The Dickinson press., 1912-02-24

But enough of this rambling reminis-
cence of a personal nature; which, how
ever. serves to cement the story toseth-
er. of how the different people came to
be where we found them. and where
they went and when.
The Mandan Pioneer makes especial
mention Of the launching of the Dickin-
son PRESS in its issue of April I'd,
1882. and also mentions the fact that
Dickinson will in all probability be the
county seat of Stark county. l will just
say here that I never had any hopes
that other than Dickinson would be the
center of division of the Missouri Pas
senger Division, although Gladstone had
SO much prestage at that time. because
it was utterly impossible on account of
the o for passing tracks and other
very necessary lands on which 10 erect
different things for such a point.
To resume the story, I shall say that
when the buffalo industry came to. a
close in the spring of 1884, then there
was not much to do but to 60 to work
and. till the ground as best we could.
or gather buffalo bones; the latter avo-
cation was pursued with such ardor. and
profit that a couple of years saw the
bones all gathered and sold : and the
revenue derived from this industry kept
the wolf from the door of more than one
man that became self sustaining in due
time.
In this particular region the Hon.
Thomas Evans won the distinction Of
being not only the pioneer brick maker
but. the pioneer bone gatherer. having
collected and shipped the first carload
of bones as fan as l can find out, from
Stark county.
In the year that saw the Christian
Colony established at Gladstone, saw
many other schemes attempted. some
of which materialized, but more went
to the wall : the writer recalls the at
tempt of a couple of young men to burn
a kiln of lime from what they were sure
was limestone at Young Mans butte.
This pair of worthless cut a lot of wood
from the oak trees down the aulch where
the large spring is. at what Is now the
r. R. Bookings farm, east of Richard
ton. where the Stage line had 9 relay
station in 1881. They collected a goodly
quantity of the stone that they mistook
for limestone and built a kiln in the
way that such matters are handled in
the eastern states, and burned the kiln
very much as people do where it is of
common occurrence to do this thing with
entire success and profit. but the sede-
mentary rock that looks SO much like
TOMBSTONE did not yield to their per-
suasive efforts to calcine and so after
very faithfully trying to do what they
were we'll acquainted with in their
eastern home., they had to abandon il
after more than a months hard work.
They found on opening the kiln that The
rock was even harder than when they
put it into the kiln some three weeks
prior and was a fine brick color. thu
iron in the rock had become oxidized
to a sufficient degree by the heat tt
mske the color; 50 our hopes of having
line made in our midst was dashed t,
the ground. another lesson in the pc
culiarities of the formation of this par
Of the world was learned as all exper
fences are at the hardest.
The rock was clay boulder or sede
mentary rock of the %cretaceous forma
ton and will be of some use in thu
future when science comes to the ali
of some men who will grind this rock t
powder and combine it with othe
native ingredients, making a peculia
kind of cement differing only a littl
with its chemical constituents from tn
usual hydraulic cement that is comin,
to be used 20 largely in making concret
buildings. etc.
G. S. Cryne built in the fall of 1888
a good stone house on his claim the S
VIZ 2o-139-94: this house is standin
yet as a monument of what can be don
when good material is put into build
ings.
When Col. o. c. Bissel was FIN all
convinced that he did not have an
right to the claim that he had conteste
the right to 80 stubbornly. he turned hi
back on. The little village. rather broke
and tdiscouraeed, haylps wassed gbou
two thousand dollars in tho great e5o,
to substantiate his claim to a quartz
section. Of land that would not hav
brought him at that time but 500. 90
he could have found a buyer ut all, an
the Bates family were not prosperous i
their ventures and they became di.
satisfied with conditions as they fou,,
them. and were sore AGAINST nearl
III averv Onn c and HnnJlv asoc.;0n>A ~