Eastern Pennington County Memories  -- Creighton


	This information is from "Eastern Pennington County Memories", 
	published by The American Legion Auxilliary, Carrol McDonald Unit, 
	Wall, South Dakota and is uploaded with their kind permission. 
	Pages 416-438

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net, 1999. 

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Halvor M. Mortensen and Carrie L. Koepke


by Mrs. H. M. Mortensen

	Halvor M. Mortensen and Carrie L. Koepke, pioneers of the Wall, Creighton 
Community both arrived in this area in March 1909. Halvor Martin born at Sand 
(near Stavanger), Norway on Dec. 25, 1887. Carrie L. Koepke born on Sept. 28, 
1893 near Bloomfield, Nebr.

	Halvor arrived in his beloved adopted country, the U. S., from Norway on 
March 24, 1907. He made his home with an uncle in Minnesota before coming to S. 
Dak. to file on a claim.

	It was also March 24, 1907 that Carrie at the age of 13 1/2 years was 
confirmed in the Lutheran Church at Bloomfield, Nebr. Strange as it may seem, it 
was a day of destiny for both. It was just two years later that Carrie together 
with her parents, sister and brothers were on their way, moving to S. Dak. No 
one seemed happier than Carrie Louise. The hardships of homestead life did not 
discourage her. It was not until the year 1912 while working near Pedro that she 
met a certain young man. After proving up on his claim Halvor spent four years 
working in the Eastern part of both North and South Dakota.

	In 1917 Carrie spent the winter with relatives and friends in Nebraska. It 
was while there that Carrie had a dream: a certain young man appeared to her 
dressed in the uniform of the U. S. Army. As if guided by an unknown power, 
Carrie prepared to return home. She arrived home in March 1918. Strangely, 
Halvor also returned to Creighton at the same time. They had not corresponded or 
known of each other's whereabouts. But they were to be parted again. August 1918 
Halvor answered the call of duty to serve his country in time of war. He 
returned home March 15, 1919. They were married Sept. 18, 1919. They resided on 
their homesteads northwest of Creighton, which also just happened to join. In 
May 1926 they purchased the Creighton Store and Post Office. In 1928 they 
purchased land near the old site and built a new store building.

	Their son George was born here Nov. 1, 1928. They continued in business 
here for 25 years. Due to poor health they were forced to retire July 1, 1951.

	They moved to Sturgis, S. Dak. where they purchased a home. Mr. and Mrs. 
Mortensen were the parents of seven children, three sons and 4 daughters.

	Two sons served in World War II; Morten in the Army and Harold in the 
Navy. George served in the Korean War. There are 23 grandchildren. Halvor was a 
charter member of the Carroll McDonald Legion Post at Wall and Carrie a charter 
member of the Auxiliary.

	Their faith in their God, their country and each other was their strength 
and sustained them through many hardships. Halvor Martin Mortensen passed away 
of a heart attack May 2, 1958 at Sturgis.

[Photo - Carrie Koepke Homestead Shack - 1919]

[Photo - Carrie Mortensen's Home]

[Photo - Mr. Mortensen tested these 44 cans of cream in one day.]

[Photo - Breaking sod on the Mortensen Homestead.]

[Photo - Mortensen's first grandchild]

[Photo - Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Mortensen  Sept. 18, 1919]

[Photo - H. M. Mortensen working in the post office]





Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm Koepke

by Mrs. Wilhelm Koepke

	Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm Koepke and family arrived in Wall, S.D. to settle on 
a homestead 6 miles northeast of Creighton on March 6, 1909.

	Mr. Koepke born in Germany, April 26,1857, emigrated to America in 1883. 
Mrs. Koepke (nee Wilhelmina Block) born in Germany Sept. 20, 1863, arrived in 
America in April 1890.

	On May 5, 1890, the couple were married and resided near Creighton, Nebr. 
Later they moved to near Bloomfield, Nebr. when it was rumored that a new town 
was to be started there. They resided here until moving to Wall. Mr. and Mrs. 
Koepke were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters: Emil H., 
who passed away on March 23, 1961, Mrs. Carrie L. Mortensen of Sturgis, S.D., 
Wilhelm Jr. of Zim, Minn. and Mrs. Agnes M. Sundquist of Wasta, S.D.

	This couple were real pioneers coming here when there was nothing but 
prairie as far as you could see and the road from Wall to Creighton hardly more 
than a trail.

	Going out to their homestead a distance of 27 miles the family had to take 
turns riding, as there was not enough room for all to ride. It so happened that 
John Keiser was in town and while he had a load of his own, he offered to help 
them get out to their new home.

	They went through every hardship there was and worked hard to build the 
comfortable home they had.

	There are still folks who can remember this worthy couple. For many 
sojourner and friend found a square meal, bed and shelter under their roof. 
Especially the ministers and missionaries that served the Lutheran Churches in 
their community found board and lodging on the Koepke farm near Creighton.

	Mrs. Koepke passed away at her home on April 16, 1929. Mr. Koepke passed 
away also at the. home on March 26, 1931. Both are at rest at Bloomfield, Nebr., 
their former home.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm Koepke on their wedding anniversary. Others are friends and 
neighbors of the community.]




The Hooks Homestead Story

by Edna (Hook) Clarin

	Elvin and Eli Hook were born and grew up in Sac County, Iowa. They were 
also married there.

	They came to Pennington County in April 190 8 and homesteaded each on 160 
acres located just east of the Creighton Store owned and operated by R. J. 
Hoddock and wife, who later had the Post Office.

	Elvin and Eli with the help of Ed Brabender, who had homesteaded farther 
east, first built a barn 14 X 16 on the dividing line between their respective 
claims. They lived in this while building Elvin's house which was also 14 X 16. 
Then Elvin's wife Lillie and son Levi age 13 mo. and Eli's wife Mabel and 
daughter Edna 8 months arrived. They shared Elvin's house while building Eli Is 
house which was 12 X 18.

	The two families hauled water from a deep spot in Rainy Creek to the south 
of their claims. The Indians also used this spot for washing and bathing so a 
common well was soon put down by the men. They had real good water which was not 
common. Most water had too much alkali.

	The Hooks had brought their horses, a cow or two and 100 chickens with 
them by railroad to Wall. As their claims were 21 miles north of Wall there were 
many trips made hauling supplies with team and wagon.

	Neighbors already living there or coming in shortly after were, L. O'Neil, 
Abe Marsh, Jerry Beeson and Jack Geotsche to the south, Clide Jones, George 
Snell on the east, also a family by the name of Blissner in the N.W. corner of 
the section and Bert Hochett.

	The first Creighton Post Office was named for Creighton, Nebraska. It was 
located at Jack Geotsche's below the Mooney Hill to the east of the present 
road.

	In the fall of 1908 Eli and Elvin and families went to Iowa to pick corn 
to earn some extra cash, and spent the winter there. In Feb. a son Leslie was 
born to Eli and Mabel. All returned to the homestead in April 1910.

	When gardens and small patches of grain were planted and growing good the 
big ranchers' cattle destroyed them so more fences were built. The big ranchers 
had been used to free range and resented the men who planned to farm.

	In Sept. 1910 a daughter Nema was born to Elvin and Lillie at their 
homestead.

	Prairie fire was the terror of the homesteader and every farmstead had a 
fire break of several plowed furrows plowed around it to help stop fires if they 
should come roaring across the land. Eli and Elvin helped to fight a fire in the 
summer of 1910 just south of Haddock's store and in the early summer of 1911 a 
fire started to the N.W. of Eli's place, driven by a N.W. wind, a hurried extra 
firebreak was plowed and Eli taking one horse and some burlap sacks set off to 
help fight. Before entering Eli's farm it veered off to the east and went all 
the way to Deep Creek before being stopped. The horse left at home refused to go 
into the barn but stood and watched the smoke on the horizon.

	When spring of 1911 arrived it was dry. Eli had plowed under a light 
snowfall in early April and planted potatoes in the furrows, so they had new 
potatoes in early summer.

	Elvin after proving up on his homestead decided to pull up stakes, in May 
of 1911 and taking his family and personal property went back to Iowa.

	No rain so no work to be done. George Snell lived nearby and would come to 
Eli's to pass the time he would go to Creighton and buy a can of pumpkin, Mabel 
baked pies and they sat in the shade of the claim shack eating pie and drinking 
coffee.

	Eli helped organize the first school in the community and Mrs. Elmer Fish 
was the first teacher.

	In late July Eli proved up on his homestead, took his family and personal 
property, and returned to Iowa. John Barton and family of Squaw Creek went along 
to make their home in Iowa.

	In November of 1916 Eli decided to come back to Pennington County. He had 
been farming in Iowa these five years.

	Eli bought Elvin's claim and it was into Elvin's house they moved. There 
were now four children, two sons, Lawrence and Marvin, having been born while 
they were in Iowa. Some "Old Neighbors" were gone but some remained. George 
Snell, Fred Deakman, Bev Graham, Ed Brabender and Jerry Beeson to name a few.

	Mr. Hoddoch had rented his store to C. A. Van Gant and had moved to Rapid 
City. The Post Office had been moved to R. F. Lewis Is place which was two miles 
east of the store. Mail was received only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

	The first winter was a cold and stormy one in buildings that hadn't been 
lived in for five years, but all survived.

