Text of Ziebach Co., SD History (1982) - pages 20 - 41 This file is the text of the book, "South Dakota's Ziebach County, History of the Prairie", published in 1982 by the Ziebach County Historical Society, Dupree, SD Permission to publish this book in electronic form was given by Jackie Birkeland, member of the Historical Committee. This book is copyright, 1982 by the Ziebach County Historical Society, Dupree, SD. Scanning and OCR by Terri Tosh , final editing by Joy Fisher, . THE UTE UPRISING IN SOUTH DAKOTA from a paper written by David Laudenschlager The White River band of the Utes made two noteworthy efforts to register their contempt for the reservation life and the reduction of their lands. The second major act of defiance attempted by the Utes was played out (1906-1908) in an exodus of a large number of Utes to South Dakota. The Utes moved in typical plains Indian fashion, by horse and travois. Their procession strung out for miles on the Wyoming plains. They were in no great hurry, making no more than 15-20 miles each day. Captains Johnson and Pacton, with two troops of Tenth Cavalry from Fort Robinson, caught up with the Utes on 22 October, finding them camped .... about forty miles north of Gillette, Wyoming. They held council with Chief Appah's band the next morning. They found him with about 300 followers, 150 of them men fully armed. The Utes stated they had harmed no one and it appeared the only law they had broken was killing game. The Utes were taken to a site on the U. S. Military reservation about two miles south of Fort Meade. In January of 1907, [a] promise made to the Utes, concerning airing their grievances in Washington, was kept. A delegation of Utes visited our Nation's capitol. Captain Carter P. Johnson accompanied the group, as he was liked by the Utes. President Roosevelt granted the Utes an audience. Roosevelt stressed the point that they would have to do something to support themselves, but he was willing to show consideration and kindness. This conference with the President ended on the note that the Utes could negotiate an agreement with the Cheyenne River Sioux for a place to live in South Dakota. The importance of this meeting, however, was not the permission to negotiate with the Sioux, but Roosevelt's position that the Utes were to work. Finally, in March 1907, Johnson negotiated an agreement that would allow the Utes to remain in South Dakota. The plan provided for the leasing of four townships of land [in northern Ziebach County] from the Cheyenne River Sioux. The Utes would pay the Sioux four and one-half cents an acre for the land annually. The land was to be leased for five years, beginning on 1 July 1907. The cost was to be deducted from the Ute's annual annuity funds. All parties consented to this arrangement, so by 11 June 1907, the last of the Utes were en route from Fort Meade to the Thunder Butte Country. The Utes were actually relocated at the juncture of the Moreau River and Thunder Butte Creek. The Utes were unhappy at Thunder Butte, almost from the time of their arrival. The reason being that (Colonel Thomas) Downs, the agent in charge (of Cheyenne River Agency), insisted on their compliance with the wishes of President Roosevelt to work and to have their children attend school. He informed the Utes from the beginning of their stay on the Cheyenne River Reservation, that these requirements were to be met. The Utes, on the other hand, remained adamant in their refusal to meet these requirements. Though they did permit some of their children to attend the Day School at Thunder Butte Station, they feared sending them to a boarding school because they felt they might die there. They said they had seen too many children die in boarding schools in Utah. [photo – Remains of Army dugouts near Thunder Butte] [photo – Ute graves near Thunder Butte] The Utes claimed they had been promised full rations for each day of the year, that they would not be required to work, and that the school and storehouse erected at Thunder Butte would be on the land they leased. Downs' position was that they were to receive rations equivalent to nine months of a year and would be required to work to pay for the additional three months rations. Also, that the buildings erected at Thunder Butte Station were to be on the Sioux land and used jointly by the two tribes. Downs' continued insistence on all three conditions brought on showdown. He met in early October with a representative Ute Council, headed by a chief called Yellowstone. The Yellowstone commission was informed that unless they chose to obey the rules set down, their rations would be cut. Agent Downs, after conferring with his superiors in Washington, ordered the daily rations be cut in half. The crisis had reached the point of no return. The Indians were angered to the extent that they threatened to fight if forced to obey. Downs returned to the Cheyenne River Agency and wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs requesting that the Utes be disarmed at once and returned to Utah, as he feared their disobedience would spread to the Sioux. He also ordered a detail of fifteen policemen sent to the agency to maintain order. On 21 October 1907, the situation became critical. Red Cap, one of the Ute Chiefs and two other Utes went to Baker's house and asked why the policemen were at the Station. Baker told them that the policemen had come to build a barn. Red Cap rejected Baker's answer and said that "they had come to take their children to school, but if there were as many police as Utes, they could not take their children to school." On this same day, a Sioux Indian by the name of Iron Lightning, came to the Thunder Butte Day School where his daughter attended and asked permission to take her to another Station. He indicated that there was going to be trouble. Iron Lightning later met a rancher on the way to Bear Creek Station and told him that the police at Thunder Butte were preparing to drive the Utes back to Utah. Other ranchers, grazing their herds along the Moreau, saw Sioux families leaving the area. The ranchers interpreted this to mean that the Sioux had no desire to take part in the Ute Uprising. Agent Downs returned to Thunder Butte Station on the afternoon of 21 October 1907. He was informed of the situation by (Walter) Baker, Boss Farmer, and Mr. (Sidney) Corbin of the Day School. Mr. Corbin told him that his wife had been warned by Iron Lightning that the Utes were about to destroy the government buildings at the Station and that all whites at Thunder Butte were in great danger. That afternoon, Downs met with the Utes again; but they refused again to obey the demands laid before them. Somehow, Downs averted violence and managed to slip away from the Station on the 23rd and telephone this message from White Horse Station on the morning of the 24th: "Send at once all the armed men that can be had at and near the agency, and also telegraph Fort Meade for three troops of cavalry.'' The clerk Rastall was able to enlist the support of about fifty men in Forest City, South Dakota. The group was halted about four miles east of Thunder Butte Station, by a messenger sent by Downs. Downs ordered the group to return to the agency, fearing their appearance might trigger violence. The entrance to the station was a bend of the Moreau River. It appears that the Utes had taken up positions in this area. Meanwhile, the Army had been reviewing the agent's request for assistance. Troops were now being dispatched to Thunder Butte from Fort Meade, Fort Des Moines, and Fort Robinson. (Captain) Johnson was rushed from Nebraska by rail to Gettysburg, South Dakota. He traveled from there by horse, arriving at Thunder Butte on the 29th (of October). Johnson found that the situation had quieted down. The volunteer force had been withdrawn and only nine agency police were on duty. He counciled with the Utes, who were delighted to see him, and found their grievances to be the reduction in rations and the threat of being separated from their children. They also said they would obey all regulations prescribed. Downs was infuriated by Johnson's reception, and he refused to consider the Ute's promise to comply with his orders. He indicated that some sort of punishment should be given the Utes, as he feared the precedence set would cause problems for him among the Sioux. Troops were now arriving on the scene and the force grew to a strength of near one thousand. An additional company of infantry was stationed at Gettysburg. The troops were prepared for war. Some of the units were furnished with machine guns. All indications were that the Army was prepared for a winter campaign. Captain Johnson continued to argue in support of the Utes, but his words fell on deaf ears. The Ute's lease was now considered terminated and their only recourse in light of the odds was to agree to the conditions set before them by Agent Downs. Red Cap, his family, and about one hundred of the Utes were transferred to the Rapid City area in late November, where the men worked under the supervision of Charles Dagenet. Some of the Ute children attended the boarding school in Rapid City. The remainder of the Indian encampment at Thunder Butte spent the winter on the banks of the Moreau. They were sadly in need of tents, clothing and stoves. The stoves finally arrived on 30 January 1908. The rest never came. During the winter of 1907- 1908, food supplies also were short at times. The Army stayed that winter at Thunder Butte, but in reduced numbers. They were quartered in about a dozen dugouts on the perimeter of the Ute encampment. In the spring, the humbled Utes requested that they be allowed to return to their Utah Valley Reservation. