Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-07-28
PIONEER And
INDIAN LIFE
BEAUTIFUL WORD PICTURE IN
ADDRESS OF A. L. VAN OsDEL
AT BELL RAPIDS.
DESCRIPTION OF WAR EAGLES
GRAVE AT MOUTH OF THE =.
BIG SIOUX RIVER.

+. .
The Fourth Of July address of Hon.
Abe Van Osdei delivered at the Lake
NJ adison Veteran association picnic at
Dell Rapids, S. D., is a vivid nara
tive of the wild life among the In
dians on the Upper Missouri during
that states embryonic life, leading up
the minds eye, to where the horizon
lifts and takes in the Introductory
chapters in the history of the Two
Dakotas. =
The following extract, taksE from
his speech is beautiful word pic
ture Of early pioneer and Indian life
along the borders of civilization, des
scribing War Eagles grave at the
mouth o. rhe big jIoux.
"The Lewis and Clarke expedition
| passed the mouth of the Big Sioux
August 81, 1904. There the Missouri
bluffs ls,d to thu north along the
4 Sioux r.rer, conspicuous as land
i L + "a
4 marks; with many Tensinis. encss- o.
thrilling associations. On the highest
summit Of these hills, old War Eagle
was buried in the autumn of 1851.
II was told the following historic
narrative by John LaFaure, an old
French voyageur, known to the early
settlers by the distinguished appela-
ton of odd Dakota" During the
years 1874 and As, Theophile. Brug-
hier, John LaFaure, Joseph Chapalion,
J. B. LaPlant, Antonio F1eury, Peter
Arpin, John Mcbride, Charles Pri-
meau, Louis st. Onge and Paul Pac-
! quette moved down from the upper
Missouri country and located near
| the mouth of the Big Sioux, being
the first white men to settle in Union
county, South Dakota. '
-Theophole Brubheir was an old
French fur trader whose life had been
an eventful one. Sojourning with the
Indians m the wilds of the Dakotas
for years and assimilating himself to
many of their tastes and habits. he
had taken unto himself three success
sive Indian wives, all Of whom were
the daughters of War Eagle, a Yank
ton chief, who claimed the hunting
grounds at the mouth of the Big
Sioux. Soon after he had taken his
first wife, they visited the red pipe
stone quarry in Minnesota, where she
deserted him and eloped with a
young Assinniboine chief who was un
friendly to the white men. They were
followed by band of Yankton Sious
and overtaken at point within the
present boundaries of Clark county
South Dakota, known as the TRAP
pers' Well" Hefe the young squaH
was taken from the Assinniboin,
chief. and, after being publicly whip
ped near small lake north of Kan
peska, she was then turned over tt
the friendly Indians at Kettle River
pending a buffalo hunt in the james
River valley.
Meanwhile the Assinniboine chic
met band of his people hunting nea.
the Bear Den Hills" on the sheyenne
I and they joined forces In attackin,
the Kettle Lake Indians ait thei
stronghold in bend OF the SINAI
lake. now known by the angula
name, Enemy Swim Here, durin,
a dark and dismal night Assinniboin
: and his followers crossed a point Q
the lake and attacked the Indian vii
age. Having taken them by surprise
he was enabled to recapture Brul
g HERS wife and take her with him t
his village on the shores OF the grea
Mime Wakon The Devils lake oe th
T Sioux Indians.
y Nothing daunted, T'heophile Bruf
i fies took another daughter Of wa
k Eagles for his second wife, and mo,
q ed into the valds OF the upper Mi,
d souri, country, where he passed man
II years In extensive roamings along tn