Where Am I?

Because Christopher Columbus thought he’d reached the Indies, he called the natives he encountered Indians. We call Native Americans Indians today because Columbus lost his way; he’d strayed off course. The sextant wasn’t invented until 1731 so as a direction finder he would’ve set his direction with a compass and the less than accurate mariner’s astrolabe which measured the angle between sun or the north star and the horizon. He certainly would have used primitive dead reckoning as well.

Land travelers heading west in the days before settlement found themselves in unfamiliar territory and needed a device to tell them where they were. While Lewis read his compass and sextant, Clark recorded the findings in his journal. Then after trails had been established, travelers did well to stay on them by following the ruts cut from the passing of the wagon wheels. 

The profession of surveying goes back quite a long ways. Several references to it can be found in the Bible such as in Zechariah 2:1-2: “I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.” In Proverbs 22:28 we find “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.” These are only two of several mentions made.

Today we  have little trouble finding our way around the countryside because of the grid of roads that have been laid out for us in townships, counties, state, and cross country. When home on the farm if somebody asked me where I lived, I’d say two miles east and one mile south of Sheldon. A stranger could find me easily. Or if people asked the whereabouts of Sheldon, I’d say five miles east and three miles south of Enderlin. Our GPS apps work very well, too.

Since everything has a beginning, including this grid of roads, then how did it come into being? The simple answer is by a government survey, and the government survey that affected Ransom County was conducted in July, 1872, or at least in my home township of Greene. Surveyor’s notes for North Dakota can be accessed at the State Water Commission by typing in this address: survey.swc.nd.gov.

The Land Ordinance of 1785 marks the beginning of the Public Land Survey System as we know it. The Continental Congress wanted to reward soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War with parcels of land and also to sell land for payment of the large accrued debt. The beginning point of the U. S. Public Land Survey is located at a point on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and going westward state and county lines were established on it.

Work on a survey crew in the 1800s could not have been fun. Imagine the clouds of mosquitoes that rose from the tall virgin prairie grass and the wet boggy areas they walked through taking measurements and dragging their chain. The chain was 66 feet long made up from 100 links.  Each crew numbered 7 or 8 men comprised of surveyors, chainmen, mound builders, flagmen, and axmen plus a cook left behind in camp.

Referring again to the surveyor records filed with the State Water Commission, the surveyor kept busy just making the notes from all the measurements a part of the official record, which eventually he would have notarized.  Here’s an example of those notes: “40 chains -North between Sections 19 & 24, Drove charred stake and set post in Mound for 1/4 Section Corner. 80 chains Drove charred stake and set post in mound for corner to secs 13, 18, 19 & 24. Land rolling. Soil 1st rate.” And that is how they measured all the land.

The First Rough Drafts of History

While cruising around the internet the other day, I spotted a timely story that made me stop and read. The headline on the Associated Press item stated “Man saves California’s oldest weekly from closure.” The topic of newspapers shutting down their presses has become a too-regular story today. The Dickinson Press recently announced they’d forego their daily schedule and print as a weekly. Three other official county papers announced they would close their doors: Adams County Record, the Dunn County Herald, and The Herald in New England.

The California story is unusual in the fact that Carl Butz, a retired and recently widowed 71 year old man, decided to buy the Mountain Messenger in Downieville when the present owner wanted to retire. Traveling did not appeal to him in retirement, so he decided to fill his days running a weekly paper. Said to be California’s oldest newspaper, one in which Mark Twain wrote a few articles, its future is uncertain. I mean how long will a 71 year old man be willing to put in the hours and energy to succeed?

I think of the wealth of stories that have appeared in ink since the Mountain Messenger’s presses started printing. Whether or not they are archived somewhere isn’t known, but fortunately for us in North Dakota most of ours are. I’ve spent many an hour in the archive library of North Dakota’s State Historical Society in the Heritage Center reading microfilmed papers from the early days. Some call newspapers the first rough draft of history, and those old stories give lots of reading pleasure to a frontier history lover like me.

Of course, being a Sheldonite, I’ve concentrated on those issues which began to appear in The Enterprise in 1885.  In 1905 it became known as the Sheldon Progress and was published until 1942. That first year of publication draws me back occasionally to read those stories from which I can form a mental picture almost good as a movie: “Prairie schooners are passing westward almost every day.” and “Train loads of emigrants and emigrant movables continue to pass west.” 

