Charles K. Howard Biography

	This biography appears on pages 568-572 in "History of Minnehaha 
	County, South Dakota" by Dana R. Bailey and was scanned, OCRed 
	and edited by Joy Fisher, http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031
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HOWARD, CHARLES K., a pioneer closely connected with the early settlement of 
this section of the country, was born in Delaware county, New York, May 17, 
1839.  His father was a hotel keeper, and he worked about his father's hotel and 
attended the district schools until he was about eighteen years of age, when he 
went to an academy at Harnilton, New York, for one year.  At twenty years of age 
he went to Sioux City, Iowa, and commenced trading in land and town lots, making 
a little money, but losing it in the fall of 1857, when everything became 
demoralized in the West.  He then went into the employ of the American Fur 
Company at Fort Pierre, where he remained two years.  His next business was 
steamboating on the Missouri river - two years as a pilot and two years as 
captain of the boat.  In 1863 he went into the drug business in Sioux City.  
Soon after the establishment of a military post at Sioux Falls he became 
interested in a sutler's store there.  This business, however, was in charge of 
his employes and Mr. Howard himself did not come to Sioux Falls to reside until 
a year or two later.

His history after coming to Sioux Falls is what we have principally to record, 
and it is more unique and interesting than that of any other person who has ever 
resided in Minnehaha county.  When he first came to Sioux Falls there were only 
the government buildings and a stone building in the rear where the Norton-Murry 
block now stands. He first moved into the officers quarters, and afterwards 
lived in the stone house for a year.  After the sutler's trade had come to an 
end he kept on in trade mostly with the Indians until immigration began to bring 
white people to Sioux Falls and vicinity. He had a trading post at Flandreau, 
and his trade there and at Sioux Falls was principally in furs. One spring he 
purchased not less than 75,000 rat skins besides other furs. He remained in the 
mercantile business in Sioux Falls until he sold out to D. Elwell in 1883.

Mr. Howard erected the first frame building in Sioux Falls on the corner of 
Phillips avenue and Tenth street - a small building for a store - and soon after 
he built a small residence near by. During his residence in the city he built a 
large number of buildings, and the second brick building in the county.

Soon after the immigration had set in, and the settlers had commenced 
cultivating the soil, the grasshoppers came and devoured the crops.  It was 
during that time that this big-hearted man endeared himself to the pioneer 
settlers of Minnehaha county. He not only kept up his own courage, but 
encouraged others to hold on, and with a generous hand helped them to do so. He 
said to the writer that at one time he had at least one hundred thousand dollars 
charged on his books.  About this time D. B. Hubbard of Mankato shipped in ten 
car loads of flax, and Mr. Howard distributed it among the farmers who had no 
seed. The story is frequently told, and it is strictly in accordance with the 
facts, that a farmer who resided in Sverdrup went to Mr. Howard after having 
fought grasshoppers in vain for two years in endeavoring to save his crops, and 
said to him: 'I have got l60 acres of land and a team.  I am discouraged, and I 
want to sell you my team, and leave the country." Mr. Howard told him to stay 
and put in his crops, and he would guarantee him thirteen bushels of wheat per 
acre that season if he would give him all he raised in excess. The farmer 
agreed, and a contract was drawn up to that effect and signed, and the crops put 
in. In the fall Mr. Howard received about seven hundred bushels of wheat under 
the terms of this contract.  The farmer referred to still resides in Sverdrup 
and is in good circumstances.

Mr. Howard was a pioneer in all that the term implies. He has seen quite a 
portion of the present site of Sioux City an Indian corn field, and when he 
first camped at Yankton there was not a house nearer to his tent than 65 miles, 
and the nearest railroad station was St. Joseph, Missouri, and when he first 
came to Sioux Falls there was only one house on the road between here and Sioux 
City. During the first years of his residence in Sioux Falls he did quite a 
large business in freighting to and from Sioux .City. This was done with ox-
teams driven by Indians.

In speaking of blizzards he said: "The January blizzard of 1888, was nothing 
compared with the blizzards of the sixties and seventies. I was one time coming 
from Sioux City to Sioux Falls with a pair of mules and got caught in one near 
where Canton is now located.  I turned the mules loose and got myself into a 
hole in the ground-a trapper's ranch-and remained three nights and two days.  I 
had nothing with me to eat, but the second day I found some kernels of corn and 
some small traps in the dugout, and I set the traps in front of the hole and 
succeeded in catching three prairie chickens, which I cooked and ate.  After the 
storm was over I found my mules safe; they had found shelter in some brush on 
the bank of the river. I was camped at Fort Thompson the year of the Sully 
Expedition. There were 600 horses and mules killed in a blizzard at that place. 
During the winter of 1866-7 I had about 1,000 head of Texas cattle about five 
miles up the river from Sioux Falls, and a blizzard came on, killing about 250 
of them--65 being found in a little sag.  It was a curious sight to see the long 
horns sticking up through the snow-the snow was deep that year.  I remember a 
blizzard in the sixties that occurred on the 14th day of April, and about 
eighteen inches of snow fell.  Some Indian trappers were at Wall Lake and five 
or six of them died during the storm.  I brought them in, made a box and buried 
them. But the old-fashioned blizzards are among the by-gones."

Mr. Howard was the first president of the village board of Sioux Falls, and was 
treasurer of the County of Minnehaha for eleven successive years.  After 
disposing of his mercantile interests to Mr. Elwell, Mr. Howard went on to a 
large farm about four miles west of the city, where he remained until the spring 
of 1890, at which time he went to the Black Hills country in charge of the 
Dakota Cattle Company, where he still remains, and his host of friends are 
pleased to know that he is having great financial success in the business. No 
comments are necessary in writing a biographical sketch of a man like C. K. 
Howard, for the bare statement of his doings during a busy life are more 
explicit and satisfactory than any assertions or conclusions of the writer could 
possibly be.