	In the spring of 1917 Eli built a large barn on his place. When it was 
finished he gave two dances for the benefit of the Red Cross, being it was a 
World War. Ben Rotter and daughter Elsie furnished the music. She on the organ 
and he on the violin.

	In 1920 he built a two story house 26 X 26 ft. on his farm and was farming 
320 acres.

	When Eli returned in 1916 he broke horses to drive for several neighbors 
and others around the community to earn extra cash.

	So some years were good and some not so good, things went on until 1934, 
what with the drouth and grasshoppers, he with his wife and family moved to 
Menahga, Minnesota where they now live.

	Eli at 81 and Mabel at 75 are both healthy and alert.

	Reinhold Eisenbraun now owns and lives on Eli's homestead and many changes 
have been made.

	Elvin Hook passed away at Auburn, Iowa on April 4,1963. His wife Lillie, 
son Levi and family and daughter Nema and family live in or near there.

	Edna is now Mrs. Henry Clarin living near Menahga, Minnesota.

	Leslie was married to Eva Miller in 1945 and passed away in Colorado where 
he was working in 1948.

	Lawrence or Red married the former Violet Pippert of near Grindstone. They 
are now living in Philip where he does carpenter work.

	Marvin married Viola Sitter of Ortonville, Minnesota. They now live near 
Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a mechanic at the Sears Auto Store there.

[Photo - Edna and Leslie Hook, children of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Hook, taken in 
1910.]




Matilda Ellefsen Family

by Karen Ellefsen

	In remembering about our homesteading in Pennington County we recall many 
rewarding experiences. Matilda Ellefsen with two small sons, Ivar Ellefsen her 
older son, and Anna my sister and I built our shacks on a line so we were a 
short distance from each other. Auntie, Ivar and Breda, one of the small boys, 
have all passed away. We had a horse and buggy and went to Creighton P.O. for 
our mail. Our nearest neighbors were the Pierces, where there were many young 
people and always lively. Along Squaw Creek lived several families of Furgusons. 
To the north were Harry Beckman, the Spits, Mr. Heaf and two daughters Grace and 
Edna, and Mr. Jacobson and Willie Mortenson.

	One 4th of July we had a very enjoyable picnic on Squaw Creek. Another 
time a big crowd of neighbors brought lunch for 2 days, and we camped and fished 
at Belle Fourche River. We came unprepared so borrowed the men Is bathing suits 
for swimming in the river. The ladies fried the fish the men caught and there 
were, plenty. We feasted on all the good food we had brought along. One of the 
sleepers had a visit of a rattlesnake in the night, we all slept on the ground.

	Another incident, Tally Spits was visiting at our place, we were sewing 
and heard a noise outside, as if someone was mowing hay. We stepped out to see a 
huge rattlesnake was hypnotizing our dear pet, a cat. Never heard one make so 
much noise, needless to say, it never got another chance.

	Sundays Jacobsen and Mortensen often came over and had dinner with us. 
They had a cow and brought us milk and butter. Jacobson said that was a fair 
exchange.

	We also were in the wake of a prairie fire and fought fire until we didn't 
know each other, because of soot. Auntie lost a stack of hay and much feed was 
lost.

	We raised some corn and nice vegetables.

	I helped out Mrs. John Dalzelle one time when they went to Rapid City, 
also Mrs. Emerson Crowel at the time she had her second baby. It was pleasant to 
live at the river. We visited at the Trask place. Mrs. Trask had a lovely flower 
garden. The boys had to haul water for it all the time, it looked like a little 
paradise.

	Another unusual experience was riding across the river to a dance. The 
river was very high when we got there and very swift, but the horses made it, 
and coming back it had receded which was a relief.

	When Christmas came we started to feel a little homesick so we decided to 
do something about it. We asked the single folks to come and spend Christmas eve 
at our place. The breaks were near so we got a nice green cedar bush, got some 
decorations and baked a large fruit cake in the drum of our cook stove. Decided 
we must have some presents, and told the guests to make some homemade thing as a 
remembrance for every one. I still have a lovely hand carved box, Mortensen, who 
was a cabinet maker gave me. We were rather crowded but the Christmas Spirit was 
there and a party to be remembered, so different.

	Miss Van Zante, Taber, Mrs. Joe Pierce, Tally Spits and Edna Heat were 
good companions, and all the neighbors were kind and friendly.

[Photo - Tally Splits and Karen skinning the rattler.]


[Photo - Jim Dalzall children]

[Photo - The Trask girls]

[Photo - Alice and Glen Dalzall]

[Photo - Anna and Karen Ellefsen]

[Photo - F. Sheplas and a sod house.]

[Photo - The bathing beauties.]

[Photo - Ellefsen's sister's living room.]

[Photo - Two early teachers.]



Mrs. Ellen Davis

	Mrs. Ellen Davis and three youngest children, Albert, Harry, and Clarence 
came by team and wagon in 1906 from Osborne, Nebraska to Presho. This is as far 
as the railroad was built. Mrs. Davis drove a four horse team and large freight 
wagon. She hauled oats for horses, groceries for workers and other supplies. The 
family followed the railroad work to Wall. Mrs. Davis took a homestead eighteen 
miles south of Cottonwood. It is now part of the Badland's Park. In 1908 two 
older brothers Perry and Albert took homesteads four miles north of Creighton. 
The two older sisters Mrs. Bob Mitchell and family and Mrs. Albert Sherrill and 
family also came from Iowa. They took land north of Creighton. A year later Mrs. 
Davis and three boys left their homestead and moved north of Creighton. In 1922 
Mrs. Davis married Mr. Cap Clark and lived on Squaw Creek until her death. Mrs. 
Davis was the country side doctor. She knew what plants or roots were good for 
many sicknesses. The neighbors said, "She always cured our ills." The Davis 
children are all living except Perry. Mrs. Sherrill lives in Iowa; Albert and 
Harry in Minnesota; Roy in Nebraska, Mrs. Mitchell and Clarence in Custer.





As I Look Back -

Thomas E. O'Neill

	I, Thomas E. O'Neill, was born in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, February 4, 1885. 
We lived on a farm. In 1895 Uncle John Henry O'Neill came to visit us and 
persuaded my Dad to come west. We sold our place and moved to Havelock to wait 
until we got word that he could meet us in Rapid City. While waiting, my Dad 
worked as a butcher, and I delivered meat. My Dad and I arrived in Rapid City, 
July 25, 1900. We were three days coming from Rapid City to Deadman Creek where 
my cousin Fritz had a homestead. We came in a covered wagon.

	We started haying and it was my job to ride the rake and turn the 
grindstone for Uncle John to sharpen the sickles. It was a dry year and we hayed 
until late fall to put up hay for two outfits. They had lots of cattle; also 
forty head of horses. We had three hand-dug wells and dipped them dry every day.

	My Aunt Fanny had rheumatism in her hands and she said she heard that 
rattlesnake oil would help. So I killed a big rattler and skinned it, then hung 
the snake on the fence. The hot sun rendered the oil and I had a can to catch 
it. There was an inch or so of the oil and my Aunt said it really helped her 
hands.

	We located (called squatters) about a mile or two up the creek from Uncle 
John. We built a house which was part dug-out and the upper part was logs. It 
had no floor and the roof was made of poles, with hay and dirt on the top. The 
shed for cattle was made of poles and hay. Dad bought seventy-five head of 
cattle from two brothers who wanted to go to Canada. Their name was Hubbel and 
the brand was H B 0. When we got the hay put up and the shed and house done, my 
Dad went back to Havelock to work and I stayed that winter to take care of the 
cattle. Range cattle were everywhere those days. I tried to keep our cattle 
penned up at night. One morning it was snowing and blowing hard but I turned our 
cattle out to graze. My Uncle rode up and wanted to know where my cattle were. 
When he found out what I had done he told me, "You should never turn cattle out 
in a blizzard". He told me to put his saddle on my horse and try to get them in. 
They drifted a mile and a half southeast and got into some timber. The drifts by 
that time were so deep they had a bad time of it. I guess I was an hour getting 
them back against the storm. The stirrups were too long for me and I had on a 
cap that was too big. I froze my ears. When they thawed out they were swollen 
and peeled. And so I learned my first lesson about South Dakota blizzards. I 
also learned to cook. My mother gave me a cookbook. We had a small camp stove 
and I learned to bake biscuits about the first thing. We kept our flour in a 
barrel. We had a top made of boards that we used for a table. We had the top 
hooked to the barrel and had to take it off when we wanted flour. We made the 
bed out of poles and had a hay tick. The first cake I made called for corn-
starch. The only starch I had was gloss-starch and besides I didn't know there 
was a difference. Cousin Fritz helped eat the cake and said "This is pretty good 
cake if it wasn't for the lumps".

	Dad came back in April and we put in a garden. We also dug a well in the 
bottom of the creek. We put in a pump, and covered the well with logs, then hay 
and dirt on top.

