North Dakota and South Dakota

“ The constitution was submitted to the people at an election on the first day of October. They approved it, and on the second day of November, 1889, President Harrison issued his proclamation, admitting South Dakota as a state in the Union. North Dakota was admitted as another state by the same proclamation.
Statehood was welcomed by the people with real rejoicing. As a territory the people had no part in the election of a President, nor in the legislation by Congress, and all of the conditions of territorial life tended to make a people dependent rather than self-reliant. ”

“ On the other hand North Dakota was in the beginning chiefly settled by bonanza farmers, captains of industry, who came with large means, buying great areas of land and farming upon extensive lines. They and their camp followers were adventurous men whose traditions were entirely at variance with those of the homesteaders of the South, and the result was constant friction between the two elements. ”

“ The Republican national convention of 1888 made the division and admission of North and South Dakota a national issue and it was discussed from every platform in America. The Republican party prevailed in that election, and, before the close of the Congress then in existence, the bill for the division of Dakota territory and the admission of North and South Dakota was passed on St. Valentine's Day and approved on Washington's Birthday, 1889, and that bill provided that no acre of school land in South Dakota or North Dakota should ever be sold for less than the sum of ten dollars. ”

“ The number of farms in North Dakota has increased two and two thirds times in twenty years. For the ten years ending in 1910 the increase of population was about 81 per cent, but the increase in acreage of farm land was about 83 per cent. The number of farms increased 64 per cent, and the increase in land-values alone added $557,028,000 to the wealth of the farmers. In South Dakota the percentage of increase in the number of farms was greater than the percentage of increase in population, and was ten times as large as the average increase for the ten years ending in 1900. ”

“ The native tribes of North Dakota are of three different linguistic stocks or races. These are the Algonkian, Siouan and Caddoan. The Algonkian race is represented in North Dakota by one nation, the Chippewa or Ojibwa. The Siouan race is represented within our state boundaries by three nations, the Dakota (sometimes called Sioux) , the Mandan, and the Hidatsa (who are also called Gros Ventre and Minnetari) . The Caddoan race is represented by one nation, the Arikara. Other nations of the Caddoan race are the Pawnees, the Wichita and the Waco farther south. ”

“ The State of South Dakota has never had one. Montana never has had one. Idaho never has had one. The Senator from North Dakota finally succeeded in getting one for North Dakota, the first one after 62 years of statehood. It seems to me that the Senators from these States and from the States of smaller population a long time ago ought to have gotten together and said to the State Department, “We demand that citizens of the States of lesser population also have some appointments as ambassadors, or occasionally have a man appointed to the Cabinet of the President of the United States. ”

“ The first settlement of considerable size in South Dakota was, as far as we can learn, made in 1860, between the James river and Gayville. Other settlers followed in the succeeding years, spreading out over the bottom and later up on the prairie to the north. Among those who came to the vicinity of Yankton in the decade of 1860-70 we would mention the following: Ole Odland, '62 ”

“ North Dakota is a rectangular area of 70,837 square miles, lying in what the United States Geological Survey has designated the center of the North American Continent. It is approximately 1,500 miles from the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic Archipelago of North America. North to south it extends 210 miles, and east to west an average of 335 miles. On the north are the Provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada; on the east, the Red River of the North and the Bois de Sioux form the boundary between this State and Minnesota ”

“ The remainder was divided into six smaller reservations, Standing Rock, lying partly in North Dakota, and Cheyenne River, Lower Brulé, Crow Creek, Rosebud, and Pine Ridge in South Dakota. Angered by this sacrifice of their lands and excited by prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, a considerable number of the Indians went on the warpath, but after a short campaign they were defeated by General Nelson A. Miles in the battle of Wounded Knee on the 29th of December 1890, and were compelled to make their submission. Since that time the whites have steadily encroached on the reservations. ”

“ North Dakota ranks fourteenth in size among the States.
Topography. The eastern part of the State is the perfectly level bed of the ancient Lake Agassiz, now traversed by the Red River and its tributaries. It lies about 1000 feet above sea-level, and merges westward into the rolling prairies of the central region. In the north the land rises to a height of over 2000 feet in the small forest-covered plateau known as the Turtle Mountains. This range extends about 20 miles south of the Manitoba boundary. ”

“ To reach the area, continue north on Highway 85 from the turn-off to Stewart Lake for 10 miles and turn left on a gravel road at a sign for the campground. Go 0.2 mile and turn left. After 1.0 mile turn right. Stay on this road (follow the signs) for the next 10.2 miles and turn right to the campgrounds. The turn-off to the picnic area is 1.2 miles up the road.
For the past few miles you will have passed excellent stands of ponderosa pine. This hilly, forested country is more reminiscent of the Black Hills of South Dakota than of anything which one might expect to find in North Dakota. ”

“ Of these seven North Dakota peoples—Mandan, Hidatsa, Cheyenne, Arikara, Sioux, Assiniboin, Chippewa—well-authenticated records exist. It will be noted that nearly all except the Arikara seem to have come from the east, particularly from the Lakes region, with the added suggestion of an earlier residence farther east or south. There is also in some cases a definite shift from a settled agricultural life to a nomadic one. ”

“ ND 1 south of Valley City traverses the rolling plain—part of the Height of Land—that lies between the Sheyenne and the James Rivers. The northern end of the route runs near the Sheyenne, while its southern course roughly parallels the James. Near the southern border of the State the highway runs across the level bed of glacial Lake Dakota, a small part of which extended into present North Dakota. This lake existed before Lake Agassiz, in the valley of the James River, which was in existence before the second ice age. Along the entire route pheasants are plentiful. ”

