South Dakota State College - Jack Rabbit Yearbook (Brookings, SD)

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SZSBSBSYQQESBSBSPSPSIZEIZSIZSPSE Ihr Stair nf Svnuth Eaknia fliihiliflifiiiliflifliiiiiikilkiii? GA11. H .ARoLnsoN The History of South Dakota begins with the story told by the rocks near the head waters of the VVhite River in the Bad Lands. An immense sea swept over South Dakota, beating upon the hills and carrying away the soil to lower places. The sea receded from the hills. Snails and other lowly animals of that age were superseded by a race of monstrous reptiles that lived in the tropical swamps. Then for many ages immense animals roamed through the landg the titan- otheres, the brontotheres and other species much larger than any present living animal. The ice sheet pushed its way into this part of the country, and began to melt away at the line now held by the Mis- souri River. The ice changed the sur- face of the land, destroyed the great animals, and left new conditions of drainage, soil and climate. The first arrival of human beings in South Dakota is unknown. The Indians, however, certainly were very early inhabitants, if they were not the first. The Indian mounds found in nearly every portion of South Dakota are proofs of an ancient civilization. The Arickara, or Ree, Indians lived in unusual comfort in thickly settled communities along the lVIissouri River. The Omahas held the lower Sioux Val- ley and a band of Kiowas lived in the Black Hills region. Before 1750 the Sioux Indians, or Dakota Indians, living in lVIinnesota, learned of the large herds of buffalo that lived on the South Dakota prairies. They began the invasion of the Dakota territory, drove out the former occu- pants, and gained control of almost all of South Dakota. Before the end of the eighteenth century the Sioux had become the rulers of the lands of South Dakota. Charles Pierre Le Seuer, an enter- prising fur trader, made many explora- tions in the country about South Da- kota. Some white men of his party vis- ited the Sioux river at Sioux Falls in the winter of 1699-1700. They came from Fort L 'I-Iuillier, .now lVIankato, lVIinnesota, to trade for furs on the River both at Sioux Falls and at Flandreau. A Canadian Explorer, Verendrye, on returning from the discovery of the Rocky Mountains in 1743, reached the lVIissouri River at some point near the center of the state He planted a lead plate inscribed with the arms of France. The people of Pierre have always

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MEMORIAL CANNON

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searched for the buried plate. ln 1913 zi group of young people stumbled upon this plate, which, it is evident, is the inscription which was placed there by Verendrye in 1743. It was a short distance from the city of Pierre. For the next twenty years, the title of France to this land seems undisputed, but for political reasons, in 1762 she ceded all of Louisiana, which then in- cluded South Dakota to Spain. In 1800 Spain secretely ceded the land back to France. The Americans a short time afterward learned of the secret cession. The people of the frontier-Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana-became much alarmed, because they feared the estab- lishment of a strong Napoleonic govern- ment in the lvest. Thomas Jefferson sent ministers to negotiate with France in regard to navigation and trade privileges on the Nlississippi. The ministers secured for the United States not only the desired rights on the river, but by the payment of fE27,500,000, the immense Louisiana Territory, extending westward as far as the Rocky lldountains. Thus in 1803 South Dakota became the property of the great American commonwealth. In 1804 Lewis and Clark were sent out by the National Government to ex- plore the unknown and trackless wild- erness that was inhabited only by beasts and savages. Their records show that in August of 1804 they camped at Yankton, where the Yankton or James River enters the Nlissouri. From that point they went up the lVIissouri, ex- plored through the entire territory of Dakota, and then proceeded up the Yel- lowstone and on to the Pacific. They returned through the state in 1806. The first white settlement of record in the state was made November II, 1794. by B. Trudeau in the present county of Charles Nlix. lt was not permanent, nor was the settlement by Loisel in 1797 on the Missou1'i River at Big Bend. Fort Pierre was established in 1817 by Joseph La Framboise. It was the first permanent settlement. lVIany hardships were encountered by these pioneers. lndian warfare interfered seriously with the settlement and development of the new land. By 1862 settlers had established homes along the Missouri and the Sioux Rivers. The Santee Sioux on the Nlin- nesota River suddenly became furious and killed white settlers wherever they could be found. A struggling band of bloodthirsty savages ruthlessly murdered sludge Joseph Amidon and his son in a hayfield near Sioux Falls. The neigh- bors left their stock and grain and, ter- ror stricken, fled to safety. The Indians destroyed their homes, stole the stock, and burned the grain which was just ready for harvest. Thus the permanent settlement of Sioux Falls was delayed for several years.