The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-04-09
EARLY DAY HISTORY
HI-FATED WISCONSIN COLONY
WHICH STARTED FOR DA-
KOTA TERRITORY
IN 1850.

G. +. Moon in Miller Press: Some
where in 1S49, a committee of per-
sons were sen from Wisconsin to To-
cate a good place in the Dacotah Ter
ritory to establish a colony. They
travelled up the Missouri river to
about the point where Yankton now
stands. They spent a year prospect
ing around and then went back aud
reported that they had found a veri-
table Garden of Eden.
They reported no snow, with spring
like weather the whole winter, count
less herds of buffalo all over the
prairies, and timber in abundance in
the Missouri bottoms. They describ-
ed the prairies as being covered with
flowers, and the soil TO be of the best
for all agricultural purposes.
Then the people who sent them out
prospecting formed a colony of thir-
teen families. purchased a s~idewheel
steamboat, loaded it with all sorts of
tools and farming implements and
set out in high spirits for the land
of promise in the spring of 1850. 1t
was the intention of the colonists to
wreck the boat and use the machin-
cry for a grist and saw mill.
They stopped at Peoria. H.. to
have a new set of boilers put in the
boat, for fear the old boilers were
not strong enough. 1t was there |
got acquainted with a number of the
colonists, as they had put their boat
into a nice little bay to shelter it
from the wind and waves that fire.
quently swept across Peoria lake.
This said bay was one of my best
fishing grounds. where | would sit
on their BOAT and fish. AS there were
a few boys about my own age on the
boat il did not take long to scrape
up an acquaintance with them-then
from the boys to the parents. SO
became fully informed of all the do
ings of the colonists. their hopes, am
billions, etc, in the new home they
were seeking.
They had named their boat The
D%acotah." after the name of spell
ing Dakota in those days. The morn
ing they fred up the new boilers,
preparatory to making the trial trip,
| was up fishing as usual. As | could
not fish from the boat any more, ]
strolled up the bank and fished from
any old tree that leaned out a little
i'm the water. | should state here
hat while the boat was undergoing
repairs, they had taken all the cattle
and horses off, and got them stabbed
so there was no stock aboard on the
Inflated trial trip.
anppla af hnvc xuarp with mn
fishing, and as the boat steamed III
past us, we let our fishing go Il
watch the boat. When a few rod:
above us, about four hundred yards
out in the lake, we saw the boat spill
open, and then came a sound as of {
dozen cannon all let loose at once
Then everything vas e%nveloped in
cloud of steam. But through ii al
we could hear the screams of the in
iured. After the steam had lifted
all that could be seen of the beautiful
Oacotah was a small portion of th'
bow sticking above water. Ever.
vestige of the boat had been sweep
clean to the hull, and that sank i'm
mediately. Only n person was theI
visible. He was standing on the bow
Of the wreck. making some very pc
culiar motions with his arms. | al
ways remembered the peculiar wa!
he swung his arms, as Ii looked fun
ny to me at hat time to see such mo
tions. But after | grew up TO man
hood and joined the odd Fellows
then | could look back and recognize
the distress sign of odd Fellowship
Help was soon at hand, and theI
came the task of getting the dead an'
injured ashore. There were thirteel
dead. and as many more badly scald
ed, but thirteen "a the death toll
1t would have been greater, but for
tunately some of the people did no
get aboard for the trial trip.
However. this catastrophe brok'
up the colony. Some of the survivor
settled in Peoria, some in Pekin an
some went back to Wisconsin.
What effect this colony would hay
had on the early history of Dakot
no one can tell.