Louis LaPlante Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1704-1706 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	A photo of Louis LaPlante faces page 1704.


	LOUIS LaPLANTE.—A consistent and valuable prerogative is exercised 
by a compilation of this nature when it enters a resume of the life 
history of so honored and prominent a pioneer as he whose name initiates 
this paragraph. Whatever thc re is represented in the perilous and 
stirring life which marked the life on the frontier is known to the 
subject by personal experience in the clays long since past, and then, 
as in the later era of development and civic and industrial progress, he 
played well his part, proving himself a man of courage, self-reliance 
and utmost integrity of purpose. 

	Mr. LaPlante comes of sterling French lineage, as the name 
implies, and is a native of the province of Quebec, Canada, where he was 
born on the 11th of November, 1835, being a son of Louis and Sophia 
(Morran) LaPlante, both of whom were likewise born and reared in that 
province, the paternal grandfather, who also bore the patronymic of 
Louis, having been a seafaring man, as was also the father of the 
subject. He who was later to become a pioneer of South Dakota received 
somewhat limited educational advantages in his boyhood, and early became 
dependent upon his own resources. At the early age of ten years he 
became identified with the vocation followed by his father and 
grandfather, going to sea and continuing as a sailor before the mast for 
the ensuing seven years, within which time he visited the principal 
maritime ports in England, France, Germany, Wales and America. In 1852 
he arrived in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he secured 
employment in connection with steamboat navigation on the Mississippi 
river, being thus engaged for two years, after which he turned his 
attention to coal mining on the Ohio river. In a short time he found 
himself afflicted with the all-prevailing ague, and consequently 
returned to St. Louis, and after a trip to New Orleans, came back to the 
former city and there shipped on the steamer 'St. Mary," plying the 
upper Missouri river. On this little vessel he came up the river as far 
as the mouth of the White river, in what is now South Dakota, this being 
then the head of navigation. and thence the government supplies with 
which the boat was laden were freighted through with teams to old Fort 
Pierre, where Mr. LaPlante put in his first appearance on the 11th of 
November, 1855, his twentieth birthday anniversary. He passed the winter 
at Camp Pierre, on the opposite side of the river, Major Galpin being in 
charge of the camp. and in the following spring, in company with seven 
other men, started down the river with supplies, the same being 
transported with mule-teams. The party became disaffected because the 
supply train had been placed in charge of an unpopular man, instead of 
Charles Picotte, who had been the choice of the men, and they 
accordingly left the supply train at the mouth of White river, their 
principal objection to service in the connection being that they were 
reluctant to work under military rules and supervision. The eight men 
took a small supply of necessary provisions and made their way back to 
Fort Pierre on foot, where they were taken prisoners and court-
martialed, all being ordered out of the country. On their way up the 
river they found a soldier who had deserted from Fort Pierre with two 
others. The three deserters had lost their way and two of them died from 
lack of food and from exposure, while the survivor was found in a 
fearfully demented condition, having entirely eaten the body of one of 
his companions, and partially consumed the other. He was taken back to 
the fort and placed in charge of the authorities, and in the following 
summer was sent down the river to St. Louis. When ordered to leave the 
country each of the eight men agreed to do so with the exception of a 
half-breed Indian, who told Colonel Harney, commanding the post, that he 
had a natural right to the country and would remain. He brought into 
play a knife, with which he attempted an attack on the colonel, but was 
disarmed. He was permitted to remain, this provision being a part of the 
treaty made by the Indians with Colonel (later General) Harney, in 1856. 
Seven of the men then proceeded down the river, but the adventurous 
spirit of Mr. LaPlante led him to escape surveillance and make his way 
up the river to Fort Clark, where he entered the employ of the American 
Fur Company, with which he remained engaged until it disposed of its 
business about 1859. He then became an employe of the company's 
successors, the firm of Frost, Tudd & Atkins, and was in their service 
until 1861, when Mr. LaPlante engaged in trapping on his own account. In 
the summer of 1863 he entered the employ of the government at Fort 
Randall, which was then in command of General Cook, who had relieved 
General Sully, and passed the summer in carrying dispatches between that 
post and Fort Sully. In the summer of 1864 he was engaged in scouting 
duty for General Sully, having become by this time familiar with the 
country and with the habits and maneuvers of the crafty Indians, while 
his daring and courage led him to risk the many dangers involved in the 
service in which he was engaged. He followed scouting during that summer 
and then engaged in business on his own account, trading with the 
Indians and raising horses and cattle. His ranch was located in Bon 
Homme county and there he continued to reside until 1875, when he 
removed to Fort Pierre, where he established his home, while he has ever 
since been engaged in stock raising, his ranch being located on the 
Cheyenne river, sixty-five miles west of Fort Pierre, and comprising one 
thousand eight hundred acres, in Stanley county, while he also uses the 
open range and conducts his operations on an extensive scale. When the 
Black Hills district was opened to settlement he engaged in freighting 
between Fort Pierre and Deadwood, in which enterprise he successfully 
continued until the year 1883. He gives special attention to the raising 
of Hereford and shorthorn cattle and Percheron and French coach horses. 
Mr. LaPlante is a man of broad and varied experience and strong 
mentality, well informed and genial and courteous in his relations with 
his fellow men. Though he has nearly attained the age of three score 
years and ten he enjoys perfect physical health and is a worthy type of 
the sturdy and valorous frontiermen who aided in ushering in the era of 
civilization and progress, while his integrity has ever commanded to him 
the respect and confidence of those with whom he has come in contact. He 
is a pioneer of pioneers, and it is most consonant that he be accorded 
marked precedence in this publication. His elder sons, two of whom are 
individually mentioned on other pages of this work, are also numbered 
among the progressive and successful stock growers of the state, being 
likewise located on a reservation, while all of his children have been 
accorded excellent educational advantages and have honored the name 
which they bear and the state in which their entire lives have been 
passed. The two eldest sons have attained the thirty-second degree in 
Scottish-rite Masonry, and the subject himself is a Royal Arch Mason, 
while he is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
He is a staunch Democrat in politics, and upon the organization of 
Stanley county was elected a member of its first board of commissioners, 
serving one term, while for two years he was a member of the village 
council of Fort Pierre. 

	In March, 1860, Mr. LaPlante was united in marriage to Miss Julia 
Abbott, who was born and reared in Fort George, South Dakota, being a 
daughter of Mr. Abbott, of the firm, of Abbott & Cotton, who were 
engaged in the fur business in this section in the early days, having 
their headquarters in the city of New York, while their trading post was 
at the mouth of the Yellow Medicine river, in Pratt county, South 
Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. LaPlante have six sons, namely: Frederick, George, 
Alexander, Charles, Louis, Jr., and Ovila.