at Pem-
bina and established a post on the east side of the river where
Emerson now is. Agents of another organization called the X.
Y. Company also appeared in that part of the valley at this time,
and for awhile maintained a post on the Pembina river. In 1801
also, the Red River cart was devised.
The canoe, the travial and the dog-sledge seem to have been
the only means of communication prior to the introduction of the
Red River cart. At first Captain Henry considered them to be
a great improvement on the means of transportation previously
in use, but two years later he says in his journal that the intro-
duction of horses and carts into the country had the tendency
of making the employees of the company more lazy and shiftless
than before.
In 1806 Captain Henry visited the country about the Mouse
* It is a question in the mind of the writer whether Captain Henry ever
established a trading post on the site of Grand Forks at all. He was one
of the few men of that period who thought it worth the effort, while in the
country, to keep a record of their movements and observations. His journal
is carefully preserved in the Government Historical Library at Ottawa,
Canada, and only extracts from it seem to have been published. His
references to the "forks of the river" appear to have meant the confluence
of the Eed and Assiniboine, that is, the site of Winnipeg. It is therefore
doubtful whether or not there has been some misunderstanding as to the
location meant by him, unless he specially designates the forks of Eed
and Eed Lake rivers as the site of this post.
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 543
and upper Missouri rivers. He speaks of Pembina affairs again
in 1808, when, besides the annual shipment of peltries, there was
exported from the country 3,159 pounds of maple sugar. That
year the Rocky mountain locusts made one of their periodical
visits and swrarmed over the country. Captain Henry came to an
untimely end. Having gone west of the Rocky mountains, to
which region the Northwest Company had extended their opera-
tions, he was drowned in the Columbia river, May 28, 1814.
The Selkirk Colony.
From the beginning of the century the Red River valley be-
gan to be occupied and traversed by the trappers and voyageurs
of the fur companies, and soon afterward by a few independent
traders. But a different class of people now came to the valley.
These were the Selkirk colonists and their coming is the next
important matter in valley history after the operations of Cap-
tain Henry. This colony was composed of Highlanders who had
been evicted from the estate of the Duchess of Sutherland, in the
north of Scotland. Says Warren Upham :
"The first immigration of white men to colonize the fertile
basin of the Red River of the North, bringing the civilized arts
and agriculture of Europe, was in the years 1812 to 1816, when,
under Lord Selkirk's farsighted and patriotic supervision, the
early pioneers of the Selkirk settlements, coming by way of Hud-
son bay and York factory, reached Manitoba and established
their homes along the river from the vicinity of Winnipeg to
Pembina. In its beginning this colony experienced many hard-
ships, but, in the words of one of these immigrants, whose nar-
rative was written down in his old age, in 1881, "by and by our
troubles ended, war and famine and flood and poverty all passed
away, and now we think there is no such place to be found as
the valley of Red River.' "*
In 1811, Thomas Douglas, earl of Selkirk, having gained con-
trol of the Hudson Bay Fur Company interests so far as to en-
able him to do so, secured a tract of 116,000 acres of land in the
Red River valley on which he designed to plant his prospective
The Glacial Lake Agassiz, p. 612.
544 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
colony. Its first contingent arrived in 1812. The lands on which
they settled included the site of the city of Winnipeg which was
founded about sixty years later. About the year 1814 the locusts
destroyed their crops and want drove them to the post of Pem-
bina for food and shelter. But the Northwest Fur Company were
opposed to the settlement of an agricultural population in the
country. They instigated their employees to annoy and harass
the colonists in many ways. About 150 of them they induced to
desert, and the remainder they tried to frighten away by setting
their halfbreed employees upon them disguised as Indians. In
1815 another contingent of the colonists arrived from Scotland.
The Northwest Company now endeavored to expel them from the
country. An affray ensued at Seven Oaks near the site of Win-
nipeg, in 1816, in which about twenty persons lost their lives,
among whom was the Hudson Bay Governor Semple. Lord Sel-
kirk now interfered, protecting his colony by force of arms, and
re-imbursed them for the losses of property they had sustained.
The hostile criticism evoked by these troubles finally led to the
coalition of these antagonistic fur companies, which was effected
in 1821. In that year the first Fort Garry was built.
The success of an agricultural colony such as this was, mainly
depends upon favorable climatic and physical conditions, also a
fair degree of competency to obtain subsistence from the region
colonized, upon accessions in number, both to counterbalance
losses and to increase the population, and largely, besides, upon
the adaptability of the colonists themselves to adjust their mode
of life to the usual changed conditions of new settlements. The
Selkirk colonists found a fertile soil in the valley that was in
strong contrast with that of the partially sterile and mountainous
region of the north of Scotland, well adapted to agricultural
pursuits, and a country possessing a healthy and tolerable cli-
mate. Coming from a high northern latitude in their former
homes, the long days of summer and short ones of winter in their
new abode presented no marked contrasts; but the physical as-
pect of the country they found to be far different, and climatic
conditions considerably so. Already inured to hard conditions of
life in their old homes, they were the kind of people to succeed
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 545
and were deserving of the fair measure of success to which they
ultimately attained.
Gradually the colony began to see some measure of prosperity.
Other additions came from time to time, and they began to
enlarge and extend their settlements. In 1821 two hundred Swiss
emigrants arrived, who had been induced to leave their native
country by an agent of Lord Selkirk. The colonists built church-
es and established schools. They maintained amicable relations
with the Indians from whom they purchased more land, extend-
ing their settlements up the Assiniboine and up Red River as
far as Pembina. Their settlements were compact, the individual
holdings being six chains in width, and extending back from the
river two miles on each side. They had mills for grinding grain,
spun their own wool, wove their own cloth, and made their own
clothing. To guard against losses by locusts and drought, they
were accustomed to keep three years' supply of food and forage
on hand. Though liquor was to be had at the posts, intoxication
among them was almost unknown. Presbyterians in Scotland,
they maintained their religious integrity in this country. Not-
withstanding their privations and hardships and the dangers
they were called upon to face, they succeeded in establishing in
this remote part of the continent a sturdy civilization.
There was but little communication between the colony and
the old world. A vessel or two arrived about August of each
year bringing the goods ordered before by dog-sledge packet to
Montreal. They had mail from Great Britain but once a year.
It is related of Alexander Murray, a colonist of 1812, that he
was a subscriber to the "London Times," which had been issued
under that name daily since January 1, 1788, and that he received
a full yearly volume when the ship came. He was accustomed
to read one copy a day, that of the corresponding day of the pre-
vious year, and thus he kept up to within one year of the daily
record of current events occurring in the old world.
Isolation of the Country.
While these events were in progress, that is to say throughout
the first two decades of the century and, of course, earlier, the
Red River valley was so isolated from the United States that
5±i> HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
even the geographers of the eastern states seem to have known
little or nothing of it. The school geographies of those days
were like school readers, mainly descriptive, having no map
questions, and containing a crudely engraved map or two, un-
colored, and folded into the book. Jedadiah Morse, the father of
one of the inventors of the telegraph, published the first Ameri-
can geography for the schools of this country, in 1789. An exam-
ination of the editions of 1807 and 1811, in possession of the
writer, shows no knowledge of Red River as a stream of the
United States, nor can this be expected, since the region west
of the Mississippi river is spoken of as comprising "unknown
countries." Jonathan Carver, an American traveler of the last
century, heard of the Red River from the Indians while wintering
among them at the mouth of the Cottonwood, and calls it a capital
branch of the River Bourbon, that is, of Nelson river. But dur-
ing the two decades under consideration, certain official and
commercial classes in Canada and England were in possession of
a larger amount of information concerning this then far off north-
western country than was, at that time, known to the government
of the United States.
"The war of the Revolution," says N. H. Winch ell, "which
left the east bank of the Mississippi in possession of the United
States and the west bank in the possession of the French, operat-
ed not only to terminate English and French exploration, but to
retard that of the United States. It was not till after the cession
of Louisiana by France that the government of the United States
instituted measures for the exploration of the unknown countries
west of the Mississippi, when in 1804 Captains Lewis and Clarke
were despatched to explore the Missouri river, and Lieutenant
Z. M. Pike to ascend the Mississippi to its source. Lieutenant
Pike found the upper Mississippi country occupied by trading
posts of the Northwest Fur Company over which was still flying
the English flag, a fact which attests the isolation of that region
since the peace concluded in 1783." *
Major Long's Expedition.
Between the years 1818 and 1823, Major Stephen H. Long, of
Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, vol. i, p. 25.
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 547
the United States Army, had charge of the exploration of the
country between the Mississippi and the Rocky mountains. In
the latter year he was directed by the Secretary of War to pro-
ceed to Pembina and establish the international boundary at
that point. Several scientific gentlemen of Philadelphia, among
whom was Professor William Keating, of the University of Penn-
sylvania, accompanied the expedition. The Italian traveler, Bel-
trami, a political exile from his own country, also joined the
party at Fort Snelling.
