Qass Jl Book PRESENTED BV" Hi THE EARLY HISTORY OP RANSOM COUNTY NORTH DAKOTA mmmffmrmm :^ -.-I ,'?■'■•: J t THE EARLY HISTORY / 17 OP -- — RANSOM COUNTY INCLUDING REFERENCES TO SARGENT COUNTY 1835-1886 LARIMORE, N. D. PRINTED BY H. V. ARNOLD 1918 Publisher's Booklet No. 20. ProTioni iBsnes bearing on N. D. loeal hlsUrj : k history of Larinaore to 1910, 186 pages. Moraine Township, SS p. The Early History of Inkster, 128 p. The History 9/ Qid Pembina, 168 p. Gift AuthoT OCT 23 i92Q FOREWORD Tms booklet w»* suggested some jean ag* tnm the fact tkal mrlf In 1903 the pablisher prepared for II. B. Oe La Bere« thtfi editor of the Sheldon Progress, a coaple of articles n? dtled ''Some hlarlj Visits of White Men to Kansom CMOtj.*' These vere published in the Progress in its issues of April t) A&d May 3, 1903. Mr. De La Bere is not now living, but wa« « loao that rather ought to have lived longer into the new cca* turj. The publisher was not personally acquainted with k\m bat may have seen him during some call made by him at tke Pioneer office in Larimore, if he was ever here. We do aot remember how long it may have been after the publication «f the articles mentioned that such a project as including ta oar series a booklet on Ransom County was considered, but it wm^ a number of years ago. The actual printing of this work was hnally brought abo«^ in an adventitious manner. The third chapter of a work ef tilled "The History of Old fembina," concerned fur com* panics and the fur trade, in its nature introductory, and goo4 in whole or in part for two or three other contemplated bookk While the type was standing, pages with adapting changes^ were printed in advance for three other contemplated work8| and laid away until the Pembina book was finished. In that way pages 13—23 of this wcnk were printed in advance of the rest. The spiing was not good drying weather for printing (nkf so while unfinished sheets were drying, work was being iont on some other booK, and hence we were enabled to push the present one along considerably. Our pamphlets are printed in a house in town and with a limited private outfit, on a press improvised from a common copy-press. One page only is printed at an impresaioa, four" paged sheets being used each folded once. No maanscfipt it ased getting up these works. Aside from qaotcd matttz, each page is pat ia type as reached witiioat aa^ag a^j cof y« CONTENTS 1. General Description. Location, size and drainage, 5, 6 — Topography and capaei* ties, 6, 7 — Railroad faciliries, population, landmarks, 7, 8— • Aborigines, 9-— The Sbeyenne, and direrse spellings, 9, lO — Bargent County, ii —Township diagram of Ransom Co., IS. II. Fur Companies and the Fur Trade. Inception of the fur trade, 13 — Early fur trading in Norlli America, 13, 14 — The Hudson Bay Company, 15 -The French in the Northwest, 18 -The Northwest Company, 20 — Earlf posts on Red river, 21, 22— Later organized companies, as,!). III. Some Government Expeditions. First visitants to Ransom County probably fur traders, 24 — Featberstonhaugh visits the Coreau des Prairies, 25 — The ex» peditinn of Jean N. Nic- Uet. 26 — At Devils lake and in Ra»* som County, 27, 28 -Nicollet's map, 28 — His methods and work, 30 --Injustice to Nicollet's memory, 3I--Capt. E. V. Sumner, 32— The Oregon trail, 32— Gen. Sibley's march through Ransom County, 33, 35— Fort Ransom, 36, 37 — The government freighters, 38, 40. IV. Civil Organization and Settlement. Creation of conntie?. 41— The earliest settlers. 43, 44 — Two classes of settlers, 4";— Remarks on the timber settlers, 46, 47 — Drouth year, 48 — The governrpent survey, 49— How the townships were «rb(iividef^, 50. 5"? — Claitr shack days, 54, 57 — County organization, 58 — The Big slough, 59— Glacial »«• floencfS and effects, 60, 61 — Karly days at Lisbon, 62, 65 — First church societies, 66 — Ransom County gold excitement, 67, 70— The first start of Sheldon, 70. 72.— NoTK, 73, 74- THE EARLY HISTORY OF RANSOM COUNTY GENERAL DESCRIPTION RANSOM County is situated in the Bootbeftstera portion of N«»rth UHkota with one county between it and the eastern border of the state and likewise ob« eounty between it and the state line oi South Dakota, Other counties in the same part of the state which bound Kansom County on all lour sides are Barnes aud Cass north, Kichlaud east, 8argeut south, and LaMour* west. Its lorni is a purHllelograni and consists of 2^ government or congressional townnhips in four towua north and south and six ranges from east to west as tb» range numbers run. This makes the county 24 milw wide by S6 in length. It comprises 864 square miles or 662,960 acres. A notable drainHge feature of Kansom County ia formed by the J^lieyenne river, a moderate sized atream for its length. It enters the county some four miles east or its northwestern corner and flows in a general southeast direction to within six miles of the south line of the county, its course here being eastward for several miles; thence it swings around northward for about te» iniles, then turning east by north another ten mile*, U ^aally passes out ol the coup I y aif |)nllea aoUtb of }t» 6 THl BARLT BiSTOtBT OF ftlSrSOM OOUtfTT fiortbtastern coroer. These distaDces are those acrosa towDsbips bisected by the river and do not takeaccouot of its windingH. Its southero extension and radical change in the direction of its course, forma what ia oalled the bijc bend or bow of the riyer. At four or five miles north of this bend, the loup thus formed ia uine or ten miles across from side to side. Maple river comes into the county for a few milea in the nurth part of Liberty Township and than taraa out again, being confined to a limited part of that township only, within the county limits. Dead Colt creek is a i>mall stream in the southern part of the county which flows east by north and then northerly, reaching the bow of the Hheyenne in the southwest part ol Big Bend Township. A stream called Bear creek is located in the west part of Kort Kausom Town* ship but scon leaves the im.ui ty and flows southwest to James river. Nicollet's map published in 1842, names it -'Mato Pahah or Grisly Bear Hill R.," and shows its Talley as lined with bluffs on either side. Besides the streams mentioned, Ransom County contains a few snail lakes. The surface of the county is generally undulating, being overxpreHd by a black, sandy loam underlaid by t clay subsoil. The topograpliy and capacities of tha county h»ve been described in the following manner: "First, that part in the southwestern portion of the ecunty conr prising about three townships, which is too light to depend upon for grain raising purposes, altho in wet seasons crops are grown upon it equal to those of other parts of the cointy. The water is very near the, surface and when tha land Lb left aadisturbed the grass grows more luxuriantly than on ih« high and hard prairie laods. Thin land oialces ideal stock farms. "Second, the Tallest and low lands along the Sbej* •one and Maple rivera. The valleys will average abomt two miles in width and extend in a semi-circle throagh the county over .Heventy miles in length. This soil ia rich and produces an abundance of everything which U grown in the state. **The third division comptiMing three-fourths of the Und of the county, is a level(?) prairie upon which single fields can be cultivated fur miles in length, and a 4(iil unsurpaHsed for fertility^ and it would be safe to say that not one quarter section in twenty would hava five acres of untilable land upon it." The county grows all kinds of grain and vegetables commonly raised in the northern ntates. The average siie of the farm^ are stated to be 320 acres. There are hundreds of artesian wells in the county, put down 500 to 800 feet which flow an Hbundance of pure cold water. Many natural springs also abound in the county. The county is crossed by two lines of railroad, Tha Fargo A Southwestern, u brjinch of the Northern Pa- cific Kailroad, enters the county less than two miles wesi of its norihe>»st corner, runs through parts of Coburn Qreene, Liberty, Casey, Tuller (merely the southeast corner of this township). Island Fark, Fayetta and Koland townships, leaving the county nearly six milee north of its southwest corner. A line of the "8oo" system crosses the eastern part of the county running in a northwest direction. It enters the county fr©» Kichland County some six miles north of the southeast corner of Kansom County, and bisects 8aadoun, Owego. e TH» MAAI.T HittTOHY QF RARBOM COUHTT <80uthwesl corner thereof), Shenstone, Greene (sontli west corner) and Liberty townships, crossing the Farf^* line ill the Utter and leaves the county about 15^ milfg west of its northeast corner. Thirteen townships of the county are not touched by any railroad line* Stations in the county on the Fargo & Southweitern line are Goburn, Sheldon, Buttz?ille, Lisbon, Elliotl and EngleTale. Lisbon, the largest place in the county, is the county-seat, and is finely situated in the Sheyenot ▼alley, iu Island Park Tuwuabip. Villages on the 800 Hue are McLeod, Venio, Anselm, VVillard and Ender* lin. Atteiupten Hillock, Okiedan Butte, Standing Rock, remains of Fort KaDoom, and Indian mounds and objects of placed bowlders, stone circles and represent- ailons of animals. The btittes and streams were named on maps at an earlier date than |s ^ompionly supposed. ABfliBE4X' IMtBORIPnOI Hannom County came within the Qountry that one* belonged to the Yankton dioux. The Sioux nation comprised several divition* and the larger clans were In turn divided into a few subdivisions which was the case with the Yaukluns or Yanktonais. The Sioux ori- Itlnally dwelt in the lake region of northern MinnesoU, from which they were expelled by the Chippewas who pressed westward upon them from the country south of Lake Superior. This took place sometime before 1760. Jonathan Carver found then» located along the Minn** iota nver in 1766. From this location their increasing bands were gradually lured into the Dakotas, (except the northern part ot North Uak»)ta which the Chipp©- w&t claimed) by the abundance of buflalo and oihw large game anim»ls. There dwelt at that early period along the Sheyenn* ^Iver a different people trom the Sioux, called Shawaya or Shahiada, and in n.odefu limes the Cheyenues. They had their principal villa^je on the soutb bend of tht river, which came to be nanitd after them. This trilia the Sioux attacked and drove to the southwest aerosa the Missouri river. The valley of the Sbeyenuc is about two miles wld« and fairly well timbertd. l^OH«ibly it pieseuts the pame general appe»«rnnce now as when its course wa» first occupied by pioneer settler^i; but without taking account of artificial changeH there would be others less apparent and of a minor character. In aboriginal times aged trees blown over in storms lay where they fell and slowly rotted away, unless burned by prairie 6res entering the valley; in any event large amountiof dead wood collected, later to disappear as needed bf 10 -"gam KKBhT MtWtOKT Of KAHSOM COUVTT Ibe flettlers for fuel; likewiHe the fire- scarred trankt of dead KtandiDg treen went the »ame way. There were places where large qiiantitie* of floatage stuff collected in the Talleja as brought down the streams in floodt; these collectiunut settlers used or burned away. We do Hot know how it may he on the Kheyenite, but in some jfttreatn ralleys in the iitate there are traceable old ftbandoned channel beds which extend fur some di»- ilance and then rejoin the fixed stream bed. They were probably caused by the benver's habit of building dans, thereby forcing the stream to cut a new channel in the Wttom land ot its valley fur Mume distance. The 8heyenne has been called a "historic stream." probably the name of no other river in the Northwest haw been spelled by travelers, explorers and militarjr ^en, also on maps, in so many different ways. Below ^s given a collection of varied spellings. The earlier ijtuthorities knew the stream only where it flows acrott Kichland and Cass cotiutiei*. Capt. Alex. Henry mereljT law its timber belt at a distance. Shyan, Alex. Henry. 1800; also Feathergtooli'att]j^iC 3hienne, Prof. Wm. H, Keating. 