Our Hettinger .4 County Heritage : .^—-Nir**-* -«-• mim**7:"'» \m •>i»4,V( :/ by ENID BERN North Dakota State Library 604 E Bo ilt vard Avenue BismarcK, ND 55505-0800 Bern ,m Our Hettinger County- d<n heritage . \Q1S NORTH DAKOTA STATE LIBRARY BISMARCK 58501 OCT 20 1975 NORTH DAKOTA MATT I IBriARY 11 33105 66630 4301 T7[oUy 7\ortr\ Dakota, cfa?\e /? J97S Do Z/\e, 7\oriJ\ £>a£o?a State £t£>rary tist?J\ my corr\pftrr{e7\Zs Cntd 3ers\ Our Hettinger County Heritage Cover: The scene is one of shock threshing on the Otto Kibbel homestead. Mr. Kibbel was the owner of the outfit, Fred Wickman tended the separator. North Dakota Statl Ufertff Bixmarf.k NH -PAM Dedicated to the sacred memory of my parents and to all other pioneers who ventured into this region, ready to face the many hardships and to accept the challenges they knew they would encounter in establishing homes and communities out on these vast prairies. V FOREWORD Less than 150 years ago that part of Southwestern North Dakota with which this book largely deals was described and illustrated by most mapmakers as "The Great American Desert". From that point in time to the first of the present century this area was inhabitated for the most part by nomadic Indians and white trappers, ranchers, and a very few homesteaders, or "squatters". Shortly after the turn of the century an increasing number of people came to this area to pick choice sites of free land for homesteading. After the completion of the railroads into the area, the influx of the people became so great that in a few years homesteaders oc­ cupied homestead lumber shacks or sod houses on almost all quarter sections of land suitable for farming or grazing in the area. This book deals largely with the experiences and the trials and tribulations of those early settlers and homesteaders in the time- cycles that recorded both want and plenty. Miss Enid Bern, the author of this book, is eminently qualified, by experience and ability, to write about the events and conditions of the homestead days to the present and about the people who transformed this section of Southwestern North Dakota from a segment of "The Great American Desert" of the mapmakers of 150 years ago to the prosperous area it is today with hard-surfaced roads, modern towns, fine churches, excellent schools, and many other assets that make it a fine place in which to live. I congratulate Miss Enid Bern on the excellence of her book and, as a newspaper publisher in Southwestern North Dakota for more than the past 46 years, heartily recommend it to all former and present residents of the area, as well as to all others who are in­ terested in the old homestead days or the people who had a part in them. D.J.Shults A resident of Mott, N D, for many years and now a resident of Hettinger, N.D. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our Hettinger County Heritage is by no means fully com­ prehensive or complete in its scope. For the most part, it covers briefly the early history of the county and continues on through the homestead period, which ended primarily in 1912. The text of the book is based on information which I have more or less absorbed in early years, and on general knowledge both of which were strengthened, confirmed, and considerably increased by limited research. An amount of information worthy of much mention was acquired from the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and from old books. Specifically, we are indebted to the State Historical Society of North Dakota for making available sources of information from the Federal Writers' Projects of Works Progress Ad­ ministration of North Dakota, collections, old newspaper files, microfilm, as well as several pictures, and for permission to reprint "The Enchanted Years on the Prairies" complete with pictures and captions previously published in North Dakota History Fall 1973 (40:4). We appreciate, also, the suggestions, aid and encouragement from various department heads of the State Historical Society. The following newspapers and magazines used as sources of information include: The Adams County Record, The Ben- tley Bulletin, The Bismarck Tribune, The Burt Echo, The Dickinson Press, The Mandan Pioneer, The Mott Pioneer Press, The Mott Spotlight, and North Dakota Magazine. Books include: Black - Trail of the Long Horn Steers, Crawford - History of North Dakota Vol. I, Drayton - Dakota Days, Willard - Story of the Prairies, Wishek - Along the Trails of Yesterday, and North Dakota Blue Book -1911. Special thanks are extended to: Father Louis Pfaller O.S.B. for permission to use information from Father De Smet in North Dakota. The State Water Commission for use of land