Denton

History of Marshall County Dakota title page

History of Waverly Township

Waverly township, with the exception of the northwestern part, lies on a gradual elevation which finally terminates in the hills. Two-thirds of this township is fine tillable land, the remainder good grazing land, being well supplied with, water. In the eastern part of the township there are two deep gulches or coulees about one mile apart and both running west. They must have contained very heavy timber years ago, judging from stumps still remaining, several feet in diameter. Wood contractors gobbled it, hauling it to the fort. What remained was taken by the settlers from all parts of the county. …

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History of Marshall County Dakota title page

History of Britton, South Dakota

During the spring of 1883 a few claim shacks were built on what now comprises the town site of Britton; the squatters little dreaming that three years of ‘time would bring, them a railroad, a flourishing town and county seat. Wm. Ross, of Stena township, while tramping over this portion of Miller township the latter part of April, 1883, became tired and lay down. He fell asleep, and awoke when the sun was fast sinking in the western horizon; about twenty rods from him were eleven antelope quietly grazing, where Mr. Hindman‘s lumber yard now is, near the railroad, unconscious …

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The Little Sod Shanty on the Claim

Personal Narrative by Samuel Denton

Looking for a Home in DakotaA Night in the Coteaus During a Terrible Snow Storm The following particulars were recently related to the writer by Mr. Samuel Denton “In June, 1882, Josiah True, Robert Lemmon and myself, rigged a boat on the running gear of a buckboard and with a good team left Avoca, Iowa, to hunt for a home in Dakota. We entered the territory at Sioux Falls and traveled north by the way of Watertown, Clark, Groton, Grand Rapids, Jamestown and Ft. Totten. Not finding a suitable location, we turned back at Ft. Totten and traveled in a …

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History of Marshall County Dakota title page

The Sisseton Agency

Chief Renville was born on the east side of Big Stone Lake in Minnesota, sixty-one years ago (1824). He is six feet tall, with regular features, showing traces of Caucasian blood. He is a descendant of a French trader by that name, and is an intelligent, shrewd man. He, like a few more of his tribe, still clings to polygamy, having three wives. He is the father of twenty children of whom fifteen are living; During the late Minnesota massacre he with quite a number of friendly Indians of his tribe did much to save white people and hunt hostile …

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History of Marshall County Dakota title page

Organization of Marshall County

Marshall County was originally a part of Day County. In March, 1885, the legislature passed a bill to divide Day County and create Marshall County north of the township line of 124, and to be divided by a vote of the people, May 2d, 1885. Division was carried by a large majority, although there was bitter opposition in the southern part f what is now Marshall County. The bill provided that Marshal county shall assume the Day county indebtedness in proportion to the assessed valuation of the new county in 1884, which was one-third, and in the final adjustment of …

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