1823. Shayenn OJU, Nicollet's map, 1842. Shayenne, Capt. Pope, 1849. Chienne, a Smith's schcol geography, 1849. ShayODCOJa, a map printed in 1850. Cheyenne, Alex. Ramsey, 1851. Shayenne, McNally's Geography, 186a. Shyenne, Mitchell's Geography, 1866. Sheyenne, Cheyenne, Iregveat poderi t^Uii^ xiltHmUkt. DKRUHlpTlOV 11 rfAROKNT (iOaSTY. jiargeDt County is located uezt south of Kansoiq County, the South Dakota f.tHte line beini^ it§ south line. It hag Kichland Couuty ea«t and Dickey County west. Its principal drainage feature J8 Wild Kice rifer f^hich courseH in a northeast direction through the east half of the county, leaving the same about five miles south of it« northeastern corner. In the west part o/ the county there is some drainage toward James riTer« There are several lakes in Che couuty usually not noUi4 on our modern mapH. The physical characteristicf of the couuty are much the same as those that hnve been mentioned for Kanson) County. Saigent County in rather better provided with railroad lines than the other, the iireat NortherOt the Northern Pacific, the Milwaukee, and the Soo systemt all being represented in the county. The county wa^ created and organised in 1883. Forman is the county seat and some other towns are Milnor, Delamere, Har*^ lem, Cogswell, Hansom, Rutland, Havana, Brookland, 8traubville and ftrampton. The following is the population of 8argent County at different times, according to various census returns; In 1885, 8,234; in 1890, 6,076; in 1900. 6,039; in 1906, 7,414; (the census for 1910 we do not have io b&nd)^ |iod the ftate census of 1915 gives 9,634< fi m o • •§ >-. O s ^ S C) i J 1 0) O O J 1^ g S H Br Z V i c§ 1 g j^ ^ -§ "S M > 'H a> S £ gj >k o • c • o QQ c a < 4> ^ * K ^3 6 a o 73 ti ^ a> 0) o o 3 • ^ s p PC • CO 4-* 1 < ^ ►; c Z -^ t ?«^ ^^ GC c4 o; ^4 £ t CU < O ^ 73 ee < o 1 1 « 1-^ ^ « f- ^ o-» .^^ 5?' 1 a 1 t^.2 0)2 &« ^ c a CO £ 5 t/) k * •*• • 0) #C T3 ■*•* u o 4J E a S3 M 1 60 C •J IL ^-FU» eOMFANlli® AND THE FUR TRADE FBOM ftbuut the ihirteeDih century there arose is^ Europe among the higher classes an iDcreasiog de» aiand for furs of the finer sort. Aiiirr.als that furnisl^ the tco^t valuable iuii» are deiiizeiiH ot either cold ff .cold temperate regncs oi the lu/rthern hemisphere. The EuropeaD euppl^ of ^ur8 hud maiLly cobi« from %he regious arGUod the i:5aitic and Black eea^, but the tftkiijfi; of CoiiBtaiitinopie by ii.e Turks in 1463 inter- rupted trade of all kiiMJIs< b*iv^eeL Europe and the East. Ja tt Urge measure the old trude routes to and froBB Ihf Orient ^*«efe perwiaiienily disrupted. In the seveM' ieentb century the chief pioiivs that led the Hu^siaBSt* ^ake possesfeioG of iSiberia was to acquire a country fro» which rich storea of valuhble tm» Oiighi be obtaiDed. . When voyajfea began to be made to the noilherD Atianfic ccasto ol AniericH. but r.iore especially when .«euiement8 began to l>e es^tabliKl.'fd on the bays »n e^kiitB of ^hicb ihe aboriginai inhabitants clothed theDf*lvt'«. The l>utcb who had located on MsnhattKU iaiand and along the HudscD paid considerable atteution to bartering with the In- dians, but the territory from which they drew auppiiea was not extensive. lu New England some attention svas given by individuals to the coUeactioo axid ^hippiii^ H THE EARLY HISIPORT Q7 BAN90M OOUM TT pi furs to Knglaiid, but ihe colonists Id general cared little for Lbe bufcinetis; nioreuver, their relentless annir ■hilation ot almost whole tubes etimioated in that seC' tiou of the country one of the principal factors of tbo (ur trade, it has been said that the Indians meltp^ iiw&y from coiituct with the Anglo »ason race like tbd irost belore the south wind. On the other hand, the geographical position of the |^»e ot territory that lay opeo to «Lhem to the west ot Can^tda, conibined with a natan^ proclivity of establishing and uiaintaiuing friendlj leiations with mench pushed into the new regions of the west with persistence and daring energy. It is evident that one jof the leading motives of LaSalle in securing the linai i)f the Illinois river and building forts in its valley, Jaj in the que^t ih^n being made for beaver hkins and buf-r falo hides, 'J he fur trade ot the Ej-ench evolved the "^'coureurs de« hois" or rangers of the woods, and the I'voyageurs," canoe or boatmen. The first were origin- ally traderH who made long trips to the Indian country, sometimes to be gone a year, but in course of time they |;«me to adopt, in a measure, Indian ways of life aad fJress. Many of them toojc Indian wi^es ap^ ^^P '*^ •■ ' "*TSit HtTDSOK BAY COMPACT 1| ©fhalfbreeda thus had their beginning. The number •of the coureurs dea boi^ wm8 increaeed Romewbat by Tagrants who preferred the freedom of the woods to the restrrtints of civiliEntion. As a special data they Jiecaine useful in ynrious wajs in eunuefitioD with the Yur trade. The Jesuit and Fr»Dci»licbiliinacinack (Alackinaw), Careen Bay ^nd LaPointe* They were men of honored memory, sopie few of whom have left their names attiuched lo counties, towns and cities that ciime into beii isr long after their lime. During the French legime in Cana/ia the poliey of the governori general was that of looking after th« operations of the lur traders. To legally engage in the business of the fur trade, the tradert- were mppcsed to carry a government license), otherwise ihey were HahJe to have any wtock of fins they pnight bring down to Quebec seized and confiscated. Ibis license tax on their business the traders wonld evH of Quebec, the affair was wiak* •d Ml by the authuriiieM aiid the lic«D«ed tradera, ku| lor that time only. On a t>iuiilar visit to Quebec foiur ^eax8 later, theee tratiej* bad their large Mtock of pel^- \itieH twized by tbe a^utbofitie» and confiscated. Thwreafier tfee two advtuiuitrs geem to have bee« »e«dy to eircumve.M i.be auiboiilien b} fo»e method of ^^pe&itjji; trade wiib ti C(brtain Cupt. (iillani i^ said to have made a voyage t* -4he bay. The adventurer* then went lo France wher* they aie believed to huve gotten letters of introdnctioB to persons of note about the court ol Charles Jl ef England. One renult of J^l.hlevei <>.on{«renekK wer# held w»>> the fcrniiDg ot a © shores of the bay. Other «bips weie seht to the bay from time to time, oa« ei which had liadissan on board who succet'dfd in reaeh- ing his dfBtiretroD A*.vi<«t 1 t-ii g turrfd \)»e\i by the ijllosing of the pa^ssge icto the buy by ice. Ir 1690, the htuartu ha Ting btc^n e^J^pellfd from E»g- Jand, the coiK|)a,ijy a^ked of J'arlionjent a confirmation ,of their charter. That.bcdy woiuld only eenseat that the company's tenure should coniiune setes more years after which the charter onigln beaniiiilled. Whtn that time had expiitd tie i< n | *»> riic' l< i ssk Icr any re. toewal, seeming to dread any thing that would direct public attention toward them. However, some one .called the attention tf Perliament to the matter at an undesirable monopoly. At that ime £fi^gl*nd mi TjL^ xna 'JtA>jajtt¥ mwmoa^ <^ ea^ksom county ^France were nt, war Mud tho members had other things j^lodkcttss, »• thaV4h^ Hudson Bay Company matter wa# il«d away and forgotten, nini b«:iJC« the company's teo^ gure of the territory they claimed remained undisturbed. Had it been otherwise the quevtion might have arisei ia Farliame&t as to the right of Chtirlaa II to give away territory which included lauds wherein no £ngIi«h»»B Jud tbeu set foot, the extent of which was unknowD. JDurinj; the first two w;arH betweeu England and jPraoce in which ;be American colonies were inyolTed^^ tome of the Hudspn Bay Company posts were iake^a and held by the French of Canada. By the peace of ^trecht signed in X713 tlteie were restored to the Eos* lish. The j^overnor and coMucil.of the company w%n j^ihoseu from among theitteiuhers asd rer>ided id LosdoSt. At least annually a ship \iHited the bay to bring baek 4fae cargo of furs that th« po^ts had collected. The principal post was located at the mouth of Nelson ilTttr mud called York Factory. The person in charge of a j)oat was called the chief factor. eitUR DE LA VJERJENDKYiC The most conspicuous i^ersonage of the seeondquavter ©f the eighteenth century who was engaged i» explorik- tionand fur trading west of t-be Great Lakes, was Pierre Gnultier Vfireniies, otherwise known as Sieur de la Ve- rendrye. He wata xon of a mugistrHte of Troie Rivi- eres and young in life entered the military service. I«s iQueen Anne's war, 1702-1713, he saw some active ser- Tice, taking part in a demonstration against New £n^ Jand in 1704. Two years later he went to France 'to pATticipate io tbe frar on Eyropai^B^pl^. hf^^ ^ ijfe Verendrye is found actively engaged in biiildinf irading posta on Red river and the Assiniboine and in #earcbin^ for the "Shiniug Mouutainti," beyond whieli ^118 suppoxed to lay tbe Pacific Ocean. In 1728 Vereudrve re-t-stabiiRhed an abandoned po*l At liske Nipigun la 1780 hv wa^ vifiited there by aa ^Bsiniboine chief Bam»d Ucbngnch, Hildas a result of inquirieM ntade by Vercndrye in regard to canoe rootMi to tli(? chief's Country, the latter dierf a rough nap of th«» IftkfB and Btreanas iDteiTeuing between the head of li»ke Superior and tb^ Kt^d Kiver Valley. VerendryiB took this map to the itovcinor «t Can«d& ^nditreaslled iu the exploratioDw ct)iiduct«*d Inter by Verendrye, kh sons and nephew, Jerenaje. A strong incentiye to tbcte operations rtut the tnd»'a3rt>r to dlfCOTer some »«rt ef \waterw«y that would It-ad to the Pacific Oeeau. Verendrye organized a fur company in Montreal and at his own expense both Bent and led expeditiona idId the Lake of the Woods country and the Red Ritei V»V ley. Posti were built at tbe lake mentioned, at RaiD^ lake, at lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba, at the moutb of ♦he Assiniboine, and one near the Bite of Portage U. Prairie in 1738. Tbeir trade was mainly with the Crees «nd Aasiniboines, This was entering upon andexploir ing a region covered by the grant of tbe Hndeon Bay Company. Verendrye died in 1749, but tbe French continued to occupy the country until the Eoglisb ef»- queat of Canada in 1760. The fur trade iu tbe ▼alley then languished, passing into tbe bands of indiTidnaU jtraders. The ponts that the French built ioutb of th# International boundary were the two in tbe border lake fegion, Fort de ^ois Blacc (site of ^att Cjifaod S^oxk*l and probably one oppof*ite ilie mouth of Pembina rivdf,. yhe Huditon Bny Oooapany h&d neglected to push their dperntioni^ into the interior and so the French comiBg in from CenadH, hi^>«ncr vi the Frercb in the Red and \m the AssiBiboiLe 7»lh vf>, the EngliRh bnilt a trading post in 1742 on Aibnny river about 150 nilee above iU mouth, in & dozen or jnore yeaia Verendrye accom- pliabed AlmoKt Hfl icuch >i^» the ii^reat company had 4on« in 70 yeara. THJK >JORTHWEBT COMPAHlf Paring the period aft*r 1760, owing to the Engllah aonijueat of CanadA^ the fur trade aa carried on froB& that province, was conducted by individua) tradera^ Thefig men competed ^iih one another and M>)d )i«|«or to the liidiHRB. Jilatterii in these regpecta grew ]aJL an*! a train of abuses w»ib engendered. To remedy mallem in 8orae meapure, and to prosecute the for trade hi » B)ore systematic manner, severa) inerch«Dt» at Meat' real formed an HBROciatJon called the ''Compagne dl». Nord Oue»t," or Northwest Fur Company. This Wft«» organized in 1788 and four yeara later they absorbed » rival compMn> oi fur traders. Ih* principal parlnera lived in baronial style at Montreal and Qoebee; lh©j>» besides these there w^re junior partners who resided at the trading po^ip in tletu; ituntrj an«i looked aftf» the busineaa of the company. The Northwest Ctompapy, a« it came to be ealled^^ followed a different policy than thet ol the Hudson Bay Company. They sect their Hgents into the Indian jpouDtry and built poau ther?. By the year 1787 $^ THX KOBTBW»BT COMPAWT JJ ■; . ' ' '■ ~-— > — — - — " ■ ■ . ■ , !h«d b«gur. i(» conduct operttioux is tb« Red River VftDe^. Tb«ir pri)4clp»] p( ^l wrw At KaBainistiqaiA, .later called Fort WilliaRi, ou Thunder bay of J^k* i^uperior. AUer the compaDj bad become well estelK linhed in iht' n<>r(bwe>>tf rn country, tbe annual gatktt- iug of their oflkers ai>d employees were beld there daring each succeeding sutuuip. Fensting, drinking^ retelry, ^ith occa»ijBaI brawU, cburacterized the 4f> ings of the place /or a number of daya. The coBVon amplcyeea often upent their year's earniuga in li<}««r» And ia trinkets, gewgaWN and $nery for their IsdiMi wivea. A traveler called <"ou»t Adiiani visited the eountr; in 1791 Rrd represented that n<0Bt of them bad becofl»e 6€)UDd to service by reason of their indebtedness to the ($empnuy posts for goods received. Many of tbeee em ployeea were halfbreed?, ccmmoBly called Bois Bmk)^ (>r "Burnt Woodii" on account of the color of their »ki». But the men. whether halfbreeda or whites rather Hke^ their connection with the fur trading business, thovgh on the whole a rather hard sort of life bewt by mimev- pu8 perils. An individual trader whose name is not now kimve appears tr> havf* been located