| Summary: | THE EARLY SETTLER Reasons For Settling Before the Civil War, pioneers in emigrant wagons traveling through the great central prairies and plains on their way west, did not settle in Dakota because of the many disadvantages. It was a semi-arid country with very little timber for building materials, the sod was matted with years of uncut grasses, and the climate ran to brutal extremes of hot and cold. In the 1880s, however, pioneers came to these desolate expanses and stayed. Tillable land elsewhere was growing short. Newly built railroads, eager for business, sent out advertisements offering settlers easy credit for the purchase of company-owned prairie land. Unscrupulous sales agents often depicted the region as a Garden of Eden. The Trans-Atlantic steamship companies, hoping to tap a huge pool of land-hungry foreigners, joined in the propaganda. A group of Norwegians and Swedes had been working together on the Canadian railroad, and while the pay was fair, they were of an age when they wanted to marry and settle down. They could hardly expect wives to live in rough railroad camps, so decided it was time to homestead. After a few inquiries, they found enough land around the Goose Lake area in Emmons County to accomodate the entire group, thereby guaranteeing that they would have compatible neighbors. Another fairly large group from Ashland Ohio, pressured by the increasingly crowded conditions in the east, felt it was time to seek new frontiers. They not only homesteaded, but also built the town of Williamsport and were instrumental in forming a governing body for the new county. The "Germans from Russia" were very unhappy with their lot in Russia, as they had been promised exemption from taxes and military conscription. When unfavorable government legislation regarding compulsory military training was enacted, the farm plots grew smaller while land prices soared, a great migration to the plains of the Dakotas began. Many Hollanders had come to America earlier, settling in Michigan, Illinois, etc. One of their countrymen, Pier Bakker, had come to Dakota and began working as a land agent for Charles Bumstead of Winchester. He was aware of the growing discontent amoung his friends and relatives in the east, as they were working hard but not realizing their dreams of owning their own farms. He corresponded with them, and described the Homestead laws that would enable each one to easily become a landowner. Soon an influx of Hollanders to the south of the county resulted, and Mr. Bakker founded a colony in 129-76 and 130-76, and called it "Hope". As with the Norwegians, this group felt there was safety in numbers, so formed their own ethnic group in their area often referred to as the "Wooden Shoe Settlement". Soldiers, on being mustered out of the service at Fort Yates, sometimes stayed in the vicinity and filed on homesteads. On army pay they had had little opportunity to save enough to buy land elsewhere. These young men invariably chose land along the river, where the hunting and fishing were excellent. Some settlers were disappointed gold seekers returning from California; some were travelers too weary to continue to their original destination of Canada or the western States; but whatever their reasons, not only did they survive, but they converted the bleak expanse into some of the most productive farmland in the world. FIRST IMPRESSIONS Max Keller had heard much about the vast and unsettled country that welcomed all comers, so he and his family left Russia in 1889. He expected to see flat, treeless prairies so was very surprised when they first sighted land on the Atlantic seaboard and saw large towns, smoking chimneys and much activity and traffic. As they neared the end of the ocean voyage, the skyscrapers of New York City came into view. He was told it was different far inland and so expected to see wide empty spaces some hours after leaving New York, but things did not change that quickly. On the 5th night he had just lain down to sleep when the conductor came through the train shouting "Eureka! Eureka! Next station, Eureka!" When they entered the depot and set down the baggage, a man said, "Ich freue mich sie zu sehen" (I am glad to see you). It was Philip Gross, a relative, who had come to take them to Hague, a 40-mile trip. They worried about finding the way in the dark, but he assured them that he had made the trip many times. It seemed very cold in this region, and when morning came, Max saw large drifts of snow lying all over the countryside. He wondered if this was the North Pole. When they left Russia the weather had been warm, and the farmers were almost finished with spring's work. By this time it had become light enough so he could see the smoke from some settlers' chimneys. Those settlers were miles apart. Yes, NOW he had reached the large territory that was open to new settlers and his fear of not getting his own homestead vanished for good. Alta Bales remembered their move from Iowa to Dakota Territory as a very interesting seven week trip. She said, "When we came to the vast prairies we were really amazed. Just wide expanses of green as far as we could see! It was very beautiful! We saw birds entirely different from those of Iowa. There were many meadow larks with their liquid call. We also saw birds, something like the prairie | chickens but smaller and much lighter in color. Pa said they must be grouse. Occasionally we came to a stream with a few willow bushes on the banks, but seldom a tree of any kind." According to Strasburg's GOLDEN JUBILEE BOOK, five young men from j Russia were sent to the Strasburg area as scouts to ascertain the possibility of settling there. Their reports encouraged a group of eleven families to emigrate in May of 1889. They were Casper and Katherine Feist, John and Margaret Baumgartner, Albinus and Agatha Schneider, Jacob and Katherine Gefroh, Egidi and Agatha Keller, Peter,Katherine Kraft, Frank and Catherine Geisinger, Martin and Katherine Schwab, and Lawrence and Regina Schwab. What these sturdy pioneers found in this territory when they arrived was not at all attractive or scenic, but a country much more barren than expected. They beheld a vast expanse of rolling prairies with no sign of domestic life. Shortly before their arrival a furious prairie fire had whipped through, leaving the land completely black with rocks glittering in the sun. How their hopes for a promised land must have faded when, besides this desolation, a terrifying thunder and lightning storm occurred on their first evening. The storm was so severe that these poor people had to throw the boxes off the wagons, turn them bottom up, and take refuge underneath. After the storm subsided, another storm, burst forth, but this was of a different nature. The women let loose a tirade of tears and wailings, rueing the day they left their homeland. The men, however, undaunted by the fury of the elements and the hysterics of the women, courageously set out to claim their territory allotted them by the Homestead Act. The Orson Ott family, after much thought and apprehension, decided to take up a claim in Emmons County, and finally arrived at their destination. Their "new home" was a piece of prairie—no trees, no house, just grass and space. To hold land the law stated a furrow must be plowed to show the land was taken, so Mr. Ott quickly made some furrows with his team and walking plow, and it was most fortunate he did. Another new settler arrived very soon afterwards and had there been no plowing done, he could have been too late to claim the land. Mrs. Murry Lawler wrote: "I was an English war bride, coming to the U.S.A. in 1946. As we drove across the North Dakota prairies, I thought we were at the back of the beyond or even further. I was a city gal from over-populated England. Oh, what a lot I had to learn, but in my youthful inexperience, I wasn't worried. Looking back now I realize 'ignorance is bliss'. Our milk was not on the doorstep each morning; the bread and vegetables were not delivered daily; trips to town were weekly or bi-weekly occurrences; no running to the corner 14 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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