Eastern Pennington County Memories -- Peno Basin and Pedro 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 371-395 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net, 1999. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm John Denke and Family by Esther Votroubek Mr. and Mrs. John Denke came to South Dakota in the year of 1906, from Gremie, Russia with their family. They came over to this country with 9 children. The parents were John and Rosinia Denke. The children were William, Henry, Lydia, Jake, Beatha, Amalia, Alexander, Benhart, Anna. Later in this country another son was born to this Union, Edwin. They came across by ship and came to Fremann, South Dakota where they had some friends. In the spring of 1907, they came as far as Kodoka by train, then came with wagons to where they settled north of Quinn on a homestead. They pitched two tents in which they lived till they had their house built. Mrs. Denke baked all the bread for the family and cooked, which was very difficult to do along with all the other household chores, being that the stove was in the tent and it rained so much of the time. They brought one cow along which furnished milk for the family. The men were very busy digging rocks to build their new home. They found a lot of rocks in some of those hills nearby. They got their mail by foot at Grindstone once or twice a week. Although the building went slowly, they were making progress. They also built a granary and a barn out of rocks. After much hard labor, they moved into their new home. Then they started their new adventure in the "new west". After hard work and long hours they had finally got their start and soon thought of adding new property. They bought some land and cattle and kept adding more to their ranch. They also farmed some. But in 1911 there came a drought. The grain that they seeded did not come up till late in July. Gardens finally came up in rows in the fall of 1911. After this happened they again had to make different plans for little grass grew that summer and they were afraid of what the winter might bring and therefore sold most of their cattle. Starting up their herd again was quite a job. Many acres of alfalfa were planted, which furnished lots of hay and seed that come in handy for the big family. They did not forget their religion for they had church in the Stone house and later organized and built a church for the new settlers. The Lord Blessed them all. The Church grew until it was quite a large congregation. Mrs. Rosina Denke passed away the 22 of August 1924. John Denke passed away the 14 of April, 1931. Now a grandson owns the John Denke place. William Geigle and his family are operating it now. [Photo - John Denke family reunion] [Photo - The Denke Home] [Photo - Lena Hussman] [Photo Denke family by the stone house. On wagon, Henry. Jake Beata, lydia, Amelia, Bill Benhard, Mrs. Denke, Alex, Anna, Mr. Denke.] [Photo- Wedding of Martin Eisenbraun and Lydia Denke, attendants Henry Denke and Ludmulla Eisenbraun or right, Albert Eisenbraun and Beata Denke on left, Parents in back of bridal party - John Denkes and Peter Eisenbrauns. August Denke on left on ground.] Rev. and Mrs. A. W. Kraft by Mrs. Emil Sieler In May 1930 Rev. and Mrs. A. W. Kraft came from St. Pauls Lutheran Church of Delmont, S. Dak. to St. Pauls Lutheran Church 14 miles north of Quinn. Later he also served Creighton as their pastor and started a Mission Station in Wall, holding services in the Methodist Church, thus laying the ground work for "First Lutheran Church" in Wall at the present time. He also conducted church services at Conata, New Underwood and Wasta at various times. Rev. Kraft worked with enthusiasm,Sunday schools were conducted as well as Saturday instruction, choir practice, and vacation Bible School. He organized the first Ladies Aid of St. Pauls Church. Each Sunday he held morning services at St. Pauls and afternoon services at Creighton, alternating with Wall. This was before oil or even graveled roads, so travel during rainy weather and winter months was extremely difficult. He seldom missed a service, for to him the preaching of Gospel was a very privileged task, and through his efforts the parsonage was enlarged and remodeled, as well as both churches at Quinn and Creighton. The depression and the hard winters of the thirties were a hardship for the pastor as well as his parishioners. Often it was difficult to provide the car with gas and tires for the extensive traveling required of a minister. Social calls had to be kept to a minimum. During these years the members were especially kind in providing other things when the pastors salary was very low. One family in particular, who, even though they could not afford tires for their own car, bought new tires for the minister because, they said "The Word must go on". Rev. Kraft was a man of varied interests. Besides being a theologian, he enjoyed amateur photography, carpentry, fishing, gardening, music, instrumental and vocal. If a service was in need of an organist, he also could take over this task as well as sing in the choir. Mrs. Kraft was the Mother of ten children, eight of them stepchildren who considered her truly eligible for the title, "Mother of the Year". She was a fine homemaker, excellent seamstress and did all the family sewing. She took great pleasure in making guests feel welcome at the parsonage. Because this was a rural parish, visiting clergymen always were house guests. Mrs. Kraft served as church organist for a few years, assisted with the Sunday School and was active in the Ladies Aid Society. She was also noted for her productive garden during the drought years. For a number of years Pastor and Mrs. Kraft boarded the rural teachers of the Geigle School. Among the teachers boarding in their home were: Mildred Miner Kelly, Florence Sorensen Teeters, Nellie Gray Jones Sprague, Pearl Carmichael Peterson, Gertrude Enders Fischer, and Nell Connelly Willuweit. Some still correspond with Mrs. Kraft. The family water supply consisted of a cistern and an alkali well. When the water in the cistern was exhausted, water was sometimes hauled in from a nearby neighbor, or in the winter time cistern was partly filled with snow. The ever melting snow in w a s h boilers, stove reservoirs, and large kettles was a common sight. There was no electricity at this time and no refrigeration, kerosene and gasoline lamps provided lighting. In May 1943 Rev. Kraft accepted a call to St. Johns Lutheran Church of Norris, S. Dak. He retired in 1950 after having served in the ministry for 50 years. He had the unique distinction of being the youngest Missouri Lutheran Minister in S. Dak. when he was ordained into the ministry, and the oldest active minister in the State at the time of retirement. After his retirement, Rev. and Mrs. Kraft made their home in Parker, S. Dak. Rev. Kraft died in 1953 and Mrs. Kraft is still living there at the present time. [Photo - Parsonage at St. Paul's Church of Quinn.] [Photo - Rev. Kraft with Rev. J. Schwarting] [Photo - Rev. and Mrs. Kraft] [Photo - Rev. and Mrs. A. W. Kraft and family of 10.] The Sinykin Family If the eastern part of Pennington County could relate some of the things that have happened there, just since the turn of the century, these are some of the things that might well be remembered: It was in the year 1909 that a colony of Jewish people came to settle in eastern Pennington County on the flats just north of Peno Basin, which, for this reason, a large acreage of land has become known as the "Jew Flats". These people came as homesteaders and lived there as a colony for about three years, in which time they had a synagogue, complete with a Torah, which they had brought out with them from Sioux City, Iowa, and lived there very happily until 19 11, during the drouth, which none of these people had ever experienced in the states from which they had first settled in this country, when they came from Russia; so this experience proved too much for the majority of them, but for the Sinykin family, it must of seemed a challenge, because they remained, and over the years, one way or the other, acquired quite a number of acres of land, and the Jew Flats, at the time of this writing, belonged all in one piece to the Sinykin family, which now totals 5,400 acres. The Sinykin family consisted of Harry David Sinykin and his wife, Etta Fanny; three boys, Jack and Ted, who had homestead, and Louis, being the youngest, who was only seven years old. The three girls, Fannie, who was married to Harry Steinberg, who also homesteaded. The Steinbergs were later divorced. They were the parents of two children, namely, Bennie and Cecelia. Fannie later married Abe Cohne, who also homesteaded. The family now reside in Salt Lake City, Utah. Rose, who married Isadore Moskovich (now changed to Marsh), also homesteaded, and lived on the place for many years and finally they moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Ruth married Jake Kozberg, who also was one of the sixteen single men who homesteaded. Louie, the youngest of the family, who liked horses and rode many a wild one, decided to ride the rodeo circuit and got as far as trying to become a champion, when he tried out for World Championship in 1919 at Interior, South Dakota. He at least acquired the name of Broncho Lou, being given that name by "Print" Carlson, Editor of the Pioneer Review in Philip, South Dakota. He rode such wellknown horses as Widow Maker, Indian Killer; Moonshine and many more not so famous. He later went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he entered St. Thomas Military Academy. After graduating from the academy, he attended the Minnesota College of Law. After a serious car accident in 1926, he was unable to complete his college course. Later, Louie married Florence Mairovitz. They had one child - a daughter, Vivian, who is now married to Morton Geller. They have two children, Ronnie and Lori and they reside in St. Paul, Minnesota. Louis's marriage was cut short, by the sudden death of his wife. During the drouth in the 1930s, Louies finally came back to settle on the old ranch. It was around this time that the Government began to build WPA dams and the dam on the Sinykin ranch was one of the first to be built. It furnished much needed work to many people. The dam was built not like most of the dams of today, with heavy machinery, but with horses and man-power. After a good many years, Louis married