	That fall I went with a bunch of the neighbors to ship cattle from Pierre. 
We were seven days on the road. We got to Fort Pierre and had to cross the 
cattle over the first channel on a trestle onto an island, then we loaded them 
on a ferry-boat and ferried across the river to the railroad loading pens. We 
shipped to Sioux City. I went to Sioux City with the cattle. I needed some 
clothes to make the trip so when Dad and Uncle John went to Pedro in a wagon for 
groceries they were going to buy me some clothes. Pedro, at that time, didn't 
carry a stock of kids clothes, so they couldn't get my size. Dad brought back a 
big white hat called the Big-4; and it was big. Also a coat that was two sizes 
too big. I already had a pair of my brother's hand-me-down pants that were 
plenty small. Dad couldn't get a pair of shoes to fit me so he said I could wear 
his, and of course they were too big. When I delivered the cattle, I went to see 
my folks in Havelock. I bought my ticket to Havelock and was supposed to change 
cars at Missouri Valley, Iowa, to go to Lincoln, but I got interested in talking 
to another kid and forgot to get off, so I went on to Omaha. I went over to the 
Union Depot and somebody said I might get a transfer. When they sized me up they 
thought they'd have some fun with me. They told me to go up on a viaduct and 
take a street car over to another railroad. I watched the street cars go by for 
quite awhile and by that time I forgot the name of the railroad. I finally got 
my head working and figured out there wasn't any railroad but the Burlington 
that went through Havelock and on to Lincoln. It cost me ten cents then to get 
back to Havelock from Lincoln on the street car. My sister Mary and her girl 
friend were on the street car. She worked in Lincoln and was on her way home. I 
stayed out on the platform because I didn't want to embarrass her on account of 
my clothes. When I got home it didn't take Mother long to get me anew outfit. I 
stayed two weeks.

	When I came back to South Dakota I brought one of my school pals along to 
spend the winter. Before I started back, I wrote to Dad addressed to Grindstone, 
S. D. to tell him when I would be in Fort Pierre. When we arrived my Dad wasn't 
there to meet us. We only had fifty cents between us. We hung around the livery 
barn waiting for him and when night came we decided to try sleeping in a straw 
pile. We nearly froze but stuck it out till midnight; then we went to a rooming 
house and spent our fifty cents for abed. We slept until noon the next day. We 
went back to the livery barn and there happened to be a guy that worked at the 
livery barn that had a claim northwest of Fort Pierre and he wanted to spend a 
few days living on his claim, so the boss of the livery barn said "Maybe we can 
get these two kids to do the work while they wait here". Our job was to drive a 
bunch of horses down to the river to water, and clean out the barn and feed the 
horses. "I will give you your meals and you can sleep here in the barn on the 
floor". We had an old cow-hide to sleep on and we put sacks and saddle blankets 
over us. We kept this up for three or four days.

	Finally a fellow from Belle Fourche named Henry Kirkham had shipped a 
bunch of horses out of Pierre and some of the boys that drove the horses wanted 
to go east with the horses where they were sold. So my friend and I drove their 
saddle horses back as far as Deadman Creek. Henry Kirkham had a small buggy big 
enough for him and his wife and children but we tied our trunk on the back of 
his buggy.

	Dad went back to Nebraska and we boys stayed to care for the cattle. The 
winter evenings were long so we played cards and I made a set of boxing gloves 
out of old overalls and stuffed them with pieces of overalls. They were pretty 
hard and we had a black eye once in awhile.

	The next April my friend went back to Nebraska. My Cousin Fritz went to 
Rapid City in a lumber wagon to a stock meeting and my friend went with him. 
When we still lived over on Deadman Creek Dad's brother George O'Neill bought a 
horse and buggy in Fort Pierre and came to visit us. He came from Nevada.

	He stayed awhile and told me if I would take him back to Fort Pierre he 
would give me the horse and buggy. Coming back I got off the Deadwood trail and 
landed at Top Bar someplace on Plum Creek, but anyway I got home.

	In 1903 my folks came out to live. Before they came, Dad and I decided to 
look around for another location so we drove west to Rainy Creek. The only place 
that had been filed on was the Old Mose Smith place, now owned by my wife, Mary. 
It had an old log house and a barn. The bard was dug into a bank and covered 
with poles and hay. We slept in the barn. Years before we saw this place, Old 
Mose Smith broke up prairie and raised corn and hogs. One time he went away and' 
got Matt Smith to take care of his hogs. He told Matt if he run short of corn to 
load up some hogs and take them to Smithville and trade them for corn. He was 
gone so long that finally Matt ran out of hogs.

	Dad went by the corners of this land to locate his land. After Dad filed 
on the land he got one of his neighbors on Deadman Creek and they took two 
fourhorse outfits and went to Rapid City for lumber. It got to raining after we 
got back. The folks lived in a tent. The furniture we covered up with the 
lumber. Some of the neighbors, Alfred Strandell's father, Matt Smith, George 
Grover, and several more, helped build the house. Getting back to the Mose Smith 
place -about 1900 or 1901 there was a cloud-burst. Mose Smith and his company 
were eating dinner. They heard a roaring noise and it kept getting louder. 
Finally they went out to look and this roll of water was coming. They didn't 
have time to go for high ground so they got on the roof of the house. The house 
was half full of water. The dinner table was floating around. The cloud-burst 
extended to both Rainey Creek and Deep Creek and at Pedro, Deep Creek was a mile 
wide and water was two feet deep in Petro store. A team of horses in Mose 
Smith's barn drowned. Most of the time I spent over on Deadman Creek taking care 
of the cattle while our house was being built. After we moved our cattle to 
Rainy Creek, we changed our Postoffice address to Ash Creek, S.D.

	One fourth-of-July our whole family went to a celebration at Pedro. We had 
to go east of Matt Smith's place to get to a road going to Pedro. It rained the 
night before and I had to hook my saddle horse onto the tongue to help pull the 
wagon up the hills. The gumbo was bad. They had horse races and a dance. 
Everybody brought food. It took us almost a day to get back home. A man by the 
name of Cook played the violin and his wife played the organ. Later on a few 
years, Cook built a log house up the creek from Pedro and they had good dances 
there. We went to a good many of them.

	The first dance they had was St. Patrick's and it turned out to be a wild 
one. There were cowboys from the Sword and Dagger Outfit and several more. There 
was plenty of gunplay but nobody was shot. Somebody did shoot a hole in the 
floor and somebody stole my lariat rope.

	Fritz O'Neill wanted me to help him drive about forty head of horses from 
Deadman to Spring Creek near Folsom where Uncle John had a ranch. We went 
through where the town of Wall is now and there wasn't a sign of anything there; 
all open prairie. I rode a horse back from Uncle John's to the Estes place in 
one day. I figured it was about sixty-five miles.

	I started working for Rock Pourier on Deep Creek. We were fencing a school 
section. That was the biggest school section I ever saw. It went for miles. We 
cut ash posts and sharpened them. We got up at daylight and this was in May, and 
went home after sundown then we had chores to do. I worked two months at twenty-
five dollars a month. I tried to get young Rock to get me a raise but he didn't 
have much influence so one morning I said I'd quit. He paid me with a fifty 
dollar gold piece. I went home and gave the fifty dollars to my Dad and told him 
to go to Smithville where Cottles had a store and get wire so we could have a 
horse pasture. It was always my job to round up the horses every morning and 
sometimes would take me half a day. After I quit working for Pourier's it wasn't 
long and I was offered a job as night Hawk for C. K. Howard's Pot Hook outfit. 
Tom Ward was the foreman and offered me forty-five dollars per month. I thought 
that was a lot better than twenty-five, but it turned out it was no snap. We 
started out in June on the calf branding roundup. We had a lot of bad electric 
storms with rain and lightning. I had about seventy-five head of saddle horses 
to herd. When they got to running, all I could do was follow them and keep them 
together. Some of the "Reps" horses that were bad ones to get away had bells on 
them so you would know where they were in the dark. The rains and storms kept up 
most of the early summer. When we were through with the calf round-up all the 
crew put up hay on the Belle Fourche River for Tom Ward, until it was time to 
start on the beef round-up.

	In the fall they had quite a slick way of weaning the calves on Rainy 
Creek. We were camped on some of the land I now own. There were some large round 
pens that were built years before we came here. They were called the TS pens. We 
would pen all the cows and calves - then cut out the cows and drive them to the 
old Mose Smith place which was fenced. C. K. Howard now owned the Mose Smith 
place. The cows were put in this pasture and several cowboys stayed there to 
keep the cows in until the rest of the cowboys got rid of the calves. The way 
they did that was a bunch of cowboys would have their ropes down with some cans 
and old buckets dragging. Then they turned the calves out and got them pointed 
toward C. K. Howard's ranch. They got in behind them with the cans rattling, 
shooting their six-shooters, and yelling. They stampeded them. The calves never 
stopped running until they got to the river. When the cows were turned out they 
came back to the pens.

	The beef round-up took us over a lot of country from around Interior and 
north to the country around Stoneville. When we were north of the Cheyenne River 
working this way, Tom Ward told me to come and take a look at the bunch of 
cattle we had rounded up. "The chances are", he said, "you will never again see 
that many cattle in one bunch". He estimated there were about twenty-five 
hundred head in the bunch.