at }>p)biua in 1780. He was a Canadian Frf nchtsn and was fonird there 41^ years later by Major long'? party. It should not be supposed that he oiaintain^d a continnoes reiidenee al Pen^bina since the traders changed about oeeasioBally^ Other persons of whom we b}d river »nii rivei vhc-re were three other tra': f^ttli (Jorei'l) river, inriHintained f»«Bi 17i5^ to 1800. I>a7id TboniT»'cu, antronopier uimJ geograplMf of the >cjthwei»t (YnipHny, oi, his way to Case }*k*, ?.tor>{.ed with Roy IkUrcb 22, 1798. The wther we»t tWe p 1787 to 17W when he left it to go to unotber pont, when it wae ab»9^ ^oned. The third or eaut side post north of the B^mb of Bed Talc river bitd beru culled Fort de Boie Bleno (the Whitewood fort), but })robably in the last deeade of that century |t wn« known an (jrandfR Fourcliea. Ijp, 1796 it wan occupied by J. B. Cadotte Jr., and tken ihe place WR8 abRudoDed an a tradinir point nuti) Captain fleary'a time, SOME |:.AT£R COMPANIES Three other companies that conducted operatione i^ the Red River Valley mey l>e mestiooed. The HndioQ Bay pomppny began to trade in the falley about %Ytp besinning of the laat oentpry fip4 owin^ (p $om»dlmfnt: iOSrX LMtltB efOmTA»11i» :.ion» Alez. McKeDzie and others formed in 1801 a new fbr trading organixatiuu enllcd the X, Y. GompaBy, M} caii^d becbUfie thene letters ce»>e next after the W Ml North West Compaoy, meaning too that they BeaBI (o follow ih.st coBipauv wiih nt^arp eumpetition. Trad* lug houseg now hecaine more numerous than befov«t hi 1805 this orgaoizatiou wnt merged iuto the Kortlk west Company. A late formed aasoeiatior. wss called the Coliubift^ Fur Company organized by Joseph KeoTiileand othen ii) 1822 owinf!; to the uniting of the Northwest and Ha4^ eon Bey companies the preyious year. They made mt€ of the discharged employees of the Northwest Company who numbered about 900. and established their b«a4« quarters tit Lake Traverse. Another association, organized in 1882 was eaHed the American Fur Company. Their headiiuarters was at St. Louis from which place steamboats weres^Btnptke Missouri river, ttlong which they had trading poatt is the Dakotas and Montauo. Joe Bolett« traded for fnrd for this company at Pembina. ittr in. SOME OOVERNMKNT EXPEDITI0N8 WE have no record of the first white meo wko iDAy bnve ventured into the BectioH of thecoun- trj comprised in Khdboqj and Sargent counties, but possibly they were persouB connected with the Colum* bi» Fur Company, buntiDg and trapping along. tb* Wild Kice and 8beyenne. The company mentiontdi maintained a trading post at Lake Traverse which wm Dew when Major LongV ezpeditiuu passed that wftyiv going to Pembina in July, 1823. This post was aboHl 75 miles southeast. from the center of Kansum CouiOljU Prof. William H. Keating of the University ol Penit* syUania was the historian of Long's expedition. Hit OD^p repre8ent«< the Hheyenne river as rising about where HansoHi County is situated and as flowing nortb* east to Red river. The bow of the Bheyenne in Hanson County was not yet known. Major Long*» party did not cross any of the tributaries ot Ked river in Nurtk Dakota since their march, for the most part, was dovi^ the Minnesota side of the valley. FKAYHlSKSTUIiHAUQH. -As long ago as when Jackson was President tfcore had been established by the government a body ol men called the Bureau of Topographies) Engioeers, In part their work was of a geographical natare» vMt» ing with military escorts little known portioBt of tbf territories, mapping the lakes, streams and land belgbtiy also-ascertaining such details as altitudes, latUvdf aiN) ]oogitude of various points, the width nod depth of thei arreftOQ*, H»d oth^r particniHra, their findings being* •fubodied in reporta and accompanjing mapa. H. W. FeHtber»tonhaugii, an Knglishinan under thfr litl#» of U. 8. Ueolf>|fiHt, *'wh8 cummisfiiiiDed by Col. J. J. Abert, of the bureau of topograpuieai eDgineera^ with itK» entered Sargent and Ransom counties of not. ^ THl XAKLT HISTOKT OP KANSOM COUNTY NICOLLKl h fcXPKDlTION Jean N. Nicollet whs a Frenchnian by biith. He was born in the ?illMee of Glumes, France, in 1786. TbiA place 18 located in the department (county) of Hautd Bavoie, about 25 miieH southeast from Geneva. Nicol- let studied astronomy under La Place and in 1817 he was app(»inted librarian of the Paris obnerTatory. With a trood equipment of the physical knowledge of his time he sailed from Brest tor the United Slates in 1831. After arriving in this country he entered the service wf the Bureau of TopogrnphicHl Engineers. After ex- ploring the basin ol the lower Missisr Nicoilft's party went U|* the Missouri river on a steamboat that plyer] the stream if) the service of the AuierirsH l*ur Compai'V, and landed at Fort Pi«-rre Cboteau with seventeen horses. Having been taken across the river, the expedition started for James river valley on the 6th of July. They traveled in a northeastern direction across the upland between the two rivers and reached the "Biviere a Jaques" (aa {he James river was then called) at a trading post of the KlOaLLBTS SXFKI>1TI4)N 2? ^Loierican Fur Company called Oakwoud Settlement ui) James river, or Kivittre a JtiqueH »g the lur trader^ then called this stream. This trading poet wa^ near the south line of Brown County, S. 1>. The line oi march waft next up the «vei»t i>ide of James riyer to Bone Hill (in LaMoure County), whence, having crossed Ibe river, they continued noriheast to the k)he>enne riy«r,^ which was reached a tew miiefi below where Valley City Jr uow located. This stream whs followed up toward lievilH lake. The 25th and 2t»th ot July was spent about a group of small lakes south of the upper reach of tb« Bheyenne, of which Lake Jessie in one, so named at that time in honor «.f Je^iiie (Benton) Fremont. Od one of the last days of July the expedition arriyed on ihe south shore of I 'evils lake at a butte which NicoUet'a map callri Chantre Hill. A week or more whs spent around the lake and in ita vicinity, mapping its ouiline>*, noting physicnl features, pnd making observaiioof. I he lak^ is nnmed on Nicol- let's map "Mini Wakan Lake (Devils L.)" and Stumfi lake as "Wamdushka" lake. The expediiion camped at the south end of the eH^tern arm of IStump lake Aiv* gust 6, and from thence the) marched eastward through the southern part of Nelson ('ounty xnd into the west- ern part of Urand Forks County, which locatio* waa reached August 8th. They were now ou the weSterD yerge of the Red River Valley, but it wfis not to 'S\eoU let's purpose to spend time looking over plains already mapped by Prof. Keating. Their courne was therefor^ changed southward through Steele and Barnes counties and into Ransom County, again reaching the Sheyenpfi fiver about wher^ Fort Hansom was Utff located. ^ THI lARlY HIPTORV op RAWBOM GOCRTT __ The object of the expedition during this southward march was to reach, rxplore aud map the Coteau dea Prairies. Tbe^e uplands in Houth Dakota and Minne- Aota had been mentioned by tnivelers as the regioD froiD which the Indians obtained the red pipfistone, but tbnt part o1 the west hitherto bad been ' but little ▼isited. The party were about the bow of the Sbey- - 91106 io the middle of August, 1839, and beyond this time their stay was short in the area of country now liumprined io Hansom County. MCoLi^Ki'i!) Map 'Wie map to whi«h reference has been made, measar-^ ^d about 2^ by 8 teet and wsn printed on thin paper ^ •o as to fold up in a pocket of Nicollet's published - feport. It WHS called "The Map of the HydrOgrkphicAl" Basic of the Upper Mi^f^isnippi Kiver," snd is dated ^ 1842. The territory covered embrHces the entire statea af Iowa and Minnesota a?d parts of others that adjoin "* them. To some extent the map was based on otheea'^ preceding it. but HfyerthelesKccmlained whutweretheD fftany new geographical features, particularly in what is now Minnesota and the eastern parts of >orth |tod^ South Dakota, then all Indian country except for 'a JtW- ttiilitary posts and fur trading establishments. ' Id laterv years Gen. G. K. Warren pronounced Nicollet'i map *'oDe«f the greatest contributions ever made to Amer- can geography.'^ • .-- ' The area of a county would comprise bat small spacf^'^ on the map were any shown at all, which of cot»r8e la/ not the case. There is Wisconsin Territory on the pMi^ oT it east of the Mississippi and Minnesota (ft^walajiOt" shown on the reduced portion of it at hand) and fjO^ NlOOLLar'H KXTEhltUm Minnesota itself the only i.ame on the map for any part ot it is^'Undine Kegioi/' Houth of the bij? hend of the Minnesota river, represented as a hilly section of the present utate; and in the Dakotas "Yankton CouB- try" jind •sjalt Water Kegjoii," the latter around DeTila Jake. The area ii(;w comprised in Ransom and Hargeot counties is not without some names ot objects on Nicol- let's map. For the first time the bo^ or bend of tbo Cheyenne appears, the |reiieral course of the streap being just about the sanje «» on any modern map, b» ing named Shayenn Oju. Keating mentioned it as tht Shienne or rihahiada. Nicollet's map even shows tb« bluffs along the river, above iiH south bend. But the map takes note ot a tew minor features in both Ransom and ?^arpellt cohnties. We note just south <»f the bow of the Sheyenne "Okiedan Buttes," two hill»* near each other. Floninir northeaH into the bend «»f the river, the map hai* marked a creek named **J>efld Colt ()." which is so called at the present day. A smalll lake with an island in it marked "Champaba Wita L/? and ''Dead Colt Hillock" completes all «)f the natural objects named on \)e map within the aiea of Kanaoin (bounty. Nicollet's party appear to have campFd where Fort Kaofiom was atter«Mdi* h.tHied. at ^ihichpJacea spring ot water i« s«id to fxist. The altitude of tht camp is given as 1228, and the river blufls hh 1488 feet above sea leveU There is less map data for Sargent County. Accord- ing to the map under discussion the I'oteau des Prairien is figured as a mountainous region. Tlie northern limit is placed just south of parallel 46** N., which would be in tb© southern part of iiJar^enC CooDty and it ' W THB KABIaY HIBTORY f>P KANdFM OOUMTT lettered "Keipaba or Head of the Coteau des Prairies/^ Tbe source of Wild Rice river coiiie» within S^argeol County and the map names it 'I'silin or Wild Kicc Li.'* Keating itpoke of it as the Pi»e. "Faha Toppa or that four HilU" and '^Kour Butte or Four Hill" lake, both iiear tbe bead ut tbe Coteau, and "Kandiotta h." alto come viitbin tbe borders ol i^^argent County.* ^i. H. Wincbell in bis history of exploratioa ap» peuded to the forefront of tbe first volume of the Geo^ Wgical and Naturnl History Survey of Minnesota, io reviewing ^iicollet's ejspioratioDs in that state, said in regbrd to bis methods and work: "He aims to locate correctly, by astronomical observatioaS| tbe numerous streams ard lakes, and tbe main geographical features of the slate, filling in by eye sketching, and by pacing, tbe intermediate objects. His methods, allowing for the imperfection of bis appliances, and the meagerness of hik outfit and supplies, were established on the same principles a» the most approved geodetic surveys of tbe present day. 4l would, perhaps, have been well if the methods of Nicollet could have been adhered to in the surveying and mapping of the western territories. Their geography would have been less rapidly developed, but it would have been done more correctly. Nicollet's map prrbracts a m»)ltitiide of naoaea, • ^fter the j»recediii{> jugf hH«1 >>eni priJ)tefi it was ascer laiiied tint two ' laiidiii8rJ;!'."nK A. U. La nghliii rails them, both on Nicollet's map. are jnst within >he limitK of Ransom County. Thefeare "MatHfa or Hears Den Hillock." and "Inyan Bosndata or Standing Rook" on opposite sides of the Shey«nne, and both marked as bnttes or hillorks Owing to a lack of good ronderii niaps we had previonsly fill pposed these points to be located iii Pfltnes fonnty. We find no evidence In Mr. La«ghlin'8 Bketcb on Ransom County thrtt he knew anything in regard to the Tisp ol Nicollet's party, but his article is valuable neyertbeless. including many new ones, which he applied ta. lakes andi streams." We do not wish to conclude thia eketeh relatiTe W Ihe work of a worthy officer of the corps of topograph- ical engineers to whom the Dakotas was much indebted lor the early deyelopment of a good part of ita geogra- phy, without giTing the reader some idea relatire to the manner in which the said officer and explorer haa been remembered by various Hketcb writers and other persons e<«8ayio(; to write concerning the early history of this state. The following are specimens: "In 1839 Gen. John C. Fremont crossed oTer the country from the Missouri to the James and theuce up to Devils lake.'