Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1914-04-16
PRESERVE SITE OF
OLD Fl. SEWARD
Project Of Interest to James,
town---A Historic Locality.

! Prof. O. G. Libby of the State Uni
versity and president OF the State
| Historical society, spent the day in
jamestown yesterday and delivered
| highly entertaining lecture in the
| evening at the high school, During
| the afternoon, accompanied by H. w.
Kelley, Sheriff Wright and Alexan-
der McKechnie, he made visit to
the site of old Fort Seward, located
on the bluff west of the city. Prof.
Libby was anxious to learn if there
were any indications remaining Of
| the existence of the fort, which was
| esta blished by the Federal govern
ment in 1872 and abandoned about
J five years later.
A tour of the site of the old fort
| shows that the location of most of
the buildings is yet easily discern
able. The Northern Pacific Rail-
road company owns a portion Of the
! groun" on the south side of the site.
A public highway runs through the
site near the edge of the bluff, and
on the north of the road are to be
found the locations of the officers
quarters, the commissary depart
ment and other buildings, and on
the south side Of the ground the SOL
diers' quarters, part of which have
been removed by railroad eXcava-
! T1,n ~ = orfr ri h oh
was hauled up to the buildings wa
ter and other supplies, is also plainly
| marked.
The buildings remained in more
or less dlapidated condition long
time after the fort was abandoned.
/ The. fort was established mainly for
| the protection of the railroad con-
struction crews, but there never was
! any serious difficulty with the In
dams in which the soldiers of the
! fort participated.
Preserve the Old Site.
Prof. Libby earnestly calls atten-
ton of the citizens of jamestown to
, the desirability of preserving, as
; historic memento, this little plot of
ground, formerly occupied as fort,
and secure it as a part of our park
system.
| 1t is now of historic value to the
city, and will be considered much
more so in the future. A small plot
of ground containing the site of the
principal buildings marked with a
suitable monument and enclosed for
protection would be inexpensive to
, purchase at the present time and
would always prove one of the OBJ
jects of interest in this vicinity, af-
! fording drive for visitors and resi-
dents and also commanding splen-
! did view of the city and both the
James and Pipestem river valleys.
Prof. Libby suggested that historic
picnic of old settlers be arranged
: some time the coming summer at
, the Old Fort Seward grounds, and
that during that time and at any 9TH
er time, "reminiscences of early set
tiers he secured and taken down in
! writing; also securing photographs
of early settlers of the city and
county to be preserved in the rec
ords of the County Historical society.
Stutsman county is the first coun-
! ty in the state to form local his
torical society, and that organiza-
tion can afford much pleasure and
instruction, both to members and to
the rising generation, by preserving
the site of the old fort and making
! it's history, as part of the history OF
the great state, a common knowl-
edge of the children Of the county,
as we'll as many older people who are
but little informed on the subject.
Near the site of the old buildings
at the fort are to be seen the evil
! dences of two rows of graves, where
! in were buried a number of soldiers
and others residing at the fort. 1t
is stated, however, that all of the
! bodies that were originally buried
there have since been removed.
Other cities and towns where mill
tary posts were established in early
days, have taken steps to preserve
the sites. Last summer big cele-
bration was held at Fort Rice, on the
| Missouri, commemorating the early
history of that fort and the success
of the movement by the citizens OF
that locality to preserve the site for
future generations. The sites OF old
Fort Abercrombie, Fort Ransom and
the White Stone Battlefield in Dickey
county have also been preserved for