	About 3 o'clock every morning I would get the horses pretty close to camp 
and go into call the cook. We would be up and break camp and be ten miles before 
sun-up. Then it was my turn to roll in and sleep and the wranglers took over the 
horses for the day. There were tenor twelve cowboys to ride circle. They would 
all start together. The boss would send half one way and half the other to ride 
circle. Then as they went along he would drop one man after another to drive all 
the cattle toward the center. They went for miles around. When they got them all 
in the center they would change horses, each man got his cutting horse. Every 
cowboy had eight or ten horses. They had what they called the day herd. The 
"Reps" cut out their cattle and put them in the day herd. They stood guard at 
night on this herd. Then these "Reps" cut out the cattle for their outfit and 
drove them back to their own range and turned them loose. The next year I took 
the job of "cook" for the round-up. One Sunday so many people came to see us 
that I had thirty-one for dinner. They wanted to say that they ate with the 
round-up. We were camped on 3 Tree draw and I believe it is now part of 
Schroeder's ranch. I have a picture of the people who ate dinner that Sunday. We 
usually had bacon and fried potatoes, coffee and biscuits for breakfast. Dinner 
was plenty of beef and gravy, beans and biscuits. We usually butchered a good 
fat yearling. Most times we gave part of the meat away as there was no way to 
keep it cool.

	One summer in early years Dad and Mother started for Rapid City to meet my 
brother and family. They got to the Cheyenne River about dusk. The river was 
bank-full. Usually when someone wanted to cross somebody would come down from 
the other side but this time nobody came. Dad and Mother started across alone. 
They had a brand new wagon with a double box and had it tied down. When they got 
out in the middle the wagon started to float and started downstream pulling the 
horses. Finally the wagon turned over and dumped my Mother and Dad into the 
river. Neither one could swim. When they came up he grabbed Mother and dragged 
her along. He had to jump along and touch bottom once in awhile until he got to 
shallow water. Finally somebody came from the ranch to help. Dad wanted somebody 
to go in to cut the horses loose but nobody would volunteer so he went back in 
and got them loose. They put the horses in the barn but one horse died that 
night. Next day they got the wagon out and borrowed a horse to go on to Rapid 
City. After all the trouble my brother didn't come. When he did come, he got a 
ride with Estes and they had almost as much trouble. They crossed at Smithville. 
They told Jim's wife Lucille to sit in the bottom of the wagon and hang on. The 
water came in over the top of the box.

	In 1908 Dad was appointed Postmaster of O'Neill, South Dakota. He had a 
small stock of groceries too. O'Neill, S.D. was a stage stop on the way to 
Pedro, S.D., and they changed horses there at noon. Elmer Hawks had the stage 
line. When the land seekers came they also stayed overnight. One time a girl 
wanted to get to her claim across the river and north of Pedro. She came out on 
the stage to our place and hired me to take her across the river to her claim, 
in a spring wagon. Her name was Rachel Tangen.

	Getting back to the big May storm; we could have got our cattle in but 
didn't think it would be bad. It came up a drizzly rain for two days, and the 
creeks were bankful of water. Then it started to snow and snowed for two days. A 
regular blizzard! After the storm cleared up we started looking for cattle and 
found eleven dead of ours, along with a lot of others between home and Peno Gap. 
We found some of our cattle just this side of where Cottonwood is now. This 
storm was hard on horses. Tom Ward and Al Trask were riding west of Rainy Creek 
and found a young colt that had lost its mother. They carried it to our place 
and gave it to my sister Rachel. It was a srrel and she named him Billy. Al 
Trask said "Now we will have to find one for Mary". They found one for he and 
she named him Bismarck. They raised these colts on the bottle and they turned 
out to be pretty good horses. After my Mother died in 1909 and my sisters 
married I took over the job of cooking.

	In 1911 was a dry year. The grass didn't get green until September. We 
took our cattle to the Badlands this side of Conata and it wasn't much better 
there.

	Years before this country was homesteaded, each big cattleman had his 
territory that he called his range. Other big outfits respected each other's 
rights for range. That was the reason for the round-ups. Each outfit sent a 
representative called "rep" to cut out their cattle. This Rainy Creek basin and 
7D and Squaw Creek were part of C. K. Howard's range. When homesteaders came in, 
that ended free range.

	On February 11, 1918, Mary and I were married in Wall by Father John 
Connolly. He was just a young priest then - and we were the first couple for 
whom he performed the marriage ceremony. We made the trip in an old Chalmers 
car.

	We have four children - Rachel, Pat, Kathleen and Marilyn; also nineteen 
grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

	We have lived on my homestead for forty-seven years.

[Photo - Last roundup, C. K. Howard  Bottom row: Ben Lenord, Chauncy Johnson, 
Hank Fenner, Jim Mcgovern, Tom Ward Boss & Willard Franklin. Back row: Pat 
Waddell, Fred Bohnsack, Frank Postwaith, Roy Mott, Dot Huett, Hank Phillip, Tom 
O'Neil, cook]



My Mother's Homestead Days

by daughter, Mary

	My mother, Agnes Weyh, was born in Germany, February 25, 1879. When she 
was two years old, she and her brothers and sisters were brought to the United 
States. She lived in Brooklyn, New York, for seven years. She came to eastern 
South Dakota in a covered wagon, pulled by a team of oxen. Her father, mother, 
sisters, and brothers lived in a sod house on a homestead near Armour, S.D.

	After the death of my father, Henry Dilges, my mother, came to western 
South Dakota in 1911. She worked in a hospital in Rapid City to support herself 
and her four children.

	In July of 1913, my mother came to eastern Pennington County, where she 
filed on a homestead just north of the post office of O'Neill, South Dakota. 
While holding down her claim, she worked for Lafayette O'Neill, cooking for 
hired hands, stage drivers, and passengers every day.

	Two of her children stayed with her; two attended a Catholic school. After 
school was out, we all lived on the homestead. The homestead shack consisted of 
two rooms. The cookstove had a stovepipe oven that baked very good bread. We 
carried water from a water hole a quarter of a mile away, west of the shack. One 
time we wanted to haul water in a barrel on a stone boat behind a wagon. My 
little brother, John, was riding on the stone boat. We looked back in time to 
see him fall off and the stone boat run over him.

	Another time my brothers, Val and John, wanted to sleep in their tent. My 
mother usually never let them because of the rattlesnakes. This time she agreed. 
After they were "settled down" in their tent, my mother and my sister, Lona, 
began howling like coyotes. Soon the boys crawled back into the house, under the 
table.

	One morning in summer, my sister, Lona, saw my mother standing by her 
garden, her hands rolled up in her apron, and tears running down her face. The 
prairie dogs had cut down her blossoming peas. They were all lying down as 
though cut with a knife.

	Mama's gardens were usually good. And No One could make vegetable stew 
like Mama.

	My sister, Lona, loved to ride a gray saddle horse named Paddy. But after 
he ran away with her one day, my mother put a stop to that. Luckily, Martin 
Overholt saw the runaway and stopped the horse.

	When my mother lived on the homestead, I would go to help Jim O'Neill's 
wife, Lucille, when they would come to visit Grandpa Lafe O'Neill and to live on 
Jim's homestead. Because the stage stopped daily to change horses there, the 
passengers ate their noon meal there. So there was much to be done. One day I 
went down into the cave to get butter. After I went down the steps, a rattler 
crawled from under the door, coming down a step at a time, coiling and rattling 
each step. I screamed until Lucille finally brought Carl Pritchard, who killed 
the snake with a pitchfork. I stood on a cream can for twenty-five minutes until 
the coast was clear.

	We used to go to dances at Packman's. We went in a lumber wagon so it was 
usually sun up before we got home. Then we did our chores before we went to bed. 
After one dance, we had just gotten to bed when we heard somebody playing the 
accordion and singing Western songs. It was Charlie Smith, out in the old log 
bunk house. (Charlie was especially fond of my brother, John. Everytime John got 
into trouble at the house, Charlie would say he was going to put John in a gunny 
sack and take him home with him.)

	My mother worked hard to raise her children to be law-abiding citizens. 
She was later married to Lafe O'Neill. After his death, she lived on the old 
Mose Smith place for twenty-five years. When in her late seventies, she moved to 
Wall and lived there a few years. She is now in a nursing home in Rapid City. 
She celebrated her eighty-sixth birthday, February 25, 1965. (She died in July, 
1965.)

[Photo - Agnes O'Neill's homestead shack.]

[Photo - At a Ball Game - at Lake Flat. The Rotter children, Dilges family and 
Mrs. O'Neil, also one of the Paris children, Gracie in front.]

[Photo - Agnes O'Neil]



John H. Overholt

by John H. Overholt

	In the fall of 1907 John Overholt and his son Ray went to Wall, S.D. and 
filed on homesteads which are 5 miles N.E. from Creighton.

	After returning home John and his sons spent the rest of the winter 
rigging up covered wagons and on April 1, 1908 John and Mary with their family 
of nine children left Bloomfield, Nebr. for their new home in S.D.

	At the same time Ray left with an emigrant car with household furnishings 
and stock. His wife and baby came by train.

	When John and his family arrived there was no house to move into, so the 
family spent the first night at the home of Leede Mooney, who were old friends 
and neighbors from Bloomfield.

	The next day they were told there was an empty shack a few miles east of 
Mooney's place belonging to Ed Zorn that they could move into, so that is where 
the family stayed until they could haul lumber from Wall and build a house for 
each family.

	The house they built for John and wife and nine children was a homestead 
shack, consisting of one room 14 X 16 feet, which they found bursting at the 
seams for a family of eleven.

	So John and the boys cut poles and built a frame for a tent which they 
covered with canvas from the covered wagons, so the boys were well taken care of 
for a place to sleep until cold weather came and by that time the family at home 
was not so large, because Glenn and Martin were working and Alta was married and 
on her own homestead in Montana.

	That winter was a long sad winter for the family as the mother had to go 
back to Nebr. to their oldest daughter Nellie Bender to be under a Doctor's 
care.

