Jerauld-Aurora-Davison County, SD History - Letters .....An Interesting Letter on Dakota April 7, 1883
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 20, 2005, 10:12 pm

    Last Monday, March 12, we took a trip to Dakota, the land of pre-emptions,
tree-claims and homesteads. We started from Fort Dodge at 10 a. m., and arrived
at Mitchell at 5 o'clock Tuesday morning, two hours late, and slept in the
sleeper until 7 o'clock when we went uptown and had breakfast. Mitchell is a
thriving town, situated on a beautiful site, and, I should judge, contains about
two thousand inhabitants. It is estimated that there are five hundred people per
day at Mitchell, and Thursday the estimate was that six hundred people were fed
at the hotels. At 11 o'clock it looked as though there was a fair or a 4th of
July celebration, to look up the business street and see the multitudes of
people. We started west with two passenger coaches, full to overflowing with
land seekers and actual settlers and their families. We arrived at White Lake,
36 miles west of Mitchell, about 1 o'clock Tuesday. We met Al Robinson and his
brother there. They are a general merchandise business. We knew them when they
were boys in Dubuque. The White Lake Times is published here and owned by Fred
Pratt, from Fort Dodge, Iowa.

    Next day we started for Chamberlain by train and met several persons on the
train whom we knew from Dubuque. Thos. Wilson, son of Judge Wilson, and Lue
Tuttle were looking up locations. We saw farmers sowing grain and plowing east
of Kimball, and it is beautiful land. Also saw a stock ranch between White Lake
and Kimball with a stream of water running through the cattle corral; saw before
we got to Chamberlain, the prairie dog village and a half dozen dogs at their
mounds, ready to dart down their holes; saw the alkali and gumbo lands about the
American creek, which is the entrance to Chamberlain. Chamberlain is a beautiful
town site, on a very fine plateau on the east bank of the Missouri river, with
towering bluffs on the other side of the river and small ones in the rear. If
the C. M. & St. P. should extend west it would go 3 or 4 miles south to cross
the river, at the mouth of the White river. I am told that John Lawler has a
section of land scripted, which means that the railroad owns it. If this is true
Chamberlain would be only a whistling station and the best town would be on the
other side of the river. The great hope of Chamberlain has been the opening up
of the Indian reservation north and east of them, and a land office would give
them a boom this year, but the senate did not act on the house bill so they will
have to wait some time yet. We met there John H. King, of the Register, Hon.
Goodykoontz and John Stearns, and others we knew years ago. Also several
Dubuquers. There are two fine hotels and a very large grist mill under
construction. We also saw a steamboat, steamed up and smoke rolling out of her
smokestack, but for what purpose we could not tell as the river was frozen solid.

    We took the train back to Plankinton, the county seat of Aurora county and a
very pleasant town, with good buildings and a good class of inhabitants, and
everything looks prosperous. We met several friends there. The Plankinton House
is kept by Mr. Granger, a brother of Judge Granger, of the northeastern portion
of Iowa, and he is doing well. Every one you meet feels good and I tried several
times to cross question them and look on the dark side of their situation, but
they would not feel disheartened but felt very enthusiastic over the future of
Dakota. The next day we took a livery team and went to Wessington Hills, which
we could see 26 miles away, and the distance is nothing in Dakota, as the roads
are very smooth and almost level, so to speak, but they are not as there what
they call draws, that is, one swail of prairie and then another, and so on, but
all are dry until we came to the Firesteel, which is a small stream. This we
forded and sped on our way northward until we arrived at the foot of Wessington
Hills, and put up at a farm house and had a good appetite for our dinner. We can
assure you we had the Dakota appetite to eat.

    Half a mile away are the renowned Wessington Springs, and we must say it is
a beautiful resort, with different waters and splendid springs, equal to any we
ever tasted or saw. There we saw the primative log cabin with a hay roof, which
was the abode of the first settler of Wessington Springs. The gulch is lined
with mixed timber; also stone and a stream of water flowing down to the cabin.
The most remarkable feature is a dam of petrified moss about four or five feet
high and the water flowing over it. With the trees nestling about the cabin made
us think we were in Paridise. We went into the cabin and sat smoking and looking
out the door at the future town of Wessington Springs, laid out by Dr. Burr, of
Mitchell.

    The Wessington Hills are a curiosity and are not what the appear at a
distance. On the top there is beautiful rolling prairie, stretching out for
miles, covered with bluejoint grass, and is a fine stock country. The gulches
afford timber, splendid water and give good protection to stock. Down in the
plains below the hills (it is called prairie here) it is covered with a very
thick mat of buffalo grass for miles further than the eye can reach. Here we saw
herds of cattle grazing the dry buffalo grass. After tramping around the springs
for two hours we started across the prairie two miles to a farmer's house and
found it full of land seekers, but Mr. Osgood said he did not turn anyone away
if they could put up with the accommodations, for which we were thankful even if
we did have to sleep three in a bed. After supper Mr. Osgood took nine of us in
a spring wagon about two miles to a stock ranch owned by a Mr. Wallace, from
LaSalle Ill., and a good place he has in the hills, with a good supply of water,
He has a very fine house, with a bay window, and is furnishedin modern style.
Mrs. Wallace is an accomplished lady and entertained us by playing on the piano
and singing. Think of it - 26 miles from a railroad. We know what you want to
ask us, and that is this, how we like the country. We will tell you. It is the
great American plains. No one can take in all the distance, and to most people
it all looks alike, no trees or anything to obstruct the vision. Undoubtedly the
soil is very rich. When we started from the Wessington Hills to Plankinton,
after crossing the Firesteel, we called on Bob McBride and found him and his
brother at home holding down their claims. Bob is looking well and will soon
prove up on his valuable property. - James Rigg, in Iowa Falls (Ia.) Sentinel.


Additional Comments:
From:

Wessington Springs Herald

Vol. I, no 3, p. 8, columns 1 & 2



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