With the Indians in a most unhappy and vengeful state of mind
the Traverse des Sioux Treaty lands were thrown open for
settlement in 1853. For several years people had settled along
the border of this territory patiently awaiting the opening.
Assurances were given the settlers that the Sioux were all
established upon their reserve seventy miles north of Iowa's
northern boundary. With these assurances of safety, the settlers
rapidly pushed to the westward of the Des Moines River which
hitherto had been the farthest limit of their movement.The line
of frontier settlements by 1857 extended in a semi-circle from
Sioux City to Fort Dodge as a center and thence to or near
Springfield (now Jackson) in Minnesota." Only a brief time
served to destroy this line as the settlers moved westward in
search of the choicest claims. Before discussing the events
which were soon to transpire it will be well to note the outward
movement of this frontier to the northwest. The effect upon the
Indians of the sudden outward bulging of the line was little
short of maddening, as they felt themselves being swept onward
by a tide they could not stem. All of their illy concealed
hatred of the whites now bade fair to be loosed, while all past
wrongs seemed about to be avenged.
Times were now "flush" and the tide of emigration "swept across
the state with an impetus that carried everything before it."
During the summer of 1855 "land-hunters, claim seekers and
explorers" steadily flowed into northwestern Iowa. At this time
little more was done by many of the settlers than to make
temporary improvements, after which they returned eastward
planning to take up permanent possession in the following
summer.
The main arteries for this westward movement were the Little
Sioux and the Des Moines. From Fort Dodge the wave spread out in
fan‐shape to the furthermost limits of the frontier. The lines
of the movement were in the main determined by two facts: Fort
Dodge had been established as a United States land office for
the territory west and north, and Lizard Creek made that region
readily accessible to settlers. Up the Des Moines, settlers had
pushed to the point where Jackson, Minnesota, now stands.
Many had stopped at occasional points along the Des Moines and
made permanent settlements. Near the present site of Algona, in
1854, two brothers, Asa C. Call and Ambrose A. Call, made "the
first settlement on either branch of the Des Moines above the
forks." To the west of Algona at Medium Lake was the "Irish
Colony"‐a group of five or six families of Irish extraction from
Kane County, Illinois. This settlement has become the Emmetsburg
of today. George Granger had staked out and settled upon a claim
in Emmet County just south of the State line, and beyond this
was Springfield, Minnesota, with six families. Thus a line of
isolated settlements extended up the Des Moines Valley from Fort
Dodge to Springfield.
To the northwest of Fort Dodge the incoming settlers moved up
the course of Lizard Creek, which they followed to its
beginning. Thence they crossed to the Little Sioux and settled
near Sioux Rapids and Peterson. Near the latter place in the
midwinter of 1855-1856 had come J. A. Kirchner and Jacob
Kirchner, in company with Ambrose S. Mead. They did nothing at
this time but select claims and return to Cedar Falls, from
whence they returned in the early spring. After putting in his
crops J. A. Kirchner had returned to New York. About the time of
his departure, James Bieknell with his family and two men by the
name of Wilcox also arrived at the little settlement in Clay
County. Up the Little Sioux to the north were about six families
at what became known as Gillett's Grove. In the early spring of
1856 the Hon. Wlliam Freeborn of Red Wing, Minnesota, and others
projected a settlement at Spirit Lake. Their first attempt had
not met with much success, and they now awaited the coming of
the spring of 1857 to renew the attempt.
In the late summer of 1856 about forty people had settled along
the shores of Lake Okoboji and Spirit Lake. Following the
original movement up Lizard Creek and the Des Moines River,
settlers had begun pushing up the course of the Little Sioux
from the Missouri River to a later junction with those coming by
way of Lizard Creek to Sioux Rapids and beyond. This movement
was marked by an initial settlement at the present site of
Smithland, Woodbury County, in about 1851 by a group of three
apostate Mormons from Kanesville. In the spring of 1856 the
Milford, Massachusetts, Emigration Company had founded a colony
of about twelve families near Pilot Rock in Cherokee County. The
site chosen was a little north of the present city of Cherokee.