	In the spring of 1909, she came back home some better, but she was never 
well again and on April 10, 1910, she passed away. That left Edna the oldest 
daughter at home to keep house for her father and younger brothers and sisters.

	In 1911, the family was forced to leave the homestead on account of 
drought and crop failure and move to Wall where John and the boys could get 
employment. John went to work for Ollie Marshall, who had the livery stable. 
Later he became night marshal for Wall.

	Later John and the boys were employed as section hands for the North 
Western Railroad Co. In the spring of 1917 John and his family moved back to the 
homestead, by 1923 his children were all married except Ralph, who lived with 
his father until his father's death from a stroke Jan. 26, 1926.

	That spring Ralph was married to Ellen Clarin and later they sold the old 
homestead. They are now living in Rapid City and managing the Arneson Motel.

	Glenn who was living in Nisland died in 1918 the Year of the Influenza and 
Martin passed away in Wall on Nov. 18, 1936.

	Ray had moved back to Nebr. in 1911, and in Jan. 1960 died at his farm 
house near Creighton, Nebr.

	Audley is retired and living in Belle Fourche and the daughters Nellie, 
Alta, Edna, Ruth, Kathryn, and Mildred are still living and in different parts 
of the United States. Nellie and Ruth still live in Fremont, Nebr., and all the 
sisters meet once a year to talk over the fun and good times (which were not 
many) they had on the two weeks covered wagon trip as they enjoyed wonderful 
weather all the way.

[Photo - Mr. Overholt]

[Photo - Homestead shack of Overholts.]

[Photo - John H. Overholt]

[Photo - The first school at Creighton, fall of 1908. Reading from back row left 
are: not known, Mrs. Elmer Fish, teacher; Ruth Haddock, Audley Overholt, Ruth 
Overholt, Bonnie Graham, Herbert Eisenbraun. 2nd row from top: Alex Eisenbraun, 
Ralph Overholt, Kathryn Overholt, Dewey Hoffman, Clyde Graham, Maude Graham, 
Mildred Overholt. Front row: Emma Eisenbraun, Elbert Hoffman, Zoe Holmes, Opal 
Holmes, and Meleta Eisenbraun.]



William Parris

by Mrs. Alma Glassgow

	William White Parris and family consisting of wife and four children also 
Mrs. Parris's mother Mrs. Eudora Jones came to Wall. They came by wagon shipping 
the stock and household goods.

	They operated the Creighton Store for sometime and in 1910 filed on a 
homestead on what is called ,,Mooney Hill". They raised cattle and farmed. Three 
more children were born and the oldest son, William Fred enlisted in the army. 
He died in the flu epidemic of 1910.

	During these years on the homestead they struggled thru many discouraging 
times. The water problem was always a grave one and they had to haul water, 
sometimes several miles for drinking and household use. The wells of alkali 
water were used for watering stock and the years of sufficient rain were good 
years. Because they depended solely on natural rainfall there were many years 
when little or no crops were produced. 1911 was a year of drought and no garden 
stuff for winter use. William worked in the mine in Lead to secure money to feed 
and clothe the family. Mrs. Parris and the children remained on the homestead 
and carried on the farm work with the assistance of the older boys.

	The children attended school at Creighton. Harry George, the second son, 
married Virginia Goodsell, a daughter of another homesteader in the locality. 
Frank Leslie, the third son, went to Spearfish Teachers' College and came back 
to Wall and Creighton to, teach. He married Alma Richardson of Pedro. Grace Edna 
married Clyde Graham.

	To hear of this pioneering and the hardships suffered by these people 
settling a new area of the country seems dreary and very inconvenient but these 
"old timers" can remember only the good times and look back with a fondness and 
nostalgia for the days when they were building a new home for themselves and 
their families.

	After the Armistice and World War I was over and the country resumed peace 
time living, the family moved to Rapid City so that the younger children could 
continue their education.

	On March 9, 1938 William White Parris passed away In Hot Springs, S. Dak. 
His widow resided on the West Coast for many years and came back to Custer, 
South Dakota in 1951. Harry George passed away in Custer in 1955 and in 1961 
Frank Leslie passed away in Custer. Their mother, Lillian Leslie, at the age of 
86 died in 1961 at Custer. The surviving children; Mrs. Clyde Graham, Albert 
Lea, Minnesota; Archie Earnest, Paramount, California; Mrs. Fay Fletcher, 
Newcastle, Wyoming; and Mrs. Joe Kelsey, Tonasket, Washington.

[Photo - William White Parris, second from left in back row; Lillian Leslie 
Parris, second from left in front row, holding Archie at the time they had the 
Creighton Store. Others are neighbors.]



The Bartons on Squaw Creek

by William R. Barton

	John W. Barton was an Iowa boy. He was born Aug. 22, 1863. He grew up 
there, farming and working for the Snurr Brick and Tile Company for some twenty 
years. He married Lucy Bell Breeden and there were three boys and three girls 
born to this union.

	In 1909 Mr. Barton and his family hired an emigrant car to come to Wall. 
He brought a team of horses, two cows, farm machinery and some furniture.

	The Barton homestead was 20 miles north of Wall and eight miles west of 
Creighton, near Squaw Creek. The family stayed with the Albert Pierce family 
while a log house was constructed from red cedar logs. The house was 16 X 24 
feet with a gable roof. After the family moved into the house, we plowed and cut 
sod to build a barn. It had a pole roof with straw and dirt on it. A chicken 
house was also built in this way.

	The land was covered with grass as far as we could see. The sod had to be 
broke before any crops could be planted.

	A well was dug about 20 feet deep. A plank top was put on it and water was 
pulled with a bucket and rope. This water was used for the livestock and 
household.

	The older children, Willie, Alva, Arvella and Myrtle, went to the Squaw 
Creek School which was taught by Anna Deakman and others. They always walked to 
the school which was about a mile from the homestead.

	In 1911 the severe drouth forced Mr. Barton to take his family back to 
Iowa. He again went to work for Snurr's in the brick plant.

	In 1913 the Bartons returned to South Dakota and Mr. Barton bought the 
Hans Jacobson place. Crops were better and the family prospered. Lucille and 
Francis were born while we lived on this place.

	Elmer Fish was the minister who held Sunday School in the Squaw Creek 
School during the summer. There was no church in the winter.

	In 1931 Mrs. Barton passed away and Mr. Barton moved to Dewey, S. Dak. He 
did some farming on the Coffing place. Later he lived with his son Wm. Barton in 
Custer. He lived with his youngest daughter near Canyon Lake until his passing 
away in 1956.

	Mr. Barton was a good horseman; an outdoor man and a very good farmer and 
rancher.

[Photo - John and Lucy Barton]

[Photo - John W. Barton]

[Photo - Squaw Creek School: Cap Clark, Ada and Alice Ferguson, Ruby Pierce, 
Ethel Ferguson holding Earl, Mrs. Cap Clark, Alva Barton, Daisy Clark, Lucy 
Barton holding Francis, Frank and Glenn Ferguson, Arvella and Myrtle Barton, Eva 
Pierce, Lucille Barton.]

[Photo - Showing off a bit! Frank Pierce and Alva Barton standing on horse. Paul 
and Francis Ferguson, sitting.



History of the Albert Pierce Family

	In the summer of 1893, Albert Pierce, his wife Alda Roberts, with their 
four children, Lenora, Isaiah Gunderson, (called I. G.) Orval Preston and John 
left their home at Homer, Iowa in a covered wagon for western South Dakota. On 
the way he traded horses and found out later that the horse he got was balky. So 
when they got to a hill and the horse would balk, he would get out and hold up 
the tongue and the other horse would pull the wagon up the hill. His father had 
come here ahead of him and became worried when he was late. So he started out 
horseback and met Albert and his family near what is now Grindstone.

	Albert filed on land on Poverty Point near Dalzell and his nearest 
neighbors were the Dell and Si Wilsey families. His father F. P. Pierce, died of 
pneumonia in 1894 and was buried at Elm Springs. The Indians had a trail near 
their place they used when they were going from the reservation to Rapid City. 
They never harmed them in any was and if they wanted roasting ears or anything 
they would stop and ask if they could have them. While living here, Albert 
freighted for Elmer Hawks between Pierre and Pedro. He said he would wake up in 
the mornings in the winter and there would be snow on his bed roll. He also 
hauled mail for a short time and worked for John Dalzell. Ira, Frank and Jessie 
were born on this homestead. In 1903 he traded this place to Henry Krikham and 
bought the Jim Jenkins place north of Rapid City. Here he was living when the 
blizzard of 1905 hit. There was a terrific loss of cattle and horses in that 
storm. Tressie was born at this place.

	In 1907, at the same time the railroad was being built, land was opened up 
for homesteading in eastern Pennington County. Albert with his family moved to 
Squaw Creek. As he had used his homestead rights, Lenora filed as did I. G., 
Press and John. Ernest Wedding, a neighbor from Webster City, Iowa, also filed 
on an adjoining place. Ira also filed a few years later and Albert filed on an 
additional claim later too. There were no schools there at that time so Ira and 
Frank would pull Jessie in a wagon and go several miles east to the homestead of 
Joyce Van Zante. She homesteaded on land that now belongs to Edmond Eisenbraun. 
She would teach them and in return, they would plant corn, hoe weeds and help 
with the chores. The first school that they had was in one room of a log house 
belonging to Wesley Ferguson and the teacher was Miss Van Zante. It still stands 
on the place there. The parents who had children paid the teacher themselves. 
The first schoolhouse was built in 1909 and is still in use. Joyce Van Zante, 
Tally Spits and Anna Richards were the early teachers. Sunday School classes 
were held in the schoolhouse too. It was also used for picnics, socials, and 
dances.