Florence Adams. The couple have three children - two boys, Larry and Billy, and one girl, Diane. The ranch life was a happy one for the children; they loved their horses, and many a morning Diane could be seen in the pasture with a small bucket of oats trying to catch her saddle pony, which she rode many a happy mile. The boys helped with the farm, chores, and work in general; wrangled their 4-H calves and trained them for the Fair. Bill and Larry were some of the first members in the Pedro Rough Riders' 4H Club, when it started with barely enough members to form a club, but has had many a club member since then, and it is now one of the well-known active 4-H Clubs of Pennington County. Louie finally got oil-minded and dabbled in oil development for a while but as yet has not found that black liquid gold which is still undiscovered. He still thinks there is oil in eastern Pennington County. Louie and his wife now live in Rapid City, South Dakota. The two boys are attending school in the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota. Diane is married to Travis Howell. They are living in Tuscon, Arizona, where her husband is attending college at the University of Arizona. [Photo - Billy, Vivian, Louis, Diane, and Larry Sinykin] [Photo - Louis Sinykin family: Vivian, Larry, Louis, Billy, Diane, Florence] [Photo - Louis Sinykin and children cutting corn] [Photo - Bronko Lou at Interior] The Knodel Family by Ruth & Emil Knodel In the fall of 1906 Mrs. Elizabeth Knodel, her daughter Maggie Armstrong, her sons Ed and Gus, together With the Henry Sieler, August Warnke and Chris Krebs families, left their homes inTripp, S. Dak. and came west to establish residence on a homestead in eastern Pennington County. Neither the Northwestern nor the Milwaukee railroads had been built this far west of the river yet. They loaded a car with their stock and whatever they would need on their claims, but due to the poor condition of the railroad track which was under construction the stock had to be unloaded at Presho, the other possessions at Belvidere. From there on the livestock was driven with saddle horses and the other things hauled by horses and wagons. It was an extremely wet fall so they had a terrible time driving their loads through the gumbo, making only about ten miles a day. Some of them spent one night at the home of Mrs. Knodel's brother, Jake Gall, who lived in the Kadoka vicinity. He had good horses and so helped them all, the rest of the way. They finally reached their destination which was in Township 2N.R 14 in Peno Basin. The men had been out during the summer of that year and built their shanties close together on the adjoining corners of sections 21,22,27, and 28. This trip had been made by taking a team and wagon by train as far as Chamberlain then driving them the remaining distance. They used this team to haul what lumber they needed for their shacks from Rapid City. Sieler, Krebs, and Warnke used native stones to build theirs. Mrs. Knodel had a one-room frame building. Mrs. Knodel proved up on her claim and went back to Tripp but in September, 1909, came back to Peno Basin, this time to stay. Her son Emil (Curly) came with her and Gus. Her son Jake and family came some years later. Mrs. Knodel died in 1925. Only Curly and Gus, of this Knodel family, are living now. Gus and Lois Lathrop were married in 1918. They lived near by for a number of years, moved to Idaho then came back, bought a home in Philip, but spend their winters in Arizona. Their only daughter, Gladys Smith, and her family live in Haakon County. Curly homesteaded when he became old enough, and farmed his mother's land. He was inducted in the Army in W W I, serving in C. E of the 20th Reg. at Camp Funston, Kansas, and Nitro, W. Va. In 1926 he and Ruth Parsons the last schoolmalarn with whom he kept company) were married. He is retired now and rents out his farm land but they still live on the farm which was his mother's homestead, where he has lived continuously since 1909 except for the time he spent in the service. Pioneer life is never an easy one but it has its compensations, too. The Knodels, like many others, battled drouth, hailstorms, grasshoppers, sickness and other discouraging elements. Every old-timer remembers the year 1911 when the grass never got green all summer and so many people pulled up stakes and left. In 1920 Curly hauled hay every day, most of winter, six miles, through deep snow and blizzards for his cattle only to lose the whole herd with septicemia. Vaccine was not commonly used then. One time his saddle horse got loose, and he had to walk six miles and carry his saddle. Another time, riding home from town, he froze his feet. When he got home, he tried to warm them by putting them in the oven but when he took off his socks the skin came with them. Once he went to town and got a ton of coal. About sundown he was nearing home, and patting himself on the back for getting home so early. He came to a steep hill. One of his horses balked and wouldn't pull the load. He used the whip, he tried all the tricks he ever heard of for balky horses, he coaxed and finally he pleaded but all to no avail. There was nothing left to do but unload the coal. Then the team pulled the empty wagon up the hill. They needed that coal at homes so taking a blanket from the wagon, he made trip after trip up the hill carrying a blanketful of coal on his back and loading it on the wagon; and so he didn't get home until sometime in the night. One summer we didn't have enough hay to put in our hens I nests. We went out to the creek with a garden rake and managed to get a little. That was the year we and our neighbors put up thistles for winter cow feed. We had a nice little orchard of apple, plum, and cherry trees growing until the grasshoppers killed them. Later we tried again and set out a dozen apple trees. Now we have ten of them alive, but it took them nine years before they started to bear. In early days many people from the Pedro country and east of there stopped in at the Knodel home on their way to and from town. Here they watered and rested their horses and themselves and ate some of "Grandma" Knodel's good meals. Often they spent the night there, too. Yes, homesteading days were hard ones but, on the other hand, how happy they were! Nobody had much but they were willing to help out when needed and share what they had. They provided their own recreation without taxation, donations, or the help of the government. For pleasure there were ballgames, celebrations, horseback riding, parties, dances, skating parties, and just plain good friendly visiting. Eastern Pennington County like other sections has made great progress. We would not care to go back to pioneer life and its hardships. Would it not be wonderful, though if we could keep the good things of those days along with the best of our modern times? Photo - Tableland School, also known as the Dillon School. L. to r.: Clarence and Clyde Jarvis, Loyd Saines, Harold, Byron and Esther Bradfield, Lucile Parks, Irene Saines and Elizabeth Jarvis.] [Photo - First school south of Quinn - 1908 - called Gregory School. Earl B. Rowley, first teacher. Pupils: Earl Brown (beside the teacher), Desmond and Leslie Burr, Hugh Morris, Chas. Gillihan, Richard Root, Eddie Gillihan, Earl Morris, Bob Simcox, Blanche Morris, Alice Root, Hazel Brown, Eva Kezar, Alice Kezar, Maude Simcox, Ruth Parsons (in back).] [Photo - Henry Sieler, August Warnke and Chris Krebs] [Photo - Curly and Ruth Knodel - 1964] [Photo - Back row, l. to r.: Gus Knodel, Henry Sieler, Betty Sieler, Anna Knodel Chamberlain, Curlly Knodel and Mrs. Elizabeth Knodel. Front: Harold, Edwin, Ida, Hank and Emil Sieler.] Willuweit Story by Marjorie and Nell Willuweit The Willuweits came from Nebraska because the climate had not agreed with Mrs. Willuweit or Rosina. They had lived near Butte where their three oldest boys were born. Gustav and Rosina Willuweit arrived in Quinn on December 11, 1907. Although it was December the weather was so warm that the boys wore sweaters. Mr. Willuweit had their house on the homestead north of Quinn, built the summer before. The following June Delila M. was born at home without the aid of doctor or midwife. She weighed 3 1/2 pounds and was placed in a cigar box. Mrs. Willuweit had the only sewing machine in the neighborhood for quite awhile so many neighbors borrowed it. The Willuweits farmed and ranched this place until their retirement in the early forties. They had their good years and bad. The boys were very fond of horses and always had a herd. They raised cattle, some sheep, pigs, and poultry. Mr. Willuweit was a blacksmith and did a lot of this work. The Willuweit home was a gathering place for all the young people of the neighborhood and every Sunday the house would be full. They were helpers in building the St. Paul's Lutheran Church near their home and were supporters all their lives to this church. All their children were confirmed there. In the winter of 1919 Mr. Willuweit was coming home from Quinn and was caught in a blizzard. He kept going long after dark and finally came to a building. He found the door and went in. He walked around all night to keep from freezing. The next morning he found out that he was at Douds. He was gone three days. Rosina started a prairie fire that went to the Cheyenne River. Sparks from the stovepipe started the grass on fire, and a brisk southwest wind sent it over hill and dell. She was always afraid of fire after this and was teased so much about an incident when she climbed on top of the house when she thought there was a fire in the chimney. But in 1935 the house burned when the parents were in Rapid City. Nothing was saved. The children all attended grade school in schools near the home. The distance was so great that they rode in a buggy. Many mornings one of the boys would have to shovel out the pass so they could get through. Alvin attended high school in Quinn and Rapid City. Four sons Alvin, Ferdinand, Chris, and William served in World War II. Ferdinand gave his life at Metz, France where years before in the Franco- Prussian War a great uncle Ferdinand also lost his life. Grandpa Willuweit liked to walk, and even in his last year would go 1 1/2 miles to the mailbox to get the mail and talk to the mailman. Grandma Willuweit as she was affectionately called for miles around always managed to have a hot cup of coffee and a piece of pie for any chance visitor. The