* "In 1S36 7 John C Fremont visited th^ region describinf^ accurately Devils lake and other important localities." "It was afterwards e^^plored by Lieutenant-Colonel Fre- mont^ by Captain Pope, and by Lieutenant Warner." "Over this trail General Fremont and bis party made their journey eastward from Devils lake to Red river, and here ta the immediate vicinity of the two lakes they pitched their camp for a nigfct." (No date mentioned, but the reference is I > Stump lake and a small fresh water lake near wheire Nicol- let's party camped August 6^ 1839 ) All of the above is hnsed of* course upon Fremont'^ later acquired popularity h» an explorer and pathfinder in what was then the Far Wfst. The year he was witb Nicollet in the Dakotan he was 26 year* of age, gain* ing a Tahiable experieace for future arduous services. Nicollet died at Washinirton, D.C, September 11.1843, while his report was being revised and vHoted. Nicol- let (bounty, Minn., and an avec^ie in MinneapoUt wer«i flamed after him. 32 TfTB KAiM.r tfiBfoirr or kmbbou oouutt caft. k v. humubr. Following? fhe yh'n of Nicollet and Fremont we Ai» record ot the c(»minf^ to UaDsoro CuODty of any other expeditiouarj force Uf»til the je«r 1845. Od the 3d of June that year (Japt. E. V. Sumner left Fort AtkinsoD, in iiortheasterD Iowa, with a compaDjr of troopH and beaded itoithweMterty for the IVlinneaota fiver, arriviiif^ at Traverse de;* Sioux on the 22d of of the aaine month. lu the country t»outh of the bi|^ bend of the river a junction was effected with another company under Lieut. Atleo, who had marched north-* Ward from Fort Des Moines. From Traverse des Sioux the united force next marcited to Lac qui Parle where Capt. i^umner had an important conference with the Wahpeton sioux. Mig intone lake was reached on the 5th of July where a council wa^ held with the Sissitont* The route from Big J^tone lake to hevilg lake wae by way of the noutb bend of the Cheyenne river. The expedition reached Deviln lake July 18th where they met, presumably on the north shore, a band of about 180 halfbreeds, who were out on their nt»ual »recur)rng troubles. In the dt-cades of the forties and fifties there was is progress an extensile overland emigration to Oregon, besides what may have reached that state by sea. 1b 1850 Oregoa Territory, which included the present state of Washington, had attained a population of 33,000 people. The emiK'<^"t8 followed diflereot route* mf.KTsHT ttxrumtum Si ^Dm Hocky MoiiDtaffif*. but the wn»t northern of their frniV» led through i{»o»oni Gk>anty by wsj of the south hend of the Sheyeone nrer. Id tboNe t»fne» the emi- ;^raDt9 joorDeye»f in caravans with their canvas covered WH|:oD», brinjjinetbp n into a circle around their cainpA at Diglit. The publisher ha^ newer met with any storiee f>i the i>regifn trails, but they probably are »» evidence in that ?»tate in coDnection with the published menaoricft j^f old wttler9, as i!* the case in this slate, OEM, SIBLKY's MM.KilAKY f:XPl!;»)lT10ft.. The next expedition of whirb we Tenux htdiaWH and not to of erawe them. Id c«mi-i j«equence of the i^ioux injijfwacre of settlers in MinoesotA in l»f>2, armies oirder (TJenerals J^uMv and S^ibley wer» sent into iXakota Territory the nexfe year to ponishi rbem. The Ind'ana were givwo to under«»tand that nnlesathey came in and surrendered themselves, they would be Mhovvn no mercv. Driven out of Minnesot*, bands of fb*>m hnderatbered abrmt IVvif-* lake.. (leneral H. H, rliWe.T entered Dnkota at the upper end of f?Tg intone lake with an army of 3,400 men, m June, 18t53. The valley at that point. t>etween lake* Bip Stone and Trarerse, called Brown?* valley, is about five miles in lenetb, a mile and more in width and about 125 feet in depth. It i* an interesting spot to geolo^ gfgts because they are aware that this valley was ex^ ^avated at the close of the Inst glacial epoch by a gla- cial river, the outflow oi Ibe ^U«:ffit i/ske Agassis 34 T»K JTAmtT «1«VOftT OF ftAVfeOlt C^PtnfTT which filled the Red KiTer Valley, doubtless eoduriog for several eeDtiiries. Sibley's aimy entered Ranson County in section 32, Sydna Township on July ixh^ and marchiDg northwenterly to the south bend of tb» tiheyeniie river, that stream was crossed at a point afterwards called Sooville's ford, a place in the stream having a bowldery bottoui. It was a time of drouth, the thermometer ranging up to lUO, weather condition* being almost intolerable. i)u the north side of the river, just west of the ford, the army went into camp, the cantonment being called Camp Hayes. ThateyeD<* ing a flag pole was erected and (Jiiptain Horace Austin,^ afterwards a governor of Minnesota, delivered a Fourth of July oration. There whs not much timber along that stretch of the Sheyeniie river, but the locality wa§r referred to as a pleasant spot. Here the army remain^ •d for a week. At this camp in Scoville Township, a fiupply train of about eighty wa^onx from Alexandria, Minn , for which the expedition had been waiting, came in on the even- ing of the 10th. J. W. Burnham wrote in 1896: "For three days we passed over a country from which the grasshoppf r»< had eHten nearly every green thing, and while our tentx were HtHoding men bad to watch them to keep the hoppt^rH from eatir;ig holeH io them. At this camp a detachment cnme in from Aberciombie with supplies and n^il. Up to this time we had been able to catch many fislHu the lakes and streams and thereby helped our scarcity of rations, but beyond tbia point we found no fish and the discharge of firearm» was strictly forbidden, though buffalo, elk aud antelope ofren f^ere in sight. We did, however, at the ne^t grossing dftheSbey enne catch ii young el^, wbi^h, b9« ASH. srPiLBYV KIILITABY MMTIWITION 3^ irildered by seeing 80 many strangers, mistook n mu)» ieam for some of itn owd kiud »»d thereby was cap* tured.'^ Bands of tbe is^ioux were at Derib lake aiid the cbief,^ LittJe Crow, seot wi>rd to Gen. dibley to come up SDd fi^bt him. Tbe roarcb wa& resumed July lltb, a»d in KaesoiD Gtuoty tbis m<»Teir.eot lay witbiu tbe b>up o| the 8beyeoDe toward its western side, Ihe nqarcb beiBf through pans of Big Bend, Island Fark, Fuller, Spriog- «r and Preston townships, lenfiog tbe latter in sectioQ 6. rSear Lisbon a camp was made on tbe lltb, the first after leaving Camp H»yes. l>roqtb and grasshopper ravages gave tbe prairies a denolate appearauce, aod^ with tbe summer beat, impressed tbe men with the idea that tbe country would never make a desirable reak dence lor white people. The next crowsingof tbe J^beyenne, according to J, W» Burnbam, was near AnhtHbula P. O., in Bnrues County, about fifteen miles above Valley City. Here tbe trail of Capt. Fisk was struck, who had escorted a party of emiffrants from Fori Abercronibie to Walla Walli*, Wash., in July of tbe previous year, which was shortly prior to the liidisn outbreak. At Lake Jessie, Camp Atchison whs ei*tHbti»'hed for tbe sick of ^Sibley's army and for a supply »tation, wiih a guard composed of several com pa oiei». A caravan ol Ked Kiver ballbree4a was found in the neighborhoini. Wheu theaimy feacV ed DeviM lake it wan found that tbe hioux had gone toward the southwest to hunt buflalo in older to avoid famine. Little Crow, with some twenty of his warriora, went into Minnesota to steal horses wbere ha wa«^iUe< \a Wright Cuvuty by two settlers^ 3& l«Jr XAX2.T 1VKT9RT ©F RARBOM COVNTT On the return of i^^ihUj'a comroand from the Missoarl river to Camp Atchison, which was reached Angnst 10^ ihej 800D set uut for Fori Abervrombie, marching by way of the if'isk trail, which took tbeex(>edition throofbi the northeastern corner of Uan^ono County (Coburn Township) after w,hi<;b a aeeond eroHi»ing of Sheyenne siver was madaio tbe northern partol Highland County^ Auguat ]9th, and Fort Abercrombie w^» reached on the 21,Ht of that month. irOlfT MAftbOfif. Fort Kao8om was located on the souihweatern side oft the loop of the SheyenQe river ai^d upon what is a rai»>^ ^d bench of the valley on tilae eastern side ot the streavt- and about a hurdre^ feet above it. Tbe real bluffs ot ihat stretch of tbe river stand higher and back front the site of the fort. The site cbo^^n %&h in what the- later governnieDt purvey mada to be hection 12, ol Town 13^ North, ^ange 5ii West, or in what is now; Fort han&om t,owHship. A battalion ot U. i^. Kegulxra arrived at LJear,8 JJen Hillock from Fort Wadsworth. (this was located 25 miles west of Big t^tonc lake) June 17, 1867 and proceeded to erect post bnildings so that Fort Hansom was fairly established by August. Th* buildings generally were log structures, though some>- nateriaU were teaiiiCd from as far away as St. Cloud. However, officers q,uariei8 were built of squared logs. The earthworks enclosed a area of about 300 by 2Q0> feet. This was not palinaded around, as was done with Fort Abercronibie after the experience of its siege in ^^62, but two blockhouses were built at corners of the enclosure. The post was named in memory of General ^hos. E. Q. Ransom, an Illinoia officer of the volunt^erg POST AANbOM. 37 who WM killed io the Ci?il war io 1864 during GeneraV Sherman's Atlanta campaign. Both Grant and Sher- man stated that he was the ablest of the Tolunteer generals. Fort Ransom was one of a series of frontier military posts in Dakota Territory for the protection of emigrant trains on their way to Montana, Idaho, etc. The fort being located on high ground, commanded a Jli2« view up the iSheyenne valley for about six miles. A spring of water was found in a ravine near Bears Den Hillock^ Upon this eminence the soldiers mounted two cannon^ The construction of military posts in the Oakotas east of the Missouri river involved a great deal of subse- quent teaming, usually done with oxen, to keep the garrisonii supplied, and so long as they were main- tained, Consequently wa^on roads were developed in different parts of the territory. The Fort Kansom and Fort Totten road ran westerly from Fort Abercrombie^ crossing the iSheyenne river at a ford twenty miles from the last named post. Fort Totteu on the south shore of Devils lake, was established in 1867, and the road men> tioned continued from Fort Uansom up the Sheyenneto where Sibley had crossed the stream, thence northwest- erly to the post at the lake. There were also deviationa and cut-offs from the main routes. In those times the teamsters saw and sometime.'* killed bulfnlo in the loup of the Sheyenne and herds also ranged the country at that time to the south of its big bend. A noted freighter of those times was Donald Steven- inn who was born in Scotland in 1833 and came to thi» country with his parents in 1842. In 1S56 he 9ettled in Minnesota. In December, 1S)67, he deliyered a train 3b THU ■4Bi.V HI^TOHY OF HHH80M COUNTY load of suppiiei* at Fort ltan»oin, and in returning by way of the MOUth bend of the Sheyenne, his men and teams got caught in a blizzard near Dead Colt creek, AOHie twenty miles southeast from the post. The weath- er was not very cold at the time the storm came od and Stevrnsom himself whs a day or more behind his train traveling in a sleigh and bringing along a stupe- fied man who, being intoxicated, had fot lost in the •torm while on the road with a companion with a dog •leigh. The other man was afterwards picked up but lost his fingers from being frozen. Some accounts say that Stevenson lost his entire outfit but this statement does not tally well with his own published narrative. He states that there were forty-five wagons in his train, which would mean at least ninety oxen, and of these he lost twenty-two. He says in this part of his narrative: "Next moroing was bright and cold and with sach help as I could secure I started out to find my own train. I met my foreman two miles from the train. He said none of the meo were lost but most of the oxen were buried in the snow, and that the men had nothing to eat. I had proTisions with me and relieved the men but the train was a sorry sight to see. Twenty-two oxen were buried under the snow, most of them dead. We shoveled out those still living and got them to the hay. One ox had tramped the show under him as it fell anti) he had walked over a wagon box, and was eating the boys' bedding under the wagon covers. The loss probably would oot have happened with an old trainman, but the foreman was taken sick and a man without much experience took his place. An experienced man would have cut the oxen loose and they would have found shelter. *'We took two wagon loads of hay and the mess tent and went on leaving four of the forty-five wagens and twenty-two rHl VmEIOHTEBfl dead OKcn to thaw out in the spring. Some of the w^gMI could not be seen at all and others we could just see the tops pf the bows. W- pewa halfbreed. The station con«isted of a log cabin and large log stables and went by the name of Pigeoiji Point. The summer senson was considered the best for team- ing supplifH. because tht' roads were then apt to be dry, the fords more easaJy crossed, and the oien could forage • PteTenson'p narratire wa»> jaiblished In the |leford Maga- ;tlne of Fargo. December. 