Devils Lake weekly world., 1911-08-18
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY HAS
JUST ISSUED INTERESTING
PUBLICATION.

The third volume of the collections
of the State Historical society has just
been published under the direction Of
DR.. 0, G. Libby of Grand Forks, chair
man of the board of editors.
The contents of this volume are ar
ranged under the following headings:
Reports and Proceedings of State
Meetings, Local History, History of the
Northwest, Biography and Indians.
Under local history will be found
further studies of foreign immigration.
c. S. Torvend discusses the causes for
Norwegian immigration; Hazel J. 10y
mes contributes a valuable article or
the Mennonites Of the state, to which
is appended an excellent biography.
Myrtle Bemis gives US a fairly COM
plete account Of the Swedish settle
ment in North Dakota with an interest
ing account of Rev. J. 0. Cavillin, the
principal factor in Swedish settlement
in the state. There is also a brief
sketch Of q remarkable settlement Of
Swedes in Texas. Alma Tweto writes
a brief history Of Abercrombie town
ship, which is part of longer article
in preparation on the settlement of
Richland county. The history Of Fort
Totten is furnished by Chas DeNoyer,
the second of our early forts to he
written up. This sketch contains the
interesting story of Graham s Island,
and sketches Of the principal charact-
ers connected with the early Fort Tot
ten history. The complete census rec
ord for 1870 and 1880 adds very val
liable mass Of detailed information for
this part of the state. J. B. Power
gives us an important chapter in the
settlement of the state in his articles
on Bits of History connected with the
Early Days Of the Northern Pacific
railway. R. NJ. Black discusses in a
scholarly fashion the State Constitu-
tional Convention of 1889. Cora Dean
gives summary Of the journal kept
by Alexander Henry, jr., agent for the
Northwest Co., during his fur trading
operations in the Red River valley in
1S00.O8.
A special feature of the sketches in
the local history section are the bio
graphical notices forming, in some
cases, a large part Of the materia,.
These have been carefully prepared
and supply local details and genealogi-
cal data Of considerable value.
In the section of Northwest His
tory two important reprints occur, first
the evidence taken at the instance of
Lord Selkirk as to the part played by
the Northwest Co., in the break up of
his Red River colony; second, the sub
stance of a journal kept by the mis-
sionary, John West, during visit to
the Red River colony in 1903. Two
scholarly thesises are printed in this
portion of the volume and are valuable
contributions to our history, Leroy F.
Jackson on Sioux Land Treaties and
John L. Coulter on Industrial History
of the Valley of the Red River of the
North. The latter article is especially
noteworthy as the first study yet at.
tempted Of the agricultural develop.
ment of this important wheat area Of
the northwest. Both these are accom-
panied by full biographies.
The Indian section Of the volume is
devoted largely to reproduction OF
some Chippewa and Mandan legends
A. B. Stout writes Of unique find
made by him in our state, a turtle
mosaic made of boulders. This valu
able relic was afterwards transferred
to the capitol grounds where it viii
be preserved by the society.