family is scattered. Harold lives in Yelm, Washington, where he works in the lumber business. Art lives in Wheat Ridge, Colorado and is employed at Lowery Field as a chief engineer. Alvin is a carpenter in Golden, Colorado. Bert and Gerhart live near the old place and are farmers and ranchers. William or Bill lives in Central City and works for the Homestake Mine. Delila married Leo Staben and lives at Milesville, South Dakota. Chris passed away, but his family lives in Wall. [Photo - The beginning of the A, B, C's. Art, Chris and Bert] [Photo - Rose Willuweit, Fredricks Huber, Mrs. Doughty and Gertrude, Mr. Doughty, and Mr. Freeman] [Photo - Lars Peterson, photographer from Minnesota, Gus Willuweit and Louis Sinykin.] [Photo - The Willuweits - Bill, Art, Bert, Gerhart, Harold, Chris and Alvin.] [Photo - Delila Willuweit, daughter of Chris] [Photo - Delila M. Willuweit at age 2] [Photo - Two Delila Willuweits - Aunt and neice.] [Photo - The Gus Willuweits on their 25th Anniversary] [Photo - Grandma Willuweit with her Pennington County grandchildren.] [Photo - Clarambeau farewell] Tom Hall by Joe Hall My father, Tom Hall came to South Dakota in the spring of 1900 from Fayetteville, North Carolina and arrived at Chamberlain, coming by train, to that point on the Missouri river. He left his wife and baby daughter behind in Carolina and came west alone to establish a new home for his family on the wide open prairies of Western South Dakota. He purchased a saddle horse and riding equipment plus a six shooter and slicker and headed north and west, his destination being a spot near the forks of Bad River, very near where the town of Philip now stands. At that time there was a Post Office named Wyckoff, after the postmaster who also had a small general store. There were no roads then of course. Only a trail made by a few wagons and there was one "road house" or station between Chamberlain and Wyckoff, where one could stop and get a meal and rest his horse. He arrived at Wyckoff and after feeding and resting himself and his horse, he then rode onto Wallace Jones sheep camp on the north fork of Bad River where he got a job herding and tending sheep and where he worked for about a year to earn enough money to move on and find a homestead and start raising cattle, as he did not like sheep. He covered the country the next few weeks west, north and south of the Jones camp seeking a piece of land which he thought would suit him. He chose a spot on Lake Creek about 7 miles north west of where the town of Cottonwood was later built. Toms' brother Joe also homesteaded about one and one half miles down the creek. In 1902, Tom with the help of his brother Joe, built a two room log house with the cottonwood logs cut right there on the creek. Joe lived there with Tom and his wife until he married and built a house on his homestead. Tom bought his first cattle from Corb Morse who had one of the largest cattle herds in South Dakota. Tom and Joe later went into partnership in the cattle business and remained associated in this way until about 1930. In 1918, Tom and his family - wife Hattie and five children moved to a ranch on Deep Creek, 6 miles southeast of Creighton. In 1934, during the drought of that period, Tom and two of his sons, Joe and Archie, moved their cattle to the Pine Ridge reservation and lived 10 miles north of Kyle where they leased 16 sections of good grazing land on Medicine Root Creek. There was plenty of live water there as well as an abundance of grass so the cattle did very well. Tom's wife was killed in an automobile accident in 1938 and shortly afterward Tom and son Joe moved their cattle to a location on "Bear Creek" about 8 miles south of Interior. In 1942, son Joe sold his cattle and entered the army and as Tom was getting a little too old to carry on alone on the ranch, he moved to Philip, where he lived three years. In 1946, he went to live with his son Joe who had bought a ranch on the Cheyenne River, near Wasta. Tom had been enjoying coon hunting for a number of years then and continued to hunt and breed registered coon and cat dogs. He hunted many miles along the White River-Mad River" and Cheyenne River as well as many creeks and streams. He remained very active and could still ride horseback, pitch hay and shovel snow until he was 84 years old, when he had a stroke in 1953. He passed away in April of that year. Tom and Hattie raised five children, (three died in their infancy). The oldest of the family, Mary lives in Rapid City, the oldest and youngest sons Lewis and Archie live in California, Joe the second son in Rapid City and the younger daughter, Caroline, in Kentucky. [Photo - Tom Hall and a friend with bobcats caught in 1950.] [Photo - Tom Hall, 80 years old with his son, Joe.] The Four DeWald's In 1907 It was in Spring, 1907, when the four DeWald's and Mr. John Denke of Freeman, took the train and went to Sioux City. From there we traveled on through the state of Nebraska, to reach Rapid City, South Dakota. We met the land locater, Tony, who took us to Deep Creek, by wagon, and there we picked our lands. Kathryn DeWald, brother Reinhold DeWald, the two cousins, Lydia and Emilie, and Mr. John Denke were in the land locating group. We drove West later on and stopped overnight on the farm of an Estes family. In crossing the Deep Creek, the water came up to the wagon box. The two railroads going West had not been completed so when we made the trip on the freight train with our things, we got just as far as Philip. Later in the afternoon we had to make a stop between Philip and Grindstone. The horses had to be staked out, and we took some bedding and put it on the grass and spent one night in Pennington County on the prairie. We forgot about the Prairie dogs, the wolves and the rattlesnakes. The crated chickens called us in the morning, they must have known we had some grain for them and for the horses. Our breakfast was on the cold side that morning, but no one cared, it was a joyful feeling to get on our land. I still cherish those claim shack times. We had to do many things to make things liveable, like building the claim sheds, plowing some sod, and cutting grass for hay so our horses and cows had something for the winter in their sod barn. We had a nice supply of flour, sugar, dried fruits, bacon and canned goods, so even far from town we had our regular meals and had guests too. Often we would walk across the claim to the neighbors as there were no roads yet, and we women would put on leggings to Protect ourselves from the rattlesnakes. At first we got our mail at Grindstone, whenever someone went to town they would bring out the mail for the whole neighborhood. Later on we got our mail at Quinn. It happened that some new folks came to locate and had meals with us. One day the Locater brought out more folks and I told him I was out of bread, but that I was a good baker. He said pancakes would be fine. so that Is what they had. We were all real neighborly. We all had small kitchen stoves then. In the summer the Rev. G. Hoelsher came. He had graduated from the Lutheran Seminary at Springfield, Illinois. He gathered some folks together for church services and conducted church about every second Sunday. He located on a claim in the Milesville Country. Later on a church was built on Geigles land, at Creighton. I saw him later and he told me he got real homesick for his work and his home in Pennington. The Black Hills country drew my relatives like a magnet. I have a niece, Mrs. Tony Krebs at Quinn, a niece, Myrtle DeWald, who teaches in Rapid, a nephew Marvin DeWald, who is a chemist at the South Dakota Cement Plant in Rapid, a brother, Rev. John DeWald at Lead, and another niece who is married to Dr. Wallace Wildermuth at Lead. [Photo - Kathryn Dewald in 1907] [Photo - Kathryn and Reinhold's Homesteads - 1907] [Photo - John S. Waldner] [Photo - Miss Johanna Schamber] Matt and Mary Smith by Tom Smith Matt Smith arrived in South Dakota from Wisconsin in 1886, along with his parents, brothers and sisters. They settled on Widow Draw north of Box Elder Creek, about twenty miles west of Wasta. His father, James Smith, died within a few years of their arrival. The rest of the family stayed at that location until the time of the Messiah Indian scare, when the mother took her six children and moved into Rapid City. Finding it easier to make a living there, as well as a chance to get a little schooling, they never returned to Widow Draw. Matt got in what schooling he could but, being the oldest son, found it his place to help make the living. One deal that paid off pretty well was caretaker of the town milk cow herd. He was paid on- the basis of so much per cow per day and grazed them mostly down Rapid Creek where the feed was good. He said that after the day's grazing and return to town, each cow would leave the bunch as they passed along and would go to her owner's barn or corral. When he was big enough, he got a job at the Haxby horse ranch. The time spent there must have been enjoyable as he talked about it often. One summer he mentioned more than once was spent on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. They left the ranch on Box Elder Creek in the spring with over a hundred teams, some well broke, some green. They worked with these horses all summer in order to get them to show good enough to suit the government purchasing agent, who was buying them for issuing to the Indians. They came home that fall with less than a dozen horses, plus their saddle stock. He told of two different springs he and another lad picked up Haxby mares as far north as Ekalaka, Montana. One spring, while helping John Costello move a bunch of cows and calves from north of Rapid City to Plum Creek, they camped on the east fork of Deep Creek. As he recalled, it looked like a good enough place to spend a lifetime, so later on he returned, filed and built a dugout. He ran horses for his mother on shares and had accumulated a bunch of his own. Horses were worth more than cattle at that time. It seemed to him he was getting along pretty well and then May, 1905 brought a rain and snow storm that took the wind out of many a sail. Cattle died in great numbers; horses fared a little better. Old mares that hadn't shed and were dry, fared the best in that area. Matt was in Rapid City during the storm and recalled counting seventy-five head of dead horses in one place along some farmer's fenced-in field southeast of Viewfield