1895. In mentioning distancei, loca tions and some details, the narrative is confused. He plaeed the ■disaster near Norman, In Cass County. An old freighter,. one hi^ men, has stated that the place was near Dead CoU creek, a ball mile from Sheyenne river, where Pettlers found yokesi chains and hones. In tl^e extract quoted Stevenson does not tendon luring- luB away thirty-n\ne of the waitons, besides the two loaded with SlViy. Mo8t»e ^as maintained for some time. TV. CIVIL ORGANIZATION AND SETTLEMENT AFTEK a territorial goTernment had been esUb« lished for Dakota at Yankton in 1S61, th« first legitlative body consisting of thirteen members of ili« house and nine of the council, created a number of counties in the eastern part of the territory. These coon* ties then contained either few white residents or none at all. Kven at Pembina, the oldest settlement in the territory, there were only a few white residents, and these were connected with the fur trade. Usually in North Dakota the first influx of settlers found the county lines established and the counties named, also the lines of the townships run a^d marked by the government sur* reytirs. It was aimed to have the congressional town* ships in any county laid out and subdivided into sections And quHrter-sectKins a little in advance of the needs of settlement. It was left to the settlers themselves to organise the townships and give them such names as they might chance to choose. In 1862 the territorial legisUture of l^akota in session at Yankton, created four counties on the eastern side of what became the stale ot North Dakota. They extend* ed farther west than the present Ked Kiver tier of counties. From the internatinnai boundary southward they were named in the follow lug order: Kitt»on, 6hip> pewa, Sterens and Shyenne. Kansom County was bisect^ •d in an east and west direction by the line between Stevfsns and hhyeniie (so spelle4 st the time) counties, which ran centrally through the present coonty, the 42 THB RARLY BtHTORY OF KAKSOBf COUKTT county of Hhyenne extending south to Town 124 ia S<»uth DakotH. Tbe^e couuties found a brief ezi8tenc» on some maps, but as they wrere never organized thej ultimately diMappenred under later legislative enact- meDts. A. big county called Pembina County was created by the territorial lagislature in 1867 which took in a con- siderable portion of North Dakota. There were no white inhabitants in it except at Pembina, St. Joseph (now Wnlhalla) and Fort Ai)ercrombie, In 1873 this county was annulled and Pembina, Grand Forks, Cass, Richland, Cavalier, Foster, Kansom, LaMoure, Bur- bank (now Barnes), StutHmnn and Renville countie» more than took its place wnd with boundaries more or less different from present lines, these last changes of boundaries resulting from the forming of later countiet out of those just mentioned. Ransom County originally included a range of town- ghips (59) on its western nh\e and all of what is now Sargent County. Ten years later, by an act of the legislature on March 4, 1883, Kansom County was cut in half, the southern part bein? erected into Sargent County and nnmed after a general manager of the Northern Pacific Railroad. bOMfi K\KLY 8KrTLKK55. A settlement was made at O.vego in 1870 by a colony consisting of several families. The colony had been organized at Rochester, Minn., and when they arrived on the Sheyenne they erected twelve log cabins, thus roakin? a good start for a settlement. This was the first settlement in Ransom County and it was started AS a tovenfite spheme. The site was on what the later flOMB SARLT 8 motive and threshing power in those days, and (hey hanled the grain to Fargo. **Ten years after these men first built their log homes o« the river the Southwestern branch came through the cotrnty and the earliest pioneer days were over."* * From a nketch printed In the Sheldon Progress, Janiiary f, 190!). M. K. De La Bere wnv then editor, and sent the pnhlisher a pony of that InAUe. Arter«flrteen years it fomcs handy to use. We ivffih that we had other Eauioa Conaty akeiebes of like Import riMtxs snTLs^ oa loo cabih MKir 45 A f«ct that has failed to be noticed, except rather iacideotaily, if at all, bj rari^ua nketch writers reUtiv* to early settlements in eastern North Dakota, is that the pioneers eonsisted of two rather distinct classes of lettlerp. Th^tue two classes did not differ much in ro^ fard to the wajks ot lite from which they came in tho older commynities; the distinctiou rather lay in lueb factors as tima of settlement and consequent conditioma fQCOuntered; in the choice of a location; in methods of astHblishing abodes, and whether they were squatters on UDsuiyejed lands or filers on laud open to settle* inent. For a^jsnie the first cUss may be termed "timber settlers." They were almost uniformly squatters, e§- lablishiog their homes in the shelter of the timber along the streams in advance uf the government sorTej ot the counties in which they located. These settlera inHUgUfrated the log cabin period which generally pre- vailed for Home timt? in the counties of eastern North Dakota to a greater le8s extent, and for longer orshort-r •r periods, as the ca^e might be in different counties. The timber settlers were the eai Heat piooeers to estab- lish homes in various counties. The earliest settlers of Kansom County alreHd> ujenti()ned, belonged to this cIhsr of iromigrants into the county. The other olaB« of pioneer settlers and original filers on the open prairie lands were far more numerous than the other. They inrtugur>ited "cUim shack days" by building temporary abodes on the prairie of pine lorn* ber teamed from the nearest railroad points. Qeoerally these settlers did not occupy claims until after the survey had established marked corners, though cUio»» 4fi TAB XABLT aibTOBY OF H4N0O1I COUNTT auU io some caaei built ehucks io the interral between (be completion u/ the survey and the declaring of tbt Uud open to settlement. The claim shack era for any township did not last long, since these structures looB gare place to framed houses. The motives that induced the timber settlers to locatt nlong the wooded strenms to the neglect ot the more Valuable prairie lundM l>ing ?acant around them, were iiuch as to be near runuing water tor themselves and any stock they migitt raise; to obtain in winter the •belter nflforded by wooded vnlleys or bodies of timber on the higher ground adjacent, with the certainty'ef having plenty of fuel close at hand; then there wae cheapness in estabiistiing an abode that would last for nome years, ihe usual log cabin of the first pioneer settlerH. The log bouse, however required some sawD Jumber for ground and loft fiaors and roof and this with a couple or more of single window sash with panes uf glass 8 by 10 inches, had to be teamed from distant points, b'or roots, some o( the cabins used poles and tbatch of coarse buy, sometimes even turf, until better could be provided. 11 a lo^ house was occupied a long time, a shingled roof would be provided as soon M convenient. A fairly well built log bouse with the chinks between the lugs filled with mortar and the wftll» whitewashed inside, ntwde a comfortable dwelling. The chimney usnally con^inted of several lengths of stove pipe running upward throueh loft and roof from the cook stove below. The windows were of aingle flash set in spaces left in the walls. Such stock as these settlers possessed had to be sheU tered and so tbe^ co;2Btr,ucted log stables, the cbiekf* t(M B«M StTTLXmB OR LDO OABIV MKV 47 it might be, filled in with clay mud, and the rooftmade df pelei Aod coarse hay, or ol floatage stnff fr(»in placet ^long the streams. Some of these makeshift lUblei were constructed of crotches and poles with the usual «oyering. In either case, straw was used when some wheat began to be raised, with available machines to ihreih it and run the straw directly upon the shelters. lu expectancy of life in log houses, men with families 4id not bring much furniture with them. A cooking Itore WHS essential, and other things were brought tbair were necessities and nhich h log cabin would hold, in pioneer dayw tin-ware whs apt to be more abundant on Ihe table and in the cupboard, than crockery. A gar- den plot was cultivated as soon as possible. Poring the first two or three years the settlers in breaking and seaming supplies generally used oxen as they cost less to maintain than horses. The foregoing remarks relative to the timber settlers are general to the timbered streams of eastern North Dakota, but to a greater or less extent, will be found to apply also to those of this class who located in Ransom County. The eastern side of the loup of the Sheyenne was of course occupied first, since that stretch of the river naturally first attrMCted notice. Moreover, mueb ol the western side of loop vas included in the Fori jKausom military reservation. A propensity of %ht timber settlers should be mentioned. Thongh there were exceptions, the most of these men seemed to pre- fer to hover on the borders of civilixation, hence after a few years, having proved up on their claims, the majority of them sold out and drifted farther west, soma %Q the new states west of the Rocky Mouauio divida. Tb« setUers on the utreHin procured the esUbliih* ment of a postoffice at i)wego September 1, 1871, th« tnt in the couuty. James 0. Feleh was the first post- flbatter. Later the mail was carried to and from Fargo irith interveniDg gtatioDs on the route that were alto dupplied with mail facilities. The carrier made hit trips once a week. In those dayn on 8uch country routea 4aily papers formed no pnrt ot the contents of a mail bag; ini^tead, the settlers took some good city weekly published mainly for country circulation (and in their make-up worth looking over iu those times) and b#> fides among papers and magazines there was ^pt to Qome also into the log CHbin homes the weekly local paper publit*hed in the countieM from which this or thai settler had emigrated. Such publications were ipokOB of as "the home paper," The year 1872 was a drouth year in Dakota. No rain fell from May until November, and the prairie gras* burned in summer. There was hardly any agricoltural deyelopmeot in North Dakota as yet, but a few of tho earliest settlers of KauMom County had ten or fifteen acres broken on their claims. All the good Gen. Haien jpould see in the country, accoidiiip to hif rottd report published the following year, wa8 that the low bottom lands of creeks and rivers might furnish some hay useful for military posts I Gen. HMzen'<) mistake consisted in regarding aspects as seen during an exceptional year to be the usual climatic conditions of the country. John Kinan, an early hotel keeper at Lisbon and later ftt Grand Forks, once wrote: **Th«t sammer Geaeral Huen was sept oat by the govera< peat to ejcasDtoe iote and report iop ^he resources of thia IHil QOTKKMMSMV bUBTET 49 ovctttrf. He reported it a barren waste, fit 00I7 for Indimt ««d bufialo. There has been a great deal of criticism in later fears on General Hazen's ofiicial report bj the press aad otherwise. But any man that would travel OTer this couatrj ia the sammer of 1873 and make any other report woald be fl4 of ordinary judgment. This report was sent broadcast all otm the United States, and it took years of excessive a«lvcrtisiM| Geo. G. Beardsley, who was a uative of Ohio and did considerable contract surveying in eastern North Dakota, ran the ninetl^ aNtandard parHllel oti the north boundary of the county aiiid as far we»>t hh the county then e;Ftended. The subdivision of the townships was in progress Ir the middle seventiefi, several persons having contraeta with the burveyor Ctoueral of the territory, who acted fof the government. Finally io 1830 the survey of the dounty was completed by subdividing the Fort Ransom military reservation which bad been deferred for som* iitne, not being needed in the interval for settlement. At this point we tthHll endeavor to follow a surveying party into a township and note iheir method ol oper*' tion in subdividing the ttame. In the first pluce the out* fit, coiisiMtingof eight or nine men, left Kaigo in June or July (low water time) with two or three canvas covered wagons drHwn by oxjen nnd loadjed with camp supplies* a cooking ftove, provisions in barrels and boxes, !»