Major Long's party arrived at Fort Snelling July 2, 1823; on
the 6th Professor Keating, Beltrami and other gentlemen of the
party, visited the Falls of St. Anthony, which then existed in their
primeval condition ; and on the 9th the expedition set out for the
Red River valley. Proceeding in canoes up the Minnesota river,
they abandoned this mode of conveyance at old Traverse des
Sioux, and the remainder of the journey to Pembina was made
by marching. After crossing Nicollet county, Minnesota, to Red-
stone, so as to cut off the great bend of the Minnesota river, the
route pursued was up the course of the stream, the march being
more upon the prairie above the south line of bluffs than along
its valley bottoms. They reached Big Stone lake on July 22.
Here Major Long met and held a conference with Wanata, the
chief of the Yanktons. After passing Lake Traverse, the line of
march was next down the west side of Red River along which
route the old Red River trail was struck out some years after-
ward. This took the expedition through Grand Forks county
and in the vicinity of the river. The party reached Pembina
on the 5th of August. This was the upper settlement of the Sel-
kirk colony, and a number of families were located around this
place. The trading post of the Northwest Company, established
there in 1800 by Captain Henry, had been maintained down to
within a few months of the arrival of Major Long's party. He
found about three hundred halfbreeds there living in sixty log
huts, and the traders located there possessed about two hundred
horses. The day after his arrival, the buffalo hunters came in
from the chase, forming a procession consisting of 115 carts each
loaded with about 800 pounds of buffalo meat. After several
days' observation the boundary was located and marked by set-
548 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
ting up a few oak posts. On August 8th, the American flag was
officially displayed at Pembina for the first time, and proclama-
tion made that all land on the river south of the established
boundary was United States territory.
Hitherto, the colonists at Pembina had supposed themselves
to be in British territory, but finding themselves really between
one and two miles south of the boundary line, they, being in-
tensely loyal to the British crown, abandoned their holdings and
removing farther north, they settled at Kildonan, a few miles
from the modern city of Winnipeg. The Italian traveler, Bel-
trami, considering himself discourteously treated by Major Long,
separated from his party at Pembina. Procuring a halfbreed
and two Chippeway Indians as attendants and guides, he traveled
southeast to Red Lake river, thence up to Red lake, from whence
he sought the sources of the Mississippi river, by no means an
easy task to accomplish in those times single handed. He next
passed down the "Father of Waters" to New Orleans, and having
returned to Europe, he published in London a book of his travels
in 1828.
After leaving Pembina, Major Long's party descended the
river to Lake Winnipeg, thence ascended the Winnipeg river to
the Lake of the Woods, and returned to the United States by way
of the Rainy Lake region and Lake Superior. Major Long was
born in 1784, lived to an advanced age, and died at Washington
in 1864. Beltrami died in 1855.
Professor Keating was the historian of this expedition. He
embodied the notes and manuscripts of different members of the
party in a work of two volumes, which was published in London
in 1825. Accompanying Keating 's work was a map compiled
from the observations made during the progress of the expedition
and from various other sources of information. On this map the
names and location of the streams tributary to Red River appear
for the first time. On the whole, Professor Keating 's work "may
be correctly pronounced the first attempt to apply the accurate
methods of modern science to the exploration of any portion of
the Northwest." * Major Long's official report was not published
* Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, vol. i, p. 34.
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 549
until some time after the appearance of Keating 's work. He ap-
pears to have been the first person who ever made any authentic
report concerning the Red River country to the government.
In 1824 a family of the name of Tily going from Pembina to
Fort Snelling, was murdered near the site of Grand Forks by a
band of Sioux Indians, who carried two children of this family,
both boys, into captivity. The facts being made known to the
commandant at Fort Snelling by a trader, a scouting party was
sent from the fort to the valley in 1826 and rescued the children.
In the early part of the present decade, one of the rescued boys,
having lived to become a man of advanced age, died in New
Jersey.
The earl of Selkirk had died in the year 1820. Six years later,
to-wit, in 1826, a great flood occurred in the lower valley that
affected his colony and which appears to have been the earliest
one of wrhich we have any record. On May 2d the waters rose
nine feet, and on the 5th the plains were submerged. The waters
continued to rise until the 21st, doing considerable damage to the
property of the colonists. Houses, barns, bodies of drowned
cattle, household furniture, amidst logs and uprooted trees moved
down stream on the surface of the raging waters, and one night
the house of a colonist floated by in flames, forming an impres-
sive spectacle to the awe struck beholders. The Swiss contingent
of the Selkirk colony, becoming discouraged and dissatisfied
with the country by reason of the losses they had sustained from
the flood, left the valley that year and removed to Minnesota,
journeying to their destination by way of the lakes and streams
of that state. They numbered 243 persons and became the first
settlers upon and around the site of St. Paul.
Old Times in the Valley.
For the next dozen or more years following the flood of 1826,
there seems to occur a sort of hiatus in the history of the valley.
At least, we have been able to find but little that has been re-
corded which pertains to those years. Probably no expeditions
visited the country during that interval.
During each recurring summer there ensued the annual buf-
falo hunt, the chief event of the year. The hunting parties of
550 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
the Northwest assembled at some appointed place between June
8th and 18th. Sometimes as many as a thousand or more per-
sons took part in these hunts, their caravans at times consisting
of as many as 600 carts. The hunters were accompanied by their
women and children. They were mainly halfbreeds, with some
Indians and occasionally a few whites. Bands from some of the
posts in Manitoba also joined them. Scouts were first sent out
to locate the herds, and on their return, the leaders having heard
their reports, they determined from them the direction of the
march to the prairies. The buffalo ranges of the Northwest
were along the Sheyenne, the Mouse, the neighborhood of the
Turtle mountains, and the upper portion of the Ked River val-
ley. Reaching any one of these ranges, the hunters attacked the
herds on horseback, using long stocked guns with flint-lock fire,
and slew the animals in large numbers. The remainder of the
herd stampeded away with a loud noise, raising a great cloud of
dust. The men skinned the slain animals for their hides, and
the women assisted in cutting up the meat and loading it into the
carts for transportation to camp where it was cut into strips and
dried for winter's use, and for making pemmican. The tongues
of the buffalo were considered a choice part of these animals.
Though not as choice as beef, buffalo meat nevertheless formed
the chief article of food on the plains. The hides were brought
to the posts for shipment with other peltries.
The pemmican, the only kind of bread known to the Indians,
was made by cutting up the meat in long thin strips, drying and
smoking it over a slow fire as it hung on racks made of small
poles, and it was next placed upon the flesh side of a buffalo hide,
whipped to fine shreds with flails, and then mixed with hot tal-
low in large kettles. The thick, pliable mass was then poured
into sacks made of buffalo hide, holding from 50 to 150 pounds
according to the size of the skin, and would keep many years
when hung up so as to allow the air to circulate around them.
When used, the pemmican needed no further preparation, or it
could be cooked with vegetables in several different ways.
The aristocracy of the plains consisted of the officers, trad-
ers and clerks at the posts, and the buffalo hunters. While the
Selkirk colonists generally dressed in homespun clothing and
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 551
lived plainly, the men at the posts had every luxury that they
could procure, including a stock of the finest liquors. The im-
portation of some of the finer products of civilized life gradually
became more common, even to silk dresses for the women of the
posts. In dress the trappers and voyageurs, or canoe men, and
some other of the employees of the fur companies used a com-
mon sort of cloth that was imported, gray suits being much worn
by them. With these classes, including the halfbreeds, there was
also some admixture of vestments made of the skins of animals,
especially buckskin.
The buffalo was the harvest of those days — running the buf-
falo, making pemmican and shipping furs. Trapping was the
business of the spring, buffalo hunting in the summer and fall,
and in the winter the trappers, hunters and voyageurs devoted
their principal attention to living and they lived right royally
on the fruits of the summer's chase.* Those with many succeed-
ing years constituted the "good old buffalo days."
The guns used in the Northwest were made in England spe-
cially for purposes connected with the fur trading business. They
were imported by way of York Factory and exchanged at the
posts for peltries at certain values. They continued to have
flint fire locks long after the percussion cap had come into gen-
eral use, on account of the great distances to the points at which
the caps might be obtained. If an Indian or other hunter hap-
pened to get out of his supply of percussion caps, on the supposi-
tion that he used a percussion fire gun, it might be a hundred or
more miles from the nearest post, in which case his piece would
be of no use to him, while a flint-lock gun was generally service-
able at any time.
There were some salt springs in the valley that were utilized
to some extent by the Selkirk colonists and the fur companies,
on account of the expense of importing salt. "Considerable
quantities," says Warren Upham, "were yearly made by the evap-
oration of the water of salt springs. One of these springs from
which much salt was made for the Hudson Bay Company is sit-
uated in the channel of the south branch of Two Rivers, about
* This and the three preceding paragraphs are mainly based upon
various sketches in the earlier numbers of The Eecord Magazine.
552 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
13/2 mile above its junction with the north branch, and some
six miles west of Hallock. It is exposed only when the river
runs low, and in such part of the summer the work of salt-making
was done. ' ' *
During the period mentioned above life in and around the
trading posts continued the same as it had been. The country,
the surroundings, the mode of life of the people, and its object,
was of that character which admitted of but little change from
one generation to another. The Selkirk colonists also continued
their simple and isolated mode of life, having at last attained a
fair measure of prosperity and happiness, and but little mindful
of the continual progress and irresistible advancement of that
westward tide of emigration, which, both in Canada and in the
United States, was destined in future years to close in upon them
and merge their descendants amidst the present population of
the Northwest.
