Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-01-04
;yERAuLD COUNTY.
ITS EARLY HISTORY.

,ata was qlYldedinto counties was first
4ilcl Wetmare Wetmore county by
1 h act of the legislature being com
y 4,ad of towns 1915. 1O6. lO7 and los,
#ages 63 "a, SIS and 6S. 4'he legisla
re of 1877 consolidated the counties
i Wetlnore and Crasin calling the
Consolidated counties .i1rora The leg
stature of 1883 again divided Aurora
county taking the three tiers Of lown-
ships on the north of that epun4y sand
attaching three townships OF the west
from the nnorganiZed coupty OF Buff
!alo and named the new county Jer-
m,ld. Sc that Us at present constituted
the county of .lerauld comprises town
ships log, 1o7 and lns, and ranges tjs 81,
li5. 66 and 81.
The early history of .Ierauld county
is but one chapter of the history. of the
eat terr,tory of Dakota.
The Land of the Dacotahs" is pecu-
liarly rich in aboriginal traditions.
Whether or not sit is pretty clearly es-
tablished that the. primitive aribes Of
the Northwest migrated from Eastern
Asia, and in their early drifting, like
sea-foalp, across the northwestern wa
tiers, brought with them glimmer of
civilized history, which has long. sipce
vanished into tradition, in the chase
and war-path Of the wtlderness.' may
he left to the deliberation of the pro-
fessional ethnologist or the amateur in
love with the studyof the curious. Ger
tain it is that this theory has become
tacitly accepted. apart from specula-
ton a., to Il sufficient reasonableness of
hypothesis.
Seemingly wei auther.t ticatotl history
traces Prince tadoc, or MadoM,e, from
North Wales. With ten shipsand q large
colony of his countrymen, to- the mouth
Of the Mississippi river in the early
part of the fourteenth ceAtnry. and the
traditions of their own countrN have
it that the colony settled someWhere
in the interior of North Ameri ica.
where eventually their descendants be
t;une merged into tribal relations with
the aporigines. It is. even a,Sveq.41fed aver that
the journeyings aAd ancient spEtiiica-
tions of this colony have beeA traced
from the Ohio River to the cd Man
dan village in Dako a.
1t is claimed that the indian tribes,
who inhabited this, vssst region at this
time, We're the great race, ofthe Sioux.
the lIurons. lroNuQis. Winnebagoes,
Wyantottes. Illinois and Foxes all
families Of the greai Dakota nation and
at war with the Whole Algonquin race
of the Atlantic coast. The introduce
tion among the AigNnquins Of firearms
steel arrows ant battle axes by Cana
dian traders, were etfoctl;.l weapons
against the tint-headed arrows and
wooden war c,uhs Of the Dakutas. and
.he great nation. defeated aad pursued
by the conquerers, fled toward the
setting sun. Very little is known
concerning the tsibes that inhabited
Dakota prior to that bloody era. Ira
.lltion says that the Cheyenne (shies, or
Dog.y Indians were once q powerful ma
ton. and We're the first race of people
who migrated TO the Missouri Valley
that after having been repetedly driven
down from the regions Of the North
they located on Il western tributary OF
the Red River. where their blood pour
ed out in battle against their Invading
foes. minglirg with the waters of the
northern streams, changed its hue. and
gave it the name of the blood-colored
or Red River of the north. Again they
We're defeated, and again they struck
their tents and fled, with the bleeding
remnants of their tribe, across the
northern plains of Dakota, and formed
i; new home On a stream that enters
the Missouri from the west, which
they called the Cheyenne.
The period Of this great Indian re.
PROGRESSION was probably some time
before the beginning of the seventeenth
century. Up to that era the Dakotas
had remained It's one ration; but during
the great war and flight from thu
North, they had become disbanled anC
dispersed into smaller parties, and il
order to be distinguished from Other
tribes, abandoned the ancient name OF
"NadsuessiouN," or Sioux" and callet
. themselves Dakotas, or the "friendl,
people, Since that period, history ant
tradition agree in placing the Dakota a.
us masters OF the vast region betweeI
the Mississippi and the Mountains
The lanktons at that time inhabited
the region between the James and til,
big Sioux Rivers, and We're known a:
the tribe that lives at the end;" all tn,
tribes to the northwest of the were call
ed "those who came over the mountain.
from the sea-
The first white visitors to this see
ton being couple of Canadian trad
ers who came here in 1864 to trade fo