survey maps. Mrs. Agnes Hoiby for the 1608 roster of school pupils and for material from school records. The Dakota Farmer and Mrs. Henry Svihovec for permission to use the story by John Kolkema. The Hettinger County Historical Society for the use of pic­ tures. The friends who contributed personal stories and pictures. And finally, we are grateful to D. J. Shutls, Ralph Shults, and other staff members of the Adams County Record who made possible the publication of this book; and to the Mott Pioneer Press staff, particularly Dennis Maas, for the make-up and printing of the book. Enid Bern Our Hettinger County Heritage The Evolvement of Hettinger Co. The American Indian The area of land that is now within the present boundaries of Meanwhile, the American Indian held sway over this vast Hettinger County was at one time a part of the vast tract of domain, regardless of ownership claimed by various countries land claimed by France through the explorations of La Salle in or political subdivisions. 1682. In 1762, at the close of the French and Indian War, it The numerous arrowheads and other artifacts including an passed into the hands of Spain. It was later ceded back to occasional peacepipe, attest to the fact that Indians roamed France, and finally the United States acquired title to this area in fairly large numbers. Boulder rings are to be Louisiana, as it was called, from France. found in various localities. They are commonly called lipi Since then, the Hettinger County area has been a part of the rings with the idea in mind that the stones which are spaced at following territories: Louisiana in 1803, Missouri in 1812, regular intervals in a circle, were used to anchor tipis,*but Nebraska in 1854, and the Dakota Territory in 1861. In 1889, it there has been some speculation regarding this. Louis F. became a part of the state of North Dakota. Crawford in his History of North Dakota Vol. I writes that A rather interesting observation is that in 1834 the portion of upon inquiry, it was. learned that some elderly Indians as far North Dakota east of the Missouri and White Earth rivers was back as one hundred years had no information or tradition within the Michigan Territory; in 1836 it was incorporated into about these rigns. Furthermore, the Sioux had skin tents that Wisconsin Territory; in 1838 into Iowa Territory, and in 1849 were constructed in a manner not requiring anchorage. They into Minnesota Territory; whereas our region lay in the knew nothing about their use. Mandan and Hidatsa did not use territory that had been the Missouri Territory, but renamed skin tents, and had no knowledge about the use of rings. Indian Country in 1834. In 1854 we became part of the These groupings of circular arrangement of stones twelve to Nebraska Territory. (1) At that time the part of the state east twenty feet across, are as a rule, found on hillsides or rough, of the Missouri was still included in the Minnesota Territory. uneven ground unsuitable for tents, and generally were In 1871, when North Dakota east of the Missouri River was located several miles away from camp. composed of two large counties, Buffalo and Pembina, the The location of these rings perhaps was not detected in region west of the river was unorganized Indian Territory. A many cases until after a severe drought or a prairie fire, as year later, a large part west of the Missouri was divided into the stones have almost been covered over with soil. Since soil counties.(2) forms very slowly, indications are that these rings were made When the Northern Pacific Railroad was to be built, un­ quite some time ago. Whatever the purpose may have b"cn, settled and unsurveyed territory was divided into counties to they arouse interest as remnants of the earliest inhabitants of give the impression of a well settled region and thus aid in the our land. sale of bonds.(3) On a territorial map of 1879, our area is in­ Of more recent times, the nomadic Sioux, a warlike tribe, cluded in Stark County. The territory of this county lay bet­ roamed the prairies in our particular area. Their relation ween the 102nd and 103rd meridians of longitude, and between to the white man is a story of rebellion against broken treaties, the 47th parallel of latitude and the South Fork of the Can­ and dishonest Indian agents. They resented the change in the nonball River.(4) Another source,(5) referring to the Laws of form of life imposed upon them by the government, which North Dakota, 1879 Chapter II, Sec. 4, states that the southern forced them into submission, and in many cases, punished boundary was the 46th parallel of latitude. them by withholding annuities in the form of food and clothing.