Jean N. Nicollet.
Jean N. Nicollet was a Frenchman in the service of the bureau
of topographical engineers. After exploring the basin of the
Mississippi in the south with its western affluents for geographi-
cal and natural history purposes, he was next assigned to the
region of the upper Mississippi. These latter explorations cov-
ered the period between the years 1836 and 1843. Lieutenant J.
C. Fremont was Nicollet 's principal aid and assistant. Fremont
was born in Savannah, Ga., in 1813, consequently he was merely
a young man while in the service of government under Nicollet,
his fame as an explorer of western wilds being still in the future.
But he was thus early gathering a profitable experience as an
aid to Nicollet.*
*The Glacial Lake Agassiz, p. 628.
* Nicollet was born in the village of Cluses, department of Haute
Savoie, France, in 1786. He studied astronomy under La Place, and in
1817 he was appointed secretary and librarian of the Paris Observatory.
With a good equipment of the physical knowledge of his time, he came to
the United States in 1832, and entered the service of the Bureau of Topo-
graphical Engineers. So far as the historical sketches relative to North
Dakota have come under the writer's notice, Nicollet has never received that
recognition which his services entitle him to, or, to speak more truly,
almost no recognition at all. The allusions to his expedition are coupled
with Fremont 's name and that of Nicollet ignored, thus creating in the
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 553
The interior of Minnesota was now more thoroughly explored
than it ever had been since the visits of the French explorers of
the two preceding centuries, or of that of the American traveler,
Jonathan Carver. The chief object of Nicollet 's expeditions was
for geographical purposes, as he and his party mapped out the
streams, lakes and land heights, locating these physical features
of the country in respect to their latitude and longitude as accu-
rately as their imperfect appliances would admit of being done.
Nicollet's party was again in the field during the warm season
of 1839. Passing up the Missouri river, they left its banks in the
vicinity of Pierre, S. D., early in July, and struck out for the
Devils Lake country. At first the party traveled northeast to
the James river, which was then called the " Riviere a Jacques."
On reaching this stream, its valley was followed north to Bone
hill in LaMoure county, N. D., whence the expedition crossed
over to the Sheyenne. This stream was followed up toward Dev-
ils Lake where the party arrived in the latter part of July.
Several days were spent in exploring and mapping out the
shores of the lake and all prominent physical objects in its vicin-
ity. Its western end, however, was not visited, but the party
traversed both its north and south shores to considerable dis-
tances toward the west. The lake lay in the country of the
Yankton Sioux. The salinity of its waters was noted and Nicol-
let designated the country around the lake on his published map
as a "salt water region."
On August 6, 1839, the party were at Stump lake, which
Nicollet calls Wamdushka, its prevalent Indian name. Thence
the party with its military escort marched eastward as far as the
western part of Grand Forks county, probably camping on the
night of August 8th near the center of Moraine township. Al-
though headed toward Red River, the expedition next day wheeled
about at nearly right angles to the line of march since leaving
Stump lake and passed southward to explore and map the
physical features of the Coteau des Prairies. This took the ex-
pedition through what is now Steele county, some distance to the
mind of the reader a false impression as to the officer in charge. Nicollet
died at Washington in 1848, while his report on his explorations was under-
going revision for the press.
554 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
west of where Mayville and Portland now stand. It was more
to Nicollet's purpose to penetrate and explore a region hitherto
but little visited, than to traverse the level plains of the valley
already mapped and described by Major Long and Professor
Keating.
Nicollet's map was published by government in 1842. It was
called the "Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper
Mississippi River." It covered the entire states of Minnesota
and Iowa and portions of the other states that adjoin them. In
respect to the physical features of the country, it was rather
minute for one of that period, and in later years General G. K.
Warren pronounced it "one of the greatest contributions ever
made to American geography."
N. H. Winchell, in his historical sketch prefixed to the "Geo-
logical and Natural History Survey of Minnesota," makes the
following remarks on Nicollet's methods and work: "He aims to
locate correctly, by astronomical observations, the numerous
streams and lakes, and the main geographical features of the
country, filling in by eye-sketching, and by pacing, the inter-
mediate objects. His methods, allowing for the imperfection of
his appliances, and the meagerness of his outfit and supplies,
were established on the same principles as the most approved
geodetic surveys of the present day. It would, perhaps, have
been well if the methods of Nicollet could have been adhered to
in the further surveying and mapping of the territories. Their
geography would have been less rapidly developed, but it would
have been done more correctly. Nicollet's map embraces a multi-
tude of names, including many new ones, which he gave to the
lakes and streams."
A Buffalo Hunt.
As has been stated, white men sometimes accompanied the
halfbreeds to the buffalo ranges, either to participate in or to
witness the slaughter of these animals. Alexander Ross de-
scribes a hunt which he witnessed near the Sheyenne, and in the
vicinity of the site of Fargo, in 1840. He writes: "At eight
o'clock the cavalcade made for the buffalo; first at a slow trot,
then at a gallop, and lastly at full speed. Their advance was on
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 555
a dead level, the plain having no hollow or shelter of any kind
to conceal their approach. Within four or five hundred yards,
the buffalo began to curve their tails and paw the ground, and
in a moment more to take flight and the hunters burst in among
them and fired. Those who have seen a squadron of horse dash
into battle may imagine the scene. The earth seemed to tremble
when the horses started; but when the animals fled it was like
the shock of an earthquake. The air was darkened and the
rapid firing at last became more faint as the hunters became
more distant. During the day at least two thousand buffalo must
have been killed for there were brought into camp 1,375 tongues.
The hunters were followed by the carts which brought in the
carcasses. Much of the meat was useless because of the heat of
the season, but the tongues were cured, the skins saved and the
pemmican prepared."
Traders and Trappers.
As time in its course neared the middle of the century, com-
munication between the valley and the outside world became all
the more frequent. Cart routes leading to the head of navigation
on the Mississippi began to be established by the traders, who,
independent of the American and the Hudson Bay fur com-
panies, had begun to locate at Pembina, St. Joseph and a few
other points in the Northwest. At first, the objective point of
these cart trails was Mendota, near Fort Snelling, but St. Paul
having gotten its first start about the year 1846, the cart trains
with their great packs of buffalo robes and bales of mink and
other skins thereafter went to that place. Here the steamboats
took the peltries for shipment to St. Louis. In these enterprises
the famous Joe Rolette first appears.
Joe was a noted trader of those times. He was born at Prairie
du Chien, October 23, 1820, his father, who was a native of Que-
bec, having been an Indian trader of note in the early days of
Wisconsin. In early life Joe was sent to New York to be educated
under the supervision of Ramsey Crooks, president of the Amer-
ican Fur Company. On his return to the west, he entered the
service of his father in the fur trade. General Sibley was then
residing in a stone built house at Mendota, which was his head-
556 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
quarters, and he had charge of the company's fur trading busi-
ness in the Northwest. The elder Rolette died in 1842, and
about that time the general sent Joe to Pembina in connection
with the company's interests there, and he came in company with
his mother's brother, a Mr. Fisher, who had spent the most of his
life trading with the Indians. Thenceforth Joe made Pembina
his future home.
In 1843 Norman "W. Kittson, who was a relative of Captain
Henry, and in modern times a wealthy railroad official of St. Paul,
also came to Pembina and began laying the foundation of his
subsequent large fortune. In connection with Rolette, he estab-
lished a trading post at Pembina, and removed in 1852 to St.
Joseph, being associated there for awhile with a trader named
Forbes, and a little later with Charles Cavileer.
Only six carts went from Pembina to the Mississippi in 1844,
but with the passing years this small number increased to some
hundreds as the trade developed. The establishment in the Red
River valley of distinctively American traders, whatever their
ancestry may have been, led to the diversion of a part of the fur
trade of this region to the head of navigation on the Mississippi.
This trade had an important influence on the founding and early
growth of St. Paul. Some say that it was the making of that city,
but a large metropolis would have risen upon that site had there
been no fur trade, since conditions pertaining to physical geogra-
phy and other factors had already determined that question.
The American traders at the Red River posts suffered great
losses from time to time from the aggressions of the Hudson Bay
Company's men. They also furnished the Indians, in the way of
traffic, with large quantities of whiskey, which the American
traders were forbidden to do under severe penalties. In vain did
Kittson protest and remonstrate and ask for protection and re-
dress. General Sibley could not help him and the government
would not. At last, in 1847, some Canadian traders came near
Pembina and set up a post two miles from Rolette 's, and sent
out runners to the Indians that they wanted their furs for money
and whiskey. Before they had fairly begun operations, Rolette
took a dozen or so of his plucky retainers, halfbreeds for the
most part, marched against the intruders, tumbled their goods
GEAND FOEKS COUNTY 557
out of their buildings, and burned them to the ground and drove
the traders and their retainers back into Canada.*
The streams of the Northwest were everywhere traversed by
the voyageurs in the employment of the fur companies, and their
banks were familiar to the trappers and hunters of those times.