on his way home, killed by lightning perhaps. In the summer of 1909, on July 7, Matt Smith and Mary K. O'Neill were married in the Catholic Cathedral in Rapid City. Mary O'Neill had arrived in this area from Plattsmouth, Nebraska, with her mother and sister in 1902. Her father, Lafayette O'Neill, and brothers had come a few years earlier and established a ranch on Rainy Creek, also a postoffice named O'Neill, at the same location. Matt and Mary Smith settled on their ranch on Deep Creek, or Camp Creek as the east fork of Deep Creek was known at that time. Mary still had her land which she had filed on, located on Rainy Creek just east of where the Creighton post office was for many years. To. their marriage were born four children, Mildred (who died in early childhood), James, Frances, and Thomas. They gradually changed from horses to cattle, built a new home, and added to the ranch as time went by. In the thirty-six years they lived on the ranch together, they had four different addresses - O'Neill, Pleasant View, Creighton, and Pedro. For a period of a year or more, Mary rode horseback from Rainy Creek to the post office at Ash Creek (which was then located at the Frank Rood Ranch buildings), a distance of about twenty miles, to get the mail. At the time she was married, she owned six saddle horses. One favorite she often mentioned was "Billy", an orphan colt given her by the U Cross cowboys after the May storm of 1905. They both maintained that the happiness of those years on their ranch outweighed any displeasures encountered, that adversities were hardly worth the mentioning. In the fall of 1945, Matt and Mary sold out and bought a home in Rapid City, where they lived until their deaths in the third week of May, 1955. Pedro Story of Pedro by Jake Handley Elmer Hawks was the owner of the Pedro, S. Dak. store and he was the first postmaster at Pedro, South Dakota. He circulated the petition among the scant population of that time asking for a post office at his place. Billy Borst suggested the name "Pedro". People of those days were playing a card game called Pedro or High Five. It was very popular. Billy Borst was a cowman of the Cheyenne River Area of those days. He had been in the cow business there many years before Mr. E. Hawks came to that area. Billy Borst's brand was T6. (It was connected.) He handled a lot of cattle; operated big for many years and made much money. Elmer Hawks came to that area from the area north of Pierre, South Dakota. The River bottom, where Mr. Hawks located, had formerly been the home camp ground of a band of Sioux Indians, who had as their chief, Big Foot. Mr. Hawks wife was Jennie Hawks. She came to be known as "Aunt Jennie?? by most every person in that area. Mr. and Mrs. Hawks had two children, a boy, Walter and a girl, Eva. The daughter was named Eva for Mrs. Frank Rood. The Roods lived on Ash Creek and operated quite big in cattle and horses. After Mr. Hawks had operated a few years there, Mr. MacCloud came there to Pedro, S. Dak. to be a partner in the store company. He was also a blacksmith there. Mr. MacCloud had previously been with Mr. Henry Angell, who was located down the River quite some distance below the Hawk's Store. Mr. MacCloud made bridle bits and spurs. They had a good reputation, those "Old Mac" bits and spurs. One style of bridle bit "Old Mac" made, was a bit different and he got the idea from Charley Price. It was a good pattern. "Lishe" Paylon was one of the many who worked for Elmer Hawks for a long while. He was the head freighter. Other freighters were Art Richardson, Bill Crowser, the Bennett brothers, the Wilsey's and Guy Maclain. Al Burton and Elmer Gifford worked for Elmer Hawk's quite a lot also. Elmer Hawk's cattle brand was HA on the right side; his horse brand was H on the left shoulder. Elmer Hawk's cattle ear mark was under bit, both ears. In 1904 he purchased the, L8-horse from Jimmy Flanigan and at the same time purchased the 3Lhorses from Charley Flanigan. The Pedro postoffice was started March 26, 1896. Elmer E. Hawks was the first postmaster. Pedro post office was located on the Cheyenne River at the mouth of Deep Creek coming into the River from the South. Deep Creek's head draws drain down from the north edge of Lake Flat. It was a pretty country in the days of open free range, before the 160-acre man arrived on the scene with his barking dogs and his five-acre corn patch fenced with "tooth pick" posts and two loose wires. In later years after trials and troubles and years of drought and grasshoppers, the people who settled this area, built splendid homes and big red barns and prospered. Once again it was a pretty country. Before the homestead movement, Pedro was the "home town" (I don't think of a better name) of many open Range cow hands. Here are the names of some of these old time Range Riders: Art Woods, August Safken, Nels Moorehous, Tom MacDonald, Ray Paulson, Ben Lenard, Jess Lenard, "Big Jim" Kinnedy, "Chancey" Johnson, Tom Ward, "Hack" Fenner, Jim MacGovern, Charlie Smith, "Dutch Fred" Vollmer, Bill Smedley, Ernest Eidson, John Dorsey, Willard Franklin, Fred Bohnsack, Pat Foley, Jim O'Connel, Charley Price, Guy Davis, "Happy Holligan" Busick, Herman Poste, John Reed, George Reed, Harry Reed, Harry White, Ballard Hicks, Earn Chapman, Lee Elliot, Bill Presslar, "Duff" Quinn. These riders whose names have been mentioned worked for the following big outfits: the NSS-, the U-, the Pot Hook and also the Sword and Dagger. All these outfits got their names from the brands they used. Jim Bullis was an old timer who was seen at Pedro very much in those early days. He had been a scout in the earliest of the Black Hills pioneer days and also a bull whacker in the freighting days. Then later he was a cowhand, when the first of the cow outfits arrived on the scene. Some more old range riding cow hands I forgot before were; John Cruikshank and Freeman Rose. John Cruikshank worked for Billy Borst, the T six man, while he was in the Pedro area. He used to tell me of his days in Montana, when he was cowboy for the W outfit, Pierre Webo, owner. Pedro got to be a meeting place, for the people residing north of the Cheyenne River and those of the south side of the River. Drifting cow hands got to Pedro two or three times a year, where at the occasional dances, they met and visited with their "kind" - "Buddies of the Open Range." The mail was carried to Pedro from Fort Pierre. It came out by way of Hayes, Manilla, Top Bar and Ash Creek post offices. This was about in 1903. Prior to that time the Top Bar and Ash Creek postoffices had not yet been established. At the very first, the Pedro mail was carried from old Grindstone. "Mexican Ed" carried it. When the Hayes and Manilla route got in operation, Louie Greene carried the mail. Louie Greene had a home down the River, below Pedro two miles. It was the old Ludger LaBrekke place--where LaBrekke had lived before he moved to Indian Springs. Louie Greene had formerly lived on Plum Creek, near Peter Kertzman's place. Louie had several work horses and harness and a good stout mountain spring wagon for the mail job. He had not many cattle, just about a dozen cows of milk strain, and a house full of children. Louie Greene usually hired somebody to drive the mail route. It was a long route, cold in winter. The driver surely needed to dress warm. In the time when I knew Pedro first, there was an elderly woman working there as house keeper and cook. Her name was Mrs. Lockhart. Mostly people called her "Old Lady Lock" or "Aunt Lock". Also working there as helpers were Lottie Peterson (she afterwards married Guy MacClane) and Mary White (she afterwards married John Cruikshank). "Aunt Jennie" Hawks usually helped in the store. Mostly she did no house work. When the homestead movement got into full swing, Pedro even boasted a weekly newspaper for awhile. It mostly operated to publish the final proof notices of the homesteaders. It was the "Pedro Bugle" and I do not know how long it lasted. About this same time, for quite awhile, Pedro had a barber shop. A homesteader from Illinois, named Mr. Carr, was the barber. I hauled him out to Pedro from Philip, his first trip to Pedro. Later after Mr, Carr proved up his claim and left for the east, another barber came to Pedro from Rapid City. Mr. Hamley he was. I do not know how long he barbered at Pedro. Quite sometime before the homesteaders days, Jim Hicks came to Pedro to take over the blacksmith shop. "Mac" McCloud was then too old to do such hard work. Jim Hicks was a good blacksmith; he made such good bridle bits and spurs. I know a man who now lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who, about 1905, made a one summer stay in the Pedro area. He still has his pair of hand made Jim Hicks spurs. He sent us a picture of them and a pair of riding boots he purchased at Pedro in 1905. And 1905 was the year of the "May Blizzard". Art Richardson had a place on Deep Creek, about three miles south of Pedro. He had a few cattle and some work horses. He hauled freight for Elmer Hawks, both from Pierre and Rapid City. Art was a good hand at getting coyotes and grey wolves. Elmer Hawks had a good freighting outfit of his own, operated by "Lishe" Paylon. It was on the road almost constantly, both winter and summer. "Lishe" Paylon always camped out along side the old freight trail. He did not stop at Road Ranches unless there was a blizzard blowing. Elmer Hawks would not have his freight horses shod. He said if it was best for them to have shoes, they would have been born with shoes. So the Pedro "old timers" told me and "Lishe" got along with them slick footed. "Peggy" Cook had a place up Deep Creek about five miles from Pedro. He was the "fiddler" for the Pedro dances and his wife was the organist. "Peggy" usually was the cook for the Pedro Pool or "Lime Kiln" Pool outfits "Church wagon", during the Roundups which occured in the spring, which was the General Round Up, and again in the fall or Beef Round-Up. "Peggy" was a good cook; fast and efficient. On one occasion he said to "yours truly", "I can handle the big crews, whether there are nine or ninety nine" and he was not bragging. He could and did. Pedro had a school house, before the homesteading movement came upon us. The Elmer Hawks' children, Walter and Eva; the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Gifford, Thelma by name; and the numerous children of the Louie Greene family and the Art Richardson's