| Summary: | Very Early History of Sargent County WRITTEN BY H. A. SOULE—1926 Please let it be rememberd—that as early as 1820 a French fur trader came down to Lake Tewaukon from the Manitoba regions. In the year 1699 or 1700 Charles Pierre le Sueur left the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Wisconsin River and penetrated west through unknown regions to the falls on the Big Sioux River, where the city of Sioux Falls now stands. We know, too, that in 1738 Pierre Verendrye came down from the Assiniboine River to the Missouri River near where Washburn is now located, and in 1742 his two sons, Francis and Louis, came to the Missouri River and explored much of the country west to the Rocky Mountains and returned to the Missouri near where Fort Pierre now stands. Here they buried a lead plate on which they laid claim to this territory in the name of France. Over this plate which bears the date of 1743 they erected a small rude monument of stone. Within the last five years this plate was accidentally discovered by school children. In 1838 John C. Fremont was sent by the government to explore the coteaus south of Lake Tewuakon and in 1839 Fremont and Joseph N. Nicollet left Fort Pierre under the instructions of the U. S. government to explore and make a map of what is now North and South Dakota. They crossed from Fort Pierre to the James River and after ascending the river to the place where Carrington now stands, they left the river and proceeded to Devils Lake. From here they went to the Sheyenne River and descended this river until they came to the south bend of it, a few miles north of where Milnor is now located. From here they crossed Sargent County to Lake Tewaukon. From here they went to Big Stone Lake and on to St. Paul. Heretofore, we have seen that LeSeuer, the Vernedryes and Fremont explored much farther west than this county and so there is no doubt but what white people crossed here earlier than we have any record of, on their way from Big Stone Lake to the north and northwest. The state may set apart a small tract of land and declare it a state park, providing the land is deeded to the state and proof is submitted to the State Historical Department to the effect that this land is of historical importance to the state. There are two spots of historical importance in this county, both of which were camping places for Sibley's army in his expedition against the Sioux Indians. There was no greater expedition ever sent out against the Indians—not any expedition that accomplished such results. One spot would be near the west end of Storm Lake southwest of Milnor and the other would be on the east end of Lake Tewaukon. Lake Tewaukon is also important as a historical point, for it was on a great Indian trail and was a center for French Fur traders. The earliest settlers in Sargent County were people representing almost all nationalities, and particularly the Americans from different states of the Union. There were Norwegians, Swedes and Germans, many of whom came directly from the old country. These people all came here to try to better their conditions in life. It is needless to say that they were adventurous for the fact that they came here proves that. Most of them had been renters formerly and when land in the East became high priced they decided to move west where they could get land free or at a small price. Not many of the early settlers were people of much wealth. However, they were comparatively young and came with determination to make a home for themselves. There were many more men than women. After spending a year or so here some of the men went "back home" to bring their brides out here to Sargent County. The earliest settlers came here with all their earthly possessions in covered wagons hauled by oxen, mules or horses. Almost all the people here before 1882 and many of them during that year settled under "squatters rights." They came in and selected a desirable piece of land and began to make their improvements on the land. By improvements, I mean a small tract of plowed land, and a cabin generally of sod and usually located in the center of the plowed tract. Squatters of a piece of land has the first claim on the land when it came into market, that is, after it had been surveyed and field notes had been accepted by the government. A homestead could consist of a quarter section of land and no more. A homestead was only one kind of claim. There were also pre-emption claims and tree claims, both consisting of a quarter section. On a homestead a person had to reside for a period of five years, after which he could prove up and get a deed or patent free of cost from the government. A pre-emption claim must be lived on for a period of three years after which a person may prove up and pay $1.25 per acre and get his patent. It was not compulsory for a person to live on a tree claim. However, he must break ten acres of land, plant it into trees and after a period of seven years, if he could prove that the trees were living, he could prove Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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