The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1896-09-26

rowing bulbs OF apPle ''"i'
,,.iusects will become maiformed
oilers exposed to nipping frost VIII
witner and die and drop from among the
cluster, while again others will continue 10
ex pand and grow in luster. and even hlde
Youthful imperfections in the coloring
thrown upon them by the suns rays and
drops of morning dew, so pass on to
the perfect ripening in autumn days.
Let any one of mature age think back
on their school days, and follow when
they can. the varied fortunes in tho after
lives of their school mates. Lat yourself
reproduce the picture in yonr mind IN
those da~s and sum up such of them that
have weathered the storms. Take Il count
of heads and roview the record. Some
times-though not always-the' dull child
becomes the successful man or woman,
and sometimes the most hopeful young
scholar in the class goes through life
hands down.
These thoughts re called to mind by
the writers review OF tho PERSONAL OF a
military oryauizltiou .1nownas sh, "s,5nte
Comp pany" OF more prop 'rly Col. S."Gar :
Cavalry Battalion, watch was organized
for dafensa of the s,ttlen aatS of north
western Iowa, following the Sioux Indlan
outbreak OF 1852. in western Minnesota.
The com pany of this battalion, Of which
the writer was q h,p .fut m em DER,
gar'isoned two f,ct, o: p''t'-,ne
on the West Fork OF Little Sioux river
aul the other on the main stream at the
settlement on the Correction line. The
latter post was headquarters, and called
Fort White. On recent journey along
the Sioux, made some inquiry concern
ing Old conrades of this organization
MY first informant WIS Sioux
City man-counted up heads, and said
most of the boys we're dead. Col. Jim
Sawyer our Leader, an old business man
of that town, yet had found his circum
stances reduced to the ownership of q
rickety ferry boat. on which no company
would insure. THIS would have been all
right had ths boat stayed above water.
which, unfortunately for the Col. did not.
and at the age of nearly 60 years. Col.
Sawyer stood ON this lcyee and watched
his boat go down, and hnsa reduced to
the straights of poverty.
A IpI, in tins lri l.
der like circumstances, would have wl!ted
Under the strain. Some would have went
to their couch and asked the old nun with
the sythe to hit them a lick for keeps.
Others might have crawied around to a
saloon and Jagged up with lot of liquid
drugs, SO that their appetite might crave
for more. Not SO Col. lin Sawyer. He
did no gruntiny over his hard luck or
cry about it. He rais-da little money by
hook and by crook, and took passage by
train for the mining regions OF Arizona
That was fourteen years ago. To-day he
is a millionaire.
The captain whom Fort White had bee1
named, died at New Orleans. The lieu
tenant was living in prosperous ways at
or near Orawa, and the orderly sergeant
had. died in a Minnesota town of two
''pan on the BRAIN Corporal
Niviag on farm near Maple
J wife and house full
and 80 tbs list ran.
., the State Companyg"Pony
Smith, my informant thought might
meet some where along the Sioux valley
While "Pony" and myself were quite
chummy in those days-I had an old crow
to pick with him-and tough one too
I remembered him as Il little bantv.legged
frivolous kind of fellow, full of desires
to play practical jokes on his comrades.
So much of nuisance did he become tc
the orderly sergeant, that this officer used
his peroyatives and banished poor Pony
to the West Fork post, where he remained
until the company was mustered out
Tho Little Sioux Valley had undergone
great changes since my last visit there
twenty eight years before. A fine faru
house on every quarter section now :
with land valued at forty dollars per acre
where then nouyht but immovable bill
lows to view, that spread oyer vas
prairie sea. The little village of Corroc
tionvile then OF four or five families, bu
nov a lively railroad town of 1900 o
more. Cherokee, two railroads-2OO
people, which in State Company day
contained less than 90 people in le?endeu
of soldier garrison. Neville on the We
Fork--a good town dong lively busines
now marks the neighborhood of Fol
West Fork where soldiers alone we're til
inhsh,tqnts there in those days
shared domain With the elk, deer and Il
beaver.