The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-03-11
Valuable Contribution to Early
History of State Made By
Sank Centre School Students

that year. Because of this, Mr.. Han
sen had to begin cutting cordwood
and selling it in Sank Centre.
Alexander Moore had built dam
on Sank River and built flour mill
there also. He bought wheat of
the farmers and made it into flour.
Therefore the people could get their
flour quite cheaply. He heard that
there was a scarcity of -four and
that it was very expensive at the
Black Hills, South Dakota. 1t cost
as much as $35 a barrel. When he
heard this, Mr.. Hansen thought it
would be profitable to buy some flour
here and take it out there and sell it.
There were number of others too
who thought favorably of this. So it
was decided that on June %, 1877 a
company of ten men would take sew
eral loads Of -four out there. On
that day they set out with fourteen
leads. They Travelled across coun-
try. There were some Chippewa
Indians here then, and they some
times followed hoping to get some to-
bacco from the white men. When
Mr.. Hansen told them that he didn't
have any, they talked a great deal in
their language and acted Disguised :.
They followed for four or five days.
They would leave in the morning and
be gone during the day. Then in the
evening they would come back again.
The first river that the company
crossed was the Red River. This they
crossed by ferry. Then they travelled
along without any trouble until they
reached the Jim River. There was
no ferry here, and the men had to
make raft by which to cross the
river. They made this by placing
the wagon boxes, which were made
perfectly tight, upside down and side
by side. These were tied together,
and four more boxes were placed
cross ways on the first ones. Then a
rope was cast across the river, and
someone swan over and fastened the
rope to tree. The raft was loaded
with about one thousand pounds of
flour, and the men got on and pulled
the raft by means of the rope. The
oxen swan over. The current was
very strong, and if the raft was not
managed properly it would tip. After
the men had crossed this river, they
had no special trouble until they
came to the Snake River. That was
not as deep as the Jim River and so
was not as hard to cross. To cross
this, the men placed two wagon boxes
upside down and length ways on the
wagon. Then they loaded on the
-four and in this way it was high
enough above the water to stay dry.
One of the men had team of mules,
and they were hitched on the wagon
to steer it. A rope was thrown over
and anchored as when they crossed
the last river. By means Of this the
men pulled themselves over. The
mules We're in too deep water to pull,
but they could steer the wagon.
When the travellers left the Snake
River country, the wagon wheels be-
gan to dry out, and this caused them
considerable trouble. They also be-
gan to see signs of Indians. Shortly
before they reached the Cheyenne
River they met some men who told
them that the Sioux Indians were at
lacking some whites near the river.
Some of Hansens company then be-
came very much excited, and nearly
all of them believed that they would
never get home again. They i'm
agined that they saw Indians every
where, and mistook rocks and bushes
for the heads of Indians. In spite OF
their fears they came safely to Fort
Pierre. From there it was quite a
short distance to Deadwood, where
they were going to sell their flour.
But when the men reached Deadwood
they were greatly disappointed fol-
flour had gone down in price so thai
they received only four dollars 8
hundred for it. This did not more
than pay the expense of the trans.
portation of the flour.
When the men were going bacl
home again, they joined larger com
pany. They also took a different
route and went through Bismarck. Or
the journey over they had no arm.
but an old gun; but on the return
journey they had plenty of arms, s,
they felt quite safe. Three days be
fore they started back, two men ane
one woman started out along the same
route. Then after Hansen and hi
company had travele one day the!
came to a place known as Bea
Butte. There they saw horribl,
sight. The three persons who hat
gone before had been massacred b.
Indians, scalped, and their bodies Sc
upon stakes. Then the men wer,
again frightened; but though thi
massacre had happened only a shor
time before, Hansen and his mel
saw nothing of the Indians. The!
all got home safely after tire,
months of journeying.
After he got home, Mr.. Hansen be
gan to farm on a larger scale. HI
gradually broke up more ground, ant
he also bought cows and started II
dairying. The country too began tt
be opened up, and new settlers KEEP
coming in. About five or six year.
after his return from the Black Hills
Mr.. Hansen bought his first grair
binder. This enabled him to have
greater crops because it took 81
much less time to cut the grain.
Churches and school houses begar
to be built soon. A school district
was organized and a schol house wa,
built in Section twelve. 1t is the
school house that is now number 1 80
1t has, however, been mover to Sec