Probably most of the tributaries of Eed Eiver bear the names
that these adventurous men applied to them. The Hudson Bay
Company engaged men from Canada, Scotland and England as
employees in the varied services of the fur trading business, and
many of them spent the remainder of their lives in the company's
service. The Canadian French element predominated. All of
them were men of vigorous, hardy constitutions, and their lives
and labors were full of hardship and often of excitement and
peril. Out of every hundred, at least forty, it has been com-
puted, perished through the perils that beset their dangerous
mode of life. But the men liked the business and the places of
those who lost their lives by untimely deaths were soon filled by
others. In the absence of white women many of these men took
Indian wives, and there grew up around the trading posts a
numerous progeny of halfbreeds. At one period this element in
the population of North Dakota and Manitoba must have num-
bered about 3,000.
The voyageurs, trappers and hunters led a gay, joyous, but,
on the whole, rather hard and dangerous sort of life, remote from
most of the conveniences, comforts and luxuries of civilization.
But little concerning their adventures and perils was ever left
upon record. During the warm season of most every year the
buffalo ranged over parts of the Northwest in immense herds and
elk, deer, antelope, coyote, fox, beaver and many varieties of
smaller animals were more or less common denizens of this re-
gion, and it was occasionally frequented by the bear. The hides
and skins of these animals were eagerly sought after, as collected
by the trappers, hunters, Indians and halfbreeds, by the agents
of the fur companies and by the independent traders. Some of
the skins were rated more valuable than others on account of
rarity. The great bulk of the packs and bales of furs annually
* From a sketch written for the Minnesota Historical Society by Judge
Flandreau. — The Eecord Magazine, July, 1895.
558 HISTOKY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
shipped from the country consisted of buffalo hides notwithstand-
ing the fact that there was a vast amount of other peltries also
collected besides.
The cart brigades started ior St. Paul in the latter part of
June and were a month, more or less, in making the down trip,
according to the weather and the condition of the trails. "For
shipment," says Charles Cavileer in one of his sketches, "the
robes were packed, ten robes to the pack, using the wedge-press,
making as compact a bale as the screw-press, but requiring more
labor. Of furs, there were 500 skins to the pack, of mink, musk-
rats, martin, fishers, skunk and all small animals. Of bear, fox-
es, wolverines, lynx, there were twenty to the pack. When not
having enough for the regulation bale we made mixed packages,
endeavoring to make all bales as nearly as possible of the same
size and weight, in order that we might correctly estimate the
weight of the load of the cart. From eight to ten packs were
carried on each cart."
The Red River cart consisted of two strongly constructed
wheels with large cylindrical hubs each bored through with a
large hole for the axle, heavy oak rims or felloes four or five
inches thick, an axle with straight phills, a bottom of boards or
poles and a frame around and above the bottom about two feet
high. They resembled, at least in form, the two wheeled cart
of the whites. They were made mostly of oak, the wheels were
not banded with tires of any kind, and no iron whatever was
used in their construction. In place of nails and bolts, wooden
pins were used for the fastenings. The carts were used, eighty
or a hundred in long strung trains which was called a brigade.
David Dale Owen.
In 1848 Professor David Dale Owen, a distinguished geologist
of a past generation, visited the Red River valley. He had been
appointed the previous year by government to make a geological
survey of "Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Its primary object
was to derive information for the removal of such lands as were
valuable for their mineral resources from sale in the land office
at Washington. Owen had a large number of assistants and his
report was published in 1852. In coming to the valley, he made
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 559
a canoe voyage down Red River as far as Lake Winnipeg, and
also passed up the Pembina river as far as the vicinity of Wal-
halla. In what is now the western part of Pembina county, he
examined the great delta of the Pembina river, called the First
Pembina mountain, formed there during the highest stages of
the ancient Lake Agassiz. Owen surmised from the appearance
of the Red River valley that in some past epoch this great basin
had been the bed of a fresh water lake of large proportions, but
neither its physical cause nor the extent of the country it had
covered were then known nor for many years afterwards.
Major Woods and Captain Pope.
In the summer of 1849 Major Woods was despatched by the
Secretary of War to the Pembina settlement for the purpose of
selecting the site for a military post. He was accompanied by
Captain John Pope, of the Engineering Corps, who made a val-
uable report on the country that was traversed by the expedi-
tion. This left Fort Snelling on June 6th, proceeded up the
Mississippi valley, thence across Minnesota by way of the Sauk
valley and Lake Osakis, reaching the Red River at a point about
fifteen miles below the site of Wahpeton, having followed through
Minnesota a cart route already well traveled by trains of Red
River carts that went from Pembina to St. Paul. Crossing to
the west side of the stream the remainder of their journey was
down the valley in the footsteps of Major Long. On account of
the near approach of the seventh decennial census of the United
States, Major Woods had been ordered by Governor Ramsey, of
the territory of Minnesota, to take it for the Pembina settlement.
He found in and around this place 295 males and 342 females,
the most of this population presumably being halfbreeds. In
1840 the traders had 1,210 carts and at the time of the taking of
Woods ' census the number must have been many more.
Major Woods with the most of his party returned up the valley
by the trail that they had followed down the same, but Captain
Pope organized a secondary expedition at Pembina and returned
up stream in canoes for the purpose of examining the river. He
notes the streams that enter Red River from either side. Those
between Pembina and the mouth of Red Lake river are stated by
560 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
him to be as follows : Two Rivers, Park, Marais No. 1 (from the
east), Big Salt, Marais No. 2 (from the west), Turtle, Marais
No. 3, (from the east) and a small stream called Coulee de 1'
Anglais. The Park, Big Salt and Turtle he states to be about
eighteen yards wide, and the Red Lake river as being fifty yards
in width near its mouth, fourteen feet deep, and as having a more
rapid current than Red River. He placed the head of navigation
on Red River at the mouth of the Bois des Sioux.
In speaking of the country Captain Pope says: "The valley
of Red River is entirely alluvial in its formation, no rocks in
place being found in its entire length within the territory of the
United States. It abounds with bowlders or erratic blocks of
granite, which in all cases are very much rounded by the action
of water. They are most abundant upon the highest ridges of
the prairies, and cause all the rapids in the small streams tribu-
tary to Red River. About seventy miles to the north of our
frontier a secondary limestone appears at the falls of Red River,
which is unquestionably the basis of the whole valley, but at what
depth below the surface it is impossible to say."
Captain Pope's error in supposing that the partially rounded
form of bowlders, really chiefly due to glacial agency, was the
result of decomposition aided by running water or any form of
fluvatile action, was but that of his time. His speculation re-
specting the bedrock of the whole valley being the same
Silurian limestone that outcrops below Winnipeg is but little
borne out by the records of artesian wells that have been bored
at many different points in the valley within the last dozen years.
The limestone beds beneath the valley are of different epochs,
and wherever present at all beneath the flat land of its lower
depression, are apt to be overlain by successive beds of shale,
though this is not invariably the case. The depth down to bed-
rock on the valley plain and through soil, clay, sand and gravel,
varies, approximately, from 100 to 400 feet. And the first rock
struck may be either shale, limestone, sandstone or Laurentian
granite, according to locality.
Captain Pope also states that there were then three different
cart routes leading from the Red River valley to St. Paul that
were used by the traders and trappers of those times. These
J. NELSON KKLLKV
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 561
constituted a southern, middle and northern route. The first
was by way of the Minnesota river to Big Stone lake, often tak-
ing to the prairies instead of following the valley bottom; the
other two led as one up the Mississippi valley and then diverged,
the middle route following the course of the Sauk river and across
country to the site or vicinity of Fort Abercrombie, this being
the route of the expedition ; the more northern route was by way
of Crow Wing valley, passing around the north end of Otter Tail
lake and reaching Red river at the mouth of the Buffalo river.
These divergent trails passed down to Pembina on either side
of Red River. In crossing Minnesota, where the country was
partially wooded, they followed the prairie as much as possible.
The First Postoffice in North Dakota.
The first postoifice in this state was established at Pembina
about the year 1849. Previously, the Hudson Bay Company had
been forwarding their mail destined for Canada and England,
twice a year, spring and fall, by special messengers or carriers
to St. Paul, from whence it was forwarded to its destination.
Each half year the mail as gathered from the company's numer-
ous outposts consisted of a thousand or more packages. From
England mail still came by ship through Hudson Bay.
Kittson interested himself in the establishment of a monthly
mail between Pembina and St. Paul. The mail was to leave
Pembina the first of each month for Crow Wing village, but there
was no specified time as to its arrival at that place or at Pem-
bina on the return trip. The route was by way of Thief river,
Red, Cass and Leech lakes. The carriers were halfbreeds, and
the mail was forwarded either way by cart trains in summer, a
part of the way by canoe, and by dog-sledges in winter. Joseph
R. Brown was contractor for the route between Pembina and
Crow Wing, another route already being in use from the latter
place down to St. Paul.