• eluding ccfiee and dried fruits. The party aimed to be well provisioned for the weeks they were to be ooL Twoor thiee tenti*, a saddle horse, Hnd pony and can were nlf«» taken along. The contract surveyor, who •onetiires u»>€d h hor^e Hi;d buf^gy, did not necessarily reoain constantly with hie outfit, since, in running tba compaHN, this was apt tu be entrusted to an assistant •urveyor who had charge of the camp. They aimed to go over a township in a week or lees if not delayed by rainy days. They had an arranged system in surveying townships so as to lost no time by any haphaiard worki and each pan hf twoa Or ihrpiii TBB OOTBBNMBIIT bORTKT, 51 iiAd their special irind of tasks to do during actual field work. While that waa ia progress oolj the cook and % chore man were in the camp. Stakes or small post! were nsed to mark corners. They were about four fee^ long and were split and hewn out of oak timber along the streams. Those for section corners were about three izi^het square and those for quarter section cornera ftbout 2 by 8 inchefi. The uiHrkiog of them with fig* ares and letters near their top to indicate town, raige and section, was done with a cutting instrument and ttsually in camp evenings for next day's work. The camp WMN pitched as near to the center of a township 48, they could get and be couTenient to water. |n running lines in any direction, the assistant sur* veyor used an ordinary theodolite, presumably well tested. Starting on the township border where there Whs already a mound and section post, hitt poleman, some twenty rods ahead with ponj and cart and assist* ants at hand, adjuRted the pule in line with the sighting of the instrument, as directed by the surveyor with motions of one arm. Meanwhile the assistants had cut from the turf a pointed sod «»onie twenty inches long and when the surye^or eignidled 'correct/* the sod was set aprigbt cloMe to the pole und braced by a smaller piece c»f turf. The men nuw went foiward another stretch, while the suiveyor lugged his instrument forward and adjusted it so that itt* plummet corretp<»nded with the pointed sod. Two chninnien followed measuring off the ground. One of the turf men drove the cart and each half mile a stake was taken out and its pointed lower end was driven a few inches Into the turf with the back pi a spade and left a while to be mounded around with 68 ^HM BABLV KIWIOKY OP BAK801I OOUNTT A pyramidical mound about four feet square at the bas« and whenever the men who attended to this work could get around t(» it. Presumably the force working the flection iinen arranged their movements an much as po»- fiible 80 that noon would not find them at a long di»> tabce from the camp, and at five o'clock in the afternoon (the old faf*hioned almanac time) the force ceased work And wended their way tu their tents. The section posts were set cornerwise toward each of the four quarter sections cornering where they were placed so an to bring the nidet* of the posts fairly facing the quarter that the figures marked on it indicated. Qppostite each corner a hole in the ground about three teet long, pointed at the end<(. and eight or ten inches deep, indicated a.wectioi) post and furnished the earth and turf to build the mound. Those set in OwegoTown- ship would have beep marked: T 185 N K 63 W S— the dash here standing for some section number that we have not specified. Theee surveyor's abbrevi.Htion8, rt-o- dered into words would read: "Town 135 North, Rarge 68 West, Section" s»i and so in regard to actual number. The quarter section posts placed on the section lines ft the half mile points v^ere merely ntarked X^» »od isothiug more. The exchvations in Ruch caees were two only, on opp( site sides of the mounds, about five feet in length and diamond shaped, the points being in the direction that the tifction linei^ run, north and aoutiho* east and west. Ihe centers of sections were not mark- ed, settlers being left to locate their own eornera at thooe points by ranging across the sections. In regard to the two kinds of excavations mentioned, any one jfaiiiiliar with t|ie facts, on approacbipg one oi % rB« 4lOTBiaiMI«T fURTlY Aouodi could tell at a glance which aort of corner H marked, and bj (he figures on the section poita would ascertain what part o/ an unwettled township be waa in, facts which men in search of a location often found it to be desirable to know. If any xqustters were found un the lands being aai^ veyed, the assistsnt lurreyor noted down their namta and marked the quarters they were liTing upon on ft townf^hip plat as occupied, so that such quarter •eetiont could bo witheld at the Und ni!ice a reasonable time against any haphnsard claimant. In the fall the platt »f the townships under contract, were turned Into the district land office. They were then sent to the Depart^ ment of the Interior, Washington, 1>. C.» for record and approral. then, aftrr several months they were returned to the Isrd office when the land was declared to be open 40 Jiettlenient. Some of the timber settlers who had occupied cluims long anterior to the survey, had U> i»ait seteral years beft.re they could file on them.* We hste gone into the foregoing details concerning the subdivision of townships since such matters are a part of the history of enrly cettlement times in the easV ern North Dakota counties, and doubt whether much of •nything on le lound relntive to the matter in present day histories. • The dptftllK forrfrnlrjr themib(HtJ»>Ion of townnhip* were derfvf<1 fTitr> perccrnl olfe-rvntlon snd conrcMRtlon wllh the •srtPtnrt stirvfjiir *\^t\ tie \y^o i^eft rsopee of townshJps la Grand Fcrks ^cmniy were stiMlrldf d In the summer and fkll of 1K80. Tbis was ore of Pesrdoley'i* contracts. Hln as^istaat itated thettte methcdK they iii>ed did not Insure absolute aeettraey ia fxinfr corneris; tberemJsht vary fiotn being correct, as he ex« preesed It, • 'bj a few licUcs of the cbaln." or dosely approsim«t«' THS RAR2.T aWTOKT ^f SIHSOU OOOHtT CLAIM ttHACK DAYS. There was but little immigratiou into North Dskotft in the seresties, though matters io this respect beg«ii to brighteo up somewhat io the last two or three jt%n of that decade. HoweTer, most who came at that time* teitled in the eastern border countieu of the stale, OOK irere even these counties whollj occupied until along ib the earij eiishtiefi. Besides Gen . Hazen's adverse re- port there was another potent factor that kept settler* away. 'Ihig whs the newspaper de*(criptions of the '^grasshopper" (Kceky Mruntain locust) scourge that the few settlers encountered during the middle seveo- ties Mai.y of thef>e hhd to leave their claims and go ^fick to th^ communities from whence they had come^ t)f eours*! spreading difimHl repurtH concerning the regioa ^roiEi which tlie; had been driven out. Ho one wished to try to establish homes in a flection wh«'re, as they supposed, there was some certainty that their cropit Would be d«>9tro}ifed before they could be harvested if they succeeded in raising any. The Northern pHcific KaOroad w.hs bnilt from the Red to the >lii.^< «ri river in 1872-3, snd in October, 1871, a line from IVJiimf apoliM, begun in 1867, reached Breckenridge. '1 hese two lines reaching the Red Kiver Valley and one of them paft^«ing tar v^est of it, did BOl •eem to invite much immigration in the fiieventies. Tbe fact that for twenty miles on each Hide of the Nortbera Pacific each alternate section belonged to the eoBpiBj by reason of a land trftnt, was not calculated toeocour* age settlement aloOg tbe rosd, especlslly colonies. H )x&» been sftid* that if the compajij had gifen tlie Uiid aULim llUACK DATS ffS •iray to nettlers thej would baye reaped a benefit therebj in the local trnffic that would hare been earlj dereloped. The fHilure in 1873 of J. Cooke & Co. who bad financed the (Sortbern Pacific, made hard timet all o^er the country for the next few yeari^ and beDC« people were le^a disposed to change their location. Il frill be ^een that owing to the uafnyorable reputatioB that th« Red Hiver c juutry hai receired, the majority of such emigrants as were seekioK new homes in tboM jenrn went elsewhere. Art the decade was closincr a change of opinion began to take pUc«>. Some of 'he larger stockholders of tbt Northern Pncific hai extensive tracts of fine level land at^igDed to them out of the rAilro*id Uud grant. In default o' immigratioo, they hardly knew what to do with it, but it occurred to some to try and turn it into whnat farms, and here wan originated the big farm idea. fp the heydiy of their tim*^ th.^ big f ims veie more of a curse than a benefit to tUe neighbonag railroad yil> lages, and on several accounts, but nerertheless profit- able to their owners for some yean. But indirectly they served the state a good turn by attracting general attention to the possibilities of the country. The news- papers now began to publish accounts of the largf yields of wheat grown on the big fa*""'" '^'hss County |tnd about the samf t no it vas aated %hf\ the grat^ hopper pest was dying out nnd that tuc Sw.;*er8 in west- ern Mintie.'ota hsd dcvisfd n^esns to exterminate thf few swarns that were Ifft. Then came tho extenaiTf Adrertising of real estate n en by means of circuUri •ent broadcast over the eastern states. All this r«8ultO(S in the great immigratiun of the early eigbtiet. JB THU JUhLT B18T0KT OP KAK80M[ COVMTT RftDAom Cuunty was io the Far^o Land Office district^ The IT. S. Land Office at Fargo was opened August .1, 1874, having been rooTed to that place from Pemhiaa. The fimt final proof made in the county was by Ludiog Tbiergart for the northcant quarter of Section 8, Tows 185, KaogA 58 (Owego Township), said proof bariof been made September 80. 1875. The township had been subdi?ided in 1872, but there was then no goveiB- saent land office nearer than Pembina. Thiergart^ U «houid be obserted, belonged to the timber settler data «f pioneers, '. The late date at which most of the townships In Ihft 4;ounty were organised niskcH it evident that settlers occupied the open prairie lands very gradually, and at first in the neighborhood i>f the Kar^o A Southwestern Hailroad. Those fimt locatirg on the prairie lands did not winb to establish homes very far from a railroad line, or one that had been surveyed and was being graded. Kxpectlng to team wheat, the nearer thty opuld locate to ff^ railroad station and at the same time get good land, suited incoming settlers so much Ibe better. Undoubtedly the cbarficter of the land in tb« different townships in whole or in part, had its influenat upon the time, order and extent of their settlement. • The prairir lands of the county began to be occupied along in the early eighties and this was continued grad- ually through that decade, so that claim shack days, so far as each township really experienced that phase of settlement life, was in part during different years for the county as a whole. In the case of some coobIIm of the Red Ri? t r tier, coming first In order on the oast, %hty were rapidly oirerrHB )>j settlers wheo ll^ji f^mV CLAIM ttHAOK DATS 57 graition morement set in, nut but that there had lo«g beeo fettlers od the timbered Mtreams, an \n like manner tn Kanfforo County. Where a tovrnship was still Taeant, or nearljT so. there eoxued much driving orer it by **^tand prospectors" or persons viewiof the land for 4ie«irHble locationn, s<>inetiroe» by twos with a horse ab# open buggy, or it might be several together in a cam- Bion fnrm wagon. They Uftually carried a townshipi plat and nccasionally conf*ult<'d it at 9ome section mouB^ to keep track of where they were on any blank prairie. The claim shack was usually built twelve feet square or 12 by 14 or 16 feet, with shed roof^ the slant baiof iwo feet rioe if twelve wide. 'J'hey were built of pine lumber tesroed from the Desre«)t railroad station, it might be, fifteen or twenty miles away. Shiplap waa ftooch iiRed and if dwelt in for some time they were cov- •red with tarred paper to keep out wind and rain. If A aian had a family the f>hack could be lengthened eight or ten feet. For winter upe turf was sometimes piled around them. Small single window sash were nsed for light and the rough made door opened to the weather. At best the shacks were onlv intended for temporary tise, and s HtttMe of like kird was built to shelter tht team, a spHn of horses or yoke of oxen. Sometimea cabins with pitched roofs were 1 uilt, the latter being Covered with tarred paper at firnt and ultimately with •hingles, a^ they were intended to last longer than the •hacks. In many cases, perhaps, small framed hoose« were built on the prairie claims from the firat, bnl in Ibia respect much depended upon the settler'a meana. One object of importance to each settler waa to get • (air amount of breaking dona the first seaaon. 