Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1905-12-01
Historic Speech
BY Hon. A l.. NanOSdel at the
Dedication of the New Court
House in Yankton. Nov. ]. 1908.

Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men: | am honored by the commit
tee, who appointed me one of the
speakers on this memorable day. We
are rapidly making history in Dako-
ia. and the dedication of YanktOn
county's new court house in the old
Capitol City, is an important event.
1t is said that ones memory never
loses any deep impression that has
once been made upon it. The lines
may be hidden, like an inscription
that is defaced by rust, but as the
years roll on some stirring event
touches our heart and the whole pic
ture stands before us in all it's origi-
nal purity and integrity. In retro
spective view, l can see by the light
of those far off younger days, that
still shines bright in my memory,
vivid pictures of early pioneer life
in Dakota. We are standing upon
historic ground, for within the limits
of Yankton City, an ancient Indian
village was located, the home OF the
YanktOn Sioux.
Here, within it's precincts, embrac-
ed in semi-circle of graceful hills
and terraces, bordering along the
banks of great river, was the home
of their great chief, "Strike-the-Ree,' y
who saw Lewis and Clark in 1904,
while they were voyaging up the
Missouri on their exploring expedi-
tion to the Pacific ocean. The great
chiefs lodge stood on the corner of
Broadway and Third street in 1858,
where the Merchants Hotel now
stands, it's location being definitely
fixed from the finding of valuable
gold pencil case, lost there by our
esteemed citizen, Major Joseph H..
Hanson, while he was visiting
"Strike-the-Ree, at his home lodge
the year before the old chief and
his band of Yankton Sioux moved
to their new reservation up the Mis-
souri, river, where 'Strike-the- Rec"
died in 1888, at the advanced age Of
ninetysix years.
At there departure from Yankton
the young men of the tribe circled
around their ancient village on horse
back singing their war songs, filing
past the grave of the elder Durion,
who was buried on the high summit
of Calumet Bluff, a headland over
looking the broad waters Of the Mis-
souri,.
Thou wide majestic turgid stream.
Beneath the sunsets dying CLEAN.
Art there. when savage feet are gone.
Still flowing on! Still flowing on!
Where young trees cast their shadows fast.
Beside thee. dies the aged pine.
And the whole span Of pilgrim man.
Is less than thine! Is less than thine:
While reading ancient literature
we are oftentimes burdened by an
alien, impulse that whirls us into
Homer's wild weird story of the
wanderings of Ulysses. And yet,
the area covered by that old hero OF
the Trojan war cannot be compared
with the long vistas, rising horizons,
and magnificent distances involved
insthe Lewis and Clark expedition,
in search of the unraveld mysteries
of the Rocky Mountains.
During their voyage up the Mis-
souri, they met Frenchman with
five Indian companions below the
Platte river, taking down cargo of
furs to the old French fort on the
Kansas. Lewis and Clark engaged
this white man, whose name was
Durion, to act as there guide and in
terpreter into the Sioux country as
far as the Yankton villages, near the
mouth of the st. Jacques, or James
river. And the trail of those white
men who came within the present
boundaries Of South Dakota more