Norman W. Kittson was appointed postmaster sometime in
1849. In 1851 Charles Cavalier came to Pembina and a few days
after his arrival there was appointed assistant postmaster by
Kittson and did all the business of the office. By that time the
transportation business of the country had increased to such an
562 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
extent that the government established a custom-house at Pem-
bina and Charles Cavalier was appointed collector. The custom-
house was one of the log buildings of the place, as was also the
postoffice. Arrangements were also made with the Hudson Bay
Company to deliver their mail at Pembina and have it forwarded
from that point.
Political Representation.
From 1849 to 1858 this portion of the Red River valley was a
part of Minnesota territory. Originally a part of the Louisiana
purchase, the changes of name and of boundaries of the north-
western country down to the time Minnesota territory was
created, were many, as this region became attached to one or
another of the successive territories that from time to time were
being formed. When the territory was organized on June 1,
1849, St. Paul, which became its capital, was nothing more than
a village and at that time mainly dependent on the northwestern
fur trade, while Minneapolis was not, as yet, founded, the site on
the west side of the river then being a part of the Fort Snefting
military reserve. Northwestern Minnesota and the Red River
country constituted the Pembina legislative district, and although
the white population was scant, it was presumed that it was en-
titled to be represented in the territorial legislature. The district
does not appear to have been represented in the first and second
sessions of the legislature, nor to have voted in the first and
second elections for delegates to Congress. But in 1852, at the
third session of the territorial legislature, Norman "W. Kittson
was elected to the council (senate) and Anton Gingras to the
house.
In the election of 1853 there were 128 votes cast at Pembina.
In this election Rolette, Gingras and Kittson were sent to the
legislature, the two former to the house and the latter to the
council. For several years thereafter, Rolette was sent to the
legislature, in 1855 as a member of the council.
The Grip of the Fur Trade.
The vast region now comprised in the Canadian provinces to
the north of our boundary was controlled by the Hudson Bay
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 563
Fur Company. As the charter granted to the original company
had never been annulled, the region in question could be opened
up to general settlement only by an act of Parliament that would
terminate their control over this region. On the other hand,
the portion of the valley within the United States could be occu-
pied by settlers at any time, subject only to the extinguishment
of Indian titles, which, in this case, was effected about as early
as any need of actual settlement required it. Both the agents
of the fur company and the independent traders were doubtless
opposed to the opening up of the country on either side of the
boundary line so long as they could by any .means prevent or
hinder its inevitable occupation.
The colonization of a region in which the larger game, and
the smaller fur bearing animals abound, leads to the gradual
extinction of the fur trade. When such a region begins to be
settled, the larger animals quickly retire before this first wave
of advancing civilization; then, a little later, as the settlements
spread and agriculture and its associated commercial operations
are introduced into the newly occupied country, the smaller ones
lessen in number, or, as in the case of the beaver, entirely dis-
appear. Hence the reason of the hostility that the Northwest
Fur Company exercised toward Lord Selkirk's colonists in 1815
and 1816. They saw in the planting of this colony in the wilder-
ness a menace to their business and its probtable gains. Had not
Lord Selkirk possessed the requisite influence, the province of
Manitoba would never have contained an agricultural popula-
tion for nearly sixty years later, as, in this instance, happened
to be the case.
The fur traders of later times are believed to have circulated
exaggerated reports respecting the rigors of the climate so as to
deter emigration to the valley. In the nature of the case, con-
sidering the steady and continuous west-by-north movement of
the surplus population of the northern states, ever on the in-
crease by the yearly arrival of thousands from Europe, the pos-
session of the Northwest by the fur traders necessarily became
limited in time, being one of those conditions of life, which, both
in the Canadian Dominion and in United States territory, must
sooner or later reach its destined end, and be terminated, either
564 HISTOKY OF BED EIVER VALLEY
by peaceable or violent measures. The former method happily
prevailed, but in the meantime those engaged in the fur trade
held a close grip upon the country. It is apparent that they
preferred that things should remain much as they had been and
continue so as long as it was possible to maintain this phase of
life. This long period of seventy or more years ' duration, devoted
to the fur trade in the Red Eiver valley, has very aptly been
called the "half breed epoch." Its duration was too long for it to
be classed as an incident in the history of the Northwest.
In 1857, the English House of Commons took the initial step
toward opening the British possessions in North America in the
control of the Hudson Bay Company to civilization and unre-
stricted commerce. The committee having the matter in charge
reported in favor of terminating the control of the Hudson Bay
Company at the end of their then 21 year term expiring in 1869.
In 1857 the Hudson Bay Company completed arrangements
with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States whereby
goods for that company could be carried in bond through the
United States, thus practically doing away with the Hudson Bay
post known as York Factory, to which goods were then being
shipped, vessels arriving and departing once a year. In the sum-
mer of 1858 two or three shipments of goods were so made, leav-
ing the Mississippi river at St. Paul and conveyed thence by Red
River carts under the direction of James McKey.*
As soon as boat navigation on the northern lakes and streams
opened in the spring, the company's fleet of Mackinaw boats
was put into active service. These boats had a capacity of about
five tons each. There were distant posts on the Saskatchewan,
Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers to which supplies had to be
forwarded that had come by vessel from England the previous
year, and were brought by the boats up as far as Norway House
near the foot of Lake Winnipeg. Leaving Fort Garry, the boats
Sketch by Capt. Eussell Blakeley: We do not know in what publi-
cation this valuable historical article on the opening up of the Eed Eiver
Valley first appeared; but it is contained in the Eecord Magazine for April,
1897; also "The Long Ago," pp. 36-40. The sketch is also nearly all used
in this work, but owing to our plan of folio-'
in as strict chronological order as conve
necessary to use it in detached paragraphs.
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 565
took down to Norway House the collected stores of furs, which,
for the time being, were left at this post, then reloading with the
supplies mentioned, the boats passed up the Saskatchawan, some
of them going as far as Edmonton. On their return to Norway
House they brought back the winter's catch of furs forwarded
from the distant posts, and taking on the boats again the peltries
that had been left there, they proceeded down Nelson river to
York Factory where a vessel was ready to ship these collected
stores to England. Reloading with the cargo that the vessel had
brought over, the boats returned up to Norway House where the
goods were stored as first mentioned, and then returned to Fort
Garry, by which time September had come. Boats merely going
from Fort Garry to York Factory and back, could make two
round trips a year. Meanwhile, such stock of furs as had been
collected at Fort Garry after the departure of the fleet in the
spring, was forwarded through the United States. The freight
taken through this country in bond, was merely for the supply-
ing of Fort Garry and its outlying posts.f
Fort Abercrombie.
In 1858 a military post called Fort Abercrombie was founded
on the west bank of Red River fifteen miles below the site of
Wahpeton. The fort was laid out in August, and was occupied
but one year, when Secretary of War Floyd, as a part of his plan
to despoil the North of government property and supplies and
prepare the south for rebellion, dismantled the fort, sold the
buildings at a great sacrifice, and withdrew the troops. In 1860
the post was again occupied and rebuilt under charge of Major
Day, and maintained until the building of the Northern Pacific
railroad rendered its farther occupation unnecessary.
About the time the fort was established, speculative parties
endeavored to create a number of townsites in western Minne-
sota, some of them being located on Red River. There being
then so few white inhabitants in this region and the country
undeveloped, these ventures, even if attempted in good faith,
could not be otherwise than unsuccessful.
t From information furnished by John Cromarty, of Larimore.
566 HISTORY OF EED EIVER VALLEY
Redmen Bury the Hatchet.
It was to the interest of the fur traders to keep the separate
tribes of Indians at peace with one another as much as possible,
but in this undertaking they w^ere not always successful. In the
fur trading days the allied tribes of the Sioux were the deadly
enemies of the Chippeway (also spelled Ojibway) and the more
northern tribes. About the year 1858, members of these tribes,
or of most of them, met on the plains of Nelson county, near
Stump lake and agreed at this council to bury the hatchet. The
pipe of peace was smoked, and they mutually agreed, one tribe
with another, to cease from their murderous forays against each
other. William H. Moorhead, one of the old timers of the Red
River valley who came in 1857, happened to be in the Devils
Lake region and was present at this peace council.
The Beginning of the Red River Steamboat Era.
About this time interest began to be taken by those engaged
in commercial pursuits in the navigation of Red River by steam-
boats, since it was known that it had long been used to transport
goods by the use of canoes. In October, 1858, Captain Russell
Blakely, of St. Paul, accompanied by John R. Irvine, visited the
Red River valley for the purpose of examining into the practica-
bility of navigating this stream by steamboats. Resulting from
the report of Captain Blakely the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce
offered to pay a bonus of $2,000 to whoever would place a steam-
boat upon Red River.
