S O U TH DAK OTA ’ S P RAYER me O God a lo v i n mo - s Make , , g ther tate , Wh o se st u r dy s on s and co mely daughters leal With selfless pride s h a ll co un t maternal weal — Th e c hiefest e n d the certain way an d s traight T ro w c t o wi n f h ugh hi h the Ch aplets o the great. a me O God ss n t o f e M ke , , e e tially e l ’ c d n s o o f c l My hil re l yal l ve , the per e t , rea , S upremest gift bestowed by Gracio us Fate in n O G od i n h co mmon al Make i e , , trut a we th n ac h s a s ar and s a Wherei e heir h ll h e h re partake , An d no n e s hall fail an d n o n e s hall take by s tealth ; ’ My all for them ; a n d they fo r Mo ther s s ake if S hall deem it go od bo th ge ar and l e to gi ve . I n o and us ma H n e . l ve tr t , y eave let us liv A B R I E F H I S T O RY _‘l SO U TH DAMK O TA DO A N E B IN S O N g Q 1 m m “ SECR ETARY O F TH E STATE HI STO RICAL SOCIETY O F S OUTH DAKOTA N EW vO RK CINCINNATI CHICAGO MA N Y MA N B O O K O A E R I C C P Gc ' 1 av Cow mc nr , 905 , DOAN E RO BI N SON . ’ H LL ENTE RE D AT STATIO N E RS A , SOUTH DA K OTA. 5 - 9 8 1 5 21 49 4! PREFACE the The student who learns story of his community , the sacrifices and successes of the pioneers , the worthy an accomplishments of his relatives of earlier generation , the history of the soil upon which he lives , will hardly fail to develop pride in his locality , and that pride is an almost certain guaranty of good citizenship . The following stories of South Dakota are written in the belief that they will contribute something to the development of an intel ligent and patriotic citizenship in our state . Ge CO N TE N TS CHA PTE R TH E S TO RY TO LD B Y THE RO CK S F THE MNDS T HE S TORY O OU THE A B O R I GINAL IN D I AN S WHITE E ! P LO RE RMS MD C S O E LAN L A I S LEWI S A N D CLA R K LE WI S AN D CLA R K WITH THE TE TONS THE FI RST B LOO DS HE D A N O TA B LE BO AT RA CE A PA TRIO TIC CE LE B RATI ONM AN E NGLI S H CAPMT A IN F RO SOUT H DAK OTA MAN U L I S A RICA E L , A E N THE RE E CONQUEST A FOURT H O F JUL Y CELEB RATION ME F S O T ALES O T RA VELERS A B AD B A RGA I N THE S P I RI T AK MA SSA ML E CRE A CA P A I GN THA T FAILED RM T T M P E ANEN S E T LE ENT T H E N EW T E RRI TO RY IS BORN T H E W A R O F THE O UTB REAK A D A KO TA PAUL REV ERE T H E RE D CLO U D W A R 6 A BRIEF HISTO RY O F SOUTH DAKO TA CHAPTER I THE STO RY TO LD B Y THE RO CK S IT is very easy to read the story of the rocks in South Dakota, for here more than anywhere else the several formations are exposed to View : and we can readily see W o hat must have happened in that time very long ag , before men , or even animals , inhabited the Dakota land . The rock formations can be seen more or less all over the — . l r l t e if s r is . c ea S state , to y y hown especially in that section near the head waters of the White River at the foot Bla ck . of thfl Hills , known as the Bad Lands We learn there that in an ancien t time a great ocean rolled over South Dakota ; that some great conv ulsion must have occurred deep in the earth which threw up the Black Hills and other western mountains ; that the ocean swept over these hills , grinding them up and washing them down across its floor toward the eastern part of the state , thus laying down a for mation or stratum now compressed into hard rock which is the lowest of the many forma tions studied by the geologist . We learn that again and again the rocks and hills were raised up , each time to be 9 SO UTH DAKOTA washed down by the ocean , each washing making a new stratum , until finally there came a time when the ocean could not overcome the hills and the latter became high and solid earth somewhat as we now know them . In this time the earliest evidences of life appeared , in the form of sn ails and other low orders of creatures . Then the ocean seems to have come back and swept down another stratum of soil from the mountain bases , and after it had again subsided came a race of monstrous reptiles , the remains of which are found quite generally over the state wherever the formation of that period is exposed . It is quite certain that at this time South Dakota was in the main a vast steaming swamp , for the climate was tropical , and out of the swamp grew tropical verdure . ho w For long the reptiles reigned no one can ever know, but their period was followed by another, in which great l anima s , much larger than anything now in existence , roamed throughout the land . They have been given hard names by scientific men who study their remains ; as b r onto ther es el eother es. titanotheres , , and The titano theres and b r on tother es were evidently of the elephant or eleother es rhinoceros family , and the were giant pigs . While remains of these animals are most common in the n Bad Lands , they are fou d in many other localities , show i n g that they roamed generally throughout the state . At hi this time we can be very sure, from the signs w ch are left, that South Dakota was a great swampy , tropical plain which sloped gently down from the Black Hills on ' the west to the great centr al r i v er flowing through the STORY TO LD BY TH E RO CKS I I present James River valley, and from this river sloped o f up to the top of the coteau at the east line the state . By this time several agencies were at work Which r e sul ted in a great change in the climate of the region . The uplifting of the Black Hills and the Rocky Mountains had off cut the warm breezes from the Pacific Ocean , and in the far north vast heaps of ice were being piled up by the almost continual freezing of the frigid climate . These heaps of ice had become so deep that they could not sup r un port their own weight , and so began to or spread out as you may have seen a large lump of dough spread when turned from the kneading pan to the table . When we ex a amine piece of ice , it seems to be so hard and brittle that it does not seem possible for ice to spread in this way ; nevertheless , scientific men have shown beyond doubt that ice does spread when placed under a great weight . The spreading of this ice sent it down from the north east until i t had run far down into the South Dakota ' country . It was so thick and heavy that it completely dammed up the valley of the great river, so that its waters became a great lake , lying north of the ice and extending far back into the Rocky Mountains . The ice pushed along until its western edge had traveled as far as the line now occupied by the Missouri River, when it began to melt away . The waters which were dammed up in the upper part of the great valley began to seep about the o f western edge the ice , until they ran entirely around it and reached the old bed of the stream below Yankton . Thus the ice quite changed the surface of South Dakota . Before it came the Grand River extended east from its STO RY TO LD BY THE RO CKS I 3 present course until it reached the great river near where . w Redfield Aberdeen now is The Cheyenne ran do n to , the Teton or Bad River to Huron , and the White to Mitchell . The great animals , the titanotheres , masto el eo ther es dons , and , were destroyed by the ice , and when n it had melted away , it left new co ditions in climate , soil , ff and river courses , not greatly di erent from what exist - to day .