“ The agricultural tribes on the whole have been very friendly to the whites. In 1870 a large reservation, which has since been much reduced in size, was set apart at the junction of the Missouri and the Little Missouri Rivers for the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa (see Side Tour 3A) . Since the beginning of the century their numbers have increased by large percentages and at the present time they number approximately 1,650. The remnant of those Cheyenne who lived in North Dakota are now on reservations in south central Montana and in Oklahoma. ”

“ US 85, a direct route through western North Dakota between Saskatchewan and the South Dakota Line, traverses the Coteau du Plateau du Missouri, crosses the Missouri River, and enters the severe, majestically beautiful region of the Missouri Slope with its expansive range country and scenic Badlands. Between the Canadian border and the Missouri, boulder-strewn, smoothly rounded hills are evidence of glaciation. ”

“ To the people of southern Dakota, after the long years of dreary struggle through Indian troubles, grasshoppers, and bad crops, the Black Hills gold excitement seemed a godsend. The settlements along the Missouri were thronged with determined strangers waiting for an opportunity to slip into the Hills. ”

“ The eastern portion of the Great plateaus includes western Texas, Oklahoma, the central and western portions of Kansas and Nebraska, the western half of South Dakota, western North Dakota, western Assiniboia, and thence extend northward so as to include portions of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca. On the west the plateau region includes the eastern portions of New Mexico and Colorado, extends far into Wyoming, and embraces central and eastern Montana, and thence reaches northward to Mackenzie. ”

“ With the exception of an irregular salient angle in the southeast between the Missouri and Big Sioux Rivers, and a reëntering angle in the northeast formed by Lakes Bigstone and Traverse, the boundaries of the State are straight lines running along meridians and parallels, and forming a rectangle 200 miles wide and 380 miles long. The area is 77,650 square miles, of which 76,850 square miles, or 49,184,000 acres, are land surface. South Dakota ranks twelfth in size among the States. ”

“ During the period from 1862 until 1875 the white settlements in South Dakota made little progress. Population was increasing somewhat, but farmers had difficulty in learning the way of the soil, and got but small return for their labor. ”

“ The hostiles who fled into Dakota were constantly organizing raiding parties and sending them down to the Minnesota settlements to secure provisions, steal horses, and occasionally kill settlers. To prevent this the Sisseton scouts were divided up into small parties and located in camps, at frequent intervals, from the neighborhood of Devils Lake in North Dakota down to the central portion of South Dakota.
Among these friendlies was a mixed-blood Sisseton named Samuel J. Brown, who was then a boy about nineteen years of age, educated, intelligent, and influential. ”

“ The treaty with the Sioux in 1887, however, provided for white settlement, and when the area was opened for homesteading in 1910 the reservation was reduced to 1,343,000 acres. Today all of Sioux County constitutes the North Dakota portion of the agency. Here 1,600 members of the upper and lower bands of the Yanktonai Sioux make their homes in an area of rugged brown hills, smooth grasslands, and rugged, distorted, gray-blue buttes. On the South Dakota side of the agency live 1,100 Hunkpapa and Blackfoot Sioux. ”

“ Left as the highway enters the park is a crude log palisade that guards the old SLANT VILLAGE. Before these prairies saw the invasion of the white men, perhaps two centuries ago, a group of Mandan Indians, seeking a new location in their advance up the Missouri Valley, selected this narrow point of land which had such excellent natural protection. On the east was the Heart River and on the south a deep coulee. Along the exposed sides the Indians built a palisade and dug a moat to secure their little town. ”

“ In April, 1858, the Yankton Sioux Indians, who claimed all the land between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers, as far north as Pierre and Lake Kampeska, made a treaty with the whites, by which they gave up all their lands except four hundred thousand acres in what is now Charles Mix County. ”

“ Sioux Falls is the principal industrial centre.
Transportation.—The railway mileage of Dakota in 1870 (before the present states of South and North Dakota were erected) was only 75 m., and in 1880, 1225 m. In 1890 the mileage of South Dakota was 2610 m., in 1900, 2961 m., and in 1909, 3776 m. The rincipal systems are the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, the Great Northern and the North-western. The principal waterway is the Missouri River. whose channel has an average depth at low water of about 2% ft. ”

“ The Democratic leaders declared for admission of Dakota territory as a whole, and the federal government used its influence to oppose the division movement in Dakota; therefore, a considerable party grew up in Dakota in opposition to division, but at every test the people pronounced strongly for two states. The population of Dakota was increasing rapidly, there were nearly six hundred thousand white citizens in the territory, and, under the territorial form of government, they were denied many of the privileges of citizenship. ”

“ Spread as far as one can see toward the northern horizon is a magnificent display of buttes, showing in varying light and shadow the great charm of this never-monotonous country. A drive lined with a wall of brick-red scoria (see Natural Setting) , mottled with green, like weathered bronze, parallels the highway, providing a good point from which to take photographs.
As the highway descends into the Badlands, it twists through ravines and valleys. At 335 m. is the eastern entrance to the SOUTH ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARK (see Roosevelt Regional State Parks) . ”

“ South of Fairmount the distant Coteau des Prairies is visible (R) . Back in these hills, which form part of the watershed be [Pg 200] tween the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay, live the Sioux Indians of the Sisseton Reservation, a triangular section of which juts into the State from South Dakota.
At 256.5 m. US 81 crosses the North Dakota Line, 106 m. N. of Watertown, S. Dak. (see S. Dak. Tour 10) .
SIDE TOUR 1A
Junction US 81—Mayville—Portland—Hatton. ”