The Red River of the North is neither a wide nor deep stream,
and is, or formerly was, practically navigable from Lake Winni-
peg up stream as far as Breckenridge and Wahpeton. This, at
least, in respect to the latter points, was practicable when the
river was above its ordinary stage. After the founding of Moor-
head and Fargo the bridges stopped the boats from going above
those places. The river is very crooked in respect to its minor
bends, increasing to a long stretch the distances that the boats
had to travel over and above a nearly straight course such as the
railroads in the valley now have. Thus, the distance from the
mouth of the Bois des Sioux at Wahpeton to the international
GRAND FOEKS COUNTY 567
boundary is 186 miles by a straight course, and 397 miles by the
numerous twists and turns of the river channel, yet in all this
part of its course the river does not deviate from one side to the
other of a meridian line more than five or six miles. At Wah-
peton the river at its ordinary stage is 943 feet above sea-level;
the altitude of Lake Winnipeg is 710 feet, hence the fall of what
has here been alluded to as the navigable part of the river
amounts to 233 feet. For about twenty-four miles as the river
runs, or twelve in a straight course next below the mouth of the
Goose, the stream crosses a morainic belt of bowlder clay that
extends across the valley here at this point, and its bed is ob-
structed with bowlders, forming the Goose rapids. The fall in
this part of the river is twenty-four feet in its low water stage
and fourteen feet during high water. These slight rapids were
often a hindrance to the passage of the boats during any season
of low water in the days of steamboat navigation.
The range between extreme low and high water at the differ-
ent points named is as follows: "Wahpeton, 15 feet; Fargo, 32
feet; Belmont, 50 feet; Grand Forks, 44 feet; Pembina, 40 feet,
and at Winnipeg, 39 feet. The maximum point of extreme high
water, occurring only during occasional spring floods, is Belmont,
in Traill county, where the river channel is narrowed between
high banks of bowlder clay ; the next point of extreme high water
level at Grand Forks is connected with the entrance into the
Eed at that place of the Red Lake river. The years in which
extraordinary floods have occurred on Red river, and been
recorded, are those of 1826, 1852, 1860, 1861, 1882 and 1897.
The steamboat era on Red river may be considered as having
had its beginning in 1859 and as practically terminating in 1886,
in consequence of most of the boats having been driven out by
the railroads by that time. There are two rather distinct periods
to this era. The first came within the epoch of the fur trading
business and was not helped by any settling or agricultural de-
velopment of the country ; the second period was coeval with the
settling and earlier stages of the development of the valley. Of
the earlier Red river steamboats, four of them have now become
historic. These are the Freighter, the Anson Northup, the Inter-
568 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
national and the Selkirk. For the present, we are only concerned
with the first three of these boats.
The Episode of the Freighter.
The dates of many of the facts relative to Red River Valley
history, as usually published in various pamphlets, sketches, etc.,
are very discrepant, though generally they vary but one year
forward or backward of that which should be the correct one.
But in respect to the last trip ever made by the steamer Freighter,
they reach a perfect climax of confusion. While the general
facts of the matter need not be called in question, the date of the
attempt that was made to transfer this boat into Red river seems
to be involved in almost hopeless entanglement. Manifestly,
only one date to the incident here following can be the correct
one, yet every year from 1857 to 1862 inclusive has been assigned
by different sketch writers as the one that terminated the career
of this boat. In this respect, nearly every writer mentioning
the circumstance, and assigning a date, is at variance with nearly
every other. Moreover, some have confounded the Freighter
with the Anson Northup, rendering a bad matter in respect to
chronology still worse.
In the spring of 1859 or '60* an attempt was made to transfer
a steamboat from the Minnesota into the Red River of the North
by passing it through the long trough connecting the valleys of
these rivers and in which nestle Lakes Traverse and Big Stone.
The heads of these lakes are about five miles apart, but the low
bottom land between them, called Browns Valley, is occasionally
sufficiently flooded in the spring so that they are connected to-
gether, although draining in opposite directions. It was known
that on a few occasions laden canoes had made this passage from
Pembina to St. Paul. A small steamer called the Freighter was
then plying on the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, with Capt.
C. B. Thiemmens, master. The boat was owned by Capt. John B.
* N. H. Winchell, a good authority, in the Geological and Natural History
Survey of Minnesota, vol. i, p. 134, gives the date as 1859. Russell Blakely
states that it was in 1860. This attempt to take the boat into Red river is said
to have been an incident of a gold excitement that had broken out on the
Saskatchawan. If this statement is correct, then the episode of the Freighter
would have fallen in the spring following this gold craze.
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 569
Davis, of St. Paul, and is stated to have been a flat-bottomed,
square-bowed affair, about 125 feet in length, of 200 tons burden,
and was presumably of the stern-wheeled style of build. Its
owner seems to have conceived the idea of taking the boat into
Red river in the manner above mentioned. Those directly inter-
ested in the enterprise were J. C. Burbank, Russell Blakely and
associates, parties who about that time organized a company to
operate a stage line from St. Cloud to the Red River valley.
The Freighter was accordingly run up the Minnesota river
during the spring rise, but the water subsiding, the boat grounded
in the river channel and was left stranded about nine miles below
the outlet of Big Stone lake.f It was then deserted by its crew,
and one account says it was pillaged and nearly destroyed by
the Indians. Captain Davis afterwards stated that if he had
started the boat off from St. Paul some three or more weeks
earlier he could have gotten her through Browns Valley and into
Red river with little trouble. The boat was afterwards sold for
its machinery to Burbank & Co., at sheriff's sale, and finally its
heavier equipments were removed as presently to be stated. In
after years no repetition of this experiment was practicable on
account of mill dams on the upper Minnesota, and ultimately
numerous bridges over the upper portions of both streams.
The First Steamer on Red River.
The first steamboat to navigate Red river was called the
Anson Northup, and this boat was placed on the river in 1859.
Some years before the Civil War, a steamboat called the North
Star was in use on the Mississippi above the Falls of St. Anthony.
This boat was bought at Minneapolis in the fall of 1858 by Cap-
tain Anson Northup, who took it up the river to Crow Wing,
where it was dismantled. Here lumber was sawed for a pros-
t The distance to the place below Big Stone lake at which the Freighter
was abandoned has been misstated nearly as often as the date. Warren Upham,
who saw the remains of the hull of the boat in 1879, and states that the boat
was burned after being abandoned, adds that the locality where she grounded
is near the east line of Section 33, Odessa township, Big Stone county, Minn.
(Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, vol. i, p. 624.) If the
hull of the boat was ever burned it was not until some time after the cabin,
machinery and other fixtures had been removed. In that case it could have
been set on fire with equal facility by white men as by the Indians.
570 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
pective boat to navigate Red river. Early the next spring an ex-
pedition left Crow Wing, consisting of thirty-four ox teams and
forty-four men, en route for the Red River valley, with the boil-
ers, engine and furnishings of the North Star, and the sawed
lumber. The expedition followed one of the cart trails to Detroit
lake, the remainder of the journey being across a stretch of coun-
try without trails, bridges or inhabitants, and rather difficult to
pass through in March. A town site named Lafayette had been
laid out a year or two before this time opposite the mouth of the
Sheyenne, and this place contained a log cabin or two. The party
arrived here on the evening of the first of April. Here the hull
of the boat was built. This being completed, and the boilers and
machinery having been placed in position, it was launched and
next run up to Fort Abercrombie, where the cabin was con-
structed.
This first boat to navigate Red river had a capacity of from
fifty to seventy-five tons. Its machinery had previously been
used in other boats, and is said to have been brought to the West
from the state of Maine about the year 1851. The steamer started
for Fort Garry on May 17, and arrived there on June 5, 1859.
She returned up to Fort Abercrombie, bringing on the trip twenty
passengers. Here she was tied up, and when Captain Blakely
and others desired her further services they were informed that
they would have to buy the Anson Northup if they wanted to
run her. Captain Northup had agreed to place a steamer on Red
river for the bonus that had been offered, but had not agreed to
run the boat on any regular trips. Later on the boat was bought
by J. C. Burbank.
Stage Line to Red River.
The Hudson Bay Company maintained a few posts this side of
the boundary line, in the capacity of a commercial organization.
One of these, called Georgetown, located on the Minnesota side
of Red river, sixteen miles north of the site of Moorhead, was
established August 12, 1859. The post was located by James
McKey. During the same year an association called the Minne-
sota Stage Company was organized by J. C. Burbank, Russell
Blakely and their associates, to put on a line of stage coaches
GRAND FOEKS COUNTY 571
between St. Cloud and Fort Abercrombie, the route being by
way of Sauk Center, Osakis, Alexandria and Breckenridge. This
stage line resulted from mail contracts of 1858, whereby mail was
to be carried by way of the places named to Fort Abercrombie
and other northwestern points. An expedition was sent out in
June to bridge streams and open the road. This being done, and
stations established, the stages began running in the fall of 1859.
The next spring the stage line was extended down to the George-
town post.
There accompanied the road-making expedition a party of
ladies and gentlemen from Great Britain, bound for the Hudson
Bay posts in British America. Of the party were the Misses
Ellenora and Christina Sterling, of Scotland. The party, it
seems, expected to travel by boat to Fort Garry, but Captain
Northup having refused to run the steamer, a flatboat was built
at Fort Abercrombie and the party proceeded down the river,
the flatboat being in charge of George W. Northup. On the trip
down, one morning a small band of Chippeway Indians fired
several shots at the party. George asked why and what reason
they had for shooting at them. Their answer was: "You must
not talk our enemies' language is you don't want to be shot at."
It took twenty-two days to reach Fort Garry, and the ladies went
on to Lake Athabasca, where they arrived just as winter set in.