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs concurred and in late June 1908, Captain Johnson, the Ute's old friend, ten troopers of the 10th Cavalry, and the Utes began the 1,100 mile return to their reservation in Utah. Their departure from Fort Meade in late June 1908 brought an end to the so-called Ute Uprising. The Ute's confrontation with the Army was the last of its kind for the plains Indian. [photo – Utes, taken July 4, 1908 (SDSHS)] UTE INDIANS The following three passages are from the South Dakota Oral History Center in Vermillion's American Indian Research Project of 1971: by Oscar White Weasel My father was a policeman then and he went down there to Fort Meade. That's where they meet them and they bring them down here and they have them at Cherry Creek and they divided up the Indians. Families tried to feed them. We had one lady with us. No wagons or nothing like that. They were all horseback and there were two poles dragging with stuff on. The babies they all carried on the back. They have some kind of jar made out of woven straw and gum on that to seal them holes and carry it on their saddles for drinking water. Above Cherry Creek there used to be that Day School, Carson Day School. They have a Fourth of July (1908) and there was an infantry there to guard the Utes. And, of course, there was no dance since that Wounded Knee trouble and that Custer. No sun dance. Nobody could have an Indian dance. Anyway, they put up that flag pole and them Indians put up the flag and (this army officer) told them they could go ahead and dance. So they started dancing then and ever since. Nowadays there's a dance anytime. But there was a pretty tough going then. The Utes dance too. Singing, they don't use drums. by Moses Circle Bear The Utes worked on the railroad and quite a lot of them worked at Rapid City Indian School. They got their rations from the Indian School. They lived around Rapid City, up into a canyon what they call a lake. Those people camped there. They said they liked their trees in the Utah forest. by Ruth Yellow Hawk Thunder Hoop We lived across the creek there and some of the Utes used to come to visit and tell us they didn't have anything to eat. They wanted clothing and so we used to give them food and whatever we had, and goods to make their dresses. The soldiers kept them at Thunder Butte. Then the soldiers took them back and so we followed them and we butchered cattle for them to fix for themselves and they had plenty of meat at that time. (After the Utes left, the Sioux people moved back to their camp at Thunder Butte Station.) THE TRADING POST OF LeBEAU by Rose Griffith Credit given True West magazine In 1875 a French trapper by the name of Antoine LeBeau, established a trading post on the east bank of the Missouri River near the mouth of Swan Creek, some 70 miles north, or upstream from Pierre, in Dakota territory. The flat lands east of the river were rapidly settled by homesteaders, so the town of LeBeau grew up around the trading post from which it took its name. By the early 1880's the town had accumulated some 60 buildings and boasted a population of about 250. But it wasn't until about 1907 that the town of LeBeau really came into its own. Intent on getting the shipping of the West River cattle herds that were going to the eastern markets, the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul extended its railroad westward from Bowdle to about 10 miles below the mouth of the Grand River on the Missouri River. Here the little town of Evarts came into being. The railroad acquired a right-of-way for trailing the livestock to this shipping point. It was about 6 miles wide and about 87 miles long, straight west of Evarts on the west side of the river. Both sides of the right-of- way were fenced and stock dams were built about a days drive apart so the livestock would have feed and water on the drive. Pole corrals were built on the west side of the river with a lane to a pontoon bridge to get the cattle to the railroad. There were also dipping vats for treatment of the southern cattle brought in. This made cheaper freight rates and the cattle were in good shape for the market. [photo – Main Street, looking north, LeBeau, South Dakota] [photo – Remains of old cattle ferry at LeBeau (S. Dakota Stockgrowers Assoc.)] So the town of Evarts became a rip roaring cow town, but this was destined not to last as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad decided to run its rails through Selby and Glenham on to the mouth of the Grand River to a new little town of Duroc, later to be named Grandby and now known as Mobridge. So Evarts was abandoned and most of its businesses moved to Duroc. Now the cattle from the Standing Rock Reservation were closer to a shipping point, so the stockmen of that area ceased to use "The Strip" as the stock trail was called. While the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul was pushing westward to the banks of the Missouri at Duroc the Milwaukee and St. Louis were building to the banks of the Missouri at the mouth of Swan Creek to take over the cattle hauling from Cheyenne River Reservation. So again the town of LeBeau boomed. The cattle shipped up from the south in the spring were ferried across to the reservation. In the fall the river usually was low enough so the cattle could swim across when they were ready for market. The great herds of Murdo McKenzie and Cap Mossman flowed in and out of LeBeau the year around. Some of the businesses that left Evarts for Duroc came back and settled in LeBeau. Phil DuFran with his saloon was one of them. Most of the town was set up to cater to the cowboy. So with the endless flow of cattle and the money the cowboys were willing to spend to get the gumbo dust out of their throats etc., LeBeau became a thriving cowtown with little worry about the future. The fall of 1909 alone saw over 150,000 head of cattle loaded out of LeBeau for shipment to eastern markets. Everyone had plenty of money and everyone was spending it. LeBeau was destined to go down in history as the greatest shipping point of all time, until fate changed it's destiny in the fall of 1909. Murdo McKenzie's son David "Dode" as his friends called him, was manager of the Matador herds on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Lacking his father's reserve he was inclined to get as loud and impetuous, when loaded with barroom whisky, as most of the cowboys after the fall roundup and shipping. Bud Stephens who had formerly worked for the Matadors in Texas, was the bartender for Phil DuFran. He and Dode McKenzie had had some trouble before coming to South Dakota. When Dode and some of the Matador cowboys rode into town on the morning of December 11, 1909, they stopped at a saloon to get the dust out of their throats and celebrate a little. Dode began to get a little boisterous but wasn't looking for trouble. To spice the monotony of a dull Saturday morning some town punks told Bud Stephens he had better have his gun ready as Dode McKenzie was coming in to get him. So Bud had his gun in easy reach when Dode came in the door just before noon. Bud grabbed his gun without warning and shot Dode twice in the chest. Dode slowly turned around and staggered out the door, falling by the steps. Bud followed him out and shot him in the back two more times. Dode died in the dust just beyond the steps of DuFran's saloon. Bud was put in jail in the county seal at Selby and was tried for murder in March of 1910. Most of the citizens of LeBeau strongly felt Stephens should be convicted. Murdo McKenzie hired a lawyer he thought to be the best, to prosecute Stephens. Phil DuFran hired a 23 year old attorney named Pat Morrison, from Mobridge to defend Bud Stephens. Though LeBeau was located on the east side of the Missouri it was a cowtown but Selby was the center of a farming community. Pat Morrison was careful to select a jury composed of homesteaders who didn't like the cattlemen anyway. Bud pleaded self defense, he said that he was tipped off that Dode was out to get him and he had feared for his life when Dode came in the saloon wearing a gun (which was standard wearing apparel of that time among the cowboys). The jury of homesteaders acquitted the bartender. Bud Stephens spent no time in leaving the country and Pat Morrison became known as one of the best criminal lawyers in the state. For the acquittal of Bud Stephens the Matador outfit boycotted the town of LeBeau. The town not only suffered from the boycott but the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad lost a good share of revenue so they abandoned the idea of bridging the river and going on west. In mid summer of 1910 a raging fire burned over half of the buildings on main street. When they tried to put out the fire they found that the fire hoses were cut in little bits. It was rumored that the Matadors set the fires but if they did they left no evidence. It was also rumored that the influence of Murdo McKenzie had a lot to do with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul bridging the Missouri River at Mobridge and pushing a line southwestward to Faith in the heart of the cattle range. Soon LeBeau was abandoned as a shipping point and the Milwaukee and St. Louis railroad tore up it's track. As the town died, movable structures were sold or torn down to make way for homesteads. Only the brick or stone structures remained to mark the spot. The jingle of spurs and gumbo dust was gone forever. The waters of the Oahe reservoir have covered the town site now. It will have to be the oldest of the old timers who will be able to point out, there under water is the burial place of old LeBeau. Many of our first homesteaders stopped at LeBeau over night before coming on to their homesteads in Ziebach county. Chapter 2 THE HOMESTEADERS HOMESTEAD ACT May 29, 1908, an Act of Congress opened up a large part of the Cheyenne River Reservation. The Act, known as the Homestead Act, gave white settlers the opportunity to take possession of land in the opened portion of the reservation. The railroads purchased right of ways through the central part of the reservation. With the cattle and grain industry, many towns sprang up along the shipping points. Two counties, Dewey and Ziebach, became organized within the Cheyenne River Reservation boundaries. [photo - Chicago Northwestern poster] HOMESTEADERS by Alex Chasing Hawk All of this county used to be reservation. After the Allotment, white people came and settled here. They took all the land along the highway. The farm women used to make good bread. Great big leaves. And with the homemade butter, you could make a meal on just bread and butter. [photo – John Hinckel on his homestead north of Dupree. He was an employee of the railroad.] [photo – Homesteaders near Dupree (1910)] [photo – Inside a homestead shack] Things used to taste better. Coffee beans used to be bought in big tin cans, about a foot in diameter and two feet high. The beans were green and