68 TUB K4EX.r ^tpf^RT fxr RANSOM coiTirrv COUNTY OKQAVIZATIOM* There eould be do orgHoication of the coonty oatil (here were residents enou^^h in it to maks it worth the while to have a wet of county officers appointed. Th* county was late in batiing an organization effected since •leTen year** were allowed e1apf*e (mainly the timber •ettlement period) before such organisation took place. Beginning Febrnary 7, 1877. by an act of the territoriel legisUtnfe Random County, wlilch then included Set* tent Connty, had been attached to Richland County fer Judicial and recording purposes, such as nnortgagety deeds, etc. It having beecme known or expected that (he Fargo & SouthweRlern KHilro»d would be bulU through (he county, it cau»««d sooiething of an influx of Sfttiera in 1880 and 1881. Joseph L. Colton settled in the Sheyenne valley ii» 1880 snd although he npy voi at firnt have had visiona of making his location the site of a future county teat, he ultimately bent hip enf rj^ieB toward that end. At all events he xaw in that furt of the vallpy what was a favorable locflt ion for a (• wn*.ite. The incoming of »>ore fettlf rs thpr. hud been lochtid in the connty l» the seventies rendered it fxpfdiert to set about orgaB* Iting it ard Colton inKtitutfd tie initial stages to bate this measure eflected. He th'efvfore selected Frank Probert. Gilbert Hannn tX3<3H 69 eommisaioners to fix the location of the county Mftt, and Coltoo made an agreement with them that thii location should be at Lisbon where some settlement was beine made, and nowhere else; also that certain of hit friends should be remembered when it came to th« appointment of the county officers. The commissioners met April 4, 1881 and haTiog chosen Frank Probert chairman, and disposed of tbe county seat matter, they proceeded to chose the countj officers or probably confirm some list previously ontb* slate. The officers were: Register of deeds and (bounty clerk, Joseph L. Colton; Treasurer, John Kinan; Judge of probate, .1. P. Knight; Sheriff, Geo» H. Manniogf Deputy sheriff, A. H. Moore; Assessor, M. A. Smith; Buperintendeiit of schools, Eben W. Knight; Coantj surveyor, E. O. Pindall; Coroner, W. \V. Bradley; also •ome minor official)^ such as constables and justices of the peace. It is said that the register of deeds bad a troublous time to obtain from Hichland County su^ records a^ belonged to Kansom County. THE BIQ HLOUQH. Mention was made on a former page that tbe valley which lies between lakes Traverse and Big Stone was mainly excavated at the close of tbe Glacial period by fiord waters derived from a n:eltirg ice sheet in an epoch when a geological spring time ensued. There are a number of long valleya in the Dakotas in which DO streams now run that originated in the same way and Ransom County contains the uprer portion of one of *hem. In like manner the blufl' lined valley of the ^he>eDne above its big bend wa» largely excavated by ^ THB BABLT HI8T0KY Or KAN80M COOKTT ihe fDormuus fiaod that drained the Devils Lake region. The Glftcial period was not h unity rs was unce 8uppoB> «d, but comprised four or five stagca with warm iDter^ glacial epochal, lasting thouBauds of yeara, between them. Each elacial period altered considerably the coarse of the Bmaller streams by obliterating their ▼alleys^ wholly or in part. The Big Slough is some sixty miles in length and •x^tends southwesterly to the James river. It wasprob- ably the valley of an interglacial stream not so whollj filed up in the last Qlacial epoch (the Wisconsin stage of geologists) but that a depreiision was left along whicb ft flood might txke its course an the country was being relieved of its covering of ice. In this last glacial •tage the ice sheet only extended to the southern part of South Dakota, and westward it nowhere crossed the Missouri river. Its recession northward was attended by many pauses, sometimes involving oscillations back tod forth, but for no long distances. These halls form- ed moraines and bowlder trains, and as they extend northwest and southeast they indicate the trend of the front of the receding ice sheet, and the halts thus made can be mapped out almost as readily as the course of a ttream, ss traced by the eftects mentioned. The ice shett probably had a thickness of a half mile over Ransom Cc unty. Its sonlheaptern part was still Ice covered, blocking the drninage there in its natural direction, while the section about the big bend of the Sbe.venne and northwest from it was being laid open to free drainage, and the flood waters from the melting ice sheet, during eaph recurring suipmer, had to take the direction that the lowest levels first opened led fllB WO 8L0in»H. 6^ them. This was by way of stich depressions as existed aloof^ the course of Big Sluuf^h and Bear creek, the f^U leys of which were gradually re-excavated. Whea the glacial waters could fiow to the Red Kirer Valley theat drainage liueH were abandoned, and when modern cob* ditions were ushered in the Big Slough became m dt* serted valley, its drainage area not being sutficieol to maintain a permanent stream. Leaving the subject of phynical origins, we shall Mext append part of an article written in 1896, and which describes* conditions at the Big Slough when it was • noted hunting resort in the early eighties. Huntert also extended their trips aion^ir the Sheyenne river iolo QriggM County. **The geological and geographical changes which are coo* itantly taking place in and upon the surface of the earth are truly wonderful, and in no place can these changes be noted! more readily than here in North Dakota. *'The writer was one of a party of hunters who were look> iag for ganae near Lone Tree lake recently. When the first settlers came to western Ransom county, about fifteen years ago, they found a beautiful lake six miles long, a half mile wide, and from six to twenty- five feet deep. On the east bank of the lake Ihcy found growing a lone Cottonwood tree — the only tree for miles — and they Very appropriately named tks lake Lone Tree Lake. **For many years after, Lone Tree lake or the Big Slotigh^ sw)|rm^d with thousands of geese and ducks, pelican aadswao, and was visited every spring and fall by hundreds of sports* men from all over the northwest, who found excellent shooting aronnd the lake. The ducks and many of the geese stayed all summer, building their nesu and hatching their yomng in tko m TBB KASLT RieTOBT OT KAinSOM OOtTIITT oatlying marshes. The rashes which grew ap through the YAter nade an admirable cover into which a boat comld b# paddied and remain oat of si^ht of the wary dacks and feesc. ««Bttt on accoant of the exceedingly dry period of the past eight years the lake cow dries up entirely during the samacr. Bot very little game now stops here in their flight, and the oocc fine shooting place is now a thing of the past. The ciMt observer has noted many other changes. The cradle holes art getting shallower. The bufialo bones are all gone, the buffalo trails, then so plainly marked, can no longer be seen, aad tlia lopt fe^ ha^s grown from a tall, slender sapling to a tree foar. leeo inches through."* EARLY DAT! AT LIBBOV. Joseph L. Oolton had already noted the fact that tbt aite of LisboD was a possible future towusite. Heseleel* •d a claim there as a deatrable location, and with bia family and some relatives 8ettli>d upon it in September, 1878, they building a rude t«>mporary shelter of polea corered with brufth, hay and turf, in this shelter Mr* ColtoD, his wife and three children, passed the winter /oIlowin§r. The land in that part of the county was oot as yet o|)en to settlement, and so Colton and other aet^ tiers in that pert of the 8heyenne valley could only occupy their claion^ as rquatters, like «hat others bail done earlier on the eastern side of the loup: While awaiting a time when filirgs could be made, MttlafS improved their abodes and did some breaking. Some other settlers c^me in 1879 by which time tbe^ could make their filings at the U. 8. Land Offiee al Fargo and Colton made his filing May 18, K80. l^ I. ■■ ' '. .... I,.. ■ ■ ■ ■ r • From a skatch in the Record Magaalaa, Auf aat. Vi& «4kLY DAYS AT LISBOll, September of that year he fiiii§hed layinjj oat a town on bis claim to the extent of four blocks and named the place after that of hU home town in the state of New York. In the fnll a few pioneer buMineas build* ings were erecied upon this town site. John Kina* opened the first general store and began trading wiik such settlers as had established homes along that part of the vHlley. A. H. Moore and Peter Benson opened another general store the same fall. That same year Marsh & Holt, anticipating that the Fargo A Soutb* western Railroad would croas the valley somewhere \m that vicinity, purchased 640 acres of land along tko river, most of it lyingr on the east side. Colton now cherished the idea of making Lisbon the county sent whenever the county could be organised. County seat projects were already in the air. Aware thai he could accomplish little in making Lisbon the county seat of Ransom County without some outside influence, he went to Fargo and conferred with Major Edwards, an influential newspaper nian of those times. Major Edwards introduced Colton to Major C. W. Butti, a prominent Ihwyer of F«rgo ard a personal friend of Gov. Orc^wHy. This led to tie appoirtmenl of county commissioners and orpsnitKtion ot the county in 1881, Probably Colton had other conferences with Butti. On February 6, 1881, a written apieement wab entered into by these parties by i^birb Futtz was to have conveyed to him sixty acres in platted blocks, provided that tho Fargo & Souibwestern Railroad would cross the Shey- erre valley at Lisbon and the county seat be located at that place. Butt* was to confer with the chief engineer of the road and offer to convey to the railroad company ^4 nil sastr mewrnr ow kAvsoir oouirrr A good share of the hlock* out of those assiKned to him lo 6a«e the railroad did not come tu Litboa, any further }>iattlug of blocks and lots would be useleiis. The year 1S81 was one during which considerably proi^reM wa» mnde. i^ettiers began locating on tb» prairie landt* and toward tbe clo!98 of the year aa many *8 a doxen buiidinirH for various business purposes ha4 been erected, the lumber btring te^amed from the line of the Northern Pacific- Id starting new towns, squar* front buildings were usually erected with a half story above in which the owner lived until he could build % residence. Often tbe buildings were placed low to thai they could be banked around with earth as winter eaoMk on, for at fir«t they were generHJly set upon blocks or bowlders. The store room whs ceiled up, and often, »• tbe owner's business increased, more space for goodn was obtained by adding to the rear end of the buildinf. There are but few structures Jett now in the larger places in eastern North l)Hk()ta that belonged tu Cbeir earlier stage, of growth; fire, demolition and Removal has caused the disappenranee of most all of XhpjA, Among the build ItigH of 18^1 at Lisbon, was a bo^fol and a paper called the Lisbon ^tar wan started tber^ that year. In comparison wi4b Minne.sx)ta and other states, North . Dakota is favored with but ff w water power pritileges. This lack is iraiiily owing to the genersl light fall of tht streams. Some of the smaller streams in this state have sufficient descent within one mile stretebos U» ftirnish mill sites, but in the summer season tbeir flow of water is apt to be eonslderably diminished. A nill f ite WAS earl/ stiliced ob the Sbeytone at LlsfM^Bi tbf MAUX,^ i>A)iti AT LIBBOH Q(| eausiDg the water to poad bnck about four milMt bat within baok^ high enough to prevent oyerflow ol bottom lands and consequent formation of marshea, A flour mill wtis completed and gotten into operation at Lisbon in 1882 and has changed ownership seTcral limes since, with alterations and improTements. There hnd been a yearly increasing immigration into this state since 1878 and in 18S2 a larger number of people came than in any previous year. This was larg^. |y owing to the advf nif-ii:g oi real estate men who iti forth the capabilires of the territory in glowing term*. Prospective settlers as far CASt as New York state learn* ed that the; could ship b^ usehold goods, farm roacbia* ery and horses from their humen to Dakota by railroad and not te long on the way, hence the spring of 188S brought an unusual influx of settlers, and more located in Kan!