| Summary: | 1738 when Verendrye came. The only earth lodge village conforming to his description was the one near Menoken which was discovered after Libby and Haxo had pinpointed their locations. Russell Reid, who followed Dr. Libby as Secretary of the Historical Society and who was a very thorough and careful researcher, presents very valid arguments in proof that this, (the Menoken site) must have been the village visited by Verendrye. Reid presents his arguments in favor of the Menoken site in an article in the April, 1965, edition of the Historical Society quarterly, and shows Verendrye's route entering North Dakota at about the site of Rolla and then turning south and west toward Menoken. Dr. Elroy Robinson, in his History of North Dakota, published in 1965, also contains a map showing Verendryes route in much the same location. On both maps, the route taken by Verendrye would have led him through the western part of Wells County. If their reasoning is correct, and there is little reason to believe otherwise, white men were in Wells County 229 years ago! By 1792 the English, established in trading forts on the Assiniboine River, found it profitable to carry on trade with the Mandans. The journey from their posts along the Assiniboine and Souris Rivers necessitated a 15 day's journey. It is quite possible that these traders also passed through what is now Wells County on these trading expeditions. The Metis or halfbreeds of Pembina made annual visits to Wells County, which because of an abundance of lakes, streams and sloughs which afforded plenty of water and good grass, was prime buffalo country. Father Belcourt records such a trip in 1845 when he accompanied the expedition. They set out in September on the fall hunt and travelled as far as Dogden Butte, and set out on their return journey October 16, 1845. The high hills like Blackhammer, Butte de Morale, Hawksnest, and Butte Cuvier Grover were all familiar to these travelers, they set their course by them. On this trip Father Belcourt makes mention of Butte de Morale in particular and writes "on a space of about an acre I counted 220 of these animals; the banks of the river (Sheyenne) were covered with them as far as the eye could reach and in all directions." This party consisted of 309 people, 215 carts and 55 hunters, and on this hunting trip they butchered 1776 buffalo cows and made 228 sacks of pemmican, 1213 bales of dried meat, 166 sacks of fat and 556 bladders filled with marrow, twelve pounds to the sack. Because they were fearful of attacks from the Sioux they were continually on the watch lest they be surprised on the march and in order that they might quickly draw their carts into a defensive circle they drove them four abreast over the prairies. Governor Isaac I. Stevens, in command of a surveying expedition seeking a route across the northern part of the United States, mentions meeting such a band of buffalo hunters in Section 4 of what is now Heimdal Township July 15, 1853. They camped there, spending the remainder of the day visiting with the Metis and trading with them for sugar, pemmican, and other provisions. The medium of exchange used by the Stevens party was Hudson's Bay scrip in 5 shilling denominations; this was the first recorded commercial transaction in Wells County in which paper money was used. The main part of the Stevens expedition had entered Wells County July 13 and camped that night on the James River in Section 12 of what is now Bremen Township. The next day they climbed Blackhammer Hill in Section 8 of Valhalla Township, got their gearings and marched on to Section 2 of Heimdal Township where they camped for the night. The following day they had gone only about 2 1/2 miles when they met the buffalo hunters. Pierre Bottineau, their guide, riding in advance of the expedition, first sighted the advancing hunters and, thinking them to be hostile Sioux, came riding back pell-mell to warn Stevens. Immediately Stevens marshalled his men into a defensive position, only to find that the fearsome "Sioux" were only friendly mixed bloods from Pembina on their summer hunt. That night Stevens camped on the banks of the Sheyenne River about a mile and a half southwest of Wellsburg in Section 15 and the next day passed out of Wells County in the extreme northwest part of Section 5 in Hillsdale Township. Meanwhile, a detached party of the Stevens Expedition, led by Lieutenant Cuvier Grover, entered Wells County in Section 35 of Hawksnest Township, got its bearings on the 2115 foot elevation there and proceeded northwestward toward the range of hills at Pony Gulch. They camped the first night in Section 30 of Speedwell Township and the next night at Pony Gulch in Section 29 of that Township, from where they proceeded in a northwesterly direction and eventually joined the main party. It is interesting to note that the route followed by Stevens' main party was followed almost exactly years later by the Great Northern Railroad in its "Surrey Cutoff". Just eleven years after Lieutenant Grover had explored the Hawksnest vicinity, it was the setting of another visit by a military expedition, this time a punitive march against the Sioux who had committed the Minnesota Massacre the year before and were now supposed to be hunting in the Coteau hills. Sibley led an army of 2500 picked men and camped the night of July 23, 1863 4 1/2 miles northeast of Hawksnest (Camp Kimball) then marched across Hawksnest and camped that night in Stutsman County (Camp Grant). The next day he engaged a band of Indians led by Standing Buffalo who were on a hunting expedition with their women and children and defeated them in a running battle which began at Big Mound and continued across country to the Missouri River where the Indians crossed to safety in the vicinity of Apple Creek. Captain James Fisk escorted two wagon trains of gold seekers across the northern part of Wells County en route to the gold fields of Montana. Both expeditions travelled almost exactly along the route used by Stevens. In his first trip across Wells County Fisk camped the nights of July 19 and 20, 1862 on the Stevens' campsite in Section 12, Bremen Township. July 20th being Sunday, they remained in camp and religious services were conducted by N. P. Langford, an Episcopalian layman. The next day, Fisk records, they encountered a herd of some 5000 buffalo, which was the largest herd they had seen so far. That night they camped on the banks of the Sheyenne River in Section 13 of Wellsburg Township, about 3 miles southeast of that village. The next day they passed out of Wells County in the northwest corner of Section 3, Wells Township. The next year Captain Fisk escorted another train of miners and their families through Wells County along the same route and records passing Butte de Morale on July 25 of that year. Still another military expedition, this one under General Alfred Sully, passed through Wells County in July, 13- Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.
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