they would brown them in the oven. Then in the mornings, they would grind the beans and make coffee. You could smell it in the next room, but nowadays, you can boil the coffee and you won't even smell it. It used to taste good. When Faith just started there were some guys that had a saloon and they had a butcher shop too. There was no refrigeration then, so they built a room in the back and put blocks of ice along the walls. Then they hung the halves of beef in there and there was just cold air. When you wanted to buy some, they would bring out a beef and lay it on a big table and cut off what you wanted. That meat really tasted good, not like meat you buy in supermarkets, today. The following is reprinted from a brochure used to entice homesteaders to come to Ziebach County. The Heart of the Famous Fox Ridge The Last Best Homestead Country Land of Fertile Prairies, Pure Water and Untold Opportunities Location The Fox Ridge Country is a tract of rich agricultural land about thirty miles wide by sixty miles long, lying between and parallel to the Moreau River and Cheyenne River. It embraces the southern part of Ziebach County and the southwestern part of Dewey County and most of the southern half of what was the Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Western South Dakota. History In 1868, what is now the western half of South Dakota was included in the territory set apart by the Government for the sole use of the Sioux Tribe of Indians and was called the Great Sioux Reservation. From time to time thereafter the Indians ceded to the Government for purposes of settlement the less desirable parts of the Reserve, retaining always those tracts most favored by Nature. At length the once vast domain was reduced to a comparatively small district lying north of the Cheyenne River and west of the Missouri River in Western South Dakota. This the Sioux Tribe designated as their last best choice -- and who should be better able to judge than they? They well knew it was the richest in game, wood, water and pasturage and the most productive for their gardens and fields. Here in the Fox Ridge Country it was that the last herd of wild buffalo roamed at large. With the passing of the buffalo came the Texas steer and for a generation the Ridge was a vast pasture controlled by the great cattle companies, who leased the land from the Indians. But the region of such fertility was not to remain under the control of a few millionaires. Instead it was destined to furnish homes for thousands of men of moderate means, who were to come in and establish prosperous farms and villages upon its broad and smiling prairies. In 1908 a bill was passed in Congress which provided for the opening of the larger part of the Reserve and on May 1, 1910, the same was thrown open to settlement by the Government and the era of the "homesteader" was at hand. The settlers poured in during the following summer, locating on their new farms. By the end of the summer a branch line of the C.M.&P.S. Ry. was completed, traversing the Ridge throughout its entire length, and thus furnishing convenient shipping facilities for the new citizens. By winter the need of a local government was felt and the State Legislature, then in session, created the present County of Ziebach. At the special election the following April, the rapidly growing town of Dupree was selected as the County Seat. Topography The surface of the country is generally rolling throughout, intersected here and there by well timbered creeks which drain north to the Moreau or south to the Cheyenne. Elm Creek flows to the east through the center of the county and joins Bear Creek about ten miles from its mouth; this creek being the chief tributary to the Moreau River. Soil and Water The rich quality of the soil is what has made the Fox Ridge famous. It consists mostly of a fertile loam, ranging from chocolate to black and is classed by the Government experts as the Morton Loam. To quote from the United States Government Soil Survey report: "These Morton Loams are among the most productive soils in western South Dakota, their ease of cultivation, retentiveness of moisture and generally undulating surface, makes them very desirable and they have been much sought after by homesteaders .... the soil is underlain by a yellowish or brownish silty clay loam subsoil....Oats, wheat, barley and flax ....Corn....and many kinds of vegetables .... are well adapted to these soils". . The raising of alfalfa has also proven to be very profitable in this locality and it is believed will become King of the Fox Ridge. The surface of the Fox Ridge Country is entirely free from areas of stone or sand. The abundance of soft, sweet well water which may be secured in all parts of the Ridge at a moderate depth is one of the many virtues of the country. Rainfall The following extract is taken from the United States Government Soil Survey Report and is the most accurate and dependable information that can be given on the subject: "Most of the precipitation occurs during the growing season. Using the average of the records at all stations, the total amount from October to March, inclusive, is 4.22 inches or 0.70 inches per month, while in the six months from April to September, it is 14.05 inches or 2.34 inches per month, more than three times as much. This distribution is very favorable to agriculture, as it comes during the season when most needed.'' Prior to the opening of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, the Government caused an appraisement to be made of all lands which would become subject to homestead entry. These lands were divided into three classes, land in the first class being appraised at $6.00 per acre, land in the second class being appraised at $4.50 per acre, and lands in the third class at $2.50 per acre. These are the prices which the settlers are required to pay for the land. The terms for the payment of this money are, however, made very easy for the homesteader -- one-fifth of the appraised value being paid at the time of filing, and when the entryman desires to make proof on the five year plan, he pays the balance due in five equal annual payments. He may, however, make proof at the end of fourteen months continual residence by paying the balance due on the land when he offers commutation proof. All citizens of the United States or persons who have declared their intentions of becoming such, who are over 21 years of age, and not the proprietor of more than 160 acres at the time of filing, are eligible to file on a homestead. Homesteads Since the opening of the Reservation there has been a continual influx of home- seekers. They have chosen the land close to the railroads and towns, but there still remains hundreds of quarters of good land, accessible to the markets, back a few miles from the towns, which are subject to homestead entry. There are also a few relinquishments to homesteads, to be had, close to town by paying a reasonable sum to the original entryman. Schools The settlers were no sooner well established in their new homes on the Ridge than those in each community set about the organization of schools so that their children might continue their studies without interruption, and now there are practically no pupils of school age located at an inconvenient distance from a country school. Churches Within a few weeks after the opening of the country, several Sunday Schools were organized and from time to time different localities have arranged for regular church services. There are at the present time several established churches and permanent buildings will be erected during the next few months by several of them. Dupree A large percent of those holding low numbers in the Government drawing for the reservation lands chose their claims on the Fox Ridge and near the Government townsite of Dupree. The business and professional men who expected to locate in the new country were quick to note this; in fact, many anticipated that it would be so, and before the first filing was made, several buildings had been erected. When the summer was half over, Dupree had become a very flourishing village. Before it was a year old, it was selected by the voters as the County Seat of Ziebach County and is now by far the largest and most promising town of the county and of the Fox Ridge, having a future before it as bright as that of any city in Western South Dakota. Opportunities From four to ten miles there still remains open to settlement about 300 quarter sections, any of which would make a fine farm for any one who desires to locate in this country; but, of course, these will be taken up by the homeseekers who arrive early. Outside of the ten mile zone, the area of open land is quite extensive and this is where most of the settlers will locate who come during the coming season, for there is to be found much of the best land that is still available, and ten to fifteen miles in this country of fine roads, is not an unhandy distance from market. Several country towns are also starting up, which will prove very convenient trading points and post offices for those who live more than eight miles from the railroad. Homestead lands are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In two or three years perhaps all land of any value will be gone. If you desire to secure a good farm at a very small expense, you should at once take advantage of the opening which awaits you in the Fox Ridge Country. Be convinced that here is the opportunity which you have long been seeking -- obtain a comfortable home and acquire independence. Write for any further information you may desire, or better still, make a visit immediately to the Fox Ridge and see for yourself that the country is everything we claim. DUPREE COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION DUPREE, SOUTH DAKOTA A 1911 LETTER Taken from the Platte Tribune, written by G. H. Gregory of Dupree. Dear Friend George, Things have now quieted down for the winter, the rush of filing is about over and the settlers now on the ground begin to know who their neighbors are or are to be. The railroad reached our town three weeks ago, and a mixed train is running daily and carrying the mail with promise of better trains and more of them in a short time. Dupree is a rapidly growing little city of about fifty business places already located