Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-11-14
MUCH ROMANCE
interviewer INTO
T.. STATES HISTORY
It Has Been the Theater of Many
Struggles of the
Indians.
SPANIARDS CROSSED IT
IN QUEST OF WEALTH
North Dakota Is an Empire in
the Making Teming With
Opportunities.

oAV 4sAesAA@A6 @SA~06 AVA
Opportunities.
From time immemorable, North Da.
keta's beautiful hills and prairies, now
occupied by thriving cities and pros.
pering farms, have been the theatroe
for stirring scenes and dramatic Incl
dents. Untold races have made of its
soil a battle-ground. iUnrecorded civ
citations have waxed and waned with.
In It's borders, leaving only mute testi-
mony of mound and fortiication to
tell of their one-time existence.
Three centuries ago, historians con.
tend, Mandans, Arikaras and Hidat'
sas, from whose federation tle term
'-Dakotah," si%gnifying alliance. or con
federation, has sprung, maintained a
civilization along the Missouri river.
in what is now North Dakota: Their
farm products-corn, beans, native
potatoes, squash, pumpkin, tobacco,
and sunflcwer ,seeds-were extensive
ly cultivated. Civil government, geog-
raphy, history, domestic science and
Zoology were we'll taught. The gov.
eminent was satisfactory and perma,
nent. Crime was infreQuent.
Coming Of ~spaniard.
Then came the Spaniard from the
southwark, where he had imposed his
forts and plantations upon Mexico.
The donst established a trading ground
between the Heart and .Cannonball riv-
ers, southwest of the present city of
Bismarck, and a friendly Intercourse
was continued until the Spaniards ere.
ated trouble by making slaves of the
Dakotans. From this time forward,
agriculture Waned, and the young men
were schooled in the arts of war.
About 1910, French traders, trap
pers and Adventures began coming
up the Missouri river AMI made a
league with. the Sioux in driving the
Mandan, Arkara and Hidatsa Indians
from one village to another. The
hudson Bay company also SCOT took a
hand, and scalping and head.lunting
were encouraged.
In spite of their warlika strain, end
their contamination by European in.
duences, the Sioux retained a love
for industry and agriculture, and the
Yankt0ns proved wise husbandmen,
never lacking for sufficient grain and
vegetables to tide them over a year
Of drouth. Chief Two Bears is known
to have had 200 acres of corn below
Fort Yates.
Lewis and Clark.
LaVerenderie, the Frenchman, and
Alexander Henry, the English explor.
er and adventurer, wrote of the Da.
kota country in the late part Of tho
eighteenth century, praising the Indl.
ans for their intelligence, %gentleness
and thrift. These same qualities oh.
tanned in 1SO4-05, when Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark, in quest of
a new empire, spent a winter among
the friendly Hidatsas, fifty miles
north Of the site where Bismarck now
stands, and, on resuming their journey
the following spring were supplied
from the Indians large stores grain,
without which it would have been i'm.
possible for them to continue. 1t was
In this village that Lewis and Clark
found ~Sakakawea, the Bird Woman"
and her %half!breed husband, Toussaint
Clarboneau. S%akakawea, (whose
memory the grateful women of North
Dakota have perpetuated in a beauti-
full bronze which ornaments the state
capital grounds), with babe strapped
to back, piloted the expedition
through the winding passes, over the
Shining Mountains" which were to
lead Lewis and Clark to the Pacific
coast and to add to the union, by
right of discovery, a vast and fabul-
Ously rich domain. How Sakakawea
kept her trust; how she cane again
unto her W people, is common his.
tory to the people of the northwest,
from whose lips the name of the
Bird Woman" ever falls reverently.
Dakota was included in the Louisi-
M purchase of 1903. In 1912 it be-
came a part of Missouri territory,
and later part of Michigan, Wisconsin,
iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, It
was not until March 2, 1851, that d.
kota territory was organized, with the
capital at Yankton.
Before Dakota had received v g
territorial recognition, it enjoyed Wis.
its from Bradbury and Breckenridge.
IN ISL; Catlin, the great Indian
painter whose canvasses now are a
treasured possession of the nation at
washington, and Macmillan, in 1882,
n John Fremont, in 1889. The &C.
counts which these men carried back
with them brought others to the land
OF promise; trading posts demanded
better service, and a line of steam.
boats was established on the Missouri
to supply this demand.
Indian War Days.
ISibley and Sully in 1S~63-'64.'65 tray-
eled the length and breadth of Dakota
on punitive expeditions against the
Sioux, following the Minnesota mas.
sacre Of 1862, and some of the most
desperate battles in Indian history
fought in this territory. The
gold discovery in California in 1S4S;
the prior discovery in Idaho in 1S43,
the opening of the Montana mines,
made the Dakotas a highway for
thousands of fortune-seekers. And
many, as they passed, spied out the
land, and saw that it was good and
returned to find a permanent
here. T.
The Whistler expedition in 1871
and the Stanley expedition in 1872.