	Then 1911 came along a very, very dry year. So the Pierces all went back 
to Webster City, Iowa to work and the few cows and horses they had were left in 
the care of Joe Pierce, a brother, who had married Joyce Van Zante. In the 
meantime Lenora had married Charlie Ferguson and they went to Iowa too. She 
passed away in 1912 while they were in Iowa. They all stayed in Iowa for four 
years and then moved back to the ranch.

	World War I came along and Ira, John and Press were drafted into the army. 
John died of the flu at Camp Taylor, Kentucky in October and a week later I. G. 
died of the flu at home. I. G. had married Ruby Smith in Iowa and they had one 
daughter. Eva. Eva is now Mrs. Leslie Renner and lives a few miles northwest of 
Wall. Ira who had served in France, and Press returned home safely from the war.

	Ira, Press and Frank were now married so Albert and his wife moved to 
their home in Wall and spent much of their time between town and the ranch.

	Then 1934 came along, another dry year. Ira had no feed or grass so when 
the government started buying cattle he took all his cattle into Wall and sold 
them. He with his family moved into Wall. Frank sold all of his cattle except 28 
head and kept them as he had one large stack of hay.

	Big plans were made for February 1936 as Albert and his wife would have 
been married fifty years, but the weather changed that. That was one of the 
coldest and worst winters yet. Schools were closed as it was dangerous to go 
back and forth from home to school. The only way their anniversary was 
remembered was a dinner at the Frank Pierce home with Frank, his family, Eva 
Pierce and Dwight Burton, the teacher, present.

	Ira Pierce started out from Wall February 14th, with a load of groceries 
and the mail for the Creighton store with four horses pulling a sled. Frank left 
his home horseback leading a team of horses and met him, Ira, at the Schmitten 
place. He put his team on the sled and helped get the much needed groceries to 
Creighton. Halvor Mortensen had the store at Creighton at that time. Dave 
Whitwer and Ira made another trip out there that winter with groceries too.

	Albert had a stroke the summer of 1936 and passed away in September of 
1936. Mrs. Pierce lived in Wall for a time but in 1939 sold the ranch to Frank. 
She lived around Wall for a few years and then moved to Deadwood to be near 
Jessie. She passed away in February 1948.

	Press and family moved to Park Rapids, Minn in the early forties. His 
wife, Beatrice, passed away in 1944. Press moved back to South Dakota and worked 
for various ranchers. He passed away in 1957. Ira passed away in December 1958 
after a long illness. His widow, Lillian Pierce, lives in Wall. Jessie, Mrs. 
Ward Albin, lives at Logansport, Indiana, and Tressie, Mrs. S. F. Kullos, lives 
at Bellflower, California. Frank lives at Wall and his son-in-law and daughter 
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Lurz live on the Pierce ranch.

[Photo - Pierce Family  Back row: John, I. G., Press. Front: Albert, Tressie, 
Mrs. Pierce, Jessie, Frank, Lenora. On the floor, Ira.]



Benjamin Hoffman

by Maude Hoffman

	Benjamin Hoffman came to the Creighton area in 1908 with his mother and 
three brothers, Claude, Walter and Dewey. They came from Auburn, Iowa. Ben filed 
on a homestead a few miles Southeast of the Creighton post office. In 1919 he 
married Maude Graham and they lived on the homestead for several years. In 1923 
he sold the homestead and moved to a place he bought on the Wall-Creighton road 
he still owns. There are four children, James Hoffman and Mrs. (Dorothy) Gene 
Kenyon, who lives in California, and Samuel and Walter who live in Wall, South 
Dakota.

[Photo - Ben Hoffman and his claim shack  1910]

[Photo - Mrs. Elizabeth Hoffman, Claude, Ealter, Ben and Dewey, 1908]

[Photo - Sam and Walt Hoffman - 1934]

[Photo - The Claude Hoffman family on their homestead North of Creighton in 
1908. They have all passed away, except for the Mother, Ethyl, who lives in 
Iowa.]



Mrs. Luella Graham

by Maude Hoffman

	Mrs. Luella Graham and four children, Beven, Bonnie, Clyde and Maude came 
to South Dakota in the spring of 1908, from Iowa. Mrs. Graham and son Beven 
filed on claims in the Creighton, Deep Creek area, 22 miles north of Wall. The 
family lived in a one room cabin for two years and the drinking water was taken 
from the water holes in the creek.

	We kids walked 3 1/4 miles to the first school house built in the 
community, a one room tar papered shack. There was no drinking water. The school 
term was seven months.

	Beven was a mason by trade and was always busy helping others with their 
buildings. He also went to other communities to work to help keep the family.

	Mrs. Graham acted as midwife for the community and was kept busy taking 
care of the sick. Mrs. Graham, Beven and, Bonnie have passed away.

[Photo - Bev Graham's first shed and corral on his homestead - 1910.]



The Walter E. Hoffman Story

by Zoe Bangs

	In the early part of the 1900's, some families living at Auburn, Iowa, 
started to drift westward, taking up homesteads as Dakota territory was opened 
up for this purpose.

	Mr. and Mrs. Will Holmes, Mrs. Elizabeth Hoffman and three sons, Walter, 
Ben and Dewey, all settled and established a home three miles north of 
Creighton. They raised cattle and Percheron horses and did some farming.

	The house they built was large for those days, so three or four times a 
year they held country dances. Ben Rotter played the violin and Elsie the organ. 
They started playing at dark and played till dawn, so people could see to ride 
home either horse back or by team and buggy. Mrs, Hoffman served lunch at 
midnight, all the fried chicken and homemade ice cream one could eat. She 
borrowed Babcock's five gallon freezer and worked half a day to freeze it. They 
charged $1.00 for dancing and lunch. During the winter one would go by bobsled. 
Plenty of hay was put in the box and with fur robes one stayed cozy and warm as 
the horses trotted along to the merry jingle of sleigh bells.

	If a family was unfortunate and burned out a free dance was given and 
everyone took groceries or clothing or maybe a piece of furniture to help their 
neighbor.

	During the time my folks lived on this place many interesting people 
stayed with us nights as they passed through the country. One of these people 
was Elmer Hawks, who owned a store and ran the postoffice at Pedro. He hauled 
freight from Wall to Pedro and sometimes to Pierre. Mr. Hawks always slept with 
two guns under his pillow. This was also a camping ground for the Sioux, as they 
went from one reservation to another. They always asked if we had any dead 
cattle they could use for food and we watched them dig wild turnips which they 
used as part of their meals.

	One time a young man rode in on a good looking horse. The horse was wet 
with lather. He wanted to spend the night and of course we turned no one away in 
those days. Dad recalls that the stranger gave the horse a good rub down and 
walked it until it cooled off before he left it for the night. We always felt 
that this man was wanted for some crime. He carried two bulging saddle bags and 
those bags were never out of his sight. He took them to bed with him and they 
were beside his chair when he ate his breakfast next morning. Later we heard 
there was a bank robbery east of the river. Maybe he was the one who did it. We 
will never know!

	Bad years and drought were not uncommon. In 1911 we had to trail our 
cattle to the Indian reservation for there was little feed near our home place. 
We lived in a tent all winter but it was a bit unusual, for we had a velvet rug 
on the ground for a floor. Mrs. Hoffman was taking care of my sister and I while 
our folks went for supplies. In their absence a raging blizzard came up and it 
was several days before they could reach us. When they finally got home we had 
half a box of cornflakes left and nothing else. We were burning cow chips to 
keep warm. I'll tell you the folks were a welcome sight.

	Edna Holmes and Walter E. Hoffman were married September 15th 1915. They 
lived north of Creighton five years, then they sold the place and bought the old 
Mooney farm.

	My sister Opal and I attended St. Martin's Academy at Sturgis and then 
went to high school in Rapid City. We never made the farm our home after that, 
just returned for short visits now and then. My mother passed away November 
20th, 1953 and dad on June 3rd, 1962. Dad still lived alone and did his farming 
until the time of his death.

[Photo - Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hoffman]

[Photo - Mrs. Hoffman, Claude, Walter, Ben and Dewey - 1918.]

[Photo - Walter and Ben Hoffman with their Percheron stallions.]



Margaret Miller

by Hazel Henriksen

	Mrs. Margaret Miller came to Pennington County in May of 1911. She came so 
her four grown children could take up land. She lived with her sons, Richard and 
Leslie Miller and daughter, Louella on Richard's homestead, six miles northwest 
of Creighton. I believe the place is owned by Evan McDonald now.

	We came in a covered wagon, driving our cattle and horses before us. We 
rather enjoyed the trip, but when we entered into the western part of the state 
we noticed how dry it was. That seemed funny for the grass was six inches high, 
when we left Hyde County. No one had written us that it had not turned green out 
here. For that was the year of the great drought, no rain came until the 16th of 
August.

	The big ranchers had to move their herds elsewhere or sell them for there 
was no feed or hay to cut. So our small herd was at the mercy of the gray 
wolves, and before we decided to take them back to Blunt for the winter the 
wolves had killed three yearlings.