and several more coming in as soon as they can get here. The town is well supplied with professional men also, several doctors and lawyers having erected substantial office buildings along the main streets. Since the railroad came in there has been a great many visitors, such as land seekers, business men, commercial men, etc. and it seems to be universally agreed that it will be the best town on the reservation and have a population of 2,000 or more within the year. Visions of the county seat are already seen ahead as it is near the central location and no other town in the county at present. Dupree started at the very first and had a steady growth long before there was any surety that the road would come through this year, and after considering the character of a group of business men who would take so great a risk to back their faith, it will be seen that the future of the town is in safe hands. The two banks now have suprisingly large deposits; there is a wide-awake newspaper, several general merchandise, grocery, hardware and drug stocks, lumber yards, livery stables, feed stores, pool halls, a blacksmith shop, etc. The town is located on the south bank of Elm Creek, is well wooded and a very pretty water course, which, in ordinary years is a flowing stream the year around. Elm Creek rises to the west and flows in an easterly direction until it joins Bear Creek about 10 miles east of Dupree and the waters of the two streams then flow north to the Moreau River. East, 11 or 12 miles, is the townsite of Lantry, and 9 miles farther, the new town of Eagle Butte. Nine miles west is the Arrowhead townsite and just outside the reservation line, a distance of 22 miles west of Dupree is the flourishing town of Faith. Lying between the south breaks of the Moreau and those on the north side of the Cheyenne is the comparatively narrow strip of country known as the Fox Ridge which already is one of the most famous segments in the western half of the state; especially noted for its rich and promising soil. The "Ridge" has an average width of 15 to 18 miles, practically all fine farm land, and the five to ten miles of breaks on either side are the best pasture for range stock and also contain much timber as well as dead wood, which latter has already proved of great value to the settlers this season. Most of the surface of the Ridge is gently rolling, due to its being intersected by numerous small draws leading to the breaks and creeks. Few of the slopes are too deep to plow well, however, and there are no lake beds or rock in this vicinity. Along the creeks and their larger branches will generally be found a lot of gumbo and "hardpan" with plenty of sagebrush, but back on the prairie, on the ridges or divides, is found a very rich, deep, black loam, slightly sandy in places and now covered with a very heavy growth of grass. They are experienced farmers now living on the Ridge, from nearly all of our great agricultural states, and all agree that everything under the sun can be grown in its soil that the climate will allow. Further than this, the nature of the country is especially adapted to grain farming and stock raising and it is this that the country will undoubtedly make its greatest development. Last summer it was very dry here in common with many other regions of the country. The weather during the autumn and up to January last was simply fine and California has nothing in that line to offer which would tempt a settler in this country. We had a cold snap New Years Day, but although the thermometer "hit the toboggan" there has been no snow on the ground at this time. There is some Indian land along the Ridge but as very few of the owners reside thereon this land may be obtained at a nominal leasing fee, for grazing or farming. Nearly all of the townships on the prairies have 3 or 4 sections of school land which may be leased for hay or pasture. Most of the good farm land has now been taken up. A few good claims still remain open and some of those who have already filed are willing to relinquish for reasonable sums. Nearly every quarter has a claim "shack" erection thereon and the majority of them are inhabited at the present time although many of the "Honyockers", as the homesteaders are called, have gone back to the old home on a leave of absence for the winter. But they will be here full force in the early spring, fencing the claims, breaking out the prairie sod and with a favorable season, hope to gather a bountiful crop of corn, flax, "spuds", etc. In two or three years at the longest the appearance of the country will be entirely changed and another rich and populous section will have been added to our rapidly growing state. Yours very truly, G. H. Gregory Eb Jones and the Homesteader Eb Jones had settled on Little Bear Creek a few miles east of Dupree, long before this county (Ziebach) was opened for settlement. So when the homesteaders came, he, along with his brother-in-law, Jim Herald, and Lou Davidson engaged in the Locating Business ... helping settlers find the best possible land in the best possible location. Many of these settlers made the Eb Jones ranch their headquarters while they looked the country over. An old German and his boy were driving a team hitched to a wagon ... not many cars in those days : .. scarcely any, when they drove into a prairie dog town. One of these dogs suddenly popped out of his hole giving a squeaking bark near the horses. They quickly ran away and spilled the old man and the boy out of the wagon. As the old man got up he was brushing himself off, he angrily exclaimed. "I don't like this tam country. It's all alcohol, it won't raise anything but alpaca and you have to irritate it to make it grow!" After securing their team they journeyed on 'till they came to the Eb Jones ranch, where they asked to stay all night. Eb said they could stay. Then as they unhitched the team the old man asked, "Vill it be all right the horses loose to turn? Is dis place fenced?" Eb said "It's fenced. Turn them loose if you want to." The next morning the Dutchman and his son had a hard time locating their horses among the trees along the creek. At last they found them about four miles up the creek grazing along a fence running east and west. When they got back to Eb's house, they were still angry and the old man broke loose with explosive profanity and said to Eb: "You said dis place vas fenced already." Eb said: "It is fenced already. I told you, you could turn your horses loose. I didn't know they would go away as far as they could get." The old man ended the conversation by saying disgustedly: "A tam barnyard ten miles long! '' One time Eb had an argument with a neighbor about some unbranded calves which Eb had lost and he thought the neighbor had been in some way connected with their mysterious disappearance. After a rather heated argument Eb ended it saying, "You steal my calves and I'11 steal your horses!" Later when Eb ran in the first election (1911) for county commissioner of the third district of the county (Ziebach) he had for his opponent, Eldon Clark, an attorney from Chicago, whose homestead was about seven miles east of Eb's ranch. During the campaign, shortly before election day, it was circulated among the voters that Eb Jones was a horse thief. If Jones took any horses he probably did so in self-defense, to hold his own, preserve the status quo and stay in the ranching business. However that may be, the homesteaders, who were from the East, did not thoroughly understand the manners and customs of the "Old Timers"; did not want a reputed horse thief for their first county commissioner, and so elected Eldon Clark by a substantial majority. Besides being an attorney, Clark was also a Mason and had been a Sunday School teacher. COUNTY DREW HOMESTEADERS Many homesteaders and others came to the Ziebach County area by emigrant car following the completion of the railroad, which was the basis of community development. The shift was to farming. Most put up tents or found accommodations with new neighbors until they could erect a shack or sod shanty. Many of the early cowhands or ranch foremen became ranchers or farmers with the coming of the homesteaders in 1909 and succeeding years. Mrs. George Till, who came to a homestead near Dupree at the age of 10, in 1911, recalls living in a tent while the family built a sod house. "We all worked at it," she said, "cutting chunks of sod about 15x20 inches and five or six inches thick. We would lay each one on a board that size, carry and place them individually. Each row would go clear around the house but they were interlocking at the corners. The roof was of boards covered with sod and we whitewashed the inside walls. We lived in that sod house for the next twenty years. It was cool in summer and warm in winter." Mrs. Till also said that "when the cattlemen called us honyockers, it would burn Dad up." ''I remember we had a lot of sand and wind," she continued, "and once when it blew our tent down, soot from the fire where we were baking bread got all over the bread. We had to eat it, soot and all." Other homesteaders recalled that longhorns were still roaming the area, many from the Diamond A which was giving up most of its leases, but did not completely close its main operations in the southeastern part of the county until about 1960, when the holdings of Leon Williams were bequeathed to Dartmouth College. Williams had purchased the operation from Cap Mossman in about 1947. Limited numbers of cattle had been given to native residents of the reservation but they served more us food than to build up herds so in 1901 preparations were made to lease all of the reservation to large cattle outfits. The following year the county was divided into eight large pastures. Those in what is now Ziebach County were occupied by the "73" in the northern section, "Sword and Dagger'' in the southwest, L/Y in the south central and the "Mississippi" in the south and east. The pastures were divided by substantial barbed wire fences and each outfit maintained several camps and a number of men to look after the thousands of head of cattle. The 73 Ranch, once owned by Scotty Philip, who secured buffalo from the Dupris family to start his herd, was later sold to Millin and Strooby. The Sword and Dagger, run under the name of White River Cattle Company, was sold in 1907 