Nearly ten miles above this point was a second settlement. To
the northeast of these, in Buena Vista County, was the Weaver
family at Barnes's Grove. Above this in O'Brien County was H. H.
Waterman, at Waterman, who could boast of being the only white
man within the confines of that county. Further up the Little
Sioux, in the southwestern corner of Clay County, were the
families of Mead, Kirchner, and Taylor.
This stretch of settlements outlined the extreme limits of the
frontier. To the west there were no settlers; while to the north
and northeast the nearest settlements were those on the
Minnesota and Watonwan rivers. Although on ceded ground, all of
these settlements were in the heart of the Indian country, where
the passing of Indian bands was not uncommon. All were separated
from each other by vast stretches of prairie, and frequently the
settlers of one place were wholly unaware of the presence of
ally other white people in the region. Their complete isolation
from each other and consequent helplessness in case of Indian
attacks were probably best known by the Indians who not
infrequently visited them. This isolation appears the more
complete when it is recalled that the nearest railroad station
in Iowa at that time was Iowa City over two hundred miles away.
By 1857, therefore, the northwestern frontier may be described
as "commencing at Sioux City and extending irregularly in a
northeasterly direction, by way of Correctionville, Cherokee,
Waterman, Peterson, Sioux Rapids, Gillett's Grove and Okoboji,
to Spirit Lake; thence turning abruptly to the east by way of
Estherville and Emmet to the headwaters of the Des Moines and
Blue Earth Rivers, where it extended into Minnesota, terminating
at Mankato.
Thus was the meeting round of the Indians and the white settlers
rather roughly demarked when the winter of 1856-1857 began.
Although the fertility of its soil had not been doubted and its
great natural beauty and attractiveness as a region of boundless
prairies had never been disputed, the northwest had acquired a
reputation of climatic extremes ‐of hot summers and cold
winters. This partly accounted for the fact that many settlers
delayed their permanent coming to the region until they were
amply prepared for the vicissitudes of climate which they must
endure in their new homes. Glowing reports had brought the
region into general notice, and by the fall of 1856 many people
to the east were preparing to migrate to this wonderful country
in the not distant future.
"The winter of 1856‐7 set in with a fury, steadiness and
severity, which make it a land‐mark in the experience of every
person" who passed through it. The storms came early in
November, and for weeks northwestern Iowa witnessed nothing but
a succession of terrific blizzards, accompanied by the most
intense cold. By December 1, 1856, the snow was three feet deep
on the level and from fifteen to twenty in the ravines and other
low places. Communication of settlement with settlement was well
nigh impossible. The scattered settlers were illy prepared for
such a winter: their cabins were unfinished and generally
without floors, as all lumber had to be hauled a distance of
more than one hundred miles. Most of the settlers had planted no
crops during the preceding growing season; hence provisions were
scarce and could only be obtained by the use of snowshoes and
hand sleds. Wild game was nowhere to be had, for it had either
migrated before the oncoming storms or perished in the snow.
As the season progressed the intensity of the cold also
increased; while heaw wind-driven snows continued to fall at
frequent intervals. The prairies became bleak and barren
snow-covered wastes, lashed by terrific winds and untenanted by
man or beast. The closing of February and the opening of March
witnessed no abatement in the severity of the winter. The snow
which had been falling the whole winter long yet remained on the
ground. Indeed, the season was so prolonged that it is said
spring came only in late April, while May and June were cold. In
July great banks of snow were yet to be seen in some of the
sheltered places.
Although the white settlers suffered considerably from
self‐imposed denial of food and from unsuitable houses in which
to shelter themselves, their privations could not compare with
those of the Indians. In Dakota, which was their winter home,
they suffered terribly. Their game was gone‐ where they did not
know. Nor were they able to follow it if they had known. As the
winds swept over the prairies of Dakota and sharply penetrated
the thickets wherein they lodged, their desperation grew apace.
At last, in the closing days of February, the intense suffering
from cold and famine could be endured no longer and they sallied
forth. The course of their march spread out to the east, the
north, and the south, and took them to the white settlements
along the lowa and Minnesota frontiers where they sought and
took both food and shelter.
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