children and the children of Mr. and Mrs. "Peggy" Cook made up the bunch from close around there. Also going to school at Pedro were several children from Stanley County, just to the east of Pennington County. Both of these families lived on Bridges Creek. These were the Burdick children, their father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Milt Burdick and the children of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hankins. The Hankins children were Elsie and Johnie and the Burdick children were Forest, Tom and May. These two families united together and rented a log house near Pedro to live in and then either Mrs. Burdick or Mrs. Hankins stayed there with them. These two women often took turn about at this task. This log house I have mentioned belonged to "Mac" MacCloud, the elderly man I have mentioned who was the first Pedro blacksmith and Mr. Hawks partner in the Store Company. "Mac" had a 160 acre homestead west of the Store and this log house was on his homestead. I do not remember the names of any of these Pedro school teachers now. The spring and summer of 1905 were unusually wet and Deep Creek was running big, just about all of the time. This was the time Vern Torrance was drowned in Deep Creek. He was attempting to cross the swollen stream on horse back. Many local people tried faithfully to find his body, without success. Then some one went to Pierre and sent a telegram to Vern's mother, a widow in Chicago, Illinois. This lady came to Pierre by train. This town was then the end of the Chicago and North Western Railroad. On to Pedro she came, on the mail wagon, and began to search for her boy's body. And she found it, after many days of effort. Vern was buried there near Pedro. This occured about the time of July Fourth. Johnie Hankins wrote to us recently, from his home in Livingstone, Montana, telling how as a school boy at Pedro he walked each day by Vern Torrance's grave, going to school and returning. I remember others of "The First Few Pedro People". There were the Bennett Brothers, Marion, John and George. All were married. I only remember that and do not remember their wives names. The Bennetts moved away when the homesteaders came into this area. And also Wilseys, Cy and Del, were there in those days. Up the Creek lived the Grovers and the Strandells and John Edwards and up the River were Sicleys, Trasks, Newcombs, and Fred Johnson, who married "Peno Annie". Down the River were Alec Webb, "Old Man" Rose, Freeman Rose, Frank Huss and Pete Dunn. Elmer Hawks had a tread power, either two or three horses worked on it, used to run the buzz saw to saw stove wood. Enough wood to run that Ranch for a year at a sawing, and that much wood made a pile almost the size of Grindstone Butte. So it looked like to us, those days. Then the freight horses would paw that big wood pile, eating the green bark from the cottonwood sticks and blocks. One year, I do not remember which it was, came a big rain. Am sure it was the last of August or early in September. The summer had been very dry, water out on the range was very low in the water holes and grass was short. Some one living up on the "Divide" had brought down to Pedro a wagon load of water melons. Elmer Hawks was sure they would sell like "hot cakes" to his Indian customers who frequently came to Pedro from down the River. (Just who the man from up on the "Divide" who grew these melons, I have forgotten and how he grew them in that dry spell, I know not either.) But Mr. Hawks thought they were a good buy, so they were arranged in order along that long store counter, ready for the Indians. Then came that big rain and Deep Creek brought down such a flood of water that flood water ran through the Store at such a height that away all the melons floated through the open door, which the flood water caused to open. There were many people who got their mail at Pedro in the days before Ash Creek and Top Bar, South Dakota post offices were established in old Stanley County. Many of these people lived east, southeast and northeast of Pedro in the western side of old Stanley County--now Haakon County. Here are some of them: Jim Louden, Pecks, and Fergusons, Foley Brothers (bachelors), John Dunn and wife Blanche, Milt Burdick, Charley Shannon, Duff Quinn and wife Ina, Jim Colter, Ulrich Taddiken, Joe Hankins, Mike Calahan and his sister Mary, McFarland Brothers, George Poste, Arthur Finnegan (a bachelor), Bill Crowser, J. F. Braddock, Frank Huss, Peter Dunn and his elderly father and mother who lived on Ash Creek, Bigelows, Billy White, Henry Brewer, George Ferguson out on Bridges Creek, Frank M. Rood, two Flanigan families who lived on the River below Pedro--Jim and Charley, and the Frank Red Horse family and Amos Charging First. His Indian name was "Teeopetelan". There were only Amos and his wife--no children. Amos's wife was a Ward girl and a descendent of old Fred Dupree. Several pioneers who lived north of the River got their mail at Pedro. One was Lou Davidson. Those who lived way out north at some distance, got their mail at White Owl. South there were the Estes family and Mose Smith, Eli Ollette, and Louie Champaign. Rock Pourier, Matt Smith and the Oniell family on Rainy Creek and also the Dalzells. Up the river were the Crowells, Wiers and the Tivis brothers. One of them used to cook on the Roundup and also he operated in round up season, what was known as a "Band Wagon". It was simply a wagon load of articles, such as would find ready sale among the cowhands, a traveling store on wheels, which came right along with the Roundup wagon. This was George Tivis and he operated this outfit for Frank Cottle, Smithville, merchant and an old time Pennington County pioneer. Since everything known to man always has an end, so must this story. If I have left out any one, am sorry. Sure did not mean it that way. Please excuse me if I am guilty. To all those who have been postmasters at Pedro, I give my best to you and to all who carried the mail, may I say "well done". I failed to say that in 1907 when the rail road got to Wall, the old long route from Fort Pierre, was soon abandoned, and a new route from Wall was established. As you all know, only recently Pedro ceased to be, that is officially. To me and many more I am sure the Mouth of Deep Creek will always be Pedro and I won't forget the good times we all had there; good clean entertainment. Adios Pedro. [Photo - Pedro in the early days.] [Photo - The Wall - Pedro stage at o'Neill, probably about 1910, with Sam Jones in the driver's seat. The daily trip was approximately 47 miles, six days a week.] [Photo - Pedro Post Office, 1909] [Photo - Pedro in 1899] [Photo - Pedro School in 1909 or 1910] [Photo - Pedro Post Office, 1964] [Photo - After the Pedro fire.] [Photo - Frank Huss ranch taken in 1899] Frank and Nellie Wilsey by Nellie Wilsey My father, Frank C. Huss, came out west from Ohio at the age of seventeen in the fall of 1881. He landed in Ogallala, Nebr., via the Union Pacific railroad. Ogallala was a lively cow town and the northern terminus of one of the cattle trails from Texas. Dad worked for the Sheidley cattle company, the Hart outfit, the Flying V and Z Bell outfit at different times. In September, 1890, he was married to Miss Harriet Chapman at Buffalo Gap, S. D. In 1892 he made a trip to Amarilla, Texas, with Ed Lemmon and bought 3 26 head of cattle for himself and with a small bunch he had at Fairburn, drove them to the Cheyenne River three miles down from the site of the Pedro post office where he had located on a ranch at the mouth of Mix With Food Creek. I was born at that ranch on March 2, 1895. My brother, George, was a little over three years old. He was born at Smithville. On March 29th my mother died. That fall my dad bought a house in Pierre and we children lived there with our Grandmother Chapman, or a housekeeper at times. My brother died of polio in 1910 at the Spring ranch and I went away to school that fall. I graduated from high school in Tiffin, Ohio, the spring of 1914. My father's oldest sister lived in Tiffin. On October 14 of the same year Frank Wilsey and I were married. Frank was living on his homestead about seven miles south of Pedro. His father, Cy Wilsey, came to this country from Iowa in 1894 and homesteaded up on the Dalzell divide, moving to Pedro in 1903. Frank's mother had died the summer of 1897 when the family lived on Rainy Creek not far from where Creighton is now located. He and his sister, Laura, together with their grandmother Wilsey, went back to Webster City, Ia., where he and his sister went to school until 1903. After Frank and I were married, we lived for a while on his homestead and then in the fall of 1915 moved down to Pedro where I had the Pedro post office for over a year at that time. We lived at several different locations around Pedro but most of the time on the homestead and that is where our family of nine--two girls and seven boys--grew up. At present our oldest son, Charles, lives at Newell; George is at Highmore; Harry, who lived down the river about six miles, died suddenly of a heart attack at his home on December 16, 1963. Vern's address is Allen, S. Dak., and he lives about seven miles south of there. Marjorie (Mrs. Dempsey Fenner) lives at Newell; Carol (Mrs. Charles Price) lives six miles east of us on Ash Creek; Howard is living at Fresno, Calif.; Wesley down the river about six miles and James in Pierre, where he works in the highway department as assistant bridge inspector for the state. We have thirty- one grandchildren, I think, at the latest count. Three of the boys, George, Harry and Vern, served in the army in WW II-- George and Vern in Europe and Harry in Italy. Howard was in the Navy from 1947 to 1951 and Wes was in the army and was in Korea in 1954-55 for eighteen months. Frank and I have had the Pedro office since Nov., 1944, at its present site about a half a mile south and a little east of the original site of Pedro where Elmer Hawks lived for a good many years. Our goIden wedding anniversary was last October 14 but at that time Frank was in the Quinn Hospital as he suffered a heart attack on September 30. He is getting better at this time and by summer should be much improved. On March 31 1 was retired from my job as postmaster and the Pedro post office is a thing of the past. Good old times around Pedro were many. Elmer Hawks and his wife, Jennie, brought a load of merchandise from Pierre and started a little