The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-11-17

interest as a review of the early
settlement Of the county:
Grant county had a few settlers as
early as 1895, but there were not
enough people in the county to cause
it to be organized until 1878. The EN-
u OF 1880 showed a population OF
300 with only 3,601 acres of assessed
lands. In 1885 the population had in
creased to 6,793 and is $500 at this
slime.
The people are mainly American.
The foreign born population are Ger
man and Scandinavian. The as
sessed valuation of all property in
the county in the year 1880 was So, 4S2
and in 1887 it was 1854. 1913. 1t is now
So, 05S,3 34 at the present time. The
first white settlers in the county were
Solomon Roberts and Moses Mireau,
both of whom are now living on their
farms adjoining the little own OF
Hartford on the shore of Big Stone
lake. They came during the year
1866 and engaged in the business OF
trading with the Indians, their trading
post being situated intown 122range As.
The next settlement wss madeb by DIR.
j. w. Movius who located in Sept.
1870. He built a Touring mill which
now stands on the Milestone river
which was finished by Christmas 1874
The mill was bought in the fall of 1881
by John Kaercher of Christian Oehler,
the latter having purchased 1t OF DIR.
Movius in August 1878.
1t was not until the Hastings &
Dakota r. II. opened up the country
that the great rush commenced, which
trar -, thA Fa11 1f 1O-E Csrnn +hnt
date settlement has been continuous.
At q meeting held January lst, 1879.
the first three school districts were
created. In May 1879 the county was
formed into ten road districts. At
the regular meeting of the board held
May 3, 1880, the county was divided
into ten election precincts and judges
of election were appointed for each.
On July 10Th, 1881, the county was or
gained into townships. At a special
meeting of the board held Oct. 10Th,
1881, a petition was presented by John
NJ. Bell signed by 9S5 qualified voters
of the county of Grant, the same beng
o than two-thirds of the qualified
voters Of said county, praying that
the electors thereof be notified in the
notice for the election to be held on
the Sth day of Nov, 1881, to designate
upon their ballots at said election the
place of their choice for county seat
for said county. On motion it was
ordered 'that said petition be, and
the same is hereby granted, and the
county clerk is hereby directed to m
body such a notification in said TO-
tice." The strife for the county seat
was between Big Stone City and Mil
bank, and was characterized by the
usual strife incident to the location of
county seats in the western country.
The question Of removing the county
seat having already once been voted
on, under the law a two-tnirds major
ity was necessary to locate it at
Milbank. About one-fourth of the
votes were cast for Big Stone City and
a small fraction for Wilmot, while
Milbank claimed to have received the
requisite tWo-thirds vote which claim
was disputed by Big Stone City, the
difference arising from a technically
concerning the votes cast in several
precincts. Upon the official canvass
the board of county commissioners de-
cided in favor Of Milbank. War was
Immediately proclaimed, and Big
Stone City resisted the removal of the
county records. The matter was car
Ig6u llbO Tie COURTS anu ii Nd5 LtdII.N
two years before the matter was
settled, when Judge }. P. Kidder de-
cided in favor of Milbank AS an in
stance of the war over the result may
be cited the fact that when the board
of county commissioners by q vote of
two to one at the time of the official
anvas decided in favor of MiIbank,
while a majority of the county officials
including two ont of three of the coun-
ty commissioners established their
offices at Milbank, a few of the officials
remained at Big Stone City and pro-
ceeded to erect q dual government,
and until the courts decided the dis
pute, the county enjoyed the distinction
of having two sets of officials.
The first marriage solemnized in
the county was that of Herman Seydler
in July, 1874, before Judge il.
Movius, clerk of court. The first birth
of a white child was that of Leon. son
of Solomon Roberts, in the umIner of
1872. The first deaths were those of
Duncan c.. Murray, Thomas Quinn
and a man named Findlater, who
persisted in the severe storm of the
winter of 1872. Sunday, October 10Th,
1905, was the twenty-fift anniversary
of the terrible three-days' blizzard
which swept over the country and
Dramatically sealed us from all outside
communication for a time. The first
of January following we we're again
bottled up and the blockade lasted for
four months with the exception of one
day only, when three relief trains
plowed their way through the
mountains of snow with some pro-
visions.
Times changes in a quarter of a
century have indeedwrought a wonder
full change in our county, and the
later residents a have very little
comprehension of the conditions then
existing in what was at that time the
ar frontier Of civilization.