| Summary: | Chapter 1 "In The Beginning." "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was at first a shapeless, chaotic mass." This opening Biblical verse accurately describes Earth in its earliest stage of existence, five billion years ago, more or less. Geologists, both Christian and non-Christian agree on this. The Book of Genesis also states that creation of Earth and all forms of earthly life, including man, was accomplished in six days. However, only the most strict fundamentalist today believes that creation took place in six 24-hour days. Biblical scholars, including those who compiled "The Living Bible," accept "period of time" as an accurate translation of the ancient word for "day." Geologic time is in fact divided in six periods of time called eras, each of which encompasses million of years. The first of these is the Azoic, a lifeless era, when the earth cooled and formed its crust. This era ended over two billion years ago. Subsequent eras are called Archeozoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozolc and Cenozoic. Primitive life forms appeared during the Archeozoic era. Later eras are marked by appearance of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals , and man. Plant life underwent similar evolution. Primitive life became the source of oil, and later liginite coal in what is now North Dakota, during periods of submersion and uplifting of land masses. All of human history has taken place during the Quar- ternary period of the Cenozoic era, the period consisting of the last one million years of earth history. It was also during the Quarternary period, in a portion known as Pleistocene, that the great continental glaciers were formed. The glaciers, more than anything else, shaped the topography of what is now North Dakota and Sheridan County. When winter snow fall exceeds summer melt and evaporation, the result is a permanent snow field. The snow at the lower level of a snow field in time becomes ice, and a glacier is formed. These conditions exist today in high mountain elevations, and in Greenland and Antarctica. During the Pleistocene ice ages, the earth's climate was such that conditions which produce glaciers existed in the temperate zones, including the northern half of the North American continent, The glaciers grew to a depth of up to two miles, and very slowly moved southward. Movement of such a huge mass of ice, of course, scours the earth of its surface material, soil and rocks. The material is deposited elsewhere, to be left behind when a warming climate causes increased melt and a receding of the glacier. Glaciation is why much of Canada has no soil to speak of; only bedrock with a covering of forest and marshland vegetation, and many lakes. It is also why the American upper midwest, including the Great Plains of Canada and the United States, is blessed with fertile soil and numerous water sources. Because of the continental glaciers of thousands of years ago, North Dakota is divided into three basic geographic regions. The Rt.d River Valley is very flat and very fer= tile because for centuries it was covered by a huge lake called Lake Agassiz the reservoir, once the R;d River drainage system was established. Most of the area west and south of the Missouri River was nut glaciated; therefore it retains its very old, pre-Ice drainage patterns. Erosional patterns are also older there than in other parts of the state. This accounts for its more "cut up" terrain (buttes, gullys, etc.). Most of central North Dakota is the "drift prairie," so called because the land was shaped by the glaciers, and the soil consists of glacial deposited material. Sheridan County is on the drift prairie. The county's rolling prairie terrain, ranging from fairly flat to high hills, is due to glaciation. So are the many sloughs, which originally were melting places for huge blocks of ice when the main glaciers receded. Less fortunately, the glaciers also brought the endless small rocks which fill the county's soil, and which farmers curse each year as they pick ro :ks from the soil's surface. The drift prairie is endowed with many natural advantages. It is well watered in most years, rich in wildlife, yet adaptable to agriculture. Most of the drift prairie is drained either by the Missouri or the Red River. Sheridan county is bisected by the Continental Divide separating the two drainage systems. The Divide is a range of hills running east and west, a- bout 10 miles north of McClusky. River drainage systems in the early days of exploration were used to establish political boundaries. This happened in Sheridan County, as we will see in the chapter on formation of the county. Until about 75 years ago, Sheridan county was uninhabited wilderness. Even the Iidians did not live permanently in what now makes up the county. They hunted the countryside and made temporary camps, but preferred to winter in more hospitable areas, such as the wooded Missouri River bottomland. Early explorers and soldiers traversed what is now Sheridan county, but left few lasting signs. It remained for the pioneers and homesteaders who settled the area at the tarn of the 20th Century and shortly thereafter, to make Sheridan county what it is today. It is to these brave souls that we dedicate this book. Chapter 2 Statehood For The Dakotas As was mentioned earlier, the area now called Sheridan County was settled and organized as a political unit only recently in historical terms; less than 100 years ago. The area has been part of territory claimed by one or more countries, however, since the mid-17th Century. In 1682 LaSalle, the French explorer, claimed that part of North America which is drained by the Missouri River for France. That would include the southern half of Sheridan County. Other Frenchmen, Pierre Verendrye and other fur traders, may have traveled in the county in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. In 1762 France transferred ownership of the land claimed by LaSalle to Spain. The next year, 1763, by the Treaty of Paris which ended the French and Indian War, England obtained title to that land which is drained by che Mouse and Red Rivers. Northern Sheridan County, drained by the Sheyenne which flows into the Red, was included in this transaction In 1800 Spain turned her North American possessions back to France, now ruled by Emporer Napoleon Bonaparte. The emporer, at war in Europe, decided to a- bandon the idea of an overseas empire, and sold all A- merican land possessed by France, including southwestern Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.
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