store or trading post, shortly after Frank Huss settled here. This store grew from a small one- room cabin to a large general store where you could buy anything from a package of needles to a lumber wagon or haying machinery. Indians from the Cheyenne Reservation, twelve miles down the river, came here to trade. Roundup wagons loaded up here and ranchers and homesteaders over a large area came for supplies. The store burned to the ground in 1917 and Mrs. Hawks died the spring of 1918. John Newcomb had the ranch and he afterwards sold it to Alfred and Leo Bastian. The following men lived along the river below Pedro when Frank Huss moved here in 1892: Billie Borst, Ledger Labrecque and Alex Webb. Borst lived only about a mile from Pedro and had another camp south of Pedro about ten miles. He ranched out here till about 1909 and his family lived in Pierre most of the time. His two daughters, Mrs. Margarite Morrison and Jessie Contozkie, still live there. Their brother, Olney, died about three years ago and about a year later Mrs. Borst passed away. Alex Webb was originally from Texas and had no doubt come up from there with a cattle drive for he had worked for some of the same cow outfits that Frank Huss had, but had come up here a year or two sooner and settled on a place about six miles down the river where Wes Wilsey is now living and which is owned by Mrs. Lucy Wilsey. Ledger Labrecque, a brother-in-law of Billie Borst, lived a short distance from the Borst ranch but soon moved from the river over in the Indian Springs country and built a ranch that is now owned by Bob Blair. All these old timers are long gone and there are not many people around who knew or remember them. [Photo - Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wilsey, oldest residents of Pedro.] [Photo - Picnic at the Frank Wilsey ranch in Pedro in the 1930's] Viola Wilsey As told to Marjorie Willuweit Viola Roup and Ralph Wilsey were married in Rapid City in 1907. They set up housekeeping at old Pedro when the town was wild and woolly. Ralph was cook on the roundup and Viola used to help at the Hawk's store. She says she was "full time everything" at the hotel. Dr. Clark used to come out from Wall and Viola thinks he was the first doctor in Wall. She remembers the many Indians who came to the store also. Mrs. Hawks had a butter bowl that a squaw wanted but Mrs. Hawks wouldn't sell it, so when she went to another part of the store, the squaw stuck the bowl under her shawl. They had wonderful times in the hall at Pedro including IOOF meetings and dances. Orchestras going to Red Owl would sometimes stop and the Pedroites would persuade them to play until midnight. Then they would sleep And go on to Red Owl the next day. Some of the dances would last until morning. After a night of dancing, the rough floor boards would be slick and smooth. The school houses used to serve as meeting places for Ladies Aid and Farmer's Union. Everyone from miles around would attend these meetings. All were not good times in those early days. They had hard and sad times too. One summer a terrific hail storm took the roof off the Wilsey house. They had just purchased a new "waterproof" mattress and Viola says this was the first time she got to test it out. In the thirties the grasshoppers ate the fence posts and the siding from the house. Of course they had their share of droughts also. Several people drowned in the river including Mrs. Hawks, Johnnie Newcomb and Vern Torence. The Wilseys worked a couple years at the T6 Ranch for Billy Borst. Jim O'Connell and Charlie Price used to come to this ranch quite often. Carroll Knutson has his ranch there at present. The T6 was one of the largest ranches at that time. Mrs. Wilsey remembers when Pedro was named-Ralph happened to be present. A group of men were playing High 5 or in Spanish "Pedro". Someone suggested naming the new post office "Pedro" after the game. Viola was postmistress at Pedro for 20 years. The mail came from Wall and the whole north country got their mail at Pedro. Everyone sent to the mail order houses for clothes, so there was always plenty of parcel post. She sold many money orders. Ab Alfillish used to ship turkeys and sold them to the railroad to be used on their dining cars. People would bring cream to be sent to Wall. One winter a severe blizzard stopped the mail for twenty-eight days. Leo Eisenbraun. went to Wall with a double box sled and brought it back full of mail. The Wilseys had lovely gardens. The soil was gumbo and when it was wet it was very sticky. Viola says that one time she lost a pair of slippers in the gumbo and never did find them. When she resigned from the post office in 1944 they moved to the A. C. Johnson farm near the big dam. Here they irrigated and raised lovely gardens. In 1957 they moved to Wall--their 50th anniversary year. Ralph passed away in 1962 and Viola still lives in their home in Wall. [Photo - Post office Viola ran for 20 years.] [Photo - First inland post office in S. Dak.] [Photo - Baptist Church at Pedro - 1925] [Photo - Dedication of new church at Pedro] [Photo - Rev. Wynn, Mrs. Dell Wilsey and Vern Wilsey on their birthdays.] [Photo - Duhamel Post Office, log house originally built in 1906.] Mary Cruickshank Sisley by Mary Sisley I, then Mary White, worked for Mrs. Elmer Hawks off and on from the time I was 13 until I was nearly 17. She was a wonderful, kind woman, and so good to me. They had a large cattle ranch, and a huge general store, including everything from toothpicks and castor oil to Hyer Boots and Stetson hats, saddles, harness, and wagons. I expect there was a larger variety than most shopping centers have nowadays. They trusted everyone, and lost heavily on some. A lot of small ranchers hauled freight for them from Pierre, which took ten or 12 days, with six horses and two wagons. One wagon had a short tongue and trailed behind the other one. Many people that Hawks trusted for goods ate his beef in the winter -free! At Pedro I did most everything. I started helping Lottie Peterson do house work. That meant cooking three huge meals each day. Everyone who bought groceries ate there, besides as many as 12 hired men at times, in iceing, etc. The men had a large bunk house. One night Shoe-shonie-Bob was mad and threw a bottle of shoe polish at someone. It hit the ridge pole and broke, sending splatters of polish on several boys who were getting ready for a dance there in the hall. I don't think anyone challenged him. He was a big, big fellow, part Indian. Yes, we had a dance hall there, and had some real wonderful times. Bill Cook and his wife, who lived south of Pedro on Deep Creek, were our musicians for years. They would load their organ in the wagon and take it to the hall. She played chords, and he the fiddle. They played all night until daylight for $5.00. Ed Wilsey was usually floor manager, and a good one, too. One night Lottie Peterson had an earache and got carbolic acid by mistake instead of laudunum, poured it in her ear, and blistered her badly. Guy McClean took her to Rapid City to the doctor. I did all the work alone for a week. Then May Moore came to work. I loved her like a sister, and think she did me. Her stepfather, Al Burton, and May's mother lived down the Cheyenne, close to the Indian Reserve. I stayed there two weeks and we made our wedding dresses together and alike. One day an Indian, very excited, came and wanted Al to make a casket. One of his family was sick. Al didn't do anything about it. In a day or so I asked him why. He said, "Oh, he'll probably be back to say he doesn't need it." And that's exactly what happened -- the one who was sick got well. Al said he could make it quickly if it was needed, and that happened often. Al was a cook. I believe he cooked at the round up. One night he killed and dressed a prairie dog and put it in salt water over night. It looked so clean and smelled so good when he fried it next morning. I really wanted to eat some, but May or her mother didn't, so I wouldn't. I was sorry afterward, as I think I hurt his feelings, and now I can't say I've eaten prairie dog! As I said, when I worked at Pedro, I did most everything. When the men were busy in haying. I sometimes went after the six or seven milk cows from a south pasture. It took lots of cream and butter, which we churned with a dasher churn. Sometimes Mrs. Hawks would have me just fool around in the store. There were three big rooms, and she couldn't watch all the people all the time. It was surprising how many people had sticky fingers - - not just Indians. People bought groceries in large quantities, especially in the fall. I remember Henry Brewer buying over $200 worth at one time. Sometimes they would stay over night. Of course there was no charge in those days for food or lodging. No one locked their doors. You were expected to eat if you came when no one was home, but the law of the land was to wash your dishes. I remember stopping at a bachelor's place once on our way to Pierre. A storm had come up. No one was home, but a snake skin was stretched across the floor, and a note saying, "Help yourself, but wash the dishes." That was Mr. Finnigan's home. Mrs. Hawks sold goods to Indians on time, and she knew when they received their rations. Then she would go with Mexican Ed, who carried mail to Pierre. She would stop at the Rosebud Reservation and get her pay. I believe it was about every three months. Later Mexican Ed was shot in a poker game at his home by Bob Adams. We used to ride miles to dances. We never missed one when Doris Daley taught school at Top Bar X School on Cherrie Creek, 40 miles from Pedro. We would get some neighbor lady to get supper and breakfast for us, and we rode that 40 miles and danced all night. Sometimes we went on horseback, and sometimes in a two-seated buggie. Doris later married Jim O'Connell. Both are gone now, as are so many of the good old timers. Billie Borst, for instance, Frank Rudd, John Newcomb, Mr. McKay, Ray Paulson, Tom McDonald, and their wives. Maybe Edna Paulson and Birdie McDonald are alive yet, I hope. Also the Wilseys and Frank Huss. Once Tommy McDonald asked me to go with him to see how the Indians buried their dead. We went up a branch draw east of Deep Creek. In a cedar tree with branches trimmed off to make a bed, lay a figure wrapped in a plaid blanket. Tommy pulled the blanket back, and the hair fell back, leaving a bare, dry skull, and two long, black braids. On them were