	The rivers dried up into pools and it made great fishing. So many people 
from Lake Flatt came and camped and fished. That is how we came to know so many 
friends that have been long lasting friendships.

	The Millers came back in the spring and like all the early settlers had 
their good times and hard times.

	Mother was a very hard working person for she had been a widow for many 
years. She helped nurse the sick and even worked with Dr. Messerio and Dr. 
Clark. The sick could rely on her for help when they needed help most.

	She lived in Wall the last few years of her life.

	She passed away in 1944 at the age of 79 years. She had many kind friends.




A bout the Poppe and Hinesh Families

by Henrietta Poppe Hinesh

	My brother, Harry Poppe, came to Pennington County South Dakota and filed 
his homestead in 1908. The following year my father, John Poppe, came to South 
Dakota and filed on his claim in 1909. This land was located 25 miles due north 
of Wall, South Dakota.

	My Father passed away in 1913 and left my mother, Harry, and myself, on 
what was known as the Scheer place on the stage route between Wall and Pedro 
where we continued to live through dry weather and hard times for several years.

	My brother and I were both married in the fall of 1917. My brother married 
a school teacher by the name of Belle Piper from Lead, South Dakota. She taught 
the Henry Feller school at the time. Later my brother moved a little farther 
north, where he continued to live until about 1922 when he took his family to 
live in Rapid City. He and three of his children and their families still live 
there. One daughter and her children live in Orangevale, California.

	My brother lost his first wife after a tragic accident of her clothing 
catching fire; however, years later he married Mrs. Lillie Greely of Rapid City, 
South Dakota. They are very busy people. Harry gardens and still does many 
things. Lillie preserves and freezes much of the produce from the garden, and in 
the winter time she busies herself with sewing and making quilts. They have 
many, many friends in Western South Dakota.

	When we were young we found enjoyment in going to ballgames and dancing at 
such places as Pedro, Ash Creek, Climax, school houses and neighboring ranches.

	The Albert Hinesh family moved out north of Grindstone from Pierre, South 
Dakota and homesteaded in about the year 1907 where the family continued to live 
until the year 1915 when they moved to a ranch on White River between Belvidere 
and Kadoka, South Dakota. It was there that Mother Hinesh passed away in the 
fall of 1917. Later the family moved up northwest of Belvidere, South Dakota 
where they remained for several years.

	Frank being the oldest of the boys, four besides himself, and one sister 
left home to work in the Homestake Gold Mine at Lead, South Dakota. He later 
worked at railroading in North Dakota and after that working for Gus Craven on 
the Pine Ridge reservations as a ranch hand, where many interesting experiences 
took place.

	When we were married in the fall of 1917, we moved to a farm northwest of 
Belvidere and set up house keeping in an eight roomed house with very little 
furniture to put in it, we lived there for one year, we had many Rattlesnakes in 
the vicinity, even under our front door stoop, and tiny little ones basking in 
the sun on the barn door sill. After that we moved to a farm at Chadron, 
Nebraska where we stayed a little more than a year. We then bought a small farm 
northwest of Rapid City, South Dakota near Black Hawk where the rock quarry now 
is. We later moved to Rapid City, and in 1924 we came to Chicago, Illinois and 
Frank went back to railroading. He continued in that work until the fall of 1962 
when he retired after thirty-eight years.

	We have made many trips back to South Dakota (and the Wall Drug). Frank's 
brother, Harry Hinesh, lives on a ranch northwest of Pierre, South Dakota and 
his sister Mary K. Hinesh, Burmood, better known as Molly, lives in Pierre, 
South Dakota and two brothers live in Oregon. The youngest brother perished in a 
fire that burned their home after the family had moved to Argo, Illinois.

	Dad Hinesh passed away in 1936.

	On our trip to South Dakota in September 1964 we visited some of the 
remaining old timers, the Axel Olsons near Grindstone, and Tressa Post Dean, 
formerly of Ash Creek and presently living in Philip, South Dakota. We went on 
the Trail Drive from Wall to Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge reservation after enjoying 
a very fine Pancake breakfast at Wall, South Dakota put on by the Chamber of 
Commerce and saw many of our friends of years back. We always enjoy our visits 
back home.



The John Hamann Family

by Kate Meyer

	The John Hamann family came to Wall, South Dakota, in the spring of 1910 
from Bloamfield, Nebraska. A step-son, John Sievers, and a son-in-law, Dick 
Busskohl, had moved out the year before in 1909 to their homesteads. Father came 
out to visit and decided to file on a homestead himself. So John and Dick hauled 
out lumber and built the house on father's homestead that summer. The next April 
father, mother, and the other eight children came to join them. We would have 
been here sooner but the day of our sale in Nebraska Charlie came down with the 
measles, and six of us kids took turns getting the measles which made us a month 
late in getting here.

	We had two emigrant cars full of cows, horses, and chickens, and 
everything we might need to start our new home.

	We stayed at the Babcock Hotel until my brother-in-law, Dick Busskohl, 
came to take us to his place which was joining father's homestead. The next 
morning we all piled into a lumber wagon and started on a forty mile drive 
across the open prairie. There were no trees, no fences, just a trail for a road 
and a small 10x12 shack on every claim. We had never seen anything like this, 
prairie dogs everywhere. We didn't like it very much but we stayed and soon it 
was home. The men started to plow up the prairie and plant corn and build fences 
because there were big herds of cattle grazing everywhere. When the grass turned 
dry they went through the fence and ate our corn.

	Ours was the largest house in the neighborhood and a gathering place for 
many years. For many years dances were held in the kitchen and it was also used 
for church before there was a place to have church.

	The first year we were on the homestead, they brought out the lumber for 
the barn. It was just before the 4th of July so all the neighbors thought it 
would be nice to use it for a bowery first. So it was layed for a bowery floor 
and they had a number of dances on it before it was made into a barn.

	Music was furnished by everyone who could play an instrument. People came 
many miles to celebrate the 4th of July there.

	Then in 1915 father Hamann died leaving mother and the rest of the family 
alone. Then the older boys started working for the ranchers putting up hay for 
$15.55 a month and I started working for $4.00 a week in the Babcock Hotel.

	In 1927 Mother Hamann died and that broke up the old home. I am the only 
one left of the whole family that never moved since we came out there in 1910.

	Maggie Lawredson moved to Beresford, South Dakota, in 1924 and died in 
1949.

	Anna Busskokl moved to the Black Hills and died in 1949. John Sievers 
lived in Hill City for a number of years before his death in 1948.

	Charlie Hamann lives in Minnesota, Henry lives at Hermosa and has worked 
in the information booth at Custer State Park for many years.

	Bill is at Hill City; Chris and Dean still live in Custer, South Dakota.

	Hans and Kate Meyer live at Wall, South Dakota.

[Photo - The Hamann home of 1910.]

[Photo - John Sievers, Hans Joens, John Hamann, Dick Busskohl, Mrs. Hamann, Mrs. 
Anna Busskohl holding Lena, Chris Hamann, Kate Busskohl and Dora Hamann.]

[Photo - John Sievers' rye field - 1915]



George F. (Fern) Platt & Family

	George Fernliegh Platt was born July 25, 1885, at Benton Harbor, Mich. His 
parents were Frank Howard and Jenny Platt. He lost his mother when he was 
fourteen months old. He was raised by his grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. George W. 
Platt of Benton Harbor. He grew to young manhood and after receiving his 
education he worked in -his father's office until advised to come West for his 
health.

	He came to the Black Hills in the spring of 1904, at the age of eighteen. 
He worked for Dan Morrison his ranch near Rockerville until fall. He taught 
school at the McCain school, near Box Elder, the year of 1904-05. He boarded 
with the Chever McCains while teaching. (Schoolteacher's pay was $30.00 per 
month). In the spring of 1905 on May 1 the big storm hit, let up at 11 A.M. May 
5th. Heavy losses in all stock, ranging from 10 to 800 head per ranch, as stated 
in the diary of the late Geo. F. Platt. Also during this same spring he 
mentioned the terrible smallpox epidemic. He was lucky, he had just a light 
case, taught every day.

	He was a great lover of the outdoors and wanted to spend all his time 
outside. He decided teaching wasn't for him, when school was out in the spring 
he worked for Louie Hacks on a sheep ranch.

	The spring of 1905 he and Roy Griffith (Dan Morris's nephew) went down on 
the prairie, 20 miles north of Quinn and went into partnership in the sheep and 
cattle business. He later homesteaded this same place in July 1906. His main 
business was sheep, but raised cattle and later did some farming. His 
Grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Geo. W. Platt, his aunt and uncle Mr. & Mrs. Harry 
Huntington all homesteaded near him. The Hunting's homestead was later the 
Myer's place.

	He was married on Nov. 19, 1908 to Olive May Doughty, daughter of Mr. & 
Mrs. Abel Doughty, pioneers of this community, now known as the Creighton 
Community. Two of their seven children were born here, Howard and Elva. At one 
time he run 2100 sheep. In the spring of 1913 he decided to move further west, 
sold everything, sold his homestead to Katy McWald. They decided against this 
move and bought Mrs. Platt's father's homestead located at the mouth of Rainy 
Creek and Deep Creek. They moved there in 1913. Two of their children were born 
here, Marian Platt Gray and Jane Platt Murphy. He took an additional homestead 
about one mile north of where they were living. They built a new house here in 
1919, moved in June of that same year. In 1920 his Grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Geo. 
W. Platt, came to make their home with them, lived there until their death, they 
are buried in the old Creighton Baptist Church cemetery. The Geo. F. Platt's 
infant baby boy is also buried here. Three more children, Eda Platt Spain, 
Charles and Hazel Platt Miller, were born here. He cut down on the amount of 
stock and did more farming.