While on his return to St. Paul, Captain Blakely learned of
the purchase of the Anson Northup by his associate, Mr. Bur-
bank. He appears to have returned at once to the valley. Under
her new ownership the boat made another trip to Fort Garry. The
water now being low, the boat could not get through the Goose
rapids. Her cargo was unloaded, the intention being to have it
taken to its destination by McKey's carts, when the timely arrival
of Captain Blakely resulted in the construction of wing dams,
and the goods being reloaded, the boat proceeded safely to Fort
Garry ; but the crew returned to St. Paul by a cart train.
In the spring of I860, Captain Blakely and associates com-
pleted a contract with Sir George Simpson for the transportation
of 500 tons of freight annually from St. Paul to Fort Garry for a
period of five years. The steamer was refitted the same spring,
572 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
was renamed the Pioneer, and was commanded that summer by
Captain Sam Painter, with Alden Bryant clerk.
Nick Huffman said in the sketch written by him: "Stations
had been built along the [stage] road, and teams by the hundred
were hauling freight for Fort Garry and Georgetown. The old
steamer Ans Northup was then making regular trips from George-
town to Fort Garry. There was life and good pay everywhere.
Captain Munn sent for me to work on the steamboat, which they
then called the Pioneer. There was no pleasure in this, as the
water was low and the men had to haul on the lines all day and
chop wood all night by lantern, and we had a hard time to get the
boat to Georgetown."
The mail was now extended from Fort Abercrombie to Pem-
bina, and William Tarbell and George W. Northup were employed
as carriers, using carts in summer and dog-trains in winter.
Ultimately the Pioneer passed into the hands of the Hudson Bay
Company, was dismantled, and her engines used to run a sawmill.
The International.
The next boat to be placed upon Red river was called the
International. She was built at Georgetown in 1861.* This boat
contained the machinery and other belongings of the stranded
Freighter, which had been hauled by ox-teams across the prairies
late the previous fall and in charge of C. P. V. Lull.f The timber
for the hull was cut along Red river, and sawed by the old-fash-
ioned pit method, one man working the lower end of the saw
below in a pit, and another the upper end upon the log above.
* According to the sketches the date of the International runs from 1859
to 1863 inclusive. A. W. Kelly, of Jamestown, N. D., came to St. Paul in 1861,
arriving there on the day of the battle of Bull Eun. He then went to George-
town, where he helped to build the International. This fixes the building of
the boat in the latter half of the year 1861. The boat was probably not
launched until the spring of 1862.
t ' ' There was an old steamboat lying in the Minnesota river six miles
below Big Stone lake, which was intended to come over into Eed river in 1857.
There was a big flood in the Minnesota river and Captain Davis thought he
could run the old Freighter, for that was the name of the boat, into the Eed
river, but the water went down and the boat was left stranded. The boat was
sold at sheriff's sale, and was bought by Bnrbank of the stage company.
There was a Welshman left in charge of the boat and here he stayed nearly
L. C. HAZLETT
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 573
The International measured 137 feet in length, 26 feet beam, and
was rated at 133 tons. She was owned by Burbank & Co.
Nick Huffman, evidently referring to the year 1862, wrote:
"In the spring we all went on the boat, with Captain Barrett,
Pilot John K. Swan, and the usual crowd of rousters. We run
by day and chopped wood by night, as the Indians did not allow
any woodchoppers to stay on the river, and so the boat had to
get its own wood. The Indians owned the whole country then.
It was steamboating under difficulties, as the Indians were in-
clined to be hostile and took everything from the settlers. The
whole crew soon gave out and had to quit."
Russell Blakely says: "The Indians had protested against the
use of the river for steamboats, complaining that the boats drove
away the game and killed the fish, while the whistle made such
an unearthly noise that it disturbed the spirits of their dead and
their fathers could not rest in their graves. They demanded
four kegs of yellow money to quiet the spirits of their fathers, or
that the boats be stopped. At this time Clark W. Thompson,
superintendent of Indian affairs, and Indian Commissioner Dole,
were on their way to the mouth of Red Lake river, opposite
Grand Forks, to hold a treaty with the Indians. They were
turned back by the opening of Indian hostilities in
August, 1862."
The Sioux Indian outbreak was confined more to central and
western Minnesota than to the Red River valley, though in the
upper part of it they killed a few settlers, plundered teams loaded
with supplies, burned what there then was of Breckenridge, and
besieged Fort Abercrombie for six weeks. Most of the settlers
then located along the Minnesota side of the river in that part
of the valley were warned in time and fled for shelter, both to the
fort and the fur-trading post at Georgetown.
four years away from wife and children with nothing to eat, only what he
could hunt and fish.
* ' In the fall of 1860 we took a lot of teams, wagons and tools, under orders
from Burbank and took the boat to pieces and brought it to Georgetown.
We found the boat and the little Welshman all right.
* ' A second trip was necessary for the machinery. There were two big boil-
ers, but we brought them safely to Georgetown, where the boat was rebuilt.
We did not reach Georgetown till after Christmas with the last load and the
weather was very cold." — Nick Huffman's Story.
574 HISTOEY OF BED EIVEE VALLEY
During these troubles the International was taken to Fort
Garry. A cart-train from St. Paul loaded with Hudson Bay
goods had just arrived at Georgetown in charge of Norman W.
Kittson ; the teamsters and others were organized into a defensive
force consisting of forty-four men, but as they were indifferently
armed, and the post unable to stand a siege, it was decided, after
keeping guard for two weeks, to abandon it and seek safety at
Fort Garry. Pierre Bottineau was sent to Pembina for a relief
guard, and the people, carts and goods were ferried across the
river at night. Elm river was crossed the first day and the Goose
river on the second, when the relief party was met. Among these
men were Joe Rolette, William Moorhead, Hugh Donaldson and
other old-time frontiersmen. The third night out, the party
camped three miles south of the site of Grand Forks. At the
forks of the river they found several hundred Chippeways who
had gathered to meet the Indian commission. This band took
whatever food they could lay their hands upon, and allowed the
party to proceed to Fort Garry without further molestation.
The Georgetown post remained vacant until 1864, when it was
again occupied.
The International was brought to Fort Abercrombie in 1863 by
Captain Barrett, and in 1864 was sold to the Hudson Bay Com-
pany, it having become apparent that the country could not be
opened up against the interest of that powerful organization.
They did not want immigration and trade, nor mails or other
appliances of civilization. The boat made but one trip that year.
The cart brigades again put in an appearance, and the country
became devastated by grasshoppers.*
Hatch's Battalion.
On account of the Sioux outbreak of 1862 and continuation of
Indian troubles into the year following, it was thought to be
advisable to occupy the valley with troops. The secretary of war
commissioned Major E. A. C. Hatch, of St. Paul, to recruit a bat-
talion of four companies of cavalry. It was late in the fall before
the expedition, with its accompanying wagon-trains, got started.
They marched by way of St. Cloud, Sauk Center and Alexandria,
* Sketch by Capt. Eussell Blakely.
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 575
but they divided the line of march at Pomme de Terre. Major
Hatch with one division proceeded to Georgetown direct, but
Lieutenant Charles Mix, with the other division, went by way
of Fort Abercrombie. Major Hatch arrived at Georgetown,
October 30, and Lieutenant Mix came in several days later. The
expedition reached Pembina, November 13, 1863. The march
down the valley was an arduous one on account of scarcity of
forage for the teams, and cold weather. Upward of 250 animals,
horses, mules and oxen, were lost. That winter the troops built
Fort Pembina. Governor Alexander Ramsey, of Minnesota, made
a "treaty" with the Indians in October, 1863, and this, with the
patrolling of the river, ended the trouble with them in the valley.
In the spring of 1864, Hatch's battalion left the valley and
returned to St. Paul.
Cunningham's Expedition.
Cunningham's was also a military expedition made in 1865.
It consisted of a regiment of cavalry and upward of two hundred
civilians, employed in various capacities, such as teamsters, cooks,
etc. The expedition left Fort Snelling with Major Cunningham
in command, and crossing the state of Minnesota, they marched
to Devils lake by way of the Sheyenne river. The object of
entering Dakota with United States troops at that time appears
to have been to make a reconnaissance or to scout through the
country and impress the Indians with a show of military strength,
for their depredations in other parts of the territory had not
wholly ceased. From Devils lake the expedition proceeded east-
ward toward Red river. This was in August, and the line of
march was probably through the southwestern part of this county,
for the expedition headed for the Georgetown post on their way
back to Fort Snelling. This expedition had some influence on
the settlement of the eastern part of North Dakota, for it made
the country better known to men of Cunningham's command,
who, some years later, emigrated hither.
Disappearance of the Buffalo.