«om County that year than previously. During that seasim about 280 people located in Lisbon. Under the impetus of the imuiigration and knowledge of the fact that the track of the Fargo A ^outbwtaterq Kailroad would probably reach Lisbon that year, iho Coiinty seat made considerable progress. More businesfi firms established themselves in the place, among thciD the Ransom County Rurk, And nnother local papei was started called the J itbcn Pepnblican. A stage line toward the appr< aching railroad was temporarily maintained, for in ea»«tern North Takota their daratioo was usually short. In thoxe tim*s in the new towot real estate or land offices, as they were ealled, were quickly in evidence, and lawyers from the east found that there were unfamiliar land laws in vogne iMre that they had to acquaint themsalvea with. $b THB SABXT Htf-'TOMY OF KJHSOM COUNTY [d forming church societies and Sunday schools in ibe Dsw townM then rapidly springing up in Dakota^ those engaged in thia work bad to take things as thej found them and adapt theniselves to the temporary dzisting conditions, which they readily did. The first sermons preached in these places were apt to be deli?- ered by traveling preachers, or by clergymen Tisiting the place irom some already edtablished parish. The «frvice» weie undenominHtional in character. Some newly completed business building, as yet empty, would be donated withchsira or boards for seals, and often eon* uiderabie assemblages of people gathered to attend these novel services, cince the majority found themselves »t> liberty Sundays. Am church societies were gradually lormed. the viUnge hall, if one had been provided over ftome busiuesM place, was utilized for services and prob- ably also for a union Sunday Hchool, or some building nuoccupied for business purposes, it might even be one that had been intended lor a saloon, would be rented of purchased and fitted up for temporary use. In some instances first sermons in newly Mtarted towns were preached in houses, neighbors being invited in. The firsf resilient pasmr stationed at Linbun wes Ihe Kev. Kli F. J.».CelI, a Methodist clergyman, who case from ^ew York state in April, li^bl. A Uiion societf Has gathered who held services in a tent the first siiD* ii>er and in the fall of ]^^^2 a building uf rough kikber was put up, furnished with forms made of planed pine materials for seats. A Piesbyterian society was loraied in 1882 with Kev. K. W. Day pastor, who reBaieed until 1896. Father Tierney also io 1S82 ergeaited e ^ Komao Catholic society and was t^eir fltt|»riesi. TMer MLAttiMm ooetm «m>ld bxcitbmkmt 67 Mriier church buildings that sucoaeded the temporary conditlooa of territorial da} », have them9«iye§ about all disappeared, baviug with iucreased population, been replaced by more comoiodiouR and finer church edificea, Miially con»triicteH of briek. The ¥&tf^o & Sonrh western Railroad waa conplete4 lothe Sbeyeiiiie ▼alley, at Lisbon, December 2i2, 1882, $he construction train accompanying the track laying /orce, arriving first. Trains had begun to run wheo lo January following, a severe storm filled a big cut is the bluffs east of town wiih witvd driven snow and th« funning of trains to Liesbon wan suspended for the real of the winter. The road wh^ not opened at that point ■ntil April 9, 188S, but a iniie fiXCITSMKNT. Sometimes gold in small particlea has been found dispersed through the surface drift or otheV formatiofi in limited areas of the non-gold bearing atatea. These findings usually haye produced local exoitementa, not of ?ery long continuaoce, he9«ttM working •yperieoea 06 THK «ASLT Rt-TORY OF KAV80M OODVTT ultimately demonstrates that it coata two or three times as much in labor to obtain one dollar in gold as the metal h worth, rendering attempts to mine it altogether profitless. Whatever may be nature's methods in form- ing gold, it seems to have been accomplished in cob- Qection with mountain upheaval. Id this state the land heightfl are hills of erosion, heightened in tome eases, by the piling upon them of glacial moraines. Ab expert mineralogist would likely have given an opinion to the efTect that it would have been useless to search for gold in paying qiiantitien in Hansom County: bat the county experienced that kind of sn excitement in 18St. Its origin has thus been described: ••In the sttmmerof 1882 the Chicago & Northwesicrn Rail- road Company made a preliminary survey of their line frooi Aberdeen, S. D., north through Ransom county, crossing the Sheyenne river in township 135—57 [Springer], and going out through the bluffs on the north side they ran the line up tha Jack Harris coulee on section 10, and in passing a large ledge of rock on the east side the compass cut sufiicient caperi to iadtcate the presence of a large amount of mineral. Over the top of this let^ge flovs a riv\)let of mineral water. The r»ck is formed bv the mineral deposit from the spring, and petrified leaves, tw'gs, gra«s and othf r matter hrorght in by the wind. ••Henry W. Griswold, a young man from Chicago, was with the surveying party and noted the action ©f the compass needle^ and in the spring of 188^ came back here in company with Frank C. Fry and Kdward P. Raker. After a little time spent in exploring and investigation, they bought the west half of 10 of Jackson Harris at ten dollars an acre. The Daketa A Great Southern Railroad had surveyed a line throngh the coulee, yupnipg north from the river valley, On the farna were several bnildings, built of hewn logs aad well plastered KAirsoM conmit oolo bxcitxhbht 69 irith dftj. tt had « small four-light windvw •& the north tide. This Mr. Griswold used for an office and assay labora* tory. He had a small cupola or furnace lined with fire clay, the pipe for' the smoke and gas to escape through passing outside throhgh a hole bored through the logs. Mr. GriswoM and party spent the daytime in exploring and gathering sam- ples of rock, sand and earth, which they puWerized in a m»rUr and melted in small assaying pots in the furnace at night."* The experimental work bein{; done at the cabin soon Attracted attention and neighboring Hcttlers became curious about the matter. Then Qriswuld admitted in Lisbon that his party had found indicntiona of gold mi the coulee. On October 19th, Griswold brought into the register or deeds office a patent of the Jack Harris homestead, "The next day" says A. H. Laaghlin, *'I ftiet the parties, went to the a»say office and eaw Mr. Fry crush several fragments of rock, put it into the fire, and in every instance there was a small bead of gold left in the crucible. It wa'^ enough to give anyone the gold fever. The next day the great gold excitement broke out. Within a week every incoming train was crowded with gold seekerM. I counted 130 men coming from one train. The whole Sheyenne vwlley was ex- plored and miiiintr claims were staked out on every cliff of rock, and all along the creeks and coulees and amone the bluffs from the north county line to the lower bend of the river." The following extract from tlie same writer throws light on conditions in the western part of Ransom County in 1883, before the larger game animals had wholly disappeared before advancing civilitatioii: f A. H. Laughlin, attlde is "HUtof y of the Med AXwtt Vallty." 7^ THB BARbT HI8TOBY OF RAMSOIf COUMTT *'E. C. Lucas and myself started for Standing Rock to c;KpIore the north side of the river beyond Griswoid. It wai a wet drizzling day. While examining the chalk ledge in the Oerding coulee we came within ten feet of two fine deer a»leep in a patch of prairie willows. While we were eatiac lunch in the Kredneson coulee, north of Fort Ransom, thrtc antelope watched us for several minutes from the top of t bluS within a distance of thirty rods. They were a fine pict«r^ lilhouetted against the sky. Darkness caught us in a lar|t bunch of timber impassable from fallen trees, so we had \^ drive a considerable distance out on the prairie to get aroms^ it. Being pretty well drenched we started home, arriving afttr eleven o'clock at night. We gained more wet feet and expt' rience than gold." ''Excitement wh9 inteDse and times lirely foraconpls of months. It was a harvest fur huteis and liferymen. With the exception of the liriswold and Stoddard parW ies, there was not much money waited. £Tery one els* awaited developments. No schemes or frauds wert attempted. There was plenty of ca^h in si^ht to v«k any mine that might have been discovered." THB BTAHTINQ OF BHELDOtV. Sheldon is a village of between three and four ho»» dred inhabitants, located in the northeastern part of Ransom Count?, on the line of the Fargo A. Southwest^ •rn Railroad, 42 miles from Fargo. It is 14 miles Bor* to I isbon by the railroad. The altitude of Sheldon it l,iD80 feet arcording to the railroad survey. Tht lows le surrrunded by a grrd fariring country and ateras, banks, the srbrol and churches are well represented in the place. The following portion ef a writt*«p aboat THB STARTING OW BHBLDOS. 71 Sheldon gives a good account of the starting of the liU \nge: ''The history of Sheldon dates from June it, i8Si, whea B. D. Wilcox purchased the present low% site from the Farge k Southwestern Railroad which was then being built. He boaght all of section 17, the section upon which Sheldon new stands, for $3,200, but having no nsoney with which to paj for it, he sold it three weeks later to E. E.Sheldon for $3,800. **Mr Sheldon platted the village and sold ofi a few lott» deeded half of the plat to the railroad company for locating the town here, and in February. 1SS3, sold what was left to Horton & Detler for $8,000. **The first train — a construction train laying track — reached Sheldon on November 4, 1882, and Lisbon on Decemberltof the same year. A mixed train was run off and on through the winter, and regular train service was inaugurated April I, 1883. Although a few store buildings had been erected, it was not until the spring of 1^83 that Sheldon really began to< •ssame the aspect of a thriving new town. During the spring and summer a score or more buildings sprang up on what a year before had been the verdant prairie, and hundreds of settlers poured in to occupy the land opened up by the neif railroad. "Adam Goodman was the fifst man to buy grain forshipacat over the new road from Sheldon. In the fall of 1881 the Northern Pacific Elevator Company built the first elevator ia Sheldon and Mr. Goodman was their agent. The elevator was situated on the site of the pcesent public park, aad 300,000 bashels of wheat were marketed during the first fall and winter it was in operation. It was no uncommoa sight to see twelve or fifteen leads of grain lined «p before the elevater by daylight, and Adam was kept basy alasest tweatyfeaf hoars a day. ?^ rum MAHLlf Mlt^^Zt {Mr KAVBOM COUHtT "The first general merchandise store opened ta Siteldon wat {hat of Karl K, Rudd who began business on Septem\>er 15^ 18S1, although the store of Goodman & Green was in opera* uen several oonths previous a few miles east of town, and was. moved in and opened for business in the old building at the cast end of Main street a few days after the Rudd store waa established. "The hrst banking institution was opened bj I. C. Gajlord on July 9, 1SS3. The bank founded by Mr. Gay lord, after passing through several transitory changes, hnallj became; \hc First National Bank of Sheldon. "On August 18, 1884 the town was incorporated. The Bftf toard of trustees consisted of K. E. Rudd, Jas. K. Banks aa^ Adam Gordman. C. E. Cole was clerk, Marion Grange treat* urer, and S. A. Durgin marshal. Jas. K. Banks was alf«| lastice of the peace. "The first drug store was established in the early eighties by C. E. and L. R. Cole, and in 1885 another drag store wa^ opened by P. J. Hoff. "Another pioneer institution is the Sheldon opera hoosa frhose doorb were thrown open to the public by Manager Cbauncey Durgin on July 4, f88$« "Sheldon's first newspaper was the Enterprise and was et: tablished and the first number issued February 25, iSSfj, D. M. Houge being the editor. It cnntinned lor tweaty yearf a|i0 was then consolidated with The Progress."— Fr*B aa v-. tide iR the Sheldon Progress, Dec. 15, 191 1. MOTES ON THE PRECEDING SECTIONS. ?Ege lo. On referring to Capt. Henry's spelling for the i^heyenne river we have found that this is *'Schian." Feath^ .