Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-07-03
Old Swan Lake
By Joseph Andrews

LII 1000 0uSbdV0 NJllOeIU CdluS
to Swan Lake and cast in his lot
with The pioneers. AS Mr.. Gill
bert has told in his long and in
teresting letter about his first
coming to the city ard of his ex
perience there, will endeavOr
to cOnfine my statement to a
sholt personal sketch. He
came here when the financial
conditions Of the settlers was
we'll nigh hopeless. He opened
up a large general store, and
for four years continued to do
business at the old stand. \
Those were years that tried
mems nerve and stamina for
while the grasshopper scourged .
farmers needed both these traits T
of character; the merchant |
whose store was filled with the |
goods which the farmers needed,
but. for which they had not the
cash to pay. required in addition
good judgement and discrimi-
nation in dealing with his num-
erous patrons. That Mr. Gill
bert possessed all those traits in
a remarkable degree is proven
by the fact that he escaped
financial disaster and when he
moved to Parker to enter a larg-
Ell field he took with him the
good will and friendship of all
his fOtmer friends and custom
ers. Mr.. Gilbert retired from
business some years ago and
with his wife is spending the
evening OF his life in peace and
comfort, and beneath his own
vine and tig tree, far away in
tie sunny Southland May
they both live long to enjoy the
pleasures OF a we'll spent life.
Julius, the little fairhaired baby
boy who made glad the hearts
of his parents in little Old Swan
Lake, is now one of the leading
I citizens of Hurley and with his
faithful wife and three bright
| promising children he has a
| home that many a Royal Prince
. might envy.
Swan Lakes first doctor,
1 who came with Mr.. Gilbert in
4 1875, was Stephen Olney. He
4 was a talented and most excel
lent doctor. He remained until
about 1877 and then removed to
: Sioux Falls and we v ere left
without a doctor. [ have been
told that DR.. Reynolds prac-
i, =, tised for a while at Swan Lake
or but | do not remember him.
a. Late in the fal: of 1873 DR.
st Petermen moved to town and
er hung out his sllingle. He as
ss no more afistocratic then than
20 he is now. He was like most
he of the rest Of US in those days,
1e poor as Jobs Turkey. We
I'd were all glad to see him. and tc
Id have a real M. D. with us once
ol more. In 1880 DR.. Petermar
n moved to Parker and we were
ey again without a doctor. The
~ next NJ D. who sought fame
and fortune at Old Swan Lake
was Dr. McGrail. [ have nc
ed way of knowing when he came
ch but it must have been about
n ~ 1851. He was on English
of man by birth. and he was a gooG
on doctor as | know from personal
ha experience as he dOctOred me
he through my first serious sick
rs ness in the fall of 1888. The
cd doctor was something OF writ
ch er. He was the Swan Lake cor
N ~ respondent to the New Era ane
it. in the hot fight for the remova
RI of the County seat was an ear
nest advocate for Parker, an.
thus suppose won the i'll viii
of many of the Hurley and Swal
70 Lake advocates. But it was
* large quantities of bad whiske.
that proved his undoing, and
ne gave him fame if not a goot
hui name. Some time in the spring