Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1882-07-22
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The Territory of Dakota.


The Territory Of Dakota.
IN. F. Pcttigrew IN the Natio al Farmer July !. J
The Territory of Dakota lies in the
very heart of the continent. Reaching
420 miles from north to south and 800
miles from east 10 west. A stretch of
400 miles intervenes between it and
the Atlantic ocean, while the western
border il slightly farther from the Paci-
fr. This beautiful region intersects the
track Of immigration in It's ceaseless
western flow, absorbing such numbers
that, within a very recent period, her
progress justly inspires the people to
claim rank among the leading agricul-
tural communities of the Union.
At the beginning of the late war the
territory, embracing l52, 900 square miles,
was the home of the Indians. Such in.
formation rs could be attained ,..sccd
their numbers at $4,000 in 1Sl,e. at which
period the elk, ant..opc, and deer
abounded, and the puff.ilo roamed with
in her bord..- IN untold thousands.
Wen formally organized as terrific
~, i'm 1861, there were less than 10000
white inhabitants, mostly III the eX
tremc southeastern corner, along the
borders of Nebraska and Iowa, in what
is now known as Yankton, Clay, Union,
and Bon Homme counties.
These people were, in the main, the
overflow ofthe adjoining states, compris
ing that sturdy class of pioneers who,
unwilling to brook the ways of eastern
civilization, are of that nomadic class
making companions Of their horses, and
living by their rifles and hrnting-knivcs.
These pioneers, by reason Vf their ui!-
tiring habits and keen intelligence, be-
came the early explorers of the territory,
and by their valuable reports of import
ant discoveries brought'to the attention
Of the world the ineXhaustible agricul-
tural possibilities and natural advantages
of the region which, up to the period
named, was characterized as the "Great
American Desert" Of which, az school
children, we were wont to read Of in our
Biographies, and made to sympathize
with imaginary caravans of travellers
who had suffered for, want Of food and
water, dying from exhaustion, and leav-
ing their bones to bleach in the whiten-
Ell sands under a scorching sun, where
even the ventnresome cioute dare not
go to feed upon their bodies.
1t is safe to say that at the period
named there we're ,ess than 10000 acres
of this vast domain in cultivation.
Instead of desert the territory was
found to surpass all other regions in its
diversified advantages. 1t is traverscd
from its northwest corner diagonally to
its southeast corner by the matchlcss
Missouri river, affording over 900 miles
Of navigable water, bordered by broad
belts ofvaluable timber, the main stream
in turn being fed by hundreds of ever
flowing tributaries reaching from the
very borders of the territory, draining
and watering vast streaches Of rolling
praries and wales as fertile as the plains
Of Illinois.
The eastern portion abounds in fine
lakes of clear, cold water, alive with the
finest varieties Of fish. These lakes are
surrounded by magnificent natural
meadows, carperted with native pastur-
age, superior in nutrimept to the best
known varieties Of cultivated grasses.
This, i'm brief, was what was known of
Dakota when organized under territorial
government in 1861.
The unbeunded resources reported by
the early pioneers were attracting gener-
al attention early in 1862, and immigra-
ton was tending there when the terrible
Sioux war was inaugurated by the
bloody massacre of the settlement al
New Ulm, in Minnesota, spreading in its
desolating effects over the frontier and
continuing wherever the bloody Sioux
could reach victims, closing Dakota from
settlement, and becoming solid ram.
part against progress or improvement
until the series Of murders and assassi.
nations ended with the tragic death OF
Custer's band at Little Big Horn, in
1874, and the sullen retreat Of the arch.
demon, Sitting Bull, into Canada.
Notwithstanding these obstacles, those
settlements along the border of Iowa and
Minnesota strengthened their hold and
cautiously pushed out along streams and
on uplands under such restrictions as
safety demanded, until, at the close OF
hostilities, in 1874, there were probably
twenty-five thousand white inhabitants
i'm all the territory, with possibly 100000
acres Of land under cultivation. In the
meantime specific evidence relating to
fertility of SOIL salubrity of climate, and
natural resources of the country dis