One day in March of 1885, the editor of The Enterprise looked out of his window and noticed two ladies walking in the muddy street. He chided the city council, “We noticed two ladies of our city trying to get from main street to the depot. We need some cross walks, and The Enterprise will continue to say so until they are built. To what better use can you put the liquor license money now in the treasury?” 

It took until June, 1915, before hitching posts were removed from main street. Growing numbers of automobiles needed parking space. Hitching posts had outlived their usefulness. But then cars parking in those spaces caused a different problem: “One or two of the merchants have asked The Progress to utter a protest in regard to letting their cars stand there. It hinders the farmers, especially the ladies, from driving up in front of these stores and leaving their produce.”

At one time, The Progress didn’t like to see recreational activity on any given Sunday. In June, 1885 we read “Some of our young gents, not having the fear of their creator before their eyes, indulged in a match game of baseball last Sunday. Don’t do so anymore, boys.” A couple weeks earlier this appeared, “a number of our towns people had good luck last Saturday fishing in the Maple River. Those who went out to the river Sunday on the same errand came home empty-handed. Fish in the rivers of Dakota don’t bite on the Sabbath day.”

Reading these old newspapers rewards the lover of history with a clearer picture of the “good old days.”

Wagons, Ho!

In the movies lines of covered wagons with lily white canvas covers head westward under the command of a rugged yet handsome, clean-shaven wagon boss who keeps matters well in hand. At the end of the day, he ensures that the wagons make a perfect circle from which the travelers can fend off Indian attacks, and in the morning he gestures them forward with a clear baritone voice commanding “Wagons, Ho.”

Often times when wagons rolled, they banded together for safety in numbers as they headed westward on the Oregon Trail. Maps show the trail winding along as it dodged mountains, streams, forests, and known hotbeds of Indian resistance. Of course, we think of the trail as passing south of us through Kansas and Nebraska via St. Louis, Missouri. But population numbers began increasing farther north of there which brought some demand for another trail.

On my bookshelf I have a book titled “Wagons North: Minnesota to Oregon,” co-authored by William C. Sherman and John Guerroro. Sherman is better remembered as the Father Sherman who at one time served Catholic churches in Enderlin, Sheldon, and Alice. For this article we’ll lean heavily on the information found in this rich resource.  

The authors write about one of the wagon trains, the Davy expedition, which passed through Ransom County in 1867 and spent a few days at Fort Ransom while the fort was still under construction. Peter B. Davy organized the train and promoted it. After reading accounts of previous journeys, he realized the train would be far removed from the normal rules of law and order and accordingly must be led with a firm hand. Davy exercised that firmness.

Fort Abercrombie became the rallying point for various segments that joined the train. U. S. citizens comprised one group, German immigrants another, and 60 freight wagons, a company of infantry, and a herd of cattle headed to Fort Ransom as resupply. Included with the families were forty children, one family having four kids all under the age of six.

The book is based on the diaries of two men travelers, Abraham Maricle and Henry Leug, with Leug’s being far more informative. He says at the outset that “bad times and painful experiences in St. Paul” caused him to join up, the cost of which was $125 plus the necessary supplies including a Colt revolver and a Spencer repeating rifle. 

Heartache accompanied them. On July 14th at a spot east of the Sand Hills, the diary tells of a German family who buried a child there. Traveling on, the train camped on July 16th southwest of the big bend on the Sheyenne River probably near what we know as Okiedan Butte. On July 18, a day he writes was cold enough that they might’ve seen snow, the train reached Fort Ransom where they stayed until July 24th.

The train found no amenities at the fort. Instead they found a barren plain where “everybody is  still sheltered in tents since no buildings have yet been erected.” And there was dissatisfaction with their wagon boss “who has shown himself a drunkard and an irresponsible person.” 

We can’t report on the whole book, but after reaching Helena, Montana by the end of September, a Catholic priest came into camp and baptized a child who’d been born at Fort Ransom. The trouble brewing between the leader Davy and the train members reached a breaking point when he demanded more money and took 40 oxen for security. Well, they took Davy to court and beat him fair and square. The diary ended October 12.

The Oregon Trail through here?