About the year 1867 or '68, the last of the buffalo that roamed
over the eastern part of North Dakota disappeared from the Red
576 HISTOEY OF BED EIVEE VALLEY
River valley. The bison instinctively avoided all localities fre-
quented by man, and on that account the herds did not approach
very near to the old Bed river trail during the later years of
their visits to the valley, but rather ranged somewhat back from
the river. That they were extensively hunted in this part of
the state, the abundance of their bones that the settlers found
scattered over the prairies bore convincing testimony. The last
roving herd left in the West was wiped out in eastern Montana
in 1883. A few were saved from total destruction by being pro-
tected in the National Park, also some in corrals by a few ranch-
ers. While the last of the herds were being killed off, their hides
by the car-load were shipped over the Northern Pacific railroad,
to be followed a few years later by car-loads of their bones over
the same and other lines, destined to eastern sugar refineries and
bone mills. The immense bone piles at some of the railroad sta-
tions in North Dakota, as collected by the settlers and sold to
shippers during the later eighties, presented surprising objects.
Manitoba Opened Up.
In March, 1869, the Earl of Granville succeeded in terminating
the Hudson Bay contracts and that company surrendered posses-
sion of the country, thus ending a twenty-one year contest on the
part of the imperial government for the opening of the country.
The organization of the Manitoba government was provided for
in 1870, and on August 23 of that year, Colonel Wolsey at the
head of the Sixtieth Canadian Bifles entered Fort Garry, and on
September 2, Lieutenant-Governor Archibald arrived and the col-
ony was duly organized. James W. Taylor, the American consul,
arrived in November.
At the time of the surrender of their privileges to the crown,
the Hudson Bay Company occupied twenty districts and possessed
120 posts in Manitoba and the Northwest territory, and employed
3,000 men. Fort Garry was their principal stronghold. The first
Fort Garry was established in 1821, at the time of the coalition
of the Northwest and Hudson Bay companies. A second fort,
that so often mentioned in Bed Biver valley history, was built
in the vicinity of the first in 1835, the old one being dismantled.
Both of these forts stood upon the site of the city of Winnipeg
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 577
which was founded in 1870. The political power of the Hudson
Bay Company now being gone, they dwindled to a mere com-
mercial organization, and in that capacity they continued to main-
tain a few posts this side of the boundary line so long as it was
of any profit to them to do so. The British Northwest now being
open to settlement, a large immigration soon followed from On-
tario and other eastern provinces of Canada.
The Approach of the Railroads.
The railroads have wielded a vast influence on the later devel-
opment of the Red River valley. As we shall have to take up
again this subject, as these neared and were next built through
this county, it will be proper at this point to give some account
of the time and manner of their approach to the valley itself.
Two great railroad lines, more than any others, finally exercised a
potent influence on the settlement and development of the valley.
These were the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads.
While the latter road has always borne its present name, it should
be stated of the former named system that its lines were at first
called the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. This name was retained
until 1879 ; in that year there was a reorganization of the com-
pany and the road then took the name of the St. Paul, Minne-
apolis & Manitoba Railway. In 1890 the Great Northern system
took its present name. The original road was chartered in 1856.
On June 25, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, a short ten-
mile stretch of track was put in operation between St. Paul and
the village of St. Anthony, now comprised in the east side of
Minneapolis. This short line was the first railroad to be built
in Minnesota and it was the beginning of the present Great
Northern system. An isolated railroad system, comprising a few
short lines of track and owned by different companies, next began
to radiate outward in various directions from St. Paul and Min-
neapolis. These lines were confined to eastern Minnesota and
were isolated in the sense that, while interconnected, none of
them for about a half dozen years had any connection with any
of the lines then radiating from Milwaukee or Chicago. To equip
them, the rails, cars, locomotives, etc., all had to be brought up
578 HISTORY OF RED RIVER VALLEY
the Mississippi river from the nearest points below St. Paul at
which they could be delivered to the boats by railroad.
By the year 1866 the northern line of the St. Paul & Pacific
had been extended up to Sauk Rapids, near St. Cloud, seventy-six
miles above St. Paul. In 1872 this line was built through St.
Cloud to Melrose, thirty-four miles west of the former place, and
here the track halted for several years. In the meantime, the
southern route of this system was begun at Minneapolis in 1867,
was pushed year by year toward the Red River valley and reached
Breckenridge, according to some old settlers' recollections, Octo-
ber 21, 1871.
The conception of a railroad from the head of Lake Superior
to Puget Sound originated during the early years of railroad con-
struction in this country. After the beginning of the first trans-
continental line, the original conception took definite form and
shape and a company was organized to build it. The road was
chartered by congress July 2, 1864. Preliminary work on the
Northern Pacific was begun near Thompson, Minn., February 15,
1870, and by the close of that year fifty miles of track had been
laid west of the point of its divergence from the St. Paul & Duluth
railroad. The next year 179 miles more of track were added to
that first laid, thus completing the road as far west as the Red
river at Moorhead by December 1, 1871.
Along Red River in 1870-71.
There had been a few frontiersmen located along the Minne-
sota side of Red river above Georgetown since about 1858, but
the Dakota side of the upper part of the valley practically re-
mained unoccupied until about the year 1870. John Lindstrom,
now a resident of Lind township in this county, came from Doug-
las county, Minnesota, and settled on the Dakota side of the river
May 18, 1870. He writes to author as follows :
"When I came to Dakota in 1870, I settled on the Red river in
what is now Cass county, fifteen miles north of where Fargo now
stands. At that time there were very few white people anywhere
on the Dakota side of Red river. At Fort Abercrombie there
was the garrison, but below that place there were no settlers for
fifty miles. At the point right opposite the Hudson Bay post of
GRAND FORKS COUNTY 579
Georgetown there lived a Frenchman called Jack — I never heard
any other name applied to him — who traded with the halfbreeds
and Indians that came along the river. I used to trade with him
too, sometimes. He charged fifteen dollars a barrel for flour,
thirty cents a pound for pork, two dollars a gallon for kerosene,
two dollars a gallon for black strap molasses, four dollars a gal-
lon for vinegar, three pounds of sugar for a dollar, and two and
a half pounds of coffee for a dollar. He sold gunpowder, shot
and gun-caps, always charging three times as much as at the
general stores.
"Jack also sold whiskey, but the sale of that article came to a
sudden stop when the soldiers who were to garrison Fort Pem-
bina went by his place. They camped for the night south of his
place, but they found out that he sold whiskey. So two of them
walked down there so as to 'get the lay of the thing,' as they
generally expressed it. They took a few candles along which
they traded off for whiskey so as to find out where it was kept.
The next morning, as they were about to pass by, the whole gang
turned into his place, crowded into the house, corralled Jack at
the table where he wras eating his breakfast, and some of them
commenced to help themselves to what was on the table so as to
draw his attention while the others helped themselves to the
whiskey. The keg was nearly full, and as this held ten gallons
they could not afford' to leave what their canteens would not hold,
so they shouldered the keg and walked off. Their officers took
them about three miles down the river; there they had a rest
which lasted until the next morning, and they had a glorious time,
singing and shouting. This wound up Jack's saloon business, for
he was afraid of having more customers of that kind.
"One day a contractor that hauled goods to Pembina came
along the river with about twenty-five yoke of oxen and as many
wagons. His teamsters were all white men, or would have been
such if washed. Each man drove two or three teams, according
to his ability, but his cook was considered one of the smartest of
them, though he only drove two teams. But in addition to his
driving the teams he was furnished with an old smooth-bore mus-
ket and ammunition so as to do a little hunting along the road.
580 HISTORY OF EED RIVER VALLEY
When they had gotten between Georgetown and Elm river, a bear
came along on the outer side of the road so as to cross it behind
the line of teams. Some one, as a joke, shouted to the cook to
take his gun, run out and kill the bear. The man took his gun,
loaded with duck-shot, and the rest of his ammunition, and ran
out to meet the bear. All thought that they would lose their
cook, but none of them had sense enough to warn the fellow back.
But fools generally have good luck and so had this one. When
he had gotten within five rods of bruin, the latter party thought
he had better get ready for a fight. Rising on his hind legs he
waited for an attack. The cook fired his charge of shot square
into the bear's forehead, but the gun being dirty, the shot scat-
tered and blew out the bear's eyes. That was the only thing that
saved the man's life. Now there was time to reload and a man
was hastily sent out by the train boss to shout to the cook that
he should go close up to the animal, take aim behind the shoulder,
and fire forward. Pie did so, and put an end to the roaring and
distracted animal.
"But the greatest novelty we had to look at in those days was
when the Hudson Bay Company's freighters passed by us, going
between Fort Garry and St. Cloud. Sometimes they had trains
consisting of 106 Red river carts drawn by ponies or oxen, both
kinds of animals being used in the same train. The drivers rode
alongside on horseback. They were generally halfbreeds, as could
be seen by their long hair hanging down on their shoulders and
mocassins on their feet ; otherwise they were clothed like white
men. From eight to ten carts were managed by each driver.
The equipment of each man was a short whip, generally hung by
a string around the wrist of the right hand, a muzzle-loading shot-
gun, a powder-horn and a shot-bag. The boss was always a white
man, and he generally had one or more white men with him as a
kind of bodyguard.
"The last buffalo seen in this region was in 1867 when one was
seen and sh(A on the Dakota side six miles below Georgetown.
In 1871 there were some wild Texas steers roaming across the
country, one being shot at Rush river, one at the mouth of the
Sheyenne and another near the mouth of Elm river."
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11