Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-01-01

!. iD:1ee8. and 10 those hslcyon days . delssa
election was not . misfortune. lAuklo
slunbessd. Ono solitary steamboat pass
! up the river from st. Louis to gather u
the robss and furs which had bssn soolleo,
] 81 at The various trading posss. II M
vsnbsr Newton Edmunds, then ,sesidin
here, was appointed { succeed Goveruo
Jayne, the latter gentleman having resign
cd under the impression that he had beef
elected to congress.
The third Legislature. assembled on th
hrst Monday 10 December. and CONTINUES
in session forty days. The Intelligence
this body. its nne social characteristics 90,
theducats It disbursed had,a cheering effec
upon the community. During this winte
DR.. Burleigh and Surveyor General Hill Vi
cited Onondsga couAty. Now York, ant
worked up 20 strong an emigration senti
ment that about fifty families organiset
themselves into q colony and started fol
Dakota. The vanguard Of this association
reached Yankton in early spring and wer.
Joined by = large number of the remainde,
= month or two later. Yankton vas to
certain extent elatsd. The tide of emigra.
ton had turned. We seemed to "hear the
first low wash of waves where soon would
roll . human sea-" Burleigh and Hill, ~
Dakota's first board Of immigration, had
proved q success. aud Burleigh became 90
popular that he was nominated and elected
to congress the came year.
But this season Of graduation and ~rejoic.
ing was not destined to last beyond q few
brief weeks. Already the dreaded foe to
Dakota's prosperity had emerged from its
chrysalis and was winging it's ETHEREAL fight
in this direction, and n warm sunny July
afternoon the air seemed suddenly filled
with 1uttering snow fakes and the heavens
presented the startling and unprecedented
phenomenon of snow storm in mid hummer.
1t was Dakota's first gra.shopper raid and
in oil essential particulars it vas a most stu
pendous disaster. The insects literally Gov
cred the earth and swarmed with glutton.
Gus ferocity into the primitive homes Of our
people. They devoured everything green
or dry-they consumed the gardens, trees.
grass, beds, bedding, carpets, cooked catfish
and corn-bread at that time the twin staff Of
life-they ate up shirts, chemises, drawers,
and stockings; they seemed to have = Pc
culiar relish for these luxuries of c%iviliza.
ton and no matter what the article was,
they had stomach for it all. No attempt
will be made to depict the feelings Of the
settlers over this calamity. They can be
better imagined than described. 1t was q
genuine catastrophe. A hurricane might
have swept over the land aud left less de.
~spondency in the hearts Of the people. The
actual damage TO crops and raiment could
easily have been repaired, bu; before the
cool autumn winds had siuged the maple
leaves, many Of the new corners had started
on = pilgrimage for the old home back on
earth where the %grssshopper was not SO
much of a burden, strewing by the way.
side their tales OF woe concerning DAkot.'a
inducements to immigration, p%icturing in
graphic colors our principal advantages un.
der the general heads of Indians. grasshop-
pers aud perpetual drouths.
The heart rending experiences of these
were properly embellished by con-
scientious news reporters and the press soon
teemed with the terrible suferings which
the pioneers of Dakota had endured +; their
imminent danger of starvation the barren
wastes in which they lived and how they
stood exposed to every peril hostile to civil
~ization.
This imperfect sketch of early Yankton
and to q certain extent Of Dakota, has
traced the progress of the town and county
TO the autumn Of 1864. Yankton was yet
but a small hamlet, and her most earnest
friends and wisest councillors felt that there
might be some truth in the oft repeated ex-
Of those days that the Almighty
had intended Dakota for the Indians and
grasshoppers, and intelligent white men
ought to have more sense than to interfere
with the Divine plan. Nevertheless
there were those who could not be entirely
discouraged, and who resolved to stay until
the catfish abandoned the river. While
there mas 3 catfish there was hope.
With this earnest determination Yankton
entered upon the winter Of 1s64-5. The
following spring brought the rebellion to a
close. The official roster of Dakota under
went an entire change; but the year
passed without adding materially to Da.
kota's population. 1866 differed little from
its predecessor in this respect, and not until
1867 did the town and territory begin to
feel that its days and years of feebleness
were numbered with the things that were.
Population increased, lands were eagerly
taken, improvement was rapid, and every
where a new life was apparent, and it really