A north branch of The Oregon Trail ran through Ransom County. One large wagon train arrived at Fort Ransom on July 17, 1867 and stayed until the 24th. The authors of ‘Wagons North: Minnesota to Oregon’ studied diaries of two of the participants and wrote an interesting narrative. The fort was under construction at the time where “everybody is still sheltered in tents since no buildings have yet been erected.” A baby was born while here and a woman went insane. The baby received baptism upon arrival in Helena, Montana while the fate of the upset woman is not mentioned. One of the authors, William C. Sherman, is remembered as Father Sherman who for a time served Enderlin, Sheldon, and Alice Catholic churches. Mr. Guerrero, a retired army veteran, was friends with Sherman and shared a love of North Dakota history.

Back to the Beginning

We keep accumulating U. S. presidents where to the present day we’ve hit number forty-five. I had one college professor who required us to memorize the names of the presidents, a task not so hard since we’d reached only number 36 in 1963. I remember well the day John F. Kennedy, the 35th president, was assassinated. I was sitting in the student lounge in MacFarland Hall at Valley City State when someone passed through saying, “Kennedy was shot.” That event sat everyone back on their heels. The professor in my next class deemed it proper to cancel class that day, and the country suffered from shock for the next three days until the funeral.

With that, Lyndon B. Johnson, our 36th president, took office, followed by Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump. Everyone knows the man who started the countdown, but it’s so long ago that who knows or thinks much about him. I wanted to remind myself about George Washington, the man who did more than just being first president.

Many books have been written about him, but a recent one has gained favor among historians for being a good one, maybe the best. So this past Christmas I asked Santa Claus for “Washington: A Life” by Ron Chernow. He heard me and brought a big book, 890 pages, printed with a small font which I need to read in good light. In reading it, his life story and the actions he took as president are seen as something which impacts us today.

Washington’s first real job was tramping around the terrain as a surveyor’s assistant. The fledgling country desperately needed accurate surveys for the vast countryside, and soon he became a certified surveyor in his own right. Because the French and British did not mix well, the potential for conflict was always present and Washington found a role as a British army officer in the French and Indian War where he met defeat ending with his only surrender. 

Jump to a relevant factor in his life: British trade policies caused him to side with colonialists and take action. There’s the Washington we’ve come to know, the one who led us through the Revolutionary War and on into independence. After adopting the Articles of Confederation, then discovering they were an ineffective means of government, the familiar constitutional convention met. Washington was elected to preside over the proceedings where it became known he favored a strong federal government as a replacement for the weak confederation.

After adoption of the constitution, he became the unanimous selection as the first American president. When in office he determined to surround himself with a cabinet he could trust, and the government as we recognize it today began to form. Two major players, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, who possessed decidedly different philosophies, became forefathers of the present two-party system. Hamilton as secretary of the treasury took the position of favoring a strong central government while Jefferson supported states’ rights and limited federal power.

Again, too many details will lengthen the discussion, but Washington could’ve had a third term but refused it and went home like, Cincinnatus in Roman history, to his farm at Mount Vernon. In December, 1799, while riding horseback, he encountered unexpected winter weather and became soaked. Illness began setting in when he returned home and a day later his wife Martha sent for three doctors who proceeded to bleed him four times. Finally he told them to stop when he said, “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.” After his death, one of his military leaders summed up Washington’s legacy, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

A Way to Cross...

A Way to Cross the Sheyenne - Freighters, military personnel, and others traveling between Fort Abercrombie and Fort Ransom needed to cross the Sheyenne River if they wanted to take the direct route. Bridges hadn’t yet been built, but a little problem like that didn’t stop them. One of the spots on the river in Ransom County was shallow enough to ford since the water only came up to their shins. Putting together the two descriptive words of shin and ford results in “shinford.” That name continues today with a slight spelling change as Shenford Township. Of the two, I prefer Shinford because of the mental picture it creates.

•  A question was asked, why is Shenford so much larger than the usual township? The reference I found regarding Shenford Township’s being oversized was in the red Sheldon Community History, 1981, p. 155. - “On April 28th, 1888 the County Commissioners met and the following resolution was passed: ‘Whereas the proper number of the residents of Sheldon and Shenford School Township have petitioned the Board of County Commissioners to annex the south two tiers of the section of the Sheldon School Township to the Shenford School Township. The north two tiers of the sections in Township 135-54 be the same is hereby detached from Sheldon School Township No. 2 and attached to the Shenford School Township No. 8 for school purposes and the County Auditor to notify the County School Superintendent.’”

  
  

  
  The article goes on to say the township records from Shenford were destroyed when the township clerk’s house burned down. I can’t further clarify anything and now wonder how many sections did the Sheldon district have so they could lose some?

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