NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08044354 6 t^ £l~U^ HISTORY OF FAULK COUKTY SOUTH DAKOTA BY V CAPTAIN C.H.ELLIS TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS AND PROMINENT CITIZENS ILLUSTRATED 19 9 \^ RECORD PRINT FAULKTON, S. D. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 733381 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1916 L INTRODUCTION. The first quarter of a century has passed since the real work of pioneer life began in Faulk county—the work of transforming the wild, unbroken prairie, the home of the buffalo, the wolf and the wild and uncivilized red man—of blotting out the well worn Indian trail, extending from the eastern to the western boundary of the country. A work that means so much for us, that has been carried forward with such telling results, as the years go by, shall ever remain an enduring foundation upon which our future social, political, intellectual and moral greatness must stand, demanding a more enduring record than legend or story—Facts well authenticated, facts from the well stored memory, from brief records placed in historical form, before the ruthless hand of Time removes the heroic band from our midst. For the accomplishment of such a work is this History of Faulk County written. And to the men and women who composed that heroic band, who left home, with all its social surroundings that enter so largely into the present life, and builded greater than they knew in laying the foundation for a more liberal, broader and higher education and a nobler manhood and womanhood, is this work dedicated. C. H. Ellis. Faulkton, S. D. THE AUTHOR 11 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. It is not our home and immediate surroundings that are to be considered in the making up of actual and pros- pective conditions from a financial, social, political and moral standpoint; but the civil government, the national and state organizations, the higher powers, to which we are to look to guide and protect us. While among the youngest of the states. South Dakota occupies the fore-front in actual wealth and material pros- perity. In 1889 she exchanged her territorial relations with one general government for those of equal sovereign statehood in the Great American Republic. With an area of 76,000 square miles, divided almost equally east and west into two parts by the Missouri river, (with the except tion of the famous Black Hills country, which contains one hundred square miles located in the south-western part of the state, of the richest mineral deposits on the face of the globe), the entire state with a soil of unsurpassed fertility, with climatic conditions superior to all its sur- roundings, underlaid by the greatest artesian basin in the world, furnishing an inexhaustable supply of water for any and all purposes, when and wherever wanted; it needs but time and an intelligent appreciation of its wonderful re- sources to secure a world-wide reputation that shall secure an agricultural population second to no state in the union. With a population of only six to the square mile it produced in 1901; Wheat, 35,000,000 bushels, valued at $18,000,000.00 12 Corn, 70,000,000 bushels, valued at 35,000,000.00 • Other grains and Agricultural Products- • • 35,000,000.00 Hay Products 10,000,000.00 Live Stock 35,000,000.00 Dairy Product 9,000,000.00 Wool, Hides and Furs 4,000,000.00 Gold and other Minerals 13>000.000.00 South Dakota now ranks among the states of the Union; Third in the production of corn, third in the pro- duction of wheat, first in the production of flax, fifth in the production of barley, oats and rye, eighth in the produc- tion of wool, tenth in the production of live stock, and actually produces more wealth in proportion to its popula- tion than any other state in the Union, as is proven by government.statistics and other reliable data. The climate is free from malaria, mild, invigorating and healthful, for which reason the death rate in the state is the lowest in the Union. The summers of South Dakota are moderate, without any excessive heat, the most de- lightful season of the year being the long„ beautiftfl autumn, and the winters are so mild that the live stock are grazing on the range all winter without shelter of any kind. The annual mean temperature of the state for the 3'ear 1906, determined from forty-three stations having a com- plete record, was 45 degrees. Wheat growing is, and must continue to be, one of the important branches of farm- ing and is carried on at the present time with great profit. The crop for 1905 averaged fifteen bushels par acre. While South Dakota is sadly deficient in lumber for building, purposes, the deficiency is largely made up in the vast de- posits of material for the best Portland cement, which can be utilized in the erection of more permanent and cheap- er buildings, when durability is. taken into consideration. 13 With her vast deposits of coal and the introduction of al- cohol for the purpose of light, heat and power, a better and a more desirable supply is at hand. The following statistical record of 1906 ought to find a place in the permanent record of the production of wealth supplied to the world in one year. The following is an official report, viz: Wheat, 37,494,108 $20,931,877.24 Corn, 77,414,331 33,224.299.30 Oats, 51,324,557 12,831,139.25 Barley, 24,603,257 7,380,077.10 • Flax, 2,283,156 2,383,156.00 Speltz, 4,558,708 1,367,612.40 Hay, 3,073,554 tons 14,868,770.00 Potatoes, vegetables and Fruit 5,000,000.00 Dairy Products 7,500,000.00 Eggs and Poultry 5,000,000.00 Honey, 90 tons 25,000,00 Ivive Stock 36,000,000.00 Wool and Hides, 300,000.00 Mineral and Stone 9,000,000,00 Total 145,812,831.29 New wealth per capita, 278.00 No more convincing proof of the prosperous condition of any state can be produced than her bank resources, to- gether with the valuation of all classes of property. The banks of South Dakota have $70,198,433.62, and a total valuation of all classes of property of $260,630,977.00; but the true yaluation is estimated at a billion of dollars. South Dakota has no bonded debt and the limit of tax levy cannot exceed 2 mills to the dollar, as provided by the constitution. The rate of taxation in South Dakota is low- er than in any of the Northern states. 14 EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. South Dakota is the best equipped state in the Union for educational purposes. She is proud of her common schools. Where there are children to go to school, teachers are provided and school houses built: The school law con- templates that every child in the state shall receive the benefit of a common school education and makes liberal provisions to attain that end. It provides for the trans- portation to school of all children li\nng at an unreasonable distance from schools. Free school books are furnished, and libraries are also provided. Two sections of land in each township were set apart for school purposes by the general government, which assures a very low rate of tax- ation for the common schools. With four normal schools, one at Aberdeen, one at Madison, one at Spsarfish and one at Springfield, and a school of Mines at Rapid City, a State University at Vermillion, and an Agricultural Col- lege at Brookings, the supply of teachers should be equal to all demands. Denominational schools are as follows, viz: Methodist colleges at Mitchell and Hot Springs, Congregational col- leges at Yankton and Redfield, Presbyterian at Huron, the Baptist at Sioux Falls, the Scandinavian Lutherans at Sioux Falls and Canton, and the Episcopalians at Sioux Falls. The Roman Catholics have well equipped academies at Aberdeen, Sturgis, Elkton, Marion, Vermillion and other points, and the Mennonites at Freeman. The population is cosmopolitan, being composed, as reported by the census of 1905, of 33,473 Scandinavians, 17,873 Prussian Germans, 12,365 Russian Germans, 22,144 Canadians, 5,564 settlers from England, Scotland and Wales, 3,298 Irish, 1,566 Hollanders and the balance of the population, Americans. 15 By occupation the people are engaged as follows: Eighty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven are farmers, of which 57,288 own their own homes; 16,821 are engaged in domestic and personal service, 15,247 are in trade and transportation: 14,327 follow mechanical pur- suits, and 7,877 are in professions. There are over 150,000 school children enrolled in the public schools of the state. Three fourths of the farmers own the land they till, a most gratifying and satisfactory^ fact from a financial standpoint. Seventy-eight per cent of the population are native born. The state of South Dakota has provided liberally for her most unfortunate class, the insane, as well as to guard society from the most vicious element of the popula- tion. The hospital at Yankton has large, well constructed buildings where these unfortunates are well cared for. The Northern Hospital for the insane and feeble-minded has been erected at Redfield, where a certain class of the insane are cared for. The penitentiary^ at Sioux Falls is a modern structure, well suited for the purpose for which it was built and is under the best possible regulations.