beads made of eagle claws and gold beads. He asked if I wanted him to get them for me, but I was horrified, and wouldn't have touched them on a bet. Now I wish I had them, of course. There was a coffee pot, cup, etc. beside the body. I never could find that place again. Once when my twins were small, I had to go to Philip to get dental work done. I rode to Wall from where we lived, which was three miles from Pedro. I left my horse, (one of Jean Mackreal's old race horses), in the livery stable. On the way home, the horse was anxious to go, it was cold, and I just let him go. We made that 40 miles in one hour and 40 minutes. Once when I was going with John Cruickshank, we were on our way to a dance up near Viewfield. We didn't know if the ice was solid underwater. Someone told us Elmer Hawks had crossed there that day, so we drove in in a top buggie. The water came over the seat, and we perched on the back with our feet in the Buggie seat. We were wearing overshoes, so we didn't even get wet. But wasn't that a crazy thing to do! I'm sure young people have more sense nowadays. After Mr. and Mrs. Hawks were gone and the old store had burned down, the place was owned by May Newcomb -- after Johnnie was drowned in that horrible river accident. We lived there one summer and used the old log cabin known as Chief Big Foot's hut for a kitchen and dining room, and the big, old frame store house for living quarters. My daughter, Delight, says be sure and tell them I lived in Chief Big Foot's house. She was one and one-half years old then. My father and mother, George and Isabelle White, came from eastern South Dakota with Judsons and Olivers, and settled on Elk Creek 25 miles northeast of Rapid City, in Dakota Territory at that time. I don't know the year, but I was born there in 1898. My mother died when my youngest brother was born. The rest of the children were: Havillah, (known as Villie or Billie), Harry, Wallace, Myrtle, myself, Winnie, and George -- seven in all. I am the only one surviving. [Photo - Mary Cruickshank - 1913] [Photo - Twins Orvel and Erven Cruickshank] [Photo Treva Delight Sisley] The Fred Rose Family by Grace Rose I met Fred Rose in January, 1905. My mother took care of Freeman Rose's wife when their daughter, Maude, was born, so I went with them to their ranch near Pedro to help with the children, as they also had a little boy, Merle. This was where I met Fred. I stayed with Freemans until the latter part of March as the snow was so deep and the weather so cold I couldn't get away. I met most of the Rose family while there. Fred's father, Henry, and his mother, Mary were lovely people. There was also his brother, Harry, who was a terrible tease. He had two sisters living near themIda, Mrs. Alex Webb, and Myrtle, Mrs. Guy Davis. They were all wonderful and I'm sure I fell in love with the entire family. In 1907 I filed on a homestead not far from Pedro and two years later Fred decided I needed a man around the house so we were married and were very happy until his death in 1921. In the twelve years of our marriage, we had six children, three of whom are living in Rapid City. Henry is caretaker at the School of Mines, Harmon is employed at the National Guard Camp, and Freda, our youngest, is employed by the Bell Telephone Company as assistant supervisor. Our daughter, Myrtle, and her husband are operating a motel at Columbia Falls, Montana; Wilma, our fourth child, is living on an acreage at Toledo, Oregon, and our oldest daughter, Clara, has very poor health and is in a rest home at Canova, S. Dak. Fred was what you could call "Jack of all trades". He was a barber, mechanic, cowboy, raised cattle and horses, and did a lot of carpenter work for the neighbors. Whenever the folks in the community needed help, he was more than willing. The Rose Family by Lucy Wilsey Henry H. Rose, his wife, Mary, and seven children, came from Sioux City, Iowa, to Buffalo Gap at the head of the Cheyenne River about 1888. He, being a carpenter by trade, had secured employment, building railroad bridges--thus the family worked their way west. However, ten years later, when daughter, Ida, married Alex Webb, the elder folks and the four other unmarried members of the family; Freeman, Fred, Myrtle and Harry, decided to come to the area chosen by Webb as an ideal location: six miles down the Cheyenne River from Pedro, S. Dak. Here was to be found open range and land to be had for the settling, and Henry Rose found carpentering and cabinetwork needed by the homesteaders. Mary, later known as Grandma Rose, continued to raise a large garden, shared by neighbors and by the Indians who came by. Meanwhile, the other members of the family began to take up homesteads, marry, and raise families. Freeman worked on the cattle round-ups for several years, while deciding upon a homestead. His wife, Ada Nickols, was a school teacher who came west from Iowa to homestead. His family of two, Merle and Maude, lost their mother in 1919. Freeman remarried, Nila Potter, moved to his wife's homestead location, and the family increased by one son, Harvey, and two daughters, Alma and Vera. The old Dowling Post 0 ice was at their home or a number of years until the early thirties, when Freeman, Nila, three young children as well as Nila's aged mother, decided to leave. Freeman hitched up the team to a house wagon he had built, the children drove the few cows they had and they left, -Pioneer Style! They were in Wall part of that summer where Freeman found temporary employment; still living in their house wagon! From here they drove to Rapid Valley where they were able to establish a home in time for the children to be in school that fall. They lived out the remainder of their lives there. Nila died in 1947 and Freeman in 1951. Fred Rose married Gertrude Olmstead, a homesteader from Rapid City, and they settled at the mouth of Ash Creek four miles farther down the river. Their children are: Henry, Clara, Myrtle,. Wilma, Harmon and Freda. Fred was a I 1jack- of- all-trades I I and showed his talent in carpentry, handling of bees and in repairing Model T Fords; he was probably the first and best mechanic in the area. His untimely death in 1921, left his widow with no choice but to return to her folks in Rapid City, where she could find work. She and a number of the children are still living in Rapid City. The Fred Rose ranch was bought by Guy Davis and forms the east end of his holdings. Myrtle Rose married Guy Davis in 1905 and came to live in his oneroom log dwelling two miles down the river from her folks. Harry Rose, the baby of twelve Rose children, married Mary Bauer, and they made their home on his mother's homestead located near the Rose Cemetery. Some neighbors were his brother Freeman, Steelsmiths, Huss and Crowser. They moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, in the early "twenties" and are still living in Washington state. Their six children-one girl and five boys are living in that area also. After Henry H. Rose's death from typhoid fever in 1910, Grandma Rose went to live with Alex Webb to care for his children; later she cared for the children in her home with her son, Harry. She was friend, advisor, mid-wife, doctor and helper in time of need anywhere in the neighborhood. As she grew older, she would make her home with her daughter, Myrtle, in_ the winter months but went back to Freeman's to her own cabin and garden in the spring. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren remember well the advice, stories and mending of hurt feelings given by Grandma Rose. She was at Rena Webb's in Wall, helping care for her Webb greatgrandchildren at the time of her death, February 1935 at age 94. [Photo - Henry H. Rose Family about 1898. Standing: Ida, Fred, Myrtle; Henry, Harry and Mary.] [Photo - Freeman Rose] [Photo - Harry Rose and friend] Alexander L. Webb by Lucy Davis Alex Webb had come up to Dakota with the cattle herds from Texas. He had become acquainted with Frank Huss and Harry Bayne and much interested in the Cheyenne River, Pedro area, about 1895 and by 1898 had more or less established his homesite at the mouth of a spring draw about six miles down the Cheyenne from Pedro. He had become acquainted with the Henry H. Rose family at the Oelrich or Buffalo Gap railroad terminal. In 1898, Ida Rose became Alex's wife and they encouraged the Rose family to settle near the Webb homesite at Pedro. A great bustle was made of the moving and settling with everyone helping out from 10-year-old Harry Rose to 23-year-old Freeman, -needless to say Roses were proud of their new son- in-law and his enterprise! In a few years there were homesteads for the parents and four other members of the Rose family. These homesteads were in turn sold to Alex Webb and other quarters taken up by the Roses-thus, Alex acquired rather large holdings and had stock on the open range as well. Many good times were enjoyed at family and neighborhood gatherings with plenty of food from gardens and fowls, both wild and tame. Alex always flung the door wide and called out, "Come in!" Alex's home was one of the nicer early day homes with a smoke house for meats; a large, well-stocked storeroom for staples, a wellfilled cellar and the luxury of spring water in the kitchen. His family grew with the birth of one son, Albert, in 1900 and a daughter, Mary, before the tragic loss of his wife by typhoid fever in February 1910, Typhoid also took Henry H. Rose, a few days before the death of his daughter. At this time Alex set aside land and organized a Cemetery Association, known as the Rose Cemetery, still used as family cemetery by the Rose, Webb and Davis families. Grandma Rose came to fill in as mother for the Webb children and also took the children to her home with her son, Harry. Alex later married Widow Bayne, wife of his old friend who had settled in Red Lodge, Mont., but now came to homestead near Pedro. Mr. Webb was considered a wealthy man for the times and they were able to leave someone in care of the ranch while they traveled and enjoyed themselves until his death about 1920. He is buried in the Philip Cemetery. Alex's son, Albert L. Webb, lived on the parental ranch. His wife, Rena Raymond, was a schoolteacher who taught a school at the Pete Dunn place on Ash Creek. They had a family of three girls, Mary, Muriel and Maxine and a boy, Alvin. Albert Webb (Al) was known for his friendliness and many an amateur rodeo was staged in his corrals, as well