to the Diamond A, which was managed by Capt. Burton C. Mossman, along with the Turkey Track, until Diamond A took over its leases in 1909. Over the next few years, Diamond A was reported to have run about 40,000 cattle in the area. The L/Y was succeeded by the HO, owned by Gene Holcomb of Rapid City, in the south central part of the county in about 1905 when his herds fared better than many others during a severe May storm. Ed Lemmon, who owned the L7 brand, also was among early ranchers running cattle in the western part of the county. Other early ranchers included Eb Jones; Lew Bentley, freighter on the Black Hills Trail out of Pierre who later located along the Moreau and at one time operated a Trading Post at Thunder Butte; the sons of Louis LaPlante, a trader and government scout who was once in partnership with Philip; and Joseph Langlois, a Frenchman who had been a scout for Custer in Kansas. Among the earliest white settlers in the northern part of the county was the L. D. Bentley family which moved to a location along the Moreau River in 1900, trailing a herd of cattle from Ft. Pierre. The family later operated a post office named Lewis before establishing a store at Thunder Butte and moving the post office there. By 1915, it had been determined that the 160 acre homestead was inadequate and the government was induced to apply provisions of an Enlarged Homestead Act of February 1908, making it possible to file on claims of 320 acres. Homesteaders continued to come into the area until after World War I. With the declining cattle industry, sheep ranching began to contribute to the economy. Among the largest early ranches were those of M. J. Smiley in the northwest part of the county and the Three Cornered Outfit in the south, with Jack Burke as manager. The county was credited with 98 farms in 1910 and in 1925 there were 723. Total valuation increased from $476,215 in 1911 to $6,041,188 in 1921. The number of farms or ranches with more than 1,000 acres decreased from 128 in 1920 to 89 in 1925. There have been swings both ways since but in recent years the trend is to larger operations. There is a balance between livestock operations, bettered by the large number of stock dams constructed under various federal programs since the mid-30's, and farming, with strip and contour cultivation, summer fallowing, and other conservation practices playing an important part. However, trends follow the markets whether they be of livestock or of wheat. THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT IN A NEW COUNTRY The following story, written by Alfred Went of Bath, South Dakota appearing in the December 15, 1914 issue of The Dakota Farmer, describes an evening spent in the home of Kate Davis and her son, Mark - mother and brother of Mrs. Leah Delehan. This would be typical of the warm hospitality always accorded to guests in the Davis and Delehan homes. These folks were Ziebach County residents. It was a dull grey day in the West River country and Herbert Hobbe, a homesteader friend I had been visiting on the Moreau River, was taking me back to the railroad town of Faith. The trail was heavy with mud and 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon caught us at the Moreau post office. "I'II not try to make town tonight," Herb told me. "I don't know the trail any too well and hardly care to be caught out on it after dark, but by going south we'll strike the Sederstrom roadhouse. I know this trail pretty well. Besides the mail has gone down today and we can follow his buggy tracks in the mud." We started, but night came down faster and blacker than we expected. The clouds were hanging low and before long we lost sight of Fox Ridge, our only land mark. We kept close watch of the buggy track and it finally seemed to lead us to the right fork in the trail, and this led us onto the open prairie and left us stranded against a barbwire fence. Prospects were good for camping out all night. We drifted along the fence for perhaps a mile and struck a cross fence. I kicked the wire off several posts and held them down while Herb drove the team across. Within a few rods we made a joyful discovery -- a trail with a fresh buggy track. But our troubles were not yet over. The depressing gloom made everything uncertain and robbed us of all sense of direction. The miles dragged out and we seemed to be getting nowhere. Suddenly a deserted claim shanty thrust itself out of the darkness but Herb could not place it. But at last we caught the glimmer of a light across the hills. Better still, our trail led us directly to it and here we learned that the road house was only a few miles ahead on a trail we could easily follow. The clouds were lifting and the ghostly light of a rising moon was breaking through. The horses moved off more freely and we were soon at the roadhouse. "Let's go on to Ellis' -- I want to see him anyway," Herb said. A short distance beyond the roadhouse we saw another light. "Why, that's Davis," Herb exclaimed. "I supposed they had gone to the Delehan ranch. We'll go there. You'll like them. I am mighty glad we found them at home." So was I when we stretched our stiff legs by a cheerful fire, caught the odor of a good supper in the making and felt the hospitality of this home. Only a few minutes before I had heard the name of Mark Davis and his mother, Rate Davis for the first time - - now we were old friends. I have never entered a home where welcome was more sincere. Naturally I got into the kitchen and had a visit with Mrs. Davis while she was preparing our supper. The kitchen is a place for friendliness -- formality is left behind in the sitting room. I have since heard Mrs. Davis called "The Good Angel of Spring Creek", but I did not need to be told this after coming to know her in her home. Some years ago she came from Indiana to this new western land with her son, Mark, and daughter Leah. They came prepared to stay and make a home. The railroad was not yet in and they had to hire their goods moved from Mobridge. It was 125 miles overland. They were twelve days on the way with five big freighter wagons besides a light wagon of their own. Their claims were on a creek bottom slashed across the open uninhabited prairie and here they built their pioneer home. There was hardships, of course, but also happiness and interesting experiences and better health. Sorrow fell to their lot -- graves must be dug on the frontier as well as back east. But they were not discouraged in doing their share and more, I think -- toward helping build up the country. "It was a new life for me and in some respects a hard one," Mrs. Davis said, as we all gathered for a visit after supper. "But we had come prepared with supplies to last us a long time, so we had plenty to eat and wear, with something left over to help others with. There were those who needed help. It's just wicked the way many people were brought in here to take claims. A number of them did not have the slightest idea of what they were facing. It was nothing uncommon for them to be practically without money but happy in the idea that Uncle Sam had given them a piece of land they could sell for a big price as soon as they proved up. They saw some pretty pinching times. That was bad enough, but it made my heart ache to note the spiritual poverty no church in this neighborhood, no Sunday School and few of the restraints that every community should have. "When Christmastide was near, a homesickness came over me as I thought of the Christmas service in our beautiful church back home in Indianapolis. How I wished the people here might be given something of that church and that influence. I just could not let Christmas go by unheeded. I sent back to Indiana for holly and mistletoe, and pink and white carnations. They came by way of Lemmon, and had to be brought from there overland. As luck, or providence, would have it, they came through in perfect condition. Mark went twenty miles to the river and got two Christmas trees. We decorated our little home and made it as Christmasy as we could. We had Christmas dinner with flowers at each plate, and Indiana fruit from my cans down cellar, and roast chicken -- we couldn't get a turkey -- and candy that Mark made. He used to work in a candy house, and I think his candy is finer than you can buy. "Who did we have? Why, every girl I could find who was away from home -- and the boys, too. We got track of fifteen, and they all came. I told them that Santa Claus had a long way to travel in reaching here and his stock had perhaps run a little low but his spirit was the same. It was Christmas. The girls and boys stayed all day and into the night -- I wanted them to and they seemed to want to. What a happy Christmas it was for me. They needed Christmas -- and I had a chance to help them have it.'' The fire burned low. It was long past bedtime. We reluctantly said "good night". And in my dreams I first wandered lost through chilling darkness over a raw new country, and at last found my way to the warmth and light and comfort in the home of a brave pioneer woman whose hospitality is as of pure gold, whose life is a rich gift to the homesteaders of Spring Creek. CLOVERLEAF CORNERS BOOMS 1910 [photo – Church gathering at Cloverleaf, 1912] Cloverleaf District No. 8 claims 36 children of school age within a four mile radius and is planning a new school. Not far from this area is Fred Beguhl's claim. He has 120 acres broken, just think of it, 120 acres? This is planted to flax and corn, also a little wheat and speltz. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Reich with their two children, Edna and John, reside on a claim eight miles from Dupree. They have 35 acres planted to corn and flax. Herman Eulberg, 7 miles from the Cloverleaf, a bachelor, who does not like to be cooped up in small quarters. His cottage is 18 x 18 and 10 feet high. His quarter is fenced and he has a big sod barn. Some of Dupree's attractive young ladies will do well to keep their eyes on Herman. A. G. Davis has five children, two boys, Herbert and George, and three girls, Hazel, Hattie and Pervey, with him on his claim. He has nearly 80 acres broken and his quarter is fenced. Chapter 3 ZIEBACH COUNTY EVOLVES ORGANIZATION OF ZIEBACH COUNTY AND ITS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by Montel Creamer from a 1936 manuscript The reservation was settled in 1910, and the next problem was to organize the county. Out of the three unorganized counties in this area, Schnasse, Armstrong, and Dewey, it was proposed that two counties be made -- one to include all land south of the Moreau River, thus forming Ziebach County and one to include all the area north of the Moreau River, thus forming what was to be Dewey County. Following a petition by Timber Lake boosters, Dewey County was organized as it was then bounded. What was left of Schnasse County was not large enough to comply with the law for creating a new county, so the petitioners asked that a part of Armstrong County be included in the plan for Ziebach County. This new area was to be bounded on the west by the one hundred second meridian, on the north by Corson County, on the east by Dewey and Armstrong Counties, and on the south by the Cheyenne River. This new county was to include some fifty five townships and about 1,964 square miles. This organization left a strip of land, about as wide as one tier of townships, between Dewey and Schnasse counties and from the forty-fifth parallel north to Corson County. This area was also included in the petition to the State Legislature asking for the creation of Ziebach County. The county commissioners held their first meeting to perfect the organization of Ziebach County in the law office of Walter E. Wolf. They adopted a motion to divide the county into three commissioners districts to be represented respectively by Warren H. Peck, Harvey M. Spellman, and Eldon W. Clark. Attorney L. W. Henderson, Doctor R. Heslop Payne, and the County Judge were appointed to the County Insanity Board. Doctor F. H. Creamer was appointed County Physician. The next step was to divide the county into three school districts to correspond to the commissioner districts. [map – County outline of South Dakota, taken from a 1909 atlas] At the meeting of the commissioners on May 23, 1911, Government Reserve Block Number 38 in Dupree was chosen as the location for the new county buildings. The original courthouse and jail buildings served Ziebach County until 1931, with the exception of a few years when part of the officials had offices in the Stewart Building. In 1931, the county built a new $55,000 building, measuring eighty-five by sixty feet. The building was three stories high and was built entirely of tile and reinforced concrete. Twenty-year bonds were issued for the amount of $55,000. The total cost of the building and equipment was approximately $65,000. On May 29, 1911, the county commissioners held a meeting which resulted in the division of Ziebach County into ten road districts. On September 5 of the same year, the first tax levies were made -- a two mill tax for county salaries, a five mill tax for bridges, and a twenty mill tax for school purposes. In addition to the assessed valuation of the county, 9,168 cattle belonging to the Diamond A Cattle Company were added to the assessor's book at a total valuation of $137,520. In August, 1912, a petition was presented to the county commissioners asking for the division of the county into two counties. This action resulted from the dissatisfaction concerning the location of the county seat. The commissioners turned the petition down, because it did not provide for a new name for the new county and because it included new and organized territory over which the board had no authority. H. E. Keller and Frank A. Haagen had built branch stores in Dupree early in 1910, but the majority of the people did not migrate there until late summer and early fall. Among the professional men who moved to Dupree from LeBeau were Doctor F. H. Creamer, Attorneys T. R. Nelson and L. W. Henderson, and H. R. Van Campen, a druggist. The railroad did not reach Dupree until December of 1910. The people were, therefore, at first obliged to freight their lumber from LeBeau, about eighty-five miles east, and later from Isabel, thirty-five miles to the north. The early "squatters" lived in tents and improvised shelters of every description. It was not until the winter and the spring of 1911 that enough lumber was available to carry out the building program of the new village. A petition was circulated in June, 1911, asking the county commissioners to grant papers of incorporation for Dupree. The census in 191i showed 181 residents, comprising 40 families and a total of 82 voters. The county commissioners called upon the people to vote on the proposition on July 18, 1911. This election resulted in favor of incorporation by a vote of 41 to 10, and the town was so incorporated on July 25, 1911, under the name of Dupree. In August, 1911, the town of Dupree was granted the privilege of using the county jail for the detention of persons committed by the municipal court. For fire protection, the Dupree Commercial Club organized a volunteer fire department with F. M. Bailey as the first fire chief and bought a building from Mr. Hellinger to house the fire fighting apparatus. Dupree was well supplied with professional and businessmen by 1910 and 1911. The town had five doctors, five attorneys, one dentist, two druggists, two banks, three hotels, seven lumber yards, four general stores, and a large number of restaurants, hardware stores, and other places of business. Redelm, the other organized town, never grew to any great size. It was located on a townsite belonging to the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. This town twice contested the location of the county seat but was defeated both times. In addition to the two organized towns, there are several organized communities in the county. Glad Valley community had a general store, a post office, a church, and a school in 1936. Chase community had a post office, and Pleasant Valley community had a church and a school. There are also two historically important Indian substations, Cherry Creek and Thunder Butte, located in Ziebach County. Cherry Creek, in fact, is the oldest historical site in Ziebach County. Once settled and organized, Ziebach County began to take on the appearance of a thriving community, building up its lines of communication and developing its industries and natural resources. Frank M. Ziebach, for whom Ziebach County was named was born near Lewisburg, Pennsylvania in 1830. He was active in territorial and state affairs. He was a member of the territorial legislature and in 1886 was made receiver of the land office. He was widely known throughout the state as "Governor", the title having attached itself to him when he was a member of the territorial legislature and frequently presided over the session of the so- called Third House, which was in fact a caucus of territorial leaders. He passed away at the age of 99 years, on September 20, 1929. [photo – Frank M. Ziebach] ONCE A PAPER COUNTY, ZIEBACH IS REAL NOW by Lyn Gladstone A county that existed only on paper, a town that had to be moved out of sticky gumbo and had its name misspelled, and another town founded just because it was believed far enough away. All are found in the history of Ziebach County, named for Frank M. Ziebach who established the first newspaper in South Dakota at Yankton and later served in the territorial legislature and as commissioner of the U. S. Land Office. It was created by the Dakota Territorial legislature in 1877, consisting of what is now Pennington east of the Cheyenne River. However, it was never organized as such and existed only on paper until 1897 when Pennington was extended to its present boundaries. In 1875 what became the present Ziebach County (designated by the 1911 state legislature) was part of Cheyenne which extended north and south of the Cheyenne River. In 1883, it was included in Schnasse which extended to North Dakota, Pyatte to the south, Sterling and Rush (later Dewey). Part also was included in Armstrong in 1889. Drought and severe winters contributed to the decline of big cattle operations in the area, but the big impetus came from congressional action, May 29, 1908, and an August, 1909 Presidential proclamation opening unallotted lands to white settlement. This also resulted in "diminishment" of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation under homestead laws. Applications for homesteads were to be filed on or after October 4, 1909, but actual entry was not to occur until April 1, 1910. Homesteaders and squatters, who wanted to be on hand as new towns were formed, began moving into the area -- at first from LeBeau, a booming cattle town on the east bank of the Missouri in southwestern Walworth County; later from Evarts, farther north; then from near Mobridge when the railroad was extended to that point, and later from Isabel when the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific completed a line to that terminus. As the railroads built up a southern branch from Trail City to Faith, other small towns sprung up. The first such, in what was to become Ziebach County, was Dupree. The route of the railroad had been surveyed and staked so the town began with a few tents and rough lumber camps in late 1909, two miles east of where it eventually was located. On the gumbo flats of the LaPlante ranch along a branch of Bear Creek, where Frank A. Haagen is credited with erecting the first building for a hardware store, H. E. Keller put up a shack for another store, and G. M. McGarraugh and Michael Dunn, the first bank. Unlike the misspelling of the name, Dupris -- accepted by the U. S. Post Office Department but never corrected -- the location of the town was changed. The railroad agreed that gumbo was too wet and sticky so the town was moved twice -- in June 1910 to a site just west of where the railroad announced the new site would be and again following the lot sale in late August in Aberdeen, to its present site, also south of Bear Creek. First mail into the community came from Cherry Creek, later from Thunder Butte when an Indian agency sub-station was established and still later from Isabel. J. D. Stewart became the first postmaster on August 16, 1910. In May of that year he had joined Pete Hoven in establishing the first newspaper, the Dupree Leader. The first school, with Alice Henderson as teacher, was started in 1911, along with a number of churches. As the railroad pushed westward, a construction crew camped near the head of Bear Creek thought it