	In the spring of 1933 they sold their place to their son, Howard, and 
moved to the Black Hills to the same place he came to in 1904. They lived here 
until fall of 1938, moving to Hamilton, Montana and buying a ranch and raising 
cattle, and small fruits. He passed away Jan. 6, 1958, and is buried in the 
Riverview Cemetery west of Hamilton. Mrs. Olive Platt sold the ranch and bought 
a place in Hamilton where she still lives, on North Fifth Street.

	Howard lives near Hamilton, lost his son Gene Oct 1, 1964, has three 
daughters and eight grandchildren. Elva is near Hamilton, has one son and three 
daughters and nine grandchildren. Marian has one daughter and one granddaughter. 
Eda has two sons and two daughters, Charles has four daughters. Jane has three 
sons and four daughters and five grandchildren. Hazel has three sons. Marian and 
Eda live near Hamilton, Jane is in Brownsville, Oregon, Charles & Hazel are at 
Polson, Montana.

[Photo - Gus Krug]

[Photo - The Platt Home built in 1919, George on front porch.]

[Photo - Mr. and Mrs. George Platt, Howard and Elva - 1913.]

[Photo - Mr. and Mrs. George W. Platt and granddaughter, Eda May Platt.]

[Photo - George and Olive Platt on their 49th Anniversary.]

[Photo - Members of the Platt Family: Back row: Robert Gray, Lester Spain, 
Lester Johnson, Howard Platt. Second row: Marion Eda and Elva. Third row: Mrs. 
Howard Platt. Seated George and Olive Platt --- 1957.]

[Photo - Olive M. Doughty - 1907]



Memories of our Homestead Days

by Mrs. John Johnson

	My husband, John X. Johnson, his brother Sven, John Rosenburger, and my 
brother Ras, all came out in the early spring of 1908, to file on homesteads. 
They came back in the fall to build their little shacks. Ras and John came back 
in February to ship their horses and machinery. Their shacks were not far apart 
so they built some sort of a barn on our place. They both shared it and also a 
little pasture for what little livestock we had at that time.

	Water was a problem at first but they ran across a little spring which 
really had good water, but it was hard to get to it. They fenced the spring so 
the cattle could not get to it. They also put a casing in it. It was very sandy 
and steep there but they managed to get to it with a stone boat with a barrel on 
it.

	I came out in the spring of 1909. I landed in Wall on May 1st. Baby was 
just two months old. We stayed in Wall that night. John met us there and the 
next morning we started out for our new home. I must say it seemed a very long 
way as we traveled by horse and buggy. There were just wagon trails to follow 
and some of them were very rough. One of our neighbors did John's chores while 
he came to get us. They had told John that we should stop for supper when we 
came by. Mrs. Torenon told us I better stay with her that night. I did not 
object, as I was very tired. Traveling with a little baby is not easy and it had 
been a long trip.

	At that time one could see tar paper shacks on nearly every Quarter. There 
were many sod huts and dugouts to be seen also.

	One could see and hear prairie dogs and coyotes almost everywhere. At 
first I was sort of scared of them, because I had never seen or heard a coyote 
before.

	It was still open range at that time, so there were a lot of cattle 
running all over Duhamel Flat. One could see some riders almost every day. At 
night the coyotes would howl like a bunch of pups.

	We had a lot of hot winds and it would either hail or dry out. A neighbor, 
Mrs. Rosenburger, decided to do something about it. We had no hair oil but used 
some shortening, something like Crisco, which seemed to help. The hot winds 
would blister our faces, too, so we used talcum powder to take the sting out.

	Our husbands worked out among some of the old ranches around so they were 
gone during the week. If it was not too far they would come home on week-ends.

	I had a little baby buggy so I'd put the baby in it; put on my patent 
leather shoes and go to some neighbors or go get my mail. The cactus was so 
thick and it would go through almost anything except patent leather.

	John and Mary Cruckshank's place was about two miles east of our shack. 
They had a little grocery store and the Duhamel Post Office in 1909 so we could 
get our mail and the most necessary groceries there.

	My father, Bjorn Rorvig, came out in 1909 and filed a claim too. He wanted 
to be near his family. I had four brothers and John had two brothers that 
homesteaded near us. Some of our neighbors were Halvor and Bjorn Mortenson- and 
Forgersons and Peder Mickelson. These people all came from Minnesota near 
Maddin.

	We did not have any crop in 1909 except a little garden planted on sod. In 
1910 we had a little oats. John Kiser and Harry Pope did the threshing with 
horsepower instead of engines.

	In 1911 we planted gardens and crops as usual but no rain came until July. 
There was no work for the men at home so they all hit out to try to find work 
wherever they could find it. A lot of our neighbors packed up and left. Some 
left for good and some of them returned later. Melvin was two years old then and 
Mr. New Comb loaned me an old gentle saddle horse. I tied a little pillow in 
front of me on the saddle for the baby to sit on so things seemed easier then. 
We did not have much to begin with; just a team of horses and a cow and a calf. 
The coyotes got the calf. One of our horses managed to get the door to the oat 
bin open and ate too much and died. John bought an unbroke horse for $100.00 
which seemed like a lot of money in those days. Then our milk cow came up 
missing and we never did find her again. We bought another milk cow and calf for 
$165.00. One morning my brother came over and offered to milk the cow for me. 
After a little while he came back with an empty milk bucket. He said someone had 
played a trick on me. The cow had already been milked. We turned the cow out but 
she never came home. She had a big bell on so she would be easy to find. We 
hunted for days. John's brother, Ole, hunted for the cow on horseback for 
several days. One nice hot day we found her just out of sight. We heard 
afterward the reason she did not give any milk was she had been poisoned. A 
short time later the pony I had borrowed from Mr. New Comb died. This pony was 
named Indian. Melvin was just starting to talk and he called the pony his 
Indian.

	We had to stay in Wall at the Babcock hotel when we proved up on our 
homestead. The little tot was trying to talk to some traveling men. At first 
they payed no attention to him, until he said, "My Indian died and Dad pulled 
him down the brakes." Well, that did make them. stop talking and ask what it was 
he was saying. I guess they thought it was another kind of Indian. I had to 
explain what it was all about. It seemed rather funny at the time.

	There were a few little exciting things that happened too. One time John's 
brother Sven's wife, Mary, and children, came over to spend a few days with me. 
It was late summer of 1909. It was still very hot. The tar paper shacks did get 
hot so one day we decided to cook breakfast outside on our old cookstove. Mary 
was frying pancakes and I was tidying up the shack; making beds etc. when she 
shouted for me to come quick, "Rattlesnake"! she shouted. Out I went, and if you 
ever saw two excited women, we surely were. We grabbed whatever we could find. 
Finally I stoned it with a big rock and then beat it to a pulp. Well, it was not 
a rattlesnake but a big bull snake. Neither of us had yet seen a rattlesnake so 
any snake would scare us. I did get to see and kill quite a few later on.

	There was one time I was sort of scared. I had been sewing when I heard 
the dog barking like something was coming. I heard a wagon rumble across the 
Flat. The dog kept barking so I turned out my light, locked my doors real good 
and looked out the window. It was bright moonlight, and just a few rods from my 
shack I could see, what looked like two men. They were just sitting there. I 
could even see their white shirt fronts. I do not know how long I sat there in 
the dark. Finally I went to bed and dropped off to sleep. The next morning when 
I looked out I saw the same objects. They were a couple of wheels the men had 
used to move machinery.

	When Cruckshanks left, the Duhamel Flat Post Office was moved down to the 
Track place near the River Forks. My brother, Halvor Rorvig carried the mail on 
horseback from the O'Neill Post Office east of Creighton to both the Cruckshank 
Ranch and the Track place for a while.

	There are not many left anymore of all those that homesteaded when we did. 
My dad, my four brothers, my husband John and his brothers, Ole and Sven, are 
all dead. Sven's family lives back East, except one daughter, Mrs. Alton Ishall, 
who lives at Philip. John Torgerson lives in an old peoples home in Minnesota. 
So it is only me left, of all the old timers, who homesteaded here in 1908.

	We returned to our homestead in 1920 as we did get sort of homesick for 
our own "Home Sweet Home", even if it was humble. We lived there until the fall 
of 1938. I often get lonesome for the time when all our young ones were with us. 
We had some good years and some not so good. I remember the 30's when the 
hoppers and beetles wanted to take over. I remember, too, the dust storms and 
yet, we had a lot to be thankful for. Our family stayed pretty well. We always 
had plenty to eat and clothes to wear. We had many happy years with our family.

[Photo - Mrs. John X. Johnson and Melvin - 1909]

[Photo - Halver, Gilbert, Ras, Andrew and B. Rorvig.]

[Photo - Sven Johnson, Ras Rorvig, John Rosenberger and John X. Johnson]

[Photo - Gust Krieg and Ole Johnson on the Duhamel Flat.]