as horse shoe games and fishing parties at his home. In the thirties, Albert and family were forced, by hard times and drought, to leave the ranch to find work in Wall. Here, Albert died of pneumonia, Feb. 15, 1934. Rena and the children continued to live in Wall until after the older girls graduated from high school, when they moved to Rapid City. Rena Webb died in 1962 but the children are all living in Rapid City. The Webb place was bought by Guy Davis, who used the flat meadows for hayland. This was the western boundary of the Davis ranch. [Photo - Guy Davis home - 1912, Guy in door and Alex Webb to right.] [Photo - Alex Webb and daughter about 1923] Guy Davis by Mrs. W. R. Stone At the age of seventeen, Guy Davis left home to work for the big cattle outfits, first as nighthawk and then as a cowboy. Besides the regular cowboy Work there was the thrill of the once a year roundup and the trip to Ft. Pierre with the marketable cattle. For the roundup all neighboring ranchers sent riders to participate in rounding up the cattle on the open range as at the time there were few fences. The cattle were gathered in one big bunch with an expert on cattle brands riding to call out the various distinguishing marks. At his call the riders from that particular ranch would collect the identified livestock. When the last brand was called, the cowboys would take their individual bunches and head for the home ranch. In the fall the marketable cattle from each ranch were driven to Ft. Pierre to be sold or shipped. The trip to Ft. Pierre was complete with cowboys, nighthawks to keep the string of saddle ponies from wandering, and a grub wagon with a grub box and a space to carry bed rolls. A few days out from Ft. Pierre the herd would be met by a representative from the railroad. At that time there were two railways into Ft. Pierre competing for the ranchers business. The representative from the railroad would have located places where the herd could water and could be held overnight. The most active representative wound up with the rancher's business. Once the cattle were delivered, the cowboys often spent their year's wages before heading back to the ranch. In 1905 Guy Davis and Myrtle Rose were married and moved to his homestead on the Cheyenne River in the N.E. corner of Pennington County. In the early years of their marriage what cash money there was to be had came from either working out for neighboring ranchers or from breaking horses at five dollars a head. Guy would take the rough off the bronc, then Myrtle would ride them to keep them trimmed down until returned to the owner in exchange for a "five dollar willie". During the homestead years Guy would meet the new homesteaders from the east at the depot in Philip. From there they would travel in Guy's buggy to the land location described in the newcomer's Homestead plat. Due to the many years Guy spent in the saddle, this area with it's hills and gullies was as familiar to him as the marks on his own palm. As the cow herd and the no. of children grew for the young couple, it was a common sight to see Guy and his young cowboys and Myrtle with her grub wagon crew moving the fat steers into market or headed for fresh pasture in the drouth years. Horses, cattle, kids and all knew the sight of the grub wagon on the horizon. The kids felt at home anyplace the folks and the grub wagon located. No food was any better than the campfire grub, and they always felt sorry for someone who had never slept under the stars. A record of the lives of Myrtle and Guy Davis would be a complete book in itself. Perhaps not the easiest life in the world, but one they chose as the best. [Photo - Guy Davis Ranch house - 1930] [Photo - Guy Davis Davis Family - 1937] Guy Davis by Lucy Davis As the Rose Family was preparing to migrate from Buffalo Gap to the lower Cheyenne River area, Guy Davis, at seventeen, had left his home on Spring Creek near Rapid City, to find employment and adventure with the big cattle round-ups. His first, in 1898, found him working as a lowly "horsewrangler" on Lake Flat, north of Wall. It rained a great deal that May but work went on and Guy soon learned to rough it and also to tell time by the stars in the sky. He soon knew how to tame the wild horses as he had the patience! When someone remarked, "your body is too long and your legs too short for riding," he proved the speaker wrong and became an excellent cowboy, understanding both horses and cattle. For several years, Guy worked for various cattle outfits at round-up; including Duhamel and Corb Morris, working as general cowboy and also as "Rep" and at one time as "wagon boss". In winter, he took jobs at ranch headquarters, and early in the 1900 Is he wintered at Ledger La Breque's about 12 miles "as the crow flies" down river from Pedro. He was "batching" and saw no one except Indians so he made an Indian word dictionary and learned to talk with his neighbors. Pedro was the meeting place for gathering up your mail, meeting folks and catching up on the news and also for attending dances, and it was at Pedro that Guy met "one of those Rose girls" of whom he had heard. The first to whom he spoke, was Ida, already married to Alex Webb, but Myrtle was there and loved to dance. Guy and Myrtle were married in August, 1905 and set up housekeeping on Guy's homestead about eight miles below Pedro on the Cheyenne River. They had a cedar log cabin about 141 x 241 which a former dweller had built and left, as well as a good cellar. Otherwise, a few horses and a little cash paid Myrtle for her homestead was all their worldly goods. However, work was plentiful and opportunities open for a good worker. Guy was always on hand to take a contract for haying or for wintering cattle. So the Davis' prospered; by 1924 their family consisted of six children: Roy, Ruby, Rose, Lucy, Ada and Sylvia; a larger house to accommodate the increase; cattle and space for grazing as well as some haycrop land. Then the Anthrax epidemic hit and cattle began to die-burning carcasses as they fell was one part of the job, moving the survivors out to fresh pasture, another. The whole family camped in a tent and in the back of the Model T Ford truck, serving as a camp wagon, as the cattle were moved to Plum Creek near Hilland for the remainder of the summer. Here, a remembered experience was the weathering of a cyclone, which found the family crouched in the covered truck box. No loss, though terrific wind, hail and rain, except one straw hat and a few pots and pans. With a loan from Ledger La Breque and a good word at the bank from Billie Borst, Guy was able to replace his herd with cattle from Flannigan's herd almost at once and back to work again to pay off the debt. Another more prosperous period followed, with good cattle raised and good prices-then the 1929 crash and the renowned "Dirty Thirties!" The cattle had to be moved from home and as there was no suitable pasture to be found, Guy just started them down the road, finding a little pasture here and a little there. The "Badlands" south of Wall proved to be the "Bestlands" for feed but a long drive for water. Here, Guy and son, Roy, camped and herded cattle for two years, joined by the other members of the family whenever they could. The rule was: never mind your habitat-tent in a snow bank or sheep wagon covered trailer in the hot sun and wind--take care of those cattle; see that they have feed and water even if you have to herd them all day, every day! At last the drought broke! There were some cattle sold to government at $20 a head but also some to drive home to Pedro, northeast Pennington County, to grow and prosper again. Enough to care for his family; enough to invest in neighboring, tracts of land lost by its owners during the frantic hard times of drought and depression. In the meantime, the children must have schools and a good education. This job fell to Myrtle, who needs to leave home to find schools; first, to Pedro in 1914 to live near Hawk's old store, next to Wasta for a year, then to a school near Hartley on "Coffee Mill Flat". Luckily a couple of years could be spent at home while Mrs. Huss taught the children of the neighborhood in the living room of her home. Now, with three children in grade school, two more to follow as well as two ready for high school, Myrtle embarked on a twentyyear task of educating children; making her home in Quinn, Philip, Wasta and finally back to Philip in 1940 -42. Her baby, Dona, was still in grade school when her time ran out with her death in June, 1942. Things at the ranch continued better after 1936. Roy married Hallene Shum and moved to the old Davis ranch south of Rapid City. Ruby, who had become a teacher, married Harold Morgan, who was a helpful son-in-law to Guy. Later, they moved to Rapid City. Rose took up nursing as her career, married Dr. Stahr from Minneapolis and lives at Hopkins, Minn. As the 1940's opened, all looked well for Guy Davis, but in 1942, Myrtle became ill and died that summer. She was a loyal helpmate and followed willingly into any venture; camping in tents as necessary and giving good care to her family. Guy now acquired three new sons-in-law. Ada, a teacher, married Vern Wilsey, who came to help at the ranch until W. W. II called him away. Upon his return, he and Ada made their home at the ranch until 1958, when they moved to a ranch at Allen, S. Dak. Sylvia married William Stone in 1942. They returned to Pedro from Rapid City in 1959 and now live at the old Pedro townsite. Guy's youngest daughter, Dona at 17, married Marvin Bodkin and they live in Greeley, Colo. In 1949, Harry Wilsey and Lucy, also a teacher, were married and came to live on the Davis ranch. After Vern Wilsey moved to Allen, Harry moved his family to the modern home Vern had built near the old Alex Webb home. Harry made improvements on the spring which brought in an abundant flow of water, an item not to be overlooked in northeastern Pennington County. Guy Davis spent his retiring years in travel; spending winters in New Mexico and visiting back to Pedro in the spring, until his death in 1960. The ranch still belongs to his children with Lucy's home on the Webb portion and others summer vacationing at the Old Homestead. [Photo - Guy and Myrtle Davis and son - 1908] [Photo - Guy Davis Ranch house - 19227 - Ruby and friend] [Photo - Guy Davis Haying Crew - 1922] [Photo - Vern Wilsey with catfish from Cheyenne River.] [Photo - Guy Davis by Ranch house - 1941]