was far enough from Dupree to establish another town. In the fall of 1910 the camp was named Red Elm for the many trees along the creek. Lots were sold the next spring. The same thing happened at Arrowhead before the rail line pushed into Faith. By the time of an April 4, 1911 special election to name a temporary county seat, all of the railroad towns as well as Cherry Creek, Thunder Butte, Chase -- which was established about 12 miles south of Dupree -- and Red Scaffold were in the running. The election resulted in Dupree being named temporary county seat by a nearly unanimous vote. Of 352 total ballots cast, 247 were in the Dupree precinct, while the least, 27, were in Cherry Creek. It was ironic that in the next special election, July 18, on incorporation of the town, only 51 votes were cast, 41 "aye". Philip Schweick was given the contract for building county facilities and they were completed in July. Dupree was named the permanent county seat in the November 5, 1912 general election, winning over Redelm by a vote of 443-352. Ziebach County Officials Following is a list of the officials, office, party and date elected or appointed: Auditor: George E. Richardson, R 1911; Wilbur H. Scott, R 1914; F. W. Ortmayer, R 1916; Frank Fuller, R 1918; S. J. Jefferies, Jr., R 1920; Wilbur H. Scott appointed in 1921; John J. Pollard, D 1922; W. H. Scott, R 1932; W. J. Knipfer, R 1934; M. E. Reynolds, R 1938; Joe Daczewitz, D 1940; Lloyd Dunbar, D 1944; Viola Johnson, D 1948; Frederick Menzel, R 1950; Glynn Hurst, D 1954; Ralph Pesicka, R 1958; Maurice Lemke, D 1970; Lucille Fairbanks, R 1974 to present. Treasurer: Wilbur H. Scott, R 1911; Frank Fuller, R 1914; George Lebo, R 1916; G. E. Pladsen, R 1920; O. S. Nygaard, R 1924; W. H. Scott, R. 1928; William Spies, R 1934; Wiliam Searson, R 1936; Lloyd Dunbar, D 1940; Joe Daczewitz, D 1944; Russell C. Birkeland, R 1946; he resigned and Joe Daczewitz was appointed. He, too, resigned, and Arthur Jones, D was appointed in 1947; Lillian Birkeland, R 1952; Arthur Jones, D 1956; Glynn Hurst, D 1960; Lester Starr, R 1974, resigned and Glynn Hurst, D was appointed in 1976; Virginia Hertel, D 1978 to present time. Register of Deeds: William R. Van, R 1911; Harold Leake, D 1916; William R. Van, R 1918; J. J. Walters, R 1920; Gladys Hommedal, R 1924; Gertie Rinehart, D 1928; Alice Vance, R 1930; M. E. Reynolds, R 1934; Lorna Vance, D 1938; Laura Lafferty, R 1942; Harriet Walters, R 1946; Zetah Davis, D 1954; Esther Hemen, R 1958; Lila Lafferty, R 1978 to present. Clerk of Courts Walter Brittan 1911; R. S. Schmanski, R 1912; Hugh Walkup, R 1914; Edgar Olson, I 1922; Alice Vance, R 1934; Zelma Zimmerman, D 1940; Lucille Fairbanks, R 1972; Ann Coleman, D 1974. Sheriff: H. Hayes Milton, R 1911; Louis Speaker, D 1914; H. Hayes Milton, R 1918, E.L. Shaffer, I 1922; August Bakeberg, R 1924; James Howard, R 1928; Henry Burgee, D 1932; Henry Meier, R 1936; Walter Weaver, D 1940; Otis Shannon, R 1944; Henry Burgee, D 1946; John Biegler, R 1950; Paul Taylor, D 1954 to present time. States Attorney: Walter E. Woolf, 1911; Frank Gladstone, R 1912; L. W. Henderson, R 1916; Thomas R. Nelson, 1920; Frank Gladstone, I 1922; Walter Menzel, R 1924; Frank Gladstone, R 1928; Walter Menzel, R 1932; N. E. Wanous, D 1936; Bert McCoy, Jr., R 1940; N. E. Wanous, D 1944; Donald J. Coleman, D 1950; N. E. Wanous, D 1954; Donald J. Coleman, D 1956; Raymond H. Kintz, R 1968; Donald J. Coleman, D 1970 to present. County Commissioners: District 1: Warren Peck, 1911; Albert Hagan, R 1912; A. G. Davis, R 1916; J. M. Pidcock, 11922; F. E. Bierman, R 1934; William Birkenholtz, R 1938; Henry Nelson, D 1946; Elmer J. Brammer, R 1948; Fred Beer, R 1954; Maurice Hickenbotham, D 1970; Ronald Bierman, R 1973. District 2: Harvey Spilman, R 1911; Louis Bacher, 1913; Otto Minkner, D 1914; John Leber, I 1924; George Knipfer, R 1928; Oscar Lund, R 1932; Ben Henderson, D 1936; Carl Samuelson, D 1948; Bob Samuelson was appointed in 1960 to finish his fathers term; Eugene Steen, D 1960; Gene Rohrer, D 1971; Orville Graslie, R 1976. District 3: Eldon Clark, 1911; George Lebo, R 1912; J. B. Linstad, I 1922; Fred J. Hunter, R 1930; W. C. Miller, Sr., D 1934; Delbert Miller, D 1954; Wayne Holmes, R 1958; Joe Zorc, Jr., R 1966; Earl Bringman, D 1970; Clinton Farlee, D 1975. District 4: Weslie Walenta, 1920 and C. W. Young, 1922. District 5: E. J. Zugschwerdt, I 1920; John Barren, D 1926; and J. M. Bowling, 1930. Coroner: Frank Haagen, 1911; Charles A. Denman, R 1922; Matt Stephenson, R 1924; O. S. Geesey, R 1926; Andrew Lee, R 1928; Matt Stephenson, R 1930; Jacob Maca, D 1940; Jim Hersey, D 1945; Dr. Wendell White, 1950; Dr. Bernard Batt, 1950; Dr. Julius Ehik, 1952; Art Hurst, 1957; Bernard Hickenbotham, 1962; Ronald K. Stout, 1965; Harvey Herrman, 1977; Lloyd Edwards, 1980; Carroll Gerberding, 1981; and Mike Burgee, 1981. Assessor: John H. Lux, 1911; Edward Casebolt, D 1912; Charles Millins, 1914; Ralph Heberer, D 1916; F. W. Ortmayer, R 1920; H. J. Clifton, R. 1924; James D. Davis, R 1930; John M. Budahl, D 1932; Ed Ritter, R 1935; Arthur L. Johnson, R 1940; V. W. Jeffries, D 1944; O. J. Gage, R 1946; Charles Bennett, I 1948; Ralph Pesicka, R 1971; Jerry Marx, D 1974; Renee Herrman, D 1978; Delbert Miller, D1980. Highway Superintendent: Wyatt L. Sharp, 1911; W. T. Searson, 1920; Fred Campbell, 1923; V. F. Matter, 1926; Frank Davis, 1934 and George Till, 1937. This office was discontinued and in 1972 the commissioners hired Arnold Davis. The present highway superintendent is George Lafferty. The Extension Service was organized in 1925 with the following County Agents serving in this county: Charles Graves 1925 to 1928; B. J. Jack, 1928 to 1930; Floyd Collins, 1930 to 1932; Ralph Hanson, 1934 to 1936; Ivan Fluharty, 1936 to 1940; Conrad Simonson, 1940 to 1944; Donald Becker, 1950 to 1951; Joe Revere, Jr., 1953 to 1955; John Powell, 1956 to 1961; Donald Hostjbar, 1956 to 1961, Arnold Rieckman, 1961 to 1966; Walter Koers, 1967 to 1968; Neil Vollmer, 1968 to 1973; Ron Schrempp, 1974 to 1978; Carroll Gerberding, 1978 to 1981; Calvin Chapman, 1981. Home Agents: Maureen Patterson, 1951 to 1953; Wenonah Hutchens, 1956 to 1959; Ida Marie Norton, 1972 to 1979, Otha Joens, 1979 to 1980; Mollie Backlund, 1980 to present. Maurice Lemke served as an assistant agent during the summers of 1965, 1966 and 1967. EARLY VITAL STATISTICS RECORDS ZIEBACH COUNTY First Birth Recorded -- Robert Mathieson, reported by E. F. Chandler. Birth date: March 12, 1911, Eagle Butte. Parents: Robert B. Mathieson and Julia Narcell, Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Earliest Birth Date Recorded -- Savoy Dupree Louis LaPlante was born August 13, 1910 at Dupree. This record was filed August 20, 1912. Parents: Ovila LaPlante and Margaret Langlois Reported by F. H. Creamer. Possibly the First White Child Born in Dupree after the county was organized was Georgia-Belle Van Campen, born April 6, 1911. Parents: H. A. Van Campen and Lola Block. Reported by F. H. Creamer. First Deaths Recorded -- Infant Miross, May 17, 1911, premature birth. Lester Katt, Faith, Meade County, 9 years, June 27, 1911, Cholera Infantum. Zella Pidcock, Dupree, 8 years old, April 1, 1911, Nephritis. Lillian Belle Jennerson, Dupree, 20 years, August 9, 1911, Typhoid Fever. Mrs. Holly Henderson, Dupree, February 12, 1911. First Burial Recorded in Dupree Cemetery -- Orestes Ernst in 1913. Marriages -- First recorded was Benjamin Franklin Judy of Newell, Butte County, to Amelia May Pinnecker of Dupree, Ziebach County. Marriage performed by George D. Robinson, a Congregational Minister, on May 10, 1911. Third Marriage -- Enoch Schetnan of Dupree and Cora Margaret Reed of Dupree. Marriage performed by R. M. Kennedy, Justice of the Peace, on June 19, 1911. George Lebo was a witness for the Schetnans. First Divorce -- was granted on January 31, 1913 to Mable McCauley and Herbert Lee McCauley and to Oscar Nast and Alberta Nast in October, 1912. Severre Nordvold brought the first issued cattle to the Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Severre Nordvold, Mike Dunn and Gib McGarraugh started the first bank in Dupree, South Dakota. ARMSTRONG COUNTY Armstrong County, the smallest county of all of the 3070 counties in the nation, was for a time part of Ziebach County, and it deserves mention here since Nordvolds, Holloways, Pearmans and some of Armstrong County's other 52 inhabitants were associated in some ways with Ziebach. Armstrong was an unorganized county after Ziebach and Dewey counties were organized in 1911. There were 8 families consisting of 52 people in the entire county which covered 525 square miles. Most of the county's residents lived down along the sheltered bottoms of the Cheyenne and Missouri Rivers, which was a cattleman's dream since timber and grass were abundant. Armstrong County contained from 336,000 to 339,000 acres and of this number 224,000 acres were a part of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Most of the land was leased to big cattle companies such as the Diamond A and they had camps spread throughout the area. The Nordvolds had land allotments in both Armstrong and Ziebach Counties. They actually lived in Armstrong County. Syd branded SY on left rib cattle and left hip horses. Most of their visitors were cowboys who rode horseback through Syd's place on their way from one camp to another. They would pasture their horses and stay overnight. The only time Nordvolds visited with neighbors was when they went to town, since to get to a "neighbor's" a person had to drive many miles around by roadway to get anywhere. Horseback was the easiest mode of transportation for anyone living there. Living in Armstrong County posed problems for educating the children, and consequently the Nordvold children attended schools in many different places: Cheyenne Agency, Eagle Butte, rural schools in Ziebach County and Stanley County, to name some. Armstrong was attached to Stanley County for a time for administrative purposes with Fort Pierre as the county seat. In the early fifties, a newspaper article appeared which brought to light that some Armstrong County residents had "taxation without representation'' because they were permitted to vote only for state and national candidates, but not for Stanley County officials who directed their governmental affairs. Ethan Alexander's ranch home was designated as the polling place, but there were never enough voters present to assemble an election board! Ethan was the county assessor for many years. At the beginning of World War II, Armstrong County was used as a gunnery target range for the pilots of fighters and bombers from Rapid City Air Force Base to practice on. Large board markers were constructed to designate the boundaries and painted a bright orange. Whenever a corral rail needed replacing, the bright orange boards came in quite handy for quick repair, and as a person traveled through the surrounding area, they could spot orange boards on corrals and sheds at cattle camps and ranches. The U.S. Government finally sold what was left of the markers. Airplanes flew over frequently and for several years afterward, a person could pick up empty shell cases and clips while riding over the prairie. In 1952, Dewey County voters turned down the annexation of Armstrong County. As the Oahe Dam project was completed, which flooded all the good river bottom land and displaced Armstrong residents, it was thought that Armstrong County would become abandoned. Barren gumbo hill land which lay beyond the river bottoms was thought to be useless, and certainly it was an unappreciated relocation for cattlemen who received monetary appropriations for inundated land and a steel shed to replace the natural shelter the river bottoms provided. Finally, Dewey County did annex Armstrong and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Rehabilitation Program set up many cattle operators in this area. At the time of annexation, Armstrong County was divided into five large range units which were controlled by three cattle operators. The Tribal Rehabilitation Program put from 20 to 25 small Indian cattle operators in the area formerly grazed by thousands of head of cattle. Dams and roads were constructed where once nothing but cattle and horses flourished on the prairie. Today there are many homesites in what was Armstrong County. Chapter 4 A LOOK AT THE LAND GEOGRAPHY AND VEGETATION The political unit of Ziebach County was created by the State Legislature in 1911 and was organized out of the territory of Schnasse, Armstrong, and Sterling counties. Ziebach County falls entirely within the Great Plains area which is characterized by level or slightly rolling land. The eastward slope of the land has been roughened by erosion, and what buttes that are to be found have persisted because of a resisting capping rock. The two most important buttes in Ziebach County are Thunder Butte and Rattlesnake Butte. The drainage of the county is quite adequate. Very little water remains standing on the land. It is drained in the north by the Moreau or Owl River and in the south by the Cheyenne River. These two large water systems are joined by smaller tributaries, the most important of which are: Cherry, Bear, Irish, Flintrock, Pretty, Red Scaffold, Rattlesnake, Cottonwood, and Red Coat Creeks. The gradients of the stream are considerable -- the average being a fall of from eight to ten feet per mile. The run-off, therefore, is very rapid in contrast with the streams of the eastern part of the state and often causes great property damage, especially during spring floods. The direction of the longer axes of the wind excavated water holes is northwest and southeast, from which directions come the most frequent and the strongest winds. Artificial dams have been constructed in recent years to provide an adequate water supply for stockmen. Northwest winds are prevalent during the winter months and southeast winds during the warmer half of the year. Hot winds are common during the summer and often result in great damage to both crops and animals. The source of moisture for this region is the Gulf of Mexico. The moisture bearing winds are drawn to South Dakota by the low pressure which accompanies the passage of the cyclonic storms. Because these winds move in a spiral direction and the moisture is precipitated and re-evaporated several times before reaching this area, the amount of moisture is low. The average moisture for Ziebach County is under fourteen inches a year. The temperature range for this locality is about one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit annually, and a daily range of fifty degrees is not uncommon. Along most of the streams are found western cottonwoods and several kinds of willows. Dogwood, horsetail, various sedges, rushes, and other plants are found on the moist banks of the streams. There are to be found several varieties of grasses, including members of the Composite family, such as the golden aster, nigger head, and prairie sages; members of the Legume family, such as wild alfalfa, prairie clover, and buffalo bean; Monocotyledons, such as the wild onion and prairie lily; and types of the Ciocotyledon family. There are also several kinds of primroses, roses, and other related plants. Among the birds to be found are the desert horned lark, western vesper sparrow, Brewer blackbird, burrowing owl, and the prairie sharptailed grouse. The wild animals include deer, antelope, coyote, pocket gopher, jack rabbit, skunk, prairie dog, and certain mice and moles which are numerous and very destructive. Rattlesnakes of the type characteristic of the Great Plains region are numerous and very dangerous. Certain invertebrates, such as grasshoppers, locusts and various kinds of bugs cause hundreds of dollars worth of property damage yearly. The varieties of fish found are bullheads, catfish, carp, black bass, and buffalo fish. COAL MINING The mining interests of Ziebach County have, for the most part, been undeveloped; but large amounts of lignite coal lay exposed near Glad Valley and at other locations within the county. A survey made under the direction of the State Geologist indicated that Ziebach County lay well within the boundaries of the coal area found west of the Missouri River and north of the Cheyenne River. This region is approximately 163 miles from west to east and over 92 miles from north to south. Its total area is over 13,436 square miles, of which 7,630 square miles are underlain by coalbearing formations. The counties that are included in this area are Harding, Perkins, Dewey, Meade, and Ziebach. The Isabel Coal Company owned by the Pogany family, no longer exists, but was once vitally important to Ziebach County and surrounding area. Almost 50 years after their arrival in South Dakota five have established permanent homes here. Bill and Sybil Pogany still own their land in Ziebach County, the coal mines still furnish an unlimited supply of water; there is still coal to be mined; the future of energy holds the answer to our well being as a nation and coal will play an important part as a vital source of energy in the years ahead. The Unterseher ranch north of Thunder Butte Station had a coal mine for residents in that area, and Tidball (Rosander) mined in sec. 12, twp. 16. [photo – Stripping coal at Pogany mine near Isabel] OIL The geological formation of Ziebach County shows that oil may be present in the county. As early as 1913, oil seepage was noticed on some well water on the Puller farm near Isabel, and the claim was made that all the characteristics of an oil country were present. The prospect of oil, while by no means forgotten, did not attract special attention until 1921 when new interest was aroused. At that time, Olaf Helgerson, a geologist, while surveying a portion of Ziebach County, gave the opinion that oil lay under the Dakota sandstone and that it could be reached at a depth of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. In March, 1921, an oil dome was discovered by the Western Realty and Developing Company at Cherry Creek, about two miles east of the county line. George O. King and V. D. Tidball leased a field northeast of Thunder Butte on Irish Creek. Some oil seepage was discovered in section eleven, township fifteen,, range eighteen on Thunder Butte Creek at Thunder Butte. By this time, the citizens of the county felt that Ziebach would someday be the center of an oil field. Interest has by no means entirely died down, even at the present time; but most people now feel that it will be the future generations who benefit from this natural resource. The Flintrock anticline, which is in the southwestern part of township fourteen, and the Redelm anticline in township thirteen, as well as the anticline structure on Knife Creek in township fourteen all show oil possibilities. William L. Russell, in his survey of this area under the auspices of the South Dakota Geological and Natural History Survey, thought that these faulted anticlines had a fair amount of closure and that other conditions for the accumulation of oil were present. The nearness of the anticlines to water and the railroad would also have been of considerable importance in developing this oil possibility. The geological survey conducted by Roy F. Wilson and Freeman Ward in townships fifteen and sixteen indicated oil possibilities and showed that the drilling depth was not excessive. The report concluded, however, that the South Dakota oil fields are entirely unproved and that deep underground conditions are extremely uncertain. Some oil drilling has been done, even as late as the mid-1970's. A well was started several years ago at Irish or Worthless Creek in northern Ziebach County and at Lemmon and other locations in western South Dakota, but all of them were abandoned before a true test could be made. Rumors were circulated at times that oil had actually been discovered but that the wells had been sealed by the oil companies until the older oil fields ceased to be productive. GAS Some natural gas has been discovered in Ziebach County and was used, in 1936, for illuminating purposes at both Cherry Creek and Red Scaffold. In 1936 Montel Creamer wrote: Aside from the coal, oil and gas fields located in Ziebach County, an interesting geological discovery was made when the bones. thought to be those of a mastodon, were unearthed on the Chase farm near Isabel. The mastodon bones were given to a representative of the Smithsonian Institute; and although this is the only discovery of its kind that has ever been made in the county, it may be that Ziebach County holds much of interest and importance in the field of geological history.